ἐν ᾧ γὰρ πέπονθεν.… He concludes this part of his argument by explaining the process by which Christ's becoming man has answered the purpose of making Him a merciful and faithful High Priest. The explanation is “non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco”. ἐν ᾧ is by some interpreters resolved into ἐν τούτῳ ὅτι = whereas; by others into ἐν τούτῳ ὅ = wherein; the second construction has certainly the ampler warrant, see 1 Peter 2:12; Galatians 1:8; Romans 14:22; but the former gives the better sense. It is also contested whether the words mean, that Christ suffered by being tempted, or that He was tempted by His sufferings. Both statements of course are true; but it is not easy to determine which is here intended. Are the temptations the cause of the sufferings, or the sufferings the cause of the temptations? The A.V. and the R.V., also Westcott and others, prefer the former; and from the relation of the participial πειρασθείς to the main verb πέπονθεν, which naturally indicates the suffering as the result of the temptation, this would seem to be the correct interpretation. Bleek, Delitzsch, Alford and Davidson, however, prefer the other sense, Alford translating: “For He Himself, having been tempted, in that which He hath suffered, He is able to succour them that are (now) tempted”. Davidson says: “These sufferings at every point crossed the innocent human instinct to evade them; but being laid on Him by the will of God and in pursuance of His high vocation, they thus became temptations”. Dr. Bruce says: “Christ, having experienced temptation to be unfaithful to His vocation in connection with the sufferings arising out of it, is able to succour those who, like the Hebrew Christians, were tempted in similar ways to be unfaithful to their Christian calling”. The interpretation has much to recommend it, but as it limits the temptations of Christ to those which arose out of His sufferings, it seems scarcely to fall in so thoroughly with the course of thought, especially with Hebrews 2:17. δύναται, cf. Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 5:2.

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Old Testament