Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Edited by the Rev. Sir W. Robertson Nicoll, M. A., LL. D, Vol. 15
Zahn understands vexpa' as vain and empty; e'pya vexpci represent the conduct which is apparently pious, so far as appearances go, but which lacks Spirit and faith. Only, he continues, while the author of II p69 'ebpaiwq could not possibly have called the conscientious observance of the law by the name of e'pvya vexpe, he could speak thus of conduct in accordance with the form of legal piety, void of faith and without spiritual power. The common 81118 to which Jews and pagans were liable are not excluded, but it was only among the Jews that these sins had become connected with the observance Of a formal religion which was of such a nature that renunciation of sin could be called a renunciation of dead works (introduction to the New Testament, English translation, vol. Ii. P. This conception of e'pvya vexpd has been widely held, and pre sented with varying degrees of emphasis, but the unvarying characteristic of all its advocates is that they support the association of the phrase with a formal Judaism, from which it is assumed that the readers had had to be converted. Thus, one of the most recent expositors, Professor Marcus Dods, explains that dead works are such as have no living connexion with the charactcr but are done in mere com pliance with the law and therefore accomplish nothing. They are like a dead fleece laid on a wolf, not a part of his life and growing out of him Such repentance was especially necessary in Jewish Christians (expositor's Greek Testa ment, vol. Iv. P. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.