[92]Eusebius, H. E. ii. 23 (taken from Hegesippus).

[93]Deissmann, Bible Studies: Contributions Chiefly from Papyri and Inscriptions (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1901), p. 198.

[94]Plummer notes that the Epistle of James shows more coincidences with the words of Jesus than all of Paul’s epistles and that all of them deal with the morality of the gospel, with conduct and life. This is all as the circumstances would lead us to expect.

[95]The use of the present imperative in prohibition rather than the aorist subjunctive implies that the thing was being done. That is probably true, for church members have been known to be guilty of this sin. However, it is possible for this tense to prohibit the habit rather than the single act. “Keep on not swearing.” See Robertson, Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, op. cit., pp. 851-54.

[96]Deissmann, Bible Studies: Contributions Chiefly from Papyri and Inscriptions, op. cit., pp. 154 f., 233 f.

[97]See extensive discussion in Mayor. The New Testament usage favors the middle, but the passive is also in use, and either makes good sense.

[98]The passive voice does not have its technical force here as in Rev. 18:23 but rather is more like the middle in sense as in Deut. 22:1 and probably (Mayor) in Luke 21:8; 2 Peter 2:15. The passive is constantly making inroads on the middle in Koine Greek.

Transcriber’s Notes