Wesley Corpus

“Now, here the man, in the former clause, who ‘draws back, is distinguished from him, in the following clause, who lives by faith. “But the Apostle quotes the text from this translation.” True; but he does not “distinguish the man in the former clause who ‘draws back, from him, in the latter, who ‘lives by faith.” So far from it, that he quite inverts the order of the sentence, placing the latter clause of it first. And by this means it comes to pass, that although, in translating this text from the Septuagint, we must insert “a man,” (because there is no nominative preceding,) yet in translating it from the Apostle, there is no need or pretence for inserting it, seeing o Bixalog stands just before. Therefore, such an insertion is a palpable violence to the text; which, consequently, is not rightly translated. It remains, that those who live by faith may yet fall from God, and perish everlastingly. 78. Eighthly. Those who are sanctified by the blood of the covenant may so fall as to perish everlastingly. For thus again saith the Apostle: “If we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adver saries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punish ment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the cove nant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing?” It is undeniably plain, (1.) That the person mentioned here was once sanctified by the blood of the covenant. (2.) That he afterward, by known, wilful sin, trod under foot the Son of God. And, (3.) That he hereby incurred a sorer punish ment than death; namely, death everlasting. “Nay, the immediate antecedent to the relative ‘he, is ‘the Son of God.” Therefore it was He, not the apostate, who was sanctified (set apart for his priestly office) by the blood of the covenant.” Either you forgot to look at the original, or your memory fails.