^ PRINCETON, N. J. '%. Shelf... Division.. -X,W. Section .. Number, THE SHORTER EPISTLES; VIZ: OF PAUL GALATIANS; EPHESIANS; PHILIPPIANS; COLOSSI ANS; THESSALONIANS; TIMOTHY; TITUS AND PHILEMON; ALSO, OF JAMES, PETER, AND JUDE. BY REV. HENRY "COWLES, D.D. 'All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable."— 'Pa.vIj. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 549 AND 551 Broadway. 1879. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by REV. nENRY COWLES, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. PREFACE To help the reader of these " Shorter Epistles," I have sought to place each in the sunlight of its own individual history, bring- ing all we can learn of the writer and of the circumstances of his contemplated readers to bear upon the sense and the force of his words — to make the former clear and the latter impressive. Like all sensible letters, these also were written for a purpose, aod should be read in the light of that purpose. — Tt is in these epistles to the earliest churches that we look for the practical Christianity inculcated by the apostles — that we see how this practical Christianity was built upon Christ and the staple truths of his redemptive scheme, and with what spirit the founders of those churches wrought for the salvation of men. Hence, some of the main points of value in these epistles. In them are " some things hard to be understood," and others that are very easy. It has been my policy to pass over the latter with few words — the more so that I might make time and leave space for careful, and, if need be, somewhat fundamental discus- sion of points really difficult or at least much controverted. This policy will account for the disproportionate space given to some verses and chapters compared with others. The essay upon Canon Farrar's book — " Eternal Hope " — has been deemed in place in this volume, partly because his doctrine has been supposed to find its scriptural support very largely in the theory that Christ preached " Eternal Hope " to the spirits (iii) IV PREFACE, in prison (1 Pet. 3: 18-20), and not less because the subject is arresting much attention, and moreover, is intrinsically vital to human salvation. My next volume (should a kind Providence still favor) will include Paul's three longer epistles; — one to Rome; two to Corinth. HENRY COWLES. Oberlin, Ohio, July, 1879. LIFE AND LABORS OF PAUL. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. The best introduction to the Epistles of Paul is the study of the man. Born very near the Christian era, at Tarsus, " no mean city," but chief in the province of Cilicia, and located in a wide and fertile plain on the banks of the Cydnus, his early home furnished for his youthful development the stimulus of great natural beauty, coupled with the surroundings of commerce, Greek culture, and contact with much of the best thought of the age. Its location between the great center of Jewish mind on the one hand, and the Greek and Roman civilization of Asia Minor and of Europe on the other, suggests its special adaptation for the early training of this great apostle to the Gentiles. Under the Roman emperors it was renowned as a place of education, put by Strabo in the same rank with Athens and Alexandria, with the preference over even those cities m the point of the zeal of its citizens for learning. Of Jewish parentage — "a Pharisee of the Pharisees," — Saul was naturally sent to Jerusalem to complete his edu- cation at the feet of Gamaliel — than whom no teacher of his age stood higher. There Paul's course of study could not have omitted the Old Testament Scriptures, while in ad- dition, every thing embraced in the traditions of the elders and the doctrines of the Pharisees must have been thor- oughly mastered. Thus he became a most zealous Phari- see down to the hour of his conversion, and a powerful opponent of Pharisaism ever after With the entire atti- tude of Pharisaic mind no man could be more familiar, and consequently none could be better qualified to expose and refute its errors and to set before all Pharisees the purer doctrine and spirit of Jesus Christ. The marvel of his life is, that, with such qualifications for logically refuting the 2 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Pharisaism of the Jews, he should have been assigned spe- cially by his Master to mission work among the Gentiles. It should be remembered, however, that Gentile missions e very- w- here began in the synagogue, working on the basis of Jewish faith and of the Jewish Scriptures — around which in every city, there seems to have clustered a group of de- vout Gentile minds, in the relation, if not of proselytes, at least of inquirers and learners — constituting the most hope- ful class for the missionary's earliest labors. For this work Paul was pre-eminently qualified, and thus in every city he began. Saul the Persecutor. The Scripture record brings Paul to view first as Saul the persecutor. In the story of the first Christian martyr (Acts 7 and 8) he comes to the front, active, ambitious for distinc- tion, ardent even to the point of madness and rage, "breath- ing out threatening and slaughter," pushing his search for the hated sect even unto foreign cities. It was in the height of this intensely zealous and malign persecution, when, armed with the official authority of the Jewish sanhedrim, he was approaching Damascus, all suddenly, this persecutor of all Christian men became himself a Christian, and forthwith be- gan to preach the faith he had thus far labored so zealously to destroy. But before we study this astounding, glorious revolution of character and life, let us note that Saul's experience as a persecutor was part of his training for his gospel work. Ever after he knew the heart of a persecutor. He could readily fathom the motives and spirit of the men who hunted his life as he had the Uves of the same class of men. It was easy for him to say in his heart — I have been where ye are now; I can make all the apology for you wliich your case admits. He could tell them the story of his own wonderful change. He could pray with full soul that the same power wliich turned his heart might turn theirs. We shall not be likely to overestimate the inci- dental adaptations for his gospel labor and patience and j)rayer which were thus wrought into Paul's living experi- ence as toward his Jewish persecutors. Saul's Conversion. This event is narrated first by T.uke (Acts 9) ; later we have it from Paul himself, before the Jewish mob at Jerusa- GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 3 lem (Acts 22 : 3-16) ; then before Festus and Agrippa at Cesarea (Acts 26: 9-20); besides several references in his epistles (1 Tim. 1: 12-16; 1 Cor. 15: 9, 10; Phil. 3: 4-7). Of the externals of this scene, the salient points were, the great light and the voice from heaven. Both these had the effect to arrest and fasten his attention and to awe his spirit into reverence, without apparently disconcerting his mind, or disturbing his self-possession. The central fact was the manifest presence of Jesus whom he was persecut- ing. The voice was not of thunder to stun and overwhelm, but of blended rebuke and pity: ''Why dost thou per- secute me?" What have I done to deserve such treatment at thy hands ? Besides, this rage of thine against me reacts in trouble and torture upon thyself: "It is hard for thee to kick against the goads;" "There is no peace to the wicked." The spirit of these words was tender and touch- ing. The persecutor could not but see at a glance that Jesus of Nazareth had power and withal good cause to crush him into perdition. But, instead of this, strangely enough, this voice was gentle, compassionate, loving. Its tones and its spirit at once broke the persecutor's heart. Never had he seen and felt the spirit of heaven before. Suddenly a new world opened to his mental vision — the world of love! Was it possible that Jesus whom he was so bitterly persecuting had been shedding tears over his folly and madness, and had now met him to speak these tender words and to turn his heart from rage to gentleness — from hate to love — from the spirit and the work of Satan to the spirit and service of the bleeding Lamb of God ! Saul's first recorded utterance — "AVho art thou. Lord?" brought the explanation of this heavenly vision ; his next — "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" was the first indi- cation he gave of the great change then passing over his soul. The Lord promptly told him what he had for his new-born servant to do ; and the servant as promptly testi- fies— "Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood;" " I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." From that hour, to "preach Christ and him crucified" was his first concern, the supreme labor of his life. His Lord soon showed him what he must needs suffer, yet neither then nor ever after was his purpose thereby shaken. Paul was a man of strong convictions and of unflinching purpose. His utmost strength went solid into this new life. From that hour, it was understood between himself and his Lord 4 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. that he gave his whole heart and utmost power to the Lord's work, and that his Lord in return gave him moral strength to the full extent of his need. To the latter point some precious testimonies drop incidentally from the apos- tle's pen: "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me;" He said to me: "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness ; " and again, far on toward the end of his earthly work: "I thank Jesus Christ our Lord who empowered me " — endued me with power — "because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry" (1 Tim. 1: 12). So Paul became mighty through Christ to preach his gospel and to bear affliction for his Master's sake. His gratitude and love to Christ would allow him to do nothing less or else ; his powers of endur- ance forbade his doing more. Thus he wore away his life in that sweetest, noblest work possible to man— preaching the everlasting gospel in love to his Lord and Savior. ^ The sources of PaiiVs history, it scarcely need be said, are the pen of Luke in the "Acts of the Apostles," and his own pen in his thirteen acknowledged epistles — Romans to Philemon inclusive, ("Hebrews" not included). Of the great missionary work of his life, the salient char- acteristics are these : 1. Every- where and always, to preach Christ and him crucified ; Jesus of Nazareth, the long promised Messiah of the Old Testament prophets — the one only Savior of lost men— of the Jews first, but also of the Gentiles. Never diverted really from his one great theme ; promptly return- ing to it from 'every necessary digression ; never weary of " the old, old story," and with never a feeling that it had ex- hausted itself upon his hand or become tame to his sensibil- ity ; so he preached and so he testified, and nowhere, so far as the record shows, without some fruit in souls won to the faith and the love of the Crucified. 2. He was never quite happy to work alone. Either because of his strong social nature, or of his physical frail- ties, or the conviction of better results from associated labor, he almost invariably had some fellow-laborer and sometimes more than one associated in his work. Barnabas was his helper for a whole year at Antioch, and onward tliroughout his entire first missionary tour, until, at the ])oint of arranging for his second tour, they parted, and Paul chose Silas (the "Sylvanus" of the Epistles). Still GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 5 later we find Timothy, Titus, Luke, and others associated in this service. 3. He seems never to have worked without a w^ell-con- sidered plan. His time was not scattered miscellaneously or impulsively. He seems to have adjusted all his activities to a well-defined method. Thus, after his first visit to Antioch (Acts 11 : 25, 26) he made that his base of opera- tions. That was his great missionary home. From that point he fitted out for missionary tours ; and to that, the tour having been accomplished, he returned. Was it the hallowed associations of his first great missionary ordination (Acts 13: 1-3) or the demand in his social nature for a home to come to after certain years of toil ; or was it the moral strength he needed and found in the strong Christian hearts of that early scene of gospel triumphs — we are, per- haps, left to surmise, under the probability that most or all of these influences conspired to recommend and ensure this plan. 4. Of yet higher importance in his plan of operations was his policy of seizing the best strategic points in his Christian campaigns — the great centers of population, travel, and com- merce— points reached with comparative ease because they were on the great thoroughfares of trade and travel, con- nected by the marvelous Roman roads of that age and by the frequent transit of merchant shijDS. Such were Antioch, Ephesus, Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Rome. These points it was his policy to seize and to hold despite of opposition and difficulties. From these he would have the gospel ''sounded forth" all abroad through adjacent regions. Thus the entire civilized world of that age felt the mighty impulses set in motion by the energy, faith, and spiritual power of this one great Apostle of the Gentiles. 5. Tracing the salient points of his missionary labors chronologically and geographically, with such light as the sacred record affords, we date his conversion about A. D. 37, after which follows a period of seven years, to be filled out from imperfectly defined dates and localities. AYithin these we must provide for his flight from Damascus to Je- rusalem and thence to Tarsus; also some three years in Arabia (Gal. 1 : 17, 18) ; another three in Syria and Cilicia, having Tarsus as his base of operations, till, in A. D. 44, he is brought by Barnabas from Tarsus to Antioch for one year of missionary labor (Acts 11: 26). Then they go up to Jerusalem (A. D. 45), bearing supplies for the sufterei-s 6 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. from famine (Acts 11: 29, 30). During A. D. 46 and 47, Antioch is their base of operations (Acts 12 : 25 and 13 : 1). Then and at this place he was formally inducted into his great mission work among the Gentiles, which, we must observe, was not his ordination to the ministry, but was rather the public indorsement of himself and Barnabas by the brethren at Antioch, under a special commission from the Holy Ghost to the new enterjirise of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. Jewish feeling on this question made it important that the enterprise should be distinctly and unquestionably indorsed, first by the Holy Ghost, and then by the approval of the strong church gathered where the disciples were first called Christians. From this starting point it is customary to date Paul's great missionary tours: the first during A. D. 48 and 49 (Acts 13 and 14), touching Seleucia, Cyprus (with its great cities Salamis and Paphos) ; thence Perga in Pamphylia ; Antioch in Pisidia ; Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Turning back, they revisit many of these points, completing this tour by returning to Antioch, their missionary center. His second missionary tour, made with Silas (not Barna-- bas) begun A. D. 51, with revisiting and confirming the churches of Syria and Cilicia, thence south and west to Derbe and Lystra, where Timothy becomes their associate. Then they traversed Phrygia and Galatia, and would have pushed onward to Bithynia and the northern confines of Asia Minor, but the Spirit plainly indicated their course into Europe; and first to Macedonia. Leaving Asia at Troas, they crossed the Hellespont, and soon found them- selves launched upon the great European field, in which Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and Corinth were successively the theater of their labors. In Corinth Paul spent one and a half years (Acts 18: 11), writing thence his earliest known epistles, viz., those to the Thessalonians (A. D. 52 and 53). Touching Ephesus on his return tour, he pressed forward to be in Jerusalem at the Pentecost of A. D. 54. Tarrying there apparently only to ''salute the church" (Acts 18: 22), he presently returned to Antioch, thus once more completing his missionary circuit (the sec- ond), of full three years' period. Having spent some time there, of indefinite length, he commenced his thii'd missionary tour, revisiting successively the churches of (^alatia and IMirygia, and then sat down to long and earnest work in the great city of Asia — Ephesus — GENEKAL INTRODUCTION. 7 which became the main point of his labors for the ensuing three years, A. D. 54-57, as shown in Acts 19 with Acts 20: 31. A great mob having abruptly terminated his stay there (Acts 20: 1) he went thence into Macedonia, visiting the old localities in Greece, Avhence planning once more to be in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 20: 16), he touched at Miletus, the port of Ephesus, and met there by appointment the elders of the latter city, and thence moved onward to Jerusalem. Here he was soon arrested in his great missionary operations, held in durance at Cesarea two years (A. D. 58-60) ; was brought for defense successively before the Jewish populace (Acts 22) ; then before the san- hedrim (Acts 23) ; then before Felix (Acts 24) ; and finally before Festus and Agrippa (Acts 25 and 26) ; then in the autumn of 60 he was sent a prisoner to Rome (Acts 27 and 28), arriving in the spring of 61. There, after two years of personal restraint "in his own hired house" (A. D. 61- 63) the continuous sacred narrative of his missionary labors is brought to its close (Acts 28). During this third and last scripturally recorded tour he wrote a second and large group of his epistles; viz., that to the Galatians from Ephesus in A. D. 54 or 55 ; or as some with less authority suppose, from Corinth late in A. D. 57 ; 1 Corinthians from Ephesus in A. D. 57; 2 Corinthians from Macedonia in the ensuing summer; and that to the Romans from Corinth, also in A. D. 57. During his con- finement at Rome about A. D. 62, he wrote a third group, including Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians. . After these two years at Rome, it is generally supposed that he was set at liberty; that he visited Macedonia (Phil. 2: 24); and Asia Mnor (Philemon 22) A. D. 63; and then Spain in A. D. 65 according to his expressed purpose (Rom. 15: 24-28); then in* the summer of A. D. 66, Asia Minor (1 Tim. 1:3); and that during A. D. 67, he wrote 1 Timo- thy from Macedonia; his Epistle to Titus from Ephesus; wintered according to his purpose (Titus 3 : 12) at Nicopolis; was imprisoned at Rome late in A. D. 67 or early in A. D. 68; when, while in prison and awaiting his execution, he wrote his last epistle (2 Timothy), and finally was beheaded by order of Nero, in May or June of A. D. 68. Authority for the facts and dates of this supposed closing period of Paul's life is found in part in his epistles, but chiefly in the early Christian fathers. His epistles to Tim- othy and to Titus and the local allusions made in them re- 8 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. fuse to be accommodated in any previous period of his life. Moreover, there are expressed purposes, e. g., to visit Spain, which, if ever carried into effect, must have room after his first imprisonment at Rome. Such in substance is the tes- timony of the Scriptures as to this hist supposed period of his life. The testimony of the early Christian fathers is very ex- plicit and unanimous. Clement, a disciple of Paul (Phil. 4: 3), and afterwards bishop of Rome, writing from Rome to Corinth, asserts expressly that Paul had preached the gospel in the East and in the West; that he had instructed the whole world in righteousness (i. e., the whole Roman Empire), and that he had gone to the extremities of the AVest before his martyrdom. This language must be under- stood to include Spain. Next, the ancient document known as the Canon of Mu- ratori, of date about A. D. 170, states that Luke in the Acts of the Apostles omits the journey of Paul from Rome to Spain. This assumes that such a journey was supposed to have been made. Eusebius says that after defending himself successfully (at the bar of Ciesar) it is currently reported that the apostle again went forth to proclaim the gospel, and afterwards came to Rome a second time and was martyred under Nero. Chrysostom's words are to the effect that after his resi- dence in Rome, Paul departed to Spain. And finally Jer- ome represents that "Paul was dismissed by Nero that he might preach Christ's gospel in the West."^^ In a case of this sort, it seems legitimate to take account of the probabilities. Thus, the release of Paul from his first imprisonment is probable from the obvious fact that his prosecution, emanating from Jerusalem, was weak. It plainly was weak before Festus and Agrippa; and weak as to any malign animus while he lived a sort of prisoner at large two full years in his own hired house at Rome waiting for his appeal to come to a hearing. The presumption is that on this hearing no prosecutor appeared and that the suit ceased by default. The case was totally different when he was next arraigned under the impulse of a general persecution against all Christians as enemies to tlie Roman state, not to say, against mankind. As to the reason why Luke's narrative ends with this first imprisonment at Rome, nothing can be known with certainty. *See Conybcare and Ilowson, vol. ii, pp. 437-439. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 9 If, as is suggested in my volume on the " Epistle to the He- brews," Luke was the personal "I" of this epistle, he may have gone as intimated there (13: 19, 23} to visit the He- brew church gathered under his labors at Cesarea, and may not have joined his old associate until some point in his second imprisonment (2 Tim. 4: 11). 6. How Paul preached and how he labored in the gospel, is brought to view very distinctly in a few recorded exam- ples. We have one discourse of his in a synagogue of Jews at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13) ; and at least the substance of a discourse to idolatrous Gentiles, viz., at Athens (Acts 17) ; besides a less formal and extended speech at Lystra (Acts 14: 11-18). Of his labors out of the pulpit from house to house, we have his own testimony before the elders of the Ephesian church at INIiletus (Acts 20: 17-35), and also in his epistles not infrequent allusions to his sufferings, prvations, cares, burdens, and to his tender, tearful, pray- erful spirit. These allusions we shall have frequent occasion to notice in the study of these epistles. THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. INTKODUCTION. The inquiring mind, taking up this Epistle to the Galatians, will ask who this people were ; Avhere they were located ; but especially, what Paul's relations to them had been ; what occasioned the writing of this epistle ; what were the points at issue between himself and those churches, and how he met them. Other points of subordinate interest would be the date and 'place of this writing. It would also be in- teresting if we might know its immediate results upon those churches ; but on this point no definite historic knowledge has reached our times. The Galatians take their name from the ancient Gauls of Western Europe. A colony of that people swept through Europe from west to east, some of whom crossed over into Asia Minor as early as the third century before Christ. In the apostolic age they had settled into political relations as a Eoman province. They were located somewhat centrally in Asia Minor, having the province of Asia (so-called then) on the west ; Cappadocia on the east ; Pamphyha and Cilicia on the south; Bithynia and Pontus on the north. It need not be assumed that the entire population were of Gallic (Celtic) origin. Eather it must be supposed that a substratum of the earlier Phrygian population remained, coupled also with a much more recent interspersion of Ko- mans, consequent upon its relations as a province of the great Roman Empire. There was also a considerable sprinkling of Jews, who were dispersed widely over those districts of Asia Minor. The staple elements of this mixed population were obviously Gallic. It is noticeable that the general type of character which appears in this epistle is very dis- tinctly fore-indicated in their national history. Prof. Light- foot remarks: "The main features of the Gaulish character are traced with great distinctness by the Roman writers. 12 INTRODUCTION. Quickness of apprehension, promptitude in action, great im- pressibility, an eager craving after knowledge — this is the brighter aspect of the Celtic character. Inconstant and quarrelsome, treacherous in their dealings, incapable of sus- tained effort, easily disheartened by failure — such they ap- pear when viewed on their darker side. Fickleness is the term used to express their temperament." ("Smith's Dic- tionary," p. 856.) The type of their religious worship in their pagan life in- volved intense superstition and passionate fondness for ritual observances. These traits of character reappear in their sudden lapse from Christianity to the ritualism of the Juda- izing teachers. This Galatian population seems to have resided in rural districts; at least they are nowhere concentrated in large commercial cities. Sacred history makes no allusion to any city, great or small, but uniformly speaks of the Galatian "country" or ''region,"^ and never of any metropolitan church, corresj^onding to that of Ephesus, or Corinth, or Antioch, but of "the churches of Galatia" (1 Cor. 16: 1 and Gal. 1 : 2). Consequently Paul's labors among them were in the form of missionary "touring." The history alludes to two such tours, the first (Acts 16 : 6) in company with Silas, and shortly after the great Jerusalem Council (about A. D. 50), in the earlier stages of what is commonly reckoned his second great missionary circuit; the second (Acts 18: 23) about three years later (A. D. 54), early in his third missionary journey. How much time he spent among them in either tour is not indicated. It does appear, however, that the people received him with w'arm cordiality and his message with great promptness and hopefulness. Paul's expectations w^ere manifestly high and strong; his disappointment, therefore, was great and his grief deep when he found them so soon lapsed from the faith they had wel- comed so warmly. This brings us to the great fact which is central to their entire history and pivotal to our epistle, viz., that Judaiz- ing emissaries had gone among them, teaching that they must ])e circumcised and must needs observe the entire rites of the Mosaic system as conditions of salvation. Such were the men described (Acts 15 : 1) whose doctrine and preach- ing gave occasion to the celebrated Council at Jerusalem. "They came down from Judea" (i. e., to Antioch) "and * ;\;w/ja. INTRODUCTION. 13 taught the brethren, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved." The continued observance of circumcision, and its connected Mosaic rites, in the case of Jewish converts, was sufficiently perilous, having a constant tendency to foster an undue dependence on what was merely external ; yet those converts might re- ceive Christ by faith and remain firm in their reUance upon him only. Many seem to have done so. Out of deference to their ancient and strong veneration for Moses, the forms of his system had been tolerated in the case of Jewish con- verts. But when converts of Gentile antecedents were thrown upon circumcision and the Mosaic rites as essential to their salvation, this new doctrine must naturally, almost nec- essarily, strike at the very foundations of the whole Chris- tian system. It must tend powerfully to supplant Christ and his cross, to put in his stead a reliance upon merely ex- ternal observances. To hold that Christ is insufficient with- out circumcision is to put Christ below circumcision, and, of course, to make circumcision more really essential and fundamental than Christ. This subverts the whole gospel scheme. The quick eye of Paul saw this peril. He knew enough of Judaism and of the rituahstic spirit of the Pharisee to see in this a vital issue — a question of life and death to the soul. Hence he met this issue in this epistle with intense feeling and with his utmost energy. The entire epistle labors this one great pomt only ; has entire unity from be- ginning to end ; makes every word bear upon this one momentous question, and bear, moreover, with tremendous logical force. As his own apostolic authority had been assailed, he first defends himself on this point, maintaining throughout the first two chapters that his apostolic authority is second to none other ; that he held his commission from Christ himself, and could by no means yield for a moment to the insinuations and charges of his Jewish opponents. Then in the two next chapters (3d and 4th) he argues the great question of salvation by faith in Christ as against the Judaizers' doctrine of salvation by works of law. To adapt this argument to Jewish mind, its proofs are drawm mainly from their own Scriptures, and especially from the history of Abraham, the revered father of their nation. It is shown that he was justified by faith alone — not by works; and that the covenant which God made with him and his posterity was altogether on the basis of promise which called 14 INTRODUCTION. for faith and said nothing at all about works of law as the ground of acceptance with God. Setting works of law thus aside Paul knew would raise the question: AVhat then is the use of law? to which he replies: To convince men of sin ; of the hopelessness of salvation on the ground of per- fect obedience, and therefore of their need of a Redeemer who has redeemed believers from the curse of the law by- assuming and bearing a curse in his own crucified body. Collateral arguments and illustrations fill a subordinate but useful place. The details of Paul's great argument will ap- pear in the notes. The epistle closes with two chapters of very practical bear- ing— to show that nothing else but the gospel scheme of sal- vation by faith in Christ, working in the power of the Holy- Ghost, ever brings forth the fruits of holiness; that circum- cision and works of law, done for justification, never did and never can rise above the fleshly elements of selfishness and moral corruption, and therefore must be discarded as power- less toward real purity of heart and life, and consequently, toward acceptance before God. It will be seen that the moral scope of this epistle is of the highest order; that it deals with the greatest and most vital questions pertaining to human salvation ; that though its particular issues over circumcision and the rites of the Mosaic system are in that form no longer living questions, yet in their nature and bearing upon what really constitutes the gospel system, that old question still lives, pregnant with great and glorious truth for all the ages to the end of time. One other question, germain to this introduction, should be noticed, viz.. The date and place of the writing of this epistle. The importance of these points is not great, yet they have some interest. Unfortunately, the data for posi- tive conclusions are unusually limited. Internal evidence from the epistle itself is singularly deficient. No saluta- tions are sent from parties present with the writer; no allu- sions are made to his own personal surroundings; nothing is liere to indicate ivhere he was, nor with any certainty u'hen he wrote. He says (1: 6) — "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel;" — which favors the opinion that at this writing, no long time had ela])sed since his last visit. Again, the strong similarity of general scoj)e between this epistle and that to the Konians has been thought to in- dicate that they were written near the same time; but this INTRODUCTION. 15 is of small account. For what forbids that Paul should have had the same views of the gospel scheme in its rela- tions to the covenant of works throughout all his Christian life? Two theories as to date and place divide the critics : one maintained by Conybeare and Howson, in their " Life and Epistles of Paul," that it was written from Corinth, late in A. D. 57; the other, that of Ellicott and others, that he wrote it from Ephesus, near the commencement of his three years' labor there; i. e., in A. D. 54 or 55. This supposes the time to have been really short after his second tour among those Galatian churches. The probabilities seem to be mainly in favor of this latter opinion. The strength of critical judgment sustains it. THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. CHAPTER I The briefest possible introduction sets forth the writer's high commission as an apostle of Jesus Christ and of God the Father (v. 1); bears the customary salutation of grace aud peace (v. 2); traces these blessings to the great atoning sacrifice of Christ for our sins coupled with its ultimate purpose to deliver human souls from sin no less than from condemnation under law (v. 3- 5); then promptly brings out the great occasion for this writing, viz., the sudden lapse of some at least of the Galatian converts unto another gospel (v. 6, 7), which "other gospel" and all its authors and abettors, Paul most earnestly denounces (v, 8, 9) ; and then proceeds to defend himself against his traducers, assert- ing the divine authority of his mission and teachings (v. 10-12); appealing to his Pharisaic life (v. 13, 14), his conversion and subsequent history (v. 15-24). 1. Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) 2. And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: It was entirely vital to the object of this epistle that Paul should vindicate his divine mission as an apostle. The case re- quired him to speak with authority, and of course demanded, first of all, that this authority should be traced to its source in his direct commission from God. Hence this stands in the very front of the letter — in its first words : I, Paul, am sent forth as an apostle with authority and commission, not from men in any remote sense, as the ancient priests held ofl&ce by their birthright from Aaron; riot by man — by anyone man's special authority; but directly and only as one commissioned by Jesus Christ; and yet farther back, by God the Father who in raising Jesus from the dead had fully indorsed him as his own eternal Son — the ap- pointed Redeemer of lost men, All the brethren now with me unite in this Christian salutation; probably he would imply — in the contents and spirit of this epistle.- Who these brethren were can not now be known with certainty. If we could deter- mine the question of place between Corinth and Ephesus, we (17) 18 GALATIANS. — CHAP. I. might approximate toward the answer to this question. In this uncertainty it must suffice to say that the Galatian brethren doubtless knew where Paul was at this writing, and what fellow- laborers were there with him. See on this point the closing paragraphs of the introduction. 3. Grace he to you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4. Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father : 5. To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. "Grace" is the comprehensive word for the love of God mani- festing itself in the salvation of men; while "peace" best applies to the resulting blessedness which comes from the reception of God's mercies. May this divine love be richly manifested in your behalf, and may the consequent fruits of peace — all spirit- ual blessings — abound to your souls. These blessings come from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom — let it be distinctly said — "He gave him- self a sacrifice for our sing " — a fact lying at the very center of this gospel scheme, yet a fact utterly left out from the Juda- izing scheme — that "other gospel" which is yet no gospel, but into which ye have been seduced to your great peril. Moreover, Christ gave himself for us to do what circumcision and works of law never can do — viz., "deliver us from this present evil world" — which comprehensively includes all the powers of sin and of temptation. From all these, the mission and sacrifice of Christ both can and will deliver us. For this result, that mission and sacrifice have the indorsement of the Father's will, to whom therefore be glory forever ! 6. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7. Which is not another ; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the go.spel of Christ. Surprise and even astonishment break forth from Paul's bur- dened heart. Can it be that so soon after your warm and most hopeful reception of the gospel of Christ, ye are turning your- selves away (so the Greek) from him who hath called you — not precisely into the grace of Christ, but m and through (by means of) Christ's precious grace — unto another and totally different gospel — not another one of the same general character which might subserve the same ultimate end of saving the soul ? For the sense of this word another* (see Mark IG: 12) — "After that he appeared in another form" — a very different one; and Luke U: 29: "As he prayed the aspect of his countenance became another'' (Greek) — i.e., entirely different; suddenly changed. ■•■• 'tTSfiOV. GALATIANS. — CHAP. I. 19 Most emphatically Paul declares : This is not another gospel, in any good sense of the word gospel ; for it is really no gospel at all, but only a delusion, well adapted to delude men to their de- struction. It is brought among you by men who are troubling your minds with this novel and pernicious notion, seeking to per- vert the true gospel of Christ. 8. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. But even if (his word representing the case as barely supposa- ble), if we, or an angel from heaven, were to preach a different gospel from this we have preached to you, let him be accursed ! There is no place for another ! No other can be supposed pos- sible! This strong, decisive language fully assumes that in Paul's conviction, the gospel he preached was the very truth of God, too pure and perfect to admit of being superseded by any thing better, or even improved by any thing newer. Moreover, he knew that he had not only received this gospel from God, but had taught it substantially as it was, in accordance with the facts of the case. There was no room open for other teachers, coming after him, to teach this gospel otherwise than he had taught, with any, even the least improvement, "As we said before" — when myself and my associates were with you in per- son, preaching this gospel. The word "before," and the refer- ence to others associated with him, taken in antithesis with what he himself ("I") says now, plainly indicate an allusion to their oral preaching on his last visit among them. They had said the same thing then ; he himself reaffirms it most solemnly — and as his Greek' words imply with heightened emphasis — now. "Anathema" is Paul's own word, transferred (not transla- ted)— its sense being — one abhorred, reprobated of God, falling under his awful frown, 10. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. "Persuade" is not the best word, for it comes short of the real sense — which is : Am I working in the interests of men, or of God ? Am I doing work for men, or for God ? Do I plead in be- half of men, or of God ? Who is my acknowledged master whose pleasure is my motive and whose work is my joy? Ye can cer- tainly understand this point ; Am I seeking to please men ? If I were yet pleasing men as I was doing in my Pharisaic life, I could not be the servant of Christ, We must not forget that Paul's Pharisaic life was essentially the same in its spirit, motive and bearing, as the life of these Judaizing teachers whose influence 20 GALATIANS. — CHAP. I. upon the Galatian converts he is now comT3atting. Hence these allusions to himself had also a side-bearing upon them. 11. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Thus Paul reiterates and reaffirms the vital point with which this letter opens (v. 1), viz., that the gospel he had preached never came to him from man, but from God only. I never learned it (he says) of man. I sat at Gamaliel's feet to learn my Judaism; but at no man's feet to learn my Christianity. All this I received from Jesus Christ himself by immediate revelation. Him I met face to face ; his voice came into my ears ; from him only did I originally learn this gospel, and from him came my commission to preach it. These points became doubly vital to the purpose of this epistle because those Judaizers had been traducing his apostolic authority, representing that he preached only a second- hand gospel; was never in the school of Christ; was not one of • the twelve disciples. These points, whether put forward openly or by implication and insinuation, Paul felt it incumbent upon himself to meet squarely. 13. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14. And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. For ye must have heard what I am now obliged to repeat — as to my early life in the Jewish religion. (The word " conversation " is in the now obsolete sense — one's manner of life, the whole drift and tenor of it). Ye know I was then persecuting the church of God with extreme, excessive, and even malignant zeal ; I Avas making it desolate, doing my utmost to destroy it. "Profited" in Judaism; — but "profited" is not the best word now for Paul's meaning. This is better expressed by proficiency than by profit. Certainly he docs not mean that he found or made any profit in it, either to himself or to others. The word he used suggests that he struck forward. The action of the oarsman, putting each stroke in advance, and thus dashing on, seems to underlie the etymology and significance of the Greek word.* I was thus striking ahead of many of my own age in my nation — the word "equals" touching only the point of age. Being excessively zealous for the traditions of the fathers of my people. This was the iinimus of the Pharisaism of "Tliat day — devotion to traditionary lore under which they made void even the law of God. *7r/>0K0 TTTW. GALATIANS. — CHAP. I. 21 What Christ brino-g against them as their capital error (Matt. 15 : 6 and Mark 7: 13), Paul here confesses to have been the very soul of the system. 15. But when it pleased God, wlio separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 16. To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen ; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood : 17. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me ; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Noticeably, Paul sees the final cause of his own conversion in the good pleasure of God. Even from his mother's womb, God liad set him apart — had fixed his eye and hand upon him and put him in unconscious training for his life-work. In due season, God had called him through his grace — by virtue of his loving good pleasure, merely and only. "To revieal his Son u-iihin me" — better than merely "in" — i. e., to my inner soul, speaking to my very heart; to the end, moreover, that I might preach him among the Gentiles. Straightway, on hearing this voice from God, through his revealing Son, I held no consultation with frail mortals — "flesh and blood" representing men as contrasted with God, and moreover, considered as frail, imperfect, unreliable. The exact sense of this phrase — "flesh and blood" — considered as authority for truth revealed, may be seen in Christ's words to Peter (Matt. 16: 17): "Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father Avho is in heaven." Alike Peter and Paul were not taught by "flesh and blood." Paul declined to Beck such instruction ; Peter did not have it. Ye might sup- pose (Paul would intimate) that I should hasten at once to place myself under the instruction of the apostles, long time before me in the school of Christ. I did no such thing; but went at once away from Damascus into Arabia ; and when I returned, it was not to Jerusalem but to Damascus. Precisely to what part of vast, indefinite Arabia Paul went has never been ascer- tained. As to his special object in going we are left, perhaps, mainly to conjecture, save that the scope of argument here sug- gests strongly that he turned entirely away from Jerusalem, and away from all contact with apostles and the earlier Christians, to spend time in communion with God, and to realize that discipline of prayer and meditation, coupled with special revelations from God, whicli would prepare him for his great life-work. Whether he was moved toAvard this preparatory school by the example of Moses and Elijah, each of whom had experience in the solitudes of Arabia, we can only conjecture. 18. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 2 22 GALATIANS. — CHAP. I. 19. But other of the ajiostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. The three years spent there, date probably from tlie time of his conversion. — "To see Peter"; but Paul's word "see" con- templates making his personal acquaintance. The older manu- scripts give, "to make the acquaintance of Cephas," using his Aramean rather than his Roman name. One reason for so short a stay may perhaps be indicated in Acts 9: 29: "They went about to slay him." However long he might otherwise have remained, considerations of personal safety cut short his visit so that he could show the Galatian brethren that he did not receive his knowledge of the gospel scheme from Peter, nor in- deed from any other of the prominent gospel teachers. He saw none other but James, whom Luke's history continually locates at Jerusalem. As to the very complicated question of the identity of this James, see the discussion in my introduction to the Epistle of James. 20. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. This affirmation of his own veracity, implying the solemn oath, suggests painfully that those Judaizing teachers had not scrupled to charge the apostle with falsehood. 21. Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; 22. And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea Avhich were in Christ : These regions became the theater of his early missionary tours, being adjacent to Tarsus, his birthplace, and to Antioch, where he and Barnabas spent a full year in very successful gospel labors (Acts 11: 25, 20). But to the churches of Judea he remained personally unknown. They were hearing from time to time by current report that he who was formerly their most virulent per- secutor was then preaching the faith he had sought to uproot; and they gave God the glory for this marvelous conversion. 23. But they had heard only. That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. 24. And they glorified God in me. The purpose of the apostle in giving so much personal history, we should bear in mind, was to show how little he had learned from the other apostles and how exclusively his api)st()lic training had come by direct revelation from (liod. It were unpardonable to attribute this showing to any vainglory — to any desire to exalt himself in comparison with the twelve original apostles. Public duty compelled him to refute the slanders of uhmi who were tra- ducing his name and influence before the Galatian churches and to sustain his apostolic authority that he might save those churches. GALATIANS. — CHAP. II. 23 CHAPTER II. Paul concludes his statement of personal history, showing par- ticularly what transpired during his visit at Jerusalem ; how the question of circumcising Titus became a test case (v. 1-3) ; how Judaizing men, even then, were alert and inquisitive (v. 4, 5) ; how he withstood them (v. 6) ; how the favor of God, manifested upon his labors among the Gentiles, won for him the confidence and indorsement of the leading apostles (v. 7-10) ; that he withstood even Peter at Antioch for his concessions to the Judaizers against his previous policy and despite of his real convictions (v. 11-13); recites his argument with Peter (v. 14-16), and debates the main question between salvation by works of law and salvation by the cross of Christ (v. 17-21). 1 . Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. When? Fourteen years, reckoned from what point? With little doubt, from the point of his conversion, this portion of his life being that which he is reporting to his Galatian brethren. He thinks it important to show them in considerable detail where and how this time was spent in order to refute the slanders of those Jews who had traduced his apostleship. This visit to Je- rusalem is manifestly the same which Luke has recorded (Acts 15), where the very question pending between Paul and his Galatian converts was brought before the apostles and elders; viz., whether converts from the Gentiles must needs be circum- cised and subjected to the entire law of Moses as conditions of salvation. 2. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. This special direction from the Spirit indicates that the ques- tion at issue was of vital moment. There, said Paul, I laid before the brethren the gospel I was preaching to Gentiles, i. e., on the point then specially pending — that of circumcising Gentile converts and subjecting them to the law given through Moses. I did this privately to the leading men, adopting this method lest I should fail of success in my gospel work. The force of Jewish prejudice was so great that I found it necessary to move carefully and carry the convictions of their leaders before the fanaticism of the populace should be aroused and diverting influences set in too powerfully to be controlled by reason. This, let us notice, was not at all a time-serving policy ; it indicated no lack of firm- ness, but was wisely shaped to get truth into the minds of the men who must control public opinion, before the violentpassions and prejudices of the masses should render cool consideration 24 . GALATIANS. — CHAP. II. and right judgment practically impossible. Paul was a wise man. 3. But neither Titus, who wa.s with me, being a Greek, W'as compelled to be circumcised : 4. And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage : 5. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour ; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. " But" (the Greek "a7.?.a" with this strong adversative sense) — hut, despite of the delicacy and difficulty of this great issue, I carried my point (as you will see), for Titus who went up with me, well known to be a Greek convert and therefore not circum- cised In infancy, was not compelled to be circumcised. The lead- ing men at Jerusalem conceded this main question and made no demand for his circumcision. This was precisely a test case. — The question was forced then to a decision, for false brethren were there who insinuated themselves Into our Christian commun- ion to spy out our practice in this respect and wrest from us this freedom from the yoke of Jewish bondage, to which freedom we were entitled under the law of Christ. But on the point of sub- jecting Gentile converts to the Mosaic law, we made not the least concession, not for one hour, that we might hold fast the truth of the gospel. 6. But of those who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me : God accepteth no man's person : for they who seemed to be someiuhat in confer- ence added nothing to me : 7. But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the nncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gosjjel of tlie circumcision was unto Peter ; 8. (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apos- tleshlp of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me to- ward the Gentiles ;) 9. And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should fjo unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. 10. Only they ivould that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do. In the first clause of v. C, the sentence beginning — "Of those," etc., soon changes its construction to this form: "For thoy who seemed," etc. — a break and change of construction not infrequent in Paul'.^ style of \\a-iting. " Seemed to be somewhat," does not im])ly that they appeared to be more or better than they were. The phrase here, as in v. 2, where the same Greek words arc GALATIANS. — CHAP. II. 25 translated — " them who are of reputation," denotes only the lead- ing, prominent men in the church. Those men taught me nothing new ; added nothing to my previous knowledge of the gospel or to my convictions as to the main point now in issue. However great or honored they may have been, was of no consequence to me. God accepts no man's person, nor do I. High position neither makes nor unmakes gospel truth. So far from yielding my convictions and changing my opinions out of deference to the great men at Jerusalem, 1 stood my ground firmly and carried my point. For when they saw that the gospel to uncircumcised Gen- tiles had been committed to me, as the gospel to circumcised Jews had been to Peter ; when they saw that God had wrought through his manifested Spirit to sanction my labors among the Gentiles, even as he had to bless Peter in converting Jews, ^hen, like honest Christian men, they yielded the main point ; gave to myself and Barnabas their right hand of fellowship to go to the uncircumcised Gentiles, and to others to go to circumcised Jews. Even their chief apostle, James, known as the honored pastor of the Jerusalem Church, Cephas also ( Peter), and John, the beloved disciple — men recognized as pillars in the church — all these men gave us their unqualified sanction to go to the Gentiles and preach a gospel that made no demand upon them whatever for circum- cision and subjection to the law of Moses as conditions of salva- tion. In giving us this hearty, unqualified indorsement, they only stipulated that we should remember the poor — as to which I had always been as prompt as themselves. 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles : but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the cir- cumcision. 13. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him ; in- somuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dis- simulation. Another important historical fact, fully in point as to the main question. Paul speaking in his own first person, would say: So far from borrowing my gospel truth or practice from Peter, I was obliged to dissent sharply from his practices and remonstrate with him to his face. This occurred when he came to visit the breth- ren at Antioch. Peter had previously risen above his caste- notions, and had eaten with uncircumcised Gentile converts ; but when certain brethren came from James, the recognized cham- pion of Jewish exclusiveness, Peter, fearing for his standing with James and his party, withdrew from his Gentile brethren and stood al?)of from their table and from their Christian fellowship. He did this, not because either the truth of the gospel or his own convictions of it had changed, but because he timidly and unwor- 26 GALATIANS. — CHAP. II. til ily violated his conscience through fear of losing caste with prominent men at Jerusalem. This was culpable dissimulation. It swept along other Jews and even Barnabas in' the strong cur- rent of popular Jewish feeling. 14. But Avhen I saw that they ^valked not uprightly accord- ing to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? 15. We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16. Know^ing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have be- lieved in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law : for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. When I saw them thus dishonest, swerving so manifestly from the true gospel rule and from their own real convictions, I said to Cephas (so the older authorities) before them all — i. e., in the presence of all the rest: If thou, a Jew by birth, dost conform to Gentile usages (as thou hast heretofore done) and dost not hold thyself bound to adhere to Jewish usage, why dost thou compel men who are born Gentiles to Judaize — i. e., to be circumcised? Pursuing the same argument (vs. 15, 16) : We, Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, knowing that a man is never justified by works of law but only by faith in Christ, even we have believed in Christ, that we may be justified by faith, not by works, for we know perfectly that by works of law no human soul can be jus- tified. Thus our assured belief in Jesus only and our personal reception of him as our only ground of justification should by no means be thrown into the shade, much less should it be vir- tually belied and overruled by representing circumcision as es- sential to salvation. 17. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, Ave our- selves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. 18. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. The supposition made here — essentially this— that gratuitous justification gives license to sin, has its parallel in Paul to the 'Romans (6: 1): "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" and brings forth there the same intlignant, intense dfMiial as here. If we sin under this system of justification by (Whilst only, can it be charged that ('hrist Ix^comos the minister of sin — its promoter, the oijcasion ol" our more easily in Spirit in th;it Christian age; through similar divine jtromise and human laith came one of the first clear intimations of gospel blessings given GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. 29 to Abraham and to his seed. All this is in strong; contrast with the opposite system which makes salvation depend on circum- cision and works of law. This contrast is kept steadily and strongly before the mind throughout the argumentative portion of this epistle (chaps. 3 and 4.) To begin : The Galatians have been fascinated into great folly that they should become blind as to Jesus and his cross (v. 1); forgetting that the gifts of the Spirit came not through works of law but through faith (v. 2); strangely assuming that what was begun so auspiciously in the Spirit could be carried out to its consummation by the flesh (v. 3). Did the gifts of the Spirit and the miracles wrought among them come through works of law, or through faith (v. 4, 5)? Abraham also received all his blessings through faith which became the ground of his acceptance before God (v. 6) ; so also to all believers (v. 7) : prophetic Scripture had anticipated this method of salvation (vs. 8, 9). Over against this, the scheme of salvation through works of law must leave all men under the curse (v. 10), for only by faith can lost men live (v. Jl ); for the law rests not on faith but on doings (v. 12). Christ lifts the curse of the law from lost men by bearing it himself so that the promised gifts of the Spirit are through faith (vs. 13, 14). Cove- nants even between men, once ratified, remain unchanged (v. 15); God promised blessings to Abraham and to his seed by covenant and promise, which the law, subsequently made, can in nowise annul (vs. 16-18) ; yet law serves the purpose of manifesting sin, but falls entirely below the great covenant of promise inasmuch as it came through a human medium (vs. 19, 20). Law subserves its lower purpose inasmuch as it reveals sin and enforces con- viction, and also impresses man's need of a Savior (vs. 21-25). Faith makes men children of God; identifies them with Christ in the great communion of Abraham's seed and makes them all, equally with him, heirs of promise (vs. 26-29). 1. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should, not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you ? Amazed at such folly, Paul likens it to a fascination or charm of witchery which had sealed their eyes to Christ crucified though this had transpired, as it were, in their very presence, so that they seemed as men blind to the great gospel truths involved in the cross of Christ. How easily, if only they would, might they have dispelled this bewitching fascination by lifting their eyes up to this crucified Jesus, almost present to their eye of sense ! How could they be so blind, so void of understanding ! What could have wrought upon them this strange fascination ? The best authorities omit the clause "That ye should not obey the truth," not because the sentiment is bad or inept here ; but be- cause the oldest manuscripts omit it, and it has probably been in- terpolated. The omission of this clause neither changes the sense nor weakens the force of the sentence. 30 GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. 2. This only would I learn of 5^011 ; Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith ? 3. Are ye so foolish ? having begun in the SjHrit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh ? 4. Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it he yet in vain. " This only do I wish to learn of you" — for this one point ought to decide the entire question : Did ye receive the supernatural gifts of the Spirit by means of works of law, or by means of faith through the hearing of the gospel ? Ye will remember that ac- cording to the promise of the Lord (Mark 16: 17, 18) "these signs did follow them that believed" — God's own attestation to the presence of his Spirit and to the reality of this gospel salva- tion. These supernatural gifts which appear all along the history of apostolic labors {e. g., 1 Cor. 12: 1-11) were not specially of the invisible sort, but of the visible. They were purposely open and palpable demonstrations of the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. Did those Judaizing teachers bring with them such divine attestations ? When ye first heard the gospel from my lips and from the lips of my fellow-laborers, did these signs come through any works of laAV whatsoever, or only through faith? Let the answer to this point be conclusive. Another point: Ye can not but know that fles'h is weakness, and that Spirit is power. Ye began your gospel life in the power of the Spirit. In and through the divine Spirit, its great and deep foundations were laid in 3^our transformed hearts and lives. And now, do ye think to carry up the great spiritual temple to its finished consummation by means of the weakness of flesh ? Are ye so infatuated as to suppose that ye can finish by means of weak flesh what God began so auspiciously by the might of his SpJt-it? Moreover, in common with Christian converts gener- ally in this age, ye have sufiered* persecution for Christ. Shall this be all in vain? Can ye afibrd to forfeit your Christian birth- right, bought at such cost, and get nothing but loss in return ? — • If indeed it must prove utterly in vain by your abandoning the gospel after having suffered so much in its behalf, how sad the case ! 5. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? This carries the question of v. 2 back to those who first preached to them the gospel. They were God's ministers for communicating those precious and witnessing gifts of the Spirit. When they laid hands upon you to signify the imparting of those gifts, and when they wrought miracles in some all-p<(tent namo, did they invoke circumcision, or did they invoke Christ? Did they say — Let these heaven-sent blessings come through the law of Moses; or were thc^y very particular to invoke these blessings always and only in the name of the risen Jesus ? Consider, b&- GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. 31 loved brethren, and then as wise men, pass your judgment upon what I saj. 6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying , In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. With exquisite pertinence and telling force, Paul carries back his argument to the case of Abraham — the acknowledged father of all believers. The men \vho had brought in among the churches of Galatia these new and pernicious doctrines were Jeivs — Jews who revered and almost adored Abraham ; but were they children of Abraham ? Did they, as he did, believe God, and had their faith, like his, been accounted to them for righteousness ? Alas, this faith was the very thing they had not; this system of justification was the thing they were laboring with utmost effort and skill to subvert ! Hence Paul confronts them thus vigorously and unanswerably with the example of their great national father. lie believed God, and this faith of his became the ground of his acceptance as righteous. Those and only those wlio believe as he did can be his children. Those Judaizing men who discard his faith and put circumcision in its place, are apostate from his household. Go back to your own ancient scriptures and read for yourselves. That scripture, personating to us the very voice of God, prophetically foreseeing that God justifies Gentile as well as Jew through faith and not through works, preached this very gospel more than a thousand years beforehand, in those words to Abraham: "In thee shall all nations be blessed;" — in thee, in- cluding, of course, as Paul will soon show, his offspring who were specially embraced and enfolded in this promise. Yet in the thought of Paul, this offspring were of and like Abraham in the spirit rather than in the flesh, the virtue passing down from him not in his blood, but in his faith. Thus all men of faith, true believers, are blessed along with their great believing father and on the same basis of faith. The reader should not fail to note that Paul speaks of " the Scripture" as itself foreseeing prophetically what was doing in the gospel age, and as itself preaching the gospel in words which the historic Scriptures give us as from the mouth of God him- self. Nothing could prove more decisively that Paul heard and recognized in those ancient Scriptures the very voice of God. •He practically believed that " all Scripture was heaven-inspired — breathed into holy men by the spiritual breath of the Almighty." 10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under 32 GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. the curse: for it is Avritten, Cursed is everyone that contin- ueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do fhem. 11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident : for, The just shall live by faith. 12. And the law is not of faith : but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Briefly but forcibly Paul describes and names the two opposite classes as those who rely upon works of law on the one hand, and those who are of faith on the other. The former seek their salvation in circumcision and the Mosaic law of perfect obedi- ence: the latter hope for justification through faith in Christ only. Paul then proceeds to show that all those men of Avorks of law are under curse, unless their obedience has been alwaj^s invariably perfect, for so the terms of salvation hy laAV run : " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things Avritten in the book of the law to do them" ( Deut. 27: 26). On the basis of law this is the sole condition of acceptance before God, and Paul might safely have appealed to every man's conscience — Does your life, in the light of your own conscience, meet that one supreme and vital condition? This he might have said; but he leaves such an appeal to their conscience unspoken ; and pro- ceeds to appeal again to Scripture for his proof that no man is justified before God on mere law; for, according to Scripture, " The just man lives by fiiith ;" — Avhich of course implies, hjfaitk onhj ; by faith and not by works of law. l>nt to clinch this argument from the Scriptures, he proceeds : — " The law is not of faith;" the law never even names faith at all as a ground of righteousness before God, but on the contrary its doctrine is evermore this and this only: "The man that doeth them sh-.dl live in and by means of them." The law treats of doings and of nothing else. It accepts men's doings if only they are perfect. It knows nothing about faith in the place of doings. The passage quoted (v. 11) appears original in Hab. 2: 4, and is quoted in Romans 1: 17 and Heb. 10: 38. It is a nice ques- tion whether to connect the words "of faith" with "justified" or with "shall live." In the former case the construction Avill be — The man justified of faith shall live; in the latter, The just man shall live of his faith. Grammatically either is admissilde. Vmt the original Hebrew ( Hab. 2:4) decidedly favors the latter; Avhich also best meets the exigencies of Paul's argument and best presents tlie antithesis between living ])y faith and living by works of law; and therefore should be prt-ferred. Verse 12 contituies the argument with the Greek (" de" ) in the sense of Irttt rather than "and"; Bui, ye will observe, it is most plain that the law is not of faith — docs not work on that ])rinciple at all, but only on the principle of doing : "He that doeth these things sliall live by them" — i. e., by means of thcni. Ye GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. 33 may see this in Lev. 18 : 5. Paul has the same argument and doc- trine in Kom. 10: ^. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gen- tiles through Jesus Christ ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. How men are ever saved under such a law, it is important now to show. The curse for its violation having fallen upon all, how can any man ever be saved ? The answer is — In and through the gospel and by this only. It begins with saying " Christ." " Christ has redeemed us from the curse of broken law by becom- ing himself a curse " (a cursed one) in our behalf and stead — in proof of which, at this point, Paul appeals to that ancient Script- ure which declares every one cursed who is hanged upon a tree (Deut. 21 : 22, 23). So Jesus was held and deemed accursed before the Jewish people by his death upon the cross. By that death he became accursed under the doctrine of their law, and Paul testi- fies, became himself a curse for us — in our behalf and stead, so that the curse was lifted from us when it was assumed and borne by himself. At this point he enters into no further detail as to the doctrine of Christ's atoning death, but proceeds to say that by means of this atoning death for us, the blessings promised to and through Abraham come upon the Gentiles so that we receive the promised Spirit through fuith.'^ 15. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men ; Though it he but a man's covenant, yet if it he confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. The passage commencing here being specially difficult, calls for careful and thorough examination. First we must, if possible, reach the true sense of the words — "I speak as a man."f The authorized version is unexceptionable, but leaves the question still open ; — in what respect after the manner of men ? Looking for other cases of the usage of this Pauline phrase, we read (Rom. 3:5): "But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say ? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance ? — I speak after the manner of man — God forbid!" which seems to mean; I speak here necessarily from the human stand-point; I speak therefore with bated breath, reverently ; for how does it become one of mortal flesh to pass a '•• The bearing of this passage upon the scriptural doctrine of Christ's atonement, as also the whole question of atonement, have been treated in a special essay appended to my volume on " The Epistle to the Hebrews." '\Kara avOpuTtov. 34 GALATIANS. — CHAr. III. judgment upon the ways of the infinite God! Again (1 Cor. 9 : 8) : " Who feeds the flock and eats not of th* milk of the flock ? Do 1 sa}^ these things as a man, i. e., on merely human authority, or does not the Law say the same"? And yet again (1 Cor. 15: 32): "If after the manner of man, 1 have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus" — the phrase here being apparently designed to qualify the strong figure " fighting with wild beasts " — which, dropping the figure, meant only men as savage as they. If, hu- manly speaking, I fought with lions and tigers. These cases, it will be noticed, exhibit some variety in its shades of meaning. Guided by Paul's own usage Ave may take his meaning here to be this : 1 have occasion to speak of God's covenant with Abraham; and therefore, first of all, 1 bring an analogy from covenants made be- tAveen man and man. This is looking at the case /ro??i the human sfand-point. With our eye on covenants made by man with his fel- low-man, we readily derive principles which apply legitimately to covenants in which God is one party. So Ellicott says : " An argu- ment from human analogies, and which he uses as man might." The point he would illustrate is this : Though a covenant Avere merely human as to the parties concerned, yet when once ratified ("confirmed") no man disannuls, or, of his own motion, adds any thing more. It must stand in its full strength with no right in cither party to change its conditions. 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were tlie promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. The difficulty in this verse is that Paul seems to build an argu- ment upon the word "seed" [offspring], assuming that it must be singular (grammatically) in sense because it is so in form; whereas by usage it is unquestionably a noun of multitude — /. ns in and through his seed. Of tliese Paul's thouglit is specially upon the latter — tlio }>lessings that come to the nations of the earth through his seed. Canaan and Abraham's numerous lineal ])osterity Avcre merely subsidiary to this last great promise and did not come directly into Paul's argument. Wc are now to in(juire for Paul's real thought. It is therefore specially legitimate to study Avhat else he says bearing upon tiie meaning of this Avord "seed." The reader should carefully note GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. 35 («.) that in v. 19 Paul unquestionably thinks of the Messiah as being " the seed that should come, to whom the promise was made;" and also (b.) that v. 29 holds unquestionably that "those who are Christ's {i. e., by faith) are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." Therefore he did not mean to say that the word "seed" included but one individual and that one, the Messiah. It was certainly in his thought that all Christ's true children are embraced in this seed of Abraham. Indeed his argument requires this enlarged and modified sense, and is entirely inconclusive upon any other construction. We have now in hand the key to Paul's meaning. He meant to say that those great promises to Abraham (a.) did certainly include the Messiah to come lineally from Abraham: (6.) that the Messiah was not only there, embraced in the mass of that numerous posterity, but was the center and soul of that promise — in such a sense central that without him, all else could be of no account. Without him. no blessings could come forth out of Abraham's seed upon the Gentiles; without him, we may almost say, no gift of Canaan; no birth of even Isaac; no numerous posterity brought into covenant with God and upheld through twenty centuries under perpetual ministrations of Providence and grace till the fullness of time for the Messiah's manifestation should come. In Paul's view the promised Messiah was so cen- tral, was so entirely the living germ in this seed-corn of the world's harvest of mercies, that all things else seem to fade out of mind save as they come in through a spiritual union with him by faith. All else, ever to be included under this seed of Abra- ham, comes in only through this union with Christ. They hold in and under him. Until his title and his relations are deter- mined, they are of no account. Of rights anterior to Christ, they have none. So much as to the real thought of the apostle in this passage. We have then, it may be supposed, Paul's real meaning; but yet the question recurs ; — What of his grammar? What can be said for his apparent argument built upon the word "seed" as meaning one when in actual usage it means a multitude? Perhaps this; that he found this peculiar word, singular in form, though by usage a noun of multitude, to be specially felicitous for his pur- pose at that moment — which was to show that the prominent central idea in those promises was a unit — one great unity, viz., that of Christ, the person of the Messiah. It enabled him to emphasize this remarkable unity; it enabled him to set forth that those who held under Abraham through God's covenant with him held only and entirely under and by means of the one great off- spring— the promised Christ. They did not hold as many indi- viduals but as one body, one totality, one whole though made up of many individuals. The covenant meant Abraham and his one offspring, Christ, as its chief significance. It meant Christ before it could mean his believing people, because they held altogether under him. Through him and him first and chief were all the nations to be blessed. And because all blessings included under 36 GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. this covenant came through Christ, therefore faith became the one condition of their inlieriting under their lledeemer. By faith they were made one with him in their title to this promised inheritance of blessings. It was, apparently, to make all these points vividly cle.ar that Paul emphasizes the (grammatically) singular form of this word "seed." It may be noticed that the argument from the singular form of this word "seed" is not al- luded to again. It is touched (so it would seem) only as a sug- • gestive illustration, and not by any means relied on as a staple argument. Another exposition of this v. 16 has been advanced, which, if admissible, would obviate the grammatical and logical objections above considered; viz., that Paul does not refer to any particular passage in the Old Testament, which contains those words, but avails himself of this compendious mode of speaking as a con- venient formula for summing up the entire teachings of the Scripture on this subject. As to the word seed (sperma) the singular and the plural differ in this. The singular denotes unity of class; here, all who are of faith, and thus of Christ (v. 29); the plural denotes a plurality of classes; — in the present appli- cation, all shades of unbelievers and of fleshly relations to Abra- ham— sons of Ishmael, Esau, etc. Therefore Paul would say: — Search the entire Old Testament Scriptures; the promises all run in one strain ; they make no mention of plurality of seeds — never recognize one spiritual seed and another natural one; but always one seed in character and this character, that of faith — those who follow in the faith of Abraham. Now therefore as the Avhole Old Testament Scriptures limit the promises to the one believing seed, nothing is left for other classes of men not believ- ing, though lineally descended from Abraham, e. g., through Ish- mael. Ilence this argument shuts off all those who are not of faith but are of works only. The staple objection to this exposition of v. 16 is this: — that Paul does seem very manifestly to refer to a definite promise made of God to Abraham, and made in very definite words. This reference is too plain to be denied. Paul states what he did say and what he did tiot say, and insists that the one seed — only one — meant precisely (Uirist. This proposed exposition presents a very just view of the Old Testament doctrine as to being heirs of Abraliam by means of faith, but fails to relieve the objection against Paul's grammar and the logic apparently built upon it. If it be objected that this construction of those Abrahamic promises puts more Messianic meaning into them than Abraham could have dreamed of, or that it makes that meaning more prom- inent than he could have seen it, the answer may be twofold: (a.) What then ? What if Abraham did not take in the full sense of those promises? Would this fact rule out all the significance which he failed to get? — (h.) Hut even this concession need not ))e made, for .lesus doubtless knew, l^etter than any of us, how much Abraham understood; and he said — "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad," (John 8: 56.) GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. 37 17. And this I say, that tlie covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which w^as four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise : but God ga,ve it to Abraham by promise. Dropping not only the argument of v. 16, but even the verse itself, and taking up the point made in v. 15 as if v. 16 v^ere not there, he says — The covenant with Abraham, once ratified, the law given through Moses four hundred and thirty years after could by no means disannul so as to make its promises void. If it had been a man's covenant merely, running between man and man, it could not be annulled or even modified at the will of either party. How much more must a covenant, shaped and proposed by the eternal, changeless God stand in all its elements unchanged ! — The special point to be sustained in this argument is that the law of works, given through Moses, could by no means supersede the law or covenant of promise, given to Abraham and his pos- terity. The priority of the Abrahamic covenant places it entirely above and beyond any power of the Mosaic covenant to annul it. Add yet another argument for the perpetuity of the covenant with Abraham. Compared with the covenant of works given through Moses, its blessings come to man on totally different con- ditions. For if the inheritance [of blessings under the covenant with Abraham] had been a thing oflaiv, it could not have been a thing of promise, for law demands perfect obedience as its central condition, but promise calls for faith and contemplates gratuitous mercy given to those of faith. What is of law, therefore, is not of promise ; but God built his covenant with Abraham precisely upon promise. 19. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added be- cause of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made ; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. This passage involves two main questions: (a.) What is the use of the law? (6.) What does Paul propose to make out of the circumstance that the law came through the hand of a Me- diator? What is his argument ? (a.) The law was superadded because of transgressions; to show what God required ; what was morally right ; and conse- quently to give men a clearer, deeper sense of sin. This would conduce to real conviction of sin and of its guilt, and consequently to show that salvation through perfect obedience to law is hope- less, and that therefore all men must need a Redeemer for_ their salvation. For this practical result, law was to be in force till the Messiah, the promised Seed, should come. Paul does not mean 38 GxVLATIANS. — CHAP. III. to deny that the obligation of God's moral law is perpetual; but only to say that until ('hrist should come, it would serve to convict men of sin and so prepare them to welcome a Re- deemer. (6.) Tho second point: What is Paul's argument as to the "Mediator?" is specially difficult. It is more than probable that Paul fel*^^ the extreme delicacy of this poifit in its bearing upon the sensitive prejudices of the Jews in favor of Moses, and there- fore entirely forebore even to name Moses at all, though he names Abraham and keeps him constantly before the mind. But he not only avoids the mention of Moses by name, but touches very gently upon this argument, not more than half developing its cardinal points and its real significance. I see not the least rea- son to question that his ultimate argument is this. The scheme of faith came to Abraham from the very lips of God himself with no "mesites" ["Mediator"] — no intervening man or angel be- tween. Over against this, the law and its whole system of rites came through angels and the one mesites, viz., Moses. The latter, therefore, must be quite inferior to the former. Now let it be considered: (1.) "Mediator" here is not at all in the sense of intercessor, as when used in the Epistle to the He- brews of Jesus Christ (Heb. 8: 6, and 9: 15, and 12: 24, and also 1 Tim. 2 : 5). It is only a messenger, an organ of commu- nication between one party and another; an agent who passes, goes, from the party sending to the party receiving the supposed communication. — (2.) This "mesites'' [mediator] was doubtless Moses. — (3.) The law was given from God to men not alone through Moses, but through the ministration of angels. On this point^e have the testimony of Stephen (Acts 7: 38, 53); of the writer to the Hebrews (2 : 2), and apparently of Moses himself (Deut. 33: 2). But in the giving of promise to Abraham, no agency of angel or other internuncius [messenger] is ever al- luded to. God was the one only revealer. This fact clothed the system of salvation through faith and through promise with sur- passing dignity and glory. — (4.) We must now meet the question : What is the meaning of the phrase— "A mediator is not of one f It is unquestionably elliptical, requiring some word or words to be supplied to express its sense clearly. Perhaps the most ob- vious sense is — a "mesites" has no place where there is but one party; for by the very significance of his name and mission, he goes between one party and another, conveying some message from one to the other. The objections to this explanation are {a.) that it is too obvious to need statement, and (6.) that it has no apparent l)caring on Paul's argument. A slight modification Avill bring out a construction free from these and perhaps from all grave objections. The mesites \ms no place where there is ])ut one party concerned in revealing the message — the author Ijvinging it hims(df E. (/., whcti God speakiTto the human soul with his own voice directly, no mesites lias place; tliere is no occasion for his services; he has no mis- sion there. Such was the case Ijctween Gud and Abrahanu Here GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. 39 there was one revealing party and one only. This was God. He was the one. 21. 7s the law then against the promises of God? God forbid : for if there had been a law given -which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23. But before faitli came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Is law then hostile to promise, an antagonistic force working against the system of promise ? Never ; far from it ! Both Avork toward the same ultimate end — the salvation of men — as you may readily see, " for" (gar) if a law had been revealed, able of it- self to give life — the real life of salvation — and so to become a prac- ticable agency for saving men, then, verily, justification might and would have been through law alone. In that case there would be no need of faith and promise to bring salvation to men. " But the scripture," i. e., the doctrine of scripture, consid- ered as the voice of God (as in v. 8) hath shut up all the race — all mankind (the neuter gender — "all things" — indicating here the totality of the race) under sin in order to prepare the way for promise and faith in Jesus to be given to believers. The first word in v. 23 should not be " but" — the Greek particle " de " being simply continuativc, expanding, and reaffirming, but not suggesting any disjunctive or antithetic force. Read therefore : Now, be \t considered. Before faith came, Ave were hedged round about, walled in as prisoners in a dungeon behind gates and bars, imprisoned in darkness and under condemnation, shut up to the one only hope, viz.,. through the system of faith in Jesus Avhich was ultimately to be revealed. 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring ils unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Hence you will see that "the law became our schoolmaster" ("pedagogue" is the Greek word), one who leads the pupil by the hand, to conduct us to Christ that we may be justified by faith in him.* Faith having come, i. e., fully to light so that the system of salvation through fiiith in Christ is" realljr understood, we no longer need law as a pedagogue to bring us into Christian knoAvl- * The Greek student would notice the peculiar strength of the preposition before the word Christ, which is notTrpo^r (to or unto), but t7(T in the sense of into ; i. e., who so leads him /o Christ that he really enters into him in the sense of a most intimate relationship, real communion and participation in his fullness of blessings. 40 GALATIANS. — CHAP. III. edge, since we already have it. We need not press Paul's words to make them signify that the moral law is no longer in force and no longer has a place in the Christian system. He means only that it has fulfilled its function as a pedagogue to introduce us to the gospel scheme — that scheme being already fully revealed. 26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. The argument indicated by the word "for" (gar) in v. 26 would have been more obvious if the translation had marked dis- tinctly the advance as we progress from boys (paides) under a pedagogue to the condition of sons (uioi) — (better than " chil- dren"), for we become "sons of God " through faith in Christ Jesus, and therefore are no longer boys in the lower grade of common-school training. That we are in this sense " sons" is plain, /b/' (gar) as many as have been baptized into Christ — i. e., brought by baptism into full consecration and devotion to Christ our Lord — "have put on Christ" — this expressive phrase denot- ing that we have become like Christ ; have imbibed his spirit ; have been transformed morally into his image, so that we not only look like Christ in external life but are really like him in internal spirit as well. This transformation of character brings all who believe in Christ, not only into one common spirit, but into one common brotherhood of fellowship, in which there is no longer any dis- tinction of Jew and Greek, of bond and free, of male and female ; for all are one in Christ Jesus. Being Christ's own sons by means of this complete moral transformation into his image through faith, ye become the true seed of Abraham — he being the father of all them that believe ; and thus ye become heirs to all the blessings promised to him and to his spiritual posterity. The reader will scarcely need to be reminded of the skill of Paul in this entire argument, considering that his opponents — those emissaries from Jerusalem who had been undermining his (Jalatian converts, were Jews — superlatively Jews — men whose Jewish prejudices and whose admiration for the great names of Jewish liistory were unbounded. It might be difficult perhaps to say whether they admired Aln-aham or Moses most. Now we may ask, "What's in a name?" jNIucli every Av^iy ; and Paul wrote as one who kn(!\v it. The name "Abraham " he tliorouglily aitpropriat<;s to Iiis own use and iK'Iujof. 'i'lic whole argument of this chapter turns on the name and character of Abraham as GALATIANS. — CHAP. IV. 41 the father of all believers, the recipient of promises, " the friend of God " — the man with whom God spake face to face with no intermediate organ of communication. As to the man Moses we may properly notice that Paul cautiously refrains from using his name at all. He really has many things to say that mean !Moses; and nothing, apparently, would be more natural than to bring out his name in antithesis to that of Abraham; but Paul is care- fully reticent as to this name. The sound of it, he well knew, might awaken slumbering associations which would seriously im- peril the force of his argument. Paul had read human nature, not in vain. The points of Paul's argument in this most argumentative chapter may be condensed and arranged thus : The system of justification hy faith, in opposition to that by merit or works, mnst he true — (1) Because the gifts of the Holy Ghost attest it (v. 2-4). (2) It lias been sanctioned by miracles (v. 5). (3) Accords with the manner in which Abraham was justified (v. 6, 7). (4) Fulfills the predictions of Old Testament Scripture, to the efiect that salvation was to come through Christ. (5) Accords with the entire teaching of the Old Testa- ment as to the justifying nature and power of faith. (6) Is the only system adapted to man as a sinner. Thus the argument becomes complete and unanswerable. CHAPTER IV. The condition of the covenant people before their ]\ressiah came is illustrated by the case of a minor before reaching his majority (v. 1, 2) — mere boys and in a certain condition of bond- age— until in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son to re- deem them and bring them into the manifest relation of sons (3-5) ; that they are sons is shown by the voice of God's Spirit in their heart, crying, "Father" (v. 6), so that they are no longer servants but sons of God, and therefore heirs of God through Christ (v. 7) ; having in their former heathen life been in the bondage of superstition to idol gods, how could they turn back again to such bondage ? (v. 8, 9). Jewish ceremonial rites are only such bondage, and Paul is therefore afraid for them (v. 10, 11^. He refers to the reception they gave him at the first; to the blessedness they then professed to experience, and to their strange relapse (v. 12-16); to the spirit of their seducers (v. 17, 18); addresses them with aflfectionate entreaty, concluding with an allegorical illustration in which Hagar and Sarah respectively represent the children of the bond-woman and of the free (v. 21-31). 42 GALATIANS. — CHAP. IV. 1. Now I say, Tliat the lieir, as long as he is a child, dif- fereth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2. But is under tutors and governors until the time ap- pointed of the father. The one purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the inferior con- dition of the Jew under the Mosaic system and the superior con- dition of the Christian under the full light of the gospel. It will be seen that this point is thorougldy vital to Paul's main object, viz., to rebuke the folly of going back from the higher state to the lower — the very thing which the Judaizers were per- suading the Galatian converts to do. First, Paul calls their attention very particularly to the case of minors in age, who, his Greek word suggests, are infants — so known sometimes in law- phrase. Both the law of nature and of all society set off certain of the first years of human life as a condition of minority, nonage, subordination, in which the child, though born to an estate or even to a throne, is yet for the time in the condition of a servant only, with no control of his future estate — no legitimate exercise of his inherited prerogatives. Judging from his present life, you could not know him from a servant. He is under guardians and stewards (the sense of Paul's Greek words), men who protect his person from danger, his developing character fr(jm untoward influences; and also of men who care for the sup- ply of his physical wants — the economy of the household. 3. Even so we, when we were children, Avere in bondage under the elements of the world: 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. The phrase "the elements of the world" should be studied in connection with v. 9 (below) and also with Col. 2: 8, 20, where the same word occurs and in the same sense. It is used of that system of tutelage and training under which (xod placed the covenant peo pie in tfieir minority — a system made up mainly of ceremonial, ritual observances, good for its own time and purpose, but by no means to be desired after minority gives place to the privileges and prerogatives of mature manhood. Its elements are of lower and subordinate character; earthly, not heavenly; savoring of ])ondage, not of freedom. When the time had fully come — the time fixed in the purpose of God; or, which amounts to the same, the time when God's preparatory work was firyshod and the world was ripe for the INIessiah's coming, then God sent forth liis Son to be horn'^ (better than ''made") of woman by miracu- *"Born" should he the word, rather than ^'vmdc" this l)einjj the precise sense of the (ireek word in such a connection. See John 8 : 58 and Kom. 1 : 3. GALATIANS. — CHAP. IV. 43 lous incarnatrion, and to be developed under the law in the sense of fulfilling all its righteousness so that he might redeem men under law and give them the adoption of sons. The perfect obedience of Christ was a condition precedent to his redemption of his people. He must needs fulfill all law that he might be ac- cepted as the Redeemer of sinful men. In V. 5 the two objects to be accomplished by his human birth and by his perfect righteousness are put in the same Greek word of relation (Iva) to the end that (1) he might redeem those under law, and (2) that we might receive adoption as sons. 6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Now because ye are sons and to show that ye are such, God has sent forth his Spirit as he did also his Son (v. 4) [in both cases Paul uses the same word for sending forth]. This Spirit he sends into your heart, inspiring the spontaneous cry, "Father," "Father." He begets the son-feeling, and prompts to its free ex- pression in this cry " Father." Remarkably Paul gives the word " Father," first in the Aramean ("abba") (originally the Hebrew), and then in the Greek — which may indicate that people of every tongue are moved by the same witnessing Spirit to cry unto God, my Father — each in his OAvn language. No testi- mony to our real, legitimate sonship could be more decisive than this heaven-sent inspiration which causes such utterances of the child-feeling to well up out of the heart's sweet confidence in God. No longer, therefore, a servant, but truly a son, thou art really an heir of God through Christ, brought at majority into the actual possession of all the prerogatives of sonship and heirship. Closely translated, the approved text of v. 7 would read, "So that thou art no longer servant but son ; and if son, then also heir to God." The phrase is beautifully terse and expressive. The usage contemplated here as to inheritance is Roman rather than Hebrew. The Galatians were then a Roman province. 8. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. 9. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ? 10. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Paul puts in sharp contrast their state then and now; — then, when in their Pagan superstition, not knowing the true God, 44 GALATIANS. — CHAP. IV. they were in the bondage of slavery to things by nature no gods at all; — and iioio, when, knowing God — or more precisely, being known by him, he having revealed himself to them in the light of his gospel and in the greatness of his love — how could they turn back to the powerless and poor elements of .Tadaism to which they seem to wish themselves again enslaved? Paul makes but small account of the point whether they had been pre- viously Jew or Gentile. In foct, some of them had been of one class and some of the other. Some had been Gentile idolaters ; others, Jews. All alike had been seduced by J udaizing emissa- ries to turn to circumcision and legal doings for salvation. If Jews, how could they turn back to enslave themselves anew* to profitless Judaism— scarcely better at that time than idolatrous paganism ? Some critics (e. g., Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford, etc.) prefer to read v. 10 interrogatively — "Do ye observe?" etc. So read, it doubtless assumes an affirmative answer. Others, with our au- thorized version, read it affirmatively ; but either way, it amounts to the same thing. The affirmative reading seems to be at least unexceptionable, the clause being probably introduced here as presenting the fiicts in their case which caused him so grave ap- prehensions. The text has nothing that indicates a question. — — The sense is — I learn that ye are studiously observing the Mosaic ritual in respect to sacred days, months, times, and years. These were festivals or fasts ; days of the new moon ; the sab- batic year; the year of jubilee. The list may or may not include the Jewish sal)bath. The Mosaic ritual would readily fill out this bill without including it. So much ritual observance ex- cited Paul's gravest apprehensions lest all his Christian labor in their behalf should be lost. 12. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. 13. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. 14. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye de- spised not, nor rejected ; but received rae as an angel of God, eve?i as Christ Jesus. As to Judaism I pray you to become as I am — dead to it as a scheme of justification before God; for despite of all my national, educational sympathies with that system, I have utterly al)an- doned it, and have become as ye are, putting myself upon your ground as (J entiles. What 1 tried so long and so thoroughly, only to find it worthless for the great purposes of salvation, and therefore have forsaken it^ltogether to come upon your ground, — that I beg you to abandon and come where 1 am now. In nothiiig have ye wronged me personally. All our former relations to "each other were entirely pleasant and most gratify- *■ avuOcv, GALATIANS. — CHAP. IV. 45 ing to me, begetting deep love in my heart for you. Moreover ("de") ye know that it was becmtse q/* infirmity of the flesh that I preached to you at the first (or the former time), being detained among you by illness, or by some particular though not specified " infirmity." The sense of the Greek preposition (6ca, with the accusative) must be — not that he preached in a state of much infirmity — as our authorized version might mean — but that his infirmity be- came the occasion of his detention among them, which resulted in his preaching there. Perhaps he had not intended to stop with them at all; or remained longer and preached more than he had intended, in consequence of this " infirmity." The Greek word for "at the first" seems to be equivalent to — the first time, and to imply that he had preached there twice and this was the first of the two seasons, since otherwise there would be no occa- sion for this discrimination. He alludes to this infirmity of the flesh for the purpose of say- ing that they did not despise or reject him on account of it, but received him notwithstanding it as if he had been an angel or even the Lord Jesus himself What this special infirmity was, Paul has nowhere told us. The utmost labors of critical specu- lation have left the question where they found it. It is safe enough to say that it was very annoying to the great apostle (see 2 Cor. 12: 7-9), and moreover, was of a sort that might, in souls of a hard texture, excite, not sympathy but disgust. There- fore Paul puts it to their great credit that they were not repelled by it, but, despite of it, gave him an honorable and most hearty reception. As to the word next before " temptation," there is a conflict of textual authorities between "my" and "your." Tischendorf gives it "your." With "my," the sense would be that this in- firmity became a temptation, in the sense of a great trial, to himself; with "your," the intimation is that while the infirmity was his own, the temptation to feel disgust and aversion came upon them. The verbs he uses — "Ye did not despise" (set at naught), and " did not spit on " (Greek) favor the reading "your" — making the temptation theirs, not his. 15. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. 16. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? With self-gratulation ye spake of your experience then as a "blessedness;" — where is that blessedness now? Ye then thought yourselves most happy in my labors ; how is it now ? — Alas! how changed! For I bear you witness that then, ye would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. — — The inference made by some that Paul's infirmity w^as of his eyes, is quite gratuitous. This expression is proverbial and gives 3 46 GALATIANS. — CHAP. IV. no reliable clue to the nature of his infirmity. Have I become your enemy (in your vieAv) because I have spoken to you the truth ? That which should have made me doubly dear, as the highest testimony I could give of true friendship — has this turned you against me as if it proved me to be your enemy? 17. They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. 18. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. The authorized version here is obscure because the word "af- fect" in the transitive sense as here is obsolete. The sense of Paul's words seems to be — They profess and manifest a fiery zeal for your welfare, but not honorably or benevolently; for their motive is to bring you to honor them as their spiritual leaders. They play the religious demagogue, to get your patron- age. Genuine proselyters are they, of low, sordid spirit. 1 say nothing against true zeal. It is good to have it always — every- where, in a good cause and for a worthy end ; — always (I say) and not merely while I am present with you. The great warmth of your manifested affection toward me then was admirable. Would that ye might have such zeal forever ! 19. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 20. I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice ; for I stand in doubt of you. Remembering their former manifested love, his heart kindles again. "i^t»r whom " (better than "of") I am again in birth pangs of prayer for your salvation. Noticeably, the ultimate end of his prayer is not that they may make profession of Christ, or obtain hope of salvation through him ; — but fundamentally — that Christ may be formed in their heart and life; his Spirit be breathed into them, and his whole character reproduced in theirs. He sought nothing less than their moral transformation into the image and spirit of Jesus Christ. 1 have wished to be present with you now and change my voice to such loving tones as would truly express my heart. That the "change" referred to is toward greater tenderness rather than toward greater severity can not reasonably be questioned. The drift of the context is in the line of tenderest sympathy. It doubtless grieved him that he had been compelled to rebuke them sharply. If he could be present with them, his loving t(mes and tears might obviate the necessity of these stern words. His heart yearns for this result. 21. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22. For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. GALATIANS. CHAP. IV. 47 23. But he who was of the bondwoman was bom after the flesh ; but he of the free woman was by promise. 24. Which things are an allegory : for these are the two covenants ; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answer- eth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. . 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, w^hich is the mother of us all. 27. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. This is professedly an " allegory." Certain historic facts in the family life of Abraham are taken up by Paul to illustrate the two contrasted cases — viz., of those on the one hand who were in bondage to the rites of the Mosaic system ; and on the other of those who were free from that bondage and in the liberty which Christ gives his believing children. Ye who make so great account of the old Hebrew law, why do ye not read that law intelligently ? Look at this : Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac; the former by a bondwoman; the latter, by a free ; the former being the result of the common pas- sion for oflfepring — the suggestion of Sarah being prompted by her fear that Abraham would else never have a son to his name; but the latter was definitely a child of *promise, and of faith in that promise. These two very unlike births may illustrate to us the two covenants ; the former, developed on Mt. Sinai, significant of bondage, i. e., to rites and ceremonies, and represendng the present Jerusalem and her children ; while the latter represents the upper Jerusalem, nobly free, the true mother of all believers, and the same whom Isaiah accosted in such lofty prophetic words of triumph. This reference is to Isa. 54: 1, which foreshadows the joy of the gospel Zion when God shall multiply her spiritual sons and daughters from Gentile nations. Some special criticisms on particular points should be sug- gested. In V. 22 the force of the Greek article should have been pre- served in the translation ; the one — not by a bondmaid, but by " ^Ae " bondmaid ; the other by the — the well-known free woman. In V. 23, the word " buf (Gr. alia) is emphatic: — But, though both these were sons of the same father, yet how unlike ! What a contrast between them ! In v. 25, the best critics agree that Mt. Sinai in Arabic usage bore the name Hagar — a fact which makes Paul's allegory doubly pertinent. The Jerusalem which is above ^ in v. 26 corresponds remarkably with the "New * Gr. avc,}. 48 GALATIANS. — CHAP. V. Jerusalem" of the Revelator John (21: 2), "the holy city, com- ing down from God out of heaven ; " but whether John's concep- tion came from Paul, or Paul's from John, or neither, it were vain to conjecture. In v. 27, the children of her who had been deso- late are declared to be not only more in number relatively, but to be many, absolutely. 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29. But as then he that w^as born after the flesh perse- cuted him that ivas horn after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30. Nevertheless what saith the scripture ? Cast out the bondwoman and her son : for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir wdth the son of the free woman. 31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond- woman, but of the free. We under the gospel system are like Isaac, the sons of the free- woman and children of promise. As there was persecution then — Ishmael's race and Esau's, hostile to the heirs of promise — so is it now and so it will be yet for a season. They of the flesh will hate, and will harm if they can, the sons of the promise. But, as the Scripture said — " Cast out the bondwoman " and give her- self and hers no joint heirship with the free ; so will it be now and ever ; God will show himself on the side of his free sons and daughters. Persecution shall not harm them in the end. »o>»^c CHAPTER V. Commencing here the practical part of his letter, Paul exhorts that they stand fast in their Christian liberty from Jewish bond- ago (v. 1); declares that relying on circumcision, they renouin'e (Jlirist and can have nothing from him (v. 2); being bound to obey the Mosaic law perfectly if they look to it for justification (v. 8); because they have utterly fallen from the salvation M'hich comes through grace (v. 4); that the Spirit inspires the hope of righteousness through faith (v. 5) ; that it is only faith working by love and not circumcision, which avails to give us ('hrist (v. 0) ; they had been running well; who had wrought this change? (v. 7-9) ; but his confidence as to them sliouhl not fail (v. ,10); liis own persecutions have been due to his j»rcaching against (rir- cumcision (v. 11, 12); let them not abuse the liberty to which tiMi gospel had Ciillcd them, but serve in love (v. i;j)^whieh is indeed the fulfilling of the law (v. 14) ; over against which mal- GALATIANS. — CHAP. V. 49 ice works all mischief (v. 15); the flesh and the Spirit natu- rally antagonistic (v. 16, 17) ; but being led by the Spirit, they live so that no law condemns them (v. 18) ; the works of the flesh indicated (v. 19-21); also the fruits of the Spirit (v. 22, 23); how Christ's people should and do live (v. 24-26). 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. In this verse textual authorities vary as to both the words and the punctuation. Tischendorf has it — In (or with) liberty, Christ has made us free. Therefore stand fast, and do not alloAV yourselves to be held again under the yoke of bondage. Other authorities give it as in our authorized version, " Standfast then," etc. In each reading the sense is essentially the same. Christ had exempted them from bondage to Jewish rites ; let them vig- orously assert and maintain this liberty. 2. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. "Behold" — mark this; I Paul, on my authority from God as an apostle, declare to you that if ye become circumcised, Christ shall avail you nothing. Ye lose thenceforth all benefit from Christ. Ye accept another scheme of salvation, and so doing, ye disown Christ, and he will disown you. Ye can in nowise blend together these two opposite schemes of salvation so as to avail yourselves of both. 3. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. The translation should not begin " for," but rather thus : Now again, I testify, etc. Paul speaks as a witness under oath, giv- ing his solemn testimony. To every man, not who has been cir- cumcised, but who now, and from this time onward, resorts to cir- cumcision; for in time past his light on this point may have been but meager ; but under the light I have now given you, I tell you if any man resorts to circumcision as necessary for his salvation, he binds himself to obey the whole law. If he elects salvfltion by means of law instead of salvation by faith in Christ, he must keep that law perfectly, for salvation through works of law can be had only on this principle : " Cursed is he that con- tinuetli not in all things written in the law to do them." 4. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. The form of Paul's statement here is this : Ye have apostatized from Christ all ye who seek justification in and by the law: ye have withdrawn yourselves from Christ and made his aid of no avail to you. Ye have fallen out of the system of grace ; have 60 GALATIANS. — CHAP. V. fallen below its reach, where it can bless you no more, Thia phrase — " fallen from grace " — is often heard in the sense of re- lapsing from a state of gracious acceptance with God by back- sliding in heart, or by immoralities of life. It should be noted that Paul means precisely the case of those who abandon Christ as their ground of justification, and put in his stead the system of law and ritual observances. This change of base is, of course, fundamental. It discards grace, mercy; and fiills back upon legal doings for salvation. 5. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of right- eousness by faith. The logical connection with what precedes ^''for") I take to be this: Your system is totally unlike ours; ye look to your works for justification ; but we, all real Christians, being led by the Spirit, look for our justification through faith in Jesus. The somewhat difficult phrase — " wait for the hope of righteous- ness by faith" — admits of two constructions according as we construe "hope of righteousness" to mean (a) the hoped-for rigliteousness ; or (b) the hope itself of righteousness. Strictly speaking, hope is a state of mind — one which looks with more or less expectation for future good. But it may be used here simply to qualify " righteousTiess," i. e., to indicate that this righteous- ness (justification) is an object of hope. It goes far to support this construction in the present case, that the verb "wait for" itself includes the sense of hope, expectation; and Paul would not say, We hope for the hope. Better therefore is the other construction — We wait earnestly for that hoped-for righteousness wdiich comes to us through faith in Christ. 6. For in eTesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision ; but faith which worketh by love. ^ "For" (this is good logic) we know that in Christ, the being circumcised, or the not being, is of no account whatever; nothing can avail but faith; and note well, it must be that faith which begets love, and becomes spiritually mighty through love. It is not a dead inoperative faith of which Paul speaks and in which he finds salvation. On the contrary, it is such fiiith as makes the truth real to the soul, and therefore wakens it to loving obedience with tlie energy of truth made mighty through the S[)irit. Faith in its Cliristian sense supposes the soul to accept tiie gospid as truly rev(!aling God, and then to put its voluntary powers into harmony with this truth in the spirit of oltcdience and of love. Ho doing, faith works mightil}'' to beget that love. No test for the genuineness of fiith can compare with tliis — its working en- ergetically unto love, and, through love, unto all obedience. 7. Ye did run well ; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth ? 8. This persuasion comdh not of him that callcth you. GALATIANS. — CHAP. V. 51 9. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 10. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye •will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. Ye were running well, when I left you, and onward for a sea- son. Who was it that hindered your progress in this Christian race, by breaking up your road (so the original implies), so that (to drop the figure) ye no longer obeyed the truth ? This persuasion which drew you away from obedience to gos- pel truth is another and totally different scheme for salvation. It never came from the Father who first called you by his grace. Paul is wont to ascribe the call which draws human souls to Christ, not to the gospel preacher, nor specially to Christ ; but to God the Father. In V. 9 we have a familiar proverb, to denote a spreading, per- vading influence, working through society. Whether the" word "little" looks directly to the amount of positive influence at the start, or to the number of individuals who set it in motion, is not altogether clear, nor is it specially important. Paul ex- presses his confidence in them through the grace of the Lord that he will restore the wayward, and visit due retribution upon those Judaizing emissaries who had so disturbed their gospel faith and imperiled their salvation. Paul's words might be held to indicate that there was but one such emissary; yet he may have meant only that every such one, few or many, must bear his own responsibility before God. 11. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offense of the cross ceased. 12. I would they were even cut off which trouble you. Returning to Christ ye may incur persecution from those bigoted Jews. Such is my experience. They persecute me be- cause I oppose circumcision. The cross of Christ is an offense to them. Oh, that those who thus "trouble" you (unsettle, Gr.), would sever themselves from all connection with you, with- draw from your communion and leave you to an undisturbed gos- pel life. So, in my view, should v. 12 be construed. Some have put a very different sense upon Paul's word, viz., that he wished they would not only circumcise but mutilate themselves. Nothing short of the most peremptory demand in the word he used can justify such a sense — so abhorrent to the character of Paul and to the spirit of the gospel. Such demand is not here. 13. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 52 GALATIANS. — CHAP. V. 15. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. A blessed call is this indeed to the enjoyment of Christian li])erty, exempting you from burdensome, profitless bondage to defunct Judaism, and introducing you (if you will) into the freedom of the sons of God, through Christ. Only beware lest ye pervert this liberty into an occasion and temptation to the flesh, llather let it be enjoyed under the demands and the regu- lating influences of real love. The only noble, blessed life is the serving of each other in true love. Then ye are self-blessed and a blessing to others to the utmost extent of your power. For the supreme moral law given of God to man is summarily comprised in this one precept: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," which implies that ye estimate his happiness as ye do your own, and set your heart to promote it, even as ye do your own. Even through Moses, God gave his law this concise and beautiful form (Lev. 19: 18). Jesus put the substance of the second table of the decalogue in the same terms (Matt. 22 : 39), and Paul to the Romans (13: 9) still repeats the same incomparable words. This standard of measurement is always near and well enough known — the love we hear ourselves. Such love, therefore, is what the law requires of us toward our neighbor; which implies that we rejoice in his good as we are wont to in our own ; take his in- terests into account as we do our own ; are careful never to in- fringe upon them, more than upon our own, and love to labor for his Avelfare as we love to work for our own. It is very easy to believe, indeed, it is impossible to doubt that this is the real spirit of the heavenly world ; the sort of love and the measure of the love that reigns eternally there, and makes that world of love a world of pure and perfect blessedness. But if a spirit totally opposite to this be indulged; if, giving full scope to selfishness, ye are biting and devouring your neighbors, take heed lest ye bo consumed by each other. Mutual biting and devouring must end in this — the utter ruin of society; the utter wreck of human hap- piness! It comes in the end to social cannibalism — men preying upon each other, till nothing more remains to devour. 10. Tli'is I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17. For the flesh lustcth against the Spirit, and the Sjiirlt against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other : so that ye can not do the things that ye would. 18. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. This I would say to you most emphatically: "Walk in the P|)irit, and ye shall in nowise fulfill the lusts of the flesh. This will save, you from the power of your (h'slily lusts. For the Spirit of God and the; flesh of man ar(! aritagonistie forces, each working against the other; — the Spirit of God inspiring love; the flesh of GALATIANS. — CHAP. V. 53 man inspiring hate, selfishness — all low and base passions. These lie against each other in hostile attitude (so the Greek word sig- nifies)— to the result that ye do not what ye would — so that the reason why your good purposes and endeavors so often fail is to be found in this counter-working of human flesh against God's Spirit. If ye were indeed thoroughly led by the Spirit, ye would not be condemned under the law. This I take to be the apostle's meaning. J judge he can not mean to deny that Chris- tians, however holy, are still subject to the demands of the divine law. The clause must be interpreted in harmony with Paul's often expressed views as to the law of God, which everywhere assert its authority over human souls ; e. g., in v. 14 above. Moreover, this clause should be placed by the side of the declara- tion in this very context (v. 23), "Against such there is no law" — no law condemns such "fruits of the Spirit." What it is to " walk in the Spirit," it becomes supremely vital to understand and to put continually in practice. It assumes that we labor to learn the mind of the Spirit; that we study his will in his word ; that we hold the heart joyfully open to his gentlest monitions; that we never resist his manifest teachings; that we reverently honor his mission and count it our supreme blessed- ness to be perpetually taught and led of him. 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20. Idolatry, withcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like : of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. This enumeration should not be taken as exhaustive, including all possible " works of the flesh," but rather as giving specimens for illustration, selecting the most prevalent then and there. — These vices and such as these are "works of the flesh" — works to which man's fleshly impulses impel him. They are the result of passions and appetites, working without restraint and control. The oldest textual authorities omit "adultery;" yet none can question that this is one of the perpetual works of the flesh. "Fornication" was fearfully prevalent in those regions of Asia, of which prevalence we have incidental proof in the fact that it is specially condemned in the decision of the great Jerusalem Coun- cil (Acts 15 : 20) in a document which names no other one of the vices grouped together here as "works of the flesh." I forewarn you now, as I have heretofore, that those who do such things shall never inherit the pure kingdom of God. The Eevelator John, in his description of the heavenly city, makes this fact intensely emphatic (Rev. 21 : 8, 27 and 22 : 15). So by the very nature of the case it must forever be. 54 GALATIANS. — CHAP. V. 22. Bat the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Sleekness, temperance : against such there is no law. While the ejffects attributed to the flesh are " works," those be- gotten of the Spirit are " fruits." Works presuppose no other a.irency ; the base man's fleshly appetites are direotly the doers ; himself alone is responsible. But to express, the qualities born in human souls of the Spirit, the word "fruits" is better, bein<:; more sui^gestive of influences from without himself; — culture and inspiration — of which the blessed Spirit of God is the sole author. All moral good in lost souls comes from Him ; let all glory be his alone, forever ! Of these fruits "love" stands legitimately first — love, the center and inspiring force of all the rest, evermore leading the whole train of Christian graces. — "Joy" conies next fitly as the legiti- mate outcome of love. Never can there be love without joy as its effect in the soul. All true love is joyous. — "Peace" should perhaps be taken here, not specially in its relation to God — the peace of mind Godward which does indeed "pass all understand- ing;" but rather in contrast with the "works of the flesh" named above — peace in society; peace in the social harmony of loving 30uls in all their most common relations — totally unlike the ■wrath, strife, collisions, quarrels, which fill so large a place in the category of " works of the flesh." — Of the rather unusual word translated "meekness," EUicott says: "Something more than non-irascil)ility toward men, viz., a deep submission toward God, and having its seat in the inner spirit." "Temperance" (as usual in the epistles) in the broad sense of controlling all the fleshly appetites and passions ; and by no means restricted to that special appetite which craves alcoholic stimulants. Not temper- ance therefore in our technical sense exclusively, but in the much broader sense of self-mastery in general — the subjection of every fleshly appetite to the rule of reason, conscience, and God. Such fruits and those in whom they appear, no law condemns. They are in harmony with all good law ; — never in opposition. 24. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the aflfections and lusts. 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 20. Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. "Have crucified" — not merely intend, resolve, endeavor, to do this; but have done it. They who arc "of Christ Jesus" — who belong to him as his adopted sons and daughters, and who con- sequently submit themselves to Him to be led by his indwelling Spirit — all these have crucified tlie flesh, i. c, in the special sense of subjugating, slaying unto death, its vile affections and lusts. They have renounced the dominion of those propensities and have disowned allegiance to those masters, and have put them- GAL ATIANS.— CHAP. VI. 55 selves under the dominion of Christ through his Spirit. To this they are mightily drawn by their love for the Crucified One. "If we live in the Spirit," he being the author and source of our spiritual life, peace, and joy, then let us walk also in that Spirit, conforming all our activities — internal and external — to his will. The verb for walk is somewhat stronger than the other word more often used for walking about, inasmuch as it carries the accessory sense of walking by rule, conforming one's self to a definite standard; in the present case, the revealed will or law of the Spirit. Such is the sense of the same verb in Gal. 6: 16 — " As many as walk according to this rule," etc. " Be not vainglorious," the besetting sin of Pharisaism, and therefore, no doubt, manifested forcibly by those Judaizing emis- saries. The outcome of such ambition for human glory would be mutual provocation in the case of the superior class; euA^y in the bosoms of the inferior. Ambition for pre-eminence as it some- times manifests itself in religious circles is an insidious and ter- rible poison, often showing itself in detraction, evil-speaking, or in envy and jealousy — all most unlike the " fruits of the Spirit." »tless sug- gested the perfection of this redemptive work, wrought out by the somewhat distinct yet harmonious and united energies of Father, Son and Iloly Ghost. EPHESIANS. — CHAP. III. 85 CHAPTER III. Addressing them as then a prisoner in their behalf (v. 1), he is diverted to speak of the special commission given him by rev- elation to bear the gospel to Gentiles (v. 2-4) ; an extension of its blessings, long almost unknown (v. 5, 6), jbut through God's great grace committed to Paul that he might preach these un- searchable riches of Christ among Gentiles (v. 7, 8), which limit- less extension of gospel blessings would reveal to all the hosts of heaven God's manifold wisdom (v. 9, 10), according to his eternal purpose (v. 11, 12). Therefore let them not be disheartened by what he suffers for them (v. 13). The blessings he implores of God in their behalf (v. 14-21). 1. For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, This entire chapter is a parenthesis — a digression suggested by this allusion to his then pending imprisonment at Rome because he would preach Christ's gospel to Gentiles. Following out this suggestive fact, he fills the chapter with consecutive thoughts and experiences hinging upon his gospel mission to the Gentile world, and leading on to the great plans of God which had pro- vided such mercy for the wide world. The construction of v. 1 is not this — For this cause I Paul am now the prisoner, etc., but rather this: For this cause I Paul, being the prisoner of Christ for you Gentiles, beseech you (chap. 4: 1) that ye walk worthily of such a calling as ye have from God. The first words here — " For this cause " — refer back to the close of the previous chapter, meaning : For the sake of building you up into that glorious spiritual temple. We must not forget that Paul wrote this letter from Rome during that very imprison- ment which grew out of his arrest at Jerusalem because he preached to Gentiles (see Acts 21 : 27 and onward through chap- ters 22-28). 2. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward : 3. How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery ; (as I wrote afore in a few words ; 4. Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowl- edge in the mystery of Christ,) 5. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the 86 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. III. same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: " If ye have heard " scarcely implies the least doubt as to their havini!; heard, but modestly recalls the circumstances to their minds. "Dispensation" — the trust or commission given me to publish God's rich grace toward you. "The mystery" (v. 3) is so called because long unrevealed, though now^ made known — the mvsterious thing being the equal share in gospel privileges which God gives to Gentiles. After long ages of exclusion, all covenants and promises being restricted to Abraham and his pos- terity, the truth at last came forth to light, that Gentiles are to be fellow-heirs of all these promised blessings, and are to have the whole gospel equally with Jews. This mystery, Paul says, (v. 3) was first made known to him by special revelation. This he had already spoken of briefly — i. e., in this epistle (not in some other). Compare 1: 9 and 2: 13, and especially 3: 6. In V. 5 "the prophets" must be those of the Christian, not of the ancient Jewish, age. In v. 6 the point of equal fellowship is emphasized by repetition : a common heirship ; in a common body, the church ; by a common partaking of all the promises. 7. Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 8. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ; 9. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11. According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord : 12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Paul can not think of his great gospel commission to the Gen- tiles without being overwhelmed with a sense of the miracle of mercy manifested upon hiiu in that though less than the least of all saints, he should be honored with this service of preaching among Gentiles Christ's riches of grace — riches that no human thought can measure — no human speech adequately express — all untraceable, unsearchable ! The ultimate " intent" of this great gospel scheme (v. 10) is to make known throughout all licavcjn the manifold, endlessly va- ried, wisdom of Cud, and to make this known in and ihruujk the EPHESIANS. — CHAP. III. 87 church, in their passive, not active, relations ; i. e., not through what they do, but through what God does in regard to them, the special point in mind here being the great enlargement of the gospel scheme during the Christian age as contrasted with its apparent limitations during the ages before Christ came. All this was in accordance with God's eternal purpose — was not any new or after-thought, but Avas fully embraced in the gospel scheme as originally framed in the mind of God. It was wrought out — carried into effect — in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom therefore we have all freedom of utterance, the freest ex- pression of our heart's desire — an open and easy access with all confidence by reason of our faith in him. 13. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribula- tions for you, which is your glory. Wherefore (/. e., because we have such a Savior and such ground for confidence in him), I implore (better than "desire") you not to lose heart in my tribulations for you ; — not to be dis- couraged because of them nor oppressed with sympathy for my sufi'erings, because these sufferings arc really your glory. They come of your exalted gospel privileges, and of the fact that God loves you so well as to let his servants suffer bitter persecution for your sake. 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, " For this cause" (that ye may be full of courage and hopeful- ness) I bow my knees in prayer. After " the Father," the best manuscripts omit the Avords — "of our Lord Jesus Christ." The prominent thought here is of God, not as the Father of Jesus Christ, but as the Father of every branch of his great family of saints whether in earth or heaven. In Paul's Greek the word for "family" suggests the /aif/icr at the head of it. All this great family in every branch takes name from its Father, as all chil- dren should. They are God's sons and daughters— a godly people. 16. That he would grant you, according to the^ riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man ; 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18. May be able to com pretend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; 19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. 88 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. III. Here are grouped the special objects of his prayer in their be- half:— first, that the blessings given may be in measure ''accord- ing to the riches of his glory" — "his glory" signifying here that which he accounts his chief glory, viz., his ineffable love — or if we say, the fullness of his divine perfections, still, of these, love is evermore central and supreme, pervading all with its unspeak- able beauty and excellence. According to the wealth of this incomparable love, Paul prays that God's blessings upon them may be measured. The specific blessings asked for begin with spiritual strength — that they may be mightily strengthened by the Spirit whose very name and synonym is "power" (Luke 24: 49 and Acts 1: 8). "In the inner man" — not the outer; not the body, but the soul. (See 2 Cor. 4: 16); — or, which looks to the same re- sult, and is God's way of making the Christian heart "strong" by the Spirit: — "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" — this indwelling signifying precisely the manifestation of Jesus which himself promised (John 16: 13-15 and 15: 26) as to be wrought by the Holy Ghost. Faith in Christ's promise to this effect brings the blessing. The place of this abode is to be tho lieart — the power being not of words warbling on the tongue ; not of speculations revolving in the brain; but Christ's own presence abiding in the heart — the heart as the seat of love, the organ of man's controlling will-power, the home for the spirit of self-consecration and holy purpose. This heart of man Paul prays may be imbued through and through with the power of a present Christ. With love in your heart at the very bottom of your character — as the root to the tree or the foundation to the building that rests upon it — my prayer is that ye may be ablo — may be made strong. Paul's word means — to comprehend as with firm grasp of mind that shall fully take in the utmost di- mensions of Christ's love — its breadth and length and depth and height — as if Paul would help us to great conceptions by sug- gesting material size and vastness. But his precise thought is that ye may know the love Christ has for you though that love surpasses your utmost reach of mind or utmost sense of great- ness— to the end that ye may be filled — not precisely "with" but ''unto all the fullness of God;" — filled till you reach this ut- termost limit — viz., all the fullness which belongs to God — which is provided for in his storehouse of boundless supply. What grand conceptions are these of the depth and glory of the Savior's love — of the sublime possibilities of compre- hending it in thought; of knowing it till all its power shall take effect in the soul, and we are filled indeed up to the measure of God's unspeakable fullness ! For all this, Paul testifies tlftit he prays in their behalf, that it may become real in their personal experience. 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding a])un- dantly above all that we ask or think, according to the pnver that worketh in us, EPHESIiVNS. — CHAP. III. 89 21. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. The crowning glory of this prayer is that it is no idle wishing; it asks for no merely imaginary but never to be real- ized blessings ; does not raise expectation above the power of the Great Giver to fulfill; but addresses One who is gloriously able to do all — ^yea far more than all, we can ask or even conceive in thought. Paul speaks of this great power in God to do for his people as being " according to the power that works with energy within us " — words which must be supposed to refer as usual, to the same power which God wrought upon Christ in raising him from the dead and exalting him to sit at his own right hand in heaven. The power that could so easily accomplish all this in Jesus Christ is proved to be equal to any result it may propose to achieve for his people. To the great God, having such power, capable of working with all this inexpressible energy, committed to do abundantly above all we can ask and think of— let glory be given in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations of aions of aions — long as the everlasting cycles of eternal duration shall move on ! As there is no conceivable limit to the riches of his grace : no limit to the vastness of his power to uplift, sustain and bless his believing loving children, so let there be no limit of time or of measure to the glory ascribed to his great name! — And to this prayer, let all people — all the vast populations of earth and of heaven — say amen ! Pausing here a moment to retrace the course of thought in this wonderful chapter with an eye toward the particular truth which had such suggestive poAver on the mind and heart of Paul, inspiring such prayer and such lofty conceptions of Christ's love and of God's fullness of grace and plenitude of power, we may readily find it in that " mystery made known to him by special revelation," viz., the long unrevealed plan of God under which the gospel was to go to the Gentile world. That Gentiles were to be fellow-heirs with the seed of Abraham ; of the same " body of Christ," the church ; partakers of all the promises made in Christ through the gospel ; — this it was that filled the mind of Paul; that lifted his soul as upon the ground-swell of the ocean; that bore him up to the height of these lofty conceptions and laid open to his view the immeasurable glories of the gospel. In this grand enlargement of the gospel plan, he saw the wealth of God's mercies and the glory of his great thoughts of love for our race. It bore him back into those sublime prophecies of Isaiah who had risen to the height of this great argument ages before, and who had felt the sublime inspiration of this theme — salvation for the whole Gentile world! Remarkably these two master minds — each in his respective dispensation, Isaiah in the old and Paul in the new, were drawn into a common sympathy and lifted to a common sublimity of thought and of emotion under the power of this same great truth. It scarcely need be said that the 90 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. thought of Paul, as of Isaiah, was — not of a gospel planned of God for the meager few out of the Gentile world, but for the surging masses ; not for certain limited localities but for " the ends of the earth ; " not merely sending forth some scattered rays of divine light and knowledge, but rather of the earth made "full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." >j«4c CHAPTER IV. Paul exhorts to a worthy Christian life (v. 1) ; in real humility and forbearance (v. 2), and specially in the spirt of unity and the fellowship of love (v. 3)j because the church is one body; Christians have one hope (v. 4), with one common Savior and one divine Father (v. 5, 6) ; albeit there are diversities of spiritual gifts (v. 7). Christ has given diverse classes of spiritual teachers variously endowed by himself (v. 8-11); all for the purpose of perfecting the Christian life of his people (v. 12) into the unity of fiiith and of Christian doctrine (v. 13) and full development from Christian childhood to a strong and true manhood (v. 14) ; growing up into Christ who fills the functions of head to the spiritual body (v. 15, 16). Therefore, let them not walk as the heathen (v. 17-19), but as they have learned of Christ, in the new life (v. 20-24), truthful toward each other (v. 25) ; self-controlled in temper (v. 26, 27) ; not stealing (v. 28), nor talking foolishly (v. 29), nor grieving the Spirit (v. 30) ; but eschewing all mali- cious selfishness (v. 31); cherishing all kindness, forgiveness and mutual love (v. 32). 1. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-sufiering, forbearing one another in love ; 3. Endeavoring to keep the iniity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul resumes his exhortation at the point where he broke off at the beginning of chapter 3, putting his Avords in this emphatic order: "Entreat you, therefore, do 1, the prisoner of the Lord, that ye walk worthily of the calling by which ye are called" (as ] have been showing you). 1'he logical term "therefore" looks back for its ground to the points made in the previous chapter : Inasmuch as ye have such a gospel, welcoming you to an equal participation with .lews in all its privileges ; inasmuch as ye have such a Savior, miglity beyond your utmost tliought to do abund- antly more than ye can ask or think; rich in his love more than ye can ever comprehend ; O then, see that ye walk worthily of EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. 91 such a calling, into such fellowship with Christ and communion with all his saints ! "Prisoner of the Lord" should be "^?^ the Lord," the sense being not, I, the Lord's prisoner; but I, though indeed a prisoner, yet am none the less ''in the Lord," and find such living in my Lord to be my paradise. Be not, therefore, afilicted because of my imprisonment, but rather think of me as evermore joyful be- cause " in the Lord'' Moreover, live ye, not in a spirit of pride or overbearing haughtiness as toward others, but in great humil- ity and meekness. "Forbearing one another" means exercising self-restraint as to all evil passions toward each other, and doing this in love. La- boring with all diligence to maintain the feeling of oneness which is wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost — the feeling that ye are one pre-eminently in mutual love — in the bonds which Chris- tian peace wreathes around kindred souls. It was not the unity that is outward only, in visible organization, however desirable that may be, but the unity of mutually loving hearts. 4. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. The question whether we are to read, There is one body, or Ye are one body (each of which would yield a good sense), is prop- erly decided by the demands of v. 5, 6, to which we must supply " There is." Therefore, legitimately, we must fill the ellij^sis in this way throughout the passage: "There is one body" — the church — and but one; "one Spirit" — the Holy Ghost; and ye are all called in one glorious hope — one and the same to every be- lieving soul, So. also, there is one Lord Jesus Christ whom all alike obey ; one faith in the exercise of which each saved soul must receive him ; one baptism with its significance common to all, viz., a solemn pledge and covenant of consecration to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and with a common sym- bolic significance of moral cleansing, water being ever the scrip- tural symbol of the Holy Spirit. So also there is one God and Father of all, manifesting himself in the threefold relationof being over (above) all as Father ; throvf/h all in his revealing power as Son ; and in all by his indAvelling presence as Spirit. That there is a purposed allusion to the manifestations of God in his Trinity, presented here under these three prepositions (" over ;' " through;" " in") is at least probable on two grounds: (a.) That such allusions to the Trinity are a habit of Paul's thought (e. g., 1 Cor. 12: 4-6); (6.) That we find the conception of a Trinity in this passage: "One Spirit" (v. 4); "one Lord" (v. 5); and "one God the Father" (v. 6). • _ The bearing of these points upon the duty of Christian fellow- ship in love is obvious. There cun be no clique of Christians, 92 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. outside the one church, Christ's body, inspired by some other spirit than the one Holy Ghost; obeying some other Lord than the one Lord Jesus. Such other group or organization of clan- nish saints, not in sympathy with the one body of Christ's people, is all Utopian — wholly absurd. 7. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also de- scended first into the lower parts of the earth ? 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; The word "but" (Greek "de") opening this sentence, is sug- gestive of a gentle turn of thought, as if Paul would say : Al- though in every thing vital we have oneness, yet in certain very minor points we have variety — viz., in the gifts of the Spirit. His gracious endowments are diverse in kind and in measure, and are granted to us variously. Jesus has been pleased to be- stow them in this variety, as Paul has said in more detail (1 Cor. 12: 4-11; 2 Rom. 12: 6-8). In this connection Paul sustains this great fact by appeal (v. 8, 9) to ancient Scripture (viz., Psalm 68: 19) — a passage which alludes, historically, to the victory won and the spoils taken by the conquering hosts of Israel when Kabbah of Ammon fell before them, and the spoils were distrib- uted as rewards to brave officers and men. In these words Paul finds an admirable illustration of the conquering Messiah, vic- torious over sin and Satan, rising to his own immortal throne in the heavens, and thence distributing these gifts of the Holy Ghost among his people. Verses 9 and 10 are a brief digression to say that Christ's rising and ascension involve a previous descent into what are called " the lower parts of the earth." In interpreting this phrase, we must choose between (a) the grave — Hades — and (/>) the earth below as contrasted with the heavens above, in which case the passage refers to his incarnation and birth in human flesh. The former is to be preferred specially because there is an obvious antithesis with his rising from the dead as well as liis ascension into heaven, but no clear allusion to his human birth. — He who thus went doivn is the same who soon after went vp, far above all the lower heavens, to the very throne of the universe, to be supreme over all, his dominion actually filling the universe. The English translation of v. 1 1 is infelicitous, inasmuch as it so naturally suggests false meanings — either that Christ gave to some churches, apostles; to others, [)rophots, etc., or that he gave a few apostles and a few prophets — a few but not many. EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. 93 Whereas the words of Paul mean only that Christ gave these several classes of church oflScers and teachers, viz., apostles, prophets, evangelists, etc. The connecting words denote both — and; i. e., these; and those; and those. The prophets here are certainly those of the gospel age — not of ancient Hebrew times — the word not necessarily implying prediction, but often only that they spake under inspiration, to instruct, exhort, etc. Evangelists difiered from pastors in the wider, less restricted range of their labors, being a class of itinerant preachers, of grade, however, subordinate to apostles. Paul requested Timothy to do this work at Ephesus (2 Tim. 4: 5); Philip whose name appears among the seven (Acts 6 : 3,5) is called " the evange- list" (Acts 21: 8). Pastors and teachers are less broadly dis- tinguished from each other than the previously named classes. Probably the lines of distinction between them were not sharply drawn. Some critics suppose that the pastors had more responsi- bility in the government than the teachers had. 12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ : 13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: In V. 12 the punctuation with a comma after "saints" assumes three distinct and co-ordinate objects in this verse; whereas the words used by Paul indicate one nearer, but subordinate object, a means for the attainment of the other two — this nearer one, "the perfeoting of the saints;" yet this perfecting was for the further purposes of a better gospel ministry, and all, for the edi- fying of Christ's body, the church. Then v. 13 defines in more detail the results of this edification of the church, viz., to bring all the membership into the oneness of Christian belief — belief in the one true system of gospel truth ; or, what is essentially the same thing in other words, into the full knowledge of the Son of God. Also unto a perfectly developed and mature Christian manhood, quite advanced beyond being babes — even to that adult development for which full supplies of grace from Christ make all needful provision. ' 14. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive ; 15. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Mm in all things, which is the head, even Christ : 16. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketli increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. 94 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. That we be no longer infants or even children in knowledge and Christian stability; storm-driven and tossed about with every gust of wind — the conception being that these doctrinal fancies — errors of opinion — are stiff winds driving the weak mariner as they will ; and these put in motion by artful men, in their cun- ning craft, working toward and unto fatal deception — a fatal mis- leading of the mind. Paul's words are not precisely " whereby they lie in wait," etc., but working toward ruinous error. Such are the results of reckless, wayward speculations which really subvert gospel truth. Over against these misleading errors, allied to falsehood, not to truth, speak ye the truth in love. Strictly Paul's word means — being fully truthful in love. Hold the truth and live out the truth in a life of love, as opposed to the ambition and the cunning craft of men supremely and only selfish. This love ensures a healthful growth which will be of course growth into Christ, i. e., into the knowledge of Christ and into living union with him. That Christ is the head and his people the other members of the body is a slight modification of the common figure which represents the church as the very body of Christ. Here the head is thought of as the central vital force for the whole body, in closest organic connection, sending its currents of life-power down through nerves and blood, and the whole frame-work of the system. The whole body is knit together and made firm by a wonderful machinery of bones, tendons, nerves, joints, tissues of various sort — all infused with vital force from the head. The re- sult is the perfect growth and development of the body built up (spiritually considered) in Christian love. 17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19. Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greedi- ness. AVith the most solemn emphasis Paul aflBrms as a witness under oath before a court of justice; and to heighten even this, he affirms it ''in the Lord" — in his behalf, as one speaking not for man, but for God and for Jesus Christ. Deeply in earnest he implores them to walk no longer as heathen do — which he descri))es as being *'in the vanity of the intelligence" — cvery-where the Old Testa- ment conception of idolatry — all its notions, vain, empty, void of sense, madly foolish, wickedly over-riding the good sense with which God lias endowed the human mind. So Paul in Ivom. 1:21, 22 also Jer. 10: 8. Thus is " their understanding darkened," and they are alienated into dislike and aversion so as really to hate that EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. 95 pure life which God gives to those who will, by regeneration into moral purity. From such life of God., they become utterly estranged in heart through the working of two causes — their ig- norance, and their moral obduracy — the ignorance being oc- casioned by the obduracy, and this obduracy being intensified by the fearful immorality of their lives — as Paul proceeds to say. "Past feeling" — dead to all just moral sensibility; having no sense of the shame, the meanness, or the guilt of such vices — in wantonness they abandon themselves te the working out of all manner of uncleanness, in the spirit which forever cries more, more ! As to the sense of the last word of v. 19, translated " with greediness," there is perhaps a slight question whether to take it in its usual and special sense, covetousness ; or in its more general sense, greed, the spirit which forever craves and demands. The latter seems to me preferable here, since it is not naturally the name of a new form of sin, but of a new element in its nature. This view of heathenism as to its mental fatuity ; its moral, self-made blindness; and its drift into all vices and crimes — may be compared with Paul's somewhat more extended description in Rom. 1 — a mournful showing: but alas! where is it not found true? 20. But ye have not so learned Christ ; 21. If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus : 22. That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts ; 23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. A model of blended force and beauty is this — " Ye have not so learned Christ ! " If ye have learned Christ at all, ye have found something utterly unlike this. There is nothing of this sort in Jesus Christ. " If indeed ye have heard Him speak," Paul makes the word Him emphatic by position ; " If Him ye have heard." But we need not restrict this hearing to Christ's living voice from his personal presence, but may properly extend it to his voice speaking by his Spirit through human lips, this being for all practical purposes the very voice of Jesus. Still expand- ing the thought-— " and in him have been taught" — i. d., in uni- son with him, according to the common usage of the words " in Christ.^' As the very truth is in respect to Jesus, Paul being very specific and careful that what they accept as gospel truth should be the very truth as to Jesus, in harmony with his real character and especially with his manifestations as Jesus — the personal Savior of lost sinners. Paul then proceeds to give the moral aspects and bearings of this gospel truth (v. 22), viz., that in respect to their entire former life they put off the old man — 96 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. the entire old character — every thing that belonged to his spirit, impulses, motives, activities — all of which were morally rotten in fleshly lusts ; and put on the new man — a spirit renewed and made godlike in righteousness and real holiness. The interme- diate clause, V. 23 (intermediate between putting off the old and putting on the new), should have special attention. Its exposi- tion turns upon the word " spirit," which ma^r be either the hu- man spirit or the divine. Our authorized version assumes it to re- fer to the human, but there is strong reason for referring it to the divine — thus : And be renewed (regenerated) by the Spirit of God, whose sphere of action is in the intelligence, working through the truth unto the transformation of the will — the "heart" — into God's moral image. Beyond question, Paul some- times conceives of the human intelligence ^' as being renewed by the Holy Ghost {e. g., Rom. 12 : 2) : " Be ye transformed b^ the renewing of your 7nind." Moreover, a reference to the Divine Spirit's agency is entirely legitimate here. The omission of it could not be easily accounted for. This construction of v. 23 is held by some of the best modern critics (Ellicott, Meyer, etc.). Col. 3: 10 should be compared: "Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." 25. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor : for we are members one of another. What does the gospel renewal and the new life of the new man imply ? Paul proceeds to answer this great question with some detail. First of all — truthfulness. Let every man speak truth with his neighbor, and let every human being be a neighbor as to this duty — for we are not to think of ourselves as severed from the rest of mankind, with no interest to care for but those of our personal selves. Rather we are members of one another, parts of one whole — the great unit of mankind. It is perhaps possible that Paul's thought is upon the Christian unity of all Christ's peo- ple in his one body — the church ; but I see no reason to limit the demand for truthfulness to our Christian brethren. All men, and not Christians only, are our neighbors. 26. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath- 27. Neither give place to the devil. Both these verbs are in form imperatives — as our version has them; but the second — "Do not sin" — is made specially emphatic by the Greek negative. I assume the sense of the passage to be this: When there is occasion for a just indignation (as there may be and sometimes will be), no law of God forbids your feeling such indignation; yet, Paul would say — My special admonition to you is that ye hold it well under control; let it be transient; shut down sharply upon it, and let not the sun set ere it be brought *■ vovg" EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. 97 under. Let not the sun go down upon your mind under irritor lion. Let excited feeling cool off lest it ensnare you on into sin. Neither give place to the devil — as you would do if you were to indulge these uprisings of just indignation too far or too long. Satan would seize his opportunity to ensnare you to your hurt, 28. Let him that stole steal no more : but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. The moral system of the gospel works a complete revolution in regard to another vice, theft. Let every man not only cease to steal, but put those same thievish hands of his own (so the improved text) to useful labor upon some good thing, so that he may not only supply his own wants by honest toil, but have somewhat to give to the needy. The transformation from stealing the fruits of other men's toil to working with his own hands not only for an honest living but for benevolent giving as well, is great and blessed — a fine illustration of what the gospel does to regenerate society ; to dry the streams of human misery and pour forth new streams of wholesome life. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. The law of Christian morals extends to all spoken words ; none can escape this responsibility. The word "corrupt" is trans- ferred in usage from the material world to the spiritual, meaning in the former sphere, rotten, offensive ; and in the latter, analo- gously the same — injurious in its influence, offensive, repulsive to all right moral tastes and perceptions. It stands here in antithesis to that which is good for useful edifying and which would minis- ter pleasure and profit to the hearer. Perhaps " grace " should not be closely restricted to its highest Christian sense; for in its general sense of favor, good, happiness, it yields a very pertinent meaning in this connection. The doctrine is — Let your words conduce to the happiness of others. For this noble end is speech given. Therefore let no bad words escape your lips ; but if there be any word good for edification in some useful line, that is the word to speak; fail not to speak it. "A word spoken in due sea- son, how good it is!" (Prov. 15: 23). "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver " (Prov. 25 : 11). 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit" — for He loves you and rejoices in your purity inasmuch as your heart is the temple of his abode, and He must therefore be grieved by your bad words or bad tem- per. Note the heightened force which comes from the very names — "the Holy Spirit" — the Spirit of God;" — such a spirit 98 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. IV. must be not only offended but deeply grieved by words or by deeds uncongenial to his purity, his tenderness, his benevolence. The more should we feel the force of this admonition because it is the office of this Spirit to " seal you to the daj^ of redemp- tion." This ensealing by the Spirit is particularly defined in Eph. 1 : 13, 14 and 2 Cor. 1 : 22; but especially in Rom. 8 : 16. These passages show that this sealing is the mark put upon (or better loithin) the Christian heart — not that God may be able to recognize us, but that we may be able to recognize ourselves as his children and know our title to our inheritance from God. To grieve the Spirit, therefore, might obscure this title, and bring darkness, not to say, leanness upon our own souls. The tokens of his ensealing will become dim, or, as the case may be, quite eflFaced. 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32. And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for- giving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath for- given you. The things named in v. 31 will offend and grieve the Spirit of God ; the qualities of character put in v. 32 will be congenial to his presence. We can not well doubt that they stood thus before Paul, both alike suggested by their relation to the Holy Spirit of God who should find a congenial home in every Christian heart. Hence a freshened interest should attach to this exhorta- tion in both its parts — the points forbidden and the points en- joined. Nor let us ever forget that the true light in which "christians should estimate these bad and those good tempers and deeds is precisely this — their bearing upon the gentle, mild, lov- ing Spirit that would dwell within our hearts if he could ! "Bitterness" is the opposite of love. It describes a certain temper or mood of mind, in contrast with kindness toward each other. " Wrath " is the effervescence, the boiling up and flow- ing over of this bitter spirit. "Anger" suggests a more settled state of malign feeling, a more permanent ill-will. "Clamor" will be its outbreaking expression. "Evil-speaking" (Greek, blasphemy) in this connection should be speaking evil of men — not, as often elsewhere, speaking recklessly or even defiantly of God. The law of reason and of God in regard to saying any thing ill of fellow-men is — Never except iclieii and an the greater good requires; never beyond what real good demands. The ill that others do may sometimes be spoken of; but never in the spirit of self-complacency; never from pride, never from ill-will toward the ill-doing party, ]jut only to do them good, or to lessen the harm they are doing to others, or in some manifest way, to subserve a greater good which promises to overbalance the evil naturally incidtMit to such s|)eaking. "With all malice" — the word malice ex^jrcssing that deep selfishness which begets hate, EPHESIANS. — CHAP. V. 99 and is the root element out of which all the previously named bad qualities grow. Next we have the opposite qualities of temper and spirit — the sweet charities of the Christian heart. "Be ye" — more closely translated, is become ye; study and labor to be such — to mold your own spirit into these habitudes of feeling and temper. Strive always to be kind one to another, compassionate, forgiving toward yourselves as God manifested in Christ is toward you. — • "Forgiving toward yourselves " translates the Greek words. "God for Christ's sake " is less accurate than "God??i Christ" — i. e„ God manifested in Christ — as He comes before us revealing himself in Christ his Son. This witnesses wonderfully to God's forgiving love, and so should become an inspiring example to us unto like forgiveness among ourselves. Oh, might we become forgiving, even as God is in Christ! So ready to forgive the penitent — with love equal to the forgiving and blotting out of offenses so vile, so flagrant, so abusive I < 3j^C CHAPTER V. Practical duties to be done, and sins to be shunned fill out this chapter. Be imitators of God especially in the point of love (v. 1, 2); putting away all forms of uncleanness in life and abuse of the tongue (v. 3, 4); for men guilty of such sins can not enter heaven but must abide under God's displeasure (v. 5, 6) ; let them walk in their new light, manifesting the fruits of the Spirit (v. 7-10) ; severing all fellowship with works of darkness and shame, and walking in light (v. 11-14); walking also in wis- dom according to God's will (v. 15-17) — not filled with Avine but with the Spirit, and expressing their deep emotions in Christian song and thanksgiving (v. 18-20). The great duty of submission to each other according to the demands of their respective social relations (v. 21); submission of wives to husbands (v. 22-24); love of husbands to their wives enjoined and illustrated (v. 25-33). 1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children ; 2. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an oflTering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Become ye, therefore, imitators of God as children beloved — ■ i. e., of him, and let this love which he bears to you be an inspi- ration toward cultivating his loving spirit. The word Paul used for "children" suggests children bi/ bh'th with, reference, we may suppose, to the new birth by the Spirit. "And walk in love," manifesting it in your every-day life, even as Christ 100 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. V. loved us, with love so pure that he gave himself to God an offer- ing and sacrifice in our behalf — of fragrant odor, pleasing to God. "Xouerf" and ''gave " are better as more exactly translating the tense Paul used, than ''hath loved" and "hath given," since the latter might imply that it was but is now wholly past. This sacrifice, being for us, was vicarious, and being made to God, was sacrificial and expiatory. That it was sweet and fragrant to God may indicate both his delight in the self-sacrificing spirit which it manifested, and his satisfaction, governmentally considered, in its results as sustaining the honor of his law and throne. 3. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetoiisness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient : but rather giving of thanks. We must note Paul's stern, unqualified, oft-repeated condemna- tion of the sin of fornication — which apparently was accounted no sin at Ephesus, under the debasing influences of its Diana- worship. Let all sexual impurity of whatever name or degree be put away from you and not even named — not even talked of — much less permitted and indulged — for in this thing entire purity in deed and even in speech befits the holy — the real saints of God. That " covetousness" should be placed in such connection — a sin so unlike the others specified, is remarkable, and perhaps should suggest its omnipresent power in corrupt heathen society. It stands in similar connection in v. 5, below. It is remarkable that the two great mobs which proved so serious to Paul — that at Philippi and that at Ephesus — were due immediately and di- rectly to this spirit of covetousness; — in the former " when they saw that the hope of their gains was gone " (Acts 16 : 19) ; in the latter, the war-cry of Demetrius was — " Ye know that by this craft we have our wealth " (Acts 19: 23-27.) This may explain why Paul had so keen a sense of the power of covetousness, and why no enumeration of the great forces hostile to Christianity could be complete without it. As to the precise idea of the word " filthiness," the question is whether of deed or of word. The following context favors the latter; perhaps, the foregoing context, the former. The fundamental idea is of something in- decorous, foul. Of " foolish talking," Trench says that "to the sense of idle, aimless, senseless talk, must be added that sin and vanity of spirit which the talk of fools is certain to betray." The Greek word for "jesting" by its etymology suggests a happy turn of thought, with agreeable associations. But usage gives it the l)ad sense, suggestive of foolish things, and here appa- rently of things foul, unbecoming — thoughts at once frivolous and indecent. Paul says of such jesting and foolish talking — " Avhich are not convenient :^^ but certainly he did not mean that such talk does not come flippantly enough to the tongue of tlie foul- minded ; — that to such it is not " convenient," but hard, lubori- EPHESIANS. — CHAP. V. 101 0U8. This is not at all his meaning. He only declares it to be unsuiiable, unbecoming, out of character for Christians, or indeed for any pure-minded people. " Giving of thanks," so well befit- ting every human tongue, is infinitely better. 5. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any in- heritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words : for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. The best authorities make this verb " know" (first clause) — not indicative but imperative — not stating that they do know, but ex- horting them to know and to take it deeply to their heart. Know ye this as a great fact, too momentous to be ignored or to be at all out of mind. The Greek idiom puts this fact strongly — thus : — As to every fornicator, or unclean one or covetous — not a man of them can have inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. The covetous man is declared to be in heart an idolater. His heart goes to his money as the idolater's to his idol. This kingdom belongs to both Christ and God; is spoken of inter- changeably— sometimes as the kingdom of Christ; again, as the kingdom of God. The passage can not therefore be taken as a direct proof-text afiirming that Christ is God. It bears on the divine nature of Christ by implying that he must be worthy — even as God himself is, of the supreme control of the universe. If the kingdom belongs in a similar sense to each, then they must be essentially equal as to divine nature. " Let no man deceive you with false words," into the denial or disbelief of what I have here said (as to the doom of the wicked) for it is undeniably true that because of such sins, the wrath of God is upon all the disobedient. This doctrine is affirmed most emphat- ically (Gal. 5: 10-21 and Rev. 21: 8, 27 and 22: 15). Expose not yourselves to God's wrath by indulging in sins which must surely bring it down upon you. 8. For ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children of light ; 9. (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and right- eousness and truth;) 10. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. In your Pagan life ye were dark-minded ; now ye are enlight- ened, being " f/j, the Lord" — which implies being taught of him and obeying him as your Lord. Therefore walk as sons of light, which is explained (v. 9) by reference to the " fruits of the Spirit." This is legitimate because the sons of light are taught and led by the Spirit. These fruits of the Spirit include whatever is 102 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. V. good, just, true. Do all this, "proving" — i. e., evincing and verifying in your own experience all that is well pleasing to the Lord. Develop it in your life. This w^ill be walking as sons of light, led by the Spirit of God. Throughout this entire passage (v. 8-14), the word "light" is transferred from the material to the spiritual world, and with ^rcat pertinence and beauty. The light of the sun — free, pure, joyous ; fit helper to all useful labor ; welcome revealer of beauty ; — who does not love it ? Who can not see how aptly it repre- sents the pure, genial, loving spirit which Christ breathes into new-born souls, and the sweetness and purity of the new life which is according to godliness? 11. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. Have nothing in common with those works or with those who do them. Never cast in your lot with them ; seek no share in their so-called pleasures; keep aloof from their society; stand af^ir from their final doom. Their works are altogether unfruit- ful of good. Rebuke them, not only by your pure life but with words firm and outspoken. The Greek term seems to contem- plate spoken words. Compare 1 Cor. 14: 24, 2 Tim. 4: 2, Tit. 1 : 9, 13 and 2 : 15. Their secret vices it would be shame- ful even to speak of; — how much more shameful is the doing! 13. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light : for -whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. As to the last clause of v. 13, "Whatever doth make manifest is light'' — if Paul's Greek would justify this English, it would be plain enough; indeed almost too plain to need affirmation, liut the Greek word translated — " doth make manifest " is not transitive but passive, and therefore must mean what is made manifest. What Paul said therefore is this : All things (sins), rebuked, are made manifest by the light thus thrown upon them ; and whatever is thus made manifest (set forth in its true moral nature) comes to have itself the nature of light and thus serves to expose the real nature of other sin. Every sin, properly re- buked and shown to be what it is, becomes itself a witness against other sin — much the same as more light would be. Rebuked sin becomes itself a sort of light to rebuke yet other sin. This is good sense, and should encourage Christians in rebuking sin — which was Paul's object here. The Scripture referred to in v. 14 (snpposably Isa. 00: 1) sus- tains this interpretation: "Arise; shine; for thy light is come, and the glory ot the Lord is risen upon thee." Let Zion arise EPHESIANS — CHAP. V. 103 and make that light shine by reflection from herself which God's glorious Sun of righteousness is pouring upon her. Let her be as the moon in the point of reflecting the sunlight, 15. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Let your life be ordered with care, precision ; and not left to run at random as by its own thoughtless will. Have definite ob- jects always in view, and never be regardless of your responsi- bilities.— So wise men do, but not so fools. Redeeming choice opportunities (the favoring times) — buying them up as the trades- man looks for good bargains ; and the more so because the times are bad; iniquity abounds. For this reason should ye be the more careful to learn the will of the Lord, and let it govern your life. 18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ; but be filled with the Spirit ; 19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spir- itual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord ; 20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ; 21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Here are various admonitions and duties; e. ^., against becom- ing drunk with v^ine—Jilled with it; for this is not precisely "excess," but dissoluteness. It robs a man of all proper self- control ; takes away his reason ; makes him a sot, a beast. This should be reason enough why a real man should never fill him- self with wine. But be ye filled with a spirit far other than that of wine, even with the Spirit of God, whose inspirations are alto- gether pure, wholesome, precious, blessed. The contrast between filled with wine and being filled with the Spirit is immense. Paul had marvelous skill in putting his points in their utmost strength. Being filled with the Spirit is here supposed to produce a cer- tain elation, exaltation of soul, somewhat analogous to the excite- ment of wine, yet wholly pure and noble. This may properly find expression and manifest itself in reciting among yourselves psalms, hymns, spiritual songs; in singing and making heart- melody to the Lord; in giving thanks to God even the Father in the name of Christ, and in submitting one to another in his fear. This last (v. 21) stands grammatically in the same relation as the other preceding points, although it seems by no means analogous. "Speaking to one another in Psalms," seems to imply that such 104 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. V. reading or reciting was a customary form of instruction in social worship, as is suggested also in 1 Cor. 14: 26: "When ye come together, every one has a psalm," etc. Whoever "had a word of exhortation" was invited to "say on," and it might be in the sacred words of Scripture, or in words of sacred song. The lines of distinction, if any, between "psalms," "hymns," and "spiritual songs" are not fully defined on any reliable authority. — The word for "making melody" means primarily striking the lyre, but. nat- urally came to have the more general sense of making music; here, the melody of real heart-worship — true adoration and praise. Song is peculiarly appropriate to thanksgiving, for which we have occasion all our days. Mutual submission to each other, according to our various rela- tions, opens here a new subject, presenting new duties. 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church ; and he is the Savior of the body. 24. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Fortunately for the interests of human society, the important points in this scriptural doctrine as to the relation of husband and wife are made very clear and are illustrated admirably. There can be no doubt that this doctrine is the subjection of wives to husbands as the higher authority — a subjection under which all is right if wives (as Peter has it, 1 Eps. 3: 6) "do well, and are not afraid with any amazement." The duties in- volved in this subjection they are to perform as unto the Lord, under the conviction that the Lord himself requires this, and will accept it as rendered to himself The husband is declared to be the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, and his headship is to be exercised evermore and altogether in love, even as Christ also has loved the church and sustains hia supremacy in no other spirit than that of pure and perfect love. This illustration is in every point of view admira])le. When once we fully appreciate the love of Christ for his people — the very love (as the Scriptures often present it) of the bridegroom for his bride — and thoroughly accept this as the model of the husband's love for his wife and his guide and regulator in the exercise of authority and headship over her, their mutual rela- tions will be adjusted perfectly and the currents of domestic life will run smoothly, to their own mutual happiness, and to the well ordering of their household. It is difficult to determine the precise sense and bearing of the words (v. 23): "Himself is Savior of the body. ' it would seem that here the word "body" should be the human body proper and nitand in the war sense, is to hold your ground, firm, undaunted, unyielding. EPHESIANS. — CHAP. VI. Ill Observe, moreover; it is against no merely human foe, but against the devil ; and the devil not always in open, honorable warfare; but in all his "wiles;" for herein will often lie his great strength and your chief danger. " For we wrestle not against jiesh and blood" — mere mortal men, and men consid- ered as frail, and indeed feeble, compared with spiritual foes whose energy never wanes. "Principalities and powers" — the same words which Paul used above (1: 21) for holy beings of most exalted rank — represent here fallen angels of equally great power, but of malign spirit — associates of Satan in his antagon- ism against God and God's people. They are said here to be "the world-rulers of this darkness" — having control of the elements of darkness and sin. The next clause might be trans- lated— against the spiritualities ofivickedness; but the term " spir- itualities" probably means, in the concrete, hosts of spiritual be- ings; vast bodies of fallen spirits. "In the heavenly regions," where Paul locates their present abode (2: 2) — a realm of space below the real heaven, yet above the earth. The word "wres- tle " where we should expect a military term, is specially sug- gestive, looking to personal conflict — a hand to hand contest- man against man — in Avhich every combatant must test his powers to their utmost. Such is the Christian warfare. 13. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to Avithstand in the evil day, and hav- ing done all, to stand. 14. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness ; 15. And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16. AJbove all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the w^ord of God : "In the evil day" — viz., that of conflict, struggle. "Stand- ing " is, of course, in the strong military sense. In making out an exposition of this Christian armor, it is bet- ter to be content with general analogies on a basis of common sense than to vseek very minute applications under the guide of mere fancy. This general sense is thoroughly instructive ; but pushed into the realms of fancy it yields results amusing perhaps, yet little useful. The girdle about the loins gathered and held closely the loose oriental dress, and thus left the limbs free for action. To this service Paul assigns "truth" — not in the sense of truthfulness in character, good though this is; but in the sense of gospel truth as opposed to error ; the knowledge of its great facts and princi- ples. 112 EPHESIANS. — CHAP. VI. The "breastplate" is righteousness. Apparently Paul follows Isa. 59 : 17: " For he (the Lord) put on righteousness as a breast- plate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head." To the Thessalonians (1 Eps. 5: 8) Paul slightly changes the figure: — "Putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation ; " w^hich shows that general rather than very specific analogies answered his purpose and met his views. "Righteousness" may well be taken in the sense of Christian moral rectitude — that righteousness which belongs to the " new man in Christ Jesus." The shoes or sandals for the feet (v. 15) are less clearly defined. The literal translation would be — "the preparedness of the gospel of grace " — which would seem to mean — having your feet ever ready to go forth bearing the gospel message. Let not your fight against the devil detain you a moment from preaching the gospel. In fact, this is your true war policy, to carry the fight into Satan's kingdom. Never be content to stand on the defensive. Keep your feet shod and be ready for your "marching orders." In V. 16, not " above all " in the sense of more important than all the rest ; but over all the rest — outside of them, or perhaps, in addition to all. The Roman shield was a huge thing, in the shape of a door, from which its ancient name is taken ; often six feet long — wide as well as long enough to protect the whole person. It was attached to the left arm, thus leaving the right free for use in blows or in hurling missile weapons. Upon this shield the agile soldier was to catch the fire-tipt darts. This office in the Christian's armor, his faith must perform. Receive (from Him who can supply it) the helmet, viz., salvation — the assured hope of it in the future world, and to some extent the realization of it in the present. The sword, furnished to our hand by the Spirit of God, is his word of truth. The writer to the Hebrews has the same figure (4 : 12); " the word of God, sharper than any double-edged sword," etc. 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints ; 19. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mys- tery of the go.spel, 20. For Avhich I am an embassador in bonds : that there- in I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Bunyan carries out the war imagery so as to include as the best of these death-weapons this "all-prayer." Paul means that ye pray with every form of prayer and supplication — your heart in warm fellowship with the Spirit of God, ever seeking his in- spiration and guidance, whose help is ever needed and never with- held from tb(5 huml)le, believing suppliant. Watch unto such prayer and [)erscvere in it in behalf of all your fellow-soldiers, and not least, for mt — that 1 may be fearless and may have scope EPHESIANS. CHAP. VI. 113 for a bold utterance of my message, making known the long unknown gospel. For preaching this gospel to Gentiles he was then an embassador for Christ in chains at Rome. In answer to these prayers he hoped to be soon released so that he might re- sume his gospel work without hindrance or fear. 21. But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things; 22. Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts. This letter he sends by Tychicus who can give them all the in- formation as to his state which they might desire. This sending by a personal friend made it unnecessary to write in detail of himself, or to send individual salutations. " That ye also" (v. 21) as well as others, implied that he would carry this epistle to other churches for their public reading. Col. 4 : 7 shows that Tychicus was to visit the Colossians also, and person- ally report Paul's circumstances to them as well. "All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you." This brother beloved is named elsewhere— Acts 20 : 4 and 2 Tim. 4 : 12 and Tit. 3 : 12. 23. Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24. Grace he with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. This benediction, always in order because always the fit utter- ance of the apostle's great and loving heart, has this peculiarity ; — Grace for those who love the Lord Jesus "z?i sincerity " — the Greek word strictly meaning incorruption — with a love and a spirit that knows no decline, no decay ; that will be immutable ; forever fresh and evermore enduring. EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. INTKODUCTION. It was in the niiclst of Paul's second missionary tour that, having traversed Phrygia and Galatia, he was admonished that his inner Guide did not accept his thought of travers- ing the more northern and western provinces of Asia Minor. Under this suspense his party had reached the port of Troas when a night-vision brought to him a special summons — (Avas it an angel's voice?) — ''Come over into Macedonia, and help us." They heard it as from the Lord, and pass- ing the Hellespont, bore the gospel into what was to them the Great Continent of the West. Hitherto, the regions skirting the eastern shore of the Mediterranean had been the theater of apostolic travel and labor. Now, Macedonia, Greece, Italy, and Kome lay before them. It was a great step in advance toward ' ' going into all the world and preach- ing the gospel to every creature." From Neapolis, the port on the western shore, a journey inland of nine miles brought them to Philippi — "the chief city in that part of Macedonia, and a colony" (Acts 16: 12). This important city, built by Philip of Macedon and named for him, became celebrated as the place of the deci- sive battle which (B. C. 42) crushed the party of Brutus and Cassius, and gave the undisputed scepter of Kome to Augustus and Anthony. Subsequently when Augustus re- warded his veterans with the finest lands and cities of Italy, he colonized some of the dispossessed Koman citizens in this city, Philippi, thus making it a Roman colony, and many of its people Roman citizens. AVith his usual historic accu- racy Luke not only tells us this was "a colony" (16: 12), and represents the men who arrested Paul and Silas as call- ing themselves " Romans" (v. 21), but he gives the rulers of the city the Roman title (Archons, v. 19) and the mag- istrates yet [mother Roman title, occurring elsewhere but rarely in his history (strategoi). The tact and manly in- dependence shown by Paul in asserting his rights as a Ro- (111) INTRODUCTION. 115 man citizen, and the consternation of the nlagistrates when they learned this fact (v. 37, 38) have their explanation in the estimate of Roman citizenship, prevalent in this colonial city. Here then more directly than ever before the gospel came into contact with Roman civilization. Of the labors and experiences of Paul and Silas in this city, Luke (Acts 16: 12-40) has given some of the salient points. Here they found a group of devout people who were accustomed on the Sabbath to go outside the city walls to a place of prayer by the side of the river Strymon. Thither went they also, and sat down there and spake to the company, chiefly if not exclusively women "who resorted thither." In that group was a woman of some note by the name of Lydia, of Thyatira (Asia Minor), a dealer in pur- ple cloths — probably from her native city. Her heart the Lord opened to attend to Paul's words. Li the result, she sliortly opened her house and home in Christian hospitality and welcome to these stranger missionaries. Here occurred another special experience. A certain damsel, having the spirit of divination — a demoniac of the general character of those whom Jesus so often encountered, but having as her specialty the gift (or pretense) of divining and telling men's fortunes — was led, apparently by this ma- lign spirit, to follow Paul and Silas, day after day, proclaim- ing— "These men are the servants of the Most High God, and are showing us the way of salvation." Such help to his cause was not at all to Paul's mind. Harassed and grieved by the annoyance and scandal which demoniac testimony might bring upon their cause, he turned and said to the spirit (not to the damsel, but to the demon spirit) — " I com- mand thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her : " and he came out. The sequel of this exorcism was a fu- rious persecution, a cruel scourging, and a close, severe imprisonment. The result of these scenes in the prison added yet another valuable accession to the group of be- lievers— the Roman jailer and his household. Paul and Silas having been very politely and urgently requested to leave the city, at length, though very deliberately and in a dignified manner, consented to do so and passed on. But the gospel was effectually planted in that city. These events may be dated proximately in A. D. 51, not long after the great council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) : If Ave may rely upon the accuracy of Luke's narrative in his varying use, now of the first person (" we "), and now of the 116 INTRODUCTION. third ("they")* to determine his presence or absence, he was with Paul at Philippi, but was not with him when he and his party left the city and passed on to other cities of Macedonia and Greece. Indeed, Luke appears next in the company of Paul (Acts 20: 5) when " twe sailed away from Philippi." It is therefore supposable, and indeed, highly probable, that Luke spent most or all of the intervening seven years at or near Philippi preaching the gospel and ministering to that church — which labors may account for the remarkably wholesome tone of the Christian life in this church — a tone which is apparent throughout this epistle. That this epistle is genuine^ i. e., written by Paul and to this very church at Philippi, not even the most skeptical of critics have found any plausible reason to doubt. Truly the signs of an epistle ojp Paul are all here — in the introduc- tion ; in the personal allusions ; in the outbreathings of a great and loving soul, and in the concluding salutations. Nor is there room for difference of opinion as to the date of its ivriting — near the close of his two years' confinement at Rome — i. e. , A. D. 62. He was then still enduring this confinement (1 : 12-14), but hoping to be released soon (2 : 24). As to the occasion of the epistle : It was not some sad de- fection— nascent or developed, calling for sharp rebuke or earnest argument, as in the case of the Galatian churches; it was not some flagrant immoralities, such as appeared in Corinth, calling for his promj^t and vigorous hand of ex- cision. But apparently, the occasion was not single but manifold, including the gratitude he felt and wished to ex- press for their manifested love and sympathy and for their supplies of his personal wants ; — the love of his heart for a people so loving and so lovely; his joy in every remembrance of them in his daily prayers in their behalf; the comfort he felt as his thought rested upon this one church which had caused him apparently no pain but only pleasure, and in which, unlike every other, he saw nothing to rebuke but much to commend. It should, however, be observed that his Philippian flock was suffering a measure of persecution (1 : 29, 30), and that there was occasion for exhorting them to moderation, gentleness, humility, and great self-abnega- tion (2: 2-5), and not least, to unity of Christian feeling, and against admitting to their confidence the Jewish and Judai/ing bigots of that age (3: 2-7). Tlie points of special interest and value to us in this INTRODUCTION. 117 epistle are manifold, and are also very obvious. It is re- freshing to have such a manifestation of the great wealth of Christian love in this apostle's heart. It is at least a pleas- ure if not a profit to see that God's kind hand toward him gave him one such oasis as this in his troubled, anxious, toilsome life — one chui'ch to which his mind could revert with apjDarently no sad associations or reminiscences; one church that had remembered his personal necessities and ministered to their supply ; and withal, in such a spirit that Paul could feel free and happy to receive them. It is also profitable to study such an epistle for the sake of marking the nature of the counsels he gave them ; the at- tainments to which he exhorts them; the really "higher life" as it lay before the mind of the great apostle, and the higher duties to which Paul directs the energies of this best and most hopeful — perhaps most advanced — church ever gathered under his labors. If we may assume that this was, all in all, the best of Paul's missionary churches, and that this group of converts were appreciative, receptive, respon- sive above any other in his world-wide field of knowledge and care, then surely the study of his words to them ought to be pre-eminently instructive to us as bearing upon the really higher walks of the earthly Christian life. EPISTLE TO THE PIITLITPIANS. CHAPTER I. The scope of this chapter is the breathing forth of the apos- tle's deep love for the church at Philippi, and of his unceasing prayers in their behalf (v. 1-11), with some allusion to his im- prisonment at Rome and its results there (v. 12-14), and to di- vers sorts of professedly Christian work then in progress there (v. 15-18); to his own thoughts in view of living or not living, being himself in a strait between the two (v. 19-24) ; his domi- nant expectation as to his immediate future (v. 25,26); concluding with exhortations to an earnest, fearless Christian life (v. 27-30). 1. Paul and Tiraotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philij^pi, with the bishops and deacons : 2. Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father Sindfrom the Lord Jesus Christ. A good reason for Timothy's name here lies in the fact that at this writing he was with Paul at Ro-me; had been with him in his labors at Philippi; felt personally the deepest interest in the church at Philippi, to which Paul bears a very remarkable tes- timony in this letter (2: 19-23). We may notice that Timo- thy's name appears in the same connection as uniting with Paul in his letter to Colosse; in his second to Corinth; and both his name and that of Silas [Silvanus] in the two letters to Thessa- lonica. To the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and in all the pastoral epistles, Paul prefixes his own name only. Moreover, it may be noticed that Paul wrote as an apostle in every epistle except this to Philippi, those to Thessalonica, and that to Phil- emon. In these there was no occasion even to allude to his apostolic authority and relations. In this, he is " the servant of Jesus Christ;' — to Philemon, "the prisoner;" while to the Thessalonians he attaches no descriptive epitliet to his name. Paul writes to all the saints, but specifies in particular "the bishops and deacons" — a fact which sufficiently indicates that these and these only were the normal officers of the church — so many orders and no more. Probably the reason for referring to them specially was that they had been active and prominent in gatherinii; and forwartlini^ those supplies for his personal wants (118) PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. I. 119 in which this church had distinguished itself and for which Paul felt profoundly grateful to them and to God. The benediction (v. 2) is in Paul's usual form. 3. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4. Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, 5. For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now ; In V. 5, the meaning is not that he asks for their fellowship as a blessing which they need yet have not, but rather that he is moved to joyful prayer in their behalf by the fact of their having had such fellowship — such free and full-hearted sympathy in the progress of the gospel from their very conversion to that hour. The reference is specially to their generous contributions to his support while laboring elsewhere in his great mission work, and to the spirit which such benefactions implied. We ought to no- tice the warm heart of this great apostle, his deep sympathy with his faithful converts, his continual and joyful prayer in their be- half 6. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ : 7. Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, be- cause I have you in my heart ; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. I am very sure God has begun his good work in your souls, the proof of it to me being this — that ye are partakers of the same grace which God gave me to suffer unto bonds joyfully for the gospel, and to labor patiently for its defense and confirmation. Confident that God has thus begun his work in you, I know he will perform it — carry it through to its final consummation — at the day of Christ Jesus. His sanctifying work in human hearts, he never leaves unfinished ! The question has been raised whether this "good work begun" had any special reference to their benefactions — their spirit of active sympathy and help in Paul's missionary work. I would reply : That manifestation of Christian spirit and character was very probably prominent in Paul's thought, yet rather as a proof of their real and deep sympathy with Christ than as constituting in itself the whole of their piety. Paul shows in this very con- nection that he thinks of them as partakers of all the grace which God had given him to labor and to suffer for Christ. Why does Paul say, "Perform it unto the day of Christ Jesus," instead of saying "unto the day of your death?" — a question par- ticularly interesting as bearing upon another, viz : Did they really look for Christ's second coming before their own death ? So some 120 PIIILIPPIANS. — CHAP. I. critics have assumed, but without sufficient ground. For plainly, in Paul's view, death, considered simply as death — the dissolution of soul from body — was a small matter. The meeting with Christ, the entering into the joy of his Lord, was the great thing — so great that it quite eclipsed the other, and therefore naturally gave name to the great event. They (Paul and his brethren) knew as well as we do that death is the limit of the Christian conflict, the point where his destiny is decided ; and they also felt (ap- parently more than we are wont to do) that death is to every saint the personal coming of his Lord to meet him and take his spirit up to its eternal joy in the Lord. " I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also," were words whose significance had become glorious in their thought, and had given coloring to their accustomed mode of speaking of that day. It was this coming of the Lord to their individual souls at their death to take them to himself and to his prepared man- sions, that made this dying day "the day of Christ" to their hearts, and in their Christian vocabulary. Note how natural it is for Paul to use this phrase (1 : 10) : " That ye may be sincere and without offense till the day q/" Christ;" i. e., through all your life, till your day of death. Also (2: 16): "That I may rejoice in the day of Chnst that I have not run in vain." If there were the least occasion for argument to prove that in our passage (1 : 6) "until the day of Christ" must mean until your day of death, and not until the day of Christ's second visible coming to raise the dead, we might say — Look at the sense of this passage, and also at the sense of this phrase in its relations to the context. This ''day' is a point of time, and is here put as a limit, a ter- minus, nnto or until which a certain work is to be carried on. This work is the good work of grace, which the Spirit began at their new birth or conversion. When does this work reach its consummation ? At what point of time does all temptation to sin cease and all danger of failure, all contingency as to the Christian's future come to its end ? Is it at his day of death, or is it at the day of Christ's second coming to raise the dead? To say the lat- ter is to assume that the work of sanctification, with all its contin- gencies, is to pass over into and indeed through the intermediate state and not end till Christ's second coming! But this is by no means the doctrine of Scri])ture. It is not the doctrine of Paul even in tliis very chapter; for with him, "to depart at death is to be ivith Christ' — a state, compared Avitli the l)est life on earth, inconceivably "better," and beyond question the real heavenly state. Therefore in Paul's usage, "the day of Christ is the Chris- tian's day of death." Death brings him into the very presence of the glorified Christ. On this passage, Ellicott remarks: "That Paul in these words assumes the nearness of the coming of the Lord (as Alford sup- poses) can not be positively asserted. The day of Christ, whether far off or near, is to each individual the decisive day; it is prac- tically coincident with the day of his death, and becomes, when PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. I. 121 addressed to the individual, an exaltation and amplification of the term." 8. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 9. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment ; 10. That ye may approve things that are excellent ; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ ; 11. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Paul invokes God to witness not to the fact but to the intensity of his love and longing for his Philippian converts ; and notice- ably, speaks of this love and longing as being — he does not say, in his ovi^n bowels, but " in the bowels of Christ Jesus," in whom his very being is so united, and especially his Christian sympa- thies, that it seemed to him that Christ's own loving heart was beating within his. It ought to be instructive to us to mark what such a loving heart (so much of Christ's own heart throbbing in it) would pray for in behalf of those he loved so tenderly. Here it is : •' That your love may abound to the result of your having more and more knowledge and spiritual perception of truth in every form ; that ye may prove and so approve whatever things are truly excel- lent; that ye may be pure and blameless (causing none to stum- ble) against the day of Christ. Against rather than " vniil" (is the sense of the original), i. e., as preparation for that day rather than as continuing until that day. " Being filled with the fruit" (singular as to number) "of righteousness," which phrase, there- fore, looks not so much toward Christian virtues in detail as to- M'ard intrinsic righteousness of character and conduct as a whole. This comes through Jesus Christ, and is to the glory and praise of God; "glory" being the inherent majesty of God, and "praise" the glorification of it by the homage of his creatures. All real righteousness of character in our race, being the result of God's interposing, redeeming love, inures of right to his eternal honor and praise. Verily this prayer by the apostle for his Philippian brethren groups the precious, vital things of the Christian life, showing what we may well implore both for ourselves and for our brethren in the Lord. 12. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel ; 13. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places ; 14. And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing con- fident by my bonds, are much more bold to s^Jeak the word without fear. 122 PIIILIPPIANS. — CHAP. I. Some information which they will rejoice to hear. The things that have befallen me (in my imprisonment here) have served, not to retard the gospel, but to promote its wider diffusion. The fact of my being a prisoner for Christ because I would preach a com- mon gospel to Gentiles as to Jews has become known at the pre- torian head-quarters, and perhaps he meant, in the very palace of the Caesars, as well as extensively elsewhere. Through sympathy with me in my imprisonment the greater part of the brethren (more accurate than "many") have been inspired and encour- aged to greater boldness in preaching Christ Moreover, the words " in the Lord" (v. 14) should be connected with "having confidence," rather than with "brethren." Having confidence in the Lord, inspired by my bonds, they are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God fearlessly. Such an example of heroic suffering for Christ was gloriously inspiring. 15. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife ; and some also of good will : 16. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17. But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. 18. What then ? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. The men alluded to here as preaching Christ of cnvj and strife were probably certain Judaizing teachers, appearing at Rome, as they did also in the region of Galatia, although these may have been less exceptionable than those in Asia. AH were envious of Paul's reputation and success; were entirely out of sympathy with him in his doctrine and practice as to Gentile converts ; yet whose preaching of Christ was perhaps better than none, so that Paul might reasonably find some satisfiiction in it, although done in a spirit thoroughly hostile to himself. It was truly noble in Paul to so far ignore himself if only Christ were preached and some good done thereby. In the case of those who preached Christ the more earnestly out of love to him in his imprisonment, he could rejoice pre-eminently, not merely because of their more pleasant relations to himself, Imt because of the better quality of their heart and life in every respect, and consequently the better quality of their Christian work. 19. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 20. According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing 1 shall be ashamed, but that with all bold- ness, as always, «o now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. I. 123 What is referred to under the word " this " (v. 19) as a thing to " turn toward his salvation ? " The natural antecedent is the same Greek word (v. 18), somewhat obscured in our translation under the word " therein," which is really — " In this do I rejoice." The answer then will be — in their preaching of Christ, and per- haps, enlarging the view — in all real preaching of Christ, by whomsoever done. His consciousness of unselfish joy in that particular preaching doubtless contributed to his precious assur- ance that his personal salvation would be the result — promoted however by their prayer in his behalf, and the answer to it in the more abundant bestowal of the Holy Ghost. He adds — All this is in accordance with what I have most earnestly prayed and longed for, viz., that in nothing shall I be frustrated — put to shame — but that Christ shall be magnified, honored, and glorified in my body — in my earthly life, whether I live yet longer, or die by martyrdom. He had no higher^we may truly say — no other ambition than to glorify Christ; and it was of the smallest imag- inable consequence to him w^hether this were accomplished by his living or his dying. This was his sense of what consecration to Christ means. For this he had " all boldness " — no other feeling but boldness. 21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22. But if I live in the flesh, this ts the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be wdth Christ ; which is far better : 24. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. If we would ask Paul to explain what he can mean by such words, here it is. "For" — as to me — living is Christ; dying is gain. Living means more service, toilsome, yet sweet and joyous, for Christ — precious to me because done for him I love : — and dying is nothing but " gain " — as he will soon show. If the re- sult shall be longer " living in the flesh," as contrasted with liv- ing in the heavenly spiritual life above, and this living in the flesh carries with it fruits of labor in the salvation of souls, then a new element comes in for consideration, and between the personal gain of dying on the one hand, and the results of my apostolic labors on the other, I am in a strait ; I am held in suspense ; I am drawn powerfully in each of two opposite directions, having " the desire" (the article is here) — that desire so well known in Christian experience, to depart, by a release from flesh, analogous to the launching of a vessel cut loose from her moorings (as Paul's Greek word suggests) ; and the being icith Christ — for this is very far the better of the two. But to abide in the flesh is more necessary for you. Let the reader carefully note here — This great alternative which puts the apostle in such straits as to choice, is not between living to work for Christ here on the one hand, and on the other, 124 PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. I. going away into long unconsciousness — a state of soul-sleep — waiting (as some animals do) in their winter torpor, hybcrnating, to be thawed out with returning spring — the torpid soul wait- ing for the resurrection trump to bring back its conscious- ness : — not this at all is Paul's alternative of perplexing suspense. But his alternative lies between such living as "is Christ'' be- cause it is serving him here ; and a departing which is essentially being ^' with Christ" — which instantaneously results in being with Christ in a higher sense than can be realized here, for it is wholly peculiar to the heavenly world. Moreover, Paul's words plainly imply that this transition from living in the flesh to be- ing with Christ, takes no account of intervening time. The be- ing "with Christ" follows the "departing" with no appreciable state or time intervening. This is in harmony with Christ's words to the penitent and dying thief: "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Let it be noted also that as "being with Christ" is the highest and best description of the intermediate state (between death and the resurrection), so it is also Paul's de- scription of the saints' eternal blessedness: " So shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4: 17). "With the Lord "—imme- diately after death; "forever with the Lord" — in the perfected heavenly state beyond the final judgment. Whether without and before the resurrection body — or with it — there is no heaven without Christ's manifested presence. The beginning and the consummation of the heavenly state is — being with Christ. 25. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith ; 26. That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Confident that his prolonged life would be for their benefit, he knows that Christ will spare him for such service — to promote their faith and joy, consequent upon his coming to them yet again. So he joyfully Y)ostpones the higher personal blessedness of departing and being with Christ. 27. Only let your conversation be as it l)ecomcth the gos- pel of Christ : that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28. And in nothing terrified by your adversaries : which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salva- tion, and that of God. "Only" (for every thing turns upon this), as citizens of the heavenly kingdom, live worth dy of tlie gospel of Christ. — The word " conversation " here quite misleads the merely English PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. I. 125 reader, not only because the Greek word does not by any means signify talk, spoken words, but because it means more than the usual Greek word translated "conversation" does in our New Testament version, and expresses its meaning more definitely. This Greek word signifies — To fulfill your duties as citizens, i. e., of the heavenly kingdom. It should be compared with 3: 20: "For our citizensMp is in heaven; we are citizens of that king- dom. Paul implores them to act the part of loyal citizens of this heavenly kingdom, in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. He remembers that Philippi is a Roman colony ; that therefore its people enjoy the much prized rights and privileges of Roman citizens. So he turns their thought to their far higher privileges and consequent duties as citizens of Christ's kingdom. He uses these words, signifying citizenship (here and in 3: 20) in this epistle only ; for he wrote to no other Roman colony. His wake- ful mind never missed the opportunity to put the most telling force possible into his words by suggesting such illustrations as would come with clear significance and impressive emphasis upon his readers.* Let me hear that ye stand (in the military sense of standing) in entire harmony of soul, jointly (all as one man) striving to- gether {wrestling is the Greek), for the faith of the gospel.' But shall this ''faith of the gospel " be taken in the sense of Chris- tian truth, to be believed; or in the sense of growing, progressive faith in their hearts ? Apparently, the former as means to an end; the latter as the ultimate end itself. The truth must first be vigorously and unitedly maintained ; then be heartily believed and made to work out all the results in the soul of thoroughly believed gospel truth. And be in 'no respect alarmed by your persecuting enemies — such enmity against you being as to them a token and proof of their destruction, for it proves them to be enemies of God, and all his enemies have this and nothing else than this to expect. Equally is it to you a proof of your salva- tion, so far as it shows you to be on the side of God, 29. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake ; 30. Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to he in me. In V. 29 the emphatic word is ''given'' — given as God's richest blessing — in two parts; (a.) That ye should have faith in Christ; (&.) That ye should have the privilege of suffering persecution for his sake. That this latter is one of God's blessings is the * This English word " conversation " — now obsolete in the sense of our translators — was with them a great favorite, having been used to translate at least three different Greek words, viz., anastrophe, twelve times ; tropos, once (Heb. 13 : 5) and politeuma once (Phil. 3 : 20) besides being used for the corresponding verb (Phil. 1: 27). These two last-named cases are specially suggestive, as we have seen. 126 PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. II. doctrine of Scripture; — "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him" (2 Tim. 2: 11-13). See also 1 Peter 2: 20 and 3: 14 and 4: 14, 19. Moreover, reraemher that in the hottest persecutions that will befall you, ye will only be in the same wrestling struggle which ye have seen in me, and now hear that I am enduring. >>*<<= CHAPTER II. Intensely earnest exhortations to mutual love and to harmony of thought and feeling (v. 1, 2); against strife and vanity and unto unselfish humility (v. 3, 4) ; enforced by reference to the mind of Christ as evinced in his incarnation ; his disrobing of himself of his divine majesty, and humbling himself even to a shameful death (v. 5-8) ; for which God exalted him to the throne of the highest heavens and put all things under him (v. 9-11). Exhortations to work out their personal salvation because God works in them (v. 12, 13) — to a blameless and light-bearing Christian life, that Paul, their apostle may rejoice in their work (v. 14-16); even should his life close with martyrdom, he will re- joice, and would have them rejoice also (v. 17, 18). Hopes to send Timothy soon, whom he commends warmly (v. 19-24);^ does send Epaphroditus, and why (v. 25-27); and commends him to their warmest sympathies (v. 28-30). 1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bow- els and mercies, 2. Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. The drift of thought here can not well be missed : — I implore you by all the power of motive there is in Christ, in love, in the Holy Ghost, in Christian sympathy — by all these considerations I beseech you to make my joy complete by becoming one in mind, in spirit, in mutual love. In the first clause, the word " conso- lation " should be exhortation, this more precisely representing the Greek word, and yielding a quite unexceptionable sense. Withal it avoids what is almost a tautology with the next clause — for between "consolation in Christ," and "comfort of love" the shade of difference is very slight. If the name of Christ car- ries in it any force of exhortation ; if there is any joy in Chris- tian love; if ye know any thing of fellowship in and with the Holy (ihost; if ye have any bowels of sympathy — then make my joy full. And my joy will be made absolutely full by your becom- ing of one mind, all having the same love, and your heart full of PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. II. 127 it ; having a common soul, or yet more literally, being felloiv- souled, all caring for one and the same thing. This combination of words, all looking toward the utmost Christian harmony of thought and feeling and the richest mutual love, is very remarka- ble. Perhaps in the matter of strict exposition, the point of chief difiiculty will be — how far this exhortation to think the same thing reaches into the realm of speculative opinion as to minute points of gospel truth. Can it be supposed that Paul could expect or exhort all minds to think alike upon all the details of gospel doctrine ? Had he not seen enough of the human mind to know there are many very distinct types of intellectual char- acter, resulting in great variety as to the way of apprehending truth ? To this T should answer — Paul did not concern himself greatly about opinions merely speculative ; but he did long to have all his converts hold the same great truths of the gospel wuth like firmness of faith and all in the same spirit of love — the mind bent earnestly, yea supremely, upon the one common end of holy living and holy loving. 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than them- selves. 4. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Verse 3 is squarely antithetic to v. 2, describing the very op- posite state of mind, and exhorting against it. In the first clause Paul gives no verb. The authorized version supplies the verb "do; " "Let nothing be done" etc., but it is better to follow the almost invariable law for supplying ellipses, viz., to bring forward the last preceding word — which in the present case is the participle translated ''being of one mind" — more literally, minding the one thing. So doing we have this sense : — minding nothing in the way of strife and vain-glory ; having no mind that way; no thought, no passion, no love or aspiration toward strife and vain display for honor's sake. This, it will be seen, is stronger than the authorized version has it; for instead of saying, Let nothing be done, this says. Let nothing of that sort be even thought. It carries the prohibition back to the very fountain — to the thinking — to the mind's activities, and lays its command upon the very soul itself This looking at one's own, ex- cessively, is the fearfully besetting sin of unsanctified men, and perhaps we may say peculiarly of those whose living turns on their reputation — professional men generally. Paul may have had his eye somewhat on those who were pressing themselves forward as religious teachers — those Judaizing men who caused both Paul and his churches so much trouble. Over against this spirit, let them in lowliness of mind account others better than themselves. With a truly modest estimate of 128 PHILIPPIANS. CHAP. II. their own good qualities, let them place others above themselves. Even if this be not always a perfectly truthful estimate, it is per- sonally safe. Calvin raises the question — How can those who really and obviously excel others in certain points conform to this precept? He answers by giving this view of the humble- minded man,"^ viz., " He is so conscious of his dependence on God and of his own imperfections and nothingness, that his own gifts only remind him that others must have gifts also, while his sense of his utter nothingness suggests to him that their gifts may well be superior to his own — higher in nature and in degree. ' In V. 4 the important word is "look" — in the sense of keep- ing your eye upon — as Paul elsewhere says: "Looking not on things seen, but on things unseen" (2 Cor. 4: 18). Keep your attention suitably on others' excellences and upon your own deficiencies. Labor to estimate their good qualities at their full value, and your OAvn never above that standard. Labor to care for their interests as well as your own, appreciating them up to their full importance, even as you are wont to appreciate your own. This amounts to the royal law, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : 6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not rob- bery to be equal with God : 7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled him- self, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This passage — one of surpassing interest and power — raises even a higher standard of Christian condescension and humilia- tion for others' good than Paul had been able to express before. For it exhorts — shall we not rather say, commands, enjoins — the same mind which the Son of God manifested in his incarnation and in the extreme disregard of his own honor from men and even of his apparent comfort and well-being during his earthly life. The whole passage should be examined with great care, both because of the marvelous fiicts which it presents, and because our authorized version of v. 6 is by no means accurate. One very important word in this passage is "yor»i"f — "l)eing in the form of God; " " took upon him the form of a servant. ' In applying this word to the Son of God, we must shut off all notion of what is material; for God is a Spirit, and as such can have no form at all in the sense in which matter always has form, shape — is cither hirge or small, beautiful or otherwise. * TUKKl VO(l)f)0)V t fiopcpij PHILIPPIANS. CHAP. II. 129 This sense of the word being excluded by the very nature of God, the question returns : — What does it mean ? To this I answer — That which in a spiritual being is most analogous to form in matter, viz., manifested dignity and glory. Our conception of what this dignity and glory in God really are may be very im- perfect ; yet we have no better words to express the reality than these. Whatever the Father was in point of manifested dignity and glory, that anterior to his incarnation, was the Son also. In this respect he was as God. But when he " became flesh and dwelt among us," he became in this respect a servant; he was made in the likeness of man; and even among men, he took not the position and rank of prince, monarch ; but of servant. In V. 6 it is not clear what the translators of our version could have meant by ''robbery" — the only recognized sense of this word being — the taking from another by force or fraud what of right belongs to him. But it does not appear how there could be any taking aioay from God in this case, nor how the thing here supposed to be taken away, viz., the being equal tcith God — could be taken away by either force or fraud, or any analogous power. Turning from the English version to the original Greek, and construing its words in the light of their connection, we seem justified in explaining the Greek word for robbery^ to mean, not the act of robbing, but rather, a thing very highly prized, even as objects of booty usually are. Then, the being eqval with God (the precise sense of the Greek) must be construed in the line of the thought here, viz., equal with God, not in essential character, but in manifested dignity and honor — in the sense in which the Son was in the form of God. The sense of this verse then will be — That the Son, while in possession of all the dignity and glory of God, did not account it a matter of great value to retain this equality with God in external dignity. The retaining of this ex- ternal rank and glory in the heavens was not in his eye what objects of plunder are in the eyes of robbers ; but rather he held that manifested honor and glory to be a thing he could, for a time at least, forego — as Paul proceeds to say. What the Son of God did not think having been said, Paul passes to the affirmative side to say what he did in fact do : " He made himself of no reputation." But if we would even approxi- mate toAvard the true sense through the medium of this transla- tion, we must distinguish very broadly between reputation and real character, for the Son did by no means make himself of no character, did not in the least impair the ineffiible perfection of his moral nature; but he did voluntarily disrobe himself of his manifested dignity and honor as he wore them in the heavens. The Greek word, which is literally he " emptied himself," needs the same careful qualification, applying it to external honor, and not at all to internal and real qualities of character. Yet further: "lie took i\\Q form of a servant" — "form" being used as before in the sense of external state or condition. He * apTzayfiuv 130 THILIPPIANS. — CHAP. II. appeared before men as supremely a servant — "he came not to be ministered unto but to minister;" i. e., to serve, to do precisely the work of a servant. Leaving behind him all the insignia of rank and honor, he accepted poverty for his surroundings ; the poor of earth for his people — his relatives after the flesh ; a man- ger for his birthplace ; a life of toil for subsistence ; homeless, with never a place of his own to lay his head: — all this for his earthly lot. So was he "made in the likeness of men;" — more literally it should be, he became like common men, the verb hav- ing legitimately the sense of become, and the choice of the term for " man" indicating, not the dignity of the hero, but the dust- origin of human flesh — a merely common mortal, "Being found in fashion as a man" — this word " fashion," how- ever, not in our technical sense, but in the sense of his bearing; the way he bore himself; the general aspect he assumed. This was wholly that of a man. No angel from heaven could have detected in his personal appearance aught of the celestial dignity which, through all the cycles of their existence, they had seen him wear on the throne of the heavens above. " He humbled himself" — put on the aspect and bearing of hu- mility which the Scriptures exhort all his followers to wear; for this word is of the same family with that so often used for Chris- tian humility: * — "and became obedient," even to the extent of dying for the world he came to save ; a death of blended agony and shame — that of crucifixion. Such in detail is Paul's description of the wonderful incarna- tion of the Son of God in human flesh. The fact of incarnation is of itself intensely and supremely wonderful. That the Son of God should become flesh at all, should bring himself into this mysterious yet most significant affinity and relationship with our frail humanity, and become a brother to the race he came to save — what a marvel in the eyes of the angels must this great fact appear! What shall we say of its condescension, of its humilia- tion, of its laying aside of dignity and glory, most deservedly held, most honorably worn before all the hierarchies of heaven? As to this, what can we do but admire ? What response to this befits us but to adore and to praise ? ]f the incarnation of the Son of God into human form and re- lationship be of itself so wonderful, so illustrative of condescen- sion and humiliation and of love for the guilty and the lost, what shall we say of such an iiicaritatiou, of becoming such a servant, of descending so low upon the scale of human conditions and experiences? What shall we say of submitting to such indigni- ties, of bowing his sacred head to such insults, of subjecting his human body to such torture, and his human soul to sufferings which we have no human experiences to measure, no faculties or powers at all equal to their comprehension, much less to their endurance ? — Yet let us not forget that this voluntary condescen- sion and humiliation are put here as the model for our imitation : * TaTT£lVO(j)p will confess us before the angels of God." This doctrine was familiar to all the apos- PHILIPPIANS. CHAP. III. 139 ties, and supremely inspiring. (See Rom. 8: 17): "If so be we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together;" and 2 Tim. 2: 11, 12: "A faithful saying; for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him;" and 2 Cor. 4: 10: "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might be manifest in our body; " and 1 Peter 4: 13: "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be re- vealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." "Being made conformable unto his death" seems to mean being persecuted and even martyred as he was, if by any means I may, even at such cost, reach the glorious resurrection. Some critics would give to these words (v. 11) the very specific sense — " the first resurrection." There is nothing here, however, which suggests the first as contrasted with a second. This idea is therefore mihev put into the words by the critics than found in them. Of course the scope of the passage bears our thought to the glorious resurrection — that resurrection which shall include the righteous dead. Paul has no occasion to allude to the wicked, nor to say whether they are to be raised then or ever. As to them he certainly does not deny, neither was it to his pur- pose to affirm. 12. Not as though I had already attained, either were al- ready perfect : but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are be- hind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high call- ing of God in Christ Jesus. "Not that I have already attained what? What is the thing not yet attained ? The repetition of the word " attain," first used in V. 11 and then again here, very naturally suggests that Paul means — not yet attained to the resurrection from the dead. But this would have been quite too obvious to need saying. Besides, our authoi'ized version misleads us by this repetition of the word " attain." The English reader naturally supposes that Paul uses the same word here as in v. 11; but this is not at all the case. The word in v. 11 "^ signifies — to come to ; to arrive at, as e. g., Eph. 4: 13, "Till we all come unto a perfect man," etc. But in V. 12 we have a very different yet quite common verb f which means, to take hold of; and without doubt, in the somewhat fig- urative sense o^ grasping the prize of the victor in the race ; i. e., in this word Paul already has his mind upon the illustration which he proceeds to expand more fully throughout verses 12-14 — a competitor for the prize who has it full in his eye, and for- ■'•'■ KaTavrao) t e^nf^ov 140 PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. III. getting all behind, presses forward with mightiest effort to grasp it at the end. He means therefore that he is still on the race- course— part of his ground gone over, yet not all ; more is still before him; the glorious prize glitters and gleams full in his view ; but his hand is not yet upon it. His whole soul is swell- ing with aspirations to reach it; he dare not slacken his speed to look back upon the space passed over, but bends himself with ut- most endeavor to reach his goal and win his prize. Christ Jesus has laid hold of him and put him upon this race-course that he may win the prize of immortality ; and now this thought inspires him to fresh zeal to lay hold of that prize for which Jesus has laid hold of him, virtually saying: "There is your prize ; win it, and be mine forever!" "Not as though I were already perfect," we read (v. 12). In determining the precise sense of this verb (made perfect)* we must choose between (a) the strictly ethical sense of personal perfec- tion of moral character; and (&) the sense suggested by the fig- ure of the race-course and its prize — viz., reaching the consum- mation of his life-conflict. This will give substantially the same sense as the word " attained," both being antithetic to the " fol- lowing after" that he may lay hold of that prize for which he has been laid hold of by Christ Jesus. The things not yet fully attained stand over against the things now in hand, in the course of progress and endeavor. This interprets the words — "were al- ready perfect" — in harmony with Paul's course of thought, and so fulfills one main condition of true interpretation. The analogy of the race-course, competing for the prize, is constantly present to Paul's thought throughout these verses (12-14). But in order to reach the full and precise sense of the passage, we need to an- alyze this figure and ask more definitely— i^Vhat are those ele- ments of the Christian life which Paul would illustrate by this running upon the race-course? If we could put this question to Paul himself, I judge he would answer, substantially, there are two lines of effort — (a) Christian self-culture : — (b) Christian labor for the salvation of other men. I have work to do (1) upon my own heart — my own moral nature ; and (2) for the souls of my fellow-men. The former has no limit — no place to stop, short of moral perfection; the latter no limit slu)rt of death — none short of being called away from Ihe labors of earth. Paul's doctrine of Christian work included these two grand departments, and can by no means omit either till its nat- ural limit is reached. True, his analogy of Christian life as a race for the prize, naturally gives prominence to the Christian's final reward at and after death ; yet it is possil)le to push this an- alogy too far. Construed very strictly, the attaining of the prize, and the being already perfect would mean — the being croWned victor and receiving the prize of immortal blessedness. Yet it was scarcely necessary for Paul to say that he was not yet in heaven — that the prize of immortal glory had not yet been con- PHILIPPIANS. CHAP. III. 141 ferred by the Supreme Judge of the contest. Hence we seem compelled to construe his " not having attained"^ and •' not being perfected " to mean that he had yet more Christian work to do, and therefore was still bending himself to the yet unfinished Christian work of life. How much of this yet unfinished work, as it stood then before his mind, lay in the line of inner self-cul- ture, and how much in the line of outward labor for others, he has not fully defined. We can not go beyond the fair interpreta- tion of his words. The "mark" (v. 13) is the goal at the end of this race-course. There stood full in his view the prize of God's calling from above in Christ Jesus. Through Jesus Christ God had sent down his call — the heavenly invitation — to his servant Paul to struggle for this immortal prize ; and Paul had joyfully accepted it. 15. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded ; and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Now Paul applies his own example, as above given, to indicate the present duty of his Philippian brethren. The word " perfect " here ^ is not the verb used above (v. 12), but is the adjective of kindred meaning, from the same root. Its significance should be reached by examining Paul's own usage of this very word; e. g., 1 Cor. 2 : 6 and 14 : 20 and Eph. 4 : 1 3 and also Heb. 5 : 14. " We speak wisdom among them that are perfect " — of fully developed mind and character. •' Brethren, be not children in understand- ing ; m malice, be ye children, but in understanding, be ye per- fect " [in the authorized version " men "] — manifestly in the sense of adults in mind. " Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto 2, perfect man " — the fully rounded and developed Christian character. " Strong meat" (solid food) is for the perfect (Eng. " those of full age ")— adults. These passages may suffice to indicate proximately Paul's usage of this word " perfect." Yet perhaps we must say, it leaves the question still open whether he thinks of attainments in Chris- tian knowledge, or in Christian character, or in both. . He says — as many of you as consider yourselves fairly mature in Christian character and doctrine (a point he purposely leaves to each man's view of himself), be ye of this mind; take this view of your Christian life-work; and if in any respect, ye have views somewhat varying from these, God will, I trust, reveal this to you as the only just view of Christian life. However, in so far as we have made Christian attainments, let us walk by this same rule, never rest- ing at the point already gained, but still pressing on to higher attainments. In v. 16 the better textual authorities omit the words—" rule, let us mind the same thing." yr * TeTitlOl. 142 PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. III. 17. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them ■which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) He urges them all unitedly to follow his example, and also tlie example of those of like spirit and life — referring probably to his well known friends and fellow-laborers, of whom Timothy and Epaphroditus have been named. One reason for pressing this was that many (who would be thought Christians) live fir other- wise— " enemies of the cross of Christ." He draws their character and life clearly, even vividly: — Thoroughly sen- sual, and so depraved as even to glory in their shame; their hearts worldly to the core; caring for, "minding" only earthly things. — Their end shall be as their works — only destruction. The tender spirit of the apostle can not speak of them but with tears. It may be noted here that the drift of Paul's thought is upon practical living rather than upon theoretical knowledge. The "minding" of earthly things is the heart's love, the cur- rent of its passions, appetites, aspirations. 20. For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ : 21. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fash- ioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Such living — a heart so base, so earthly and sensual — by no means becomes us, "/or" ("gar") " our citizenship is in heaven;" we have no right to live that low^, sensual life, inasmuch as we have been adopted into God's family and honored with the rights and privileges of citizenship in his kingdom above. Ye Philip- pians who bear and who well appreciate the honors of your Ro- man citizenship, ought to comprehend this far higher honor of being citizens, not of Rome, but of heaven. Not only arc we already citizens of that realm, but we shall in due time be borne thither; for we are looking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from thence to change this body of our humble estate into a like form with his glorious body (as seen in vision by John, Rev. 1: 13-16) through that energy which is all powerful to subj(M;t all things to himself This means that the resur- rection bodies of Christ's saints will be like his own — made so by his omni|)otent energy; and that this transformation will oc- cur when he shall come visiJdy from heaven to raise the dead and clothe his saints with this glory, as yet to us inconceivable. Surely this should be an inspiration to all Christ's children to rise entirely above the grovelling sensuality which Raul's burn- ing words so vividly portrayed. PHILIPPIANS. — CHAP. IV. 143 CHAPTER IV. Concluding exhortations ; to stand fast in the Lord (v. 1); to be of one mind (v. 2, 3) ; to rejoice in the Lord and to exercise self-control (v. 4, 5) ; to keep their hearts free from anxious care by means of prayerful trust in God, that so God's peace may keep their hearts in Christ Jesus (v. 6, 7) ; to study all most noble things and follow the apostle's example (v. 8, 9). Grateful allusions to their kindness in supplying his personal wants; his own experience in this regard (v. 10-14) ; special reference to their early remembrance of his wants (v. 15-17), and also of their recent contribution (v. 18) — which suggests the assurance that God will supply their need not less than they had his — for all which, let glory be to God the Father (v. 19, 20) ; closing sal- utations (v. 21). 1. Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, i"y Py ^iid crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly be- loved. " Beloved and longed for" — not entirely synonymous, the latter expressing his longing desire to see them yet again. My "joy" now; my "crown" in the glorious future when j^erson- ally I shall "enter into thejoy of my Lord." Paul's meaning in this use of the term " crown," he expands more fully, 1 Thess. 2: 19, 20: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.'' Perhaps this is one element in that " prize of his high calling from God in Christ Jesus," toward which with utmost might he is pressing onward. He would win souls to Christ, deeply conscious that all such winning will be toward and unto his own eternal joy. "Stead- fast; " hold your ground in the military sense, never falling back before your enemies, but standing firmly for truth and righteous- ness— all for Christ your Lord. 2. I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mmd in the Lord. 3. And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and luith other my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life. "Euodias" should be spelled Euodia — the name of a sister in the church, not of a brother. The repetition of the word " be- seech" is peculiar and probably significant, implying that he be- sought them individually and severally, as being both in fault and deserving this gentle rebuke. In this church at Philippi, the gospel made its first conquests in a group of devout and prayer- ful women, at that river-side place of prayer (Acts 16: 13-15). 144 PIIILIPPIANS. — CHAP. IV. These two sisters in the church, we must suppose, were promi- nent Christian laborers, perhaps deaconesses in office ; but un- happily had been not altogether "of one accord." Hence this personal and very emphatic exhortation — that they "be of one mind,"' harmonious in spirit and counsel, and not discordant; — • and all, "in the Lord' — i. e., in the love of his dear name, be- cause of their common relationship to their supreme Lord and Master. His very name should quell all party spirit; all per- sonal ambitions and jealousies, and should bring their souls into sweet accord and mutual love. In v. 3 our authorized version makes the exhortation general: — Help all those women who la- bored with me in the gospel. But Paul's words had specific ref- erence to the two sisters named in v. 2 — the strict translation being — Help them [the sisters], inasmuch as they (or since they) labored with me in the gospel. He then adds: "Help Clem- ent also; " the same, it is currently supposed, who subsequently became bishop of Rome. This supposition rests on the very distinct testimony of Origen, Eusebius, Jerome and Epiphanius. The expression — 'Whose names are in the book of life," is with good reason traced for its origin to the Old Testament : Ex. 32: 32 and Ps. 69: 28 and Isa. 4: 3 and Ezek. 13 : 9 and Dan. 12: 1. It is not easy, perhaps not possible, to identify this "true yoke- fellow." The Philippians doubtless knew the man who had been Paul's bosom friend and efficient fellow-laborer there. He may have been the senior bishop among those "bishops and deacons' of chapter 1:1. 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say, Rejoice. 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 'Again I will say" is the exact translation. Paul felt that he had good reason for repeating those words. In such a Savior as Jesus — in such a Lord, so worthy to be King and Lord of all, ruling with so great power, for ends so wise, and with results so glorious, and withal so sure, why should we not "rejoice alway?" "Moderation," interpreted by its original Greek, suggests mildness of temper, gentleness of bearing, that solf-control which liolds all passions in su])jcction to the proprieties of the case. Whether there were special reasons then and there for this admo- nition, they knew doubtless better than we now can. "The Lord is at hand," ever near, always to bo thought of as near and never afar off. This consideration should serve to quell unhallowed excitement. These words have been sometimes construed to mean — The personal coming of the Lord is nc^ar in time. This construction puts more into them than they legitimately signify, and must bo Hustained, if iit all, ])y resorting to otlior ])assag('s assuiM('// him as tlic author; for h'un as the final end for which creatures were made. AVc must notice also COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. I. 157 that the very same words (" by " and " for ") are used of God (Horn. 11: 36) — a passage which, though it suggests no distinc- tion between the Father and the Son, yet does not specially indi- cate the Son, and therefore seems to justify our reference of the words to the Father : — " Of him, and through him and to him are all things — to whom be glory forever." This is one of the methods in which the Scriptures incidentally assume the divine equality of Father and Son. The creation of all things is as- cribed to each in precisely the same terms, "By him all things consist" (v. 17) — the word "consist," how- ever, is nearly obsolete as to the sense given it here — which is quite foreign from consistence as applied to matter, and from consistency, used for propriety of conduct. The Latin suggests the true sense — stand together — stand and are sustained in their standing, in their order and their functions. The writer to the Hebrews has the sentiment — " Upholding all things by his pow- erful mandate" (1: 3). Paul at Athens (Acts 17:"28) expressed the same: "In him we live, and move, and have our being;" and Peter (2 Eps. 3 : 5) has the same verb to indicate the processes of this world's creation. (See notes on the passage.) In view of all that Paul has said here of the Son as " the im- age of the invisible God," as the " first-born " and as the uni- versal Creator, some reader may ask — What is the inner, essential distinction between the Father and the Son? Are we to think of the Son (the Logos of John) as in any sense begotten, pro- duced, of the Father — i. e., as dependent on the Father for his being? If not, how can these descriptive names be appropriate? And if so, how can we conceive of the Son as really equal to the Father? How can a being who owes his existence to another be equal to the Great Uncreated, Uncaused, who owes his existence to none? Pushing this inquiry back of the incarnation and treating it as irrespective of that event or fact — if we must meet this prob- lem— 'What were the distinctive elements of Fatherhood in the one case and of Sonship in the other, as they existed eternally ? I must answer — I do not know. To me it lies among the yet un- revealed mysteries of the infinite God. 1 can suppose, with what seems to me apparent reason, that there was eternally some distinction, to us yet unrevealed, which made it appropriate that the Logos should be selected to become incarnated in human flesh and be designated in human speech as Son in reference to the Father. What this something is (or was), lies among the things yet unrevealed; — probably among things for the full com- prehension of which, our faculties are yet unequal. There, I judge it to be our wisdom to leave it. It is far more impor- tant that we stand by the negations than push unwarrantably into affirmations. Negatively, let us stand to the doctrines — no inferiority of power, dignity, rank; no beginning of his existence; no form of emanation or ideal production from the Father so that his existence is really derived as opposed to underived, ab- 158 COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. I. solute, eternal. These negative propositions seem to be essen- tially and necessarily involved in any just conception of the Su- preme Creator — an equal, eternal Son. Paul's object in presenting these facts respecting the Son of God wag unquestionably to counteract incipient errors already broached at Colosse. Those teachers of error were disparaging Jesus Christ; dishonoring his nature and his work. It is well known that the Gnostic heresy as subsequently developed more fully by Cerinthus and his disciples, "saw in Christ only a mere man, upon whom at his baptism a higher ^on descended and united himself, but which left him again after his work of redemption was completed." (Olshausen, p. 180.) The very first foreshadowing of such doctrine, Paul must have deemed it vital to the gospel scheme — vital to the great fundamental truths of Christianity — to withstand and quench. 18. And lie is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19. For it pleased the Father that in him should all full- ness dwell ; 20. And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, w^hether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. This One — this same exalted, divine Son of God, having be- come incarnate, is the Head of the body (the church), according to the figure, frequent in Paul, under which the church is com- pared to the human body, and Christ is its Head. So Eph. 4: 15, 16 and 1: 23; Rom. 12: 5; 1 Cor. 10: 17. This spiritual headship of Christ to the church — a relation most intensely vital to all her spiritual life — was (we must assume) ignored or perhaps even rudely assailed by the new sect at Colosse. Christ is also the beginning* — this Greek word signifyinqiabso- lute supremacy — the center and source of ail power, and spe- cially, the source of all spiritual life to the body (his church), and personally to every new-born soul. As he was universal Creator of all material worlds and of all beings, whether of heaven or of earth, so is he the spiritual Creator whose vitalizing word breathes spiritual life into the otherwise spiritually dead souls of men — the same sense in which the apostles speak of him as " the Prince of life" (Acts 3 : 15). Tlie new birth, a spiritual creation, is a conception familiar to Paul (2 Cor. 5: 17 and Gal. 6: 15). Still accumulatinf^ the points of his superiority and supremacy, he proceeds — " He is the first-born from the dead" — not merely the first to rise from the grave, but the first to rise as the glori- ous conqueror of di^ath and th(! grave ; tlu; first who ever came up from thuse realms of death with the majesty of a king over that * apxn COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. I. 159 world — to die no more, and to rule the empire of the under-world no less than of all other worlds, for the redemption of his people and for the glory of his universal kingdom. Looking toward the same supremacy Paul elsewhere speaks of the risen Christ as "the first-fruits of them that slept" (1 Cor. 15: 25). The ultimate end of all these sublime facts of his life-history and manifold relations, is that in all things whatever he may be chief — first and foremost — supreme above all. With this accumulation of terms and figures signifying Christ's supremacy, the apostle seems to have reached the point of con- Bummation beyond which no human language or conception can go. At this point, therefore, it became important to remind his readers that this supremacy by no means exalts the Son in any respect above the Eternal Father. Rather, it is due to the good pleasure of the Father that all this fullness of power, of dignity, of supremacy as to the church and as to the whole scheme of re- demption, is made to dwell in Christ. In this V. 19, the English reader will notice that the words •' the Father,'' are in italics — to indicate, not emphasis, but the omission of this word in the original. This omission is a notice- able, not to say, a remarkable fact. It legitimately raises the question — What is the purposed subject, or nominative, of the verb "dwell"? Some critics — (e. g., Ellicott) argue strenu- ously that the subject of the verb is "all fullness," so that it should read — "In whom all fullness was well pleased to dwell." His reasons for this construction are mainly — {a.) The fact that the words, "The Father," are not here, while "all fullness" is: — (6.) That it is very harsh to make the two infinitive clauses — "to dwell" and " to reconcile" (v. 20) depend in the same way upon this verb with the word "Father" for its subject: — (c.) That in Col. 2: 9 we certainly have "all fullness" the subject of this same verb " dwell." Over against these considerations and abundantly sustaining our authorized version, "The Father was well pleased that all fullness should dwell in Christ," stand the following points: {a.) It is violently harsh to attribute to "all fullness" the "good pleas- ure"— the benevolent choice — to dwell in Christ. (6.) The nat- ure of the case demands that this dwelling of "all fullness" in Christ should be ascribed to the good pleasure of the Father, (c.) Finally, New Testament usage of these words is entirely decisive. The noun "good pleasure," ^ and the corresponding verb " well pleased," f are both in an immense majority of cases applied to the Father, and very often to the Father in reference to the Son. This fact not only settles the present question, but fully accounts for the omission of the word ' Father." The usage is so strong, so nearly universal, as to render it entirely un- necessary to write the word "Father." Observant readers of the New Testament could not possibly think of any other subject to the verb here except "the Father." Notice these cases: "This * EvSotiia. t £v6oKto). 160 COLOSSI ANS. — CHAP. I. is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," said at his bap- tism, and again at his transfiguration. Other similar cases of this verb "well pleased," with God for its subject, may be seen : Matt. 12: 18; Luke 12: 32; 1 Cor. 1: 21 and 10: 5, and Gal. 1 : 15 ; Heb. 10: 6, 8, 38, and 2 Pet. 1 : 17. In a similar way the noun "good pleasure" is used of God: Matt. 11: 26, and Luke 2: 14 and 10: 21, and Eph. 1 : 5, 9, and Phil. 2: 13, and 2 Thess. 1 : 11. Such an array of cases of usage is overwhelmingly decisive. Yet it may fitly be added that in Paul's presentation of Christ's supremacy, this is the appropriate place to bring in his relations to the Father, and to say that it was due to Ids good pleasure that in his Son, now become incarnate, all this fullness should dwell. Yet further it was the Father's good pleasure by him to recon- cile all things — on earth and in heaven — unto him, he having made peace by the blood of his cross. That blood availed for the pardon of the penitent and believing of our race, because so it pleased the Father ; it also availed by its moral power (the Divine Spirit being in it and with it) to reconcile rebellious hearts to obedience and love. Thus the great elements and agencies requisite for the salvation of rebel men were provided by Christ when he made peace through the blood of his cross. Yet even these truths, magnificent and far reaching though they are, have not exhausted the treasures of great thought em- bosomed in this passage. Thus far we have taken no special ac- count of the stress laid upon "a/Z things'' (" reconciling «ZZ things unto himself"), nor upon the particular specification, "whether things in earth or things in heaven." Here let it be observed that "things in earth" come legitimately first in order; for obvi- ously Christ's blood shed on the cross takes effect first and pri- marily upon lost men — sinners of our fallen race. — Note further, that the word "reconcile" has, as we well know, a very special adaptation to rebellious men. " God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Cor. 5: 18-20). This may account for tlie choice of this word to express the entire range and sweep of that moral power which goes forth from Christ's redemptive work ; first reclaiming out of our fallen race "a great multitude that no man can number," and then sending forth a moral power, orig- inating in these developments of God's eternal and infinite love, that shall pervade the intelligent universe, reaching " things in heaven" as well as "things in earth." These secondary influ- ences, going forth from Christ's redemption of lost men might have been expressed by some other word than "reconcile," if they had been spoken of by themselves — i. e., if their results on our fallen race had not been so entirely in the foreground to shape the comprehensive phrase which should include both. The real sense of this passage is not exhausted till we have de- veloped from it the sublime truth that a moral power is to go forth from Christ's redemptive work whii^h shall far outtravcl tlic nar- row limits of our fallen huiuatiity, revealing so much of God before the intelligent universe — put here as " things in heaven" — COLOSSI ANS. — CHAP. I. 161 as shall bind them in bonds of everlasting love, obedience, adora- tion, praise, to the eternal throne, and shut off (supposably) the moral possibility of other lapses from virtue, analogous to what heaven saw in the fallen angels and to what earth has seen in fallen man. The words of Paul (Eph, 1 : 10) seem to reach out to a result not less grand and comprehensive than this : " That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in him." All things are to be brought under his supreme Headship. To the moral universe, to all the unfallen, and to this fallen race so far as his cross avails to redeem and reclaim, he becomes the One Infinite Head, the Fountain and Source of moral power which shall be Peace to all heaven as it has been to the earth — to all unfallen races, as to this fallen race. In treating this passage, Ellicott, a critic never otherwise than careful, judicious, reverent, says : " This and no less than this it does say, that the eternal and incarnate Son is the causa medians [the intermediate agent] by which the absolute totality of created things shall be restored into its primal harmony with its Creator — a declaration more specifically unfolded in the following clause. More than this it does not say, and where God is silent, it is not for man to speak (see Eph. 1 : 10)." "Hoiv the reconciliation of Christ affects the spiritual world, whether by the annihilation of the posse peccare [power to sin], or by the infusion of a more perfect knowledge (Eph. 3 : 10), or (less probably) by some re- storative application to the fallen spiritual world, we know not, and we dare not speculate. This, however, we may fearlessly assert — that the efficacy of the sacrifice of the Eternal Son is infinite and limitless ; that it extends to all things in earth and heaven, and that it is the blessed medium by which peace is wrought be- tween God and his creatures, whether angelic, human; animate, or inanimate (Kom, 8: 19)," The point which Ellicott suggests as "less probable," — viz., " some restorative application to the fallen spiritual world " — should not be ignored. Inquiring minds will ask it — ask it ear- nestly,— What, on this point, can'be inferred from this passage ? First and most obvious, on the face of the passage, is the fact that the specifications — "things in earth and things in heaven" — leave out " helV — pass in ominous silence " the place prepared for the devil and his angels" — that place to which the unre- claimed of earth are doomed — for their "eternal punishment." With the greatest ease Paul might have included by name that apostate angel race, and also the unsaved of our fallen human family — if the inditing Spirit had bidden him do so, or had even permitted it. But those fallen ones are not included. Is it safe for us to assume the responsibility of affirming what the inspired apostle does not dare affirm — what, coming to this point; saying every thing else but this ; standing in thought where, to affirm this, if true, would have been supremely to his purpose, he yet does in fact pass with most ominous silence ? 162 COLOSSI ANS. — CHAP. I. The secondary consideration — upon which there can be no oc- casion to enlarge or expand, is that the Scriptures most emphat- ically affirm the absolute eternity of the punishment, both of fallen angels and of those of our race who reject the offered gospel and perish in their unbelief " He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3: 36). 21. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled : 22. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight: 23. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and he not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven ; whereof I Paul am made a minister ; Specific application to the Colosaian brethren of the great gospel truths above presented. This marvelous power of reconcilia- tion is fallen upon them. The question, Who hath reconciled — whether Paul ascribes this to God or to Christ — may admit of some doubt"; but the considerations strongly favor the reference to God to whom the reconciling in v. 20 should be specially ascribed. The object, viz., to present them pure, blameless, above reproach, is the doctrine of Scripture every-where (e. g., Eph. 5 : 26, 27). In v. 23, This result will be reached in your case, if in very deed ye continue firm in the faith ye have em- braced;— a caution against being seduced away. "Preached to every creature" — does not assume that all the world had then heard the gospel, but rather that it was preached indiscriminately to all — Jews and Gentiles ; none being excluded as not coming within the pale of its oflered blessings. 24. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: This passage seems to say that in some sense, the afflictions of Christ for his people are deficient; leave something lacking and behind, which Paul rejoices to fill up, in his flesh. Here several questions of profound interest are sprung upon us; e. g., What are these afflictions of Christ? How came the^ to be deficient in amount for their purpose ? And how do Paul s bodily suficrings avail to make good this deficiency? These points assume a very peculiar interest fronj the fact that they have been thought hy some to ])ear upon the atonement made by Christ for sin. H" so, they must throw light on the nat- ure of that atonement, and particularly the nature of the suffer- ings by which it is made. If Jesus did not ])ear himself all the suffering necessary fur all purposes of atonement, and if conse- quently there remained a deficiency which Paul by his sufferings COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. I. 163 could make good, then, for aught that appears, other Christians besides Paul may also contribute their quota by suffering in their flesh; and a yet more pregnant consequence must be, that the atonement is not made by Christ alone and only, and we are driven to the conclusion that sacrifice, blood and death, are not vital elements in the atonement ; also that a divine Christ is not essential ; and hence we must find its vital forces either in the afflictions, persecutions, hard labors, which are the cost of gospel work ; or in the sympathy of benevolent souls for the miseries of sin and sinners. Now if such results hang suspended upon the interpretation of this passage, the groundwork of its inter- pretation ought to be laid with great care and thoroughness. "J'he fundamental position in this groundwork is that the pas- sage has no reference whatever to the atonement. It says nothing about atonement, and therefore does not even hint that Paul con- tributed toward filling out its requisite sufferings ; consequently it throws not the least light upon the nature of those sufferings which are represented as vital in the atonement. 1. To sustain this position it is only necessary to show that the Scriptures never use this word for " affliction ' * to signify the sufferings and death of Christ ; never use it in reference to the atonement nor in any way as the ground for the forgiveness of sin. The Greek word is used abundantly in the New Testament (forty-five times) and always in the sense of " tribulation," per- secution— almost exclusively for the sufferings which befall the people of God through the hostility even to violence, of God's en- emies. The following standard cases of its usage may serve for illustration and for proof of the point here made : "In the world ye shall have tribulation^^ (John 16: 33). " God delivered Joseph out of all his tribulations " [afflictions] (Acts 7 : 10). " They that were scattered abroad by the tribula- tion ["persecution"] that arose about Stephen" (Acts 11: 19). " That through much tribulation, we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14: 22). "Witnessing in every city that bonds and tribulations [" afflictions"] abide [await] me " (Acts 20 : 23). " Faint not at my tribulations for you which are your glory " (Eph. 3: 13.) 2. These sufferings are distinctly said to be for Christ s body s sake— the church. But the atonement is made for individual sin- ners—not for the church as a whole— a " body." Therefore these afflictions are not the sufferings which constitute the atonement. The atonement is for the pardon of sin, not for the building up of the church directly ; not for the preaching of the gospel ;^ not for any thing in behalf of the church which incurs " tribulation." Hence we must infer that this passage has no reference whatever to the atonement inasmuch as the Scriptures always locate this in the blood and death of Christ. 3. It is never safe to interpret figurative language^ without due regard to the nature of the figure, and to its bearing upon 164 COLOSSI ANS. — CHAP. I. the sense. Here the figure is — The church under the symbol of a human body, of which Christ is the Head. The sympathy be- tween the head and all else of the body is simply perfect. Not only is it true in general that "if one member suffer, all the mem- bers suffer with it;" but it is pre-eminently true in particular that if the body suffers, the head must sympathize intensely. Now the age of Paul was one of persecution and tribulation. Jesus had said to his disciples — " In the world ye shall have trib- ulation''— the same word as here ["affliction"]. Meetingtheman who early led off in these persecutions, Jesus accosted him — "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? " It is not strange there- fore that this same Saul should long remember that persecuting the church is persecuting Christ; that he who smites the body smites the head also ; so that consequently that sacred, sympa- thizing Head feels every pain which his body — the church — feels in her gospel work for his name. Nor is it strange that Paul, remembering ever the cruel wrong he had done to his Savior in persecuting his people unto death should rejoice in being per- mitted to change sides — to place himself among Christ's perse- cuted people and lay bare his own bosom to the hottest shafts of torture and death for his Savior's sake. How grandly did he put his flesh into this conflict of pain, imprisonment, torture, death — all in behalf of Christ's body, the church — that he might supple- ment what was behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body's sake ! When Paul saw there was more to be endured for Christ's dear body, the church; how joyfully did he spring forward into the deadly breach and take the arrows of death to his bosom! This interpretation adjusts itself to the figure and to the facts of the passage, and therefore must be the true one. Moreover, the reader may find confirmation of these views in passages like the following: "For as the sufferings of Christ abound'in us" (2 Cor. 1 : 5) ; — " That I may know the fellowship of his suffer- ings" (Phil. 3: 10); — " Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings" (1 Pet. 4: 13). 25. Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dis- pensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the Avord of God ; 26. Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27. To whom God Avould make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles ; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory : The true sense of those leading words — " dispensation," " mys- tery," long time hidden, but then recently revealed — appears in E[)h. 3 : 2-0, to which the reader is referred. l*aul seems never M'cary of tliis thonie — the wonderful breadth of the divine plan of redoiiiptiou, long a.f»pareutly r(^strict(Ml to the ancient covenant people, but in this latter time, bursting those narrow limits and COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. I. 165 casting abroad its magnificent wealth of blessings upon the whole Gentile world. It was Paul's high honor and his enrapturing delight to have had this dispensation of an unlimited, unrestricted gospel of world-wide salvation, intrusted first of all to himself. That which was so long a mystery (a thing not revealed) is now " made manifest to his saints." In the phrase—" the riches of the glory of this mystery "—(very Pauline in form), it is of some consequence to have definite ideas. Is the emphatic word " riches" or is it "glory" ? Does he mean the glorious riches, or the rich glory ? And what pre- cisely is this " glory " ? To this last question Paul virtually makes answer— Christ himself. He is the "glory" involved in this old "mystery" now made manifest. He is the glory, the superlative richness of which, God would fain make known among the Gentiles, and make it known as being truly designed for them not less than for Jews. Moreover, the vital elements which make Jesus Christ pre-eminently the glory— the consummation of all that is excellent, precious, grand— are his transforming power upon human souls unto purity and blessedness, and the fullness of God's grace to men which Christ's manifestation reveals. These elements conduce to make Jesus Christ in his people " the hope of glory "—the source, the fountain whence their purity and blessedness forever flow. 28. Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom ; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus : 29. Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. Bearino- responsibilities so momentous, a mission so sublime, Paul gives himself to the preaching of this gospel and would fain have his Colossian brethren understand well what he preaches; how he admonishes and warns; and what he holds ever in heart as his ultimate aim. He longs to bring every man to the high attainment of perfection in Christ. He would have them bear Christ's image, not partially but perfectly— would have them dead to sin, not in some respects only but in all^not with divided but with perfect heart— not in some points of living practice but in all. For this he labors, and with the sustaining conviction that, for these results, God through his Spirit, works within him mightily. This sustaining conviction assumed fun- damentally that such high aims in holy living were in the very plan of God. 166 COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. II. CHAPTER II. Paul wishes they might know how deeply his soul agonizes for them, though they have never seen each other (v, 1) ; the burden of his prayer in their behalf (v. 2, 3) ; fearing they might be beguiled from their yet steadfast faith (v. 4, 5) ; having received Christ, so let them walk in him, being fully established (v. 6, 7) ; renewed caution lest any man rob them of the true gospel and its blessings by putting something else before Christ who has all fullness and in whom they are entirely complete, he being supreme in all power (v. 8-10); in whom is the true spiritual circumcision (v. 11), and the spiritual power of the true baptism (v. 12); who raises the spiritually dead to new life (v. 13); he has canceled the Mosaic ritual which bore against Gentiles (v. 14); and has triumphed over all other powers, angelic or otherwise (v. 15). Therefore let no man judge them in the mat- ter of eating, drinking, or the Mosaic festivals, these being only a shadow of which Christ is the body (v. 16, 17) ; further specifica- tion of the beguiling errors against which he warns them (v. 18); which dishonor Christ the Head (v. 19); closing with another protest against those delusions (v. 20-23). 1. For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh ; 2. That their hearts might be comforted, being knit to- gether in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ ; 3. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. "Conflict" here is the strong word "^ from which we take our English word agony. What he had heard concerning them had deeply moved his soul to solicitude and prayer in their behalf, although they had never seen each other in the flesh. He prays that they may be comforted; be made strong in the bonds of mutual love; and may progress even to a full experience of the blessedness of assured intellectual conviction, particularly unto the knowledge of the mystery of (iiod — that is, of Christ, in whom lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The improved text (Tischcndorf) omits the words "And of the Father, and" — leaving it — "The mystery of God, Christ," — in the sense, viz., of Christ. Having spoken first of the mystery as that of God, he adds the word "Christ" for explanation — I mean the mystery concerning Christ. The long unrevealed truth concern- ing the promised Christ might indeed be said in general to be a COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. II. 167 " mystery of God," yet was more precisely of Christ. All the wealth of wisdom and knowledge which God proposed to reveal was stored in him. He had it all. 4. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stead- fastness of your faith in Christ. What I have just said is to warn you against being beguiled by false reasoning, put in plausible words. Consider that I am with you in thought and heart, and am rejoiced, for I seem to see you marching on with steadfast step and unbroken rank like dauntless soldiers in line of battle (the sense of the word "order") — all in the firmness of faith that has Christ for its object. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7. Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanks- giving. Having once received Jesus Christ as truthfully taught you, see that ye live in him, strongly rooted, firmly built upon him as your foundation, ever strong in the faith even as ye have been taught. "Abundant in thanksgiving," in this connection, suggests that joyous gratitude and thanksgiving to God are elements of the Christian's strength; and moreover, that true faith in Jesus supplies unbounded occasion for both. They needed the help of no new notions of Christ to make their religion joyous. Religious experiences in Christ that are thoroughly soul-satisfying — that fill the heart with peace, with joy and with perpetual thanksgiv- ing to God, no sensible man is under any temptation to let go in hope of something better. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. "Spoil you" — not in the sense of taking your good things from you, but rather of taking yourselves, bo^jly ; — making you his booty. This apostle of delusion, spoken of as one man, sought nothing less than drawing his victims, body and soul, into his snares. Christian men will counterwork his agencies the better if they know his tactics; so Paul describes them. A philosophy, the very essence and soul of which is vain deceit, for Paul's words couple these ideas closely — a deceptive philosophy 168 COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. II. which corresponds with and works upon the traditions of men and the elements of worldliness, and is not at all according to Christ. Th& reader will notice that so far as defined here, this new doctrine has two characteristic elements; (a.) Like Jewish Phar- isaism, it followed human tradition; (6.) and like all unsanctified souls it loved and introduced worldly elements and not Christ. Yet Christ is all sufficient and has never the least need of being supplemented by such aid, for in him dwells all the fullness of divinity,^ even in his incarnate state. The human person, Jesus, appearing as man among men, did truly manifest the fullness of God — the fullness of God's wisdom; the fullness of God's love; the fullness of his spiritual power to save — so that no man, once accepting him, could by any possibility need any thing more or other than Jesus. 10. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power : Since Christ has such fullness, all your wants must be perfectly supplied in him — a truth so vital that Paul is not content to leave it to be inferred, but solemnly affirms it. In him ye are made full — filled with all most blessed things — wisdom, moral strength, divine love — so that nothing more can be desired. It was per- tinent to add just here that Jesus is supreme above all the highest orders of created beings — those which Paul often speaks of under the names which are here — "principalities and powers." (See 1: 16 and 2: 15 and Eph. 1: 21.) These seducing doctrines had a place for the worship of angels, and apparently, for their Mediatorship — probably under the Romish idea of the virgin-mother as an intermediate agency be- tween Christ and men. Hence the point put here — Christ above all " principalities and powers," and therefore superseding their aid most entirely. 11. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircum- cision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgivemyou all trespasses; Supposably these apostles of delusion had so much Judaism in their system that they would enforce circumcision upon Gen- tiles. Hence Paul says to the Colossians ; — In Christ ye have * dEOTTjTOa COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. II. 169 the best possible circumcision — one not hand-wrought, but wrought by the Divine Spirit; which puts off the fleshly body in the true spiritual sense — which is a circumcision wrought by Christ, and therefore perfect. Circumcision is certainly here in its spiritual significance — the discarding and rising above the control of the flesh into the realm of the truly spiritual life. Verse 12 calls for comment in two lines of inquiry; — the first general; the second very specific: the first expounding the general sense of the passage in its context; the second raising the very specific question whether "buried" as applied here to baptism looks toward its mode of administration and assumes that mode to have been immersion. Postponing remarks upon this second point for the present, let us consider the first. Beyond all question Paul has spoken (v. 11) of circumcision in its spiritual sense and in this sense only. A circumcision not hand-wrought but wrought by Christ, and which consisted in re- moving— putting off— the whole body of fleshly sin — this is simply spiritual circumcision and nothing else. Still further, it can not be doubted that this allusion to circumcision suggested bap- tism, this being the Christian rite analogous to Jewish circumcis- ion; nor can it be denied that baptism as well as circumcision is here in its spiritual sense and in this sense only. Particularly is this shown in the rising [resurrection] said to be " with Christ" — i. e., analogous to his resurrection; and moreover, being through faith in the energy of God who raised him [Christ] from the dead. Pausing here a moment upon this phrase, translated, "the faith of the operation of God" — let it be noted that our English version is quite literal, the Greek word for "operation" having the sense of energy, poicer — this being the Greek word, energy, which we have transferred in the same sense to our tongue. But the question as to its exact sense is whether we shall read — faith in the power of God — i. e., the soul's confidence in God's power to save; or faith wrought by God's power. If the latter be the right construction it would go strongly to prove that faith as thought of here is rather wrought in us than exercised by us. The former construction — faith resting in God's power, I take to be the true sense, this being the usage of the Scriptures in grammatical constructions of this sort — viz., the genitive fol- lowing the word " faith." This always expresses that in which the soul by faith believes. E. g., in Acts 3 : 16, " Through the faith of his name," means faith exercised in his name — not faith wrought by his name. In Phil. 1 : 27, "Striving together for the faith of the gospel," means faith exercised in the gospel. In 2 Thess. 2: 13, "Through belief of the truth" — is certainly equiva- lent to belief in the truth. The sense of the whole clause, therefore, is : Ye rise with Christ by the resurrection which is out of death in sin unto spiritual life, and so is through your faith in that divine energy put forth by God in raising Christ from the dead. The Scriptures very commonly speak of Christ as raised from the dead by the Spirit of God. 170 COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. II. Here it becomes not only important but vital to the full under- standing of our passage to notice that the New Testament writers make great use of this analogy between the dying and rising again of Christ on the one hand, and on the other, the dying of his people to sin and their rising to new spiritual life under the working of the same power that raised Christ. This analogy has its roots apparently in those words of Christ (John 5: 21, 24, 25): "The Son quickeneth" [giveth spiritual life to] "whom he will." " He that believeth on him that sent me is passed from death unto life." " The hour is coming and now is when the dead [in sin] shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." This can be nothing else but the spiritual raising of spiritually dead souls, to life. The points of this analogy are at once clear, striking, instruct- ive. Christ died to earth ; his people die to earthliness : Christ is raised to a new sphere of glorious life in heaven ; they to a new sphere of Christian life, first on earth — ultimately in heaven. The dying of Christ carries in itself a mighty moral power to- ward the corresponding death of his people to sin : his rising from death to glory inspires his people to faith and hope, first for their Christian life here ; last, for their similar resurrection to the heavenly life hereafter. Thus, not in one aspect of this analogy only, but in several, it was exceedingly pertinent and forcible. Hence it should not surprise us that, taking its rise in those memorable words of the Lord (John 5: 21, 24, 25) it should often appear in the writings of the apostles. It is expanded with remarkable fullness and its main points reiterated, in Rom. 6: 2-13: "How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?" "Dead to sin" by our solemn profession; by our most sacred vows ; by every consideration weighty upon Christian souls — for this death is in its nature moral, not physical — how can we go on to sin again ?- " Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" i. e., were most solemnly consecrated, pledged, to live only in and for Christ and to die thoroughly unto sin and all earthliness, even as he died to earth. This is the New Testament sense of beintr " baptized into." So the "fathers were all baptized into Moses' (1 Cor. 10: 2); so Paul would not baptize converts into his own name (1 Cor. 1: 13); so he declares (1 Cor. 12: 13), "By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body" — one and the same church of Christ. Still onward in this, Kom. 6: "With him we are buried by baptism into death" — solemnly committed to die to all sin, even as Christ died as to his earthly life; and this to the end that the other side of the analogy might be wrought out in our experience — viz., "that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory" [power] "of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life ' — our new life corresponding to Christ's in the heavenly world. So onward, this passage turns this analogy over and over: Christians "planted," first in the likeness of Christ's death; then in the likeness of his resurrcc- COLOSSI ANS. — CHAP. II. 171 tion (v. 5). "If we be dead with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him " (v. 8). " Reckon ye yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus our Lord" (v. 11). Similarly in the context of our passage. In v. 13 : " Ye being dead in your sins hath he quickened" [raised to new life] to- gether with him [Christ] — i. e., even as he raised Christ to life. Also V. 20: "If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordi- nances?" and (chap. 3: 1-3): "If ye be risen with Christ {i. e., to this new life toward God), then seek ye those things which are above," etc. Numerous other passages in the epistles must be passed here, noting only their place, so that the reader can refer to them: €. g.,^Rom. 8: 10, 11, and 2 Cor. 13: 4, and Phil. 3: 10, and 2 Tim. 2: 11, and I Pet. 2: 24. The reader will find that not one of these passages alludes at all to baptism. The great analogy above explained was not built on baptism at all. This must suffice for the general exposition of our passage. I come now to speak briefly of the specific question whether "buried with him in baptism" looks toward the mode of its ad- ministration, and shows that mode to have been immersion. My readers know that these commentaries are not designed for the exhaustive or even extended discussion of controversial ques- tions. Such questions come under notice here only so far as the laws of language apply to the just exposition of the Avords. "Buried with him in baptism" here, should be studied in con- nection with its only parallel passage, Romans 6: 3, 4: "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? Therefore we are buried Avith him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." On our now pending question — whether in these two passages Paul's thought is upon the mode of baptism as immersion, so that this "burying in baptism" means immersion in baptismal waters — I suggest the following considerations : 1. The drift of the whole context in both passages (Col. 2: 12 and Rom. 6 : 3, 4) is upon the spiritual, not the material or phys- ical sense of baptism — upon its spiritual significance, not upon its forms and modes of administration. 2. The burying by baptism is abundantly accounted for in the fact that the great analogy has for both parties (Christ and his people) death on its first side, and on its second side has (equally for both) a resurrection. But to make the idea of a resurrection in the case of Christians more clear and striking, they are thought of not only as dead, but as buried. Burial naturally precedes resurrection. The object, therefore, in pushing the Christian's death to sin to the extent (figuratively considered) of a burial is to make the analogy more clear and forcible when, on the other side, their case is compared with that of Christ in the point of a 172 COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. II. resurrection. This fully accounts for burial, so that no other reason need be assigned or can be reasonably. That in the apos- tle's thought, 'being buried," in this figure, is not burial under the waters of baptism, but is being buried out of this world pre- paratory to rising to a new life in and through Christ, is certified to us beyond possible mistake by his own words below (v. 20) : "As though living in the world;" for these words show that this burying has taken them out of the world. 3. On the second side of this analogy, there is not the least hint looking toward baptism — nothing about being lifted out of the water,'or coming up out of it. The second side touches_ nothing whatever but the figure of the resurrection. This omission of all reference to emerging from the water, after the supposed immer- sion in it, goes strongly against the supposition of any thought whatever of immersion as the mode. It certainly shows that the imagery in these passages is not built upon the mode of baptism by immersion, but is built solely upon the analogy above ex- plained, the second side of which is nothing more or less than resurrection — i. e., of Christ from his grave and of his people from their death in sin to a new life corresponding to that of Christ. 4. If, when Paul wrote (in Rom. 6: 4), "We are buried with him by baptism into or unto death," his mind was upon immer- sion, and if he really spake of burial under the baptismal waters, what could he have meant by being immersed in water unto death ? There is but one legitimate meaning in these words — viz., immersing the subject till he is dead! Now I can not conceive how Paul, with his mind fully upon immersion in water as being the baptism he was speaking of, could possibly say, " baptism unto death." I infer, therefore, that baptism by im- mersion was not in his mind at all. 5. So in our passage (Col. 2:12) the thing that lies over against })urial in baptism is not rising out of the baptismal waters, but is the resurrection to a new s])iritual life through faith, correspond- ing to Christ's resurrection by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is, the second side of the great analogy shows, not that Avatcr baptism by immersion is in Paul's mind, but that this burying is spoken of here only as lying over against a resurrection — not out of water, ])ut out of real death. 6. The fact that in a large majority of the passages which are built upon this great analogy, there is no reference whatever to baptism, shows that baptism is not the groundwork of this con- ception, and therefore much more does it show that the mode of its administration does not by any means underlie this great analogy. These brief heads of thought, built as it seems to me upon just laws of interpretation, must suffice, without further expanding the argument, 14. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was COLOSSIANS.— CHAP. II. 173 against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross ; 15. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. This "handwriting" can be no other than the ceremonial insti- tutions given through Moses, now made obsolete through Christ. They were on record in the Old Testament Scriptures, in the form of "handwriting" so called here, perhaps to suggest the facility of "blotting out." They were "against us," Gentiles, inasmuch as they discriminated sharply against all Gentiles. Christ took that " handwriting" out of the way of Gentiles as an obstacle to their conversion and welcome reception into his church — nailed it to his cross, putting an end to its binding force. The cross stands for salvation to all, Jew or Gentile, irrespective of nation- ality, and so it terminated forever the special prerogatives of Jews. The "principalities and powers" of v. 15 are spiritual beings of hi^h rank, the terms being used of either good beings (Eph. 1: 21) or bad (Eph. 6: 12) — the question which, in any given case, the context must determine. Here, the context proves that they are bad — the devil and his angels. The word translated "having spoiled" means strictly to cast off as a garment, here in the kindred sense of casting away from himself — as good men repel the tempter — the reference being to the final triumph of Jesus over all the powers of hell in their oft-repeated assaults upon him while he dwelt in human flesh, " tempted in all points as we are." In every conflict with those powers, Jesus conquered and reached his last, final victory on his cross. Rising a mighty conqueror over all the powers of hell, he emphatically and boldly declared his triumph. The reader will notice that v. 14 strikes at the ritualistic Juda- ism of those apostles of error; v. 15 at their playing into the hands of "principalities and powers" — other and mightier than human. 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days : 17. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. " Therefore " — the Mosaic system having been abrogated — allow no man to judge you, as a matter of conscience, of moral right or wrong — in the point of eating or drinking, things clean or un- clean; nor " in respect of an holy day''- — this word referring to the three annual festivals. The new moons also had their ritual services. The word for " Sabbath " is here in the plural form, and therefore should naturally include not only the weekly Jew- ish Sabbath, but the Sabbatic year — each seventh — and the jubilee —the fiftieth. The plural form of Sabbath (Greek) is sometimes 174 COLOSSI ANS. — CHAP. II. used for the weekly Sabbath only, leaving it doubtful whether Paul designed to include all the Mosaic Sabbaths. From this passage some have inferred that Paul abrogated all Sabbath, classing the entire institution with other Mosaic ordi- nances which Christianity supplanted and annulled. But this goes quite beyond Paul's words or his meaning either ; for the things he would abrogate are " the handwriting of ordinances," characteristically Jewish and naturally hostile to Gentile equality in the privileges of the gospel. Moreover, the Jewish Sabbath as interpreted by the Pharisees and as imposed under their teach- ing demanded far more than Moses ever did — so much more that Jesus set himself strongly against those Pharisaic interpretations and impositions. He would discard such Sabbath laws, but he certainly recognized the perpetual obligation of a true Sabbath, The reference to " drinks ' suggests that ascetic practices in this respect had gone quite beyond the Mosaic law. All these Mosaic ceremonial services foreshadowed the coming Christ ; were only the shadow of which Christ is the body. Hence the " body " having now come, the prophetic shadows have served their purpose and should cease. 18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a volun- tary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19. And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. " Beguile" translates a Greek word which looks to the award made by the judge in the ancient games and signifies an award adverse to their rights. Let no one beguile you of set purpose. The Greek word for "voluntary" does not qualify "humility" (as our authorized version has it erroneously) but the word for " no one" — thus indicating a deliberate intention on his part to cheat them out of their reward. Assumed humility, coupled with angel-worship, are the means used for their purpose. Angel- worship seems to have included angel-mediatorship as well. This, like the mediatorship of the Virgin Mary, was probably advocated on the ground that God is too high and too pure to be approached save through some interposed Mediator other than Jesus. So it seemed to them very modest and very humble to put the angels into this service. In the clause — " Intruding into those things which he hath not seen," the word for the negative (" not") is of doubtful authority. Accepting it, we have the sense — pushing beyond their real knowledge into realms of profitless speculation (e. g., about the angels). On the other hand, rejecting it, we must interpret; — bringing every thing to the judgment of the senses; demanding some tangible Mediator between themselves and the invisible God. That the ruling motive was fleshly, earthly — in. COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. II. 175 the spirit, not of genuine humility but of pride that puffeth up — is plainly declared. Their radical defect — the diverging point of all their heresy — was that they did not hold fast upon Christ the Head, from whom flows down all the spiritual power that breathes vital moral force through the members of his spiritual body, the church. This figure — the Head, Christ, in his relation to the bodily members — his people — is the same which appears in Eph. 4: 15. 20. Wherefore if ye be dead witli Christ from the rudi- ments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21. (Touch not ; taste not ; handle not ; 22. Which all are to perish with the using ;) after the commandments and doctrines of men ? 23. Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will- worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body ; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. This analogy — dead, and so severed utterly from all worldliness of life and spirit, even as Christ died from earth — we have dis- cussed fully above under v. 11-13. Noticeably here, Paul assumes that they were not to think of themselves as yet " living in the world." Why, he asks, should ye allow yourselves to be dogma- tized over — subjected to the imposition of human ordinances — just as if ye were still living in this world, when really ye are dead to all that is properly of this world? The clause in paren- thesis— "Touch not; taste not; handle not," etc., is given as a specimen of the dogmas which those false teachers would impose. The clause " which are to perish with the using" — is Paul's own comment upon them, indicating their worthlessness. — " After the commandments and doctrines of men " is said of the ordinances (v. 20) and should be read in close connection with that verse. " Which things have a semblance of wisdom " — and therefore may at first thought, seem very religious. " Will-worship " — self- imposed, volunteered — as if in the true love of worship, and in great apparent humility, pretending to have such a sense of un- worthiness that they could not dare approach God save through the mediation of angels. " Neglecting the body," is not so strong as Paul's word which means — unsparing treatment of the body — not sparing it from self-imposed sufiering; pushing their ascetic notions to the extent of self-torture, and so appearing to crucify the flesh. But Paul condemns this because it is self- imposed ; because not required by any law of God ; because its real root was not humility but pride ; and because it had in it nothing honorable or worthy or useful as meeting the legitimate demands of our physical nature. 176 COLOSSI ANS. — CHAP. III. CHAPTER III. On being risen with Christ (v. 1-4); consequent duty of putting to death fleshly, sinful passions which incur God's wrath (v. 5-7); sins named again which should be discarded (v. 8); lying specially included (v. 9); putting off all that pertained to the old life and putting on the new, renewed after God and in Christ (v. 10, 11); specifying what should be put on (v. 12-14), and also the graces of the heart (v. 15) ; holding and teaching the word of Christ in connection with Christian song and much thanks- giving (v. 16, 17); duties of wives and husbands (v. 18, 19); of children and fathers (v. 20, 21); also of servants (v. 22-25). 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4. AVhen Christ, ivho is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. "Risen with Christ" follows the thought of the passage (2: 12), using the same verb and in the same form of it. By their Christian profession, and hopefully, in fact also, they were risen from their old state of death in sin, even as Christ rose from the grave to his new life in heavenly glory; yea more — the analogy is carried through so as to assume that they have risen into that new sphere of heavenly life, though yet on earth bodily. There- fore, let them live consistently with their professions and with the new relations they bear to Christ; let them seek the things above where Christ is sitting at God's right hand — seek them, as is soon explained, in studious thought and earnest love; live in them. So (v. 2) ; put mind and heart upon those things above, not on things of earth; for ye have professedly, and (it should be) truly died to sin and to worldly things; the life-fountain of your activity, altogether invisible to the world, lies "with Christ in God" — "with Christ," in the sense of ])eing like his, hidden as his is hidden; and in God as the infinite sphere of all your life, your love, your aspirations, your voluntary activities. The world will see the nature and sources of your life when Clirist shall appear and before all the universe shall recognize you as his people. Then your now unseen relations to Christ will be disclosed and the blindest worldliness can not fail to see why ye are living above the world while yet living in it. 5. Mortify therefore your members Avhicli are upon the COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. III. 177 earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil con- cupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry : 6. For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7. In the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. The word "mortify," taken literally, translates well the Greek word which means put to death; destroy its life-power. "Members" is the remarkable word of this passage. Carrying out to its full extent — not to say forcing to its extreme literal sense — the conception of human flesh as the seat and source of sin — it conceives of special forms of sin as being severally mem- bers of the body — as if the hand were one sin; the foot another; the lustful eye another, etc. Paul has elsewhere used similar language, though slightly less bold in its figure: "If ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live " (Rom. 8 : 13) ; " They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the ajffections and lusts" — the last word explaining what he means by the "flesh" (Gal. 5: 24). They are said to be "upon the earth" in antithesis with living in heaven — with thought and heart on things above. The particular forms of sin here enumerated (v. 5) scarcely need exposition. "Fornication and uncleanness" are violations of the seventh commandment. "Inordinate affection," in Greek one word, is lustfulness, strong sensual propensities, from which "evil concupiscence" is scarcely distinguishable, since this must mean passions of evil sort. That covetousness should be de- clared to be " idolatry," and condemned because it is such, is at once fearfully true in its nature, and should be startling to the dullest moral sense. Covetousness gives the heart's love and homage to Mammon — to Gold and its supposed equivalents — even as the idol-worshiper gives his heart to Moloch or to Jupiter. The language of his heart is — Gold, be thou my^ God ! — Gold, I give thee my labor, my love, my very heart, my life ! — If this be not idolatry, what can be? If this does not put gold in the place God ought to hold, what can? On account of these sins, God's wrath comes (present tense)-— comes now and must ever come. The words " upon the chil- dren of disobedience" are of doubtful textual authority (omitted by Tischendorf, Alford). The omission, however, could not change Paul's meaning. His corresponding passage (Eph. 5: 6) has these words. — In your former ungodly life ye practiced these sins and gave your heart full scope in their indulgence. So much had Christianity wrought in them toward a heavenly life on earth. 8. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 178 COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. III. But now, in contrast with that former life, put ye off (impera- tive)— the sense being, not ye do put off, but do it. The first three are passions of the soul, while " blasphemy " in this con- nection probably refers to speaking evil of fellow-men ; as filthy, foul-mouthed language certainly does. All these are most unsuit- able to souls new-born to God. 9. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put oflT the old man with his deeds ; 10. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him : 11. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Lie not one to another, having put off — seeing or since ye have put off — the old man with all that belongs to him. Lying toward fellow-men belongs to the old life — not at all to the new one. Of the new man two descriptive points appear: {a) He is re- newed, not precisely in knowledge, but into [eis], unto better knowledge and a correspondingly better life; — and {h) his re- newed life is 'according to the image of God" who creates — gives birth to — this new man. It should be noticed that this conception of a new man involves the idea of creation — a neio creation. This is the figurative conception of the new birth, usually spoken of as " regeneration." So Paul says (2 Cor. 5: 17), "If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation." In its essence this figure appears first in the Old Testament: "Create in me a clean heart" (Psalms 51 : 10): "A new heart will I give you" (Ezek. 36: 26). It should be noticed that this "being renewed" is put in the present tense, not in the past, indicating a process still progressing; not a momentary change completed somewhere in the past. The precise translation is — "Having put on the new man who is heing reneioed — is undergoing continuous renewal unto knowledge," etc. ,So Paul (2 Cor. 4: 16) — "Our inner man is experiencing renewal day by day" — where the verb is in the present tense and the action it represents is in present progress. "Renewed unto knowledge" — should legitimately mean not only renewed by means of truth as the instrument used ])y the Divine Spirit, but renewed unto the love of the truth and unto the richer and fuller attainment of this knowledge — a fact of precious significance, and far too little apprehended and appreciated. This new realm of life knows no cnste distinctions of race (Jew or Gentile); or of rituality (on the point of circumcision); or of culture ("barbarian," etc.); or of social condition (as free or en- slaved);— all such distinctions disappear forever, and Christ is all and in all. Christ is the same to all; gives his blessings alike to all; knows and mnkos no discrimination among the lost sons and dauditcrs of our fallen race. COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. III. 179 12. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and be- loved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mmd, meekness, long-suffering ; 13. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any : even as Christ for- gave you, so also do ye. 14. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. " Putting on" follows the conception (in v. 10) of "putting on the new man," the sense being — cultivate, cherish these moral qualities of character, as it becomes the chosen ones of God who should be holy as they are really beloved — all these considera- tions heightening the motives which should press them to obey this precept. Cherish, put in exercise, "bowels of mercy" — the singular [mercy] being the approved text — and the bowels being thought of as the seat of all tender afifection. " If a man have" — not a " quarrel " but a complaint — a cause or ground of blame against any one. As Christ forgave you, so should ye also for- give. It is remarkable how often this duty is inculcated, enforced by this special motive (because Christ forgives us) ; and still fur- ther enforced by the superadded fact — God will not forgive the unforgiving soul: if ye do not forgive your offending brother, neither will God forgive you. Paul puts the exhortation in its general form (Eph. 4 : 32) : " Forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." But no words can make the point more clear and strong than Christ's own; e. g., " If ye for- give men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. 6: 14, 15). (So also Matt. 18: 21, 22,' 35.) The question of casuistry (we might say, the only one) per- taining to this subject, is this: Is the command Forgive, condi- tioned upon professed repentance ? Am I bound to forgive an offender who does not even profess to repent ? On this point it may be said : — (a) God never forgives the avowedly unrepentant; and therefore his example does not re- quire this of us; — (6) Our Lord seems to assume professed re- pentance as the condition : " If he trespass, rebuke ; if he repent, forgive" (Luke 17: 3). But on the other hand, our Lord insists upon the greatest charity toward an offender who confesses (Luke 17 : 4). The Christ-like, loving spirit will be very ready to re- ceive professions of repentance, and to forgive upon the basis of faith and charity. And yet further : — The gentle, loving spirit, as opposed to the retaliating, punishing spirit, is always in order, for it should be remembered, God has said, " Vengeance is mine " — not yours. He never devolves on us the responsibility to avenge personal injuries, beyond what the protection of the pub- lic interests may require. 180 COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. III. 15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body ; and be ye thankful. Let the peace which God gives [" peace of God "] bear sway in your heart — a living presence and power there; to which blessed state ye are called, being really but one body of which Christ is the Head ; so that there can legitimately be no rival con- flicting interests among you. The corrected text gives Christ (rather than " God "): — "Let the peace of Ckristrule," etc. — "who is our peace " (Eph. 2 : 14) and who solemnly bequeathed his peace to his people, saying — "My peace I give unto you" (John 14 : 27). The verb " rule '' * suggests the guiding and the inspi- ration which helped the combatants to win their prize, this being the word in use for that service. For such peace and for all its blessedness, how rich should be our thankfulness ! 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wis- dom ; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. The word of Christ — that which he taught — let it dwell in you richly. "In all wisdom" — should qualify your teaching and ad- monishing one another, and not the dwelling of Christ's words in you. The punctuation in our authorized version is misleading. Sacred song should be made a vehicle of inspiring truth. The heart's song, unheard of men, makes rich and grateful melody in the ear of God. So Eph. 5: 19: And do all in the love of Jesus' name — out of regard to him — his name and his love being present and effective, not only in all your sacred songs but in all your Christian life. 18. AVives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. The mutual duties of wives and husbands arc less fully devel- oped here than in the Epistle to the Ephesians, the general doc- trine, however, ])eing entirely the same, "In the Lord," signify- ing in the sphere of his presence, of his claims ; and on your part, the sphere of love and obedience to his will — it is specially fit- ting that ye, wives, should yield ohedicnce to your husbands. What was proper before you were "in the Lord " is doubly proper now. COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. III. 181 20. Children, obey your parents in all things : for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 21. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. So of the mutual duties of children and parents. Notice that here (as in Eph. 6 : 4) mothers are not named — perhaps omitted be- cause maternal affection may for the most part be relied on to shield mothers against the abuse of parental authority. " Lest they be discouraged" — being so powerless against a father's se- verity ; and this result — disheartening a child from all attempts to please — being so disastrous to both parties. How tenderly watchful against this result should every father be ! " Obeying in all things," needs no formal limitation (e. g.) to things not op- posed to God's will, this exception being really too obvious to need to be made. God could never require or expect the son to obey his earthly father against his Heavenly Father. 22. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but in sin- gleness of heart, fearing God : 23. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men ; 24. Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the re- ward of the inheritance : for ye serve the Lord Christ. 25. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the WTong which he hath done : and there is no respect of persons. The duties of Christian servants are put at once clearly and strongly. They should serve, not to please the earthly master but the heavenly: — this to be done heartily, as all service for Christ should always be done : — moreover done as knowing that their reward is sure in the inheritance of the saints in light — just as sure as though they were serving Christ on an earthly throne instead of serving an earthly master at his footstool. God looks at the spirit of obedience, and at nothing else; he rewards upon that basis and upon no other. In the last clause of v. 24, the best textual authorities omit the word " for," reading it sim- ply— " Ye serve the Lord Christ." This carries its own logical significance, with no need of saying "for." 3:^c CHAPTER IV. To masters (v. 1). Exhortation to prayer, especially for the apostle and his associates (v. 2-4); their walk before the ungodly; their speech to be ordered wisely (v. 5, 6) ; Tychicus and Onesi- 182 COLOSSI ANS. — CHAP. IV. mus, bearing this letter, will report the state of things with Paul and at Rome (v. 7-9); various salutations (v. 10, 11), and espe- cially from Epaphras, first their fellow-citizen, and then their pastor (v. 12, 13) ; their greetings (v. 14, 15) ; apostolic letters to be interchanged for the mutual benefit of churches (v. 16) ; charge to Archippus (v. 17), and the apostle's final salutations (V. 18). 1. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal ; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. We can see no reason why the critic who divided this epistle into chapters should have drawn a chapter line between the duties of servants and those of masters. On every right principle, this V. 1 ought to have been put at the end of chapter 3. Justice and equity should rule the master in his whole bearing toward his servants, for his own Master in heaven will hold him to this. He should be aware that his whole treatment of his servants must be reviewed before the higher court. On the question of the right and the wrong of slavery and the duty of emancipation, Paul simply announced the great princi- ples which should govern both the slave-holder and the law-making power, and then left them upon the conscience to work out their results under all the light of circumstances. It is a fiict of his- tory that the gospel did ere long work out emancipation. Its doctrine of universal brotherhood, of equality of rights, of amen- ability to one common Master in heaven, of rendering to the servant what is just and equal, wrought silently yet rapidly to- ward this result, and could not possibly rest in any thing short of it. 2. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanks- giving ; 3. Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds : 4. That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. It is safe to assume that the burden of prayer upon Paul's own heart is well indicated by his request for the prayers of the Co- lossian brethren — viz., that God would burst open his prison doors and let him preach ; would also open providential doors of access in all directions and give him all boldness to preach Christ in the face of fiercest persecution with never a fear of conse- quences, and no withholding of the gospel message. It must have been a fearful strain upon his patience to lie there two long years, knowing every day that whole cities and nations were perishing in their heathen darkness, while he would but could not go to them with the light of life. Will the brethren join and help his burdened heart in this prayer? COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. IV. 183 5. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, re- deeming the time. 6. Let your speech he always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. We may thank God for giving Paul some leisure to write such epistles. Let his written words stir Christian hearts to duty all down the ages ! Walk in wisdom toward those outside the church. No busi- ness, no labor, no service whatsoever, demands wisdom more than this. On redeeming the time, see Eph. 5 : 16. It is here as one of the dictates of Christian wisdom. Buy up golden opportuni- ties ; seize them if they come within your reach, as the merchant- man buys all best commodities, at the right time, and careful never to miss the best. In common conversation, words spoken "with grace" will be wise, sensible, winning /avor (the more precise sense of " grace "), which must imply that both words and the spirit that is in and with them are conciliating, modest, affec- tionate. The salt that seasons speech is, perhaps, best defined as good sense; the wisdom that discerns timeliness; the fitnesses of social life ; the best means of access to the hearts of men. How ye ought to answer, not precisely " every man," but each individual man. Studying your men carefully and thoroughly, you will find no two alike, and you must needs adjust yourself to men individually. 7. All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord : 8. Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts ; 9. With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here. Both Tychicus and Onesimus were old residents of Colosse ; and having been, we know not just how long, with and about Paul, could give the brethren at Colosse all the particulars of his case. 10. Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner saluteth you, and Mar- cus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments : if he come unto you, receive him ;) 11. And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the cir- cumcision. These only are my fellow-workers unto the king- dom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. Of the imprisonment of Aristarchus, this is our only notice. Luke speaks of him as "a man of Macedonia, Paul's companion in travel;" caught in the great mob at Ephesus (Acts 19: 29); as again at Thessalonica, accompanying Paul into Asia (20 : 4) ; and 184 COLOSSIANS. — CHAP. IV. yet again, " a Macedonian of Thcssalonica," with the group of friends who accompanied Paul the prisoner to. Rome (27: 2). Coupled with these notices is the remarkable fact that in Paul's letter to Philemon (v. 24), written apparently very near the same time with this to Colosse, he and Mark, with others, are called " my fellow-laborers," while Epaphras is his fellow-prisoner — the two having, it would seem, interchanged their respective relations. Was this done under the action of the Roman civil authorities, or were they allowed to change places at their will, one to relieve the other ? Xo historic evidence has come down to decide. Marcus (Mark) we are glad to see once more back in the con- fiding sympathies of the great apostle, after what Luke has told us of his apparent instability or timidity, and the great trial it brought upon this dauntless apostle (Acts 15 : 37-39). It is conceded that this Mark is the evangelist historian. These three men, said to be " of the circumcision," and hence probably Jews, were his only fellow-laborers of Jewish antecedents who had wrought with him in the interests of the gospel kingdom and had been his comforters. 12. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. 13. For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and thera that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. Epaphras is brought to view above (1: 7, 8), where see Notes. This warm testimony to his prayerfulness and fidelity in gospel work is refreshing, both in itself, and as a bright example; and yet more, in view of the comfort which the imprisoned apostle must have had in such a friend by his side. The particular point of his prayer for the brethren at Colosse deserves attention : That "they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God" — "perfect" indicating their mature and fully developed Christian character; "complete" indicating their full persuasion and entire confidence in all gospel truth, as opposed to crude conceptions or unsettled convictions. The phrase, " in all the will of God," suggests practical duty as well as doctrinal truth. — "Great zeal for you" — but Paul's word for "zeal" rather means labor, yet whether otherwise than in prayer does not appear from the context. 14. Luke the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. 15. Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nym- phas, and the church which is in his house. Luke, supposed to be identical with the evangelist historian and the writer of the Acts, is noticed rarely in Paul's epistles. This notice suggests both his profession and his amiable charac- ter. Being one of the few friends who identified their lives and COLOSSIANS.— CHAP. IV. 185 fortunes with Paul the prisoner and went with him from Csesarea to Rome, it is pleasant to find him there at Paul's right hand at this point near the close of his first imprisonment, and with him yet again near the close of his second and last imprisonment (2 Tim. 4: 11), where Paul says: "Only Luke is with me" — Demas having forsaken me through his love for thi^ present world. "The church which is in thy house," suggests the group of be- lievers who made his house their accustomed place of worship. A similar allusion to "the church in the house of Priscilla and Aquila appears in Rom. 16 : 5. 16. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likcAvise read the epistle from Laodicea. See Introduction (p. 150) for remarks on this practice of in- terchanging the letters received from the apostle for mutual edi- fication. This reference to a letter of his to Laodicea seems to show conclusively that some of Paul's genuine letters to churches are lost, and that only a part were brought into the sacred canon. On the question whether those lost epistles were inspired equally with those which were preserved, we have no positive knowl- edge, yet I see no reasonable ground for the negative opinion. How it happened that some were omitted, and for what definite reasons, if for any other than neglect, are points upon which conjectures are our only data, and these would be of small ac- count. 17. And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it. Archippus had been recently installed their pastor (we may reasonably suppose), so that Paul's deep sympathy for that church and his blended sympathy and love for their new pastor dictated this very brief but richly pregnant " charged This gospel min- istry which thou hast received from the Lord Jesus — this mo- mentous trust — take heed that thou fulfill. Let never a duty in- volved in it be neglected ; le-t its labors be thy joy and thy life — that so thou mayest render thy account at last in peace and tri- umph. 18. The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace he with you. Amen. The salutation in his own hand, and the request that they would remember his bonds for Christ — that long and severe trial to his patience and his faith — close this precious epistle. EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. I. INTKODUCTION. The inquiring Bible student will study this epistle with greater interest and profit after a brief attention to the fol- lowing points : I. The locality and history of this city Tliessalonica : II. The church ; — when and by whom founded : III. The author and date of this epistle : IV. Its occasion and object, coupled with its peculiar points, and its analogies with other epistles. I. In the apostolic age, Thessalonica was a rich and pop- ulous city ; under the Eoman rule made the capital of the province of Macedonia. It was situated at the head of the Sinus Thermaicus, one of the longest arms' of the Archipel- ago : 350 miles west of Constantinople ; 100 south-west of PhiJippi ; 200 north by west from Athens. Under its mod- ern name, Saloniki, it still retains much of its ancient im- portance, having a population of 60,000 or 70,000. It was therefore one of the salient points in that Macedonia to which Paul was divinely summoned by the angel-voice — " Come over into Macedonia, and help us." II. The church was founded by Paul, having Silas for his fellow-laborer. In a very few verses (Acts 17: 1-9), Luke has recorded how these two men, fresh from their one night's wonderful experience under scourging and imprison- ment at Philippi, moved on through Amphipolis and Apol- lonia to Thessalonica, and there, in pursuance of their mis- sionary policy of seizing the great strategic points for the conquest of the nations to Christ, they opened their gospel battery upon this great city. Finding there a synagogue of Jews, "Paul, as liis manner was, went in unto them, and three successive Sabbath days reasoned with them out of their common Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach to you is that very Christ." In (180) INTRODUCTION. 187 the result, some believed, and united themselves with Paul and Silas ; also of devout Greeks, a yet greater number, and of prominent women not a few. But here again Paul's former experience repeated itself; the unbelieving Jews, envious and bigoted to madness, raised a mob; "set all the city in an uproar ; " managed to strike a responsive chord by appealing to the political prejudices and passions of leading citizens, who for self-protection (as they deemed) took bail of Jason and certain other brethren as security against riot and disturbance of the peace, and so released the Christian brethren. Under these circumstances nothing remained but to send the apostles away. Thus suddenly were Paul's personal labors in this great city closed by violence. But the seed was planted. Other brethren, less prominent than he, and hence less likely to arouse opposition, probably con- tinued the work he had begun. It is plain that Paul's work there was pressed with all the prodigious energy of his in- tense nature. His back still raw from the scourging at Philippi, his soul stirred to a lofty enthusiasm and a daunt- less heroism by this vindictive opposition and by the press- ure of stern obstacles, he poured forth the torrents of his eloquence and lavished his rich sympathies without stint upon the people whom he could reach. Did he ever labor more severely, or feel more intensely, or move upon men's souls with mightier inspiration drawn from on high? It was with him the labor of but a few days to lay the foun- dations of this Christian church ; but those were days ever memorable in the history of the great apostle. "VVe shall not half appreciate these two epistles unless we hold well in mind the moral atmosphere in which that enterprise in church-planting had its birth. III. That Paul wrote this epistle, no sensible critic has ever doubted. The time was apparently not many months after his expulsion. His very great solicitude for their spiritual welfare weighed so heavily upon his soul that at last, when he could endure his burden no longer (1 Thess. 3: 1, 2), he "thought it good to be left at Athens alone," and to spare Timothy to go and see the brethren at Thessalonica and bring him word as to their state. They (Timothy and Silas) rejoined him at Corinth (Acts 18 : 5), and there, during, apparently, the very early months of his year and a half s residence in that city, Paul wrote this epistle. Manifestly it was occasioned by the intelligence re- ceived through Timothy and was designed to meet their 188 INTRODUCTION. case as thus reported. This fixes its date proximately in the early part of A. D. 53, and ranks this as in time the earliest of Paul's epistles. IV. The occasion and objects of the epistle are readily gathered from the epistle itself. Foremost among the ob- jects was the warm outpouring of his joyful sympathies in gratitude and thanksgiving to God for the good report he had heard of their steadfastness in love and faith, and of their patient endurance of persecution. The occasion awak- ened many reminiscences of his own experience there, to which he gives free expression. Moreover, it is quite ob- vious that opinions were current there in regard to the second advent of the Lord, which in some respects were ex- erting a very undesirable influence, and therefore called for correction. In particular, they were entertaining the notion that their deceased Christian friends would be, as compared with themselves, at a disadvantage in the expected near coming of the Lord. What their doctrine was in regard to a resurrection of the righteous dead, is not altogether clear ; but it is plain that they sorrowed greatly and very unrea- sonably over their Christian dead as likely to miss the joy of the Lord's coming. This error, Paul deemed it vital to correct. Moreover, there are repeated injunctions against disorder, unreasonable excitement and neglect of their ordi- nary basiness — all apparently originating in their notion of the near coming of the Lord. These disorders and undue excitements Paul deemed it very necessary to rebuke. These points are sufficiently prominent to justify their being regarded as the special objects of the epistle. In the main, however, Paul has much joy in the steadfast piety of the great body of the converts, and therefore devotes his letter mostly to instructions and exhortations looking toward a higher, purer Christian life. This epistle has many points of close analogy with that to the Philippians, e. g., in its general tone of commendation; its warm, outgushing sympathy and its free expressions of joyful confidence in their Christian integrity and earnest- ness of devotion. In neither do we find allusions to flagrant immoralities, or to that class of doctrinal errors which ap- peared early in the churches of Asia Minor. It will be noticed that these ei)i.stles to Thessalonica are earlier by several years than any other — by nearly ten years earlier than those written from Kume during his first imjmsonnicnt there. EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. I. CHAPTER I. Introduction (v. 1) : thanksgiving to God for the fruits of grace among the converts there (v. 2-4); reminiscences of his labors there and of the attending power of the Holy Ghost (v. 5); and of the blessed results in their Christian life and labors (v. 6-8), reproducing the same fruits all abroad (v. 9, 10). 1. Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians ivhich is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The names of Silvanus and Timotheus, are here, not as joint authors in this epistle, but as associated with Paul in Christian sympathy and labors. Thay send their mutual salutations and benedictions, and doubtless are with Paul in the " we" (v. 2), giv- ing thanks to God and of one heart with Paul in prayer for the brethren. Silvanus, known uniformly as Silas in Acts but al- ways Silvanus in the epistles, appears first (Acts 15 : 22) as one of the " chief men among the brethren" of the church in Jerusa- lem, and sent by them with the decrees of the great council. He was " a prophet"; labored usefully at Antioch (Acts 15 : 32), and was chosen by Paul to take the place, by his side, of Barnabas and Mark in his second great missionary tour, the history of which begins with Acts 15 : 40. He will be remembered as with Paul at Philippi (Acts 16 : 19) and at Thessalonica (Acts 17 : 4), attending him also to Berea, but left there while Paul went on to Athens alone ; and not long after, rejoining him at Corinth from Macedo- nia (Acts 18: 5). Paiil's second letter to Corinth (1 : 19) recog- nizes both Silvanus and Timothy as his fellow-laborers there. Timothy appears first at Lystra (Acts 16 : 1-3) a city of Lyca- onia, Asia Minor. He was then apparently young, but religiously trained. He went with Paul to Macedonia and became one of his most constant and devoted associates during the greater part if not even the whole of his subsequent life. (See more in the In- troduction to 1 Timothy), The best textual authorities close this v. 1 with the words " grace and peace," omitting all that follows. Q (189) 190 I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. I. 2. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3. Remembering without ceasing your work of faitli, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father ; 4. Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. It would be unpardonable not to notice what Paul could say of himself and his associates as to prayer and thanksgiving. " Always giving thanks," making mention of each church by name with prayer in their behalf — verily this is a rich example, not only for all gospel ministers but for all Christian people as well. If Paul was great in eloquence, in patient endurance, in moral heroism ; not less was he great in the depth of his Christian sympathies and in the natural outpouring of his soul in perpetual prayer. As to the brethren of that church, the qualities in their charac- . ter and the features of their Christian life which he joyfully re- membered as incentives to thanksgiving and prayer are here; — " Your work of faith " — your faith-inspired work — prompted and energized by faith; — ^your " labor of love" — labor begotten of love — labor not done grudgingly but lovingly; — your "patience" born of " hope" in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus faith, love, and hope in the Lord, were the inspiring power unto all their labor and endurance for Christ and his cause. All these Christian labors and graces are of the sort that live, as it were, in the sight of God our Father; — that flourish under his eye. In such manifestations of spirit and of life, Paul sees the evidence of their election of God. Nothing short of that, or other than that, could account for such fruits of holiness. 5. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assur- ance ; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. The Greek word for "came" has hero the sense — developed itself toward you ; made its presence felt upon you. It proved a gospel, not in word only or chiefly, but in power, in tlie Holy Ghost, and in the strongest convictions — those of real assurance. But we need not speak of these things; for ye know what sort of men we were among yoring for your salvation. — It is obvi- ous that this description of the way the gospel came and wrought among tiiem refers rather to the apostles than to the Thcssalo- nians — to the apostles primarily. It was first of all a gospel of power in their own souls — a gospel made mighty upon their own hearts by the Holy Ghost — a gospel which held sway over their souls with the potency of resistless ^conviction. Men who preach the gospel under such convictions — its truths thus mighty upon their own souls through the Holy Spirit — are never wont to labor in vain.- Very similar testimony to this Paul bears as to his preaching near this same time, in Corinth: "And my speech I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. I. 191 and my preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power — that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Cor. 2: 4,5). 6. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, hav- ing received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: 7. So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Mace- donia and Achaia. This imitation of the apostles and of the Lord also was shown specially in the point of receiving the gospel heartily, despite of the persecutions then raging. Their joy in the Holy Ghost was the more rich and precious for the severity of their trial and the strength of their faith. — So signally strong was their steadfast en- durance that their example sent its influence abroad over all Mace- donia and Achaia. These two provinces under the Roman regime comprised the entire territory of ancient Greece and Macedonia. ^ 8. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God- ward is spread abroad ; so that we need not to speak any thing. 9. For they themselves show of us what manner of enter- ing in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. The expression — " sounded out," is very significant — as if the gospel word which came to them rang out, reproducing itself, its sound echoing and re-echoing, till, gathering strength from each reverberation, its notes were prolonged and wafted on and on, not only pervading those entire provinces but regions indefinitely far beyond. This gathering up of the gospel voices of testimony and proclamation into one mighty volume of sound, swelling away into distant lands, is a beautiful representation of the self-perpetu- ating forces of the true gospel in human souls. All the world came to know the faith and the spiritual power of that Thessalo- nian church. Paul seems to say that it left little more for himself and his associates to do. They themselves — the people of those provinces — taking the gospel from the Thessalonian converts, shelved in their experience how ye received the gospel from us, and turned from idols to serve the living God and to await the coming of his Son. The genuine, practical power of his gospel was reproduced in the souls con- verted by his Thessalonian converts. Thus the waves of gospel sound seemed to lose none of their power as they traveled outward into remotest lands. 192 I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. CHAPTER II. Reminiscences of labor (v. 1, 2); points on the negative side (v. 3-6) ; and on the positive (v. 7-9) ; appealing to themselves to witness how the apostles had labored among them (v. 10-12) ; grateful for the manner in which they received the word (v. 13) and became followers of the Judean churches in the endurance of persecution (v. 14-16); his longing to see them (v. 17, 18), because they were his hope and joy (v. 19, 20). 1. For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain: 2. But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philipi^i, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. The scenes at Philippi — the mob, the scourging, and that event- ful night in the stocks and the inner prison — were all recent and fresh — the smart of the pain scarcely ceased, and the sense of purposed indignity yet keen and sharp, when they entered this great city, Thessalonica. (See Acts 16 and 17 : 1-9.) But never a moment did Paul and Silas quail before mob or magistrate; scourging, or imprisonment. Rather they seem to have been only the more bold in their God to speak the gospel word with mightier endeavor — a struggle that rose almost to agony (much "agon" is Paul's word). 3. For our exhortation ivas not of deceit, nor of unclean- ness, nor in guile: 4. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gosj^el, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. 5. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness ; God is witness : 6. Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the ajiostles of Christ. "Not of unclcanncss," looks to impure motives and denies this. ''Alloivcd of God " — better, approved, approbated of God to bo intrusted with the gospel. We speak to please not man but God who hath approved ou]f hearts — the same word as a])ove (Eng. " allowed") but in sense approved. In v. 5, the Greek for " used," applied to "words of flattery," is noticeable, ])eingtlie com- mon Greek verb for become^ in the sense — we were not in that sort of thing — took no part in it.— — "Cloak of covetousness" ■=•■ ytvouai. I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. 193 does not make covetousness itself the cloak, but denies the use of flattering words as a cloak to conceal real covetousness — this cov- etousness being the thing charged by his calumniators but indig- nantly denied by the apostle. In v. 6, we perhaps naturally think of '-burdensome " as looking toward the burden of his sup- port. He does refer to this point below (v. 9) ; but here he refers rather to the assumption of honor and dignity, in the same line of thought with the previous clause — " we sought not glory." We might have assumed great authority ; might have put on the attitude of dignity as the apostles of Jesus Christ, and have made ourselves in this sense very weighty among you ; — but we did no such thing. 7. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cher- isheth her children : 8. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were will- ing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. So far from putting on airs of dignity or authority, we were gentle, mild, of tender spirit, loving and cherishing as a nurse folds to her bosom dear infant ones, frail and sufiering. So deep and strong was the love we bore toward you that we could gladly have given you not the gospel only but our very souls, at the mar- tyr's stake. 9. For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be charge- able unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Here Paul comes to the fact of their physical labors (those of his associates and himself) night and day for their personal sub- sistence, so as not to burden any of the people. To this custom of his we find several allusions, especially in his letters to the church at Corinth. (See 2 Cor. 11.) He never questioned, never relinquished his right to material support, but he sometimes for- bore to assert the right or receive the aid, that he might take away all occasion of scandal from men eager to find or to make up such occasion. 10. Ye are witnesses, and God also^ how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that be- lieve : 11. As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, 12. That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto h\^ kingdom and glory. It must be assumed that Paul had some special reason for this very emphatic, not to say solemn, affirmation of his blameless, up- 194 I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. right life before the Thessalonians. It is due to him not as a Christian only but as a man, to assume that these words of per- sonal experience and history were not the fruit of vanity, nor a bid for applause, nor a claim for the honor that comes from men. What definite form of scandal he sought to meet — what reproach upon the gospel and upon his Great Master he would avert and disarm, we can not say precisely ; but he knew that the Jews of the synagogue at Thessalonica "who believed not" "were moved with envy" and were equal not only to any degree of mob vio- lence but to any extreme of detraction, falsehood and slander. (Acts 17 : 5-9. ) This letter was written not many months after the scenes which Luke describes, so that we may conveniently assume that those envious Jews were not all dead nor all con- verted from their malice to a better mind. 13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. "For this cause" — but to what does the word "this" refer? What " cause " does he speak of? For the answer we go back to the? exceeding great affliction and earnest labors of the apostles in their gospel work at Thessalonica. Because we felt so deeply and labored so sevei"^ly, therefore we also (ye much more) but we too and also give thanks without ceasing to God that our labors were not in vain. Our gospel word was effective because ye re- ceived it, not as the word of man, but as the word of God. In the last clause, it is of some importance to determine to what the word "which" ("which effectually worketh") refers as its ante- cedent. Is it — God wJio worketh, or the word which worketh ? Our authorized version " which " is no certain index of the view of our translators, for " which " in their usage may be either which or who. So in the Greek, so far as is shown by the gender, the grammatical antecedent may be either "word" or "God" — both these nouns being masculine. The following considerations, taken in their combined force, seem to me decisive in favor of referring "which" to "word." Thus the thing asserted will be that the "ivord" works effectually in believers. (a.) " Word " rather than " God" is the^ leading thought before the mind in this verse. How they received the ivord is the point in hand, (h.) The term " also" [" which ef- fectually worketh a/.so"] ought to follow "which" in the En- glish as it does in the Greek : — which [word] also worketh ef- fectually. We shall see the pertinence and ])earingof this "also" if we consider that Paul has ])rought into view the influence of God already ])y saying that they received the gospel not as the word of man, but as the word of God. Therefore it only remained to add the other element of power, viz., tliat of the word itself. This he docs by saying tiiat the word also works effectually in I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. 195 believers. But perhaps most decisive of all is consideration (c.) — the facts of New Testament usage; — viz., that when God's power is expressed by this Greek verb energize,* it is always put in the active voice. The examples are 1 Cor. 12 : 6 — Gal. 2 : 8 and 3 : 5— Eph. 1 : 11, 20 and 2: 2— Phil. 2: 13. On the other hand, the energy of "faith, working by love" (Gal. 5: 6) is put in the Greek middle voice as here. The distinction is nice but real and in this case should be considered decisive. f Under this nice but vital and carefully maintained distinction, the active voice is used of God's working to denote that his energy is im- mediate, direct, and supreme ; but the middle voice of the same verb for other forms of agency, subordinate, inter-acting, or of forces acting mutually upon each other. It was desirable to dis- tinguish broadly between God's working and all other working. 14. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus : for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they /lave of the Jews : 15. Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us ; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: 16. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is to come upon them to the uttermost. It was specially pertinent to compare the persecutions endured by the brethren at Thessalonica with those endured by the Chris- tian churches in Judea, Pharisaic bigoted Jews having been the instigators in both cases alike. Then Paul forcibly enlarges upon the awful guilt of those malicious Jews who murdered Jesus, slew their own prophets, set themselves enviously against the salvation of the Gentile world ["contrary to all men"], and so brought down upon themselves and their nation the crushing, ex- terminating judgments of the Almighty. In v. 16 the clause — " to fill up their sins always " — should not be referred to Gen- tiles, supposably left without the gospel to hopeless sinning ; but to Jews who were rapidly filling up the measure of their national guilt to the very brim. (See the same view in Matt. 23: 32-39.) In the last clause of v. 16, the word "for" is misleading. * evep-yeo) t Other cases of the middle voice of this verb are Kom. 7 : 5 ; 2 Cor. 1 : 6 and 4 : 12 ; Eph. 3 . 20 ; Col. 1 : 29 and 2 Thess. 2 : 7 aiid James 5 : 16. This distinction between the use of the active voice for God's personal energy ; and the middle voice for other forms of energy, working and inter-working, is entirely uniform. The pas- sages cited are all that occur in the New Testament, with the ex- cejjtion of Herod's reference of the miracles he heard of to the en- ergy of the Baptist risen from the dead (Matt. 14 : 2 and Mark 6: 14). 196 I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. The word ^' hiit'^ gives the relations of thouf^ht much better. Paul would say — Ye need not marvel that such awful wickedness should seem to pass unnoticed of God; it can not be so long; it may seem so now; hut the tremendous judgments of God are even now almost bursting upon their heads. The awful cloud is gathering; soon ye will see it break: and sweep them with a deluge of ruin unto their complete destruction. In fact, less than fifteen years intervened before that cloud of vengeance broke and Jerusalem fell ! 17. But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abund- antly to see your face with great desire. 18. AVherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again ; but Satan hindered us. "Taken from you" — Paul's word suggesting the bereavement of orphanage (being orphanized from you). How Satan man- aged to prevent Paul's visit, he has not told us. But this allusion shows that Paul fully and practically believed — what his words to the Ephesians (6: 12) imply — that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood only, but against principalities and powers — the rulers of this world's darkness; that we come to a grapple hand to hand with the devil, in more ways than men are wont to think of. Was this belief which Paul certainly held, a real knowledge of facts, or a notion of his superstitious fancy? For aught I can see, if we admit his inspiration of God, we must accept it as knowledge of the truth and not as a delusion of human super- Btition. 19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? 20. For ye are our glory and joy. Paul had personally so much at stake — had so much stock (shall we call it) in tlieir Christian stability, so much prospective joy and ineffable reward, to come from their perseverance to the end; — why should lie not labor unceasingly and pray most fer- vently for their final victory through faith in the Lord ? Note that these anticipations of Paul assume most certainly that in the future life he will personally know every convert from under his labors in this life. That life links itself to this as if the river of death severed dear friends^o more than the crossing of any river of earthly sort is wont to do. I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. III. 197 CHAPTER III. Why he sent Timothy to see them (v. 1-3); fearful that persecution might break down their faith (v. 4, 5); hut Timothy's return and good tidings had brought comfort (v. 6-8), and had in- spired grateful thank-offerings and prayers (v. 9, 10) ; the objects prayed for (v. 11-13). 1. AVherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone ; 2. And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow-laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith : 3. That no man should be moved by these afflictions : for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. The narrative in Acts seems to show that Silas and Timothy remained yet awhile in Thessalonica when Paul was brought on to Athens' (Acts 17: 14, 15), that while Paul was there alone, waiting for them to come, he met the Jews in their synagogue and subsequently made his great speech on Mars Hill; and finally, that when Silas and Timothy returned from Macedonia [Thessalonica], they came to Paul at Corinth whence this epistle was written. The tenor of this epistle seems to imply that Paul sent Timothy from Athens to Thessalonica, his burdened spirit being able no longer to endure his anxieties and uncertainties as to his con- verts there. Neither the history nor the epistle purport to give all the facts of the case. If these facts were all known it may be reasonably presumed that the missing links would be supplied. In V. 2 slight unimportant variations of text appear in the clause descriptive of Timothy. In sending him, Paul's twofold object was (a) to establish ; and (6) not to "comfort," but rather to exhort — this being the more usual and more nearly the primary sense of the verb he used. To " comfort them concerning their faith " was by no means the sense of Paul's words. Rather he w^ould exhort them to steadfastness and to unflinching endurance. The fact that Christians w^ere destined to persecution had been carefully taught, so that they need not be surprised or stumbled by it. Jesus had said (John 16: 33) "In the w^orld ye shall have tribulation;" and the apostles were careful to reaffirm it (Acts 14: 22), "saying that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." 4. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation ; even as it came to pass, and ye know. 5. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent 198 I. THESSALONIANS. CHAP. III. to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. While yet with them he had prudently forewarned them of persecution — its elements being even then apparent. After the storm had broken upon himself and driven him away, his fear as to their future was so great that he sent Timothy to see and exhort them. He understood Satan's wiles so well that he expected him to be on hand to assault them in their exposed condition. 6. But now w^hen Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see yon : 7. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our afflictions and distress by your faith: 8. For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. » Timothy's return with good tidings brought him not relief only but great joy. "We /tyelf ye stand fast in the Lord" — "live ' in the sense of real life, a life worth living^a deep joy which no word can express better than life as antithetic to death. 9. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; 10. Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith? How can we adequately thank God for this relief to our hearts and this joy in the answer to our anxious prayers in your be- half? Paul had been feeling that nothing short of going to see them in person could meet the case; but now his heart is quite relieved. The thing he so much desired, viz., to perfect what might be deficient in their faith, he trusted had been accom- plished.—— Whether this supposed deficiency was specially in doctrine or in practice — in the truth believed, or in the strength of the belief itself, does not appear. Very probably both these aspects of faith are included. 11. Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. 12. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: 13. To the end he may stablish your hearts unblamable I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. IV. 199 in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of onr Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. These are the special subjects of his prayer in their behalf; — that God's good providence miglit open the way for him to go to them; that their love toward each other and toward all men might abound, and their hearts be established in holiness — be made strong and be blameless in holiness, in the coming (the precise sense) — in the coming of the Lord Jesus with all liis saints. In that eventful day, to be found blameless in holiness would be beyond measure glorious ! Let them think of that coming, and let the thought of it be a perpetual inspiration to holy living. >J>&^c CHAPTER V. This chapter of exhortations suggests that the day of the Lord will come suddenly (v 1-3) ; biit ye have light and should walk in it ever watching (v. 4-7), wearing the gospel armor because God purposes your salvation through the Savior's death (v, 8-11). They should honor their religious teachers (v. 12, 13), Avatching over each other that none fall into sin (v. 15, 16). Various brief precepts (v. 16-22); prayer for their sanctification (v. 23, 24); final requests and benedictions (v. 25-28). 1. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I Avrite unto you. 2. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so Cometh as a thief in the night, 3. For Avhen they shall say, Peace and safety ; then sud- den destruction cometli ujwn them, as travail upon a woman with child ; and they shall not escape. " Times and seasons " are not altogether synonymous terms — the former denoting properly long indefinite periods; the latter, pe- riods specially adapted for some specific purpose, having their own peculiarity — as "the seasons of the year." lUit in the pres- ent case no special distinction appears, both referring apparently to the great subject ever prominent in this epistle — the time of the Lord's second coming. As to tliis, ye know accurately [abso- lutely and truly] one great fact — viz., that it Avill come Avith no forcAvarning; unexpectedly, as a thief of the niglit sends forward no token. This salient feature of that coming, Jesus himself had tiiught most fully (Matt. 24: 42-44 and 25: 13, and Luke 17: 24 and 12: 39, 40); and his disciples had repeated his Avords (2 Pet. I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. V. 205 3: 10, and Rev. 3: 3 and 16: 5). In v. 3, read: "While yet men are saying" — then, all suddenly, the day shall break upon them. Hence let all men be ready and ready always. It is but the dictate of common sense that we should account the day of death to each individual as in every practical point equivalent to the day of the Lord's coming. So viewed, the admonition applies to every soul in every age ; to every reader of these lines, and to him who writes as well. 4. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day : we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch and be sober. 7. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. The illustration from the night thief who always strikes under cover of darkness, suggests that Christians, having the light of knowledge, especially in the point of forewarning, need not be surprised by night, there being no such night of ignorance to them. Nor should they sleep (spiritually) as others do ; but be evermore watching in the sense of being evermore in readiness for the Lord's coming. Leave it to others, if so they will, to sleep as in the night, and be drunken too ; but not so should the Lord's people. 8. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10. Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together wdth him. 11. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. See more concerning this defensive armor in Eph. 6: 13-17. It should encourage and even inspire every Christian heart that God purposes and promotes our ultimate salvation through the death and the risen life of his Son. He died for us that we, in life or in death, should be in him. " Sleep," for the state of death, is the fit word here, since it is only in and through Christ that death to the Christian becomes a sleep (and this of the body only) — a sleep out of which he is in due time to wake bodily, to another life, immortal and all-glorious. 12. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and ad- monish you; 206 I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. V. 13. And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Here is one and the same chiss of men, exercising these three functions — laboring among them, presiding over them, and ad- monishing. The precise sense of the original might be put thus: Those who labor among you — the same persons being also over you and giving you admonition. The second and third participles being without the article, can not refer to other persons, but must refer to the same. To knoio is here in its emphatic sense — that of recognizing their presence, their mission, their responsibil- ities, and of giving them all due honor for their work's sake. This esteem is not enjoined and enforced on the score of personal ac- quaintance, or of traits of personal character; but of their de- voted spiritual service. Love and esteem the men who give their heart and their life to your spiritual welfare. " At peace among yourselves ;" for probably there was some occasion for this exhortation. The duty is so vital to the well-being of society and pre-eminently of the church, that this exhortation rarely comes amiss. 14. Now we exhort you, brethren ,^ warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, suj^port the weak, be patient toward all men. The word " unruly,'' used quite currently of the lower animals, we rarely apply to our own species in adult life. Paul's word means the disorderly, who violate the common principles and obligations of labor for self-support. It should be interpreted by comparison with other allusions in both these epistles (1 Eps. 4: 10, 11, and 2 Eps. 3: 6, 11). Even Ellicott comments thus: "The precise reference is probably to the neglect of duties and calling, into which the Thessalonians had lapsed, owing to mis- taken views of the time of the Lord's coming." "Comfort the feeble-minded" — literally those of small soul, who would be spe- cial sufferers under the unnatural excitement produced by the doctrine of Christ's near coming. "Support the weak" — not the weak in body, but the weak in faith. "Be patient toAvard all" — for minds easily excited and of little self-control might severely tax their patience. 15. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Retaliation in revenge — always wrong, never consistent with the Christian life — is a doctrine which may be claimed to be the distinctive glory of Christianity. Let vengeance be for the Lord alone. WIhui has the Ix^st heathen wisdom hold and taught this? (See Rom. 12: 17-21, and 1 Cor. G: 7, and 1 Pet. 3: 9, and Prov. 20: 22 and 24: 2'J.) I. THESSALONIANS. CHAP. V. 207 16. Kejoice evermore. 17. Pray without ceasing. 18. lu every thing give thanks : for this is the Avill of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. To the Christian there is always reason for joy in God, Is not God always good, and his friendship always an infinite treasure ? And his kingdom always a fountain of blessedness, affording ground for perpetual rejoicing? Paul puts the precept in the special form: "Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I say. Rejoice" (Phil. 4: 4) — "the Lord," as used by him, being the Lord Jesus. In him we see most plainly the grounds which the Christian has for perpetual joy. (See also 2 Cor. 6: 10.) "Pray without ceasing ' — literally, with no interruption, no lapse from the praying spirit. Our good sense should guide us in our construction of this precept. So guided, we shall expound it to enjoin, not the unceasing repetition of words of prayer, but main- taining perpetually the mental attitude of prayer toward God — always trusting, waiting, resting, and on all specially fit occasions, imploring. (See Eph.'^fi: 18, and Col. 4: 2, and Luke 18: 1.) Let this be coupled with thanksgiving for every ihing^ for God's gifts are every-where and never cease. 19. Quench not the Spirit. 20. Despise not prophesy ings. 21. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil. "Quench" suggests the figure of fire — one of the figures under which the agency of the Spirit is presented. (See Acts 2: 3.) A spark may be but too easily extinguished. The allusion here may be specially to those peculiar spiritual gifts, common in the apostolic age, some of which may have been abused by the ex- travagances of some among the excited Thessalonians. They were exposed to another and kindred danger — that of despising prophesying. Some among them had flagrantly abused and scandalized the whole subject of prophecy, claiming special prophetic foresight while really having none, but making egre- gious blunders and utterly false pretensions — an abuse which rarely fails to accompany the unnatural excitement of the notion that the day of the Lord is about to appear. Ellicott comments thus : " The very exhortation before us gains all its point from the fact that the more sober thinkers had been led by the present state of things to undervalue and unduly reject all the usual man- ifestations of the Spirit." Under these circumstances it was specially appropriate to ex- hort— "Prove all things; hold fast upon the good." The good sense God has given you should be put to use pre-eminently in seasons of such unnatural excitement. We must explain v. 22 to mean— not every thing that looks like evil — that has its ^'appearance,'' but rather every form oi 208 I. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. V. evil — all its various manifestations — for real evil, and not evil that is so only in appearance, is the subject of thought here._ We may apply it to the point particularly in mind. Then it will suggest that on the one hand, some were prophesying wildly about the sudden coming of the Lord ; while others were repelled, being disgusted with such crude fancies and such misleading and ill-working predictions, and were even led to despise the legiti- mate functions cf the prophetic Spirit. Abstain therefore from every form of evil. These extremes are all mischievous. 23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and Ij)ray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. "The God of peace" — so called because he gives peace — all spiritual blessings; whose voice Jesus re-echoed when he said (John 14: 27)— ^" Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you." "Sanctify you wholly" — the word for "wholly'' sug- gesting completeness — that which reaches every part, every faculty and power of your being — a word chosen manifestly for its com- prehensiveness. It is not the word in common use for " per- fect," * which would rather suggest the finished quality of the work, as this does the universality of its application. The careful reader would notice that in our version the words "I pray God" are in italics. They give the sense correctly because the Greek verb is in a form which implies desire, prayer. The words "I pray God" are not expressed, nor need they be. The exact translation of the next clause would be — not "your loliole spirit," etc., but may your spirit, soul and body be kept whole — kept unblemished, so as to be found blameless in the coming of the Lord. Its location makes it what grammarians call a second predicate — adding a secondary idea to the verb, indicating as to the point of Paul's prayer, lioio, in what man- ner, their spirit, soul and body should be kept. The idea is not that the whole spirit rather than any part of it, or the whole body as opposed to part of the body — may be kept; but that all — spirit, soul, body — may be kept all right, all pure, all true to God; and so be found blameless when Christ shall come. The calling One — He who now calls you to this pure and spotless life — is faithful to his promises ; you can trust him to second your en- deavors and to respond to your prayers for this purity. As to classifying the faculties of man — "spirit," "soul," "body" — it is not well to press the distinction beyond the popular into the strictly metaphysical sense. Paul would not imply that the body has certain sins of its own, in which spirit and soul have no re- sponsibility; but, popularly considered, he would speak of some sins as of tlie body in point of the temptation to them, while others are of the mind only. 1 doubt if we gain any thing for I. THESSALONIANS. CHAP. V. 209 practical purposes by attempting to draw any line between spirit and soul as used here. Paul meant to say — May all your powers — whether of mind or body — be brought under sanctifying grace, and so be kept true to their purpose, in harmony with your full consecration to God. If the question be raised — Can we suppose that Paul meant what he has here said ? I must reply that the question seems to me entirely impertinent and out of place. When inspired words stand before us, our first question asks for their exact signifi- cance: What did Paul, taught by the Spirit, really mean? This being found, it only remains to accept it as true and use it faith- fully, honestly, prayerfully, to the ends for which it may seem to be written. How should we dare to treat the word of God otherwise than thus ? If the question be whether it is proper to pray for such a degree of sanctification in the present life, it will not be out of place to suggest that we have yet higher authority than Paul's to pray for a degree of sanctification which surely can not be less than this : " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Or if the still further question be pressed whether we can reasonably exercise faith in offering such prayer, we have the same question to settle in regard to this same Lord's prayer: Does he prescribe for us certain words of prayer and at the same time teach us (1) Always to pray in faith ; yet (2) That it is not legitimate or suitable to have faith in off'ering the very prayer which himself has prescribed ? 25. Brethren, pray for us. 26. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. 27. I charge you by the Lord, that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. 28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. As I have expressed my prayers for you, so I now beseech you to pray in like manner for myself and my fellow-laborers in the gospel. The solemn charge (v. 27) is unusual and seems to imply at least a shade of fear that some of the "disorderly'* members of that church — men swept from their moorings by the fascinations of the exciting doctrine of the" near coming of Christ, might repel the apostle's counsel and obstruct the public reading of this epistle. Hence this solemn injunction, resting on his authority as an apostle ; and then his closing benediction. EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. II. INTRODUCTION. How much time intervened between the first and this second letter can not be determined with entire precision. Obviously the same companions (Silvanus and Timothy) are still with him. Also similar external trials, apparently from hostile Jews, are indicated. (Compare Acts 18 : 6 with 1 Thess. 2 : 14-16 and 2 Thess. 1 : 4 and 3 : 3.) Inasmuch as Paul spent one year and a half at Corinth, and as 1 Thes- salonians was with little doubt written there, quite early in this period, this second epistle may with great probability be put a few months later, and before he left Corinth to visit Asia Minor and especially Ephesus (Acts 18: 18). Some- where in A. D. 53 we may assign the date of this epistle. The special occasion was obviously of the same general character as that of the first — a feverish and pernicious ex- citement in regard to the speedy coming of the Lord, coup- led with neglect of the common duties of life. The first epistle had failed to correct these erroneous notions; nay, it is perhaps probable that through their misconception of his meaning it may have even aggravated the evils. Hence this second epistle aimed to show them that the Lord's com- ing was not then near in the sense they were assuming ; and that it was vital to their own spiritual welfare and to the honor of the gospel that they should be quiet ; should devote themselves to the ordinary duties of life ; earn their own bread by honest industry ; and labor to restore to better views and a better life those who, in these respects, were walking disorderly. One of the l)cautifLd things in this epistle is the spirit of the apostle, manifested toward these erring brethren. AVe can not doubt that their crude notions, their wild excitement, their unteachable spirit, and their very objectionable ways of life, annoyed the apostle exceedingly ; yet his forbearance (210) INTRODUCTION. 211 and good temper are wonderful. He sees all the good qual- ities that appear in the church ; he thanks God for all that the gospel has wrought for them ; he labors to comfort them under all their trials ; and if some few prove incorrigible under all efforts to correct their errors and their wayward lives, he counsels the better brethren to withdraw unosten- tatiously from their society that they may feel the lack of moral support in their bad notions and bad lives, and so hopefully be led to wiser thought. But they were by no means to treat these erring ones as enemies, but rather to admonish them as brethren. Not a word of impatience with their dullness, or of contempt for their folly : nothing which would even suggest that he felt hurt by their lack of appre- ciation of his counsels escapes him. His genial, loving spirit bears him entirely above these feelings which unhappily appear but too often in smaller minds and less chastened souls — so that we may take some precious lessons from the great apostle on the gospel method of dealing with brethren of mistaken theories and fanatical spirit, yet who are not hope- lessly false at heart, or lost toward God. EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. II. CHAPTER I. Introduction (v, 1, 2); thanks to God for their growing faith and mutual love, and patience under persecution (v. 3, 4) ; which suggests that God righteously rewards his saints, but sends trib- ulation upon their persecutors (v. 5-8) ; — even everlasting de- struction at and after Christ's second coming (v. 9, 10); prayers in their behalf (v. 11, 12). 1. Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ : 2. Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This introduction is substantially the same as in the first epistle. 3. AVe are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth ; 4. So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your joersecutions and tril)ulations that ye endure : 5. Wliich is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: As usual in the New Testament, so here " charity " is precisely love — in this case love of the brethren. Their faith and love had developed so nobly that Paul and his associates were, in a sense, proud of such exemplary converts and commended their example to other churches as a model of faith and patience under perse- cution. This fact (persecution) suggested how reasonable it was that Clod should visit both the persecutor and liis victims, with right- eous, discriminating awards — eternal blessedness to the latter — (2T2) II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. I. 213 they being counted worthy of that blessed kingdom for which they were here suffering. 6. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; 7. And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : Inasmuch as it is righteous on God's part to requite with trib- ulation those who bring tribulation upon his people for nothing in them save their loyalty to God ; and to you, the troubled ones, rest together with us, his apostles, when the Lord shall be re- vealed from heaven. "His mighty angels" is literally the angels of his might — angels who embody and represent his own energy, and are therefore equal to any service to which he as- signs them. As to the agencies of this terrific destruction, we can only say that " fire " is almost universally the symbol as pre- sented in the Scriptures, first of the Old Testament, and last of the New. In the Old we find it in Psalms 11:6 and 50 : 3 ; Dan. 7: 9, 10 and Isa. 33 : 14 and Mai. 4 : 1; and in the New, in Mark 9: 43, 44 and Matt. 25: 41 and 2 Pet. 3: 10, 12, etc. The at- tempts to improve upon these scriptural representations by dis- counting from their literal significance, and by questioning the possibilities or probabilities of the case, are of very questionable wnsdom and value. Rather, it should be assumed that the Di- vine Spirit chose the best human language and imagery at com- mand for the one purpose of being understood, and has not se- riously missed his aim by a bad choice of imagery for his pur- pose. " Them that know not God " and " them that obey not the gos- pel " — are here made two distinct classes by the defining Greek article prefixed to each. The first includes heathen, not enlight- ened as to the gospel, who yet " did not like to retain God in their knowledge," and therefore lived in guilty ignorance of what they might have known ; while the second class had heard but would not obey the gospel of Jesus. Upon both classes, and upon each according to the measure of its guilt, will God take vengeance. 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power ; 10. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. •' Destruction" can mean nothing less than the ruin of all hap- 10 214 II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. I. piness and even of all hope. Of the elements of woe involved in it we can know (apparently) only what we may infer from these two general sources: (a) The laws of the human mind; and (6) the teachings of inspiration on the point of God's righteous displeasure against sinners; his threatenings as to their eternal doom ; and his retributive judgments, administered on a limited but illustrative scale in this world. To interpret this word " destruction " to mean annihilation — the extinction of being — is wholly in conflict with the obvious sense of the Scriptures. Such a doom could not with the least propriety be called everlasting. The word "aionios" as used here of this destruction has been regarded by the mass of sober critics ever since Paul wrote these words, as denoting a futurity extending onward in time without end. The word " from " {''from the presence," etc.), like the Greek preposition * waich it well translates, may in itself admit either of these two senses; i. e., (a) to indicate the source whence the destruction comes; or {b) its locality^ as being far away from — in this case, from the presence of the Lord. The latter is to be preferred here on two special grounds: — (1.) As harmonizing better with the word " presence" ("face") of the Lord, there being no particular pertinence in representing this destruction as coming from his face ("presence") as the source whence it proceeds; and (2) as harmonizing entirely with the very frequent representation of this punishment as involving utter banishment from God and from the home of his presence, purity and blessed- ness— away "into outer darkness': "without the city." Far away also " from the glory of his power" — the glory which em- anates from the displays of his power and majesty. These manifestations of the glory of his power will be made in their fullness when the Lord (Jesus) shall have come (for the final judgment) to be glorified in the person of his saints, and to be an object of admiring wonder as seen in the light of his saved peo- ple— their case exhibiting and unfolding marvelously the riches of his mercy and the glory of his power in their salvation. It is proper (Paul would suggest) to call these things to your thought because ye believed our gospel testimony, and so were brought into the class of his saved people. Ye yourselves — enduring to the end — will be found in that illustrative host of the redeemed. 11. Wherefore also we pray always for yon, that our God "would count you worthy of this calling, and fuliill all the good pleasure of /m goodness, and the work of faith with power: 12. That the name of our Lord *Tesus Christ may be glo- rified in Yf>u, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto which result wc pray continually for you that our God * ano. II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. 215 would count you worthy of the gospel call, regarding your recep- tion of it and your Christian life under it as responding worthily to your privileges. In the clause — " all the good pleasure of his goodness," we must decide between referring these words to the good pleasure and goodness of God, or of man. Our translators took the former construction and indicated it by supplying the word "his" (God's). But the other construction, referring these words to man, is to be preferred on these two grounds ; (a) The usage of the word ["goodness"]; and (6) The closely related clause fol- lowing— " the work of faith" — which must certainly refer to man. As to the usage of the word for "goodness,""^ it is never used by Paul of God but only of man — the cases other than this being Rom. 15 : 14 and Gal. 5 : 22 and Eph. 5 : 9. Moreover, all the other words of the clause are pertinent as applied to man — that God would fulfill every good purpose — every impulse to- ward moral goodness causing their fullest and most healthy de- velopment; and also the work of faith — all that faith can do in your souls — with power. Verse 12 indicates that the results of this work of God's grace will glorify the name of Jesus in them, and exalt their souls to final glory in him — a mutual result, such as the grace of God is wont to achieve, and was provided in order to accomplish. ^J*i< CHAPTER II. Beseeches them not to be agitated by the expectation of the very near coming of the Lord (v. 1, 2); for the day will not come till there shall be a great apostasy and the man of sin shall appear whom he describes (v. 3, 4), of which he had told them before (v. 5) : speaks of that which was detaining this manifestation (v. 6, 7); and of the coming and destruction of that Wicked One (v. 8), whose deceitful Avorks are further described (v. 9, 10), and also God's righteous judgments in the destruction of himself and his deluded victims (v. 11, 12). But for his beloved, saved breth- ren he gives thanks to God (v. 13, 14); urges them to steadfast- ness in life and in the truth (v. 15), and gives expression to his prayers in their behalf (v. 16, 17). 1. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and hj our gathering together unto him, 2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. In the exposition of this often controverted and often misinter- *■ ayadcjawt/. 216 II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. preted passage (v. 1-12), it seems to me supremely important to adhere closely to ivliat is loritten and to the legitimate sense of these words, unbiased by any preconceived theories whatever. No labor should be spared to ascertain definitely what his words must in themselves mean. In the words — "By the coming" — our translators assume the sense of adjuration: we adjure you hy that awful coming, etc. But this is never the sense of the Greek preposition used here. We must therefore take, instead, the well established sense con- cerning— in respect to — that expected coming. That you may better understand this coming and its necessary antecedents — I now write. " And in respect to our being gathered together before him " — i. e., when he shall come. " That ye be not sud- denly shaken " — in the sense of being agitated, disquieted, as op- posed to a calm, settled mood of thought and feeling. "In mind" — should rather hQ—from (or out of) your mind [nous] — your self-possession, your good sense so as to act as men who have lost their reason. Nor yet be even so much as troubled, for which there is no occasion. " Troubled " represents a lower grade of anxiety, and disturbance of feeling. Next, as to the source of this disturbance. Do not be disturbed by any spirit — which in this connection must mean — by any one assuming to have the spirit of prophecy, — whether coming to you orally or by letter as if from us. This shows that some were pushing the doctrine of Christ's immediate appearing by claiming Paul's authority, either oral or written. This claim Paul repu- diates as wholly unfounded. I never said so — never meant so ; and I beseech you, let no assertion or even intimation to this ef- fect disturb you, as implying that the day of the Lord is close upon us. Paul's carefully chosen words — " as if the day of the Lord were at hand" — seem to imply — not that they affirmed Paul had said so, but that he must have meant so. They reached their conclusion by their special construction put upon his words. Paul therefore pointedly denies any such construction. And to protect- himself, and the still dearer interests of truth, from such perver- sion and misapprehension, he alludes again below (v. 15) to the things they had been taught by his words and letters, beseeching them to hold f\ist those truths and the Avords in which they lay, and to hold them without perversion. Yet more, in closing this epistle, ho is careful to put his own autograph to it as the token of his own hand — a precaution which significantly implies that his authority had been tampered with in a way by no means pleitsant. The verb translated, " is at hand" indicates an event very near, standing directly in upon us. It is used not infrequently for things present as opposed to things absent in the sense of remote in time future (c. y., Uom. 8: 38 and 1 Cor. 3 : 22). 3. Let no man deceive you by any means : for that day II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. 217 shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sm be revealed, tbe son of perdition ; 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Let no man deceive you by any means icliaiever, for Paul had specified several of these means of misleading their minds ; and now, lest there might yet be some possible points omitted, he gives his admonition the widest scope, to guard against every possible method of deception which could mislead them from the truth. The reader will notice that the clause, " that day shall not come," is in italics, indicating that no corresponding words ap- pear in the original. Yet the words that follow, as well as those which precede, fully justify the introduction of these italic words. The reader should be reminded that Paul said — not " a falling away," but the falling away, the well known, great apostasy, of which you have been told often. This doctrine of a great apos- tasy, at some time, was currently taught by all the apostles — by Paul, 1 Tim. 4 : 1 and 2 Tim. 3 : 1 ; by Peter, 2 Eps. 2:1; and by John, 1 Eps. 2: 18 and 4: 3. Paul proceeds to describe yet further the salient features of this great apostasy — viz., in the appearing and coming into bold prom- inence of " the man of sin." Let us hold well in mind that this is Paul's first descriptive designation, ''The man of sin." His one distinctive, decisive characteristic is siii — wickedness. He is a man of towering, appalling wickedness ; a sinner of the black- est dye ; a head-reljel against God, of most daring impiety. And, let it be noted, he is 07ie man, a single individual. It would be an unpardonable violation of all just laws of language to make him an abstract system of wickedness instead of a concrete sin- ner; or a long succession of men, as (e. g.) the popes of Rome, instead of one man only. This strict defining of the man as an individual is made yet stronger by the next descriptive pointr- a clause in apposition — viz., "the son of perdition," a man born for destruction, who by good right inherits perdition. It should be borne in mind that our Lord uses these identical words of Judas (John 17: 12). Judas was one individual man; so, there- fore, is this " man of sin." Let it also be noticed that Paul says of this "man of sin," "shall be revealed" — the very same word which is customarily used for the revelation of the Son of man in the sense of his manifestation before human eyes. Some of his very descriptive points are put in v. 4. He sets him- self against and lifts himself above every one called God, every thing worshiped — a statement made purposely broad enough to include both Christian and pagan objects of worship, the true God and false gods also. (Compare here 1 Cor. 8: 5). For the word " sebasma, ' an object of pagan worship, see Acts 17: 23. This "man of sin" thus lifts himself above all objects of human wor- ship, known or conceivable, whether the true God or the false 218 II. THESSALONIAXS. — CHAP. II. gods of the heathen. Yet more ; he thrusts himself into the very temple of God and sits down there, purposely obtruding him- self upon mankind as alone worthy of all worship. Instead of saying, " m the temple," Paul says into the temple, which seems to imply his thrusting himself into it, and there taking his seat as one rightly there, shoAving himself oflP as being really the su- preme God. What particular temple of God is here referred to, it is not easy to decide. May it be the church of God, which is often .spoken of as his temple ? But in this sort of description, a figurative sense of the word seems inappropriate. — Is it the old Jewish temple ? There are difficulties in supposing that to be in existence at the time referred to. May it be an ideal temple — i e., any place consecrated to the worship of God — to thrust one's self into which and sit down there, w^ould be to assume the rights and prerogatives of real divinity ? This seems to be the least objectionable construction. But the decision of this point is by no means of vital moment. On the distinct personality of this "man of sin," Ellicott re- marks : " He is no mere set of principles, or succession of oppo- nents, but is one single personal being, as truly man as he wdiom he impiously opposes." Much has been written to identify this "man of sin" with the popes of Rome. It ought to be a sufficient refutation of all such expositions : (1.) That this " man of sin " is not a legion of men following each other in long succession for twelve or more cen- turies, but is unquestionably one man, and but one. If descrip- tive terms are allowed to have any meaning; if the whole tenor of a description, involving numerous distinct points, all defining one man, shall be allowed their legitimate force, there is no evad- ing this conclusion. (2.) On the point of assuming divine hon- ors— thrusting himself into the very temple of God and showing off himself to be God — it were at once false and foul to claim that the popes answer to this description. Men who charge such im- piety upon the popes should at least be invited to reconsider the charge in the light of the ninth commandment. 5. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? So it seems these points had been spoken of definitely while Paul was among them. 6. And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now lettctli ivlll let, until he be taken out of the way. This "now" seems to mean accordingly, consequently; and not tlie present time as distinct from any other — i. c, is logical, not temporal in sense. Ye know what holds him back, restrains, detains him from manifesting himself, unto the result of his being .11. THESSALONIANS.— CHAP. II. 219 manifested in his own proper time, and not before it. But what Paul alludes to as known to his readers is by no means very clear at this distance of time. Was it the power of organized society which held in check such arrant impiety ? This definite time is the fitting season — so called, apparently, with reference to the divine purpose — the time arranged for in the plan of God. Yet further he says that this mysterious iniquity — this astound- ing embodiment of sin — was already in energetic action as an under current, not coming up prominently to the surface — the withholding power still detaining his manifestations until it should be taken away. The translators of our version disregarded one good rule in translating the same Greek word ''wiihholdeth" in v, 6 and "letteth" in v. 7. In each case the word is a participle, yet is the same in every respect save that in v. 6 it is neuter — the'with- holding thing ov poiver ; and in v. 7, masculine; the withholding one. " Letteth," of course, is in the sense now mostly obsolete — meaning not permit, but prevent, restrain. But what this withholding, restraining power or personage was, who can tell? The general tenor of Paul's language seems to imply that it was somewhat definitely known then, and that it was not very remote in time. More mystery hangs over these points than over any other in the entire passage. Whatever might be said about the mystery of his working then, the mystery is indefinitely greater, it would seem, to-day. 8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy Avith the brightness of his coming: And then — this word being obviously emphatic — then when the restraining personage shall be out of the way, will " the man of sin — the lawless One — certainly the same personage described above (v. 3) — come to the front and be revealed to the view of the world. But here, without another word at this point as to his operations; without a hint as to the amount of time which his working should occupy, Paul proceeds at once to show how the Lord will meet him with his consuming judgments: — "Whom the Lord" {i. e., Jesus Christ) — the better text gives it "the Lord Jesus" — "shall consume with the breath of his mouth" — in al- lusion probably to the words of Isaiah (11 : 1); "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth ; with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wricked:" — "And shall annihilate" — dispose of utterly — "in the blaze of his coming." But what "coming" is this ? Is it Christ's second and final coming, or may it be some long prior manifestation of retributive judgment, of local and limited character? This question is so very vital to the bearing of our whole pas- sage upon the time and the immediate antecedents of the second 220 II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. and final coininc; that no pains should be spared to arrive at the true interpretation. The evidence in the case must he sought in two lines of in- quiry: (1) The usage of Paul's words ; "(2) The exigencies of the whole argument. (1) As to the words, The term for "brightness" [epiphaneia] which Greek word is transferred to our tongue in Eiriphamj, is used by Paul once of Christ's first coming (2 Tim. 1 : 10); but in every other case, of his final coming, the following being all the cases of its usage: — 1 Tim. 6: 14 and 2 Tim. 4: 1, 8 and Titus 2: 13. With these cases of usage before us, it is impossible to justify the application of the passage to any thing except Christ's final coming. So of the other word for coming — " parousia" — which the strain of current usage compels us, in a connection like this, to refer to Christ's final coming. (2) The exigencies of the entire argument bear in the same direction and to the same point. For in this entire passage Paul is speaking not of antecedent comings in retributive judgment, but of the great final coming of the Lord, of the very " day of the Lord" about which the Thessalonian brethren had been so agitated, supposing it to be close upon them even then. Beyond all question this is the theme under discussion — the matter of which Paul is writing. Then further, he declares that this coming will not take place until a certain Impious One shall have been revealed. " The man of sin," "the son of perdition," "the lawless one," must needs come first. Something retards his manifestation now; but when he shall have come, then the Lord Jesus shall blaze forth upon him in the brightness and glory of his final coming; and so the end shall be! Thus the de- struction of this lawless One — this gigantic sinner — and the final coming of the Lord Jesus to judgment, are synchronous. This iden- tical coming of the Lord is the very agency which destroys that monster of wickedness. 9. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10. And with all dcceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish ; because they received not the love of the trutli, that they might be saved. Paul resumes and expands his description of the work wrought by this giant sinner and deceiver. His " coming" (which rc- marka])ly is the very word j^cirousia, so commonly used of Christ's coming) is in accord with, and according to, the working of Satan. He works under Satan and after tlie manner of Satan — is Satan's chief human instrument and ally. Of course it must follow that this man of sin is not Satan himself But he works after the methods and upon the policy of Satan, specially in the point of pretended miracles, which this group of terms — "every sort of powers and signs and wonders" — invariably denotes. Here they II. THESSALONIANS — CHAP. II. 221 are lying wonders ; mere pretensions to miracles. "With every form of wicked deceit, acting and effective upon those who are destined to perish because they have not received the truth in love so that they might be saved. To admit into the soul the love of the truth is vital to human salvation. Men who will not receive the truth in love but repel it with hate, who " hate the light because their deeds are evil," debar themselves from all pos- sibility of being saved, and doom themselves by the sternest necessity to final destruction. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delu- sion, that they should believe a lie: 12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. For this cause God sends (not " shall send ") — but present tense — sends upon them the energy [power] of delusion — an energetic, mighty delusion, unto their believing the lie — that false thing — so that all they who believe not the truth but take pleasure in iniquity, may be condemned. This is Paul's view of the ultimate reason why God does and must give over self-deceived sinners to utter and remediless ruin. The explanation is suggested by the case of those who have been deceived to their ruin by the delusive wiles of this great de- ceiver— " the man of sin and son of perdition." Before we pass on from this remarkable passage, it will perhaps be expected that some definite view will be hazarded as to the identity of this "man of sin" — on the questions — Who is he? Has he yet come ? For the double purpose of distinctness on the one hand and of brevity on the other, I make these points : 1. This man of sin is a real man — not an ideal one, nor any ideal entity. Moreover he is one man ; not an indefinite succes- sion of men. 2. He must needs come before Christ's final advent. This is beyond question. 3. Yet not indefinitely long before, but only immediately before — so close upon the time of Christ's final coming that this very coming Avill be the agency and of course, therefore, the hour of his destruction. 4. Consequently, this lawless One — "the man of sin" — has not come yet. All attempts to make out Nero the man, or the popes of Rome to be, all combined, the one man of sin are utterly pre- cluded. 5. Doubtless when he does come his well defined characteris- tics will reveal him to the world beyond mistake or doubt. Once revealed, none will be able to doubt his identity with this de- scription. 6. Paul may have been enlightened by the Spirit to say all he has said here, yet may not have been told when, reckoned on the 222 II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. calendar, the man of sin and the second coming of the Lord would occur. The Spirit may have given Paul certain immedi- ately antecedent facts and events, and yet may not have given him at all the dates, and perhaps not even a clear general im- pression of the distance in time to the appearing of the man of sin and to the coming of the Lord for his destruction. 7. That there are limits to the knowledge imparted by inspi- ration must be admitted and assumed; for inspiration never reaches omniscience. Some things would surely lie beyond its range of imparted knowledge. 8. The very explicit teachings of Jesus himself suffice to show absolutely that one of the never-to-be-revealed things, lying there- fore beyond the range of inspiration, was the precise date of the second and final coming. Two declarations, essentially identical upon this point, suffice for proof: viz., (a.) "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man ; no, not the angels that are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13: 32, also Matt. 24: 3G). (6.) "It is not for you (inspired apostles) to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7). 9. Hence the answer to our question, Who is this man of sin? and When will he appear ? must lie over till he comes. 10. It is perhaps worthy of inquiry whether this great apostasy may not be identical with that of which John speaks (Rev. 20 : 7-10). That of John followed the loosing of Satan and was worked by his energy. In this of Paul, the coming and its re- sults were according to the working of Satan. In both deceit was the prominent agency. In Paul's account, fire is the means indicated for his destruction: "Whom the Lord shall consume^' — "shall destroy with the brigJiiness" [possibly the blaze] "of his coming: " while John says — " Fire comes down from God out of heaven and destroys him; " — and finally in both cases, this de- struction seems to immediately precede Christ's coming to the last judgment. The striking similarity in these salient points supplies mate- rial for thought — perhaps we ought to say for speculation — for a modest reserve should make us slow to form positive conclusions. 13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from - the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth : 14. Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtain- ing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Obviously this allusion to the brethren is suggested by the striking contrast between their case — beloved of the Lord — and those godless men not beloved ; — their case chosen unto salva- II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. II. 223 tion, and those upon whom "God sends strong delusion:" their case saved through belief of the truth under the Hpirit's light; and the case of those who received not the love of the truth so that God could save them. No contrast could be more complete, more wide, and practically more instructive. There is nothing here to indicate that God would not have saved the first described class if they would have received the truth in love ; if they would have believed as well as loved it, instead of having pleasure in unrighteousness. But how could he save men who hated light and would not come to it ; who loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil, and they chose evil before good? How the divine purpose toward the saved class was carried into effect is fully shown here — viz., "through sanctification by the Spirit and through their believing the truth" — unto which sanctification and faith God had called them by the preached gospel to the end of their obtaining the glorious inheritance proffered by the Lord. Therefore let them stand firm, and hold the instructions — better than " traditions," because this word has been so much used in the Pharisaic sense. The meaning is — what they had been taught by the apostles, whether orally or by letter. This exhortation was called for — presumably — by the erratic tendencies of certain enthusiasts among them who seem not to have held fast the words of Paul — at least, not in their le- gitimate sense. 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us ever- lasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17. Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. This prayer is pertinently addressed to Christ and to the Father as having loved them and given them everlasting consola- tion. "Everlasting" in the sense of perpetual, unfailing, life- long— yet apparently without special reference to the future world. Both this " consolation " and this " good hope " may have allusion to their groundless anxiety and sorrow over their sainted dead, referred to 1 Thess. 4: 13-18. " In every good word and work," with some emphasis on the word "good," in contrast with other words and works of questionable sort. Only in the good should we ever expect real comfort, or pray to be established. 224 II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. III. CHAPTER III. Requests their prayers and for what objects (v. 1,2); coupled with expressions of confidence (v. 3, 4); and his own prayers for them (v. 5); injunctions respecting discipline of the disorderly (v, 6) ; enforced by reference to apostolic example (v. 7-9) ; the point of disorder being neglect of useful labor (v. 10-12) ; how to treat offenders (v, 13-15) with closing prayer and salutations (v. 16-18). 1. Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have/?'ee course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2. And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. The brethren addressed would readily understand this allusion to " unreasonable and wicked men," the same doubtless who fol- lowed Paul, dogging his steps from Thessalonica to Berea (Acts 17 : 5-9, 13) ; who were upon him again in Corinth (Acts 18 : 12) ; and who gave him no rest whenever he touched Judea (Acts 21 : 27-31 and Rom. 15: 31). Very unreasonable men were those; never " pleasing God and contrary to all men" (1 Thess. 2: 15). Paul had suffered every thing short of death at their bloody hands. 3. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. The Lord has not only promised freely and abundantly, but he is faithful to his promises — all unlike those Godless persecutors Avho have no faith. " Who will keep you from — not evil in the abstract but the Evil One, i. e., the devil." So this clause should obviously be translated. The proof of this turns on usage and on the context. It may bo useful to classify the cases of New Testament usage in which this adjective ^' meaning evil, is used in the singular with the article — the Evil One or the evil thing — as the gender may be either masculine or neuter. The masculine [the Evil One] is certainly Satan. The neuter gender denotes evil in the a])stract. In four cases the article is certainly masculine, and the refer- ence is therefore to Satan; viz.. Matt. 13: 19. "Then cometh the wicked one " — i. e., Satan : — also 1 John 2 : 13, 14 — "because ye have overcome the wicked (me" — Satan. So v. 14. And 1 John 5 : 18 : " lie that is begotten of God kecpcth himself, and that wicked one (the devil) toucheth him not." Then avc find a group of cases in which the gender may (as to form) be cither ■■'• novipoa. II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. III. 225 masculine or neuter, leaving the question of allusion to Satan open, to be determined by the nature of the case. On this prin- ciple, the following passages should be translated — the devil — viz., Matt. 5: 37: "Let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay : — for whatsoever is more than these [in the direction of the profane oath] cometh of the devil." Matt. 6: 13 — "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the devil." Matt. 13 : 38 — " The tares are the children of the devil." John 17: 15 — "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the devil." John 3 : 12 — " Not as Cain who was of the devil and slew his brother." Add the passage now before us. Over against this group is another — a very small one where the context forbids an allusion to the devil: — viz.. Matt, 5: 39 where we must not read — " I say unto you that ye resist not the devil ; " and 1 Cor. 5:13 where " put away from yourselves that wicked person," can not be Satan but must be the man guilty of incest. This classification shows a great preponderance of cases in which this word for " evil " must refer to the evil one, Satan, beyond all reasonable question. 4. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things av hich we command you. 5. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. "Direct your heart" — this word representing the moral will- power— into or unto the loving of God : — and into the patience of Christ, this being the meaning of Paul's word, and not a patient waiting for Christ. The words of Paul mean a patience under suflFering like that of Jesus himself. 6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. Notice that this is not advice but " command " and enforced by the name — ?'. e., the authority of the Lord Jesus. This disorderly walking is shown by the context to be the neglect of useful labor — not working at all upon any thing useful, but being "busy- bodies" — active enough, but active upon nothing of value toward subsistence or the improvement of society. Of course these men must needs eat like other people ; and therefore throw themselves upon the unrequited labor of men of more sober mind and better life. From such men Paul commands the brethren to with- draw their Christian fellowship. 7. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us : for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you ; 8. Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but 226 II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. III. wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you : 9. Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. The example of Paul and his fellow-lahorers had in this respect been one of patient industry and mainly one of self-support. Paul recognized fully his right as an apostle and as a preacher of the gospel to be supported by the people whom his labors had so richly blessed. He is now writing from Corinth where he lived with Aquila and Priscilla and wrought with them in the manu- facture of tents (Acts 18 : 1-3), and where he had occasion to discuss the principles now in hand and to put forth his reasons for waiving h^^s rights as a minister, and throwing himself upon his personal toil for his living. (=See 1 Cor. 9 and 2 Cor. 11: 7- 12 and 12: 13-18.) 10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. Useful labor is never a curse to society, but always a blessing. Those wild enthusiasts who assume that their enthusiasm exempts them from self-support, and entitles them to live upon the toil of others, violate the law of love egregiously, and what is perhaps worst of all — aggravate that very wildness of enthusiasm which is at once their calamity and their crime. Useful labor conduces toward the even balance of the mind and the controlling power of good sense. It should not be overlooked that this case of disorderly walk- ing at Thessalonica was due to the abuse and perversion of the doctrine of Christ's coming. It therefore shows that God never intended the nearness of that coming (wdiether real or only sup- posed) should be so held as to exempt men from honest labor for an honest living. The common duties of life are never to bo ne;.dectcd or even disturbed by the prophetic appointments of men for the coming of that day. 13. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. 14. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish /limas a brother. Withdraw socially from that disorderly brother; let him feel II. THESSALONIANS. — CHAP. III. 227 that he has no moral support from his brethren. This may take the pride out of him and put him upon sober reflection. Yet treat him not as an enemy, but rather admonish him as still a brother whose welfare you seek, whose soul you love, and whom you would reclaim and save. The spirit of these precepts is most admirable — so truly Christ-like ; so well adapted to save, so pro- foundly wise. 16. Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord he with you all. 17. The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle : so I write. 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with you all. Amen. " The Lord of peace " is none other than he who said most sweetly to his disciples: — "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you" (John 14: 27). It was morally beautiful in Paul to commend his brethren to this Great Giver of peace for those blessings of peace which the exercise of wholesome discipline might put in jeopardy. This calling of special attention to his autograph signature (v. 17) to certify his letters, suggests that some special occasion existed in that church. That in the presence of such occasion and of so many circumstances adapted to disturb Paul's equa- nimity, try his temper and provoke an unloving spirit, he should yet evince such sweetness, gentleness, patience, self-control and rich Christian charity, is indeed an example at once delightful and morally sublime. THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. INTRODUCTION. The points appropriate to an introduction bearing in gen- eral upon the three pastoral epistles (Timothy I. and II. and Titus) but in particular upon I. Timothy are : I. The personal history of Timothy ; II. Authorship of these epistles ; III. Date, including all three; IV. The occasion and scope of the epistle now in hand. I. Timothy was apparently of Lystra, a city of Lycaonia. His father was a Greek ; his mother a Jewess, Eunice by name, first brought to view in Scripture history (Acts 16: 1-3). Inasmuch as at this point he was already a disciple of well-established reputation, it is highly probable that he was converted under Paul's labors during his first visit to this place (Acts 14: 6). Taken now by Paul (Acts 16: 1- 5) as his assistant and fellow -laborer, he seems to have been with him at Thessalonica ; driven out with him to Berea; left there with Silas (Acts 17 : 14) while Paul went on to Athens ; probably rejoining him there (Acts 17 : 16) and sent from that city to Thessalonica (1 Thess. 3:1, 2),— re- turning to the apostle however to find him at Corinth (Acts 18: 5). He appears next with Paul at Ephesus on his third great missionary tour; was sent forward thence into Macedonia (Acts 19: 22) and also to Corinth (1 Cor. 4: 17); was with Paul in INIacedonia when he wrote 2 Corinthians (1 : 1), and at Corinth when he wrote thence to the Ro- mans (Rf)m. 16: 21); accompanied him from Corinth into Asia on his way to Jerusalem (Acts 20: 4); is with him again during his two years' confinement at Rome as appears from the letters written there to the Philippians (1 : 1), Colossians (1 : 1) and Philemon (v. 1). At a point considerably later, lie aj^pcars in this epistle of Paul to himself, left at Ephesus when Paul went into C228) INTRODUCTION. 229 Macedonia, yet sent for to come to Paul near the close of his second epistle and of his life. It thus appears that his associations with Paul spanned from first to last a period of seventeen years (A. D. 51-68), in which though not con- stantly with him, he was yet serving with him in the gos- pel, intrusted often with special missions, enjoying his full- est confidence, and being at least among his most valued and most useful fellow -laborers. Eusebius (H. E. 3: 4) speaks of him as first bishop of Ephesus. He is said to have suffered martyrdom under Diocletian. n. I see no objection of any force whatever against the authorship of Paul. Certain hypercritics have said that these letters are very unlike Paul's other letters, i. e., to churches — in the points of logical connection of parts — these being very miscellaneous in subject, while those are logically constructed ; these evincing none of that remarkable depth of thought which characterize those — entering into no great discussion (as those do) of fundamental gospel truth: — in short that they have a very diflferent air, and therefore in- dicate a different author. All this criticism strangely ig- nores the diflference between writing to churches, as yet crude on the great themes of gospel doctrine, and writing to a brother minister, for seventeen years associated with himself in gospel study and teaching — a fellow-laborer ma- ture in Christian character and also in Christian doctrine. Besides, Paul is older now than he was when he was writing epistles to the churches. The experiences of twenty or more years of missionary travel and toil, with scourgings, fistings, shipwreck, imprisonment, cares that never ceased; heart-burdens, perplexities, anxieties, perhaps never borne to such an extent by any other man — may have left traces of wear upon his physical frame, sufficient to excuse him from profound, elaborate theological discussion, especially when not called for. It were a mere impertinence to object to the genuineness of these pastoral epistles that they con- tain only those points of instruction and counsel which cir- cumstances made necessary and do not repeat the theological discussions which were in place in the epistles to the Ko- mans and also to the Galatians and to the Ephesians. It is noticeable that Paul has not lost his common sense, however it may be with his critics. III. The question of date involves the broader question respecting the main historic facts of the last five or six years of Paul's life, intervening between his release from his first 230 INTEODUCTION. imprisonment (about A. D. 62) and his death which closed his second — siipposably in the spring of A. D. 68. Luke's narrative ends (Acts 28), with the two years of Paul's first imprisonment at Rome. The data for making up Paul's personal history during these six last years of his life are : (a.) Certain notices of his purposes — which are to a cer- tain extent confirmed by testimony from the Christian fathers : (6.) Sundry allusions in these pastoral epistles to locali- ties in Avhich he is seen, and also to the doctrinal errors then prevalent in these churches. (c.) Testimonies from the Christian fathers. Giving a few moments to these sources of testimony, under (a.) we have an expressed purpose (Rom. 15 : 24, 28) to visit Spain. This purpose does not of itself prove that he actually went, but it renders this visit probable. The fact is put beyond reasonable doubt by the testimony of sev- eral of the earliest Christian fathers. (See Smithes Bible Dictionary, under " Paul," pp. 2394,2395). Moreover, in his letter to the Philippians, written during his first im- prisonment at Rome, he twice expresses great assurance in the Lord that he should yet and ere long revisit them: *'I know that I shall abide (in the flesh) and continue with you all" (1: 24) ; '' I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly" (2: 25). There is at least a strong a iwiori piiobability that these expectations were realized. A sim- ilar expectation of visiting Colosse, the residence of Phil- emon, appears in Philemon (v. 22). (b.) Under this head the argument is that somewhat numerous allusions in these pastoral epistles presuppose jour- neys made by Paul and residences more or less protracted at various places, for which no room can be made during his known life, antecedent to his first imprisonment, and which sufiice to fill up the years quite well known to have inter- vened between his release from his first imprisonment and his death which terminated his second. Thus he had been at Ephesus in connection with Timothy and left him there to go himself to Macedonia (1 Tim. 1 : 3). He pur- posed to return to Ephesus again (1 Tim. 4 : 13). He had spent considerable time there, enjoying the friendly minis- trations of Onesiphorus (2 Tim. 1: 16). His letter to Titus, written near the date of 1 Timothy shows that he had been to Crete and had left Titus there. He speaks in this INTEODUCTION. 231 letter of a purpose to spend the winter at Nicopolis (Titus 3: 12). His second to Timothy shows that he had left Erastus at Corinth (of course had been there himself) ; at Miletum also, where he left Trophimus sick ; at Troas where he left what is called a "cloak" and also " the books and the parchments." As to the circumstances of his imprison- ment, it appears that he was in bonds as a malefactor (2 Tim. 2 : 9), very unlike the circumstances of his first im- prisonment, in which some respect was shown him as a Roman citizen, against whom, moreover, no grave charges had been brought. ALso that in his first hearing before the Roman authorities (supposably before Nero) the Lord stood by him for his strength, though all men forsook him ; so that his hopes revived of yet preaching the gospel more fully ; and he "was delivered out of the mouth of the lion" (2 Tim. 4: 16-18). All these circumstances presuppose the lapse of considerable periods of time and the occurrence of events too many and too large historically to find place in his life-history before his first imprisonment ; — which assume an interval of some years between his first imprisonment and his second ; and which represent the second to have been widely unlike the first. To this should be added the much more full development of incipient heresies, especially at Ephesus. He foresaw these developments when he met those elders at Miletus (Acts 20: 29, 30): "For I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you," etc. At the date of his first letter to Timothy, these prophetic fore- castings had become but too palpable facts : " I besought thee to remain still at Ephesus that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine." These circumstances in- dicate a considerable lapse of time. (c.) The testimonies of early church historians bear specially upon these two points: (1) Of his preaching in Spain to which reference is made above ; and (2) To the circum- stances of his death. The latter are given in Smith's Bible Dictionary, pp. 2399 : — in substance, from Clement of Rome, supposed to have been once with Paul (PhiL 4: 3); from Dionysius, bishop of Corinth (A. D. 170); from Cains of Rome of the second century; and from Tertullian (A. D. 200) : — all to the effect that Paul was beheaded under Nero, in the spring of A. D.68, near the timcAvhen Peter suffered martyrdom, and not long before Nero's own death. These points stand among the undisputed facts of early church 232 INTRODUCTION. history. Conybeare and Howson, in appendix to Vol. II., discuss fully the questions of the genuineness and date of these epistles. IV. The occasion and scope of these epistles are obvious. Primarily instructing Timothy to head off incipient heresies, but secondly and in general, to supervise church work ; to induct into office suitable pastors and deacons ; to promote sound morality and intrinsic righteousness; to build up the brethren in their most holy faith. That these epistles should take up and treat these various themes miscellane- ously is in every point of view legitimate and to be expected. They affi^rd us an admirable exemplification of Paul's ideal of the Christian church, showing what he labored to make them — lights in the world, holding forth the light of a pure morality, and of an efficient and glorious Christianity. He believed in church organization and church authority, not as an end in itself, but as a necessary means to this one supreme end — a pure Christian life. THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. CHAPTER I. Introductory greetings (v. 1,2); reasons for leaving Timothy at Ephesus (v. 3, 4) which suggests that the true end and aim of the law is love (v. 5) ; how some have misconceived this, and the consequences (v. 6, 7) ; for what class 4)f sinners law is enacted (v. 8-11). The great grace of God in Paul's conversion and call to the ministry (12-14) and the moral lessons of this wonderful conversion (v. 15-17) ; on Timothy's call to the ministry, with Christian counsels (v. 18-20). 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, ivhich is our hope ; 2. Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith : Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord. That Paul writing to Timothy should introduce himself as " an apostle" was not due to any sense of the need of asserting his authority for Timothy's sake, but to the official character of the letter. It was appropriate for an apostle to assign Christian work to his associated laborers. Paul held his apostolic com- mission by special appointment of God and of the Lord Jesus, our Supreme Hope — the ultimate ground of it all. It is not usual to speak of God as " our Savior," yet there are cases other than this. Its pertinence lies in the fact that "God so loved the world as to give us Jesus his Son." "Unto Timothy, my own son" — literally and primarily, " my born son," my son by birth; but in the secondary sense, my real son — one whose filial rela- tions are genuine, unquestionable. In this case, "my son in the faith," i. e., in the sphere of Christian belief and life — my spiritual child, begotten of God unto holiness through my in- strumentality. 3. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou niightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, (233) 234 I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. I. 4. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith : so do. These circumstances have been sufficiently treated in the intro- duction, " That they teach no other doctrine whatsoever; " for the gospel doctrine is of necessity exclusive of every other. Its nature forbids any partnership w^ith other systems. "Fables and endless genealogies" — are unquestionably of Jewish type, as may be seen in the more full description (Titus 1 : 14 and 3 : 9) where Paul calls them " Jewish fables ; " also foolish questions and genealogies and strivings about the law. Even a very slight acquaintance with the Talmud will abundantly justify these de- scriptive points of Jewish teaching in that age — surprisingly frivolous and even silly, ministering questions in plenty — any thing rather than edifying men in that godliness which is through faith. The gospel scheme and the scheme of effete Judaism were on all these vital points, " wide as the poles apart." Re- markably the Greek word for "edifying" (oikonomia) — a word which suggests household economy — looks rather to the edification of the church than of individuals. Paul would suggest that effete Judaism supplied but miserable elements for building up the church of God in his most holy faith. It is an easy inference that what is worthless for the church can have no value for the individual Christian. 5. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned : These men make great account of the law — i. e., as given by Moses. But to understand the value of the law and so of any teaching of it, you must consider well its ultimate end and aim — what the law seeks to accomplish. To this point, therefore, Paul wisely turns. The first word of v. 5 should not be " now," for it signifies neither time nor logical relation, in the sense of con- sequently, but is slightly adversative ["de"] — best expressed by "bilt." Bat, all unlike the Jewish system as taught by them, the commandment has for its true end, not questions and endless gen- ealogies to no useful edifying, but real love. "Charity," of course in the broad sense (now mostly obsolete) of real love, good will to men. To identify and more fully describe this love, Paul says it is the natural product of a pure (unselfish) heart — a good (not a misguided, untaught, but a well-informed and honest) conscience; and of faith, not pretentious and Pharisaical, but unfeigned and sincere. 6. From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; 7. Desiring to be teachers of the law ; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. I. 235 Paul's word for "swerved" implies missing the mark, losing sight of their pole-star, turning aside from the right way [of love] into vain, profitless jangling, disputations that contribute nothing toward love, but much toward discord and ill temper. Notice- ably, Paul's word assumes also that they are voluntary and there- fore culpable, and not merely unfortunate in this sAverving. Ambitious to be distinguished and honored as "lawyers" in the New Testament sense — " doctors of the law;" but wholly without qualifications, for they understand neither ivliat the law affirms nor why. 8. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it law- fully; 9. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10. For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured per- sons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine ; 11. According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. We all know, every one must admit, that the law — that given by Moses, which is certainly spoken of here — is intrinsically good and will be of service if used legitimately according to its design. Whatever criticism Paul ever had to make upon the abuses of that law, he always admitted its inherent goodness and its utility toward the ends which itself contemplated. "The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. We know that the law is spiritual ; but I am carnal. I consent unto the law that it is good." (Kom. 7: 12, 14, 16.) But to understand what "using it lawfully" means, we must consider [" knowing this"] that this law is not enacted for the special benefit of the righteous man, but for the benefit of sinners, whom he proceeds to classify and enumerate. Paul means to show that the law was designed to be a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ — a rule of life that should avail to convict men of sin, enforcing upon their souls a sense of their need of forgiveness. Its manifold specification of offenses would have been quite needless if all men had been righteous. In this sense it was enacted for these and similar sin- ners. Moreover, it was not enacted for the righteous man as a rule of life, by following which he might insure God's favor and gain heaven as his reward. Whether such obedience, if perfect, would have resulted in the reward of heaven, is not, as to our fallen race, a practical question. It was not needful, thereforCj for Paul to discuss it. As to righteousness in the Pharisaic sense, he had not the least faith that, however punctilious, however in- 236 I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. I. tense, it could at all fit men for heaven. Passinj^ this point, we have the momentous truth that the law is good as a rule of moral conduct; good to convict men of their sins; good to enforce a sense of personal need of Christ, but not good as a means of per- sonal salvation, and most of all powerless when interpreted in the Pharisaic sense. These specifications of godless character and of godless men need little comment. — Of the "lawless and refractory," the former are the more passive; the latter the more active: the former re- gardless of law ; the latter restive and rebellious under it. Of " the ungodly and sinners," the former are unworshipful, having no reverence for God and no proclivity toward worship, while the latter are in their whole character offenders, violators of law. As to "the unholy and the profane," the former lack conformity to God, while the latter lack even the common impulses of our better humanity. • " Murderers of fathers and of mothers" should rather have been translated " strikers,'' this being what the etymology of the word calls for, from the verb to thresh, to smite. Paul refers to the law of Moses (Ex. 21 : 15) : " He that smiteth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death." The crime of parricide is rare. Extreme disrespect, overt abuse of parents, is the sin re- ferred to. " Men-stealers," kidnapers of their fellow-men into slavery, was one class of criminals condemned by the law of Moses. " He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, shall surely be put to death" (Ex. 21: 16). After many specifications, Paul says comprehensively: If there be any thing else contrary to sound doctrine as revealed in that gospel which sets forth the glorious purity and love of the blessed God, the law condemns that. This is the gospel commit- ted to my trust as an apostle and a divinely commissioned teacher of most precious truth. 12. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry ; 13. Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant Avith faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. The thought of his gospel trust fires the soul of this aged apos- tle, who will never be too old to kindle under its inspirations. O what thanks and praises do I owe and would I render for ever to Jesus my Ijord who hath clothed me with spiritual power [the sense of the word for "enabled"] — hatli empowered me by the energies of his Spirit, because he accounted me faithful, and so put me into this gospel ministry, even me who previously had been a Ijlasphemer {i. c, against the name of Christ), even compelling I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. I. 237 his disciples to blaspheme (Acts 26: 9, 11). — "And injurious," the Greek word^ combining the ideas of insolence and wanton injury ; the spirit of one regardless of the feelings, welfare, and rights of his fellow-men. Paul has no soft apologetic words for his godless, Pharisaic life. But I who had shown no mercy to others did yet (strange to say!) find mercy myself; though this may be said : I never should but for the circumstance that I sinned ignorantly, in unbelief. I did not then believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah promised to our nation. We need not suppose that Paul held himself guiltless for this unbelief; but only that it somewhat lessened his guilt. If he had sinned against greater light, his guilt would have been correspond- ingly greater; and if much greater, might have shut him oflF from mercy for ever, God's "grace was exceedingly abundant" — abounded and su- perabounded — one of Paul's very expressive words, which yet seems to labor almost in vain to utter the fullness of his over- flowing soul, 15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accepta- tion, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Paul passes by easy transition from the particular, his own case, to the general — the great, the comprehensive, and most blessed truth, that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This is "a faithful word" — a phrase used by Paul only; and remarkably, only in these pastoral epistles. This fact suggests that the phrase may have become crystallized into his style with the lapse of time. It appears in 1 Tim. 3: 1 and 4: 9, and 2 Tim. 2: 11 and Tit. 3: 8. "Worthy of all acceptation " — by every man, everywhere, over all the world, and onward through all the ages. "Of whom I am chief" — in the front rank, first and foremost; for who has ever sinned more or worse than I ? Yet this was one reason W'hy 1 obtained mercy, viz., that in me — not " first" in time, but in me chiefly — in me as a most signal, illustrious example, Christ might show forth all his long-suffering mercy — the whole of it — making a richer display than could be possible toward a sinner of less guilt. The translation "first" ["that in me first"] is unfortunate and quite inaccurate, the Greek word being the same he had used shortly before for " chief" [" of whom I am chief ]. The sense in each case is pre-eminent. Paul says — as a sinner I was pre-eminent, towering above all others ; and in me pre-emi- 11 238 I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. I. nently — as a most signal example — Jesus Christ showed forth his supreme, unutterable long-suffering, for a model — an illustration — of his mercy to all who might seek mercy ever after. What could be more fitting here than this outgushing doxol- ogy ! The word " wise " [the only ivise God] is by the full consent of all critics, removed from the text as without authority. It is objectionable because open to the supposition of another God not wise, this being the only God who is wise yet not abso- lutely the only God. The latter was Paul's meaning. This King eternal, the only God. 18. This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, accord- ing to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare ; 19. Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck : 20. Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander ; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. From Paul's words about his own call to the ministry, he passes naturally to the circumstances of Timothy's call. " Charge," substantially in the modern sense — a charge to a pastor upon his installation ; a special commission to a definite service. Timothy was put into the ministry and at this time in- trusted with this special commission in accordance with antece- dent prophetic intimations the particulars of which are not given. Paul compares his work to a military service, in the points (we may suppose) of being onerous, exacting, incessant, and un- der a higher authority. A " good warfare " in his ministry re- quired him to hold firmly upon faith and retain evermore a good conscience — well-informed, true to the right and to God. Men who repel the decisions of a good conscience, regardless of its behests will surely make shipwreck of their faith. Paul had seen this, and proceeds to name two well-known examples. We may see similar examples by scores in every age. Tracing back the moral history of those men who make shipwreck of their faith, you will very commonly find the cause in a loose, perverted con- science. Gospel truth first ])ecame unpalatable and uncomforta- ble by reason of their violation of conscience — from which point the grade is always downward into fital errors in doctrine, to the strand- ing of all true faith. Of these men — Hymeneus and Alexander — it avails little at this late day to look after their personal his- tory. '!rh(3ir moral history is put here briefly but unmistakably. "Delivered over unto Satan" includes excommunication pri- marily and certainly — casting out from the communion of the church into the kingdom of the devil; possilily also their doom to some physical infliction, as in the case of Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13: 10). This power of infliction seems to have been lodged in the apostles — a function analogous, though in result the very opposite, to the gift of healing. (See 2 Cor. 13: 2, 10 and 1 Cor. 4: 19-21.) I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. II. 239 CHAPTER II. Paul exhorts to prayer for all men, and for rulers especially, and why (v. 1-4) ; refers to the truths vital to be known for men's salvation (v. 5, 6) ; and again to his apostleship (v. 7) and to prayer (v. 8) ; to the adornment of w^omen (v. 9, 10) ; that they should learn in silence and not teach or assume authority over man (v. 11, 12) ; assigning reasons, drawn from her posteriority in creation, and her priority in the flill (v. 13, 14). Her ultimate sal- vation is through the promised Redeemer (v. 15). 1. I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2. For kings, and for all that are in authority ; that we may lead . a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Having given Timothy his " charge " in very general terms, he proceeds here to particulars ; and first enjoins prayer — prayer in all its various forms and for all men, especially for rulers. Of these three several terms for prayer, the first suggests want and weakness ; the second is the general term for prayer to God; and the third makes prominent the idea of approach — drawing nigh to God. A special reason for prayer in behalf of rulers is that, through God's controlling hand, they may rule for the good of their subjects, but especially may rule so that " ««e" — the children of God — may live unmolested — exempt from civil persecution, permitted to lead a peaceful life. "In all honesty" — but this not in the limited sense of integrity in business transactions, but in the broader sense — appropriate, dignified deportment. 3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4. AVho will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. " For tliis^' — the word tliis looking back to v. 1 — prayer for all men, including kings of course, but not making their case special. — " This is good " in itself and well-pleasing before and unto God our Savior, i. e., to God as a Savior — one who in this capacity seeks the salvation of all men. Paul does not mean to limit " good" to the sight of God, but to say, good for every reason, always, everywhere. Verse 4 declares explicitly that God wills to have all men saved. The verb he uses is not a mere future tense of the verb to save, but is a distinct verb ^ having the sense of desiring ; willing in the sense of an act of will ; being pleased to do. There is no oc- 240 I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. II. casion to press this verb to the sense of an absolute decree or pur- pose made and executed irrespective of human agency — other verbs and never this being used for a purpose or decree which God forms and must execute. But it may, and indeed must, in- voh^e the real desire of his heart to save all men, and his will to have all appropriate means used to secure this result. Observe, this is said here as a reason why God's people should pray for all men — this being one of the means for their salvation. This will- ing that all men be saved doubtless includes the full provision on God's part of atonement for all men, and the freest and most urgent entreaties to all men to come to Christ for salvation. It implies most fully that never a man who comes penitently and in all sincerity shall be repelled away. Moreover, let it be carefully noted that as a necessary means for this salvation God wills that all men should come to the full knowledge of the truth. It were utterly vain and irrational to suppose that men are to be saved by the mere willing of God to save them, and without their coming by their own personal activity to the knowledge of the truth. Their own voluntary agencies, by the very nature of the case, must be called into action, and in this particular line — viz., learning, believing, obey- ing the truth. All regeneration is by and through gospel truth known and believed. Thus Ellicott, comprehensively : " In a word, redemption is universal, yet conditional : all may be saved, yet all will not be saved, because all will not conform to God's appointed conditions." 5. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ; 6. Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 7. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not,) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. 8. I will therefore that men pray every-where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. Having said that men in order to be saved must come to the knowledge of the truth, it was for every reason appropriate to indicate what truths men must needs know, ])elieve and act upon, as necessary means for their salvation. Here, therefore, they are : First, that there is one Gad — a primary truth as related to conversion and salvation ; for, o])viously, there can be no salva- tion without returning to God, and with equal certainty, he tliat conieth to God must believe that he is — that there is a God, yea one God and one only. And next, one Mediator of God and man — a mediator being one who stands between, and who is between in order to mediate — to reconcile, to bring into harmony — which implies confidence and love on man's part, and acceptance on the part of God. As this I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. II. 241 is in itself a necessity for man's salvation, so it must be a neces- sary truth to be known, believed, and acted upon. Further Paul adds — not precisely " the man," but a man, Christ Jesus, by this omission of the article designing apparently to lay his emphasis, not upon the particular man but upon his humanity itseJf, i. e., upon the fact that Jesus is a man, of our own nature, and there- fore of tenderest sympathies and of perfect human experiences. What this "man' has done for us comes next in order — the next truth vital toward human salvation. He " gave himself a ransom for all." The underlying figure here is redemption by purchase — e. g., redeeming a slave or a war-captive by payment of some valuable consideration. Compared with Matt. 20 : 28 which has " lutron " [ransom], this has " anti-lutron " [a com- pensating ransom] — making the idea of substitution — one thing given for another thing received — ^yet more emphatic. The pas- sages to be specially examined as illustrating this subject are Rom. 3 : 24-26 and 5:6-10 and Eph. 5 : 2 and 1 Pet. 2 : 24 and much of Hebrews, chapters 7 and 9 and 10. The reader may be referred to my Essay on the Atonement in the volume on the " Epistle to the Hebrews." " To be testified in due time" looks to the fact that the full de- velopment of this atonement by Jesus Christ was reserved for ** the fullness of time " when He should be manifested on the cross and the true import of this death should be taught by him- self and by his apostles. For the purpose of developing this glorious truth (v. 7) I was ordained to the gospel ministry. Therefore, in view of these great facts and of their vital signifi- cance toward the salvation of sinners, let prayer be made by all men every-where, lifting up hands, not foul with sin and thus made loathsome and most repulsive to God ; but hands pure from sin and hearts imbued with love (not hate) ; with confidence, not ■with doubt. 9. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness and sobriety ; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 10. But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Tn like manner T will (continuing this verb from v. 8) — 1 will that women adorn their persons, not obtrusively; not ostenta- tiously ; above all, not immodestly — for impure purposes and re- sults. The following negatives — (things 7iot to be worn) should be diligently considered, at least by Christian women: — "gold, pearls, costly array ; " — for is it thus that women can adorn the gospel — can honor their Kedeemer — can put forward the redemp- tion of a world from its sin and ruin ? Rather let their adorn- ing be such as becomes women professing godliness — viz., that of good works. 11. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 242 I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. II. 12. But I suffer not a woman to teacli, nor to usurp au« thority over the man, but to be in silence. 13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. These verses treat of the proper sphere of woman in two dis- tinct relations to society, viz. (1.) That of teacher or learner in Christian assemblies: (2.) That of authority or subjection as related to her husband. On each point, Paul's doctrine seems to be very plainly expressed — that (1) they should be learners and not teachers; (2) should be in subjection, and not in authority. Looking closely to the precise sense of certain phrases, we must explain " all subjection " to mean — not extreme, intense subjection, but rather, subjection in all things, in all the various relations: — i. e., the " ttZZ" is not intensive but extensive. The sense of " usurp" is not really involved in the word Paul used, for this means simply, to exercise authority. But since this exer- cise is forbidden universally, it may be supposed that any exer- cise of authority is usurpation. In both v. 11 and 12, the word woman appears without the Greek article : " Let woman learn in silence ; " "I suffer not woman to teach." The intention seems to be to speak of woman as a sex — the doctrine applying there- fore to all women. Why does Paul put forward this view as specially his own, saying — "I suffer not?" Apparently he does not make the word " I " emphatic, to distinguish his own teach- ing on this point from that of other apostles ; for, if so, he would have written the Greek personal pronoun " ego " — which he has not. Noticeably the parallel passage (1 Cor. 14: 34) has the pas- sive voice — " it is not permitted " — a statement which lays no stress upon his own personal opinion. The special occasion for introducing this subject in this letter to Timothy, if known, would probably answer our question. But not being known, we have no data for a decisive answer. Paul's doctrine in regard to woman's public teaching and her subjection also, he proceeds (v. 13, 14) to maintain by two his- toric facts, viz., her posteriority of creation; and her priority in the sin which constituted the fall. Adam was created first; Evo second. Eve sinned first, being really the only one deceived. Of Adam's sin he says only — it did not lie in being deceived, i. e., by Satan. In fact, Adam's temptation came in the social line — sympathy and example. It may bo noticed that in v. 14, the w^ord used for " deceived " is specially strong — being exceedingly deceived. From these arguments it appears that the grounds of Paul's doctrine lie back in Eden and belong to the history of man as a race — a fact which seems to bear against attaching any consider- able weight to the special degradation of the sex which no doubt was prominent in botli Ephosus and Corinth. Ephesus had been cursed for ages by the debasing power of Diana-worship upon I. TIMOTHY. CHAP. II. 243 the female sex ; and Corinth was scarcely less notorious for the debasement of woman. We must assume that the women of those cities were very low in the scale of social culture and adaptation to the work of giving Christian instruction. Yet Paul does not base his doctrine upon this fact. 15. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. This verse should receive close attention. There is no apparent reason for any other than the usual sense for the word "saved" — i. e., saved unto everlasting life — not in the sense — borne through a dangerous crisis in the mother's life. For the latter sense some other word would have been used. Moreover this condition of their being saved — ''if they persevere in their Christian life" — is good for the usual sense of "saved;" but is not true and therefore not admissible in reference to the perilous crisis referred to. Yet again, Paul did not say " in child-bearing," but because of — by means of* And further, the noun rendered " child- bearing" has the article, and therefore refers not to all births of children but to one birth in particular — the one which would readily occur to the reader of Gen. 3, from which the apostle is drawing his facts — viz., the birth of that seed of the woman who " should bruise the serpent's head." Thus we have this admir- able meaning : — But [notwithstanding her very great sin in the fall] she shall be saved [with the salvation of the gospel] by means of that wonderful human birth [the child Jesus] the promised " seed of the woman." This promise shall be good, not to all women, but to all who continue in faith, love and holiness. The reader will notice that this construction of the passage not only answers in every respect to the legitimate meaning of every word, but pre-eminently to the logical exigencies of the passage as related to the great sin of the woman in the fall, and to the naturally suggestive circumstance that this great first promise lies in Moses between the curse upon the serpent and the curse upon the woman, being the closing sentence of the former. * 6 La not fcv. 244 I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. CHAPTER III. Qualifications of bishops (v. 1-7) ; of deacons (v. 8-10) ; of deaconesses (v. 11) ; case of deacons resumed (v- 12, 13); reasons for giving these instructions (v, 14, 15) ; the great mystery of god- liness (v. 16). 1. This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. The term "bishop" is here in the parochial, not the dio- cesan, sense: a pastor of one church; not a presiding officer over many, occupying a large district. If at this stage in church development there were any diocesan bishops, Timothy V70uld be the man; not these "bishops" as to M'hom he now receives these instructions. If any man has strong and tender aspirations for this office, let him be assured that the work is a good and noble one. He could desire none better or more worthy of his supreme devotion. 2. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach ; 3. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre ; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous ; A man above reproach, irreprehensible, against whom no charge of immorality can lie. Not a polygamist, having two or more wives. Christianity takes strong ground against pol3'^amy a,s tlie natural foe to the divinely ordained family and its house- hold. Does Paul insist that the bishop must be a husband and not a celibate ? He seems to assume that he will be. Yet as his words were apparently intended to bear simply against having two or more wives, it can not be assumed that he would exclude a man because unmarried, and certainly not if (as is reasonably certain) Paul was a celibate himself Ellicott argues earnestly tliat Paul goes against any second marriage, even after the death of a first wife, and appeals to 5 : 9 below in support of this opinion. His arguments do not seem to me conclusive in proof of his position. The Greek word for "vigilant" means self-controlled, self- poised, holding one's powers in pci'fect self-possession, as opposed to tiie inebriate. "Sober " is strictly of sound, well-balanced mind. "Of good ])eli!ivioi'" suggests polished or at least unexce]Ui()nable manners. Naturally hosjtitable — this virtue holding a high place in ()ri(intal society. Having the gift of teaching readily and well. "Not a man of wine," given to indulgence — the word sug- gesting that such [troclivities carry with them more or less of violent dcmoustratioij, disorderly bearing. " Not prepense to re- I. TIMOTHY. CHAP. III. 245 taliation," striking back; but of gentle, forbearing spirit. "Not greedy of filthy lucre" — our version has it — words which suggest that Paul is not careful to speak in soft terms of this passion; would not recommend it to our respect — this passion being in his view rather disgusting than comely. Tischendorf however re- jects this clause from the 'text here, but admits it in v. 8 below and in Titus 1: 7. The word for "covetous" has essentially the same meaning. He must not be a money-lover. The word for "brawler" means ^fighter. The bishop must have no pro- pensity to quarrel. 4. One that ruleth well his own house, having his chil- dren in subjection with all gravity ; 5. (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God ?) 6. Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the" condemnation of the devil. "In V. 4 "all gravity" describes the obedience of the children rather than the quality of the governing power. His family gov- ernment should induce cheerful obedience. Excellent logic is this in V. 5, comparing his private house with the house of God. If the former is a great care, the latter is greater ; if one fails in the former, much more will he in the latter. "Not a novice" — strictly one recently planted; young in the religious life; with- out experience and without acquired strength. His danger would lie in the line of pride, being puffed up with his sudden elevation in society. The word is thought to imply a beclouded, stupid mind, which indeed self-conceit naturally produces. " The con- demnation of the devil" — not that which he adjudges, but that which was adjudged by God against him. That his damning sin was pride has been the current belief — supposably the effect (through his abuse) of distinction, exaltation, above his virtue to bear. Take care that your bishops be not exposed to this temp- tation beyond their endurance. 7. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without ; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. A fair reputation outside the church will be quite essential; for a bad one will aggravate his temptations exceedingly and be to him "the snare of the devil." The men made prominent in and over the church should be such as naturally command public confidence. While this is vital to the moral power of the church over the community, it is scarcely less so to the comfort and suc- cess of the church officers themselves. 8. Likewise immi the deacons he grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre ; 9. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 246 I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. 10. And let tliese also first be proved : tlien let them use the office of a deacon, heing found blameless. Deacons — the second grade of church officers (Phil. 1 : 1) — must have these qualifications. "Grave" — not frivolous and foolish. Whose words are honest and truthful; not double- worded (Greek), saying one thing to this man and another thing to that, from sinister motives. "Not greedy of filthy lucre" is held to be genuine here, having a precautionary bearing against defalcation in the custodians of the church treasury. This was their original function (Acts 6). In process of time, other re- sponsibilities were laid upon them, of discipline and of instruc- tion, subordinate and helpful to the pastor. Some critics suppose deacons referred to Rom. 12: 7 and 1 Cor. 12: 28 — in the former under the word "diaconate;" in the latter, "helps." "Hold- ing the mystery of the faith" — the great doctrine of the gospel, long unrevealed, but brought to light in the gospel age — holding it with honest heart, a conscience not abused but sound ; a con- scientious believer. " Be proved," not by any formal trial or even investigation, but by the silent testimony of a blameless life. 11. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Here the question of exposition is whether the verse refers to deacons' wives or to deaconesses — i. e., an official order of female workers, designated by the church and doing church work. In favor of the latter and against the former construction, lie these considerations : 1. The word Paul used means " women" as well as wives. Let women likewise (i. e., women holding an office of the same sort as the deacons). 2. Paul could not say in Greek ^^deaconesses" (the feminine of deacon), because this word has in Greek no distinctive feminine form. In Rom. 16 : 1 Phebe is called a "deacon " (masculine form) "of the church in Cenchrea." If we did not know that she was a sister, we should assume that Paul meant a deacon in the mascu- line sense. Consequently Paul in our passage had no better word at command for deaconess than the one he used, "women" — i. c, women holding an office similar to the deacons just before spoken of 3. Paul did not say " ilieir'^ wives. He put here no word for their. 4. It would be rash to assume that all deacons' wives would be fit for such church responsibilities, and therefore the construction which interprets the passage of all deacons' wives is violently im- probable. 5. No corresponding requirements are made upon pastors' wives; much less then should they be made upon wives of dea- cons as such. 6. If these were deacons' wives, some place should have been I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. 247 given to their domestic duties and to their qualifications for such duties. Paul was not the man to overlook the Christian home, especially of the deacon. I conclude therefore that this verse (as Paul wrote it) defines the qualifications of that very useful order of church laborers — the female deaconesses. Comparing v. 11 with v. 8, we shall see that their qualifications are essentially the same with those of the masculine diaconate. — "Not slanderers" is here additional to what we have there, perhaps with reason. On the other hand, " not greedy of filthy lucre " is not here — for reasons equally obvious, the church funds not being in their hand, and perhaps less love of money in their heart, 12. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Polygamy is wisely made a disqualification for the deacon, it being naturally fatal to the peace if not to the purity of the fiim- ily. " A good degree," in the sense of standing, status, not here, before the public on earth, but before God, this being of immeasurably more importance, and affiliating naturally with their "great boldness in the faith of Christ." (See also 1 Tim. 6:9.) To have served well as a deacon is to have done a noble work for the church and for God — a work which can by no means lose its reward. 14. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: 15. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in th« house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. What Paul said was "hoping to come to thee," not "soon," but sooner— i. e,, supposably, sooner than had been talked of, or than the tenor of these instructions might suggest. But as this was a doubtful contingency, he would carefully instruct him how to bear himself in his supervision and care of the house of God, the church. This use of the word " house" looks back to the ancient temple, called often "the house." This is declared to be " the pillar and ground of the truth " — words whose meaning can not well be mistaken. The church is the custodian and guardian of God's revealed truth, her function being not only to preach and teach it, but to preserve it pure, to defend it against perversion. 16. And without controversy great is the mystery of god- liness : God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, 248 I. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. IV. seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. " Confessedly great is the mystery of godliness" — i. e., the mys- tery -which enshrouds the great central truth of the gospel scheme : — said with reference to the incarnation, God made manifest in human flesh. The next word in our version, "God," has elicited immense dis- cussion with great diversity of views on the point of its textual authority. The more recently discovered manuscripts have brought new light, and as a consequence of more exhaustive in- vestigation, it is now almost universally agreed to reject Theos [God] as not well sustained, and to accept instead the Greek rela- tive pronoun masculine (oo) in the sense who, its antecedent being really the person implied in the word "mystery" — that wonderful Personage, the Logos of John, whose nature and rela- tions involve the utmost mystery, but who yet is known to mortals by the descriptive facts here affirmed of him. First, "made man- ifest in the flesh;" next, "justified" [sustained] in his claim to be the eternal Son of God by his manifestations of spirit — i. e., in and through his higher spiritual nature; next, "seen of an- gels," apparently in the sense of being revealed to their aston- ished gaze as never before, and we may suppose as he never could have been save through this incarnation; then preached among Gentiles ; believed on in the world ; and finally received into glory at his ascension. This remarkable series of clauses, so entirely similar in con- struction ; six passive verbs all in the same mood and the same tense, followed each by its noun in the same case and with a sin- gle exception, preceded by the same preposition, strongly suggest that the whole verse is transferred from some Christian hymn, prepared for a doxology in honor of the Christian's Savior. This theory would well account for the apparent abruptness of the relative pronoun which heads the sentence with no distinctly de- veloped antecedent. This grouping of similar phrases respect- ing Jesus Christ was designed to present the great historic facts of his incarnation, earthly life, death, and final ascension. >J*ic CHAPTER TV. On swerving from the faith into ascetic practices (v. 1-3); as- cetic abstinence from meats unreasonable (v. 4, 5) ; how 'J'iniothy should bear himself in this rc^^ard (v. G-8) ; enforced by the ex- ample of apostles (v. 9, 10); Timothy exhorted to a bhimeloss and studious life (v. 11-13); to cultivate his spiritual gifts with much meditation and j^rcat >CKo CHAPTER II. Sundry exhortations — to be strong in grace (v. 1); to train other men to teach the same truths (v. 2) ; to endure hardship as a true soldier of Christ and do faithful service for him (v. 3-7) ; to remember his risen Savior ; also that suffering even to death for him can never fail of its reward (v. 8-13) ; to shun profitless logomachy ; to present the truth wisely for the purposes of right- eousness (v. 14, 15) ; more against vain babblings and their results (v. 16-18); but the church and truth of God are safe and sure (v. 19) ; how to have honor therein (v. 20, 21); personal counsels (v. 22, 23) ; how to treat opposers (v. 24-26). 1. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Be thou strengthened [made strong] in and by means of that grace [moral support] which comes through Christ Jesus. 2. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. "The things thou hast heard of me," etc., may allude to the embodied presentation of the gospel to Timothy at his ordination. That, we may suppose, was in the presence of [" among"] many Avitnesses. An allusion to Timothy's ordination charge and to the truths then made prominent would be specially pertinent in this connection. Let him transmit the truths, then put in his keeping, 272 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. II. to faithful men that they may teach yet others. Thus let the gos- pel word pass down through successive generations of faithful, competent teachers. 3. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life ; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 5. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. 6. The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits. 7. Consider what I say ; and the Lord give thee under- standing in all things. "Endure hardness" is in itself expressive; but the most approved text includes yet another idea — that of fellowship, asso- ciation, with the writer, Paul. Do thou jointly with me, endure suffering as a good soldier of Christ. No man who enters the army, becoming a soldier for his country, encumbers himself with other worldly business — never thinks of filling another profession — that he may please him who enrolls and accepts him as a sol- dier. So also, if one enters the lists of contest for the prize, he will have no crown unless he conforms to the rules in all such cases provided. The laboring husbandman must first share the fruit. His very toil gives him the prior claim — a principle which the Great Lord of the harvest can never forget. 8. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David Avas raised from the dead, according to my gospel : 9. Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds ; but the word of God is not bound. Tt is often refreshing to recall these two facts pertaining to Jesus Christ : {a) his real human nature, as of the seed of David; and {h) his resurrection from the dead — in which lie garnered many glorious hopes. Tn ])ohalf of this gospel I suffer aflliction as if 1 were a malefactor — a real criminal against society — even to the extent of being ])ound in chains : — but, to my great joy, God's word is not })ound. The gospel travels on in its majestic freedom and strength, though I am hold in my prison-cell! To the noble heart of Paul, this was a living joy. 10. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11. It vi ?L faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him : II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. II. 273 12. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him : if we deny /wm, he also will deny us : 13. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful : he can not deny himself. Suffering and dying with Christ are here in their literal rather than their spiritual sense, having reference to persecution and martyrdom, and not specially to dying unto sin in the sense then common with Paul in other connections. Of course Paul assumes that this suffering and dying for Christ are in sincere love and fidelity. Then they insure this reward. His eye may have been upon those words of Christ (Luke 12 : 8, 9) ; " Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God ; but he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." 14. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a work- man that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. These admonitions against word-strifes, logomachies, hair- splitting distinctions — tending to no profit whatever ; degenerating even to " profane and vain babblings," — enable us to reproduce the men described — men of subtle mind, of ambitious spirit, mak- ing religious teaching their profession ; struggling for distinction in this line; compassing sea and land to make proselytes; — but as to any true piety, heartless and barren, and consequently per- nicious to the full extent of their social and intellectual power. All unlike them, let Timothy labor to approve himself — not before and unto men, but toward and unto God — a workman never to be put to shame. "Dividing rightly the word of truth" — not (as our translation might suggest) in the sense of carving it out in due portions; but more nearly in the sense of Paul's verb — cutting a strait path morally — using gospel truth wisely to raise up a highway of holiness. The context puts this advice to Timothy in contrast with the striving about words, to no profit but only to the subverting of the hearers. On the contrary let him make the word of truth in his lips bear toward an upright life in the straight line of righteousness. 16. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus ; 18. Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. 274 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. II. "Babblings" over what professes to be the truth of God, work only unto more ungodliness, the virus perpetuating itself and spreading like a gangrene in the human body. An illustrative case is given — of men who hold that " the resurrection is past already' — which of course carries with it the denial of a future resurrection, and indeed of any resurrection whatever in its true sense. By what perversions of God's word they managed to dis- pose of the doctrine of a future resurrection of the body, Paul deemed it of no importance to explain ; for such vain babblings never pay for the repeating. It need not be assumed that they had either logic or sense in their teachings. But it was sad that they should "overthrow the faith of some." 19. Nevertheless the foundation of God standetli sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. 21. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, mid prepared unto every good work. Yet such teaching, though ruinous to the faith of some supposed to be believers, can by no means overturn " the foundation of God.'* This "standeth sure." But, in its precise idea, what is this "foundation of God?" It seems to involve these two closely related elements; the true church, and the gospel system of truth : — perhaps Ave may say — the church as the living em- bodiment and divinely ordained conservator of the gospel. The sentiment is essentially that which Paul has (1 Tim. 3: 15) — " The house of God which is the church of the living God — the 2?illar and ground of the truth.'' This sense of the words is in harmony with the foregoing context — viz., "the seal" which this foundation bears ; and also with the following context — the allusion to " the great house" and its various furniture. The an- tecedent context puts this foundation in contrast with the over- thrown faith of misled, seduced men. The two elements of the " seal" which both identify and secure this " foundation of God," are (a.) On the divine side, that the Lord knoweth his own, and will shield them against being seduced fundamentally and fa- tally; so that — so shielded — both his truth and his church shall surely stand in glory and in strength: and (h.) On the human side, this one supreme law must bear sway ; — Whoever takes Christ's name upon hiinself must eschew all iniquity. Only as the church stands to her moral purity can she ]je the pillar and ground of the truth. Thus with (Jod on the Godward side shielding his own ; and his people on the human side, holding all truth in righteousness and living it forth in their godly lives, the II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. II. 275 church and in it the eternal truth of God, are forever sure. In a great house there are all sorts of vessels — some of gold, some of earth; some for the noblest and some for the humblest use. Now if a man purge himself from all errors — imperfect notions of the truth, and also from moral blemishes of life, he may, in God's great house — the church — be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the Master's use — an illustration of striking fitness and force, well adapted to impress the richest moral lessons upon the first and all the future Timothies. 22. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Youth has its temptations; how jealously should the servant of God flee the presence of whatever may excite them ! Avail- ing himself of the law of the expulsion of a baser by the fostering of a nobler passion, let him follow with utmost endeavor after righteousness, faith, love, peace — that so this pressing of soul after the higher and nobler may eclipse and rule out the baser. 23. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. 24. And the servant of the Lord must not strive ; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient; 25. Li meekness instructing those that oppose themselves ; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth ; 26. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. Another feature in the character of the errorists of Ephesus is prominent here; — they were bigoted controversialists — passion- ately fond of controversy, which they seem to have pushed stren- uously, not to say — fiercely. The true servant of the Lord must not strive in this sense of the word. " Patient" here must pre- suppose abuses, injuries, which he is to bear with unrufiled tem- per and in no spirit of resistance. Most admirable is this advice — to instruct in all meekness those who set themselves against him and against the truth, if possibly, hopefully, God may inter- pose in his grace to give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth — such repentance of soul as will bring them to know and love the truth — that so they may, by their earnest endeavor, escape from the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him and held at his will. The reader will notice that the re- pentance of such men hangs upon the contingency of a fearful "peradventure:" that it must be labored for with the utmost wisdom, and with care not to repel them still more ; that success turns essentially upon God's merciful interposition to "give them repentance :" that the devil holds them fearfully in his wily net; 276 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. and as Paul's wOrds suggest, that rescue from such a power is like the return of the forlorn drunkard to sobriety, or of the man of wrecked reason to his rational senses. The blending and interaction of divine with human agencies are here put forcibly and most instructively. Manifestly Paul had not only the great Avisdom that comes from God but the subsidiary wisdom of the soundest philosophy of the human mind, and of admirable com- mon sense. CHAPTER III. Perilous times in the future, and the men who make them so described (v. 1-5), their doings continued (v. 6-9). Paul refers to his past life and sufferings (v, 10-12), and again to seducers (v. 13); exhorts Timothy to steadfast faith in view of the reliable sources of his knowledge (v. 14, 15) the Holy Scriptures being truly inspired of God and supremely profitable to the man of God (v. 16, 17). 1. This know also, that iu the last days perilous times shall come. 2. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, un- thankful, unholy, 3. Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4. Traitors, heady, highmiuded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ; 5. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. The word " last," said of " days," indicates a period apparently still later in time than the " latter" days of 1 Tim. 4 : 1. It should refer to the times next preceding the end of the gospel age and the final coming of Christ. Judging from the context these days are " perilous," not so much for the personal danger they bring upon God's people as for the grave apostasy then to ])c and the awful depravity of the loading men. It should be noted that this corresponds with Paul's teachings (2 Thess. 2 : 3-12) — not to say also to those of the Kevelator .John (Kcv. 20: 7-10). Jn v. 2 the clause " for men shall be," should be read^ — " For the men shall be — men generally ; men in masses — which indicates an apostasy of no small extent. "Shall Ije self-lovers" — to the extent of supreme selfishness — the root of all human depravity being supreme devotion to self, and of course necessarily, entire II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. 277 apostasy from God. Legitimately, according to all just philosophy of mind and of sin, this stands first in the dark catalogue. "Covetous" claims the second place of right — certainly so if the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. " Boasters, proud," — well-knovrn manifestations of supreme selfishness and consum- mate depravity. " Blasphemers ' — men of foul, abusive words — sometimes used toward God ; sometimes toward man. Here apparently toward God, because as toward men, " false accusers," below, presents their sin. Blasphemy God- ward is in words and in spirit insulting, abusive, profane. " Disobedient to parents " — by easy association comes next; for the men who have no re- spect for God will readily come to be reckless of all due respect to parents and to their authority. " Unthankful"; for there can be no place for gratitude in hearts so selfish and so utterly lost to all sense of moral obligation. "Unholy" suggests the utter absence in their souls of what in moral beings is most pure, most noble, most lovely. "Without natural affection" — sunk so low morally that their depravity has quenched the natural instincts which bind our species in social bonds and which we notice to admire in the lower animals. " Truce-breakers " is more 'pre- cisely, non-iruce-inakers, i. e., who want full sweep for their selfish jiroclivities and who repel the least restraint in the line of com- pact, treaty, covenant, — being too depraved even to make a cove- nant; quite below the grade of civilization which treaties and compacts assume. "False accusers" — unfortunately too com- mon to need explanation. "Incontinent" — without self-control. " Fierce " is precisely savage, untamed — after the style of fero- cious wdld beasts. " Despisers " — literally non-lovers of good men — as we should expect. " Traitors" — probably, in the sense of betraying Christians unto their persecutors. " Heady " — is head-strong, self-willed. — The Greek word for " high-minded " we have met (1 Tim. 3 : 6 and 6 : 4), in the sense, puffed with pride to an extent damaging to sober sense, inducing a befogged under- standing— an obtuse perception of the proprieties of life. " Holding the form of godliness" — but lost to its power; disown- ing its moral claims. This indicates extreme apostasy because it involves sinning against light. From all such, turn thyself utterly away. Paul seems to think these men more utterly hope- less as to Christian effort than the opposers referred to (2 : 25, 26) whom he exhorts Timothy to labor for, if so be, their repent- ance may yet be possible. 6. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly w^omen laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7. Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowl- edge of the truth. From this class come proselyters for whose spirit and ways Paul has very little respect. Creeping into houses : leading captive small women, broken-down morally with sin and crime. Accord- 278 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. ing to the original, it is these little women and not those who creep into their houses to lead them astray — who are " ever learn- ing and never able to reach the knowledge of the truth." " Ever learning" — in the sense (probably) of a low itching curiosity, a ceaseless quest of something newer as food for gossip : — at least such is human nature, in our age. That such minds should ever come to know the truth is not to be expected, for such knowledge assumes a certain nobility of character. 8. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth : men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9. But they shall proceed no further : for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. Moses (Ex. 7 : 11, 22 and 8 : 7, 18, 19) gave the fact of this with- standing by the magicians of Egypt; but not their names. These names seem to have been known among the Greeks and Romans at a date too early to admit of their having learned them from Paul. Theodoret (an early Father) states expressly that Paul learned these names, not from the divine Scriptures, but from the unwritten teachings of the Jews. Whether this tradition was only and wholly oral, or on the other hand, had the aid of writ- ten documents, ultimately lost, it is impossible now to determine. As to the point of comparison between those magicians and these of the "last days," it may have been in their spirit only, or in their methods, or in both. Nothing forbids the supposition that the latter class used magic arts. Alike they were men of debased, morally corrupt mind. "Reprobate as to the faith" — the word implying that they had been proved, tried, with op- portunities to know the truth ; perhaps with some knowledge of the truth ; but, resisting that truth, they became morally dead to its power and were consequently disowned of God — abandoned as hopeless. Thus they became " reprobate " by means of and so by reason of their wicked resistance of truth up to a point where truth lost its power over their morally wrecked nature. The reader may see Paul's usage of this word " rebrobate " in Rom. 1 : 28 and 1 Cor. 9: 27 and 2 Cor. 13: 5-7 and Tit. 1 : 16.— " They shall proceed no further " looks toward further extension of their influence. The folly of these shall become manifest as was also the folly of those, when they were shown to be power- less to cope with Moses. Pausing here one moment upon the problem : Where in time relative to Timothy's life-work lay the development of these apos- tate men ? The reader will notice — (1) They arc supposed to bo "in the last days;" i. e., shortly antecedent to Christ's final coming: (2) They, or at least, such men as they, were already beginning to appear — "creei>ing into houses;" and from these Timothy is exhorted to " turn away " (v. 5). (3) To harmonize these points wc have no better theory than this : that Paul did not II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. 279 know when in time the final coming was to be. The Spirit may have shown him some of its immediate antecedents, yet with no date of time as to their full development. Jesus never attempted to teach his disciples the date in calendar time. On the contrary, he positively excluded the date from the pale of prophetic revela- tion— a fact which is often unaccountably overlooked. 10. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, 11. Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at An- tioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Timothy had known Paul most thoroughly — not his outer life only but his heart, his purpose, his faith and love and patience, and particularly his persecutions. Of the latter, the specifications made here — Antioch (in Pisidia Acts 13: 50); Iconium (Acts 14: 2); and Lystra (Acts 14: 14, 15), may have been selected out of many, either because of their greater severity, or because of Timothy's better personal knowledge of them. We know that these involved the torture of stoning and scourging and no small peril of life. Such an example might well be a moral tonic to his beloved Timothy and to every Christian soldier. 'All who ivill to live," etc. — stronger than a mere future tense — this being a verb of loilling, with the sense — All who are fully purposed in heart, solemnly consecrated to live a godly life in Christ. 13. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. As through grace godliness has a self-perpetuating power, so has sin — this antithesis being apparently the suggestive link of thought between this verse and the preceding." Evil men, es- pecially seducers, go on progressing from bad to worse ; deceiv- ing others as a business, they become more thoroughly self- deceived. First, imposing lies upon others as the truth, they come to believe their own lies to be true. The mind's sense of truth and power of moral discrimination, long abused, at length collapses, dies out, and leaves the soul, both intellectually and morally, a wreck. This is "waxing worse and worse" with ter- rible vengeance ! Comparing this verse with v. 9 above, that referred to outer progress ; this to inner : that being extensive ; this intensive : that denied progress in the way of making converts; this affirms progress in the line of their own more fearful depravity of mind and heart. 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast 280 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15. And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation throudi faith which is in Christ Jesus. o But on a totally diflferent line of progress, go thou forward steadfastly, holding fast to the divine and blessed truth thou hast learned with a certainty so assuring, remembering that those sacred writings — the sources of thy knowledge — are ^ truly di- vine, and therefore able to make thee wise unto salvation, being received with the faith that has its power and life in Christ Jesus. 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for in- struction in righteousness : 17. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. On the first clause of v. 16— "All Scripture is given by inspira- tion of God" — able and really excellent critics differ somewhat widely in their construction and interpretation. One class sus- tain the translation given in the authorized version ; others [with Ellicott, Alford, etc.] give it — "Every Scripture inspired by God [or being inspired by God] is also profitable for doctrine," etc. It should not be charged against these excellent critics that they purposely open the door for the inference which worse men will make — viz., since every Scripture that is inspired may be much less in amount that "all Scripture," and only the former amount is inspired and profitable; therefore men are left to rule out from the pale of inspiration such books, or portions of books, as they judge to be not inspired and therefore not profitable. Yet their construction does open the door to this inference. Hence in part the deep interest which legitimately gathers about this in- vestigation. The fundamental question — never to be shirked and never to be swamped under any pre-judgment, is simply — JVhat did Paul mean f The debatable ground is scarcely at all in the Lexicon. A small part is in the domain of grammar — grammatical laws and usages ; but a much larger part is in that of exegesis as pending upon the context — the course of thought and the manifest pur- pose of the writer. In addition to these, some critics (c. f/., Ellicott) make large account of the interpretation put upon the passage by the early church fathers — a source of testimony which, to say the least, may })e overestimated. The grammatical argiiiiient is not readily made clear to one not familiar with tliu Greek tongue. Putting their best English II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. 281 equivalents in the place and the order of the successive Greek words and omitting " is," for which there is no Greek, we have it thus : All [or every] Scripture — God-breathed — and [or also] profit- able, etc. Now we have these questions : Does " all" mean every ? Does the verb to be supplied {i. e., the verb is) come in before "God- breathed" [inspired] so as to read, is God-breathed and is there- fore profitable ; or should it come in after the word for " in- spired" and immediately before "profitable"? Grammarians would put this main question in these terms : — Is the word for "inspired" a mere adjective, qualifying "Scripture," or is it what they call a predicate, i. e., a word having essentially the force of a verb ? Our main question as to the sense of the passage can not be decided by grammatical laws and usages. Either of the two rival constructions may find support. We are therefore thrown upon the laws of exegesis — ^. e., upon considerations coming in from the context, from the writer's line of thought, and from the nature of the case. These must decide the main question. To this field of argument, therefore, let us turn. Let it be borne well in mind that on v. 16 we must choose be- tween these two interpretations: — (a.) All [Old Test] Scripture is inspired of God and is therefore profitable: — or (6.) Every inspired portion of this Scripture is profitable, etc. I accept the former and reject the latter; and on these grounds: 1. It is undeniable that v. 15 speaks of the whole Old Testa- ment under the phrase — "the Holy Scriptures" — and declares that those Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation. Therefore we can not reasonably suppose that v. 16 speaks of any thing less than the whole. Paul is speaking of the whole and not of a part. 2. The purpose and aim of Paul in the passage is unmistakable. He is exhorting Timothy to shun with horror the paths of Satanic delusion, and for this end to abide firmly in the truth taught him from his youth in the Sacred Scriptures. At this point and onward we look for an advance in the thought, to put more force into his exhortation by developing his argment more fully. Does he seek this additional force by saying: "Every scripture that is inspired is profitable ?" Timothy might well have answered : Who could help knowing that? That is tame as a truism. To say that whatever scripture is inbreathed of God into holy men must be useful, is much too obvious to need saying. On the other construction, how exceedingly is the force of the argument heightened when the emphasis is put upon the^ word "inspired!" These sacred writings are able through faith in Jesus to make thee wise unto salvation, for all those scriptures are fresh and full from the Divine Spirit; they are spirit-breathed from God into his chosen servants. Therefore it is that they are 282 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. able to make thee wise unto salvation ; therefore they are profit- able for all the uses of " the man of God." Or let the argument be put thus : We inquire for the emphatic word of the sentence. It must be either "inspired" or "profit- able." As to the word " inspired:" — this fact of inspiration is either assumed or asserted. Under Ellicott's construction, as- sumed ; under that of the authorized version, asserted. Assumed, it is not emphatic ; asserted, it is so, being made the decidedly emphatic word of the sentence. Ellicott argues against its being the emphatic word that the doctrine of inspiration had not then been called in question, and therefore Paul had no occasion to assert it emphatically. To which I answer : It is emphatic hy its very nature — by reason of its infinite importance, its towering magnitude, a,nd therefore irrespective of the point of having been or not been denied. Make it emphatic, and you put a glorious strength, a marvelous moral force into the passage : All written scripture is breathed by God himself into the human soul of the writer! What truth more glorious than this can be conceived! This backs up the assertion next preceding, " able to make thee wise unto salvation ;" it gives prodigious force to the assertion next following — viz., "profitable" for every Christian use. Hence this location of the emphasis, and this construction of the word ''inspired'' as the predicate of the sentence, the very thing af- firmed, is, in the light of logic and forceful reasoning, all that can be desired. It is a declaration worthy of the mind and the heart of Paul. But, on the other construction, to slide over the fact of inspira- tion with no emphasis — not asserting, but only assuming it as an incidental thing — makes this sentence not strong, but flat. It seems scarcely too much to say that this supposed construction ia disparaging to the known good sense of the great apostle. 3. To put what is essentially the same point in a slightly varied form: V. 16 does one of two things — either {a) it advances in the argument to say that all the Old Testament is truly God-breathed, inspired, and therefore must be profitable for all uses, or (6) it flats down to this, that whatever portion of it may be inspired will be profitable, leaving Timothy to judge, with no standard to judge by, how much or how little of it may be taken as from God. Apart from the fatal weakness of uncertainty over the question how much or how little of it is inspired, we have the very tame declaration that so much of it as is inspired must be useful ! Between these two constructions I must choose the one which gives us strong logic ; which makes Paul's words mighty in rich and glorious truth; which backs up the points made in v. 15 with unparalleled force. 1 must choose strength rather than weak- ness; strong, pertinent logic as against tame truism — because Paul is a very sensible man, a very logical writer, and has there- fore an honest claim to be read and construed accordingly. 4. To make the passage afiirm only this — that so much of the Scripture as is inspired of God is profitable — does really leave the II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. III. 283 question hoio mucli both open and uncertain. This uncertainty is not only damaging to its practical force, but virtually fatal. For what is to be the test for separating the inspired from the not inspired portion ? If Paul left this question open, to be settled by each reader, it was a capital oversight in him to omit the needful test for its decision. Such a test would have been incom- parably more important than to affirm that so much as is inspired will be useful. The latter we could easily spare, but the former can by no means be spared ; and Paul is the last man to ignore its importance, or pass it with no notice. 5. Undeniably, Jesus indorsed the Old Testament Scriptures as a whole. (See John 5: 39 and Luke 16: 29, 31.) If Paul ac- cepted this indorsement of the whole upon Christ's authority, it is fair to assume that he meant in this passage to indorse the whole and did not mean to indorse a part only — i. e., only so much as may be inspired. Moreover, if Paul did purposely take issue with his Lord on this point — one of such magnitude — we may doubtless assume that he would at least have made his de- murrer very distinct, not omitting his reasons ! But whose heart and whose mind do not recoil from this supposition ? 6. Some critics make great account of the grammatical usage of the Greek word for all ("pas"), when put, as here, before a noun in the singular number and without the article, insisting that it must mean every and not all. This is a question of usage. But the point made by those critics can by no means be main- tained. The New Testament supplies cases by scores [I have before me a list of sixty-nine from Matthew to Philemon inclu- sive] in which this word means all rather than every, in position grammatically the same as here. Thus: "Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him" [not every Jerusalem] (Matt. 2: 3). " It becometh us to fulfill all [not every'] righteousness" (Matt. 3 : 15). " That upon you may come all righteous blood shed upon earth," etc. (Matt. 23: 35.) ''All power is given unto me" (Matt. 28: 18). Or take Paul's own usage: "Wrath revealed from heaven against aZ^ ungodliness" (Rom. 1: 18). "So all Israel shall be saved " (Rom. 11 : 26). " The God of hope fill you with a?/ joy," etc. (Rom. 15: 13.) And so on, till in Paul's thirteen epistles we count forty-six cases. This ought to be enough for the question of usage. 7. Notice should be taken of the usage of the word for " Scrip- ture." * If this word is in use for the whole Old Testament canon, the common construction becomes impregnable. On the contrary, if it had been in common use for the separate books of the Old Testament, or for portions of the canon as distinct from the whole, this usage would have some force in favor of the sense — every such portion, being inspired, is profitable. — —Facts of usage show that both the plural and the singular of this word are in common use for the Old Testament canon. Cases of the singular may be seen in John 2 : 23, and 7 : 38, 42, and 10 : 35, * 7pa4>7. 284 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. IV. and 13: 18, etc. "They believed the scripture;' "As the scrip- ture hath said;" "lias not the scripture said;" "The scripture can not be broken." — Thus the testimony of usage on this point is all that can be desired in proof of its meaning the whole Old Testament. It is never used for a part of the canon as distinct from the whole. Hence the passage should be translated, "All scripture is God- breathed," etc. As to these uses in detail, all js plain. Here are truths good to believe for doctrine ; good to reprove of sin ; good for righting up the stumbling and for correcting the erring; finally, good for that instruction which works unto righteousness. " The man of God," as thought of here, is not the Christian teacher alone, but any and every man who is willing to be taught of God through his revealed word. Every such man may equip himself thor- oughly from this storehouse of all needful truth, so as to be fully furnished for all good works. CHAPTER IV A solemn charge to Timothy (v. 1, 2); with special reasons (v. 3, 4), and a more particular specification of his duties (v. 5) : im- pressed by reference to his own near approaching death, his con- quering Christian life, and his expected crown (v. G-8). Closing special directions (v. 9-13) ; the case of the coppersmith (v. 14, 15); allusion to his first hearing before the Roman court (v. 16- 18), with closing salutations, requests and benedictions (v. 18-22). 1. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his ap- pearing and his kingdom ; 2. Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. This " charge" has all the dignity of a solemn adjuration be- fore God and the Lord Jesus. Indeed it is better to give the last clause of v. 1, ["at his appearing," etc.] the sense of an adjura- tion. There being no authority for saying at his appearing, let it road />// [1 charge thee %] liis august appearing, and by the inauguration of liis final, heavenly kingdom. " Be instant" — in the sense — Be on hand; on the alert; always ready to strike. "In season; out of season" — in times good or not good; under opportunities fair or not fair; to improve the favorable moment fully, and as to the unfavorable, make the best of them. Perhaps our version — "out of season" — might be abused; for some things are so very much "out of season" as II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. IV. 285 should preclude their being done. Paul's word is simply nega- tive— denying any thing favorable ; not touching the case of what is positively unseasonable. Moreover, the question arises whether this distinction as to seasonable refers to Timothy him- self; or to his hearers. Does Paul exhort Timothy to push on in sunshine or in storm; sick or well; weak or strong? Or does he think of the men to be labored for, as more or as less accessible? The context favors the latter ; for the time may come when you can reach men only with extremest difficulty. 3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears ; 4. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. There are moral states of mind in which pure unvarnished truth is very distasteful ; really unendurable. It is men of this sort (and not their teachers) who have "itching ears;" who therefore accumulate for themselves teachers, good to tickle their ears for them. As if this were the exalted function of men sent of God to preach his holy gospel ! Yes, there are men who turn their ears away from what is unwelcome, merely be- cause it is too true, and who turn themselves, with the proclivi- ties of natural affinity, unto myths, fables — amusing and not adapted to trouble the conscience. 5 . But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. Paul's word for " watch " means primarily — be sober, yet in the sense of a wakefnl, sound, earnest mind. " The work of an evangelist" was auxiliary to that of the apostles. He was an associate helper; ready for every emergency; preaching, teach- ing, doing all subsidiary work as occasion might arise. It seems never to have constituted a special class, as that of bishop or presbyter; and deacon. " Make full proof of thy ministry " in the sense of discharging all its functions ; performing faithfully all its duties. 6. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith : 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- eousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. "Offered" — strictlj poured out aa the libations in the Mosaic ritual. My life-blood is ready — and is to flow soon. Paul's 13 286 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. IV. martyrdom was under the axe of the executioner. "The time for my departure " from earth to my other home — is at hand. Then sweeping his eye over his life-work of more than thirty years — comparing it to a fight hand to hand, he had fought it well; or to a foot-race in the Olympian games, he had finished it grandly ; or to a life-struggle to hold it fast, he had kept the gos- pel faith — unsoiled in its purity, unabated in its power, untar- nished in its glory ! And it was in no spirit of vanity that these reminiscences of his wonderful life bore to him this con- soling and morally sublime testimony. There was intrinsic fit- ness in placing this life-sketch of his toils and struggles and manifold endurances before the susceptible mind of Timothy to inspire him to follow an example of which it was naturally im- possible that Paul should feel ashamed. It was never in Paul's heart to parade his marvelous life-record for display; nor did he give place to a prudish delicacy which would forbid allusion to it even to dearest friends. On one occasion, quite other than this his mouth had been forced open by the invidious slanders of — somebody — in Corinth ; and Paul, though the words it extorted from his lips sounded like self-praise and made him seem almost a fool (so he said), yet he did give a graphic sketch [any body can read it in 2 Cor llj — which in point of immense and unceasing labor; of intense and mighty endeavors; of abuse and torture and manifold suf- ferings, borne with most heroic spirit, stands in all human history unequaled — certainly unsurpassed. From the point where he now stood, this was a life-landscape, as seen looking backward. There was another life, open to the front a forward view, of things in prospect ; — the crown of righteousness, awaiting Christian conquerors. It was held (he could see) in the hand of the Great Judge, to be awarded to the faithful. Paul had no doubt it awaited himself and the scene of its realization was full in his view. His personal joy in this prospect. did not preclude the kindred joy, that the same crown was ready equally for all who in heart loved the -same Redeemer and his appearing. 9. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me : 10. For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica ; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. 11. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. 12. And Tycdiicus have I sent to E})hesus. 13. The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring ivlth thee, and the books, but es2)ecially the parchments. Here we have the somewhat remarkable fact in Christian ex- perience— that though his consolations in Christ were apparently perfect, and his anticipations of future glory rose even to rapture, II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. IV. 287 yet his human soul longed for the personal presence and sympa- thy of human friends. His heart pines to see his beloved Timo- thy. Many of his friends had left him, or for various reasons "were absent. He feels bereaved and desolate. One had forsaken him through love of this present world ; another and another had gone till only Luke remained. Apparently he felt the lack of his personal liberty in these slow hours of his prison solitude; hence those books and parchments would be particularly welcome. Also in view of the approaching winter (v. 21) "that cloak." We hope Timothy was able to reach him with these comforts in due time. 14. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works : 15. Of whom be thou ware also ; for he hath greatly withstood our words. Of this particular coppersmith (Alexander) nothing else is known. Timothy is now, supposably, in Ephesus ; the silver- smith mob (of Acts 19 : 23-41) illustrates to us the business antagonism between the " smiths " and the gospel of Christ — so that we need have no special difficulty in filling out sufficiently the details of his persecutions of the apostle. Timothy, being there, was exposed to the same hostile spirit, and the same subtle, malign opposition. 16. At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me : I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 17. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strength- ened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear : and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom : to whom be glory forever and ever. Ajnen. Of this first hearing before the tribunal of the Caesars (i. e., the first during and resulting from this second imprisonment) we have no other details. Human friends by his side he had none ; why they forsook him in this trying hour, we are left to conjecture. Like his great Master (" Father, forgive them ") he too prayed : " Let it not be laid to their charge ! " But the Lord stood with him and gav^e him strength. The strength he specially sought and consequently found was not so much to make an able defense and secure an acquittal, as strength to improve this (possibly) last opportunity to testify for Christ from the royal tribunal and before the august court of the Koman Empire — " that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear." This \vas morally sublime! This — ^we might perhaps say — was unlike any other man, but not unlike 288 II. TIMOTHY. — CHAP. IV. the great apostle of the Gentiles. Though the question at issue is to him one of life or death, yet to preach Christ before that tribunal was more to him than this decision upon his life. "I was delivered (this time) from mouth of lion ' (so his words read) omitting, perhaps purposely any more specific allusion to individuals ; leaving only the general sense — deliverance from this peril. He accepted this deliverance as a fresh assurance that his Lord would also deliver him from every evil machination, unto his heavenly kingdom. 19. Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of One- siphorus. 20. Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. 21. Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren. 22. The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen. This Prisca (elsewhere Priscilla) with her husband Aquila, first seen in the sacred history at Corinth (Acts 18: 1-5); next at Ephesus (Acts 18 : 24-26) ; also at Rome (Rom. 16 : 3-6) are still remembered tenderly by the apostle. The closing bene- diction is specially rich: "The Lord [Jesus] be with thy spirit." What could he have said more expressive, more touching, more tenderly dear to his young friend ? So this paragon of all epistles comes to its close. THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. INTRODUCTION. Of the personal history of Titus, it is well to gather into one general view the little that is known. He is not named in Acts ; but if (as is credibly supposed) Paul's journey to Jerusalem, referred to (Gal. 2 : 1) is the same with that of Acts 15: 2, he was included among the "certain others" who went with Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusa- lem to the great Council (A. D. 50.) Unlike Timothy who had Jewish blood on the mother's side, Titus was a Greek, and as such, Paul refused to re- quire his circumcision (Gal. 2 : 3-5). Inasmuch as Paul calls him his own son in the faith (Tit. 1:4), we may ac- count him one of Paul's converts, probably of Antioch, and so among the very early fruits of Paul's labors. In addition to these points of his early history, we find allusion to him in 2 Cor. 2 : 13 and 7 : 6, 13-15 and 8 : 6, 16, 23, and 12: 18 — from which it appears that he had been intimately as- sociated with Paul in gospel labors ; that Paul had the high- est confidence in his integrity and sincere devotion to Christ and not least in the deep affection of his heart. Paul speaks of his great disappointment in not finding him at Troas ; of his being comforted by the coming of Titus to him in Mace- donia where he was writing 2 Corinthians, of the important service he rendered (presumably) in enforcing the needful discipline in the important case at Corinth and in bringing the offender to repentance — of all which he brought word to Paul, greatly to his relief and joy (2 Cor. 7 : 6-15). An- other very responsible service he accomplished at Corinth in the collection taken up there for the suffering saints in Jeru- salem (2 Cor. 12 : 18). Historical allusions to Titus appear in this epistle, show- ing that he had accompanied Paul to Crete ; had been left there to set in order things that remained undone or at least (289) 290 INTRODUCTION. unfinished ; and particularly to superintend the ordination of elders in every city. This epistle is a manual of instruc- tions for this supervising work. It is therefore a pastoral letter in the same class with those to Timothy, having the same general object, and differing only as the circumstances in Crete might differ in minor points from those at Ephesus. As to the date of this epistle we seem authorized to place it between the two to Timothy— later than the first ; earlier than the second. He wrote from Ephesus, and in the autumn of A. D. 66 or 67 ; speaks (3 : 12) of a purpose to pass the ensuing winter at Nicopolis (supposed to be the city of that name in Epirus) to which city he urges Titus to come without fail. At this city it is supposed he was ar- rested and taken thence to Rome — his last imprisonment— which terminated in his martyrdom. [Smith's Bible Dic- tionary ("Titus") has a very compact presentation of the known incidents in his personal history.] THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. CHAPTER I. The introduction (v. 1-4); the object of leaving him at Crete (v. 5); the ordination of elders; their specific qualifications (v. 6-9) ; to counteract the influence of bad men, here described (v. 10-16). 1. Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness ; 2. In the hope of eternal life, wdiich God, that can not lie, promised before the w^orld began; 3. But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior; 4. To Titus, 7nine own son after the common faith : Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. In V. 1 the words — " according to the faith " fail to give the sense; for Paul's apostleship was in no proper sense graduated according to this faith, or made to correspond with it. His words mean — was exercised in behalf o^ this faith ; had for its object the promotion of this faith, and also the diffusion of right knowl- edge of the truth vs^hich is unto godliness {unto, not " after "). This rested as its ultimate object upon the hope of eternal life, which God — infinitely truthful — had " promised before the world began." This last clause is literally, before eternal ages — said apparently with allusion to the eternal purpose of God's love in which it had its birth — the word " eternal ' being, we may sup- pose, suggested by his use of the same word applied to " life " — " eternal life." This eternal life had its root — its ultimate source — in God's eternal purpose of love out of which all gospel prom- ises come. " In due times " — is more precisely — in his own times — times determined in his own wisdom — the reference being to the gospel age as the time to reveal the gospel by means of the preaching of men like Paul. " To Titus, mine own son " — in the sense of having been converted under Paul's instrumen- tality. This endearing relationship, it was Paul's perpetual joy (201) 292 TITUS. — CHAP. I. to recognize — never without grateful thanks to the God of all grace. 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouklest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee : 6. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. How early the gospel was planted in Crete is not certainly known. There were Cretans among the hearers of Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 11). In this populous island were a considerable number of cities, having churches, each of which needed help in selecting and ordaining suitable pastors. This service required more time than Paul could give. He therefore left his faithful son Titus to finish it, and wisely wrote him these instructions. The point of first importance was the selection of well-qualified men for "elders." Note that Paul uses "elder" and "bishop" interchangeably — "elders" in v. 5; but "bishop" in v. 7 when he speaks of their qualifications. The word "elder" contem- plates age, dignity of character; "bishop" looks toward the serv- ice of spiritual oversight, care, and labor. " Blameless," above reproach. "The husband of one wife," unquestionably shuts ofi" the pulygamist. Some critics suppose it also excludes the man who had married a second wife after the decease of the first. But Paul's words do not necessarily or even naturally in- clude this case, and therefore his authority should never be claimed against such second marriages. " Having believing children" — who moreover are not dissolute or disobedient to their parents. A well-trained household would be one of the best proofs of the father's qualifications to take the analogous care of "the house of God." If, on the contrary, he had made a failure in the care and training of his own household, how could he be trusted to do better in the pastoral care of the church ? (See 1 Tim. 3: 4, 5, 12.) 7. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre ; 8. But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, ju.st, holy, temperate ; 9. Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. A steward (oikonomos) has charge of the household — its busi- ness manager. The bishop serves under (rod in a similar capac- ity. TIk; qualificatidiis named here will mostly interpret them- selves. The "self-willed" quality of character would .surely TITUS. — CHAP. I. 293 make trouble ; for the real merits of each case should decide it, and no make-iveight of self-will should ever be thrown into the scale. Men opinionated, proud, standing upon personal dignity, dull of vision to see any thing bearing against their own notions, are always troublers in Zion. Not irascible in temper : not propense to wine : not quick to resent and strike back. Not a man for base gain — in which we may notice that Paul has no re- spect— certainly no soft words for this propensity to enrich one's self "A lover of good " — is what Paul said; and this would in- clude good men and good things also. " Temperate " in the broad sense — self-controlled, holding every appetite and passion in due subjection. " The faithful word " is that which commends itself to our faith to be received as from God through the teach- ing of apostles. Holding this fast, he will be able by means of truthful teaching to give appropriate exhortation and to convince opponents. 10. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and de- ceivers, specially they of the circumcision : 11. AVhose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. "Unruly" is the same word as in 1 Tim. 1: 9 — there trans- lated " lawless," and also above (v. 6) of children not obedient to parents. The sense here is — men under no proper restraint, who are a law unto themselves. Noticeably this class were mostly " of the circumcision " — Jews. A sad picture of their ways, spirit and influence ! 12. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith ; 14. Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. It is assumed that these pernicious proselyters — " they of the circumcision " — were Cretians in character. Their national char- acteristics had been given by one of their own poets (the word "prophet" having anciently this sense as well), viz., Epaminon- das, who lived B. C. 600 — a man of " rare distinction as priest, bard and seer among his countrymen." A people at once false, savage, sensual and gluttonous — there was extreme need of the civilizing and transforming power of the gospel among them. Therefore Paul enjoins ; Rebuke them sharply ; bring them to sound views of gospel truth ; let them eschew all Jewish myths and traditions of men, apostate from the real truth of God. 15. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 294 TITUS. — CHAP. II. 16. They profess that they know God ; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. Obviously Paul has in mind Jewish notions as to things cere- monially clean and unclean, and would teach that to men of pure heart, all external things were pure — this Jewish ceremonial dis- tinction being of not the least account as to them. But as to men at heart defiled and unbelieving, nothing whatever could be pure ; no meats, no washings of the person ; no conformity to the Mosaic ritual, could give them real holiness of heart or purity of character. Their very soul — their moral nature — is defiled. Pro- fessing to know God, their lives belied this profession ; their deeds proved them to have no just sense of God's character or claims upon his creatures. "As to every good work reprobate " — means that they were altogether disapjwoved of God; disowned, rejected — as men tried but found utterly wanting. )>e<«« CHAPTER III. To obey the civil authorities (v, 1); to shun all evil-speaking and cultivate gentleness" (v. 2); enforced by looking back to their own life in sin (v. 3), and to the stupendous change wrought by the manifestation of divine mercy in Christ (v. 4-7) ; insists that believers maintain good works (v. 8), but avoid foolish questions and controversies (v. 9). Heretics after due but unavailing admon- ition to be rejected (v. 10, 11); specific personal directions (v. 12, 13) with one closing exhortation to good works; salutations and greetings (v. 14, 15). 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 2. To speak evil of no man, to be no brawler, hut gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. Quiet, unresisting obedience to the civil authorities was the uniform doctrine of both Christ and his apostles. There may have been special reasons in the case of the Cretians for reiterating and enforcing it. Anterior to the Roman rule which began B, C. 67, their civil institutions had been somewhat democratic — some traditionary reminiscences of which may have been lingering 298 TITUS. — CHAP. III. still. Their national [or tribal] character seems never to have been distinguished for mildness and tractability. In regard to submission to the civil power, it should be borne in mind that throughout the whole apostolic age, the dominion of Rome was both universal and imperial — every-where present and every-where absolute, so that the Christian fraternity had never the least responsibility for the wisdom or the equity of the gov- ernment under which they lived. Moreover, during much of this period they were in more or less peril of civil persecution as hostile to the established state religion. Hence for every reason, implicit, unresisting submission to'the civil power was their high- est wisdom. This submission must be universal^ with the one exception that they could not— must not — worship the Roman Emperor, nor the heathen gods of Rome. ^ In all other points they were to be models of good order, shining examples of the blameless citizen — prompt and swift to every good work. "To speak evil of no man," maliciously — thus taking care to make no personal enemies causelessly — that they might stand in such relations to the ungodly on every side as would give them the fullest access to their heart and conscience. This was to be the great law of their social life. " No brawlers " — this word in the sense of quarreling and fighting rather than of mere scolding. On the contrary, let them be gentle, forbearing, meek toward all. How beautiful is this gospel temper and this Christian life, seen in contrast with human selfishness, untamed by the sweet pre- cepts and spirit of Christ ! 3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobe- dient, deceived, serviiif^ divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. You will see reason for much forbearance toward provokingly abusive men if you will recall the fact that before ye knew and felt the gospel's power ye were bad as they. Here is the picture of that former godless temper and life — " foolish" [very senseless were we] ; unyielding ; deceived and erring under the sway of countless delusions ; enslaved to various lusts and pleasures ; hateful in ourselves and hating one another, so that mutual hatreds and hostilities were the common law of our social life. 4. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, l)ut according to bis mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; 6. Which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior ; 7. That being justified l)y his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Such is the picture, with no relief to the dark shadings, until TITUS. — CHAP. III. 299 the kindness and philanthropy [love toward men] of God our Savior broke in upon our dark, selfish souls. Then came a glo- rious change! This change is assumed so naturally and fully that Paul seems to forget to assert it definitely ; but is borne on as if fascinated by the facts and the features of this marvelous manifestation of God's love. This great salvation turned in no respect upon works of righteousness which ive had done [Paul makes this " we " emphatic by writing it in full]. It sprang from a totally different source. It came from God's mercy alone and can be measured only by the amazing depth and vastness of that mercy. Instrumentally considered, it wrought through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; that is to say, by that purifying of the heart which is wrought by the regenerating, renewing agency of the Holy Ghost. The two correlated figures — the new birth and the renewing, are brought as closely together as the genius of the Greek tongue will admit, and both are attributed to the Holy Ghost — really as co-ordinate figures for the same thing. In this word "washing" [lutronj which occurs elsewhere only in Eph. 5 : 26, there may be an allu- sion to baptism in the symbolic and spiritual sense, but with no stress upon its merely material nature and power. The less we make of the virtue of mere water to wash sin from the human soul, the better. As a figure, a symbol, it has its use ; as a power in itself, not the least imaginable. This renewing power was shed forth on us abundantly through Jesus, to the end that, being justified, not by works of our own, but by the grace of God only, we might inherit the hope and in due time the reality of eternal life. In this rapid grouping of the great elements of salvation through Christ, the two salient points are — (a) The washing and rencAving which saves the soul from sinning and from its con- demnation; and (6) the being justified, i. e., pardoned and made right in the eye of law. These two great elements of the gos- pel scheme are always present in every analysis which Paul makes of the gospel. It is no gospel to him without them both. Men must be justified by faith in Jesus; and equally, they must be washed — purified in heart and made holy through the Holy Ghost. Reviewing the logical connections of this passage, we notice that, in Paul's showing, men were sunk hoplessly in de- pravity, malice, hatefulness — continuously, terribly — up to the moment when there flashed forth this revelation of God's compas- sionate loving kindness. With this revelation, there came a re- deeming, restoring power. To this gospel and to this only and alone, have we been indebted for all that has made us to difier from the unwashed heathen. Such a view of this change oc- curs not infrequently in Paul's epistles (e. g., 1 Cor. 6: 9-11). 8. Tliis is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. 300 TITUS. — CHAP. III. This is a word to be believed -with firmest faith (see 1 Tim. 1 : 15). In respect to all these points I wish thee to make them strong by solemn reiteration — that those who have believed in God be zealous with great care to maintain good works — to stand before the world distinguished for well doing. This is the sense (very admirable) of Paul's words. Such " works are good and profitable unto men " — a blessing to society, and therefore pleas- ing and honorable to God, The high place assigned to good works in these epistles to Timothy and to Titus should by no means be overlooked — a prominence in fullest harmony with the genius of Christianity, yet doubtless put here in this strong re- lief because the vices of the age and the mischievous errors thrust upon those churches by men at once false and foul, made it necessary. As is well said by Ellicott : — "Their religion was not to be a hollow, specious, falsely ascetic and sterile Chris- tianity, but one that showed itself in outward action." 9. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and con- tentions, and strivings about the law ; for they are unprofita- ble and vain. The words — "genealogies and strivings about the law" — in- dicate the Jewish origin of these insipid questions, and ques- tioners as well. The Pharisaism of the time of Christ became only the more foolish, formal, flat — with the lapse of time and with its antagonism against gospel light which its advocates were sinning against. Probably we might also say — became only the more disputatious, hair-splitting, controversial, and utterly valueless. 10. A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; 11. Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sin- neth, being condemned of himself. In view of its bearings, both real and supposed, upon church discipline, this passage should be carefully studied — (a.) In its words: (6.) In its context, i. e., in the light of the case contem- plated. (a.) The word "heretic" occurs in the New Testa- ment here only. But "heresy" in both its singular and plural form occurs several times — the singular in tlie sense of a sect (Acts 5:17 and 15 : 5 and 24 : 5, 14 and 26 : 5 and 28 : 22). For its plural form see 1 C(jr. 11:19 and Gal. 5 : 20 and 2 Peter 2:1. The essential idea seems to be that of notions of a man's own choosing; novel opinions with which he has become enamored. But on the nature and amount of his heresy, light should be sought, (b.) From the context. Here it seems obvious that this "heretic" is not so much directly assailing and denying some fundamental doctrine of the gospel system as indirectly "ruling out all the vital things of the gospel by constructing a gospel scheme of his own out of tho sheerest puerilities, genealogies, TITUS.— CHAP. III. 801 hair-splitting controversies over Mosaic law questions, etc., etc. Men of this character Titus was to admonish the first and (this failing) the second time. Both having proved unavailing, he is to jshun those men. "Reject" is somewhat stronger than Paul's word will justify. He is to excuse himself from further association with them. The reason given is that such a man is "subverted" — i. e., perverted in mind; dangerously if not hope- lessly given to waywardness, having lost the due balance which unperverted good sense supplies. "And sinneth" — his way- ward notions come to involve real sin because he goes against the light he has or might have, and by resisting, perverts and debases his conscience — a man, self-accused, but not repentant and yield- ing to the truth. It seems to me that the light which comes in upon this case from the context is quite vital to a just conception of our pas- sage. Particularly it explains why shimning such men is the appropriate treatment. They can not be counted into the goodly fellowship of servants of Christ because they lack the vital ele- ments of Christian character. Their false teaching is, however, to be condemned rather for its negative qualities than its positive. It is not gospel because it is only frivolous, foolish, subtle, power- less for good. The point of its condemnation is not that it labors directly and positively to assail and overthrow the vital truths of the gospel. 12. When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have deter- mined there to winter. 13. Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them. This Nicopolis is probably that of Epirus, lying therefore on his route from Achaia [Corinth] toward Rome. There he pur- posed (at this writing) to spend the ensuing winter. Whether this Zenas was a " lawyer ' in the Roman or in the Jewish sense is not certain — the latter being much more probable. Apollos appears several times in the Acts and epistles — a Jew of Alexan- dria, whose first knowledge of Christianity came through John the Baptist. He was a man of eloquence and mighty in the Old Testament Scriptures. He first came in contact with the more full gospel teaching at Ephesus, in the society of Priscilla and Aquila. So for as is known his gospel labors were in that city and subsequently in Corinth. His relations with Paul seem to have been only pleasant, albeit a party at Corinth seem to have been disposed to gather about him as their favorite man (1 Cor. 3: 4,5). 14. And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. 15. All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. 302 TITUS. — CHAP. III. "Let ours" — i.e., our people, the members of our fraternity and church — be careful to be worthily and truly distinguished by their good works, particularly for the necessary purposes of life — supporting themselves by honest industry so as not to burden others. On the contrary, let them be helpful to those Vvho are really in need. Greet all those who love us in the faith — because we are be- lievers in Christ — loving us because of our Christian character and relationships. THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. INTRODUCTION. The points germain to an introduction to this short epistle are few, simple, and quite well established. Philemon was a resident of Colosse, as is shown by that of his servant Onesimus, said by Paul in his letter to the church at Colosse to be ''one of you" (Col. 4: 9). This epistle discloses its own occasion ; its antecedents and attendant circumstances. Briefly put, they are these : — Philemon had held Onesimus as his bond-servant. Onesimus made his escape — and his way to Rome, where, under the labors of Paul, he became a convert to Christ. Paul there- fore sends him back with this letter to Philemon, relating the facts of his conversion and commending him to the Christian- confidence of his former master. It was written from Rome during Paul's first imprisonment there, nearly at the same time with those to the Colossians and Ephesians (about A. D. 61 or 62). Among the epistles of Paul this one is entirely unique, un- like any other. It is not addressed to any church, but to one individual ; discusses no great doctrinal themes ; expa- tiates not upon Christian morals ; aims not to regulate dis- cipline nor to correct erratic tendencies in any church what- ever. It is simply a personal, private letter, of the same class with the second and the third epistles of John. How it came to be included in the sacred canon — why this rather than many other private letters which Ave may presume Paul wrote, we have no data to determine, unless we account the lovely spirit it breathes, the delicate tact it exhibits, and the valuable results in the case of this one household, to be ade- quate reasons for the honorable place assigned it in the canon. THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. The customary salutation (v. 1-3) ; personal gratitude and prayer in view of what he has heard of Philemon (v. 4-7) ; earnestly commends to him Onesimus, his convert, and begs Phil- emon to receive him in his personal love to Paul (v. 8-12) ; whom he might have retained, but would not without Philemon's consent (v. 13, 14) ; suggests that the Lord's good hand might have brought Onesimus to Rome to be converted, and thus be- come a Christian brother to his former master (v. 15-17); Paul will make good any wrong this servant may have done his mas- ter (v. 18, 19) ; renews his request, coupled with expressions of confidence that it will be granted (v. 20, 21); suggests his pur- pose to visit this friend (v. 22), and closes with salutations (v. 23-25). 1. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow- laborer, 2. And to our beloved Apphia, and Arcbippus our fellow- soldier, and to the church in thy house; 3. Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. With exquisite sense of propriety, Paul omits all reference to his apostleship. He is only a "prisoner" in behalf of Christ, writing from his prison-home. — Timothy's name is joined with his as in two other epistles of the same date, viz., Philippians and Colossians. Philemon is addressed as a fellow-laborer, dearly beloved — terms which suggest not certainly that he was in the pastorate, or held any office in the church, but that he was at least an active and useful lay brother. Apphia is supposably his wife; and Archippus perhaps their son, whom Paul honors with the designation " our fellow-soldier" — i. e., in the army of the Lord. "The church in thy house" is not in New Testament usage the church of which he was pastor, but the church accus- tomed to meet for worship in his private residence. Aquila and Priscilla are twice referred to as keeping open house for a wor- shiping congregation, thus having a church assembly in their own private house (Kom. IG: 5 and 1 Cor. 10: 19), {;3oi) PHILEMON. 305 4. I thank my God, making mention of tkee always in my prayers, 5. Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints ; 6. That the communication of thy faith may become ef- fectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 7. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, be- cause the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. In V. 5, our English version assumes that "love and faith" bear the same relation ["toward"] both to the Lord Jesus and to all the saints." With much greater precision of thought, Paul uses two somewhat different prepositions — the former having the sense before, in the presence of, and generally in respect to ; but the latter is one which suggests working toward, bearing effectively upon for good. In v. 6 I understand the object of Paul's prayer to be that the impartation of thy faith may become energetic in the sphere of a true knowledge of every thing good — i. e., by means of diffusing such knowledge. " Bowels," in the oriental sense — the heart or soul, as the seat of deep affection. 8. Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient, 9. Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. 10. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: 11. Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: 12. Whom I have sent again : thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels: Wherefore, although in my relation to Christ as his apostle, I might assume all boldness to enjoin (command) thee to do what is in itself appropriate (i. e., to receive Onesimus in the spirit of forgiveness and love), yet I choose rather to base my request upon love — the love thou bearest to me ; and therefore I simply entreat thee to do for me this favor — for me now aged and also a pris- oner for Christ. In behalf of my son Onesimus [thou surely wilt do me this favor for my own son .'], who, through my instrumentality while here in bonds, has become my convert to Christ. In v. 11, the words "profitable" and "unprofitable" are a play upon the word Ones- imus, which signifies " profitable." Aforetime he was no Ones- imus to thee, for he deserted thy service ; but now, through his conversion, he has become a real Onesi7nus to me ; and if re- ceived kindly will be so to thee also. I therefore have sent him 306 PHILEMON. back to thee. Receive him as if he were my own soul, embody- ing the love of my heart. 13. Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel : 14. But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. I had occasion for his services in the gospel and was wishing to detain him for this purpose ; but, recognizing thy relation to him, I would not do so without thy free consent. 15. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; 16. Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord? 17. If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. This " perhaps " seems to look toward the providential purpose of God in the elopement of Onesimus — viz., that he might fall under Paul's influence and be converted, and so become more than his servant, even his Christian brother; and this for more than the years of this transient life — even for ever. 18. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account ; 19. I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it : albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides. The supposition made here, "wronged thee or oweth thee any thing," is thought to imply that Onesimus might have gone forth from his master's house not empty, but with some supplies for future need — an offense which Phileman might have accounted theft or robbery. To obviate all possible difficulty on this ground between Onesimus and Philemon, Paul generously — perhaps moro generously than justly — steps forward with his pledge to pay this supposed claim. The claim which Paul forbears to press, "that thou owest me in addition thine own self," is supposed to allude to the circumstance that Philemon owed his own conversion to Paul's labors in his behalf 20. Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord : refresh my bowels in the Lord. 21. Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. Thus Paul implores his friend (shall we say his spiritual son ?) Pliileinon to do this deed of justice as a personal favor, to gratify Paul's deeply yearning heart. IJut very delicately, he would not PHILEMON. 307 assume that Philemon can object. Rather he has all confidence that he will grant more than all he asks. Grouping together the salient points of this negotiation with Philemon in behalf of his returning servant Onesimus, the spirit of the aged apostle appears in every point of view most admirable. All the critics, not to say all intelligent readers, are struck with the delicate tact it evinces; with Paul's love for Onesimus; with his very respectful deference to the claims of Philemon, and with the kind words he finds to say of his piety and usefulness. — As to my own personal views, I am drawn to add that while I fully indorse all this approbation of Paul's spirit and tact, I am humil- iated and ashamed for our common humanity that a tithe of it all should have been deemed necessary. Paul wrote as a man who almost shrunk from touching this delicate relation of master to servant — as a man profoundly, not to say painfully, impressed with the sensitiveness of masters to whatever bears upon their assumed rights in their human property. Apparently, Paul did hope that Philemon's piety would carry the suit against his cupid- ity and against his sense of being wronged by his fugitive serv- ant. But we must infer that on every other ground save that of sincere piety, Paul would not have dared to ask such a favor. I judge that Paul's inner soul was sad, not to say outraged, under the necessity for such extreme caution in asking as a boon a thing so manifestly righteous and just. How his views of the brotherhood of Onesimus must have rebelled against the claim of property-right, on the part of another Christian brother, in his flesh and bones ! 22. But withal prepare me also a lodging ; for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you. 23. There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus ; 24. Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas> Lucas, my fellow-labor- ers. 25. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with your spirit. Amen. Paul hopes to make Philemon a visit at his own home in Co- losse — a city which Paul had never yet visited. The visit might put him in a position to adjust, if need should be, the new Chris- tian relationship between the old master and this new-born child of God. Salutations from the Christian friends and fellow- laborers then at his side — all well-known names — close this epis- tle. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. INTRODUCTION. It will introduce us to the intelligent study of this epistle to inquire into the following points: I. The Author: 11. The Date; III. The people addressed ; who, where ; and of what leading characteristics ; IV. The SPECIAL OBJECTS OF THE EpISTLE. I. The Author. In regard to the author of this epistle, some points can be settled with reasonable certainty ; and fortunately, these in- clude all that are specially important. The public life and labors of this James during the entire apostolic age; his prominent position at Jerusalem ; the esteem in which he was held there and his controlling influence — all suffice to show how fully his credentials as one of the leading Chris- tian teachers were accredited by both the apostles and the churches. These, it will be seen, are the points of chief importance. Further back in time, during the period prior to the as- cension of our Lord, the attempt to identify and trace this James among the many allusions to persons bearing this name has been found very perplexing, and not a little un- certain. We first attend to his later history — the matters of special importance. 1. The James of our espistle was not the brother of the Apostle John, the "discij)le whom Jesus loved" — sons of Zebedee; for this James suffered martyrdom under Herod Antipas (A. D. 44) as we read Acts 12 : 2. Our epistle was written several years later. 2. With reasonable certainty this was the same James INTRODUCTION. 309 who was prominent during the apostolic age in the church at Jerusalem, to whom Peter requested that his escape from prison (Acts 12 : 17) might be immediately reported ; — *'Go, show these things unto James and to the brethren." He is also the same whose voice and opinion seem to have led the decision of the celebrated Council at Jerusalem (A. D. 50) as we read in Acts 15, when the apostles and elders came together to consider the question of enforcing circum- cision upon Gentile converts; where, first ''all the multi- tude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul declaring what God had wrought among the Gentiles by them"; and after the recital of this story, James answered, rehearsing the facts of the case and the correspondence of these facts with ancient prophecy, closing with these signifi- cant words : — " Wherefore, my sentence is that we trouble not them," etc.; ''And it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church " to indorse his sentence [expressed opin- ion], and to make up their written decision accordingly. This shows us James in the Jerusalem Council. We find him again at Jerusalem, prominent before any other man there, in the account of Paul's visit (Acts 21 : 18) about A. D. 58: "Paul w^nt in with us unto James, and all the elders were present." There Paul rehearsed to them what God had wrought by his ministry among the Gentiles. They heard it with joyful gratitude and gave him the best advice they could suggest, how to allay the violent prejudices of the many thousand Jewish believers who w^ere intensely zealous of the law. To this same James, it seems obvious that we must refer the allusions which appear in Paul's let- ter to the Galatians, viz. (1 : 18, 19), " I went up to Jerusa- lem to see Peter and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James, the Lord's brother." Also 2: 9-12: " AVhen James, Cephas [Peter] and John who seemed to be pillars," etc. — " For before that cer- tain came from James, he [Peter] did eat with the Gentiles ; but when they were come, he withdrew and separated him- self, fearing them w'hich were of the circumcision." This presents James as a leading mind in the church at Jerusa- lem, and at that time specially zealous on the pending ques- tion of circumcising Gentile converts. All these references to James by Luke in the Acts and by Paul to the Galatians, point very manifestly to the writer of our epistle. Pushing our inquiry back in time to the persons bearing the name " James" in the gospel history, the subject becomes 14 310 INTRODUCTION. complicated and the references perplexing. The main issue lies between (a) James, named among "the brethren of the Lord ", and (b) James, son of Alpheus, named in the group of the twelve chosen disciples. (a) The names of the group defined and known ^s *' the brethren of the Lord" appear in Matt. 13: 55 and Mark 6: 3 ; — viz., "James, Joses, Simon, Judas", to which refer- ences we may add Paul's words in Gal. 1 : 19; — "James, the Lord's brother." These " brethren of the Lord" are spoken of in a general way without their several names in Matt. 12 : 46-48 and in its parallel, Mark 3: 31, 32, Also in John 2 : 12 and 7 : 3, 5 and Acts 1 : 14 (where they are broadly distinguished from the apostles), and in 1 Cor. 9: 5. All the allusions to them are quite definite to the point of their being a well- known family, i. e., brothers by at least one common parent, and should therefore be accounted the lineal hrethren of the Lord unless very strong reasons appear to modify the nat- ural construction. (h.) The group of the twelve disciples are named in Matt. 10 : 13, Mark 3 : 18, Luke 6 : 15, and Acts 1 : 13. In all, James is the son of Alpheus ; and by Luke twice (in his gospel and in his Acts) Judas or Jude (not Iscariot) is called the brother of James. In one of these groups we must look for the James who wrote our epistle. Some critics at- tempt to find him in both groups, assuming that it is the same James throughout ; but this seems to me very improb- able. (a.) In favor of finding our author in the first named group — among "the brethren of the Lord" — are tliese con- siderations : (1.) That Paul (Gal. 1: 19) calls the James whom he found so prominent at Jerusalem " the Lord's brother." (2.) That Paul records a special appearance of the Lord to James, soon after his resurrection : " After that he was seen of James; then of all the apostles" (1 Cor. 15: 7). Tliis should be considered in its relations to what John has said (John 7: 3, 5) to the effect that then his brethren did not believe on him. (3 ) That neither our author James nor Jude his brother (author of the short epistle) speaks of himself as an apos- tle, but only as "a servant" — James says: "Of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ;" Judo simply: "Of Christ, and brother of James." INTRODUCTION. 311 (4.) " The brethren of the Lord " are broadly distingiushed from the original twelve in Acts 1:13, 14, where the eleven (Iscariot no longer with them) are definitely named, and then besides them are " the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brethren " At this time they were praying men in the Christian brotherhood- (6.) Over against these considerations and in favor of finding our author among the original twelve, are these points : (1.) It seems natural and almost necessary that a man so prominent in the ministerial and pastoral work should have been one of the twelve. Jesus chose and trained that group of twelve to lead in organizing his gospel kingdom ; to hold places of chief prominence and responsibility in the found- ing and care of the first-formed churches — among which none were greater that this at Jerusalem. (2.) It has seemed difficult to suppose that our author — the leading pastor, not to say bishop of the Jerusalem church, should have been one of those "brethren of the Lord" who are seen (John 7 : 3, 5) not believing in Jesus, but in a skeptical and adverse attitude as to his claims. Indeed no evidence appears of their being converted to faith in Jesua at any point prior to his crucifixion. (3.) The fact that on the cross Jesus committed his mother to the care of the beloved John, son of Zebedee, passing by those four brethren of his who so clearly appear throughout the gospel history as in the fiimily with his mother, seems to signify that they w^re not the men to be found, so soon after, at the head of great churches and writing epistles as ** servants of Jesus Christ." But to this it may be replied that grace sometimes makes great and rapid changes in human character, of which Paul was a no less striking example. These are the leading considerations bearing upon the question — In which of these groups shall we find our author? It may not be amiss to add that the whole question is rather complicated than cleared by the names of " James and Joses " which appear as sons of a certain Mary, present at the crucifixion. Matthew says (27 : 56), '' Mary the mother of James and Joses; "Mark (15: 40), Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses;" Luke (24: 10) — "Mary the mother of James." Yet this Mary is clearly distinguished from Mary, the Lord's mother. The exact relationship of this group of Mary's and " the 312 INTRODUCTION. brethren of the Lord " is not clearly defined. The frequent recurrence of the same name — no less than five several Jameses being supposed to appear in the gospel history — conduces to the perplexity of this problem. In view of all the evidence it seems to me reasonably certain that James, the well-known and honored pastor of the church at Jerusalem wrote this epistle. With high probability he was one of ''the brethren of the Lord." Yet I would not speak on this latter point with entire con- fidence, and least of all with the spirit of dogmatism. The subject has grave difficulties and the evidence is not so clear as to put this point beyond question. It is strongly indicated that he was a relative of Jesus, i e. , a brother by one par- ent or both ; a cousin or nephew ; or in some other of the possible grades of relationship which the Hebrews might in- clude under the term "brother." A more precise identifi- cation will involve doubtful points over which it were of little use to speculate and which may best be left in their predestined uncertainty. Let it be noticed that this James, whether the son of Alph- eus and one of the original twelve, or one of " the four breth- ren of the Lord," was not, like Paul , a Pharisee ; was not brought up at the feet of Gamaliel ; was not, through early life, a resident of Jerusalem. He was not therefore by his ante- cedents a second Paul, but was a man whose early culture and training were had under influences of far other sort. In common with nearly all the twelve he was of Galilee, reared in comparatively humble life, remote from the great religious centers of Judaistic and Pharisaic influence. If we may assume that he was of the group known as " the breth- ren of the Lord," having his early home under the same roof, around the same table, pursuing the same industrial avocations, under the same parental nurture as Jesus him- self,— our conceptions of his early surroundings may be- come somewhat definite. We may suppose it due to his imbibing the prevalent notions of his Jewish countrymen as to their nation's Messiah that he was so slow to recognize the true mission of Jesus. Whether other influences — of jeal- ousy, selfishness, the more subtle fi)rnis of our common hu- man depravity — held him back from heart-conversion till perhaps the great crisis hour of the resurrection, and until, in the fullness of a brother's love, Jesus ap[)eared to him singly, and in the same hour broke his proud heart in con- trition and swept away his skepticism, and sealed him INTRODUCTION. 313 as thenceforward a full and firm disciple of his risen Lord — these points may come short of certainty, yet not of high probability, and are by no means alien from the methods which Jesus has often taken to convert and seal such men as he has occasion to use for great service in his kingdom. How soon after his conversion he rose to distinction in the infant church, we can not determine precisely. In New Testament history he conjes to view first in Gal. 1: 19, which being supposably three years after Saul's conversion may be dated A. D. 40 — ten years later than the scenes of Acts 1 and 2. — Next, he is seen at the date of Peter's release from prison (Acts 12 : 17, A. D. 44) four years later than the preceding notice. And next at the Jerusalem coun- cil (Acts 15) : usually dated A. D. 50. — These dates may sufiice to show proximately how soon after entering the Christian life, he came into prominent position among the churches and in the apostolic fraternity. II. Date. Critics differ widely upon the date of this epistle, varying from A. D. 45 to A. D. 62. In support of the early date it is argued that if it had been written after the great Jeru- salem Council, it would have contained some allusion to the decrees of that council — a point which would have weight if the subject of circumcising Gentile converts had been touched in this epistle. But as it is not, the argument has no force at all. Why should the author refer to that comicil in a letter which makes not the remotest allusion to the subject there discussed and acted upon? In my view the late date has very decisive considerations in its support; viz: 1. The entire silence of the epistle on the question of cir- cumcision. We must account for this silence on one or both of these two grounds : — The decline of interest on this sub- ject in the Jewish mind generally, due to the lapse of time and the expulsive power of new and deeper interests, or the less vigorous beat of the ritualistic pulse in the extremities of the Jewish body politic — the most intense action being at the national heart (Jerusalem) ; and the least intense, among Jews dispersed far abroad in other lands. It will be remem- bered that this epistle was addressed to the latter class. But it is highly probable that lapse of time, coupled perhaps with better ideas of Christianity, had, prior to this epistle, 314 INTRODUCTION. toned down the Intense heat of national feeling on this point of circumcision. 2. Emigration and dispersion were not only a continuous but an augmenting stream from the great Pentecost onward to the fall of Jerusalem (A. D. 30-70). The Jerusalem pastor saw his flock melting away and making homes for themselves in remote cities and lands. Especially was this the case during the last score of these years — (A. D. 50-70). Throughout this period, political unrest and frequent scenes of bloody violence in Judea and in Jerusalem drove the better class, especially the Christians, rapidly from their an- cestral homes into other countries. Hence the demand for this epistle from the heart of their pastor at the old home was continually gathering strength, so that the later date becomes for this reason more probable than the earlier. 3. " The coming of the Lord," said to be then " drawing nigh" (5: 7, 8) must certainly be or at least must include the destruction of Jerusalem, which even the Jews of the disper- sion must feel as a great national calamity, and a sore trial to their faith and patience. This dread event Jesus had located in time within the life of some then living, and hence, near the close of the generation that heard those words from his lips (Matt. 16 : 28 and 24 : 34). This fixes the date of our epistle with reasonable certainty between A. D. 60 and 65. III. We look for a moment to the people addressed, ask- ing ivJio they were ; luhere ; and their leading characteristics. The address itself answers thus far ; Jeivs, and Jews dis- persed abroad, in various lands, not otherwise defined. Peter wrote similarly to Jews living in foreign countries as the word translated ''strangers" signifies. He subjoins their locaHties more definitely, viz., '' Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia [Minor] and Bithynia," all of which are provinces north and east of Palestine, spreading over the northern part of the broad district between the waters of the^ Medi- terranean and the Euphrates. The presence of Jews in Gal- atia is indicated also in Paul's letter to them, for the *' Gal- atians " to whom he wrote were chiefly Jews. As to their leading charadeinsUcs ; we see in this epistle no trace of the Pharisaic element which is patent in the Jews whom Paul addressed at Rome and in Galatia, viz., the no- tion of saving merit in works of laxo. This notion became a strong and constant temptation to disj)lace gospel faith and put personal righteousness in its stead. Yet further, let it be carefully noted ; This Pharisaic notion of law-right- INTEODUCTION. 315 eoiisness was profoundly, fearfully ritualistic. Its righteous- ness was that of rites and ceremonies — not that of sound morality and intrinsic righteousness. The very righteous Pharisee paid most punctiliously his tithes of mint and anise, but had the least possible thought or care for judgment or mercy — the love of God, or the love of his suffering neigh- bor. The depravity of his heart found scope in these two directions : pride of his faultless, stainless observance of the Pharisaic law ; and utter recklessness of the weightier mat- ters. This amounted to a full license for covetousness, op- pression of the poor, and whatever other wicked ways might be congenial to his taste and not offensive to his self-made standard of morality. Against such Pharisaism and its le- gitimate results Paul reasoned mightily in his epistle to the Romans and also to the Galatians. The Colossians, too, were by no means fully emancipated from bondage to ritualism and its notions of meritorious righteousness. The Jews to whom James wrote were manifestly swerving from the true gospel in another direction. They abused the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ unto a license to sin. They divorced faith from obedience ; the receiving of Christ from essential morality — and so made their Christianity the minister of sin — a system of indulgences. They said : We are to be saved by our faith alone — whether or not it shall " work by love ;" whether or not it shall inspire us to living consecration and hearty obedience to the law of Christ. Whereas gospel faith has two essential elements — intellectual belief, and the heart's willing homage and obedience to believed gospel truth; their method of abusing the gospel was to divorce these two elements from each other, and then pro- fessedly receive the first, but utterly ignore the second. Obviously this false notion of faith opened the door to any amount of immorality. By it, the true gospel was shorn of its glory ; Christian faith was emasculated, dishonored, disgraced. Nothing short of the most emphatic protest and the most powerful setting forth of the fallacy and ruin of such sentiments could meet this faithful pastor's sense of re- sponsibility for the straying members of his early Jerusalem flock. IV. The special objects of this epistle will now be ap- parent. In general James sought to teach and enforce a pure gospel morality; to plead earnestly for an intrinsic righteousness. Especially he must explode the ruinous mis- take of his brethren as to salvation by a sort of faith which 316 INTRODUCTION. wrought not toward works of obedience, love and npriglit- ness. He must needs testify to them that such faith is in the gospel sense no faith at all — is powerless, and therefore only as good as dead ; and, of course, altogether unavailing to the point of salvation. It could neither please God now nor insure heaven hereafter. It is one of the felicities of our incomparable Scriptures that they were written, not all by one author, but variously, by many ; not by one, seeing all truth from one sole point of view, but by many, each seeing truth from his own point. There is Paul, converted from Pharisaic thought and life, and now battling mightily against the mischievous errors which half-converted Pharisaic Jews were bringing into the gospel scheme. Of course he had strong words in defense of sal- vation by fiith alone, as distinguished from salvation by means of Pharisaic righteousness in what they chose to call " works of law." The thought and phrase of James ran in another line en- tirely. How much or how little he may have met with Pharisaic notions of " works of law," he uses the term "works" in entirely another sense, as if he utterly ig- nored or even had never known the Pharisaic theory. For certainly " works" Avith James are not ritualities, but are the righteousness of the heart and of the life; are not begotten of pride, and observed as a sole ground of salvation ; but are begotten of faith and wrought by and through the heart's love of believed truth. In other words, with James, "works" are the fruit and therefore the evidence of a true faith. But over against this, the Pharisaic " works of law " which Paul condemns as no gospel but as really sub- versive of its great truths and principles, were wholly and only a righteousness of man's own devising, alien from in- trinsic right and from the law of gospel love; incompatible with faith in Christ, and therefore fatal to the salvation of the soul. This viewing of gospel truth from various stand-points conduces greatly to the rounding out of a full-orbed system. It serves to guard against all the various perversions to Avhicli the gospel is exposed. Paul had perversions to com- l)at m one direction ; James in another. The born Pharisee, coming in contact with the gospel scheme, had his special dangers to encounter, coming in through the notions common in his godless life: the Jew, never a Pharisee, Avas exposed, like other men, to run gospel faith into Autiuomianism, i. e., INTRODUCTION. 317 to make liis faith in Christ a substitute for sound moraHty and to assume that so he was honoring the gospel and doing God service. Thus under the wisdom of God in con- structing his written revelation by means of the diverse agency of various inspired minds, we have a wonderfully perfect Bible. Truly all Scripture is not only heaven-in- spired, but is constructed with such manifold variety that it avails to ''make the man of God perfect, thoroughly fur- nished" for teaching all truth and for refuting all the multiform phases of error. It is however only a part, a small part of this epistle that James devotes to his discus- sion and refutation of Antinomianism. He discusses and enjoins many forms of gospel morality. His epistle goes deeply into the science of ethics. It is rich in the illustra- tion and applications of the Christian, eternal law of love to our neighbor. The details need not be given here. We shall find these the staple points of his epistle. The great doctrines and teachings of such an epistle are always in order. No generation of our kind has ever lived yet that did not need line upon line in these grand lessons of intrinsic righteousness. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. CHAPTER I. After the briefest possible introduction of himself to his read- ers (v. 1) James speaks of trials and of their divinely purposed benefits ; the full-orbed development of Christian character, includ- ing wisdom in practical life vrhich God gives when it is sought in faith (2-8); life s changes, even when most extreme, should be ac- cepted joyfully (9-12), for God's faithful love is in them and never a purpose to ensnare souls into deeper sin; how temptation works in depraved hearts toward and unto sinning (13-15); but God is the Giver of all good, never the Author of evil (16, 17); through whose good will comes our new birth unto holiness by means of his word of truth (18), which word we should therefore hear with the utmost diligence and jealous avoidance of sin (19-21), obeying and not hearing only (22-25). Pure religion is tested by unselfish help of the helpless and by shunning the world's moral pollutions (26, 27). 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. The introduction has discussed the questions : Who was this James? Also, Who and where were the people whom he wrote? The word "Greeting" translates a Greek word which, literally taken, bids them rejoice ; but in usage is the heart's expres- sion of its hope and prayer that the friends addressed may have cause for joy. Brethren, I wish you all blessings! My soul greets you ! 2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations ; 3. Knowing thisy that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be l^erfect and entire, wanting nothing. It is vital to a just understanding of tliis chapter to note that our English words, tempt, temptation, arc ambiguous, being used sometimes in a bad sense; sometimes in a good; i. e., sometimes (818) JAMES. — CHAP. I. 319 involving the purpose to ensnare into sin ; and sometimes no such purpose at all, but only the purpose of strengthening virtue. Used of man tempting his fellow-man, or of his lusts tempting himself, it often has the former — the bad — sense; but used of God, it has never the bad sense but only the good. This will ap- pear more fully below (v. 13-15). Here, the "falling into divers temptations" refers to God's ways in providence which bring stern trial upon the Christian's virtue. James exhorts his brethren not to shrink from such trials ; not to fear them ; bub even to " count them all joy " — not that chastening is ever for the moment joyous, or otherwise than grievous; but because afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruits of righteousness. Let them rejoice, therefore, remembering that God's hand always moves in love and in profound wisdom, purposing with well-ordered endeavor to work out a richer, purer patience — patience in the sense of cheerful, submissive endurance. This Christian patience must needs have time and scope for an all-sided development. It has a great and often complicated work to do in human souls. You will not be likely to know so well as God does how many rough points in your moral constitution may need to be smoothed down ; how many perverse elements may need to be rooted out by the vigorous, faithful hand of chastening affliction. But re- member ; God has the grandest and the best ideal of Christian character, toward which he works evermore. The trials may need to be diversified almost infinitely in order to bring out the complete development of sweet, quiet patience under God's chas- tening but loving hand. He does not propose to stop short of a noble, full-orbed Christian character. He sets his heart upon this : therefore trust thou his love and wisdom for the best possi- ble methods ; and count it your supreme joy to have fallen into the training hand and under the faithful discipline of such a Father. The reader should not fail to notice that in this argument and exhortation, the underlying assumption is that the high, the really supreme end God has in view with us is — to make and mold character^ to bring his children onward and upward to the very highest perfection and finish of their moral and spiritual life. Of course it follows that in our thought also as well as in his, — in our practical judgment — this should be accounted the supreme end of life. We should never assume to be wiser than God. We ought to accept most thankfully his aim and plan concerning our- selves as the very best possible. Therefore, let us count it all joy when we have the present, conscious proofs that God has us in hand and is pressing on his own purifying work in our moral nature and character. Be it painful to the flesh ; be it trying to the spirit; yet how should we hail it with unutterable gladness, for God's hand is shaping and Avorking it all that we may be per- fect and entire, lacking in nothing. What can be for one mo- ment compared with a fully developed virtuous character — a spirit chastened to all sweetness of submission, to all purity 320 JAMES. — CHAP. I. of purpose, to all love and humility — to the very spirit of heaven brought to maturity under the discipline of earth! Com- paring this result of earthly life with any thing, nay with every thing else, how great it is! We may ftiil of riches; yet hav- ing tins, we arc rich eternally. Our name may be little known, but God Avill know it! Many of our cherished plans of life may come to nought ; but if the great plan of God for us is realized, shall we not in the coming world rejoice that his wisdom looked further and planned better than ours ? 5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all meM liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him. 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing Avavering : for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. The cursory reader of this chapter is liable to assume tiiat the subject changes here, making the attainment of wisdom a new theme. So doing, he would miss some of the best of the sense, for certainly there is no change of subject here. Our English translation ought to have followed the original in the point of giv- ing the same word for ' lack" as in the verse previous for " want- ing." This word has suggested the closest connection. " That ye may be perfect, lacking nothing.' Yet if any of you should lack this one quality of the Christian character — wisdom to bear yourself well in all emergencies ; wisdom to do always the right thing rather than the wrong, then ask God for the wisdom you need. Thus wisdom is thought of here as one of the elements of a fully developed Christian character. The writer does not forget what he is talking about, nor has he finished one topic and ad- vanced to another, for we shall notice below (v. 9-12) that his mind is still upon those reverses of fortune — those sudden transi- tions from riches to poverty, abundance to want, or (reversing the order) from poverty to competence, in which so much of our earthly trial consists. Wisdom, practically considered, is the shaping of means to ends, devising the best meaures to reach the ends we seek. Emer- gencies, such as the writer here assumes to be present, make a very special demand for this practical wisdom. Indeed the whole of human life calls for wisdom. ]vesponsible trusts de- mand it; the control of our own spiritdemands it; the regulation of daily conduct, the bearing of ourselves prudently under any and every form of trial, call for wisdom. If therefore any man is conscious of lacking wisdom, what shall he do but ask God for it? Precisely this is the thing to be done. And for liis comfort let him know that God givcth it — not alone to some favored sons JAMES. — CHAP. I. 321 of good fortune, but to all; and not in stinted but in liberal meas- ure; and better yet — does not reproach you for your short-coming; does not retort sharply in rebuke of your folly — (ah, but lie might!) What a sense of our very great folly he must often have ! But He is infinitely tender and forbearing. He will never upbraid you ! "And it shall be given him." In the writer's view, there will be no failure of this gift. Nothing can be relied upon more surely. It looks toward that culture of heart and soul upon which God sets his loving paternal heart, and he can not with- hold it. "But let him ask in faith,'' fully assuming the love of his great Father, and his honest purpose to help at every point toward the utmost and best spiritual culture of his yet imperfect children. It would be most cruel to our Father's heart to doubt this! How can He bear such doubting in the bosoms of those for whom he has done so much and whom he has loved so well! Then think how this doubting soul is tossed up and down as if nothing in the universe were certain! For if we can not trust God's love, what can we ever trust? The figure here — that of the ocean wave, wind-driven, tempest-tossed, never at rest — is surely very expressive. A soul so full of doubting and distrust of God, should never expect blessings from his hand. The two-minded man — forever vacillating between little faith and great unbelief — will be unstable in every thing. 9. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is ex- alted : 10. But the rich, in that he is made low : because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth : so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. The English phrase — "of low degree" — means naturally, of low social standing — which however is manifestly thought of here as a natural result of poverty. The Greek word means poor. The sense of humble life socially comes from the sentiments and usages of society. If God's providences lift this poor man higher, let him* rejoice therein. Yet James has his eye specially upon the rich man. He is more likely to fall than the poor to rise. Indeed, the figure which compares him to the blooming flower assumes that his coming down is according to the order of nature. The flower of the grass (especially in that climate) was destined to fade totally and soon. The scorching sun smote it but once and it withered ! Its beauty perished in an hour. So too shall the rich man fade away in his ways, and his beauty perish. What is the doctrine here? Apparently this: As in the flower of the field, this early fading comes by natural law and is there- 322 JAMES. — CHAP. I. fore to be always expected, so the rich man's glory fades by a law of God's moral administration, similarly if not even equally swift and sure; for God must seek his spiritual culture and to secure this result, must (usually) bring him low. To save his soul, his riches must be made the sacrifice. Let him therefore rejoice in being made low, for it signilies that God has taken him in hand to save him unto riches better and far more enduring. 12. Blessed is the man that enduretli temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. This will be the result if only he endures the trial. Plainly, in connection with what immediately precedes, the writer as- sumes that his rich brother does bow submissively to the reverse of fortune that comes upon him. Blessed is the man in any sphere who endures the discipline God permits to befall him. "Temptation" is here in the good, not the bad sense; i. e., in the sense of trials which God sends upon his children. Tried and thereby proved and purified, he shall receive the promised crown of life. Let him hold this promise before his eye as his inspiration to patient, submissive endurance, turning his thought away from the present pain and disappointment and conflict, to the bright reward put before him in God's word of promise. 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God : for God can not be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man : 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. James has seen the working of human nature and knows how to anticipate its thought. Men, sorely tried by providences that seem adverse, are sometimes fearfully tempted thereby to say in their heart — This is too bad ; God must know that I can not bear this; Why should he drive me into sin? I must think he intends it! liut pause and think how horrible the thought! how al)usive and even blasphemous the implication! Porno tempta- tion to do evil can ever reach the heart of God, nor can he possi- bly tempt any man in the sense of intending this result, or shap- ing his providences to make men sin. Let this be forever held in your deepest convictions: God /.s- (jood and only good! lie has good ends in view and never other than good. In saying that "God can not be tempted with evil" in the sense of being not temptible into or even toward sin, James does not mean to deny that God is often sorely grieved and tried by a])U8e from the wicked. He does mean that no such abuse can possibly draw him into sin. hi the sense of being ensnared JAMES. — CHAP. I. 323 into sin, he is above temptation. In the same sense of tempta- tion he tempts no man. The trials he brings upon men are never designed or shaped to draw them into sin. But would ye know the way men are led into sin by tempta- tion? This is it: Man is tempted into sin by being poAverfully drawn and driven by his own lusts and so ensnared — (baited like the fishes, the word used here often means). His passions, appe- tites, his loves of pleasure of some sort, animal or spiritual, of body or of soul, become dangerously excited, and he indulges them to the extent of fearfully ensnaring his soul into sin. The figure used here — lust conceiving and bringing forth sin — is no doubt as nearly perfect for illustration as any physical process can be of things pertaining to mind and involving moral activities. Yet it must always be considered that purely physical law vrorks by no volition; involves no free will and no moral responsibility w^ithin its own proper sphere. But on the other hand the action of mind is totally unlike this, for mind-action must involve voluntary choice, the real consent of the will. It is in this action and in this only that sin can lie. The physical antecedents of sin should always be broadly dis- tinguished from the sin itself. In the former lie the temptation, but never the real sin. Sin is a thing of mind, not of body — a thing of free choice, not of mere appetite or passion. For the man who denies his appetite and controls his passion in obedience to the law of conscience and of God is in this act not only with- out sin but may be eminently virtuous. These distinctions are supremely vital to a just conception of the laws and processes of sinning. The writer carries his figurative illustration on to its maturity, saying that when sin has ripened to its normal fruitage, it brings forth death. This is evermore the wages of sin, wages earned both under natural law and under the moral administra- tion of God's government. With the constitution, physical and moral, which God has given us, ruin must inevitably follow as the ripened fruit of sin; and at the same time, under God's moral gov- ernment it must evermore be true that the soul that sinneth shall die under the curse of the law which sin has broken. 16. Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and Cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. In a point so vital, my brethren, I beg you to make no funda- mental mistake. Every good gift comes down from God — every good thing but no evil: no temptation to sin, in the just sense of those words, can bfe from him. All the energies of his being, all the forces of his universal kingdom, work legitimately to pro- 324 JAMES. — CHAP. I. duce good, not evil ; are devised and shaped for the production of good, and for no other purpose. To put this point clearly, by means of a pertinent illustration : — consider that God is the great IMaker and Father of the " lights " in our visible heavens — those great luminaries — sun, moon and stars, which pour upon our world all its light and heat. The record by Moses of the creation uses the same word: "God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven ; " and God formed two great lights ; the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light ^o rule the night (Gen. 1 : 14-18). These "lights," hoAvever, are variable — the sun varying from winter's distance and feebler warmth to summer's nearness and glowing heat; withdrawn also by night, but returning by day; the moon also waxing and waning; but God, the great Father of these lights, has neither in his gifts nor in the love of his heart, any varying moods ; has no changes as from summer's heat to winter's cold, or as from the full-orbed moon to its scarcely visible rim of bright- ness. No ; God's face shines out with never-clouded and never- waning glory. When, after days of cold and storm, the great sun pours abroad his welcome light and heat, we fitly say — It is so like the face of God; but God's face never withdraws itself, and in his light there is "no shadow of turning." Perhaps the writ- er's thought was upon Isa. 60: 19, 20: — "The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee ; but the Lord shall be unto thee an ever- lasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself." Foremost among God's good and perfect gifts is his regenerat- ing grace, in which he has begotten us with the word of truth that we might be in a sort the first-fruits of his created things — new-born to him so as to be truly in very deed the sons of the living God. This comes from his oicn good ivill — is the fruit of his pure and perfect love. No manifestation of God's great love can surpass this. It stands among the best of his great gifts to de- praved, lost men. It may be noticed that the underlying as- sumption here is the same as in v. 2-6, viz., that God seeks for us the highest and richest blessings possible, and that the very highest possil)le is a perfect character — a soul molded into his own perfect moral image. For this end he gives us the discipline of trial; for this in the outset he gives us the new birth through his Spirit working in and l)y his word of truth. It should be carefully noted that this reference to regeneraMon conceives of it as wrought instrumentally l)y God's revealed truth, brought to bear with its legitimate power upon intelligent mind. So 1 Pet. 1 : 23 — " Being born again by the word of God." "First-fruits" are thought of as that which was specially con- secrated to God. (See Deut. 18: 4 and 26: 10, Prov. 3: *J, Jor. 2: 3, etc., etc). Therefore the phrase well represents the soul, new-born in regeneration ; for no (element, no characteristic in this renewed soul, is so distinctive as real consecration to God. How JAMES. — CHAP. I. 325 spontaneously does the new-born child give himself to his divine Father in love and labor; in the full affection of his soul and the warm service of his life. 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath : 20. For the wrath of man Avorketh not the righteousness of God. It is interesting to trace the course of thought running through this passage and to note carefully how reasonable it is that we should be thoughtful hearers of God's word of truth inasmuch as regeneration comes to men through that word. Since God begets man in the new birth " with the word of truth," let us indeed be "swift to hear; " eager, hungry to drink it in and draw out of it its utmost life-renewing power. In the improved text, however, we read — not " Wherefore; " but know ye this; take special note of the importance of hearing with the utmost attention and read- iness. The word " know''' calls our thought to the point, while it by no means breaks the closely logical connection with the agency of the word of truth in regeneration but fully assumes it and builds upon it. The reason why James turns from hearing to speaking, exhort- ing them to be swift to hear but slow to speak, and especially slow to get excited in angry discussion, is found with no great difficulty in human nature; and very probably was manifested but too often among the Jews to whom he wrote. We may re- member that Paul (Rom. 2: 17-21) touches this as a national trait: "Behold, thou art called a Jew, . . and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish . . who hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou, therefore, who teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?" etc. To be " swift to hear" is humble, teachable ; it opens the heart to all the good influences of truth; but to be "swift to speak" and swift to get heated in discussion, comes most often of pride — of thinking more highly of one's self than is well. Such wrath of man by no means works out naturally the righteousness which is of God and which pleases him. Such a talker (Bunyan would call him "Mr. Talkative") is very sure to miss all the good influences of divine truth on his own soul, and especially ff he naturally goes into undue excitement, because his many words interest others less than himself. He not only fails of all the good of docile hear- ing, but makes what should bless, a blighting curse to his char- acter. 21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfliuity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. "Filthiness" should not carry our thought to what defiles flesh, but rather to that which fouls the soul, the real character. In a 326 JAMES. — CHAP. I. quiet way James would suggest that Mr. Talkative makes him- self very disgusting ; that his indulgence of a loose tongue and touchy temper makes him very offensive to people of pure taste — • much as filthiness of flesh gives offense to people of cleanly habits. The phrase "superfluity of naughtiness" should by no means have such emphasis on the word "superfluity" as to imply that the word condemns only the excess, while it could tolerate naught- iness in moderate amount. Not this ; but rather that all "naughtiness" is too much; all bad temper, all pride, all self- seeking, is to be laid aside most jealously. Any degree of naught- iness is superfluous. Even the least of it is too much. There- fore receive with meekness (the opposite of pride, captiousness, and vain disputation) the word which the Spirit of God would fain engraft into your heart, that it may work out its legitimate influence in the salvation of your soul. The word of truth, being given us of God and impressed by his Spirit for the very purpose of counter- working sin and saving our souls unto holiness and heaven, how should we bend our ear to hear it and our heart to make it welcome ! 22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Another danger to be apprehended and guarded against calls for yet another word of warning. There was the danger of hearing and not doing, of learning their duty but doing it not; perhaps even accounting it a merit to hear, yet no sin to neglect the doing. Therefore, let them receive the admonition — that they be not only swift to hear rather than swift to speak, but also prompt to do as well as to hear. To be a hearer and yet not a doer would be a sad — nay, more, a fatal shortcoming. For all divinely revealed truth is unto goodness. It comes from God for the very purpose of making man's heart and life better; not to amuse his fancy; not merely to stir his thought-power; not alone to gratify his taste for knowledge; but high above all those or any other purposes, it comes from God and it aims to secure a better character. It asks an obedient heart. It reveals something to be done. It looks to- ward duty. 'JMiercfore the man who ends with hearing and always stops short of doing deceives himself if he supposes that he does justice in the least degree to God's revealed truth or to the wants of his moral nature. Let him not tirink that by merely hearing the truth he honors and pleases God. On the contrary, if he hears only and obeys not, ho wrongs his own soul, abuses his JAMES. — CHAP. I. 327 conscience, withers and dwarfs his spiritual growth. To illus- trate his case James compares it to a man's seeing the face he was born with in a mirror; he just catches a look, passes on, and forthwith forgets what he saw. He receives no abiding impres- sion and gains not the least practical result from his seeing. The better and true way is then described. He "looks into the per- fect law of liberty," — bending over it, the word signifies — fixing his eye intently, earnestly, upon the truth seen there that he may take in its full sense and power. "The law of liberty" (be it no- ticed carefully) is not a laAV of license; is not a law which you are at liberty to heed or not heed as you will ; is not a law which merely suggests advice, never rising to authority, never enforced by sanctions ; but far otherwise. It is a law which aims to break the chains of sin and set you free from its bondage; a law whose mission is deliverance from Satan and his enslavement, redemp- tion from the tyranny of lust. It looks toward the freedom with which God makes his children free — the freedom of a sanctified will, brought into harmony Avith the will of God which is infinite reason. In true obedience to this will, there is never the least sense of bondage. All obedience of this sort is sweet and joyous, for it satisfies our noblest, highest convictions of right and duty, and causes the soul to rest in perfect peace. He therefore who looks intently, deeply into this perfect law, given us to free the soul from sin, and who continues in this law, being not a forget- ful hearer but a doer of the work which God's revealed truth enjoins, is blessed in this doing; not (be it noticed) in his hear- ing merely, but in his real doing — in the obedience he renders to the perceived claims of divine truth. So Jesus himself taught: " He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him ;" " My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him." (John 14: 21, 23.) Is not this result always supremely blessed ? I am aware that a very different sense has been put by some upon the phrase — "The perfect law of liberty ; "viz., that its liberty is the absence of rule, precept, definite requirement, leav- ing the subject free to guide himself by the impulses of love only — " do what you love to doj' being the general direction. With this omission of specific rule another feature is sometimes com- bined— viz., that love can not work under rule ; therefore must of necessity be free to make its own law, inasmuch as obedience to specific law is of course rendered only in and through fear, and never from real love. These glosses upon the "perfect law of liberty " are sometimes put in a very specious, attractive way ; yet I can not excuse my- self from saying — They tread on dangerous ground and are es- sentially fallacious. For, definite rules of moral conduct, such as God gives in his moral law, are in their essence an unmixed bless- ing. I thank him for every such rule. It relieves me to know precisely what moral conduct towards both God and man will 328 JAMES. — CHAP. I. please God. I love to see the heart of God in every one of these rules. I find a deep and restful joy in cultivating a careful con- scientiousness in obeying every rule in its true spirit, as a testimony to the love I bear to the Great and Good Lawgiver and to my earnest purpose to please him in all things. ^Then as to the other idea — that obedience to clearly defined moral precepts is the slavery of fear and not the freedom of love, the very position it- self is false and fallacious. For, love has its best scope and most glorious range when it accepts God's law as the expression of his will, and renders obedience to it out of the depths of a loving soul. God is a great Lawgiver and King, No richer joy ever wells up in the souls of his children than that which recognizes and adores him as such, and yields him the homage of the ut- most obedience to all his revealed will. 26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceivetli his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. The words " religious" and "religion" as used here put in the foreground the idea of worship, and we may say, the worship of ritualism. The man thought of is religious in the sense of mak- ing great account of the forms of religious worship. So doing, he may seem to be a true worshiper of God. But if he bridles not his tongue but deceives his own heart with the presump- tion that he is very religious, and specially acceptable to God, all his religion is vanity — hollow, futile, worthless. It is an abom- ination to God, and only a sham, an emptiness in the eyes of dis- cerning men. ^ Let the better, the true idea of what pure religion is, be con- sidered. Here he gives it. " To visit the fotherless and widows in their affliction " is not to go to see them merely to intrude upon their secret sorrows, and pry into their untold griefs; and by no means is its aim to get for yourself the honor before men of being sympathetic or generous; no; but to minister unostenta- tiously to human suffering and want. To this James subjoins : — To "keep himself unspotted from the world" — above its pollu- tions ; unstained by its spirit of vain show, " the lust of the eye and the pride of life." There is special pertinence in saying — The religion that is " undefiled Ijcfore God even the Father is this." He docs not say — before God, the Almighty ; nor God, the All-wise ; nor God, the Omniscient; but God the real Father. For He will delight in those who have such sympathy as he himself has with his own suffering children. Tlie great and good Father will love to see you visiting the fatherless (tnes in tliis world of sorrow. It may be noticed also that this test of pure as distinguished JAMES. — CHAP. II. 329 from spurious religion is the very same which Jesus proposes to apply at the final judgment : "1 was hungry, and ye gave me meat; a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clotlied me; sick, and ye visited me. Inasmuch as ye have done these things unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me " (Matt. 25 : 35-40). It is doubtless sadly true that alms-giving may be made a formality or an hypocrisy ; and so may become as offensive to God as any other forms and hypocrisies. But such abuses can not vitiate the rule. Like all other tests of character, this is to be applied to the heart ; by man, as to his fellows or himself, as faithfully and honestly as he can: by God, to all his creatures with infinite honesty and never-failing certainty. 3>*:c CHAPTER II. Respect of persons forbidden (v. 1) ; illustrated as seen in wor- shiping assemblies (v. 2-4) ; shown to be utterly unlike God's pref- erence as between the rich and the poor (v. 5) ; and also unrea- sonable, judged of by the character of the rich (v. 6, 7), or by the royal law of God (v. 8, 9). Sin lies in violating the spirit rather than the letter of the law (v. 10, 11). "The law of liberty" and what it signifies and implies (v. 12, 13). The mutual relations of faith and works discussed; illustrated in the case of mere profes- sions of benevolence (v. 14-17) ; by a supposed case of faith with no works resulting (v. 18, 19) ; by the case of Abraham and Isaac (v. 20-24) ; and of Rahab (v. 25) ; and finally compared to a body from which the soul has gone (v. 26). 1. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, tlie Lord of glory, with respect of persons. "Respect of persons" means estimating and treating men ac- cording to their external circumstances, their outward appendages — and not their intrinsic character. It is regard for the outward, the person — and not the inward — the real soul and its qualities. The apostle would never admit this principle or rule of treat- ment into Christianity. Let it have no place in the usages, or even the opinions and social estimates which obtain among the followers of Christ. It was very pertinent and forcible for him to speak of " the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, theLord of glory.'' Let them remember that their Jesus had infinite glory with the Father before he came to our world ; and that, though rich above all human thought, yet for our sakes he became 330 JAMES. — CHAP. II. utterly poor, having " not where to lay his head," Would they apply the principle of respect of persons to him and disown him for his abject poverty ? Would not this be unutterably horrible? The poverty side of his human life w'ould be inevitably suggested by this allusion to his anterior glory with the Father. It needed but this one word — "the Lord of glory" — to remind them of that sublime self-sacrifice which brought him down to the lowest of the poor in the sphere of his earthly estate. 2. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment ; 3. And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay cloth- ing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my foot- stool : 4. Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? "Unto your assembly" (Greek, synagogue), your place of re- ligious worship. A gold-ringed man. Even the choice of the word for man (avjyp) suggests one who would be held above the common rank. — "In shining apparel" — making a fine display. — Also a poor man in sordid raiment, cheap, unadorned; but not necessarily filthy. You pay your special respect to the man of gay clothing. "Sit here honorably" (Greek): while to the poor man ye say — Stand there, anywhere; no matter whether you find any seat; or take one here under my footstool. In this, do ye not make discriminations among yourselves, and on grounds that are unreal and vicious ? Do ye not become evil- thinking judges — judges who pass their verdict upon utterly false principles? The Greek words mean, not that they passed a judg- ment concerning evil thoughts, either their own or others; but that they judged of men upon false grounds, making their estimate and forming their opinions upon considerations utterly unworthy of Christian men. 5. Hearken, my beloved brethren. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the king- dom which he hath promised to them that love him ? 6. But ye have despi.sed the poor. Do not rich men op- press you, and draw you before the judgment-seats? 7. I)o not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? Does God act on such principles as these of yours? Docs He discriminate against the poor and choose rich men as his favor- ites, to be the recipients of his chief blessings ? Nay, breth- ren ; ye know it to Ijc far otherwise. Usually he chooses the poor of this world to become rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom— to JAMES. CHAP. II. 331 become rich eternally in the wealth of heaven. In despising the poor as ye are doing, ye take the very opposite course, and act on principles the reverse of God's. Is it in your thought to re- buke even the great God by discarding his policy, and thrusting your own into his face — in his own house — in contrast with his ? Consider, also, how the rich have treated you, as Christians ; how they have oppressed you and dragged you before their courts in persecution. Think also how they have dishonored the glo- rious name called upon you in your baptism and given you as your distinctive name before men. Is it not passing strange that ye should exhaust the partialities of your esteem and favor upon rich men, fascinated by their vain display of wealth and fawning at their feet to gain some consideration from their ungodly hands ? 8. If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well : 9. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. In V. 8 the first Greek word (mentoi) suggests a concise restate- ment of the principles involved; as if he would say; — or put it thus: Apply to it the royal law — that kingly, grand, all-compre- hensive and perfect rule — "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- self." Obey this, and you are all right. But this law makes the poor man your neighbor as truly as the rich, and binds you to love him as you love yourself This, you Avill observe, would not put him under your footstool when he comes into your Christian assembly ! Having " respect of persons " is a palpable and griev- ous violation of this royal law. The fact that you treat men so, viewed in the light of this law, convicts you of being transgress- ors. 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet of- fend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. Suppose you obey the law in every other respect save this, yet even then, breaking it in this one point, you really break the law. You are held obnoxious to its penalty as a transgressor. This is precisely the sense of the Greek word rendered guilty (svoxos) ; Ye are held under the entire and full condemnation of this law as really and truly as if ye had broken all its precepts. For in a most vital sense, the law of God is a unit; and breaking any one precept is breaking the law. Breaking any one precept in- volves the spirit of disobedience — the heart of rebellion against God, and therefore all the real sin there is or can be in violating God's law. The writer makes his meaning plain, and if need be yet more certain by his supposed case (v. 11): — For he, the same God, who 332 JAMES. — CHAP. II. said — Do not commit adultery, said also, " Do not kill." Now suppose ye have not committed adultery, yet if ye have killed your neighbor, it is murder none the less because ye are guiltless of adultery. It is not necessary that ye break every precept of the decalogue in order to make your deed of murder a sin. The violation of a single precept — any one ye may choose or chance to violate — makes you a transgressor of the v^^hole law. Ye will therefore apply this principle to your sin in having respect of persons. 12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 13. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judg- ment. Remember that ye are to be judged by " the law of liberty." The reader will recall the previous reference to " the perfect law of liberty" (1: 25), and may refer to explanatory remarks made there. Both there and here it is most palpable on the face of it that this "law of liberty" can not be a law of license — a law which has no binding precept, no "grip." On the contrary, it is a law which cuts up sin by its roots, which strikes at the core — the very spirit itself of transgression, and seeks to exterminate it utterly from the heart so that not even a fiber shall remain. It aims at nothing short of setting man's heart /ree from all sin so that he shall be at liberty from its soul-bondage. For he who shows no mercy to others shall have merciless judgment passed on himself. It is only the merciful man who can rejoice against judgment — safe from its terrible condemnation. In this clause there can be no doubt that the abstract, " mercy," stands for the concrete — the mail ofmercxj ; he whose spirit and heart represent mercy. He only is safe and may be joyful against God's judg- ments. That the man who shows no mercy "to his fellow shall himself find no mercy with God, is the doctrine so often reiter- ated by our Lord: "Forgive ye men their trespasses that your Father may forgive you yours. For if ye do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you" (Mark 11 : 25, 26 and Matt. G : 14, 15 and elsewhere). 14. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15. If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16. And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled ; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what dotli it profit? 17. Even so fiiith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. JAMES. — CHAP. II. 333 Here opens a special discussion upon faith and loorks, as to their mutual relations and values, separate or combined. The passage has been sometimes sharply criticised, and has been to some a stone of stumbling because thought to be in collision with Paul's doctrine of justification by faith alone. Even the good Martin Luther read James with a vail over his eyes, and indulged himself in denouncing this passage and indeed in discarding the whole epistle because he did not like this passage with his con- struction of it. But the passage reads admirably when the vail is removed. In the outset, note the connection of this discussion of faith and works with the context His brethren held their faith as to the Lord Jesus Christ along with respect of persons, (see v. 1). They professed faith in Christ; yet their works in despising the poor for their poverty and flattering the rich despite their wickedness, really gave the lie to their faith. To say the least, this sin of theirs was not at all to the credit and the honor of their faith in "the Lord of glory." James therefore proposes to them to look into this matter. They need to see that faith calls for better works than such ; indeed, that faith and such works do not fit well to- gether; that faith without better works than those is only as good as dead. Hence this discussion. He begins with the question whether faith with no correspond- ing works brings any profit. Is it good for any thing? Can it really save ? Put it to the test in the point of relief for the hun- gry and the naked. Suppose you have naked and hungry ones in the brotherhood of your church, and you say to them — 1 love you very much; I wish you well with all my heart; "be ye warmed and be ye filled"; warm clothes and good food are fine things to have ; how I wish you had them ! — but you give them nothing : what does your faith and your Christianity — all your warm words amount to? How much does it all profit those needy, suffering men and women, or even yourself? Are they at all the less cold and the less hungry? Do your empty words warm those freezing limbs, or fill those hungry mouths? So faith, having no corre- sponding works, i. e., if alone and fruitless, is simply dead. This illustrative case, the reader will notice, shows that James has no confidence in such faith as that. The faith he thinks of is empty and dead. The fact that it bears no legitimate fruit proves it to be spurious. He looks for fruit ; then he may believe it to be living and not dead. 18^ Yea, a man may say, Thou hast fiiith, and I have wor^: shew me thy faith without thy -works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19. Thou believest that there is one God ; thou doest Avell : the devils also believe, and tremble. The Greek words translated — " Yea, a man may say" — may bo rendered somewhat more closely — " Bui some may (or will) say." The question of interpretation is whether James nuts these worda 15 334 JAMES. — CHAP. II. in the mouth of a supposed objector, or gives them as his own — expressing his own views of the ease. The hatter is the better view; for phiinly this supposition presents his own ideas. Tlie case (he holds) is such that one man might properly say to an- other;— "Thou hast faith"; thou makcst the utmost possible account of naked faith ; 1 have works, and I think them entirely vital. Now show me thy faith without works (the better text omits the word " thi/'') — and I will show thee my faith by means of works. This putting of the case shows that James never thinks of works with no faith behind them ; but rather of works as begotten of real faith in Christ and in his truth. These works he would rely on to set forth and verify his faith. Being the natural fruit of true faith, they are the best possible evidence of its genuineness — of its actual presence and vital power, Still he pushes his argument: — "Thou believest there is one God"; thou doest well ; so far all is right : — but mark : the devils believe all that; and they also show that their faith is real — thei/ " trem- ble'' before him. But observe: their faith never works by love; never purifies the heart; never passes into sweet submission, res- ignation, confidence. Hence you will see that faith may end with mere belief of the intelligence and may utterly fiiil to bring the free will and the voluntary afiections into harmony with its legiti- mate demands. This is a valid — indeed, a most momentous dis- tinction, never to be forgotten — never to be left out of account. 20. But wilt tliou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead ? 21. AVas not Abraham our ftither justified by works, when lie had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22. Seest thou hoAV faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23. And the Scripture was fulfilled whicli saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteous- ness ; and he was called the friend of God. 24. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. "Wilt thou know" — wouldest thou have a case in point that will settle this whole question and prove that faith without works is inoperative, worthless? We have the case in Abraham. " O vain man " — mistaken man ; literally, empty man, empty in the sense of not having the truth. " Is dead " — but the im- proved text gives not "nekra" (dead), but arge, equivalent to aerge — inactive, a thing tluit has no working, energizing force in it. Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works, in as much as he ofifijred, or in having offered — his son upon tlie altar? Thou seest (this not interrogative but affirmative) — thou seest that his faitli wrought in and with liis works ; it put energy into his works; it led him to do that marvelous deed; and by that deed, his faith was made perfect — it reached its full development. JAMES. — CHAP. II. 335 Thus that Scripture was fulfilled which saith — "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness " (Gen. 15 : 6). Did James fail to notice that the Scripture he quotes says nothing about works, but speaks only of his faith, and seems to make every thing turn upon his "believing God?" No; we can not suppose for a moment that this fact escaped his eye. But the works (he would say) were really there nonetheless; the works were the very thing which the history of the scene in Genesis makes most prominent — his going steadily forward to offer up that only son upon the altar, never wincing, never falter- ing, never complaining or questioning — until the deed was vir- tually done ! There it was, a glorious case of blended faith and works — faith energizing work — putting all its vital force into the real doing of that stern and fearfully testing deed I James was under no mistake in finding works there — works, however, not superseding faith, not absorbing all the merit of the act and put- ting the case upon the footing of good desert as if he had wrought something meritorious ; but works, the fruit of genuine faith, and acceptable to God simply because they testify with evidence so overwhelming that he did truly, . fully, perfectly, believe in God. In this sense he was justified by works and not by faith only — i. c, not by faith which produced no corresponding works. 25. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way ? 26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. The case of Rahab is analogous. The writer to the Hebrews names her as one of the heroines of faith (11: 31); but James seizes upon her history to show that her faith also revealed itself in works and proved itself genuine by the circumstance that she exposed her life to befriend the men whom she believed to have been sent of God to her door. Thus (James would say) we reach the conclusion that faith without works, like a body with- out its soul, is simply dead. We know it to be dead because it is powerless. It does nothing, moves nothing. In its real nature, nothing is so energetic, so full of vital force, as faith in the great truths of God, faith in the divine-human person of Jesus as our own perfect Redeemer. Therefore if a man's professed faith has no vital force in it; if it puts no force into him, moves him never to do any thing in obedience and love to Jesus Christ, then we know his professed faith is not what the living soul is to the human body. It is nothing but a body having no soul within. It would be unpardonable to leave this passage without more special attention to the oft-alleged discrepancy between Paul and James on this question of faith and works. We begin with placing their respective staple texts side by side. 336 JAMES. — CHAP. II. Paul : — " We conclude that a man is justified without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3: 28). James: — "Ye see, then, how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (2: 24). Now these passages at their face, would surely seem to show that James has another gospel from that of Paul, a gospel in which sal- vation rests on quite difierent grounds. Among conditions of sal- vation, James rules works in; Paul rules them out. On tlie point of faith without works, James denies ; Paul affirms. This would seem to be a square, flat contradiction. But it is no real contradiction whatever. They use their terms in difierent senses ; that is all. Paul aims to refute one error ; James an- other. Paul gives battle against Pharisaism; James against Antinomianism. Paul decries works, considered as a meritorious ground of salvation ; James seems never to think of works in that light, but only as the legitimate fruit and therefore evidence of true faith. With Paul, faith in Christ is so comprehensive that it takes in the loving, obedient heart and life — as real faith always should and always must; while with James, faith con- sidered as not bringing forth works is nothing better, nothing more than a professed intellectual belief, and leaves out the homage which the heart gives to believed truth — the obedience of heart and life to the legitimate demands of truth believed. Thus Paul and James difier radically in their respective con- ceptions of faith. Not less but perhaps even more do they diSbr in their usage of the term, "works.'' The "works" which Paul thinks of and so sharply rules out of the pale of conditions of salvation are mere Pharisaic works of righteousness; ritualities and ceremonies which were never the fruit of true faith in Christ — which, in- deed, were directly antagonistic to such faith, being put by the Pharisees in the place and stead of gospel faith as the meritorious ground of salvation. No wonder Paul comes down upon such works with all the combined power of Scripture, of logic, and of intense denunciation. Over against this, James has not the remotest thought of those Pharisaic works. The works which he esteems so highly and holds to be so vital to salvation are the fruit of gospel faith — are that intrinsic righteousness which both law and gospel demand — the resulting product of real faith inspiring love to God ; cordial, earnest obedience; all the sweet moralities of the Christian life. It may seem strange to us that two apostles who had certainly met, and we must presume had communed together more or less on the great themes of the gospel; who, moreover, were taught ])V one and the same Divine Spirit, should use terms in senses so diverse, and make statements which on their face would seem quite irreconcilal)le. r>ut we should bear in mind that the Divine Spirit is not responsible for their usage of words; that their usage was formed and shaped under diverse circumstances ; that JAMES. — CHAP. III. 337 their opportunities for free comparison of views and for their sense of standard terms were limited; that one had passed his early life among Pharisees and the other had not ; that one had found his great mission in contending against the errors of Phar- isaism, while the other had equally found his in contending against Antinomianism ; that they had each a mission of most vital importance and each was standing up intelligently and firmly in defense of those aspects of truth which he found as- sailed and against those errors which were right under his eye and hand. This is just what good men ought to do. Such apparent yet not real discrepancies between two great apostles should admonish us to read the Scriptures with our eyes open to the circumstances and aims of each individual writer in each distinct epistle, and even in each chapter and passage. Every one of these inspired writers assumed, and had a right to assume, that his readers would give attention enough to consider what, under the circumstances, his words should mean ; to think what he was writing about; to whom he was writing; what errors he was opposing; what truths he was teaching and for what purpose. Writers always assume that their readers must bear the responsibility of at least so much thought, as the price of under- standing what is written. CHAPTER TIL A new and special line of thought runs through this chapter — llie use and abuse of the tongue. Yet the reader will notice that this discussion is by no means superficial; does not limit itself to the external symptoms, but carries us behind the symptoms to the very malady itself — the heart of man out of which bad words flow. Moreover, observe that this fresh line of thought does not start from the point of gossip and foolish talk in general, but from the abuse of speech which was developing itself among his Jewish brethren who were or wished to be religious teachers. Evidently there must have been an undue ambition to press into the sacred office. We may probably account for it as an out- growth of the honor accorded in their early history to prophets and to priests, and later, to the scribes and lawyers who sat in Moses' seat. One of the naturally resulting evils of such unhal- lowed ambition would appear in the too free use of the tongue. Men of such ambition must of course seek to rise by seeming to know more than others ; not only more than the masses but more than their competitors in this office. In such a social atmosphere, there would inevitably be envy ; jealousy of rival claimants ; bad 338 JAMES. — CHAP. III. temper ; harsh words ; a spirit of severe criticism ; the assump- tion of superiority, and a sad absence of gentleness, humility, the esteeming of others above one's self, and the sweet charities of the humble, loving spirit. The presence of such mischiefs among the professed leaders of the people called forth this faith- ful, stingmg rebuke of the ungoverned tongue. Hence the apostle opens this chapter with an admonition against pressing promiscuously and in too great numbers, into the gospel ministry (v. 1); suggesting that we all have many shortcomings, and that the man who never offends in word must be a finished, complete character, and able to govern every appetite and impulse of his nature (v. 2) ; that as bits to a horse's mouth and the helm to a ship in storm, so the tongue in man is a controlling power (v. 3, 4) ; its desolating influence may be compared to a lire of which a very little suffices to kindle a terrific conflagration (v. 5, 6) ; or the tongue may be thought of as a wild beast needing to be tamed for the safe and profitable service of man, but a tougher case than any thing else in nature (v. 7, 8) ; put to strangely un- like uses, a thing lawless, capricious, reasonless ; now blessing, and now cursing (v. 9, 10); seeming to set at nought all the anal- ogies of the material world (v. 11, 12). If men have wisdom, let them use it in controlling the tongue, and let not envious and proud men glory in their shame (v. 13-16). The wisdom from above defined and commended (v. 17, 18). 1. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we who are such must pass a sterner ordeal, a severer judgment, in- asmuch as we bear more grave and fearful responsibilities. The word "master" is here in the old sense, teacher as in the compound word, " school-master" — the reference being to the of- fice of religious teacher. We can not suppose the apostle to mean that religious teaching is necessarily a sin deserving con- demnation, so that all who enter the sacred office become thereby o]> noxious to severe judgments from God. If this were his view, he ought to have warned all men against it, and not merely tho many. Our good sense must interpret his meaning as above, viz., that the office involved weighty and solemn responsibilities, such as should quench at once the unhallowed aspirations of men am- bitious for the honors it might confer. 2. For in many tilings we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. "Offend" is here in the sense of coining short of perfect duty; by no means in the sense merely of giving offonse by displeasing other people. Strictly its primary meaning is, to trip, stumble, as opposed to safe and guod walking. This remark is in place JAMES. — CHAP. III. 339 here to suggest the peril of fjiiling under the great and fearful responsibility of the religious instructor -whose words have such momentous bearings and should be ordered, therefore, with con- summate wisdom and care. The man who controls- his tongue so well as never to trip with even an unfit, ill-timed, or unkind word may be set down as a perfect man, able to control every other organ of his body. James thinks of the mouth and its speech as the chief outlet for the weaknesses and follies of vain thought, and for the ebullition of the heart's bad passions. 3. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us ; and we turn about their whole body. 4. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce Avinds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. 5. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. In the beginning of v. 3, the better textual authorities give — not " behold ; " but now ?y-— implying that we do, and the results are as indicated. But no special improvement is made in the sense by this correction. Bit and curb to the horses' mouth, helm to the mighty ship, are admirable figures to illustrate the wholesome and efficient control which even a small and insignifi- cant agent may exert — in this case, the human tongue upon foolish thought and a bad heart. The point made by the analogy would seem to be the controlling power of this small member, the tongue, over the passions and follies of the soul. Govern your tongue; this will help you exceedingly toward governing yourself Use it as men use bit and curb for the horse, or as the pilot does the helm for his vessel, and you wield a mighty power over the human heart. As put by the apostle, the point is — The tongue is small, but it takes on airs and assumes high prerogatives. If law- less and unrestrained, it wields a terrible power for mischief. 5. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity : so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell. Tn the last clause of v. 5 the textual authorities vary. Instead of a " little fire," Tischendorf has it — " How great a fire ! How much fuel the tongue kindleth ! A fire, a world of iniquity — the tongue is set among the members, both defiling the whole body, firing up the course [or order] of nature, and itself set on fire of hell." The illustration breathes a terrible energy ; the tongue like a fire, of which a spark only will suffice to fire a city and bury it in the ruins of terrific conflagration ! So is the tongue to the passions of men, whether of body or of soul. Indulged ia lawless 340 JAMES. — CHAP. III. speech, it fires np those passions, stimulates them into fiercer ex- citement even as fire feeds on what it consumes and takes on ter- rific energy. Jt sets on fire the mass of combustible fuel in the human soul — emotions, feelings, passions — enkindling them to fiercer heat, and is itself fired up as it were by the very flames of hell. The bad spirits of tlie pit find congenial service in inflam- ing the already burning passions of the human soul which the tongue is here supposed to have defiled and set on fire. The philosophical fact underlying this illustration deserves care- ful attention — viz., that giving utterance to thought and feeling with the tongue intensifies the mind's excitement, while the sup- pression of such utterance helps to allay excitement, and conse- quently promotes self-control. We may see this law of our na- ture exemplified in all human life. It reads us a lesson on the means and agencies of self-control, which can not be too thor- oughly learned or too assiduously wrought into practice. Those who vigilantly govern the tongue find it comparatively easy to govern the temper and the passions that lie back of it and are demanding expression through its agency. 7. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind : 8. But the tongue can no man tame ; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. "VVe may excuse ourselves from the task of either proving or disproving the absolute universality of the fact here put, as to taming all known animals. The assertion was intended to be general only. For the purposes of the writer, the question of strict universality is of no consequence. The tongue, he means to say, is a stub)>orn case, not easily brought under man's control. For the word rendered "unruly," some manuscripts give [akatasketon] irrepressible, uncontrollable; -while others (the bet- ter authorities) have the somewhat milder term [akatastaton] un- stable, that can not be kept in its place and in order. "Full of death-l)earing poison" introduces stiU another figure — that of poisonous venom for ever flowing out, for mischief and death. Before we leave this passage (v. 2-8) which treats of the tongue, it may not be amiss to inquire more closely whether James thinks of the tongue as a social mischief, pernicious to society, or as a mischief personal to one's self, exciting bad passions to a fiercer heat. My notes thus far have assumed the latter to be the lead- ing conception. This view is supported by the turn of thought in the outset — viz., that the man who never trips in his words is a well-})alanced, soundly built character, able to bridle the whole bodjf. He does not say a man gifted to bless society; but a man miglity {ov self-control. So also his illustrations — ])it and curb for the horse; helm and rudder for the ship — are instruments for self- government. He means })y thimi to show that the tongue is a power which the man himself must use in self-culture and self- JAMES. — CHAP. III. 341 control. When he compares the tongue to a fire, it is a fire work- ing inward upon the other members and passions of the man him- self, and not upon society without. When he comes to think of the tongue as a wild beast to be tamed lest it discharge its deadly poison in cursings of men, he begins to contemplate Its social re- lations, its dangerous power and mischief upon society. We need not suppose that the writer ever forgets altogether that man is a social being, always in social relations, so that his tongue may work mischief to mankind outside of himself; but the lead- ing thought through these verses is of the reactionary influence of the tongue upon a man's own soul — his own impulses and pas- sions. 9. Therewith bless we God, even the Father ; and there- with curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. 10. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and curs- ing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. With the same tongue we bless the Lord (so the better text), even the Father, and curse men made in his image; out of the same mouth both blessings and cursings ! Strange ! Unaccount- able ! With powers which ally him to the angels, why should he make himself a fiend? When with tongue and voice he might bless the Lord in sympathy with all the holy, in noblest songs of praise, alas that he should desecrate his mouth to cursings liko the demons of the pit! Well might James say: "My brethren, these things ought not so to be !" 11. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 12. Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs ? so ca7i no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. The realm of material nature is never so inconsistent, never so perverts itself. Does a fountain ever send forth at the same fis- sure, the same rock-clift, both the sweet and the bitter ? In the last clause of v. 12, the older manuscripts have it thus: "Neither can salt water yield fresh." 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you ? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. Ye would be thought wise and intelligent, even above your fel- lows. If so, be careful to show it. By an upright, honorable life (life being the true sense of the word translated ''conversation") set forth works adorned with the meekness of wisdom. If your heart has bitter envy and strife, boast not, lie not against the truth. 342 JAMES. — CHAP. III. Above all things, be not proud of your sin ; glory not in your own shame! Did they call this being spirited, justly indignant at abuse, consciously self-asserting, or some other commendable or fair-sounding name? Let them beware how they attempt to glorify a selfish spirit that can not bear the light of truth. Let things be called by their right names lest men deceive themselves into believing that sin is holy, that envy and strife are noble qual- ities ! 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 17. But the wdsdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Such wisdom as this of yours which begets envy and strife in the heart, comes not down from above, but wells up from beneath ; is of earth — of man's sensualities; of the devil. Envying and strife beget "confusion" — i. e., disorder, seditions, .aggressions upon others — yea, every evil thing. Over against this, mark the qualities and fruits of that wisdom which cometh from above — such as men obtain in answer to prayer (1 : 5). First of all it is pure (unselfish, benevolent) ; then peaceable, gentle, easily persuaded — i. e., yielding to the wishes and the interests of oth- ers ; full of mercy and good fruits because sincerely, intensely loving the happiness of others. The word for "without partial- ity" (adiakritos) by etymology should signify making no unjust discriminations; and construed in the light of the passage (2: 1-9) may be supposed to refer specially to " respect of persons." " Without hypocrisy" means exempt from all desire to appear better than they really are. No one element of character in the Pharisaic Jew was more intensely offensive to Jesus than their hypocrisy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are sowing seeds that shall ripen into fruits of peace and blessedness for their future life! The word " wisdom" as used here (v. 13, 15, 17) means more than discreet conduct, more than a sagacious judgment as to the best measures for attaining one's desired object. It certainly in- cludes the choice of the best objects of pursuit. We must give it essentially that broad high sense which tlie word has in Job (28 : 28) and in Solomon : " The fear of the Lord," true piety, the character which is built upon the truth of God, and which accepts his counsels as one's law of life. In this sense it comes down from above and not up from beneath. It is the fruit of divine influence and of heavenly truth upon the soul, and is not the fruit of base passion, begotten of depraved nature and of Satan's insti- gations. JAMES. — CHAP. IV, 343 CHAPTER IV. Turbulence and political commotion rebuked; traced to evil passions (1-3); emanating from the spirit of the world; always hostile to the Spirit of God (v. 4). To overcome this spirit, God gives grace to the humble (v, 5, 6) ; God to be sought in submis- sion, but the devil resisted (v. 7, 8) ; penitence, humiliation be- fore God, brings his blessing (v. 9, 10) ; evil speaking passes judgment upon God's law (v. 11, 12); human schemes of traflGic for gain should not forget the uncertainties of life (v. 13-16). Not to do the good -we know — sin (v. 17). 1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members ? 2. Ye lust, and have not : ye kill, and desire to have, and can not obtain : ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. The words used here — " wars," "fightings," " killing" seem to carry the mind beyond social into political life, indicating a state of political unrest ; the uprising of men, in considerable bodies, for purposes of insurrection. It is a matter of history that dur- ing the period within which this epistle must be dated, all Judea and Galilee were in fearful commotion ; seditions, insurrections, petty wars, involving the masses of the people, were rife and terrible. All this Jesus had predicted and of this very period : — " Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; for nation shall rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom; men shall betray one another and hate one another " (Matt. 24 : 6, 7, 10). But how much the condition of the mother country afiected the Jews of the dispersion we have but scanty means of certain knowledge. Inasmuch as the disturbances in Judea and Galilee hinged chiefly upon resistance to the great Roman power, the presumption is strong that the same causes led to similar results in other countries, equally in subjection to Rome. It must have been a fearful state of society if Christian people were involving themselves in such scenes of passion, conflict, blood and war, whether these were limited to merely social life, or took on such dimensions and character as to be properly polit- ical. James denounces every thing of this sort as utterly un- justifiable ; begs them to look at the causes — the fiery, ungoverned passions of carnal souls, such as must always provoke resistance, must always fail of their object, evermore exciting like uncon- trolled passion in other men, provoking blow for blow, and death for death. The best manuscripts begin the chapter:—" Whence are wars and whence are fightings among you?" — a change 344 JAMES. — ciiAr. IV. Avliich calls attention yet more emphatically to the exciting causes of collisions, quarrels, and blood-violence so terri])le. The allusions to " not askinii;" i. c, in prayer, and to their asking; and not receiving because their objects and aims were only self- isli, seem to imply that these petty wars were regarded as in some sense relit/ious, ostensibly for religious purposes. This was historically true of those fearful uprisings and insurrections Avhich convulsed Judea and Galilee for several years prior to the great Jewish-Roman war which ended in the destruction of Jeru- salem. The instigators of resistance to Kome held it to be a sin against the God of Israel to pay tribute or in any way acknowl- edge allegiance to any other king than their own Messiah. It is supposable that asking God's help in such wars might be only asking amiss, (badly in Greek) to consume it upon their lusts — a towering and altogether worldly ambition being at the very bottom of the prayer. 'J'he case has in it a great and fruitful moral lesson — suggesting the searching inquiry — Wh)/ dol pray ? What lies at the bottom ? 4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. The better manuscripts have the first clause — not " ye adulter- ers and adulteresses ; " but simply — " adulteresses ! " and then con- nect it with the previous verse — thus : " that ye may consume it upon your lusts, adulteresses ! " This reading must be preferred. Then we must give the word the sense it has throughout the Old Testament prophets — that spiritual adultery in which they di- vorced their hearts from their covenant God, and gave it to some idol. James assumes that their professed religion is no better than idolatry — the giving of the heart's homage to worldly, un- godly ambition.. Their spirit was of the world, and not of God. And did they not know that the friendship of the world is en- mity against God ; that if any one wills to be — chooses in the true purpose of his heart (the word means) to be a friend of the world, he constitutes himself thereby an enemy of God ? For God asks us to serve him as Supreme King, giving him our whole heart in loving obedience — all which is utterly unlike and forever inconsistent with all the ambitions, loves, affections that are only earthly and sensual. 5. Do ye think that the scripture saitli in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us histeth to envy? G. But he giveth more j^rnce. Wherefore he saith, God resistetli the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Here the improved text reads the first clause as a general state- iiKsnt, made with no si)ecial reference to the clause next succeed- ing, thus: "Or think ye that the Scripture speaks in vain ? " The Scripture every-where sets forth that the love of God and the JAMES. — CHAP. IV. 345 love of the ^Yorld are antagonistic to each other, and can never have the least common sympathy. Are these representations false and vain? By no means. On this second ckiuse of v. 5, two questions of interpretation arise: — (1.) Whether "the spirit that dAvelleth in us" is the hu- man soul, or the Holy Ghost? (2.) Whether the clause should be read affirmatively, or interrogatively? (1.) The received version, sustained by many expositors, supposes the indwelling spirit here to be the human soul under its depraved passions. But the form of expression seems rather to indicate a spirit from without our- selves, entering to dicell within us. And the usage of the New Testament in speaking of the Holy Ghost strongly favors this view. " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dicelleth in you ? " (1 Cor. 3: 16.) "As God hath said — 1 will dwell in them and walk in them," etc. (2 Cor. 6 : 16). These considerations seem to me to have decisive weight. (2.) If the reference be to the Holy Ghost dwelling in us, the clause must be read interrogatively: Does the Spirit of God, dwelling in us, push, press us toward envy? Never ! All his impulses are toward love, good-will ; toward true and supreme joy in others' happiness, and not toward envy. Thus we read the whole verse harmoniously and sensibly : Think ye that the Scripture speaks falsely, vainly ? Does the Holy Spirit of God that dwelleth in you inspire lusts toward and unto envy? By no means. On the contrary (v. 6) he gives more grace; more and yet more; per- petually in greater measure as men more greatly need. For this reason he saith in the Scripture (^. e., Prov. 3 : 34, where the Sep- tuagint has these identical words) — " God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the lowly." That the lowly in spirit find favor before the great and ever-glorious God is put by Israel's greatest prophet in terms at once sublimely grand and tenderly touching : " Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy ; I dwell in the high and hely place ; with Mm also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." "The heaven is my throne; the earth is my footstool; but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word" (Isa. 57: 15 and 66: 1, 2). What can be said more to impress the moral fitness and the su- preme blessedness of having a humble and contrite spirit in the presence of the majesty and purity of the Infinite God ! 7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ije sinners ; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. This passage is in style a model of terseness and antithesis. Place yourselves under God but against the devil. Bow sub- 3-46 JAMES. — CHAP. IV. missively to the one; stand in sternest opposition an;a)nst the other. Never resist God; never yield to the devil. Kcsist the devil, and he will flee : draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Ah, truly, for he is never far from the heart that humbly seeks him. The father of that prodigal son saw him coming when yet a great way off, and his bowels moved for him ! How easy it will always be to find God when the soul is deeply stricken for sin and humbled before the great and good Father ! But let the penitence of your soul be deep and honest; — therefore James adds the forceful words — " Cleanse your hands, ye sinners ; " cleanse them not with tears only but with restitutions — with the putting ofl' and away of every unclean thing. Purify your heart, ye double-souled men — who have one soul still cleaving to the world, while ye vainly think to give another to God! Of course this is all hypocrisy ; for really, in the truth of the case, man never has but one soul. The thought of giving one to God and keeping the other for sin shows plainly that the one only soul is withheld from God and given to sin and selfishness. This is one of Satan's metaphysical delusions. He is a thorough adept in such fallacies, if he can make them pass for truth ! 9. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep : let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Still James presses the point of genuine, thorough contrition fjr sin. In this there is scarcely the least danger of overdoing; few will ever go too deep. Indeed there is no going too deep, provided only that we do not misjudge God ; that our sorrow be duly tempered with the assurance that our Father's mercy is in- deed great, above the heavens, and that He loves to forgive. Let it be our part to humble ourselves before the Lord ; his, to lift us up. He will do his part full soon when we have done ours full honestly and thorougldy. There is never the least reason for so- licitude lest God be slow to begin, or lest he leave his uplifting work ))ut half done. Oh how does he surprise the really contrite soul with the forth-breaking beams of his light and of his love! Ere we are aware, and long before it seemed, in our view, to })e called for, behold, God has come, and his gentle hand is felt, lift- ing the sin-stricken soul up into peaceful trust and repose. So have these words of our epistle been verified in human experi- ence ! So, all down the ages, have they proved tiiemselves to l^e words in season for the comfort of broken hearts and contrite spirits. 11. Speak not. evil one of another, brethren. He that spcaketh evil of hk brother, and judgoth his brother, speak- eth evil of the law, and judgcth the law; l)ut if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. JAMES. — CHAP. IV. 347 12. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? Here is a new subject — that of evil-speaking, censoriousness, slander of Christian brethren. The best manuscripts make im- provement in two points, reading — " Speaketh evil of his brother " or (not "and") or "judgeth his brother." In v. 12, add to law- giver the wordB '^ and judge," reading it — "There is one Law- giver and Judge," i. e., One who is both Lawgiver and Judge, able to save and to destroy, etc. The strong point made in this passage is that speaking evil of a brother or judging him censoriously, is virtually condemning God's law. It practically assumes that God's law, forbidding such evil-speaking is itself lorong. For surely, the man who breaks God's law and does not repent of it or condemn himself for it, makes a square issue with God and virtually condemns his law. Either the man who breaks the law is wrong, or God who made the law is wrong. If the law-breaker is right, the law-maker can not be right. Breaking the law, therefore, is virtually traducing, condemning Him who made it. So James says — He who speaks evil of his brother speaks against God, passes his judgment against God's law. This man is not a doer of the laAv but a judge condemning the law! There is one lawgiver and judge, able to save or to destroy; — to save the obedient; to destroy the trans- gressor. Who art thou that thou shouldest presume to sit in judg- ment against thy brother, and so doing, pass thy judgment against the great God ! 13. Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain : 14. Whereas ye know not what shall he on the morrow. For what is your life ? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 16. But now ye rejoice in your boastings : all such rejoic- ing is evil. Another new subject — the case of men who travel abroad for purposes of traffic and gain, planning and presuming upon life, and perhaps running increased risks, with no just estimate of the dangers, and no proper recognition of their dependence upon God for their preservation. Probably this passion for gain by traffic in foreign lands led to the dispersion of those Jews to whom James is writing. We may suppose they left their native country under this impulse, and were tempted again to push out still further. Hence these admonitions. "Go to ' — a phrase now mostly obsolete — simply calls attention to what is to be said; — Come now, think of this. The moral purpose of the 348 JAMES. — CHAP. IV. passage seems to be to su_!igest that such perils of life should not be encountered recklessly; that continued life should not be pre- sumed upon without a perpetual trust in God and a committal of our unknown future to his care ; and above all, that it by no means becomes us to rejoice in boastful confidence of future life and future gain by traffic. An abiding sense of dependence on God for life and for all its good tends to moderate our otherwise too eager aspirations and struggles for wealth — putting faith in God's providence in the place of faith in hoarded treasures. This is morally wholesome. 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doetli it not, to him it is sin. The word " therefore " assumes a logical connection of this verse with something preceding. What is this connection ? Obviously it must be sought in the case and the exhortation that immediately precede; partly because it is the nearest antecedent thought; and partly because the case of rich men is resumed in the opening of the next chapter, and therefore had not passed out of mind. Probably therefore, James assumes that those speculating, traffick- ing men did not judge wisely and well, and did not do as well as they kneio, the passion for getting rich fast — a fortune in a year — pushing them on into real sin. He brings the case to issue under the general principle — every man bound to do all the good he knows how to do ; always the best thing for the good of him- self, his friends, the world. To know what is the good and best thing, and not do it— is sin. The knowledge carries with it the obligation. To go against the knowledge is to go against the ob- ligation, and this, of course, is sin. If he does not know any thing better which is possible for him to do, he violates no obliga- tion, is charged in the case with no sin. Knowledge of duty measures obligation; obligation disregarded, is the essence of sin. In this passage, as in several others in this epistle, we are struck with the remarkably just metaphysics of this apostle. He thinks clearly, analyzes moral action profoundly, carries the mind back to fundamental principles with a master's hand. He has no trouble in explaining the difference between God's tempting man and man's tempting himself He can give the sinless antece- dents of real sinning in the processes of lust, working under self- indulgence unto real transgression. In the passage here, we sec a perfect philosophy as to the relation which knowledge of duty bears to sin. If all human-built systems of theology had been constructed with the aid of such metaphysical science as we have in this epistle of James, there had been fewer stumbling-l)locks and less repulsion in human symbols of faith and in the doctrines taught by good men from the pulpit and the press. The enlight- ened common sense which reigns throughout the metaphysical principles and philosophy of the Scriptures is simply wonderful. It is not the least among the internal proofs of its real inspira- tion. JAMES. — CHAP. V. 349 CHAPTER V. Rich men admonished of their impending retribution (v. 1-3); the hiborers whom they have defrauded cry unto God against them (v. 4) ; their dissolute lives end in ruin (v. 5) ; their op- pression of just but unresisting men awaits God's retribution (v. 6) ; patience should be sustained by the hope of the Lord's near coming (v. 7, 8); admonition against murmuring (v. 9); examples of patience (v. 10, 11); against swearing (v. 12); prayer of faith for the sick (v. 13-15); mutual confession of faults and effectual prayer (v. 16) ; Elijah's prayer an example (v. 17, 18) ; the blessedness of converting sinners (v. 19, 20). 1. Go to DOW, ye rich men, weep and howl for your mis- eries that shall come upon you. 2. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth- eaten. 3. Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesli as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. The apostle assumes that these rich men have become rich by oppressing their laborers or by fraud. Riches so made must surely react to torture their possessors. Nothing can be more forcible than the figure here used — the very rust on their silver and gold bearing witness against them before God, and eating their flesh like fire. The treasures they have amassed are heaped up, not for future enjoyment but for future torment. " In the last days" — time then future, perhaps somewhat indefinite, yet sure to come, and none the less sure for being indefinite — this ill- gotten gain would come up to plague them, testifying both to their own consciences and before God's throne of their iniquities and wrongs. The allusion to garments as "moth-eaten" re- minds us that in those oriental regions, clothing as well as gold and silver was amassed and hoarded — perishable, of course, yet found very commonly among the treasured stores of the wealthy. 4. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth : and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been w^anton ; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6. Ye have condemned and killed the just ; and he doth not resist you. 350 JAMES. — CHAP. V. The "hire," the promised and just wages of the laborer, kept back by fraud, in violation of promise and of right, cries to God against them. The ears of the mighty Lord of Hosts are open to such cries. "Ye have nourished" — fattened — "your hearts for a day of slaughter^ In the phrase " as in a day," etc., the better text omits the word " as." The writer alludes to the fat- ting of animals for slaughter — fed to the full to fit them for the table. So they had been living in luxury, fattening themselves for a swift and terrible death ! They had even pushed their op- pression of the poor to the extreme of condemning and killing. Their victims had fallen unresisting : all the more surely would God arise to avenge his murdered poor ! Throughout this portrayal of the retributions that shall befall rich oppressors, we may notice that they come in two lines of suffering, viz: {a.) The reaction of conscious guilt upon a moral nature; and, (6.) The retribution that must come from a right- eous God. There is no attempt to exclude either, or to exalt either in comparison with the other. Each and both are repre- sented as alike sure and as fearfully terrible. " Shall eat your flesh as it were fire," turns our thought to the moral reaction of crime upon the criminal's own moral nature ; while the cries of his wronged victim, going up to the ear of the Lord of Hosts, testify that the mighty God will not leave the case to the sole operation of a torturing conscience, but will inflict retributions of his own, sufficing at least to show that his sympathies are for ever with the oppressed and against the oppressors. 7. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8. Be ye also patient ; stablish your hearts : for the com- ing of the Lord drawetli nigh. Unquestionably the near coming of the Lord is here for a mo- tive to patience, especially to patience under the wrongs and op- pressions which Christians were enduring in part perhaps from the overbearing of the rich; in part from persecutions fatal to life. These are the points which appear in the previous context. Consequently the "coming of the Lord" is here assumed to be a time of retribution upon the wicked — at once the day of redress and deliverance for the righteous and of just punishment upon the ungodly oppressor. Here, therefore, we n)eet tlie grave ques- tion: What "coming" was this? Wliat views had James of a " coming of the Lord," then near, which should bring with it these results? It scarcely admits of doubt that this expectation of a near coming of the Lord — common to James; to Paul (Rom. 13: 14 and Phil. 4: 5); to the writer to tin; Hebrews (10: 25, 37); to Peter (1 Eps. 4:7); and to John (1 Eps. 2: 18) — was begotten in their JAMES. — CHAP. V. 351 minds by Christ's own words, of wliich we may take Matthew 24 as essentially embodying the prophecies upon which they rested. In that prophecy they saw the future destruction of Jerusalem, and understood it to be within that generation. The cardinal idea underlying the ruin of that city was divine reirihution for the great sin of the Jewish nation. It was clothed in strong, ter- rible imagery of such sort as must have made the impression of a fearful, overwhelming catastrophe, coupled perhaps in some unde- fined relation with the final judgment. Even to us as we read it to-day, it carries our thought strongly to a scene of retribution which shall involve, not Jerusalem and the Jewish nation alone, but the whole world. I think we must admit that Jesus intended to connect the earlier judgment with the later — the judgment on Jerusalem with the final judgment on the world — in such a way that the former should be at once a pledge and an illustration of the latter. This he might properly do without involving any doc- trine as to the time when the latter would take place. The ques- tion of time as to the final judgment, it was of no importance whatever to reveal. It seems not to have been revealed at all to the apostles. They may have had their own ideas; but not from the revealing Spirit. Jesus said to them very definitely : " It is not for you to know the times and the seasons" (Acts 1: 7). It involves no impeachmentof their real inspiration for all purposes of important Christian truth and instruction to suppose that they were not enlightened as to the time of Christ's coming for the final judgment. They may have expected more at the point of Jerusa- lem's fall than the fiicts amounted to. I see no reason to recoil from this supposition as if it militated against their full inspira- tion in respect to all the truth God designed through them to teach mankind. The exact point of time for the final judgment was certainly never embraced in the system of truth revealed and to be taught by them. If they had impressions or expectations on this point, they formed and held them on their own personal re- sponsibility, not upon the responsibility of the inditing Spirit. I make this ?/ emphatic ; for I by no means believe that they really expected (or purposely taught) the end of the world within their generation. There are other senses in which " the end of all things is at hand." Paul certainly looked for the conversion of the masses of both Jews and Gentiles before the end should come (Rom. 11: 25, 26). He corrected the misapprehension of the Thessalonian brethren, assuring them he never meant to say that Christ's final coming was then very near (2 Thess. 2 : 1-3). But this theme is too large to be treated exhaustively here, 9. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned : behold, the judge standeth before the door. "Grudge not," following the sense of the original, must mean murmur not; find not fault, one with another, brethren. Not merely moderate but suppress your spirit of fault-finding, lest ye be condemned by him who said: "Judge not, that ye be not 352 JAMES. — CHAP. V. judged" (Matt. 7: 1). A Judii;e greater than yourselves stands at the door, to overhear every harsh word and to punish every censorious, sharp judgment ye pass against one another. Take heed that ye do not assume to wrest from him and wield your- selves his Supreme prerogative as the one only Judge of men. Take heed that your spirit be evermore unselfish, kind, forbear- ing, forgiving, — even as becomes men themselves in the flesh, en- compassed with manifold infirmities — often themselves offending, and thus greatly needing continual forbearance and mercy from the Great Judge ! 10. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord ; that the Lord is very p)itiful, and of tender mercy. Old Testament history has never attempted to make a complete record of the persecutions endured by the Lord's prophets from the ungodly men to whom they bore the fearful words of the Lord. Incidentally a few such cases come to view; e. g., of Mi- caiah son of Imlah put in prison, fed with bread and water of affliction for his stern fidelity to Jehovah (2 Chron. 18 : 6, 7, 25, 26); of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest whom they slew at the commandment of the king in the court of the temple (2 Chron. 24 : 20-22) ; and not least Jeremiah, put in the stocks, immured in an underground prison and sunk in the mire; in frequent peril of life ; — while in general the case of the prophets drew from Stephen tlie strong rebuke — " Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? and they have slain them who showed before the coming of the Just One" (Acts 7: 52). The unrecorded cases known only by tradition must have been a host. The Jews to whom Stephen spake and those also to whom James wrote must have heard of them. Let them take those glorious heroes of faith and endurance as their examples ! Behold, we count the men happy who have endured (so the Greek reads). After the suffering is past and patience has "had its perfect work" and borne its ripened fruits and brought to the sufferer his glorious reward, who does not celebrate the triumph and extol the virtues of the glorified martyrs 1 Ye have heard of the long and bitter trial of Job and of his patience under the accumulated ])urdens of pain and of abuse; ye have seen in the record how the Lord ])rought liim out at tlio end and made the last years of his long life radiant with light and rich in peace and blessedness. How gloriously did the Lord reward his latter end! All this — it scarcely need be said — as- sumes that Job was a veritable historic character — not a myth — not a poetic fancy, ])ut a real man of human flesh and Idood, to be classed with the suffering prophets of their uatiou's history — with Micaiah, Zedckiah, Jeremiah. JAMES. — CHAP. V. 353 12. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath : but let your yea be yea ; and your nay, nay ; lest ye fall into condemnation. This abbreviates but essentially reiterates the teaching of Christ on this point — the uncalled for, irreverent oath. The fact that the solemn oath was in a few special cases required, became, perhaps, the innocent occasion for this fearful and perilous abuse. Men whose veracity is not satisfactorily established by their general, v«^ell-known, truthfulness, seem to feel that they must strengthen the confidence of men in their word by the fearful oath — but never with any better result than to shake the confi- dence they would fain strengthen — often destroy it utterly. For the object they seek, no folly can be greater ; in view of its moral results upon their own souls, no sin is more hardening and de- praving ; as toward God no ofiense is more sure of swift and ter- rible retribution ! If other sins are folly, this much more. It is pitiful to see men rush madly and defiantly upon the storm of Jehovah's fiercest thunderbolts, invoking his name to bolster up their falsehoods ; challenging him to take note of their sins and wither their souls under his eternal frown ! As if they feared lest somehow their sin might escape the notice of the All-seeing God ! As if it would be a calamity not to secure his attention to their blasphemy and lies ! 13. Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Of course in affliction, let men pray. The impulse is natural — almost universal. It is also appropriate — most entirely so. In all human straitnesses, God only is our refuge. This is his name of old — "a very present help in trouble." 0, the wealth of pre- cious testimony which has been accumulating all down the ages, from the experience of those who have sought the Lord in their afiiiction, and never in vain ! " I'll drop my burden at his feet, And bear a song away." "Is any merry "? But this word " merry " is liable to mis- represent the apostle. The word he used means — not hilarious, not gleeful — full of fun and frolic ; but means — of a happy mind ; joyful; of good cheer, having an exul)erance of animal life. Let such pour forth their joy in psalms of praise. Why not ? Why not praise God for such health and such a fund of physical enjoyment? Such praise is a purely rational joy ; you will never have cause to be ashamed of it. It is worthy of your nobler nat- ure, and due to the glorious Giver of your blessings,^ Thus in every variety and indeed in all the extremes of physical condi- tion;— in the utmost possibilities of pain and weakness, and also in the exuberance of joy and strength, let us have God ever 354 JAMES. — CHAP. V. near; let the outgoing of our thought and emotion be unto him — from the depth of our pain, in prayer ; from the fullness of our pleasure, in praise and song. 14. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil ill the name of the Lord : 15. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. These verses open a subject of profound interest. We have, first, the preliminary question — whether the case contemplated here is one of special sort, relating to sickness or some evil sent in special judgment for special sin. This inquiry is suggested by the words—" If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven Ijiuij" — /, g.^ if his sickness has come upon him because of some sin which called for this visitation of God upon him, then, in answer to the prayer of faith, he shall be not only restored to health but forgiven of his sin. -The history of the apostolic age shows that such visitations of maladies for sin did occur. Paul to the Corinthians makes several allusions which imply this; e. g., referring to their desecration of the Lord's supper, he writes (1 Cor. 11: 30): "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (in death). In the case of the member guilty of incest (1 Cor. 5 : 4, 5) he spake of " delivering such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved," etc. To Timothy he wrote (1 Tim. 1 : 20) of Hymeneus and Alexander, " whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme." The case of Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13: 8-11) is fully in point. — -The fact there- fore of such inflictions in that age is fully established. But the doctrine of our passage need not be — should not be — • restricted to this class of cases ; for the apostle purposely era- braces other cases as well as this: — "//" he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" — the prayer of faith covering, there- fore, by the supposition, other forms of sickness, not thus oc- casioned. The next important question pertains to '' the prayer of faith'' Is the word '\faiOi' used here in the sense of a general confi- dence that God hears prayer whenever the conditions of accepta- ble prayer are met and whenever it pleases him; or in the special sense of that conscious assurance of the particular bless- ing asked which God sometimes grants. The latter will be anTdogous to the fsiith that was requisite for miracles, as we learn from Mark 11 : 22, 23; "Whosoever shall say to this mountain, J>e thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt ill his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith." Manifestly men wrought miracles in answer to no other prayer JAMES. — CHAP. V. 355 and upon the basis of no other faith but this. God gave them this special assurance, and never the miracle-working power without this antecedent faith for it. It is a thing of Christian experience that, in cases which involve no miracle, God some- times gives a similar assurance — a very special faith that the blessing sought will be granted. It seems to me strongly proba- ble, if not even certain, that this special assurance is here in- tended by the words — " the 2)rayei' of faith." They are specially suggestive of this idea. Moreover, the blessing itself belongs to a class as to which no mortal can know beforehand that God will grant it save by means of a special assurance brought to his consciousness by the Divine Spirit. It were simple folly to sup- pose that God leaves it to Christian people to determine of their own will what sicknesses he shall heal in answer to prayer. That is to say — God only can know whether it be wise for him to hear prayer for recovery from sickness. It may be, and again it may not be. Whenever it is, he may grant this foregoing assur- ance of the blessing. Then " the prayer of faith shall save the sick." It remains to inquire whether restorations from sickness in answer to the prayer of faith are in our day (in the proper sense of the word) miraculous ; and if not, then on what principles they are to be accounted for. Where comes in the divine hand in answer to prayer, with no violation of natural law? A real miracle supposes divine power exerted otherwise than according to natural law. We may speak of it as superseding, deviating from, or overruling natural law, as (e. g.) in raising the dead to life. The following points, bearing on our present question, may be considered as reliably estaljlished. 1. Christ gave to his apostles the miraculous power of healing the sick in answer to the prayer of faith and in his own name. See the original grant (Matt. 10: 1) — repeated after his resur- rection (Mark 16: 17, 18); illustrated in history (Acts 5: 15, 16 and 8 : 7, 13 and 9 : 17, 18 and 28 : 8, 9, etc.) 2. Plainly the apostles were able to confer on others this miracle-working power, as one form of the " powers of the Holy Ghost." See the case of Stephen (Acts 6 : 5-8), and the general ftict(l Cor. 12: 9). 3. There is very strong ground for the opinion that none of these miraculous powers are in the church at the present day ; and indeed, that none have been since the age of the apostles ; i. e., since the New Testament inspired records were completed. Put in form as brief as possible, the arguments for this opinion which I regard as valid are these : (1.) The absence of special reason for miraculous power, such as existed in the apostolic age, viz., to authenticate a revelation from God. This while it continued was a worthy end or reason for miracles. (2.) The power of the principle or law which we may call — the 356 JAMES. — CHAP. V. conservation of miraculons force, it being very obviously the divine policy and the doctrine of reason as well, never to use miracle except where a worthy exigency demands it. If used beyond this limitation, miracles would become self-destructive, i. e., would defeat their own end. They would cease to have the force of miracles. (3.) Ever since the death of those who received this gift of the Holy Ghost from the hands of the apostles, there has been a markotl absence of conclusive testimony to the fact of real mira- cle. Pretensions to miraculous power have never ceased ; satis- factory evidence has. Passing that point, it remains to say that God may yet give his people the prayer of faith for healing the sick, and may heal in answer to such prayer in modes of operation tvhich involve no real miracle. So that, with not the least pretension to miraculous power, and with not the least expectation of it, prayer for the healing of the sick may still be perfectly legitimate; and cures that may seem to be very extraordinary may really be wrought. If the inquiry be raised— How is this result achieved? Under what laws is this efficiency exerted ? — I should answer — All may be comprised under these three : 1. The spiritual power of the Holy Ghost and of truth upon the human mind; in this case, the mind of the patient. 2. The power of the mind over the body. The former may manifest itself in producing a calm, quiet state of the nervous system ; or an exaltation of mind, and ' a great augmentation of mind-power. The latter — the action of mind upon body — comes under a universal law, a law in many points mysterious, yet none the less a real law. In the human constitution, mind docs act upon body. Imagination, fear, hope, simple force of will — all have an immense range of power for evil or for good, mightily affecting the physical condition of the body. Thus God may heal the sick in answer to prayer by acting primarily upon mind ; secondarily, through the mind upon the body, and all this, with no deviation from established law; ?*. e., with no miracle. 3. No one can say how much, without the least miraculous agency, God may act upon tlie patient through medical remedies; how much he may lead the thought and judgment which detects the real disease and then prescribes treatment. Facts of this sort may hinge upon prayer and yet involve no miracle. It scarcely need be said that there must be limitations to the power of even the prayer of faith to save the sick. It were folly to assume that this can apply and avail in all possible cases, or to any one patient forever, with never a failure; for this, if true and feasible, might forever contravene the law of universal mortality, and some of our dear friends we should never let die. Moreover, by the very nature of the law under which this healing power acts, it can never apply to the raising of the dead JAMES. — CHAP. V. 357 to life, for in this case by the supposition, mind is gone ; all mind- force upon body has ceased. As to " anointing with oil in the name of the Lord," the custom in Israel came down from the ceremonies used in the ordination of priests and the inauguration of kings — in each class of cases, symbolic of the unction of the Spirit of God which gave them their special endowment for their work. In the case of the sick it was a recognition, in symbol, of the grace given by the Spirit — grace which in that age may have been miraculous, or may not. 16. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. In this particular case, the mutual confession of faults and the mutual prayer for healing seem to have been closely connected with those cases of special sickness peculiar to that age, brought to view in the verse preceding — " If he have committed sins," etc. It should be noted that the earlier manuscripts give, instead of the Greek word for faults, the very word for sins (amartias), which we have in v. 15, making it yet more certain that this clause refers to that : — " If he have committed sins : " — " Confess your sins one to another." The words — " The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much " were no doubt suggested by the cures often wrought in answer to the prayer of faith. Yet we are by no means bound to restrict to that class of facts the great truth they affirm. The apostle himself does not restrict it, for he appeals to the prayer of Elijah for illustration and proof — a case of prayer, not ibr healing in disease, but for drought and for rain. Let it be noted that the two words — "effectual" and "fervent" — are here combined to give the sense of but one word in the original Greek, viz., the participle (energoumene) — a word from which we derive our word " energy.'' It legitimately signifies an en-- ergetic prayer — a prayer that moves the soul, that has an intense significance, that comes of strong and earnest feeling and means all it says. It is scarcely supposable that the translators of our version meant by " effectual" precisely what we should mean now, since it is a weak tautology to say that an effectual prayer is very effective. I judge they intended to use it as an adverb to qualify the adjective "fervent" — an intensely fervent prayer. 16 o58 JAMES. — CHAP. V. Such a prayer, they would say, has a mighty power; is strong (iskuei) mighty; avails much. It was pertinent to say here that Elijah was nothing more than a man — a man of human frailties like ourselves. But for this suggestion we might he ready to suppose that one so mighty in prayer moved in a plane of being higher than mor- tal. We may dismiss that notion ; for Elijah was certainly a man of moods, of variable temperament, much like other men; capable one day of most sublime exaltation of soul ; and again on another day, of sad, almost humiliating depression and discouragement. In his case the reaction of overtasked nerve-power, and an over- worked body, was terrible. Did he not apparently lose sight of the mighty arm of God when he sank down under that juniper tree and begged that he might die ? It was in consideration of the weakness of his mortal flesh that God dealt with him so ten- derly— much as Jesus apologized for his weary disciples ; " The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26 : 41). But we return to his prayer. The history is silent as to his praying earnestly that it might 7iot rain. Shall we assume that this fiict came down by tradition ; or was it an inference from the words of the record (1 Kings 17: 1) as spoken by Elijah to Ahab : "As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word" ? This does not say that the withholding of rain was any result of his word; but only that no dew or rain should come save by and through his word. Remarkably the record (in 1 Kings 18 : 44-46) of what Ehjah said and did in connection with the sending of that rain does not speak in definite words o^ prayer. Yet it fully enough implies prayer. He told Ahab there " was a sound of abundance of rain." He went up to the top of Carmel; " cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees." This was the attitude of most humble, imploring prayer. Seven times in succession ho sent his servant to the summit peak of Carmel to look out upon the great western waters to see if tokens of rain were visible. All this time he was in the audience chamber of the Almighty, imploring rain. At last the report came back — a little cloud as a man's hand rising as an exhala- tion from those Mediterranean waters. This was enough. His prayer was answered ; tlie rain was surely coming ! Let Ahab mount his chariot and strike for liis palace-home, that the great rain stay him not ! God had heard the voice of a mortal man, and the long and fearful drought was at an end ! So when the Lord pleases, he suifers his children to talk and plead vyith him in mighty wrestlings, till deliverance comes. Tiie earnest, ener- getic prayer has power with God. We may boar this living truth in our heart and use it all the days of our mortal life. 19. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him ; 20. Let liim know, that he which converteth the sinnei* JAMES. — CHAP. V. 359 from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. The connection of thought between these verses and the pre- ceding is tacit and implied — not expressed — thus : It may hap- pen that some of your Christian brethren shall lapse into lamenta- ble sin, and so bring sore judgments of sickness upon the body, and great spiritual darkness upon the soul (v. 14-16). Then, the warm pity, the uplifting sympathy, and the fervent prayer of their brethren may avail to save these erring men. Put a special case before your mind and so measure the precious rewards of such Christian labor for the fallen, " Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him " — bring him back to truth, to duty, and to Christ — "let him know for his encouragement and joy," that he who so converts a sinner shall save his soul from death and hide a multitude of sins." Such is the line of thought. A professed Christian brother lapsed into sin is the case sup- posed. The fall may be like that of Peter; indeed, the terms used suggest his case. Yet it should be noted that the phrases — " err from the truth," and "the error of his way," manifestly refer to the same thing, and therefore suggest that in the apostle's thought, truth and Christian life stand in very intimate — not to say almost identical relations. Erring from truth brings on erring from the Christian way — course of life. Truth is evermore " in order to goodness"; as also error is in order to badness, sin. When a man's Christian faith was overthrown, his Christian life too went down. Gospel truth as held in those days by apostles and their churches wrought unto holy living, always, by its legiti- mate influence, by a moral necessity. Erring from the truth let men drop at once into not only darkness but sin — into the very snare of Satan. The improved text reads — not "save a soul" (indefinite), but "save his soul" — the soul of the once erring but now converted brother. The " hiding of a multitude of sins looks toward that wonder- ful redemption and forgiveness of sins which the Scriptures so often represent as "the blotting out of all their iniquities"; caus- ing them to "be remembered no more"; "casting all their sins into the depths of the sea." Will it not be an everlasting joy in the bosom of every one who "saves a soul from death" that thereby a multitude of sins are sunk forever out of view — so for- given as to be remembered no more? The apostle holds this glo- rious result before our mind that we may take in its inspiring power and give ourselves to all labor and prayer to save men's souls from death. Thus ends this apostolic letter. Every paragraph of it im- presses us that the gospel as held by James was a power that wrought unto righteousness. With giant arm he battled against sin ; with mighty logic he pled for purity of life and for such right- eousness as is born of the truth as it is in Jesns. With no waste 360 JAMES. — CHAP. V words ; with never a weak expression ; saying with prodigious force the things his earnest soul moved him to say he has lett us a brief letter which the Christian world could ill afford to spare; which no fair, open, impressible mind can read without being toned up thereby to a purer and more earnest life tor bod and righteousness. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. The subjects that naturally introduce us to the intelligent reading and study of these epistles are, I. The Writer. II. The Genuineness of the second epistle, III. The date and the place where ivritten. IV. Tlie churches addressed; their locality, and general character ; V. The special occasion for these epistles, and their ob- ject. I. The AVriter. The gospel histories — those of the four evangelists and the Acts — make us well acquainted with the apostle, Simon Peter. A fisherman of Galilee ; with his brother Andrew a hearer and apparently a disciple of John the Baptist — he early became acquainted with Jesus, and from the first, took the position of a leader among the twelve disciples. Naturally impulsive, ardent, impetuous almost to the point of rashness — a born leader of men — he had in him the ele- ments of power, but, as often happens with such native elements, they greatly needed culture and training. Here therefore was educating work for the kind and faithful hand of the Master. His ways of discipline with this strong but wayward man give us many a sweet lesson in the patience and wisdom of the Great Teacher, and make us hopeful that under equally wise and kind discipline, other not less wayward and rough natures may be molded into order, beauty, and strength. Peter's great sin in denying his master has made his name and history memorable. His bitter repentance ; his prompt return to love and duty ; the earnest devotion of his soul thenceforward to fearless testi- mony for Christ, fill out that life-history with the noble record of a true penitent. (361) 362 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. The successive steps of his restoration to penitence and the new life are too vital in his history and too full of inter- est and instruction to be lightly passed over. Of the four evangelists, Luke only records that after Peter's last denial, and just at the point when " the cock crew," the Lord turned and looked ujwn Peter ; and there- upon, Peter remembered his words of forewarning and im- mediately " went out and wept bitterly." (Luke 22: 60-62.) Rebuke and sorrow, pity and love, were put into that one look, we must suppose, more impressively than any Avords could express them. So of the effect on Peter ; not a word from his lips is on record ; but there were tears, bitter tears. 'We are left to imagine what thoughts and emotions of shame, grief, humiliation, astonishment at himself, crowded fast upon his stricken heart. ^Jesus did not forget Peter. INIark notes the circumstance that the angel at the door of the sepulcher said to the women — " Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth into Galilee" (Mark 16 : 7) ; and repeatedly we are told that Jesus made a special mani- festation of himself to Peter. Both Luke and Paul seem to imply that (perhaps with the exception of his appearance to Mary and the women) this, to Peter, was the very first. The two brethren returning from Emmaus, found the disci- ples gathered together, saying, *' The Lord is risen indeed, ami hath appeared unto Simon" (Luke 24: 34). So Paul (1 Cor. 15 : 5) — *' He was seen of Cephas (Peter) ; then of the twelve." The spoken words of that interview are not on record. The fact of it witnesses that the old love and confidence were returning ; that Jesus had not cast off his penitent child ; and that Peter was not left to despair of be- ing made again a pardoned and trusted son. Li the scenes at the sea of Galilee which John only has narrated, it would seem that Jesus purposely administered a gentle re- buke to Peter for assuming to be more true and devoted to his Lord than any of his brethren, three times pressing the question — " Lovest thou me more than these "other disci- ples do? Jesus knew the weak point in the cliaracter of Peter, and therefore gave him this gentle reminder. There- after we meet with nothing that even suggests the least lack of mutual confidence l)etween Peter and his Lord. Filled witli the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, he preached Cin-ist with a boldness tliat would not quail before danger; stood up courageously before the very sanhedrim whose presence had so a2)pallcd him when he first saw his Master GENERAL INTEODUCTION. 363 in their hands. Onward Ave see him foremost of the apostles in bearing the gospel to Samuria, and first to break through the great caste-barrier between Jews and Gentiles, and practically learn that momentous doctrine — ''Godnore- speder of 'persons ; but in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him." This might seem to have prepared Peter to become the first and great apostle to the Gentiles. But the Lord had another instru- ment in preparation, in the person of Saul the persecutor, who soon after came to the front and bore the standard of the cross abroad over the Gentile world with unsurpassed energy and success. After the great Council at Jerusalem (A. 1). 50), (Acts 15), the thread of New Testament history follows the life and labors of Paul, and we read little of Peter. No historian, such as Luke was to Paul, accompanied Peter, aiding in his work and then recording under inspiration his labors and their results. The absence of such history in our New Testament by no means proves that Peter was idle or that his labors were of small account. Suffice it that a wisdom more than human determined how much and what history of the great apostolic labors of the age should go into the inspired canon. Peter's first epistle came early into general use among the churches. Its genuineness was never questioned. Origen wrote: — " Peter has left one epistle acknowledged to be his." Eusebius says (Hist. Eccl. iii : 3) : *' One epistle of Peter called the first is universally received." Ireuseus has this (Adv. Her. iv : 9): Peter says in his epistle, "In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice," etc. (1 Pet. 1: 8). Tertullian writes — "Peter says to the inhabit- ants of Pontus" etc. (quoting 1 Peter 2: 20). These cases will suffice to show how the early fathers spake of Peter's first epistle and certified to its universal reception in the sec- ond and third centuries. Quotations from this epistle, in- dorsing it as accepted scripture, appear in the earliest and most reliable Christian fathers; e. g., Clement of Kome (A. D. 90-100); Pastor Hermas (early in the second cen- tury) ; Poly carp (one of John's disciples) ; Papias (of the second century) ; Irenseus (A. D. 178-202) ; Clement of Alexandria (A. D. 187-220); Tertullian (A. D. 200-220); Origen (died A. D. 254) ; Cyprian (Bp. A. D. 248-256) ; Eusebius (died A. D. 340) ; Athanasius (Bp. A. D. 326- 373), and Jerome (flourished A. D. 350-420). 364 GENERAL INTEODUCTION. Internal testimony to its genuineness is all that need be desired. II. Sj^ecial notice should be taken of the fact that the genuineness of the second epistle has been called in question. ^Some modern critics, chiefly German, have rejected it from the canon. Summarily the grounds assigned for this have been these : (1.) Doubts as to its genuineness reported to us by some of the early Christian fathers ; (2.) Differences of style as compared with the first epistle. The fact of such difference is noticed by some of the early fathers, and has weight with those modern critics who discredit the genuine- ness of the epistle. We turn to the testimony of the fathers. Origen, apparently the earliest w^itness, whose references are beyond dispute, says (in Eusebius vi: 25): *' Peter has left one acknowledged epistle, and perhaps a second; for this is contested." Yet he speaks elsewhere of tivo epistles of Peter (Homily on Joshua), and cites the second epistle in his Homily on Leviticus. He remarks that " the Scripture says in a certain place :" ''The dumb ass, replying with a human voice, forbad the madness of the prophet" (Balaam) — re- ferring to 2 Pet. 2 : 16. It is therefore plain that Origen himself accredited 2 Peter as genuine " Scripture." It is probable (not absolutely certain) that Clement of Rome re- fers to 2 Pet. 2: 6-9, and also Irenajus to 2 Pet. 3: 8. These fathers were earlier than Origen, but their references to the epistle are questioned. Eusebius calls James the first of seven catholic ej)istles. In this number seven, 2 Peter must have been included. Yet he remarks that "the epistle called the Second of Peter, as w^e have been informed, has not been received as a part of the New Testament. Nevertheless, appearing to many to be useful, it has been carefully studied with the other Scriptures." (Hist. Eccl. iii: 3.) Didymus of Alexandria and his pupil Jerome refiir to doubts entertained by some, the former saying : ' * It should not be concealed that this epistle was considered spu- rious, and that although published, it was not in the canon." Jerome observes that "Peter wrote two epistles called cath- olic (i. e., general), the second of which had been denied by many to be his because of the difference of style." With other early fathers, he ascril)ed this difierence of style to the circumstance that Peter employed different interpreters to translate his epistles into Greek. It was assumed that Peter had not sufficient knowledge of Greek to write it without GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 365 the aid of an interpreter to translate for him. Thus these differences of style were accounted for with no disparage- ment to the equal authorship of Peter to both. Before the close of the fourth century, these doubts had subsided, and this epistle was accredited by Athanasius, Cyril, Epipha- nius, Jerome, and Augustine. III. The following points should be specially considered : 1. This epistle, equally with the first, bears the name of the apostle Peter (1:1) and definitely speaks of itself as " the second:" "This second epistle I now write unto you" (3 : 1). The waiter therefore certainly intended to have this epistle pass as WTitten by Peter. The supposition of a pur- posed fraud is very improbable ; that, being a fraud, it should ever have gained credit as written by Peter, is yet more so. 2. The differences of style between the first and this pre- sent no serious obstacle to the supposition of its having been written by the same Peter. The Christian fathers (as above) may have accounted truly for these differences. On the other hand, strong resemblances appear, of such sort as should offset and counterbalance the differences. Prof. Stowe (Books of the Bible, p. 407) says : *' The internal evi- dence from the peculiar use of single words in the two epis- tles, is thoroughly convincing. There are in both the same striking peculiarities of language, occurring nowhere else or but seldom in all the New Testament. The word (apothesis) is found in 1 Pet. 3: 21 and 2 Pet. 1 : 14 in the same sense, but nowhere else in the New Testament. The word (arete) occurs in 1 Pet. 2 : 9 and 2 Pet. 1 : 3, 5, and but once be- sides in all the New Testament. The word (aspilos) is in 1 Pet. 1 : 19 and in 2 Pet. 3 : 14, and only twice besides in the New Testament. Again, the word (anastrophe) occurs six times in 1 Peter, twice in 2 Peter, and only once besides in each of the following : James, 1 Timothy, Ephe- sians, and Galatians. In ordinary cases these facts alone would be deemed sufficient to establish identity of author- ship." 3. The early doubts of its genuineness may have been due to the circumstance that it was addressed to no church or well-defined body of Christian people, and therefore was not left in any one's special care. Naturally an epistle addressed to a particular church (e. g., Corinth or Philippi) fell at once into its special care ; was indorsed by that church, and from that center went abroad to other churches. But an 366 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. epistle addressed "to them who have obtained like precious faith with us," belonged by its address to all Christians in general and to none in particular. This may account for its tardy reception among the great body of Christians in that age. 4. Under these circumstances the early doubt and hesita- tion as to this epistle should be taken as gratifying evidence of very scrupulous care rather than as damaging evidence against its veritable genuineness. IV. Their date^ and the place where each was WTitten. Internal marks show that the first epistle was written to Christians under persecution (1: 6, 7, and 4: 12-19, and 5: 9, 10). There seems no reason to question the current opinion that this was the persecution brought upon the churches by Nero (A. D. 64-68). Hence critics have usually assigned the date of the first epistle about A. D. 64. The second epistle was written when Peter supposed his own martyrdom to be near (1 : 13, 14). He suffered prob- ably about A. D. 67, and this epistle is therefore dated about 66. Precise historic accuracy as to date should not be expected. As to the place whence the first epistle was written, the question turns on 1 Pet. 5: 13: ''The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you." The diversity of opinion is over the sense of the name "Baby- lon," whether symbolic, as it is supposed to be in prophecy, or historic, for the great city of the Chaldeans. The latter is doubtless the correct view — the salutations of a letter being no place for the symbolic as against the historic sense. It is simply incredible that Peter should have used the name Babylon for the purpose here indicated, in any other sense than the historic. It should also be considered that the provinces specified in 1 Pet. 1 : 1, " Pontus, Galatia," etc., had obviously been the field of Peter's missionary labors, which fact of itself greatly enhances the probability that he had visited Babylon, where it is well known there was a large Jewish population. In studying the history of Peter's missionary labors, the first and most vital step is to estimate the credibility of his ancient historians. Unfortunately for the cause of historic truth, it has been for the supposed interests of the papal church to make the utmost account of Peter, and to locate him in or near Rome at all events. Consequently fresh historic statements were starting up and reported all along GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 367 down the ages — things utterly unknown to the early fathers. This circumstance led Mosheim to sift the historic testimo- nies and to say — " I would not reject all that is clearly at- tested by Origen, Eusebius, Gregory Nazianzen, Paulinus, Jerome, Socrates and some more ancient writers quoted by Eusebius ; but what is attested only by authors subseqent to these or unknown, I would not readily believe unless facts offer themselves to corroborate the testimony." Follow- ing these judicious rules of Mosheim (says Dr. Murdock) we may believe that Peter, after preaching long in Judea and other parts of Syria, probably visited Babylon, Asia Minor, and finally Rome, where he was crucified," (Mosh. i. 57). — More recent writers than IMurdock and Mosheim have scarcely improved upon either the historic facts or the wis- dom of their critical judgment. Under so much reliable light of history we may locate the writing of the first epistle at Babylon. Where the second was Avritten the epistle itself gives no intimation, and we must be content not to know. V. The churches addressed and their locality. The first epistle locates the people addressed as " scattered abroad" in these five provinces — viz., " Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia." Of these Pontus la} ui)on the southern shore of the Black Sea, near its eastern extrem- ity; Bithynia also upon the southern shore, but near its western end ; while Capj^adocia, Galatia and Asia lay south of these, stretching westward in the order here given ; i. e., Pontus and Cappadocia on the east, towards Armenia and the head waters of the Eu2:>hrates ; the others farther west. Three of these five, viz., Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, appear in the enumeration of places from which men were present at the great Pentecost as in Acts 2 : 9, 10. This fact suggests that Jews and proselytes were even then scat- tered over those provinces; so that, returning home from those wonderfully impressive scenes, they may have carried w^ith them the first rays of gospel light at even that early day. The name '* Asia" as used here is by no means the great continent now known by this name, nor even all that is known in modern times as Asia Minor; but a much smaller province. That Peter had traveled and preached in these provinces may be assumed to be probable, yet we lack original historic evidence. He had no traveling companion, such as Paul had in Luke, to aid him in his labors, and then, under in- 368 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. spiration, write out his history. It is not hinted why the inspired history of apostolic missionary hibors is so meager, nnless it comes under the reason assigned for omitting the yet more important words and deeds of Jesus — viz., lest even the world itself might not contain the books that would have been written. Whether Peter had or had not been personally in those remote provinces, his name had doubtless been there ever since the scenes of the great Pentecost. At the date of this epistle some of the fathers were supposa- l)ly still living who heard his first great sermon under that wonderful inspiration of the Holy Ghost. YI. In studying the objects had specially in view in the first epistle, we may fitly hold in mind the great fact, fully indicated, that those scattered brethren were at least in peril if not under the endurance of violent persecution. To strengthen their moral courage and brace their souls to patient endurance, Peter did not confine himself to the glories of the martyr's crown, and said nothing that would naturally minister to a factitious heroism for the present glory thereof. But with a far more broad and just conception of the case, he sets himself to build up their real piety solid from the bottom and on its just and most enduring foundations. He holds ])efore them and very near to their hearts that pre- cious Redeemer, Jesus, whose resurrection from the dead had given them a lively hope ; who, his own self had borne their sins in his own body on the tree ; whom, not having seen, they had loved, and in whom, though not yet seeing him, they had believed and therein rejoiced with joy mispeakable and full of glory. The entire epistle may well be studied with this guiding thread in our hand — the bearing of every great consideration presented herein upon the intrinsic energy and strength of the Christian life in their heart. Even the special duties that grow up under our various so- cial relations — those of wives, husbands, servants, subjects under civil government — are not to be neglected but rather cultivated with the more diligence in times of extreme per- sonal peril, that Christians under sternest trial may adorn the gospel and confound their enemies. Hence the scope and bearing of this first epistle sustains a tone of moral j)urity, dignity and grandeur that has rarely been equaled ; Ave may perhaps say — never surjiassed. The second epistle has some of the same qualities, partic- ularly in chapter 1. The second chapter exposes the vile character and pernicious ways of false teachers then infest- GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 369 ing those churches ; while the third bears upon scoffers — set- ting forth their spirit, their folly and their doom. We must think of the aged, venerable Peter as writing this second epistle under a sense that his end was near and that these were his last words. His thought turned mostly on special points that seemed to him of urgent importance. Conse- quently we have no right in this epistle to look for those large, broad views of the whole Christian life which make his first epistle so grand and so impressive. Each fills its place admirably. We shall read them with ever-growing admiration of their wisdom and of their power, and with gratitude to the inditing Spirit that moved to this writing and to the kind Providence that has preserved them to bless all the generations of God's people to the end of time. THE FIEST EPISTLE OF PETER CHAPTER I. The author incorporates in his address a description of the Christian; gives his readers his benediction (v. 1, 2); praises God for his great mercy in the salvation of the gospel (v. 3), and further describes it (v. 4, 5) ; which is ground for exceeding joy even in extremest peril (v. 6); every trial of their faith is prov- ing it as fire proves and purifies gold (v, 7) ; Jesus, though un- seen, yet loved and through faith, a fountain of unspeakable joy, the end of which shall be salvation (v. 8, 9). How the old proph- ets studied and loved the Coming One — as do the angels also (v. 10-12) — all which considei-ations should inspire to a sober, obedient, earnest, holy life (v, 13-16). Honest prayer to the in- finitely pure Father should impress reverential fear (v. 17); the redeeming blood of Christ should constrain and hold men to the life of faith and hope in God (v. 18-21). As obeying the truth through the Spirit had wrought purity in their hearts and love of the brethren, so should they cherish such purity and love more and more, the word of God being not perishable but eternal in its nature and claims (v. 22-25). 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scat- tered throughout Poutus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bitliynia, 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ : Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. These " strangers " were better called sojourners, in a country not their own. The Greek word for " scattered " suggests that they were Jews, dispersed over these provinces — this being the usual term to describe this people in their dispersi(ms. (8o in John?: 35 and James 1:1.) The question whether the people addressed were by nationality Jews has been discussed and dis- puted fiir more than its importance can justify. 1 will only say in brief — that the words of this v. 1 look toward Jews ; as does also the fixct that Jews and proselytes came up from these prov- (370) I. PETER. CHAP. I. 371 inces to the Pentecost of Acts 2 ; that the epistle assumes its readers to be familiar with Old Testament prophets and their writings (1 : 10-12 and 2 : 6 and 2 Eps. 1 : 20, 21 and 3:2, 13); also with Old Testament history and historic characters (1 Pet 3 : 6, 20 and 2 Pet. 2: 5-8, 15, 16): and that all this testimony is by no means set aside, or even materially weakened by such words as those in 1 Eps. 4:3; "For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles " — inas- much as this might be said of men of Jewish no less than of Gentile birth. Doubtless these epistles are good for all Gentile readers of every age; but their internal indications suggest their original adaptation to Jews. For the provinces named here as their residence, see Introduc- tion, p. 367. In the words : " Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," the difficulties pertain to theology rather than to in- terpretation. The sense of the words is very obvious so far as the province of interpretation extends. They imply that election is according to God's foreknowledge. This interprets their proper meaning. It remains for the theologian to inquire whether we can ascertain hoiu God foreknows the free moral activities of men ; how the fact that he does can be harmonized with man's freedom ; also, whether he must be supposed to elect men accord- ing to his foreknowledge of what they will do loithout his own working in them morally, or iciih and under this spiritual in- working, etc. In other words, does his election hinge upon his foreknowing things as they are, or things as they are not ? Things as they are means a world of free and morally responsible agents with whose freedom God never interferes but always honors and recognizes it; means a system of spiritual agencies from God working toward the salvation of men, which agencies of the Spirit, some men resist to their own ruin. The foreknowledge therefore upon which election turns is not foreknowing what men would do if there were no Holy Ghost, or what they would do if his influences were withheld ; but it is rather foreknowing what men will do under the truth as impressed by the Spirit. Hence we can readily appreciate the supreme, unparalleled wisdom of the exhortation : " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, fo7' it is God who worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure " (Phil. 2 : 12, 13). It can scarcely be deemed in place here to discuss the theolog- ical bearings of this great problem further. Let it be carefully noted that this election is carried into efiect in and by sanctification wrought by the Spirit ; and that it works toward and unto obedience — an obedient and loving heart, cleansed spiritually through sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, Christ. This last phrase has the key to its true sense in the Mosaic sacrificial system, in which blood-sprinklings were fre- quent, and were ceremonially cleansing. Translated into their gospel significance, they have their fulfillment ; {a) In the aton- 372 I. PETER. — CHAP. I. ing blood of Christ availing for the sinner's pardon : — (b) In the moral and spiritual power of his death, made effective through the Holy Ghost unto a new and holy life. To his Christian readers thus far described, he extends his ben- edictions— "Grace and peace be multiplied; " "grace" denoting specially the gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost; and "peace,' their spiritual fruits and results. 3. Blessed he tlie God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begot- ten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4. To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The thought of so great mercy from God may well inspire such a doxology. Let every heart unite in ascribing all blessing and praise to God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! Think what He has done ! In his great mercy, He has begotten us anew unto a living hope — a hope full of life-power, this being done especially by his raising up Christ from the dead ; for this act sealed and crowned his gospel mission, and should therefore be taken as the Father's attestation and indorsement of Christ's entire redemptive work. The great thought of what renewing grace achieves is still car- ried forward in v. 4. Christians being new-born unto a living, most inspiring hope, which looks toward an inheritance incor- ruptible, undefiled, unfading — these points being in strong con- trast with all inheritances of mere earthly sort which perish with the using; are often defiled with the fraud and crime by which they are gotten, and the best of which must soon fade utterly away, as blossoms wither in one brief summer day. For safe- keeping this inheritance is stored in heaven. For lohom? Returning again to this point, he adds — For you who are kept as in a walled city under the protecting power of God, working through your faith unto a salvation already prepared fully for its revelation in the last time. The Greek participle translated "kept" carries in itself the full significance I have given it — kept as in a high tower, or within the strong walls of a city. The writer's thought may have l)een upon that grand illustration current in the olden times : — " The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe " (Prov. 18 : 10), Before Solomon wrote those words, David had made tlie figure familiar, as in his song of triumph over all his enemies (Ps. IS : 2): "The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my high tower." So also in Ps. 144: 2. Thus have the joyful experiences of God's people all along the ancient ages crystallized into these grand I. PETER. — CHAP. I. 373 military figures — God, their perfect and everlasting refuge, the high tower within whose lofty walls they are forever safe. Or with a wider range of illustrations " their dwelling-place through all generations," their home and sanctuary. What want in human souls does he not supply, against what perils and dangers is not his name a pledge of safety Forever ! Other cases of the New Testament usage of this Greek word for " kept," " keep," may be seen in 2 Cor. 11: 32: "The governor kept the city with a garrison." Gal. 3 : 23 : " Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should after- wards be revealed." Phil. 4: 7: "The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus." 6. AVherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold tempta- tions : 7. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried by fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the ap- pearing of Jesus Christ : In which ye exult — leap for joy — the Greek has it — despite of present brief, unavoidable sorrow under manifold trials. The word translated "temptations" is better put, trials, including those fears, dangers, tortures, loss of property or even life which came through violent persecution. All this might, for the brief present, abate from the exuberance of their Christian joy. But God had wise ends to answer by means of afflictions, even such as these — that their tried, proved faith, more precious than the most refined gold, might be found unto praise, honor, and glory when Christ should appear. Observe here, it is their tried faith rather than precisely the trial itself which is compared with the best refined gold, such gold being by nature perishable though never so thoroughly purified. But Christian faith wrought into the very character itself and purified by manifold trials, endures, with no decay, forever; shines out only the more brightly as the ages roll on. Good character lives in its own vitality and lives forever. The everlasting God will foster it, and enjoy it, may we not say, be proud of its beauty and rejoice in its surpassing glory ! "Found unto praise and glory" — yet we ought to ask — unto whose praise; unto whose glory? The answer must be — prima- rily to the praise and glory of Jesus who thus proves and purifies the souls of his people. This is the richest and best possible re- sult, that his name should have the honor of this redemptive, morally cleansing work which brings out moral qualities of purity and beauty so far outshining gold though seven times purified. Yet what turns primarily to the glory and praise of their Ke- 374 I. PETER. — CHAP. I. deemer is in its indirect and remote bearings inexpressibly bliss- ful to them as well. Nothing could be more so. 8. Whom having not seen, ye love; in wliom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy un- speakable and full of glory: 9. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. It might be assumed that none of Peter's contemplated readers had ever seen Jesus in the flesh. Yet they loved him. Not now seeing him, but yet believing, ye (so he addresses them) rejoice, exulting Avith such joy as no words can express — a joy all-glorious ! Not seeing iioiv, tacitly assumes that they will see him in the heavenly life, but a little way in the future. In the words, " receiving the end of your faith," the Greek, like our English, has the present participle. Does Peter use the pres- ent for the future because he thinks of it as so very near; or is his thought upon the foretastes of heaven that enrich the soul even here and guaranty the bliss to come by giving some fore- stallmonts of it in advance ? Or (as the case may be) the present may indicate the simple certainty of the blessed result. They might feel that it is even now Avithin their grasp. They are in a very vital sense saved already. This passage is richly suggestive, thus : (1.) That love to Christ may exist in its best purity, and may reach a very high develop- ment, through faith alone, with no aid from the sense of sight. Faith accepts the record of all Jesus said and did ; welcomes the testimony that comes from his tears and from his blood shed for sin; sees in all this a personal Savior offering himself to ])e trusted, loved, obeyed; and what need we more? We might al- most say — What could the sight of the eye add to all this? With any amount of eye-vision, we should still need the words and the deeds, the promises and the invitations, the manifested sympathy and the assurances of his undying love ; these elements upon which our faith takes hold we should still need as an intelligent basis for our personal trust in him to become our Savior. (2.) The passage therefore suggests what we may put as a special point, viz., that Christ's spoken words and recorded deeds provide an ample and solid foundation for intelligent faith and for the utmost depth and purity of love. (o). Inasmuch as almost the entire body of Christ's saved peo- ple are shut up in the present world to such faith as can 1)0 attained without the aid of sight, it is the divine policy to honor such faith and to give it s[>ecial reward. This seems to be tlie implied sense of Christ's Avoi-ds to Thomas (.lohn 20: 2U): "Be- cause thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed [inore blessed] are tliey that liave not seen me and y(^t have l)clieved." More blessed than these Jesus must lie understood to imply. Their faith is a higher virtue, a nobler testimony to God's veracity I. PETER. — CHAP. I. 375 and therefore more grateful to his heart. It is one of the lofty purposes of our present earthly discipline to cherish and develop this pure, unfaltering faith in God which simply trusts his word and reposes upon it, though these mortal eyes have as yet seen nothing, (4). Christians are in perpetual danger of over-estimating the value of the personal vision of Christ in this world of flesh and sense; while on the other hand, they are prone to under-estimate the value of that simple faith which rests on his recorded words and deeds, and seeks through the gift of the Spirit those inspir- ing realizations of unseen things which Jesus promised in the words; "He shall guide you into all truth"; "He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you (John 16 : 13-15). Those who long so intensely for his visible coming to-day — if really their thought is upon it as a richer means of grace and a source of higher Christian purity and joy — should ask themselves if these longings are not outside of God's plan — a scheme of their own hearts' devising — in which they dis- parage faith by their passionate demands for what is in truth only of sense. Of the joys of believing, described here as unutterable in words and all-glorious, what shall we say ? — First, that they are to a certain extent present joys — not merely future ; at least, they are so thought of here. As the believing without seeing is now, so are the joys of such believing. Again, it must not be denied that they are in part joys of hope — the joyous anticipation of future blessedness. The context leads the mind to this: "The end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." But by far the most vital point to be noticed is that the chief and best of these joys of believing do not terminate upon one's self, but rather upon Jesus. They are joy in what he is, is doing, is to do — rather than in what we are to have from him. It is possible to human nature to have thoughts of heaven and joys in the an- ticipation of heaven that should have no better name than selfish. It would be an egregious abuse of language to call those selfish joys " unspeakable and full of glory." Selfishness never rises to any such exalted heights of blessedness. Over against these, and all unlike them, are joys that terminate in Christ; — the joys of becoming acquainted with such a character; the deep and up- lifting admiration of its purity and excellence ; the quiet but solid bliss that comes of entering into sympathy with Christ in his loving activities and self-sacrifices ; a sense of being at one with him in that which makes his work the bliss of heaven, the glori- ous joy of all the good. Add to this the sense that Jesus is all in all, and our little selves virtually nothing; also the vast and ever-growing conception of the myriad masses that are blessed in him and are to be forever — the heart entering by sympathy into the joy of those masses of intelligent existence as they are seen lifted to higher and yet higher planes of thought and purity of love — each redeemed one sweetly conscious that the joy of every 376 I. PETER. — CHAP. I. saint is also his own, so that he shall find his own blessedness rising and swelling forever as he drinks in and makes his own all this ocean of blessedness of which Jesus is the eternal Fount- ain. All this lifts one above and bears him away from the miserable selfishness that dwarfs and blights all real joy, and in- terprets to us what it must be to have the eternal God our Por- tion and to inherit Him through Jesus as his own accepted chil- dren. If there be difficulty in gaining a definite sense of these joys of believing in Jesus, it must be put to the account of very imperfect conceptions of the heavenly blessedness. When "the pure in heart shall see God"; Avhen " those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled"; when "we shall be satisfied, awaking in his likeness"; when we "shall see Jesus as he is"; — then we shall be able to estimate and measure these joys of believing that are indeed " unspeakable and full of glory." 10. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you : 11. Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified before- hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12. Unto whom it w^as revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now re- ported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ; which things the angels desire to look into. In respect to which salvation, the prophets inquired and searched most diligently (both verbs being made very intensive), who prophesied of the gospel grace destined for you; — the two definite points of this search being (a) '' ichat time ' and (6) 2vhat sort of a time, i. e., what time chronologically; and marked by what events — known by what characteristics — historically. The time chronologically was given with greatest precision through Daniel (9 : 24) : Seventy sevens of years, equal to four hundred and ninety, measured the time then intervening. The time was indicated to Daniel in a more general way as following the fall of the great powers, mostly hostile to Israel, the Messiah's kingdom— beginning with his inauguration upon his ascension to heaven — becoming thus the fifth kingdom, to stand forever. To Jacob (Gen. 49: 10) the Messiah, under the name Shiloh (Prince of Peace) was foretold as to come before the scepter had entirely dropped from the hand of her earthly kings : " The scep- ter shall not depart from Judah . . . till Shiloh come; him shall the nations obey." So much as to the first point — the iiyne tvhen, chronologically. As to the second point — the historical characteristics of the I. PETER. CHAP. I. 377 time — prophecy gave his birthplace, Bethlehem (Micah 5:2): indicated in many distinct prophecies his humble (not magnificent) origin ; his birth in David's line genealogically, and of a virgin mother (Isaiah 7: 14); saying moreover (Deut. 32: 43): "When he bringeth his first-begotten into the world, let all the angels of God worship him." These are specimens, not exhaustive, of the attendant incidents which denoted ''what manner of time'' the spirit of prophecy foreindicated as to the Great Messiah. "The spirit of Christ in them" was making known, foreshow- ing, "the sufferings of Christ and the glories that followed" closely after. Was making known — the tense itself denoting continuous action, for these prophecies were consecutive and long continued. The two main points of chief interest were the suffer- ings that should come upon Christ, as we may read in Isaiah 53, and the glories (plural) that should ensue as his reward, referring to his resurrection, ascension, enthronement in the highest heav- ens at the right hand of the Father, and the gift of the nations as his inheritance. These points we may find in Psalms 16 ; 110 : 2, in Isaiah also, and elsewhere. To them it was revealed that not for themselves but for you were they ministering as revealing prophets the things now an- nounced to you by those who preach to you the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The great events of the gospel history thrilled the souls of the old prophets, though seen but dimly. The salvation of which those events testified sent back its blessings to those ancient saints as well as forward to these after ages. Yet in the sense of the time of their full man- ifestation, it was not for them, but for the men of Peter's gener- ation. Having spoken thus fully of the thrilling interest and profound study of the old prophets in this gospel, Peter adds that this same theme was also a profound study to the angels. They, too, long to search into these things. His Greek verb signifies that they press up very close and push their inquiries most earnestly. Indeed, by etymology the verb seems to denote bending down over an object for the purpose of more close and thorough examination. These are the unfallen angels. They have no experience of sin ; they have never felt a conscious sense of its vileness, have never tasted its woes; but some idea of its guilt and ruin they unques- tionably have, and their sympathies are stirred deeply toward this •wonderful scheme of human redemption. They know something of Jesus ; for when the Lord of heaven brought his first-begotten into the world, he said, "Let all the angels of God worship him;" and " suddenly there was with the revealing angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heavens; on earth, peace; good-will to men." 13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, he sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 378 I. PETER. — CHAP. I, 14. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves ac- cording to the former hists in your ignorance: 15. But as he which liath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; 16. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. "Girdini!; up the loins" comes from the oriental modes of dress, and signifies to prepare for the utmost activity of labor. Here it is the loins of the mind — mind as the instrument of thought, knowledge. "Be sober," in the sense of temperate, retaining the full possession and control of your powers, always in readi- ness for the most vigorous activities. Keep your mind and heart in order for most effective service. And hope perfectly — not as our English would suggest, all the way through life; but rather, hope with no faltering of fear or doubt; let your hope be entire, perfect. Perfect is the legitimate sense of the original. " For the grace to be borne unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." This must refer to his future and final coming, at wdiich event the grace destined for them w^ould reach its full consummation. As children thoroughly obedient to the manifested will of God. "Fashioning themselves" assumed a power of self-shaping and culture, for the right use of which they are eminently respon- sible. They can form their own habits, can determine their own activities, and so can mold their own personal character. Hence the pertinence of this grand exhortation that this self-culture should not shape their life and character according to their old lusts when they knew no better, but according to the perfect model of the Heavenly One who had called them. As he was spotless in holiness, so let them become holy in all their life, in all their activities. Become rather than he, is the sense of the Greek. " Manner of conversation" is a very infelicitous transla- tion for our age, the word "conversation" having quite lost its old sense, the habitudes of one's life, and come to mean merely speech — speaking one to another in social communion. "It is written," seems to refer to the words of Christ (Matt. 5: 48): "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." The words occur, however, more exactly in the Old Testament (Lev. 11 : 44, 45, and 19: 2, and 20: 7, 26). 8uch an example, so high, so pure, so glorious — how should it inspire God's children! How should they honor their parentage and meet the responsibilities of children made in the very image of their Great Father, so that ])y virtue of their original creation and ])y tiieir being ncw-}>orn to God, tliey l^ecomc in every respect capable of conforming their personal character and life to hia pure holiness ! 17. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. " If ye call on the Father," suggests the responsibility involved I. PETER. CHAP. I. 379 in prayer. If ye avail yourselves of your privilege of saying, "Our Father;" if ye professedly, avovredly, come to him as chil- dren, and take his name upon you as your Father, then be ye very honest before such a God ! For he will look upon the heart ! Those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Never will his eye be dazzled with the mere external display. With him is no regard to outside appearances. He judges every man by his doings. Take care then that ye fill out the time of your earthly sojourn in reverential fear. The verb translated "pass the time," suggests the constant activities of life — the per- petual turning round and round in all active thought and work. 18. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers ; 19. But Avith the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot : Do all this, knowing, under a vivid sense of the truth, that ye were not redeemed with perishable treasure, like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless, stainless, lamb. "lledeemed" is here in its primary sense, bought off, ransomed as captives in war, or slaves bought into freedom. In this case, redeemed from your vain, fruitless, ruinous course of life — which had come down by tradition from the fathers. Those giant powers of example and education are thought of which hold the myriads of our race under the bonds of traditionary notions, principles, and habits, so that generation after genera- tion, children follow blindly and with almost never a deviation, the course of life led by their fathers before them. But, he would say, in your case God has interposed with redemption through Jesus to break those bonds and to set the captives free. The precious blood of Christ as of a spotless lamb has the levitical lamb of sacrifice for its symbol, but Jesus, the gospel lamb of sacrifice, for its reality. 20. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21. Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. " Foreknown" is the primary sense of the Greek verb ; yet by implication, foredetermined becomes the real sense; for simply to foreknow without foredetermining would in this case be simply inoperative and of no effect- — it being a thing for God — not man — to do. Before the world was made, this divine Redeemer was fully in the thought and plan of God, but not made known until these last times, and now for your sakes who by him are faithful toward God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope become truly in and toward God. 380 I. PETEE. — CHAP. I. The reading of the oldest manuscripts, approved by the best critics, is not — "do believe in God," but, are faithful (pistous, Tzistova) maintaining the moral attitude of believing trust. Great stress is laid upon the decisive fact that God raised Jesus from the dead as conclusive proof that his heart and hand are in this scheme of salvation; that he honors Jesus as his own Son; makes him our Great High Priest; fully indorses his redemptive work; enthrones him king in his mediatorial kingdom. Thus your faith and hope come to rest in God. 22. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the breth- ren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently : 23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of in- corruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The form of the expression — " Having purified your souls by obeying the truth unto unhypocritical love of the brethren" — suggests that they have, yet suggests it in such a way as amounts to a tacit exhortation to do so if not done already. The three oldest manuscripts concur in omitting the words — " through the Spirit." This fact seems to indicate that these words were in- serted subsequently as an explanation or comment. The ex- hortation follows; — Love one another from the heart fervently. The better text omits "pure" before "heart." Being new- born, not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed, viz., by the living, abiding word of God. The adjectives "living," "abiding," should apply to "word," not to "Gud." So the context (v. 25) demands; while the order of the words in themselves favors this construction. The permanent character of the divine word is the thought made prominent here. This enduring, changeless word of God, his revealed truth, had been made the instrument under God in their new birth. Therefore, let them prize it, hold it fast among their imperishable treasures. 24. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass Avithereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This passage is from Isa. 40: 6-8, with only slight variations, not affecting the sense. There, the word of God thought of was his great word of gospel promise : here, this word of promise is performed, fulfilled— the very gospel preached (says Peter) unto you. Isaiah thought of that word of gospel promise as pro- foundly sure. Set for comparison beside the most beauteous things in nature, or tlie most precious results of human thought, it would stand unchanged and its glory be forever unfading; while all flesh is like grass and its best things like the fading I. PETEE. — CHAP. II. 381 flower. Therefore let the saints of God hold their gospel word in highest honor, cherish it as everlasting truth, and make it the man of their counsel through all generations. CHAPTER II. Carrying out his thought as to this enduring gospel word and applying it broadly to practical Christian life, he exhorts to the putting away of all sin (v. 1); to self-nutrition upon the pure milk of truth (2); if really they have experienced the great grace of the Lord (3) ; then presents Jesus, according to one of the Old Testament figures, as a living stone, exalted to the place of chief honor in God's great temple : they too are to become living stones in this spiritual temple (4, 5) — a point further illustrated from certain Old Testament Scriptures in its application both to those who believe and to those who do not (6-8) ; the honored destiny of believers yet more fully set forth (9, 10) ; which should inspire them to the utmost vigilance against sin and unto holi- ness (11, 12). These principles are applied to their Christian duties as citizens (13-17); as servants (18-20); and enforced by the example of Christ (21-23) whose sacrificial suflerings for the salvation of his people should press them forward mightily in a holy life (24, 25). 1. Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2. As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. "Wherefore" looks back logically to their being new-born to God by his immortal word, whose pertinence and power endure forever. Having been so new-born, let them expel from their heart and life all these sins — of which a long catalogue is named; — malice, guile, hypocrisies, envyings, all evil speakings — various forms of sin that have their roots in selfishness, in unhallowed self-seeking and reckless undervaluing of others' interests and rights. Every thing in this list is in utter repugnance to the love of one's neighbor which the gospel spirit and law demand. They all contemplate man in social life ; are the sins to which the selfish soul is tempted in its social relations. As to all these sins, let them consider themselves as babes beginning a new life, utterly unlike the old. Like new-born babes let them earnestly desire, intensely long for, the pure milk of gospel truth, such as p,dapt3 itself to the spiritual development of God's children from 17 382 I. PETER. — CHAP. II. infancy upward, that by it they may grow unto salvation — these words, " unto salvation," being an improvement in the original text brought out by the older manuscripts. Growth in a holy heart and life is growth toward and unto salvation. If indeed ye have learned in your experience that the Lord is gracious — '/. 6., good, kind, rich in spiritual blessings. Peter assumes that as souls new-born to God, they must have experienced this sweet sense of the Lord's love. Therefore, let this experience inspire them to holy aspiration and endeavor, but especially to seek food for their souls in the pure truths of God's word — those truths being adapted to rational minds and to souls new-born to the love and service of God. 4. To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed in- deed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God b^ Jesus Christ. It is certainly supposable that the figure which conceives of Christ as a chief corner-stone in God's temple and his people also as livin.ii; stones built into that temple, may have had special in- terest to Peter as he remembered the name Jesus gave him at their first introduction (John 1: 42): "Thou art Simon; thou shalt be called Cephas" — meaning in Aramean, a stone, to which Petros in Greek corresponds. Another play upon his name ap- pears in Matt. IG : 18: "Thou art Peter [rock], and upon this rock I will build my church," etc. But whether or not the sig- nificance of his own name lent interest to this figure, no one can doubt that he had in mind such Old Testament passages as we find Pa. 118: 22; "The stone which the builders refused is be- come the head-stone of the corner"; and Isa. 28: 16: "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste." Moreover, he may have been familiar with the words of his " beloved brother Paul"" (as in Eph. 2 : 19-22) : " Ye are of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone ; in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." The central thoughts here are — a spiritual temple , Jesus the chief corner-stone ; his people also stones built into this holy temple for purposes of spirit- ual sacrifice, worship, service unto (iod. Accessory points w