Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Hebrews 5:12

διὰ τὸν χρόνον. “On account of the time,” comp. Hebrews 2:9. Scholz wrongly rendered it “after so long a time.” “Though you ought, by this time, to be teachers, considering how long a time has elapsed since your conversion.” The passage is important as bearing on the date of the Epistle.

χρείαν ἔχετε κ.τ.λ. “Ye again have need that some one teach you the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God.” It is uncertain whether we should read τινὰ “that some one teach you,” or τίνα “that (one) teach you which are.” The difference in sense is not great, but perhaps the indefinite “some one” enhances the irony of a severe remark. For the word “rudiments” see Galatians 4:3; Galatians 4:9.

τῶν λογίων τοῦ θεοῦ. Here not the O. T. as in Romans 3:2.

γάλακτος. So the young students or neophytes in the Rabbinic schools were called thînokoth “sucklings.” Philo (De Agric. Opp. I. 301) has this comparison of preliminary studies to milk, as well as St Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:1-2.

στερεᾶς τροφῆς, “solid food.”

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Hebrews 5:12

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