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Two Epistles Concerning Virginity
Introductory Notice to Two Epistles Concerning Virginity.
[290] See vol. vii. pp. 509–523.
[291] Against this class Cyprian stoutly contended. Comp. Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v. pp. 357, 358, 587–592.
[292] In later Greek παρθένος was used of both sexes (comp. Rev. xiv. 4). The Syriac original employs both a masculine and a feminine form. This will not always be indicated in the following translation.
[294] Or “to the holy virgins who are in God: peace.” So Zingerle, and probably Wetstein.
Chapter II.—For True Virginity Perfect Virtue is Necessary.
[295] Zing., not so well, takes this to mean, “by the confession of the mouth” (durch das mündliche Bekenntniss), comparing Matt. vii. 21.
[296] Lit. “by word or by name.”
[297] The Greek word σχῆμα, here adopted in the Syriac, is sometimes thus used.—Beelen.
[298] Lit. “much time.”
[299] Prov. iii. 3, 4 (LXX.).
[300] Lit. “fixed.” Prov. iv. 18.
[302] Isa. ix. 2; Matt. iv. 16.
[303] Matt. v. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 12.
[304] Probably referring to 1 Cor. xiv. 40.—Beelen.
[308] Lit. “let every one be trying.”
[310] Matt. xii. 33. [More probably Luke vi. 44.—R.]
[311] Or “consider.” There is no play on words in the passage quoted (2 Tim. ii. 7), nor perhaps was this intended in the Syriac.
[313] Lit. “true in fear of God.” The reading is probably faulty.—Beelen.
[314] The ellipsis is usually to be thus filled up in these epistles. [In similar cases which follow, italics will not be used.—R.]
[316] Or “the sensual pleasures.”
[317] Or “from all intercourse with.”
[318] Either something is here omitted by the transcriber, or Clement has varied the form of expression.—Beelen.
Chapter IV.—Continuation of the Remarks on Self-Denial; Object and Reward of True Virgins.
[319] “Sanctification.”—Beelen. [So A.V. The R.V. correctly renders ἁγιασμός, “sanctification,” in every instance.—R.]
Chapter V.—The Irksomeness and the Enemies of Virginity.
[325] Lit. “descend to.”
[327] The words, “in the might of the Holy Spirit,” appear to obscure the sense.—Beelen.
[332] Lit. “the Eucharist of the Godhead.” This is an evidence of later date than the sub-apostolic age.—R.]
[334] Lit. “crown of victory.”
[336] i.e. continency. [The use of the terms “sanctity,” “holy,” etc., in the limited sense of “continency,” “chaste,” etc., is strong evidence of the later origin.—R]
[337] The last two sentences properly belong to chap. vi.
Chapter VI.—Divinity of Virginity.
[338] Or “the Holy Virgin.”
[340] Lit. “lover,” or “friend.”
[342] i.e., a virgin.
[344] i.e., virginity.
[345] i.e., celibate, or chaste.
[351] 1 Pet. i. 15 (cf. Lev. xi. 44).
Chapter VIII.—Virgins, by the Laying Aside of All Carnal Affection, are Imitators of God.
[352] Rom. viii. 6 (φρόνημα).
[354] Lit. “the worship of idols.” The single word *** sometimes used to express “idolatry” (as in Eph. Syr., opp. tom. i. p. 116), is not found in these epistles.
[355] Lit. “much talking.”
[356] Lit. “empty words.”
[357] The word thus rendered is not in the lexicons, but is well illustrated by Isa. xxix. 21 (“that make a man an offender”), where the Hiphil of חָטָא is used, corresponding to the Aphel of the same root, from which the present word is derived.
[358] The word is used in the Peschito of 1 Tim. vi. 5, to express διαπαρατριβαί (“incessant quarrellings,” Alf.); [R.V., “wranglings.”—R.].
[359] Ex. Conject. Beelen. The word is not in the lexicons.
[360] Or “power.”
[361] Lit. “folly;” but so used in 2 Cor. xii. 13.
[362] Or “returning of evils.”
[365] 1 Pet. v. 5; Jas. iv. 6.
[369] Gen. vi. 3. [This is an example of the vicious method of interpretation, not yet extirpated, which carries Paul’s distinctive use of the term “flesh” back to the Pentateuch, where no ethical sense is necessarily implied.—R.]
[370] Rom. vii. 9. [The Apostle speaks of “the Spirit of Christ.”—R.]
Chapter IX.—Continuation of the Subject of Mortification; Dignity of Persons Consecrated to God.
Chapter X.—Denunciation of Dangerous and Scandalous Association with Maidens.
[379] Or “life.”
[380] The words which follow, “concerning those things which we speak,” appear not to be genuine.—Beelen.
[381] Beelen supposes a ἓν διὰ δυοῖν: “along the lonely road.”
[382] i.e., virginity.
[384] Prov. xv. 19 (LXX.).
[385] Lit. “profit and righteousness.”
[386] Lit. “go about and wander.”
[388] Lit, “in their barefacedness.”
[389] 1 Cor. xii. 29. [But compare Jas. iii. 1: “Be not many teachers” (R.V.), which precedes the next citation.—R.]
[391] Lit. “speech.”
[393] Ecclesiasticus 5.14.
[395] Lit. “beautiful.”
[397] Lit. “in his place.” Col. iv. 6.
[398] Lit. “his soul for life.” Prov. xviii. 6; xiii. 3; xxi. 23.
[403] As 1 Cor. xv. 44 (ψυχικός).—See Jas. 3.15; 1 Cor. 2.13-14.—R.].
[404] See Col. ii. 8.
[408] An obscure clause, which Beelen supposes to be due to the misapprehension of the Syrian translator. Perhaps the difficulty will be met if we read “gifts,” as do Wets. and Zing., by a change in the pointing.
[410] Or “exorcisms.”
[411] Lit. “elegant and numerous words.”
[413] Matt. xvii. 21. [Or Mark ix. 29; the verse in Matthew is of doubtful genuineness.—R.]
[414] Or “in.”
[417] Lit. “and things similar to these,” Matt. xxv. 36.
[419] Lit. “let us be.”
[420] Beelen here omits, as spurious, the words, “because this same thing is pleasant and agreeable to you: because ye are all taught of God.”
Chapter XIII.—What Priests Should Be and Should Not Be.
[422] Lit. “without shame,” 2 Tim. ii. 15.
[429] See Matt. xxiv. 45-51.
[430] [Comp. the term χριστέμπορος “Christ-monger,” “Christ-trafficker,” in Teaching, chap. xii. 5, vol. vii. p. 381.—R.]
[431] 1 Tim. iii. 3; Tit. i. 7.
[433] Lit. “or is a daughter of the covenant.”
[434] Beelen’s rendering, “we do not even pass the night,” seems not to be favoured either by the arrangement or the context.
[435] Lit “dwelling-place.”
[436] Or “consolation.” So παράκλησις in the N.T. has both senses.
[437] Lit. “without.”
Chapter II.—His Behaviour in Places Where There Were Christians of Both Sexes.
[439] i.e., one who has taken the vow of celibacy.
[440] Lit. “will with him minister all those things.”
[441] [The minuteness of all these precepts is of itself suspicious. The “simplicity” of the earlier age had evidently passed when these prohibitions were penned.—R.]
[442] ***, Beelen’s conjecture for ***, “rich.” Zingerle proposes ***, “about to be married.”
[443] Lit. “come to the delight of the truth.”
[444] Lit. “ask of the peace of.”
[445] Lit. “for that which in his;” or “for what belongs to him.”
Chapter IV.—Conduct of the Holy Man Where There are Women Only.
[448] Lit. “all of them are believing women and maidens.”
[449] Lit. “some place on the right side.” The Syrian translator has probably mistaken the meaning of εἰς ἕνα τόπον δεξιόν, where δεξιόν may be compared with dexter in Hor., Sat., ii. 1, 18.—Beelen.
[450] Probably meaning, “when we have inquired of their welfare.”
[451] Lit. “compressed.”
[452] Lit. “chaste,” or “modest.”
[453] Or “are set and fixed.”
[455] Rom. xiv. 15. [The Apostle’s noble and consistent counsel to the “strong” brethren at Rome is in sharp contrast with the use here made of it. Only one of the “weak” brethren could have written this epistle.—R.]
[457] Lit. “near.”
Chapter VI.—How Christians Should Behave Themselves Among Heathens.
[464] Beelen joins “because of their wickedness” with the words that follow.
[465] Or “cithara.”
[467] Or “set on foot.”
[469] Or “Amen.”
Chapter VII.—Uses of Considering Admonitory Examples, as Well as Instructive Patterns.
[470] Wetstein and Zingerle join on this sentence to the next, by a change of the construction.
Chapter VIII.—Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife; Of What Kind Love to Females Ought to Be.
[471] Lit. “her passion and her desire.”
[472] Lit. “even to death.”
Chapter IX.—Samson’s Admonitory Fall.
[475] Lit. “know thy measure.”
Chapter X.—David’s Sin, So Admonitory to Us Weak Men.
[477] 1 Sam. 16.13; Psa. 89.20; Acts 13.22.
[478] Lit. “verily.”
[479] “By the pleasure derived from the sight of her.”—Beelen.
[480] Ps. xviii. 50; 2 Sam. xix. 21.
[482] Lit. “holy.”
Chapter XI.—Admonitory History of the Incestuous Children of David.
Chapter XII.—Solomon’s Infatuation Through Women.
[484] Lit. “heart.”
[485] Or “perished.”
Chapter XIII.—The History of Susanna Teaches Circumspection with the Eyes and in Society.
[486] Susanna having a husband, Joachim.
[487] Lit. “a mind of chasteness.”
[488] Lit. “rose.”
[489] Ecclesiasticus 9.8,9.
[490] Ecclesiasticus 9.12.
[494] Ecclesiasticus 9.5.
[495] Ecclesiasticus 9.4.
Chapter XIV.—Examples of Circumspect Behaviour from the Old Testament.
[497] Lit. “their conduct and living was with.”
[499] Lit. “ceased from.”
Chapter XV.—The Example of Jesus; How We May Allow Ourselves to Be Served by Women.
[503] Beelen suggests the reading “from,” or to render the present text “by.”
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