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two disciples, in exchanging words (see
RV
marg.), turned to face one another, indicating
the earnest nature of their conversation. The idea of antagonism is seen in
antidikos
, “an
adversary,” Matt. 5:25,
antichristos
, “antichrist,” 1 John 4:3, etc.
There is no instance of the uncompounded preposition signifying “against.” Arising
from the basic significance, however, there are several other meanings attaching to the
separate use of the preposition. In the majority of the occurrences in the NT, the idea is
that of “in the place of,” “instead of,” or of exchange; e.g., Matt. 5:38, “an eye for (
anti
)
an eye”; Rom. 12:17, “evil for evil”; so 1 Thess. 5:15; 1 Pet. 3:9, and, in the same verse,
“reviling for reviling.” The ideas of substitution and exchange are combined, e.g., in
Luke 11:11, “for a fish … a serpent”; Heb. 12:16, “for one mess of meat.. his own
birthright.” So in Matt. 17:27, “a shekel (
stater
) … for thee and Me,” where the phrase is
condensed; that is to say, the exchange is that of the coin for the tax demanded from
Christ and Peter, rather than for the persons themselves. So in 1 Cor. 11:15, where the
hair is a substitute for the covering.
Of special doctrinal importance are Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45, “to give His life a
ransom (
lutron
) for (
anti
) many.” Here the substitutionary significance, “instead of,” is
clear, as also with the compound
antilutron
in 1 Tim. 2:6, “who gave Himself a ransom
(
antitutron
) for (
huper
) all”; here the use of
huper
, “on behalf of,” is noticeable. Christ
gave Himself as a ransom (of a substitutionary character), not instead of all men, but on
behalf of
all
. The actual substitution, as in the passages in Matthew and Mark, is
expressed by the
anti
, instead of, "
many
.” The unrepentant man should not be told that
Christ was his substitute, for in that case the exchange would hold good for him and
though unregenerate he would not be in the place of death, a condition in which,
however, he exists while unconverted. Accordingly the “many” are those who, through
faith, are delivered from that condition. The substitutionary meaning is exemplified in
Jas. 4:15, where the
KJV
and
RV
render the
anti
“for that” (
RV
, marg., “instead of”).
In Heb. 12:2, “for (
anti
) the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,” neither
the thought of exchange nor that of substitution is conveyed; here the basic idea of facing
is present. The cross and the joy faced each other in the mind of Christ and He chose the
one with the other in view.
In John 1:16 the phrase “grace for grace” is used. The idea of “following upon” has
been suggested, as wave follows wave. Is not the meaning that the grace we receive
corresponds to the grace inherent in Christ, out of whose fullness we receive it?
The primary meaning of
huper
is “over,” “above.” Hence, metaphorically, with the
accusative case, it is used of superiority, e.g., Matt. 10:24, “above his master” (or
teacher); or of measure in excess, in the sense of beyond, e.g., 1 Cor. 4:6, “beyond the
things that are written”; or “than,” after a comparative, e.g., Luke 16:8; Heb. 4:12; or
“more than,” after a verb, e.g., Matt. 10:37. With the genitive it means “on behalf of, in
the interests of,” e.g., of prayer, Matt. 5:44; of giving up one’s life, and especially of
Christ’s so doing for man’s redemption, e.g. John 10:15; 1 Tim. 2:6, “on behalf of all”
(see under
Anti
); 2 Thess. 2:1, “in the interest of (i.e., ‘with a view to correcting your
thoughts about’) the Coming.” The difficult passage, 1 Cor. 15:29, possibly comes here.
With an alteration of the punctuation (feasible from the ms. point of view), the reference
may be to baptism as taught elsewhere in the NT, and the verse may read thus: “Else
what shall they do which are being baptized? (i.e., what purpose can they serve?); (it is)
in the interest of the dead, if the dead are not raised at all. Why then are they baptized in