howbeit in malice be ye children This is subjoined lest the Apostle should be charged with contradicting his Master. There is a sense in which all Christians must be children. What it is the Apostle tells us. They were to be children in malice, or rather perhaps vice. Compare on the one hand St Matthew 11:25; Matthew 18:3; Matthew 19:14; 1 Peter 2:2; on the other, ch. 1 Corinthians 3:1; Ephesians 4:14; and Hebrews 5:12. See also St Matthew 10:16; Romans 16:19.

men Literally, perfect, i.e. of ripe age. Cf. ch. 1 Corinthians 2:6; Philippians 3:15; Hebrews 5:14.

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