Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Peter 5:9

ᾧ ἀντίστητε. St. James adds the same exhortation to his quotation of Prov. The connexion is not obvious but is perhaps due to the traditional exposition of לץ = ὑπερηφάνοις as referring to the Devil and his children. As God ranges Himself against scoffers, so must Christians resist the Devil who is working with their slanderous tempers. Oecumenius and Cramer's Catena both appeal to an extract from Justin's book against Marcion (?) which is preserved in Irenæsus and quoted by Eusebius. The main point of the passage is that before Christ came the devil did not dare to blaspheme against God, for the prophecies of his punishment were enigmatic; but Christ proclaimed it plainly and so he lost all hope and goes about eager to drag down all to his own destruction. στερεοὶ τῇ πίστει, rock like in your faith, abbreviation of ἐπιμένετε τῇ πίστει τεθεμελιωμένοι καὶ ἑδραῖοι, Colossians 1:23; cf. τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως, Colossians 2:5 and Acts 16:5, αἱ … ἐκκλησίαι ἐστερεοῦντο τῇ πιστει. The metaphorical use of στ. in a good sense is not common. Peter perhaps thinks of the στερεὰ πέτρα (צור) of Isaiah 51:1 and warns them against his own failing. εἰδότες … ἐπιτελεῖσθαι. The rendering (first suggested by Hoffmann) knowing how to pay (that you are paying) the same tax of sufferings as the brotherhood in the world is paying seems preferable to the common knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being accomplished for (by) … it assumes the proper idiomatic force of ἐπιτελεῖσθαι and accounts for τὰ αὐτά (sc. τέλη) followed by the genitive. Xenophon who is a good authority for Common Greek uses ἐ. thus twice: Mem. iv. 8. 8, “but if I shall live longer perhaps it will be necessary to pay the penalties of old age (τὰ τοῦ γήρως ἐπιτελεῖσθαι) and to see and hear worse …” Apol, 33 nor did he turn effeminate at death but cheerfully welcomed it and paid the penalty (ἐπετελέσατο). For the dative with τὰ αὐτά. same as, cf. 1 Corinthians 11:5, ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τῇ ἐξυρημένῃ.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Peter 5:9

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