DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

GIFT OF

Library ef
George Foster Prentiss

TEXTS EXPLAINED

TEXTS EXPLAINED

OR

$elp£ to anoer£tanb the $eto Cegtament

BY
F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S.
DEAN OF CANTERBURY AND DEPUTY CLERK OF THE
CLOSET TO THE QUEEN

F. M. BARTON
CLEVELAND, OHIO

Copyright, 1899
By Dodd, Mead and Company

PREFACE

I have called this book Texts Explained, because I could
find no title which more simply described the object which
I have had in view. The texts are chosen entirely from
the New Testament, because the volume would otherwise
have been larger than I contemplated.
It is needless to say that I have not, in the following
pages, attempted to write a continuous commentary, but
only to call attention to a large number of verses or
passages of which — in matters of varying importance —
the force, the beauty, the correct reading, the exact ren
dering, or the deep special significance has often been
mistaken, overlooked, or altogether obliterated.
That such a book may be most useful I feel no doubt
whatever, and there are multitudes, who, by reading it
carefully, might gain more from it, a better knowledge of
the real meaning of many passages than seems to be
common. There is no text here selected for some brief
elucidation which does not gain in instructiveness, or
interest, when its exact connotation is simply explained.
And although, in many instances, our invaluable Revised
Version furnishes the right key for the meaning of the
text, yet the significance of the changes in the translation
often needs to be explained or emphasised, not only to
' ' unlearned and ignorant " readers, but even to many
for whom such explanation might have seemed to be
superfluous. That this is really the case became clear to
me from the following circumstance.
I acted for some years as Examining Chaplain to the
Bishop of Worcester, and at every examination of the

vi Preface.
candidates for ordination it was my custom to set them a
paper of some thirty texts from the Authorised Version,
which required explanation, arising in many instances
from a necessary change in the reading or accurate
rendering of the original. To my astonishment I found
that, out of these thirty texts, the majority of these young
clerical students never threw any light on more than four
or five. And yet, in many instances, a knowledge of the
real meaning of the text involved points of vital impor
tance and not of accidental interest. In not a few cases
sermons of some freshness might have been suggested by
the variation from an old incorrect mumpsimus into the
new sumpsimus, and points of doctrine might have been
brought out which are too often forgotten or overlooked.
Let me give a few instauces — one from almost every
book of the New Testament. 1.
Matt. xxv. 8. "Our lamps are gone out," etc.
The true rendering of the present tense is "Our lamps
are going out " — literally — if English idiom permitted
the rendering — "are being extinguished," or, in older
English "are a-queuching." Here the wrong rendering
adopted in our familiar version involves a positive theo
logical error. The torch of divine grace in the human soul
may smoulder into an almost invisible spark, but on this
side the grave it can never be wholly extinguished. The
light of God's Holy Spirit within us is a gift which a man
may " waste, desecrate," but never in this life wholly lose.
2.
Mark vii. 19. "And goeth out into the draught,
purging all meats."
No sense can be made of this rendering, which is also
entirely impossible and ungrammatical. If we follow the
true reading, and adopt the right punctation, the meaning

Preface. vii
is " [This He said], making all meats clean." The pas
sage thus becomes nothing less than the most absolutely
decisive of all Christ's utterances in abrogation of the
Levitic law with its external rules and mechanical cere
monialism, which had now been rendered needless by the
Advent of the Son of man, and had only been necessitated
by the "hardness of heart " of the people to whom it had
been delivered.

Luke iii. 9. " Is hewn down and cast into the fire."
This is the rendering both of the A.V. and the B..V. ;
and English idiom makes it difficult to translate the
passage otherwise. But the tenses of the original are
what have been called " retributive presents." The words
literally mean " is being cut down and being cast into the
fire." The original Greek points the important lesson
of the continuity of God's dispensations whether they be
punitive or restorative. This use of the present tense is
known, grammatically, as the praesens futurascens.

John x. 16. "And there shall be onefold, and one
shepherd." The true reading and rendering are "They shall become
one flock, one shepherd."
The importance of this correction can hardly be over
estimated. On earth there always has been, and so
far as we know, always will be, "One flock of the one
Shepherd," but there are, and always have been, in that
one true flock many folds. The Church is "the blessed
company of all faithful people ; " but in that Church there
have been, and are, and it is perhaps even desirable that
there should be, many communities, united in essentials,
and one in charity, but separated by minor differences of
opinion and organization.

viii Preface.

Acts ii. 47. " The Lord added to the Church daily
such as should be saved."
This unfortunate misrendering, tending to strengthen
Calvinistic errors, should be corrected into " those who were
being saved," "those who were in the way of salvation."

Rom. iii. 25. "To declare His righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance
of God."
Here the mistranslation obliterates the meaning of the
whole argument. The necessity for demonstrating God's
righteousness rose from His praeterition of — His over
looking of — the sins of the generations before the death
of Christ. 7.
1 Cor. xiv. SO. Here the correct version — "Prove ye
not children in mind; howbeit in malice be ye babes; but
in mind prove ye adults " (or " of full age ") — is one of
hundreds of instances where the force and beauty of the
original is brought out by noticing the exact terms of the
Greek. 8.
2 Cor. ii. 1£. " Now thanks be unto God, which always
causeth us to triumph in Christ " (A.V.).
Nay ! it was the reverse of the fact that St. Paul was
always " caused to triumph " in Christ. On the contrary
his life was led from humiliation to humiliation, and from
failure to failure. He does not here compare himself to the
Victor borne along in his triumphal car, but to the captive
slave, led in chains before the car. He thanks Christ who

Preface. ix
always " leadeth us in His triumph as His prisoners," or
" maketh a shew of us " in His victorious procession.
9.
Gal. vi. 17. " The marks of the Lord Jesus."
St. Paul does not merely say, " I bear in my body the
marks of the Lord Jesus," but, "I bear branded on my
body the stigmata, the slave-brands, of Jesus." To the
ancients, familiar with the sight of slaves branded with
the name or cognisance of their owners, the phrase would
be full of picturesque force. 10.
Eph. iv. 32. Here the A.V. has "forgiving one another
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." It is
from this verse that the very common phrase ' 'for Christ's
sake " is exclusively derived. That phrase, though capable
of a true explanation, does not once occur in Scripture in
this connotation. The true rendering is far fuller, and far
deeper, in meaning : — " even as God also, in Christ, for
gave us." The phrase "in Christ" has been called "the
monogram of St. Paul," and occurs in his Epistles many
times. Christians are often said to endure "for Christ's
sake" (Bom. viii. 36; 1 Cor. iv. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 5; xii. 10);
but the phrase that God forgave us " for Christ's sake"
is unknown to the Apostles. 11.
Phil. vi. 6. In this memorable passage about the humil
iation and exaltation of Christ, the meaning is, in one
phrase, absolutely reversed by the A.V. It is not " who be
ing in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with
God; " but " Who, being originally " (or " essentially ")
in the form of God, counted it not a prize " — (" not a thing
to be grasped at," "a thing to be seized on," "a prize
which must not be let go ") — " to be on equality with God."

x Preface.
In the following clause the " made Himself of no
reputation " of the A.V. loses the transcendent force of the
" emptied Himself" of the original, though on the verb in
the original is based the important theological doctrine of
Christ's kenosis, i.e. of His emptying Himself of His
Divine prerogatives to assume perfect Humanity. The
verse thus becomes one of the strongest bulwarks against
the Apollinarian heresy which denies the perfect Humanity
of Christ. 12.
Col. iii. 20-25. In the original this is the clearest
passage in the New Testament in proof of the essential
nullity of asceticism and ceremonialism. In the A.V. the
meaning is weakened, obscured, all but lost. From this
passage alone the Mediaeval Church might have learned
that " will- worship, and voluntary self-humiliation, and
severity to the body " are valueless to subdue the indul
gence of the flesh. So far indeed are they from being the
right methods to produce spirituality of mind, that " will-
worship " has a chronic tendency to produce the arrogant
and dead Pharisaism which Christ denounced in such
burning words ; and ascetic extravagances by a universal
pathological law, instead of weakening the impulses of the
body, add to them a more imperious violence.
13.
1 Thess. v. 22. The direction of the original is not only
that we are to abstain from all appearance of evil, but the
more comprehensive rule that we are to abstain "from
every form of evil." 14.
2 Thess. ii. 2. St. Paul did not here tell the Thessa-
lonians that the day of Christ was not "at hand." On the
contrary, he, like most Christians in the first century, fully

Preface. xi
believed that it was "at hand : " — and rightly so believed,
if we see in the destruction of Jerusalem the close of the
Old Dispensation, and therefore a marked "day of the
Lord; " but what he says is "do not be thrown into a
state of excitement as though the day of the Lord is
' already beginning,' or ' now present.' "

15.
1 Tim. vi. 10. The love of money is not "the root of
all evil " (A.V.) though it is " a root of all kinds of evil."
16.
2 Tim. iv. 1£. "The Lord reward him according to
his works."
The words may be softened down, but read like a
malediction. The true reading and rendering show that
the phrase is practically a quotation from Prov. xxiv. 12,
and means " The Lord will reward him (as He rewards
all) according to his works." St. Paul expresses no wish
for the retribution to fall on Alexander. He simply refers
the matter to God, and leaves it in His hands.

17.
Tit. iii. 10. " A man that is an heretick reject. • . ."
Neither " heresy " nor " heretic " occur in the New
Testament. The words so rendered mean " faction " and
"factious." 18.
Philem. 20. " Refresh my bowels in the Lord."
The rendering of crirXdyxva by " bowels " throughout
the A. V., is, to say the least, unfortunate. The word in
these connotations means, "my heart."

xii Preface. 19.
Heb. xii. 17. " He (Esau) found noplace of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears."
There is no instance in Scripture of true repentance
'being unavailing. The meaning is that Esau found no
room to change his father 's purpose, though he sought the
lost blessing with tears. " The son who had sacrificed his
right could not undo the past ; and it is this only which is
in question" (Bp. Westcott). 20.
James ii. H- " Can faith save him? "
This might sound like an implied contradiction of St.
Paul ; but, in the true rendering, it is nothing of the kind.
It is " can that faith " ( a dead faith, faith without
works) " save him ? " 21.
1 Pet. ii. 9. " A peculiar people."
Not so: God has no favourites ; but " a people for God's
own possession." 22.
2 Pet. i. 5. The attribution of "virtue" here to Christ
is very noticeable, and the use of this word, which only
occurs twice in the entire New Testament (see Phil. iv. 8),
has a bearing on the question of the genuineness of the
Epistle, as the idea of the passage seems to be based on
a paragraph of Josephus. " Virtue" is the ideal of
heathendom : "holiness " is .the higher and more heavenly
ideal of the Gospel. It may well, therefore, surprise us
to read no loftier word than "virtue" ascribed to Him
who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from

Preface. xiii

23.
Jude 22. "And of some have compassion, making a
difference." The last three words, if correctly rendered, would raise
many questions. The phrase is uncertain, and there may
be a corruption in the text. Perhaps it should be " Some
convict, while they dispute with you," or "who are in
doubt." 24.
Rev. iv. 6. " Four beasts."
Many of the defects of our A.V. rise simply from the
neglect of distinctions. Whereas in an unfortunate desire
to produce agreeable variety, the translators of 1611 used
many different words to render the same Greek word, they
sometimes (unfortunately) used the same word for different
Greek words. In the Book of Revelation the neglect to
distinguish between t/ba and difpla does much to obliterate
the constant contrast between the heavenly kingdom and
its hellish parody, by overlooking that Zwa (as in this
verse) is always used of the Heavenly Living creatures, or
(as I think the word might be rendered) " Immortalities ; "
and that &i)pia, which the A. V. also renders " beasts" means
the dragon monsters of the Infernal realm.
These are but specimens from the Gospels and Epistles
of texts, in which the true version is always a matter of
real interest, and sometimes of consummate importance.
Yet, as I have said, in setting questions about these or
similar texts, even to candidates for Holy Orders, I have
repeatedly found that the majority of them were un
acquainted with the exact translation or real meaning.
If that was the case with men of whom many had passed
through a Public School or College training, and who were
seeking entrance into the ministry of the Church, I can
hardly be wrong in the assumption that such knowledge —
elementary as it might seem to Biblical students — is not

xiv Preface.
possessed by tens of thousands to whom it might prove
to be a real blessing. The Revised Version has already
triumphed over the clamour which it at first excited — much
of which was as as idle in its opinionated infallibility as it
was outrageously violent. Such has usually been the fate
of new versions. The Palestinian Rabbis so much disliked
the Septuagint that its appearance was signalised by a day
of fast and national humiliation : yet afterwards it came
to be regarded as inspired. When St. Jerome published
the Vulgate, the " rabidi canes," of whose virulent assaults
he complains, raged against him on every side. Even St.
Augustine warned him that his task was ' ' perilous and
profane; " yet, long centuries afterwards, the Council of
Trent placed the Vulgate on a par with " the Hebrew
Verity." On the appearance of the Complutensian Poly
glot, Dr. Owen declared that the notion of an imperfect or
variant text of the Holy Scriptures " bordered on atheism."
The Latin version of Erasmus was burnt at Cambridge,
and Dr. Standish, preaching against it at St. Paul's before
the Lord Mayor and Corporation, burst into tears, and
refused to be put to school by " a shallow and pretentious
Grecian." Sir Thomas More denounced William Tyndale,
for his admirable translation, as " a foul and blasphemous
heretic, ignorant of Greek, corrupting the sacred text in
more than a thousand places. ' ' When our " incomparable ' '
Authorised Version came out — the most certain and need
ful variations from which we have heard abused with
" grotesque fanaticism " — Hugh Broughton could not find
language contemptuous enough in its depreciation; and
T. Ward accused the translators of "blasphemy, most
damnable corruption, intolerable deceit, and vile imposture."
When the Revised Version was suggested, we were told
that it would only " wound the feelings, unsettle the faith,
and trouble the consciences of believers ; " and when, in spite
of obscurantism and prejudice it was published, the Revisers
were savagely attacked by many critics, and Dean Burgon,
in the Quarterly Review, declared that " the very citadel of

Preface. xv
revealed truth is observed to have been reached, and to
be undergoing systematic assault and battery ! " — with
much more nonsense to the same effect.
But truth is great, and quietly wins its decisive victories
over honest ignorance and violent bigotry, as well as over
the " envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness " which
seem to be even more rampant among controversialists who
think and call themselves "religious," than among those
who make no such claim, but are often better deserving
of the title.
I therefore commend this book to the tens of thousands
of English Christians who, as yet, have not made them
selves familiar with the facts to which I have drawn
attention. That it may increase their knowledge of the
true meaning of Scripture, and save them from many
erroneous views, I feel no doubt. I have only touched
upon controverted points where the truth of Scripture
compelled me to do so. In the immense majority of cases
there neither is, nor can be, any doubt, in the mind of any
competent scholar or critic, as to the correctness of the
points to which attention is here called. No one who
possesses even an elementary knowledge of Greek, or of
Biblical criticism, can have the least hesitation in accepting
most of them, and they are almost invariably in agreement
with the changes introduced by the Revised Version.
That Version — though still capable of improvement in
many particulars, especially in the much too timid Con
servatism into which the Old Testament Revisers seem to
have been terrified by the clamour raised against the
Revised Version of the New — conferred an inestimable
boon on this age and nation. Year by year it is slowly
yet surely winning its way into popular acceptance. It
has prepared for a still more accurate and perfect version
in the future ; and in that future translation it may be
confidently prophesied that most of the alternative render
ings now relegated to the margin will be incorporated into
the text.

xvi Preface.
And so I send forth this humble contribution to the
dissemination of Biblical knowledge with the earnest
prayer that, by God's blessing, it may, in its small meas
ure, contribute something to the cause of sound learning
and religious education.1
1 As this book is meant for unlearned English readers as well as
for others, I have, for their sake, often pat the Greek words in English
letters. In some instances I give a very literal version of the Greek,
intended to bring ont the exact meaning, but not taken from either
the Authorised or Revised Version.

CONTENTS

THE GOSPELS
PAOJ
St. Matthew  1
St. Mark  46
St. Luke  63
St. John  85
The Acts of the Apostles  126

ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES
The First Epistle to the Thessalonians  169
The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians  177
The First Epistle to the Corinthians  181
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians  207
The Epistle to the Galatians  222
Romans  236
Philippians  253
colossians  262
Philemon  270
ephesians  272
The First Epistle to Timothy  286
The Epistle to Titus  296
The Second Epistle to Timothy  299
b

xviii Contents.

THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES
PAG*
The General Epistle or St. James  303
The First Epistlb General op St. Peter ...... 319
The Epistle to the Hebrews  332
The Epistle of Jude  347
The Second Epistle General of St. Peter  350
The First Epistle of St. John  359
The Second Epistle of St. John  363
The Thtrd Epistle of St. John  364
The Revelation of St. John  365

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
ST. MATTHEW

The word " Gospel " means " Godspel, " or " good news."
The three first Gospels are called "Synoptic Gospels,"
because they furnish a conspectus or "collective view " of
the life of Christ. It may be said, broadly and generally,
that St. Matthew wrote in Jud«a for the Jews ; St. Mark
for the Romans; St. Luke for the Greeks; St. John for
all Christians ; also that St. Matthew's is the Gospel of the
Past, as seen in its fulfilment; St. Mark's the Gospel of the
Present; St. Luke's of the Future; St. John's of Eternity.1
CHAPTER I.
l. " The book of the generation of Jesus Christ." 2
"The book of the generation," or "of the birth" (as
in i. 18), here simply means the genealogical record. The
genealogy is arranged symmetrically by St. Matthew in
three cycles of fourteen generations, not because the number
in each of the three periods (Abraham to David; David to
the Captivity; the Captivity to Christ) is exact, but be
cause a certain symmetry accrues to the genealogy for
memorial purposes by omitting the less important names.
It was common among the Jews to arrange genealogies in
this fashion. "They do," says Lightfoot (Hor. Hebr.)
" so very much delight in such kind of conceits, that they
oftentimes screw up the strings beyond the due measure,
and stretch them till they crack."
1 For further explanations and limitations I must refer to mr
Messages of the Books (Macmillan), pp. 3-121.
* The texts are usually quoted from the Reyised Version.

St. Matthew.

How are we to get over the difficulty of the diversity of
this genealogy from that given by St. Luke (iii. 23-38) ?
It was once thought that St. Luke really gave the
genealogy of the Virgin Mary, his object being to repre
sent the descent of Jesus from Adam as "the Son of
Man;" while St. Matthew, whose Gospel was written
specially for Hebrew converts, gave the genealogy of
Joseph to show that Jesus, who represented His reputed
father, was the Son of David ; and the son of Abraham,
because Abraham was the ancestor of the Jewish race.
This view is untenable, and is now abandoned; but it is
believed that Joseph and Mary were cousins, so that the
genealogy of both was deducible from David.
Volumes have been written to harmonise this apparent
discrepancy : but if we merely assume that in two instances
— that of Joseph's father, and that of Zerubbabel's father,
there had been what the . Jews called " a Levirate mar
riage," i. e. the taking, by a brother, of a childless
brother's widow, in accordance with Deut. xxv. 5, 6, —
all the differences are easily accounted for. In such cases
the son was sometimes called the son of the actual and
sometimes of the reputed father. For instance, if Jacob,
brother of Heli, died childless, and Heli, according to the
Mosaic law, "raised up seed to his brother" by taking
his widow, then legally Joseph of Nazareth would be
regarded as the Son of Jacob; but actually he was the
son of Heli. Accordingly St. Luke gives the actual, St.
Matthew the legal, descent.
Again, in Matt. i. 12, Zerubbabel is called the son of
Shealtiel, the son of Jeconiah: but in Luke iii. 27, the
genealogy runs, " Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of
Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel." x Now, it is almost
certain that the King Jeconiah died childless in his
Babylonian exile, in accordance with the prophecy of
Jeremiah (Jer. xxiii. 30) ; which accounts for the fact that
?
1 The meaning, probably, is " the son of the Rhesa [or " Prince "]
Zerubbabel."

Chapter I. 3
in 1 Chron. iii. 19, Shealtiel (also known as Salathiel) is
called the Son of Pedaiah. If Jeconiah died childless,
and his brother Pedaiah by the Leviate law married his
widow, then Pedaiah's son would have been legally re
garded as the son of Jeconiah, and would have been com
monly so called (as he is in ver. 12).
There is, therefore, no ground for the contemptuous
confidence with which these genealogies are set aside by
some modern writers. The different lines of descent given
by the two Evangelists may be generally accounted for
by known Jewish rules ; and it is forgotten that, had they
been forgeries, St. Matthew would have put into the
hands of the Jews an overwhelming argument against the
accuracy of the Christian records, and St. Luke would
have added tenfold strength to this objection by furnish
ing a different genealogy. See the book On the Genealo
gies of our Lord, by the late Bishop Hervey of Bath and
Wells (1853), and Dr. Mill On the Mythical Interpreta
tion of the Gospels, pp. 147-217. I have given further
arguments on the subject in my Life of Christ, pp. 7, 8.
It may be further noticed that St. Paul, who had been
a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and had been brought up at
the feet of Gamaliel, speaks of Christ as being "of the
seed of David" (Rom. i. 3; 2 Tim. ii. 8), while many of
His earthly kin were still living. We may be sure that
he would not have done so if the Davidic descent could
have been challenged by Jewish genealogists. And it
was the jealousy caused by the fame of this family of
Desposyni, or "royal relatives of Christ," which led the
Emperor Domitian to summon them into his presence.
When he found that they were only of the rank of
peasants, with hands hardened by labour, he contemptu
ously dismissed them (Hegesippus ap. Euseb. H. E. iii.
19, 20). Moreover, the royal descent of Christ is ad
mitted even in the Talmud (Sanhedrin, 43 a. See Deren-
bourg, Palestine, p. 349; Schottgen, Hor. Hebr. pp.
700,703).

St. Matthew.

17. " Fourteen generations."
The exact number of the generations seems to have been
different, and St. Luke gives fifty-six generations from
Adam to Christ; and forty-two (omitting the title Rhesa,
or " Prince ") from David to Christ. St. Matthew only
gives twenty-eight. Thus between David and Jehoiachin
he omits Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah; and in ver. 11,
Jehoiakim is omitted; and between Zerubbabel and Abiud
(or Juda) a generation is omitted.
17. " Unto the Christ."
It is most interesting, and by no means unimportant,
to observe that in the Gospels " Jesus," not "Christ," is
the name by which the Saviour is almost universally
known. Christ first became a proper name in the Epistles.
when it seemed almost too familiar to speak of Him only
by His human designation: but in the Gospels (except
very rarely, Matt. i. 1 ; Mark i. 1, ix. 41 ; Luke xi. 11 ;
John i. 17) we find not the name " Christ," but the title
"The Christ" (i. e. "the Messiah," "the Anointed "). J
Thus, in Matt. ii. 4, the question is " where the Messiah
should be born;" and in Matt. xi. 2, "the works of the
Messiah." The familiar later collocation, "Jesus Christ,"
occurs only in the latest Evangelist (John xvii. 3), and
after the Resurrection (Acts ii. 38; iii. 6).
22. " That it might be fulfilled."
A peculiarity should be noticed in the manner in which
St. Matthew uses the ancient Hebrew prophecies. He
adduces them sometimes in a sort of mystic or allegoric
manner, as though the mere words had prophetic applica
tions, not only beyond their primary significance (as here),
but sometimes even quite apart from their original inten
tion. The correction from " a virgin " of the A.V. into
"the virgin " will help to recall the fact that the prophet
1 In Luke xxiii. 3, and John ix. 22, Christos should be rendered
" an Anointed King," " a Messiah."

Chapter II. 5
Isaiah (vii. 14) says, primarily as a sign to Ahaz, " Be
hold, the maiden is with child, and beareth a son, and
she shall call His name Immanuel." It was because he
was an inspired Prophet that his words and deeds had
"springing and germinal developments," which were
possibly far beyond his own utmost conception. This
Gospel contains sixty-five quotations from the Old Testa
ment — nearly three times more than those in any other
Gospel. It was St. Matthew's main object to show that
Jesus was the promised Messiah.

CHAPTER II.
l. " Wise men."
Literally Magi(Esth. i. 13; Dan. xi. 12; Acts xiii. 6, 8).
6. " And thou Bethlehem."
The prophecy is in Mic. v. 2. We find echoes of it in
the Roman world. Suet., Vesp. 4 ; Tac, Hist. v. 13 ;
Jos., B. J. vi. 5, 4.
11. " Gold and frankincense and myrrh."
These products of the East have been regarded as
symbols. They gave gold to the infant King ; incense to
the God ; myrrh to Him Who should be crucified (Ps. xiv.
8 ; Is. Ix. 6).
" Aurea nascenti fnderunt munera Regi ;
Thura dedere Deo ; myrrham tribuere sepulcro."
The gifts are also typical of what all who seek Christ
should offer — the gold of pure and precious manhood; the
incense of worship ; the myrrh of consecrated sorrow.
15. " Out of Egypt did I call My Son."
Another instance of St. Matthew's mystic and allusive
application of the words of the Hebrew prophets. In

St. Matthew.

Hos. xi. 1, God says that He called His son Israel out of
Egypt, but the son immediately turned to idols.
23. " He should be called a Nazarene."
This prophecy cannot be exactly identified, for in this
form it does not occur. Some connect it with the deriva
tion of the word " Nazareth," which may be from Netzer,
"a branch." It may, therefore, be an allusion to Zech.
iii. 8 ; vi. 12 ; Jer. xxiii. 5 : and more directly to Is. iv.
2 ; xi. 1. Or, again, there may possibly be an allusion
to the meaning of Natsaret, "protectress; " so that Notsri
might mean either "Nazarene " or "my protection." In
the East, Christians are still called Nuzrdny, "Nazarenes."

CHAPTER III.
2. " Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand."
i. In the Greek the plural is used — " the kingdom of the
heavens." St. Matthew uses " heaven " for the "visible
sky; " and "heavens" — with allusion to "the heaven of
heavens," " the seven heavens " of later Jewish particular-
ization — for the abode of God (comp. ver. 17). Even in
the first clause of the Lord's Prayer he has "Our Father
which art in the heavens." " The powers of the heavens "
— i.e. the sun, moon, and stars — in Mark xiii. 25, Luke
xxi. 26, are a quotation from Is. xxxiv. 4.
ii. It is more important to observe that the predominant
word for the gospel dispensation, in its inmost spiritual
and universal force, in the Evangelists is always "the
kingdom of God " or of " heaven." It is very rarely spoken
of as a " Church " — only, indeed, in Matt. xvi. 18, for in
xviii. 17, the word means " the congregation?
4. " His food was locusts and wild honey."
The word translated "locusts " is " akrides, " and some
have supposed it to mean the tender topmost shoots of

Chapter III.

trees. But "locusts," though only eaten by the poorest,
and a most abhorrent sort of food (Lev. xi. 21, 22), are
preserved and sold for food to this day in parts of Arabia.
The fact that St. John ate " locusts " shows that he was
not an Essene, for the Essenes took no animal food.
"Wild honey" (comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 25, 27).
8. " Meet for repentance " (A. V.) .
A.V. marg., "amendment of life." A teaching so
elementary (Heb. vi. 1) was most necessary in that day.
10. " Is hewn down and cast into the fire."
Deep and valuable lessons are often suggested by accu
rate renderings of the Greek tenses. The Revisers were
probably prevented from rendering " is being hewn down
and being cast into the fire," by the fact that " is being"
for "is in the course of being " is regarded as bad and
unauthorised English. Nevertheless, in the poverty of
English tenses, some such phrase is rendered absolutely
necessary, and the Revisers themselves have adopted it in
other instances (1 Cor. i. 18 ; Col. iii. 10) . At any rate,
let us observe the important lesson, that infructuous worth-
lessness not only involves the certainty of ultimate doom,
but is the commencing and continuous reality of inward
destruction. 14. " But John would have hindered Him."
Not, as in A. V., "forbad" Him. The Greek imperfect
often represent attempted acts (" was for preventing
Him"): so in Luke i. 59, "They wanted to call Him;"
Rom. ix. 23, " I could have wished myself anathema."
16. " As a dove."
Not "like a dove" (A.V). The "as" means the soft
gliding movement, not the bodily appearance. To the
mistaken view of the text is due the depicting of the Holy
Spirit as an actual dove. " Coming upon Him" is more
accurate than "lighting."

St. Matthew.

CHAPTER IV.
5. " And he set Him on the pinnacle of the temple."
Not "a pinnacle" (A.V.) ; the particular " little wing "
(pterugion) of the temple is intended, from which the
spectator would gaze into the valley below, to so vast a
depth that the head swam, as Josephus tells us (Antt. xv.
11. 5). It was from such a pinnacle, according to Hege-
sippus {ap. Euseb., H. M, ii. 23), that James, the Lord's
brother, the author of the Epistle, was flung down. This
is only one of very numerous passages in which the correct
restoration by the R. V. of the definite article in the original
adds to the vividness of the narrative, or restores its true
meaning. 10. " Get thee hence, Satan."
Comp. xvi. 23.
14. "By Isaiah."
More correctly " through " (did) . " The prophet " (as in
xxi. 4, and almost every other similar passage) is regarded
as the instrument through whom was delivered the word
spoken by (hupo) God. Thus in i. 22: " spoken by God
through the prophet."
15. " Galilee of the Gentiles."
The better rendering is " Galilee of the nations." Galilee
was so called because of its mixed population, consisting
of more Phoenicians, Arabs, and Greeks than Jews.
18. " Casting a net ; "
21. " Mending their nets."
Here the English versions lose the picturesque dis
crimination of the original eyewitness. The two nets are
different. Peter and Andrew were casting their great

Chapter V. 9
Seine-net, or "drawing-net " (amphiblestron) ; James and
John were mending their small "casting-nets " (diktua).
19. " Fishers of men."
Comp. Jer. xvi. 16.
CHAPTER V.
l. " And seeing the multitudes, He went up into
the mountain."
Often in the Gospels " the mountain " is used generically
for "the mountain district," as opposed to the plain; but
here, and in some other passages, a specific mountain is
meant. The ' ' mount of Beatitudes " was, undoubtedly, the
hill now known as Kurn Hattin (i.e. the horns of Hattin)
from which is a descent to the Plain of Gennesaret by the
Vale of Doves ( Wady Hammam), and from which Safed,
the city set on a hill, is conspicuously seen. St. Luke
says that "He stood on a level place" (vi. 17); and on
Kurn Hattin there is such a platform — "Summoque in
vertice montis Planities " (Verg. Mn. xi. 526).
10. " They that have been persecuted."
This (not "they that are persecuted" A.V.) explains
the following verse. "No persecution for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but rather grievous " (1 Cor. iv. 13) ;
yet those who are suffering persecutions are still blessed,
because they, in their turn, shall inherit the blessedness
into which their precursors in persecution have already
passed. 12. " Be exceeding glad."
Lit. "Exult." (Luke i. 47; vi. 23, "Leap for joy;"
IPet. i. 6, 8.)
15. " The bushel — the lampstand."
The definite articles imply that these were the simple
pieces of furniture of which at least one was found in

io St. Matthew.

every peasant cottage. They draw a picture which would
be familiar to our Lord's poor hearers who lived in little
cottages and possessed but one lamp.
21. " It was said to them of old time."
The "by them" of the A.V. is an error introduced by
Beza. The reference is to a single speaker, Moses, whose
legislation, thus from the first — "speaking with author
ity, and not as the scribes" — our Lord re-enacts; or fills
with deeper spiritual meaning; or repeats; or corrects in
those parts of his legislation which were imperfect conces
sions to the hard-hearted ; or, as in Mark vii. 19, entirely
abrogates. 22. " Every one who is angry with his brother."
The R. V. version rightly omits the gloss, "without
cause," added to the text by some copyist, who perhaps
remembered the injunction, "Be angry and sin not."
22. " Thou fool."
It would have been better to preserve the Hebrew word
Moreh — "Rebel. " (Num. xx. 10, which has nothing to do
with the Greek word more, " O fool.") The Hebrew word
"Raca," "worthless," is retained in the previous clause.
22. " The hell of fire."
This rendering of the R.V. is much better than the
inaccurate "hell fire" of the A.V. (first introduced by
Tyndale), with all the crude connotations attached to that
mistranslation. It would have been better still if our
Revisers had retained, as the Greek does, the Hebrew
term, and rendered it "the Gehenna of fire." Gehenna —
the Valley of Hinnon, or of "the son of Hinnon " (Josh.
xv. 8) — was the loveliest and pleasantest part of the
Wtdy which runs round the walls of Jerusalem. In our
Lord's time it was delightful, with trees and gardens;
but it had been desecrated centuries earlier, by apostate
Jews, with the worship of —

Chapter VI. ii

* Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of infant sacrifice, and parents' tears,
Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud
Their children's cries unheard, who passed through fire
To his grim idol."
On this account it had been purposely defiled with
corpses by Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 10), and huge fires (it
is said) were lighted in it to prevent pestilence. Hence it
became to the Jewish imagination a hideous type of future
retribution. Mediaeval and modern theology have intro
duced into the phrase a mass of alien associations.
35. " Nor by Jerusalem."
Rather "looking towards Jerusalem," as the Kibleh,
or sacred direction of their oath.
36. "By thy head."
Gentiles also swore by the head. Verg. JEn. ix. 300.
38. " An eye for an eye."
This was called the lex talionis, or law of revenge
(Ex. xxi. 24).
46. "Publican."
Here the lowest class of tax-collectors (exactores, porti-
tores), to whom the taxes were sublet by the Roman
contractors.
CHAPTER VI.
1. " Do not your righteousness."
(A.V. "alms.") The true rendering gives us a
glimpse into the conception attached to " righteousness "
as mainly a matter of external service. Further, it makes
the command a broader prohibition against ostentation, in
any form, of religion or of good deeds.
11. " Our daily bread."
This rendering of the disputed word epiousios is fairly
correct and adequate.

1 2 St. Matthew.

13. " Bring us not into temptation."
The change from "lead" into the more accurate
"bring " has been scornfully treated as mere pedantry.
But (i.) it is the accurate translation, and that alone
would suffice to support it. And (ii.) it gives a truer
meaning. To be led is to be taken willingly; but we are
here taught to pray against all the wiles of the devil,
which may come upon us even against our will.
13. " Deliver us from the Evil One."
The word "deliver" means "rescue for thyself."
Comp. 1 Thess. i. 10 ; Col. i. 13.
No change introduced by the R.V. has been more
resented than this. It is not necessitated by the Greek,
which may be neuter as well as masculine; but (i.) our
Lord certainly in other places calls Satan " the Evil
One " (xiii. 19), as St. John does (1 John ii. 13.; iii. 12).
(ii.) Nearly all the Greek fathers and the most ancient
Syriac Versions here understand the phrase of the Temp
ter, by whom our Lord had so recently been "led" (His
own Divine will consenting) into the wilderness.
24. " Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
" Mammon " is not, as is commonly supposed, the name
of a demon, as in Milton's Paradise Lost —
" Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From Heaven."
" Mammon " is simply a Hebrew word for " riches "
(see LXX., Ps. xxxvi. 5).
25. " Be not anxious for your life."
"Be not anxious," is the correct rendering of the
original; the older English, "take no thought for," had
the same meaning; but the phrase has changed its signifi
cance, and in its present sense involves advice which con
tradicts the wis* teaching of Scripture. Prudence for the
future is a duty; anx iety about it is faithless (Phil. iv. 6) •
for all anxious care should be cast on God (1 Pet. v. 7).

Chapter VII. 13

CHAPTER VII.
9. " A loaf."
Not "bread" (as in the A.V.), for the point is the
giving of something which has a sort of delusive resem
blance to the thing asked for. Thus, in the wilderness,
the Tempter had said, " Command that these stones be
come loaves " (iv. 4 marg.), and it is far from unlikely,
that he pointed to some of those desert stones which
exactly resemble loaves, and would by their very sem
blance have mocked the hunger of Jesus.
14. " Few there be that find it."
Comp. Luke xiii. 24: 2 Esd. vii. 1-13: "The entrance
to the fair city was made by one only path, even between
fire and water, so small that there could but one man go
there at once." From this conception is borrowed the
Mohammedan legend of the bridge Al Sirat, which is as
narrow as a hair, over which every believer has to pass
to Paradise.
22. " Cast out devils."
In the margin we have the alternative demons. In most
cases the marginal suggestions are, as here, much superior
to the rendering in the text. The only proper equivalent
of "devil" is " diabolos" (the Accuser). This word only
occurs twelve times in the New Testament. Persons are
possessed, not by devils, but by demons (daimones or dai-
monia), and such persons are called daimonizomenoi.
The daimdn is properly the spirit of some bad man now
dead (Jos., B. J. vii. 6).
22. " Mighty works."
Literally " powers " (dunameis). In the A.V. the
significantly variant words for miracles are much confused.
They are called dunameis, from the power required for

14 St. Matthew.
their performance; megaleia, " mighty works," from the
fact that they are felt to transcend ordinary human power ;
thaumata, " wonders," from the astonishment they inspire ;
terata, "portents," from their amazing character; and,
especially by St. John, semeia (' ' signs "), because they
constituted the credentials of Christ's authority.
29. " He taught them as One having authority, and
not as their scribes."
Among the Jewish teachers of that day — the Scribes,
lawyers, Rabbis, and Pharisees — everything was decided
by authority, precedent, inferential exegesis, and tradition.
They had reduced religion to a mummery of external
ordinances, from which all spirituality had evaporated.
And what struck the multitude most, was that Christ,
by His own authority, appealed from these humanly in
vented nullities to eternal realities, to verities which
needed no human testimony in their support. He did not
say, as we find so incessantly in the Talmud, that ' ' Rabbi
This " declared that " Rabbi That " had said so-and-so in
the name of " Rabbi the Other." A. H. Clough brings out
the sense of astonishment caused by this teaching in his
poem — " ' What is it ye came here to note?
A young man preaching in a boat.'
' A prophet? Prophet wherefore he
Of all in Israel's tribes'? ' —
' He teacheth with authority,
And not as do the Scribes.' "

CHAPTER VIII.
3. " I will ; be thou made clean."
The original by the use of the aorist tense implies the
instantaneousness of Christ's pity. In the two words " I
will; be cleansed!" Christ echoes the two words of the
leper. The touch, involving ceremonial pollution, was a

Chapter VIII. 15

literal violation of the Mosaic law, which Christ repeatedly
transcends by His higher law.
12. " The weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The weeping, indicative of mental anguish, and the
chattering of teeth, a sign of physical pain. They are
figures drawn from the distress of guests thrust out by
night from a banquet.
19. " A scribe."
The margin gives the literal rendering "one scribe," or
as we should say " a solitary scribe." The word is used to
mark that scarcely one of the Rabbis or Pharisees — stereo
typed as they were in the conceited opinionativeness of
their own sham infallibility, and self -deceived by their own
will-worship, and lulled into spiritual atrophy by their
systems of petty ceremonialism — • could be induced to
accept a really Divine and spiritual teaching. There is no
narcotic so deadly as external religiosity.
20. "Nests."
Strictly "resting-places," "bowers." Birds "do not
live in their nests.
20. " The Son of Man."
This title is only used by our Lord of Himself in the
New Testament, and once by St. Stephen (Acts vii. 56).
22. " Leave the dead to bury their own dead."
This is far more vivid and correct than the "Let the
dead bury their dead" of the A.V. It is one of the few
cases in which the same word is used in two senses in the
same clause; leave the spiritually dead to bury their
physically dead.
28. " The Gadarenes."
Three names are used in the somewhat variant readings
to describe this district.
It is called "the country of the Gadarenes," from the

1 6 St. Matthew.
important city of Gadara (Urn Keis), which was, however,
many miles distant from this spot, on the bank of the
Hieromax. It is called " the country of the Gerasenes," from Gerasa,
which is far to the east, almost on the borders of Arabia.
And it is called by St. Luke the country of the Gergesenes,
from the aboriginal tribe mentioned with the Hivites in
Josh. xxiv. 11, one of whose towns was nearly opposite
to Capernaum. Its ruined site is still called Kherza, or
Gersa, by the Bedawin. This was first pointed out by
Dr. Thomson, The Land and the Book, ii. 25.
32. " Rushed down the steep."
The A.V., by its "a steep place," obliterates the accu
racy of the original. Near the modern Wady Kherza (a
corruption of Gergesa) is " the steep," — the only spot on
the eastern side of the lake where the swine could have
perished in this way; for everywhere else along the coast
there is a broad margin of level land between the hills
and the shore.

CHAPTER IX.
9. "Matthew."
"Levi the son of Alphaeus " (Mark ii. 14) ; " a publi
can named Levi " (Luke v. 27). He may have subse
quently taken the name Mattathias, which, like Theodore,
means " Gift of Jehovah."
10. " Sat at meat."
Properly reclined — the universal attitude in the East
at this time.
13. " I desire mercy, and not sacrifice."
In these words we have (i.) our Lord's favourite quota
tion from Hos. vi. 6, 7, a passage which sums up the con
stant protest of the Prophets and Psalms in favour of

Chapter IX. 1 7

spiritual reality and sincerity, as against mere forms,
ceremonies, and the pettiness of elaborate rituals (1 Sam.
xv. 22; Is. i. 11; xvi. 3; Jer. vi. 20; vii. 21; Amos v. 21,
22; Mic. vi. 7; Ps. 1. 8, 9, etc.). It was because of the
deadening, benumbing effect on the minds of the Jews,
produced by the self-deceiving religionism of the Pharisees,
that Christ was constantly compelled to assert the worth-
lessness of outward symbols and ordinances in comparison
with righteousness, (ii.) We have it here also stated that
compassionate love was the one over-mastering impulse of
the mission of the Saviour. All forms of Pharisaism, in
all ages, are essentially hard, selfish calumnious, and cruel.
They breed a self-conceit, which leads immediately to
mean malignity.
14. " We and the Pharisees fast oft."
In the Old Testament there is only one appointed fast,
the Day of Atonement; and as its observance is not else
where mentioned in the Old Testament, it is believed by
many to belong to a much later stratum of priestly legis
lation, which, after the Exile, got incorporated with the
early and Mosaic codes. During the Exile other fasts
were observed; but the prophet Zechariah, when asked
about them, treats them as purely optional and as quite
valueless (Zech. vii.). Later fasts, instituted by Scribes
and Pharisees, could hardly have been numerous, except
those "twice in the week; " so that here the word "oft,"
which is omitted by some ancient MSS., is probably spu
rious. We cannot therefore be sure whether the fasts
alluded to were not mere voluntary " works of supereroga
tion " on special annual occasions. In either case, it is
clear that our Lord did not attach the smallest importance
to them, and that the Apostles with His approval did not
observe them at all.
15. " But the days will come, when the bridegroom
shall be taken away from them."

1 8 St. Matthew.

It shows an astonishing lack of apprehension of the
most fundamental principles of gospel teaching, when this
passage is quoted (as it constantly is) as an argument why
Christians should keep stated fasts ! To interpret the
Christian dispensation as "the days when the bridegroom
is taken from us," is to contradict the plainest and most
constant teaching of the entire New Testament, and
especially of our Lord's own words. The Gospel dispen
sation is one in which — so far from being " taken from
us " — the Bridegroom, by the indwelling of His promised
Spirit, is far nearer to us — "with us" and "inns" —
than He was, in physical presence, among His dearest
Apostles. Hence, as He said, it was "expedient" for us
that He should go away, because only after His departure
could the Spirit be outpoured (John xvi. 7). In the
Mosaic dispensation, the visible Temple was the symbol of
God's presence with His people ; then God's one true Tem
ple was the body of our Lord Jesus Christ ; but now, in this
last age, the mortal body of every faithful Christian is a
Temple of the Spirit, and by His indwelling, Christ is
with us even unto the end of the world (Matt, xxviii. 20) .
15. " And then will they fast."
The allusion is primarily and historically to the period
of anguish between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection ;
and afterwards to special crises of agony and persecution,
when God seemed to have hid, for a moment, the light of
His countenance. Thus all the early Fathers correctly
explained it. None of them made the gross mistake,
corrected in the last paragraph, of regarding the age of the
gospel dispensation as the age of the absence of the Bride
groom from the Church ! Fasting, though nowhere insisted
on as a formal duty in any passage of the New Testament
(apart from ascetic interpolations and false exegesis), comes
inevitably and naturally at periods of intense trial. In
such days, which may be part of God's necessary discipline
of our souls, the Bridegroom, for a time, is taken, or seems

Chapter IX. 19

to be taken, from us. But there are two reasons why
fasting should not be made, as it never has been made for
us, an obligatory ordinance, (i) One is because it acts
very differently upon different temperaments and constitu
tions, (ii) The other, because, when it is real and not
mere amateur fasting, it acts directly and terribly for the
increase, not for the diminution of the power of " the desires
of the flesh and of the mind." On this historic and patho
logical fact, centuries of monastic history are a disastrous
comment. Asceticism rendered the moral life ten times
more difficult, by intensifying the very temptations which
it was supposed to diminish. Ascetics unconsciously thrust
themselves into terrible assaults of the Evil One, and
rendered their own victory needlessly precarious, when (as
in cases without number, of which religious history is full)
they did not ensure their own defeat. St. Jerome con
fesses that when, by fasting, he had reduced his body to a
skeleton, his thoughts were constantly among the lewd
dancing girls of Rome. This was in no small degree due
to the fact that, by such "voluntary humility," he had
reduced his mind into inability to control the desires of the
body. Cardinal Newman was well aware of this fact,
though he erroneously argues that fasting is commanded
in Scripture, and is therefore obligatory. In one of his
sermons he draws a striking and painful picture of the
increased intensity of moral temptation, which results from
real fasting. Amateur fasting is a meaningless unreality.
16, 17. " And no man putteth a piece of undressed
cloth upon an old garment ; for that which should fill
it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is
made. Neither do men put new wine into old wine
skins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled,
and the skins perish: but they put new wine into
fresh wine-skins, and both are preserved."
These corrections in the rendering of the original in the
R.V., for the first time bring out for English readers the

20 St. Matthew.
real meaning of the passage. A piece of unfelted, un
bleached cloth, sewn upon old rotten material, causes the old
stuff to be torn in every direction. And the pure juice of
the grape, put into old leather wine-skins, which retain the
germs of fermentation, ferments and bursts the skins. I
have stated elsewhere the argument, which seems to show
that the "wine " alluded to is originally unfermented (see
my "St. Luke" in Cambridge Bible for Schools, p. 416).
20. " The border of his garment."
Perhaps one of the fringes or tassels (tsitsith), bound
with blue thread, worn by the Jews in accordance with
the Mosaic regulation (Num. xvi. 38 ; Deut. xxi. 12 ;
comp. Matt, xxiii. 5). The trepidation of the woman rose
from the fact that her stolen touch communicated cere
monial pollution (Lev. xv. 25).
23. " The flute-players."
These were among the hired mourners (Eccles. xii. 5 ;
Jer. ix. 17).
CHAPTER X.
3. Thaddaeus is "the three-named Apostle," the same
as Lebbaeus and " Jude of James " (i.e. "the brother " or,
possibly, " the son of James "). If he was a son of James
he was grandson of Alphasus. Ewald identifies him with
Levi (Mark ii. 14), whom he distinguishes from Matthew,
as does Clement of Alexandria (Strom, iv. 9, 23). See
my "St. Luke" (Cambridge Bible for Schools), vi. 13.
4. Simon "the Canansean " is Simon the Zealot (see
1 Mace. ii. 50 ; 2 Mace. iv. 2.) Cananaean is derived from
the Hebrew Kanah, or Zealot (Ex. xx. 5). It has nothing
to do with Kana of Galilee, and still less to do with tho
Canaanites. Simon had, therefore, been a follower of
John of Giscala, and had belonged to the fierce sect which
took Phinsehas (Num. xxv. 11-13) as their example.

Chapter X. 21
5. " These twelve Jesus sent forth."
Of the twelve Apostles, Judas Iscariot, or " the man of
Kerioth" — perhaps a city ten miles south of Hebron —
was the only Jew. The rest were Galilaaans. If the
reading "Iscariot" after the name of Simon "the Zealot"
(in John vi. 71, xiii. 26) be correct, then he was the father
of the traitor.
The other Apostles were all Galilaeans ; and it is
possible — we might almost say probable — that six of
them were first cousins, and two others second cousins,
of our Lord (see my Life of Christ, p. 181.)
9, 10. " Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in
your purses ; no wallet for your journey, neither two
coats, nor shoes, nor staff : for the labourer is worthy
of his food."
They were not forbidden to take gold with them, but to
make it by their mission. They were not to make their
preaching a mode of merchandise.
Purses is literally " girdles." The Jews carried their
money in a fold of their girdles.
".Wallet," or bag, is used for the obsolete "scrip."
Food. This is a better rendering than "meat," which
is now used only for flesh ; and " labourer " is more appro
priate than "workman."
25. "Beelzebub."
The better reading is BeelzebuZ. Beelzebub, god of
Ekron (2 Kings i. 2), is interpreted to mean "lord of
flies " (Jos. Antt. ix. 2, 1), like the Greek Zeus Apomuios.
Beelzebub means "lord of the air," or "of the (celestial)
habitation" (Eph. ii. 2); and "master of the house" may be
a sort of allusion to the name. Others believe that the
name is one of the contemptuous Jewish nicknames (Ex.
xxiii. 13) for this demon, and means "lord of filth."
28. " Soul ... in hell."
Hell should be rendered Gehenna (see on ch. v. 22, p. 10).

22 St. Matthew.

29. " Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing."
Numberless myriads of small birds twitter in the dense
overgrowth of the watercourses which run from the hills
into the lake of Galilee. They were caught and sold as
food to the poor. The variation in the parallel passage,
"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings " (Luke xii. 6)
is very interesting. It shows that so cheap were these
little birds, that if you spent two farthings you got, not
four, but five of them. One was thrown in, as it were, for
nothing, so small was their value. Yet even the little odd
one did not perish without our Father's care.
39. "Life."
Here, as in ch. viii. 22, the same word is used in two senses.
To find the life in the worldly sense may be to lose the
soul, i. e. the spiritual life ; and to lose the earthly life for
Christ's sake is to find the soul in its eternal life.

CHAPTER XI.
2. " The works of the Christ."
/. e. such works as would be expected of the Messiah.
3. "Another."
Rather, " a different Messiah; " " one of another kind."
11. " Yet he that is but little in the kingdom of
Heaven is greater than he."
" But little " is a more accurate rendering of the Greek
(mikroteros) than the "least " of the A.V. He who is less
in the greater sphere of the gospel, is, in privileges, greater
than the greatest in "the inferior" sphere of the old
dispensation. 12. "The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence,
and men of violence take it by force."
The reference is to the energy, and fearless impetuosity
of determination and self-sacrifice, required of all who

Chapter XII. 23

would enter the kingdom of Heaven. It was not to be
won by somnolent acquiescence, and the vis inertice.
19. " But wisdom is justified of her children.
The right reading and rendering are, "And wisdom was
justified by her works."
21. " Chorazin."
It is a curious fact, and it illustrates the fragmentary
character of our records, that this town here selected for
special reproach by Jesus for its indifference to the
" powers " which He had displayed in it. is not once men
tioned elsewhere as the scene of any miracle. Its site was
wholly unknown till it was identified by Dr. Robinson
with the heap of confused and indistinguishable ruins at
Kherza, three miles from Tell HUm (Capernaum).
29. " Meek and lowly in heart."
Comp. 2 Cor. x. 1.
CHAPTER XII.
32. " It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, nor in that which is to come."
It would have been better to retain the more literal
rendering, ' ' neither in this oson, "or " age, " which is given
in the margin. The meaning of this mysterious text is not
that there is an absolutely unpardonable sin, involving
everlasting torments, which is a common misinterpretation
of it; but that the radical spiritual perversion involved in,
not only resisting, but blaspheming the Holy Spirit, has
no forgiveness provided for it, either in the present or the
future aeon, either under the Law or under the Gospel.
38. " Master, we would see a sign from Thee."
They did not regard the powers of healing which Jesus
exercised as a sufficient sign of His Messiahship. They
demanded some conspicuous sign from heaven — some

24 St. Matthew.

stupendous miracle outside the earthly sphere, like Elijah's
"fire from heaven." Similarly, in ch. xvi. 1, our Lord
pointed to the conditions produced by His teaching — "the
signs of the times " — as more decisive than any indication
which could be given from the sky.
40. " For as Jonah was three days and three nights
in the belly of the whale."
Internal evidence, though in this case entirely unsup
ported by external, seems to show that this verse may either
be a later gloss, or an early misinterpretation of our Lord's
allusion. For (i.) as the whole context shows, the reference
is to the repentance of the Ninevites at the preaching of Jonah ;
(ii.) this repentance is alone referred to in the parallel passage
of St. Luke xi. 32 ; (iii.) our Lord was in no sense whatever
— nor by the extremest application of the Jewish way of
reckoning a part for the whole — - three days and three nights
buried, but only one day and two nights, (the parallels
quoted by Dr. Field, Ot. Norv. p. 9, do not cover the three
nights) ; (iv.) there is no other passage in which our Lord
is spoken of, during His earthly death, as being " in the
heart of the earth; " (v.) the other sign referred to (that
of the Queen of Sheba) is spiritual, and not miraculous.
45. " The last state of man becometh [not " is "]
worse than the first."
The demons of Pharisaic religionism wrought deadlier
evils than the cast-out demon of idolatry.

CHAPTER XIII.
2. " Into a boat."
The other reading is "the boat "(as elsewhere). Probably
the boat which Peter and Andrew, or the sons of Zebedee,
had used when they were fishermen, was always at the
disposal of Jesus and the Apostles.

Chapter XIII. 25

2. " Stood on the beach."
This change of " shore " to " beach " was regarded as an
instance of mere pedantic accuracy on the part of the
Revisers ; but (i) " beach" is the exact rendering of aigialos,
and a translation is bound to be exact; and (ii) the word
is one of the many instances in which exactness restores
the evidence that we are dealing with the personal observa
tion of eye-witnesses ; for aigialos means properly a beach of
shingle (Acts xxvii. 39), and is here the accurate word for
this very spot on the shore of the lake, and is suitable to
no other spot on the entire lake; just as " the steep "is to
the one spot on the other side of the lake at which alone the
scene of the destruction of the swine could have occurred.
The sower, the rocky places, the thorns, etc.
The definite articles of the original add greatly to the pic-
turesqueness. Our Lord's parable was doubtless suggested
by a scene which was at that moment going on before
their eyes in a neighbouring field. The soil on that very
spot has all the varieties of loam, and road, and rock, and
thorns, of which the parable speaks.
19. " He that was sown."
This, and not "He that received seed " (A.V.), is the
accurate rendering ; and is therefore rightly restored. The
identification of the persons with the seed sown, so that the
life and growth and decay of the one are coincident with
the life and growth and decay of the other, would not have
seemed harsh to the quicker imagination of Eastern hearers
who were accustomed to the imagery of parables.
20. " Straightway with joy receiveth it ; " y
21. " Straightway he stumbleth."
The use of the same adverb in both clauses emphasises
the fact that the stumbling is as instantaneous as the glad
reception. 38. " The field is the world ; "

26 St. Matthew.

39. " The harvest is the end of the world."
The words rendered "world" are in the original quite
different. In ver. 38, the word is Kosmos, the term invented
by Pythagoras to express the Universe with its wonderful
order and beauty. It means "all mankind" (or "the sum
of infinite being as apart from God "). . In ver. 39 the word
is won (as in ver. 40-49), and the proper rendering (given in
the margin) is not "the end of the world," but the very
different expression " the consummation of the aeon " (comp.
Heb. ix. 26; 1 Cor. x. 11). In Luke ii. 1, the world is
oikoumene, the " inhabited earth : " practically the Roman
Empire. Aion has been defined to be " creation regarded
as a vast system; an immeasurable and orderly develop
ment of being under the condition of time, of which each
* age ' has its distinguishing characteristics." 3
52. " Every scribe who hath been made a disciple
unto the kingdom of Heaven."
Not merely (as in A.V.) " instructed unto the kingdom
of Heaven." " He is made a disciple unto the kingdom;
the Divine order itself is his effective teacher" (W.).

CHAPTER XIV.
8. " Being put forward."
Salome, daughter of Herodias, had not merely been
"before instructed by her mother" (A.V.), but was
urged on by her fierce vindictiveness.
20. " They took up that which remained over of
the broken pieces, twelve baskets full."
The "of the fragments that remained," in the A.V.
does not indicate that the broken pieces (klasmata) were
those which had been broken (klasas) by Jesus. It has
1 Bishop Westcott of Durham On the Revised Version, p. 127 and
on p. 209. I shall henceforth refer to his comments by the letter W.

Chapter XV. 27

not been found possible to reproduce in English the subtle
and unsuspected indication of perfect accuracy supplied by
the original, which invariably uses two different words for
" baskets " in describing the two miracles of the loaves. In
describing this miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thou
sand, the Evangelists invariably use the word spurides
(sportulce), from virelpw, "I twist." The word means
large fishing-baskets made of rope ; but in describing the
later miracle of the Feeding of the Seven Thousand (which
occurred at a different time, and in a different scene), they
no less invariably use the word kophinoi, which means
smaller hand-baskets made of withies (Jer. vi. 9). Per
haps "rope-baskets," or "frails," might have been used
for spurides, and "hand-baskets" for kophinoi (comp. xvi.
9, 10; Mark viii. 19-20). The Jews, when in contact
with the heathen, always carried wicker-baskets about
with them, to keep their food from pollution (Juv., Sat.
iii. 14; vi. 542).
26. " It is an apparition."
If "apparition" is a new word introduced into the
R.V., so is phantasma, which occurs only once in the
Greek of the New Testament. The introduction of these
accurate renderings serves to show how much more rich
was the vocabulary of the Apostles and Evangelists than
had been known to English readers.

CHAPTER XV.
3. " Why do ye also transgress the commandment
of God because of your tradition ? "
"Eor the sake of" these traditions they actually broke
God's real laws. Their ' ' tradition, ' ' — the Torah Shebeal
peh, or "law upon the mouth," i. e. mere oral regulations,
not contained in the written Law (or Torah Shebeqtab)
— was a mass of frivolous liturgiology, a meaningless and
valueless system of inferential casuistry, supported by

28 St. Matthew.

petty falsities of impossible exegesis. It made no human
being better in the most infinitesimal degree ; on the con
trary, it made men much worse, by fostering in their
minds a small effeminate conceit, filling them with false
conceptions of God, and leading them to substitute finical
ceremonialism for genuine righteousness. It was thus that
"Pharisaism" has come to describe a hypocritic and ex
ternal religiosity, which was specially hateful to Christ,
because it was the corruption of genuine religion. This
was why He more than once blighted the whole body of
scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees, and them only, with " the
sevenfold flashes " of His terrible invective. He regarded
them as less hopeful than the publicans and the sinners.
And this was why these ' ' religious ' ' committed the worst
of crimes in bringing about the crucifixion of the Saviour
of the world.
27. "But she said, Yea, Lord: for even the dogs
eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters'
table." Our Lord, to try her splendid faith, had said, "It is not
meet to give to Gentiles the boons intended primarily for
the Jews, any more than it is meet to take the bread
meant for the children and fling it to the dogs." Her
answer may mean, "Yea, Lord, it is meet; for even the
dogs do partake of the children's food, since they eat the
fragments flung to them under the table ; so that even I,
whom Jews might describe as belonging to the ' dogs of
Gentiles,' may claim a crumb of the benefits which you
richly extend to them." The psichia, or "crumbs," in
clude the apomagdaliai — bits of bread on which the
guests wiped their hands and then cast them to the dogs.
37. " Baskets."
See note on ch. xiv. 20.

Chapter XVI. 29

CHAPTER XVI.
1. " A sign from heaven."
See note on ch. xii. 38.
18. " And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build My Church ; and the
gates of Hades shall not prevail against it; I will
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven :
and whatsoever thou shalt hind on earth shall he
hound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall he loosed in heaven."
The meaning of these verses has been subjected to
immense perversion, partly (i.) from ambition and igno
rance, and partly (ii.) from total neglect of all attempts to
ascertain the meaning which they must have conveyed to
those who originally heard them. But " Scriptura est
sensus Scripturse " — Scripture is the real meaning of
Scripture, not the perversion of its literal phrases. The
passage bears on (i.) the prerogative of Peter, as the
Apostle who first admitted Gentiles into the fold; (ii.)
the power of the keys, i.e. of teaching the truths of the
kingdom, and bringing out its hidden treasures (Rev. iii.
7) ; (iii.) the power of binding and loosing, i.e. of declar
ing what precepts were, and were not, valid (comp. Acts
xv. 9); a power which was given, no less, to all the
Apostles (ch. xviii. 18). A common proverb of the day
was that Shammai "bound" (i.e. declared certain Rab
binic precepts to be obligatory) and Hillel "loosed"
(i.e. denied their validity).
Volumes of controversy have been written upon this
passage, but it must suffice here to state what is, and what
is not, its certain meaning.
Our Lord did not call Peter "a rock." He said,
"Thou art Petros ('a stone'), and on this rock (jpetra)

30 St. Matthew.

— the rock of which thou art an isolated fragment, or the
rock of the truth which thou hast confessed — I will build
My Church. " Christ, and no man, is at once the founda
tion (themelion) and the chief corner stone (2 Cor. iii.
11). The Church was, in a secondary sense, built on the
foundation, not of Peter only, but "of the Apostles and
Prophets" (Eph. ii. 20).
17. "Barjonah."
St. Peter is called both "the son of Jonah " and, in the
true reading elsewhere, "the son of John " (John i. 43;
xxi. 15). Jonah may either mean "a dove," or may be
a shortened form of Johanan, John, "the grace of
Jehovah"; and there seems to be an allusion to this
etymology in the words which follow. There is no dis
crepancy; Jonah and John are different forms of the same
name. 18. " My Church."
The word Ecclesia occurs in the Gospels only here and
at ch. xviii. 17, where it refers primarily to the Synagogue.
The word is thus found twice in the Gospels, but a hun
dred and twelve times in the Epistles.
18. " The gates of Hades."
Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 55; Rev. i. 18.
23. " Get thee behind Me, Satan."
" Satan " means "adversary," "enemy." The stern
ness of this rebuke, and the fact that Peter, "minding
not the things of God, but the things of men," immedi
ately after his great confession became "a stumbling-
block to Christ," ought to have shown how enormous is
the exaggeration in the interpretations of the privileges
assigned to him in the previous verse. If he was generous,
and showed quick insight and courage, he also repeatedly
showed himself capable of faults and errors to a greater
extent than any other Apostle.

Chapter XVII. 31

CHAPTER XVII.
15. "Epileptic?'
Here the " lunatic " of the A.V. is more closely accurate
than the "epileptic," of the R.V. For, though the symp
toms of the boy are those of epilepsy, the word used is
derived from Selene, "the moon," and means "moonstruck."
24. " They that receive the half-shekel."
The half-shekel — in Greek didrachma — was a recog
nised voluntary contribution per head, of about eighteen.
pence, paid by every Jew to the maintenance of the Temple
and its service (Ex. xxx. 12-16). A shekel is represented
by the Greek stater (worth about three shillings).
The fact that neither our Lord nor Peter had the money
on hand, illustrates the life of poverty in which they lived.
The story which follows is narrated here, and here only.
It is only told, apparently for the sake of our Lord's re
mark about " sons " and "strangers." It differs in every
respect from the other miracles of Christ, and some have
suspected a possibility of early misapprehension in the
narrative, since it might have seemed sufficient to sell the
fish, and so pay the money. Further, this is the only
miracle — if a miracle was intended — of which the issue is
not told us. The word rendered "Thou shalt find" is
often used merely for "Thou shalt get," or " obtain."
CHAPTER XVIIL
6. The word " a great millstone " in the original is
onikos — a millstone so large as to require to be turned by
an ass. On the form of punishment mentioned, comp.
Juv., Sat. viii. 213.
8. '¦'¦Eternal."
This is, in all cases, the proper rendering of aionios. It
does not mean "everlasting" but "agelong," or "pertain-

32 St. Matthew.

ing to an eeon." As regards time, it is a perfectly general
expression, and is generally used of things which belong
to a timeless sphere.
17. "And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto
the Church."
The word "Church" here means simply the local con
gregation. It is found in the Gospels only twice — here
and in xvi. 18.
18. See note on ch. xvi. 19.
24. " Ten thousand talents."
That is about £2,600,000.
28. " A hundred pence''
Denaria. Little more than £3 10s.

CHAPTER XIX.
3. " Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for
every cause?"
The question bore on an incessant subject of dispute
between the two great Pharisaic schools — the school of
Shammai, which " bound," i.e. interpreted all the Mosaic
and Rabbinic regulations very strictly, and the school of
Hillel, which " loosed," i.e. admitted of exceptions and
kindly modifications. The school of Shammai interpreted
the phrase ervath dabhar ("matter of nakedness," Deut.
xxiv. 1), in the sense that only adultery could justify
divorce ; the school of Hillel said that a woman might be
divorced even for putting too much salt in her husband's
soup. The object of the question may, however, have been to
entangle our Lord in political difficulties, since questions
about divorce were constantly discussed in the schools
with reference to the marriages in the Herodian families,
and especially the marriage (?) of Herod Antipas with

Chapter XX. 33

Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. Our Lord distinctly
intimated that, in this instance, the school of Shammai
was morally right. The Pharisees of Hillel's school tried-
to show that this was a disparagement of Moses, who had
permitted divorce; but Jesus raised the whole question
into a Divine and more spiritual atmosphere.
24. " And again I say unto you, It is easier for a
camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of God."
The expression was proverbial, and implied the extreme
of difficulty. Some explain the reference of the difficulty
of getting a heavily loaded camel through the small side-
gate of a town, which is said to have sometimes been called
"the needle's eye." The notion that camel (kam.elos) is a
mistake for " kamilos," a " rope," is quite untenable. If our
Lord used the proverb in its literal sense, He is only
illustrating human impossibility, which still leaves all
things possible to God. (Comp. xxiii. 24.)

CHAPTER XX.
2. " A penny a day."
There is a difficulty about the best rendering of the
names of coins in the New Testament. "A penny" is,
however, a seriously objectionable version, since ignorant
readers (who are the majority) would regard it as unfair
wage for a day's work. " A shilling " would be much
nearer the value of the coin mentioned — the Latin dena
rius. The margin gives its value at 8%d.
13. "Friend."
The word is not phile but hetaire, and should rather
be rendered " comrade." In usage it resembles the famil
iar use of " mate." It occurs again in xx. 12, xxvi. 50;
and there the distinction, though not noticsd^eaeenJafc^ha
R.V., is important. 3

34 St. Matthew.

CHAPTER XXI.
7. " And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on
them their garments ; and He sat thereon."
This is one of the very few passages in the Gospels into
which some misapprehension seems possibly to have crept
in the course of transcription. From the parallel passages
we infer that there was only one animal — the colt (John
xii. 14 ; Mark xi. 2 ; Luke xix. 30). The notion that
there were two may have arisen from the misapprehension
of the Hebrew structure of poetic parallelism in ver. 5.
9. " Hosanna."
" Save now! " (Ps. cxviii. 25.)
12. " The seats of them that sold the doves."
The definite article points to the reminiscences of an eye
witness familiar with "the doves," which were sold in
large numbers because they were the offerings of the poor.
13. " A den of robbers."
The " thieves " of the A.V. is very misleading.
"Thieves," the Pharisaic and other guardians of the
temple, with few exceptions, were not. They — especially
the House of Annas — were " robbers," whose extortionate
demands were made openly: and they used the Temple
courts for their cattle, as the robbers used their caverns.
15. " The children."
Probably members of the Levitic choirs.
19. "A fig tree."
More correctly, "one," i.e. "a solitary fig tree." On
the expectation of early spring-fruit on the tree, see Is.
xxviii. 4; Jer. xxiv. 2 ; Hos. ix. 10.
21. " Unto this mountain."
This is a Jewish proverb. A Rabbi who was very suc
cessful in gaining answers to his prayers was called "the
mountain-mover" (goker hanm).

Chapter XXII. 35

32. " Did not even repent yourselves afterward."
The R.V., by this phrase, tries to express the different
verbs for repentance. One (metanoeisthai) involves an
entire change of mental and moral disposition ; the other
(metamelesthai) expresses regret and remorse. Even " re
pentance " hardly expresses the full sense of the regenera
tion which iiollows genuine " metanoia; " but, as with agape,
"love, " the word has to be transfigured into a sense deeper
and nobler than that which it conveyed to heathen ears.
42. A stone.
See Acts iv. 11 ; Eph. ii. 20 ; 1 Pet. ii. 6 ; comp. Is.
xxviii. 11.
44. " Will scatter him as dust."
Literally, " will winnow him as chaff." The rare Greek
word is suggested by the rendering of the LXX. in
Dan. ii. 44.
CHAPTER XXII.
2. " His servants."
Literally his slaves, who here represent human ministers,
whereas the diakonoi of ver. 13, also rendered "servants,"
are angelic ministrants.
9. " The partings of the highways."
The meetings of cross roads, where idlers assembled.
The servants only going to "the highways" performed
too slackly the king's behest.
12. "Friend."
Rather "comrade." See note on ch. xx. 13.
16. The " Herodians."
A political party, some of whom wanted to pass off
Herod the Great as the promised Messiah. They and the
Pharisees were usually most hostile to each other, but here
they unite to entrap the Lord of life.

36 St. Matthew.

24. " His brother shall marry his wife."
The question bore on the discussions of the Rabbinic
schools in connection with the marriages of the Herodian
princes. See note on ch. xix. 3 ; comp. Mark x. 2.
37. " Which is the great commandment in the
law?" This was a question often discussed in the Rabbinic
schools. One Rabbi (R. Joseph ben Rabbse) had decided
that the greatest commandment of the law was, that which
commanded the wearing of fringes ! The lawyer need not
have asked ; for the "great commandment " was one of the
four texts (Deut. vi. 5) enclosed in his own phylactery.
40. " Hangeth the whole Law and the Prophets."
The change from the "hang" of A.V. might seem
trivial and superfluous, though accurate. It is not so. It
illustrates the Jewish opinion which placed the Law on a
much higher stage of inspiration than the Prophets, and,
as here implied, made the Prophets a sort of appendage to
the law.
CHAPTER XXIII.
5. " Make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the
borders of their garments."
The wearing of phylacteries (tephillin) — little leathern
boxes with pockets for texts in them — arose from a
woodenly literal interpretation of Deut. vi. 8 ; Ex. xiii. 9,
16 (see my article on "Frontlets" in Smith's Dictionary
of the Bible). The "borders" are the fringes, called by
the Jews tsitsith. Two hung at the bottom of the robe,
one over the shoulder.
6. " Love the chief place."
Thus, when Simeon ben Shetach was recalled from the
flight, which he had rendered necessary by cheating his
king (see on ver. 25), he quietly entered the banqueting
hall, and seated himself between the king and queen,
claiming the seat as due to his wisdom !

Chapter XXIII. 37
17. "Ye fools."
The Greek word is moroi. It is a far severer term of
reproach than anoetoi ("void of discernment"), which
was applied by Christ to His disciples, and is mistakenly
rendered "fools " by the A.V. in Luke xxiv. 25.
24. " Which strain out the gnat."
To avoid the faintest chance of ceremonial pollution
from swallowing the body of a midge, they strained the
water they drank.
25. "Within they are full from extortion and
excess." This is a condemnation of the intense avarice which
marked the character of the priests and Pharisees of that
day. This dishonest greed is the subject of many stories
of the Talmud. Even the Pharisaic Saint and Nasi
(President of the Sanhedrin), Simeon ben Shetach, dis
tinctly cheated his king, Alexander Jannseus, of the fees
paid by one hundred and fifty Nazarites, and impudently
defended the fraud.
33. " How shall ye escape the judgment of hell?"
Rather " of Gehenna'' The rendering of krisis, judg
ment, by " damnation," is a serious error of the A.V.
35. " Zachariah the son of Barachiah, whom ye slew
between the sanctuary and the altar."
Some mistake seems here to have crept into the text.
In 2 Chron. xxiv. 20-22, we read of the murder in the
Temple of the priest Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, whose
last words were, "The Lord look upon it and require it."
This is recorded in the book of latest date in the Old
Testament, and legends had accumulated round the death
of Zechariah. It had made a deep impression on the
national mind. Another Zechariah, the son of Baruch, or
Barachiah, was slain by the Zealots in the midst of the
Temple thirty-four years after this time (Jos., B. J. iv. 5. 4).

38 St. Matthew.

The Old Testament prophet Zechariah was also " a son of
Barachiah," but we have no record that he was murdered.
The words, "son of Barachiah" (omitted in the Sinaitic
MS.), are probably an early and erroneous gloss, and our
Lord referred to the son of Jehoiada.
The A.V. has " between the temple and the altar,"
which is incorrect, as the altar was in the Temple ; but it
was not in the Naos, or sanctuary. The name "temple"
was given to the whole sacred enclosure.
CHAPTER XXIV.
1. On the glittering buildings of the Temple, see the
famous description of Josephus (B. J. v. 2).
3. " The end of the world."
Rather (as in ch. xiii. 39, 40) " The consummation of
the age." On this correction depends the whole meaning
of the subsequent discourse, much of which would be unin
telligible if it referred only to "the end of the world."
But in speaking of the "consummation of the age," our
Lord had in view two horizons — the one near (w. 5-22),
the other far distant (vv. 23-31). The destruction of
Jerusalem, and the consequent close of the Jewish dispen
sation, was "the consummation of the age" — what the
Jews called "this age " (Olam-haZeh), in which He and
His disciples were then living (w. 5-22) . Another ceon —
the Olam-ha bah, or "future age" — that of the gospel
dispensation, was to follow, and when that comes to an
end (vv. 23-31), there will come also the end of the present
world, both as a kosmos, or existing order of creation, and
as an oikoumene, or inhabited earth (ver. 14).
5. Antichrists. See 1 John ii. 18.
8. " Are the beginning of travail."
Not "of sorrows " (A.V.). The word is immeasurably
more significant. The disasters and calamities spoken of
would kindle no despair when it was remembered that

Chapter XXIV. 39
these were only " birth-pangs, " or " travail-throes " of
something better.
This alters the entire aspect of the prophecy, and robs it
of all its hopelessness. It is strongly dwelt upon and
expanded in the Epistles (see especially Rom. viii. 22).
The " travail-pangs " would end in the regeneration of the
present order — the Palingenesia or Apokatastasis of the
world (comp. Mark xiii. 8; John xvi. 21). In this ex
pression then, so unfortunately obliterated in the A. V., lies
the conception of "cycles of life," age growing out of age;
and the birth of each new age causing the throes of mother
hood. It is thus that —
" Through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns."
Through "manifold changes in the conditions of our earthly
being " is wrought " the completeness of each period of the
discipline of creation " (see the admirable remarks of
Bishop Westcott, Revised Version, p. 186).
15. " The abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet."
" The abominable wing (kanaph) which maketh desolate,"
to which Daniel alluded, was the little heathen altar erected
by Antiochus Epiphanes, on the top of the great altar of
sacrifice, when he desecrated and defiled the Temple pre
cincts. Perhaps the turn of expression in the Hebrew may
have been due to the fact that on this altar was carved
the figure of the Syrian or Roman eagle.
The abominations of desolation after the Crucifixion
were many, but the definite allusion may be to the Roman
eagles and standards carried by the victorious Romans into
the very sanctuary at the destruction of the Temple by Titus
(A.D. 70), within the lifetime of some whom our Lord was
then addressing.
29. " The sun shall be darkened."
See Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8; Joel ii. 28-32.

40 St. Matthew.
51. " Shall cut him asunder."
If this be the meaning, we must compare 1 Sam. x. 33;
Dan. ii. 5; iii. 20; Susanna, 59.

CHAPTER XXV.
6. " Our lamps are going out."
The "are gone out" of the A.V. is happily erroneous
(see Preface, p. vi). The word sbennuntai means literally
' ' are being quenched." The oil of Divine grace within the
lamp of our mortal life may be wasted and desecrated, but
happily it is never quite lost. If it were, man would
become a mere beast, or, like the terrible description of
Dante (Inf. xxxiii. 121—135), a corpse animated only by a
demon. Deep lessons for our meditation, alike in the way of
comfort and of warning, lie in the uses of the present tense
by Apostles and Evangelists. Many of these, overlooked
by the A.V., have been restored to English readers by the
R.V. 14. " A man going into another country."
This parable has a very peculiar historic interest, and
throws light on the actual human sources from which our
Lord sometimes derived the general conception of His
parables. It is the only instance in which we can connect
a parable of the Gospels with historical events. The man who
goes into another country to seek a kingdom is Archelaus, son
of Herod the Great. Left heir of the chief part of Herod's
kingdom by the last will of his father, altered within five
days of his death, Archelaus had to travel to Rome to
obtain from the Emperor Augustus the confirmation of his
heritage. During his absence he had to leave the king
dom under commission to his kinsmen and servants, some
of whom were wise and faithful, and others much the
reverse. The circumstances of the succession of Archelaua

Chapter XXV. 41

would be recalled to Christ's memory as He passed the
magnificent palace which this tyrant had built at Jericho.
20. " After a long time."
Archelaus was absent at Rome for some months.
24. " A hard man."
The grasping character of Archelaus made him unpopular
from the first, and the hatred felt for him was increased by
his deadly cruelties. The events to which our Lord here
distantly refers had occurred in His own infancy.
33. " The shepherd separateth the sheep from the
goats." Literally " the kids." It should be observed that kids as
well as sheep are under the kind care of the good shepherd.
Hence in the Catacombs "the Fair Shepherd "is often
represented with a kid, not a lamb, upon his shoulders.
The best comment on this fact is found in the beautiful
sonnet of Mr. Matthew Arnold.
" ' He saves the sheep, the goats he cannot save,' —
So spake the fierce Tertullian. But she sighed,
The Infant Church ; of love she felt the tide
Stream on her from her Lord's yet open side.
And then she smiled ; and in the Catacombs,
In those halls subterranean, where she hid
Her head mid ignominy, shame, and glooms,
She her good Shepherd's faithful image drew,
And on His shoulders not a lamb but kid."
46. " And these shall go away into eternal punish
ment, but the righteous into eternal life."
The adjective in both instances is aionios, and ought in
both instances to have been rendered by the same English
word. The fatal preference for variety of expression, in
place of accuracy of representation, which runs through the
A. V., has here caused a serious mistake. It leads unedu
cated readers to attach to " punishment " the conception
of invariable endlessness, and it fosters the pernicious de-

42 St. Matthew.

lusionthat " eternal" means "never-ending." "Eternity,"
when understood as it is set forth in Scripture, involves the
absolute exclusion of the conception of time, and sequence,
instead of its endless prolongation. To the eternal God one
day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day. In the true point of view eternity belongs to a
timeless order. It can be crowded into an hour, and
an hour can be expanded into eternity. Life — true
spiritual life in God — is eternal, and the spirits of the just
"progressing the dateless and irrevoluble circle of eternity
shall clasp inseparable hands in joy and bliss in over-
measure for ever." Punishment is also " eternal," in that
it belongs to a condition which transcends, and excludes the
mere mode of thought which we call Time, which has no
existence except as a necessary limitation of our finite
imperfection (see John xvii. 3).
CHAPTER XXVI.
12. " For my burial."
Comp. 2 Chron. xvi. 14.
15. " They weighed unto him thirty pieces of
silver." This correct rendering is not only more vivid, but it adds
a touch of horror to the crime of Judas, by showing how
deliberately the reward of iniquity was paid to him. The
expression also recalls Ex. xxi. 32 (Zech. xv. 12).
25. "Is it I, Rabbi?"
Judas speaks last of all, uneasily, out of due time, and,
instead of addressing Jesus with affectionate reverence as
' ' Lord " as all the rest had done, calls him only by the cold
and formal title of " Rabbi."
28. " My blood of the covenant."
The word "new" is omitted in many MSS., and
"covenant" is more correct than "Testament," especially

Chapter XXVI. 43
as there is an allusion to " the blood of the covenant " in
Ex. xxiv. 8. That Mosaic covenant had now waxed old,
and was ready to vanish away.
49. "And straightway he came to Jesus, and said,
Hail, Rabbi ! and kissed him."
Again Judas addresses Jesus with the cold and formal
title "Rabbi," and not only "kissed Him" but, with
overacted and probably alarmed hypocrisy, "kissed Him
much " (katephilesen).
50. " Friend, do that for which thou art come."
Here, again, Jesus does not desecrate the title "Friend,"
but called Judas ' ( Comrade " (hetaire). Hence the beauti
ful Latin lines, founded on the Vulgate rendering " Amice,"
are mistaken — " Si honoras, 0 dulcis Domine,
Inimicum amici nomine,
Quales erunt amoris carmine,
Qui te canunt et modulamine? "
The sentence of our Lord is, in the original, broken and
agitated, "that for which thou art here ..." In other
words, " What thou art doing, do quickly." " There is no
need for this exaggerated kissing. It is an idle sham and
waste of time. I know thy evil purpose. Carry it out."
55. " A robber."
Not a mere "thief," who would not have required a
whole cohort to arrest him, but "a robber," like the ban
dits against whom Herod the Great and the Romans had
so often fought.
The delight with which men insultingly mocked their
victims " and made game of them " before murdering them
illustrates the terrible spirit of cruelty which in those days
left no room for compassion.
33. "Golgotha."
The Latin form of this name, "Calvary," does not
occur in the New Testament. The low hill was so called

44 St. Matthew.

from its shape. The name led to the legend about Adam's
skull lying at the foot of the Cross (as is often represented
in Italian pictures).
33. " Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani."
Ps. xxii. 1. See on Mark xv. 34.

CHAPTER XXVII.
9. " Gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord
appointed me."
The prophecy is found in Zech. xi. 12, 13, whom St.
Matthew never names, though he quotes him three times
(chs. xxi. 5; xxvi. 31; xxvii. 9). There are, however,
allusions to "the potter's field" in Jer. xviii. 2; xxxii.
8-12. The scrupulous-unscrupulous chief priests did not
shrink from bribing the wretched apostate to betray inno
cent blood, but are much too holy to put the money — the
nought for which he has sold his Lord — into the corbanas,
or sacred treasury.
19. " His wife."
Her name was Claudia Procula.
27. "The palace."
The Greek word is borrowed from the Latin praetorium.
It means "judgment hall," or head-quarters of the governor.
The Roman procurators of Judsea, not content with the
smaller palace built by Simon the Just, which the Asmo-
naean princes had occupied in Jerusalem, had taken posses
sion of the much more magnificent palace built by Herod
the Great, the unparalleled splendour of which is described
at length by Josephus. At this time Herod Antipas, who,
to please the Jews, came to Jerusalem at "the three
yearly feasts," was occupying the Asmonsean palace.
28. " A scarlet robe."
Probably the cast-off chlamys of some high officer

Chapter XXVIII. 45
29. " They kneeled down before Him."
It adds to the intensity of the mockery that they did
not merely "bow the knee" (A.V.), but actually knelt
to Jesus in flagrant and elaborate insult. Canon Field
(Otium Norvicense) illustrates the passage by a quotation
from Plutarch's Life of Pompey, in which he describes
how the pirates whom Pompey suppressed, when they
captured a Roman citizen who tried to terrify them with
his Civis Romanus sum, used to dress him in full official
dress, toga and calcei, and then in pretended terror smote
their thighs, fell on their knees before him, and asked
pardon — ending the grim jest by bidding him depart, and
pushing him down a ladder into the sea.
51. " The veil of the temple."
Comp. Heb. x. 19, 20.
73. " Thy speech bewrayeth thee."
The Aramaic st was pronounced as th, and Mr. Carr
says perhaps Peter said, "I know not the ith" (for ish,
"man").
CHAPTER XXVIII.
18-20. — In these verses we should note that to Jesus
was given " all authority '' (exousia) in heaven and on earth,
and that He bids the disciples not only " to teach," but
' ' to make disciples of" all the nations ; rand to baptise them
into — not merely " in " — the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost, that their human life
might be actually incorporated into the Divine Life, and
consigned to the loving, redeeming, sanctifying power of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And He promises to be
with them all the days, even unto the consummation of
the age.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK
The characteristics of the style of this Gospel are vivid
ness, abruptness, brevity. It is believed that St. Mark
reflects to a great extent the mind and memory of St.
Peter. We find in him many interesting touches and
details.1 That he wrote primarily for Romans is illus«
trated by the fact that he has eight Latin words — legio,
centurio, quadrans,flagellare, census, sextarius, speculator,
prtetorium. He also quotes the actual Aramaic words of
our Lord — Ephphatha, Talitha cumi, Boanerges, Abba,
Corban.
CHAPTER I.
1. " Jesus Christ."
Our Lord was never called by this compound title till
after the Resurrection.
2. " In Isaiah the prophet."
This is the true reading. The "By the Prophets" of
the A.V. is, perhaps, a correction to get over the difficulty
that the quotation is a combination of Is. xi. 3, and Mai.
iii. 1. This is St. Mark's only personal reference to the
Prophets, if ch. xv. 28 be an interpolation.
4. " In the wilderness."
Jeshimon, "the horror " (1 Sam. xxiii. 19).
5. " There went out to Him."
The word implies a continuous pilgrimage — kept
streaming out to him.
1 For events also recorded in St. Matthew, see the notes to that
Gospel.

Chapter II. 47

10. " Straightway."
"Straightway " is a characteristic of the rapid style of
St. Mark, in whom the word occurs forty-one times.
10. " Rent asunder."
This impetuous and vivid expression also illustrates
the style of the Evangelist, as does the phrase, "The
Spirit driveth him forth, " in ver. 12 (implying a Divine
impulse); and the new detail, "He was with the wild
beasts;" and the rapid question of ver. 27, "What is
this ? A new teaching ! "

CHAPTER II.
16. " The scribes and Pharisees."
The better reading seems to be "the scribes of the
Pharisees" (R.V.), i.e. the special students of the law
(Sopherim) in the Pharisaic party.
18. " John's disciples and the Pharisees were
fasting." Not "used to fast" (A.V.). The fretful impatience
produced by fasting made them look on the freedom of the
Apostles with sullen jealousy.
23. "Began, as they went, to pluck the ears of
corn." More literally, "began to make a way (for themselves)
by plucking," or " to make their way plucking."
26. " Ahiathar."
In 2 Sam. viii. 17, 1 Chron. xviii. 16, the high priest
is named Ahimelech, who was the father of Abiathar: but
see 1 Sam. xxii. 20. In the incident referred to (2 Sam.
xx. 25) Abiathar may have beena ssisting his father,
Ahimelech, and may have been the actual priest who gave
David the shewbread.

48 St. Mark.

CHAPTER III.
5. " Grieved at the hardening of their hearts."
The same word, porosis, is in the Epistles rendered
"blinding." It implies the general process of moral
petrifaction, which ends in making men's hearts impervi
ous to any good influence. Rom. xi. 25; Eph. iv. 18.
Comp. Mark. vi. 52; viii. 17; Jer. xii. 40.
In the LXX. the word only occurs in 1 Kings xiv. 6.
29. " Is guilty of an eternal sin."
Not, as in A.V., of "eternal damnation," or even
"judgment." An "eternal sin " is one which, by the
depth of its guilt, excludes all present possibility of the
action of the Holy Spirit which it blasphemes — a sin
which has become a state of the soul, and so passes beyond
the earthly order of the present altogether.
34. " Behold My mother and My brethren."
Our Lord, while He treated His mother with all re
spect and tenderness, seems designedly to check every
attempt to exalt her into an object of adoration.
CHAPTER IV.
1. " By the sea-side."
Literally, " along the sea," i.e. in the towns, villages,
and gatherings of travellers, along the western coast of
Gennesaret. 1. " Into the boat."
It is possible that one boat, perhaps the one which had
belonged to Simon and Andrew (see ch. iii. 9), was placed
permanently at our Lord's disposal.
13. Know ye not this parable [i.e. its obvious mean
ing] ? — how then shall ye recognize [get to know] the
meaning of all the parables? "

Chapter V. 49
36. " As he was."
A graphic touch. Comp. "sat thus by the well"
(John iv. 6).
37. " Was now filling."
John iv. 4: not "was now full" (A.V.). This is a
touch added by an eye-witness, as is also the mention of
"the cushion". (A.V. "a pillow"), the wooden seat,
perhaps, covered with leather, on which the steersman sat
(only found here and in Ezek. xiii. 18, 20). Characteris
tic also of St. Mark's style is the abrupt question in ver.
41, "Who then is this?"
Every one of these chapters is full of bright incidental
details which the careful reader will easily notice for him
self. Essential points of thought have been touched upon
in dealing with the parallel passages in the other Gospels.
CHAPTER V.
15. Such howling naked maniacs, who haunt ceme
teries, are still found in the lonelier parts of Palestine
(see Warburton, The Crescent and the Cross, iii. 352).
35. " Why troublest thou the Master? "
The Greek skulleis was originally a slang term, which
might be rendered, "Why dost thou bother or worry the
Master to no purpose?" Comp. Matt. ix. 36; Luke
vii. 6.
36. " But Jesus, not heeding the word spoken."
The verb may mean "overhearing."
41. " Talitha cumi."
The better reading is Taleitha koum. Here, as in St.
Mark vii. 34 (through St. Peter), ebhoes the actual utter
ance of Christ. It is interesting as bearing on the ques
tion of the language currently spoken by our Lord. There
can be little doubt that it was the ordinary provincial
Aramaic of Galilee (John iv. 9, vii. 52; Luke xxiii. 6),
4

50 St. Mark.

interchanged for Hellenistic Greek when occasion required
(Mark vii. 26; Matt. viii. 5, etc.).

CHAPTER VI.
3. " Is not this the Carpenter ? "
This striking question is the only flash of light flung
by the Evangelists on the unrecorded humility of obscure
external circumstances in which our Lord passed His life
from childhood till the beginning of His ministry. It sums
up the history of that long period of life, respecting which
no word of genuine tradition has come down to us. The
word is the only one which proves that our Lord actually
worked as a carpenter in the shop of Joseph. Justin
Martyr says that He made yokes and ploughs. The posi
tion of a Jewish village carpenter was a very humble one.
8. " Save a staff only."
This does not contradict Matt. x. 10, where they are
only forbidden to "procure" a staff for the journey.
They might take their staff if they possessed one. But
see note in my Life of Christ, p. 257.
9. "Sandals."
They might wear their ordinary palm-bark sandals, but
were not to get travelling-shoes (hupodemata, calcei) for
themselves. 13. " They anointed with oil many that were sick."
Comp. James v. 14; Is. i. 6.
27. " A soldier of his guard."
St. Mark here adopts the Latin word speculator.
Soldiers of this class were often employed as executioners
(Sen., deFrd, i. 16).
39. " Should sit down by companies on the green
grass. And they sat down in ranks."
The two phrases for " by companies " and "in ranks," to
describe the way in which the poor multitudes reclined on

Chapter VII. 51

the fresh green grass, are sumposia sumposia, or banquet-
wise ; and prasiai prasiai, which means, literally, ' ' in
flower-beds." Doubtless St. Peter, as he narrated the
miracle to St. Mark, recalled the effect of the red, green,
and yellow colours of the Eastern dress as the people sat
on the grass, looking like patches of many-coloured flowers.
Incidentally the expression shows that the miracle took
place in spring. On the Plain of El-Batihah, south of
Bethsaida Julias, there was abundant grass.
41. Literally, "He break and kept giving the loaves
and fishes."
46. " After he had taken leave of them."
He did not merely "send them away" (A.V.), but
parted from them with kindly courtesy.
49. " An apparition."
Comp . Luke xxiv. 36, 37. The word is used only here
and in Matt. xiv. 26.
53. The verb does not mean that they "drew to the
shore," but moored to the shore.
56. " In the streets."
This would have been impossible in the narrow thorough
fares of Eastern towns. It should be rendered " in the
agoras" or "market-places."
CHAPTER VII.
3. " Unless they wash their hands diligently."
Literally, ' ' with the fist. ' ' Theophylact renders it " up
to the elbows." In ver. 4 the verb for "washing" ordi
narily implies complete immersion. The Pharisees were
(as is here stated) so sedulously ceremonial in incessant
ablutions, that, on seeing them washing the golden seven-
branched candlestick of the Temple, the Sadducees said
1hat "they would have washed the sun itself, if they could
only get the chance ! " All these "washings" were not
enjoined in the Mosaic law, but were the invention of the

52 St. Mark.

Rabbinic oral law, which began with the so-called " Great
Synagogue," after the days of the Exile, and ultimately
developed into Talmudism with its "abysmal puerilities."
The question was not in the least one of cleanliness, but
of petty and futile ceremonialism.
7. " Commandments of men."
Especially, in our Lord's day, of the two rival schools
of Hillel and Shammai.
19. " This He said, making all meats clean."
The A.V. is here not only incorrect and unintelligible,
but it entirely destroys the meaning of the one passage in
which, far more clearly and decisively than in any other
passage of the Gospels, our Lord, by His direct Divine
authority, not only set aside the whole cumbrous cere
monialism of contemporary Pharisaism, with its tedious
accumulation of functions, but decisively abolished a
central ordinance of the Mosaic system. The distinction
between "clean" (kashar) and "unclean" (tame) meats
among the Jews to this day is a hindrance to their free
inter-communication with Gentiles. In our Lord's age the
"wall of partition" had been made constantly stronger
and higher ; and the decision of Hillel, that even the glass
vessels of all Gentiles were unclean, introduced unwonted
difficulties into the life of the Jews when they visited
foreign lands. But, though the Apostles had thus heard
our Lord's distinct abrogation of ritual Mosaism, St. Peter
did not grasp the meaning of the lesson till the Spirit
brought it home to him in the vision on the roof of
Simon the Tanner's (Acts x. 18). It is astonishing that
the deep significance of this passage, though it had been
correctly apprehended by Origen, Chrysostom, and Gre
gory Thaumaturgus, remained unnoticed even by most
scholars, till it was once more made clear by the R.V.
34. " Ephphatha."
Another echo of the Aramaic which Jesus ordinarily
spoke. The more correct transliteration would be
Ethphatha.

Chapter VIII. 53

CHAPTER VIII.
19, 20. I have already called attention (see on Matt.
xvi. 10) to the interesting fact that the word for baskets,
in the miracle of Feeding the Four Thousand, is always
spurides (large rope baskets, or " frails ") (Wycliffe,
coffyns) ; and in the feeding of the Five Thousand is
always kophinoi, small rush baskets (Wycliffe, leepis).
The wording of these two verses suggests the removal of
what would otherwise have been a slight difficulty. How,
it might have been asked, could the twelve always take
about with them seven large baskets ? There would be no
difficulty at all about the hand-baskets (kophinoi), for the
Jews so naturally carried these small baskets, to prevent
their food from being defiled by any chance pollution, that
Juvenal speaks of a cophinus full of hay as their most
ordinary possession —
" Judsi quorum cophinus f cenumque snpellex."
It seems likely, however, from the peculiar wording of
these verses, that the Apostles only had with them one
spuris ; and that this was seven times filled with the
broken fragments. For the phraseology is altered from
" How many hand-baskets [kophinous~\ full of fragments
took ye up ? " to " The fillings [or contents] of how many
large baskets [spurides] of broken pieces took ye up ? "
This change of phrase was certainly not due to any desire
for variety of expression. It seems to show that, whereas,
in the former case, each Apostle filled his kophinos with
broken pieces, in the latter case their one spuris was filled
and emptied seven times.
23-26. If these verses be read first in the A.V., then
in the R. V., it will be noticed that several minute touches
of vivid verisimilitude are first brought out in the latter
version. 33. " Get thee hence, Satan."
Comp. Matt. iv. 10.

54 St. Mark.

CHAPTER IX.
l. " Till they see the kingdom of God come with
power." The allusion must be either to the approaching Trans
figuration, or to the close of the Mosaic aeon in the
destruction of Jerusalem. St. John, the last survivor
of the Apostles — as his brother St. James was their
earliest martyr — lived till after B. c. 70. See the note
on Matt. xxiv.
2. " Into a high mountain."
Not the traditional Mount Tabor, which at that time
had a fortress and village at its summit, but the lofty
Mount Hermon, on whose snowy summit they would have
been absolutely alone.
2. " He was transfigured."
The word implies something more than a change of
mere outward appearance. It was a change inward, and
of essence, not merely external and of accident. Trench,
N.T. Syn. 252.
15. " When they saw Him were greatly amazed."
No special reason is assigned for this astonishment. It
has been conjectured that some remnant of the Trans
figuration glory was still visible in the face of Jesus, as
in that of Moses when he came down from Sinai. But
comp. ch. x. 32.
29. " This kind can come out by nothing save hy
prayer." This is one of the four passages into which the unau
thorised addition " and fasting" has been early interpolated
by the ascetic bias which was not an original element of
Christianity, but was introduced into it by Eastern and
Manichaean influences. The other interpolations of "fast
ing " aro Matt, xviii. 21, Acts x. 30, 1 Cor. vii. 5. There

Chapter X. 55
is no other mention of fasting as a Christian ordinance in
the Acts and Epistles, except in connection with ordina
tion (Acts xiii. 1) in the predominantly Judaic Church
of Antioch. In 2 Cor. vi. 5, xi. 27, the word merely
means " stress of involuntary hunger." On Matt. vi. 16,
ix. 15, see the notes there.
34. " Who was the greatest."
Not "which should be" (A.V.). There was a dispute
about present merit and precedence. Our Lord has fre
quently to check and admonish the disciples for their
selfish ambition.
38. " We forbade him."
Some MSS. read the imperfect tense: "We tried, or
wished to forbid him.
42. Suetonius (Oct. 67) mentions how Augustus hurled
certain slaves into the river with a heavy weight round
their necks.
43. " Into the Gehenna."
See 2 Kings xvi. 3; xxiii. 10; 2 Chron. xxviii. 3; Is.
xxx. 33; Jer. vii. 31.
49. " Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt."
See Lev. ii. 13. The clause is omitted in the best MSS.
50. " Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with
one another."
The connection of the second command with the first
seems to be in the use of salt to ratify peaceful covenants.

CHAPTER X.
20. " All these things I observed."
So Rabbi Chansina, on his deathbed, said, "Go, fetch
me the Book of the Law, and see whether there is any
thing in it which I have not kept."

56 St. Mark.

21. "Loved him."
The phrase may mean " caressed him " (as in Plut., Vit.
Pericl., quoted by Field). Such was sometimes the custom
of Rabbis. When a pupil made a good answer they kissed
him on the head. Origen so understands it: " Dilexit
eum et osculatus est."
22. The expression of the original is stronger than the
" he was sad " of the A.V. It means that " his countenance
fell " — his features assumed a look of grief, like the clouds
that darken the sky (Matt. xvi. 3, "lowering.")
32. "Jesus was going before them, and they were
amazed ; and they that followed were afraid."
The same two words are used (ch. ix. 6, 15) in connection
with the Transfiguration. The awful feelings with which
the Lord passed to His foreknown crucifixion also con
stituted a transfiguration — not of glory, but of sorrow;
and it produced upon the minds of the Apostles a hush
of awe and dread. The three main revelations which
Christ made to His Apostles of the approaching end were
(1) at Caesarea Philippi ; (2) on the way to Capernaum;
(3) on the road to Jerusalem.
43, 44. " Shall be your minister : . . . shall be
servant [slave] of all."
Greatness was only to be won by service, and supreme
pre-eminence by absolute slavery for the good of others.
51. "Ralboni."
"My Rabbi." The word also occurs in John xx. 16,
and expresses deeper veneration than " Rabbi." It be
longs to the Galilaean dialect.

Chapters XL, XII. 57

CHAPTER XI.
4. " The open street."
The Greek word is amphodos, which the Vulgate renders
bivium, a place where two roads meet. It may, perhaps,
mean "the byway," or "the lane behind the house."
2. "A colt."
See the note on Matt. xxi. 2.
23. See note on Matt. xxi. 21. "Rabbah Bar Nach-
mani," says Lightfoot, " was called ' a rooter up of moun
tains, ' because he had a piercing insight."
24. " Whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that
ye have received them, and ye shall have them."
The tense used is the aorist (elabete), and means "be
lieve that ye received them " in the very act of praying
and supplicating for them. The A.V. follows the reading
which gives the present tense (lambanete).
CHAPTER XII.
26. " In the Book of Moses, ... in the Bush."
Well-known parts of the Old Testament were often
described by some predominant incident. Thus the passage
about the burning bush (Ex. iii.) was known as "the
Bush ; " just as the song of David about Saul and Jona
than was called "the Bow" (2 Sam. i. 18); and the
narrative of the Book of Kings about Elijah is called
" Elijah" (Rom. xi. 2 : " Wot ye not what the Scripture
saith in Elijah ? ")
28. " Which is the great commandment ? "
The question was often debated. The scribes and
Pharisees had invented 613 commandments (the number
of the letters in the Decalogue), 248 affirmative, and 365
negative.

58 St. Mark.

33. " Much more."
The word is stronger than " more." The lawyer had
learnt this sovereign truth — that love is better than all
observances — from such passages as 1 Sam. xv. 22 ; Hos.
vi. 6; Mic. vi. 6-8.
36. This Messianic Psalm (ex.) is frequently quoted in
the New Testament (Acts ii. 34, 35; 1 Cor. xv. 25;
Heb. i. 13; v. 6; vii. 17, 21).
CHAPTER XIII.
2. " One stone upon another."
Comp. Mic. iii. 12; and for the fulfilment of our Lord's
prophecy, Jos., B. J. vi. 9. 1, vii. 1.
8. " The beginning of travail."
Literally " the beginnings of birth-throes " (not son-ows
as in A.V. — a rendering which overlooks a deep and essen
tial meaning of the word). Sorrows which are "travail-
pangs " may the more easily be borne, because they abound
in hope and promise for the future. (See on Matt. xxiv. 8.)
14. "The abomination of desolation, standing where
he ought not."
This represents the better reading, which is hestekota
(masculine). It may be an unconscious echo of the wild
and intense alarm caused throughout the Jewish world in
a.d. 39 by the mad attempt of Caligula — happily pre
vented by Agrippa I. — to have a golden colossus of him
self erected in the Holy of Holies.
CHAPTER XIV.
5. " Three hundred pence."
About £15 in value; but this would mean, in those
days, very far more in purchasing power. Hence it was a
most costly sacrifice.

Chapter XIV. 59

13. " A man carrying water."
This would be an unusual sight, for ordinarily women
carried water.
21. " Good were it for that man if he had never
been born."
If this be the correct rendering, the verse is the most
terrible in the whole Scriptures. But the Greek is so
peculiar as to render it extremely doubtful whether the
rendering is correct. The literal rendering is " Good
would it have been for Him (i.e. the Son of Man, who has
just been mentioned), if he had not been born — that
man." This might mean " Humanly speaking, the
agonies of the hour and power of darkness might not thus
have come upon the Son of Man, but for the crime of
' that man ' [Judas, so called in the previous clause],
through whom the Son of Man has been betrayed."
32. " A place called Gethsemane."
Rather " a plot of ground " (John iv. 5), " a garden "
(John xviii. 1), or "enclosure." (For many points
common to the Evangelists, see the notes on the parallel
section in St. Matt, and St. Luke.)
51. " A certain young man."
It has been conjectured, not improbably, that this young
man, mentioned only by St. Mark, was St. Mark himself.
His parents were the owners of " the upper room " which
witnessed the Last Supper, and the descent of the Holy
Spirit; and his mother was the sister of Barnabas, who
was then a wealthy Levite of Cyprus. The "linen
cloth" (sindon; Heb. sadin; Judg. xiv. 12; Prov. xiii.
24, LXX.), thrown over his naked body, was not a thing
which a poor man would have possessed (see ch. xv. 46) .
This little incident, like the " remarque " on an engraving,
may be a sort of indication of authorship. Similarly, St.
Matthew alone speaks of "Matthew the publican ;" St.
Luke may have been one of the two disciples who saw

60 St. Mark.

Jesus on the way to Emmaus ; and St. John alone speaks
of " the disciple whom Jesus loved."
54. " In the light of the fire."
This is an attempt to bring out the force of the Greek,
which does not merely mean " at the fire,'-1 but sitting in
such a way that the light of the fire fell full on St. Peter's
face. 65. " To spit on Him."
On this worst form of insult, see Num. xii. 14; Deut.
xxv. 9 : Is. 1. 6.
68, 69. The original is more vivid than the versions.
It is, " And seeing Peter warming himself, looking hard
at him, she says, ' Thou, too, wast with the Nazarene,
Jesus. ' And he at once denied, saying, ' I neither know
nor understand; thou, what sayest thou ? ' "
69. "Iftemaid."
It was the same maid who had already challenged him ;
not "a maid" (A.V.). In Matt. xxvi. 71, we have,
"another maid." There is no discrepancy worth speak
ing of, considering the intense strain of the occasion, and
the tumultuous hurry of the scene.
72. " When he thought thereon."
There is much to be said for another rendering of
epibalon : "Flinging his mantle over his head, he be
gan to weep." See Dr. Field, Otium Norvic. p. 31,
who quotes Eurip., Or. 280, Iph. Aul. 1550, Plut., Vit.
Timol. iv.
CHAPTER XV.
15. " When he had scourged Him."
The word here used is phragellosa-s, derived from the
Roman flagellum, a scourge, often loaded with bones and
lead (" flagrum pecuinis ossibus catenatum " Apul.), in
flicting such terrible anguish that it was called " horribile,"

Chapter XVI. 61

and many died under the torture. There is a pathetic
variety of words used to describe the insulting and cruel
blows inflicted on Jesus, in addition to the crown of thorns,
and all other methods of painful derision. Thus "they
kept smiting [etupton] His head with a reed." The Jews
in the High Priest's house had "smitten" Him in the
face with their clenched fists (kolaphizo, ch. xiv. 65), and
kept slapping Him with open palms (rapismata, Is. 1. 6),
and subjected Him to the infamy of spitting (Num. xii.
14; Deut. xxv. 9). The stupefying aromatic wine (to
deaden suffering) which our Lord refused, was given in
accordance with Prov. xxxi. 6, " Give strong drink to him
that is perishing."
22. " They bring Him."
The verb may perhaps mean, "they bear Him " — sup
porting Him as He sank under the burden of His cross.
34. " Eloi, Eloi."
St. Mark (no doubt echoing the vivid reminiscences of
St. Peter) here gives the Aramaic form Eloi for the
Hebrew Eli. See the note on ver. 41.
43. "A Councillor."
One of the members of the Sanhedrim, like Nicodemus
and Gamaliel.

CHAPTER XVI.
11. "Disbelieved."
Stronger than "believed not" (A.V.) They actually
disbelieved the story told by the women (Luke xxiv. 11),
and they " did not believe " — i.e. attached but little
importance to — even the story told by the two disciples
on their return from Emmaus (xvi. 13). St. Luke goes so
far as to say that the Apostles regarded the first reports
and rumours of the Resurrection as " dotage " (Luke xxiv.
11). These notices are important as showing that the

62 St. Mark.

Apostles, so far from being swept away by ready credulity,
even rejected distinct evidence.
9-20. These verses, however ancient, cannot be re
garded as a part of St. Mark's original Gospel. Bishop
Lightfoot says, " If I might venture a conjecture, I should
say that, like the narrative of the woman taken in adul
tery (John viii. 1-11), the passage may have been due to
that knot of early disciples who gathered about St. John
in Asia Minor, and must have preserved more than one
true tradition of the Lord's life, and of the earliest days
of the Church of which some at least had themselves been
eye-witnesses." If there be any such thing as a science of criticism,
no amount of casuistic special pleading can get rid of
the facts that —
1. These verses are entirely omitted in two of the
oldest uncial MSS. and by other authorities, e.g. in the
Armenian version. In other MSS. the passage is marked
with asterisks. Eusebius, Jerome, and other eminent
Fathers, testify to its general absence from Greek MSS.
in their day.
2. Some other MSS. have another ending to the Gospel.
3. The passage differs widely from St. Mark's style.
For instance, such common verbs as poreuomai, " I go,"
and theaomai, "I behold," occur three times, and twice
in this brief section, and not once in all the previous
chapters. "The Lord" occurs twice, though not found
elsewhere in St. Mark. Brief as the section is, it contains
twenty-one words not used by St. Mark.
4. Among many other peculiarities the power of hand
ling serpents, drinking poison, and speaking with "new"
tongues, promised to believers, are unparalleled, and
suggest difficulties.
For full details, I must refer to Hort and Westcott's
Greek Testament; to Hort's answer to Dean Burgon in
the Academy, Nov. 15, 1871 ; and to my Messages of the
Book, pp. 67, 68.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE
This Gospel is called, even by so purely literary and
unprejudiced a critic as Mons. Ernest Renan, "the most
beautiful book in the world." It was specially intended
to be "the Gospel for the Greeks." "St. Luke was a
physician," says St. Jerome ; " and so, to all, his words
are medicines of the drooping soul." The keynote of the
Gospel is, "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost " (ch. xix. 10). He specially presents
the Gospel in its gratuitousness and its universality (chs. i.
77 ; xxiv. 47). It records ten peculiar parables, and among
them two so precious as that of " the Good Samaritan "
(ch. x. 25-37), and "the Prodigal Son" (ch. xv. 11-32).
CHAPTER I.
1-4. These introductory verses are written in a studied
and classical style, very different from the Hebraic sim
plicity of the lovely records which follow.
l. " Many have taken in hand."
A solitary and very interesting trace of the fact that
numerous Gospels — such as the Gospel of Peter, the
Gospel of the Egyptians, etc., and collections of Logia, or
"sayings of Christ" — like those which Papias tells us,
were drawn up by St. Matthew, and like those of which a
fragment has recently been discovered amid the burial
mounds of the ancient Oxyrrhyncus — were current among
Christians in the first century. Our Gospels won their
sacred supremacy by their intrinsic genuineness and value.
2. " Which have been fulfilled."
Or, better, have been "fully established."

64 St. Luke.
4. " Most excellent Theophilus."
Of Theophilus nothing certain is known. The title
"most excellent " was given to procurators and other
official personages (Acts xxiii. 26 ; xxiv. 3 ; xxvi. 25).
5. " Wherein thou wast instructed."
The Greek verb implies "catechetical instruction" —
instruction by word of mouth ; but the meaning cannot be
pressed, as it is used in the general sense of " informed"
in Acts xxi. 24.
i. 5-ii. 52. This very precious section of the Gospel
contains many Hebraisms, and records facts not preserved
by the other Evangelists. It also enshrines hymns so
beautiful as the Magnificat, the Nunc Dimittis, and the
Benedietus, and therefore marks the earliest outburst of
Christian hymnology ; and it alone preserves for us the
angel's song, the Gloria in excelsis. The section is
marked by an idyllic beauty, and it has been conjectured
that the details came to the Evangelist, directly or in
directly, from the Virgin Mary herself.
28. " Thou that art highly favoured."
Rather, "graciously accepted," or "much graced."
"Not a mother of grace, but a daughter" (Ben'gel). Not
"gratia plena " (Vulg.), but " gratia cumulata. "
78. " The Day Spring from on high shall visit us."
Mai. iv. 2 ; Is. ix. 2 ; Rev. vii. 2. The word anatole
might also mean "the rising of a star." The Septuagint
uses the word to render the Hebrew tsemach, " branch,"
in Zech. iii. 8 ; Jer. xxiii. 5 (comp. Matt. ii. 23).
80. "In the wilderness."
The wild waste region south of Jericho to the shores
of the Dead Sea. Araboth, or ha-Arabah (2 Kings xxv.
4, 5 (Heb.) ; Jer. xxxix. 5, etc.). Also called Jeshimon,
"the Horror " (1 Sam. xxiii. 19).

Chapter II. 65

CHAPTER II.
1. " That all the world should he enrolled."
There never was a decree that "all the inhabited earth
should be taxed." But one of the imperial desires of
Augustus was to obtain an accurate census of the Empire ;
and there is strong corroborative evidence that such a
preliminary enrolment was made during the first term of
office of Cyrenius (or Quirinius) as Governor of Syria.
The following verse should perhaps be rendered, "This
census, which was the first" — for there were two, — "was
made when Quirinius was Governor of Syria." There is
some reason to believe that Quirinius was twice Governor
of Syria, once in a.d. 4, and again in a.d. 10. In a.d. 4
he may only have been a commissioner for the purpose
of drawing up the census. For further details I must
refer to my Life of Christ, p. 5, and " St. Luke" (Camb.
Bible for Schools ; Greek Test. p. 105).
14. "And on earth peace, among men in whom
He is well pleased."
Or "among men of His good pleasure." Perhaps no
alteration in the R.V. produced a greater shock than this.
It robbed many of the beloved and familiar "good will
towards men," and at the same time seemed to limit the
intended blessings of the Incarnation to the "homines
bonce voluntatis " (comp. Matt. iii. 17 ; xvii. 5).
But truth should ever be our supreme object ; and we
should desire to possess, not what we like most, but what
the Evangelist really wrote.
Now, in the Greek, the difference depends on the
presence or absence of a single final letter, on whether
we read eudokia or eudokias. How can we tell which
St. Luke wrote? Only by the evidence, both (i) external,
and (ii) internal.
(a) The external evidence is furnished —
6

66 St. Luke.
v. By the manuscripts.
Now, the three best and most ancient uncial MSS. are
the Sinaitic ({<) ; the Alexandrine (A); the Vatican (B)
They all three read eudokias.
ii. By quotations of the verse in the Fathers \ and —
iii. By the versions and liturgies.
Eudokias is found in Origen, and in most of the Latin
Fathers, versions, and liturgies; but eudokia is the usual
reading in the Eastern writers.
(b) But the internal evidence also favours eudokias. The
Angel's Song is in that form of Hebrew poetry which
depends for its beauty and symmetry upon parallelism,
or the balance of clauses. Now, in the first line we have
three elements —
[a] Glory [b] To God [c] In highest places.
And the form of Hebrew poetry requires three similar
elements in the second line. These we find in —
[a] Peace [6] Among men of good will [c] On earth.
The other reading destroys this parallelism.
The Revisers, therefore, decided that the best attested
reading was eudokias. In either case the eudokia means
"the good will," or " good pleasure, " of God, and is there
fore rightly rendered, " among men in whom He is well
pleased." And although, by this reading, the blessing appears to
be limited, it is only in appearance; for in multitudes of
other passages we are assured of the universality of the
Gospel boon (John i. 16, xvii. 21; Acts xvii. 30; Rom.
x. 12; xi. 32; Heb. viii. 11; 1 Cor. xv. 28; Eph. i. 23;
1 Tim. ii. 1-4; iv. 10; Tit. ii. 11; 2 Pet. iii. 9, etc.).
43. " The Boy Jesus.
The word used is not teknon or paidion (child), but pais
(boy) . St. Luke seems specially to have set before himself
the object of illustrating the life of our Lord in infancy
(ii. 1-39); in childhood (ii. 40); in boyhood (ii. 41-51);
in youth (ii. 52) ; from early manhood to His death (iii.-

Chapter II. 67

xxiii) ; His resurrection (xxiv. 1-49) ; His ascension
(xxiv. 51-53).
Of the infancy, childhood, and boyhood of our Lord, we
know nothing but what St. Luke has recorded ; for not
the smallest importance can be attached to the Apocryphal
"Gospel of the Infancy," and to the incidents — often
crude and repellent — narrated in other apocryphal
writings. They are valueless fictions. The incidents of
the life of Christ are instantly degraded when they are
mingled with the inventions of the uninspired imagination.
It was part of the Divine purpose that nothing respecting
the early human days of our Lord should be preserved
except in the dim, vague, holy outline here alone presented
to us. One verse (ii. 40) tells us all that we know of that
childhood, which was " as the flower of roses in the spring
of the year, and as lilies by the watercourses." One
anecdote (ii. 41-51), and one allusion (ii. 52) contain the
sole facts known to us respecting His boyhood. One word
("the Carpenter," Mark vi. 3) is the only fragment of
direct record of all His life from the age of twelve to the
age of thirty. " Take notice here," says St. Bonaventura,
"that His doing nothing wonderful was itself a kind of
wonder. As there was power in His actions, so is there
power in His silence, in His inactivity, in His retirement."
49. " Wist ye not that I must be in My Father's
house." It was decisively proved by Dr. Field that this, and not
" about my Father's business," is here the correct rendering
of the original. For (i) in no other passage of classical
or Biblical Greek (comp. 1 Tim. iv. 15) does the phrase
(ta tinos) bear the latter meaning; and (ii) in the LXX.
means " a person's house." (Gen. xii. 51, Esth. vii. 9.)
And (iii) this is the rendering in the Ancient Syriac
version, and in Greek Fathers so learned and eminent as
Origen, Epiphanius and Theodoret, as well as in the later
Greek writers Theophylact and Euthymius. These are
the first recorded words of Christ.

68 St. Luke.

CHAPTER III.
2. " In the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas."
Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas, was the Roman and
Herodian nominee in the rapid succession of high priests
in those days. Annas (appointed a.d. 7) had the real
hierarchic influence, though there had been three high
priests — Ishmeel Ben Phabi (a.d. 15), Eleazar, son of
Annas (a.d. 15) and Simon Ben Kamhith (a.d. 16) —
between him and Caiaphas (a.d. 24).
9. " Is hewn down and cast into the fire."
The present tenses in the original imply that the
retribution is continually proceeding pari passu with the
uselessness — "is being hewn down, and being cast into
the fire."
14. "Soldiers."
The word means soldiers on the march. They may have
been soldiers of Herod Antipas, employed in the troubles
which arose from his desertion of his wife, the daughter
of King Hareth (Aretas) of Arabia, for his niece and
brother's wife Herodias.
22. " In a bodily form as a dove."
See Matt. iii. 16. The " bodily form as a dove " does
not necessarily mean that the Holy Spirit descended
in the form of a dove, but in visible form — perhaps as a
waving flame (Acts ii. 3), and with a dove's hovering
motion. 23. " When He began to teach, was about thirty
years of age."
From this verse alone we learn the age at which our
Lord began His public ministry. The " about," as Bishop
Lightfoot says, "is sufficiently elastic to allow a year or
two, or even more, either under or over the thirty years ;

Chapters IV., V. 69
and, indeed, the notices of Herod's life in Josephus, com
pared with St. Matthew's narrative, seem to require that
our Lord should have been somewhat more than thirty
years old at the time."
On the following genealogy, see note on Matt. i. 17.

CHAPTER IV.
1. " Was led by (or in) the Spirit in the wilder
ness." St. Matthew tells us (iv. 1) that He was led " into the
wilderness ; " St. Luke, that the Spirit was with Him
throughout the forty days.
16. "Nazareth."
Some of the older MSS. read Nazara.
23. "Capernaum."
The better reading is Capharnaum, the village of
Nahum, now Tell HUm, " the ruinous mound of (Na) hum."
34. " Let us alone ! " (A.V.).
The R.V. regards this as an exclamation, "Ah!"
35. " Hold thy peace."
Literally, "Be muzzled" (1 Cor. ix. 9, Matt. xxii. 34).
A colloquialism which had become current in Hellenistic
Greek (i. e. Greek as spoken by foreigners).
CHAPTER V.
10. " From henceforth thou shalt catch men."
Literally, "capture them alive" (see on Matt. iv. 19).
Hence the common Christian symbol, in the Catacombs, of
"The Fisherman," who draws men — not as the fisher
draws fish from life to death, but from the abyss of death
to life. If the Emperor Julian had noticed this, he would
not have indulged in the silly sneer that the Apostles drew

70 St. Luke.
men from their true element, wherein they were free, into
an element in which they could not breathe, and must die
(see 2 Tim. ii. 26). The Apostles were enabled to deliver
men already "taken alive" in the devil's snare, and to
gather them from that deadly element into the net of life.
16. " He withdrew Himself in the deserts."
The meaning is, He "used to withdraw Himself And
pray," not referring to this one occasion.
24. " The Son of Man."
Ben Adam meaning, generally, " a human being" (Ps.
viii. 5, etc.). In the New Testament it is eighty times
used by Christ, but always of Himself, except in passages
which imply His exaltation (Acts vii. 56 ; Rev. i. 13-20).
The title, as Messianic, is possibly derived from Dan. vii.
13. It represents Christ's work in relation to humanity.
27. " Receipt of custom " (A.V.).
Rather "place of toll," for the boats which crossed over
from the other side of the lake ; and perhaps for goods
conveyed along the Roman road which ran through
Capernaum. 33. " The disciples of John fast often."
On the uselessness of mere functional fasting, see Matt.
v. 16; Is. Iviii. 3-6 ; Mic. vi. 6-8; Amos v. 21-24, 36-39;
see note on Matt. ix. 16.
CHAPTER VI.
l. " On the second sabbath after the first " (A.V.).
There is no certainty as to the meaning of the " second
— first sabbath," and the extremely perplexing epithet is
omitted by the best MSS. and by the R.V. The explana
tions are very numerous, and none of them have gained
general acceptance.
5. The Codex Bezas (D), at Cambridge, here has the

Chapter VI. 71

remarkable addition, perhaps founded on some genuine
reminiscence : " The same day He beheld a man working on
the sabbath, and said to him, Man, if thou knowest what
thou art doing, blessed art thou; but if thou knowest not,
thou art cursed, and a transgressor of the law." The mean
ing is obvious. If the man was engaged in a work of
necessity, piety, or love, he showed enlightenment in rising
superior to the niggling ordinances which — overlooking
the principle that " the sabbath was made for man, and not
man for the sabbath " — had turned a blessed institution
into a meaningless fetish. If, on the contrary, he was act
ing against his conscience, he was a transgressor.
17. " And He came down with them and stood on
a level place."
The mountain is Kurn Hattin, or "the Horns of Hattin"
(see on Matt. v. 1). Hattin is a small village at the base of
the hill. Jesus did not descend with them to " the plain"
(or it would not have been " The Sermon on the Mount "),
but " to a level place." There is just such a level place on
Kurn Hattin. It was probably on the actual summit
(which, nineteen centuries ago, may well have been higher
than now) that He selected the Twelve Apostles; and
among them men of such opposite antecedents as the
Zealot and the Publican (tax or toll-collector: see on
Matt. x. 2-5), and the Apostle of Love, and the quickest
believer Andrew, and the slowest believer Thomas, and
Judas, the man of Kerioth in Judsea (the only Jew among
the Galileans), "who also became a traitor" (ver. 16).
After this He came a little lower down the hill, and, " in
a fieldy place " (Wycliffe) — "in loco campestri," Vulg.,
— He uttered the great sermon.
35. " Hoping for nothing again."
This is the rendering of the A.V. In the R.V. it is
"never despairing." Some MSS. read "despairing of no
man" (Rom. iv. 18) ; others render it, "causing no man
to lose hope."

*J2 St. Luke.
36. " Be ye merciful, even as your Father is
merciful." The original says, "Become ye merciful." There is a
distinction between the imperfect effort and the perfect
attribute. 48. Literally, " He is like a man building a house,
who digged, and kept deepening, and laid a founda
tion upon the rock."
Comp. 1 Cor. iii. 11-15; x. 4 ; Prov. xii. 7.

CHAPTER VII.
19. " Sent them to the Lord."
This reading is better supported than " to Jesus " (A.V.).
The title, " the Lord," is used by St. Luke and St. John,
not by St. Matthew and St. Mark ; perhaps, as Mr. Hum
phry observes, because those Gospels were meant more
immediately for Jews, to whom " the Lord " meant " Jeho-
rah, " as throughout the Old Testament.
24. " To see"
Rather, " to gaze at."
35. " And wisdom is justified of all her children."
The true reading and rendering seem to be, "And yet
wisdom was justified [i.e. shown to be true wisdom] by
[or " in the case of "] all her children." In Matt. xi. 19,
it is "by her works."
37. " He was sitting at meat."
Jesus, as was the universal custom at that day, was
reclining at the meal. The woman stood behind Him,
" and weeping began to wet [not " wash "] His feet with
her tears, and with the hairs of her head she kept wiping
them;" and she continued fondly kissing His feet and
anointing them with the ointment.

Chapters VIII., IX. ?3
'¦ She sat and wept, and with her untressed hair
Still kissed the feet she was so blessed to touch ;
And He wiped off the soiling of despair
From her sweet soul, because she loved so much."

CHAPTER VIII.
3. " Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward."
Herod Antipas, before he sank so low as to mock Christ,
and (previously to that) to seek to slay Him (ch. xiii. 31),
had had opportunities of hearing about Him, (i) from John
the Baptist; (ii) from his steward (comp. ch. ix. 9), whose
wife was one of the ministering women; (iii) from his
foster brother Manaen, or Menahen (Acts xiii. 1) ; and
(iv) from one at least of his own courtiers (John iv. 46).
10. " That seeing they may not see."
Lord Bacon says, "A parable has a double use; it tends
to vail and it tends to illustrate a truth : in the latter case
it seems designed to teach, in the former to conceal." Our
Lord wished the multitudes to understand, but the result
and profit depended solely on the degree of their faithful
ness. The parables resembled the Pillar of Fire, which was
to the Egyptians a Pillar of Cloud.
CHAPTER IX.
10. " To a city called Bethsaida."
To have taken the Apostles to a city would hardly have
secured the privacy which Christ desired, so that one of
the other readings, "to a desert place," or "to a desert
place of Bethsaida," seems probable. The Bethsaida here
meant is not the western village (Ain et-Tabijah), but
Bethsaida Julias, at the north of the lake.
25. " And lose or forfeit his own self."
One of the passages in the New Testament which em
phasise the truth that there is for each of us a true self

74 St. Luke.

— "the new man," "the inner man," the unperverted
spiritual self : and a false self — the selfhood carnalised by
yielding to the desires of the flesh and of the mind. To
be our true selves we must "deny," i.e. refuse obedience
to our false self, and acquire our true self, which is at one
with the Spirit of God. The form of expression is even
more striking than in Matt. xvi. 26, Mark viii. 36. Self-
forfeiture, self-destruction is the terrible antithesis to the
self-acquisition (ch. xxi. 9; 1 Thess. iv. 2) which leads to
that possession of self which is a better and more abiding
possession than all which earth can give or take away (see
note on Heb. xi. 34).
31. " Spake of His decease."
Or, "departure" (marg.). This unusual word, depar
ture (exodus), is only found again in 2 Pet. i. 15.
54-56. The Elijah-spirit and the Christ-spirit. The
text followed by the R.V. in this most remarkable para
graph is briefer than the text followed by the A.V. ; but " Ye
know not what manner of spirit ye are of" and "The Son
of Man came not to destroy men's lives but to save them,"
not only have an intrinsic air of genuineness, but in any
case express what the whole Gospels teach. And, even in
the abbreviated form, the paragraph furnishes us with —
(i) A proof of the vast chasm between the spirit of the
Old and of the New Dispensation.
(ii) An absolute condemnation of the fury and cruelty
of Inquisitors, and (generally) of religious persecution
and intolerance.

CHAPTER X.
31. " By chance."
This is not the exact expression of the original, which
is not Kara rvxqv, but Kara <ruyKvplav. "By coincidence,"
or "coincidently," "simultaneously," would express it

Chapters XL, XII. 75

better. The word " chance " (rvxq) does not once occur in
the New Testament. "Chance" is only "God's incog
nito," " God's unseen Providence, by men nicknamed
chance;" or, as the Greeks called it, "the daughter of
Forethought." 36. "Which of these three," asks our Lord, "became
[ i.e. proved himself to be by his actions] neighbour to
the wounded traveller?" The point at issue was the
practical manifestation of character.

CHAPTER XI.
3. " Our daily bread."
The Greek word eiriowrios occurs only in the Lord's
Prayer, and the exact sense is much disputed. It has
been rendered "the morrow's bread; " or "bread for the
coming day;" "bread of the life to come;" "needful
bread; " and "bread sufficient," or "for our sustenance."
41. " Give for alms those things which are within."
Those things that are " within the platter," i.e. distri
bute food to the hungry; or " cleanse that which is within
yourselves" — your own inward hypocrisy and corruption
(comp. ver. 39) ; or it may be rendered, " what is in your
power to give" (comp. Matt, xxiii. 25).

CHAPTER XII.
l. " The myriads [marg.] of the multitude."
This is the strongest expression used of the crowds who
thronged together to hear our Lord.
29. " Neither be ye of doubtful mind."
Do not be ever "hovering in the air" between hope
and fear.

76 St. Luke.
46. " Will cut him in sunder."
This expression of the A.V. is perhaps too strong.
The word may mean, "shall tear him with the lash,"
i.e. "shall severely scourge him." Cutting a man in
sunder was, however, an ancient form of execution (2
Sam. xii. 31; 1 Chron. xx. 3; Dan. ii. 5; Susanna 55-59;
Herod, vii. 39).
49. " What will I, if it is already kindled ? "
It might be rendered, "What will I ? Would that it
were already kindled ! "
CHAPTER XIII.
7. " Why doth it also cumber the ground ? "
Or "Why does it even render the ground barren?"
The tree is worse than useless; its very uselessness makes
it pernicious, for its barren shade blights the herbage
beneath it.
There is a deep lesson here. We sometimes hear it
said of a man that "he is no man's enemy but his own."
This is never the case. The useless, unfaithful, self-
indulgent man always injures others besides himself.
"No man perishes alone in his iniquity." The duties
which he neglects remain undone to the loss of other
souls; the burdens which he refuses to bear fall with
crushing weight on the already burdened shoulders of
others. His own wretchedness disturbs the surface of life,
and flows round him in ever-widening concentric circles
of misery and ruin. All this lesson lies in the word
" also," which is omitted in the A.V.
CHAPTER XIV.
11. The self-exalting shall be humbled; the self -hum
bling shall be exalted. "There is an absolute correspon
dence between the Divine retribution and the human
action" (W.).

Chapter XV. 77

CHAPTER XV.
The inestimably precious parables of this chapter in
crease step by step in intensity of meaning. First we
have the lost sheep — one of a hundred ; then the more
precious lost coin — one of ten ; then the lost son — one
of two.
5. This verse supplied to the early Christians of the
Catacombs their favourite symbol of " the Fair Shepherd "
(Tert., De Pudic. 7), and the Shepherd with the lamb, or
kid, upon his shoulder (see note on John x. 14).
8, 9. " The piece (drachma) which I had lost! "
It is not impossible that the coin was one of ten which
were fastened together on a gold wire to form one of the
common coin-fringes worn by Eastern women as ornaments
upon the top of the forehead. If such were the case, it
would greatly enhance the sense of loss, for the whole
ornament would be rendered much less valuable and
beautiful. The other nine coins would lose some of their
value from the dropping out of the one. There is a soli
darity in human life. If one member suffer, all the mem
bers suffer with it. The loss of but one sinner spoils
the perfectness, and darkens the joy of heaven.
11-32. The tender and pathetic parable of the Prodigal
Son ranks among the divinest of our Lord's utterances.
It is the pearl of parables, and myriads of souls owe their
call and encouragement to repentance, and their free for
giveness and restoration to the homes of their fathers,
and to all their forfeited privileges of sonship, to its spirit
of boundless compassion.
11. " Two sons."
In broad outline, all mankind falls into two classes —
the faithful and the unfaithful; those who love God, and
those who love self and the world.

78 St. Luke.
12. " The portion of thy substance."
All our gifts are God's. Nothing that we possess,
physically, intellectually, or spiritually, is our own.
13. " Not many days after."
It is a matter of sad universal experience that the life
of the prodigal begins in youth. Even the police in great
cities testify that all criminal careers are begun between
the ages of thirteen and twenty.
13. " A far country."
The expression indicates the vastness of the space which
separates an evil from a good career.
13. " Riotous living."
The word is only found in Tit. i. 6. It implies disso
luteness in the true etymological sense of the word.
10. " To fill his belly"
There is no real question of satisfying his hunger, but
only of alleviating its gnawing pain.
10. "Husks."
Pods of the caroub tree, coarse, bitter, and stringy.
17. " No man gave to him."
Literally, "was giving." He met with continuous cal
lousness to the appeal of his anguish and hunger.
20. " Kissed him."
Literally, "kissed him much" — eagerly and fondly
(see Matt. xxvi. 49).
22. " Bring forth" (A.V.).
Not merely "bring forth," but "fetch at once the best
robe."
CHAPTER XVI.
1-13. The parable of the Unjust Steward is simply a
parable of the duty of prudently adapting means to ends.

Chapter XVII. 79
As in the. case of the parable of the Unjust Judge, the
worldly common sense and astuteness of a bad man is
meant to inculcate a fortiori how far more strenuous
should be the aim and conduct of good men in the infi
nitely more important aims of the spiritual kingdom. The
Lord does not praise the "steward of injustice" because
he acted wisely (cro<£u>s), but because he acted prudently,
sensibly (<j>poviii.u>s), i. e. with a clever and active use of the
methods which best suited his designs. Nor does our Lord
add that "the sons of this age are wiser than the sons of
light," even as regards their own generation, but only that
they are "more prudent in securing worldly ends."
14. " Scoffed at Him."
The words used to describe the derision and contempt
to which our Lord was constantly subjected by the Phari
sees and the priestly party are pathetic from the violence
of the scorn which they express. Here the verb is
€Kft.vKTr]pL^eiv, to express disdain by turning up the nose
(ch. xxiii. 35). In Acts xvii. 32, we have the word
ix\eva£ov, "they shot out their lips."
20. " Named Lazarus."
The Grecised form of Eleazar, "God is my help."
Remarkable as the only instance in which Christ intro
duces a proper name into a parable. We do not know the
reason for this, though there must have been a reason.

CHAPTER XVII.
2. " A millstone."
Literally, not a mere hand-millstone, but one so large
that it required to be turned by an ass (ovikos) or mule
(/ivXucos) : Matt, xviii. 6. It is often only in the original
that we can see the full energy of the expression. Literally
the verse means, "It is his gain if a huge millstone is
hanging round his neck, and he has been flung [at once

80 St. Luke.
and for ever] into the sea, than that he should cause to
stumble one of these little ones."
21. " The kingdom of God is within you"
It may mean " the kingdom of God is among you ; " or,
" in the midst of you."

CHAPTER XVIII.
5. " Lest she wear me out by her continual coming."
The verb is a sort of slang term, not unsuitable to the
coarse unjust judge. Literally, " lest she blacken me
under the eye," or "bruise me." The verb occurs again
only in 1 Cor. ix. 27.
11-13. " The Pharisee stood."
On the two words for the " standing " of the Pharisee
((rradcts, "posing himself") and of the Publican (ecrrtus),
see on John vii. 37.
15. " They brought unto Him also their babes."
The word is not merely "children" (iraiSta) as in
Mark x. 13, but actual "babies," (f}pi<j>ri); and even to
these infants Jesus showed His tenderness.

CHAPTER XIX.
12. " A certain nobleman."
I have already pointed out (see on Matt. xxv. 14) the
very interesting fact that our Lord here utilises a recent
historical event for the purpose of a parable. Herod the
Great had died shortly after the Nativity, and his son, the
Ethnarch Archelaus, is the "certain nobleman" who went
into a far country (to Rome) to "seek " from the Emperor
the kingdom of Judsea, which Herod had left him by his
last will, but which he could not inherit until the will was

Chapters XX., XXI. 81
ratified by Augustus. Probably in many other cases,
undiscoverable by us, our Lord wove contemporary events
or incidents into His parables. The hostile embassy, the
entrusting of responsibilities, the vengeance on the un
faithful, are historic incidents.
48. " Hung upon Him, listening."
We find the same vivid metaphor for eager listening in
Virgil (Mn. iv. 79) —
" Pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore,"
" On thee the loyal-hearted hung " (Tennyson)
CHAPTER XX.
21. " Acceptest not the person of any."
There is no partiality, no favouritism (irpoo-oTraXr/il/id)
with God (Acts x. 34). Our Lord was fully as gracious to
the penitent harlot and publican as to the Pharisee in his
blue fringes, and broad phylacteries. In this world —
" Not a man for being simply man
Hath any honour, but honour for those honours
Which are without him, as place, riches, favour
Prizes of accident as oft as merit."
Again — " In the corrupted currents of the world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice
But 'tis not so above."
CHAPTER XXI.
4. " For all these did of their superfluity."
The rich gave their offerings not only " of their abund
ance," but "of their superfluity." Compare the phrase
in King Lear — " Take physic, pomp,
Expose thyself to feel what others feel,
That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,
And show the heaven's more just."
6

82 St. Luke.
19. Literally, "By your endurance ye shall acquire
possession of your souls." See notes on Matt. xvi'. 25 ;
Mark xiii. 13 ; 1 Thess. iv. 4 ; Heb. x. 34.

CHAPTER XXII.
12. " Furnished."
The word means " spread with cushions " on which the
guests could recline at the meal.
19, 20. " This do in remembrance of Me."
It is remarkable that this clause, and the whole of the
following verse, are omitted in Codex Bezse (D) and some
other MSS. In some versions w. 17-18 are substituted for
this. The attempt to render this verse "sacrifice this as
a memorial of Me " is a deplorable device to foist a false
doctrine (" the sacrifice of the Mass") on a perverse
translation. Such an interpretation was never heard of for
more than eighteen centuries. Not one of the Fathers
understood the clause in this sense ; and the most learned
Greek Fathers, writing and preaching while Greek was
still a spoken language, never so much as dreamed of such
an interpretation as even possible.
43, 44. These two verses, describing what is called
" the bloody sweat," are omitted in many MSS. It should
be noticed that it is not said that the sweat was of blood,
though such a phenomenon is said to be not wholly un
known, but that the sweat fell like a continual rain of
blood. 69. "Hereafter" (A.V.).
R.V. Rather, "But from henceforth."
CHAPTER XXIII.
34. " Father, forgive them."
The prayer was probably breathed at the very moment
when, as He lay on the ground, outstretched upon the

Chapter XXIV. 83
cross, the nails were driven through His hands. Though
it is omitted in the Vatican MS. (B) the authenticity of
this first of " the seven words " is indubitable.

CHAPTER XXIV.
13-15. The singularly beautiful and picturesque narra
tive of the appearance of Christ to the two disciples on the
way to Emmaus is peculiar to St. Luke. It is, of course,
only a conjecture which cannot be verified, that St. Luke
was himself the companion of Kleopas on this occasion.
In vv. 17, 18, the R.V. has revived two touches of the
original. When Jesus, not instantly recognisable in His
Resurrection Body, first joined Himself to them on the
road, " they stopped short, looking sad." The disciples
were few; their Lord had been crucified, through the
machinations of the entire body of priests and their party,
by the hands of the civil rulers, and amid the approving
yells of the multitude. It might not be safe for the two
disciples to talk about their faith and their anguish to a
casual stranger. And when He asked them " What were
these words which they were interchanging ? " Kleopas
asked Him the surprised question, "Dost thou alone
sojourn in Jerusalem, and not know the things which are
come to pass there in these days? "
25. " O foolish men."
Or, " 0 dull of intelligence ! " (dvoriroi) not « 0 fools ! "
(p.<apoi) .
35. " In the breaking of the bread."
They clearly saw a sacramental character in the act.
50. " And He led them oiit."
Jesus led the disciples, not "as far as to Bethany"
(A. V), but (Acts i. 12) to the Mount of Olives, till they
were opposite to Bethany.

84 St. Luke.
51. " And was carried up into heaven."
This is omitted in the most ancient MSS., as are the
words "they worshipped Him," in the next verse. St.
Luke is our sole authority for the ordinary conception of
the Ascension. If the clause in ver. 51 be a later addition,
it is very doubtful whether the Apostles actually witnessed
the rising of Jesus through the sky. In Acts i. 9, the
words "a cloud received Him out of their sight," seem to
indicate that, after He had spoken His last words to them,
He vanished into an overshadowing cloud.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN
The Gospel of St. John was the last of the Gospels. The
Apostle — probably in the sunset of his long life — seems,
under Divine guidance, to have set before himself the task
of supplementing and completing the pictures of the Son
of God delineated by the three earlier Evangelists. His
brother, St. James, had been the earliest martyr among the
twelve ; St. John was their last survivor. He wrote in a new
world, in a world in which Christianity had already brought
forth fruit an hundred-fold. From being an unutterably
despised and persecuted faith in One whom the Jewish and
the Gentile world alike regarded as "a crucified male
factor " — or, as Lucian dared to express it, "a gibbeted
sophist " — it had taken a secure place as a regenerative
power among the nations. The Apostle had seen the ad
herents of the gospel increase from a handful of "un
learned and ignorant" provincials, mainly Galileans, who
could be gathered into a single upper room, into multitudes
of all ranks, organised as Churches, in every city of the
Empire. Time had shown all things " in the slow history
of their ripening." In the light of that history it was now
possible to write what is pre-eminently ' ' the spiritual
Gospel." That which had been but the "grey secret "of
morning, shedding its indistinct glimmer in the eastern
sky, had flushed into the rosy and the crimson dawn, and
was gradually broadening into the boundless day. " The
Synoptic Gospels contain the gospel of the Infant Church,
that of St. John the gospel of its maturity. They give
us, for the world, the experience and origin of a society ;
St. John gives us, for the Church, the inspired intuitions
of a disciple." (W.)

86 St. John.
There are many writers who have expressed doubt as to
the authenticity of the Gospel of St. John. Yet — apart
from the unanimous testimony of antiquity and the un
varying belief of the whole Christian Church — the inter
nal evidences alone in favour of its genuineness are strong,
and all but overwhelming.
If any student will thoroughly test and consider the
arguments adduced on this subject by the Bishop of Dur
ham, in the Speaker's Commentary, we think that little
doubt will remain in his mind. But, even if the Gospel
were not actually written by "the disciple whom Jesus
loved, " it would still be an eternal possession, since every
page of it abounds in truth of priceless and permanent
validity. "La langue de l'Evangeliste," says Godet, "n'a pas
d'analogue dans toute la litterature. Simplicite enfantine,
et transparente profondeur ; sainte melancolie et vivacite
non moins sainte ; par dessus tout suavite d'un amour pur
et doux. Dans la langue de Jean le vehement seul est grec,
le corps est hebreu ; ou, comme le dit Luthardt, il y'a une
Sme hebra'ique dans le langage grec."
St. John's style is characterised by recurrent words, such
as "life," 36 times; "light," 23 times; "truth," 25
times; "glory," 20 times; "witness," 14 times; "to
know," 55 times; "to believe," 98 times; "eternal life,"
15 times. Stroud had calculated that if the contents of the
Gospels be divided into 100 parts, St. Matthew has 42 pe
culiarities and 98 coincidences; St. Mark, 7 peculiarities,
and 58 coincidences ; St. Luke, 59 peculiarities and 41 co
incidences ; St. John, 92 peculiarities and 8 coincidences.
CHAPTER I.
1-5. The Proem of the Gospel in these five verses at
once indicates the character of the book. It was the object
of the aged Evangelist, before he passed away and was no
more seen, to set forth the Jesus whom he had known and

Chapter I. 87
loved, not only as the Christ, the Promised Messiah of
the Jews ; not only as the Teacher and Deliverer of the
Gentiles; not only as the Good Physician to a suffering
world : but as the Son of God, the Eternal Word, the Co
equal, Co-eternal Lord, the Life and the Light of Men.
" The first sentence offers a perfect example of the stately
symmetry by which the whole narrative is marked." (W.)
1. " In the beginning."
Comp. Gen. i. 1; 1 John i. 1-3.
l. " The Word."
This title was already known. It was (i.), the Logos
— both "reason" (endiathetos) and "utterance" (pro-
phorikos), both ratio and oratio — of ancient philosophy.
(ii.). It was the Logos which plays so large a part as
the Divine Reason in the writings of Philo.
(iii.). It was the Memra or Debura of the Talmud.
It remained for St. John to utilise the existing title, to
apply it to the Incarnate Son of God, and to fill it with
its proper plenitude of spiritual meaning. But though St.
John borrows the expression, he applies it in the state
ment " which a Greek, an Alexandrine, and a Jewish
Doctor would have equally refused to admit," in the cen
tral and startling affirmation of the Gospel, that " the
Word became flesh." "The Word" of St. John was a
Living Eternal Being, who had taken up the manhood
into God.
1. " The Word was with God."
It is difficult to render this otherwise, but the original
wpos tov ©eov means more than co-existence or companion-
snip. It means literally "towards God" (comp. Matt.
xiii. 56).
" All things were made by Him."
Literally, ' ' All things became through Him, and apart
from Him, not even one thing hath been made that hath
been made."

88 St. John.
4. " The life was the light of men."
There is a light to lighten every man who is born into
the world, but the vast majority of men had dimmed and
all but quenched that light within themselves, so that
it gave but a feeble glimmer in the world. Christ came
to give to men new life, eternal life in Him, and to make
that life a lamp of rekindled light. In Him, God said to
every holy soul —
" Arise, shine, for thy light is come,
For the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."
5. " The darkness apprehended it not."
It was not merely that the world, in its thick darkness,
did not " comprehend " it but that it did not grasp, did
not get possession of it (comp. Phil. iii. 12, 13). The verb
(kataelben) might also mean " overcame." Light and
darkness existed side by side, but the darkness did not
obtain the victory.
7. " For a witness."
St. John's is the Gospel of a sevenfold witness — of the
Father (v. 34, 37); the Son (viii. 14) ; the Spirit (xv. 26);
of Scripture (v. 39-46) ; of the Forerunner (i. 7) ; of the
disciples (xv. 27); and of Christ's works (x. 25). (W.)
9. " The true Light."
Literally the "genuine," the "essential" Light
(alethinos, not alethes).
11. He came unto His own (Ti iSta, His own things,
the world which was His home : comp. St. Luke ii. 49),
and His own people (ot ISlol) received Him not. Vulg.
"Venit in propria, et sui eum non receperunt." Comp.
Matt. xxi. 23-41.
14. "The Word became flesh, and tabernacled
among us."
The word is eskenosen — "dwelt as in a tent, or taber
nacle." "He wore a tent like ours, and of the same
material."

Chapter I. 89
The thought seems to be that Christ's mortal body was
like the Tabernacle in the wilderness, in which the She
chinah, or glory-cloud of God, tabernacled ("God walked
in a tent"— 2 Sam. vii. 6; Ps. Ixxviii. 60). That "the
Word became flesh" was a sufficient statement against
Apolinariaus, who did not regard Christ's manhood as
complete; against Gnostics, who regarded His body as
a mere transitory semblance ; against Eutychians, who
confounded the substance, by implying that the "Divine
and the human existed independently, side by side; "
against Nestorians, who divided the persons, as showing
that the human and the Divine did not act separately and
independently, but with undivided substance. (See Bish
op Westcott's note). Thus into this brief clause is com
pressed the decision of the four General Councils of Nice,
Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, that Christ was
"truly God" (dAi^ois); " perfectly man " (Te\«os) ; " in-
divisibly God-man" (dSiaiperus) ; "distinctly God and
man " (axrvyx"™*) . See Hooker, Eccl. Pol. V. liv. 10) .
Christ was God and Man; and of both One; and in that
One Both.
15, 16. Literally, "John bears witness of Him, and
hath cried. . . . He that cometh after me is come to be
before me, because He was [absolutely] before me; and
of His plenitude we all received, and [fresh] grace in
exchange for [former] grace."
18. " The only begotten Son."
There is strong evidence for the other reading — " God
only begotten " (or, literally, " only born "\ It is found
in some of the most ancient MSS. and versions, and in the ,
Greek Fathers. Dr. Hort, in his monograph on this read
ing, and Bishop Westcott in his additional note, support
this reading; from (i) its better attestation; (ii) its in
trinsic probability from its uniqueness ; and (iii) because
it explains the origin of the alternative reading.
Whatever be the final decision as to the true reading,

90 St. John.
the fact that the reading is uncertain at any rate tells
strongly for the antiquity and authenticity of the Gospel ;
for it shows that "the text has already a history, and
that the Gospel, therefore, cannot have been very recent."
Compare the same variation of reading in 1 Tim. iii. 16,
and the note there.
19. The main subject of the Gospel, which has been
prepared by the prologue (vv. 1-18), is —
i. The Self-Revelation of the Word (i. 19-xii. 56).
ii. The Self-Revelation of Christ to the Disciples (xiii.
1-xxi. 23). — W.
21. " Art Thou the Prophet ? "
The Prophet (Deut. xviii. 15) whose return was most
generally expected, after or before Elijah, was Jeremiah,
who was supposed to have hidden the Holy Fire, and the
Ark of the Testimony, and the Urim and Thummim : and
who, it was believed, would reappear to bring them from
their hiding-place (Matt. xvi. 14).
28. " In Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was
baptising." Comp. Matt. iii. 1. Bethany is the most ancient and
best supported reading. It was conjecturally altered by
Origen, in the second century, into Bethabara, because he
only knew of one Bethany, the village on the Mount of
Olives, within a Sabbath day's journey of Jerusalem.
This Bethany (El Azariyeh) is not, of course, "beyond
Jordan," and John could not have baptised there; but
there is another Bethany, of which Origen had never
heard. It was quite an obscure place, and exactly an
swers to the description of the text. A remarkable proof
of the authenticity of the Gospel is furnished by the
writer's minute acquaintance with all things connected
with Palestine, although he wrote after the destruction of
the Temple. Bethabara (now Abarah) is a ford sixteen
miles south of the Sea of Galilee; Bethany (i.e. Bashan,
" soft plain ") is east of it. (Conder.)

Chapter I. 91
35. " John was standing."
Bishop Westcott points out that this particular attitude
of watchful expectation is six times mentioned by St. John
(vii. 37; xviii. 5, 16; xix. 25; xx. 11). It is due to
personal recollection of the scenes, and each time he uses
the word ' ' there is the same pictured distinctness of the
figure to which the eyes of many were turned [see on vii.
37]. The detail was a small one, but still is it not just
the master-touch which kindles each scene into life ? "
42. " Which is by interpretation, a stone " (A.V.).
Rather (R.V.), "which is by interpretation, Peter."
The Greek Petros, the equivalent to the Aramaic Kephas,
means not "a rock," but " a detached piece of rock."
51. " Ye shall see the heaven opened."
The A.V. adds "hereafter," reading dir S.pri (which
occurs in ch. xiii. 19 ; Matt. xxvi. 29 ; Rev. xiv. 13).
The reading is not found in the best MSS., but, in any
case, "hereafter" in 1611 did not originally mean "at
some future time," but meant the same as " henceforth ; "
as in the prayer, " That we may hereafter [i. e. from this
time forth] live a godly, righteous, and sober life."
51. " Verily, verily."
This repetition of the word "Amen" is found only in
St. John's Gospel (25 times).
51. " Son of Man."
The title (the Son of Man) is absolutely new, and
perhaps was not derived either from Daniel or Ezekiel.
It represents Christ as "the Second Adam" (1 Cor. xv.
45). This He became by an act of self-humiliation, which
still left him "immeasurably above all those whose nature
He had assumed."

92 St. John.

CHAPTER II.
4. " Woman, what have I to do with thee ? "
It is difficult to see how the words could better be
rendered ; but undoubtedly in English they sound much
more harsh and abrupt than they do in the original.
"Woman" was in Greek a perfectly respectful mode of
address, and was, in the Greek tragedies, used even to
queens. "What have I to do with thee?" is, literally,
" What to Me, and to thee ? " In the gentle tone of the
Saviour's voice, the question, so far from being a harsh
rebuff, merely meant "Mother, it is My task to act in
this matter, and the proper moment has not yet arrived.''
The remark of the Virgin to the servants shows that, so
far from being hurt or repressed, she humbly awaited the
action of Jesus.
But while all this is emphatically true, it must be
added that, in this, as in almost every other passage of the
very few which allude to the Virgin at all in the records
of Christ's life after the infancy, not only is there no
shadow of sanction for the extravagant and often idolatrous
mariolatry of the Roman Church, but, on the contrary —
and as though by Divine prevision — a direct reprehension
of it. See also Luke ii. 43 ; viii. 19 ; Matt. xii. 46-49.
ii. " This beginning of His signs."
The word "sign " is characteristic of St. John, who uses
it seventeen times, whereas in the other Evangelists it is
not often found in this sense (Matt. xxiv. 24 ; Luke xxiii.
8). The ordinary word in the other Evangelists is
"powers," which does not occur in St. John, but is often
used in the first three Gospels. The aspect which the
miracles wore in the mind of St. John was that they were
proofs or indications of Christ's Divine authority — emana
tions of the Eternal Light. Thus he says (xx. 31),
"These signs are written that ye may believe that Jesus

Chapter II. 93
is the Christ, the Son of God." He narrates seven mira
cles, besides the miraculous draft of fishes in ch. xxi. 1-12.
13. " The passover of the Jews."
It is from St. John alone that we can deduce an outline
of the chronology of our Lord's life and movements during
His ministry. He marks the chief events by the recur
rence of great feasts. The Passover, at which he records
our Lord's Presence three times (chs. ii. 13; xi. 55; xii. 1) ;
the Feast of Tabernacles (vii. 2) ; the unnamed feast of
ch. v. 1 ; and the winter feast of the Dedication, on which
see x. 22. The other Evangelists dwell mainly and most
exclusively on the Galilean ministry ; St. John, who knew
more of Jerusalem than the others, and not improbably
had a house or lodging there (xviii. 15), evidently wished
to complete their record by detailing the main incidents of
the ministry at Jerusalem.
14, 15. " And He found in the Temple."
Two words are used for the " money changers " : kerma-
tistai, "those who gave small coins ; and kollubistai, those
who (at a high rate of exchange) gave the pilgrims Jewish
money, which alone might be offered in the Temple, for
their foreign money stamped with heathen symbols."
15. " A scourge of cords."
Perhaps rather " of rushes," such as He would have
been at once able to pick up from the Temple floor.
18. " What sign shewest Thou unto us ? "
This was again demanded on two occasions (ch. vi. 30 ;
Matt. xii. 38).
19. " Destroy this temple."
The word (lusate) is a very remarkable one. " It indi
cates a destruction which comes from dissolution, from the
breaking of that which binds the parts into a whole" (W.).

94 St. John.

CHAPTER III.
10. " Art thou the teacher of Israel ? "
From the use of the article, we must infer that Nico-
demus held the high office of Chakam, or "Wise Man."
The Chakam was third in rank among members of the
Sanhedrim. He sat on the left hand of the Nasi, or
President ; and the Ab-beth-Din (Father of the House of
Judgment) sat on the right. At any rate Nicodemus must
have occupied some very prominent position, or our Lord
could not have called him " the teacher " of Israel.
15. The better rendering is, "that every one that be-
lieveth may have in him eternal life."
The phrase "eternal life " occurs seventeen times in
this Gospel (see note on ver. 36) .
20, 21. " Every one that practiseth base things
[cheap, mean, bad things] ..." " But he that doeth
the truth."
On the contrast of the verbs " to practise " and "to do,"
see on ch. v. 29.
33. " Hath set his seal."
He who received the witness of Christ gave in his signed
and sealed adhesion to the creed that God is true.
36. "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal
life." Eternal life is not merely " endless " life, nor is it some
thing which belongs exclusively to the future world. The
true believer has it now. It is a spiritual and a timeless
life. Those who cannot grasp the essential antithesis
between "eternal" (aionios) and "everlasting" (aidios)
miss some of the most vital conceptions of the New Testa
ment. See on Matt. xxv. 46. The word aidios occurs
only twice in the New Testament (Rom. i. 20 ; Jude 6) ;

Chapter IV. 95

but aionios is used seventeen times by St. John in the
Gospel, and seven times in his first Epistle.
36. " He that helieveth not " (A.V.).
Rather, "he that disobey eth the Son."
CHAPTER IV.
5. " Called Sychar."
Sychar is the modern Askar, near Sichem.
6. " Sat thus by the well."
The picturesque phrase brings before us the attitude of
one who, when wearied, throws himself into a seat. Comp.
" even as He was " (Mark iv. 36).
The "well" here, and in ver. 14, is called "a spring."
9. " Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."
Jews and Samaritans still hold aloof from each other.
When Dr. Frankel told a Jewish lady at Nablous that he
had been with the Samaritan community that morning,
she shrank back, and said, "Take a purifying bath"
(see ch. viii. 48).
22. " Ye worship that which ye know not."
This correct rendering is much less severe than "Ye
worship ye know not what " (A.V.). Samaritans no less
than Jews worshipped the true God, but they knew Him
not as He might have been known to them.
22. " Salvation is from the Jews."
Rather, " the [promised] salvation:" comn. Acts iv. 11
(W.) 24. " God is Spirit."
Not "a Spirit."
27. " Marvelled that He was talking with a woman."
The Apostles, who had not yet risen above the prejudices
of their time and training, regarded women with the

96 St. John.
depreciation which is universal in the East, and were
astonished to see Jesus talking in public with a woman.
According to the Pharisaic Rabbis it was improper for a
man even to address his own wife in the streets !
29. The true rendering is " Can this be the Christ ? "
46. " A certain nobleman."
The word basilikos means "acourtier," or "king's officer."
The suppliant must have been one who was connected with
the court of Herod Antipas. See on Luke viii. 3. Perhaps
it was Chuzas, Herod's steward.

CHAPTER V.
l. "After these things there was a feast of the
Jews." Many ancient authorities read, " the feast," and, if that
be the correct reading, our Lord was perhaps present at-
four passovers, though the name of "the Feast" was
usually applied to the Feast of Tabernacles (see on ch. ii. 13).
But " a feast " is the better supported reading. It is not
a matter of perfect certainty what feast is intended.
Bishop Westcott thinks that it was the Feast of Trumpets
(the New Moon of September).
2. "The Sheep-market" (A.V.).
Rather, " the Sheep-gate " (R.V.).
2. " In Hebrew."
Ch. xix. 13, 17, etc. More strictly it would be, "in
Aramaic." 4. Our R.V. omits the verse, " waiting for the moving
of the water. For an angel of the Lord went down at
certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water : whoso
ever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in,
was made whole with whatsoever disease he was holden."

Chapter V. 97
On every ground it is a gain to have got rid of this
interpolation. (i) It is omitted in four of the five best MSS., and in
three is marked as spurious.
(ii) In the short space of two or three lines, it con
tains five or six expressions which are not only un
known in St. John's writings, but stand alone in the New
Testament. (iii) There is not the faintest allusion in Jewish history
or literature to any such strange recurrent miracle.
Bethesda, like other pools near Jerusalem, was more or
less a spring of intermittent and mineral water which was
believed to have medicinal properties. The Jews, after the
captivity, had come back deeply impressed by the angelo-
logy and demonology which they had learnt from the
Persians. They attributed everything, even the most
ordinary daily events, to the action of good or evil spirits.
This verse was a marginal note by some Jewish Christian
who shared the common superstition. The meaning of
the name Bethesda is uncertain. It may be ' ' House of
Mercy; " or "House of the Portico; "or, possibly, " House
of the Olive."
8. " Take up thy bed, and walk."
The bed (krabbaton, or Lat. grabatum) was a mere
mattress, or palliasse. The carrying of it involved no real
labour, and was necessary under the immediate circum
stances. But, under Pharisaic influence, the Jewish
observance of the Sabbath had degenerated into a hypo-
critic system of abject and puerile punctiliousness, as well
as of mean evasions, in which the true meaning and object
of the Sabbath was lost under a mass of parasitic ordinances.
To carry anything from a public place to a private house
rendered the offender liable to stoning, according to the
Pharisaic oral tradition.
Carrying burdens on the Sabbath was forbidden by the
Law (Ex. xxiii. 12; and Numb. xv. 32, etc.), and acts

98 St. John.
of healing by the oral tradition. Jesus performed seven
miracles of Sabbath healing: the withered hand (Matt. xii.
13); the demoniac (Mark i. 21); Simon's mother-in-law
(Mark i. 29) ; the bowed woman (Luke xiii. 14) ; the man
with the dropsy (Luke xiv. 1) ; the paralytic (John v. 10) ;
the man born blind (John ix. 1).
14. " Sin no more."
Literally, " Be no longer a sinner."
29. " They that have done good."
Literally, ' ' They that did good, to the resurrection of
life ; but they that practised base things, into the resur
rection of judgment."
St. John's contrast of the verbs to do and to practise (see
ch. iii. 20, 21) cannot be accidental or meaningless ; nor can
it be without reason that he uses " base things " (phaula),
not "evil " (kaka). Even a good man, not being sinless,
may sometimes do something mean and unworthy (phaulon),
though he will not commit a positively wicked deed : but
only bad men practise such things ; i.e. live in the habitual
atmosphere of unworthy deeds and low motives.
35. " He was the lamp that burnetii and shineth."
The A.V. is here singularly unfortunate. The Baptist
is not called "a burning and shining light" (see ch.
i. 8), and Christ alone is called "the Light" (i. 9.;
iii. 19). But John was "the lamp" in which the Divine
light had been kindled (Luke xii. 35; Matt. v. 15), and
therefore shone. " Christ Himself is the centre and source
of light." The Baptist has no light of his own, but draws
all his illumination from this great One. He is only as
the light of the lamp, for whose rays indeed we are grateful,
but which is pale, flickering, transitory, compared with the
glories of the eternal flame from which itself is kindled.
St. Augustine applies to the Baptist the verse (Ps. cxxxii.
18) : " I prepared a lantern for my Christ."

Chapter VI. 99

39. " Ye search the Scriptures."
The verb might equally mean "Search the Scriptures, "
but the context points decidedly to the other rendering.
The Jews of that day did search the Scriptures, but in
vain. They honoured the dead letter of them with super
stitious idolatry, and fancied (Luke viii. 18) that in them,
taken alone, they had eternal life. Yet, though those
Scriptures testify of Christ, they did not choose to come to
Him, the Lord of the Scriptures, that they might have life.
They deified the dead letter : they did not leave room in
their hearts for the work of the quickening spirit. " They
searched the writings, but missed the Word" (Plummer).

CHAPTER VI.
9. " There is a lad here."
"How can one little lad," St. Andrew seems to ask,
" carry provisions for five thousand? " Probably the boy
was one who attended on the Apostles ; and as barley
loaves were only eaten by the poor, this illustrates the
humility of their lot.
10. " Much grass."
It was early in April.
13. "Baskets."
I. e. wicker baskets (salsilloth, Jer. vi. 9), that the Jews
commonly carried (see on Mark viii. 8).
19. " Five and twenty or thirty furlongs."
This would be near the middle of the lake, which is about
six miles broad.
32. Literally, "Moses has not given you [perf.] the
bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you [now and
always] the bread from heaven, the true bread." One of
the Jewish expectations about the Messiah was that He
would restore the olden manna.

ioo St. John.
40. Eternal life is here (as always) regarded, not only
as something future, but as the actual life of the regen
erated soul.
55. Literally, "My flesh truly is food, and My blood
truly is drink."
It was only because of the gross material sense which
they unintelligently chose to attach to these words that
the hearers were offended. Our Lord afterwards gave the
perfectly lucid interpretation, that His words were only a
vivid picture. When he spoke of .eating His flesh and
drinking His blood, He uses a common Jewish metaphor,
and He cut away all ground for crass materialism by the
explanation (ver. 63): "It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing ; the words that I have spoken
unto you are spirit, and are life."
St. Peter saw this meaning when he said, "Lord,
to whom shall we go away ? Thou hast the words of
eternal life."
Our Lord here left no excuse for any notion so crude
and revolting as a real and actual eating of His flesh, or
drinking of His blood. Except for dull and blinded hearts,
it would have been superfluous to add any explanation,
seeing that "to eat" and "drink" were common and
well-understood Jewish expressions for participation in
spiritual things.
Thus in Ecclus. xxiv. 21, Wisdom says, "They that eat
Me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink Me shall yet
be thirsty; " and the Rabbis spoke of "eating the years of
the Shechinah " (comp. Jer. xv. 16). "Crede et mandu-
casti," said St. Augustine: — "Believe, and thou hast
eaten ! "
It seems certain that, in this discourse, our Lord was
not making any direct allusion to the Holy Communion
of the Lord's Supper. As that was instituted for the
first time long afterwards, it is impossible that even the
Apostles, when this discourse was delivered at Capernaum,

Chapter VII. 101

should have had any glimmer of such a meaning. But if
it be assumed that He was referring to the Holy Com
munion, then ver. 63* is as plain a condemnation of the
late, crude, and un-catholic dogma of Transubstantiation
as could be put in words.
71. The best-supported reading is "Judas, the son of
Simon Iscariot." If this reading be right, there were two
Jews among the Galilean Apostles, and if Simon the
zealot came from Kerioth (Josh. xv. 25 ; Jer. xlviii. 20),
and was the father of Judas, we see, perhaps, one reason
why Judas may have been driven into treachery by the
disappointment of the temporal Messianic hopes which he
may have learnt from his father.

CHAPTER VII.
2. " The Feast of Tabernacles [or Booths]."
This feast was hardly second in sanctity even to the
Passover. Indeed, Philo and Josephus speak of it as the
chief feast. It began on the 15th of the seventh month
(Tisri, September), and was a harvest festival, as well as
a commemoration of the "tents" in the wilderness.
12. " The multitudes."
This is the term generally used by St. John. He only
uses " the people " (laos) when he means the Jewish
nation (ch. xi. 50 ; xviii. 14).
20. " Thou hast a demon."
Compare the Greek expression kakodaimondn.
21-24. There must have been a large measure of mere
hatred and hypocrisy in the indignation of the Jews
against Christ for His Sabbath healings. When the
young Hillel was found nearly frozen on a Sabbath — in
the window-sill to which he had climbed to listen to the
teaching of the Rabbis Shemaiah and Abtalion, because
he was too poor to pay the fee for entrance — the Rabbis

102 St. John.
brought him down, and put him before the fire, and rubbed
him, and broke their traditional Sabbatic rules in the most
marked manner. Yet no one had been indignant with
them ! On the contrary, they approved of this so-called
" Sabbath-violation, " on the same principles as those to
which our Lord appealed, that "Mercy is better than
sacrifice." "Charity is above rubrics."
26. The surmise of the Jerusalem hearers as to the
reason why the rulers did not arrest Christ is, " Can it
really be that they recognise that this is the Messiah ? "
37. " On the last day, the great day of the feast,
Jesus was standing and cried, saying, If any man
thirst  "
The rendering "stood and cried" (A.V. and R.V.)
misses the picture of the original: "He was standing"
in some prominent position, "and He cried." (See on
ch. i. 35 ; Luke xviii. 13.)
It is an incidental, yet most interesting confirmation
of the belief that we have here the evidence and eye
witness of the Apostle St. John, that we find no reference
to known facts, which from familiarity he does not stop
to mention, yet which illustrate the truth and exactitude
of his narrative.
Why should our Lord, after standing and watching what
was going on, suddenly break into the cry, "If any man
thirst  " ? There is nothing in the narrative to ex
plain this ; but there is something in the facts. During
the Feast of Tabernacles took place the daily ceremony,
which was known as the "Drawing of the water." By
" the last day of the feast " is perhaps meant the seventh
day, since the booths were taken down and the people went
home on the eighth day. On the seventh day the Hosan-
nah Rabbah was seven times sung, and the great Hallel.
When they came to the verse, ' ' 0 give thanks unto the
Lord," the gaily dressed worshippers triumphantly shook
their lulabim in the air (see my Life of Christ, p. 379).

Ckapter VII. 103

One of the Levites went each day with a golden ewer to
the pool of Siloam, filled it with water, and brought it in
solemn procession to the priest who was sacrificing at the
great altar, who emptied it over the altar. The ceremony
primarily symbolised the gift of water from the rock in
the wilderness. No such ceremony was enjoined in the
Law, yet more importance was attached to it in the Phari
saic ritual than to any other, and the Rabbis said that
" he who had not witnessed the joy at the drawing of the
water, knew not what joy was." The special exultation,
perhaps, commemorated the victory won by the Pharisaic
party over the Priest-King Alexander Jannseus, who, when
he poured out the water, contemptuously did so, not over
the altar, but on the ground, and thereby created a terrific
tumult in which six thousand were slain.
Jesus had doubtless been standing and watching the
water procession, when he suddenly cried out to the throngs
in the Temple, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me
and drink. He that believeth on Me, as said the Scripture,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The
reference seems to be to Is. xii. 18; Zech. xiii. 1; xiv. 8.
Godet also refers to Ex. xvii. 6 ; Num. xx. 11.
49. " But this multitude which knoweth not the
law are accursed."
Brutal and sweeping as is this sentence in its arrogance,
it is closely analogous to many passages in the Talmud,
which denounce the amharatsim, or "people of the earth,"
i.e., those who did not know, or purposely neglected the
ostentatious nullities of Rabbinic Judaism (see Ham
burger, Real-Encycl. ii., s.v. Amhaaretz).
52. " Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet."
And yet Jonah, Hosea, Nahum, Elijah, Elisha, and
Amos were all probably of Galilee !

io4 St. John.

CHAPTER VIII.
1-11. It may be regarded as certain that this most
exquisite narrative of the compassion of Jesus towards
the woman taken in adultery was not a part of the original
Gospel of St. John. For —
(i) It is absent from the earliest and best MSS.
(ii) In those MSS. in which it is found it contains
many slight variations.
(iii) Its general Greek style differs from that of the
rest of the Gospel, and it contains expressions not found
elsewhere in St. John (e.g. St. John nowhere mentions
"the scribes," as in ver. 3).
(iv) It was rejected alike in the Eastern and Western
Church, until received, in the latter, by the authority of
Jerome and Augustine.
Yet it is no less certain that it records a real incident,
for it carries with it that indefinable stamp of genuineness
which is not in the power of mere literary invention to
achieve, and which never occurs, even by accident, in the
Apocryphal Gospels.
12. " Again, Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am
the Light of the world."
As the former utterance in the Temple had been called
out by the ceremony of Water-drawing, so this was doubt
less suggested by the solemn illumination in the Temple,
which began at evening with the lighting of the great
golden candlesticks and candelabra, as symbols of the
Pillar of Fire in the Wilderness.
20. " In the treasury."
Perhaps this part of the Court of the Women, in which
were the thirteen trumpet-shaped chests (shopharoth) for
offerings (Mark xii. 41), was called " the treasury."

Chapter VIII. 105

25. " Even the same that I said unto you from the
beginning " (A.V.).
The words might also be rendered, "How is it that I
even speak to you at all ? " Chrysostom took them in
this sense, and other Greek Fathers.
37. " Because My word hath no place in you " (A.V.).
This is the rendering of the A.V., altered by the R.V.
into " hath not free course in you." Either may be
correct, but the latter seems more probable — "My words
gain no ground in you." It thus resembles the expression
in 2 Thess. iii. 1, " That the word of the Lord may run."
44. " A murderer."
" Through envy of the devil came death into the
world" (Wisd. ii. 24).
56. " Your father Abraham exulted [comp. Luke i.
46] to see My day."
The reference probably is to the birth of Isaac, in which
Abraham exultingly realised (Gen. xvii. 17) the certainty
that the promises would be fulfilled. The marginal ren
dering is, however, at least possible : " he rejoiced that
he should see." It was the rejoicing of faith.
57. " Not yet fifty years old."
The words merely mean, " Thou hast not yet even
attained complete manhood " (see Num. iv. 3, 39 ; viii.
24, 25). The notion that our Lord lived till fifty (though
found as early as Irenseus), seems to be a complete mis
take, derived from this verse.
58. " Before Abraham was born [or came into
being] I am."
"Priusquam Abraam fieret, ego sum." This is one of
the most decisive of our Lord's own public proclamations
of His divinity. (Comp. ver. 24.) The " I am " seems
to be a distinct reference to Ex. iii. 14.

106 St. John.

CHAPTER X.
6. " This parable."
St. John never uses the word "parable," which occurs
fifty times in the Synoptic Gospels. The word here used
(paroimia) means "a proverb," or "allegory."
8. " All, as many as came before Me, are thieves
and robbers."
Not (as in A.V.) "All that ever came."
The allusion may be to popular heroes of the type of
Judas the Gaulomite, or Athronges, who had "come"
" in that immediate crisis of national expectation." We
do not indeed know of any actual " false Messiah " before
this time, but there had been various fanatics and pre
tenders. Or the word "are " may point to the "priests.
and Pharisees, hypocrites," of whom elsewhere our Lord
speaks as robbers (see Matt, xxiii. 13 ; Luke xx. 47),
"fall of extortion and wickedness " (Luke xi. 39).
11. " I am the Good Shepherd."
The adjective is not agathos, "good," but kalos,
"fair." The beauty of the Fair Shepherd is, so to
speak, the sacrament of His goodness. It was this utter
ance of our Lord which, more than any other, haunted the
imagination of the early Christians. The Fair Shepherd
is their favourite symbol of Christ, found again and again
in the catacombs and on ancient sarcophagi.
16. " Other sheep I have which are not of this
fold ; them also I must bring [or "lead"], and they
shall hear My voice and there shall be [lit. " they
shall become "] one flock, one shepherd."
It is deeply to be regretted that the A.V. in this verse
overlooked the marked distinction in the original between
aikrj, "fold," and Troip-vrj, "flock." There is but one

Chapter XL 107

flock — all the flock of the one Fair Shepherd, Christ ;
that is the essential thing. But there are now, and alwaj-s
have been, and as far as we can see, always will and must
be, in the world many folds. The flock of Christ need
not be gathered in onefold, under one organisation. " It
would be difficult to overrate the evil influence which the
confusion of the ' fold ' (ovile) and the 'flock ' (grex) has
exercised on popular theology. Elsewhere the great lesson
of the corporate union of the Church is taught, but here
the thought is of the spring of unity in personal relation
ship to Christ " (W.).
Lord Bacon says (Essay III.), "It is noted by one of
the Fathers that Christ's coat indeed had no seam ; but
the Church's vesture was of divers colours, whereupon he
saith, ' In veste varietas sit, scissura non sit,' — they be
two things, Unity and Uniformity."
22. " It was the feast of the dedication."
It was held in December (Kisleu 25th).
The Greek name of the feast was Encaenia ; the Hebrew
name, Chanukka. It was not one of the feasts established
by the Mosaic Law, but had been founded by Judas
Maccabseus (b.c. 164) to commemorate his recleansing and
rededication of the Temple after it had been shamefully
polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Mace. i. 20-60 ;
iv. 36-59 : comp. Ezra vi. 16) .
34. " If he called them gods."
The word " gods " had been applied to great men, " the
Elohim of the earth " (Ex. xxii. 8 ; Ps. Ixxxii. 6), and
even to unjust rulers.

CHAPTER XI.
1-57. The raising of Lazarus is the last and culminating
miracle of the seven which St. John narrates.

108 St. John.
16. " Thomas who is called Didymus."
" Didymus " (Twin) is merely the Greek equivalent
of Thomas.
18. " Now Bethany."
Bethany is still called El-Azariyeh from Eleazar (i.e.
Lazarus). 33. " He groaned in the spirit and was troubled."
The verb here rendered "He groaned" occurs only
elsewhere in ver. 38, in Matt. ix. 30, Mark i. 43, "He
vehemently charged them ; " and in Mark xiv. 5, " They
were indignant with her," or "murmured against her."
It might, perhaps, mean, "He laid powerful restraint on
His spirit." There is no ostensible cause for "indig
nation " here, unless it were at the evil and misery of a
world of death.
He " was troubled " is, literally, " troubled Himself."
35. " Jesus wept."
The verb edakrusen means "He shed silent tears." It
is not the same word as that which has been used in
ver. 33, which is klaiontas, when "He saw her wailing
and the Jews wailing." On this occasion alone are we
told that Jesus shed silent tears. The word used for His
"weeping" over Jerusalem, in Luke xix. 41, is eklausen,
"He wailed." We are only told that "He wept" once,
and that "He wailed" once ; but several times that "He
sighed " (Mark viii. 34) or groaned (Mark vii. 12).
47. " The chief priests."
The high-priesthood had fallen into the hands of a
powerful avaricious Sadducean clique of families, and they
would be specially indignant at anything which might
hasten a popular crisis, or foreshadow a resurrection from
the dead.
so. " Ye know nothing at all."
The emphasis is on the " Ye." Caiaphas, the astute

Chapter XII. 109

practical Sadducee, tells the Pharisees that in their aim
less talk they failed to recognise that it was expedient for
them (the true reading is " expedient for you ") to sacrifice
one man for the benefit of the national and political exist
ence. From this time the wealthy, jealous, worldly eccle
siastics — the priestly party — supersede the fanatical
formalists in bringing about the death of Christ. The
Pharisees must, however, have their share of the guilt,
for they formed the majority of the Sanhedrin.

CHAPTER XII.
l. " Six days before the passover."
Nisan 8th. Christ was crucified on Nisan 14th.
6. " He took away what was put therein."
The word might mean simply "he carried" — he was
the purse-bearer of the common fund of the poor Twelve
and their Lord. But the context seems to point to the
meaning that "he habitually stole" (Aug. auferebat).
For a similar use of the verb bastazo, see Jos., Antt.
xiv. 9. 1.
The " bag " seems to have been a box.
7. " Suffer her to keep it against the day of My
burying [or " of my preparation for burial "] " (R.V.).
The A. V., following another reading and punctuation,
has the rendering, "Let her alone! against the day of my
burying hath she kept this." This is easier to explain
than the better supported reading followed by the R.V.
It may be correct, for the phrase has this sense, "Let her
alone," in Matt. xv. 14, Mark xiv. 6. Dr. Field, one of
the Revisers, who, in his Otium Norvicense, used his
learning to throw great light on many passages, conjec
tures (very probably) that Mary had procured the "ala
baster " flask of ointment of spikenard (or " pistic nard ")
very precious (Mark xiv. 3: comp. Hor., Od. iv. 12, 17),

no St. John.
to anoint the body of her brother, Lazarus. The perfume
which she now used had been left over, and she had re
served it to honour Christ. Judas was hypocritically
indignant at the " waste " of what might have been sold
for three hundred denarii (about ten guineas), and "given
to the poor," after he had stolen some of it himself.
13. " The branches of the palm trees."
This is another of St. John's minute and appropriate
references, for from the abundance of the palm-trees which
grew in the neighbourhood Bethany received its name of
"the House of Dates." " Hosanna " means "0 save
now ! " (Ps. cxxvii. 25).
20. " Greeks."
Our Lord here, as in the case of the centurion (Matt.
viii. 5) and the Syrophcenician woman (Mark vii. 26), came
into contact, not merely with Greek-speaking Jews (Hellen-
ists), but with Gentiles (Acts xiv. 1 ; comp. viii. 35). These
Greeks have been traditionally connected with a deputation
sent to Jesus by Abgar, King of Edessa, to whom our Lord
is said to have sent His likeness (Euseb., H. E. i. 13).
25. " He that loveth his life loseth [or destroyeth]
27. " Save Me out of this hour."
Not "from this hour" (R. and A.V.).
28. "A voice out of heaven."
This is one of the forms of heavenly communication
which were described by the Jews as the Bath Kol,
or "daughter of a voice." In the Gospel it is only
mentioned on two other occasions — our Lord's baptism
(Matt. iii. 17) and the Transfiguration.
49. "I haVe not spoken of (rather " out of")
Myself" (A.V.).
I.e. " The source of My words is from above."

Chapter XIII. m

CHAPTER Xin.
4. " His garments."
Himatia, "His upper robes;" i.e. His tallith and
girdle. 10. " He that is bathed."
He that has been " bathed" (leloumenos) has only need
to "wash" (nipsasthai) his feet, soiled by the dusty
Eastern roads and dusty streets.
We find the verb "bathe " in such verses as Acts xxii.
16, "Bathe off thy sins," and nipsasthai, "wash," in
such verses as Matt. xv. 2.
Another verb, brechein, "to wet," is also rendered
" wash" in the A.V. The true meaning will be seen in
Luke vii. 38 (R.V.). None but careless and superficial
readers of the New Testament will regard as trivial these
endeavours to express the exact shades of meaning in the
original words. They give distinctness to pictures which,
by the neglect of them, become vague and blurred.
23-25. Our Lord and the Apostles at the Last Supper
were not seated on chairs, but reclined on couches, as was
the universal Eastern custom. John was reclining (ana-
keimenos) with his head on Jesus' bosom (kolpos, i.e.
leaning against the folds of His robe), being both by birth
a kinsman (cousin) of our Lord, and also probably the
youngest of the Apostolic band.
Peter, anxious to know who was the traitor of whom
the Lord spoke, made a sign to John that he should ask.
John instantly changed his position — "thus " (i.e. by a
sudden natural movement: comp. iv. 6), and "falling
back " (epipeson) on Jesus' breast, i.e. actually laying
his head on the Lord's body, not merely on the robe —
(stethos, a different word from kolpos in ver. 23 ; comp.
xxi. 20), — whispered to Him, "Lord, who is it?"

112 St. John.
Even such apparently trivial matters as the "thus,"
the use of two different words for • 'bosom" and "breast,"
and for "reclining" and "falling back" mark the vivid
memory of an eye-witness.
23. " Whom Jesus loved."
The word used for "loved" is not heie philo, the love
of human friendship, but agapo, which implies honour
and esteem.
29. " Buy what things we have need of for the
feast." This verse furnishes a finally decisive proof that the
Lord's Supper took place on the evening before the Jewish
Passover, and therefore was not the actual Paschal feast.

CHAPTER XIV.
2. " Many mansions."
This does not mean " great houses," as in modern
English, but mansiones, "habitations," "abiding-places."
13-16. " Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name. . . .
If ye shall ask Me anything in My Name. . . . And
I will pray the Father."
The word " ask " is used in these verses in the A.V. for
two entirely distinct verbs — aito, "I ask," and eroto. In
the note on ch. xiii. 10, 23-25, I touched on the interest
and vividness which arises from an attempt to discrimi
nate the varied expressions of the original. But the same
attention to language sometimes illustrates important
theological doctrines in a very unsuspected manner. Such
is the case in these verses.
Aito, "I beg," is a general term for "asking" or
"praying" for any favour; eroto, "I request," implies
a familiar mode of request among friends and equals

Chapter XIV. 1 1 3

(Luke v. 3). Now, it is both interesting and important
to observe that eroto is the word used by our Lord alone of
His own prayers, to the Father in this Gospel (xvii. 9).
It is used once only of prayer offered by man to God
(1 John v. 16), and there of intercessory prayer. It surely
throws light on our Lord's own assertion of His Divinity,
that He habitually used, to describe His own requests to
the Father, a word which cannot ordinarily be used of
our requests to God, but only of our familiar requests
among ourselves.
16. " Another Comforter."
Only here and in 1 John ii. 1 is the title of "Com
forter" (Paraclete) given to Christ. It is used of the
Holy Spirit in ch. xv. 26 ; xvi. 7. In 1 John ii. 1, it is
rendered "Advocate." The Greek word means (i) "one
who is called in to assist," like an advocate in a trial. It
cannot mean one who encourages or exhorts, for it is
passive, not active, like every other compound of kletos,
"called." When Barnabas is called "a son of paraklesis," it may
mean " a son of exhortation," or "of consolation " (see on
Acts iv. 35 ; comp. xv. 31) ; but parakletos means one who
is called to "the side to help." When we speak of the
Holy Spirit as " the Comforter," we do not mean only
that He consoles us in sorrow, but that He is our Advocate
and Intercessor ; that He helpeth our infirmities ; that He
strengthens, encourages, and pleads for us "with groanings
which cannot be uttered" (Rom. viii. 26).
18. " I will not leave you desolate."
In the A.V. it is rendered, "I will not leave you com
fortless," and this is an unfortunate rendering, because it
looks as if the word had some connection with "Com
forter" in ver. 16. The proper rendering is, "I will not
leave you orphans," or "bereaved." The word only
recurs in the New Testament in James i. 27.
8

114 •&• John.
CHAPTER XV.
1. " I am the true vine."
We have already noticed in the discourses of our Lord
about the Living Water and the Light of the World, that,
though the Evangelist does not mention the incidents by
which they were suggested, yet they had direct relation
with what was at that moment going on in the Temple.
Similarly, some have supposed that the present discourse
was suggested either by the vineyards through which they
were passing on their way to the Mount of Olives (after
Jesus had said, " Arise, let us go hence "), or that they
may have been spoken in the court of the Temple, and in
sight of the great golden vine over the gate, which was
its most splendid ornament (Jos., Antt. xvii. 3 ; B.J.
v. 5. 4). During the Passover the Temple gates were
opened at midnight (Jos., Antt., xviii. 2. 2), and, as Bishop
Westcott points out, our Lord and His Apostles may well
have gone there for a short time.
CHAPTER XVI.
8. "He . . . will convict the world in respect of
sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."
The same word is used in ch. viii. 46. It means that
the Spirit will bring home to men's consciences a right
conviction respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Of sin, because the essence of sin is disbelief in God's
revelation of Himself ; of righteousness, because Christ
had finally and for ever exhibited its full meaning and
majesty ; of judgment, because, in spite of the apparent
failure of Christ and triumph of the Evil One, Satan had,
even by Christ's death, been finally judged.
23, 24. On the difference between the verbs used for
"v» shall ask Me nothing" and "If ye shall ask any

Chapters X VIL, X VIII. 1 1 5
thing of the Father," see on ch. xiv. 14-16. Here, how
ever, in the first clause, the right rendering probably
turns on another meaning of eroto, "Ye shall ask Me no
questions. It will be needless then to ask Me questions,
for the Holy Spirit 'will guide you into all the "truth" '
(ver. 13), i.e. into all the truth which you need to know
concerning Me ; and every petition offered by you shall be
granted you in My name."
CHAPTER XVII.
l. " These things spake Jesus."
Throughout these last discourses, and the great High-
priestly prayer of our Lord, the English reader would do
well to notice the tenses, which are accurately discrimi
nated in the R.V. Our Lord used the aorist tense when
He regards His work as complete, and looks at it as though
His earthly life were now finished and belonged to the
past ; He uses the imperfect of continuous acts ; and the
perfect when He contemplates His life in its abiding
effects. Thus in ver. 4 we have, "I accomplished that
which Thou hast given Me to do ; " and in ver. 12, " When
I was with them, I was ever guarding them in Thy Name.
Those whom Thou hast given Me [as an abiding pos
session] I protected, and not one of them perished but
the son of perdition."
3. This is the life eternal, not only begun now, but fully
possessed and realized (ch. iii. 36 ; vi. 47, 54 ; 1 John
v. 12, etc.). CHAPTER XVIII.
l. "Brook."
Rather "ravine" or "wady."
The Hebrew name Kidron, "black," was in Greek
surfrappe (to use the technical term) into Kedron, " of the
cedars."

116 St. John.
3. The agents in the arrest of Jesus were Judas ; the
Levitical Temple guard under their captain ; the Roman
chiliarch, with a maniple of (perhaps two hundred) Roman
soldiers ; and some of the priests (Luke xxii. 52).
10. " The slave's name was Malchus."
St. John could now mention the man's real name, whom,
as an eye-witness of the event, and also from his having
free access to the palace of the high priest (ver. 16), he
knew. The other Evangelists may or may not have known
the man's name, but it might have been dangerous to enter
into details when they wrote. When St. John wrote, after
the destruction of Jerusalem, all such danger was past.
13. " To Annas first."
He had been high priest a.d. 7-14, and was still the
most influential member of the Sanhedrin. Five of his
sons and his son-in-law Caiaphas became high priests, and
it was his son Annas (or Hanan II.) who put to death
James, the brother of John.
17. "Art thou also [as well as John, whom we
know personally, and know to be His disciple]."
27. " A [not " the "] cock crew."
28. " Hall of judgment" (A.V.).
The Prsetorium is usually supposed to have been Herod's
palace, but may possibly have been a hall in the Castle
Antonia. 28. " That they might not be defiled."
"By entering a house from which all leaven had not
been scrupulously removed" (W.).
They were scrupulous about an infinitesimal matter of
ritual, while they were engaged in the worst of all human
crimes. Since Pilate despised their Jewish objections to
Jesus, they charged him with (i) sedition, (ii) forbidding
tribute, (iii) making Himself a king. All three charges
were false.

Chapter XIX. 1 1 7

CHAPTER XIX.
Only by a careful study of the fourfold narrative of the
Gospel in the original can we at all adequately recognise
the extent, variety, and manifold anguish of the insults
and torments heaped, with equal brutality, by both Jews
and Gentiles on the silent and defenceless Saviour during
that sleepless night and agonising day.
(i) First came the intense and heart-rending emotion
of the Last Supper, both before the exit of the traitor into
the night and during the delivery of those last words,
" so rarely mixed of sorrows and joys, and studded with
mysteries as with emeralds."
(ii) Next came the agony in the garden, and great sweat-
drops falling like gouts of blood.
(iii) Then the agitating circumstances of the betrayal
and arrest.
(iv) Then the informal trial before Annas, at the high
priest's house, perhaps in the Chanujoth, or "Booths,"
which were places where the tyrannical, avaricious, and
intriguing family of Annas (Hanan) made money by sell
ing pigeons, etc., for the Temple. These "booths" were,
at one time, under two cedar trees on the Mount of Olives
(Derenbourg, Palestine, p. 466).
(v) Then the trial before a night meeting oipart of the
Sanhedrin, at which it -was unlawful to pass a sentence of
death. At this informal examination occurred —
a. The first blow on the face, and —
b. The first religious condemnation.
c. The mockery of the servants and attendants of the
priests and elders.
(vi) The meeting of the Sanhedrin at dawn, the trial
on grounds of religion, and the formal condemnation.
(vii) The second mockery by Jews.
(viii) The civil trial before Pilate, without and within
the Prsetorium.

1 1 8 St. John.
(ix) The trial before Herod, and the mockery by him
and his soldiers.
(x) The scourging and first mockery by the Roman
soldiers. (xi) The civil sentence.
(xii) The second mockery by the soldiers.
(xiii) The bearing of the cross to Golgotha.
(xiv) The nailing to the cross.
(xv) The Crucifixion.
1. "And scourged Him."
It is a deeply interesting fact, especially as so many of
the most sacred sites have fallen into oblivion, that the
vaulted chamber and truncated pillar which have been dis
covered at Jerusalem under the supposed site of Castle
Antonia, may, by no means improbably, be the very scene
where our Lord was scourged, and the very pillar to which
He was bound.
12. " Opposeth Caesar."
It should be remembered that this Csesar was the terrible
Tiberius, who enforced most rigidly and cruelly the law
against treason (Lex Majestatis). This thought might well
terrify Pilate.
14. " About the sixth hour."
There is another reading "the third hour," and for the
authenticity of this the Chronicon Alexandrinum not only
appeals to "accurate copies," but to "the very autograph
of the Evangelist." St. Mark (xv. 25) says, "It was
the third hour, and they crucified Him." St. Matthew
(xxvii. 45), "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness
over all the land to the ninth hour " (i.e. from twelve to
three). So, too, St. Luke (xxiii. 44).
Wieseler supposes that, unlike the other Evangelists
(who count from 6 a.m.), St. John counts from midnight;
but his supposition that the Romans ever reckoned in this

Chapter XIX. 1 1 9

way is (as he himself admits) very disputable. (See my
Life of Christ, pp. 105, 147.)
19. " The King of the Jews."
Some have argued against the minute accuracy of the
Evangelists, from the circumstance that they record the
inscription over the Cross in three different forms : in St.
Matthew (xxvii. 37), " This is Jesus the King of the
Jews; " in St. Mark (xv. 26), " The King of the Jews; "
in St. Luke (xxiii. 38), " This is the King of the Jews; "
in St. John (xix. 19), " Jesus the Nazarene, the King of
the Jews.''
Now, since the four accounts of the inscription are
identical in import, the exact phraseology of the insulting
title was of little consequence, especially as it probably
varied in the three languages — Hebrew, Greek, Latin. It
is, however, far from improbable that St. John gives it in
the Hebrew form (in which it would take up the least
space); St. Mark and St. Luke in the brief ironic Roman
form, " Rex Judseorum hie est ; " St. Matthew in the Greek
form, "O Bao-iXetis tS>v, 'IovSatW.
For an explanation of the details of these chapters I may
perhaps refer to my Life of Christ.
23. " Took His garments."
The " garments '' were the outer robe (or tallith), which
they ripped down the seams into four parts, and the tunic
(or cetoneth) woven in one piece.
25. It is probable that the description is meant to
include four women — the Virgin; her sister Salome, the
wife of Zebedee ; her other sister Mary, the wife of Klopas
(Alphseus, Matt. x. 3) ; and Mary Magdalene.
28. " Saith, I thirst."
This single word is the only one uttered by Christ on the
Cross expressive oi physical suffering; and the only word

120 St. John.
by which any one of the four Evangelists so much as
alludes to the bodily torment of crucifixion.
30. " Gave up the ghost " (A.V.).
Rather, "gave up His spirit," as a voluntary act —
"quod voluit, quando voluit, quomodo voluit " (Aug.).
31. " The Preparation."
" The eve of the sabbath." The sabbath on this occasion
coincided with Nisan 15th, the first day of the passover.
This first day always ranked as a sabbath (Ex. xii. 16),
' ' so that the day was doubly holy " (Plummer) .
40. The body of our Lord was first laid in the embalm
ing spices of myrrh and aloes ; then wrapped over with linen
cloths (othonia, not " clothes ") ; then swathed round and
round (Matt, xxvii. 59) with a sindon (Matt, xxvii. 59),
or grave-bands (keiriai : see ch. xi. 44), exactly as the
body of Lazarus is so often represented in the pictures in
the catacombs. Over the face was a napkin (soudarion).

CHAPTER XX.
17. " Touch me not."
Vulg. "Noli me tangere." It is to be regretted that
both the A.V. and the R.V. have this misleading trans
lation. It might well be asked why Mary Magdalene
should be told not to touch Christ because He had not
ascended, whereas not only was Thomas bidden to touch
Him (ver. 27), "but the Apostles were even bidden to
' ' handle Him and see " that His body was not a mere
apparition (Luke xxiv. 39) . The reason given to Mary for
not "touching " Him would have applied just as strongly
to the Apostles, whom He told to feel His living flesh
(comp. 1 John i. 1).
The translation here ought to be as in the margin (R. V.),
" Take not hold on Me," or even better, Cling not to Me "

Chapter XX. 121

(lit. "Be not clinging to Me"). So rendered, it enables
us to grasp the deep spiritual lesson which our Lord desired
to impress on the mind of Mary, and which multitudes of
Christians have entirely failed to apprehend.
Our Lord meant to teach the loving, despairing woman
that —
(i) The abode of His risen body on earth would now be
but for a brief interspace of time.
(ii) Yet, even for that brief forty days, the time was
passed for exhibitions of passionate human and bodily
affection. He was about to ascend to His Father. His
physical presence on earth — temporary and less close — was
shortly, hereafter, to be superseded by the far nearer and
more absolute spiritual presence. His children were no
more to be "with Christ," but what was a far deeper and
diviner union, "in Christ." They were no longer freely
"to go in and out with Him," but to be incorporated in
Him. The Bridegroom was by no means to be " taken
from them," but to be "with them and in them" for
evermore. Had this been rightly apprehended, many of the forms
of worship which aim only at stimulating emotion for the
physical sufferings of Christ, — and, in general, the deifi
cation of pain, — might not have begun to invade Chris
tianity centuries after the death of Christ. Such modes
and expressions of worship were absolutely unknown to
the primitive Christians. Their characteristic was " exul
tation " (agalliasis) , not the artificial stimulation of
emotional misery. In tha catacombs, for three centuries
at least, there is not a single Latin cross, nor is a paint
ing of the Crucifixion so much as heard of before the sixth
century (and then only in the private MS. of an Eastern
monastery) ; nor is a portable crucifix heard of before the
eleventh century, nor a crucifix of any kind before the
eighth ; nor the so-called "Stations of the Cross " before
the fourteenth. For fuller information of this subject I
may refer the reader to my ' ' Life of Christ as represented

122 St. John.
in Art." The sobbing for hours over " the five wounds of
the crucifix " — the morbid attempts to reproduce the
stigmata, — and, generally speaking, the hysterics of souls
dazed by wholly unscriptural, unprimitive, and uncatholic
forms of devotion, were, in the course of centuries, and
especially in the Dark Ages, substituted for the "sim
plicity "and " exultation " which were the predominant
characteristics of the first Christians, many of whom had
been actual witnesses of the scenes of the Crucifixion
(Acts ii. 46).
These lessons and many more lie in the first words of
the risen Christ to the woman out of whom He had cast
seven devils, "Cling not to me;" — as well as in His
words to the weeping women as He was bearing His cross,
"Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me."
23. "Whose soever sins ye remit," etc. (A.V.).
This verse is constantly quoted as though it gave to
the priesthood exclusively the power of "remitting " and
"retaining" sins. This is a complete perversion of the
words. They were not addressed to the Apostles only,
but to the Christian community: — "the Eleven and
those that were with them " (Luke xxiv. 33). I quote
the weighty and deeply considered words of Bishop
Westcott : —
"The main thought which the words convey is that of
the reality of the power of absolution from sin, granted to
the Church, and not of the particular organisation through
which the power is administered. The commission must
be regarded properly as the commission of the Christian
society, and not that of the Christian ministry (comp.
Matt. v. 13, 14)."
The promise of Matt, xviii. 18, referred "to the enact
ment of ordinances, and not the administration of that
which is purely spiritual — the laying down the terms of
fellowship. This promise gives a living and abiding
power to deciding the facts and conditions of forgiveness

Chapter XXI. 123

in relation to classes, and not in relation to individuals.
It is impossible to contemplate an absolute individual
exercise of the power of ' retaining ; ' so far, it is contrary
to the scope of the passage to seek in it a direct authority
for the absolute individual exercise of the 'remitting.'"
It is not enough for "priests," who claim the prerogative
of God Himself, to say that it is in the power of their
ignorant and imperfect human fallibility to forgive or re
tain sins, and to quote these words in support of so
immense an assumption. All that the ministers of the
Church can do is to pronounce the conditions of forgive
ness or non-forgiveness. To a man whom the priest
" absolves " while he is still impenitent, the absolution
is a mere idle and invalid pretence ; and if he be truly
and sincerely penitent he is forgiven already, though all
the priests in the world were to refuse him their absolu
tion. Further, as the power was in any case given to
others beside the Apostles, the ' ' absolution " of any lay
man is just as effective as that of any priest
CHAPTER XXI.
(Evidently an appendix to the Gospel, added later by
the Evangelist himself.)
This entire chapter, quiet as is the narrative, is ex
quisitely beautiful in its inimitable simplicity. The
appearances of the Risen Lord during the Forty Days
were neither continuous nor frequent. There were days
in which the Apostles saw Him not. Poverty probably
weighed heavily upon them, and the weariness of tense
expectation. It may have been the pressure of such needs
that induced Peter to resume his old trade as a fisherman,
especially as our Lord had said that He would go before
them into Galilee (Mark xvi. 7). The four who accom
panied Him were all Galileans.
They mounted into " the boat" (ver. 3), probably the
one which had belonged to Peter or to the sons of Zebedee,

124 &• John.
and had been set apart for the service of Jesus. They
fished at night, because it is the most promising time for
fishing in the lake. They caught nothing. At early dawn
Jesus stood on the beach at Bethsaida (ver. 4 ; see note
on Matt. xiii. 2). But the body of the Risen Lord in
some way differed in semblance from that of Jesus with
Whom they had lived, for they did not recognise Him
(Luke xxiv. 16, Matt, xxviii. 17). He called to them from
the shore, but even His word of address, "Children ! "
did not enlighten them. He bade them fling the casting-
net on the right of the boat, and they would catch fish,
and when they did so the net was instantly heavy with
the draught. Then the love of John made him keen-eyed
to recognise that the figure on the misty shore was the
Lord ; which, when Peter heard, he — with instinctive
reverence for the presence of his Lord, yet doing the very
opposite to what a swimmer would ordinarily do — flung
his fisher's cloak over the under garment in which he
worked, plunged into the sea, and swam to shore, while
the other four rowed in the boatv Then Jesus bade them
bring some fish to roast on the fire which was there,1 and
break their fast.
During the meal overwhelming awe kept them silent
from the question, "Who art Thou ? " Indeed, they now
knew, instinctively, that He was the Lord. Then Jesus,
taking Peter a little apart, asked him (vv. 15-17),
" Simon, son of John,2 esteemest (agapds) thou Me, more
than these ? " But in answering, Peter substitutes the
more ardent human word philo for the word which Christ
had used, and says, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love
Thee. He saith to Him, Feed my little lambs. He saith
1 From this incident sprang the old English custom of eating a
pike at Easter (the " Easter pickerel ") ; and perhaps it was one of the
various reasons why " the fish " was one of the cryptic symbols of
Christ among the early Christians. Bede says, "Piscis assus est
Christus passus."
2 Jonah and John are both forms of the Hebrew Johanan, " mercy
of Jehovah."

Chapter XXI. 125

to him again, a second time, Simon, son of John, esteemest
thou Me ? Again Peter replies, Yea, Lord, Thou knowest
that I love Thee. He saith to him, Tend My sheep. [Not
merely "feed" them, but "be their shepherd."] He saith
to him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me ?
Peter was grieved that He said unto him the third time,
Lovest thou Me ? and He said to Him, Lord, Thou knowest
all things. Thou dost recognise that I love Thee. Jesus
saith to him, Feed My sheep."
Then follows Christ's prophecy to Peter of his future
martyrdom and his dim indication that John should be
the last survivor of the Apostles, and should "tarry till
He came" (ver. 22).
The "coming" of Christ here alluded to doubtless
refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the final close
of the Old Dispensation, which was one of Christ's many
advents before the great final Advent.
22. " Tarry till I come."
Rather, "while I am coming."
" The ' coming ' is not regarded as a definite point, in
future time, but rather as a fact which is in slow and con
tinuous realization " (W.).
This appendix to the Gospel was evidently added by
St. John (among other reasons) that he might correct a
current misconception.

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
The history of the book covers a period from A.d. 33-63.
Chs. iii.-viii. narrate events which occurred a.d. 33-37;
chs. ix.-xii. events between 37-44. This ends the first
part of the book ; the remainder is occupied with St. Paul's
life between 44-63. The Holy Spirit is mentioned more
often in the Acts (seventy-one times) than in any other
part of Scripture. The motto of the book might be, "Not
by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord
of Hosts." The word "grace," only used by St. John in
one passage of his Gospel (ch. i. 14-17), is specially charac
teristic of St. Luke and of St. Paul. It occurs seventeen
times in the Acts.
CHAPTER I.
2. " He was received up."
More correct than "was taken up." From the Greek
word anelephthe here used, is borrowed the name Analepsis,
by which the Ascension is called in the Greek Church.
Two other verbs are used — " He was taken up "(eperihe,
ver. 9), and "He was being borne up " (anephereto, Luke
xxiv. 51).
3. " By the space of forty days."
This is the only notice in the New Testament which
mentions that there were forty days between the Resur
rection and the Ascension.
9. " A cloud received Him out of their sight."
It may well be questioned whether the A scension is a

Chapter I. 127
suitable subject for Christian art. Our Lord probably
vanished into the cloud.
13. " Into the upper chamber."
This upper chamber (aviayimv and hrepiaov) was in the
house of Mary, sister of Barnabas, and mother of Mark,
and was probably the scene of the Last Supper. It was
doubtless used to give a roof to the poor Galilean disciples
in Jerusalem.
13. " Judas, the son of James."
This may be correct; but more probably the brother of
James is meant.
13. " Zelotes " (A. V.).
See note on Mark x. 4.
18. " Falling headlong, he burst asunder in the
midst." Two different, but not irreconcilable accounts are given
of the end of Judas. The field which he acquired by the
awful blood-money could never have been paid for by him,
yet it was the scene of his immediate and frightful death.
14. " And his brethren."
They seem to have been converted by the Resurrection ;
and a special appearance of the Risen Lord had been vouch
safed to James, the eldest of them (1 Cor. xv. 7).
23. " Barsabbas."
This is the better reading. The meaning of the name is
uncertain. Papias (ap. Euseb., S. E., iii. 39) says that he
drank poison, and it did not harm him. He had probably
beven one of the seventy disciples.

128 The Acts of the Apostles.
CHAPTER II.
3. " Tongues parting asunder, like as of fire."
" Parting asunder " is better than the " cloven " of A.V.,
but the best rendering is given in the margin — "distribut
ing themselves." The lambent flames rested on the brows
of all present ; and the rendering " cloven " is said to have
originated the shape of the mediseval and modern mitre.
6. " When this sound was heard."
The sound of the many voices of the disciples, suddenly-
moved to utterance by the gift of Pentecost.
6. " Every man heard them speaking in his own
language." Either (i) the effects of Pentecost, so far as they were
evinced by " the tongue," were different from those effects
which for a time became normal in the Infant Church ; or
(ii) the phrase here used only conveys a general impression.
Unquestionably "the Tongue," as this outburst of expres
sion due to overwhelming spiritual emotion was called,
was not normally a power of speaking in languages unknown
to the speaker. There is not the slightest trace that any
one of the Apostles possessed any such power; indeed, the
providential preparation for the spread of the gospel caused
(a) by the extension of the Roman dominion; (b) by the
universal dissemination of Greek, which, as the sequel
shows, was understood by all these hearers, rendered a
knowledge of other languages all but useless. The form
of Greek known as Hellenistic (in which most of the New
Testament is written) was at that time a lingua franca
throughout all countries which bordered on the Mediter
ranean. Unless, then, this display of "the Tongue" on
the day of Pentecost differs from those of which St. Paul
speaks (1 Cor. xii. -xiv.), it was not an utterance in many
languages unknown to the Galilean speakers, but an utter-

Chapter II. 129
ance so thrilling and powerful that men of all languages
who heard it were able to catch its import and to be stirred
by its intense power. Similar manifestations have recurred
at other periods of overwhelming spiritual emotion. Men
are understood by all hearers when they speak the feelings
of the inmost heart. St. Bernard knew no language but
Latin, yet it is on record that the meaning of his vehe
mently impassioned harangues in preaching the Second
Crusade was understood even by multitudes to whom
Latin was unknown.
22. We have here three of the chief words for miracles
— "powers," "portents," "signs." (See on Matt.
xiv. 2.)
27. " Thou wilt not leave My soul in Hades."
I.e. in the unseen world, the world of the spirits of
the dead. The soul of Jesus was not " abandoned to
Hades." 38. " Jesus Christ."
The name "Jesus " (alone) occurs only twenty-two times
in the Epistles, but seven hnndred and one times with
some addition expressive of His Divine nature.
42. " In the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, in
the breaking of bread, and the prayers."
The better rendering (as in the margin) is "in fellow
ship " (i.e. with each other). "The breaking of bread "
refers to the sacramental character given by the early
Christians even to their daily meals — the Agape and
Holy Communion; "the prayers," to the stated Christian
gatherings for common prayer.
45. " And had all things common."
Clearly from the context (i) the practice, though
general, was not universal, except so far as large and free
charity was concerned; (ii) it was by no means an obliga-
9

1 30 The Acts of the Apostles.
tory communism : (iii) events proved that it was unsuited
for the necessary conditions of human society, for the
church of Jerusalem became the poorest of all the churches,
and had to be largely supported by Gentile alms.
46. " With gladness and singleness of heart."
This is a lovely description of the attitude of mind
inspired into an age of despair by the New Dispensation.
The two characteristics of these early Christians were
"exultation" — the word in the original is specially
strong ; and smoothness of heart, as of a road on which
the foot strikes against no stumbling-blocks. It had not
yet come to be regarded as a special form of piety, to cul
tivate the luxury of emotional misery.
47. " Those that were being saved."
A most important correction of the "such as should be
saved" (A.V.). In 1 Cor. i. 18, "those who are being
saved" are contrasted with "those who are perishing."
" Salvation in the New Testament," says Bishop Light-
foot, "is a thing of the past, and a thing of the present,
and a thing of the future." St. Paul says, sometimes,
"Ye were saved" (Rom. viii. 24), or, "Ye have been
saved" (Eph. ii. 5, 8) ; sometimes, "Ye are being saved"
(1 Cor. xv. 2) ; and sometimes, "Ye shall be saved"
(Rom. x. 9, 10). It is important to observe this, because
we are thus taught that salvation involves a moral condi
tion which must have begun already, though it will receive
its final accomplishment hereafter. Godliness, righteous
ness, is life, is salvation. The divorce of morality and
religion must be fostered by failing to note this, and laying
the whole stress on the first call, or the final change. It
is therefore important that the idea of salvation as a
rescue from sin through the knowledge of God in Christ,
and therefore a progressive condition, and a present state,
should not be obscured" (On Revision, p. 94).
Comp. ver. 40, "Be saving yourselves," and 1 Cor. xv. 2.

Chapter III. 131

The true reading is " added to them" not "to the Church."
" The Church" is not mentioned till ch. v. 11.

CHAPTER III.
13. " His servant Jesus."
Comp. ver. 26 ; iv. 27, 30. The Greek word is pais,
which always in the N. T. means either "servant" or
"boy," never "son" or "child" (see Luke i. 54;
Phil. ii. 7, 8). The restoration of the true rendering at
once connects the words with the prophecies of Is. xliv.
21 ; xiii. 1 ; Iii. 13 ; liii. 11.
19. "Repent ye therefore, and turn again . . . that
so [not "when," A.V.] there may come seasons of
refreshing from the presence of the Lord ; and that
He may send the Christ Who hath been appointed for
you, even Jesus: Whom the heaven must receive
until the times of restoration of all things."
The corrections, both in the reading and translation,
here made by the R.V. are full of importance, and are
admirably pointed out by Bishop Westcott (Revised Ver
sion, p. 192) : " The time of the fulfilment of the counsel
of God depends on human effort. Here the horizon of
faith is immeasurably extended. The immediate forgive
ness of the sins of believers is shown to have a wider
influence than on their own salvation. ' Seasons of re
freshing ' are placed in dependence on their personal faith.
They work not only for themselves but for the world."
Notice, too, the difference between ' ' Seasons of refresh
ing " — special occasions on which God seems to be nearer
to the Church, and to pour out His blessing, as it were,
from the opened windows of heaven ; and the "times of
restoration," on which see Matt. xvii. 11, and especially
2 Pet. iii. 13: "We look for new heavens and a new
earth, according to His promise."

i32 The Acts of the Apostles.
The word "restoration" (apokatastasis) only occurs
here, but see Mark ix. 12 ; Acts i. 6.
22. " Like unto me."
Comp. ch. vii. 37. The phrase is derived from Deut.
xviii. 15 ; but there, as well as here, the marginal reading
"as He raised up me," seems to furnish the real meaning.
For only in a very broad and general sense can it be said
that Christ was like Moses, whose covenant He abrogated
and superseded ; and of whom He said, "It was said to
them of old time — but i" say unto you."

CHAPTER IV.
1. " The priests, and the captain of the temple, and
the Sadducees."
The " captain of the temple " (ch. v. 24, 26) was a
Levitic officer appointed by the High Priest. He had
under him a guard of Levites and others for the protection
of the Temple, and was, generally speaking, under the
direct command of the priestly body. In 1 Chron. ix. 11 ;
2 Chron. xxxi. 13 ; Neh. xi. 11, a similar officer is called
"the ruler of the House of God."
Both at the Crucifixion and afterwards, the most intense
hostility against Christ and His Church was displayed
by the priests. They had been of the Sadducean party
(ch. v. 17), since Herod the Great had murdered the young
Asmonsean prince and high priest Aristobulus, brother of
his wife Mariamne ; and had raised to the pontificate, first
the obscure Ananeel, whom he summoned from Babylon,
and afterwards Simon, son of Boethos, father of the other
Mariamne whom he married. The Annas family, and the
Boethusim, were opposed to the Pharisees, because their
tenure of the high-priesthood was in flagrant violation of
all Pharisaic traditions. The Sadducees were specially
bitter in their hostility to the new faith.

Chapter IV. 133

4. " The number of the men came to be about five
thousand." This was the number to which the body of believers
gradually grew from the original one hundred and twenty
(i. 15). Men only are counted.
12. " Wherein we must be saved."
It may be truly said that the phrase "in Christ" ex
presses the inmost essence of the Gospel Dispensation. It
is therefore to be regretted that the Greek "in," is some
times rendered in the A.V. by "through" (see John xx.
31 ; 1 Cor. i. 4 ; Eph. iv. 32 ; Phil. iv. 19). Bishop West
cott says, "It is indeed most true that the Son of God won
life for us " (so that there is no error in saying that
eternal life is God's free gift through Him, Rom. vi. 23,
though here also the true reading is "in Him"); "but
this eternal life is not anything apart from Himself. We
live, as He has made it possible for us to realise life, only
in Him. Am I then wrong in saying, that he who has
mastered the meaning of the two prepositions ' into the
name ' (e.g. in the baptismal formula, Matt, xxviii. 19),
and 'in Christ,' has found the central truth of Christian
ity ? Certainly, I would gladly have given the ten years
of my life spent in the Revision to bring only these two
phrases of the New Testament to the heart of English
men." (Comp. Acts iv. 12 ; xiii. 38 ; 1 Pet. v. 10 ; 1 John
v. 11 ; 1 Cor. i. 4).
13. " Unlearned and ignorant men."
The English rendering conveys too strong an im
pression. Agrammatoi means " without any training in
the Rabbinic schools ;" idiotai means "ungifted," or
"mere nobodies" (1 Cor. xiv. 16 ; 2 Cor. xi. 6). In a
far higher sense the Apostles were neither "unlearned"
nor "ignorant," and they did not need the cumbrous
inanities of Rabbinic casuistry, which, among these lordly
Sanhedrists, passed for "learning." This was one of the
frequent cases in which men looked down scornfully upon

1 34 The Acts of the Apostles.
their betters, "from the whole altitude of their own in
feriority." Probably, the actual word used by these scorn
ful hierophants was amharatsim, "people of the earth,"
a word of contempt for the common populace which con
stantly recurs in the Talmud. To the Sanhedrists, the
Apostles seemed to belong to "this multitude which
knoweth not the law " (John vii. 49).
36. " A son of exhortation."
Or " of consolation." But exhortation seems to have
been a special gift of Barnabas (ch. xi. 23).

CHAPTER V.
34. "Gamaliel."
Gamaliel was the president of his school, and was grand
son of the highly venerated Hillel.
36. "Theudas."
Josephus (Antt., xx. 5) places a Theudas after the
present date under the procuratorship of Cuspius Fadus.
This may not be the same. The name was common.
37. " Judas of Galilee."
Josephus also calls him a Gaulonite (Antt., xviii. 1).
His sons and followers were the fiercest zealots during the
siege of Jerusalem (Antt., xviii. 1). For " the enrolment,"
see Luke iii. 1.
41. " Counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the
Name." The name of Jesus in the Acts is what the name of
Jehovah is in the Old Testament. "It practically
expresses the primitive Christian creed" (Rom. x. 9;
1 Cor. xii. 3; 3 John 7, " For the sake of the Name they
went forth; " James ii. 7).

Chapters VI, VII. 135

CHAPTER VI.
l. " A murmuring of the Grecian Jews against the
Hebrews." The "Grecian Jews," or Hellenists, were those Jews of
the Dispersion who had become partially assimilated with
their Roman surroundings and spoke the universally cur
rent Greek (comp. Luke vii. 21).
5. As a type of fairness, it is interesting to notice how
complete was the concession to those who had murmured
about the neglect of the Hellenists. Every one of these
seven "deacons" seems, from the Greek names, to have
been a Hellenist. Nothing is known of any of them
except St. Stephen, unless Nicolas of Antioch became a
founder of the sect of the Nicolaitans ; on whom, see Rev.
ii. 6, 15.
9. " Them of Cilicia."
Among the Cilicians .'doubtless was St. Paul. By "the
Libertines" is meant a synagogue of Libertini, "f reed-
men," who had once been slaves. Masses of the Jews, at
Rome and everywhere, had been freed from slavery. Their
peculiar customs made them most troublesome slaves to
Greeks or Romans. It is unlikely that the word can
mean "people of Libertum," for that was an obscure
African town.
CHAPTER VII.
The speech of St. Stephen.
Dean Alford finds in the speech of St. Stephen "seven
demonstrable historic mistakes." The expression is much
too strong, and something must be allowed for the tu
multuary character of the occasion, and the fact that the
martyr was speaking on the spur of the moment. In some

1 36 The Acts of the Apostles.
instances he may have accepted Haggadoth, or legendary
particulars, current among the Jews.
The discrepancies or uncertain points are as follows : —
2. " Before he dwelt in Haran."
The call of God to Abraham in Ur is implied (Gen.
xv. 7), though not narrated. "Ur" means "fire," and
the Jewish Haggadah described him as having been
delivered from a burning fiery furnace, in which Nimrod
had plunged him for breaking the idols made by his father
Terah. 4. " When his father was dead."
The same statement is found in Philo; but it is not
reconcilable with the statement that Terah was seventy
when Abraham was born, and lived to the age of two
hundred and five; and that Abraham was seventy -five
when he migrated to Canaan.
6. " Four hundred years."
See Gen. xv. 13, 14 (LXX.). The exact total was 430
years (Ex. xii. 40; Jos., Antt., ii. 15. 2: but elsewhere
Josephus adopts the round number 400). (Comp. Gal.
iii. 7.)
14. " Threescore and fifteen."
So, too, the LXX. Joseph's five descendants are added
to the seventy mentioned in Gen. xlvi. 27.
16. " That Abraham bought."
The cave of Macpelah was bought from Ephron the
Hittite, and was at Hebron, not at Shechem. Here Jacob
also was buried. But Joseph was carried to Shechem and
buried in the ground bought by Jacob from the son of
Hamor, the father of Shechem. The discrepancy cannot
be explained.
20. " Exceeding fair."
Lit. " fair to God." The Jews use the name of God by

Chapter VII. 137

way of superlative (Gen. x. 9; xxx. 8; Jonah iii. 3;
Ps. xxxvi. 6, etc.).
22. " Instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyp
tians." This is probable in itself, and the Jewish Haggadah had
much to say of the wisdom, splendour, and prowess of
Moses as an Egyptian leader.
30. "An angel appeared to him."
The voice which spoke from the bush said, "I am the
God of thy fathers." But the awful reverence for Jehovah
led later Jewish writers to avoid all semblance of anthro
pomorphism (see ver. 53), and they regarded the ap
pearances of God as being appearances of "the Angel of
the Presence " (Is. lxiii. 9).
38. " Like unto me."
See ch. iii. 22.
43. " I will carry you away beyond Babylon."
So the LXX. But Amos (v. 26) says only "beyond
Damascus." For "tabernacle of Moloch," the original
has " Siccuth your King."
43. "Rephan."
Or Raiphan, or Chiun. It is uncertain what god is
meant, as, in Amos v. 26, the Hebrew has Chiun, the
LXX. Raiphan. Some take Chiun to mean "shrine;"
others identify him with the star Saturn, called Kewan in
Assyrian. 44. "According to the figure [type] that he had
seen." Comp. Heb. ix. 23; "antitypes."
53. " As it was ordained by angels."
The Jews attributed the whole deliverance of the Law,
except the utterance of "the Ten Words," to angels (Deut.

138 The Acts of the Apostles.
xxxiii. 2 (LXX.); Ps. lxviii. 17; Jos., Antt., xv. 5. 8).
"It was ordained through angels by the hand of a medi
ator" (Gal. iii. 19). The literal rendering would be
"for injunctions of angels."
59. " Calling upon God."
"Upon Jesus," whom he invokes in the following
words. 59. " Receive my spirit."
Comp. Luke xxiii. 46. Many martyrs, from Polycarp to
Huss, as well as Columbus, Luther, Melancthon, and others,
have died with these words on their lips.
CHAPTER VIII.
3. " Laid waste the Church."
The verb is used in Ps. lxxx. 13 to describe the ravages
of wild boars.
9. "Simon."
Simon Magus (the word for " used sorcery " is mageuon)
plays a very large part in early Christian tradition. The
verb for amazed (not, as in A.V., " bewitched," but rather
"perplexed ") occurs in vv. 11 and 13. He seems to have
called himself (see ver. 10) "the Great Power of God."
23. "In the gall of bitterness."
Literally, " into " (i.e. destined to be hereafter) " a gall-
root (Matt, xxvii. 34; Deut. xxix. 18; Heb. xii. 15) of
bitterness." But the rendering " in " is tenable in
Hellenistic Greek (see Mark xiii. 16).
The fictions of the Pseudo-Clementines about Simon
Magus, and his encounter with St. Peter at Rome, may
partly have arisen from the blunder of Justin Martyr, who
mistook a statue on the island of the Tiber, erected Semoni
Sanco, magno in terris Deo (i.e. to the Sabine god Semo

Chapter IX. 139

Sancus), for one erected to Simon Magus ! This statue
was dug up in the Island of the Tiber.
37 (A.V.). This verse is omitted in the R.V., being
the later liturgical interpolation of some scribe, who be
lieved the formal record of a confession of faith before
baptism to be indispensable.
CHAPTER IX.
2. "Any that were of the Way"
Not "of this Way " (A.V.). Before the words " Chris
tian " or " Christianity " were invented, disciples were
known as "those of the Way." The Jews called it in
contempt "the way of the Nazarenes " (comp. xxiv. 5) ;
the Christians used it in reference to the saying of Christ,
' ' I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life " (John xiv.
5, 6). It occurs five times in the Acts (ix. 2 ; xix. 9, 23 ;
xxii. 4 ; xxiv. 22). The expression thus presents vividly
a very early aspect of the faith. In Titus i. 9, and ii. 1,
Christianity is called " the sound doctrine."
4. " He fell upon the earth"
A.V. "to the earth." The pictures of the scene usually
represent St. Paul on horseback ; but he was more proba
bly (as St. Augustine says) on foot ; for it is asserted
that the Pharisees disapproved of riding on horses.
7. " Hearing the voice''
Better, as in the margin, the sound ; for they heard it
only as a sound, and did not understand its purport
(ch. xxiii. 9).
15. " Chosen vessel."
The literal rendering, "vessel of election," might well
have been retained, as in Dante : " Lo Vas d'elezione "
(Inf. ii. 28) ; " il gran Vasello Dello Spirito Santo "
(Par. xxi. 127).

140 The Acts of the Apostles.
19. " Certain days."
Between his conversion and his flight from Damascus
occurred his visit to Arabia (Gal. i. 17).
25. " Through the wall, lowering him in a basket."
That is, through the window of a house built on the wall.
Comp. 2 Cor. xi. 33 ; Josh. ii. 15. The word for basket
is here spuris. See on Matt. xvi. 9. In 2 Cor. xi. 33,
St. Paul calls it a sargane.
43. " With one Simon a tanner."
A most interesting indication that the Apostle was
already beginning to emancipate himself from the Judaic
and Pharisaic elements of his early training. For the
trade of a tanner involves perpetual ceremonial defilement,
since it necessitates the constant touching of dead skins
and carcases. Hence tanners were compelled by the
Jewish oral law to have their abode at a certain distance
from other houses. That the chief Apostle should have
chosen such' a house to lodge in, is also an indication of
his extreme poverty, and of the fact that, to some extent,
he was regarded as an outcast by the orthodox Jews.
CHAPTER X.
3. "Evidently" (A.V.).
Rather, "openly " (R.V.). This was not a trance like
St. Peter's, but a waking vision.
12. " All manner of fourfooted beasts."
In the original it is " all the fourfooted beasts, and the
wild beasts," etc.
34, 35. " Of a truth I perceive that God is no
respecter of persons : but in every nation he that
feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accept
able to Him."

Chapter X. 141
"I perceive " — I now, for the first time, grasp the fact.
"Respecter of persons" (see Deut. x. 17 ; Rom. ii. 11).
The importance of this truly magnificent utterance can
not be exaggerated. It can only be paralleled by St.
Paul's noble and glorious words to the Athenians (ch. xvii.
24-28). Nothing but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
— illuminating what St. Peter had already learned from
Jesus, when the hearts of the disciples were still slow and
void of spiritual discernment — and the teaching of his
recent vision, could have enabled St. Peter so clearly to
express the utter annulment and abrogation of the religion
ism into which the teaching of the Old Dispensation had
been stereotyped by the oral law. Judaism, as represented
by Sadducean priests and formalising Pharisees, had be
come a useless mummery. The central belief was that
God was a "respecter of persons," and was full of par
tiality for special favourites. The Pharisee would not
speak a word in public to " a woman." He drew back the
hem of his garment if he chanced to pass a Gentile, or a
publican, or one of "the masses," whom he contemptu
ously called "people of the earth." This whole system
of uncompassionate arrogance St. Peter sweeps away in a
single sentence. He now sees, for the first time, the glo
rious truth which gives us the Universal Father, Whose
tender mercies are over all His works, in place of the nar
row particularist conception of Rabbinic Judaism. God,
in the Talmud, dwindles down into a sort of magnified
Rabbi, wearing phylacteries, repeating the Shema, accu
rate in the scrupulosities of Levitism, occupying Himself
and the angels with casuistical legal minutiae, and in
different to all except "orthodox" tithers of mint, anise,
and cummin. The God of the Talmudists reminds us of
Pope's lines —
" In quibbles angels and archangels join,
And God the Father turns a School Divine."
But, besides the new and glorious conception of our
God and Father presented in this immortal utterance, St.

142 The Acts of the Apostles.
Peter here also furnishes us with the true and the only
true and adequate conception of what religion is. It is
that definition of religion which humanly-invented re
ligionism invariably obscures and overlays. St. Peter
lays down the exceptionless proposition that, because God
is no respecter of persons, — because all His human chil
dren are dear to Him without Whom not even the poor
sparrow falleth to the ground, — therefore "in every nation,
he that feareth Him and doeth righteousness" is accept
able to Him. Petty accuracies of ritual ; nice distinc
tions of artificial shibboleths ; delusive semblances of
a dogmatism which professes to define the Infinite ;
self-exalting membership of special religious bodies ;
acceptance of particular forms of ecclesiastical organisa
tion, have very little indeed to do with religion pure and
undefiled. This is the voice of all the deepest and most
spiritual utterances of Holy Writ. It is the voice of
Moses (Deut. x. 12) ; Samuel (1 Sam. xv. 22) ; David and
the Psalmists (Ps. 1. 8) ; Isaiah (i. 11, 16, 17) ; Jeremiah
(vii. 22, 23) ; Hosea (vi. 6) ; Micah (vi. 6-8). It is also
the distinct teaching of our Lord Himself (Matt. xii. 7 ;
xxii. 35-40), and of all His Apostles (Rom. xiii. 10 ;
1 Tim. iv. 8 ; 1 John ii. 29, iii. 7, etc.).
Men have made religion consist in an agglomeration
of external conformities, but, as Whichcote truly said,
" Religion is a good mind and a good life."
" He needs no taper-lights, on high surrounding
The priestly altar, and the saintly grave ;
No dolorous chant nor organ music sounding,
Nor incense clouding up the twilight nave.
" 0 brother man ! fold to thy heart thy brother ;
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there ;
To worship rightly is to love each other,
Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer."

Chapter XI. 143

CHAPTER XI.
2. " They that were of the circumcision contended
with him."
It is only by an attentive study of the New Testament
that we can understand the vehemence and intensity of the
battle which the most enlightened Apostles had to wage
against the Judaic Christians, who, in their dwarfed
conceptions of the Divine, seem actually to have held
that no uncircumcised believer could be saved; so that
a physical mutilation (katatome, not peritome) became one
of the necessary keys to that kingdom of heaven (ch. xv. 1)
which, under the gospel, has nothing to do with such
ordinances, but is " righteousness, and peace, and joy in
believing." Without the fullest enlightenment and the
most heroic courage, it would have been impossible to
rescue Christianity from that strangling yoke of Phari
saism which would inevitably have degraded it tothe rank
of a paltry and evanescent sect.
12. " Making no distinction."
This (not the "nothing doubting " of the A.V.) repre
sents the true reading. Henceforth Jew and Gentile were
to be on equal terms, both one in Jesus. " Henceforth no
veil forbade entrance into the Holiest to all but priestly
feet ; and no middle wall of partition kept out all but Jews
from the inner court of the sanctuary.
20. "Spake unto the Greeks also."
Not " Grecians " (A.V.). The true reading is Hellenas,
"Greeks," not Hellenistas, "Greek-speaking Jews."
There would have been nothing worth recording in the
latter fact, nor would there have been any contrast be
tween this and the previous verse; for the "Hellenists"
were as much "Jews " as any others, though they spoke
Greek.

144 The Acts of the Apostles.
In point of fact this verse, of which the meaning was
hitherto lost to English readers, represents no less epoch-
making an event than the first free preaching of the Gos
pel to the Gentiles by the chance Evangelists whom the
earliest persecutions had scattered from Jerusalem. It is
true that Cornelius and the Eunuch were Gentiles ; but
those were special, isolated instances, and both were already
proselytes. Now, for the first time, the boldness of these
exiles led them to preach the Gospel to unprepared
heathens. 23. " He exhorted them all."
Being, as his name implied, "a son of exhortation."
26. " Were called Christians first in Antioch."
The witty Antiochenes were famous for the invention
of passwords and nicknames. Hitherto converts had been
known only as "believers in the Name," "followers of
the Way." A more general and briefer designation was
desirable. The name " Christian " was probably invented
by Gentile unbelievers, and was meant to imply contempt.
It was a hybrid word, to which Hebrew, Greek, and Latin
all contributed their share. Christos was a Greek word,
meaning "anointed," and was the translation of the He
brew "Messiah; " ianus was a purely Latin termination.
The word therefore meant "the adherents of the Anointed."
It long continued to be a name of reproach, and almost
the synonym of "malefactor," so that the answer " Christir
anus sum " soon began to evoke the fierce rhythmic shout,
" Christianos ad leones! " To the contempt and infamy
which the heathen attached to the name, St. Peter alludes
in 1 Pet. iv. 16, the only other passage of the New Testa
ment in which the word occurs, except the scornful excla
mation of King Agrippa II. (ch. xxvi. 28). The Christians
among themselves turned the edge of heathen malice in this
respect by the fact that Christianus was pronounced nearly
like Chrestianus, and Chrestos means " excellent." There

Chapter XII. 145

may be a slight allusion to this in 1 Pet. ii. 3: " that the
Lord is chrestos."
The fact that a name of such world-wide significance
had originated in Antioch would have special interest for
St. Luke, who was a native of Antioch. Some, however,
suppose that he did not belong to the Syrian, but to the
Pisidian Antioch.
CHAPTER XII.
2. " Killed with the sword."
Two words in the original suffice to narrate the
martyrdom of the leading Apostle, the first "Bishop"
(apparently) of Jerusalem, the cousin of our Lord.
It is remarkable that James is the only one of the
eleven original Apostles whose death Scripture records.
The martyrdoms of all the rest — if, as early tradition said,
they were all martyrs — are matters of highly uncertain
report ; and these two words of the Acts exhaust all that
we really know for certain about their end. Legend says
that, on his way to execution, St. James converted his
accuser, and kissed him, with the words, "Peace be to
thee, my brother," before they were both executed.
17. " Unto James."
James, ' ' the Lord's brother," and the brother of Jude,
the author of the "Epistle of James," succeeded the son
of Zebedee as the acknowledged head of the Christian com
munity at Jerusalem, though St. Peter and others of the
original Apostles continued to live there, as tradition says,
until twelve years had elapsed.
21-23. Josephus also relates the death of Herod Agrippa I.
The " royal apparel " was, he says, a robe of tissued silver,
which caught the morning sunlight as the king entered
the amphitheatre. It made him shine forth in a blaze
of glory. In the story of Josephus no "angel of the
Lord " is mentioned, but an owl, perched on a rope over-
10

146 The Acts of the Apostles.
head. Agrippa had seen this owl when he stood — in his
purple robe, but a fettered prisoner — in the courtyard of
the prison at Caprese, in which Tiberias had confined him.
A German augur then told him that he should be set free,
and should become a great king, but that when he saw that
owl again his death would ensue. Josephus gives many
other particulars respecting his death which closely accord
with what we read in the Acts.
Herod Agrippa I. died on August 6, a.d. 44.

CHAPTER XIII.
l. "Manaen the foster-brother of Herod the te-
trarch." Of Lucius and Niger nothing is known, but Manaen is
the same as Menahen, who, if a foster-brother of Herod
Antipas, must have been brought up with him at Rome.
There is, however, some doubt as to the meaning of sun-
trophos. It may mean collactaneus, "foster-brother; " or
sumpaiktes, " early playfellow." The father of this Mena-
hem was an Essene, highly respected by Herod the Great,
to whom, when he was a little boy, he had prophesied that
he should be a king, and, again, that he should reign at least
thirty years.
On Menahem, see Plumptre, Bible Studies, pp.
376-389. 6. " Sorcerer."
Literally, " a mage." There are variations in the name
Bar-jesus. The name Elymas has the same derivation as
the modern Arabic ulema, " a priest."
7. " The Proconsul."
This was, at that time, the title of the governor of
Cyprus, and St. Luke's accuracy in these minute points
has striking evidential value.

Chapter XIV. 147

15. "After the reading of the Lawand the Prophets."
The lessons from the Prophets were first introduced in
the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, when the reading of the
law was punished with death. The lesson from the Penta
teuch was called the Parashah, and that from the Prophets
the Haphtarah. Just as our sermons are often based on
the lessons of the day, so St. Paul's sermon seems to be
founded on Deut. i.-iii. 22 and Is. i. 1-20, which may
have been the Parashah and Haphtarah on this occasion.
16. " Ye that fear God."
I.e. Gentile proselytes.
20. " For about four hundred and fifty years."
The connection of this clause with " gave them their
land " (R.V.) obviates what would otherwise be the im
mense discrepancy between the text and the received Old
Testament chronology which would be involved in making
it refer to the period between the Exodus (b.c. 1491) and
Samuel. Otherwise the passage would be in disagreement
with 1 Kings vi. 1.
50. " Devout women of honourable estate."
The same phrase occurs in ch. xvii. 12, to deseribe
female proselytes of the better class. In the prevalent
decadence of Paganism, the Jews at Rome, and in all
cities, gained many proselytes among women of the higher
classes. Josephus even claims Poppsea, the wife of Nero,
as a proselyte.

CHAPTER XIV.
14. " Sprang forth among the multitude."
From the lodging into which they had retired ; not, as
in A.V, "ran in."

148 The Acts of the Apostles.

CHAPTER XV.
10. " A yoke."
Comp. Gal. v. 1, "a yoke of bondage."
15. " To this agree the words of the Prophets."
Amos ix. 11, 12, and many other passages (see Rom. xv.
9-12). 17. " The residue of men."
Reading apparently Adam for Edom.
25. "When we had unanimously come to this con
clusion ; " — not " being assembled with one accord."
29. " From fornication."
" The pollutions of idols " are (locally and temporarily)
forbidden, because to see the Gentile Christians eat them
would have given a shock to the universally dispersed
Jews (ver. 21), as would also the tasting of blood, which
was involved in eating anything which had been strangled.
St. Paul, writing afterwards to the Christians in Rome,
where the case was not so urgent, insisted less strongly
on these rules about food. The prohibition of fornication
was necessary, because among the Gentiles it was hardly
regarded as any moral offence.
39. " A sharp contention."
Gk. paroxusmos (ch. xvii. 16 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 5; Heb. x. 24).
Painful as it may be to contemplate this quarrel between
two such old and dear friends, it is well that we should be
reminded that the Apostles were ' ' men of like passions
with ourselves." Barnabas was naturally inclined to
choose the companionship of his nephew (Col. iv. 10), John
Mark ; and St. Paul was, perhaps, too severe, for —
" A man may fail in duty twice,
Yet the third time may prosper."
It is, however, delightful to find that, though the name
of Barnabas disappears henceforth from the history of

Chapter XVI. 149

early Christianity (except in one isolated allusion, see
1 Cor. ix. 6), St. Paul learned, in after days, not only to
value, but even to love the nephew of his old friend
(Gal. ii. 1, 9, 13 ; 2 Tim. iv. 11 ; Philem. 24). Perhaps
when Barnabas was "led away with the dissimulation of
Peter" in the matter of eating with Gentile converts,
and St. Paul so boldly and sternly condemned their con
duct, there may have arisen some feeling that they were
not entirely of one accord.
CHAPTER XVI.
In this chapter it will only be necessary to notice a few
touches of accuracy, which give evidential verisimilitude
to the narrative, and enhance the value of St. Luke's
testimony. 3. " Took and circumcised him, for they all knew
that his father was a Greek."
It was necessary to circumcise this beloved Lystrenian
youth, because otherwise the Jews, to whom primarily
St. Paul addressed his preaching, would not have accepted
him as an evangelist. Since his mother was a Jewess
they would reckon him as a Jew (Yebamoth ii. 6) ; and
an uncircumcised Jew would be to them an object of
abhorrence. 12. " A Roman Colony"
The word Roman in the R.V. is inserted to represent
the Latin word Colonia, which St. Luke here uses in
Greek letters.
13. " Where we supposed there was a place of
prayer." St. Paul naturally went to the riverside to look for the
Proseuche, or "prayer-house," because such sites were
usually selected to give opportunities for all ceremonial
ablutions (see Ezra viii. 15, 21 ; Ps. cxxxvii. 1). The

r 50 The Acts of the Apostles.
Jews at Philippi do not seem to have been sufficiently
numerous or wealthy to possess a synagogue.
16. " A spirit of divination."
Literally, "a spirit, a Pytho." She was not only a
ventriloquist (who were called Pythons : Plut., de Defect.
Orac. 9), but also a votaress of Apollo Pythonius, and
under the supposed influence of the Dragon (Python)
which was believed to inspire the Pythian riestesses on
Parnassus. 20. " The magistrates."
The Philippians were intensely proud that their city
was a Colonia. Their magistrates (strategoi ; 20, 22, 36)
were Prsetors and Duumviri ; their ' ' sergeants " were
" lictors " (rhabdouchoi, ver. 35), who carried the axe
concealed in their fasces, as did the lictors of the Roman
consuls. 22. " Rent off their clothes " (A.V.).
That is, they ordered Paul and Silas to be rudely
stripped, and beaten with rods, i.e. with the horrible
flagellum. This is one of the beatings with Roman rods
(2 Cor. xi. 25) to which St. Paul alludes in the pathetic
enumeration of his sufferings. It was a terrible infliction,
under which the sufferer often died. When it was over,.
they were flung, with their backs torn and bleeding, and
their wounds unwashed, into the probably subterranean
inner prison, where their feet were thrust into stocks.
Had they appealed to their rights as Roman citizens, they
would have been saved from these cruel and horrible in
dignities ; for, as Cicero says, " Facimus est vinciri civem
Romanum, scelus verberari, prope parricidium necari"
(In Verr. v. 66). But the proceedings had been in Latin,
and, in the tumultuous excitement of the moment, they
probably did not fully understand what was the decision
of the magistrates until the crime against their rights
had been committed.

Chapter XVII. 151

38. " They feared, when they heard that they were
Romans." Because, in their unjust precipitation and excitement,
they had violated two strict Roman laws — the Lex
Valeria and the Lex Porcia, which protected every Civis
Romanus from such contumely.

CHAPTER XVII.
5. " Lewd fellows of the baser sort" (A.V.).
Some of the vile market-loungers who were specially
common in the loafing idleness of the later Empire, when
men could live on the merest trifle, often supplied by the
sportula, or "daily dole ; " and when they wanted noth
ing but panem et circenses (bread and games of the circus).
6. " Rulers of the city."
Literally, Politarchs. The title occurs here only, and is
a specially remarkable instance of St. Luke's minute
accuracy, for we should not even have known that this was
the very peculiar designation of the governors of Thessa-
lonica if it had not been recorded on the summit of an
arch which once spanned the street of Thessalonica, and
is now in the British Museum.
15. " They that conducted Paul."
His extreme short-sightedness, together with the physi
cal weakness caused by his "stake in the flesh" (2 Cor.
xii. 7), and his recent terrible flagellation, made the
Apostle too helpless to travel alone.
16. " Full of idols."
Not "wholly given to idolatry;" for the worship of
these images was very little practised by nine-tenths or
more of the Athenians. The city was so full of statues
and images, that (as Petronius said) "in Athens it was

152 The A cts of the Apostles.
more easy to find a god than a man." There were, for
instance, Hermce, or busts of Hermes, in every street.
Xenophon, four centuries earlier, had described Athens
as "one altar, one offering to the gods." But at this
date the prevalence of statues was due more to sestheticism
than to idolatry.
18. " This babbler."
Literally, " seed-pecker." The Athenian philosophers
compared the diminutive Apostle to a little sparrow, "a
picker-up of learning's crumbs," a strolling chatterer.
21. " The strangers sojourning there."
They were technically metoikoi, metics, or "resident
aliens." 21. " Spent their time."
Or "had leisure for." They made light gossip the
serious business of their lives. Demophon had already
compared the Athenians to "one huge tongue;" and
Demosthenes had indignantly rebuked the levity which
made them incessantly gad about seeking for the excite
ment of news. Even their favourite demagogue Cleon
(Thuc. iii. 38) described them as " listeners to stories of
the deeds of others."
22. " Somewhat superstitious."
Not "too superstitious" (A.V.), and if a less severe
word than " superstitious " existed in English it would
better convey the sense. St. Paul's address is marked by
exquisite tact, conciliatoriness, and courtesy, and in ad
dressing them as "very religious" he meant, as St.
Chrysostom says, " nothing severe."
23. " Your devotions" (A. V.).
Rather, "the objects of your adoration" (Vulg. simu
lacra). The word for a heathen altar (bomos) as distinct
from a Jewish altar (thusiasterion) is found here alone in
the New Testament.

Chapter XVIII. 153
23. " To an unknown God."
An altar with a similar inscription has been found at
Rome, and may be seen in the grounds of the Palatine.
Philostratus, who was a contemporary of St. Paul, says,
in his Life of Apollonius, " At Athens there are erected
altars for unknown gods ; " and so, too, Pausanias (i. 1. 4).
23. "Ignorantly" (A.V.).
Rather, " not knowing who He is."
26. " He made of one every nation of men."
"Of one blood" (A.V.) is an inferior reading. These
noble verses (26-28) stand worthily by the great utterance
of St. Peter to Cornelius in their proclamation of the inv
partial tenderness of the Universal Father (Mai. ii. 10),
and His desire that all whom He had made of every
nation should feel after, and find Him, "Who is so near
to us all." The quotation, " We are also His offspring "
is found both in the Phenomena of Aratus, and the Hymn
to Jupiter by Cleanthes. Aratus was a popular Cilician
poet, and St. Paul may have quoted it from him. The
phrase in Cleanthes is slightly different.
29: " The Godhead."
This expression is found here only in the New Testa
ment. St. Paul selected it as one with which Athenian
philosophy was familiar.
30, 31. "All men . . . by that man" (A.V.).
Literally, "All human beings " (anthropous) in a man
(en andri). The term aner expresses higher dignity than
anthropos.
CHAPTER XVIII.
3. " Because he was of the same trade."
An admirably wise rule of the Jewish teachers was that
every one, of whatever rank, should learn a trade by which
he could, if need arose, support himself. We read in the

154 The Acts of the Apostles.
Mishnah (Kiddushin iv. 14), "Let everyone teach his
son a trade, both clean and easy." Tent-making was a
very natural trade for a young Cilician Jew to learn, for
mats, rugs, and tents were made of the Cilician goats,
woven into a material known as cilicium. None of the
contempt for trade which existed among the Romans was
found among the Jews. St. Paul had once been an influ
ential member of the Sanhedrin, and was evidently of
good family. It is unlikely that he had ever contemplated
the possibility of having to earn his daily bread by the
trade which he had learnt, but he now found by experi
ence the wisdom of the Jewish rule. It enabled him
to maintain the independence which he greatly valued
(ch. xx. 34 ; 2 Cor. xi. 9 ; 1 Thess. ii. 9 ; 2 Thess. iii. 8).
12. " Gallio was proconsul."
This was the "sweet Gallio," of whom his brother
Seneca said, that " even those who loved him to the utmost
did not love him enough." For mere religious disputes
he here shows a most philosophic insouciance, and the
literary Romans felt and constantly expressed a supreme
disdain for the Jews.
18. " Having shorn his head in Cenchrece, for he
had a vow."
Perhaps, rather, "having had his long hair cut off"
with scissors. Some have felt surprised that Paul should
have made such a vow, and they refer this sentence to
Aquila. But it was a sort of Nazarite vow, and St. Paul
showed himself not unwilling at Jerusalem to take part
in such a vow. Cenchrea was the port of Corinth. The
shaving of the head at the completion of the vow usually
took place at Jerusalem (ch. xxi. 24), but Nazarites were
permitted to cut short their flowing locks elsewhere, and
to carry them to be offered in the Temple when the head
was finally shaved. St. Paul, as a Jew, did not oppose
the observance of national religious customs by Jews, so
long as they were not forcibly imposed upon Gentiles.

Chapter XIX. 155

CHAPTER XIX.
2. " Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye
believed?"
St. Paul's question to these uninstructed converts, who,
like Apollos, up to this time, only knew the baptism
of John, was "Did ye, on believing, receive the Holy
Spirit ? " Their answer was not the astonishing one,
" We did not so much as hear whether there is a Holy
Spirit," but "We did not so much as hear whether the
Holy Spirit was given." This is the meaning, though,
just as in John vii. 39, the word " given" is understood.
The Baptist had spoken so clearly and constantly of the
future baptism of the Spirit, that none of his disciples
could have been ignorant that there is a Holy Spirit.
In several instances in this chapter the more accurate
rendering yields points of interest ; e.g. —
15. " Jesus I acknowledge, and Paul I know."
Comp. 2 Cor. v. 16.
27. The ordinary title of the goddess was "the great
Artemis." 31. The officers bore the title of Asiarchs. They were a
committee of ten, elected annually to preside at games,
religious festivals, etc. They presided at the martyrdom
of Polycarp (Euseb., H.E. iv. 15).
35. The recorder of Ephesus reminds the people that
their city bore the honourable title of " the Temple-Sweeper
[Neokoros'] of Artemis " — a title which was engraved even
on its coins. There were two images of Artemis — one the
elaborate many-breasted goddess carved on the coins of
Ephesus ; the other a ruder figure called the Diopetes, or
"image which fell from Zeus."
38. " The court days [dies fasti] are kept, and there
are proconsuls " (R.V., marg.).

156 The Acts of the Apostles.

CHAPTER XX.
28. " The Church of God which He purchased with
His own blood."
The expression " the blood of God" is most unusual, and
one for which there is no analogy in the New Testament,
though it is used by Ignatius, who, however, may have
derived it from this passage. There is another reading
for "the Church of God," namely, "the Church of the
Lord," for which there is much evidence in many ancient
authorities. 35. " How He Himself said, ' It is more blessed to
give than to receive.' "
These words, striking and beautiful in themselves,
become still more so when we recall that this is the sole
instance of a certain saying of our Lord (so emphatically
referred to Him by the Apostle in the words, " He Him
self said ") which is not recorded in the four Gospels.
Many other "unrecorded utterances " (agrapha dogmata,
or logia) are found scattered through early Christian liter
ature, and some have recently been discovered in a MS.
found among the ruins of Oxyrrynchus. Many of them are
beautiful and interesting, but this is the only one of the
genuineness of which we can be perfectly sure.
CHAPTER XXI.
These narrative chapters are full of vividness and
interest, but, as I am not writing a commentary, I only
touch on one or two special points which deserve separate
notice. 20. " And they are all zealous for the law."
The fact that "myriads " of Jewish converts to Chris
tianity still clung to the law, both written and oral, and

Chapter XXI. 157

insisted on its full observance by all Jews, and were even
jealous as to any relaxation of its requirements in the case
of Gentiles, again illustrates how tremendous a struggle
was needed on the part of St. Peter and St. Paul to
emancipate Christians from a strangling yoke.
24. " Be at charges for them."
The vow of partial Nazarites usually continued for a
month. At its conclusion there were heavy expenses for
offerings which many were too poor to meet. These were,
in such cases, discharged for them by pious and wealthy
persons. King Alexander Jannseus used to pay the ex
penses of Nazarites who were too poor to discharge their
vows. Josephus says that Agrippa I., in his intense desire
to please the Jews (see ch. xii. 3), paid the expenses for
peace offerings of many Nazarites when they burnt their
hair at the conclusion of their vow. St. Paul could not
have felt very happy amid the numerous and burdensome
ceremonies which marked the occasion; but, in matters
indifferent, he was always ready to conciliate the preju
dices of his fellow-countrymen, wholly as he failed to win
their confidence.
37. " Into the castle."
This castle of Antonia was built on the site of the
fortress (Birah Baris) which had been erected by Simon
the Maccabee, and is often mentioned in the Books of
Maccabees. It communicated with the Temple by a
subterranean passage known as "Strato's Tower." Along
this passage the Roman soldiers always ran when they
had to allay one of the sudden and furious tumults which
were constantly arising in the Temple when it was thronged
with myriads of foreign Jews at the great festivals. The
blocking of it up by the Jews in the bad procuratorship of
Gessius Florus was regarded as an overt act of rebellion,
and Agrippa II., in his harangue to them, persuaded them
to destroy the barrier they had raised.

158 The Acts of the Apostles.
38. Men of the Assassins."
The "Assassins" are those known as the Sicarii, or
dagger-bearers, whose name has so ominous a significance
in these later days of Jewish history. They rose under
the bad rule of Felix, who seems to have given a hint as to
the possibility of this mode of vengeance, by sending his
soldiers among the crowd with daggers concealed under
their robes. After this the worst and most unscrupulous
Jewish fanatics adopted this murderous method of getting
rid of their opponents, and they were joined by many
Assassins, who only cared for bribes and plunder. Felix
hired them to murder the high priest Jonathan, who had
become obnoxious to him, and they carried out the murder
in the very Temple (see Jos., B. J. ii. 13. 3).
The Egyptian impostor to whom the Chiliarch Claudius
Lysias alludes, headed four thousand of the fanatical section
of these villains, promising to them a miraculous capture of
Jerusalem. He was put to death, and his adherents slain
and scattered by Felix (Jos., Antt. xx. 8. 6 B. J. ii.
13. 5).
CHAPTER XXII.
5. " The high priest doth bear me witness."
St. Paul here refers to an ex-high priest, Theophilus, son
of Ananus (Jos., Antt. xviii. 5. 3), who was made high
priest in place of his murdered brother Jonathan (a.d. 37),
but was shortly displaced by Agrippa II. in favour of
Simon ben Kanthera.
9. " Heard not the voice."
See on ch. ix. 7. They heard a sound, but not the
words. 28. "With a great sum obtained I this citizen
ship." The privileges of the Civis Romanus were so valuable

Chapter XXIII. 1 5 9

that at this time they were made a matter of sale by the
Palace favourites, who received large bribes to procure
them.
28. " But I am a Roman born."
How St. Paul's family had obtained the citizenship is
unknown. Their residence in Tarsus did not confer it.
Probably the father or grandfather of the Apostle had
received it in reward for some special service.

CHAPTER XXIII.
2. " Commanded them that stood by to smite him
on the mouth."
This high priest Ananus, son of Nabid, was a turbulent
and ambitious man who had already been sent to Rome to
answer for his conduct, though he had been acquitted
(Jos., Antt. xx. 5. 2).
4, 5. "Dost thou revile the high priest of God?
I knew not, brethren, that he was a high priest."
The quotation with which St. Paul apologized for calling
the high priest "a whited wall" is from Ex. xxii. 28,
"Thou shalt not revile the gods [Elohim], nor curse a ruler
of the people." The name Elohim, ("gods ") was sometimes
given to rulers (Ex. xxi. 6; xxii. 8, 9), as we see from
our Lord's argument in John x. 35, founded on Ps.
Ixxxii. 1.
It may be asked how this could be, if the high priest
was seated as Nasi of the Sanhedrin, in the central place
at the end, with his Ab-beth-Dim (Father of the House of
Judgment) on his right and the Chakan (" Wise Man" or
" Teacher of Israel ") on his left?
The only possible answer is either (i) that St. Paul was
very short-sighted and had not distinguished who was the
speaker ; or (ii) that the place of the reigning high priest

160 The Acts of the Apostles.
was occasionally taken by his sagan (or deputy), or by one
of the ex-high priests.
In the latter case there was irony, conscious or uncon
scious, in St. Paul's apology. In old days, down to the
time of Herod the Great, with scarcely an exception —
except in the troublous times of Antiochus Epiphanes,
known by "the Pious " (Chasidim) as "the days of the
Mingling" — there had never been more than one living
person who had enjoyed the high priesthood. But the
Herods, following the example of Herod the Great, made
and unmade high priests at their will, and at this time
men only cared to have held the dignity for a time ; so
that there might be half a dozen "high priests " who had
" passed the chair." One who had been travelling far and
wide in Gentile lands might well be unaware which was
the particular pontiff who might happen at the moment
to be in office.
8. " The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection."
They founded their negation (i) on the absence of any
direct mention of the Resurrection in the Books of Moses,
although, as our Lord showed, it lay implicitly on the very
designation "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob"
(Matt. xxii. 32) ; and (ii) on a vain extension of the say
ing of their founder Zadok, that "we ought to serve God
without thought of reward or punishment."
St. Paul afterwards seems to condemn this appeal to the
mutual rivalries of Pharisees and Sadducees as a line of
conduct which was unworthy of himself (xxiv. 21).
23. The fact that four hundred and seventy soldiers,
under two centurions, were necessary to protect a single
prisoner for a distance of forty-two miles from Jerusalem
to Antipatris, and that by night ; and that seventy
mounted soldiers (dexiolaboi, or "lancers") were re
quired to conduct him the twenty-eight miles from Anti
patris to Caesarea, shows how terribly disturbed was the
state of the country at this time. Obviously, Lysias

Chapter XXIV. 161
regarded the cherem, or "curse," under which the forty
Sicarii had bound themselves, with the approval of the
priestly party, to murder Paul, as a symptom of deeply
seated plots. Judsea had long been seething with the
excitement which at last burst into fury under the pro
vocations of the last and worst procurator — Gessius
Florus. It may be observed that they provided "beasts"
(probably mules) for St. Paul's use, not horses. Probably
he could not ride on horseback, since it was a practice
discouraged by strict Jews.
26. " The most excellent governor Felix."
Kratistos was a title like "your Excellency" (comp.
xxiv. 3 ; xxxvi. 25). Felix was a mere freedman. Like
his brother Pallas, he had been a slave, and Tacitus says,
" omnem scevitiam et libidinem servili ingenio exercuerat."
The imbecile favouritism of the Emperor Claudius had
elevated his freedmen Narcissus and Pallas into the posi
tion of practical arbiters of the destinies of the whole
Roman Empire. Felix, promoted and protected by the
immense power of Pallas, thought that he could commit
any crime with impunity. He was appointed Procurator
by Claudius, a.d. 53, and actually became trium regina-
rum maritus, "husband of three princesses." He had
been a slave of Antonia, the mother of Claudius.
35. " In Herod's palace."
The town of Csesarea, formerly known as " Strato's
Tower," had been rebuilt by Herod the Great with un
paralleled magnificence, and he had built himself a palace
there, which was now the official residence of the Roman
procurator.
CHAPTER XXIV.
10. " Thou hast been of many years a judge."
Felix had now been Procurator for at least five years —
longer than the rule of most Procurators. St. Paul's
11

1 62 The Acts of the Apostles.
address therefore is strictly true, and contrasts with the
politic fulsomeness of Tertullus. Felix had taken the
title Pacificator, and had suppressed some disturbances
and outrages, though he himself hired the services of the
Assassins when it suited his purpose (Jos., Antt. xx. 3. 4 ;
B. J. ii. 3). But he had shown himself cruel and corrupt,
and St. Paul will not conciliate him by false compliments.
He only cares to refute the accusation that he had been, as
Tertullus represented, "a pestilent ringleader of sedi
tions ; " and afterwards, in private, he spoke so faithfully
to Felix on matters which touched on his vices that the
Procurator "was terrified" (ver. 25).
24. " With Drusilla, his wife, who was a Jewess."
She was a younger sister of Agrippa II. and Bernice ;
and under the influence of a Jewish sorcerer — probably
Simon Magus '¦ — she had deserted her husband Aziz, king
of Emesa, who had accepted circumcision when he married
her, to become the second wife of an uncircumcised
Roman. 27. " Desiring to gain favour with the Jews."
This correct rendering puts the conduct of Felix in a
slightly less shameful light than the "willing to do the
Jews a pleasure" of the A.V. He knew that the Jews
meant to accuse him before the Emperor, and wished, if
possible, to curry favour with them. The accusation was
made, but he secured immunity for his crimes by the
powerful influence of his brother Pallas.
Porcius Festus, one of the best of the Procurators, was
appointed by Nero, a.d. 60, and held office for two years,
at the end of which he died.
CHAPTER XXV.
10. " As thou also very well knowest " (R.V.).
St. Paul would hardly have addressed the Procurator so
bluntly as this, since his courtesy was always remarkable.

Chapter XXVI. 163
The words literally mean "as thou also art beginning to
recognise more clearly."
19. " Questions against him of their own religion"
Desidaimonias : not " of their own superstition" (A.V.),
for such an expression would have been an insult to
Agrippa, who was a professed Jew (comp. xvii. 22).
Perhaps "of their own cult" would best express the
meaning. 23. " With great pomp."
A tendency to magnificent display is observable in the
entire Herodian family (comp. xii. 21).
24. " Both at Jerusalem and here."
The most deadly animosity raged between the Jews and
Greeks at Csesarea. It was particularly furious at this
very time, and led to terrible riots and massacres, which
culminated in the outbreak of the Jewish War.
CHAPTER XXVI.
11. "I strove to make them blaspheme."
Not "compelled them to blaspheme" (A.V.), which
leaves the painful impression that he succeeded in forcing
the Christians to blaspheme. The tense used is the im
perfect, which merely implies an effort (comp. vii. 26 ;
Luke i. 59 ; Rom. ix. 3).
23. " That Christ should suffer."
Vulg. passibilis. Not "that Christ is subject to
suffering" (A.V).
24. " Paul, thou art mad."
Festus could not suppress the loud exclamation of
amazement when he heard a man, who could speak in so
eloquent and interesting a way, profess belief in what he
regarded as so insane a delusion as that "one Jesus " who
was dead had actually risen! He thought that Paul's

164 The Acts of the Apostles.
studies of the Jewish books ("the many writings ") had
turned his brain. The calm reply must have disabused
him : "I am not mad, your Excellency, but I am solemnly
uttering statements of truth, and sober-mindedness." The
word sophrosune is derived from "saving the intellect " —
the reverse of madness.
28. " With but little persuasion thou wouldst fain
make me a Christian."
This is perhaps as fair a representation of the original
as was feasible, and, at any rate, far better than the quite
misleading " Almost thou persuadest me to be a Chris
tian " of the A.V. Agrippa's answer was expressed in a
tone of kindly scornfulness, as if he had said, " A cheap
and easy style of conversion this ! I am a Jewish king,
and you are trying in an epitome (in petto) to make me
that despised and foolish thing — a Christian ! " Appre
ciation of the prisoner's sincerity and ability are implied,
together with utter contempt of the notion that he could
succeed in such an effort. St. Paul's nobly courteous
reply, with its tone of glad conviction, would tend to en
hance the respect which he had evidently inspired —
notwithstanding what they regarded as his monstrous
delusion — into the minds of the king and the procurator.
CHAPTER XXVII.
In this chapter St. Luke evidently gives us his diary of
the stormy and disastrous voyage. The R.V. will make it
easy to understand, and it is needless here to dwell on the
nautical terms which are, for the first time, represented to
English readers with perfect accuracy.
The most important changes from the A.V. are in vv. 13
— weighing anchor; 14 — the wind, not "against the
ship," but from the land; Euraquilo, a north-east wind
(called also Kaikias), not " Euroclydon ; " 16 — Cauda
(Gozzo), not " Clauda ; " 17 — Syrtes, the ancient name

Chapter XXVIII. 165
of the famous quicksand ; lowered the gear, not actually
"strake sail" (A.V.), for that would have been a fatal
course, — they did not let the vessel drive along under
bare poles, and so be beaten to pieces, but kept it under
control by lowering the yard of the mainsail.
27. " The sea of Adria."
The name included not only the Adriatic, but the south
ern part of the Mediterranean.
40. " Casting off the anchors."
Not "taking them up," but the reverse, cutting them
away from the ship.
40. " They left them [the anchors] in the sea."
Not "they committed themselves to the sea." Artemon
is "the foresail," not the "mainsail."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
2. " The barbarians."
They were a Carthaginian colony, and spoke Phoenician.
Everybody who did not speak Greek and Latin was called
"a barbarian." Ovid, in his exile at Tomi, says, "Bar
baras hie ego sum : quia non intelligor ulli."
7. " The chief man of the island."
St. Luke, with his characteristic and valuable accuracy,
gives him his exact and most unusual title of the Protos
(or "First ") of Malta. That this was his title is shown
by ancient inscriptions.
16. The Prsefect of the Prsetorian Guards at this time
was the celebrated Burrus, co-tutor with Seneca of the
Emperor Nero. The clause is, however, omitted in the
best MSS., and the Vetus Itala reads Princeps Peregri-
norum, an officer who was at the head of the Camp of

1 66 The Acts of the Apostles.
Foreigners, or "of the Frumentariani " — old Praetorian
Guards who served mainly in the provinces. St. Paul had
a private lodging provided for him by the subscription of
his converts ; but he sat with his arm chained to the arm
of a Roman soldier.
17. " Called together those that were the chief of
the Jews."
The more correct rendering is, " those that were of the
Jews first," i.e. he addressed his own countrymen before
speaking to proselytes or heathens.

ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES

Grouping of the Epistles.
St. Paul's Epistles fall broadly and roughly into five
groups : —
1. The Eschatological group, or the Epistles of the
Second Advent.
1 and 2 Thessalonians.
2. The^Ecclesiastical group.
1 Corinthians (Polemically).
2 Corinthians (Apologetically).
3. The Antijudaic group.
Galatians.Romans.
4. The Christological and Anti-gnostic group.
Philippians (Ethically) .
„". . ' !• (Doctrinally and Argumentatively).
5. The Pastoral Group.
1 and 2 Timothy.
Titus.
6. The only purely personal letter is that to Philemon.
Key-notes and Leading Thoughts of the Epistles.
1 Thessalonians. — Hope. Consolation from the near
expectation of Christ's appearing.
2 Thessalonians. — Steadfast quietness in duty.
1 Corinthians. — This is the Epistle of Christian dis
cipline. Love and unity amid divergent opinions. Little
details to be decided by great principles. Life in the
world, not of it.

1 68

St. Paul's Epistles.

2 Corinthians. — The Apostle's Apologia pro vita sua:
the leading words in chs. i.-vi. are "tribulation" and
" consolation; " in viii.-xiii. " boasting," not in merits, but
in infirmities.
Galatians. — The Epistle of indignant warning.
Christian liberty.
Romans. — The sum of St. Paul's theology : justification
by faith.
Philippians. — Joy in sorrow. " I rejoice, rejoice ye."
Colossians. — Christ is the Plenitude ; the all in all.
Walk in him.
Philemon. — Not so much a slave, as a brother.
Ephesians. — Christ in His Church. The Ascension.
The heavenlies.
1 Timothy and Titus. — Manuals for the Christian pas
tor. Sobriety in conduct, soundness of faith.
2 Timothy. — Last words. My life draws to its close ;
be brave and faithful, as I have striven to be.
Approximate Order and Dates of St. Paul's
Epistles.

1 Thessalonians.

52.

Written at Corinth.

2 Thessalonians.

52 or 53.

It

at Corinth.

1 Corinthians.

57.

it

at Ephesus.

2 Corinthians.

58.

it

at Philippi (?).

Galatians.

58.

it

at Corinth.

Romans.

58.

a

at Corinth.

Philippians.

61 or 62.

it

at Rome.

Colossians.

63.

it

at Rome.

Philemon.

63.

it

at Rome.

Ephesians.

63.

it

at Rome.

1 Timothy.

65 or 66.

a

in Macedonia (?).

Titus.

66.

it

in Macedonia (?).

2 Timothy.

67 or 68.

it

at Rome.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS

This is the earliest of St. Paul's extant writings. It
may be called specifically the Epistle of the Second Advent.
Like many of St. Paul's letters, it consists of a salutation
(ch. i. 1) ; a personal section (chs. i. 2-iii. 13) ; a hortatory
section (chs. iv.l-v. 24), which includes the special passage
on the Advent (chs. iv. 13-v. 11); and the final personal
messages (ch. v. 25-28). The key-note of the Epistle is
hope. "Habet haec Epistola meram quandam dulcedi-
nem " (Bengel). It is the gentlest of all St. Paul's letters.
The three first chapters are retrospective; the last two
hortatory.

CHAPTER I.
l. To the Church of God in ... "
This is the form of address in the four earliest of St.
Paul's Epistles (1 and 2 Thess., 1 and 2 Cor.). The
latter Epistles are addressed "to the saints" or "to the
brethren." 2. " We give thanks."
Every general Epistle of St. Paul begins with a thanks
giving, except that to the Galatians. Though St. Paul's
letters are absolutely his own, he is fond of associating his
friends with him. He generally uses " we " in these two
Epistles, but relapses into "I " in 2 Thess. ii. 5. Comp.
"We . . . even I Paul" (1 Thess. ii. 18, A.V).

1 70 The First Epistle to the Thessalonians.
4. " Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of
God" (A.V.).
This is an untenable version. It should be, " Knowing,
brethren beloved by God, your election." In Col. iii. 12,
we find the phrase " elect of God." The word " elect," as
used by St. Paul, does not bear the theological, Calvinistic
sense of "primsevally set apart for final salvation," but, as
is shown by 2 Tim. ii. 10, 2 Pet. i. 10, " called out of the
world into the Church." (See Bishop Lightfoot on Col.
iii. 12.)
6. "In much affliction, with joy of the Holy
Ghost." Thus, in this earliest Epistle, we find the clear expres
sion of that simultaneity of anguish and exultation which
has kindled into glory the face of many a martyr as he stood
in the flames. The juxtaposition of tribulation and joy
runs through all St. Paul's Epistles, but is best illustrated
by the Epistle to the Philippians.
8. "Hath sounded forth."
A metaphor drawn from thunder. St. Jerome calls
St. Paul's words "not words, but thunders."'
9. " The living and true God " (A.V.).
Rather, "a God, living and real." The word is not
"alethes " (true), but " alethinos " (veritable), as opposed
to the fantasies of heathendom (comp. Heb. ix. 14).
10. " Jesus, which rescueth us."
An allusion to the meaning of the name Jesus (Matt.
i. 21). It is not "delivered us," as in A.V. The work of
Christ still continues. "Christ once ransomed us; He is
always rescuing us " (Bengel).
10. " From the wrath to come."
So both in A.V. and R.V., but the present participle
means "the wrath whirh is even now coming." All God's
designs are continuous.

Chapter II. 171

CHAPTER II.
3. " It is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in
guile" We see from 1 Cor. ix. 3, 2 Cor. xi. 7, and other passages
that the false teachers, who were St. Paul's enemies, tried
to undermine his teaching and his authority by the common
party methods of open or subterranean calumny. They
represented him either as a dangerous fanatic; or as an
immoral character; or as a wily impostor; or (after he had
started the contribution for the poor saints at Jerusalem)
as a secret embezzler. Against their wicked lies he appeals
to the manifested approval of God, the tester of hearts
(ver. 4) ; and to his converts' own knowledge of his
humility, purity, and exceptional disinterestedness (vv.
5, 6, 9, 10).
7. " We were gentle."
An almost imperceptible change in the Greek, supported
by many of the best Uncials, gives the better reading " we
were babes in the midst of you " (Eph. iv. 11, 2 Cor. iii. 1,
1 Pet. ii. 2).
9. "Working."
See note on Acts xviii. 3.
15. " Contrary to all men."
Tacitus (Hist. v. 5) says of the Jews " adversus omnes
alios hostile odium ; " and this moroseness and refusal to
mingle with Gentiles made them intensely unpopular in the
ancient world (Cic, pro Flacco, xxviii ; Hor., Sat. iv. 103;
Juv. Sat., xiii. 103, 104, etc.). They sacrificed everything
to a mere external scrupulosity ; they seemed to think that
this would make up for the moral unscrupulousness for
which they were too notorious. Reliance on externals is
the subtlest and deadliest enemy of all true and spiritual

172 The First Epistle to the Thessalonians.
religion. This passage is one of marked severity, perhaps
due to the bitterness caused by recent Jewish machina
tions ; yet St. Paul, as a genuine patriot, was grieved to
speak thus of them (Rom. ix. 1-5).
16. " The wrath."
I.e. the wrath of God, as in Rom. v. 9, xii. 19. Fifteen
years later Jerusalem was utterly destroyed.
17. " Being bereaved of you."
Literally, "made orphans from you" — one of the
many terms which illustrate the singular tenderness and
sensitiveness of St. Paul's affection for his converts
(ch. ii. 7).
19. "At His coming''
- Literally, "at His presence." St. Paul here strikes
the key-note of the thoughts which mainly occupy him
in this Epistle, but in later Epistles he more often uses
the word "day" (1 Cor. i. 8 ; 2 Tim. iv. 8), or "Epiph
any" (manifestation), for "presence" (1 Tim. vi. 14 ;
2 Tim. i. 10 ; Tit. ii. 13), combining both words in
2 Thess. ii. 8.
CHAPTER III.
10. "Exceedingly."
The English word hardly expresses the intense vehe
mence of St. Paul's compound huperekperissos, "super
abundantly." The intensity of St. Paul's temperament
made him fond of compounds of vtrkp, "above" or "be
yond," of which (as Bishop Ellicott points out) twenty
are found in his Epistles alone.
12. "Towards one another [by brotherly affection],
and towards all by [love in general]."
See 2 Pet. i. 7.

Chapter IV. 173

CHAPTER IV.
4. The warning against "fornication" was eminently
necessary for converts from a world of heathen laxity,
which hardly regarded uncleanness as a moral offence at
all, but as an adiaphoron or res media, i.e. " a matter of
indifference," neither good nor bad. Cato, who passed for
a model of heathen virtue, actually said, "Made virtute,"
to a young nobleman who was guilty of this sin, because
he did not seduce free-born persons !
5. He bases his exhortation on the possibility and the
duty of each Christian learnin g how ' ' to acquire posses
sion of (comp. Luke xxi. 19) his own vessel in holiness
and honour." The phrase "his own vessel" means his
mortal body, which was described as the "vessel" (vas,
or receptaculum) of the soul (Cic, Tusc. Disp. i. 22).
Compare Lucretius (iii. 461), "Quippe etiam corpus, quod
vas quasi constitit ejus." Philo, too, calls the body
angeion, a "vessel."
6. " In the matter."
Not, as in A.V., "in any matter." St. Paul adopts
this euphemism for uncleanness (2 Cor. vii. 11).
11. " That ye study to be quiet."
The original is an oxymoron, or contrast of opposite
terms, " that ye be ambitious for unambitious rest."
11. " To work with your hands."
An interesting indication that most of the converts were
artisans and labourers.
13-V. 11. The section about the Second Advent.
Those who have fallen asleep shall be raised through
Christ with Him ; those who are alive when He comes
shall be caught up in clouds to meet Him. The word
"archangel" occurs only here (ver. 16) and in Jude 9
(comp. 1 Cor. xv. 52 ; Ex. xix. 16 ; Zech. ix. 14).

1 74 The First Epistle to the Thessalonians.

CHAPTER V.
4. "As a thief."
Perhaps the true reading is, " shall overtake you as
thieves." The Jewish tradition was that the Messiah
would come at midnight.
8. On the Christian panoply, see Rom. xii. 12 ; 2 Cor.
x. 4 ; Eph. vi. 11 ; Is. lix. 17 ; Wisd. v. 17.
16. " Rejoice evermore."
A precept not only most remarkable and lovely in itself,
but specially striking (i) as addressed to Christians who
were passing through agonies of fierce persecution ; and
(ii) in an age so sombre that many Gentiles hailed as a
special boon the possibility of suicide, as an open door of
escape granted to them from intolerable misery. But
Christian joy, like the fragrance of night flowers, is often
"born of darkness and tribulation," and —
" Faithfulness can feed on suffering,
And knows no disappointment."
19-22. Four brief and precious maxims : —
(i) " Quench not the Spirit."
It becomes gradually quenched by cherished passions,
as a fire by rain. Bengel admirably says, " Where the
Spirit is, He burns ; therefore He is not to be quenched."
(ii) " Despise not prophesyings."
Do not make light of, or conceitedly criticise and look
down upon, sermons and moral exhortations (1 Cor. xi. 4,
5 ; xiv. 3).
(iii) " Test all things — grasp the good."
See on Phil. i. 10. One of the best certified "un
written sayings " of our Lord is, " Show yourselves
approved money-changers." What the early Christians

Chapter V. 175
needed, among many fanatics and false teachers, was " dis
crimination of spirits " (1 Cor. xii. 10 ; Heb. v. 14).
(iv) " Keep yourselves from every form of evil."
Do not be of that common multitude, who —
" Compound for sins they are inclined to
By damning those they have no mind to."
The words may mean " from every appearance of evil."
23. " Your spirit and soul and body."
This phrase — which occurs here alone in the New Tes
tament, though found in Plato, Plotinus, and Philo • — is
of quite inestimable value, as clearly expressing the tri
chotomy of our human nature. The word "soul," used
by itself, has many varying senses ; but when used here,
in metaphysical contrast to the spirit as well as the body,
it implies one distinct realm of our human nature.
(i) By the body we mean the transient and corruptible
iust, liable to all the passions of the flesh, but capable of
being elevated by the grace of God into the material
temple, wherein the Holy Spirit deigns to dwell.
(ii) By the soul, when it is not used to imply our whole
supra-sensual organisation (the human life and its faculties,
as in Matt. x. 28, Rom. viii. 10, James v. 20, etc.), we
mean " the centre of man's personality, the seat of all his
impulses and affections." This is elsewhere included in
" the mind," and it is liable to be perverted aad destroyed
by "the passions of the mind," such as envy, hatred,
avarice, pride.
(iii) By the spirit we mean that part of our nature —
which may be paralysed, and all but, but never, in this
life, wholly destroyed within us — whereby we hold com
munion with God : that element of our nature which can
become pervaded by the Spirit of God. In that mystery —
" Where God in man, is one with man in God,"

1 76 The First Epistle to the Thessalonians.
the body, the soul, and the divinely inbreathed spirit are
preserved blameless; they become "perfect and entire
(James i. 4), lacking in nothing." We have bodies, but
are spirits.
Can we, after a lapse of eighteen centuries, imagine what
such an Epistle as this — an absolutely new phenomenon in
human literature — must have been to the struggling and
persecuted community ? Almost every paragraph is, so to
speak, strown with orient pearls. "In much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost ; " " Jesus Who is rescuing us from
the coming wrath" ; "God Who called you unto His
kingdom and glory ; " "This is the will of God, even your
sanctification ; " " Ye all are the children of light, and the
children of the day ; " "Rejoice evermore." What illimi
table hopes, what holy obligations, what golden promises,
what glorious responsibilities, what lofty ideals, what
reaches of morality beyond any which the greatest writers
had attained, what strange renovations of the whole spirit
and bearing of life lay hidden in those simple words !
This brief Epistle brought home to the early Christians
the glad truth that they could use for their daily wear
that glory of thought which had only been attained by
the fewest aud greatest thinkers of their nation at their
rarest moments of inspiration ; — and therewith a grandeur
of life which in its perfect innocence towards God and
man, was even to these unknown.1
1 See my Life of St. Paul, p. 389.

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS

The writing of this Epistle was mainly occasioned by the
wish to calm the intense excitement which had been caused
by mistaken inferences from the former one. Its exhorta
tions might be summed up in the words "In quietness and
in confidence shall be your strength."
Its key-note is steadfastness (ch. ii. 1, 2.) " The last
day is hidden, that all days may be observed," says St.
Augustine.
CHAPTER I.
1. Timothy is mentioned prominently in ten of St.
Paul's thirteen Epistles, i.e. in all except those to the
Galatians, Colossians, and Titus.
2. " Grace to you and peace."
" Grace," says St. Thomas Aquinas, "is the beginning
of all good; peace the end of all blessings."
9. " Eternal destruction."
The fire is not penal fire, but the Shechinah-glory of
the Advent; and the retribution not "destruction," but
" destruction from the presence of the Lord," i.e. exclusion
from the beatific vision. The word in the original is
ceonian (i.e. belonging to the last great seon), which has a
widely different connotation from "everlasting." It is
qualitative, not quantitative. It implies a spiritual condi
tion, not an endless duration; and, as "the severest
punishment of the wicked is here represented to be exclu
sion from the presence of God, we are at least led by such
passages as these to hold the essence of the future punish-

£78 The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.
ment of the wicked to consist in a moral and spiritual
condition rather than in physical sufferings " (Lightfoot).1

CHAPTER II.
l. " Our gathering together unto Him."
A beautiful word, which only occurs again in Heb. x.
25. In Matt, xxiii. 37, xxiv. 31, the corresponding verb
is used of "a hen gathering her chickens under her
wings." 2. "That ye be not quickly shaken from your
mind." Literally, "tossed away, as by the surge of the sea."
The Thessalonians seem to have been misled (ch. iii. 17)
by a forged letter, or letters, which gave a false view of
St. Paul's real opinions. Lightfoot paraphrases it, "not
to be driven by feverish expectations from your sober
senses, as a ship drifts away from her moorings in a
tempest." 2. " That the day of the Lord is now present."
Not " is at hand " (A.V.). That rendering contradicts
Rom. xiii. 12, "The night is far spent, the day is at
hand." Some argued that the present was the day of the
Lord (2 Tim. ii. 18; 1 Cor. xv. 12). Now, St. Paul did
think that it was " at hand," though a certain hindrance
(6-8) to its manifestation had to be removed. All the
Apostles believed that the day was near (1 Cor. xv. 51;
James v. 8, 9; 1 Pet. iv. 7; 1 John ii. 18 ; Rev. xxii. 20),
and their watchword was "Maranatha," "the Lord is
near." But the day of the Lord was to be preceded by —
(i) The apostasy (from within) not " a falling away."
(ii) The revealing of " the Man of Sin," who apes Divine
powers and attributes (Dan. xi. 36).
1 I shall henceforth refer to the late Bishop Lightfoot by the
initial L.

Chapter III. 1 79

(iii) The removal of something (ver. 6), or of some man
(ver. 7), who was a hindrance to its manifestation.
St. Paul never again recurs to this particular topic, and
the exact reference is quite uncertain. By "that which"
and " he who restraineth," he may have meant the Roman
Empire and the succession of Roman emperors, perhaps
with special allusion to their claims of divinity. Wetstein
mentions a coin of Thessalonica on which Julius Csesar is
called " God," and Caligula openly sat in the Temple of
Jupiter, and claimed equality with Him. He also tried to
force the Jews to place a statue of himself in their Temple.
As to the exact meaning of "the man of sin," we must say,
with St. Augustine, " I confess that I am entirely ignorant
what the Apostle meant."
It is interesting to know that the Jews gave to the
Rasha, or Antichrist, the name of Armillus, which some
connect with "Romulus," but which is probably an
allusion to Caligula, who wore bracelets (armillce) in pub
lic (" Armillatus in publicum processit : " Suet., Calig. 52).
Throughout the world at this time there was a dread of
some imminent world-catastrophe preluded by prodigies
(Tac, Ann. vi. 8, xii. 43, etc.; Suet., Ner. 36, 39;
Dion. Cass. Ix. 35, etc.; Hausrath, New Test. Times, ii.
108; Renan, L' Antichrist, 35). We also find this
expectation in the Talmud (Sanhedrin, 98. 1). Tertullian
says of the obstacle to the Second Advent, "Quid nisi
Romanus Status ? " (De Resurr. 24).
15. " The traditions."
Not so-called "oral traditions," but simply "our teach
ing," whether by letter or word of mouth.
CHAPTER III.
11. " Doing no business, but hisybodies."
Literally, "their sole business is to be busybodies."
This is an instance of St. Paul's use of oxymoron, as in

180 The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.
1 Cor. vii. 31; 2 Cor. i. 13, iii. 2, vi. 10, x. 12 (Heb. v. 8).
Jowett quotes a similar phrase of Af er about a busy lawyer,
"non agere dixit, sed satagere." The word "to be a
busybody " is not found again in the New Testament.
17. " So I write."
St. Paul protects himself from the possibility of forged
letters being circulated in his name, by adding the super
scription with his own hand.
17. " In every letter."
The phrase is, to every unbiassed mind, a positive proof
that St. Paul had written many other letters which have
not come down to us.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE
CORINTHIANS

St. Paul wrote this letter in order to deal with special
questions of doctrine and discipline which had arisen
among his Corinthian converts. The key-note of the
Epistle is the duty of love and unity amid divergent views.
Little details are to be decided by great principles. Life
is to be in the world, not of it.
Apart from the introduction (ch. i. 1-9), which consists,
as usual, of a salutation and thanksgiving, — and the con
clusion (ch. xvi. 1-24), which contains personal greetings -
and recommendations, — the letter is mainly occupied with
six decisions on problems, both practical and theoretical,
respecting which the Corinthians needed the Apostle's
advice. St. Paul deals with —
(i) The existence among them of divisions, and a spirit
of partisanship (chs. i. 10-iv. 21).
(ii) The case of incest (chs. v. 1-vi. 20).
(iii) Questions about marriage (ch. vii. 1-40).
(iv) Meats offered to idols (chs. viii. 1-xi. 1), with a
digression (ch. ix. 1-27) on Apostolic claims.
(v) Christian assemblies, and the relative value of
spiritual gifts (chs. xi. 3-xiv. 40).
(vi) The resurrection of the dead (xv. 1-58).
The prominence of the word " inflation " (chs. iv. 6,
18, 19; v. 2 ; viii. 1 ; xiii. 4 ; 2 Cor. xii. 20) — a word
which elsewhere only occurs in Col. ii. 18 — shows the
conceited opinionativeness which was one of the dangers
of this erring Church.

1 82 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.

CHAPTER I.
2. " Called to be saints."
The name "Christian" had not yet been generally
adopted; and "those of the Name," or "of the Way,"
were cumbrous and periphrastic titles. Hence it became
common to speak of all Christians as kletoi, "called;"
or eklektoi, "chosen;" or hagioi, "holy," or "saints."
This was not meant to be a Pharisaic boast, though — as
a body, and as compared with the masses of the heathen
who repudiated the moral obligations of temperance, sober
ness, and chastity — the Christians might fairly say with
Tertullian, Nos soli innocentes sumus. They might be
called "saints" because holiness was the professed ideal
and aim of the faith which they had embraced. If they
were true Christians, if they had been "sanctified in
Christ Jesus," they were saints.
3. " Grace to you and peace."
See on 1 Thess. i. 2. "Grace is the source of all
blessings, peace their end and issue" (L.). The name
of Christ occurs nine times in the first nine verses.
10. " Divisions."
The earliest use of the word "schisms" in the modern
sense. 12. " And I of Christ."
The words are capable of different explanations, (i)
They may refer to a " Christ-party " at Corinth, though
we do not hear of any such party ; (ii) they may be an
exclamation of St. Paul : " You call yourselves after this
or that man — / belong to Christ." But the following
words : " Has Christ been parcelled into fragments ? " tells
against this ; (iii) there is another reading, rising from
the change of two letters — "and I of Crispus," who is
mentioned in ver. 14. This reading, however, is quite
unsupported.

Chapter I. 183
17. " Sent me not to baptize."
The baptism by the Spirit was the essential thing ;
neither St. Peter (Acts x. 48) nor St. Paul was eager to
perform in person the external rite.
18. " Them that are perishing — us which are
being saved."
The world, so far as it had heard the preaching of the
Gospel, is here divided into two sections — (a) the "perish
ing/' by whom the doctrine of the Cross was regarded as
insane folly (ch. ii. 14 ; Acts xxvi. 24, 25) ; (b) those
who were — not "saved," but "in the way of salvation,"
— who felt it to be the power of God. In the New Testa
ment "salvation" is a thing of the past (Rom. viii. 24 ;
Eph. ii. 5, 8) ; a thing of the present (1 Cor. xv. 2), and a
thing of the future (Rom. x. 9, 13). "It involves a moral
condition that must have begun already, though it will
receive its final accomplishment hereafter " (L.).
20. " The wise [all Greek and Jewish teachers] ;
the scribe [Jewish] ; the disputer of this world [the
Greek philosopher] " (L.).
In Is. xxxiii. 18, it is "where is he who counteth the
towers." (Comp. Ps. xlviii. 12.)
21. " The foolishness of the preaching."
Rather "of the proclamation."
23. " Christ crucified."
Perhaps the shade of meaning would be better brought
out by "a Messiah crucified." It was all the more neces
sary for St. Paul to insist upon this truth, because it was
one at which Greeks scoffed and mocked (Acts xvii. 18,
32), and which was to Jews — who looked for a regal con
queror as their Messiah — an intolerable stumbling-block
(Rom. ix. 32 ; 1 Pet. ii. 8). But the doctrine which the
world hated was, to "the called," " Christ, the Power of
God and the Wisdom of God."

1 84 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
The suffering Messiah — Messiah Ben Joseph as distin
guished from the triumphant Messiah Ben David — was
a later importation into the Jewish exegesis of the proph
ecies (comp. ch. ii. 2).
26. "Ye see your calling " (A.V.).
Rather " consider your calling;" i.e. "recall the fact
that, in the circumstances of your calling, not many of the
wise, powerful, or noble of this world were called, but
chiefly slaves and artisans."

CHAPTER II.
1. " Not with excellency of speech."
"Corinthian words" was a proverbial expression for
elaborate language (Wetstein). Longinus in his book on
rhetoric calls St. Paul "a pre-eminent master of undemon-
strated teaching."
9. " Eye hath not seen " (A.V.).
Some regarded this as a quotation from some apocryphal
book, the Apocalypse of Elijah or the Ascension of
Isaiah ; but it seems to be a reference to Is. lxiv. 4 ; lxv.
16, 17.
13. " Comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
The words might mean " combining things spiritual with
things spiritual," and not mixing them up with mere
worldly wisdom. The rendering "interpreting spiritual
things to spiritual men " is hardly tenable.
14. " The natural man."
The man who is guided only by his soul (i/^x7?)' not as
he ought to be, by his spirit (pneuma). (See on 1 Thess. v.
23.) Hence in Jude 19 this word (" soulish ") is rendered
"sensual." The word may imply praise when it is the
antithesis to "bodily" or carnal; but it is a title of

Chapter III. 185

censure when contrasted with " spiritual." Hence Luther's
rendering, "the natural man," is a very good one.
14, 15. " He cannot know them, because they are
spiritually judged. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, but he himself is judged of no man "
(A.V.). The verb here used is not krino, " I judge," but ana-
krino, "I examine." It is very important in this Epistle
that the distinction in meaning between krino, " I judge,"
anakrino, "I examine," and diakrino, "I discern,"
"discriminate," or "distinguish," should be carefully
observed. For St. Paul uses these words in close juxta
position, and the inmost meaning of several important
passages depends upon them. In this passage we have the
juxtaposition of "compare" (sunkrino) and "examine"
(anakrino) ; and the compounds are contrasted also in chs.
iv. 3, 4; vi. 1-6; xi. 29, 31, 32. See, too, 2 Cor. x. 12;
Rom. ii. 1; xiv. 22, 23. " St. Paul delights to accumulate
these; and thus by harping upon words (if I may use the
expression) to emphasise great spiritual truths or important
personal experiences. The anakrisis was an. Athenian
law term for a preliminary investigation" (L.).
CHAPTER III.
2. " Not even now are ye able."
The very pride which made them assume the air of
adepts and "theologians," proved them to be novices
(comp. John ix. 41).
11. " Other foundation can no man lay."
Christ is at once the foundation stone (themelion) and
"the chief corner stone" (akrogoniaios) : Eph. ii. 20.
" He is the basis on which the Church rests, and the centre
of her unity."

1 86 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
15. "But he himself shall be saved, yet so as
through fire."
The Apostle is not speaking of criminal lives but of
mistaken teachings. The fire — which is metaphorical, as
are the words " hay," " stubble," etc. — shall test the value
or the spuriousness of each man's work, and shall destroy
what is false. But error does not necessarily involve per
sonal destruction, though the erring builder must escape as
through fire.
17. " If any man destroy [not " defile," A.V.] the
temple [sanctuary] of God, him shall God destroy."
The same verb is used in the Greek in both clauses, and
the correct rendering brings out the important lesson of
"the identity (or correlation) of the sin with the pun
ishment."
CHAPTER IV.
3, 4. These verses might be paraphased as follows.
" But to me it is for a very small matter that I should be
examined by you, or by man's brief day : nay, I do not even
examine myself (in this way) ; for I am not conscious of
any guilt; yet not thereby have I been justified; but He
Who examineth me is the Lord"
" The Apostle condemns all these impatient human prce-
judicia — these unauthorised anakriseis, which anticipate
the final krisis. He reserves his case for the great tribunal
when at length all the evidence will be forthcoming, and a
satisfactory verdict can be given. Meanwhile this process
of gathering evidence has begun ; an anakrisis is indeed
being held, not however by these self-appointed magistrates,
but by One Who alone has the authority to institute the
inquiry, and the ability to sift the facts '; (L.). Just as,
to secure fairness of human trial, St. Paul appealed from
the partial and fettered anakriseis of Felix and Festus to
the krisis of an Emperor, who might be supposed to be

Chapter IV. 187

impartial, so he appeals from man's transient, feeble, hasty,
generally prejudiced, and frequently petty and malignant
opinions about him to the final decision before the Great
White Throne. Man's "day" is full of twilight and
mirage ; but the Great Day (1 Cor. iii. 13) shall reveal
men's deeds and thoughts as they really are.
It is interesting to find in St. Paul the same utter
contempt for the feeble, fallible, malicious ignorance and
opinionated infallibility of incompetent human criticisms,
which we find in many of the greatest souls. Phocion,
when the mob applauded him, turned round and asked,
"Have I said anything wrong then?" Dante writes —
" Lascia dir le genti
Sta f ermo come torre ; "
and Milton —
" When straight a barbarous noise environs me
Of owls, and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs ;
As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs
Railed at Latona's twin-born progeny
Which after held the sun and moon in fee.''
4. "I know nothing by myself" (A.V.).
This meant, in old English, "I know nothing against
myself." " I am sorry," wrote Cranmer of Anne Boleyn,
"that such faults can be proved by [i.e. against] the
Queen." 6. "Puffed up."
Throughout this passage St. Paul is haunted by the
word "inflation" (vv. 18, 19; v. 2; viii. 1; xiii. 4) : comp.
2 Cor. xii. 20. (Elsewhere only in Col. ii. 18.)
9. The Apostles are treated like doomed malefactors
(epithanatioi or bestiarii. Tert. DePudic. 14), whose fate
is exhibited as on the stage of a theatre — last of all, by
way of climax to the gladiatorial show — both to angels
and to men. The words might recall the lines —

1 88 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
" Lo ! 't is a gala night
Amid the lonesome later years :
An angel-throng, bewinged, bedight
In robes, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the Spheres.
" And the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the Play is the Tragedy Man,
And its hero the conquering worm." (Edgar Poe.)
13. " We are made as the filth of the world, the
offscouring of all things."
Both words are technically used of criminals treated as
"scapegoats" or "curse-bearers," and killed as expiatory
offerings to offended deities.
CHAPTER V.
5. " To deliver such a one unto Satan for the
destruction of the flesh."
The allusion may be to Job ii. 4-10. (Comp. 2 Cor.
xiii. 10.)
8. " Let us keep the feast."
Rather "let us be festive ;" "let us keep perpetual
feast." The exhortation is for all times, since, as Chry-
sostom says, "all the life of a Christian should be
one festival because of the superabundance of blessings
bestowed upon him." Chrysostom's last words were,
"Thanks be to God for everything."
9. " In my epistle."
Literally, "in the epistle." The allusion must be to
some letter no longer extant.

Chapters VI, VII. 189
CHAPTER VI.
11. " Ye were washed."
Literally, "Ye washed yourselves," i.e. "by accepting
baptism ye bathed in the laver of regeneration.'' These
aorists ("ye were sanctified, etc.") refer to the ideal truths
of the entire new birth involved in entering by baptism
into the Gospel covenant.
"St. Paul regards this change — from sin to righteous
ness, from bondage to freedom, from death to life — as
summed up in one definite act of the past : potentially, to
all men, in our Lord's Passion and Resurrection ; actually,
to each individual man, when he accepts Christ, is bap
tised into Christ. Then he is made righteous by being
incorporated into Christ's righteousness, he dies once for
all to sin, he lives hereafter for ever to God. This is the
ideal. Practically we know that the death to sin and the
life to righteousness are inchoate, imperfect, gradual,
meagrely realised even by the most saintly of men in this
life ; but St. Paul sets the matter in this ideal light to
force upon the conscience of his hearers the fact that an
entire change came over them when they became Chris
tians. It is the definiteness, the absoluteness of this
change considered as a historical crisis, which forms the
central idea of St. Paul's teaching, and which the aorist
marks " (L.).
CHAPTER VII.
5. " Unto prayer."
The words "and fasting" are, as usual, an unauthor
ised, ascetic interpolation, in the A.V., as in Matt. xvii.
21 ; Acts x. 30 ; and probably in Mark ix. 29. In 2
Cor. vi. 5, xi. 27 (as in Matt. xv. 32 ; Mark viii. 3), the
" fasting " is involuntary privation.

1 90 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
14. "The unbelieving husband is sanctified in
the wife."
This tender and merciful decision of St. Paul had a
most important effect on Christian history. As Dean
Stanley points out, it rendered possible such epoch-making
marriages as that of Clotilda with Clovis, and of Bertha
with Ethelbert, "and consequently had a direct influence
on the conversion of the two great kingdoms of France
and England to the Christian faith."
19. " Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision
is nothing."
St. Paul three times (Gal. v. 6 ; vi. 15) repeats this
memorable utterance, which required a courage such as we
can hardly estimate, when we remember (i) that "many
myriads " (Acts xxi. 20), even of those Jews who had
embraced the faith, were still zealots for the minutise of
the law ; (ii) that circumcision was regarded as the most
essential and obligatory of all the Mosaic ordinances ;
(iii) that the Rabbis taught that the very universe existed
for the sake of their Law ; (iv) that St. Paul had been
brought up, as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, to believe these
views in their most unmitigated and literal form; and
(v) that many Rabbis inclined to the belief that no uncir-
cumcised man could be saved, and hardly any circumcised
man lost.
The apodosis to this great decision is (here) "but the
keeping of the commandments of God ; " in Gal. v. 6,
"hut faith working by love ;" in Gal. vi. 15, " but a
new creature."
If the Jews had ever understood aright the essential
elements of their own "living oracles" these sayings of
St. Paul would not have been needed as the antithesis to
the spirit of narrow, arrogant, and cruel ceremonialism
into which their religionism had dwindled. For St. Paul,
in reality, said no more than had been already said by
Moses, Samuel (1 Sam. xv. 22), Ecclesiastes (xii. 13),

Chapter VIII. 191

Isaiah (i. 11, 13, 16, 17), Jeremiah (vii. 22), Micah
(vi. 6-8), Hosea (vi. 6), and, indeed, by all their most
spiritual Prophets. Our Lord, in His denunciation of
the Pharisaism, which had degraded religion into a mere
fetish-worship of niggling nullities, did but enforce and
sanction the deepest utterances of all the older revelation.
Even in later Jewish literature we find such passages
as (Ecclus. xxxii. 23, 24) " He that believeth in the Lord
taketh heed to the commandment ; " (Wisd. vi. 18) "And
love is the keeping of her laws, and the giving heed unto
her laws is the assurance of incorruption."
The same unvarying lesson — that what God requires
is righteousness, not externalism — runs through the
whole New Testament (see Acts x. 34 ; Rom. ii. 10 ;
James ii. 20 ; 1 John ii. 29 ; iii. 7), and was the dis
tinct repeated teaching of Christ Himself (Matt. vii. 21 ;
xii. 50 ; xix. 17, etc.).

CHAPTER VIII.
l. " We know that we all have knowledge."
This may be a too self-satisfied expression which he
quotes from the letter of the Corinthians, and which he
implicitly rebukes in the words "knowledge inflates, but
love edifies." The whole chapter illustrates at once the
large-hearted spirituality of St. Paul, and the compassion-
ateness of his ready concessions to weak and uninstructed
consciences. 6. " To us there is one God, the Father, and we
into Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, and we
through Him."
For " all things were made through Him " (John i. 3,
11) ; and grace and truth came through Him (John i. 17).
He is — " The one far-off divine event
To which the whole creation moves."

192 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
10. " Will not his conscience, if he is weak, be
emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols ? "
The original verbis "will it not be builded up —
edified " — in a bad sense. It is an ironical expression
for " ruinosa cedificatio."

CHAPTER IX.
9. The A.V. " Doth God care for oxen ? " — as though
St. Paul meant that God does not care for oxen — has been
a shock to many readers, for even the Psalmist had seen
(Ps. cxlv. 9) that " His tender mercies are over all His
works ; " and our Lord had taught that God cares even
for the ravens, and the poor little twittering sparrows.
But the real rendering does not carry this meaning. It is,
"Is it for the oxen that God careth ? Or saith He it, as
is doubtless the case [comp. Luke iv. 23], for our sake ? "
In other words, St. Paul implies that the rule about "not
muzzling the ox when it is treading the corn " has a far
wider significance than the literal injunction. So the
thrice-repeated rule, "Thou shall not seethe a kid in its
mother's milk " (Ex. xxiii. 19 ; xxxiv. 26 ; Deut. xiv. 21),
was no mere ceremonial prohibition, but involved deeper
lessons. " Thou art destroying her by means of her best
affections," says Anthony Foster to Sir R. Varley in Sir
Walter Scott's Kenilworth ; " Thou shalt not seethe a kid
in its mother's milk."
21. " To them that are without law, as without
law." Perhaps it was from this passage that the intensely
hated Apostle got the nickname of " The Lawless " in the
spurious letter of Peter to James in the Clementines. But
he is only describing the conciliatory concessions of an
all-embracing charity. "In the one party, faith was not
strong enough to beget a liberalising knowledge ; not
strong enough in the other to produce a brotherly love " (L.).

Chapter IX. 193

24. " Run in a race."
Literally, " in a stadium, a race-course."
25. " That striveth in the games."
Not " for the mastery " (A.V.). The metaphor was one
in which St. Paul delights (1 Tim. vi. 12 ; 2 Tim. iv. 7 ;
Phil. iii. 14), and it would be specially appropriate in a
letter to Corinthians, who were familiar with the quin
quennial contests of the Isthmian games.
25. " Is temperate in all things."
To contend in the games with any hope or prospect of
success required a long course of resolute training, and
temperance of the utmost severity.
25. " A corruptible crown."
The crown was a valueless wreath of pine at the Isthmian
games ; parsley at the Nemean ; laurel at the Pythian ; or
bay at the Olympic, which was withered before the day
was over. But the prize for which Christians ran was
a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. iv. 8) ; an amaranthine,
or unwithering crown (1 Pet. v. 4) ; a crown of life
(James i. 12 ; Rev. ii. 10) ; and this was indeed "a crown
of rejoicing" (1 Thess. ii. 19).
26. So run as not uncertainly."
Not in a wavering and winding course, or swerving
aside, like Atalanta, to pick up objects beside the way, but
with an eye set unswervingly upon the goal.
26. " So fight I, as not beating the air."
" My boxing is not what was called a skiamachia, ' a
shadow-fight,' or sham boxing by feints."
27. " But I buffet my body, and bring it into
bondage." The original is even stronger. It literally means "I
beat my body black and blue" (comp. Luke viii. 5).; "I
blacken myself under the eyes ; " "I pummel myself, and
lead about my body as a slave." 13

194 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
27. " I myself should be rejected."
Not, as in the A.V., " should become a castaway; " but
"lest, after offering myself for the contest, I should be
rejected — struck off the lists of combatants — by the
president of the games, as one who has not fulfilled the
requisite conditions."
CHAPTER X.
1-11. These verses furnish a specimen of the method of
moral and spiritual exegesis which was included in what
the Jews called the Haggadah. The cloud and the sea are
made the figures of baptism ; and the rock, which furnished
water, a figure of Christ. St. Paul utilises the Jewish
legend, which described the smitten rock (Ex. xvii. 6) as
following the Israelites from place to place.
13. " Such as man can bear."
The Greek word means "human" (anthropinos). No
overwhelming, no irresistible, no superhuman temptation
will be permitted to overwhelm us against our will ; but our
strength shall be proportioned to each human temptation.
13. " Will with the temptation make also the way
of escape."
Here the A.V. by rendering it "a way to escape,"
obliterates an inestimably precious lesson. Not only is
there " an escape " possible in each temptation ; but each
temptation has the special way of escaping from it — dif
fering for each class of temptation — specially provided
for us by God.
16-21. The leading words in this passage are partakers,
participation (koinonoi, koinonia), and the same English
words should be used throughout to represent the same
words in the original. The general argument is very
simple. " Among the Jews, they who eat the sacrifice are
partakers of the altar (i.e. they share in the common act of
worship) ; so when the heathen offer to idols, their idols are

Chapter XI. 195

indeed nothing, but they represent demons, and therefore
the heathen are partakers of demons (i.e. they have their
share in the worship of demons). We Christians, when we
drink the cup of blessing, and break the loaf, imply our
spiritual participation of the blood and the body of Christ.
We ought not therefore to commingle things essentially
antagonistic. We cannot consistently eat and drink of
the table and cup of the Lord, and of those of demons.
When ours is Christian worship we cannot at the same
time share in heathen worship."
17. This verse is added to strengthen the general con
ception of the passage — We all break, we all partake of one
loaf, and therefore we all are (i.e. symbolically represent)
one loaf, one body. The phrase " the body of Christ " is
sometimes used literally, and sometimes to express the
whole Christian community (ch. xii. 20 ; Rom. xii. 4, 5 ;
Eph. iv. 16 ; Col. iii. 15).

CHAPTER XI.
1. " Be ye imitators of me."
Not "followers" (comp. ch. iv. 16 ; Phil. iii. 17; Eph.
v. 1 ; 1 Thess. i. 6 ; ii. 14 ; 1 Pet. iii. 13 ; Heb. vi. 12).
2. " I praise you that ye . . . hold fast," etc.
Probably the words which follow are a quotation of what
the Corinthians had said ; but the Apostle proceeds to
point out various particulars in which they by no means
" remember him in all things," and did not hold fast the
" traditions " (i. e. doctrines and ordinances, which he had
delivered to them (comp. 2 Thess. ii. 5).
10. " For this cause ought the woman to have a
sign of authority on her head, because of the angels."
The "power [exousian] on her head" of the A.V. is
singularly unintelligible. " A sign of authority " probably
means " a veil worn to show that she is under the author-

196 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
ity of her husband." To this day in Persia the veil of
married women is a sign that they are under subjection.1
The obscurity of the word has led to the absurd readings
exoubian, a Grsecised form of exuvice, and taken to mean
some sort of covering; or exiousa, " when she goes out."
By " the angels " some have understood ' ' the messengers
of God," i.e. the ministers. But the allusion is undoubt
edly to the Oriental belief that angels turn away from the
face of a woman who is unveiled in public. The church
which, as St. Chrysostom said, is "the place of Angels and
Archangels, the Court of God, and the image of heaven,"
was supposed to be full of these holy unseen presences.
The demons delighted to see women unveiled in church,
and sat upon their hair ; the angels turned away their faces.
An excellent comment on this incidental allusion to a cur
rent Eastern belief is found in the story of Mohammed
and his wife Khadijah, as told by Dean Stanley in his
Commentary on the Epistle. She decided that Mohammed
was really taught by the Archangel Gabriel, because the
moment she took off her veil he disappeared (Weil, Mo
hammed, 48). These notions sprang from Gen. vi. 2. In
some Eastern cities Jewish women still wear a hideous
and much ridiculed head-dress, called the Klialebi, as a
religious duty, " because of the spirits."
St. Paul does not, however, here insist on his own argu
ments, and adds (ver. 16), that if anybody wants to argue
contentiously about them, it is enough to say that the
practice of women appearing unveiled in the congregations
is contrary to the custom of Christian churches. Or, in
the Rabbinic language, to which he had been accustomed,
1 Milton says of Eve —
" She, as a veil, down to the slender waist,
Her unadorned golden tresses wore,
As the vine waves its tendrils, which implied
Subjection."
SeeTert. De Vel Virg. 7. 17 ; Tob. xii. 12.

Chapter XI. 197

"your practice is a Thekanah [or "novelty "], our Hala-
cha is otherwise " (Babha Metsia, f. 112).
19. " Heresies."
This word, in the sense which we attach to it, does not
occur in the New Testament. Haireseis means "fac
tions" or "parties."
20. " It is not possible to eat the Lord's supper."
"Not possible," because of the gluttony and disorder.
24. " This do in remembrance of Me."
See on Luke xxii. 19.
25. " This cup is the new covenant in My blood."
" Covenant " is better than "testament." So far as a
"testament" means "a will," it refers to a custom of
"making wills," which was unknown among the Jews,
and "the new covenant in my blood" is an allusion to
the contrasted " old covenant of blood " (Ex. xxiv. 8), in
the sacrifice of bulls and goats, which can never take away
sin (Heb. ix. 13 ; x. 4). We have, indeed, been "made a
heritage " (Eph. i. 11), but our hope is in a covenant made
by God with us (diatheke, not suntheke). (See Matt. xxvi.
28 ; Mark xiv. 24 ; Luke xxii. 20.)
29. " If he discern not the body."
"The Lord's body" is a later reading. It is uncertain
whether "the body " alluded to is "the body of Christ,"
or the church which is " the body of Christ " (chs. x. 16 ;
xii. 27).
27-32. The rendering of krima by "damnation" in
ver. 29 ("eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,"
A.V.), although in 1611 the word had not the same awful
and exclusive connotation as it now has, has had the disas
trous effect of terrifying thousands from partaking of the
Holy Communion. The word simply means " judgment,"

1 98 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
and the whole force of the passage lies in the difference
of meaning between krinein, "to judge;" diakrinein,
"to discern" or "discriminate ;" and katakrinein, "to
condemn," which, as Bishop Lightfoot says, mark three
stages. The verb diakrinein expresses the duty of per
sons before and in communicating ; this duty is twofold —
they must discern themselves, and discern the Lord's body,
that they may understand and not violate the proper re
lation between the one and the Other. Krinein and
krima express the immediate consequences which ensue
from the neglect of the duty — the judgments which are
corrective and remedial but not final. Katakrinein de
scribes the final condemnation, which only then overtakes
a man when judgment has failed to reform his character.
Undiscerning participation has already caused penal
sickness among them (ver. 30). Had they "discerned"
themselves — their own state, and the reverence due to
the Lord's body — they would not have been thus
"judged." But these judgments are intended to be edu
cational, so as to save them from final condemnation
(ver. 32).
CHAPTER XII.
The object of this and the two following chapters was
to place the Corinthians in the right point of view as to
the strange gift — the outcome of overwhelming spiritual
excitement in the form of deep, impassioned outpourings
of utterance wholly or partially unintelligible (ch. xiv. 2,
16, 23) — which was known as "the Tongue." Being
abnormal, and intensely exciting, it led to a great deal of
spiritual inflation and of uncontrolled and unedifying dis
order (ch. xiv. 26). Now, St. Paul does not repudiate
altogether the exercise of this gift, for he thanks God
that he himself was more liable to be carried away by the
impulse than any of them (ch. xiv. 18) ; but among the
"diversities of gifts "he ranks it far lower than many

Chapter XII. 1 99

other gifts, and immeasurably lower than the humble,
divine, unobtrusive gift of love. When men spoke in
"the Tongue " there was no orderly and rhythmic dis
tinction of sounds (ch. xiv. 7), any more than in shrieking
brass or a booming gong (ch. xiii. 1), unless either the
speaker or some one else explained the meaning of the
unintelligible rush of sounds (ch. xiv. 6). Otherwise it
was completely unedifying (ch. xiv. 19, 26) and of far less
value than the gift of "prophesying " (i.e. true preaching).
It was therefore essential that those who felt the impulse
of "the Tongue" should suppress it altogether where it
could do no good (ch. xiv. 28), so as not to cause confusion
(ver. 33) ; or at any rate should only indulge in its exer
cise under strict conditions of order and self -repression
(w. 26-33), to avoid giving to any casual stranger, who
might enter the church, the impression that he was among
a set of unruly and insane barbarians, who were indulging
in a babble of meaningless sounds (ch. xiv. 11, 23). Al?
that he asks is, that "the Tongue" should be exercised
with due subordination, with reference to the needs and
edification of the whole community (ch. xii. 12-31), not
with selfish obtrusiveness (ch. xiv. 28).
"The Tongue " naturally died away with the sort of
holy intoxication of irresistible emotion (Acts ii. 13, 15),
which sprang from the consciousness of a new spiritual
outpouring, so mighty and so entrancing that in some
minds it swept away the barriers of natural control ; but
it has revived at several great crises of new spiritual im
pression — e.g. such as occurred in modern times among
the early Wesleyans, among the followers of Edward
Irving, and in other religious communities.
3. " No man speaking in the Spirit of God saith,
Jesus is anathema."
This might well seem to be a very superfluous remark if,
as some explain it, it refers to a supposed insulting remark
of Jews ("Anathema is Jesus ") on meeting Christians

200 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
The special reference is uncertain, but there may be an
allusion to the fact that, sometimes, — we should suppose
in extremely rare cases, - — those who spoke under the im
pulse of "the Tongue" completely lost all hold over
themselves and their thoughts, and so — becoming the
momentary victims of dem,oniac rather than spiritual ex
citement — interpolated into their ravings words which
were actually blasphemous. Phenomena not unlike this
have occurred in analogous cases.
8, 9. The A.V. in these two verses uses " by the same
Spirit " three times ; but if this had conveyed St. Paul's
meaning would he have varied the phrase each time?
The "word of wisdom," being unchangeable and eternal,
is given "through (dia) the Spirit;" the "word of
knowledge," being progressive, is given "according to
(kata) the Spirit," Who guides and directs man's obser
vations and expressions; and faith is given "in the
Spirit, " because by faith we are, as it were, lost in Him.
Thus the English reader is "enabled to take account of
the manifold action, no less than the manifold gifts of the
Spirit" (W.).
28. " Helps, governments."
"Helps" (antilepseis) are such services as were ren
dered by deacons, virgins, widows, burial-guilds, etc.
"Governments" (lit. " steering s") are the guidance en
trusted to presbyters and overseers (bishops).

CHAPTER XIII.
This chapter — the eulogy of "Holy Heavenly Love " —
is the gem of all the writings of the Apostle. It is here
inserted into the dissertation about the use and abuse of
" the Tongue " to show how love — the violet among the
virtues — which grows only in the valley of humility,

Chapter XIII. 201

and only at the foot of the Cross of Christ — infinitely
exceeded in value and beauty the showy gift of "the
Tongue," on which some of them so greatly prided them
selves, though it was liable to such gross abuse.
The substitution of "love" by the Revisers for the
" charity " of the A.V. was a necessity, if they were to be
faithful to their duty.
(i) The use of two words — "love," "charity" — to
render the one word agape was misleading.
(ii) Agape was one of the priceless words which, in its
highest sense, the Greek language practically owed to
Christianity, as the English language owes the spiritual
significance of the word " love."
(iii) " Charity " to English readers, ordinarily means
no more than " almsgiving," which " love " immeasurably
transcends (see ver. 3).
(iv) We have " love " and " to love " for agape and
agapan, but there is no English verb derived from the
word charity.1
The true rendering, " love," unites the teaching of St.
Paul with that of St. John "the Apostle of love." St.
John says, " God is love ; " St. Paul says, " Love never
faileth." Charity is indeed "a word of most touching
sweetness. It can never lose its position in the vocabulary
of Christian graces. But to retain it in the New Testa
ment is to hide the source of its strength and glory. No
one ever proposed to adopt into our version ' Deus est
caritas,' which stands in the Rhemish; yet no loss to
Christian morality could be greater than the separation of
true grace from its Divine archetype. The strength of the
Christian character lies in the truth that he who has love
shares in the Divine nature. The English reader will re
cognise his gain in having the greatest of human graces
indissolubly connected with the very being of God, and
seen to be eternal, because He is eternal."
1 See some excellent remarks in Humphrey On the Revised Version,
pp. 312, 313.

202 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
1. " Booming brass, or clanging cymbal."
Corinthian brass was famous (Plin. H.N. 34. 2, 3).
" Ephyreia aera" (Verg. Georg. ii. 464).
2. " So as to remove mountains."
See note on Matt. xxi. 2.
3. " Bestow all my goods."
Literally, " make mouthfuls of," i.e. give them all away
in small doles. The word only occurs again in Rom. xii. 20.
3. " To be burned."
Burning alive was a punishment known among the
Romans, and was practised by Nero when he tied the
Christians to stakes, and burnt them for the nightly illu
mination of his gardens ; but it was rare. This may have
led to the alternative reading, involving only the change
of a single letter, " that I may boast."
4-7. " Vaunteth not itself [in words] ; is not inflated
[in mind] ; is not exasperated ; does not reckon [take
account of, brood over] a wrong done [does not, as it were,
" set it in a note-book "] ; does not rejoice at injustice, but
rejoiceth with the truth ; bears [holds, contains, covers, as
in ix. 12] all things, never falls off like a faded blossom "
(comp. Is. xxviii. 4 ; James i. 11 ; Rom. ix. 6).
The rare word perpereuetai means "does not brag,"
" does not show itself off." Perperos means a braggart.
Cicero writes, " Good heavens, how I showed myself off to
my new hearer, Pompeius ! " (Cic Ad Ait. i. 14.)
12. "For now we see in [or "by means of"] a mirror
[only a dim reflection of things from a surface of polished
silver, 2 Cor. iii. 18], in a riddle, but then face to face :
now I recognise but partially, but then shall I know fully,
even as also I was known fully."
Comp. Numb. xii. 8: " With him [Moses] will I speak
mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches;
aud the form of the Lord shall he behold."

Chapters XIV., XV. 203
CHAPTER XIV.
11. " I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian."
I. e. one who speaks an unintelligible language. (See
note on Acts xxviii. 24.)
16. "If any ordinary member of the congregation —
any unlearned, ungifted, simple Christian [idiotes : see 2
Cor. xi. 6 ; Acts iv. 13] is present, how, after hearing
what is to him mere raving, will he be able to adopt your
prayer or aspiration, thus delivered, by saying his Amen
at the end of it ? "
20. " Show yourselves to be [lit. " become "] not children
in your intelligence, albeit in wickedness be ye babes, but
in your intelligence show yourselves to be full-grown men."
40. " But let all things be done decently, and in
order." The only rubric in the New Testament, and amply
sufficient as a guide.
CHAPTER XV.
This magnificent Resurrection chapter, with the chapter
on love, raises this Epistle into its chief supremacy.
4. " That [Christ] was buried [once], and hath been
raised." The perfect is repeated six times in this chapter. " The
point is not that Christ once rose from the dead, but that,
having risen, He lives for ever as a first fruit or earnest of
the resurrection" (L.).
" The risen Christ, in virtue of His rising, with all the
fruits of His victory, lives as the Saviour of men " (W.).
5_11. St. Paul here appeals to six appearances of the
risen Christ : (i) to Kephas ; (ii) to the twelve (really

204 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
the Eleven) ; (iii) to more than five hundred disciples ;
(iv) to James, the Lord's brother ; (v) to all the Apostles ;
(vi) to himself, as to the abortive-born of the apostolic
family (Num. xii. 12; Ps. Iviii. 8). This was a privilege
which, as a persecutor of the Church, he had not deserved;
yet the grace had proved itself not to have been void of
effect, since no Apostle had toiled so strenuously as he.
The only vision here noted of which we find no trace in
the Gospels is that to James. Christian legend said that
the Lord's brother had vowed that he would neither eat
nor drink until he had seen Christ risen, and that on the
resurrection sabbath Christ, appearing to him, said, "Eat
thy bread, My brother ; for the Son of man hath risen from
the dead" (Gospel according to the Hebrews, quoted by
Jer. De Vir. Hlustr. 2).
12. " That there is no resurrection of the dead."
Sufficient information is not given to show whether this
was absolute Sadduceanism, or whether they only meant
that the future life would be bodiless and impersonal. The
Corinthian Church was evidently a hotbed of strange
opinions and practices.
29. " Else what shall they do that are baptised for
the dead?"
An allusion to the wholly unauthorised, and perhaps
purely local, custom of having a survivor baptised by proxy
for a Christian, who — from the bad practice of deferring
baptism in the hope of wiping away all intermediate sins
by one act — had died before he could be baptised.
32-34. " I fought with beasts at Ephesus."
This must have been metaphorically speaking. For the
record would have been preserved, or at least alluded to,
by the Apostle himself in the list of his trials (2 Cor. xi.
23-33), if he had actually fought with wild beasts in the
amphitheatre.

Chapter XV. 205

32. " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
This would be the despairing Epicureanism adopted by
those who had lost all hope of a life beyond the grave ;
against whose views he warns his converts by quoting the
iambic line of Menander, "Evil associations destroy excel
lent morals." Ver. 34 : " Awake then at once, righteously,
out of such drunken sleep, and be not continuing in sin ;
for some have a total ignorance of God. I say this to stir
you to shame " (ch. vi. 5).
35-49. " How are the dead raised ? "
This section deals with the sceptical, and to some extent
unanswerable, question as to the nature of the resur
rection-body which St. Paul answers by the analogy of
the seed, which must rot in the soil before it' germinates
afresh and assumes its new form. There are different
kinds of flesh, and different kinds of heavenly luminaries ;
and so there is a "soulish" (psuchikos) or animal body,
and a spiritual body — which shall differ from the material
body as the Second Man, the Lord from heaven, differs
from the first man, the man of clay.
35. St. Paul here adduces a metaphor from seeds.
Usually his metaphors are from architecture, games, etc.
Perhaps in consequence of his short-sightedness, he scarcely
ever borrows images from nature. There are more such
metaphors in the single Epistle of St. James than in the
thirteen of St. Paul (Howson).
42. " Incorruption."
This differs from " immortality," though the word
(aphtharsian) is so rendered in 2 Tim. i. 10 (A.V.).
"The revelation of the resurrection is incorruption, the
preservation of all that belongs to the fulness of humanity
(Rom. ii. 7), and not simple continuance of being (atha-
nasian, 1 Tim. vi. 16) " (W.).

206 The First Epistle to the Corinthians.
CHAPTER XVI.
21. Owing to his defect of sight, St. Paul wrote all his
letters — except that to the Galatians, which he wrote
himself in large, straggling characters (Gal. vi. 11) — by
the aid of an amanuensis ; but he was accustomed to
authenticate each letter by his own autograph and an ap
pended sentence, as here (2 Thess. iii. 17 ; Col. iv. 18).
22. " Let him be anathema''
Heb. cherem. Hence our phrase "to anathematise."
The phrase seems to imply excommunication.
22. " Maranatha."
This is a word by itself, a sort of password among
Christians, meaning "our Lord cometh." In Phil. iv. 5,
St. Paul translates it by the words ' ' the Lord is at hand."
(See Bingham, Antt. xvi. 2, 16.)

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE
CORINTHIANS
Characteristics of the Epistle.
This Epistle is very unlike its predecessor. It was
evidently written under the pressure of intense feeling.
The Apostle had passed through an awful period of storm
and stress, and we still observe in his style the tremors
and after-throes of that great earthquake of physical and
mental tribulation. The Epistle deals much with personal
feelings ; with his relation to his converts ; with anxiety
as to their spiritual condition ; with scarcely suppressed
indignation at the way in which those who were his ene
mies tried to undermine his authority, and to alienate
from him the affections of those whom he had won to
Christ. In reading this Epistle we look deep into the
human heart of St. Paul, and his emotion partly expresses
itself by the way in which he is haunted by particular
words, which he repeats again and again.
But at ch. xi. the original strain of thought seems to
have been suddenly interrupted. The remaining chapters
are written in a less pleading and more indignant strain.
"The thankfulness of the first part is darkened by the
indignation of the third" (Stanley). Generally he was
" perplexed, but not unto despair " (ch. iv. 8) ; but re
cently he had " despaired even of life " (ch. i. 8).
The three main divisions are —
Chs. i.— vii. Hortatory and retrospective.
Chs. viii., ix. Directions about the contributions.
Chs. x.-xiii. Defence of his apostolic position.

208 The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
Of all the Epistles it is the most personal. " The whole
letter reminds us of an itinerary, but interwoven with the
noblest precepts " (Bengel). " The very stages of his
journey are impressed upon it : the trouble at Ephesus,
the anxiety of Troas, the consolations of Macedonia, the
prospect of moving to Corinth " (Stanley). The words
"affliction," "consolation," "boasting," and "weak
ness" are of frequent occurrence, and mark the character
of the letter.

CHAPTER I.
3-7. The emotional style of these chapters is illustrated
by the "harping on a word " which marks these verses.
Thus, in these five verses he repeats no less than ten times
the words for " comfort " (paraklesis, parakalein) ; three
times the words for "severe affliction " (thlipsis, thlibein) ;
and four times the words for ' ' suffering " (pathemata,
paschein) : and in the next two verses he three times uses
the words for "death "and "dead," and twice the verb
" to deliver." The A.V. translators constantly vary these
words, because they " failed to see that, in such cases,
monotony is force " (L. ) .
The Epistle is also marked by constant paronomasia, i.e.
the play on the same word in the different meanings of its
compounds. See chs. i. 13, ii. 21, iii. 2, iv. 8, vi. 10, vii.
31, xii. 2, 15, ii. 11. A paraphrase will most briefly bring
out the bearings and niceties of these paragraphs.
In 1 Cor. xvi. 5, he had said that he meant to pass
through Macedonia, and to visit them afterwards. This
plan he had silently changed, and some had in consequence
charged him with " fickleness." He asks (ver. 17),
" ' Did I show the fickleness ' of which some accuse me ?
No ! my plans could only be human plans liable to change.
My doctrine was certain and definite ; not so my mere
human arrangements. In God's promises — how many
soever they be — is the everlasting Yea of unalterable

Chapter II. 209
fulfilment, and therefore in Him (or ' through Him ') also
is the unvaried Amen, by which the church expresses her
recognition of, and thanksgiving for His faithfulness
(ver. 20). He Who establishes us with you into an
Anointed One (Christ), and Who anointed us also, is
God ; Who not only anointed, but also put His seal
upon us, and gave us the Spirit in our hearts by way of
earnest-money (' arrhes ' arrhabon)." r It was out of con
sideration for them in their state of unrest and dissension
that he had not come to Corinth ; not that he meant to
imply that he could lord it over their faith (for by their
faith they stood), but because he wished to be a fellow-
helper in "their joy," and therefore did not wish his sec
ond visit to them to be made in grief. His previous letter
had been written with tears, because of the scandal which
had occurred among them ; but it was meant, not to grieve
them, but to show the love he had for them. Then, turn
ing to the case of the offender with whom he had dealt in
the former Epistle, he says that he has been sufficiently
punished, and now begs them to restore him to Christian
communion.
CHAPTER II.
14. " Thanks be unto God, Who always leadeth us
in triumph in Christ."
Not by any means " Who always causeth us to triumph "
(A. V.). That misrendering neither corresponds with the
facts, nor expresses the leading conception of St. Paul,
which is that his life is a life which he gladly leaves to be
conquered and led captive by Christ, who thus "makes a
show of him openly" (Col. ii. 15). He compares himself
to the chained prisoner who was led before the victor's car
in the " insulting vanity" of a Roman triumph —
1 At once " earnest money " and " part payment." The word is
first found in Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18. Phoenician trade introduced it
into Greek and Latin (Plaut. Rud. Prol. 46).
14

2io The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.

" To swell, slow-pacing by the car's tall side,
The Stoic tyrant's philosophic pride : "
and he thanks God for this defeat of himself, that he might
be transfigured into a nobler self. The feeling was the
opposite of that which made Cleopatra say, " I will not be
led in triumph ! "
15. " The savour [or ' fragrance '] of the knowledge
of Him."
As the car of the Roman conqueror passed through the
shouting streets, incense was burnt on all sides, and made
the air fragrant. So was it with Paul, the fettered captive
of Christ ; and thus he became as it were ' ' a sweet savour
of Christ to God," alike for the perishing, and those who
were being saved. Just as the smell of incense showed the
captive that he would be slain as soon as the car climbed
the Capitol, and therefore came to him as a deadly fume,
whereas it was delightful to the conqueror; so, to the
perishing, the savour of Christ was an odour (as it were)
from death and leading to death, but to all in the way of
salvation it was a way of life, leading to yet more full and
eternal life. So the Rabbis spoke of the law as " an aroma
of life " to the good, and of death to the bad (Shabbath,
f. 88, r).
The last great triumph at Rome had been that of
Claudius, a.d. 51, in which the British king Caradoc
(Caractacus) had been led captive with his children, but
he had " passed from the ranks of the lost to those of the
saved." 17. " We are not as the many, corrupting the word
of God."
The word might be rendered "retailing," "huckster
ing," and so adulterating, and making merchandise of the
word of God. See Is. i. 2 (LXX.).

Chapter III. 2 1 1

CHAPTER III.
This chapter, again, illustrates the peculiarity of St.
Paul's style, which is called " going off at a word." It
consists of paragraphs suggested first by the expression "an
epistle;" then by "a new covenant; " then by "glory."
1-18. The thought that he does not need introductory
letters, either to ox from them, leads him to say that they
are epistles of Christ, written, not with ink, but with the
Spirit ; and not on stone tables — but on fleshly tables, even
hearts. This confidence of his is not self-confidence, but
arises from the sufficiency (the word is thrice repeated, vv.
5, 6) imparted to him by God as the minister of a new
covenant (Jer. xxxi. 31) ; and this leads him to contrast
the ministers of this new covenant with Moses, the minister
of the old covenant. That covenant was accompanied by a
vanishing glory (ver. 7) : but how much more glorious was
this! (w. 8, 9). It was so glorious as utterly to outshine,
and (so to speak) extinguish the glory of the other (ver.
10). That was given through an evanescent glory : this is
given in a permanent glory (the word " glory," " glorious,"
is repeated ten times in these five verses, 7-11). That was
a transitory flush : this an abiding splendour. Such was
the justification of Paul's confidence. Moses, when his face
shone after his descent from Sinai, put a veil on his face,
not while he was speaking to them, but when he had
finished speaking with them (Ex. xxxiv. 33, R.V.) in order
that they might not witness the dying gleam of that eva
nescent glory ; — and now the Jews themselves wore such
a veil on their hearts, because their hearts were hard. For
Christians, the veil is abolished in Christ, and should be
uplifted for the Jews when they turned to Christ. But
Christians reflect with unveiled faces the glory of the
Lord, and are thus being assimilated and transformed from
glory to glory.

2 1 2 The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.

CHAPTER IV.
2. "Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the
Word of God deceitfully."
The subterranean attacks which had been made upon
the Apostle — the attempts not only to belittle and deride
him, but even to blacken his character, and to represent
him as a designing hypocrite — drove him, in this letter,
both to indirect and direct self-defence, and to an appeal to
unanswerable facts. St. Paul, like many other great and
good men, was extremely sensitive. Some men are wholly
and disdainfully indifferent to slander, calumny, and
detraction — like Pericles, who, when an Athenian fol
lowed him one night to his house, abusing him all the way,
turned round at the door and told his servant "to light the
gentleman home." Others, like Jeremiah and St. Paul,
are tremulously alive to the ingratitude and misrepresenta
tion which are always specially rife among unscrupulous
religionists, and which are the brand of their moral and
spiritual falsity.
6. " In the face of Jesus Christ."
St. Paul is still haunted by the thought of Moses, and
the illumination (photisinon) of his face, which was but a
type of Christ's brighter glory.
8-10. The general meaning is "Being in every place,
crushed for room, yet not thrust into a corner; being
pressed, but not oppressed " (the paronomasia might be
thus rendered, but it is literally " being at a loss, yet not
utterly at a loss") ; " hunted by enemies, yet not abandoned
(comp. Matt, xxvii. 46) by friends ; flung to earth, yet not
perishing ; always bearing about in the body of the putting-
to-death of the Lord Jesus."

Chapter V. 213
CHAPTER V.
4. " In this tabernacle we groan, being burdened."
"The earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind"
(Wisd. ix. 15).
7. "We walk by faith in the unseen, not by
appearance" 10. " We must all be made manifest."
All as it were turned inside out, so as to reveal the
hidden things of shame : — we must all be exposed, with
every veil torn away, naked and open, before the bema of
Christ — yet ' ' clothed upon " in the robe of life (vv. 3, 4).
This word "be manifested" (not merely "appear,"
A.V.) before Christ's Judgment-seat, is one of the words
which haunts St. Paul in this Epistle, in which it recurs
nine times. His thought is that, however much he may
be misrepresented here, he shall there appear as he really
is. In the next verse he says —
11. " Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we
persuade men."
There is no need whatever for " the terror of the Lord "
of the A.V. He is only thinking of "the fear of the Lord
which is the beginning of wisdom " (ch. vii. 1 ; Rom. iii.
18; Eph. v. 21, etc.).
13. " The charge of extravagance against me is ground
less, except so far as I showed enthusiastic zeal for God ;
but to you we are sober-minded." The word sophron
means one who "saves the mind."
14, 15. If Christ died for all, then all died with Him to "
sin and self; and, since Christ rose from the dead, we no
longer recognise (comp. Acts xix. 15) an earthly and
human Christ, such as alone I was able to recognise in my
unconverted days, but a risen, spiritual, eternal Christ.

214 "The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
So that if any one is "in Christ " he is a freshly created
being ; the ancient things passed away in the new birth :
behold they (those old things) have become new.
In this verse (17) "all things" is an inferior reading.
" The deep and glorious thought is that the old things
so far as there was anything good or beautiful in them, are
not destroyed and obliterated, but 'transfigured'" (W.):
(Is. xliii. 18 ; Rev. xxi. 2.)

CHAPTER VI.
In this chapter we have an antithetic picture of the life
of a true minister of God, so eloquent that St. Paul himself
seems to be surprised at the unwonted rush of words (ver.
11). In vv. 14-16 the four different nouns used for different
forms and degrees of accord or disaccord are all accurate
and significant.
15. Belial means " worthlessness." Belial was not a
proper name (Prov. vi. 12, "a naughty person," or son of
Belial), nor was Belial worshipped.

CHAPTER VII.
The Apostle is still deeply occupied with the thought of
his personal relation towards them, and with the effect
produced by his previous letter to them ; and he rejoices
at the good results it had produced. In spite of charges
made against him by enemies and false apostles, he had
wronged no man, destroyed no man, overreached no man
(comp. ch. xii. 17). He appeals to his known love for
them (ver. 3) and sympathy with them (ver. 4), which
was so deep, that, after an awful time of trial in Macedo
nia (ver. 5), nothing had comforted him till he met Titus,
and learned from him the salutary effect of his appeal to
them ; so that now he felt no further regret for having

Chapters VIII, IX. 215
written the stern letter (vv. 7, 8), since, though it had
caused grief, it had also caused repentance (metanoian)
not to be regretted (ametanoeton) (ver. 10). The effects
of his letter had been to awaken earnestness in them,
self-defence and indignation against themselves ; fear and
yearning towards him ; zeal and avenging towards the
offender ; — so that in this bad business they showed
themselves pure (ver. 11). This had been the object of
his letter (ver. 12) ; and its effectiveness, testified by
Titus, had caused him comfort and joy.
CHAPTER VIII.
This chapter deals with the collection which the Apostle
was making for the poor saints at Jerusalem, and his advice
and appeal to them about it, and the consummately wise
and practical arrangements which he had made about its
distribution by appointing delegates, so that no shadow of
malversation could possibly be charged against him by his
enemies (w. 20, 21 ; comp. Rom. xii. 17). The delegates
were Titus and others (ver. 23), and a well-proved
brother — probably St. Luke (ver. 22).

CHAPTER IX.
In this chapter he still dwells on the collection ; and as
he has just been speaking about this, and as at this point
there seems to be a marked change in the tone and style
of the letter, some have supposed either (i) that, at the
close of the last chapter, the Apostle was in some way
interrupted, or (ii) that what follows is really part of
another letter.
6. " He that soweth with benedictions, with benedic
tions shall he also reap."
When our gifts are prompted by love, and intended to
cause blessing, they will return in blessings to ourselves.

2 1 6 The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
10. As God abundantly supplies both seed for sowing,
and bread for food, so may He supply and multiply both
the seed you sow, and increase the products of your right
eousness. " There is a double use of the Divine gifts —
as being a supply for the personal needs of those who
receive them, and a means whereby they may in turn
make provision for the needs of those who shall come after
them — food at once, and seed " (W.).
CHAPTER X.
l. " By the meekness and gentleness of Christ."
The second word (epieikeia) is one which Mr. Matthew
Arnold admirably represented by "sweet reasonableness."
It implies exquisite moderation, considerateness, and prac
tical forbearance, as of one who sees our faults
" With larger other eyes than ours
To make allowance for ns all."
This "sweet reasonableness" is the direct antithesis to
all that we usually see in religious controversialists.
The strain of self-defence still runs through this chap
ter. "It might be," he says, that he was "lowly among
them" (ver. 1), "weak in bodily presence, and his speech
of no account " (ver. 10), but to say that " he walked
after the flesh" was a base calumny. He had so much in
which he might (if he thought it right) glory (ver. 8),
that, though he disapproved of self -flattering and. invidious
comparisons (ver. 12), he possessed, and would exercise
personal authority among them since they were his own
converts (vv. 14-18). And, since he has thus touched
upon "glorying" (vv. 15, 17) and self-commendation
(ver. 18), he has something to say to them about himself.
The haunting words of this section are "boasting" and
"commendation" (vv. 12, 16, 17, 18 ; xii. 1, 5, 6, 11),
The fact that he had no "commendatory letters" from
James long continued to be a charge against him, and a
ground for undermining his authority.

Chapter XL 217

CHAPTER XI.
Proceeding to speak about himself, he begs them to bear
with him in this "foolishness," which arises from his
claim upon them and his godly jealousy over them (ver. 2).
He had "desired to present them as a pure virgin to
Christ, and feared lest they, like Eve, may be beguiled by
preachers of another Jesus and a different spirit (vv. 3, 4).
He is compelled, therefore, by the violent attacks upon
him, to say that he is not a whit behind " those out-and-
out (or "extra-super") apostles" (ver. 5 ; comp. ch. xii.
11 — the phrase seems to be half-ironical — "those super
lative apostles "). The reference is not to the Twelve, of
whom he had already called himself "the least" (1 Cor.
xv. 9), but to cheats and hypocrites (vv. 13-15), to whom
he was in no respect inferior, unless it were in the
fact that they were greedy, violent, and imperious, and
haughtily demanded to be maintained by them (20), which
he, in his self-abasement, would not do. Was it a proof
of weakness and baseness that he would not treat them
with arrogance and indignity?
The irony shown throughout the chapter is remarkable ;
and, with the following chapters, it contains autobio
graphic materials of the deepest interest. We see that he
was charged with making money out of his converts — the
very thing which his Judaic opponents did (demanding
the Chalukka, or alms, in support of ministers), and which
he always refused to do, in spite of the fact that "the
famine in the days of Claudius " (Acts xi. 28) had made
life more difficult and precarious.
9. " I was not a burden on any man."
The expression is a strange one ; it is not found in
classical Greek, and St. Jerome calls it a Cilicism, or pro
vincial Cilician phrase. It literally means, "I did not
benumb you like a torpedo." He repeats it in ch. xii. 13,

2 1 8 The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.

14, but gives its equivalent here in the words "unburden-
some," "and I did not weigh you down" (ch. xii. 16).
What he might justly have claimed he had purposely fore
gone — and would forego among these inflated and carping
Corinthians, who had lent their ears to false teachers —
though he willingly received help in his deep need from
the purer and simpler churches of Macedonia (ver. 9),
when he failed through sickness, or any other cause, to
earn enough by his trade to keep himself.
14. " Even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel
of light."
An allusion to some Jewish haggadah respecting Job. i.
12, or the angel who wrestled with Jacob.
21-33. A fragment of an unparalleled biography.
If it came to boasting, what privilege had these deceit
ful intruders which he did not possess ? (vv. 22, 23) ; and
could they pretend to rival him in what he had undergone
in the ministry of the word — labours, prisons, stripes,
deaths ?
He had undergone five beatings with Jewish thongs, of
which not one is recorded.
Three beatings with Roman rods, of which only one is
recorded (Acts -xvi. 22).
One stoning (Acts xiv. 19).
Three shipwrecks, before the one recorded in Acts xxvii.
A night and a day in the deep, floating and swimming
for his life. Theophylact's notion that or fivOm does not
mean "in the deep," but "in Bythos," some place near
Lystra where he lay after the stoning, is quite arbitrary.
And this besides incessant journeyings ; perils in cross
ing swollen rivers ; perils from brigands, from Jews, from
Gentiles, — in the city, the wilderness, the seas, and
among false brethren. He had undergone toil, trouble,
constant sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, scant food, cold and
nakedness, besides the incessant external burden — the

Chapter XII. 2 1 9

" contracting pressure" — of all his anxiety for all the
churches. He had suffered with the suffering, and had
become weak with the weak, and burned with indignation
when any one was caused to stumble (ver. 29). Even at the
beginning of his course, his life had only been saved from
the emissaries of the Arabian king, Hereth, by putting him
in a large basket (here Sargane, but in Acts ix. 25,
Spuris), and letting him down through a window from a
house built upon the wall (Acts ix. 24, 25). At this point
he suddenly breaks off his autobiographical reminiscences.

CHAPTER Xn.
1. Tired of such " boasting " (as he ironically calls it,
ch. xi. 30), he now turns to visions and revelations. He
speaks of them in the third person. "I know" (not
" knew," A.V.) a person in Christ some fourteen years ago
or more, who was caught up (whether in body or spirit I
know not) even to the third heaven, and heard unutterable
things in Paradise. With reference to this Bossuet called
St. Paul " cet homme du troisieme ciel." The Jews be
lieved that there were seven heavens. The state in which
St. Paul saw the vision probably resembled that known to
Hindu devotees as the Videha Ethiti.
7_10. It was to save him from spiritual self -exaltation
as a consequence of these superabundant revelations, that
" a stake in the flesh " was given him, a messenger of
Satan to save him from arrogance by constantly, as it were,
smiting him in the face.
7. The word skolops properly means " a stake " (LXX.,
Numb, xxxiii. 55 ; Hos. ii. 6). The Vulgate rendering
stimulus carnis led to the monstrous notion that "the stake
in the flesh " consisted in strong sensual impulses and
temptations ! This seemed quite natural to monks and
ascetics, who (as we see by the continuous testimony of all

220 The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
history) intensified and rendered more persistent the vio
lence of such temptations by self-macerations, which, so far
from making the pure spiritual life easier, rendered it —
by an inevitable pathological law — ten times more diffi
cult. St. Paul's " stake in the flesh " was some form of
physical weakness — either severe ophthalmia, which dis
figured and rendered him helplessly dependent on others,
and compelled him almost always to employ an amanuen
sis ; or recurrent attacks of depressing malarial fever, akin,
in their distressing after-effects, to those of influenza. By
calling it a stake (skolops) he regards it as a sort of impale
ment, or crucifixion (see Col. i. 24 ; 2 Cor. iv. 10 ; Gal. ii. 20).
8. Some prayers are best answered by not being granted
in the letter. The " stake in the flesh," for the removal of
which St. Paul thrice prayed, was to him a salutary trial ;
and so God answered his prayer, not "by removing it, but
by giving the grace of greater strength in deeper weak
ness, which was like a sacred tabernacle of Christ (ver. 9)
spread over him. So Milton regarded his blindness as
"the shadow of God's wing " spread over him.
11-15. Such, then, was the " foolish boasting " in which,
"though it was not expedient," the boasts and calumnies
of false intruders had compelled him to indulge. He had
also shown among them signs, wonders, powers, but if it
was " a wrong " to refuse to be a burden to them, they
must forgive it. He sought them, not their goods, and would
gladly not only spend, but "be spent out" — be "utterly
spent " — for them.
16. But now he has to meet another infamous and lying
charge. His "religious" slanderers — unscrupulous and
Christless as such wretches always are — these "out-and-
out apostles " had spread against him their subterranean
lie, that though he did not burden, he deceived and cheated
them by guile, and got Titus to screw money out of them !
In answer to this it was sufficient to appeal to facts. Did
Titus, or "the brother" overreach them?

Chapter XIII. 2 2 1

19-21. He is speaking the simple truth before God in
Christ, for their edification ; being sadly afraid that when
he comes he will find them in a very humbling and shame
ful condition.
CHAPTER XIII.
1-4. If, on coming the third time, he does find their
condition disgraceful, he warns them that he will not
spare. If he was weak, let them remember that Christ,
too, was crucified through weakness, yet liveth through
the power of God ; and Paul, as he shared the weakness,
shared the life given through the power of God.
5. " Reprobate."
Adokimoi. Tested and found wanting; tried and re
jected like bad coin.
6- They would, he hoped, at any rate recognise that he
is not reprobate; but (ver. 7) he is less anxious about his
own reputation than about theirs ; even if he be counted
adokimos, he trusts that they may be manifested as ap
proved (dokimoi).
10. " Deal sharply."
Literally, " that I may not have to resort to any ampu
tation of diseased members."
14. This Apostolic benediction is here alone found in
its complete form.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS

Ie the second Epistle to the Corinthians was the most
emotional which St. Paul wrote, this is the most vehement
and impetuous. The Galatians had relapsed from the
freedom and spirituality of the Gospel into what St. Paul
now regarded as ,the pettiness and puerility of Judaism,
with its Pharisaic development of rites and ceremonies, of
times, and seasons, and days, and years. This letter was
intended to arouse the Galatian churches out of this
degenerate materialism and bondage, into the spiritual
freedom wherewith God had made them free. He desired
to impress on them the truth that the substitution of out
ward nullities for the reality of a holiness which springs
from faith in Christ is nothing better than a self-deceiving
sham. This is, as Tertullian says, "the principal epistle against
Judaism." It falls into three divisions : (i) Personal,
(ii) Dogmatic, (iii) Practical. The key-note of the letter
is Deliverance from legal slavery to gospel freedom. Its
motto might be —
" He is a freeman whom the Truth makes free,
And all are slaves besides."
CHAPTER I.
1. St. Paul begins by describing his Apostleship as hav
ing been derived neither from men as its source, nor by the
instrumentality of any man, but through Christ, and God
who raised Him from the dead. Neither ultimately, nor
mediately, had he derived his Apostleship from human

Chapter I. 223
3. " Grace and peace."
His greeting unites the "joy" which the Greeks, and
the "peace" which the Hebrews wished each other ; but
both so spiritualised as to include the blessings which
spring from the love of God in Christ. These would suf
fice to snatch them away at once from the impending
wickedness of an evil age (ver. 4).
6-9. He plunges into the expression of astonishment at
their swift change from Christ, who called them in grace,
to a different (heteron) Gospel, which is not merely another
(alio/ comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 21), but added to, and contrary
to the one they had received : — or rather he should have
wondered had there not been a cause for their change in
the presence among them of persons who trouble them,
and wish to pervert the Gospel of Christ. On all such,
even were the troubler an angel from heaven, he pro
nounces a twice-repeated anathema (cherem). And this
he does because, as a slave of Christ, he is indifferent to
all attempts to please or conciliate men by mere conces
sions and flatteries.
This leads him into an autobiographical account of his
conversion, and what followed it — meant to prove that he
received his gospel by direct revelation, and was utterly
independent of all human authority for the doctrines
which he preached.
18. " After three years [comp. Acts ix. 23-25] . . .
to visit Kephas."
The word historesai does not mean "to consult with,"
but, in accordance with Hellenistic usage, " to acquaint
myself with " Peter. The intermediate three years (i.e.
two years, and part of a third) were occupied by his re
tirement in Arabia, and his stay at Damascus.

2 24 The Epistle to the Galatians.
CHAPTER II.
l. " After fourteen years."
Comp. Acts. xv. 2.
2. " By revelation."
This is a particular not recorded in the Acts. " To
those of reputation " (see ver. 6).
3-5. Was Titus circumcised or not ? If he was, the
stress lies on the words that "he was not compelled to be,"
and that St. Paul did not yield even for an hour by subjec
tion to the privily introduced false brethren (comp. 2
Cor. xi. 26), who crept in to spy out their Christian liberty
that they might utterly enslave them. If he did circum
cise Titus, Greek though he was, it was by way of gene
rous concession to blind prejudices, not because the act
was in itself either necessary or desirable, nor because he
was obliged to do so. He never even dreamed of yielding
"by way of subjection"
6. " From those who were reputed to be somewhat."
Some have regarded these words as ironical ; but the
phrase need not mean more than "from those who were in
high repute."
7-10. St. Peter, whom the Church of Rome claims as
the specially appointed delegate of Christ to the world,
was not even regarded as the Apostle of the Gentiles at all,
but only of the Jewish Christians. And even as the
Apostle of the circumcision, we see repeatedly from the
New Testament that he exercised no sort of autocracy : so
absolutely baseless is the pretence of Popes to dictate to
the world, and "lord it over God's heritage," even when
they have been the very reverse of "examples to the
flock" (1 Pet. v. 3).
Of all ecclesiastical fictions not one is even conceivable
which is so totally devoid of any shadow of scriptural or
historical foundation as those of papal dominance and
infallibility.

Chapter II. 225

11-21. If St. Peter was ever, in any real sense, Bishop
of Antioch (which is more than doubtful), he had as little
to do with the founding of that church as of the church at
Rome. Of both churches, and of many others, St. Paul
was in a far truer sense the founder than St. Peter. And
here, at Antioch — for Scripture never glosses over the
sins or weaknesses of even the greatest Apostles — the
only incident narrated of him is that he "stood con
demned," and was openly rebuked by St. Paul for con
duct which was not only timid and dissembling (ver. 12)
in itself, and set a dangerous example to others (ver. 13),
but which involved a fatal abandonment of an essential
Christian principle, the abrogation of the Jewish Law,
and the freedom of the Gentiles. Nothing but lack of
courage, in spite of his real convictions, led him to begin
with drawing and separating himself from the Gentile con
verts when "certain" came from James. It required the
courage of a Paul to reprove before the Church this incon
sistency (vv. 14, 18) and lack of uprightness (ver. 14) in
the so-called "Prince of the Apostles," who does not,
however, in Scripture, bear any such title.
11. " Because he stood condemned."
Namely, by the more enlightened of the Jewish and
Gentile Christians, who disapproved of his dissimulation
(ver. 13).
14. The words "Judaism" (ch. i. 13, 14) and to
" Judaise " (ii. 14) occur in this Epistle only, and should
have been preserved in our versions.
15. " Not sinners of the Gentiles."
Comp. Eph. ii. 12.
15-21. This leads St. Paul to a statement of " justifi
cation by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the
law," which is also elaborately established and expounded
in the Epistle to the Romans. Christ's death was need
less if "righteousness " and " life " had been attainable
15

226 The Epistle to the Galatians.
from the works of the Law. But while his death abolished
the Law in its merely formal and outward observances, it
laid yet deeper foundations for its spiritual and moral
validity. All that was eternal in the Old Dispensation
was not abolished, but was glorified into effectual life.

CHAPTER ni.
1. The language is full of energy. " Senseless Gala
tians! who bewitched you?" (the words "so that ye
should not obey the truth," are an interpolation.) "What
evil fascination [the verb is baskaino-fascino, " to affect
the evil eye"] turned you from the picture of Christ cru
cified [omit "among (A.V.) you"'], which was [as it
were] openly painted before your eyes ? Is it possible
that, after all your Divine experiences [w. 2-5], you
should degenerate from the great freedom of the Spirit
to the servitude of carnal ordinances ? For, since even
Abraham's righteousness consisted in believing God, Gen
tiles who believe are more truly Abraham's children than
unbelieving Jews."
The word anoetoi, " senseless," or "dull, " is found also
in Luke xxiv. 25 ; Rom. i. 14 ; 1 Tim. vi. 9 ; Tit. iii. 3.
Except in spiritual matters, the Galatians were quick and
intelligent. 10. "Nay, by relapsing into legalism you incur a posi
tive curse, since no man can always perfectly keep the
Law, and those who do not are cursed [Deut. xxvii. 26],
whereas [Hab. ii. 3] ' the righteous shall live by faith.' "
(See the note on Rom. ii. 12.)
ii. " The righteous shall live by faith."
It must be admitted that St. Paul here reads a deeper
and more spiritual meaning in this passage of Habakkuk
(ii. 3) than exists in the original, which only means " the

Chapter III. 227
righteous man shall live by his fidelity." The passage is
again quoted in Rom. i. 17 ; Heb. x. 38.
13. Since, then, we neither had kept, nor could keep, the
whole Law, and had thus incurred a curse, Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us.
For in Deut. xxi. 23 we read, " He that is hanged is the
curse of God; " but, out of an awful sense of reverence, the
Apostle omits the words " of God." It is in reference to
this "curse " that Jews speak of our Lord as " The hung "
(talooi). By enduring this curse of the Law, Christ ex
tended to the Gentiles the true blessing of Abraham — the
blessing of the Spirit, and spiritual life and freedom. We
may notice in passing that the text quoted (Deut. xxi. 23;
comp. Josh. x. 26) does not primarily refer to crucifixion —
a mode of punishment unknown to, or unused by, the Jews
— but to the custom of hanging dead bodies by the hands
on a stake or tree.
15. The covenant (diatheke) made by God to men is
irrevocable, unlike the covenants of men.
16. " He saith not, And to seeds, as of many."
The promises were made " to Abraham and to his seed."
The rest of the verse cannot be regarded as an argument.
St. Paul emphasises the fact that "his seed" is in the
singular, and he refers it directly to Christ, as though the
use of the singular (sperma), and not the plural (spermata),
proved that it could only refer to one person. As an argu
ment this is, of course, utterly untenable, for sperma is con
stantly used of the whole body of descendants, however
numerous, and the plurals, both in Hebrew and Greek
(zeraim, spermata), could only mean ' ' kinds of grain " (see
1 Cor. xv. 38) ; but it is offered not as an argument, but as
an illustration, which might impress itself on the memory.
St. Paul only means to assert that the words " to his seed"
pointed pre-eminently to Him Who was the embodied
representative of all Abraham's children, both literally and
spiritually.

228 The Epistle to the Galatians.
19. " It was added because of transgressions."
The Law, coming four hundred and thirty years after
the promise to Abraham, could not disannul the olden pro
mise. The Law was, so to speak, a mere parenthesis (w.
15, 19; comp. Rom. v. 20), necessitated by transgressions,
and interpolated between the promise and its fulfilment,
and it was instrumentally ordained through angels (Acts
vii. 23; Deut. xxxiii. 2, LXX.) by the hand of a mediator,
i.e. Moses. Moses was themediator of the old covenant (Ex.
xx. 19); Christ became (Heb. viii. 6) "the Mediator of a
new and better covenant." The four hundred and thirty
years (comp. Gen. xv. 13; Ex. xii. 40; Acts vii. 6) include
some two hundred and fifteen years in Canaan. There are
difficulties about the chronology, but "they need not be
considered here, as they do not affect St. Paul's argument,
and cannot have entered into his thoughts " CL.).
19. " The Law was superadded because of the
transgressions." The phrase "for the sake of the transgressions " is not
fully explained. It might mean "to call forth transgres
sions " (comp. Bom. v. 20), for " nitimur in vetitum sem
per; " but much more probably it means that " the object
of the Law was to make transgressions palpable ," to awaken
a conviction of sin in the heart, and make man feel his need
of a Saviour. " Thus the Lasv was, as St. Paul points out
in this passage, (i) restricted and conditional; (ii) tempo
rary and provisional ; (iii) given by God mediately, not
immediately ; and (iv) received from God mediately
(through Moses), not immediately. ''The Law was a
severe necessary incident in the course of a Divine
education " (Ellicott).
20. " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one ;
but God is one."
This is the text of which there are said to be no less
than three hundred different interpretations ! Yet the

Chapter III. 229

meaning seems to be clear. "The context is a brief state
ment of four distinctive features of the law, with tacit
reference to the promise. Three of these are passed over,
the last is noticed — the Law was with, the promise with
out, a mediator. In the promise, God was both the Givei
and the Receiver — Giver as Father, Receiver as Son"
(Ellicott). "The Law is of the nature of a contract
between two parties — God and the Jewish people ; but the
promise is absolute and unconditional, and depends on the
sole decree of God" (L.).
Mr. Browning makes his pestilent monk say —
" There 's a text in the Galatians,
Once you slip in it, entails
Twenty-six distinct damnations,
One sure if another fails."
Whether he alluded to this text or not, I do not know;
but in any case, the text shows the insane distortions of
error by which not only the ignorant but also the professed
interpreters sometimes "stretch Scriptures on the rack,
to their own destruction " (2 Pet. iii. 16).
24-29. The rest of the chapter is devoted to illustrate
the true function of the Law. It did not run counter to
God's promises, for it would have produced righteousness if
any law had such power to quicken into life (ver. 21) ; but
the Scripture shut up all under sin, in order that the
promise, which comes of faith in Christ, may be given to
believers (ver. 22). The Law served as a sort of sentry
and prison to us till the faith should be revealed (ver. 23).
The Law was not our schoolmaster, but our paidagogos —
i.e. it led us to Christ, like the slave who leads children in
school (1 Cor. iv. 15) till they are grown up (vv. 24, 25).
Now this guiding slave (a sort of inferior tutor or custos)
is no longer necessary. It has already led us to Christ,
since in baptism we put on Christ (ver. 27), in Whom are
obliterated all distinctions, whether artificial or natural (ver.
28) ; and in Whom we are all Abraham's seed, and heirs

230 The Epistle to the Galatians.
according to promise (ver. 29). We are "one man" in
Christ, and "differences which seem to us the most funda
mental and unalterable are swallowed up in life, to the
fulness of which they are made contributory " (W.).

CHAPTER IV.
1-7. The same illustration and line of argument is con
tinued. We are no longer slaves, or children, in bondage
under rudimentary principles and conditions, but full-
grown sons, and God has sent into our hearts the Spirit ,
which appeals to and pleads our sonship.
8-11. How then, having been once idolaters, could they,
after having known God, revert to scrupulous reliance on
the weak and beggarly rudiments " — the strongest phrase
of repudiation which St. Paul applies to Mosaism — of
external observances, and thus render his labours vain ?
11-20. From argument he reverts, for a moment, to a
strong and passionate personal appeal.
13. " Because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached
the Gospel unto you."
The infirmity of the flesh which had detained him in
Galatia, and caused him to preach to them for the first
time, was probably some severe and repellent form of sick
ness, which might have proved to them a temptation to
despise and even loathe him. The word exeptusate means,
literally, " ye spat out " (ver. 15). Yet on the contrary,
they received him with exuberant affection and thanksgiv
ing ; and as though he had been an angel of God, they
would have even plucked out their own eyes and given
them to him, had it been possible. (From this allusion we
might conjecture that St. Paul had been afflicted with dis
figuring ophthalmia.) What had become of these glowing
feelings, this "boasting of your felicity "? (ver. 15).

Chapter IV. 231

16, 17. Were they alienated from him, for telling them
the truth? or was it that they had succumbed to the
plausible and self-interested courting of those who wanted
to manipulate them for their own gain — to shut them out
from him and his circle, that they might pay court to
them? 20. Not "I desire " (A.V), but " I could have wished
to be with you now."
21-31. Leaving this strain of personal appeal, he tries to
fix his reasoning on their minds by a specimen of haggadistic
allegory (ver. 24), in which Hagar and Sarah represent two
covenants ; Hagar and Ishmael symbolise those who are
under the bondage of the Law, and Sarah and Isaac those
who enjoy the freedom of the Gospel.
25. " For Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia."
According to Chrysostom, Hagar (perhaps Hadjar, " a
stone " or " rock ") was a local name for Mount Sinai. If
so, St. Paul merely seizes a provincial name to point his
haggadistic comment. But perhaps the better reading
is " For Mount Sinai is in Arabia," i.e. in the home of the
sons of the bondwoman. Physically the Jews were chil
dren of Abraham ; spiritually they had degenerated into
descendants of Hagar."
29. " Persecuted."
We are not told in Gen. xxi. 9 that Ishmael " habitu
ally persecuted" Isaac, though the Hebrew word may
there perhaps mean "mocked." There was, however, a
Rabbinic legend that Ishmael had pretended to shoot
Isaac with his bow and arrows. This whole passage is
merely an allegoric illustration adopted from the Rabbinic
style of exegesis with which St. Paul had been familiar
before his conversion.

232 The Epistle to the Galatians.

CHAPTER V.
1. Let them, then, abide in this freedom, and not allow
Jewish interlopers to entangle them again in the yoke of
bondage. 2-12. These Jews persuaded the Galatians that it was
necessary for Gentiles to be circumcised ; but to accept the
Law is to abandon grace and to be annihilated from Christ
(ver. 4) ; since, in Christ Jesus, circumcision is nothing, and
uncircumcision nothing, but faith energising through love
(ver. 6). Let them beware of the corrupting leaven of this
Judaising teacher (ver. 10) ; to overthrow such teaching,
Paul is content to be persecuted (ver. 11). And then, with
the strongest outburst of passionate indignation which any
where occurs in his writings, he wishes that the Jewish
teachers, who thus unsettled and perverted them, " were
not merely circumcised, but would even go farther and
castrate themselves" (comp. Phil. iii. 2; Deut. xxiii. 1,
LXX.). It required heroic courage in St. Paul to speak
thus incisively about circumcision, when Rabbis taught that,
but for circumcision, God would not have created the world
(Nedarim. f . 32. 1, referring to Jer. xxxiii. 25) ; and that
circumcision is equivalent to all the commandments of the
Law (id.) ; and that angels so detest an uncircumcised
person, that, before his circumcision, Abraham was ad
dressed by God in Aramaic, which angels do not under
stand ! (Yalkuth Chadash. f. 117. 3). When Josephus
relaxed the rule about circumcision in the case of two
great men, they were nearly massacred by a fanatical mob
(Jos., Vit. 23, 31). " Judaism," says Dr. Martineau, "was
the narrowest of religions, Christianity the most human
and comprehensive." St. Paul helped to unite the two
which might have seemed as impossible as "to mingle the
Jordan with the Tiber."
3. " That receiveth circumcision."
Literally, " who gets himself circumcised."

Chapter VI. 233

4. " Ye are severed [lit. nullified'] from Christ."
St. Paul uses this verb (katargein — " to do away with ")
no less than twenty-five times. Elsewhere in the New
Testament it only occurs in Luke xiii. 7; Heb. ii. 14.
13-15. And now he can turn from general questions to
directly moral considerations. Like Christ, and like all
the other Apostles, he tells them that the one significant
and saving virtue is love (Rom. xiii. 8, 9).
16-26. An energetic picture of the contrast between
walking in the Spirit and fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.
These sins are enumerated under the four divisions of
carnality, idolatry, malice, and excess. In ver. 20 eritheia
is not "discord" (from eris), but "partisanship" (from
erithos), "a hired partisan." Religious party-spirit,
though it so often rages in churches, and is so scanda
lously prominent, finds no favour from Christ or the Apos
tles. It is regarded, not as a proof of orthodoxy, but as a
stigma of irreligion.
CHAPTER VI.
1-10. Moral exhortations continued. The necessity for
cultivating the spirit of personal humility and tenderness
towards others.
2. We must bear one another's burdens of sorrow and
trial (Matt. xx. 12 ; Acts xv. 28) which would otherwise
be too heavy for each of us to support singly.
5" Yet each must necessarily endure and support his
own individual load (phortion, Luke xi. 46) of sin and
infirmity, which, even though such loads weigh us down,
Christ can enable us individually to bear (Matt. xi. 28).
"We are here guided to true discernment of what sym
pathy can and cannot do. We must all support that
which God assigns to us, but friendship can lighten the
weight of what we are required to bear" (W.).

234 The Epistle to the Galatians.
7-10. The law of moral and spiritual sowing and
reaping. 11. " See with what large letters I write unto you
with mine own hand. "
It was a proof of his affection and emotion that, contrary
to his usual custom, he writes this letter with his own
hand. The unaccustomed labour of the task, and perhaps
the trial of injured sight, compel him to write in large
straggling letters.
12-16. But he cannot leave off without recurring to,
and recapitulating, his main thesis, that " circumcision is
nothing and uncircumcision nothing, but a new creation "
(Rom. viii. 19 ; 2 Cor. v. 17).
13. "Not even those who get themselves circumcised
[or " the circumcision party "] really keep the whole
Law." 17. "I bear branded in my body the marks of
Jesus," Though the acceptance of circumcision may cause an
exemption from persecution, and an excuse for carnal
boasting, he has been crucified to the world, and bears the
true stigmata — the marks burnt into his flesh, which
show that he is the slave of Christ. The marks of the
stoning, the marks of the horrible Roman flagellation
which he has recently undergone, are these " brand-
marks " which resemble those by which the slaves in the
service of heathen deities had the names of their gods burnt
upon their flesh. These brands were sometimes inflicted
as a punishment ; hence stigmatias meant a troublesome
slave. Besides his continuous labours, perils, privations, suf
ferings, St. Paul might have said with Luther, "I have
loaded myself with the hatred of the whole world  I,
who, in old days, was most unmolested. The ministry of

Chapter VI. 235

the Church is exposed to all perils, assaults of the devil,
the ingratitude of the world, the railings of the sects."
Early Jewish-Christian writings abound in insults and
calumnies against St. Paul ; and such insults and calumnies
are still the ordinary weapons of "religious" controversy.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

This Epistle belongs to the same group as the Epistle to
the Galatians, and the two to the Corinthians. It is much
to be regretted that the Epistles in the New Testament
are not arranged in even approximate chronological order.
The Epistle to the Romans is only placed first of the
Epistles because it is the longest and, in some respects,
the most important as being the most powerful and for
mally reasoned statement of those views which the Apostle
made the basis of his distinctive, teaching. I have ex
plained the general scope and analysis of the entire Epistle
in my Life of St. Paul, and in The Messages of the Books.
Here, therefore, I only touch on separate texts and pas
sages which require illustration or explanation.
The Divisions of the Epistle are —
(i) The Introduction (ch. i. 1-15).
(ii) The great doctrinal sections (chs. i. 16-xi. 36) in
which, after showing the need for the Gospel alike among
Gentiles (i. 19-32) and among Jews (ii. 1-29), the Apostle
fully explains the doctrine of justification by faith (ii.
16-xi. 36). It must be carefully borne in mind that by
"faith" St. Paul does not mean mere professed or otiose
belief in a Creed or in a Person, but, as Luther says,
' ' a Divine work of God in us, which changes us and
creates us anew in God." " Christus in homine," says
St. Augustine, " ubi fides in corde."
(iii) Practical exhortations (chs. xii. 1-xv. 13).
(iv) Personal messages (chs. xv. 14-xvi. 27).
Coleridge calls this epistle "the profoundest book in
existence ; " Meyer, ' ' the greatest and richest of all the

Chapter I. 237
apostolic works ; " Godet, " the cathedral of the Christian
faith." It expounds the doctrines of sin (hamartiohgy)
and of salvation (soteriology) .

CHAPTER I.
1. " Called to he an Apostle."
Literally, " a called, or commissioned, Apostle."
2. " In the Holy Scriptures."
They are here called graphai hagiai, "holy" or "in
spired writings." In 2 Tim. iii. 15, they are called hiera
grammata, " sacred literature."
9. " Whom I serve in my spirit."
The word for "serve " (latreuo) means "offer sacrificial
worship." The expression implies that the sacrificial wor
ship of the Gospel is not formal but spiritual.
15, 16. He longs to preach the Gospel in Rome, for great
as Rome is, yet even there he is not ashamed of the gospel,
which, as he proceeds to prove, is indispensable for sal
vation alike to Gentile and to Jew, each of whom had
fallen short of their duties to God. The Gentile boasted
of intellect, and flung the plainest laws of morality to the
winds ; the Jew was a hypocrite, who said and did not,
and so belied his own profession.
17. " In the Gospel is being continuously revealed
a righteousness of God, beginning from faith and
leading unto faith."
That is, "a plan devised by God, to be just before Him,
originating and resulting in faith " (Vaughan).
18-32. This is a very memorable paragraph. It fur
nishes, with burning distinctness and overwhelming so
lemnity, an awful picture of the heathen world in the
decadence of the Roman Empire, when vast masses of

238 The Epistle to the Romans.
mankind lay plunged in "the depths of Satan." It
is remarkable for its eloquence and compression, and
abounds in the two figures known as (i) oxymoron, and
(ii) paronomasia.
(i) Instances of oxymoron, or the juxtaposition of
opposite conceptions, are —
20 : " The invisible things of Him are clearly seen "
(Invisibilia videntur).
22 : " Alleging themselves to be wise they became
fools." 28: "As they would not discern [or "approve"]
God, God gave them over to a mind unable to discern
[or " reprobate "]."
(ii) Instances of paronomasia, which cannot be repro
duced in English, are found in vv. 29 and 31.
A shorter yet more vivid delineation of Pagan depravity
was never drawn ; and the indictment is borne out in every
particular by the Historians, Satirists, Epigrammatists,
and Romancers of the Empire. Heathen society was
shamefully naked, yet not ashamed. Horace had said, in
the days of Augustus, that each generation was growing
worse than its predecessors ; Juvenal, in the days of
Domitian, said that now things were so bad that nothing
could make them worse. St. Paul, as it were, seizes by
her long locks the siren of Heathendom ; he brands on
her forehead the stigma of her infamy, and compels her to
appear in her native hideousness. The flagitious passions
of the Gentiles were the retributive result of their cor
rupted worship (ver. 28).
18. " Who hold the truth in unrighteousness."
R.V. "hold down;" but the verb simply means "hold"
in 1 Cor. vii. 30 ; 2 Cor. vi. 10.
20. " Everlasting power."
The word here is aidios (as in Jude vi.), and is there
fore rightly rendered "everlasting," to distinguish it

Chapter I. 239
from the very different aionios, "eternal." By "ever
lasting " we imply the infinite extension of time ; by
eternal, something which transcends the conception of
sequence and continuity.
20. " His Divinity."
This word (theiotes) occurs here only in the New Testa
ment ; and "Godhead" (theotes) only in Col. ii. 9.
24. " God gave them up."
" Since they had given themselves up to uncleanness
(Eph. iv. 9), God left them to themselves" (V.).
28. " And even as they did not approve [edokir
masan] of keeping God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate [adokimon] mind."
The repetition of the word implies the analogy between
the sin and its penalty ; the practical identity of the crime
and its retribution. Reprobating God, they doomed them
selves to be reprobate ; they refused God, and He aban
doned them to a refuse mind.
30. " Insolent, haughty, boastful."
"Pride exhibiting itself in acts, in thoughts, 'mwords "
(Trench, N. T. Syn. xxix.).
32. " Which practise such things."
To practise (prassein) is more than to do (poiein). It
means to do habitually, to keep on doing. It is frequently
used in this Epistle (see ch. vii. 19).
It must not be thought that this awful picture of heathen
depravity in that day is too dark or lurid. "The first
century of our era," says Re nan, "has an infernal stamp
upon it, and can only be compared in wickedness with the
age of Borgia." "All things," said Seneca, " are full of
wickedness and vices, and wickedness no longer even
conceals itself." The sins of decadent Paganism were

240 The Epistle to the Romans.
" open, going before to judgment." Josephus speaks quite
as despairingly of the moral condition of the Jews despite
the predominance of Pharisaism (B.J. iv. 3. 3 ; v. 9. 4 ;
10. 5 ; 13. 6). Take the decisive fact that, in this age,
even among the Jews the ordeal of "the water of jealousy "
(Num. v. 11-31) had to be abolished because adultery was
so common.
CHAPTER II.
In this chapter he turns to the censorious Jew, who
condemned the Gentile, yet was equally guilty of crimes
against the God Whom he professed to know ; and who
would, therefore, suffer the same retribution.
8. " Contentious " (R.V. " factious ").
This word for "party spirit " is found also in 2 Cor. xii.
20 ; Phil. i. 17; James iii. 14, 16.
11. " No respect cf persons with God."
See 'Eph. vi. 9 ; Col. iii. 25. The glorious revelation
involved in this expression is enounced with equal empha
sis alike by St. Peter (Acts x. 34), St. Paul (Eph. vi. 9),
and St. James (ii. 9) ; as also by Moses (Deut. x. 17), and
Samuel (1 Sam. xvi. 7).
14. "Law."
It is very necessary in this Epistle to note the differ
ence between "law" and "the Law." The distinction
is generally lost in the A.V., but observed in the R.V.
" Law " is the eternal principle which separates right from
wrong, and Gentiles no less than Jews were under law.
But Jews only were under the (Mosaic) Law. " Behind
the concrete representation — the Mosaic Law — St. Paul
sees an imperious principle, an overwhelming presence,
antagonistic to grace, to liberty, to spirit, and in some
aspects even to life — abstract law, which, though the
Mosaic ordinances are its most signal and complete embodi-

Chapter III. 241

ment, nevertheless is not exhausted therein, but exerts its
crushing power over the conscience in diverse manifesta
tions" (L.). The distinction must be constantly noted in
Rom. ii.-iv., vii., Gal. iii., in order to form an adequate
conception of St. Paul's doctrine of law and grace.
18. " Approvest the things that are excellent."
laterally, " discernest things that differ." See notes on
Phil. i. 10 ; comp. 1 Thess. v. 21. The Jews professed them
selves able to discriminate between good and evil, to choose
the better and refuse the worse ; yet in all their conduct
they selected the worst. Professing " to discriminate the
transcendent," they selected the abject. Separatist scru
pulosity did not save them from personal immorality.
(James iv. 4-13 ; v. 1-6 ; Matt. xix. 8; xxiii. 13-15.)
22. " Dost thou commit sacrilege ?" (R.V. " Dost
thou roh temples ? ")
This seems a strange crime with which to charge the
Jews ; but the reference may be to the withholding of the
Temple dues (Neh. xiii. 10-12 ; Mai. i. 13, 14 ; iii. 8, 9) ;
or possibly to charges of fraud in matters which concerned
the temples at Rome (comp. Acts xix. 37 ; Jos. Antt. iv. 8.
10; C. Ap. i. 34), or the temple of Jerusalem (comp. Mai.
i. 6-8 ; iii. 8; Matt. xxi. 13 ; Jos. Antt. iv. 8. 10 ; xx. 9. 2).
25. " Thy circumcision is become uncircumcision."
Even the Talmud, while maintaining that "no circum
cised man can see hell, " says, that when a guilty Jew was
condemned to hell the sign of his circumcision was oblit
erated by the angels. So Tillotson says of Christians, "If
we walk contrary to the Gospel our baptism is no baptism,
and our Cliristianity is heatlienism."
CHAPTER III.
19. " Whatever the Law states [legei] it says [lalei]
to those that are under it." 16

242 The Epistle to the Romans.
The former verb denotes the Scriptural statement ; the
latter, that "it is spoken to the congregation or the in
dividual " (V.). Comp. St. John viii. 43, where our Lord
asks the Jews why they cannot understand His speech
(lalian), and adds, that it is because they cannot hear His
word (logon).
25. " To show His righteousness, because of the
passing over of sins done aforetime."
The meaning of this verse, which Olshausen calls "the
acropolis of the Christian faith," is obliterated in the A.V.
by rendering the clause "for the remission of sins that are
past." The word is not aphesis ("remission") but pare
sis ("passing over"), " prceterition," or prsetermission.
"The sins of former times were neither forgiven nor pun
ished ; they were simply passed over : and for this reason
there was need for a vindication of the righteousness of
God. . . . This signal manifestation of God's righteous
ness (in setting forth Christ to be a propitiation, through
faith, by His blood) was vouchsafed, not because the sins
of the past were forgiven, but because they were only over
looked for the time without being forgiven. ... It was be
cause the sins had been passed over, and had not been for
given, that the exhibition of God's righteousness in the
Incarnation and Passion of Christ was necessary " (L.).
26. This verse expresses the nearer result (pros) and the
farther (eis) of the forbearance of God : the nearer was the
immediate exhibition of His righteousness ; the farther
was that, while He was just, He should yet justify those
who believed in Christ.
30. God shall justify the Jews from (i.e. as the result
of) faith ; and the Gentiles throughthe faith (i.e. by means
of the Gospel).

Chapters IV., V. 243

CHAPTER IV.
3. " Was reckoned to him."
The keynote to this chapter is the word ' ' reckon " (logi-
zomai), which occurs no less than eleven times, and should
always be rendered "reckon," without varying the phrase.
The word " impute" only occurs in R.V. in Rom. v. 13.
25. Jesus was delivered up for the sake of (i.e. to take
away) our trespasses ; and was raised for the sake of (i. e.
to secure) our justification.
CHAPTER V.
14. " That had not sinned after the similitude of
Adam's transgression." (A.V.)
That is, they had broken no positive command; their sin
was not a transgression.
15-21. The sense of this passage is as follows : (i) There
is a contrast between " the one " — Adam and Christ —
and " the many " (which often means " all; " see ver. 18,
and 1 Cor. xv. 22), who died by the trespass of Adam, and
lived by the grace of Christ. The condemnation came
from one sin ; the free gift came as a deliverance from
many transgressions. " By this accurate version some
hurtful mistakes about partial redemption and absolute
reprobation had happily been prevented. Our English
readers had then seen, what several of the Fathers saw and
testified, that ' the many ' in an antithesis to ' the one ' is
equivalent to ' all ' in ver. 12, and comprehends the whole
multitude, the entire species of mankind, exclusively only
of the one" (Bentley).
(ii) The free gift, in its issues of life, far transcends and
exceeds the consequences of the trespass (vv. 17, 20).
(iii) Law "came in beside" (ver. 20 ; Gal. ii.4) — as
something secondary, parenthetic, and subordinate (Gal.

244 The Epistle to the Romans.
iii. 19) — because of transgressions, i.e. that the trespass
might abound, but that grace might superabound. The
Law was an intermediate dispensation. Meant to act as a
restraint on sins, it often enhanced their heinousness (1
Cor. xv. 56) ; but where sin thus abounded, grace super.
abounded. The law was a restraint, a conscience-like mir
ror, and a rod ; but if it multiplied trespasses, it also led
on to the Gospel of remission. Compare the lines of
Milton — " And therefore Law was given them to evince
Their natural pravity, by stirring np
Sin against Law to fight ; that when they see
Law can discover sin, but not remove —
Save by those shadowy expiations weak
The blood of bulls and goats — they may conclude
Some blood more precious must be paid for man."
(Paradise Lost, xii. 285.)
The heathen recognised that the Law intensified sin —
"Nitimur in vetitum semper." " Quod non licet," says
Ovid, "acrius writ." "The human race," says Horace,
" rushes through what is forbidden." Seneca says that a
law against parricide increased the number of parricides.
(iv) Sin reigneth in (en) the sphere of death ; grace
reigned into, i.e. to produce (eis), eternal life.
But it is specially important to note that when "the
many" is used as an antithesis to "the one" it means
" all," as is proved decisively by ver. 12 of this chapter.
"In other words," says Bishop Lightfoot, "the benefits
of Christ's obedience extend to all men potentially. It is
only human self-will which placed limits to its operation."
18. " To justification of life."
That is, which brings with it eternal life. The word
dikaiosis ("the act of making a person just by acquittal
or absolution ") occurs only here and in iv. 25.

Chapters VI., VII. 245

CHAPTER VI.
2. " We who died to sin."
This tense (the aorist), implying a definite time and
act, or "moment of actual transition from a life of sin to
a life of holiness," is one of what the Archbishop of
Armagh calls the " baptismal aorists " which abound in
the New Testament (Acts ii. 38 ; Gal. iii. 27, etc.).
6. " Our old man."
The dead self of our past, which perished in the spiritual
burial of baptism (Gal. ii. 20; iii. 1-4).
13. " Present your members."
The verse acquires fresh force by observing the contrast
of tenses in the original : "Be not ever presenting your
members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin ; but at
once present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments of righteousness to God "
(comp. note on Col. iii. 5).
17. " Ye became obedient"
" Ye were slaves of sins, but ye at once obeyed from
the heart that pattern of teaching unto which ye were de
livered ; " or, as Bishop Chr. Wordsworth suggests, " that
mould of teaching into which ye were cast." " Our creed
moulds us; it is our sovereign lord which fashions our
character " (W.).
CHAPTER VII.
The position of law, and of the Law, as regards men in
general and Christians in particular. The Law still lives,
but we "died " to it (ver. 6 ; comp. ch. vi. 6). The Law,
though in itself holy and just and good, evoked the sense
of sin (w. 7, 8), and so caused moral and spiritual death

246 The Epistle to the Romans.
to those who violated it (w. 9, 10), since God designed
to teach to the world the exceeding sinfulness of sin
(vv. 12-14).
6. " That being dead wherein we were held."
The truer reading is represented by the R.V., "we
having died to that wherein we were holden " (comp.
Gal. ii. 19). Passages like this led to the charge that St.
Paul taught "apostasy from Moses " (Acts xxi. 21). Yet,
after all, some of the Prophets had spoken quite as strongly
(Jer. vii. 22, 23, 29 ; Ezek. xx. 25 ; Hos. vi. 6), though
with less cogent arguments. St. Paul held that the Law
was "holy" in its origin, "just" in its requirements,
"good" in its purpose (ch. vii. 12), but that it had now
been abrogated and superseded by a better and more
spiritual dispensation.
14. "Carnal."
The Greek word is not "fleshly" (sarkikos), but "of
flesh," "in the flesh" (sarkinos).
15. " That which I work [katergazomai] I do not
recognise ; for not what I will that do I practise
[ prasso] ; but what I hate, that I do [ poio]."
The distinction between " work," "practise," and
f'do" should be recognised in this and the following
verses (16, 17, 19-21).
22. " After the inward man."
This paragraph (vv. 18-25) is the most terse and power
ful description ever written of the struggles of a disinte
grated individuality ; the despair, the struggle, and the
failing ; the incessant warfare between the two men who
are one man, namely — "the inward man," the true self
(autos ego), whose mind is a slave to God's law ; and " the
outward man," the flesh which enwraps him, or fetters him
to that body of death, which is a slave to the law of sin
(comp. 2 Cor. iv. 16 ; Eph. iii. 16).

Chapters VIII, IX. 247
CHAPTER VIII.
6. " The mind of the flesh is dead."
For a description of the phronema sarkos, see the Ninth
Article of the Church of England.
" Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By struggles of two opposite desires :
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,
And the more noble instinct that aspires."
17. If we are suffering with Christ we shall in one
moment be glorified with Him.
19. " Earnest expectation."
This word apokaradokia means an eager outstretching
of the neck towards something (Phil. i. 20).
22. " Travaileth."
The word implies not only "suffers together," but suf
fers "in hope of a joy to come" (see John xvi. 21). (V.)
29, 30. " He foreordained."
This is the only passage in Scripture in which the
word "predestinate" occurs. In these two verses are
five steps : (i) foreknowledge ; (ii) predetermination ;
(iii) definite summons ; (iv) justification (i.e. acceptance
and forgiveness) ; (v) glorification.
39. " Nor height nor depth."
"Nothing lofty, presenting a visible impediment (2
Cor. x. 5), and nothing deep, working by hidden subtlety"
(Rev. ii. 24).
CHAPTER IX.
3. "I could wish that I myself were anathema
from Christ."
The sense is rather " I could have wished (or prayed),
had it been possible " (comp. Ex. xxxii. 32).

248 The Epistle to the Romans.
Compare Danton, "Que mon nom soit ftetri, pourvu que
la France soit libre ! " and Whitefield, ' ' Let the name of
George Whitefield perish, if God be glorified."
The word anathema is " a devoted thing" (Lev. xxvii.
28, 29) — devoted to God to be destroyed. See Acts xxiii.
14 ; 1 Cor. xii. 3 ; xvi. 22 ; Gal. i. 8. Here it means
something devoted to curse, dissevered from Christ. On
the other hand, anathema means something offered to God
for His acceptance (Luke xxi. 5).
4. "The glory."
The Shechinah, or glory-cloud, over the mercy seat
(Ex. xvi. 10, etc.).
18. " He hardeneth."
God only "hardens" men's hearts by suffering men to
harden them by ill-doing, as in the case of Pharaoh.

CHAPTER X.
7. " Into the abyss."
"The bottomless pit." The word only occurs here and
in Luke viii. 31.
CHAPTER XI.
8. " A spirit of stupor."
The word (katanuxis) occurs in the LXX. of Is. xxix.
10, where it is rendered "deep sleep " (comp. Lev. x. 3 ; Ps.
Ix. 3; Dan. x. 9). It comes from a verb which means " to
strike" or "to wound," since a wound causes numbness.
Others render it "compunction," "remorse " (comp. Acts
ii. 37).
17. " Thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in."
Grafting, of course, ordinarily consists of inserting the
slip of a fruitful tree on the branch or trunk of a wild tree,

Chapter XII. 249

not the reverse. Either, therefore, (i) St. Paul was unaware
of what is ordinarily meant by " grafting," and misunder
stood the process, or (ii) he may have referred to some
incidental and local practice ; Pliny (H. N., xvii. 18) says
that, in Africa, wild olive (oleaster) was sometimes grafted
on olives to strengthen the latter : but perhaps (iii) St. Paul
merely uses the idea of grafting for the purpose of a general
illustration. 25. " This mystery."
The Greek word musterion used in the New Testament
means a secret now revealed.
36. " Of Him, and through Him, and unto Him,
are all things."
In other words, He is the source of all things ; He is the
instrumental cause of all things ; and He is the ultimate
end of all things (comp. 1 Cor. viii. 6).
St. Paul would have said —
" Yes, through life, death, through sorrow and through sinning
Christ shall suffice me, for He hath suffered ;
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ."

CHAPTER XII.
l. "Your reasonable service."
On the word latreia, see chs. i. 9; ix. 4. " Your sacrifi.
cial worship is self-dedication " (Vaughan) .
2. "Be not fashioned according to this world" (ceon,
Matt. xii. 32) ; " but be ye transformed by the renew
ing of your mind " (1 Pet. i. 14 ; 1 Cor. vii. 31).
Here we have the strong contrast between the passing
fashion and the abiding form (morphe), on which see Phil.
ii. 6. "Your change of mind must be a complete metamor
phosis or transfiguration " (Matt. xvii. 2).

250 The Epistle to the Romans.
3. " Not to think of himself more highly than he
ought to think ; but so to think as to think soberly."
The play on words (of which St. Paul is so fond) is
much neater in the original. A man is not to be vain in
thought, but so to think as to be sober in thought.
6. "Prophecy."
Not "/ore-telling," but "forth-telling," i.e. inspired
preaching (V.).
19. " Avenge not yourselves, but give place unto
wrath." Rather "unto the wrath," i.e. the Divine anger against
injury (as the context shows). Do not take vengeance
into your own hands, but leave the matter in God's hands,
and leave room for His wrath to work (comp. Matt. v. 39) .
"Do not anticipate the Divine retribution." We have
the same use of " the wrath (i.e. of God)" in ch. v. 9;
1 Thess. ii. 16.
20. " Feed him."
The same word ("to give doles ") is used as in 1 Cor.
xiii. 3.
CHAPTER XIII.
2. " They that withstand shall receive to them
selves judgement."
(I.e. sentence from the civil power for insubordination.)
The A.V. uses the unfortunate mistranslations damnation,
damned, damnable, no less than fifteen times where the
only right rendering is "judgment," " condemned, "" de
structive." (See Dr. Schaff, Comp. to the Greek Testament,
p. 451.)10. " Love is the fulfilment of the Law."
"Fulfilment" (pleroma) means that by which another

Chapter XIV. 251

thing is filled (ch. xi. 12). Love is that by which the law
is filled up, and which is all that it contains.

CHAPTER XIV.
21. " It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink
wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother
stumbleth" Those who with foolish ignorance quote 1 Tim. v. 23 as
though it condemned the principle of "total abstinence,"
may correct their error by this verse. It states the
essential principle which has made total abstainers of such
multitudes of Christians, who have no need whatever to
adopt the practice for their own personal protection.
"Eating flesh," when the flesh was regarded by weak
brethren as polluted because it had been offered to idols,
wounded tender consciences, or led them, by compliance,
into that which, though in itself harmless, was to them
a sin. So there is no harm whatever in drinking wine
or other fermented drinks, in extreme moderation, when
it is not found to injure the health, or to lead on step by
steptoexcess. But when the " eating flesh " or "drinking
wine " became directly or indirectly a cause of moral
stumbling, or weakness to others, then every true and
tender-hearted Christian was willing to abandon it
altogether. Exactly so, by giving up the indulgence of
wine or alcoholic liquor, total abstainers are able by their
example to. rescue, to help, or to encourage those to whom
drink is a fatal temptation and an intolerable curse ; and,
therefore, by adopting this very easy and healthful form
of self-denial, they (without pretending for a moment to
judge others) act in accordance with a true Christian
principle, and contribute their infinitesimal individual
quota to the saving of millions of mankind from misery
and degradation.

252 The Epistle to the Romans.
CHAPTER XV.
16. " Ministering [in sacrifice] the Gospel of God."
I.e. "Offering the constant sacrifice of a life spent in
proclaiming the Gospel " (V.).
20. " Making it my aim to preach the Gospel."
Better, as in the margin, "being ambitious " (comp. 2
Cor. v. 9; 1 Thess. iv. 11, where the same verb occurs).
"We can understand, therefore, that while the Christian
is stirred by a generous ' ambition ' in the conflict of life,
his ambition is widely different from that of the world."
CHAPTER XVI.
It is not impossible, for many reasons, that this chapter,
which differs in many respects from the rest of the Epistle,
may have been part of a letter to the Ephesian Church.
1. " Phoebe, a servant of the Church of Cenchrese."
The technical title "deaconess " does not seem to have
come into use till later, though there were deaconesses in
St. Paul's days ; and the word diaconos is used generically
for " servant " elsewhere in this Epistle ; e.g. in chs. xiii.
4, xv. 8.
18. " By their smooth and fair speech."
By their plausibility (chrestologia) and flattery (eulogia).
25. " The mystery which has been kept in silence
through eternal times, but now is manifested."
If any proof were needed that the word "eternal"
(aionios) does not mean " endless time,'? this verse supplied
it; for the mystery, which was hidden in silence through
eternal times, has now been manifested (comp. 2 Tim. i. 9,
"before times eternal," i.e. in a timeless aeon; Tit. i. 2). -

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS

The character of St. Paul was intensely human and many-
sided ; his temperament extremely variable ; his affection
strong and exquisitely sensitive ; his learning various,
in which a tinge of Greek culture mingles, but scarcely
harmonises, with the Judaic and haggadistic elements of
the elaborate Rabbinic training which he had received at
the feet of Gamaliel. Hence every one of his Epistles
exhibit the inimitable characteristics which demonstrate
their genuineness ; and no two of them exactly resemble
each other, even when — like those to the" Romans and
Galatians, and those to the Ephesians and Colossians —
they deal predominantly with the same theses. The
Epistle to the Philippians, while it is stamped in every
verse with the same characteristics as those to the Corin
thians, Galatians, and Ephesians, is yet wholly different
from them in tone. It is, as Meyer says, "an Epistle of
the heart." It is the most personally affectionate of all
the Epistles. It was written to the Church in which he
felt most at home, and whose members he loved most ten
derly. It was written primarily as an expression of grati
tude for the contribution to his needs which he accepted
from them, and from them alone ; but St. Paul could
not pen the most ordinary letter without enriching it with
priceless passages of spiritual doctrine and moral exhor
tation. This brief Epistle, among its other treasures,
enshrines one of the deepest and most striking Christo-
logical paragraphs which occur in any Epistle (ch. ii.
5-11), although the letter was simply a warm acknowl
edgment of kindnesses conferred on him.

254 The Epistle to the Philippians.
Its most surprising and lovely characteristic is its tone
of joy and exhilaration. Joy is the keynote of the whole
letter. The word ' ' joy " and the verb " to rejoice " occur
no less than thirteen times (chs. i. 4, 18, 25 ; ii. 2, 17,
18, 29 ; iii. 1 ; iv. 1, 10) in these few pages ; and he so
frequently reverts to the subject as even to fear that it
may prove wearisome to his readers (ch. iii. 1). Yet how
astonishing a circumstance is this, when we remember that
he was in his Roman prison ; his hand clanking at every
movement with the chain which manacled him to the wrist
of the Praetorian soldier on guard ; his activities terribly
circumscribed ; deserted by most of his friends, who were
ashamed of his bonds ; and oppressed by constant and ill-
supplied necessities. Truly " there has been a joy on
racks and in dungeons greater than the joy of harvest."

CHAPTER I.
4. The difference between "prayer" (proseuche) and
supplication (deesis) is that the latter is more special
(Rom. x. 1 ; Eph. vi. 18 ; James v. 16).
4. " With joy."
Thus early he strikes the predominant keynote of the
letter. 6. " He who began a good work in you will per
fect it."
"It is not God's way to do things by halves " (Ne-
ander) .
10. " That ye may approve the things that are
excellent." The phrase is more striking than this. It means that
"ye may prove, or test (1 Tim. iii. 10 ; 1 Pet. i. 7 ;
1 John iv. 1), the things that differ;" but by "the
things that differ " is meant things that differ from others

Chapter I. 255
by being superior to them (Matt. xii. 12). His prayer,
then, for the Philippians is, that they may ever "discri
minate the transcendent," and. abandon the inferior (comp.
Rom. ii. 18). The cry of the initiated in the mysteries
used to be — " I fled the evil, I found a better thing ! "
That is what he prays that his converts may do. They
must not be like "the man with the muck-rake" in Bunyan's
vision, who, absorbed in raking up straws and rubbish,
never once raises his eyes to the angel who stands above
him holding the golden crown. Perhaps the following
sonnet may illustrate what is meant by " discriminating
the transcendent " : —
" Damsels of time, the hypocritic Days,
Muffled and dumb, like barefoot dervishes,
And passing endless in a single file,
Bear diadems and fagots in their hands.
" I in my pleached garden watched the pomp,
Forgot my morning wishes ; hastily
Snatched a few herbs and apples : and the Day
Turned and departed silent ; I, too late,
Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn " (Emerson).
See Rom. ii. 18.
10. " Sincere."
The Greek word is derived by some from testing any
thing in the sunlight.
13. " Throughout the whole prcetorian guard."
Literally, "in the whole Prsetorium." The word Prte-
torium, " residence of a praetor," may mean either
"palace" (e.g. in Matt, xxvii. 27) or "the soldiers of
the praetorian camp." St. Paul had perhaps been handed
over to the charge of Burrus, the Prcefectus Prcetorio, so
that the latter meaning is probably the right one here.
20. " Earnest expectation."
See note on Rom. viii. 19.

256 The Epistle to the Philippians.
21. "To me to live is Christ."
There is another reading, "to live is excellent (chres-
ton) ; " but the phrase "to live is Christ " would be natural
to one whose watchword was "in Christ" (see Gal. ii. 20).
23. " To depart [analusai]."
Literally, " to loose ; " sailors loose the cables when a
ship is about to sail.
23. " Very far better."
Literally, " by much rather better." One of St.
Paul's energetic pleonasms — like " exceeding abun
dantly " (1 Thess. v. 13 ; Eph. iii. 20) and " less than
the least" (Eph. iii. 8).
27. " Only let your manner of life be worthy."
Rather, "only play your part as citizens, worthily."
It is interesting to find that the idea of "citizenship,"
not found in the other Epistles (but see Acts xxiii. 1),
occurs twice in this Epistle (see ch. iii. 20), addressed to
those who were specially proud of that privilege of being
Cives Romani, which they shared with St. Paul (see
Acts xvi. 12). It is a valuable and inspiring truth that
the Christian life is" a citizenship," and not mere "self
ishness expanded to infinitude." It has public as well as
private, corporate as well as individual, duties.
CHAPTER II.
3. " In lowliness of mind."
Humility, regarded by Pagans as a vice (Plato, Legg. iv.
p. 744), is here redeemed into the catalogue of virtues.
5-11. This is the greatest and most exalted passage in
the Epistle.
It describes, with marvellous compression, how Christ
first descended to the lowest step of the infinite descent.

Chapter II. 257

before He arose to the most Divine and eternal supremacy;
as we also must pass through the vale of humiliation ere
we can rise to reign with Him.
It may be literally rendered, " Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being by nature in
the essential form, of God, did not deem the-being-equal
with God a thing to be clutched at, but emptied Himself,
assuming the essential form of a slave, becoming in the
outward likeness of human beings ; but, being found (John
i. 45) in fashion (1 Cor. vii. 31) as a human being, humbled
Himself even unto death, yea, and even the death of the
Cross." Here, then, were the steps of the descent : —
(i) From the essential eternal form (morphe) of God, to
a voluntary abandonment of this equality with God.
(ii) To an emptying of Himself (kenosis) so far as
(iii) To take the form and nature (morphe) of a slave in
absolute subjection and subordination.
(iv) To assume the likeness of transient human beings ;
(v) In this outward fashion to humble Himself.
(vi) To become subject to death ;
(vii) And that death the most loathed and abject of all
forms of death — death by crucifixion.
In this passage we have to notice —
(i) The difference between "form" (morphe), which is
something abiding and substantial ; and " fashion " (sche
ma), which is outward and transitory (see note on Rom.
xii. 2). "Fashion belongs to the visible order of things;
'form ' to the invisible and eternal."
(ii) Christ's glad and voluntary abnegation of the inher
ent claims to co-equal Godhead.
(iii) The Kenosis, or " self -emptying." The word oc
curs here only, and throws a flood of light on the Divine
Humanity of Christ, by showing that it consisted in an
absolute laying aside, for the time, of the attributes of
Omniscience and Omnipotence.
Then follows the consequent superexaltation (w. 9-11).
17

258 The Epistle to the Philippians.
" Therefore also God superexalted Him, and granted Him
the name which is above every name, that in the name of
Jesus every knee should bend, things heavenly, and on
earth, and of the world below, and every tongue should
openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Jehovah) to the
glory of God the Father."
Here we may notice the degrees of Re-ascent : —
(i) Supreme exaltation.
(ii) The highest of all names.
(iii) The offering of all prayer in that name in heaven
above, and on earth beneath, and in the region under the
earth. (iv) The universal confession that Jesus Christ is Lord
— the word being here used, not in its lower sense, but as
the equivalent of the Hebrew " Jehovah."
The custom of bowing the head at the name of Jesus in
reciting the Creed probably originated from ver. 10 ; but
the original is not that "at the name of Jesus," but "in
the name of Jesus," every knee should bend in prayer,''
i.e. that all our prayers should be offered to God in and
through Christ (see Rev. v. 8).
12, 13. " Work out your own salvation . . . for it is
God who worketh in you''
For man's salvation there must always be the union and
co-operation of God's will and man's effort. If either be
absent there can be no salvation ; so that there is truth in
the words that — " God can never make man's best
Without best men to help Him."
17. " Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and
service of your faith."
Rather, in the more definite and striking metaphor of
the original, " if I am being poured out as a libation upon
the sacrifice, and sacred offering (leitourgia) of your faith"
(see 2 Tim. iv. 16). The "drink-offering" was poured

Chapter III. 259

out as the crowning act of the sacrifice, and St. Paul was
dying daily (1 Cor. xv. 31) ; his blood was, as it were, the
libation. Seneca, when dying, and also Thrasea, sprinkled
the bystanders with his blood, as a libation "to Jupiter
the Liberator " (Tac, Ann. xv. 35, 64).
18. " I joy — rejoice ye."
We may compare with this the words of the messenger
who ran to Athens with the glorious news of Marathon,
and died on the first threshold with the words "Rejoice
ye ; we too rejoice."
30. " Hazarding his life."
Setting it, as it were, on the cast of a die. From this
we conjecture that to take public notice of, and show kind
ness to St. Paul, was in various ways to incur extreme
risk. Those who "hazarded" their lives (or, as it were,
"gambled with their lives") to bury the piague-stricken,
or other dead, were called parabolani.
CHAPTER III.
2. " The dogs — the concision."
" The dogs " seem here to mean either Gentiles or Jews.
Comp. "without are dogs," Rev. xxii. 15 ; 2 Pet. ii. 22.
" The concision " (the word occurs here only) are those
Judaising Christians whose nominal "circumcision" was
nothing but a physical mutilation (Gal. v. 2, 12).
9. Righteousness comes from God, by means of faith,
and is based on faith.
14. " I press on."
"Not to advance is to retreat" (Augustine).
20. " Our citizenship is in heaven."
See on ch. i. 27.
21. Here, as in ch. ii. 7, 8, we have a striking lesson
based on the difference between the "form" (morphe)

260 The Epistle to the Philippians.
which is abiding, and the fashion (schema) which is tran
sitory. Christ shall refashion the outward semblance of
our mortal body that it may become conformed to the body
of His glory (see Rom. xii. 2).
21. " The body of our humiliation."
The " our vile body " of the A.V. is one of its most
unfortunate mistranslations. St. Francis of Assisi used to
speak of his body as " my brother the ass ; " and the Cure
d'Ars used to describe his body as "cecadavre." But such
expressions find no sanction in revealed teaching ; they are
due to the subterranean infusion into Christianity of East
ern and Manichean asceticism. They bore disastrous fruit
in the hideous self-macerations of fanatic hermits and in
such unnatural travesties of true saintliness as the lives
of Stylites and Boskoi. Such abnormal will-worship be
longs- to Paganism, not to genuine Christianity, and Chris
tian ascetics cannot in this respect equal the " merits "
of Mohammedan dervishes or Hindoo yogis and fakirs.
Nothing that God has made is vile; least of all —
" This man's flesh He has marvellously made,
Blown like a bubble, kneaded as a paste
To keep in, and coop down on earth, awhile
That breath of vapour from His mouth, man's soul."
" We are fearfully and wonderfully made " (Ps. cxxxix. 14).
The anecdote of Archbishop Whately is well known. On
his death-bed his chaplain quoted this verse to him from
the A.V. "Our vile body !" he exclaimed, in his quick
abrupt way, " that is not in Scripture ! " The chaplain
read the passage. "Read it in the Greek." The chaplain
read, "the body of our humiliation." "Ah," said the
dying Archbishop, "that is a very different thing. He
never called God's works vile." Humiliation is a thing
immeasurably different from vileness (ch. ii. 8; Luke i.
48; Acts viii. 33).

Chapter IV. 261

CHAPTER IV.
2. Euodia and Syntyche were two ladies who could not
get on with each other.
3. " True yokefellow. "
Who this was is unknown. Some have conjectured that
Lydia is meant ; others make it a play on the name Syzigus
— you are a yokefellow in reality or in name.
7. " The peace of God, shall stand sentry over your
hearts." 10. " Ye have revived your thought for me."
Your kindness to me is like a flower which has blossomed
(Vulg. refloruistis ; Aug. repullulastis).
11. "Content."
Rather, "self-sufficing," "independent" (autarkes).
12. " In everything and in all things."
Another of St. Paul's energetic and emphatic phrases.
See 2 Cor. xi. 6.
12. " I have learned the secret."
Rather, "I have been initiated." "A mystery is a
Divine truth made known to the members of a sacred
brotherhood " (W.).
18. " I have all things."
Literally, "I have in full " (Matt. vi. 2). The word is
used of creditors who " give a receipt in full." The ex
pression may remind us of Coleridge's lines —
" Hath he not always treasures, always friends,
The good true man? Three treasures, — life and light,
And calm thoughts regular as infant's breath ;
And three firm friends, more sure than day and night —
Himself, His Maker, and the Angel Death."

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS

This Epistle — written to a Church of which the members
were personally unknown to St. Paul (ch.ii. 1), which had
perhaps been founded by such workers as his fellow-
prisoners Epaphras (ch. iv. 12 ; Philem. 23) and Philemon
— deals with similar themes to those in the Epistle to the
Ephesians. It is another edition, so to speak, of that cir
cular letter, addressed to the same cycle of Churches in
Proconsular Asia (ch. iv. 16), and written while the Apostle
was surrounded by the same circle of faithful friends —
Epaphras, Luke, Mark, Onesimus, Tychicus, Demas (ch. iv.
7-14 ; Eph. vi. 21 ; Philem. 23, 24). Naturally, therefore,
the Epistles abound in parallel passages, and "illustrate and
complete each other." Yet the two Epistles are unlike
even in likeness, and each contains peculiar elements of
rich value. The Epistle to the Ephesians is the Epistle of
the Resurrection ; of the ascended Christ ; of " the heaven.
lies ; " — its keynote " the heavenlies " does not occur in
this Epistle. Such was the exuberant originality of St.
Paul's intellect, that even in dealing with the same or
analogous subjects, he treats them in a different way, and
with variations which are full of instructiveness. Yet the
style of the two Epistles ig different. "The change," as
Mr. LI. Davies says, "is from comparative freedom and
fluency to a stiffer and more broken style — an apparent
want of freedom and want of finish." But this certainly
did not weaken the substance of the letter. The leading
idea of the Epistle is the presentation of Christ as the
Mediator between God and men, who perfectly reveals
God and perfectly embodies humanity. The Epistle may

Chapter I. 263
be divided, like that to the Ephesians, into two parts, the
former consisting of "pure" theology, or the declaration
of God's nature and acts ; the latter of ' ' applied " theology,
or the drawing out of duty from the relations of men to
God. The keynote is "Walk in Him ; " in Him alone ; in
" Him first, Him last, Him midst, and without end." It
falls into five well-marked sections. The introduction
(ch. i. 1-13) ; the doctrine (i. 14— ii. 13) ; the polemic
(ii. 4— iii. 4) ; the practical (iii. 5-iv. 6) ; the personal
section (ch. iv. 7-17).
CHAPTER I.
16. "All things were created by Him (as a single act),
and all things have been created through Him and unto Him
(as a permanent result), whether thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers." No definite angelology is
intended, though it is from such passages that the Pseudo-
Dionysius (followed by Dante) deduces his nine orders of
Angels, and Milton writes not only of Angels and Arch
angels, Cherubim and Seraphim, but of ' ' Thrones, Domi
nations, Virtues, Princedoms, Powers, Warriors, the flower
of Heaven."
19. The Pleroma (see Eph. i. 23). The Plenitude or
Totality of the Divine perfections. The verse should more
probably be rendered ' ' All the Pleroma (all the Plenitude
of God) was pleased to dwell in Him " (comp. John i. 16).
The technical word "Pleroma" corresponds to the Ha-
Makom, or ' ' the place," — the Universe, of the Talmudists,
who said, " God is not in Ha-Makom, but all the Ha-Makom
is in God."
24. " I . . . fill up on my part that which is lacking
[lit. " the shortcomings "] of the afflictions of Christ in
my flesh, for His body's sake, which is the Church."
This is one of the most characteristic verses in the
Epistle.

264 The Epistle to the Colossians.
What is meant by "that which is lacking of the afflic
tions of Christ " ? and in what sense can we " fill them
up"? Were they not "a full, perfect, and sufficient
sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole
world " ?
The answer lies in the concluding words : ' ' for His
body's sake, which is the Church." Our sufferings, though
they cannot be vicarious, are m.inistrative. They carry on
God's work with men : Christ works, and requires men to
carry out His high purposes.
It was necessary for Christ to suffer ; and, therefore,
all true Christians, who are " in Christ," must suffer with
Him. The Church is the Pleroma, or "complement,"
being the body of Christ, and must, therefore, contribute
to the sum-total of his afflictions. To Christians also,
as to their Lord, earthly life must be an inscription on the
Cross. 26, 27. " The mystery . . . the riches of the glory of
this mystery."
A Greek mystery was not something unintelligible, but
was a secret revealed to those who were initiated. One of
the richest blessings of the Gospel revelation was to impart
to all " the full knowledge " of this unveiled secret
(ch. ii. 2).
CHAPTER II.
5. " Order and steadfastness."
The metaphor is from the "military array and close
phalanx" of an army (1 Mace. ix. 14, Stereoma).
8. " Making spoil of you through his philosophy."
This is remarkable as the only passage in the New
Testament in which the word "philosophy " occurs. The
New Testament offers something much higher and deeper
than speculative philosophy — even Divine wisdom.

Chapter II. 265
9. " All the plenitude of the Deity."
This is the only place in the New Testament where the
word " Deity " (theotes) occurs ; but we have " divinity "
(theiotes) in Rom. i. 20 (comp. Acts xvii. 29).
And because "all the fulness of the Godhead dwells
bodily in Him " we too have been fulfilled in Him
(ver. 10). " The perfection of God and the perfection of
man meet in Christ. In Christ men have their complete
ideal ; in proportion as they dwell in Him they become
complete " (LI. Davies).
13, 14, 15. One of the most distinct passages of this
Epistle. A literal paraphrase may help to illustrate its
deep meaning : —
' We once were dead ; Christ quickened us into life
with Himself, granting us by free grace the forgiveness
of all our iniquities ; blotting out the bond — the contract
and sign-manual which we had given to Satan by our
sins — which was against us by its ordinances ; and, as
though He had rent it across as null and void, He nailed
its disannulled handwriting to His Cross; and thus in
stantly stripping away from Himself [chs. ii. 11, iii. 9, —
not, as in A.V., "having spoiled"] the hostile pressure
of the evil principalities and powers, He with confi
dence made a display of them, leading them in triumph
[2 Cor. ii. 14] in that Cross.'
18. The verse means : — ' Let no man, like a partial or
unfair umpire, at his own will and pleasure, rob you of the
prize of freedom, which you have fairly won as the reward
of your own race [ch. iii. 15 ; 1 Cor. ix. 24 ; Gal. v. 7], by
wheedling you into mere artificial humility and angel-
worship, taking his stand on things which he has seen,
i.e. mere fanciful visions of his own [or, if the other read
ing be correct, on things which he has not seen — mere
airy unrealities], idly inflated by the mind of his flesh.'
The Colossians had apparently been misled into pure
artificialities of dogma and ritual, by the conceited opinion-

266 The Epistle to the Colossians.
atedness, sham infallibility, pretended visions, and simu
lated humbleness of some special teacher, who professed to
take a "philosophic" view of Christianity (ch. ii. 8).
The teaching of this religionist had tended to make them
dogma-ridden, and made them inclined to trust for sal
vation on " doctrinal accuracies," self-macerations, the
apotheosis of angels, and a whole calendar of fasts and
human inventions, more than on the Head, even Christ.
' Why are ye dogma-ridden with rules of formalism ?
Only one thing defiles — namely, sin ' (Mark vii. 18-23).
20-23. This is another of the most striking passages in
the Epistle, and is one of the most sweeping and distinc
tive condemnations of all reliance on the will-worship of
dangerous and unnatural self-mortification, which increases
instead of diminishing sensual temptations, while it in
creases instead of abasing the subtle temptation to pride
and religious dominance. In the A.V. the meaning of the
passage is hopelessly obscured. It may be rendered, " If
then ye died with Christ from the rudiments [see ver. 8 ;
Gal. iv. 3, 9] of the world, why, as though living in the
world, are ye ordinance-ridden by such rules as ' Handle
not,' ' nor taste,' 'nor touch ' 1 — about things all of which
perish in the using — according to the injunctions and
teachings of mere human beings ? seeing that all such
formalising rules have a pretence of wisdom in will-service,
and humble-mindedness, and remorseless severity to the
body, and yet are not of any value against the indulgence
of fleshly desires."
St. Paul shows in this passage how well he understood
the physical law that the overweakening of the body,
which results from the overstrained asceticism of which we
read in the lives of St. Antony, St. Jerome, and multi
tudes of monks and hermits, is not in itself a help but a
1 The " Touch not, taste not, handle not " of the A.V. loses the force
of the passage. It is the last verb, which means " touch not," and it
shows how these Colossian religionists adopted " an ever-ascending
scale of superstitious prohibitions" (Trench, N. T. Sjn. 3, xvii.).

Chapter III. 267

hindrance to the Christian race ; and so far from dulling
the force of carnal stings, only adds to their intensity.
Cassian, the founder of monasticism in Europe, describes
the monks as specially liable, from their " unsparingness
to the body," to the assaults of the seven deadly sins.
Such passages, and the truly frightful book of St. Peter
Damiani against the corrupt monks of his day, are the
best commentary on this wholesome passage, which de
cisively condemns the self-deceiving accretions of volun
tary-outward-service (ethelo-threskeia) .
Christianity can never win its final victory in the world
until the Christian world, stripping from itself the para
phernalia of foundationless externalism and alien accre
tions, learns that what God requires of us is simply " to
do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our
God; " that if we would enter into life all we have to do
is to keep the commandments ; that "in every nation he
that feareth God and doeth righteousness is accepted of
Him ; " that "He who doeth righteousness is righteous,"
and "he who doeth righteousness is born of God." The
only ritual for which God cares is righteousness ; and the
only form of asceticism which is demanded by Him Who
came "eating and drinking" is habitual moderation,
habitual temperance Self-denial can be practised daily
in scores of useful and blessed forms without directly run
ning counter to the laws of nature.
CHAPTER III.
3-5. " Ye died to Christ at your baptism ; your life has
been hidden with Christ in God — therefore kill at one
blow (nekrosate) your members that are on the earth." In
other words, make your final choice that the shameful sins
which result from obedience to the passions in these earthly
members shall be at once and for ever suppressed and kept
in control. "The one death in Christ makes each subse
quent victory possible " (W.). Evil habits must be blown

268 The Epistle to the Colossians.
up at once ; good habits must be built up gradually
(comp. ii. 8: "put away at once"). The duties which
follow are all expressed in the present tense, because they
are continuous.
The beautiful moral exhortations which follow are
abbreviated variations from those in the Epistle to the
Ephesians. 15. " Let the peace of Christ arbitrate [be umpire :
comp. ch. ii. 18] in your hearts."
Brabeutes is "an umpire," and brabeion (Lat. br avium)
is the prize of a contest (Phil. iii. 14 ; comp. Phil. iv. 7).
16. "Hymns."
Christian hymnology began almost as soon as Christi
anity (Eph. v. 10 ; Acts xvi. 25 ; Rev. xv. 3). Passages
like Eph. v. 14 ; 1 Tim. iii. 16, vi. 15, 16 ; 2 Tim. ii. 11-13
may be fragments of such hymns.
21. " Fathers, provoke not [irritate not] your chil
dren, that they may not despond."
How different would have been the family life in
myriads of homes, if parents had tried to understand this
rule, and not needlessly to worry their children by need
less and perpetual restrictions !
25. "He that doeth wrong shall receive again the
wrong that he did."
Both the A.V. and R.V. have "shall receive again for
the wrong;" but the word "for" is an unauthorised and
misleading addition. It is quite true that every sin shall
receive its punishment ; but what St. Paul says is more
remarkable, " He that wrongs shall receive back that very
wrong in whatever form it may come." This illustrates
the frequent identity of the sin and the punishment in the
law of retribution. "What a man soweth that [and not
something else] he shall reap " (Gal. vi. 7, 8) ; and men

Chapter IV. 269

"receive the things done in the body" (2 Cor. v. 10) —
those, and not other things ; and whatever good thing a
man does that also he shall receive (Eph. vi. 8).
25. " Respect of persons."
See Acts x. 34 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 14.
CHAPTER IV.
10. " Mark, the cousin [not " sister's son," A.V.] of
Barnabas." See on Acts xii. 25, xiii. 13, xv. 37.
This allusion is an interesting proof that St. Paul's
distrust of Mark had now disappeared, and that the gene
rously " sweet reasonableness " of St. Barnabas in refusing
to give him up, had borne good fruit.
14. " Luke, the beloved physician."
It is from this verse alone that we learn this interesting
fact about St. Luke's profession.
17. " Say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry."
From this we might infer that Archippus, who was the
son of Philemon and Apphia (Philem. 23), showed a little
tendency to slackness ; but St. Paul calls him "our fel
low-soldier " in Philem. 2.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.
This very charming little letter, sent from Rome by St.
Paul, by the hands of Philemon's runaway slave, Onesi-
mus, not only gives a glimpse into the conditions of early
Christian life, but is the Magna Charta of the emanci
pation of the slave. It was, of course, hopeless for St.
Paul to attempt the immediate abrogation of the law of
slavery, which was then universally prevalent alike among
Jews and Gentiles, alike in the civilised and the barbarous
world ; but he takes away all the sting and degradation
of slavery, by showing that the Christian slave is " a
brother beloved." Thus Paul, the imprisoned ambassador,
pleads with tender affection for the "pardon and kind
reception " of " his child " (ver. 10), the once Christless and
useless, but now Christian and useful runaway " Helpful."
There is an obvious play on the meaning of the name
Onesimus, "profitable; " and perhaps also on the assonance
between Christos and Chrestos (vv. 10, 11). Much as the
Apostle would have liked to retain him for the sake of his
helpful services in his Roman prison, he feels bound to
send him back (ver. 14), though he hopes that he will no
longer be treated as a slave (ver. 16) ; and — whatever may
be the deeper debt which Philemon owes to the Apostle —
he will (if Philemon claims it) be responsible for any loss
or malversation which the absconding of Onesimus may
have caused (vv. 17-19).
2. " To Apphia, the sister."
This seems to be the preferable reading.

The Epistle to Philemon. 271
7. " The bowels of the saints."
Much better " the hearts." The bold o^Xayxya repre
sents the Hebrew rechamim. In Latin, corculum, " my
little heart," was a term of affection (like " sweetheart "),
and also viscera, " bowels."
20. " Let me have joy of thee in the Lord."
The Greek word is onaimen, " may I benefit by thee,"
"may I have help of thee," — again a play on the mean
ing of Onesimus, " helpful."
" Slavery fell," says Mazzini, ' ' before the holy word of
Jesus. All men are the children of God."
Contrast the spirit which breathes through this letter
with the greed and cruelty which even such a Pagan saint
as Cato exercised towards his slaves ; and with the very
inferior letter of the kind-hearted Pliny the Younger,
about another runaway slave.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS

This Epistle is wholly unlike those which have preceded
it. It is not an elaborately reasoned demonstration of one
main thesis, like the Epistle to the Romans ; nor a series
of decisions on the ordinances and doctrines of the Church,
like the First to the Corinthians ; nor full of tremulous
emotional appeals mingled with autobiographic reminis
cences, like the Second; nor a passionate mixture of
argument, appeal, and rebuke, like the Epistle to the
Galatians. It is far more abstract and impersonal, and,
as regards special allusions, quite the most colourless of all
St. Paul's Epistles. It might well be asked how this could
be ? St. Paul, from his long stay in Ephesus, was more
closely connected with the Ephesian Church (Acts xix. 10)
than almost any other, and (as we see from Acts xx. 17-
38) was united to its members by bonds of closest and
warmest affection. Yet this Epistle is almost wholly devoid
of those tender touches and warm appeals which we find
in letters to other Churches with which he was less closely
connected. We shall see the difficulty entirely removed
in the note on ver. 1. After the brief and general greet
ing, all the first section of the Epistle (chs. i. 3— iii. 21)
might almost be called " The Hymn of the Heavenlies, "
and the Epistle is especially "the Epistle of the Ascen
sion." The remainder of the Epistle (chs. iv.-vi. 24) is
occupied with moral exhortation, based upon the loftiest
spiritual principles.
The Epistle abounds in words and phrases not found
elsewhere in the New Testament, such as " compagination "
(ch. iv. 16); "cunning craftiness," "superabundantly"
(iii. 20); " loose facetiousness " (v. 4); " past feeling " (iv.

Chapter I. 273
19) ; " stratagems " (vi. 11) ; "panoply " (vi. 11) ; " world-
rulers " (vi. 12); "preparedness" (vi. 15); "richly-varie
gated " (iii. 10) ; " least-est " (iii. 8).
The keynote of the Epistle is "to sum up all things in
Christ " (ch. i. 10).

CHAPTER I.
1. " To the saints which are [at Ephesus]."
The members of the Church are addressed as " saints "
because they belonged to a holy and spiritual community
(Rom. xv. 25 ; 1 Cor. i. 2 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9), and because
holiness was the common ideal at which all true Christians
aimed. The words " in Ephesus " are wanting in the two oldest
Greek MSS., the Sinaitic and the Vatican. Marcion
called it " an Epistle to the Laodiceans " (Tert., c. Marc. v.
11, 17). Some of the oldest and most learned Fathers
(such as Origen, Chrysostom, Basil, and Jerome) did not
find the words " in Ephesus " in their MSS. From these
facts we infer, without hesitation, that the letter was not
addressed " to the Ephesians " only, but was "a circular
letter, addressed probably to the Churches of Proconsular
Asia, of which Ephesus was one, and Laodicea another."
This entirely explains the absence of personal allusions;
and it is by no means impossible that this circular letter
may have been accompanied by a special letter to the
Ephesians themselves, to which some have found an allu
sion in ch. iii. 4. This view is strengthened by the strong
resemblance between this letter and that to the Colossians,
both in matter and diction, and by the allusion in Col.
iv. 16.
Verses 3-5 refer to God the Father; 7-13a to "the
Son, the Beloved; " 136-14 to the Holy Spirit. The Three
Persons of the Blessed Trinity are combined in ver. 17.
Their combined gifts of enlightenment, hope, glorious
18

274 The Epistle to the Ephesians.
heritage (ver. 18) — issuing in our resurrection to "the
heavenlies " (w. 19-20), together with the exaltation of
Christ above all things (w. 21, 22a) as Head of the
Church (vv. 22, 33) — occupy the rest of the chapter.
3. "Blessed."
This word eulogetos (1 Pet. i. 3) is in the New Testa
ment applied only to God. The word usually rendered
" blessed " is makarios, as in the Beatitudes. The
words rendered " the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ," mean " God, even the Father of," etc. (2 Cor. i. 3).
3. " In the heavenly places."
This word ' ' the heavenlies " is characteristic of this
Epistle, occurring no less than five times (chs. i. 3, 20 ; ii.
6; iii. 10; vi. 12), though it is not elsewhere found in
this particular form (comp. Phil. iii. 20; Col. i. 5).
3. " In Christ."
This constantly recurring phrase has been well called
' ' the monogram of St. Paul," and is " the very soul of
this Epistle." He alone of the New Testament writers
uses it, and in his letters it occurs no less than sixty-six!
times. 5. " Having foreordained us."
The conception is specially prominent in this chapter,
see vv. 11, 12 ; chs. ii. 10, iii. 11. " God predestinated
us to be adopted as His sons, and that adoption came to us
through Christ, and was to lead us and unite us unto God "
(Ellicott). (Comp. 2 Pet. i. 4.)
5. " According to the good pleasure of His will."
"They err," says Hooker, " who think that of the will
of God to do this or that, there is no reason but His will."
6. " To the praise of the glory of His grace."
The same phrase recurs in vv. 12, 14.
7. " In Whom."
The words are repeated in ver. 11 and in ver. 13 (twice).

Chapter I. 275
10. " The fulness of the times."
This word "plenitude" (pleroma) is also characteristic
of this Epistle (chs. i. 10, 23 ; iii. 10, 19; iv. 13), and is
found in the same technical sense in Col. i. 19 ; ii. 9.
10. " To sum up."
Literally, "to sum up again together," i.e. to re-collect
into their primal unity.
11. " In Whom also we were made a heritage."
Literally, " we were enfeoffed." This is a far deeper
ground of confidence than that we " obtained an in
heritance" (A. V.).
13. " The Holy Spirit of promise."
I.e. the promised Spirit. (See Acts i. 4.)
14. " An earnest."
The word arrhabon (Fr. arrhes ; Ital. arra ; Eng.
" arlis-money, " or "God's penny ") implies that the gifts
and graces which we here receive from the Spirit are
"earnest-money" or "part-payment" of what we shall
receive hereafter of God's own possession. See note on
2 Cor. i. 22 ; v. 5. " Si arrhabo tantus," says Jerome,
" quanta erit possessio."
15. " Toward all the saints."
The word all is, as Bengel finely says, " the stamp of
Christianity." 19. " The strength [" active force "] of His might
[" inherent power "] ."
21. " Not only in this world [" age : "] but also in
that which is to come " (comp. 1 Pet. ii. 9).
We find the same phrase in Matt. xii. 32 (comp. Matt.
xiii. 39, 40 ; Heb. vi. 5). The translation "world," both
in A. and R. V., is quite misleading. " The age " ("ceon,"

276 The Epistle to the Ephesians.
Heb. ii. 5 ; 1 Cor. x. 11 ; Eph. ii. 7 ; iii. 21) is " an
epoch of the Divine dispensation." The Jewish aeon was
trembling to its close ; the new Gospel aeon had already
dawned, but its full morning did not come till after the
Fall of Jerusalem. The end of the Gospel aeon will be the
end of the world.
Bishop Ellicott says of this chapter, that in it "we are
permitted, as it were, to gaze upon the evolution of the
archetypal dispensation of God, amidst those linked and
blended clauses, that, like the enwreathed smoke of some
sweet-smelling sacrifice, mount and mount upwards to the
very heaven of heavens, in that group of sentences of
rarest harmony and more than mortal eloquence."
23. " The plenitude of Him Who is ever filling all
things in all men."
Comp. 1 Cor. xii. 6. The phrase is "a quasi-person
ality expressive of the totality of the Divine powers and
attributes." (John i. 16.)
CHAPTER II.
2. "According to the age [osori] of this world
[kosmos]." The phrase sets before us the present order of things,
first in its temporal aspect, and then in the moral dis
arrangement of its ideal order.
2. " The prince of the power of the air."
Comp. Job i. 7, LXX. That the lower air was the
special abode of evil spirits was a Rabbinic conception
(comp. ch. vi. 12).
3. " Children of wrath, even as the rest."
All unrighteousness and sin aroused "the wrath of
God," for only in such language of human analogy (anthro-
popathy) can we describe the relation of God to sin (see
ch. v. 6, and Deut. xxix. 28 ; Is. liv. 8; Matt. iii. 7 •

Chapter II. 277

Rom. ii. 5 ; Rev. vi. 16, etc.). There is, therefore, no
need to render this " children of impulse," as Professor
Maurice wished to do ; and New Testament usage would be
entirely against such a rendering (comp. ch. v. 6.) We
were, by the transmitted consequences of a fallen nature,
liable to arouse God's hatred of sin ; but, as the next verse
tells us, this hatred is mollified by God's love and mercy.
6. " In Christ Jesus."
These words are, as we have said, the special monogram
of St. Paul, the centre and sum of all his teaching, and
nowhere more emphatically than in this Epistle (i. 3, 7,
10-13 ; ii. 6, 7, 13, 20-22 ; iii. 6, 21 ; iv. 32). He uses
it, in one form or another, sixty times in his Epistles, and
with many illustrations and expansions.
14. " Our Peace, Who made both one."
Is. ix. 6. The meaning is "both Jews and Gentiles"
(see vv. 15, 16, 18), whether we understand with ampho-
tera both races (gene), or parts (mere), or nations (ethne).
With "one" we must understand "one body" (soma).
14. " The middle wall of partition."
The allusion is to the chel and the soreg, or seyyag, a
partition of stone which separated the Court of the Gen
tiles from the Courts of the Women and the Priests (Jos.,
Antt. xv. 11. 5 ; comp. Acts xxi. 30). It was of marble
beautifully ornamented, and was four and a half feet high,
and ten ells broad. On it were engraved inscriptions in
Greek, forbidding any Gentile to advance beyond it on
pain of death. It was approached by fourteen steps (Jos.,
B.J. v. 5. 2) or twelve steps (Middoth. ii. 3). One of the
inscriptions, which may have been seen by the eyes of
Christ Himself, was found by M. Clermont Gannean built
into the walls of a private house, occupied by a Moham
medan. It is now in a mosque at Constantinople. For
destroying a part of this particular wall in the days of
Antiochus Epiphanes, the high priest was believed to have

278 The Epistle to the Ephesians.
been suddenly smitten by God with an incurable disease
(see Ezek. xliv. 2 ; Acts xxi. 28).
15. He brought to nought, did away with, abolished
the separating institution of Judaism — "the law of de
cretory ordinances " (Ellicott). (Comp. Col. ii. 14.)
18. " Our access."
In Oriental courts there was an officer called the Prosa-
gogeus, or "introducer," who ushered suitors or visitors
into the royal presence (comp. Rom. v. 2) .
20. The Apostles and prophets (" inspired teachers")
were, by their preaching of Christ, the "foundation-
stones " (Rom. xv. 20 ; Rev. xxi. 14) of the Church ;
Christ Himself was "the chief corner-stone," joining the
walls and foundation-stones together (Ps. cxviii. 22 ;
Is. xxviii. 16 ; Matt. xxi. 42 ; 1 Pet. ii. 6).
CHAPTER III.
3. " As I wrote afore in few words."
This is either a reference to ch. i. 9-14, or to some
former letter.
8. " To me, who am less than the least of all the
saints." St. Paul's humility here invents the addition of a
comparative to the superlative ("least-est") : comp. 2
Cor. xii. 11, "though I am nothing; " 1 Cor. xv. 9, 10,
1 Tim. i. 15.
8. " Unsearchable."
See Job v. 9 ; ix. 10 ; Rom. xi. 33.
"With growth in goodness grows the sense of sin.
One law fulfilled, shows a thousand neglected " (Mozley).
10. "Manifold."
The beautiful word of the original — polupoikilos,
"richly variegated" — occurs here only. The Church

Chapter III. 2 79

is " circumamicta varietatibus " (Ps. xiv. 14; "circum-
data varietate," Vulg.).
15. " The Father [Pater], from Whom every father
hood [patria] is named."
16. " The inner man " (A.V.).
The soul, the spirit, the mind (Rom. vii. 22) ; in con
tradistinction from " the outer man," the flesh or body
(2 Cor. iv. 16) : comp. Col. iii. 10 ; 1 Pet. iii. 4.
17. " Rooted and grounded in love."
St. Paul was as indifferent to the confusion of meta
phors as Sophocles, when he speaks of " a brazen path " as
" rooted." 19. " That ye may be filled unto all the fulness of
God." This may either mean " filled up to all the fulness
wherewith God is filled," or "poured into the all-embrac
ing ocean of God's plenitude."
20. " Exceeding abundantly."
Another of the rare and intensely energetic phrases in
which this Epistle specially abounds.
21. "Unto Him be the glory in the Church and
in Christ. Jesus to all the generations of the age of the
ages." " This is the literal translation of the phrase, which," Mr.
Humphry says, ' ' hardly admits of an exact analysis or a
close translation." Even were that the case, it would still
be better, wherever it is possible, to present the exact
meaning, and to furnish the accurate rendering of the
original. " No one, I think, who has striven to follow
with the eyes of his heart (Eph. i. 18) the course of this
growing purpose of God, will think it pedantry to notice
the most unusual Greek phrase, and to reflect on the vision

280 The Epistle to the Ephesians.
so opened of a vast aeon of which the elements are aeons
unfolding, as it were, stage after stage, the manifold powers
of one life fulfilled in many ways, each aeon the child
(so to speak) of that which has gone before : comp. Heb.
xi. 3" (W.).
CHAPTER IV.
Having thus laid the deepest foundations of the Christian
life in its most exalting spiritual mysteries, the Apostle
devotes the rest of the Epistle to moral exhortations based
immediately on these high truths.
1. " The prisoner in the Lord"
See note on ch. ii. 6.
2. " Forbearing one another."
I.e. tolerating, " enduring at one another's hands"
(comp. Matt. xvii. 17, " How long shall I suffer [or bear]
with you?")
8. " He led captivity captive."
The allusion is not explained, but probably St. Chry
sostom is right in explaining it to mean that Christ led
captive "the devil, and death, and curse, and sin."
8. " Gave gifts unto men."
In the original (Ps. lxviii. 18) it is " Thou hast received
gifts among men." St. Paul, as usual, quotes general
expressions, not by way of dogmatic proof, but freely and
illustratively. 9. " The lower parts of the earth."
An allusion to Christ's descent into Hades (1 Pet. iii.
19). ii. " He gave some to be Apostles."
Here, as elsewhere throughout the New Testament,
' ' priests " (i.e. hiereis, " sacrificial priests") are never so

Chapter IV. 281

much as mentioned — except in so far as (in two passages
only) all Christians alike are metaphorically "priests"
to offer up spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet. ii. 5, 9 ; Rev. i. 6;
xx. 6) — among the holders of Christian offices. The New
Testament knows no " priest " in that sense except Christ
(Heb. iii. 1 ; iv. 14, 15), in Whom all who are in Christ
are "a royal priesthood." Otherwise the word is only
used of Jewish (Heb. vii. 21) and of heathen priests (Acts
xiv. 13). It is a simple, indisputable, and decisive fact
that, whereas officers in the Christian Church are called
Apostles, Evangelists, Prophets, Teachers, Presbyters,
Ministers, Pastors, they are never so much as once called
" priests." And this is a most important fact which any
one who cares for the truth can with the greatest ease
verify for himself, and deduce from it the only possible
inference. For had Christian ministers been intended to
offer sacrifices, as Jewish priests were, then " priests "
would have been the most obvious and the most natural
name by which to call them. But Christian ministers
carried on the ministry of the synagogue (in which our
Lord so often taught) ; not of the Temple, in which, as
not being a descendant of Aaron, He could not sacrifice.
15. " Speaking truth in love."
Rather, "dealing truly," "being loyal to truth."
19. " Being past feeling."
Literally, " having ceased to feel." They felt once, but
now they have grown utterly callous. As in Rom. i. 21,
"the emptiness, the darkness, the ignorance, the callous
ness, the ungoverned sensuality which governed the Gen
tile mind are set forth" (LI. Davies).
22. " The old man."
"Our former unconverted self " (Ellicott) : (comp. Rom.
vi. 6 ; vii. 23, 24 ; Col. iii. 9, 10; Gal. vi. 15). "For God
created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image
of His own eternity" (Wisd. ii. 23).

282 The' Epistle to the Ephesians.
27. " Neither give place to the devil."
Luther renders it dem Lasterer, and it may mean " to
the slanderer."
29. " Corrupt speech."
Literally, "rotten" (comp. Matt. vii. 17).
29. " Good for edifying as the need may be."
Literally, "for edifying [building up] of the immediate
occasion." 32. " As God also in Christ forgave you."
Here the A.V. unfortunately alters the phrase "in
Christ " into " for Christ's sake." It is remarkable that
the phrase, so very common in modern religious literature,
of God, conferring benefits "for Christ's sake," does not
occur in the New Testament. We have again and again
"God in Christ," and "God through Christ," but not
" God for Christ's sake," though no doubt the phrase may
be defended by expressions which practically suggest it.
CHAPTER V.
1. " Become ye therefore imitators of God."
The expression is more striking than the "followers "
of the A.V. God, in Christ, is to be our Eternal Model.
Our life is to be an Imitatio Christi (see 1 Cor. xi. 1 ;
1 Thess. i. 6).
4. "Jesting."
Eutrapelia means more than "jesting." It occurs here
only in the New Testament, and implies "shiftiness,"
"loose immoral facetiousness." Chrysostom explains it
" of unseasonable laughter;" Aristotle defines the man
who is eutrapelos as one who uses witty " double-enten-
dres" or "equivoques," and eutrapelia as "cultivated
impertinences," such as are common among professional
detractors and paid slanderers.

Chapter V. 283
6. " Cometh the wrath of God."
Because of these sins it is always coming on the sons of
disobedience. The verse is a solemn warning against the
lax moralists of heathenism, who taught that sensuality is
a matter of indifference.
9. " The fruit of the light."
Not " of the Spirit " (A.V.). The contrast is with the
unfruitful works of darkness. "The works of light are
fruit; the works of darkness are barren : Rom. vi. 21, 22 "
(LI. Davies).
13. " Everything that is made manifest [illumined]
is light."
It partakes of, and reflects the light, and therefore in its
measure is light. " All that bears the light, shares the
nature of the light, and becomes in its turn a centre of
illumination" (W.).
14. The original is so rhythmical that some have supposed
it to be a fragment preserved from some most ancient
hymn. " Awake thou that sleepest,
And from the dead arise thou,
And Christ shall dawn upon thee."
But it may be an allusion to Is. Ix. 1.
15. " Look then carefully [exactly, accurately]
how ye walk."
This is more than "see that ye walk circumspectly."
16. " Redeeming the time."
Better, and more accurately, "buying up" or "pur
chasing back the opportunity." The lost opportunity may,
at any rate in part, be bought back. If the Sibyl has
burnt three of her nine books, she still offers six; even if
she has burnt six, she still has three to offer (comp. Ecclus.
iv. 20: " Observe the opportunity ").

284 The Epistle to the Ephesians.
Plato says (Rep. p. 370), " If a man lets the right
moment go by, it never returns " (Dan. ii. 8).
18. For the degrading exhilaration of drunkenness substi
tute the exultation of spiritual joy, such as will naturally
break out in hymns of praise and thanks. The word ren
dered " excess " (A.V. "riot ") is asotia (Tit. i. 6 ; 1 Pet.
iv. 4. Comp. Luke xv. 13). An asotos is a " losel " (Lat.
perditus). 19. " Speaking one to another."
Literally, " to yourselves; " but the allusion is to alter
nated verses of hymns. Pliny describes the Christians as
meeting ' ' Carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem "
(Ep. x. 97).
22. " As to the Lord."
A wife cannot possibly regard her husband as the Lord
in every case. The rule is generic, and means no more
than (Col. iii. 18) "as is fitting in the Lord," i.e.
because the Divinely ordained marriage relation is an
image of the relation between Christ and the Church''
(LI. Davies).
30. " Because we are members of His body."
Not also "of His flesh and of His bones," which is a
late, pragmatic, and indefensible addition, not found in the
best manuscripts.
CHAPTER VI.
4. " Provoke not your children to wrath."
Do not irritate or worry your children (Col. iii. 21), but
train them for Christ by discipline and admonition.
11. " The whole armour of God."
The word "panoply" only occurs in the NewTestament in
Luke xi. 22 (comp. Is. xi. 5 ; lix. 17 ; Wisd. v. 12, 20).
The "wiles " or "tactics" of the devil must thus be defeated.

Chapter VI. 285

For the same metaphor, see 1 Thess. v. 8 ; Rom. xiii. 12 ;
2 Cor. vi. 7. LI. Davies quotes from the Minokhired, a
Parseebook : " One can escape from hell if one uses heavenly
wisdom as a covering for the back, heavenly contentment as
armour, heavenly truth for a shield, heavenly gratitude for
a club, heavenly wisdom as a bow" (comp. Wisd. v. 17-20).
Fiery darts, malleoli falaricce.
15. " Having shod your feet with the preparation
[preparedness, readiness] of the Gospel of peace."
See Is. Hi. 7 ; Nah. i. 15 ; Rom. x. 15. As Christ
" came and preached the good tidings of peace " (ch. ii. 17),
a similar readiness is to be the latchet of the Christian's
shoes. 20. " For which I am an ambassador [not in stately
robes, but] in a chain."
Comp. Col. iv. 2-4. It is a reference to the manacle by
which, even in his own hired lodging, his right hand was
fastened to the left hand of the soldier who guarded him
(comp. Acts xxi. 33 ; xxviii. 20 ; 2 Tim. i. 16). He would
often be reminded of this weary burden, since he could not
move or write a line without hearing its dismal clank
(Phil. i. 14-16; Col. iv. 3, 18; 2 Tim. i. 16; ii. 9).
24. " That love our Lord Jesus Christ in uncorrupt-
ness " (R.V.)
The word is- ayhtharsia. See note on 1 Cor. xv. 42.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY

The two Epistles to Timothy and that to Titus are
invaluable as "the Pastors' Manual" of St. Paul.
Undoubtedly they present difficulties — difficulties so
serious that many critics have doubted their genuineness
on the following grounds : —
(i) We have no record except these Epistles of any
work or travels of St. Paul after his first Roman
imprisonment. There is nothing decisive in this objection. A glance at
St. Paul's own account of his sufferings, long before this
period of his life (2 Cor. xi. 22-27), shows what a mere
fraction of his biography we possess ; and after the close of
the first Roman imprisonment we have not even a frag
mentary history like that of the Acts to help us.
(ii) We are here face to face with many words and phrases
which are hapax legomena — i.e. some of them are not
found in any of St. Paul's other writings, and some of
them nowhere else in the New Testament, such as —
" Grace, mercy, peace " (ch. i. 2 ; 2 Tim. i. 2).
" Healthful doctrine " (ch. i. 10 ; vi. 3 ; comp. 2 Tim.
i. 13; Tit. i. 9, 13; ii. 1, 8); "doting," lit. diseased
(ch. vi. 4). Other isolated words in the Greek of these
Epistles are "ensample" (ch. i. 16; 2 Tim. i. 13),
"tranquil" (ch. ii. 2), "godliness" (ii. 10), "to have
dominion" (ii. 12), "a novice" (iii. 6), "puffed up" as
with smoke (iii. 6; vi. 4), "degree" (iii. 13), "question
ings," "word-disputes" (vi. 4), "babblings" (vi. 20),
" herald " (ii. 7; 2 Tim. i. 11), "gangrene " (2 Tim. ii. 17),

The First Epistle to Timothy. 287
"conduct" (2 Tim. iii. 10), "discipline" (2Tim. i. 7),
"impostor" (2 Tim. iii. 13), "sacred" (2 Tim. iii. 15; 1 Cor.
ix. 13), "without self-control" (2 Tim. iii. 3), "Faithful
is the saying" (ch. i. 15; iii. 1 ; iv. 9; 2 Tim. ii. 11 ; Tit.
iii. 8). The epithet "fair" or "beautiful" (kalos) occurs
seventeen times in the Epistles, only sixteen times in all
the previous Epistles.
Some expressions seem to point to the growth of a new
system of gnosticism, such as "fables and endless gene
alogies" (ch. i. 4), "vain talking" (i. 6), "doctrines of
demons" (iv. 1), "profane and old wives' fables" (iv. 7),
"profane babblings and oppositions of the Gnosis which
is falsely so called" (vi. 20 ; comp. 2 Tim. ii. 14, 16, 23).
The answer to this objection is (i) that the society of
the first century was a seething hotbed of excitement
and speculation, alike in the heathen and Christian
world. Heresies, disputings, strange views, false infer
ences abounded, and took form very early in the strange
aberrations of Manicheism and Gnosticism. We find
traces of this in the Epistle to the Colossians (ch. ii. 8)
and elsewhere.
And (ii) that an intensely original writer, like St. Paul,
constantly varies his style with the moods and needs of
the present.
Whatever difficulties may remain, the arguments in
favour of the' genuineness of the Epistles, both external
and interna], are extremely strong. Amid all differences
they exhibit an unmistakably Pauline stamp, both of
style and of thought. A forger tries to imitate: he
avoids obvious divergences. Is it likely — to touch on
only one or two points — that a forger would have begun
the Epistle with an anakoluthon, i.e. a sentence which
does uot regularly end, as ch. i. 1-3 ; or that he would
have varied the formula " grace and peace" into "grace,
mercy, and peace ; " or that he would have made St. Paul
call himself the "chief of sinners" (i. 15) ; or that he
would have " gone off at a word," as in ii. 3, 7 ; or

288 The First Epistle to Timothy.
that, in ii. 15, he would have seemed to contradict what is
said in 1 Cor. vii. ; or that he should have introduced the
very natural break at ch. iii. 14, 15, as though the Epistle
were to have ended there ; or that he would have intro
duced, with such casual naturalness, an apparently trivial
rule of hygiene at v. 23, or have overlooked the confusion
of metaphors in vi. 19, or have hit upon one of St. Paul's
powerful oxymora in " while living she is dead " (v. 6) ?
A careful and repeated study of these Epistles, espe
cially in the original Greek, leaves on the mind the
strongest conviction that we have before us in these "Pas
toral Epistles " genuine letters of St. Paul. They were
universally accepted in the ancient Church.
This letter was perhaps written about A.d. 67, in the
period between St. Paul's two imprisonments, as he was
passing through Macedonia. He had left Timothy in
charge at Ephesus, and writes this letter mainly —
(i) To urge him to counteract various nascent heresies ;
(ii) To instruct him in his duties as overseer of the
Church at Ephesus.

CHAPTER I.
l. " God our Saviour."
This Old Testament phrase (Ps. xxiv. 5 ; Is. xii. 2, etc.)
is only used by St. Paul in the "Pastoral Epistles"
(1 Tim ii. 3 ; iv. 10 ; Tit. i. 3 ; ii. 10; iii. 4), but occurs
also in Jude 25.
2. " Grace, mercy, peace."
On " grace and peace," see on 1 Cor. i. 3. The addition
of "mercy," found only in these three Epistles and 2 John
3, Jude 2, is a variation natural at the period of life at
which he wrote. Of all writers St. Paul was the least
stereotyped. A many-sided individuality kept him from
constant repetition of the same phrases.

Chapter I. 289
4. " Fables and endless genealogies."
This is a characterisation, which describes alike the
Talmudic Haggadoth, and the "aeons" of the Gnostic,
Valentinus ; both of which may have existed in germ in
St. Paul's later days.
5. " The end of the charge is love."
The "charge" is part of the "stewardship" mentioned
in the previous verses. St. Paul was in exact accordance
with the teachings of Christ, and all the other Apostles,
in making ' ' love," in the spiritual sense, the one supreme
aim of life.
8. " The legitimate use of the law " is not to create a
system of artificial fetters for the righteous, but to furnish
strong bonds against the transgressions of the wicked.
9. "Profane."
This word recurs in ch. iv. 7 ; vi. 20.
9. " Murderers of fathers."
Rather, "smitersoi fathers."
10. " The healthful teaching."
Some have seen in the recurrence of this unusual meta
phor (ch. vi. 3, 4 ; 2 Tim. i. 13), and in passages like
2 Tim. ii. 17 ; Tit. ii. 8, a trace of the fact that, at this
time, there was no one with St. Paul except Luke, "the
beloved physician " (2 Tim. iv. 10).
13. " I did it ignorantly."
"His ignorance did not give him any claim on God's
mercy, but merely put him within the pale of its opera
tions " (Bp. Ellicott).
15. " Faithful is the saying."
See ch. iii. 1 ; iv. 9 ; 2 Tim. ii. 11 ; Tit. iii. 8 ; Rev. xxi.
5 ; xxii. 6. The formula resembles 1 Kings x. 6 (LXX.),
19

2 go The First Epistle to Timothy.
and "is thought to be an indication that these Epistles
were written at a comparatively late date, when the main
truths of the Gospel began to be embodied in short pithy
sentences. Faithful, i.e. worthy to be believed. It looks
like the germ of a creed.
17. Literally, "unto the King of the ages, incorrup
tible, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory unto
the ages of the ages."
20. " Hymenseus and Philetus."
See 2 Tim. ii. 16, 17. Nothing is known of them.
20. " Delivered unto Satan."
See on 1 Cor. v. 5. It looks like a formula of ex
communication.
CHAPTER II.
1. The four forms of prayer here mentioned are,
(i) special petitions for our individual needs ; (ii) general
prayers; (iii) urgent personal entreaties; (iv) thanks
givings for mercies thus obtained.
4. " Who willeth that all men should be saved."
And "who hath resisted His will?" (Rom. ix. 19).
"All," says Barrow, "are rendered through Jesus Christ
salvabiles and salvandi." " 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"
(Ellicott). 7. " A preacher."
Literally, " A herald."
9. "With shamefastness [better than "shame/aceeZ-
ness "] and sobriety."
The first word (aidos) means deserved modesty ; the
second (sophrosune) , "habitual inner self-government"
(Trench, N. T. Syn. § xx.).

Chapter III. 291

15. " She shall be saved through the childbearing'''
The expression is surprising and obscure. To refer it
to the virgin-birth of Christ is a far-fetched artificiality.
We cannot be certain of the exact shade of meaning ; but
as he is speaking of Eve and of married women, perhaps
the meaning may be "through her childbearing," i.e. by
the discharge of her maternal duties.
CHAPTER III.
6. " The condemnation [" judgment "] of the devil."
"The devil" is only mentioned by St. Paul twice in
his Epistle to the Ephesians (ch. iv. 27 ; vi. 11) and three
times in these Epistles (ch. iii. 6, 7; 2 Tim. ii. 26). It
might mean "the censure of slanderers." We also have
diabolous, " slanderers," in ver. 11.
13. "A good degree" does not mean a position or
preferment in the Church, but "a good standing" in the
approval of God.
15. "The pillar and ground [or "stay"] of the
truth." Comp. vi. 19. Does this refer to " the Church," or to
Timothy ? — "that thou mayest know how thou oughtest
to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church
of the living God, as a pillar and basis of the truth."
I believe this to be the meaning : for (i) by only a great
confusion of thought can "the Church " be called both
the house of God and a pillar ; (ii) a " pillar " is applied
to persons only (Rev. iii. 12 ; Gal. ii. 9; comp. Eph. ii.
20) ; (iii) the words are applied to the martyr Attalus in
the Epistle of the Church of Lyons (c. 5).
16. " The mystery of godliness."
The following words would explain that this revealed

292 The First Epistle to Timothy.
secret — which reads like a sort of rhythmic creed — is
descriptive of Christ in five clauses. "He Who * was —
(i) Manifested in flesh
(ii) Justified in spirit,
(iii) Seen by angels,
(iv) Heralded among the nations,
(v) Received up in glory."
Comp. 1 Pet. iii. 18 ; iii. 22.
But it is "a description of the essential character of
the Gospel, not simply a series of historical statements.
The Gospel is personal. The Gospel — ' the revelation of
godliness ' — is, in a word, Christ Himself, and not any
propositions about Christ. . . . Under this aspect the
sentence of St. Paul is in part a commentary on the Lord's
own words : ' I am the way, and the truth, and the life : '
(John xiv. 6) " (W).

CHAPTER IV.
1. Not "in the last times," as in 2 Tim. iii. 1 ; 2 Pet.
iii. 3 (comp. James v. 3 ; Jude 18) ; but "in latter times"
or "crises."
3-5. In these verses, as in Col. ii. 20-23 (where see note),
St. Paul again emphatically condemns the artificiality of
unnatural asceticism as strongly as he always urges on us
the duty of habitual temperance. Ver. 4, which tells
us that no creature of God is be rejected, is thought by
Dr. Field to be a reminiscence of Homer (Iliad, iii. 65).
6. " The good teaching."
This word (didaskalia) is prominent in these Epistles
(chs. i. 3, 10 ; iv. 1, 13, 16 ; v. 17 : vi. 1, 3 ; 2 Tim. iv
3 ; Tit. i. 9; ii. 1). In his other Epistles it only occurs
four times.
1 All critics are now agreed that the true reading is " who," not
" God."

Chapter V. 293
1*. We might infer from this exhortation against
neglect, and from 2 Tim i. 6, that Timothy was sometimes
tempted (perhaps from ill-health, v. 23) to despondent
slackness amid his manifold difficulties.

CHAPTER V.
4. " Children or grandchildren."
"Nephews" in the A.V. was sometimes used for
grandchildren. 6. " Is dead while she liveth."
Comp. Eph. iv. 18 ; Rev. iii. 1.
17. " Of double honour''
The context seems to show that increased salary is in
truded in the "honour" (comp. vi. 19).
21. " The elect angels."
See 2 Pet. ii. 4 ; Jude 6.
23. " Be no longer a water-drinker."
Not " drink no longer water " (A.V.). Perhaps from
the same motives which lead to total abstinence in these
days — though in ancient times wines were comparatively
Weak and harmless, and were drunk largely diluted, and
though drunkenness was a far less common and universal
curse than now it is — Timothy habitually drank water ;
and here St. Paul casually advises him, as a simple rule
of hygiene, and because he seems to have been constantly
ill, and to have had gastric troubles, to use "a little
wine." To quote a purely individual piece of advice,
given to an ailing man, as an argument against modern
total abstinence under conditions so absolutely different,
shows the superstitious ineptitude with which Scripture
is constantly perverted.
Those of us who are total abstainers have not taken the

294 The First Epistle to Timothy.
pledge from any notion of meritorious self-sacrifice, but
(i) because, from long experience, we believe it to be in all
respects better for our health and happiness ; (ii) to show
the tempted how easily they may be freed from one fatally
ruinous temptation.
24. " Some men's sins are evident, going before unto
judgment ; and some they follow after."
An incidental, but striking classification of different
kinds of sins — those that lead and those that follow
the transgressor. The sins of some men are like torch-
bearers, conducting them, as it were, in open procession,
to judgment ; others, less glaring, and involving a more
gradual retribution, follow the transgressor like secret
and unseen avengers, ready, when the time has come,
to stab them from behind with the fatal and inevitable
death-blow. " There is an hour, and justice knows the date,
For long-enduring majesty to wait,
That hour elapsed, the incurable revolt
Is punished — and down comes the thunderbolt 1 "

CHAPTER VI.
4. "Doting."
Literally, "diseased," "morbid."
5. " Thinking that piety is a gainful trade.''
They regard their godliness as a convenient way for
getting money, whereas it is a way which, in the con
tented heart, leads true men to noble indifference to, and
independence of, all but the barest necessaries of life.
10. It is not true that the love of money is "the root
of all evils," but it is "a root of all evils" — i.e. from it
every form of evil may spring, and constantly does spring.
Diogenes Laertius calls avarice "the metropolis of all
evils."

Chapter VI. 295

20. " Oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely
so called."
Literally, " antitheses of the false-named Gnosis."
Gnosticism, with its manifold scholastic niceties, and vain
discussions, and idle fancies, was, as we see from other
parts of the New Testament, already in the air.

THE EPISTLE TO TITUS

In this Epistle, also, there are some isolated phrases
(hapax legomena), such as —
"Reverent in demeanour" (ii. 3).
" To shun (by going round) " (iii. 9). See 2 Tim.
ii. 16.
"To train" (ii. 4).
"Loathsome" (i. 16).
"For his own possession " (ii. 14).
It is characterised by the frequent recurrence of the
same words and phrases, such as —
" Saviour " and " saving " (i. 3, 4; ii. 10, 11, 13; iii.
4, 6).' ' Works, " and " good works " (i. 16 ; ii. 3, 14 ; iii. 1, 5,
8, 14). "Sound," "healthful" (i. 9, 13; ii. 1, 2, 8).
"Sober" (i. 8 ; ii. 2, 4, 6, 12).
"Doctrine," and "teaching" (i. 9; ii. 1, 7, 10).
CHAPTER I.
2. " Before times eternal."
See on 2 Tim. i. 9.
8. " Soberminded."
The word, characteristic of this Epistle, is not so much
the antithesis to "drunken" as to "flighty," "fantastic."
A Sophron is one who preserves his mind (see Acts xxvi.
25 ; Rom. xii. 3 ; 1 Pet. iv. 7).

Chapters II., III. 297
12. " Cretans are always liars, evil wild-beasts, lazy
bellies." An hexameter line from the Cretan poet Epimenides
(b.c 596). The Cretans had a bad reputation among the
ancients (Polybius, Hist. vi. 46. 3). " Kretizein" meant
"to tell lies." The line quoted by St. Paul also occurs
in Callimachus' hymn, Ad Jov. 8. The old proverb says
that there were three very bad Ks — Kretans, Kappado-
kians, and Kilikians (see Liv. xiv. 45 ; Plut., Paul Mmil.
23 ; Clem. Alex., Strom, i. 14).

CHAPTER II.
13. " The appearing of our great God and Saviour
Jesus Christ."
This seems to be the right rendering, since " Epiphany "
is specially applied to Christ; but the phrase is unique.
14. " For His own possession."
This word (periousios) is not found elsewhere in the
New Testament, but is taken from the Greek translation
(LXX.) of the Old Testament (Ex. xix. 5; Deut. vii. 6:
comp. Is. xliii. 21 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9).
CHAPTER III.
4. " Kindness."
In the original "philanthropy," a word which only
occurs here and in Acts xxviii. 2.
10. " A man that is factious."
This seems to be the meaning — not "heretical" (see
note on 1 Cor. xi. 19). The word does not occur elsewhere
in the New Testament.

298 The Epistle to Titus.
12. "Nicopolis."
There was a Nicopolis in Cilicia, in Thrace, and in
Epirus; probably the one in Epirus is here intended.
There is a conjectural emendation Neapolis (Naples).
14. " Our people also."
The expression is not easy to explain.

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO
TIMOTHY

Bengel calls this letter " The last will and swan-song of
St. Paul."
The motive of the letter was to urge Timothy to come
to him (chs. i. 4; iv. 9, 13, 21).

CHAPTER I.
6. " That thou stir up the gift of God."
Literally, " fan into fresh flame." A charisma — i.e.
an imparted grace — if not duly tended, may sink into
white embers.
9. "Before times eternal."
I.e. from all eternity (comp. Eph. i. 4; 1 Cor. ii. 7;
Rom. xvi. 25 ; Tit. i. 2).
18. From the fact that only " the household of Onesipho-
rus " is mentioned in ver. 16, some have inferred that
Onesiphorus himself was dead (comp. iv. 19). If that be
so, this would be a sort of aspiration or prayer for the
dead. The practice of "prayer for the dead" finds no
other sanction in the New Testament than this very
indirect and wholly uncertain one ; but it appears to have
existed among the Jews (2 Mace. xii. 41-45).

300 The Second Epistle to Timothy.
CHAPTER II.
U. " Faithful is the saying."
Here, as in 1 Tim. iii. 16, the formula which follows is
a sort of rhythmic hymn, or creed : —
" If we died with, we shall also live with Him.
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him, He, too, will deny us.
If we are faithless, He abideth faithful :
He is not able to deny Himself."
15. " Handling aright."
Rather " cutting a straight course in."
16. "Babblings."
Only found here and in 1 Tim. vi. 20.
17. " Will spread or eat as doth a gangrene"
See notes on 1 Tim. i. 10, 20 ; and medical metaphors
in ch. iv. 3.
19. " Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth."
It stands, and is sealed, and its seal, or impression
(Deut. vi. 9; xi. 20) has two inscriptions : —
(i) "The Lord knoweth them that are His."
(ii) " Let every one that nameth the Name of the Lord
depart from unrighteousness " (Num. xvi. 26).
26. " And that they may recover soberness out of
the snare of the devil."
St. Paul was as indifferent as Shakespeare himself to the
confusion of metaphors (comp. " to take up arms against
a sea of trouble "), where the resultant sense was clear and
forcible. "Having been taken captive by him [it is uncertain
whether the "him " refers to " the devil " or to "the Lord's
servant "] to do his will [it is again uncertain whether

Chapters III., IV. 301
the reference is to " the devil " or " to God "]." Since the
words " the will" are most frequently used for "the will
of God," perhaps the meaning is " having been taken alive
by the Lord's servant [ver. 24] unto the will of God."
But the right rendering may be "that they may return
to soberness out of the snare of the devil — having been
taken captive by him — to do His (God's) will."

CHAPTER III.
4. " Pleasure-lovers rather than god-lovers."
There may be a reference to a famous saying of the
Pythagorean Demophilus, that "a man could not be both
a philedon and a philotheos."
6. " Silly women."
Literally, " womanlings." Heretics in all ages have
known how to entrap women in their errors (Jos., Antt.
xvii. 2; Epiphan., Hmr. xxvi. 11 ; Jer., Ep. ad Ctes. 133.
4, etc. (Ellicott).
8. "Jannes and Jamhres."
Names given by the Jewish Haggadah to two of
Pharaoh's magicians. The Targum of Jonathan calls
them sons of Balaam.
16. Not, "Every Scripture is inspired of God, etc.,"
but " every Scripture inspired by God is also useful, etc."
(not "All Scripture " as in A.V.).
CHAPTER IV.
6. "I am already being poured out as a libation [or
" drink-offering "]."
See note on Phil. ii. 17.

302 The Second Epistle to Timothy.
13. " The cloke that I left at Troas."
The word means a large sailor's cloak (pcenula). Shiver
ing in his Roman prison, Paul needed it; and in that
dreary loneliness longed also for his books and parchments.
He seems to have been a student all his life. Hence the
exclamation of Festus (Acts xxvi. 24). He had left these
things with his friend Carpus at Troas, in one of his
hurried journeys. No forger would have dreamed of in
serting this touching little personal message. There is a
striking parallel to this in the letter written by the mar
tyr, William Tyndale, from the damp cell of his prison at
Vilvorde, in the winter before his death. He wrote to
beg for something to patch his leggings, and for a woollen
shirt, a warmer cap, and above all for his Hebrew Bible,
grammar, and dictionary.
17. "I was delivered out of the mouth of the
lion." The metaphor may be an allusion to the cruelty of
Nero. It is nearly certain that it cannot be taken liter
ally as an allusion to the beast-fights in the amphitheatre
(comp. " If I fought with beasts at Ephesus," 1 Cor. xv.
32). 20. "Erastus."
Rom. xvi. 23; Acts xix. 22.
20. "Trophimus."
Acts xx. 4 ; xxi. 29.
21. " Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia."
These are three very interesting names. Pudens and
Claudia may conceivably be those mentioned by Martial
( Epig. iv. 13; xi. 53), and Linus the first Bishop of
Rome.

THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES

This letter of the Lord's brother is addressed, like that of
St. Peter, to the Twelve Tribes of " the Dispersion." The
word "dispersion" (Heb. Galootha ; Greek, Diaspora)
occurs only in 1 Pet. i. 1 ; John vii. 35. In the LXX. it
is found in Deut. xxviii. 25, xxx. 4, and a few other
passages. This is one of the seven "Catholic" Epistles.
The word was used sometimes in the sense of "Encycli
cal " and sometimes of " Canonical."
The Epistle falls into seven main divisions (the number
seven being probably intentional), followed by three brief
appendices. The seven sections, after the short greeting, are —
(i) On the endurance of trials (ch. i. 2-18), with a
special warning against double-mindedness (vers. 2-11).
(ii) How to receive the word — as doers, not only as
hearers, and with the recognition that ritual is valueless
without active love.
(iii) The danger of respect of persons (ch. ii. 1-13).
(iv) The relation between faith and practice (ch. ii.
14-26). (v) The control of the tongue, with the difference be
tween true and false wisdom (ch. iii. 1-18).
(vi) The sins of strife and worldliness (ch. iv. 1-12).
(vii) Sins of the rich and comfort for the poor (ch. v.
1-11). Three appendices : —
(a) Sinfulness of needless oaths (ch. v. 12).
(b) The blessings of prayer and Christian intercourse
(ch. v. 13-18).

304 The General Epistle of St. James.
(c) The blessedness of converting a sinner (ch. v.
19-20). The Epistle aims mainly at moral exhortation, and it is
stamped with the lofty personality of the writer, and afire
with his burning sincerity. "What a noble man speaks
in this Epistle ! " says Herder. " Deep, unbroken pa
tience in suffering ! Greatness in poverty ! Joy in sor
row ! Simplicity, sincerity, firm confidence in prayer !
How he wants action/ Action — not words, not dead
faith I " But although many distinctively Christian and
spiritual elements are wanting to the Epistle, yet it is
largely dependent on the discourses of Christ, and contains
ten distinct references to the Sermon on the Mount. So
far from being, as Luther rashly said, " a downright
strawy Epistle, which lacks all evangelical character," or,
as Strobel also said from complete misapprehension, " in
flat contradiction to Scripture," it contains a most impor
tant correction of what might have been a dangerous per
version of the doctrine of Justification by Faith, and it
has several passages of consummate theological value (chs.
i. 8, 13-15, 16-18, 21; iii. 13-18; iv. 5, etc.).
The Epistle contains six allusions to the Book of Job,
ten to Proverbs, five to Wisdom, and fifteen to Ecclesias-
ticus. Dr. J. B. Mayor, in his very valuable edition of
the Epistle, says that "in regard to practice, the leading
principle is the necessity of wholeheartedness in religion."

CHAPTER I.
l. " James, a servant [slave] of God."
This form of address is only found in Tit. i. 1 ; the com
moner form is "a slave of Jesus Christ." This brings
us at once face to face with the problem, already touched
upon, that in this Epistle there is so little direct allusion
to Christ, Who is, indeed, only twice mentioned. I have
already pointed to the probable explanation, and it must

Chapter I. 305
not be forgotten that the Epistle contains one important
theological passage, which can only be explained by refer
ence to Christ (ch. i. 21), as well as one of profound inter
est on the work of the Holy Spirit (ch. iv. 5).
1. "Greeting."
This is the Greek form of salutation, and is used in the
letter from St. James and the Church at Jerusalem (Acts
xv. 23). It is used by Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Mace. ix.
19) and by Claudius Lysias (Acts xv. 23). The Jewish
greeting is Shalom ! "Peace!" The marginal reading,
" giveth joy, " is meant to bring out the style of the struc
ture in this Epistle. It consists in linking paragraph to
paragraph by the repetition of a word, thus —
Vers. 1. James . . . giveth joy ; 2. Count it all joy, etc.
Vers. 3. Faith worketh patience / 4. And let patience
have her perfect work . . . that ye may be lacking in
nothing ; 5. But if any of you lacketh wisdom ... let him
ask ; 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For
he that doubteth, etc.
This method of transition from clause to clause is called
duadiplosis. In other respects the transitions are often
extremely abrupt. And so, frequently, throughout the
letter. 2. "Temptations."
The predominant meaning of the word peirasmos here is
that form of temptation which consists in earthly trials.
4.. " That ye may be perfect."
" The work of God in a man is the man " (Alford).
5. "Wisdom."
St. James uses the word for the practical wisdom which
surpasses knowledge (gnosis), because it not only knows
the truth, but acts upon the knowledge (see ch. iii. 15-17 ;
1 Cor. xii. 8 ; Col. ii. 3). 20

306 The General Epistle of St. James.
5. " Who giveth . . . and upbraideth not."
God is not like the givers who cast their benefits in the
teeth of those to whom they have given (exprobratio bene-
ficii) (Ter., Andr. i. 1). St. James is thinking of Ecclus.
xx. 15; xii. 22: "After thou hast given, upbraid not."
6. " Let him ask in faith, nothing doubting."
Faith, with St. James, means undivided confidence in
God. Ecclus. vii. 10: "Be not fainthearted when thou
makest thy prayer." Comp. Matt. xxi. 21; Rom. iv. 20.
" When Faith says ' Yes ' and Doubt says ' No,' to doubt
is to give the preponderance to the 'No ' " (Huther).
8. " A double-minded man."
A man " who has two souls " in conflict with each other.
Cf. 1 Kings xviii. 21 ; Ecclus. i. 28 ; ii. 12 ; Ps. xii. 2.
A "double heart " is " a heart and a heart " (see Matt. vi.
24). The "Mr. Facing-both-ways " of Bunyan, and the
"neither-one-thing-nor-the-other " neutrals, trimmers, etc.,
who crowd the ante-Hell in Dante's Inferno (iii. 22-51),
are "double-minded men" : —
" Che visser senza infamia e senza lodo."
9. " In that he is made low."
Literally, " In his humiliation."
" Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adver
sity of the New " (Lord Bacon). It has been questioned
whether, throughout the Epistle, by " the rich " and " the
poor," St. James means (i) the Gentile rich and the Chris
tian poor ; or (ii) the spiritually rich and the morally
poor ; or (iii) in general the rich as a class and the poor
as a class. The answer is that he is speaking generally,
and recalling Christ's Beatitude of Poverty (see Matt, xxiii.
12 ; Luke xiv. 11 ; xviii. 14). Riches are always a source
of temptation. Without any exaggerated love of pauper
ism, the Lord's brother had learnt that, though wealthiness
is not a sin, nor poverty a virtue, yet humble and contented

Chapter I. 307
poverty is the true wealth, and haughty, pampered riches
the real poverty.
13. " God cannot be tempted with evil."
The Greek is, literally, "untempted of evils ;" but it
perhaps means "has nothing to do with, is out of the
sphere of, evils." Margin: " is untried in evils." (Ecu-
menius quotes a heathen saying — "The Divine neither
suffers nor causes troubles." The whole passage is a pro
test against the fatalism to which men are too prone. It
is the self-excuse of fatalism which prompts such lines as
those of Omar Khayyam —
" O Thou Who man of meaner clay didst make,
And e'en in Paradise devise the snake,
For all the sin wherewith the face of man
Is blackened, man's forgiveness give and take!"
or those of the Colonel in Cowper's Hope —
" If Appetite, or what Divines call Lust,
Which men comply with e'en because they must
Be punished with perdition, who is pure t
Then theirs, at least, as well as mine is sure,
Then heaVn enjoins the fallible and frail
A hopeless task, and damns them if they fail."
13. " And He Himself tempteth no man."
Why then, asks St. Augustine, do we read that "God
did ' tempt Abraham ' ?" He answers: "It means that
God tempted Abraham, not from evil motives to an evil
end, but from good motives to a good end."
14. " Each man is tempted, when he is drawn away
by his own lust, and enticed."
Or as in margin. The English does not bring out the
vividness of the original. "Each man is ever tempted
[or " is being tempted "] when he is being enticed with
a bait by his own lust, and being dragged out." The
metaphor, as in 2 Pet. ii. 14, 18 (Prov. xxx. 13, LXX.) is

308 The General Epistle of St James.
f rom fishing. The verb is derived from delear, " a bait."
"The sweetness of desire," says Plutarch, "like a bait
[delear] drags men out," i.e. out of the water, to gasp and
die upon the shore, like silly fish which have swallowed
the dangling lure. The desire conceives and begets sin,
and sin genders death. Thus no one is harmed by God,
but only by himself. This is the bad genealogy of sin.
First comes temptation and enticement, then delight, then
consent. Thus " Lust is a harlot-temptress, and by her
evil connection with the soul becomes the mother of sin.
Sin, grown to maturity, becomes the incestuous mother of
death. The sinner is the parent of both." We cannot
throw the blame of our sins on God (Rom. ix. 19). St.
James was probably thinking of a passage in Ecclesias-
ticus (xv. 11-17), a book to which he frequently refers in
this Epistle : " Say not thou, It is through the Lord that
I fell away : for thou oughtest not to do the things that
He hateth. Say not thou, He hath caused me to err : for
He hath no need of the sinful man. ... He hath set fire
and water before thee : stretch forth thy hand unto whether
thou wilt. Before man is life and death ; and whether
him liketh shall be given him."
17. The verse says that "every good gift [dosis] in the
lower order of blessings, and every perfect boon [dorema]
among the superlatively great and eternal benefits, is from
above." Philo says that " a boon " (dorema) exceeds " a
gift " (dosis) in " emphasis of greatness ; " and he gives
to the word^" boon" the same epithet, "perfect." All
good, therefore, descends from the Father of the Lights
(i.e. of the heavenly bodies), with Whom, unlike the lights
of heaven, there is no parallax, no solar solstices, or turn
ing of the shadow, no changes or revolutions. The terms
seem to be meant for technical astronomical expressions,
but the general meaning is that "God is Light, and in
Him is no darkness at all " (comp. Ps. cxxxix. 11).
"God," says Wetstein, "is always in the meridian."
He is "the Light which knows no eventide." He is

Chapter I. 309
"I am that I am" (Ex. iii. 14) : "I am the Lord, I
change not " (Mai. iii. 6).
16-22. The most spiritually important passage in the
Epistle, and pregnant with the deepest instruction.
"Because He willed it, he engendered us by the word
of truth, that we might be, in some sense, a first fruit of
His creatures ; . . . wherefore, at once, laying aside all
filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, receive with
meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save your
souls." The deepest lessons here, respecting the new birth,
are —
(i) The cause. That since we needed a new life, God,
by one act, which sprang from the free purpose of His
own will and choice (bouletheis), gave it to us, because it is
natural to God to bless. His own will is most loving, most
free, most pure, most fruitful (John i. 13 ; 1 Pet. i. 3).
(ii) The act. God gave us this new birth, He "en
gendered us." The verb ("He brought us forth") is
applicable to either parent (Rom. viii. 15 ; 1 Pet. i. 23),
and is in antithesis to the " gendering " of sin (ver. 15).
Thus, as Bengel says, " God is to us in the place both of
father and mother." God was the bestower of the new
life — not Fate, as the Pharisees said ; not our own efforts,
as the Sadducees argued.
(iii) The instrument. As the cause of our new birth
was God's purpose, so the instrument was " the word of
truth," the Divine revelation of God to man. It is a mis
take here to give to "the word" its specific Johannine
sense of "the Logos," because it could hardly have been so
understood by the readers — but still it comes near that
sense. Comp. John xvii. 17: "Sanctify them in the
truth; Thy word is truth;" "Having been begotten
again by the word of the Living God" (1 Pet. i. 23).
(iv) The manner. God begat us by the implanting, or
engrafting, of this word of truth. It is an "implanted
word." It may be a reference to the parable of the Sower,

310 The General Epistle of St. James.
 —  M
in which the seed sown is, by a powerful figure of speech,
identified with the heart that receives it (see Matt. xiii. 23).
The word "implanted" occurs only in Wisd. xii. 10.
(v) The result. That we should be in some sense a
firstfruit. a. Only "a sortoi firstfruit," because Christ is the true
eternal firstfruit, and then we, in Christ (Rom. viii. 19-^
23) ; but still we are —
b. A firstfruit, i.e. the beginning of a great sacrificial
gift (Lev. xxiii. 10 ; 1 Cor. xv. 22 ; xvi. 15 ; Rev. xiv. 4).
c. And the fact that we are but "a firstfruit " points
to the truth that this "firstfruit" shall be ultimately
followed and completed by the offering up of all God's
creatures. d. And this implanted word is the sole source of our
strength and safety. It is able to save our souls, for it is
a power of God (Rom. i. 16) ; and it is alone able, for we
cannot save ourselves by outward good works, or by the
mere exertion of our own will.
Thus, as I have said before,1 into one brief sentence St.
James concentrates many solemn truths, and even by the
words " of His own will" he rejects at once the dangerous
fatalism of the Pharisees (Jos., Antt. xviii. 1, 3 ; B.J.
ii. 8, 14) and the arrogant assertion of the Sadducees,
that salvation lies absolutely in the power of our own
achievement. 22-27. This is, again, a remarkable and important
paragraph — the contrast between hearers and doers, and
the consequent definition of pure and undefiled ' ' religion."
A mere hearer is like a man who, after glancing at his
face in a mirror, has gone away, and thought no more
about it (vv. 23, 24) ; a doer is like one who has stooped
down to gaze, and stayed to gaze into the mirror of that
perfect law, which, though a law, is yet a law of liberty.
He thus proves himself to be not a hearer of forgetfulness,
1 Early Days of Christianity, p. 33a

Chapter II. 311
but a doer of work ; and finds that his very doing is in it
self a benediction (ver. 25). God's law requires steady,
earnest contemplation, not a mere passing glance. <
The hearer may be a man misled by false reasoning,
full of opinionated ignorance and self-satisfied infallibility,
given to dogmatism, obtrusive talk, intemperate quarrel
someness and denunciation of others, and yet may call
himself a "religious," because he goes through a number
of external observances; but the true religion is not an
outward ritual of ceremonies and ablutions, which is per.
fectly consistent with Pharisaic hypocrisy and profitless
self-deceit, and normally tends into this worthless de
generation. Ritual, in order to have any bearing upon
"religion pure and undefiled," must show itself in works
of active love, by being "unspotted from the world," and
free from " the contagion of the world's slow stain." The
only true ritual is love.
This passage is often radically misunderstood, from the
change which the meaning of the word ' ' religion " has
undergone. It is now often used as a synonym of sincere
godliness ; but in the seventeenth century it meant mainly
" outward service" — what is sometimes expressed by the
modern term "cult" (from cultus), or "religious service
and worship."
"The rites, ceremonies, vestments of the old Law,"
says Coleridge, "had morality for their substance. They
were the letter of which morality was the spirit ; the
enigma of which morality was the meaning. But moral
ity itself is the service and ceremonial of the Christian
religion."
CHAPTER II.
1-13. A rebuke of " respecting of persons " (prosopolep-
sia). The Talmud says, " God is a respecter of persons."
Christ and the Apostles, both by word and deed, taught
that He is no respecter of persons, and therefore " admir-

312 The General Epistle of St. James.
ing men's persons for the sake of advantage " (Jude 16)
is un-Christian baseness. To act thus — to honour the
rich and despise the poor — is an infraction of the royal
law, "Love thy neighbour as thyself" (ver. 8); and
"Love is the fulfilment — the plenitude — of the Law "
(Rom. xiii. 10). Now to break even one law is to break
all the Law, for it is to violate the principle of obedience
to law. If you are forbidden to go out of an enclosure,
and yet do so, it is no excuse that you went out at one
place and not at another. A robe is torn if it be only at
one spot; a harmony is ruined if only one voice is out of
tune. We shall be judged by the law of a service which
is perfect freedom, and judgment shall be merciless to the
merciless. Yet, in the heart alike of God and man, even
mercilessness may at last give way, for, as St. James
adds with splendid abruptness, "Mercy glories against
judgment." 2. "If there come into your synagogue."
This is (i) an interesting proof that St. James has Jew
ish Christians mainly in view, and (ii) that the name
" synagogue " lingered in use for a time to describe Chris
tian assemblies.
14-26. This is the famous passage about "justification
by works." It begins —
" What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath
faith, but have not works ? Can that faith save him ?"
Much mischief was done by the neglect to observe the
article here. The A.V. renders it " Can faith save him ? "
The only answer to such a question would be St. Paul's
" Yes ! Faith, if it be true faith, can save him " ; for the
very definition of true faith includes the necessity that it
will exhibit itself by works, otherwise it is not true faith.
But St. James is equally correct in his statement that, if a
man lays claim to faith, and yet does no works, he is un
saved. Can that faith — the barren verbiage of profession,

Chapter II. 313

the Pharisaic boast of a theoretically orthodox belief —
save him ? St. Paul would have answered quite as strongly
as St. James, "Certainly not." The supposed contradic
tion between the Apostles is purely verbal. In essence
they were absolutely at one. St. Paul was as little a
"solifidian," in the narrow verbal sense, as St. James.
St. Paul never had any conception of such a thing as
"faith" which was mere talk, and ceremony, and dogma;
and he would have said, quite as emphatically as St.
James, that it was equally true to say that Abraham and
Rahab were justified by works as to say that they were jus
tified by faith ; for there is no such thing, in the Pauline
sense, as faith without works.
Certainly, if we first read Rom. iv. 2 ; Eph. ii. 8, 9;
Rom. iii. 28, and then read this passage, we might, with
the contemptuous rashness of Luther, say that " St. Paul
says we are justified by faith, and St. James that we are
justified by works ; " and that it is all nonsense to try to
amalgamate contradictories. This was the fundamental
error which made him call the Epistle of James "an Epis
tle of straw." A little more patience, and a deeper study,
would have shown him that, in using the words "faith"
and ' ' works " the two Apostles are using them in entirely
different senses.
St. James here used the word "faith " of barren profes
sion : St. Paul, of the inmost principle of spiritual life.
St. Paul is speaking of such " works " as mere. external
service and the ceremonial law, which are utterly profit
less to save : St. James, of works of righteousness, without
which faith cannot be true faith.
There are two opposite views : — ,
(i) That of Baur and the Tubingen school, that the
Epistle of St. James is a bitter manifesto of Judaising
Christians against the Paulinists ; and that St. James,
when he sternly calls his opponent "0 vain man" [i.e.
" empty person " — Raca !] is objurgating St. Paul.
(ii) That of Bishop Lightfoot, and many other modern

314 The General Epistle of St. James.
critics, that (a) the Epistle of St. James is probably ear
lier than those to the Romans and Galatians; (b) that
neither Apostle had so much as read the other; (c) that
St. James is thinking exclusively of the empty boasts
(preserved in the Talmud) of Pharisaic dogmatists who
avowedly relied for salvation on monotheism, circumcision,
externalism, and the advantage which their national birth
right gave them by the supposed favouritism of God. It
was perfectly natural that both St. Paul and St. James
should adduce the cases of Rahab and Abraham, because
both were prominently discussed in Jewish schools.
I have treated the subject fully in Early Days of
Christianity (ch. xxiii.) ; and it must here suffice to repeat
(i) that St. James is using the words "faith," "works,"
"justification," in wholly different senses from St. Paul;
and (ii) that, as St. James insists on the necessity of faith,
as well as works to secure salvation (chs. i. 3, 6; ii. 1, 5,
22, 26), so St. Paul insists on the necessity of works as
well as faith (2 Cor. ix. 8; Eph. ii. 10; Col. i. 10; 2
Thess. ii. 17, and passim), and, indeed, devotes half of
nearly every Epistle to moral exhortation, and says (Rom.
ii. 13) "the doers of the Law shall he justified."
There is, then, no real contradiction. St. James would
have said, quite as strongly as St. Paul, that faith without
works is mere orthodoxy, and works without faith mere
legal righteousness.
CHAPTER III.
1-12. Sins of speech. Here, as in many other passages,
St. James seems to have in mind a passage of Ecclesiasti-
cus (ch. xxviii. 15-26) on the importance of self-control
and charity in speech. See Matt. xii. 37 : " By thy words
thou shalt be justified."
l. " Be not many teachers."
Do not be "other-peoples-bishops" (1 Pet. iv. 15).

Chapter IV. 315

Avoid the conceited opinionativeness, the self-assured
infallibility (which is often in exact proportion to a man's
ignorance and incompetence) which leads to " the itch of
teaching " (see 1 Tim. i. 6, 7 ; Heb. v. 12).
5. Literally, " See how great a wood is set on fire by
how small a spark ! "
6. " The wheel of nature."
Cf. Ecclus. xii. 6. "Rota volvitur sevi " (Sil. Itali-
cus, iii. 6).
10. " Ought not so to be."
Here alone in the New Testament is used the wordx/oij
— "it is not seemly." The word elsewhere always used
for "ought" is Set, which implies moral fitness, and
occurs a hundred and six times.
13-18. The contrast between heavenly and sensual
wisdom. The qualities of heavenly wisdom — the col
ours of that Divine rainbow — are purity, peacefulness,
gentleness, placability, mercy, fruitfulness, impartiality,
sincerity.
CHAPTER IV.
1-10. A denunciation of grasping and bitter covetous-
ness. If the state of many early Christian communities
resembled the dark picture here drawn, it may well sur
prise us, though the condition of Christian society in
many an epoch has been quite as black. But probably the
language of St. James was coloured by the horrible greed,
anarchy, hypocrisy, and universal vileness, which were
rioting under his very eyes. The dwellers in Jerusalem,
at the period when he wrote — the wicked priests, and
murderous Sicarii — had turned the very Temple into a
foul cave of brigands. "He put his Epistle into the
hands of the Jewish Christians, that it might influence all

31 6 The General Epistle of St. James.
Jews, as it was a missionary instruction to the converted
for the unconverted, and the truly converted for the half-
converted " (Lange). St. James was so highly respected
even among the Jews that, according to Hegesippus, he
was known among them by the name of Obliam — "the
bulwark of the people ; " and legend even said that he was
allowed to wear a golden frontlet (petalon) on his fore
head like that of the high priest.
4. " Adulteresses."
This is the true reading, and refers to the prophetic
image of the Church of Israel as a bride.
5. "That Spirit which he made to dwell in us
yearneth/or us even unto jealous envy."
This is the marginal rendering, and though others are
possible, I feel little doubt that it is the true rendering.
The A.V. is here undoubtedly wrong, for the Greek can
only mean "the Spirit which he made to dwell in us;"
and therefore, in any case, the verse refers not to our
human spirit, but to the divine Spirit which God gives
to us. Nor can the verb mean " lusteth" (see Rom. i.
11 ; 2 Cor. v. 2 ; Phil. i. 8, etc.).
The verse, then, contains the inestimably precious truth
that the Spirit which God has given us longs, even to
jealous fondness, that we should pay to God an undivided
allegiance ; and for that reason He gives us greater grace
than we should naturally have, that we may maintain that
allegiance. Is it strange that, if the Spirit of God thus
"jealously yearns for us," He should also "make inter
cession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered," and
ever " help our infirmities " ?
But where does "the Scripture" say this? Nowhere
in so many words, so that (i) perhaps the phrase may mean
"the writing," and this may be a quotation from some
apocryphal book, like "the Testament of the Twelve
Patriarchs," or (ii) it maybe a "combined quotation"

Chapter V. 317
concentrating into one terse summary the meaning of sev
eral separate passages, as in John vii. 38, 42 ; Matt. ii. 23.
The passages of which the meaning is thus combined in
this verse, may be Gen. vi. 3 ; Deut. xxxii. 11 ; Ezek.
xxxvi. 27 (comp. Ecclus. iv. 4 ; Wisd. vi. 12-23).
15. " Ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall . . .
do this or that."
Hence the common abbreviation D.V., " Deo volente,"
in speaking of the future (comp. 1 Cor. iv. 19). There is
an interesting parallel in a Rabbinic treatise, Debarim
Rabba. A father produces rich wine at his son's circum
cision, and says, " With this wine I will long continue to
celebrate the birth of my new-born son." That night
Azrael, the angel of death, seeks him ; and when Rabbi
Simeon asks the angel why he is wandering about, Azrael
answers, " I slay those who say ' We will do this or that,'
and think not how soon death may overtake them."
CHAPTER V.
1-6. A condemnation of the arrogantly rapacious rich
(cf. Wisd. ii. 6-20).
7-11. An exhortation to patience.
12. A condemnation of oaths.
13-18. An encouragement of fervent prayer.
19. The blessedness of saving souls.
14. " Anointing him with oil."
Oil was a common Eastern therapeutic (Is. i. 6 ; Mark
vi. 13 ; Luke x. 34 ; Jos., Antt. xvii. 6, 5, etc.). Oil was
also used by the Romans for healing purposes (Pliny,
H.N. xxxi. 47). The custom of " extreme unction,"
derived from this text, continues both in the Eastern and
Western Church, and was retained as late as the first
Prayer-book of Edward VI. Yet it is so far from being
" a sacrament," and so far from being " a Catholic usage,"
that it was unknown in the Church for eight centuries,

318 The General Epistle of St. James.
except in an obscure Gnostic sect. In the early Church
oil was used simply as a therapeutic, and the unction was
not confined to priests. It was not till the thirteenth cen
tury that "extreme unction" was ranked among sacra
ments (see Diet, of Christ. Antiquities, pp. 1455-2004) .
15. " The prayer of faith shall save him that is sick."
That is, " it shall restore him to health if it be for his
eternal good." "Shall raise him," i.e. from the bed of
sickness (Acts ix. 34). Yet, in spite of these words,
' ' extreme unction " is forbidden except in cases where
recovery seems hopeless ! There is as little need for us in
England in these days to use oil as there is literally to
" wash one another's feet " (John xiii. 14) ; or give each
other " the kiss of peace " (1 Thess. v. 26 ; 1 Pet. v. 14).
"Things which were practised and prescribed by Christ
Himself and His Apostles," says Bishop Chr. Wordsworth,
"are not of perpetual obligation, unless they are con
ducive to an end which is of perpetual necessity."
16. " Confess your sins one to another."
It is as absurd to confine this exhortation to " con
fession to a priest" as to say that the next clause, "Pray
one for another," means only "get a priest to pray for
you." For "auricular confession" and "confession to
priests " there is not the ghost of the shadow of any
authority in the whole New Testament, nor in the writings
of primitive Christianity. " This Divine system of a
living Church in which all were to help each other," says
Dr. Arnold, " has been almost destroyed by that notion of
a priesthood which, claiming that men should confess
their sins to the clergy, not as to their brethren, but as to
God's vice-regents, and confining the promised blessing to
the prayer of the clergy as priests, not as Christians, nor
as the representatives of the whole Church, has changed
the sympathy of a Christian Society into the dominion of
a priesthood, and the mingled carelessness and superstition
of the laity."

THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF
ST. PETER

This Epistle was not improbably written from Rome about
a.d. 67, in the days of the Neronian persecution, shortly
before the Apostle's death. It is undoubtedly genuine,
being, as Renan says, "One of the writings of the New
Testament which are the most anciently and the most
unanimously cited as authentic." The writings of the
early Christians were widely distributed among the little
Churches, and this Epistle shows traces of influence re
ceived from the Epistle to the Ephesians. Yet it is inde
pendent and original, and within its brief compass contains
no fewer than sixty expressions which are not found else
where in the New Testament {hapax legomena).
The Epistle is addressed to Jews, but not to them ex
clusively (see i. 14, 18 ; iii. 6 ; iv. 3, 4, etc.). Its keynote
is, Hope : its main message, Endure, submit, for you are
the heirs of salvation. The suffering Christians needed no
impassioned arguments or eager dialectics ; but, in those
troubled times, they required to have impressed on their
minds the duty of innocence (i. 13-16, 22 ; ii. 1, 2, 11,
12 ; iii. 13, 15, 21 ; iv. 15), the blessedness of resigna
tion (i. 6 ; ii. 13-25 ; iv. 1-4, etc.), and the joy of Hope
(i. 4, 12, 13 ; iv. 6, 12 ; v. 1, 4, 7, 10, 11).
It is very interesting to trace in the Epistle the uncon
scious influence exercised upon the mind of the Apostle
by his personal experiences and reminiscences. These
furnish a quite incidental yet inevitable proof of genuine
ness. Thus he speaks of Christ as " a Rock " (ch. ii. 4-8),
and since he had once made himself a stumblingblock, and

320 The First Epistle General of St. Peter.
been reproved for it (Matt. xvi. 23), he points out the
danger of turning the Lord's will into "stone of stum
bling" (ch. ii. 8). He had learnt from Christ (Matt.
xvii. 24-27) that Christians, though free, must submit to
human ordinances (ch. ii. 13-16). Having been taught to
forgive his brother up to seventy times seven (Matt, xviii.
22), he teaches that love shall cover the "midtitude of
sins" (ch. iv. 8). He had heard Christ Himself compare
"the days of Noah " to the days of the Son of man (Matt.
xxiv. 37), and he repeats the comparison (ch. iii. 20). He
had seen Christ strip off His upper garment to wash the
disciples' feet, and tie a towel round His waist (John xiii.
1-6), and he reproduces the scene (ch. v. 5) in one most
picturesque and peculiar word (ch. i. 13). 1
In a pastoral and practical address like this, which was
not intended for a scholastic treatise or a systematic expo
sition, there was no need for the elaborate trains of reason
ing and exegesis which we find in some of St. Paul's
Epistles. But the style has a dignity, a beauty, and an
energy which we should expect from the leading Apostle.
This Epistle, like those of St. Paul, is divided into two
main parts — Doctrinal, on the blessings of Christians
(chs. i. 1— ii. 10) ; and Practical, on the duties of Chris
tians (chs. ii. 11-v. 14); but the doctrine is throughout
enwoven with practical exhortations, and the duties are
based on the highest spiritual beliefs. •
CHAPTER I.
l. "Peter."
The use of his Greek name — not of his Hebrew name
Symeon, or the Aramaic title of Kephas given him by
1 For other obvious reminiscences, see my Early Days of Chris
tianity, ch. vii. Comp. 1 Pet. ii. 20, 23, 24 (sufferings of Christ) ; the
pastoral metaphor (ch. ii. 25 ; v. 2) ; the words of Christ to Thomas
(ch. i. 8, etc.). Compare, too, ch. i. 12 ("to stoop down and look")
with Lube xxiv. 12; ch. ii. 15 ("to muzzle") with Luke iv. 35; and
ch. ii. 18 ("crooked") with Acts ii. 40.

Chapter I. 321
Christ — seems to indicate that he intends to address Gen
tiles as well as Jews.
1. " To the elect who are sojourners of the
Dispersion." "The Dispersion " is a term which applied strictly to
the Jews only; but St. Peter writes to "sojourners"
(whom the Jews called Toshabim) or. "pilgrims ;" and
in " the expatriated elect of the Dispersion," he no doubt
includes the Gentile proselytes of these Asiatic Churches,
who also were, in a metaphorical sense, "strangers and
pilgrims" (parepidemoi : see ch. ii. 11), since they now
belonged to the Ecclesia — to those who had been " called
out " from the world.
2. "Foreknowledge . . . sanctification . . . sprinkling."
He here describes their " election " in its origin — the
foreknowledge of the Father ; its progress — the sancti
fying work of the Spirit ; its end — obedience, and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. The "sprinkling"
is an allusion to the baptismal purification (Heb. xii.
24) which took the place of the Mosaic (Ex. xxiv. 8).
Having thus spoken, as St. Paul does, of the Three Per
sons of the Blessed Trinity as co-operant in the work of
man's salvation, he passes into a rich and comprehensive
thanksgiving with reference to the future (vv. 3-5) ; the
present (6-9) ; the past (10-12). His object is to repre
sent the certainty of salvation, and the obligations which
result from that certainty.
3. " Begat us again."
The word is peculiar to St. Peter, but compare "palinge-
nesia " (Tit. iii. 5) ; "He brought us forth" (James i. 18) ;
"created in Christ Jesus " (Eph. ii. 10).
3. "Unto, a living hope by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ."
This is the keynote of the Epistle — hope, founded on
21

322 The First Epistle General of St. Peter.
the Resurrection ; not a dead, but a living and energising
hope, such as scattered the despair of the Apostles ; a hope
"living, life-giving, and looking to life," of which the
Resurrection was the efficient cause.
5. " Who are being guarded''
The heritage is safely and for ever "reserved;" the
heirs are under guardianship, until the Salvation is re
vealed by the drawing of the curtain (ch. iv. 5, 7 ; Jude,
24). But though the entrance into the heritage is future,
the exultation in its anticipated joy is present (ver. 6),
since the glory is begun below. "The tenses of the New
Testament converge towards the present."
12. " Not for themselves, but for you."
This, in accordance with Greek idiom, means, "not so
much for themselves as for you."
" As little children lisp and talk of heaven,
So thoughts beyond their thoughts to those high bards were given"
(Keble). 12. " Angels desire to look into."
Literally, "to stoop and look." The word used is the
same which is used of Peter " stooping and looking " into
Christ's tomb (see Luke xxiv. 12 ; comp. James i. 25 ;
John xx. 5, 11). These blessings did not so directly
affect angels who had never fallen, as they affect men
[Heb. ii. 16).
13. " Girding up the loins of your mind."
The aorist means "girding your loins at once." It is
a reminiscence of our Lord's metaphor (Luke xii. 35),
"your loins girded, and your lamps kindled" (comp.
Eph. vi. 14).
16. [Not " Be ye holy," but] " Become ye holy, as I
am holy."
The reading is ginesthe. But the better reading is
"Ye shall be holy."

Chapter II. 323

17. " If ye call on Him as Father."
An allusion to the Lord's Prayer.
17. " Without respect of persons."
The Greek adverb occurs here only, but the conception
is thoroughly Petrine (Acts x. 34).
17. " In fear."
Not in that base and abject fear which " perfect love
casts out" (1 John iv. 18), which is inconsistent with the
spirit of sonship (Rom. viii. 15) ; nor in the spirit of
cowardice, which is the antithesis to the spirit of power,
and love, and a sound mind (2 Tim. i. 7) ; but " in godly
fear," that awful reverence, mixed with love, which, as
Leighton says, "drowns all lower fears and begets true

fortitude."

CHAPTER II.

2. " The spiritual milk which is without guile."
Literally, "the spiritual, unadulterated [or "guile
less"] milk." The word used for "spiritual" is not
pneumatikon, but logikon, "reasonable," " rational, " but
here it means " connected with the Word " (Logos) : see
i. 23. It occurs in Rom. xii. 1, which means " a reason
able service," or " a spiritual worship." St. Paul uses the
same metaphor of milk (1 Cor. iii. 2). It must be without
the "guile " which he has told us (ver. 1), to " lay aside
at once." Milk used to be adulterated with chalk (gyp
sum), and Irenseus says, "It is an evil thing to mix with
gypsum the milk of God."
3. " That the Lord is gracious."
The word for gracious is chrestos, which, by a peculiarity
of pronunciation called itacism, was pronounced exactly
the same as Christos. There seems to have been in St.
Peter's mind a play on words which would instantly sug
gest itself to his hearers ; they knew, by tasting the pure

324 The First Epistle General of St. Peter.
milk of the Logos, that Christos was chrestos ("sweet" or
" gracious "). The word chrestos is found in Luke v. 39.
In Luke vi. 35, there is an assonance — " God is gracious
[chrestos] to the ungracious [acharistous]." The Chris
tians, among themselves, dwelt on the fact that while
"Christian" and "malefactor" were almost identical
terms on the lips of the heathen, they were Chrestiani,
or "children of graciousness," because they were Christi-
anoi, or ' ' children of Christ." (See my Life of St. Paul,
ii. 242-244, 590.)
4. " A living stone."
Comp. Matt. xvi. 18.
6. " Behold, I lay in Zion."
This is a quotation from Is. xxviii: 16, and the form in
which it is quoted is a remarkable proof that St. Peter had
read the Epistle to the Romans; for there, too (ix. 33),
the verse is quoted, and diverges from the LXX. in two
particulars: "on Him," is added, and the word for "a
chief corner-stone " (akrogoniaion) is found also in Eph.
ii. 20 (see Luke xx. 17, 18).
8. " A rock of offence."
At a very memorable crisis in St. Peter's life these two
words petra, "a rock," and skandalon, "an offence," had
been used in close proximity to each other (Matt. xvi.
18, 23).
5. " A holy priesthood."
9. " A royal priesthood.'
The words are quoted from Ex. xix. 6 (LXX.). Prim
itive Christianity knew absolutely nothing of a caste of
sacrificing priests (hiereis). Its ministers were not hie-
reis at all, as were the Gentile and Jewish priests, but
were presbuteroi, or "elders." Christ when He offered,
once for all, the one, true,- final, sufficient sacrifice (Heb.
ix. 14), abolished all sacrifices except the " spiritual sacri-

:.}

Chapter II. 325
fices " of prayer, and self-dedication, of faith and gifts to
God (Rom. xii. 1; Phil. ii. 17 ; Heb. xiii. 15). And when
the words " priesthood " and " priests " are (as in these
two verses only, and in Rev. i. 6 ; xx. 6), used of Chris
tians at all, they are applied not to any class of so-called
"priests," but to all Christians alike. Christ's eternal
priesthood is aparabaton (Heb. vii. 24), i.e. it "does not
pass to another" (A.V. marg.). In the English ordinal
there is no syllable about offering sacrifice, ' ' The kingdom
of Christ," says Bishop Lightfoot, " has no sacerdotal sys
tem. It interposes no sacrificial tribe or class between God
and man."
8. " Whereunto also they were appointed."
The allusion is exclusively to God's earthly dealings.
The so-called doctrine of "eternal reprobation" does not
obtain the smallest sanction from this verse.
9. " A people for God's own possession."
This is a translation of the Hebrew word segullah, in
Ex. xix. 5. Here St. Peter renders it "laos eis peripoie-
sin." St. Paul, in Tit. ii. 14, renders it "laos periou-
sios." The word laos is always used of the chosen people
(the Jews), and is here to those who were spiritual Jews.
The phrase here used is also found in Eph. i. 14 (comp.
1 Thess. v. 9 ; Is. xliii. 21).
9. " The excellencies."
The Greek word is aretas. In the singular the word
arete means " virtue," and is only found in 2 Pet. i. 3 ; in
the plural it does not mean "virtues" but "excellence."
10. " Not a people."
An allusion to the Lo-Ammah and Lo-Ruhamah of
Hosea ii. 23 (Rom. ix. 25).
12. " Your behaviour."
This word (anastrophe), and the corresponding verb,
occur ten times in these two Epistles.

326 The First Epistle General of St. Peter.
14. " That do well."
This verb (agathopoiein) occurs nine times in this short
Epistle. 15. " Put to silence."
Literally, " muzzle " (Deut. xxv. 4) : comp. Mark iv.
39; Luke iv. 35. These appeals, (i) to live purely and
blamelessly (vv. 11, 12), and (ii) to obey the civil govern
ment in things lawful (vv. 13-17) — were specially neces
sary in days when Christians were charged with detestable
superstition, socialistic anarchy, turbulence, moroseness,
and hard obstinacy, even by such writers as Tacitus,
Pliny, Suetonius, and Marcus Aurelius ; as, a little later
on, they were charged with the most execrable immorality
(Tert., Apol. 16). The Romans regarded the Christians
as guilty of " incivisme " and unsociality (ch. iv. 4). St.
Peter bids them behave as good and orderly citizens.
16. A remarkable parallel to Gal. v. 13, so close that it
cannot possibly be accidental.
St. Paul says, [1] " As free, [2] only not freedom as a
handle to the flesh, [3] but by love be slaves to one
another." St. Peter says, " [1] As free, [2] and yet not using your
freedom as a veil of baseness, [3] but as slaves of God."
17. " Honour all-men."
The first verb here is in the aorist. " Honour all men"
on principle — a truly royal and characteristically Chris
tian one: the other verbs, "love," "fear," "honour "are
presents, to imply continuous practice.
18. " The froward."
Literally, "the crooked" (Acts ii. 40; Luke iii. 5).
St. Peter addresses domestics (oiketai), not "slaves"
(douloi). The Jews, fortunately for themselves, were,
from their peculiar customs, found to be nearly useless as
slaves to Gentiles.

Chapter III. 327

21. " An example."
Literally, "an underwriting." The pattern letters over
which children are taught to write (Clem. Alex., Strom.,
v. 8).
24. " Christ, in His body, lifted up our sins upon the
tree " (an Hebraic expression for the Cross, Deut. xxi.
23 ; Gal. iii. 13), " that we, having died unto sins " (Rom.
vi. 2) — or, as the word may perhaps mean, " being at
once separated from our sins" — should " live to right
eousness." " Righteousness is one, sin is manifold."
24. " By whose stripes ye were healed."
Literally, "by whose weal " — the livid mark of a blow
(Is. iii. 5).
25. " The Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."
Hitherto they had been sheep not of this fold (John x.
16 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 11). Episkopos here has no technical
sense, but means "overseer," "guardian."

CHAPTER III.
1-6. The duty of wives.
It may be better felt how pure and exquisite was the
change of morality which Christianity established, when
we remember that these exhortations were addressed to
Christian women in an age of deplorable and almost uni
versal profligacy, when there were women in Rome who
"counted their years not by the Consuls, but by their
divorces." l. "If any obey not the word, they may, without the
word, be won."
The second substantive has not the article ; and perhaps
the verse is a play on words (antanaclisis), meaning that
if any wives are married to heathen husbands who obey
not the Word (i.e. the Gospel), they may still, even

328 The First Epistle General of St. Peter.
without word (i.e. by the humble and eloquent silence of
deeds) be won by the behaviour of their wives.
4. " The hidden man of the heart."
A fine and remarkable expression, like "the inward
man " (see Rom. ii. 29 ; vii. 22; Eph. iii. 16). When
Massillon had preached before Louis XIV. of "the out
ward man " and " the inner man," the king exclaimed as
he left the church, "I know those two men."
19. " Unto the spirits in prison."
The only meaning which this passage can bear, is that
Christ when, after His death, He was quickened to life in
the Spirit, descended into Hades — the realm of the dead
— and there preached, or proclaimed the Gospel to the
spirits in prison. The allusion is here limited to those
spirits who, on earth, had been disobedient in the days
of Noah. It is the only allusion in Scripture to "the
preaching of the Gospel to the dead," except the far more
universal one in ch. iv. 6. In my Mercy and Judgment
(p. 75-81), and in Early Days of Christianity (p. 77-80),
I have given a full account of the exegesis of this remark
able passage, which in later times was expanded into an
entire mythology, as may be seen in the Apocryphal Gos
pel of Nicodemus, and in many mediaeval pictures.
This is the most distinctive passage in the Epistle, and,
even if it had stood alone, would have been sufficient to
redeem it from the false and irreverent charge of being
"secondhand and commonplace," as Schwegler calls it.
"Christ's preaching of the Gospel to the dead," says
Reuss, "was, for the living, a manifestation of the inex
haustible grace of God ; for the dead, a supreme oppor
tunity for casting themselves into the arms of His mercy ;
and, finally, for Christian theologians, so skilful in tor
turing the letter, so blind at seizing the spirit, it might
have been the germ of a sublime and fruitful conception,
if, instead of compressing more and more the circle of life

Chapter III. 329

and light by their formulae and their anathemas, they
would have learnt from the teaching of the Apostles that
this circle is illimitable, that the lifegiving rays which
stream from it can penetrate even the most distant sphere
of the world of spirits."
There is in this passage an analogy to — or "an exten
sive paraphrase and exuberant variation of" Phil. ii. 9,
11, where "all they that are in heaven, and on earth, and
under the earth are enumerated as classes of the subjects
of the exalted Redeemer." In ch. iv. 6, St. Peter adds
that the Good Tidings were preached to the dead (in gen
eral, not only to the Antediluvian unbelievers). He does
so in order to show that the heathen, all around them, who
were apparently perishing in countless myriads as they
lay in "the slough of dissoluteness" (ch. iv. 4), would
indeed be judged in their human capacity as sinners upon
earth ; but only in order that, if ever hereafter they accept
the Gospel, they "may live according to God in the
Spirit." It was hardly likely that the Apostle would shut
out the Gentiles from the sphere of hope, when, in his
address before the little community of Gentiles who were
first admitted by baptism into the Church of Christ, he
had said so emphatically that " God is no respecter of
persons, but in every nation he that feareth Him, and
doeth righteousness, is accepted of Him."
21. " The interrogation of a good conscience to
ward God."
The word eperotema, found here only in the New Tes
tament, is of very uncertain meaning. It may mean
"inquiry," or "appeal." The latter rendering, i.e. "the
request to Godiov a good conscience," resembles the mean
ing of the word where alone it is found in Dan. iv. 14.
Archbishop Leighton truly says "the word intends the
whole correspondence of the conscience with God."

330 The First Epistle General of St. Peter.
CHAPTER IV.
6. See on ch. iii. 19.
12. " Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
among you."
Literally, " Make yourselves at home in this conflagra
tion." They were to rejoice now in sharing the sufferings
of Christ, that they might exult hereafter in the revelation
of His glory (ver. 13).
15. " A meddler in other men's matters."
Literally, as an " other-people's-bishop " (allotrio-
episkopos). 16. " As a Christian."
The word Christian, destined to have so memorable a
history, is found here alone in the Epistles. It came into
much more common use after the burning alive of the
Christians by Nero on the pretence that they had set fire
to Rome. The Sinaitic MS. reads " Chrestians." See
my Life of St. Paul, i. 301.
CHAPTER V.
1. " A fellow-elder."
Such is the humble designation by which the "chief of
the Apostles " calls himself ; neither pope, nor universal
bishop, nor bishop, nor priest — but simply "a fellow-
presbyter." 2. " Tend the flock of God."
St. Peter repeats the word which Christ had addressed
to him — " Tend my sheep."
2. " Taking the oversight thereof."
The word is episkopountes, so that the presbyters are

Chapter V. 331

bidden to do the work of bishops. In the Apostle's days
there was no distinction between Presbyter and Episkopos.
5. " Gird yourselves with humility."
The word "gird" gives no adequate sense of the force
of the original, which means "tie humblemindedness
around you like a slave's apron [komboma] which is
girded with knots." We can hardly fail to see here a
reminiscence of Christ taking an apron and girding
Himself to wash the Apostles' feet (John xiii. 4-10) ;
perhaps also incidentally of John xxi. 18. But the word
is Peter's own.
7. " Casting all your anxiety [merimnan, see Matt.
xiii. 22] upon God, for He careth [melei] for you."
See 1 Cor. ix. 9.
8. " Your adversary."
Antidikos, a representation of the Hebrew name Satan,
"the enemy" (see Matt. v. 25).
12. " A faithful brother, as I account him [not "as
I suppose," A.V.]."
13. " She that is in Babylon."
" She who is coeleet with you in Babylon " cannot mean
Peter's wife; for he could not possibly have sent to the
Churches of Asia the salutation of a humble unknown
Galilean woman. It can only mean "the Church,"
though St. Peter does not use the word in his Epistle.
" Babylon " is perhaps a mystic cryptograph for Rome, as
in the Apocalypse (Rev. xiv. 8 ; xvi. 19, etc.), and the
Sibylline verses (v. 143, 159). But as it is perfectly possi
ble that there was a community of Christians at Babylon
itself at this time, the conclusion that Rome is meant
cannot by any means be regarded as certain. It is the
only trace — if it be a trace at all — in the whole New
Testament that St. Peter ever visited Rome.

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

It is now practically agreed, among all the best critics,
that the Epistle to the Hebrews is not by St. Paul.
While it presents points of agreement with his writings,
especially in the moral exhortations of the last chapter, it
differs essentially from them in form, style, method, tone,
and rhythm. It was not improbably written by Apollos,
and certainly by a friend of Timothy (Heb. xiii. 23), and
by one of St. Paul's circle, who had suffered imprisonment
in some general persecution (xiii. 3, 19) . It is addressed
to Hebrew Christians, and is an elaborate and powerful
argument to establish the evanescence of the Law, and the
eternal Divine supremacy of Christ. The whole argument
is a fortiori ; a comparison a minori ad majus.1 After a
noble prooem the writer proves to his Hebrew readers that
Christ is above all angels (i. 4— ii. 18), greater than Moses
(iii. 1-iv. 16), and greater than the high priest, as being a
Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec (vi. 1-vii. 28).
The arguments are interspersed with warnings and exhor
tations of singular force and solemnity (ii. 1-4 ; iii. 12-
19 ; iv. 1, 2, 11-13 ; vi. 4-12). Already, in these trains
of reasoning, the writer has proved the superiority of the
New Covenant over the Old ; but into this conclusion, and
into the supersession of the old sacrifices by the one sacri
fice of Christ, he enters with full details in chs. viii.-x.
18, ending this section of the Epistle with an exhortation
1 " More excellent," chs. i. 4, viii. 6 ; "By how much more," i. 4 ; iii.
3; x. 25. The word " better " is characteristic of the Epistle — i.4;
vi. 9 ; xi. 40 xii. 44 : " a better hope,'" vii. 19; " a better covenant," vii.
22 ; " better promises,'' viii. 6 ; " better sacrifices," ix. 23 ; "a better
possession," x. 24 ; "a better country," a " better resurrection," xi. 16, 35.

Chapter I. 333
to prove ourselves worthy of these blessings (x. 19-25),
and another earnest warning (vv. 26-31), and an en
couragement (vv. 32-39). Having introduced the word
" faith" in ch. x. 39, he passes to the Psean of Faith, in
which he appeals to the example of the saints of the Old
Dispensation (xi. 1-40). The rest of the Epistle is occu
pied with encouragement and exhortation (xii., xiii.). The
Epistle could only have been written by some one who
was able, like Apollos, " to confute the Jews, by showing
publicly from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ."
That verse (Acts xviii. 28) well describes the whole train
of reasoning in the Epistle.
The writer was evidently well acquainted with the
works of Philo. I may refer on this point to my edition
of the Epistle in the Cambridge Bible for Schools, and,
for a sketch of this and the other Epistles, to my Messages
of the Books.
CHAPTER I.
1-4. This Prooem to the Epistle to the Hebrews is a
very noble passage — one of the noblest and most preg
nant passages of Scripture ; and if the Epistle was written
by Apollos it is worthy of one who is described as " a
learned (or eloquent) man, and mighty in the Scriptures "
(Acts xviii. 24).
Many of the nicer shades of meaning to be found in its
eloquent clauses — of which it is difficult in a translation
to preserve the majesty and balance — are lost in the
A. V., but restored to English readers by the R.V.
It mi ght be literally rendered —
" In many portions and many manners of old, God,
having spoken to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of
these days spake to us in a Son ; Whom He appointed heir
of all things ; through whom also He made the aeons [or
" ages "] ; Who, being the effulgence of His glory, and
the impress of His essence, and upbearing the Universe by

334 The Epistle to the Hebrews.
the utterance of His power, when He had made purifica
tion of sins, sat at the right hand of the Majesty in high
places, having become by so much better than the angels,
as in comparison with them He hath inherited a more
excellent name."
l. " In many parts, and many manners."
The phrase strikingly indicates the ever-progressive
multifariousness of the methods of revelation under the
Old Dispensation.
It was given in many parts, fragmentarily — the cove
nants with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses,
with David. The veil was lifted fold by fold.
And in many manners, diversely, multifariously: in
history; in poetry; in the thunders of Sinai, and the
marvels of the Exodus ; in blessing ; in punishment ; by
dreams and visions ; by the Urim and Thummim ; by
angels; by law and by prophecy; in types, and in alle
gories; by judges; by priests; by prophets; by waking
visions, and " face to face " (see Num. xii. 6 ; Ps. lxxxix.
19; Hos. xii. 10; 2 Pet. i. 21).
2. " At the end of these days."
Comp. Num. xxiv. 14, LXX. ; 1 Pet. i. 20.
That is, at the wane of the Old Dispensation, which was
still, in its evanescence, lasting on, until the destruction
of Jerusalem, side by side with the Messianic Dawn; the
grey shadows of night still, as it were, struggling with
the spread of the boundless day. " This aeon," which the
Jews called the olam hazzeh (the old Mosaic aeon), was
being day by day displaced by " the coming, or future,
aeon," the olam habba, i.e. the age of the Messiah (see
IPet. i. 5; 1 Tim. iv. 1).
2. " In a Son."
And therefore in One far superior to the Prophets.

Chapter II. 335
3. "The effulgence [apaugasma]."
Not merely the vague "brightness," but the Light of
(i.e. from) Light ; the Son was God of God, Very God
o/very God, Begotten, not made.
3. " The very image of His substance."
More literally, "the stamp, or impress" (character) of
His essence (comp. Col. i. 15). The word "substance,"
which in English has come to mean whatever is most solid
in material, had the very opposite sense in ancient days.
It was defined by ousia — "being," or "essence," — and
it meant the purely imaginary substratum which re
mains and underlies all existence when every attribute
appreciable by sense has been removed.
3. " Purification of sins."
As a moral leprosy (Matt. viii. 3).
4. " Better than the angels."
This word strikes the keynote of the following argu
ment, based mainly on Scripture (chs. i. 5— ii- 18), in which
the writer shows that angels are but " ministering spirits "
(i. 14), so that even winds and flames of fire may be re
garded as God's angels (ver. 7).
This first paragraph of the Epistle " gives a summary
view of its main subject, the finality of the absolute reve
lation in Christ as contrasted with the preparatory revela
tion under the Old Covenant " (W.).
4. " A more excellent name."
The Shem hammephorash (Rev. xix. 12).
CHAPTER II.
l. " Lest haply we drift [or " flow "] away from
them." This is the picturesque metaphor of the original (comp.
Prov. iii. 21, LXX.).

336 The Epistle to the Hebrews.
2. " The word spoken through [i.e, " by the instru
mentality of "] angels."
Comp. Gal. iii. 19 ; Acts vii. 53 ; Deut. xxxiii. 2 ;
Ps. lxviii. 17 ; Jos., Antt. xv. 53.
3. " How shall we escape ? "
This is the first of the stern warnings again and again
interpolated by the writer into the train of his reasoning.
9. " A little lower than the angels."
Rather, "for a little while lower" (Phil. ii. 7-11).
10. " For Whose sake all things, and by Whose in
strumentality all things exist."
10. " Many sons."
Comp. Rev. vii. 9-14.
T4. " Him that hath the power of death, that is, the
devil." The word " death " seems to have its two meanings in
this verse. Christ, by His physical death, brought to
nought the devil, who hath the power of moral and spirit
ual death : the devil has a temporary sovereignty, of which
death is the realm, only because by his temptations he
made men liable to undergo this awful consequence.
16. "Not of angels doth He take hold."
He does not come to help angels, but to help the seed of
Abraham (ch. viii. 9). Comp. Ecclus. iv. 11, "Wisdom
. . . taken by the hand of those that seek her."
17. " High Priest."
The word occurs seventeen times in this Epistle, but not
once in any other.

Chapters III., IV., V. 337

CHAPTER III.
The pre-eminence of Christ over Moses.
2. " Faithful ... as also Moses was in all His
house [i.e. " in all God's house "] ."
A reference to Num. xii. 7.
CHAPTER IV.
8. " If Joshua had given them rest."
The name for Joshua and Jesus is, of course, the same
in Greek ; but as Joshua is here intended, the use of the
Greek form Jesus in the A.V. is most misleading to Eng
lish readers. In verse 7, "because of unbelief" (A.V.)
should be rendered "because of disobedience."
9. " A Sabbath rest [Sabhatismos]."
There is a contrast between the " Sabbath rest " — the
Divine rest, the rest of God — and the rest of man (kata-
pausis). In 2 Mace. xv. 1, the Sabbath is called "the
Day of Rest."
13. " Laid open."
The very powerful hapax legomenon of the original is
Terpayr]\i(Tp.iva, which is properly used of animals taken
by the throat and flung on their backs for dissection.
Comp. Prov. xx. 27.
CHAPTER V.
2. " Can bear gently with [not " have compassion
on" A.V.] the ignorant."
This word (metriopathein) occurs nowhere else in the
New Testament. The St°ics preached and practised
apathy, i.e. a total suppression of all the affections and
22

338 The Epistle to the Hebrews.
passions ; but the Pythagoreans urged that our duty rather
lay in metriopathy — gentleness and moderation.
8. "Learned obedience by the things which He
suffered." This illustrates what St. Paul calls "the patience of
Christ" (2 Thess. iii. 5). In the paronomasia of the
original His pathemata were mathemata.
10. " Melchizedek."
The entire subsequent argument about Melchizedek
would be more forcible to Hebrew readers, because it is
based on the Haggadistic method of Jewish interpretation,
which indulged in large moral and spiritual inferences,
and did not disdain to appeal to parables and legends. It
is entirely based on a single phrase in Ps. ex. 4, which is
itself based on the fact that, in Gen. xiv. 18, Melchizedek
appears as "a priest of El Elyon" ("God Most High"),
and received tithes from Abraham. These are the only
places where he is mentioned in the whole Old Testament;
and on the fact that he appears so suddenly as a priest
whom even Abraham acknowledged, the Jews based a
superstructure of inferences, and invested him with a
most mysterious personality. Hence the writer urges his
readers to pass from elementary to more recondite knowl
edge (ver. 11-vi. 2).
12. " Such as have need of milk."
The young students in the Rabbinic schools were called
thinokoth ( ' ' sucklings ").
CHAPTER VI.
l. " Let us be borne on [not " press on " (R.V.)]
to perfection."
Yielding to the influences of the Spirit which urges us
forward.

Chapter VII. 339

2. "Of the teaching of baptisms''
Rather, " teaching about ablutions."
6. " If they shall fall away."
Perhaps this rendering of the A.V. rose from Calvin
istic notions of "the indefectibility of grace." But the
true rendering is "and have fallen away."
6. " It is impossible to renew them again to
repentance." Impossible, that is, by any human teaching or appli
ances ; with men it is impossible to reverse an absolute,
willing, and decided apostasy ; but "with God all things
are possible" (Matt. xix. 26). The illustration of land,
once fertile, now bearing brambles, and requiring to have
these brambles destroyed before it can be again rendered
fruitful, shows that the word " impossible " refers only
to ordinary human limitations. " The impossibility lies
merely within the limits of the hypothesis itself." See
Article XVI.
19. Our anchor, sure and steadfast, cannot be torn up
by human hurricanes, for it is held fast by a chain which
passes out of earth's troubled sea into the eternal heaven
of God.
CHAPTER VII.
3. Melchizedek is represented — but only metaphorically
and haggadistically — as he stands on the page of Scripture
as a supernatural being, because he stands alone with no
recorded father, mother, or genealogy,1 and neither his
birth nor death are mentioned. Further, the name of the
town of which he was priest and king was Salem, which
means "Peace;" and even Abraham, the father of the
l So Philo calls Sarah, " without mother," because her mother is
not mentioned. Scipio addressed the mob in the forum as " You who
have no father nor mother, etc."

340 The Epistle to the Hebrews.
faithful, recognised his greatness by giving him a tithe
of his spoils ; thus, in the method of Jewish inference,
implying his superiority to the future Levitic priests.
Hence came the isolated phrase of Ps. ex. 4, "Thou art
a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." The
writer sees in Christ the representative of the New Priest
hood, which necessarily ensued on the establishment of
the " New Covenant," which had been promised, and on
which he dwells in the next chapter (viii. 8-13), quoting
at length the prophecy of Jeremiah, xxxi. 31-34.

CHAPTER IX.
3. " Behind the second veil."
The veil which hung before the entrance of the Temple
was called masak (Ex. xxvi. 36, 37) ; the one before the
Holiest was called Paroketh (Ex. xxvi. 31-35) .
4. " Having a golden censer."
There are two readings — "censer " and ' ' altar. ' ' The
second would be incorrect, since the altar of incense was
not in the Holy of Holies, but in the outer chamber. Nor
was there, so far as we know, any golden censer in the
Holiest, although the high priest took one in with him on
the Day of Atonement. Although the Epistle was written
before the destruction of Jerusalem (as is shown by the
use of the present tense in describing the work of the high
priest (ch. ix. 6, 7, 25 ; x. 11, etc.) ), yet an Alexandrian
Jew, like Apollos, might well have been unacquainted
with minute details of the Temple ritual. The language
he uses is quite vague.
16, 17. It is clear that the writer here passes for a
moment from the ordinary meaning of diatheke ("a cove
nant made for us ") into the other meaning of the word,
" a will or testament." Otherwise it would not be true to
say that a covenant implies the death of one who makes it.

Chapter X. 341
There are similar instances of a double use of the same
word, e.g. in John iii. 8 (where pneuma means first
"wind" and then "spirit").
23. The vessels of the Temple were not by any means
"patterns" (A.V.) of those in the heavens, but copies
(R.V.) of them.
27. " It is appointed [or "reserved," "laid up for"]
men once to die, and after this [not " the judgment,"
but] judgment."
The judgment of the great day (Acts xvii. 31) will be
anticipated by the judgment which each soul must face
at death.
CHAPTER X.
7. " In the roll of the book."
The word kephalis occurs here only, and properly means
the "knob" (umbilicus) of the stick on which the vellum
manuscript was rolled. It is here used for the megillah or
"roll" itself.
24. " Good works."
The word for " good " works here, and in some other
places, is "fair," "beautiful " (kala), rather than "good "
(agatha). ' ' The word agatha marks the essential moral
character of the actions ; kala marks their attractive
nobility" (W.).
So in John x. 14, Christ is "the Fair Shepherd"
(kalos). 26-31. Another of the stern and tremendous passages
of warning in this Epistle. It contemplates cases of the
most blasphemous and deliberate apostasy, for which on
earth there is no more hope. The words may mean, not
"if we sin wilfully," but " 'while we are continuing wil
fully in sin,' after having received the full knowledge of the

342 The Epistle to the Hebrews.
 xa 
truth, a sacrifice for sin is no longer being left for us.''
If the writer had meant that after wilful and heinous sin
there remains no more sacrifice for sin, the verse would, as
Kurtz says, be "subversive of the whole Christian soteri-
ology ; " but he means that so long as we remain in a state
of deliberate and voluntary defiance to the will of God, we
close against ourselves the door of repentance.
27. " Which shall devour the adversaries."
Destined by prophecy (Is. xvi. 11) to devour opponents.
33. " Being made a gazing-stock."
Literally, " being set as in a theatre " (comp. 1 Cor. xv.
32, and Suet., Nero, 12; Caius, 57; Juv., Sat. viii. 186;
Mart., x. 25, etc.).
34. " On them that were in bonds."
Not " in my bonds " (A. V). The words ' ' Ye pitied the
prisoners " perhaps point to the period of the Neronian
persecution. 34. " Knowing that ye yourselves have a better
possession. "
The words "in heaven" and "for yourselves" are an
interpolation, and an inferior reading. The splendid
meaning of the verse is, "ye took joyfully the spoiling of
your goods, recognising that ye have your own selves as a
better possession, arid an abiding." They had long learned
to acquire, and so to possess, themselves — to hold a secure
and tranquil empire over their own physical, moral, and
spiritual being. Such a possession belongs only to him who
has acquired it (Luke xxi. 19, " in your patience ye shall
win (acquire) your souls; " see on 1 Thess. iv. 2). It is
no transient possession of which he can be robbed, but an
eternal acquisition, so precious as to reduce all others to
comparative insignificance. On this tranquil self-posses
sion of a holy heart, see Luke ix. 25.

Chapters XL, XII. 343

CHAPTER XI.
This chapter is the paean in honour of faith, which is
the substance, essence, or underlying reality of things
hoped for, and the demonstration or test of things not
yet seen.
3. " The worlds."
Rather, " the ages." The ceons mean " the universe
under the aspects of time ; the whole sequence of life in
time, which we call ' the world,' has been ' fitted together '
by God. His one creative word included the harmonious
unfolding on one plan of the last issues of all that was
made. That which is, in relation to Him, ' one act at
once ' is, in relation to us, an evolution apprehended in
orderly succession" (W.).
6. "God is, and He becomes [proves Himself] a
giver of reward to them who seek Him."
10. " The city which hath the foundations."
Ps. Ixxvii. 1-7; Rev. xxi. 10.
19. " From whence He did also, in a parable,
receive him hack."
Not only was Isaac as good as dead when he lay on the
altar under his father's uplifted knife, so that (paraboli-
cally) Abraham received him from the dead; but, accord
ing to one Jewish legend, he was actually slain and
restored to life.
33-40. In these latter verses there are obvious allu
sions to the sufferings of the chasidim ("the pious") in
the days of the priest Mattathias, and the Maccabees.
CHAPTER XII.
l. " The sin that doth so easily beset us."
This remarkable word euperistaton occurs here only.

344 The Epistle to the Hebrews.
(i) It is derived from ev, well, and -tp-io-rn/u, " I stand
around." Hence it might be the sin which many encircle
with an admiring crowd. This, however, cannot be the
meaning here, for it would apply to but few sins, and of a
showy kind, to which the persecuted Christians were not
tempted. (ii) It may mean the sin that assaults us, as with a
throng of surrounding enemies.
But the best meaning seems to be —
(iii) The easily-besetting sin which clings about us like
a closely fitting garment, and which we are " to strip off
at once," with every other encumbrance.
2. " Looking unto Jesus."
Literally, " looking away " from our temptations and
distractions to Jesus.
7. "It is for chastening that ye endure."
The best reading is "ye endure for (eis) your own dis
cipline," not " if (ei) ye endure chastening." "Patient
endurance converts the pain into a beneficent lesson ; "
since God is dealing with you as a father deals with sons,
to train them aright, and to keep them from wrong-doing
by the discipline of punishment.
17. " He found no place of repentance."
If the rendering of the A.V. were right we should have
the terrible statement that it is possible earnestly to seek
for repentance with tears, and yet not to find it. If so, it
would be the only passage in Scripture which teaches us
that it is possible sincerely to repent and yet to be re
jected; whereas, from all the rest of Scripture, we learn
that remission of sins in and through Christ is abundantly
promised to sincere change of heart. The lesson is ren
dered a little less painful by the R.V., which puts in
brackets " for he found no place of repentance, " and thus
refers the "it" ("he sought it") to the paternal blessing
which he had forfeited. The verse would then be a refer-

Chapter XIII. 345

ence to the pathetic narrative of Esau's " exceeding bitter
cry," how " he lifted up his voice and wept," in Gen.
xxvii., and yet could not obtain the wilfully forfeited
blessing of primogeniture.
There can be little doubt that metanoia "change of
mind " or " change of purpose " refers to Lsaac's purpose;
and that is the interpretation accepted by the American
Revisers. The verse means that, in spite of his tears,
" he found no room for a change of mind in his father."

CHAPTER XIII.
10. " We have an altar, whereof they have no right
to eat which serve the tabernacle."
This passage (vv. 9-13) is somewhat obscure, but it is
perfectly certain that it has nothing whatever to do with
partaking of the Holy Communion.
(i) It is highly uncertain whether, in the days when
the Epistles were written, any table was specially reserved
for the Love-feast (Agape), and subsequent Holy Com
munion. It is all but certain that there was not.
(ii) Even if a table was set apart for this purpose, it is
certain that such a table is nowhere called, and would not
have been called, "an altar." That word is never else
where used at all in the New Testament except of a
heathen altar (bomos), or a Jewish altar (thusiasterion).
The latter word occurs sixteen times, but not once with
the remotest reference to "the Lord's Table."
(iii) The word "sacrifice" is never once applied to
the Holy Communion.
(iv) The argument in which the term occurs (quite
incidentally) is as follows : " Do not be swept hither and
thither by various doctrines ; for it is a good thing to be
stablished by grace, not by meats, which were of no profit
to those who had rules about them. The servers of the
tabernacle could not eat of their chief animal sacrifice,

346 The Epistle to the Hebrews.
whose expiatory blood was carried into the Holy Place
by the high priest ; for the bodies of those animals are
burned outside the camp, just as Jesus suffered outside
the gate of Jerusalem. We then have ' an altar ' [the
word is used in the most incidental and metaphorical way]
of which they have no authority to eat — namely, the Cross
of Christ, Whose words are to us spirit and life when we
partake of them by faith."
(v) The word "altar" is here explained of the Cross
of Christ by every commentator of any mark, from Arch
bishop Lanfranc to Bishop Westcott — even by such pre-
Reformation writers as Pope Leo the Great, Rupert of
Deutz, and St. Thomas Aquinas, who says, " Istud altare
vel est crux Christi, vel ipse Christus ; " and in modern
times by the Roman Catholic Commentator Estius, no less
than by Bleek and de Wette. St. Cyril says, "Christ is
Himself the altar. ' ' The Church of England in the Prayer-
book never speaks of "the Table," "the Holy Table,"
"the Lord's Table," as an altar. " In the first stage of
Christian literature," says Bishop Westcott, "there is not
only no example of the application of the word ' altar ' to
any concrete material object, as the Holy Table, but there
is no room for such an application. . . . The history of
the word offers an instructive illustration of the way in
which spiritual thoughts connected with material imagery
clothe themselves in material forms, till at last the ma
terial form dominates the thought."

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE

This Epistle, though its phenomena are even more extraor
dinary than those which we have considered in the Second
Epistle of Peter, is probably genuine. It was indeed
reckoned by Eusebius among the "disputed" books, but
most of the Fathers accepted it, and it is recognised in the
Muratorian Canon. And though legend and forgery were
busy with the name of St. Peter, there would be no tempta
tion to adopt the pseudonym of Jude, who was not even
an Apostle, and was otherwise unknown even to Christian
legend. All that we know of Jude is that he was one of "the
Lord's brethren," though he prefers, more humbly, to call
himself "the brother of James." The James alluded
to was not the son of Zebedee, but his successor, the
Nazarite, the "bishop" of Jerusalem. Like the other
" brethren of the Lord," Jude was married (1 Cor. ix. 5) ;
and an anecdote in Hegesoppus tells us that he was the
ancestor of the "Desposyni," or "members of the Lord's
family," who excited the jealousy of the Emperor Domitian,
until he sent for them from Palestine, and found that they
were only hard-handed peasant farmers, who worked their
own small hereditary piece of land.
The style of the Epistle is impassioned and poetical.
Its language is like that of an Oriental who may have
learnt Greek by living among Hellenists or by read
ing Greek poets, but whose vocabulary is richer and
more powerful than his grammar, and whose style is still
marked by Hebraic rhythms and idioms. A semi-poetic
colouring is constantly found in those who write in
a foreign language. In this Epistle there are at least

348 The Epistle of Jude.
eighteen words and phrases found nowhere elsej or only
in 2 Peter.
The Hebraic tinge of style is shown by the incessant
triplets of words and instances (vv. 1, 2, Mercy, peace,
love; vv. 5-7, Israel, fallen angels, Sodom; ver. 8, corrupt,
rebellious, railing ; ver. 11, Cain, Balaam, Korah ; etc.).
Another peculiarity is frequent reference to Jewish
Haggadoth — such as the Fall of the Angels through sen
suality (ver. 6) ; to some legend about Cain distinct from
his murder of Abel (ver. 11) ; to the naming of the Arch
angel (ver. 9) ; and to apocryphal writings like the "Book
of Enoch" (ver. 14), and the "Ascension of Moses"
(ver. 9).
Of the immoral, greedy, pestilent teachers who are here
scathed with such lightnings of denunciation, we know
nothing ; but their tenets and practices seem to resemble
some which prevailed in the later Gnostic sects, such as
the Ophites, Cainites, Carpocratians, Antitactse, Adamites,
etc., when Gnosticism had split into the two opposite
streams of reckless sensualism and extravagant asceticism.
3. Some special exigence seems to have caused the
writing of the Epistle; for Jude says, "While I was
giving all diligence to write to you [graphein], I felt a
necessity to write at once [grapsai]."
5. " Jesus, having saved a people out of the land
of Egypt."
This seems to be a more ancient and better attested
reading than "the Lord." But, even if the latter be the
correct reading, Jesus may be referred to (1 Cor. x. 4), and
Philo identifies the Messiah with " the Angel of the Lord "
(Ex. xiv. 19, etc.) and the Pillar of Fire.
9. " Michael the archangel."
In the New Testament the word "Archangel" occurs
only in 1 Thess. iv. 16, and the name Michael only in
Rev. xii. 7. It is Origen who informs us that the story of

The Epistle of Jude. 349
the dispute between the Archangel and the Devil is taken
from the apocryphal Ascension of Moses. The Scriptural
account of the death of Moses is very simple, but the Jews
had many myths and legends about it.
12. "Sunken rocks in your love-feasts."
The Love-feasts (Agapw), which accompanied the Holy
Communion, are mentioned under that name in this place
alone. 16. " Complainers."
The word means "blamers of their own lot," and is
borrowed from Philo ( Vit. Mosis, i. 33). Theophrastus,
in his Characters, defines mempsimoria as "discontent,
following in the wake of self-indulgence."
19. " They who make separations, sensual."
Two words — "separatists, egotists." The word Phari
sees also means " separatists," but those here spoken of
are not scrupulous religionists, but antinomians.
"Egotists" is the same word as in 1 Cor. ii. 14. They
are neither purely " carnal," nor in the least "spiritual,"
but they only live the ordinary human life in narrow and
selfish worldHness.
22, 23. These deadly errorists are to be dealt with in
three classes. The first class are to be refuted by argument
(another reading is " On some have mercy while they dis
pute with you") ; the second are to be snatched as brands
from the burning by vigorous, personal influence ; the
third, as being utterly obstinate and degraded, are to be
pitied, yet shunned lest they should corrupt you.

THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF
ST. PETER

This Epistle offers many problems for consideration. Its
genuineness is less certain than that of any other book in
the New Testament. Renan pronounces it to be " certainly
apocryphal," and says that " among true critics he does not
think it has a single defender." Bishop Chr. Wordsworth
writes with strong and sweeping dogmatism in condemna
tion of those who doubt whether it is the work of the
Apostle; but Bishop Ellicott more wisely says that "it is
inexpedient to encumber the discussion by an attempted
reductio ad horribile of one of the alternatives."
It is undoubtedly " canonical ; " for, fifteen centuries ago
at the Council of Laodicea (a.d. 363), it was admitted into
the Canon. But the authority of the Church of the fourth
century, at an epoch when criticism as a science was but
little known, is not sufficient to establish its genuineness.
And of all the books of the New Testament (i) it has
the smallest amount of external evidence, and (ii) it offers
the greatest number of internal difficulties.
I. As to the external evidence —
(i) It is not certainly referred to by a single writer of
the first or second century.
(ii) It is not found in the Peshitto Syriac, nor in the
Vetus Itala ; and it is un mentioned in the Muratorian
Canon. Clement of Alexandria only alludes to one Epistle
of Peter. Origen doubted its genuineness.
(iii) It was rejected by Didymus, Eusebius of Caesarea,
Theodore of Mopsuestia, and other Fathers.
(iv) When criticism revived, at the epoch of the Refor
mation, its genuineness was questioned by Erasmus, Luther,

The Second Epistle General of St. Peter. 35 1
Calvin, Cajetan, Grotius, Scaliger, Salmasius, and other
great scholars ; and it is now regarded as spurious by the
most learned scholars and critics both in Germany and
England. II, As to the internal evidence —
(i) It differs from the First Epistle (as even St. Jerome
saw) to a very remarkable degree, in style, character, and
structure of words.
(ii) It abounds in unusual, poetic, and startling expres
sions,1 such as —
"To walk behind the flesh " (ii. 1.0) ;
"Eyes full of an adulteress " (ii. 14) ;
" The mirk of darkness " (ii. 17) ;
"The heavens shall pass away hurtlingly" (iii. 17);
" The judgment is not idle, the destruction is not drow
sily nodding " (ii. 3) ;
" Chains [v.l. " pits "] of darkness " (ii. 4) ;
"Hurling to Tartarus " (ii. 4) ;
" To blaspheme glories " (ii. 10) ;
and many other eccentricities of language, used to clothe
conceptions which would have been capable of perfectly
simple and commonplace expressions.
(iii) Its style is rugged and tautological, whereas that
of the first Epistle is smooth and dignified.
These difficulties, which are only specimens of many
more, are increased by the consideration that the Epistle,
if genuine, must have been written under identical condi
tions with the first, and within a short time of it. And
this makes it very difficult to explain the expression (iii. 4),
"from the days that the fathers fell asleep."
III. Again —
(a) Why, in this Epistle, should the writer call himself
" Symeon Peter," and in the First Epistle "Peter" ?
(b) Why should our Lord be usually called " Christ " or
" the Christ," or " Jesus Christ," in the First Epistle ; and
1 See Early Days of Christianity, pp. 103, 104.

352 The Second Epistle General of St. Peter.
" our Lord," or " our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ " in
the Second ?
(c) Why should the Coming of Christ be described in
the First as "an Apocalypse ; " and in the Second as "the
Presence" or "Day of the Lord?"
(d) Among many other expressions which suggest hesi
tation we have the command of your Apostles " (iii. 2) ; the
description of Mount Hermon as "the Holy Mount;"
the apparent placing of St. Paul's letters on a level with
the Old Testament Scriptures ; the strange cosmogony
involved in the phrase the " world compacted out 0/ water
and amidst water " (iii. 5).
IV. I cannot here enter into points which I have fully
treated elsewhere ; 1 but I must mention two more very
serious considerations.
(i) A great part of the second chapter (see the notes) is
a rifaccimento of the Epistle of Jude : and —
(ii) It is unquestionable — from resemblances which
cannot by any possibility be accidental — either that the
writer had read Josephus, or that Josephus had read this
Epistle. It must be confessed that a priori, the former
supposition is by far the more probable. How indisput
able is the certainty that one of the two writers must have
read the other may be inferred from many expressions,
first, I believe, fully pointed out by Dr. Abbott in the
Expositor (Jan. 1882); and especially from the com
parison of two marked passages of Josephus with this
brief letter.
(a) In the preface to his Antiquities, Josephus says
that Moses thought it necessary to consider " the Divine
nature," without which he would be unable to promote
" the virtue " of his readers ; that other legislators "followed
after myths," but that Moses, having shown that " God
was possessed of perfect virtue " thought that man should
strive after virtue, and that his laws contain nothing deroga-
1 Early Days of Christianity, ch. x.

The Second Epistle General of St. Peter. 353
tory to the greatness (megaleiotes) of God. The remarkable
expressions here flow quite naturally from the subject and
the style of the writer; but though they occur nowhere else
in the New Testament, we find in 2 Pet. i. 16, "the
greatness (megaleiotes) of Christ," and the phrase "follow
ing after myths." In i. 4, we find "the Divine nature; "
and in i. 3, the amazing word "virtue " (almost unknown
to the New Testament, because the Christian's ideal is
not mere virtue, but holiness) ascribed to God. Now, in
Josephus the phrase is perfectly natural, since he is con
trasting the ideas of virtue in God's revelation of Himself
to Moses, with the shameful vices attributed to heathen
deities ; but in 2 Pet. i. 3, it is not only abnormal, but
startling. 2. In the record by Josephus of the last words of Moses
(Antt. iv. 8. 2), there are at least eight phrases almost
unknown to the New Testament, and some of them not
even found in the LXX., which are all found in this
Epistle. Even now I have not fully stated the case, but no genuine
critic can maintain that these coincidences are purely
accidental. It is true that there are some few resemblances between
this Epistle and the First, as in the use of the words
"precious," "abundantly furnish," "brotherly love,"
" eye-witnesses," " wantonness," " spotless ; " there are also
slight resemblances to the speeches of St. Peter in the Acts ;
and there is an apparently incidental reference to the Trans
figuration. All that can be said in favour of the genuine
ness of the Epistle is collected in my Early Days of
Christianity, ch. x. ; but, at the best, we can only suppose,
with Jerome, that if we have in this Epistle the thoughts
of St. Peter, he must certainly have employed some other
hand to put them into Greek.

23

354 The Second Epistle General of St. Peter.
CHAPTER I.
3. " That called us by His own glory and virtue."
The word " virtue " — as representing the lower ideal of
heathendom, whereas the ideal set before Christians is that
of Spiritual Holiness — occurs only here (ch. i. 5) and in
Phil. iv. 8. In the latter place it is the lowest step of the
upward ascent.1 It is indeed startling to read that God
calls us by His virtue. Nowhere else in all literature is
such a word as " virtue " ascribed to God except in the Pref
ace to the Antiquities of Josephus, and there (as I have
shown) it is readily accounted for by the context.
9. " He is blind, seeing only what is near, having
forgotten the cleansing from his old sins."
The literal rendering will illustrate the curious style of
the Epistle: "He is blind, closing his eyes [or "short
sighted," a word not found in the LXX. or New Testa
ment], assuming oblivion of his purification from his
older sins." Similar strange phrases abound in the Epis
tle, but it would require a long and elaborate commentary
to point out its incessant peculiarities.
15. " After my departure."
The use of this rare word (exodos) for " death " is found
in Josephus, but is also found in Luke ix. 31.
CHAPTER II.
That the second chapter with its strange allusions and
phrases is a softening down of the still more unusual allu
sions and phrases of the Epistle of Jude may be regarded
as certain, and is another element of difficulty in this
Epistle. Thus Jude twice alludes (8, 23) to Levitic pol-
1 The plural (aretai) occurs in 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; but the plural does not
mean " virtues " — it means " excellence."

Chapter II. 355

lutions (Lev. xv. 16, 17), which the writer omits as pain
ful and unintelligible to heathen readers. He softens
down Jude's allusion to the Fall of the Angels, and to
"the aeonian fire " of Sodom and Gomorrah; and his refer
ence to the apocryphal Ascension of Moses, and to the dis
pute between Michael and Satan. He also omits the
references to Cain and to Noah, and tones down the exub
erant rhetoric with which Jude speaks of Balaam. He
also omits Jude's quotation from the apocryphal prophecy
of Enoch. Magnetised, as it were, in his imagination by
Jude's burning and withering blast of defiance and invec
tive, he yet alters its triplicity of structure, and by reflect
ive treatment curtails it in some directions, modifies and
amplifies it in others.
1-3. Since these false prophets shall "secretly intro
duce factions of destruction " (apoleia), and "many shall
follow their destructions,"1 they shall "bring down on
themselves speedy destruction, and their destruction
drowseth not."
4. " If God spared not angels when they sinned."
This is an allusion to Jewish haggadoth about the Fall
of the Angels, based on Gen. vi. 2 ; but the writer omits
all but a distant allusion to the supposed nature of their

sm.2

4. " Cast them down to hell."
Literally, "hurling them down to Tartarus."
4. " Pits of darkness."
The reading is seirois, "pits." The change of a letter
(seirais) gives us "chains of darkness," an expression of
almost Epic boldness, which is, however, found in Wisd.
xvi. 17.
1 But here the better reading is not apoleiais, but aselgeiais, "las
civious doings." ,
2 Book of Enoch, v. 16, x. 6, xiv. 4. See my Life of St. Paul, i. 58,
ii. 48-51.

356 The Second Epistle General of St. Peter.
6. " Turning into ashes."
Literally, " calcining" (the rare word tephrosas : see
Job viii. 2) .
10. " Who walk after the flesh."
Literally, " behind the flesh," since the Greek word is
only used of following a person.
10. " They tremble not to rail at dignities."
Literally, "to rail at glories," i.e. at glorious beings.
Here the allusion is to Michael the Archangel shrinking
from railing even at Satan, because,' though fallen, he was
once "an angel" or "a glory." Milton says that even
in his abasement Satan did not appear to be —
" Less than Archangel ruined, or excess
Of glory obscured."
But the writer transfers the allusion from the apocry
phal story of Michael to the vision in Zech. iii. 1, 2.
12. " Shall in their destroying surely he destroyed."
See 1 Cor. iii. 17. This could mean " they shall suffer
a punishment analogous to, and commensurate with their
crime," which is the law of all Divine retribution, because
their sin becomes its own avenger. It is obvious that
Jude 18 is in the writer's mind, but he applies the words
in a different sense. The words may be an instance of
the figure known as antanaklisis, in which the same word
is used in one clause in different senses (see note on 1 Pet.
iii. 1), and may then mean "in their own corruption shall
utterly be destroyed."
13. "Spots."
Spiloi. The word may be a sort of verbal echo of St.
Jude's Spilades, "sunken reefs;" as "love feasts"
(agapais, 2 Thess. ii. 10) may have verbally suggested
"deceits " (apatais), if that be the true reading here.

Chapter III. 357
14. " Having eyes full of an adulteress."
Such is the better reading here, strange and inexplicable
as the phrase may be.
17. " Springs without water."
A correction of St. Jude's vehement, but utterly impos
sible " Clouds without water. "
CHAPTER III.
5. "An earth compacted out of water and amidst
[or " through "] water."
Another of the problematical expressions in which the
Epistle abounds. It seems to be an allusion to water as
the vA.17, -" the matter " out of which, according to Thales,
the world was made ; to water as the material and instru
mental origin of the world. There may be a distant ref
erence to Gen. i. 6, Ps. xxiv. 2, cxxvi. 6.
7. " Stored up for fire."
I.e. treasured up, reserved for the final conflagration.
It may, then, be an allusion to Enoch, i. 6. But the
words might also be rendered " stored with treasuries of
fire," and then the allusion is to the subterranean fires
which burst up from the craters of volcanoes.
8. " One day is with the Lord as a thousand years."
As Bengel finely says, "The dial of the ages — the
ceoniologium — differs from the horologe of time." Comp.
Ps. xc. 4.
9. " The Lord is not slack . . . but is long-suffering."
God, as St. Augustine says, is Patiens quia osternus.
His apparent tardiness is only forbearance and mercy
(Ezek. xviii. 23; xxxiii. 11; Hab. ii. 3; Heb. x. 37;
1 Tim. ii. 4).

358 The Second Epistle General of St. Peter.
10. " With a great noise."
Literally, " hurtlingly." This like " hurling to Tar
tarus" (ch. ii. 4) ; "pit" (ii. 4) ; "mirk " (ii. 4); "cal
cining " (ii. 6); "whirlwind" (ii. 17); "over-swelling"
(ii. 18) ; etc., is one of the many poetic and ^Eschylean
expressions of the Epistle, and especially of this chapter.
12. "Earnestly desiring the coming."
More literally, " hastening the Presence." Christians
could hasten the Lord's coming by faithfulness (see my
Life of St. Paul, i. 65, 80).
16. "Wrest.'
Literally, " stretch on the rack " — one of the most mel
ancholy factors in the development of Christendom has
been this tormenting, torturing, stretching on the rack, of
the words and sense of the Scriptures. Christians have
often used the letter to murder the spirit, and by quoting
" texts " to defend hideous crimes against the freedom and
indefeasible rights of mankind — by quoting them, for in
stance, in defence of slavery, and man-stealing, and the
execrable atrocities of the Inquisition and the casuistical
lies of Jesuitism — have often, as the writer truly says,
turned it from a blessing into a curse.
18. The Epistle ends abruptly, and without the usual
blessing.

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN

This Epistle was, perhaps, written in Patmos or in
Ephesus, about a.d. 97. It is probably the latest utter
ance of New Testament revelation. That it was meant
for a pastoral letter is shown by the recurrence (thirteen
times) of "I write," "I wrote," and the addresses to
"my little children," or "beloved." Yet it is the most
abstract and impersonal of the New Testament writings.
It was probably meant to accompany copies of the Gospel
(which in thirty-five parallel passages it closely resembles),
as a commentary or appendix.
The subject of the Epistle is " De constanter tenenda
communione cum Patro et Filio " (Oporin).
"The Gospel seeks to deepen faith in Christ; the
Epistle sets forth the righteousness which is of faith "
(Hoffmann). "The theme of the Epistle is ' The Christ is Jesus; ' the
theme of the Gospel is, 'Jesus is the Christ' " (Westcott).
It combats, in the supreme region of the Idea, the
rising heresies of Ebionites, who believed that Christ was
a mere man (ch. ii. 2, iv. 2 ; etc.); of Cerinthians, who
separated the suffering Jesus from the sinless Christ (v. 6) ;
of Docetists, who regarded Him as a phantasmal sem
blance (v. 6) ; of Manicheans, who regarded evil as an
attribute of matter ; of Nicolaitans and Antinomians,
who thought that faith and knowledge emancipated men
from moral obligations (ii. 4). He meets these heretics,
not with Pauline dialectics, but with inspired affirmations.
Thus the controversy about faith and works vanishes before
the supreme utterances that ' ' he that doeth righteousness
is righteous," and "he that doeth righteousness is born of

360 The First Epistle of St. John.
God ; " and forensic schemes of substitution and propitia
tion before the final declaration that "the Father sent
the Son to be the Saviour of the world." He does not
denounce errors ; he teaches truth.
The Epistle specially sets the final seal to revelation
by its teaching about eternal life, about God, and about
the ultimate verities which are the essentials of Christian
truth. There is a broad threefold division in the Epistle ;
although its general structure is not formal. St. John
three times bases the refutation of an error on some deep
utterance respecting the nature of God.
I. God is light (ch. i. 5 ; ii. 28) ; what walking in the
light implies (i. 5— ii. 11), and what it excludes (ii. 12-28).
II. God is righteous (chs. ii. 29-iv. 7); hence the dif
ferences between the children of God and of the devil.
III. God is love (chs. iv. 7-v. 12) ; hence faith and love
are the marks of His true children.
Conclusion (ch. v. 13-21).
The style is marked by " antithetic parallelism," as in
ch. i. 5, 8; ii. 4, 10,27; v. 12.

CHAPTER I.
2. " Which was with the Father."
Here, as in John i. 1-2, the preposition is irpos — liter
ally, "towards," apud, "face to face with" (comp. ii. 1).
6, 7. From these antitheses of walking in the light and
in the darkness, may have come, as Dr. Plummer suggests,
the ancient Christian allegory of "The Two Ways."
7. " The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth
us from all sin."
See Rev. v. 9 ; vii. 14 ; xii. 11 ; Heb. ix. 14, 25.

Chapters IL, III., IV., V. 361
CHAPTER II.
l. " If any man sin."
"Si quis peccaverit." The tense is the aorist, showing
that "an act and not a state of sin is contemplated."
2. "A propitiation."
The word occurs here and in ch. iv. 10 alone in the New
Testament, but often in the LXX. (Num. v. 8 ; Ps. cxxx.
4, etc.). But we find the verb "to propitiate" (Heb. ii.
17) and "a propitiatory" (Rom. ii. 25; Heb. ix. 5 —
"the mercy-seat").
12-14. A sixfold appeal to Christians. The explanation
of the interchange of "I write" and "I wrote" is not
easy. 18-19. Antichrist and Antichrists.
The word is peculiar to St. John, and the " Man of sin "
is no longer a Roman emperor, but the spirit of heresy.
CHAPTER III.
19, 20. The exact rendering of the Greek in these two
verses is uncertain, but probably the R.V. is right in the
rendering "we shall persuade (or "assure") our hearts
before Him, whereinsoever our hearts condemn us, because
God is greater than our hearts."
CHAPTER IV.
3. " Every spirit which confesseth not Jesus."
Another ancient reading is " that severeth " (or " an-
nulleth") Jesus.
CHAPTER V.
6. " By water and blood."
Water is the loutron to cleanse, blood the lutron to

362 The First Epistle of St. John.
redeem. The reference has been variously explained of
the Baptism and Death of Christ ; or of Baptism and the
Eucharist ; but there can be little doubt that there is
reference to — " The water and the blood
From Christ's riven side which flowed."
See John xix. 34. This was the view of St. Augustine.
There is a juxtaposition of water and blood in some of the
Mosaic ordinances (Ex. vii. 15-17 ; Lev. xiv. 52 ; Heb. ix.
19) ; but not in the New Testament, except in John
xix. 34.
7. The verse about the " Three Heavenly Witnesses "
is an unquestionable interpolation, and should be omitted.
Sir Isaac Newton says, " Let them make good sense of it
who are able, for my part I can make none."
16. " There is sin unto death : not concerning this
do I say that he should make request."
This is a better rendering than "a sin." St. John does
not further define the state of sin which involves certain
death ; nor does he even forbid prayer for it (comp. John
xvi. 26).

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN

This is only a brief and casual Christian letter of a simple
kind to exhort a lady to Christian faithfulness, and warn
her against deceivers and antichrists, as well as to convey
kindly messages.
l. "The elder."
Literally, "The presbyter." In the early Christian
Church it was supposed that there were two Johns — the
elder, and the Apostle ; but there are strong reasons to
believe that this is a pure mistake. St. John only calls
himself "the elder" here to express the dignity of age,
and his office as a presbyter of the Church (comp. 1 Pet.
v. 1).
l. " The elect lady."
This is almost undoubtedly the right rendering — not
"the lady Eclecta," or "the elect Kyria." The letter is
clearly not addressed to a Church. We hear of elect
ladies — like Priscilla, Lydia, Phoebe, Persis — from the
earliest days of the Christian Church.
9. " Whosoever goeth onward [or " taketh the
lead"]." This [is a better reading than transgresseth (A.V.).
"There is an advance which is not progress but apostasy"
(Plummer). 10. " Give me no greeting."
This is not in the least an excuse for fanaticism, but a
direction necessitated by the exigences of that epoch.

THE THIRD EPISTLE OF ST. JOHN
A brief letter to an unknown Christian named Gaius.
The state of things shown by the violent insubordination
of domineering Diotrephes is illustrated in The Teaching
of the Twelve Apostles, and The Shepherd of Hermas
(xi. 12).
2. " Beloved, I wish above all things " (A.V.).
Better, as in R.V., "I pray that in all things."
7. " For His Name's sake."
The better reading is, "For the sake of the Name"
(R.V.) (comp. Acts v. 41 : "Rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the Name ").

THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN

The Apocalypse is the earliest of St. John's writings, and
was written about a.d. 68, in the reign of Galba.
I have said from the first that this book of Texts
Explained deals almost exclusively with separate passages.
Though I have prefaced each book of the New Testament
by a few words, it is very difficult to do so in the case of
the Apocalypse. The interpretation of the book abounds in
difficulties, to which no finally satisfactory solution has
yet been found, as is sufficiently proved by the wide diver
sity of proposed interpretations. Of late years, too, there
has been a serious doubt among critics — especially since
the writings of Volter and Vitcher — whether the book
is homogeneous throughout, or whether it may not be a
Christian redaction of an Apocalypse originally Jewish,
or a Christian Apocalypse into which Jewish elements
have been incorporated. Certain it is that "there are
large sections of the Apocalypse where no distinctively
Christian elements appear ; that some of these, while in
harmony with wow-Christian Jewish opinions and hopes,
are difficult to adjust with a Christian point of view :
that the visions, as they stand in the present form of the
book, do not present a continuously progressive story ; anc
that a considerable number, both of the visions and of the
isolated expressions which interrupt the narrative, are just
the passages (sometimes the only passages in their neigh
bourhood), which are distinctively Christian. " Yet no one
can read this glorious Apocalypse without intense feeling.
or without being impressed by a sense of its spiritual
grandeur. The suggested modes of interpretation are not only dif-

366 The Revelation of St. John.

f erent, but essentially opposite. The Prseterists regard all
the main visions — all that pertain directly to history —
as having been already fulfilled ; the Futurists regard
them as a continuous enigmatic history from the time of
St. John down to the end of all things.
Into all these questions this is not the place to enter.
In my Early Days of Christianity, to which I venture to
refer the reader, I have given a sketch of the significance
of the book so far as it seems capable of interpretation,
and have given my reasons for believing that (to modify
an expression of the late Professor Seeley) the book is
"the thundering reverberation of a mighty spirit, struck
by the plectrum of the Neronian persecution." But criti
cism has by no means spoken the last word on this book,
about which, although it has been accepted as canonical,
there have been doubts and difficulties in the Church in
every age of serious and independent inquiry.
One sentence from Hausrath will illustrate the highly
elaborate structure of the visions. "The writer of the
Apocalypse has with the greatest art grouped his material
into 7x7 parts, in such a manner that six sevens are
enclosed by a seventh ; and five of them are artificially
united to each other, so that the last number is always
resolved into a new chain of seven." J
It is a book of storm. "War" and "to war" occur
in it fifteen times, and only seven times in all the rest of
the New Testament. But it ends in heavenly sunshine.
It is a book of contrasts. The Lamb and the Wild
Beast ; Heaven and the Abyss ; the Wild Beasts and the
Immortalities ; Michael and the Dragon ; the Harlot City
and the New Jerusalem ; the Trinity of Heaven, and
the Devil, the Beast, and the False Prophet — the anti-
Trinity of Hell.
Here, without pretending to enter into the endless
difficulties of general explanation, I confine myself, accord-
1 Hausrath, New Testament Times, i. 124. Comm. Bunsen's Bibel-
werk, iv. 633-669.

Chapters L, II. 367

ing to my purpose, to calling attention to a few separate
texts. And as it is impossible for the general and un
learned reader to enter adequately into the voluminous
critical and exegetical commentaries which the Book has
evoked, I would advise him to delight in, and profit by,
the splendour of its visions ; the vividness of the imagina
tive touches in which it abounds ; the depth of faith and
sureness of hope which it exhibits ; and the way in which
" it concludes and shuts up the acts of its stately drama
with the sevenfold chorus of Hallelujahs and harping
symphonies." Whatever be its origin, whatever its de
tailed meaning, it may still be to us a Tree of Life "whose
flowers are flowers of amaranth, and its fruits are fruits of
nepenthe." The idea of the book is Maranatha : " The Lord is
at hand ! "
CHAPTER I.
4. " The seven Spirits."
Perhaps an allusion to the sevenfold gifts and operations
of the Holy Spirit (comp. ch. iii. 1 ; v. 6 ; Zech. iii. 9, iv.
10), or to the seven chief angels (Tob. xii. 15).
6. The right rendering is "He made us to be a kingdom,
to be priests unto His God and Father" (R.V).
11. "Pergamum" (R.V.), not "Pergamus," is the
correct reading, and the more usual name for this city.
CHAPTER II.
15. The Nicolaitans were a sect said to have been
founded by Nicolas, one of the seven Deacons (Acts vi. 5),
whose followers seem to have perverted one of his sayings
into an excuse for sensuality. Nicolaus may, however, be a
Greek equivalent for Balaam (" conqueror of the people ").
17. " A white stone."
A white stone in the courts of justice was a sign of

368 The Revelation of St. John.
acquittal (Ovid, Met. xv. 51). White stones were also
typical of days of joy (Pliny, Ep. vi. 11, 3 : "O diem
notandum candidissimo lapillo").
20. " The woman Jezebel."
If the other rendering ' ' thy wife Jezebel " be correct,
it is important as showing that " the angels of the
Churches " are human bishops, not Divine guardians or
idealized representatives.
CHAPTER IV.
4. " Four and twenty elders."
Comp. Is. xxiv. 23. "Before the elders shall He be
glorified." Perhaps they are meant for the twelve Patri
archs and the twelve Apostles (Matt. xix. 28 ; Rev. xxi.
12, 14). Others suppose a reference to the twenty-four
courses of priests (1 Chron. xxiv.).
6. " Four living creatures."
The Greek word is Zoa — beings imbued with the prin
ciple of life — "Immortalities." The A.V. rendering
" beasts " is here unfortunate, because it makes no distinc
tion between the " Immortalities of Heaven " and the
monsters — theria, " wild beasts" — of the abyss (ch.xiii.
1; Is.vi. 2).
On the "four living creatures," see Ezek. i. 5. They
seem to represent the Cherubim and Seraphim ; but as to
these and most of the other symbols employed, there are
the wildest varieties of conjecture.
CHAPTER V.
1. "Written within and on the back."
These rolls were called opisthographoi (comp. Ezek.
ii. 10).

Chapters VL, VII, VIII. 369

CHAPTER VI.
1-8. The vision of the four horses seem to be suggested
by Zech. vi. 1-8. They symbolise Victory, War, Famine,
and Death.
6. " A measure of wheat for a penny."
To the ordinary English reader, this would sound like
splendid plenty. But "a penny " means a denarius, worth
eightpence-halfpenny, but representing in those days a
much larger purchasing power, and the image represents
days of famine.
9. The "souls under the altar " probably represent the
martyrs burnt and flung to the wild beasts in the Neronian
persecution. 11. " A white robe."
This passage resembles one in the apocryphal Ascension
of Isaiah, ix. 7-18.
CHAPTER VII.
4. One hundred and forty-four thousand out of every
tribe of the children of Israel. The vision and ideal are
purely symbolical, for the tribes differed vastly in num
bers. The tribe of Dan is omitted.
14. " Out of the great tribulation."
Perhaps the first outburst of persecuting fury in the
days of Nero, when the Christians were falsely charged
with having caused the conflagration of Rome.
CHAPTER VIII.
13. The utterer of the woe is, in the true reading
(R.V.), not "an angel," but "a single eagle."
24

37° The Revelation of St. John.

CHAPTER X.
6. The rendering of the A.V. which makes the angel
swear that " there should be time no longer" is incorrect.
The words mean "there shall be no longer delay."
9. The "eating of the roll " has its prototype in Ezek.
ii. 8; iii. 1-3.
CHAPTER XI.
2. Twelve hundred and sixty days or forty-two months.
See ch. xiii. 5; xii. 6; comp. Daniel's "time, and times,
and half a time " (three and a half years) ; Dan. vii. 25 ;
xii. 7. We are here in the region of Old Testament sym
bols, and there never has been any unanimity in their
interpretation. 3. Some suppose the two witnesses to be Enoch and
Elijah; but the explanation is highly uncertain.
4. " The two olive trees and the two candlesticks."
Comp. Zech. iv.
8. " The great city."
Some interpret it of Rome, others of Jerusalem.
CHAPTER XIII.
l. " Names of blasphemy."
Caligula, Nero, Domitian, all claimed to be called
" Lord " and ' ' God " in their lifetimes ; and the Greek for
the name Augustus (Sebastos) would sound like a direct
blasphemy in Jewish ears.
17. " The number of the beast."
These riddles, in which numbers were substituted for
letters, were very common in Hebrew and Greek, and
were called by the Jews Ge^atria (i.e. Geometria).

Chapters X VI, X VII. 371
Six hundred and sixty-six stands in Hebrew letters for
Neron Kesar (Nero Caesar), the form in which Nero's name
occurs on some Eastern coins. The well-attested alterna
tive reading 616, represents Nero Kesar. The difficulty in
the solution in this case " He that hath understanding let
him count the number of the beast " only lay in the fact
that St. John, for safety's sake, placed the solution in
Hebrew letters, which would be unknown to Gentile read
ers. In this solution lies one undoubted key to the age
and general purpose of the book.
CHAPTER XVI.
16. " Armageddon."
The City, or, if Har be read, the Mountain of Megiddo.
19. "The city."
Perhaps Jerusalem. The " three parts " into which it
is shattered by the earthquake are perhaps suggested by
Zech. xiv. 4-5. Others see an allusion to the three par
ties of John, Eleazar, and Simon.
CHAPTER XVII.
8. The beast "who was, and is not, and will come up
from the abyss " is Nero, who committed suicide in June
a.d. 68, but whom many believed to be alive. There was
a general rumour that he had only fled to Parthia, and
would return to conquer Rome.
9. " Seven hills."
This proves decisively that " Babylon " is intended for
Rome. 10. The seven kings are the Emperors Augustus,
Tiberius, Gaius (Caligula), Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho.
But all the applications of the prophecy are wrapped in
obscurity.

372 The Revelation of St. John.

CHAPTER XXII.
18-21. "If any man shall take away from the
words of the book of this prophecy" (R. V.).
This curse is designed to guard the integrity of this
Book of Revelation, not to close the New Testament
canon. For the Apocalypse is earlier than many other
books, and was the first of St. John's writings.

THE END.