Page:The Canons of Interpretation.djvu/3

 intervals possessed the faithful. But χρόνος need not necessarily mean time, but, as in R.V., may mean simply "delay." Likewise, whoever will find in history the background of Jas. 1:17 will confer a great boon by solving the crux of this letter. Just what is here referred to as "lights" it is difficult to say, for the word used (φωτών) may include a variety of objects from the heavenly bodies to mortal man.

2. A second law for our guidance is, interpret grammatically. In the story of the storm at sea, Jesus was found asleep. "Asleep on a pillow," reads A. V., changed by R.V. to "asleep on the cushion" (τό προσκεφάλαιον). The cushion in question was the familiar boat-cushion, and even if only a bag filled with husks, was a recognized item in a boat's outfit. Now by a touch quite overlooked by the revisers of 1611, the Greeks signified particulars by what grammarians are pleased to call "the article of recognition." The cushion was the ever-familiar boat-cushion. The locus classicus is found in the Book of Acts. But here the A.V. has put in what the Greek expressly and purposely omitted. This is not a picture of heathen groping after the God of Israel, but an effort to render homage to an unknown benefactor. Likewise, the crux of the Epistle to the Hebrews swings on a point in grammar. Renewal for the lapsi (those who under pressure or torture recanted) was a sore problem. The verb here signifying renewal (άνακαινίξειν) is clearly used in the active voice. To attempt escape by reference to Matt. 19:26 is to cite something not germane to the question in hand. To attempt to make it a middle voice in sense and thus declare self-renewal impossible is arbitrary. In the light of chap. 10 there seems only one way of escape, namely, to take the evident meaning, i.e., lapse cannot be followed by renewal, and then seek a way of escape by some other route. Nor are such puzzles peculiar to Scripture. Turning again to our "Traveler," we find similar problems.
 * Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil.

The mystery here is solved by finding the subject of the verb in the man himself, and by expanding "him" to "himself"; that is, the peasant, remote from the causes of extravagant desires, originating within his own simple mind his needs, adapts himself to his place in the hamlet he calls his home.

3. Our reference to the Epistle to the Hebrews brings us to another rule, interpret contextually. A passage must be construed consistently with its context, since it is likely that the writer at least intended to send out a harmonious, rational document. Thus, the action of fire as indicated in vs. 8 would, according to this writer's mind, preclude restoration — in vs. 6 — and further, the meaning in chap. 10 is obvious beyond question. Also in Rom. 1:17 we have a classic instance. Shall we