Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Jude 1:24

τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ φυλάξαι ὑμᾶς ἀπταίστους. Apparently a reminiscence [801] of Romans 16:25 f., τῷ δὲδυναμένῳ ὑμᾶς στηρίξαι … μόνῳ σοφῷ Θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώ, ων. Similarly the noble doxology in Ephesians 3:20, commences τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ. The reading ὑμᾶς is confirmed by the evidence of [802] and [803], which was unknown to Alford when he endeavoured to defend the reading αὐτούς, found in KP and some inferior MSS.

[801] For the position and genuineness of this doxology see the Introduction and notes in Sanday and Headlam's commentary, and the dissertations by Lightfoot and Hort in the former's Biblical Essays, pp. 287 374.

[802] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[803] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

ἄπταιστος. Occurs in 3Ma 6:39, μεγαλοδόξως ἐπιφάνας τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ὁ τῶν ὅλων δυνάστης ἀπταίστους αὐτοὺς ἐρρύσατο : used here only in the N.T. The verb πταίω has the same figurative sense in James 2:10; James 3:2, εἴ τις ἐν λόγῳ οὐ πταίει, οὗτος τέλειος ἀνήρ, 2 Peter 1:10, ταῦτα ποιοῦντες οὐ μὴ πταίσητέ ποτε.

στῆσαι κατενώπιον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ ἀμώμους ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει. Cf. Matthew 25:31-33, ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ … στήσει τὰ μὲν πρόβατα ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ, Acts 6:6, οὓς ἔστησαν ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀποστόλων, Colossians 1:22, παραστῆσαι ὑμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους καὶ ἀνεγκλήτους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ (which Lightfoot refers to present approbation rather than to the future judgment of God, comparing Romans 14:22 1 Corinthians 1:29, 2 Corinthians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 7:12; 2 Corinthians 12:19). In the present passage the addition of the words τῆς δόξης shows that the final judgment, the goal of φυλάξαι, is spoken of. Hort, in his interesting note on 1 Peter 1:19, τιμίῳ αἵματι ὡς ἀμνοῦ ἀμώμου καὶ ἀσπίλου Χριστοῦ, traces the way in which the words μῶμος “blame,” and ἄμωμος “blameless,” come to be used (in “the Apocrypha, the N.T., and other books which presuppose the LXX”) in the entirely unclassical sense of “blemish” and “unblemished” cf. Ephesians 1:4; Ephesians 5:27; Hebrews 9:14. In 2 Peter 3:14, ἀμώμητος seems to be used in the same sense. The word κατενώπιον is apparently confined to the Bible, where it occurs in Joshua 1:5; Joshua 21:42; Leviticus 4:17; Ephesians 1:4, ἀμώμητος κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ, κατένωπα is found in Hom. Il. 15:320. For ἀγαλλίασις see Hort's note on 1 Peter 1:6, ἐν ᾧ ἀγαλλιασθε, “in whom ye exult”. The verb with its cognate substantives “is unknown except in the LXX and the N.T. and the literature derived from them, and in the N.T. it is confined to books much influenced by O.T. diction (Matt., Luke, Acts, 1 Pet., Jude, John, including Apoc.), being absent from the more Greek writers, St. Paul, and (except in quot.) Heb.… It apparently denotes a proud exulting joy, being probably connected closely with ἀγάλλομαι, properly ‘to be proud of,' but often combined with ἥδομαι and such words.”

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Jude 1:24

Old Testament

New Testament