But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of SIN, but - a special, though intelligible enough and not quite unexampled, mode of expression. The emphasis lies on the word "were." It is equivalent to 'God be thanked that though ye were, yet,' etc.-`Praised be God, that is a state of things now past and gone!' (See Fritzsche, and cf. 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:8. Winer's objection-section 66: 7-has no force.
Ye have obeyed, х hupeekousate (G5219)] - rather, 'ye obeyed;' meaning, in their reception of the Gospel, That form of doctrine which was delivered you, х hupeekousate (G5219) eis (G1519) hon (G3739) paredotheete (G3860) tupon (G5179) didachees (G1322) by attr. for hupeekousate (G5219) too (G3588) tupoo (G5179) eis (G1519) hon (G3739) ...]. The marginal rendering is the only right one, 'that form ('mould' or 'pattern') into which ye were delivered;' as melted wax or metal is poured into the mould. (Nearly all good critics agree in this.) The idea is, that the teaching to which they had heartily yielded themselves had stamped its own impress upon them.