ηδη 2235 ADV μεν 3303 PRT ουν 3767 CONJ ολως 3654 ADV ηττημα 2275 N-NSN εν 1722 PREP υμιν 5213 P-2DP εστιν 2076 5748 V-PXI-3S οτι 3754 CONJ κριματα 2917 N-APN εχετε 2192 5719 V-PAI-2P μεθ 3326 PREP εαυτων 1438 F-3GPM δια 1223 PREP τι 5101 I-ASN ουχι 3780 PRT-I μαλλον 3123 ADV αδικεισθε 91 5743 V-PPI-2P δια 1223 PREP τι 5101 I-ASN ουχι 3780 PRT-I μαλλον 3123 ADV αποστερεισθε 650 5743 V-PPI-2P
Vincent's NT Word Studies
7. Now therefore (hdh men oun). Men oun nay, as in ver. 4, at once looks back to the preceding thought, and continues it, bringing under special consideration the fact that brother goes to law with brother. Hdh already or at once is a temporal adverb, but with a logical force and enhancing the nay. The connection of thought is: Is there not one wise man among you who is competent to act as an arbitrator between brethren, so that christian brethren must needs take their differences into the civil courts and before heathen judges? Nay; such a proceeding at once implies the existence of a litigious spirit generally, which is unchristian, and detrimental to you.Fault among you (htthma en umin). Only here and Rom. xi. 12. See note. %Htthma fault, is from httwn less. Lit., diminution, decrease. Hence used in the sense of defeat, Isa. xxxi. 8: "Young men shall be discomfited lit., shall be for diminution." Similarly the kindred verb hJttaomai, in 2 Corinthians xii. 13, made inferior; and in 2 Pet. ii. 19, 20, overcome. See note there. Compare 2 Macc. x. 24. In classical Greek h=tta means defeat, and is contrasted with nikh victory by Plato and Thucydides. The meaning here is loss. En among is omitted by the best texts, so that we should read a loss to you, which Rev. gives in margin, reading in the text a defect in you. The spirit of litigation which runs into wrong and fraud (ver. 8) is a source of damage, resulting in forfeiture of the kingdom of God (ver. 9), and in loss of spiritual power.
Ye go to law (krimata ecete). Rev., more correctly, ye have lawsuits. Not the same phrase as in ver. 6. Krima in the New Testament almost universally means judgment or decree, as Rom. v. 16. See on 2 Pet. ii. 3. In classical Greek it has also the meaning of the matter of judgment, the question in litigation. So Aeschylus: "The matter (krima) is not easy to judge. Choose me not as judge" ("Suppliants," 391). Here the meaning is legal proceedings, lawsuits. So in Septuagint, Job xxxi. 13; Exod. xxiii. 6. Suffer yourselves to be defrauded (apostereisqe). Rev., more literally, "why not rather be defrauded?" In classical Greek the word means,
1, to rob or despoil.
2, to detach or withdraw one's self from a person or thing.
Aposterein eJauton was a regular phrase for separation from civic life. So Oedipus says: "I, noblest of the sons of Thebes, have cut myself off (ajpesterhs ejmauton. Sophocles, "Oedipus Tyrannus," 1381). 3. To withhold or avert. So Io to Prometheus: "Do not, after proffering me a benefit, withhold it" ("Prometheus," 796). The maidens say:
"May King Zeus avert the hateful marriage" (Aeschylus, "Suppliants," 1063). In the New Testament the word occurs five times.
In Mark x. 19, defraud not is apparently Mark's rendering of the tenth commandment. According to the inner meaning of the commandment as conceived by Jesus, the coveting of another's goods is, in heart, a depriving him of them. In 1 Cor. vii. 5 it is used of connubial relations. In 1 Tim. vi. 5, of those who are deprived or destitute of the truth. 91 Dr. Morison, on Mark x. 19, justly observes that defraud is too narrow a rendering. The word means rather "to deprive of what is one's due, whether by 'hook,' 'crook,' or force, or in any other way."
Robertson's NT Word Studies
6:7 {Nay, already it is altogether a defect among you} (ede men oun holws hettema humin estin). "Indeed therefore there is to you already (to begin with, ede, before any question of courts) wholly defeat." hettema (from hettaomai) is only here, #Ro 11:12; Isa 31:8 and ecclesiastical writers. See hettaomai (from hettwn, less) in #2Co 12:13; 2Pe 2:19f. nike was victory and hetta defeat with the Greeks. It is defeat for Christians to have lawsuits (krimata, usually decrees or judgments) with one another. this was proof of the failure of love and forgiveness (#Col 3:13). {Take wrong} (adikeisqe). Present middle indicative, of old verb adikew (from adikos, not right). Better undergo wrong yourself than suffer {defeat} in the matter of love and forgiveness of a brother. {Be defrauded} (apostereisqe). Permissive middle again like adikeisqe. Allow yourselves to be robbed (old verb to deprive, to rob) rather than have a lawsuit.
