βλασφημουμενοι 987 5746 V-PPP-NPM παρακαλουμεν 3870 5719 V-PAI-1P ως 5613 ADV περικαθαρματα 4027 N-NPN του 3588 T-GSM κοσμου 2889 N-GSM εγενηθημεν 1096 5675 V-AOI-1P παντων 3956 A-GPN περιψημα 4067 N-NSN εως 2193 CONJ αρτι 737 ADV
Vincent's NT Word Studies
13. Defamed (dusfhmoumenoi). Publicly slandered; while reviled refers to personal abuse.Intreat (parakaloumen). See on consolation, Luke vi. 24, and comfort, Acts ix. 31. The sense is, we strive to appease by entreaty.
Filth - offscouring (perikaqarmata - periyhma). The former word is from perikaqairw to cleanse all round. Hence that which is thrown off in cleansing; refuse. Kaqarma the refuse of a sacrifice. So Aeschylus. Electra says: "Should I, like one who has carried away refuse (kaqarmaq) from a purification, after tossing away the urn, go back again with unturned eyes?" ("Choephoroe," 90). In Prov. xxi. 18, Sept., it occurs in the sense of ransom. Some find an allusion here to an ancient Athenian custom of throwing certain worthless persons into the sea in case of plague or famine, saying Be our offscouring! These persons were called perikaqarmata offscourings, or periyhmata scrapings, in the belief that they would wipe away the nation's guilt. Ignatius says to the Ephesians, periyhma uJmwn I am your offscouring. The sense is twofold: I am as the meanest among you; and I devote my life for you. In the middle of the third century, periyhma sou had become a common expression of formal compliment: your humble servant. See Lightfoot, "Apostolic Fathers," on Ignatius to the Ephesians, 8. "Compare Lam. iii. 45, and Tobit v. 18. Periyhma that which is scraped or scoured off. Both words only here in the New Testament.
This tremendous piece of irony justifies the numerous allusions which have been made to Paul's vehemence and severity. Thus Dante, in his vision of the Earthly Paradise, pictures Paul:
"Two old men I beheld, unlike in habit, But like in gait, each dignified and grave.
One (Luke) showed himself as one of the disciples Of that supreme Hippocrates whom Nature Made for the animals she holds most dear, Contrary care the other (Paul) manifested, With sword so shining and so sharp, it caused Terror to me on this side of the river." "Purgatorio," xxix., 134-141.
"His words, indeed, seem to be those of a simple, and, as it were, an innocent and rustic man, who knows neither how to frame nor to avoid wiles; but whithersoever you look, there are thunderbolts" (Jerome). "Paul thunders, lightens, utters pure flames" (Erasmus). See a collection of quotations in Farrar's "Life and Work of St. Paul," i., 619. 86
Robertson's NT Word Studies
4:13 {Being defamed we intreat} (dusfemoumenoi parakaloumen). The participle dusfemoumenoi is an old verb (in I Macc. 7:41) to use ill, from dusfemos, but occurs here only in the N.T. Paul is opening his very heart now after the keen irony above. {As the filth of the world} (hws perikaqarmata tou kosmou). Literally, sweepings, rinsings, cleansings around, dust from the floor, from perikaqairw, to cleanse all around (Plato and Aristotle) and so the refuse thrown off in cleansing. Here only in the N.T. and only twice elsewhere. kaqarma was the refuse of a sacrifice. In #Pr 21:18 perikaqarma occurs for the scapegoat. The other example is Epictetus iii. 22,78, in the same sense of an expiatory offering of a worthless fellow. It was the custom in Athens during a plague to throw to the sea some wretch in the hope of appeasing the gods. One hesitates to take it so here in Paul, though Findlay thinks that possibly in Ephesus Paul may have heard some such cry like that in the later martyrdoms _Christiani ad leones_. At any rate in #1Co 15:32 Paul says "I fought with wild beasts" and in #2Co 1:9 "I had the answer of death." Some terrible experience may be alluded to here. The word shows the contempt of the Ephesian populace for Paul as is shown in #Ac 19:23-41 under the influence of Demetrius and the craftsmen. {The offscouring of all things} (pantwn periyema). Late word, here only in N.T., though in Tob. 5:18. The word was used in a formula at Athens when victims were flung into the sea, periyema hemwn genou (Became a periyema for us), in the sense of expiation. The word merely means scraping around from periyaw, offscrapings or refuse. That is probably the idea here as in Tob. 5:18. It came to have a complimentary sense for the Christians who in a plague gave their lives for the sick. But it is a bold figure here with Paul of a piece with perikaqarmata.
