ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων, ὡσπερεὶ τῷ ἐκτρώματι : “But last of all, as it were to the abortion (a creature so unfit and so repulsive), He appeared also to me ”. ἔσχατον (adv [2277]) πάντων marks the conclusion of a long series; cf. 1 Corinthians 4:9, also Mark 12:22. ὡσπερεί, a frequent cl [2278] conjunction, “nonnihil mitigat ut si [or quasi]: docet non debere hoc nimium premi, … Articulus vim habet (τῷ ἐκτρώματι). Quod inter liberos est abortus, inquit, id ego sum in apostolis.… Ut abortus non est dignus humano nomine, sic apostolus negat se dignum apostoli appellatione” (Bg [2279]; similarly Est., Mr [2280], Al [2281], Ed [2282], Sm [2283]); ἔκτρωμα need not be pressed beyond this figurative and descriptive meaning. However, Cv [2284], Gr [2285], Bt [2286], Gd [2287], and many find in the phrase an indication of the suddenness and violence of Paul's birth into Christ; Hn [2288] and El [2289] see pictured in it, more appropriately, the unripe birth of one who was changed at a stroke from the persecutor into the Apostle, instead of maturing normally for his work, “P. describes himself thus in contrast with those who, when Jesus appeared to them, were already brothers or apostles, already born as God's children into the life of faith in Christ” (Hf [2290]). Sm [2291] aptly suggests that τὸ ἔκτρωμα was one of the insulting epithets flung at Paul by the Judaists; in their eyes he was a wirklich Missgeburt. He adopts the title “the abortion, as they call me” and gives it a deeper meaning. His low stature may have suggested the taunt: cf. 2 Corinthians 10:10, and Acta Pauli et Theclae, 3. An abortion is a living, genuine offspring.

[2277] adverb

[2278] classical.

[2279] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[2280] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[2281] Alford's Greek Testament.

[2282] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[2283] P. Schmiedel, in Handcommentar zum N.T. (1893).

[2284] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[2285] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[2286] J. A. Beet's St. Paul's Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[2287] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2288] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[2289] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[2290] J. C. K. von Hofmann's Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[2291] P. Schmiedel, in Handcommentar zum N.T. (1893).

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Old Testament