V!» f m I I i 11 'IC ! pi *'''"' llilili! \ . F,4-fc5 \^^ NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY FOR EN'GLISH EEADERS. BY VARIOUS WRITERS. EDITED BY CHARLES JOHN ELLICOTT, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL. VOL. III. EVERY SCRIBE WHICH IS INSTRUCTED UNTO THE KINGDOM OP HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO A MAN THAT IS AN HOLSEHOLDKK. WHICH BRTNGETH FORTH OUT OK HIS TREASURE THINGS NEW AND OLD." NEW YORK: E. P. D U T T O N c^ C o. 713, BROADWAY. 8r()c ©ptfitlcg to t'oe Cp5c6tnit6, P()iUpptnns, anil Colossiang. THE EEV. ALFRED BARRY, D.D., Principal of King's College, London, and CMon of Worcester Cathedral. (K\)t ^ptfitlcfi to tf)e CbcfiBaloniang. BY THE REV. A. J. MASON, M.A., Canon Missioner of Truro Cathedral. C!)c ©pifitUjs to Ctmotljp anti CitttS. BY THE REV. H. D. M. S PENCE, M.A., Vicar of St. Pancras, and Hon. Canon of Gloucester Cathedral. Cjje ©pistle to Philemon. BY THE EEV. ALFRED BAKRY, D.D., Principal of King's College, London, and Canon of Worcester Cathedral. Cl^c ©ptstle to t^e |)cbrctofi. BY THE REV. W. F. MOULTON, D.D., Principal of the Wesleyan College, Tlie Leys, Cambridge. Cfje (Kpifitic of :§)t. gramcB. BY THE REV E. G. PUNCH ARD, MA., Late FelloK of St. Augustine's College, Canterhury. CI)c* ifirfit epistle of g^t. Ipctcr. JtY THE REV. A. J. MASON, M.A., Canon Missioner of Truro Cathedral. Cf)c §econli Cptfitlc of g't. J3ctfr. BY THE REV. ALFRED PLUMMER, M.A., Principal of University College, Durham. Ci)e epifitles of ^t. 3ro()n. BT THE REV. W. M. SINCLAIR, M.A., Eisiient Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of London. Cfic Cptctlc of i The Gexeral Epistle of St. James IXTRODUCTIO.X TO THE FiRST EpiSTLE GeXEKAL OF St. PeTEU The First Epistle Gexer.u, of St. Peter Ixtroductiox to the Secoxd Epistle Gexeral of St. Peter The Secoxd Epistle Gexeral of St. Peter Ixtroductiox to the First Epistle Gexeral or St. .Tohx The First Epistle Gexeral of St. Johx Ixtroductiox to the Secoxd axd Third Epistles of St. Johx The Second Epistlb of St. Joux The Third Epi.stlb of St. Johx Ixtroductiox to the Gexeral Epistle of St. Jude The General Epi.stlb of St. Jude Excuiwus to the Epistle Ixtroductiox to the Uevelatiox The Uevelatiox .... Excursus to the Uevelatiox FAOK 3 9 15 Gl Co 91 96 120 127 130 149 151 166 173 176 178 216 217 218 245 247 249 2C7 271 277 283 351 355 385 387 437 443 467 474 495 497 500 605 508 516 523 533 G38 THE EPISTLES OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE EPHESIA]!fS, PHILIPPIANS, AND COLOSSIAIfS, 67 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAULS FIRST CAPTIVITY The Epistles of St. Paul's captivity — to the Ephesians, Philippiaus, Colossians, and Philemon — form a distinct group, distinguished by certain marked characteristics both of style and subject, in the series of the writings of the great Apostle of the Gentiles. Just as, in com- parison \\'ith the Thessalonian Epistles, belonging to the second missionary journey, the four great Epistles to the Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans, written at the close of the third missionary journey, show a " second manner," with exactly that union of similarity and diversity which marks a true development of thought and circumstance — so, in comparison with this latter group the Epistles, of the Captivity present a " third iiiauuer," itself again markedly distinct from that of 1 he Pastoral Epistles, of still later date. In those early days of Chi-istianity events moved fa.st ; under the liA'ing Apostolic inspiration and the rapidity of the Apostolic mission, successive years marked changes as great as would have indicated the lapse of generations in more ordinarj^ times. When we compare the mar- vellous growth of the Christian Church in the thirty years (or thereabouts) of St. Paul's own Apostolate — from a smaU sect limited to Palestine, hardly as yet completely distinguished from the Judaic system, to a community which had its branches in every province of the Roman world, and which was obviously advancing to a world-wide dominion — we may be prepared to find obvious and important developments, both of teaching and of circumstance, even in the various periods of his Apostolic ministry. I. The Period to which they belong. — In ac- cordance with the great majority of commentators, aucient and modern, I take these Epistles to belong to the Roman captivity, in which the history of the Acts loaves St. PauL and to which he was consigned about the year a.d. 61. It has, indeed, been proposed by Meyer and otlier Grerman commentators to refer them to the Caesarean captivity of Acts xxiv. — xxvi. The reasons on which this proposal is based may be seen in Meyer's edition of the " Epistle to the Ephesians " {Introduction, sect. 2). They prove, however, on ex- amination, to be not only trivial, even if maintained, but in themselves uncertain, resting largely on mere supposition, and certainly incapable of standing against the powerful arguments which may be brought on the other side. These are of two kinds — general and special. Of the first kind is the whole style and tone of the Epistles, indicating a transition to an entirely different and most important sphere of missionary labour, such as could not possilily bo found in the comparatively un- important town of Csesarea; and, moreover, the ob\-ious expectation by the ^vriter (see Phil. ii. 24: Philem. verse 22) of a speedy release from captivity, which wouhl enable him to ^-isit, not Rome and Spain, as was his iutcutiou at the time when ho was taken prisoner at Jerusalem (Acts xix. 21 ; Rom. xv. 24, 25\ but Macedonia and the Eastern churches, where at the earlier time he declared that he had '" no longer any place" (Hom. xv. 23; comp. Acts xx. 25'. Of the latter kind are the references found — especially in the most personal of all the Epistles, the Epistle to his beloved Church at Philippi — to the manifestation of his bonds " in the whole Praetorium " (Phil. i. 13 — a phrase which (in spite of the verbal coincidence with Acts xxiii. 35) could not well be used of his prison at Caesarea ; to the converts made from '"Caesar's household," which must surely have belonged to Rome (Phil. iv. 22 ; to the circumstances of his captivity, which describe with an almost technical accuracy (see Xote on Eph. vi. 20 1 the imprisonment at Rome " in his own hired house with the soldier that kept him." and the freedom which he then had (Acts xxviii. 16. 3u. 31 , but which at Caesarea. especially considering the especial object contemplated by Felix in prolonging his captivity (Acts xxiv. 26), was eminently improbable. In accordance, also, with the general opinion, I should designate this as St. Paul's " First Roman Captivity ; " though it will be. perhaps, more appropriate that the evidence for the common belief that St. Paul was set at liberty from his capti^-ity, and that, after a period of freedom, he underwent a second imprisonment, which was only closed by his death, shoiild be con- sidered in relation to the Pastorai, Epistles. For with this belief the acceptance of these Epistles as genuine is closely, if not inseparably, connected. On the general character and circumstances of both cap- ti\'ities see Excursus (at the close of the Acts of the Apostles) on the Later Tears of St. Paul's Life. II. The Genuineness of these Epistles.— On this point external evidence is strong and unvarying. It will be suflBcient here to notice that all were in- cluded unhesitatingly in all the catalogTies and versions of St. Paul's Epistles, and placed by Eusebius (as by others before mm) in the list of the New Testament books " acknowledged by aU." More detailed evidence wUl be with more advantage given in the Introduction to each Epistle. It is true that, as in the case of many other New Testament books, their genuineness lias been cliallenged, on supposed internal eWdence. even by critics who are ready to acknowledge the four Epistles of the preced- ing group. Tliis adverse criticism has lieen advanced ^^-ith different degrees of positiveness against diffen>nt Epistles of this group. Thus, the Epistle to the Philip- piaus has been but little doubted ; and. indeed, the similarities to St. Paul's earlier Epistles, and especially to the Epistle to the Romans, are so striking that it requires singular j)erversity to discover or imagine dissonance with them. Tlie beautiful little Epistle to PhilexuoB, again, can hardly bo said to Lave been INTRODUCTION. queBtioned, except in the mere wantonness of arbitrary criticism. On the otlior huml, flio two Epistlfs Mliicli bear most distinctly tht> jx-culiar impress of St. Paul's " later manner " — tli<> Epistles to tlio Epliesians ami the Colossians — liave Ix-eii far more seriously attackiil on that very fjrountl ; the Ejdslh' to the (jolossians, more- over, oji the supijosition tlwit it involves references to a Gn(»stieisin of later date; and tlie E])istlo to tho Ei>hesians, on the supposition— wliich it mij^lit liavo been tlioutjht that an attentive study of these two Epistles would have soon shown to he untenable — that it is a mere <'opy and ex))ansion of tlie Ej)istlo to tho Colossians. On the itecidiar grounds of scepticism in oacli cas(> it will he more convenient to speak in connec- tion witii each Ejiistle se])arately ; hut on the general question of the relation of these Ejiistles to tho earlier group it will Ik> best to dw<'ll licre, not merely with a view to show the liollowness of this destructive criti- ci.sm, l)ut with the more important object of sketching out the main characteristics of this group of Epistles as a whole. Now it must bo considered exactly what is the nature of tho question. We have not hero an anonymous document, like the Epistle to tho Hebrews, as to which we have to inquire into tho degree of its likeness or uulikeness to St. Paul's acknowledged Epistles. Wo have Epistles which not only bear his name, but pre- sent vanous indications marking them as his ; and these Epistles are received as his at a very early date — alluded to by Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycaq), formally included in the Muratorian Canon about tlie year 170. Accordingly, they are either his genuine Epistles, or Ej)istlos written in his name at an early Seriod by some adherent of the " Pauline School " esiring to claim a forged authority from his great master. Now, in the case of forgery, we should expect to find substantial inferiority of power and ins2)iration. and possil)ly some discrepance of the inner reality, as contrasted with the outward form, of doctrine; but certainly no marked ditference of style, no peculiar words and phrases previously unknown, no change of expressions, which had become markedly characteristic of St. Paul in tho acknowledged Ejiistles of the earlier group. In the case of genuineness, on the other hand, wo should look for substantial identity of thcmght and teadiing, coupled with free variation of expression an. corresponding to progress of time, change of scene and circumstance, increa.se of tho ])ower of (Jhristiauity ovi'r thought and society, as exem|)]ified in tho develoj>meiit of the Christian Church. It is all but impossil)le for any careful student to doubt that it isalwaysthe latter — never tiie former — condition which is distinctly realised in these Epistles. This will l)e .seen clearly on examina- tion both of their stylo and of their substance. III. The Style of the Epistles.— Tliere is un- questionably a marked difference of style, altlumgh in various degrees— the Philippian Epistle showing such difference far less than the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossian.s. Now it is not a little remarkable that the nature of this acknowli-dged diange of style singu- Lirly corresponds with thi* historical change in St. Paul's circumstances. AVhen lie wrote the foriii<>r Epi.stles he was in tlie full tidt> of liis Ajxistolie work ; at periods, moreover, of marked excitement and interest — S.st after tlie tumult at r:pliesiis,or on his circuit through accdonia " round about into lllyricum," or at Corinth in the very heat of the Judaising'controversy, He was then emphatically the preacher and the churcli-founder. His Letters, written in tho intervals of his busy work, would be like fragments of his preaching, marked by the incisive earnestness, the close argument, the im- pressive abruptness, of a pleader for God. When ho wroti' these later Epistles he was in the enforced in- a<'tivity and the comparative rest of iin[»risonmeut. aud this imprisonment (as, indeed, we miglit have expected) appears to have been to him a tinii' of study, in those "many writings " which Festus thought at that timo to liavo "made him mad" (Acts xxvi. 24), with such " books and parchments " round him as those which ho asked for even in the greater severity of his second im- pri.sonment (2 Tim. iv. l'.i). He is now not so much tho worker as the thinker. The impassioned emjihasis of the preacher might naturally be exchanged for the quiet, de- liberate teaching of the Christian sage; sounding the lowest depths of thought ; wandering, as it might seem, l)ut with subtle links of connection, from one idea to another; rising constantly in secret meditation from trutiis embodied in the practical forms of earthly life, to truths as tliey exist above in the calm perfection of heaven. Who can doubt tliat this is exactly the change of style which we trace in these Epistles of the Cap- tivity ? The Epistle to the Philippians has least of it : for there his remembrance of earlier times would Iw strongest, aud would tend most to reproduce the earlier tone of thought. But in the Colossian Epistle, written to a Church which he had never seen — knowing it, indeed, well, but only by hearsay — stiU more in the Epistle to tho Ephesians, probably an encyclical letter, certainly approaching more nearly to the nature of abstract general teaching, this characteristic dif- ference is most vividly marked. It manifests itself in the appearance of many words used in no other Epistles, and these frequently words compounded with a thoughtful felicity of compressed meaning. It manifests itself in .sentences which, un- like the terse and often abrupt incisiveness of his earlier Letters, flow on without grammatical break, some- times not without grammatical har.shuess and obscu- rity, but with an unfailing connection and evolution of thought, a singular and (so to .speak'* philosophical com])leteness of doctrine, a sustained perfection of meditative and devotional beauty. It manifests itself, again, in a constant looking upward to " the heavenly jtlaces " of the Eidiesian Epistle; sometimes, as in tho opening of that Epistle, to the source of all Christian life in the election of the divine love; sometimes to the angelic " princi])alities and powers," invisibly fighting for or against th;it love of Gnd in salvation ; sometimes to tho life of Christians " hid with Christ in God," in virtue of which we sit with Him in heaven even now ; most often, perhajis, of all, to Christ in His heavenly glory, seen now by tho eye of faith, ready to reveal Himself in the Epiphany of the great day. Yet, with all tliis difTerenc<> of style, the detailed links of connec- tion, holli in word and thought, are (as tho Notes on the Ejiistles will show) simply numberless — mostly showing similarity, not absolute identity, of expression; an in- dependent likeness, not an artificial coj)yism. Above all, the general impress of the mind and character of St. Paul comes out more and more clearly as we pursue tilt! detailed study of the Ei)istl(>s. Thus, the charac- ter which paints it.self in the Epistle to the Philiji- l)iaiis is obviously the same as tliat which we know in the Epistles to the Corinthians, or in that yet earlier Epistle to the oth(>r Macedonian Church at Thessa- loniea. which jiresents som(> striking similarities in detail. But there is a greater calmness and maturity, sometimes of peacefulness, .sometimes of .sadness: it is the picture of an older man. Again, the notion that the teaching of the Ephesiau or Colossian Epistle EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL'S FIEST CAPTIVITY. could possibly have come from the weaker hand of a disciple Avnll seem fairly iucredible to auy who have ever glauced at tlio writiiii^s of Clement of Rome, of Ignatius, or of Polyearj). the scholars of St. Paul and St. John. The inspired hand of the Apostle is trace- able in every lino ; the very change of style argues at once identity and development. It is a strong internal evidence of the Apostolic authorship ; it is iu itself full of deep interest and significance. IV. The Substance of the Epistles.— Still more striking is tlio corresponding phenomenon in relation to substance. In the doctrine of these Epistles there is the same indication of a true development. (1) The Doctrine of Salvation. — Thus, for example, it is profoundly instructive to examine the relation of tliese Epistles to tliat primary doctrine of "justifica- tion by faith " which had been the one all-important sub- ject of the Galatian and Roman Epistles. It is touched on here with the same master hand. " By grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God : not of woi-ks, lest any man should boast" (Eph. ii. 8, 9). "That I may be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness wliich is of God by faith " (Phil. iii. 9). But it is no longer the one subject to which all else leads up. It is treated as a thing known and ac- cepted, with a quiet calmness utterly unlike the im- passioned and exhaustive earnestness of St. Paul's pleading for it in the crisis of the Judaistic contro- versy. The emphasis on faith is less vivid and less constant. " Salvation by grace " takes the place of " justification by faith," and leads the thoughts on from tlie first acceptance in Christ to the continuous work of grace, of which such acceptance is the first beginning. The Law, which before its idolaters iu Galatia or at Rome was resolutely thrust down to its right secondary position, described as the servile " pedagogue to bring men" to tlio true Teacher, depreciated as the mere subsidiary guard of the covenant of promise, is now less often touched upon, and less unreservedly con- demned. It has obviously lost the dangerous fasci- nation with which such idolatry invested it. It is oidy " as contained in ordinances " that it is now viewed as a separation between Jew and Gentile, or between man and God, or considered as cancelled by " nailing it to the cross " of Christ. We feel that St. Paul is already passing on from tlie earnest pleading of advocacy of the freedom of tlie gospel to the judicial calmness which was hereafter to tell liow " the law is good if a man use it lawfully" (1 Tim. i. 8). Judaism has, in great measure, at least in the Eastern churches, changed its character. St. Paul's earnest pleading for Christ as all ill all has similarly clianged its direction and its tone. Against new idolatries it is still necessary to fight to the death. But tlie old battle is substantially won ; on the old field no more is needed than to maintain the victory. (2) The Doctrine of the Catholic Church. — Nor is it less interesting to note liow in these Epistles, and especially in the Epistle to the Ephesians, the promi- nence of the idea of the Kingdom of God has marvel- lously increased. The Galatian and Roman Epistles (as the history of the Reformation of the sixteenth century showed) are the treasure-house of the truths of ]>er- sonal Christianity; for the very thought of justifica- tion, dominant in them, brings each soul face to face with its own sin and its own salvation, in that supremo crisis of life and death in which it is conscious of but two existences — God and itself. These later Epistles are equally the storehouse of the less vivid, yet grander, conception of the Holy Catholic Church. The central idea is of Christ the Head, and the whole collective Christianity of the Church as His Body. He is con- ceived not solely or mainly as the Saviour of each individual soul, but rather as " gathering up " all humanity, or even all created being, ''in Himself." The two conceptions are, of course, inseparable. In the earlier Epistles the Church is constantly recognised; in these the individual relationship to God in Christ is never for a moment ignored. But the proportion (so to speak) of the two truths is changed. What is primary in the one case is secondary in the other. It is obvious that this is the natural order. The Christian unity is directly the unity of each soul with Christ, the Head ; indirectly the unity of the various members in one Body. When the gospel of salvation first speaks, it must speak to the individual. When the grace of Clirist draws all men unto Him, each individual must move along the line of his own spiritual gravita- tion. But when the truth has been accepted in a faith necessarily individual; when the Saviour has been found by each as the Christ who " Hveth in me " — then the question ai'ises, What are His truth and His grace to that great human society, to which we are bound by a network of unseen spiritual ties ? The first and projier answer to that question is the doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church. There is a second answer, larger, but less distinct, which goes even beyond this, to contemplate om- Lord as the Head of all created being. The relation, therefore, of these Epistles to the earlier group is pro- foundly natural, even on the consideration of the right and necessary course of idea. But here, again, it is imjiossible not to trace in these Epistles a special appropriateness to this period of St. Paul's life and work. Of the three great threads of ancient ci^Tllisation — the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Roman — two had already been laid hold of by Apostolic hands, and fastened to the cross of Clirist. Now, as " ambassador for Christ," although " in bonds," St. Paul had been pei-mitted to " see Rome ; " the circum- stances of his imprisonment had placed him in the Prcetorium, in the very citadel of the Imperial gran- deur, and had given him access to " those of Caesar's household." The Epistles of the former group had been written from cities where Greek thought reigned suj)reme — from Ephesus, from Philijipi, from Corinth. These later Ei)istles came from the centre of Imperial Rome. Now, it is a common-place to remark that tlie main element of all Greek thought was the freedom and sacredness of the individual, whether in the realm of thought, or of imagination, or of action. But the mission of the Roman (as \'irgil has. with a true insight, declared in well-known lines) was to teach the greatness of the community — the family, the state, the whole race of humanity ; to give laws, which were to be the basis of the " law of nations ; " to unite all peoples in one great empire, and, perhaps by an inevit- able inference, to deify its head. It can hardly be accidental that, wliile the former Epistles dealt Avith the individual, pointing him to the true freedom and the true wisdom, which Greek philosophy sought for in vain, these Epistles should similarly face the great Roman problem, and sketch out that jjicture which was hereafter to be wrought into the chief masterpiece of Latin theology — the picture of "the city of God." We note in the E])istle to the Ephesians the emphatic reference to the three great social relationships, so jealously and sternly guarded by Roman law--the relations of parents and children, husbands and wives, masters and servants— as deriving a higher spiritual INTRODUCTION. sacrediiess, above all law and convention, from the fact that they are typos of the relations of man to God in the great unity in tlie Lonl Jesus Clirist. We read in the Epistle to the Phiiippians of the '"city in lieaven " — not now the " lieavenly Jerusalem " of Jewish aspi- ration, but simply the city of whieli all are citizens, whether "Jew or Greek, barl)ariaii, Scythian, bond or free." We find, both in the Ei)hesian and Colossian Epistles, a constant recurrence to the thought of all as "one body" or "one temple" in Jesus Christ — supply- ing that supremo personal relation, which changes the shadowy dream of a divine repul)lic. where the in- dividiuil is lost, to the solid reality of a well-centred Kingdom of God, preserving at once perfect indi- viduality and perfect unity. We are reminded at every step of the "lifth empire" — "a stone cut out without hands " from the mou7itain of the Lord, and gi'o.ving till it displaced the artificial fabrics of the kingdoms of the world, and filled the whole earth. We contrast the inevitable idolatry of tlio Roman emperor — reniem cring that, by a strange irony of circumstance, that em eror was now a Nero — with the worship of the true Son of Man and Son of God, of which all such idolatries are perverted anticipations. I pass over minor points of coincidence between idea and circumstance — such as the remarkable metaphor of the Christian armour, working out a figure previously touched by St. Paul, with an obvious detailed reference to the armour of his Roman jailor; or the adaptation of Stoic ideas and phrases in the Epistle to the Philippians, bearing (as Dr. Lightfoot has shown) peculiar resemblances to the later Stoicism of Seneca, then the leader of Roman thought. But taking only the main idea of these Epistles^ and comparing it with the main principle of Roman greatness, it is impossible again not to bo strnck with a coincidence — which must surely be more than mere coincidence — between the teaching and the circumstances of this period of the Apostle's life. (3) The advanced Chridology. — There is another true development, of infinitely greater importance and deeper interest, in respect of what is called the " Christology " of these Epistles. At all times the preaching of, Christianity is the pi-eaching of " God in Christ." But attentive study of the New Testament shows that gradually, line by line, step by step, the full truth was revealed as the world was able to bear it — passing, according to the true order of teaching, from visible manifestations to invisible realities — guarding at every step the supreme truth of the unity of the Godhead, 80 jealously cherished by the Jew, so laxly disregarded in the elastic Polytheisms of the Gentile world. The manifestation of Christ in the Incarnation, the Atone- ment, the Resurrection, and Ascension, is, of course, really one. Yet at different times each of tlie different steps of tiiat one manifestation appears to have assumed greater prominence in Christian teaching; and it may be noted, that as, when we dig through the strata of the earth, wo uncover first wliat is latest, and come only at last to what is earliest in deposition, so in the realisation of gospel truth, the order of preaching is tlie reverse of the order of actual occurrence of the great facts of tlie divine manifestation. First, as is natural, came the preaching of "Christ risen;" for the Resur- rection— the great miracle of miracles — was the seal of our Lord's Messiahship, declaring Him who was " of the seed of David according to the flesh" to be " the Son of God with power." As risen and exalted to tlie right hand of God, in fulfilment of oft-repeated ancient prophecy. He was declared to be both " Lord and Christ." Even clear-sighted heathen ignorance could declare that the great question between Christian and unbeliever was then — as, indeed, it is now — " of one Jesus who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." But then, when men were called to receive in the risen Christ remission of sins, to see in His resurrection the I)ledge of a spiritual resurrection for themselves here, a resurrection of body and spirit in the hereafter, camo the question. How can this be ? To that question tlio answer is found in the one truth which St. Paul de- clariul that in his teaching at Corinth, and (.we may add) in his teaching to tlie Galatians and Romans, he cared to know — the truth of " Jesus Christ, and Him as crucified." The Resurrection, in itself, was accepted as known ; to unfold its meaning it was necessary to go back to the Atonement. Hence the great teaching of these Epistles is of Christ as the one Mediator be- tween God and the countless souls which He has made. That mediation is described sometimes in the phrase " through Christ," bringing out the access through His atonement to the Father who sent Him ; sometimes in the phrase " in Christ," dwelling not so much on our justification as on our regeneration in Him to the new life. Perhaps in the great struggle for Justification by Faith the former idea was the more prominent. In either phase, however, it is the sole and universal mediation of Christ which is the one leading conception of Apostolic teaching. But, again, the question arises, Who is He who thus is — what siu-ely no merely ci-eated being can claim to be — a mediator between God and all human souls, in all lands and in all ages of the woi'ld ? To answer that question it was needful to go back once more to " Christ Incarnate : " i.e., ultimately, to Christ as He is, not in manifestation, but in His own true being, before He was pleased to stoop to earth, and since He has ascended again to His own glory in heaven. It is on this last phase of thought that the Epistles of the Captivity appear to enter, standing in tliis respect parallel with the Epistle to the Hebrews, leading on to the yet fuller teaching of the Epistles and Gospel of St. John. We notice that it is always through the knowledge of His mediation that they lead us into the region of yet higher truth. St. Paul, in brief yet exhaustive descrip- tion of that mediation, tells us of Christ, as One " in whom we lun^e redenqttion through His blood, even the remission of sins." We notice, also, that the phrase "in Christ," rather than "through Christ," is the donii- nant note in these Epistles. As Ave have seen already in relati(m to justification and sanctification, so we find in relation to the oV)jective truths corresponding to them, tliat it is not so much on " Christ crucified " as on " Christ living in ns " that he emphatically dwells. But the especial point of transcendent importance is that he leads ns on from the fact of this nuuliation to draw out explicitly what such mediation implies. The Philippian Epistle, simple and practical as its purpose is, i-ecites. in the great passage of its second chapter (chap, ii. 5 — 11) the whole creed of onr Lord's Nature and Office — the distinctive creed of Christianity. It marks the two-fold humility of His mediation for us : first, the "taking on Him the form of a servant;" next, the " humbling Himself to the death of the cross." It turns next to the corresponding exaltation of His human nature in the Mediatorial kingdom i described in 1 Cor. XV. 20 — 28). so that "in the name of J(>sus every knee should bow." But it does more than this. It speaks of Him Jis being essentially " in the form," that is, in the nature, "of God," in the eternal glory of which " He stripped Himself " for us ; it tells us that to Him is given " the name which is above evei"y name" — the awful and incomraunicable name of EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL'S FIRST CAPTIVITY. Jehovah. In that deeper teaching it tells us, not of His office, but of Himself; not of His mediation, but of the divine nature which alone made such mediation possi- ble. Again, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, starting from " the redemption in His blood, the remission of sins," the idea of our Lord's mediation is infinitely en- larged and exalted in the conception, that " in Him all things are gathered in one head, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; " that " He filleth all in all ; " " ascending above all lieavens," " descending into the lower parts of the earth," " that He might thus fill all things." That He is, indeed, the Head of the Church we are told again and again in various forms of expression ; but He is more. In Him all created being is summed up ; He is, in all that relates to it, the manifestation of God. As in the unity of the Church, 60 in the wider unity of all creation, we have, co-ordinate with one another, the " one Spirit," the " one Lord," the " one God and Father of all." But far even beyond this, the Epistle to the Colossians carries the same higher teaching. Standing face to face with an incipient Gnos- ticism, stiffened to some degree into a Jewish type, but presenting all the essential features of the Gnostic idea - — of one supreme God and many emanations, all real and all imperfect, from the divine fulness — St. Paul declares explicitly all that the earlier teaching had implied with ever increasing clearness. Our Lord is not only " the fii-stborn of God before all creation," "in whom," " through whom," " for whom," " all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, were created," and in whom " all things consist." In this the Colossian Epistle would but draw out more forcibly the truth taught to the Ephesians of His relation to aU created being. But what is He in Himself ? St. Paul answers, " the image " — the substantial manifestation — " of the invisible God," in whom " all the fulness of the God- head dwelleth bodily." The jiarallel is singularly close with the Epistle to the Hebrews, which, in similar con- nection with the gi'eat mediation of His one priesthood and one sacrifice, declares Him (chap i. 3) to be " the brightness of the glory of the Father, and the express image of His person " (the " substance," or essence, of the Godhead). There remains little beyond this to bring us to the full declaration of " the Word " who " was in the beginning," who " was with God, and was God." These Epistles of St. Paul correspond, with marvellous appropriateness, to that intermediate period, when his great evangelising work was almost done, and the time was coming for the gi-owth of the school of deep thought on a now acknowledged Christianity, which was to surround the old age of " St. John the Divine." (4) The Condition and Trials of the Church. — The examination of the substance of the Epistles would not be complete without some brief reference to the condition of the Church which they disclose. In this view, also, we trace the same coincidence with the natural gi-owth of events. The whole tenor of the Epistles indicates that the Church had reached a con- dition in which the consideration, not so nnich of its extension, as of its unity, became the prominent idea. With but little hyperbole, St. Paul could say that the gospel had come into "all the world" of the Roman empire. His own career of active evangelisation had been stopped ; in his prison at Rome, the centre of communication with all nations, he would, no doubt, hear of the growth and the trials of other churches, as we know that he heard of Philippi and Colossa); he looked eagerly, as from a distance, on the building iip of the Temple of God, which was going on by many hands and under many conditions. The one thought and prayer of his captivity was that it shoidd grow as one, "fitly framed and joined together," on the one foundation and in the one corner-stone. To the Philip- pian Church the burden of his exhortation is to unity of spirit. In the Ephesiau Epistle the great central passage is that which brings out, with all the incisive empliasis of a creed, the description of the " one body " and the " one Spirit " ; and the fundamental con- ception of the gospel, as the reconciliation of the soul to God in Jesus Christ, carries with it as a perpetual undertone, the union of Jew and Gentile in the covenant of God. Even in the Colossian Epistle, although there the main idea of the sole headship of Christ assumes a more absolute predominance, yet the great anxiety of St. Paid for Colossse and its sister churches was that their hearts might be " knit together in love " and the " full assurance of the knowledge " of a common gospel. The whole tenor of these Epistles, standing in contrast with those of the earlier group, thus corresponds with the needs of the more advanced period of Chui-ch history. Nor is this coincidence less evident in relation to the forms of danger, by which the progress of the Church is here seen to be menaced. The old leaven of Judaism still works in the " so-called circumcision," which now deserves, in St. Paul's eyes, only the name of " concision," or self-mutilation. But it has changed its character. The Pharisaic idolatry of the Law, as a law by obedience to which man might work out, if not his own salvation, at least his own perfection, has passed away in the East, though it lingers in the simple, unspeculative Christianity of Macedonia. Perhaps by the very extension of the Church the providence of God had clenched the victorious argument of St. Paul. A church truly catholic could hardly rest on a rigid code of law, or find the spring of a world-wide salvation anywhere, except in the grace of God accepted by faith. But now, as the Epistle to the Colossians shows, Judaism had allied itself with those wild speculations, weaving the gospel into philosophical or mystic theories of religion, which arose inevitably, when Christianity, assuming to be the religion of humanity, naturally came in contact with the various philosophies and religious of all mankind. Dr. Lightfoot has shown, with much probability, that one form in which it adapted itself to the new condition of things was the form of the old Essenic mysticism. The Epistle to the Hebrews suggests that, on the other hand, it had also fixed its faith on the ritual and sacrifice from which the Essenes shrank — doubtless as having in themselves a mystic efficacy, perhaps as enabling men to enter into the region of mystic speculation, where they might learn the secrets hidden from the mass of Christians, and revealed only to the perfect. In both forms it is seen as gradually dissolving its old rigidity and carnality, and claiming, in accordance with the spirit of the age, the title of spirituality and mystic i)erfection. Still more is the progress of the times shown in tliis very tendency, to whidi Judaism so strangely and incongruously allied itself. Gnosticism, in later days, marked the attempts — sometimes serious, sometimes fantastic— to weave Christianity into systems designed to solve the insoluble problem of the relation of the infinite God, both in creation and manifestation, to His finite creatures ; to fix the place to be assigned to matter and spirit in the universe; to answer the question how far evil is necessarily associated with matter; and in contemplation of the gospel itself, to determine the relation between the Old and New Covenant, and to defiiui or explain away the mystery of the Incarnation. To what wild developments it INTRODUCTION. ran is told iu the true, but almost incredible, record of a subsequent chapter of Church history. But it showed itself — we may almost say that it could not but have shown itself — at the close of the Apostolic ago : as soon as the gospel showed itself to be not only a divine life, but a divine philosophy, to an age ratliciilly sceptical, both in its eagerness of inquiry and its discontent with all the answers hitherto found. Wo find traces of it — easily read by those who have studied its aftor-dovelopment — in the " endless genealogies," the false asceticism, or still falser antinomiauism of the later Epistles of St. Paul and St. John, in the denial that " Jesus Christ was come in the iiesh," and the idea that "the Resurrection was passed already." In these Epistles of the Captivity there are similar traces, but less fully developed, especially in the Colossian Epistle. The spurious claims to spiritual " perfection ;" the " deceits by vain woi'ds;" the " systematic plan of deceit " of a specious antinomiauism, for which St. Paul can hardly find language of adequate condemnation; tho " i)liil(isophy and vain deceit " of the traditions of men, with its mere " show of wisdom " and its " intrusion " into tho regions of the invisible; the sup- posed emanations from the Godhead taking the angelic lorms of "thrones and principalities and powers" — all these mark tho first beginning of that strange progress which ran its pretentious course iu later times. To this time of St. Paul's history they belong, and to no other. Thus, as it seems every way, a careful study of the style and substance of these Epistles not only confirms the external testimony which refers them to St. Paul, but illustrates to us the course of the development of the gospel, the progress and the trials of the Church. They light up the historical darkness in which the abrupt close of the record of the Acts of the Apostles leaves us ; they are full of those lessons for our own days in which the close of the Apostolic age is especially fruitful. y. The Order of the Epistles. — That the Epistles to tho Ephesians, to tho Colossians, and to Philemon belong to the same time, and were sent by tho same messengers, is tolerably clear. The one question is, whether the Epistle to the Philippiaus E recedes or follows them ; and this question can only e answered by probable conjecture. It is obvious, from the progress already made (Phil. i. 12 — 18), from the whole description of the mission and the sickness of Epaphroditus (Phil. ii. 25—30), from the anticipation of release (Phil. ii. 24), that some time must have elapsed between St. Paul's arrival at Rome and the writing of this Epistle. It has also been noticed, as at least a remarkable coincidence, that Aristarchus and St. Luke, who accompanied the Apostle to Rome (Acts xxvii. 2), are named in tho Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon (Col. iv. 10, 1-i; Philem. verso 24), and not in the Epistle to the Philippians. But this last may be a mere coincidence ; and the fact that the Philippian Epistle was not written early in the im- prisonment determines nothing as to its priority or posteriority to the other Epistles. The only strong argument on tho subject — which has been admirably worked out by Dr. Lightfoot in his Introduction to the Epistle to the Philippians, sect. ii. — is the remarkable similarity in word and style between it and the Epistle to tlie Romans, its position as a link between the strong individuality of the earlier teaching and the characteristic universality of the Epistles to the Ephe- sians and Colossians, and its dealing with trials and difficulties more nearly resembling those of an earlier time. The argument is strong, yet not necessarily conclusive ; for much in aU these points depends on the character, and even the geographical position, of the Church addressed. To it, however, in the absence o£ any solid controverting e^ddence, we may give consider- able weight and perhaps incline, without absolute decision, to place the Philippian Epistle before the other group in the Epistles of the Captivity. [In relation to the treatment of the Epistles of the Captivity, it seems right to acknowledge the deep ob- ligation of the writer to the Commentaries of Ellicott, Alford, Wordsworth, Meyer, Harless, and, above all, to the admirable and exhaustive treatment by Dr. Lightfoot of the Epistles to the Philippians, Colos- sians, and Philemon ; to Conybeare and Howson, and Lewin, for their full and learned summaries of all that illustrates tho life and, in less degree, the vsritings of St. Paul; but perhaps not least to the Homilies of St. Chrysostom — simply invaluable as a commentary, A'enerable in its preservation of ancient tradition, criti- cally precious as dealing with the Greek as still a living language, and yet modern in that breadth and simplicity of treatment, which contrast with the frequent mysti- cism of great ancient commentators. The writer desires also to add that, while he has not generally thought it desirable to confuse tho reader by the enumeration of various translations and interpretations, he has yet, to tho best of his ability, studied all these carefully, and has endeavoured to give in the Notes the result, rather than the process, of such study.] INTEODUCTION THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. I. The Date and Place of Writing,— Tins Epistle, for reasons hereafter to be considered, has few detailed indications, either of the pei-sonal condition of the writer or of the circnmstances of those to whom it is addressed. But one point is made perfectly clear, that it was written by St. Paul when he was the " prisoner of Jesus Christ" (chaps, iii. 1; iv. 1), suifering some special " tribulations for them," which he bade them consider as "their glory" (chap. iii. 13), and being an " ambassador for Christ in a chain " (chap. vi. 20) — the word here used being the same as in Acts xxviii. 20, and being a word almost technically describing the imprison- ment " with a soldier that kept him " (Acts xxviii. 16). All these things point unmistakably to what we have spoken of in the General Introduction as the first Ro- man captivity. That captivity began about A.D. 61, and lasted, without change, for at least " two full years." In the Letter to Philemon, sent by Onesimus, who is associated with Tychicus, the bearer of this Epistle, in Col. iv. 7 — 9, St. Paul prays him to " prepare him a lodging" against the speedy arrival, which he then confidently expected. Hence our Epistle must be placed late in the cai^tivity — not earlier than A.D. 63. II. The Church to which it is addressed.— The Epistle has borne from time immemorial the name of the " Epistle to the Ephesiaus." To the Church at Ephesus most certainly, whether solely or among others, it is addressed. Ephesus. — Of St. Paul's preaching at Ephesus we have a detailed account in the Acts of the Apostles. At the close of his second missionary circuit he had touched at Ephesus, and " entered the synagogue" to " reason with the Jews." In spite of their entreaty, he could not then remain with them, but left Aquila and Priscilla there. From them, probably, with the aid of their convert ApoUos, the Chi-istianity of Ephesus began its actual rise. It is not, indeed, impossible that there may have been some previous preparation through the disciples of St. John the Baptist. The emphatic allusion to him and to the simply preparatory character of his work in St. Paul's sermon at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts xiii. 24-, 25), seems to point to know- ledge of him in Asia Minor. Wo know that afterwards St. Paul found some disciples at Ephesus. baptised only with St. John's baptism (Acts xix. 3) ; and wo note that Apollos, Avhile " knowing only the baptism of John," yet still " teaching the things of the Lord." found a ready acceptance at Ephesus (Acts x%'iii. 24, 25). But however this may ha, the full development of the Christianity of Ephesus was made under St. Paul's charge in liis third missionary circuit. His first circuit had been an extension of that Asiatic Gentile Christianity which began from Antioch; his second was notable as the first planting of European Christianity, having its chief centre at Corinth ; now his head- quarters for the evangelisation of the Roman pro\'ince of Asia were fixed for three years at Ephesus, a city specially fit for the welding together of Asiatic and. European Christianity — for there Greek civilisation met face to face with Oriental superstition and magical pretensions, in that which was made by Rome the official metropolis of pro- consular Asia ; and the strange union is curiously symbolised by the enshrining in a temple which was the world-famed masterpiece of Greek art of an idol — probably, some half- shapeless meteoric stone — " which fell down from Jupiter." The summary of his work there — his re-baptism with the miraculous gifts of the disciples of St. John Baptist ; the " special miracles " wrought by his hands ; the utter confusion both of Jewish exorcists and of the professors of those " curious arts" for which Ephesus was notorious ; the sudden tumult, so skilfully appeased by the " town . clerk," who must surely have been half a Christian— I make up (in Acts xix.) one of the most vivid scenes inl St. Paul's Apostolic history. Another — not less striking, and infinitely pathetic — • is drawn in Acts xx. 16 — 38, in the farewell visit and address of St. Paul to the Ephcsian presbyters at Miletus, iudicating, alike by its testimony and by its wai'nings. a fully-organised and widely-spread Chris- tianity— the fruit of his three years' labour. "Wliat had been the extent of the sphere of that labour we know not. We gather, with some surprise (Col. ii. 1), that the churches of the valley of the Lycus — Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colossse — had not been visited by him personally. Yet, whether by his own presence, or through such delegates as Epaphras (Col. i. 7). "all which dwelt in Asia had heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts xix. 10 K They might well " sorrow " and " weep sore " at the thought that they should " see his face no more." Now. in his captivity, certainlv to Ephesus, and las we shall see hereafter) probably to the other churches of Asia, he writes this Epistle — itself a representative Epistle, almost a treatise, bearing to the doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church a relatiim not unlike that wliich the Epistle to the Romans bears to the fimda- mental truths of personal Christianity. After this, in the interval bt^tween the first and second captivity, we find (see 1 Tim. i. 1 ; 2 Tim. i. 18) that St. Paul did revisit Ephesus at least once ; that, in his deep anxiety for its welfare, he placed it under the quasi-episcopal charge of his " own son Timothy ;" and that, in his la.st captivitv. ho sent Tycliicus. the bearer of this Epistle, to Ephesus again (,2 Tim. iv. 12), EPHESIANS. porhaps in view of tlio comiiif? absence of Timothy in obediL-nce to tlio Apostle's sunimons. From tliat tinio Epliesus passed into tlie charge of St. John, as tl)e first of the seven eliurehes of Asia (Rev. ii. 1), connnended for its steadfastness, but yet rebuked as " liaviiig fallen from its first lovo." Of this piiast' of its Cliristianity, and its subsequent im- portance in the future history of the Chureh, espeeially as the scene of the Tliird great Council and the previous Latrociniitm, it would be out of place h(>re to dwell. The Churches of Asia. — But while there is no doul)t that the Epistle was addressed to Ephesus, there seems very strong reason for the opinion, now held by many commentators, that it was an encyclical letter to tlie churches of Asia, of which Ephesus was the natural head. The evidence of this opinion may be thus sum- manscd : — Direct Evidence. — Taking first the direct evidence, we observe (1) that in the opening salutation, which in the ordinary reading is addressed to " the saints which are at Ephesus, being also faithful in Christ Jesus," the words " at Ephesus " are omitted in our two oldest MSS. (the Vatican and the Simiitic), and in l)oth sup- plied by a later hand. This omission is exceptional, all other MSS. and versions inserting the words. But it agrees with two remarkable ancient testimonies. Origen, the first great Biblical critic in the early Church (a.d. 186 — -54), (as appears from a fragment quoted in Cramer's " Catenae in Pauli Epistola;," S1U2, Oxford edition, 1842), noticed that in the phesiau Epistle alone there was the " singular inscrip- tion," " to the saints who are, being also faithful." Basil of Cacsarea (A.D. 329 — 379) expressly says (in his treatise against Eunomius, Book ii., c. 19), " this reading was handed down by those who have gone before us, and we ourselves have found it in the ancient MSS." Now (2) the effect of this omission is to make the passage obscure, if not unintelligible; for the only simple rendering of the Greek would be to " the saints who are also faithful," and this would give an im- possible vagueness and generality to the address. Accordingly, ancient criticism (perhaps derived fi-om Origen in the first instance) actually faced the difficulty by giving a mystic sense to the passage. St. Basil, in the passage above quoted, explains it thus : — " But, moreover, writing to the Ephesians as to those trxily united by full knowledge to HiM WHO IS, he gives them the peculiar title of the 'saints who are.'" To this interpretation, also, St. Jerome refers thus (in his Commentary on Ephesians i. 1): — "Some, with more subtlety than is necessary, hold that, according to the sjiying to Moses, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, He who is hath sent me unto you, tho.so who at Ephesus are holy and faitliful are designated by the name of essential being, so tiiat from Him who IS those are called They wiio are;"' and adds, with his usual strong critical good sense, " others more simply hold that the address is not to Those who are. but to Those •who are at Ephesus." Certainly, nothing could show a firmer conviction that the omission of the words "at Ephesus" was necessitated by MS. authority, tliau the desperate attempt to meet the difficulty of rendering by this marveUous interpretation. But (3) we also find that Marcion the heretic, by TertuUian's twice-repeated testimony (in his work against Marcion, Book v., cc. 11, 1(>), entitled this Epistle " The Epistle to the Laodiceaus." "I omit," he says, " here notice of another Epistle, which we hold to have been writt Blessed he the God and Father of our Lord Jesus [1. Introductian to the Epistle (chap. i. 1 — 23). (1) Salutation (verses 1, 2). (2) Thanksgiving to God for — (a) The election of the whole Church before the world began, brj the predestinating love of the Father, to holiness, grace, and glory (verses 3 — 6); (6) this election depending on Redemption, in virtue of unity with Christ as the Head of all created Being (verses 7 — 10) ; (c) and being manifested doubly, in the calling and faith, first of the Jewish, then of the Gentile Christians (verses 11 — 14). (3) Prayer for their fuller knowledge of the hope, gloiy, and spiritual reality of their inheritance, manifested in the Resui-rection, Ascension, and Royalty of Christ, the Head of the Church (verses 15 — 23).] (1) (1) By the will of God.— This phrase, used in 1 Cor. i. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1 ; 2 Tim. i. 1 (comp. the equivalent expression of 1 Tim. i. 1), appears to be St. Paul's ordinary designation of the source of his apostolic mission and authority; used whenever there was nothing peculiar in the occasion of the Epistle, or tlie circumstances of the Church to which it was ad- dressed. It may be contrasted, on the one hand, with the more formal enunciation of his commission, addressed to the Roman Church (Rom. i. 1 — 5), and the indignant and emphatic abruptness of the opening of the Galatian Epistle — " an apostle not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ" (Gal. i. 1). On the other hand, to the Thessalonian churches, in the Epistles written shortly after their conversion, he uses no de- scription of himself wliatever (1 Tliess. i. 1 ; 2 Thess. i. 1) ,' in the Epistles to the Philippians and to Titus he is simply " the sen^ant of Jesus Christ " (Phil. i. 1; Tit. i. 1); to Philemon (for special reasons) "the prisoner of Jesus Christ." Tlie phrase in the text stands midway between the empliasis of the one class of Epistles and the more familiar simplicity of the other. To the saints .... and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.— Here, as in Col. i. 2 (" the saints and faithful l)rethrcu ") the same persons are described l)y both epithets. Tliey are "saints," as "called" (see Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 2) into "the communion of saints" by the grace of God; they are "faitliful." as by their own act believing in Christ and holding fast that faith. 15 The two epithets are coiTclative to each other. Without the call and the grace of God, men cannot believe ; without the energy of faith they cannot be, in effect as well as in opportunity, " saints." Both epithets belong in capacity and profession to all members of the Church militant ; and St. Paul applies them accordingly to the whole body of any church which he addresses, without hesitation or distinction. In li%'ing reality they belong only to the " Invisible Church " of the present, which shall form the " Church triimiphant " of the hereafter. It has been noted that the use of tlie word " saints," as the regular and ordinary name of Christians, is more especially traceable in the later Epistles of St. Paul. So m his speech before Agrippa he says, " Many of the saints did I shut up in prison " (Acts xxvii. 10). The phrase, " in Christ Jesus," belongs to botli the words "saints" and "faithful;" but it is here more closely connected with the latter. Which are at Ephesus. — On these words, omitted in the oldest MSS., see the Introduction. (2) Grace be to you, and peace.— On this, St. Paul's all but invariable salutation in every Epistle (found also in the Epistles of St. Peter, 2 John, and Apocalypse), see Note on Rom. i. 7. (2 a.) In verses 3 — 6, the first section of the In- troduction, the Epistle ascends at once into " the heavenly places," naturally catching therefrom tlie tone of adoration and thanksginng. It dwells on the election of the children of God by His predestinating love — an election based on His will, designed for His glory, and cariying with it the blessings of the Spirit, through whicli they become holy and unblamable before Him. On the whole section comp. Rom. -v-iii. 28 — 30. (3) It may be noted, as bearing on the question of the general or special character of this Epistle, that (with the single exception of the Second Epistle to tlio Corinthians, which may be looked upon as virtually a continuation of the First Epistle) all St. Paul's Epi-stles addressed to particular churclies pass at once from the salutation to refer to the particular circumstances, gifts, and needs of the Churdi, genei-ally in the form of thanksgiving and prayer, sometimes (as in Gal. i. 6) in rebuke. In St. Peters First Epi.stlo, on tlie other liand. addressed to those "scattered" through many churches, wo liave an opening exactly similar to the opening of this Epistlo. Thanhsyiving for Election EPHESIANS, I. in Christ Clirist, who hath blessed us -svitli all Chap. i. 3—6. spiritual blessings in hea- The election yenlv li/flces^ in Christ: Church:''''''^' ^'^ according as he hath 1 Or, things. chosen us in him before the founda- tion of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love : (^^ having predestinated us Tlioro is, indeed, hero a thanksgiving below (verses 15 — 'I'l^, bnt it is entirely general, belonging to the whole Church. Tho God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.— On this pln-a-se (used in Rom. xv. 6; 2 Cor. i. 3; xi. 31 ; 1 Pet. i. 3) see Note on Rom. xv. 6. It is. liowever, to be noted liere, that in tlie Vatican MS. tho words "and Father" ai-e omitted, and that the plirase " the God of our Lord Jesus Clirist " occurs beliw in verso 17. Blessed be . . . who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. — Tlie frequent phi-aso " Blessed be God " (Luke i. t)8; Rom. i. 25 ; ix. 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 3 ; xi. 31 ; 1 Pet. i. 3) is here used with an unique anti- thesis. We can " bless " God only in thanksgiving of lieart and voice, with which He deigns to be pleased, as Ho " rejoices over tho works of His hands." God blesses us in real and life-giving " spiritual blessing," i.e., blessing of the gift of tho Spirit, for Avhich Ave can return nothing except thanksgiving. So in Ps. cxvi. 12. 13, tho natural question of the thoughtful soul — " What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards mo ? " — is answered .simply by the words, "I will receive tlie cup of salvation, aud call ou the name of tlio Lord." Who hath blessed us ... in heavenly places. — It sliould be, who blessed us (once for all), in the election aud predestination spoken of in the next verso. If this be noted, the sense of the phrase " in lioavenly places " becomes far clearer. It has been doubted whether we ought to supply tho word " places " or " things " (as in John iii. 12) in rendering this phra.so, which is peculiar to this Epistle, and u.sed in it no less than five times. In three out of the other four places (chaps, i. 20 ; ii. 6; iii. 10) the local sense is mani- fest; in the fourth (chap. vi. 12) and in this it might be doul)tful. But (1) it is altogether unlikely that so unique a phrase would bo used in two different senses ; (2) tlio original word for "heaAenly" has most pro- perly and most usually a local moaning ; (3) the trans- ference of tlie thoughts to heaven above suits especially tho whole tone of this Epistle and tho parallel Epistlo to tlio Colossians; and (4) the local sense agrees best with tho context here, for the Apostle is speaking of the election " before the foundation of tho world " as made by the foreknowledge of God in heaven, where Christ is " in tho beginning with God." It has been noticed here that we have one of those implicit references to the Holv Trinity — the blessing from God the Father, in Christ, and by the Spirit — with which St. Paul's Epistles abound. In Christ— i.e., in the unity with Christ, wliich is "tiio life eternal," ordained for us in tho foreknow- ledge of God, and viewed as already existing. (See tho whole of .Tohn xvii., especially verses 21 — 2 k) W According as {i.e.. itid.^mHch as) he hath chosen us in him before tho foundation of the world.— Again it should l)e. He cliose us for Him- self. The eternal election of God is inseparably con- nected with the blessing of the Spirit. Tliis passage stands alone in St. Paul's Epistles in its uso of tliis word " chosen " in connection with God's eternal pur- pose, "before the foundation of tho world" — a phrase only applied elsewhere to the eternal communion of the Son with the Father (John x\-ii. 24' ), and to the foreordaining of His sacrifice in the divine counsels (1 Pet. i. 20). The word " cliosen " itself is used by our Lord of His choice of the Apostles (John vi. 70 ; xiii. 18; XV. 16 — 19); but in one case with tho signi- ficant addition, " one of you is a devil," showing that the election was not final. It is similarly used in the Acts (chaps, i. 2, 24; vi. 5 ; xv. 7, 22, 25) of His choice or the choice of the Apostles ; and once (chap, xiiii 7) of the national election of Israel. In 1 Cor. i. 27, 28 (the only other place whore it is used by St. Paul), and in Jas. ii. 5 it refers to choice of men by God's calling in this world. Clearly in all these cases it is applied to the election of men to privilege by an act of God's mercy here. In this passage, ou the contrary, the whole reference is to the election "in Christ," by the fore- knowledge of God, of those who should hereafter be made His members. From this examination of Scrip- tural usage it is clear that the visible election to privilege is constantly and invariably urged upon men ; the election in God's eternal counsels only dwelt upon in passages which (like this or Rom. ix., xi.) have to ascend in thought to the fountain-head of all being in God's mysterious will. It will be observed that even here it clearly refers to all members of the Church, without distinction. That we should be holy and without blame before him. — In these words we have the object of the divine election declared, and the co-operation of the elect implied, by the inseparable connection of holiness with election. There is an instructive parallel in Col. i. 22 : — " He hath reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present yon holy and unblamable, and uureprovable in His sight." Tho woi-d " without blame," or " unblamable," is properly lolthout blemish; and the word " unreprovablo" more nearly corresponds to onr idea of one unblam- able— i.e., one against whom no charge can be brought. Here God is said to have " chosen " us, in the other passage to have " presented" us (comp. the sacrificial use of the word in Rom. xii. 1), in Christ, to bo " holy and without blemish." It seems clear that the words refer not to justification in Christ, but to saiictification in Him. They express the positive and negative aspects of holiness ; tho positive in the spirit of purity, the negative in tho absence of spot or blemish. Tho key to their interpretation is to be found in the idea of Rom. Anii. 29, "whom He did foroknoAv, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." The Avord " without blame " is applied to our Lord (in Hob. ix. 14 ; 1 Pet. i. 19) as a lamb " without blemish." To Hira alone it applies perfectly; to us, in proportion to that conformity to His imago. Tho Avords " liefore Him" refer us to God's unerring judgment as contrasted with the judg- ment of men, and even our nvn\ judgment on ourselves. (Comp. 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4 ; 1 John iii. 20, 21.) In love. — If these words are connected with the previous verso, they must bo taken Avith " He hath chosen us," in spite of the awkwardness of tho dislo- cation of order. But it is best to connect them Avith the verse folloAving, " HaA-ing predestinated ns in love." (5) Having predestinated us unto the adop- 10 throuyh His AtonemeiLt EPHESIANS, I. and Grace. iinto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (^^ to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. ^^^ In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches as ^^redeenjed of his grace ; ^^^ wherein througli unity he hath abounded toward ^'ith Christ ; tion of children by Jesus Christ to himself.— The idea of Election depends on the union of the sense of actual difference between men, as to priWlege and spiritual life, with the conviction of God's universal sovereignty. Hence, in all cases, it leads back to the idea of Predestination, that is, of the conception of the divine purpose in the mind of God, before its realisation in actual fact. On the doctrine of pre- destination see Rom. ix. It will suffice to note that here (1) its source is placed in God's love; (2) its meritorious cause is the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ; (3) its result is adoption, so that He is (see Rom. viii. 29) "the firstborn of many brethren," who are conformed to His image, and redeemed by Him from bondage to sonship (Gal. iv. 5). (It is clear that the adoption here is not the final adoption of Rom. viii. 23; but the present adoption into the Chi-istian covenant, there cre dwelt upon in anticipation of the declaraticm of the next verse. Of these two gifts, wisdom is clearly the higher gift, signi- fying (as in the Old Testament) the knowledge of the tr\u! end of life, which can only come from some knoAvledge of the " wisdom of God," that is, the divine purpose of His dispensation. (See especially Prov. viii. 'I'l — 31.) Such knowledge is revealed tons through the '■ mind of Christ," who is Himself the true wisdom or " Word of God." (See 1 Cor. i. 24, 30 ; ii. 6—10, 16.) Hence wisdom is spoken of in connection with various other gifts, which ai-e but partial manifestations of it. Here with " prudence," that is, wisdom in action ; in Col. i. 9, ^\'ith " intelligence," that is, wisdom in judg- ment ; in 1 Cor. xii. 8, Col. ii. 3, with " knowledge," that is. wisdom in perception; in verso 17 of this chapter, with " revelation," the means by which wisdom is gained. (■•' Having made known unto us the mystery of his will. — In the same connection we read in 1 Cor. ii. 7, " we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery." The word " mystery " properly signifies a thing which (see clwp. iii. 5 ; Col. i. 27) " was hid from all ages, but is now mad(^ manifest." So our Lord evidently uses it (in Matt. xiii. 11; Mark iv. 11; Luke \-iii. 10). For the rest, except in four passages of the Apocalypse {Rev. i. 20; X. 7; x\ii. 5, 7), it is used by St. Paul alone, and by him no less than twenty-one times, of which ten belong to this Epistle and the parallel Epistle to the Colossians — always in connection with such Avords as "knowledge," "declaration," "dispensation." The ordinary sense of the word " mystery " — a thing of wliicli we kiujw that it is, though how it is wo know not — is not implied in the original meaning of the word ; but it is a natural derivative from it. Reason can apprehend, when revealed, that which it cannot dis- cover ; but seldom or never can it comprehend it per- fectly. In this verse the mystery is declared to bo accordant to the good pleasure of God"s will, which (it is added) " Ho purposed in Himself." In this seems to be implied that (see chap. iii. 19) though in some sense wo can know it, yet ui its fuLucss " it passeth knowledge." (10) That in the dispensation of the fulness of times. — The connection marked in our version seems certainly erroneous. The words should be connected with the previous verse, and translated thus : rvhich He 2)urpo.^id in Himself for administration (or dis- posal) of the fulness of the [appointed] seasons, to gather, &c. We note (1) that the word " dispensation " is usually applied to the action of the servants of God, as " dispensers of His mysteries." (See chap. iii. 2 ; 1 Cor. ix. 17; Col. i. 25.) Here, however, and in chap, iii. 10, it is applied to the disposal of all by God Him- self, according to " the law which He has set Himself to do all things by." Next (2) that the word " fulness," or completeness, frequently used by St. Paul, is only found in connection with time in this i)assage, and in 18 Gal. iv. 4 (" when the fulness of time was come "). There, however, the reference is to a point of time, markhig the completion of the preparation for our Lord's coming ; here, apparently, to a scries of " seasons," " which the Father hath put in His own power " (Acts i. 7) for the completion of the acts of the Mediatorial kingdom described in the words following. (Comp. Matt. xvi. 3 ; Luke xxi. 24 ; 1 Thess. v. 1 ; 1 Tim. ii. 6 ; iv. 1 ; vi. 1.5 ; Tit. i. 3.) That he might gather together in one all things in Christ.— In these words St. Paul strikes the great keynote of the whole Epistle, the Unity op ALL IN Christ. Th(! expression " to gather together in one " is the same which is used in Rom. xiii. 9 (^ where all commandments are said to be " briefly compre- hended," or suinmed up, " in the one saying. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself "). Here, however, there is the additional idea that this gathering up is " for Himself." The full meaning of this expression is " to gather again under one head " things which had been originally one, but had since been separated. Tlie best comment upon the truth hero briefly summed up is found in tho full exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians (Col. i. 16 — 20), " In Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth . . . all things were created by Him and for Him . . . and in Him all tilings consist. It pleas(>d the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, and ... by Him to reconcile all things to Himself . . . whether things on earth or things in heaven." In Christ, as tho Word of God in the beginning, all created things are con- sidered as gathered up, through Him actually made, and in Him continuing to exist. This unity, broken by sin, under the effect of which " all creation groans " (Rom. viii. 22), is restored in the Incarnation and Atone- ment of the Son of God. By this, therefore, all things are again summed up in Him, and again made one in Him with the Father. In both passages St. Paid uses expressions which extend beyond humanity itself — " things in heaven and things in earth," " things visible and things invisible," " thrones and principalities and powers." In both ho immediately proceeds from the grand outline of this wider unity, to draw out in detail the nearer, and to us more comprehensible, unity of all mankind in Christ. (Comp. Col. i. 18, 21.) So also writes St. John (John i. 3, 4, 12), passing from the thought that " all things were made by Him," first to the declaration, " In Him was life, and the life was the light of men," and next to the power given to those who be- lieved on Him to become sons of God. The lesser part of this truth, setting forth the unity of all mankind in the Second Adam, forms the basis of the argument of 1 Cor. XV., that " in Christ all shall be nuid(> alive," in the course of which tlie existence of the Mediatorial kingdom of Christ is described, and its continuance till the final triumph, when it "shall be delivered up to God, even tho Father," " that God may be all in all " (1 Cor. XV. 24, 28). In -vnrtuo of it, those who are His are pai-takers of His death and resurrection. His ascension, even His judgment (chap. ii. 6 ; Matt. xix. 28; Rom vi. 3—10; 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3; Col. iii. 1—3). (2 c.) Verses 11 — 14 form the third part of tho both of Jews EPHESIANS, I. and Gentiles. even in him : (^^^ in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, gran^ted ^k1^ ^eing predestinated ac- to Jews and cording to the purpose of Gentiles. j^-^^ ^j^^ worketh all thinofs after the counsel of his own will : 1 Or, hoped. (^2) that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted^ in Christ. {Vi) In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation : in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with lutroductiou, applying tho general truth of election by God's predestination in Christ, first to the original believers (the Jews), and then to the subsequent beUevers (the Gentiles). (10, 11) Even in him : in whom also we have obtained an inheritance.— We liave here (in tho repetition, " even in Him '') an emphatic transition to the truth most closely concerning the Apostle and his readers. The word " we " is not here emijhatic, and the statement might be a general statement apj)licable to all Christians ; but the succeeding verse seems to limit it to the original Jewish believers — the true Israel, who (like the whole of Israel in ancient days) have become " a people of inheritance " (Dent. iv. 20 ; ix. 29 ; xxxii. 9), so succeeding to the privileges (Rom. xi. 7) which their brethren in bhudness rejected. Pos- sibly this suggests the peculiar word here (and here only) used, meaning either " we were made partakers of a lot " in God's kingdbra (to which Col. i. 12, " who has made us meet for a part of the lot of the saints," closely corresponds), or *' we were made His lot or inheritance ; " which perhaps suits the Greek better, certainly accords better with the Old Testament idea, and gives a more emphatic sense. A third possi- ble sense is " were chosen by lot." This is adopted by the Vulgate, supported by the only use of the word in the Septuagiut (1 Sam. xiv. 41), and exj^lained by Chrysostom and Augustine as signifying the freedom of election without human merit, while by the succeed- ing words it is shown not to be really by chance, but by God's secret will. But this seems quite foreign to the genius of the passage. Being predestinated . . . that we should be to the praise of his glory.— This is an applica- tion of the general truth before declared (verses 5, 6) that the source of election is God's predestination, and the object of it the manifestation of His glory. After the counsel of his own will.— The ex- pression evidently denotes not only the deliberate exercise of God's will by " determinate counsel and foreknowledge " (Acts ii. 2.3), but also the guidance of that will by wisdom to the fulfilment of the Law Eternal of God's righteous dispensation. Hooker, in a well-known passage [Eccl. Pol. i. 2), quotes it as excluding the notion of an arbitrary will of God, " They eiT, who think tliat of God's will there is no reason except His will." (12) That we . . . who first trusted in Christ. — Tliat tho reference here is to the first Christians, in contradistinction to the Gentiles of the next verse, is clear. But the meaning of the phrase " who fii"st hoped " (or, more properly, who have hoped before- hand) is less obvious. Our version seems to interjiret it simply of " believing before " the Gentiles, i.e., of being tho " first believers ; " and this iuterin-ctation may bo defended by tho analogy of certain cases in wliich the same prefix signifying " beforehand " has this sense {e.g., Acts xx. 5, 13 ; Rom. iii. 9 ; xii. 10 ; 1 Cor. xi. 21). But tho more general analogy strongly supports tho other intoq)retatiou, " who have hoi)ed iu tlio Christ before He came " — that is, who, taught by prophecy, entering into that vision of a great future whicli pervades the older Covenant, looked forward "to the hope of Israel," and " waited for the consola- tion of Israel ; " and who accordingly in due time became, on the Day of Pentecost, the lirstfruits of His salvation. ii') In whom ye also trusted ... in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed.— The insertion of the word "trusted " (suggested by the word "trusted" in the previous verse) is probably erroneous, nor is it easy to find any good substitute for it. It is far better to refer the wliole to the one verb, "ye were sealed." The irregularity of consti-uction (arising from the addition to "hearing" of its proper accessory of "faith," Rom. x. 17) will surprise no one who studies St. Paul's Epistles, and especially these Epistles of his Captivity, remembering that they were dictated, and in all probability read over again to the Apostle for adtlition or correction. After that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.— There is a C(mtrast here between the Jewish believers, looking on in hope and gladly embracing its fulfilment, and the Gentiles, who had no such hope, and who therefore waited " for the word of the truth " (the full truth, not veiled in type or symbol), the glad tidings of a present salvation. Tlio greater emphasis laid on the latter process seems intended to impress on the Gentiles a sense of tlie simpler and fuller means by which they were led to Christ. After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.- The order is to be noted, and compared with the experience of the Day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 38). First, the fight of the gospel shines before men; next, by faith they open tlieir eyes to see it ; then they are sealed by a special gift of the Holy Spirit. Such faith is, of course, the gift of God by the Spirit; but our Lord teaches us (John xvi. 8 — 13) to distinguisli between the pleading of the Holy Spirit with " the woi'ld " " to convince of sin, because they believe not in Christ," and the special gift of His presence in tho Church and the believuig soul " to guide unto all tJio truth." This fuller presence is the seal of tlie new covenant. Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.— This word "sealed" is found in exactly tho same connection iu 2 Cor. i. 22. The original idea of this sealing (which, it should be observed, is not of documents, but of men) is best seen in tho " scaling of the servants of God in their foreheads," in Rev. \\i. 3~S. In that passiige, and in the passage of Ezekiel which it recalls (Ezek. ix. 4), the sealing is simply an outward badge, to be at once a pledge and means of sjifety amidst the destruction coming on tlie earth. In like sense, circumcision appears to bo called " a seal " of pre\'iously existing righteousness of faith, in Rom. iv. 11; and the conversion of the Corinthians "a seal" of St. Paul's apostleship. in 1 Cor. ix. 2. (Comp. also John iii. 33; Rom. xv. 38; 2 Tim. ii. 19.) But the word is used in a deeper sense whenever it is connected 19 iS'^. Paul's T}ianhs(jiviag EPHESIANS. S^S, I. aiul Prayer for them. that holy Spirit of promise, (^^) which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased pos- session, unto the praise of his glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard of (\b) your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, chap. i. 15-19. (i«) cease not to srive thanks Prayer for full P I • i- L- knowledge of tor you, making mention of this divine you in my prayers ; ^^-"^ that blessing ; with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then it corresponds to tlie " circumcision not niade witli liauds " (Rom. ii. 29; Col. ii. 11); it has the character of a sacrament, and is not a mere badge, but a true means of grace. In this connection we read first of our Lord, " Him God tlie Father sealed" (John \\. 27), with a clear reference to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at His baptism (comp. John i. 33; v. 37; x. 33) ; next of His people (as here, in chap. iv. 30, and in 2 Cor. i. 22) as being, like Himself, baptised with the Holy Ghost. In this passage the very title given to tlie Spirit is significant. He is called (in the curious order of the original) "the Spirit of the Promise, the Holy One." " The promise " is clearly the promise in the Old Testament (as in Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34 ; Joel ii. 28—33) of the outpouring of the Spirit on all God's people in "the latter days." The emphatic position of the epithet " Holy One " seems to point to the effect of His indwelling in the actual sanctification of the soul thus sealed. From this passage was probably derived the ecclesiastical applica- tion of the name '• seal " to the sacrament of baptism, wliich is undoubtedly made the seal of conversion in Acts ii. 3S. (11) Which is the earnest of omt inheritance. — On the word "earnest" (arrhabon), a precious gift, as surety for a fuller gift hereafter, see 2 Cor. i. 22. The word " inheritance " has a correspondent meaning. It is a present possession (as in Acts vii. 5), which shall be developed into a more precious future. " We are very members, incorj)orate in the mystical body of Christ, and also heirs through hope of His everlasting kingdom." Until the redemption of the purchased pos- session.—The " redemption " here is the complete and final salvation from sin and death (as in Rom. \-iii. 23). The original word liere rendered "purchased po.s,session" properly means " tlio act of jjurcliase or acquisition," and is so used ia 1 Tliess. v. 9 ; 2 Thess. ii. 14 ; Heb. x. 39. But it seems clear that it is here used (in the sense of our version) with that confusion of idea, com- mon in English, though rare in Greek, under which the i-esult of an action is understood instead of the action itself, so that the woi'd " purcha-ses " is used for " things purchased," ""acquisitions " for " tilings acquired " and the like. The transition is marked in relation to this same word in Mai. iii. 17 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9, where the Israel- ites are spoken of a.s " a people for acquisition," that is, as a people acquired or purchased. (3) In verses 15 — 23, tliis introductory chapter ends in a prayer for the enlightenment of the readers of this Epistle, that they may understand all the fulness of the blessings of the gospel. In accordance with the heavenward direction of the thought of the whole Epistle, these blessings are \'iewed in their future com- pleteness of glor}- and power, of which the present exaltation of tlie risen Lord to the right hand of God, as the Lord of all creatures, and the Head of the Church His body, is the earnest and assurance. (15) After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints.— Tlicse words have an almost ex;ict parallel in Col. i. 4, ad- dressed there to a church which St. Paul had not seen, and have been quoted in support of the belief that this Epistle cannot have been addressed, properly and solely, to the well-known Ephesian Church. They are not, however, decisive, for we have a similar expression to Pliilemon (verse 5), St. Paul's own convert. We may note a distinction between " faith in the Lord Jesus " and " faith towards the Lord Jesus " (like " the love towards the saints "). Comp. 2 Tim. i. 13 (" faith and love in Chri^-t Jesus "). " Faith in Christ " is a faith which, centred in Christ, nevertheless rests through Him on the Father ; recognising a " life hid with him in God" (Col. iii. 3) and a souship of God in Christ Jesus (Gal. iii. 26). The connection of the two clauses here shows that such a faith abounds (i.e. over- flows) unto love, first necessarily to God, so being made perfect (Gal. v. 6), but next towards aU His children. For '" this commandment we have from Him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also " (1 John iv. 21). (I'^J Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.— Almost all St. Paul's Epistles are introduced by this union of thanks- giving and prayer, which is. indeed, characteristic of the right harmony of all Christian worship. (See Rom. i. 8, 9; Phil. i. 3, 4; Col. i. 3, 4; 1 Thess. i. 2. 3; 2 Tim. i. 3; Philem. verse 4.) In the Galatian Epistle the omission of both is characteristic ; in the two Epistles to the Corinthians thanksgi\ing alone is explicit, though prayer may be implied. But the proportion of the two elements varies. Here the thanksgiving has already been offered, although in the widest gene- rality. Accordingly all that follows is prayer. In the parallel Colossian Epistle (Col. i. 3 — 13), which has no coiTespondiug preface of thanksgiving, both ele- ments are co-ordinate, with perhaps a slight predo- minance of thanksgiving. (17) The God of otir Lord Jesus Christ.— See John xx. 17, "I ascend unto My Father and your Father ; and to My God and your God." It has been noted that, while on the cross, our Lord, in tlie cry, " My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " adopted the common human language of the Psalmist, He here, after His resurrection, distinguished emphati- cally between His peculiar relation to God the Father and that relation in which we His members call God "our Father." St. Paul's usual phrase (see above, verse 3) is " the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; " the phrase here used is unique, prolmbly substituted for the other on account of the use of the word " Father " In the next clause. It refers, of course, entirely to our Lord's nature as the true Son of Man. In that respect God is in the fidl sense (which in us is interrupted by sin) His God, in whom He lived and had His beiug. In proportion as we are conformed to His likeness, " God is our God for ever and ever." The Father of glory.— Better, of the glory. Tliis phrase is again unique. We have, indeed, such phrases as "Father of Mercies" (2 Cor. i 3), "Father of Lights" (Jas. i. 17); and. on the other hand, "the King of Glory" (Ps. xxviii. 5), " the God of Glory" (Acts vii. 2), "the Lord of Glory" (1 Cor. ii. 8; Jas. 20 Tlie, Glory of our Inheritance. EPHESIANS, I. The Exaltation of Christ. tlie God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glorj, may give unto you the spu'it of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge ^ of him : (^^^ the e^'es of your understanding being enlightened ; that ye may know what is the hojje of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (^^^ and 2 Gr. of the might of hiK pi'wer. 1 Or, for the ac- kituwledgment what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, accordin Among whom also we all . . .—Up to this point St. Paul had addressed himself especially to the Ephesians as Gentiles : now he extends the description of alienation to " all," Jews and Gentiles alike, as formerly reckoned among the children of disobedience. It is indeed the great object of this chapter to bring out tlie equality and unity of both Jews and Gentiles in the Church of Christ ; and this truth is naturally in- troduced by a statement of their former equality in alienation and sin. In the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.— Tho parallelism of these two clauses illustrates very clearly the extended sense in which the word " flesh " is used by St. Paul, as may indeed be seen by tho catalogue of the works of the flesh in Gal. v. 19, 20. For here " the flesh," in the first clause, includes both " the flesh and tho mind " (or, more properly, tho thoughts) of the second; that is, it includes both the appetites and tho passions of our fleshly nature, and also the " thoughts " of tho mind itself, so far as it is devoted to this visible world of sense, alienated from God, and therefore under the influence of the powers of e\'il. In fact, in scriptural use tho sins of " the flesh," " the world," and " the dovil " are not different cla.sses of sins, but different aspects of sin. and any one of the thi-ee great enemies is made at times to represent all. And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others (or rather, the others— thai is, the heathen!.— From this passage the phra.se " children of wrath" has passed into Christian theology as an almost technical description of the unregenorate state. Hence it needs careful examination. (1) Now the phrase " children of wrath " (corresponding almost exactly to " children of a curse," in 2 Pet. ii. 14) seems borrowed from the Hebrew use in the Old Testament, by which (as in 1 Sam. xx. 30 ; 2 Sam. xii. 5) a " sou of death " is 24 one under sentence of death, and in Isa. hdi. 4 (the Greek translation) " children of destruction " are those doomed to polish. In this sense we have, in John xvii. 12, " tho son of perdition ; " and in Matt, xxiii. 15, " tho son of hell." It differs, therefore, considerably from the phi'ase "children of disobedience " (begotten, as it were, of disoljedience) al)ove. But it is notable that the word for " children " here used is a term expressing endear- ment and love, and is accordingly properly, and almost invariably, applied to our relation to God. When, therefore, it is used as in this passage, or, still morr strikingly, in 1 John iii. 10, " children of the devil " (comp. John viii. 44), there is clearly an intention to arrest the attention by a startling and paradoxical ex- pression. " We wore children," not of God, not of His love, but " of wrath " — that is. His wrath against sin ; " born (see Gal. iii. 10 — 22 ; iv. 4) under the law," and therefore " shut up under sin," and " under the curse." (2) Next, we have the phrase " by nature," which, in the true reading of the original, is intei-posed, as a kind of limitation or definition, between " children " and " of wrath." In the first instance it was probably suggested by the reference to Israel, who were by covenant, not by nature, the chosen people of God. Now the word " nature," applied to humanity, indicates what is common to all, as opposed to what is individual, or what is inborn, as opposed to what is acquired. But whether it refers to humanity as it was created by God, or to humanity as it has become by "fault aud corruption of nature," must always be determined by the context. Here the reference is clearly to the latter. " Nature " is opposed to " grace " — that is, the nature of man as alienated from God, to the nature of man as restored to his original birthright, the " image of God," jn Jesus Christ. (See Rom. v. 12 — 21.) Tho existence of an inborn sinfiilness needs no revelation to make it evident to those who have eyes to see. It needs a revelation — and such a revelation the gosppl gives — to declare to us that it is not man's true nature, and that what is really original is not sin, but righteous- ness. (3) The whole passage, therefore, describes the state of men before their call to union ^vith Christ, as naturally " under wrath," and is well illustrated by the full description, in Rom. i. 18. ii. 16, of those on whom "the wi-ath of God is revealed." There man's state is depicted as having still some knowledge of God (Rom. i. 19 — 21), as having "tho work of the law written on the heart " (Rom. ii. 14, 15), and accord- ingly as being still under a probation before God (Rom. ii. 6 — 11). Elsewhere wo learn that Christ, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," died for all, even "the ungodly" (Rom. v. 6 — 8; Rev. xiii. 1); and that none are wholly excluded from His atonement but those who " tread under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing " (Hob. X. 29). Hence that state is not absolutely lost or hope- loss. But yet, when the comparison, as here, is with tho salvation of the gospel, they are declared " children of wrath " who are " strangers to tiie new covenant of promise," with its two supernatural gifts of justification by faith and sanctification in the Spirit, and their con- dition is described, comparatively but not absolutely, as "having no hope, and without God in the world." W Rich in mercy.— Not only merciful, but rich Tltt Qiilfkuniay and Exaltntioii EPHEblANS, II. of the Regenerate Soul. loved us, (^' even when we were dead in sins, bath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved ;) '^^^ and bath raised %ts up together, and made us sit together in heavenly 'places in Christ Jesus : (^^ that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Cbrist Jesus. ^^> For by grace are ye saved through faith ; " ill the multitude of mercy," as attaching eveu to those dead iu sin (see Chrysostom on this passage). Tlie idea of richness in grace, glory, mercy, is especially frequent in this Epistle. (See chaps. 1. 7, 18 ; ii. 7 ; iii. S. 16.) For his great love. — Again, as in chap. i. 4, stress is laid on the love of God, before all else, as the one moving cause of salvation. (Comp. Rom. v. 8, " God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.") (5) Even when we were dead in sins. — These words should be connected, not with " loved us," but with " hath quickened," or rather, quickened. He brought life out of spiritual death. (5, ti) The thought in these verses follows exactly the same course as in chap. i. 19, 20. There the type and earnest of the working of God's mighty power are placed in the resurrection, the ascension, the glorifica- tion of Christ Himself in His human nature. Here what is there implied is worked out — (1) All Christians are declared to be quickened (or, risen again) to spiritual life with Christ, according to His promise, " Because I live, ye shall live also" (John xiv. 19). (See the exact imi'allel in Col. ii. 13.) But there is a promise even beyond this : "I am the life : whosoever liveth and be- lievetlu in Me shall never die " (John xi. 25 ; comp. also V. 24; xvii. 2). Hence, even more emphatically, and in full accordance with this latter promise, we have in Col. iii. 4, " Christ who is our life ; " as in 2 Cor. iv. 10, 11, '"The life of Jesus is made manifest in us." What this " life eternal " is He Himself declares (John xvii. 3) — " to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent." (2) Next, this partaking of the life of Christ is brought out in two striking forms — as a par- taking, not only of His resurrection (as in Eom. vi. 5; 1 Cor. XV. 20—22 ; Phil. iii. 11), but also (in a phase of thought peculiar to these Epistles) of His ascension " to the heavenly places." Tliis is " in Christ Jesus," in A'irtue of a personal and indiA-idual union with Christ. It implies blessings, both present and future, or rather one blessing, of which we have the earnest now and the fulness hereafter — for the resurrection and ascension of Christ are even now the perfection and glorification of humanity in Him. (3) So far as we are really and vitally His members, such perfection and glorification are ours now, by His intercession (that is. His continued media- tion for us in heaven) and by His indwelling in us by the Spirit on earth. The proof of partaking His resurrection is " newness of life," "death unto sin, and new birth imto righteousness " (Rom. vi. 5 — 11), which is in Col. iii. 12 expressly connected with the entrance upon unity -with Christ m baptism. The proof of having " our life hid in Christ at the right hand of God," is " the setting our afPection on things above " (Col. iii. 1), by wliich " in heart and mind we tliither ascend, and with Him continually dwell." (4) These proofs are seen only in measure liere. Tlirough the change wliich we call death, we pass at once to a still higher stage of life, by fuller union with Christ (2 Cor. v. 6 — 8), and at tlie great day we shall have both in perfection — perfect newness of life in "likeness to Hira " (1 John iii. 2), and perfect glorification in Him in that communion 25 with God which is heaven (John xvii. 5, 10, 24). The one thing which St. Paul does not attribute to us is that whicli is His alone — the place " at the right hand of the Father." (7) In the ages to come.— Properly, the ages which are coming on — the ages both of time and of eternity, looked upon in one great continuity. Here, again, the manifestation of the riches of God's grace is looked upon as His special delight, and as His chosen way of manifesting His own self to His creatures. In his kindness.— The word "kindness" (pro- perly,/«c(7i77/, or readiness to serve another) is applied to that phase of God's mercy in which it shows Him as "ready to receive, and most willing to pardon." Thus we find it in Luke \n. 35 used for His goodness " to the unthankful and evil"; in Rom. ii. 4 it is joined with " long- suffering and patience"; in Rom. xi. 22 opposed to abrupt " severity " ; in Tit. iii. 4, connected with love to man, " philanthropy " ; and it is also used in similar connections when attributed to man (1 Cor. xiii. 4; 2Cor. vi. 6; Gal. v. 22 ; Col. iii. 12). Hence in this passage it is especially appropriate, because so much stress has been laid on the former sinfulness and god- lessness of those to whom God's mercy waited to be gracious. There is a similar appropriateness in the re- petition of the name of our Lord "through Christ Jesus," for this gentle patience and readiness to receive sinners was so marked a feature of His ministry that to the Pharisees it seemed an over-facility, weakly condoning sin. "Through Him," therefore, the kindness of God was both shown and given. (1 h.) Verses 8 — 10 (taking up and working out the parenthetical " by grace ye are saved " of verse 5) form an instructive link of connection between these Ejjistles and those of the earlier group, especially the Epistles to the Galatians and Romans. (Comp. Phil. iii. 9.) In both there is the same doctrine of " Justification by Faith," the same denial of the merit of good works, the same connection of good works with the grace of God in us. But what is there anxiously and passionately contended for, is here briefly summarised, and calmly assumed as a thing known and allowed. Even the technical phrases — the word " justification," and the declaration of the nullity of " the Law " — are no longer used. (8) By grace are ye saved through faith.— Properly, ye have been saved ; ye were sjived at first, and continue in a state of salvation. In verse 5 this thought is introduced parentLctically, naturally and irresistibly suggested by the declaration of the various steps of regeneration in Christ. St. Paul now returns to it and works it out, before passing on, in verse 11. to draw out by " wherefore " the conclusion from verses 1 — 7. Remembering how the Epistles were written from dictation, we may be inclined to sw in this l>assago among others, an insertion made by the Apostle, on a revision of that already written. The two phrases — " justification by faith " and "sal- vation by grace " — are popularly identified, and. indeed, are substantially identical in meaning. But the latter properly lays stress on a more advanced stage of the The Root of Faith. EPIIESIANS, II. The Fruit of Works. and that not of yourselves : it is Chap. ii. 8— the gift of God : (^> not 10. Received ^f ^yorks, lest any man claimed ' "by should boast. ^^^^ For \ve works. are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good 1 Or, prepared works, which God hath before or- dained ^ that we should walk in them. (ii; Wherefore remember, chap. ii. ii— 13. that ye heinq in time past 'P^^ Gentiles n J.-1 • ii ^11 drawn near to Gentiles in the tlesh, who God in Jesus are called Uncircumcision Chiist. process of rcdiMnption in Christ. Thus, in Rom. v. 9, 10 (" having heon justified," " having been reconciled," "wo sliall bo saved"), salvation is spoken of as following on tlio completed act of justification (as the release of a ])risoner on liis jjronouiiced pardon) ; and it is described, here and elsewhere, as a con- tinuous proci'ss — a state continuing till the final juilgnuMit. Hence to lay especial stress on salvation ac- cords better with the whole idea of this Epistle — the continuous indwelling in Christ — than to bring out, as in the Epistle to the Romans, the one complete act of justification for His sake. It is remarkable that the expression of the truth corresponds almost verbally with the words of St. Peter at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts XV. 11), "Wo believe that through the grace of God we shall be (properly, ive ivere) saved," except that here the origiiuil shows that the salvation is looked upon as a completed act, like justification. It is also to be noted that the use of the name " Sa\'iour," applied both to God and to Christ, belongs entin^ly to the later Epistles. It is used once in this Epistle (chap. v. 23) and once in the Epistle to the Philippians (chap. iii. 20), but no less than ten times in the Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul, and five times in the Second Epistle of St. Peter. The phrase in the text is, as always in this Epistle, theologically exact. Grace is the moving cause of salvation; faith only the instrument by which it is laid hold of. And that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God. — This attribution of all to tlie gift of God seems to cover the whole idea- — both the gift of .salvation and the gift of faith to accept it. The former part is en- forced by the words " not of works," the latter by the declaration, " we (and all that is in us) are His workmanship." The word hei'e rendered " gift " is peculiar to this passage ; the word employed in Rom. v. 1.5, 10, vi. 23, for " free gift " {chariitma) having been api)ropriated (both in the singular and plural) to special " gifts " of grace. (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast. —In this verso we have the eclio of the past Judaising controversy ; it sums up briefly the whole argument of Rom. iii. 27 — iv. 25. There is a similar reminiscence, but more distinct and detached, in Phil. iii. 2 — 9. (10) We are his workmanship.— This verse, on the contrary, is unique and remarkable, characteristic of the idea witli which this Epistle starts — the election and })redestiuation of God, making us wliat wo are — and api)lying it very strikingly, not only to the first regeneration, but even to tho good works which follow it. Tho word rendered " workmanship " is only used elsewhere in Rom. i. 20, where it is api)lied to tho " works " of God in creation. Probably here also it docs not exclude our first creation. We are His wholly and absolutely. But the next clause shows that St. Paul refers especially to the " now creation " in Christ Jesus. Created in Christ Jesus.— This creation, when spoken of distinctively, is the " new creation " (2 Cor. v. 17 ; Gal. vi. 15) ; as, indeed, is the case below (verse 15), " to create in Himself . . . one new man." In this passajje, however, St, Paul dwells, not on distinc- tion from the old creation, but rather on analogy to it ; in both we are simply God's creatures. Unto good works . — Projierly, on the basis (or, cunditiuH] of (jood ivorks (as in Gal. v. 13; 1 Thess. iv. 17 ; 2 Tim. ii. 14). The good works, in them- selves future, being (as the next clause shows) con- templated as already exi-stent in God's foreknowledge, and as an inseparable characteristic of the regenerate hfe. Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. — There is, jierhaps, in all Scripture, no stronger expression of the great mystery of God's predestination ; for it is here declared in re- ference, not only to the original call and justification and regeneration of the soul, but also to the actual good works, in which the free-will and energy of man are most plainly exercised ; and in which even here we are said not to be moved, but " to walk " by our own act. In much the same sense St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Philippians (chap. iii. 12, 13), uses the well- known paradox, " Work out your own salvation . . , for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Both truths — God's preordi- nation and man's responsible freedom — ai'o emphasised. For the reconcilement of the two we must wait till we " know even as we are known." (2 a.) Yerses 11 — 13, resuming the thread of argu- ment from verse 7, dwell on the drawing of the Gentiles into a personal unity with God in Christ— not, however (as before), out of the deadness of sin and bondage of Satan, but rather out of the condition of alienation from God, from His covenant and His pro- mise, in which they stood contrasted with His chosen people. (11) Gentiles in the flesh — i.e., not having the bodily impress of circumcision, sealing the Jewish covenant. "Who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision.— Tho use of the phrase "called" — with a touch of the contempt im- ])lied in our phrase "the so-called" — simply implies that now Circumcision and Uncircumcision were mere names, virtually " nothing." The declaration of the nullity of circumcision as a religious distinction is often repeated, yet takes various forms. Thus, in 1 Cor. vii. 19, it is contrasted with the practical reality of obedience to God's commandmejits ; in Gal. v. 6, with the inner reality of "faith working by love"; in Gal. v\. 15, with the divine gift of the "new creation"; in Col. iii. 11, with the spiritual unity of all in Christ. (Comp. also the whole ai'gument of Rom. ii. 25 — iv. 12.) In the flesh made by hands.— St. Paul, however, not content with this, suggests by the addition of these last words a contrast between the false or carnal, and the true or spiritual circumcision, attributing the former to the unbelieving Jews, the latter to all Christians, This contrast is expressly announced in the other Epistles of this period. In Phil. iii. 2, 3, we read, " Beware of tho concision ; for we are the circumcision." 26 The Gentiles, once Aliens, EPIIESIANS, II. now made nigh to God. by that which is called the Circumcision ill the flesh made by hands ; (^-^ that^ at tha.t time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: ^^^^ but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (It) For he is our peace, who hath made In Col. ii. 11, still moro distinctly, in siguificaut con- nection with tlie appointed means of entrance into the Christian covenant, and siguiticant contrast with the effete Jewish ordinance, " In whom also ye are circum- cised with the ciivunu'ision not made with hands . . . in the circumcision of Christ ; buried with Him in baptism, in which also ye are risen with Him." In that true circumcision lies the distinction between the Cliurch, which is the spiritual Israel, and the heathen world Avithout. (1-) This verse gives a dark and terrible picture of the former hoatlieu condition of tlio Ephesians, inten- tionally contrasted in every point with the description of Christian privilege in verses 19, 20. That condition is first summed up iu one expression. They were " separate from Christ." Then from tliis are drawn two gloomy consequeuces : first (1), that they had no part in God's special covenant, " alienated from the commonwealth of Israel," and so "strangers to the (often repeated) covenants of the promise" of the Messiah; next (2), that, thus left in " the woi-ld," they had "no hope" of spiritual life and immortality, aud •wore " godless" in thought and act. For Christ is at once the end and substance of the covenant of Israel, and the Revealer of God, and therefore of spiritual life in man, to all mankind. To be without Him is to lose 1)otli covenant and light. On (Ij it is to be noted tliat tlie word used is not " aliens," but " alienated," im- })lving — what is again and again declared to us — that the covenant with Israel, as it was held in trust for the ])lessing of " all families of the earth," so also was simply the true birthright of humanity, from which mankind had fallen. The first " covenant " in scrip- ture (Gen. ix. 8 — 17) is with the whole of the post- diluvian race, and is expressly connected with the reality of "tlio image of God" in man (Gen. ix. 6). The succeeding covenants (as with Abraham, Moses, and David) all contain a pi'omise concerning the whole race of man. Hence the Gentiles (as the utterances of prophecy showed mcn-e and more clearly while the ages rolled on) were exiles fi'om what should have been tlieir home ; and their call into the Church of Christ was a restoration of God's wandering children. In relation to (2' it is impossible not to observe, even in the higliest forms of heathen philosophy, how their comparative '• godlessness " — the absence of any clear notion of a real spiritual tie of nature between God and man — made their "hope" of life and immortality, 1 hough still chorislied, shadowy and uncertain, always stronger in itself than in its grounds. But St. Paul's description ought to be apjilied strictly, not to heathen life in its nobler and purer forms, but to the heathen life of Asia Minor iu his days. ^\liat that was in moral degradation and in loss of all spiritual religion, ill compensated by the inevitable proneness to various superstitions, all contemporary literature testifies. From it came, as the Romans declared, tlie corruption whicli overspread the whole empire, and which St. Paul describes so terribly in Rom. i. 18 — 33. (13) This verse speaks of the restoration of the heathen as taking place, first, "in Christ Jesus" — iu virtue, that is, of union with Him through all the acts 27 of His mediation; and next, "by the blood of Christ" — that is, through that especial act of mediation, which is emphatically an atonement for sin — such sin as St. Paul had been declaring above to be the cause of spiritual deadness. They had power now "to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus " (Heb. x. 19). (2 h.) Verses 14 — 18 pass on from the description of tlu! call of the heathen to personal union with God in Christ, to dwell on the perfect unity and equality of Jew aud Gentile with each other in Him, and the access of both to the Father. (1^) He (Himself) is our peace.— There is clearly allusion, as to the many promises iu the Old Testament of the "Prince of Peace" (Isa. ix. 5, 6, et al.), so still more to the " Peace of Earth " of the angelic song of Bethlehem, and to the repeated declarations of our Lord, such as, " Peace I leave with you : My peace I give unto you." Here, however, only is our Lord called not the giver of peace, but the peace itself — His own nature beiug the actual tie of unity between God and mankind, and between man and niiui. Tlirough the whole passage thus introduced there runs a double meaning, a declaration of peace in Christ between Jew aud Gentile, and between both and God; though it is not always easy to tell of any ]iarticular expression, whether it belongs to this or that branch of the meaning, or to both. It iTs well to compare it with the obvious parallel in Col. ii. 13, 14, where (in accordance with the whole genius of that Epistle) there is found only the latter laranch of the meaning, the union of all with the Head, not the unity of the various membere of the Body. Who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. — In this verse the former subject is begun. The i-e- uuion of Jew and Gentile is described in close connectiim with tlie breaking down of " the middle wall of the partition" (or, hedge). The words "between us" are not in the original, and Chrysostom interprets the partition as being, not between Jew and Gentile, but between both and God. But the former idea seems at any rate to predominate in this clause. Whetlier " the middle wall of the hedge " refers to the wall separating the court of the Gentiles from the Temple proper (Jos. Ant. xv. § 5), and by an inscrii)tion de- nouncing death to any alien who passed it (see Lewin's St. Paid, vol. ii., p. 133), or to the " hedge " set abiut the vineyard of the Lord (Isa. v. 2; conip. Matt. xxii. 33) — to which probably the Jewish doctors alluded wlien they called their ceremonial and legal subtleties " the hedge " of the Law — has been disputed. It may. however, be noted that the charge of bringing Trophimus. an Ephesian, beyond that Temple wall had been the cause of St. Paul's apprehension at Jeni.salem (Acts xxi. 29), and nearly of his death. Hence the Asiatic churches might we'll be familar with its existence. It is also notable that tliis Temple-partition suits perfectly the double sense of this passage : for, wliile it was pri- marily a separation between Jew and Gentile, it was also the first of many partitions — of wliich the " veil Made one ivith fsrnA. EPHESIANS, IT. Reconciled to God. both one, and hath broken down the of partition (^^^ havincr ciliiitiontoGoJ. enmity, even the law of commandments Chap.ii.U-18. middle wall Made one with i^i,,,^^^^ ,,5 Israel in recon- • i- a i +1 abolished in his nesh the contained in ordinances ; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (i*') and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity of the Temple " was the last — cutting all men off from the immediate presence of God. At our Lord's d(!ath the last of tliese partitions was rent in twain ; how much more may that death bo described as breaking down tlio tirst 1 (1^) Tlie connection in the original is doubtful. The words the " enmity in His flesh " may bo in apposition to the " wall of partition " in the previous verse ; or, as in our version, to " tlio law of commandments." Tlie general sense, however, is but little affected in either case. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.— In this difficult passage it will be wtjll lirst to examine the particular expressions. (1) Tlie word rendered " to abolisli " is the word often used by St. Paul for " to supersede by something better than itself " — translated " to make void," in Rora. iii. 31 ; to " bring to nought,"' in 1 Cor. i. 28, and (in the passive) " to fail," " to vanish away," " to be done away," in 1 Cor. xiii. 8, 9, 10. Xow, of the relation of Christ to the Law, St. Paul says, in Rom. iii. 31, " Do we make void the Law ? God forbid ! Yea, wo establisii the Law." The Law, therefore, is abolished as a law " in ordinances " — that is, "in tlio letter" — and is established in the spirit. (2) " The law of commandments in ordinances." The word hero rendered " ordinance " {dogma) pro- l)erly means "a decree." It is used only in this sense in the New Testament (see Luke ii. 1 ; Acts xvi. 4 ; xvii. 7 ; Heb. xi. 23); and it signifies expressly a law imposed and accepted, not for its intrinsic righteousness, but on authority; or, as Butler expresses it {Anal., Part ii., chap. 1), not a " moral," but " a positive law." In Col. ii. 11 (the parallel passage) the word is connected with a '"handwriting" that is a legal "bond"; and the Colossians are reproved for subjecting themselves to " ordinances, which are but a shadow of things to come " ; while " the body." the truii substance, " is Christ." (See verses 16, 17, 20, 21.) (3) Hence the whole expression describes explicitly what St. Paul always implies in his proper and distinctive use of the word " law." It signifies the will of God, as expressed in formal commandments, and enforced by penalties on disobedience. The general idea, therefore, of the pas- sage is simply that whicli is so often brought out in the earlier Epistles (see Rom. iii. 21 — 31; vii. 1 — 4.; viii. 1—4; Gal. ii. L5— 21, et al.), but which (as the Colossian Epistle more plainly shows) now needed to 1)0 enforced under a somewhat different form — viz., that Christ, " the end of the law," has superseded it l)y the free covenant of the Spirit; and that He has done this for us " in His flesh." especially by His death and resurrection. (4) But in what sense is this Law called "the enmity," wliich (see verse \(\) was " slain " on the Cross ? Probal)ly in the double .sense, which runs through the passage: first, as "an enmity," a cause of separation and hostility, between the Gen- tiles and those Jews whom they called "the enemies of tlie human race"; neA*^, as "an enmity" a cause of alienation and condemnation, between man and God — " tlie commandment which was ordained to life, being found to be unto death " through the relxilliou and sin of man. The former sense seems to be the leading sense here, where the idea is of " making both one " ; the latter in the next verse, which speaks of " recon- ciling both to God," all the jjartitions are broken down, that all alike may have " access to the Father." Comp. Col. i. 21, " You, who were enemies in your mind. He hath reconciled ; " and Heb. x. 19, " Having confidence to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hatii conse- crated to us, tliroiKjh the veil, that is to say His flesh." For to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.— In this clause and the following verse the two senses, hitherto united, are now distinguished from each other. Here we have the former sense simply. In the new man " there is neither Jew nor Gentile," but " Christ is all and in all" (Col. iii. 12). This phrase, "the new man" (on which see chap. iv. 24, Col. iii. 10), is peculiar to the.se Epistles ; corresponding, however, to the " new crea- ture" of 2 Cor. V. 17, Gal. vi. 1.5; and the "newness of life " and " spirit " of Rom. vi. 4, vii. 6. Christ Himself is the "second man, the Lord from Heaven" (1 Cor. XV. 47). "As we have borne the image of the first man, of the earth, earthy," and so " in Adam die," we now " bear the image of the heavenly," and not only " shall be made alive," but already " have our life hid with Christ in God" (Col. iii. 3). He is at once " the seed of the woman " and the " seed of Abraham "; in Him, therefore, Jew and Gentile meet in a common humanity. Just in proportion to spirituality or new- ness of life is the sense of unity, which makes all brethren. Hence the new creation "makes peace" — ■ here probably peace between Jew and Gentile, rather than peace with God, which belongs to the next verse. (^•^) And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body.— In this verse the latter subject opens — the reconciliation of all to God. On the re- conciliation of man to God. see the great passage 2 Cor. V. 18 — 21. But it should be noted that in the original the word used here and in Col. i. 20, 21 (and nowhere else) is a compound signifying not simply to "conciliate," but properly to " i-econcile," — that is to reunite those who were originally united, but afterwards separated by the sin of man. This brings out the profound idea, which so especially characterises these Epistles, of a l^rimeval unity of all created being in Clirist, marred and broken by sin. and restored by His manifestation in human Hesh. Note that the passage in the Colossians (on which see Notes) has a far wider scope than this passage — " having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him (I .say), whether they be things on earth or things in heaven." On the other hand, this passage charac- teristically still lays .stress on the idea "in one body" — that is. as throughout, His mystical body, the Church — ■ although probably the phrase is suggested here by the thought of the natur.al body of the Lord offered on the cross, which is clearly referred to in Col. i. 21. There is a .similar connection of thought in 1 Cor. x. 16, 17, " The bread whicli we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? For we are all one bread, and one body." 2R Uaving Access hy tJte Spirit. EPHESIANS, II. Fellow Citizens of tlte Saints. thereby : ^ ^^''^ and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were niyh. (^^' For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (^^^ Now therefore ye I Or, in hitiise!/. are no more strangers and nu„^ i^ la oo foreigners, but fellow- Built into the citizens with the saints, !!cfjfst'^bdn^ and of the household of the comer- God ; (20) and are built stone. By the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. — lu this verse (in acooidjince with the con- text) "tlie enmity," wliieh by His death He " slew," is tlie barrier between God and man, created by sin, but brouglit out by the Law, as hard and rigid law, "in ordinances " of which St. Paul does not liesitate to say that " sin took occasion by it," and " by it slew " man (Rom. vii. 11). This is illustrated by the cognate, though diifereut, metaphor of Col. ii. 14, where it is said of Christ that He " blotted out the handwriting of ordinances which was against us, which was contrary unto us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross." Compare also, in Gal. ii. 19, 20, the connection of spiritual " death to the Law " with our partaking of oiir Lord's crucifixion : " I, through tlie Law, am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Clirist, nevertheless I live .... by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." By His death Christ has both redeemed us from sin, and also " redeemed (properly, bought) us from the curse of the Law " (Gal. iii. 13). (1") And came and preached peace. — The word "came" certainly carries back our thoughts to our Lord's own preaching, when, after the Resurrection, He came " and stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you" (Luke xxiv. 36; John xx, 19, 21). But we note that at that very time He repeated the salutation " Peace be unto you," with the expressive addition, " As my Father hath sent Me, even so send I you," and ■with the charge, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," for the future mission "to remit or retain sins." In the same connection we have in John xiv. 25 — 28, the promise of the Comforter, and the words ''Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you. ... I go away and come again to you." Hence we cannot limit His " coming " to the appearance after the Resurrection. At aU times through the witness of the Holy Spirit, whether with or without the preaching of His servants (John xv. 27), He "stands at the door and knocks " (Rev. iii. 20) with the message of peace. For since the " peacemakers " are " called the children of God," He, the Son of God, must be emphatically the Peacemaker. To you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.— As the enmity was the enmity with God, so the peace is peace with God ; but still the Apostle, having the idea of reunion between Jew and Gentile present to his mind, cannot refrain from bringing out clearly the call of both to one peace, and therefore to unity with one another. The passage is a quotation from Isa. Ivii. 19. '^^> For through him wo both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.— In this verso the two meanings again unite. In the original the order is emphatic: "Through Him we have the access, both of us in one Spirit, to the Father." The greater idea of access to God is still prominent ; but the lesser idea of union with each other in that access is still traceable as an undertone. "Access" is properly "the intro- duction" (used also in chap. iii. 12; Rom. v. 2), a tech- nical word of presentation to a royal presence. So says Chrysostom, " We came not of ourselves, but He 29 brought us in." The corresponding verb is found in 1 Pet. iii. 18, " Christ also suffered for sins — the just for the unjust — that He might bring us to God." It will be noted that we have here one of the implicit de- clarations of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, so frequent in this Epistle. The unity of the whole Church, as united " to the Father," " through the Son," and " in the Spirit," is hero summed uj) in one sentence, Inxt with as much perfection and clearness as even when it is unfolded in the great passage below (chap, iv. 4 — 6). The ultimate soui'ce of all doctrine on the subject is necessarily in the words of tlie Lord Him- self. (See John xiv. — x^^i., especially xiv. 6, 16 — 18, 23—25 ; XV. 26 ; xvi. 13—15 ; xvii. 20, 21.) For these are the " heavenly things" ; and " no man hath ascended into heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven " (John iii. 12, 13). (2 c.) Verses 19 — 22 sum up the two-fold idea of this chapter — union of the Gentiles with God and with God's chosen people — in the metaphor of the Ono Temple, of which Jesus Christ is the chief comer- stone, and which, both collectively and in the indi- viduality of each part, grows into a habitation of God. (19) Strangers and foreigners.— Here the word rendered " stranger " means properly an alien, or foreigner ; while the word translated " foreigners " signifies the resident aliens of an ancient city, who were but half-aliens, haxing free intercourse with the citizens, although no rights of citizenship. The latter word is used literally in Acts vii. 6. 29 (there rendered " sojourner "), and often in the LXX. version ; perhaps metaphorically in 1 Pet. ii. 11. Such a sojourner, though in some sense less an absolute alien than the mere " stranger," was one on whom by daily contrast the sense of being an alien, excluded from power and privilege, was more forcibly impressed. Feliowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.— In sense this double expression preserves the double idea running through the whole chapter. The phrase " feliowcitizens of the saints " is applied to the Gi^ntiles, as now united -with the Israel of God in one " commonwealth." (See above, verse 12.) " Members of the household of God " refers rather to the union with God, restored by the blood of Jesus Christ. (See verse 13.) As to the' metaphor, the word " stranger "—that is, alien — seems to be opposed to " fellowcitizen " ; the word "foreigner" — that is. half- alien — to members of the household : for tlie resident aliens stood opposed to the " houses," the families or clans, of the citizens — the unit in ancient law being always the family, and not the individual. The Gentiles were now brought into a " household," and that house- hold the household of God Himself. (20-22) In these verses there is a sudden cliaugo from a political to a physical metaphor. possil)ly suggested by the word " ho'usehold." The metaphor itself, of the Church as "a building of God "—fre- quently used in the New Testament— reaches its full perfection in this passage. (1) It starts, of course, Built on one Foundation EPHESIANS, II. in one Corner-stone. upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (-^^ whom all the building fitly framed to m from tho words of our Lord (Matt. xvi. 18), " On this rock I will build my Church;" but in tlic use of it sometimes the prominent idea is of tho growtli by addition of intlividual stones, sometimes of tlie complex unity of tho building as a whole. (2) Tho former idea naturally occurs first, connecting itself, indeed, with the still more personal application of the metaphor to the " edification " of tlie individual to be a temple of God (found, for example, in 1 Thess. v. 1 1 ; 1 Cor. viii. 1 ; X. 23 ; xiv. 4 ; 2 Cor. v. 1 ; x. 8). Thus in 1 Cor. iii. 9, from "ye are God's building," St. Paul passes at once to the building of individual character on the one foundation ; in 1 Cm*, xiv. 4, 5, 12, 26, the edification of tho Church has reference to the effect of prophecy on individual souls ; in 1 Pet. ii. 5, the emphasis is still on the building up of " li^^ng stones " upon " a li^ang stone." (Comp. Acts xx. 32.) (3) In this Epistle tho other idea — tho idea of unity — is always prominent, thoTigh not exclusive of the other (as here and in chap, iv. 12 — 16). But that this conception of unity is less absolute than that conveyed by the metaphor of the body will be seen by noting that it differs from it in three respects ; first, that it carries with it tlie notion of a more distinct individuality in each stone ; next, that it conA'cys (as in the " grafting in " of Rom. xi. 17) the idea of continual growth by acci'etion of individual souls drawn to Christ ; lastly, that it depicts the Church as having more completely a distinct, though not a separate, existence from Him who dwells in it. (On this last point compare the metaphor of the spouse of Christ in chap. v. 25 — 33.) Hence it is naturally worked out with greater completeness in an Epistle which has so especially for its object tho evolution of the doctrine of " the one Holy Catholic Church." 20^ Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.— In spite of much ancient and valu- able authority, it seems impossible to take " tho pro- phets" of this verse to be the prophets of the Old Testament. Tho order of the two words and the com- parison of chaps, iii. 5 and iv. 11, appear to be decisive — to say nothing of the emphasis on the pre- sent, in contrast with the past, which runs through the wliolo chapter. But it is more difficult to determine in what sense " the foundation of the apostles and pro- phets " is used. Of tho throe possible senses, that (1) which makes it equivalent to " the foundation on which apostles and prophets are built." viz., Jesus Christ Himself, may l)e dismissed as taking away any special force from the passage, and as unsuitable to tho next clause. The second (2), "tho foundation laid by apostles and prophets — still, of course, Jesus Christ Himself —is rather forced, and equally fails to accord with the next clause, in which our Lord is not the foundation, but the corner-stone. The most natural interpretation (3), folloAved by most ancient authorities, which makes tho apostles and prophets to be themselves " the foundation," lias been put aside by modern com- mentators in tho true feeling that ultimately there is but "one foundation" (1 Cor. iii. 11), and in a con- sequent reluctance to apply that name to any but Him. But it is clear that in this passage St. Paul deliberately varies the metaphor in relation to our Lord, making Him not the foundation, or both foundation and corner- stone, but simply tho corner-stone, '• binding together," according to Chrysostom's instructive remark, "both the walls and the foundations." Hence the word " foundation " seems to be applied, in a true, although secondary sense, to the apostles and prophets; just as in the celebrated passage (Matt. xvi. 18) our Lord must be held at any rate to connect St. Peter with the foundation on which tho Church is built ; and as in Rev. xxi. 14, " the foundations " Ijoar " the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." It is true that in this last passage we have the plural instead of the singular, and that the passage itself, is not, as this is, a dogmatic passage. But these considerations are insufficient to destroy the analogy. The genius therefore of this pas- sage itself, supported by the other cognate passages, leads us to what may be granted to be an unexpected but a perfectly intelligible expression. The apostles and pro- phets are the foundation ; yet, of course, only as setting forth in word and grace Him. who is the corner-stone. Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. — The metaphor is draAvu, of course, from Ps. cxviii. 22 (applied by our Lord to Himself in Matt, xxi. 42 ; Mark xii. 10 ; Luke xx. 17 ; and by St. Peter fo Him in Acts iv. 11), or from Isa. xxviii. 16 (quoted with the other passage in 1 Pet. ii. 6, 7) ; in which last it may be noted that both the metaphors are united, and " the tried corner-stone " is also " the sure founda- tion." In itself it does not convey so obvious an idea of uniqueness and importance as that suggested by the "key-stone" of an arch, or the "apex-stone" of a pyramid ; but it appears to mean a massive corner- stone, in which the two lines of the wall at their foundation met, by which they were bonded together, and on the perfect squareness of which the true direction of the whole walls depended, since the sfightest imperfection in the corner-stone would be indefinitely multiplied along the course of the walls. The doctrine which, if taken alone, it would convey, is simply the acceptance of our Lord's perfect teaching and life, as the one determining influence both of the teaching and institutions, which are the basis of the Church, and of the superstnicture in the actual life of the members of the Church itself. By such acceptance, both assume symmetry and " stand four-square to all the winds that blow." (See Rev. xxi. 16.) That this is not the whole truth seems to be implied by the varia- tion from the metaphor in the next verse. (21) In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, — There is some difficulty about the rendering " all the building." Generally the best MSS. omit the article in tho original. But the sense seems to demand the rendering of the text, unless, indeed, we adopt the only other possible rendering, " in whom every act of building " — that is, every addition to the building — " is bonded to tho rest, and grows,'' itc. The clause agrees substantially, and almost verbally, with chap. iv. 16 — " From whom tho whole body, fitly joined (framed) together and compacted . . . maketh increase of the body unto the edifying (building up) of itself." In this latter passage the leading idea is of the close union of tho body to the head, to which, indeed, the metaphor more properly applies than to the relation of the building to the corner-stone. For we note that St. Paul, apparently finding this relation too slight to express the full truth of tho unity of the Church with Christ, first speaks of the whole building as com- pacted together in the corner-stone, and growing — 30 The Mission of St. Paid EPHESIANS, III. to the Gentiles. gether groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord : (-^^ in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. CHAPTER III.— (1) For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of ^, .... . » . ^ ^( Chap. 111. 1—4. Jesus Christ tor you (jren- The especial tiles, (2) if ye have heard commission to „ . ' T -^ ,. n J.1 St. Paul of the 01 the dispensation oi tne mystery of the grace of God which is call of the Gen- given me to you-ward tiles. that is, being gradually built up — in that closely com- pacted union ; and next, calls the teni])le so built up a "temple lioly in the Lord" {i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ), deri\'ing', tlierefore, all its sacredness as a temple from a pervading unity witli Him. The corner- stone is only a part, tliough a dominant jjart, of the building. Christ not only " keeps all together, whether you speak of roof, or wall, or any other part what- soever" (Clirys.), but by contact with Himself makes the building to be a temple. (") In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.— Tliis verse seems primarily intended simply to empha- sise the truth already enunciated (in verse 20), that the Ephesians tliemselves ai"e now lieing made part of the Chui-ch of Christ, "being built up together in Clirist." But it may also illustrate to us the character of the unity of tlie Church, as, primarily, a direct individual unity with Clirist — eacli stone being itself a complete and living stone — and, secondarily and indirectly, an unity with others and witli the whole. The Ephesians are said to be, not a part of the habitation of God, but themselves built into Christ for an habitation of God — " Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith," and they " therefore being filled with all the fulness of God " (chap. iii. 17 — 19). The addition of this clause, therefore, links the teaching of this Epistle with the earlier and more individual forms of teaching, noted on verse 20. This verse contains, again, the declaration (as in verse 18) of the union of Christians with each Person of the Holt Tkinity. The soul made one with the Son becomes a temple for the indwelling of THE Father in the gift of the Holy Spirit. (See John xiv. 23.) III. [3. Prayer for the Further Knowledge of this Mystery (chap. iii. 1 — 21). (1) Prefatory Declaration of the newness of the revelation of this mystery of the calling of tlie Gentiles, and of the special commis- sion of it to St. Paul, to be manifested before men and angels, both by word and by suffering (ver.ses 1 — 13). (2) Prayer for their full understanding of this mystery (although passing knowledge) by the indwelling of Christ, wrought in them by the gift of the Spirit, and accepted in faith and love (verses 14 — 19). (3) DoxOLOGY TO THE FATHER through Christ Jesus for ever and ever (verses 20, 21).] The chapter is in form a parenthesis of fervent prayer and thanksgiving between the doctrinal teaching of cliap. ii. and the resumption and summing up of that teaching in chaji. iv. 1 — 13. At the sjimc time it involves much profound implicit teaching in itself. (1) Verses 1 — 13 contain two subjects closely blended together. Tlie first (carrying on what is implied in the contrast dra^vn out in chap, ii.) is the absolute newness of this dispensation to the Gentiles — a mystery hidden from the beginning in God, but now at last revealed. The second, an emphatic claim for St. Paul himself, " less than the least " although he is, of a special apostleship to the Gentiles, proclaiming this mystery by word and deed. (1) For this cause . . . — After much discussion of the construction of tliis verse,therc seems little doubt that the nominative, " I, Paul," must be carried on beyond the digression upon the mysteiy of the gospel, and his part in ministering it, which follows. Tlie only question which can well be raised is whether the resumption takes place at verse 13. '" I desire that ye faint not ; " or at verse 14, " I bow my knees ; " and this seems decided for the latter altcniative, both by the emphatic repe- tition of "for this cause," and by the far greater weight and finality of the latter sentence. The prisoner of Jesus Christ.— The phrase (repeated in chap. iv. 1 ; Philem. verse 9 ; 2 Tim. i. 8) is dwelt upon with an emphasis, explained by St. Paul's conviction that " his bonds " tended to " the furtherance of the gosj)el " — not merely by exciting a sympathy which might open the heart to his words, but even more (see Phil. i. 13, 14) by showing the victorious power of God's word and grace — which " is not bound " — to triumph over captivity and the danger of death. The expression itself is notable. When St. Paul calls him- self the " prisoner of Jesus Christ," he reiiresents our Lord's own will, as ordaining his capti-s-ity for His own transcendent purposes of good, making him an " ambas- sador in chains" (chap. A-i. 20), and these " the bonds of the gospel." (See Philem. verse 13 ; and Acts xxviii. 20, " For the hope of Israel I am bound in this chain.") Hence in this passage St. Paul seems to speak of his capti^-ity as a special proof of the reality of his mission, and a new step in its progress ; and appeals to it ac- cordingly, just as in the final salutation of the Colossian Epistle, " Remember my bonds." The whole idea is a striking instance of the spiritual alcliemy of faith, tuniing all things to good — not unlike the magnificent passage (in 2 Cor. xi. 23 — 30) of Lis " glorying in his infirmities. ' For you Gentiles. — This was literally true of the origin of his captivity, proceeding as it did from the jealousy of the Jews, excited by the free admission of the Gentiles to the Church; but tlie reference is not to be limited to this. St. Paul regards the captivity as only one incident in a mission sending him entirely to the Gentiles (Acts xxi. 21; Rom. xi. 13; Gal. ii. 9). From these words tlie digression how that by revelation he made known I unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore i ^ or.amuwore. in few words, <^^ whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the Chap. iii. 5—12. mystery of Christ) '^> Avhich The niy.story in other ages was not now^eveawrj made known unto the sons menandantjols. of men, as it is nOW revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit ; e^' that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel : ^"^1 whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. English; for the origiual implies no doubt that the readers of the Epistle had heard, and the hearing might have been not about St. Paul, but from St. Paul himself. Still, there is a vague generality about the expression, wliieh suits well an address to the Asiatic clinrches generally, but could hardly have been used to a chureli so well known and beloved as Ephesus, wh're "the signs of an Apostle" had been wrought abundantly. The dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward. — The descriptive clause, •• which is given me to you-ward," is seen in the original to belong to the word " grace," not (as our version might suggest) to " dispensation." The grace of God is spoken of as given to St. Paul, not so much for his own sake, as for ministration to them of the dispensa- tion described in the next verse. We find there that the revelation of salvation to the Gentiles was the "dis- pensation," that is (much as in chap. i. 10), the peculiar office in the ministration of the grace of God to the world, assigned to St. Paul by His wisdom. (Comp. 1 Cor. i. 17 — 24', " God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel . . . We preach Christ crucified . . . unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.") (3) How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. — The words "by i-evelation" are doubly emphatic. By revelation, not by the wisdom of man (as in 1 Cor. ii. 7 — 16): for " God hath revealed them to us by His Sjiirit." By direct revelation to St. Paul himself, as in Gal. i. 12, " not of man or by man, but by revelation of Jesus Christ," and in Eom. xvi. 25, " according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery." (See also 2 Cor. xii. 17.) This revelation we may refer especially to the time when, after his con- version, he was " in a trance while praying in the Temple," and " saw Christ Himself," saying unto him, *' Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles " (Acts xxii. 17—21). As I wrote afore in few words. — The reference is to the brief notice in chap. i. 10 — 14, and to the further explanation in chap. ii. 11 — 22. Hence, in English, the idt>a would be more clearly expressed by " I have written above." St. Paul refers them back to these passages as embodying his " understanding," or conception, of the mystery thus revealed osjiecially to him. The reference is one of those parenthetical re- marks, whicli, to those renu?nibering how St. Paul's Epistles were dictated, ahnost irresistibly suggest inser- tion on the reading over of the Epi.stle. (5) Which iu other ages (rather, to other gene- rations) was not made known unto the sons of men. — For the general sense comp. Col. i. 27. The phrase "the sons of men" (except tliat it is once used in Mai-k iii. 28) is peculiar to the Old Testament, where it is of frequent use in the poetical books, and it is notable that in Ezekiel it is the name by which the prophet himself is constantly addressed. Hence, although it is probably wrong to restrict to the children of Israel, or to the prophets, words which by their very nature apply to all mankind, yet the phrase seems to be used with a suggestion of the contrast between the old dispensation and the new. (Comp. our Lord's words in Matt. xi. 11, " Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist : not^vithstauding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.") As it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.— The application of the epithet " holy " to the Apostles has been thought strange as coming from one of their number ; and it is worth notice that this exceptional application is cer- tainly more appropriate to the comparatively impersonal style of an encyclical epistle. But the epithet (applied to the Old Testament prophets in Luke i. 70; Acts iii. 21 ; 2 Pet. iii. 2), like the frequent use of it as the substantive " saints," in application to all Christians, refers not to personal character, but to official call and privilege. In this passage it is clear that it is used thus, in emphatic contrast with " the sons of men " above, and in connection w\\\\ the following words, " in the Spirit." The contrast here briefly conveyed is the same which is drawn out in 1 Cor. ii. between the " msdom of men," and the " wisdom of God," sancti- fying, and so enlightening, the Christian soul. (6) That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs. — More exactly, a?*e/e/?OM'-/(eirs, admitted ah'eady fully in God's councils, as partially in actual fact to the kingdom of God. And of the same body, and [fellow-'] partakers of his promise. — These three words (of which the last two are peculiar to this Epistle) evidently describe pi-ogressive steps in the work of salvation. First comes the acceptance by God to a share in the inheritance, as " heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ " (Rom. viii. 17) ; next, incorporation into the mystical body of Christ; lastly, the actual enjoyment of a share in the promise — that is, all the spiritual blessings of the covenant, called " promises " because, though real in themselves, they are only an earnest of the hereafter. At every point stress is laid on their fellowsliip with Israel in all these gifts. The shoots of the wild olive (Rom. xi. 17) are first chosen out, then " graffed in," and lastly " partake with the natural branches of the root and fatness of the olive tree." In Christ by the gospel. — These words should be joined with all the tluee preceding. Of all the privileges of the new life, the being " in Christ " is the substance, the reception of the gospel in faith the instrument. <") According to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. — The words " given by " should be rendered yivcn according to. The Avorkiug of God's power is described, not as the means, but as the measure of the gift of His grace. In fact, what is a " gift " in its source, is " effectual working " in its 32 a^id i^rodaimeJ, both to Men EPHESIANS, III. and to Angels. (^^ TJnto me, who am less than the least of all saiiits, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ; '-'^ and to make all men see what is the fellow- ship of the mysterj, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Avho created all things by Jesus Christ : '^"^ to the intent that now unto the principalities and j)owers in heavenly actual uature. On tlio phrase " effectual workiug of power " — a diviue force in tlie soul, not latent but ener- gfetic — see chap. i. 19. In tlie Avhole of this passage, however, the chief emphasis is laid, not on the spiritual power, but on the freedom of God's gift to the Apostle of this high privilege of preaching the mystery of the gospel. (8) Less than the least of all saints.— Compare with this expression of deep humility the well-known passages 1 Cor. xv. 9, 10 ; 2 Cor. xi. 3U ; xii. 9 — 11 ; 1 Tim. i. 12 — 16. It may be noted that in each case his deep sense of unworthiness is brought out by the thought of God's especial grace and favour to him. Thus in 1 Cor. xv. 9, 10, the feeling that he is " the least of the Apostles, not meet to be called an Apostle," rises out of the contemplation of the special manifes- tation of the risen Lord to him as " one born out of due time;" in 2 Cor. xi. 80, xii. 9 — 11, "boast- ing " has been forced upon him, and so, having been compelled to dwell on the special work done by him, and the special revelations vouchsafed to him, he immediately adds, '"though I am nothing;" in 1 Tim. i. 12 — 16, as also here, it is the greatness of his message of universal salvation which reminds him that he was " a pei'secutor and injurious," " the chief of sinners," and " less than the least of all saints." Elation in the sense of privilege — " the glorying in that which we have received," so emphatically rebuked in 1 Cor. iv. 7 — is the temptation of the first superficial enthusiasm ; deep sense of weakness and unworthiness, the result of second and deeper thought, contrasting the heavenly treasure with the earthen vessels which contain it (2 Cor. iv. 7). Possibly there is a " third thought," deeper still, belonging to the times of highest spiritual aspiration, which loses all idea of self, even of weakness and unworthiness, in the thought of " the strength made perfect in weakness," and the conscious- ness (as in Phil. iv. 12, 13) that "we can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us." See this last brought out in peculiar fulness and freedom in 2 Cor, v. 13 — vi. 10 ; a i)assage almost unique in its disclosure of spiritual experience. The unseai'chable riches of Christ.— The word '' unsearchable " properly carries with it the metaphor (latent in our word "investigate") of tracking the foot- steps, but not tracking them completely to their source or issue — thus gaining an evidence of a living power, but " not kno^ving whence it cometh or whither itgoeth." In this proper sense it is used in Rom. xi. 33, " How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out ! " (as also in Job v. 9 ; ix. 10). Here it is used in a slightly different sense — applied to that "wealth" or fulness of Christ on which this Epistle lays such especial stress, as a wealth of truth which we can see in part l)ut cannot wholly measure, and a wealth of grace which we can enjoy but cannot exhaust. (y) To make all men see.— St. Paul speaks here first of manifestation to all men. The phrase used in the original is at once stronger aiul weaker than our version of it. It is stronger, for the word is, pro- perly, to enlifjhten or illuminate — the same word used abov(> (chap. i. IS), " the eyes of vour heart being 60 enlightened." Strictly, Christ alone is the Light of the world, "which enlightens every man" (John i. 4, 5, 9; viii. 2) ; but, as reflecting Him, Ho declared His servants to be the " light of the world." Yet it is weaker, for while we can enlighten, it is our daily sorrow that we cannot "make men see." Even He wept over Jeru,salem because His light was, by wilful blindness, "hidden from their eyes" (Luke xix. 41). To " open the eyes, and turn men from darkness to light," although (as in Acts xxvi. 18) attributed in general terms to the servants of God, because natu- rally following on their ministry, is properly the work of the Holy Spirit, even in relation to the words of our Lord Himself (John xiv. 26). The fellowship of the mystery. — Both MS. authority and internal evidence point here to " the dUiiensaiion of the mystery " as the true reading. Probably here the reference is not to the commission of the mystery to the Apostle (as in verse 2), but (as in chap. i. 10) to the law or order which God Himself has ordained for the manifestation of the ti'uth, both to men and angels. Who created all things by Jesus Christ. — The words "by Jesus Christ" should be omitted, pro- bably having crept iu from a gloss, and not belonging to the original. The description of God as " He who created all things," material and spiritual, is here emphatic — designed to call attention to the dispensation of the gospel as existing in the primeval purpose of the Divine Mind (comp. chap. i. 4; 1 Cor. i. 7), hidden from the beginning of the world (properly, from the ages) till the time of its revelation was come. The New Testament constantly dwells on this view of the Mediation of Christ, as belonging in some form to the relation of humanity to God in itself, and not merely to that relation as affected by the Fall ; but nowhere with greater emphasis than in the profound and universal teaching of these Epistles. (10) In this verse St. Paul passes on to consider the manifestation of God in Christ as brought home not only to the race of man but to the angels — " the prin- cipalities and powers in the heavenly places " — who are described (1 Pet. i. 12) as "desiring to look into" the consummation of the gospel myster}-. In the same sense the Apostles, in their ministration of the gospel, are said to be a spectacle to angels and to men (1 Cor. iv. 9); and in a magnificent passage iu the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. xii. 22), Christians are encouraged in their warfare by knowing it to go on before " the city of the living God " and "an innumerable company of angels." The angels are. therefore, represented to us as not only ministering in the Cliurch of Christ, but learn- ing from its existence and fortunes to know more and more of the wisdom of God. Hence we gain a glimpse of a more than world-wide purpose in the supreme manifestation of God's mercy in Christ, fulfilled towards higher orders of God's rational creatures, aiding even them in progress towards the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, which is life eternal. (There is a notable passage on a kindred idea in Butler's Analoipj, Part i., c. iii. § 5.) This world, itself a speck in the universe, may be— perhaps as a scene of exceptional rebeUiou 33 Boldness in Faith, EPHESIANS, III. and Glory in Tribulation. places might be kno^vn by the church the manifold wisdom of God, <"' accord- ing to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Clirist Jesus our Lord : (^-) in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. (13) Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for chap. iii. 13— you, which is your glory. !?• . ^^J'^y^^" ^or (\±\ T\ i\ • T T, their full com- (i4j j^'or this cause i bow prehension of my knees unto the Father it in Christ, of our Lord Jesus Christ, (^^^ of whom against God. cei-taiiily as a scene of God's infinite goodness — a lesson to utlier splieres of being, far beyond our conception. Possil)ly thi.s view of angels as our fellow -learners in the school of Christ may have been specially dwelt upon in view of tlie worship of angels of which we read in Col. ii. 18; but it accords well with tlie wide sweep of thouglit characteristic of this Epistle, literally '■gatliering up all things in Christ." The manifold wisdom. — The word " manifold " (pi'operly, many-coloured, or wroucjht in many details) is used liere (and nowhere else) for the wisdom of God, as " fulfilling itself in many ways " (the " sundry times and divers manners " of Hcb. i. 1). It is manifested, therefore, in the infinite variety ])oth of the teaching and the life of the Church — manifold, yet one, as em- bodying but one life, the life of Jesus Christ. (11) The eternal purpose. — Properly, the purpose of the ages ; but the sense clearly is, of the purpose of God (see chap. i. 11), conceived before the ages of His dispensation, and fulfilled throiTgh them. Hence the rendering of our version is substantially correct. Which he purposed.— It sliould be, which He ivroiujlii, or made, for the word is quite distinct from the substantive " purpose," and is in itself ambiguous, capable of meaning either ordained or worked out. Either sense will suit the passage ; but the latter pcrliaps better, since the idea is tlu'oughout of the completion and manifestation of the mystery of God's purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ. (1-) This verse returns to the idea of chap. ii. 18, as though St. Paul, after the mde sweep of thought far beyond tlic eartli in verses 10, 11, desired, as usual, to bring his readers back to the practical and personal as2>ects of their Christianity. In whom we have (our) boldness and (our) access with eonflidence. — "Boldness" is, properly, bohhiess of spcixh (as in chap. vi. 19), though used in a derivative sense for confidence and frankness gene- rally. Probably liere it is suggested in its original sense by the reference in the jn'eceding verse to the charge of proclaiming the mystery of God. and accord- ingly means that boldness of thought and utterance before men and angels which Christians, in virtue of tliat charge, ouglit to assume. The "access (see chap, ii. 18) in confidence " is, on the other hand, that con- fidence Ijcfore God, as presented to Him in the Lord Jesus Christ, which belongs to Christians as no longer servants l)ut sons. (On tJiis confid(>nc(! see 2 Cor. iii. 4 — G.) Both tliese gifts depend on " faitli in Him : " in tlie one case, faith in His teaching and grace; in the other, faitli in His atonement and His gift of the new life. (13) Wherefore I desire . . .—The verse is paren- thetical— a reflection suggested by the greatness of the trust and the littleness of the minister dwelt \\Y>m\ in verses 8 — 12. and inserted as a warning to the Ephe- sians not to be disheartened at tlio present " tribula- tion " of liis imprisonment, as if it were a failure of his mission. (See this idea more fully worked out in Phil, i. 12—29.) " To faint " (as in 2 Cor. iv. 1, l(j ; Gal. vi. 9; 2 Tliess. iii. 13) is "to play the coward," as "think- ing it (see 1 Pot. iv. 12, 13) a strange thhig " that trouble should fall on him or them. It might well seem strange, when for four years at least, at Caesarea and Rome, the marvellous activity of St. Paul's Apostolic career was apparently cut short. At my tribulations for you, which is your glory. — There is a peculiar beauty in the thouglit suggested by the words " which is your glory." The sutfering, triumphantly borne and actually turned to the furtlierance of the gospel, is certainly a " glory," in the proof which it gives of the power of the truth and the grace of Christ. But the more obvious idea would have been to comfort the Ephesians by the declaration that St. Paul's tribulations were to himself a cause, not of pain, but of joy and glory — as is, in fact, done in Col. i. 24, and in the celebrated passage, 2 Cor. xi. 23 — 31. Here, however, instead of so doing, St. Paul pursues the same line of thought as in 1 Cor. iv. 10 — there half ironically, here seriously — that, while the suffering falls on himself, the glory passe.s to the Church, for which he suifers, and in which he is content to sink himself. Hence he bids the Ephe- sians find encouragement and glory for themselves, instead of a cause for " fainting," in the afflictions endured on their behalf and overcome in Christ. As he identifies himself with them, so he would have them take what might bo his glory to be their own. (2) Verses 14 — 19 contain a prayer, addressed with special emphasis to the Father of all, that by the strengthening grace of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ, accepted in faith and deepened by love, they may, first, know the mystery already described in all its greatness ; and, next, learn by experience the unsearch- able love of Christ, as dwelling in them, and so filling them up to " the fulness of God." (14) Unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. — The words " of our Lord Jesus Christ " appear, by both external and internal evidence, to bo an interpola- tion— probably from a gloss indicating (in the true spirit of the Epistle) tliat the universal Fatherhood liero spoken of is derived from the fatherly relation to Him in whom " all tilings are gathered up." (15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. — The original word [patria) hero rendered " family " is literally derived from the word "father " (^j(jft'r). It has been proposed to render it fatherhood, and translate, from ichom all fatherhood whatever derives its name — all lower fatherhood being, in fact, a shadow and derivative fnmi tlie Fatherhood of God. The translation is tempting, yielding a grand sense, and one thoroughly accordant with the treatment of the earthly relationship below (chap. vi. 1 — 4). But the usage of the word is clearly against it ; and we must render it every family — that is. evciy body of rational beings in earth or heaven united under one common fatherhood, and bearing the name (as in a family or clan) of the common ancestor. Such bodies are certainly the first germs or units of human society; what their lieavenly count(>rparts may be, who can tell? The A]iostle looks upon the fathers whose names they 34 Prayer that they m'ljJd know EPHESIANS, III. what ixisscd knowleJye- the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ^^'^^ that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man ; (^''J that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, (^^^ may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; <^''') and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with delight to bear as tlie imperfect representatives of God, and u[)ou the family itself, with its head, as tlio type ill miniaturo of the whole society of spiritual beings united in sonship to the Father in heaven. Hence he declares that it is ultimately from Him tliat every fanaily derives the name of j^atria, and by that very name bears witness to the Divine Fatherhood, on which he desires here to lay especial stress. (16) To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.— From the Father, as the source of all life and being, St. Paul passes on to the Spirit, "proceeding from the Father," as the giver of life to men. His prayer here, as in chap. i. 17, is for the gift of the Spirit, but under some difference of aspect. There the prayer is for illumination, liere for strength to grasp the mystery, to be rooted in love, and be filled up to the fulness of God. Accoi'dingly, there tlie inner man is represented only by the " eyes of the heart; " here (as in Rom. vii. 22 ; 2 Cor. iv. 16) we hear of the " inner man " in his eutu'ety, including all faculties — intellectual, emotional, moral — which make up his spiritual nature. And St. Paul empha- sises this prayer very strikingly by asking that the gift may be " according to the riches of His glory," unlimited as the illimitable glory of the Divine Nature itself. Moreover, a greater closeness of communion is clearly indicated here. For light is a gift from without; strength comes from an indwelling power, making itself perfect in weakness, and continually growing from grace to grace. (1') That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. — Wliat that indwelling power is he now indicates, so passing to another Person of the Holy Trinity. It is (see Col. i. 27) " Christ in you, the hope of glory." The indwelling of Christ (as here the con- struction of the original plainly shows) is not a OQUse- queuce of the gift of the Spirit ; it is identical with it, for the office of the Holy Spirit is to implant and work out in us the likeness of Christ. So in John xiv. 16 — 20, in immediate connection with tlie promise of the Comforter, we read : " I will not leave you orphaned; I will come to you." "Te shall know that ... ye are in mo and I in you." Hence the life in the Spirit is described as " To me to live is Christ " (Phil. i. 21) ; " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. ii. 20). Faith is simply the condition of that indwelling of Christ (comp. chap. ii. 8), the opening of the door to Him that He may enter in. The prayer is here complete, all that follows being but coiisi'(pient from it. In accordance with the uni- versal law of revelation, all js from the Father, all is through the Sou vouchsafing to tabernacle in our humanity, all is by the Spirit effecting that indwelling of Christ in each individual soul. That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, — The ])lirase ''ye, bring," &c., stands in 1 lie original before the word " that," as a kind of link between the previous clausci and this, which seems to describe the consequence of the indwelling of Christ — viz., first li)ve, next comprehension, and finally growth into the fulness of God. The expression "rooted and grounded" {i.e., founded) contains the same mixture of metaphor as in 1 Cor. iii. 'J, of the tree and the building — a mixture so natural as to pass into common usage. (Comp. Col. ii. 7, "rooted and being built up in Him.") The idea implied in " rooted " is of the striking down deeper and spreading wider into the soil; in "founded" of the firm basis on which ultimately we rest. " In love : " Love is not itself the root or foundation (for this is Jesus Christ Himself), but the condition under Avhich growth takes place. Generally that growth is upward, as in 1 Cor. viii. 1: "Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up;" or, as in chap. iv. l6, whcire the body is said " to Ijuild itself up in love." Here that growth is downward, deeper and deeper into the communion with God in Christ, as " faith is made perfect (or, efficient) by love." As in relation to man, so also to God, love is at once the recognition of an existing unity between spirit and spirit, and a meau.s — probably the only means — of making that unity energetic and deepening it con- tinually. Hence love is the first consequence of the indwelling of Christ in the soul; and by it the soul becomes rooted and grounded in the unity, given by that indwelling, with man and God. (18) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.— It has been a~sked. Of what? Various answers have been given ; but as St. Paul has obviously of set jjurpose omitted all definition, leaving the phrase incomplete in absolute generality, no answer can be perfectly satisfactory. The early fathers de- lighted to refer it to the cross, and to trace in the four dimensions of the cross a symbol of this four- fold extension of the love of God in Christ. The clause following, " to knoAV the love of Christ," though partly explanatory of this, hardly seems to be identical or co-extensive with it. The knowledge there described is a part — perhaps the chief part, Ijut not the Avhole — of the comprehension here prayed for. If anytliing is to be suijplied, it should probably be " of the mystery " — i.e., of the whole mystery on which St. Paul had been dwelling, including the predestination, the redemption, the call and union of Jews and Gentiles. The prayer is that we may know it every way, in every direction in which the soul can go forth towards God. It may be noted that comi)reliension is placed after love, just as in Phil. i. 9. " 1 pray that your love may abound (that is, overjlow) in knowledge and in all judgment." The spiritind ordc- of revelation differs from that of the "wisdom of the world." It has first faith, next love, and finally knowledge, because its object is a person, not an abstract principle. That knowledge must, even here, "' grow from more to more;'' but St. Paul's prayer can never be perfectly Vealisci] tjll we "know even as we are known." (19) To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.— The intentional paradox of tliis exi)ression is weakened if (with many interpre- tations) we suppose that there is opposition in kind between knowledge referred to in the two clauses: as if "to know" meant to know by faith and spiritual 3j Final Doxolo'ji/. ephesia:^s, IV. Exhortation to Unity. all tlie fulness of God. (^o) j^qw unto Chap, iii.20,21. liiui that is able to do ex- Doxology. cecding abundantly above all that Ave ask or think, according to the power that -svorketh in us, (-^> unto him he glory in the church by Christ 1 Or, ill the Lord. Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. CHAPTER IV.— (1) I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,i chap. iv. 1-3. Eihor- beseech you that ye tation to unity. exporieucc, while the " kuowledge," which the love of Christ " passes." is mere " Iminaii kuowledgo " — head- knowledgo. and the like. Of such opposition there is no trace (contrast 1 Cor. ii. 6 — 16). In the origiual, the word "to know" is in a tense whicli expresses cog- nition in a particular case; hence the meaning of St. Paul's prayer seems to be that they may know from time to time, as each opportunity offers, what must in its entirety pass all human knowledge, either to dis- cover or fully to understand, even when revealing itself; so that they may always go on from faith to faith, from knowledge to knowledge, and yet find new depths still to be fathomed. The '" love of Christ '" is the love which He bears to us, and which is the motive of His sacrifice for our redemption. It is known only by those who are rooted in love to Him ; such love being at once the consequence of the first knowledge of His love to us (1 John iv. 19) and the condition of entering more deeply into that knowledge. That ye might "be filled with (or, rather, np to) all the fulness of God.— This clause must be taken as dependent, not merely on the clause immediately preceding, but on the whole sentence. It describes the final and glorious consequence of the indwelling of Christ in the heart, viz., the " being filled" with grace " up to the fulness of God." The meaning is more clearly seen in the fuller expression below (chap. iv. 13) : " till we all come ... to tlie measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." It is simply perfect conformation to the image of Him in whom " dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily " (Col. ii. 9), and whose fulness is therefore the " fulness of God," manifesting all the at- tributes of the divine nature. The process is described in 2 Cor. iii. 18, " We all. with open face beholding as in a glass the gloi-y of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to gloi-y;'* its consummation in 1 John iii. 2, " When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." (Comp. Phil, iii. 20, L'l.) Here it completes the climax. When Christ dwells in the heart we have first, love perfecting the faith which roots the life in Him ; next, a tlioughtl'ul knowledge, entering by degrees into the unsearcliablo riches of His hne to us ; and, lastly, tlie filling the soul, itself weak and emptj', up to the perfection of likeness to Him, so renewing and deepening through all time and eternity the image of God in our humanity. (3) Yerses 20, 21 sum np tlie whole in a doxology to God the Father through Christ Jesus. It may be com- pared with tlie other more solemn doxologies in the New Testament: as Rom. xvi. 25; 1 Tim. v. L"), 16; Jude, verses 24, 2.") ; Rev. i. 6. Each lias its distinc- tive character. Here the prevailing idea of the pre- ceding chapters is the wonder and the mystery of God's fore-ordaining love, overflowing in the riches of His grace to those who are made one with Him and with each other in Christ Jesus. Hence, God is here de- scribed as He "who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we a.sk or think," and to do aU " by His power dwelling " and working in us. (21) Unto him be glory in the church by (pro- perly, in) Christ Jesus. — In the parallelism of these clauses is implied the great idea of the Epistle — the imity of the Church in Christ. Hence all that is " in the Church " is " in Christ Jesus." The visible unity of the Church represents, as it depends on, the invisible unity with God in Him. TJiroughout all ages, world without end.— The origiual expression is emphatic and peculiar : to all the generations of tlie age of the ages; that is, in each successive generation of that age (or, dispensa- tion) which includes in itself all the ages which we can reckon or conceive. The conception represents to us each generation, as adding its own peculiar thanks- gi\'ing to the great chorus of praise which fills eternity. IV. [4. Final Summary of Doctrine (chap. iv. 1 — 16). (Ij The Unity of the Chukch of Cheist (verses 1 — 6). (a) Its ground in the unity of the Holy Trinity ; (b) Its means in the one baptism ; (c) Its conditions and effects in one faith, one hope, one charity. (2) The Diversity of Gifts and Offices in THE Church through the mediation of her glorified Lord (verses 7 — 11). (3) The Direction of all to one Object — the individual and corporate growth of all into the likeness and image of Clirist the Head (verses 12—16).! (1) Yerses 1 — 6, altliough cast in a liortatoi'y form, contain the final summary of the great doctrine of the Epistle — the Unity of the Catholic Church — in words which have all the glowing freedom of spiritual enthusiasm, and all the clear-cut precision of a creed. Thus (a) the ground of that unity is laid in that spiri- tual communion of each soul with the " one Spirit," the " one Lord," and tlie '* one God and Father of all," which underlies all outward ordinance, and which no power of man can either give or take away, {h) The means of entering that unity is the " one baptism," ordained by Christ Himself, nniver.sal in the Christian world, capable of being ministered (though irregularly) by any Christian han(l. (c) The graces, which in germ are conditions, and in full growth are effects, of such unity are the '* one hope." the "one faith," the one "bond of peace " or charity. These last most of all depend on the " follow- working " of man — primarily in the soul receiving them, and .secondarily in all who can influence it for good and for evil. We have here a ]>erfect and exhaustive exposition of the unity of the Church, on whicli depend the other quali- ties of "Holiness," "Catholicity," and "Apostolicity" ascribed to it in the Creed. In o+her passages the essential life of the Church is attrilmted, now to the revelation of the Father (Matt. xvi. 17, 18), now to the indwelling presence of the Son (Matt, xxviii. 20), now to the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts ii. 38, 39). Here all are united 36 The Unity of the Church. EPHESIAiSrS, IV. Its Ground, Means, and Conditions. walk worthy of the vocation where- with ye are called, (-^ Avith all lowli- ness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love ; ^^^ endeavouring to keep the unit}^ of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (^) There is one body, and one Spirit, ^hap. iv. 4^6. even as ye are called in The unity of one hoj)e of your calling; the Chm-ch. (^^ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, in one comprelicusive view. The order, however, is natural, not artificial. The exhortation to peace naturally loads to the conception of one Body, animated by the "one Spirit"; next, the remembrance of their calling leads to the " one Lord," who called them to Him in one faith and by one baptism ; and all ends in the contemplation of the " one God and Father," who is not only above all and through all His creation, but specially in those who are adopted to a new sonship in Christ. (See John xiv\ 22, 23.) In its completeness and depth this passage stands alone. It is interesting to compare and contrast with it the eqi;ally celebrated passage occupying the corresponding place in the Colos- sian Epistle (Col. iii. 1 — i), and to gather from this the mingled similai-ity and ditfereuce in the main idea of those two Epistles — the Ephesian Epistle dwelling especially on the unity and regeneration of the Avhole body, the Colossian Epistle on the sole Headsliip and Deity of Christ. (1) Worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.— This " being worthy of the Christian calling " may obviously show itself in any of the graces of regenerate Immanity, all being features of the image of Christ. Thus iu 1 Pet. i. 15 it expresses itself in " holiness " (as in the frequent phrase " called to be saints ") ; in Phil. i. 27 — 30, in steadfastness of faith. But in this jjassage the especial point which has been dwelt upon in their calling is the fact that they were aliens, helpless and miserable, and that they are now united in one body with the ancient people of God. Hence, naturally, the graces declared to correspond with their calling, so A'iewed, are the graces of humility and gentleness, teaching them to sink all thought of self in '• the unity of the Spirit." (-) With all lowliness and meekness, with longsu5ering.— See Col. iii. 12, where the same three qualities are dwelt upon, but there introduced by " compassion and kindness." They seem to cor- respond almost exactly to the first, third, and fifth beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, in Avhich the principle of love is wrought out in A'arious forms (as in the other beatitudes the principle of righteousness): '■ Blessed are the poor in spirit ; " " Blessed are the meek ;" " Blessed are the merciful." The word "lowli- ness of mind " is used by St. Paul only in the Epistles of the Captivity (Pliil. ii. 3; Col. ii. 18, 23; iii. 12) and in the ad(bess to the Ephesian presbyters (Acts xx. 19). It is, indeed, a Avord new coined in Christian terminologA', and even the root from which it comes is mostly used by the heathen moralists in a bad sense (of meanness and slaA'ishness), of Avhich there is still a trace in Col. ii. 18. " Meekness " is mostly " gentleness " — " the meek and quiet spirit" (1 Pet. iii. 4) — the natural, tliougli not the invariable, fruit of humility, winning souls by its very absence of bitter self-assertion, and so " inheriting the earth." " Longsufferiug " is the manifestation of such meekness, Avith something of especial efEort and struggle, in the beai-ing of injury. (~. '■i) Forbearing one another in love . . . . — Tlie Avord rendered " endeavouring " is, in tlie original, a word expressing " earnestness " of thought and 37 exertion to secure a thing not lightly obtained. (See 2 Tim. iv. 9—21 ; Heb. iv. 11 ; 2 Pet. i. 10.) It shows that St. Paul here passes from the negative aspects of love, summed up in foi-bearance, to the more jjositive and energetic enthusiasm for unity and peace. Love is in both aspects, the " uniting bond " of peace. In the parallel passage of Col. iii. 14, it is "put on over" all else, and is the uniting " bond of perfectness." In the celebrated thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to Corinthians (verses 4 — 7) it is made to include " long- suffering ■' and " kindness," and all forms of humility and gentleness. But, if it be real, it must necessarily pass into actiA'e energy; if it is to win the final beatitude of " blessing to the peacemakers," it must " labour for peace," and " follow after the things which make for peace " (Ps. cxx. 7 ; Rom. xiv. 19). The unity of the Spirit is certainly the unity given by the indAvelling of the Holy Ghost. This we cannot create, for it is the gift of God ; but we can " keep " it : that is, cherish it, guard it, and make it eifectiial by love ; and all experience proves that, if we woidd so keeii it, we need the positive earnestness of exertion against CA^ils without and within. W There is one body, and one Spirit,— The Avords "There is" are not iu the original, Avhich starts with a striking abruption, and Avith that terse concen- tration of thought and word which marks out an embiyo creed. The " one body " is the Body of Christ, " from whom it is fitly framed, joined together, and compacted," so that in every part " it grows up into Him." But this communion Avith God in Christ being "the life eternal," the Holy Ghost, by making it effectual alike to the Chui'ch aiul to the indiA'idual soul, is the " Lord and Giver of Life." Hence, His i^reseuce is sjioken of as being to the body of Christ Avhat the spirit is to the natural body — the uniting and vivifying power for all its members. Under the same idea we have (in 1 Cor. xii. 13), as a description of tlie first entrance into tlie Church of Christ, " By one Spirit are we all bjiptised into one body . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Even as ye are for rather, loere) called in one hope of your calling.— The connection, though not at first obA'ious, is clear on consideration. Since the gi'ace of the Holy Spirit is not only the " seal " of regenei'ation, but also the " earnest " (chap. i. 14) of future perfection, the mention of the one Si)irit suggests naturally the "hope of our calling" (i.e., the perfect unity of lieaveu). In ihis, in spite of all natural and spiritual inequalities, and in spite even of our dixnsions and strifes upon earth, all Christians are still actually one. Hence the communion of saints is perliaps most clearly realised in the times of high spiritual aspiration, and in the near presence of death. (5) One Lord, one faith.— From the idea of " the calling," the Apostle passes naturally to Him who calls — the " one Lord"— and to the method of His calling to Himself, first, by tlie " one faith." and then liy the " one baptism " at Avhich profession of that one faith is made. It is on the indwelling of Christ in each heart by faith that the spiritual unity of all Christians— primarily with Variety of Gifts throiigh the EPIIESIANS, IV. One Lord Jesus Christ. <») one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (^' But unto every one of us is given irrace according to the measure of the I Or, a mnltitiuh of captives. gift of Christ. ^^^ Wherefore . . _^^ he saith,When he ascended Tho^vark-ty of up on high, he led capti- gifts and func- vity ^ captive, and gave gifts ^°^^' Him, socondarily with oiio another — depends; and that spiritvial unity is " put on " in baptism (Gal. iii. 27). in ^vhi^•h wo are " Iniried witli Him and risen again " (Col. ii. 12), growing into the likeness of His death and resun-eetiou (Rom. ^■i. 3, 4, 5). Again we note that, with but few exceptions, all Christians, even in the divided condition of the Church, arc still united in the " one baptism ; " and if we look to such expressions of the one faith as are contained in the baptismal pro- fessi(m (e.r/., of the Apostles' Creed), it is clear that our divisions, great as they are, turn mainly on the fourth subsidiary Article on the "Holy Catholic Church," and not on the three primaiy Articles of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In these the mass of Chiistondom has still one faith. (8) One God and Father of all.— Necessarily, through the Son, we jiass to the Father (as the Lord Himself invariably teaches us to do), since He is (to use the old Greek expression) " the fount of Deity." He is said to be the " Father of all." We cannot limit this universal Fatherhood; although, undoul)tedly, the con- text shows that the immediate reference is to those who are His children 1)y adojjtion in Jesus Christ. The Church is essentially Catholic, inheriting by special gift wliat is tlie l)irthright of all humanity ; inca- pable of perfection till all be drawn into that closer sonship. yet having neither right nor desire to deny that outside her pale at any moment the wider Father- hood of God extends. Who is above all, and through all, and in you all. — The woi-d "you" lias little authority; many MSS. and commentaries have "us." But the best MSS. and authorities — both the physical and spiritual life. (This individuality, and the especial reference to Christians, are marked by the very natural gloss "us," or " you," in this clause.) (2) Verses 7 — 11 pass from the unity of the Church to the diversity of graces and offices in its members, 38 all being gifts of the ascended Lord, and results of that universal mediation which fills all things. (7) But unto every one of us is given grace.— This verse should be rendered. To every one of us the grace (the one " grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ") was given — that is, given in the Divine purpose in the regeneration of the whole body, although it has to be received and made our own. separately in each soul, and gradually in the course of life. It was and is given " according to the measure of the gift of Chi-ist." ( See below, verses 13 — 16.) In Him it dwells "without measure " (see John iii. 34) ; He gives it to each ac- cording to the measure of his capacity to receive it in faith (called in Rom. xii. 3 the " measure of faith "). Compare with this verse the fuller description of the differences of "gifts," "ministries," and "opera- tions " in 1 Cor. xii. 4 — 6, in which passage there is the same general reference to the Three Persons of the Holy Ti-inity ; but the pai-ticular reference is there to the Holy Spirit, while here it is to the Son. (8) Wherefore he saith.— The reference is to Ps. Ixviii. — a psalm which (as the quotation from Num. x. 35, in the first verse, shows) is a psalm celebrating some moving of the ark, traditionally (and most probably) connected with Dand's bringing up of the ark (2 Sam. vi.) to Mount Zion. The very change from the second person to the third person shows it to be a free quota- tion ; and this is made far more evident by the re- markable variation from the text of the original, which runs. Thou receivedst gifts in man — i.e., probably, " among men ; " and adds, " even tlie rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them " — a clause which (from verses 29 — 31) we may suppose to refer to the homage of the heathen to the Lord Jehovah. Now, it has been noted that the word "received" is used constantly for " receiving," or " fetching," for another (Gen. xv. 9; xviii. 5; xxvii. 13, ei «/.); and it appears that the Chaldee Targum actually has here, as a gloss : " Thou hast giA-en gifts to the sons of men," in- terpreting the words, curiously enough, of Moses as a mediator between God and man. The psalm also was recognised as a Messianic psalm, foreshadowing the dwelling of " God with us " in the universal kingdom of the true Mediator. St. Paul accordingly uses it with a bold variation suiting his context. The key to this use is found in the truth enunciated of our Lord in Acts ii. 33, that "being by the right hand of God exalted, and hniung received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath shed forth this." Our Lord, as the H(>ad of humanity, receives only in order to give. From the means, therefore, the Apostle passes to the end. He led captivity captive.— Tlio modem use of these words as describing our Tjord's triumph over the power of evil, hitherto triunii)hant over man. and so giving freedom by leading captive the jiower of capti\-ity, although in itself profoundly true, is not supported l)y the original, in which it is simply used for "a body of caiitivos." St. Paul's use of it here is probably best interpreted by Col. ii. 15, where it is said of the " principalities and powei's " — the powers of sin and death — that "He made a show of them openly, Ascended into Heaven. EPHESIANS, IV. Thence sendhifj Ills Ministers. unto men." (^) (Now that he ascended, Avhat is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? <^o^ He that descended is the same also 1 Or, fulfil, b 1 Cor. 12. 28. that ascended ujd far above all heavens, that he might fill i all things.) (ii) And he gave some, apostles ; * and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and triuinphiug over them in tlie cross." (See Note on this passage.) (9, 10) These verses form a parenthesis, designed to bring out the pervading idea of this and the parallel Epistle — the Divine humanity of Christ as " filling all in all" and " gatheiiug all things " into Himself. ('») The lower parts of the earth.— This may mean either the regions of the earth, as " lower " than heaven, or the regions beneath the earth. The reason- ing of the text in itself would be satisfied by the former. For St. Paul is simply arguing that the use of the phrase " ascended " from earth to heaven implies a {)revious corresponding descent, which must be from leaven to earth ; exactly as in .John iii. 13, " No man hath ascended into heaven, but He that came down from heaven." But form and usage of the phrase itself seem to point to the other meaning, which is held by almost all ancient interpreters and most moderns. It agrees with the strong expression of " filling all things," in verse 10, and is possibly suggested by the leading captive of the powers of hell and death. Though, perhaps, injurious to the strictness of the antithesis, it is quite accordant with St. Paul's manner to introduce thus a fresh idea beyond the simple idea of descent, which is sufficient for his argument : " He descended — yea, even to the realms below." For this idea is most apposite to that frequent reference to spiritual powers of evil found in this Epistle, and it may be thought to correspond by antithesis to the " far above all heavens " of the next verse. (I'J) That he might fill all things.— Compare the description in chap. i. 23 of the Lord as '" filling all in all." In both cases the reference is more particularly to the gift of the fulness of His grace, flowing from His glorified humanity to all His members. But the words are too wide for any limitation. In hea^-en and earth, and the realms under the earth, His presence and sovereignty extends, by whatever means and over whatever beings He wills. In Rev. v. 13, accordingly, we read the ascription by " every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth . . ., of blessing, honour, glory, and power to . . . the Lamb for ever and ever." (11) He gave.— In the original " He " is em- phatic— He and He alone, as the ascended Head of humanity. Tlie woi-d "gave," instead of the more obvious word set, or appointed (used in 1 Cor. xii. 28), is, of course, suggested by verse 8. They who are ministers of His gifts are themselves gifts from Him to the Church. Some, apostles; and some, prophets . . . — With this passage we must compare 1 Cor. xii. 28, " God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings," &c. ; and, perhaps, Rom. xii. 6 — 8, " Having then gifts . . . whether prophecy ... or ministry ... or teaching ... or exliortation . . .," although this last passage is less formally apposite. In all three cases there is the same general idea, first of the one body, and then of the one Spirit, guiding and animating it through various ministries. The parallel between this passage and the passage in 1 Cor. is very close ; for in the latter all that follows the words " after that " may be put aside, as describing, not special offices or ministries, but special gifts. We have, therefore, iji both, " first apostles, secondly prophets." Then come, in the earlier Epistle, " teachers ; " and this class, in our own later Epistle, is subdivided into " evangelists " and " pastors," both being teachers — the one in conversion of those still aliens from Clirist, the other in edifica- tion of those already brought into His Hock. Som.e, apostles. — The name " apostles " is certainly used here in its teclmical and restricted sense, as applying to the Twelve, whom '' the Apostle " of God Himself (Heb. iii. 1) named as His Apostles (Luke \\. 13), and Avith whom St. Paul claims equality (see 1 Cor. ix. 1; XV. 9 — 11 ; Gal. i. 1) on the ground of his own special mission and revelation from the same Lord. It is, indeed, used in a wider sense ; sometimes with words cfistinctly implying a derivation and human mis- sion, as in 2 Cor. viii. 23, " apostles (or, mes.'^enrjers) of the churches ; " Phil. ii. 25, " Epaphroditus, your apostle (or, messenger);" sometimes without such qualification, as in 2 Cor. xi. 5, 13; xii. 11, 12 ; 1 Tliess. ii. 7 ; and, perhaps, Rom. xvi. 7. But such use is rare, and cannot be applied to a passage like this, which is dis- tinctive of a special and primary class. In direct charge from the Lord, universal scope of mission, special in- spiration and power of miracle, which are '" the signs of an apostle" (2 Cor. xii. 12), the Apostles, properly so called, stood out in office absolutely tmique and supreme. W^hat was said of the first age of the Church is true of aU ages — '" of the rest durst no man join himself unto them " (Acts v. 13 1. Some, prophets.— For the nature and function of prophecy in the Church, see the detailed treatment of the subject by St. Paul in 1 Cor. xiv. It is sufficient here to note (1) that from very early tiiues the ''pro- phets " are mentioned as a separate class (see Acts xi. 27 ; XV. 32 ; xxi. 10), distinguished from teachers (Acts xiii. 1), and that, in this Epistle especially, they are spoken of, in connection ^vith the Apostles, as receiWng the revealed mystery of the gospel i^cliap. iii. 5), and being (or, layiug) "the foundation of the Church ; " (2) that their office, like the Apostolate, is clearly extraordinary, distinct from the ordinary and permanent teaching of the evangelists and pastors, and, prol)ably, best described by the two pln-ases so constantly applied to the prophets of the Old Testa- ment— "the word of the Lord came to me;" "the Spirit of the Lord was upon me." As all God's extra- ordinary gifts and workings are closely correlated >vith His ordinary laws of operation, so in this case the apostolic and prophetic offices gradually melt away into the regular functions of government and teaching, belonging in all times to the ministry of tiie Cliurch. Some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. — In these two i)hrases (corresponding to the simple word " teachers " in 1 Cor. xii. 28 1 we find described the two-fold office of the regular ministry of the Ciiurch — first, to preach the gospel to the ht-atlien or tlie un- converted, and next, to fulfil our Lord's pastoral charge (John xxi. 15 — 17) of feeding and sliepherding those who are already His sheep. It is dear that the same person may be "invested with the two offices, as Timothy, 39 For perfectinfj of the Saints. EPIIESIAXS, IV. For hu'ddlufj up the Church. some, pastors and teachers ; ( iG.^Devotod"to ^'-^ for the perfecting of the ^ the one object saints, for the -svork of the of edification. • • j. x> xi tx- • mmistry, tor the ediiying of the body of Christ : ^'^^ till we all or.inu,v>eunity.\ ^^^^ -^ ^^^^ Unity ^ of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the when in pastoral cliarge at Eiiliosus, is bidden " to do the work of an evanj^eiist" (2 Tim. iv. 5) ; and that iu some deforce the two offices must always be nnited, for the evangelist, like tlie apostle, is generally called upon to organise and " confirm the churches " (Acts xiv. 1*2, 23 ; XV. 41 1, and the ^lastor must always find men uncon- verted, to whom lie must be an evangelist. But the two elonents of duty will co-exist in dilferent projior- tions in ditl'eront persons. Some were then, and are now, especially called to be "evangelists" — that is, as is shown by the career of Philip, to whom the name is first given (Acts xxi. 8\ to be, under the apostolic guidance, missionaries to the unconverted ; others to be "pastors aiul teachers," feeding now with " pure milk of the word," now with " solid meat " (see 1 Cor. iii. 2, and Heb. v. 12), those already gathered into the fold, and exercising over them the pastoral authority solemnly committed by our Lord to His ministers. Yet b.>th can discharge only under limitation the functions which in the Apostles were practically unlimited. On the question whether this celebrated passage describes the regular orders or the functions, ordinary and extraordinary, of the ministry, we may fairly say tliat while no doubt the very genius of the passage points to the latter alternative, yet the ultimate appeal must be made to history. It is clear, from the nature of the case, that none could inherit the direct and uni- versal commission from Christ held by the Apostles ; it is certain historically that the supernatural gifts of prophecy and miracle passed away ; it is hardly less in- disputable that the two functions of evangelism and pastorate were always shared among the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons after the close of the Apostolic age. (3) Verses 12 — 16 return from diversity of functions to sing'eness of object — \\z., the perfecting individual souls in the likeness of Christ, and so building up of the whole Church iu unity vrith Him. (12) For the perfecting . . .— Tlie parallelism of the three clauses of our version of this verse does not exactly coiTcspond to the original, though we notice that Chrysostom su[)ports it, and therefore endently saw no- thing in the Greek to contradict it. The preposition {eis) used in the two latter clauses (which should be unto work of ministration, unto edification of the body of Christ) properly signifies " contact with a thing," and the preposition \pros) usediu the first clause, "direction towards a thing." The two are often apparently inter- changed; but in close juxtaposition hero can hardly bo intended to be identical or exactly parallel; and, if distinction is to be drawn, the former must signify immediate consequence, and the other the remoter object to which such immediate consequence is designed to minister. The construction would be greatly simpli- fied, if inversion of the first two clauses could be allowed. For it would then run. " unto work of minis- tration with a view to perfecting of saints, unto building up of the body of Christ ; " and so would plainly represent the two-fold operation of the ministry : first. its work iu its various offices for the perfecting of individual souls ; and next, its general direction to the building up of the whole body. But whether this con- struction be grammatically possible or not, this appears to be in any case the general sense of the passage. The perfecting of the saints.— The word ren- dered " perfecting " (akin to the " perfection " of 2 Cor. xiii. 9) is derived from a root which signifies either to "mend" what is broken (as iu Matt. iv. 21), or to " complete" what is unfinished (as in Luke vi. 40; Rom. ix. 22) ; and hence is used spiritually for to " restore " the fallen (Gal. vi. 1), or to "perfect" the imperfect Christian (Heb. xiii. 21 ; 1 Thess. iii. 10). Both pro- cesses are necessarily implied in that perfection of the individual saints here spoken of, and more fully described in the next verses. The edifying of the body of Christ.— Tliis is that part of tlie work of the ministry (as in preaching and ministering iu public worship) which tells upon the Church or congregation as a whole. It is here re- presented as subsequeut, perhaps as subordinate, to the individual pastoral dealing with souls. But each has his own gift. Some ministries are more blessed to the individual jierfecting of the saints ; others to the build- ing up of the whole Church. (I3j rpi2l -we all come. — The marginal rendering is correct: till ice ail arrive at the tinitij of the faith. The " one faith " has been spoken of above ; the full grasp of that faith by each and all is the first object of all the ministries of the Church, since by it both the individual perfection and the corporate unity begin to be secured. Such faith always goes on to knowledge, that is (as in chap. i. 17) " full knowledge" of Him in whom we have believed. So in 2 Pet. i. 17, " Add to your faith virtue " (that is. energy in well-doing), "and to virtue knowledge." This knowledge (see chap. iii. 17 — 19) is gained mainly through the love in which faith is made perfect. Of the Son of God.— These words should be con- nected with the word " faith " (as in Gal. ii. 20) as well as " knowledge." They are probably to be considered as a distinctive phrase, designating our Lord especially as glorified and exalted to the right hand of the Father in •' the gloiy which he had with the Father before the world was." So in Rom. i. 4, He is " declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection ; " and in Heb. iv. 14, " Jesus the Son of God " is '' the High Priest ascended into the heavens." Compare also our Lord's declaration that " if any man speaks against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him " (Matt. xii. 32) with the declara- tion of the certain vengeance on him who " treads under foot the Son of God " (Heb. x. 29). Note again, in St. John's First Epistle, the constant reference to the belief in and confession of Jesus as " the Son of God " as the one thing needful (chaps, iv. 15; v. 5, 10 — 12, 20). For on the belief not only of what He was on earth, but of what He is iu heaven, all distinctive Christianity depends. If He is only " Son of Man " He cannot be the universal Sa\'iour. Unto a perfect (that is. fnll-grou-u) man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. — In these words are described the second great object of the ministries of the Church — not only the production of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, but the formation of Christ in the soxil, as 40 The Growth into tJie Image of Christ. EPxIESlArs k5, I V . The Development of the ichole Body. stature ^ of the fulness of Christ : (^^^ that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive ; (^^^ but speaking the truth- in love, may grow 1 Or, age. up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ : (^'^^ from whom the whole body titly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, OT.being nncere:^ maketh iucrcase of the body unto the "dwelliug in the heart through faith." Tliis image of Christ iu " fuluess " is the aljsohitely perfect huraauitj, sliomng forth the image of God. Each cau partake of it ouly up to " the measure " whidi God gives him. (See verse 7.) Wlieu he so partakes of it to the utmost, ho is " full-gi'ovvn " (relatively, uot absolutely, per- fect) up to the spiritual " stature " assigned to him, although (as in the body) that stature may vary iu different persons, and iu none cau perfectly attain to the whole " fulness " of Christ. The rendering, "stature" is preferable to age, as suiting better the context, though both are fully admissible under New Testament usage. On the woi-d "fulness," see Note to chap. i. 23. (\i) That we be no more children. — Here the process of gi-owth is described negatively; in the next verse positively. We are to he no more children. Tlie word used here and in 1 Cor. iii. 1 ; xiii. 11 ; Gal. iv. 1, 3; Heb. v. 13 (often rendered "babes"), is a word almost always applied iu a bad sense, like our word "childish" — uot to the guilelessness, the trustfulness, or the humility of chUdren, which ova- Lord emphatically blessed (Matt, xviii. 2 — 4), but to their uuforeseeing and unthinking impulsiveness. The distinction is marked in 1 Cor. xiv. 20, " Be uot children in understanding : howbeit, iu malice be ye children, but iu understanding be men." Thus, in 1 Cor. iii. 1, xiii. 11, Heb. V. 13, it describes crudeness and shallowness of conception; in Gal. iv. 1,3, incapability of free seK- direction ; here. liabiUty to disturbance and change by every external impression from without, so as to be "everything by turns and nothing long." Tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.— The metaphor is of a ship drifting at the mercy of a storm, tossed by the waves, and carried round from time to time by every blast. The Avord " tossed " is moi'e properly used of the waves (com- pare Jas. i. 6) themselves, but the following words seem to show that liei'e it is applied to the sliip rising and fall- ing with them. The word " doctrine," as usual, is a general word for aU deliberate " teaching," whether acting on the understanding or the heart. It includes, iu fact, aU influence consciously exercised to a definite end. The metaphor is then dropped, and the evil influences to which childish instability is a prey are described — first, as the "sleight," I.e., the sleight of hand of the dice- thrower, describing quick, sudden deceit of detail ; next (to substitute an accurate translation for the un- usually paraphrastic rendering of our version), as a "craftiness devoted to the systematic plan of deceit," tlnis referring to deeper and subtler forms of delusion. This reference is so definite in the original, that we are tempted to believe St. Paul to have liad in view some particular scheme of erroneous teacliing. which liad already struck root in the .soil of Asia Minor. The Epi.stle to the Colossiaus shows that such false teach- ing had appeared itself at Colossae ; it was, perhaps, the germ of the more full-growu Gnosticism noted iu the Pastoral Epistles. (i3) But speaking the truth in love.— It lias been doubted whellier the words •' in love " should not be connected with " may grow up," &c., exactly as in verse Itj, " maketh increase of the body . . . iu love." But both order and sense seem to point to the con- nection given in our version. The correct rendering is, being true in love; including in this the "being true" to others, by speaking truly and acting honestly towards them (as in Gal. iv. 16), but including also the " being true " absolutely — that is, the loving the truth, and clinging to it at all costs. The latter element, in- deed, is the one which stands here more properly in antithesis to the childish instability dcscrilied in the preceding verse ; as it is in itself the more important, and is, in fact, the only basis for the other. " To thine own self be true. And it will follow, as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man." Tliis " being true " is expressed in many forms. Some- times as " being of the truth" (John xviii. 37; 1 John ii. 21; iii. 19); sometimes as "abiding in the truth" (John viii. 44'), or " having the truth in us " (1 John i. 8); sometimes as " doing the truth " (John iii. 21), and " walking iu the trtith " (2 John, verse 4 ; 3 John, verse 4). Iu all cases it is closely connected with the idea of unity with Him who is Himself "the Truth" (John xiv. 6). AVitli the phrase " being true iu love " we may com- pare the corresponding phrase of "loving in truth . . . for the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us ''(2 Jolm, verse 1; see also verse 3, and 3 John, verse 1 ). In both we recognise the harmony of the two great principles of iudi\"iduality and tmity, on which true humanity, and therefore like- ness to God, depends. In the contemplation and love of truth each of us is alone ; even in the speaking and doing truth towards others we have to consult only God and our own conscience, which is His voice ^vithin. In love, on the contrary, we deny and sacrifice self, merging our imlividtial being in huuutuity or in God. Taking the first alone, we have a hard, almost stoical, self-con- centration ; taking the other alone, it may become to- wards man an idolatry, to which both truth and freedom are sacrificed, and even towards God may pass into a mysticism, in which all active energy is lost. Uniting both, we have the perfect hiunanity, at once individual and social, at once free before God and lost in God. Accordingly, it is thus that we " grow uj) into Him who is the Head, even Christ," whu, by perfect truth and perfect love, manifested to us in His humanity all the fulness of God. The head, even Christ. — In this name of our Lord we have the link of connection between the indi- vidual perfection and corjjorato unity. He is (as iu 1 Cor. xi. 3) the Head of each man. He is also the Head of the whole Church. (i'5) From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted.— The wonl rendered " fitly joined together" is the same used in chap. ii. 21, with more technical accuracy, of a building — " damped " or " bonded together." Here the two words are applied 41 Warning against the old Heathen Life EPHESIANb, Iv. darkened in Mind and Heart. edifying of itseli in love." (^^^ This I say- Chap, iv. 17— therefore, and testify in 24. Contrast the Lord, that ye hence- oi heatlien and /. . , ,i . •' . , Christian lite. lorth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, (^^^ having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God throuo-h the ignorance to tho union of the limbs of the body, as being " jointed," and so '* bruuglit into close contact." The latter word is used in Col. ii. 19. By that which every joint supplieth.— A pai-a- phrastic and inaccurate rendering. It should be, by evenj contact icith the siqyjjhj (of nutriment) from the head. The word employed lias commonly the meaning of " joint " (as in the parallel passage, Col. ii. 19), and is so used by Greek physiologists ; but its original sense is abstract — the " joining " or " touching " — and this appears the simi^lest here. The supply (comp. Phil. i. 19, "tho supply of the Spirit") is again almo-st a technical word for the abundant outflow of strength and nervous energy from the head. (The correspond- ing verb is used in 2 Cor. ix. 10 ; Gal. iii. 5 ; Col. ii. 19 ; 2 Pet. i. 5, 11.) Hence the phrase seems to stand in closer connection with the " maketh increase "below than the " compacted together " above. The body grows, in every part of its complex unity, through contact with the divine supply of gi-ace tlirough the head. According to the effectual working in the measure of every part.— In these words is described the method, as in the preceding word the source, of the growth. The '• effectiveness " of every jiart " in measure " {according, that is, to its right capacity and function) is the condition of corporate growth. Such effectiveness comes from direct contact with the central energy. Maketh increase of the body unto the edify- ing {the huildbuj ttp) of itself in love.— Here, lastly, wo have the function of the body itself. It is knit together by its divine organisation; it is sustained ])y the supply from the bead; its several parts are kept in life l)y that supply ; but it grows as a whole and builds itself up by the uniting and vivifying power of love, which is the " bond of perfectness." (Just so St. Paul says of the individual, in 1 Cor. viii. 1, " Charity edifieth.") Truth is, no doubt, the basis of unity ; l)ut love is its vital power, at once keeping together all who are united, and drawing in those who are as yet separated. [5. Practical Exhortation (chap. iv. 17—21). (1) The New Life ; first, taught in Christ and learning Christ; and secondly, regenerate in Him to the imago of God (versos 17 — 2-i). (2) Hence the Poweh op Conquest of Sin generally — (a) Falsehood {verse 25) : (b) Passionate anger (verses 26, 27); (c) Dishonestxj (verso 28) ; (d) Foulness of to or d (verses 29, 30); (3) Hence its Power against the Special Besetting Sins of — (a) Bitterness and malice, unworthy of tho love of Christ (verses 31, 32, and chap. V. 1, 2); (fc) Fornication and lust, unworthy of the light of Christ (chap. v. 3— U) ; (c) Recklessness and drunken excitement (chap. V. 15—21).] (1) In verses 17 — 24^ we enter on the practical section of the Epistle, which, indeed, appears to begin 42 in verse 1, but is broken in upon by the magnificent digression of the doctrinal summary of verses 4 — 16. It opens with a striking contrast of the past and the present — the life of the heathen in its " vanity," with the two-fold result of blindness and callousness of soul ; and the Christian life, which has in learning Christ found the secret of regeneration. (17) This I say therefore.- Tlie phrase " This I say" seems to be used by St. Paul in returning (so to speak) from some lofty aspiration or pi'of ound reasoning, in which some might not be able to follow him, to a solid, practical ground, which all may tread. (See, for example, 1 Cor. xv. 50.) Here he is not content to use this phrase simply, l)ut he enforces it by the solemnity of tlie adjuration "I testify" (comp. Acts xx. 26; Gal. V. 3), which properly means, " I call God to witness the truth of what I say " — a phrase found in express terms in Rom. i. 9; 2 Cor. i. 23; Phil. i. 8; 1 Thess. ii. 5. Nor was even this enough, for he adds " in the Lord" — that is, in the name, authority, and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The whole form is therefore one of peculiar force and solemnity. The vanity of their mind,— In these words St. Paul describes the fundamental condition of heathenism. The " mind," that is (as in Rom. A'ii. 23, 25), the "inner man" — the spiritual intuition of invisible prin- ciples of truth and right, which is the true humanity — has become " subject to vanity" (Rom. viii. 20), — the vanity of which the Book of Ecclesiastes so often speaks. In losing the living conception of a living God, it has lost also the coiiception of the true objeet and perfection of human life ; and so wanders on aimless, hopeless, reckless, as in a dream. With what absolute fidelity St. Paul describes the heathen world of his day, its history and its literature alike testify. Compare with the whole passage the pictiu-e drawn in Rom. i. 21 — 32, '' They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was dai-kened," &c. The difference is that in the latter passage the prominent idea is mainly of "judicial blindness," sent by God as a penalty on wilful apostasy from Him, Avhereas here St. Paul rather dwells on self-chosen blindness and hardness of heart. (18) Having the understanding darkened.— Of this vanity tho first result noted is the intellectual. They are " darkened in the xinderstanding." and so, " by the ignorance in them alienated from the life of God." The phrase " the life of God " is unique. It may. however, be interpreted ])y a similar phrase, tho " righteousness of God " (Rom. i. 7), i.e., the righteous- ness given by God. What the life given by God is, we know by our Lord's own Avords (John xvii. 3). "This is the life eternal, to know Thee the only tnie God, and Jesus Christ whom Tliou has sent." So far as the understanding is concerned, this alienation signifies the loss of the central light of Truth in God, and with it the loss, partial or complete, of the A-ision of other truths in their right proportion and harmony. But the second result is moral. St. Paul attributes the alienation from God, or (possibly, though less pro- bably) " the ignorance which is in them," to the hardness of their heart— for the marginal reading iscon-ect; the word used signifies, almost technically, " callousness " The New Life, learning Christ, EPHESIANS, IV. and taught in Christ. that is in them, because of the blind- ness ^ of their heart:" ('^^ who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (-^^ But 1 Or, hardness. a Uuiu. 1. '21. ye have not so learned Christ ; <2i) if gQ be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus : (--^ that ye jDut off concerning the former conversation the old man. and insensibility. To make his meaning clearer still he adds, " who (or, inasmuch as they) being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness." There is jirecisely a simihir current of thought (noting, however, the characteristic diifereuce referred to above) in Rom. i. 24 — 32, where St. Paul draws out, as con- sequences of the same vanity, first lusts of uncleanness, next unnatural sin, and at last breaks out into a fearful enumeration of the signs of the reprobate mind. On this side, therefore, "the alienation from the life of God " is the loss of the grace by which He dwells in the soul, and by indwelling gives it tlie moi'al and spiritual life. (19) Who being past feeling . . .—We note that St. Paul, passing lightly over the intellectual loss, dwells on the moral with intense and terrible emphasis. They are (he says) " past feeling " ; or, literally, carrying on the metaphor of callousness, they have lost the capa- city of fain — the moral pain which is the natm-al and healthful consequence of sin against our true natures. Consequently, losing in this their true hu- manity, they give themselves over to "lasciviousness." The word used here (as also in Mark vii. 22 ; Rom. xiii. 13 ; 2 Cor. xii. 21 ; Gal. v. 19) signifies a lust devoid of all sense of decency, recklessly and grossly animal. Hence its result is not only to work out uncleanness of every kind, but to do so " with greediness," with a reckless delight in foulness for its own sake. The union of this brutality of sensual sin with intellec- tual acuteness and aesthetic culture was the most horrible feature of that corrupt Greek civilisation, tainted with Oriental grossness, of which he was esjiecially writing. (^0) Ye have not so learned Christ. — Better, ye did not so learn the Christ. To "learn Christ" is a phrase not used elsewhei-e ; but easily inter- preted by the commoner phrase to "know Christ" (see John xiv. 7, 9; 2 Cor. v. 16 ; Phil. iii. 10), which is still nearer to it in the original, for the word used for " to know " propei-ly means to perceive or " come to know." It would seem that the name " the Christ " is here used emphatically, in distinction from the " Jesus " of the next verse. " To learn the Christ " is to enter into the true meaning of His office as the Anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, or, in one word, as the Mediator, in Avhom we as Christians escape from the guilt and bondage of the sins described above. Such learning— like the " knowing " of 2 Cor. v. 14 — is not " after the flesh." by the mere hearing of the ear, but " after the Spirit," writincr Christ upon the heart. ('-^) If SO be that. — The word is the same which is need in chap. iii. 2, Col. i. 23. indicating no real doubt, l)ut only that rhetorical doubt which is strong affirma- tion. Ye have heard him . . .—The true rendering here is. ye heard Him, and tvere taught in Him. St. Paul begins with the first means oi knowledge, the " hearing " His voice, directly or through His mini.sters ; and then proceeds to describe the fuller and more systematic process of " being taught." not " by Him " (as in our version), but " in Him," that is. in tliat unity with Him which embraces both teachers and taught as with an atmosphere of His presence. 43 As the truth is in Jesus.— Here by the name " Jesus," the personal and proper name of the Lord, St. Paul leads us on from the conception of " learning the Christ," to understand the method of that learning, in the knowledge of the " truth " in the person of Jesus Himself, who declares Himself to be the Truth (John xiv. 6). By a loving study and knowledge of His person, as set forth to us in the gosi^el, and brought home to us by His grace, rather than by abstract musing on the office and attributes of " the Christ," we come to learn the Christ also. The use of the simple name Jesus, so common in the Gospelo. is rare indeed in the Epistles, where we constantly find the fuller description " Jesus Christ," " the Lord Jesus," " Jesus the Son of God." Wlierever it occurs, it will be found to be distinctive or emphatic. This distinc- tiveness is most strikingly evident in Rom. viii. 11 : " If the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised uji [the] Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies." The " raising up of Jesus," is the historical resun-ection of Jesus of Nazareth ; the " raising up the Christ " points to the mysterious effect of that resurrection on those for whom He is the Mediator. Of the few other passages in which the simple name occurs, some (as Rom. iii. 26 ; 2 Cor. iv. 10, 11 ; 1 Thess. i. 10; Heb. x. 10) are mere reiterations of the name occurring above with the due title of honour; others are quasi-recitals of a creed declaring the historic Jesus (1 Cor. xii. 3; 1 Thess. iv. 14 ; comp. 2 Cor. xi. 4^. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, whei'e, in accordance with one main purpose of the Epistle, this usage is least rare (see chaps, ii. 9; vi. 20 ; vii. 22 ; xii. 2, 24 ; xiii. 12), it ^^•ill be found that in all cases, either special stress is laid on the lowly and suffering humanity of the Lord, or the historic facts of His ministry on earth are referred to. The modem familiarity of use of the simple name " Jesus " has little authority in apostolic usage. (22—24) These verses explain the substance of the teach- ing of verse 21. The original may be interpreted either of the teaching of a fact, " that ye did put off . . . and are being renewed," &.Q.. or of a duty, " that ye put off . . . and be renewed." The latter is, on the whole, the more probable, although the former would yield a simpler sense. It is to be noted that the words " put off" and "put on" in the original denote a distinct and complete act ; the word " be renewed."' a continuous and still incomplete process. The complete act is consummated, and the contirnons process begun, by the practical " learning " of Christ — that is, by growth in spiritual communit)n with Him. (2-) Concerning the former conversation. — So far, that is, as concerns the conversjxtion or mode of life described aboVo (verses 17 — 19) as the moral con- dition of heathenism. It is in relation to this, the cor- ruption of the true humanity, and not in relation to the tnie humanity itst>lf , that "the " old man " is put off. The phrase " the old man" (found also in Rom. vi. 6; Col. iii. 9) is here illustrated by the description follow- ing : ichich is being marred in virtue of the lusts of deceit. Tlie word rendered " corrupt " expresses not so much pollution as disintegration and decay, much as in WarniiKj (ujaliiit Falsehood EPHESIANS, IV. and ^orathful Anger. which is corrupt according- to tlie de- ceitful hists ; <-'^' and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; <-^* and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in riy^hteousness and true holi- ness.^ ^-''^ Wherefore putting away lying, I Or, holiness of speak every man truth with his neighbour : for we are ^, ° 1 p XI Chap. IV. 25— members one of another. 30. 'in respc-ct (26) gg jQ angry, and sin of sins against not: let not the sun — ^^^ down upon your wrath go (-7) neither give 2 Cor. iv. IG ; and so carries out the idea implied in tlie epithet " ohl." The unregenerato nature, subject to " the lusts of deceit " — the lusts, tliat is, of the spirit of delusion, blind themselves, and blinding the soul which yields to them — is gradually sinking into the spiritual decay which nuist become spiritual death, unless by tiie effort of faith, entering into the com- munion with Christ, it be, once for all, "put oif." The various qualili(>s of the nature thus stripped off are variously described : in Rom. xiii. 22, as the " works of darkness; in Heb. xii. 1, as simply "encumbrance;" in Jas. i. 21, as " filthiness and excess of evil;" in 1 Pet. ii. 1, as " malice, and craft, and hypocrisies, and envies." All these are the " lusts of deceit." (-5) And be renewed, ia the spirit of your mind. — The word translated " renewed " is not the same as tlio word " new " below. It is properly " to bo made young again," and the process of recovery is described as the natural effect of puttiug off the decrepitude of the old man, and the decay engendered by (lesldy lusts. Tho effect is seen in " the spirit of the mind" — that is, "iii the spiritual nature of the inner man." Tho "spirit" of man is the mind or inner man, considered in its true relation as quickened aud sustained by the Spirit of God. (See Rom. viii., and especi dly verse 10.) We note, in Col. ii. 18, tho opposite condition of "the mind of the flesh," in those who do ]iot "hold tho Head." This spirit is spoken of as iTgaining its undying youtli, as it wei-e, naturally, when " the muddy vesture of decay" is cast off. (-y And that ye put on . . .—But this effect of "the putting off of tho old man" is at once absorbed in tho stronger idea of " putting on tho new man." In tho "now man" here is inqjlied not merely youthfidness, but the freshness of a higher nature (as in chap. ii. 15). To " put on the new man" is, therefore, to " jiut on tho Lord Jesus Christ," by that divine process of which we have the beginning in Gal. iii. 27, the continuation in Rom. xiii. Ii, and the completion in 1 Cor. xv. .53, 54; 2 Cor. V. 3. For Ho is " tho new man," " the second Adam," " formed after God, in righteousness and holiness of tho truth." Holiness (used only here and in Luke i. 75) is "purity" consecrated to God in His "Holy One" (Acts ii. 27). It describes the "purity of Ix-art" of which our Lord Himself speaks as a still higher grace, gifted with a higher reward, than even " hunger aud thir.st after righteousness" (Matt. v. 6, 8). "Righteousness" is goodness shown to others, to man and to God : " holiness " is goodness in itself, as it is in " the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity." Stress is laid upon it here in contrast with the lusts and unclean- noss described above. Truth is similarly opposed to the "deceit" of verse 22. Christ is Himself "tho Truth," as being the manifestation of " the fulness of the Godhcnid." As the corrupting aud beguiling lusts belong to the spirit of Deceit, so righteousness and holiness to the Truth. (2) From this general description of the regeneration of tho soul out of the death of sin, in the Lord Jesus Christ, St. Paul now passes on to deal with special moral duties (verses 25 — 30) — tiie casting out of falsehood, wrath, dishonesty, and impurity, which are the four typical sins forbidden in the four general Command- ments of the Second Table — the Ninth, the Sixth, the Eighth, and the Seventh. But he treats all with a marked and striking peculiarityof treatment — in relation to the great principle of unity in Christ, rather than in relation to a man's own nature or his individual responsibility to God. In this treatment he shows tho vivid practical application of the characteristic doctrine of this Epistle. (-5) For we are members. — Accordingly the reason given for "putting away lying" is that "we are members one of another." Truth is the first con- dition of tho mutual confidence which is the basis of all unity. Hence it is the first duty of that " mem- bership one of another," which follows from our being "one body in Christ" (Rom. xii. 5; 1 Cor. xii. 27). No doubt it is also the first duty to our own humanity, and to the God "who hateth a lie." But these views, though true in themselves, would not bo relevant to St. Paul's great subject here. (^6) Be ye angry, and sin not. — A quotation from tho LXX. version of Ps. iv. 4. Anger itself is not sin, for our Lord Himself felt it (Mark iii. 5) at tho " hardness of men's hearts ; " and it is again and again attributed to God Himself, in language no doubt of human accommodation, but, of course, accommoda- tion to what is siidess in humanity. In the form of resentment, and above all of the resentment of righteous indignation, it performs (as Butler has shown in his sermon on " Rosoutment ") a stimulating and inspiring function in the strife against evil. But it is a dangerous and exceptional weapon : and hence the ex- hortation "sin not," and the practical enforcement of that exhortation in the next clause. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. — In this command (for which a Pythagorean parallel may be found) St. Paul gives a two-fold safeguard against abuse of even righteous anger. (1 )Itisnot to be prolonged beyond the sunset — beyond the sleep which ends the old day and leads in the freshness of the new, and which by any godly man must be prepared for in commenda- tion of himself to God, aiul in pi-ayer for His forgiveness, " as we forgive those who trespass against us." (2) It is not to be brooded over and stimulated ; for the word " wrath " is propm'ly self -exasperation, being similar to the "contention" of Acts xv. 30, described as alien to the spirit of love in 1 Cor. xiii. 5. It is that " nursing of wrath to keep it Avai-m," which can be checked even by those who cannot control i\w first outburst, and which constantly corru])ts righteous indignation into selfish personal anger, if not into malignity. (-") Neither give place [i.e., scope) to the devil. — The name " Devil " is used by St. Paul only in his later Epistles (see chap. vi. 11 ; 1 Tim. iii. 6, 7; vi. 9; 2 Tim. ii. 26 ; Tit. ii. 3) ; in the earlier Epistles (Rom, xvi. 20 ; 1 Cor. v. 5 ; vii. 5 ; 2 Cor, ii. 11 ; xi. 14 ; xii. 44 Against Dishonesty and Foulness. EPHESIANS, IV. Special warning against Malice. place to the devil. <-*^' Let liim that stole steal no more : but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give ^ to him that needeth. (-*') Let no corrupt com- munication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying," that it may minister grace 1 Ov.todistrihide. 2 Or, to edify pro- fiUibly. unto the hearers. (^'^^ And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemp- tion. '^^^ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speak- ing, be put away from you, with all malice : Chap. iv. 31 — v. 2. Specialwarn- ing against bit- terness. 7 ; 1 Tliess. ii. 18 ; 2 Thess. ii. 9) we have the name " Satan," which is also found, less frequently, in the later also (1 lim. i. 20; v. 15). The latter name simply describes him as " the enemy " ; the former describes one method of his enmity (as "the Tempter" another), for it signifies " one who sets at variance," man with God, and man with man. Since this fiendish work is mostly contemplated as wrought by slander, the name is commonly taken to mean " the slanderer ; " and when applied to human beings (as in 1 Tim. iii. 11; 2 Tim. iii. 3 ; Tit. ii. 3) it seems to convey some such meaning. But here the original sense suits the distinctive idea of the passage. In accordance with the general principle noted above, excess of wrath is forbidden, as giving opportunity to the enemy, who desires to break up unity, and " set at variance " those who should be one in Jesus Christ. (28) Let him that stole (properly, the stealer) steal no more . . . .—In this verse St. Paul treats dishonesty, virtually, although less distinctly, from the same point of view as before. For lie is not content with forbidding it, or even with forbidding it as fatal to society ; but he directs that it be superseded by the opposite spirit of self-sacrifice, working in order to give to others what is honestly our own, as the fruit of the labour of " our own hands.'" In that direction there is a profound wisdom, in striking at the root of that exclusive selfishness which so often and so naturally exhibits itself in dishonesty. But we note in it also a peculiar harmony with the great doctrine of unity ; for the sense of unity Avill always exhibit itself in working what is " good," that is, gracious, for the sake of " him that needs." (29) Let no corrupt communication . . .— Tlie word rendered " corrupt," is a strong Avord, signifying " rotten " ; used in Matt. vii. 17, 18, and elsewhere in the literal sense, here alone in the metaphorical. By the corrupt word, proba])ly, here is meant especially the foul word, which is rotten in itself, and spreads rotten- ness in othci's. The use of edifying.— This is a mistranslation, by inversion, of a difficult expression, "the building up of the need" — that is, the sup])lying by suggestion of good the peculiar " need " or defect of the hearer's spiritual state. Perhaps, as before, the word " good " may be taken for gntcinus and full of sympathy, noting by the quick insight of love what each man's need is, and liastening to speak accordingly, so as to " give grace " or blessing to meet that peculiar need. Tlie same use of the word " grace " is fcmnd in 2 Cor. i. 15 C'tliat yo might have a second benefit"). The same idea is found in 1 Tliess. iii. 10, " to perfect that which is lacking in your faith." Here again we have a similar treatment of moral duty. The corrupt word is forliidden, not because it defiles the speaker's own soul, and is an offence in the pure eyes of God. but because it is a sin against others, pulling doAvn instead of building them up, and aggra- vating, instead of suppljang, their moral defects. Like tlie falsehood, and wrath, and dishonesty, forbidden above, it sins against the unity of all in God. (•^0) And grieve not the holy Spirit.— Tliis verse refers to all the practical commands given above. The four cardinal sins forbidden are regarded as "grieving the Holy Spirit of God." In that expres- sion, even more than in the cognate expressions of "quenching the Spirit" (1 Thess. v. 19), and "resisting the Holy Ghost " (Acts vii. 51), there is implied a personal relation to a Divine Person, capable of being " grieved " by our transgressions, partly as sins against His perfect holiness, partly as suicidal rejections of His unfailing love. In the description of this effect of sin we have the needful complement to the view hitherto taken of its effect, as marring our unity with men ; for that unity is always in God, through the Holy Spirit working out in each soul the image of Christ. " There is one Body " only because " there is one Si^irit." Sin vexes the one, but grieves the other. Whereby ye are sealed. — Properly, in u-hom ye ivere sealed. See the fuller expression of the same truth in chap. i. 13, 14, and the Notes there. The reference to it is here emphatic. The " sealing unto the day of redemption " reminds us of the glorious con- summation to which we are destined, and from which every sin is a falling off. The very thought of this perfection, with all its associations of purity and love, should shame us fi'oni sin. This general exliortation seems fitly to close the warn- ing against the series of tyi)ical sins, which is itself exhaustive of the general sins against men. In the passage which follows (chap. iv. 31 — v. 21) St. Paul does not indeed traverse new ground, but dwells with special emphasis on some of these sins, which especially beset the society to which he wrote, viz. : (in chap. iv. 31 — ■ V. 2) bitterness, (in chap. v. 3^14) impurity, (iu chap. V. 15 — 21) reckless excess. {3a) In chap. iv. 31 — v. 2, he deals witli malignity, as utterly unworthy of the lovo of God manifested to us in Jesus Christ. (31) Let all bitterness.— There is a similar enumera- tion in the parallel pass.nge, Col. iii. 8; and in all such catalogues in St. Paul's Epistles, while it is vain to seek for foruial and elaborate system, there is always profound method and connection of idea. Here the first .symptom of the temper forbidden is " bitterness," or sharpiicis — a -Word seldom used, and genenilly in half-po(>tical passages (see Acts viii. 23; llom. iii. 14; Heb. xii. 15) — that is. an acerbity of temper, ready to take offence and break out in anger. The next stage is "wrath and anger," that is, passionate outburst, and the deeper ansrer of which it is at once effect and cause. (Comp. Rom. ii. 8; Col. iii. 8; Rev. xix. 15.) In these the smouldering bitterness kindles into flame. The last stage is " clamour and evil speaking " — " clamour " \ TJte foUowing of God's Love EPHESIANS, V. and Christ's Self-sacrifice. (32) and be ye kind one to another," "^coi--^-"^ tenderhearted, fortjiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. CHAPTER Y.— (') followers of God, as Be ye therefore dear children ; (2) and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. <^^ But fornica- tion, and all uncleanness, or Chap. V. 3—5. Covetousness, let it not be Special warn- T ing against once named among you, as lusts. (used in this sense only here") being- the loud fury of the first burst of wrath, passing into tlie more deliberate evil-speaking, as the temper cools down without losing its settled angi'r. With all malice. — All are various exhibitions of " malice "—that is, evil mindedness or malignity — the general disposition which is the opposite of goodness, graciousness, and svmpathy. (Comp. Rom. i. 29; 1 Cor. V. 8 ; xiv. 20; Jas." i. 21 ; 1 Pet. ii. 1.) By the law of human nature they rise out of this temper, and react upon it so as to intensify its bitterness. Both it gene- rally, and they in particular, must be resisted and cast out. (3-') Kind . . . tenderhearted.— " Kindness " is gentleness in bearing with wrong 'Luke vi. 3-5 ; Rom. xi. 22; Eph. ii. 7 ; 1 Pet. ii. 3). "Tenderheartedness" (see 1 Pet. iii. 8) is more positive warmth of sympathy and love. Both issue in free " forgiveness," after the model of the universal and unfailing forgiveness " of God in Christ " to us — the only model we dare to foUow, suggested by our Saviour Himself in the Lord's Prayer, and expressly enjoined in Luke vi. 36. It is a forgiveness wliich in us, as in Him, does not imply condonation of e^nl, or even the withholding of needful chastisement, but which absolutely ignores self, con- quers man's selfish anger, and knows no limit, even up to " seventy times seven." V. (^. 2) These verses are an expansion and enforcement of the last ver.se of chap. iv. There the forgiveness of "God in Christ" is .set forth in one pregnant phrase. Here the two parts of tliis idea are divided ; and there is put before us, first, the free universal love of God as our Fatlier, and next, the self-sacrificing love of Christ, as the Son of God and man. (1) Followers of God.— Tlie phrase is unique and verj- striking ; literally, imitators of God : and the word " therefore " implies that this imitation of God must be chiefly in His essential attribute of love. It is instruc- tive to ol)serve that our Lord's startling command, " Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect " (Matt. v. 48), is explained both by the context and the parallel passage in St. Lidce (chap. vi. 36) to mean, " Be ye tliereforo merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful." See in Hooker's Ecc. Pol., i. 5, a striking passage on the imitati(m of God as tlie law of all moral i)rogress in man. In this idea, indeed, lies tlie essential and distinctive principle of a religious morality as such. As dear children.— Literally, a,s c/n7rf/-m beloved of Him. The knowledge of the love of God to us is the first source, as of our love to Him 1 1 John iv. 19). so also of our love to men as brethren under His fatlierhood (1 John iv. Ill As being His "children," and therefore partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. i. i), we can imitate Him ; as His " beloved children " we imitate Him most naturally in love, and especially in that form of love which we call " mercy," and which, as being ourselves sinners, we especially crave and receive from Him. (-) As Christ also hath loved us.— To this idea of the ■' imitation of God," essential to all true religion, St. Paul now adds an exliortation to follow the examjjlo of our Lord Jesus Christ, in that especial exhibition of love by sutfering and self-sacrifice, which is impossible to the Godhead in itself, but which belongs to the incar- nate Son of God, and was the ultimate purjjo.se of His incarnation. There is a similar connection of idea in John XA". 12, 13, " This is My commandment. That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." The imitation of God is in free and natural beneficence ; tlie imitation of Christ is in that power of showing mercy, which is bought by suffering and sacrifice. He not only " loved us," but " gave Himself for us." An ofifering and a sacrifice to God.— The .same words, *" sacrifice and offering," are found in close connection in Heb. x. 5, which is a quotation from Ps. xl. 7. Comparing these with the Hebrew words which they represent, and looking also to the etymology of the Greek words themselves, we see that the word " offering " signifies simply a gift offered to God, and is applied especially, though not exclusively, to un- Idoody sacrifices ; while the word " sacrifice " distinctly implies the shedding of blood. Each word, when used alone, lias constantly a more general sense. Thus " offering " is used in Heb. x. 10, 14, 18, for the sacrifice on the cross; wliile " sacrifice," in Acts vii. 42. is made to translate the word commonly rendered as '" offering." But when placed in juxtaposition they must be held distinctive ; and hence we may conclude that our Lord made Himself " an offering " in the perfect obedience of His great humility, "coming to do God's will" 'according to the prophetic anticipation of Ps. xl. 7, 8), and gave Himself a " sacrifice," when He completed that offering by shedding His blood on the cross. Both are said to be offered " for us," i.e., on our Ix'half. "We have, therefore, here a complete summary — all the more striking and characteristic because incidental — of the doctrine of the Atonement. For a sweet-smelling savour. — Tlie sense of this phrase is explained in Phil. iv. 18 by the addition of the words " a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." It is the translation of an expression, frequent in the Old Testament (as in Gen. viii. 21 ; Ex. xxix. 18 ; et ol.), signif}-ing " a smell of acfiuicsccnce " or " satis- faction." It describes the atomng sacrifice as already accepted by God. (36) Yerses 3 — 14 warn, with even greater fulness and emphasis, against the sins of impurity and lust, as incompatible with nieml)ersliip of the kingdom of heaven, as works of darkness, impossible to those who are children of light. (3) But fornication, and aU uncleanness, or 46 Wat'nhig against Uncleanness, EPHESIANS, V. as xL'ortJiy of the Wrath of God. becometh saints ; (^) neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient : but rather giving of thanks. (^^ For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in 1 Or, unbelief. the kingdom of Christ and of God. (''^ Let no man deceive you with words : for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 1 ('^ Be not ye therefore partakers vain Chap. V. 6—21. As a work of darkness, un- worthy of Christian light. covetousness. — " Fomicatiou " is closely joined (as iu 2 Cor. xii. '21 ; Gal. v. 19; Col. iii. 5) with " uneleau- ness," of wliicli general sin it is a flagrant species. It is distinguished (as also in Col. iii. 5) from " covetous- ness," or greediness. " Uncleanness " is a sin against our own body and soul (sec 1 Cor. vi. 18) ; " covetous- ness" (literally, the insatiable desire for inore) is a sin against our neighbour. At the same time, the con- stant connection of the two words suggests the truth which is conveyed by the union of the two kinds of "coveting" iu the Tenth Commandment, viz., that the temper of selfish and unbridled concupiscence has a two-fold direction — to the covetousness of lust, and to the -covetousness of avarice — the one perhaps especially a vice of youth, and the other of old age. (+) Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting. — The word '■ filtliinoss " (unlike the " filthy communication " of the parallel passage in Col. iii. 8) is ui itself a general word. But the connection with the words followiug, and the distinction from those going before, appear to show that St. Paul here uses it for " filthy talking." He is passing from impurity of the inward soul to impurity iu outward expression. Of such foul speaking he appears to distinguish two forms. There is, first of all, " foolish talking," or the talk of " the fool," in the worst sense in which that word is used in Scripture (Matt. v. 22; xxiii. 17), as implying something worse than mere emptiness or blindness — describing the condition of the soul which has '" lost its savour" (Matt. v. 13), i.e., has ceased to distinguish what is right or wrong, wise or foolish, noble or base. Tliere is then " jesting," i.e., properly, the more polished " versatility." which wUl find occasion for wit or levity in anything, however sacred, fearing nothing so much as to be diiU, and mistaking all seriousness and reserve for didness. It is notaljle that in classical Greek the word is somethnes used in a good sense, as a mean between " churlishness " and " obsequiousness," but yet hovers on the border of that condemnation which Christian gravity here pronounces unhesitatingly. The former kind of foul talking is coarse and brutal ; the latter refined and deadly. Of both kinds Greek and Roman literature furnish specimens only too many and too sti'iking. Which are not convenient,— That is, "which are out oi cliaracter" in a Christian — a milder repeti- tion (perhaps suggested by the amluguous meaning of "jesting" noted above) of the indignant declaration in verse 3, that it " becomes not saints tliat these foul things shoidd be even named among tliem." They I)ollute the Christian mind and tongue even in con- demning tliem. But rather giving of thanks.— Tlie opposition is striking. " The foolish talking and jesting " aim at mirth ; -d play of mind; St. Paul will not austerely condema sucli liglit-heartcdness. but ho finds a whole- some and spiritual vent for it in the habitual expression of thankfulness to God, which proceeds from a natural and childlike cheerfulness. Exactly in the same spirit below (verses 18 — 20) ho contrasts the excitement of 47 drunkenness with the being " filled with the Spirit . . . giving thanks always f(jr all things." (••5) For this ye know, — The true reading of tho original is curiously emphatic. It runs thus : For tJds ye know, knowing . . . But, as it uses two different words, in the former clause properly "ye know " and the latter " learning to know," the sense seems to be : " For this ye know, learning it afresh so as to know it better." Whatever else is doubtful, this is certain; yet it admits of an ever growing cer- tainty. Covetous man, who is an idolater.— Comp. Col. iii. 5, " Covetousness, which is idolatry." What- ever becomes the chief object of our desire, so as to claim our chief fear and love, is, of course, an idol ; for " ye cannot serve God and mammon." Perhaps in this metaphorical idolatry, as in the literal, there are two distinct stages, passing, however, by imnsiblo gradations into each other — first, the resting on some Ansible blessing of God, as the one thing in which and for which we serve Him, and so by degrees losing Him in His own gifts ; next, the absolute forgetfulness of Him, and the setting up, as is inevitable, of some other object of worship to fill the vacant throne. Hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and [of] God. — The phrase '• the kingdom of Christ and God," though probably it does not iu strict technicality declare the identity of '" Christ " and " God," yet implies that the " kingdom of the Christ " is, as a matter of course, " the kingdom of God," for " the Christ " is by prophetic definition " Emmanuel," i.e., " God with us." The unworthy Christian has indeed "an inheritance" in it, to his ovni awful i-espon- sibility ; but in the true spiritual sense he is one '" who hath not." " from whom shall be taken that which he hath" (Matt. xiii. 12). (6) Let no man deceive you with vain words,— It seems likely that St. Paul has in A-iew. not mere worldly condonation of evil or low heathen morality, but some anticipation of that Antinomian form of Gnosticism which held that the things done in the body, l>eing evil only by the irresistible, inevitable gravitation of matter to evil, could not toudi the soul. We know that in the Colossiau Church there was an anticipation of the more ascetic Gnosticism (Col. ii. 21; comp. also 1 Tim. iv. 1 — 5). As tJie earlier Judaistic rigour had assumed this later form, so the earlier Anti- nomianism (of Rom. vi. 1) may {'robably luive passed into the more systematic and speculative Antinomianism of the Gnostic type. (Comp. Phil. iii. 18. 19.) In this same spirit St. John, himself familiar with the life of Ephesus. writes earnestly : " Let no man deceive you ; he that doeth righteousness is righte(uis" (1 John iii. 7). Here the Apostle warns them that it is for these sins that " the wrath of God is coming on tlie children of disobedience." i.e. (see chap. ii. 2). on the heathen; and urges the Christians not to fall back, by being " par- takers with them" botli of their sin and their punish- ment, into tlie gross heathen darkness out of which they had been saved. The constant Antagonism EPHESIANS, V. hetioeen Darkness and Light. ■with them. ^^^ For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children of light : (^> (for the fruit of the Sjiirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth ;) (10) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. (^^^ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (^-^ For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. ^^^^ But all thing's that are re- (8) Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. — This expression is iiiiiqiio, and far nioro cmpliatic than the more common plu-ases of " being,'' or " walking," " in darkness " and "in light." (See Rom. ii. 9; Col. i. 2 ; 1 Thess. v. 4; 1 John i. 6, 7; ii. 9, 10.) For liero the outward ele- ment of light or darkness is said to pervade the inner nature of the soul. (1) Christ is the "■true Light," tlie " Sun of Righteousness" (John i. 4 — 9 ; iii. 19 ; viii. 12 ; ix. 5; xii. 4tj). His servants are sometimes mere secondary lights (or "candles") (Luke xi. 33, 34, 86; John V. 35 ; 2 Pet. i. 19), kindled from His rays ; some- times, like the moou or planets, they are said, as re- flecting His light, or as having His light in them (John xii. 35), to be actually "the liglit of the world " {Matt. V. 14), which, however, shines as a mere reflected light, so that "men glorify" not it, but "the Father wliich is in heaven" (Matt. v. 16). They thus become light, but only " in the Lord: " that is, as being made one \\\\\x Him. (2) So, on the other hand, they who walk in dark- ness are said to be themselves darkness — new sources, so to speak, of the darkness which hates and quenches liglit, l)oth to themselves and to others. " The light " wliich is in them " becomes darkness ; " " and how great is that darkness !" (Matt. vi. 23.) As there is a natural delight in giving light, so the reprobate state is distin- guished by a horrible pleasure in spreading the cloud of delusion, sin, or unbelief, by which to hide God from man. Walk as children of light.— So our Lord teaches, " While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may become children of liglit" (John xii. 36; comp. 1 Thess. v. 5). " Children of light " are they who not only love the light, but also manifest the likeness of the one true Light, " the Father of Lights " ( Jas. i. 17), being His children in Jesus Christ. ('') For the fruit . . .— The true reading is, o/f/ie Ligld, for which the easier phrase, " the fruit of the Spirit," has been substituted, to the great detriment of th(5 force and coherency of the whole passage. Light has its fruits ; darkne-ss (see verse 11) is "unfruitful." The metaphor is striking, but literally correct, inas- much as light is the necessary condition of that vege- tative life which grows and yields fruit, while darkness is the destruction, if not of life, at any i-ate of fruit- bearing perfection. Goodness and righteousness and truth.— These are practical exliil)itions of the " l)eing true in love," described in chap. iv. 15 as the characteristic of the Christ-like soul. For " goodness " is love in prac- tical benevolence, forming, in Gal. v. 22, a climax to " longsuffering " and " kindness," and, in 2 Thess. i. 11, distinguished as i)ractical from the "faith "which underlies practice. The other two qualities, "righteous- ness " and "truth" — that is, probably, truthfulness — are both parts of the great princi])le of " l)t>ing true." (io) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. — So in Rom. xii. 2, the " proving what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God," is the fruit of transformation " in the renewing of the mind." " To prove " is to try in each case, by the full light of God. what is accordant to His will ; it is a work partly of thought, partly of practical experience ; and it always implies a searching examination of heart and action by the touchstone of God's word. (11) Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. — To " have no fellowship " with such works is not to refuse to take part in them (for this surely might be taken for granted), but to keep no terms with them, to have no sympathy or indulgence or excuse for them. So the word is used, in Phil. iv. 14, of " communicating with my affliction ; " and in Rev. xviii. 4, of " being partakers with the sins " of Babylon. It is through such weak or cowardly in- dulgence, more than the actual love of evil, that siu is suffered to prevail. Hence St. Paul adds, " rather re- prove them." Our Lord Himself has declared in all such cases, " He that is not with Me is against Me." The unfruitful works of darkness. —St. Paul has a similar antithesis in the Epistle to the Romans (chap. vi. 19 — 22). They who are in sin "yield their members servants to iniquity unto iniquity." Iniquity has no result but iniquity ; and hence he goes on to ask, " What fruit had ye then in those things of which ye are now ashamed F '' This weary fruitlessness is at once the sign and the penalty of sin, so that men have fancied it to be one chief element of the suffering of the lost. But they who are in Christ " yield their members servants to righteousness unto holiness." " They have," he says, " their fruit unto holiness " now, and " in the end the everlasting life," which is everlasting holiness. Similarly, in Gal. v. 20 — 22, we have " the works of the flesh," but " the fruit of the Siiirit." Rarely, indeed, does Scripture speak of " evil fruit " (Matt. \{\. 17 ; xii. 33). Generally, '* to be unfruitful" is an all-sufficient condemnation. " Every branch that beareth not fruit he taketh away " (John xv. 2). Rather reprove them. — In the word " reprove," whether in its application to the witness of the Holy Ghost (John xvi. 8), or to the witness of men (as iu 1 Cor. xiv. 24 ; 1 Tim. v. 20 ; Tit. i. 9—13. et cd.), there is described a double function — to " convince," if it may be, the .sinner in himself ; to " convict " him, if the other function fails, before men and angels. Both these functions St. Paul urges here. It is not enough to " have no fellowship with them." To this tacit reproof open reproof in word and deed is to be added ; only in such reproof it should be remembered that it would be disgraceful " even to speak " iu detail of the actual " things done in secret." (12) It is a shame even to speak . . . — Comp. verse 3. Sin may be plainly indicated, and perhaps most effectually branded, without polluting the tongue by describing its actual developnu'uts. The need of St. Paul's caution is only too obvious when wo read some satires and denunciations against sin, or some manuals of self-examination. (13) But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. — This shoiild properly be rendered. But all things, when reproved, are illuminated by the lif/ht. The translation "are made manifest" is indeed fullv in accordance with the common usage of 48 The New Life, kindled EPHESIANS, V. by the Light of Christ. proved 1 are made manifest by the light: i' <»■. ''«'^^»'"='-«<' for whatsoever doth make manifest is ! "isasai. hght. (^^^ Wherefore he saith, Awake &C01.4.5. thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." (^^^ See then that ye walk circumspectly,* the word. But the whole context shows that St. Paul is liere usiiig it in what is indeed its more proper et jtiio- logical sense, for " are iUuniined." For the mere " being made manifest" is implied in the " being reproved ; " whei-eas he is certainly passing ou here to a fresh idea, and, moreover, to one which will bear the inference of the last clause of the verse. To "reprove" after the Christian manner is to bring into the full light of Christ's truth ; and tlie effect of this is not merely to reprove, but to illumine by the inherent power of the light. Exactly with the same distinction of sense St. John uses both words (John iii. 20, 21). For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. — That tliis translation (suggested, perhai)s, hy the difficulty of the passage when rightly rendered) is nevertheless certainly wrong, is shown both by the usage of the original word and by the genius of the whole context. It should be, for everytliing ivhich is ilhiminated is light. St. Paul hei-e explains still more clearly what he means by illumination. It implies the catching the light and reflecting it, so as to become a new source of light. It must be noted that the subject of the sentence is not " the works of darkness," but '■ all things " in general. Hence the whole process is described, with almost scientific accuracy, as three-fold. First, the things, or persons, are dragged out of dark- ness into light ; then they are illuminated ; lastly, they become light in themselves and to others. There are, no doubt, exceptions to this, the right and normal pro- cess, in the case of the utterly reprobate, who have lost all power of reflecting light, and are therefore dark still in the blaze of noon ; but the next verse shows that St. Paul is not contemplating these ; and even these may be beacons of warning to othei's. The whole metaphor is more and more striking to us as modern science enlarges our knowledge of the manifold effects of light, not only to illuminate, but to change and to ^•ivify. (^■i) Wherefore he (or. it) saith. — This phrase is used (as also in Jas. iv. 6) in chap. iv. 8 to introduce a scriptural quotation ; and the most natural completion of the elliptical expi-essi(m is by the supply of the nominative, " God," or " the scripture." from the ordi- nary phrase of quotation or citation. But no scriptural passage can be adduced which, with the fullest allow- ance for the apostolic freedom of quotation, comes near enough to be a satisfactoiy oi'iginal of this passage. The nearest is Isa. Ix. 1, " Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee ; " and this is c(>rtainly veiy far off indeed. Nor is the case much helped by blending other passages (as, for exajnple, Isa. xxvi. 19) witli this. Soipo additional A'erbal coincidences may be gained, but at the expense of still greater diversity ivom the spirit of the passjige as a whole. Hence we are driven to conclude that the C[Uotation is not from Holy Scripture. Yet the very form sliows that it is from sometliing weU knowni. An apocryplial quotation is imagined by some, but with no knowledge of any quotation at all res(Mnbling it. Others liave snp])oscd it a traditional saying of our Lord (like Acts xx. 3.5) ; but the form seiMus decisive against this. On the whole, it seems most likely that it is from some well-known Christian hymn. In tlie original a rhythmical character, rough, but l)y no nutans indistinct, strikes us at once. The growth of defined and formal 70 expressions — mostly, it is true, of embryo creeds of Christian faith, as in 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4; Heb. vi. 1, 2; 1 Tim. iii. 16, in the last of which the acknowledged difficulty of etymological construction in the true reading may perhaps be best explained by the suppo- sition of quotation — is notable in the later Epistles, and especially in the " faithful sayings " of the Pastoral Epistles. The use of some liturgical forms is traced with high probability to a very early date. The em- bodiment of popular faith in hymns, always natural, was peculiarly uatui'al as adapted to the imperfect education of many early converts, and to the practice of trusting so much to memory, and so comparatively little to writing. Some such usage certainly appears to be referred to in the celebrated letter of Pliny to Trajan, the first heathen description of Christian worship. Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead. — The word " awake " is iised in our version to render two different words : one which properly means "to wake," or "be awake," or "watch," as in 1 Cor. XV. 34.; 1 Thess. v. 6, 8 ; 2 Tim. iv. 5 ; 1 Pet. i. 12; iv. 7 ; V. 8) ; the other, as here, which properly means " Up ! " " Rouse thyself ! " preparatory to " arising " and coming forth. The exhortation in both forms is common enough (see especially the famous passage in Rom. xiii. 11 — 14) ; but the following words, " Arise from the dead," are a bold and unique exhortation. Generally we are said to be raised up from the death of sin by God, as in Rom. viii. 11, " He that raised \i]) Chiist from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies ; " or Rom. "sa. 11, " Reckon yourseh-es to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God;" or Col. iii. 1, "If ye are risen in Christ." Here the soul is described as hearing the Saviour's call, " Come forth," and as itself rising at that call from the grave. If distinction between the two clauses is to be drawn, we may be rightly said to " awake " out of lethargy and carelessness, and to "arise " out of the deaduess of sin. Christ shall give thee light.— Properly, Christ shall daivn upon thee. The word is ^-irtually the same which is used for the literal daAvn in Matt. xx\-iii. 1, Luke xxiii. 54. The same idea is strikingly entmciated in 2 Pet. i. 19, where prophecy, looking forward to Christ, is compared to "a light shining in a dark place," '"tUl the day dawn, and the Day-star arise in your hearts" — He, that is, who is " the bright and morning star " (Rev. xxii. 16). Christ, as the " Day-star," or as the " Sun of Righteousness," is already risen. The soul needs only to come out of the darkness of the grave, and the new I'ays shine do\vn upon it, till (.see verse 7) they pervade it and transfigure it into light. (3 c.> In verses 15 — 21 the Apostle passes from lost and impurity to the cognate spii-it 01 reckless leWty, and the love of excitement, of which drunkenness is the commonest expression. He opposes to this the united forces of soberness and sacrecl enthusiasm, each tem- pering and yet .sti-engtlienuig the other. (15) See then that ye walk (properlv, how ye v'(dk) circumspectly.— The word rendered " circum- spectly " is properly ^ttricthj. or accurately — generally used of intellectual accuracy or thoroughness (as in Matt. ii. 8: Luke i. 3; Acts xviii. 25, 28; 1 Thess. v. 2) ; only here aod iu Acts xxvi. 5 (" the straitest sect 49 Warning against Recldessness EPHESIANS, V. a)td Drunken Excitement. not as fools, but as wise, ^^^^ redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (17) Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understandiuir what the Avill of the Lord is. (^®) And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ; but be filled with the Spirit ; (^^^ speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, of our religion") of moral strictness. Tlie idea, there- fore, is not of looking round watchfully against dangei-s, but of "seeing," tiiat is, being careful, "how we walk strictly ; " of tiuding out the clear line of right, and then keeping to it strictly, so as not " to run uncer- tainly." In the corresponding passage in the Colossian Epistle (Col. iv. 5) a similar admonition has especial reference " to those without," and bids us have a reso- hite unity of aim, a distinct religious profession, amidst all the bewildering temptations of the world. Here it is more general ; it bids men not to trust wholly to general rightness of heart, in which "the spirit is willing," but to be watchful over themselves, and to bo a law to themselves, " because the flesh is weak." Not as fools, but as wise. — This still further explains the " strictness," for "wisdom" is the practical knowledge of the true end and purpose of life. (See above, chap. i. 8.) He who has it not, whatever his intellectual and spiritual gifts, is " unwise." (16) Redeeming the time.— Or rather, the oppor- tunity, whenever it arises. The meaning of this phrase (used also in Col. iv. 5) is clearly illustrated by its use (although in a bad sense) in Dan. ii. 8, " I know that you would gain the time " — i.e., catch the opportunity to escape from difficulty. To " redeem " is " to buy up for oneself " — not ha\ang essentially the idea of ransom or I'edemption, which attaches to the use of the word in Gal. iii. 13, iv. 5, only from the nature of the context. As applied to opportunity, it carries with it the idea, first of making sacrifice for it, then quickness in seizing it, and sagacity in using it to the utmost, whether by silence or by speech, by facing or avoiding danger, by yielding to a crisis (see Rom. xii. 11) or conquering it. The reason given that "the days are evil " must h& taken in the widest sense, of all that induces temptation to swerve out of the " strict- ness " of the right Avay. The general lesson is that which is drawn by our Lord in the parable of the Unjust Steward — to apply the >visdom of the buyers and sellers of the world to the work of " the children of light." (17) Be ye not unwise.— The word here is stronger than in verse 15 ; it is properly senseless, used of "the fool" (in Luke xi. 40; xii. 20; 1 Cor. xv. 36; 2 Cor. xi. 16, 19; xii. 6, 11). By it St. Paul empha- sises his previous warning ; then he adds the explana- tion that to bo " wise " is to " understand what the will of the Lord is " — to know His purpose towards us and towards the world, and so to know the true purpose of our life. Hence wo are told in Job xxviii. 28, that " the fear of the Lord is wisdom," or, more precisely, in Prov. ix. 10, that it is " the beginning of wisdom." (i«) Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess. — From the general idea of reckless levity, St. Paul passes on to the si)ecial sin of drunkenness, as not (like gluttony) primarily a gratification of the appetite, but as a reckless pursuit of excitement at all costs — glorified as an excitement of emotion, and even of wit and intellect, in such contemporary writers as Horace, and actually confused, as in the Dionysiac or Bacchanalian frenzy, with a divine inspiration. How necessary the admonition was we see by the directions as to the choice of clergy hi the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim. iii. 28 ; Tit. i. 7 ; ii. 3) ; the more necessary, because (as 1 Tim. v. 23 shows) the right use of wino was recognised. Hence St. Paul emphatically brands drunkenness as " excess," a word properly signifying " recklessness " — " incapable of saving," or denying itself anything, and naturally passing through this want of self-restraint into profligacy — rightly trans- lated " riot " in Tit. i. 6, 1 Pet. iv. 4, as the correspond- ing adverb is rendered " riotous living " in Liike xv. 13. For drunkenness is at once the effect and cause of utter recklessness. It is the effect of a self-abandon- ment, by Avhich the sensual or passionate elements of the nature are stimulated to frenzy, while the self- controlling judgment is drugged to sleep. It is the cause of yet greater recklessness : for as these passions and appetites become jaded, they need stronger and stronger stimulants, till the w-hole nature, bodily and mental, is lost in delirium or stupor. But be filled with the Spirit.— The antithesis is startling, but profoundly instructive. To the artificial and degrading excitement of drunkenness St. Paul boldly opposes the divine enthusiasm of the Spirit, one form of which Avas scotfingly compared to it on the Day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 13). He is not content with warning us of its ruinous excess, or urging the strictness of stern self-restraint. Drunkenness comes from an un- natural craving for excitement, stimulated by unwhole- some conditions of life, physical and mental. He would satisfy the craving, so far as it is natural, by a divini^ enthusiasm, brighter and stronger than even duty to God and man, breaking out in thanksgiving, adoration, and love. (19) Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spirit.ual songs.— The same words aro found in Col. iii. 16, with a notable difference of appli- cation. There the idea i^ of teaching: " teaching and ad- monishing one another ;" here, simply of a natural vent for emotion, especially of thanksgiving, although pro- bably here also " to yourselves " means '' to one another," and refers, perhaps, chiefly to public worship. The well-known passage in Pliny, " Carmen dicere inter se iuvicem," describes alternate, possibly autiphonal, sing- ing of such sacred music. Of the various kinds of this music, the '• psalms " and " hjanns " are easily distin- guished. The " psalm," as the word itself impfies, is music Avith instrumental accompaniment, and can hardly fail to refer to the Old Testament psalms, familiar in Jewish Avor.ship, and as Ave know, used in the first instance Ave have of apostolic worship (Acts iv. 24). On their frequent use see 1 Cor. xiv. 26; Jas. v. 12. The " hymn " is purely A'ocal music, apparently of the whole company (see Matt. xxvi. 30; Acts xvi. 25), more especially directed to praise of God, and pro- bably designating the ncAV utterances of the Christian Church itself. But the interpretation of the " spiritual song," or " ode," is more difficult. It is often considered as inclusive of the other two (as etymologically it might well bo), but the genius of the passage apjiears to make it co-ordinate, and so distinct from them. From the use of the Avord " song," or " ode," as applied to lyric poetry, it may perhaps l)e conjectured that it describes more Aaried and elaborate music, sung by one ; person only — a spiritual utterance of one for the Avhole 50 Tlie EnUiUtilasin of Thankigioinrj. EPHESIA^S, V. TIlh Soberness of Self-rtatraint. singing and making melody in your lieart to the Lord ; ^-'^^ giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ; (^i) submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of pj^ 2'>—'>- God. <2-' Wives, submit Duty of wives yourselves unto your own ^'^^ husbands. cougrcgation. lu a passage of Philo (ii. p. 476) — quoted by Dr. Lig'htfoot on Col. iii. 16 — on Jowiisli sacred music, we read, " He who stands up slugs a hymn composed in praise of God, either haviuij made a new one for }iim- self, or using an ancient one of the poets of days gone by." The Christian counterpart of this might well be the " spiritual song." To some such utterance, under the name of " psalm," St. Paul seems to allude in 1 Cor. xiv. 26, a passage dealing expressly with special spiritual gifts. " Each one of you has a psalm." Evidently it might be strictly a " hymu " or " psalm," though in common usage (as here) it would be dis- tinguished from both. Singing and making m,elody in your heart.— The word rendered " making melody " is the verb corresponding to the " psalm " above, as singing to the " song." This clause is not identical but co-ordinate with the last. That described audible and public melody ; this, the secret utterance of music in the soul, whether accompanying the other or distinct from it. (20) Giving thanks always for all things. — This temper of universal and pervading thankfulness is dwelt upon in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (V. 18) as indissolubly united with unceasing joy and prayer (*' Rejoice evermore ; pray without ceasing ; in evei-ything give thanks.") Since thanksgiving is for what God lias given us, and prayer for what we still need, both must be united in our imperfect con- dition here. In Col. iii. 17 it is associated with action " in the name of the Lord Jesus Chi-ist." Here it is dealt with alone, as the basis of the praises, public and private, coi^jorate and individual,-described above. In regard to the former, St. Paul marks thanksgiving as the fundamental and invariable element of all Christian worship, clothing itself naturally in al| variety of music ; in regard to the latter, he describes the habitual spirit of thankfulness, prevailing alike iu joy and sorrow, undisturbed even by penitent sense of sin, as the inner music of all Christian life. Unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Both these expressions ai'e em- phatic. To all consciousness of God belong fear and rcvoi-ence; to the belief in Him as "our Father" (see Kom. viii. 14 — 17; Gal. iv. 4 — 6) specially belong love and thanksgiving. But it is " in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ " — that is, as identified in 'perfect unity with Him — that we have the adoption to sonship which is the ground of such thanksgiving. So also in the same unity (see John xiv. 13; xv. 16; x\'i. 23, 24) we have tlie ground of perfect confidence in prayer. (21) Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. — In grammatical construction this ••lause is connected with the pi'eceding versos ; in point of idea it leads on to the next section, which tn^ats of the three-fold submission of wives to husbands, children to parents, slaves to masters. There is, however, a certain connection of idea with the preceding section also, and especially with the encouragement of a Cliristian enthusiasm in the hist clause. The strong and frequent emphasis laid in the New Testament on sub- jection, whetlier (as in Rom. xiii. 1 — 7; 1 Pet. ii. 13 — 17) to the civil power.s. or (as here, in Col. iii. 18 — iv. 1, and 1 Pet. ii. 18 — iii. 7) to domestic authority, or (as in 1 Thess. V. 12, 13; 2 Tliess. iii. 6, 14, 15) to ecclesias- tical authority, probably indicates some tendency, in the first exuberance of Christian liberty and enthusiasm, to disregard the wholesome restraints, laws, and con- ventions of outward life. Hence St. Paul's general caution here, prefatory to the more detailed teaching of subjection which follows. [5. Practical Exhortation continued (chaps, v. 22— vi. 9). (4) The Bearing of the Truth of Unity on THE Three Great Relations of Life. (a) Between husbands and wives — a relation which is a type of the unity between Christ and His Church (verses 22 — 33). {b) Between parents and children — a relation hallowed as existing " in the Lord " (chap, vi. 1 — 4). (c) Between masters and servants — a relation softened and deepened by common service to the one Master (chap. vi. 5 — 9).] (4 a.) In verses 22 — 33 St. Paul passes from warn- ing against special sins to consider the three gi-eat relations of life, first considered as " subjections," and so illustrating the general precept of submission in verse 21, but ultimately viewed iu their reciprocity of mutual obligations and rights. First, accordingly, he dwells on the relation of mamage, declaring it to be hallowed as a type of the unity of Christ Avith His Church, and hence drawing the inference of the duty of free obedience in the wife, and of self-sacrificing love in the husband. This passage may be held to contain the complete and normal doctrine of the New Testament on this great question, written at a time when Christianity had ah-eady begun to exalt and purify the nuptial tie ; and it is instructive to compare it with 1 Cor vii., written for "the ^jresent distress," glanc- ing not obscurely at marriage with unbelievers, and adapted to the condition of a proverbially profligate society, as yet scarcely raised above the low heathen ideas of marriage. (22) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. — The same exhortation is found in CoL iii. 18; Tit. ii. 5; 1 Pet. iii. 1—6; and besides these formal exhortations there is distinct and emphatic declaration of the "subjection of women" in 1 Cor. xi. 3, 7, 8, 9 ; xiv. 34, 35 ; 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12. Probably the sense of that fimJamental equality in Christ, in which (see Col. iii. 28) " there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male 7ior female," while it was rightly accepted as showing that tliere is no spiritual inferiority in woman — such as Oriental theory asserted, and even Greek and corrupt Roman practice implied — was perverted to tlie denial of the greater natural weakness of woman, from which subordination comes, and to the foolish and reckless disregard of all social conventions. St. Paul, as usual, brings out the simple truth of principle, sanctioning whatever is fiuidamental and natural in woman's subordination, and leanug the artificial enactments of law or custom to grow liy degrees into accordance with it. 51 Marriage tlie Type of Unity EPHESIANS, V. between Clirist and His Church. husbands, as unto the Lord. <23) por the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. (24) Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives he to their own husbands in every thing. <^' Hus- bands, love your wives, chap. v. 26-33. even as Christ also loved Marriage is a the church, and gave him- Si^-onof ChS self for it; <2«' that he with His might sanctify and cleanse Church. The principle of suljordiiiation is permanent ; the special regulations of it in the world or in the Church must vary as circumstances change. As unto the Lord.— These words are explained by the next verse. In Col. iii. 18 we have the less emphatic pln-ase. " as it is fitting in the Lord." (iij For the husband is the head of the wife, even. as Christ is the head of the church.— It is instructive to compare this with the partly similar passage in 1 Cor. xi. 3. There " the head of the woman is the man," as here; but "the head of every man (individually) is Christ," considered in His human nature ; aud finally, " the Head of Christ," as the Son of Man, " is God." There, accordingly, " head- ship" is simple lordship; the woman is subject to the man, the man is subject to Christ alone ; Christ as the Son is subject to the Father. Here, on the other hand, we note, first, that in accordance with the general idea of the Epistle, the headship of Christ over the Church at large takes the place of His headship over the individual ; next, that from the idea of His headship so conceived is derived the further idea of a spiritual unity, involving self-sacrifice in the head, as well as obedience to the head ; and, lastly, that since the very idea of unity in Christ is unity with God, there is nothing to correspond to the third clause in the former Epistle. ;23, 2t) And he is the saviour of the body. Therefore . . . — The words "aud" and "is" are wrongly inserted, and the word " therefore " is absolutely an error, evading the difficulty of the pas- sage. It should be, He Himself being the Saviour (f the Body. But . . . This clause, in which the words "He Himself" are emphatic, notes (sls if in order to guard against too literal acceptation of the comparison) that "Christ" land He alone) is not only Head, but " Saviour of the Body," i.e., " of His body the Church," not only teaching and ruling it, but by His unity infusing into it the new life of justification and sanctification. Here no husband can be like Him, and therefore none can claim the al)solute dependence of faitli which is His of right. Accordingly St. Paul adds the word " But." Though "this is so,' yet "still let the wives," &c. As the chiirch is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. — The .subjection of the Church of Christ is a free subjection, arising out of faith in His absolute wisdom aud goodness, and of love for His unspeakable love. Hence we gather (1) that the subordination of the wife is not that of the slave, by compulsion and fear, but one which arises from and preserves freedom ; next (2), that it can exist, or at any rate can endui-e, only on condition of superior wisdom and goodness and love in the husband; thirdly (3), that while it is like the higher subordination in kind, it cannot be equally perfect in degree — while it is real "in everything," it can be absolute in nothing. The antitype is, as usual, greater than the type. (25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church.— The love of Christ for His Church is such that He counts Himself incomplete without her (chap. i. 23), and raises her to be one with Himself ; that He bears with her weakness and frailty ; that He draws her on by the cords of love; and that He gives up Himself for her. Only so far as the husband shows the like love in perfect sympathy, in chivalrous forbearance, in abhorrence of tyranny, in willingness to self-sacrifice, has he any right to claim lordship. And gave himself for it. — Here, as before, the antitype transcends the type. In the character of our Lord's sacrifice, as an atonement offered "for" the Church, and in the regenerating and cleansing effect of that sacrifice (see next verse), none can approach Him. The husband may be said to give himself for his wife, but it cannot be in any higher sense than as taking the chief shai-e of the burden, and if possible the pain, of life for her. He may follow Christ in love, and in that alone. Compare St. Paul's words in Col. i. 24, " I fill up that which is behind of the afilictions of Chi-ist for His body's sake, which is the Church" (where see Note). (25-27) In these verses we trace, under the luiptial metaphor, a clear description of the three great stages in salvation — justification in His " giving Him- self for us, sanctification iu the " cleansing by water in the Word," glorification in the final " presentation " to Christ in glory. The metaphor is cei'tainly preserved in the last two clauses, which correspond to the bath of purification of the bride, and the festal presentation of her (usually by the friend of the bridegroom, John iii. 29), in all her beauty and adornment, to her husband at his own home ; perhaps even in the first also, for the husband used to give a dowry, which was held in the rude simplicity of ancient times to purchase his wife, and here that which Christ gives is the un.speakable jii-ice of His own Self. Throughout, in accordance with the whole tenor of the Epistle, it is the Church as a whole, not the indiA-idual soul, which is " the Spouse of Christ." (^i^) That he might sanctify and cleanse it . . — The true rendering is, that He might sanctifij it, having cleansed it in the laver of the water in [i darkness. Ihis phrase is simply a poetical expression of the idea conveyed by the title ''the prince of this world," ap])lied to Satan in John xii. 31 ; xiv. 30 ; xvi. 11 (on which see Notes). For '• this darkness" is obviously (as our version renders it. following an early gloss on the passage) " the darkness of this present world," as a world oversliadowed by sin, and so kept, wholly or partially, from the light of God. The title " the prince of this world," was applied by the Jews to Satan, especially in reference to his power over the heathen, as lying outside the .safety of the covenant. St. Paul applies it in a cor- responding sense hero to those outside tlie wider covenant of the gospel ; just as in 1 Cor. v. 5, 1 Tim. i. 20, he speaks of excommunication from the Clnirch as a '• delivery to Satan." The spirits of evil are there- fore spoken of as wielding the power which the Tempter claims for himself (in Luke iv. 6) over such souls as are still in darkness and alienation from God. This is a power real, but limited and transitory, able only to enslave those who " yield themselves " to it, and destined to be overcome ; and it seems to refer especially to the concrete power of evil, exercised through physical and liuman agency. Spiritual wickedness in high places.— The " spiritual powers " are not spiritual principles, but " spiritual hosts " of wickedness ; and the phrase " in the heavenly places," corresponding to " the power of the air " in chap. ii. 2 (where see Note), stands ob- viously in antithesis to " the darkness of this world." The sense, as in all other cases, seems to be local. (See Note on cliap. i. 3.) The spiritual hosts of evil are described as fighting in the region above the earth. But the meaning underlying this figure surely points to the power of evil as directly spiritual, not acting through physical and human agency, but attacking the spirit in that higher aspect, in which it contem- plates heavenly things and ascends to the com- munion with God. As the former idea corresponds to the gross work of temptation on the high mountain, so this to the subtler spiritual temptation on the pinnacle of the temple. (13) In the evil day.— Comp. chap. v. 1.5, " Because the days are evil." The evil day is any day of which it may be said in our Lord's words, '" This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke xxii. 53). In this life all days may be evil, but, except to the repi'obate, none wholly evil ; for out of evil '" all things work together for good." Having done all, to stand. — The rendering (see Chrysostom) "having overcome all'' is tempting, but does not accord with St. Paul's use of the original word. The exliortation is first "to withstand," i.e., to resist all di.stinct attacks ; then, when in this we have " done all" that we are from time to time called to do, "to stand," i.e.. to plant our feet firmly on the rock, being " steadfast and uumovable " (1 Cor. xv. 58). The one conveys the idea of bravery and activity ; the other of calm, well-balanced steadfastness. (14—17) 111 (liis magnificent passage, while it Avould be uni'casonable to look for formal and systematic exactness, it is clear that (as usual in St. Paul's most figurative passages) there runs through the whole a dis- tinct method of idea. Thus (1) the order in which the armour in enumerated is clearly the order in which the armour of the Roman soldier was actually put on. It nearly corresponds with the invariable order in which Homer describes over and over again tlie arming of his heroes. First the belt and tlie corf^elef, which met and together formed the body armour; tlieji the .sandals ; next the shield, and after this ifor the strap of the great shield could hardly pass over the helmet) the helmet itself ; then the soldier wa.s armed, and only had to take up the sword ami spear. It is curious to note that St. Paul omits the spear (^the pihnn of the R'tijJiteousness, Peace, Faith. EPHESIANS, YI. The SicorJ of the Spirit. and having on the breastplate of righteousness; ^^^^ and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace ; ^^''^ above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (^''^ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is Roman soldier) — exactly that part of his equipment wliich, wlieu ou guard within, the soldier would not be likely to assume. (2) Again, since " to put on the ar- mour of light " is to " put on the Lord Jesus Christ," it follows that the various parts of the defensive ai-mour are the various parts of the image of the Lord Jesus Christ ; hence they are properly His, and are through His gift appropriated by us. Thus the " righteous- ness " is clearl}' the righteousness of Christ, realised in ns (comp. Phil. iii. 9) ; the sandals, which give firm footing, are the gospel of our peace in Him ; the salva- tion is His salvation worked out in us. Only the sword is in no sense our own : it is the " Word of God " wielded by us, but in itself " living and powerful and sharp" (Heb. iv. 12). (11) Your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.— There is here an obvious reference to two passages of Isaiah (xi. 5; lix. 17), '" Rigliteousness shall be the girdle of his loins," " He put on righteousness as a breastplate." Truth and righteousness are virtually identical, or, at least, inseparable. Hence they are compared to the strong belt, and the breastplate con- tinuous with it, forming together the armour of the body. Perhaps '' truth " is taken as the belt because it is the one bond both of society and of individual character. But it is in the two together that men stand "armed strong in honesty." In 1 Thess. v. 8, the metaphor is different and perhaps less exact. There the breastplate is the " breastplate of faith and love" — that which here is the shield. (15) Shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. — This passage is one which even to the Greek interpreters (see Chrysostom) was obscure. What is "the preparation of the gosjjel of peace" ? (1) It has seemed to many natural to illustrate this phrase by the celebrated passage (Isa. Iii. 7 ; Rom. x. 15), " How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace"; and to interpret, " shod in (or, /or) preparing the way of the gospel of peace." But this is inajipropriate to the whole context ; for each piece of armour is a quality, and not a function. (2) Again, the word rendered " preparation," is found nowhere else in the New Testament ; in the LXX. we find it used in its most obvious sense of " preparedness " or " readiness " (as in Ps. X. 17, "preparedness of heart," and Neh. ii. 3); but this sense will not suit the passage, for " readiness of the gospel of peace" is hardly intelligible, and certainly is not a quality of the soul. (3) We come therefore, at last, to a derivative and improper sense, which, however, is most frequently used in tiie LXX., \-iz., " foundation " or " base," as in Dan. xi. 7 ; Ezra ii. 6, and iii. 3 ; Zech. v. 10 ; Ps. Ixxx^-iii. 14. The con- text certainly suggests that we should explain the word here by this last Hellenistic use, as signifying simply the " footing " or " basis." The caligae. or sandals, of the Roman soldiers were heavy sandals studded with hobnails, to give a secure foothold to those who would stand firm. St. Paul identifies these with the firm "footing of the gospel of peace." Clearly the word " peace " is here emphatic. The gospel is looked upon as the declaration of "peace on earth, goodwill towards men." The firm stand on this message is the firm assurance of God's love. In this, and this alone, wo stand. No doul)t, this is in some sense faith, but faith of a wholly different character from the defensive faith of the next verse. (16) Above all.— Properly, over all, or besides all else. The shield here is the large heavy shield covering the whole body, in which the " fiery darts " — that is, the arrows, with the points made red hot, or wrapped in with burning tow (comp.Ps. vii. 14 ; cxx. 4) — may fix and bum themselves out without harm. St. Paul likens it to " faith." Tliis, however, is neither the " faith in which we stand " (2 Cor. i. 24), nor the ener- getic faith of Heb. xi. It is the faith cf patience and endurance, the almost passive faith, trusting in God's pi'otection and submissive to His will, on which the (tarts of temptation, whether from fear, or from lust, or from doubt, fall harmless. The best commentary after all, on the words is found in Christian's conflict with Apollyon in the Pilgrim's Progress. (17) And take. — There is a break here. We are said not to put on, but to "take" (or rather, receive) — a word specially approjiriate to " salvation." The helmet of salvation. — The word here (as ia Luke ii. 30 ; iii. 6 ; Acts xxviii. 28) rendered "salva- tion," is not the word commonly so rendered in the New Testament. It is, indeed, not " salvation " in the abstract, but a general expression for "that which tends to salvation." But it occurs in the LXX. version of Isa. lix. 17, which seems obviously referred to, " He put " a helmet of salvation upon his head." In 1 Thess. v. 8, Avhere the breastplate is " of faith and love," the helmet supplies the third member of the triad of Christian graces in ''the hope of salvation." Here the metaphor is probably somewhat different. The helmet guarding the head, the most noble and vital part, is "salvation" in the concrete — all that is of the Saviour, all that makes up our "state of salvation" by His atonement and grace — received in earnest now, hoped for in perfection hereafter. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. — In this we pass to the one offensive weapon of the Christian, "the sword of the Spirit" — i.e.. given by the Holy Spirit — which, like the helmet, but unlike the rest of the defensive armour, does not become a part of himself, but is absolutely of God. The passage reminds us at once of Heb. iv. 12 : "The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." But there (as in 1 Cor. xiv. 26; 2 Cor. ii. 17; Col. i. 25 ; 2 Tim.ii. 29) the original word is the larger and deeper word (Logos), signifying the truth of God in itself, and gradually leading up to the ultimate sense in which our Lord Himself is the " Word of God," revealing the Godhead to man. Accordingly the work of the Word there, is that of the " engrafted Word," " to divide asunder the soul and the spirit" within. Here, on the contrary, we have another expression (Rhema). signifying the Word as spoken; and St. Peter (in 1 Pet. i. 25) defines it exactly : " The word of the Lord endureth for ever ; and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." We cannot, of course, limit it to Holy Scripture, though we naturally remember that our Lord used the Scriptures as His only weapon in tho 68 Request for their Prayers. EPHESIANS, YI. Commendation of Tjchlcus, the ■word of God : (IS) with all praying always Chap. vi. 18- "^^^'^ '^'^ prayer and sup- 20. Bequest for plication in the Spirit, and theii- prayers, matching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints ; (^^) and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the 1 Or, in a chain. 2 Or, thereof. mystery of the gospel, <20) for which I am an ambassador in bonds : ^ that therein - I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. ^^^^ But that ye also may know my affairs, aiid how p, „„ ■ „, „o i do, iychlCUS, a beloved Commendation brother and faithful minis- "^ 'i'ychicus. ter in the Lord, shall make known to you Temptation. It is the {gospel of Christ, however and wlierever spoken, able to put to shame and to tiiglit the powers of evil. (2) (18) Praying always with all prayer and supplication. — In this verse tlio metaplior gives place to direct exhortation, unless, indeed, in tlie word "watch" there still lingers some reference to the soldier on guard. "Prayer" is the general word for "worship," appro- priated to God alone ; " supplication," used also towards man, is one element of such worship — the asking what ■we need from God. In Phil. iv. 6 we have first the general word " prayer," and then the two chief elements of worship, " supplication with tlianksgiA-ing." It is by prayer that a\\ the heavenly armour is put on. In the Spirit. — That is, " in the Spirit of God " (as in verse 18). Compare the relation of prayer to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost in Rom. viii. 26. 27. And watching thereunto with all persever- ance.— These words in themselves obviously supply the other part of our Lord's command, " Watch and j>ray," naturally apposite to the consideration of the Christian warfare. " Perseverance " implies exertion, holding out against fatigue and difficulty. The corre- sponding verb is used in relation to all kinds of spiritual labour (see Acts ii. 42;vi. 4; viii. 13); but especially in connection with prayer (Acts i. 14 ; Rom. xii. 12 ; Col. iv. 2). Perhaps from this frequent con- nection St. Paul is induced to add to it " supplication." and this time "for all saints," so leading on to his usual request for the prayers of his brethren. For this he is willing to sacrifice some part of the perfect appropriateness of idea ; since the wliolo picture hitherto has been of the fight, waged by each for him- self (although side by side with others), in the combined power of watchfulness and prayer for God's help. (18, 19) And supplication for all saints ; and for me. — It is curious, and probably not accidental, that the prepositions in these two clauses are different. The first is properly " touching all saints," and the second " on behalf of me." Both are often interchanged ; but there is, perhaps, here a touch of greater earnestness in the request of their prayers for himself, in especial reference to the need which is spoken of in the next words. (19) That utterance may be given me, that I may open my mouth . . .— Tiiis hardly renders the original " that word may be given me in opening my mouth." The " opening tlie mouth" — an expression always used of solemn and deliberate utterance — seems taken for granted. What the Apostle desires them to pray for is that " word may be given him " — " the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, by tlie Spirit" (1 Cor. xii. 8), according to our Lord's promise (Matt. x. 19. 20), " It shall be given you in the same hour what you shall speak ; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that spoaketh in you.' Then he adds as a consequence of this— #o make knoivn in plainness of speech tlie mystery of tlie gospel. For to make known a mystery in simplicity needs not only boldness to speak, but also the know- ledge of the true word of God. The mystery of the gospel.— The word " gospel " ])eing used empliatically is, of course, the mystery of the new and universal grace of God to the Gentiles, of which he speaks at large in chap. iii. 1 — lO. This was "made known to him; " he desires inspiration "to make it known " to others. (-^) In bonds. — Rightly, as in the margin, in a chain. The word is the same which is used in Acts xxviii. 20, " For the hope of Israel 1 am bound in this chain." It occurs also in Mark v. 4, Luke viii. 29, where it is distinguished from a " fetter " properly so called, as binding the feet, and therefoi-e obviously signifies a " manacle " binding the hand. Both are included (see Luke viii. 29) in the general word "bonds." The allusion is imdoubtedly to the custom of chaining the prisoner by the hand to the soldier who kept him. Thus in Acts xii. 6 we read that Peter " was sleeping between two soldiers," and therefore " bound with two manacles;" and in Acts xxi. 33 that a similar pre- caution was used on the first apprehension of St. Paid. Here the singular number is probably to be understood literally. St. Paul was free except for the one chain, which the soldier was responsible for holding, and perhaps did not always think it needful to hold. That chain he seems to speak of as the badge of his am- bassadorial dignity. To ambassadors, indeed, it belongs to be safe from imprisonment ; but it was his greater glory to wear the chain for Christ. That therein . . .—This is simply an enforcement of the previous phrase, in " plainness of speech." The same word is used, and with the same signification of simplicity, as well as boldness, which (St. Paul here adds) alone befits his oflSce. (3, 4) Yerses 21 — 24 form the conclusion of the Epistle, in commendation of Tychicus" salutation and blessing. The extreme brevity and generality of this section here — in contrast with St. Paul's practice in every other Epistle, except the Second Epistle to the Corin- thians and the Epistle to the Galatians (both of which have the abruptness of indignation) and especially with the parallel Epistle to the Colossians — seem to bear on the question of the encyclical character of this Epistle. (21) That ye also— i.e.. ye as well as others. Tliere is evidently an allusion to Tychicus' similar mission to Colossae ; and we may. perhaps, also trace some indi- cation of a generality of scope in this Epistle. Tychicus is first mentioned with Trophimns in Acts XX. 4, as being " of Asia,'' and accompainnng St. Paul on his last journey from Corinth to Asia, although he is not, like Trophimns, actually named as with tlie Apostle at Jerusalem. It is hlHily probable that lie was one of the " messengers of the churches " spoken of in 2 Cor. viii. 18 — 23, as sent to bear the alms to Jerusalem. We now find him again with 69 Final Siihitatlon EPHESIANS, VI. ami Blessing. all things : (--^ whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might Chap vi "3 comfort your hearts. (-^^ 24. Conciudiu^' Peace he to the brethren, blessing. a^j^j Iq^q y^-^^^ f^ith, from I God the Father and the Lord Jesus ) Christ. (24) (ji-ace he with all them that ' nl^ti"',"" """"^1 love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.^ Amen. 1[ Written from Rome unto the Ephesians by Tychicus. St. Paul, and niado by him tlio bearer of tliis Epistle and tlie Epistlo to the Colossians. Lastly, ho is alludi'd to as still his companion in the interval between the first and second captivity (Tit. iii. 2), and in the second captivity is despatched once more to Ephesus (2 Tim. iv. 12). It is evident that he well deserved the title of a "faithful minister" to the Apostle ; and we note (in 2 Tim. iv. 11, 12) that the command to bring Mark, as being "' profitable for ministration," is immediately connected with the remark, " Tychicus liave 1 sent to Ephesns." A faithful minister. — The word "minister" is diaconua ; but there is no reason to tliink that it is used technically to describe Tychicus as a deacon. In the Colossian Epistle the words '"and fellowservaut " are added, showing clearly that the word " minister " refers only to ministration to St. Paul. (-2) Whom I have sent unto you.— This verse corresponds woi-d for word with Col. iv. 8, being a (piasi-ofiicial statement of Tychicus' commission. The words '■ tliat he might comfort (or, eiicourage) your hearts," although they might apply generally to all messengers from an Apostle, may probably bo best explained by reference to the tone of the Epistle to the Philippians — in which St. Paul shows so much affectionate anxiety lest his converts should be disheartened by his continued imprisonment — and to the exhortation in this Epistlo not " to faint at his tribu- lations for them" (chap. iii. 13). (23^ Peace be to the brethren . . .—In the con- clusion of the Epistle, as at the beginning, St. Paul gives the double benediction, " Peace and grace be with you all." But it is impossible not to notice the difference between the generality of the terms here used (''the brethren," and "all who love the Lord Jesus Christ ") and the personal " you " of aU the other Epistles — a difference which would be inexpli- cable if this Epistle were addressed to the well-known and loved Church of Ephesus alone. Peace seems especially dwelt upon in the Epistles of the Captivity, of which the Epistle to Philippi contains (in chap. iv. 7) the fullest description of the " peace of God which passeth all understanding." It is naturally connected here with love (as in 2 Cor. xiii. 11 ; Col. iii. 15, 16) — a "love with faith," "making perfect" (as in Gal. V. 6) the faith which St. Paul takes for granted as being in them. For peace is first with God, in the thankful receiving of His mercy ; from this naturally arises " love with faith " towards Him ; and out of this, again, peace and love towards men, in the conviction that, " if God so loved us, we ought also to love oue another" (1 John iv. 11). All these are gifts from " God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (21) Grace be with all them . . .—The saluta- tion, " Grace be with you," in various forms, is, as St. Paul himself says in 2 Thess. iii. 17, " the token," or characteristic signature, in every one of his Epistles, written with his own hand. It may be noted that it is not foimd in the Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, St. Jude and St. John, and that it is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Here, however, it is at once general and conditional, " to all them who love the Lord Jesus Christ." So in 1 Cor. xvi. 22, " If any mau love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema." In sincerity. — The original is far stronger, " in incorruptibility,'''' a word usually applied to the im- mortality of heaven (as in Rom. ii. 7 ; 1 Cor. xv. 42. 50, 53. 54 ; 2 Tim. i. 10) ; only here and in Tit. ii. 7, applied to human character on earth. Here it evidently means "with a love immortal and imperishable," in- capable either of corruption or of decay, a foretaste of the eternal communion in heaven. 60 INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. I. Time, Place, and Occasion of the Epistle.— The iudicatious of the time aud place of this Epistle are uuusiially clear. It is -writteu by St. Paul " iu bonds" (chap. i. 7 — 13) ; in the Prcetorium (chap. i. 13), that is, under the charge of the Pra;torian guard ; it sends greet- ing from the " saints of Caesar's household " (chap. iv. 21) ; it expresses an expectation of some crisis in his impri- sonment (chaj). i. 20 — 20), and a confident hope or re-visiting Philippi (chap. i. 26; ii. 24). All these indications place it in the Roman imprisonment of St. Paul — which we know (Acts xxviii. 30) to have lasted without trial or release for " two whole years," and which certainly began about A.D. 61. The date of the Epistle must therefore be fixed about the year A.D. 62 or 63. Nor is the occasion of tlie Epistle less obvious. The Church at Philippi now, as at an earlier time (chap. iv. 10 — 19), had sent contributions to St. Paul's necessities, under the distress and destitution of imprisonment, when he was unable to maintain himself by the labour of his own hands, as he had formerly done at Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus. Epai^hroditus, their messenger, through his affectionate exertions on St. Paul's behalf, had fallen into dangerous illness, and on his con- valescence had been seized with home-sickness, aggra- vated by the uneasiness of knowing that his danger had been reported to his friends at home (chap. ii. 25 — 30). St. Paul, therefore, sent liim back with this Letter, the immediate object of which was to convey his thanks and blessing for the generosity of the Philippians. and to commend warmly the devotion of Epaphroditus, which liad been in great degree the cause of his iUness. II. The Church to which it was written.— Of the first preaching at Philippi we have a full and graphic account in Acts xvi., where a description of j the liistory and character of the city itself will be found j in the Notes. The preaching began, as usual, from a ; Jewish centre, but this was only a proseuclie, or oratory ! (Acts xvi. 13)— not, as at Thessalonica, a synagogue (Acts xvii. 1); and the whole history shows no indica- tion of any strong Jewish influence. The first convert named is Lydia, an Asiatic of Thyatira, not a Jewess, but "one who worshijjped God" — a " pi'oselyte of the gate." Tlie first opposition came not from the Jews, as at Thessalonica (Acts xvii. 5, 6, 13). but from tlie masters of the " damsel possessed with a spirit of divination," simply because by the exorcism of the Apostle the "hope of their gain was gone." The accusation levelled against St. Paul and liis companion was one which was intimately connected with the peculiar position of Philippi as a Roman colony — a fragment (as it were) of the imperial city itself. We note, indeed, that at this very time (Acts xviii. 2) " Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome," and it is at least probable that this decree of banishment might extend to the Roman colonies, as distinguished from the ordinary proA-incial cities. Accordingly, in the accusation itself stress was laid on the fact that the accused were " Jews," and the charge was that they preached a religio illicita, involving customs which it was " not lawful for the Philippians to receive, being Romans" (Acts xvi. 21). The Church was therefore, mainly a Gentile Church — the firstfruits of European Christianity — and its attachment to the Apostle of the Gentiles was especially strong and fervent. The Phi- lippians alone, it appears, offered — certainly from them alone St. Paul consented to receive— those contributions to his necessities, which elsewhere (see Acts xx. 33 — 35 ; 2 Cor. xi. 7—12 ; 1 Thess. i. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8) he thought it best to refuse for the gospel's sake. The foundation of the Church had been laid amidst a persecution, in which the Roman magistrates, with a characteristic dislike of all foreign superstitions likely to lead to uproar, and a characteristic clisregard of justice towards two or three obscure Jews, simjily played into the hands of mol) Anolence. The step which St. Paul afterwards took of asserting his citizenship and forcing the magistrates to confess their wrong-doing (Acts x^-i. 37. 38) looks like a precaution to render the recur- rence of arbitraiy persecution less likely after his departure. But we gather from this Epistle (chap. i. 27 — 30) that the Church had still, like the sister Church at Thessalonica (1 Thess. i. 6; ii. 14) and the other Macedonian churches (2 Cor. v\\i. 2\ to undergo " tlie same conflict" of suffering from "their adversaries." " which they had seen in him." It grew up under the bracing air of trial, with a peculiar steadfastness, warm- heartedness, and simplicity, apparently uuvexed by tlio .speculative way wardness of Corinth or the wild heresies of Ejjhesus or Colossae. Again like the Tliessalonian Church, its dangers were mainly practical (see chap. iii.) ; the Judaising influence was probably foreign) and not very formidable ; the tendencies to Antinomian profligacy (chap. iii. 17 — 21). to some division by I^arty spirit (chaps, ii. 1 — 4; iv. 2. 3). to occasional des- pondency under trial (chap. i. 25>\ liardly appear to have affected the Church widely or seriously. In its condition, accordingly. St. Paul could rejoice almost without I'cserve of sorrow or anxiet)'. Of St. Paul's subsequent -v-isits to Philippi we have no full record. We cannot doubt that lie visit.ul the city on liis way from Ephesus to Macedonia and Greece, ou the third missionary circuit (Acts xx. 3\ The common tradition, exceedin'glv probal)le in itself, dates the Second Epistle to the Corinthians from Philippi ou 61 PHILIPPIANS. that occasion. "We know (Acts xx. 6) that it was from Pliilippi that ho started, some months after, on liis last journey to Jerusalem. At a period subsequent to this Epistle, we learn (1 Tim. i. :<) that St. Paul, apparently- after a visit to Ephesus, "went into Macedonia" after his first captivity, and so, no doubt, fultilled his hope of re-visitini,'- tliis well-loved Chureli. After this we have no u'ltice of the Churcii in history till we read of their kindly reception of I<,niatiuson his way to martyr- dom, and study the Ejnstle of Polyearp to tliem, written shortly after, mainly practical and hortatory, and imply- ing, with but slight reservation, a still strong and vigor- ous Christianity, and a constant grateful memory of the great Apostle. (See, for example, chap. i. — " I rejoiced greatly witli you in our Lord Jesus Christ, because ye liave adopted the imitation of true lovo .... because the firm root of your faith, celebrated from ancient times, remains even until now, and bears fruit unto the Lord Jesus Ciirist ;" chap. iii. — " Neither I nor any like me can follow out fully the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who, when he came among you, taught accurately and durably the word of truth.") Ter- tullian also alludes to it {de Prcescr. xxxvi.) as one of tlio churches where the "authentic letters of the Apostles" — no doubt, this Epistle itself — were read. Afterwards we have little reference to it in Church history. Like CoIosslc. it sank into insignificance. IIL The Genuineness of the Epistle.— ^^^erjiai Evidence. — The evidence for the genuineness of the Epistle is very strong. In all ancient catalogues, from the Muratorian Fragment (a.d. 170) downwards, in all ancient versions, beginning \vith the Peschito and the old Latin, it is placed among the undoubted Epistles of St. Paul. In Christian writings, before the end of the second centur3% knowledge of it may bo distinctly traced ; after that time it is quoted continually. Thus, in the Apostolic Fathers, to say nothing of slighter indiciitious which have been noted (as by Dr. Westcott, Canonof the New Testament, chap, i., and Dr. Lightfoot, in his Introduction to this Epistle), St. Poly- carp, in his Epistle to thoPhilippians (chap, iii.), expressly declares that St. Paul, " when absent, wrote letters to them, by searching into which they can still be built up in the faith," and speaks of them as " praised in the begiiming of his Epistle" (chap. xi.). Nor are there wanting expressions in his letter (such as the " using our citizenship worthily of Christ," " the enemies of the cross," the "I'cjoicing Avith them in the Lord," the "not running in vain," &e.) which not obscurely indicate reference to the text of our Epistle itself. Again, Dr. Lightfoot quotes from the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a Judajo-Christian work, dating early in the second century, certain expressions — " the form of God" and the "fashion of men" (see Phil. ii. 6), the "luminaries" of lieaven (see Phil. ii. 15), and, above all, the unique phrase " the bowels [heart] of the Son of God" (see Phil. i. 8) — which indicate unmis- takably knowledge of this Epistle. Perhaps the earliest direct quotation of it is in the celebrated Epistles of the Churclies of Lyons and Vienno (A.D. 1771, on the martyrdoms in the persecution of Marcus Aurelius (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, v. 2)— where we find the great passage: "He being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God," &q. Tlien, as in other cases, the habit of quotation begins in Irenanis, Clement of Alexandria, and TertuUian, and continues afterwards unbroken. TertuUian, as wo have already seen, ap- parently speaks of the Letter as beijig read as an Apostolic letter in the Philippiau Churcli ; and in his controver.sy witli Marcion (v. 20) so quotes it as to show that it had escaped the destructive criticism and arbitrary mutilation in which Marcion so constantly anticipated the critical .scepticism of later times. Internal Evidence. — But, strong as external evidence is, it is in this case far weaker than the internal, which may be said to rise almost to demon- stration. The strong marks of personality which we trace in every line, the unstudied frequency of histo- rical allusion and of undesigned coincidences wiih historical records, the simple and natural occasion of writing, in the reception of the ofierings and the illness of Epaphroditus, the absence pf all formal doctrinal or ecclesia-stical purpose, the fulness and warmth of personal affection, — all are unmistak- able marks of genuineness, all are fairly inconceivable on the supposition of imitation or forgery. The character of St. Paul, as unconsciously drawn in it, is unquestionably the same character which lives and glows in the Corinthian and Galatian Epistles ; and yet there is in it an indescribable growth into greater calmness and gentleness, which corresponds remarkably with advance of age and change of circumstances. There are also marked similarities, both of style and expression, with the earlier Epistles, and, above all, with the Epistle to the Romans, the last of the earlier group, which will be found noted in detail on the various jjassages.* There is also that mingling of identity and development of idea which is notable in all the Epistles of the Captivity. But in this case, perhaps, the similarity is greater, and the diversity less, than in the other Epistles of the same period. It is, therefore, not surprising that, even in the freest speculation of the higher criticism, there are but few examples of scepticism as to the genuineness of this Epistle. IV. The main Substance of the Epistle.— (1) The Picture of the Writer and the Receivers. — The tii'st and simplest impression made by this Epistle is the vivid portraiture which it gives us of St. Paul himself — esi:)ecially in the conflict of desire for the death which is the entrance to the nearer presence of Christ, and for the longer life, wliieh ^vill enable him to gather a fuller harvest for Christ — in the striking union of affection and thankfulness towai'ds the Philippians, with a dig- nified independence and a tone of plenary authority — in the sensitiveness to the sorrow and inactivity of imprisonment, overcome and finally absorbed into an almost unequalled fulness of joy in the Lord. Side by side with this, we are next struck with the picture which it gives us of the Macedonian Christianity at Philippi — not unlike that of Thessalonica, though, it would seem, less chequered l)y fanaticism or disorder, and certainly singularly accordant with the Macedonian character, as it paints itself at once speculatively inferior and practically superior to the Gi'eek, in the pages of history. The Philippian Christianity is pre-eminently vigorous, loyal, and warm-hearted, courageous and patient, little disturbed either by speculative refinements or specidative iuA'entions, hardly needing any warning, except against the self-assertion which is the natural excrescence of earnestness, or any exhortation, except to a deeper • Perhaps the. most notable are :— (a) Phil. ii. 10. 11, compared witli Rom. xiv. H. (b) Pliil. iii. 10. 11, compared with Kom. vi. 5. (r) Phil. iii. 19, compared with Rom. xvi. 18. (d) Phil. iv. 18, compared willi Rom. xii. 1. (c) Phil. iii. .5, 6, compared with 2 Cor. xi. 22, Rom. xi. 1. It may be noted that in all these cases there is similarity with ditfercnce— the characteristic of independent coincidence, not of imitation. PHILIPPIANS. thouglitfulness, wliicli might " overflow iuto know- ledge," and prove " the things which arc really excel- lent." There is no letter of St. Paul's so absolutely free from the necessity of rebuke, and, accordingly, there is none so full of joy, in spite of all the circum- stances of sufliering and anxiety under which it was written. (2) The Condition of the Church at Borne. — The next great subject of interest is the light thrown by this Epistle on the progress of the Cliurch at Rome during St. Paul's imprisunment. Of his preaching to the Jews, tlie Asiatic Gentiles, and the Greeks, we have plain historical record in the Acts of the Apostles. That record "fails us at the moment when he reaches the great centre of heathen civilisation at Rome, simply telling us that his imprisonment was not allowed to be a hin- drance to his preaching, first (as always) with the Jews, then, on their rejection of the gospel, to the Gentiles who were " willing to hear it." Now, we know by the historj' of the Neroniau persecution in Tacitus that, less than ten years after St. Paul's arrival in Rome, the Christians were already " a vast multitude," not only in the Eastern home of their religion, but in the metropolis itself. While we perceive from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans that, before that arrival Chris- tianity was firmly established in Rome, and suspect that the ignorance of the Jemsli leaders concerning " the sect everywhere spoken against " (Acts xxviii. 22) was in great degree affected, yet we cannot but see that these ten years must have been years of rapid pro- gress, in order to justify, even approximately, the description of the Roman historian. Naturally, we conclude that St. Paul's presence, even in his prison, must have given the chief new impulse to such progress, and inquire eagerly fur any indications of his actual dis- charge to the Romans of the debt of gospel preaching which he had long ago acknowledged as due to them (Rom. i. 14, 15). To this inquiry almost the only answer is foimd in the Epistle to the Philippians. There we learn that, as we might have expected, St. Paul's bonds " turned out " to the great " furtherance of the gospel." Wherever liis prison actually was, it gave him opportunity of influence over the Prtetorian guards, and aU the rest of the world, civilian or military, who frequented their quarters ; it gave him access, moreover, to those of Caesar's household — that large community of the domus Augusta which included all varieties of occupation, character, and rank. That the earlier Christianity of Rome was largely under Jewish influence we learn from the whole argument of the Epistle to the Romans ; and it has been often re- marked that the names included in the long list of salutations in the last chapter show a preponderance of Greek nationality in the converts themselves. But of those who came under the spell of St. Paul's presence, probably comparatively few would bo Jews, altliough indeed at this time, through the influence of Poppsea, the Jewish element might be more than usually prominent in Cicsar's household ; and while the greater number of that household who came in contact with him would be slavesof various nationalities, still, in the higher officers and among the Praetorian soldiery, many would be of true Roman origin. Remembering the friendship of Seneca for Burrhus, the Pra?torian Prefect at the time of St. Paul's arrival, and the former conduct of Gallio. Seneca's brother, towards the Apostle at Corinth, many have delighted to speculate on the probability of some direct intercourse* between the Apostle of the Gentiles and the philosopher of the later and more religious Stoicism, who was then tlie leader of higher Roman thougfht. But, however this may be, and whatever may be the real Aveight of the apparent similarities to familiar Stoic phraseology traceable in the Epistle (see chap. iv. 11 — 13, and Notes thereon), those who remember the eagerness of Roman society at this time for new reli- gions, new mysteries, and even new superstitions, from the East, will find no difficulty in believing that one who was placed, by the circumstance of his imprison- ment, in the imjjerial court itself, might easily have produced a deep impression on men of Roman birth, perhaps of high Roman rank. This new Christianity would therefore probably be of a ty^je, more purely Gentile, less predominantly Oriental, than the Christianity to which the Epistle to the Romans was addressed. Of the diA-ision between the old and the new the Epistle shows traces, in the description of those who pi-eached Christ " of good will " to St. Paul, and those who preached in " factiousness and vain-glory ; " for it seems clear, from his rejoicing that " every way Christ was preached," that the division was as yet one of mere faction and party, not of the contrast of false with ti'ue doctrine, Avhich we know that he treated mth stern, uncompromising severity. (See 2 Cor. xi. 1 — 4 ; Gal. i. G — 9.) Like aU such divisions, it probably marked and justified itself by some differences in religious teaching and religious life : but if these existed, they did not go down to the foundation. The time, indeed, was not far distant, when the fall of Jerusalem, and the obvious passing away of the whole Jemsh dispen- sation, struck the final blow to the existence of Judaism in the Christian Church. In spite, therefore, of this division, it seems clear that at the time of the Philip- pian Epistle Christianity had advanced, and was ad- vancing, with rapid strides. " The city which is in heaven " was already beginning to rise from its foun- dations in the " great Babylon of the Seven Hills," now the very tj-pe of the kingdom of the earth, des- tined hereafter to be, even visibly, the metropolis of Western Christianity. (3) The main Subjects of the Epistle. — Turning to the teaching of the Einstle itself, the main interest centres round the great passage in the second chapter (ii. 5 — 11), which is the very creed of the Incarnation, Passion, and Exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. This has been noticed already in the General Introduc- tion to the Ejnstles of the Captivity, and is dealt with in detail in the Notes on the passage. Here it need only be remarked that its advanced Christology is made the more striking by the occasion of its occur- rence, which is, in point of form, simply incidental, in enforcement of the familiar exhortation to follow the mind of Christ Jesus in humility and self-sacrifice; and that the singular simplicity and clearness of its enunciation of truth stand to the profoimder and more mystei-ious teaching on the same subject in the Epistle to the Colossians, much as, in later times, the simplicity of a Western creed stands to the greater subtlety of an Eastern. Next in interest, though after a long interval, is the light thrown tin chap, iii.) on the obsti- nate persistence in Macedonia of the old Judaising influence, elsewhere decapng or passing into new forms; and the appearance both of the pretensions to perfection (chap. iii. 12 — 16) and of the Autinomiau recklessness (chap. iii. 17 — 21) — sometimes associated with these pretensions, sometimes in revolt against them — mth wliich wo are but too familiar in subse- quent Churcli history. (i) Analysis of the Ejjistlc.—A full analy.sis mil be found in each chapter. A shortened general sketch of these analyses we have subjoined as usual. 63 PHILIPPIAXS. The First Section (original Letter?). (1) Introduction. (a) Salutation (t-liap. i. 1, 2); (b) Thanhsgiving for their "fellowship " in the ivork of the f/o.sjiel, specialhj shown to- wards himself {c\vA]i. i. 3 — 8) ; (c) Prayer for their fuller knowledge and in- crease of fruitfulness to the end (chap. i. 9—11). (2) Declaration of the Position at Rome. (a) The progress of the gospel through his bonds, stimulating preaching of the gospel, partly in good will, partly in strife, but in any case a cause of joy (chap. i. 12 — 18) ; (6) His own division of feeling, between desire to depart, and a toillingness to remain for their salces, which he knows will be realised (chap. i. 19 — 26). (3) Exhortation : (a) To steadfast boldness under persecution, now present or imminent (chap. i. 27 — 30); (b) To unity of spirit in the h-umility and self- sacrifice of " the mind of Christ Jesus " (chap. ii. 1 — i). (4) The Doctrine op Christ. (a) His humility in the Incarnation: stooping from the form of God to the form of man (chap. ii. 5 — 7) ; {b) His second humility in the Passion (chap. ii. (c) His exaltation above all created being (chap. ii. 9— 11). (5) Original Conclusion of the Epistle. (a) Final exhortation to obedience, quietness, purity, joy with him in sacrifice (chap. ii. 12— 18); {b) Mission and commendation of Tim^theus cw St. PauVs forerunner (chap. ii. 19 — 24'); (c) Mission and commendation of Epaphroditus (chap. ii. 25—30) ; (d) Final "farewell in the Lord " (chap. iii. 1). 2. The Second Section (Postscript?). (1) Practical Warnings : (o) Against Judaism, by the example of Ms otvn renunciation of all Jewish privilege (chap. iii. 2—10) ; (6) Against claim of perfection, again enforced by his own example (<'hap. iii. 11 — 16); (c) Against Antinomian profligacy , as unworthy of the " citizens of heaven " (chap. iii. 17—21). (2) Exhortations Renewed: (a) To ^lnity (chap. iv. 1 — 3) ; (6) To joy, thankfulness, and peace (chap. iv. 4 — 7); (c) To follouiing of all good, in the fulness in which he had taught it (chap. iv. 8, 9). (3) Acknowledgment of Offerings. (rt) Rejoicing in their renewed care for him (chap. iv. 10—14) ; (b) Remembrance of their former liberality (chap. iv. 15 — 17); (c) Thanks and blessing (chap. iv. 18 — 20). (4) Concluding Salutation and Blessing. 64 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. CHAPTER I.— (1) Paul and Timo- Chap. i. 1, 2. tlieus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the Salutation. saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philipj)i, with the bishops and dea- cons : (^) grace he unto you, and [1. Introduction (chap. i. 1 — 11). (1) Salutation (verses 1, 2). (2) Thanksgiving for their "fellowshij) in the gospel," uttered in perfect coufideuce and in deep personal aifection (verses 3 — 8). (3) Pkayer for their growth in knowledge and judgment, which may gviard them from '* offence," and keep them in the things that are excellent (^verses 9 — 11).] (1) Paul and Timotheus, (the) servants of Jesus Christ. — To the Philippian, as to the Thessa- louian Church (see 1 Tliess. i. 1; 2 Thess. i. 1), St. Paul does not think it needful to assert his apostleship ; but writes, in a tone of affectionate and confident fami- liarity, as to those whom lie could thoroughly trust. Here he and Timotheus are simply " servants" (not, as in our version, "the servants" iu any position of special eminence) " of Jesus Christ " — a title of humility as- sumed by St. James and St. Jude ( Jas. i. 1 ; Jude, verse 1), but nowhere else by St. Paul without the adchtion of some title of apostolic authority. (Comp. Rom. i. 1 ; Tit. i. 1.) Even in Gal. i. 10 he declares tliat he is " the servant of Christ," chiefly to show that he cannot and need not " please men." It is to be noted also that here, as again (with Silas) in the Thessalouiau Epistles, Timotheus is joined with St. Paul almost on a footing of equality ; whereas iu other Epistles (see 2 Cor. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1; Philem. verse 1), he is separated from the Apostle and distinguished as " Timotheus the brotlier." This is probably to be accounted for partly by the absence of all necessity for assertion of his own apostlesliip, partly also by the fact that (with Silas) Timotlieus was St. Paul's fellow-worker in the conver- sion of the Macedonian Churches, and accordingly his chosen messenger to them from time to time (Acts xix. 22 ; XX. 5). The saints in Christ Jesus.— The same expres- sion is used iu the salutations wliicli commence other Epistles of this period (see Eph. i. 1; Col. i. 1): "the saints and faithful iu Christ Jesus." With the bishops and deacons. — In tliis pas- sage the word " lushop " is, for the first time, used as a title, although iu Acts xx. 28 ("over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers ") it is employed as a description of duty, with a distinct reference to its etymo- logical m(>aning and origin. In the Pastoral Epistles we find it similarly used (as 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Tit. i. 7). There is now no question — and but for supposed eccle- siastical necessities tliere never could liave beeu any question — that in Holy Scripture, as also iu the First 71 65 Epistle of an Apostolical Father {St. Clement to the Corinthians, chap, xix.), the two titles of "bishop" and "presbyter " are applied to the same pei'sons — the latter, however, being iu St. Paul's Epistles the more frequent and conventional term, while the former seems almost always used with reference to its actual meaning. The two titles are of diver.se origin. The "presbyter," or "elder," is a Jewish title, ^o directly descended from the synagogue that the iustitution of the presbyterate is not, like that of the diaconate, recorded as a historical creation iu the Cluirch. Ihe title of "bishop," or "overseer," is of heathen origin, used in classical Greek for a commissioner from head-quari ers, applied in the LXX. to various secular offices ['J, Kings xi. 19; 2 Chron. xxiv. 12—17; Neh. xi. 9, U, 22; Isa. Ix. 17). The former is simply a title of dignity, like the many derivations from the Latin senior which have passed into modern language. The latter is a title of official duty. Like the word " pastor " and " apostle," it belongs properly only to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the "Apostle of God" (Heb. iii. 1), and "the Shep- herd and Bishop of our souls " (1 Pet. ii. 25) ; but de- rivatively to His ministers, as having the oversight of His Church. This is directly shown in the aijplication of the title to the Ephesiau presbyters (Acts xx. 28; see also 1 Pet. v. 1, 2), and the idea of responsible oversight is broiight out clearly in the description of the office of the "bishop" in 1 Tim. iii. 1 — 7. The in- different use of the two names is made absolutely clear in Tit. i. 5 — 7 : " Ordain elders in every city ... if any bo blameless . . . For a bishop mu.st be blameless as a steward of God." It is only necessary to remark briefly that this identification of the two titles (of which St. Clement's Epistle is the last example) in \in way weakens the significance of the undoubted liistorical fact of the development of what we call tlie Episcopate in the early part of the second century, and the over- whelming probability of its oriijination. uuder the sanction of St. John, when the re])resentatives of the higher order of the Apostolate passed away. The name " deacon " is also used for tlie first time, unless, indeed, as is probable, it is a])plied officially to Phoebe in Rom. xvi. 1. Althougli the office of the Seven, iu Acts vi. 1 — 7, is undoubtedly the germ of the diaconate, and altliough the cognate words (" ministra- tion " and " serve ") are used in connection with tliem (see verses 1, 2). yet the actual title of deacons is nowhere given to them. This nuMitiou of the ministers as distinct from the Church in salutation is unique. It lias been con- jectured, with great probability, that iu the Letter of TJianksfjlciiifj fur their PHILIPPIANS, T. Fellowship in the Gospel. peace, from God our Fatlier, and froTn, the Lord Jesus Christ. ^^^ I thank my Ciiap. i. 3—8. God upon Gveiy remem- Thauksfiving brance ^ of you, <•*> always ship in the gos- m every prayer of mine pol. for you all making re- quest -vvitli joy, (^^ for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until it. 1 Or, mention. 3 Or, you have me hi your heart. now ; (6) being confident of this very thing, that he "which hath begun a good ^vork in you will perform it ^ until the day of Jesus Christ. <^^ Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart ; ^ inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirm a- tho Philipnian Church, wliich no doubt accompanied the mission oi ahns by Epaphroditus, the presbyters and deacons were so distini]fuislied ; {is in the letter of the Council at Jerusalem, according to the ordinary reading of Acts XV. 23 ("the apostles and elders and brethren"). Some ancient authorities held that Epaphroditus was "the apostle" (or what we should call tlie bislioj)) of the Ciiurch at Philippi, and that he is not named here simply because he was with St. Paul : so that in the Phiiippian Church the three orders were already repre- sented. (But on this see chap. ii. 25.) (3—8) 111 these verses St. Paul strikes that keynote of joy and confidence, which is domirajit throughout tlie wliolo Epistle, and which is singularly remarkable when we remem])er that it was wi-itten in captivity, in enforced absence from the familiar and well-loved scenes of his apostolic labour, and with the knowledge of faction and jealousy, taking advantage of that absence. The words "joy" and "rejoice" occur no less than thirieen times in this short Epistle; they express what his own feeling is, and what he desires that theirs should be. (3. -i) I thank my God . . .—These verses more accurately rendered will run thus : I thank my God KpoH all mij retnembrance of you at all times, in every prayer of mine for you all, uttering that prayer with joy — i.e., with joyful confidence. The sense, however, is not nuiterially altered. The emphatic earnestness of thanksgiviTig is seen in the reiteration which runs througli the jjassage, and its aljsolute universality of scojjc is no less clearly mai-ked. The closest pai-allel is again in the Epistles to the Thessalonians (see 1 Tiicf-s. i. 2; 2 Thess. ii. 3), although in every Epistle, ex('f])t the Epistle to the Galatians, there is an opening of thanksgiving. (^1 For your fellowship in the gospel.— More properly, towards the gospel, or, as affecting the gospd. Tile constiniction iis illustrated by the more limited use of the same Greek word (as in Rom. xv. 26 ; 2 Cor. ix. 13) in the sense of " contribution " ; in which case the word •' towards '' introduces the objects of the alms- giving there specified. Accordingly St. Paul nnist be taken here to mean the fellow- working of the Philippians in the ministry of the gospel, of which he s))eaks still more distinctly in verse 7. That fellow-working had l)een shown (see chap. iv. 15) even "in the Ix'ginning of the gospel," by a contribution to St. Paul's needs— not ])erhaps his personal needs only — which from them, and (so far as we knowj from them only, he consented to accept. (t^) That he who hath begun for rath<>r. who hrgan) a good work in you will also (see margin) finish it.— The ground of St. Paid"s confidence in their perseverance is the belief that it was God's grace which began the good work in them, and that, not being resisted (as was obvious by then- enthusiasm for good), He would complete what He had begun. In his view, God's grace is the beginning and the end ; man's co- operation lies in the intermediate process linking both together. This is made still plainer in chap. ii. 12, 13. The day of Jesus Christ.— So also in chaps, i. lu, ii. 16, " the day of Clirist ;" and in 1 Cor. i. 8, " the day of our Lord Jesus Christ ; " in all other Epistles " tlie day of our Lord " (as in 1 Cor. v. 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 14 ; 1 Thess. V. 2; 2 Thess. ii. 2); or, still more commonly, both in Gospels and Epistles, " that day." As is usual in the Epistles, the day of the Lord is spoken of as if it were near at hand. St. Paul, in the Second Epistle to the I'hessalonians (chap. ii. 2, et setp), declines to pronounce that it is near; yet does not say that it is far away, and only teaches that there is much to be done, even in the development of Anti-Christian power, before it does come. It is of course clear that, in respect of the confidence here expressed, it makes no difference whether it be near or far away. The reality of the judgment as final and complete is the one point impor- tant ; " the times and seasons " matter not to us. (7) It is meet. — Rather, it is but right, or just ; it is but your due. To think this of you all.— Rather, to be in this mind; to have this feeling on behalf of you all. The word here rendered "to think " is used mth especial frequency in this Epistle (see chaps, ii. 2, 5; iii. 15, 19 ; iv. 2, 10), as also in the Epistle to the Romans (chaps, viii. 5 ; xi. 20 ; xii. 3, 16 ; xiv. 16 ; xv. 5). It is variously rendered; but it always refers, not to a single definite opinion, but to an habitual conviction or feeling. I have you in my heart.— This (and not the marginal reading) is to be taken. The original is, grammatically speaking, ambiguous, but both the order and the context are decisive. Compare, for the_ sense, 2 Cor. iii. 2, " Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts." Both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel.— Those words are certainly to be connected, as in our version. St. Paul unites his bonds with "the defence and confirmation of the gospel " — that is. witii his pleading for it against objections, and establishment of it by positive teaching — on the ground stated in verses 12. 13, that these, his bonds, had tended " to tlu^ furtherance of the gospel.'' He accepts the help sent hini by the Philippians, in which they had (see chap. iv. 14) " comnnmicated "' (in the original the word used is the same as here) "with his affliction," as a means of fellowship with him in tlio whole of this work of evangelisation. It is true that in verse 30 he speaks of the Pliilippians as having themselves to undergo " the same conflict " as his own ; but the expression " in my bonds, &c.," can hardly be satisfied simply by this kind of fellowship. Ye all are partakers of my grace.— Here, on the contrary, the marginal reading is preferable. Ye are all partakers with me of the grace — i.e., of the 66 Prayer for their fuller PHILIPPIANS, I. Knowledge and Steadfastness. tion of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. ^ (^' For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. ^'■^'^ And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all 2 Or, sense. 3 Or, try. Or, partukera Kith me u/i/race. ■i Or, dcjjrcr. judgment; 2 m ^j^^t ye may approve ^ things that are excellent;^ chap. i. 9— n. that ye may be sincere and l*iayer for without offence till the ^lli'^Ldio^nd day of Christ; (^^^ being steadfastness. filled with the fruits of righteousness. privilege described in Epli. iii. 8. " Unto me, who am loss than the least of all saints, is this grace given, tliat 1 should preach among the Gentiles the unsearch- able riclies of Christ." See below, verse 29 ; " To you it is given" — that is (in the original), "given as a grace" — not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (8) God is my record.— We have a similar adjura- tion in Rom. i, 9 ; 2 Cor. i. 23 ; 1 Thess. ii. 5, 10. Tliese instances show in what sense St. Paul inter- preted such commands as the " swear not at all " of Matt. V. 34. In the bowels of Jesus Christ, — The use of the word, which we translate (not very happily or correctly) by " bowels," is common with St. Paul. (See 2 Cor. vi. 12; vii. 15; Col. iii. 12; Philem. verses 7, 12, 20.) It corresponds to our use of " heart " as the seat of affection— the word "heart" itself in the New Testa- ment being employed, in a wider sense, to signify the "whole inner man. (See Eph. i. 18 : " the eyes of your heart being enlightened," and Note there.) But the phrase hero is striking and even startling. " I long after you" (says St. Paul) "in the heart of Jesus Christ." He can say (as in Gal. ii. 20), "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Hence the deep yearning of love which he feels for them he knows to be an emanation, faint indeed, but true, from the " heart of Jesus Christ " dwelling in him. (9, 10) If -yye study carefully the opening thanksgivings and prayers of St. Paul's Epistles, we may note that he always thanks God for what is strong in the Church to which he writes, and prays God for the supply of that in which it is weak. Here he tliauks God for the characteristic enthusiasm and large-hoartedness of the Philipjjians ; he prays for their advance in knowledge, perception, judgment — the more intellectual and thouglitful side of the Christian character — in which they, and perhaps the Macedonian Churches generally, were less conspicuous. In the opposite case of the Corinthian Church (see 1 Cor. i. 4—10), he thanks God for tlioir richness in all utterance and all knowledge, but he bids them "wait "for Him who shall "estab- lish them as blameless," and exhorts them to unity and humility. (9—11) In f]ijg sentence, the original shows that there is not the tliree-fold parallelism which our version would suggest. St. Paul's immediate prayer is that " their love may abound in knowledge and all judgment." To this is subjoined, as an immediate conseciuence, " tlie proving the things that are excellent." The final result of the knowledge and judgment so applied, is " that they may be sincere and without offence." f^) That your love may abound more and more in knowledge.— The drigiual verb here signifies to "ovi'rilow." a sense which our word " ab()unless, that he will abide in the fiesh and see them again (verses 19 — 26).] (12—18) In these verses St. Paul, evidently anxious that the Philippians should not "faint at his tribu- lations for them " (coinp. Eph. iii. 13), points out that his imprisonment tended to further the gospel : first, directly, I)y the opportunity which it afforded him of preaching, and next, indirectly, by the stimulus which it gave to the preaching of others, whether " of envy and strife " or " of good will." (12) The things which happened unto me— viz., since he parted from them (see Acts xx. 6) — his arrest at Jerusalem, and the long captivity of years, first at Caesarea, then at Rome. Nothing could liave appeared to bo a more fatal ])Iow to the progress of the gospel ; but St. Paul assures them that "rather" (i.e., on the contrary) all these things tended to its furtlier- ance. Ho had intended to see Rome (Acts xix. 21 ; Rom. XV. 23, 24), since his work in Greece and Asia was now over. Ho did visit it, although in chains ; and his acquaintance with the Roman soldiers at Cajsarea probably prepared for him an opening at Rome, which he could not otherwise have found, even into Ciesar's household. (1 i) My bonds in Christ are manifest.- Properly, 3fy bonda are made manifest as in Christ — i.e., my captivity is uiulcrstood as being a part of my Christian life and work, and so becomes a starting- point for the preaching of the gospel. So St. Paul made it to the Jews (Acts xxviii. 20), " For the hope of Israel am 1 bound in this chain." (Comp. Eph. vi. 20, "I am an ambassador in bonds.") In all the palace, and in all other places. — The word " palace " is prcetorium. It is elsewhere 68 used in the New Testament : first, of the palace of Pilate ; in Matt, xxvii. 27, Mark xv. 16, apparently, of the soldiers' guardroom, or barrack ; in John xviii. 28, 33, xix. 9, of " the hall of judgment ; " and next in Acts xxiii. 35, of the " judgment hall of Herod," e\'idently forming a part of the palace of Felix. (It may be noted that coincidence with tliis last passage is the chief, and almost the sole, argument for the untenable idea that this Ei)istle belongs to the Csesarean and not the Roman captivity.) Its sense here has been disputed. It has been variously interpreted as the emperor's palace, or the praetorian barrack attached to it, or the praetorian camp outside the walls. Its original meaning of " the head-quarters of a general " would lend itself well enough to any of these, as a derivative sense. The first or the second sense (which is virtually the same) is the interpretation of all ancient commentators, and suits best with the mention of " Caesar's house- hold " in chap. iv. 22, but not very well with the his- torical statement in Acts xxviii. 16 — 30, that St. Paul dwelt " in his own hired house," " with a soldier that kept him." The other sense suits better with this last statement, and also with the deliveiy of the prisoner " to the captain of the guard," i.e., literally, the commander of the camp, or prcetorian prefect, and perhaps with abstract probability in the case of an obscure Jewish prisoner. But the difficulty is that, although the word might be applied to any of these places, yet, as a matter of fact, it is not found to be so applied. Moreover, we notice here that the words " in all other places " are an inaccurate rendering of a phrase really meaning " to all the rest " (see marginal reading). The connection therefore seems even in itself to suggest that the " praetorium " may more properly refer to a body of men than to a place. Accordingly (following Dr. Lightfoot), since the word " praetorium " is undoubtedly used for the "pi-setorian guard," it seems best to take that sense here. "My bonds " (says the Apostle) "are known in all the praetorian regiments " — for the soldiers, no doubt, guarded him by turns — " and to all the rest of the world, whether of soldiers or of citizens." This would leave it an open question where St. Paul was imprisoned, only telling us that it was under prastorian surveillance. (i-t) And many (properly, the greater mtmher) of the brethren in the Lord.— The words " in the Lord " should be connected with " trusting," as in ehaj). ii. 24; Gal. v. 10 ; 2 Thess. iii. 4. As connected with the word "brethren," they are unmeaning; whereas St. Paul constantly uses them (especially in these Epistles), generally with a verb or verbal adjective, and always to convey some distinct idea. Tliat the words " in my bonds " follow constitutes no difficulty. " In the Lord expresses the ground of confidence; "in my bonds" sim])ly the occasion and circumstances. Waxing confident by my bonds. — Tliere is a two-fold sense here, corresponding to the two-fold division of preachers made below. Those who preached Christ "of contention" trusted in St. Paul's captivity as giving them scope ; those who preached " of good Through different Motives PHILIPPIANS, I. Christ is every way i/reuched. to speak the word without fear. <^^^ Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife ; and some also of good will : (1^) the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds : ♦^''^ but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. ^^^^ What then ? not- withstanding, every Avay, w^hether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. (^^^ For I know that this shall will " fcrand in it a striking example of evil overruled to good, and so gained from it fresh encouragement. (15) Of envy and strife.— Explained below as of " contention," or, more properly (as in chap. ii. 3, and in Rom. ii. 8; 2 Cor. xii. 20; Gal. v. 20), oi factious- ness, or " jjarty spirit." It seems impossible to doubt that this refers to the Judaising party, St. Paul's old antagonists. The whole tenor of the Epistle to the Romans shows how strong a Judaic element there was in Roman Christianity. Even in approaching Rome, we may gather from Acts xxviii. 15, that the Apostle had felt doubtful of his reception there by the Church. His formal renunciation of the obstinate Jews, and proclamation that the Gentiles would hear what they had rejected, might excite against him not only the unbelieving Jews, but the Jewish and still more the Judaising Christians. The party " of Cephas " and the party " of Paid " might be placed in strong an- tagonism more easily than CA^en at Corinth. (16) Not sincerely. — This version conveys an in- correct impression. The original is " not purely," i.e., not with unmixed and single-minded entlnisiasm for Christ. St. Paul does not imjiute to them hypocrisy, but an admixture of partisanship, and therefore of a narrow-minded hostility to him. To add affliction. — The true reading, to stir up ajiiction, or oppressive severity (properly, presstire, or galling), perhaps suggests as most probable the mean- ing (adopted by Chrysostom here) of " stirring " the minds of St. Paul's jailors to an increased severity, which might prevent liis preaching to all " ^vithout liindrance." The uneasiness of the Government in relation to the Jewish population at Rome is well known. The growth of a secret society (for such Christianity was held to be) among them might easily induce greater severity towards a leader of the sect. (Compare verses 19, 20, in which St. Paul states his confidence that this malignant jjolicy would be dis- appointed.) (^8) The contrast of this verse with such pa.ssagos as 2 Cor. xii. 4 — where the Judaisers at Corinth are said to preach " another Jesus and a different gospel ; " with Gal. i. 6 — where their gospel is declared to be "a different gospel," and not merely a variety of the same (see Note there); and even Avith the emphatic warning as to Philippi, in chap. iii. 2 — 16, is singularly instruc- tive. St. Paul, in the words " in pretence " and " in truth," is speaking of the motives of the preachers, not of the substance of their preaching. For the latter lie cares much ; for the former nothing. When (as at Corinth) the rejection of his personal authority was bound up with rejection of his apostolic docti-ine, lie rebukes it vehemently ; when (as here) there was no such connection, it is to him a very small thing. But we may also gather from this that, whatever might be the case at Philippi, at Rome St. Paid's Epistle had done its work, and the battle of principle was won ; even at Colossge it had wholly changed its character (see Col. ii. 16 — 23), and its old phases had passed away. The differences between the parties at Rome were no longer fundamental, although, as so often is the case, the bitterness of division might remain. " Every way Christ was preached," and accepted as justifying through faith. This being so, St. Paul could rejoice. Even an imperfect Christianity, with something of narrowness, and perhaps of superstitious formalism, cleaving to it, was as different from the gross heathenism which it superseded, as light from dark- ness. Yea, and will rejoice. — Properly, I shall rejoice to the end. The words lead on to the next verse, which gives the reason of this persistent rejoicing. (19-24) In these verses, under the power of that feeling of joy of which he speaks above, St. Paul unveils to the Philippians his most sacred aspirations and convictions, and the division of feeling in his own soul between longing for rest and consciousness of work yet to be done. There is a still fuller disclosure of a similar " spiritual experience " in 2 Cor. iv. 8 ; V. 15. It is rare in the apostolic writings. St. Paul seems, in 2 Cor. \i. 11, almost to apologise for disclosing what is usually kept, in delicacy and reverence, for God alone. (W) Shall turn to my salvation.— Or, literally, shall issue in salvation to me. The word " salvation " does not appear to be used here in its ordinary sense, that is, of primary or idtimate salvation from sin in Christ, but in the sense of " safety." The enemies of the Apostle thought to stir up fresh danger and diffi- culty for St. Paul; but the attempt (he says) will only turn out to his safety — a safety which he believes (see vei'ses 25, 26) will be shown '"in life," by his actual release and return to his beloved churches, but which, if God so wills it, \\-ill be at least equally manifested in the " death," which would bring him safe home to Christ. In either case he will be safe from all the enmity both of open sin and of malignant jealousy. Through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit.— This overruling of all enmity to liis safety ho hopes for through the intercession of the Philippian Church (comp. Philem. verse 23), and the fresh supply of grace which, through such interces- sion, may be given to him. For the word " supply " in this sense see Eph. iv. 15 ; and comp. Gal. iii. 5 ; CoL ii. 19. The Spirit of Jesus Christ.— Of the application of this name to the Holy Ghost Nve have instances in Rom. viii. 9 ; 2 Cor. iii. 17 ; Gal. iv. 6 ; 1 Pet. i. 11. Of these the first is the most notable, since in two clauses of the same sentence we have first " the Spirit of God," and then " the Spirit of Christ." He who is " sent by the Father in the name of the Son " (John xiv. 26), and whoso regeneration of tlie soul is the working out the iiaage of Christ in it. may well be called "the Spirit of Christ." But the name has always some speciality of emphasis. Tlius here, the whole concep- tion of the passage is of Christ — " to me to live is Christ ; " hence the use of this special and compara- tively rare name of the Holy Ghost. 69 St. PauVs Confidence. PHILIPPIANS, I. His Desire to Depart. turn to my salvation tlirongli your prayer, and the supply of And^ hi' ofn the Spirit of Jesus Christ, division of feel- (^0) according to my earnest d^sires'^trde" expectation and my hope part and to that in nothing I shall coutiime. itjg ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it he by life, or by death. (21) j^or to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (^2) gut if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour : yet what I shall choose I Avot not. (^3) j^qj. I am in a strait bet^vixt two, having a desire to dejjart, and to be with Christ ; (20) My earnest expectation.— Tlie word is ouly found hero and in Rom. viii. I'd (where see Note). It implies an inteu.se and almost paiufui longing for some crisis, a dulness of suspense liglited up with hope. Tlie phrase is one of the many indications that the joj'ful and confident tone so often noticed in this Epistle came not from tlie abseuce of yearniug for the freedom and activity of apostolic life, but fnnn the victory over such longings through faith. Whatever the crisis miglit be, St. Paul looked eagerly for it. In nothing I shall be ashamed.— The plirase is elsewhere used by St. Paul with especial reference to the shame whicli comes from hopes disappointed and professions unfulfilled. (See 2 Cor. vii. 14 ; ix. 4 ; x. 8. Compare also the quotation from Isa. xxviii. 16 in Rom. ix. 3:5 ; 1 Pet. ii. 6.) For (he says) " hope (ful- filled) maketh not ashamed" (Rom. v. 5). So probably here ; he ti'usts that in the hour of trial the confidence which he has felt and professed of being "able to do all things tlirough Clirist who streno^theneth him " (see chap. iv. 13) may not come to shameful failure, but may " magnify Christ in all boldness of speech." There is a subtle toucli of true Christian feeling in the fact that, wlicn he speaks of tlie chance of failure, he uses the first person : " I shall be ashamed ; " but when of triumpli, it is " Christ shall be magnified " in me. If lie fails, it must be through his own fault ; if be triumphs, it will be througli his Master's .strength. la my body, whether it be by life, or by death. — "'In my body:" The phrase is, no doubt, suggested mainly l)y the idea of death — the death of a martyr in bodily torture or shame. Tiiere is the same connection of idea in 2 Cor. iv. 10 : " always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body." But while the word " flesh " is used in tlie New Testament in .a bad sense, the " body " is always regarded as that in which we may " glorify God " (1 Cor. vi. 20) by word and deed. It is not merely a vestui'e of the soul, but a part of the true man (1 Thess. V. 23), having mcmbersliip of Christ, and being the temple of tlie Holy Ghost (1 Cor. vi. 15 — 19). In this passage the wliole idea is of Chriat in him ; hence his body is spoken of as simply the tabernacle of the indwelling presence of Christ, and devoted only to '• matinify" Him. (-1) To live is Christ. — This, of course, means ''Christ is my life."' yet not in the sense that He is tlio source and principle of life in us, })ut that the whole concrete state of life is so lived in Him that it becomes a simple manifestation of His presence. The opposition in the pass.age is between the states of living and dying (or being dead), not between the principles of life and death. It is, therefore, in some sense distinct from the cognate passages — Col. iii. 3, 4, " Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. . . . Christ is our life;" and Gal. ii. 2U, " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Those passages set forth the cause ; this the result. If Christ be the principle of life in us, then whatever we think and say and do, exhibiting visibly that inner life, must be the manifestation of Clirist. To die is gain.— This follows from the other. Death is a new stage in the progi-ess of union with Christ. So we read in 2 Cor. v. 6, 7, " Knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord . . . we are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." '• To depart " (see verse 23) is, in a higher sense than can be realised her«, " to be with Christ." (2ii) But if I live in the flesh . . .—The trans- lation of this verse in the Authorised version is in- accurate, and perhaps a gloss to soften the difficulty of the original. The exact translation is. But if to live in the flesh this is to me a fruit of work, and what (or, what also) I shall choose I know not. The con- struction is clearly broken by emotion or absorption in thought ; it can only be su[)plied by conjecture. If (as in 2 Cor. ii. 2) the word " and," or " also," can be used to introduce the principal clause ("'what then I shall choose," &c.), the construction will be correct, though harsh. If otherwise, we must suppose either that the sentence is broken at the word '" work," or that the whole should run, But what if to live in tlie flesh is a part of work ? Ami what I shall choose, I know not, &c. But though the construction is obscure, the sense is plain. St. Paul had said, " to die is gain." But the thouglit crosses him that to live still in the flesh, this and tliis only is (i.e., carries with it) a fruit of apostolical labour, in souls brought to Christ or built up in Him. Accordingly what to choose he knows not. For in .such a harvest there is a gain, which outweighs his own personal gain on the other side. I am in a strait betwixt (the) two.— The word here used signifies " to be hemmed in," or " confined," and is generally associated with some idea of distress (as iu Luke viii. 4.5 ; xix. 43), not unfrequently with the pressure of disease (Matt. iv. 24 ; Luke iv. 38 ; Acts xx^nii. 8). Our Lord uses it of mental distress in Himself (Luke xii. 50) : "How am I straitened till it be accomplished!" Here the sense is clear. St. Paul's mind is " hemmed iu " between two opposing considerations, till it knows not which way to move, even in desire. (23) Having a desire . . .—Properly, having my oion desire for departure. Tlie verb "depart" corre- sponds exactly to the substantive used in 2 Tim. iv. 6, " The time of my departure is at hand." It is itself used o|ily here and in Luke xii. 36, " Wlien he shall return {break np) frojn the wedding." The metaphor is drawn cither from " loosing " from the sliore of life, or (perhaps better) from striking tents and breaking up a camp. Tlie body (as in 2 Cor. v. 1) is looked upon as a mere tabernacle. Each day is a march nearer home, and death is the last striking of the tent on arrival. 70 His confidence that PHILIPPIANS, I. he will continue with them. wliicli is far better : (^^^ nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. (-^) And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with yon all for your furtherance and joy of faith ; (^^) that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. (2'') Only let your conversation be ^,, . as it becometh the gospel 30. Exborta- of Christ: that whether I ^ipn to un- T I ninchmg and come and see you, or else joyful stead- be absent, I may hear of fastness in suf- your affairs, that ye stand ^"'^^' To be with Christ. — This is contemplated by St. Paul as the immediate consequence of deatli, even wliile still '' out of the body," and )ief ore the great day. The state of the faithful departed is usually spoken of as one of " rest" (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52; 1 Thess. iv. 14 — 16; Rev. xiv. 13), although not without expectation and longing for the consummation of all things ( Rev. vi. 10, 11). Such a condition of rest, and .suspen- sion of conscious exercise of spiritual energy, is, in- deed, that which human reason and analogy would suggest, so far as they can suggest anything on this mysterious subject. But such passages as this seem certainly to imply that this rest is empliatically a " rest in the Lord," having an inner consciousness of com- munion with Christ. His "descent unto Hades," not only brings out the reality of the unseen world of souls, but also claims it as His. As on earth and in heaven, so also in the iutei'mediate state, we are " ever witli the Lord; " and that state, though not yet made perfect, is spiritually far higher than this earthly life. The original here is an emphatic double comparative, "far, far better." (25) I know. — The word is not to be pressed too far. It is simply, " I feel certain ; " and it is obvious to remark that in Acts xx. "15 it is used by St. Pavd of a conviction (that he would " see the face " of the Ephesians " no more ") which, so far as we can follow out the history, was not verified. The apostolic in- spiration, like the apostolic poAver of miracle, was a gift relative to the apostolic work, not necessarily extending beyond it. Abide and continue with you.— The latter verb is in the original a compound of the former, " I shall abide," and " sliall abide side by side with yon." It Avas for their sakes that it was needful for him to live. Hence to the simple idea " I shall abide," it was natural to add at once the phrase " with you," or " for you," as explaining the very object of his abiding in the flesh. For your furtherance and joy of faith.— In these words St. Paul's presence with them is spciken of, first, as in some degree necessary for their spiritual advance ; next, as being to them a gift of God for their joy and comfort, even beyond what was actually necessary. (See the next verse.) (26) That your rejoicing may be more abun- dant.—The word translated " rejoicing " is tliat favourite wcn-d of St. Paul, wliich signifies a ground of " boasting," or exultation. It is used both of blessing beyond strict necessity, and of semce beyond legal duty ; in both of which tliere is ground for joy and thankfulness. This is, pc^rhaps, best seen in 1 Cor. ix. 1") — 18, wliere he declares that the simple preaching of the gospel is " notliing to boast of," but that tJie preacliing it without cost is " the boasting," of which he says that lie would '• ratlier die tlian tliat iiny man should make it void." (Comp. also the use of the same word in chap. ii. 16, and in Rom. iv. 2; 1 Cor. v. 6; 2 Cor. i. 14. ; v. 12; ix. 3.) Here, therefore, St. Paul speaks of them as having in him, and in their connection with him, a cause of boasting, or rejoicing, just as in 2 Cor. i. 14 (" We are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours "), and declares that this will become " more abundant " by his coming to them again. In Jesus Christ for me.— The original runs, " in Christ Jesus in me." The parallelism is instructive : all Christian rejoicing, or confidence, is primarily '• in Christ Jesus," even if it be secondarily " in " His servants. Tlie suggestion of this idea here softens the apparent self-consciousness of tlie previous words. Comp., in 2 Cor. xi., xii., his declaration of reluctance and distaste for tlie " boasting " of his apostolic authority and work, which was forced upon him. By my coming to you again.— See in 1 Tim. i. 3 the e^-idence of the fulfilment of this confident expectation. [3. Exhortation (chaps, i. 27 — ii. 4). (i) To Steadfastness and Confidence UNDER Persecution (verses 27 — 30 1. (2) To Unity of Spirit, based on humility and self-forgetfuLness (chap, ii, 1 — 4).] (27-30) In these verses St. Paul exhorts the Philip- pians to unanimous boldness and steadfastness, under some conflict of antagonism or persecution which threatened them at this time. Of the history of the Church at Philippi we have no historical record after the notice of St. Paul's first visit, and of the violence which he then had to endure (Acts xat. 12—40). But in 2 Cor. vii. 5. written certainly from Macedonia, pro- bably from Philippi, towards the close of tlie tliii'd missionary journey, we find St. Paul saying, " When we were come to Macedonia our flesh had no rest. . . Without were fightings, within were fears." (Comp. also chap. viii. 2 of the same Epistle.) It would seem, tlierefore, that the subsequent history of the Philip- pian Church corresponded only too well to the circum- stances under which its Christianity first began. (27) Let your conversation . . .—The original is here (as in the famous iiassage, chap. iii. 20), Use yorir citizenship (that is, of the kingdom of heaven) wvthihj of the gospel of Christ. The same word is employed by St. Paul in Acts xxiii. 1 (" I have walked in all good conscience before God"), wnith an obvious reference to his citizenship in the chosen nation of Israel. Its use in this Epistle is suggestive— botli as natural to one contemplating tlie great imperial city, and writing to the people of a Roman colony proud of their full citizenship, and also as leading on to that g.-eat con- ception of the unity of the Church in eaitli and in heaven, which is tlie main subject of the Ephesian, and in some degree of the Colossian. Epistle. In one spirit, with one mind.— Rather, in one sjjirit. one sord. The phrase "in one spirit " may refer to tlie spirit of man, or to the Spirit of God. If it be intended to be strictly paralltd to the "one soul " (which has no separate pr(>position in the Greek), the former sense is manifestly suggested. If. however, the words " with one soul"' be connected, as is not 71 Exhortation to Fortitude, PHILIPPIANS, II. ami to Unity of Spirit. fast in one spirit, with one mind striv- ing together lor the faith of the gospel ; <2«) and in nothing terrified by your ad- versaries : Avhic'h is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of sah'a- tion, and that of God. (^o) Yoy unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to sulfer for his sake ; ^^^^ having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to he in me. CHAPTER II. — (1) If Chap. ii. 1-4. there he therefore any con- Exhortation to 1 , . . n\i • i -n unity or spirit solation m Christ, if any in humility and comfort of love, if any sympathy. unnatural, witli " striving together," this suggestion falls to the ground; and the usage of this Epistle (see especially chap. ii. 1 — 7), and the other Epistles of the same period (Eph. ii. 18 — 22; iii. 5; v. 18; vi. 18; Col. i. 8), certainly favours the latter interpretation. In either case "the soul" (as in the famous three-fold division of men's nature in 1 Thess. v. 23) is that element of humanity which is the seat of emotion and passion. (Comp. the " one heart and one soul " of Acts iv. 32.) This clement the Christianity of the New Testament, unlike Stoicism or asceticism, will not crush, but enlist, as it enlists the body also, in the free service of God. Striving together for the faith.— Properly, ivith the faith. The faith of the gospel — the power of Christianity — is personified. The Philippians are to be combatants on the same side against the same foes (compare the use of the same word in chap. iv. 3). The metaphor seems drawn from the games, as is seen by the use of the simple verb in 2 Tim. ii. 8, " If a man strive ... he is not crowned, except he strive lawfully." In the exhortation to stand fast (comp. Eph. vi. 13, 14) we have the clement of passive endurance, here of active and aggressive energy. (-») Terrified. — The original word is strong — start iiir/, or flinching, like a scared animal. Which yihui is, your fearlessness) is . .—This fear- lessness, in the absence of all earthly means of pro- tection or victory, is a sign of a divane " strength made perfect in weakness " (2 Cor. xiii. 9) — not a complete and infallible sign (for it has often accompanied mere fanatic delusion), but a sign real as far as it goes, having its right force in harmony with others. The effect which it had on the heathen themselves is shoAvn even l)y the affected contempt with which the Stoics spoke of it, as a kind of " madness," a morbid " habit," a sheer " obstinacy." (See Epictetus, iv. 7 ; Marc. Aurelius. Med. xi. 3.) And that of G-od,— These words apply to the word " token," and so derivatively both to " perdition " and "salvation." The sign is of God, because the gift of spiritual strength is of God, but it may be read by both sides. Like the pillar of God's presence, it is " a cloud and darkness" to the one, but " light by night" to tlie other. (-0) Tor (or, because) unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ.- The force lies, first, in the phrase '• it is given" (ratlier, it was given, from the beginning) — for the original signifies " it was granted as a privilege " or " favour " (as in Acts xxvii. 24 ; 1 Cor. ii. 12; Gal. iii. 18) — and next in the words "on behalf of Christ." The fearlessness of the Christian is a gift of God, not an inherent stoic self-sufficiencj'. It rests indeed npon tlie sense that it is a privilege to suffer (see Acts v. 41) in the cause of truth, yet still more on the belief that such suffering is for no abstract principle, but on behalf of Christ and ^vith Christ. (See chap. ii. 17, 18.) Not only to believe . . .—The original shows that St. Paul speaks as if he originally intended simply to say " it is given on behalf of Christ to suffer." But to show whence the impulse of that brave willingness to suffer proceeds, he inserts " not only to believe on Him," and then finishes the sentence, " but on His behalf to suffer." (30) Having the same conflict, which ye saw in me. — The allusion is, of course, to the lawless scourging and imprisonment of Acts xvi. 22 — 24. How deeply this outrage impressed itseK on the Apostle's own mind we see, both by his conduct to the magistrates at the moment, and also by the allusion in 1 Thess. ii. 2, to the time, Avhen " we had suffered befoi'e and were shame- fully entreated, as ye know, at Philipjii." Here he uses the remembrance to suggest to the Philippians that their struggle was only the same which he had borne, and borne successfully. Similarly in 2 Tim. iii. 10 (going back on the eve of death to the very beginning of his ministry to the Gentiles) he reminds Timothy of the persecutions " at Antioch, at Iconium. at Lystra — what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me." IL (1^*) In this section the hint given above, in tho allusion to '' one spirit " and " one soul," is expanded into a direct exhortation to unity of spirit, as shown both by absence of self-assertion and by presence of a genial sympathy. (1) If there be therefore any consolation . . . — In the four-fold division of this verse we ti'ace, first, a reference to unity -with Christ, and to a spiritual effect following from it ; next, a similar reference to communion witli the Holy Ghost, and a coin-esponding spiritual result. (1) "Consolation" is properly en- couragement— tho stiiTing up of spiritual activity — ascribed in Acts ix. 31 to the action of the Holy Spirit, but here viewed as a practical manifestation of the life flowing from union with Christ. Out of it comes natxirally the " comfort of love," that is, as always, tho deep and thankful sense of comfort in His love, over- flowing into comfort, lovingly given to our brethren. On this " encouragement " in Christ, both received and given out to others, St. Paul dAvells at length (2 Cor. i. 3 — 7). (2) Next, he speaks of "communion of the Spirit " (tho very word used in 2 Cor. xiii. 13), by which, indeed, wo are brought into that unity \vith Christ; and of this, still keeping to the main idea of love, he makes the nianitVstation to be in " bowels and mercies " — that is. both in strong affection, and in that ])eculiar form of affection which is directed towards suffering, viz., compassion or pity. The whole passage (like chap. iv. 8, 9) is full of a grave and jjer- suasive eloquence characteristic of this Epistle. No absolute distinction is to be drawn between the two elements of the sentence ; but it may be noted that 72 The Duty of Self-sacrifice. PHILIPPIANS, II. The Mind of Christ Jesun. fellowship of the Sph-it, if any bowels and mercies, (-^ fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, havin<^ the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. ^^^ Let nothing' he done through strife or vain- glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (•■) Look not ever}^ man on his own things, but every man also on the ^i, ■■ ^ -,^ ,1 • '^n n /-, T > Chap. u. 5—11. things of others. ('^^ Let The twofold this mind be in you, which liumility and 1 • r^^ • 1 -r thocorresponu- was also m Christ J esus : ing exaltation (^^ who, beino^ in the form %^ ^l^e Lord ^^ r* 1 XI 1 i. -J. J. Jesus Chnst. 01 (jrod, thought it not tliG "consolation in Christ" is exhibited in the action which \'isibly follows His divine example, " the coni- muniou Avilli the Holy Spirit " is shown by the inner emotion, not seen, but felt. (-) That ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. — In this verse there is again a four-fold division ; but of a different kind. St. Paul begins with the exhortation not uncommon from him, to be likeminded," that is, to have true sjTiipathy (as in Rom. xii. 16 ; xv. 5 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 11; also chap. iii. 10; iv. 2); which he naturally strengthens l)y the addition of "ha\-ing the same love " (that is, a mutual love), to show that the sympathy is to be one not only of mind but of heart. But this does not satisfy him : he rises to the further exhorta- ti(m to perfect " union of soul " (which is the proper rendering for " being of one accord ") in which they sliall not only be likeminded, but (in a phrase peculiar to this passage) be actually "■ of one mind," living in one another, each sinking his individuality in the enthusiasm of a common love. (^) This verse expresses the negative result of this iinity of soul — that nothing will be done in " strife," that is, factiousness (the word used in chap. i. 17), or "vainglory" — nothing, that is, witli the desire either of personal influence or of personal glory. " For," he adds, " each will esteem other better than himself," or, rather, will hold that his neighbour js worthy of higher consideration and a higlier place of dignity than himself (comp. the use of the word in Rom. xiii. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 13, of temporal dignity) ; for the idea is of the ascription to others, not of moral superiority, but of higlier place and honour. Self-assertion will be entirely overborne. So he teaches us elsewhere that " charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself uuseeml}', seeketh not her own " (1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5). <^) Look not every man on his own things.— Tliis verso similai'ly describes the positive effect of this '■ being of one mind " as consisting in power of under- standing and sympathy towards " the things of others " — not merely the interests, but also the ideas and feelings of otliers. To " look upon " here is something more tlian "to seek "(as in verse 21). It expresses that insight into the thoughts, hopes, aspirations of others, which only a self -forgetting love can give, as well as the cai-e to consider their welfare and happiness. Yet by the word " also " wo see that St. Paul does not, in the spirit of some forms of modern transcendentalism, denounce all self-consciousness and self-love, as in a bad sense " selfish." For man is individual as well as social ; lie c:in subordinate " his own tilings " to " the things of others," but cannot ignore tlicni. [4. The Doctrine of the Great Humility of Christ (verses 5 — 11). (1) The Voluntary Humiliation of the Lord, first in His incarnation, next La His passion (verses 5 — 8). 73 (2) The Corresponding Exaltation of His Humanity, to bear " the Name above every name," which all creation must adore (verses 9-11).] (5—8) From a pi-actical introduction, in the familiar exhortation to follow the example of our Lord, St. Paul passes on to what is. perhaps, the most complete and formal statement in all his Epistles of the doctrine of His " great humility." In this he marks out, first, the Incarnation, in which, " being in the form of God, He took on Him the form of a servant," assuming a sinless but finite humanity ; and next, the Passion, which was made needful by the sins of men, and in which His human nature was humiliated to the shame and agony of the cross. Inseparable in themselves, these two great acts of His self-sacrificing love must be di.stinguished. Ancient speculat'.on delighted to suggest that the first might have been, even if humanity had remained sinless, while the second was added because of the fall and its consequences. Sucli speculations are, indeed, thoroughly precarious and unsubstantial — for we cannot ask what might have been in a. different dispensation from our own ; and, more- over, we read of our Lord as " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world " (Rev. xiii. 8 ; see also 1 Pet. i. 19) — but they at least point to a true distinc- tion. As " the Word of God " manifested in the Incarnation, our Lord is the treasure of all humanity as such ; as the Saviour through death, He is the especial treasure of us as sinners. (6) Being in the form of God.— (1) Tlie word " being " is here the more emphatic of the two words so ti'anslated, which lays stress on the reality of exist- ence (as in Acts x^i. 2U; xvii. 28; 1 Cor. xi. 7; Gal. ii. 14). Hence it calls attention to the essential being of Christ, eoiTespouding to the idea embodied in the name Jehovah, and thus implying wliat is more fully exjiressed in John i. 1. (2) The word " form " (which, except for a casual use in Mark xvi. 12, is found only in this passage of tlie New Testament) is to be carefully distinguished from " fashion." There can be no doubt that in classi- cal Greek it describes the actual specific character, which (like the structure of a material substance) makes each being what it is ; and this same idea is always con- veyed in the New Testament by the compound words in which the root "form" is found (Rom. viii. 29; xii. 2 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18; Gal. iv. 19). (3) On the other hand, the word " fashion," as in 1 Cor. vii. 31 (" the fashion of this world passoth away "), denotes the mere out- ward appearance (wliich we frequently designate as " form "), as will be seen also in its compounds i2 Cor. xi. 13. Ii; 1 Pet. i. 14). The two words are seen in .iuxtaposition in Rom. xii. 2 ; Phil. iii. 21 (where see Notes). Hence, in tliis passage the " being in tlie form of God," describes our Lords essential, and therefore eternal, being in tlie true nature of God; wliile the "taking on Him the form of a servant" similarly Tlie Humility of the Incarnation. PHILIPPIANS, II. TJi£ Ilumilitij of the Cross. robbery to be equal -witli God : (^^ but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a ser- vant, and was made in the like- ness ^ of men : <^) and beinj? found in 1 Or, habit. fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. <^^ Where- fore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above refers to His voluntary assumption of the true nature of man. It should be noticed that, whoroas in St. Paul's earlier Epistles, in which he cared not " to know any- thing save Jesus Christ," and '• Ilim as cnicified," the main idea is always of our Lord as tlie mediator between man and God, yet in the later Epistles (as here, and in Eph. i. 10, 20—23; Col. i. 15-19; ii. 9—11 ; to which ■\re may add Heb. i. 2 — 4) stress is laid, sometimes (as in Eph. i. 10 ^ on His gathering all things in heaven and earth unto Himself ; sometimes, even more explicitly, on His partaking of the divine nature, and (as in Col. i. 17) of His possessing tlie divine attribute of creation. All this naturally leads up to the great declaration of His true and perfect Godhead in Jolui i. 1 — 13. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God. — There are two main interpretations of this passage ; first, the interpretation given in our version, which makes it simply an explanation and enforcement of the words "being in the form of God"; secondly, the translation tliorujht it not a prize to be grasped at to he equal with God, which begins in it the statement of our Lord's voluntaiy self-humiliation, to be completed in the words, "but emptied Himself of glory." The former preserves the literal translation of the original word " robbery ; " the latter, in accordance with a not uncommon usage, makes it equivalent to " the thing snatched at," and if this be allowed, has abundant examples in other writings to support the meaning thus given to the whole phrase. Either intei-pretation yields good sense and sound doctrine ; neither does violence to the general context. But the latter is to be preferred; first (1) because it suits better the idea of the passage, which is to empliasise the reality of our Lord's humility, and preserves the opposition implied in the " but " following; (2) because it has the great pre- ponderance of the ancient Greek interpreters in its favour; (S) because it can, on the whole, appeal more confidently to ordinary u.sage of the phrase. Tlie sense is that, being in tlie form of God, and therefore ha^-ing equality with God, He set no store on that equality, as a glory to Himself, compared with the power of giving salvation to all men, which He is pleased to consider a new joy and glory. (7) But made himself . . .— Tliis verse needs more exact translation. It should be. But emptied (or, stripped) Himself of His glonj by having taken on Him the form of a slave and having bepu made (or, born) in likeness of men. Tlie "glory" is the "glory which He had with the Father before the world was" (John xvii. 5; comp. chap. i. 14), clearly corre- sponding to tlie Shechinah of the Divine Presence. Of this He stripped Himself in the Incarnation, taking on Him the " form (or, nature) of a servant " of God. He resumed it for a moment in the Transfiguration; He was crowned with it anew at the Ascension. Made in the likeness of man.— This clause, at first sight, seems to weaken the previous clause, for it does not distinctly express our Lord's time humanity. But we note that the phrase is " the likeness of men'" i.e., of men in general, men as tliey actually are. Hence the key to the meaning is to be found iii such passages as Rom. viii. 3, God sent His own Son in " the likeness of sinful flesh ; " or Heb. ii. 17 ; iv. 15, " It behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren," " in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." It would liave been an infinite humiliation to have assumed humanity, even in unique and visible glory ; but our Lord went beyond this, by deigning to seem like other men in all things, one only of the multitude, and that, too, in a station, which confused Him with the commoner tjiies of niankiud. The truth of His humanity is expressed in the phrase "form of a servant; " its unique and ideal character is glanced at when it is said to have worn only the " likeness of men." (8J And being found . . .—This should be. And after having been found (or, recognised) in fashion as a man, He [i/ie/i] humbled Himself, having become obedient even to death. "After having been found," &.C., clearly refers to the manifestation of Himself to the world in all the weakness of humanity : the " out- ward fashion " was all that men could see ; and in it they found "no form or comeliness," or " beauty, that they should desire Him" (Isa. liii. 2, 3). From this St. Paul proceeds to the last act of His self-humiliation in death : " He became obedient," that is, to God's will, " even up to death." His death is not here regarded as an atonement, for in that light it could be no pattern to us; but as the completion of the obedience of His life. (See Rom. v. 19.1 Of that life as a whole He said, " I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me " (John vi. 38) ; and the doing that Avill (see Heb. x. 9, 10 i ended in " the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." In this light Hlj aeath is the perfection of the suffering which, in consequence of the power of sin in the world, must be faced in doing the will of God (see 2 Tim. iii. 12); in this light we can follow it, and even " fill up what is lacking of the sufferings of Christ " (Col. i. 24). Even the death of the cross.— Properly, and that too, the death of the cross ; empliasising its peculiar shame and humiliation as an " accursed " death. (See Gal. iii. 13.) (9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. — The exaltation, like the humiliation, belongs to Him, as Son of Man ; for He was " lifted up," as on tho cross, so in the Ascension. It raises Him to the throne of the Mediatorial kingdom, on which He entered by the Ascension, sitting at the riglit hand of God till He has put all enemies under His feet, and then ready " to deliver up the kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all." (See 1 Cor. xv. 24—28.) For it is the " Son of Man " who " cometh in tlie clouds of heaven " (Dan. vii. 13 ; Matt. xxvi. 6i), and has " authority to execute judgmiMit " (John v. 27). Hath given him a name.— Or. rather, the Name above every name. " The Name" (for this seems to be the best reading) is clearly " the Name " of God. It is properly the name Jeliovali, held in the extremest literal reverence liy the Jews, and it came to signify (almost like " the Word ") the revelation of the presence of God. See Rev. xix. 12, 13. where "the name which no man knew but Hunself " is the " Word of God." 74 The Exaltation to Glory. PHILIPPIANS, II. Exhortation to Perseverance. every name : (^*^' that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of thirujs in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; ^^^^ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. <^-) Wherefore, my Tliis is, indeed, made clear by the followiug verse ; for the adoration there described is in the original passage (Isa. xlv. 23 ; comp. Rom. xiv. 11), claimed as the sole due of God Himself. The name Jesus, " Jehovah the Saviour " (like " Jehovah our Righteousness," in Jer. xxiii. 6), does contain, as an integral element, the incommunicable name of God, while the addition of " Saviour " points to the true humanity. Therefore in that Is'ame, of Him who is at once (iod and Man, '■ every knee is to bow " with direct worship to Him. UO; At (properly, in) the name of Jesus every knee should bow.— This is an instance of the signiticant practice, by which passages of the Old Testament speaking of God are, as a matter of course, applied in the New to our Lord Jesus Christ. " In the Kame" is the phrase constantly used forworshipof God. '• I will lift up my hajuls in Thy Name" (Ps. Ixiii. 4). It denotes worship to Christ, not through Him. Of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. — For " things " we may better suljstitute beinys, for the reference is properly to personal beings ; although in some sense " All the works of tlie Lord bless the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever." (Comp. here Rev. v. 13, " Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth . . . heard I saying. Blessing, and lionour, and glory, and power be unto Him tliat sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever." See also Eph. i. 2U, 21, and Notes there.) (11) That Jesus Christ is Lord.— The word " Lord " is the word constantly used ia +he LXX. to translate, though inadequately, the name Jeliovah. The context would suggest that meaning here, for the worship paid is obviously the worsliip done to God. But. though less perfectly, the acknowledgment of universal lordsliip and majesty (such as He claimed in Matt, xxviii. is — 20) would satisfy the necessities of the passage. For, after all, to what created being can it be due r* (On this confession of Jesus as Lord, see Actsii. 36; Rom. x. 9.) To the glory of God the Father.- Tlie acknow- ledgment of tlie glory of Christ is tlie acknowledgment of tlic glory of tl>e Father, as the Source of Deity, manifested perfectly in Him. (See John i. 18; xiv. 9). Note in .John v. 19 — 30, our Lord's repeated profes- sion that His work on earth was to manifest the Father ; in chap. xvii. 4, His declaration that He had so done; and in chap. xvii. 24. the truth that His glory is the glory given of the Father. [5. Exhortation and Commendation (verses 12 — 30). (1) Exhortation to Work out their Sal- vation tlirough tlie inworking of God, and so to be lights in the world, and the glory of the Apostle, even in the hour of martyrdom (verses 12—18). (2) St. Paul's Intention to send Timothy, AND Hope to come himself shortly (verses 19—24). beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, Avork out your own salvation Avith fear and trembling. (^^^ For it is God which worketh in you Chap. ii. 12- 18. Exhortation to work out tliL'ir salvation under God's grace, in earnestness, peace, and purity. (3) Present Mission of Epaphroditus, now recovered from his late sickness, and strong commendation of his zeal (verses 25 — 30).] (12—18) By the word " wherefore " St. Paul connects this exhortation with the great passage above. For the main idea is here of the presence of God in theui, working out glory through a condition of humiliation, on condition of their fellow- working with Him; so tliat they shall appear as the " sons of God'' and as " lights in the world." In all this there is clearly the imperfect but true likeness of the indwelling of Godhead in our Lord's humanity, exalting it through the two-fold humiliation to the unspeakable glory. (12) As ye have always obeyed.— It is notable that this Epistle is the only one wliich contains no direct rebuke. The Philippian Church has the glory of having "always obeyed,'' not (like the Galatian Church) " as in his presence only, but now much more in his absence." This " obedience" was to the will of God as set forth by him. In referring to it, there is an allusion to the " obedience " of Christ (in verse b) ; hence iheir obedience includes also that willingness to suffer which He Himself has shown. (See chap. i. 29, 30.) To this, perhaps, there is a further allusion in the " fear and trembling " spoken of below. (See 2 Cor. vii. 15 ; Eph. vi. 5.) Work out your own salvation.— To "work out" is (as in Eph. vi. 13) to carry out to completion what is begun. This is the function of man. as fellow-worker with God, first in his own soul, and then among his brethren. God is the " beginner and per- fecter " of every "good work" (see chap. i. 6); man's co-(>peration is secondary and intermediate. (13) For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do- — In this famous paradox St. Paul calls on men to work by their own will, just because oidy God can gi-ant them power both to will and to do. The origination of all in God. and the free action (which is in some sense origination) of man, are both truths recognised by our deepest consciousness, but to our logic irreconcilable. In one passage only (Rom. ix. 14—24) does St. Paul touch, and that slightly and suggestively, on their reconcilement : generally Holy Scripture — in this confirming human reason — brings out each vividly and profoundly in turn, and leaves the problem of their reconcilement untouched. Here the paradoxical form of the sentence forces on the mind the recognition of the co-existence of both. If that recognition be accepted, the force of the reasoning is clear. The only encouragement to work, in a being weak and finite like man, is the conviction that tlie Almighty power is working in him, both as to will and deed. Tlie word " worketh in you " is constantly applied to the divine operation in the soul '.sec 1 Cor. xii. 6. 11 ; Gal. ii. 8; Eph. i. 11, 20; ii. 2); rarely, as here (in the word rendered "to do ") to the action of men. It must neces- I sarily extend to the will as well as the action ; otherwise 75 Exhortation to Peace. PHILIPPIANS, 11. St. Paul's Joy at tlielr Faith. both to -will and to do of his good pleasure. <^^^ Do all things without murmurings and disjiutings : <^^^ that ye may be blameless and harmless,' the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. 2 Or, shine ye. 1 Or, Sincere. 3 fir. pored forth. among whom ye shine - as lights in the world; (^^^ holding forth the word of life ; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. *^"^ Yea, and if I be offered^ upon the sacrifice and God would not be sovereign iu the inner realm of mind (as, indeed. Stoic philosophy denied that He was). We are familiar with the intluenee of one created will over auotlier — an influence real, though limited, yet in no sense compulsive. From this experience we may catch a faint glimpse of the inner working of the Spirit of God on the spirit of man. Hence, while we cannot even conceive the existence of freedom under an un- bending impersonal law or force, the harmony of our will with a Supreme Personal Will is mysterious, indeed, but not inconceivable. Of his good pleasure.— Literally, on behalf of His good 2)leasnre ; that is, in liarmouy with it. On the double sense of " good pleasure " see Note on Eph. i. 5. Here, probably, the meaning is His "gracious will" for our salvation. (1^) Without murmurings and disputings.— St. Paul seems puri)osely to leave this precept in per- fect generality, so as to apply to their relations both to God and man. We observe, however, that the word " disputings " is mostly used of objections and cavils in word (see Matt. xv. 19 ; Luke v. 22 ; vi. 8 ; Rom. i. 21; xiv. 1); although in Luke ix. 47, xxiv. 38, and perhaps 1 Tim. ii. 8, it is applied to the inner strife of the heart. In either case it seems mainly to indicate intellectual questionings. Similarly, tlie word " mur- muring " is used of outward wranglings of discontent (Matt. XX. 11; Liike v. 30; John vi. 41, 43, 61; vii. 12; Acts vi. 1 ; 1 Cor. x. 10; 1 Pet. iv. 9), proceeding not so much from the mind, as from the heart. The object, moreover, contemplated in verse 15 is chiefly good example before men. Hence the primary reference would seem to be to their relation towards men, in spite of the close connection with the i)receding verse. Nor can we forget that it is on unity among themselves that the main stress of the exhortation of this chapter turns. Of course it is obvious that the disposition rebuked is sure to show itself in both relations; and that, if checked in one, the chock will react on the other. (15) Blameless and harmless.—" Blameless" as to external law and judgment (as iu Luke i. 6; 1 Tliess. ii. 10) ; '■ harmless " in internal purity and simplicity (as in Matt. x. 16, " harmless as doves ; " and Rom. xvi. 19). The sons of God, without rebuke.— The word " \vithout r(>buke " is, according to the best MSS., the same as that whicli is used in Eph. i. 4 (where see Note), and elsewhere, to signify " unblemislied." The whole passage seems certainly a reminiscence of Dent, xxxii. 5, as it runs in the Greek version, speaking of the Israelites as " no children of God, full of blemish, a crooked and perverse generation." The word " crooked" is similarly applied to the unbelie^-ing Jews by St. Peter in Acts ii. 40, and the epithet " faitidess and perverse generation " used by our Lord iu Matt. xvii. 17: Luke ix. 41. Lights. — Properly, luminaries ; so used in the Old Testament, and probably in Rev. xxi. 11. Christians are as the lesser liijhts of heaven, dim in comparison with the Sun of Righteousness, perhaps shining by His reflected light, and seen only in the night of this life, till He shall rise on us again in the " day of Christ " sjioken of in the next verse. The word, there- fore, stands half-way between " light " itself, as in Matt. V. 14, and the merely artificial " light " (or, candle) of John V. 35. (16) Holding forth the word of life. — This translation seems correct, and the reference is to the comparison above. There may, indeed, be (as has been sujiposed) a reference, involving a change of metaphor, to the holding forth of a torch, for guidance, or for transmission, as in the celebrated torch race of ancient times. But this su^jposed change of metaphor is un- necessary. The " luminaries " hold forth their light to men, and that light is the " word of life." Note the same connection in John i. 4, " In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." The word of life. — The phrase " the word of life " is remarkable. Here it signifies, of course, the gospel of Christ. But the gradual progress of this expression should be noted. Of Him His disciples declared that He " has the words " (i.e., the expressed words ; see Note on Ej)h. vi. 17) " of eternal life " (John vi. 68) ; He Himself goes further, and declares that His words are themselves jipirit. and . Jife (John vi. 63) ; here the gospel, as'^i\'ing that knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ which is "eternal life" (John xvii. 3), is a " word of life ; " and all these lead up to the final declaration that He Himself is "the Word of life" (1 John i. 1). Run in vain, neither laboured in vain. — St. Paul's usual metaphor includes the " race " and the " sti-uggle " of wrestling or boxing (as in 1 Cor. ix. 24 — 26 ; 2 Tim. iv. 7). In Gal. ii. 2 he speaks only of the " running in vain." Here, perhaps, the more general word " labour " (united in Col. i. 29 with the word "struggling") may be taken to express at any rate that element of endurance and watchfulness which the struggle in the arena represents. (17) If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith. — The striking metaphor of the original is here imperfectly represented. It is. If I am being poured out — if my life-blood is poured out — over the sacrifice and religious ministration of your faith. The same word is used in 2 Tim. iv. 6, where our version has, " I am now ready to be offered." The allusion is to the practice of pouring out libations or drink-offerings (usually of wine) over sacrifices, both Jewish and heathen. Such libation was held to bo a subsidiary or preparatoiy element of the sacrifice. In that light St. Paul regards his own possible martyrdom, not so much as having a purpose and value in itself, but rather as conducing to the self-sacrifice of the Philippians by faith — a sacrifice apparently contem- ])lated as likely to be offered in life rather than by death. The sacrifice and service of your faith.— The word here rendered " service," with its kindred words, properly means any .service rendered Viy an individual for the community; and it retains something of this mean- ing in 2 Cor. ix. 12, where it is applied to the collection and transmission of alms to Jerusalem (comp. Rom. 76 Mission of Timotheiis. PHILIPPIANS, II. Commendation of/iii Faithfulness. service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. (^^^ For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me. (^^) But^ I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. ^-^^ For I have no 2 Or, so dear unto me. 1 Or, Moreover. man likeminded,^^ who will naturally care for your state. ^-^^ For „, .. ,. „„ 1, 1 ^1 • , Chap. 11. 19— 23. all seek their own, not Mission of the things which are g7'^°*^j^yf ^^ Jesus Christ's. <-2) But runner,^ and ye know the proof of him, commendation li , •,! ,1 or liiiu to tiieui. that, as a sou with the XV. 27 ; and see below, chap. ii. 25, 30), and in Rom. xiii. 6 and Heb. i. 7, where " the powers that bo " and the angels are respectively called " ministers of God." But the gi-eat preponderance of New Testament usage appropriates it to priestly serA'ice (see Luke i. 23; Rom. XV. 16; Heb. viii. 2, 6; ix. 21; x. 11), which is obviously its sense here. The simplest interpretation of the whole passage would be to consider the Pliilippiaus merely as priests, and to suppose "sacrifice" to describe the chief function, and " ministration " the general function, of their priesthood. But the word " sacrifice," though it might etymologically mean the act of sacrifice, has universally in the New Testament the sense, not of the act, but of the thing sacrificed. Accordingly, here it would seem that, following afar off the example of the great high priest, the Christian is described as at once sacrifice and priest, " offering " (see Rom. xii. 1) "his own body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God," and witli it the " sacrifice of praise " and the "sacrifice of doing good and communicating" (Heb. xiii. 15, 16, and below, chap. iv. 18). This union of sacrifice and ministration, being the work " of faith," is in St. Paul's view the thing really precious ; his own death the mere preparation for it, in which he rejoices " to spend and be spent " for tliem. I joy, and rejoice with you all.— That is, Ijo7j, and that in sympathy icifh you. Fu'st, "I joy" absolutely, in the feeling that " to depart and be with Christ," following Him in His own way of suffering, is far better. Next, " I joy in sympathy with you," in the sense of community of sacrifice, and brotherhood in suffering, for the sake of the one Lord. The emphasis laid on the latter clause harmonises with the old proverb, that sorrow is halved, and joy doubled, when it is sliared with otliers. (1^) Do ye joy . . .—The Epistle lays great stress on joy. not only as a pri^nlege, but as a duty, following from Christian faith and proving its reality. Joy is in itself natural in the first thoughts of childhood and youth ; it is apt to be chequered or even destroyed by the second thoughts of fuller experience of life, as darkened by suffering, sin, and death ; but in the third and deepest thoughts of tlie Christian, recognising these darker elements of life, but knowing that tliey were not in the beginning, and shall not be in the end, joy comes back, solemnised but deepened into thankful- ness. A Christianity which has no jiower to rejoice, eitlier in flashes of joy amidst tribulation, or, ])etter still, in the calm .steady light of cheerfulness, may be true. Init is imperfect. It has not yet entered into the promise given bj- our Lord Himself of the " joy which no man takcth from us " (John xvi. 22). (19—24) gt. Paul takes occasion of a promise to send Timothy shortly, to give an emphatic commendation of liim. and adds a hope that he may soon come to Philippi himself. (19) "VVe note that liere Timothy is spoken of in the third person ; hence, though ho is joined with St. 77 Paul in the salutation (see chap. i. 1), the Epistle is the Apostle's, and his alone. The same is the case in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (comp. chap. i. 1 with chap. iii. 2, 6). That I also may be of good comfort.— The words express some anxiety, 1)ut greater confidence, as to the news which Timothy on returning was likely to bring. We have instances of a similar but far stronger anxiety of affection in 2 Cor. ii. 13; vii. 6, 7, and 1 Thess. iii. 1 — 9. In regard to the Philippians it might exist in detail, but was swallowed up in con- fidence on all main points. (20) For I have no man likeminded. — That is, probably, Uke-vd)idcd u-it]i my.-?elf. St. Paul calls Timothy his "genuine (or, true] son in the faith" (1 Tim. i. 2), a son who in spirit and affection was like his father. The word " naturally " in this verse is the same word, and should be translated geiudnely, without either counterfeit or duplicity of aim ; and the word " care " impUes something of the same absorbing anxiety which is expressed on St. Paul's part in this passage. (21) For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.— Compare our Lord's words, " Ye shall be scattered every man to his o\vn (things), and shall leave Me alone " (John xvi. 32). St. Paul's declaration is startling; for he had certainly some "brethren with him" (chap. iv. 21). But the scanty notice of them in the close of this Epistle contrasts strongly with the detailed and affectionate mention of his companions l)y name in Col. iv. 7 — 14 ; Philem. verses 23, 2-1. It would seem as if at this time he was either separated accidentally from his most tnisty disciples, or that there had been a tem- porary falling away from him. in some degree like that which he descril)es with so nuich s:idness in 2 Tim. iv. 9, 10, 16. His words need not be taken as accusing all of absolute selfishness and unfaithfulness, but they are nevertheless startling enough. (-2) The proof of him.— The allusion is justified by their intimate personal knowledge. Timothy was at Philippi with St. Paul on his first visit (Acts xvi. 12 — 10) ; we find him sent to Thessalonica shortly after (1 Tliess. iii. 2), and he probably then paid a second visit to Philippi; from Ephesus (Actsxix. 22) he is sent again to Macedonia; and with St. Paul on the way to Jerusalem he was at Philippi once more (Acts xx. 4—6). As a son with the father.— The original con- struction is curiously broken here. It runs. As a son to a father — as though St. Paul was going to speak of Timothy's dutiful ministration aiul following of liis example ; but then the sentence changes, in a charac- teristic humility, and makes Timothy and himself merely fellow-servants — he served icith me in the gospel. If we may judge of Timotliy's character from the general character of St. Pauls directions to him in the Pastoral Epistles, and especially the signi- ficant exhortation, "Let no man despise thy youth, (1 Tim. iv. 12\ it would seem to have been gentle and warm-hearted rather than commanding. Hence, Mission of EpapUrodltus. PHILIPPIANS, II. His Sickness and Recovery. father, he hath served with me in the gosjicl. (-^^ Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. <-^' But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. <-^> Yet I supposed it Chap. ii. 25— 30. necessary to send to you Mission and Epaphroditus, my brother, com men elation i • • i i of Epaplirodi- '^^d companion in labour, tii=i- and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. ("^) For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. <27; pyj. indeed he was sick nigh unto death : but God had mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow uiDon sorrow. ^^^1 I sent him therefore the more carefully, pi'fhap.s, the necessity for this singularly emphatic coinuii'nilation of him. (Comp. 1 Cor. xvi. 10, " If Timotlii'us come, see that lie bo with yon without fear.") (-^) How it will go with me.— An explanatory paraplirase, tliougli pi-oljaI)ly correct, of the original, the tkiiigs conceniiiu/ me. Proljably some crisis in the imprisonment was at hand, with which the expectation of release implied in the next A'erse was connected. i'^i) But I trust. . .—Compare Philein. verse 22, " Prepare me a lodging, for 1 trust that through your prayers I shall be given to you," where the expecta- tion seems even more immediate. The interval between the Letters is unknown. The received belief of St. Paul's release, aud subsequent re-imprisonment (resting on unvarying tradition, aud on the evidence of tlio Pastoral Epistles), supposes this expectation to have been fultilled in due time. In the Lord. — So above, verse 19. The expression, connected in botli cases with matters of practical life and even of detail, is one which (like " the bowels of Jesus Christ " in chap. i. 8) belongs to the conscious- ness of a life so absorbed in Christ, that it cannot think or live in liope except " in the Lord." But it carries with it, perhaps, also the idea suggested by St. James (chap. iv. 15) "If the Lord will, we shall do this or that." Just so far as a hope or prayer is really " in the Lord," it will be accordant with the Divine will, and will therefore be i-ealised. Verses 25 — 30 contain the immediate mission and commendation of Epir^jhroditus, who had been sent from Philippi with supplies, liad fallen sick, aud now in convalescence was longing for home, and fearful lest the report of his sickness should cause them anxiety. (25) Epaphroditus.— The name was often shortened into Epaphras. But it was a common name; hence any identitication with the Epaphras of Col. i. 7; iv. 12 ; Phileni. verse 23, is, to say the least, extremely precarious. It is liardly likely that one who was a native Colossian would lie a resident and chosen messenger of Philippi. The three titles liere given him are closely joined together in tlie original, aud form a kind of climax — " brother " in a common Christianity, " fellow-woi-ker " in tlie service of Cluist, " fellow-soldier " in tlie '• liardness " of daring and suffering, which the warfare of the Cross implies. (See 2 Tim. ii. 3. 4.) Your messenger.— Tlie original word is aposUe; and by some interpreters, ancient and modern, it lias been thought that it is intended here to designate the chief i)astor — or, in the modern sense, the bishop — of the Philippiau Church (as probably is the case with the "angels" of the churches in tlie Apocalypse); and the word '• your " is then explained in the same sense as the words " of the Gentiles" in Rom. xi. 13. But this is very unlikely, (1) because there seems to be no 78 example to confirm the statement tliat the chief pastor of a church was ever called its "apostle; " (2) because the character of the apostolate, being general and evangelistic, was very different from that of the local and pastoral episcopate ; (3) because in this passage the word is inseparably connected wdth the following " and minister to my needs," showing the latter jjlirase to be explanatory of the previous word; (-i) because the style of commendation in verse 29 is hardly suitable as applied to one whose office alone should have com- manded respect. Our version is, therefore, correct in rendering it "messenger," just as in 2 Cor. viii. 23 ("the messengers of the churches"), where there is a similar reference to the transmission of alms. (-ti) For he longed after you all . . . . — The two clauses of the verse are distinct from each other. St. Paul's first reason for sending Epaphroditus was in itself a sufficient one, that in his convalescence he yearned for home, aud needed a change thither. The original is strong, because he was continually longing (see chap. i. S; iv. 1) for you all. But besides this he was " full of heaviness," or more properly, distressed' and uneasy, because of the effect which the news of his apparently fatal illness might cause at home. (27) God had mercy on him . . . and on me also. — The passage, over aud above its interest as an example of the strong personal affection Avhich belonged to St. Paul's nature, aud harmonised with his wide scope of Christian love, is notable as showing clearly that the Ajoostle's power of miracle, great as it was, was not his own, to use at his o^vii will. When it was needed to be " the sign of an Apostle " (2 Cor. xiii. 12) it was given ; aud at special times, as at Ephesus, it was given in " special" fulness (Acts xix. 11). As we note, both in the Old Testament aud in the New. special epochs of miracles in the history of the Church ; so it would seem there were special occasions on which miracle came out prominently in the Apostle's preaching. We may, perhaps, infer from certain points in the descrij)tions of the healing of the cripple at the Beautiful Gate (Acts iii. 4), and at Lystra (Acts xiv. 8) that sinue spiritual intimation warned tliem when the hour of miracle was come. But an Apostle could not. as our Lord would not, work miracles for his own needs. Thus in this case, deeply as lie sorrowed for Epapliroditus. there is no hint of liis exercising that power on his behalf. He could only pray that God would have mercy on him, and thank (iod when that ])rayer was heard. Sorrow upon sorrow.— That is, probably, upon the sorrow of captivity the sorrow of losing one who had (see verse 30) risked his life in the ardour of service to the captive. (28) I sent him therefore the more carefully.— That is, I ivas the more earnest and anvious to send him. In any case the Apostle would have been Commendation of Ids Zc(d. PHILIPPIANS, III. Conclusion and Resumption. tliat, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less soiTOwfuL (-^^ Receive him therefore in the Lord with all g-ladness ; and hold such in reputation:^ ('^^^ because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to A.D. (11. I Oi', Iwitoar such. supply your lack of service toward me. CHAPTEE III. — (1) Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the ^-^ --j j Lord. To write the same Original con- things to you, to me indeed elusion. desirous to express liis tlianks and send news by Epapbroditus. But tlio circunistauces of his illucss incivasod that desire to greater earnestness. I may be the less sorrowful. — There is a l^eouliar pathos in tliis expression, as contrasted with the couipleteuess of joy descri))ed above in verses 17,18. Epaphroditus' recovery aud safe return would take away the " sorrow upon sorrow ; " but the old sorrow of captivity, enforced inactivity, and anxiety for tlie condition of the gospel, would remain. The expression of perfect joy belongs to the " spirit whicli was willing" indeed; the hint of au unspoken sorrow marks tlie weakness of the flesli. (3^) Not regarding his life. — According to the true reading, the sense is "having hazarded liis life"; lite- rally, liKving (jamhled with Jus life, not merely having staked it, but staked it recklessly. It is possible that (as Bishop Wordsworth suggests) there may be allusion to the caution money, staked in a cause to show that it was not frivolous and A'exatious, and forfeited in case of loss ; and that Epaphroditus, risking his life through over-exertion in the cause of St. Paul, as a prisoner awaiting trial, is therefore said to have gambled with Ills life. This wovild give a special appropriateness to tlie allusion. But it is, perhaps, too artificial, aud the figure is in itself intelligible and striking. To supply your lack of service.— There is not in the original the touch of reproach which our version may seem to imply. Epajjhroditus' presence and activity are said to have " filled up the one thing wanting " to make the service of the Philippiaus effective for its purpose. III. [6. Original Conclusion of the Epistle (chap, iii. 1). "Finally Beethren, Farewell in the Lord."] (1) Finally.— The same word is used in 2 Cor. xiii. 11; Eph. vi. 10; 2 Thess. iii. 1 (as also in tliis Epistle, chap. iv. 8), to usher in the conclusion. Here, on the contrary, it stands nearly in the middle of the Ejtistle. Moreover, the commendation above of Timotliy and Epajihroditus is exactly that wliich, according to St. Paul's custom, Avould mark the tinal sentences of the whole. Again, the wcn-ds " rejoice in tlie Lord " may, according to the common usage of the time (althongli oertaitdy that usage is not adopted in otlier Letters of St. Paul), not improbalily 9.\gnUy farcioell in the Lord ; and even if not used in this formal and conventional sense, yet certainly hold tlie ])Osition of final good wishes, which that sense implies. The resumption of tliem in chap. iv. 4, where the actual C(mclusinn now begins, is striking. It seems, there- fore, liigldy prol)al)le, that in this ])]aco the Letter was originally drawing to an end, and tliat some news was at that moment brought which induced the Apostle to adtl a second part, couched in language of equal affection, bnt of greater anxiety and more emphatic warning. Of such a break, and resumption Avitli a far more complete change of style, -wo Ik-ivc a notable instance at the beginning of the tenth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians ; as also of the addition of postscript after postscript in the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. [7. Words of Warning (chaps, iii. 1 — iv. 3). (1) Against the Judaisees. (a) Warning agahist confidence "in the flesh," illustrated by his own renunciation of all Jewish jirivileges and hopes, in order to have "the righteousness of Christ" (verses 1 — 9). (h) Warning against confidence in perfection as already attained, again illustrated by his own sense of imperfection and hope of continual jJi-ogi-ess (verses 10 — 16). (2) Against the Antinomian Party. Contrast of tlie sensual and corrvpt life of the flesh with the spiritwdltg and hope of future perfection which become citizens of heaven (verses 17 — 21). (3) Against all tendency to Schism (cliap. iv. 1—3). To write the same things to you.— Those words may refer to what goes before, in which case the reference must be to " rejoice in the Lord." Kow, it is true tliat this is the burden of the Epistle; but this iuterpretati(m suits ill the following woids, "for you it is safe," which obviously refer to some warning against danger or temptation. Hence it is far better to refer them to the abrupt and incisive warnings that follow. Tliese, then, are said to be a repetition; but of what ? Hardly of the former part of this Epistle, for it is difficult there to find anything corresponding to them. If not, then it must be of St. Paul's previous teaching, by word or by letter. For the use liere of the word " to "VNTite,"' though it suits l)etter the idea of former communication by writing, cannot exclude oral teaching. That there was more than one Epistle to Philippi has been infei-red (probably, but not certainly) from an expression in Polycarp's letter to the Pliilip- pians (sect. 3), speaking of " the Ejiistles '' of St. Paul to tliem. It is not in itself unlikely that another Epistle should have been written ; nor liave we any right to argue decisividy against it, on the ground that no sucli Epistle is found in the canon of Scripture. But however this may be. it seems natural to refer to St. Paul's former teadiing as a whole. Now. wlien St. Paul first preached at Philippi, he liad not long before carried to Antioch the decree of the council against the contention of " them of the circumcision ; " and. as it was addressed to the churches " of Syria and Cilicia." he can liardly have failed to communicate it, when lie passed through both regions "confirming the diurches" (Acts xv. 41l At Thessalonica. not long after, the jealousy of the Jews at his preaching the freedom of the gospel drove him fi-om the city (Acta Warning arjninst Jtnhiism riilLlPPIANS, III. 1)1/ St. Paal'^ Example. is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Chap iii 2- ^"'Bewareofdogs, beware of 11. Warning evil -Nvorkers, beware of the against Juda- coiicisiou. (^^"For we are the ising sell-con- . . . i • i fidence, con- circuuicision, whicli wor- trasted with gj^jp Q^jj iu the spirit, and the seli-aban- .^. . /^i • . t donment of rejoice m Christ Jesus, faith. and have no confidence in the flesh. (^^ Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more : <^J circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews : as touching: the law, a xvii. 5). Whea he came to Macedonia on his next journey, the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, written there and probably at Philippi, marks the first out- burst of the JudaisiujT controversy ; and when he re- turned to Pliilippi, on his way back, he had just written the Epistles to the Galatiaus and Romans, wliieh deal exhaustively with the whole question. Nothinfif i.s more likely than that his teixching at Pliilippi had largely dealt with the warning against the Judaisers. What, then, more natural than to introduce H new warning on the subject— shown to be necessary by news received — with tlie courteous half-apology, " To write the same things to you, to me is not grievous (or, tedious) but for you it is safe,"' making assm-ance doubly sure ? (-) Beware of (the) dogs. — In Rev. xxii. 15 " the dogs " excluded from the heavenly Jerusalem seem to be those who are impure. In that sense the Jews applied the word to the heathen, as our Lord, for a moment appearing to follow the Jewish usage, does to the Syro- Phoenician woman in Matt. xv. 26. But here the context appropriates the word to the Judaisiug party, who claimed special purity, ceremonial and moral, and who probably were not characterised by peculiar impurity — such as, indeed, below (verses 17 — 21) would seem rather to attach to the Antinomian party, probably the extreme on the other side. Chi-y- sostom's hint that the Apostle means to retort the name upon them, as now by their owu wilful apostasy occupying the place outside the spiritual Israel whicli once belonged to the despised Gentiles, is probably right. Yet perhaps tliere may be some allusion to tlie dogs, not as unclean, but as, especially in their half-wild state in tlie East, snarling and .savage, dri^'ing off as interlopers all who approach what they consider their ground. Nothing could better describe the narrow Judaising spirit. Of evil workers,— Comp. 2 Cor. xi. 13. describing the Judaisers as " deceitful workers." Here the idea is of their energy in work, but work for evil. The concision. — By an ironical play upon words St. Paul declares his refusal to call the circumcision, on which the Judaisers prided themselves, by that time-honoured name ; for " we," he says, "are tlie true circumcision," the true Israel of the new covenant. In Eph. ii. 11 (wliere see Note) he had denoted it as the '•so-called circumcision in the flesh made by hands." Here he speaks more strongly, and calls it a '" con- cision," a mere outward mutilation, no longer, as it had been, a "seal" of the covenant (Rom. iv. 11). There is a still more startling attack on the advocates of circumcision in Gal. v. 12 (where see Note). W We are the circumcision.— So in Col. ii. 11, 12, evidently alluding to baptism as the spiritual circum- cision, he says, " In whom ye were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands." Comp. Rom. ii. 20, " Circumcisian is tliat of the heart, iu the spirit, and not in the letter ; " and passages of a similar character in the Old Testament, such as Dent. x. 16, " Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts ; " chap. XXX. 6, " The Lord God will circumcise thine heart." Hence the spirit of St. Steijhen's reproach, " Ye uncircumcised in heart and ears" (Acts vii. 51). Which worship G-od in the spirit . . .—The true reading here is, xrho tcorsJiij) by the Spirit of God, the word '" worship," or service, being that which is almost technically applied to the worship of the Israelites as God's chosen people (Acts xxvi. 7; Rom. ix. 4; Heb. ix. 1, 6), and which, with the addition of the epithet " reasonable," is claimed for the Christian devotion to God iu Christ (see Rom. xii. 1). Such " worship by the Spirit of God " St. Paul de- scribes in detail in Eom. viii., especially in verses 26, 27. And rejoice (or rather, glory } in Christ Jesus. — Comp. Rom. xv. 17, " I have therefore whereof I may glory in the Loi'd Jesus Christ," and the Old Testament quotation (from Jer. ix. 23, 2-i) twice applied to our Lord, " He that glorieth, let him glory iu the Lord " (1 Cor. i. 31 ; 2 Cor. x. 17). In Gal. vi. 14 we have a still moi-e distinctive expression, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." To glory iu Christ is something more than even to believe and to trust iu Him; it expresses a deep seuse of privilege, both in preseut thankfulness and iu future hope. In the flesh.— The phrase is used here, as not un- frequeutly. for the preseut and visible world, to which we are linked by our flesh (see John viii. 15. " to judge after the flesh ; " 2 Cor. v. 10, " to know Christ after the flesh," &c.) We have an equivalent phrase iu an earlier passage, which is throughout parallel to this (2 Cor. xi. Is), "Many glory after the flesh." The particular form of expression is probably suggested by the constant reference to the cii'cumcision, which is literally " in the flesh." (5, 6) The comparison with the celebrated passage in 2 Cor. xi. 18 — 23 is striking, in respect uot only of similarity of substance, but of the change of tone from the indignant and impassioned abruptness of the earlier Epistle to the calm impressivcness of this. The first belongs to tlie crisis of the struggle, the other to its close. We have also a parallel, though less complete, in Rom. xi. 1, "I also am an Israelite, of the stock of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." (5) Circumcised the eighth day— ?.e., a Jew born, not a prosel^'te. Of the stock of Israel— /.llenist, who had to assimilate him- self, as to the language, so to the thoughts and habits, of the heathen around him. St. Paul united the ad- A'antages both of the true Hebrew, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and of the Hellenist of Tarsus, familiar with Greek language, literature, and thouglit. Compare his own words to his countrymen from the steps of the Temple as illustrating the whole passage : '"I verily am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought iip in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous before God . . . and I persecuted this way unto the death" (Acts xxii. 3, 4). As touching the law, a Pharisee.— Comp. Acts xxiii. 6, '" I am a Pharisee, and the son of Pharisees;" and xx\d. 5, "according to the straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee." In these words St. Paul passes from his inherited Judaic privileges, to the intense Judaism of his own personal life. (6) Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. — The word " zeal " (as in Acts xxii. 3) is probably used almost technically to describe his adhesion to the principles of the " Zealots," who, follo^ving the example of Phinohas, were for " executing judgment " at once on all heathens as traitors, ready alike to slay or to be slain for the Law. He shows how in this he departed from the teaching of Gamaliel, when he was "exceedingly mad against" the Clu-istians, and "per- secuted them even unto strange cities." Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.— The " righteousness in Law," whicli our Lord called "the righteousness of the scribes and Pluirisees" (Matt. v. 20), is the righteousness accord- ing to rule, in which a man, like the rich young ruler, niigjit think liimself " blameless," and even hojje to go beyond it in " counsels of perfection " — not the righte- ousness according to principle, wliich can never fulfil or satisfy itself. While St. Paul confined himself to the lower form of rigliteousness, he could feel himself " blameless ; " but when he began to discern this liiglier rigliteousness in the Law, then he felt tlie terrible ccmdemnation of the Law, on which he dwells so empliatically in Rom. vii. 7 — 12. (") I counted loss . . .—Not merely worthless, but w()rs(> tlian worthless ; because preventing the sense of spiritual need and helplessness whicli should bring to Christ, and so, while "gaining all the woi'ld," tend- ing to the " loss of his own soul." St. Paul first applies this declaration to tlie Jewish privilege and dignity of which he had spoken. Then, not content with this, he extends it to " all things " which were his to sacrifice for Clirist. C^) For the excellency of the knowledge.— Tlio word "excellency" is here strictly used to indicate (as in 2 Cor. iii. 1>, 1(), 11) that tlie knowledge of Clirist so surpasses all other knowledge, and, indeed, all other blessings wliatever, as to make them less than notliing. As Chrysostom says here, " When the sun hath 72 81 appeared, it is loss to sit by a candle." The light of the candle in the sunlight actually casts a shadow. How that knowledge is gained we learn in Eph. iii. 17, 18, " That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith : that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may . . . know the love of Christ, which passetii knowledge." Dung. — The word appears to mean " refuse " of any kind. The sense adopted in our version is common. Dr. Lightfoot, however, quotes instances of its use for the fragments fi'oin a feast, and remarks on the old derivation of tlie word fi-om that which is " thrown to dogs," which, however etymologically questionable, shows the idea attached to the word. This use would suit well enough with the ideas suggested by the retort of the name " dogs " on the Judaisers. I suffered the loss of all things.— There seems to be here a l)lay on words. Tliese things were (he has said) loss ; he suffered the loss of them : and the loss of a loss is a " gain." That I may win (properly, gain) Christ, and be found in him.— The line of thought in these two clauses is like that of Gal. iv. 9, " Now that yo have known God, or rather are known of God." The first idea suggested by the context is that of " gain- ing Christ," finding Him and laying hold of Hiin by faith ; but this, if taken alone, is unsatisfactory, as resting too much on the action of man. Hence St. Paul adds, and "be found (of God) in Him," drawn into union with Him by the grace of G(jd, so that we may "dwell in Him, and He in us," and be*" found" abiding in Him in each day of God's visitation. (y) Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. — This is not the same as " righteous- ness in the Law," that is, defined bylaw. It is a righte- ousness resulting from the works of the Law (Gal. ii. 16), earned by an obedience to the Law, which is " mine own '' — " not of grace, but of debt " (Rom. iv. 4) — such as St. Paul declares (in Rom. x. 3 — ♦ij to have been blindly sought by Israel, which he there defines as " life by doing the things of the Law." We have here, and in the following words, a remarkable link of connection witli the earlier Epistles of the Judaising controversy, corresponding to Eph. ii. 8 — 10. but cast more nearly in tlie ancient mould. Yet it is. after all, only the last echo of the old controversy, which we trace so clearly in the Galatian and Roman Epistles. The battle is now virtually won, and it only needs to complete the victory. But . . . the righteousness which is of God by (on condition of) faith. — This verse is notable, as describing the true righteousness ; first imperfectly, as coming " tlirough faith of Jesus Christ," a descrip- tion which discloses to us only its means, and not its oi-igin; next, completely, as " a righteousness coming from God on the sole condition of faith " — faith being liere viewed not as tlie means, but as tlie condition, of recei\-ing the divine gift (as in Acts iii. lt>). It may be noted that in the Epistle to tlie Romans, we have rigliteousness "through faith.'" "from faith," "of faith;" for there it was needful to bring out in various forms the importance of faith. Here, now that the His Desire to he like Christ, PHILIPPIANS, III. and so attain Perfection. is of the law, but that which is throug-h the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith : <^"^ that I may know him, and the power of his resur- rection, and the fellowship of his suffer- ings, being made conformable unto his death ; ^^^^ if by any means I might attain unto the resuri-ectiou of the dead. (12) Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect : chap. iii. 12— but I follow after, if that 16- Disclaimer I may apprehend that for "^^^"^^^^ which also I am aj^pre- perfection al- hended of Christ Jesus, ready attained. (13) Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended : but this one thing ni'gent necessity has passed, we have the stress laid simi)ly on tlio opposition of the gift of God through Christ to the merit of the works of the Law ; and faith occupies a less prominent, though not less indispensable, position. (See Eph. ii. 8 — 10, and Note thereon.) (10) Inseparably connected with the possession of this " righteousness of God " is the knowledge of Christ, or more exactly, the gaining the knowledge of Christ (see verse 8), by conformity botli to His suffering and death, and also to His resurrection. This " conformity to the image of Christ" (Rom. viii. 29, 30) — with which compare the lla^^ug " Christ formed within us " of Gal. iv. 19) — is made by St. Paul the substance of the gracious predestination of God, preceding the call, the justification, the glorification, which mark the various epochs of Christian life. (10, 11) The order of these verses is notable and instructive. (1) First comes the knowledge of "the power of the Resurrection." What this is we see by examining it as historically the main subject of the fii-st ai^ostolic preaching. There it is considered, as in St. Peter's first sermons, as giving the earnest of "forgiveness," or "blotting out of sins," and the "gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 38; iii. 13, 26), or, as St. Paul expresses it, of "justification from all things " (Acts xiii. 38, 39). This same idea is wrouglit out fully in his Epistles. Thus, for example, without it (1 Cor. XV. 17) " we are still in our sins." It is the pledge of our justification (Rom. v. 1), and the means of our being "alive unto God" (Rom. vi. 11). Hence " the power," or ejjicacy, " of His resurrection " is the justification, and regeneration inseparable from it, wliich lie at the entrance of Chn.stian life. (2) Next comes the " partaking of His sutferiugs " and " conformity to His death," which are the " taking up the cross, and following Him," in the obedience even unto death. This " fellowship of sufferings," coming partly from the sin of others, partly from our own, is tlie constant theme of the New Testament. (See 1 Pet. iv. 13; Rom. viii. 17; 2 Cor. i. 5; Col. i. 24; 2 Tim. ii. 11.) The " conformity to His death " is the completion of the death unto sin, described as " mortification " of sin (Col. iii. 5) ; " as bearing about in the boily the dying (or, properly, inortijicaiion) of the Lord Jesus " (2 Cor. iv. 10); or more frequently as being " crucified with Christ," " the world to us and we to the world " (Gal. ii. 20; v. 24; vi. 14). (3) Lastly comes the " attainment to tlie resurrection of the dead," properly, "the resurrection from the dead," which is (see Luke XX. 35) the resurrection unto life and the glorification in Him, so nobly described below (verses 20, 21). " If we have been planted together in tlie likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection " (Rom. vi. 5). For of our resurrection (see 1 Cor. xv. 12 — 23) His resurrection is not only the pledge, but the earnest. Note how in 1 Thess. iv. 14 — 18, and 1 Cor. xv. 51 — 57, the whole description I is only of the resurrection unto life, and compare the first resurrection of Rev. xx. 6. This is the completion of all ; St. Paul dared not as yet anticipate it with tlie confidence which hereafter soothed lus dying hour (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8). Yerses 12 — 16 lead us from the warning against trust in human merit to deprecate the supposition of a perfection here attained even in Christ. The tran- sition is natural. The same spirit which shows itself undisguisedly in the one pretension, comes out haK- concealed in the other. (12) Not as though . . .—The tenses are here varied. Not as though I ever yet attained, or have been already made perfect. To " attain," or receive (probably the prize, see verse 14), is a single act ; " to be perfected " a continuous process. Clearly St. Paul has no belic.'f, either in any indefectible grasp of salvation, or in any attainment of full spiritual perfection on this side of the grave. We may note our Lord's use of the word " to be perfected " to signify His death (Luke xiii. 32), and a similar application of the word to Him in Heb. ii. 10 ; V. 9 ; also the use of the words " made ])erfect " to signify the condition of the glorified (Heb. xi. 40 ; xii. 23). If that I may apprehend that for which also I am (rather, xvus ) apprehended of Christ Jesus. — The metaphor througliout is of the race, in which he, like an eager runner, stretches out continually to " grasp " the prize. But (following out the same line of thought as in verses 7, 8) he is unwilling to lay too much stress on his own exertions, and so breaks in on the metaphor, by the remembrance that he himself was once grasped, at his conversion, by the saving hand of Clirist, and so only put in a condition to grasp the prize. The exact translation of the words which we render " that for which," &c., is doubtful. Our version supplies an object after the verb "apprehend," whereas the cognate verb " attained " is used absolutely ; and the expression as it here stands is rather cumbrous. Perhaps it would be simpler to render "inasmuch as" or "seeing that" (as in Rom. v. 12 ; 2 Cor. v. 4). The hope to apprehend i-ests on the knowledge that he had been apprehended by One " out of whose hand no man could pluck " him. (13) I count not myself . . . — Tlie " I " is em- phatic, evidently in contrast with some of those who thought themselves "perfect." (See verse 15.) Not only does St. Paul refuse to count that he has ever yet " attained; " he will not allow that he is yet in a posi- tion even to grasp at the prize. (Comp. 1 Cor. ix. 27.) Forgetting those things which are behind . . . — Tlie pi-ecept is absolutely general, applying to past blessings, past achievements, even past sins. The ineradicable instinct of liope, which the wisdom of the world (not unreasonably if this life be all) holds to be a delusion, or at best a condescension to weakness, is 82 Perfection not yet reached. PHILIPPIANS, III. Unity our pj'esoit Blessing- I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those tilings which are before, (^^^ I press toward the mark for the prize of the hiffh caHincf of God in Christ Jesus. (^^^ Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded : and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. (^"^ Never- theless, whereto we have already at- tained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." (^''^ Brethren, be followers together of „, ... me, and mark them which 21. Warning walk so as ye have us for an tigainst Anti- 1 nsi /-TTi nonuan proni- ensample. (i«^ (For many gacy,unWorthy walk, of whom I have of the citizen- told you often, and now -^^p oi heaven. sanctioned in the gospel as an anticipation of im- mortality. Accordingly hope is made a rational principle, and is always declared to be, not only a Erivilege, but a high Christian duty, co-ordinate Avitli uth and love (as in 1 Cor. xiii. 13 ; Eph. iv. 4). St. Paid does not scruple to say that, if we have it not, for the next life as well as this, we Christians are " of all men most miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 19). Hence past blessing is but an earnest of the future ; past achieve- ments of good are steppiug-.stones to greater things ; past sins are viewed in that true repentance which differs from remorse — " the sorrow of this world which worketh death " (2 Cor. vii. lOj — in having a sure and certain hope of the final conquest of all sin. The " eternal life " in Christ is a present gift, but one test of its reality in the present is its possession of the promise of the future. (U) The high calling of God. — Properly, the call- ing ivhich is above— -i.e. (much as in Col. iii. 12), "the heavenly calling," — which is " of God," proceeding from His will, for " whom He predestinated, them He also called" (Rom. viii. 30); and is "in Christ Jesus" in virtue of the unity with Him, in which we are at once justified and sanctified. (15) Perfect. — The word is apparently used with a touch of irony (as perhaps the word "spiritual" in Gal. vi. 1), in reference to those who hold themselves " to have already attained, to be already perfect." It is, indeed, mostly used of such maturity in faith and grace as may be, and ought to be, attained here (Matt, v. 48 ; 1 Cor. ii. 6 ; xiv. 20 ; Eph. iv. 13 ; Col. i. 28 ; iv. 12 ; Heb. V. 14). But, strictly speaking, this life, as St. Paul urges in 1 Cor. xiii. 10, 11, is but childhood, prepar- ing for the full manhood, or "perfection" of the next; and his disclaimer of perfection above suggests that this higher meaning should in this passage be kept in view. The prospect of being " perfect " in indefectible faith or grace is the Christian's hope ; tlie claim to be already "perfect" is alw^ays recurring in various forms — all natural but unwarrantable anticipations of heaven on earth. St. Paul, by a striking paradox, bids those who hold themselves perfect to prove that tliey are so by a consciousness of imperfection. If they have it not, he says, they have something yet to learn. " God will reveal even this unto them." The conviction of the H(dy Ghost unites inseparably the " conviction of sin " and the " conviction of righteousness." The "judg- ment " of absolute decision between them is not yet. (l**) Let us walk . . . — In this verso the last words appear to be an explanatory gloss. The original runs thus : Nevertheless — as to that to which we did attain — let us ivalk by the savie. The word "walk" is always used of pursuing" a course deliberatelv chosen. (See Acts xxi. 24; Rom. iv. 12; Gal. v. 2.5.) The nearest parallel (from which the gloss is partly taken) is Gal. vi. 16, " As many as walk by this rule, peace bo upon them." In this passage there seems to be the same double reference which has pervaded all St. Paul's practical teaching. He is anxious for two things — that they should keep on in one course, and that all should keep on together. In both senses he addresses the " perfect ; " he will have them understand that they have attained only one thing — to be iu tlie right path, and that it is for them to continue in it ; he also bids them refrain from setting themselves up above "the imperfect ;" for the very fact of division would mark them as still " carnal," mere " babes in Christ " (1 Cor. iii. 1—4). (17—21) In these verses St. Paul turns from the party of Pharisaic perfection to the opposite party of Anti- uomian profligacy, claiming, no doubt, to walk in the way of Christian liberty which he preached. The co- existence of these two ])arties was. it may be remarked, a feature of the Gnosticism already l)eginning to show itself in the Church. He deals with this perversion of liberty into licentiousness in exactly the same spirit as in Rom. vi., but with greater brevity; with less of argument and more of grave condemnation. It stands, indeed, he says, self-condemned, by the very fact of our present citizenship in heaven, and our growth towards the future perfection of likeness to Christ in glory. (1") Followers together of me.— The word is peculiar. It signifies unite in foUoicing me. In ac- cordance ^vith the genius of the whole Epistle, St. Paul oilers his example as a help not only to rectitude but to ixnity. For the simple phrase " followers of me," see 1 Cor. iv. 16 ; xi. 1 ; 1 Thess. i. 6 ; 2 Thess. iii. 9. In 1 Cor. xi. 1, a passage dealing with the right re- straints of Christian liberty, we have the ground on which the exhortation is based, " Be ye followers of me. even as I also am of Christ." In that conscious- ness, knowing the peculiar power of example, both for teaching aiul for encouragement. St. Paul will not allow even humility to prevent his bringing it to Ix^ar upon them. Yet even then we note how gladly he escapes from " followers of me " to the " ha\"ing us for an example." (1^) Even weeping.— The especial sorrow, we can- not doubt, lay in this, that the Antiuomian profligacy sheltered itself under his own preaching of liberty and of the .superiority of the Spirit to the Law. The enemies of the cross of Christ,— Here again (as iu the application of the einthet "dogs" in verse 2) St. Paul seems to retort on those whom he re- buked a name which they may probably have given to their opponents. The Judaising tenets were, indeed, in a true sense, an enmity to that cross, which was " to the Jews a stuuibling-ldock." because, as St. Paul shows at large in the Galatian and Roman Epistles, they trenched upon faith in the all-sufficient atonement, and so (as he expresses it with startling emphasis) made Christ to " be dead in vain." But the doctrine of the S3 Warning against Projligacy. PHILIPPIANS, III. Our Citizenship of Heaven. tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ : ^^'-'^ whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) ^^^^ For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : ^-^^ who shall chaufje our Cross has two parts, distinct, yet iiiscparal)lo. There is the cross whicli Ho alouo bore for us, of which it is our comfort to know tlmt wo need only believe in it, and cannot share it. There is also the cross which we are "to take up and follow Him" (Matt. x. oS; xvi. 24), in the " fellowship of His sufferings and conformity to His death," descrilx-d above (verses 10, 11). St. Paul unites both in the strikintr passage which closes his Galatian Epistle (vi. 14). He says, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ ! " but he adds, '" whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I to the world." Under cover, perhaps, of absolute acceptance of the one form of this great doctrine, the Antinomian party, " continuing in sin that grace might aljound," were, in respect of the othei', " enemies of the cross of Christ." (19) Whose end is destruction . . . .—The intense severity of this verse is only paralleled by such passages as 2 Tim. ii. 1 — 5 ; 2 Pet. ii. 12 — 22 ; Judo, verses 4, 8, 12, 13. All express the burning indignation of a true servant of Christ against those who " turn the grace of God into lasciviousness," and "after escaping the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of tlie Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are again entangled therein and overcome." Whose God is their belly. — A stronger re- iteration of Rom. xW. 18, " They serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly." Note the emphasis laid on " feasting and rioting " hi 2 Pet. ii. 13 ; Jude, verse 12. "Whose glory is in their shame.— As the pre- ceding clause refers chiefly to self-indulgence, so this to impurity. Comp. Eph. v. 12, '• It is a shame even to siJeakof those things which are done of them in secret." " To glory in their sliame " — to boast, as a mark of spirituality, the unljridled license which is to all pure spirits a shame — is the hopeless condition of tlie rejiro- bate, who " not only do these things, but have pleasure in those who do them" (Rom. i. 32). Who mind earthly things.— This last phrase, which in itself might seem hardly strong enough for a climax to a passage so terribly emphatic, may perhaps be designed to bring out by contrast the glorious pas- sage which follows. But it clearly marks the o])posi- tion between the high pretension to enlightened spirituality and the gross CJirual temper which it covers, grovelling (so to speak) on earth, incapable of rising to heaven. (-0) Our conversation.— The original may signify either " our city '' or " our citizenship " is in heaven. But both the grammatical form and the ordinary usage of the word (not elsewhere found in the New Testa- ment) point to the former sense ; which is also far better accordant with the general wording of the pas- sage. For the word " is " is the emphatic word, which signifies " actually exists " ; and the reference to the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ is oliviously sug- gested by the thought that -with it will also come the manifestation of the " Jerusfilem which is above . . . the mother of us all" (Gal. iv. 20) ; as in Rev. xxi. 2, " I saw the holy cit}', the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven." The force of the passage would, how- ever, in either case be much the same. " Their mind is on earth; our countiy is in lieaven," and to it our affections cling, even during our earthly pilgrimage. It is impossible not to remember the famous words of Plato of his Divine Republic, " In heaven, perhaps, the embodiment of it is stored up for any one who wills to see it, and seeing it, to claim his place therein" {Rep. ix., p. 592b). But the infinite difference between the shadowy republic of the philosopher, to which each has to rise, if he can, by his own spiritual power, and the well-centred "kingdom of God," is suggested by the very words that follow here. The kingdom is real, because there is a real King, who has given us a place there, who will one day be manifested to take us home. It should be noted that the city is spoken of as ours already. As all the citizens of Philippi, the Roman colony, were citizens of the far distant imperial city, so the Philippian Christians even now were citizens of the better country in heaven. (See Eph. ii. 19.) We look for. — Properly, toe eagerly ivuitfcr. The word is a peculiar and striking expression of longing, found also in Rom. viii. 19, 2tJ, 25, " The earnest ex- pectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sous of God " (where see Note). The Saviour. — The title is emphatic in relation to the hope of perfected salvation which follows. But we note that the use of the word " Saviour " by St. Paul is peculiar to the later Epistles, and especially frequent in the Pastoral Epistles. It is found also again and again in the Second Epistie of Peter. (21) Who shall change . . .—This passage needs more accurate translation. It should be, ivho shall change the fashion of the body of our humiliation, to he conformed to the body of His glory. (1) On the dif- ference between " fashion " and " form," see chap. ii. 7, 8. The contrast here signifies that humiliation is but the outward fashion or vesture of the body ; the likeness to Christ is, and will be seen to be, its essential and characteristic nature. This " humiliation " marks our condition in this life, as fallen from our true humanity under the bondage of sin and death. The body is not really " vile," tliough it is fallen and degraded. (2) " His glory " is His glorified human nature, as it was after the Resurrection, as it is now in His ascended majesty, as it shall be seen at His second coming. What it is and will be we gather from the sublime de- scriptions of Rev. i. 13 — 16; xix. 12 — 16; xx. 11. What is here briefly described as change to conformity with that glory is worked out in 1 Cor. xv. 42 — 44, 53, 54, into the contrast between corruption and incoiTuption, dishonour and glory, weakness and power, the natural (animal) body and the spiritual body. In 2 Cor. iii. 18, iv. 16, wo read of the beginning of glorification in the spirit here; in 2 Coi\ iv. 17, 18, V. 1 — 4, of the completion of " the exceeding weight of glory " in the hereafter, as glorifying also " our liouse which is in heaven. St. John describes that glorifica- tion with brief emphatic solemnity, " Wo shall be like Him. for we shall see Him as He is," and draws out explicitly the moral which St. Paul here implies, " Every man that hath this hope purifieth himself, even as He is pure." According to the working . . .-Properly, in virtue of the effectual loorlcing of His power to subject 84 Our Uope of Glory in Christ. PHILIPPIANS, lY. Exhortation to Unity. vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working- whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. CHAPTER IV. — (1) Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, 7???/ dearly beloved. (2) I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syn- tyche, that they be of Eencwed "^x- the same mind in the hortation, first. Lord. (3) And I intreat ^"^ "^'^^• thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with all tilings to Himself. Coiiip. Epli. i. 19 ; iii. 7, and Notes there. Here, as there, St. Paul speaks of His power as not dormant or existin<^ in mere capacity, but as enerjSfetic iu working, unhasting and unresting. Here briefly, as more fully iu tlie celebrated passage of tlie First Epistle to the Corinthians (chap. xv. 2-4 —28) he describes it as " subduing all things uuto Himself," till the consummation of this universal conquest iu the Last Judgment and the delivery of " the kingdom to God, even the Father . . . that God may be all in all." Of tliat power the primai-y exhibition, in which He is pleased to delight, is iu salvation, gradually pre- paring His own for heaven ; the secondary exhibition, uudertakeu under a moral necessity, is in retributive judgment. It is of the former only that St. Paul speaks here, as it shall be made perfect in the resur- rection unto eternal life. IV. [8. Conclusion of the Epistle (chap. iv. 1 — 23). Final Exhortation — (a) To unity, with esjjecial mention of Euodia, Syutyche, and others (verses 1 — 3). (b) To joy, confident in the power of prayer, and resting in the peace of God (verses 4—7). (c) To conformity with all that is good after the apostolic model (verses 8 — 9). Thanks for the Philippian Offerings. (a) Declaration that he could not claim them of necessitij (verses 10 — 13). (6) Grratefid remembrance of their former libe- rality (verses 14 — 17). (c) Blessing on their present sacrifice offered through him to God (verses 18 — 20). Greeting and Blessing (verses 21 — 23).] (1) Therefore. — By this word, just as at the con- clusion of the description of the " depth of the riches of the wisdom of God " (in Rom. xi. 33 — 36), or of the glorious climax of the doctrine of the resurrection (in 1 Cor. IV. 50 — 57), St. Paul makes the vision of future glory to be an inspiring force, giving life to the sober, practical duties of the present time. For the faith, which is the root of good works, is not only " the evidence of tilings not seen," although already existing as spiritual realities, but also " the substantiation of things hoped for" iHeb. xi. 1). Dearly beloved and longed for . . .—Tlie peculiar affectionateness of this verse is notal)le. It is curiously coincident with the words addressed years before to Thessalonica (1 Thess. ii. 19), "What is our hope and joy and crown of rejoicing? Are not ye iu the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ . . ? Ye are our glory and our joy." But it lias just the addition natural to the yearnings of captivity : they are " longed for," and that (see chap. i. 8) " in the heart of Jesus Christ." The " crown " is hero tlie garland, the sign 85 of victory in the apostolic race and struggle of which he had spoken above (chap. iii. 12 — 14-). The crown of glory, of righteousness, and of life, is usually described as future (see 2 Tim. iv. 8; Jas. i. 12 ; 1 Pet. v. 4; Rev. ii. 10), and tliis is the case in the Thessalonian Einstle. Here, without excluding that completer sense, the reference is also to the present. The Philippians are St. Paul's crown, as the Corinthians are his "seal" (1 Cor. ix. 2) — at once the proof of His apostolic mission and the reward of his apostolic labour. In both aspects the present is the earnest of the future. (2) Euodias.— The name should be Euodia, as is seen by verse 3. Of Euodia and Spityche nothing is known. Many strange attempts have been made to find symbolism in these names. Evidently they were women of note, leaders at Philippi, where, we may remember, the gospel was first preached to women (Acts xvi. 13), and the church first formed in a woman's house (Acts xvi. 14, 40). We may note the many female names — Phoebe, Priscilla, Mary, Tryjihena, Tryphosa, Persis, Julia, the mother of Rufus, the sister of Nereus — iu the long list of greetings to the Church of Rome (Rom. xvi.). (3) I intreat. — This rendering is too strong. It is, I ash, or request. The word means properly, to ask a question ; secondai'ily, to make a request on equal terms, as of right. Hence never used (except, perhaps, in 1 John y. It)) of prayer from us to God. True yokefellow.— This obscure pkrasehas greatly exercised conjecture. (I) It is curious historically to note the opinion, as old as Clement of Alexandria, that St. Paul referred to his own wife ; but the opinion is clearly untenable in the face of 1 Cor. vii. 8; ix. 5. (2) The word is never elsewhere applied by St. Paul to a fellow- Christian, and must denote some peculiar fellowship. Many guesses as to its mean- ing have been made. Some refer it to St. Luke, who seems to be in the history closely connected with Philippi ; others to Lydia. the first-fruits of tlie gospel in that city. Perhaps the most likely suppo- sition is that it may refer to Epaphroditus, the bearer, perhaps the amanuensis, of the EpisHe, who had certainly come to help St. Paul to bear his yoke of suffering, and in whose case the sudden address in the second person "would cause no ambi- guity. (3) But a not improbable conjecture is that the word is a pro2)er name — "' Syzygus " — a name, it is true, not actually known — and that the word " true " (properly, genuine] means "Syzygus, rightly so-called." It is obvious to compare the play on the name " Onesi- mus," in Pliilem. verse 11. Those women . . .—It should be. lulp them (Euodia and Synlycho), inasmuch as thcij laboured with me. Tlio word " laboured " signifies " joined with me in my struggle," and probably refers to some- thing more than ordinary labour, iu the critical times of suffering at Philippi. Exliortation to Joij. PHILIPPIANS, IV. Prom (i^e of God's Peace. other my fellowlabourers, whose names p. . are in the book of life. 7.^ next, to ^*^ Rejoice in the Lord joy, resting on alway : and airain I say, the coniidenco -r» • • ca t i. of pray.'i- and Bejoice. ^'> Let your mo- hope of the deration be known unto all peace of God; ^^^^^ The Lord /s at hand. f"^' Be careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. (^' And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Clement.— From tlio time of Origeu downwards this Clement has been identitied with the famous Clement, bisliop of Rome, and author of the well- known Epistle to the Church at Corinth, of whom Irenajus expressly says that ho had seen and been in company with " the blessed Apostles," and who in his Epistle refers emphatically to the examples both of St. Peter and St. Paul, as belonging to the times " very near at hand; " but dwells especially on St. Paul, "as seven times a prisoner in chains, exiled, stoned," " a hei'ald of tlio gospel in the East and the West," " a teacher of righteousness to the whole world," and one who " penetrated to tlie farthest border of the West." (See his Epistle, chap, v.) Tlie fact tliat he was at tliis time working at Philippi — considei'ing that Philippi, as a Roman colony, was virtually a part of Rome — is no objection to this iden- tificatiou ; nor is the chronology decisive against it, though it would make Clement an old man when he wrote liis Epistle. The identification may stand as Hot improbabl<>, while the commonness of the name Clemens makes it far from certain. Whose names are in the book of life.— For "the Book of Life," see Dan. xii. 1; Rev. iii. 5; xiii. 8; x%ii. 8; xx. 12; xxi. 27. From that Book the name may be blotted out now (Rev. iii. 5 ; comp. Ex. xxxii. 33) till the end fixes it for ever. There is (as has been always noticed) a peculiar beauty in the allu- sion here. The Apostle does not mention his fellow- labourers by name, but it matters not ; the names are written befoi-e God in the Book of Life. If they con- tinue in His service, those names shall shine out here- after, when the gi-eat names of the earth fade into nothingness. (4—7) St. Paul returns once more to the exhortation to joy so characteristic of this Epistle. But it is a joy in the sense of the Lord's being at hand. Hence it turns at once to thanksgiving and prayer, and finally is calmed and deepened into peace. W Bejoice in the Lord . . . and again I say, Rejoice.— The original word is the word always used in classical Greek (see the corresponding word in Latin) for " farewell " (i.e., "Joy bo witli you ! "), and this verse is obviously a resumption of chap. iii. 1, after the di- gression of warning. But the emphasis laid on it liere, coupled witli the constant references to joy in the Epistle, sliow that St. Paul designed to call attention to its strict moaning, and to enforce, again and again, the Christian duty of joy. It is. of course, a " joy in the Lord :" for only in the Lord is joy possible to any thoughtful mind or feeling heart in such a world as this. (5) Your moderation.— The word hero rendered " moderation." properly denotes a sense of what is seemly, or equitable, as distinct from what is required by strict duty or formal law. Such distinction the world recognises when it speaks of what is enjoined, not so much by duty as by " good taste, or " right feeling," or (with some peculiarity of application) by " chival- rous " feeling, or the " spii'it of a gentleman." Here it denotes the general sense of wliat is seemly in a Christian tone of character. In 2 Cor. x. 1 (where it is translated " gentleness ") it is ascribed emphatically to our Lord Himself. But the usage of the New Testament appropriates it especially to the " sweet reasonableness " which " gentleness " may well designate. Thus, in Acts xxiv. 4 it clearly signifies patience, or forbearance ; in 2 Cor. x. 1 it is associated with meekness ; in 1 Tim. iii. 3, Tit. iii. 2, with peaceableness ; in 1 Pet. ii. 8, with kindness; in Jas. iii. 17 the word "gentle" is placed between "peaceable " and " easy to be entreated " (or rather, jjcrs!ifKiefZ). This spirit is, no doubt, " mode- ration ; " but it is something more. It may refer here both to the exhortation to unity in verses 1 — 3, and to the exhortation to joy immediately preceding. It would help the one and chasten the other. The Lord is at hand. — A translation of the Syriac " Maran-atha " of 1 Cor. xvi. 22 — obviously a Christian watchword, probably referring to the Second Advent, as near at hand ; although, of course, not excluding the larger idea of that presence of Christ in His Church of which that Seco'id Advent is the consummation. (6) Be careful for nothing.— An exact repetition of our Lord's command, " Take no thought " (in Matt. vi. 25, 31). The prohilntion is of that painful anxiety which is inevitable in all Avho feel themselves alone in mere self-dependence amidst the difficulties and dangers of life. It is possible to sink below this anxiety in mere levity and thoughtlessness ; it is pos- sible to rise above it by " casting our care on Him who careth for us," and knowing that we are simply "fellow-workers with Him" (1 Pet. v. 7 ; 2 Cor. vi. 1). Hence the Apostle passes on at once to speak of the trustfulness of praj-er. Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. — By " prayer " is meant worship generally, so called (as in common parlance now) because in this state of imperfection prayer mxist bo its leading element, as praise will be in the perfection of the future. (See Acts ii. 42, where " the prayers " are among the es- sential marks of church nuMubership.) To this general word is sul)joined the distinction of the two great elements of worship, " supplication with thanksgiving." The very expression, however, shows that, though distinct, they are inseparable. (See Eph. vi. 18, and Note there.) Both words "prayer" and "supplica- tion " have tlie article in the original, and may probably refer to the recognised worship of the Church. (7) The peace of God— i.e. (like the " righteous- ness of God," " tlio life of God"), the peace which God gives to every soul which rests on Him in prayer. It is peace — the sense of unity in the largest sense — the " peace on earth " proclaimed at our Lord's birth, left as His last legacy to His disciples, and pronoTinced at His first coming back to them from the grave (Luke ii. 14 ; John xiv. 27). Hence it includes peace with God, peace with men, peace with self. It keeps — that is, watches over with the watclif ulness that " neither 86 Exhortation to Steadfastness in Good. PHILIPPIANS, IV. Thanks for tJieir Offerings. (^) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things Chap. iv. 8— are true, whatsoever things 9. lastly, to are honest,^ whatsoever steacliastness ,i • . , , . in aU the per- things are just, whatso- fect goodness ever thing^s are pure, wliat- of the gospel, ,? • i i preached to soever things _ are lovelj, them. whatsoever things are of good report ; if there he any virtue, and if there he any praise, think on these things. (^) Those things, which ye have I Or, venerable. 2 Or, is revived. both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do : and the God of peace shall be with you. ^^^> But I re- joiced in the Lord greatly, ^hap. iv. 10- tliat now at the last your 14. Thanks care of me hath flourished and commenda- „ , . tion lor their again ; ^ wherein ye were liberality to also careful, but ye lacked ^^°^- opportunity. *ii> Not that I speak in respect of want : for I have learned, slumbers uor sleeps " — both " the hearts and minds " (or, more properly, the soids and the thoughts formed in them), guarding our whole spiritual action, both in its source and its developments. It is "through Christ Jesus," for " He is our peace (Eph. ii. 14), as '"making all one," and "reconciling all to God." The comprehensive- ness and beauty of the passage has naturally made it (with the characteristic change from the " shall " of promise to the " may " of benediction) the closing blessing of our most soleum church service of " Holy Communion " with God and man. (8. 9) Here, repeating the word " Finally," the Apostle again draws to a conclusion, in a comprehensive exhor- tation to stand fast in all tliat is good on the foundation which he had laid in the name of Christ. The ex- hortation is marked by the reiteration of affectionate earnestness, in which, however, we may (as always) trace an underlying method. In each pair of epithets there seems to be reference both to an inner reality and to the outward development, by which it is at once manifested and perfected. In both St. Paul would have them grow up to perfection. (8) True . . . honest (better, venerable; see margin). — Truth is the inherent likeness to God, who is Truth. Whatever is true in itself is also " vener- able"— i.e., as the original word, usually x'endered " grave " (as in 1 Tim. iii. 8, 11 ; Tit. ii. 2) etymo- logicaUy signifies, it claims a share of the reverence due primarily to God; it has in it a certain majesty commanding worship. Just . . . pure. — " Just " is (as St. Paul's habitual usage of " justify " shows) righteous in act and woi-d, as tested by the declared will of man or God. " Pure " is righteous in essence, in the thought, which cannot be thus tested — shomng itself in what is just and indeed perfected thereby, but in itself something holier still. Lovely ... of good report.— Both words are peculiar to this passage : in both we ptiss from truth and righteousness to love. "Lovely" is that which deserves love. The phrase " of good report " repre- sents a Greek word which is commonly used for " fair- soimding," or "auspicious" and "acceptable." It is therefore the outward expression of what is " lovely," winning the acceptance wliich loveliness deserves. If there be any virtue, and . . . praise.— Still there is the same antithesis — " \'irtue" is the inherent quality ; " praise " is virtue's due. But the word " virtue," so frequent in human morality, is hardly ever used in Scripture. In fact, the only other case of appli- cation to man is in 2 Pet. i> 5, where it stands between " faith " and " knowledge," and seems specially to signify the energy of practice by which faith grows into knowledge. The reason of this is clear. To the very name of " \-irttie " clings the idea of self-reliance — snch self-reliance as the Stoic philosophy (then the only dominant system of Roman oinnion wliich had any nobleness in it) made its essential characteristic ; and that idea is, of course, foreign to tlie wliole conception of Christian morality. The occurrence, therefore, here of an appeal to " virtue " and to " praise " seems strange. We notice, however, that it is introduced by a new phrase of mere hypothesis (" if there be," &.C.), which may be taken to mark it as an outlying conside- ration, occupying a less firm and important ground. Probably, therefore, it is an appeal to the lower con- ceptions of the society, so characteristically Roman, around them : " Nay, even if there be any truth in the virtue and praise of mere human morality," &.c. (9) Ye have both learned, and received.— The reference is here to St. Paul's teaching, which he " de- livered" to them (see 1 Cor. xv. 1 — 3; Gal. i. 12 1 as a message, " received " by revelation of God, and which they " received " accordingly. Heard, and seen in me.— Here the reference is to his example, as subsidiary to his teaching and con- firmatory of its truth. The God of peace. — The inversion (compared with verse 7) is striking. To have the " peace of God " with us is much; to have "the God of Peace" Him- self with us is more. With this promise the Letter itself ends. What follows is but postscript. (10—20) These verses form a singularly graceful and dignified postscript, acknowledging the offerings of the Philippians sent by Epaphroditus, in a tone mingling apostolic commendation and blessing with a true brotherly thankfulness. (10) Now at the last.— There is in these words an expression of some hitherto disappointed expectation, not wholly unlike the stronger expression of wounded feeling in 2 Tim. iv. 9, 10, 16. At Caesarea St. Paul would have been necessarily cut off from the European churches ; at Rome, the metropolis of universal con- course, he may have expected some earlier communi- cation. But, fearing to wound the PhUippians by even the semblance of reproof, in their case undeserved, he adds at once, " In which ye were also careful (before), but ye lacked opportunity." Epaphroditus would seem to have arrived early, almost as soon as St. Paul's arrival at Rome gave them the opportunity which they pre^nously lacked. (11) I have learned.- The "I" is here emphatic. Tliere is evident reference to the liabit peculiar to St. Paul, and made by him his especial " glory " ^1 Cor. ix. 14), of refusing that maintenance from tlie churches which was his of right. Compare his words to the Ephesian presbyters, " I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or aj^parel. Yea. ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities" (^Acts \x 33, 34). 87 His present Contentment. PHILIPPIANS, IV. His Gratitude for tJie i^cist. in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. <^-' I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound : every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hun^rry, both to abound and to suffer need. ^^-^^ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (^^^ Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction. (^^^ Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning (j^ap. iv. 15- of the gospel, when I de- is. as worthy parted from Macedonia, ^L^il^ify.Tnd communicated blessed in God's name. no church with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. (16) Yov even in Thessalonica ye sent Content. — Tho word (like tlie corresponding sub- stantive in '1 Cor. ix. 8 ; 1 Tim. vi. (J) properly means, self-aujjicinfj. Siic-li self-sutiicieney was the especial characteristic claimed by the tStoics for the ideal wise man of their philosophy — a characteristic full of noble- ness, So far as it involved the sitting loose to all the things of the world, but inhuman in relation to human affections, and ^-irtually atheistic if it described tho attitude of the soul towards the Supi-eme Power. Only in the first relation does St. Paul claim it here. It is difficult not to suppose that he does so with some reference to a philosophy so essentially Roman in practical development. (12^ Every where and in all things. — The original has no such distinction of the two words. It is, in all and ev'njthuKj ; in life as a whole, and in all its separate incidents. I am. instructed.— The word again is a peculiar and almost technical word. It is, I have been instructed ; I have learnt the secret — a phrase properly applied to men admitted into such mysteries as the Eleusiuian, enshrining a secret unknown except to tlie initiated; secondarily, as tho context woiild seem to suggest, to tho.se who entered the inner circle of an exclusive philo- sophy, learning there what the common herd could neither understand nor care for. A Stoic might well have used these words. There is even a touch of tlie Stoical contempt in the word " to bo full," which properly applies to cattle, though frequently used of men in tho New Testament. Perhaps, like all ascetics, they mo.stly knew how " to suffer need," better than how " to abouiui." But a Marcus Aurelius might have boldly claimed the knowledge of both. (13) I can do all things.— Properly, I have strength in all thinfj!i, rather (according to tho context) to bear than to do. But the univer.sal extension of the maxim beyond tho immediate occasion and context is not inad- missible. It represents the ultimate and ideal conscious- ness of the Christian. The first thing needful is to throw off mere self-sufficiency, to know our weakness and sin, and accept the salvation of God's free grace in Christ; tho next, to find the " strength made perfect in weakness," and in that to be strong. Through Christ which strengtheneth me.— The word "Christ" is not f(mn(l in the l)est MSS. ; it is a gloss, perhaps .suggested by 1 Tim. i. 12, where we have exactly the .same phrase, " Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me." The same word is used in Eph. vi. 10, "Be strong {strvufjthcnrd tvifliin) in the Lord." In this sentence we have tlie world-wide distinction between the Stoic and the Christian. Each teaches respect for the higher humanity in the soul; l)ut to the one that Immanity is our own, to the other it is " tho Christ within," dwelling in the heart, regenerating and conforming it to Himself. The words of St. Paul are but a practical corollary to the higher truth (comp. chap, i. 21) " To me to live is Christ." In this consciousness 88 alone is any thoughtful teaching of " self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-distrust," intelligible and coherent. (1^) Ye have weU done.— Properly, Ye did well, in sending the offerings. In this, says St. Paul, they " did communicate with his affliction," that is (see chap, i. 7), they made it their own, helping him to bear it, by sympathy and sacrifice for his sake. The whole is an illustration of his own words (Acts xx. 35), " It is blessed to receive " what is lovingly given ; but it is " rather blessed to give." He had the lower blessedness, they the higher; and he rejoiced that it was so. (15) Now ye Philippians know also.— Properly, But ye also ijourselves knorv. The mention of the proper name is always emphatic (comp. 2 Cor. vi. 11) ; here it evidently marks the dignity of their exclusive position of benefaction. In the beginning of the gospel.— At the be- ginning (that is) of the gospel to them and their sister churches in Macedonia. The* time referred to is his leaving Macedonia for Athens and Corinth (Acts xvii. 14). At Corinth we know that he received offerings from Macedonia : "That which was lacking to me the brethren who came {when they came) from Mace- donia supplied " (2 Cor. xi. 9). His language to the Thessalonian Church (1 Thess. ii. 9 ; 2 Thess. iii. 8) pi'ecludes all idea that any part of this contrilnitiou was from Thessalonica ; we learn here that it was from no other Church than Philij)])!. It is probably to this gift that reference is made ; though it is of course possible that some contribution may have reached him at the time of his actual departure in haste after the persecu- tion at Beroea. Communicated with me as concerning . . . — The metaphor here is drawn from commercial trans- action. Literally the passage runs, Jiad dealings with me on account of giving and receiving ; "opened (so to si)eak) an account with mo," not of debit and credit, but "of free giving and recei\-ing." There is possibly an allusion (as Chrysostom suggests) to the idea embodied in I Cor. ix. 11, " If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things.P " (Comp. Rom. xv. 27.) In the one respect he had all to give, and they to receive ; in the other tho relations were reversed. But if there be such allusion, it is kept in the background. The prominent idea is of the Philippians, and of them alone, as givers. (16) Even in Thessalonica.— Not only after he left Macedonia, but (>ven before that time, when he had ju.st passed from Philijipi to Thessahmica. At Thessa- lonica, as at Corinth— both very rich and luxui-ious com- munities— he refused maintenance, and lived mainly by the labour of his own hands (1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8). But it appears from this passage that even then he received "once and again" (that i.s, occasionally, "once or t^vico") some aid from Philippi "to supply his need " — that is (as in all right exercise of liberality), to supplement, and not to supersede, his own resources. His Blessing and their Bounly. PIIILIPPIANS, IV. Concluding/ Salutations. once and again unto mj necessity. (^"^ Not because I desire a gift : but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. *^^^ But I have all,^ and abound : I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things ivhich ivere sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice accejitable, wellpleasing to God. (^^^ But my God shall supply all 1 Or, I have received all. your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. '^-^'> Now unto God and our Father he glory for ever and ever. Amen. (-^^ Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with 23^T""onciuding me greet you. (^2) ^\[ salutations and the saints salute 3'ou, ^'^s^^^s- chiefly they that are of Cajsar's house- (17) Fruit that may abound (rather, abounds) to your account. — The metaphor is still kept, hardly disturbed by tlie introduction of the word "fruit," since this is so constantly used in the sense of " recompense " that it readily lends itself to pecuniary associations. There is, says St. Paul, " the fruit " of reward, which " is over " as a surplus, or rather a balance, " placed to their account." Their gift is a token of love and gratitude to him ; but, as Christian almsgiving, it is something more, and what tliat something more is will be seen hei-eafter, ■when all accounts shall be finally taken. The idea is uot unlike tliat of Prov. xix. 17, " He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord ; and behold, what he layeth out it shall be paid him again." (18) I have all, and abound.— The original is stronger, / have all to the fidl (as in Matt. vi. 2, 5, 16), and more than to the Jull. "I have all, and more than all, I need." Yet not content with this, lie adds, " I am full," thoroughly complete in all things. The exuberance of courtesy and gratitude is sti'ongly marked. An odour of a sweet smell.— See Eph. v. 2, and Note there. Here St. Paul adds at once an explana- tion of the meaning of this metaphorical phrase, in the words, " a sacrifice acceptable, well-i^leasing to God." Comp. Rom. xii. 2, " a sacrifice holy, acceptable to God." The word " sacrifice " used in both cases is the one which properly signifies a "bloody sacrifice," and in relation to such sacrifices the idea of propitiation naturally occui's to our minds; since wo know that " without shedding of blood is no remission." But it is clear tliat here it belongs to the class of Eucharistic or free-will offerings ; for it is simply an offering made freely, in gi-atcful love to Gotl and man ; and exactly in this sense we find, in Heb. xiii. 16 (in close connection with " we have an altar "), '' To do good, and to com- municate forget uot ; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." In the Epistle to the Romans it is, on the other hand, used for that which tlio burnt offering tji)ified — the absolute self-dedication of the sacrifioer, body and soul, to God. (See Note on Rom. xii. 2.) To 1 Pet. ii. 5, where all Christians are called " a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God in Jesus Christ," lioth senses may be fairly applied. It may be noted tliat most superstitions in the Cluirch as to the spiritual value of either of these forms of sacrifice, have come from confusion between them and the true or ]irnpitiatory sacrifice. (19) My God. — The expression is emphatic. St. Paul had accepted the offerings as made, not to himself, but to the God whose minister he was. Hence ho adds, " my God " — the God, whom ye serve in serving me. All your need.— Properly, every need of yours, spiritual and temporal. In glory.— We liave already noticed the constant reference to " glory " in the Epistles of the Captivity. "Where the word relates to God in Himself, His " glory " is His true nature as manifested to His creatures ; where it refers to man, " gloiy " is the perfection of man's nature in the communion with God in Heaven. Here the latter sense is obviously to be taken. The " supplying of every need out of the riches " of God's love can only have its consummation in the " glory " of the future. Tliat it is " in Christ Jesus " is a matter of coiu'se ; for He is to " change even our body of humiliation to be fashioned like unto the body of His glory " (chap. iii. 21 ). (20) Now unto God and our Father . . . — Tlie doxology of this verse seems suggested by the very use of "glory" in the previous verse. " Glory" may be derivatively the privilege of man ; but " the glory " (for the original has the article here) — the essential and incommunicable glory — must be ascribed to God alone. Whether we supply here the word " is" or " be " matters not. His it is ; to Him let it be ascribed. Such doxologies are common with St. Paul (see Rom. xvi. 27; Gal. i. 5 ; Eph. iii. 21 ; 1 Tim. i. 17; 2 Tim. iv. 18j ; always with the addition of "for ever and ever," or literally, for the aijes of the ages, throughout every age till time shall be no more ; always in close connection with some declaration, not so much of the majesty, as of the wisdom, and stiU more the goodness, of the Father. Yerses 21 — 23 contain the salutation and blessing. The salutation is very brief, as compared, for example, with the corresponding passage in tlie Colossian Epistle (chap. iv. 10 — 15). naming none, either of those saluted or those joining with St. Paul in the salutation. The omission in the latter case may perhaps be accounted for by the words above (chap. ii. 20, 21), in which, with the single exception of Timotheus, St. Paul declares dissatisfaction with those near him, because "all seek their own, and not the things which are Jesus Christ's. (21) The brethren, which are with me.— The list of tho.se who were with St. Paul at one time or another during his imprisonment may be gatliered from the Epistles to tlie Colossians (cliap. iv. 10 — 15) and Philemon (^verses 23, 24) ; where see Notes. How many of these where with him at this particular time we cannot tell. They are distinguished from " all the saints " — the body of the Cliurch in general. (22) Of Cseaar's household.— Tlie '• household of Cassar" included a multitude of jiersous of all ages and ranks and occupations. Dr. Lightfoot, in a very interesting excursus on this verse, remarking that these Cliristians of Cesar's household are alluded to as if well known to the Philippians, has examined the various names mentioned in Bom. xvi. (three years before this time), and finds many of them iilentical witli names actually found in sepulchral inscriptions, as 89 Tlie Apostles PHILIPPIANS, IV. final Blessing. hold. (23) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with you all. Amen. ^ It was vrritten to the Pliilippians from Rome by Epapliroditus. bolonpfing to mombers of the " donuis Augusta," or imperial liousoliold. These were earHer converts ; but, wherever St. Paul's prison was, he can hardly liavo failed to gain through tlie praetorians some com- munication with the houseliold of the emperor, whose body-guard they were ; and the allusion here seems to show that for some reason these Christians of Caesar's household were in an especial familiarity of inter- course with liim. Probably, therefore, ho liad added from that Imusehokl new converts to Christ ; and he mentions tliis liere, as he had before spoken of his bonds being made manifest in the " praetorium " (chap. i. 13), in order to show the Philippians that his very imprisonment had given special opportunity for the sjjread of the gospel. (23) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. — The true reading is, he with your spirit (as in Gal. vi. 18; Philem. verse 25; 2 Tim iv. 22). The reading of our version is the more ordinary form of salutation. In one form or another it is " the token in eveiy Epistle " (2 Thess. iii. 17). The grace given by the Spirit of God is received in "the spirit" of man, but in order that the whole man. " body, soul, and spirit, be preserved blameless to the coming of the Lord Jesus " (1 Thess. V. 23). 90 INTRODUCTION THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE COLOSSIAJ^S. I. The Time, Place, and Occasion of Writing. — There are in tliis Epistle indications of the time and place of writing similar to those already noticed in the Epistles to the Eplu'sians and Pliilippiaus. It is written in prison : for St. Paul bids the Colossians "remember his bonds" (cliap. iv. 18). and designates Aristarchus as his " fellow-prisoner " (chap. iv. 10). Like tlie Epistle to the Ephesians, it is sent by Tychicus, with precisely the same official commendation of him as in that Epistle (chap. iv. 7, 8; comp. Eph. yi. 21, 22) ; but with him is joined Onesimns. the Colossian slave, the bearer of the Epistle to Philemon. The persons named in the concluding salutations (chap. iv. 7 — 1-i) — Aristarchus, Marcus, Epaphras, Luke, Demas, and " Jesus, called Justus " — are all, except the last, named in the corresponding part of the Epistle to Philemon (versos 23, 24) ; two of them, Aristarchus and St. Luke, are known to have accompanied the Apostle on his voyage, as a ca,ptive, to Rome (Acts xxvii. 2) : and another, Tychicus, to have been his com- panion on the journey to Jerusalem, whicli preceded the beginning of that captivity at Cassai-ea (Acts xx. 4). A direction is given to forward this Epistle to Laodicea, and to obtain and read a letter from Laodicea (chap. iv. 16), which (as will be seen by the Note on the pas- sage) is, in all probability, our Epistle to the Ephesians — an Epistle (see the Introduction to it) addressed, in- deed, primarily to Ephesus, but apparently also an En- cyclical Letter to the sister Churches of Asia. All these indications point to one conclusion — not only that the Epistle is one of the Epistles of tlie Roman captivity (about A.D. 61 — 63), but that it is a twin Epistle with the Epistle to the Ephesians. sent at the same time and by the same hand, and designed to be interchanged with it in the Churches of Colossae and Laodicea. These indications are confirmed most decisively by the Ru])stance of the Epistle itself, which (as will be seen below) presents, on the one hand, the most striking similarities to the Epistle to the Ephesians, and, on the other, differences almost equally striking and chai'ac- tei-istic — thus contradicting all theories of derivation of one from the other, and supporting very strongly tlie idea of independent contemporaneousness and coinci- dence of thought. The occasion of writing seems evndently to have been a visit to the Apostle from Epaphras, the first preacher of the gospel at Colossai, and tlie profound anxiety caused both to him and to St. Paul (chaps, ii. 1 ; iv. 12, 13) l)y the news which he brought of the rise among the Colossians (and probably the Christians of Laodicea and Hierapolis also) of a peculiar form of error, half Jewish, half Gnostic, which tlireatened to beguile them from the simplicity of the gospel into certain curious mazes of speculation as to the Godhead and the out- growth of various emanations from it : to create a separation between those who believed themselves perfect in this higher knowledge and the mass of their brethren : and, above all, to obscure or obliterate tho sole divine mediation of the Lord Jesus Chri.st. To warn them against these forms of error — the last development of the Judaism which had been so for- midable an enemy in time past, and the first anticipa- tion of an intellectual and spiritual bewilderment which was to be still more formidable in the future — St. Paul writes this Letter. The Colossian Cluirch was indeed to receive a co^iy from Laodicea of our Epistle to tho Ephesians; but in an Encyclical Letter this peculiar form of heresy could not well bo touched upon. Epaphras was for the present to continue at Rome, and (see Pliilcm. verse 24) to share St. Paul's imprison- ment. Mark, the nephew of Barnabas, then with St. Paul, was perhaps coming to Colossce (chap. iv. 10), but ' not yet. Accordingly, by Tychicus, the bearer of tho Encyclical Letter, and Onesimus, a fugitive Colossian slave, whom the Apostle was about to send back to Philemon, his master, this Letter is despatched. Partly it repeats and enforces the teaching of the other Epis- tle, but regards these common truths from a different point of \\QVf, designed tacitly to correct the errors rife at Colossse ; partly it deals directly with those errors themselves, imploring the Colossians to break through the delusions of their new "philosophy and vain deceit." and to return to the simplicity of the gospel, in which they had all been one in the one mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. II. The Church to which it is addressed.— The Church of Colosste, unlike the Churches of Ei)he- sus and PJiilippi. finds no record in the Acts of the Apostles ; for, although this citj' is not very far from Ephesus, we gather that it was not one of the churches founded or previously visited by St. Paul pei*soually (chap. ii. 1 ; comp. chap. i. 4). But it appears, from what is apparently the true reading of chaii. i. 7. that Epaphras, named as its first evangelist, and still, to some extent, in charge of it and the neighbouring Churclies of Laodicea and Hierapolis (chap. iv. 12, 13), was not only a fellow-servant, but a representative of St. Paul in his mission to Colossir. We can, therefore, hardly bo Avroug in referring the conversion of tlio Colos.sians to the time of St. Paul's three years' stay at Eplicsns, during which we are expressly told that " all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, botli Jews and Greeks " (Acts xix. 10), and supposuig that indirectly through Epaphras tho Christianity of the Colossians Avas due to the influence of that great 91 COLOSSIANS. Apostolic proacliinfj undor wliu-h '• the word of God grew luiglitily and pri-vailed." We find also tliat St. Paul liad intimate personal acquaintance, and wliat he calls emi)haticnlly '' partnershij)," with Pliilcmon (see Phileni. verse 17), ajjparently a Icadinj; member of the Church at Colossa). It is not unlikely that through him also the Apostle had been aVjle to influence the founda- tion or growth of that Church. These circumstances explain the style and tone of this Letter, which seems to stand midway l)et ween the jtersonal familiarity and un- hesitating authority of such Epistles as the Epistles to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians. and Philip- pians, addressed to churches founded directly liy St. Paul, aiul the courteous reserve of the Epistle to the Romans, addressed to a Church over which he could claim none of the authority of a founder. Tliis is, perhaps, especially notable in chap, ii., where St. Paul j)refaces his definite and authoritative denunciation of the peculiar errors Ix^setting the Colossian Church with the half-apologetic introduction : '" I would that ye know ■^vhat great conflict I have for you, and for th.'m at Laodicea, and for as many as liave not seen my face in the flesh." The position and history of Colossse are admirably described by Dr. Lightfoot in his Introduction to this Epistle, sect. 1. It lay in the valley of the Lycus, a trilmtary of the Mseauder, near Laodicea and Hiera- polis. These two cities stand face to face, about six miles from each other on opposite sides of the valley, and ten or twelve miles further up, on the river itself, lies Colossse, so that any one approaching it from Ephesus or from the sea-coast would pass by Lao- dicea. The three cities thus form a group, so that they might naturally receive the gospel at the same time, and the Christian communities in them might _ ca.sily be under the same general charge. They seem to have been politically united under the Roman Government, and to have been distinguished by a commvjn trade; like Thyatira, they were known for their manufacture of dyes, especially purple dyes, and derived considerable wealth therefrom. Colossa? had been once a ]>lace of importance. It is described by Herodotus (chap. vii. 20) as being, at the time of Xerxes' invasion of Greece, " a great city of Phrygia," the site of which is marked by a subterranean dis- appearance of the river Lycus ; and by Xenophon (Anab. i. '1, § 6), about a century lat«r, as "a city great and prosperous." But at the time at which this Epistle was written Colossse was of far less note than the wealthy Laodicea. tlie metropolis of the district, or Hierapolis, wi'U known as a place of resort for medici- nal baths, and consecrated both to the Greek Apollo and the Phrygian Cybele. In the Apocalyjjtic letters to the Seven Churches of Asia it finds no mention, being probably looked npon as a dependency of the proud and wealthy Church of LaocUcea. After the Apostolic age, while Laodicea and, in less degree, Hierajtolis are well-kno^^ni, Colossae sinks into utter insignificance. It may possibly have been laid in ruins by one of the earthquakes wliich are known to have been common in these regions. Comparatively few remains of it are now found, and the very orthograi)hy of the name {Cnlnsuce, or Cohiftacr) has. it appears, been matter of dispute. It is notable that a Church so much honoured and cared for by St. Paul should have had hereafter so obscure and so adverse a future.* • Views of the country near the supposed site of Colossflp, and of the ruins of Laodicea and Hierapolis, arc given in Lewin's St. Paul, Vol. II., pp. 357—360. 92 III. The Genuineness of the 'Epiatle.— Exter- nal Evidence. — Speaking generally, the condition of the external evidence is much the same with this as with the other two Epistles. It is included imhesi- tatingly in all canons, from the Muratoriau Canon (A.D. 170"') downwards, and in all versions, beginning with the Pe.schito and the Old Latin in the second century. Quotations or references to it have not, how- ever, been traced in any of the Apostolic fathers. The first distinct allusion to it is in Justin Martyr (a.d. 11(J — 170.^), who says (Apol. i. 48, ii. 6; Dial. c. Tryph. c. lOO) :— " We were taught that Christ is the first-bom of God ; " " We have acknowledged Him as the first-born of God, and before all creatures;" "Through Him God set all things in order." (Comp. chap. i. 1.5 — 17.) The next is Theophilus of Autioch, who died about A.D. 180 : — " God begat the Word, the first-born before all creation." After this, in Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and TertuUian, direct quotation begins, and continues uninterruptedly in all Christian writings. (See Westcott, Canon of the New Testament.) The external e^^dence is therefore strong. Never until these later days of arbitrary criticism has the genuine- ness of the Epistle been questioned. Internal Evidence. — This Epistle, far more than the Epistle to the Pliilippiaus, perhaps a little less than the Epistle to the Ephesians, bears traces of what I have ventured to call St. Paul's " third manner." To the correspondence of the change, both in style and substance, traceable in these Epistles, to the alteration of St. Paul's circumstances, and the natural develop- ment of the gospel and of the Church, I have already referred in the General Introduction to the Epiiitlef! oj the Captivity, and given reasons for'raaintaining that this change, which has been often made an argument <1gainst the genuineness of these Epistles, presents to uV^jhenomena inexplicable on ^nj' supi)osition of imita- tion or forgery, but perfectly intelligible if we accept the Apostolic authorship. Some critics, however — of whom Dr. Holtzmann (in his Kritik der Epheser^ und Kolosser- hriefe) may be taken as the chief representative — insist on tracing extensive intei-polations (almost amounting to a Anrtual reconstruction) in what they believe themselves able to discover as the originals both of this Epistle and the Epistle to the Ephesians. Except so far as these hypotheses depend on the supposed traces of a later Gnosticism in both Epistles, but especially in this (on which see Excursus at the clo.se of this Epistle), they seem to resolve themselves into the idea that every pas- sage bearing strong similarity to the teaching of St. Peter and St. John must have been altered or interpolated with a view to accommodation. Without any substantial historical evidence, ignoring both the probabilities of the ca.se and the indirect evidence of Holy Scripture, and disregarding the utter absence of any support whatever in the witness of Christian antiquity, they assume an absolute antagonism between St. Paul and the Apostles of the Circumcision, a 1 pronounce every indication of an underlying unity, and a true develop- ment of common doctriue, which contradicts this assinnption. to be a mark of interpolation or falsification l)y a later hand. With the rejection of this arbitrary assumption, the greater part of the ingeniously-con- stnfcted fabric of destructive criticism falls to the ground. But, indeed, it appears difficult to conceive how any one attentively studying either of these Epistles, with- out any preconceived hypothesis, can fail to recognise the intenial consistency and unity— all the more strUiing COLOSSIAXS. because indicating a free method, as distinct from a well-squared artificial system — which runs through the wliole, and makes the theory of interpolation even more iniprobaljle than the theory of imitation or forgery. Nothing, for example, is more notable in this Epistle 'tlian the substantial unity, under marked dilferenee of form, wliicli connects the positive statement of doctrine in the first chapter (verses 14 — 23) with the polemical >re-statement in the seeond chapter. In the former we trace anticipation of the latter, and (so to speak) preparation for the more explicit development of the attack on doctrinal error; in the latter, the very repe- titions, with variations, of passages in the first chapter ai'e indicative of a free treatment of the truths pre- viously dealt with by the same hand, and are utterly unlike the tame reproductions or artificial modifications of a mere copyist. The remarkable indications, again, of the co-existence of similarity and distinctness between this Epistle and the Epistle to the Ejdiesians (noticed in the Introduction to that Epistle), as they preclude the theory of dependence or imitation in eitlier, so are equally fatal to the idea of an artificial interpolation and reconstruction by later hands. They indicate at every point a free, almost unconscious, coincidence, omitting or preserving the parallelisms of idea and expression by a kind of natural selection. Tliey mark a likeness of li^-ing organic growths, not of artificial and heterogeneous fabrics. Nor should we omit to notice tlie sustained power of these Epistles, differing as to the peculiar style of each, but equally conspicuous in both. The Epistle to the Ephesians has about it a certain calm and almost mystic elo- quence, a beauty of meditative completeness of idea, unbroken by necessities of special teacliing or special warning, which well suits a general Apostolic message to Christians as Christians, in which we seem almost to hear the utterance of an inspired mind, simply con- templating the divine truth in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and speaking out, so far as they can bo spoken, the thoughts which it stu-s within — conscious of God and itself, only half conscious of those to whom the utterance is addressed. In the Epistle to the Colos- sians, on the other hand, we find a far greater abrupt- ness, force, and earnestness. The free course of the Apostolic thought, which occasionally, perhaps, rises to an even greater height, is, on the whole, checked and modified by the constant remendu'ance of pressing needs and pressing dangers — accoi'dingly developing some elements and leaving others comparatively unde- veloped : and so, while perhaps increasing intensity, certainly interfering to some extent with the majestic symmetry of the universal revelation. Each Epistle lias its marked characteristics ; and these, unquestion- ably, so run through the Avhole as to destroy even any sh(jw of plausibility in the theory of interpolation. The supposed anachronisms in the references to what.- afterwards became peculiarities of the Gnostic system will be treated of in the Excursus (at the close of the y Epistle) on the lie' tion of the Epistle to Gnosticism. I Here it will be sufficient to say that, on more attentive examination, not only do the supposed objections to the genuineness of the Epistle disappear, but the jdie- nomena of the " philosopliy and vain deceit " touched upon in this Epistle, wlien compared with the opinions either of the past or of the future, accord so remarkably with the characteristics of the period to which the Epistle claims to belong, as to add a fresh confirmation of the conclusions already derived from a consideration of the external evidence, and by the study of the coherence and vigour of the Epistlo itself. In this case, therefore, as in the others, we may unhesitatingly dismiss the questions which have been ingeniously raised, and witli undisturbed confidence draw from the Epistle the rich treasures of Apostolic teaching. IV. The main Substance of the Epistle.— In considering the substance of the Epistle, we must dis- tinguish between the large amount of matter common to it with the Epistle to the Ephesians and the portion which is peculiar to this Epistle alone. In regard of the common matter, it may be said generally that it is found treated with a greater width of scope and completeness of handling in the Epistle to the Ephesians. It is best studied there in the first instance (see, accordingly, the Intro- duction and Analysis of that Epistle), and then illustrated by comjiarison and contrast with the corre- sponding passages in this Epistle. It will be seen (as is explained in the Notes on various passjiges) that this illustration is at every point full of suggestiveness and variety. Literal identities are exceedingly rare; in almost every set of parallel passages the treatment in the two Epistles presents some points of characteristic variety, either in expression or in meaning. Speaking generally, this variety depends on two causes. The first turns on the speciality of the Epistle, addressed to a single Church, thoroughly, thoufjh indirectly, known to St. Paul, and the generality of the other, approaching nearly to the character of a treatise rather than a letter. The second and the more important cause of this variety is the subtle adaptation even of details to the characteristic doctrines which stand out in the two Epistles respectively. This last consideration leads on naturally to the examination of the portions of the Epistle to which there is nothing to con-espond in the Ephcsian Epistle. («) We have the passages in the first and last chap- ters which refer to the foundation of the Colossian Church by Epaphras, the declaration to them of the '' truth of the gospel," and the practical fruitfulness of that teaching (chap. i. 6 — II) ; next, to the deep anxiety felt by Epaphras and St. Paid himself for their stead- fastness in the simple truths of the gospel, against the speculations of a wild philosophy and the allurements of a mystic perfection in practice (chaps, i. 23, 24; ii. I— 4, 8—10, 16—23; iv. 12, 13); lastly, tlie particu- larity and strong personality of the salutations, direc- tions, and blessing at the close of this Epistle (chap, iv. 7 — 18), singularly contrasting with the brief gene- rality of the other (Eph. vi. 21 — 24). All these cor- respond to the former of the causes above named. They mark the difference between a special and an Encyclical Epistle. (6) Of infinitely greater moment is the special pro- minence which is given in this Epistle to the doctrine of the sole Headship of Christ. The references to the Church as His body, though not unfrequent. are Virief, secondary, unemphatic ; and thus stand in marked contrast with the vivid and magnificent descriptions in the Ephcsian Ejnstle of the predestination and election of the whole body of the Church in the eternal counsels "of the heavenly places" (Eph. i. 3 — 14) : of the union of Jew and Gentile in the divine " commonwealth," all divisions being broken down which separated each from the other and both from God (cliap. ii. 11 — 18): of the great Temple, '" built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being tlie cliief corner-stone" (chap. ii. 19 — 24): of the "one body" and " the one Spirit," the " one Lord, the one God 83 COLOSSIAXS. Hud Father of all " (chap. iv. 4 — 10). It is especially notable that to the last-naiued passajre. which is tlie climax of the doctriual teaching of the Ephesiau Epistle, there corresponds iu this the equally cele- brated but wholly different passage (Col. iii. 1 — 4), which addresses tlio Colossiaus as " risen with Christ," having their " life hid with Him in God," looking for the time " when He who is their life shall appear, and they with Him in glory." The reason of the dis- tinction is made clear at once by the indications of the presence at Colossa) of a tendency to vain speculations, to obsolete Jewish forms, and to half idolatrous super- stitions, all of which alike prevented them from '"holding the Head," from " being dead 'vvith Christ " to the rudi- ments of the world, from being "risen with Him" to a comnnmion with heaven (chap ii. 8 — 23). Accordingly, the sole Headship of Christ is dwelt upon — first positively, (chap. i. 18—20), next polemically, iu warning against error (chap. ii. 8, 16, 18). Both passages are peculiar to this Epistle, as compared with the Epistle to the Ephesians. They deal with a subject on which the needs of Colossse and its sister Churches forced St. Paul to lay very special emphasis. (c) But this emphasis does but bring out with greater force what may be found elsewhere. The great characteristic feature of this Epistle is the de- claration of the nature of Christ in Himself as the "image of the invisible God ; " "firstborn before all creation ; " " by whom," " for whom," " in whom," " all beings were created in heaven and earth " and " all things consist ; " " in whom dwells all the fidness of the Godhead bodily" (chaps, i. 15 — 17, 19; ii. 9). In this the Epistle may be compared with the Epistle to the Philippiaus (chap. ii. 6, 7). But the simple decla- ration there made of Christ as " being in the form of God " is here worked out into a magnificent elaboration, ascribing to Him the " fidness of Godhead " and the essential divine attributes of universal creation. It may bo even more closely compared with the Epistle to the Hebrews, which not only describes Him as "the express image of the essence of Godhead," but with an em- phasis which reminds us of the Judaistic angel-wor.sliip condenmed in this Epistle, exalts His absolute superiority overall who, however glorious, are but creatures of God and ministering spirits (Heb. i. 1 ; ii. 4). It is e\-ideut, again, that it anticipates, yet with characteristic differ- ence of expression, tlie doctrine of the " Word of God " taught by St. John, and the ascription to Him of essential eternity and Godhead, and both of physical and spiritual creation (John i. 1 — 5, 14). It is this which gives to our Epistle an unique doctrinal signifi- cance and value. Called out by one of the changeful phases of a pretentious, but trausitoiy error, it remains to us an imperishable treasure. We cannot doubt that till the end of time it will have fresh force of siwcial api)lication, as ancient forms of eri-or recur ^vith more or less of variety of outward aspect, and in their con- stant changes, developments, and antagonisms, staud in significant contrast with the unchanging gospel. y. Analysis of the Epistle.— To this general de- scription is subjoined, as before, an analy.sis of the Epistle, shortened from the analyses iu the various cliapters. 1. Doctrinal Section. (1) Salutation (chap. i. 1, 2). (a) Thanksgiving for their faith, love, and hope, the worthy fruits of the tntth of the gospel taught by Epaphras (chap. i. 3—8) ; 94 (b) Prayer for their fuller knowledge, fruitful- oiess, and 2)atience (chap. i. 9 — 12). (2) The Doctrine op Christ (stated posi- tively), (a) His mediation in the forgiveness of sins (chap. i. 13, 14) ; (h) His divine nature as the image of God and tlie Creator of all things (chap. i. 15 — 17) ; (c) His Headship over the Churcli and over all created being (chap. i. 18 — 20) ; (d) Special application of His mediation to the Colossiaus, and declaration of the com- mission of the preaching of this mystei-y to St. Paul himself {chill), i- 21—29). (3) The Doctrine of Christ (stated i^olemi- cally). (a) Declaration of St. Paul's anxiety for them that they should remain rooted and stab- lished in tlie old truth of the gospel (chap. ii. 1 — 7) ; (b) Warning against speculative error, denying or obscuring the truth — (o) Of Christ's true Godhead; ($) Of the regeneration of spiritual circumcision in Him ; (7) Of His sole atonement and triumph over the powers of evil (chap. ii. 8—15). (c) Warning against practical superstition — (a) Of trust in obsolete Jewish ordi- nances and mystic asceticism ; (/3) Of superstitious worship of angels, trenching on the sole Headship of Christ (chap. ii. 16—19). {d) Exhortation to be — (a) Dead with Christ to the rudiments of the world ; (j3) Risen with Christ to the communion with God in heaven (chaps, ii. 20 — iii. 4). 2. Practical Section. (1) General Exhortation — (a) To mortification of the flesh in all the sins of the old unregenerate nature (chap. iii. 5—9) ; (6) To putting on the new man in all the graces of the image of Christ, receiving the peace of God and doing all to His glory (chap. iii. 10—17). (2) Special Duties of Human Relation- ship— (a) Wives and husbands (chap. iii. 18, 19); (6) Children and parents (chap. iii. 20, 21) ; (c) Slaves and masters (chap. iii. 22 — iv. 1). (3) Conclusion. (a) Exhortation to prayer and watchfulness (chap. iv. 2 — 6); (fc) Mission of Tychicus and Onesimus (chap. iv. 7-9) ; (c) Salutations from St. PauVs companions (chap. iv. 10—14) ; {d) Charge to exchange Epistles with Laodicea (chap. iv. 15 — 17); (e) Final salutation (chap. iv. 18). YI. Comparison with Epistle to the Ephe- sians.— To this outline of the Epistle may also be added a tabular comparison with the Epistle to the Ephesians, noting the general lines of loarallelism and peculiarity. EPHESIANS AND COLOSSIANS. [In this Table whatever is common to the two Epistles is printed in ordinary type, and whatever is peculiar to each in italics.] EPISTLE TO THE EPHESLINS. EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIAIfS. Doctrinal Section. I. (a) Salutation (diap. i. 1, 2). (6) Doxology and tJuuilcsyiving for the divine election (chap. i. 3 — 6). (c) Prayer and thanksgiving for them (chap. i. 15—18). 2. (a) Declaration of the " gathering np of all in Christ," of His universal mediation for Jew and Gentile, and His hoadsliip over the Church, which is His Body, " the ful- ness of Him who filleth all in all " (chap. i. 7—14, 19—23). (b) Fuller declaration of the union of Jew and Gentile in one covenant and temple, on sole condition of faith in Christ (chap. ii. 1—20). _ (c) The commission to St. Paul of the mystery of the calling in of the Gentiles, once hidden, now revealed to men and angels (chap. iii. 1 — 13). ((Z) Prayer that they may Tcnow that ivhich passeth knoivledge, by the indwelling of Christ, and he filled to the fulness of God (chap. iii. 14—21). 3. Summary of Doctrine : (a) The unity of the Church in God; {b) The diversity of gifts ; (c) The one object of all — personal and corpo- rate edification (chap. iv. 1 — 16). 2. Practical Section. 1. (a) General exliortation to put off the old man and put on the new, by learning Christ and being taught in Christ (chap. iv. 17—24). (6) Warniug against various sins, as breaking tuiity with man (chap. iv. 25 — 30). (c) Special warnings against bitterness, against impurity and lust, and against reckless excess and drunkenness (chap. iv. 31 — V. 21). 2. Human Relationships: (a) Wives and husbands (chap, v, 22 — 33). {The sacredness of marriage as a type of the union between Christ and the Church.) (h) Children and parents (chap. vi. 1 — 4). (c) Slaves and masters (chap. \i. 5 — 9). 3. Conclusion. (a) Exhortation to put on the whole armour of God (chap. vi. 10—17). (6) Request for their prayers (chap. vi. 18 — 20). (c) Commendation of Tychicus (chap. vi. 21, 22). {d) "Peace be to the brethren." "Grace be with all them who love our Lord Jesus Cluist in sincerity " (chap. \\. 23, 24). 1. Doctrinal Section. 1. [ci) Salutation (chap. i. 1, 2). (6) Prayer and thanksgiving for them (chap. i. 3—5, 9—12). (c) Special reference to the teaching of Epaphras and its effect (chap. i. 6 — 8). 2, (a) Declaration of the universal mediation of Christ, and His headship over the Churcli and over all created being (chap. i. 13, 14, 18—22). (b) Declaration of the true Godhead and crett' tive power of Christ (chap. i. 15 — 17). (c) The commission to St. Paul of the preaching of tlie mystery once hidden, now revealed, " ivhich is Christ hi you the hope of glory " (chap. i. 23 — 29). (fZ) Special warnings against peculiar forms of speculative error and practical sujicr- stition, draxving them from Christ, and obscuring His sole mediation and true Godhead (chap. ii. 1 — 23). 3. Summary of Doctrine : The unity of the soid ivith Christ, in which it is risen and exalted to heaven in Him (chap. iii. 1 — 8 ; comp. Eph. ii. 5, G). 2. Practical Section. 1. (a) General exhortation to mortify our earthly members, to put off tlie old man and put on the new (chap. iii. 5 — 11). (6) Warning against various sins, as unwortliy of " the elect of God " (chap. iii. 5, 8, 9, 13—17). 2. Human Relationships: (a) Wives and husbands (chap. iii. 18, 19), [b) Children and parents (chap. iii. 20, 21). (c) Slaves and masters (chap. iii. 22— iv. 1). 3. Conclusion. (rt) Request for their prayers (chap. iv. 2—6). (6) Commendation of Tj'chicus and Onesimus (chap. iv. 7 — 9). (c) Salutations from the brethren (chap. iv. 10 —14). ■ (d) Message to Laodicea and Archippus, and direction as to the Letter from Laodicea (chap. iv. 15 — 17). (e) "Remember my bonds. Grace be witli you" (chap. iv. IS). 95 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. CHAPTER I.— (1) Paul, an apostle of Chap. i. 1—2. Jesus Christ by the will Salutation. of Gocl, and Tiiuotlicus our brother, ('^^ to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Co- losse : Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (^^ We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Clirist, praying always for q-^^ you, (•*) since we heard ""' of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love xolvich ye have to all the saints, '^^ for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye 3-8. Thanksgiving for their faith, love, and hope, in the truth of the go.spel. [1. Introduction. (1) Salutation (verses 1, 2). (2) Thanksgiving, for their faith and love and hope, Avith an emphatic reference to the " word of the truth of the gospel" as first preached unto thoni in all faithfulness by Epapliras, tlio fellow- servant and representa- tive of the Apostle (verses 3—8). (3) PliAYER that tliey may have further know- ledge, and fruitfuluess in good works, being strengthened to endurance, and encouraged by the hope of heaven (verses 9 — 12).] This chapter contains the main substance of the characteristic doctrine of the Epistle ; to which, how- ever, St. Paul i-etnrns in the next chajjler, enforcing it with special application to the circumstances of the Colossian cliurcli, and special warning against a peculiar form of lialf-Judaic and Iialf-Gnostic error. It should be compared tliroughout Avith Eph. i., ii., iii. On sucli comi)arison, we find, on the one hand, a strong general similarity both of thought and ex- pression; on the other hand, a marked difference in tlio su1)ject to wliich main prominence is given. Tlie first glance discovers that both Epistles dwell em- phatically on Cln-ist tlie Head, and tlie unity of all as one Body in Him. But a more thoughtfid consideration will show tliat in this Epistle tlie main stress is on the hcad.ship of Christ ; in tlie Ephesian Epistle, on the unity and glory of the Church as His body. (1) Timotheus our brother.— Except in the mention of Timotheus (as in the other Epistles of the captivity; see Pliil. i. 1; Pliilcm. verse 1\ the salutation is almost verl)ally coincident witli the opening of the Epistle to the Eplicsiaiis (wliero .see Note). Tlie mention of Timotlieus here, and the oniissi(m of his name there, mark tlie difference in character between the two Epistles. In a special Epistle like this Timotheus would be joined with St. Paul as usual. In a general Episth^ to the churches of Asia, the Apostle alone could rightly speak. (-) From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.— The ))est MSS. show here, that the salutation should run simply " from God the Father," thus varying from St. Paul's otherwise universal phraseology. Such variation can hardly be accidental. Could it have been suggested to St. Paul's mind, in connection with his special desire to emphasize the triie Godhead of Christ, so obvious in this Epistle, by an instinctive reluctance to use in this case any phrase, hoAvcver customary Avith him, which might e\'en seem to distinguish His nature from the Godliead ? It is certainly notable that in the true reading of chap. ii. 2 Christ is called " the mystery of God, even the Father" — an unique and remarkable expression, Avhich marks a preparation for the full under- standing of the teaching of our Lord, •' He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father " (John xiv. 9). (3—8) Jji this expression of St. Paul's thanksgiving for them there is as xisual a peculiar corres[)ondcnce to their circumstances. They had been full of faith, Ioa'O, and hope, the fruit of a true gospel preached by Epapliras; there Avas fear noAV lest they should be beguiled from it, although that fear Avas obviously not yet realised, as had been formerly the case with the Galatians. Hence St. Paid's emphasis on their hearing, knowing, and learning the truth, and on the faithfulness of Epapliras as a minister of Christ. (3, 4) Comp. Eph. i. 15, 16. Avhere there is an almost exact A'erbal coincidence. Whatever may be the force there of the AA'ords " having heard of your faith." clearly here they liarmonisc with many indications that tlio Colossian Church, though well known to St. Paul, Avas not knoAvn l)y ])ersonal knowledge. (5) For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. — Tlie union of hope Avitli faith and love is natural enough. Compare the fuller expression of 1 Thess. i. 3, " your Avork of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope." But the place assigned to hope in this passage is notable. " For the hope " is really " on account of the hope." Hence faith and loA'e aro spoken of, not merely as leading up to hope, but as being actually kindled by it. Similarly in Eph. i. 18 Ave find that, Avhile faith and loA'e aro taken for granted, there is a special prayer that they may be enliglitened "to knoAV the hope of His calling" as the one thing yet needful. The prominence giA-en to the thought of " the heavenly places " in the Epistles of 96 Thanhsgiving for tJieir Faith. COLOSSIANS, I. The Teaching of Ejmphras. heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; (""^ which is come unto you, as it is in all the world ; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth : (^) as ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ ; '^^ who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. (^^ For tlie captivity, and therefore to Christ in heaven, even more than to Christ risen, is evident to any careful student. Accordingly, the hope, which is the instinct of perfection in man, and which becomes realisation of heaven in the Christian, naturally comes out with corresponding emphasis. Ye heard before. — That is, at their first conversion. There is an implied warning against the new doctrines, which are moi-e f uUy noticed in the next chapter. The truth of the gospel.— This expression (as in Gal. ii. 14) is emphatic. It refers to the gospel, not chiefly as a message of graciousness and mercy, but rather as a revelation of eternal truths, itself changeless as the truth it reveals. There is a corresponding emphasis, but stronger still, in St. John. (See, for ex- ample, 1 John ii. 27 ; V. 20 ; 2 John 1 — 4 ; 3 John, verses 2, 3.) The gospel was now winning its way to supremacy over civilised thought. Hence the need of warning against the sudden growth of wild specidations, con- trasted with the unchanging simplicity of its main truths. (6) Which is come unto you . . . — There is much variety of reading here, but the text followed by our version is certainly incorrect. The probable reading is, which is come unto you, just as in all the world it is now bringing forth fruit and growing, as also it does in you. In this sentence there are two lessons implied. First, the universality of the gospel, in which it stands contrasted, as with all local and national religions, whether of Judaism or of Paganism, 60 also with the secret doctrines of Gnostic speculation, intelligible only to the initiated few. Next, the test of its reality both by practical fruit of action, and by the spiritual gi-owth connected therewith. In relation to the former, "faith withoiit works" is "dead"; in relation to the other it is " imperfect," needing to be developed into maturity (Jas. ii. 20, 22). Both these lessons were evidently needed, in consequence of the appearance at CoIosseb of the occult mysticism and the unpractical speculation noted in chap. ii. 8, 10, 18. But the Church itself was still faithful. Hence the last words, " as also it does in you," turning back again to Colossae in particular, are an insertion of kindly courtesy — one of the insertions of apparent afterthought not un- frequent in St. Paul's Epistles — intended to show that the implied Avarning is by no means a condemnation. (7) Ye also learned of Epaphras.— Of Epa- phras we know notluug, except what we gather from this passage, and from chap. iv. 12 ; Philcm. verse 23. The name is a shortened form of Epaphroditus, but it is most unlikely that he is the same as the Epaphroditus of Phil. ii. 25 ; iv. 18. Being, it seems, a native of Colossse itself, he was apparently its first evangelist, and is afterwards described as feeling some responsi- bility for it and its neighbouring cities, Laodicea and Hierapolis (chap. iv. 13). His work could not have been transient, for under him the Colossians are said not only to have " heard," but also to have " known " (come to know perfectly) " the grace of God." St. Paul here gives emphatic testimony to his faithfulness, and to his preaching to them " in truth." That he was, then or afterwards. Bishop of Colossae is probably a mere guess of tradition. But ho may have had some such 73 charge as that which was afterwards more formally committed to Timotliy at Ephesus, and Titus in Crete. At this time, however, he remained with St. Paul (chap, iv. 12, 13), and apparently shared his capti^aty, for he is called (in Philem. verse 23) his " fellow-prisoner." Who is for you a faithful minister of Christ. — (1) "For you" is, properly, on your behalf. This has been supposed to mean that Epaphras, like his Philippian namesake, had been a representerhaps going beyond it. God is love ; the Sou of God is, therefore, the '• Son of His love." partaking of and manifesting this His essential attribute. In whom we have . . . — This verse corresponds verbally with Eph. i. 7, where see Note. From the love of the Father, the first cause of salvation, we pass to the efficient cause in the redemption and pro- pitiation of the Son. Yerses 15—17 pass from Clirist as our Mediator to Christ as He is in Himself from aU eternity, " the image of the invisible God," and as He is from the beginning of time, the creator and sustainer of all things in heaven aud earth. Wliat was before implied is now explicitly asserted; what was before emphatic- ally asserted is now taken for granted, and made the stepping-stone to yet higher and more mysterious truth. 99 (15) The image of the invisible God.— This all- important clause needs the most careful examination. Christ the Image of God, COLOSSIANS, I. the Creator of all Things, of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature : <^^^ for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they he thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things We note accordmotheticaI — ■ " If, as I presume ; " " If, as I trust." St. Paul cannot refrain from needful warning, but he refuses to antici- pate failure. Grounded. — Built on the foundation. Comp. Eph. ii. 20, "built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone." Settled. — The result of being so gi-ounded. Tlio word is used in the same sense, but without meta- phorical association, in 1 Cor. xv. 58, " stedfast, unmove- able," as here "settled and not being moved." The hope. — See Note on verse 5. Here, as tliere, great emphasis is laid on " hope." But here there may possibly be reference to some ideas (like those spoken of in 2 Tim. ii. 181 that " the resurrection was past already," and that the hope of a true resurrection and a real heaven was either a delusion or a metaphor. Every creature which is under heaven. — Comp. our Lord's command, "Preach the gospel to eveiy creature" (Mark xvi. 15). In idea and capacity the gospel is literally universal ; although in actual reality such universality can only be claimed by a natural hyperbole. Tlie Mission of St. Paul COLOSSIANS, I. as Apostle of the Gentiles. I Paul am made a minister; (-*) who Chap. i. 24-26. ^^^^^ rejoice in my suffer- The mission of ing's for joii, and fill up ^lileiS-'^' and *^^'^* ^^\x\c\\ is behind of preaoliing, to the afflictions of Christ tiie Gentiles, j^ my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church : (-^^ where- of I am made a minister, according 1 Or, fully to preach the word vf Ovd, Koiu. 16. to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God ; 1 (-^) even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from gene- rations, but now is made manifest to his saints : (-^^ to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles ; [3. The Mission of St. Paul. As Apostle of the Gentiles, a minister of tbe newly revealed mystery of their salvation, testifying to all alike by suffering and by preaching, in order " to present all perfect in Christ Jesus" (_ verses 2-f — 29).] (24—29) Hei'e (as in Epli. iii., in the same conuecti'an) St. Paul dwells on his own mission to set fortl; the universal gospel to the Gentiles. In the Ephesiau Epistle this declaration is made a direct introduction to practical exhortation (comp. chaps, iv., v., vi.) ; here it leads up to the earnest remonstrance against specula- tive eiTors in chap, ii., which precedes a similar prac- tical exhortation. In both cases he dwells on the com- mittal to him of a special disi^ensation ; in both he rejoices in suffering as a means of spiritual influence ; in both cases he declares the one object to be the pre- sentation of each man perfect before Christ. (24) "W"ho now rejoice. — In the true reading of the original there is no relative prouoim. The sentence starts with emphatic abruptness, '" Now (at this moment) I rejoice" (just as in 2 Cor. vii. 9). In all the three Epistles of the Captivity this same rejoicing is declared in himself and urged on his brethren. In Eph. iii. 13, " I desire that ye faint not at my tribu- lati(ms for you, which is your gloiy; " in Pliil. ii. 11, " Yea, if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith. I joy, and rejoice with you all. FAr ^he same cause do ye also joy, and rejoice with me." Tliere, as here, the rejoicing is in silifering, not in itself, not solely because it is borne with and for Christ, but also because it is for the sake of the Church. * Here, however, this idea is expi'essed with fai* greater emphasis. i'ill up that which ig behind of the afflictions of Christ. — The sense o£- this passage is at first sight start Ung. 1)ut it could not have been tlumght difficult or doubtful, liad not false inferences from it tempted men to .shrink from the obvious meaning. Now. (1) the " afflictions of Christ " is a phrase not used else- where; for "affliction" (properly, hard and galling pressure) is the ordinary burden of life, and is gener- ally spoken of only as coming on His servants. But. like the common phrase '* the sufferings of Christ " (2 Cor. i. 5; Phil. iii. 10; 1 Pet. iv. 15; v. 1), it must mean the afflictions which He endured. It is true, as has been thoughtfully suggested (see Chrysosfom and otliers on the ])assage| that we are to count as His the afflictions of His Church; but still, even if we are to include these indirect afflictions, we cannot jiossibly exclude the direct. Next, (2) St. Piiul expressly says (in the full force of the (U-igin.al) that " lie fills up instead" of his Master, what is still left nnfini.shed of liis Master's afflictions. (See the passages quoted by Dr, Lightfoot in liis note on this verse.) He declares, i.e., tliat, succeeding to the suffering of Christ, lie carries it out for the sake of His body the Church. This is, indeed, nothing but a clearer and more striking ex2)ressiou of the truth conveyed in 2 Cor. i. 5, " The sufferings of Christ overflow to us," .so that we bear our part, in addition to the full measure which He bore ; and even in the c«nimouer expression, to be " partaker of Christ's sufferings " (Phil. iii. 10 ; 1 Pet. iv. 13), or " to drink of His cup and be baptised with His baptism " (Matt. xx. 22, 23). But, (3) looking to the meaning and use of the word " afflictions," wo note that " the afflictions of Christ " must be His suffer- ings on earth considered simply as a part — though immeasurably the chief part— of the Ijurden of humanity in a sinful world. They represent, not the Cross of Atonement, on which He alone could suffer — and in which any reader of St. Paul must find it absurd to suppose that he would claim the slightest share — but the Cross of struggle against sin even to death, which He expressly bade us " take up if we would follow Him." This Ho has stiU left " behind ; " this in His strength every one of His servants bears, partly for himself, partly also for others. In the former light St. Paul says, " The world is crucified to me, and I to the world " (Gal. vi. 14) ; in the latter he claims it as his highest privilege " to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His Body which is the Church." In my flesh for his body's sake.— Tliere is obviously an antithesis here. St. Paul suffers in his natural body for the mystical Body of Christ. (25) Whereof I am made (or, became) a minister. — Above (in verse 23) St. Paul describes himself as a " minister of the gospel," here as a " minister (or, servant) of the Church." Elsewhere he is always the " minister of God " and " of Christ " ; here of the Church, as the Body of Chi-ist, and so iudissolubly united with Christ. The dispensation of God.— See Eph. iii. 2 — 9, and Notes there. The reference is to his peculiar " Apost lesliip of the Gentiles." To fulfil. — The marginal reading and reference to Rom. XV. 19 give the explanation of the word, •' fully to preach the Woi-d of God " — to be a messenger of the perfect revelation, which had now unfolded what was previously a hidden " mystery." (26) The mystery.— On the Scriptural sense of the woi'd "mystery," and its relation to the modern use of the word* see Note on Eph. i. 9. In this passage, perhaps, most of all. it is defined with perfect clear- ness, as " a secret long hidden, and now revealed." (27) To whom God would- i.e., God iciUed. Tlie expression is emphatic. It was of God's own i)leasure, inscrutable to man. So in Eph. i. 9, we read " the mystery of His will." Note also, in Eph. i. 4 — 6. the r(>peated reference to the predestination of God in His love. The riches of the glory.— See Eph. i. 18 ; iii. 16 ; and Notes there. Which is Christ in you.— This mystery specially committ«d to St. Paul to declare is, in Eph. iii. 6, defined 103 His Preaching to tJiem, COLOSSIANS, II. and his Striving for them. wliicli is Christ in you,^ the hope of glory: ^^^ whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom ; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus : (^^ where- unto I also labour, striving according 1 Or, among you. to his working, wMch worketh in me mightily. A.D. &1. 2 Or, fear, or, care. CHAPTEE n.— (1) For I would that ye knew what great conflict ^ I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, thns, " Tliat the Gontilcs slioukl be (or, are) fellowheirs, and of the same body, aud partakers of His promise in Christ ))y the gospel " ; and the nature of this promise is explained below, " That Chi-ist may dwell in yonr hearts by faith." Hero the mystery itself is boldly defined as " Christ in you ; " just as in 1 Tim. iii. 16, 17, aceordingtooneinteri^retatiou of that difficult passage, " the mystery of godliness " is Christ Himself, " who was manifest," &c. Here we have again a significant illustration of the difference between the characteristic ideas of the two Epistles. In the Ephesian Epistle the unity of all in God's covenant is first put forth, and then explained as deijendeut on the indwelling of Christ in the lieart. Here the " Christ in you " is all in all : the unity of all men in Him is an inference, but one which the readers of the Epistle are left to draw for themselves. On the great idea itself, in the purely individual relation, see Phil. i. 21, and also Gal. ii. 20; in the moi*e general form, see Rom. viii. 10; 2 Cor. xiii. 5; Gal. iv. 19. The hope of (the) glory.— So in 1 Tim. i. 1, " The Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope." " The glory " is the glorified state of perfection in heaven, wrapt in the communion with God, and so " changed from glory to glory." Again we note (as in verses 5, 23) the special emphasis laid on the hope of heaven. Christ is " our hope," as He is " our life," i.e., the ground of our sure aud certain hope of the future, as of our spiritual life in the present. (28) Warning every man, and teaching.— In " warning " is implied the idea of reproof of folly or sin. (See 1 Thess. v. 14 ; 2 Thess. iii. 5.) " Teaching " is simply instruction — including, of course, practical exhortation — of those already warned. Perfect.— See Eph. iv. 13 ; Phil. iii. 15, and Notes there. Here, however, as in 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7, the re- ference may be to the sense of " perfect "as " initiated in mystery." St. Paul, in opposition to the exclusive claim of " perfection " by the speculators in mystic knowledge ('• falsely so called ") would present " every man," learned or ignorant, " perfect before God." In this universality of pri^-ilege lies the glorious distinc- tion between the gospel and all schools of philosophy, whether they reject or assume its name. (29) Whei-eunto I also labour.— In this verse St. Paul passes from the plural to the singular, e\ddently in preparation for the strong personal remonstrance of chap. ii. 1 — 7. His working . . .—See Eph. i. 12, and Note there. Perhaps, as in Gal. ii. 8 (" Ho that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleshij) of the Circum- cision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gen- tiles"), there is special allusion to the grace given to him for his Apostleship of the Gentiles. II. [4. Special Enforcement of Doctrinal Teach- ing (chap. ii. 1— iii. 4). (1) Exhortation to Stand Fast in the Faith, dictated by special anxiety for them and the sister churches, urging them to seek 104 all wisdom in Christ alone, and to keep to the old simplicity of the gospel (verses 1 — 7). (2) Warning against Speculative Error, turning them "to philosophy and vain de- ceit " from Christ. (a) For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead. (b) In Him they have the true spiritual circum- cision of the New Covenant. (c) From Him, and from Him alone, can they receive justification from sin, and the new life of grace (verses 8 — 15). (3) Warning against Practical Supersti- tion. (a) In relation to obsolete Jewish ordinances (verses 16 — 17). (fc) In worship of angels, sinning against the sole Headship of Christ (verses 18, 19). (4) Declaration of the True Christian State. (a) As dead with Christ, and so dead to all the vain and carnal ordinances, which have a show of wisdom but no reality (verses 20—23). _ (6) As risen with Christ, and so bound to seek the things above, and have a life hid with Christ in God (chap. iii. 1 — 4).] (!—'') In these verses St. Paul declares his deep anxiety for the Colossians and Laodiceans and others who had not seen his face, that they might seek, not the false, but the true knowledge, finding " the mystery of God " in Christ alone. The reason of that anxiety is found in the " beguiUng and enticing words " of an incipient Gnosticism. But "though absent in the body " he rejoices in the steadfastness of their faith, and only exhorts them to continue in it, deepening and enlarging it, but never changing its essence. (1) What great conflict.— The word is here re- peated from the " striving " of the previous verse, which is, in the original, the cognate verb. It is the same word which is used in Phil. i. 30 (" conflict "), in 1 Thess. ii. 2 ("contention "), in 1 Tim. vi. 12, 2 Tim. iv. 7 (" the good fight of faith "). Evidently it de- scribes the intense earnestness of the whole struggle against evil which he was undergoing for them ; but perhaps, looking at chap. iv. 12, we may refer it especially to " striving in prayer " for them. It is probably dwelt upon hero to show why, although un- known to them personally, ho yet writes so urgently to them. And for them at Laodicea.— Comp. chap, iv. 13, " For you, and for them that are in Laodicea, and for them in Hierapolis." These three cities lay near together in the valley of Lycus, a tributary of the Mffiander ; probably they were converted at one time, and are evidently regarded as forming one Christian community, for which Epaphras, the evangelist of Colossse, felt himself responsible. Colossae and Lao- dicea are actually directed to exchange the apostolic His Anxiety for Colossm COLOSSIANS, II. and the Sister Churches. and for as many as have not seen my Chap. ii. 1—4. face in the flesh ; (^^ that St. Raul's a-n^^ their hearts might be com- lossiansandthe forted, being knit together sister churches, jj-^ Iq^q^ ^nd unto all riches of the full assuj-ance of understanding, to 1 Or, Tl'ftcrcin. the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ ; (•^) in whom ^ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ^^^ And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticinor words. (^) For though I Lottcrs sent to them (see chap. iv. 16, and Note there), and to read both alike in the churches. (See Dr. Lighifoot's adniira])lo description of "The Churches of the Lycus," prefixed to his commentary on this Epistle.) Of Laodicea, the greatest and richest of the three cities, we have no further notice in Scripture, except that stern apocalyptic letter (Rev. iii. 14 — 22), •which has made its name provci'bial for spiritual luke- warmness and presumptuous self-reliance. It has been noticed that in this Letter our Lord is called " the be- ginning of the creation of God." (See chap. i. 15 — ■ 18 of this Epistle.) Of Colossge and Hierapolis we read only in this Ei^istle. It is notable (see Dr. Light- foot's Essay) that while Hierapolis and Laodicea play a prominent part in the sub.sequent history of Chris- tianity in Asia Minor, Colossse never attains import- ance, and has left but "few and meagre" remains, compared with the magnificent ruins of the other cities. As many as have not seen my face.— This description doubtless indicates Hierapolis; but the whole context shows that it also includes Colossae. If the reading taken in chap. ifi& is correct, Epaphras had been commissioned by St. Paul, and thus, indirectly, the Apostle might be held to be the founder of Colossae. Accordingly this Letter stands, so to speak, midway between the unreserved familiarity of the Epistles to Corinth or Philippi, and the more formal reserve of the Epistle to the Romans. (2) Comforted — i.e., encouraged, or strengthened, both to stand fast and to advance in the faith. Knit together. — The word here used has two senses ; first, " to bring, or knit, together " (as in verse 19, and Eph. iv. 16) ; next, " to carry with us" in argu- ment— i.e., to " instruct," or " convince " (as in Acts ix. 22; xvi. 10; 1 Cor. ii. 16). Either would give good sense here; but the usage in this and the Ephesian Epistle, and the addition of the words " in love," are decisive for the former sense. And unto . . . the full assurance of under- standing (or, rather, intelligence, as in chap. i. 9). — The idea of the passage is precisely that of Phil. i. 9, " I pray that your love may abound (or, overflow) more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment (or, perception)." St. Paul bids them seek the fulness of intelligence which they were taught to crave for, not through the rashness of speculation, but through the insight of love. So in Eph. iii. 17 — 19 he prays that " being rooted and grounded in love, they may know . . . that whidi passeth knowledge ; " for Christian knowledge is the knowledge of a personal Saviour, and in all personal knowledge ho knows best who loves best. The acknowledgement . . . — This clause — which explains what the " fulness of intelligence " is — is altogether obscured in our version. It should be ren- dered, to the full knoivledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ. Above wo read (chap. i. 27), "this mystery, which is Christ in you." There Christ, as indwelling in man, is tlie mystery which alone solves the problem of liumanity — what it is, and wliitlier it tends. Here Christ is the "mystery of God" — i.e. (according to the Scriptural meaning of the word " mystery "), He in whom the inscrutable nature of God, rich in the " hidden treasure of wisdom and knowledge," is revealed to us. The name again leads up to the doctrine of " the Word of God." (3) In whom are hid all the treasures.— The order of the original is curious : " in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, as hidden trea- sures." The word " hidden" (apocryj:>hi) is an almost technical word for secret teaching given only to the initiated ; used originally as a term of honour (as the participle of the kindred verb is used in 1 Cor. ii. 7, 8, "the wisdom of God in mystery, even the hidden wisdom . . . which none of the princes of this world knew "), afterwards, from the character of these " apocryphal " books, coming to signify spurious and heretical. St. Paul evidently takes up here a word, used by the pre- tenders to a special and abstruse knowledge, and ap- plies it to the " heavenly things " which He alone knows " who is in heaven " (John iii. 12,13). From our full comprehension they are hidden ; if ever we know them, it wiU not be till " we know even as we are known." But the previous words show that we can have full practical apprehension of them by our knowledofe of Christ, who knows them — a knowledge begun in faith, and perfected chiefly in love. Wisdom and knowledge.— Comp. Rom. xi. 33 and 1 Cor. xii. 8 (" the word of wisdom" ..." the word of knowledge "). On the true sense of " wisdom " and its relation to other less perfect gifts, as " pradence," "intelligence," "knowledge," see Note on Eph. i. 8. " Knowledge " is clearly the development of wisdom in spiritual perception, as " intelligence " in testing and harmonising such perception, and "prudence" in making them, so tested, the guide of life. The word " knowledge " (gnosis) was the word which, certainly afterwards, probably even then, was the watchwoi'd of " Gnosticism " — the unbridled and fantastic spirit of metaphysical and religious speculation then beginning to infest all Christian thought. It can hardly be acci- dental that St. Paul here, as elsewhere, subordinates it to the higher gift of wisdom. W Beguile you.—" To beguile " here is to reason into error ; and " enticing words " are words of per- snasio7i rather than of reason or revelation. Both words are used by St. Paul only in this passage. It would be difficult to describe more accurately tlie mar- vellous fabrics of Gnostic speculation, each step claiming to be based on some fancied probability or metaphysical propriety, but the whole as artificial as the cycles and epicycles of the old Ptolemaic astronomy. We know these in all the elaborate monstrosity of full growth ; St. Paul doubtless saw them as yet only in embryo. (5) Absent in the flesh.— Comp. 1 Cor. v. 3, " I as absent in body and present in spirit." Your orderj and the stedfastness.— The word " order " is used in 1 Cor. xiv. 40; tlio word " stedfast- ness," or solidity, is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, though the verb from which it is derived is found in Acts iii. 7, 16. xvi. 5. and the original adjec- tive, from which tlie verb is derived, in 1 Pet. v. 9, " stedfast in the faith." From the days of the ancient 105 y Exhortation to the Old Faith. COLOSSIANS, II. Waiming against False Philosojihy. be absent in the flesh, yet am I with Chap ii 5-7 ^'^^ "^ *^^® ^P^^^*' J^y^"^ Exhortation to and beholdiiiii: your order, kc^p to the old and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. <^) As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him : ("^ rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been 1 Or, elements. taught, abounding therein with thanks- giving. (^^ Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy ^hap. ii. 8- and vain deceit, after the 15. Warning tradition of men, after the ^^;^'"st false T J- 1 r XT 11 P li 1 1 o s o p h y rudiments ^ OI the world, drawing them and not after Christ. ("^For aS*if\"r?it in him dwelleth all the ful- and the new lite ness of the Godhead bodily. ^^ Him. Greek interpreters dowinvards, it has been noted that hoth words liave military associations — the one being nsed for disciphne generally, and the other for tlie firm comjiaet solidity of the phalanx ; and (as in Eph. vi. 11 — 17) tliat the use of them may have been suggested by St. Paul's captivity under military guard. If both words be referred to their " faith," the Apostle obviously characterises it as having riglit " order " (or, harmony) in its various j)arts, aud a strong " solidity " against all trials. C^) As ye have therefore received.— Comp. tho more emphatic language of chap. i. 5 — 7, 23. As in the case of the Corinthians and Galatians (2 Cor. xi. 4 and Gal. i. 6), he entreats them not to be turned aside to " another Jesus." or " another gospel, which is not another." (7) Rooted and built up in him.— There is a significant change of tense in the original, having been rooted — i.e. (as in Eph. iii. 17), " rooted and grounded" in Him once for all, and being bnilt up continually on that Foimdation. (Comp. 1 Cor. iii. 9 — 15.) St. Paul bids them seek not only the first basis of their faith, but their continual growth, in Christ alone, by continual "strengthening in tlie faith " which rests in Him. We may remember that in the Gnostic teaching faith was held good for the beginner or the common herd, " know- ledge " was the bright particular jewel of those who went on to perfection. Abounding (or, overfioimng) therein with thanksgiving.— The metjiphor is changed. The cup of faith, filled to the full, runs over in that thanksgiving which is the expression both of faith and love. (8—15) The general exhortation of the previous verses is now emphasised by a solemn waniing against deadly speculative error. Now, (1) the character of that error in itself is dcscrilied with apparently intentional vague- ness, as " a philosophy of vain deceit," " after tradi- tion of men," after "the rudiments of this world." Even its Judaic origin, which is made clear below (verses 16, 17), is here only hinted at in the significant allusion to Circumcision, and perhaps in the phrase " tlie rudiments of the world," which is also used of the Judaism of Galatia (Gal. iv. 3, 9). (2) What is brought out vividly and emphatically is tlie triifJi wliicli it con- tradicts or obscures. First, the full indwelling God- head of Christ and His headship over all created being ; and next, as derived from this, our own "sjjiritual cir- cumcision in Him, i.e., the true " death unto sin and new life imto righteousness'' in Him who is the One Atone- ment for all sin, and the One Conqueror of all tho powers of evil. On the relation of tho Epistle to Gnosticism see Excursus A. (S) Spoil you. — Properly, lead ynu away as a spoil, triumph over you as a captive, and make you a slave. Comp. St. Paul's language as to the older Judaism at Coi-inth (2 Cor. xi. 20), "Ye suifer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man exalt him- self, if a man smite you on the face." Philosophy and vain deceit — i.e. (like '-the knowledge falsely so called " of 1 Tim. vi. 20), a philo- sophy which is inseparably connected with vain deceit. The warning implied liere seems to be twofold: — (1) First, against considering Cluistianity primarily as a " philosophy," i.e., a search for and knowledge of .specu- lative truth, even tho highest. That it involves philo- sophy is obvious, for it claims to solve for us the great prol)lem of Being, in Nature, in Man, and in God. St. Paul, while he depreciates the wisdom of this world, dwells em- phatically on the gospel as the " wisdom of God." (See especially 1 Cor. ii. 6 — 16.) In this Epistle in particu- lar he .speaks of " wisdom " again and again (chaps, i. 9, 28 ; ii. 3 ; iii. 16 ; iv. 6) as one great characteristic of Christian life. Nor is it less clear (as the ancient Greek commentators here earnestly remind us) that Christianity fiuds a place and a blessing for all true philosophy of men, and makes it, as St. Paul made it at Athens, an intro- duction to the higher wisdom. But Christianity is not a philosophy, but a life — not a knowledge of abstract principles, but a personal knowledge of faith and love of God in Christ. (2) Next, against accepting in philo- sophy the "vain deceit" of mere speculation and imagination instead of the modest, laborious investiga- tion of facts. This is the " knowledge falsely so called " ; of this it may be said (as in 1 Cor. Anii. 1) that it " pufPs up," and does not " build up." In ancient and modern times it has always confused brilliant theory with solid discovery, delighting especially to dissolve the great facts of the gospel into abs-tractious, Avhich may float in its cloudland of imagination. After the tradition of men.— This is the keynote of our Lord's condemnation of the old Phai'isaic ex- clusiveness and formalism (Matt. xv. 2, 3, 6 ; Mark vii. 8, 9) ; it is equally the condemnation of the later Jewish, or half- Jewish, mysticism which St. Paul attacks here. It is hardly necessary to remark that the Apostle often claims reverence for "traditions" (1 Cor. xi. 2; 2 Thess. ii. 15 ; iii. 6 ; see also 1 Cor. xv. 3 ; 2 Pet. ii. 21), but they are traditions having their starting point in direct revelation of God (Gal. i. 12), and, moreover, traditions freely given to all, as being His. Tho " traditions of men " liere condemned had their origin in human speculation, and were secretly transmitted to the initiated only. The rudiments of the world.— See Gal. iv. 2, and Note there. This niai-ks the chief point of contact wnth the earlier Judaism, in the stress still laid, perhaps with less consistency, on matters of ritual, law, ascetic ol)sorvance. and the like. These ai-o " of the world," i.e., behmging to the visible sphere; and they are "rudi- ments," fit only for the elementary education of those who are as children, and intended simply as preparation for a higher teaching. (9) In him dwelleth all the fulness of the God- head bodily.— Here almost every word is omi)hatic. First, " All the fulness of the Godhead " — not a mere emanation from the Supreme Being. Next, " dwells " 106 llie Circumcision without Hands. COLOSSIANS, II. The Resurrection in BaptisTU. (io> And ye are complete in liim, wliicli is the head of all princiiDality and power : (11) ill whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, puttinpf off the body of the sins of in the flesh by the circumcision of Christ : (^2) buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead, (i'^* And you, being dead in your sins and the un- circumcision of your flesh, hath he aiul remains for ever — not descending on Him for a time and leaving Him again. Lastly, " bodily," i.e., as incar- nate in His Imuiauity. The whole is an extension and enforcement of cliap. i. 19, " God was pleased that in Him all the fulness should dwell." The horror of all that was material, as having in it the seed of evil, in- duced denial either of the reality of our Lord's body, or of its insepai-able connectiou with the Godhead in Him. Hence the emphasis here ; as also we tind (somewliat later) in St. John, " The Word was made flesh " (John i. 14) ; " The spirit which conf esseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh ... is the spirit of autichrist " (1 John iv. 3). On the meaning of " fulness " (pleroma), see chaj). i. 10 ; Eph. i. 3 ; iii. 19 ; iv. 13. Here it is only neces- sary to add, that, as in the later Gnosticism, so probably in its earlier forms, the word was used for the infinite nature of the Supreme Deity, out of which all the ema- nations (afterwards called JE'ans) received in various degrees of imperfection, according to their capacity. Probably for that reason St. Paul uses it so emphati- cally here. In the same spirit, St. John declares (John i. 16), " Out of His (Christ's) fulness have all we received." It is not finite, but infinitely perfect ; hence we all can draw from it, yet leave it unimpaired. (10) Ye are coniplete. — Literally, rje have been filled rip in His fulness, as in John i. 16. So St. Paul had pi-ayed for the Ephesians that they might be " filled ^vitll (or rather, up to) all the fulness of God," and " grow into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ " (Eph. iii. 19 ; iv. 13). To partake of the di-vnne pleroma is not the special privilege of the initiated ; it belongs to all who are united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Principality and power.— See chap. i. 16. His headship over all angelic natures is dwelt upon (as in Heb. i. 1 — 14) with obvious reference to the wor- shipping of angels. They are our fcllowservants under the same Head. (See Rev. xxii. 8, 9.) (11) The circunicision made without hands.— This abrupt introduction of the idea of circumcision woidd be difficult to imdorstand, were it not for the knowledge of the enforcement of Jo\vish obsen-ance so strangely mixed with this " philosoiihy" at Colossse. (Comp. Epli. ii. 11, " Te who are called Uncircumcision Ijy that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made with hands.") The phrase " made without hands " is so constantly used of heavenly realities (as in Mark xiv. 68; 2 Cor. V. 1; Heb. ix. 11, 24), as opposed to earthly symbols, that it comes to have the positive sense of "spiritual." It is defined below as " the cir- cumcision of Christ " — that Avhich Christ has given us in Himself— in contradistinction to the old circumcisi(m which is now "nothing." (On the treat mcnt of this subject in the Epistles of this period, comp. with this ])assago Ej)h. ii. 11, 12 ; Phil. iii. 2, 3, and see Notes there.) In putting off the body . . .—The words "of tlie sins " are not found in the best MSS. They arc, no doubt, an explanatory gloss to soften the harshness of the phrase " the body of the flesh." (1) What " the body of the flesh " is we see clearly by chap. iii. 9, " having jjut ofE the old man." It is. like the " body of sin" (in Rom. vi. 6) and the "body of death" (in Rom. vii. 24), the body so far as it is, in the bad sense of the word "flesh," fleshly. The body itself is not "put off: " for it is not evil; it is a part of the true man, and becomes the temple of God. It is only so far as in it tlie flesh rebels against the spirit, and the " old man is gradually corrupted by the lusts of deceit" (Eph. iv. 22), that it is to be "put off." (2) But why the "body of the flesh," and not the " flesh " simply ? The answer is, no doubt, that which Chrysostom here gives, that the bodily circumcision was but of one member, in mere symbolism of one form of purity; the spiritual circumcision is the putting away of the whole of the power of the flesh, and that, too. not in symbol, but in reality. (1-) Buried with him in baptism . . .—It is veiy interesting to compare this passage with Rom. vi. 4, " Therefore we are buried with Him in baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." In the former clause both are identical. In the latter clause this Epistle is stronger. What in the earlier Epistle is the " likeness of His Resurrectio7i " is here the participation of it, " Ye are risen with Him." Similarly, instead of the simple allusion to " Christ's being raised from the dead," we have here " through faith in the operation of God, who raised Him from the dead." Here, as in the more detailed passage of the Ephesian Epistle (chaps, i. 19 — 23 ; ii. 5 — 7), the " operation," the energy of " the mighty power of God," is conceiA'ed as actually working both in the Head and in the Body, so that we through it jjartake of the resurrection, the ascension, and the glorified majesty of Christ. The comparison shows an instructive development in this Epistle of the consequences of the unity with Christ. This passage is also notable for the obvious contrast of baptism, as a spiritual reality, with circumcision as a symbolic form. Each is the entrance into a covenant with God ; but the one into a covenant of " the letter," and the other into a covenant of " the spirit." (See the contrast between the covenants drawn out in 2 Cor. iii. 6—18; Heb. viii. 6; ix. 28.) In the earher Epistles circumcision is contrasted with spiritual regeneration (Gal. vi. 15), as shown by various signs, such as "faith working by love" (Rom. iv. 9 — 12; Gal. V. 6), or " keeping the commandments of God " (1 Cor. vii. 19). Here this contrast is still as strong as ever; but baptism being (as always) looked upon as the means of such spiritual regeneration, is broiight out emphatically as " the circumcision of the Spirit." As baptised into Christ, " we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit" (Phil. iii. 3). (13) And you . . .—Here, exactly as in Eph. ii. 1 — 18. there is a remarkable intermixture of the word "wo" and the word "you." the former con- veying the univer.sal statement of the gospel message of mercy, the other applying it emphatically to tlio Gentiles, as Gentiles. The' two passages sliould Ijo read 107 TliA Atonement of Christ. COLOSSIANS, II. Hla Triumph over Evil. quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses ; (^^^ blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, w^hich was contrary to us. and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross ; (^^^ and having spoiled prin- cipalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them side ])y side. Tliere is, as ahvays, strong similarity, yet complete independence. Through tlie passage of the Ephesiau Epistle there runs a two-fold idea, the recon- cilement of Jew and Gentile to God, and the union of botli in one Catliolic Church. In tliis Epistle it is only on the reconcilement to God in Christ that stress is laid. Even the detailed expressions of the two passages illustrate each other at once by likeness and by variety. Dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh. — See Eph. ii. 1, " Tou who were dead in trespasses and sins . . . who are called Uncircumcision by that wliich is called Circumcision in the flesh." Here the " deaduess " is spoken of, as coming both from the actual power of ''sins" {transgressions), an^ivom. the alienation from God marked by uncircumcision. In the other passage the uncircumcision is looked upon only as a name of reproach. Hath he quickened.— It is difficult to determine what is the subject in this sentence. According to all analogy it should be " God," yet in the latter clauses (as in verses 14, 1.5) it must surely be " Christ." Now, when we turn to the fuller parallel passage, we see an overt change of subject. It is said (Ejih. ii. 5), " God quickened us together with Christ " ; '" God in Christ forgave us" (Eph. iv. 32) ; but " Christ abolished the Law," " reconciled us to God on the cross." This sug- gests a similar change of subject here also, which must bo at the words " and took it away," or (for the tense here is changed) "and He (Christ) hath taken it away." This, speaking grammatically, introduces an anomaly ; but such anomalies are not uncommon in St. Paul, especially in passages of high spiritual teaching. Having forgiven you . . . — There is no corre- sponding clause in tlie parallel passage ; but in a different context (corresponding to chap. iii. 13 of this Epistle) we read, "forgi\dng one another, even as God in Christ forgave you " (Eph. iv. 32). (14) Blotting out the handwriting — i.e., cancel- ling the bond ichich stood against us in its ordinances. The " handwriting " is tlie bond, exacting payment or penalty in default. (Comp. Philem. verse 19, " I Paul have ivritten it with mine own hand ; I will repay it.") What this bond is we see by Eph. ii. 15, Avhich speaks of " the law of commandments in ordinances," there called " the enmity slain by the cross." On the meaning of "ordinances" see Note on that passage. The metaphor, however, here is different, and especially notable as the first anticipation of those many metaphors of later theolog)', from Tertullian do^\ai- ■wards, in whicli the idea of a debt to God, paid for us liy the l)lood of Christ, as " a satisfaction," is brouglit out. Tlie Law is a bond, " Do tliis and tliou shalt live."' " The soul that sinneth it shall die." On failure to do our part it " stands against us." But God for Christ's sake forgives our transgressions and cancels the bond. It is a striking nietaplior, full of graphic expressiveness ; it is misleading only when (as in some later theologies) we hold it to bo not only the truth, but the wliole truth, forgetting that legal and forensic metaphors can but imperfectly represent inner spiritual realities. And took it,— Properly, and He (Christ) hath fal-en it away. The change of tense is significant. The act of atonement is over : its effect remains. Nailing it to his cross.— At this point the idea of atonement comes in. Hitherto we have heard simply of free forgiveness and love of God. Now the bond is viewed, not as cancelled by a simple act of divine mercy, but as absolutely destroyed by Christ, by " nailing it to His cross." It luis lieen supposed (as by Bishop Pearson) that there is allusion to some custom of cancelling documents by the striking of a nail through tliem. But the custom is doubtful, and the supposition unnecessary. Our Lord " redeemed us from the curse of the Law," by His death, " being made a curse for us" (Gal. iii. 13). St. Paul boldly sjieaks of that curse as a penalty standing against us, and as nailed to the cross with Himself, so to be for ever cancelled in the great declaration, " It is finished." If any more definite allusion is to be sought for, we might be inclined to refer to the "title" on the cross, probably nailed to it. Such title declared the explana- tion of the sufferer's death. The cancelled curse of the Law was just such an explanation of the great atoning death, and the title, declaring His mediatorial kingdom, showed the curse cancelled thereby. (15) Having spoiled principalities and powers . . . — This verse is one of great difficulty. Not, indeed, in the main idea. The cross, as usual, is identified with the triumph over the powers of evil which it won. The very phrase " made a show," is cognate to the words " put Him to open shame " applied to the Cruci- fixion (Heb. vi. 6). The apparent triumph of the " power of darkness " over Him was His real and glorious triumph over them. The general idea is familiar to us, telling, as in the noble old hymn Vexilla Regis — " How of the Cross He made a throne On which He reigns, a gloi-ious king." His forgiveness of the penitent thief was the first act of His all-saraig royalty. Accordingly, taking (as in 2 Cor. ii. 14 — 16) his metaphor from a Roman triumph, St. Paul represents Him as passing in triumphal majesty up the sacred way to the eternal gates, with all the powers of evil bound as captives behind His chariot before the eyes of men and angels. It is to be noted that to this clause, so characteristic of the constant dwelling on the sole glory of Christ in this Epistle, there is nothing to correspond in the parallel passage of the Epistle to the Ephcsians, which dwells simply on Christ as " our peace," and as the head of the Church. The difficulty lies in the word hero translated " having spoiled." Now this translation (as old as St. Jerome's Vulgate), makes all simple and easy ; but the original word certainly means " having stripped Himself" — as in chap. iii. 9, "having put off (strijyjyed off from ourselves) the old man." It is a word used by St. Paul alone in the Ncav Testament, and by him only in these two passages, the latter of whicli makes the sense perfectly clear. Being forced, then, to adopt this translation, we see that tlie words admit of two renderings. (1) First, "having stripped from Himself the principalities and powers," that is. having stripped off tliat condition of the earthly life wliich gave them a grasp or occasion against Him. But this, though adopted by many old Greek commentators (Chry- sostoin among the rest), seems singularly harsh in 108 Warning against Jewish Forms COLOSSIANS, II. and Superstitious Angel-worship. in it,^ (^^^ Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink," S''^' WarniJig ^r iu respect ^^ of an holy- against obso- day. Or of tlie new moon, lete Jewish f ^j^ sabbatli days: ordinances. i i x" ^^'> wlncli are a shadow oi things to come ; but the body is of 1 Or, in ft imself. 4 Or, j«(({/c against ijoii. 2 Or, for eating and drinking. 3 Or, m part. a Gr. being ii voluntary in humility. Christ. (1^) Let no man beguile you* of your reward in a voluntary humility 5 and g^PVamiS worshipj)ing of angels, in- against super- trudiug into those things ^^^^^^j^^^ ^''°''^' which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, expression and far-fetched in idea, needing too much explanation to make it in any sense clear. (2) Next, " having unclotlied Himself, He made a show of principalities and powers." On the whole this ren- dering, although not free from difficulty, on account of the apparent want of connection of the phrase " ha^-ing stripped Himself " with the context, seems the easiest. For we note that a cognate word, strictly analogous, is used thus (without an object following) iu 2 Cor. v. 4, " Not that we desire to unclothe ourselves, but to clothe ourselves over our earthly vesture." The context shows that the meaning there is " to put off the flesh." This is suggested still more naturally in the passage before us by the j)recediug phrase, " in the putting off of the body of the flesh " — a plirase there used of the flesh as evil, but found ia chap. i. 22 of the natural body of Christ. Accordingly many Latin fathers (among others Augustine) rendered ''stripping Himself of the flesh," and there is some trace of this as a reading or a gloss in the Greek of this passage. Perhaps, however, St. Paid purposely omitted the object after the verb, in order to show that it was by " stripping Himself of all " that He conquered by becoming a show in absolute humiliation, He made the powers of evil a show in His triumph. (16-19) To the warning against speculative error succeeds a warning against two practical superstitions. The first is simply the trust in obsolete Jewish ordinances (the mere shadow of Chi-ist) with which we are familiar in the earlier forms of Judaism. But tlie second presents much strangeness and novelty. It is the " worship of angels " in a " voluntary humility," inconsistent with the belief in au intimate and direct union with Christ our Head. (16) Let no man therefore judge you.— That is, impose Ids own ?«;/•.•* iq)0)i you. See verse 8. (Comp. Rom. xiv. 3, 10, " Why dost thou judge thy brother ? " in this same connection.) In meat, or in drink.— Or rather, in eating and drinking. We see by tlie context that the immediate reference is to the distinctions of meats under the Jewish law, now done away, because the distinction of those within and without the covenant was also done away (Acts x. 11). (Comp. on this subject the half-ironical description of Heb. ix. 10.) But a study of Rom. xiv. 2, 20, 21, written before this Epistle, and 1 Tim. iv. 3, written after it — to .say notliiug of the tone of this passage itself, or of the known characteristics of the later Gnosticism of the ascetic tyi)e — show that these laws about eating and drinking were not mere matters of law, but formed significant parts of a rigid mystic asceticism. Of such, St. Paul declares imlignantly (Rora. xiv. 17), " The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but rigliteousno.ss and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." An holyday (feast), or of the new'moon, or of the sabbath.— Comp. Isa. i. 13, It, " the new moons and sabbaths . . . the new moons and the appointed feasts My soul hateth ; " also Ezek. xiv. 17 ; Hos. ii. 13. The "feast " would seem to be one of the great festivals ; the " new moon " the monthly, and the sabbath the weekly solemnity. With this passage it is natural to compare the similar passage in Gal. iv. 10, " Ye observe days and months and times {special seasons) and years." But there the specially Judaic character is not so expressly marked; and, in fact, the passage has a wider meaning (like Rom. xiv. 56), showing the dif- ferent position which even Christian festivals held in Apostolic days. Here it is the Jewish festivals, and they alone, which are noted. It is obvious tliat St. Paul gives no hint of any succession of the Lord's Day to be, in any strict sense, a " Christian Sabbath." We know, indeed, that the Jewish Sabbath itself lingered in the Church, as having a kind of sacredness, kept sometimes as a fast, sometimes as a festival. But its observance was not of obligation. No man was to '' judge" others in respect of it. (1") Which are a shadow . . . but the body [the substance) is of Christ. — The spirit of the pas- sage is precisely that of the argument which runs through the Epistle to the Hebrews. " The Law had a shadow of good things to come, not the very image (or, substance) of the things" (Heb. x. 1). W^hen St. Paul deals with the legal and coercive aspect of the Law, he calls it "the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." (See Gal. iii. 24, and Note there.) When he turns to its ritual aspect, he describes it as simply foreshadow- ing or typifying the substance ; and therefore useful before the revelation of the substance, useless or (if trusted in) worse than useless, after it. In every way " Christ is the end of the Law " (Rom. x. 4). (18) Beguile you of your reward.— The original is a word used, almost technically, for an unfair judg- ment in the stadium, robbing the Aactor of his prize. The prize here (as in 1 Cor. ix. 24 ; Phil. iii. 14) is the heavenly reward of the Chi-istian course. In St. Raid's exhortation there seems to be a reference back to verse 16. There he says, " Let no man arrogate judgment over you; " here, ''Let no man use that arrogated judgment so as to cheat you of your prize. Tliere is one Judge, who has right and who is righteous; look to Him alone." In a voluntary humility and worship.— This rendering seems virtually correct, though other renderings are proposed. The original is, ivilling in hmnility and ivorship, and the phrase "willing in" is often used in the LXX. for "delightuig in." Other translations are here possible, though not without some harshness. But the true sense is shown l)eyond all doubt to be that given in our version, by the words used below to describe the same process, "will-worship and humility." In this passage alone in the New Testament "humi- lity" is spoken of vrith something of the condemnation accorded to it in heathen morality. The reason of this is ob\-ious and instructive. Humility is a grace, of which the very essence is unconsciousness, and which, being itself negative, cannot live, except by resting on some more positive quality, such as faith or love. 109 Christ the sole Head. COLOSSIANS, II. Death with Christ. sh ; " and we certainly find that the Jewish ascetics did brand the most neces- sary satisfaction of appetite as» a •• surfeiting of the flesli." But there is a fatal o})jection to this interpreta- tion— that, in that case, St. Paul would leave the false pretension without a word of contradiction, which is almost incredible. Hence ("2) we must regard the " not in any honour " as antithetical to " the show of wisdom." The ordinances, says St. Paul, have " a show of wisdom," but "are in no honour," i.e., are "of no value.' The common use of the word rendered " honour," for " price," or " pay " (see Matt, xxvii. G ; Acts vi. 34 ; vii. 16; xix. 19; 1 Cor. vi. 20; vii. 23; 1 Tim. v. 17), would readily lend itself to this sense. The only doubt- ful point (3) is the interpretation of the last words, " for the satisfying of the flesh." There seems little doubt that the phrase is used in a bad sense. Hence we must dismiss all reference to a right honouring of the body by innocent satisfaction of its needs. We have there- foi*e to choose between two interpretations. Some in- terpret " of no value against the satisfaction of the flesli." But, though the Greek will bear this sense, it is certainly not the common sense of the preposition used; and its adoption would expose the whole phrase to the charge of ambiguity and obscurity. The other inter- pretation is " of no real value " (tending) " to the satis- faction of the flesh." This is abrupt, but suits well the indignant and abrupt terseness of the passage. It gives (quite after St. Paul's manner) not only a denial of the " neglecting of the body," but a retort on the false teachers of the very charge they made against their opponents. (Comp. the use of the word " dogs," in Phil. iii. 2.) It conveys a most important truth. That '•extremes meet" we know well; and that there is a satisfaction of the fleshly temper (see above, verse 18) in the attempt over much to curb the flesh, the whole history of asceticism bears witness. Moreover, this in- terpretation alone gives a completeness of antithesis. To " the show of wisdom " it opposes the " no real value;" to the pretended '•neglecting of the body" the real " satisfaction of the flesh." III. (1—1) As the partaking of the death of Christ taught the negative lesson of death to the Law, so the par- taking of His resuri-ectiou teaches the positive lesson of the spiritual life. We observe that this celebrated passage occupies a place at the close of the doctrinal portion of the Epistle, exactly correspomling to the even greater passage on the unity of the Church iu God in the Epistle to the Ephesians (iv. 1 — IG). It is unlike that passage, because, summing up the main teaching of this Epistle, it dwells simply on the close personal relation of all souls to God in Jesus Christ, who is at once •' the image of God.'" and the one Mediator between God and man. It is like it land like other passages of the Epistles of the Captivity) because it passes on from Christ risen to Christ in heaven : it takes for granted our being risen >\4th Christ, and bids us in heart to ascend to heaven now, and look forward to the bliss of heaven iu the hereafter. (i> If ye then be risen i rather, ye rose) with Christ.- In these words is marked the beginning of the spiritual life, referred evidently to baptism. (See 111 Resurrection with Christ. COLOSSIANS, III. TJie Life hid in God. risen "witli Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. <^^ Set you affection^ on things above, not on thinffs on the Chap. iii. 1 — 4. Appeal to their resurrection with Christ to the higher spi- ritual life. 1 Or, mind. earth. (3) j^qj. jq ^^q dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (^^ When Christ, tvho is our life, shall .^ appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (^'' Mortify therefore your members which are upon the chap. ii. 12.) It is a " resurrection with Christ " aud in Christ ; as such it is dwelt upon in detail in Rom. vi. 1 — 14. Wo may note that this phrase, implying a sudden passing from death unto life, accords more exactly with the idea of adult baptism, accepted in con- scious faith, aud leading at once to a new life ; while the later phrase, "regeneration" (Tit. iii. 5), which speaks of the soul as passing, indeed, at once into a new condition, but as having only the undeveloped germ of the new life, corresponds more closely with the idea of the infant baptism, which gradually superseded the other. Here this spiritual resurrection is taken for granted, and the Apostle goes on at once to the next stage of the spiritual life. Christ. — The name, four times repeated, has in all cases the article prefixed to it. Evidently it used emphatically to refer to our Lord, as our Mediator — our Prophet, Priest, aud King. Seek those things which are above . . . set your affection on things above. — Here we liave the spiritual life in its continuance. It is described, (1) first, as "seeking the things above" — that is, looking, aud so growing, to perfection. This charac- teristic is dwelt upon with great fulness and beauty in Phil. iii. 12 — 16. (2) Next, in a still higher strain, as " setting our affection on the things above," or, more properly, catching the spirit of the things above, being " heavenly-minded " already — anticipating heaven, not only in hope, but in tone and temper, seeing things as God sees them, and seeing all in relation to Him. On tliis we may again compare the great passage in Phil. iii. 20, 21, on our "citizenship of heaven." Of such heavenly-mindedness we have, pei-haps, the most perfect specimen in the calm and loving certainty of St. John's Epistles. (3) These two graces must be united In the one is the secret of growth, iu tlie other the present earnest of perfection. Moreover, the higher grace must follow from tlie former ; " for, where our treasure is, there wiU our heart be also." Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.— The allusion is emphatic. Heaven is to us, in itself, a vague expression of unknown bliss. It is inado definite to the Christian by the thouglit of Christ. in His glorified humanity, there enthroned in majesty, " preparing a i)lace for us." and drawing us to l)o with Him. (Note a similar emphatic reference iu Phil. iii. 21 ; and comp. Epli. ii. 6, " He raised us up, and made us to sit iu heavenly places in Christ Jesus.") This glorious idea of Christ in heaven, and lieaven in Christ, runs through the whole book of the Revelation of St. John, from the oi^ning Epistles to the last vision of glory. (3) Ye are dead.— Properly, ye died. See chap. ii. 20, and Note there. The ])hrase here is to be taken in its whole sense, both of " death to sin " and " death to the visible world." Your life is hid with Christ in God . . . Christ who is our life.— In tliese two phrases, again, we pass from a lower to a higher expression of the same truth. (1) First, " our life is Md with Christ iu God." The spiritual life in man is a "hidden life," having its source in God ; the full con\action of it, as distinct from the mere instinctive consciousness of it in the mind itself, comes ouly from the belief that it is the image of God in us, and is sustained by constant com- nmniou with Him. If God be our God at all, we must live ; for " He is not the God of the dead, but of the li\dng " (Matt. xxii. 32). It is also " hid with Christ." Our Lord's ascent to His glory in heaven is at once the pledge and the means of this our spiritual communion with God. It is " with Him " that we can " in heart and mind ascend ; " it is " with Him " that we can " continually dwell." (2) But this is not all. " Christ is our life " now as well as hereafter. This is simjjly a summary of the two truths ; " Christ liveth in me " (see Gal. ii. 20), as the source of life ; and " To me to live (the actual condition of life) is Christ " (Phil. i. 21). It is but a brief expression of faith in the truth which our Lord Himself declared (John xi. 25), " I am the Life ; whoso liveth and belie veth in Me shall never die." (Comp. John xiv. 6.) Hence our spiritual life is not only a being " with Christ ; " it is also unity with Christ in the bosom of the Father. W When Christ . . . shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.— Tliis describes the last stage of the spiritual life — the gloiificatiou with Christ in heaven, manifesting what now is hidden, and perfecting what exists only in germ. (Comp. 1 John iii. 1, 2, " Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be : but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him ; for we shall see Him as He is.") This same conclusion ends the corre- sponding passage in Phil. iii. 21. In all these Epistles we note how constant a reference there is to the "glory of God," aud to the share in it reserved for us. So we also note the especial reference to the "apjiearance of Christ" in the Pastoral Epistles (see 1 Tim. vi. 14 ; 2 Tim. i. 10 ; iv. 1, 8 ; Tit. ii. 13), and the constant revelation of it in the Apocalypse. The whole passage forms a complete and magnificeut picture of the spiritual life iu Christ — the means of its beginning, tlie signs of its presence, and the hope of its close. It may be compared with the fuller yet hardly completer picture of Rom. viii. [5. Practical Exhortation, General. (1) Negative. — To Moktify the Old Man, by fleeing from — (a) Uncleanness and lust (verses 5 — 7) ; (b) Wrath and malice (verse 8); (c) Falsehood (verse 9). (2) Positive. — To Put on the New Man, making Chi-ist our " all in all." (a) In love and peace, as shown in mercy, humility, patience, and forgiveness (verses 10 — 15) ; {b) In thanksgiving (verse 16) ; (c) In living to the glory of God (verse 17) ; (Tlio whole of this section stands in close parallelism, f recpieutly iu verbal coincidence, with Eph. iv. 20 — vi. 9. There are, however, constantly emerging indications 112 Warning to put off" the Old Man COLOSSIAXS, III. a7id put on the New. earth ; fornication, uncleanness, inor- dinate affection, evil con- Genera" wlVn- cupiscence, and covetous- ing against the ness, which is idolatry : rrenlratlufe" ^^^ ^^^ which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience : '^^ in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. (^) But now ye also put off all these ; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (^^ Lie not one to another, seeing- that ye have put off the old man with his deeds ; <^^'^ and have put on the new maw, which is renewed p, ... in knowledge after the 17. General image of him that created exhortation to ■I • ni\ 1 j_i • the graces or him : ^'■^f where there is t h e "new neither Greek nor Jew, many regene- . . • rate in Christ. Circumcision nor uncircum- cision. Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free : but Christ is all, and in all. of independence of handling. Generally speaking, the Ephesiau Epistle is fuller and deeper in treatment ; and, moreover, it constantly brings out, in relation both to moral duty and to the observation of the rela- tions of life, the great characteristic doctrine of the universal unity in Christ. This Epistle, on the other hand, is briefer and more incisive, and has only slight, though clear, indications of the idea so powerfully worked out in the other Epistle.)] Verses 5 — 9 contain the negative section of St.^Paul's practical appeal, drawing out the consequences of the " death witli Christ," in the mortification of all ten- dencies to impurity, malice, and falsehood. For these are the opposites to purity, love, and truth — the three great attributes of God, and therefore the three chief graces of man. (5) Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. — The expression is doubly unique. It is the only passage where " mortification " — the killing of anything in us — is enjoined ; and it is also notable, as not explicitly distinguishing between the members themselves, and the evil of which they are made the instruments. The sense is, of course, clear enough. It corresponds to the " crucifying the flesh " of Gal. v. 24 ; and the idea of evil, mostly expressed plainly in the word " flesh," is here hinted in the phrase " which are on the earth," that is, which ai'e busied with earth and bind us down to the earthly life. The particular word " membei's " is perhaps suggested by our Lord's com- mand to " cut off the right hand " and " pluck out the right eye " if they cause us to offend (Matt. v. 29, 30). But, as a rule, Scripture more clearly marks the distinc- tion between the members and " the law of sin in the members " (Rom. vii. 5, 23) ; and we are usually bidden not to " kill our members," but to turn them from " instruments of unrighteousness " to be " instru- ments of righteousness unto God " (Rom. vi. 13). The fact is that this passage contains only half the truth, corresponding to the death with Christ, and not the whole truth, including also the resurrection to the new life. Accordingly, as the next verse shows, the members to be mortified are actually identified with the vices of the old man residing in them. Fornication, uncleanness . . . covetous- ness, which is idolatry.— See Eph. v. 3, and Note there. Inordinate affection, evil concupiscence.— These words are not found in the parallel passage. The word rendered "inordinate affection " is the general word for "passion" (pnfhos). It is found united to " concupiscence " in 1 Thoss. iv. 5, " the lust of con- cupiscence." Both words here are general words, denoting the condition of soul, of which " fornication " 74 113 and " covetousness " are both exemplifications. This is the condition of unrestrained passion and desire, the former word implying a passive receptiveness of im- pression from without, the other the positive energy of desire to seek gratification. Comp. Gal. v. 24, " the affections" {j)assions) and "lusts." Of such a temper Article iX. of the Church of England declares with singular accuracy, not that it is sin, but that it ha.s in itself rationem peccati, that is, the initial principle of sin. (7) In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived {were living) in them.— The former condition of heathenism was that in which " they were living," with contagion of evil on every side. But St. Paul is not content without noting their own active participation — " ye walked in them." (Comp. Eph. iv. 17—20.) (8) Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy {slander — see Eph. iv. 31 and Notes there), filthy communica- tion.— The word is " foul," and the context here seems to show that it refers to grossness of insult and abuse, rather than (as ui the cognate word of Eph. iv. 4) to " filthiness." (9) Lie not one to another.— Comp. Eph. iv. 2.5, and note the characteristic insertion there of a clause to which there is nothing here to correspond, " for we are members one of auotlier." Seeing that ye (have) put off the old man.— Comp. the fuller description of Eph. iv. 22 — 24. (10—17) In these verses we have the corresponding positive exhortation, connected with the idea of re- surrection with Christ, through which we put on the new man, holding Christ to he our all in all. Of the new nature there are two marks — towards man love in all its various forms, towards God thanksgiving and living to His glory. (10) The new man, which is (being) renewed. — There are here the same two different words which are found in the parallel passage. (See Notes on Eph. iv. 22 — 24). " The new man " is here properly the youth- fid man " which is renewed," that is, to which is given a nature really fresh and new. (11) Where there is neither . . .— Tliis passage naturally suggests comparison with Gal. iii. 28. '' There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free ; there is neither male nor female : for ye are all one in Jesus Christ." In comparing the passages (passing by the insertion here of "circumcision nor uncircmn- cision," which is simply explanatory of "Jew nor Greek") we notice in this — (1) The insertion of "bar- barian, Scythian." This insertion is clearly intended to rebuke that pride of intellect, contemptuous of the unlearned, which lay at the root of Gnosticism- The New Life sliovm in Charity COLOSSIANS, III. and in Thankful Devotion. (^-> Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mer- cies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuft'ering ; Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and The " barbarian " was simply the foreigner (comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 11); the "Scythian" was the savage, towards wliom the contempt implied for the " barbarian " assumed cxpHcitness, and reached its climax. (2) The omission of " male nor female." In the Oriental society, as in Galatia, the dignity of women needed to be asserted against supposed inferiority. In Greek or Grsecised society^ as at Corinth, Ephcsus, and Colossae, the new " freedom " of the gospel was apt to be abused to license; hence it was rather the " subjection " of women which needed to be suggested. (Comp. 1 Cor. xi. 3 — 16; xiv. 34, 35; Eph. v. 22—24; and 1 Tim. ii. 11—15.) (3) Whereas in the Galatian Epistle the stress is laid on the unity of all with one another in Christ, here (as usual) the great truth is that " Clirist is all things and in all." _ In 1 Cor. xv. 28 we have this phrase applied to Cod, in contradistinction to the office of the Son in His mediatorial kingdom. Hero it is in reference to that kingdom that it is used. In it Clirist (see EjA. i. 23) •' tills all in all ; " and by His universal mediation all " life is hid with Him in God." He is all that can be needed, and that both "in all things" and "in all persons." But under both aspects the catholicity of tlie gospel is equally brouglit out ; here by the direct union of all alike with Christ, there by the resulting unity of all witli one another. (1-) Elect of God.— For the description of the election here signified see Eph. i. 4, 5, 6. The name is obviously applied to the whole Church, as " elect to privilege " ; it is not opposed to " called " (as in Matt. XX. 16), but coincident with it, representing, indeed, the secret act of God's gracious wiU, which is openly mani- fested in calling. (Comp. the other instances of the word in the Epistles, Rom. viii. 33 ; xvi. 13 ; 1 Tim. v. 21 ; 2 Tim. ii. 10 ; Tit. i. 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 1 ; Rev. xvii. 14.) Holy and beloved.— Of such election there are here two signs. The elect are " holy," consecrated to God in thought and life ; and " beloved," accepted and sustained in their consecration by His love. Both epithets belong to them as conformed to the image of Christ (Rev. viii. 29); for He is "the Holy One of God" (Mark i. 21; Lnke iv. 31), who " sanctities Him- self for us, that wo also may be sanctified in truth " (John xvii. 19); and He is also the "Beloved." the "Son of God's love" (chap. i. 13; Matt. iii. 17; Eph. i. 16), and we are accepted in Him. The two epithets here seem intended to prepare for the two-fold exhortation following. They are "beloved," therefore they should love one another (verses 12 — 15) ; they are holy, there- fore they should thank God and live to His glory (verses 16, 17). (12, 13) Comp. Eph. iv. 2, 31 ; V. 1, 2. The word " tenderhearted " in those passages corresponds to the " bowels (or, heart) of mercies " here ; " kind- ness " and " forgiveness," " humility," " gentleness," "forbearance," appear in both. But the enumera- tion here is more exact in order of idea. St. Paul starts with the natural and universal instinct of com- passion or sympathy; he next dwells on "kindliness and lowliness of mind," which are closely akin, since readiness to oblige others grows naturally out of a self- neglectful humility ; from these he passes to " gentle- ness and long-suffering " in case of injury, ready " to forbear and to forgive ; " lastly, from these particulars he rises to the general spirit of " love," ruling under " the peace of God." (13) Even as Clirist forgave you.— The MS. au- thority is in favour of the word " Lord " instead of Christ ; but since the name " Lord " is specially applied to Christ ill these Epistles (see, for example, Eph. iv. 5) there is no real difference. In Eph. iv. 31 we have "God ill Christ forgave you," because there the example of Christ, as Son of Man, is afterwards to be set forth em- phatically as an example of self-sacrifice (verse 2), and hence the free mercy of forgiveness is naturally attri- buted to " God in Christ." Here, in accordance with the emphatic exaltation of Christ, as all in all, the simijler phrase " Christ (or, the Lord) forgave you " is em- ployed. (1*) Above all. — Properly, over all — as a bond or cincture to keep all together. Love is the general prin- ciple, harmonising all the special graces named above. The bond of perfeetness.- The bond of that harmony of character which is perfection. The phrase is remarkable, ajjparently suggested by the claim to perfection, set up by the Gnostic teachers. They sought such perfection in knowledge peculiar to the few ; St. Paul in the love which is possible to all. For as he elsewhere urges (1 Cor. viii. 1), " Knowledge puffs up, charity builds up ;" knowledge gains a fancied per- fection, charity a real perfection. (15) The peace of God.— The true reading is the peace of Christ — that which He gives (John xiv. 27), that which He is (see Eph. ii. 14). The ordinary read- ing is, no doubt, borrowed from Phil. iv. 7. This verse forms a link between the preceding exhortation to love of man, and the following exhortation to a lovdng and thankful service of God. The " peace of Christ " is the sense of unity in Him, with our fellow-men and with God. We are " called to it in one Body," of which He is the Head. (Comp. the fuller treatment of this subject in Eph. ii. 14 — 22; where, in accordance with the whole character of that Epistle, the unity " in one Body," here only alluded to, is worked out in vividness and detail.) (16) The word of Christ.— Here again the definite phrase, " the word of Christ," takes the place of the commoner phrase, " the word of the Lord," " the word of God." It is to " dwell in their hearts." Hence it is the engi'afted word" (Jas. i. 21) — the truth of Christ conceived in the heart, striking root into it, and making it its dwelling-place. It will be observed how all such phrases prepare* for the full conception of Him as Him- self "the Word of God." In all wisdom. — The symmetry of the original, " in all Avisdom teaching ... in grace singing," sug- gests the connection of the words with those following, not, as in our version, with those going before. The 114 The, Three great Social Iielations COLOSSIANS, III. hallowed in the Lord. spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. <^'') And what- soever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. (^^^ Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is Chap. iii. 18,19. fit in the Lord, d^) Hus- Duty or wives i i i • -i and husbands, bands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. (20) Children, obey your parents in all ... „„ things : for this is well Chap. HI. 20, 1 ^. J. A.-L. T 1 21. Duty of pleasing unto the Lord. children and (21) Fathers, provoke not fathers. i -i i ^ your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. (^2) Servants, obey in all things your ... ^^_ masters according to the iv. i. Duty of flesh ; not with eveservice, servants and 1 V i. • masters. as menpleasers ; but m singleness of heart, fearing God : (-^) and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men ; (2^) knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheri- tance : for ye serve the Lord Christ. ^^^ But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done : and there is no respect of persons. indwelling' Word o£ God is described as manifesting itself, first, in the wisdom of mutual teaching, next, in the grace of hearty thanksgiving. Teaching and admonishing . . .—Here again we have at once general identity and special distinc- tion between this and the parallel passage in Eph. v. 19, 20. There, as here, we have the " speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," " the singing in the hearts to the Lord," and the spirit of " thankfulness." But there the whole is described as a consequence of " being filled vrith the Spirit," and, as an outburst of that spiritual enthusiasm, of which the spurious excitement of drunkenness is the morbid carica- ture. Here the thought starts from " the word of Christ in the soul," realised through the gift of the Spirit by all our faculties ; and it divides itself accordingly into the function of teaching, which bears on the mind; "the singing in grace " of thankfulness, which comes from and goes to the heart ; and the " doing all in the name of Christ," which belongs to the outer sphere of action. Psalms and hymns. — The ascription to these of an office of " teaching and admonition " describes what is their i*eal, though indii'ect, efi^ect. In the Church, as in the world, he who " makes a people's songs" really guides their minds as well as their hearts. For good and for evil the hjrnins of the Christian Church have largely influenced her theology. (17) All in the name of the Lord Jesus.— Comp. here the more general exhortation of 1 Cor. x. 31, " Whetlior ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God." This is the first principle of all godly life. The main object of all life, speculative or practical, is declared to be, not our own liappiness or perfection, not the good of our fellow-men, but the " glory of God " — the carrying out of His will, and so manifesting His moral attributes. We are taught that if we " seek tliis first, all the other things shall be added unto us." But here we have the principle, not only of godly life, but of Christian life. It does all " in the name of Christ," that is, as conformed to His image, and so beiTig His representative ; it looks up thankfully to God our Fatlier, but it is through Him, " having our Bonship by adoption " througli His all-sufficient media- tion. Its desire is, not only that God may bo glorified, but that " He may be glorified through Jesus Christ " (1 Pet. iv. 11). Once more we trace hero the special and emphatic purpose of the Epistle. Chap. iii. 18 — iv. 1 deals with the three great rela- tions of life — between wives and husbands, children and parents, servants and masters. In this section we have the closest parallelism with the Epistle to the Ephesians (chaps, v. 22 — vi. 9). But the treatment of the first relation is far briefer, having nothing to correspond to the grand and characteristic comparison of marriage to the union between Christ and the Church. Even in the second there is somewhat greater brevity and simplicity. The third is dwelt upon with marked coincidence of language, and at least equal emphasis. We can hardly doubt that the presence of Onesimus, the runaway slave, suggested this peculiar emphasis on the right relation between the slave and his master. [It will only be necessary to note the few points in which this section differs notably from the parallel passage.] [6. Special Exhortation as to the relations of life. (1) The Duty of Wives and Husbands (verses 18, 19). (2) The Duty of Children and Paeents (verses 20, 21). (3) The Duty op Slaves and Masters (chaps. iu. 22— iv. 1).] (18) As it is fit in the Lord. — For the explanation of this special fitness " in the Lord," i.e., in virtue of Christian unity, see the gi'and description of Eph. v. 23, 24, 32, 33. (19) Be not bitter. — Properly, grow not hitter, suffer not yourselves to be exasperated. The word is used metaphorically only in this passage, literally in Rev. viii. 11 ; X. 9, 10. (21) Provoke not ... to anger.- Tliis, in the text followed by our version, is borrowed from Eph. vi. 4. The true reading is provoke to emulation, as in 2 Cor. ix. 2. What is forbidden is a constant and restless stimulation, " spurring the willing horse ; " wliich will end in failure and despondency. (22-25) Compare throughout Eph. vi. 5—9. The only peculiarity of this passage is the sti-ong emphasis laid on " the reward of the inheritance." " The reward " is in the original, a perfect recompense or requital. The " in- heritance " is exactly that wliich no slave could receive ; only a son could bo an heir (Gal. iv. 7). Hence the slave on earth is recognised as a son in heaven. He " serves the Lord," but his ser^^ce is the perfect freedom of sonshiji. (25) He that doeth wrong is clearly here the llj Exiiortation to Prayer COLOSSIAXS, IV. and Watchfulness. CHAPTER IV. — (1) Masters, gfive unto your servants that wbicli is just and equal ; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. <^^ Continue in prayer, and watch in the M exhoi^f: same with thanksgiving; tion to prayer <^' Withal praying also tor and watchlul- ^g ^}^^^ Qq^ would open unto us a door of utter- ance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds : <^^ that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. <^) Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. '•'^ Let your speech he ahvay with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. '^^ All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is . a beloved brother, and a ConfmendatTon faithful minister and fel- ofTychicusand lowservant in the Lord: '^^^^^'^^s- (^^ whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts ; '^^ with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are clone here. ^^"^^ Aristarchus my fel- lowprisoner saluteth you, Chap. iv. lo— and Marcus, sister's son to ]^- ^^^J^tf*^?,^ T^ , /, 1 • 1 irom fet. Taul s rJarnabas, (touching whom fellow-workers. master (see Eph. vi. 9), though, of course, the phrase cauuot be limited to him. lY. (1) Just and equal.— The -vrord " equal," or, rather, the substautive so trauslated, has the seuse either of " equity " or " equality." The former is far commoner (especially in counectiou with justice), aud probably all that is intended here. At the same time, the idea run- ning through the passage is of a common feUow-service to Christ of all alike, and in ciiap. iii. 11 we are reminded that " in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free." Perhaps, therefore, St. Paul desired that his readers should remember that iu some points all ai'e literally equal before God. [7. Conclusion of the Epistle. (1) Final Exhortation to prayer (especially for St. Paul himself), and to wisdom towards tliose without, both in deed and in word (verses 2—6). (2) Commendation of Tychicus and Onesimus (verses 7 — 9). (3) Salutation from Aristarchus, Marcus, Jus- tus, Epaphras, Luke, Demas (verses 10 — 14). (4) Charge to this Church to exchange greetings and letters with the Laodicean Church, and special charge to Archippus (verses 15 — 17). (5) Final Salutation (verse 18).] (2—4) Comp. the almost exact parallel in Eph. vi. 18 — 20, and see Notes there. (3) A door of utterance. — Comp. a similar phrase in 1 Cor. xvi. 9 ; 2 Cor. ii. 12. There, however, the opened door is the door of external opportunity ; here the " door of utterance " is the removal of all internal impediments to preadiing. (3) Walk in wisdom . . . redeeming the time. — In tlie parallel passage (Eph. v. 15) we have " walk strictly, not as fools, but as wise," aud the limitation " towards them that are without " is omitted, although it is added that "the days are evil." The context, as will be seen by reference, is different, and the idea also somewhat different. There tlie " strict- ness " and " wisdom " are to guard against excess or recklessness within ; here the " wisdom " is to watch against external dangers and make full use of external opportunities. (<5) Seasoned with salt.— It seems impossible not to trace here a reference to our Lord's words in Mark ix. 50, " Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his salt- ness, wherewith will ye season it ? Have salt in yourselves." There the salt is spoken of as the preservative from corruption, and the warning against " corrupt " words in Eph. iv. 29 has been thought to point in the same direction. But the context appeal's certainly to suggest that the use of the salt is to teach " how to answer eveiy man," aud that this answer (like the "reason," or defence, of 1 Pet. iii. 15) is to be given to " those without." Probably, therefore, the " seasoning with salt " is to provide against insii)idity (thus according to some extent with the classic usage of the word). Their speech is to be primarily " with grace,'' kindled by the true life of Christian grace in it ; secon- darily, however, it is to have good sense and point, so as to be effective for the inquirer or against the scoffer. (7, 8) These verses present an almost exact verbal coincidence with Eph. vi. 21, 22, on which see Notes. In the verses, liowever, which follow, the particularity and detail of this Epistle stand in marked contrast Avith the brief generality of Eph. vi. 23, 24. Remembering that the two Epistles were sent at the same time, and that Ephesus was a church far better known than Colossse, we cannot but regard this as supportmg tlie idea of an encyclical character iu our Epistle to the Ephesians. (9) Onesimus.— See Philem. verses 10 — 17. The emphatic reference to him as being " faithful and be- loved " like Tychicus, and "one of you " like Epaphras, is a remarkable commentary on St. Paul's exhortation as to slaves and masters in the preceding chapter. (10) Aristarchus my fellowprisoner. — Ap- parently a Jew, one " of the circumcision." But he is " of Thessalonica," and is first named (in Acts xix. 22) as dragged with Gains into the theatre in tlie tumult at Ephesus ; thence he accompanied St. Paul (Acts xx. 4), at any rate as far as Asia, (m his journey to Jerusalem. Wlien, after two years' captivity, the Apostle starts from Caesarea on his voyage to Rome, Aristarchus is again named by St. Luke as " being with us " (Acts xxvii. 2). From this fact, and from his being called here " my fellow-prisoner " (a name wliich there seems no adequate reason to consider as metaphorical), it would appear that, whetlier voluntarily or involuntarily, Aristarchus really shared his captivity. It is certainly not a little curious that in the Epistle to Pliilemon (verses 23. 24), sent at the same time, it is Epaphras who is called the fellow-prisoner." while Aristarchus is 116 Salutations from the Brethren, COLOSSIANS, IV. specialhj from Epaphras. ye received commandments : if lie come unto you, receive him ;) (^^^ and Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow- workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. <^2) Epaphras, who is 07ie of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labour- 1 Or, striving. 2 Or, fllled. ing ^ fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete ^ in all the will of God. <^3^ For 1 bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. (^"^^ Luke, the be- loved physician, and Demas, greet you. (^^^ Salute the brethren Avhich are in simply classed among the fellow-labourers." This variation is iuterestiug to us as one of the cliaracteristic marks of independence and genuineness in the Epistles ; but it can only be accounted for by mere conjectui'e, sucli as that of their alternately sharing the Apostle's captivity. Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas. — The notices of John Mai"k in the New Testament are full of interest. Tliis is the first notice of him since the day when St. Paul rejected him from his function of " ministration," because on the former journey he had '■ deserted " tliem at Perga, and had " not gone with them to the work " (Acts XV. 38). Then he had gone with Barnabas to Cyprus, to take part in an easier work, nearer home and under the kindly guardianship of liis uncle. Now the formal charge to the Colossian Churcli to "receive him" — a kind of "letter of com- mendat'on" (2 Cor. iii. 1) — evidently shows that they had known of him as under St. Paul's displeasure, and were now to learn that he had seen reason to restore him to his confidence. In the Epistle to Philemon Mark is named, as of course (verse 24), among his " fellow-lal)ourers." In St. Paul's last Epistle, written almost witli a dying hand (2 Tim. iv. 11), there is a touch of peculiar pathos in the charge which he, left alone in prison with his old companion St. Luke, gives to Timothy to bring Mark, as now being right service- able for the " ministration " from which he had once rejected him. Evidently St. Paul's old rebuke had done its work, and, if Mark did join him in his last hours, he probably thanked him for nothing so much as for the lovnng sternness of days gone by. Before this, if (as seems likely) he is the " Marcus, my sou " of 1 Pet. v. 13, he was with St. Peter, and must be identified with St. Mark the Evangelist, subsequently, as tradition has it, bishop and martyr at Alexandria. (11) Jesus, which is called Justus. — The surname " Justus " is found in Acts i. 23 ; xviii. 7 ; we learn from tradition that by it, or by its eqnivalent, St. James, " the Lord's brother," was known. In this case it is curious that one who bore our Lord's name should also have been known by a surname which was His peculiar title, "the Just One." (See Acts xxii. 14 ; and comp. Luke xxiii. 47.) Of this Justus there is no other notice, not even in the Epistle to Philemon, in which all the other names recur. Who are of the circumcision. These only . . . — The juxtaposition of the two notices seems to indicate — what is in itself likely — that the brethren who held aloof f.-om St. Paul in " strife and envy," and whose conduct produced that sense of isolation of which he speaks so pathetically in Phil. ii. 20, were " of the circumcision." Out of thoin, only Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus were true fellow-workers, and as such " a comfort " to the Apostolic labourer. (1-) Epaphras.— See Note on chap. i. 7. Servant of Christ.— A title assumed by St. James and St. Judo, as well as by St. Paul himself, but given by him only to Timothy (Phil. i. 1) and to Epaphras here. Of course, all Christians are " servants of Christ." But the name, as applied here, is no doubt distinctive of some peculiar character of service. Labouring fervently. — Properly, wrestling in agoiuj of prinjer. (See Rom. xv. 30.) Perfect and complete. — The word here found in the best MSS. for " complete " is used in Rom. iv. 21, xiv. 5, for " fully convinced" or "persuaded." This is probably, though not perhaps necessarily, its meaning here. In the two epithets — perfect and fully established in conviction — we may again trace, as before, reference to the pretensions of the Gnostic teachers to exclusive perfection in wisdom. St. Paul's true fellow-worker, like himself, prays that this perfection may belong to all. and that it may have its basis not in the secrets of heavenly knowledge, but in the revealed " will of God." (1^) On the natural union of Laodicea and Hierapolis with Colossse, partly local and historical, partly, no doubt, having reference to their conversion by the same instrumentality (of Epaphras), see Note on chap. ii. 1 and Introduction. Epaphras is said to have great " zeal " (properly, great labour) of anxiety — finding vent in the wrestling in prayer noted above — for all three cities, for which he evidently still felthimself responsible. In such responsibility, as in the charges of Timothy and Titus, we see the link between the apostolate of this period and the episcopacy of the future. (1^) Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas.— Comp. Philem. verse 24. The original is even more emphatic, " Luke the physician, the beloved one." Demas, on the contrary, is barely named. It is impos- sible not to pass on in thought to the last notice of the two by St. Paul (2 Tim. iv. 10), " Demas hath forsaken me, hav-iug loved this present world .... only Luke is with me." On the relation of St. Luke to St. Paul, see Intro- duction to the Acts. Here we need only remark that the emphatic mention of liim as " the beloved ]»hysician " suggests the idea that it was both as physician and as friend that St. Luke, now, as in the last capti^-ity, was with the Apostle. Though the cajjtivity was not, ac- cording to ancient ideas, severe, it must have told upon his weak and shattered health. (15) The brethren which are in Laodicea.— The comparison of this phrase with the more general " church of the Laodiceans " below has led to the idea that some special body of Christians — Dr. Lightfoot suggests a " family of Colossian Christians " — at Laodicea is here referred to. But more probably the whole of the Laodicean Christians are meant in both passages. In their individual chai-acter they are " the brethren in Laodicea; " when they are gathered to hear the Epistles they are the "Church (literally, the Christian assembly) of Laodicea." And Nymphas.— There is a cnrions variety of reading here. Some MSS. have, as in our version, "the church in his hou.se;" some, "in her house;' the best reading seems to be "in their house." The 117 Message to Laodicea. COLOSSIAXS, IV. The Letter from Laodicea. Laodicea, and Njmplias, and the Chap. iv. 15— churcli -vvhich is in bis 17. Charge to house. C^"^ And Tvhen this the Church and . ,, . , to Archippus. epistle IS read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans ; and that ye like- wise read the epistle from Laodicea. i tioii. by the hand 01 me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace he with you. Amen. i[ Written from Rome to tlie Colossians by Tyeliiciis aud Ouesimus. the direct personal addresses of the Philippian Epistle (Phil. iv. 2, 3). Which thou hast received in the Lord.— Properly, which thoih dost receive. The probability seems to bo that ho received it from St. Paul, or perhaps Epaphras. The phrase is " in the Lord," not '■ from the Lord." Contrast Gal. i. 12, " I received it not from man, neither Avas I taught but by revelation of Jesus Christ." (18) The salutation by the hand of me Paul.— Comp. 2 Thess. iii. 17, " The salutation by the hand of me Paul, which is the token in every Epistle." This invariable autograph salutation was " Grace be with you " in various forms, from the brevity of the text here to the fulness of 2 Cor. xiii. 15, whicli has become the universal Christian blessing. In different epistles it is associated Avith different phrases of blessing,, or charge. Thus we read in 1 Cor. xvi. 22, " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema." In the Epistle to the Galatians the autograph conclusion is expanded into a long postscript (chap. \\. 11 — 18). This may have been the case in the cognate conclusion (chaps. X. — xiii.) of the Second iii^jistle to the Corinthians, possibly from the words, " Now I Paul myself," &c. Here there is the simple and touching addition — Remember my bonds.— In what spirit they were to be remembered we may gather from Eph. iii. 13 ; vi. 20; Phil. i. 13; ii. 17. St. Paul evidently does not disdain to use his captivity as an appeal for sympathy (see Philem. verse 9) ; but mainly he dwells on it as a " glory " both to himself and to his converts. In both these different aspects it may be that he regarded it himself, according as he looked upon it " after the flesh " in the natural feeling of humanity, or " after the spirit," in the higher power of the grace of GiDd. 119 EXCURSUS ON NOTES TO COLOSSIANS. EXCURSUS A: RELATION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS TO GNOSTICISM. It is not intended in this Excursus to attempt any (Icsfription of tlio actual liistorical developments of those singular phases of opinion, classed roughly under tlio name of " Gnosticism " (on which see Nean- der's Chtirch Historrj, Sect. IV.), or any imitation of Dr. Lightfoot's exhaustive and scholarly investigation of the connections in detail, between the form of specu- lative and practical heresy denounced by St. Paul at Colossae, and the tenets of the various Gnostic systems. For the purposes of this Commentary it will be sufficient to inquire generally — (1) What is the fundamental principle of Gnos- ticism ? (2) What were the chief problems with which it dealt ? (3) How far it could, in its early stages, reasonably ally itself with the Judaic system ? (4) What was its early relation to Christianity ? (1) Gnosticism, as the name implies, is the absolute devotion to Gnosis, or " knowledge." It is, of course, ol)vious that " knowledge," as it is the natural delight of man as man, so also is sanctioned by the Apostles themselves — by none more emphatically than St. Paul, and nowhere more emphatically by him than in the Epistles of the Captivity — as one of the signs and means of the growth of the spiritual life in the image of Clu-ist. In every one of the Epistles of this period St. Paul earnestly desires for his converts progress in knowledge. (See for example Eph. i. 17 ; Phil. i. 9 ; Col. i. y.) It was, therefore, perfectly in accordance with Apostolic teacliiug that Clement of Alexandria and his school extolled the " true Gnostic," as repre- senting some of the higher phrases of spiritual life, and reflecting in some senses, more distinctly than others, the likeness of the miud of God in Christ Jesus. But St. Paid, while he thus delights in true knowledge, also speaks (1 Tim. vi. 20) of a " knowledge falsely so called," and by this expression appears to b!-and with condemnation tlio spirit of what is commonly called Gnosticism. Where then lay the distinction between the false and the true " knowledge ? " In two points especi.ally. First, Gnosticism exalted knowledge to an unwarranted supremacy in the Chris- tian life. It made Christianity a philosophy, ratlier than a religion ; as if its chief internal effect was enlightenment of the understanding rather than re- generation of the life, and its chief desire, in rising above self, was to discover abstract truths about God and man, rather than to know God Himself, with " all the heart, all the soul, and all the strength," as well as " all the mind." Thus it fatally disturl)ed the true harmony of tlie speculative, the practical, and the devotional elements of the spiritual life. Energy in practical service, and love in devotion, it considered as good enough for the mass of men. but knowledge as the one mark of " the perfect." Like all philosophies, it was aristocratic; for in work and iu worship all might take their place, but only the few thinkers could "burst into the silent sea " of the higher speculation. There, by the esoteric doctrine, known only to the initiated, they believed themselves to be set apart from the ordinary Christians, for whom the exoteric or popular and im- perfect teaching might suffice ; and sometimes conceived that, with the higher mystic knowledge, they might gain also mysterious powers, and mysterious means of approach to a divine communion, unknown to others. Secondly, Gnosticism also disparted from the Apos- tolic teaching in relation to its method of knowledge. St. Paul describes, in a celebrated passage of the Epistle to the Ephesians, the jjrocess of the true know- ledge of God. He prays for the Ephesians thus : " that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend . . . and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with (or rather, up to) all the fulness of God." The order is here profoundly significant. The knowledge, being a knowledge of a Personal God. revealed to us iu Jesus Christ, begins in faith — a faith which knows indeed in whom it believes, but then believes on Him, as having " the words of eternal life." It is next deepened by love, called out by the infinite love of God in Christ, naturally manifesting itself, partly in adoration, partly in active service, and by both coming to know more and more what still passes complete knowledge. Finally, even in its ultimate growth, it is still in some sense the receiving of a divine light, which pours in, and fills the soul with the revelation of God. It does not fill itself, but it " is filled up to all the fulness of God." Doubtless in all this the energy of the soul itself is im- plied— first to believe, then to love and to work, lastly to open itself to the divine truth : but it is throughout subordinate. If ever St. Paul allows it to be said, " Ye have known God," he adds the correction at once, " or rather are known of God." The process of Gnosticism was fundamentally different. Faith (it thought) was well for the vulgar; love, especially as s1io>\ti iu practice, was all they could hope to add to faith. But the Gnostic, accepting perhaps the vantage ground of ordinary gosjiel truth, took his stand on it, first to gaze, then to speculate, then to invent, in his own intellectual strength — now by profound thouglit, now by wild in- genuity of fancy, now bj' supposed mystic visions. As usual in sucli cases, he mixed u^) what he thought he saw with what he went on to infer by pure speculation, and turned what were simple speculations, probable or im- probable, into professed discoveries of truth. Nothing is more notable in the full-grown Gnostic theories than the extraordinary luxuriance and arbitrariness of specu- lations, which, like the cycles and epicycles of the old Ptolemaic astronomy, stand self-condemned by their artificial ingenuity. Now, it is clear that Gnosticism so \-icwed. although its full development waited for a later period, belongs in 120 COLOSSIANS. essence to all times. It arose again and again, in con- nection with Cbristianity, whenever the gospel liad won its way to a position of such supremacy over actual life as to cliallenge specuhition. Tiiis it had certainly done at tlie close of St. Paul's Apostolic career, in all the civilised world of Asiatic, Greek, and Roman thouglit ; but perliaps nowhere more strikingly than in the provinces of Asia Minor, the ancient home of Greek speculation, and now the common mieting-ground of Western philosophy and Eastern mysticism, and in the famous city of Alexandria, where Greek and Jewish ideas had long been inextricably blended together. As we may trace its modern counterpart in much of the scientitic and metaphysical speculation of our own day, so also it is but natui-al that it should emerge even in the earliest times, when the gospel confronted a highly cultivated and inquisitive civilisation. Whatever trutli there may be in the old traditions that Simon Magus was the first Gnostic, it is, at least, clear that the germs of Gnosticism lay in his view of Christianity, recog- nising in it a mystic power and wisdom greater than his own, but ignoring its moral and spiritual regeneration of the soul. (2) The great subjects of Gnostic speculation, under all its strange and fantastic varieties, were again the two great questions which at all times occupy the human mind. The first is speculative. What is the relation between the Infinite and the Finite, the Abso- lute and the Phenomenal, the First Cause and the actual Universe ? The second is moral. Wliat is the nature and origin of the Evil, both physical and moral, •which forces itself upon our notice, as a disturbing ele- ment in a world essentially good and beautiful ? and how can we explain its permitted antagonism to the First Cause, which is presumably good? To tliese two fundamental questions, belonging to all time, were added two others belonging to the centuries just before and just after the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. What place is to be assigned to the Jewish dispensation in the philosophy of God and Man ? What are the character and signiticance of the Incar- nation, which is the central Christian mystery ? With regard to the first question. Gnosticism uni- versally accepted the conception of an Eternal God, sometimes I'ecognised, whether vividly or dimly, as a Person, sometimes looked on as a mere depth {Bythos) or abyss of Impersonal Being. But it insisted that. in respect of the work of Creation of the world and of humanity, in the government of the world and in the manifestation of Himself to Man, God was pleased, or was by His Nature forced, to act through inferior beings, all receiving of His Pleroma (or, " fulness ") in different degrees of imperfection, and connected with Him in different degrees of nearness through "endless gene- alogies." These emanations might be regarded as per- sonal, such as the "Angels of God," the "Word of God," the "Spirit of God"; they might be half- personal, like the ^ons of later speculation ; they might be, where Platonism was strong, even the Ideas or Attributes of God, gathered up in the Logos. But it was tlirongh these emanations that the Supreme God made and sustained tlie world, created man as at once material, animal {psychic), and spiritual, and manifested Himself to man in different ages. Next, in relation to tlie Moral Problem of the Exis- tence of Evil, Gnosticism seems to have oscillated between the idea of a direct Dualism, wherever the Persian influence predominated, and tlie conception of a dead-weight of resistance to the Will of God, where- ever Monotheistic influence, especially Jewish influence, drove out the more pronounced conceptions of Dualism. But almost, if not quite, universally it traced the origin of evil to matter, conceived probably as eternal, certainly as independent, if not of the Supreme God, at any rate of the Creative Emanations, or of tlie One Being called the Demiurgus, or " Great Workman," to whom the Creative was in most cases assigned. Those who were, or continued to be, " material," enslaved to matter, were hopelessly evil; those who were '"psychical," having, that is, the soul of emotion and lower understanding as distinct from the spirit, were in a condition of imper- fection, but with hope of rising to spirituality; those who were spiritual, and they only, were free from all evil, capable of communion with the Supreme God. The first class were the world ; the second the mass of the religious ; the last were the possessors of the higher knowledge. On what should be the end of this condition of imperfection and conflict, there was di^•^sion of opinion. But a consummation either of conquest of evil, or of absorption into the Divine Pleroma, was looked for by all. In the meanwhile the Demiurgiis, or the Creative powers of the world, were regarded, sometimes as rebellious, sometimes as blinded by igno- rance, sometimes as simply finite and therefore imper- fect ; and to these qualities in them were traced the sin, the blindness, or the imperfection of the present dispensation. From this conception of matter as the source of evil, and therefore of the body as the evil element in our nature, followed two rival and directly antagonistic conclusions as to the appetites and passions, and the view which the spiritual man should take of them and of the objects by which they were satisfied. The nobler conclusion was, in accordance with the purer Oriental religions, and the highest Platonic philosophy, that the body was simply a hindrance, a prison-house, a dead weight, a cause of blindness or dimness to the spiritual eye ; and hence was to be kept under by a rigid asceti- cism, mortifying all its desires, and preserving the spiritual man, as much as possible, from any contact with the material. The other — perhaps the more common, certainly the ignobler — conclusion was that the indul- gence of the body could not pollute any spirit, which was sustained by the higher knowledge, and. therefore, that what common opinion held to be " a shame " was to the spiritual man " a glory," showing that the most sensual and reckless profligacy was to him a thing absolutely trivial and indifferent. It is obvious that these two rival theories would take up, and invest with a philo- sophical completeness, the ordinary tendencies repre- sented by Pharisaism, on the one hand, and by Anti- nomianism on the other. Possibly by the natural law of reaction, the two extremes might often meet, in the same system, and even in the same individual. A glance at these subjects will again show that Gnosticism, as in its principles, so in its chief problems, belongs to all times, and is essentially independent both of Judaism and Christianity. It was most natural that the claim of these problems to attention should assert itself in the later periods of the first centur}', even in reaction against the prosaic and prac- tical systems of Stoicism and Epicureanism, then domi- nant in ordinary Roman thought, and, however opposed to each other, at least united in a contemptuous discourag'*- ment of all abstract speculation, especially in things di\'ino. No home could be more congenial to such inquiries than the classic soil of philosophic siieculatiou in Ephesus and the other cities of Asia, or the leam<'d atmosphere of eclecticism which pervaded the Alexan- drine school. 121 COLOSSIANS. (31 Bnt there were, as has heen said ahove, two questious whieli presented tliemselves to the special forms of Gnosticism dominant at tliis period, and of these tlie first was of tlie rehition of Gnostic theories to the Old Testament and the Jewish disiiensation. Now, in Judaism there was, on the one hand, much to attract the Gnostic. In it lie found the one great living system of Monotheism, setting forth the absolute and infinite Godhead as the Eternal Source of being, invisible and incomprehensible to man ; so infinitely above all creatures that His very Name was too sacred to be pronounced by human lips. In it he also found, or could easily develop, the doctrine of angelic inter- vention, in the creation and the guidance of nature, in the intercourse of God with man, even in the govern- ment of human history, and the protection both of indi\-iduals and of races. The peculiar privilege of a chosen people, easily represented as belonging to them simply through a higher knowledge, and not less easily transferred as an inheritance to a spiritual Israel of the enlightened and perfect, supplied the element of exclusiveness inherent in all Gnostic systems ; and all the ordinances of ritual, of tyjjical sacrifices, and ceremonial purity, readily lent themselves to the con- ception of a certain mystic consecration of the pri^d- leged, who might be a " royal priesthood," a prophetic and saintly order, before God, as distinct from "the people, who knew not the mystic law," and were " accursed." Nor would he omit to notice in the Sapiential books of the Old Testament — such as Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes — the exaltation of Wisdom, as distinct from faith and holiness, to a supreme place ; and he would find that round the memory of the Wise Man had grown up a whole crowd of legends of mystic lore, of supernatural insight, and of an equally supernatural power over the world of angels and of demons. So far, the Gnostic might find in the Jewish dispensation, freely handled after the manner of Alex- andria, much tiiat would give a kind of backbone of solidity to his vague and artificial speculations. On the other hand, Gnosticism was repelled from all that element in the Jewish dispensation which is ordinarily called the " Theocracy," jjlacing God in direct relation to the ordinary life of Israel, manifest- ing Him in the local sanctity of the Tabernacle or the Temple, honouring Him with physical sacrifice, setting forth His will in the clear and prosaic ordinances of the Law, dealing with all the people as a bod}', and as in many points equal before Him. For all this placed the Infinite Godhead in a direct, and, as it seemed to the Gnostic, an unworthy or an impossible contact, not only with man, but with that common life, that visible and tangible sphere of man's being, which he utterly despised. To some extent it could be got rid of. as at Alexandria, by allegorical interpretations, and by the impositions on the most prosaic text of mystic mean- ings, kno\vn only to the initiated, and handed do\vn in secret " traditions of men." But where these failed. Gnosticism had a more sweeping remedy. It was to ascril>e the whole .system literallj- to the " disposition of angels." to attribute all that was canial in Judaism to the inferior Daniurgus, perhaps imperfectly minister- ing the will of the Supreme God, perhaps becoming himself the God of the Jewish nation and of the Old Testament ; in either case, giving a dispensation fit only in itself for the lower psychical life, needing to be STiblimed by the sjnrittial into a hidden wisdom, " a secret treasure of wisdom and knowledge." Hereafter, when the Demiurgus came to be considered as antago- nistic to the spiritual will of the Supreme God, this conception (as in the hands, for example, of Marcion) developed into an al)solute hatred of Judaism, as a system entirely carnal, idolatrous, antagonistic to spiritual trutli, and to the gospel so far as it was spiritual. But for this, in the first century, the time was not come. As yet, the growing power of Gnos- ticism treated Judaism as an ally, though perhaps in some degree a subject ally, in the victorious advance of its daring speculation. Now, it has been shown, as with remarkable clearness by Dr. Lightfoot (in his Introduction to the Colossian Upistle, § 2), that some such alliance is actually trace- able in the strange Jewish brotherhood of the Essenes — marked as it was (by consent of all authorities) by a rigid asceticism, " forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats; " by a denial of the resurrection of the body, as being a mere hindrance to the spiritual condition of the hereafter ; b}' an abstinence from all sacrifices, as involving polhition, and perhaps as mere carnal ordinances ; by mystic speculations as to the nature of the Godhead, and "the names of the angels," and by occasional claim of supernatural powers of magic ; by the jealous preservation of secret traditions, and by a careful separation of the initiated from the mass of their fellow- Israelites. The chosen home of the Essenes, of whom we have detailed accounts, was in Palestine, on the borders of the Dead Sea. But it is hardly likely that so remark- able a movement should have confined itself to any single locality. Certainly in Alexandria, in the tenets of the sect of the Therapeutce, and in the teaching of Alexandrian Judaism, there was much of essential similarity to the Essenic system. Now, in close con- nection with our Epistle we notice the presence in Asia Minor of disciples of St. John Baptist, adhering, in- deed, to " the way of the Lord," but knowing nothing of the " baptism of the Lord Jesus " (Acts xix. 1 — 7). These would come naturally from Palestine, perhaps from " the wilderness of Judsea," where John had bap- tised, near the chosen home of Essenism. We find, moreover, that a great Alexandrian teacher (Apollos), also "knowing only the baptism of John," had come down in the early part of the gospel to teach with sin- gular power at Ephesus. That St. John himself, though probably quite erroneously, has been claimed as an Essene is well known. But in any case his ascetic and salutarj' life, his stern denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, his very baptism of repentance, his declara- tion of the nullity of mere sonship of Abraham, would certainly be congenial to the Essene mind. Josephus' celebrated picture of his Essene teacher (quoted by Dr. Lightfoot, p. 161), reminds us, again and again, though with difference, of St. John Baptist himself. Cer- tainly his disciples, when they had lost their master, clinging to his name in spite of his own warning of the transitoriness of his mission, might easily find in the Essenic system the rallying point which they needed, in order to preserve their distinctive character. Nor can we well forget the " vagabond Jews, exorcists," seeking to cast out evil .spirits by the mere charm of a sacred Name of One in whom they did not believe, but a Name which they, like Simon Magus, in Samaria, recognised as having in it a supernatural power of miracle; and the mystic "books" of "curious arts" burnt publicly at Ejdiesus. The Essenic ideas might easily spread beyond the limits of the strict Essenic brotherhood. If once planted in the prolific soil of Asia Minor, they could hardly fail to attain a rapid development. Now, it is certainly with a form of Judaeo-Gnos- 122 COLOSSIANS. ticism that St. Paul has to deal in his Colossian Epistle, and one, moreover, whicli bears some marked similarities to tlie Essenic type of thought. On the one liand, he denounces the enforcement of tlie Jewisli festivals (diap. ii. 16), and probably of the rite of cir- cumcision (chap. ii. 11) : on the other, he warns against the " traditions of men " (chap. ii. 8), containing "a philosophy and vain deceit," and alludes signifi- cantly to " the treasure, the hidden treasure of wisdom and knowledge." He describes, again, a "worship of angels," and an " intrusion into the things not seen," at least by the ordinary eye (chap. ii. 18, where see Note) ; and a rigid asceticism going beyond Pharisaic observance of the Law, and crying out at every point, " Touch not, taste not, handle not" (chap. ii. 21). Indirectly, but very emphatically, he protests against exclusive pre- tensions, and would present " every man as perfect before Christ " (chap. i. 22, 28). All these features belong unequivocally to Gnosticism, but to Gnosticism in its early stages, while still allied to Judaism, before it had attained to the independent luxuriance of later days. Nothing, for instance, is more striking than the refei'once to angelic natures, " thrones, dominions, prin- cipalities, and powers," as intervening between man and God, and the want of any vestige of allusion to the ^ons of the later Gnosticism, even such as may perhaps be traced in the " oppositions " and " genealogies " of the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim. i. 4; vi. 20; Tit. iii. 9). St. Paul uses the word ^on again and again (see Eph. i. 21; ii. 2, 7; iii. 9, 11, 21; Phil. iv. 20; Col. i. 26), but always in its proper sense of " age," without a shadow of the strange haK-personification of the later Gnostic use. Throughout there is a distinct appro- priateness to the time of the imprisonment at Rome, and just that union of similarity and dissimilarity to the later growths of Gnosticism which might be expected at this early date. (4) But still more important and interesting is the question of the relation of Gnosticism to Christianity indicated by the Colossian Epistle. In the full-grown development of Gnosticism there were evidently two phases of this relation. In some cases the Gnostic theor)%as a whole, stands out independent of Christianity, simply weaving some ideas derived from the gospel into the complexity of its comprehensive system. Such seems to have been, for example, the attitude towards Christianity of Basilides and Valentinus. In otlier cases, of which Marcion may be taken as a type, it identified itself in the main with Christianity, striA'- ing to mould it by free handling to its own purpose, and appealed to tlie Christian Scriptures, expurgated and falsified in its own peculiar sense. Moreover, in the same advanced stages Christianity was clearly distin- guished by it from Judaism ; " the Christ " was inde- pendent of the Demiurgus, the supposed author of the Jewish dispensation, and stood in far closer union with the Supreme Deity. Sometimes, as again notably in the system of Marcion, Christianity was charactorisod in a series of antitheses, as opposed to Judaism, and the salvation of the Christ was represented as a deliverance from the power of the God of the Jew. But a glance at the Epistle to the Colossians will show that of these things tliere is as yet no trace. Christianity had already broken through the narrow limits of Jewish legalism ; the struggle marked in the Galatian and Roman Epistles liad terminated in the comi)lf'te victory of the freedom of the gospel. But, just as the Epistle to the Hebrews shows that there was still need to assert the transitoriness of the Je^vish Ritual, Priesthood, and Sacrifice, so in this Eiiistle we observe tkat Jewish mysticism still claimed some dominion over the infant Church. Not till the hand of Providence had cut the knot of entanglement by the fall of Jerusalem, and the various manifestations of the bitter hostility of the Jews towards Christianity, was the dissociation complete. In the eyes of Gnostic speculation of the East, Christianity probably as yet .showed itself only as a sublimated and spiiitualised Judaism, still presenting all the features which had excited sympathy, and simply crowning the hierarchy of angels by the manifestation of Him, who was emphatically " the Angel of the Lord ; " while, on the other hand, it eliminated the narrowness of legalism, the carnality of ritual, and the close connection of the divine kingdom with common-place political and social life, which in Judaism had been an oifence. Hence, in the phase already described at Colossse, without throwing off its connec- tion with Judaism, Gnosticism eagerly sought to lay hold of the new religion, to accept it in all its simplicity for the vulgar, and to mysticise it for the perfect into a higher knowledge. The error which vexed the Church at Colossse appears still to approach it from witliout, much as the earlier Judaism had approached the Churches of Antioch or Galatia. Perhaps St. Paul's foreboding words at Miletus had been justified by the rise " among their own selves of men speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them ; " but the body of the Church seems still untouched, and is bidden to beware lest any man should "spoil" them, "judge" them, or "beguile them of their reward," by drawing them to this new phase of error. It has been remarked by Neander that Cerinthus, born at Alexandria, and certainly in the days of St. John at Ephesus a propagator of his doctrine in tho Churches of Asia Minor, is the Gnostic, whose system is a link between Judaism and Gnosticism proi>or. Certainly what can be traced as to his speculations on the function of the Angels, or of one Supreme Angel, in the Creation of the world and in the giving of the Mosaic laws, agrees well enough with the indi- cations of the Colossian heresy. But of the distinctive points of his treatment of Christ^ — namely, his con- ception that the Demiurgus was ignorant of the will of the Supreme Deity, which was revealed by the Christ ; his distinction between the man Jesus of Nazareth, and " the Christ," descending upon Him in the form of the dove at His baptism, and leaving Him before the Pas- sion— wo find no trace in the Colossian Epistle. The direct warnings of St. Paul refer only to tlie errors of the Judseo- Gnosticism. It is rather by the declaration of the positive truth of the true Godhead of tlie Lord Jesus Christ, His creative fimction. His infinite exalta- tion above all principality and power, and above all, the weighty declaration that in Him " all tlie fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily," thnt. as in a prophetic jealousy, he guards against the developments oi Gnostic heresy in the future. We trace here a distinction from the more direct warnings even of the Pastoral Epistles — against the teaching in the Church of " other doctrines," of " fables and endless genealogies " of Gnostic emana- tion ; the explaining away of the future resurrection; the "seducing spirits and doctrines of demons" — i.e., of beings intermediate between God and man; wliich were united with the a.sceticism "forbidding to niarrA*, and commanding to abstain from meats"; "the ques- tions and strifes of words," and the "oppositions" (Gnostic antitheses) "of knowledge falsely so called"; the aposta.sy "of all which are in Asia." and the heresy " eating like a canker " into the very lieart of tho '• Church, which will no longer " endure sound doctrine." 23 COLOSSIANS. (1 Tim. i. 3, 4; iv. 1-3; vi. 4, 20; 2 Tim. ii. 17; iv. 3). There is a still more marked distiuctiou from the explicit warnings of St. John, protesting empliatieally against the distinctive assertion of Gnostic heresy, tiiat "Jesus Christ liad not come in the Hesh," and dwelling on the Incarnation of " the Word of Life," the Son, " to have wiiom is to have the Father," in those weighty declarations, every word of which seems charged with reference to Gnostic error. Everything shows that the heresy noted at Colossse belongs to an earlier stage than even the Gnosticism of Ceriuthus. In contemplating it, we see the last expiring struggle of Judaism, and can just trace, inextricably entwined with it, the yet deadlier error, which was here- after to separate from it, and even to trample on it, and to advance over its dead body to the attack on the living energy of Christianity. These considerations may suffice to mark with tole- rable clearness the relation of the Epistle to Gnosticism. They certainly appear to show how entirely erroneous and inconsistent with the facts of the case is the idea, so confidently advanced, that the Epistle indicates a knowledge of full-grown Gnosticism fatal to its Apos- tolic origin. But they have far greater value, as enabling us better to understand its deeply interesting picture of the development, alike of Christian truth, and of the heresy, destined hereafter to assail or under- mine it, in the closing years of the ministry of St. Paul. EXCURSUS B: THE APOCRYPHAL EPISTLE TO THE LAODICEANS. Tlie translation of this Epistle here given is taken from the Latin (in which alone it is found), quoted by Dr. Lightfoot in the Appendix to his edition of the Epistle to the Colossiaus, with a coujectiu'al ren- dering back into the Greek (which he thinks may huve been the original) and two old English versions of the fifteenth century. He also giA^es a full description of the various Latin MSS., from which it appears that the earliest (the Codex Fiddensis) is a Vulgate New Testament of A.D. 546, in which the Epistle occurs between the Epistle to the Colossians and the First Epistle to Timothy. A glance at it will show that it is little more than a tame compilation of phrases, which, however, are taken not from the Ephesiaus or Colossians, liut mostly from the Philip- pians, and that it has no bias or evidence of distinctive purpose whether for good or for evil. It certainly is not the E))istle spoken of in the Muratorian Fragment, as " in Marcionis hert sim conficta." Its very simplicity induces a charitable hope that originally it may have been only " a pious imagination," made without idea of forgery, which subsequently was accepted as claim- ing to be a genuine Epistle of St. Paul. It runs thus : — " Paul an Apostle, not of men. nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, to the brethren who are in Lao- dicea; grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. " I thank Christ in all my supplications that ye are abiding in Him, and continuing steadfast in His works, waiting for the promise even unto the Day of Judg- ment. Neither let the vain words of some who teach beguile you, that they should turn you away from the truth of the gospel, which was preached unto you by me. And now shall God bi-ing it to pass that they which are from me be serving to the furthei-ance of the truth of the gospel, and doing all goocbiess in the works of salvation (and) of eternal life. " And now my bonds which I suffer in Christ are manifest ; in which I am glad and rejoice ; and this shall turn to my everlasting salvation, which also itself is wi'ought by your prayers, and the supply of tlie Holy Ghost, whether it be by life or by death. For to me both to live in Christ and to die is joy ; and His mercy shall work out the same thing in you, that ye may have the same love, and be of one mind. " Therefore, my dearly beloved, as ye heard in my presence with you, so hold fast and work in the fear of God, and it shall be to you unto everlasting life. For it is God which worketh in you. And do without drawing back, whatsoever ye do. " Finally, my dearly beloved, rejoice in Christ, and beware of those who are greedy of filthy lucre. Let all your petitions be made known unto God, and be stead- fast in the mind of Christ. Whatsoever things are sound, and true, and pure, and righteous, and lovely, do ; and what ye have heard and received keep in your heart. And peace shall be with you. " The saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with your spirit. Cause this Epistle to be read to the Colossians, and that the Letter of the Colossians be read also to you." 124 THE EPISTLES OP PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. INTRODUCTION THE FIEST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. In the earlier part of the year 52, St. Paul, in the course of his second journey, arrived at Thessalonica, the modern Saloniki — then, as now, one of the largest and most important cities of the Levant. The wounds which the converted gaoler of Philippi and St. Lydia had tended (Acts xvi. 33, 4U) can hardly have been healed, when the Apostles Paul, Silas or Silvauus, and Timothy,* journeying rapidly through Amphipolis and ApoUonia, came to found their second European Church (1 Thess. ii. 2). The Jews (who to this day form, it is believed, a moiety of the population of Salotiiki) were massed there in great numbers, and had there " their synagogue," — a kind of metropolitan church, contrasted with the mere chapels or " prayer-houses " of Philipjii and other Macedonian towns. (See Note on Acts xvii. 1.) To this sj'nagogue St. Paul repaired, and for " three Sabbath-days " reasoned, as usual, with the Jews (1) on the scriptural necessity for a suffering Messiah ; (2) for a resurrection of the Messiah ; and (3) on the claim of Jesus to the Messiahship. We are not informed how long the missionaries stayed at Thessalonica : probably a good deal more than the tlii-ee weeks during which the preaching at the synagogue continued. t Their converts from among the Jews of the synagogue were few, though the proselytes and the ladies in connection with it joined tliem in large numbers. We can di-aw from the Epistles, in connection with the Acts, a clear picture of the Apostles' manner of life and preaching at Thessalonica. They lodged in the house of a believing Jew of the name of Joshua, or (in the Grsecised form) Jason (Acts xvii. 5 ; Rom. xvi. 21), but accepted nothing from him but their lodging. To none of the Thessalonians would they be indebted (1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Tliess. iii. 8), but maintained them- selves, partly by the contributions t^vice forwarded to them from Philippi (Phil. iv. 16), but chiefly by hard manual labour, wliioh occupied not the day only but extended far into the niglit to make up for daylight hours devoted to preaching. They were determined to bo model operatives (2 Thess. iii. 9), and not merely eloquent preachers. And this was not all ; besides the work of public preaching and teaching, the Apostles * Timothy's presence is not mentioned in the Acts, but seems implied hy cliaps. xvi. 3, 4 ; xvii. It, and made absohitely certain Vjy the Kpistle, where the "we" always includes him. Howson, nevertheless, concludes from Phil. ii. 22 that he had been left behind at Philippi. t Several facts indicate this : The pjood organisation of the Thessalonian Church (though this might be partly owing to St. Timothy's subserjuent visit) ; the fact that St. Paid had time to get regular artisan's work ; the repeated contributions from Piiilippi that reached him there (Phd. iv. 16); the way in which St. Paul speaks of his habitual conduct among them, and of what he Used to say " (e.g., 1 Thess. ii. 9, 11 ; 2 Thess. ii. 5). followed their usual method of dealing individually with the converts' souls. The Thessalonian Christians — " every one " in his turn — thus received the encourage- ments and warnings of their ghostly fathers (1 Tliess. ii. 11). If the presbyters whom they left to carry on this work of admonition (see Notes on 1 Thess. v. 12, Ii) continued it with the Apostles' zeal, they might indeed well be described as " labouring among them." The preaching no doubt went on, not only on the Sabbaths, but on the week-days; for though tlie Acts tell us nothing of evangelistic efforts among the Gentiles, except among the " devout " (i.e., the pro- selytes), the whole tone of the Epistles proves that the Thessalonian Church was almost wholly Gentile. Besides which, the account in the Acts of the subjects of the three sermons preached on the three successive Sabbaths does not by any means include all that we find mentioned as the staple of the Apostles' preaching there. Thus, it is clear that they had spoken strongly of the regal aspect of our Lord's work. The charge on which they were arraigned was the charge of proclaiming " another king " (or em- peror, for the word is the same in Greek), " one Jesus." It was, in fact, the proclamation of what is sj)ecially distinguished as the " gospel of the king- dom" (Matt. iv. 23; ix. 35; xiii. 19; xxiv. 14; Luke viii. 1, Greek ; xvi. 16), that is, not only the good news of Jesus Christ's complete empire over the individual soul, but the good news that He has organised us all into a well-disciplined Church (Rev. 1. 6, Greek ; comp. John xi. 52), which was to form an imperium in im- perio within the Roman dominions. And accordingly we find the Thessalonians reminded tliat one of the best blessings which God had bestowed upon them was His calling them into " His kingdom " (1 Thess. ii. 12), and encouraged by the thought of God's counting them " worthv of the kingdom of God. for which they suffered " (2 'Thess. i. 5). Thr full development of this " kingdom," at the King's return, was indeed very probably the main subject of the preaching. On this point the Thessalonians ajjpear to have had the most accurate iuformatiou (1 Thess. v. 2). St. Paul assumes that they thoroughly believed the doctrine (1 Thess. iv. 14). They not only knew the very form in wliich our Lord Himself had taught (see Note on 1 Thess. V. 2) the impossibility of forecasting the date, but they had been told again and again (2 Thess. ii. 5) what changes must take place before the Advent of the kingdom was to be expected. At every turn in the Epistle it is mentioned. And the moral laws of the kingdom of God had been taught in the most explicit manner (1 Thess. ii. 11), not only with regard to sins which the Gentile world permitted freely 1,1 Thess. iv. 127 THESSALOXIANS. 1. 2), but also with rcfifard to strenuous industry (2 Thess. iii. 6, 10). And as in Galatia (Acts xiv. 22) so here, the suiferiM<,'s that fenced the entrance of that kinj^doni were fully prophesied il Thess. iii. 3, 4). This teaching, delivered with all the tenderness of a nursing mother, and all the authority of a father, and all the devotion of a friend (1 Thess. ii. 7, 8, 11), yet sternly and unHatteringly (1 Thess. ii. 5), told upon the Thessalonians with great effect. The Apostles them- selves were in the most exalted and confident frame of mind (1 Thess. i. 5), and their hearers, in spite of many difficulties (1 Thess. i. 0; ii. 2, 14), received with en- thusiasm the instruction as proceeding from God and not from man (1 Thess. ii. 13). The difficulties, how- ever, soon increased. The Jews gi-ew jealous of the work going on among the Gentiles, especially among their proselytes (Acts xvii. 5), and vehemently set themselves to forbid such preaching (1 Thess. ii. 16). They stiiTed up the abandoned Greeks who idled in the market-place to make a riot against these disturbers of the world. The Greeks, with the passionate ser\iiity which usually marked what was called under the empire a free Greek town,* took up eagerly the cry that to preach Jesus as emperor was treason to Claudius, and began a prosecution of Jason before the politarchs. The prosecution only resulted in Jason's being bound over to keep the peace ; but the irritation was so great that it was judged expedient for the Ajiostlos to leave the city and proceed southward. From Tliessalonica St. Paul travelled to Bercea, from Beroea to Athens, and from Athens to Corinth. But though he had quitted Thossalonica. he had not for- gotten his infant Church, and had not intended to be absent from it long. Twice at least (1 Thess. ii. 18) he had seriously endeavoured to make his way back, " but Satan hindered " him. The persecution of the Church had by no means been appeased (as they had hoped) by the expulsion (see Note on 1 Thess. ii. 15) of the mis- sionaries; and St. Paul dreaded lest the temptation should have been too fiery for Christians so imperfectly taught and organised ( 1 Thess. iii. 10). In his extreme agony of mind for them, unable himself to travel north- ward, he determined, at the cost of utter loneliness in a strange and most unsympathising town (Acts xvii. 16; 1 Thess. iii. 1). to send St. Timothy to see how they fared, and to help them. To St. Paid's great relief, the younger Apostle brought back, on the whole, an ex- cellent report. True, there were several most grave faults to be found with the Thessalonian Church, which will be best understood from the table of the Epistle's contents, but the practical St. Paul had evidently not expected even so much progress as luid been made, and was overjoyed (1 Thess. iii. 8). And this Epistle — the earliest of all that are preserved of its author, perhaps the earliest book of the New Testament- contains St. Paul's comments on Timothy's report. The question now occurs. At what point of the nar- rative in the Acts is the writing of this Epistle to be placed ? Was it wTitten at Athens, or at Corinth ? Almost all critics agree that it was written at Corinth.f The city of Thessalonica had been made a libera civitas because of the support it had given in the civil wars to the cause of Octavian and Anthony. Such cities were e.\empt from the interference of the provincial government, and had their own forms of administration. Thessalonica had her popular assembly, and for siipretne officers certain niatristrates called politarchs— a name elsewhere unknown. On the testimony given by this word to the truthfulness of the Acts, see Note on Acts xvii. 8. t The subscription at the end of the Epistle has no weierht whatever, not representing even a tradition, but being merely an \mcritical inierence from chap. iii. 1. The only way in The question will be found discussed in the Notes, but it may be here stated that the difficulty consists in identifying the return of St. Timothy with his report (1 Thess. iii. 6j, with the coming of Silas and Timotheus in Acts xviii. 5. The narrative of the Acts seems, at first sight, to exclude the supposition that Silas or Timothy had paid a visit to St. Paul between the time of his leaving Beroea and the time for their rejoining him at Corinth ; while the words of 1 Thess. iii. 1 — 5 seem as urgently to require that Timothy at all events should have been with St. Paul at Athens. But ou closer inspection, the Acts prove rather to favour this supposition ; they tell us that St. Paul sent a peremp- tory and immediate summons to his two colleagues whom he had left in Macedonia (xWi. 15), which sum- mons they probably obeyed, and if so, would no doubt reach him long before the meeting at Corinth mentioned in Acts x\'iii. 5 ; besides which, the very words, " while Paul waited for them at Athens," seem to imply that they ccune to that city. A few other points may be mentioned which help to fix the date. On the one hand, the letter cannot be placed later than the de- parture from Corinth, for we never read of St. Silas being with St. Paul after that time. For the same reason it must have been written some ivhile before the departure from Corinth, as the Second Epistle (which equally bears Silvauus' name) was also written thence. But on the other hand, it must not be placed too early. For (1) the Thessalonian Church had had time to extend its missionary zeal over all Macedonia, and indeed over a'l Greece; (2) the Jewish persecutions had had time to gain crushing force and consistency ; (3) errors and disorders had had time to spoil the faitli and morals of the community ; (4) at any rate, a few of the believers had fallen asleep, which, considering the probable numbers and nature of the members of that young Church, requires a probable lapse of some months. The contents of the Epistle bear every sign of an early date. None of the great doctrines wJiich are considered specially Pauline are touched upon in it, such as " faith," in its special sense, or " justification." There is no Judaic legalism to oppose, as in Galatians ; St. Paul '■ can still point to them " — the churches of Judaea — " as examples to his converts at Thessalonica " (chap. ii. 14). There is no Gnosticism to confront, as in the Epistle to the Colossians or to St. Timothy. Again, the great prominence given to the doctrine of the Advent seems an indication of what St. Paul calls " the beginning of the gospel " (Phil. iv. 15). The earliest gospel must needs consist in teaching that Christ was alive from the dead, and giving each Christian a vital interest in His present life, and tliis cannot be effected without much preaching of the Advent. It has already been remarked that the Thessalonian Church consisted almost wholly of Gentiles. This may bo easily seen from the Epistle. There are no quotations from the Old Testament, nor arguments founded upon it. The name of Satan (1 Thess. ii. 18) which any case can be made out for the Athenian date is to suppose that the past tenses in iii. 1, 2. 5, are what is called in Greek the epistolary aorist. equivalent to our present, as e.g., where St. Jude (verse .3) says, "I gave all diligence," "it was needful." or St John (1 John ii. 14), "I have written," literally, I icrotr. Thus it would mean that Timothv has just obeyed St. Paul's hasty summons, and arrived at Athens by way of Thes- salonica, as (from Bernea) he naturally might. " Being no longer able to forbear, I am determined to be left at Athens alone, and I send Timothy : I send to know your faith, lest through the tempter's temptation of you our labour should prove in vain." The following verse will then mean—" Not that I seriously distrust you ; for the other day when Timotheus came," &c. 128 I. THESSALONIAXS. is the only approach to a reference to Scriptural kuowledfi^e. The earliest revelation \vith which the Church is supposed to be acquainted, and wliich forms the canonical standard of reference, is the tradi- tion which the Thessaloniaus have received from their founders by word of mouth (2 Tliess. ii. 5). The Tliessalonians are never credited with any experience like " turning from dead works," but, on the contrary, tliey had " turned to God from idols " (1 Thess. i. 9). The fierce and bitter invective against the Jews is far different in its language from what it would have been had any large proportion of the Church been but neophytes from Judaism ; and, indeed, the Jews are clearly distinguished from " your own countrymen " (cluip. ii. li). The difficulty mth which the young Church accepted the doctrine of the resurrection also points in that direction, as well as the dulness of con- science with regard to the sinfulness of fornication (chap. iv. 5). The Epistle, which is entirely practical throughout, divides itself more clearly into its component sections than perhaps any other of St. Paul's Epistles. There are two main portions. The first (chaps, i., ii., iii.) is narrative and personal, designed to attach the Thessaloniaus more closely to the writers' persons by the ties of common memories, of imparted informa- tion, and of sympathy over the news which had been brought from Tliessalonica. Attention having been thus secured, the two remaining chapters are occupied with instructions upon special points in wliich the Church was deficient. The contents (after the saluta- tion) may be tabulated thus : — I. The Narrative Portion (chajis. i. 2 — iii. 13). A. Containing reminiscences of the apostolic sojourn at Thessalonica (chaps, i. 2 — ii. 16). (1) Thanksgiving for the display of God's power and love both in the mis- sionaries and in the converts (chap, i. 2— 10). (2) Reminder of the missionaries' conduct there (chap. ii. 1 — 12). (3) Acknowledgment of the Thessaloniaus' hearty response (chap. ii. 13 — 16). B. Containing an account of the Apostles' (especially St. Paul's) anxieties and efforts for the Thessaloniaus since they left them (chaps, ii. 17— iii. 10). Then follows a prayer for them, which connects the first portion naturally with the first subject of instruction in — II. The Educational Portion (chai>s. i v. 1 — v. 28.) (1) The necessity of abstaining from fornica- tion (chap. iv. 1 — 8). (2) The extension of sober chiu'ch feeling (chap. iv. 8—12). (3) Discussion of certain points connected with the Advent : — (a) The respective part therein of the quick and the dead (chap. iv. 13 — 18). (&) The uncertainty of its date, and con- sequent need of ^-igi lance (chap. v. 1-11). (4) Duty to the Presbyters (chap. v. 11—13), who are charged to see that orderly discipline is enforced (chap. v. 14 — 15). (5) Various spiritual directions, chiefly with regard to public worshij) ( cliap. v. 16—28). The genuineness of the Epistle can scarcely be said to have been ever seriously doubted. Though there are no certain patristic quotations from it, or allusions to it, earlier than the end of the second century, it has passed unchallenged (even by Marcion) until the pre- sent century. Schrader and Baur in this century have argued against its Pauline authorship, alleging the absence of " Pauline " theology, contradictious to the account in Acts, marks of date which they suppose to be subsequent to the fall of Jenisalem, &.c. But the internal evidence is so convincing that even such a sceptical critic as M. Kenan has no hesitation in ad- mitting both Epistles to the Thessaloniaus into his second class of Epistles, which he calls " Undoubted Epistles, although some objections have been made to them," and his words are as follows : — " The difficulties which certain moderns have raised against them are but those light suspicions which it is the duty of criticism to express freely, but without being stopped by them when there are more powerful reasons to draw one on. And these three Epistles (i.e., 1 and 2 Thess. and Phil.) have a character of authenticity which overbears every other consideration." The attack upon the Epistles was i-enewed in the summer of 1877 by Holsten, in the German Annual of Protestant Theology, but the present writer has not seen the critique. [The principal works which have been made use of in commenting upon these two Epistles are the Com- mentaries of Liinemann and his English follower Ellicott. of Hammond, and of "Wordsworth, together with such works as Kenan's and Howson's accounts of St. Paul, and MS. notes from lectures of Professor Lightfoot.] 75 129 THE FIEST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIAI^S. CHAPTER L— (1) Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotlieus," unto the salutaiion.^^'^ church of the Thessalo- nians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ : Grace he unto you, and jjeace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2) \Ye give thanks to God always for A.D. 54. t Thess. 1. 1. 1 Or, beloved of God, your election. you all, making mention of you in our praj'ers ; ^^^ remembering without ceasing your work Tfeksg^7ing of faith,* and labour of for the success love, and patience of hope ^iS^^^l m our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; (^^ knowing, brethren beloved,^ your (1) " The founders of the Church of Thessalouica, who have so recently left it, greet the Church in the common Father in whom they are united." Paid, and Silvanus, and Time theus.— There was no need to add " Apostle " to the name of Paul, in wnting to a Church with which his relations were so familiar and so cordial : it is probably omitted for the same reason in tlie Epistle to the Philippians and in that to Philemon. Some see in the omission a mark of the early date of the letter, before St. Paul had assumed the title ; others think he omits it in courtesy to his companions, to whom it could not be given. Both theories are disproved by chap. ii. 6. Silas takes pre- cedence of Timothy (comp. Acts xra. 14, 15 ; xviii. 5 ; 2 Tht'ss. i. 1) as a man of higher standing. (See Acts XV. 12. and 1 Tim. iv. 12.) In God. — Other Thessalonians were " in the world," " in darkness," " in their sins." The distinctive mark of these was that they were re-united to the Father of all men; and more, i-e-united in Christ. Tlie words following " peace " should be struck out, not being found in the best text. (2) ""We never set ourselves to prayer without re- membering your faithful activity, lovmg laboriousness, cheerful and persevering endurance, and thanking: God for it." i- 5 ' We. — All tliree are regarded as the writers, and no doubt the sentiments of all are expressed, though the letter is St. Paul's own composition. In chap. ii. 18 he corrects himself for using " we" where it was only true of himself. It may be noticed that St. Paul never speaks of himself alone in the plural in any of the other Epistles. To God. — None of the success is due either to the preachers or to the converts. Always. — Not as meaning "without ceasing," but " on every occasion that reminds us of you ; " the words " in our prayers " specify the happy occasions. Christians like best to be remembered then. For you all. — " There is not one of you that we know of for whom wo cannot give thanks : the whole church is what it should be." (3) Faith . . . love . . . hope.— In this first of his writings, St. Paul has already fixod upon the three groat abiding principles (1 Cor. xiii. 13) of the Christian life. and the forms in which they mainly exhibit themselves. The genitive in such phrases as " work of faith," etc., is almost eqtiivaleut to a very emphatic adjective — " faith- ful acti^-ity," i.e., a work characterised by faith and prompted by faith, such as faith alone could have enabled you to accomplisli ; so '" labour of love " is similarly equivalent to " loinng labour," laborious toil undertaken for love's sake, and done in the spirit of love ; and " patience of hope " to " hopeful endurance of trials." a steadfast endurance which is grounded upon and cheered by hope. In our Lord. — More correctly, of. The words in the Greek go with all three clauses : He is the object of the faith and love, as well as of the hope. This " hope of our Lord " includes, but is not limited to, the hope of His second Advent. In the sight of God goes closely with " remem- bering," and is equivalent to "in prayer." (4) (i ipjjg reason why the sight delights us is because it proves that God loves you, and has set His heart upon you." Beloved. — Tlie proper translation is, knowing, brethren ivho have been so beloved of God, your election, as in the mai-gin : the Greek idiom cannot allow of the Authorised rendering. The tense of the word " beloved " represents not only God's attitude to them in the present, but the long continuance of it in the past, especially as proved by His election of them. (Comp. Rom. viii. 28, 29, 30, and 2 Thess. ii. 13.) Election, in the language of (at any rate) St. Paul and St. Peter, seems primarily to refer to a gracious admission into religious privileges in this life. The word implies nothing as to the final condition of the person thus elected (see 2 Pet. i. 10. and .comp. Eph. i. 4 with Eph. V. 5, 6, 7). God elects us to become members of the Holy Church, and all baptised persons are elect, with heaven in reversion (1 Pet. i. 2 — 5) ; but they may, according as they please, unsettle their elec- tion, or make it sure. St. Paul rejoices, because the continued possession of spiritual pri^nleges, used or abused, is an assurance of God's continued '' favour and goodness towards us." Of course, however, this obser- vation does not much affect the mysterious doctrine of predestination. The question must still remain why 130 T'ne Apostle's remembrance I. THESSALONIANS, IT. of the TJiessalonians, election of God. (^^ For our gospel came not unto you in word only," but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance ; as ye know what manner of men Ave were among- you for your sake. ^^^ And ye became followers of us,* and of the Lord, having received the Avord in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost : '^ ^''> so that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Mace- donia and Acliaia. (^> For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God- a 1 Cor. 2. 4 ; 4. 20. d Acts 17. 29. c Ps. 45. 7 ; Itom. wai-d is spread abroad ; so that we need not to speak any thing. (^) For they themselves shew of iis what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye tm^ned to God from idols to serve the living and true God ; '^ <^o^ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, eve7i Jesus, Avhich delivered us from the wrath to come. CHAPTER IL— (1) For Chap. ii. 1-12. yourselves, bretlu-en, know ^f ^^ a^TlT^^^^^a! our entrance in unto you, lonica. God brings some iu this life to the knowledge of His truth, and others not; but the observatiou, at any rate, destroys the notion of an arbitrary damnation and salvation. (5) "If God had not set His heart ii'jon you, we never could have been as successful among you as we were. " Our gospel came not unto you.— Or rather, the glad tidings which ive brought did not prove among you, in its action upon you. In word only.— Comp. 1 Cor. ii. 4; iv. 20. " It did not consist merely of so much eloquent instruction, but also we found we were speaking with a conscious power — indeed with all the force of the Holy Ghost — and with an overmastering conviction that we were right and should prevail." That by the " power," " assurance," etc., are meant the preachers' own, and not the people's, is proved by the next clause, "as ye know." In the Holy Ghost.— The Greek here omits the definite article. In such cases attention is not so much called to the Blessed Person Himself, as to the exalted, inspired enthusiasm with which He fills us. The union of the diWue and human spirit is so close (see 1 Cor. vi. 17) that it is often hard in the New Testament to distinguisli which is meant. As ye know sums up with an appeal to their memory : " In fact, you recollect what God made us like among you." For your sake gives not their own purpose, but God's, carrying on the thought of the " election." (0) And ye became followers.— Not so much a separate reason for believing them elected of God, because of their receptiveness, but an evidence of the power given by God to the jireachers for the winning of them. " So much so. tliat, in spite of persecution, you became Christians with enthusiasm." Followers.— Not " disciples," but imitators. The three p(jiuts in which the Lord and His Apostles were imitated are then expressed — (1) meek reception (Ps. xl. 6 ; Isa. 1. 5) ; (2) cost what it might ; (3) rejoicing all the while (Pss. xxii. 22; xlv. 71 In much affliction.— For examples of troubles in the early days of the Thcssalonian Church, see Acts XA-ii. 5, 8. Holy Ghost is used in the same Avay as it is in verso 5. " Joy Avliich is the natural outcome of a spirit united with the Holy Spirit." (7) " Your zeal was so great and sincere that you. in your tuni. became a model : for oven in far-away countries the tale of your conversion is told with Avonder." Ensamples.— Probably the singular should be read: tlie Avhole ciiurcli became a model churcli. 1 To all that believe — i.e., noiv ; not to those that then believed ; Phiiippi was the only such church. Macedonia and Achaia.— These tAvo provinces comprised all Roman Greece. The influence of the Thessaloniaus spreads far beyond their own country. (8) For. — "For,infact," (supporting and exceeding the statement of verse 7 about Greece) " you form the centre from which the doctrine of Christ has rung (not rang) out like a trumpet through those countries ; and ca'cu beyond, your faith is well known." The clauses are not quite logically balanced. Your faith does not mean " your creed," but " the report of your extraordinary faith." To say anything— i.e., about our success at Thes- salonica. (9) They themselves — i.e., the inhabitants of those countries. " Wherever we go we find our own story told us." Shew. — Rather, announce. Both sides of the story are told : (1) of us — Avhat kind of entry we made among you, explained in chap. ii. 1 — 12 to mean Avith "the Avord of truth, of meekness, and righteousness " (Ps. xlv. 5) ; (2) of you — how truly couA'crted you were, as he pro- ceeds to show further in chaps, ii. 13 — iii. 13. Living and true God. —In contrast to the lifeless and false idols. The Thessalonians had been Gentiles. Perhaps St. Paul was thinking of his own speech on Mars Hill, Avhich had been recently uttered. (10) And to wait. — The idea of tlie Advent is that which both here and throughout the Ei)istle occupies the foreground in the minds of St. Paul and liis friends. These two infinitives. " to serve " and " to Avait," express not so much the intention of the Thessa- lonians in turning, as the condition into which they came by turning. Whom he raised. — Not only proA'es His Sonship (Rom. i. 4). l)ut also gives a kind of explanation of the " aAvaiting Him /Vow heaven." Delivered. — Better, delivereth. To come.— Belter, ichich is already coming. Tlie wrath is on its Avay to the world, to ajipear with Christ from lieaven (2 Thess. i. 7, 8\ and He is day by day Avorking to save us from it (Heb. vii. 2-3). II. (1) For yourselves brethren, know. —The writers' purpose is practical, not didactic; they tliere- fore animate their converts Avith the stirring memories of tluMr conversion. " We need not go to tliese foreign Avitnesses for the tale of liow we came to yon ; for yi>u ! recollect it as if it were yesterday." Tlie "for'' (as iu 31 nis Life and Mi'orh I. THESSALONIAXS, 11. lohlh among them. that it was not in vain : (-' but even after that Ave had suft'ered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi," we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. ^^' For our ex- hortation was not of deceit,* nor of un- cleanness, nor in g-uile:'' ^^* but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel,'' even so we speak ; not b 2 Cor. 6. 8. c a Cor. 4. 2. 1 Or, used au- thority, f 1 Cor. 9. 1. g Arts la IS. d Gal. 2. 7 ; 1 Tim. 1. 11 ; Tit. 1. 3. as pleasing men," but God, which trieth our hearts. ^^^ For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness ; God is witness : (^^ nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burden- some, ^ as the apostles of Chi-ist./ (^> But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children : a fliap. i. 8) implies "for in fact," "for after all." The tliouglit of chap. i. 5, 9 is here resumed, but with a (lifFereut purfjose : there it was to prove that the work was God's work ; here, " to stir up their pure uiiuds by way of rememljrauce." Not in vain draws a little too much attention to the result of their coming. It should be, not vain — i.e., not purposeless and idle. This may be seen from the contrast drawn in the following words. (-) Even after " what was enough to hare seared others" (Bongel). Such men were not likely to be " vain." The marks of their ill-treatment at Philippi were fresh upon them at Thessalouica {as ye know). See Acts xvi. and xvii. 1. In our God, — These words give the ground of their boldness — " iu reliance on the God whom we felt to be in union with us." With much contention. — Rather, in the midst of much conjlict arising from persecution. (3) << The reason that we were able to endure so much was our consciousness of the sincerity and purity of our intention." Exhortation. — Exhortation is an attempt to make men take a particular line of action. " Our efforts to get men to act as we wish," St. Paul says, " do not spring from a desire to dupe them," etc. It is a question whether " of deceit " is the right rendering, or "of error," "all a mistake." If the latter, the argu- ment would be that of Paley's Evidences, i.e., to deduce the truth of the revelation from the sufferings of its prophets. But the points raised in contrast, in verses 4 — 12, seem to preclude this meaning, which would be more likdj' to introduce some substantiation of the gospel truths, as in 2 Pet. i. 16. Of uncleanness. — It is possible that the word only means " Avith impure (or covetous) motives ; " but it proV)ably refers to the subtle forms of temptation which often accompany spiritual work. See, for example, the Greek of 1 Tim. i. 5 ; also v. 1. 2 ; 2 Tim. iii. 4—7. In guile. — The preposition is changed; "nor yet by tlie use of irii-ks." Not only were their motives sincere and pure. ))ut their manner of dealing straightforward. I » Were allowed. — Rither. have been, and in verse 3 is, nut "was." St. Paul is arguing from his habitual practice. " But we speak after the manner of men who remember that God Himself has tried them, and has been satisfied to entrust the gospel to them, making it our business to please, not men, but God who thus tries our hearts" (1 Cor. iv. 1. 2). The word translated " allowed " implies examining and ap- proving (as in Luke xiv. 19 ; 1 Tim. iii. 10 ; 1 Pet. i. 7 ; 1 John iv. 1), and is repeated emphatically (trans- lated " trieth ") : " being examined and approved by God. we study to please Him who constantly examines and approves us, not to court those to whom we are sent." St. Paul expresses here, as elsewhere, a total disregard of men's opinions about him (1 Cor. iv. 3 ; Gal. i. 10). (5) At any time.— Not only during the stay at Thessalonica, but neither at Thessalonica nor elsewhere, as the next verse shows. But as the Thessalonians can only be appealed to as evidence for their own ex- perience, the writers therefore call God Himself to witness. At the same time, the absence of flattering words was a thing of which human witnesses could judge ; the freedom from covetous designs was known to God alone. Cloke of covetousness — i.e., some specious pre- text, under cover of which we might gain a worldly advantage ; so (though the Greek word is difl'erent) 1 Pet. ii. 16, " a cloke of maliciousness." (6) Glory — i.e., recognition of our splendid position, as ia the phrase " giA'ing glory to God," i.e., " recog- nising Him for what He is," John v. 44. (Comp. John xii. 43 ; Rom. ii. 29 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5.) Been burdensome.— The marginal reading is on the whole pi'eferable. The original is, might have been in weight— i.e., " have dealt lieaAnly with you," in all the pomp of apostolic dignity, making people acknow- ledge our "glory." Although, no doubt, one means of asserting their authority would have been to claim their maintenance from the Church (comp. 1 Cor. ix. 1 — 6), more is meant than the mere oljfaining of money. Apostles of Christ. — The title seems here to be bestowed on St. Silas and St. Timothy just as in Acts xiv. 14 upon St. Barnabas. As official dignity is here the point, it cannot simply (according to the etymology of the word) mean "Christ's missionaries," as we speak of " the Apostle of England." &c., i.e., the earUest great preacher of the gospel there. Tlie episcopal office (which St. Timothy, at any rate, held somewhat later) may pei-liaps be hei-e ranked with the apostolate. Thus, in Gal. i. 19, St. James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, wears the title, though it is scai'cely probable that he was one of the Twelve. Andronicus and Junias, in Rom. xvi. 7 ; Epaphroditus, in Phil. ii. 25 (where it is wrongly trans- lated " messenger," as also in 2 Cor. viii. 23), are called Apostles. In 1 Cor. xii. 28, Eph. iv. 11, probably also in Eph. ii. 20. Rev. ii. 2. the first rank in the threefold ministry of the Church seems to be meant, for the reference is to the orderly Organisjition of the Society. However, in our jiresent passage it may conceivably bo stretched to mean " as an Apostle and his following." The definite article should be struck out. (7) Among you.— Rather, in the midst of you, making the gentleness still more marked. " Her, ' in the Greek emphatically her oicn. The contrast is drawn between the charlatan, licentious, sophistical, fawning, greedy, vainglorious teachers, to whom Greeks were well accustomed, and the Apostles, sitting familiarly like mothers amidst a group of their ovni children, folding them for warmth to their bosoms. " Keep a 132 His Teetimony to their Acceptance I. THESSALONIANS, 11. of kin Preaclunj. (^) SO being affectionately desirous of yon, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls," because ye were dear unto us. ^^"^ For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail : for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. (^^^ Ye are Avitnesses, and God ctZ.so, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe : *^^^ as ye know how we exhorted and com- forted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,* (^-' that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. (13) For this cause also chap.ii.i3-i(5. thank we God without The converu' ceasing, because, when ye acceptauce of received the word of God persecution by which ye heard of us, ye ^^"^ Jews, received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh"^ also in you that believe. (i*) For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judsea are in Christ Jesus : for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews : '^^^ who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own mother's heart for meu," was the advice which made Henri Perreyve's Hfe so winning (Meditations, p. 87). (S) So means here eve>i so, confirming the simile, and is not to be taken in the sense of " therefore." Not the gospel of God only.— The gospel was, as it were, tlie milk given to the yoimg converts; but the nursing mothers were ready to let them tU-aw their very life away, so dearly did they love them. (9) For. — As in verse 1, the general principles of the foregoing verses are supported by facts which the Tliessalonmns will remember. If the word attaches itself to any pai-ticular phrase, it is to " imjiart our own souls," " we were ready to die for you ; indeed, you re- member how we worked ourselves almost to death." Labour and. travail^uot mere synonyms here : the first describes the kind of work ; the second, the intensity of it : " our manual labour, and how hard we worked at that." (10) Ye are witnesses. — Abruptly, without con- jvmctiou, the writers add a summary description of their conduct at Tliessalouica ; before, they had dwelt on details, now, on the broad characteristics. As in verse 5, God is appealed to, because the readers could only judge of the outward propriety of their teachers' conduct ; and it is a moral law tliat (as Aris- totle says) " the rigliteous man is not he tliat does acts which in themselves are righteous, but he that does those acts in such a mind as befits righteous men." Holily, of the inner. " justly," of the outer life. Among you that believe — where (if anywhere) we might liave been tempted to be lax or exorbitant. (11) As (emphatic): "toe lived holily — just (in fact) as you remember we tried to induce each one of ijou to live." Every one. — Now th(>y appeal to the individual recollection of the Thessalonians. It giA^es us an inci- dental glimpse of the apostolic method. — which was, to deal with individual soids. (Comp. Acts xx. 20, 31 ; Col. i. 21.) St. Chrysostom exclaims: "Fancy! not one in all that multitvule passed over ! " The image is changed from that of motherly tenderness to that of fatherly direction. Comforted is here iised as almost equivalent to " exhorted," or, rather, oicouraged, when the moral aspirations were beginning to flag. Charged.— Better, adjured ; so Gal. v. 3. (1-* Hath called.— The right reading is, was caUing, which lias Ix-eu altered because of the slight tlieological difficulty, on the analogy of Gal. i. (>. etc. The call is not simply a momentary act, but a continual beckoning upwards, until the privileges offered are actually attained. The Thessalonians at that time, thougli already by baptism members of the kingdom (Col. i. 13), were not yet so assured in their new allegiance as to be certain of reaching the full-developed (jlunj of that kingdom, Note again the thought of the Advent. (1^) The first part of this chapter draws attention to the Apostles^ part in the conversion of Thessalonica. From this point (roughly speaking) to the end of chap, iii., the action of the converts is the chief subject. This verse differs from the original in several par- ticulai's of more or less importance. Literally trans- lated, it wotild run thus : And for this cause we too thank God unceasingly, that, on receiving a word of heai-ing at our lips of God, ye loelcomed, not a word of inen, but {as it is in truth) a word of God, which also, etc. For this cause— viz., because of the labours we went through to teach you, which we are tliankful were not wasted. We too, as well as you. The two words rendered " received " are not the same ; the first meaning merely an outwai'd reception, the second the welcome given. The words '" it " and '• as " (as the italics show) do not stand in the Greek. St. Paid is not expressing so much his gratitude for the manner in which the word was greeted, as for the essential character of what wius greeted. The word of God which ye heard of us.— The same phrase as in Heb. \\. 2. which is there ren- dered, " the word preached." " The word might have been, so far as you knew, a mere word svoken by us — ordinary men — but it was in reality a word of God, and so you found when you embraced it." You that believe.— It could have no efEect with- out this condition. (See Heb. iv. 2.) (14) For ye.— "The effectual power of this word upon YOU is shown in youi* joining the Church in spite of such difficulties." . Followers.- Better, imitators. Tlie churches of Judiea are ]»rol)iibly selected for example, not oidy as behig the oldest and best -organised churches, but the most afflicted, both by want (Acts xi. 2i»; xxiv. 17 ; Roni. XV. 2t)), and (chiefly) by ])ersecution from the " Jews." Your own countrymen.— See Acts xvii. 8. 9. It was always tlie Jewisli policy to persei-ute by means of others. Evidently the Thessalouiau Church is almost eutirelv Gontile. (15) Who both killed.— A tn>mondons invective against the Jews, the purpose of which is (1) to show 133 His Aiixiety I. THESSALOXIANS, II. to Visit tJiem arjnin. prophets, and have persecuted ^ us ; and they i^lease not God, and are contrary to all men : <^'^^ forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they mig'ht be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost, ted you," and reading the clauses quickly togetlier. will give a fair notion of the purport. It might be pan\i)Iini.- for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. <^^ For what thanks can we render"^ to God again for you, for all the a Oal. 4. 11 ; Plill. b Acts 18. 5. d Uom. 15. 30, 32. 1 Or, guide. joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God ; <^*^> night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face,'' and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith ? *^^* Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, T 4.1 4. ' Chap. iii. 11-13. direct 1 our way unto you. p,.afer jnti-o. (12^ And the Lord make ductory to the you to increase and abound instruction. in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: (6) " We wore in great anxiety, for fear you should have fallen away, and sent Timothy to see if all was well ; but now, all anxiety is over." Timotheus came.— According to the usual inter- pretation of versos 1, 2, adopted above, this will mean that Timothy had already returned from his mission to Thessalouica, as related in Acts xviii. 5, and the occasion of this present letter will be St. Paul's relief at the news brought by him. Brought us good tidings. — An enthusiastic word, generally rendered, " preached us the gospel." Faith and charity. — The first signifies the con- fidence in God which enabled them to endure (" that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in Thy mercy '') ; the second, the tenderness with wliich tJiey lielped one another through. Good remembrance. — Not merely "clear, vivid remembrance" (as we say, "to remember well"), but " a good, kind remembrance," as the explanation in "desiring," &c., shows. The word " good " bears the same significance in Matt. xx. 15; Rom. v. 7; 1 Pet. ii. 18. If the Thessalouians had been beginning to fall away, they would not have cared to see their teachers. (7) In all otir affliction and distress.— The words give no decisive indication whether the distress came from within or from without, and it is impossible to specify in wliat it consisted ; but either way it suits very well with Acts xviii. 5 — 17; 1 Cor. ii. 3. («) Now we live, if. — " Now " contrasts the new life and vigour wliich the " gospel of their faith and charity " had infused into the Apostle, with the deadly sinking he liad felt at the thought of tlieir possible apostacy. At the same time the "if" has the half, future sense, as though St. Paul meant that the con- tinuaiic(> of this " life " was contingent upon their continued steadfastness. Another interpretation has been suggested, according to which botli the " we " and "ye" are perf(>ctly general, and therefore interchange- able, and the sense is made to be a vague proposition, " for standing fast in tlie Lord is a sine qua non of life" — life in the theological sense : and parts of Rom. vii. and viii. are compared. This interpretation, however, suits tlie Greek as little as the context. (9) For what thanks can we render. — An apology for tlie entlmsiastic expressions used in the thr(>e foregoing verses. " I may call it a gospel, a balm for all anxieties, a new life, for what mode of thanksgi\ang could be deemed extravagai^t ip such a case of joy?" Before our God. — As in chap. i. 3, the occasion on which the joy and thankfulness bursts out is " in prayer ; " perhaps, in connection with thanksgiving, especially at.the great Eucharistic Thanksgiving (1 Cor. xiv. 16), when he " stood before the Lord " in a special manner (Acts xiii. 2 ; comp. Lev. i. 3, 11 ; iii. 1, et al ). (10) See your face.— Seeing them by proxy might satisfy for the while, but not for long. This exceeding importunate prayer is caused by the feeling that it was Satan's hindrance (chap. ii. 18), not God s will, which forbad the meeting. He would not so have prayed to go into Bithynia (Acts 's.vi. 7 ), for the essence of prayer is to conform the will to God's vrill. That which is lacking in your faith.— Bishop Wordsworth points out the imflattering faithfulness of St. Paul's dealing with his converts. What the de- ficiencies were is unknown, but they certainly include want of knowledge of the state of the dead and con- cerning the Advent. (11) God himself and our Father.— Better, our God and Father Himself. If we are to find any special person with whom the word " Himself " is intended to enforce a contrast, the contrast is probably not so much with the baffled efforts of St. Paul, as with Satan, who had hindered the journey. But the word is probably added without such specific reference : " May God Himself direct us ; for in that case who could hinder ? " And our Lord . . . — An important theological pas- sage. From the use of the singular in the verb " direct " (which of course the English cannot express), some divines argue in favour of the Catholic doctrine of " homoiision," or substantial unity of the Son with the Father : it must not, however, be too strongly pressed, or it might otherwise lead to the false notion of a personal unity between Them. Nevertheless, we may admit that the prayer (or, rather, ivish) implies the equality of the two Persons, and that it would liave been inconceivable for a Catholic Christian to have used the verb in the plural. (See 2 Thess. ii. 17.) (12) And the Lord make you.— The word yon in the Greek is emphatic and stands first. The wish in the previous verse concerned the writers : " But you (whether wo come or not) may the Lord make," &c. By " the Lord " liere St. Paul seems to moan not only the Son : the word appears to be an equivalent for the name of God. Increase and abound.— These words make the readers tliink first of progress and then of the state to wliich the progress will bring thorn — " Multiply you in love until you have enough and to spare of it " — and the same progress is oxpr(>ssod l)y the objects of the swell- ing charity: " So that you may not only love one another abundantly, but all mankind ' — missionary efforts being the supi-eiiio work of Christian love — " such loving missionary work " (the writers go on to say) " as ours among you.^' 136 Practical Instruction I. THESSALONIANS, IV. 071 PuritTf. (13) to the end he may stablish your hearts uiiblaiiieable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." CHAPTEE IV.— (1) Furthermore then ~, • 1 Q we beseech 1 you, brethren. Chap. IV. 1-8. 1 ^ / 1 4.1 On the duty of and exhort ■^ you by the chastity. Lord Jesus, that as ye have c Rom. 12. 2 Epli. .■). 17. 1 Or, request. 2 Or, beseech d 1 Sam. 21. 5. received of us how ye ought to walk* and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. ^^^ For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. '^^ For this is the will of God,'' even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication : (^^ that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel '' in sanctification and (13) To the end. — A beautiful conuectiou of thought. Perfect aud settled sauctitieatiou iii the eyes of God is the object in view, aud the meaus by which it is to bo attained is growing and overflowing love toward man- kind. (See Col. iii. 14.) St. Paul is already thinking, probably, how he shall treat the subject of chastity in the next chapter. (See Note on chap. iv. 6.) Before God ... at the coming.— The hearts are to be unblamably holy before God — not only all through life, but also at the Judgment Day, when Jesus Christ is to judge us in the Father's j)reseuce, Though He has " committed all judgment unto the Son " (John V. 22), yet the judgment is His own, and the Son is the agent by whom He judges, just as He is the agent by whom He creates (see Acts xvii. 31): therefore in that day it is in the Father's sight rather than in the Sou's (though there can be no divergence between Them) that we are to be able to clear ourselves. With all his saints— i.e., attended by them :— " Thousand, thousand saints attending. Swell the triumph of His train." The word might possibly be stretched to include the holy angels (Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; Dan. iv. 13, et al.) ; but here we may more probably suppose that St. Paul is anticipating his teaching of chap. iv. 14, and besides, the Greek seems almost to iudicate that these " saints " are to be assessors in the judgment — an honour to be given only to holy men. (Comp. Luke xxii. 30 ; John V. 28 ; 1 Cor. vi. 3, et al.) ly. (1) We now approach the practical portion of the Epistle. The first point on which the Thessalonians need instruction is in the matter of social purity (verses 1—8). Furthermore hardly expresses the original. St. Paul is not adding a further injunction, for lie has as yet given none. It is literally. For the rest, then ; and serves to introduce the conclusion of the letter. Beseech. — The marginal requed is better, the word being one of calm and friendly asking, implying that the person so addressed wiU recognise the propriety of complying. Exhort is correct, though " encourage " suits the context a little better, as assuming that they are already so acting, but not with enough heart. By the Lord.— Better, in the Lord. It is not an adjuration, as in Rom. xii. 1, but states the authori- tative ground of his request. " We encourage you. on the strength of our union in the Lord Jesus." (Comp. chap. i. 1.) How ye ought to walk.— Literally, the how. It indicates lliat part of tlie apostolic tradition was a systematic moral code, almost as if it were the title of a well-known book. " We gave you the ' How ye ouglit to walk, so as to please God.' " The best texts add imme- diately after, " even as also ye walk." Abound more and more.— Or, still more. "You did receive of us the rules of a holy life ; you are living by them, and that to a very large degree ; but we beg you and encourage you, on the faith of Christians, to be still more lavish in your self-denial." (2) For ye know. — He calls on the The.ssalonians' memory to support his statement, " ye received ; " at the same time awakening their interest to catch the special point next to come, by laying stress on " what command- ments." By the Lord Jesus. — Not as if the Lord were the person who took the commandments from St. Paul to the Thessalonians, but the person by means of whoso inspiration St. Paul was enabled to give such com- mandments. (3) For. — The word further enforces the appeal to their memory : '' Ye knoiv what commandments . . . for this (you will recollect) is what God wants;" "a commandment given through the Lord Jesus," being, of course, identical with " God's will." Your sanctiflcation. — In apposition to the word this. The mere conver.sion, justification, salvation of us are not the aim of God : He would have us hoi)'. The general idea of sanctification passes however here, as the foUowiug clauses show, into the more limited sense of purification. Fornication. — The word is often used in late Greek for any kind of impurity, as. e.g., 1 Cor. v. 1, of incest ; but here it must be understood in its strict sense. To the GeutUe mind, while the wickedness of adultery or incest was fully recognised, it was a novelty to be told that fornication was a " deadly sin ; " hence the strange connection in which it stands in the Svnodal letter to the Gentile churches (Acts xv. 20, 29 ; xxi. 25). This consideration also makes it easier to understand how St. Paul can praise these Gentile Thessalonians so heartily, although they need earnest correction on this vital point. It is a tnie instance of the sa<"erdotal metriojjathy (or, com2mssionate consideration) towards the ignorant and deceived. (See Heb. v. 1, 2.) W Should know.— The clause is simply parallel to the last, and. with it, exjilains the word " sancti- fication." Tlie Bulgarian Father, Tlieophylact. says pointedly in reference to the word " to know " or " understand," " He indicates that chastity is a matter that requires self-discipline and study." (Comp. Epli. v. 17.) To possess his vessel. — Tlie word rendered " to possess " should rather be translated, to procure, win, gain possession of. Tlie word " vessel" here lias been interpreted in two wajs: (1) "his ^\-ife ; " (2) "Ins body." In favour of (1) it is argued that (while "gaining possession of one's own body" is unintelli- gible), "acquiring a wife of one's own " is an ordinary Greek expres.sion ; that in tliis context, "a vessel." or "instnunent." is an expressive and natural meta- phor; that the word was familiar to Hel)re\v speakers in that sense {e.g., Ahasuerus says of Vasbti, in one 137 Exliortation to live I. THESSALONIANS, IV. in Holiness and Purity. honour ; (^^ not in tlie lust of con- cupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God : (*^> that no man go beyond and defraud ^ his brother in any matter : - because that the Loi'd is the j avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. ('') For God hath not called us unto unclean- 1 Or,, wjjfiss, or, j ness, but unto holiness. (^J He there- fore that despiseth,^ despiseth not man, of the Targunis, " My vessel wliich I use is ncitlior Median nor Persian, but Chaldoo " ) ; that St. Peter (1 Pot. iii. 7) uses the word of the wife. But it may be answered tliat tliis interpretation does not suit our context; tirst, boeaus(> it would be laying an emphatic and binding veto upon celibacy, if "eacli one" is "to acquire a wife of his own ; " secondly, because of the verb " to know," it certainly being no part of a religious man's duty "to hnoio how to procui-e a wife;" thirdly, because the Greek cannot be translated "a vessel (or wife) of his own," but '• his oivn vessel " (or wife) — literally, the vessel of himself — and to speak of "procuring" the wife who is already one's own seems unmeaning. Furthermore, although the quotations from the Targums are certainly to the point, that from St. Peter distinctly points tlie other way, inasmucli as the wife is called " the weaker vessel of the two," evidently meaning that tlie husband is also " a vessel," Tims we are driven to suppose that (2) the "vessel" is the man's own self. This usage also is well suppoi'ted. In 1 Sam. xxi. 5, it is used in precisely this sense, and in the same context, as well as in 1 Pet. iii. 7. The passages, how- ever, usually quoted in support of this interpretation from 2 Cor. iv. 7, Philo, Barnabas, Lucretius, &c., do not seem quite parallel; for there the word siguifies a " vessel," in tlie sense of a receptacle for containing something ; here it is rather " an instrument " or " im- plement " for doing something. Hence it approaches more nearly to tlie use in such phrases as Acts ix. 15, '■ a vessel of choice," or even (though the Greek word is ditfeivmtl to Kcmi. vi. 13. "The vessel of himself" (tlie " liiniself " l)eing in the Greek strongly empha- sised) moans, not "the vessel which is his own," but "the vessel or instrument which consists of himself." Thus tlu! ])ody, which of course is chietly meant here, is not dissociated from the man's personality, as in the fanciful Platonism of Philo. Imt almost identified with it : tlie Incarnaiion has taught us the true dignity of the body. Thus it becomes easy to understand what is meant l)y " knowing how to gain possession of" such an instrument as the body with its many faculties, rescuing it from its vile prostitution, and wielding it wisely for its proper uses. So the same Greek verb is used, and mistranslated in our version, in Luke xxi. 19, " In your patience possess ye your souls." In sanctiflcation and honour.— The circum- stances in which — almost the means hy which — the man may acquire and keep this skilful })()werover his instru- ment:— " i/i a course of self-puritication and of self-re- verence." The reverence due to the instrumc^nt is bi'ouglit out in a passage of St. Peter evidently modelled upon this (1 Pet. iii. 7). (Comp. also 2 Tim. ii. 21, " an in- strument for honourable j)urposes. and to be honourably treated, consecrated, and handy for its owner's use.") (5) Not in the lust of concupiscence, for such a method of using one's faculties, such an attempt to acquire mastery of vital powers, is really to abandon them altogether to others. This notion is involved in the very woi'd here translated " lust," which is more often rendered "passion," and implies something wliich befalls a man, something done to him: "Not in the helpless passinty of concupiscence " or uncontrolled desire. The Gentiles which know not God.— Mind the punctuation. The readers of the letter were " Gen- tiles which Icneiv God." Their brother Thessalouians are hekl up to them as melancholy examples of men who are trying in the wrong way to show their powiu* over themselves. Remark that this is not one of the crimes which he alleges against Jews. (0) That no man.— The form of the Greek shows that this is not exactly imrallel with the preceding clauses, as if it ran, " this is God's will, your sanctifl- cation, for you to abstain, for you to know how to possess, for you not to go beyond," &c. It is a final clause, expressing the 2^urpose of such continence as has just been described. Men are to be chaste and self-j)ossessed, not only for their own salvation's sake, but in justice to their brethren. In chap. iii. 12, 13, they were to love for the sake of becoming holy ; here they are to be hoi}' for the sake of charity — a blessed action and reaction. Defraud his brother. — The original word implies a rapacious dishonesty, of which any person is guilty who gives the rein to his lusts, especially the adulterer. The substantive formed from it is usually translated covetoiisness, and is generally thought to be used in this special sense in Eph. v. 3 ; Col. iii. 5. When all men are brethren the sin becomes worse. In any matter should imdoubtedly be in the matter. St. Paul chooses the phrase for delicacy's sake, both here and in 2 Cor. vii. 11. Because that the Lord. — Again an anticipation of the Advent, for the vengeance meant is that of the Judgment Day, not the natural retribution which carnal sin brings with it. The " Lord," therefore, in this context probably means more particularly the Incarnate Son, who has a special claim upon men's bodies (1 Cor. \i. 13). Have forewarned.— Rather, did forewarn. It was part of the Apostles' original teaching at Thessa- loiiica. (7) For God. — This gives the reason for stating that the Lord will take A^engeanceon such sins; because they are not part of the terms on which His Father called us. It should be " did not call." Tiiese verses 7, 8, sum up the little disquisition, returning to the principle announced in verse 3. Unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. — The preposition translated " unto " has the same force in Gal. v. 13, "Called unto liberty," and Eph. ii. 10, " Created unto good works." It im])lies not so much the definite end to which we are^ invited, as the terms on which the invitation will still stand; for the call is not yet accomjilished. (See Note on chap. ii. 12.) The second " unto " in the Greek is simply " in," used in tlie same sense as in verse 4. Paraphrase, " For God did not call us on the understanding that we might be unclean, but by the way of sanctification." Holiness is a mistranslation for sanctification. The process, not the quality, is meant. (8) " So you see that to act contumcliously in the matter is to act contuuKdiously not only towards your neighbour, but towards God Himself, and that, too, after He has given you a gift wliich should have preserved you from these coiTuptions." 138 Directions concern'mg I. TIIESSALONIAXS, IV. Brotherly Love. but God, wlio liatli also given unto us liis holy Spirit. (9) But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write Chap. iv. 9— 12. -^ , .. , On regulating uuto you : « lor ye yourselves Christian fel- are taught of God* to low-feoling. j^^,g Q^^g another, d^) And a ch. 5. 1. b .Ter. 31. 33, ai ; .idlin 6. 45; Hell. 8. 10, 11. c 2 Thess. a 10. indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia : but we beseech you, brethren, that ye in- crease more and more ; (^^' and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;"^ He . . . that despiseth. — The verb means to treat as insignificant citlicr persons or things. Hero the object is not snpplied in the first instance, in order to heighten the effect of the second chiuse. If we were to supply- it, it would include all the rights which the unclean liver spurns, " the commandments which we (mere men as you thought us) gave you," the " brother " whoso domestic happiness has been invaded, the unfortunate victim herself, and, finally, the " honour " due to the sinner's own body. Since it was God who ordered the relations in which we all stand to one another, contempt for these relations is contempt for Him, Who hath also given. — Mistranslated for " who also gave.'" St. Paul is looking back to the day when he confirmed them; for the right reading is not "imto tt.s," but " unto you," or moro correctly " into you " — i.e., '' to enter into you, and dwell there " (John xiv. 17, and many other places). The word "holy" in the original is very emphatically put : " Who also gave His Spirit — His Holy Spirit — to enter you," thus bi-inging out the startling contrast between such foul lives and the holiness which befitted and was possible (Rom. vi. 14 ; viii. 3, 4) for men in whom the Holy Ghost, communicated by the laying on of hands, vouch- safed to dwell. (9) But . ; . — This forms the second subject of in- struction, following naturally on the first. " We are very glad to hear of so strong a Christian feeling of brotherhood among you, and think it almost unne- cessary to say anything more to you about it ; still your charity is hardly catholic enough, nor have you exercised it with sufficient sobriety and thrift." Brotherly love. — Not love of men at large, but of Christians in particular : in fact, pretty nearly what we call " Church feeling." It is the natural affection of those who feel that they are children of the same Father and the same mother (Gal. iv. 26), members of the same " household of faith " (Gal. vi. 10). In itself, it is not the most exalted of graces, being to some extent the outcome of community of interests ; therefore St. Peter exhorts his readers to make it a means of obtaining the higher grace of charity (1 Pet. i. 22 ; 2 Pet. i. 7). St. Paul in this place does mean the sentiment rather than the practice, but has specially in view the exercise of liberality towards fellow-Cliristians. The feeling of community can only be known by acts that prove it. Ye need not.— A sweet rhetorical figure, by which men are encouraged to the performance of a duty in wliioh they are not perfect, by tlio praising of their imperfect attempts : a specimen of that " courtesy " which is a part of " brotherly love." (See 1 Pet. iii. 8.) " I " should bo we, or anij. Ye yourselves. — It seems as if St. Paul had in- tended at first to say, " For ye yourselves know without any instruction," but suddenly inserts the source of their knowledge instead : " For ye yourselves are divinely taught already." This seems more natural to the context (though grammatically less easy) than to understand : " For ye yourselves (as well as we) are taught of God.' (Coinp., however, the references.) God's teaching here comes (though perhaps other modes are not excluded) by the direct contact with the in- dwelling Sijirit. (See 1 John ii. 27.) To love. — In the Greek this is not the simple infini- tive after " taught ; " it expresses rather the result and issue of God's teaching : " have been so schooled by God as to love one another." This love is not actually contrasted with the '' brotherly kindness " above, but means more. (It)) And indeed ye do it — i.e., ''love one another; " but the words seem to imply a very practical form of love. This fact justifies St. Paul in saying that the Thossalonians were so taught of God. Toward. — Hather, even unto ; as far a.i unto. The Thessalonians' charity has travelled already a long way from its starting-point at home, extending over all northern Greece. As Thessalonica had been the centre of evangelisation (chap. i. 8), so also of the maintenance of the Churches. The words need not necessarily (though tliey do probably) imply a number of missionary stations besides the thi-ee j)laces where the Apostles had preached. Increase more and more. — A little too emphatic : abound (or, overfioic) still more. The words are identical with those in verse 1. The brotherly kindness of the Thessalonians did not spread over a wide enough area in merely traversing Macedonia, nor was it so unos- tentatious as true love should be. (11) And that ye study to be quiet.— The word means more than '• study ; " '• and that ye make it your aml)iti()n to keep quiet" — their ambitiim hanng formerly been to make a stir among the Churches. It is a strong use of the rhetorical figure called o.vymoron, or combining words of contraiy meaning in order to give force and point to the style. The warnings in this verse are not directed against defiance of the law of brotherly love, but against a thoroughly wrong mode of .^howinj that love : the unquietness, meddlesomeness, desultori- ness Avith which it was accompanied are not so much instances of xmkindness to the brotherhood as scandals to the heathen. Hence the conjunction at the begin- ning of the verse has something of an adversative force: " We beg you to be even more abundantly liberal, and (yet) at the same time to agitate for perfect calmness about it." It is ommonly supposed (but proof is impossible) that the unsettlement arose from belief in the nearness of tlie Advent. Do your owa business.— Not merely was each individual to do his own work, but the whole Church was to refrain from interfering ostentatiously with other Churches. In all languages. " to mind one's own business " signifies rather the negative idea of ceasing to meddle than the positive idea of industry. Work with your own hands.— Apparently tlie Thessalonians had been so lousy in organising away from home that thev bad had no time to see to their own industry, and sJ (see end of next verse^ were be- ginning to fall into difficulties. The words "with your own hands " are supposed to indicate that most of the Thcssalonian Christians were of the artisan class. 139 They are. not to sorrow I. THESSALONIANS, IV. hojielessly for the dead. (^2) that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without," and tliat Chap.iv.13-18. ye ni'vy liave lack of Ontlieoquahiy nothing. ^ of quick and (13) B^t I would UOt deadatChrist 8 , , i • j a Coming. have you to be ignorant,* 0 1 Pet. i. 12. c Eph. 2, 12. 1 Or, of no man. d Rev. 14. IS. h Rom 1. 13; II.-': 1 for. 1". I ; 12. : 2 for. 1. a brethren, concerning them which are asleep, tliat ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope/ (^^^ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus '^ will God bring with him. (1-) Honestly. — Not in our modern sense of the word, but " honourably," " creditably." Toward— i.e., '• in reference to," '■ in j'our connection with." The heathen were certain to be watching the conduct of tlie members of the new religion, and it would l)ring down political suspicion if they were seen to be acting more like agitators for a secret society than honest citizens who worked at their handicraft and calling. Of nothing. — Right : the marginal version is hardly consistent with the Greek. Two pur[)oses will be fulfilled by their industry ; (1) to allay heathen sus- picion; (2) to be well supplied themselves. It seems as if they had been reduced to begging of other Churches in return for their own expensive charities. (13) But. — We pass to the third clearly-marked point : the share of the Christian dead in the Coming of Christ. Possibly an association of ideas may have caused St. Paul to join these two subjects, of quietude and the Advent, so closely ( see Note on verse 11 ). " You need liave no distress about your dead : when Christ comes, they will be there too ; they will come with Him, and we shall be caught up to meet them." I would not have you to be ignorant. — The right reatliiig is we. St. Paul is still speaking in the name of his companions as well as his own. The phrase is very weighty, and marks how lamentable such a piece of ignorance would be. (See references in the margin.) Which are asleep. — The best reading is rather, which fall nxh'fp ; the grief renewed itself over each successive death-lj( d. The image of sleep is a mere metaphor, drawn from the outward phenomena of death, and is used as an euphemism for death ; there- fore no doctrine can be deduced with precision from it. It cannot be said (for instance) on the strength of such pas.sages alone, tliat only the hody sleeps, and not the soul ; -or, again, that the soul sleeps while the body remains in the grave. That the soul, or at any rate the spirit, still retains consciousness after dissolution is clear from other places ; but when the metaphor of sleep is used, it is used of the tchole man (e.g., John xi. 11, " Lazarus " — not " Lazarus' body " — " sleepeth"), the explanati(m being either tliat stated above — i.e., that the word is simply j^'ctxre-'^que, describing the peaceful appearance of the dead — or that the reference is to rest from labour (Rt>v. xiv. 13). At the same time, the metaphor suggi»sts (otherwise it Avould l)e mis- leading, and St. Paul would not have used it) a con- tinued (even if partly unconscious) existence, and the possibility of a reawakening. Again, for the same reason — i.e., because the word is metaphorical, not doctrinal — it cannot be limited to the Christian dead : when the writers need to mark specially the departed Christians they annex qualifying words, as in verse 14. Of course, on the mention of " the dead," the Tlies- salonians will at once think of their own brethren departed, so that there is no ambiguity. That ye sorrow not.— The words express St. Paul's object in wishing them to know the truth. He 140 wants them 7iot to sorrow at all over the dead ; sorrow is only fit for Gentiles who have no hope. He docs not mean that they are not to sorrow to the same degree as tJiose outside the Church, but that to Christians, who have a hope, and such a hope, death ouglit to have no sorrows. The Office of Burial in the Prayer-book is as joyous as the Eucharistic Office itself. Others. — The Greek word is " the others, those who have no hope," and includes all who were not members of the Church : " That ye mourn not like the rest, which have no hope." The having no hope does not mean that there is no hope for them, but that they are not cheered by hope. (1^) For if . . . — A reason for thinking that if the Thessalonians know and believed the truth, they ought not to be so miserable. Tlie " if " implies no doubt : " if we believe (as we do), then," &c. — merely clearing the ground for a logical deduction. The writer does not care to prove so well-known a fact as the resur- rection of Christ ; he only argues from the clear faith of the Thessalonians with regard to it. Jesus died and rose again.— Notice the human name ; for though it is true that as God He raised Himself (John x. 18), as man He was no less dependent upou the Father than we are (Acts xvii. 31) : therefore His resurrection is a real argument for ours. And the two verbs are put together because of their contrariety — " really died a human death, and yet rose again." Even so. — The structure of the clauses is not quite regular. We should have expected either the omission of " we believe that" in the first, or the insertion of it in the second : it makes the statement of the second, however, more direct or authoritative. Which sleep in Jesus.— Rjither, which were laid to sleep through Jesus. The meaning of the preposi- tion, however, is not widely diiferent from "in." The simpler words in Eev. xiv. l3 mean '" djnng in full com- munion still with Him." Our present phrase makes Him, as it were, the way, or door, by which they journeyed to death : He surrounded them as they sank to rest. (Comp. John x. 9.) Additional sweetness is imparted to the phrase by the use of the metaphor of sleep ; but it is, perhaps, too much to say, as Dean Alford does, that " falling asleep " is here contrasted with "dying," in this sense: — " Wlio through the power of Jesus fell asleep instead of djnng " — for the word is even used of a. judicial puiiishment of death in 1 Cor. xi. 30. Will God bring with him— i.e., with Jesus. In the Greek the word God stands in an unemphatic posi- tion— '* Even so will God bring,'' implyingthat it was God also who had raised Jesus from the dead. But St. Paul is not content witli sajnng. " Even so will God raise those who passed through Christ to death." The thought of the Advent is so supreme with him that he passes at once to a moment l)eyond resurrection. If the ques- tion be asked from ichence God Avill bring the dead along with Christ, it must be answered, from Paradise, and the persons brought must be the disembodied spirits ; for in verse Iti this coming of the Lord with the saints is the signal for the dead — i.e., the bodies — to The Resurrection, I. THESSALONIANS, IV and Christ's Coining. (15) YoT this Ave say unto you by the word of the Lord," that we * which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (^'^^ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, a 1 Klnirs 13. 1 ; 17. 18 : •-•0. :a. 6 1 C'lir. 15.51,52. C MaU. 24. 31. d .Vets 8. 39 2 Cor. 12. 4. e Matt. 25. 6. with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : ' and the dead in Christ shall rise first : (^"^ then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up '^ together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord ' in the air : rise. It must be owned, liowever, tliat this luauuor of speaking is nuusiml. Jesus is no louger iu Paradise, for the spirits to be brouglit tlieueo ivitli Him ; aud one would liave expected sometliing more like " bring- ing up " (Heb. xiii. 20), as it is always considered a descent into " liell " or Paradise. Because of this difficulty (which however is more iu form than reality), some take the words to mean, " God will lead them by the same path with Chri.st " — i.e., will make their whole career (including resurrection) conform with His, com- paring tlie same verb in Horn. viii. 14 ; Heb. ii. 10. (15) By the word of the Lord. — Literally, in. A most direct claim to plenaiy inspiration (see references). It does not mean " According to certain words which Christ spoke," nor yet '' Bij means oi a revelation from the Lord to me," but ''^ By ivay of a di\'ine revelation : " " I tell you this as a message straight from God." In what way apostles and prophets became conscious of supernatural inspiration we Ciiunot tell ; but else- where also St. Paul speaks of possessing the conscious- ness sometimes and not at others. (See 1 Cor. vii. 10, 12, 25, 40.) He means this declaration here to hold good of the details, which are such as no one would invent and teach with sucli solemnity ; at the same time it must be remembered, with regard to the details, that it is the very idiom of prophecy (which St. Paul here uses) to express by material imagery sijiritual facts. We which are alive and remain. — Literally, We, (that is) the quick, those who are left over. There is not the least neces.sity for supposing from tliese words that St. Paul confidently expected the Advent before his death. Very likely he did, but it cannot be proved from this passage. Had the "we" stood alone, without the explanatory participles, it might have amounted to a proof, but not so now. His converts are strongly under the impression that they will be alive at the Coming, and that it will be the worse for the departed: therefore, St. Paul (becoming all things to all men) identifies himself with them — assumes that it will be as they expected — aud proves the more vividly the fallacy of the Thessaloniaus' fears. It would have been impossible, on the contrary, for St. Paul to have said " we which are dead " without definitely abandoning the hope of seeing the Return. Besides which, St. Paul is on\y picturing io imagination tlie scene of the Advent ; and for any man it is far easier to imagine himself among the quick than among the dead at that moment. Shall not prevent — i.e., " be before," " get the start of." If it wore not for these words, we might liave fancied that the Tliessalonians had not been taught to believe in a resurrection at all ; which would liave l)een a strange departure from the usual apostolic gospel (I Cor. xv. 1. et .<9eq.). We here leani what was tlie exact nature of the Thessaloniaus' anxiety concerning the dead. They were full of excited hoiws of the coming of that kingdom which had fonned so i»roininent a part of rhe Apostles' ]>reaching there (Acts xvii. 7) ; and were afraid that the highest glories in that kingdom would bo engrossed by those who were alive to receive them ; and thi't the dead, not being to rise till aftei-wards, would have less blessed pri\-ileges. This would make them not only sorry for their dead friends, but also reluctant to die themselves. The negative in this clause is very emphatic in the Greek, and throws all its force upon the verb : " We shall certainly not get the start of them that sleep ; " i.e., " if anything, we shall be behind them; they will rise first." (16) For. — A justification of the statement that we shall certainly not prevent the dead ; therefore, the words as far as '• trump of Gt>d " are logically |jare/i- thetical ; and the proof only begins at " They shall rise first : then we shall be caught up." With a shout.— The Greek word means a shout of command or encouragement, such as a captain gives to his soldiers, or a boatswain to his crew. It is not necessary to inquire icliat the command may be, or to ivhom issued, inasmuch as the word does not always imply any particular orders ; nor icho is represented as uttering it : the intention is only to ccmvey the notion of tlio stirring noise, in the midst of which (for the original has " iu," not " with ") the Lord will descend. It is, however, somewhat particularised by what foUows : two notes amid those sounds of mystery strike the ear — the archangel's voice, and the trump of God. Pro- bably, therefoi'e, the "shout of command" is uttered by the " leader of the angels;" and the trump (called " the trump of God " because used for God's purposes) is blown to summon the mustering hosts. In favour of supposing the Lord Himself to utter the cry, niay be adduced John v. 25; but, on the other hand, it suits the dignity of the scene better to imagine the loud sound to come rather from one of the heralds of the great army. The preposition " in " is more eifective tliau " with : " it calls attention to the long blast. (Comp. Ex. xix. 19.) Shall rise first. — Not as meaning " shall be the first to rise," as contrasted with non-members of the Cliurch who are to rise later ; though that is a scrip- tural thought (Rev. xx. 5, 6), the Greek hei-e refuses to be so explained. Rather, "the first thing will l>e the rising of the dead in Christ." contrasted with what follows — •' then, a.ud not till then, shall we \)0 caught up." The same order is carefully observed in 1 Cor. xv. 52. (17) Shall be caught up.— " Our Assumption," as Bishop EUicott well calls it. The spiritualising of our natural bodies without death, us described iu 1 Cor xv. 50, et seq., will enable us to be "caught up "equally well with, and in company with (both of which thouglits are included in " together with "), the resurgent dead. " Clouds " and " air " will be support enougli for ma- terial so immaterial. Theodoret says. " He showeth the greatness of the honour : as the Ma-stcr Himself was taken up upon a shining cloud, so also they tliat have believed in Him." The absolute equality, then, of quick and dead is proved. To meet the Lord in the air.— St. Chrysostom says : " Wlien the King cometh into a city, tbey that are honourable proceed forth to meet him. but the guilty await their judge within." Tlie phrase " in the air " certAiuly does not mean " heaven." The word " air " 141 The. Suddenness of I. THESSALONIANS, Y. the Day of the Lord. and so sliall we ever be with the Lord. (isj Wherefore comfort- oue another with these words. CHAPTER v.— (1) But of the times Cha V 1-11 ^^^^ ^^^^ seasons," brethren, On the date of ye have no need that I the Advent aud ^y^ite unto you.* 1-) For its practical , , ■' n ,^ lessons. yourselves know perfectly c Joel 2. 1. d Mutt. 24 43: Luke 12. at: 2 ret. 3. id; Itev. a 3 iti. Ij. e Kzek. 13. a A.D. 54. a D.in. 2. 21 ; Arts h (11.4.9. / Uom. la 11, 12, la a rh. 1. 2. h Luke 16 «; J()Iin 12. :t>>; Epli. a. 8. ' that the day of the Lord so cometh ' as a thief in the night.'' (^^ For when they shall say, Peace ' and safety ; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a Avoman with child ; and they shall not escape. (^^ But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day/ should overtake you as a thief. (^^ Ye are all^ the children of light,'' and ill itself projierly signifies the lower, denser, grosser | atmosphere, in which the jjowers of darkness reign (Eph. ii. 2); but here it is only used in contrast with tlie ground, and nieaus "on the way from Heaven whence He comes," of course not to dwell there, but to accompany Him to His Judgment-seat on the earth. And so. — Xow that St. Paul has settled the ques- ti^jn of disparity between the dead aud the li\'iug, ho does not think it necessary to describe what is imme- diately to follow ; thut,i\\ii Thessalouiaus w^ere sure to know (see Heb. vi. 2): it only remains to say that having once rejoined the Lord, they would never bo parted from Him. (isi) Comfort one another. — Here is a balm for the " sorrow " of verse 13. Bather, " in these words " than " Kith ;" " Repeat these veiy words to one another, and you will find the comfort." What bereaved Christian has not found this true ? Y. (1) But of the times.— Tlie fourth subject of in- struction ; tlie bearing of the doctrine of the Advent upon the Christian's own life. " Times and seasons " is a Hebraism, and in the original, the second word, not the first, is the more explicit : we should say, " About day and hour." The plural seems to mean the different periods at which men might conceive the Advent likely to come. Ye have no need. — The next verse shows that this paragmph is not so much intended for an answer to a false theory about the time of the Advent, as practically to cure the restlessness common at Thessalonica. (2) Know perfectly.— Or, accurately. There is something of an oxymoron (see Note on chap. iv. 11) here. " 1 need not tell you about the time, for you know to a nicety — not the hour of Christ's coining, but — the utter uncertainty respecting it." The word shows at the same time with what scrupulous care St. Paul had instnicted them on this topic. The day of the Lord.— Here "the Lord" (as usual in the Xew Testament) means Jesus Christ; and this day can mean nothing else than the great day of His return to judgment. Tlie expression is taken from the Old Testament, where, of couree, it does not primarily mean what we call " the Day of Judgment," but the set time which God has fixed for any great visitation. Thus in Joel ii. 1, et secj., it means the time appointed for the plague of locusts ; in Ezek. xiii. 5, generally, any day when God visits His peojjle ; in Joel iii. 14, the fixed time for vengeance to bo taken upon the heathen for persecuting the Church ; which, in Isa. ii. 12 (a passage largely intluonced l)y recollections of Joel), seems to widen into a general day of judgment for mankind. Cometh. — Xot merely, vill come ; it is an absolute Ci-rtainty that the time is on its way to come. (See Note on chap. i. 10.) As a thief in the night — ne. unexpectedly (Matt. xxiv. 43), and under cover of darkness. The U: frequency of the simile (see references) throws light on the words " know perfectly," making it apparent that it was the ordinary formula in which the doctrine was universally taught by the Apostles. (3) They. — Quite vague and general, like the French on. The plural is so used frequently in St. Luke (xii. 11, 20, margin; xvi. 9, probably; xxiii. 29, 30, 31). Of course, however, no Christian could say so, for they are ever on the watch, so that " they " ^vill mean " the world." The word "for" at the beginning of the verse should (according to the best MSS.) be struck out — the abruptness helps to enforce the lesson. Peace and safety. — Carrj-iug on the thought suggested by the word " night ; " they are taking their repose in security, ^vithout dreaming of any interrup- tion to their slumbers. Is it possible that there may here be a faint recollection of the parable related in Matt. XXV. 1—13 ? Destruction cometh upon them.— Literally, stands over them; or takes its stand over them; presents itself. The present tense is used for the sake of a more A-ivid effect. The extreme similarity of this passage to Luke xxi. 34 (with other indications) inclines Bishop Wordsworth to think that the Thessalonians had the Gospel of St. Luke to refer to. As travail. — A common Oriental simile to express not only suddenness, but horror also. Theodoret fairly says, " The woman with child knows that she has the child to bear, but knows not the exact time for her pangs ; so we also know that the Lord of all will appear, but the moment itself we have by no means been cxjilicitly taught." The comment, however, hardly suits this passage, as the persons on whom the destruction vrill thus burst are not iiersons who live in any expectati(m of such a judgment. (^) But ye. — " Though the world (which lieth in darkness ) may be surprised at the coming of the Day, you, members of the Church, liA-ing in the light, cannot be sui-prised." The words " in darkness " seem to be suggested by the mention of " night " in verse 2 ; and the chief thought (as the succeeding verses show) is that of sui)ineuess, inattention, torpoi', not so much cither ignorance or sin. That day. — Literally, the day : so that it does not mean the Judgment Day simply as a point of time, but brings out its characteristic of being a day indeed. (Coinp. 1 Cor. iii. 13.) As a thief. — There is another reading which has two of the best MSS. and he Cojitic version in its favour, and the judgment of Lachmanu and Dr. Lightfoot, " As thieves." Jint not only is the evidence from the MSS. strongly in favour of the Received text. Init the Avhole context shows that St. Paul was not thinking of the day as catcliing them at evil practices, but as catching them in inadvertence. (5) Ye are all.— St. Paul recognises no exceptions, no inner distinctions, among the mombers of the Church : all stand alike so far as grace, privileges, and duties Instructions as to I. THESSALONIANS, Y. Watchfulness and Sobriety. the children of the day : we are not of the night, nor of darkness. (*^^ Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us -vvatch and be sober." ("^ For they that sleej) sleep in the night ; and they that be drunken are drunken in the niffht. (^^ But let us, who are of the b Isa. 59. 1 Kph. 6. 17. a 1 Pet. 5. a c I I'ct. 2. a d 2 Tliess. 2. 14. e Rom. 14. & day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love ; and for an helmet,* the hope of salvation. (^) For God hath not appointed us to wrath,*" but to obtain salvation'' by our Lord Jesus Christ, (^"^ who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep," we should are concerned. The following' exhortation shows that it was a matter of each man's free will whether he would sustain his oharaeter as a *' child of light " or not. Children of light. — The expression is an enthu- siastic Hebrew pnetical turn for intimate vital con- nection with anything; thus, e.g., "children of this world" (Luke xvi. 8; xx. 34) = " mere products of this age," with a family likeness for other worldly people ; '• the son of peace" (Luke x. 6) = a person with whom peace has a natural affinity, to whom the " peace " pi"o- nounced will cleave naturally. So '" children of the light " are persons to whom darknt^s is an alien thing, whose natures have a kinship, an intuitive responsive- ness for whatever may be called " light." To such persons the " light," the " day," can never come as an unwelcome, startling apparition. We. — Notice St. Paul's courtesy again : he suddenly includes himself in his exliortation. ('') Let us not sleep. — The metaphor here expresses not so much actual sin (Eph. v. 1-i) as carelessness in spiritual and moral things. " Let us not say, ' Peace and safety,' and resign arselves to indifference about Christ's coming." St. Paul (as always) indicates that it was possible for " children of light " to be converted back into " children of darkness." Others. — Rather, the rest, as in chap. iv. 13 : so al so Rom. xi. 7 ; Eph. ii. 3. Watch and be sober.— The comparison of night now suggests to the writer another thought besides that of sloth, namely, that of dissipation. Christians are not to turn day into night by debaucheiy any more than by sleep. (7) They that sleep . . . . — As the connection of sleep with night has ah-eady been sufficiently worked out, and is not touched upon again in verse 8, the first clause seems only to be inserted for the sake of bringing out the second, and to justify the sudden introduetiou of the words, " and be sober." It may thus he para- phrased : " I say, ' and be sober too,' for as they that sleep sleep in the night, so they that be drunken are drunken in the night." It is implied that the streets even of heathen Thessalonica were seldom affronted •svith the common English siiectacle of drunken men by daylight ; while among the Jews it was proof positive of sobriety to say, " It is but the third hour of the day" (Acts ii. 15). In St. Cy|)rian's time, Christians were knoNvn from other men because their breath smelt of wine in the early morning through attending the Blessed Sacrament (EpMe Ixiii. 15): no heathens would have touched wine by tliat time. (8) Putting on. — A curiously abrupt transition, suggested by the sober vigilance just advocated. The Cliristian must be careful to watch, not only because the Lord is coming back at some unexpected liour, but also because there are enemies all round. He is not only the porter, sitting up to let liis Lord in at any hour when He may return from the wedding (Mark xiii. 34 ; Luke xii. 3tl). l)Ht the soldier standing sentry, liable to be sur^jrised by tlie foe. Breastplate of faith and love.— "\Vc have not to do with the Christian soldier as aggressive and going forth to conquer, which idea is developed in Eph. vi. 11 ct seq., but only as defensive, and protected in breast and head against sudden blows. The three " theological virtues " are the Christian's defence. (Comp. chap. i. 3 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 13.) The "breastplate " is a cuirass fitting close to the body, and in Ephesians this cuirass is com- posed of righteousness, wliile faith becomes the shield, and love disappears from tlie panoply. The "faith" here is a general trust in God's presence and goodness ; the " love " is the love both of God and men. Perhaps it is unnecessary to inquire particularly why faith and love are represented as covering the body, and hope as covering the head. It seems far-fetched to consider the first two as keeping the heart, i.e., the affections, from injury ; the third as preserving the brain, i.e., keeping us from miscalcidating the dangers and so falling into despair. In th*^ passage of Isaiah which St. Paul here imitates, the " hehnet of salvation " appears to mean little more than a helmet which .secures safety ; but as one of the chief benefits which such armour confers is the confident hope of coming oft' unhurt, St. Paul fairly describes that hope itself as being a protection. In tlie forefront of the lost (Rev. xxi. 8) stand those who have had no " hope " or " trust." (p) For. — This is not the reason for being watchful, but for being hoiieful of salvation. The image of the soldier is abandoned as suddenly as it was intro- duced. Hath not appointed.— Rather, did not appoint, referring to some mysterious moment of God's eternal counsels, when He fixed His predestination of us — whether the moment of creative thought, or of sending the gospel to us. The " wrath " is that which is to come upim the " children of wrath " at the Second Advent, as in chaps, i. 10; ii. 16. (Comp. 1 Pet. ii. 8.) We may well be confident then, for we ourselves are the only persons that can defeat God's predestinations. To obtain salvation. — More than " obtain ; " the Greek means " acquire '' by one's o\vn efforts : " earn and make our own ; " being the same word as is used in 1 Tim. iii. 13 and Acts xx. 28 in the verb ; and in the substantive in Eph. i. 14 (where it is translated "purchased pos- session"); 2 Thess. ii. 14; Heb. x. 39 (translated "saving"); and 1 Pet. ii. 9, where see Note. It will be seen that God does not predestinate men to " salvation " without laborious acquisition on their part, but predestinates them to occupy a position in which they will be able to " work out tiieir own salva- tion " by placing them " under grace " in the Church. The very same word is us<*d of the Christian's way of securing salvation, and of Christ's way of securing it for him (see references^ ; both are " purchasing." " earning." But mark that the Christian can only so purchase sjilva- tion " through our Lord Jesus ChVist : ' apart from Him a man can do nothing to redeem himself, but through union vriih Him tlie believer can pay the whole ])rice of his salvation (see e.g. John xv. 5). (10) Who died for us.— Not a mere pious recollec- tion of a fact which has nothing to do with the context^ Hi Tlueij are to esteem those I. THESSALOXIANS, V. who labour among litem. live together with him. (^'^ Wlierefore comfort^ yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. Chap. V. 12—15. ^^"^ And we beseech you, Exhortation to brethren, to know " them discipliuo and i • i i i i, u:iity. which labour* among you. c Heb. la 17. 2 Or, beneech. a 1 Cor. 16. la 6 1 Tira. .5. 17. 3 Or, disorderly. and are over you*^ in the Lord, and admonish you ; (^^^ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among your- selves. (^^> Now we exhort 2 you, brethren, warn them that are unruly,^ Tint an account of the way by wliicli Christ made it possilile for us to sot aliout earniufif salvation. What a hlessod privilege a Cliristian's life of labour must be, if it alone — to say nothing of the " salvation '"' at the end — cost such a price ! Whether we wake or sleep. — The mention of Christ's death at once brings back the recollection of the Advent and the questions concerning the dead in their relation to it. The woi'ds " wake or sleep " seem distinctly suggested by the metaplior used from verse 2 to verse 8, being different in the Greek from the terms used in chap, iv., but abruptly take a much altered meaning. They here, no doubt, signify " life and death : " — " Let us arm ourselves with a brave hope of our salvation, for it will be against God's will if we should perish : He means us to save ourselves by union with Him who put an end to death for us by dying, and made all who wait for His coming to live, whether tliey l)e in the world's sense dead or alive." We should live.— In sharp contrast with " who died for us." Christ's dying destroyed the power of death (He]), ii. l-i); henceforth it is only a matter of liciug awake or asleep ; tliose who sleep cpiite as truly live, and live with Him, as we who wake (see Luke xx. 8S ; and compare the more developed passage in Rom. xiv. 8). Tlie word " together " (as the Greek clearly shows) must be separated from the " with ; " rather, " we should live with Him together," i.e., we quick, and our brethren the dead ; for St. Paul has entirely reverted from the effect of the Advent-doctrine upon Cliristian life to the subject of the last chapter — the equality of the two classes at Christ's coming. Bengel, thinking that St. Paul is still applying liimself to the discussion of the date of tlie Advent (which in fact was scarcely raised), tries to make out tlie meaning, " That we sliould there and then live witli Him." (11) Comfort.— Riglitly translated. St. Paul is here catcliing up once more the tliouglit of chap. iv. 18. They are to comfort one another about their communion with tlie dead who live in Christ ; but perhaps the word also involves the comfort to be imparted by tlie thought of predestination to earn salvation. The command to "Edify one another" certainly refers to the instruc- tion given in verses 1 — 10 : " Build one another up " in these settled purposes of holy living. This metaphor of building is one which St. Paul uses frequently in his later writings, and which St. Peter (who uses the same) may have adopted from liis brother Apostle. St. Paul considers not only tlie whole Catholic Church to be a great Temple of the Spirit, the stones of which are individual souls (1 Pet. ii. 5; 1 Cor. iii. 16), but each believer is a temple too, complete in himself, or, rather, in continual process of completion (1 Cor. vi. 19). (12) "We Ilo^v come to minor details of instruction, no doubt suggested by observation of manifest defects in the Thessalonian Church. These details show us still furtlier the mixture of restless ungoverned zeal witli gloomy forebodings and discontents. To know them which labour.- A command to enter into the spirit of ecclesiastical discipline. The persons meant are not simply the hard-working laity, contrasted with the idlers of chap. iv. 11 and 2 Tliess. iii. 11, but those who performed the laborious office of the priesthood, as the words subsequent show. And " knowing " them is liardly to be limited either to the sense of "recognising their position," i.e., "not ignoring them," or, on the other hand, to the sense of " being on terms of familiar intercourse with them." The Greek word indicates appreciation ; they are bidden to acquaint themselves thoroughly with the presbyter and his work, and to endeavour to understand his teaching, and to value his example. The logical connection of this verse with the preceding is that of course the main endeavours to " edify " the brethren wei-e made by the presbytei-y ; and the command to edify involves the command to accept edification. Are over you in the Lord. — This is the primi- tive idea of the priest in the Church : he is not a member of a sacerdotal caste, ministering to an outer world, but a superior officer in a spiritual society consisting of nothing but priests (Rev. i. 6, where the right reading is, " Made us a kingdom of priests "). It is specially interesting to notice how muoh poiver is given to the presbytery in this earliest writing of the New Testament, and how carefully St. Paul seems to have organised his churches, and that at the very foundation of them. It is only " in tlie Lord " that the presbytery are over men, that is, in spiritual matters. Admonish you.— The presbytery are not only organisers, managers of the corporate affairs of their Church, but also spiritual guides to give practical advice to individual Christians. These are the two senses in which they are " over you." (13) Very highly in love.— The original here is difficult ; but it seems best, with most good commen- tators, ancient aud modern, to construe " in love " with " esteem," and to make " veiy highly " (a very enthusi- astic word in the Greek) an expletive attached to " in love," implying " hold in a most extraordinary degree of love." The Ijoiid wliich binds the Christian com- munity to their directors is not to be one of " recogni- tion " aud obedience only (verse 12), but of holy affection above all. For their work's sake.— Our love is to be paid them not for any social or intellectual qualities they may have in themselves ; it is the work which they have to do that should attract our sympathy. The original seems to mean that we are to love them, not only be- cause they do such work, but also "for the sake o/ their work," i.e., to help it forward. Be at peace among yourselves.- Discipline to be observed towards equals, as well as superiors. (1^) Now we exhort you, brethren.— Rather and than noiv. Tlie writers turn to the presbyteiy, and explain their duty in tlie administration of discipline to the flock. The flock will be more apt to receive the discipline when they see with what apostolic authority their pastors are anned. Several special parts of the clerical office are then enumerated. Warn. — The same Greek word as " admonish " in verse 12, and selected for that very reason. The " unruly " or " disorderly " are those who infringe good 144 Final Precepts to T. THESSALONIANS, V tlie Thessalonimis. comfort the feebleminded, support tlie weak, be patient toward all men. (^^^ See that none render evil for evil" unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. a Rom. 12. 1 1 ret. 3.9. C Phil. 4. Kph. 5. 20. d c'l. 4. a (1^^ Rejoice evermore.* (^''^ Pray with- out ceasing. ('^> In every ^ ^^_^., thing give thanks :<^ for this Exhortations is the will of God in Christ'^ to use the Spirit T • aright. Jesus concerning you. (^'^^ Quench not the Spirit.' (-'^^ Despise discipliue — said of soldiers who leave their rauks : hero uotal)ly of those mentioned in 2 Thess. iii. 11. Feebleminded. — Or, fainthearted, pusillanimous. Such persons, e.g., as were overljurdened with sorrow for the dead, or afraid of the persecutions, or the like. Support the weak. — Or, Iceep hold of them, to help them on. Tlie " weak " are not quite the same as the " feebleminded," but rather (judging from Rom. xiv. 1 et seq.) those who have not attained that robust common-sense and bre idth of conscience which discri- minates between truths and superstitions, necessities and expediencies ; or who are not yet ripe enough Christians to be sure of standing in persecution. Patient toward all men.— Church officers are not to be rendered impatient by the defects, errors, weakness, stupidity, unbelief of any one, catholic, heretic, or heathen. (lo) See that.— The exhortation is given to those who have tlie authority to oversee the Church (Acts xix. 28 ; 1 Pet. v. 2). None render evil for evil. — Like the prohibition of fornication, abstinence from revenge is practically a new thought for Greeks, among whom feuds were fre- quent and undying. (Comp. Rom. i. 31 ; Tit. iii. 3.) That which is good— i.e., that which is kind. (See Note on chap. iii. 6.) This duty is to be " followed," i.e., made an object to be pursued eagerly, " toward all men." There is not one standard of morals towards the brethren and another towards the world. (iti) Rejoice evermore. — The remaining commands are more simply spiritual, and hardly form part of the same paragraph as verses 12 — 15, which related to discipline; though from verses 19 et seq. we see that St. Paul was still addressing the Church in its corporate capacity, not only the individual membei's. The Christian who remains in sadness and depression really breaks a commandment : in some direction or other he mistrusts God — His power, ])rovidence, for- giveness. The connnand is specially good for a persecuted Church like that of Thessalonica (Matt. V. 10—12). (17) Pray without ceasing. — Theophj-lact well says, " Tills shows tlie way to ' rejoice always ' — to wit, incessant prayer and eucharist, for he that has accus- tometl himself to hold converse with God. and to give thanks to Him over everything that happens as liap- poning well, will evidently have unbroken joy." Thougli a man cannot be incessantly praying in words, the mind may be held continuously in an attitude of prayer, even in sleep (Cant. v. 2). (1*^) In every thing give thanks. — To tlie Christian who really trusts his Father's providence, and believes that his ])rayers are lieard, every moment's occurrence will lie just that which he lias prayed for — the fulfilment of our Father's will. It is for this reason that thanksgiving is so inseparably joined with prayer. (See Phil. iv. 6; Col. iv. 2.) This is the will of God — i.e., that you should be always full of thanksgiving. This clause hardly en- forces tlianksgiviiig as a duly, "Give thanks always, for you recognise the duty of doing God's will, and 76 1 this is His will ; " but rather encourages the Thessa- louians to see that thankfulness is always j^ossible. " Give thanks always, for God has no wish to give you cause for sorrow : His will towards you is to fill you with thankfulness." "Towards you" seems here a more exact rendering than " concerning you." In Christ Jesus.— This kind and loving will of God for our good was most abundantly manifested in the life and death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, and even to this day it is chietly manifested in what Christ Jesus still is for us (e.g. Heb. vi. 19, 20). (19) Quench not the Spirit. —The mention of prayer and thanksgi^ang (eucharistia), by which public as well as private worship is intended, leads St. Paul on to the mention of other parts of the service. The gloom and depression to which an antidote is administered in verses 16 — 18 had been such as almost to extinguish that fire of enthusiasm which ought to have burst out in prayers, praises, thanksgivings, and " prophecies." The " Spirit " here must not be taken too sharply to mean the Person of the Holy Ghost : the Person of the Holy Ghost may be grieved (Eph. iv. 30), expelled (Ps. li. 11), neglected (1 Tim. iv. 14), but (though His working on the indi- vidual may be stopped) He can never be extinguished. The word here again (as in chap. i. 5) is in that interme- diate sense which expresses the effect of tlie Holy Ghost's personal working upon our spirits. He kindles in us a fire (Matt. iii. 11), that is, a consuming ardour and enthusiasm, of love to God and man ; which ardour may be damped, quenched, by not gi\'ing it free air and play. Gloom (verse 16), neglect of prayer (verse 17) which is the very feeding of the flame, discontentment with the answer which God chooses to give to prayer (verse 18), will in the end reduce us to the condition in which we were before we were confirmed (Rom. viii. 9). Comp. Ecce Homo, p. 257 (3rd ed.) .- — " The Apostles in like manner became sensible that their inspiration was liable to intermissions. They regard it as possible to gi-ieve the Divinity who resided within them, and even to quench His inliuence. But neither they nor Christ even for a moment sujipose that, if He should take His flight, it is possible to do witliout Him . . . Christianity is an enthusiasm, or it is nothing." (20) Despise not prophesyings.— The highest out- ward or chari.^matic mauifostation of this inward fire was the gift of "prophecy" (1 Cor. xii. 28; xiv. 1, 5, 39). which was an inspired and inspiring prea<^hing. The despondency of the Thessalonians led them not only to quench the fervour of the Holy Ghost in their own bosoms, but to turn a cold and disparaging ear to the sanguine "prophets " who preaclied to them, the efPect of which insensibility was to " quench the Si)irit " liy degrees in the prophets also. It is because of this double efPect of gloominess, inward upon them- selves, and outward upon others, that the command, " Quench not," occurs between tlie exhortation to thanks- giving and tlie warning not to despise prophecy. Tliis seems to be the most natural way of accounting for the present waniing. but there are two other main interpre- tations :— (1) it is .said that what tempted the Thessa- lonians to disparage prophecy was their fascination for 4.5 Final Precepts. I. THESSALOXIANS, V. Concluding Prayer, not propbesyings." <2i) Prove all things ; * "' ^°'- "• '• *'^- hold fast that Avhieh is good. ^-^ Abstain from all appearance of evil. (2:J) And the very God of chap. v. 23-24. peace "^ sanctify you wholly; Prayer and as- and I pray God your whole durance. tlio more showy gift of tongues. It is true that such was the case at Corintli, anil not unnalurally so; and at first sight it seems as if, in 1 Cor. xiv. 1, " siiiritual gifts " were contrasted with " prophecy " as two separate cla.sses, thus giving some ground for Bisliop \\ ords- Avorth's interpretation of our present passage — viz., that verse 19 refers to the gifts of tongues, miracles, &c., in sometliing of the same contrast with " prophecy " in verse 20 as may be found in 1 Cor. xiv. 39. But, on the other liand, it seems more likely that in 1 Cor. xiv. 1 prophecy is not contrasted witli the spiritual gifts there specified as a separate class, but selected from among them : " It is all very well to covet spii'itual gifts as a whole, but it would be better to aim moi-e particularly at that one — prophecy — which is the greatest : " just so liere, " Do not quench the Spirit, in whatever direction it may blaze up ; but especially do not disparage preaching." Besides, there is nothing to prove that the Thessaloniaus were dazzled by the more brilliant gifts: and it accords better with the context to suppose that the fault to be corrected in tliem was not a light sensatiouaUsm, but a tendency to damp all ardour alike. (2) Others suppose that the Thessaloniaus had liad experience of persons who had abused the gift of prophecy, and thei'efore were disposed to suspect and dislike prophecy altogether. This view gains support from 2 Thess. ii. 2, and also from the command in verse 21 to test, and retain only what stood the test. There is no particular ground for contradicting tliis view ; but it is unnecessary, and does not carry on the thought so connectedly. (-1) Prove all things.— The right reading inserts a " but " : — " I bid you pay all reverence to the cheering utterances of your prophets (comp. Acts xv. 32); but take care! i)ut everything to the test." That the ■warning was needed, or would be needed soon, is shown by 2 Thess. ii. 2. It is couched in general terms {all things), but, of course, has special reference to all things purporting to be manifestations of the Spirit. And liow were these revelations to be tested? If they were not in accordance (I) with the original tradition (2 Tliess. ii. 2), (2) with the supernatural inspirations of the other prophets who sat as judges (1 Cor. xiv. 29), (3) with enliglitened common sense (1 John iv. 1), they could not be "good." The word "good'' here is not vague and general good in the moral sense — not the same Greek word as in verse 15 — but "good" in the sense of " genuine," " answering to the proper concep- tion of what it purports to lie." The same word is used in the same sense in John x. 11. (~) Abstain from all appearance of evil.— This translation cannot stand. Possibly it might be rendered "every form of evil," but the most natural version would be, " Hold yourselves aloof from every evil kind " — i.e., evil kind of whatever you may bo testing. The word " evW " is liere used in the moral sense, and does not constitute an exact antithesis to the "good" of the preceding verse. (23) And. — The logic of such an expression as, " Do this, and may you be liappy." lies in the Avriter's own connection with both the command and the prayer : " I bid you abstain from every evil kind of thing, and I pray that God Himself may enable you to keep the com- mandment." The very God of peace.— In more usual English, 146 " the God of peace Himself :" the contrast is between the futile efforts after holiness of wliich they in them- selves were capaljle, and the almighty power of sancti- tication exercised by God. This sanctification (which is the special work of the Third Person) is here ascribed to the First Person of the Holy Tiinity, from whom the Holy Ghost proceeds. He is called (as in Heb. xiii. 20) the " God of peace," not in reference to any dissensions between the Thessaloniaus (verse 13), but because of the peace which His sanctification brings into the soul, so that it fears neither temptation's power nor perse- cution's rage. (Comp. the Second Collect for Evensong). Sanctify you wholly.— Rather, sanctify you XL-hole. The idea is rather that of leaving no part unsanctified. than that of doing the work completely so far as it goes : thus it serves to introduce the next sentence, which explains it. And I pray God. -If there were need of any in- sertion, it should liave been " We pray God :"' Silas and Timothy are never forgotten throughout. Spirit and soul and body.— This is St. Paul's fullest and most scientific psychology, not merely a rhetorical piling up of words without any particular meaning being assigned to them. Elsewhere, he merely diAades man according to popular language, into two parts, visible and invisible, "body and spirit" (1 Cor. A'i. 20 ; vii. 34, et al.) ; the division into " body and soul " he never uses. (Comp. Note on I Cor. ii. 14.) The " spirit " (jmeiima) is the part by which we appi'ehend realities intuitively — i.e., without reasoning upon them ; with it we touch, see, serve, worship God (John iv, 23, 24; Rom. i. 9; 1 Cor. vi. 17 ; Rev. i. 10, et al); it is the very inmost consciousness of the man (see, e.g., 1 Cor. ii. 11) ; it is the part of him which survives death (Heb. xii. 23 ; 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; comp. Luke xxiii. 46; Acts vii. 59). The "soxil" (psyche) includes the intellect, the affections, and the will : and it is of the very essence of the gospel to force sharply upon men the distinction between it and the spirit (Heb. iv. 12). Low-living men may have soul [i.e., intellect, affection, will) in abundance, but their spirit falls into complete abeyance ( Jude, 19) ; the soul belongs altogether to the lower nature, so that when St. Paul uses the two-fold division, " body and spirit," the sonl is reckoned (not, probably, as Bishop Ellicott says on our present passage, as part of the .fjji'n'f, but) as part of the body ; and when St. Paul describes the " works of the flesh," he includes among them such distinctly soul-sius as " here- sies " (Gal. V. 20). Sanctification preserves all these three divisions entire, and in their due relation to each other; without sanctification, the .•t2}irit might be over- whelmed by the other parts gaining the predominance, which would, of course, eventually be the ruin both of " soul and body in hell " (Matt. x. 28. N.B., that our Lord says nothing of the destruction of the " spirit " in hell : the question is whether He there definitely meant to exclude " spirit," or used " sold " popularly as including it). Where the New Testament writers acquired such a psychology cannot be determined, but it was jjrobably derived from experimental knowledge of life, not from books, and all experience confirms its accuracy. Modern science tends more and more to show tliat " soul'' is a function of " body." Unto the coming. — A mistranslation for "at the coming," caused by the slight difficulty in under- Assurance of Comfort. I. TIIESSALONIANS, Y. Conclusion. spirit and soul and body be preserved l blameless" unto the comiug of our Lord jncu. 3.13. Jesus Christ. (-^) Faithful* is he that ealleth you, who also Avill do it. Chap. V. 25 - 28. ^'^ Brethren, pray for us. Conclusion. ("''^ Greet all the brethren Tliess. 3. 3. c Kom. 16. 16 1 Cor. 10. 21 2 Cor. 13. 12 1 I'ct. 5. U. 1 Or, adjure. with an holy kiss/ (-^' I charge^ you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. (-^) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with you. Amen. ^ The first epistle unto the Thessaloniaus was written from Athens. standing the true version. The idea is not so much that of their preservation from sin during the interval, but rather the writers hasten in eager anticipation to the Coming itself, and liope that the Thessaloniaus at the Coming will l)o found to have been preserved. '• Blameless " should have been " blamelessly." (ii) Faithful is he. — A reason for hoping confidently that tliey icill be blamelessly preserved. God would forfeit His character for keeping His promise, if He "called," and did not enable men to obey the call. Of course He can only '' do it " in case tlwij continue willing to have it done. On the present tense, see Note on chap. ii. 12. (-5) Pray for us.— Taken in conjunction with what follows, this probably is a petition for remembrance in the great public service. (-*') Greet all the brethren. — It is concluded from the manner in which some are told to greet all, instead of all being told to greet one another (as in the pai-allol passages"), that the " brethi-en " to whom the letter was sent specially were the priesthood of Thes- salonica (comp. the next verse). If so, the " holy kiss " had hardly become the fixed Church ceremony which it afterwards was, for the practice (according to the Ap)Os- tolical Constitutions) was for the Church members to pass the kiss from one to another, men kissing men, and women kissing women, not for all the people to be kissed in turn by the priest. This kiss, however, is no doubt intended by St. Paul to be given at a solemn assembly of the Church, i.e., at the Holy Communion, Avhich was the only fixed meeting of the Primitive Church. In the time of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, the kiss was given just before the Sursuni Corda. It was not till the thirteenth century that the kissing of the Pax was substituted in the Western Church for the kissing of the l)retliren. This kiss was to differ from the ordinary Greek salutation, by being distinctly a holy kiss, i.e., a ceremonial, religious kiss. (-'') I charge you. — Adjure is much nearer the original word, which is as solemn as can be. What is tlie cause of such awful solemnity ? The question has never been very satisfactorily answered. It certainly seems as if the contempt of discipline and partial alienation of clergy and laity implied in verses 12, 13, might suggest to S^. Paul a doubt whether his Epistle would reach all the Thessalonian Christians. At any rate, the adjura- tion marks his sense of the extreme importance of the letter ; and perhaps the fact that this was his first pastoral letter may have made him more anxious to ensure its reception and success. It amounts to a claim to inspiration. (Comp. chap. iv. 15.) The emphasis seems to rest on the word '"all" (" holy " is an interpolation). The reading is of course a public reading in the cele- bration of the Communion, at which we know from several early Fathers that the writings of the Apostles were read aloud. (Comp. Col. iv. 10; 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16.) Baur thought the adjuration a mark of a forger, who wished to gain authority for his cento : Bishop Wordsworth well points out, on the contrary, what a splendid guarantee for the genuineness and integrity of the Epistles this constant recitation con- stituted. (28) The grace. — St. Paid's autograph to conclude the letter. (^See 2 Thess. iii. 17, IS.; 1'.; INTRODUCTION THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. We may confidently assert that this Epistle was written by St. Paul from Coriutli during his residence there of a year-and-a-balf, within a few months of the First Epistle : that is, in the year 53. Not only are all its main features so like those of the First as to suggest a A'ery close connection in time, but it is despatched by the same apostolic group — Paul, Silvanus, and Timo- theus ; and, as we have remarked in the Introduction to the First Epistle, we have no reason to believe that Silvanus was in St. Paul's company later than the departui'e from Corinth in 54. It suits well with this date that the Apostle is in fear of certain " monstrous and depraved persons" (chap. iii. 2), who may well be the Jews who brought him before Gallio. The circumstances which called forth the Letter were as follows. Since the First Epistle had been despatched St. Paul had been able to receive fresh tidings of the state of the Thessalouian Church, concei'ning which he was naturally anxious, as it was so young when he had been forced to leave it to itself and to God. The tidings were both good and bad. On the one hand, there was marked progress in some of the points which had before caused solicitude. St. Paul uses enthu- siastic language (chap. i. 3) of the advance made in faith (comp. 1 Thess. iii. 10), and in individual brotherly charity (comp. 1 Thess. iv. 10), and also of their stead- fastness in persecutions which were still afflicting them (chap. i. 4)— persecutions in which, apparently, both Jews and Gentiles joined. (See Note on chap. i. 8.) "We may also gather, from the silence of the present Letter, tliat St. Paul's instructions on the state of the departed faithful had taken good effect : this being, perhaps, the special increase in faith mentioned above. We find, moreover, that there is no further need of warnings on the subject of purity or of submission to eccle- siastical authority. On the other hand, there were three great faults to find. (1) The tendency to disorders and idleness, which had been censured both directly and indirectly in the former letter, had become stronger instead of receding. Some considerable number of the little Church had become mere " busybodies " — had left off work, expect- ing maintenance at the public expense of the com- munity while they indulged themselves, probably, in what seemed more religious pursuits. (2) We can trace more clearly in this Epistle than in the former the doctrinal ground on wJiicli sucli disorders were justified by those wlio were guilty of them. They liad been " shaken from their reason," and were still " in trepidation " (chap. ii. 2), from a belief that " the day of the Lord " was already upon them. Panic and exulta- tion ahke had the effect of making the Thessalonians think it not worth while to attend to the things of a doomed Avorld. (3) This belief had been, if not created, yet con- firmed by some audacious forgeries and fictions (chap, ii. 2). Even in the First Epistle St. Paul gives signs of uneasiness, as though he were not sure of tlie honesty of some of his correspondents in their use of his name and writings (1 Thess. v. 27). Now it is clear that, in more than one way, persons (who might be only half conscious of their fraud) had attempted to impose on their brethren. They had pretended to a direct inspi- ration or angelic visitation, which had revealed to them the immediate nearness of the Advent. They had misrepresented the oral teachiug given by St. Paid during his stay at Thessalonica. Tliey had, perhaps, wrested the words of his First Epistle, which had certainly given a colourable pretext for what they now taught. More probably still, from the precaution given in chap. iii. 17, they had actually written a letter, or letters, purporting to be from the Apostle, in which the doctrine was definitely taught. To all these three faults the writer opposes the authority of what they knew to have genuinely pro- ceeded from himself. He has nothing to unsay. They are to "hold fast the traditions" (chap. ii. 151 which, written or unwritten, were his. (1) He reminds them not only of his example (as in the First Letter), but of his teaching levelled at their dissipated religiousness : " Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tra;lition which they re- ceived of us " (chap. iii. 6) ; " Even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if an)- has no mind to work, neither let him eat " (chap. iii. 10). (2) He recalls the very definite instrri^tious which showed that the end was not by-and-by. Tlie Roman empire was still standing, and therefore tlie Man of Sin could not be revealed as yet, and therefore Christ could not be on the point of coming. " Remember ye not. that, when I was yet with you. I told you these things ? " (chap. ii. 5.) (3) He enforces, against their forgeries, his present Letter, even at the risk of provoking an open rebellion : "If any man obey not our word by this Epistle, note that man, and have no fellowship with him" (chap. iii. 14). The style of the Epistle (except in the studied obscurity of the prophetic passage) is clear and easy, like that of the First ; and the structure is also very simple, as will be seen from the follo^viug analysis, ll'J II. THESSALONIANS. and marked by the same cliaracteristic feature as the First : i.e., the j-imijer which leads ou from oue section of the Letter to another : — I. The Salutation (chap. i. 1, 2). II. The Retrospective Portion (chap. i. 3 — 12). («) Thanksgiving for progress made (chap. i. 3, 4.). (b) Hopes thus afforded against the Ad- vent Day (chap. i. 5 — lU). (c) Prayer for continuance in so happy a state (chap. i. 11, 12). III. The Instructive and Hortatory Portion (_cliaps. ii. 1 — iii. 18).- (Ij On the date of the Advent. (a) Caution against believing the Advent close at hand (chap. ii. 1 — 3). (b) What must happen first (chap. ii. 3—10). (c) Terrible fate of the apostates (chap. ii. 11, 12). (d) Thanksgiving that the Thessalonians' fate is so different (chap. ii. 13, 14). (e) Exhortation and prayer (chap. ii. 15—17). (2) On the necessity of worh. (a) Request for prayers for himself, which .skilfully serves to predispose the readers to obey the ensuing commands (chai^. iii. 1 — 4). (ft) Prayoi" for the same purpose (chap, iii. 5). (c) Commands to make all -work, and to excommunicato the refractory (chap, iii. 6—15). (d) Prayer for tranquillity (chap. iii. 16). (e) Final benediction, with attention dravni to the autogi'aph (chap. iii. 17, 18). The genuineness of this Letter, like that of the First, is iiractically uncontroverted. We seem to have very early testimony to its use — St. Polycarp appearing in two places to quote it, though anonyniuusly, according to his custom ; and St. Justin, speaking of the Man of Sin in a manner which might indeed be explained by saying that that doctrine was common to the Catholic Church not special to St. Paul, but which is more .simply referred to this Epistle. The objections of a few modern scholars (Baur, Schrader, &c.) are chietiy drawn from the prophecy in chap, ii., from supposed contradictious between this Epistle and the First^ — especially in regard to the date of the Advent ; from fancied allusions to the persecution of Nero ; from a mistaken notion that the doctrine of an Antichrist (which was in reality pre- Christian) was only invented by the Montanists. Doulits have been entertained by a few critics, who acknowledged the genuineness of both, which of these Letters is the earlier in date. Ewald, the greatest of these critics, placed the Second Epistle first. It was, he thought, placed second in the Canon because, as a rule, the shorter letters in the Canon follow the longer. The arguments, however, which he adduces are scarcely worth considering, in face of the fact that in 2 Thess. ii. 15 we have an allusion to a former Epistle. All the historical portion of the First Epistle (especially 1 Thess. ii. 17 ; iii. 11) bears evident tokens of being the earliest communication that had passed between St. Paul and his spu-itual children since he had left them. [In preparing the following Notes the cliief books consulted have been those already mentioned in 1 Thes- salonians : — the p.atristic commentaries, especially St. Chrysostom; Hammond, Liinemaun, Ellicott, and others; and the posthumous edition (which appeared too late for use in annotating the First Epistle) by the Presbyterian Professor Eadie. His notes are, however, little but a i-eproductiou of Bishop EUicott's, without their concentration. In the Excursus on the Man of Sin, I have stated my obligations to Dr. Pusey's Lectures on Daniel.'] 150 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. CHAPTEE I.— (1) Pcaul, and Silvanus, \ ^lU^- Chap. i. 1, 2. and Timotlieus," unto the «iTbe»s.i. i. The salutation, chui'cli of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ : <") grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (3) \Yq a.re bound to thank God al- ways* for you, brethren, as it is meet. b 1 Thess. 1. 2. because that your faith groweth ex- ceedingly, and the charity chap. i. 3, 4 of every one of you all Thanksgiving toward each other abound- fronf^^Thess^^ eth ; ("*) so that we ourselves lonica. glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your j)ersecutions and tribulations that ye endure : ^^^ ivhich is a manifest token (1) Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus.— The company Ayhich despatclied the First Epistle is not yet broken up. This proves that the Second Epistle was written befoi'e the end of the second missionary journey, for after that time we do not read of Silvanus being in the company of St. Paul. The salutation is precisely the same as in the First Epistle, save for the last clause of verse 2, which is wrongly added in that place, but stands rightly liere. (3) We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren.— The thanksgiving is regarded as a positive debt incurred, which it would be a dishonesty not to pay. Because.^Tlus assigns the reason for saying that it was "meet," and does not merely follow after" thank God :" in which case, the words " as it is meet " would have been rather weak, as containing no more than is involved in " we are bound." The best paraphrase would be : " We feel the obligation to give thanks for you ; and, in point of fact, it is but meet that we should, because," Ac. Groweth exceedingly.— An enthusiastic word in tlie original: ''is out-growing all boimds." It is a metaphor from vegetable or animal gi-owth. This was one of the very points about Avhich St. Paul was anxious the last time that lie liad written : then there were deficiencies in their faitli (1 Thess. iii. 10). Charity. — Here, too, St. Paul remembers wliat he had said to them in the last Epistle, in wliich he liad devoted a wliole section to the love of the brethren " toward each other." " Of every one of you all " is a very noticeable expression, as showing the individual solicitude of the Apostles for their converts. Just as tlio apostolic instructions were given to each Chnstian privately (1 Tliess. ii. 11), so news has been brousjlit now each several Christian is progressing. The differ- ences which had called forth snch passages as 1 Thess. iii. 12, iv 6 — 10, v. 12 — 11, liad apparently aU ceased, and mutual love was nniltiplying. (^' So that we ourselves. — Why was it less likely that St. Paul ami Ins companions should thus glory in them tlian other friends did, or perhaps than tlie Thessalonians themselves ? Possibly, because it seemed almost like self-praise to praise their own converts ; but much more probably, because the writers had before felt and expressed misgivings on the point : this suits the thought of verse 3 better. Glory in you in the churches of God. — Xot only in thanksgiving to God (though, perhaps, out- bursts of praise in the pul^lic sen'ices of " the churches " may be included), but also in talking to other men, at Corinth and elsewhere : so, in return, St. Paul " boasted "to the Thessalonians about the Corinthians (2 Cor. ix. 2^1. Your patience and faith.— It was well proved that St. Paul had no more cause for misgiving, and that the tempter's tempting by persecution had not made the apostolic labours to be in vain. (See 1 Thess. iii. 5.) " Patience," in the New Testament, does not mean a meek submissiveness, but a heroic endurance. The " faith " here becomes almost equivalent to " hope," except that it introduces the ground of such hope: viz., confidence in the living God; it also includes the notion of fidth fulness. Persecutions and tribulations.— The difference between the two words is. that while "tribulation" is quite general, and implies no personal enmities, "per- secution " means that a certain set of i)ersons were organising active measures for the annoyance of tlie Church. Such persecution they were still "enduring " when the Letter was written. (■') Which is . . . — In tlie fervid eloquence of the original these connecting words are omitted, and tlie clause added in a kind of apjiosition to the words " in all your persecutions;" the effect is the snine as when we in English put a dash : " wliicli ye endure — a mani- fest token," Sic. The indication of God's rigliteous judgment consisted not so much in the A-itality and growth of the Tlies.salonians' faith and love as in tlie very fact of their being persecuted ; such persecution was an actual indication how the fiir judgment of God would eo in the last day. Xo undue stress is to be laid upon the epithet " risjliteous," as if it were " a token of the rir/hteousness of God's judsrnuMit : " the point is only I to indicate already ichat a fair judge was likely to ' decide. 51 Encouragement to the Believers II. THESSALONIANS, I. under Persecutions. of tlie righteous judgment of God, Chap. i. 5-10. that ye may be counted Encourage- worthy of the kingdom of ^runder p^r- God,« for which ye also secution by suffer: ^^^ seeing it is a coming"'?etd! righteous thing with God butiou. to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; ^"> and to you 1 Gr. the anoeh 0/ his power. a Matt. 23..%!. 2 Ur, yielding. b Acts 6. 7; Uoiu. 10. 16. who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,^ <^' in flaming fire taking- vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gosjDel of our Lord Jesus Christ:* (^^ who shall be punished with everlast- ing destruction from the presence of the That ye may be counted worthy.— Tliis ex- presses the result, not of the future judgment of God, f)ut of the patient sufferings which reveal what that judgment will be. The " coimtiug worthy " (or rather, pcriiaps,' the " declaring worthy ") is, in fact, the " judgment " or sentence itself. " You suffer in such a manner tliat we can forecast the fair verdict of God : viz., so as to be then det-larod (the Greek tense points to a distinct mouKMit of forming the estimate) fit to receive God's kingdom." The word " counted worthy " has in this place nothing to do with the theological question of merit. The kingdom of God.— "Which had formed a prominent feature of the first preaching at Thessalouica. (See Introduction to the First Epi.^tle to the Thessa- lonians.) Are the Thcssalonian Christians, then, not yet in the kingdom of God ? Yes ; but only as its sitbjects : her(>after tliey are to be counted worthy not of admission into it, but of it itself — i.e., to inherit it, to become kin?s of it. (Comp. the parallel argument in 2 Tim. ii. IJ.) For which ye also suffer. — St. Paul is very fond of this •■ also " in relative clauses ; it tightens the coupling between the relative and antecedent clauses, and so brings out more clearly the vital connection between suffering and reigning. They suffer " for the kingdom." not merely for the sake of winning it, but on its behalf, in defence of it, in consequence of being its citizens, to extend its dominion. ('5) Seeing it is. — Literally, if so be it is fair : a form very common in St. Paul, when he wishes to argue from some fact which he knows his readers will recognise (e.g., Rom. viii. 9). " Your persecution is a clear indication what God's fair verdict will be — that He will ])ronounce you fit — unless indeed you deny (as you will not) that it is fair to recompense the per.secutors with tribulation and the persecuted with rest." The context shows that St. Paul does not mean that oil suffering deserves a requital with bliss, but he does put it as a matter of common fairness that when men have suffered for the kingdom's sake God should 80 reward them hereafter. With God. — Such a system of requital commends itself as fair to men : is it likely to seem less fair in the eyes of God ? Holy Scripture always sets forth the power of the liuman conscience to recognise God's principles of action : wliatever ia righteous for men is so for God, and vice versa. (7) Rest with us.— Why "with us"? It shows sympathy in (heir present trials, for it implies that the writers themselves had earned or were earning (see Acts xviii. 12) that rest by the like trials. The word "rest" [or relaxation) is the opposite of the "strain" at which the persecution kept them. Such " rest " is not to be expected in its fidness till the judgment day. From heaven.— St. Paul seems to delight in call- ing .attention to the quarter from which " the Lord Je.sus " (the human name, to show His sympathy with trouble) wall appear. (See 1 Thess. i. 10 ; iv. 16.) With his mighty angels.— Literally, with the angels of His power — i.e., the angels to whom His power is intru.sted and by whom it is administered. The angels do not attend merely for pomp, but to execute God's purposes. (See Matt. xiii. 41, 49; xxiv. 31.) (8) In flaming fire. — Most critics agree to change the punctuation here, by omitting the comma after " angels " and inserting it after " fire." The flaming fire here is not the insti-ument of the vengeance — i.e., hell- fire — but the common pictorial attribute of the Di^dno Presence (Ex. iii. 2; xix. 18 ; Dan. vii. 9). Taking vengeance. — The expression in the original is one which is said to be found nowhere else in Greek literature, save in Ezek. xxv. 11 (though in Hebrew there is an almost exact equivalent in Num. xxxi. 3), so that it is difficult to assign the correct meaning. It certainly does not mean " taking vengeance " in the sense of " taking His revenge," as though our Lord had conceived a personal grudge and were wreaking it. What it does mean would seem to be " assigning re- tribution : " appointing, that is, to each mau what satisfaction of justice he must make. The very word f or " vengtfauce " can only mean vengeance exacted on some one else's behalf. (Comp. 1 Thess. iv. 6, and Ps. Ixxix. 10.) On them that know not God. — Accoi*ding to the Greek, the word '• them " should be repeated also in the next clause. The effect will theu be to mark off the culprits into two classes: " them that know not," and " them that obey not." A comparison of Eph iv. 17, 18, 1 Thess. iv. 5, shows that by the first class are meant Gentiles; a comparison of Hom. x. 16, 21 (and many other passages) will show disobedience to be the charac- teristic of the Jews. The Greek negative par icle here is one which shows that the ignorance of the one set and the disobedience of the other were just the points for which they were to be punished : therefore, of course, only those Gentiles whose ignorance was voluntary, who chose (Rom. i. 28) to be Gentiles when they might have been joined to the true God, are objects of wrath. Here, as the context shows, St. Paul is think- ing chiefly of those Gentiles and Jews who actually persecuted the truth. Obey not the gospel. — A noteworthy phmse ; see the reference. The gospel, the " glad tidings," contains not only a statement of facts, but also a call to obey a law which is the outcome of the facts. Even the accept- ance of evangelical promises requires a submission. (Comp. Luke xxiv. 47; Acts xi. 18; Rev. xxii. 3.) It is In^re called si)ecially the gospel " of our Lord Jesus Christ," because the sin of the Jews (who con- stitute this class of sinners) consisted precisely iu the wilful rejection of Jesus as the Christ. (•') Punished with everlasting destruction specifies the " vengeance " to be taken. But the word " destruction " does not stand absolutely and alone as a sjnionym for " annihilation." This passage, in itself, gives us no reason to suppose that the lost will be i " destroyed " iu the ordinary sense of the word. They J2 The Veuyeance of the Lord II. THESSALONIANS, I. at Ills Clvrluus Appearing. Lord," and from the glory of his power ; (^'^^ when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (11) "Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count ^ you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the la Luke 13. i& 1 Or, vouchsafe. good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith w^ith chap. i. ii, 12. power : (^^^ that the name Prayer, serving of our Lord Jesus Christ practical'^^^i! may be glorified in you, tion, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. are to be " destroyed from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power " — i.e., cut olf from it for ever. The " presence " — or, moi'e literally here, " the face — of the Lord," as well as " the glory of His power," is a metaphor from the courts of Oriental kings, where only honoured courtiers are admitted to spend their time in the immediate and familiar presence of the sovereign. Familiar contact with Christ hereafter, which will be accorded to all the saved, was God's ideal intention for the lost as well, therefore it is a positive " destruction " to be banished from it. But to the Jews, who looked for a Messiah who should keej) regal state, the punishment was peculiarly appropriate. The word is used besides in 1 Cor. v. 5 ; 1 Thess. v. 3 ; 1 Tim. \\. 9. As for the woi-d rendered " everlasting " (or eternal, for it is the same which is used, e.g., Heb. vi. 2), it would certainly convey to St. Paul's readers the notion of incessant duration in titne ; it is, of course, only an adaptation to human language to speak of time at all in such a case, as we cannot tell what may take the place of time in the next dispensa- tion ; however, so far as the actual words go, there is nothing in these ])assages (Matt, xviii. 8 ; xxv. 41, 46 ; Mark iii. 29; Heb. vi. 2; Jude, verse 7) to suggest any future alteration in the state of the lost. In this, as in some other doctrines, there seem to be two distinct sets of passages, the logical reconciliation of which in our present state seems almost impossible. (10) When he shall come. — Not simply a repetition of the temporal date which was mentioned in verse 7 — " when the Lord," &c. — but an introduction of the contrast which will be presented " in that day " by the spectacle of tlie glory of the saints. Thus the penalty of verse 9 is made to appear greater, while at the same time the readers' minds are turned back to a more wholesome subject for meditation. To be glorified in his saints.— This is not exactly the inu-fose, but the effect of His coming. A comparison of John xiii. 31, 32; xiv. 13; xvii. 10; 2 Thoss. i. 12 ; .shows that the saints are the objects on which and hy which the glorious perfection of Christ is exhibited : to see what the .saints will be exalted to " in that day " will make all ol)servers acknowledge, not the holiness or greatness of the men, but the divine power of Him who Avas able so to exalt them. As the persecutors were divided into two classes to be punished, so the siived are described under two aspects : in contrast with '' them that know not God " they are " saints," i.e., fully consecrated to God ; in contrast with " them that obey not the gospel" they are "they that believed" (for the past tense is the better reading), i.e., accepted the gospel. As the profane Gentiles, looking on the saints, recognise the " glory " of the God whom they knew not, so the dis- obedient Jews, seeing the faitliful, are aptly filled with "wonder" (Acts xiii. 41), before they perish, at the glory to be attained ])y o])ediencc to the law of suffering. Because our testimony.— Introduced to show why the writers had said specially " \n all them tliat believed " (the past tense is employed because it looks back from the Judgment Day to the moment when the gospel was offered and the divergence between believers and unbelievers began) ; the reason was, because among " all them that believed " the Thessa- louians would be foimd included. In that day. — Added at the end to make the readers look once more (as it were) upon the wonderful sight on which the writer's prophetic eyes were raptly fixed. (11) Wherefore. — Literally, ivhereunto — i.e., to their being found among the blessed. Tlie " also " serves to emphasise the " pray " : we do not content ourselves with merely hoping, but we direct actual prayer to that end. The word " Avhereunto " seems grammatically to depend upon the word " calling " — " of the calling whereunto, we prai/ also for you always, that our God would count you worthy." Count you worthy of this calling.— The word "this "would, perhaps, have been better left out; the " calling " of which St. Paul is thinking is the calling " in that day," such as is expressed in Matt. xxv. 34, and the act is the same as that of verse 5. But had they not been called to glory already? Yes (1 Thess. iv. 7), and had obeyed the call; and God was still calling them hourly (see Notes on 1 Thess. ii. 12 ; v. 24) ; but that was no security that they would remain worthy of that last decisive call. " Many are called, but few chosen." In the original there is some emphasis laid on the pronoiin : " count you." Fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness. — Rather, /it //iZ every purpose of goodness; or, "every- thing which beneficeuce deems good." Most modem commentators take the " goodness " to be the goodness of the Thessalouians tlienisdves, thus making the clause logically antecedent to the foregoing : " May count you worthy of His calling, and (for that purpose) fulfil every good moral aspiration you may entertain." But this seems unnecessary. The " beneficence " is used absolutely, in almost a personified sense ; it is, of course, in reality, God's beneficence, but is spoken of as bene- ficence m the abstract. Thus the clause preserves its natural place as an explanation of the preceding : " May finally call you, and there accomplish upon your persons all that beneficence can devise." And the work of faith with power.— This work, too, is God's work, not the work of the Thessalouians. It is used in the same sense as a like phrase in Cowper's well-known hymn — " Thou sbnlt sec My glory soon. When the work of (/race is done." It means, not "perfect your faithfid activity," as in 1 Thess. i. 3, but " bring to its mighty consummation the work that faith was able to effect in you." Faith, therefore, is here opposed as much to sight a.s to un- belief. The "beneficence" and the "power" thus exerted upcm (rather than through"! the Thessaloniau.s, produces upon all sjx'ctators of the judgment, both angels ami men. the effect described in the next verse. (12) That the name . . .—This verse gathers up Ids Caution against Falne Tiachiuj II. THESSALONIANS, II. as to the Second Advent, CHAPTEE II.— (1) Now we beseech Chap. ii. 1, 2. y<^u, brethren, by the Caution against coming of our Lord Jesus forged comum- (jj^^-igt, and by our gather- nioations toach- . ' -^ ,'^^• ingthenoarness ing together UntO hlUl," of the Advent. (2) that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, b :Matt. 24. A. c 1 Tiiu. i. 1. neither by sj^irit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the dtiy of Christ is at hand. <3) Let no man deceive you by any means:* chap. ii. 3-5. for that day shall not come, The Antichrist except there come a falling mustcomefirst. away first/ and that man of sin be wliat has been said in vei'ses 8 — 10. Seeing the favours bestowed upon the Christians in the last day, all, the lost as well as the saved, will be forced to acknowledge the glory [i.e., the divine perfection) of the Jesus whoso Christship had been rejected, and the gloiy (i.e., the true dignity) of the Christians who had been despised for their allegiance to Him. It stands to reason that Christians must share Christ's " glory " {i.e., full recog- nition ; comp. Note on 1 Thess. ii. 6) in that day, for when the lost recognise what He is, it is ipso facto a recognition that they were right and wise to follow Him. The words " according to the grace " belong only to "and ye in Him:" it is the gracious will (for " grace " here has hardly its strict theological sense) of God, in which Christ concurs, that we should be thus " glorified in Him." II. The first chapter had encouraged the Thessalonians under persecution by the thought of the reality of the Advent. The author has not in the least changed his opinion about the Advent since wi'iting the First Epistle. It is still a matter of most practical comfort : " a very present help." But now, in clear tones, he warns the Thessalonians against supposing that the "end" was " by-and-by " (Luke xxi. 9). He had, in fact, taught them so from the outset, and had even then pointed out to them a sign, unaccomplished as yet, wliich they must see accomplished before the Advent should come. (1) Brethren. — The Apostles have won a hearing for the true Advent doctrine by their sympathetic treat- ment of it in the former chapter ; now they soften their correction of the false doctrine by using tender names. By the coming.— Literally, for the sake of the coming, just as in English we adjure persons to do a thing " for God's sake." It is a stronger form of ad- juration than the simple " by," inasmuch as it implies that the thing or person adjured by will suffer if the action be left unperformed. The Coming of Christ and the meeting with the beloved dead would not bo 80 bright, so perfect, perhaps so soon, if the Thessa- lonians allowed themselves to be misled with regard to it. Our gathering together.— The peculiar Greek word is the same as that used in Heb. x. 2.5 of the assembling to the Lord's Supper, and nowhere else, 80 that some have interpreted it in the same sense liere. In vei-b form it is thus used in 1 Thess. iv. 17. Tlie close connection between the two "gatherings together" may be seen in 1 Cor. xi. 26. The " our " means the meeting of the dead and the quick together, (^) Not soon shaken.— The meaning would be clearer if we inserted "so" before "soon," for it does not mean vaguely tliat they were for the future not to be lightly shaken, but (as in Gal. i, 6) that they had already been shaken, and that in an unconscionably short time since their first teaching on the subject. In mind. — In the original it is, from your mind ; from your reason. 154 Be troubled.— The tense of the verb " be troubled " difilers in the Greek from that of " be shaken " ; for the " driving out of their wits " is regai'ded as a single act ; the " agitation," or being troubled, as a chronic condition, into which there was fear of their falling. This shaking and trouble probably brought about the disorders spoken of in chap, iii. The instruments by which men had partly driven the Thessalonians out of their wits already were three : — (1) " Through spirit," i.e., by pretended manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power, whether through false signs or, more proTjably, through " prophesyings." (See 1 Thess, v, 20 — 22, where the fear of some abuse of prophecy is clearly marked already.) (2) " Through word," i.e., word of mouth, as opposed to the written letter next mentioned. Most modern commentators seem rightly to take the words " as from us " with this claiise as well as with the next ; some persons misrepresented what they had heard the Apostles say on the topic, or pretended to have been intrusted with a message from them. (3) " Through letter ; " apparently forged letters, pur- porting to be from (or, literally, tliroxujh) St. Paul, had been circulated. (See Note on chap. iii. 17.) "Word" and " letter " occur again in verse 15 as his ordinary means of teaching. As that the day of Christ is at hand — i.e., " to the effect that it is," — giving the contents of the pretended revelation ; for " as that " follows grammatically upon " sjiirit, word, letter," not upon " shaken, troubled." The word for " is at hand " implies a very close proximity indeed, the participle, in fact (like our word " instant "), being used for " present," e.g.. Gal, i, 4. Probably the form which the false doctrine at Thessalonica was beginning to take was that the day of the Lord had already set in, thus con- fusing the whole idea of a personal, visible Advent, just as, at a later period, Hymenoeus and Philetus confused the true doctrine of resurrection by affirming that it was already past (2 Tim. ii, 18), St. Paul not only denies vigorously that the day is come, but proceeds in the next Averse to show that the signs of its approach are not yet exliibited. The best reading gives " the day of the Lord," not " of Christ," (See Note on 1 Tliess. V, 2,) (3) Let no man . . . by any means. — "What- ever device they may adopt — spirit, letter, or what not — • they are deceivers or deceived; do not be duped by them," The form of warning is a mark of St. Paul's style. (Comp, 1 Cor, iii. 18 ; Eph. v. 6.) For . . . except. — The words between are rightly supplied in our version. Probably, St. Paul's first intention was to turn verse 5 diffei-ently, as, for instance : " For, except that Man of Sin, &c„ ye re- member that I told you the day would not come." The length of the sentence made him break off (as he often does) without regard for grammatical completeness. A falling a"way.— A great change in the purpose of the sentence will be felt directly ''the" is substituted for " a." Only one insignificant MS. omits the definite article; the same article in our version is vigorously vjhich is not to he till after IT. THESSALONIANS, IL the Coming of Antichrist. revealed, the son of perdition ;" (^) who ©iDposeth and exalteth himself above a Jolin 17. 12. b Uau. 11. 36. all that is called God,* or that is wor- shipped; so that he as God sitteth iu rendered " that " before " man of sin." In both cases the purpose is by no moans to utter a new, strange prophecy, or to add to the knowledge of the reath^rs, but to remind them of careful teaching given during the first few weeks after their conversion. " That falling away " must undoubtedly imply that the persons so apostatising had formerly held (or, perhaps, still professed to hold) the Christian faith : men cannot fall from ground which they never occupied. This vast and dreadful Apostasy (see Luke xviii. 8), so clearly and prominently taught of to the ancient Church, and so mysterious to us, is further defined by the following words, as the Apocalypse or Manifestation of the Man of Sin. Of this revelation of Antichrist the same word {apocahjpsis) is used which is often used of Christ, as, e.g., chap. i. 7 ; Luke xvii. 30 ; and thrice in St. Peter ; so that we may expect to recognise him when he comes as clearly as we shall recognise Christ. The concep- tion of the Antichrist is not merely that of an opponent of the Christ, but of a rival Christ : there is a hideous parallelism between the two. That man of sin. — It is not absolutely certain from the Greek, but the context makes it tolerably clear that the " Man of Sin " is the head and centre of the Apostasy itself, and does not form a separate move- ment from it. The " Man of Sin," then, will have at one time formed (or will still profess to form) part of the Christian Church, and the Apostasy will culminate iu him. Thus, for instance, the requirements of the passage would not be fulfilled by (with Hammond) interpreting the Apostasy to mean the early Gnostic movement, followed up by the independent appearance of Nero as the Man of Sin. The phrase, " the Man of Sin," might, perhaps, be only a poetical personification of a movement, or of a class of men, or of a succession of men (as, e.g., Ps. Ixxxix. 22 ; Rev. ii. 20 ; xvii. 3) ; but the analogy of the parallel passages in Dan. viii. and xi. leads rather to the supposition that St. Paul looked for the coming of some actual individual man who should be the impersonation of the movement of Apostasy. The genitive (see Note on 1 Thess. i. 3) is like a forcible epithet : " A man so wicked that, bad as other men are, wickedness should be his mark by which he is distinguished from all others ; a man who belongs to sin, in whom the ideal of sin has become realised and incarnate." What kind of sin will be most prominent in him is not expressed in the word itself ; but the context points clearly to that which is, in fact, the cro^vning sin — spiritual pride and rebelUous arrogaucy (Eph. vi. 12). The son of perdition. — The phrase which is used, in John xvii. 12, of the false Apostle ; it suits well with the description of the Man of Sin, who, like Judas, will havo " fallen away " from high Christian pri^^leges : according to one popular intei-pretation, like Judas, from the privileges of the Apostolate itself. The expres- sion signifies one who belongs by natural ties to per- dition— who from his very birth chooses evil, and in such a sense may be said to bo bom to be lost (Matt. xxvi. 24; 2 Pet. ii. 12). Both his malignity and his doom are thus implied in it. (*) Who opposeth and exalteth himself.— The original continues a quasi-substantival form : — " the opposer and exalter of himself " — well-known descrip- tions (doubtless) of the Antichrist ; several of the details are drawn directly from the description of Antiochus in Dan. xi. Being merely descriptiA^e epi- thets, we are not at liberty to press the present tense, and say that the Man of Sin was already thus acting at the time St. Paul wi-ote. The word for " the opposer," or " adversary," is a pretty close rendering of the name " Satan," and passed, in ecclesiastical Greek into a synonym for it. The acts here attributed to tho Man of Sin are peculiarly Satanic. (Comp. Isa. xiv. 12 — 14 ; 2 Tim. iii. 6.) Of course, however, we must not confound Satan himself with his huuian minister. Above all that is called God.— The translation here is not quite exact. The word " above " in the original is compounded with " exalteth " ; it should be, and super-exalteth, or exkalteth himself above measure (2 Cor. xii. 7, where the same compound is used) against every God so called. Probably the clause " against every God " is to be taken only with " super-exalteth " ; the description " who opposeth " stands absolutely : it is one characteristic of the Man of Sin to be always in opposition, and to have concord with no one. " Every God so called " in- cludes the false gods with the true God (comp. 1 Cor. viii. 5) : true or false, it matters not to jealous Anti- christ, who would have nothing worsliippod but him- self. This explains the addition of the little clause, "or that is worshipped." Many things received religious homage from men without being called gods ; and the original word {scbasma) may per- haps be designed to hint at one such worship, viz., the worship of the Augustus [Sebastos). It would be far-fetched, however, to see in this a dii-ect pro- phecy of conflict between Antichrist and the Civil Power; although it must be admitted that even tho word " gods" is sometimes used of secidar rulers {e.g., Ps. Ixxxii. 1 — 6 ; John x. 34 j, in which sense some take it hei*e. So that he as God.— The words "as God" are not part of the original text, and should be struck out. In several other points, however, our version does not bring out the profanity of the act as clearly as the Greek. Literally it would be, "so as to seat himself in the shrine of God. showing himself off that he is God." Tlie " himself " brings out the spontaneous arro- gancy of tho deed ; the Man of Sin does not merely yield to servile flatterers. The " sitting " is not in the tense of habitual custom, but indicates one expressive act of taking possession. The " in " (literally, into) brings out the idea of actual intrusion; while the word for " temple " is not the general name for tho whole group of buildings with their courts, but the sacred house itself : it is the word which would describe the Holy and Holy of Holies (see Matt, xxiii. 35 ; xx^-ii. 5. 61 ; Acts xvii. 4) of the Jewish temple ; and probably it is the Mercy Seat that supplies the image to St. Paul's mind (Ps. xcix. 1). The temple of God.— Though the image isdrawu from the Jewish temple, we may say with some confi- dence that St. Paul did not expect the Antichrist as a prose fact to take his seat in that edifice. Neither is the metaphor to be pressed into a more sAniouym of " tho Church" (1 Cor. iii. 17). Tlie words, so far. need not necessarily moan that the ^lan of Sin will make special claims upon the Christian community as .'^^uch. Eather, the whole phra.se. " taking jiis .seat in tho tomi)lo of God." is a poetical or prophetical description of usurp- ing divine prerogatives generally : not tlic prerogatives loo Whj Ant if /t rid II. THESSALOXIANS, II is not yet rcveah'd. the temj^le of God, shewing himself that he is God." ^^^ Eemember ye not, that, " ''^■^•''•''• when I was yet with you, I told you ! these things 'P ^^^ And now ye know I what withholdethi that he might be ' f"- "'"<^"'- revealed in his time. (^^ For the mystery of iniquity doth chap. ii. 6, 7. already work : only he Before Anti- 1 1 XX j-u -11 1 I Christ comes, who now letteth WlLl Let, ^he Roman em- until he be taken out pire must go. of the true God alone, liut wliatever prerogatives liavo been offered to anything "called God." Though the prophecy might be fulfilled without any symbolical act {e.g., of assuming any material throne), yet the spou- taneousness (" himself ") and the openness (" showing himself ") seem so essentially parts of the prophecy as of necessity to imply that the Man of Sin will make formal claim to occupy tliat central scat in men's minds and aspirations which is acknowledged to be due to God alone. The formal making of this claim seems to be identical with the apocalypse of the Man of Sin, the act by which he is manifested or revealed. Shewing himself. — Or, thus showing himself off. It does not mean that he makes any attempt to prove that he is God ; the word only carries on the pictorial representation of the Man of Sin enthroning himself upon the Mercy Seat, and by that act of session parading his pretended divinity. As has been said, the perform- ance of a typical act is not of vital consequence to the accomplishment of the prophecy (as, e.g., Zech. ix. 9 miglit have been truly accomplished without the literal riding of Matt. xxi. 7), though there are few great movements which do not express themselves in outward typical acts ; but these words show that (unless St. Paul was mistaken) an explicit claim will be made for submission, like that of creature to Creator. Even if the " Man of Sin " only signifies a tendency, not a per- son, yet this " exhibition of himself as God " would hardly be satisfied by a social concession, however wide- spread, to a general spirit of (say) fleshly luxury or atheistic intellectualism, without the claims of these ideals being eo nomine put forward and consciously admitted. But it is Jiard to believe that anything avowedly atlieistic would be spoken of as explicitly claiming or receiving divine honours. It seems, there- fore, most probable that tlie great Apostasy will not be- come avowedly atheistic, but will be an ajiostasy (so to speak) within the Church, and that the Man of Sin, who heads that Apostasy, will make especial claim upon tlio Christian Church to accord consciously the very honours which she pays to the living God. (5) Remember ye not. — A rebuke of the same character as Rom. vi. 3 ; 1 Cor. vi. 19, and, like those, levelled at ignorance of what in apostolic days were thought the six fundamental points of Christian teach- ing (Heb. v. 12; vi. 1, 2). The doctrine of Antichrist would naturally fonn part of the course on resun-ection and judgment. This explains how the doctrine was enforced (1) so early in the education of the Christian churches : "while I was yet with you " (see Introduction to the First E^nstle to Thessaloniuns) ; and (2) so emphatically and repeatedly : " my habit was to tell you these tilings" — for tlie word translated "told '" is in the imperfect tense, which means more than a single action. Notice that in St. Paul's eager personal recollection of thus teaching, he for once (and no- where else) forgets Silas and Timothy: not "we," but "I." Imagine a forger Avho should forge with such subtlety ! Mark also how erroneous is the opinion that St. Paul in this Epistle recedes from his former teaching about the Advent and its date. (*5) And now ye know.— Not " now, because of what I have just said," for nothing has yet been said in the Letter from which the Thessalouians could gather what withheld the premature manifestation of the Man of Sin. The word " now " is not used exactly in a temporal sense, but as introducing another item. " You remember about Antichrist and his characteristics : very good ; and now, what keeps Antichrist back ? You know that too." Kuowang not only that Anti- christ's apocalypse must precede Christ's, but also that Antichrist could not reveal himself yet, because the way was blocked by something still (as they saw) un- remo\ed, the Thessalouians were absurd in acting as if the day of the Lord was come. What withholdeth. — Rather, thai lohich with- holdeth : they did not merely know it as a dogma, but as a familiar object. " You are perfectly acquainted with the thing which acts as a check upon the Man of Sin." Unlike the Man of Sin himself, who was a dim figiu-e in the mysterious future, the Obstacle was present and tangible. They may have forgotten what the thing is, but St. Paul stirs their memory by telling them that they well know the thing itself. It must needs be a marked and mighty power which can prevent the develop- ment of the great Antichrist. At the same time. St. Paul's doctrine is that this marked power is destined by-and-by to be removed (verse 7). Possibly, then, St. Paul may shrink from naming it in writing, not only because he wishes to exercise the Thessalouians' memories, but also for fear the power should discover and disaijprove of his prophecies. For the question what the withholding power is, see the Excursus on the Interpretation of the Prophecy. That he might ... in his time.— Or, with a view to his being revealed at his proper moment. Not that the withholding power is conscious of such desire, but God's design is to use that power for the purpose. (7) For.— Logically, the " for " belongs to the clause " he that letteth ;" thus : " For, although the mystery is already at work, the wicked one will not be revealed until he that now withholds shall disappear." The mystery of iniquity doth already work. — Both " mystery " and " iniquity " have the article in the Greek, perhaps (as in verse 3) because the phrase was well known to the Thessalouians. Lawlessness is a more literal rendering than "iniquity"; the same word in 1 John iii. 4 is rendered " the transgression of the law." The word " mystery " in Greek does not necessarily involve any notion of mysteriousness in our modem sense. It means a secret (which may be, in its own nature, quite simple) known to the initiated, but incapable of being known until it is divulged. Here the wliole emphasis is thrown, by a veiy peculiar order of the Greek words, xipou the word " mystery." It may be paraphrased thus : — " For as a secret, into which the world is not yet initiated, that lawlessness is already at work." Thus the word " mystery " stands in sharp contrast with the word " revealed " in verses 6, 8 : the time for publishing, openly avomng, the secret is not yet come. To whom, then, is the mystery of that lawlessness now known ? Not to all those who are contributing to its idtimate manifestation, for most of them are deceived by it (verse 10), and, while sharers 156 His Destruction declared. 11. THESSALOXIANS, IT. His Evil Work of the way. (^^ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth," and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming : '^^ even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and chap. ii. 9—12. signs and lying wonders. Terrors of the (^•^^ and with all deceivable- falTe'^Ch'r^'si ness of unrighteousness in tians. in the Apostasy, still believe themselves members of the Church. The mystery is known to God, and (1) to enlightened Christians like St. Paul; (2) to Satan and a few Satanic men who avow to themselves their real object in joining the movement. Though the mystery is said to work (the verb expresses an inward activity, e.g., 1 Tliess. ii. 13, Rom. vii. 5, like that of leaven on the lump), it is not a personal thing, not (like " Man of Sin," " that which withholdeth,") a covert description of any person or set of persons ; it is solely the unavowed design which is gradually gaining influence over men's hearts : it is the same movement as the " falling away " of verse 3. In several places (e.g., 2 Pet. ii. 1 et seq. ; Jude, verse 18 et seq.) the coarser side of the " falling away " is spoken of, but here the '■ lawlessness " seems not so much to mean ordinary antinomianism as insubordination to God — rebellion. Only tie . . . . — More correctly. Only \_it cannot he revealed^ until he that now withholdeth disappear from the midst. The English version has obscured the meaning by putting " letteth," although the woi'd is precisely the same as in verse 6 — the only difference being that there it was neuter : " the thing which with- holdeth ; " while here it is mascidine : " he." Evidently to St. Paul's mind there was a great obstructive power, which was gathered up in, and wielded by, the person so described : " he that withholdeth." How this poten- tate would •' disappear out of our midst " St. Paul gives no hint ; but obviously not by death : for, unless the power itself was to disappear with him, his successor would equally be " he that now withholdeth." We may thei-efore say that the prophecy would be satisfied if " he that withholdeth " proved to be a whole succession of persons ; we have hardly the same right to say so of the " Lawless One." (8) And then. — Then at length, when the obstructor is gone, two things shall happen : (1) the Lawless One shall be revealed, and (2) then the Lord Avill come and destroy him. The purpose with which St. Paul began this chapter was to show relatively the date of our Lord's Advent ; but he is now so engrossed in describing the events which must precede it, that when he does men- tion the Advent again he does so in a parenthetical relative clause. That Wicked.— Or, the Lawless One. Tlie English version has again obscured the passage by not keeping the same word as in verse 7. The general tendency to " lawlessness " or " rebellion " will bo brought to a head in the jjerson of " the Lawless One " or " the " Rebel," just as the " obstruction " is impersonated in " the Obstructor." The publication of the " secret of rebel- liousness" will be effected by the manifesto of the Rebel- in-chief. Of course, this Rebel is the same person with the Man of Sin, the change of title being due to the particularising of his sin by the word " lawlessness " in verse 7 ; tlie specification of the time is the only additional intelligence ; all the emphasis of the sentence, therefore, rests on " And then." The Lord.— The best text adds the name Jesus, which serves more clearly to contrast Him with His rival. The word " whom " might be more pointedly paraphrased by " and him." With the spirit of his mouth.— St. Paul is (noting roughly from Isa. xi. 4 (comp. Job iv. 9 ; Pa. xviii. 15 ; Wisd. xi. 20 : " might have fallen down with one blast, . . . scattered abroad through the breath of Thy power ") ; and therefore we are to understand it to signify the perfect ease with which Christ will destroy Antichrist. Even when the phrase is used of speech (as it may perhaps be here), the absence of labour is the point to be noticed {e.g., Ps. xxxiii. 6). With the brightness of his coming.— Rather, with the appearing of His presence. Here, again, it is the mere fact of the true Christ's showing Himself, which will reduce to nothingness (such is the meaning of the Greek for " destroy ") the false Christ. Wlien they shall stand face to face there will be no possibility of delusion any more. (9) Even him, whose coming.— The " even him " does not stand in the Greek ; and '" whose " might, again, be rendered by for his own, or perhaps " though his own." The purpose of the verses following is not merely to describe Antichrist more fully, but to com- pare word for word his coming with that which will annihilate him. Again is used of Antichrist a peculiar word consecrated to the Christ : " coming " (literally presence), being the word used in verse 8, as well as verse 1, and often. In spite of the sham being well got up, it will be seen to be a sham. Is . . . with all power.—'* Is : " St. Paid sees the future as present. The predicate is not " after the working," but " in all power," &c. The advent of Antichrist will be in {i.e., surroimded with, accompanied by) all kinds of miracles, " according to the working of Satan : " i.e., not only wrought by Satan, but up to the fuU capacity of Satan to work them. The word "lying" (literally, of falsehood) should go with all three names, " all counterfeit power and signs and wonders." The three words are piled up to heighten the terror of the description ; if you press them they mean that there will be a display of power, to attest Antichrist's doctrine (signs), and to keep men spell- bound in admiration of him (wonders). Antichrist, like Christ (1 Tim. vi. 15), has one to support him — Satan, instead of God; he, like Christ tLuke xxi. 25), will have his miracles — but miracles of trickery, not of truth. (10) And with all deceivableness. — "Deceiv- ableuess " does not mean " readiness to he deceived," but, according to old English usage, has an active mean- ing ; the words include and expand the list just given : " in all sham power and signs and wonders, and, in fact, in every iniquitous fraud." In them that perish.- Rather, for them. These are not the persons who exercise the fraud, but the objects of it. Tlie word depends not only on " deceiv- ableness," but on the whole .sentence : " his coming (for them) is," &c. St. Paul adds the words as a consola- tion to " them that are saved " : it will not be possible to seduce the elect (Mark xiii. 22). " They that perish" (1 Cor. i. 18; 2 Cor. ii. 15; iv. 3; comp. also Acts ii. 47) is a phrase which contains no reference whatever to the doctrine of predestination, but merely describes the class; the men who let themselves be 157 Jiulgrnent on II. THESSALOXIAXS, II. false Christians. them that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, that they ! might be saved. ^^^^ And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, i that they should believe a lie : ^^"^^ that they all might be damned who believed not tlie truth, but had pleasure in un- ri"rhteousness. b 1 Thess. 1. 4. (^^) But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you," brethren beloved of the Lord,* because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth : Chap. ii. 13— 17. Contrast pre- sented by tho happy state of Thessalonian Church; exhor- tation ; para- gogic prayer. tlins duped are, as a plain matter of fact, in course of perisliin?. Because. — Hero does come in the question of God's decree. The plirase rendered " because " means " in rf>quital of the fact that," which at once impHes that tlieir being duped by Antichrist's coming is a judicial visitation. (See next verse.) " They did not receive," i.e., it was offered them, and they I'efused it ; not, as Calvinism would teach, because it was not given them. Tlie grace of love of the triith is offered us along with every new presentment of truth ; if we are too indolent to examine whether it be truth, we are rejecting the love of the truth. This is a worse thing than not accepting the truth itself : if they had only aspired to know what was tlie truth they would have been saved, even if, in fact, they had been in error. (11) And for this cause— i.e., because they did not care whether things were tnie or not. This verse is not a more repetition of versos 9 and 10. Tliere we were told of external dangers which would attend Anti- christ's coming for them that perish : because they had not cared for truth, therefore the presence of the Man of Sin, which could not even imperil the truth-lovers, would for them be full of special marvels and frauds by which they miglit be misled. Here is set forth the effect upon their own selves of refusing to accept God's gift of love of trutli : God takes from them (by His natural law) their power of discerning the true from the false, and thus (as it wei-e) actually deceives them. Every wilful sin does this double mischief : it strengthens the power of the temptation without; it weakens tho power to resist within. For an illustra- tion, see 2 Chron. xviii. 7, 22 : Ahab cares only for the pleasant, not the true, and the Lord requites him by bending forth a lying spirit to entice him. Shall send.— The Greek has sendeth : so " is " in verse 9 : St. Paul sees it all going on before his eyes. " A strong delusion " should be " an effectual inward working of eiTor" — no longer a mere indifference to truth, but a real influence of error upon their hearts. This inward work of error is sent " with a ^"iew to their believing the lie " (the Greek has tho definite article) — the lie (that is) which Antichrist would have them believe. A terrible combination when God and Satan are agreed to deceive a man ! Yet what an encourage- ment to see God using Satan for His own purposes. (1-) That they aU.— This is God's purpose in mak- ing them believe the lie — " in order that, one and all, they might bo judged." He who dosireth not the death of a sinner, now is said actually to lay plans with the intention of judging him : such are the lx)ld self-con- tradictious of tlie Bible ! It must not, however, be for- gotten for a moment that God did not begin to will the sinner's judgment till after He had offered him freely tho love of His own blessed tnith, and had been rejected. "When once the sinner is incurable, the only Tvay to vindicate truth and righteousness is by hasten- ing on his condemnation, whatever that condemnation may mean. Who believed not the truth . . . .—Once more the offence for which they are condemned is insisted upon. Theirs is no fancy sin. What God wanted them to believe was not some fantastical dogma, some fiction between which and the fictions of the Man of Sin there was nothing morally to choose, but the inviolable truth by wliich God Himself is bound. But had pleas^ire in the unrighteousness (so runs the Greek) : i.e., consciously gave their moral consent to the imrighteousness of verse 10, the unrighteousness which sought to impose itself upon them, and which they would never have been led into had tliey loved the truth. (13) But "we are bound.— This may be called a recurrence to the subject dropped at chap. i. 3. Tlie pronoun is somewhat emphatic. It might have seemed more natural to have sharpened the contrast between the Thessalonian Christians and the unhappy people just mentioned by beginning " But you." It is, how- ever, part of St. Paul's delicacy of sympathy to describe rather the effect upon himself and his two companions of observing that contrast. He sets himself to work the contrast out. Beloved of the Lord. — Precisely the same phrase as in 1 Tliess. i. 4, except for the substitution of " the Lord " for " God." which shows the concurrence of the Eternal Son in His Father's predestinations. As in the former passage, the tense (" who have been loved") makes the reader think of the everlasting duration of that love ( Jer. xxxi. 3), and is again connected with tho mystery of election. " O love, who ere life's earliest dawn On mo thy choice hast gently laid." Hath . . . chosen.— The Greek tense should be rendered by chose, referring to the definite moment (so to speak) in the di^nne counsels when the choice was fixed. This moment is defined as " from the beginning," i.e., from the eternity preceding the origin of time, called by the same name in Gen. i. 1, John i. 1, and 1 John i. 1. It does not simply mean "from the out- set," i.e., from the moment of first thinking at all about you. Tlic identical jjhrase is said not to occur again in St. Paul. It may be noticed that there is a striking various-reading in some of tho MSS., invohnng the change of only one letter, which would give us (instead of " chose you from the beginning ") " chose you as firstf ruits." Comp. Jas. i. 18 ; but the reading in the text is bettor supported. To salvation.— This "salvation" is in contrast with the "destruction " (chap. i. 9), "perdition" (chap, ii. 3). or "perishing" (chap. ii. 10), all of which repre- sent the same word in the Greek. Out of the wreck of a world, God had from eternity chosen these Thes- salonians to come off safely. Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.— This again teaches us the apostolic idea of election. It is not an absolute irrever- sible predestination to a particular state of happiness 158 Exhortation to standfast hi II. THESSALONIAXS, II. the Doctrine delivered to them. (^*) whereunto lie called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (^^^ There- a 1 Thess. 5. 9. fore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. oil wliieh the elect is to euter after death. The " sal- vatiou " is pi-es(>iit, beguii iu this life (Eph. ii. 5, 8), and carried oii aloii^ fixed lines, uamely, " in sanctifica- tioii of spirit and belief of truth " (such is the Uteral rendering). The preposition '* iu " has here the same force as iu 1 Thess. iv. 4, 7, namely, " by way of," " by a course of." If, therefore, God chose the Thessa- loniau Christians to salvation by a course of sanctifica- tion and belief, one thing, at auy rate, is clear : that if any of them should leave that course, and fall into the errors and sins denounced in the foregoing verses, then, in the Apostle's mind, they would have forfeited their salvation, in spite of God's choice of them. Conse- quently, we are forced to oue of two theories : either that the man has no free will at all, the moral character of his actions depending as entirely upon God as his final destiny ; or else, that the man is free, and that God singles him out to enjoy special opportunities of sanctificatiou and of correct belief, which the man may accept or reject as he pleases. The first of these theories lies open to the question, why, if God is responsible for the moral character of the actions of His elect and for their belief, He does not sanctify them at once and completely, and make each one infallible in doctrine ; but, in any case, lax morality or creed is as incompatible with the hope of a Calvinist as with that of an orthodox Christian. " Sanctificatiou of spirit " seems to mean " spiritual sanctificatiou :" an inward process, not merely outward change of conduct. This is, of course, wi'ought by the action of the Holy Spirit upon our spirits ; but the omission of the definite article in the Greek is difficult to explain if the " spirit " men- tioned be other than the spirit acted upon. " Belief of truth " is opposed to " believing the He," of verse 11 : acceptation of facts as they are, especially the deep facts of revelation, is always the great means of sanctificatiou iu Holy Scripture (John xvii. 17). (U) Whereunto. — From the neuter gender of the relative in the Greek we see that the antecedent iu St. Paul's mind is not exactly " belief of truth," nor exactly " sanctificatiou of spirit," nor yet exactly '•salvation," but the general state of life which is compounded of these three notions — " to which thing He called you." The election or choice takes place in eternity (verse 13) ; the call at that poiut of time when the men first hear the gospel. (See Rom. viii. 30.) By our gospel— i.e., of course, " by our bringing you the happy message" — the historical delivery of the message is dwelt on rather than its contents. To the obtaining of the glory of our Lord. — Almost all the ancient commentators render it, "for oljtaining of glory to our Lord ; " and St. Chrysostom says, beautifully: " No small thing this either, if Christ esteems our salvation His glory. It is, indeed, a glory to the lover of men that the number of those who are being saved should be large." But this voi*sion is not so easy grammatically as our own, nor does it suit so well with the context. St. Paul is encouraging his readers with the same thought of their destiny which he has put forward in chap. i. 11. 12 — the identity of the joy of the Redeemer and the redeemed (Matt. XXV. 23). It is well to be observed that God did not call them straight " to the glory of our Lord," but " to the obtaining" of the same. Tliis "obtaining" does not mean an otiose receiving of glory iu the last day, but a laborious course of "earning" or "purchasing" it during this life. The word is the same as that used iu 1 Thess. V. J>, where see Note. (13) Therefore, brethren, stand fast.— Such an exhortation is, in it.self, conclusive against a theory of irreversible pi*edestination. " Because God chose you from eternity, and called you in time, therefore stand your ground." If it were impossible for them to quit their ground, it would be needless to exhort them to maintain it. If it were possible for them to quit their ground, and yet be as well off after all, it would bo needless also. At the same time, the " therefore " draws a conclusion, not from verse 14 alone, but sums up the whole disquisition of the chapter : '" Now that you are reminded of the true Advent doctrine." Hold the traditions.— The very s^ime word as in Mark vii. 3, 4, 8, " holding the tradition of the elders ; " also in the same metaphorical sense iu Col. ii. 19 ; Rev. ii. 13. The action expressed is a vigorous and pertinacious gi'asp, as (for instance) of the lame man clutching the Apostles iu Acts iii. ll. St. Chrysostom remarks : " It is plain from hence that they used npt to deliver all their tradition by letter, but much without writing besides, and that both are equally worthy of belief. Therefore, let us consider the Church's tradition worthy of belief. It is tradition : ask no further ques- tions." What Avere these " traditions " which it was so essential to keep ? The context shows that the par- ticular traditions which were most consciously iu St. Paul's mind at the moment, were his eschatological teachings, given to them while he was among them — the lore of which he has been briefly reminding them in this chapiter (verses 5, 6) : for the exhortation is practically a resumption of that given iu verses 2, 3. " Instead of being seduced by the forgers of prophecies or of com- munications from us, remember the careful instructions we gave you ouce for all." At the same time, he speaks generally, and we must not limit his words to that jmr- ticular tradition. Whatever can be traced to apostolic origin is of the essence of the faith. They are to " hold tenaciously" all his traditions, and these would include iustructions doctrinal (as 1 Cor. xv. 3; Jude, verse 3), ceremonial (1 Cor. xi. 2, 23), and moral (chap. iii. 6; 2 Pet. ii. 21). As a matter of controversy, it is not so remarkable that he should exhort his converts to cling to his owTi oral teaching ("whether by word") as that he should at so early a period call their special attention to what was gradually to supplant lat least, iu doctrinal matters) all independent unwritten tradition — the Holy Scripture (" our Epistle "). St. Paul can speak on occasion as contemptuously of the " traditions i of men " as our Lord did (Col. ii. 8). Of course, it depends entirely on the individual chanicter of any tradition whether, and to what extent, it is to be " held "' or condemned as '•human." In the Church no mutually contradictory traditions can be held together ; and therefore any tradition " by word " which is in disagn'c- ment with the written tratlition {i.e., Scripture) stands necessarily condemned. By word, or our epistle.— Tlie " our " belongs to both : '• whether by word or ejiistle of ours." Unless St. Paul had written them some other letter, now lost, this proves that the "First'' Epistle was in reality the earlier written. " Have been taught " should be " were taught" — the historic tense. 159 m Commends th.m to Christ. IT. THESSALONIAXS, ITT. Tieqvest for Prayer. (16) Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, <^^' comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and ^vork. 1 Gr. may run. CHAPTER III.— (1) Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word c-^^r,. m. i— of the Lord may have free 3. Request for course,^ and be gloritied, pr^y*^^' even as it is with you : ^^^ and that we may be delivered from unreasonable^ and wicked men : for all men have not (it>) Now. — Better, And, connecting closely the prayer ■with the exhortation, just as in 1 Thess. v. 23. " Again," says St. Chrysostom, " prayer after advice : tliis is to lielp in earnest." The word " Himself," as in the passage cited, contrasts the Almighty power of our Lord with the partial instructions and feeble help which even Apostles could give, and with the impotence of the Thessalouian Christians to stand firm in their own btrength. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and G-od, even our Father. — The order of mention is unusual. (See, however, 2 Cor. xiii. 3.) It is not designedly meant to show the equality of the Blessed Persons, which is done only incidentally by the fact that the same aspiration is directed to both. Probably, in fact, the names are arranged to form a climax : St. Paul having spoken first of the Person whose work on the heart is the more immediate, and then jealously watching lest he should in any way make the Eternal Father seem less deeply interested in our welfare than the Son is. All primitive devotion and doctrine are markedly opposed to the tendency to rest in the Mediator without a real lively faith in the Father who sent Him. Which hath loved us. — Love to us is specially (so fearfully wrong is much of the popular language about the Atonement) the characteristic of the Father. (See, for instance, John iii. 16 ; xvii. 23 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 3 ; Eph. ii. 4 ; 1 John iv. 10. j It is in the thought of this tender love of God to us that the writer adds im- mediately the endearing title " Our Father." This love seems to be mentioned here as being the ground on which the writer rests his hope for the fulfilment of his prayer. It should literally be translated, which loved us, and gave — the moment being apparently (as in John iii. Itj) the moment of providing the Atonement for our sins. Everlasting consolation.— This moans " an ever present source of comfort," of wliich no persecution can rob us. This giving of comfort is the proof or explanation of the statement that He " loved us," and refers to the same act. Our unfailing comfort lies in the thought of God's love exemplified in the Incarna- tion of His Son. Good hope through grace.— Tliese words must be closely joined. God gave us not only a consolation under present trials, but a sweet prospect in the future ; but tliis sweet prospect belongs to us only " in grace " (the literal version). All our hope is based on the con- tinuance of the spiritual strength imparted by the Father through the Son and the Spirit. The qualify- ing words " in grace " are added to " hope " in just the same way as the words " in sanctification " are added to " salvation " in verse 13. (17) Comfort your hearts . . .—"Comfort," in reference to the " unending comfort " of verse 16 ; and "stablish," in reference to the "good hope in gi'ace." The "heart" needs comfort as the seat of emotions. " In every good word and work " (it should be, ivorJc and word) means in the mainte- nance of every good doctrine (as opposed to the false teaching which had got abroad about the Advent, and to the lies of the Apostasy), and in the performance of every good practice (as opposed to the lawlessness of the Apostasy, and to the disorderly conduct of which the next chapter treats : for here, as in 1 Thess. iii. 13, the prayer forms an introduction of the next subject). The singular number of the verbs " comfort " and " stablish " (which, of course, does not appear in the English), may perhaps be explained as in 1 Thess. iii. 12, where see Note, though it is not necessary so to under- stand it, inasmuch as the intervening relative (in the Greek, participial) clauses have turned the whole attention to the Father, who may be considered ex- clusively as the grammatical subject of the verbs. It would, however, have been painful to orthodox ears, however justifiable doctrinally, to have used a plural verb. It is by these little incidental touches, still more than by express doctrinal statements, that we learn what was the real belief of the Apostles concerning the Divinity of Christ ; and we may say the same with regard to many other great doctrines. III. (1) Finally. — The practical portion is introduced in the same manner as in the First Epistle (chap. iv. 1), " for the rest," " as to what I have yet to say." Pray for us. — St. Chrysostom remarks : " Himself had prayed for them ; now he asks them to pray for him." How much of a Christian teacher's power, increasing as time goes on, comes from the accumulation of intercession from his spiritual children ! St. Paul leaves people praying for huu everywhere (Rom. XV. 30; 2 Cor. i. 11 ; Eph. vi. 18, 19; Col. iv. 3; 1 Thess. V. 25 ; comp. Heb. xiii. 18). In all these cases the request is for active help in his work of evan- gelising : " not that he may fall into no danger," says St. Chrysostom, " for that he was api^ointed unto." (Comp. 2 Tim. ii. 9.) "That" stands for "in order that,'" and does not introduce merely the subject of the prayer. May have free course. — Quite literally, as in the margin, may run along. Si^eed and security are contained in this idea : no hesitation about the next turn, no anxious picking of the way, and no opposi- tion from devils and hiid men. Bengel compares Ps. cxlvii. 15. And be glorified.— Tlie word does not mean merely "obtain applause," "win distinction," as a successful runner ; it always implies the recognition or acknowledgment of inherent admirable qualities. (See Notes on chap. i. 12 ; 1 Thess. ii. 6.) Even as it is with you. — Such praise would flush the Thessalonians to pray for him ^vitli greater fervour and assurance. " With you " means, in the Greek, " in your direction," " on turning to you : " people had only to look at Thessalonica, and they were forced to re- cognise the character of the gospel. (2) And that we may be delivered.— Compare Rom. XV. 31. This clause is an amplification of the word " may run along : " the impediments to the 160 The Lord is Faithful. II. THESSALONIANS, III. The Apostle^s Confidence. faith. (3) B^^t the Lord is faithful," who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. ^^^ And we have confidence in the Lord touching you,* that ye both do and will do the thinsrs a 1 Tbess. 5. 24. 1 Or, the patience of Christ. which we command you. (^) And the Lord direct your hearts chap. iii. 4, 5. into the love of God, and Expression ' of into the patient waiting pr^.pfr^tSry for Christ.^ prayer. gospel progress were (except that all were overruled for good) such persecutions as these. St. Paul gives thanks for such deliverances in 2 Cor. i. 10; 2 Tim. iii. 11 ; iv. 17. Perhaps (as St. Chrysostom suggests) one reason for here inviting their prayers for himself was to nerve the Thessalonians by tlie sense that they were not the only people in the world in danger. Prom unreasonable and wicked men. — Tlie curious word rendered " uureasonaljle " is rendered "amiss" in Luke xxiii. 41, "wickedness" in Acts XXV. 5, " harm " in Acts xxviii. 6, occurring nowhere else in the New Testament. It properly means some- thing "misplaced " hence "extravagant," "monstrous." Thus the dying robber says that our Lord had done " uotliing so monstrous" as to deserve crucifixion; Festus ironically in\'ites the priests to a serious journey to St. Paul's trial, " if there be something so monstrous in him ; " the Maltese bai'bai'ians " saw that nothing so monstrous happened to him after all." So St. Paul wishes the Thessalonians to pray for his deliverance " from these monstrous and depraved people." He is evidently meaning some particular foes wliom he fears, for the original has the definite article. Who, then, are " these monstrous persons ?" If we tm*n to Acts xviii. 6, 9, 12, and observe the circumstances in which the letter was written, we can hardly doubt that they are the unbelieving Jews of Corinth. From these Jews he was, though narrowly, delivered. It was, perhaps, in direct answer to the prayers for which St. Paul here asks that he received the vision and assurances of our Lord, and that Gallio was moved to quash so abruptly the proceedings of the Jews. For all men have not faith. — This clause gives the reason for the alarm implied in the last clause : " Do not be surprised at my needing help against bad men ; for you know that it is not every one that believes." There is something a little scornful and embittered in the expression (recalling the invective against the same people in 1 Thess ii. 15, 16;, for it suggests the thought that nothing better was to be expected from such a set of unconverted Jews. Tacitly, also, tlie unbelieving Corinthians are contrasted with the Thessalonians who had so readily embraced the truth. It may, however, be doubted whether this sentence is not an instance of a common Hebrew idiom, occurring more than twenty times in the Greek Testa- ment, by which the combination of " all " and " not " amounts to " not any." Thus, " all flesh shall not be justified," in Rom. iii. 20, is rendered " no flesh shall be justified ;" "they are not all of us," in 1 John ii. 19, means " not one of them is of us." So here it may be, " for there is not one of them that believes ; " and so also, again speaking of the Jews, in Rom. x. 16, " they did not all obey " may mean " none of tliem obeyed " — a rhetorical exaggeration, which the writer proceeds to justify by tlie exhaustive question from Isaiah. (•^) But the Lord is faithful.— It must not bo thought from this that the word " faith " in the preAnous verse meant " fidelity." St. Paul, after his favourite manner, is plapng upon two meanings of the word : " But whether men have faith or not, tlie Lord is faith- fid." There is the same play of words in Rom. iii. 3. 77 161 "The Lord" seems here to be used, as was said on 1 Thess. iii. 12, without distinct reference to one Person of the Holy Trinity rather than another. This cha- racteristic of God is named because God stands pledged to all who believe in Him. Who shall stablish you. — How soon St. Paul reverts from his own needs to theirs ! He does not continue, as we should expect, with " who wUl preserve us." Keep you from evil.— Rather (probably), /rom the. Evil One, as in the Lord's Prayer. Possibly, the word is used not without a reference to the word rendered "wicked" in verse 2, with which in the Greek it is identical. (^) We have confidence in the Lord touching you. — Rather, We rely upon you in the Lord : the clause fomis the counterpart to the last verse. St. Chrysostom's whole comment is worth transcription : — " God, saith he, is faithful, and haviug promised to save, save He assuredly will, but as He promised. And hoAV did He promise ? If we would be agreeable, and would hear Him ; not unconditionally, nor while we remain inactive like stocks and stones. Yet, well has he added his, ' We rely in the Lord : ' that is, ' We trust to His love of men.' Once more he takes them down, ascribing the whole matter to that quarter ; for had he said ' We trust to you,' it would have been a great compliment indeed, but woiild not liave tauint, the plu-ase nuist mean, " mentioning the name of Jesus, evei-y knee sliall bow." From tliis mention of the name in performing an action, our phrase as.sumes, at any rate, two distinct meanings: (1) As in Col. iii. 17. it implies an invocation or at- testation of the person named, or a recognition of his presence and interest in the matter, in which sense it has im.s.sed into the common language of Christianity, into legal formulas, &c. (2) Here, and usually, it means a claim to the authority of the person named — to act officially as his representative witli full powers. (See Notes on John xiv. 13, 26.) Tims the prophets spoke "in the namo of the Lord " — i.e., as His authoritative exponents (Jas. v. 10) ; St. Paul com- mands (Acts xvi. 18), and retains a man's sins (1 Cor. iv. 5) "in the name of the Lord" — i.e., as His official spokesman or ambassador ; the priests are to administer the uuctiou of the sick with like authority (Jas. V. 14, 15). So here, the Thessalonians are not to think that in disobejdng St. Paul's injunctions they are rebelling against a mere liuuniu authority ; Christ Himself speaks to them through St. Paul's lips. Yet, commanding with all this tremendous authority, tliey are still but " brethren " (Matt, xxiii. 8). "Withdraw yourselves.— The striking word here used is (in its simple form) only found besides in 2 Cor. \in. 20 : " avoiding this." In a still more striking com- pound, it occurs in Acts xx. 20, 27 ; Gal. ii. 12 ; Heb. X. 38. It is a metaphor from the language of strategy : a cautious general shrinking from an encounter and timidly drawing off under cover. Perhaps we might illustrate it by the familiar English "fight slnj of every brother." A social excommunication rather than eccle- siastical seems chiefly meant, though the latter might perhaps be involved. From every brother — i.e., every Christian. It was impossible to be so strict about the-outside world. (Comp. 1 Cor. V. 10, 11.) The man still remains a "brother" (verse 15). Disorderly. — Tlie word is rendered " unruly " iu 1 Thess. v. 14, and is possdjly suggested by the military metaphor above. It means propei'ly " out of rank." The kind of irregularity which is meant is made clear by verses 10, 11. The worthy Bengel quaintly makes this an opportunity for denouncing the Mendicant Orders : " An order of mendicants, then, is not an order; if the Thessalonians had bound them- selves to it by a vow, what would St. Paul have said ? " The tradition.— See Note on chap. ii. 15. The word must imply systematic and definite teaching ; and we see here again that a clear code of ethics was part of the apostolic catechism. (See Note on 1 Thess. iv. 1.) He received. — The best rendering is. avhich they received — i.e., all the brethren who walked disorderly. The word " receive " is the regular correlative to "tradition" or "deliver." (See, e.g., Mark vii. 4; I Cor. xi. 23; Gal. i. 9; Col. ii. 6.) (") For justifies the assertion that they had received a better teaching. (Comp. 1 Thess. ii. 1 ; iv. 9; v. 2.) To follow us. — The word, of course, means "to imitate"; and the rather compressed expression seems to stand for something fuller, such as, " Yourselves know how you ought to live, for. you liave but to imitate us: you recollect not only a tradition, but an example." This is better than (with St. Clirysostom) to make the whole " tradition " consist of example without precept, however such an interpretation miglit simjilify the logic. For '^or becan.^c). — Historical justification of tho statenu^nt that their example was a trustworthy model, in tliis ])articular, at any rate : see the same use of " for " in 1 Thess. ii. 9, " for labouring," &c. ; iv. 3. It is perhaps simpler, however, to translate the word " that," instead of "for" : " You know perfectly how to live — • how to imitate our example — that we never," &c. Then follows a description of the Apostles' conduct at Thessalonica similar to that in the First Epistle, thus giving US a clearer understanding why they dwelt so long and so passionately upon the topic there — namely, in oi'der by foive of tacit contrast to shame the dis- orderly brethren into imitation. 162 The Apostle^ s Example II. TIIESSALONIANS, III. and direct Commands. (s) neither did we eat any man's bread for nougiit; but wrouf^ht with labour and travail night and day, that we inig-ht not be chargeable to any of you : " (^) not because we have not power,* but to make ourselves an a 1 Theas. 2. 9. 6 1 Tht'SS. 2. 0. ensample unto you to follow us. (10) YoY even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. (^^) For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, (8) Neither. — They miji^ht have thought it possible to live oil others without iucurriug so serious a charge as " disorderliiiess." Eat any man's bread.— Still more literally, eat bread from any man — i.e., "from any man's table." St. Paul always becomes picturesque and vivid in a passage of this kind, and generally Hebraistic (" eat bread," 2 Sam. ix. 7, and often). "For nought" is literally at a gift. There is a Havour of scorn in St. Paul's disclaimer of such a parasite's life. Wrought. — In the original it is the participle, " working," which better suits the rapid flow of the sentences. The order also is slightly more forcible : " Wo ate bread from no man's table at a gift, but in toil and travail, all night and day labouring that we," &c. To "be chargeable" means more than "to make you pay": it contains the notion of burdensome expense. (9) Power. — Rather, authority, which is power 2Jlus legitimacy. How jealously St. Paul guards the rights of the Apostolate ! not for himself, but for the brethren of the Lord and Cephas (1 Cor. ix. 5), perhaps for Silas and Timothy (1 Thess. ii. 6, Note), and for futurity. The unbounded claims of spiritual father- hood seem copied from the Roman law of patriapotestas. (Comp. Philem. verses 8, 19.) To make. — Literally, in order that we might give. It was not without thought and design that they had adopted the plan. An ensample.— The same word as iu 1 Thess. i. 7. Literally, a model. The argument is a strong a fortiori. Whatever reason these Thessalonians might have for giving up work, St. Paul had the same, and more. He looked for the Advent, as they did ; he spent his time iu going about among the brethren, as they did ; and over and above, he had the apostolic right to main- tenance, which they had not. Why should not he have left off work, if they could justify themselves iu so doing ? If he thought right to work, a fortiori, it must be their duty to work too. (10) por even.— The sequence of thought is a little difficult, but it seems best to regard this '' for " as con- necting its sentence, not with verse 9, Init rather with verse 6. It does not give the reason why St. Paul and his companions worked : " because we strictly enjoined you to work, and therefore could not be idle ourselves." Rather, it justifies the reiteration of the command : " We do not hesitate to command you now to repress this disorderly conduct, so contrary to the example set you ; for, in fact, when wo were with you wo used to lay down this law." So Theodoret takes it : " It is no new thing that we write to you." We commanded.— The tense in the onginal is that of constant re-assertion, which brings out once more the thorough grounding which the Apostles gave at once to their converts. (See Note on verse 6 : " the tradition ; " also the Note on chap. ii. 5.) The same definite precept is referred to in 1 Tliess. iv. 11. If any would not work.— The -word "would" stands for "is not willing," "refuses." To any weak- ness or incapacity for work, except in himself, St. Paul would be very tender; the vice consists in the defective will. The canon (in the original) is laid down in the pointed form of some old Roman law like those of the Twelve Tables : "If any man choose not to Av speculations, such as those of the Colossiau or Ephcsian Churches. Yet we cauuot altogether exclude this meaning here. St. Paul's readers had been over- busy in theorising about tlie position of the departed at Clirist's coming (1 Thess. iv. 15, Note), and had been so eager over their idle doctrines of the Advent as to falsify, if not actually to forge, communications from St. Paid (chap. ii. 2). Such false inquisitiveness and gossiping discussions might well bo described by tlie Greek word with wliich we are dealing, (b) Every- thing, however, points to a more practical form of the same disposition to mask idleness under cloak of work ; feverish excitement, which leads men to meddle and interfere with others, perhaps to spend time in " re- ligious " work which ought not to have been spared from every-day duties. (See 1 Thess. iv. 11, 12, and Notes.) There is nothing to show definitely how this l)usy idle- ness arose, but it may very probably be the shaken and troubled condition of mind spoken of in chap, ii. 2. ('-) We command.— The fourth time the severe word is used in this very cliapter. Perhaps" we order" might convey the meaning still more sharply. But im- mediately, lest severity pi-ovoke rebellion, he adds, " and we beseech," alleging jUso the grounds on which lie rests his appeal : " in our Lord " — i.e., " on the strength of our union in the Body of Christ." (Comp. 1 Thess. iv. 1.) That with quietness they work.— The opposites of bustling, and of idleness. Eat their own bread.— Not other people's. This passage tempts us to take the marginal version in 1 The.ss. iv. 12: " have need of no man." The ])hrase is not fatal to the idea of there being a communism established. The bread would still be " tlieir own " — i.e., they would have a right to it, supposing it had been earned for the community by hard work : otherwise, communism or no communism, tho bread was stolen. The commentators aptly compare a rab- Ijinical saying : " When a man eats his own bread he is composed and tranc|uil in mind ; but if he bo eating the l)read of his parents or cliildren, much more that of strangers, his mind is less tranquil." (13) But ye, brethren.— The last verse was ad- dressed to all those whose consciences would prick them on hearing it read at the Eucharist. Now the writer turns to tho orderly brethren, as quite a distinct class. The rhetorical effect of tliis quick apostrophe Avould be tlie same as in the well-known story of Najjoleon addressing the rioters, and requesting the gentlemen to separate them.selves from the canaille. The distinction is so invidious that every one would hasten to join the ranks of the n^sjiectable. Be not weary in well doing.— This is an ex- hortation to " the patience of Christ," for which the Apostle had prayed. The i)hrase takes for granted that they had been hitherto engaged in "well doing" — i.e., in acting Inmourably, " walking honestly towards them that are without "(1 Thess. iv. 12); and St. Paul is anxious to preserve them from " fainting " (as the word 164 is translated in Gal. vi. 9), and so slipping into the like idleness and bringing scandal upon the Church. (iM And if any man.— An appeal to the ri^ht- minded, not only to persevere themselves, but to 3oiu with the overseers of their Church in enforcing dis- cipline, as in 1 Thess. v. 12 — 15. By this epistle. — Rightly rendered. The marginal version, " by an Epistle," is impossible, for in the Greek the definite article appears. It might, if the context suited, be attached to the following clause, instead of the foregoing, and translated, " by means of the Epistle signify that man," meaning " in your answer." But there is nothing to show that St. Paul was expecting any answer; and, for another thing, he has given them full directions for dealing with the case themselves, so that it would be saperfiuous to send the particulars to St. Paul. For several other weighty reasons it is best to attach the words to the hy|)othetical clause ; and the sense will be, " There can be no excuse now. It was possible to forget or misintei"pret our verbal tradition, painstaking and definite though it was ; possible also to ignore the example which we set ; but now you have it in black and white, and the man who does not submit to our directions in this form must be visited severely." There are at least thi-ee places besides this in St. Paul's writings Avhere " the Epistle " stands absolutely for *' the present Epistle," viz., Rom. xvi. 22 ; Col. iv. 16 ; 1 Thess. V. 27 ; possibly a fourth might be added, 1 Cor. v. 9 ; only once in a very clear context it refers to a former Letter (2 Cor. vii. 8). Note that man.— The reflexive voice of the verb implies mutual warning against him : " Agree to set a mark upon him, to make a marked man of him." The notion is that of making him easily recognisable, so that no Christian should " have company " with him un- awares. (Comp. Gen. iv. 15.) The word and the thought in Rom. xvi. 17 are slightly different. The best text goes on abi'uptly, without conjunction : " Note that man ; have no company with him." This social extru- sion from good men's conversation, not to speak of the Sacraments, would, to a Christian in a heathen city, be indeed a delivering to Satan, a thrusting into outer darkness. That he may be ashamed— i.e., put to shame. Comp. 1 Cor. vi. 5; xv. 34; Tit. ii. 8; and (for the end to be served by this shame) the first clause of the Com- niination of Sinners. (l'>) Yet. — The original is simply .4n(i. which is much more beautiful, implying that this very withdrawal from brotherly intercourse was an act of brotherly kindness. An enemy. — In the private, not tho public, sense. "Do not think of him as one with whom you must be at feud, to bo thwarted and humbled on every occasion." St. Chrj'sostom exclaims, " How soon the father's heart breaks down I " Admonish him as a brother. — How was this to be done without " having company" Avith him? Per- haps the presbyters, to whom the work of " admonish- ing," or " warning," sp(>cially belonged (see 1 Thess. v. 12, 14), were to visit them in private with that object. Or possibly, the admonition was to consist in the act of separation, and not in verbal reproof at all. and to he admonis/i^d. II. THESSALONIANS, III. /Salutation and Conclusion. enemy, but admonisli him as a brother. (10) Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. (!') The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle : so I write, chap. iii. 17, (18) r^i^Q grace of our Lord I8. Caution Jesus Christ he with you ru;t^°and vale- all. Amen. diction. T Tlic second epistle to the Thessalonians was written from Athens. (1*3) Now.— Rather, And, or But. The prayer is joined to tlie exhortations, as in chap. ii. 16 and clse- ■\vliore, and of coiu'se bears upon the subject of tlieni. The Lord of peace.— We had " the God of peace " at tlio ch>se of the last Epistle (v. 23, where see tlie Note). The " peace " prayed for hero has perhaps a more immediate refei'ence to external matters than in the parallel passage. St. Chrysostom suggests the dan- ger of quarrels breaking out owing to tlie administra- tion of the preseriljed discipline. And the conduct of these restless busybodies was in itself destructive of peace, both for their own souls and for the community. Bnt the words "by all means," or, more literally, in every shape and form, show that the Apostle is extending his glance over all the subjects mentioned in the Ejjistle now finished : " Peace all throughout in every form," through all persecutions and from all persecutions ; tlirough the terrors of the reign of Antichrist and tlu'ough the Judgment Day ; peace among themselves, in their o\yw hearts, with (rod. The Lord be with you all.— Another way of expressing the prayer for peace ; for where He enters He says, "Peace be unto you." The word "all" is strongly emphasised, catching up the " always " and " in all forms." St. Paul has spoken with strong censure of some ; but he wishes to show that he bears no ill-will to any ; and to leave off by blessing all, as he began by givina: thanks for all (chap. i. 3). (17) The salutation. — At this point St. Paul takes the pen out of his secretary's hand, and adds the closing words himself. The actual salutation does not begin until the benediction of the 18th Averse, to which this 17th is intended to attract attention. Which.— Namely, the autograph addition of a salutation, or valedictory prayer, not the special words in which it was couched. The token. — Rather, a token — a mark, that is, by which to tell an authentic Epistle of his from those forged letters with which false brethren had troubled the Thessalonian Church (chap. ii. 2). At fii'st sight, it seems to us too audacious for any one to liavo con- ceived the thought of wi-iting a letter under the name of St. Paid; but, on the other hand, we must recollect several points. (1) St. Paul's genuine First Epistle, in spite of its claim to inspii-ation (iv. 15), could not yet have acquired in the eyes of the Thessalonians the sanctity it wears for us ; they had no notion of such a thing as Holy Scriptures, and even if they had, St. Paul was a familiar figure, a mechanic who had just left ihem, not yet invested with the heroic halo. (2) Such literary forgeries were not uncommon in that age. and scarcely considered reprehensible, unless they were framed to inculcate with authority some heretical teaching. Apocryphal Grospcds soon after abounded, under false titles, and works fathered upon St. Clement and other great Church teachers. (3) There need not always have been a direct intention to deceive the readers as to the authorship, but the renowned name acted as a tempting advertisement for the work, and the theories thus shot forth hit their mark ; whether the real authorship were discovered or not mattered little in comparison. Such points must be borne in mind before we accept as genuine any of the early Christian writings. In every epistle. — Tliat is, naturally, "in every Epistle which I write." It cannot be narrowly re- stricted to mean, " in every Epistle which I shall for the future write to you Thessjdonians," though that is, of coui'se, the practical significance. Nor does it imply a formed design of writing other Epistles toother churciies. It seems necessary to suppose that St. Paul had already made a practice of concluding Letters with his auto- graph, though only one Letter of his is now extant of an earlier date than our present Epistle. There is no reason whatever to suppose that all the Letters ever wi-itten by St. Paul have been preserved to us (see Dr. Lightfoot's Pliilippians, p. 136, et seq.), any more tlian all the sayings and acts of Jesus Christ (John xxi. 25) ; and even when he wrote his First Epistle to Thes- stilonica ho had seen the necessity of giving careful directions about his Letters (1 Thess. v. 27), and of I'ousing his correspondents to a reasonable scepticism {ibid. V. 21). The same solicitude re-appears in 1 Cor. xvi. 21 ; Gal. A-i. 11. And the rule which St. Paul had already made he always observed, so far as we can test ; for all his extant Epistles, as Bishop Wordsworth points out on 1 Thess. v. 28, contain his "salutation" at the end. So I write. — " Such is my handwriting." It need not mean that the Thessalonians hitherto were un- acquainted with his hand ; he only calls their attention closely to it. The great bold handwriting (comp. Gal. vi. 11) woidd not easily be mistaken. (18) The grace.— This is his "salutation." Tlie Greek secular salutation, at greeting and parting alike, was chaire (literally, rejoice) ; so St. Paul, alike at beginning and ending, uses a word of kindred origin, c/iaris ("grace"). Observe the word "all" again, as in verse 16. St. Chrysostom's beautiful comment may well be given : " What he calls his ' salutation ' is the prayer, showing that the whole business they were then about was sinritual ; and even av hen he must give a salutation, there must go some benefit along with it, and it must be a prayer, not a mere symbol of friendship. 'Twas with this he would begin, and with this he would end. fencing round that which he said with mighty walls on eitiier side; and safe were the foundations ho laid, and safe the conclusion that he laid tliereon. ' Grace to vou,' ho cries, ' and peace ' ; and once more, [' Peace always ' and] ' the grace of our Lord Jesus (Christ be with you all — Amen.' " 165 EXCURSUS ON NOTES TO II. THESSALONIANS. EXCURSUS ON THE mTERPRETATION OF THE PROPHECY, 2 THESS. ii. 3—12. In order to deal fairly with this difficult passage, it \v\\\ bo ueecssary sternly to exclude from our view all other passages of the New Testament which speak of a final manifestation of evil, and, reviewing the words simply as tliey stand, to consider ivhat St. Paul himself ineanty>\m\ he so assiduously inverse 5, Note) taught the Thessalonian Church on the subject, and what the Thessalonian Church was likely to gather from his Letter. For though such a passage as Heb. vi. 2 shows tliat the whole Apostolic Cliurch was definitely at one in the eschatological instruction given to its converts at a very early stage of their Christian life ; and thoiigh the language of 1 Tim. iv. 1 ; Jas. v. 3—7 ; 2 Pet. iii. 1, 2; 1 John ii. 18 ; iv. 3; Jude, ver.se 17 (not to men- tion the Apocalypse) — passages representing the most ditforent schools of thought in the early Church — fully ])ring out this agreement, so that Christians may fairly use tliose passages to explain each other, yet, on the other hand, we need to put ourselves in the position of the young Church of Thessalonica, which was expected by St. Paul to make out the significant hints of his Letter with no other help than the recollection of his oral teaching and the observation of events. We, therefore, ought to be able in like manner to catch the same significant hints l)y a like knowledge of the then history of the world, and of the sources from which St. Paul was likely to draw his doctrine of the " Last Things." I. Sources of the Apostolic Doctrine of the Last Things. —The prophecy of St. Paul does not appear to be — at least, exclusively — the result of a direct internal revelation of the Spirit. Such direct revelations were, when necessary, made to him, and wo have seen him claim that kind of inspiration in 1 Thess. iv. 15. But God's ordinary way of making prophets seems to bo different. He gives to those who are willing to see an extraordinary insight into the things whicli lie before the most ordinary eyes ; He throws liglit upon tlie meaning of occurrences, or of words, wliicli are familiar to cveiy one externally (see Mauric(>'s FropJicts and Kiti'/ii, pp. 141 — 145). Even for doctriiu's like those of the true divinity or the true liumanity of our Lord, or of the indwelling of the Spirit, or tlie Church's mission, the Apostles do not rest solely on direct revelation made to their own consciences, but rather dwell on the significance of historical facts (c.f/., Rom. i. 4; 2 Pet. i. 17), or, still more frequently aiul strongly, on the interpretation of Old Testament Scriji- tures (C.J/., H.'l). i. 8 ; ii. 12, 13 ; 2 Pet. i. 19). If, there- fore, we can find material in the Old Testament Avhicli, taken in conjunction with our Lord's own words, could liave supplied St. Paul — or rather, the catholic consent of the early Churcli — with tlie doctrine of tlio Last Tilings as we find it stated in the apostolic writings, we shall be justified in using those Old Testament materials in the explanation of the New. II. The Book of Daniel.— Such materials we 16G find, not only in the general threatenings of Joel, Zechariah (chap, xiv.), and Malachi, but most clear and definite in the Book of Daniel. Into the question of the date of that book it is not necessary hero to inquii'e. It suffices for the present purpose to know that it was ranch older than St. Paul's time, and was accepted as prophetic in the ordinary sense. In fact, there was, probably, no other book of the Old Testa- ment whicli received so much attention among the Jews in the apostolic age (Westcott, in Smith's Diet. Bible, Art. "Daniel "). It was regarded with full reverence as an inspired revelation ; and our Lord Himself (accoi-ding to Matt. xxiv. 15 and Mark xiii. 14) either drew from it (liumanly speaking) His own doctrine of the Last Things, or at least used it emphatically for His disciples' benefit as a corroboration. The taste for apocalyptic literature was at this time very strong, and the prophecies of Daniel attracted especial attention, inasmuch as the simplest interjjretation of some of the most explicit of them pointed unmistakably to the time then present. Tacitus (Hist. v. 13) and Suetonius {¥6821. chap. 4), as is well kuowu, speak of the certainty felt through the whole East, about that time, that uniA'ersal empire was on the point of passing into the hands of men of Jewish origin, lliis belief, says Tacitus, was " contained in the antient literature of the pi'iests " — i.e., in the Scrijitures, kept and expounded by them ; and there can be no doubt that first and fore- most of those Scriptures (for this purpose) stood the Book of Daniel. For every reason, then, we may well try to find what a lielicAnng Jew of the apostolic ago would make out of the visions of Daniel, in order to throw light on this passage of St. Paul. III. The Five Monarchies.— Now, in the Book of Daniel there ai'e four main predictions of what was then the future history of the world. These predictions are contained in chaps, ii., ^^i.. viii., and xi. The first two visions, vouchsafed to Neljuchadnezzar and to Daniel respectively, both describe Five Monarchies, which were successively to arise and flourish in tho world. Amidst a good deal which is matter of contro- versy, three facts remain agi'ced upon by all : first, that the Five Moiiarcliies of the one vision are intended to correspond to the Five Monarchies of tho other, each to each ; secondly, that the earliest of these five repre- sents the Babylonian empire, then standing, with Nebuchadnezzar at its head ; thirdl}', that the last of iho series portrays the establishment of the Theocracy in its full development — that is. the " Kingdom of God " (which had been the main subject of St. Paul's preach- ing at Thessalonica), or the visible government of the world by the Christ. IV. The Fourth Monarchy.— But the question which most directly concerns us now is how to identify the Fourth of these monarchies. In Nebuchadnezzai-'s ^^sion it was to be "in the days of these kings" — i.e., the kings of the Fom-th Monarchy, while the Fourtli II. THESSALONIANS. Monarchy was still standing — that tho Kingdom of HeaA'pn was to conio (Dan. ii. 44). In Daniels vision this Fourtli Mouarcliy (or rather, its continuation and development) was to exist side by side with the saints of tho Most High, and l)etAveen them and one outgrowth of the Fourth Monarchy a struggle was to take jjlace before tho final establishment of the Kingdom of tho Saints (chap. vii. 25). Wliat, then, was this Fourth Monarchy intended by the beer (or by " the Spirit of the Christ," 1 Pet. i. 11) to represent ? Or, to bo still more practical, What was in St. Paul's own day, among his OAvn countrymen, the received interpretation of this part of Daniel's prophecy ? The question is not hard to answer. "With irrefragable clearness Dr. Pusey has proved, in the second of his Lectures on Daniel the Prophet, the plausibility and minuteness with which the words concerning the Second and Third Monarchies may respectively be applied to the Medo-Persian and the Macedonian empires ; and if even this point be established, there can be no hesitation in naming the Fourth. It can only be the empire of Rome. But Dr. Pusey shows. with the same force, how applicable the description itself is to the Roman empire. Whether, however, this interpretation has any ground in the original intention of the Prophet, or of Him who, we believe, spoke by him, is for our present piii-pose a matter of secondary importance. We have already mentioned an. unimpeachable piece of evidence furnished by two great Roman historians. It was in their days a " long-established and uniform belief," entertained not in Judsea oidy, but " in the whole of tho East," and drawn from the Jewish literature, that a great Jewish empire was destined to appear. But that is not all. Such a belief might have been di-awn from Numbers or Isaiah. But Suetonius adds, Eo tempore, " at that time ;" Tacitus adds, Eo ipso tempore, "at that very time." From what Jewish literature could the date have been made out, except from the calculation of the Seventy Weeks in Daniel ? And as the same prophecy spoke of a world-wide empire, in the days of whose liimjs this new Jewish power was to arise, that same " long- established and unifonn belief " must have recognised in the Roman empire the Fourth Monarchy which was to be shattered by it. Hence, doul)tless, the hopeful- ness with which insurgent leaders one after another rose in rebellion against the Eoman anus. It was not only that they themselves were the Lord's own people. Was not this vast system, " dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly," definitely doomed in Scripture to utter extinction before their arms ? But we have, besides, a less indirect testimony than the foregoing. Tho Jew Josephus (Ant. x. 11, § 7) speaks at length of the i)i*o- phecies of Daniel, and how he himself was watching their gradual verification. After mentioning the prophecy about Antioclms Epiphanes and its complete fulfilment, he adds : " In the very same manner Daniel also wrote concerning the empire of the Romans, and that onr country should be made desolate by them." He then passes on to speak of the comfort afforded by seeing so plainly the Providence of God, with true Jewish irony not disclo.sing that his comfort lay in the promised revenge upon Home as well as \ipon Antiochus. In another place (Ant. x. 10, § 4) he is recording the ^-ision in the second chapter of Daniel, and after describing the universal dominion of the Iron Kingdom, he pro- ceeds : " Daniel also declared the meaning of the Stone to the king, l)ut this I do not think i)rop(>r to relate, as I have undertaken to describe things past and present, not things that are future. Yet if any one be so veiy desirous of kuowiu{r truth as not to waive such curious points, and cannot refrain his desire to understand tho uncertain future, and whether or no it ^vill come to pass, l(>t him give heed to read the Book of Daniel, which he will find among the Holy Scriptures." Ko doubt can be entertained that this writer understood the Fourth Monarchy to be the Roman empire, and did not wish to be suspected of encouraging sedition by si)eaking openly of its predicted downfall. This, then, was the common interpretation Avliich St. Paul must have learned from a child : that Daniel's Fourth Monarchy, which was to break up befoi'e the Kingdom of God, was tho Roman empire. V. The Fifth Monarchy.— Wo may then assume that St. Paul believed Daniel to foretell the coming of the Kingdom of God hi the days of the kings of the Roman emi)ire. In one sense, indeed, the prophecy was already fulfilled. The Kingdom was already come. Heralded by the Baptist (Matt. iii. 2, et seq.), and ex- pounded by our Lord (Matt. ix. 36, et seq.), it had been established by the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Mission of the Holy Ghost, while the Roman empire actually stood (Ps. ii. ; comp. Acts iv. 25 ; v. 31 ; xiii. 33). St. John regards the world as already -s-ii-tually subdued in his own lifetime (1 John v. 4, Note). But the Church as at present constituted does not answer completely to Daniel's prophecy of the Kingdom of the Saints. To the Christian there are two comings of the Kingdom, not only one. In the Prophets the two are fused into one. We may almost say the same of the words of Christ Himself. Even the apostolic writers do not separate the two so sharply as God has historically taught subsequent ages of the Church to separate them. The early Church lived in a daily ex- pectation of the return of Christ. For thom, therefore, there was no difficulty in interpreting Daniel's pro- phecies as applying at the same moment to the First and Second Advent. It would not be unfair, therefore, to assume that St. Paul expected the Second Advent to take place, as the First had done, "in the days of these kings " of the Fourth or Roman Monarchy. VI. What withholdeth.— Turning now to the state- ment of St. Paul, we see that he is cautioning the Thessalonians not to ex|iect the Second Coming of Christ immediately, because, as they can see, a certain great power is still in the world, which (as they have been carefully taught) must be removed before the way for Chi-ist's return is open. This great power — with the a.spect of which his readers are perfectly familiar, though they may liave forgotten its significance (" Ye know that ivhich withholdeth") — is summed up in a person who wields it. This person is " he which with- holdeth.'' His removal " out of the midst " is still a matter of futurity, yet assuredly destined to take place; and tho date, though unkno^vu to men, is fixed. The great opponent, who cannot develop so long as " he that with- holdeth" remains, is to be revealed "in his time" — i.e., at the time which Divine Proviilence has assigiiod to him. It seems impossible to doubt that this great opponent is the same as the "Little Horn" of Daniel (whose " time " is very definitely marked out in Dan. vii. 25), and that the power which Mithholds his de- velopment is the Fourth Monarchy of Daniel, and, therefore, the Roman empire. A few considerations will make the latter point clearer : — (1) There was only one power in the world at that time, rejiresented by a single person, in "the midst," before all eyes, of sufficient importance to restrain the development of Antichrist. It was the Roman empire and the Roman emperor. ^^ (2) The word rendered " withholdeth," or " letteth, 1G7 II. THESSALONIANS. docs not necessarily imply that the ohstruotion actively, conscioufibj. or dcslgmiilij obstructs the way. His presence in tlic midst is quite sufficient fur the require- ments of the word. Lulced, it would, perhaps, not 1)0 necessary that Antichrist's dehiy should even be directly V«?/sc(i by the obstruction; St. Paul niili(>f that '■ the Man of Sin " is not only to be identified with Daniel's "Little Horn," l)ut that St. Paul con- sciously drew the doctrine from that passage. But it may be objected that some of the words in which St. Paul most narrowly describes him are taken, not from the description of the Little Horn in chap, vii., l)ut from that of the Little Horn of chap. viii. 5, which represents quite a different person, viz., Antiochus Epiphanes.* It might bo thought, therefore, that St. Paul was only borrowing Daniel's language, and not adopting his prophecy. The answer is, that even those ])ropliecies of Antiochus in many points do not suit Antiochus at all; and not only .so, but the Jewish ex- positors themselves held that Antiochus had not ex- hausted the meaning of the prophecy. They them- selves apijliecl it to some Antichrist, whose coming should precede, and be defeated by the Christ's. Even in St. Jerome's time, " From this place onwards" (he is commenting on Dan. xi. 36) " the Jews think that Anti- christ is spoken of, that, after the little help (verse 3-i) of Julian, a king shall arise who shall do according to his own will, and lift himself up against all which is called God, and speak great things against the God of gods, so that he shall sit in the Temple of God and make himself god, and his will bo performed, until the wrath of God be fulfilled : for in him shall the end be. Which we, too, understand of Antichrist." Thus, according to the current explanation of the Jews, Antiochus Avas looked upon as a type of the Antichrist, whom they expected to arise (in fulfilment of Dan. vii. 8) at the overthrow of the Roman empire, whose coming was to precede the Christ's. The only change made by the Christian Church is to apply to the Second Advent a prophecy which the Jews apj)lied to the one Advent which they recognised. It is impossible not to do so when, in Dan. xii. 2, we have the Resurrection made to follow close upou the development of this Autiochus-Antichrist. So far, then, as St. Paul's date is concerned, the doctrine is drawn from chaps, ii. and vii. ; traits of character are added (in accordance with Jewish interpretati(m) from chaps, viii. and xi. VIII. St. Paul's probable Personal Expecta- tion.—Dr. Lightfoot argues, with great probability (Smith's Diet. Bible. Art. "II. Thessalonians "), that, as a personal matter, St. Paul expected to witness in his own day the development of the Antichrist (whose " secret working " was already visible to him), and that he saw in the Jews the makings of the foe to be revealed. Theirs was the apostasy — professing to cleave to God and to Moses, but " departing from the living God, through an evil heart of unbelief," and " making the word of God to be of none effect through their traditions." Theirs was the lawlessness — setting the will of God at naught in iho self-willed assertion of their privilege as the chosen people, and using the most unscrupulous ineans of checking those who preached the more liberal gospel of St. Paul. And if to St. Paul the final Antichrist was represented by the Jews, the Roman Government, which had so often befriended him, might well be called the withholder or restrainer. If such was the personal expectation of St. Paul, it was, indeed, literally f rusti'ated ; but if the Judaic spirit, of exclusive arrogance, carnal reliance on spiritual pro- mises, innovating tradition, should pass into the Christian Church, and there develop largely, St. Paul's expectation would not bo so far wrong. IX. The Development of the Horns.— The question naturally aris<>s Avhether the prophecy has not been falsified. The Roman empire has disappeared, and Antichrist is not yet revealed. We do not need to answer with some interpreters that Roman law still rules the world. A closer observation of the two passages of Daniel already mentioned would in itself suggest the true answer. In Nebuchadnezzar's vision, indeed, the Roman empire simply comes into collision • See Dan. viii. 11, 12, 23—25, and more particularly chap. xi. 36,37. 168 II. THESSALONIANS. with the Catholic Church, and falls hoforo it. Tlioro is I (4) The movement of Antichrist is not atheistic. The no hint of a protracted strnjjj'glo between them. The long duration of the Roman empire is per/iap.s sug- gested by the words, " Thou loast gazing until that a stone " (Dan. ii. 34) ; the division into the Eastern and Western empires ')nay be synd)olised by the two legs of the colossal figure; the ten toes vkiji bear the same interpi'etation as the ten horns of the later vision : these points, however, are not the most obvious or ])romincnt jioiuts of the dream. But in Daniel's vision all is quite different. There, the final triumph of the Church is won only after a long struggle, and that struggle is not with the Roman emi)iro itself. Though the Beast which symbolises the Roman empire is said to con- tinue throughout (Dan. vii. 11), it is only in the same sense, apparently, as the three other Beasts are said to have their lives prolonged (verse 12). The empin; itself has altogether changed its form, and developed into ten kingdoms, among which, yet after which (verses 8, 24), an eleventh has arisen, dissimilar from the other kingdoms, and uprooting some of them. With this power it is that the struggle which ends in the Church's final victory takes place, and not witli the old imperial power of Rome. If, therefore, the dream of Nebuchadnezzar may be said to have been fulfilled in the first coming of Christ, in tlie clays of the Roman emperors, the \'ision of Daniel must wait for its ful- filment until the Roman empire has passed a^vay into an even more different form than it has at present reached. X. Characteristics of Anticlirist.— (1) He is a human being. The title " Man of Sin " excludes Satan, as Chrysostom remarks : Satan acts through the man (1 Thess. ii. 9) to the full extent of his power — " enters into him," as he entered into an earlier " Son of Perdition" — but does not destroy his humanity. (2) He is a single person. This, too, is involved in the phrase " Man of Sin," especially when followed by the " Son of Perdition." It is not to bo denied that poetically the first title, at any rate, might be a personi- fication of a movement, or (as the "kings" in Daniel mean " kingdoms ") the title of a wicked power, the head of which might even be more innocent than his subjects. But not only is it simpler to understand the phi-ases themselves (especially the second) of a single person, but the sharp dramatic contrast between the Christ and the Antichrist seems to require a personal exhibition of evil. The Antichi'ist is to have a coming (A'erse 9) and a manifestation (verse 3), so as to bo instantly recognised, and will display himself by significant acts (verse 4), which all r(>quire a person. Besides, the tyi^es of hun — Antiochus, Caligula, Nero, &c. — could liardly be said, according to Scriptural analogy, to be " fulfilled " in a mere headless move- ment. The application of tlie name "Man of Sin " to any succession of men (as, for instance, all the Popes of Rome) is peremptorily forbidden by the fact that the detection and destruction of the ]\Ian of Sin by the Advent of Christ follows immediately upon Ills manifes- tation of himself. (3) Tins person, though single, heads a movement. He is the captain of " the Apostasy." Ho has a large and devoted following (verse 10). Indeed, though his dominion is " diverse " from other kingdoms, yet he is almost called a king in Dau. vii. 24 : tlie Avord, how- ever, is (perhaps) carefully avoided. The diversity between his monarchy and theirs might, for instance, consist in its not being, like theirs, territorial or dynastic; it might be a spiritual or an intellectual dominion, interpenetrating the territorial kingdoms. 169 Man of Sin super-exalts himself, indeed, against every God, true or false, but it is not by denial of the Di^dne existence. On the contrary, ho claims himself to be the true God, and exacts the homage duo to the true God ; thereby acknowledging the existence and work- ing of God, whicli he avers to have become his own. (5) The antichristian movement does not even break openly with the Catholic Church. It is an " apostasy," indeed, but the same Greek word is used in Heb. iii. 12, and in 1 Tim. iv. 1, in neither of which cases will it suit the context to understand the word of an outward leaving of the Christian Church. The persons must at any rate have been Christians, or they could not be apostates. And the apostasy is all the more terrible if, while the forms of the Church are kept to, there is a departure from the inward spirit. And in this case several points seem to indicate an apostasy within the Church. In the first place, as we have seen above, the movement is distinctly not an atheistic movement, like the German Socialism. Then, the act of session in the " Temple of God " cannot mean anything else than an attempt to exact divine homage from the Christian Church, which, of course, could only be hoped for through adopting Christian forms. The account of the Satanic miracles which the Man of Sin will work in attestation of his claim shows that the persons who follow him are duped into believing that he actually is the Lord. An atheistic materialism would deny miracles altogether. Now we may venture to say that, even if St. Paul had not (as Bishop Wordsworth supposes) St. Luke's Gospel in his hands, yet he was familiar with the eschatological discourses of our Lord contained in the Synoptic Gospels. In these (whicli so frequently use the language of the Book of Daniel) our Lord holds uj) as the greatest terror of the last days, the constant danger, waiting even upon the " elect," of being seduced into mistaking certain pretenders for Himself. An Anti- christ (in its full meaning) expresses more than an opponent of Christ; like the compound Anti-Pope, it im]>lies a rival claimant to the honours which he him- self acknowledges to be due only to Jesus Christ. Antichrist ijretends to be actually Jesus. Such preten- sions would, of course, be meaningless and ridiculous to all except believers in Jesus Christ and His Church. (Seo Matt. xxiv. 4, 5, 10—12, 23. 26, and the parallel passages in Mark and Luke.) The same would even appear, on close inspection, to be the teaching of the Book of Daniel itself. The Church is " given into his hand " (chap. vii. 25), a much more powerful expres- sion, supposing the Church to be constitutionally bound to him, and not accidentally subject as to a Decius or a Galerius. (6 ) Daniel's Antichrist is characterised by ecclesiastical innovation. " Ho shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws'' (Dan. vii. 25) — not to stamp Christianity out altogether, but arbi- trarily to alter the Church's icorshij) (see Pusey. p. 81) and traditional constitution. The .same departure from primitive tradition characterises him in chap. xi. 37 : " Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers: a God whom his fathers knew not shall he honour." Tho constant interpretation of "new gods" among the primitive Fatliers is " new doctrines " : for. as a inatter of fact, whatever materially alters our conception of God may be said to make ns worship a different Being : tho God of the extreme Calvinist. for instance, who creates millions of immortal beings for the express purpose of being glorified by their endless pains, can hardly be called the same as tho Father of our Lord IT. THESSALONIANS. Josns Christ. And this arbitrary innovation is, in fact, tlio vory ffatnro whidi St. Panl selects. It is tlio "lawlessness" or "rebellion" which marks both liis movement (2 Tliess. ii. 7) and himself (ib. verse 8) — which lawlessness, or self-will, is perfectly corn- pat il)lo with exaggerated external reverence for laws and discipline, as is proved by Dr. Lightfoot, who thinks tiiat St. Panl had the Jews si)ecially in mind (Smith's Bible Diet., Art. "II. Thessalonians "). Other more obvions kinds of " sin " can hardly bo said to characterise the Man of Sin ; for (not to mention 1 Tim. iv. I, wliich refers expressly to Daniel) in Dan. xi. 37 ho is given an ascetic character. This spirit of innovation witliin the Chnrch. implj'ing as it does that liis fiat is as good as God's, which finally leads him to claim divine Jiouours from the Church, is his charac- teristic sin. (7) It may be added that the teaching of the Apoca- lypse is evidently drawn from Daniel, thereby corrobo- rating our l)cliof that St. Paul's is also, and that such an interpretation as is here suggested has .almost tlie catholic consent of the early i'athers, who almost all teach that the fall of the Roman empire will usher in the Antichrist, and that the Antichrist will be professedly Christian. Their testimony is valuable, inasmuch as some of them seem not merely to be offer- ing an exegesis of particular texts of Scripture, but recording a primitive tradition coeval with the New Testament. XI. Identification of the Man of Sin.— It is not solely a Protestant interpretation, but one which indirectly derives more or less 'sui)port from several eminent names in past ages in communion with the Roman See (for instance, St. Gregory the Great, and Rol)ort Grosseteste), that the final Antichrist will be a Bishop of Rome. And the present writer does not licsitate to assert his con^^iction that no other interpre- tation will so well suit all the requirements of the case. This is by no means the same as tlie vulgar doctrine that the Pope — i.e., any and every Pope— is the Man of Sin. The Man of Sin has not j^et made liis appearance. But the diversity and yet re-cmblance between his kingdom and the kingdoms of the world ; the firm hand over tho Church ; tho claims made upon her homage ; the un- recognised movement of rebellion against God while still He is outwardly acknowledged (the " mystery of lawlessness ") ; the restless innovation upon the Church's apostolic traditions ; the uncompromising self-assertion : all these are traits which seem to inclicate a future Roman pontiff, more clearly than any other power which we could at present point to, — and this, without having recourse to those more superficial coincidences whicli may be found in the Notes of Bishop Wordsworth's Greek Testament, or Dr. Eadie's Commentary on these Epistles. To those who are familiar with the way in which modern Roman dogmas have been formed — exaggerations, .at first condemned, becoming more and more popular, till they acquired the consistency of general tradition, .and were then stamped with authori- tative sanction — and who now watch the same process at work in the popuLar theology of Italy and France, there would be nothing surprising in the literal fulfilment of the prophecies of Antichrist in some future Pope. Already one Divine attribute has been definitely claimed by .and conceded to the occupant of the Roman See, in defiance of primitive tradition, and yet so pLausibly as to suggest rather an implicit faith in God th.'in an explicit denial of Him. Comparisons ex aequo between the Life and Passion of our Lord and that of Pius the Ninth formed a large proportion of the spiritu.al diet of foreign Papists towards the close of the last pontificate. Even eminent prelates of tho Roman obedience .are reported not to have scruj>led .already to use of the Papacy such phrases as " Third Incarnation of the Deity " ; and it would be only follow- ing analogies of " development," if, in process of time, these last exaggerations also should be formulated into dogma, as lias been the case with the dogma of Infallibility, and some Pope to come should in some way claim to be actually identified with Jesus Christ. 170 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. " 111 the * Acts of the Apostles ' Luke relates to Theophilus events of -which he was an eye-witness, ...... but [omits] the journey of Paul from Rome to Spain. " An Epistle to Titus, and two to Timothy, which, thoug-h written only from personal feeling and a,ffection, are still hallowed in the respect of the Cathohc Church, and in the arrangement of ecclesiastical discipline." {From the Muratorian Fragment on the Canon discovered in the Amhrosian Library at Milan, and supposed to have been written not later than a.d. 170.) THE PASTORAL EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. I. Their Nature.— The two Letters of St. Paul to Timotliy and tlie one Letter to Titus, usually kuowu as tlie Pastoral Epistles, differ from tlie other Epistles of the Apostle, beiuj^ addressed to individuals, and not to churches. [There is another private Epistle of St. Paul, addressed to one Philemon, consisting only of a few lines, exclusively confined to the relations which should subsist between a Christian master and a Christian slave.] These divinely insj^ired compositions were written for the guidance of two younger men, disciples and intimate friends of the elder Apostle. To these, Timothy and Titus, St. Paul had entrusted the govern- ment and supervision of two important churches — Ephesus and Crete. Of one of these churches, that of Ephesus, St. Paul was probably the founder, and from his long residence in the city, we may reasonably conclude that the Ephesian congregations had been built up mainly under his teaching and influence ; the circumstances of the clmrch of Crete will be discussed more particularly in the brief special Introduction to the Epistle to Titus. Over the Ephesian community, especially dear to St. Paul from his close and intimate relation with Ephesus, the Apostle placed the disciple he knew and perhaps loved the best, the pupil whom he had personally trained from early youth. Of all St. Paul's friends there was none so close to him as the one lie had for so many years watched over and educated in the faith as his own adopted son. The two Letters to Timothy contain the master's last charge, his dying wishes to the sou of his love, who knew so well his mind, his every thought and aspiration. "We may well conceive that almost every thought in these Letters, every charge, every exhortation, was a reminiscence of some bit of public teaching well known to Timothy, of some solemn conversation between the master and the pupil, of some grave council in which St. Paul and his trusted pupil and friend had shared. The two Letters were the old master's last words, and as the master wrote, or, more probably, dictated them, he was conscious of this, and strove to compress into the necessai-y short compass of a brief Epistle a summary of what he had already put forth as his teaching on the question of church doctrine, chui-ch order, and church life. This is the reason why the charges concerning the life to be led are so repeated, but at the same time so brief; why the directions respecting church order are so concise; why the doctrinal statements are simply urged, and never, as was his old custom in some Epistles, argued out and discussed. " We see liere," as one has eloquently described it, " rather the succession of bnlliant sparks than the steady flame ; burning words indeed, and dc(>p pathos, but not the flower of his firmness, as in his discipline of the Galatians — not the noon of his bright warm eloquence, as in the inimitable psalm of love " (1 Cor. xiii.). Many of the more doctrinal statements in these 173 Pastoral Epistles are something more than " memories " of past conversations, past deliberations — more than reminders of former teaching— they are evidently current and well-known sayhigs among the Christians of the years a.d. 65 — 67. Now they are a well-loved line or 'lines of a hymn to the Father, as in the First Epistle, chap. vi. 15, 16 ; now a verse from a metrical creed sung by these believers of the fii'st days, as in chap. iii. 16 of the same Epistle, where the principal events of the divine and human life of Christ, so far as that life was connected with man, are set forth ; or, they are evidently well-known sayings wliich had become watchwords of the rapidly growing Church of Christ, introduced by the striking formula " faithful is the saying." There are no less than five of these in the Pastoral Epistles. All these are woven into the tapestry of the writings, and contain many a word, many an expression not found in any other of the known Epistles of St. Paul ; and it is to the presence of these evident quotations from hymn, or creed, or sacred utterances of the faith, that these last Letters of St. Paul owe many of those peculiarities of thought and of expression which have suggested to the critical minds of so many scholars of our own thougtliful age the question — were these Epistles really the work of the great Apostle of the Gentiles ? II. Their Authenticity. — For seventeen centuries the Pastoral Epistles were believed to have been written by St. Paul, and in all the churches were received among the divinely inspired Scriptures of the New Testament. Only in this present century, for certain reasons specified below, has their authenticity been called in question by a school of German criticism. From the very earliest times wo find constant refer- ences to these Pastoral Letters of St. Paul. Although there are no exact quotations in those few fragments we possess of the writings of men contemporary with or immediately succeeding the Apostles, still the lan- guage of Clement of Rome, Polycarp of Smyrna, and Ignatius of Antiocli (all three living and writing in the first century), seems to show their familiarity with the language and thought of these Epistles. Unquestioned references to one or other of these Letters are found in Irenajus (second century), Ter- tuUian (second century), Clement of Alexiindria (second century), Theophilus of Antioch (second century). Eusebius (a.d. 320) without question includes tlie three Epistles in liis catalogue, among the universally confessed canonical writings. In addition to this, in the famous Fragment on the Canon of Scripture edited liy Muratori, generally ascribed to the latter half of the second century, wo find tlie.so '" three " classed among the Epistles of St. Paul. They are also contained in the Peschito-Syriac version of the' New Testament, which was made in the second century. There never, indeed, seems to have Ijeeu the slightest doubt in the early Christian Church that the THE PASTORAL EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. Pastoral Epistles were canonical, and written hy St. Paul. Tlio only doubter, in fact, seems to have been the f.iinous Gnostic heretic Marcion (second century), who for doctrinal reasons omitted these writinffs from liis canon. But Marcion arbitrarily made up his own volume of Scripture, excluding wiiat was distinctly adverse to his peculiar system. He admitted into his "canon "only ten of St. Paul's Epistles and a mutilated Gospel of St. Luke, omitting all the rest of tho Now Testament writings. Wo possess a continuous chain of historical evi- dence for the authenticity of these writings from the earliest times. We can, then, aver that from the very days of tho Apostles down to tho beginning of this century, tho two Epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus were received in all the churches as undoubted writings of St. Paul, and were reverenced as Holy Scripture. The school of critics to which allusion has been made above has sought to undermine this testi- mony, stretching over one thousand seven hundred years, by arguments di-awu from tho contents of these tlu'co Epistles. The following are the main points they have en- deavoured to establish : — (1) A number of words and phrases are found in these Letters which never occur in any other of St. Paul's writings. (2) An ecclesiastical organisation of a period long subsequent to St. Paul's time apparently existed when these Pastoral Epistles were written. (3) Heresies of a date later than the period included in the lifetime of St. Paid are combated in the three Letters. (4) In the lifetime of the Apostle no period can be found which would suit the circumstances under which it is evident these Letters were composed. We will reply to these arguments very briefly : — (1) As regards the uinisual words and phrases, it must be borne in mind that the Epistles or groups of Epistles of St. Paul were compo.sed under very different circumstances, and for varied purposes, and with long intervals of time between tlie several writings. To a certain extent, in each Epistle or group of Epistles we should expect to find its own peculiar vocal)ulary : and this we find, for the number of verbal peculiarities in the group of Letters we are now considering does not ai)pear to be greater than that existing in other un- doubted Letters of the Apostle. Prof. Van Oosterzee, of Utrecht {Die PaHtoralbriefe, 3rd edit. 187i), com- putes the number of these peculiar words in the three Epistles at one hundred and eiglity-eight, while in the Epistles to the Pliilippians, Epiiesians, and Colossians ho reckons one hundred and ninisty-four of these verbal peculiarities not elsewhere found. But while verbal peculiarities in this group of Epistles do not appear more numerous than in other special groups of writings by tho same haiul, there are peculiar circumstances connected with these Letters to Timothy and Titus, which would of themselves fairly have explained a much greater divergence from the customary style and usual expressions than we actually find. Here, and hero only — with the exception of the little Letter to Philemon — is he writing to dear friends, not to churches. The official character of tho communica- tion is in great measure here lost sight of. Tlie cliief pastor is addressed, ratlicr tlian the flock ; and the chief pastor in each case is the pupil and intimate asso- ciate of the writer. Surely different expressions might be reasonably looked for in such Letters as these. Again, we might fairly expect that in this last period of tiio Apostle's long life his theological vocabulary would have become materially enlarged. This would account for his use of certain new words when ho wished to express or I'eiterate perhaps old thoughts. It should be remembered, too, that he was in these Epistles combating new forms of heresy which were rapidly developing themselves in the various growing Christian communities. Wiiat moi'e likely than that the old master, the wise and divinely inspired teacher, should have appropriated some of the favourite sajings of his opponents, the false teachers of Ephesus and the Asian cities — should have '' borrowed " from these un- happy men their own words, thus rescuing them from the perversions which false philosophy had begun to make of them ? We have already, in the first section of this short Introduction, suggested a probable expknation of the repeated use of the formulary " faithful is the saying," and of other divine sayings wliich had apparently grown into customary use in the Church. On the otlier hand, would not a forger who was desirous to introduce for a jjarticular purpose a writing, or writings, into the Church, under the A'enerated name of St. Paul, have been specially careful not to introduce into his composition any word or expression foreign to the Apostle's most common and best known termi- nology ? (2 ) The ecclesia.stical organisation to which reference is made in these Pastoral Epistles is, after all, of the simplest description. The forms of the govei-nmeut of the Jewish synagogue, only slightly modified to suit the exigencies of the mixed Jewish and Gentile congre- gations of Christians, are evidently all that existed at the time when St. Paid Avrote to Timothy and Titus. The only marked innovation is that provision which was being made in all the churches for women's work — a provision rendered necessary from the new position which women, under the teaching of our Lord and His disciples, were henceforth to occupy in tho work and life of the world. (This great and important question is treated of at some length in the commentary on the Pastoral Epistles which follows.) And even of this female organisation we see the germs in such notices as in Acts vi. 1; ix. 36 — 41; xxi. 9; and in the life and work of one like Lydia (Acts xvi. 14), or PrisciUa (Acts xviii. 2 and 26), &c. The presbyterate, not merely in name, but also in the matter of the functions assigned to the office, was clearly adopted from the synagogue, of course with such changes and modifications as the new and growing society required. The diaconate also, in some way, appears to have been derived from Jewish precedents. The very name, " LcA-ites," by which these inferior ministers of the Church were often called, points to the origin of the " order." Thus Jerome (Ep. 27) distinguishes them from the presbyters, speaking of the deacons as " the countless number of Levites." So, too, Salvian, A.D. 450, writes of tho deacons, calling them "Levites." Fre((uently in the Councils the term " Levite " is used as the peculiar title of the deacon. But the diaconate — which, although probably origi- nally a copy of a Jewish order of ministers in the puljlic services connected with worship and religious instruction, .still may be looked on as an order especially belonging to the Christian Cliurch — existed long before " the last days " of St. Paul. Indeed, it is traceable liaek to the very first years of the existence of the little Jerusalem commiuaity of believers iii Jesus of Nazareth. 174 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. See Acts vi. 2 — 6, wliore flio famous Seven are ap- pointed by the Twelve Apostles — diuconelii trapczals, " to serve tables." The functions of tlio " deacons of Epliesus " alluded to by St. Paul were certainly not very ditt'erent from the duties apparently performed by the " t^even " of Acts vi. See, especially verses 3, 8, 9, 10, wliere those solemnly ordained ones assisted the Apostle in alms- givino;", in tlio general regulation of the Church's charities, aud also appear to have preached and taught publicly. But there is one argument for tlie extreme antiquity of these Epistles derived exclusively from internal evidence supplied by the Epistles tliemselves. At tlie very co:umencement of the second century it is an acknowledged fact that the episcopal office was firndy and widely established. But tliese Letters were written before any sign of episcopal government had appeared in Gentile Christendom. In the Pastoral Epistles the Greek words rendered " bishop" and " pres- byter" {episcopos,prcshyteros) are applied indifferently to the same person. (See Note on 1 Tim. iii. 1.) Too great stress can hardly be laid on the vast difference which existed between the ecclesiastical organisation presented in the Pastoral Epistles and that revealed to lis in the Letters of Ignatius, written at the very commencement of the second century, even if we only admit as genuine the shorter form of the ver- sion of the Ignatiau Epistles, or the still briefer recension of the three Syi'iac Letters edited by Dr. Cureton. No candid critic would surely suggest for so vast a development in ecclesiastical organisation a less period than thirty to forty years, placing the Ignatian Epistles in the early part of the second century. This would give as the date of the so-called Pastoral Letters, the last year of St. Paul's life. (3) Heresies of a later date appear to be combated in these writings. But the false teachers referred to here were evidently Judaistic in their teaching (see for instance 1 Tim. i. 7 ; iv. 3; Titus i. 10—11; iii. 9), while the Gnostic teachers of the next century were strongly «jifi-Judaistic. This state of things was no doubt brought about by the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the total ruin of the Jewish national system, in the year of our Lord 70. In these Epistles wo have allusion to schools of heresies widely differing from those wliich opposed the Catholic Church in the second century. Here we find the seeds, but only the seeds, of the famous Gnostic teaching. Dean Alford (Prolegomena to the Pastoral Epistles) has well, tliougli roughly, painted the development of heresy in the early days of Christianity. In the first years, the principal enemies within the church were "Jndaising Christians," these are alluded to in St. Paul's earlier Epistles. " Tlio false teachers against whom Timothy and Titus were warned seemed to hold a position intermediate to the Apostle's former Jndaising adversaries and the subsequent Gnostic heretics." Tlie general characteristics of the heresies spoken of in the Pastoral Epistles would certainly not appear to belong to a period subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 7U). (4) As regards the last objection, — to the critics who seriously propose to throw doubt on the authenticity of these Epistles, alleging that it is impossible to assign during the lifetime (jf St. Paul, as related in the Acts, a period which would suit the peculiar circumstances under which it was evident that these writings Avcro composed, wo re]»ly that St. Paul lived aud worked after the cai)tivity related in the last cliapter of the Acts ; for the unanimous testimony of the primitive Church tells us that the a^jpeal of St. Paul to Caesar (Acts XXV. 11) terminated successfully, that after the imprisonment related in the last chapter of the Acts, he was liberated a.d. 63, aud that he spent some time (A.D. 63 to A.D. 65 — 66) in freedom before he was again arrested and condemned. The principal evidences for this are found in the Ej)istle of Clement, Bishop of Rome, the disciple of St. Paul (Phil. iv. 3), to the I'omans, written in the last j'Car of the first century. " He, Paul, had gone to the extremity of the loest before his martyrdom." In a Roman writer the " extremity of the west" could only signify "Spain," aud we knoAV in that portion of his life related in tlie Acts he had never journeyed further west than Italy. In the fragments of the Canon called Muratori's, written about A.D. 170, we read in the account of the Acts of tlie Apostles, " Luko relates to Theophilus events of which he was an eye- witness, as also ill a separate place [Luke xxii. 31 — 33] he evidently declares the martyrdom of Peter, but [omits] the journey of St. Paul to Spain." Eusebius {H. E. ii. 22— A.D. 320) writes, "After defending himself successfully it is currently reported that the Apostle again went forth to jn-oclaim the gospel, and afterwards came to Rome a second time, and was martyred under Nero." St. Chrysostom (A.D. 398) mentions as an undoubted historical fact, " that St. Paul after his residence in Rome departed to Spain." St. Jerome (a.d. 390) also relates, " that St. Paul was dismissed by Nero that ho might preach Christ's gospel in the West." Thus in the Catholic Church in the East and "West during the three lumdred years which succeeded the death of St. Paul, a unanimous tradition was cm-rent that the great Apostle's labours were continued for a period extending over two or three years after his libe- ration from that Roman imprisonment related in Acts xxviii. During this renewed sciison of activity, probably in the last year or fifteen months, the Epistles to Timothy and Titus were written. The last of the three Letters, the Second Epistle to Timothy, was no doubt written within a few weeks at most of the glorious end. We see, then, that internal evidence, when carefully sifted, instead of contra- dicting, supports, with a weighty mass of independent testimony, the unanimous tradition of the ancient Churcli which, with one voice, proceediu"^ from the East as well as from the West, pronounced the Pastoral Epistles canimical, receiving them as the word of tho Holy Spirit communicated through the .Apostle Paul. 175 INTRODUCTION THE riEST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TIMOTHY. I. Timothy. — Timotliy was a native of the province of Lycaouia iu Asia Minor — most probably of Lystra, a small town some tliirty miles to tlie south of Icouium, the modern Konieh. His father was a pa^an, but his mother and ji^randmother, Lois and Eunice, were Jewesses, evidently devout and earnest iu the practice of the religion of their forefathers. They became Chi-istians, apparently, at the time of St. Paul's first visit to Asia Minor in company with Barnabas (a.d. 46), (Acts xiv. ; 2 Tim. i. 5; iii. 15). From Lois and Eunice Timothy no doubt learned the rudiments of the faitli of the Lord Jesus. Some five years later, iu company with Silas (A.D. 51), St. Paul paid a second visit to Asia Minor. Moved pro- bably by the devotion and earnestness of the young son of Eunice, and seeing in him the promise of a loving and heroic life, St. Paul took Timothy in the place of Mark, whose heart had failed him in the presence of so many difficulties and dangers. From this time (a.d. 51) Timothy's life was closely associated with that of his master. He was with the Gentile Apostle in Macedonia and Corinth (A.D. 52 — 53), (Acts x^^i. 14; xviii. 5; 1 Tliess. i. 1); mth him at Ephesu.s, wheuce he was sent on a special mission to Corintli (A D. 55 — 5G), (1 Cor. iv. 17; xvi. 10) ; witli liim wlien he wrote from Macedonia the Second Corintliiau Letter (2 Cor. i. 1); with him at Corinth when ho wrote to the Roman Church (A.D. 57). (Rom. xvi. 21); with him when he was returning to Asia, where he was arrested pi-ior to the long captivity at Ciusarea and Rome (a.d. 57 — 58), (Acts XX. 4). We find him again specially mentioned as tho Apostle's companion during that long Roman im- prisonment (A.D. Gl— 63). (See the Epistles written at that period — Col. i. 1 ; Philcm. verse 1 ; Phil. i. 1.) After the Apostle's release from his first gi'cat captivity (A,D. 63), (see General Introduction to the Paxtoral Epistles), Timothy, still St. Paul's companion (1 Tim. i. 3), was left in charge of the E])hcsian Church (probably about A.D. 64). While fulfilling this work lie received the two Epistles of St. Paul ( a.d. 64 — ()5) which bear his name. In the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 23) Timothy is alluded to as having been im- prisoned and again liberated. This solitary notice, however, throws but little light on the life of the Apostle's famous disciple, except that it seems to tell us that the pupil's life was fuU of hardship and danger, as was the master's, and that the younger man had well learned the lesson of St. Paul, who bade him with his dying breath (2 Tim. ii. 3) '" endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Kicephoi-us and the ancient martyrologies tell us that Timothy died by martjTdom under the Emperor Domitian some time before A.D. 96. Baronius, however, puts his martjT death a little later — A.D. 109 — when the Emperor Trajan was reigning. The accompanying table will assist the reader in following the life of Timotliy : — ROJIAU A.D. Emperor Reigning. 46 Claudius. First meeting between Paul and Timothy, still a child, at Lystra — probably in the house of Eu- nice and Lois. 51 Paul and SUas take Timothy with them from Lj'stra. 52 Timothy accompanies Paul in his journey through ^Macedonia. .53 Timotliy is with Paul at Corinth. 54—56 Nero. Timothy is with Paul at E])hesus. 57 Timothy is with Paul at Corinth. . Paul writes Epistle to Romans. 58 Timothy is with Paul in the jour- ney from Corinth to Asia. 62—63 Timothy is with I'aul during the Koman imprisonment. 64 Paul leaves Timothy at Ejihesus. 65—06 Timothy receives the two Epistles from Paul. Not later than 96 Domitian. Alleged martjTdom of Timothy. Or, according ) to Baronius, ^Trajan. Alleged martyrdom. loy J II. Date of the Epistle.— The First Epistle to Timothy was written apparently in the year 65 — 66, while the Apostle was ])assing through Macedonia, after a probable journey into Spain and a return to Ephesus, at which city he had left Timothy in charge of the chui'ch. 176 I. TIMOTHY. m. General Contents of the Epistle.— No systematic arrangenieut is followed in this Epistle. Its couteuts may be roughly divided into six general divisions, coinciding with the six chapters : — 1. — St. Panl reminds Timothy of his especial com- mission at Ephesus — the repression of a school of false teachers which threatened to subvert the church. This leads to a brief review of the Apostle's own past histoiy (chap. i.). 2. — The second division is occupied with directions respecting the public worship of Christians, and the parts which each sex should take in public prayer (chap. ii.). 3. — Treats of the office-bearers in the church — bishops (or, elders), deacons, and deaconesses (chap. iii.). 4. — Again St. Paul refers to Timothy's commission in respect to false teachers. He dwells upon the deceptive teaching of asceticism, showing the dangers which accompanied such doctrine. The practical godly life of Timothy and his staff would, after aU, bo the best antidote to the poison disseminated by these unreal, untrue men (chap. iv.). 5. — Treats {a) of the behaviour of the church officials to the flock of Christ; (b) of the public charities of the Church in connection with destitute and helpless women ; (c) of a certain order of pres- byteral or elder widows, which, in connection with these cliarities, might be developed in such a Christian community as Ephesus ; (d) rules for Timothy, as chief presbyter, respecting ordina- tion and selection of colleagues in tlie ministry, &c. (chap. v.). 6. — A few plain comments on the great social question of slavery. How Christian slaves were to behave in their condition. The false teachers must be sternly combated in their teaching on this point. Timothy is warned with solemn earnestness against covetousness. This, St. Paul argues, was the root of all false teaching (chap. vi.). One golden thread seems to run through this, and, it may be said, through the other two Pastoral Letters. St. Paul's earnestness in these last days of his life seems rather to expend itself in exhortations to Chris- tian men and women to live a good, pure, self-denying life. Doctrine, in these last words of the noble, gene- rous toiler for the Lord, retreats a little into the back- ground. It is tiiie that he reiterates in several places the gi-ounds of a Christian's belief — that he rehearses in plain and evidently well-known plirases the great articles of the Christian faitli ; but his last words dwell rather on life tlian on theology. The errors of the false teachers whose deadly influence Timothy was to counteract belonged rather to an evil life than to a false belief. The pure and saintly conduct, the pattern home life — these things, Timothy and his colleagues must remember, were the surest antidote against the poisonous teaching and the selfish practice of the enemies of the Lord Jesus. 177 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TIMOTHY. CHAPTER I.— (1) Paul, an apostle of Chap. i. 1, 2. Jesus Christ by the com- The salutation, maudmeiit of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, wliich is our hope ; '^^ unto Timothy, my own son in the faith : Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. (^^ As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, ^, . ,. when I went into Mace- Timothy is donia, that thou mightest ^irged to re- ■I ,1 j_° .1 press teachers charge some that they of strange doo teach no other doctrine, trines. <^) neither give heed to fables and end- (1) Paid, an apostle of Jesus Christ.— The letter to Timothy, though addressed to a veiy dear and intimate friend, was sent with a two-fold puqiose. It was an affectionate reminder from his old master, " Paul the Aged," to his disciple to be steadfast in the midst of the many peiils to which one in the position of Timothy would be exposed in the city of Ephesus; but it was also an ofBcial command to resist a powerful school of false teaching which had arisen in the midst of that Ephesian Church over which Timothy was then presiding. So St. Paul prefaces his letter by desig- nating himself an Apostle according to the command- ment of God. The commandment especially referred to is to be found in Acts xiii. 2 : Separate me Bar- nabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. God our Saviour. — This designation is peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles, but frequently occurs in the Septuagint. It is fitly ascribed to the first Person of the blessed Trinity in reference to His redeeming love in Christ. Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.— The words " which is," printed in italics in the English version, are bettor left out : Jesus Christ, our hope. As St. Paul felt the end of his course approaching, he loved to dwell on the thought of Jesus — to whom, during so many weary years, he had longed to depart and be with — as his hope, his one glorious hope. The same expression is foimd in the Epistles of Ignatius. (2) My own son in the faith.— Timothy was St. Paul's very own son. No fleshly relationship existed between the two. but a closer and far dearer connection. St. Paul had taken him while yet a very young man to be his comi)anion and fellow-lubourer (Acts xvi. 3). He told tlie Pliilippian Church he had no one liko- miudcd (with Timothy) wlio would care for their affairs. He ^v^ote to the Corinthians how Timothy was his beloved and faitliful son in the Lord, who would put them in remembrance of his ways in Christ. Mercy.— Between the usual' salutation " grace and peace." in these Pastoral Epistles, he introduces " mercy." The nearness of death, the weakness of old age. the dangers, ever increasing, which crowded round Paul, seem to have called forth from him doejier expressions of love and tender pity. Jesus Christ, liis " hope," bui-ued before him, a guiding star ever brighter 178 and clearer ; and the " mercy " of Grod, which the old man felt he had obtained, he longed to share with others. (3) That thou mightest charge some.— Some time after the first imprisonment at Rome, and con- .sequently beyond the period included by St. Luke in the Acts, St. Paul must have left Timothy behind at Ephesus while he pursued his journey towards Mace- donia, and given him the solemn charge here referred to. The false teachers who are disturbing the Church at Ephesus are not named. There is, perhaps, a ring of contempt in the expression " some," but it seems more probable that the names were designedly omitted in this letter, which was intended to be a public docu- ment. The chief superintendent of the Ejihesian com- munity, doubtless, knew too weU who were the mistaken men referred to. That they teach no other doctrine, — " Other " — i.e.. other than the truth. When the Apostle and his disciple Timothy re-visited Ephesus. after the long Csesarean and Roman imprisonment, they found the Church there distracted with questions raised by Jewish teachers. The curious and hair-splitting interpreta- tion of the Mosaic law, the teaching concerning the tithing of mint and anise and cummin, which in the days of Jesus of Nazareth had paralysed all real spiritual life in Jerusalem, had found its way during the Apostle's long enforced absence into the restless, ever-changing congregations at Ephesus. Dangerous controversies, disputiugs concerning old prophecies, mingled with modem traditions, occupied the attention of many of the Christian teacliers. They E referred to talk about theology rather than try to ve the life wliich men like St. Paul had told them that followers of Jesus must live if they would be His servants indeed. Unless these deadening influences were removed, the faith of the Ephesian Church threatened to become utterly impractical. The doctrine those restless men were teaching, and wliich St. Paul so bitterly condemns, seems to have been no settled form of heresy, but a profitless teaching, arising mainly, if not entirely, from Jewish sources. (4) Neither give heed to fables.— Tliose fables were, no doubt, purely Rabbinical. It was said in the Jewish schools that an oral Law had been given on Teachers of Strange Doctrines I. TIMOTHY, I. to he Repressed. less genealogies, -whieli minister ques- tions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith : so do. ^^^ Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned : ^^^ from which Sinai, and that this Law, a succession of teachers, from tlie time of Moses, had handed do\VTi. This '• Law that is upon the Hp," as it was termed, was further ilhistrated and enhirjifed by tlio sayings and comments of the more famous Jemsli Rabbis, and in the time of our Lord constituted a supplement to the written Law in the Pentateuch. For centuries tliis supplementary code was preserved by memory or in secret rolls, and doubt- less was ceon. but were still, reckoned among the Cliristian congregations of 179 The Heal Piayose I. TIMOTHY, I. of "the Law" of Hoses. some having swerved ^ have turned aside unto vain jangling ; ^"^ desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they sa}-, nor whereof thej affirm. ^^> But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; I OT.notaimingat. {'J) jaiowiug this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murdei-ers of mothers, for manslayers, (^"^ for tho Ephesiau Cliurt-h. TliG presidiug presbyter ap- pointed by St. Paul could liavo exercised no possible authority over any not reckoned iu tlic Church's pale. Unto vain jangling. — These men, having missed ilio time aim of the cominandmeut, have now turned themselves to vain, empty talking, which could lead to nothing except wranglings and angry disputations. (^) Desiring to be teachers of the law. — " Desiring," though they really were not. They coveted the respect and influence which was ev^er paid to the acknowledged teachers of the Law of Moses ; but these men utterly failed to understand the real spiritual meaning of that Law which they pretended to teach. Similar pretenders in a neighbouring Church, some years later, received from another Apostle — St. John — a stern rebuke for such pretensions. " I know," WTote St. John to the Cliristians of Smyrna, " tho blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are tlie synagogue of Satan " (Rev. ii. 9). Understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they aflB.rm. — A wise teacher must under- stand what ho teaches, and must, at the same time, bo clear iu his own mind that what he teaches is true. The false teachers are here charged (1) with not understanding the wild fa))les and traditions upon which their teaching was based, and (2) with not com- prehending the things whereof they make their as- sertions : that is, they had no real belief in those great truths which really underlie that Law with which they were meddling. i^) But we know. — Better, Noiv we Icnow ; a strong expression of liis knowledge, leai-ned in the school of tlie Holy Ghost. He spoke with the conscious autho- rity of an Ajxjstle, confident of tho truth of what ho preached and taught. That the law is good, if a man use it law- fully.—" The Law is good," St. Paul declared with apostolic authoritative knowledge, " should a man — i.e., a teacher of the Law — make use of it lawfully ; if he should use it so as to make men conscious of their sins, conscious that of themselves they deserve no mercy, only punishment." To press tliis sorro^vf ul knowledge was the Law's true work upon men. It was Jiever intended to supply materials for casuistry and idle, profitless arguments. It was never m(>ant as a system out of which man might draw material for self-decep- tion. It was never meant as a system througli whicli a man might imagine that by a compliance, more or less rigid, with its outer ritual ho was satisfying all the higher requirements of justice and truth. ('" Knowing this.— The teacher of the Law, being aware of this gre;\t truth, now to be detailed — viz.: — That the law is not made for a righteous man. — The stern Mosaic Law Avas enacted centuries before the M(>ssiah Jesus had given to men His new Law. The Law of Moses was not. then, enacted for a " righteous man " — tliat is, for a Christian in the true sense of the word, who has sought and fouiid justi- fication by faith in Jesus, and who, sanctified by tho Holy Gliost, is living a new life. In other words, the " teacher," Paul says, must teach tho flock of Ephesus (1) the true use of the inoliibitions of the Law, viz., that they served to convince a man of his hopeless condition; they showed him he was a slave to sin, from which wretched bondage, the Law, which mado him bitterly conscious of his condition, gave him no assistance to free himself; (2) the "teacher" was to press home to the people that the Law, good though it was, if used as a means to open men's eyes to see their true condition, was not made for them if they were reckoned among the righteous — that is, if they had found acceptance in the Redeemer. In the case of these justified and sanctified ones the moral law was written in their heai'ts and was embodied in their lives. But for the lawless.— Now the Law was not made for the holy and humble men of heart, whom St. Paul trusted formed the main body of the congregation of believers in Epliesus, and in every city where men and women were found who called on the name of tlie Lord Jesus, and who struggled to follow their dear Master's footsteps. It was made centuries before Jesus of Nazareth walked on earth, as a gi'eat protest against the every-day vices which dishonoured Israel in common with the rest of mankind. The terrible enumeration of sins and sinners in these 9t]i and 10th A'erses, wdiilo following the order of the ancient Tables of Sinai, seems to allude pointedly to the %aces especially prevalent iu that day in the great centres of the Roman empire. And disobedient. — More accurately rendered, tinrvly, or insvhnrdinate. For the ungodly and for sinners. — These four terms with which the Apostle opens his sad list of those for whom the Law was enacted, generally denote those who care nothing for hmnan law, and who despise all obedience ; who to their careless neglect for all constituted authorities, unite ii'religiou and contempt for all sacred things. For unholy and profane. — The persons desig- nated in these terms are those wanting in inner purity — men who scoff at holiness of life and character in its deepest sense. These six classes may be assumed in general terms to include the prohibitions of the first four Commandments (the First Table, as it is termed), where sins against God are especially dwelt upon. Tho sins against man, whicli form the subject of tho prohibitions of the Second Table (Commandments Five to Ten\ are included in tlie following enumeration of wrong-doers. For murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers. — Tlie original Greek expressions here I'e- quire the milder rendering, sviiters of fatlwrs and smiters of mothers, and refer to persons of various ages who refuse all reverence, even all kindly treatment, to their parents. The words of the Fifth Commandment exactly explain this unnatural conduct. (10) For mcnstealers. — After enumerating the transgressiM's of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments against murder and adultery, St. Paul speaks of a class well known in tlie Roman world of his day — perhaps the worst class of offenders against the Eighth Com- mandment— tho " slave-dealers." For liars, for perjured persons.— In these 180 St. PcmVs Tlmnksfor I. TIMOTHY, I. Ms ovon Conversion. ■whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men- stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine ; (^^) ac- cording to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. (^^^ And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled chap. i. 12—20. me, for that he counted me F^"^'^- ^^'^'^^^ faitllful, putting me into the conversion and ministry ; ^^^^ who was be- commission, fore a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because inclusive terms St. Paul apparently reckons all who break the solemn Ninth charge given on Sinai, which forbade false witness against a neighbour. Among the sins which especially excite the hot wi-ath of the first inspired teachers of Christianity, " want of truth " appears singularly prominent. One after the other of the Apostles, in different language, express their deep abhorrence of this too common sin, which, in St. John's fervid words, will suflBce to exclude from the city of the blessed (Rev. xxii. 15). And if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. — In tliis broad and general summary, with which St. Paul concludes his dreadful catalogue, the prohibition of the Tenth Com- mandment against " covetousness " is doubtless in- cluded. In the words " sound doctrine " — an expres- sion peculiar to this gi-oup of Epistles — a sharp contrast is suggested to the " sickly and unhealthy " teaching of the false teachers, with their foolish legends and allegories — a teaching which suggested controversy and useless disputes, and had no practical influence at all upon life. (11) According to the glorious gospel. — All that St. Paul had been sapng concerning the Law — its true work and its only work — was no mere arbitrary conception of his own ; it was simply a repetition of the teaching of the gospel which his Master had in- trusted to him, the gospel which taught so clearly that the Law was for the condemnation of sinners — that it was for those alone who do not accept the easy yoke and the light burden of the Lord Jesus. Of the blessed God, — The whole sentence is more accurately translated, according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. (Comp. 2 Cor. iv. 4.) " The glory of the blessed God," whether as shown in the sidferings of Christ or in the riches of His great mercy, is that which is contained in and revealed by the gospel ; in other words, the " contents " of the gospel is the glory and majesty of God. God is called here " blessed," not only on account of His eternal and changeless perfection, but also on account of His blessed gift of forgiveness, offered to all sinners who accept His gospel of love. Which was committed to my trust. — This precious deposit, this " trust," the gospel of the glory of God, was perhaps, in St. Paul's eyes, his truest title to honour. Wlien we inquire more closely what was exactly meant by " the gospel committed to his trust," something more definite seems to be required than the general answer that he was a minister of the Church, intrusted with the proclamation of his Master's blessed message. If this were all, St. Paul's loved title to honour would have been by no means peculiar to him, but would have been shared by many another in that great company of prophets, teachers, and evangelists of the Church of the first days. St. Paul rather seems to have gloried in some peculiar and most jirecious trust. Was it not possibly in that Gos])el of " Luke," which some of the most venerated of the fathers tell U3 St. Paul was accustomed to mention as the Gospel written by him ? (Irenseus, Origen, Jerome.) It was, perhaps, this blessed privilege of ha^^ng been judged worthy to compile, under the direction of the Holy Ghost — or, at all events, largely to furnish materials for — one of the precious records of his adorable Master's earthly life and work and suffei-ing which St. Paul loved to tell of as his proudest title to honour. To his own disciples — as well as to those who dis- puted his apostolic authority — he would now and again refer to this, the highest of all honours bestowed on him by liis Master ; but thei-e the Vjoasting of the holy and humble man of God ended. Though the blessed evangelist St. Paul knew his work was for all the ages, the true humility of the noble servant of Jesus appears in the substitution of " Luke " for " St. Paul " — the scribe's name in place of that of the real author. (12) And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me. — Better rendered, ivho hath given me strength ivithin. The ancient authorities here are divided; the majority omit the fii-st word of the verse, the connecting " and." With or without this word, the sense is much the same ; for on the words, " the gospel . . . committed to my trust," the Apostle pauses, ovei-whelmed ^vith the flood of grateful memories which such a thought let loose. " How I thank God." wrote St. Paul, " who hath strengthened me within, with this power to bear witness to my Master ! — me of all persons, who was once a blasphemer of His royal name ! What an example I — your teacher, the founder of this Church of Ephesus — am of the transforming grace of the gospel — of its sweet, mighty power to forgive sins." It was the thought of the great love, passing understanding, of the tender, pitiful mercy which suf- fered so wondrous a trust to be committed to the charge of such a sinner, that called forth the ejaculation of deep thankfulness we read in the twelfth and following verses. If we ask more particularly respecting the exact way in wliich Jesus Christ "enabled." or "strengthened St. Paul within," we must think of his strange power of winning men to his Master's side ; we must remember his miraculous gifts over disease and even death ; and last, but not least, that strength of endurance, that brave, sweet patience which made his fife of suffering borne for Christ so beautiful, so touching, an example for men. For that he counted me faithful.— Tlie All- seeing, knowing from the beginning that St. Paul would continue steadfast and true, selected him as " His chosen vessel" to bear His jiame and the glad news of His salvation into many lands. It is observable, however, that this very faithfulness, this unflinching steadfastness, wliich seems to have been the reason wliy the Lord chose him for his great work, St. Paul, ui a well-kno^vn and remarkable pas- sage, refers to as a gift of grace which he had ob- tained in mercy of the Lord (1 Cor. vii. 2o). (13) Who was before a blasphemer, and a per- secutor, and injurious. — In these worcLs of bitter self-accusation, St, Paul sums up the characteristic 181 The Work of Christ Jesus for I. TIMOTHY, I. Sinners, of whom Paul was Chief I did it ignorantly in unbelief. (^^^ And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world features of his brilliant career as a young Pharisee leader, as a popular Jewish patriot. The object of his intense hatred and of his burning antagonism during these never-to-be-forgotten days was that very Lord, from whom later he had received such unspeakable gifts. He knew he had been " a blasphemer " of that clear Master in the truest sense of the terrible word, since, as it has been well said, that : " He who had seen Stephen die for Christ, and after this did not cease to t)ant like a wild beast for the blood of the Church, must lave known that he had not been guilty of simply reWliiig men but of blaspheming God." And " a persecutor," for, to quote liis own words at Jerusalem (Acts xxii. 4) : "I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women." (Comp., too, Acts xxv. 11 : "I compelled them to blaspheme.") And " injurious " (or, more ac- curately rendered, a doer of outrage), as he must well have remembered the events referi'ed to in the history of the Acts (ix. 1) in the words : " Saul, yet breath- ing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." But I obtained mercy.— Tlie Apostle, his heart overflowing with love and gratitude, contrasts his Master's mercy with his own want of it ; the " mercy " shown to him consisting in something very different to simple forgiveness of a great wrong. In St. Paul's case the pardon was crowned by many a noble gift be- stowed by that pitiful King whom he had so cruelly wronged. Because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.— This is one of the passages which throws a gleam of light on some of the hard questions which perplex us when we meditate on the principles of the final judg- ment. Very little is told us as to the doom of those who have not heard, or else have failed to understand, the message of Christ. Still, from even such scanty teaching as is contained in the words we are now con- sidering, and in such passages as Matt. xii. 31, 32 ; Luke xxiii. 34, we gather that there is an igno- rance which at least greatly modifies the guilt of un- belief; we leam at least this much — such a sinner is not out of the pale of the operation of divine mercy. But in spite of these hints — for they are little more — of the almost limitless area of the di\'ine mercy, great care must be taken not to press overmuch these blessed intimations of the possibility of a mercy far more extended than the usual interpretation of the inspired utterances would lead us to expect ; for, after all, the words and teaching of the merciful Redeemer Himself (Luke xii. 48) seem to point to a mitigation of punishment, rather than to a complete forgiveness, of sins committed under circumstances of perhaps partial ignorance. " He that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be Ijeaten with few stripes." (11) And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant. — The thought of his Master's great love to one who once ^e^•iled Him so bitterly, and who had spent his strength in trying to undo His servants' work, seems to have pressed with overwhelming force on St. Paul, who struggled to find words which should express how deeply he felt the loving tenderness which had transformed the cruel persecutor into the favoured Apostle. The Greek word translated " was exceeding 182 abundant " is very rare, and possesses a superlative force. With faith and love. — He sums up the divine mercy showed to him in the three words : grace, faith, and love. Grace, the unspeakal)le gift of God to him ; faith and love, the results of the exceeding abimdant gift of grace. Faith : not merely a childlike trust in Christ, but a befief which accepted Christ as the hope of an other- wise hopeless world ; and love, which includes love to man as well as love to God, a strange contrast to his former cruelty and hatred ; for, instead of blaspheming, noiv he believed on Him whom he once re^nled, and instead of persecuting the followers of Jesus, noiv, in his great love for them, he spent himself. Then, over- whelmed Avith joy and thankfulness that he, the enemy of God, had obtained the mercy and love of God, and conscious, from his own sweet and bitter experiences, what that mercy of God bestowed on a sinner signified, he gave utterance to one of those bright watchwords of the faith, with which the Christians of the first days used to comfort and encoui'age one another, and which, perhaps, better than any other words, gave expression .^ to the burning thoughts which rose up from his grate- ful heart. (15) This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. — This striking formula in the New Testament, found only in the Pastoral Epistles, here and in chap. iii. 1 ; iv. 9 ; 2 Tim. ii. 11 ; Titus iii. 8 ; and the somewhat similar expression, " these sayings [words^ are faithful and true," Rev. xxi. 5 ; xxii. 6, were formulas expressing weighty and memorable truths, well known and often repeated by the brotherhood of Christians in the first ages of the faith. They were, no doubt, rehearsed constantly in the assemblies, till they became well-known watchwords in the various churches scattered over the Mediterranean-washed proAnnces of the Roman empire; and in these "sayings" we see, perhaps, the germs of the great creeds of Christianity. [1 Tim. iii. 1, pei-haps, as usually under- stood, hardly falls under this category of " watchwords of the faith," unless St. Chrysostom's interpretation of the text be followed, which refers " the faithful saying " to the solemn truths which immediately preceded it in chap, ii.] That Christ Jesus came into the world. — This is an unmistakable allusion to the pre-existence of Christ. He came into the world, leaWng the glory which he had with the Father before the world was (see John xvi. 28; xvii. 5; Eph. i. 3, 4). And the purpose for which he came into the world is stated distinctly in the next sentence. To save sinners. — There are no details given respecting this salvation. The " sinners " here men- tioned is a broad, inclusive term. It includes, besides Jews, the outcasts of the Gentiles without hope and without God — all the lost, iiTCspective of race or time. In the Lord's own blessed words : " The Son of Man was come to seek and to save that which was lost " (Luke xix. 10). Of whom I am chief. — Tlie intense humility of the strange, beautifid character of the Gentile Apostle prompted this bitter expression. St. Paul, it has been well said, knew his own sins by experience, and every other man's per speculationem. In another place a Doxology addressed I. TIMOTHY, I. to Trinity. to save sinners ; of whom I am chief. (^^) Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsufFering, for a pattern to them which should here- after believe on him to life everlasting. (17) Now unto the King eternal, im- mortal, invisible, the only wise God, he honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. ^^^^ This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, similar feeling leads him to style himself as " less than the least of all saints" (Eijh. iii. 8). He had been in time past so bitter an enemy of the Lord that no jireaching of the disciples was effectual to work his con- version. In his case, to overcome his intense hatred of the Name, it needed a special appearance of the Risen One. (16) Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy. ■—In spite of this deep consciousness of his guilt, faith and confidence in his own salvation seem never to have wavered. He speaks of this with all certainty, and pro- ceeds to teU us ^vith great clearness why Christ saved him, the chief of sinners. That in nae first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering. — If Christ could show mercy to him, surely in after times the gi-eatest of sinners need never doubt the Redeemer's power and wiU to save. St. Paul's conversion foretold many a patient waiting on the part of the Lord, much long-suffering, which would never hi;rry to punish His enemies, but which would tany long, in the hope of the sinner repenting while it was yet time. For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him. — Men were to learn that such con- versions as his were to be looked forward to as no uncommon occurrences — conversion of blasphemers, of persecutors, whom the Lord would tarry long for, till they, too, coming to the knowledge of the truth, should acknowledge Him. Thus to all sinners was St. Paul a pattern — an example of the Lord's long-suffering, of His patient waiting. His gracious Master had dealt with him like a king, who, when judging the case of a rebel city, pardons the chief rebel. If God would redeem Saul the persecutor, none need despair of finding mercy. To life everlasting. — And the goal — which lay before these poor redeemed sinners, who, like St. Paul, in faith and loving trust in Jesus had found peace and acceptance — was eternal life. (1") Now unto the King. — The wonderful cliain of thoughts (verses 12 — 16j which so well illustrate the great assertion of verse 15 — " that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners " — St. Paul closes with a noble ascription of praise and thankfulness to the great (jrod. This doxology is addressed to no one Person of the ever blessed Trinity, but is — as has been said with great truth — " a grand testimony to the monotheism of ot. Paul : the Godhead, the Trinity of his worship, is a sublime unity. To this Eternal, Incorruptible One bo glory and honour unto the ages of tlie ages. Amen." Eternal. — More accurately rendered, (to tlie King) of the ages. The King of the Ages is the sovereign dispenser and di.sposer of the ages of the world. There is no reference at all here to the Gnostic seons. Immortal (or incorruptible). — This epithet and the foUo\viiig one — " in\'isible " — are connected with " God," not, -vvith the preceding clause, " to the King of the Ages." God is immortal, in contrast with the beings of earth, and — Invisible, in contrast with the visible creation. The only wise Grod.—The only God, the most ancient authorities omitting "wise." "Only," as in chap. Y\. 15 : " the blessed and only potentate." " The only God," a contrast to the multitude of created spirits, angels, principalities, powers, &c. (See 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.) For ever and ever. — Literally, to the ages of the ages, to all eternity — a Hebraistic expression for a duration of time superlatively (infinitely) long. (18) This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, — The nature of the charge which he com- mitted to Timothy must be gathered from the solemn words and thoughts of the foregoing passage — verses 15, 16. The sum of it was that men should put their whole trust in Him who came into the world to sjive sinners, and who alone was able to lead them into ever- lasting Hfe. There is sometliing very solemn in St. Paul's pressing home this charge to Timothy, and in- voking the memory of the prophecies which went before on him. The charge was the last precious heritage, the priceless treasure which the old master, feehng that for him the end was not far distant, would leave to his favourite disciple — his own dear son in the faith. Anxious above measure for the loved group of Asian churches, of which Ephesus was the centre, foreseeing that the present perils and dangers from within and without would rapidly close round the congregations, and placing his greatest earthly hope on the steadfast- ness and knowledge of his own dear disciple whom he had left there as a shepherd to the sheei^, he charges his son Timothy, by the memoiy of those strange pro- phetic utterances which, yeai-s before, had been made over him (Acts x^-ii. 1, 2) in Lystra or Derbe, and which, perhaps, liad first induced him to choose the young son of Eunice as his friend and companion, to hold fjist the blessed doctrine which taught men to put their whole trust in Jesus Christ. According to the prophecies which went before on thee. — These prophetic utterances seem to have been not unfrequent in the days of the Apostles, and were among the precious gifts which enriched and encouraged the Church of the first days. We read of them at Jerusalem (Acts xi. 27, 28), at Antioch (Acts xiii. 1, 2), at Corinth (1 Cor. xiv.), at Caisarea (Acts xxi. 8—10). In the case of Timothy they appear to have been far- seeing glances into the life and the work and the teaching of the future Christian leader; here tlie last named — the doctrine and teacliing — is especially re- ferred to. The prophecies in question were uttered, no doubt, over him at his ordination, and, possibly, some of them at his baptism. That thou by them mightest war a good warfare.— Better rendered, that thou in them. &.C. St. Paul committed the sacred charge to Timotliy con- cerning the faith in full confidence that, in accordance with tiiose well-remembered glorious predictions wliich had been made foretelling liis future zoal and success in the promulgation of the gospel, tliat in these — accoutred in these as his spiritual protection and 183 Of some who have made I. TIMOTHY, II. Shipiorech concerning Faith. that thou by them mightest war a good warfare ; (^^' holding faith, and a good conscience ; which some having put away concerning faith have made ship- wreck : '^^ of Avhom is Hymena3us and Alexander ; whom I have dehvered unto A.D. 65. 1 Or, desire. Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. CHAPTEE II.— (1) I exhort 1 there- fore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of armour — Timothy would wage his warfare against sin and evil. St. Paul's words in this verso may be thus para- phrased : I give this charge to you, son Timothy, in accordance with those well-remembered predictions respecting your future steadfastness in doctrine and in life. I remind you now of them. Do not disap- point these grand hopes — these prophecies of your future— but bear them ever in your mind. Equij) yourself in them as your spiritual armour, and so armed, fight your Master's fight against sin and e\dl — eine gute Ritterschaft, according to Luther. The war imagery here used St. Paul employs again and again: the good warfare. (Comp. chap. vi. 12.) To the old, tried Apostle a Christian's fife is a warfare in the truest sense of the word : to eveiy beHever it is a weary, painful campaign. In the case of the professed teachers a sleepless vigUance was especially demanded. (IS) Holding faith, and a good conscience.— Again, as in verse 5, the Apostle joins " faith " and " the conscience uudefiled." In the mind of St. Paul, *' want of faith " was no mere refusal to accept a definite religious dogma, but was ever closely con- nected with impurity and the love of sin. If a man dares to do wilful violence to his better nature he must not presume to dream of faith sa\Tng him. The thought expressed by another inspired teacher seems to run constantly in the mind of St. Paul : " The devils also believe and tremble." Which some.^" Some." A quiet reference here is made to those false teachers who seem to have been doing such evil woi-k at Ephesus among the Christian believers, and against whom Timothy is so urgently warned to be on his guard in the 6th and following verses of the chapter. Having put away.— The simile in St. Paul's mind is a nautical one. The " good conscience " represents the ballast, or cargo, of the ship. When this is put away — tossed OA'erboard — the vessel becomes unmanageable and is tossed about, the plaything of the waves, and in the end is wrecked. (20J Of whom is Hymenseus and Alexander.— Here the Apostle names two, as examples of the utter shipwreck of aU true faith — persons endently well known to Timothy and the members of the Church at Ephesus. Hymenajus is probably identical with the heretic of that name, charged, in the Second Epistle to Timothy, vriih. teaching that the resurrection was already passed, thus undermining the great hope which Christian faith so firmly laid liold of. In the second letter to the Presbyter presiding over the Ephesian congregations the fundamental error was specified on account of which this Hpnenseus was excommunicated. Alexander.— It would be unsafe positively to identify this person with the personal adversary of St. Paul alluded to in the Second Epistle, iv. 14, thei'o spoken of as " Alexander the coppersmith," or with the Alexander mentioned in Acts xix. 33. The name was a very common one. Of the Alexander of Acts xix. 33 we know nothing; from the circumstances in connection with which he is there mentioned, which took place some tea years before tliis Ejjistle was written, he seems to have been a Jew. Whom I have delivered unto Satan.— In this feai-ful formula the offender is delivered over to Satan, the e\dl one. It is a solemn excommunication or expul- sion from the Church, accompanied with the inflic- tion of bodily disease or death. In ordinary cases, the offender was quietly expelled from the Christian society. But an Apostle, and only an Apostle, seems to have possessed tlie awful powers of inflicting bodily suffering in the forms of disease and death. Certain special instances of the exercise of these tremendous powers are recorded in the cases of Ananias and Sapphira, Elj-nias, the incestuous person at Corinth, and the men here alluded to. The fear of Simon Magus, related in Acts viii. 24, seems to have been aroused by his eiident expectation that this well-known apostolic power would be put in force in his case. It is, however, noticeable that tliis punishment was not necessarily, in the case of disease, an irrevocable sentence. The true end and purpose of this, as of all divine punishments, was not revenge for the sin, but the ultimate recovery of the sinner. II. (1) I exhort therefore.— Now Timothy was to begin to carry out his master St. Paul's great charge — the charge which bade him teach all men to put their entire, their perfect, trust in tlie Saviour of sinners — by instructing the Church of Ephesus, in the first place, to pray constantly for all sorts and conditions of men. The detailed injunctions how the charge was to be carried out are introduced by the Greek particle oun, translated in our version by " therefore ; " it may be paraphrased thus : "In pursuance of my great charge, I proceed by special details ; in the first place, let prayers for all be offered by the congregation." Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks. — Many attemi^ts, some of them not very happy ones, have been made by grammarians and commentators to distinguish between these terms, each of which denotes prayer. On the whole, it may be assumed that the Greek word translated " supplica- tions" signifies a request for particular benefits, and is a special form of the more general word rendered " prayers." Tlie third expi-ession in the English version translated " intercessions " suggests a closer and more intimate communion with God on the part of the one praying. It speaks of drawuig near God, of entering into free, familiar speech with Him. The Greek word suggests prayer in its most individual, urgent form. The fourth term, " gi^'ing of thanks," expresses that which ought never to be absent from any of our devotions, gratitude for past mercies. Arch- bishop Trench remarks how this peculiar form of prayer will subsist in heaven when, in the very nature of things, all other forms of prayer wiU have ceased in the entire fruition of the things prayed for, for then only will the redeemed know how much they owe to then* Lord. The word eucharist is derived from 184 Concerning I. TIMOTHY, II. Public Prayer. thanks, be made for all men ; (2> for Chap. ii. 1—8. kings, and /or all tliat are General (Hrec- in authority : 1 that we may tion respecting • i i i i public prayer, lead a quiet and peaceable 1 OT,enwKnti)hicc. life in all godliness and honesty. (^) For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; ('^^ who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the Greek word used in this place — eucharistia — for in tlio Holy Communion the Clmrcli embodies its liighest act of thanksgiving for tlio highest benefits received. For all men. — Professor Reynolds well com- ments on the hardness of the task set us here — " It is difficult for us ahvays to love all men, to think of all men as equally dear to God, or to regard all men as equally capable of being blessed. Timothy, after read- ing tliis letter, probably walked along the marble colonnade of the great temple of Artemis, or heard the hum of some twenty thousand Asiatic Greeks crowded in the vast theatre to witness the glatliatorial fight, or encountered a procession of Bacchantes, or tiirned into the synagogue on the side of the Coresias and saw the averted looks, and felt the bitter hatred of some old friends. "We, with some knowledge of the modern world, have to look into the ' hells ' upon earth ; to survey the gold-fields and battle-fields ; the African slave-hunts ; the throngs and saloons of Pekin, Cal- cutta, and Paris; the monasteries of Tibet; and make prayers, petiticms, intercessions, and thanksgivings, too, on behalf of all men. In the beginning of the Gospel, Timothy received this quiet injunction from the Apostle Paul. Now the once whispered word peals like the voice of many waters and mighty thunderings over the whole Church of God." (2) For kings, and for all that are in authority. — Without any special reference to the Roman empe- rors, the expression simply directs that jjrayer should be offered in all Christian congregations for the supreme authorities of the Roman empire, and especially of that particular province in which the church, where the prayer was oifered, happened to be situate. Joseplius especially mentions how a refusal on the part of the Jews to pray for Roman magistrates led to the great war with the empire which ended in their destruction as a separate nation. A well-knoAvn passage in the Apology of Tertullian. wi'itten about a centuiy and a quarter after St. Paul sent his first letter to Timothy, shows how well and carefully this charge of the great teacher, written to the Church in Ephesus, was kept in distant Cartilage : — "We Christians .... do intercede for all the emperors that their lives may be pi'olonged, their government be secured to them, that tlieir families may be preserved in safety, their senates faithful to them, their armies brave, their people honest, and that the whole empire may be at peace, and for whatever other things are desired by the people or the Caesar." Eai-ly in the second century, Polycarp of Smyrna bears siniila'* testimony to this practice in tlie early Cluirch of praying publicly for their heathen rulers : — " Pray for all the saints ; pray, too. for all kings and powers and rulers, and for your persecutors, and those that hate you, and for your cruel enemies." That we may lead a quiot and peaceable life. — What now is the special object of this prayer for those in high authority and power? First, that through fJieir wise rule the Christians might enjoy peace; and, sect)nd, tliat the tenipcr of the people who E rayed thus for the ruling powers might be so affected y the constant repetition of such prayers : that all thouglits of revolt and resistance would be gradually stampcid out. St. Paul knew whom he was addressing. Tlie Chris- tian congregations of his age were lai-gely made up of Jews. An intense longing to throAV off the yoke of Rome pervaded the whole nation. The terril)le events of the year 70 (only four or five years at most from the time of wi-iting this Epistle) show how deep-seated was their hatred of the stranger. No Christian, how- ever, was implicated in that fatal rebellion ; so thoroughly had the teaching of St. Paul and his fellow Apostles done its work among the Jewish followers of the Crucified. In all godliness and honesty.— The word rendered "honesty" is better translated gravity, or decorum. These words are only used by St. Paul in his Pastoi'al Epistles, where " godliness " occurs nine times, and "gravity" three times. The sphere, so to speak, in which St. Paul's ideal Chi-istian must walk during his qidet, unobtrusive pilgrimage, was reverence and decorum. (3) For this is good and acceptable.— That prayer be offered for all sorts and conditions of men is good and acceptable before God. In the sight of God our Saviour. — Here, as in chap. i. 1, this title of " Sa\'iour " is given to the Father, and is in this place singularly applicable, as it immediately precedes the famous statement of the next verse, respecting the boundless mercy of the Eternal. (4) Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. — Here St. Paul gives some explanation of his exhorta- tion, that " the congregation should i^ray for aU men." Our prayers after all — for those far off, as well as for those near — will be in strict harmony with the will of God. " Imitate God," writes St. Chrysostom ; " if He wills that all men should be saved, it is surely natural that prayer should be offered for all ; if He Avilled that all should be saved, do thou will it now; and if in earnest thou wiliest it, then pray." One or two points must ever be held in mind when this great statement of St. Paul's is used as a proof of " Universal Redemption." We must remember the position it occupies in the argument, it being only in- troduced as a reason for the exhortation to pray for all. Then the words must be looked at very carefully. Grod's will is not to save {sosai) all — if that hacL been His sovereign will He looulcl have saved all ; but His will is that all should be saved — all should come to the knowledge of the truth ; not to the knowledge of tho mere theoretical, but of the practical and 6a\-ing truth as revealed in the gospel. " In other words, through the sacrifice and the death of Christ all are rendered capable of salvation [salvahiles) ; that some are indis- putably not saved, is not due to any outward circum- scription or inefficacy of the divine vdW. but to man's rejection of the .special means of salvation which Gt)d has been pleased to appoint, and to which it is His divine will that man's salvation should be limited. Redemption is imiversal. yet conditional — all may be saved, yet all will not be saved, because all will not conform to God's appointed condition." — Bishop Ellicotf. 185 Wliy Prayer rmcst I. TIMOTHY, II. be made for all. the knowledge of the truth. ^^'^ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ; <'^^ who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified^ in due time. 1 Or, a testimony. (^' Wliereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not ;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. (^> I will therefore that men pray every where. (•'') For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. — " Foi-y This gives the reasou wliy it is good and well- pleasing ill the sight of God that Christians should pray for all — for tliere is one Saviour, God the Father, who wills that all should be saved, and tliere is one Mediator, Christ Jesus, who has given Himself as ran- som for all. Surely then, to us who call ourselves by the naine of Christ, the fate of the heathen who as yet know not Christ cannot be a matter of indifference. Wo must in our praise and prayer include these strangers whom the Father wills sliould come to Him, for whose sake the Son has given his life. The man Christ Jesus.— St. Paul with special em- phasis speaks of the " one Mediator between God and man " as " the man Chnst Jesus," no doubt wishing to bring into promincnice the true humanity of the Lord. It is also a silent refutation of the docetic errors of some of the false teachers, of whose doctrines Timothy was to beware. These would have persuaded men that the Christ Jesus who was nailed to the cross was no man, but simply a phantom. The human nature of Christ is also specially men- tioned because in this state He performed His office as Mediator. In the statement of the next verse we find another reason for St. Paul's allusion hero to the fact of the Mediator being a man. The Messiah must have taken the human nature upon Him before He could have suffered that death which was the ransom of all. Again, tlio human nature of the Mediator is brought forward to show that the mediatorial office extended over the whole human race — a grand thought, expressed in the following words — " who gave Himself a ransom for all." (•^» Who gave himself a ransom for all.— The declaration (of verse 5) that there was one God for fallen man would have been scarcely a joyful proclama- tion had it not boon immediately followed by the announcement that between that one God and sinning man there was a mediator. Now (in verse (J) we have in a few words the inspired description of the manner in which the Mediator performed His office and work ; of His own free sovereign will ; He yielded up Himself to death as the price of the redemption of all man- kind— His life in exchange for their forfeited lives. St. Paul's teaching here is very definite, and is utterly irreconcilable with much of the popular (so-called) theology of the day, which rejects this great Christian doctrine, so clearly taught here by St. Paul, of a " satiiffactio vicaria." This teaching asserts, that without pleading the death of Christ, we may. if we please, approach and find access to the Father, and such teaching as this passage shows is irreconcilable with gospel trutli. To be testified in due time.— Better rendered, " ivitness of which ivas to be borne in its oivn times. The meaning of the words is, " Jesus Christ in the eternal counsels, gave Himself to death as the price of the redemption of fallen man ; at the appointed and fitting season He endured this death — this death was the witness to the truth of the trementlous offering made in the counsels of the eternal and ever-blessed Trinity. So St. Chrysostom, who asserts that "the witness to be borne " was given in the death and suf- fering of the Lord. (" ) Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle . . . — Whereunto, or "for which witness." To announce wliicli witness — the witness being the suffering and the death of Christ — St. Paul was ordained an Apostle — the reference being entirely to what preceded. I speak the truth . . . and lie not. — The warmth with wliicli St. Paul here asserted his divinely conferred commission as preacher and Apostle, was not called out by any desire on his part to seize an occasion of asserting in the presence of his enemies, the false heretical teachers of Ephesus, his especial rank and prerogatiA'es as an Apostle chosen and commissioned by the Most High. These fiery and earnest words had no private reference to him, St. Paul, or to his especial claims to be heard, but were uttered solely in vie\r of the surpassing magnitude of the message with which he was charged — solely to bear a weighty and imposing testi- mony to the truth of his assertion, wliich so many were ready and eager to dispute — the assertion that the gospel of Jesus Christ was a message of glad tidings, was an offer of salvation, not to a people, but to a world. A teacher of the Gentiles. — This specifies more clearly the especial duties of his apostleship, not perhaps without some reference to the peculiar fitness w^hicli marked him out as the declarer of the divine wiU in respect to this gracious offer of redemption to the isles of the scattered countless Gentiles. In faith and verity. — Better rendered, in faith and tridh. These words specify the sphere in which the Apostle performed his great mission. The first, " in faith," refers to St. Paul's own personal faith in Jesus — the grand motive power of his life and work ; the second, " in truth," refers to the truth of Chris- tianity— to the well-known facts of the gospel story. Or, in other words, St. Paul carried on liis ceaseless labours, tvithin gathering fresh and ever fresh strength from the exliaustless s})ring of his own loving, miglity faith in Jesus, and ivithout ap])ealing to the generally well- known incidents of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the truth of which all might test. In those days there were even many eye-witnesses of the Passion still living. (8) I will therefore. — The Apostle here again turns to iha subject of " public prayer," now giving directions respecting the persons who should offer their prayers, and also telling them how these public requests to God should be made. " I will therefore " expresses on St. Paul's part no mere wish or desire, but it is the expression of his solemn apostolical authority. It might be rendered. I desire therefore. That men pray every where . . . — Better ren- dered. Ml evertj place. The greater liberty which women, under the teaching of Christ, had enjoyed; the new position they occupied in the Christian common- wealth ; the distinguished serA-iees many of them had been permitted to accomplish in the Master's ser\'ice — in such instances as the Marys, Dorcas, PrisciUa, Lydia, 186 The Men are to Pray in Public. I. TIMOTHY, II. The Women are to Preserve Silence. lifting up lioly hands, witliout wratli and Chap. ii. 8-15. doubting. <»> In like man- Of the part to ner also, that women adorn soztffu public themselves in modest ap- prayer. parel, with shamelacedness and sobriety; not with broided^ hair, or 1 Or, plaited. gold, or pearls, or costly array; (^•^) bat (which becometh women professing god- liness) with good works. '^^^ Let the woman learn in silence with all subjec- tion. (^-^ But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurj) authority over the and others — had no donbt contributed to a certain self- assertion on tlic part of female converts in the Epliesian cono^regations, which threatenetl grave disorders in the conduct of divine worship. St. Paul, in liis directions re- specting divine service in the Christian assemblies, fol- lows the custom Insro of the Jewish synagogue, whore ■women were forbidden to speak. Men, said St. Paul, in every place where a congregation in the name of Christ was gathered together, were to be the offerers of prayer. The word " everywhere " seems a memory of the Lord's words to the woman of Samaria, " Believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." Lifting up holy hands. — It was the Jewish practice, not only in taking a solemn oath — or in bless- ing— but also in prayer, to lift up the hands — Compare Psalm xx\iii. 2 ; Ixiii. 4. This seems to have been ge- nerally adopted by the early Christians as the attitude in prayer. See Clem. Rom., To the Corinthians, chap, xxix. "Holy hands;" see Psalm xxiv. 4; xxvi. 6; " holy " — that is, unstained with wanton sins. Without wrath and doubting. — Here allusion is doubtless made to religious disputes and contentions among the believers themselves — " doubting " is better translated by disputing. These angry feelings can have no place in the heart of one who really pi'ays, whether in public or in private. (9) In like manner also, that women. — The Apostle continues his official injunctions in reference to public prayer. " Likewise," he goes on to say, " I desire that women, when they j)ray" — women also in the con- gregation had their duties as well as the men — while the latter were directed to conduct and lead the public prayer, the women who worshipped with them were enjoined, as their part of the solemn service, to be present, adorned with neatness of apparel and modesty of demeanour, and the holy reputation of kind deeds. Adorn themselves in modest apparel. — This direction to Christian women was not intended to apply to their ordinary dress in the world, but simply ex- plained to the sisters of the Ephesian flock that their place in public worship was one of quiet attention — that their reverence and adoration must be shown not by thrusting themselves forward with a view to public teaching or public praying, but by being present and taking part silently — avoiding especially in these ser- vices anything like a conspicuous dress or showy orna- ments— anything, in fact, which would be likely to arouse attention, or distract the thoughts of others. With shamefacedness and sobriety.— These expressions denote the inward feelings with which the Apostle desires the devout Christian women to come to divine service ; the first signifies " the innate shrinking from anytliing unbecoming." The second, sobriety, includes the idea of self-restraint — the conquest over all wanton tliought and desire. Not with broided hair.- Comp. 1 Pet. iii. 3; Isa. iii. 21. " BroidiMl:" the modem form is "braided." SoMK^ modem editions give " broidored," apparently by mistake. 187 Or gold. — Probably, the " gold " is supposed to be twined among the plaits of the hair. These ela- borate adornments, so likely to catch the eye at divine worship, were quite inconsistent with Christian simpli- city, besides being calculated to distra<*t the attention of their fellow worshippers, male as well as female. On this question of seemly, quiet apparel, in an assembly gath- ered for divine worship, see the difficult verse, 1 Cor. xi. 10, where another and a still graver reason for modest demeanour and apparel of women is alleged — " because of the angels." Pearls, or costly array. — Ear-rings, necklaces, bracelets, are included here ; these costly ornaments were worn by the ladies of the luxurious age in which St. Paul lived, in great profusion. (10) But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.— That is to say, " Let them adorn themselves in that which is befitting women who profess godliness— viz., in good works." The Apostle, still speaking of women's true part in pub- lic divine service — urges that their works should be in accord with their words of prayer — tells them that a woman's truest and most beautiful ornament consisted in those tender works of mercy and pity — her peculiar province — in other words, that they, like Dorcas of Joppa, whose praise is in the Book of Life, " should be full of good works and alms deeds " (Acts ix. 36). (11) Let the woman learn in silence.— Tlie thought of public ministration is still in the Apostle's mind, when he gives this injunction. The very ques- tioning on difficult points is forbidden them at the public assembly (1 Corinth, xiv. 35). So averse was St. Paul to anything which might mar the quiet solemnity of these meetings for prayer and praise and authoritative instruction. This prohibition to speak publicly in assemblies for prayer and praise in the case of Christian women, was renewed in the North African Church, at the Council of Carthage, held a.d. 398. The same Council, how- ever, specially permitted women to teach those of their own sex in private ; indeed, the power to teach " ignorant and rustic women " was required as one qualification in deaconesses. The emph)yment of deaconesses as private instructors seems to have been the custom generally in the Eastern Churches. (1-) But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. — The whole purpose of these weighty admo- nitions of the great fouiuler of the Gentile Churches relegates Christian women to their own legitimate sphere of action and intiuenco — the quiet of their own homes. St. Paul caught well the spirit of his Master here. He raised once and for ever the women of Christ out of the position of degradation and intellectual inferiority they Iiad occupied in the various pagan systems of tlie East and West, and taught withal! tlie weight of an Ajmstle — of an accredited teacher of divine wisdom — that woman was a fellow-lieir with man of the glories of the kingdom, — where sex would exist no longer: but wliile teaching this great and elevating truth. St. Paul .^hows wliat is the only proper sphere in which woman should work, and The Reason for the I. TIMOTHY, III. Subordination of Women. man, but to be in silence. (^^' For Adam was first formed, then Eve. ^^^^ And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. t^> Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. CHAPTEE III.— (1) This is a true in wliich sho should exercise her inftueuce and power ; whilo man's work and duties lay in the busy world without, woman's work was exclusively confined to the quiet stillness of home. The Apostle tlien proceeds to ground these injunctions respecting the duties in public and private of tlie two sexes upon the original order of creation, and upon the circumstances which attended the fall. (1^) For Adam was first formed, then Eve.— Tlie Holy Spirit seems often (comp. especially Gal. iii. !♦) and following verses, and iv. 22 and following verses, and 1 Cor. x. 1 — 10) to have moved St. Paul to weave into the taj)estry of his arguments and ex- hortations to the different churches, facts and principles drawn from Old Testament history. His early training in the great Rabbinical schools of Jerusalem liad well supplied him with a vast store of this Old Testament learning. The argiiment here based on priority of creation is much assisted by the additional statement of 1 Cor. xi. 9, "neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for tlie man." This teaching of St. Paul's respecting the public position of wonum as regards man, in which he shows that she is to hold a subordinate {)lac6 — is based upon no arbitrary human speculation, )ut upon God's original order in creation — that divine order which first created man, and after man's creation, formed woman as his helpmeet. (1^) And Adam was not deceived. — Priority in creation was the gi'ound alleged ])y St. Paul as the reason why the woman was never to exercise authority over man, the eldest born of God. " Adam was not deceived ; " the Apostle now refers to the general basis of his direction respecting the exclusion of women from all 2>idjlic praying and teacliing contained in verses 9 — 12. The argument here is a singular one — Adam and Eve both sinned, but Adam was not deceived. He sinned, quite aware all the wJiih; of the magnitude of the sin ho was voluntarily committing. Eve, on the other liand, was completely, thoroughly deceived (the preposition witli whicli the Greek verb is compounded here conveying the idea of thorough- ness)— sho succum])ed to tlie serpent's deceit. Both were involved in tlie sin, Imt only one (Eve) allowed herself to l)e deluded. So Bengel, " Decrptio indicat viinus rubur in iuteUectit, at(jiie hie nemis est cur rmilieri non liccat docere." Prof. Reynolds thus com- ments on tlie argument of the Apos'tle : — " This may sound to our ears a far-fetched argument to discountenance female usurpation of supremacy. It was, liowever. a method the time to look for and find in the the concrete expressions of almost all idiilosoph judgnionts. At the present day we could hardly find a more vivid illustration of the essential difference between the masculine and feminine nature. If there be this disliuction between the sexes, that distinction still furnishes the basis of an argument and a reason for the advice liere rendered. The catastrophe of Eden is the beacon for all generations when the sexes repeat the folly of Eve and Adam, and exchange their distinctive position and functions." when used intellectual current at Scriptures 188 (15) Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing. — The last words are more accurately and forcibly rendered — through the ch iklbea ring. Wit n that tender and winning courtesy to which, no doubt, humanly speaking, the great missionary owes so much of his vast influenco over human hearts, St. Paul, now anxious lest he had wounded Avith his severe words and stern precepts his Ephesian sisters in Clu-ist, closes his charge to women with a few touching words, bright with the glorious pi'omise they contained. Though their life duties must be different from those of men — yet for them, too, as for men, there was one glorious goal ; but for them — the women of Christ — the only road to the goal was the faithful, true carrying out of the quiet liome duties he had just sketched out for them. In other words, women will win the great salvation ; but if they would win it, they must fulfil their destiny ; they must acquiesce in all the conditions of a woman's life — in the forefront of which St. Paul places the all-important functions and duties of a mother. This is apparently the ob'V'ious meaning of the Apostle's words — aU this lies on the surface — but beneath all this the reverent reader can hardly fail to see another and deeper reference (the presence of the article, "through t}ie childbearing," gives us the clue) — "she shall be saved by the childbearing" (the Incar- nation) by the relation in which woman stood to the Messiah, in consequence of the primal prophecy that her seed (not man's) should bruise the serpent's head (Gen. iii. 15), the peculiar function of her sex, from its relation to her Saviour, "shall be the medivun of her salvation." (See Bishop EUicott, in loco.) If they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.— But let no one think that the true saintly woman, painted with such matchless skill by St. Paul, satisfies the conditions of her life by merely fulfilling the duties of a mother. She must besides, if she would win her crown, hold fast to the Master's well-known teaching, which enjoins on all His own disciples, men as well as women, faith and love, holiness and modesty. The last woi-d, " mo- desty," or discretion, or sobriety (all poor renderings of the Greek sophrosune, which includes, besides, the idea of a fight with and a victory over self), brings back the thoughts to the beautiful Pauline conception of a true woman, who wins her sweet and weighty power in the world by seLf-effacemeut. III. (1) This is a true saying. — Tliere is no reason why the rendering of this ft)rniula adopted in chap, i. 1.5, "faithful is this saying," should be altered here. The "faithful saying" liere refers to the wish for high and arduous work in the Church of Christ, and declares such a wish to l)e a noble one ; for the office in question was a beautiful one, and liouourable, and in those days meant stern and ceaseless work, grave and constant danger. It was no doubt ostlo isy Qualifications necessary I. TIMOTHY, III. for a Presbyter. <2) not given to wine,^ no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous ; (^^ one that 1 Or, miZ^off^ ruleth well his own house, having his ' children in subjection with all gravity icruug, at mie m (5) (for if a man know not how to mile wrote to Timothy. An inundation of Eastern luxury and Eastern morals had submerged all the old Romau habits of austere simplicity. Tho long ci\-il war aud the subsequent license of the empire had degraded the character of the people. The period when St. Paul \VTote was especially marked l)y au extreme depra^^ty. A g^eat aud general indisposition towards marriage at all, aud the orderly restraints of home and family life, had become so marked a feature in Roman society, that we find Augustus positively enacting laws against celibacy. Anothet cause which hel])cd to undermine the stability of home life aud those family ties which ought to be deemed so sacred, was the ease and frequency of divorce, which Seneca, who may be considered almost as the contemporary of St. Paul, alludes to as incidents no longer looked upon as shameful in Rome. He even, in his indignation at the laxity of the morals of his day, cites cases of women who reckoned their years rather by their husbands than by the consids. Martial writes of a woman who had arrived at her tenth husband. Juvenal speaks of one who, in five years, had had eight husbands. Among tho Jews we know polygamy was then prevalent. St. Paul, fully conscious of this low and debased moral tone which then pervaded all society in the empire, in these feiv words condemned all illicit relations between the sexes, and directed that in choos- ing persons to fill holy offices in the congregations of Christians, those should be selected who had married and remained faithful to the wife of their choice, whose life and practice would thus serve as an example to the tlock, and to whose homes men might point as the pattern which Jesus loved, while the heathen world around them would see that the hated and despised Christians not only loved and honoured, but Jived that pure home life their own great moralists pressed so earnestly upon them, but in vain. This direction, which requires tliat those to be selected to fill holy offices should be known for their purity in their family rela- tions, of course does not exclude — should any such ofEer themselves — those men who, while contracting no marriage ties, still were known to lead upright, moral lives. Vigilant. — Tlie Greek word here is more accurately rendered sober. The presb)-ter or elder should be sober- minded, self-restrained, temperate (not merely in wine, but in all things). Sober. — Better rendered, discreet. Of good behaviour.— Rather, orderly. This word refers to outward conduct, to beha\'iour in public. Tlio Christian office-bearer must not only ije wise and self-restrained in liimself. but his outward bearing must in all respects coiTcspond to his inner life. Given to hospitality.— In the early days of Christianity, when Christians travelling from one place to another, were in tho habit, when it was possible, of resorting to the houses of their brethren in the faith, to avoid consorting witli idolaters in the pul)lic inns. It was of no sligiit importance that the presiding elders in a congregation should lie men who loved to enteriod rebelled, was crushed, and condemned, but to whom, in the supreme Pro\'idence of God, some teri-ible power over man was left. (8) Likewise must the deacons. — We possess scattered and at the same time casual notices of this lower order of deacons dating from the very first days of tho faith. The order clearly sprang out of the needs of tho rapidly increasing church. Some two years after the Ascension (a.d. 34 — 35) the seven deacons were appointed to assist the Apostles as almo- ners of the brethren ; as the Church's life developed, the functions of these primitive subordinate ecclesias- tical officers were enlarged. The history of the career of Stephen and Pliilip supply ample CAndence of this. Out of his first apostolic appointment in the year 34 — 3.5, no doubt, was developed that great inferior order in the Church, respecting which these definite rules and authoritative regulations were laid down by the Apostle Paid in his instructions to Timothy in the matter of church government and order. These primitive deacons were evidently assistants to and probably in many cases supplied the place of tlie presbyters. Tlie gi-eat similarity of the directions of St. Paul respecting the qualifications to be looked for in buth. implies tiiis; still their original employment as administrators of tho Cliurch's funds and distribution i>f her alms reniaiiierl to them. We can trace the existence of the order through and beyond the Apostle's time : — 191 Qualifications of I. TIMOTHY, in. Deaconesses. filthy lucre ; (^^ holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. <^°^ And let these also first be proved ; then let them use the ofiice of a deacon, being found blameless. (^^^ Even so must their wives he grave, not slanderers, sober, Jorusalem Corinth Rome Philippi Epliesus Asia Minor Coriutli. A.D. 55. 58—9. 63. 66. A.D. 34 — 35. Orig'inal fouudation of order by tlie Apostles at Jeinisalem. Acts iv. 1—6. 1 Cor. xii. 28. Rom. xii. 7. Phil. i. 1. 1 Tim. iii. 8, 13. 63—69 1 Pet. iv. 11. „ 138 — iO Justiu Martyr. Apologrj, i. 65, '" Those with us who are called deacons," smdApoloyy^ i. 67. -Deacons apparently alluded to under avn- \ri\ptii — " helps " (1 Cor. xii. 28). See also verse 5 of same chapter: Siaipeo-tts StaKoviuu. Rome. — «J't« StaKouiav, fu rrj SiaKouia. Reference lost in English translation, "or ministry, (let us wait) on our ministering" (Rom. xii. 7). Asia Minor. — et rts SiaKovtl. Reference lost in Eng- lish translation, " if any man minister " (1 Pet. iv. 11). Thus in the first half of the second century we find the order regularly and apparently universally esta- blished, constituting an acknowledged part of the Christian Bvstem of ecclesiastical government. The scattered notices of the diaconate in the New Testa- ment, dating alnu)st from the Ascension — over a period exceeding thirty years — show us how, out of the needs of the Clmrch, arose this subordinate order, which was rapidly developed as the Catholic Church increased. Tlie differences between the deacon of the Pastoral Epistles, and tlio deacon of the writings of Justiu Martyr, are cxjictly what we should expect would result from the seventy years of gradual but progressive organisation under men like St. John and his disciples and the immediate successors of the Apostles. Be grave.— St. Paul again repeats the need for tliis feature of character being found in the lower order of ecclesiastical officers. The reverent decorum, the qui<'t gravity, which never interferes with the innocent, child- like happiness (see Note on verse 4), is especially to be looked for in a deacon, who ought to show an example of every-day Christian life. Not doubletongued. — Bengel well paraphrases it, ad alio^i alia loqnentes. The deacon would have in his duties conncH-ted with tlie administration of the Church's alms, and also in his more directly spiritual work, much op])ortuuity of nu'cting with and talking to the various families of the flock of his Master. He must be watchful, in tliese visits, of his words, not suiting them to tlie occasion, and then unsaying in one house what he had affirmed in another. Sudi a grave fault — not an uncommon one — would, in tlie long run, deeply injure his influence abroad, and woidd intiict a deadly wound on liis own spirituiil life. Not given to much wine.— Tlio professed minister — the advocate for the cause of the jioor and needy — must show an exaiiipl(> of the strictest sobriety, must bo pointed at as one caring little for th(> plea.sures of the tal)le. How well and nobly the young lieutenant of St. Paul aimed at showing in himself a self-denj-iiig example to the flock, we see from chap. v. 23, when the old master deemed it requisite to warn his earnest, 192 brave disciple from an asceticism which was positively weakening his power of work and endurance. Not greedy of filthy lucre.— Those entrusted with the care of the Church's alms surely must bo especially careful of their reputation iu the matter of covetousness — among the "chosen" of Timothy there must be no Jiulas. (9) Holding the mystery of the faith in a piire conscience.— The thought again comes to the surface — mere orthodoxy without the Christ-life was an empty, useless characteristic feature in any one ; but here the man of God, writing to his dear son these solemn Avarnings respecting fit and proper persons to bo chosen for their Master's work, has besides iu these words another end in view. He had been dwelling with great earnestness on the onhvard characteristics which a deacon of the Church should possess — the high and stainless name — the generous respect which his old way of liA-ing had won for him among unbelievers as well as with believers ; but, in addition to these things, it was absolutely necessary for one occupying such a post to know something of the deeper spiritual life — he must hold the mystery of the faith. Now what does St. Paul mean by the mystery ? He sjieaks of it as " a treasure " which must be held in the casket of a pure conscience. This mystery was what was sometimes hidden, but which was now revealed by the advent of St. Paul's Master, and comprehended the truths of the redemp- tion, the atonement, and mighty cleansing powers of the precious blood of Christ. These — the master- truths of Chi'istianity — must the ajipoiuted teacher firmly grasp ; and the true deacon, whose office it was rather to administer than to preach to the people, must also be especially careful to show that he lived the life he professed to teach; or, in St. Paul's own simile, must preserve the casket in which the precious mystery was shrined, holy and undefiled before men — he must hold the mystery of tlie faith in a pure conscience. (10) And let these also first be proved.— No formal investigation, either in public before the congre- gatiou.or iu private before Timothy and his fellow pres- byters, is here referred to. What is most proljably the meaning of the word is — the deacon should for a time perform many of the various duties on probation, to test his fitness before he was formally set apart for the holy office. So much of the work belonging to these officials of the early Church necessarily partook of a partially secular character, that such a trial of their fitness could well be made. Then let them use the office of a deacon.— Better I'cndered, let tlicm serve as dcacoiis, if. after the trial, inquiry, and period of probation, they be found blameless. (11) Even so must their wives . . .—The position of this solitary charge, respecting deacons' wives, in the midst of regulations concerning " deacons," is, of itself, almost decisive against the translation of tlio English version, adopted also by Luther and many others. The question naturally occurs — why are deacon's wives especially referred to, while nothing has Ijeen said respecting the wives of presbyters ? Then, again, why should the choice of Timothy in the matter of his selection of a deacon be hampered with any special requirements iu the wife of the candidate for Further Qucdifications I. TIMOTHY, III. necessary for a Beacon. faithful in all things. (^2) ^et the deacons be the husbands of one wife, rulinof their children and their own houses well. ^^^^ For they that have used ^ the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ 1 Or, viinistered. Jesus. (^*) These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto chap. iii. 14— thee shortly : d^) but if I i«- Y^''^ ^^^ , f , Chui-ch really tarry long, that thou may est is. know how thou oughtest to behave thy- self in the house of God, wdiich is the church of the living God, the pillar the holy office ? The literal translation of the Greek words would be, Women in like manner must, &c. These women, St. Chrysostom and most of the aucieut expositors affirm, wore deaconesses. It is certain that there were women holding a kind of official position as deaconesses in the early Church ; nor is it probable that these deaconesses were, as a class, conthied to the restriction of age referred to in the direction respecting a band of widows devoted to works of mercy (chap v. 9, 10). These widows seemed to have been in the first instance a class or order apart from the ordinary deaconesses. Phebe of Cenchrea (Rom. xvi. i.), Euodias, and Syntyche (Phil. iv. 2), probably the organisation alluded to (Acts ix. 36 — 41) as existing at Joppa, of which Dorcas was the chief, may be cited as in- stances from the New Testament of the employment of these women-servants of the Church. In the next century tJie Proconsul Pliny, in his famous letter to the Emperor Trajan, distinctly alludes to these Chi'istian deaconesses, in the words, " aiwilloe quce ininistroe dicebantur." " In the Western Church," says Professor Reynolds, '• the order did not cease to exist until the fifth century, and was continued in the Greek Church till the twelfth. The deaconess vanished into the cloister until partially revived in comparatively modern times." Be grave. — The same word is used as in the case of the deacons. These deaconesses, too, must, with their modest beha\'iour, with their sweet, decorous gra^nity, as it has been well said, " inspire reverence having the halo of purity and sanctity about them." Not slanderers. — A woman's most ready weapon is ever her tongue. She is, with all her noble, generous qualities, often quick-tempered, passionate, impvxlsive, jealous, and this weapon, always ready for attack or defence, is too often unsheathed. The professed ser- vant of the Lord must show a high example to her sisters in self-control. Sober. — Should be abstemious, even self-denying in the pleasures of the table. Faithful in all things.— These deaconesses, from their position, would become the depositaries of many a househould secret ; to those confiding in them in moments of trouble they must be true ; scrupulously honest also in their distribution of alms ; faithful, too, in the holy instruction they would be often called on to give in the course of their ministrations. (12) Let the duacons be the husbands of one "Wife. — Here tlie exact same qualification is to Vie sought for as in the higlier grade of presbyter. The same orderly and decorous household is required now in the case of the deacon, as was to be looked for as qualification for the presiding older. St. Paul knew well tliat in the wise yet tender father, Timotliy would find the firm yet generous distril)utor of the Church's alms, file loving and devoted friend of tlie ])i>(>r sick. (13) For thoy that have used the office of a deacon well. — Better rendered, for they that have eervcd well as deacons. It was with good reason that 79 1 the Apostle laid great stress on the many and varied qiuilifications necessary for one undertaking the duties of a deacon of the Church — f(jr very great iudeed was the reward reserved for the true, loyal deacon wlien his work was over and done (and if for the mau who had performed well his work in tlie lower office, a fortiori for the one who should faitlifuUy fulfil the yet higher duties of an elder or overseer in the Church). Purchase to themselves a good degree. — Some scholars have suggested as a better rendering, " are acquiring {or gainiiiy) to themselves a good stand- ing. The old translation perhaps is best. Alford writes strikingly on the change of tense : " They that have used are acquii'ing or purchasing." The Apostle having begun by placing himself at the great day of retribu- tion, now shifts the scene and deals with their jjreseut conduct. " Those who shall then be found to have served well, &c. . . . are now, &c." The " good degree " they are now purchasing by earnest, patient work may refer to advancement to the higher ministries of the Church, but, more probal)ly, has reference to their future position in the blessed life to come. Tliis is one of the passages not uufrequent in St. Paul's Epistles, where degrees of glory among the redeemed are clearly spoken of. The plain words of St. Paul and his Master teach the people of God that although the great act of redemption alone belongs to Christ, that through His merits only men obtain salvation, still His own, will in a great measure deter- mine, by their works and days on earth, the position they will occupy in His kingdom. And great boldness.— The true and faithful dea- cons not only will in the life to come win the great reward, but here the result of their loyal, earnest serA'ice would be, that before men they would do their work with serene, fearless confidence, and would at tlio same time be encoiiraged to approach that heavenly Father at aU times with the loving trustfulness of children. In the faith which is in Christ Jesus.— Faith was the foundation of the " great boldness," and the faith rested on Jesus Christ. (U) These things write I unto thee. — " These things " probably referred only to the directions respecting the sjiecial qualification to be sought for in candidates for the office of the overseers (presbyters) and deacons. Hoping to come unto thee shortly.— The par- ticiple here has a concessive form. " though I hope." &c. " I write these s])ecial urgent directions to you. tliough my hope is that I shall be with you sooner than such detailed instructions presuppose." (15) But if I tarry long.— St. Paul felt tliat dangers wore pressing closer and closer — tliat the hoped-for visit to his loved cliurchat Ephesus miglit not. probably never would be, accomjilished ; so these foregoing solemn directions respecting the choice of colleagues in tlie ministry had been written to Timothy, tliat. in the event of St. Paul never coming to him again, men (especially 93 What is the T. TIMOTHY, III. Mystery of Godliness. and ground' of the truth. <'^) And with- out controversy great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, 1 Or, stay. justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. the ministers of God) should know how to couduct tlioinst'lvos ill tiio oongregiition. That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself. — Tlio words refer licre not to Tiuiotliy alone, but rather to Tiiiiotliy and his colleagues in their eliureh work, concerning whom such particular directions had just been given, and should be rendered, hmo men outjlit to behave themselves. In the house of God. — The image is from the Old Testament, where " the liouse of God " denotes, in thy tirst place, the Temple of Jerusalem, and, in the second, tlie covenant-people. It is here used for the congregation of believers among whom God dwells — the true and enduring Church of living souls. Of this great spiritual temple, the corner-stone of which is Christ, the Jerusalem house on Mount Zion, with its marvellous work and its gorgeous and elaborate 6yinl)olism, was the poor, perishable, hand -wrought model. Which is the church of the living God.— The house of God is here plainly detiued to be the " Church " (or, congregation) " of the living God," who was working in its midst actively and personally, in strong contrast to that well-known graven image of the Diana of Ephesus, throned in that fair temple which glittered in its wliite and lifeless beauty over the roofs of the city where Timothy's charge hiy. The pillar and ground of the truth. — The imagery is here changed, and the "house of God" which the Apostle had just detiued to be the Church, or con- gregation, belonging to the living God, and in the midst of which Ho was pleased to dwell, is now defined to be " the pUlar and gi-ound" (or, basis) "of the truth." In the first picture, the Church is painted by St. Paul as a vast congregation, with the living God dwelling in its midst: in the second, the same Church is painted as a massive pillar, holding up and displacing before men and angels the truth— the saving truth of the gospel. In the first picture, the thought of a great company gathered to- gether for God to dwell among is prominent : in the second, tlie thought of the great redemption-truth alone comes to the front, and the Church of God is no longer viewed as a company of separate individuals, but as one massive foundation-pillar, supporting and displaying the glories of redemption. Tliis ])eculiar aspect of the Church, " the support and pillar of the truth," was dwelt upon probably by the Apostle as " defining — ^vith indirect allusion to na.scent and developing heresies — the true note, office, and vo- cation of the Church. . . . Were there no Church, there would be no witness, no guardian of archives, no basis, nothing whereon acknowledged truth could rest " (ElHcott). (i") And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness.—" And is not simply copu- lative, but heightens the force of the predication. Yes, confessedly great is the )nij!vith other and veiy different things ; with a spurious mock devotion, dream- ing that God's mercy and love were to be purchased by mere abstinence from certain meats, or by an unnatural renunciation of the home and famUy life. The " words of the Spirit " here allude to a mysterious power, to a divine gift, traces of which occur again and again in the New Testament pages. Among the supernatural signs which were vouchsafed to the first generation of believers, and with very rare exceptions only to the first generation — to men and women, many, if not most, of whom had seen Jesus, and had had personal contact with Him — must be reckoned those mysterious intima- tions of the will of the Holy Spirit which guided and encouraged the Church of the first days. That intima- tion came in varied forms : to the Twelve in the form of fieiy tongues (Acts ii. 1 — 12) ; to a more numerous company (Acts iv. 31) ; to Peter on the occasion of the conversion of Cornelius (Acts x. 10 — 16, 19, 20) ; to St. Paul on three occasions in tlie course of his second mis- sionary journey (Acts xvi. 6, 7, 9, 10) ; through the medium of the prophet Agabus (Acts xxi. 11). St. Paul alludes to many such voices of tlie Spirit, and heavenly intimations, Avhen speaking to the elders of Miletus (Acts XX. 23). One of these special revelations, made to himself, he here quotes. In the latter times.— All thc^e ages are here referred to which succeed the coming of the Lord. In these Paul lived, and we are still watcliing the slow and solemn march past of these latter ages. The errors foreseen then, have more or less affected the internal government of the Church during the eighteen hundred years which have passed since St. Paul's words were written. In no ago, ])erha]>s, have they been more ostentatiouslv thrust forward tliaii in our ovni. Some shaU depart from the faith. — " By denjnng what is true, by adding what is false," says Beuijel. Giving heed to seducing spirits.— Tliia ex- pression must not 1)0 watered down by explanations which understand this expression as referring to false teachers. The " seducing spirits" are none other than 195 Everything created I. TIMOTHY, IV. by God is good. (-) spealviiig lies in h jpocrisj ; having- theix' conscience seared with a hot iron ; (^^ forbiddin<]f to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving- of them which believe and know the truth. (^^ For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be evil i^owors and spirits subject to Satan, and whifli are permit tod to influence and to work in liumau hearts. (See Epli. ii. 2, vi. 12 — passages in which these spiritual eoinniniiitios of wickedness and their powers over men are a^ain alluded to by St. Paul.) Doctrines of devils. — Doctrines and thoughts tauglit by, suggested l)y, evil spirits. Tlie personality of these unhappy beings is clearly taught by St. Paul. Of their influence in the heathen world and their antagonism to Christ and His followers, see 1 Cor. X. 2U,21. (2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy.— The Greek words here sliould be translated, through the hypo- crisy of men that speah lies. The lies that these men utter, I'efer to their teaching that it was pleasing to the eye of the All-seeing Creator for men and women to avoid certain meats, and to abstain from marriage. Their hypocrisy consisted in their assumption of a nuisk of holiness, which holiness they considered was derived from their false asc(^ticism and tlieir abstinence from things which the Apostle proceeded to show were lawful. Having their conscience seared with a hot iron. — Better rendered. Branded in their own con- science as with a hot iron. The image is drawn from the practice of branding slaves and certain criminals on their forehead with a mark. " Qua nota tur^ntudinis nan inusta tna vita est / " (Cic. Cat. i. 6.) These men tried to teach the eflScacy of a substitution of certain counsels of perfection in place of a faithful loving life. They based their teaching on wild Oriental specula- tions about the evil nature of all matter. They were often themselves evil-livers, who, conscious of their own stained, scarred lives, strove with a show of out- ward .sanctity and hypocritical self-denial to beguile aud to lead astray others, and in the end to make them as vil(> as themselves. (3) Forbidding to marry.— This strange and un- natural " counsel of ijerfection," St. Paul, thinking and writing in the Spirit, looked forward to as a perilous delusion which would, as time went on, grow into the impious dogma of certain of the great Gnostic schools. This teaching was proliably, even in those early days, creeping into the churches. The Jewish sects of Essenes and Thcrapeutaj had already taught that " abstinence from marriage " was meritorious. Men belonging to these sects doubtless were to be found in every populous centre where Jews congregated, and it was always in those centres of Judaism that Chris- tianity at first found a home. St. Paul, however, saw no reason to dwell on this point at any length ; the gross absurdity of such a " counsel " as a rule of life was too apparent; it was a plain contradiction of the order of Divine Providence. But the next question which presented itself in the teaching of these false ascetics, as we shall see, reriuired more careful handling. And commanding to abstain from meats.— Once more we must look to tliose fanious Jewish religious comnuinities of Egj7)t (the Essenes and Tlierapentaj), tlie precui'sors of tlio great monastic systems of Christianity, as the home whence these per- verted ascetic tendencies issued. These precepts too, like the counsel respecting marriage, were adopted in I 196 after years by several of the principal Gnostic sects ; and it was especially those times St. Paul looked on to, although, no doubt, the seeds of their false asceticism had already been sown broadcast in the principal Christian congregations. It has been asked why, in these solemn warnings against a false asceticism which St. Paul foresaw might and would be substituted for a really earnest God- fearing life, the question of celibacy was tlismissed with one short sentence, while the apparently less-important question of abstaining from particular kinds of food was discussed with some detail. The reason is easily discoverable. The counsel to abstain from marriage was a strange and unnatural suggestion, one contrary to the plain scheme of creation. Any teaching which taught that the celibate's life was a life peculiarly pleasing to God would, at the same time, throw a slur upon all home and family life, and the Apostle felt that men's ordinary common sense would soon relegate any such strange teaching to obscurity ; but with the ques- tion of abstaining from meats — that was connected with the precepts of the Mosaic law, which dealt at some length (probably from reasons connected with the public health) with these restrictions in the matter of meats. These false teachers, while they urged such absti- nence as a likely way to win God's favour, would probably base, or at all events support, their arguments by reference to certain portions of the Mosaic law, rightly undei-stood or wrongly understood. These points, then, might have risen into the dignity of a controverted question between the (Paidine) Gentile and the Jewish congregations. So St. Paul at once removed it to a higher platform. All food was from the hand of one Maker — nothing, then, coidd really be considered common or unclean without tlu-owiug a slur upon the All-Creator. Which God hath created to be received •with thanksgiving.— God's primeval intention is thus sharply contrasted with men's aibitrary restric- tions. This divine intention is repeated with still greater emphasis in verse 4. Of them which believe and know the truth. — The true " Gnostics," in St. Paul's eyes, were not those self-sufficient men who were out of their own corrupt imagination devising these strange and unnatural methods of pleasing God, but those holy, humble men of heart wlio believed on His crucified Son, and Jnwiv the truth of the glorious gospel. W For every creature of God is good.— To teach that anything created was unclean would be an insult to the Creator. The very fact of its being His creation is enough. If made by God, then it must be good. And nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.— Every kind of food and drink may become hateful in the eyes of the all-pure God if misused, if partaken of without any sense of grati- tude to the Divine giver. But nothing which can be made use of as food ought to be regarded as imclean or as polluted ; every kind of food is intended for man, the only coiulition being that whatever is partaken of should be gratefully received by him as a gift. IIoio Timothy was to counteract I. TIMOTHY, IV. sickly Erroneous Teaching, received with thanksgiving : (■'') for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. <*'* If thou put the brethren in remem- brance of these things, thou slialt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. ('^ But refuse p;,„„ • a_.„ . Chap. IV. 6—16. proiane and old wives Timothy is to fables, and exercise thyself eXl'^h^Ttwici!- ra^/ier unto godliness. (^^^For ing a practical bodily exercise protiteth t'odlyliie. (5) For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. — Not only are all created tilings to be con- sitlereil pure, and not liglitly to be put aside ; but in tlio sight of God " every creature " is holy when re- ceived as His gift with thanksgiving and with prayer — such thanksgiving-prayer containing tlioughts in exact accordance with the Spirit of God revealed in Scripture. Thus all food is sanctified, not only, or even chiefly, by the common formula of a Christian grace before meat. This too often degenerates into a mere form of words • — into lip-service of the most heartless form— and is too often looked upon as a kind of I'eligious charm. The sauctifieation referred to by St. Paul belongs to no one prayer or grace, but to the constant habit of referring everything to God as the giver of all — to the perpetual •' office " of a devout heart which, taking everything as a gift from God, the lover and the friend of man, thanks God from the heart continually. One, if not tlie oldest, form of a Christian grace before meat is the one found in the Apostolic Constitu- tions. It is very simple and beautiful, and perhaps not too long for daily use. It runs as follows : " Blessed be Thou, O Lord, who nourisheth men from very youth up. who givest meat to all flesh ; fill our hearts with joy and gladness, so that we, always enjoying a sufficiency, may abound unto every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom be ascribed to Thee glory, honour, and power unto the ages. Amen." (c) If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things.— The " things" of which he was to put the brethren in mind were those practices connected with that foolish, false asceticism alluded to in verses 3 — 5. Not a few, probably, in that Ephesiau flock had been won over by the persuasive words of the false teachers to attribute a peculiar virtue to such practices — practices which, if persevered in, St. Paul well knew would tend to set up for imitation in the Church an unreal, unhealthy standard of life. Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ. — A high title to honour, this, " a good minister of Jesus Christ," and one Timothy would well earn if he would set himself in all earnestness to oppose and discredit the sickly teaching of the Ascetic school. He would by such opposition, indeed, eani the " title to honour," for St. Paul well knew liow great was the danger of a comparatively young and ardent disciple like Timothy being attracted by such mistaken teachings of perfection. But " the good minister of Jesus Clirist " must teach " a life " which may bo led by all, not by a select few merely, of the believers on his Master. Asceticism is too often a winning and attractive school of teaching to ministers, as, at a com- paratively easy price, tlicy win a great, but at the same time thoroughly unhealthy, power over the souls of men and wimion who practise these austerities, whicli tend uecos.sarily to remove them outof the stream of active life. Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. — The Greek present participle rendered liere " nourished up in," marks a continuous and permanent process of self-education. It might bo traualated " ever training thyself " — a wise and uover- to-be-forgotten precept of St. Paul's, this reminder to his own dear son in the faith, Timothy — and through Timothy to all Christian ministers of every age — never to relax their efforts for self-improvement. Tlie educa- tion of the good minister of Jesus Christ is never to be considered finished. Ho — the teacher of others — must ever be striving himself after a higher and a yet higher knowledge in things .spiritual. Whereunto thou hast attained. — More accu- rately translated, whicli thojc hast closely folloiv This is a faith- ful saj^ng and worthy of aU accepta- 1 Or, fixT a little time. tion. (^^> For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. (^^^ These thinffs command More accurately rendered, bodily exercise is profitable for little. St. Paul here, uo doubt, was tbiuking of those bodily austerities alluded to in verse 3. The stern repression of all huiuan passions and desires, the abstinence from all compliance with the natural im- pulses of the flesh — such an unnatural warfare, such an exercise, such a training of the body, no doubt in many eases would lead, in many cases certainly has led, the indiWdual to a higher spiritual state. Such a total surrender for the one who so exercises himself is, no doubt, in a certain sense, "profitable." But then it must be remembered that this kind of -vnctory over the flesh, in very many instances, leads to an unnatural state of mind ; for the rigid ascetic has removed him- self from the platform on which ordinary men and women move. His thoughts have ceased to be their thoughts, his ways are no longer their ways. For practical everyday life such an influence, always limited, is at times positively harmful, as its tendency is to de- preciate that home-life and family-life, to raise and elevate which is the true object of Christian teaching. Still, the Apostle, while remembering, and in his teach- ing ever carrying out, the spirit of the Lord's solemn prayer to the Father, " I pray, not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil," refrains from an entire con- demnation of a life which received, on more than one occasion, from the lips of the Sinless One a guarded commendation (Matt. x\-ii. 21 ; xix. 12). St. Paul, in his divinely-taught wisdom, recognises that such an austere and severe example and life, though by no means the ideal life of a Christian teacher, yet in the great world workshop of the Master might receive a blessing as " profitaljle for little." But godliness is profitable unto all things. — Better, for all things. But while tliis "bodily exercise," this austere subduing of the flesh, can only weigh with a narrow and circumscribed group, St. Paul points out that the influence of "godliness is world-^vide ; " a godliness, not merely an inward holiness, but an operative, active piety, which, springing from an intense love for Christ, manifests itself in love for His creatures. This godliness transfigures, and illumines with its di\'ine radiance all busy, active life — every condition, every rank, all ages. That surely is what the good minister of Jesus Christ must aim at I Having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. — For this godliness, whicli may and ought to enter into all states, all ages of life, promises the greatest happiness to those who struggle after it. It promises " life " — that is, the highest blessedness which the creature can enjoy in this world — as well as the rich prospect of the endless life with God in the world to come ; whereas a false asceticism crushes out all the joy and gladness of this present life, and is an unreal preparation for that which is future. (9) This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. — Again we have the striking formula which always calls attention to some great truth which, in the Church of the first days, had already obtained among the congi'cgatious a broad, if not a universal currency, as one of the great watchwords of the faitli. Now wo find one of these taken apparently from a Christian hJ^nn, now from one of the public prayers or thanksgivings. The " faithful saying," in this in- stance, was that " godliness," that is, " active, living piety," is profitable for all things, seeing it has the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. (10) For therefore we both labour and suf- fer reproach.— And for this end — to obtain this glorious promise, this highest blessedness here, that endless life with God hereafter, to win this glorious promise — we Christian missionaries and teachers care for no t&U, however painful — shrink from no shame, however agonising. Because we trust in the living God. — More accurately translated, because we have our Iwpe in the living God. And this is why we toil and endure shame. We know that the promise made will be ful- filled, because the God on whom — as on a sure founda- tion— our hopes rest, is a living God. " Li\Tng," in strong contrast to those dumb and lifeless idols shrined in the well-known Ephesian temples. Who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. — Tliese words, like the assertion of chap. ii. 4, have been often pressed into the ser\'ice of that school of kindly, but mistaken, inter- preters, who ignore, or explain away, the plain doctrine of Holy Scripture which tells us there are those whose destruction from the presence of the Lord shall be everlasting, whose portion .shall be the " second death " (2 Thess. i. 9 ; Rev. xxi. 8). These interpreters prefer to substitute in place of this terrible, but repeated declaration, their own perilous theories of universalism. Here the gracious words seem to affix a seal to the statement immediately preceding, which speaks of " the hope in the living God " as the source of all the labour and brave patience of the Lord's true servants. The living God is also a loving God, the Saviour of all, if they would receive Him, and, un- doubtedly, the Redeemer of those who accept His love and are faithful to His holy cause. It must be borne in mind that there were many Hebrews still in every Christian congregation, many in eveiy church, who still clung with passionate zeal to the old loved Hebrew thought, that Messiah's work of salvation was limited to the chosen race. This and similar sayings were specially meant to set aside for ever these narrow and selfish conceptions of the Redeemer's will ; were intended to show these exclusive children of Israel that Christ's work would stretch over a greater and a grander platform than ever Israel could fill ; were designed to tell out to all the churches how indeed "it was a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel." StiU, with all these guarded considerations, which serve to warn us from entertaining any hopes of a universal re- demption, such a saying as this seems to point to the blessed Atonement mysteiy as performing a work whoso consequences reach far beyond the limits of human thouglit, or even of sober speculation. (11) These things command and teach.— 19S Timothy is himself to set the I. TIMOTHY, IV. Example to the Congregations. and teach. (^^^ Let no man despise thy youth ; but be thou an example of the behevers, in word, in con- versation, in charity, in sj)irit, in faith, in purity. <^3) Y\\\ I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, (i"*^ Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee " Those tilings " — i.e., the real meaning of " god- liness," that practical everyday piety which, in contradistinction to tlie severe and strained asceticism of a limited and narrow section of society, should enter into all homes and influence aU lives without distinction of class or race, age or sex. " These tilings " in the Church of Ephesus must form a part of the public comniauds and charges to the congre- gations, must likewise enter into private Christian teaching. (12) Let no man despise thy youth.— If Timothy desired that his teaching should be listened to with respectful earnest attention, if he hoped to use a holy in- fluence over the flock, let him be A^ery cai'eful that his comparative youth prove no stumbling-block. To Paul tlie aged, his son in the faith seemed still youthful — at this time Timothy could not have been more than forty years of age. The old master would have his young disciple supply the want of years by a gravity of life ; he would have him, while fearless, at the same time modest and free from all that pretentious assumption, unhappily so often seen when the comparatively young are placed in positions of dignity and authority. Paul proceeds further to explain his solemn warning by in- stancing the especial points in which Timothy was to be a pattern to the other believers. These gentle words of warning, such notices as we find in chap. v. 23 and in 1 Cor. xxd. 10, II, seem to point to the fact of there being nothing ivinning in the personal appearance of Timothy, but rather the contrary. It is deserv- ing of comment that among the more famous of the early Christian leaders, beauty of face and form appears to have been the exception rather than the rule. This was, of course, utterly different from the old Grecian idea of gods and heroes. It was no doubt part of the counsel of God that this world-religion should owe nothing to the ordinary conditions of human success. The teaching was novel and opposed to the maxims which guided and influenced the old world. The noblest ideals proposed for Christian imitation were strange and hitherto unheard of. The very fore- most preachers of the faith of Christ, as in the case of Timothy, seem to have owed nothing to those personal gifts so highly prized among Pagan nations. So the appearance of St. Paul, the greatest of the early Christian leaders, seems to have been mean and insignificant, " etn armes dilrres Mdnnlein," as Luther has it. The blessed Founder of the religion is described by Tertullian, who lived in the same century with those who must have conversed with Christ's disciples, as " having no human beauty, much less any celestial splendour." Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, and other very early writers, join in the same testimony. It is, however, only fair to say that on this point the view of Origeu appears to have been different. The Messianic pro])hecies evidently looked forward to this as the will of the Most High. (See Ps. xxii. 6. 7, 15. 17 ; Isa. Hi. 14 ; liii. 2—4.) In word.— This refers to the public utterances in teaching and exhortation, but more jjariicularly to the words used by Timothy in social intercourse. These, in such a life as that of the young presiding older of the Ephesiau Church, must have Ijecu of the deepest importance. The tone of his conversation was no doulit imitated Jiy many, it would influence for good or evil the whole Christian society of that great centre. The words of men ]daced in such a position should ever be true and generous, h('l[)ful and oncouraging, and, above all, free from slander, fi'om aU low and pitiful conceptions of others. In conversation. — This rendering might mislead — the Greek word signifies rather " manner of life," or " conduct." In charity. — Better rendered, in love. This and the following " in faith," comprehend the great graces in that inner Christian life of which the " words of the mouth," and "conduct," are the outward mani- festations. He was to be the example to the flock in "love " to his neighbours, and in "faith " towards God. The words " in spirit," which in the English version occur between " in charity," and " in faith," are found in none of the older authorities. In purity. — Chastity of mind as well as body is here signified. The ruler of a church — among wlioso members evidently a school of teaching existed in which a life of stern asceticism was iirged on the Christian believer as the only acceptable or even possible way of life for the servant of Christ — must be above all things watchful lest ho should seem to set a careless example in the matter of morality. (13) Till I come, give attendance to reading. — The words evidently imply a hope, perhaps even au expectation, on the part of St. Paul, that he would one day be enabled once more to "visit the Ciiurch of Ephesus ; but so long as that absence lasted, Timothy was to attend carefully to three special points in the ljublic ministiy in which he was, in the Apostle's absence, the chief ofiicer. Tlie "reading" was that public reading of Scrip- tui'e in the congregation — a practice bori-owed from the synagogue service, when jjublicly tlie Law and tlio Prophets were read to the people assomliled. (See Luke iv. 16; Acts xiii. 15.) In these early Christian assem- blies, about the year 66 — 67, the question arises. Were any Scriptures read in public besides the books of the Old Testament ? No certain reply can be given : it is, however, probable, even at this very early date, that one at least of the older Gospels (jirobably St. Mark) was already known and used in the Christian churchos, and read along with the Scriptures of the old covenant. That the reading of the " Gospels " very soon became a part of the regular serAnce in the congregations of Chi'istians is OAident from the words of Justin Martyr, Apologia, i. 67, written in the first half of the first century. To exhortation,. to doctrine. — Tliese both most probably refer to the pul)lic ministry in the congrega- tion. The first, " exhortation." particularly applies to {\\e feelings. The reading of the Scriptures must be fol- lowed by an earnest ])ractical application of their teach- ing to the affairs of that life in the midst of which the Cliristian listener was linng. The word "doctrine" suggests a pul)lic teaching directed rather to the under- standing ot tlie hearers. The idea of exjiosition, or even of docrmatic te;ichin£r. seems liore included. (14) Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which 190 His Profiting is I. TIMOTHY, V. to appear to all. by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. '^^^ Meditate upon these things ; give thyself wholly to them ; that thy profiting may appear to all. ^ (^^^ Take heed unto thyself, and 1 Or, in alt things. A.D. 65. unto the doctrine ; continue in them : for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. CHAPTEE v.— (1) Rebuke not an was given thee by prophecy. — Here the Ajjostle rciiiinds liis representative iu the Ephesian congregation of his speeial gift of teacliing and exhortation — that tliviue gift wliicii had been conferred on Timothy at his sokMnu ordination h>ng ago, when the young son of Eunice was designated for the post which John Mark had once held witli the Apostle. It was in many respects a similar office, that which Timothy hehl about St. Paul, to that wliich in old days Elisha had hc^ld with Elijah ; and, as iu the case of the Hebrew prophet of tlie old dispensation, so here, the choice of St. Paul had been divinely guided. The very titles of the old cove- nant dispensation seem to have been revived in this instance of the divine selection of Timothy ; for in chap. vi. 11 the older Apostle addresses his representa- tive at Ephesus with the old prophetic title when he writes : " Thou, 0 -man of God, flee these things." Noiv he solemnly calls attention to that strange, miraculous "grace" which some inspired prophet at his ordina- tion declared was to be conferred on Timothy. The " gift " was said to be conferred, as to its certainty in tlie divine counsels, by such prophecy — the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of one or more of His prophets, declaring His will and intention to confer this special grace on th(> young companion of St. Paul. With the laying on of the hands.— Tliis was a symbolic action — the outward sign of an inward com- munication of the Holy Spirit for some spiritual office or undertaking — and was derived from the old solemn Hebrew custom. (See Num. viii. 10 iu the case of the consecration of the Levites, and Num. xxvii. 18, Deut. xxxiv. y in the ceremony of the dedication of Joshua.) Of the presbytery.— The brotherhood of presbyters connected with the place where the ordination of Timothy took place is here alluded to. There appears to have been such a body of elders in each particular city or district. Tlie presbytery in this instance would seem in all probability to have belonged to the district of Lystra, Timothy's native city; but an old eccle- siastical tradition speaks of Ephesus as the place of this ordination. (15) Meditate upon these things.— Better ren- dered, be diligent in these tilings. With these words St. Paul closes this division of his solemn directions to his cliosen disciple and representative at Ephesus. He must dwell on tliese things and must be diligent in their practice : he must show himself active and industrious as a public teacher, and must also order his life so as to be an example to his fellow-believers. Give thyself wholly to them ; that thy pro- fiting may appear to all.— More accurately ren- dered, thy advance (or. thij progress) may be manifest to all. To these points — his public teaching and his jmblic example — he must give ceaseless attention, that the Christian brotherhood of tlio Church over which he presided should be enal)led constantly to see what progress their chief pastor was making in Christian experience and life. The word we have translated "advance" or "progress" reminds Christian ministers and teachers of St. Paul's grave words to Timothy — and, through Timothy, to all occupying any position of authority in the congregations — that there must be 200 no standing still, no resting content with knowledge already acquired, no being satisfied with the present spiritual life; there must be a restless striding after the acqiuremeut of new stores of knowledge, ever deeper and more accurate ; there must be a ceaseless endeavour to attain to a higher eminence in the spiritual life ; and, if the minister or teacher would be successful, the result of these efforts must be manifest to the brethren with whom his lot was cast. (i<>) Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine ; continue in them. — Thy teaching is a more accurate rendering of the original Greek word than " the doctrine." The Apostle in these words sums up the two chief pastoral requisites, and then points out the mighty consequences which will result from faithfully carrying them out. The minister of Christ must keep his attention fijced on his own demeanour and conduct, and at the same time give equally careful heed to the quality and character of his teaching. This teaching must be true and manly, and, above all, it must be faithful in doctrine ; and he himself must exemplify it in word and deed. Without true and efficient teaching, the pure and upright life of the Christian pastor will fail to win souls for his Master ; and, on the other hand, the most efficient instruction will be of no avail unless the life corresponds to the words publicly uttered. For in doing this thou shalt both save thy- self, and them that hear thee. — " Thou shalt save " — that is, in the great day of judgment ; for only one meaning, and that the highest, must be given to " thou shalt save." Eternal happiness for pastor and flock is the double reward offered to the faithful servant of the Lord. In striving to save others, the minister is really caring for his own salvation. V. (1) Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father.- Two-thirds of St. Paul's first Letter to Timothy have been taken up with directions, warnings, and exhortations respecting the public duties connected with the office of superintending presbyter, or bishop, of a church like that of Ephesus; from these directions in connection with the public teaching and the official life in the church, the Apostle passes on to speak of the private relations which one in Timothy's position ought to maintain with individual members of the congregation. And, first, he warns him against a misplaced zeal, which might urge Ivim to unbefitting behaviour towards those older than himself. The enthusiastic and ardent young servant of Christ would see with sorrow and dismay the .shortcomings of many an elder member of his flock, and, forgetting to make wise allowance for previous training, thought, and liabits, would be likely, unwisely, and possibly unfairly, to find fault. Let him, in the cases of his elders — for the reference is rather to age than to office, as is clear from the reminder of verse 2. addressed to the " elder women " — instead of open rebuke, use respectful and affectionate entreaties, after the manner of a son, not of an official. The younger men as brethren.— And as re- gards the younger Christians of Ephesus, let them not Of the Relations of a Presbyter I. TIMOTHY, V. to the Members of his Flock. elder, but intreat him as a father ; Chap V. 1—2. and the younger men Directions re- as brethren ; <-^ the elder Eermg'''tlie womeu as mothers; the affairs of the younger as sisters, with general ^Z all purity. (^^ Honour proofs were to widows that are widows bedeUvered. ^j.^jged. <-') But if any 1 Or, kindness. widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew chap. v. 3—8. piety ^ at home, and to Of the ahns requite their parents : for Jo Chrilt'iaS that is good and acceptable widows, before God. (^^ Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and bo alienated by an assumption of dignity on the part of tlie chief presbyter of the Church. Let his relations with these younger members of the family of Christ bo rather those of a brother and a friend than of a superior in rank and dignity. (2) The elder women as mothers.— Tlie same watchful care against all assumption of supei-iority must also be exercised in his dealings with the Chris- tian mati'ons of Ephesxis. The younger as sisters, with all purity. — In the case of the younger women, St. Paul adds to his directions respecting brotherly and sisterly regard a grave word, urging upon Timothy, and all oflScial teachers like Timotliy, to add to this self-denying, loving friend- ship a ceaseless watchfulness in all their conversation, so as not to afford any ground for suspicion ; for, above all things, the recognised teacher of Christianity must be pure. No one can read and forget the quaint words of advice of St. Jerome : " Onines puellas et virgines Christi, ant cequaliter ignora aid cequaliter dilige." (3) Honovir widows that are widows indeed. — Tlie mention of the relations of a pastor to the female members of the flock suggests another train of thought. Christianity had, during the thirty years of its history, developed a perfectly new existence for women who professed the faith of Jesus of Nazareth. In the IVIaster's new and strange (new and strange to the civilised world of that day) command — that the poor, the needy, and the sick should be succoured, that the helpless should be helped, and the comfortless comforted — a blessed calling was invented, so to speak, for Christian w^omen. Their secluded and, in many respects, degraded life in the old world was, in great measure, owing to the fact that till Christ taught the universal duty of charity, women had no recognised public occupation in the world. The charge of the Founder of the new religion pro\'ided an endless variety of blessed, happiness-giving work for women of all ages and rank. Tlie novel prominence, however, of females in such great centres as Ephesus not only necessitated some organisation which should administer the alms, and generally watch over and direct the self-sacrificing labours of the female portion of the community, but also required special vigilance, on the part of the chief pastor and his assistant presbyters and deacons, to prevent the charities of the Church being misused. Tlie widow — the desolate and destitute, the mournuig widow indeed, she who is in every sense a widow and has no one to whom to look for aid — she always has a claim on the Church. Not merely is she to be honoured by a simple exhibition of respect, but she is to be assisted and supported out of the alms of the faitlifnl. (*) But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents (or. nepheics). — The Greek word here should be rendered grandchildren ; the original meaning of " nephew " Inepotes) has disappeared. Hero a wai'uiug against allowing the Church to be burdened with a burden which others ought to bear is given, in the form of a pressing reminder to the children or grandchildren of the destitute and desolate widow. It is a solemn and imperative duty for the children to afford all needful succour — a duty not to be evaded by any bearing the Christian name. For that is good and acceptable before God. — An especial blessing is promised to those who really carry out this too often forgotten duty. (See Eph. vi. 2, 3 ; and also comp. Mark vii. 10, 11.) (5) Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate. — St. Paul, after mentioning this exception to the fit objects of the Church's charity and protection, again returns to this special class of helpless ones: "the widows indeed " — a class, no doubt, in those days of selfish luxuiy and of extreme misery and hopelessness, often utterly neglected, and not unfrequeutly left to starve and to perish in want and misery. It has been asked why, in these official directions to Timothy, the question of relief of poor Christian icidows comes so prominently forward. We find also that, in the first years which succeeded the Ascension, many widows in Jerusalem seemed to have been dependent on the Church for sustenance (Acts vi. 1). Now we should expect to find in the Church of Christ the same loving care which was taken in the old days, when Israel was a great nation, of these solitary and unhappy women. (Comp. Deut. xxiv. 17, where we find special laws respecting the garments of widows never to be taken in pledge. See, too, such passages as Ex. xxii. 22; Deut. xxvii. 19 ; Isa. i. 17 ; Jer. v\i. 6 ; also Isa. x. 2 ; Mai. iii. 5.) Still, this hardly accounts for the statement of Acts vi. 1 and these lengthened directions to Timothy. It is moi'e than probable that there were, especially in these Eastern cities, a very large class of these desolate and unprotected women. The practice of polygamy is accountable for this, in the first instance ; and the rigid morality of the Christian teaching would place a bar to the female convert from heathenism relapsing into a life where moral restraints were utterly disregarded. The charities of the early Church, especially in Oriental cities, were, without doubt, heavily burdened with this grave and increasing charge — provision for these poor desolate women ; and it was to relieve the congregrjitions in some degree that St. Paul wrote these elaborate instructions to Timothy, warning him, as the chief minister of the Ephesian Church, against an indiscriini- nate charity, and at the same time pro ending him with a system of severe restraints to be imposea upon the assisted women. Still, the chief pastor in Ephesus must remember tliat among the women of his flock there were some widows indeed, with neither children nor grandchildren to assist them, without friends even to cheer their desolate, widowed life. To find out and to succour tlie.se poor, f^d-hearted. friendless lH>ings. St. Paul re- minds Timothy, was one of the duties of a Christian minister. 201 Of administering the ChurcJis Alms. I. TIMOTHY, V. The Case of Christian Widows prayers night and day. (^^ But she that liveth in pleasure ^ is dead while she liveth. (^> And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless. 1 Or, delicately. 2 Or, kindred. (^) But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house,- he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. ^^^ Let not a Trusteth in God.— These, without love of child or friend, cast thomsolves on the support of the everlastmg arms. The langua^^o hero used by St. Paul pictures, evidently, some loving- and trustful character then living, of whom he was thinking while writing the Letter to Timothy. " She hath trusted and still trusts in God ; she continues in pi-ayer night and day." And continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. — Like Anna, the daughter of Pha- nuel (Luke ii. 3t), 37), whom some suppose St. Paul took as the model and example for these Christian widows. The meaning of these words, descriptive of a holy life, is not that the earnest and pious bereaved woman should pass her days and nights in the unrelieved monotony of constantly repeated prayers. Such a life, impractical and useless, would never commend itself to one like St. Paul ; the words simj)ly describe the deso- late one casting all her cai'e on the Lord, and telling Him, as her only friend, of all her thoughts and actions, her words and her works. (6) But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. — This is a thoroughly Pauline thought, set forth in other language in the Roman Epistle, chap. viii. 13 : " For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die." The word in the Greek rendered " she that liveth in pleasure " is very remarkable, and in the New Testament is found only in one other place (Jas. V. 5). The widow-woman who could so forget her sorrow and her duty is spoken of as a living corpse, and is sharply contrasted with her far happier sister, who, dead to the pleasures of the flesh, living a life of prayer and of self-denial, in the true sense of the word, may be spoken of as living. A very different estimate of life was held by the greatest of Greek poets, who writes thus of men giving up pleasures : " I do not consider that such a one lives, but I regard him as a living corpse " {Antigone of Sophocles, 1166 — 7, Dindorf). Comp., too. Rev. iii. 1. (') And these things give in charge.— That is to say, the duties of widows, as set forth in verse 5, together with his (St. Paul's) estimate of the gay and frivolous character painted in vers^ j 6. That they may be blameless. — That, whether seeking support from the public alms of the Christian community or not, the widows of the congregation should struggle aft«r an irreproachable self-denying life, and show before men publicly whose servants they indeed were. In these words there seems a hint that the former life of many of these women-converts to Chris- tianity had been very different to the life loved of Christ, and that in their now profession as Christians there was urgent need of watchfulness on their part not to give any occasion to slanderous tongiies. (8) But if any provide not for his own.— Tliis repeated warning was necessary in tlio now rapidly widening circle of believers. Then, in those early days, as now, men and women were attempting to persuade themselves that the hopes and promises of Christians coidd be attained and won by a mere profession of faith, by an assent to the historical truths, by a barren reception of the doctrine of the atonement, without any practice of stem self-denial, apart from any loving consideration for others; there were evidently in that great Church of Ephesus, which St. Paul knew so well, not a few professed believers in the Cnicified who, while possessed themselves of a competence, perhaps even of wealth, could calmly look on while their re- lations and friends languished in the deepest poverty. And specially for those of his own house. — The circle of those for whose support and sustenance a Christian was responsible is here enlarged : not merely is the fairly prosperous man who professes to love Christ, bound to do his best for his nearest relations, such as his mother and grandmother, but St. Paul says " he must assist those of his own house," in which term relatives who are much more distant are included, and even dependents connected with the family who had fallen into poverty and distress. He hath denied the faith.— Faith, considered as a rule of life, is practically denied by one who neglects these kindly duties and responsibilities, for "faith worketh by love" (Gal. v. 6). Faith here is con- sidered by St. Paul, not as mere belief in the doctrine, or even in a person, but as a rule of life. And is worse than an infidel.— The rules even of the nobler Pagan moralists forbid such heartless selfishness. For a Christian, then, deliberately to neglect such plain duties would bring shame and dis- grace on the religion of the loving Christ, and, not- withstanding the name he bore, and the company in which he was enrolled, such a denier of the faith would be really worse than a heathen. ('■>) Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old.— The question re- specting the assistance to be afforded to the poor and destitute widows of the great Asian Church reminded St. Paul of an organisation, consisting of widowed women, which had grown out of the needs of Christi- anity. He would lay down some special rules here to be observed by his friend and disciple. What, now, is this organisation commended to Timothy in these special directions ? Here, and here only in the New Testa- ment, do we find it alluded to; but the instructions in this passage are so definite, so precise, that it is im- possible not to assume in the days of Timothy and of Paul, in some, if not in all the great churches, the existence of an official band of workers, consisting of widows, most carefully selected from the congrega- tion of believers, of a somewhat advanced age, and specially distinguished for devotion — possessing, each 01 these, a high and stainless reputation — they were an official band of workers, a distinct order, so to speak ; for these widows, formally entered on the Church's list, could not possibly represent those poor and deso- late widows, friendless and destitute, spoken of above. The minimum age of sixty years would also exclude many; and the advice of St. Paul to the younger ones to marry again could never have been addressed to women wanting even many years of the requisite " sixty." "Were these poor soids to be formally shut out from receiAnng the Church's alms ? Again, those on the list could never be the same persons whom we hear of as deaconesses (Rom. xvi. 1, and in the Christian literature of the second century). The active duties of the office would have been utterly incompatible with tJ>e ago of sixty, the minimum age at which these were to be 202 I The Order of I. TIMOTHY, V. Preshjteral Widows. Chap. V, 9—15. widow be taken^ into the Directions re- number Under threescore orPrefbyTerai jears old, having been the widows. wife of one man, (^*^^ well 1 Or, chosen. reported of for good works ; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if' she have relieved the afflicted, if entered on the list. Wo then conclude these "widows " were a distinct and most honourable order, whose duties, preshyteral rather than diaconic, apparently consisted in the exercise of superintendence over, and in the ministry of counsel and consolation to, the younfi^er women. — That they sat unveiled in the as- semblies in a sepai-ate place by the presbyters ; that they received a special ordination by laying on of hands ; that they wore a peculiar dress — were distinc- tions probably belonging to a later age. Having been the wife of one man.— Of the conditions of enrolment in this " order," the first — that of age — has been alluded to ; the second — " having been the vrife of one man " — must not be understood in the strictly literal sense of the words. It is inconceiv- able that the hope of forming one of the highly honoured band of presbyteral women depended on the chance of the husband li^•ing until the wife had reached the age of sixty years. Had he died in her youth, or comparative youth, the Apostle's will was that the widow shoidd marry again. (See verse 14, where St. Paid writes, "I will that the younger women marry," &c.) The right interpretation of the words is found in some such paraphrase as, " If in her married life she had been found faithfid and true." The fatal facility of divorce and the lax state of morality in Pagan society, espe- cially in the Greek and Asiac cities, must be taken into account when we seek to illustrate and explain these dii'ections resj^ectiug early Christian foundations. While unhesitatingly adopting the above interpreta- tion of the words " wife of one man," as faithfully representing the miud of St. Paul, who was legislating here, it must be remembered, for the masses of believers wliose lot was cast in the busy world (see his direct command in verse 14 of this chapter, where the family life is pressed on the yoimger widow, and not the higher life of solitude and self-denial), still those expositors who adopt the stricter and sterner interpretation of " wife of one man " — \az., " a woman that has had onhj one husband " — have, it must be granted, a strong argument in their favour from the known honour the univirce obtained in the Roman world. So Dido, in ^n. iv. 28, says — "Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores Abstulit, illc habeat secum, servctque sepulchre." Compare, too, the examples of the wives of Lucan, Drusus, and Pompey, who, on the death of their hus- bands, devoted the remainder of their lives to retire- ment and to the memory of the dead. The title univirce graved on certain Roman tombs shows how this devotion was practised and esteemed. " To love a wife when li\^ng is a pleasure, to love her when dead is an act of religion," wrote Statins — " Uxorem vivam amare voluptas Defunctam relisjio." — Statius, Sylv. v., in Procemio. And see, for other instances, Lecky, Hist, of European Morals, chap. v. But it seems highly improliable that the delicate and touching feeling, whicli haa taken root certainly in some (alas ! in only a small number) of tho nobler Roman minds, influenced St. Paul, who, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, was laj-iug down mles for a great and world-wide society, which was to include the many, not the few, chosen souls — was legislating for the masses, to whom such an expressed wisli would indeed be " a counsel of perfection " rarely to be carried out ; and so, Avithout hesitation, we adopt the more practical inter- pretation given al)ove. (10) Well reported of for good works. — Not only must men have no evil to say of her, ])nt slie must be weU known for her good works, for her kindly willingness to help the weary and heavy-laden ones of the world. If she have brought up children. — This title to honour must bo understood quite in a general sense. It must not, of course, be supposed that St. Paul deemed it necessary to exclude from the order of presbyteral widows the chUdless mothers. Only the candidate for admission must be well known a.s one who loves children, and would be ready and willing gladly to dis- charge any pu])lie duties to the little orphan ones of the flock who might be intrusted to her care. If she have lodged strangers.— If. even in a comparatively humble state, she have been always mind- ful of the sacred rites of hospitality, a A-irtue perhaps even more valued in the East than in the more reserved Western countries. In the early days of the new faith, the readiness to entertain and welcome Christian strangers seems to have been an especial characteristic of believers in Jesus of Xaziiretli. If she have washed the saints' feet. — Not per- haps to be imderstood literally, though the act of the Lord on the night before the Cross had invested this act of common hospitality with a peculiar halo of love and devotion. The woman who was to be atlmitted into the fellowship of this honoured order must be well known as one who had never shrunk from any act of devoted love, however painful or seemingly degrading. If she have relieved the afllicted. —Not merely, or even chiefly, by alms. l)ut liy all kindly and sisterly encouragement : ever ready to mourn with those tliat mourn, deeming none too low or too degraded for her friendship, none out of the reach of her sisterly help and counsel. If she have diligently followed every good work. — This sums up tlie beautiful character to lie sought for in the candidates for memljership in this chosen woman's baud. She must bo known not merely as a mother and a wife, wlio had >\ oU and faithfully per- formed the womanly duties of her home life, but men must speak of her as one who had diligently and lo\'ingly sought out tho rough places of the world, and who. with a brave and patient self-denial, with a sweet and touching self-forgetfulness, had set herself to per- fonn those kind, good actions the Master loves so well. In the Shepherd of Henna.'<, written about A.D. 150, some eighty years after St. Paul wrote this lettor to Timothy, we have proljably an example of one of these honoured widows in the person of Grapte. wlioso task it was to teach tho widows and or])lians of the Roman Church the meaning of certain prophecies. Tlie author- ship of the Shepherd has also been ascribt^d to tho Hormas mentioned in Rom. xvi. 1-k It belongs, how- 203 Danrjers and Faults I. TIMOTHY, V. to he Guarded against. slie have dilii;^ently followed every good work. <^^^ But the younger widows refuse : for when they have begun to Avax Avanton against Christ, they will marry ; ^^-^ having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. (1^^ And withal they learn to he idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ever, more probably to the middle of the second cen- tury, as stated above. The criticism whit-h dwells on this celebrated pas- sage, contaiuiug St. Paul's rules for admissitm iuto the order of presbyteral widows, and which finds in it subject matter belonging to a date later than the age of St. Paul and Timothy, forgets that, dating from the days when Jesus of Nazaretli walked on earth, women had been enrolling themselves among His foremost fol- lowers, and had been sbxriug in the toils and enter- prises of His most zealous disciples. We find the Marys and other holy women associated with " His own "in the daj-s of the eartlily ministry; they were foremost in the work done to the person of the sacred dead. We hear of them after the Resurrection repeatedly in the Jerusalem Church of the first days. It was the neglect of some of the Hebrew widows wliich led to the foundation of the deacon's order. Dorcas, before ten years of the Church's life had passed, appears to have presided over a charitable company of women at Lydda. Dorcas, no doubt, was but one out of many doing, in different centres, a similar work. Priscilla, the wife of Aquila. the wandering tent-maker of Poutus, early in St. Paul's career CNadeutly took a leading part in organising congregations of Christians. Lydia, the puri)le seller of Thyatira, was prominent in developing the Philippian Church. Phebe, under the title of the Deaconess of Cenchrea, was the official bearer of St. Pauls famous letter to the Roman Church. This pas- sage, dwelling on the growing organisation for women's work at Ephesus, tells us more, cei-taiuly, than the scattered incidental allusions of the Acts and earlier Epistles. But the words of St. Paul speak only of the natural results and development of a great movement, which, dating from the earthly days of the ministry of Christ, was destined to give women a new position among the workers of the world. The Epliesian organisation here regulated by the Apostle is nothing more than we should expect to find after thirty or thirty-two years of female effort in the Master's cause. (11) But the younger •widows refuse. — The younger women — younger used in a general sense — must positively be excluded from, and held ineligible for. this presbyteral order. This direction by no means shuts them out from participation in the alms of the Church, if they were in need and destitute ; but it wisely excluded the younger women from a position and from duties which they might in their first days of grief and desolation covet, but of which, as time passed on — as experience had shown St. Paul — they not unfrequently wearied. Those who had put their hands to the plough and afterwards looked back, ho ])roceeds to tell us, would be a hindrance to the Chureh's work, and in some cases might prove a subject of scandal and reproach. For when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ. — The Apostle was looking on to the time when, the first fervour excited by grief and sorrow being jiast, these younger sisters in many instances would begin again to long after their old pursuits and pleasures. The Greek word rendered " wax wanton " suggests especially the idea of restiveness. Tliey will lose — to use Jerome's well-known expression — their love for their own proper Bridegroom — Christ. They will marry.— The sight of domestic happi- ness enjoyed by other women will affect them. They, too, will long in their poor hearts for home joys ; they will weary for the prattle of their own little children. How much untold misery would have been avoided — how many wasted lives would have been saved for good and useful service, had Churchmen in later times only obeyed the words and earned out the thoughts of Paul, and persistently refused, as did St. Paul and Timothy, to receive the proffered services of women still too young in years for such devoted work, but who, through a temporary pressure of soitow, dreamed for a moment they would be able to cany out their purpose of a life- long renunciation of the world, its excitement and its joys. St. Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, saw how too often such renunciation, made under peculiar pressure of circumstances, undertaken with the hot fervour of youth, in later days would become weary and distasteful. (12) Having damnation. — Judgment, not neces- sarily " damnation." Tlie Greek word krivia is often thus unhappily translated. The context of the passage must in all cases decide the nature of the '' judgment," whether favourable or the contrary. Here it signifies that those who in after days give up a work which for their Mastei''s sake they had undertaken, expose them- selves to a searching judgment, which wiU thoroughly sift the reasons that induced them to forsake the begun toU, and that, if the reasons be not satisfactory, will be unfavourable, and wiU surely involve con- demnation. Because they have cast off their first faith. — Though, probably, no vows respecting marriage were required from those widows who devoted themselves to the Lord's service, yet virtually such a solemn enrolment partook of the nature of a life-long engage- ment— an engagement which, if they married again, must necessarily be given up. Such a going back, such a giving up the higher and the more devoted life — the life of self-sacrifice, of self- abnegation — for the ordinary joys and cares of domestic life, for the useful but still every-day pursuits of ordinary men and women — such a going back, would bo indeed a casting off their first faith, and such an example of backsliding could not fail to harm the cause of Christ. (13) And withal they learn to be idle, wan- dering about from house to house.— The first fervour of th(>ir devotion and renunciation of self will have cooled, their very occupation will become a snare to tliem — the going about to the various dwellings for the object of consoling, instructing, assisting, would give them, now that their minds were no longer exclusively turned to religious thoughts, and their hearts were no more alone filled by Jesus, many an o])portunity of wasting precious hours, of indulging in fi'ivolous, if not in harmful, conversation ; and this the Apostle seems to 204 Directions respecting Younger I. TIMOTHY, V. Widoivs of Presbyters. ought not. (^*^ I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.^ (15) For some are already turned aside riVov. i Them that a Deut. 25. 4. 6 Matt. 10. la 1 Or, under. 2 Or, without pre- judice. sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. (^^^ I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, p, 21—25 and the elect angels, that Solemn charge thou observe these things ^^'^ . special .,, , f. • warnings. Without preierring one before another,- doing nothing by par- allel renmuoration amon<; tlio pres])}i^eral order (verses 17 and 21). To liiin, a.s pre«idiud law of Israel, there was a special reminder to God's people tliat the venj animals that laboured for them were not to be prevented from enjoying the fruits of their labours, .surely men who with zeal and earnest- ness devoted themselves as God's servants to their fellows, should i)e treated with all liberality, and even dignified with especial respect and honour. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.— It is possible, thougli hardly likely, that St. Paul, quoting here a well-known saying of the Lord (see St. Luke X. 7). combines a quotation from a Gospel with a quotation fnmi the Book of Deuteronomy, introducing l)oth witli the words " For the Scrijiture saith " — Scrip- ture igrajihi) being always applied by St. Paul to the writings of the Old Testam(>nt. It is best and safest to understand these words as simply quoted by St. Paul, as one of the well-remembered precious declarations of the Lord Jesus. (I"*) Against an elder receive not an accusa- tion, but before two or three witnesses.— By the " elder " here we must understand a presbyter — tlie ordained minister of the Church. St. Paul has been directing his son in the faith, and successor in the government of the chief Asian Church, carefully to watch for, and to reward by dignity and honour, the services of the more zealous and distinguished pres- byters. He now tells him that the other matters, besides zeal and successful service among the Church's professed officers, will come before him when he stands at the helm of the Church. Charges — owing, possibly, to jealousy, party feeling, suspected doctrinal error — will not unfrequently be brought against a presbyter. Such an accusation is only to be received by Timothy when the evidence is perfectly clear. Every possible precaution against simply vexatious charges brought against one occupying the hard and difficult position of a presbyter, must bo taken by the presiding minister. The reference is to Deut. xvii. 6. (20) Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.— The Apostle here, apparently, is still referring exclusively to that order of presbyters whose more meritorious members he had directed Timothy to honour with a special honour, and towards whose accused members he instructed him how to act. He now passes to the question how to deal with these responsible officers of the Church when they wei-e proved to be notoriously sinning. While, on the one hand, the earnest and devoted men were to be honoured with "a double honour" — while every possible legal precaution was to be taken in the case of those being accused — on the other hand, when proved to be men continuing in sin and error, their punishment must be as marked as in the other case was the reward. The errors and sins of teachers of the faith are far more dangerous than in those who make up the rank and file of congregations, and require a more severe and more public punishment. It is not improbable that St. Paul was especially allud- ing here to false teaching — to errors of doctrine on the part of some of the Ephesian presbyters. He seems, in his parting address at Miletus to the elders (pres- byters) of this very Ephesian Church, to liaA'e foreseen such a grievous falling away in the future among their company — " Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away discijjles after them" (Acts xx. 30). Compare also the Epistle totliis same Church of Ephesus (Rev. ii. 4 — 5). As the sin, whatever has been its nature, lias been committed by men intrusted with a resjionsible and public charge, so the rebuke and punishment must also be in public, that the warning may then spread over the whole of the various congregations composing the Church, and thus " others also may fear." (21) I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. — More accurately, as well as more forcibly rendered. " I snhnnnlij charge thee." " Lord " must be omitted before Jesus Christ, the older authorities not containing the word. The sense of the passage remains the same. Very solemnly is Timothy adjured to carry out the varied duties of his great charge, the government of the Church of Ephesus, impartially — doing nothing hastily, ever watchful of himself. St. Paul has just pressed upon him how needful it was to exercise care in the case of an 206 d iSpecial Warnings and Directions I. TIMOTHY, V. addressed to Timothy. tiality. (^-^ Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins : keep thyself pure. (-^^ Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for accused presbyter. Ho must listen to no charge except several competent witnesses were produced to support the accusation. He now reminds Timothy — tlie chief presbyter — of the ever pi'esent unseen witnesses of his conduct (see Heb. xii. 1). In that awful presence — in sight of the tin-one of God, with Messiah on the i-ight hand, and the angels, the chosen attendants and ministers of God, gathering round about the throne — would Timothy guide and rule the congregations of Christians in that famous Eastern city. The Churcli of Ephosus had been built up and consolidated by the personal presence and influence of St. Paul, resident there some three years ; and at the time when St. Paiil wrote to Timothy it was second in numbers and in influence to none of the early groups of congregations (except, perhaps, to the Christian communities of Syrian Antioch). Placed by an Apostle as the first head of such a community, intrusted with one of the greatest and most important charges in Christendom, Timothy indeed needed to be watchful. Well might St. Paul remind him of tlie tremeiulous witnesses who would be present in his hoiir of trial. And the elect angels. — St. Paul had been speaking of the internal organisation of the church on earth, and had been dwelling, first, on rank and order among women, and secondly, among men, especially direct- ing that a special position of honour should be g^ven to the more distinguished and zealous of the presbyteral order. The term " elect " here given to certain of those blessed spirits — in whose sight, as they stood and mmistered before the throne of God, Timothy would rule over the charge committed to him — would seem to imply that, as on earth, so in heaven are there degrees in rank and variety in occupation. These holy ones are probably termed "elect," as especially selected by the Eternal as His messengers to the human race, as was Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. (See Luke i. 19.) St. Paul loves to refer to the ranks and degrees of the host of lieaven. (See Rom. viii. 38; Eph. i. 21 ; Col. i. 16.) But it is possible that these "elect angels" were those blessed spirits who " kept their first estate," and had not fallen. (See 2 Pet. ii. 4, and Jude, verse 6.) That thou observe these things.— The "things" Timothy was to observe, as ever in the presence of so august a company of witnesses, were the varied points touched upon in the preceding verses, relat- ing to the internal organisation of the church over whicli he was presiding, especially bearing in mind (for St. Paul again refers to this point) his words which bore upon judgment of presbyters — the men whose lives and conversation were to be an example to the flock. Without p/eferring one before another. — More literally, u'ithont prejudice. He who presides over a great Christian community mu.st l)e above all party feeling. That unhappy divisions existed in the churches, even in the lifetime of the Apostles, wo have ample evidence, not only in the inspired writings, but also ill the fragments wo possess of the earliest Christian literature. Doing nothing by partiality.— Although these reminding words, and those immediately preceding, were written with especial reference to the judicial inquiry Timothy would be constrained to hold in tho event of any presbyter being formally accused either of a moral offence or of grave doctrinal error in his teaching, yet they must be understood in a far broader sense. The presiding elder in Ephesus must never for- get that ho bears rule, not only over one school of Christian thought, but over all men who acknowledged Jesus as Messiah and Redeemer. (22) Lay hands suddenly on no man.— This command refers primarily to the solemn laying on of hands at the ordination of presbyters and deacons. It no doubt also includes the " laying on of hands " customary, apparently, even in the Apostolic age, on the absolution of penitents and their re-admission to church fellowship. Neither be partaker of other men's sins.— By thus negligently admitting into the ministry unfit persons — by carelessly and without due caution re- admitting persons to a church fellowship, which by their evil life they had forfeited — Timothy would incur a gi-ave responsibility, would in fact " be a partaker" in the sins and errors committed by those men, some of whom he had carelessly placed in im- portant positions in the church, others of whom he had restored to communion before they had given sufficient evidence of their repentance. To limit, how- ever, the reference of the command of St. Paid here to the laying on of hands in the ordination of pres- byters and deacons, would unply a gi*eater corruption in the church at that early date than is credil)le. Surely the number of " unfit " persons seeking the high and holy, but difficult and dangerous, posts of officers in a proscribed and hated community, would hardly by themselves have warranted such gi-ave warning words as " Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins." Keep thyself pure. — The word " pure " here has a broad and inclusive signification. It, of course, denotes the urgent necessity of one holding Timothy's high and responsible office being pure and chaste in word and deed and thought ; but here it also presses on the chief presbyter of Epliesus the imperative necessity of keeping himself, by ceaseless watclifulness, pure from all reproach in the matter of selecting candi- dates for the ministry, or in the restoring of the lapsed sinners to church fellowship. (23) Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. — Those who argue that this Epistle was the artificial composition of an age subsequent to St. Paul's, and was written in great measure to support the hierarchical development, which, they say, showed itself only in the centuiy after St. Paul's death, have no little difficulty in accounting for the presence of such a com- mand as this. It can, in fact, only be explained on the supposition that the letter was. in tnath. written by St. Paul to Timothy in all freedom and in all love : by the older and more experienced, to the younger and comparatively untried man : by the master to the pupil : by an old and trusted friend, accustomed lo speak his whole mind, to one his inferior in years, in rank, in knowledge. No ecclesiastical forger of the second or third century would have dreameil. or. had ho dreamed, would have dared to weave into the com- plicated tapestiy of such an Epistle such a cliarge as " Drink no longer water, l)ut use a little wine — con- sidering thino often infirmities." 207 lie is enjoined I. TIMOTHY, YI. to exercise Discretion thy stomach's sake and thine often iatirmities. <-'' Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment ; and some me7i they follow after. (^s) Likewise also the ' good works of some are manifest beforehand ; and they that are other- wise cannot be hid. CHAPTEE YI.— (1) Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all The reminder was, no doubt, suggested by St. PaiJ's own words, with wliich he closed his solemn direc- tion respectiiif,' Timothy's dealings ^vith the accused 1)r»'shyters, and tlio care to l)o used in the laying on of lands: ••Kw'i) tliyself puro." That Tiniotliy possessed —as did iiis master Paul — a feeble body, is clear from tlic words "thine often infirmities." He was, above all things, considering his great position in that growing church, to remember " to keep Iiimself ptire," but not ou that account to observe ascetical abstinence, and so to weaken uselessly the frail, perishable, perhaps ever- dying body, in wliidi he must work that gi'cat work committed to him in the master's church. Absti- nence from wine was a well-known chai'acteristic feature of the Essene and other Jewish ascetic sects. We know there was frequent intercommunion between Alexau'lria and Ei)hesus (see Acts xviii. 24) ; and it has even been conjectured that Apollos, who taught publicly at Ei)hesus, was himself a famous Essene teacher. The practice of these grave and ascetic Jews, many of whom beciime Christians, no doubt affected not a little the habits and tone of thought of the Ephesian con- gregations. Hence the necessity of St. Paul's warning against allowing the bodily power to be weakened through abstinence and extreme asceticism. (-*) Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment ; and some men they follow after. — The preceding verse was parenthetic, and suggested by his fears lest the effect of his direc- tion to his son in the faith to keep himself joure might lead Timothy to the practice of a useless and unhealthy asceticism. St. Paul now returns and closes the subject on wliich he had been instructing his representative at Epiicsus. He tells him, in his choice of men to fill the pul)lic positions in the Church of God — in his {)ublic inquiries into their conduct and teaching — in lis inquiries respecting sinners, who, having forfeited their position as members of the community, were seeking re-admission into church fellowship, not to forget there were tivn classes of sins : the one class public aud open, heralds, so to speak, of the judgment to f(jllow. In the case of men sinning thus, the church's chief pastor woidd have no difficulty in determining unon his course of action. But there was another class 01 sins — silent and, as far as public and general know- ledge went, unknown — only publistied after judgment had been given. To rightly estimate such characters will re(|uire much care and penetration, and this will be ])art of Timothy's work. The judgment {krisis) here mentioned is that of Timothy as sho^vu in the careful selection of candidates for ordination— in determining wliat sinners are fit for restoration to church fellow- ship— in pronoimcing sentence in the matter of accused presl)yters. (^) Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.— In his difficult post Timothy might fear lest, especially in his selection of men for the Lord's service, true noliility of character might not unfrequently escape his notice and be over- looked, aud that thus the best aud truest might never be enrolled on the register of church officers. St. Paul bids him take courage in the thought that in many a case self-sacrifice, generosity, stern princijile, will be sufficiently manifest to guide him in his choice of fit persons for the holy calling ; and in those rarer cases where the higher and sweeter virtues are hidden, he may be sure that in God's good sea.son these too will become known to him, in ample time for him to call them also into Ids Master's service. VI. (1) Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour. — From questions connected with the presby- ters aud others among the recognised ministers aud officials of the church, St. Paul passes on to consider certain difficulties connected with a large aud important section of the congregations to whom these presbyters were in the habit of ministering — the Christian slaves. It was perhaps the most perjilexing of all the ques- tions Christianity had to face— this one of slavery. It entered into all grades and ranks. It was common to all peoples and nations. The very fabric of society seemed knit and bound together by this miserable institution. War and commerce were equally responsible for slavery in the Old World. To attempt to uproot it — to preach against it — to represent it in public teaching as hateful to God, shameful to man — would have been to preach and to teach rebellion and revolution in its darkest aud most violent form. It was indeed the curse of the world; but the Master and His chosen servants took their own course aud their own time to clear it away. Jesus Christ and His disciples, such as St. Paul and St. John, left society as they found it, uprooting no ancient landmarks, alarming no ancient prejudices, content to live in the world as it was, and to do its work as they found it — trusting, by a new and lovely example, slowly and surely to raise men to a higher level, know- ing well that at last, by force of unselfishness, loving self- denial, brave patience, the old curses — such as slavery — would be driven from the world. Surely the result, so far, has not disappointed the hopes of the first teachers of Christianity. This curse at least is disappearing fast from the face of the globe. St. Paul liere is addressing, in the fii'st place, Christian slaves of a Pagan master. Let tliese, if they love the Lord and would do houour to His holy teaching, in their relations to their earthly masters not presume upon their new knowledge, that with the Master in Heaven " there was no respect of persons ;" that " in Jesus Christ there was neither bond nor free, for all were one in Christ." Let these not dream for an instant that Christianity was to interfere with the existing social relations, and to put master and slave on an equality on earth. Let these, by their conduct to unbelieving masters, paying them all loving respect and honour, show how the uew religion was teaching them to live. That the name of God and his doctrine bo , not blasphemed.— There would indeed be a grave danger of this, if the many Christian slaves, instead of 208 Instructions connected I. TIMOTHY, VI. wltli, Christian Slaves. honour, tliat the name of God and his . ^^ doctrine be not bhisphemed. Teaching to be ^^'^ And they that have be- addressed to lieving masters, let them not despise tJiem, because thej are brethren ; but rather do thevi service, because they are faithfuP and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These 1 Or, bclienng. 2 Or, a fool. 3 Or, xick. thing-s teach and exhort. (3) jf ^ny man teach otherwise, and ^, . „ . , , , 11 Chap. VI. 3—5. consent not to wholesome Opposing doc- words, evan the words of ti-mes held by our Lord Jesus Christ, and ^ '^"^ ^^° ^^^^* to the doctrine which is according to godliness ; ("*^ he is proud,- knowing nothing, but doting^ about questions showing increased zeal for their masters' service, should, as the result of the teacliing of the new society they had joined, become morose, impatient of servi- tude, rebellious. Very soon in Pagan society would the name of that Redeemer they professed to love, and the beautiful doctrines He had preached, be evil spoken of, if the teaching were for one moment suspected of inculcating discontent or suggesting rebellion. An act, or course of acting, on the part of professed servants of God wliich gives occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, is ever i-eckoned in Holy Scripture as a sin of the deepest dye. Compare Nathan's words to King David (2 Sam. xii. 14) and St. Paul's reproach to the Jews (Rom. ii. 24). (-) And they that have 'believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren. — This being in servitude to Chi-istian masters, of course, in the days of St. Paul would happen less fre- quently. Let those Christian slaves who have the good fortune to serve " believing masters '" allow no such thoughts as, " Shall I remain my brother's slave ? " take root in the breast and poison the life-work. Let them not presume on the common brotherhood of men in Christ, on their being fellow-heirs of heaven, and on this account deem their earthly masters their equals, and so refuse them the customary respect and attention. Let them remember that, though in heaven there would be no respect of persons, on earth the old class differ- ences were not removed. But rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. — The Greek here is better translated thus: hut the rather serve them, because believing and beloved are they who are partakers of their good service. Let these slaves of Christians i-ather (or, the more) serve their masters zealously and loyally, because the masters who will profit by their true faithful service are them- selves believers in Jesus, the beloved of God. This thought should never be absent from the heart of a Christian slave to a Cliristian master. " Every good piece of work I do will be a kindness shown to one who loves my Lord." (3) If any man teach otherwise.— Without con- fining the reference strictly to what had just been taught respecting the duty of Christian slaves, there is little doubt but that some influential teaching, contrary to St. Paul's, on the subject of the behaviour and dis- position of that unhappy class was in the Apostle's mind when he wi-oto the terrible denunciation contained in these three verses against the false teachers of Ephesus. Schismatic and heretical ])reachers and writers in all ages have sadly hindered the progress of true religion; but in the days of St. Paul, when the foundation- stones of the faith were being so painfully laid, tliere seems to have been a lifo-and-deatli contest between the teachers of the true and the false. In this passage St. Paul lays bare the secret sprinsrs of much of this auti-Cliristian doctrine. Tlicre is little doubt but that at Ephesus there existed then a school, professedly 80 209 Christian, which taught the slave who had accepted the yoke of Christ to rebel against the yoke of any earthly lord. Hence the indignation of St. F^iul. " If any man teach otherwise," different to )uy interpretation of the rule of Christ, which bids us bear all with brave patience, with loyal fortitude. And consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.— The Apostle, no doubt, was referring to well-known sayings of the Redeemer, such as " Render unto Caesar the things tliat are Caesar's," or " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," or " If any man will follow me, let him take up his cross daily, and follow me ; " " But I say unto you, resist not evil," " Love your enemies, pray for them wliich despitefullyuse you." It was ujjon such sublime sayings as these — no doubt, current watchwords in all the churches— it was upon the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount that St. Paul based his teaching and grounded his advice to the slaves in the flock of Christ. But the false teachers, who would be Timothy's bitterest and most determined foes at Ephesus, would not con- sent to these " wholesome words," though they were the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the doctrine which is according to godli- ness.— These self-willed men, in consenting not to the sublime words of Christ, at the same time refused to acquiesce in the doctrine which insisted upon a holy life : for Christian truth is inseparable from purity, single-heartedness, self-forgetfuluess, brave patience. (*) He is proud.— St. Paul, with righteous anger, flames out against these perverse men, who, using the name of Christ, substitute their short-sighted views of life for His, throw doubt and discredit upon the teaching of His chosen Apostles and servants, stir up discord, excite party spirit, barring, often hopelessly, the onward march of Christianity. The true Christian teaching is healthy, practical, capable of being carried out by all orders in the state, by every age or sex, by bond and free. The spurious Christian maxims of these men deal with subtle, useless, unpractical ques- tions, which have no influence on ordinary life, and only tend to stir up strife and useless inquiry, and to make men discontented and rebellious. These unhappy men he first characterises as " proud : " literally, blinded with pride. Knowing nothing. — Better rendered, yet without knoiving anything; having no real conception of the office and work of Clirist in the world. But doting about questions.— While so ignorant of the higher and more practical points of Cliristian thoologj', the false teacher is " mad upon" curious and d(.'batable questions, sucli as the nature of the ever- bles.sed Trinity; God's purposes respecting tliose men who know not, liavo not even hoard of the Redeemer ; and the like — jiroblems never to be solved by us wliile on earth — questions, the profitless debating f^f wliich has rent asunder whole churches, and individually has broken up old friendships, and sown the seeds of bitter irrecoucilablo hatred. Opposing DodHnes held I. TIMOTHY, YI. by the False Teachers. and stHfes of -words, whereof cometli envy, strife, railiii multiplied that liasteu after another (god)." The " many sorrows " here are, no doubt, the " gnawings of conscience," which must ever and anon harass and periilex the man or woman who, for covetousness' sake, has deserted tlie old paths, and has wandered away from the old loved communion of Christ. The imageiy used in this tenth verso seems to be that of a man who wanders from the straight, direct path of life, to gather some poisonous, fair-seeming root growing at a distance from the right road on whidi ho was travelling. He wanders away and plucks it ; and now that lie has it in his hands he finds himself pierced and wounded with its unsuspected thorns. (11) But thou, O man of God, flee these things. — A commentator always speaks with great caution when he ajiproaches in these ins2)ired writings anytliing of tiie nature of a direct ])ersonal reference. The writers and actors in tlie New Testament history we have so long surrounded Avith a halo of reverence, that we are tempted often to forget that they were but men, exposed to temptations like us, and not uufrequeutlj E iicouragement I. TIMOTHY, VI. to Earnestness. patienco, meekness. ^^-^ Fig-lit tlie good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. (^^^ I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth Buccuinbing to them. We owe them, indeed, a deep debt of revereuce for tlieir f.iitliful, galhint witness — for their splendid sorvieo in laying so well the early storeys of the great Christian Temple ; but we lose somewhat of the reality of the Apostolie story when in the saint we forget the man. After the very solemn, the intensely earnest warning against eovetoiis- uess— that fatal love of gain and gold which seems to have been the mainspring of the life of those false teachers who were engaged in marring the noble work St. Paul had done for liis Master at Ephesus — after these weighty words, the fact of St. Paul turning to Timothy, and, with the grand old covenant title Timothy knew 80 well, personally addressing his loved friend with " But thou, O man of God, tiee these things," leads us irresistibly to the conclusion that the old Apostle was dreading for his young and comparatively untried dis- ciple the corrupting danger of the wealth of the city in which he held so great a charge; so he warns Timothy, and, through Timothy, God's servants of all grades and powers in different ages, of the soul-destroying dangers of covetousness — '• Flee tliese things." A glance at Timothy's pirsent life will show how possible it was, even for a loved pupil of St. Paul — ev(m for one of whom Le once wrote, "i have no man likeminded;" and, again, " Ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel " (Phil, ii. 20 — 'I'D — to need so grave a reminder. Since those days, when these words wei-e written to the Philippians, some six years liad parsed. H's was no longer the old harassed life of danger and hazard to which, as the companion of the missionary St. Paul, he was constantly exposed. He now filled the position of an lionoured teacher and leader in a rich and organised church ; numy and gri(!vous were the temptations to wliich, in such a station, he would be exposed. Gold ami popularity, gain and ease, were to be won with the sacrilice of iippareiitly so little, but with this sacrifice Timothy would cease to be the "man of God." To maintain that St. Paul was aware of any weakness already shown by his disciple and friend would, of course, be a baseless assertion ; but that the older man dreaded for the younger tlieso dangerous influences is clear. The term " man of God " was the common Old Testament name for "divine messengers," but under the new covenant the name seems extended to all just men faithful to the Lord Jesus. (See 2 Tim. iii. 17.) Tlie solemn warning, then, through Timothy comes to each of His servants, "Flee tliou from covetousness." And follow after righteousness.—" The evil must be overcome with good" (Rom. xii. 21). The "man of God," tossing away from him all covetous longings, must press after " righteousness; " here used in a general sense, signifying " the inner life shaped after the Law of God." Faith, love.— The two characteristic virtues of Christianity. The one may be termed the hand that lays liold of God's mercy; and the other the mainspring of the Christian's life. Patience.— That brave patience which, for Christ's dear sake, with a smile can bear up against all sufferings. Meekness.— The German " sanf tmuth " — the meek- ness of heart and feeling witli which a Christian acts towards liis enemies. His conduct who '' when he was 212 reviled, reviled not again " best exemplifies this virtue. (12) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. — Then, again, with the old stirring metaphor of the Olympic contests for a prize (1 Cor. ix. 2i; Phil. iii. 13, 14) — the metaphor St. Paul loved so well, and which Timothy must have heard so often from his old master's lips as he preached and taught — he bids the " man of God," rising above the pitiful struggles for things perishable and useless, fight the noble fight of faith ; bids him sti-ive to lay hold of the real prize — life eternal. The emphasis rests here maiidy on the words " the good fight " and " eternal life." These things are placed in strong contrast with "the struggle of the covetous" and its "miserable, perishable crown." " The good fight," more closely considered, is the contest and struggle which the Christian has to maintain against the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is styled the " good figlit of faith," partly because the contest is waged on behalf of, for the sake of, the faith, but still more because from faith it derives its strength and draAvs its courage. "Eternal life " is the prize the " man of God" must ever have before his eyes. It is the crown of life which the Judge of quick and dead wall give to the " faithful unto death." (See Jas. i. 12; Rev. ii. 10.) Whereunto thou art also called.— The "calling" here refers both to the inner and outward call to the Master's work. The inner call is the persuasion in the heart that the one vocation to which the life must be dedicated was the ministry of the word ; and the out- ward call is the summons by St. Paul, ratified by the church in the persons 6f the presbyters of Lystra. And hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.— More accurately translated, and thou coufesscdnt the good confession . . . These words simply add to the foregoing clause another ground of exhortation: "Thou wast called to eternal life, and thou madest the good confession." When — • has been asked — was this good confession made? Several epochs in the life of Timothy have been sug- gested. Were it not for the difficulty of fixing a date for so terrible an experience in Timothy's, compara- tively speaking, short life, it would appear most pro- bable that the confession was made on the occasion of some persecution or bitter trial to which he had been exposed. On the whole, however, it appears safer to refer " the good confession" to the time of his ordina- tion. In this case the many witnesses would refer to the presbyters and others who were present at the solenni rite. (13) I give thee charge in the sight of God. — Better rendered, I charge thee in the sight of God. If possible, with increased earnestness and a yet deeper solemnity as the letter diaws to an end does St. Paul charge that young disciple — from whom ho hoped so much, and yet for whom ho feared so anxiously — to keep the commandment and doctrine of his Master spotless; and, so far as in him lay, to preserve that doctrine unchanged and unalloyed till the coming again of the blessed Master. So he charges him as in the tremendous presence of God. Who quickeneth all things.— The older autho- rities adopt here a reading which implies, who Iceepest alive, or preservest, all things. The Preserver rather Final Charge to Timothy to keep I. TIMOTHY, VI. the Commandment pure. all things, and before Christ Jesus, Chap.vi.i3— 16. who before Pontius Pilate Charge to pre- -witnessed a good confes- serve the Charge tliem that 17_ are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches,^ but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to lasting, Chap, vi 19. The re- luinder to the rich of Ephe- 8US. 1 Gr. uncertainty 1 vf richee. enjoy ; (^^^ that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing- to communicate; <^^' laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal approach unto.— Tliis slioiild be rendered, diveUing in Light unnpin-oachahle. Tlie Eternal is here pictured as dwelling in an atmosithcre of light too glorious for any created beings (not oidy men) to approach. (See Ps. civ. 2, where the Eternal is addressed as covering himse-lf witli liijht as with a garment ; see too Daniel ii. 22, wliere light is spoken of as dwelling with God.) The symbolism of the old covenant teaches the same truth, the unapproachable glories in which God dweUs ; for instance, the guarding of the bounds of Sinai in the gi\'ing of the Law ; the covering of the faces of the Seraphim in the year that King Uzziah died, when Isaiah saw the divine vision ; the veiled darkness of the Holy of holies in the Tabernacle and the Temple, where ever and anon the visible glory dwelt. Whom no man hath seen, nor can see.— The Old Testament teaches the same mysterious tratli — " For there shall no man see me, and live '" (Ex. xxxiii. 20, and also JJeut. iv. 12). John i. 18 repeats this in A'ery plain words — " No man hath seen God at any time." The Greek word here includes all created beings. The English ti-anslation, '• no man," utterly fails to reproduce the meaning of the original. (See also 1 John iv. 12.) These last words seem to preclude the interpretation whidi applies the foregoing description to the Son. We have above referred tjiis glorious doxology to the Father, as the one who, in His own times, should reveal the Lord Jesus returning to judgment. It is, however, very noteworthy that the loftiest, the sublimest, epithets the inspired pen of Paul could frame to dignify liis description of the First Person of the ever-blessed Trinity, God the Father, are used again of the Son. " The Lamb sliall overcome them : for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings" (Rev. x™. 14 and xix. 16; and see too Rev. i. 5). (1") Charge them that are rich.- Paul had traced up the eiTor of the false teachers — against whose work and influence he had so earnestly warned Timothy — to covetousnesa. to an unholy love of money ; he then spoke of tliis unhappy covetousness — this greed of gain, this vish to be rich — as the root of every evil. From this fatal snare he warned the " man of God" to flee, bidding him take courage in the high .service to which he was dedicated, and to be fearless of all con- sequences, for he .served the King of kings. But in the congregations of Ephesus there were many, owing to birth or to other circumstances, already rich and powerful, already in the possession of gold and rank, in varied degrees. Before closing the letter to the chief pastor, Timothy, he must add a word of encouragement and also of special warning to tho.se. Above all things he would have no mistake as to his meaning: the ir(.:ted ; yea, and still trust. " Whom " here refers to God the Father. That which I have committed unto him.— More exactly, viij deposit. Con.siderable diversity of opinion has existed among commentators of all ages as to the exact meaning which should be assigned to the words " my deposit." Let us glance back at what has gone before. St. Paul, the forsaken prisoner, looking for death, has been bidding his younger comrade never to let his heart sink or his spirit grow faint when on- coming dangers threaten to crush him ; for, he says, you know me and my seemingly ruined fortunes and blasted hopes. Friendless and alone, you know, I am awaiting death (chap. iv. 6); and yet, iu spite of all this crushing weiglit of sorrow, which lias come on mo because I am a Chrititian. yet am I uot asliamed. for I know whom I have trusted — I know His sovereign power to whom I have committed '" my deposit." He, I know, can keep it safe against that day. St. Paul had intrusted his deathless .soul to the keeping of his Heavenly Father, and having done this, serene and joyful he waited for tho end. His disciple Timothy must do the same. " That which I have committed unto Him, my de- posit." signified a most precious treasure committed by St. Paul to his God. Tlie language and iniag(M-y was probably taken bv the Apostle from one of those Hebrew Psalms ho kuow so well (Ps. xxxi. 5j— " Into thy 221 He exhorts Timothy II. TIMOTHY, I. to he steadfast. that which I have committed unto him Chap. i. 13, U. l^^^^^\ ^^^^ '^^y- f ^ Hold Hold fust bound fust the lorm 01 soimtt doctrme. woi'ds, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ^^^> That good thing Avhich was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. ^^^> This Land I commend my spirit," rendered in the LXX. version (Ps. xxx. 51. "'I will commit " {parathesomai). In Josephus, a writer of the same age, the soul is especially termed a parakatatheke — deposit. The passage is one iu which he is speaking against suicide {B. J. iii. 8, 5). Philo, also, who may almost be termed a contemporary of St. Paul, uses the very same exiircssion, and also calls the soul '" a deposit " (p. 499, ed. K-iohter). Both passages are quoted at leugth by Alford, who, however, comes to a sliglitly diJffiei-eut couclusiou. Against that day. — The day of the coming of Christ — •' that day when I (the Lord of Hosts) make up my jewels." He will keep my soul — " my deposit " — safe agaiust that day wheu the crown of life will be given to all that love His appearing. (15) Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me. — It was not sufficient for Timothy to renew his fainting courage aud to brace liimself up for fresh efforts; he must do something more — in his teaching he must never let those solemn formularies he had once receiAcd from him be changed. Perhaps iu the heart of St. Paid lurked some dread that the new glosses and specious explanations which the school of false teachers, so often referred to in these Pastoral Epistles, chose to add to the gi-eat doctrines of Christianit}' would be more likely to be listened to by Timothy wheu the hand of his old master was cold and the heart had ceased to beat ; so he urged upon him to hold fast those inspired formularies he had heard from St. Paul's lips — such, for instance, as those "faithful sayings " which come before us so often in these Epistles to Timothy aud Titus. In faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. — Timotliy. in days to conif. must mould aud shape his teaching after the pattern of the teaching of his master St. Paul, and he must do it in that faith aud love which alone comes from a life passed in communion with Christ. The very frequent reference to the " sound, healthy words " in these Epistles by St. Paul, and from which he urges his disciples and successors never to depart, indicate to us the deep importance St. Paul and the first generation of believers attached to the very words and expressions used by the apostles and those who had been with the Lord. False doctriues so easily might creep in, and loose forms of expression fespecting great truths were an ever-present tlauger ; a lax life, too, St. Paul knew, was the almost invariable accompaniment of fal.se doctrine, lu'uce these repeated exhortations of his to these repre- sentative teachers. Timothy and Titus, of the second generation of Christians, to liold fast the form of sound, healthy words — such words as these had again and again been heard from the lips of ai)f)stles and hearers of the Lord — " words whicli thou hast heard of me," St. Paul. (U) That good thing which was committed unto thee. — 'The good tiling committed unto thee," or the deposit, differs from the "deposit" of verse 12, inasmuch as the " dejwsit " of verse 12 was some- thing committed by St. Paul to God ; while, on the other hand, in verse 14 a trust committed by God to Timothy is spoken of. But the Apostle, remembering the solemn meaning of the word in the first instance, uses it with especial emphasis on this second occasion. Yes, he seems to say, God will keep the most precious deposit you or I shall intrust to Him — fjur soul — safe against that day; do tliou, in thy turn, keep .safe, un- harmed, the deposit He, through me, has intrusted to thee. In what God's deposit with men like Timothy and St. Paid consisted has been discussed in the Note to 1 Tim. vi. 20. " The trea.sure of the Catholic faith "— that was to be kept unchanged, unalloyed. The epithet "good," which is here applied to this most sacred trust, we find joined to '"the doctrine" ("the good doctrine."' 1 Tim. iv. 6), and to "the fight" ("the good fight." 1 Tim. vi. l-Ji. Keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. — But this glorious deposit of the Catholic faith must be preserved, let Timothy and others holding a like position with Timothy mark well, by no human agencies. He indicates here the only means that must be employed to preserve this sacred charge safe and pure, when he bids us keep the deposit by the Holy Ghost — tho Holy Ghost which, St. Paul adds, dwells in us. It would seem that the Apostle here was warning Timothy, as the representative Christian teacher, that the sacred deposit of the Catholic faith was to be pre- served by no weak compliance with the scruples of false teachers or of doubting men, by no timid accom- modation, by no yielding a little here aud a little there to prejudice or vanity. By no such or any other short- sighted human arts of defence was the deposit of faith to be guarded. But the Holy Ghost will keep His oyni. and ^vill show His faithful teachers iu every ago how to hand down the lamp of holy Catholic doctrine stUl burning })rightly, with flame undimmed, to their successors in the race of life. (15) This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.— This sad desertion of friends is well known to thee. Instead of bi'ing dispirited by it. and by my arrest and close imprisonment, rather shouldest thou be stiunilated to fresh and renewed exertions for the cause for which I suffer this desertion, these bouds. All they which are in Asia. — It has been maintained by many, even by great Greek expositors such as Chrysostom. that '' they which are in Asia " refers to certain Asiatic Christians who happened to be in Rome at the time of the Apostle's arrest and imprisonment. Others have even suggested that these Asiatics had gone to Rome for the purpose of bearing witness in St. Paul's favour, and finding that St. Paul's position was one of extreme danger, terrified for themselves — like others once before had been in the Christian storj' — lest they too should be involved in a like condemnation, forsook him and fled. But the simple and more obvious meaning is here to be preferred, and we assume as certain that the for- saking, the giving up St. Paul, took place iu Asia itself. Large numbers of Christians, if not whole churches, repudiated tlieir connection with the great fjitiier of Gentile Christianity, and possilily disobeyed some of his teaching. AMiat. in fact, absolutely took place in Asia while St. Paid lay bound, waiting for 222 Paul's oion Deserted State II. TIMOTHY, I. as far as Jlfen are conceiiied. thou knowest, that all they "vvhicli . , are in Asia be turned Chap. 1. 15—18. r- c -I Many have do- a-^^ay from me ; of whom sertedme; one are Phygellus and Hermo- bas stood firm. ^^^^^^ (^.^ rj.^^ Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus ; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain : f^''' but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. ^^^^ The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day : and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. death in Rome, had been often threatened in Corinth and in other centres. Party feeUng ran high in those days, we know; and one of the most sorrowful trials the great-hearted St. Paul had to endure in the agony of his last witnessing for his Lord, was the knowledge that his name and teaching no longer was held in honour in some of those Asian churches so dear to him. The geographical term Asia is rather vague. It may — and indeed, strictly speaking, does — include Mysia, Phrygia, Lydia, Caria ; but such a wide-spread defection from Pauline teaching seems improbable, and there is no tradition that anything of the kind ever took place. St. Panl probably wrote tlie term more in the old Homeric sense, and meant the district in the neighbourhood of the river Cayster ; " In Asian meadow by Cayster's streams." —Iliad ii. 461. Of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.— These names would at once suggest to Timothy the men and tlie congregations of "Asia" to whom St. Panl was alluding — names well known, doubtless, then, and especially to pei'sons in the position of Timothy ; but no tradition has been preserved Avhich throws any light on the lives and actions of these traitorous friends of St. Paul. (16) The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus. — In striking contrast to those false friends who turned away from him was one, also well known to Timothy, probably an Ephesian merchant. Onesiphorus, to whose house the Apostle prays the Lord to give mercy, had, early in tliis last imprisonment of St. Paul, arrived in Rome on matters connected probably with business. There he heard of the arrest of that great master whom he had known well in Asia, and souglit him out in his prison. There is but littlo doubt that when St. Paul wrote this Epistle Onesi- phorus' death must have i-eceutly taken place, both froni the terms of this verse — where mercy is prayed, not for him, but for liis house — and also from the ex- pression " in that day," used in verse 18. There is something strangely toudiing in tliis loving memory of " one" who, in his trouble, did not forsake him, but whose devotion was rather increased by his danger, and this one faithful friend would never be able again to show liis love to the prisoner, for God had called him home. For he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain.—" He oft refreshed me" does not imply that he ministered only to the Apostle's bodily needs when he was in prison, though tlie word, no doubt, includes this. But "he refreshed" him liy fre- quent ^^sits, by, no doubt, much anxious forethought in the matter of St. Paul's deliverance from prison and bonds, by a noble disregard of tlie personal danger which he incurred by his open intimacy witli a prisoner chargetl, as St. Paul must have been, witli treason against the empire. " He was not ashamed of my chain." (See Acts xxviii. 20. where "the chain" of another captivity is mentioned.) (17) But, when he was in Home, he sought me out very diligently, and found me.— But, on the contraiy, instead of fear — far from being ashamed — he, wlien he arrived in Rome, sought me out. This must have been a much more rigorous captivity than the one alluded to in the last chapter of tlie Acts when St. Paul dwelt in his own hired house witli the soldier who guarded him. Now he was rigidly im})risoned, and the very place of his captivity was not, a^jpareutly, easily found. (18) The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day . . .— Tho Greek should be rendered here, favour of the Lord, in- stead of by " mercy of the Lord." Some commentatore, who have found a difficulty in this unusual repeti- tion of " the Lord," explain it thus : The expression, "the Lord grant," had become among Christians so completely " a formulary," that the second use of the word " Lord " was not noticed; and the prayer is thus simply equivalent to " O that he may find mercy of the Lord." It seems, however, better to keep to the striet literal meaning, and to understand the first " Lord," in the sense in which the term is always found in the Epistles of St. Paul, as a title of Christ ; and the second " Lord" as used of the Father, to whom here (as in Rom. ii. 5, 16 ; Heb. xii. 23), judgment at the last day is ascribed. In that day. — The Apostle can never repay now — not even with thanks — the kindness his dead friend showed him in his hour of need ; so he praj's that tho Judge of quick and dead may remember it in the awful day of judgment. It is worthy of note how St. Paul's thoughts here pass over the interval between deatli and judgment. It was on that day when the great white throne woi;ld be set up that he thought of the good deeds done in the body being recompensed by the righteous Judge. No doubt the expectation of the early Chris- tians— in which expectation certainly St. Paul shared — of the speedy coming of the Lord influenced all think- ing and speaking of the intermediate state of the soul between death and judgment, and almost seems to have effaced the waiting time from their minds. And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. — Tliese services rendered to St. Paul at Ephesus are placed side by side with tliose things he had done for him at Koine, but as they are mentioned after. tLey perhaps refer to kind offices undertaken for the ])risoiier by Onesiphorus after his return from Rome to Ejihesus. Tliese things Timothy, the presiding ])astor at Ephesus. would, of course, know in their detail better than St. Paid. The Greek word Zn)K6vr](T(v, rendered " he ministered," has given rise to the suggestion that Onesiphorus was a deacon at Ephesus. Although this is possible, still such an inference from one rather general expression is precainous. This passage is famous from its being generally quoted among the very rare statements of the Xew Testament wliieh seem to bear upon tlie question of the Romish doctrine of praying for the dead. It may be well very" briefly to touch on two points 223 Timothy is to luoul on to others the II. TIMOTII\ , II. same Tradition of the Catholic Faith. CHAPTER II. — (1) Thou therefore, Chap. ii. 1, 2. my SOU, be strong in and earnest. ° Christ Jesus. ^^> And the A.U. 00. 1 Or, by. things that thou hast heard of me among- ^ many Avitnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shaU be able to teach others also. which suggest themselves as to the bearing of this f)assage on the doctrine in question. (1) Although we lere, in couunou with Roman Catholic interpreters and the majority of tlie later expositors of the Reformed Church, assume that Onesipliorus was dead when St. Paul wrote to Timothy, and that the words used had reference to St. Paul's dead friend, still it must bo re- membered that others, well worthy of being heard, writing many centuries before any doctrinal controversy on this subject arose, have held quite another opinion. Theodoret and Chiysostom (quoted by Alford) under- stood that Onesipliorus was with St. Paul at tliis time. (2) The prayer, whether it be taken as a prayer or an ejaculation, is simply the expression of an earnest desire, on the part of St. Paul, that the kind act of the dead — assuming, contrary to the opinion of the above quoted Fathers, that he was dead — Onesipliorus towards himself may be remembered on that day when the books are oijened before the Judge of quick and dead. It, indeed, only asks — looking fairly at the context — that an act of unrequited and devoted love shown in this life may be remembered in the final judgineut. Without touching upon the controversy itself, it seems only just to point out the extreme precai'iousness of pressing this text — • the only one in the New Testament really touching on this subject, and as to the interpretation of which ex- positors, as we have seen, are by no means in agreement — in support of a controverted doctrine. II. (1) Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.— St. Paul, after the reference to the faithless Asiatics and the true loyal Onesiijhorus, with wliichhe interrupted his exhortation, turns again to Timothy. Thou therefore {oun'^, my son, considering what has taken place, be strong. It is as though he said, Imitate the one loyal follower, and make up to me for the faithless conduct of so many false friends. " Thou, then, be strong," but not as men understand strength or firmness ; but do thou be strong " in the grace that is in Clirist Jesus" — that is^ be strong in the power of that inward sauctification which enal)les a man to will and to do according to what God lias commanded, in the power of that inward saucti- fication which alone proceeds from Christ, and which will never be wanting to any one who is in Christ; in other words, " Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might" (Eph. \\. 10). (-) And the things that thou hast heard of me. — These " things " have liecn often understood as referring to the few great fundamental trutlis rehearsed by the Apostle, in the presence of the elders of the congregation, on the occasion of Timothy's solemn ordination. " The things," then, would liave been sometliing of the nature of what is contained in a creed or profession of faith. But it is better to give to " the things " which Timothy had heard of St. Paul, and which he was to deliver to other faithful men in his turn, a much In-oader reference, and to understand them as comprehending far more than the narrow limits of a profession of faith could possibly contain. " The things " were, no doubt, the sum of St. Paul's teaching, the general conception of Pauline theologj% which Timothy, so long the Apostle's intimate and confidential friend and disciple, was to give out to another generation of believers. It was, in fact, the " Gospel of St. Luke " — " my Gospel," as we love to think St. Paul termed that matchless summary of the life and teaciiing of the Blessed. It was the theology shrined in such Epistles as those once written to tlie Romans or Ephesians in past years. These '" things " again and again, in crowded congregations, before Jewish and Christian elders, before assemblies com- posed of idolaters, had Timothy heard that master of his, with his winning, pleading voice, tell out among "many witnesses." Those " things" Timothy, in his turn, the voice of St. Paul the Aged being hushed, was now to commit to others. Among many witnesses.— Tliese, according to the above interpretation, included Pagans and Jews, the rich and poor, the untaught sinners of the GentUes and the skilled rabbi trained in the schools of Jerusalem and Alexandria. The same commit thou to faithful men. — Not to men merely who were " believers " in Jesus Chi'ist. This, of course, was intended, but the " faithful men " here denoted loyal, trusty souls — men who, under no temptation, woiild betray the charge committed to them. Who shall be able to teach others also.— Not only must the Christian teachers to whom Timothy is to give the commission of teaching, be trustworthy men, they must also possess knowledge and the power of communicating knowledge to others. Although the divine help was to be prayed for and expected in this and all other sacred works, yet it is noticeable how St. Paul directs that no ordinary human means of secui'ing success must be neglected. St. Paul's last charge in these Pastoral Letters of his, directed that only those shall be selected as teachers of religion whose earthly gifts were such as fitted them for the discharge of their duties. Wliile there is nothing in this passage to support the theory of an authoritative oral teaching, existing from the days of the Apostles, in the Church — the words of St. Paul here point to the duty of the Christian soldier, not only himself to keep unchanged and safe the treasure of tiie Catholic faith as taught liy the Apostle, but to hand down the same unimpaii'ed and safe to other hands. The great Christian truths were never allowed to be recklessly handled. There was a school, so to speak, of Christian theology in the time of St. Paul. His dying charge directed liis liest beloved disciple to make careful proWsioii for the choice and training of teachers in the congregation. Men able as well as willing, gifted as well as zealous, should be the objects of his choice. Some have imagined that these directions respecting the handing down the lamp of Cliristian ti'ulh to others were given to Timothy with a view to his leaving Ephesus — the appointed scene of his labours — for Rome, to join the imprisoned Apostle (chap. iv. 9), in which event men able as well as devoted should be left in this great centre to carry on the work of Timothy and of St. Paid. But it "is far better to understand St. Paul's charge as given to Timothy, a representa- tive leader of the Church of Christ, and to understand the Apostle's words as addressed to the Chui-ch of all 224 Timothy is to endure Hardship II. TIMOTHY, II. 05 a Good Soldier. (3) Tlion therefore endure hardness, as Chap. ii. 3—6. a good soldier of Jesus He is ito be Christ. <*) No man that suffer fo^the warreth entangleth hini- gospel's sake, self with the affairs of this life ; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (^^ And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. (^^ The husbandman times. The runners in the Christian race must take good care before tliey fall out of the course that their torches, still burning, be handed on to the athletes who take their place. (■^) Thou therefore endure hardness.— The older authorities do not contain the Greek word ren- dered "tliou therefore." The word translated "en- dure hardness " in the older authorities is compounded with a preposition, and is better and more literally- rendered, take thy share in stiffering. But Timothy must remember, if he obeys St. Paul's voice, and with steady earnestness follows St. Paul's tracks, the very same sufferings which have been the master's guerdou will be the lot of the loyal disciple. So St. Paul adds, " Take thy share of suffering," or, " Suffer hardship with me." Timothy must bo prepared for this. He must look on himself as one of the pioneers of the army of the gi-eat King, as a tried veteran, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, pi-epared for the dangers and trials which in those days awaited such a calling. Then, under three different pictures, the Apostle paints the duties and rewards of a Christian's life. (4) Wo man that warreth . . .—Better rendered, while engaged on military service, or serving as a soldier. The first picture is suggested by the last simile (in verse 3). It was one veiy familiar to the numerous peoples dwelling under the shadow of the Roman power, this pictui'e of the soldier concerned only in the militaiy affairs of the great empire — the legionary wrapped up in his service, with no thought or care outside the profession of Avhich he was so proud. None of these sworn legionaries have aught to do with buying or selling, with the Forum, or any of the many employments of civil life. So should it be with the earnest and faithful Christian ; paramount and above any earthly considerations ever must rank his Master's ser\-ice, his Master's commands. The soldier of Christ should never allow himself to be entangled in any earthly business which would interfere with his duty to his own General. But while this general reference to all members of the Church lies on the outside, beneath the surface a solemn injunction may surely be read, addressed to Timothy and to others like him in after times specially engaged in the ministry of the Word and in matters connected with the govern- ment of the Church of Christ. And so the Catholic Church has generally understood this direction to Timothy as warning her ministers from engaging in secular pursuits, either connected with business or pleasure. That he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. — More jiccurately rendered, who enrolled him as a soldier. Only those soldiers who with heart and soul devote themselves to their military work win the heart of their commander. The question has been asked, What of St. Paul's own example and that of other of the early Christian teachers, such as Aquila ? did not they, at all events from time to time, pursue a secular calling — that of tent-makers ? The reply here is not a difficult one. The Jewish life in those days contemplated and even desired that its rabbis and teachers should be acquainted with, and even, if necessary, practise some handicraft. The well-known Hebrew saying, " He that teacheth not his son a trade teacheth him to be a thief," is a proof of this. In the case of these early teachers, this occasional practice of an industry or a trade brought them more directly into contact with their Jewish brethren. It was thus among the Jewish l^eople that the Hebrew rabbi often passed impercep- tibly into a Christian teacher. It must also be borne in mind that in St. Paul's case, and also in the case of the presbyters of the first and second age, especially if missionaries, it was impossible always to ensure subsistence, unless by some exertions of their own they maintained themselves. It was, too, most desirable that these pioneers of Christianity should ever be above all reproach of covetonsness, or even of the suspicion that they wished for any earthly thing from their converts. That however, it was not intended that any such combination of work — at once for the Church and for the world — should be the rule of ecclesiastical order in coming days, the positive and very plain directions of 1 Cor. ix. 1 — 15 are decisive, and incapable of being misunderstood. (5) And if a man also strive for masteries. — More accurately translated, again, if a man strive in the games. Another picture is drawn, and the picture is, as before, a well-known one to all the dwellers in the great cities of the empire. An athlete is chosen to represent the professed servant of Christ, one of those who. after long and careful training, contends in the public games, then so popular, so entirely a part of the life of every city — in the games of wrestling or running, or in the chariot-racing, or in the hand-to-hand con- tests. Again, this one — as in the case of the soldier — if he aspired to victory and success, must " endure hardness." Except he strive lawfully. — "Lawfully" — i.e. according to the presci-ibed conditions of the contest. He must, of course, submit himself to the strict rules of the theatre where the games are held, and (for this is also included in the "lawfully") must besides — if he hopes for a prize — go through all the long and severe training and discipline necessary before engaging in such a contest. Galen uses the same phrase, in the sense of complying with the recognised rules of training as regarding diet. (6) The husbandman that laboureth must bo first partaker of the fruits.— Again the picture is painted from everj'-day life. " The husbandman that laboureth " — with an emphasis upon " that laboureth " — is the successful tiller of the ground ; " the labouring husbandman " it is, for whom the earth brings forth her increase. It is the enduring, patient, self-sacrificing toil that is rewarded in the affairs of common life — the man that " endures hardness," whether as a soldier, or athlete, or tiller of the ground, wins the reward ; and as in the world, so in religion. Further on in the Epistle the Apostle speaks of his having won the crown of righteousness. He had endured hardness of every conceivable kind ; every affliction for the Lord's sake he had endured save dJath, and that he was exjicctiug, and knew it could not long tarry. The teaching of 81 225 iSt. Paul repeats what gives II. TIMOTHY, II. him Courage to Endure. tliat liibouretli must bo first partaker of the fruits.i o Oonsklor what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. ^^'> Remember that Jesus 1 Or, The hxishand- mim, labiiiiring jirnt.mdKt be par- taker of the fruits. Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead -what according to my gospel : (^> wlierein I suffer trouble, 7-13. nerves St. Paul to en- dure. St. Paul in this triple picture is — not every soldier wins its cDinniander's applause, but only the veteran wlio devotes liiiaself heart and soul to his profession; not cvcDi atlilete wins the crown or j)rize, but only he who trains with anxious, painful care; not ever]j tiller of tlie ground gathers the earth's fruits, but only the patient toiler. So must it be in religious life. It is not enougli to say we are Christians, or even to wish to hii of the brotherhood of Christ. Men must really llvi'. the life they say they love. (7) Consider what I say ; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.— The older autliorities read here will give ; also instead of " and the Lord," the translation should be, for the Lord. Thus the sentence should run: for the Lord IV ill give thee tinderstanding in all things. Some difficulty has been found in explaining exactly why, wlien we look at the foregoing words, Timothy should be so specially charged to consider St. Paul's words here, and why the declaration respecting " understand- ing in all things " was made in this particular place. Tlieophylact suggested because the preceding exhorta- tions Were in the form of metaphors, " he spake all things in an enigmatical form : " but surely these metaphors were the reverse of obscure, and did not seem to need for their comprehension any special enlightenment; if then we refer the words of this verse exclusively to what precedes, it will be best to understand the charge of St. Paul, " Consider what I say," &c., as dii-ecting Timothy's attention to tlie personal application of each of the pictures, or metaphors. It seems, however, that the words " Consider," &c., while referring to what lie had said, belong also to the far weightier words he was about to write in the next sent-:nco (verso 8). He is in this chapter exhorting Timothy to be strong in the faitli in the face of many troubles. He has instanced to him earthly exam])k's to show how success, oven here, depends on enduring perseverance, and is now passing on to set before him other and far higher induce- ments for him "to be strong;" and between tlie first set of arguments and the second ho bids him *' Consider what I say " (part has been said, but yet other and deeper things are to follow). God will give him power to grasp their meaning in all their depth. (^) Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead.— More accu- rately rendered. Remember Jesus Christ . . . as raised (or, as one raised). Tlie words of the Greek original, *• of the seed of David," come after, not before, " was raised from the dead." The translation should rim thus : Remember Jesus Christ as one raised from the dead, burn of the seed of David. Timothy was to remember, was ever to bear in mind, two great facts. They were to l)e the foundation stones of his whole life's work. Remembering these in the hour of his greatest trouble, he was never to be cast down, but ever to take fresli courage. And the two facts he was to remember were : that Jesus Christ, for wlioso sake he suffered — like him, Timothy, or like St. Paul — was born of flesh and blood, and yet He had i-isen from tlie dead. Surely, in the hour of his weakness, such a thought would be 226 sufficient to inspire him with comfort and courage. Two facts, then, are to be ever in Timothy's mind : the Resurrection and the Incarnation of his Lord. The thought of the first mentioned, "the Resnri'ection," would always be reminding him of his Master's victory over death and of His present glory. Tlie thought of the second mentioned, " born of the seed of David," " the Incarnation," would ever be whispering to him, "Yes, and the risen and glorified One sprang, too, like himself, from mortal flesh and blood." Tlie reason of the " In- carnation" being expressed in this special manner, "born of the seed of David," was to include another truth. The "risen One',' was not only bom of flesh and blood, but belonged to the very race specified in those prophets so revered by Timothy and the chosen people as the race from which should sin-ing the Messiah : " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall i-eign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth . . . and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer. xxiii. 5,6). To raise the fainting heart of his much-tried disciple in this hour of discouragement, to supply a ground of confidence to yet unborn Christians, who in their day would be tried as Timothy was then, was the Apostle "s first purpose when he pressed these thoughts on his son in the faith ; but in the background, no doubt, there lay another pui"pose. These great comforting truths were to be maintained and taught in the presence of those false teachers who were ever ready to explain away or even to deny, then as now, the beginning and the end of the Son of God's life and ministry on earth — His Incar- nation and His Resurrection. According to my gospel. — This formula, for so it may be considered, occurs frequently in St. Paul's Epistles (Rom. ii. 16, and again xvi. 25, and in other places), and, with very slight variations, in 1 Tim. i. 11 and 1 Cor. xv. 1. Jerome's remark, " As often as St. Paul in his Epistles writes ' according to my Gospel,'' he refers to the volume of Luke," although received with reserve by many expositors, considering the weighty traditional evidence we possess of St. Luke's Gospel being in reality written by St. Paul, appears on the whole substantially correct. (9) Wherein I suffer trouble.— Here St. Paul bids Timothy take courage, by tliinking of the brave, patient example he was setting him in his Roman pi'ison, un- daunted and full of hope. " Wherein I suffer : " in which, that is, discharging my office as a preacher of the gospel. I suffer trouble. As an evil doer. — Better rendered, as a malefactor : the same word used in St. Luke's Gospel for the two thieves crucified with Jesus Christ (Luke xxiii. 32, 33, 39). Even unto bonds ; but the word of God is not bound. — A prisoner in chains and, as lie tells us further on in the Epistle, expecting death, and yet he still could write and pray and speak from his narrow prison. Surely his disciiile, still free, ought to work on with undiminished spirit and zeal. Though St. Paul was in bonds, his sufferings and imprisonment had in no wajj weakened the power of the gospel. lie repeats to Timothy one of the most 11. llMUlxil, li. stirring Watchwords of the Faith. as an evil doer, even unto bonds ; but the word of God is not bound. (^*^^ There- fore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation -which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. <^^) It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him : (^^^ if we suffer, we (10) Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes. — Better ivndored, For this cause I endure, &c. — tliat is, I eudure all tliiugs iu order that tlie " word of God," wliicli, unlike its preacher, I liave just declared to bo coufiued by uo bonds — in order that tliat " word " may be widely spread and disseniiuated : for this reason do I, as a faithful soldier at my post, bear up with quiet, patient courage against suffering ; and I do it for the elect's sakes, that is. for those whom, in His infinite mercy, God has been pleased to choose as His people, for those who, in His un- fathomable love, are yet to be brought into the one fold. And this brave and steadfast endurance on the part of St. Paul contributed to the furtherance of God's projects for gathering these elect in this wise — (1) His endurance, his patient, gallant witness iu suffer- ing, would serve as an example to many, not only to the generation then living, but to countless men and women yet unborn ; and (2; his faithful, true preaching, now that his voice was hushed, in such wiitiugs as this Epistle to Timothy, would help, through the ages to come, to draw countless others, iu accordance with the divine counsels, into fellowship with Christ. The question has been often asked, whether those " elect " for whom the Apostle endured these things were, when he wrote these words, believers. Tliis point has already been touched upon ; it may, however, be here answered, with some certainty, that the " elect " here spoken of include both believers and unbelievers. The first — the believer — would in all ages be built up by the contempla- tion of the steadfastness under suffering of St. Paul ; the second — the unbeliever — would be won to the faith by the divinely-inspired arguments and exhortations which the brave old man ceaselessly spoke or wrote down in prison just as when free. How could one like St. Paul, wlio was conscious that he himself had won the " salva- tion," not patiently endure aU things, if such an endurance couhl help the elect to obtain that salvation which delivered those who obtained it from the misery of sin and death, and which besides — O blessed thought! — had the sure prospect of eternal glory ? (11) For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him.— The last sentence ended with the words '' eternal glory " — the goal, the end of the salvation which is in Christ. Tliis it is which the Apostle will help otliers to win, regardless of any suffering it may cost him ; thou, with his mind full of the thoughts of the "eternal gloiy," once more he addressed himself to Timothy. " Faithful is the saying, namely, if wo be dead with him," etc. It was as though he said, " Do you not remember that well-known watchword of our o%vn faith, so often repeated among us in our solemn assemblies when the brotherhood meet together? " Many have supposed, from the rhytli- mical cliaracter of the clauses of verses 11, 12, 13, that this "saying" was taken from some most ancient Christian liymns, composed and used in the very earliest days of the faith ; l)ut whether or no this be the case, there is liigli j)roba])ility tliat tlio words formed part of a liturg}-iu common use in the days of Timothy. If not as a hjnnn — which seems, on the whole, tlie most likely supposition — we can well conceive them as part of the tapestry of a primitive Christian liturgy, woven iu like the introductory sentences in our morning and evening prayer, or like the " comfortable words " of tlie Communion Service. The expression " If we be dead mth Him " — more accurately, If ice died with Him — is well explained by 1 Cor. xv. 31 : "I die daily." The Apostle died when he embraced the lot of daily death. The meaning is still further illustrated iu 2 Cor. iv. 10, where we read how St. Paul and his com- panions were " always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." " He and his faithful com- panions (was Timothy, to whom he was then writing, to be ranked in this blessed company ? ) had given them- selves up to a life that involved exposure to sufferings, bitter enmity, cruel persecutions, even death ; but if we be thus dead with Him, what matters it ? How can we fear even that last agony man can inflict on us — physical death ? — for death with Him involves, surely, life with Him too : that life endless, fadeless, full of glory, we know He is now enjoying, in the possession of which I, Paul, and some of us have even seen Him, face to face, eye to eye. In that life of His we shall sliare ; we shall be partakers in this life of His there, but only if we have shared in the life of suffering which was His life here.'' (12) If we sufifer, we shall also reign with him. — And the faithful saying went on with this stirring declai-ation. How, it seems to ask, can a believer in Christ shrink from suffering, when he knows what to him will be the glorious consequences of this present suffering ? The word rendered " suffer " would be better translated, if loe endure — that is, if we bravelv bear up against sufferings for His sake, and, all the while work on with hand and brain for Him and for our brother as best we can. If we do this in this life, wo shall, in the life to come, reign with Him — more than merely live with Him, as t e last verse told us : we shall even " be kings with Him." (See Rom. v. 17 ; viii. 17; and Rev. i. 6, where Jesus Christ is especially spoken of as having made us " kings.") The promise thus woven into the faithful saying, and repeated in these several passages, of the " reign of the saints in Christ," gives us a strangely glorious liope — a marvel- lous oulook, concerning the active and jiersonal work which Christ's redeemed will bo intrusted with in the ages of eternity. If we deny him, he also will deny us.— But there is another side to the words of the Blessed. While to the faithful and the believer He will grant to sit down with Him on His throne, the faithless and unbeliever will have no share in the glories of the life to come. These grave warnings are apparently addressed rather to unfaithful members of the outward and visil)le Church, than to the Pagan world who have never kno^vn Christ. The words. " He also will deny us," imply something of a recognition on the part of us who are denied by Him — sometliing of an expecta- tion on our part that He would recognise us as friends. They are endentlyan eclio of the Lord's own s;id reply to tliose many who will say to Him in that day, " Lord. Lord, have wo not propliesied in Thy name ? . . . and then will I jirofess unto them. I never knew yon: depart fnmi Me, ve that work iniquity." (Matt. vii. 22, 23. See too Matt. x. 33 and Mark vui. 38.) 227 Disjmtes about " Terms " and II. TIMOTHY, II. mere Words are to he avoided. shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: '^-^^ if we be- lieve not, xjet he abideth fiiithfnl : he cannot deny himself. (^^' Of these things put them in remembrance, charging ihem before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, hut to the subverting of the hearers, to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (i«> But shun profane and vain babblings : (15) Study Chap. ii. 14 — 18 Chai-gecl to avoid disputes aVjout mere words. T h e results of such vain pursuits. (13) If we believe not. — Better rendered, if we are faithless — that is, untrue to the vows of our Chris- tian profession. The faitlilessness inipHes more than mere unbelief in any of the fundamental doctrines of tlie faith, such as the Resurrection of the Lord or His divinity. Yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. — Tliose who have understood these words as containincf soothing, comforting voices for the sinner, for the faithless Christian who has left his first love, are gravely mistaken. The passage is one of distinct severity — may even be termed one of the sternest in the Book of Life ; for it tells how it is impossible even for the pitiful Redeemer to forgive in the future life. " He cannot deny Himself " — cannot treat the faithless as though he were faithful — cannot act as though faithfulness and faithlessness were one and the same thing. The Christian teacher, such as Timoth}-, and the members of his flock likewise, must remember that, sure and certain as are the promises of glory and hap- f)iness to those who love the Lord and try to live His ife, so surely will fall the chastisement on all who are faithless and untrue. With tlie solemn words of this " faithful saying " St. Paul closes this, the second division of his Epistle — fellowship in the sufferings of Christ here, on this side the grave, and fellowship in the glory of Christ there, on the other side the grave — the one side was the sure consequence of the other ; the one could not exist without the otlier. (1^) Of these things put them in remem- brance.—A new division of the Epistle begins with this 14-tli verse. St. Paul has l)een urging Timothy to be strong in endurance, to bear trouljle and suffering with brave patience. He now proceeds to charge him respecting tlie special work he has to do ; and, first he deals with liis duties as a teacher of truth brought face to face with teachers of error. He prefaces his direc- tions by bidtling him, in the forefront of his teaching, "put them " (that is, tho.se over whom he was i)laced : the members of his Epliesian flock) " in remembrance of those tilings" — namely, of those great and solemn tniths set fortli in verses 11 — 13, and which mav bo briefly summed up in the words: "Fellowship with Christ in suffering will be succeeded by fellowsliip with Christ in glory." Surely such lofty, soul-inspiring tlioughts as these will form the best safeguard against the pitiful controversies and disputes about words, which were occupying tlie thouglits and wasting the lives of so many in Epliesus called by the name of Christ. Charging them before the Lord.— Better rendered, salemnhj chargiiuj them hi-fire the Lord . . . In all Timothy's solemn addresses* to his flock he is, St. Paul reminds him. charging his people " before the Lord"— a very earnest, solemn thought for every public teacher, and one calculated now, as then, to deepen the life of one a])i)ointed to such an office. There was a grave danger that such em])ty, profitless disputes about words and expressions, which, we know, occupied the attention of many of the Ephesian so- called Christian teachers, would end in distracting the minds of the members of the several congregations, who would natui'ally take their tone, in matters con- nected with religious life, from their teacher; and thus words would soon come to be substituted for acts in the lives of those men and women called by the name of Christ in Ephesus. (See 1 Tim. vi. 4, where these " strifes of words " are mentioned among the special characteristics of the false teachers.) But to the subverting of the hearers. — Not only are such arguments and disputes useless and pro- fitless, but they are positively mischievous. In the long history of Christianity, St. Paul's repeated warning respecting the danger of these disputes about theo- logical terms and expressions has been sadly verified. Such contentions serve only to unsettle the mind, only to shake true faith, only to distract the one who gives himself up to this fatal pursuit, from real, earnest, patient work for Christ. (15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. — Timothy, and those in the position of Timothy, were to show themselves approved unto God, by turning others, over whom they possessed influence, from the pursuit of vain and unprofitable things. Then their work would be the work of workmen tested by trial, and would be found to have stood the test. (Comp. here 1 Cor. iii. 10 — 15, where the final testing of the work done by God's workmen, such as Timothy, is spoken of in very clear, lieart-.searcliing language.) His own words in the Fu-st Epistle to the Corinthians were evidently in St. Paul's mind when he wi'ote down this direction to Timothy. Rightly dividing the word of truth.— Better rendered rightly laying out tlie u-ord of tridh. The Greek word translated in the English version "' rightly dividing,'" literally signifies "cutting a straight line." It seems most correct to regard it as a metaphor from laying out a road (see Prov. iii. 6, in the LXX. rendering, where the word is so used), " or drawing a furrow, the merit of which consists in the straightness with which the work of cutting, or laying out, is performed. The word of truth is, as it were, a road which is to l>e laid out straightlv and truly." So Ellicott. To affirm (see Alfoid and Huther-Meyer) tliat tlie notion of "cutting" had been gradually lost, and that the word already in the time of St. Paul signified simply " to manage rightly," "to treat truthfully with- out falsifying." and that the exact opposite is to corrupt or adulterate the Word of God (2 Cor. ii. 17), seems premature. (Comp. Eur. Bhcsns, 4il2, ed. Dindorf.) In the third century, Clement of Alexandria {Stro- mata, vii.). for instance, certainly uses the word in a sense in which the idea of " cutting " has been lost, when he writes or//io^OHn'a (a substantive) as an equiva- lent for orthodoxia — orthodoxy. It is not improbable that the use of the word here by St. Paiil gave the word a fresh starting-point, and that gradually the original meaning jjassed out of sight. (16) But shun profane and vain babblings.— 228 The Danger of II. TIMOTHY, II. such Wordrdispufes. for tliey will increase unto more ungod- liness. <^"' And their word will eat as dotli a canker ^ : of whom is Hj'menaius and Philetus ; ^^^^ who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resur- rection is past abeady ; and overthrow I Or. anngrenc. 1' Or, altMdy. the faith of some. (^^) Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure,- having this seal, The Chap. ii. 19. Lord knoweth them that God Smle^the are his. And, Let every figure of u, one that nameth the name f^^^^^tion. Bat, in strong contrast to tho conduct just urged, on the workman of God, do thou avoid (or, ivithdraw thyself from) vain babblings. The word rendered " shun " is a strong one, and signifies literally, to make a circuit so as to avoid; or, as Alford para- phrases it, '"the meaning seems to come from a number f)f persons falling back from an object of fear or loathing, and standing at a distance roiind it." Tho word is used in Titus iii. 9. On the words "profane," " vain-babblings," see 1 Tim. vi. 20. For they will increase unto more ungodli- ness.— Better translated, for they toill advance unto . . . The tendency of these useless discussions and idle disputes is to lead men into vain and profitless speculations, which end too often — as in tho case, cited ])elo\v, of Hymenseus and Philetus — in the most fatal doctrinal error. The close connection between grave fundamental errors in doctrine and a lax and purely selfish life is constantly alluded to by St. Paul. (1") And their word will eat as doth a canker. — Better rendered, as in the margin of the English translation, as doth a gangrene, the usual rendering of the various English versions. " Cancer," which is adopted also by Luther — krebs — fails to ex- press the terrible and deathly nature of the " word " of these false teachers. The life of the sufferer afflicted with cancer may be prolonged for many years ; a few hours, however, is sufficient to put a term to the life of the patient attacked with " gangrene," unless the limb affected be at once cut away. To translate this Greek word here by "cancer" is to water down the original, in which St. Paul expresses his dread of the fatal influence of the words of these teachers on the lives of many of the flock of Christ. Perhaps Jerome's words, " a perverse doctrine, beginning with one, at the commencement scarcely finds two or three listeners ; but little by little the cancer creeps through the body " (Jerome, in Epist. ad Gal.), has suggested the rendering of the English Yersion. Of whom is Hymenseus and Philetus. — Of the.se false teachers nothing is known beyond the mention, in the First Epistle to Timothy, of HymenjBus, who, regardless of the severe action which had been taken against liim (1 Tim. i. 20), was apparently still continuing in his error. Vitrincfa thinks they were Jews, and probably Samaritans. Their names are simply {riven as examples of tlie teachers of error to whom St. Paul was referring — famous leaders.no doubt, in their cheerless schoo! of doctrine. (iH) Who concerning the truth have erred. — Or, have erred, or, more literally, have minsed their aim. (See Note on 1 Tim. vi. 21.) The resurrection of tho body, grounded upon the Lord's own words (John v. 28. 2iM, was one of tho Articles of the Christian faith upon which St. Paul espocially loved to dwell. (See. for instance, liis words before Felix — Acts xxiv. 15.) With this " resurrection of tlie body " St. Paul, prompted by the Holy Ghost, tnu'jlit men tlmt the future state of rewards and punisli- inents was intimately bound up; the .soul will bo clothed with a body of glory or mth a body of shame, according to the deeds done in the flesh. This doctrine appears, in very early times, to have been questioned by some in the Christian community. Then, as now, was the thought repugnant to the shrinking soul of man, — that the body in which he then lived and sinned would ri.se again. Elaborated, but still scarcely di.sguised, tho same denial of a bodily resurrection was a characteristic of the more important of the widely-spread Gnostic systems of the second and third centuries. These early Christian followers of men like Hymenaeus and Philetus had much in common with the ascetic Jewish sects of Essenes and Therjipcutae, and especially with the famous Sadducean .school, which attracted then so many cultured and wealthy Jews. Tliey opposed, to use Van Oostei'zee's words, " their own sickly idealism to St. Paul's strong and healthy realism." Death and resurrection, with these early opponents of St. Paul, were terms which had only a spiritual meaning and application. As Waterland puts it, "• They allegorised away the doctrine, and tui'ned all into figures and metaphors." Another consideration must not be lost sight of when we are considering the reasons for St. Paul's fiery indig- nation with this unhappy school of dreamers. In attacking, with their thinly-veiled scepticism, the great doctrine of the resurrection of the body, in pushing aside the glorious hope, they touched with their impious hands the comer- stone of all Christian belief — the resurrection in the body of the Redeemer. This Re- surrection was indeed past already. (19) Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure.— Better rendered. Nevertheless God's firm foundation standeth. Nevertheless, that is to say, though some may be shaken in faith by the unhappy teaching above referred to. yet assuredly God's firm foimdation stands unshaken. " The firm foundation laid by God " is the Church of Christ, which is hero termed a foundation laid by God, because it, the Church of Ciirist, is the ground- storey of the glorious Temple of the future. In other words, the Church of Christ is here considered as the foundation of a far grander building, which, in tho fulness of time, will rest upon its ma.ssive work (see Eph. ii. 19 — 21); and this ground-storey, the corner- stone of which is Christ, " standeth " age after age. in spite of any efforts which may be made to destroy or even to shake it. The term "foundation," here used for the Church of God on earth, is remarkable, and points to a great trutli : that, after all, this life is but a beginning, and that "His Church" here is l)ut a foun- dation— is only the first and early storey of that glorioii>< Cliurch the Divine Architect has planned, and will com])lete in he.iven. Having this seal.— It was a custom, which dates back from the very earliest time-^. to inscribe upon a building or a monument an inscription whicli told of its origin and puri)oso. In some ca.ses, as in the oldest monuments of Egypt, tlie engraved wTiting told the name of the roval Or priestly builder; so in Eev. xxi. U, we read how in the wall 'of tho City of God there The Church MilitarU under tlie II. TIMOTHY, II. Fujure of a Massive Foundation. of Ckrist depart from iniquity. (^^ But .. . in a great house there are GooY'men and not only vessels of gold evil exist to- and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and gether. some to honour, and some to dishonour. (^^^ If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a ^, .. „, „^ 1 , ' , Chap. u. 21 — 26. vessel unto nonoui', sane- Tlie work of a tilled, and meet for the good man. were twelve foundations, and on them were engraved tlie names of tlio Twelve Apostles of the Lamb. On this "foundation storey." of which St. Paul was now speaking, was carved a legible inscription in two sen- tences— the one told of comfort and hope, reminding men God would ever know " His own ;" the other told of duty, reminding men that " God's o^vn " had no share in unrighteousness. It is called " a seal " here instead of an inscription, for a seal best conveys the idea of the solemn binding character of the writing. The Jew Avas especially accustomed to see the words and promises of liis God written or graven ou his door- posts and ou his gates. (See Deut. vi. 9 ; xi. 20. See, too, the words of Job xix. 24-, where he would have his most solemn declaration of faith gi-aveu or sealed on a rock for ever.) The Lord knoweth them that are his. — This was the first sentence of the inscription graven on the foundation-storey. The ivords were probably a me- mory of Num. :l\\. 5 ; but the thought here goes far deeper. God's own people, as they read the words graven on the foundation " with an iron pen and with lead for ever," are ever reminded of their deepest, highest, truest comfort. " The Lord knoiveth them that are His." The words may be paraphrased : " He knows His oAvn because He loves them ; " never will He cease to know them, but will keep them for ever and for ever. Compare, too, the words of the Good Shepherd (John x. 14, 27—29). And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.— The thought and the words are from the Old Testament. The thought is expressed in a wider and more general form in Isa. lii. 11 : " Depart ye. depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing ... Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord ; " and for the words " nameth the name of the Lord," see Isaiah xxvi. 13. " Naming the name of Jesus " must be understood in the sense of the last clause of 1 Cor. xii. 3 ; in other words, this sentence of the inscription signifies that no man con- fessing with the heart that Jesus is Lord can commit iniquity deliberately— the two things are utterly incom- patible. " Iniquity' here includes tlie teaching of those false men above alluded to, a-s their teacliing led away from the truth, and resulted in alaxande^-il way of life. (20) But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver.— The Apostle goes on with the same thought of the " Church of God on earth." but he changes the imagery. He has been si)eaking of this CliTirch as the "foundation- storey that cannot be moved" of a still more glorious etlitice. He now, as it were, answers a question which would naturally occur to Timothy and to many a devout reader or hearer of the Epistle when they came to this part of the argument. How comes it.tlien, one would ask. that in this visible Church on earth are so many unwoi-thy members ? How is it th.at in this changeless, abiding foundation of the great Temple of the future, against which all earthly storms may beat, and yet never shake its massive storeys, so many useless crumbling stones are taken for the l)uilding ? In a great house, argues St. Paul — still thinking of 230 the Church, but changing the foundation image for that of a great house — are always found two distinct kinds of vessels — the precious and enduring, and also the comparatively valueless and lasting for but a littlo while ; the first kind are destined for honour, the second for dishonour. In St. Paul's mind, when ho wrote these words, the natural sequel to his far-reach- ing and suggestive comparison of the " foundation " (verse 19) were the words of his Master, who had once compared His Church to a drag-net of wide sweep, including in its take something of every kind out of tho vast sea-world. The " net" — His Church — was to gather and to hold in its meshes its great take — the good and the bad, the useful and the useless — till the end of the world. So St. Paul writes how in a great house there must be these varieties of vessels — some for honour, others for dishonour. By these vessels the genuine and spurious members of the Church are represented as forming two distinct classes; and in these classes different degrees of honour and dishonour besides exist — the vessels of gold and silver, the vessels of wood and of earth. To Timothy these comparisons would at once suggest the true and false teachers in his Church at Ephesus ; but the reference is a far broader one, and includes all members of the Church of Christ. The enduring natui-e of the metals gold and silver are contrasted with the perishable nature of the other materials, wood and earth. The former will remain a part of the Church for ever; the latter will only endure until the end of the world. (21) If a man therefore purge himself from these. ^ — Again the reference is general, but there was a special thought for Timothy when St. Paul wrote this. If he would separate from all that was evil in his Chui-ch at Ephesus, then would he indeed be one of those golden vessels unto honour. The image of tho great house, and its many and varied vessels, though still not quite lost sight of, is passing out of sight. This verse changes into a note of direct exhortation. The good and faithfid must separate themselves from the evil and faithless. The thought of those deniers of the resurrection of the body was uppermost in St. Paul's mind. There must, as it has been well said, bo no communion on the part of God's servants with im- pugners of fundamentals. It was im2)erativcly neces- siiry for Timothy — and, by implication, for all members of Christ's Church — if they aimed at becoming vessels for honour in the great Temple, to break ofE from all Church fellowship, from all intimate friendship, with those above referred to under the image of wooden or earthen vessels. He shall be a vessel unto honour.— Chrysos- tom's note upon these words is somewhat renuirkable. He points out the possibility of the vessel for dishonour becoming a vessel for honour, and the reverse; and refers to St. Paul, once an earthen vessel, who became a vessel of gold, and to the traitor Judas, who, on the other hand, from being a vessel of gold became an earthen vessel. Meet for the master's use.— Or, useful for tie master (of the house). " Useful," as the next sentence shows us, through those good works by means of which The Work of the 11. TIMOTHY, II. Servant of tJie Lord. master's use, and prepared unto every good work. (--^ Flee also youthful lusts : but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with thorn that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. <^'^' But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that 1 Ot, forbearing. they do gender strifes. f^*) And the servant of the Lord must not strive ; but be gentle unto all mew, apt to teach, patient,' (^^ in meekness in- structing those that oppose them- selves ; if God peradventure will give others' needs &x$ ministered to, and tlio sah-ation of otliers is furtliered, and the glory of God is increased. Prepared unto every good work.—" Prepared " — tliat is, ready to take advantage of any oiiyortuuity wliieh may otfer itself to do a generous, noble action. So, too. Clirysostom, who would have the " vessel unto honour " ready for every emergency which woidd enhance the glory of the Lord — ready even for death, or (^any painful) witness. (22) Flee also youthful lusts.— But he who would indacl become a "vessel for honour" in that great house of God must do more than merely separate him- self from all outward communion and friendship with men who, by their teaching and in their lives, did dis- honour to the blaster's religion. There was an inner work to be accomplished, as well as an outer and more public protest to be made. He must fight with and conquer those lusts, passious, and desires which are more peculiarly tempting to those who are still in the meridian of life. That Timothy was not now in early manhood has been already shown. He was at this time, probably, between thirty and forty years of ase. These youthful lusts are by no means to be limited to those varied and fatal excesses summed up in the Seventh Commandment. A victory over these, of course, is imperatively necessai-y for one who would be "of use" in the house of his God: but such a one must train himself to subdue otlier and far more subtle lusts than are included in these. He must be watchful and stamp down all covetousuess, whether of rank or gold ; all longing for empty shows ; all pride, conceit, readiness to take offence ; all the kindred forms of love of self. But follow righteousness, faith, charity.— See Note on 1 Tim. vi. 11, where the same charge occurs. Peace. — This last, "peace," must be joined with the words immediately following : " with them that call on the Lord," Sic. The " peace " here .signifies absence of contention : it is well paraphi-ased by. " that spiritual concord whidi unites together all who call upon and who love their Lord." Theodoret thus draws a distinction between " love " and " peace " : — " It is possible to love all, and this the gospel law enjoins us in the words, ' Love your enemies : ' but to be at peace with all is not possible." The words " out of a pure heart" contrjist those holy and Imuible men of heart who serve God without any idterior motive, with those false teachers who dare to make their religion a gain, a source of profit. (^^' But foolish and unlearned questions avoid. — The Greek word translated " uidearned " is better rendered iynoranf. These ''questions" which, as we have seen above, the false teachers, with whom Timothy was so much thrown, loved to put forward for discussion, could hardly be termed " unlearned " — much useless learning being often thrown away in these dis- putings of the schools — but were rather " pointless," " stupid," as well as foolish. The nature of these ques- tions of controversy has l)i'('ii discussed above. Knowing that they do gender strifes.— Know- ing— as thou dost — from sad and frequent experience, what conflicts, heart-burnings, estrangements, these abstract questions between rival teachers and rival sects engendered. (-1) And the servant of the Lord must not strive.— Although these directions and commandments in all cases belong to God's servants of every degree and calling, yet some of them, as we should expect from the nature of the Ei)istle, peculiarly apply to Timothy and those like Timothy specially devoted to the ministry of the Word. And so here everything which is likely to be the cause of strife, heart-burning, or hot words, is, St. Paid urges, singularly out of place in the life of a servant of that Lord who fulfilled to the letter that Isaiah prophecy of Messiah, " He shall not strive, nor cry ; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets." (See Matt. xii. 19—20. ) But be gentle unto all men.— Quiet and kind, not only to those belonging to the brotherhood of Christ, but, as is expressly mentioned, to all. It is noteworthy how, in these Pastoral Epistles — which con- tain, so to speak, the last general directions to believers in Jesus as to life as well as doctrine of perhaps the greatest of the inspired teachers — so many cai'eful suggestions are given for the guidance of Christians iu all their relations with the great heathen world. Cun- ciliationmtijhe termed the key-note of these directions. St. Paul would press upon Timothy and his snccessoi-s the great truth that it was the Master's will that the unnumbered peoples who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death should learn, by slow though sure degrees, how lovely and desirable a thing it was to be a Christian ; shoiild come at length to see clearly that Christ was, after all, the only lover and real friend of man. Apt to teach, patient.— The Greek word is better rendered by the forbearing of the margin than by " patient." Patient of icrong. however, best gives the full force of the original. This is what the servant of God should really aim at being : the teacher rather than the controversiaHst — rather the patient endurer of wrong than the fomenter of dissensions and wordy strifes. (25) In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.— By '• those that oppose them- selves," St. Paul alludes scarcely so much to those leading teachers of false doctrine as to those led away by them. In Titus iii. 10 we read how these pronounced heretics — no doubt the teachers and leaders of the school — were, after a first and second ailmonition, to be shunned, were to be left to themselves. These, how- ever, were evidently to be dealt with in a different manner. Their treatment was to be a gentle one. Nothing is here said respecting a first and second admonition only; no hint is given that these are to lie shunned. They are clearly not the same a« tho.se referred to in Titus iii. 10, or above in verse 21 of this chapter, where, again, separation is definitely urged. If God peradventure will give them repen- tance.—The Greek original here also carries out what was said in the Note ou the last clause, and may bo 231 The Vices of II. TIMOTHY, III. the Last Days. them repentance to the acknowledg- ing of the truth; <-''> and that they may recover ^ themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken cajD- tive ~ by him at his will. (J r. talien alive. CHAPTEE III.— (1) This know also, that in the last days peril- chap. iii. 1—9. ous times shall come. c-^For Thcvicesof the men shall be lovers of their ^^* ^^' own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, rendered literally, if perchance at any time God might grant to them . . . This suggests a hope at least that at some time or other God's grace would work in these "opposing" members of the congregation a change. The '' repentance " here signifies an abandon- ment on the part of those en-iug Christians of that wrong course on which they had entered, and a return to the true Church of God and to the full knowledge of the gospel truth. (26) That they may recover themselves. — Tlie literal meaning of the Greek word rendered " that they may recover themselves " is, that they may aivake from drunhe7iness. The English version, however, gives the meaning with great exactness. Those taken in the snare of the devil are represented as not only captives in the snare of the devil, but as also helplessly wrapped in slumber. The deadly peril of all " captives of sin " is here well painted. These unhappy ones, befoi-e they can free themselves from the toils of the evil one, must awake from the deep slumber in which they are wrapped : in other words, must first be conscious of their awful danger. Who are taken captive by him at his will.— These words have been variously interpreted by com- mentators. The meaning that, on the whole, seems most satisfactory, represents the captive to sin waking up from his deathly slumber and escaping the toils of the evil one, for the purpose of carrying out for the future the will of God. The rendering of the whole verse would be as follows : " And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil — being held captive by him — to do His (God's) ivill." It must be remembered that the first pronoun in this sentence, '* being held captive by him," referred hero to the devil, and the second pronoun in the sentence, " to do His will," referred here to God, are represented in the Greek by two distinct words: the first by avrov, the second by iKiivov. III. (1) This know also.— Bettor rendered. But know this. Tlie Apostle had warned Timothy (chap. ii. 3 — 13) not to allow fear of oncoming peril and trouble to paralyse his eiforts in the Master's cause, for the Lord's tnu3 servant should never lose heart, and then had i)roceeded (chap. ii. 14 — 26) to detail how tliese eiforts of his were to bo directed, showing him how his teaching should stand in contrast with that of the false teacliers. St. Paul now (chaj). iii. 1), having told liini that althimgh there was no reason to fear, yet warns him that grave dangers to the Church imuhl surely arise, and that God's servants, like Timothy, must be prepared to combat. In the last days.— Tli(> majority of commentators have referred " the last days " here s^joken of to tlie period immediately preceding the second coming of th(> Lord — a day and an hour somewhere in the futur(> but hidden, not nu^rely from all men. but from the angels, and even from the Son (Mark xiii. 32). It seems, however, more in accordance with such passages as 1 John ii. 18 : " Little children, it is the last time " — where the present, and not an uncertain future is alluded to — to understand " the last days " as that period, probably of veiy long duration, extending from the days of the first coming of Messiah — in which time St. Paul lived — to the second coming of Christ in judgment. The Jewish Ral)bis of the days of St. Paul were in the habit of speaking of two great periods of the world's history — "this age," and "the ago to come." The former of these, "this age," including all periods up to Messiah's advent ; the latter, " the age to come," including all periods subsequent to the appear- ance of Messiah. We find the same idea embodied later in the Talmud (treatise " Sanhedrim ") 6,000 years ai'e mentioned as the duration of the world, 2,000 years, waste or chaos, 2,000 years under the law, 2,000 j'cars the days of Messiah." This last period, " the days of Messiah," are often alluded to by the Hebrew prophets under the expression, " in the last days " — literally, in the end of days. (See Isa. ii. 2; Hos. iii. 5 ; Mic. iv. 1.) The words of verse 5, " from such turn away," would rcqxiire certainly a strained interjiretation if we are to suppose that the " last days " referred to a time im- mediately preceding the end, or, in other words, the last period of the Christian era. The sad catalogue of vices is, alas, one with which all ages of the Church of Christ has been too well acquainted. The Christian teacher has no need to look forward to a future time of deeper iniquity, when in the Church of the li\nng God will be found those who will deserve the dreary titles of this passage. The Church of his own age will supply him with examples of many such, for " In a great house . , . are there not only a'CsscIs of gold and silver, but also of wood, and earth, and some to honour and some to di.shonour." (2) For men shall be lovers of their own selves. — Hofmann and others have attempted to portion out these vices into groups. But any such effort seems artificial. A certain connection seems to exist in some part; but when pressed to pi-cserve the groups, a strained meaning has to be given to some of the terms. It seems, therefore, best simply to understand the catalogue as representing the various more prominent vices which appeared cm the surface of Christian society, and threatened the very existence of the Church, even in those early times when Timothy ruled over the congregations of Christians at Epliesus. Hofmann, however, divides the catalogue contained in verses 2 — i into three groups, consisting of five, six, and seven terms, respectively. Lovers of their own selves. — Selfislmess well heads the dreary list. It is the true root of all sin. Covetous. — More accurately rendered, lovers of monnj. This " love of money " has been hapjnly termed " the daughter of selfishness." Boasters. — Those who arrogate to themselves honour which does not fairly belong to them. Proud. — These are they who contemptuously look down on others beneath them, either in social position or wealth, or perhaps in natural gifts. The Latin, ostentaiio, represents the vice which aifeets the first of these classes — " the boasters ; " and superbia, that which affects the .second class — " the proud." 232 The Sin and Error prevalent II. TIMOTHY, III. in this Last Age. blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ('^ without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,^ incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, ^^^ traitors, heady, high- 1 Or, malcc-bates. minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ; (^^ having a form of god- liness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. <^^ For of this sort are they which creep into houses. Blasphemers.— The two vices just mentioiipd refer to man's coudiict to his l)rotlier inau ; tliis alludes to liis beliaviour towards his God. The pride witli which lie looks down on his fellows develops itself into in- solence in thought, if not in word, towards his God : and this is ternuMl blasphemy. Disobedient to parents. — The blasphemer of the Father which is in heaven is only too likely to train np little ones wdio, ip their turn, will display a dis- obedience and disrespect of their earthly parents. The liome life of the man who chooses not to know God in his heart ^vill too easily reflect his evil thoughts and senseless pride. Unthankful. — Or, ungrateful. The children who begin life with disobedience to their parents, with rare exceptions, are ungrateful to all others who may show them kindness in their life journey. Unholy. — Unlioly through their want of inward purity. (See 1 Tim. i. 9.) (^) Without natural affection.— Careless and re- gardless of the welfare of those connected with them by ties of blood. Trucebreakers.- Better rendered, implacahle. False-accusers. — Or, slanderers. (See 1 Tim. iii. 11.) Incontinent. — Having no control over the passions. Fierce. — Inhuman, savage, or merciless. Despisers of those that are good.— Better rendered, no lovers of good — that is, hostile to every good thought and work. (i) Traitors.— Or, betrayers, probably, as it has been suggested, of their Chi'istian brethren. (Comp. Luke vi. 16, where this epithet is used of Judas Iscariot, "which also was the traitor;" and also Acts vii. 52, where Stephen, in his Sanhedrin speech, uses this term " betrayers " of the Jews, " of whom — the Just One — ye have been now the betrayers." In these days of Timothy, and for many a long year, to inform against the believers in Jesus of Nazareth, to give information of their places of meeting in times of persecution, was often a profitable though a despicable work. Heady. — Better rendered, headstrong in words, or thoughts, or actions. Highminded. — Better translated, blinded by pride. (See 1 Tim. iii. 6.) Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.— Men who would make any sacrifice to procure a fii-eting pleasure, and who would give nothing up in order to do honour to the eternal but invisible God. Need the ministers of the Lord tarry for the last I)eriod preceding the r(>turn of Messiah for judguient — when a still more awful inicpiity shall reign — for examples of these short-sighted mortals.^ The sorrow- ful catalogue began with " love of self,'' that unhap])y vice which excludes all love for others ; it closes with tliat '■ 1()V(> of pleasure"' which shuts out all love of God. (■^) Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. — Keeping up a show of observ- ing the outward forms of religion, Imt renouiu-ing its l)i»wer and its influence over the heart and the life; showing openly that they neither acknowledged its guid- ance or wished to do so. These, by claiming the title of Christians, wearing before men the uniform of Christ, but liy their lives dishonouring His name, did the gravest injury to the lujly Christian cause. Another dreary catalogue of vic(!s St. Paul gives in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. i. 29, and following ver.ses) ; but in that passage he paints the sins of Paganism. Here ho describes the characteristics of a new Paganism, which went under the nanu! of Christianity. From such turn away.— These, daring to as- sume the sacred name, no doubt with the thought of claiming its glorious promises, without one efi'ort to please the Master or to do honour to His name — these were to be openly shunned by such as Timothy. No half measm-es were to be adopted towards these, who tried to deceive their neighbours and possibly deceived themselves. The Pagan was to be courteously entreated, for in God's good time the gloiy of the Lord might shine, too, on those now sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. The heretic, seduced by false men from the school of the Apostles, where the life as well as the doctrine of Jesus was taught, was to be gently instructed. Perhaps God would lead him once more home. But these, who, while pi-etendiug to belong to Jesus, lived the degi'aded life of the heathen, were to bo shunned. No communion, no friendly intercourse was possible between the li}^)ocrite and the Christian. The command here is so definite — " from these turn away " — that any theory wliicli would relegate the vices just enumerated to a distant future would require, as above stated, that a strained and unnatural meaning should be given to this positive direction to Timothy. The plain and ob^-ious signification of the passage is: men committing the sins alhided to lived then in the Church over which Timothy presided ; they were to be avoided by the chief presbyter and his brethren. (6) For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women.— The corrupting influence of these hypocritical professors of the religion of Jesus must have been already great, and the danger to all real vital godliness in Ephesus immi- nent, for Paul here specifies one of the most — perhaps the most — successful work of these toilers for Satan : the power they were acquiring over women. As we siiall see, these unhappy men busied themselves in securing popularity among the female portion of the flock in tlie Ephesian Church, and the way l)y which they won their popularity was })y supplying anodynes for tlie guilty consciences of these women, laden, we are told, with sins. The expression, " which creep into houses," although perfectly natural, and one which, even in tliese Western countries, could 1)0 used with propriety to express the method in which these deceiving and perverting men make their way into households, yet, wlien we renieinl)er the comparative state of seclusion in which women usually lived and still live in Eastern lands, the words used by Paul acquire an increased force. Special fraud and deceit was nt>edf ill for these false teachers to creep into the women's apartments in Asia. The Greek word translated " h-ad captive" is a peculiar one, and is only found in comj)aratively later Gnvk. It is sujtposed to 1)e a word of Alexandrian or Mace, donian origin. It here represents these women as wholly .'33 Influence of False Teachers II. TIMOTHY, III. over Women. and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, *'^ ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. <^) Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth : men under the iufluonce of these bad men, to the utter de- struetiou of all true, liealthy, home life. The Greek word transhited ''silly women. "in the Vulgate " mulier- culas," is simply a diminutive, expressing contempt. There is no doubt but that the older Heresiarchs made great use of women in the propagation of their new and strange systems. They worked more easily, perliaps, on the impulsive and emotional female mind ; but what has never suffieieutly been taken into account is the reaction which was then taking place among women, so long relegated to an inferior and subordinate position, and now, by the teaching of Christ and His Ajjostles. raised to a position of equality with men as regards the hope of future glory. In many instances, in the first ages of Christianity, there is no doubt, but that they misunderstood their position; they claimed work they could never do, and aimed after au intiuence they could never exercise, and thus, no doubt, in these first feverish years many a woman fell a comi>aratively easy prey to these proselytisers, who, laying claim to a higher and deeper wisdom, proposed now to lead some into the knowledge of profound and liiddeu mysteries, now offered ease of conscience to others if they would but follow them. Ireuaeus, in the second century, speaks of the special power which the Yalen- tinian Gnostic Marcus had acquired over women; and Epiphanius, in the same century, also refers to the Gnostics' deceitful intiuence ^vith the female sex. Jerome, in an interesting though rhetorical passage {Epist. ad Ctesipho litem), cites a number of instances in which a woman shared in the baleful influence exercised by the leading masters of heresy in doctrine and laxity of life. Simon Magus, he tells us, was accompanied by the ■wicked Helen. Nicolas, of Antioch, a teacher of immorality, gathered round him what Jerome calls cJwros fteniineos. Montauus is associated with the well-known names of Maximilla and Prisca. Donatus is coupled with Lucilla. Marcion, Arius, Priscillian, and other Heresiarchs. famous in the annals of the early churches, he speaks of as intimately associated with or supported by female influence. Laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. — This gives us some insight into the source of the power which these false teachers acquired over those women of Ephesus who in name were Christians. They had accepted the faith of Christ, but were unable to live His life; over their passions .and lusts had these no mastery. " Laden with sins," and " led away with divers lusts," these weak women fell au easy prey to men who procured them, by means of their Ipng doctrines, a false peace. By their words they seemed to liave lulled the consciences of their female listeners to sleep. They showed them, no doubt, how in their school they might still be Christians and yet indulge their divers lusts. (7) Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.— A morl)id love of novelty, and a hope to penetrate into mysteri(>s not revealed to God's true teachers, spurred tiiese female learners on; but *" to the /h/Z knowledge of the truth" — for this is the more accurate rendering of the Greek word — they never reached, for by their evil life their heart was hardened. Tliat some of these false teachers i laid claim to occult arts, to a knowledge of magic and ' sorcery, is clear from the statement contained in the next verse, where certain sorcerers of the time of Moses are compared to them. (8) Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses. — To one Ijrought up, like Timotliy, l)y a pious Jewish mother, and who from a child knew the Holy Scriptures and all the history and ancient traditions connected >vith the early history of the people, such a comparison Avould be very striking. No child of Israel could hear the name of Moses, the loved hero of the chosen people, unmoved ; and to be told that these false teachers of Ephesus stood in the same relation to him and the Church of Christ as, in old days — in the never-to-be-for- gotten Egyptian episode — those famous magicians Jannes and Jambres stood to Moses, would throw for Timothy a new light on all the words and works of these wicked and ambitious men. We can well imagine the comparison being repeated in many an assembly of the faithful, long after the great Apostle's death : how St. Paul had likened these early Heresiai-chs to those evil men who before Pharaoh had dared to resist God and His servant Moses. These magicians, also termed wise men and sorcerers (Ex. vii. 11 — 22) at the court of Pharaoh, appear as the enemies of Moses. The names " Jannes " and " Jambres," though not given in the sacred text, are preserved in the oral tradition of Israel. The names are found in the Targum of Jonathan on Ex. aH. 11 ; xxii. 22. These traditions relate how these men were sons of Balaam, and in the first instance were the instructors of Moses, though subsequently his enemies and opponents. One legend mentions them as perishing in the catastrophe when the waves of the Red Sea overwhelmed the armies of Egypt ; another tradition speaks of their having met their death in the slaughter after the worship of the golden calf, the making of which they advised. It was their prophetic words, so say these legendaiy histories, which, fox-etelling the birth of Moses, induced Pharaoh to givo this order for the destruction of the Jemsh children. The later Jews distorted t^ie names into John and Ambrose. So do these also resist the truth.— The point of comjmrison between the depraved teachers of Ephesus and these Egj"ptian soi-cerers consisted in a persistent and deadly enmity to the truth, which existed in botli cases. The life of the prophet Balaam, the traditionary father of this Jannes and Jambres, supplies a vivid illustration of this malignant and persistent hatred of what is known antl felt to bo true. That these Ephesian heretics in like manner availed themselves, or pretended to avail themselves of occult jjower is just probable, though in the comparison this point is of but little moment. We know, however, that the claim at least to possess mysterious and unearthly powers wjis often made by covetous and worldly men in these times : as, for in- stance, l)y Simon Magus (Acts viii. 9 — 24), by Elymas the sorcerer, the false prophet and Jew in Cyprus (Acts xiii. 6 — 12). See also the episode of Acts xix. 18 — 20, when " many which used curious arts came to Paul and his companions, and confessed and shewed their deeds." Men of corrupt minds.— Literally, corrupted in their minds. Timotliy might possibly have been induced to regard these evil men, though erring iu 234 False Teaching will not advance II. TIMOTHY, III. beyond a certain point. of corrupt minds, reprobate ^ concerning the faith. ^^^ But they shall proceed no further : for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was. ^^^^> But ^ mcnf "" ■'"''''■ thou hast fully known- my doctrine, man- ' t'n T'dJg'^u ner of life, purpose, faith, foiuiwerof. longsuffering, charity, pa- 12. St. Paul's (11) T^ijvoor.nfir».io faith and tiiald Chap. 10- tience, persecutions, some particulars, as still of the flock of Christ, to which they beloiiged uomiually ; but ho was now instructed that they were simply enemies to the tnitli : that it was vain to hope that they would ever come to a knowledge of tlie truth, for their '' mind," the human spirit, the medium of communication with the Holy Spirit of God, was corrupted. There was no common ground of faith, save in the bare name of Cliristian, between Timothy and these men, for they, in the matter of faith, had been tried and found wanting. (9) But they shall proceed no further.— After that St. Paul, with no gentle hand, had torn aside the veil which was hiding apparently from Timothy the real state of his great charge at Ephesus, and had Eointed out what fearful ravages among his flock had een committed by these ambitious and evil men, the Apostle proceeds to comfort his friend and disciple with the assurance that, great though the mischief already accomplished was, still it should proceed no further. To human eyes, such a state of things as here pictured by the Apostle would appear desperate. It would seem as though a deadly and incurable cancer was eating away the whole life of the community; but Timothy need not despair : the evil would only be allowed to advance to a certain point ; and since St. Paul thus wrote, the same prophecy, not only in Ephesus bixt in a thousand churches, has been fulfilled to the very letter. Still, the same old foes under new faces make havoc of the Church. But they never seem to advance beyond a certain point, and after all these centuries the Church is still full of faith and life, bright, too, in spite of discouragements, in spite of the perpetual presence of these treacherous, deceitful men, with promise for the future. For their folly shall be manifest.— Men and women would be led away for a season by the plausible words of such deceivers, but one school of error after another would fall into disrepute, then into neglect, then into the silent darkness of utter obli^'ion (the event in numberless instances has shown the truth of this prophecy) ; and Timotiiy might take comfort, by considering what Holy Scripture had placed on record respecting the Egyptian sorcerers, ivhose folly was Tnanifed unto all men (Ex. viii. 18, 19 ; ix. 11). Their folly was yet more manifest when men considered their latter end. (See Note above on Jannes and Jambres, verse 8.) (10) But thou hast fully known my doctrine. — Literally, But thou loert a folloicer of my doctrine ; thou followedst as a disciple, and thus hast fully known. The Groek word translated "fully known" (see 1 Tim. iv. 6) denotes a diligently tracing out step by step. See Luke i. 3, where the same word is rendered, in the English version : " having had perfect understanding," having traced up to their source all the events relating to the foundation of Christianity. Here St. Paul recalls to Timothy's mind what had l)een his — ■ St. Paul's — life, and words, and works. No one knew the history of this life like Timothy, the pupil and the friend, who had been long trained to assist in carrying on his teacher's work after St. Paul was removed. And this appeal to Timothy's recollection of the pa'=;t has two distinct purposes : (1) It was to contrast that life of St. Paul's, with which the disciple was so well ac- quainted, with the lives of those false men, of whom Timothy was warned so earnestly, who were poisoning the stream of Christianity at Ephesus; and (2) tho memoi-y of the master was to serve as a spur to the disciple, the heroic faith of the old man was to act as an incentive to the young teacher to suffer bravely in his turn. With this pattern of steady faith and heroic work before his eyes, Timothy would never be aljle to endure the wi'etched mock Christianity these new teachers were labouring to introduce into the communities of the believers of Asia; he would at once separate him- self and his from these evil influences. My doctrine. — Or, teaching, in which the leading of a pure self-denying life was insejjarably botmd up Avith a belief in the great Christian doctrines. '" This hast thou, my pupil from boyhood, known in aU its details. Thou hast known how I taught others." Manner of life.—" And also how 1 lived myself : " "my ways which be in Christ," as he once before phrased it (1 Cor. iv. 17), "my conduct." Purpose. — ■• My purpose — from which you know I never swerved — of remaining true to the Gosjjel of my Lord and to my great life's mission to the Gentiles." (See Acts ii. 23, where the word is used in respect to others' purpose.) Faith.— Possibly, trust in God, but better, St. Paul's faith or belief in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. Longsu^ering.— Towards his many bitter adver- saries, esjiecially those among his own countrymen. In spite of all that long, unwearied, sleepless i^ersecu- tion, which he, the former Pharisee leader, endured at the hands of the Jews, he loved Israel to the end, with a love intense as it was changeless, loved them even to be willing for their sake to give up his eternal hopes. (See Rom. ix. 3.) Charity. — My love, which (in bis own snnny words) beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things — the love which never faileth. (See 1 Cor. xiii.) Patience.— Tliat characteristic virtue of St. Paul, that '• brave patience " which hopefully endured oppo- sition to his favourite schemes, which cheerfully bore the most painful suttering when it came as a con- sequence of work in his Master's cause. This con- cluding word led naturally on to the brief catalogue of persecutions of the next verse. (11) Persecutions, afflictions. -St. Paul adds to " persecutions " " afflictions " — for not merely were his plans thwarted, his hopes baffled, his friends alienated, through the persistent enmity of his opponents, but bodily suffering was inflicted on him — stoning, scourging, long and Weary periods of imprisonnuMit, were among the repeated sufferings he endured for his Master's sake. The question has been asked why. out of the pages of the closely written diary of his life's experiences, does St. Paul select the events which took place at Antioch. Iconium. and Lystra.^ "Was there anything special in what he endured in these Ijlaces? The most satisfactory answer seems to be tJiat, with regard to the general reader or hearer of this Epistle, what happened in these places, years before, were good examples of what had often taken place 23d Appeal to Timothy's II. TIMOTHY, III. afflictions, wliicli camo unto me at An- tioch, at Iconiuin, at Lystra; what \)ev- secutions I endured : but out of them all the Lord delivered me. <^-^ Yea, and all that -will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. <^'^^ But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, Knowhuhje of St. Paul. But deceiving-, and being deceived. continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them ; ^^^> and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, Chap. iii. 13— 15. Timothy encouraged to be steadfast. sinco. Tlioso woro among the first cities in which St. Paul preached in tlio course of liis missionary journeys. But a deeper reason existed for the clioice of tlieso l)laces in liis case to wlioni the Epistle was originally addressed. What happened ou that first journey would never be forgotten by Timothy : some of the incidents were among his first experiences with St. Paul of the work — others had taken place just before St. Paul took liim as liis friend and associate, and, no doubt, had Ijeen often discussed in Timothy's hearing in those anxious never-to-be-forgotten hours which preceded liis choice of the calling of a missionary. Hearing of tlieso very deeds of endurance done for the crucified Master, 2)erhaps, not a little contributed to Timothy's resolve to emulate these acts, and to join himself closely to the heroic missionary teacher. Certainly, the memory of what happened then St. Paul knew would pos.se.ss a strong and weighty influence with his disciple, even though the events themselves were only such as had been repeated often since in his long life's experience. (For details respecting what took place at Antioch, &c., see Acts xiii., xiv.) What persecutions I endured.— Some commen- tators understand these words as an exclamation : " What persecution I endured ! " It is, however, better simply to translate the Greek, Such persecutions as I endured ; in other words. Thou hast been a witness of ray sufferings, such [sufferings] as I endured at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, such persecutions as I endured, but out of them, &c. Chrysostom remarks how both these clauses supply encouragement to the harassed servant of God. The first, that St. Paul displayed a noble readiness to endure persecution ; the second, that God never left him alone. It was as though ho said to Timothy, "surely no danger, no trouble, however great, need appal you. You know what 1 have gone through, yet in all God was with me and has kept me safe. Be sure He will l)e with you too." (12) Yea, and all that will live godly.— But St. Paul would not allow it to l)e thought for a moment that in the fact of his enduring persecution and suffer- ing there was anything remarkable or singular; so ho adds tlie words of this verse, which repeat in a pecu- liarly solemn way the great Christian truth that eternal gloiy was only to be reached l)y man through an avenue of sufferings. " No cross, no crown." is one of the watchwords of the faith. To the statement, "all that will live godly," it is noticeable that the Apostle adds " in Christ Jesus : " thus telling us there can bo no true piety except in communion with Him. So Bengel : " Extra Jesum Chri.stum nulla pietas." And piety, adds St. Paul, will ever suffer persecuticm; for the world is at enmity with the kingdom of God. " Because ye are not of the world . . . therefore the world hateth you" (John XV. 19; so. too. Matt. x. 1^2, :?8, 30). (1-^) But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. — This verso is closely connected with the following (verse 14). to which, indeed, it serves as an introduction. Verse 14 takes up again the cxhoi-- tatiou to Timothy begun in verse 10: "But thou hast 236 fully known my doctrine," &c. Verse 14 takes iip tho thought: "Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them." Here, in verse 13, these evil men and seducers (or better, perhaps, deceivers) are spoken of as advancing towaids the Avorse. History has borne witness to the accuracy of these prophetic words. The false teachers known to St. Paul and Timothy de- veloped into the leaders of the various wild and specu- lative Gnostic sects, whose connection with Christianity consisted alone in the name ; and each succeeding age has witnessed n develoimient in opposition to the truth as it is in Jesus. In this allusion to the gradual doA-elopment of hostility to the truth it will hardly be out of place to instance the eighteenth Christian century, when opposition to the teaching of Jesus had reached such a pitch that, Avith the approA'al or even the applause of thousands, the most brilliant writer in Europe wrote of Christ and His religion in the well-known words, " Ecrasez I'infame ! " while it was reserved for our own century — the nineteenth — ■ to witness the rare, though we believe ephemeral popularity, among so-called Christian peoples of a work wliicli, witli lioneyed phrases, and in romantic, graceful language, paints the Redeemer of man in the strange and apparently contradictory characters of a loving enthusiast and of a conscious impostor ! (li) But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, — But Timothy, on the other hand, was to continue in the things he had learned. Evil teaching would become worse ; the opposition to truth would, as the ages rolled on, become more in- tense ; l)ut Timothy and his successors must remember that there was to 1)0 no development in the funda- mental doctrines of his most, holy faith. He had (verse 10) fully known St. Paul's doctrine — that doctrine which St. Paul had received directly from the Holy Spirit of God. Knowing of whom thou hast learned them. — There is some doubt whether the Greek word ren- dered " whom " is in the singular or plural, the older authorities being nearly eeiually Ijalanced. Tho reading here of the singular has l)een adopted with the Syriac versions, Chrysostom, Augustine, and the Vulgate. The reference then is to St. Paul. If the ])lural, were adopted, then the reference Avonld ])robably be to St. Paul and Barnabas, or to some other distinguished teacher. Sonu^ commentators be- lieve that Ijois and Eunice are here alluded to. the pious mother and grambnother of Tinu)thy. This, how- ever, seems unlikely: for such a reminiscence, although a touching memory and one likely to appeal to his affection, would hardly bo of that weighty and impor- tant character as to warrant its introduction into this solenni exhortation ; l)esides, any reference to home and family reminiscences would be included in the next verse: "From a child thou liast known," etc. (15) And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures.— The Greek words translated "from a child" should be rendei'od, /ro»i a very child, The True. Use of Holy Scripture IT. TIMOTHY, III. to the Man of God. whicli are able to make thee wise unto salvation tlirough faith which is in Christ Jesus. (^'^^ All scrij^ture is o-iven by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctruie, for reproof, for correction, 1 Or, ■perfected. for instruction re able to make him wise unto salvation;" l)ut, lie addcth, "through the faith which is in Christ " (Hooker, Ecc. Pulify, i. 14, 4). Faith in Jesus must lie the torch by the light of which th(!se ancient prophecies and types must l)e read. (!'') All scripture is given by inspiration of G-od. — Although this rendering is grammatically pos- sible, the more strictly accurate translation, and the one adopt(>d liy nearly all the oldest and most trustworthy versions (for example, the Syriac and the Vulgate), and by a great many of tlie princi^ml expositors in all ages (for instanc(>, by such teachers as Origen, Theodoret, Grotius, Luther, Meyer, Ellicott, and Alford), runs as follows : " Every scripture inspired by God is also pro- fitable for doctrine, for reproof," &c. 237 The rendering followed by the English version, and which is certainly grammatically possible, by making " all Scripture " the sub.ject, and " given by inspiration of God" the predicate, declares positively the ins})iration of all the Old Testament Scriptures, for this is what tho Apostle must have referred to, if we understand this verse as we have it rendered in the English version above. The New Testament at this period was cer- tainly not all written ; for instance, St. John's Gospel, St. John's Epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and tho Apocalypse, with several of the Cathohc Epistles, pro- bably were composed at a later date than that assigned to this letter to Timothy. St. Paul, massing together an eA'ideiitly well-known number of writings under the term iruo-a ypacpri, spoke of the Jewish Scriptures, the " canon " of which was then determined. But such a declaration of the inspiration of these writings to Timothy and to those associated Mnth him would seem unnecessary and uncalled for. Timothy and the trained Jew of the first century would never dream of doubting the divine origin of their most l^rized and sacred writings. There is nothing in the verses immediately preceding which would call put such a statement. It seems, therefore, on exegetical, as well as on grammatical, considerations best to follow the interpretation of those ancient and venerable witnesses, the Syriac and Latin (Jerome's) versions, and to under- stand St. Paul's words here, as asserting that every inspired writing (this, it should be observed, does not exclude those recent sacred compositions whicli — Gosjiels or Epistles — he had seen or written himself, and the divine origin of which he well knew) is profitaljle for doctrine, &c. Thus he exhorted Timothy to show himself a contrast to the false teachers — ever shifting their ground and waxing worse and worse — by kt^'ping steadily to the old teaching of doctrine and of life. He was not to change, not to advance, but wa-s to re- member that every inspired Scripture was pn)fitablo for doctrine and for life. It was by these writings, St. Paul would remind liini, that he must test his teaching. On the way in which " inspiration of God " was understood in the Church of the first days, see JExcurstis at the end of this Epistle. Inspiration of God. — This thought, perhaps, rather than these words, is admirably paraphrased by St. Peter : " Holy men of God spake as they were moved by tho Holy Ghost " (2 Pet. i 21). The various uses of Holy Scripture in the training of the man of God are set forth in the enumeration which closes this verse. These sjicred writings must, in all ages, St. Paul would urge, be the liand-book of the Christian teaciier. From it he must prove the doctrines he professes; hence, too, he must draw his rej^roofs for the ignorant and en-ing. It must be the one source whence lie derives those instructions which teach the Christian how to grow in grace. (1") That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.— Tho "mail of God" here is no official desiL,Miation, but simply designates the Christian generally, who is striving, with liis Master's lielp. to live a life pleas- ing to God; and the "good works" have no special A Solemn Charge II. Ti:\roTiiY, IV to Teach vnth Earnestness. CHAPTER IV. — (1) I charge thee ^-IL^- Chap. iv. 1-4. therefore before God, and j Injunction to ^i^^ Lord Jesus Christ, who ! teach with ear- , ,, . , ., • i j neatness. shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; '^'-> preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long- reference to the labours of Timotliy and his brother presbyters, but inchide all those generoTis and self- sacrificing acts to which, in these Epistles, so many references have been made. It was in the Holy Scriptures that the true servant of the Lord, the man of God, would find defined with clearness and precision the nature of those works the Holy Spirit was pleased to call '" good." lY. (1) I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. — The parchment, or papyrus, in the prison ro But watch thou in all things, Chap. iv. 5—8. endure afflictions, do the ^he Apostle 1 -. ' , . , now at the end work 01 an evangelist, of his course. tlio tlioiiglit of St. Paul, wlio iirp^os on God's true ser- vants a restless, sleepless earnestness, which struggles on with the Master's work in sjjit© of bodily weakness and discouragemeut, in face of clangers and the bitterest opposition. Reprove. — Not merely those erring in doctrine, but generally tliose who are blameworthy : " Was tadelns- werth ist." Rebuke. — A sharper and more severe word than the preceding. It is used by St. Jude, verse 9, in his report of the words addressed by St. Michael to the de\nl : " Tlie Lord rebuke thee." It frequently occurs in the Gospels. (See, for instance, Matt. x™. 18, " And Jesus rebuked the devil.") Exhort. — Not only is he to remember ceaselessly to watch over the flock, and to reprove and rebuke the erring and sinnei's, but also witli no less diligence to speak comfortable words of encouragement and hope to all. especially the dispirited and sad-hearted. "With all longsuffering and doctrine. — The word translated "doctrine" signifies, rather, teaching. He must reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all gentleness and patience ; and in all this he must take care that " teaching " — the teaching which is right, and true, and full of hope — accompanies his rebuke and his words of comfort. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.— Timothy must bear in mind that things in the Church of Christ on earth will not change for the better. The great drag-net of the Church, in its wide sweep, would keep drawing into its meshes something of every kind. Errors now just appai'ent, he must remember, would attain more formidable dimensions. The thirst for novelties in doctrine, the desire for a teaching which, while offering peace to a troubled conscience, would yet allow the old self-indulgent life to go on as before, would increase. In full view of this development of error, in sure expectation of a future full of anxious care, Timotliy and his brother teachers must indeed be wakeful, watchful, and earnest in their preaching and ministra- tions. And the thought that more and ever more of the so-called Christians would dislike the preaching of the " sound doctrine," as taught by the Apostle, the very knowledge of this growing unpopularity, must serve as an incentive to greater labour, more interest, and more loving activity on the part of Timothy and his companions. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers.—" Their own lusts : " this ex- pression gives us some insight into the reason which led to this future apostasy of so many, concerning which St. Paul warned Timotliy. 'Their own lusts," which, at all risks, they would gratify, would serve to alienate them from that severe and strictly moral sclux)! of Apostolic teaching, in which the sternest morality was bound up with purity of doctrine, to wliicli school St. Paul's pupils — men like Timothy and the presbyters of Ephesus — belonged. These worldly ones to wliom St. Paid referred, reluctant to part with the hoj)e Chris- tianity taught, and unwilling to live the life which St. Paul and Timothy insisted upon as necessary to be lived by all those who would share in that glorious hope, sought out for themselves more indulgent teachers, who would flatter and gratify their hearers with novelties in doctrine, and would, at the same time, lay comparatively little stress on the pure and saintly life. (^) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth. — This was the punishment of those who would only listen to what was pleasing to them, and which flattered instead of reproved their way of life. They became involved in the many various errors in doctrine which were then taught in the schools of tho heretics, and they ended by turning away from every Christian truth. On the " fables " which they substi- tuted for those great and eternal truths, see 1 Tim. i. 4. (5) But watch thou in all things.— "But do thou," continued St. Paul, "do thou be watchful." The Greek word translated " watch thou," signifies lite- rally, be sober. It has been well paraphrased, " Keep thy coolness and presence of mind, that thou be not entrapped into forgetfulness, but as one ever wakeful and ready, be on the watch." The word, as it were, sums up all those last directions of St. Paul, from chap. ii. 14, in which St. Paul charged Timothy to abstain from vain arguments and confine himself to the simple word of truth, to avoid discussions which would be likely to lead to strife, and to be patient and gentle with all — to separate himself from merely nominal Christians, and to keep steadily to the old paths in which the Apostles had walked. He was to be ever watchful in all these things. Endure aflflictions. — And in his watch must Timothy be ready to suffer. He would remember what had been said before respecting a true Christian suffer- ing (chap. ii. 3 — 12), and what was the high reward purposed for such brave endurance. He would re- member, too, the hard and faithful life of his master, St. Paul (chap. iii. 10—12). Do the work of an evangelist. — The "evan- gelists " of the early Church seem to have been preachers of the Gospel : in the first place, assistants to the Apostles and missionaries under their direction. The especial functions of a preacher and public teacher seem always to have been allotted to Timothy, and, no doubt, a peculiar persuasive power of oratory was ono of the chief gifts conferred on this eminent follower of St. Paul. In the midst of the many grave and absorb- ing duties of liis charge of tho Ephesian Church, he must bo mindful not to neglect this great power which he possessed. It is here especially termed " the icork of an evangelist," to remind him that to perform rightly this duty, needed zeal, close work, much study, thought, and prayer; aiid it wiis by worthily performing the duties of an evangelist that the many who wero turning from the truth to fables, would be best won l)ack. by hearing tho great facts of the Gospel placed side by side with the tables of the false teachers. Make full proof of thy ministry.— In other words, " Fully carry out the many duties impose*! upon thee by thy great office." Tlie office of Timotliy, it should be remembered, in Ephesus, included far mora than merely those of a preacher or evangelist. He was the presiding presbyter of the Churcn, to whom its 239 7, Paul, am noio at II. TIMOTHY, IV. t/ie End of my Course. make full proof of ^ thy ministry. (6) jpor I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. (^> I have fouj^ht a good fight, I have finished mxj course, I have kept the faith : (^'> henceforth there is laid up 1 or, fulfil. for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day : and not to me only, but unto all chap. iv. 9-i3. them also that love his Timothy was to appearing. («) Do thy come quickly. govemniont was intrusted : in fact, the many-sided life of St. Paul was now to be lived by Timothy. (ti) For I am now ready to be offered..— What, in the Philippian Epistle (chap. ii. 17), was alluded to as a coutiii'^'euoy likely cnouj^h to happeu here is spokcu of as sonictliiiig wliich was theu absolutely taking place'. In his tirst imprisonment at Rome St. Paul looked on to a martyr's deatli as pro])al)le. In his second captivity at Rome ho writes of the martyrdom as already beginning. The more accurate, as well as the more forcible, translation would be, For I am already being offered. The Greek word rendered " I am being offered," points to the drink offering of •wine which, among the JeAvs, accompanied the sacri- fice. Among the lieathen this wine was commonly poured uiion the burning victims — the allusion here is to St. Paul's bloody death. So convinced was he that the dread moment for him was at hand, that as he thus speaks he feels as though it was even then taking place, and sees — in his present suffering, in his liarsh treatment — the beginning of that martyrdom in which his lif('-l)lood would be ])oured out. But he would not allow Timothy or the many Christians who revered and loved him to I)e dismayed by his sufferings or shocked at his painful death. He would show them, by liis calm, triumphant language, tliat to him death was no terror, but only tlie appointed passage to gloiy. So ho speaks of his life-blood being shed, under the well-known peaceful image of the wine poured out over the sacrifice, the drink offering, the sweet savour unto the Lord. (See Num. xv. 1 — 10 ; compare John xii. 24, where the Master of St. Paul, too, speaks of His approaching death of agony and shame also under a quiet, homely image.) And the time of my departure is at hand.— " My departure :" that is, " from life,'' from this world to another. The moment of my death, so long looked for, is now close at haiul, is all but here. The Greek word rendered " departure," among other meanings, signifies the raising of the ship's anchor and tlio loosing of the cables by which the vessel was hin- dered from proceeding on her destined voyage. (7) I have fought a good fight.— More accurately, more forcibly rendered, Uie good JirjJit. St. Paul elianges the metaphor, and adopts his old favourite one, so familiar to all Gentile readers, of the athlete contending in the games. First, he speaks generally of the combatant, tlie charioteer, and the runner. " I have fought the good fight," leaving it undetermined what description of strife or contest was referred to. The tense of the Greek verb — the perfect — "I /lare fought," is remarkable. The struggle had been bravely su.stained in the past, and was now being equally bravely sustained to the end. His claim to the crown (verse 8) was established. I have finished my course.— Or " race," for liere the image of the stadium, the Olympic race-course, was occupying the Apostle's thoughts. Again the perfect is used: "I have fijiished my course." How, asks, Chrysostom, " had he finished his course ?" and answers rather rhetorically by replying that ho had made the circuit of the world. The question is better answered in St. Paul's own words (Acts xx. 24), where he ex- plains " his course," which he would finish witli joy, as the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus. I have kept the faith. — Here, again, the metaphor is changed, and St. Paul looks back on his lived life as on one long, painful struggle to guard the treasure of the Catholic faith inviolate and untarnished (see 1 Tim. vi. 20). And now the struggle was over, and he handed on the sacred deposit, safe. It is well to compare this passage with the words of tlie same Apostle in the Epistle to the Philippians (chap. iii. 12, and following verses). The same metaphors were in the Apostle's mind on both occasions ; but in the first instance (in the Philippian Epistle) they were used by the anxious, care- worn servant of the Lord, hoping and, at the same time, fearing what the future had in store for him and his Chujch ; in the second (in the Epistle to Timothy) they wei'e the expression of the triumjihant con^dction of the dying follower of Christ, who had so followed his loved Master in life, that he now shrank not fi-om following the same Master in death. (8) A crown of righteousness.— More accurately rendered, the crown of rigliteousness. St. Paul, after speaking calmly of death, the bitterness of which he was already tasting, looks on beyond death, and speaks of the crown which awaited him. The crown was the victory prize which the " good fight " of verse 7 had won. It is called " the crown of righteousness," it being the crown to which righteousness can lay claim — that is, the crown awarded to righteousness. "Which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me. — As a righteous judge will the Loi'd award him the crown, recognising him as one who had the j)rize of victory. Not improbably, the expression "the righteous judge " was written in strong contrast to that unrighteous judge who had condemned Paul, and in accordance with whose unjust sentence he would presently suffer a painful death. At that day.— This is the third time the words " that day " are used in this Epistle (see chap. i. 12 — 18). The day of judgment is, of course, signified, the day when the Lord shall come again with glory. And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.— Then St. Paul, instead uf concluding this section of his letter with the glorious words telling of his serene courage and of his confi- dence in a crowned and immortal life, adds a gentle reminder to Timothy : he, too, witli any others who really look for the Second Coming of the Lord, might win the same glorious crown — the sure guerdon of righteousness. The Apostle specifies here exactly the persons for whom " the crown " was reserved — those who in tliis life have indeed longed for the ap^iear- ance of the Lord in judgment. None here could in very truth desire " His appearing," save His own, who love Him and struggle to live His life. Calvin well remarks : " (St. Paul) excludes fi-om the number of the faithful those to whom Christ's coming is a source of terror." (9) Do thy diligence to come shortly.— Such a request as this would — had we no other argiuuents 240 Timothy is urged to come quick! ij, IT. TIMOTHY, IV. for many have Deserted the Apostle. diligence to come . shortly unto me : <^"^ for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica ; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. ve quoted. Thessalonica was apparently tlio " home" of Domas. It has been supposed, however, by some, that Tliossalonica was chosen by Demas as his abod(» wlieu ho left St. Paul because it was a great mer- 82 241 cantile centre, and his business connections were there, and he preferred them, the rich and prosperous friends, to St. Paul, the condemned and dying prisoner. Tliessa- lonica was, at this time, one of the great cities of the empire. It was the most populous of the Macedonian cities, and had been chosen to be the metropolis of that great pro\nnce. Before the founding of Constantinople, it was evidently the capital of Greece and Illyricum, as well as of Macedonia. It was famous throughout the Middle Ages, and is celel)rated by the early German poets under the abbreviated name of " Salueck," which has become the Saloniki of the Levant of our days. It is singular that the name of its patron saint, " Deme- trius," martyred about A.D. 290 (identified above with Demas), whose local glory (comp. Conybeare and Howsou's St. Paid, chap, ix.) has even eclipsed that of St. Paul, the founder of the Church, should be identi- cal Avith that of the "forsaker" of St. Paul. Crescens to Galatia. — Nothing is known of this friend of St. Paul. One tradition speaks of him as a preacher in Galatia, and another of his having founded the Church of Vienne in Gaul. There is a curious variation in some of the older authorities here, "Gallia" being read instead of Galatia. Whether Crescens, on his leaving St. Paul, went to Galatia or Gaul is, therefore, uncertain. Titus unto Dalmatia. — Dalmatia was a province of Roman Illyricum, lying along the Adriatic. Nothing is known respecting this jommey of Titus. It was, most probably, made Avith the Apostle's sanction. (11) Only Luke is with me.— The "writer" of the Third Gospel, the Gospel which, as has been stated above, was very possibly the work of St. Paul — "my Gospel." Luke, " the beloved physician " of Col. iv. 14, of all St. Paul's companions, seems to have been most closely associated with the Apostle. Most likely this close intimacy and long-continued association was owing to the Apostle's weak and infirm health — to that dying body— the noble Paul ever bore about with him. Luke was with St. Paul, we know, in his second missionary journey, and again in his third missionary journey : he accomi)anied him to Asia, and then to Jerusalem; was with him during the captivity time of Ca?sarea, and subsequently of Rome, the first time St. Paul was imprisoned in the capital (Acts XA-iii.). After St. Paul's death, Epiphanius speaks of him as preaching chiefly in Gaul; a very general tradition includes him among the martyrs of tlio first age of the Church. The name is probably a contraction of Lucauus. (See Introduction to the Acta of the Apostles.) Take Mark, and bring him with thee : for he is profitable to me for the ministry.—" But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who depai-ted from them . . . and went not with them to the work " (Acts xv. 38). There is something strangely touching in this message of the aged master to Timothy to bring with him on that last solemn jtiurnoy one whom, some quarter of a century before. St. Paul had judged so severely, and on whoso account lie had soparateil from his old loved friend, Barnal)as the Apostle. Since that hour when the young missionary's heart ha The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when tlioii comest, bring with thee, and the books, hut esjje- cially the parchments. (^^^ Alexander the coppersmith did me much chap. iv.i4-l8. evil: the Lord reward him The Apostle's according to his works: iii^^t trial. him to C}T)rns. Aftei- some twelve years, we fiiul him, durinjjf the first iiiiprisoumeut, with St. Paul at Rome (Col. iv. 10 ; Phileiii. verse 24). He is mentioned (1 Pet. V. 13) by the endearing term of " uiy .sou," and the uuani- nious traditions of the ancient Christian writers represent him as tlie secretary or amauueusis of St. Peter. It was his office to commit to writing tlie orally delivered in- structions and narrations of his master. These, iu some revised and arranged form, probably under the direction of Peter himself, were given to theCluircli under the title of St. Mark's Gospel. A later and uncertain tradition says he subsequently became first Bishop of Alexandria, and there suffered martyrdom. For he is profitable to me for the ministry.— Profitable, according to the suggestion of Grotius, owing to Mark's knowledge of tlie Latin tongue. This is possible ; but it is more likely that he was profitable or serviceable as an assistant who was well acquainted with the details of St. Paul's many- sided work. (1-) And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.— Instead of "and," the Greek particle here should be rendered "' but Tychicus." " This ' but ' api)ears to refer to a sup))rcssed tliought, suggested by the concluding portion of the last (11th) verse : bring Mark. I need one who is profitable (or serviceable) for the ministry. I had one in Tychicus, but he is gone" (EUicott). Neither the period of Tychicus' journey nor its object is alluded to here. It probably took place some time, how- ever, befoi'e the sending of tliis Epistle to Timothy. Tychicus was evidently one of the trusted companions of St. Paul. He had been with him, we know, on liis third missionary journey, and had, during St. Paul's first Roman imprisonment, some six or se\eu years l^efore, been charged with a mission by liis master to Ephesus. Iu Eph. vi. 21 he is called a beloved brother and a faithful minister in the Lord. (See, too, Col. iv. 7, where he is spoken of in similar tei*ms.) On the city of Ephesus, see Note on 1 Tim. i. 3. It lias been, witli considerable pro])ability, suggested that Tychicus had been the bearer of the first Epistle to Timothy. Be- tween the writing of these tAvo letters, we know, uo great interval could have elapsed. d'^) The cloke that I left at Troas— The ap- parently trivial nature of this request in an Epistle containing such weiglity matter, and also tlie fact of such a wi.sh on the part of one expecting deatli being made at all, is at first a little puzzling. To explain this seemingly strange recjuest, some have wished to under- stand by "the cloke" .some garment St. Paul was in the liabit of wearing when performing certain sacred functions: in other words, as a vestment; but such a supposition would bo in the highest degree pre- carious, for uowliere in the New Testament is the slightest hint given us tliat any such vestment was ever used in the primitive Christian Church. It is mucli better to understand tlie words as simjjly requesting Timothy, on his way, to l)ring with him a' thick cloak. or mantle, wliich St. Paul hacl left witlj a c(>rtain Carpus at Troas. Probably, when lie left it, it was summer, and he was disinclined to burden himself in his hurried journey witli any superfluous things. Winter was now coming on, and the poor aged prisoner iu the cold damp \ 24 prison, with f(>w friends and scant resources, remem- bered and Avished for his cloak. It is just such a request which the master would make of his disciple, who, knowing well the old man's frail, shattered healtli, would uevcr be surprised at such a request even iu an Epistle so solemu. Then too St. Paul, by his very wish here expressed, to see Timothy, as above discussed, hopes against hope that still a little Avliile for work in the coming winter months was still before him, though he felt deatli was for him very near; no forger of tlie Epistle had di-camed of putting down such a request. And the books.— The books were, most likely, a few choice works, some bearing ou Jewish sacred history, partly exegetical and explanatory of the mysterious senses veiled under the letter of the law and the prophets, and partly historical. Othei'S were probably heathen writings, of which we know, from his many references in his Epistles, St. Paul was a diligent student. These few choice books, it has been suggested, with high probability, St. Paul " had made a shift to get and preserve," and these, if God spared his life yet a few short months, he would have with him for re- ference in his prison room. But especially the parchments,— These precious papers, above all, would St. Paul have with him. These were, most likely, common-place books, in which tho Apostle — evidently always a diligent student — had written what he had observed as worthy of especial notice iu the reading of either of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, or the other books bearing on Jewish or Pagan literature and history. These precious notes were probably the result of many yeai-s' reading and study. He would have them with him as long as life remained to him. (Compare ou this strange but interesting verso Bp. Bull's learned and exhaustive sermon : Works, vol. i. p. 240, Oxford Edition, 1846.) Erasmus remarks on this request of St. Paul : " Behold the Apostle's goods or movables : a poor cloke to keep him from the weather, and a few books ! " A suggestion has been made that the words trans- lated "Much learning doth make thee mad" (Acts xxvi. 24) should be rendered, Thy many rolls of jJnrch- ment are turning thy brain, and that these rolls of Itarcliment referred to by Eestus as the companions of St. Paul's captivity at Csesarea were identical witL those parchments left Avith Carpus. The Greek words, however, are not the same in the two passages. Of this Carpus notliiug is known. (1^) Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. — Most probablv. the same Al(^xander, mentioned in the First Epistle (1 Tim. i. 20) "as delivered to Satan," and not improbably identical with the Alexander "tlie Jew " put forward by the Jews in the Ephesian tumult (Acts xix. 33, 34). It has been suggested that this Alexander, an influen- tial Epliesian Jew, had done much injury to the cause of the Christians generally, and to St. Paul personally, with the inqterial authorities at Rome. The Lord reward him according to his works. — The older authorities read, " shall reward him . . ." The works referred to were tlie bitter injuries he had done to the cause of Christ, rather than to the Apostle himself. St. Paul he/ore, II. TIMOTHY, IV. the, Roman Judge. (15) of whom be tliou ware also ; for he hath greatly withstood our words. ^ '^^) At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me : I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 1 Or, our preach- inye. (^^^ Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me ; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear : and I was delivered out of the mouth of (15) Of whom be thou ware also.— Tliis Alex- ander was evitloutly tlieu at Ephesus. That he had been at Rome, aud liad given evidence against St. Paul, and had argned against the defence of the Apostle, is probable. " Our words "some undei'staud as especially referring to St. Paul's defence before the imperial tribunal. If wo identify him with the Alexander of Acts xix. 33, 3 1, then he was a Jew, one of those bitter, life-long antagonists of the Gentile Apostle who crossed his patli at every step, and not improbably brought about, in the end, his death. It is an interesting suggestion which refers the connection between St. Paul and Alexander back to those days when Saul and Alexander were both reckoned as belonging to the strictest Pharisee l>arty, determined foes to the " Nazarenes." Saul — if we adopt this supposition — became the Apostle St. Paul of the Gentiles ; Alexander remained a fanatic Jew — lience the enmity. (1*^) At my first answer no man stood with me . . .—And then, after the mention of what his enemy had done out of hatred to the cause of Christ, the old man passed on to speak of the conduct of his own familiar friends at that great public trial before — most probal)ly — the city prsefect : Preefectus Urbi, a nominee of the Emperor Nero. No one friend stood by him; no "advocate" pleaded his cause; no "procurator" (an official who performed the functions of the attorney in an English court) helped him in arranging and sifting the evidence; no " iiatronus " of any noble or powerful house gave him his countenance and support. The position of a well-known Christian leader accused in the year 66-67 was a critical one, and the friend who dared to stand by him would himself be in great danger. After the great fire of Rome, in A.D. 64, the Christians were looked upon as the enemies of the state, aud were charged as the authors of that terrible disaster. Nero, to avert suspicion from him- self, allowed the Christians to be accused and con- demned as incendiaries. A gi'cat persecution, in which, as Tacitus tells, a very great multitude of the followers of Jesus perished, was the immediate result of the hateful charge. It is most probable that St. Paul, as a famous Nazarene leader, was eventually arrested as implicated in this crime, aud bi-ought to Rome. His implacable enemies among the Jews might well liave been the agents who brought this about, and Alexander of the last verse Avas possibly principally concerned in tliis matter. But St. Paul, conscious of his own great peril, knew well that to stand by him now, implicated as ho was in this net-work of false accusations, would bo a service of tlie greatest danger ; so he pleads for them, these weak, unnerved friends of his, who, through no ill-will to the cause, but solely from timidity, had dfserted him, remembering, no doubt, liis own Master, who, too, in His hour of deadly peril, had been forsaken. (See John xvi. 32, "Behold the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, aud ye shall leave Me alone.") But like his own Master, who proceeded to say, " Yet I am not alone, because the Father is \\nth Me," so St. Paul went on to tell Timothy neither was he alone, for One greater than any friend on earth stood liy him. (17) Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.— Though men deserted him, yet One — even his Lord (Christ), who could do more for him than any friend, or advocate, or protector of earth — stood by him, and strengthened him by giving him courage and readiness. That by me the preaching might be fully known. — Moi-e accurately rendered, might he fully performed : " impleatur," as the Yulgate gives it. The strength and courage which the felt presence of his Lord gave him, enalDled him on that occasion, when alone, friendless, accused of a hateful crime before the highest earthly tribunal in the capital city of the world, to plead not only for himself but for that great cause with wliich he was identified. He spoke possibly for the last time publicly [we know nothing of the final trial, when he was condemned] the glad tidings of which he was the chosen herald to the Gentile world. It is probable that this great trial took place in the Forum, in one of the Pauline Basilicas — so called after L. iEmilius Pauius. It is certain it was in the pre- sence of a crowded audience. St. Paul cA-idently intimates this when he teUs us how he spoke " that all the Gentiles might hear." This was apparently the culminating point of St. Paul's labours — the last stone of the laborious edifice of his life's work. Had the courage of the Apostle of the Gentiles failed him on this most momentous occasion, the spirit of the sorely-tried Church of Rome had surely simk, and that marvellous and rapid progress of the gospel in the West — which, in a little more than a hundred years, would make its influence felt in well-nigh every city and village of the empire — had been arrested. And that all the Gentiles might hear.— Here alluding primarily to the crowded audience which had listened on this solemn occasion to St. Paul's Apologia pro Christo ; but there is another and deeper reference to those uncounted peoples in the isles of the Gentiles, \vho, by St. Paul's work and words, would come to the saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. — Expositors have, in all ages, dwelt nmch on the question, " Who was to be understood under the figure of the lion ? " The fathers mostly believe the Emperor Nero was here alluded to. Others have suggested that St. Paul was referring to the " lions " of the amphitheatre, from whom, at all events for the time, he had been delivered. It is, however, best to understand the expression as a figurative expression for extreme danger. His Master on that dread occasion stood by him, and gave him strength and wisdom over man to speak the words of life, and delivered him for the moment out of the imminent peril threatening him, allowing him. not only to speak his Master's words there, but also thus to write this solemn farewell charge to Timothy and the Church. That such figu- rative language was not unusual, compare the E/>i--t'e of Ignatius to the EomansAi. S. in which writing the prisoner describes liis journey from Syria to Rome as one long "fight with wild beasts," and speaks of him- self as " bound to ten leopards,'' thus designating his soldier guards. 243 Last Greetings. IT. TIMOTHY, IV. Conclusion. the lion. <^^* And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will pre- serve me unto his heavenly kingdom : to whom he gflory for ever and ever. Amen. ^^''' Sahite Prisca and Aquila, Chap. iv. 19— ^^^^ the household of One- 22. Greetings, siphorus. <-"^^ Erastus abode at Corinth : but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. <^^> Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greet- eth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren. (--) The Lord Jesus Christ he with thy sjjirit. Grace he Avith you. Amen. IT The second epistle unto Timotheus, ordained the first bishop of tlie cliurch of the Ephesians, was written from Rome, wlien Paul was brought before Nero the second time. (18) And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work . . . — Many commentators have explained these words as the expression of St. Paul's contidence that the Lord not only liad, in the late trial, strengthened His servant, and given him courage to endure, but that He would watch over liim in the future which still lay before him, and would pre- serve him f rom eveiy danger of faint-heartcdness, from every risk of doing dishonour to his Master ; but such an interpretation seems foreign to the spirit in which St. Paul was writing to Timothy. In the whole Epistle there is not one note of fear — nothing which should lead us to suspect that the martyr Apostle was fearful for himself. It reads — does this last letter of the great Gentile teacher — in many places like a triumphant song of death. It, therefore, appears unnatural to in- troduce into the closing words of the Epistle tlie thought of the Lord's help in tlio event of the Apostle's losing lieart. Far better is it to supply after " every evil work " the words " of the enemies,'''' and to under- stand the deliverance which the Lord will accomplish for him, not as a deliverance from any shrinking or timidity unworthy of an apostle of the Lord, not even as a deliverance from the martyr*- death, which he knew lay before him, hut that through this verij death, the Lord Jesus would deliver him from all weari- ness and toil, and woidd bring him safe into His heavenly kingdom. (See Ps. xxiii. 4.) St. Paul before (Phil. i. 23 had expressed a longing to come to Christ through death. He then bursts into an ascription of praise to that Lord Jesus Christ whom he had loved so long and so well, and Avho, in all his troubles and per- plexities, had never left him friendless. For a similar ascription of glory to the Second Person of tlie ever- blessed Trinity, see Heb. xiii. 21. (Ccmp. also Rom. ix. 5.) (19) Salute Prisca and Aquila. — Tliese were two of St. Paul's earliest friends after he had begun his great work for his Mn.ster. Originally of Pontus, they had taken up tlieir abode at Rome, where AquUa exercised his trade of a tent-maker. Driven out of Rome by the decree of Claudius, which banished the Jews from the capital, they came to Corinth, wliere St. Paul l)ecame accpiainted with them. But they were evidently Christians when St. Paul first met thcni, about A.D. 51-2. We hear of them in com- pany with St. Paul at Coi-inth. about A.D. 52-3 (Acts xviii. 2): at Ephcsus, about A.D. 55 (1 Cor. xvi. 19); and in the year A.D. 58 St. Paul sends greetings to them at Rome (^Roni. xvi. 3). They were, evidently, among the many active and zealous teachers of the first days of the faith. That they possessed great ability as well as zeal is evident from the fact that it was from them that the eloquent and trained Alexandrian master, ApoUos. learnt to be a Christian (Acts xviii. 26). In this pkce, and in several other passages, Prisca (or Priscilla) is named before her husband, Aquila. This woidd seem to hint that in this case the woman was the principal worker of the two in the cause of Christ. She, in fact, was one of that ])and of devoted holy women which the preaching of Christ and His disciples had called into existence : a representative of the great class of nol)Ie female workers which had no existence before Christ told the world what was the true position of women — until the same divine Master taught them that they, too, as well as men. had a work to work for Him here. And the household of Onesiphorus. — St. Paul may have been aware that Onesiphorus was absent then from Ephesus ; but this peculiar greeting, taken together with the words of chap. i. 16. leads us irresistibly to the conclusion that this friend of St. Paul's was dead when the Epistle was written. (^See Notes on chap. i. 16.) (29) Erastus abode at Corinth. — Better rendered, remained at Corinth. An Erastus is mentioned in Rom. xvi. 23, the " chamberlain " of Corinth, one of the Christian congregation of that city. This man was proliably identical with him. Another " Erastus " appears among those who minis- tered to St. Paul at Ephesus (Acts xix. 22). Him St. Paul sent on missionary work into Macedonia. There were, therefore, among St. Paul's friends two men of this name : the one a resident official personage at Corinth ; the other one of that band who journeyed hither and tliitlier for the propagation of the faith. But Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. — Trophimus, a Gentile Christian, who was with St. Paul on his third missionary journey, and whom the Apostle was accused of taking into the Tem])le at Jeru- salem. It Avas this accusation on the pai't of the Jews which led to St. Paul's arrest which preceded his first long imprisonment. The event here alluded to must have taken place some time after the Apostle's I'clease from the first impi-isonment, A.D. 63, and, probably, in the course of his last journey, shortly before his second arrest and imprisonment at Rome, about A.D. G6. Miletus (not " Miletum "), a seaport of Caria, about thirty miles from Ephesus, once a city of great renown, whence, it is said, eighty colonies had proceeded ; but in the days of St. Paul its glories were already on tlio wane. It is now famous ouly for its vast ruined theatre. (See Acts xx. 15.) It has been suggested that this mention of Trojihimus was intended to clear him of any neglect. " Erastus," wrote the Apostle, "remained at Corinth; but Tro- jdiinuis' reason for not coming to Rome was his sick- ness." (-1) Do thy diligence to come before winter. Probably this was added to hasten his coming. If ho delayed, the season of the year would put oil", perhaps hinder altogether, his voyage. Eubulus greeteth thee.— Of this Eubulus notliing is knoAvn. 244 II. TIMOTHY, IV. And Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia.— Of tliese, Liuiis was, no dou))t, the tirst of the long line of Bisliops of Kome. The date of his consecration coiTe- sponds witli tlie year of St. Paul's martyrdom, A.D. t>t>. We know, from this greeting, ho was ouo of the few " faithful " to his old master. It is, perhai)s, fair to assume, tliougli of course tliere is no certainty of this, that the consecration of Linus to the goveruineut of the B,omau Church as its first Bisliop was one of the dying acts done by the Apostle Paul. Some commentators identify the other two with " Pudens and Claudia " mentioned by Martial (Epi- gm)iis, iv. 13; xi. 54). Pudens was the son of a Roman senator ; to Claudia, Martial gives the name of Rufiua, and states she was a Briton. The dates of the Epi- grams in question would agree with the ideutiUcatiou. It is, however, only a supposition. EXCURSUS OIN" NOTES TO 11. TIMOTHY ON THE WAY IN WHICH "INSPIRATION OP GOD" [2 Tim. iii. 16] WAS UNDERSTOOD IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH. "See and ask for the old palhcs, where is the good way, The question of " inspiration " is one that in the pre- sent day often is the subject of debate. In the hot and often angry controversies on this subject among us. it will be useful and interesting to see what were the opinions held by those learned and devoted men li\'ing, many of them, in the times immediately succeeding the first age of the Faith, when those walked on earth who had seen and conversed with the Lord Jesus. We wiU give the words of a few of the more distinguished of the early fathers of the Faith, selecting them from different centres of Christianity. Our quotations begin from the very days of the Rome. — Clement Apostles. Clement, mentioned by Bishop of Rome, A. d! St. Paul (Phil. iv. 3), who, as history "l*^—^- tells us, was the second Bishop of Rome, exhorts his readers " to look carefully into the Ad Cor. Ep. i. 45. Scriptures which are the true ut- terances 01 the Holy Spirit ; and in another place in the same writing he expressly refers to a well-known New Testament Epistle thus : — •' Take Al C • F "47 "P ^^® Epistle of the blessed Paul p.i. . ^j^^ Apostle, what did he write to you in the beginninji: [that is, in the first days of the preaching] of the gospel ? In truth, divinely inspired iTTUfUfxaTiKcis, divindus insjnratus^, he wi'ote to you Corinthians about himself, and Cephas, and ApoUos, b. - cause just then factions [party spu-it] existed among you." Polycai-p, Bishop of Smyrna, a disciple of St. John, Asia Minor. Poly- "* ^'^^ ^^'^ letter we possess of his, carpof Smyrna, A.D. tells us "that neither ho nor any ^^- like him is al)le to attain perfectly to the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who, Ep.toPhilippiatia, when he was with you, before the <^*P i"- men who were then living taught the word of truth perfectly and surely." " Let us love the prophets " (of the Old Testamenti, Syria.— Ignatius of wrote Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Antioch, A.U. 107. the pupil of St. John, to the con- gregations of Philadelphia, '• because they proclaimed Kp. to Philad., cap. the gospel, and believed in Christ, ■^^ and waited for His coming, and through their faith in Him were saved." "These Ep. to Magn., cap. most divine prophets lived according ^'"'- to Jesus Christ," lie writes to the Church of Magnesia, " being inspired I)y His grace." Ep. to Romans, CA^. Again: '"I do not command you *^ • [Rinnans] like Peter and Paul : they were Apostles ; I am a condemned man." 245 and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." — Jer. vi. 1& Barnabas (probaljly not the friend of St. Paul, but a Egypt.- Barnabas teacher of Alexandria who lived of Ale.Kandria, pro- some seventy or eiffhty years after bably A.D. m-m. St p^^i-g martyrdom), \n his weU- kuown letter, speaks there of the inspiration of the Old Testament writings. Writing of Ps. xvii. 45, "The Ep. Barnabas, ix. }f^^ ^^^^^ i" the prophet ; " and of Ps. .xxxiii. 13, " The Spirit of the Lord prophesieth ; " and in another place he tells us Ep. Barnabas, x. how " the prophets received their ^i^'i "■'■ gift from Christ and spoke of Him ; " also that " Moses spake in the Spirit." This writer, several of whose works we still possess, Rome & Ephesus. ^'''^ ^ scholar and thinker of no Justin Martyr, a.u. mean order. He wrote ^vithin half 140-150. a century of St. John's death. He in several places gives us his view of the inspiration of the di\-ine writings. Referring to the Old Testa- Cohortatio ad Gen- meut, he speaks of the history which tiUs, 12. Moses wrote by divine inspiration. Apologia, i. 44. v,hile the Holy Spirit of Prophecy taught us through the instrumentality of Moses. Of David and of Isaiah he writes in similar terms Apologia, i. 44, &c. ; (propheta Isaias divinitiis ajflatus i. 40 ; i. 35. a apiritu prophetico). His view, of the prophetic oflBce is remarkable. "We must not . , . . „ suppose," he writes, " that the ex- Apologia,i.3G. ^' . ' p ^\ e .i pressions go forth from the men who are inspired, but from the divine word which moves them." Speaking of the ^vriters of the Old Testament, he calls them " holy men who required Cohortatio ad Gen- no eloquence, no skill in arguau'ii- tilcji, 8. tative speaking, but who only needed to present themselves pure for the Di\-iue Spirit U^ act upon, in order that the divine plectrum [an instrument, usually of gold or ivory, used for striking the lyre], coming down from heaven, acting on just men as a plectrum on a lyre or harp, might reveal to us the knowledge of divine and heavenly things." Tliis Athenian philosoplier, who, wliile studying the Athexs. — Athena- Holy Scriptures with a ^iew of goras, A.D. lGO-180. refu'ting Christianity, was converted by the very writings he was endeavouring to bring into disrepute, writes (listing the same strange, powerful metapiior which we fcnind in the above cpiotation from Justin): "The prophets, while entranced . . . by the induence of the Divine Spirit, they gave utterance to what was wrought Leg. pro CfiHst. 9. ir. TIMOTHY. in thorn — llio Spirit usintj thorn as iustrumcnts as a tluto-i)liiyor inijjlit blow a tiiito." Tills famous writer ami bisliop of tlio early Clmrcli Lyons. — Ircnicus, was eoiiueotod in liis early years A.D. 180.' ' with Polycarp. tlio pupil of St. John. Ho (to choose one out of many passages of his writings on this sul)jeet) thus writes of the Apostles: — ^ ' ,, .... "After that our Lord rose from Contra liar. ui. 1. ^^^^^ ^j^,^^^ ^^^^^ ^j^^^ ^^j^^^ Apostlesj were clothed witli the power of the Spirit from on hitrli, tlu-y wer(> tilled with a perfoet knowledge of all things." '• The Apostles, being the disciples of truth, ... , are bcyimd all falsehood, though Contra Ihzr. in. o. ^ ,^^.^. ^^^^^.^j. .^,.,.^,^1;,,^ t„ the capacity of their hearers, talking blindly with the Ijlind." In another passage this Bisliop of Lyons of the ^ , „ .. ^ second century tells us, " The Scrip- Contra Hczr. n. 28. ^^^^.^^ ^^.^ ^^^^^^^^ inasmuch as they were uttered by the Word of God and His Spirit." Tertullian, perhaps the ablest — and, liad it not been X' », »„„.^.. for his unhappy choice in Liter North Africa: ,., „ ■ii'^*'i i i <. C.^RTiiAGK.-Tcrtul- life ot a wild and perverted form lian, A.u. 200. of Christianity, the greatest— of the Latin fathers, calls the Holy Scriptures the .... " A'oices of God " {voces Dei). In ^' ' ' ' ' anoth(>r place ho writes that " the four Gospels are built on the certain basis of apostolical authority, and so are inspired in a far different sense from the writings of the spiritual Christian. All the faithful, it is true, have the Spirit of God; but all are not Apostles." Clement of Alexandria was master of the catechetical Egypt- Alexan- school of the most learned city of D K I A.— C 1 e tn c n t, the world at the end of tlie second ma-ster of the Cate- eentury, only 100 years after the Alexandria, A.u. l'J9 death ot St. Jolin; and taught m — -t*o. his famous school — as did well-nigh all the early fathers of Christianity — the doctrine of the plenaiy inspiration of Scripture. " It was by the p^^ . jj masters of Israel," wrote Clemeiii, '■ that God led men properly to the Messiah — speaking to them in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets. . . The word of God, disregarding PfQtr i 5 ^^® lifeless instruments, the lyre and the harp, reduces to harmony . . . man, and tlirough that many-voiced instrument makes melody to God, and says to man, ' Thou art my harp, my flute, my temple: my harp, from the liar- mony [of many notes] ; my flute, from tlie Spirit thai broathi'th through thee; my temple, from the word that dwellotli in thee.' Truly of man tlio Lord wrought a glorious living instrumont, after the fasliion of His own imago — one which might give every harmony of God tunctul ami holy." Hippoiytus. Bishop of Portus (one of the suburban dis- RoMK. - Ilippolvius t riots of Rome), a most loarnod and of I'urlus, A.u. 218. distinguished writer of the Italian Church of the enrly part of llio third century, a pupil of IreuEsus of Lyons, in one of his treatises preserved to us, expresses himself very clearly and with singular force on this subject. Sp<>aking of the Jewish prophets. he writes, " Those blessed men . . . spake not only of DC A ntichristo, 2. ^'^ P'^"^' '"/ "J^^" ''^. ^ !"' J''*'"T"* '''"^ luturo, tliat tlioy miLrlit i)o sho\vn to be heralds of things to come, not for a time merely, but for all generations. . . . For these fathers, liaving been perfected by the Spirit of Proi)liooy. and worthily honoured by the Word Himself, woro brought to an inner harmony like instruments ; and having the Word within them to sti-ike the notes, by Him they were De Princlpiis, i. Prooemium, i. moved, and announced that which God wrote. For they did not speak of their own power, be well assured, nor proclaim that which they wished themselves, but first they were rightly endowed with wisdom by the Word, and afterwards well foretaught of the future l)y visions, and then, when thus assured, spake that which was revealed to them by God." The Church, while condemning the errors into which Ale.xandkia. — Ori- the great-hearted Origen fell, still gen, A.u. 2:50. reads in every age with reverence and admiration his marvellous and brilliant teaching. It will 1)0 well to close this short paper on a great subject with two or three extracts from this famous Alexandrian master, on the suliject of inspiration : „ r> . ....... "The Holy Sinrit inspired each of the bamts, Proi)hets, and Apostles. Proceinium, 4. rui u • -i. a . . . IJie same Spirit was present in tliose of old times as in those who were inspired at the coming of Christ." " Chri.st, the Word of God, was in Moses and tlie pro- phots, and by His Spirit they spake and did all things." Again, m his work against Celsus, he writes the following wise and beautiful words : — " The true God acted Contr.Cclsum,vnA. ^ the prophets to enlighten and strengthen them, and not to cloud or to confuse their natural powers .... for the divine messengers, by the contact of the Holy Spirit with their soul, so to speak, gained a deeper and a clearer intuition of spiritual truth, and they then became more perfect men as well as Avise seers." In one of his homilies Origen does not hesitate even //om.T«Jm.xxi.2. *« ^f^ that " there is nothing, whether in the Law or in the Prophets, in the Evangelists or in the Apostles, which does not descend from the fulness of the divine majesty." This gifted teacher's noble words on the way in which those God-inspired writings should be read deserve to be graven on the hoai't of every Christian believer : „ . rp ■ "We must read them with pure Horn, in Ex. xi. i , p t j '^ ^ hearts, Im" no one can listen to the word of God . . . unless he be holy in body and spii-it: ... no one can enter into this feast with soiled garments. He who is a student of God's oracles must place himself under Horn, in Gen. XI. 3. ^j^^ teaching of God; such a one must seek their meaning by inquiiy, discussion, examination, and, which is greatest, by prayer Prayer is the most necessary qualilication for the understanding of divine things If, then, ,. „ ,- we read the Bible with patience, De Principiis,iv.l6. i j -ii •£ i • prayer, and taitli ; it we ever strive after a more perfect knowledge, and yet remain content in some things to know only in part — even as pro- phots and apostles, saints and angels, attain not to an understanding of all things — our patience will bo rewarded, our prayer answered, and our faith in- creased. So let us not lie weary in reading the Scrip- rr ■ T turos which we do not understand, Horn, tn Jo3. XX. i , i . •. i ■ t . but Jet it bo unto us according to our faith, by wliich we believe that all Scrij^ture, beingin- sj^iredby God, i. Gentiles (Tsa. xlix. (5) spread tlirough Asia. Nortli Africa, and Europe witii a strange and marvellous rapidity. There is no doubt, from tlie scattorc'd notices in the Epistles of St. Paul, that Titus was one of the most active agents in the ])rounilgation of the gospel story among the peoples that liad hitherto sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. The following table will give some idea of Titus' connection with St. Paul : — Date. Emperor OF Rome. Before Claudius. A.D. 50—51 50-51 54 -55 5(> 57 65—66 66-67 Nero. Titus meets with and is instructed by St. Paul at Antioch in the faith. (Comp. Tit. 1. 4 : " My own son in the faith.") Titus accompanies St. Paul and Bar- nabas to the coinicil of Apostles and elders at Jerusalem (Acts xv. ; C4al. u. 1). Probably ■\vith St. Paul during part of his second missionary journey. He is e\-idently well known to the Galatians, from tlie familiar refer- ence to him in the Epistle to that Church. Perhaj s he is alluded to in Gal. iii. 5. With St. Paul at Ephesus. Thence sent on a special mission to Corinth, probably bearer of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Cor. xii. 18). AVith St. Paul in Macedonia (2 Cor. vii. 6 — ir>), and perliaps with St. Paul at Corinth, if identical with Justus, according to the reading of some of the older authorities. Titus is superintending presbyter in Crete. At Rome with St. Paul ; thence sent to Dalmatia (2 Tim. iv. 10). [Tradition speaks of Titus as return- ing from Dalmatia to Crete, where he died in extreme old age, as Arch- bishop ot Gortyna.] 247 Titus, as we have seen, was a Gentile — was the one chosen by the great Apostle in very early days as the example of Christian freedom from Jewish rites and customs. At first the pupil, then the friend of St. Paul, we find him, in the brief notic s in the Epi-stles, evidently occu]>ying a position quite independent of. and in no wise subject to, his old master. He is St. Paul's "brother," '• companion," "fellow-labourer" (2 Cor. viii. '22. 23); St. Paul's trusted and lionoured friend. His missions of investigation and love, his arrange- ments for the famous collecti(m for the poor sjiints at Jerusalem, were apparently imdertakeu spoutaneously, TITUS. rather than by the direction of a superior and elder otticcr of the Church. (See, for instance, 2 Cor. viii. 6, It), 17.) Now the Acts is confessedly a very early writin-;. and must have been put fortli not later than A.l). iy- — »i;5 ; would it nut bo very probal)le that, in such a work, so pnuiiinent a Gentiii', who had publicly. with St. Paul's consent, helil himself free from all Jewish restraints, aiul by his prominent example preached the perfect ecpiality of the Gentiles in the kiiifjdoin tif l;!od — would it not be very probable that in the Acts the name and work of such a person would be omitted ':' The tierce hostility of a large section of the Jewish race to St. Paul on account of this very teach- ing of equality is well known: it probably compassed in the end his decth. The gentle, loving spirit of St. Luke while telling the story of the foundation of the Christian Church with scrupulous accuracy, woiUd be likely to avoid such passages of the early history which wotdd tend to alienate any. (He never, for instance, hints at such scenes as the Galatian Epistle, chap, ii., relates so graphically.) This same spirit, which ever sought to win rather than to alienate, induced him, f)erhaps. to avoid the mention of the famous Gentile eader Titus at a period when the fierce hostility of the Christians of the Circumcision was endeavouring to compass the fall of St. Paul and the disruption of the scliool of Gentile Christianity. The Holy Spirit loves to work, we know, by purely human instruments — now by tlie tender conciliatory pen of a Luke — now by the fiery zeal of a Paul, which refuses to recognise danger, or to acknowledge the possibility of failure. Later on the appointment of the brilliant and suc- cessful Gentile organiser to the chief superintendence of the churches of Crete was one of singular fitness. "There was," as it has been well said, '"a strange blending of races and religions " in the island which boasted the possession of the birthplace of Zeus (Jupiter), and rejoiced in the vile mysteries practised in the worship of Dionysus (Bacchus-. There were many Jews we know at Crete, but the Gentile popula- tion, of course, far outnumbered them. The congre- gation seem to have been numerous and full of life, but disorganised and troubled with disorder, misrule, and even dishonoured with many an excess utterly at A'ariance with their Christian i)rofession. Who so fitted to restore order and to enforce a sterner rule in such communities as the friend of St. Paid, who had worked already so great a work among the turbulent and licentious Christians of Corinth, and had persuaded by his marvellous skill so many Gentile congregations to unite in helping with a generous liberality the pressing needs of their proud and haughty Jewish brethren who disdained them? (See the Note on chap. i. 4.) After the year a.d. 65 — 66 the story of Titus is un- certain. We know he rejoined the Apostle at Rome, and left him again for Dahnatia (2 Tim. iv. 10). Then traditionary reccdlections which lingered in Crete tell us how he returned from Dahnatia to the island, where lie worked long and presided over the churches, and died at an advanced age. The church of Megalo-Castrou, in the north of the island, was dedicated to him. In the Middle Ages, his name was still revered, and his meraorj' honoured. The name of Titus was the watchword of the Cretans when they fought against the Venetians, who caine under the standard of St. Mark. The Venetians themselves, when here, seem to have transferred to him part of that respect which elsewhere would probably have been manifested for St. Mark alone. During the celebration of several gi'cat festivals of the Church the response of the Latin clergy of Crete, after the prayer for the Doge of Venice, was, Sancte Marce tu nos adjuva ; but after that for the Duke of Candia, Sancte Tite tu nos adjuva (Pashley's Travels In Crete, quoted by Cony- beare and Howson, St. Paul). II. Contents of the Epistle.— After a formal salutation and greeting St. Paul reminds Titus of his special work in Crete, viz., that the government of the various churches must be properly organised — a body of elders, or presbyters, must be ordained and set over the congregation. The qualifications of these officers are then detailed. Ihey are for the most part of a moral nature, but these elders must also possess the power necessary for teaching and influencing siich a people as were the Cretans (chap. i. 1 — 16). St. Paid passes on to the .special kind of instruction Titus and the elders must impart to men and women of varied ages, sexes, and ranks in the Cretan churches — to aged men, to aged women, to the young of both sexes, to slaves — and then proceeds to show the reason why such instruction must be given. God's grace, he sjiys, has appeared in the work of redemption, bringing salvation to all — old or young, free or slaves (chap. ii. 1 — 15). St. Paul now points out to Titus how the Christian community must conduct themselves towards the heathen world. There must be no thought of rebellion among the worshijjpers of the Lord Jesus. Again he enforces these solemn admonitions by an appeal to the loftiest Christian truths. He closes his Letter by reminding his friend that this practical teaching, based on gospel truth, must be the standard of instruction; no time must bewa.sted on useless theological questions. A few personal requests are added (chap. iii. 1 — 15). 248 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TITUS. CHAPTER L— (1) Paul, ca servant of ch • 1— i ^od, and an apostle of Apodtolic adl Jesus Christ, according to dress and bless- the faith of God's elect, '"^' and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness: ^-^ in^ 1 Or, for. hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began ; ^^) but hath in due times mani- fested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; (i» Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. — The titles here assumed by St. Paul in liis introductory greeting are in some respects slightly different to any of his usual designations. In the other two so-called Pastoral Epistles addressed to Timothy, St. Paul simply styles himself " an Apostle of Jesus Christ." Possibly, the longer and more formal title is here adopted because his relations were hardly ever of so intimate a character with Titus as with Timothy ; the latter would seem to have held the position of St. Paxil's adopted son. (See Note below on verse 4, " To Titus.") According to the faith of God's elect.— The English version here entirely fails to give the mean- ing of the Greek preposition. The rendering should be, " for (the furtherance of) the faith," or, in other words, " the object of my (Paul's) apostleship was, that through my instrumentality the chosen of God should believe." The whole question respecting these " elect," or " chosen of God," is surrounded with deep mystery ; three or four guiding thoughts may, however, be safely laid down. (1) In the visible world such an ajyjjurently arbitrary election to special privileges, fortune, happiness, utterly irrespective, in the first instance, of individual merit, does exist. This is clear to all of us. (2) In grace we are distinctly told re- peatedly that a similar election exists, and our own observation certainly coincides hero with revelation. (3) Such election in no case seemingly affects our position here as free agents ; surrounded with the most precious privileges, gifted with much knowledge, it is possible, as we, alas, too often see, deliberately to refuse the good and to choose the evil. (4) All such allusions to the "elect" as, for instance, the one here before us, are intended, not as a stumbling-block for the believer, but as a comfort for the faithful, struggling man of God, for it tells him how the Eternal " before the ages" had chosen him to be His servant. And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. — More accurately rendered, and the full k}iowled(je of the truth loJiirh is desiffned for Godliness, or, which leadeth to godliness. Here the nrther purpose of St. Paul's apostleship is specified. St. Paul was appointed an Apostle that tluongh him the elect of God might believe and heed "the truth" — that trxith, the knowledge of which produces as its fruit in the individual a holy, useful life. (■-) In hope of eternal life.— Better translated, resting on the hope of eternal life. The connection of the preceding clauses with these words has been well summed up : " The Apostle's calling had for its object the faith of the elect and the knowledge of the truth ; and the basis on which all this rested was the hope of eternal life." Which God, that cannot lie.— Possibly, this singular and strong expression was chosen with reference to the peculiar vice of the Cretans, over whose Church Titus was then presiding. (See verse 12 : " One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said. The Cretians are alway liars.") Promised before the world began.— l\Iore ac- curately rendered, /i"o?>i eternal ages. (See 2 Tim. i. 9.) The promise of eternal life was the result of a divine purpose fixed from eternity. (3) But hath in due times.— Or better, but hath in his oion seasons — that is, in the fitting seasons, those fixed by Him for the manifestation. Manifested his word. — That is. His gospel. (See Rom. xvi. 25.) Through preaching. — Or, in the preaching. Panl does not shrink from calling his preaching the vehicle in which the Word or the gospel of God was to be publicly manifested, because he was conscious that he was divinely instructed in the secrets of the eternal counsels. Which is committed unto me.— Literally, with ichicli I was entrusted. According to the commandment of God our Saviour. — The commandment came to St. Paul direct from God ; we have several intimations of this. Amongst others, on the Damascus road, when the Lord appeared to him ; in the Temple at Jerusalem ; in the ship, during the memorable voyage which ended with shij)- wreck; in the visions mentioned in 2 Cor. xii. 1 — 9. St. Paul dwells with emphasis on the thought that he ivas entnisted u-iih the preadiing of the gospel according to the commandment of God. The work was not under- taken by him, from any will or wish of his own. '" God our Saviour" in this place, as in 1 Tim. i. 1, must bo understood as " God the Father." The First Person of the blessed Trinity fitly possesses the title of " our Saviour," because through the death of His dear Son Ho redeemed us from death and made us licirs of eternal life. The Second Person of the Trinity is like- wise a possessor of the title, because Ho shed His blood as the price of our redemption. Tlie epithet of "Saviour" — the title just given to the Father, in the very next verse ascribed to the " Son " — is one of the 2J9 Opening Greetings TITUS, I. to Titus. <') to Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace. from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. <^J For this cause inftiiy iadicatioiis wo possess of St. Paul's belief that tlio Son was e(|ual to tlie Fatlier as toucliing His Godliead. (\) To Titus.— Wo know comparatively little of Titus' earlier earocr. In tlio Arts lie, sinj^ularly onoujxli, is never mentioned; for wliat knowledge of liim we possess wo are entirely dependent upon a few casual allusions to him in the Epistles. This presbyter, in charge of the Cretan Church, was a Greek, the son of Gentile parents, and uncircumeised. It has been .suggested. l)ut upon very sliglit grounds, that his family was resident at Antioch in Syria. He owed his c.)nversion to Cliristianity to St. Paul, with whom ever after ho seems to liave been connected by ties of in- timate friendship, though ho was by no means the Apostle's constant comjjanion, as was Timothy, or Silas, or Luke. He was witli St. Paul and Barnabas when they went up together to Jerusalem to plead for Gentile liberty ; but in no other of the journeys of St. Paul is he directly mentioned as one of the companions of the Apostle. Only during the Apostle's long residence at Ephesus (nearly three years) Titus appears to have been, for at least ])art of the time, closely associated with St. Paul, and his confidant in his complicated relations with foreign churches. It is clear that during this long Ephesian residence ho was drawn into close and intimate friendship with St. Paul, who then had opportunity of becoming acquainted with Titus' varied powers and evident skill in administration and in dealing with men and women. From the several casual notices in the Second Corin- thian Epistle, we gather consideraV)le insight into tho cliaracter and powers of the Gentile convert. The Churcli of Corinth was perhaps tho largest and most wealthy of all the churches founded by St. Paul, It was soon, liowever, rent asunder by party di\'isious, and was ever distracted and distiu-bcd by moral disorders among its memliers. Yet, in spite of this, tho great Greek congregation of believers was full of life and zeal and earnestness, ready evidently to make the greatest sacrifices for its Master's cause. Delegated apparently by St. Paul to restore order and to intro- duce a severer discipline in tiiis great and turbulent Christian centre — the example for good or for evil to so many smaller and less important churches — Titus seems to liave fulfilled with rare tact, and with admirable pnulence and wisdom, his difficult mission. Amongst other works, ho apparently completed the collection St. Paul had set on toot in the various Gentile churclie.s for tlio poor Jewisli Christians at Jerusalem. His services, assisting materially to bring this famous work of charily to a successful issue, seem not to have been the least among his titles to St. Paul's friendship and high esteem. The great importance and difficult nature of this collection for the poor saints at Jerusa- lem are little under.stood or thought of now. Three weighty points connected with it deserve mention, as Titus' special task it probal)ly was to complete and bring it to a successful issue. (1) It seems to have been tho first pul)lic relief fund ever collected to help a foreign and a strange race— the first of a long line of gallant acts of self-sacrifice men have made for men for Christ's sake; but wlien Titus, at St. Paul's l)idding, took charge of it. it was a thing unheard of in the Pagan world. Hence the many obstacles which appear to have cropped up so perpetually during the collection. (2) It was the right hand of fellowship offered by G«ntile 250 to Jew. It was the welding together, by an unprece- dented act of kindness, of the two opposing and hostile elements of Christendom into one Church. (3) It was the silent yet eloquent protest of St. Paul and his school against the attempted communism of the Church of tho very first days — that fatal misunderstanding of some of the Master's words which had brought ruin and jtoverty on the Jerusalem Christians. Titus acted as St. Paul's commissicmer in the matter — which ho evi- dently successfully completed. We know nothing of his work and employment from this period, A.D. 57, until tho date of this Epistle, a.d. 65—66, early Christian history being silent respecting him. In these nine years of restless activity and burning zeal on the part of the Christian leaders, Titus, no doubt, did his part \vithout falling short of his early promise ; as we find him again, in the last years of his old master, occupying in the Christian community a post so high and responsible as that of chief presbyter of the churches of the wealthy and populous island of Crete. Mine own son. — Alluding, no doubt, to the relation between them in religion. St. Paul convei'ted Titus to tlie faith, and ever after Titus stood to St. Paul in tho position of a son in the faith, without being to him what Timothy was for so long a time — his constant companion. Titus still evidently (see preceding Note) filled with St. Paul the position of one of his most trusty disciples, of one who knew the inmost thoughts of his master. The tone of the Epistle to Titus is somewhat different from St. Paul's Letter to Timothy. There was evidently a greater intimacy between St. Paul and Timothy than between the Apostle and Titus. Grace, mercy, and peace . . . — Many of the older authorities omit " mercy." (See Notes on 1 Tim. i. 2.) Our Saviour. — This expression is a rare one. We find it only in these Pastoral Letters. (See Note above on St. Paul's using it also of the " Father.") (5) For this cause left I thee in Crete.— The " cause " is discussed below. Crete— over whose Chris- tian population Titus had been placed by St. Paul — was a well-known large and populous island in the Mediter- ranean. It lies geographically further south than any of the European islands, and, roughly speaking, almost at an equal distance from each of the three Old World continents — Europe, Asia, Africa. We identify it with tlie Caphtor of the Old Testament (Dent. ii. 23; Jer. xlvii. 4 ; Amos ix. 7). In modern times it is known by us as Candia. Very early it was the scene of an advanced civilisation. In the Odyssey it is mentioned as possessing ninety cities; in the Iliad as many as one hundred. Metellus added it, B.C. 60, to tho Roman dominion. In the days of Augustus it was united into one pro%nnce Avith Cyrene. It abounded with Jews of wealth and influence ; this wo learn from the testimony of Philo and of Josephus. It probably received the gospel from some of those of " Crete " who we ai'e ex- pressly told were present when the Spirit was poured on the Apostles on the first Pentecost after the Resur- rection (Acts ii. 11). Tho apparently flourishing state of Christianity on the island at this time was in great measure, no doubt, owing to the residence and labours among them of the Apostle St. Paul, whose work appears to have been mainly directed to preaching the gospel and to increasing the number of the converts, which, from the wording of verse 5, was evidently Purpose for wliich Tit as ivas left TITUS, I. in CrpAe — to ordain Elders. left I thee in Crete, that tliou sliouldest Chap. i. 5—9. ^®* ^^^ Order the things The duties of that are Avanting,^ and or- tn^^C\^'^ ^^i^^ ^l^^i'« i^V^^^^T city, Chuvch. as I had appointed thee : 1 Or, IffL imdcnie. ^^'^ if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having- faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly. (''^ For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God ; not selfwilled, not very great, elders (presbyters) being required in every city. The task of organising the Church had been left for a season. "Wo are ignorant of the circumstance whidi summoned tlie old Apostle from the scene of what seems to have been most successfid labours. He left behind him one of the ablest of his disciples, Titus — a tried .and well-known Christian leader of the second half of the first century — to organise the churcli life and to regulate the teaching of the powerful and \\\\- merous Christian community of Crete. The Epistle addressed to Titus contains the formal credentials of his liigh office, stamping all his acts with the great name and authority of St. Paul; hence the careful and elaboi'ate phraseology of the first four verses. Though addi'essed to one, they would have to be referred to and read often among the elders {pres- byters) and deacons in the various cluirches. St. Paul wrote the Letter, we are told, when on his way to Nicop- olis to winter ; we believe, soon after his arrival there he was arrested and sent to Rome to die. The date of this Letter, then, would be a.d. 65 or QQ, and was proba- bly written from some place in Asia Minor — perhaps Ephesus. That thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting. — These words explain the " cause " of Titus' appointment in Crete. The " things that are wanting " were what St. Paul meant, no doubt, to have done himself, but was prevented by being hurried aAvay — for liini the end was nigh at hand. Thes(( " things " were want of church officials, lack of cliurch government, want of cohesion between the churches of the island — in a word, there was plenty of Christian life, but no Christian organisation as yet in Crete. It was rather a number of Christian brotlierhoods than one. And ordain elders in every city.— The num- ber of presbyters in each town or city is not specified, but is left to Titus' judgment. We know that in some churches there were certainly several of these presbyters (see Acts xiv. 23; xv. 22). The words "in every city" point to the wide extension of Christianity at that eaidy period in Crete. As I had appointed thee.— Or better, as I gave thee directions. These presbyters were to be most carefully selected, according to the special instructions Titus must remember St. Paul giving liim in this im- portant matter on some previous occasion. The more urgent of these qualifications for the presbyteral rank the Apostle now repeats for Titus' guidance. ('5) If any be blameless.— The candidate for tlie holy office must have nauglit laid to his cliargo ; lie must be of such a character tliat no one could bring a rea- sonable accusation against him. Blameless must be his life, spotless his name. As it has lieen well said, " the office of presbyter must never be allowed to cover or condone damagi-d reputations." The husband of one wife.— See Notes on 1 Tim. iii. 2. Having faithful children. — Better, believing children. In searching out these presbyters, whose charge would involve so many and such responsible duties, Titus must look for men of ripe age. There were even grave objections to the appointment of the comparatively young to this office. We have seen how anxious St. Paul was for Timothy, his well-knoAvn and trusted friend, on account of his Avant of years. Timothy must have been at least approaching forty years of age when St. Paid warned him so earnestlj' of his behaviour and his life, " Let no man despise thy youth." These presiding Cretan elders should be married men, Avith children ali'eady, so to speak, grown up. These requirements evidently show that Christianity had been established in Crete for a very considerable period. We must remember some thirty-three years had passed since that memorable Pentecost feast of Jeru- salem, when " Cretes" were among the hearers of those marvellous utterances of the Spirit. Besides the cliildren of the candidates for the presbyter's office being professing Christians, they must also be free from all suspicion of profligacy. Not accused of riot. — More accurately rendered, dissohdeness. The Greek word here rendered " riot " implies a self-indulgent or even a reckless expendi- ture. Such careless selfishness well-nigh always ends in profligacy. In the case of men whose duties in- cluded the superintendence of the Church's funds, it was imperatively necessary that their homes and families should be free from all suspicion of anything like that reckless waste or extravagance Avhich in so many cases imj^erceptibly passes into dissoluteness and profligacy. Or unruly. — That is, disobedient to their parents. If the presbyter was incapal)le of teaching his OAvn children obedience and order, Avhat hope Avas there that his influence would be of anj^ value with his flock ? All these early instructions to the master-builders whose task it was to lay the early storeys of the Christian Temple are very decisive as to the state of St. Paul's mind ; and Ave must not forget whence St. Paid directly drew his Avisdom. The Apostles of the Lord ncA-er seem to have thought of the Christian priesthood of the future developing into a caste or order. Anything more diametrically opposed to the mediseval notion of church government than the Pastoral Epistles can hardly be imagined. The Avriter of the Epistles to Timothy and to Titus never dreamed of building up a priestly order with Anews, thoughts, hopes, and joys differing from those of the ordinary worker of the Avorld. St. Paul's presbyters were to be chosen, among other qualities, for the Avhite and blame- less lives of their families. The presbyter's liome in Crete and Ej>hesus must supply a fair pattern for the many otlier Christian homes in that luxurious, disso- lute age in which Titus lived. (") For a bishop must be blameless.— Tlicre is no doubt that the " bishop " here must be identified Avith the presbyter of verse 6. In the Pa-storal Epistles Avritten between a.d. 63—67 these terms are clearly applied indifferently to the same person. The title presbyter refers to the gra\-ity and dignity of the office; the "title bishop su^^gests rather the duties which belong to an elder ot the church. On the question of bishops, and their position in the early Church, see Note on 1 Tim. iii. 1, Avhere the grounds 2.51 The Qualifications TITUS, I. of Elders. soon angry, not nfivcn to wine,' no striker, not givt'n to tilthy lucre; f*^^ but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men,^ sober, just, holy, temperate; <"' holding 0 1 Tim. 3. 3. 2 Or, in teach- ing. 1 Or, youd things. fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,- that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gaiusayers. *^*^* For there are many for assnmintj tliat tlio opiscopjil ordor was formally intro(lii('t>(l into cliiucli governineiit before the end of tliis oentiiry. and dnrin*,' tlio lifetime of St. John, are discussed. Tiie Christian hisliop. within a quarter of a century after tiie deatii of St. Paul, assumed many of the functii)ns and pfenerally diseiiarged tlie duties of povernnient whieli were exeroi.sed by the Apostles during tiieir lifetim(\ Tlie presbyter — then writes St. Paul— ^seeing he is appointed an overseer or bishop (the use of tlie latter term Ijisiiop in tlie eeelesiastieal sense is. liowever, premature), as God's steward, as a respon- sibU> administrator of the House, that is, of the Church of the Living God, ought indeed be blameless. Not selfwilled. — Ho should not be one of those self-loving men who seeks to gratify Ids own personal ends in the first place, and in consequence is usually reganlless of otliers. Not soon angry.— Not soon provoked, or not irascible. He slunikl not be one ever ready with au angry, hasty word, remembering always his Master, " who when He was reviled, reviled not again." Not given to wine.— While tlie iiresbyter is not to be chosi'U on account of any .stern austerities or rigid asceticism he may have practised, he must be known as one " temperate,'" moderate, self-denying. No striker.- Not a brawler. No man of God — above all things, no one holding office in the churcli — should ever, even under sore provocation, so far forget liimself as to raise his hand against his fellow. Not given to filthy lucre.— The presbyter of the House of Gotl must bo above all dreaming of mean and paltry gains. Ho who is to administer the alms devoted to God must surely do it with clean Jiands. There is, too, anotlier and a deeper meaning in the words. Tho presbyter whoso mind is at all devoted to the amassing of gold is too preoccupied to bo able to fix his thoughts upon those high things of God committed to his charge, among which ouo of his most important duties is to instruct tlie tlock. (8) But a lover of hospitality.— It has been suggested that this hospitality would be especially shown in tho early centuries of Christianity, when Christians travoUiiig from one place to another wore received kindly ami forwarded on their journey by their brethren ; but the diivctiou of St. Paul "has that broader signiiication. so l)eautifiilly wonh-d in the Epistle to tho Hebrews, where we are t(dd not to be forgetful to entertain at rmi (/('>:■<, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares ( Heb. xiii. 2). A lover of good men.— Although this ren- dering is possil)le, still it is better to understand the Greek word hero as alluding to a virtue difPering from tho " hospitality" just mentioned. "A lover of good" or benevolence generally; tho appellation points here to that largo heart wliich finds room for symi)atliy with all that is good and noble and generous. Sober.— Better rendered, srlf-rcsfmined. In this expressive word {snphronn) masfrnj of self is especially implied — that self-command which wisely regulates pleasures and passions. Just.— Or. rl(j]i(eoii.9. The man who is just (dikaios) is one who tries strictly to perform his duties towards men — the duties which integrity and justice seem imperatively to ask from him in his relations with his neighbour. Holy. — The man who is hohj studies to be true and faithful in his relations to God, which duties with us larg(dy consist in keeping pure our bodies, the temple of tho Holy Spirit. While the "just" man struggles after nprightuess before men, the " holy " man aims at a holy purity before God. Temperate. — This virtue is not to be understood in the usual and more limited sense which has been already specified in " not giA'en to wine " of the preceding verse, but signifies the being temperate — moderate in all things. The model presbyter, the ruler of a congregation of Christians, not only must be able to control his tongue, his eyes, his hands, but mnst show a just and wise moderation even in pressing things which of themselves are excellent. To do his Master's work eificiently, he must be able at all times to command himself — to perform that most difficult of all tasks, the tempering zeal with discretion. (9) Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught. — More literally, according to the teaching ; but the English version gives the sense clearly and exactly. The elder must, St. Paul says, hold fast the faithful Avord or saying ; or, in other words, must steadily adhere to that Christian doctrine taught by St. Paul and his brother Apostles. So St. Paul pressed on Timothy, the chief presbyter of Ephesus, " to hold the iiattern of sound words which thou heardest from me " (2 Tim. i. 13) ; and again, " But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them" (2 Tim. iii. 14). Here "the faithful saying," that formulary so common in the Epistles to Timothy and to Titus, and which wo have generally explained as including tho great Christian watchwords of the faith, echoes probably of sayings of Christ, taken np and expanded by His chosen servants, and then adopted in the various churches and woven into the tapestry of the earliest liturgies — now, possibly, after a form like tho " comfortable words" of our Communion Service, now into a creed, now into a hymn, but in one shape or other thoroughly well known and loved in tho different congregations — here the faithful word or saying seems to include all the faithful sayings, and denotes generally tho teaching of St. Paul and the Apostles. To exhort and to convince the gainsayers. — Two special purposes are specified for which the " sound doctrine " which the elder will acquire by steadfast application may bo used. Tho first, with the sound, healthy teaching — sound, healthy, practical, com- pared with that sickly, morbid, and unpractical teaching of those gainsayers of wiiom he is going to speak — he is to exhort the adversaries ; secondly, with the same true words he is to confute theirarguments. Chrysostom well remarks " that ho who knows not how to contend with adversaries, and is not ablo to demolish their arguments, is far from the teacher's chair." (10) For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers.— Nominally in the con- gregations of Christians, Init in reality refusing all obedience, acting for themselves, factious, insubordinate. Titus would, alas, discover many such; these often Picture of the TITUS, I. Cretan Character. unrulj and vain talkers and deceivers, Chap i 10—16 specially they of the circum- Tliet.'retaucha- cision: (^^^ wllOSe moutlis 1-acter. niust be stopped, who sub- vert whole houses, teaching- things which they oug'lit not, for filthy lucre's sake. ('2) One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said. The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. (^'^^ This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith ; (^"^^ not giving heed to Jewish would be found to be possossed of tlie gift of fluent and deceptive speech, and woukl deceive many. Professor Reynokls cliaractorises such restless, uneasy spirits as loquacious, restless talkers, " who mihtit say something, aiul who have broken the peace of many a home and shattered the prosperity of many a church; the multi- tude of teachers who have n(jthing true to say is the curse of the kingdom of God." Specially they of the circumcision. — Here St. Paul points out to Titus where ho must look for the origin of tills hostility. These unhappy men evidently did not belong to the stern and rigid Jewish party who hated with a bitter hate all the followers of tlie Nazarene, but were of the number of those sleepless opponents of St. Paul and his school — the Judaising Christians. (11) Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses. — The translation should run here, seeing they subvert, &c. There was, indeed, graA'e cause why these men should be put to silence; the mischief they were doing in Crete to the Christian cause was incalculable. It was no longer individuals that their poisonous teaching affected, but they were undermining the faith of whole families. For an example how Titus and his presbyters were to stop the mouths of tliese teachers of what was false, compare Matt. xxii. 34 — 46, where the Lord, by His wise, power- ful, yet gentle words, first put the Sadducees to silence, and then so answered the Pharisees that " neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him any more questi(ms." Teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.— Here St. Paul goes to the root of the evil, when he shows what was the end and aim of these " teachers' " life. It was a mean and sordid ambition, after all — merely base gain. When this is the main ol)ject of a religious teacher's life, his teaching naturally accommodates itself to men's tastes. He forgets the Divine Giver of liis commission, and in his thirst for the popularity which brings with it gold, his true work, as the faithful watchman of the house of Israel, is forgotten and ignored. (1-) One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said.— St. Paul had spoken (verses 10, II) in the severest terms of certain influential members of the Cretan Church ; he had even alluded to their disastrous teaching ruining whole families, evidently implying that he had perceived among the Cretans a readiness to welcome a teaching whicli countenanced a laxer moral tone, tlie invariable result of perverted doctrine ; and now he supports his own condemning words by a reference to a well-kno\ra Cretan poet — to one who, according to tradition, was even lionoured by them as a god. The verse quoted is an hexameter, written Iiy the famous Epimenides, of Gnossus, in Crete. He flourislied some GUO years B.C., and is said to have lived to the strange age of 1.5 la.st utterance, so to speak, of that grand life of St. Paul's, purity and sound doctrine are inseparable. Hero " the defiled," " the polluted,'' wo are told, are the unbelieving; and to these, the Apostle says, nothing is pure. Yet there is notliing iu God's creation impure or evil — the evil and impurity aro in the miiul and heart of men; these may, and often do. defile and make impure the choicest gifts of God's creation. One word is still left to bo said on the teaching of tliis memorable verse. Who are the pure to whom all things are pure? Only those iu this world wlio have sought cleansing by faitli in the precious blood of Christ. But even their mind and conscience is de- filed.— Here St. Paul defines exactly the sphere over ■which the moral defilement of these liapless ones, who belong to the Christian company, alas, oidy iu name, extends — the mind and conscience. The first of these — the mind— is the willing as well as the thinking part of man, as it has been well defined the human spirit (pneuma) in one of its aspects, not simply quatenus 254 cogitat et intelUgit, but also quatenus vult. Defilement of this mind {nous) means that the thoughts, wishes, purposes, activities, are all stained and debased. The second of these — the conscience (suneiclesis) — is the moral consciousness within, that which is ever bringing up the memory of the past, with its omissions and com- missions, its errors, its cruel, heartless unkindness, its selfish disregard of others. When this is defiled, then this last .safeguard of the soul is broken down. The man aud woman of the defiled conscience is self-satisfied, hard, impenitent to the last. (iti) They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him. — These bitter foes to the truth, Titus must remember, wiU present them- selves under the guise of friends. They will rank themselves in the Christian company openly, with their lips confessing God, but in their way of life, in their acts, practically denying the very things they were so careful to affirm with their lips ; iu other words, taking back, withdra\ving, the solemn declaration of faith they had been making. Being abominable. — This is the only place where this stroug expression is used in the New Testament. It signifies that the life and actions of these men, who professed to be His servants, had made them hate- ful in the sight of God. And disobedient.— EebeUious and opposed to all law and order would Titus find them. And unto every good work reprobate. — As a cousequence of their hypocritical, selfish, defiled life, these men, when any good aud noble work had to be done, were simply useless, worthless ; and to teachers of this kind were many of the Cretan believers content to go for instruction iu Christian doctrine aud practice. II. 'D But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. — To introduce a regular organisation aud the principle of a central church government into the numerous but scattered Christian congrega- tions iu Crete was Titus' first work. The second and equally weighty mission the Apostle Paul charged him to execute was the refutation of a school of professed Christian tcachei's, who were promulgating doctrines at variance with the teaching of St. Paul and his brother Apostles, and were also, liy their example and lives, fatally lowering the tone of Christian life. It was to the latter point — the evil moral iutluence of tliese teachers — that the attention of Titus was especially directed. False doctrinal teaching was bringing forth already its sure fruit, in the form of a life utterly unlike the pattern life of the Master. In contrast to this erroneous and misleading teaching, Titus is directed to exhort the varied ages, the different sexes, the bond and the free, to live lives which will bring no dishonour upon their Christian profession. The strictly practical nature of these charges is remarkable. Before touching upon doctrine, he presses home to these various ages and ranks the necessity of a quiet, useful life. The " sound doctrine" by which Titus was bidden to regulate his teaching is an expression peculiar to these Pastoral The Aged Women are to TITUS, II. Exhort the Younrjer. trine : '-^ that the aged men be sober,^ i or,- ^^f'"^l\-^ grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. (^> The aged women Hke- wise, that theu ^^ '^^ beha- Chap. ii. 1 — 5. Charges to pri- vate members of the Church ; tco- tiien. 3 Or, make-] bates. I 4 Or, wise. viour as becometh holiness,- not false accusers,-^ not given to much wine, teachers of good things ; (^^ that they may teach the young women to be sober,* to love their husbands, to love their Epistles (see Note on 1 Tim. i. 10), and stands in clear contrast to the sickly, uuhealtliy teaching, fanciful and false, of the misleading teachers of Crete. (-) That the aged men.— Not presbyters, or elders, in an official sense, but simply the " old men " in the congregations. Be sober. — In a more extended sense than the bare literal meaning of the word would give. Let the elder men be " thoughtful," in contrast with the thought- lessness of careless youth. Grave. — And quietly earnest, in contrast with all passion and undue excitability. Temperate. — Discreet, or self-restrained, would be a better rendering for the Greek word. Sound in faith, in charity, in patience. — Here Paid the aged sums up for the aged men of Crete in these three words, so well known by all his devoted hearers then, by all the devout students of his theology in subsequent ages, the great principles out of which the true saint life springs — faith, love, patience. In the famous Pauline trilogy of A-irtues, in this place, " patience " takes the place of hope, because this brave patience, this enduring fortitude, especially becomes the old man waiting for death. In respect to these " three" they must be healthy, sound. The faith must not be adulterated with superstitious — the love must be chivalrous, not sentimental. It must be no partisan feelmg, but a tender affection, broad and inclusive, as was St. Paul's and his Master Christ's. The patience must be no mere tame acquiescence in what seems to be the inevitable, but must be brave, enduring, suffering — if suffering comes — for the Lord's sake with a smile on the lips. '"Not without reason," writes Calvin, " does St. Paul include in these three the sum of Christian perfections." It is with " faith " that we worship God — no prayer, no work of piety, can be severed from '• faith." " Love" spreads its wings over all our duties to our neighbour; antl "patience" must ever go hand in hand with both " faith " and " love." Without " patience " could " faith " hardly endure ; and the affronts and unkiuduesses of the world would, without this high virtue of patience, soon deaden and even destroy " love." (3) The aged women likewise.— St. Paul, faitltful to what had now become one of the giuding principles of Christianity, the equal position of women in the city of God, fellow-heirs with men in the citizenship of the city which hath foundations, proceeds to remind the elder women of Crete of their own high duties in the company of believers. They now — the women — niust remomber that the position which Christ and His disciples had claimed for them in the world was not without its grave responsibilities. These aged ■women of the flock, like the elders just exhorted, had also much to do for Christ. That they be in behaviovir as becometh holi- ness.— That is, that theij should shoiv themselves as it becometh holine.ecial work was left for the elder women among the faithful to carry out. Such a reformation, not only in the discipline of the Church, but also in the individual life and conversation, as St. Paul desired to see in Crete, would never be brought about by a sermon, or even by many sermons, however elo- quent and earnest, from Titus. It would be a matter requiring long time and patience, and would, as observed above, rather follow as the result of patient iudi^-idual effort and holy example. To love their husbands, to love their children.— There was evidently in Crete a feveri.sh longing for excitement, for novelty in religious teaching; hence the demand for, and consequent supply of. the "fables" and "commandments of men " spoken of in chap. i. 14. Women as well as men preferred rather to do something for religion and for God, and thus to wipe out past transgressions, and perhaps to purchase the liberty of future licence. They preferred the rigid and often difficult observance of the elaborate ritual. '" the tithing of the mint, and anise, and cummin." to quietly and reverently " doing their Fatlier's business.' St. Paul's method of correcting this false and unhealthy view of religion was to recall women as well as men to the steady, faithful performance of those quiet cverj'-day duties to which God had. in His providence, called them. The first duty of these younger women, St. Paul Adciee to Yuung Women TITUS, II. and to Young Men. children, <-^' to he discreet, chaste, keepers at home, ^ood, obedient to their own hnsbands, that the word of God be not bUispliemed. (^' Young men hkewise exhort to be sober minded.^ <"' In all 1 Or, iliscrecl. things shewing thyself a pattern of good works : in doctrine sheiv- chap. ii. 6—8. ing uncorruptness, gravity, to young men. sincerity, ^^> sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the tells Titns, and wliich he would have their elder sisters impress on tlieni. was t lie gi-oat lionio duty of lovinjj their husbands and cliildn'u. While St. Paul would never have the women of Christ forget their new and precious privileges in the present, their glorious hopes iu the future, yet hero on earth he would never let them de- sert, or even for a moment forget, their tirst and chiefest duties. Tlieir work, let them remember, lay not abroad in the busy world. Their tirst duty was to vmlce home life beautiful by the love of husband aud child — that great love whii'h ever teaches forgetf ulness of self. (•'') To be discreet.— See Note iu verso 2 of this cliiipter. Chaste. — Not only in act, but also in look, in speech, in thought, even iu dress. Keepers at home. — The older aiithorities here, in- stead of "keepers at home" [doynum ciostodientes, domus curam hitbetites), read ivorkers at home ; the Greek word is not found elsewhei'e. The sense of the passage is, however, little changed by the alteration. The meaning is clear, " Domi mansit lanam fecit." Home duties, cares, pleasures, sacritices of self — these God- ajjpoiuted duties ought to fill the mind and the heart of the young wife. Tliere should be no desire, no attempt, to go round to the other houses, and so contracting idle, gossiping habits. Hofmauu thus sums up these directions to the youjig Christian women of Crete, " Gutc Hausfrauen will der Apostel liaben." Good. — Gracious, kind, thoughtful to others, espe- cially to inferiors. Obedient to their own husbands.— More ac- curately, submittiiuj tliem^elves to their own husbands. Women who really love their Master Christ should take care that, as far as in them lay, the law of subordination in the family to its rightful head should be sti-ictly carried out. In a Chuix-h like that of Crete, made out of divided houses often, where the Christian wife was married to a Pagan husbaud, such a charge as this was especially needful. That the word of God be not blasphemed. — These words refer to all the exhortations from verse 2 onwards, but more particularly to tho.se clauses en- forcing hom(> duties immediately preceding. There was, of course, the fear that wives, carried away by religious fervour, might n(>glect tlie plainer every-day "duties for the seemingly loftier and more self-denying occupations included under the head of religious works. Such failure in every-day tasks would, of course, be bitterly charged on th(> religion of Christ, and the gospel would run the danger of being evil-spoken of, even iu other than purely Pagan circles. But the reference extends over a broader ar<>a than that occupied by Christian mistresses of households. All, of every rank and age, Avho think they love the Lord Jesus should remember that the " enr>my " is ever watching their words and works; never should they who wear the colours of the great King forget the charge of the King's son, " Let your light so sliiue before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is iu heaven."' (C) Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. — The task of iutlueucing the young men •2.56 belongs especially to Titus. Among them, in respect to age, he still must be reckoned ; as regarded their peculiar temptations, none could be found so tit as the still young Christian disciple of St. Paul (he was probably ab(mt forty years of age when he was placed over the Cretan Church) to set out vividly before them both the peril and the only means of guarding against it. Brought up iu a Pagan home, not improbably in the luxurious aud wicked Syrian Antioch, drawn to the Master's side in the fresh dawn of manhood, tried in many a difficult task and found faithful, the words of Titus, exhorting the youth of Crete to be sober-minded, or self-restrained, would be likely to have great weight. In this word, which urged self- restraint, a young man's duty is briefly comprehended. No task, the wise Chrysostom tells us, is after aD so hard aud difficult for youth, as obtaining the mastery over oneself iu the matter of harmful pleasures. The Apostle gives but few special directions here for his disciple's guidance, for he is going to tell him how he will best win these young men to the side of Christ. It will be, he proceeds to show him, most effectually done by the sight of the example of his own mauly, self-restrained religious life. (7) In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works.— Here St. Paul shows Titus that his especial work is the iustructiou of no oue peculiar class or order, or age or sex, but that he is so to fashion his whole life that it may afford a "pattern" to all — men and women, bond as well as free ; iu all things a ceaseless activity was prescribed to the superintending presbyter in Crete. In everything that was earnest and true, Titus ought to be the oue showiug an example to the rest ; in peaceful, quiet days, as in times of danger and threatening, he must set the pattern^now of useful labour and toil — now of brave, patient endm-ance for the Lord's sake. In doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity. — The older authorities omit " sincerity." Neither of the terms " uncorruptness " and " gravity " refers to the subject-matter of the "doctrine" or "teaching," but to the bearing and behaviour of the " teacher." While he occupies the place of a teacher, Titus must show in his life aud conversation " un- corruptness " — apthoria, the word found in the older authorities, the meaning of which differs very slightly from the woi'd adio}>thoria, found in the received text. He must, in all those points of his life which are connected with his teaching, show a purity {chastity) and freedom from all interested motives ; he must be above seekiug for popular applause ; but besides this " uncorruptness," in everj-thing touching public instruc- tion he must aim at a certain "gravity," not only in his public delivery of sermons and lectures, but also in his general private intercourse with his flock. He must, in a word, never forget ho is the chief teacher in the Church of Crete of his Master's religion. (^) Sound speech, that cannot be con- demned.— The substance of Titus' teaching, whether m the more private intercourse with individuals or in his preaching in the Christian gatherings, must Advice to be given TITUS, II. to Christian Slaves. contrary part may be asliamed, having no evil thing to say of you. ^^^ Exhort _, ..«-,„ servants to be obedient Chap. 11. 9, 10. , i 1 • 1 to Christian nnto their own masters, slaves. and to please them well in all things; not answering again ;^ not I Or, gninsayivg. •2 Or, that briiiyilh tail i'atiiftl to all vii)i, hath ap- pitired. purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. <^^' For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath i5!''Reasonf^ appeared to all men,^ these charges. be healthy, practical, manly, in contrast to the sickly, morbid, fanciful instruction tlie false teachers of Crete were in the habit of givinof. His words, too, must bo well weighed and tliouglitful, as well as earnest and impassioned ; they must be such as would expose liiin neither to contempt nor to the charge of presumption. Between the lines of the exhortation of the 7th and 8th verses we can read the anxiety of the Apostle that his representative in Crete should take all possible care that the matter of his teaching and preaching was studied and prepared with all the attention and thought so important a duty demanded. He should remember, too, that the words as well as the ivorks of the Christian teacher will be subject to a sharp and often hostile ci'iticisra. These warnings and reminders of St. Paul, it should be borne in mind, belong to all ages of the faith. That he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.— The older authorities, with one exception, read " of us," instead of " of you." If Titus fairly carries out the exhortation of the last two verses, then the enemy, either the false teacher or the Pagan opponent of Chris- tianity, confounded by the pure, self-sacrificing, earnest life, overcome by the well-weighed, thoughtful utter- ance of great truths, by the impassioned exhortation to men and women to lead noble, honest lives, will surely be ashamed of his bitter opposition, when he finds neither in the life nor in the teaching anytliing which he can fairly criticise as " bad." As tlie better supported reading, " of us," associates St. Paul and others with Titus, the evil thing which might have been said of Titus in reality woiild be spoken against St. Paul and the elder Apostles. (9) Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters. — The accurate translation here is bond servants. Tlie words in this and the following verse, it must be remembered, are addressed to " slaves." "With some special reference to the peculiar circum- stances of the Church in Crete, St. Paul had been giving general directions to his representative (verses 1 — 8) respecting instruction and ad^nce he considered it expedient should be given to the varied orders and ages of professing Christians in the island. These directions were arranged with respect to " ago" and " sex." He now turns to the question of the instruction of another largo class, among whom were to be found many Christians — " the slaves." These he masses together under one head. Not improbably these " words" to be addressed particularly to slaves were called out by some particular instances of insulwrdination and of im- patience under their unhappy condition among the Cretan slaves. Indeed, tlie repeated warnings to this unfortunate and oppressed class (see Eph. vi. .5 ; Col. iii. 22; I Tim. vi. 1) tell us that among the difficulties which Christianity had to surmount in its early years was the hard t;isk of persua teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world ; (1^) looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; thus : " Yes, exhort all classes and orders, every age of life, each sex, bond as well as free, to stnigglo after pure, good, righteous lives, for I tell you, iu very truth, like a sun on a diirkeucd world has the grace of God arisen witii salvation in its beams." Compare tho grand Isaiah passage, " Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee " (Isa. Ix. 1) ; and also the words of Malachi (iv. 2), " Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his ^vings." (See, too, Isa. ix. 2.) The thought of these passages was not improbably in St. Paul's ^dew while he wrote the words to Titus telling him to exhort his flock, for God's grace had appeared to all men. The Greek word translated "'appeared" occurs in Luke i. 79 and Acts xxvii. 20 — both writings closely connected with St. Paul, if not in great part ^vritten by him — and in each of tlieso passages it is used to express the shining of the sun. The "grace of God" here spoken of is tliat divine favour to and love for men upon which the whole work of redemption was based, the object of which redemption was the ultimate restoration of man. The epiphany, or manifestation of this grace to the world, commenced with the incarnation of our Lord ; but tho reference here must not be limited to that or to any one event in tho blessed Life. The expression "bringing salvation to all men" is another of those hard sayings which have been pressed into the service of that kindly but erring school of expositors which shuts its eyes to the contemplation of the many un- mistakable .sayings which warn the impenitent and hardened sinner of the sad doom of eternal death. The "grace" alone brings salvation to all men — in other words, it is that grace of God whereby alone it is possible for mankiiul to be saved. The expression by no means asserts that all men ivill be saved by it, but that it is the onlij means by which .salv^ation is possible. (12) Teaching us. — IjMm'aWy, disciplining ils ; edu- cating us by life's sad experiences. God's grace is in truth a stern discipline of self-denial and training for higher things. Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.— More accurately, to the intent that, having denied, &c. The object of the loWng discipline of our Father in heaven is that we, having done with those things iu life which are offensive or dishonourable to God, having put aside as worthless all inordinate desires for tho things of this world — all those things which exclusively belong to this life and have nothing to do with the life to come — having denied all this, that we should live as righteous men the remainder of our lives here. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly. — In these three terms the blessed life our Lord would have His own to lead on earth is summed U]) — to ourselves, to our neighbour, and to our God. The first, " soberly," to ourselves — wi-sely and temperately, keeping over a mastery over our passions ; the second, " righteously " — justly and honourably, having due regard to our duty towards our neighbour ; the third, "godly" — piously, ever remembering to live as in tho pi-esence of the Eternal. In this present world.— Or, in the present course of things. The Apostle adds these words to his sum- mary of the life Christians should lead, to remind them that the present world was but a transitory, passing scene after all, and that there was another and a different " course of things " at hand ; and this leads him on to another point. The manifestation of the " gi'aco of God," in the first coming of the Lord in humi- liation (verse 11), teaches us to live our lives in ex- pectation of the second manifestation of His glory in His second coming hi power (verse 13). We must — iu this great passage contained in verses 11 to 14 — bear in mind that there is a two-fold ej)iphany spoken of : the one, the manifestation of the " grace of God " — that is past (it was the first coming and the earthly life of Christ) ; the other, the manifestation of the " glory of God " — that is to come. It will be shown in the second advent when the Lord comes in glory with His holy angels ; and the first epiphany (manifestation) in humiliation is an ever-present reminder to us to live in continued expectation of the second in glory. (13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing. — The Greek should here be rendered, looking for the blessed hope and manifesta- tion of the glory. And that holy life, just urged on tho believer, of quiet self-restraint, of love to others, of piety towards God, must be lit up by a blessed hope, by a hope which is far more than a hope ; that holy life of the faithful must be a continued waiting for a blessed hope — " the hope laid up for us in heaven " (Col. i. 5). It may be asked, Wliat is this hope ? We answer, it is " the hope of glory " which we shall share with the Son of God, when we behold Him as He is. So for us the hope of glory is intimately bound up with the second coming of the Lord. Then the life of the lover of the Lord must be one continued looking for, waiting for, the coming of the Lord in glory — must be a looking for that hour when we shall see in all His divine majesty, Him who redeemed us. In that life and light, in that majesty and glory, His own will share. Of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. — The translation here should run, of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. From the English version, it would seem that Paul's idea was that tho Christian should live waiting for the glorious appearing of the great God, accompanied with our Lord Jesus Christ. The rendering we have adopted, on what seems conclusive grounds, speaks of a Christian life, as a life ever looking for the glorious appearing of our great God and SaWour Jesus Clirist. In this sublime passage tho glory of the only begotten Son alone finds mention. Taken thus, it is a studied declaration of the divinity of the Eternal Son, who is hero styled " our great God and Saviour." Reasoning merely on grammatical principles, either translation would be possible, only even then there is a presumption in favour of the translation we have adopted. (See Ellicott's Note on this verse.) But other considerations are by no means so nearly equally balanced. The word " manifestation " {epiphany), the central thought of the sentence, is employed by St. Paul in his Epistles five times, and in every one of them to describe the manifestation of Christ, and in four of them to designate the future manifestation of His coming in glory, as here. Tho term epiphany is never applied to the Father. Again, the whole of the context of the passage 258 Titus himself is earnestly TITUS, III. Exhorted hy St. Paid. (^^) who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar jjeople, zealous of good works. <^^' These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. CHAPTEE III.— (1) Put them in mind specially relates to the " Son of God." The iutroduc- tion of the epiphauy " of the Father " would be a tliought uot merely strange to the whole New Testa- ment, but would bring quite a new idea into this statement, which sets forth so sublimely the epiphany of Christ as the ground of the Christian's hope — an idea, too, no sooner suggested than dropped, for the passage goes on to speak only of tlie Son. Perhaps, however, the weightiest argument that can be adduced is the consensus of the Greek orthodox fathers, who, with scarcely an exception, concur in the interpretation which understands the expression " of our great God " as used of Jesus Christ. To select two examples out of the long chain of fathers reaching from the apostolic age who have thus imderstood this text : '■ St. Paul here calls Christ the great God, and thus rebukes the heretical blasphemy which denies His Godhead" (Theodoret). *' Wliat can those persons say," asks Chrysostom, referring to this passage, " who allege that the Sou is inferior to the Father?" (See Wordsworth's Note here.) (1^) Who gave himself for us.— (See Gal. i. 4; E^jh. V. 25.) These words take up the thought ex- pressed in the term " Saviour " of the last verse. " Himself," His whole self, as has been well said, " the greatest gift ever given ; " " for us," that is, on our behalf. That he might redeem us from all iniquity. — That He for us might pay a ransom, the ransom being His precious blood. Our Saviom*, by the payment of this tremendous ransom — O deepest and most un- fathomable of all mysteries! — released us from every- thing which is opposed to God's blessed will. Here the mighty ransom is spoken of as freeing us from the bondage of lawlessness ; elsewhere in the divine books the same ransom is described as delivering us from the penalties of this same breaking the divine law — " alles was der ordnung Gottes widerstreitet " (Hofmann, Commentary on Titufi). And piirify unto himself a peculiar people.— Tlie expression "a peculiar people" is taken from the LXX. translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, where the words occur several times (see Ex. xix. 5 ; Dent, xiv. 2); the idea is also purely an Old Testament one. Just as Jehovah wished to establish a people which should belong to Him (" peculiarly His," " His very own "), submitting to His laws, in contrast to the rest of mankind, lawless, idolatrous — so Jesus would set apart and purify for Himself a people, which for His sake should devote itself to God, in contrast to the rest of humanity sunk in selfish sins. As Israel of old lived under the constant impression that they would again beliold tlie visible glory of tlie Eternal, so His people now should live as men waiting for a second manifestation of If/.s glory. Zealous of good works. — The man who hopes to see the opipliany of Jesus his Lord and Love in glory will struggle zealously with hand and brain to live liis life in such a manner tliat he may meet liis Lord, when He comes in glory, with joy. It was a people com- posed of such " zealots " of goodness, of men longing lor His sake to do their utmost for His cause, that our great God and Saviour wished to purify unto Himself. (15) These things speak, and exhort, and re- buke with all authority. — These words are tho conclusion of this part of the Letter of St. Paul to Titus. A new division of the Epistle begins immediately after this verse with the third chapter. He is to speak the words — many of them sharp and bitter — told him by St. Paul ; he is to rememl)er now to exhort, now to rebuke, and all this " with authority," as chief pastor of the flock of Crete formallj^ commissioned and appointed. Let no man despise thee.—'" Speak," wrote the brave-hearted old man Paul, " speak with decision, and rebuke and punish if need be with vigour, remembering the dark character of the people with whom you have to do." And perhaps in the background of tliis stirring admonition of the aged master to his disciple, placed in so difficult and responsible a position, there is the anxious warning again : Yes, but show all diligence too in your own Avords and doings, so tliat every word of thine may have its full weight, that none may despise thee on account of thine own life. III. (1) Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers. — Yeiy careful and searching have been the Apostle's charges to Titus respecting the teachers of the Church, tlieir doctrine and their life ; very particular have been his directions, his warnings, and exhortations to men and women of different ages on the subject of their home life. But, with the exception of a slight digi-ession in the case of a slave to a Pagan master, his words had been written with a reference generally to Christian life among Christians. But there was then a great life outside the little Christian world ; how were the people of Christ to regulate their beha^-iour in their dealings with the vast Pagan world outside ? St. Paid goes to the root of the matter at once when he says, " Put them in mind," But after that the kindness and love ' of God our Saviour uo bitter opposition in after years to their tenets could cliill, no cruel persecution of individuals lessen. Augustine, writes Professor Reynolds, could boast tliat wlien Julian asked Christians to sacritice and offer incense to the gods they, at all hazards, sternly refused ; but wiien he summoned them to tight for the empire tliey rushed to the front. "They distinguished between their Eternal Lord and their earthly ruler, and yet they yielded obedience to their earthly ruler for the sake of their Eternal Lord." Least of any should we expect St. Paul to write such words, so loyal and faith- ful to Rome. He had found, indeed, Uttle cause in his chequered, troubled life to be grateful personally to the Empire ; with ears too ready had Rome ever listened to the cruel " informations " laid against him by his im- placable Jewish enemies ; she had imprisoned him, fettered him, hindered his work, and threatened his life; and when he was writing these deathless words of his, urging upun his devoted flock a loyalty changeless and true, for him the supreme vengeance of Rome was close at hand. To be ready to every good work. — Ready cheerfully to aid all lawful authority, municipal and otherwise, in their public works undertaken for city or state. The flock of Titus must remember that the true Christian ought to be known as a good citizen and a devoted patriot. (2) To speak evil of no man.— Tliese com- mands of St. Paul to the Church of Crete breathe throughout the spirit of Christ, who " when He was reviled, reviled not again ; " who said "' Love your encmifs, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefuUy use you and persecute you." The Christian in the days of St. Paul, and for " many days" after St. Paul had borne that gallant witness of his outside the gates of Rome, would indeed often bo called in sad earnestness to jjut in practice these charges of the Apostle. In days of persecution, in times of suspicion, when the Christian profession exposed men to hatred and to sore danger, when all men spoke e^-il of them, these words of St. Paul were remembered and acted upon, and not only in Crete. To be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.— Or better, not con- tentious, bitt,Sic. These characteristics were not common virtues in Crete, then the resort and mart of .so many different nationalities. Its singular situation in the Mediterranean, midway between Europe, Africa, and Asia, has been noticed, as have been the disiKJsitions and vices of the inhabitants. Surely, St. Paul urges, the professed followers of the Crucified among the Cretans should aim at a nobler standard of life than was common among these rough and often selfish traders. These things charged here by St. Paul were new virtues to men. They are held up to admiration by uo heathen moralists. The meekness signifies kindly forbearance. This Christian feeling, which looks lovingly on all sorts and conditions of men, on the stranger and the outcast, oven on the vilest sinner, is especially enjoined here. It is the same sweet spirit of love which desires, in I Tim. ii. 1, that prayer and supplication be made in the public Christian assembly /or all men. (3) For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived.— Better rendered. For loe were once ourselves foolish, disobedient, going astray. Surely, the Apostle argues. Christians can never refuse obedience to one in authority, or decline to be meek, court eous,kind, and forbearing to their neighbours, because, forsooth, they deem the magistrate in authority or their neighbotirs idolators, and therefore outside tho pale of God's mercy and tlieir courtesy ; for remember, writes St. Paul, we were once (not so long ago) our- selves in their condition. We once needed mercy our- selves. This strong appeal to Christians, by tho memory of their past, by the memory of what they once were, must liave gone home to one like Titus, liimself of a Gentile family, aud most probably nurtured in idolatry. It would, no dotibt, be rejieated with strange, touching earnestness, would this argument of St. Paul by Titus wheu he spoke to the assembly of the Cretan Christians. We were once ourselves "foolish," that is, without understandiug what was true ; and "disobedient," that is, unwilling, indisposed, to do what was right ; " deceived," or rather going astray (errantes), wandering away from the narrow road which leads to life. Serving divers lusts and pleasures.— This is the service we served in the old past days of our sin and shame, while we were "disobedient" to what was right and pure. We were obedient to, we were " serving " as slaves, many an impure lust, mauy a wrougful pleasure — for the lusts and pleasures to which St. Paul referred were those of the people with whom for the moment the Apostle was classing himself. The pleasures of these partly Greek, partly Asiatic peoples consisted, indeed, in the wanton siitisf action of the lusts of the flesh ; their shameless revellings were scarcely covered with their thin and flimsy veil of beauty and false refinement. Living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.— These pleasure-loA-ing, lust- indulging ones envied each one his neighbour the good things he pos.sessed ; and thus we — for ive, remember, were once of this number — once spent our lives in this atmosphere of liate, hating others with a jealous dislike, hated ourselves for the same reasons. Shall we then — once like them — now refuse all sympathy to these poor souls still left in ignorance and sin ? (4) But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.— Another thougiit now wells up in the Apostle's mind. We of ourselves should never ha\'B become changed men, had not the kindness of God and His divine love for men shown itself. We, indeed, have no ground for self-exaltation, no excuse for haughty treatment of others, either in tliought or action; for if we now live other aud purer lives than they live, our change to better and higher things was owing to no desert or merit of ours, but solely to the mercy and the love of God. The changed life is here solely attributed to the manifestation to man of the kindness aud love of God 260 Ueason given TITUS, III. firr tills Attitude. toward man appeared, (^) not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, ] Gr. richly. by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; *'^> which he shed on us abundantly ^ through our Savionr. Here Grod our Saviour, as in 1 Tim. i. 1, and in several other passages in the Pastoral Epistles, must be understood as "' God the Father ; " the " kind- ness " differs from the '' love towards man." The fir.st signifies generally that divine, measureless, all- comprehensive love which we know is the glorious attribute of God. The second expression tells of the special love which the Almighty has for man, and which has been so marvellously shown in the sacrifice and death of the Son of God for us. The two words — the measureless, divine love which embraces all creation, and the special love of God for man — taken together, make up the one idea expressed by the •' grace that bringeth salvation," of chap. ii. 11 of this Epistle. In the rare word philanthropia, the "love of God toward man," a quiet but very solemn reminder is given to those " Christians " who woidd have no dealings with their less pure heathen neighbours. The word applied here to God tells them to love men, even the enemies of their holy religion ; they are to obey the heathen magistrate, and to think kindly of and to act courteously towards their heathen neighbour, because God has loved men — all men. Here are they to be imitators of the divine pity, copyists of the divine love. (5^ Not by works of righteousness.— This by no means asserts that such works ever had been done, and then produced, as it were, before the bar of God, and weighed and found insufficient ; but it simply maintains that to win salvation such must be done. Sad experience, more forcibly than any theological assertion, has demonstrated to us all the utter impos- sibility of any of us, even the holiest, ever, even for one day, doing the works of a purely righteous man. But according to his mercy. — As there was nothing in us which called for such a salvation, as there were no acts of ours which deserved reward, His gift of salvation, which includes (verse 7) eternal life, was owing entirely to His divine love which saw and pitied our misery, our endless suffering. Out of this hopeless state the eternal pity lifted us, and put us into a state of salvation. The next clause specifies the outward and visible sign of the salvation our loving God was pleased to ordain in His Church, namely, " baptism ; " but here great care must be taken properly to understand what St. Paul meant by this baptism, to which he attributed so g^cat power. In St. Paul's mind it was no mere observance, but was a sacrament, in which all that was inward properly and completely accompanied all that was outward. In another place the'Apostle has grandly paraphrased his words here. In the Galatian Letter (chap. iii. 27) he writes how "that as many as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ," that is, have entered into -vital union with Him — a blessed state, which most surely leads to life eternal, if the baptised only remain faithful. By the washing of regeneration, and re- newing of the Holy Ghost.— Seeing, then, that God has saved us by His o\vn act, independentlv of any work of ours, we ask. How has He effected this ? The words we are here considering give the answer to the question. The Greek should be rendered, " by the laver of regeneration," &c. Then, by means of the laver of regeneration, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of Chap. iii. 8-11. eternal life. (^^ This is a Goo.1 works en- faithful sajmg, and these joined. things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed m God might be careful to main- tain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. ('-'' But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the (7) That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. — Ploro appoai-s tlio glorious design of Gotls salvation. We were in a hopeless and lost state, from which God's love for man saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation ; and this was the end for which He saved us — that toe should he heirs of eternal life. " Being justified," tliat is, freed from the future punishment and consequences of sin, and re- ceived into the favour and friendship of God, which favour and friendship had been, through sin, forfeited. " By His grace," by the favour and kindness of God the Father are we restored to His love and friendship. "Heirs," see Rom. viii. 17, where this thought of our heirship of heaven is enlarged. " According to the hope of eternal life;" this life eternal is still for us in the future, though ever present in respect of hope ; children of God we indeed are, and sharers in many a good gift of our Father, but eternal life, that gloi-ious in- neritance, is still in the far future, and as yet can only be enjoyed by us in hope, but it is a sure hope — eternal life — the hope of which is the mainspring of all Christian work and acti\^ty — though it includes it, of course, is something far more than mei'ely endless existence. A veil, impenetrable to mortal eye, hangs between us and the many man.sions of the Father's house. " It doth not yet appear what we shall be ;" we only know that then, we, in company with an innumer- able host of blessed beings, shall share in the beatific vision ; we only know that then " wo shall ever be witli the Lord ;" and that with tliis thouglit and with these words are wo to comfort one another. (See 1 Thess. iv. 17, 18.) (8) This is a faithful saying.— Then St. Paul, having, in those few but sublime Avords we have been considering, jiainted our present happy state — happy even on earth, whore the glorious promised iuhoritauco was still only a hope— and having shown how that this blessedness was the result of no efforts of our own, but that we owe it solely to the tender love and to the divine pity of God for man— cries out, Yes, " faithful is this saying !" And these things I will that thou affirm con- stantly.—I will that ever and again, in the con- gregation, these words of mine, woven into the tapestry of creed, or hymn of thanksgiA-ing or supplication, be repeated l)y the faithful believers in the Lord, to re- mmd them, not only of the glorious hope of eternal life, but also to bring Him to tlieir remembrance to whom they owe this glorious heritage ; and as they repeat or hear the words telling them of the wondrous mercy showed to tliem f )r no merit or desert of their own they will the more willingly think kindly of, and act loyally with, other men still living in that deep and loathsome darkness where they once dwelt, until God. in His pity, delivered them. Hearing tliis " faithful saying," thought tlie old man St. Paul, my children in Christ will surely be disposed to be more loyal subjects, more faithful citizens, more loving neighbours, though their civil magistrates, their fellow-citizens, their neigh- bours, be still idolaters, living without God in the 262 world. And there was yet another reason for the constant repetition of this " faithful saying : " men would see that they owed all their glorious Christian privileges, their present peace, their future hope, to God's free grace — that tliey had done nothing to deserve all this. Surely such a thought would spur them on to noble deeds, if it were only to show they were not wholly ungrateful. So he writes, Yes, affirm con- stantly this faithful saying. That they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. — But not only would St. Paul have them show their gratitude for the great mercy they had received, but he is specially anxious that they who by God's grace had been led into the Christian company should now not only quietly and unobtrusively take their ])art in good works, but should ever be careful to be forward in all such things ; he would have Christians conspicuous in their generous zeal to forward all good and useful undei'takings. " Good works " here by no means is con- fined to works of mercy and charity, though, of course, they include such, still they possess in this passage a far more comprehensive signification. All useful and beneficent undertakings, public as well as private, are reckoned among these '" good works." As was observed before, St. Paul's ideal Christian must be a generous, public-spirited man. In the eyes of this great teacher the cloistered ascetic would have found but little favour ; his hero, while ever the devoted, self-sacrificing lover of the Lord, must be known among his fellow-citizens " as careful to maintain good works." These things are good and profitable unto men. — The accui-ate translation of the Greek hero would be. These are the things ivhich are good and pro- fitable unto men; but the older authorities omit the article, ta, before kala. The rendering, then (omitting the article), as given in the English version, would be correct : " These things " — that is, this practical every- day teaching, which bids Christians distinguish them- selves among their fellow-citizens and countrymen in all generous and useful enterprises — in all good things, whether public or private — these things, says the Apostle, are good and profitable unto men ; in sharp contrast to the unpractical and useless points insisted upon in the false teaching, apparently too common in the Cretan Church, and against which Titus is earnestly warned in the next (9th) verse. (9) But avoid foolish questions, and gene- alogies.— The '• questions " and " genealogies " have been discussed above (1 Tim. i. 4). Tlie Apostle cha- racterises them as " foolish," because they were of an utterly unpractical nature, and consumed . time and powers whicli were needed for other and better things. Tlie " contentions " were disputes and wranglings which arose out of arguments advanced by different teachers upon the "questions" and "genealogies." The "striv- ings about the law " were, most pi-obably, arguments suggested by disputed and intricate points connected with the law of Moses. In the Talmud we possess un- numb(>red instances of all these strange and curious inquiries about which men then gravely disputed and How those that Separated TITUS, III. tliemselves are to be treated. law ; for they are unprofitable and vain. <^*^) A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject ; (^^^ knowing that he that is such is sub- verted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. ^^-^ When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tj-chicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis : for I have de- ?^^P,v^.i"- '^T. , • 1 i 1 i • i 15. Titus -will termined there to winter, be summoned {13J Bring Zenas the lawyer ^^^^, ^^ *^® and Apollos on their journey ^^^ wrangled, but none of which could in any way teach men how to make life more beautiful and loving, more like that fair pattern which St. Paul's Master loved. St. Paul, well versed — thanks to his early and elaborate training — in all this useless, curious lore, once and for all woiud expel from orthodox Christian teaching every- thing which seemed to bear upon this favourite Jewish theology — so called. It had, cancer-like, eaten the life out of Judaism ; it should not, if he could prevent it, poison in like manner the young life of Christianity. (10) A man that is an heretick. — The Greek word translated " heretick " in the New Testament occurs here only. The term " heresies " occurs twice (1 Cor. xi. 19; Gal. v. 20). In neither, however, of these passages does the word signify there a fimda- mental or doctrinal error. This sense belongs to a usage of later times. From the meaning of the word " heresy " in these passages of St. Paul, we are able to deduce the signification of the terra " heretic " here. The " heretic " of the Church in Crete appears to have been a man who, dissatisfied with the organisation and discipline introduced by Titus into the Christian com- munity— not improbably considering himself in some way slighted — withdrew himself from the common body, and gathering round him other discontented spirits, established what might be termed a rival Church in Crete. Although at fii-st, perhaps, no marked erroneous teaching forms part of the practice of such schismatics, still the tendency in such small rival communities is ever more and more to distinguish between tJieir teach- ing and that of the larger body from whom they, in the first instance, cut themselves adrift. After the first and second admonition reject. — The Greek word rendered " reject " woiild be more accurately translated shiin, or avoid. There was, no doubt, some self-willed factious party-leader in Crete well known to St. Paul to whom he referred here; but partly out of a lo\'ing hope that Titus would win him to his side, partly from the knowledge that this Letter was a public instruction to many a Church besides that of Crete, the disturber remained nameless. He was to be exhorted once, twice, and then if he remained contumacious he was to be left simply alone to his own devices. The community over which Titus presided in the place of Paul no longer were to know the obstinate heretic as a brother. (11) Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. — Better rendered, is perverted and sinneth, being self- condemned. Inasmuch as thou knowest, seeing that thy reproofs and warnings have been of none effect, that he is " thoroughly perverted " — the expression is a very strong one. and signifies literally hath been turned inside out. The same verb is used in the LXX. translation of Deut. xxxii. 20, the " very frotvard generation " of the English version — having been warned once and again, he is without the excuse of ignorance, but sins on in the full consciousness of his wilful and seditions life. His perverse conduct in stirring up party-feeling in the Church publicly con- victs him of doing the very wrong which in general he professes to condemn. With these words the public or official portion of the Letter to the presiding presbyter in Crete closes. Paul had begun with directions how the church life of the island — up to this period ap- parently devoid of organisation — was to be arranged ; ne concludes with instructions how to deal with any who presumed to set themselves in opposition to his plans for the government of the community. The central portion of the letter is occupied in discussing how Christian doctrine is to influence the lives of those accepting it, and especially it treats of the conduct of Christians towards the Pagan world, with whom they will necessarily be brought in contact. (12) When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me.— But Titus is here reminded — perhaps with some reference to the c^uestion of the treatment of the factious or heretic persons just alluded to — that he is only the temjiorary ruler of the Cretan Church, on a special commission of the great missionary Apostle. Kot im- probably one of these two was intended to supply the place of Titus when this favourite and trusted assis- tant of St. Paul was recalled to his master's side. Of Artemas nothing certainly is known. Tradition, how- ever, makes him suteequently Bishop of Lystra. Tychicus is mentioned in five of the Xew Testament writings— in Acts xx. 4; Col. iv. 7 ; 2 Tim. iv. 12; and here. He seems to have been one of the most esteemed of St. Paul's friends. He speaks of him as a beloved brother, a faithful miuister and fellow-servant in the Lord ; and the importance of the missions with which he was entrusted by his master to distant churches shows us how high this disciple stood in the opinion of St. Paul. To Nicopolis : for I have determined there to winter. — Tliere are several cities bearing this name — in Cilicia, in Thrace, and in Epirus ; and considerable doubt prevails as to which the Apostle has been re- ferring. On the whole, the Kicopolis in Epirus seems the most likely spot for the Apostle to have fixed on. This city was built by Augustus after the battle of Actium, whence it derived its name, " the City of Victory." (13) Bring Zenas the lawyer.— A name contracted, as it seems, from Zeuodorus. The term " lawyer " might pos.sibly indicate that this friend of Paul's was a Roman jurist, but it is more likely that the law in which he was an expert was that of Moses. Hippo- lytus numbers him among the seventy disciples, and relates how in after years he was Bishop of JDiospolis. He is never mentioned by name in the New Testament, except in this place. And Apollos. — This famous teacher appears often in the New Testament records, in the Acts and several of the Epistles. A distinguished Alexandrian scholar and a disciple of John the Baptist, he was converted to Christianity by the agency of the devoted Priscilla and Aquila, the- tent -makers. He became the friend and in- timate associate of St. Paul, and might, had lie chosen, have rivalled or even sui>erseded St. Paul in his supreme authority over the churches planted along the Meditcr- k 263 Filial Injunction to the People of TITUS, III. Christ to he zealous in Good WorJcs. diligently, that notliiiif:: be "vvantiiif}^ unto tlieni. <^*' And let our's also learn to maintain good works ' for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. <^^^ All that are with me salute thee. Greet 1 Or, pro/ets honest trader. them that love us in the faith. Grace he with you all. Amen. IT It was written to Titus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretians, from Nico- polis of Macedonia. ranean seaboard. But Apollos seems resohitely to have declined any sudi rivalry, and to have lived ever a.s the loyal and devoted friend of the great Apostle ; wlio, however, always seems to have treated the learned and eloquent Alexandrian as an equal power in the Churcli of Christ, classing Apollos with St. Peter and himself. Luther's well-known suggestion that Apollos was tile imkno^vu writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews • — " auctor Epistolae ad Hebraeos . . . ut ego arbritror Apollo"— the authorship (though not the canonicity) of which has been a disputed point as far back as the days of Oriffen, in the first half of the third century — has been auojjted, though, of course, with much reserve, by many. Attention has been called to the somewhat re- uiarLible fact that the names of these three friends of St. Paul, who were classed among his most faithful adherents in this almost the last Epistle he wrote, were derived from three of the most famous heathen deities — Zenas from Zeus ; Artemas from Artemis, the famous tutelary goddess of Ephesus; Apollos from the well- kno^vn sun-god. (1*) And let our's also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses.—" Ours," that is, those who with St. Paul and Titus in Crete called upon the name of Jesus. A last reminder to the brethren, whom with a loving thought he calls " ours," constantly to practise good and beneficent works. In the expression '• let ours also learn," it would seem as though St. Paul would have Christians trained to the wise and thoughtful performance of works of mercy and charity. It was with such injunctions as these that men like St. Paul and St. James laid the foundation storeys of those great Christian works of charity — all undreamed of before the Resurrection morning — but which have been for eighteen centuries in all lauds, the glory of the religion of Jesus — one grand result of the Master's presence with us on earth, which even His bitterest enemies admire ^vith a grudging admiration. In the short compass of these Pastoral Epistles, in aU only thirteen chapters, we have no less than eight special reminders to be earnest and zealous in good works. There was evidently a dread in St. Paul's mind that some of those who professed a love of Jesus, and said that they longed after the great salvation, would content themselves with a di'eamy acquiescence in the great truths, while the life remained unaltered. It is note- worthy that these Epistles, containing so many urgent exhortations to work for Christ, were St. Paul's last inspired utterances. The passages in question are chaiJS. i. 16; ii. 7, 14; iii. 14; 1 Tim. ii. 10; v. 10; vi. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 21. (15) All that are with me salute thee.— It is un- certain where Paul was when he wrote this letter. " All that are with me " include those Avith him, journeying in his company. They are not named, because the individuals composing the immediate fol- lowing of St. Paul would be likely to be well known to Titus. Greet them that love us in the faith.— An in- clusive greeting, embracing each member of the Cretan Church whose love to him (St. Paul) was based upon the common faith in the Lord Jesus. Greet all who love me, as the earnest preacher of their faith and mine. Amen. — The greater number of the ancient autho- rities omit " Amen." 264r THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO PHILEMON. INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE OP PAUL TO PHILEMON. I. The Date, Place, and Occasion of the Epistle. — These are all perfectly clear. The Epistle is of the same date as the Epistle to the Colossians, sent by Ouesimus, who was one of the bearers of that Epistle (Col. iv. 9); dwelling emphatically on St. Paul's imprisonment (verses 1, 9), looking forward confidently to a speedy release and a retmm to Asia (verse 22). Even the salutations, with one exception, are the same in both (verses 23, 24, comp. with Col. iv. 10 — 14). It is written to intercede with Philemon for Onesimus, his slave — fom;orly " unprofitable," a runaway, and probably a thief, but now converted to a new life by St. Paul at Rome, and after his conversion becoming at once " profitable " to St. Paul for ministration in his captivity, and likely to be profitable also to his old master, to whom, accordingly, St. Paul sends him back, with this letter of intercession. n. The Persons to whom it is addressed.— All we know of Philemon is gathered from this Epistle. It is nowhere actually said he was a Colossian ; but this is inferred from the fact that Onesimus, his slave, is described as of Colossse (Col. iv. 9). It is clear that he was St. Paul's convert; but, as the Apostle had not visited Colossse (Col. ii. 1), we may probably conjecture that he had been brought imder his influence during his long stay at Ephesus. Possibly, like Epaphras (Col. i. 7), he had been, under St. Paul's auspices, an evangelist of his native place. For he is evidently a man of mark ; " the Church " gathers " in his house ; " he is able, by his love, " to refresh the hearts of the saints," probably by temporal as well as spiritual gifts; to him St. Paul entrusts the charge of preparing a lodging for his hoped-for visit, and describes that visit as " being granted," " through his prayers," to him and his. We note also that the Apostle treats him as almost an equal — as a " brother " (not " a son "), as " a fellow-labourer," and as a " partner." This last phra.se — used distinctively, and without any words of limitation to some particular work — is unique. It occurs in close connection with the promise on St. Paul's part to take upon himself the pecuniary respon- sibility of any default of Onesimus — a promise empha- sised by the writing of a bond of obligation in legal form. Accordingly, it has been sup))OS(Hl that Philemon was St. Paul's partner in the "tent-making" by which he maintained himself with Aquila and Priscilla — first, certainly, at Corinth (Acts xviii. 3), and afterwards, as it appears (Acts xx. 36), at Ephesus ; that he may have still had in his hands some of the money earned by that common labour, and that from this St. Paul offers to discharge the obligation taken upon himself for Onesimus. The supposition is ingenious, and cer- tainly quite possible ; but it revolts against all our con- ceptions of St. Paul's character to suppose that he would work beyond what was actually necessary for main- tenance, so as to accumulate money, and keep a regular debtor and creditor account with Philemon. Nor is it easy to see why, if this was so, he should have so urgently needed in prison the supplies sent from Philippi (Phil. iv. 10 — 13). Accordingly, it seems better to refer the " partnership " or " communion " (see verse 6 of the Epistle) principally, if not exclu- sively, to some united work of evangelisation or bene- ficence (possibly devised during the common labour at Ephesus) for the Churches of Asia, and especially for the Church of Colossse. Ecclesiastical tradition, as usual, makes Philemon the Bishop of Colossse in the hereafter. Of Apphia we know nothing, except that tradition, and the style in which the Epistle mentions her, both support the idea that she was Philemon's wife. Archippus, a minister of the Church, either of ColosssB or Laodicea (see Note on Col. iv. 7), is on the same ground supposed to have been his son. The tone of the whole Epistle gives the impression of some wealth and dignity in the family, nobly used for the relief of necessity and the knitting closer of the bonds of Christian unity. III. The Genuineness of the Epistle.— It is notable that, unlike tlie other two personal Epistles — the Second and the Third of St. John, if, indeed, the Second be really personal — this Epistle found its place in all catalogues, from the Muratorian Canon down- wards, and in all the ancient versions. "We might have supposed that, in respect of such reception, it would have suffered from the improbability of any jniblic reading in the Church, from the want of adaptability to theo- logical or ecclesiastical uses, and from the idea which seems to have prevailed — which is noticed by St. Chry- sostom on the Epistle, and which St. Jerome in his preface to the Epistle (vol. vii., p. 742. ed. Vallarsii, 1737) refutes with his usual strong sense and trench- ancy — that the occasion and the substance of the Epistlo were too low for the Apostolic inspiration. " They will have it," St. Jerome says, " either that the Epistle which is addressed to Philemon is not St. Paul's, or that, even if it bo his. it has nothing in it tending to our edification; and that l)y many of the ancients it was re- jected, since it was •written for the purpose merely of commendation, not of instruction." But this kind of criticism did not prevail against the common acceptance of its authenticity. Even Marcion did not tamper with it, as TertuUian (adv. Marc. v. 42) and St. Jerome ex- pressly declare. Origen, the great critic of the East, 267 PHILEMON. as St. Jerome of tlie West, quotes it witliout liesitation. ]ii tlie Churcli gciienilly it rt'inaiued uusliaken as one of tlio Epistles acco^tted by all. In the laiger cntieisiii of modem times the very reasons which induced doubt in the fourtli and fifth centuries will be accepted as the strongest internal evidence of its genuineness. The utter improbability of the forging of such an Epistle, whicli admits of no controversial or directly theological use, the exquisite Ijcauty and naturalness of the wliolo style, even tlie vivid i)icture which it gives of an ancient Christian family — all have been felt to preclude any except the most wanton scepticism as to its genuineness. It is liard to conceive liow any one can read it witliout feeling that wo have in it a picture of the Apostle of the Gentiles, which we could ill afford to lose, but which 110 hand, except his own, would have ever ventured to paint. IV. The Substance of the Epistle.— The great interest of this Epistle is two-fold — (1) in its personal relation to St. Paul's life and character, and (2) in the light which it throws on the attitude of the gospel towards slavery. (1) It is the only strictly private Letter of St. Paul — the one survivor, we may suppose, of very many — preserved to us in the Canon of Holy Scripture. For nil the other Epistles are either Letters to the Churches, or Pastoral Epistles of authoritative direction. Accord- ingly it exhibits the Apostle in a new light. He throws oti, as far as possible, his Apostolic diguity, and his fatherly authority over his converts. He speaks simply as Christian to Christian. He speaks, therefore, with that peculiar grace of humility and courtesy, which has, under the reign of Christianity, developed the spirit of chivalry, and what is called " the character of a gentle- man"— certainly very little known in the old Greek sind Roman civilisations — while yet in its graceful flexibility and vivacity it stands contrasted with the more impas- sive Oriental stateliness. It has been customary and natural to compare with it a celebrated letter of the younger Pliny on a like occasion {E}). ix. 21, quoted in Dr. Lightfoot's Introduction). But in Pliny himself there was a tone of feeling differing very much from the more ancient Roman character, approaching more nearly to the modern type. It would be curious to inquire, whether in this tone of character, as in the actual tenets of the later Stoicism, there miglit not be some unknown and indirect influence of the Christianity, which as yet would have been probably despised. Nor ■will the comparison for a moment place even the highly accomplished and cultivated Roman on a level with the Jewish tentmaker of Tarsus. Tliere is to us a vivid interest in the glimpse thus given into the private and personal life of St. Paul. Wo note, for example, the difference of tone — the greater pathos and the less unqualified rejoicing — in which he speaks of liis captivity. We observe the gladness witli wluch, wlien lie rightly may, he throws off the isolation of authority, and descends into tlie familiarity of equal intercourse, lingering with an obvious delight in the very word " brother," which breathes the very spirit of freedom and equality. We see how, under the Apostolic mission, as uuder the Apostolic inspiration, free play of personal character and of familiar companionship could still live and flourish. We seem to know St. Paul better, even as an Apostle, because we are allowed to see him when he chooses not to be an Apostle, but a " partner," and, moreover, " such an one as Paul the aged, and the prisoner of Jesus Christ." But, even beyond this, wo may fairly draw from this Epistle a priceless lesson, as to the place which true courtesy and delicacy occui)y iu Christian character, and especially as to their entire compatibility with high Apostolic enthusiasm, with a keen insight into realities as distinct from forms, and with the greatest possible plainness of speech in duo season. We feel, as we read, how little it accords with the idea that Christian men and Christian ministers " have nothing to do with being gentlemen." We understand how true courtesy, as distinct from artificial and technical culture of manners, is the natural outgrowth of the " lowliness of mind " in which " each esteems other better than himself," and of the sympathy of love which " looks not only upon our own things," but, even in greater degree, " upon the things of others." (2) But of far greater interest still is the illustration of the attitude assumed in the New Testament, and in the early Church, towards the monstrous institution of slavery. How deeply that institution of slaA'ery was en- grained in all the history of antiquity, both Eastei'n and Western, wo know well. Nor will this surprise any one who remembers that inequality — physical, mental, and spiritual — is, quite as truly as equality, the law of human life. Service and lordship, in some sense, there must always be ; and it is absui'd to deny that this law is, because we wish that it were not, or perhaps think that it ought not to be. But equality is tlie law of the primary qualities and rights of human nature ; inequality only of the secondary qualities and rights. If this relation be reversed in practice, we pass from what is natural to that which, however frequent, is yet fatally unnatural. Slavery is just such a reversal. Because one race is stronger, abler, more commanding, more civilised than another, this is made a ground for crush- ing out, in the weaker race, all the essential attributes of humanity. Primarily by the unnatural agency of war, secondarily by systematised organisation in peace, the slave is made to cease to be a man : ho is treated simply as a brute beast of somewhat higher organisation and usefulness than his fellows, or even " as a living chattel or machine " — ha-ving no rights whatever, excc])t those which humanity may teach towards the lower crea- tures, or expediency enforce in relation to the machinery of the prosperity and progress of the master. Since, in some sense, freedom of action and cultivation bring out natural inequalities more and more strikingly, slaveiy, in the absence of some counterbalancing power, rather advanced than receded with the progress of heathen ci\'ilisation. Under the Roman empire, dei>cnd- ing mainly on organised force rather than on intellectual cultivation, it presented this characteristic and intole- rable incongruity, that it lield in bondage men at least as noble in race as their conquerors, men even more liighly cultivated, and heirs of more ancient civilisa- tions. That the Old Testament should recognise the exist- ence of slavery, especially in inferior and degraded races, was only to bo expected. That slavery under the patriarchal simplicity should liave been lighter than under the higher ci\'ilisation of the nation of Israel, though at first sight startling, is yet, on more careful thought, seen to be natural. That the Mosaic law should attempt only to mitigate the irresponsible despotism of the master, and that in this respect it should make a marked distinction between the Israelite and the foreigner, is thoroughly accordant with our Lord's declaration, that it was made " for the hardness of men's hearts," and with the exclusiveness of privilege 268 PHILEMON. which it claimed in all things for the chosen race. Slavery, accordingly, continued in the Jewish people, though — thanks to those mitigations of the Law, to the protest against oppression and cruelty so familiar to lis in prophecy, and to the very influence of a spiritual re- ligion, wherever this was really accepted — it was actually very far milder than under Greece or Rome. Still it did exist. Nor will this surprise those who have duly weighed — what advocates and opponents of slavery, in dealing with the Old Testanieut, liavo constantly failed to weigh — the essentially imperfect and preparatory character of the Jewish covenant. But what lino woidd Christianity take ? Nothing, of course, could be clearer than that it was radically opposed in principle to the whole conception and prac- tice of slavery. For it brought out the fundamental equality or brotherhood of all, in the regenerate human nature, in which "there was neither Jew nor Greek, bai'barian, Scythian, bond nor free." It devoted itself with a very special earnestness to redress all existing inequalities, by exalting the humble, by glorifying weak- ness, by restraining the self-assertion of strength. Above all, it consecrated that brotherhood in Jesus Christ ; its whole conception of the spiritual life consisted in the union of each individual soul with God in Christ, so giving to individuality a sacreduess utterly incompa- tible with the very possibility of absolute despotism of one Christian man over another. But of carrying out the principle there were two ways. One was, so to speak, " of law," embodjdng it at once in a declaration of freedom, abrogating all slavery within the Christian Church, pi-otestiug against it, as against all moral evils, in the world at large. The other was " of the Spirit," proclaiming the great truth of brotherhood in Christ and sonship of God, and then leaving it gradually to mould to itself all institutions of society, and to eradi- cate whatever in them was against God's fundamental law, reasserted in the word of Jesus Christ. Now of these two ways it is not hard to see that to adopt the former way would have been to revolutionise suddenly the whole of society, to pi-each (though unwillingly) a ser^nle war, and to arm all existing governments by the very instinct of self-preservation against the infant Church, which, even as it was, excited their suspicion and alarm. Independently of all thought of consequences, we could not but anticipate that by its very nature Christianity would take the way of the Sjiirit, rather than the Law. But there can be no doubt that, historically, this was the Avay which it did take without hesitation or reserve. The principle laiil down broadly by St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 20 — 24) was that "every man should abide " in the outward condition *' in which he was called," only " with God," in the new spiritual unity vni\i God sealed to him in the blood of Jesus Christ. He applied that principle to the ca.ses of cir- cumcision and uncircumcision, marriage and celibacy; he did not slirink from appljang it for the Christian community to the case of submission to " the powers that be," even to death, and for tlu^ individual to the crucial and extreme case of slavery and freedom. How- ever we may inteq)ret his words in 1 Cor. vii. 21 (where see Note), they clearly imply that to one who is at onco "the Lord's freeman" and "Christ's slave " the out- ward condition matters comparatively little. It may be that in this case, as in the case of marriage, St. Paul was partly influenced by the consideration that " the time was short." Yet his teaching really de])ended, not on this expectation, but on the fundamental principle and method of Christianity. The declaration, " Not now a slave but a brother," a " brother beloved," and " a brotlier beloved in the Lord," brought the forces of human duty and human affection, under the inspiration of religious faith, to bear on the prison-house of slavery. Deeply founded as its walls were, and cemented by the use of centuries, they could not but fall under the com- bined attack of these three irresistible powers. Meanwhile the gospel set itself to two immediate works. First, to raise the self-respect of the slave, to comfort his sorrow, to nerve him to bear the hardships of his cruel lot. This it did sometimes by glorifying suffering, in the bold declaration to the slave that his suffering, whatever it was, was a brotherhood in tho suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself " took upon Him the form of a slave," and " suffering for us left an ensample," in which even the helpless and desjjised slave could "follow His steps" (1 Pet. ii. 18 — 25). Sometimes, on tho other hand, by setting forth to him the spiritual freedom, which no " master after the flesh " c(nild take away, and by declaring that all service was ultimately a service to the Lord, to bo rendered not only " from the heart," but " of good will," and rewarded hero and hereafter with tho heavenly prize (Ei)h. vi. 5 — 8; Col. iii. 22 — 25). Under both these convictions it taught the slave still to bo patient under " subjection," till the end should come. Next, Christianity turned to the masters. It bade them remember their responsibility to the same Master in heaven, under whom their slaves served, and who would certainly make, in His strict retribution, no " respect of persons ; " it claimed that they should " do the same things " to their slaves, recognising a mutual duty, and giving them all that was "just and equal," due to the indefeasible rights of humanity ; above all that they should recognise in them a common brother- hood in Chi'ist. Now this is precisely the line which St. Paul pursues in respect of Onesimus. He, the runaway slave of Philemon, apparently an idler and a thief, had made his way to Rome, " the sink," as its writers bitterly complained, " of the civilised world." There St. Paul had somehow found him, and had regenerated the true huu.anity which had been degraded in him. He had found him a dear son ; he had telt the comfort of his affectionate ministration. How deeply this had impressed on his mind the whole question of slaves and masters we see by the strong emphasis, marked by almost verbal coincidence, with which, in the Ephesian and Colossian Epistles, he dwells on the subject gene- rally. But, coming to the particular case, he bids One- simus acknowledge the mastership of Philemon, and go back to submit to him, and to offer atonement for his past misdeeds and flight. He will not even interpose by authority, or, by keeping Onesimus at Rome, put any constraint on Philemon's freedom to use his legal power. But he sliows, by his own example, that the slave is to be treated as a son. He sends him back, not as a slave, but as " a brother beloved in the Lord." He " knew that Philemon would do ven more than ho said." He may have looked forward in prophetic fore- sight to the time when tho whole Christian community, like Philemon, should draw the infercTice, unspoken but irresistible, and set absolutely free those who were not slaves, but brethren. That expectation has been realised. It is rcmarkablo that from very early days tho iron cnielty of this Roman slave law l>egan to give way. AVe may allow much in this respect to the growing dominion of universiil law, and to the influence of the nobler pliilosophies; but we may be permitted to doubt whether tlie unacknowledged prin- ciules of Christianity were not already leavening public 2C9 PHILEMON. opinion, and beginning to make the change even in law, which was afterwards seen in the codes of Christian em- I>erors. But one thing is certain historically, tliat in the abolition, certainly of ancient serfsliip in Europe, and perhaps of modern serfsliip in Russia, in the pro- hibition of the slave trade, in the great sacrifices for emancipation made by England in the last generation, and the United States of America in tliis, it was Chris- tianity, and not simple philanthropy, which actually did the beneficent work. The battle was the battle of humanity ; but it was fought under the banner of the Cross. Even while we wonder that the victory should have been so long in coming, we must confess that it lias been won ; and against all forms of mitigated slavery in modem society, experience certainly warns us to trust, not to the sense of common interest, the con- viction of mutual duty, or even the enthusiasm of philanthropy, but to the faith which recognises in the poorest and the weakest, even in the idler and the sinner, " a brother beloved in the Lord." 2;a THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO PHILEMON. (1) PAUL, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, Jafutetion" ^ iinto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowla- bourer, (2) and to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house : *^^ grace to you, and peace, from God and the Lord Jesus Christ, my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, (^^ hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord our Father <*) I thank Verses 4 — 7. Thanksgiving for Philemon's love and for the comfort derived there- from. [This Epistle di^ndes itself naturally into — (1) Salutation to Philemon and his house (verses 1 — 3). (2) Thanksgiving for their faith and love (verses 4—7). (3) Intercession fob Onesimits, as now the Apostle's "son" in the faith, and "the brother," not slave, of his master Philemon, with promise to make good any default of his in times past (verses 8 — 20). (4) Conclusion, expressing St. Paul's confidence in Philemon, his hojje of visiting them, and final salutation (verses 21 — 25).] (1) A prisoner of Jesus Christ.— It is interesting to note the substitution of the name " prisoner," appealing to sympathy, for the usual title of " Apostle," embodjnng a claim to authority. In the other Epistles of this period (see Eph. iii. 1 — 13 ; iv. 1 ; vi. 20 ; Phil. i. 12 — 20; Col. iv. 18) the Apostle's captivity is dwelt upon mainly as a ground of glory and thankfulness, only secondarily as a cause for sympathy. Here, on the contrary, in this personal Epistle, and in accord- ance with St. Paul's courteous determination " not to command, but for love's sake to entreat," the latter aspect assumes an almost exclusive prominence. Timothy.— Comp. Phil. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1. Here, as in the other Epistles, the salutation includes Timothy, as desiring to imply in him, St. Paul's " own son in the faith," a closeness of connection and sympathy with the Apostle not found in others. But in all cases, and especially in this, the Letter is emphatically the Letter of St. Paul alone. Philemon. — See Introduction. (2) Apphia. — Tlie name is usually taken to be the Roman name Aj^pia. But the occurrence of such a name in a Grseco-Asiatic family, though of course possible, is perhaps improbable ; and Dr. Lightfoot has shown that it occurs in the form Apphia in many Phrj'gian inscriptions, and may therefore be naturally supposed to be a native name. There seems little doubt that Apphia was Philemon's wife, like himself " the beloved." though not the " fellow-labourer " or "partner" of St. Paul. Archippus our fellowsoldier.— From this men- tion of Archippus we may certainly conclude that he was a member of Philemon's family ; the ordinary con- jecture makes him his son. The name " fellow-soldier," applied elsewhere only to Epaphroditus (Phil. ii. 2.5), as the name " soldier of Jesus Christ " to Timothy (2 Tim. ii. 3), appears to denote ministerial office in Archippus, which agrees with the charge to him in Col. iv. 18 to " take heed to his ministry and fulfil it." Church in thy house.— See Note on Col. iv. 15. The specially domestic and personal character of the Epistle need not induce any hmitation of the phrase to Philemon's own family. As the joining of Timothy's name in giving the salutation did not prevent the Letter from being St. Paul's only, so the joining the Church in the house in the recei\dng of the salutation does not prevent its being addressed only to Philemon and his family, who were, like himself, interested in Onesimus. W I thank my God . . .— Xote the almost exact verbal coincidence with the salutations in Eph. i. 15, 16 ; Phil. i. 3, 4 ; Col. i. 3, 4, with, however, the natural distinction that this is briefer and simpler in style. (5) Thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints. — This description of a faith directed not only to the Lord Jesus, but to all the saints, has perplexed com- mentators, and called out various explanations. (1) One is that "faith" here (as in Rom. iii. 3; Gal. v. 22) is simply fidelity ; but this can hardly be accepted as an explanation of so well-known and almost technical a phrase as " faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ." (2) Another, noting the distinction in the original between the two prepositions here — the former {pros) signifying direction towards, and the latter {eis) actual contact with, its object — explains the phrase as signi- fying " the faith which has as its object the Lord Jesus Christ, but which shows itself practically towards all saints." But this, even if the word "hast" will bear this gloss, seems too artificial for such a Letter as this. (3) The comparison with the contemporaneous Letter to the Colossians — where we read. " your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love toward all the saints " (Col. i. 4) — seems to clear up the matter. We have hero an equivalent phrase, in which, however (by what the grammarians called chiasmus), the extremes and means correspond to each other. The idea which runs through the Letter is Philemon's " love to the saints." In writing of that love St. Paul cannot refrain from 271 Joy in Philemoiis love. PHILEMON. Entreaty to him for lovers sake. Jesus, and toward all saints ; ^^^ that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledg- of every good thinj? which is mer in you in Christ Jesus. ^''^ For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. (^) Where- fore, though I might be yei^es 8-U. much bold in Christ to en- Intercession for join thee that which is con- Onesimus. venient, (^^ yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of rcfcrrinnf it to its true origin — the faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence tJie broken phrase. The sense seems therefore to be that which in some MSS. has been brouglit out by a natural correction, "thy faith towards the Lord Jesus, and thy love to all the saints." (6) That the communication of thy faith . . . — Tlie general idea of St. Paul's prayer for Philemon is clear — that his " faith may become effectual," i.e., enei'getic and perfected, " in full knowledge." This is exactly the prayer which, in ditfex'ent forms and degrees of empliasis, opens all the Epistles of the Captivity. (See Eph. i. 17 ; Phil. i. 9 ; Col. i. 9.) It describes the true order of Christian life, so fully and beautifully drawn out in Eph. iii. 17 — 19, beginning in faith, deepened by love, and so growing to knowledge. But it may be asked, " Why the communication of thy faith ? " (1) The phrase is unique, but the word rendered " communication " is the well-known word generally rendered "communion," or "fellowship," except where (as in Rom. xv. 26 ; 2 Cor. viii. 4; ix. 13; Heb. xiii. 16) it is used technically and derivatively of " the communieation " of almsgiving. The phrase, therefore, sliould probably be rendered the " communion of thy faith," i.e., " thy fellowship in faith." (2) But, again, the question arises, " With whom is this fellow- ship ? With God or man ? " The answer probably is, "With both." Perhaps for growth in divine know- ledge the communion need only be with God. But we observe that the knowledge is not merely " of eveiy good thing," i.e., of all that is of God, but of " every good thing wliich is in you (or, better, in us) to- wards Christ Jesus." It is, therefore, the knowledge of good — that is, of God's gift — as dwelling in man by the unity wliich binds all to Christ Jesus. (3) Now for knowledge of this, fellowship with man is needed, as well as fellowship with God. The soul which dwells alone with God, even in the holiest seclusion, knows what is good in the abstract, but not what is good in man in the concrete reality. But Philemon's house was a centre of Christian life. St. Paul might, there- fore, well speak of this his two- fold " fellowship in faith," and pray that it miglit grow into full knowledge at once of God and of man as in Him. (4) That all such growth must be " towards Christ Jesus," dependent on unity with Him and serving to deepen such unity, is the cliaracteristic doctrine of all this group of Epistles, especially (if the Colossian Epistle, of which Onesimus was ono of the bearers. (<■) The bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee.— Tlie same idea is hero carried on. St. Paul declares his special joy to have been that " the bowels (i.e., the hearts) of the saints, have been refreshed through thee." The word " refresh " is the very word used by our Lord in His gracious promise : " Come unto mo all ye that travail and are lieavy laden, and I will refresh you" (Matt. xi. 281 It is ultimately in Him that the hearts of the saints are refreshed. But in this case it was through the instrumentality of Philemon, by "the communion of faith," to which his active love was the means of welcoming them, and in which they had fellowship in Christ, both with the Father and with His children. (Comp. 1 John i. 3.) St. Paul uses the word " refresh " not unfrequently to express the relief and rest given by Christian fellowship on earth. (See below, verse 20 ; and comp. 1 Cor. xvi. 18 ; 2 Cor. vii. 13.) We find it in the Apocalypse aiiplied to the rest with Christ in heaven (Rev. vi. 11 ; xiv. 13). Brother. — The name is given to Philemon here and in verso 20 with a marked emphasis of affection, evidently implying some special intimacy of friendship, not apparently at Colossse (for see Col. ii. 1) ; but per- haps at Ephesus, during St. Paul's long stay there. Probably Philemon (whose son Archippus is supposed to have been) was St. Paul's equal in age, and although actually his convert is not addressed (as usual) as his " son in the faith." In this place, moreover, the title "brother" has a peculiar appropriateness : for the Apostle has been speaking of the love of Philemon, which made him a brother indeed to all in the family of Christ. (8—20) Here St. Paul enters on the main subject of his Letter — the recommendation to Philemon of his runaway slave, Onesimus. All thoughtful readers of the Epistle must recognise in this a peculiar courtesy and deli- cacy of tone, through which an afEectionate earnestness shows itself, and an authority all the gi-eater because it is not asserted in command. The substance is equally notable iu its bearing on slavery. Onesimus is doubly welcomed into the Christian family. He is St. Paid's son in the faith : he is to Philemon a brother beloved iu the Lord. In that recognition is the truth to which, both in theory and in practice, we may look as being the destruction of slavery. (8, 9) Wherefore ... for love's sake . . .—Still the same idea runs on. Philemon's love, shown iu Christian fellowship, is in the Apostle's mind; "there- fore," he adds, "for love's sake" — speaking in the spirit of love, to which he knew there would be a ready response — he will not command, as an Apostle, what is " convenient," i.e., seemly, in a Christian (comp. Eph. v. 14; Col. iii. 18), but Avill " entreat " as a brother. (9) Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. — At this time St. Paul must have been between fifty and sixty, and after a life of un- exampled labour and suffering he might well call him- self "aged," not, perhaps, in comparison \vith Philemon, but in relation to his need of ministry from his " son " Onesimus. It has been suggested by Dr. Lightfoot that we should read here (by a slight change, or without any change, in the original), the O7nbassador, and also the prisoner, of Jesus Christ. The parallel with Eph. vi. 20 — "for which I an\ an ambassador in bonds" — and, indeed, with the tone in which St. Paul in the other Epistles speaks of his captivity as his glory, is tempt- ing. But the change seems to take much from the peculiar beauty and pathos of the passage ; which from its appeal to love, rather than to authoi-ity, suits especi- ally with the thought, not of the glory of ambassador- ship for Christ, but of the weakness of an old age suffering in chains. 272 Commendation of Onesimus. PHILEMON. Intercession for him. Josus Christ, (i*^) I beseecli thee for my sou Onesimus, wlioui I have beg'otteu iu my bouds : ^^^^ which in time past tvas to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me : <^-) whom I have sent again : thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels : ^^'^^ whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel : (^"^^ but without thy mind would I do nothing ; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. (i^) For perhaps he therefore de- Verses 15—20. parted for a season, that I^J'^y^^ ^^at i, Till • rhilemon will thou shOUldest receive accept him for him for ever ; (^^> not now St. Paul's sake. as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, SiDecially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord? (^^j if thou count me therefore a partner. (10) My son. — Properly, my own child, whom I have hcijotten in my bonds, Onesimus. The name is withheld, till Philemou's interest is doubly engaged, for one who is the Apostle's " own child " (a name of endearment given elsewhere only to Timotliy and Titus), and for one who Avas begotten under the hardships and hindrances of imprisonment. At last the name is given, and even then comes, in the same breath, the declaration of the change in him from past uselessncss to present usefidness, both to the Apostle and to his former master. Onesimus. — Of Onesimus we know absolutely nothing, except what we read here and in Col. iv. 9. Tradition, of course, is busy with his name, and makes him Bishop of Beroea, in Macedonia, or identifies him with the Onesimus, Bishop of Ephesus, mentioned in the Ignatian Epistle to the Ephesians (chap. i. 2 — 6). The name was a common one, especially among slaves. (11) In time past . . . unprofitable, but now profitable. — The name Onesimus means " useful," or " profitable," though derived from a dilferent root from the words here used. It is hardly possi1)le not to see in this passage a play on words, though (curiously enough) this is not noticed by the old Greek commen- tators. St. Paul seems to say, " He belied his name in days past ; he will more than deserve it now." To thee and to me. — St. Paul says " to thee," for he was sendmg back Onesimus. He adds " to me," in affectionate notice of his kindly ministrations already rendered, to his spiritual father. (1-) Thou therefore receive him. — The word " receive " is not iu the best MSS. It is supplied here from verse 17 (apparently rightly in respect of sense) to fill up a broken construction in the original. Mine own bowels — i.e., my own heart, dear to me as my own soul. There is, indeed, an usage of the word which applies it to children as begotten of our own body. But this is hardly St. Paul's usage (see 2 Cor. vi. 12; Phil. i. 8; ii. 1 ; Col. iii. 12; and verses T and 20 of this Epistle), though it suits very well with the phrase " whom I have begotten " above. (1:5) Whom I would have retained. — ^In the original wo have hero a graceful distinction in two points between the two clauses. The verb in the first clause is " to wish ; " in tlie second " toAvill." Tlie tense in the first clause is the imperfect: " I was wishing," or " prepared to wish " (just as in Acts xxv. 22 ; and, in the case of a cognate verb, Rom. ix. 3), implying, perhaps, a suppressed condition ; in the second it is the past definite : " 1 willed," or " determined " finally. In thy stead. — Here, again, there is a certain deli- cacy of suggestion. A slave was his master's property ; he could act only on his master's behalf and by his consent. St. Paul is sin-e that Philemon's love for liim Would have gladly given that consent, and so made Onesimus an instrument of willing service to St. Paul. 84 273 (W) That thy benefit should not be . . .—The benefit derived from the service of Onesimus St. Paul acknowledges as coming from Philemon, because given with his consent. Ho will not keep Onesimus and ask that consent by letter, lest it should be " as it were of necessity : " i.e., lest it should wear even the semblance of constraint. (15) For perhaps he therefore departed (or, was parted). — This is a further reason for sending Onesimus back. St. Paul now touches on Onesimus' " being parted " from Philemon, using a phrase not only (as has been noted) euphemistic, but also one which suggested that his running away was, however un- consciously, overruled by a higher hand. God, in His wisdom, " parted " him from Philemon " for a season, that he might receive him for ever." The phrase "for ever" is the word always used for "eternal." The contrast with "for a season" might be satisfied here by the merely relative sense of "perpetual" or " life-long service ; " but, considering that the phrase is used in direct refei-euce to the brotherhood of the Communion of Saints, it is better to take it in its absolute sense, of fellowship iu the life eternal. (16) Not now as a servant, but ... a brother beloved ... in the Lord. — In these words we have at last the principle which is absolutely destructive of the condition of slavery — a condition which is the exaggeration of natural inferiority to the effacement of the deeper natural equality. (1) The slave — the "li\'ing chattel" of inhuman laws and philosophies — is first "a brother," united to his master by natural ties of ulti- mate equality, having, therefore, both duties and rights. (2) But he is also a " brother beloved." These natural ties are not only strengthened by duty, but made living ties by the love which delights indeed to respect the rights of others, but is not content without willingness to sacrifice even our own rights to them. (3) Above all, this is " in the Lord." The slave is bought by Clirist's blood, made a son of God. and therefore a brother to all who are members of the familj' of God. To reject and to outrage him is a rejection and outrage towards Christ. Compare St. Peter's striking comparison of the suffer- ings of the slave to the passion of the Divine Sufferer (1 Pet. ii. 18—24). They suffer with Him, and He suffers in them. It ha.s been proved historically that only by the aid of this last and highest conception has the brotherhood of love — too slowly, indeed, but yet surely — assumed reality. (See Introduction.) Specially to me, but how much more unto thee ?— St. Paul first emphasises his own love fur Onesimus, which, indeed, breathes in every line of the Epistle; but then goes on to infer in Pliilemon a yet greater affection — a natural love towards the nursling of his liouse, a spiritual love towards the brother "in the Lord," lost and found again. (17) A partner. — The title is peculiar. In the singular Suretyship for Onestmus. PHILEMON. ConfiJeiice in Philemon. receive him as myself. <'®> If he hath %VTOuj^ed thee, or oweth thee ou^'ht, put that on mine account ; (^^> I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay H : albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides. <-'"' Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord : re- Terses "1-25 ^^^^^ "^^ bowels in the Salutation and Lord. (-^^ Having confi- concliision. dence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. (^^ But withal prepare me also a lodging : for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you. ^-^^ There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus; (-*^ Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers. ^^^ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with your spirit. Amen. IT Written from Rome to Pliileinon, by One- siiuus a servaut. nnmber fin which it is naturally more distinctive) and iu absolute use, uucounectod with explanatory words (such as wo road iu 1 Pet. v. 1). it is nowhere else founrl, except in 2 Cor. viii. 23, where Titus is called St. Paul's '• partner and fellowhelper;" and even there the context defines the partnership as relating to the collection and ministration of alms. Here it can hardly refer to general Cliristian fellowship, which would re- quire some such words as " iu Christ," or " in the Spirit," and would not fully justify the strong personal appeal of the passjige. It must indicate some peculiar bimd of fellowsliip l>etween St. Paul and Philemon. Philemon was his convert (see verse 19) ; yet we notice that he writes to him not as a son, but as a brother. Endently ho was a leader in the Church at Colossse. Tradition, as usual, makes him its bishop. He must have been St. Paul's i)artner in some common work or special communion of familiarity. (See Introduction, sect. 2.) (18) If he hath wronged thee.— Properly, If he wronged thee, evidently referring to the time of One- simus' escape. '' If he oweth tliee ought" is similarly, in all probability, an allusion to some theft at the same time, couched in a hypothetical form, but implpng no doubt as to tlie fact. Put that on mine account. — Comp. a similar commercial metaphor in Pliil. iv. 15—17, and see Note tliere. It is strangely out of character with the whole tone of the Apostolic life to imagine (as some com- mentators have done) a regular debtor and creditor account bt'tween Pliilemon and St. Paul. (••') I Paul have written it with mine own hand.— St. Paul actually introduces here a regular bond couched in legal form, written (as, perliaps, the whole Letter was written) with his own hand. In so doing ho still continues the idea of the preceding vorso; but the following words show that, though willing to .stand to his bond, he knew Philemon too Well to suppos<* that he would accept it. It is cl.-ar from this passage that the Apostle had money which ho could right Iv call his own. At Epho- 8us, wliere he prolwihly first 'knew Philemon, it would probably 1)0 earned in the work willi Aquila and Pris- cilla, as at Corinth, and it is possible that some of it miglit still remain. In Rome now, it couhl liardly be from any other source than the offerings from the Church at Pliilippi. They were given him freelv; he might fairly spend tluMU on his own "son in the faith." Albeit I do not aay to thee . . .—Literally, not to my to thee. Hero St. Paul escapes from the business-like promise of the hist verse to the freer atmo.sjihere of spiritual rolations. He knew that this promise it was right for him to offer, but wrong f(ir Philemon to accept. Pliilemon owed his own self— his new self in Christ— to the Apostle. In that was a debt 274 which he could not repay, but would rejoice even in this smaller matter to acknowledge. (20) Let me have joy of thee.— Properly, may 1 liave pleasure, or profit, from thee : a phrase used especially of the mingled pleasure and help derived from children. (See Dr. Lightfoot's Note on this passage.) The word " I " is emphatic. St. Paul puts himself forward to plead for Onesimus, what he him- self could not plead. Nor can it be accidental that the word " profit " is the root of the name Onesimus. St. Paul says, iu effect, " May I find thee (as I have found him) a true Onesimus." Verses 21 — 25 contain the conclusion of the Epistle — hope to \'isit Philemon soon, salutation, and blessing. (21) Confidence in thy obedience.— It is curious to notice how, iu this conclusion, St. Paul seems to glide, as it were insensibly, out of the tone of entreaty as to an equal, into the authority of a superior. The word " obedience " is found in 2 Cor. vii. 15, there in connection with " fear and trembling." He preferred to appeal to Philemon's love ; he knew that in any case he could rely on his deference. Do more than I say. — This can hardly refer to anything except the manumission of Onesimus, and possibly his being sent back again to St. Paul. Exactly in this way Christianity was to work out the release of the slave — not by command, but by free and natural inference from its emphatic declaration of his true brotherhood in Christ. (") A lodging. — The word often signifies " hospita- lity " generally, which Philemon might naturally offer in his own house, but which St. Paul would not suggest or ask. I shall be given unto you. — Literally, as a favour from supreme authority. Comp. the technical and forensic use of the word in Acts iii. 14; xxv. 11 : for good in one case, in the other for e\*il. If he was so " granted," it would be by Cajsar instrumentally, by Gods overruling will ultimately. The passage, like Phil. ii. 24, but even more definitely, expresses St. Paul's expectation of a release which might enable him to visit the Ea.st again. It is curious that there is no similar allusion in the Colossian Epistle, sent with this. (23) jujy fellowprisoner. — Comp. Col. iv. 10, and see Note there. The salutations here correspond exactly in substance (though more condensed in style) with that passage, except that " Jesus, called Justus " (probably unknown to Pliilemon) is here omitted. (25) The grace . . .—This form of St. Paul's usual blessing is found also in Gal. vi. 18; Phil. iv. 23; 2 Tim. iv. 22. We notice by the word " your " that, like the opening salutation, it is addressed to all Philemon's family and " the church in his house." THE EPISTLE OP PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE HEBREWS. INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE OP PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE HEBREWS. As tlie Epistle to tlie Hebrews is presented to the reader in our Euglisli Bibles, various questions wliieli beset many other books of the New Testament appear to have no place. It is entitled " The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews " ; and from the subscrip- tion we learn that it was written in Italy and sent to its readers by the hand of Timothy. It is hardly neces- sary to say that, whether these statements have or have not a foundation in fact, they are wholly destitute of authority here ; for no ancient manuscript adds to the Epistle anything beyond the simple words " To the Hebrews," and even this inscription can scarcely have been affixed by the writer himself. Witliin the few pages at our disposal we can do little more than present a summary of the ancient evidence on the points in question and the chief results of modern investigation. I. Ancient Testimonies. Canonicity.— That the Epistle was known and read before the close of the first centmy is beyond doubt. The earliest Christian writing beyond the limits of the New Testament is the Epistle addressed to the Church of Corinth (about A.D. 95), by Clement, writing in the name of tlie Roman Church. This Letter contains no express quotation from any Book of the New Testament, and one only (the First Epistle of St. Paul to the same Church) is men- tioned by name. In several places, however, words from some of St. Paxd's Epistles are interwoven with the text without formal introduction. In exactly the same manner, but to a greater extent, does Clement make use of the Epistle to the Hebrews, as the following quotation (from cliap. xxxvi.) will show : " Throuali Him the Lord willed that we should taste the immortal know- ledge ; who, being tlie brightness (or, effulgence) of His majesty, is so much greater than angels as He hath inherited a more excellent name. For it is thus written : He who maketh His angels winds (or, spirits), and His ministers a flame of fire. But in regard to His Son tlius said the Lord : Thou art My Son, I have this day begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee nations as Thine inheritance, and as Thy possession the ends of the eartli. And again He saith unto Him : Sit at My right hand, until I have made Thine enemies a footstool of Thy feet." This passage does not stand alone ; but of itself it is sufficient to prove that the Epistle was well known to the Roman Church at this early date. The traces of the Epistle in the second century are clear, but not numerous until we reach its closing years. Quotations present themselves in the Homily wliich is commonly called Clement's Second Epistle, written at Corintli or Rome about a.d. IK); in writings of Justin Martyr (A.D. 14.')), Pijij-tus of Crete (A.D. 170), Theophihis, Bishop of Antioch (A.D. 18U). It is also important to note that tlio Epistle was one of the twenty. two books included in the Syriac version of the New Testament, the date of which is probably not later tlian A.D. 150. That Marcion should have rejected the Epistle, and that it is passed over in the Muratorian Fragment (probably written at Rome about a.d. 170) are points of little consequence ; for Marcion is known to have rejected wliatever conflicted with his system of doctrine, and the Latin document has not come do^vn to us complete. Oue testimony belonging to the close of the second or the beginning of the third century is of great interest and importance. It is found in one of the works of Clement, who succeeded Pantajnus as head of the catechetical school of Alexandria, about a.d. 190. The work itself survives in fragments only ; but the following passage is preserved by Eusebius {Eccles. History, \i. 14): "And in his Outlines to speak generally, he (Clement) has given brief expositions of all canonical Scripture, not even passing by the dis- puted books — I mean the Epistle of Jude and the rest of the Catholic Epistles, the Epistle of Barnabas and the so-called Apocalypse of Peter. And moreover, he says that the Epistle to the Hebrews was Paul's, but had been wi-itten to the Hebrews in the Hebrew language, and that Tuuke, having with great care translated it, published it for the Greeks ; hence this Epistle and the Acts are found to have the same colom-ing of style and diction. He remarks that the Epistle does not begin with 'Paid an Apostle,' and with reason; for (he says), writing to Hebrews, men who had become prejudiced against him and were suspicious of liim, he acted very wisely in not repelling them at the outset by giving his name. Then a little below he adds : And as the blessed presbyter before now used to say, since the Lord, as Apostle of the Almighty, was sent to Hebrews, Paul through modesty, as ha^^ug been sent to Gentiles, does not inscribe himself Apostle of Hebrews, because of the honour belonging to the Lord, and also because he went beyond his bounds in addressing Hebrews also, when he was herald and Apostle of Gentiles." Wo can hardly doubt that by "the blessed presbyter" is meant Panta^nus, whom Clement held in the highest esteem. '" Thus " (as Dr. Westcott observes) " the tradition is carried up almost to the Apostolic age." It will be seen that with a strong affirmation of the Paidine autliorship of the Epistle is joined a distinct recognition of its unlikeness to the otlier writings of the Apostle. Of much greater importance is the testimony of Origen. Many pas.sages from his writings might be quoted in which he speaks of the Epistle as St. Raid's, and many more in wliich he appeals to it as to other portions of the New Testament, without any reference to authorship. In one of his latest works, however. Homilies on the Hebrews (written between A.D. 245 and 253), wo have the complete expression of his views. Tlio Homilies are not preservea to ns, but the passage is gpvcn by Eusebius in liis Eccles. History (vi. 25), and is as follows: "That the style of the 277 HEBREWS. Epistlo wliioh hoars the snporscripfion To the Hebreivs does not exhil)it the Apostle's plaiuiiess iu speech (tliougli ho confessed liimself to ho plain in Ins speech, that is, in his diction), but that the Epistle is more Grecian in its composition, every one who knows how to judjfe of differiMices of diction would acknowled<,'e. And avery one who gives attention to the reading of the Apostle's words would allow to be true." To^this, after other remarks, ho adds : " But if I were to give my own oi)inion, I should say that tho thoughts belong to the Apostle, but the diction and the composition to some one wlio wrote from memory tho Apostle's teaching, and who, as it were, commented on tliat which had l)eeu said by his teacher. If then any church holds this Epistle to he Paul's, let it be approved even for this. For not without reason have tho men of olden time handed it down as Paul's. But as to tho question who wrote the Epistle, tho truth is known by God (only) ; but the account which has reached us is a statenuMit by some that Clement who became Bishop of Rome was the writer, by others that it was Luke, who wrote the Gospel and the Acts." The intiuence of Origon would naturally be great in removing doubts as to the acceptance of the Epistle. Whilst the more thoughtful would learn from him to distinguish between directly apostolic authorship and canonicity, the effect of his opinion and example on the many would be to strengthen the belief that the Epistle should 1)0 accounted St. Paul's. From this time onwards the Church of Alexandria, as represented by a succession of writers, seems to have held the Pauline authorshij) as a matter free from doubt. It is otherwise with the Latin writers of North Africa. Tertulliau (about A.D. 200), indeed, once quotes some verses of chapter vi., but assigns them to tho Epislle of Barnnhas to the Hebrews ; an Epistle which, he says, deserves inore respect than the Shepherd of Hermas, as being written by a man wiio learnt from Apostles and taught with Apostles. No other certain quotation from the Epistle presents iiself in Latin writers for many years. At the close of tho third century it would seem, as far as we may Jiidgo from extant Christian literature, that tho Epistlo was known and received by tho Churches of Alexandria, Syria, Rome, and Asia Minor, and tliat in Alexandria and Syria it was regarded as a work of St. Paid. Writing before A.D. 320, Eusebius expressly mentions the Church of Rome as rejecting tho Pauline authorship of tho Epistle. It is not necessary to give any express quotations from Avriters of the fourth century. By this tinio tho doubts respecting the Epistle are confined to tho Western Churches : in Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Alexandria, Constantinople, tlio Paulino author- slim appears to have been universally admitted. Tho inffuenco of Jerome and Augustine ultimately prevailed in tho West: neither of these eminent Fathers appears really to have regarded the Epistlo as St. Paul's, but they agree in the expression oi a strong conviction of its canonical authoritj-. The object of this summary of ancient evidence has been to sIkjw how the Epistlo won its way to uftiversal acknowledgment as a part of sacnnl Scripture, and at tho saino time to present the chief testimonies of the early Church on tho other important qu(>stions which coiicoru tho Book. It cannot be thought surprising that for a time many should evince hesitation in n^gard to such a document as this — anonymous, peculiar in character, and addressed to a special and limited circle 278 of readers. The doubts have in later times had little power. Their effect may, for tho most i)art, be traced in a varying estimate of the importance of the Book as compared with the undoubted writings of St. PauL II. Authorship. — In regard to the authorship of the Epistle, the most important ancient testimonies have been cited already ; and in them we find more or less clearly stated almost all tho possible solutions of the problem. The character of the Epistlo is beyond all question Paul-like (if wo may so speak, to avoid the ambiguity of "Pauline"). If then it is not to be ascribed directly to St. Paul, we must suppose either (1) that it is a translation from a Hcl)rew original written by him ; or (2) that, whilst the substance of the Epistle is his, tho diction and style belong to one of his companions, who, for some unexplained cause, put the Apostle's tlumghts into form; or (3) that the Epistle was written by a friend or disciple of St. Paul. Each of the four hypotheses may, as we have said, claim the evidence of early writers; but it is a matter of extreme difficulty rightly to estimate the value of this evidence. That the Epistle was directly written by St. Paul is an opinion of which we have no distinct eWdeuce earlier than the third century. Even then the language used on the subject is not perfectly clear; for Origen's example proves that the quotation of the Epistle under St. Paul's name may mean nothing more than a recog- nition that its substance and teaching are his. If Origeii had influence in producing the later consensus of opinion as to the authorship, that opinion may fairly be judged of (to a considerable extent) by reference to Origen's own explanation of the sense in which ho ascribed the Epistle to St. Paul. At all events, his plain statement of the case as it presented itself in his day seems distinctly to prove that there existed no such clear and authoritative tradition in favour of tho Pauline authorship as might claim our submission, upon the ordinary principles of literary criticism. To in- ternal evidence Origen makes ajipeal : to the same test of internal evidence we believe the case must now bo brought. Similar observations apply to the other hypo- theses. Each of these appears earlier in existing docu- ments than that of whicli we have been speaking. Tho opinion expressed by Clement, that the Greek Epistle is a translation, was probahly derived by him from Pan- ttcnus : the traditions mentioned by Origen cannot bo of later date ; and Tertullian's reference to Barnabas carries back the last hyj)othesis to the close of the second century. But again it is impossible to say whether tho ancient testimonies present independent evidence, or are no more than conjectures to explain the patent facts. At all events, the variance in the traditions may leave our judgment free, especially as we can plainly perceive in what way the traditions might very possibly arise. If we now proceed to test each of the hypotheses that have been mentioned by tho testimony which the Epistle gives respecting itself, the first question to bo decided is, Have we the Epistle in its original form ? If the opinion quoted by Clement is correct — that tho Greek document before us is a translation — our right to argue from its characteristics will bo materially affected. This opinion has not lacked advocates, and has been re- cently maintained in an able but very disappointing work by Dr. Biesenthal. Wo have no space here for tho discussion of such a question, and can only express in a word or two the results to which the evidence before us leads. We do not hesitate to say that the hypothesis appears absolutely untenable : for one difficulty which it removes, it introduces many more. . HEBREWS. Dr. Biescnthal's own treatment of varions passages is sufBcieut to show that those who regard the Epistle as translated from a Hebrew original must necessarily regard it as a translation tliat is often inaccurate, and needs the correction of the commentator. Few will bo prepared to surrender the Epistle to such treatment, unless under constraint of argument immeasurably stronger than any yet adduced. Our inquiry therefore is limited to the Greek Epistle as it stands. The questions at issue are very simple. What is there, either in the substance or in the diction of the Epistle, that may lead us to ascribe it to St. Paul ? What peculiarities of thought or language separate it from his writings ? In its general arrange- ment and plan the Epistle to the Hebrews cannot but remind us of St. Paul. It is true there is no opening salutation, or direct address, such as is found in all St. Paul's Epistles. These Epistles, however, differ greatly amongst themselves in this respect. Thus, in writing to the Galatians, the Apostle is impatient of anything that may detain him from the great topics on which he is to speak; and it is possible to imagine reasons which might lead him to avoid all mention of the Church addressed, and even to keep back his own name. But, waiving this, we recognise at once the familiar plan : first the discussion of dogmatic truth ; then the earnest exhortation based on the doctrine thus presented ; and, lastly, the salutations, interwoven with personal notices, with doxology and pi'ayer. The main outlines of theological teaching are in close accord with St. Paul's Epistles : chaps, ii. and v., for example, as strikingly recall Phil. ii. as docs chap. xiii. the closing chapter in the Epistle to the Romans. Other points of special resemblance will easily suggest themselves, such as the relation of the writer to those whom he addresses (chap. xiii. 18, 19, &c.), the mode in which he refers to Timothy (verse 23), his Pauline illustrations (see Notes on chaps, v. 12, 13 ; xii. 1 — 4), his choice of Old Testa- ment passages. Under the last head may be specially mentioned the quotation of Ps. viii. (1 Cor. xv. 25 — • 28) and Dent, xxxiii. 30 (Rom. xii. 19); see the Notes on chaps, ii. 6; x. 30. It is not necessary to go into further detail in pi'oof of a position allowed by all, that (as has been already said) the Epistle, whether by St. Paul or not, is Paul-like in the general character of its teaching and in many of its special features. It is of much greater moment to examine those passages of the Epistle and those peculiarities of teaching or language which have been adduced as in- consistent with the Pauline authorship. Resemblance may be accounted for more readily than points of dif- ference ; for a disciple of St. Paul would hardly fail to exhibit many of the traits characteristic of such a master. Hero, it wiU be seen, the distinction between style and subject matter must be carefully observed. If this Epistle could be proved to differ in diction only from the acknowledged writings of St. Paul, some theory of mediate authorship (similar to that mentioned by Origen) would be very possible ; if the discordances lie deeper, no such theory can be maintained. When an argument must rest on characteristics of Greek diction and style, it is very probable that dif- ferent conclusions may be reached by different readers. This question, again, cannot be examined here in any detail. The ^vriter can only state tlie impression made upon his own mind by the original t<'xt, and especially by the careful study pursued for tlie purpose of this Commentary. From point to point the general likeness of the Epistle to St. Paul's writings came out more and more plainly : on the other hand arose a contiuually increasing wonder that the Greek sentences and periods should ever have been attributed to tliat Apostle's hand. We have before us Epistles belonging to every period during the last thirteen or fourteen years of St. Paul's life, written under widely different circumstances, — some during the enforced leisure of imprisonment, others amid active labour. We can trace differences of style resulting both from the timo of writing and from the circumstances which called forth the Epistles ; but these differences lie within a comparatively narrow compass. At whatever date St. Paul might be supposed to have written this Epistle, we can compare it with some other of his writings belonging nearly to the same period ; and the differences of language and style presented by the two documents are, we are persuaded, far greater than those presented by the most dissimilar of the thirteen Epistles. Stress has been laid on the unique character of this Epistle, as the only one addressed to Hebrews by the Apostle of the Gentiles : but it has been well asked why St. Paul should adopt a more finished Greek style in addressing Jews than when writing to the Greeks of Corinth. For ourselves we must express our decided conviction that, whatever may be the relation of the Epistle to St. Paul, the composition of the Greek was certainly not his. The remaining points of difference which (it is alleged) separate this Epistle from St. Paul's writings may be ranged under the following heads: — (1) state- ments of fact which we cannot suppose to have pro- ceeded from the Apostle ; (2) divergence in doctrinal view ; (3) peculiarities in the use of the Old Testament; (4) the use made of Alexandrian writers. (1) The most important passage is chap. ii. 3 : " which (salvation) at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard." In these words the writer appears distinctly to sever him- self from those who had directly received the word from the Lord. It is urged that he is here associating himself with his readei-s, as when in chap. iv. 1 ho writes " Let zis therefore fear;" see also chaps, x. 24, 25, 26 ; xii. 1, et al. We will not venture to say that an Apostle could not have thus written; but. bearing in mind the necessity which lay upon St. Paul to defend his apostolic position, and the claim which he con- sistently makes to have received his teaching by direct revelation (Gal. i. 1, 11, 12, et al.), wo must hold it extremely improbable that he should use words that might even appear to represent him as only a disciple of the Apostles. On the other passages which have been brought into this controversy a very different judgment must be passed. It is alleged that in the description of the Temple furniture (chap, ix.) tho writer falls into mistakes, asserting that the altar of incense (or, the golden censer) was placed in the Hcily of Holies, that the ark contained the pot of manna and Aaron's rod. and that even in his own day the Most HolyJPlace into wliich the high priest entered year l)y year still contained tho cherubim and the ark of tho covenant. If tho writer has indeed fallen into these mistakes we may safely say that lie is not St. Paul. But, as tho Notes on chap. ix. 2 — 6 will show, we hold that there is no real reason for impugning the accuracy of his words. No part of his description relates to the Temple services or furniture : he is occupied tliroughout with the injunctions of the Mosaic law and the arrange- ments of the Tabeniacle. Even the association of tho altar of incense with tho Most Holy Place may l>c very easily explained. If tho view we have taken is corn^ct. this argument against the Paulino aufliorship must fall to the ground. It is not necessary, therefore, to do 279 HEBREWS. moro tlmn montlontho inpronionsattpinpt of Wiosoler to show tliat ill tlic (li'siTii)ti()iis of cli.ii). ix. the writer had in iniiitl, not tli.' Talicriiaflc or tlu'Tiiiiple of Jerusalem, but thi> tenipio ))uilt l)y Onias at Lcoutopolis iu Lower Egypt (about n.c. 170). (21 Tho alletred ditTercnecs of doctrinal statement arc of three kinds. Of St. Paul's favourite toi)ics some are absent from this Epi.stle, sonu^ are treated iu a different manner: and. again, certain themes hero brought into promineiu-e are not noticed in the Epistles of St. Paul. Thus wo find only ono pas.sago iu this Epistle in whicli the Resurrection of our Lord, ever a prominent topic with St. Paul, is mcutioned (soo diap. xiii. 20); tho law, faith, righteousness, are lookotl at from a different i)oint of view ; the promiueuce here given to the High-priesthood of Jesus is foreign to St. Paul's Epistles. It would require a volume duly to examine the various particulars adduced under this liead ; for tho real question is not whether tho teaching is opposed to St. Paul's, but whether the various thomes are treated in the manner characteristic of the Apostle. Wo do not believe that the most cai-eful examination will detect any real discord l)etween the dogmatic teaching of this Epistle and that of St. Paul; but the peculiarities in selection of topics and in mode of tns us to search for a deep and spiritual meaning und<'r the ordinary words of Scripture, which, however, cannot be gained by any arbitrary allegorising, btit only by following out patiently the course of God's dealings with man." But again when we come to details we find marks of divergence from St. Paul. In tiu» Epistle to tho Hebrews the word of Scripture is almost always quoted as tho direct utterance of God ("He saith," "Ho hath said"), whereas St. Paul commonly uses tho formula "It is written" or "Tho Scripture saith." The latter mode of introduction, which occurs about thiriy times in the Pauline Epistles, IS not once used in this; and. on the other hand, such examples as Ejtli. iv. H are very rare in St. Paul. Tiio quotations in this Epistle, again, are commonly taken directly from the LXX., even when it diilcMs from tho Hebrew ; and for tlie most i)art agree with that textwhich is preserved to us in the Alexandrian manuscript: St. Paul shows more ac(iuaintance with the Hebrew. In each of these arguiiKMits (the former especially) there is force. The latter, however, has lieen pressed unduly; for an examination of the quotations, as they stand in * Westcott. Introduction to the Gos})els. p. 412. 280 the best text of the Epistle, will show not a few departures from tho Greek version, and there are not wanting tokens of the writer's acquaintance either with tho Hebrew original or with a more accurate translation of some passages than the LXX. affords. (-1) One distinguisliing peculiarity of this Eiiistlo is found in tlio many remarkal)le coincidences both of thought and of expression Avith the writings of Pliilo of Alexandria. One or two examples are quoted in tlio notes ; but nothing short of a collection of all tho points of similarity, as presented in the Greek text, will show this characteristic of tho Epistle in its proper light. Both St. Paul and St. John exhibit acquaintance with the Alexandrian philosophy, but it has left comparatively slight traces in their writings. The resemblance in language in many passages of this Epistle is all the moro remarkable because of the fundamental differences in doctrine between the Christian teacher and the Alexandrian philosopher. Another point of interest can only be briefly mentioned, — the many words and phrases common to this Epistle and tho Book of Wisdom. The reader is referred to the remarkably interesting papers by Professor Plumptre in vol. i. of The Expositor, on " Tho Writings of Apollos." On a review of the wliole case, tliere is only one conclusion that appears possible — that the Epistle was written by one who had stood iu a close relation with St. Paul, but not by St. Paul himself. It will bo readily understood that the arguments given above are not adduced as being of equal weight : some are only confirmatory, and might not have very much force if they stood alone ; but all point with more or less distinctness to the conclusion which has been stated. Farther than this we cannot go with certainty ; and it is perhaps wisest to rest satisfied with this negative result. If we turn to the positive side, we have little to guide our judgment. Three names only seem to be mentioned by early writers — those of Barnabas, Clement of Rome, and St. Luke. The Epistle is quoted by Tertullian, as we have seen, as a work of Barnabas ; and two later Latin writers, Philastrius and J»>rome, mention the same tradition. In one passage Jerome says that very many (perhaps meaning many of tho Greek ecclesiastical writers) assign the Epistle to Bar- nabas or Clement; in another he mentions Tertullian alone as an authority for this, and seems to attadi no special importance to the opinion. It would seem that tho tradition was very limited : it is especially note- worthy that the name of Barnabas is not found in tho passages quoted from Origen. We know too little of Barnabas to judge for ourselves of the intrinsic proba- bility of the hypothesis : the so-called internal argu- ments which have been adduced by some are of no worth. The Epistle which bears tlie name of Barnabas belongs, in all probaliility, to the beginning of tiie second century, and has no connection with the com- panion of St. Paul. That Epistle, therefoi'o (which presents a remarkal)le contrast to the teaching of tho Epistle to the HeJirews; see Westcott On the Canon, pp. 43 — 45) yields no evidence in the present inquiry. In regard to Clemimt we can speak with more con- fidence, as we possess one Epistle whicli is certainly from his hand. That document contains passages belonging to our Epistle, but th(>y are no doubt cpiota- tions from it, and the general style and cliaracter of Clement's lictter forbid us to ascribe the two works to the same writer. ]\Iuch moro favour has in recent times been shown to the other tradition which Origen records— that the Epistle was written by St. Luke- I HEBEEWS. Tl\e rcseinblancos of language between this Epistle and St. Luke's writings arc numerous and striking; but with all this there is great dissimilarity of style. The difference between a Letter such as tliis and historical or biographical memoirs must indeed be taken into account ; but even when allowance has been made for this, it is difficult to receive the writer of the Acts as the author of our Epistle. Another consideration also is of weight. We can hardly doubt that wo have before us here the work of a Jew ; but St. Paul's words in Col. iv. 11, 1-i, imply that St. Luke was of Gentile birtli. The subject is not one for confideut assertion ; but we strongly doubt whether the Epistle can be ascribed to any of those suggested by ancient writers. One other liypothcsis must be mentioned, which has com- manded the atlhesion of many of the ablest winters of recent times. Luther was the first to express (in his Commentartj on Genesis) an opinion that the Epistle to the Hebrews was the work of Apollos. Some will maintain that conjecture is inadmissible, but certainly all the conditions of the problem appear to be satisfied by this conjecture. The record of St. Luke in Acts xviii. 24 — 28, xix. 1, supplemented by St. Paul's refer- ences in 1 Corinthians, might seem to have been expressly designed to show the special fitness of Apollos for writing such an Epistle as this. Our limits will not allow us to enter into further detail, but the reader will find all the particulars admirably stated in the Notes on the verses in the Acts. If it be not unbecoming to go beyond the words of Origen on such a subject as tliis, and to favour an hypothesis for which no express evidence can be adduced from ancient times, we can have no hesitation in joining those who hold that it is the Jew of Alexandria, " mighty in the Scriptures," "fervent in spirit," the honoured associate of St. Paul, who here carries on the work which he began in Achaia, when " he mightily convinced the Jews, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ." IIL Readers. — The inquiiy as to the original readers of the Epistle is even more difficult. It may be assumed with confidence that the pi-esent title of the Epistle is not that which it originally bore. There has sometimes been a disposition to deny the propriety of the name Epistle ; and it has been thought that the peculiarity of the opening verses, containing, as they do, neither address nor author's name, may be most easily explained on the supposition that the work is a liomily or general treatise. But a very slight exami- nation will prove that such a theoiy has no Jfoundation. The closing verses show that a particular community IS directly addressed, a community well kno^vn to the writer, whose att'ection the writer knew himself to possess, tlioufjh some individuals may have distrusted him and misjudged his acts and motives. He complains of their d(>clensiou in Christian knowledge, and points out its cause (chap, v.); thankfully recognises their generous love to the brethren (chaps, vi., x.) ; and urges them to be true to their ovm past history (cliap. x.). He cannot but have known that the trials and neces- sities of many other communities were very similar; but. like St. Paul, he addresses the wider only throiigh the narrower circle. The immediate impulse was given by the news he had received respecting brethren for wliom he himself had laboured, and over whose welfare ho was l)ound diligently to watdi. The Epistle needed no express inscription to make tlie first readers under- stand from whom it came and to wliom it was sent; and it is not impossible that (as Ewald suggests) the watchfulness of enemies may liave rendered some con- cealment a matter of prudence. The absence of the writer's name has been considered confirmatory of the belief that Apollos wrote the Epistle. In one church, as we know, rival factions had arisen, some saying, " I am of Paul," others " I am of Apollos ; " and the inci- dent recorded in 1 Cor. xvi. 12 seems to point to the r(;gret of ApoUos that his name should have been so used. Such a feeling may have continued to operate, and have led to this partiiil withdrawal of himself from view. (See Alford's Gh. Test, vol. iv. pp. GO, 61.) It is very plain that the Epistle is addressed to Jewish Christians, and its present name was probably given when the Epistle had passed into more general use, in order to make its destination clear. In the New Testament the name Hebrew is strictly opposed to Hellenist or Grecian Jew (Acts vi. 1), and denotes one who adhered to the Hebrew language and usages ; there would therefore bo some inconsistency between the name and the language of the Epistle, if the title proceeded from the writer himself. Again we are in the main thrown back on internal evidence ; but in this case the materials before us are very scanty, when doubtful or irrelevant passages have been set aside. One verse of the Epistle, and one only, contains any note of place : " They of Italy salute you " (chap. xiii. 24). Unfortunately these words admit of two opposite interpretations. Either the author is himself in Italy, and sends to the Hebrew Christians whom he addresses the salutations of an Italian church ; or, writing to Italy, he transmits the message which those " of Italy" who are now with him send to their fellow-Christians at home. Between these two interpretations it seems impossible to decide with any confidence ; though, in itseK, the latter might l)e the more probable. Perhaps the only other indication that we possess is the mani- fest destination of the Epistle for a community of Jewish Christians, exposed to peculiar danger from the solicitations and the persecutions of the unbelieving Jews. Such a commiuiity would most naturallj- be found in Palestine, and accordingly the prevalent opinion has been that the Epistle was first sent to Jerusalem, or to some neighbouring to«ni. The words of chap. ii. 3 are perhaps less suitable to Jerusalem — a city in which there would still be living many who liad heard the word from the Lord Himself. In chap, vi. 10 the writer speaks of a ministration to the saints which at once recalls the efforts of St. Paul and others to send help to the Christians of Jerusalem, who were oppressed by poverty. This passage may imply that the readers of the Epistle had engaged in that par- ticular hibour of love, but it cannot be proved that the meaning is not perfectly general. The language of cluip. X. 32 — 34 decides nothing, if the first member of verse 33 be understood figuratively (see Note) ; verse 34, which has been urged in regard to the question of authorship, loses all such significance when the true reading is restored. From chap. xii. 4 has usually been drawn the inference tliat no members of the Church had suffered martyrdom : even liere, liowever, it is ira- prol)alile that any .such allusion is intended (see Note). On the whole, it is difficult to resist tlie impression that the writer addresses some Church in Palestine, thoufrh Jerusalem itself may be excluded by chaji. ii. 3. The readers seem to have lived under the sliadow of Jewish power and influence, where opposition to Chris- tianity was most bitter, the temptation to unfaithful- ness gr(>atest, tlie abjuration required of tlie ajiostato most complete. The exhortation of chap. xiii. 13. the warning of chap. x. 25, the remarkable appropriation of Old Testament promises and threatcniugs which we 281 HEBREWS. find in chap. x. 27, 28, 30, wonld fall with womlcrfnl force on tlio cars of men in whose very presence the spirit of Judaism Wius exerting all its power. That there are still ditiiculties must be felt by all. Wo should not liave expected tliat a Letter addressed to such a Churcli would be written in Greek, or that the writer's appeal would l)e to the Greek translation of the Old Testament ; but the plienomena which other books of the New Testament display forbid us to regard these difficulties as decisive. It is not possible here to enumerate the other opinions which have been main- tained. The reader will find an able argument in favour of Rome iu Alford's Prolegomena to Gk. Test., vol. iv. : others have argued the claims of Alexandria.* IV. Date. — Tliere is very little to guide us as to the time wlien the Epistle Avas written. The present tenses of chap. ix. 2 — 9 are often understood as imply- ing that the Temple service still continued; but there is strong reason for explaining the verses otherwise (see Notes). On the other hand, the general complexion of the Epistle is such as to convince us that it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. Of the imprison- ment of Timothy (chap. xiii. 23) we know nothing from any other source. It has often been supposed that he shared St. Paul's imprisonment in Rome (see the Intro- duction to 2 Timothy). The date of the martyi'dom of St. Paul is, however, uncertain ; and it does not seem possible to say more than that our Epistle was probably written some three or four years before Jerusalem fell — in other words, about a.d. t>G. V. Object and Contents.— The discussion of the very impf)rtant external cpiestions which connect them- selves with tliis Epistle has left us but little space for a notice of its internal character. In the Notes, how- ever, on account of the peculiar difficulties which this Epistle presents, we have sacrificed all other considera- tions to the desire of exhibiting, as exactly as possible, the connection and course of thought. It is, therefore, less necessary to attempt a complete analysis here. The Christians addressed were in imminent danger of apostasy. The danger was occasioned partly by seduc- tions from without, partly by weakness within. Even when the fabric of Jemsh power was falling, the influence of its past history, its glorious treasure of promise, its unique a.ssociations, retained a wonderfid power. As we look back on the years preceding the fall of Jerusalem the case of the people may seem to us hopeless ; but the confidence of the nation was unbroken, and even at that period we note outbursts of national pride and enthusiastic hope. Bitter hate and contempt for Christianity on the one hand, and the attraction of their ancestral worship and ritual on the other, had apparently won a victorj- over the constancy of some Chri-stiaus belonging to this Hebrew com- munity. Wh(>re open opjjosition had not prevailed, the tone of Christian faith had been lowered. The special temptatiim of tliese Christians seems to have been towards a loss of interest in the higher Christian truths, and a union of elementary Christian teaching with that to which they jiad been aceustomed as Jews. The arguments of the first and other chapters show that they held the foundation truths; the expo.stulation of the fifth and sixth chapters proves that the full siguifi- * Prof. Plninptre's hypothesis that those addressed arc Christian ascetics of (or connected with) Alexandria is worked out by him in a very interest int; manner (sec A>/.<.s. i 428—13') but does not appear to suit the facts of the Epistle as well as the view defended above. 2S2 cance of the doctrine they held was not under.stood, and that the doctrine was near to losing its power. Iu no Epistle, perhaps, do we find a more carefully sus- tained argument ; of none can be said as truly tliat the whole Epistle is a "word of exhortation." The design of the writer is to show the superiority of Christianity to Judaism. He in whom God has in these last days revealed Himself to man is His Son, to whom the Scriptures themselves bear witness as exalted above the highest of created beings, the angels, who are but ministers of God (chap. i.). The law was given through angels : salvation has now come through the Son, who, though Lord of the world to come, the Heir and Ful- fiUer of God's highest promises to man, submitted to suffering and death — not of necessity, but that Ho might by His atonement deliver man from sin £n I death, and might become a true High Priest for n au (chap. ii.). As the faithful Apostle and High Priest He is exalted above God's most favoured servants upon earth, even above Moses (chap. iii. 1 — 6). This is the first division of the argument, designed to establish the supremacy of the revelation given through the Son of God, and to remove "the offence of the cro?s." Next follows a powerful section of exhor- tation and warning. Do not imitate the unfaithfulness through which Israel failed to enter into the true rest of God (chaps, iii. 7 — iv. 16). The second portion of the Epistle (extending to chap. X. 18) is occupied with the Pi-iesthood of Christ. Once only is the current of the argument intem^pted. After the first introduction of a prophecy which will form the theme of later chapters, the writer pauses to bring into relief the carelessness which his readers havo shown, and the peril they have incurred ; the result is to give most powerful eiJ'ect to the argument for which he is preparing them (chap. v. 11 — vi. 20). Jesus made perfect through suffering (chap. v. 1 — 10) has been de- clared by God High Priest after the order of Melchi- zedek ; by this declaration the Aaronic priesthood is abolished, giving place to a priesthood which abides continually, through which all that the former priest- hood sought in vain to attain is made sure to man for ever (chap. vii.). This High Priest, seated at God's right hand, is Minister iu the heavenly sanctuary. Mediator of the New Covenant (chap, ^nii.); and in Him all the tj'i)cs of the first covenant are fulfilled, for by His one offering of Himself He has put away sin, and established the new covenant iu which sin is pardoned and man sanctified (chaps, ix., x. 1 — 18). The remainder of the Epistle is in the main directly hortatory. These being our pririleges, let us not by unfaithfulness fall short of them, for terrible is the doom of the unfaithful, and glorious the reward of Faith (chap. X. 19 — 39), which from the beginning has led God's servants on to victory, and of which Jesus is tho Author and the Perfecter (chaps, xi. — xii. 4). Chapters xii. and xiii. continue the exhortations of the earlier chapters, but in a higher strain. We caimot conceive of any argument by which the end contemplated could bo more effectually accom- plished, and men more powerfully turned from " the offence of the cross " to glorjnng in Christ Jesus. The value which the Epistle has for us and the extent of its influence on our tlieology it would be hard to over- estimate. Its peculiar importance lies in the exposi- tion which it gives of the earlier revelation, showing the meaning of the tji>es and arrangements of tho former dispensation, and their perfect fulfilment in our Lord, and in its witness to the power and abiding significance of the divine word. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE HEBREWS. Chap. i. 1-14 He in CHAPTER L— whom God has now (1) Qod, who at Sundry spoken to man is Son .. t . i. "^ of God, exalted above times aud 111 divers all angels. manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the proj^hets, ^-^ hath in these last days spoken unto us by Ids Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by (1—11) He in whom God has at last revealed Himself to man is Son of God, exalted above all angels. (1) God, who at sundry times . . . .—The fine arrangement of the words in the Authorised version fails, it must be confessed, to convey the em- phasis which is designed in the original. The writer's object is to place the former revelation over against that which has now been given ; aud the remarkable words with which the chapter opens (and wliich might not inaptly serve as the motto of the whole Epistle) strike the first note of contrast. If wo may imitate the artistic arrangement of the Greek, the verse will run thus, " lu many portions aud in many ways God having of old spoken unto the fathers in the prophets." To the fathers of the Jewish people (comp. Rom. ix. 5) God's word was given part by part, and in divers manners. It came in the revelations of the patriarchal age, in the successive portions of Holy Writ : various truths were successively unveiled through the varj-iug ministry of law, and of prophecy, and of promise ever growing clearer through the teaching of experience and history. At one time the word came in direct precept, at another in typical ordinance or act, at another in parable or psalm. The word thus dealt out in fragments and variously imparted was God's word, for the revealing Sjurit of God was "in the prophets" {2 Cor. xiii. 3). We must not unduly limit the applica- tion of " prophet " ; besides those to whom the name is directly given, there were many who were representa- tives of God to His people, and interpreters of His will. (Comp. Num. xi. 26, 29; Ps. cv. 15.) (2) Hath in these last days . . .—Better, at the end of these days spa'ke unto us in a Son. The thought common to the two verses is '' God hath spoken to man" ; in all other respects the past aud the present stand contrasted. The manifold successive partial disclosures of God's will have given i)laco to one reve- lation, complete snd final ; for He who spake in the prophets hath now spoken " in a Son." The whole stress lies on these last words. The rendering "a Son " may at first cause surprise, but it is absolutely needed; not, "Who is the Revealer ? " but, ''What is He ? " is the question answered in these words. The writer does not speak of a Son iu the sense of one out of many ; the very contrast with the prophets (who in the lower sense were amongst God's eons) would be sufficient to prove t])is, but the words wliich follow, aud the whole contents of tliis chapter, aro designed to show the supreme dignity of Him who is God's latest Representative on earth. The prophet's commission extended no farther than the special message of his words and life ; "a Son" spoke with His Father's authority, with complete knowledge of His will and purpose. It is impossible to read these first lines (in which the whole argument of the Epistle is enfolded) without recalling the prologue of the fourth Gospel. The name " Word " is not mentioned here, aud the highest level of St. Jolin's teaching is not reached ; but the idea which '' ilie Word " expresses, and the thought of the Only Begotten as declaring and interpreting the Father (John i. 18 ; also John xiv. 10, 2-1) are present throughout. There is something unusual in the words, " at the end of these days." St. Peter speaks of the manifestation of Christ '"at the end of the times " (I Pet. i. 20) ; and both in the Old Testa- ment and in the New we not unfrecpiently read " at the end (or, in the last) of the days." (See 2 Pet. iii. 3; Jude, verse 18; Num. xxiv. 14; Dan. x. I-i. &c.) The pecuharity of the expression here lies in " these days." The ages preceding and following the appearance of Messiah are in Jewish writers known as " this world " (or, ar/e) and the " coming world " (or, age) ; the " days of Messiah" seem to have been classed sometimes with the former, sometimes with the latter period ; but " the end of these days" would be understood by every Jewish reader to denote the time of His appearing. Whom he hath appointed.— Better, xchoni He appointed : in the divine counsels He was constituted " Heir of all things." The clauses which folhiw de- scribe the successive steps in the accomplislinient of this purpose. The words have often been understood as referring to the Sou's essential Lord>hip : as Eternal Son He is and must be Heir of all. But this explana- tion is less consistent with the word " appointed." with the strict significance of " Heir." aud with the develop- ment of the thought in the following ver.ses ; and it is on all grounds more probable that in these words is expressed the great theme of tlie Epistle, the consum- mation of all things in the Christ. By whom. — Rvther, through tchoin. So in John i. 3 wo read that all things came into being through the Word ; and in Col. i. 16, " All things have been created through Him." In this manner Philo repeatedly describes the creative work of tlie Logos. Here, liow- ever, " this mediatorial function has entirely changed its character. To the Alexandrian Jew it was the work of a pa.ssive tool or instrument ; but to the Christian Apostle it represented a co-operating agent" (Lightfoot on Col. i. 16). 283 Tlte Son's essential Dignity. HEBREWS, I. Ills Eocaltation above Angels. wliom also he made the worlds ; ^^^ who being the brightness " of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of a Wis. 7. 20. the Majesty on high ; <^^ being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (^^ For unto which of the angels said he at any time. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten The worlds. — A word of voiy common oot-ur- roiicc ill tlio Now Testament as a desi<^natiou of t'mie occMir.s ill two passages of this Epistlo (here and in cliap. xi. 3) wliere tlio context shows more than '' ago " to bo intended. Under time is included the work that is done in time, so that " the ages " here must be (to quote Delitzscli's words) " the immeasurable content of immeasural)le time." "Also " may seem an unneces- sary addition, but (almost in the sense acconllnfjly) it points to creation as the first step towards the fulfil- ment of the design expressed in the preceding clause. (3) Who being the brightness . . . — Who being the effidfjence of His glory and the exact image of His substance. The first figure is familiar to us in the words of the Nicene Creed (themselves derived from this verse and a commentary upon it), " God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God." Again striking parallels to the language present themselves in Philo, who speaks of the spirit breathed into man at his creation as an "effulgence of the Blessed and Thrice- blessed Nature " ; and in the well-known passage of the Book of Wisdom, " She (Wisdom) is the effulgence of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the imago of His goodness " (Wisd. vii. 26). In the Old Testament the token of the divine presence is the Shechinah, the " cloud of glory " (called "the glory" in Rom. ix. 4; comp. chap. ix. 5 in this ^Epistle) ; here it is the divine nature itself that is denoted by the " glory." Of the relation between this "word and that which follows (" substance ") it is difficult to S2)eak, as the conceptions necessarily tran- scend human language ; but we may perhaj)S say (re- membering that all such terms are but figurative) that I the latter word is internal and the former external,— the latter the essence in itself, the former its manifestation. Thus the " Son " in His relation to " God " is repre- sented here by light beaming forth from light, and by exact imi)ress — the perfect image produced by stamp or seal. These designations, relating to the essential nature of the Son, have no limitation to time; the par- ticiple " being " must be understood (comp. Phil. ii. 6 ; John i. 1) of eternal, continuous existence. Tlie word " person " is an unfortunate mistranslation in this place. Most of the earlier English versicms have " sub- stance," j)criion being first introduced in the Genevan Testament in deference to Beza. By the word. — The thought seems suggested by Gen. i. (Ps. xxxiii. 9) ; the s])()ken word was the ex- pression of His power. What is said above of " being " applies to " upholding," except that the latter implies a previous creative act. When he had by himself purged our sins.— The older ]\ISS. omit " l)y Himself" and "our," so that the words must be rendered, ivhen He had made mirification of sins. At first the change may seem a loss ; but it is easily seen that the simpler stat(»ment is more majestic, and also more suitable in this place ; the more complete explanation of tlie truth belongs to a later stage (chap. ix.). To " mak(> purification of sins'' is an unusual phrase (comp. Matt. viii. 3, " liis leprosy was cleansed"), meaning, to make purification by tlie removal of sins (Jolm i. 29 ; 1 John iii. 5 ; 2 Pet. i. 9). Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.— See chap. viii. 1; xii. 2; Matt. xxvi. Oi; Mark xiv. 62 ; also verse 13, and chap. x. 12. This figure, which we meet with more than twenty times in the New Testament, is throughout derived from the first words of Ps. ex., which are descriptive of the exaltation of the Messiah. Jehovah's investiture of the Son of Man with unlimited dominion (Dan. vii. 14) and supreme dignity (Eph. i. 20, 21) ; the Saviour's rest after the accomplishment of His work on earth (chap, viii. 1) ; His waiting for the complete and final subjec- tion of His enemies, are the ideas signified. On the Psalm see below (verse 13). (4) Being made. — Better, having become. These words must be closely joined with the last clause of verse 3 ; they speak, not of the glory which was ever His, but of that which became His after He bad " made purification of sins." Better. — That is, greaier. We may discern a two- fold reason for the comparison ; having become " greater than the angels," our Lord is exalted above the highest of created beings (see Eph. i. 21 ; Phil. ii. 9), and above those through whom God had in former time declared His law (chap. ii. 2). Name. — The verses which follpw show that we are to uncTerstand by this all the dignity and glory con- tained in the name SoiL-OF GoD. Not that this name first belonged to Him as exalted Mediator ; but the gloiy which " became " His (verses 3, 4) is projior- tionate to and consonant with the name which is His by essential right (verse 2). That this name and dignity belong to Jesus Christ (as yet unnamed, but confessedly the sul)ject of the preceding verses) is now to be established by the testi- mony of Scrijjture. Two important questions have been asked : — ( 1 ) Docs the writer adduce these quota- tions as strictly demonsti'ative ? (2) If so, on what assumption does their relevancy rest ? It is evident that the whole argument is addressed to men who believed that the Christ had appeared in the person of Jesus. Of the passages here cited some were already, by universal con.sent, applied to the Messiah. As to the others, it was sufficient if the trained and thoughtful reader could recognise the accuracy of such an application when once suggested. That in no case is there mere "accommodation" or illustration will, it is hoped, be made clear. On the other hand, the writer's object is less to con\nnce his readers of some netv truth than to draw attention to what the well-known passages really contain and exjiress. (■i) For unto which of the angels . . . . — " God has spoken of the Messiah as His Son, a title which no angel over receives from Him." That tlio appellation " sons of God " may be u.sed in an inferior sense, and that thus angels may be so designated (Job i. 6 ; xxxviii. 7), does not affect this argument ; for every reader must perceive that in these quotations " Son " is used of One, and in a sense that is unique. 28i Let all Angels worship HEBREWS, I. tlie Firstborn of God. thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to mo a Son? C^^ And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. (''^ And of the angels he saith, Tlio two qnotatious are taken from Ps. ii. 7 and 2 Sam. vii. 14. It seems probable tliat the second Psalm was written by David during tlio troublous times of 2 Sam. viii. — X., in the fresh recollection of the promises of which wo read in 2 Sam. vii. In the midst of the rebellious conspiracies of kings and nations is heard Jehovah's word, " Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion" (Ps. ii. 6). In verse 7 the Anointed King declares the divine decree, " The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten Thee ; " and the following verses describe the kingly dominion of the Son. The clearest comments on verse 7 are supplied by 2 Sam. vii. 12 — 14, and especially by Ps. Ixxxix. Verse 27 of the last-named Psalm, " I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth," shows plainly that in their first meaning — that which relates to the royal rule of David or David's son — the words "I have this day begotten thee " signify " I have this day established thee as my chosen king, and thus constituted thee my son ; " for to the first- born belongs natural, though derived, rule over the kingdom of his father. At what period the people in general, guided by prophetic teaching and the discipline of history (see below), learnt in how secondary a sense such words could be used of any human king, we do not know ; but we have clear evidence, both from the New Testament (chap. v. 5 ; Acts iv. 25 — 27 ; xiii. 33 ; Rev. ii. 27) and from Jewish tradition, that the second Psalm was understood to be a distinct prophecy of the Messiah ; indeed, this very name " Messiah " and the appellation " Son of God " (see John i. 34, 49) may be traced to this Psalm. The declarations of verses 6, 7, are tyi)ical of the enthronement of the Messiah. St. Paul (Acts xiii. 33) refers the words here quoted to the period of the Resurrection. With this the language u.sed above (verse 4) perfectly agrees. As, however, in that verse the exaltation of the Christ is declared to correspond to that essential dignity which lay in the name Son, a name which in this very context bears its highest sense (verses 1 — 3), we are constrained to regard the "day" of the Resurrection as itself tyjncal, and to believe that " this day " akso pointed to the " eternal Now" — to what Origen (on John i. 1) speaks of as " tlio day which is co-extensivo with the unbegotten and everlasting life of God." The second passage, which seems to have been the basis of the words we have just considered, occurs in the course of the divine promise that David's seed shall be established in his kingdom, and that David's throne shall be established for ever : the seed of David shall be received as God's Son. With the words here quoted are closely joined others which plainly jirove that verso 14 is not a simple and direct prophecy of Christ, but in the first instance belonged to an earthly ruler. Through tlu5 teaching of successive disappointments, each " son of David " failing to realise the hopes excited liy the promise, the nation was led to look to the future King, and at once to remove from the prophecy the purely earthly liinitaiiims and to discern a higher meaning in the promise of divine sonship. (6) And again.— There seems little doubt that the tnie translaiiou is. And u'lien He (ujn'ni Icodcih (literally, shall have led] the Firsthorn into the world He saith. The position of "again " (in the Greek) sliows that it does not indicate a now step in tho argument, but must bo joined with " leadeth." The speaker (" He saith ") is God, speaking in 'Iho word of Scripture ; in this Epistle quotations from the Old Testament are usually thus introduced. The quotation involves some diffi- culty. It cannot be directly taken from Ps. xcvii. 7, " worship Him, all His angels ; " for tho citations from tho Greek Bible in tliis Epistle are usually so exact that we cannot believe the writer would have so altered tho form of the sentence now before us. In Deut. xxxii. 43, however, we find words identical with those of the text in most copies of the LXX. ; but there is nothing answering to them in the Hebrew, and there is no sufficient reason for supposing that tho clause has dropped out of the Hebrew text. There are similarities (both of subject and of diction) between the Psalm and the last section of the Song of Moses, which make it easy to see how the words could find their way into the Song. The Psalm belongs to a cycle (Pss. xciii., xcv. — xcix.) whoso theme is the triumphant announcement of the coming of God's kingdom, by which was denoted (as the readers of the Epistle knew) the kingdom of Christ. In tho divine plan the predicted Theophany was coincident with the fulfilment of the Messianic hope. In both Psalm and Song we read of the judgment exercised and the vengeance inflicted by the enthroned King. (Comp. Ps. ii. 9.) This agreement in tone and sub- ject renders less important the question whether the Hebrew original of the Song really contained the words. The thought was familiar from Scripture, and in this very connection. When the Messiah, reigning as theL Firstboi-n of God (see verse 5), shall appear for judg-| ment — that is, when God leadeth a second time HisI Firstborn into " the world of men " (see chap. ii. 5), that He may receive full possession of His inheritance — He saith, And let all angels of God worship Him. The word here rendered " leadeth in " is in frequent use for the introduction of Israel (typically God's " firstborn," Ex. iv. 22) into the land of Canaan. It should, perhaps, be noted that, though in Ps. xcvii. 7 "angels" may not be perfectly exact as a rendering of the Hebrew Elohim,th6 verso so distinctly expresses the homage dono to the King by superhuman powers, that its fitness for the argument here is obAnous. (7) Spirits. — Better, loinds. It is very difficult to assign any clear meaning to the ordinary rendering, — unless, indeed, we were to adopt the very strange opinion of many of the earlier commentators, that the stress is laid on " maketh " in the sense of " createth." The parallelism in the.se two lines of Hebrew jwetry is complete, "angels" answering to "ministers," " winds " to "a flame of fire." The meaning appears to be that God, employing His messengers for His varied purposes, sends them fi please, clothing them witli tlio appc less wind or tho devouring fire. (Wo may contrast 1 Kings xix. 11. 12.) The force of the passage lies in the vividness with which it presents the thought of tho Most High served by angels who "at His bidding speed." untiring as the wind, subtle as the fire. ^\ e feel much more distinctly tlian we can put into words the infinite contrast between snch ministers and the Son seated at tho right hand of God. Tlie quotation is taken from Ps. civ. 4, without any variation in tlie Greek. Whether this translation faithfully represeuts - — ^. p "I I _ -- His messengers for His varied i forth in what manner He may I ith the api)earance of the resist- \ 285 Tlie Everlasting HEBREWS, I. Kingdom of tJie Son. Who maketli liis angels spirits, and liis ministers a flame of fire. <*^^ But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre of rigliteousness ^ is the sceptre of thy kinsdom. ^^^ Thou hast loved righteous- 1 Gr. righttuss, or, ulruightiu ■■•.■<. a l'». loj. L'5. ness, and hated iniquity ; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (!'') And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ;" and the heavens are the works of thine the original 13 a qnostion that has been warmly dis- oussod. Not that tliere is auy doubt that such a roudorintj of tlie Hebrew is in itself natural ; but it is often alli'ged that tlio context requires an inversion of the words, Who malceth tvinds His messengers, fiaming fire HLi ^ninisters. The point cannot be examined herO; wo wid only express a decided opinion that the trans- lation defended above not only expresses the meaning of the H('l)row, but perfectly accords with the context of the Psalm. W Unto. — Rather, of. The connection with verse 7 is so close (" Whereas of the angels Ho saith ... of the Son He saith "), that we must not vary the rendering of the preposition. The passage which follows is taken from Ps. xlv. 6, 7. As the words stand in the ordinary Greek text, they agree exactly with the LXX. ; but certain alterations of reading are required by the best evidence. After the words " for ever and ever " and must be restored, and in the following clause the and a must change places. The latter change is of moment only as it aft'ects the former. Were the woi'ds in all otlu^r respects cited with perfect exactness, the introduction of and would probably indicate that the writer intended to split iip the quotation into two parts, each significant for his purpose. (Comp. chap. ii. 13.) As, however, we note other minor changes, the insertion of the connecting word is pro- bably accidental. A third reading is of much greater importance. At the close of the verse the two oldest of our Greek MSS. agree in reading " His kingdom : " to this we will return afterwards. We have every reason to believe that the ap- plication of Ps. xlv. wliich is hero made was fully received by the ancient Jews ; thus in the Targum on the Psalm verso 7 is taken as a direct address to the King Messiah. Hence the readers of this Epistlo wouhl at once recognise the argument which the words contain. It is strongly maintained by some that the Psalm (like Ps. ex., see below, on verse 13) is altogether prophetic, the promised Messiah alone being in Hie Psalmist's thought. There appear to be insuperable objections to this view, from particular expressions used (in the later verses especially), and from the peneral structure and colouring of the Psalm. It is in every way more i)robable that the second Psalm (see Note on verso 5), ratlicr than Ps. ex., represents the class to which Ps. xlv. belongs. Originally writing in celebration of the marriage of a king of David's line (we know not whom, but many of the arguments urged against tlio pnssihle reference to Solomon have no great weight), the inspired Psalmist uses words which bear their full meaning only when ap])lied to that Son of David of wliose kingdom tliere shall be no end. The promises made to David (2 Sara. \i\.) are before the writer's mind in the first verses of the Psalm. Tlio king appointed by God is His representative to God's people ; his cause is that of truth and righteous- ness ; his dominion will continually advance. It is at this moment that, with the promise of a divine son- ship (Ps. ii.) in his thought, he suddenly addresses the king as Elohim (verse 7). a divine king who receives from God the reward of righteousness (verse 8). There are in the Old Testament examples of the use of Elohim which diminish the difficulty of its application to an eartldyking (such as Ps. Ixxxii. I ; xcv. 3; 1 Sam. xxviii. 13 ; Ex. vu. 1) ; but it must still be acknowledged that the passage stands alone. This difficulty, how- ever, relates only to the primary application. As tho higher and true reference of the words became revealed, all earthly limitations disappeared; the Christian readers of the Psalm recognised in the Messiah of whom it speaks a King who is God. The reading "His kingdom" has seemed to require a different rendering of the words in the first part of the verse : God is Thy throne for ever and ever. This rendering, however, will suit either reading of the Greek, and is equally admissible as a rendering of the Hebrew. Nor is it really inconsistent with the position in which the verse here stands: in con- trast with the ministry of angels is set, on this view, not indeed a direct address to the Son as God, but the sovereign rule which the Son receives from God. The objections raised against it are : (1) such an expression as " God is Thy throne " is contrary to the analogy of Scripture language ; (2) the ordinary ren- dering has the support of almost all ancient authority, Jewish writers and ancient versions being apparently united in its favour. The former argument is not very strong in face of Ps. xc. 1, and similar passages ; but the latter is so weighty that we hesitate to accept the change, helpful as it would be in making clear the original and typicjil reference of verse 7. It should be said that the reading " His kingdom " is not inconsis- tent with the ordinary translation of the preceding words ; for a sudden transition from " Thy throne, O God " to " His kingdom " is in full accordance with tho usage of Hebrew poetry. (See Pss. xliii. 4 ; Ixvii. 5, 6 ; civ. 4 — 6, et al.) There are other renderings which would require discussion if we were concerned with the Hebrew text of the Psalm : the two given above are the only possible translations of the Greek. A sceptre . . . — Rather, the sceptre of uprightness is a sceptre of Thy (or, His) Jcingdom. Righteousness itself (so to speak, the very ideal of righteous govern- ment) bears sway in Thy kingdom. (9) The King by divine election has been exalted by divine reward. (Comp. chap. ii. 9, and Phil. ii. 9, 10.) Therefore God.— It is possible, but not probable, that the words, both here and in tho Psalm, should be ren- dered, Tlicrcfore, 0 God. Tliy God hath anointed Thee. Thy jfjallows. — In the first application, probably, these words point to other earthly kings. (Comp. Ps. Ixxxix. 27.) Hence Eph, i. 21 will be the best com- mentaiy upon them in their higher meaning. (10) And. — Verses 10 — 12 are by this word liukec ■with A'crse 8, as presenting the second part of the con-J trast between angels and tho Son. As there we read | of a divine sovereignty, so here of the work of creation, [ the power to change all created things, the di\'ine attri- bute of changeless existence. This quotation from Ps. cii. 25 — 27 agrees almost exactly with the text of the! L^X. as we have it in the Alexandrian MS., except 286 His Unchangeahleness. HEBEEWS, II. TJie Ministry of Angels. hands : <"^ they shall perish ;" but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; (^-^ and as a vesture shalt thou fold them uj), and they shall be changed : but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. (^^^ But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool ? * (It) ^Q they not all ministering spirits, 6 Ps. 110. 1 ; M.itt. 22.44. 1 Gr. run out m leaking vessels. sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation 'P CHAPTEE oufjht to give II. — (I) the Therefore we more ^^^^ .. ^_^ earnest heed to the things pjrii of disobo- which we have heard, lest dience to His at any time we should let ^°^ ' them slip.^ (^^ For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgres- tliat the "words "as a garment" (not found in the Psalm) must here (verse 12) be added, according to our best .authorities. Tlie only point of any difficulty in these verses is that the writer discovers a testimony to the supremacy of the Son in words which, as they stand 'in the Psalm, would appear to be directly addressed . to God as Creator. If, however, the Psalm be examined, I it will be found (see verses 13 — 16) to contain the ex- pression of hopes which in reality were inseparably united with the fultilment of tlie Messianic promise. " The Lord shall appear to build up Zion : " this is the Psalmist's theme, and it is to the same Lord that he addresses the words which are quoted here. As in Jesus the Christian Jew saw Him who fulfilled all these promises of God to His peoiile, the application of the words of adoration to the same Lord would at once be recognised as true. (11) And they all . . .—Both the earth and the hga^ens : see Isa. xxxiv. 4, " The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroU ; " and Isa. li. 6, '' The earth shall wax old like a garment." (1-) And as a vesture . . . — Rather (see verse 10), And as a mantle shalt Thou roll them up ; as a gar- ment shall they also be changed. The course of thought is easily traced : as the garment which has grown old is rolled up and changed, so the fomier heavens and earth shall give place to the new heavens and the new earth. (13) But to which of the angels.— The final appeal is made to that Psalm which more fre- quently tlian any other is quoted in reference to Christ, and which wo have already seen to be the source of all the New Testament references to the Saviour's session at the right hand of God. It is not necessary to say much licre respecting Ps. ex., to wliich so many allusions will be made in the course of this Epistle. That it was regularly understood by the Jews of our Lord's time to be a Messianic Psalm is clear both from Matt. xxii. 43, 44, and from the independent notices wliich wo possess. Most probably, it stands alone amongst the Psalms as being simply prophetic : the words of verso 1 liave never been addressed either to angels or to an earthly king. On the special words of th(» (juotation sec verse 3. Said he at any time.— Better, hath He ever said. Until I make . . . — Literally, until I shall have mode Thine enrmies a footstool of Tliy feet. (1 ^) Are they not all ministering spirits ?— In tliis verse and the preceding is repeated the con- trast of verses 7 — 9, in reversed order. Tlio words " ministering spirits " at once recall tlie " ministers " and "winds" (expressed in Greek and Hebrew by the same word as " s])irits ") spoken of in verse 7. In the LXX. tliis word "minister" is usually applied to tliose who stood before God in His eartlily sanctuary : so here it is fitly used of the nobler offices of the unseen world. To the English reader it may seem that those who in 287 verso 7 are God^s ministers are here represented as servants of man. It is not really so, for the words properly mean, . . . sent forth (that is, continually sent forth) to do service (to God), /or the sake of them who are to inherit salvation. " Inherit " is a prelude of chap. ii. 10. The last word, " salvation," expresses the divine purpose indicated by all the prophecies that have passed under review. The chapter has been occupied with promises of the Christ : the last word brings before us Jesus, the Saviour. n. (1-4) These verses must be closely joined with the i first chajiter. Before advancing to the next stej) in his argument, the writer pauses to enforce the duty which results from what has been already established. But (as in chap. iv. 14 — 16) the exhortation does not interrupt the thought, but rather serves as a connecting Hnk. (See Note on verse 5.) (1) Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. — Better, to the things heard ; for this expression contains the complement of the thought of chap. i. 1. Both " speak " and " hear " are words which carry weighty emphasis in this Epistle. (See chap. i. 1; ii. 2; xii. 25 ; iii. 5, 7; iv. 2, et al.) Because of the supreme dignity of Him in whom at the last God speaks, men are bound to give the more earnest heed to the words spoken, whether heard by them from the Lord Himself or (as in this case, verse 3) from His sei'vants. Lest at any time we should let them slip. — This translation (first introduced by the Genevan Bible of 1560) substantially gives the sense, but inverts the figure presented in the Greek. The words must be rendered, lest 2^ossibly ve drift away (Wiclif, "lest Iierauenture we fleten awey "). It is the man that is in danger of being carried along by the current : unless the mind be held closely to the words that God lias spoken, it must drift away from them, and from the sjilvation which they promise. There seems no founda- tion for the rendering of the margin, first given in the Genevan Testament of 1557. (2) The word spoken by angels.— Or rather, through angeh (comp. chap. i. 2) : the word was God's, but angels were tlie nuHlium through which it was given to men. In accordance with the tone of the whole passage (in which the thought is not the reward* of obedience, but tlie peril of neglect of duty), " the word" must denote divine commands delivered by angels, and — as the close parallel presented by cliap. x. 28. 29, seems to prove — especially the commands of the Mosaic law. Hence this verse must be joined to the other passages (Acts vii. 53; Gal. iii. 19; comp. also Acts vii. 38) which bring into relief the ministration of angels in the giving of the Law ; and the nature of the Peril of Disobedience HEBREWS, II. to tlie Word of Christ. sion and disobedience received a just reconipence of reward ; <'^' how shall we escape, if we nefjlect so great salvation ; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him ; ^^^ God 1 Or, tlistribtUions. also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts ^ of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will ? <^) For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come. argument of this Epistle gives special iinportance to tlic subject here. Tlio only passage in the Pentateuch wliich can be quoted in ilhistration is Deut. xxxiii. 2 : " Tlie Lord came from Sinai .... He came from amid myriads of lioly ones." The Greek version (introducing a double rendering of the Hebrew) adds, " at His riglit hand were angels with Him ; " and two of the Targums likemso speak of the " myriads of holy angels." Ps. Ixviii. 17 is difficult and obscure, but veiy possibly agrees with the passage just quoted in referring to angels as the attendants of Jehovah on the mount. Nowhere in the Old Testament is the thought carried beyond this point; but there ai*e a few passages in Jewish writers which clearly show that such a minis- tration of angels as is hero spoken of was a tenet of Jewish belief in the apostolic age. Philo, after sajnng that the angels have their name from reporting the commands of the Father to His children, and the wants of the children to the Father, adds : " We are unable to contain His exceeding and unalloyed benefits, if He Himself proffers them to us without employing others as His ministers." Much more important are the words of Josephus {Ant. xv. 5, § 3), who introduces Herod as reminding the Jews that the noblest of the ordinances and the holiest of the things contained in the laws had been learnt by them from God tlirough angels. Jewish writers quoted by Wetstein speak of the " angels of service" whom Moses had known from the time of the giving of the law; and. moreover, of the angel who, when Moses had through terror for- gotten all that he had been taught during the forty days, delivered the law t-o him again. Such speculations aro of interest as showing the place which this tenet held in Jewish doctrine and belief. Here and in Gal. iii. 19 (soo Note tliere) tliis mediation of angels is adduced as a mark of tlie inferiority of the law ; in Acts vii. 53, where no such comparison is made, tho contrast implied is between angels and men as givers of a law. Was stedfast. — Rather, proved steadfast or sure ; evidence of this was given by the punishment wliich overtook the transgressor, whether inflicted by the direct visitation of God or by human hands faitlifully executing tho divine will. Of tho two words well rendered transgression and disobedience, the one points especially to tho infraction of a positive precept, tlie other is more general : the former relates more commonly to "thou shalt not;" the latter rather to " thou shalt." The two words are hero unified, that every violation of flio command may l)o in- cluded. Tlie use of reward in a neutral or unfavour- able sense (2 Pet. ii. 13; Ps. xciv. 2, et al.) is not uncommon in our older writers. (Comp. " tho reward of a WUain,'" in Shakespeare.) (3) How shall we escape ?— In a different context these words might naturally mean, " How shall we, transgressors of the law, escape from tho piMialty it threatens, if we neglect the one means of deliverance now offered us?" (Comp. Gal. iii. 13; iv. 5.) Here, however, are placed in contrasSt tho command and threatening which came through angels and tho salva- tion " spoKCu through tho Lord " ; while the one 288 " word " is thus wholly unlike the other in substance and in form of proclamation, each is a law, in that neglect is visited with penalty. On the intrinsic great- ness of the salvation the writer does not dwell ; it is imiilied in tho unique dignity and commission of Him through whom it was given. Which at the first began to be spoken. — Better, which having at tlie first been spoken tlirough tlie Lord, was made sure unto us by them that lieard. "Through the Lord" (comp. chap. i. 2) was spoken this word of God which brought salvation. In two other passages Jesus receives the name "our Lord" (chap, vii. 14; xiii. 20), but nowhere else in this Epistlo (unless pei'haps in chap. xii. 14) is He spoken of as " the Lord " ; the dignity of the title here heightens tho contrast. " By them that heard " the word from Him, the writer says, it " was made sure " (not confinneil, as if stronger attestation were the meaning intended) "unto us." It is evident that the writer here classes himself with those who had not immediately heard the word from Jesus. Such language as this stands in striking contrast with St. Paid's claim, rejieatodly maintained, to have received his doctrine directly from the Lord Himself (Gal. i. 12; 1 Cor. ix. 1, et al). W God also bearing them witness.— That is,| bearing witness with them to the truth they preached. \ Mark xvi. 20 is a striking parallel ; see also Acts iv. 30. Tho di\ane attestation wiis given by miracles and by J "gifts" (literally, distributions, as in tho margin; I see 1 Cor. xii. 11) " of the Holy Ghost." We have here, as in Acts ii. 22 and 2 Cor. xii. 12 (see tho Notes), the full threefold description of miracles, as "signs" and "wonders" and "powers"; as wonderful works that are wrought by divine power, and are thus signs of tho divine presence and symbols of a corresjxmding spiritual work. The woi*ds liere used are illustrated especially by 2 Cor. xii. 12, in its reference to miracles as attest- ing the apostolic preaching. But yet ' ' greater works " (John xiv. 12) were wrought by the messengers of Christ, in that through them were bestowed tho gifts of tho Spirit. Tho hist words, " according to His will," bring us back to the first words of the section (chap. i. 1) ; as it is God who sjieaks to men in His Son, it is He who works with those who proclaim the word that they have heard, attesting their message by gifts according to His will. (5-18) It was needful fhat Jesn.s, as Author of salva- tion to man, sliould in all points Ihi made like to those whom Ho saves, and in their likeness suffer and die ; thus Ho becomes for them a mei'cif ul and faithful High v Priest, (5) For. — There is a Tery clear connection between" this verse and chap. i. 14. " Angels are but ministering spirits, ser^-ing God in the cause of those who shall inherit salvation ; for not to angels is the world to come made subject." But tho connection with verses 2, 3, is equally iinix)rtant: " the salvation that is now given has been proclaimed not by angels but by the Lord, and it is God Himself who works with the messengers of the The Promise of Dominion HEBEEWS, II. fulfilled to 2fan in Christ. whereof we speak. (^^ But one in a cer- Chap. ii. 5-18. ^ai^ place testified, say- The sufferings ing, What is man, that nLessTxxThat ^^^^ ^^t mindful of him? He might be- Or the SOU of man, that ^^^^^gjor^ man thou visitest him?" (7) vation, a true Thou madest him a little High Priest. lower than! the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and 1 Or, o little while inferior to. 2 Or, by. honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands : (^^ thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in sub- jection under him, he left nothing tlcat is not "put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. <^^ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the aug^els for^ the Lord ; for not unto angels," &c. The word " sah'atiou " binds together this section and the first. (See chaj). i. 14; ii. 2; ii. 10.) Hath, he not put in subjection. — Better, did He subject ; for the reference is to the passage quoted in the foUomug verses, which is ah'oady in the winter's thought. " He : " God, sjieakiug in the prophetic Scripture. The world, to come. — The same expression occurs in the English version of chap. xi. 5, but in the Greek '• world " is repi'esented by entirely difllereut words. Here, as in chap. i. 6, the meaning is " inhabited earth," *' world of man"; thei'e, the word properly relates to time, "age." Is "the world to come" still future, or is it here looked at from the Old Testament point of view? (See chap. i. 2.) The following verses (espe- cially verse 9) make it clear that the period referred to I is that which succeeds the exaltation of Christ. "We ourselves cannot but markedly distinguish the present stage of Messiah's kingdom from the future; but in the perspective of prophecy the two were blended. The thought of this kingdom amongst men has been l)resent from tlie first verses of the Epistle onwards ; hence. " whereof we speak." (*^) But one in a certain place.— Better, some- u-here. The expression is perfectly indefinite (comp. diap. iv. 4). As a rule, the words of Scripture are in this Epi.stlo quoted as God's own utterances ; and though the nature of the quotation (which is an address to God) made this impossible here, the writer seems gla is fiilfilUnl in all its parts. Ho was made a litllo (tlio roii(li>rin<; of tlio margin, "a littlowhile," is iniicli loss prol)iil)k«) lower tliau angels, and Ho is crowned with glory. In one point wo note an apparent departure from the sense of tlio Psalm, since words (" a little lower ") which there denote dignity here denote humiliation. This difference is not essential ; in each case it is tho position of man that is signified, and our Lord's assumption of human nature must in any case bo spoken of as a descent to a lower sphere. There is peculiar fitness in tho use of tho human uame, Jesxis, for Him in whom tho Psalmist's words concerning man arc literally fulfilled. It is noteworthy that we do not read, " Wo see all things put in subjection unto Jesus " — this would conflict with the truth stated in diap. x. 13 : other words of tho Psalm are sub- stituted, which do not imply that the complete actual 8ul)jecfion is already accomplished. This exaltation of One is not a sulisfitute foi*, Init involves (Rom. viii. 17, 29, ct al.), and renders possible, the exaltation of tho many. This is clear from tho " not yet " of verse 8 ; and tho same truth is brought out in a different form at tho close of this verse. In tho midst of this appli- cation of the words of Scripture to Jesus, tho writer introduces his first reference to His death. Tho offence of tho cross (Gal. v. 11) was an over-active force among Jews ; this is present to the ^\Titer's mind throughout tho Ejjistle. The words thus suddenly brought in here, reminding us that the exaltation of Christ was a reward for His obedience unto death (another echo of St. Paul — Phil. ii. 9, 10 ; see also chap. xii. 2), prepare for the more detailed teaching of the following verses — 10. 11, 15, 17. There is an apparent difficulty in the position of the last clause of the verse, " that He should taste death for every man." Wo cannot doubt that these words depend on those which immediately pi-ecedo; and yet how can it 1)0 said that Jesus has been crowned with glory ill order that H<^ may "taste death for every man " ? Almost all difficulty is removed if we consider that (to use Dean Alforil's words) "it is on the triumphant i.ssue of His sufferings that their efficacy depends." Dut it is impossible for the Christian to separate, even in thought, the one from the other— the sufferings from the c(>rtaiii triumph. We might, perhaps, say that it is only by a misuse of hujuan analogies that we separate thorn oven in time : in the (iospel of St. John, at all events (if not in this very Epistle— .see verse 14). wo are taught that in Hi.f crucijixion Jesus is exalted. This clause, then, lu-ings us l)ack to tho thought of the glory reserved for man: through death tlio fiil'tilment of God's purpose miglit seem to be frustmted ; through tho death of Jesus on lielialf of every man (I I'ct. iii. IS) it is ful- filled. The outline presented here is filli-d up in later chapters; there we shall read that man's iiili.M-itance was foi-feit(>d through sin, and that only through the ■virtue of a de.ath which made atonement for sin^is tho promise again marie sure (chap. ix. 1 ,'>, 16, 28). To " taste death " is a familiar Hebraism. If it has any special significance here, it would seem less natuial to see (with Chrysostom) a reference to the short duration of our Saviour's death, than to understand the words as pointing to tho actual taste of all tho bitterness of death. (Comp. chap. vi. 4, 5.) One A'arious reading it is impossible to pass by, though it is preserved in but two of our Greek MSS., and these of no early date. For "by the grace of God " many (apparently most) copies of the Epistle that were known to Origen read " a])art from God." This read- ing was followed by others of the Fathers, and found its way into some manuscripts of early versions. Tho Nestorians gladly accepted words which to them seemed to teach that in suffering tho man Jesus was apart from God. Origen and others understood the words differently, as moaning, taste death for every being except God. (Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 27.) A reading so widely known, which in later times has been favoured by as eminent a critic as Bengel, demanded notice, though it is almost certainly incorrect. No interpreta- tion which the words admit yields a probable sen.se ; on the other hand, the reference to " the gi'aco of God " is full of significance. (See verses 4 and 10.) (lu) For. — What seomed to Jews incredible, that the Christ should die, was ordained " by the grace of God." For thus to make sufferings the path to His kingdom ] was worthy of God, for whose glory and through whoso I power all things exist ; who as Creator comuuiuds all I agencies, and who cannot but do that which will sub- serve His glory. If the means at which men wondered were chosen l)y God, no one may doubt their supremo fitness for the end. In -"hat this fitness consisted tho following words partially explain. In bringing. — It is doubtful whether the Greek word should not be rendered, having brought. With this translation we must certainly explain tho words on the same principle as the past tenses of versos 7 and 8. As in the divine counsels all things were subjected to man, mtli the same propriety it may be said that God had brought many sous to glory when • the Saviour suffered and died. Many sons. — Tho now thought hero introduced is of great importance in the argument. The divino purpose is to bring many sons (comp. chap. i. 14) unto glory — the glory already spoken of as reserved for man — through His Son, who has Himself received this glory that He msij make it theirs. Captain.— This word occurs in tlu-ee otlier places. In Acts V. 31 it bears its original meaning, " Leader " (" a Leader and a Saviour ") ; in chap. xii. 2 and Acts iii. 1.5 the idea of " leading the way " has passed into that of origination. In the present case, also, Author is tho best rendering ; but in a context which so distinctly presents our Lord as taking on Himself the conditions of man's lot, and so passing into tho glory which He wins for man, the primary thought of leading must not be entirely set aside. It is as tho Author of sal- vation that Ho is made perfect through sufferings. Three aspects of this truth are presented in the Epistle. _. By His suffering unto death He "bare the sins ofajl many " (verso 9, chap. ix. 28); He offered the sacrifice"! of a perfect obedience (chap. v. 8); He was enabled to be a perfect representative of man. This last thought pervades the remaining versos of tho chapter. (U) For both, he^ that sanctifieth . . .—The! 290 Jesus made like unto Men, HEBEEWS, 11. whom He oions as Brethren. is not ashamed to call them brethren, (1-) saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing" praise unto thee. (^^^ And again, I will put my trust in him." And again. Behold I and the children which God hath given me. * ^^*) Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; special luoaiiing of " sauctify " iu this Epistle (chaps. ix. 13 ; X. 10, 14', 29 ; xiii. 12) seems to be, bringiny into fellowship loith God, the Holy Oue. " They who are sanctified" — literally, are being sanctified (comp. Acts ii. 47; 1 Cor. i. 18) — are those whom the Captain of their salvation, in fulfilment of the Father's purpose (verse 10), is leading unto glory. The thoughts of the last verse, therefore, are repeated here, with a change of figure ; and again (as in verso 9) wo note the brief reference to a subject which will be prominent in later chapters ; see especially chap. xiii. 12. [ Are all of one.— Of one Father. This is the con- /r necting link between verse 11 and verse 10, whicli / speaks of the " many sons " and their Saviour. Though i His souship is unique and infinitely exalted, Ho is not 'i asliamed to OAvn them as brethren. (1-) I will declare thy name . . . .—The quotation is taken (with very slight vaiiatiou) from the 22ud verse of Ps. xxii. — a Psalm remarkable for its close connection with the narratives of the Passion of our Lord. Whetlier the inscription which speaks of David as author is correct, or whether (from tlie difficulty of discovering any period in David's history to which the expressions used can apply) we consider the Psalm to have been written after the Captivity, there can be no doubt of its Messianic character. Some would class tliis Psalm with Ps. ex. (see Note on chap. i. 13), as simply and directly pro- phetic, having no historic fortground; but the language of some of the verses is so definite and peculiar that J we must certainly regard it as descriptive of actual experience, and must rather regard tlie Psalm (comp. cliap. i. 8, 9) as typically prophetic of Christ. Each division of this verse is in point as a quotation. (1) Those to whom the Messiah will declare God's name Ho speaks of as "brethren;" (2) not alone, but in the "church" (or rather, in a congregation of God's people ; see Ps. kXxii. 22) will He sing the praise of God. The Latter I thought — community with men, as attested by a like relation to God — is brought out with still greater pro- minence in verse 13. (1 5J I will put my trust in him . . . Behold I and the children . . . — Of the two passages cited in this verse, the latter is certainly from Isa. v\n. 18 : and thongli the former might be derived from 2 Sam. xxii. 3 or isa. xii. 2, yet, as tlie words are also found in the same chapter of Isaiah (viii. 17), we may with certainty consider tliis the source of the quotation. That the sec- tion of Isaiah's prophecies to wliich cliap. viii. Ijelongs is directly Messianic, is a fact that must be kept in mind ; but tlio stress of tlie quotation cannot l)e laid on this. Tlie prophet, as the roprescntative of God to the people, has eiven utterance to the divine message : in these words, however. "I will put my trust" (better, "I will have my trust," for continuous confidence is what the words denote) " in Him," lie retires into tlie same position with tlie people wlioni lie has addressed; tlieir relation towards God's word and tlie liope it inspin>s must be his also. Tliis two-fold position of the propliet symbolised the two-fold nature of Him of whom every prophet was a type. (In Isa. viii. 17, the Authorised version, " I will look for Him," is nearer to the strict meaning of the original ; but tlie difference is of little moment.) The second passage is free from difficulty up to a certain point. In Isa. vii. and viii. we not only read of the word of God sent by Isaiali, but also find his sons associated with him in his message to the people. The warning of judgment and the promise are, so to speak, held up before the people inscribed in the symbolic names borne by the sons, Maher-shalal-hash-baz (" Speed the spoil, hastens the prey ") and Shear-jaslmb (" A remnant shall return ; " see Isa. vii. 3 ; x. 21), and by Isaiah himself (" Salvation of Jehovah "). " Behold I," ho says, " and the childi-en whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts." By God's own appointment, tho children whom God gave him, though themselves no prophets, were joined with himself in the relation of prophets to the people, and were representatives of those whom God, who " hideth His face from thej house of Jacob" (Isa. viii. 17), will save. As in the' former passage Isaiah is taken as representing Christ, so here those who, being of the same blood, are joined with him in his work and iu the promise of salvation, represent those whom the Son calls " brethren." The difficidty is that, whereas the original passage speaks I of "the children" of the prophet, the meaning hero] must be children of God, given by Him to the Son. I But no type can iinswer in every respect to that which it represents. The association of Jesus with His people contains three elements of thought — His essen- tial superiority, His sharing the same nature with His people. His brotherhood with them. The first two thoughts are truly represented in this Old Testament figm-e ; the last no figure could at the same time set forth. And though verses 12 and 13 are directly connected with the word " brethren," yet, as the next verse shows, the most important constituent of tlie thought is com- munity of nature. It should be observed that in these two verses the citations are not so distinctly adduced by way of proof as are those of the first chapter. (U) Forasmuch then . . .—The two membei-s of this verse directly recall the thoughts of verses 10 and 9. (1) It was tlie will of God that salvation should be won by the Sou for sons ; (2) this salvation could only be won by means of death. The children. — Said with reference to verso 13. Flesh and blood. — Literally, blood and fiesh, tho familiar order of the words being departed from hero and in Eph. vi. 12. This designation of liuman nature on its material side is found four times iu the New Testament, and is extremely common in Jewish writers. The empliasis of the following statement is note- worthy: " He Himself also in like manner took part of the same things." His assumption of our nature liad for its object suffering and death. Destroy him.— Rather, bring him to nought; annul his power. Tho comment on tliese words will bo found in chap. ix. 15, 2() ; for it was as the lord of sin, whicli was the cause (Roui. v. 12) and the sting (1 Cor. XV. 50) of death, that tho devil held dominion over death (or, as the words might mean, wielded tho power 291 Tlie Merciful and HEBREWS, II. Faitlifxil High Priest. (15) and deliver them who through feai- of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels ; but he took on hii7i the seed of Abraham. ^ (17) Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, 1 Rr. he taketh not hold of tiH{/eU, bid of the stud of Ahmh^nn he tak- eth hold. : that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. <^^^ For in that he him- self hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. possessed by death). (Conip. 2 Tim. i. 10; 1 John iii. 8 ; also Rev. i. 18.) Combined with this is the thought which rims througli this cliapter— the assimilation of the Redeemer to the redeemed in the conditions of His earthly life. By meeting death Himself, He vanquishes and destroys death for them. (15) Deliver them who through fear of death . . . . — This verse l)rings into relief the former misery and the present freedom. We may well siippcso these words to have been prompted by the intense sympathy of the writer with the perse- cuted and tempted Christians whom he addresses. He writes throughout as one who never forgets their need of s\nnpathetic help, and who knows well the power of the motives, the allurements and the threats, emjjloyed to lead them into apostasy. The crushing power of the "fear of death" over those who had not grasped the truth that, in Christ, life and immortality are brought to light, perhaps no thought of ours can reach. U'i) He took not on him the nature of angels. — The rendering of the margin approaches very nearly the true meaning of the verse ; whereas the text (in which the Authorised version differs from all our earlier translations) introduces confusion into the argu- ment. Having spoken in verse 14 of our Lord's assumption of human nature, the writer in these words assigns the reason : " For surely it is not of angels that He taketh hold, but He taketh hold of the seed of Abraham." Though the words '"take hold," which occur twice in the verse, probably cannot directly signify " help " (as is often maintained), they distinctly suggest laying hold for the sake of giving help ; and a beautiful illustration may be found in some of the Gospel narratives of our Lord's works of healing (Mark viii. 23 ; Luke xiv. 4). It is probable that the language used here is derived from the Old Testament. In chap, viii. 9, a quotation from Jer. xxxi., we read, " In the day when I took them ])y the hand to lead them out of the land of Egj-pt." Isa. xli. 8, 9, however, is perhaps a still closer parallel (for the word used in the Greek version is very similar, and no doubt expresses the same meaning) : " Thou Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraha'm my friend ; thou of whom I have taken hold from the ends of the earth.' If the writer had these verses in his thought, it is hardly necessary to inquire why ho chooses the expression " seed of Abraham." instead of one of (apparently) wider meaning, such as verses 7, 8, might seem to require. But even apart from this passage of Is;iiah. aii but Christ as a son over his own house ; whose house are we, if we hold f\ist the confidence and the rejoic- ing of the hope firm unto the end. (7) Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice," (^^ harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilder- ness : ('') when your fathers tempted me, i)roved me. Chaps, iii. 7 — iv. 13. Lot us not through unfaithfulness fail of the pro- mise, as un- faithful Israel was excluded from God's rest. declared faitliful." Tliis does not seem probable. If, however, the words of Num. xii. 7 are taken as descriptive of the whole life of Moses, his "witness" must relate to the tilings spoken " in these last days ; " of these, by his writings, his acts, his life, Moses bore constant witness. (See verse 2 ; chaps, viii. 5 ; ix. 19 ; xi. 26; John v. 46, et al.) The latter interpretation is confirmed by verso 6, in which the name given to our Lord is not Jesus, as in verse 1, but Christ. (") But Christ as a son over his own house.— Rather, over His house. Throughout this passage (verses 2, 5, 6) " His house " must be taken in the sense of the quotation, as the house of God. Whereas Moses was faithful as a servant in this house of God, Christ was faithful as a son set over His Father's house. The antithesis is complete : the one is a servant for witness, the other a Son having a natural right to rule. The concluding words in verse 5 have no formal answer here, but the contrast is not the less distinctly expressed. The name Clirist (which here occm-s for the first time) is in this Epistle never a mere name : it contains implicitly the thought that all that to which Moses bore witness has reached its fulfilment now. Christ has come : God's house, formerly tyjufiod by Israel, is now manifested as it really is, containing all " sons " whom God leads to glory (chap. ii. 10). The terms applied by constant usage to the one nation are thus successively enlarged : the " seed of Abraham " (chap. ii. 16 », " the people " (chap. ii. 17), the " house of God" (see chap. x. 21). If we hold fast the confidence. — Better, If ice hold the boldness and the glnnjiny of our hope firm vnto the end. Faithful to his practical purpose, the writer adds to the words "whose house are we" the indispensable condition. The " house " exists (" are we "), to it belong all who possess the Christian " hope ; " but for assured and final appropi-iation of the promise there must be steadfastTiess " unto the end." This exhortation differs from that in chap. ii. 1 — i, in that it more distinctly implies that those who are ad- dressed haA'e a possession Avhich they may lose. The Christian " hope," that aspect of faith which is turned towards the future, is naturally often in the writer's thoughts. The words associated are verj' striking : hope gives us boldness (see 2 Cor. iii. 12), and of this hope we make our boast. " Boldness " is spoken of again (in chaps, iv. 10; x. 10, 3.5) : properly meaning "freedom of speech," it denotes the confident, bold feelings and demeanour which connect themselves with the free utterance of tliought. (7) Wherefore.— Since without steadfastness all will bo lost. With the words introducing the quotation compare chaps, ix. 8 ; x. 1-5. Whether the marks of parenthesis here introduced in our ordinary Bibles (not inserted by the translators of 1611) express the true connection of the verses is a question very hard to decide, and one that does not admit of full discussion here. It is very possible that the writer (like St. Paul in Rom. xv. ,1 21 ; 1 Cor. i. 31) may have merged his own exhortation in that 294 which the quotation supplies (ver.se 8) ; and the objec- tion that verse 12 would naturally in that case have been introduced by some connective word is shown to be groundless by such passages as chaps, viii. 13 ; X. 23; xii. 7, 25. On the other hand, if we connect "Wherefore," in this verse, with " Take heed " in verse 12, we have gi-eater regularity of structure — a strong argument in this Epistle. It seems unlikely, more- over, that the writer (whose tenderness of tone and sympathy are so manifest in his words of warning) would at this stage adopt as his own the stringent and general exhortation, " harden not your heai'ts : " the spirit of verse 12 (" lest haply there shall be in any one of you ") is altogether different. On the whole, there- foi'e, it seems best to consider verses 7 (" To-day . . .") to 11 (". . . my rest") as a pure quotation, enforcing the warning that follows. Psalm xcv., the latter part of which (verses 7 — 11) is here cited, is in the LXX. ascribed to Da\'id, but is pro- bably of later date. (As to chap. iv. 7, see the Note.) In most important respects the words of the quotation agree with the Greek version, and with the Hebrew text. The chief exceptions will be noted as they occur. To day if ye will hear his voice.— Rather, To-day if ye shall hear (literally, shall have heard) His voice. The Greek will not allow the sense in which the words are naturally taken by the English reader, "if ye are willing to hear." The meaning of the Hebrew words is either — (1) " To-day, oh that ye would hearken to (that is, obey) His voice ! " or, (2) " To-day if ye hearken to His voice." The "voice" is that which speaks in the following verses. As the words stand before us, the Psalmist does not formally com- plete the sentence here commenced (" if ye shall hear . . . "). He introduces the diraie words of warning, but adds none in his own person. The entreaty " Harden not your hearts " is at once the utterance of the divine voice and the expression of his own urgent prayer. Other passages in which the hardening of the heart is spoken of as the work of man himself are Ex. ix. 34 ; 1 Sam. vi. 6 ; Prov. xxviii. 11. (8) In the day of temptation.— Better, Ul-e the day of the temptation. As in the LXX., so here, two words which in the Hebrew are proper names ("as at Meribah, and as in the day of Massah ") are trans- lated according to their intrinsic meaning. (For the former see Ex. xvii. 7 ; Num. xx. 13 ; and for the latter Ex. xvii. 7.) We may believe that these ])laces are here chosen for reference partly on account of their significant names ; but it is noteworthy that the re- bellions recorded in the names belonged to the beginning and to the close of the years fif wandei-ing. (9) According to our best MSS. this verse will ran thus: Where {or, ichereivith) your fathers tempted by trial, and saui My worls forty years. The meaning of the Hebrew (with which the LXX. very nearly agrees) is : " Where your fathers tempted Me, proved Me ; also saw My work." The change of reading is more in- teresting than important, as the sense is not materially different. Both here and in the original passage it I Take heed, lest any of you HEBEEWS, III. he Hardened through Unbelief. and saw my "works forty years. (10) Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart ; and they have not known my ways. ^^^^ So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter ^ into my rest.) <^^ Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in dei:)artiug from the living God. (^^) But exhort one another daily, I Gr. If they shall enter. while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceit- fulness of sin. (^^^ For we are made 23artakers of Christ, if we hold the be- ginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; ^^^^ while it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (^^^ For some, when they had heard, did pro- voke : howbeit not all that came out seems probable that tlio " work," or "works." sliould bo understood of the diviue judgments which the dis- obedient people " saw " and bore during forty years. In the Psalm (and apparently in verse 17 oi this chapter) the mention of the forty years connects itself with the words which follow; but here with the pro- vocations of the people and their punishment. It is held by many that in this period of forty years is con- tained a reference to the time that intervened between our Saviour's earthly ministry and the destruction of Jerusalem; and a Jewish tradition is quoted which assigns to " the days of Messiah " a duration of forty years. (W) I was grieved with that generation. — Rather, Itcas angry ivith t]iis generation. The Hebrew is very strong : " I loathed a (whole) generation." The first word, " Wlierefore," is not found in the Psaku, but is added to make the connection more distinct. And they have not known my ways.— Better, yet they took not Jcnoivledge of My tcays. Although throughout the forty years He had shown to them their disobedience and His displeasure, yet the warning and discipline were fruitless. They gained no know- ledge of His ways. It is veiy important to observe this explicit reference to the close, as well as the be- ginning of the forty years. (See verse 8.) (11) So. — Rather, as (chap. iv. 3). It is with these as it was with their fathers, the generations that came out of Egypt, unto whom God sware, " They shall not enter into My rest" (Num. xiv. 21 — 24). The form in which these words ajipear below (chap. iv. 3, 5) in the Authorised version, " If they shall enter into my rest," is an imitation of the original construction. See Num. xiv. 23, where " they shall not see " is, as the margin shows, expressed in Hebrew by " if they (shall) see " the land. Into my rest. — Into the land where Jehovah shall give rest to His people and shall dwell with them. (See Deut. xii. 9; I Kings viii. 56; Ps. cxxxii. 11;; Isa. Ixvi. 1 ; 1 Chron. vi. 31 ; 2 Chron. vi. 41.) (12) Lest there be in any of you.— Better, lest haply there shall be in any one of you. (See above, on verse 7.) In departing. — Better, in falling away from a Living God. The heart of unbelief will manifest its evil in aposta.sy. The Greek word apistia stands in direct contrast to "faithful" (2)istos), verse 2, and combines the ideas of " unliolief '" and " faithlessness." He whose words they have heard is a living God, ever watcliful in warning and entreaty (verse 8), but also in the sure i)unishraent of the faithless (verso 11 ; chap. x. 31). (13) While it is called To day.— Literally, as long as the " to-day" is called (to you), le-'^t any one of you be hardened by deceit of sin. As long as they heard the word of God speaking in the Scripture. 295 " To-day if ye shall hear," so long is the way of obedi- ence open to them. Sin is here iiersouified as the Deceiver (Rom. vii. 11), alluring from God by the offer of " pleasures" (chap. xi. 25), or persuading that forbearance and " respite " (Ex. \niii. 15 ; Eccles. viii. 11) imply the absence of a Living God. (14) For. — Take heed (verse 12) lest there bo any- thing that may lead astray, /or we have become partakers of the Christ if {and only Lf) we hold the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. In verse 6, since Israel had been siioken of as God's house, the Christian hope finds expression in " whose house are we." Here the comparison with Israel joumepug to the Land of promise suggests another figure, and all blessing is summed up in becoming "partakers of the Christ," foretold and expected as the FuLfiller of aU promises. Two different words in the two verses are rendered " coiifidence " in the Authorised version. Tlie former, as we have seen (verse 6), is " boldness ; " the latter (here used) is applied to men who make a firm stand when attacked, who stand firmly under pressure. In the first energy of the new life such firm constancy had been shown by them (chap. x. 32 — 34) ; but would it be maintained " unto the cud" ? (15) If ye will hear. — Rather, as before (verse 7), if ye shall hear. The time connection of this verse is not easily decided. By many it is held that the woi'ds should be joined with what follows, and commence a new paragrapli ; but this does not seem probable. Either verse 14 is parenthetical, so that this verso emphasises the reference to "to-day" in verse 13; or the thought of the writer is that we must " hold fast the beginning of our confidence " in the presence of this divine warning — whilst day by day these words are addressed to us anew. (16) For. — The connecting link is the thought of " the provocation." A slight change in the accentuation of the first Greek word effects a complete change in the sense : For xvho u-hen they had heard did provoke i Nay, was it not all that came out of Egypt through Moses ? Those who were disobedient were the people whom God, through Moses, had but now deliA ored from bondage ! The two exceptions (Num. xiv. 30) are left out of account in the pre.sence of the multitude of rebels. There can be little doubt that the above translation (now generally received) presents the true meaning of the verse. It wiU be remembered that the oldest MSS. give no evidence on such points as accentuation, and tliereforo leave our judgment free. In modem times Bengel was the first to i)oint out the true form of the Greek word; but one of the ancient ver.Mons (the Pcscliito-Syriac), and at least three of tlu^ Greek Fathers, are found to give tlie same interpretation. It will be seen at once that, with this arrangement of the words, the present verse is similar iu structure to the two folio wing. The Disobedient People HEBEEWS, lY. entered not into God's Rest. of Egypt by Moses. (i^) But with ■whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? (i^J And to whom sware he that they shonld not enter into his rest, but to ,'?;„;,X. "■"''" "^ them that believed not ? <^^^ So we see i that they could not enter in because of ? ^^r^^^rtniua 1 , . « \ ^U faith to. unbelief. CHAPTER IV.— (1) Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. C*^^ For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them : but the word preached ^ did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in ^ them that heard it. (3) Yov we which have believed do enter (17) But. — Better, And with whom loas He angry forty years / Whose carcases. — Literally, limbs. The word is taken from the Greek version of Xum. xiv. 29 ; and seems intended to convey the thought of bodies faUiug limb from lind) in the wilderness. (18) That believed not. — Rather, thnt disobeyed. Every part of the solemn sentences of the Psalm is applied to the reader's conscience, that the effect of the whole warning may be deepened : the nature of the transgression is thus brought out vrith the strongest emphasis. Those \vith whom God was angry had provoked God (verse 16), had sinned (verse 17), had been disobedient, had refused to believe His word (verse 19). The action of the Israelites (Num. xiv.) involved at once disobedience to God's command that they should advance to the conquest of the land, and want of faith in the promise which made victory sure. (19) So we see.— Rather. And we see. It is not the general conclusion that is here expressed; but, as in verse 18 we read of the oath of exclusion, this verse records the fact, and also states the cause under an aspect which is most suitable for the exhortation which is in the writer's thought. There is foi-ce in " could not enter " : — not only disobedience, but cowardice and weakness, sjirang from " unbelief." IV. This chapter is manifestly a continuation of the last, and should not have been detached from it. As \ni\\ the exhortation of chap. iii. I'i, 13, ai'e intei-woven some of the early words of the quotation from Ps. xcv., so here the later thoughts of the same passage are taken up and applied. (1) Let us therefore fear.— Tlie emphasis rests upon " fear," not upon " us."' It is notewortliy that the writer begins with " Let us," though about to write "lest any of you ; " ho will liave gained his object if he brings his readers to share liis fear. Lest, a promise being left us.— Rather, lest haply, a promise being (still) left. No word nnist be inserted here that can diminish the generality of the words; in the sequel the statement ^vill bo repeated with all possible clearness. Here it is simply said that such a promise remains unexhausted, waiting for com- plete fulfilment. No Hebrew Christian would doubt this. As in cha]). i.. the writer's aim is not to establish a truth absolutely new, but to show that in this and in that Scripture a received truth lies contained. Most of our earlier versiims (following LuthiM- and Erasmns) give to this clause a different turn, which cannot 1)0 correct : " Lest any of you by forsaking the promise of entering in His rest." Any of you should seem to come short of it. — Rather, any one of you should be accounted to have come short of it. The difficulty here lies in the words rendered " seem " or "be accounted." It appears impossible that the meaning can be " should even seem," or " should think himself," or " should show himseK," to have failed. It may be that the writer avoids positive and direct language in speaking of what lies beyond mortal ken, and therefore reverently says " should seem to have come short of it." It is more probable that he is influenced by the figure contained in the next word, the falling short of a mark; and is thus led to refer to the judge who witnesses and de- clares the failure, — " Lest any one ... be held (or, be adjudged) to have come short of " the promise. (-) For unto us was.— Rather, for we have had glad tidings preached unto us, even as they had. The object of these words is to support verse I, " a promise being left." How fitly the good news of the promise might, alike in their case and in ours, be designated by the same word as the " gospel," will afterwards appear. The word preached. — Literally, the word of hearing, i.e., the word which was heard (1 Thess. ii. 13). But this does not mean the word heard by them. As in Isa. Kii. 1 (where the same word is found in the Greek version) the meaning is " our message," " that which we have heard from God," so here the words signify what was heard by those who declared the pro- mise to the people, especially the message which Moses received from (jod. Not being mixed with faith. — A change of read- ing in the Greek, which rests on the strongest authority, compels us to connect these words, not Avith the message, but with the people : '" since they had not been united (literally, mingled) by faith with them that heard." That the word of Moses and those associated with him in declaring God's promise (perhaps Aaron, Joshua, Caleb) might benefit the people, speakers and hearers must be united by the bond of faith. Here the margin of the Authorised version preserves the true text, fol- lowing the Vulgate and the earliest of the printed Greek Testaments (the Complutonsian). (*) For we which have believed. — Tlie emphasis is two-fold, resting both on "believed" and on '"wo enter." The former looks back to verse 2, " by faith " — "for it is we who believed that enter." . . . The latter looks forward to the remainder of the verse, the purport of which is that the rest exists, and that " entering into the rest " may still be spoken of. As I have sworn . . . — Riither (as above), as I stvare in My wrath, Tlicy shall not enter into My rest. (See chap. iii. 11.) If in the Scripture (Ps. xcv. 8) God warns men of a later age not to imitate the guilt of those whom He excluded from His rest, it follows (see beh)w on verse 10) tliat the time for entering into the rest of God was not then past and gone. Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.— And therefore the rest into which God will enter with His redeemed people is not that which succeeded the works of creation. This 296 A Sabhatlwrest remains HEBREWS, IV. for the People of God. into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wi'ath, if they shall enter into my rest : although the worts were j&nished from the foundation of the world. <^^ For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise. And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. <^' And in this place again, If ihej shall enter into my rest. ("^^ Seeing therefore it re- maineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached ^ entered not in because of imbelief: (''^ again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said. To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. ^^^ For if Jesus ^ had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. ^^^ There 3 or.keepingo/ remalueth therefore a rest^ to the people a sabbath. , i . i of God. '^^^' For he that is entered into ^ ftrJt''pfeZ'i,l'd^'" his rest, he also hath ceased from his 2 Tlint Is, Joshua. caution is added because the words used by tlie Psalmist (Ps. xev. 11) are derived from Geu. ii. 2, 3; though the same words are used, yet, we are reminded, the thought is widely diifereut. The next two verses simply expand and support the thought contained in this : " For whereas we read in one Scripture that God ' rested ' on the seventh day, anotlier records His sentence on the disobedient people, ' They shall not enter into My rest.' " (^) For he spake in a certain place. — Better, For he liath spoken somewhere, another example of indefiniteness of citation. (See Note on chap, ii. 6.) (6) The substance of the preceding verses may be thus expressed : There is a rest of God, into which some are to enter with God, — a rest not yet entered at the time of the wandering in the wilderness, and there- fore not that which followed the work of creation, — a rest fi-om which some were excluded because of unbelief. These five particulars are rej)eated in substance in the present verse : " Seeing, therefore, it is (still) left that some should enter in. and they to whom formerly glad tidings were declared entered not in because of disobedience. He again," &c. " Dis- obedience " — though verse 2 speaks of unbelief as the cause : see Note on chap. iii. 18. In John iii. 36, the transition from " believeth " to " obeyeth " is equally striking. (7) Again, he limiteth.— Better, He again marketh out (or, dejiiieth). The next step taken (see the last Note) is to point out that, long after the occupation of Canaan, the Psalmist — God speaking in the Psalm — says " To-day," in pleading with Israel. The implied meaning is as if He said, " Harden not your hearts to- day, lest I swear unto you also, Ye shall not enter into My rest." In David. — Probably this is equivalent to saying, In the Book of P.falms. In the LXX., however, Ps. xcv. is ascribed to DaA-id. After so long a time.— The period intervening between the divine sentence on the rebels in the wilder- ness (Num. xiv. ) and the time of the Psalmist. As it is said..— The best MSB. read, as it hath been before said. <^) For, hatl the promise been fulfilled in Joshua's conquest, the Psalm (God in the P.salm) would not be speaking of anotlier day, saying " To-day " (verso 7). (In one other place in the New Testament the Greek form of the name of Joshua is preserved. See the Note on Acts vii. 4-5.) <-') There remaineth therefore.— Or. therefore there is (still) /c/Y .- the word is the same a.s in verse 6. It is tacitly assumed that no subsequent fulfilment has altered the relation of the promise. Few things in the Epistle are more striking than the constant presenta- tion of the thought that Scripture language is jjjcr- vianent and at all t'wacs present. The implied promise, therefore, repeated whenever the " to-day " is lieard, must have its fulfilment. The rescued people of Israel did indeed find a rest in Canaan : the true redeemed " people of God " shall rest with God. A rest. — As the margin points out, the word is suddenly changed. As the rest promised to God's people is a rest with God, it is to them " a sabbath- rest." So one of the treatises of the Mishna speaks of Ps. xcii. as a " Psalm for the time to come, for the day which is all Sabbath, the rest belonging to the life eternal." (10) Into his rest. — That is, into God's rest. Hath ceased. — Rather, hath rested from his works as God did from His own (works). This verse is added to explain and justify the reference to a " sabbath " in A'erse 9. Man's sabbath-rest begins when he enters into God's rest (Gen. ii. 2); as that was the goal of the creative work, so to the people of God this i*est is the goal of their life of " works." As the whole argument is reviewed, the question may naturally be asked. To what extent is this wide meaning present in the Psalm itself ? Where must the line be di-awn between the direct teaching of the words and the application here made ? The apparent expansion of the meaning of the Psalm relates to verse 11 alone. There, in the first instance, an historical fact is mentioned — the exclusion of the rebels from the promised land. But though the mention of the oath of God is derived from Num. xiv. 28 — 30, the language of the historian is significantly changed ; for " ye shall not come into the land," we read, " they shall not enter into My rest." True, the land could be spoken of as their '• rest and inheritance " (Deut. xii. 9) ; but the language which the Psalmist chooses is at all events susceptible of a much higher and wider meaning, and (as some of the passages quoted in the Note on chap. iii. 11 serve to prove) may have l)een used in this extended sense long before the Psalmist's age. Tliat verse 8, when placed by the side of verse 11, shows the higher meaning of the words to have been in the Psalmist's thought, and implies that the offer of admission to the rest of God was still made, it seems unreasonable to doubt. . As the people learnt through ages of experience and training (see chap. i. 5) to discern the deeper and more spiritual meaning that lay in the promises of the King and the Son of David, so was it with other promises which at first might seem to have no more than a temporal signiticance. If these considerations are well founded, it follows tiiat we liave no right to look on the argument of this section as an 'accommodation" or a mere application of Scripture: the Christian preaclier does but fill up the outline which the prophet had drawn. 297 Tlie Living Power HEBEEWS, IV. of the Word of God. own works, as God did from liis. (^^^ Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.^ <^-^ For the Avord of God is quick, aud powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spii-it, and of the joints 1 Or, disobedience. and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (13) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight : but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (^^^ Seeing then that -we have a great high priest, that is passed into the (11) Labour, — Rather, give diligence, strive earnestly. It is tliG necessity of ■watchful and constant faithfulness that is enforced. Hence the words that follow : " Lest any one fall into (or, after) the same example of dis- obedience " (verse 6 ; chap. iii. 18). ('2) As in chap. iii. 12 the warning against the " evil heart of unbelief " is solemnly enforced by the mention of the " Living God," so here, in pointing to the peril of disobedience, it is to the living power of the word of God that the wi'iter makes appeal. But in what sense? Does he bring before us again the word of Scripture, or the divine Word Himself? Outside the writings of St. John there is no passage in the New Testament in which tlu; word of God is as clearly invested with personal attrilnites as here. The word is "quick" (that is, living), " powerful " (or, active — mighty in operation, as most of our versions render the word), "able to discern the thoughts of the heart." Philo, whose writings are pervaded by the doctrine of the divine Word (see the Note appended to St. John's Gospel in Vol. I. of this Commodary, p. 653), in certain passages makes use of expressions so remarkably resembling some that are before us in this verse that we cannot suppose the coincidence accidental. Thus, in an alle- gorical explanation of Gen. xv. 10, ho speaks of the sacred and divine Word as cutting through all things, dividing all perceptible objects, aud jienetrating even to those called indivisiJ)le, separating the different parts of tlie sf)ul. But though these and the many other reseniblaiKTs that are adduced may prove the writer's familiarity witli the Alexandrian philosophy, they are wholly insufficient to show an adoption of Philo's doctrinal systc^m (if system it could be called) in regard to the divine Word, or to rule the interpreta- tion of the singhi passage in this Epistle in which an allusion to that system could bo traced. Nor is the first-mentioned argument conclusive. There certainly is personification here, and in part the language used would, if it stood alone, even suggest the presence of a divine Person ; but it is not easy to believe that in the New Testament tho words " sharper than a two- edged sword " would be directly applied to the Son of God. In this Ei)istle, moreover (and even in this con- text, verso 2), reference is repeatedly made to the word of God in revelation, without a trace of any other meaning. The key to the language of this verse, so far as it is exceptional, is found in that characteristic of the Epistle to which reference has been already made —tho habitual thought of Scripture as a direct divine utterance. The transition from such a conception to those of tliis verso was very easy; and we need not feel surprise if with expressions which are naturally applied to tho utterance are joined others which load the thought to God as Speaker. It is. therefore, the whole word of God that is brought before us — mainly the word of threatening and judgment, but also (comp. verse 2 and the last member of this verse) the word of promise. 298 Piercing even to the dividing asunder . . .— Rather, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow. For the comparison of God's word to a sword see Isa. xlix. 2 ; Eph. vi. 17 ; (Rev. i. 16) ; comp. also Wisd. x^iii. 15, 16, " Thino Almighty word leapt down from heaven out of Thy royal throne . . . and brought Thine unfeigned com- mandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled all things with death." The keen two-edged sword pene- trates even to dividing soul and spirit (not soul from, spirit), with unfailing stroke severing bone from bone and piercing the very marrow. Tho latter words, by a very natural metaphor, are transferred from the material frame to the soul and spirit. And is a discerner . . .—Is quick to discern, able to judge, tho thoughts (reflections, conceptions, intents) of the heart. Man's word may be lifeless, without power to discriminate, to adapt itself to a changed state or varying circumstances, to enforce itself : the Spirit of God is never absent from His word. (13) In his sight. — Still the pi'oper subject is "the word of God " ; but, as explained above, it has assumed the meaning, God speaking and present in His ivord. Touched by this word, every creature " returns of force to its own likeness " — shows itself as it is. Opened. — Better, exposed, laid hare. The Greek word is peculiar (literally meaning, to take by the nech), and it seems impossible to determine with certainty the exact metaphor which it here presents. It is usually applied to a wrestler who by dragging back the neck overthrows his adversary : and " prostrate " has been suggested as the meaning here. Another explana- tion refers the word to the drawing back of a criminal's head, so as to expose his face to public gaze ; l)ut, though wo read of such a custom in Latin authors, we have no proof that tho Greek word was used in this sense. There seems no good reason for supposing any allusion to a sacrificial victim with head thrown back (slain, or ready to be slainl. Unto the eyes of him . . . — Rather, unto His eyes : with Whom (or, and jvith Him) we have to do. The last solemn words recall tho connection of the whole passage. No thought of unbelief or disobedience escapes His oye : tho fii'st beginnings of apostasy are manifest before Him. Yerses 14 — 16 are the link connecting all the pre- ceding pai-t of the Epistle witli the next great section, chaps. V. — X. 18. Following the example of Luther, Tyndalo and Coverdalc begin the fifth chapter here; but the connection of the tlirco verses with what pre- cedes is too close to justify this. (1^) All tho chief points of the earlier chapters are brought together in this verse and the next : — the High Priest (chai)s. ii. 17; iii. 1); His exaltation (chaps, i. 3, 4, 13 ; ii. 9) ; His divine Sonship (chaps, i. ; iii. 6) ; His compassion towards the brethren whose lot He came to share (chap. ii. 11 — 18). Having such a High Priest, HEBEEWS, V. let us come to the Throne of Grace. heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us . hold fast our j)rofession. le.^^Having a ^^^^ For we have not an merciful High high priest wliicli cannot he through *^ Him touched with the feeling of draw nigh to our infirmities ; hut was in ° ■ all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. <^^^ Let us there- fore come holdly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 1 Or, can renann- ably bear tcitli. CHAPTER v. — (1) For every high priest taken from amone: ^, ^ . 1 • 1 n ^ Chap. V. 1 — men is ordamed lor men lo. The idea in things pertaininq to of ^^^'Vi^^,^,^*; r* J XT, X -u £c liood fulfilled (jrod, that he may oner in Christ, per- both gifts and sacrifices fected through for sins : (^^ who can have fieciaVecf^' ^by compassion on^ the igno- God High rant, and on them that are ^'"'"*^ ^""^ ^^'''■'■ out of the way ; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. (^^ And That is passed into the heavens.— Rather, that hath passed through the heavens. As the higli priest /- passed through the Holy Place to enter the Holy of I Holies, Jesus " ascended up far above all heavens," i' and sat at the right hand of God. This thought is developed in chaps, viii. — x. Our profession.— See chap. iii. 1. (15) y^Q cannot but note again how the power of the exhortation (especially to those immediately addressed) lay in the combination of the two thoughts — the greatness I and the tender compassion of the High Priest of our confession. The two are united in the words of verse 16, " the throne of grace." (Comp. chap. viii. 1.) The l)eautiful rendering, " touched with the feeling of our infirmities," is due to the Genevan Testament of 1557. But was in all points ; . .—Better, but One that hath in all points been tempted in like manner, apart from sin. These words show the nature and the limits of this sympathy of Christ. He suif ers with His people, not merely showing compassion to those who are suffer- ing and tempted, but taking to Himself a joint feeling of their weaknesses. He can do this because He has passed through trial, has Himself been tempted. In speaking of " weaknesses " the writer uses a word ap- plicable both to the people and to their Lord, who was " crucified through weakness " (2 Cor. xiii. 4). Its meaning must not be limited to the region of pain and bodily suffering : whatever belongs to the necessary limitations of that human nature which He assumed is included. As He learned His obedience from sufferings (chap. V. 8), He gained His knowledge of the help we need in that "Himself took our weaknesses" (Matt. viii. 17), and was Himself tempted in like manner, save that in Him sin had no place (chap. vii. 26). These last words supply the limit to the thought of weakness and temptation as applied to our High Priest. Not only was the temptation fruitless in leading to sin (this is implied here, but only as a part or a result of another truth), but in the widest sense He coidd say, " The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me " (John xiv. 30). " Was tempted in all points in like manner," are words which must not be over-pressed; hut the essential principles of tempta.tion may be traced in those with which Jesus was assailed. (Comp. John XX i. 25.) (16) Obtain mercy. — Tlie real meaning is, receive compassion (chap. ii. 17) in our weakness and trials. The thought of obtaining mercy for guilt is not in these words, taken by themselves ; but " grace " meets every need. If the last verse brought evi- dence that our High Priest has perfect knowledge of the help required, this gives the assurance that the help shall bo given as needed, and in the time of need. Y. With this chapter begins the longest and most impor- tant division of the Epistle, extending (with one break, chaps. V. 11 — vi. 20) as far as chap. x. 18. The general subject is the nature of the High Priesthood of our Lord. Yerses 1 — 10 link themselves vrith the last words of the fourth chajiter. The thoughts which have been briefly expressed in verses 14, 15, and on which verse 16 rests, are i*esumed, and in this section fully developed. Hence chap. iv. 16 is connected both with what precedes (by " therefore ") and with the present chapter (by " For") : " For as every human high priest shares the nature of those on behalf of whom he appears before God, and thus can be compassionate towards them, and, moi-e- over, can only receive his appointment from God ; so Christ is God-appointed, He has learnt His obedience through sufferings, and, thus made perfect, is declared by God High Priest for ever." (1) Taken. — Rather, bei^ig taken, since he is taken, from among men. Gifts and sacrifices.— The former is in itself perfectly general ; but when thus contrasted with "sacrifices" it denotes the " unbloody offerings " of the Law. On the Day of Atonement (which, as we shall see, is almost always in the writer's thoughts as he refers to the fimctions of the high priest) the "offer- ings " woidd consist of the incense and of the " meat- offerings " connected with the burnt -sacrifices for the day. On that day all offerings, as well as all sacrifices, had relation to " sins." (2) Who can have compassion.— Rather, as one who can deal gently ivith (or, more strictly, /eeZ gently towards) the ignorant and erring, because . . . Either apathy or undue severity in regard to transgression would disqualify this representative of men to God. It cannot be said that sin is mildly designated here, since the words so closely resemble those which occur in chap. iii. 10 ; still the language is so chosen as to I exclude sinning " with a high hand." \ (3) To be closely joined with verse 2 : " Is compassed with infirmity, and by reason thereof is bound . . ." The law of the Day of Atonement required a sin-offer- ing of a bullock and a burnt-offering of a ram for the high priest himself, and for the congregation a sin- offering of two he-goats and a burnt-offcriug of a ram. Over his own sin-offering the high priest made confession of sins, first for himself and his liousehold, then for the priests; over the goat sent into the wilderness the sins of the people were confessed. 299 Christ learned His Obedience HEBREWS, V. hy the Things which He Suffered. by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. <*^ And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. (^^ So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest ; but he that said unto him. Thou art mj Son, to day have I begotten thee. '^^ As he saith also in another place. Thou art a priest 1 Or, for hU puty. for ever after the order of Melchisedec. '"' Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up praj^ers and supislications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared ; ^ (^^ though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered ; (^^ and bemg made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation (*) But he that is called.— Tlie true reading requipcs, ichen he is called. " Not uuto himself doth any man take the honour, but when . . ." (5) Christ.— Better, the Christ. (See chap. iii. 14.) It is important to note that in passages of the Penta- teuch where the high priest receives a special designa- tion (usually " the priest " is sufficiently distinctive) his title is almost always " the anointed priest." Hence in the one designation, " the Christ," are united the two testimonies of Scripture which follow. He is the Anointed King (Ps. ii. 7), addressed by Jehovah as His Son (see Notes on chap. i. 2, 4, 5) ; by the same Jehovah He is addressed as Priest for ever after the order of one who was both priest and king (Ps. ex. 4). (6) Thou art a priest for ever . . . — On Ps. ex. Bee the Note on chap. i. 13. The fourth verse, here quoted, is the kernel of the Psalm, and supplies the theme for a large portion of this Epistle, especially chap, vii. As tlie promise of 2 Sam. "\Ti. was the prelude to the revelation of the second Psalm, the di\nne declara- tion recorded in Ex. xix. G may have prepared the way for the promise of Ps. ex. 4. The king of Israel was the type of the Son of David ; and in the consecrated people, who, had they been faitliful, would have re- mained the representatives of all nations before God, was dimlv foreshadowed the Anointed Priest. (7. 8) Who in the days of his flesh . . .—It will be observed tliat, of the two essential conditions men- tioned in verse 2 and verse 4, the latter is first taken uji in its application to Christ (verses 5, 6). This verse and the next correspond to the general thought of verses 1, 2, 80 far as it is applicable to "Hiin who knew no sin." The following rendering will, it is believed, best show the meaning of these two important verses, and the connection of the several parts : WJio, in the days of His flesh, having with a strong cry and tears offered up prayers and supplications tinto Him that ivas able to save Him out of death, and having been heard for His reve- rent fear, though He was a son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered. The most noticeable change of rendering occurs at the close of the seventh verse; here the interpretation given by all the Greek Fathers, followed in most of our English versions (and in the margin of tlie Authorised itself ), certainly deserves the preference over that which, through tlie influence of Cal\-in and Bcza, found its way into the Genevan Testament, and hence into the Bishops' Bible and the translation of 1611. The word rendered " reverent fear " occurs in but one other place in the New Testament (chap. xii. 28) ; but the kindred verb and adjective are found in chap. xi. 7 ; Luke ii. 25 ; Acts ii. 5; \\i\. 2. It properly denotes, not terror, but a cautious foreseeing fear, opposed alike to rashness and to cowardice : the adjective, which is always rendered " devout," is fully expkined in the Notes on Acts ii. 5. No word could be more suitable where the relation of the Son of Man to His " God and Fatiier " is expressed ; and it would be very difficult to find any other word which should be suitable to this relation and yet contain no implication of sin to be acknowledged with humility and shame. The object of the " prayers and supplica- tions" thus heard and answered is implied in the words " unto Him that was able to save Him out of death." Not " from death : " the Greek words may have that meaning, but it is not their most natural sense, as a comparison of other passages would show. The prayer, we are persuaded, was not that death might be averted, but that there might be granted deliverance out of death. This prayer was answered : His death was the beginning of His glory (chap. ii. 9). It may indeed be asked. Could such a prayer be offered by One who knew " the glory that should foUow " His sufferings ? In a matter so far beyond our reasoning it is most reverent to point to the mystery of another jirayer (Matt. xxvi. 39) offered by Him who had often taught His discijiles that He must be put to death (Matt. x\-i. 21). Mark the striking correspondence between the petition thus understood and St. Peter's quotation of Ps. XA-i. 10 (Acts ii. 24). Some of the expressions in this verse would lead us to believe that the writer's thought is resting on the Agony in the Garden ; but the "strong cry" brings before us the Crucifixion (Matt, xxvii. 46, 50), and the words of Ps. xxii. 1 lie very near the thought of this verse. It does not seem necessary to decide — we may doubt whether it is possible, and whether both should not be included. The opening words, " in the days of His flesh " (comp. chap, ii. 14 ; John i. 14 ; 1 Pet. iii. 18), would certainly seem to favour this latter view. The word " offered " must I not be lightly passed over. Of frequent occurrence in I this Epistle, in every case except one (which is not at all in point) it has a sacrificial sense ; it seems certain, therefore, that these prayers — a token of His suffering, an example of His reverent fear — are included in the sacrifice which comprised His wliole life and death. (8) Though he were a Son.— These words may be connected with what precedes (implying that Ho was heard for His reverent fear, not because, in the pre- eminent sense. He was God's Son) ; but they are stUl more closely joined with the following sentence, " Though He was a Son, He learnt His obedience bj' the things which He suffered." " The disposition of obedience Jesus possessed before He suffered, but the proof that this disposition existed must be shown in deed ; this progress from the disposition to the deed of obedience is a practical learning of the virtue of obe- dience " (Liinemann). Tlio suffering recorded in verse 7 is regarded as the culmination of His life of suffering. (9) And being . . . — Rather, and having been made perfect. This was the mode in which He who " glorified Him to be made High Priest " (verse 5) led Him into the possession of this office. The thought of this verse and the last is closely analogous to chap. ii. 9, 10 (see Notes), and to Phil. ii. 6 — 13. The transition from the 300 i Be ye no longer Babes, HEBEEWS, YI. but go on unto full groicth. unto all them that obey him ; (^*^) called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. (1^^ Of whom we have many things Chap. V. 11— vi. "to say, and hard to be ^or.perfect, 8. Complaint of uttered, seeing ye are dull of mt^SS of hearing, d^) For when earnest warn- for the time ye ought ^"^' to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which he the first principles of the oracles of God ; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong 1 Gr. hath no expe- rieiKe, 3 Or, 0/ an habit, or, perfection. 4 Or, the word oi the betjiHiuwj 6j Christ. meat. ^^^^ For every one that useth milk is unskilful ^ in the word of righteousness : for he is a babe. (^^^ But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,- even those Avho by reason of use^ have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. CHAPTER YI.— (1) Therefore leaving the princij)les of the doctrine of Christ,* let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again the foundation of repentance from obedience manifested by our Lord to that which must be rendered by all who seek from Him salvation, strikingly recalls verses 8 and 12 of the last-named chapter. He presents to all the model of the obedience to be rendered to Him, and through Him to the Father. " Eternal " salvation, — for He is a priest *'for ever " (verse 6). On the connection of " salvation " with His priesthood, see the Note on chap. vii. 25. (1^^) Called. — Rather, addressed. The divine words are, '■ Thou art a pi'iest for ever." In the quotation from the Psalm, " priest " is now altered into " High Priest." The jiurport remains the same ; or, rather, it is by this change of word tliat the meaning of the Psalm is fully expressed. This repetition of the words of verse 6 at the close of the paragraph is singularly impressive. At this point the course of the argxunent is inter- rupted by a long digression (chaps, v. 11 — vi. 20), to which the writer is led by reflection on the inability of his readers to receive the teaching which befits their Christian standing. If, however, wo remember tlie practical aim that is predominant in the Epistle, we can hardly call tliis a digression, so powerfully is every portion of it made subser\nent to one great pui-pose. (11) Of whom.— Or, of xoliich (subject), "Christ made High Priest after the order of Melchizedek." Hard to be uttered. — Rather, hard of interpre- tation, seeing ye luive become sluggish in hearing. Their facidty of " hearing " had once been acute, and then few words and little explanation, even on such a sub- ject as this, would have sufficed ; now there has come upon them a lack of interest, and with this a want of power. (12) por the time.— Taking into account the time that had elapsed since they became Christians. Ye have need. — Literally, tje have need that some one teach you again the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God (Acts vii. 38; Rom. iii. 2; 1 Pet. iv. Ill These first rudiments, which they need to learii again (but which he himself is not about to teach), it may seem natural to identify with what the writer in chap. vi. 1 calls " the doctrine of the first principles of Christ." If, however, wo examine the u.sage of tlie New Testament, of Philo, and of other ■svriters, we shall find good reason for regarding " the oracles of Cod " as synonymous with the Scriptures of the Old Testament. (See verse 13.) Of strong meat.— Better, of solid food. (See 1 Cor. iii. 2.) (13) The change of expression from having need of milk to partaTiing of milk (that is, making it the sole food) is significant. Those who are addressed had lost interest in the deeper truths of Christianity, those truths which alone expressed and explained its proper nature. Their temptation apparently was towards mingling a rudimentary Christian doctrine with the teaching of the synagogue. Yielding to this they would lose all real knowledge of the very elements of Christian truth, and vrith this all true knowledge of the Old Testament itself. The connection between this verse and tlio last may probably be. Ye have come to need milk, for — making it by choice your sole food — ye stand self- confessed as babes. JJns^Uful.—'Ra.iher, without experience. The "word of righteousness " evidently must signify complete, properly-developed Christian teaching. The only ques- tion is. Why is this particidar designation chosen ? In the Epistle to the Romans such a description would be natural (see especially Rom. i. 17; ix. 31); but " righteousness " is not the direct and manifest subject of this Epistle. Still, the expressions of which the writer makes use in chaps, x. 38 and xi. 7, together with the general similarity between his teaching and St. Paul's, go very far towards explaining his choice of this special expression as descriptive of the religion of Christ. In like manner another phrase, " law of liberty," is charac- teristic of St. James. (1^) Strong meat. — " Solid food belongs to fuU- grown men." If they occupied themselves with the rudiments alone, their spiritual senses could not be trained by use (or, habit) in distinguishing between good and evil, truth and falsehood, in the various systems of teaching which men offered as the doctrine of Christ, VI. (1) Therefore.- Since " for the time ye ought to be teachers," Ijut liave so perilously sunk down into the lower state of Christian knowledge and experience. The principles of the doctrine.— Rather, the doctrine of the first princij^hs. The margin gives the literal meaning of the Greek, thctcord of the beginning. Comp. chap. v. 12. " the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God." Let us go on. — Better, let us press onwards unto perfection. There is an urgency in tlie words which is mis.sed by the ordinary rendering. The word "per- fection " (teleiotes) answers to that rendered *• full grown " (teleios) in the precefling verse, and expresses maturity, fulness of growth. There the contrast is \vith " babes," and the whole context relates to Christian instruction — the elementary and the complete. The 301 The Doctrine of the HEBEEWS, VT. First Principles of Christ dead works, and of faith toward God, (-^ of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. closeness of the connection would seem to show that the same meaning must bo intended here also: "Let us — I, as your teacher, leading you on with me — press on to maturity of Christian knowledge." But if what precedes makes this reference clear, the following verses show not less clearly that teaching and learning are not alone in the writer's thoughts. The relation between verses 3 and 4 proves that, as is natural, he assumes a necessary union between learning and pi-ac- tico : indeed, the connection between immaturity of apprehension of Christian truth and the danger of apostasy is a thought pi-esont throughout the Epistle. Hence, though the direct meaning of " leaving the doctrine of the beginning " is ceasing to speak of elementary truths, thei'o is included the further thought of passing away from that region of spiritual life to which those must belong who choose the "milk" of the Christian word as their sole sustenance. Not laying again the foundation.— Better, a foundation. There can be no doubt that the particulars which follow are intended to illustrate the nature of the cl(>mentary teaching which will not bo taken up in this Epistle. It Avill bo observed (1) that there is no disparagement of these subjects of teaching. They belong to the foundation; but neither teachers nor learners must occupy themselves with laying a founda- tion again and again. (2) That the subjects here specified are not in themselves distinctively Christian. One and all they belonged to the ancient faith, though each one l)ecame more or less completely transformed when Jesus was received as the Messiah. Hence these were literally first principles to the Hebrew Christian, — amongst the truths first taught and most readily received. We have many indications, both within and without the pages of the New Testament, that the tendency of Jewish converts was to rest satisfied with this class of truths. Repentance from dead works.— Of " dead works " we read again in chap. ix. 14, " shall purge our conscience from dead works to servo the living God " (see Note). The meaning cannot bo " works that bring death," as some have su])posed ; rather, works in which there is no principle of life, wrought by those who are "alienated from the life of God" (Eph. iv. 18), in whom there is not the spirit of " life in Christ Jesus." The law, indeed, promised that the man who should do " its statutes and judgments " should find life in them (Lev. xviii. 5, quoted in Gal. iii. 12) ; but even these works are " dead," for no man can show more than partial obedience, and the law exacts the whole. The first step toward Christianity involved the acknowledg- ment of this truth, and the separation by repentance from all " dead works." On the importance assigned to repentance in the Jewish creed little need be said. The teaching of the prophets (Ezek. xviii., et al.) is faith- fully refiected in the sayings preserved in the Talmud : " The perfection of wisdom is repentance ; " " Repent- ance obtains a respite until the Day of Atonement completes tlie atonement;" "Without repentance the world could not stand." Faith toward God.— Rather, faUh 7(pon God. (Comp. Acts xvi. 31 ; Rom. iv. 5.) The Hebrew doctrine of faith connected itself closely mth a cardinal passage of prophecy (Habak. ii. 41, " tlie just shall live by his faith;" and there is a Jewisli saying that on this one precept rest " all the six hundred and thirteen com- 302 mandments of the Law." (See the Note on chap. x. 38, and the Excursus on Rom. i. 17, Vol. II., p. 274.) This faith became new and living when the Jew be- lieved in God through Jesus the Christ (John xiv. 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 21). It is hardly necessary to say that it is of repentance and faith as a foundation, not as belonging to later Christian experience, that the writer speaks. (2) Of the doctrine of baptisms.— The meaning of these words has been much controverted. The order of the Greek has been thought to require the rendering baptisms of doctrine (or, teaching) ; and it has been believed that the writer in this manner seeks to charac- terise Christian baptism as contrasted with the Jewish lusti'ations. Matt. xx\nii. 19, " baptising them . . . teaching them," is often quoted in favour of this view. The whole question of baptism amongst the Jews of the Apostolic age is full of difficulty, since the first references to the rite in connection with proselytes belong to a much later date. But, waiving this, we must surely regard it as most unfikely that the baptism specificaDy Christian would be marked as " baptism of teaching." Teaching would rather be the point of re- semblance than the point of contrast between the Jewish and the Christian rite. We must, therefore, adhere to the ordinary view. The word doctrine, or teaching, seems to bo introduced in order to avoid the ambiguity which would lie in the words, " a foundation of repentance, faith, baptism," &c. ; not a doctrine, but the repetition of a rite might seem to be intended. But what are we to understand by teaching regarding baptisms ? Both the word itself and the use of the plural are remarkable. The word (which is not the ordinary term baptisma, but baptismus) occurs in chap. ix. 10, Mark vii. 4, in the plural, and in Col. ii. 12 in the singular ; in the last of these passages it denotes Christian baptism, but in the others the ceremonial tvashings of the Jews. We must not forget the importance which of right belonged to these washings in the Levitical law, as one of the appointed modes of removing that unclcanness which excluded from every sacred place. The baptism of John attached itself to passages in the Scriptures in which this symbol was taken up by the prophets with profound spiritual application (Ezek. xxxvi., ct al.). Botli John's baptism and that of Christ, therefore, wouhl. from the Hebrew point of view, be " washings " ; and the teaching which every new convert must receive would include instruction on the symbolical liurifica- tions of the Old Covenant and the New. (See the very interesting Notes in Vol. II. on Acts xviii. 24, 25 ; xix. 4.) And of laying on of hands.— This ceremony is repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament, and also in the New. Besides the sacrificial use of the symbol, wo find imposition of hands connected with blessing (Gen. xlviii. 14; Matt. xix. 13. et al.); with works of healing (2 Kings V. 11 ; Mark viii. 23 ; xvi. 18, et al.) ; with ordi- nation (Num. xx\ni. 18 ; Deut. xxxiv. 9 ; 1 Tim. iv. 14, etal.); and with the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts viii. 17; xix. G). In every ca.se the figure denotes either a transfer, or tlio communication of a gift from (or, through the medium of) the jjel'son who Jays his hands upon another. Neither transfer of guilt, nor blessing, nor miracle can be in point here ; nor is it conceivable that ordination could bo referred to in such a context. As the passages quoted from the Acts of the Apostles A The Blessing of the Light. HEBEEWS, VI. The Rejection of the Light. (•^) And tliis -will we do, if God permit, (•^^ For it is impossible for tliose who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly g'ift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (^^ and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, ("^ if they shall fall away, to renew them agree with this in closely connecting the rite with bap- tism, we can have little doubt that the meaning in all is substantially the same. The believers in Samaria had been baptised by Philip ; when Peter and John came, they " prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost ; then laid they their hands on them, and they i-eceivcd the Holy Ghost." In the second case, which in other respects is similar (whether Paul himself baptised, or not, we are not informed), there is reference to the special gifts of the Holy Ghost which wei-e bestowed : " they spake with tongues and prophesied." There seems no reason for believing that there was a designed connection between the imposition of hands and the bestowal of miraculous powers ; such imposition was rather the recognised symbol of the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, in whatever manner the Spirit might be pleased to work in those who received His infiuenco. The early Church naturally retained the rite, making it the complement or adjunct of baptism ; whilst the one symbolised the putting away of sin, the other was the emblem of the reception of new spiritual life. Historical testimonies extend as far back as Tertullian (a.d. 200) : " Then the hand is laid on, calling for and inviting the Holy Spirit." To trace the relation between this imposition of hands and the later practice of con- firmation would lead us beyond our limits. The two points which remain do not require an ex- tended notice. We know (Acts xxiii. 8) that, though the Sadducees denied that there was any resurrection of the dead (and the Alexandrian philosophy seems to have held only the immortality of the soul), yet by the most influential amongst Jewish teachers this doctrine was held and enforced, as indeed it was plainly taught in their Scriptures (Dan. xii. 2). On the nature and extent of the resurrection — whether it would be uni- versal, and whether it would precede or follow the Messianic age — varying opinions prevailed. Nor were tlie Pharisees less clear in their teaching of a future " judgment," the reward of which should be " eternal " bliss for the godly, punishment for the sinners in Israel and for Israel's enemies. These doctrines, then, would place no obstacles in the way of a convert to the Christian faith. Instead of vagueness and discordant opinion he now received a clear statement of truth : the Messiah, Jesus, in whom ho has placed his trust, will judge the world ; and of this God has given a pledge "in that He hath raised Him from the dead" (Acts xvii. 31). It is noteworthy that, of the four particulars which are mentioned after repentance and faith, two relate to the comm(>ncemeut and two to " the last things" of the Christian life. — (•*> And this will we do, if God permit.— There may be some with whom it will be impossible for him thus to press on to maturity of teaching and of Christian experience. Tliere is a case excepted by God Himself from all efforts of tlie Chi-istian teacher ; in tliis case, though nothing can avail except the laying of anew foundation of repentance, God has appointed no agencies by which such foundation can be laid. {i) For it is impossible for those . . . — The connection of thought has been already explained (verse 1 3) ; the general meaning will be examined below (verso G). I It will bo seen that the greater part of this long sentence is dependent on the word " renew " in verse 6, " It is impossible to renew again unto repentance those who were once," &c. Those who were once enlightened. — This metaphor is introduced again in chap. x. 32 ; neither there nor here does the context contain any notice or expansion of the figure. In that passage, however, it is applied generally to all who are addressed, and in- cludes everjihing that was involved in the reception of the Christian faith. This inclusive application of the term (familiar from prophecy, from our Lord's own words, from Apostolic usage ; see Acts xxvi. 18 ; Eph. i. 18 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9) throws light on the construction of the verse before us. As the words stand in the Autho- rised version, " enlightened " is but the first term of a series ; but it is far more probable that the clauses which follow should be regarded as explanatory of the enlightenment itself : " . . . those who were once enlightened, having both tasted . . . and been made partakers . . . and tasted . . ." Tasted of the heavenly gift.— On the first word, see the Note on chap. ii. 9. From the clear parallelism which exists between these verses and chap. ii. 3 — 5 we may infer that the " salvation " offered in the gospel (chap. ii. 3) is intended by this " gift." It is a gift which belongs to heaven (comp. chap. i. 14), bestowed by Him from whom has come the " heavenly calling " (chaps, iii. 1 ; ii. 10). The following words at once recall chap. ii. 4, " gifts {distributions) of the Holy Ghost." (5) Tasted the good word of God.— There is a change of construction in the Greek which suggests that the woids rather mean, tasted that God's woi-d is good, — tasted the excellence of God's word, and of the powers, &c. God's word was " spoken through the Lord " (chap. ii. 3) ; the Hebrew Christians had heard and received this word, and had proved for themselves its excellence. (Comp. 1 Pet. ii. 3.) Powers of the world to come. — Literally, poirers of a coming (or, future) age. As has been before remarked, the last word is different from that which we find in chap. ii. 5, the one relating to time, the other to the world as inhabited by man. Perhaps we may say that this is the only difference ; the same fnture is contemplated in both places, namely, the age of the Messianic reign. We have seen (see chap. i. 2) that in the earliest days of the Church little account Avas taken of the period separating the pre-Christian age from that of the full manifestation of the kingdom of God ; the " powers " received from God by those who believed (chap. ii. 4) belonged to no earthly state, but were as truly anticipations of a future age of glory as was the "heavenly gift" an anticipation of the " heavenly fatherland " (chap. xi. IG). (6) If they shall fall away.— Rather, aiid (then) fell aicay. There is no doubt that the ordinary trans- lation is altogether incorrect, the Greek admitting of one rendering only. At the same time, the suspicion sometimes expressed that this is one of the (very few) instances in which our translators have been misled by dogmatic bias seems altogether unfounded. On tracing back the translation we find it due. not to the Genevan versions, in which the influence of Cahnn and Beza is predominant, but to Erasmus, Luther, and Tyndale. 303 Miserable State of Apostates. HEBREWS, VI. We hojje better things of you. ftf^ain unto repentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afrosh, and put him to an open shame, (■> For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bring- cth forth herbs meet for them by^ whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God : <^^ but that which beareth thorns 1 Or, /or. and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing ; whose end is to be burned. <^^ But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and chap. vi. 9-12. things that accomj^any His hope of salvation, though w^e thus better things, speak. (^^^ For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, Tlio contrast witli the precodiug doscription is pre- seuted in tho fewest pos.siblo words. The successive claiLses liavo shown tliat all the marks of tlie diviue Avorkinyf in and witli His word (cliap. ii. 4) have been found in these men, wlio, notwithstaudiufif, " fell away." To renew them again. — A second time to make " the old " into a " new man." lu this place "renew " is distinctly used in reference to tho action of man. Similarly, by tho side of 1 Pet. i. 3, " God . . . who liatli Ijo^otteu us," we may set St. Paul's words to the Corinthians, " In Christ Jesus I have begotten you;" so also St. Paul can say, " Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit ; " and St. James can speak of a man's saving a soul from death. In these and tlie many other examples of a similar kind tlioro is no thought of human power acting by itself, but of the human appropriation of dirlne power, in accordance with tlie laws of the kingdom of God. The verse before us is often read as an assei'tion that men who liave thus fallen cannot be renewed; and therefore it is tho more necessary to lay stress on the simple meaning of tho words, as relating neither to the absolute power of God, nor to the efforts of the Christian teacher in unassisted human strength, but to the economy of God's .spiritual kingdom, in which Christ's servants achieve every great result by claiming and obtaining the " fellow-working " of their Lord. Seeing they crucify.— The apostasy was indicated by a single word; those added clauses describe the depth of tlie fall, wliilst they explain the futility of all effort towards recovering the fallen. Both the wi-iter and his readers know well what was involved in " falling away " in such a case as this. To go back to Judaism implied an acceptance of all that Jews had said and done against the Son of God, a return to tho bitter liato cherished by tho falling nation against the Crucitied, a repetition in spirit of all that Pharisees liad done, and without tho palliation of ignorance ; for tho highest evidence for Christianity — that of true and deep Christian experience — had been given to them. Again, the words used clearly describe a continuing state. Not tho punishment for a past act, but the liopelessnoss of an existing state, is brought before us hero. It is therefore of those who, with a distinct conviction of the arly by the writer's words in verse 3, 'Tliis will we do if (5od permit; .... for it is im- possible." He is ready to lead his readers on with him — unless, indeed, he is addressing any whom no man can thus lead. In tliat case the means which God lias appointed have no application; such wilful and persistent hardening of heart must be left with Him. Tho perplexity and trouble of mind to which these 304 verses have given rise will furnish an apology for the length of these remarks. It is a true Christian instinct that has protested against tho misuse of this passage by men who have doubted whether those who, after receiving tho knowledge of the truth, fall under temp- tation, can again receive forgiveness ; but the difSculty has been mot by hazardous expedients. Some have denied that verses 4 and 5 necessarily describe real Christian experience. By others it has been held that " impossible " was not intended to express more than the great difficulty of tho attempt ; others, again, have believed that in verse 6 the writer brings before us a supposed case only, one that cannot really occur. The passage, together with chap. x. 26 — 29, Matt. xii. 32, 1 John V. 16 (see the Notes), occupied an important place in early controversies, as those of the Montanists and Novatians, who refused absolution to those who, after baptism — or, in the language of the early Church, after "illumination" (verse 4) — fell into heinous sin. (7) For the earth.— Rather, For land tchich has drunk in. Land which not only receives but also drinks in abundance of rain (Dent. xi. 11), in such a climate as is here thought of, must either " bring forth herbage " or be condemned as irretrievably barren. By whom it is dressed.— Rather, for ichoin it is also tilled. This clause is added to show that nothing is wanting on tho part of the owner or of the tillex-s of the land. Receiveth blessing from God.— Receives as a reward a share in the blessing which God pronounces on the fruitful earth, resulting in increased fertility (Gen. xxvii. 27; xlix. 25; Dent, xxxiii. 13). In tho application of tho parable, God is the owner of tho land, men the tillers ; men also are " God's field " (1 Cor. iii. 9), who bring forth fruit unto God. (8) But that which beareth.— Rather, But if it bear thorns and briars it is rejected. We are told that the presence of briars (i.e., calti-ops) is a sure evidence of a poor soil, on which labour will be wasted. The words are partially a quotatiim from Gen. iii. 18. Tho change of translation here is important ; if that very land, which has drunk in the abundant rain and lias received careful culture still prove unfruitful, it is rejected. Man can do no more ; and the curse of God is " near " ; its end is " for burning." The explanation of the last words is probably found in Dent. xxix. 23, which speaks of the land of Sodom which God overthrew, which " is brimstone and salt and burning." Tho connection between these two A'erses and the preceding passages is obvious. In the case of the apostates there described, man is helpless ; God's curse is near. But, as Chrysostom says, in this very word there is mercy ; " the end " is not yet come. {'•)} Better things.— Literally, the better things; that is, the alternative spoken of in verse 7. He has not written in despair, but for warning only; belioA'ing that to them belongs, not the state which is " nigh unto a curse," but that which borders on salvation (chap. v. 9) (10) In expressing the ground of his hope he does I Be Faithful and Fatioit HEBEEWS, VI. that ye may Inherit the Promises. ■vvhicli ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. <^i^ And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end : (^-^ that ye be not sloth- ful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Chap. vi. 13— ^^^^ For when God made 20. Encourage- promise to Abraham, be- ment. The pro- *■ i in v mise and oath cause he could swear by of God. no greater, he sware by himself, (^*^ saying. Surely blessing I will 1 Gr. interposed himself by an oath. bless thee, and multiplying I will multi- ply thee. (15) And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise, '^^^f For men verily swear by the greater : and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. (^^^ Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his coun- sel, confirmed it by an oath : ^ (^^^ that by two immutable things, in which it v:as impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set not directly say, " For I have heard of your fruitful- ness ; " he implies this, and then, in accordance with the parable of verse 7, he declares that God will surely bestow the promised reward. Herein lies his hope. Man's work cannot in itself merit rewai'd from God, but (1 John i. 9) the righteous God cannot neglect His own promise and law that such works shall receive reward. Your work and labour of love.— The best MSS. omit " labour " ; so that the words run thus : to forget your work, and the love which ye showed toward His name. The "fruit" consisted in brotherly love, but it was offered U7ito God (verse 7) ; the bond of brotherhood was the joint relation to " His name" (chap. ii. 10). With the last words compare Rom. xv. 26, 31. (11) Full assurance. — Rather, fidness (full pro- ductiveness) of hope (chap. x. 22). His desire is that the zeal which they have manifested in works of love may be directed toward the attainment of the full harvest of Christian hope^may be shown until the veiy end (chap. iii. 6, 14). (12) That ye be not slothful.— Rather, that ye become not sluggish. The same word is used as in chap. V. 11, there applied to apprehension of truth, here to the Christian hope and life ; if the truth be not welcomed, there will be no vigour in the life. Followers.— Better, imitators. (Comp. chap. xiii. 7 ; 1 Cor. xi. 1, et al.). They are not the first to whom " hope " has been given, and who have needed zeal that they might not fail of their hope. As in chap. xi. the writer appeals to precursors ot faith, so here of hope ; to men who, having lived in hope, passed to the actual possession of the promised blessings by means of faith (which accepted and clung to the promise") and patience. The last word is not that which occurs in the similar exhortation in chap. x. 36. That is a brave endurance ; this is the word usually rendered " long-suffering," which here and in Jas. v. 7 signifies patient waiting. (13) The connection seems to be this : " You, like them, have promises — promises to which God has given all possible certainty ; you, like them, can attain the fulfilment only through faith and patient waiting." For when God made promise.- It is better to follow the words literally, For when to Abraham God had made promise. Abraham is chosen for special mention as the most illustrious example of those who " inherit the promises " (corap. John viii. 58) ; also because (1) the assurance given to him was confirmed by oath ; and (2) in it lay included the promise of the Christ. Tlie promises made to Abraham were essen- tially one, with various parts progressively fulfilled. It seems likely that, though the next verse is quoted from 86 305 Gen. xxii. 17, the WTnter also has in mind (" had promised ") Gen. xii. 3, and especially Gen. xv. (1^) Saying.— The words of the oath itself, " By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord" (Gen. xxii. 16), are not repeated, because they are almost identical with the writer's own words introducing the citation (verse 13). It will be observed that one change is made — in the last word; for in Genesis we read, " I will multiply thy seed." The alteration may bo made for bre^-ity, as the quotation is abridged ; but it wiU be seen that the effect of it is to direct greater attention to the first words, and to fix the thought on the blessing promised to Abraham himself. (15) And so, after he had patiently endured.— Better, and thus (thus being in possession of the promise and the oath of God), having patiently waited (verse 12) he obtained the promise — the promised gift. Though some portions of the promise received a partial accomplishment during Abraham's life, it is not this that the writer has in A-iew. (See verse 12, and chap. xi. 13.) (16) And an oath for confirmation. — Ratlier, and of every dispxde in their case the oath is an end (is final) to settle the matter. (1") W herein.— Since this is the case. Of promise, — Rather, of the promise. The promise made to Abraham was substantially and really (see verse 13) that wliich embraced all Messianic hope ; of this promise not Abraham's sons only, but all " they wliich are of faith " (Gal. iii. 7. 29), Abraham's spiritual seed, are the heirs. In an Epistle so distinctly Pauline there can be no doubt as to this interpretation. Confirmed it by an oath.— Literally, mediated unth an oath. "When a man confirms a promise or decla- ration to another by solemn appeal to G<»d, between the two God is Mediator. Condescending to man's weak- ness, that the certainty may be " more abundant," God thus confirms His word, at once the Promiser and the Mediator : God the Promiser (if we may so speak) makes appeal to God the Hearer and "Witness of the oath. "VVe cannot doubt, as we read this whole passage, that there is a special reason for the emphasis tnus laid on God's oath to Abraham. The writer dwells on this confirmation of the divine word of promise, not merely because it is the first recorded in sacred history, but because he has in thought the declaration of Ps. ex. 4. To this as yet he makes no reference ; though he has quoted from the verse repeatedly, it has been with- out mention of the diA-ine oath : but throughout the section before us he is preparing the way for his later argument in chap. vii. 21. (18) Two inim.utable things. — The promise and the oath. Hope, the A nchor of the Soul. HEBEEWS, VII. Melchizedek. before us : ^^^^ which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and sted- fast, and which entereth into that within the veil ; *-'^^ whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an hi^h priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. CHAPTER VIT.— (1) For this Mel- chisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham re- turning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed g^^SesusH^ him ; (-^ to whom also Priest after the Abraham gave a tenth ^^ll^el ^^^' part of all ; first being by interpretation King of right- eousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is. King of peace ; (3) without father, without mother. Consolation. — Rather, encouragement. Foi- us, rather than for Abraliam aloue, was the encouragement designe For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melehisedec met him. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death : '-'' but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchang-eable priesthood.^ (^^ Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost ^ 1 Or, which passeth not from one to another. 2 Or, eoermore. that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. ^^^'> For such an high priest be- came us, who is holy, harmless, unde- filed, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens ; ^-^^ who need- eth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins. that place there are strong reasons for retaining the same rentloring. (See the Note on chap ix. 15.) In this verse, at all events, we cannot doubt that the writer is thinking of a covenant. (See chap. viii. 6, 8.) Here only is Jesus spoken of as Surety, elsewhere as Mediator (chaps, viii. 6 ; ix. 15 ; xii. 24). As through the Son of Man the covenant becomes established, so in Him it remains secure ; the words addressed by God to Him as Priest and King contain the pledge of its validity and permanence. (-3) Were many priests. — Rather, have been made priests many {i.e., in large numbers), hecaiise by death they were prevented frum continidng. (Comp. verse 8, where the thought is somewhat similar.) (2^1) But this man.— Better, But He, because He remaineth for ever, hath His priesthood inviolable (or, unchangeable). The former ordinance related to a race, and the individuals were ever passing away ; since His life is " indissoluble" (verse l6), none can trespass on His right and invade His priesthood. The rendering of the margin, " that passeth not from one to auothei-," expresses nearly the same thought ; but it is very doubtful whether the Greek will bear this meaning. (25) Wherefore.— Since His priesthood is inviolable, His power of saving is complete. The association of the thought of " salvation " with the priesthood recalls chap. V. 9, 10 ; as indeed several points in the later verses of this chapter show that the writer's thought is resting on the first section of chap. v. In His suppli- cation uuto God, " who was able to save Him out of death," He was heard ; this was the type — and more than the type (see the Note on chap. v. 7) — of the eternal salvation of which He, when made perfect, becomes the Author. The connecting link between the priestly office and " salvation " appears, thei-efore, to be the prevalent intercession of which this verse speaks — an intercession which impUes all that has preceded in His priestly ministration. (See chap. ix. 12, 24.) That come unto God by him.— Better, that approach through Him to God. See chap. x. 19 — 22, where full expression is given to the thought here briefly indicated. He leads and represents His people, and is the medium of their approach to God. To make intercession for them.— The word occurs in Rom. viii. 3^1- in reference to Christ ; in Rom. viii. 27 it is applied to the intercession of the Holy Spirit. Tlie thought meets us in chap. ix. 24 ; John xiv. 16; 1 John ii. 2. With the high priest's confession of the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement was joined fervent intercession on their behalf ; this inter- cession was also symbolised in the offering of the incense. _ Verses 26—28 look back on all that has preceded, since the beginning of the fifth chapter, ancl prepare the way for the subsequent sections. The tj'pe afforded by Melchizodck has yielded its lessons, and to this there is no further reference. The mentitm of the high priest (chap. vL 20, taking up chap. v. 10) is 310 resumed. The unique special teaching of Ps. ex. 4 was far from bringing out the full significance of the priest- hood of Jesus ; for the sacred histoiy does not connect Melchizedek with any of the most prominent high- priestly functions, or with any temple or place of ministration. The abrogation of the Le\'itical priest- hood and the infinite elevation of the " other Priest " above those of the order of Aaron have been so clearly set forth that it is possible henceforth to concentrate attention on the types and lessons furnished by the Jewish ritual itself. Hence there is the closest connec- tion (as has been already mentioned) between these verses and chap. v. 1 — 5. (26) For such an high priest.— Better, For such a one also became us as [our) High Priest. Such a priest as has been portrayed was the High Priest that befitted us — no one less exalted could have met our necessities. The added woi'ds carry the description farther still. The thought of high priest immediately brings to mind the annual Day of Atonement, to which belonged the characteristic ministration of the high priest. As we read the following words we cannot doubt their direct reference to the ceremonial obser- vances of that day. Holy. — Not the word of chap. iii. 1, but a word seldom used in the New Testament (except in quota- tions), though of frequent occurrence in the LXX. (as in Deut. xxxiii. 8; Pss. iv. 3 ; xvi. 10; cxxxii. 9, 16) : the idea contained is that of holy purity. The next word may denote either freedom from malice or evil, or freedom from guile (Rom. xvi. 18) ; the former meaning is more likely here. The three words, denoting personal purity aud innocence and freedom from all pollution of sin, present the idea of which the ceremonial purity of the high priest was the type. Seven days before the Day of Atonement the high priest left his house and took up his abode in the Temple, that, thus separated from men and things unclean, he might when the day arrived bo found free from all defilement ; five washings and ten purifications were required of him on the day itself. Separate from sinners.— Tlieso words may be understood in two ways — as connecting themselves either with what goes before or with the following words. If they extend the idea expressed by " unde- filed," they point to the perfect sinlessness of our Lord, who lived amongst sinners and yet was ever separated from their sin — not needing external separa- tion to preserve Him from pollution. If this member is to be joined with the following, it points to the complete severance which now exists : our exalted Lord is for ever removed from a life in the midst of trans- gressors. The latter view receives some support from chap. ix. 28, but is on other grounds less probable. Witii the concluding words comp. chaps, iv. 14; viii. 1; Epli. iv. 10. (^) This verse can-ies on the description, presenting j what follows from this purity and sinlessness. The Son HEBEEWS, VIII. perfected for evermore. and tlien for the people's : for this he did once, when he offered up himself. (28) Yox the law maketh men hig-li priests which have infirmity ; but the word of the oath, which was since the law. 1 Gr. perfected. maJceth the Son, who is consecrated ^ for evermore. CHAPTEE YIIL — (1) Now of the things which we have spoken this is the As those high priests.— The high priest's ofEering up sacrifices first for himself and then for the people constituted a chief part of his duty upon the Day of Atonement. (See chap. v. 3.) The a«7iuai recurrence of that day is distinctly referred to more than once in this Epistle (see chaps, ix. 25 ; x. 1, 3) : hence the words now before us, -which seem to imply daily sacrifices thus offered by the high priests, have given rise to much discussion. Neither the moi'niug and evening sacrifices nor the daily meat-offering of the high priest could have been spoken of in the terms here used, which in their natural meaning suit the ritual of the Day of Atonement, and that alone. It is true — and passages of Philo and the Talmud are appositely quoted to illus- trate the fact — that, as the high priest was represented by all other priests, their actions were counted as his ; but it seems impossible to think that the words have no more significance than this. Either we must take " daily " as equivalent to " day by day " (as the Jews were accustomed to speak of the Day of Atonement as " the day "), — which wUl give us the meaning, " on each recurrence of this sacred day ; " or we must connect the word, not with the Jewish high priests, but w4th Jesus alone. The order of the Greek would of itself suggest this latter arrangement of the words. If it is correct, the choice of the word "daily" presents but little difficulty. There could be no question of years in regard to the ministration of the Lord Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary; and "daily" was perhaps the most natural word in such a case, when the frequently stated repetition of a sacrifice was the thought to be expressed. For this he did once.— Rather, once for all. These words and those that follow, " when He offei'ed up Himself," are best understood as a parenthesis. The tnith stated in the former part of the verse, that Jesus needeth not, like the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His OAvn sins and then " for those of the people," finds its explanation in verse 28, "For the Law," &c. But, ha\nug introduced the thought of a sacrifice for the sins of the people — a thought not yet expressly mentioned in any part of the Epistle in con- nection with Jesus, though virtually presented, as wo have seen, in many earlier words — the writer will not pass on without the most empliatic statement that such a sacrifice was offered, once for all, in the sacrifice of Himself. (28) For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity . . .—Bcitoi; For the Law ap- pointeth men high prieds, {men) having infirmity ; but the word of the oafh, which was after the Law, appoint- eth a Son, who hath been perfected for eve)\ On " the word of the oath " see verses 20, 21. Coming " after the Law," it revoked the commandment (verse 18), and was not revoked by it. (" A Son," see chaps, i. 3 ; v. 8. "Perfected," see chaps, ii. 10; v. 10.) We are not to understand that Jesus was first " perfected " and then appointed as High Priest : tliis would contradict what has just been taught (verse 27). for it was as High Priest that He offered tlie sacrifice of Himself. In these closing words are united the two cardinal predic- tions of Ps. ii., ex. (comp. chap. v. 5, 6) : Thou art My Son," " Thou art a Priest for ever." YIII. The mode in which this chapter is introduced shows that, in the writer's own arrangement, a new di^asion of the argumt^nt begins here. On examination we shall find that there is a clear difference between the topics discussed before and after this point ; though it was hardly possible, and certainly was not the intention of the Avriter, strictly to maintain this distinction in every particular. Hitherto the personal characteristics of the High Priest have occupied the chief place : from this point to chap. x. 18 it is His ministration that is brought before us. Chap. v. 1 — 10 sets forth whatever there is of similarity between Jesus and the high priests of the Law : the principal subject of chap. vii. is the contrast between the priest of whom Ps. ex. speaks and all others, in respect of dignity (verses 4 — 7, 9, 10), right of priesthood (verses 8, 16), mode of appointment (verses 20 — 22), duration of office (verses 23 — 25), and freedom from sin (verses 26 — 28). Interwoven with this contrast is another — between the former dispensa- tion, which has failed to attain its purpose, and the new covenant and better hope (verses 11, 18, 19, 22). The same kind of comparison is continued in the rest of the section, and not between the high priests only, but also between the covenants to which their ministry belongs. First the writer dwells on the place in which the high priest ministers (chaps, viii. 1 — 5 ; ix. 1 — 5), then on his ministration, and especially the sacrifice which he presents (chaps, ^-iii. 6; ix. 6 — x. 18). In chaps, viii. 7 — 13 (ix. 15 — 19), x. 15 — 17, is introduced the thought of the contrasted covenants. (1) Now of the things . . . — Better, Noio in the things which we are saying (literally, ivhich are being said) this is the chief point. Opinion has been much diWded as to the meaning of the first Greek word, whether it should be taken as " summary " or as " chief point," each of these meanings being well supported by the usage of the langiiage. The words joined witli it, " in the things which we are saying," would lead us to prefer the second rendering ; and when the course of the argument is traced we find it difficult to believe that the writer could express a summary of his thought in such words as those which follow. Who is set.— Better, ivho sat doicn. Twice before have the words of Ps. ex. 1 been thus referred to Jesus (chap. i. 3, 13), but their full significance in regard to the present subject has yet to be brought out. When in chap. vii. 26 we read, *' such an higli priest became us," we must look to what precedes for the explanation — " such a one " as has already been portrayed. Here the case is different, and the meaning of " such " is found in the description which the folknving words contain. The last verse of chap. vii. ixnited the two predictions which pointed to Jesus as Priest and King, and the same thought is contained liere, expressed in language which at once recalls chap. i. 3. A later passage (chap. x. 11, 12) will sliow that the words " sat down" have yet further significance, involving a con- trast to the continued and ever incomplete ser^^ces of those who " stood before God " in His earthly sanctuary. 311 The Ministration in the HEBREWS, VIII. Heavenly Sanctuary. We have such an high priest, who is set on the ri For if he were on earth, he should not be a 'prie'u" "'^^ priest, seeing that there are priests ^ 1 that offer gifts according to the law : I or.o/how things.^ (5) ^\^q gei've uuto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle : for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee The next verse must be closely joined with this, for the contrast just spoken of does not imply that Ho no lone noticed below (verse 12). The quotation agrees in the main with the LXX. (and, except in verse 11, with the text contained in the Alexandrian MS.), and in one clause only fails to represent the meaning of the Hebrew original. The only point requiring notice in this verse is the substi- tution of " I will accomplish " for " I will make." The new word closely answers to that which was used in verse 6, " ordained." (See the Note.) (9) Not according to the covenant. — The difference is declared below (verses 10 — 12). "In the day when " they were led forth out of Egj'pt the token of God's covenant was the deliverance itself. At Sinai, Ex. xxiv. 7, 8 (see chap. ix. 18 — 22), the "book of the covenant " was read, and " the blood of the covenant " was " sprinkled on the people," who liad promised obedience to all the words that the Lord had said. And I regarded them not.— It is here that the translation departs from the Hebrew, which, as is now generally believed, is faithfully represented in our Authorised version: "although I was an husband unto them" (that is, had the authority of a husband). The quotation here follows the LXX. without change. (10) I will make. — JjiteraMj, I will covenant — not the same word as in verse 8. Israel. — Formerly (verse 8), Israel and Judah. When the reunion of the nation had once been signified, " Israel " could stand alone as the name of the one people. I will put.— Better, putting my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. In the former clause the Hebrew has, " I will put my law in their inward parts; " the law shall be ivithin them, not an external code. In the latter, the " fleshy tablets of the heart " are contrasted with " tlie tables of the Law." This is the first of the " better promises." (11) His neighbour.— Rather, his fellow-citizen, according to the best reading. The second promise is the universality of the knowledge of God. The divine teaching shall not only be internal, but for this very reason shall extend to all. (12) Merciful.— Literally, propitious. On the kindred word "make propitiation." see chap. ii. 17. To their unrighteousness.— Rather, to their jmi-ightenusnesses, and their sins tvill I remember no more. Tlio words '' and their iniquities " are omitted by the best authorities. Here is given tlic third and cliief promise : the characteristic of the new covenant is the full pardon of sin. Of tills new covenant, "ordained" on the three promises of an inward revelation, universal knowledge of God, and free pardon of sin, Jesus is the Mediator. 313 T}ie First Covenant . HEBEEWS, IX. its Tabernacle and Ordinances. and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. <^^^ In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the lirst old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. CHAPTER IX.— which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience ; ^^^^ which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances,^ imposed on them until the time of reformation. denotes covering or bears the meaning which is ex- pressed by the Greek translation, is a disputed question, into which we cannot here enter. The act of expiation with which the Greek name at all events stands con- nected is that of Lev. xvi. 10 — 14. It is noteworthy that in 1 Chron. xxA-iii. 11 the Most Holy Place itself is called " the house of the mercy seat." (See the Note on Rom. iii. 25.) Of which— ^•^z., all things that the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies contained. Particularly— i.e., severally, one by one. (6) Now when these thing were thus or- dained . . . — Better, And when these things have been thus prepared, into the first tabernacle the priests enter continually, accomplishing the services. As has been already observed (verse 2), the present tense is used throughout these verses (6 — 10), not because the writer refers to the services as still continuing, but because he is still tracing the ordinance of Scripture. It is of the Tabernacle alone that he speaks. The words of verse 4 would have been entirely incorrect in regard to the temple of his day, in which the Most Holy Place was empty. The service.— Comp. Ex. xxx. 7, 8 ; Lev. xxiv. 1 — 8. (7) Went . . . offered.— Rather, entereth . . . offertth. Errors. — Literally, ignorances. (See chaps, v. 2, 3 ; vii. 27.) By " ouco in the year " we must of course understand on one day of the year, viz., the tenth day of Tisri. On that day, according to Lev. xvi., it was the duty of tlie high priest to enter the Holy of Holies twice: (1) with the incense and with the blood of the bullock, his own sin-offering (Lev. xvi. 12 — 14); (2) witli the })lood of the same bullock and that of the foat, the sin-offering for tlio people (verses 15 — 19). n the ritual described in the tract " Joma " of the Talmud, lie is said to enter four times ; the fir.st minis- tration being separated into its two parts (offering incense, sprinkling the blood of the bullock), and a fourth entering (to bring out the censor) being added. (8) That the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest.— Rather, that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been made manifest. By "sanctuary," or "holy place," is here meant the Holy of Holies ; not, however, as existing upon earth, in type and figure, but in the sense of chaps, viii. 2 and ix. 24. Tlioso external arrangements show that the way into the Holy Place (of the Tabernacle) is not open : by this tlie Holy Spirit, whose word we are reading whenever we trace the injunctions of the Law, teaches this lesson, that the way into God's immediate presence is not yet manifest. While as the first tabernacle was yet stand- ing.— Rather, ichile the first tabernacle yet has place (or, standing), i.e., whilst there exists such a distinction as that between " the first Tabernacle " (verse 6), and 313 "the second." It is impossible to understand "the first Tabernacle " in any other sense than that which it bears in the early part of the sentence — the Holy Place as distinguished from the Holiest of all. This outer Tabernacle, however, may be looked at from different points of view. On the one hand, it was the place from which (as well as from the inner sanctuary) the people generally were excluded; and on the other, it was the place beyond which the ministration of the priests in general might not extend. It is the latter that corre- sponds to the thought of this verse. The contrast between the body of priests and the people hardly meets us once in the whole Epistle, except in a very small number of general statements (chaps, vii. 14; viii. 4; ix. 6); the only contrast is between the one Priest or High Priest and all who approach unto God through Him. Not the Jewish economy, but that to which it pointed, is the subject of the writer's thoughts : Christ's people are now the priests, who offer through Him their constant sacrifice. (See chaps, xii. 28 ; xiii. 10, 13, 15.) Those who ministered in " the first Taber- nacle " (who are looked upon merely as substitutes for the people, performing the " services " in their place, and as their representatives) were excluded, not from entrance only, but even from sight of the place of God's presence. What was thereby " signified " we have already seen. (9) Which was a figure . . .—Rather, Which is a parable unto the time present, according to which (parable) are offered both gifts and sacrifices, which cannot perfect, as to the conscience, him that doeth the service. The general meaning may be given thus : this " first Tabernacle " {i.e., the existence of an outer as distinguished from an inner sanctuary) is a parable for the period connected with it (literally, " for the season that stands near it," the adjacent period, so to speak) ; and in full accordance with the parabolic character of the first Tabernacle (see verse 8) is the presentation of offerings which have no power to accomplish the perfect end of worship in the case of any worshipper. The priests offered sacrifices to God, but were limited to the outer sanctuary, which was not the place of God's manifested presence ; a fit symbol this of offer- ings which cannot purify the conscience (see verse 14; chap. X. 1). Tlio above rendering follows the best reading of the Greek ; in the ordinary text the relative " which," in the second clause, refers to " the time," not to " the first Tabernacle." (10) Which stood only in . . . — Better, only joined with meats and drinks and divers washings, — ■ carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation. Here again the best authorities correct the received Greek text, omitting " and " before the word " carnal," and so altering the next word as to make it descriptive of the "gifts and sacrifices" mentioned in verse 9.j These sacrifices — looked at in themselves, as powerlea Christ entered, once for all, HEBREWS, IX. into tJie Holy Place. (^i> But Christ being come an high Chap ix 11- P^^®^* ^^ ^^'^^ *^"^S^ ^^ 18. 'iiese types couie, by a greater and fulfilled in more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; (12) neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption to attain the end designed (chap. x. 1, 4) — are mere appendages of such regulations as deal with meats and drinks and wasliings. The character of this latter class of ordinances no one could mistake ; and what the writer here says is that these powerless sacrifices belong to the same line of things. On the " washings " see Note on chap. vi. 2. The preceding words would most naturally refer to meats, &c., of which men were re- quired to partake (as Ex. xii. ; Lev. vii. 15, et al.) ; but no doubt include the various restrictions and dis- tinctions of the ceremonial law (Lev. xi. ; Num. vi., et al.). All these are " ordinances of flesh," oi'di- nances which relate to the outward state of things only ; closely connected with the maintenance of external privileges and relations, but (in themselves) nothing more. " Imposed," comp. Acts xv. 10 : "refor- mation," chap. viii. 7 — 12. (11, 12) The changes of translation required in these verses are not considerable in themselves, but important for the sake of bringing out the unity of the sentence and the connection of its parts. Bid Christ having come a High Priest of the good things to come (or, the good things that are come, see below), through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not -made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, also not through blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy Place, having icon eternal redemption. With verse 11 begins the contrast to the first verse. In that we read of the first covenant as possessing ordinances of service and its holy place — both, however, " of this world," and the following verses describe the sanctuary itself (1 — 5) and the ordinances (6 — 10). Now, the Mediator of the New Covenant (chap. viii. 6), " Christ," whose name brings with it the thought of the satisfaction of all hope and fulfilment of all promises, has appeared as High Priest ; and entering into the true Holy of Holies has accomplished once for all what the earlier minis- trations typified. This is the main thought ; but in few verses do the single words require more careful study. Tlie various-reading mentioned above, "the good things that are come," is very interesting. It is not supported by a large number of authorities, but amongst them are the Vatican MS. (whose guidance, it may be remarked, we shall soon lose, as the ancient text breaks off suddenly in the middle of a word in verso 14), the Claromontane MS., and two Syriac versions. One strong argument in its favour presents itself on a comparison with chap. X. 1 (where there is no doubt about the reading), "the good things to com?." A scribe who had in mind those words, confirmed by the repeated occurrence of a similar thought in different parts of the Epistle (chaps. ii. 5; vi. 5), might easily substitute them for words expressing a less familiar thought. The two phrases differ more in form than in reality. In one we look at the new order of things, which is never to pass away, as already introduced by Christ (see Note on chap. i. 2) ; and in the other the same new order is thought of as future to those who waited through long ages for " the Christ," and in its consummation still future to ourselves (chap. ^^. 5). The form of expression reminds us of chap. iii. 1, where Jesus is called the High Priest of our confession (compare also Mai. iii. 1, " the Messenger of the covenant ") : He is associated with " the good things " as having brought them in, as Mediator of the covenant to which they belong. Through (or, by means of) the more perfect Taber- nacle, through (or, by means of) His own blood, Christ entered into the Holy Place. The two-fold reference to the type is very plain. It was by passing through " the first Tabernacle " that the high priest reached the Holiest Place ; it was by means of the blood of the sin- offering that he was enabled to enter into that place of God's presence (verse 7). But what in the antitype answers to this Tabernacle ? The expression of chap, iv. 14, pei-haps, first presents itself to the mind : if, however, we were right in understanding the words " that has passed through the heavens " as descriptive of our Lord's ascension far above all heavens (Eph. iv. 10), it seems evident that this verse is no real parallel. In chap. X. 20 the thought is somewhat different, but yet sufficiently akin to be suggestive in regard to these words. There the veil is spoken of as sj-mbolising " the flesh " of our Lord. Here we have in all probability an extension of the same thought, " the more perfect Tabernacle " being the human nature of our Lord. "We think at once of a number of passages presenting the same idea : " The Word was made flesh and made His tabernacle among us" (John i. 14) ; " He spake of the temple of His liody (John ii. 19) ; " The Father that dwelleth in Me " (John xiv. 10) ; " In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the God- head bodily" (Col. ii. 9). As in Him God gave to the world the first true revelation of Himself (chap. i. 2), God's dwelling-place amongst His people was a type of the Incarnate Word. The symbolism of the present verse compels us to think of the first and second Taber- nacles as separate. It was otherwise in chap. viii. 2, a verse which can only receive its proper explanation when the words now before us are considered. There the reference is to the High Priest who has already entered the Holiest Place and has " sat down at the right hand " of God. The distinction of outer and inner sanctuary has disappeared ; and, carrying out more fully the thought of the passages quoted above, we may say that, as " the sanctuary " of chap. viii. 2 symbolises the place of God's immediate presence, " the true Taber- nacle " represents the place of His continued and unceasing revelation of Himself to man, " in Christ." There is no difficulty now in explairing the epithets, " greater," " more perfect," " not of this creation." By means of this assumption of human nature He received power to become High Priest, power also to become Himself the sin-offering. Once before only in the Epistle have we read of this two-fold relation of our Lord to the sacrificial act. There it is mentioned parenthetically (chap. \\\. 26) and by anticipation, here it is the leading thought (verses 14, 26, 28; chap. X. 10, et al.). The efficacy of this offering is taken up again in verses 13, 14 ; the entering into the Holiest Place, in the latter part of the chapter. A new thought is introduced in the last words of this verse, " having won eternal redemption." Through the sacrifice atone- ment has been made and sin expiated : the blessing won, which in chap. v. 9 is called eternal salvation (see 317 Tlie Purifying of tlie Flesh. HEBREWS, IX. The Cleansing of the Conscience. for us. ('•'') For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanc- tifieth to the purifying of the flesh : (^*) how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit 1 Or, fault. offered himself without spot to God,i purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (^^^ And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions Note on chap. vii. 25), is here "eternal redemption." Tlio latter tif^ure enlarges the former by the additional tlioug-ht of the payment of a price. The deliverance of man from God's wrath and the penalty of sin, which Jesus effected by means of the ottering of Himself, is the " eternal redemption which He won " (see verse 14, and Ei)h. i. 7). The words, " for us," are not in the text : they are too intimately present in the whole thought to need direct expression. (13) For if the blood of bulls and of goats.— This verse connects itself with the last words of verse 12, "having won eternal redemption," showing why our hope may rise so high. The sacrifice is mentioned here in words slightly different from those of verse 11 ; but in each case the writer's thought is resting on the sin offering of the Day of Atonement, a bullock for the high priest himself, a goat for the people. (There is no distinct reference in this Epistle to the "scapegoat" sent into the wilderness.) And the ashes of an heifer.— The nineteenth chapter of Numliers is wholly occupied with the remarkable institution here referred to. A red heifer without spot was slain and wholly burnt, " with cedar- wood and hyssop and scarlet," and the ashes ^rere laid up in a clean place without the camp. " And for the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin-offering, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel : and a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle .... upon the unclean" (verses 17 — 19). The " unclean " are those that have been defiled by touching the dead body of a man, or by being in any way brought into connection with death. It is said that on the third and seventh days of the high priest's week of preparation for the Day of Atonement (see Note on chap. vii. 26), he was sprinkled with this water of purification, lest he should inadvertently have contracted such defilement. Sanetifleth to the pvirifying of the flesh.— Better, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh. As we have seen already (verse 10), the writer is looking at the intrinsic character of the sacrifices (chap. X. 4) and rites of purification, apart from their importance Jis marks of obedience or their value to those who were able to discern their spiritual lessons. They could not cleanse the conscience (verse 9); but they could and did remove what the Law accounted " unclcanness," and disabilities connected with the out- ward lif«> and religious worship of the commonwealth. (1*) Through the eternal Spirit.— Better, through an eternal Spirit ; for in a passage of so much difficulty it is important to preserve the exact rendering of the Greek, and the arguments usually adduced seem insufficient to justify the ordinary translation. By most readers of the Authorised version, probably, these words are understood as referring to the Holy Spirit, whoso influence continually rested on " the Anointed One of God " (Acts x. 38). For this opinion there seems to be no foundation in the usage of the New Testament, and it is not indicated by anj'thing in the context. The explanation of the words must rather be sought in the nature of our Lord, or in some attribute 318 of that nature. There are a few passages, mainly in the Epistles of St. Paul, in which language somewhat similar is employed in regard to the spirit (pneuma) of our Lord. The most remarkable of these are Eom. i. 4, where " spirit of holiness " is placed in contrast with " flesh ; " and 1 Tim. iii. 16, " in spirit." On the latter Bishop Ellicott writes : " in spirit, in the higher sphere of His divine life : the pneuma of Christ is not here the Holy Spirit, but the higher prhiciple of spiritual life, which was not the Di^inity (this would be an Apolliuarian assertion), but especially and intimately united \nt\\ it." (Another passage of great interest is 1 Pet. iii. 18.) The attribute " eternal " is explained by chap. vii. 18, 19, " according to power of indissoluble life (He hath become priest), for of Him it is testified, Thou art a j)riest for ever." Through this spirit, a spirit of holiness, a spirit of indissoluble life. He offered HimseK to God. This made such a self-offering possible ; this gave to the offering infinite worth. In the words which stand in contrast with these (verse 13) we read of the death of animals which had no power over their own transient life : He who was typified in every high priest and in every victim, " through an eternal spirit," of HimseK laid down His life (John x. 18), offering Himself to God in the moment and article of death, — offered Himself in His constant presence in the Holiest Place (verse 24). Without spot, — The word here used is frequently applied in the LXX. to the victims " without blemish " that were offered in sacrifice. The sinlessness of Jesus is expressed under the same metaphor in 1 Pet. i. 19. Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. — Better, cleanse our conscience from dead tcorks to serve a Living God. The word " cleanse " is akin to " cleanness"' in verse 13. Authorities are divided between " our " and " your " ; but the former is probably the better reading. Once before, in chap. vi. 1. the writer has spoken of " dead works." (See the Note.) It is here, however, that the significance most fully appears ; for we cannot doubt that there exists a reference to the purification made necessary by all contact with death. (See verse 13.) Since the works are dead because they had no share in true life, which J is the life of God, the last words bring before us the! thought of a Living God (chap. iii. 12). This thought also stands connected with " eternal Spirit," for those who are cleansed through the offering of Christ sha share His relation to the Living God The contrast ia in every respect complete. From the whole number ofl Jewish rites had been selected (verse 13) the two whichj most fully represented the purification from sin and! from pollution through death, in order that thisj completeness of antithesis might be attained. It is not necessary to trace the details of the contrast-j In each and in all we read the " How much more ! (15) And for this cause.— Or, Atid because ofthis.l This verse looks back to the great truth of verses 11, 12,1 which the last two verses have served to confirm and place in bolder relief. '' Christ through His own blood entered once for all into the Holy Place, having won eternal redemption; and by reason of this He is ' s thoi m A Covenant established HEBREWS, IX. bi/ means of DeatJi. that rvere under the first testament, they i cr, bebronght^ which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. ^^^^ For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be^ the death of the testator. (^''^ For a testament is of force after men are dead : otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator Mediator of a covenant, a new covenant, in order that they who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." For " the new testament " we must certainly read a new covenant : whatever may be thought of the follo^ang group of verses, the rendering testament has no place here. The leading thought of chap. viii. is the establishment of a new covenant, and the former covenant has been referred to three times in this very chapter (verses 1, 4). That by means of death.— Rather, that, death having taktn place for redemption from the trans- gressions, &c. The first covenant had been broken by " transgressions : " unless there be redemption from these — that is, from the bondage of penalty which has resulted from these — there can be no promise and no new covenant. In respect of this bondage, this penalty, the death of Christ was a ransom — an oifering to God looked at in the light of a papneut in the place of debt, service, or penalty due. When debt and payment are changed into the corresponding ideas of sin and punishment, the ransom gives place to the sin-offering, of wliicli the principle was the acknowledgment of death deserved, and the vicarious suft'ei-ing of death. So far our thought has rested on the removal of the results of the past. The covenant and the promise relate to the establishment of the better future. Death was necessary alike for both. The offering of Christ's life (Matt. xx. 28) was a ransom or an offering for sin ; it was also a sacrifice inaugurating a new covenant, which contained the promise of the etei-nal inheritance. See verses 16 — 18 ; also Gal. iii. 13, 14, where the thought is very similar. They which are called.— More clearly, they that have been called. (See Acts ii. 39; Rom. i. 6, 7 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14.) In chap. iii. 1 we have a similar expression, " pai'takers of a heavenly calling : " there also the idea of sonship (chap. ii. 10), with its right of " inheritance," is certainly present. (16) Testament. — As has been already pointed out, the greatest difference of opinion has existed in regard to the meaning of the Greek word diatheke in this passage. (See Note on chap. vii. 22.) It will be seen at once that the interpretation of this verse and the next entirely depends on that one question. If '•testament" is the correct meaning of the Greek word, the general sense of the verses is well given in the Authorised version. A few commentators even agree with that version in carrjdng back the idea of testament into verse 15. although in the other two places in which the word is joined with" Mediator" (chaps, viii. 6 ; xii. 24) they adhere to the ordinary rendering, " covenant." By most, however, it is held that a new thought is intro- duced in the present verse. The writer, it is urged, having spoken of a promise of an inheritance, (verse 15), and a promise that cannot be made valid unless death take place, avails himself of the illustration which a second (and very common) meaning of the leading word affords ; and though a covenant has hitherto been in his thoughts, he adds interest and force to his argument by calling up the analogy of a testament or will. It is further urged that this procedure will not seem un- natural if we reflect that the diatheke between God and man is never exactly expressed by covenant, since it is not of the nature of a mutual compact between equals. (See chap. vii. 22.) The position is chiefly defended by two arguments: — (1) verse 16, being a general maxim, gives no intelligible sense in regard to a covenant, but is easy and natural as applied to a will. (2) A Greek word used in verse 17, where the literal translation is " over (the) dead," cannot be used of sacrifices of slain animals, but of men only. This, we believe, is a fair statement of the case on the one side ; and it may be fully acknowledged that, if verses 16, 17 stood alone, and if they were written of Gentile rather than Jewish usage, the case would be very strong. As it is, we are compelled to believe that the difficulties which this interpretation brings with it are beyond comparison more serious than those which it removes. (1) There is no doubt that in the overwhelming majority of New Testament passages the meaning covenant must be assigned. By many high authorities these verses are considered to contain the only excep- tion. (2) In the LXX. the word is extremely common, both for the covenants of God and for compacts between man and man. (See Note on chap. vii. 22). (3) The application of diatheke in this Epistle rests on the basis of the Old Testament usage, the key passage being Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34, quoted at length in chap. ^-iii. With that quotation this passage is linked by the association of diatheke with Mediator in verse 15 and chap. viii. 6, and with " the first " in verse 15 and in chaps, viii. 13 and ix. 1. (4) In the verses which follow this passage the meaning covenant must certainly return, as a comparison of verse 20 with the verse of Exodus which it quotes (chap. xxiv. 8) will show. (5) It is true that the idea of '"death" has appeared in verse 15, but it is the death of a sin-offering ; and there is no natural or easy transition of thought from an expiatory death to the death of a testator. And yet the words which introduce verses 16 and 18 (" For " and " Wherefore ") show tliat we are following the course of an argument. (6) Though to us verse 16 may present a vei-y familiar thought, we must not forget that to Jews dispositions by ■n'ill were almost altogether unknown. Were it granted that a writer might for illustration avail himself of a second mean- ing which a word he is iising might happen to bear, this liberty would only be taken if by that means familiar associations could be reached, and the argfu- ment or exhortation could be thus urged home. In an Epistle steeped in Jewish thought such a transition as that suggested would be inexplicable. There are other considerations of some weight which might be added ; but these seem sufficient to prove that, even if the difficulties of interpretation should prove serious, we must not seek to remove them by wavering in our rendering of diatheke in these verses. We believe, therefore, that the true translation of verses 16, 17, must bo the following : — For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be brought in the death of the covenanter. For a covenant is of force when there hath been death (literally, over the dead) ; for hath it ever any strength while the covenanter liveth ? In verse 15 we have seen the two-fold reference of the death of Jesus, to the past and to the future. As High Priest He has offered Himself as a sin-offering to cleanse the conscience from dead works; the same offering is also looked on as a ransom redeeming from 319 Israel sprinkled with the HEBEEWS, IX. Blood of the Covenant. liveth. <^^^ Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated^ without blood. (19) For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and 2 Or, purple Or, purified. of goats, with water, and scarlet^ wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, <2°> saying. This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. (^^^ More- thc penalty of past transgressions ; and. still by means of His ileath. Ho has, as Mediator, established a new covenant. Wo aro reminded at once of the words of Jesus Himself, " This cup is the new covenant in My blood" (1 Cor. xi. 25). It is this very thought which the writer proceeds to develop : a covenant cannot bo established without death — cannot exist at all. That amongst Jews and Greeks and Romans alike cove- nants were confirmed by sacrifice we need not pause to prove ; of this usage wo have the earliest example in Gen. xv. In such sacrifices, again, there is "brought in," or assumed the death of him who makes tho covenant. There will not, perhaps, be much difficulty in accepting this as a maxim. The conflict of opinion really begins when we ask in what manner this is assumed. The usual answer is, that the death of victims is emblematic of the punishment which the contracting parties imprecated on themselves if they should break their compact. It may have been so amongst the Greeks and Romans, though this is doubt- ful.* Amongst tho Jews, however, the analogy of their general sacrificial system, in which the victim represented the offerer, renders such an explanation very improbable. As to the precise idea implied in this representation, it is not easy to speak with certainty. It has been defined in two opposite ways. In the death of the victim each contracting party may be supposed to die either as to the future, in respect of any power of altering tho compact (tho covenant shall bo as safe from violation through change of intention as if tho covenanter were removed by death) ; or as to i\iQ past, to the former state of enmity each is now dead. It is not necessary for our argument to decide such a question as this. Tho only material points aro, that a covenant must bo established over sacrifices, and that in such a .sacrifice " the death of him that made the covenant " must in some manner be " brought in " or assumed. There remains only tho application to tho particular covenant here spoken of. If this be taken as made between God and man, the sacrificial death of Jesus in man's stead ratified tho covenant for ever, the former stato of separation being brought to an end in " the reconciliation " of the gospel. Tho peculiar character of verso 15, however (see above), seems rather to suggest that, as Jesus is set forth as High Priest and sacrifice, .so He is both tho Author of tho covenant and tho .sacrifice which gives to it validity. In this cjjso wo see represented in His sacrifice tho death of each " covenanter." (Tho transition from "Mediator'' to Giver of tho covenant is not greater than that which tho other interpretation requires— a transition from a mediator of a testament to a testator.) There aro minor points relating to details in the Greek which cannot be dealt with hero. Of the two arguments qiiotiHl above, tho former has, we hope, been fully met; tliough (it may bo said in passing) it would be easier to give up verso 16 as a general maxim, and to regard it as applying only to a covenant between God and sinful man, than to divorce tho whole passage from the • Sec Mr. Wratislaw's very interesting note in his "Notes and Dissertations," pp. Ino, 1.56. The wliole subject is very care- fully trcAted in an admirable pamphlet by Professor Forbes, of Aberdeen. 320 context by changing " covenant " into " will." One point of interest must not be omitted. There are coincidences of expression with Ps. 1. 5 which make it very probable that that Psalm, memorable in the development of the teaching of the Old Testament, was distinctly in tho writer's mind. This comparison is also of use in the explanation of some expressions in the original of these two verses. (18) Whereupon.— Better, Wherefore not even has the first [covenant) been dedicated (or, inaugurated) without blood. (See Ex. xxiv. 6 — 8.) (19) Every precept. — Or, commandment. See Ex. xxiv. 3 ; where we read that Moses " told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judg- ments." These he wrote in a book (verse 4), and this " book of the covenant " (verse 7) he " read in the audience of the people." The contents would probably be the Ten Commandments, and the laws of Ex. xx. 22— xxiii. 33. Of calves and of goats.— In Exodus (verse 5) we read of "burnt offerings" and of "peace offerings of oxen." The " goats " may be included in the burnt offerings; for though Jewish tradition held that a goat was never sacrificed as a burnt offering, Lev. 1. 10 is clear on the other side. It is possible that " the calves and the goats " may be only a general expression for " the sacrificial victims." (See verse 12.) With water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop.— In Ex. xxiv. there is no mention of these details, but similar notices are found in other parts of the Penta- teuch, where the ceremony of sprinkling for purification is described (Ex. xii. 22 ; Lev. xiv. 4, 6 ; and Num. xix. 6, 17, 18). Tho water (itself an emblem and means of cleansing) was designed to prevent the coagulation of the blood, and to increase the quantity of the puri- fying fluid. Tho " scarlet wool " may have been used to bind the hyssop to the stick of cedar- wood, which was the instrument of sprinkling. The precise notices in the Law forbid us to doubt that each of these substances had a definite symbolical meaning, but to us tho subject is involved in obscurity. Both the book and all the people.— The Greek is more emphatic : both the book itself and all the people. Tho latter fact alone is mentioned in Exodus (verse 8). Tho sprinkling of tho book of the covenant may bo regarded from two points of view. It may depend citner on tho same principle as tho (later) sprinkling of the Tabernacle (verse 22), and the " re- conciling" of the Tabernacle and the Holy Place (Lev. xvi. 20) on the Day of Atonement; or on the symbolism of the covenant as noticed above (verses 15 — 17). In the latter case we must suppose that, as the blood was divided into two portions (Ex. xxiv. 6) in token of the two parties to tlio covenant, and part " cast upon the altar," the book of tho covenant was associated with the altar as representing the presence of Jehovah. (20) The testament which God hath enjoined unto you. — Better, the covenant which God com* manded in regard to you. " Commanded," see chap< viii. 6 : in the LXX. the word is " covenanted." (21) He sprinkled with blood.— Rather, hi sprinkled in like manner with the blood. It is sin- gular that the word rendered "in like manner" (found I The Patterns of Heavenly Things. HEBEEWS, IX. Tlie Heavenly Sanctuary^ over he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. ^^^^ And almost all things are bj the law purged with blood ; and without shedding of blood is no re- mission. (^"^^ It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these ; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. (^^ For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven it- self, now to appear in the presence of in the Bishops' Bible, " likewise," and in other versions) should liave been overlooked in the Authorised version. The incident here mentioned belongs, of course, to a later date. It is not expressly recorded in Scripture, but is related by Josephus (Ant. iii. 8, § 6) ; and, apart from internal probability, might almost be concluded from the narrative of the Pentateuch itself. In Ex. xl. 9 — 15 we read of the divine injunction that Moses should put the anointing oil not only upon Aaron and his sons, their garments, and the altar, but also upon the Tabernacle and its vessels. In Lev. viii. 10 — 12 is recorded the fulfilment of this command ; but in the later verses of the same chapter we read that the altar was sprinkled with the blood of the sin-offering (verse 15), and that Moses sprinkled Aaron and his sous and their gai-ments with '' the anointing oil and the blood which was upon the altar." Manifestly we may infer that the Tabernacle and its vessels were included in the latter ceremony. Whatever was connected with the covenant which God made with His people must be sprinkled with the blood, which at once typified purifi- cation (verses 14, 24), and ratified the covenant (verses 15, 17). (22) And almost all things. — The meaning of the word " almost," as it stands in the Greek, is rather, " One may almost lay down the rule," " One may almost say." What follows, in both parts of the verse, is a general saying, modified by these introductory words. And one may almost say — according to the Law, all things are cleansed in blood, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. To the first ride an exception is found in the various purifications by water or by fire (see Num. xxxi. 22 — 24) ; to the second in the remarkable law of Lev. v. 11 — 13. The expression " in blood " is used because sprinkling with the blood of the slain victim was in figure a sun'ounding with, or inclusion within, the purifying element. On "cleansed" (chap. i. 3) the best comment is found in Lev. xvi. 19, 30 ; on " forgiveness," in the words which in Lev. iv. are repeatedly (verses, 20, 26, 31, 35) used of the effect of the sin offering, " it shall be for- given him." The second clause of the verse is founded on Lev. xvii. 11. By "shedding of blood" we must probably understand the slaying of the animal, rather than the pouring out of the blood by the altar (Lev. iv. 34, et at.) With these words compare Luke xxii. 20. (23) The patterns of things in the heavens.— Rather, the tokens (chap. viii. 5) of the things in the heavens. In the first part of the verso a conclusion is drawn from the sacred history, which relatt>d the ac- complishment of the divine will, and showed therefore what was " necessary." But the real stress lies on the second part. The whole may be pai-aphrascd thus : "Whilst then it is necessary that what are but tokens of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these tilings, it is necessary that tlie heavenly tilings themselves should be cleansed with better sacrifices than those." Tlie meaning of " these things " might perliajis bo found in verse 19 (the various instruments of purification), or in verse 13 (the two sin offerings 87 321 there spoken of) ; but, from the prominence given to repetition in the following verses, the plural seems rather to mean with those sacrifices repeated from time to time. The common thought in the two parts of the verse appears to be (as in verse 21) that everything re- lating to the covenant of God with sinful man must be brought under the symbol of expiation, without which he can have no part in that covenant. The " heavenly things " are not defiled by sin ; but the true heavenly sanctuary cannot be entered by man, the new fellowship between God and man " in heavenly places " cannot be inaugurated, till the heavenly things themselves have been brought into association with the One atoning sacrifice for man. Better sacrifices. — Here again the use of the plural is remarkable. It seems to arise from the studious generality in the terms of this verse. To " these things " the natural antithesis is "better sacri- fices." That in the ministry of the true High Priest there was a presentation of but one sacrifice is not assumed here, because it is to be strongly brought out below (verses 25, 26). (24) por Christ is not entered.— Better, For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with hands, of like pattern to the true (or, real) holy place. In the second part of verse 23 the two thoughts were the " heavenly things themselves " and " better sacrifices." Of these the first is taken up here; the second in verses 25, 26. That verse was general : this sets forth the actual fact. " For the sanctuary into which Christ entered is not a copy or a token of the things in the heavens, but heaven itself." " Of like pattern," see chap. viii. 5 ; " the true," chap, viii. 2 ; " into heaven itself," chap. viii. 1. Now to appear in the presence of God for us. — Better, noiv to be made vianifest before the face of God for us. We cannot doubt that these words continue the contrast between the true High Priest and the high priest on earth. On the Day of Atone- ment the high priest came before what was but a symbol of the Divine Presence ; he caused the Holiest Place to be fiUed with the smoke of the incense before he entered with the blood of the offering. He did not dare to delay his return, even by prolonging his prayer, lest he should " excite terror in Israel." J n the heavenly sanctuary the High Priest is made manifest before the face of God. (Comp. Ex. xxxiii. 20.) Three different words in these verses (24, 26, 28) are in the Authorised version rendered by the same word " appear " : " to make manifest," "to manifest." "to appear," may servo as renderings which sliall keep in mind the difference of the words. The form of the Greek verb might seem to imply a single appearance only ; by the added word " now " the writer con-ects. or rather en- largos, the thought, and sliows tliat the true meaning is a manifestation which is both one and unceasing. With emphasis he places at the close the Avords which indicate "the people" whose High Priest JHe has become. As in chap. viii. 1 liis language was " we have such a High Priest," and in chap. ix. 14, " shall purge Christ once offered for Sin. HEBREWS, IX. His Second Cominj for Salvation, God for us : (^s) nor yet tliat he should offer himself often, as the high priest eutereth into the holy place every year with blood of others ; <-'^^ for then must he often have suffered since the founda- tion of the world : but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (-'> And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg- ment : (^^ so Christ Avas once offered to bear the sins of many ; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. our conscionco; " so liere, it is on our behalf that Christ is inaiiitVsfcd unto God. (-S- Nor yet that he should— i.e., Nor yet {did He enter into heaven) that He may offer Himself often. The connection has been pointed out already in the last Note. The " offering " which is here in thouglit does not correspond to the actual sacrifice of the sin- offerings on the Day of Atonement, but to the presen- tation of the blood in the Holiest Place. In this really consisted the presentation of that sacrifice to God. Tliat this is the meaning here is shown by the contrast in the latter part of the verse, where we read of the high priest's entering the Holy Place (i.e., the Holy of Holies; see Note on verse 2) ''with blood not his own," and by the argument of verse 26. (2(3) For then must he often have suffered. — The repeated presentation of Himself to God must imply, as a necessary condition, a repeated " suffering ' of death ; as the high priest's offering of the blood of expiation in the Holiest Place implied the previous sacrifice of the victim. The writer's point of view is the time when " Christ entered into heaven itself." In speaking of the repeated " suffering " (Luke xxiv. 2t), 4(3, et al.), he marks the limits within which it must lie, reaching Imck to the " foundation of the world." Tlie expression in the second part of the verse is the converse of this : looking forward from the " foundation of the world," through all the succes- sive periods of human history until tlie Incarnation, he writes, " Now once at the end of the world "' — " at the consummation of the ages" — hath Christ "been mani- fested." Tiie words " consummation of the age " occur five times in St. Matthew's Gospel — chaps, xiii. 39, 40, 49; xxiv. 3; xxviii. 20. (See the Notes.) The ])hrase here is more expressive still. The history of all pre- ceding ages was a preparation for the manifestation of the Christ (" who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in those last times" (literally, at the end of the times), 1 Pet. i. 20 ; all subsequent history develops the results of that manifestation. A similar thought is contained in St. Paul's words " the fulness of the seasons " (Eph. i. 10), "the fulness of the time" (Gal. iv. 4). (See further the Ndte on cliap. i. 2.) To put away sin by the sacrifice of Him- self.—Literally, /or the annuUinrf of sin through His sacrifice. The word which in chap. vii. 18 was used for the abrogation of the command relating to the lino of earthly priests, is hero apjified to the destruction of the power and abolition of the results of sin. As in the manifestation before the face of God wo see the proof that the goal whicli the human high priest failed to reach had been attained, so these words proclaim full deliverance from guilt and penalty, and from the hohl of sin itself — a deliverance wiiich the sin-offerinf could but express in figure. (-") And as it is appointed . . .—More literally. And as there is laid vp for mrn once to die. and after this judgment. Man's life and works on earth end with death : what remains ia the result of tliis life and these works, as determined by God's " judgment." Man does not return to die a second time. That some few have twice passed through death does not affect the general law. The emphatic word " once " and the special design of the verse are explained by the words which follow. (28) So Christ was once offered.— The ordinary translation, dividing the verse into two similar jjortions, fails to show where the emphasis really lies. The two members of the verse correspond to each other, point by point, with i-emarkable distinctness; but the first is clearly subordinated to the second. " So the Christ also, having been once offered that He might bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time apart from sin to them that wait for Him unto salvation." It is important to notice that, not only is there perfect parallelism between the two members of this verse, but there is a similar relation between this verse as a whole and verse 27. In that were presented two cardinal points of the history of sinful man ; in this the main outlines of the Redeemer's work. Each verse deals first with the present world, and secondly with " the last things." The two verses, taken together, are con- nected with the preceding argument by the word " once." Christ will not " suffer " often. He hsis been manifested once, to accomplish by one act the " annulling " of sin (verse 26). And this is in harmony with the lot of man, who must die once, and but once (verses 27. 28). But what is the exact nature of this correspondence ? Do the words simply mean that, as the Christ was man, so it was laid up for Him to die but once ? Or may the connection of thought be expressed thus ? — The work of redemption is so ordered as to correspond to the course of man's history : as man must die once, and what remains is the judgment which he must abide, so the Christ has died once, and what remains is His return for judgment — a judgment which He Himself administers, giving .salvation to His people. We will not venture to say that the former I thought is absent from the words (which are sufficiently ( general to include both), but certainly the second is • the more important. If now we return to verse 28. it will be seen that the words " ha^nng been once offered " in the first memljer are answered by '" shall appear " in the second; "to bear sins," by "apart from sin . . . unto salvation ; " and " of many," by " to them that wait for Him." In verses 14, 25, the writer spoke of Christ as offering Himself, here as " having been offered ; " so in Eph. v. 2 we read that He " delivered Himself up for us," but in Rom. viii. 32 that God " delivered Him up for us all," and in Rom. iv. 25, " who was delivei'cd up for our offences." The words which follow are taken (with a slight change) from Isa. liii. 12, "and He bare the sin of many." These words clearly involve .sacrificial imagery. What is M signified is not directly the rem oral oi sin (as in theil different words of John i. 29) ; Init, as on the animal to ; be slain the sins of tin* offerer were in figure laid, and the death which followed signified the death which the offerer had deserved, so, with an infinite exteusioa 322 Tlie Sacrijices of the Law HEBEEWS, X. unable to take away Sin. CHAPTER X. — (1) For the law Chap. X. 1-18. having a shadow of good The repeated things sacrifices of the j.i to come, and not Law. The One -^? ^^rj image of the Sacrifice which things. Can never with takes away sin. those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. ^-^ For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the wor- shippers once j)ui'o6d should have had no more conscience of sins. (^) But in those sacrijices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. W For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take of meaning, are the words here applied. It is certainly no mere accident that the writer, tlius availing himself of the prophet's words, speaks of the Clirist. In contrast with the one Sufferer are the " many " whose sins are borne (comp. chap. ii. 10; Matt. \xvi. 2b). Wlieu the Christ shall appear the second time, it shall be "apart fi-om sin"— no longer bearing sin, but *' separate from sinners " (chap. vii. 26j. Of the judgment Avhicli He shall pass upon " the adversaries " (chap. X. 27) tliis verse does not speak, but only of His appearing to His own people, who " wait for Him." This expressive word, again and again used by St. Paul (see Note on Rom. viii. 19) to describe the attitude of Christ's people upon eai-th towards their Lord (Phil. iii. 20; 1 Cor. i. 7) and His salvation (Rom. \-iii. 23, 25), is here applied to all who love His appearing. By these " He shall be seen " as He is (1 John iii. 2). The last words "unto salvation" declare the purpose of His appearing, in a form which at once recalls the teaching of earlier verses in the Epistle (chap. v. 9 ; vii. 2(5), and especially verse 12 of this chapter, and which brings to mind the name of Him for whom we wait, the Saviour (Phil. iii. 20). The latter part of the ninth chapter was an expansion of verses 11, 12. In particular, verses 23 — 28 have been occupied with the theme, " Christ entered once for all into the Holy Place, having won eternal redemp- tion." The repeated offerings presented by the high priests have been contrasted with tlie sacrifice which He has ofl'ered. To this thought the opening verses of this chapter attach themselves, explaining more fully the iuefficacy of the one, the power and virtue of the other. Gradually the main thoughts of the preceding chapters are gathered up. and the last and chief division of the argument of the Epistle is brought to a close in verse 18. (DA shadow of good things to come.— Tliese words have already come before us ; the " shadow " in chap. viii. 5, and " the good things to come " in the ordinary reading of chap. ix. 11. Not the very image.- The antithesis is hardly wliat we should have expected. The word " image is indeed consistent with the very closest and most perfect likeness; but why is the contrast to "shadow" expressed by a word which cannot denote more than likeness, and not by a reference to the things tliem- eelves? The answer would seem to be that, from tlie very nature of the " good things to come," the law could not be conceived of as having tlie things them- selves ; but had it possessed " the very image " of them, a representation so ])erfect might have been found to bring witli it equal efficacy. Can never with those sacrifices.- It is difficult to a.scertain the exact Greok text in the latter half of this verse. With the ordinary reading the general cimstniction of the sentence is tliat which theAutliorised version represents, "For the law . . . can never . . . make perfect." The better MSS., however, read " they can," a change which introduces some irregularity of construction : the pronoun " they " must probably in this case be understood of the priests. The order of the Greek is also very peculiar. Two translations of the verse (with the cliauged reading) may be given : (1) "They can never with the same sacrifices year by year which they offer continually make them that draw nigh perfect." (2) " They can never year by year, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually, make them that draw nigh perfect." The difference between the two renderings will be easily seen. The former makes the whole sentence to relate to the annual sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, and gives to " con- tinually " almost the same meaning as *' year by year." The meaning of the latter is that by the annual sacri- fices, which are the same as those which the priests are offering for the people day by day (for the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement did not in itself differ from the ordinary sin offering), they cannot make the worshippers perfect. The latter translation agrees best with the original, and conveys a very striking thought. It is open, however, to a very serious objection — that it separates the verse into two incongruous parts. That annual sacrifices not different in kind from the sin offerings wliich were presented day by day (and which the very institution of the Day of Atonement declared to be imperfect) could not bring to the worshippers what they needed, is an important argument ; but it has no connection with the first words of the verse. Hence, though the Greek does not very readily yield the former translation, it is probably to be preferred. With the expression "them that draw nigh" or "approach" (to God) comp. chap. vii. 26, where the same word is used. On " make perfect " see chaps, vii. 11 ; ix. 9. (2) For then. — Better, othencise. The very repeti- tion of the annual ceremonial was a testimony to its imperfection. The idea of repetition has been very strikingly brought out in verse 1. Once purged.^Better, because the icorshipjpers, having been once cleansed, icould have no more con- sciousness of sin^. " Worshippei-s," not the same word as in verse 1, but similarly used in chap. ix. 9, 14; xii. 28 (Phil. iii. 3, et al.) : in chap. viii. 5 ; xiii. 10, it is applied to priestly service. (3) There is a remembrance.— Better, a remem- hrance of sins is made year by year. In each of the tliree prayers of the high priest (see chap. v. 3) for himself and his house, for tlie priesthood, for the people, he made special acknowledgment of sin. " I have sinned, I and my house and the suns of Aaron : Thy jxMiple have done perversely." (■») This verse explains those which precede. No in- consistency really Ix-loiiged to these sacrifices and this cen'monial. though so often repeated: for it was im- possible that any such sacrifice should really remove sin. The offering was necessary, and it answered its puqiose; but it could not remove the necessity for another and a better offering. :i23 Sacrifices and Offeringa HEBREWS, X. Thou wotddest not.* (5) awaj sms. ^•'> Wherefore when he Cometh into the world, he saith, Sacri- fice and offerinf^ thou wonkiest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:^ 1 Or, thou, hast fit- ted me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. i''> Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, (5) Wherefore.— Tliat is, on account of this power- lessncss of tlio sacriticos of the law. He saith.— Christ, in tlio prophetic word of Scrip- tun'. Tliongh not directly mentioned here, He has been tlie .subject of the whole context (chap. ix. 25 — 28). The words wiiich follow are a quotation from Ps. xl. 6 — 8, and agree substantially with the LXX., except that in verse 7 a word of some importance is omitted (see the Note there). The LXX., again, is on the whole a faithful representation of the Hebrew text : one clause only (the last in this verse) presents difficulty. Par- ticular expressions will bo noticed as they occur : the general meaning and application of the psalm must first receive attention. Like Ps. 1. and li. (with some verses of Ps. Ixix.), Ps. xl. is remarkable for its antici- pation of the teaching of the prophets (Isa. i. 11 — 17; Jer. vii. 21; Hos. vi. 6; Mic. vi. 6 — 8; et al.) on one point, the inferior worth of ceremonial observances when contrasted with moral duties. It seems probable that the psalm is David's, as the inscription relates, and that its key-note is to be found in the words of Samuel to Saul (1 Sam. xv. 22) : " Hath the Lord as great de- light in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying (literally, hearkening fo) the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to obey ( literally, to hear) is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." The first part of the psalm is an expression of thanksgiving to God for deliverance from peril. David has learned the true mode of dis- playing gratitude, not by offerings of slain animals, but by the sacrifice of the will. So far does the latter excel the former, so truly is the sacrifice of will in accordance with the will of God, that the value of the legal offer- ings is in comparison as nothing. There is in all this no real slighting of the sacrificial ritual (see Jer. vii. 21 — 28), but there is a profound appreciation of the superiority of spiritual service to mere ritual ob- servance. It can hardly be said that this quotation rests on the same principle as those of the first chapter. Tlio psalm is certaiidy not Messianic, in the sense of being wholly predictive like Ps. ex., or directly typical like Ps. ii. In some respects, indeed, it resembles 2 Sam. vii. (See the Note on chap. i. 5.) As there, after words which are quoted in this Epistle in reference to Christ, we read of David's son as committing iniqiiity and receiving punishuicnt ; so in this psalm we read, " Mine iniquities are more than the hairs of mine head." David comes with a new perception of the true will of God, to offer Him the service in which He takes pleasure. And yet not so— for such service as he can offer is itself defective; his sins surround him yet in their results and penalties. Hence, in his understand- ing atul his offering of himself he is a type, whilst his sinfulness and weakness render him but an imperfect type, of Him that was to come. Such passages as these constitute a distinct and very interesting division of Messianic prophecy. Wo may then thus trace the principle on which the psalm is here applied. Jesus came to His Father with tliat perfect offering of will and self which was foreshadowed iji the best impulses of the best of the men of God. whoso inspired utter- ances the Scriptures record. The words of David, but partially true of himself, are fulfilled in the Son of Da^-id. Since, then, these words describe the purpose of the Saviour's life, we can have no difficulty in under- 324 standing the introductory words, "when He cometh into the world, He saith; " or the seventh verse, where we read, " Lo, I am come to do Thy will." When David saw the true meaning of the law, he thus came before God ; the purpose of Jesus, when He received the body which was the necessary instrument for human obedience, finds its full expi-ession in these words. Sacrifice and offering. — The corresponding Hebrew words denote the two divisions of offerings, as made vrith or without the shedding of blood. But a body hast thou prepared me. — Rather, but a body didst Thou prepare for me. Few discrep- ancies between the LXX. and the Hebrew have attracted more notice than that which these words present. The words of the Psalmist are, " In sacrifice and offering Thou hast not delighted : ears hast Thou digged for me." As in Samuel's words, already referred to as containing the germ of the psalm, sacrifice is contrasted with hear- ing and with hearkening to the voice of the Lord, the meaning evidently is, Thou hast given me the power of hearing so as to obey. A channel of communication has been opened, through which the knowledge of God's true will can reach the heart, and excite the desire to obey. All ancient Greek versions except the LXX. more or less clearly express the literal meaning. It has been supposed that the translators of the LXX. had before them a different reading of the Hebrew text, preferable to that which is found in our present copies. This is very unlikely. Considering the general principles of their translation, we may with gi-eater probability suppose that they designed merely to express the general meaning, avoiding a literal rendering of a Hebrew metaphor which seemed harsh and abrupt. They seem to have understood the Psalmist as acknow- ledging that God had given him that which would pro- duce obedience ; and to this (they thought) would correspond the prepai'ation of a body which might be the instrument of rendering willing service. If the present context be carefully examined, we shall see that, though the writer does afterwards make reference (verse 10) to the new words here introduced, they are in no way necessaiy to his argument, nor does he lay on them any stress. (<>) Burnt offerings.— Better, whole burnt offer- ings. These (which were the symbol of complete con- secration) are not mentioned in this Epistle, except in this verse and verse 8. Thou hast had no pleasure.— Better (for con- formity with the preceding clauses). Thou hadst no pleasure. (7) Lo, I come. — Rjither, Lo, I am come — I am here. The original meaning of the following words is not quite certain. The Hebrew admits of two render- ings. (1) Then I said, Lo, I am come! in the roU of the Book it is prescribed unto me ; (2) Then I said, Lo, I am come with the roll of the Book that is written concerning me. The " roll of the Book " is the roll containing the Divine Law. The next clause is quite distinct in constnxction : " I delight to do Thy will, O God; yea. Thy law is within my heart." The omission of the words " I delight," alters the connection of the words ; but it will be seen that, though the Hebrew verses are condensed, their meaning is exactly preserved. " Lo, I come HEBEEWS, X. to do Thy Will, 0 God." O God. (^^ Above when he said, Sacri- fice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law ; (^> Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. <"^) By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (^^^ And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins : (^-^ but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right (8) Above when he said.— Better, Whereas he saith above ; or, as we miglit express it, " Saying at the outset," " Setting out with saying." In the following words the best MSS. have the plural, " Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and (sacrifices) for sin." The change from singular to plural is in har- mony with the thought of verses 1—4, the repetition of sacrifices. Which are ofiTered by the law.— Rather, such as are offered according to law. The change from "the law" to "law" seems intentional, as if the writer had in thought the contrast between any external law of ritual and a principle of inward obedience. (9) Then said he, Lo, I corae. — Rather, then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do Thij will. The words " O God " are not in the true text, but have been acci- dentally repeated from verse 7. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.— It is important to inquire how this is done, first in the case of the writer of the psalm, then as the words are used of Jesus. David, percei^nng that that which God seeks is the subjection of man's will, refuses to rest in the sacrifices of the law. No one will think that burnt offering or gift or sacrifice for sin was henceforth at an end for him : the confession of his iniquities (verse 12) implied a recourse lo the appointed means of approach to God : even the sacrifices themselves were taken up into the service of obedience. But to the symbols shall be added the con- secration and the sacrifice of praise (Ps. 1. 23) which they typified. The application to the Saviour must be inter- preted by this context. In making these words His own, He declares the sacrifices of the law to be in themselves without virtue ; Jehovah seeks them not from Him, but, having prepared a human body for Him, seeks only the fulfilment of His will. But included in that will of God was Christ's offering of Himself for the world ; and. on the other hand, it was His perfect surrender of Himself that gave completeness to that offering. His death was at once the antitype of the sacrifice for sin and the consummation of the words, "I am come to do Thy will, O God." Hence, in say- ing, " Lo, I am come to do Thy will " ( that which God has really willed). He taketh away the sacrifices of slain animals that He may establish the doing of God's will. That such sacrifices as were formerly offered are no longer according to God's pleasure follows as au inference from this. (10) By the which will we are sanctified.— Better, In which will ice have been sanctified. In the last verso we read of that which Jesus established — the doing of the will of God. He did that will when He offered the sacrifice of His perfect obedience — "obedience as far as death " (Phil. ii. 8). In this will of God which He accomplished lies our sanctification, effected " through tlie offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." In chap. ix. 14 the efficacy of the blood of Christ to cleanse the conscience is con- trasted with the power of the offerings of the law to " sanctify in regard to cleanness of the flesh : " here the real sanctification is joined with "the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." In the word " body " lies a reference to verse 8, where the body is looked on as the insti'ument of obedient service (conip. Rom. xii. 1) ; but the word "offering" still preserves its sacrificial character, and contains an allusion to the presentation of the body of the slain victim. (Comp. chap. xiii. 11). As this offering has been presented '' once for all " (chaps, vii. 27 ; ix. 12), so " once for all " has the work of sanctification been achieved. (11) The last was a verse of transition. Naturally following from and completing the previous argument, it leads in the words " once for all " to a new thought, or rather prepares the way for the resumption of a subject to which in an earlier chapter marked promi- nence was given. If the sanctifying work of the true High Priest has been accomplished " once for all," such ministry remains for Him no longer (verses 12 — 14). Here, then, the writer brings us back to chap. viii. 1, 2 — to that which he there declared to be the crowning point of all his words. And every priest. — Some ancient MSS. and ver- sions read " high priest," but the oi'dinary text is in all probability correct. (With the other reading the work of the priests in their daily ministrations is ascribed to the high priest, whose representatives they were.) Hitherto the thought has rested almost entirely on the ceremonial of the Day of Atonement; there is therefore new significance in the contrast between Jesus and " every priest " in all His ministrations. On "standeth" see the Note on chap. viii. 1. The accumulation of words which point to the ceaseless repetition of the offerings of the law (verse 1) is very noteworthy. The last words point to verse 4. (12) But this man.— Rather, but Re. In the main this verse is a combination of chaps. \\i. 27 (ix. 26) and viii. 1. One addition is made, in the words. " for ever." These words (which occur in three other places, chaps. A-ii. 3 ; X. 1, 14) are by many joined with what precedes, by others with the latter part of the sentence, " sat down on the right liand of God." The different editions of our Bible and Prayer Book (Epistle for Good Friday) are divided, some (including the earliest) ha\-ing a comma at the word " ever," others at " sins." In most of our earlier English versions the construction adopted was shown by the arrangement of the words. Thus Tyndale has, " sat him down for ever ; " and the Bishops' Bible, "is set down for ever." Coverdale (following Lutlier) is very clear on the other side: "when He had offered for sins one sacrifice which is of value for ever." Most modern commentators seem to adopt the latter view ("for ever sat do^vn"), but hardly, perhaps, >vith sufficient reason. The analogy of verse 14 is distinctly on the other side ; and the Greek phrase rendered " for ever " is more suitably applied to the offering of a sacrifice than to the thought of the following words. 326 Perfection. HEBREWS, X. Remission of Sins. hand of God ; (^^) from henceforth ex- pecting^' till liis enemies be made bis iV)()tstool. t^^' For by one offering be bath perfected for ever them that ai'e sanctified. <^^^ Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us : for after that he had said before, (^^^ This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saitli the Lord, I will jnit my laws into their hearts, 1 Or, liberty. and in their minds will I write them ; Having therefore, chap, brethren, boldness ^ to 39 19— Exliorta- to fitead- - .«u„ness in blood 01 Jesus, (^^^ by a new faith and good and living way, which he ^^rks. enter into the holiest by the \^^\„ . . - _ _ _ - •' lastness Tho contrast to verse 11 is strongly marked. The sacrificial work has been performed, and the High Priest no longer " standeth ministering." The words " sjit down " (Ps. ex. 1) add to the priestly imagery that of kingly state. (i:i) Expecting. — This word belongs to the contrast just mentioned. He does not minister and offer His sacrifice again, but waits for the promised subjection of His foes. Once before in this context (chap. ix. 28) our thouglit lias been thus directed to the future consum- mation. There it consists in the second coming of Christ for the salvation of " tlieui that wait for Him ; " here it is He Himself who is "waiting," and the end is the attainment of supreme dominion. (See chap. i. 3, 13.) (1*) No repetiticm of His offering is needed, for by one offering He hath brought all unto " perfection," and that "for ever." In chap. vii. 11 we have read that " perfection " did not come through the Levitical priest- hood or through the law (ver.se 19); the object of man's liopcs and of all piiestly service has at last been attained, since througli the " great High Pi-iest " " we draw nigh to God" (chap. vii. 19). In this is involved salvation to the uttermost (chap. vii. 25). The last word tjf this verse has occurred before, in chap. ii. 11. As was there explained, it literally means those who are being smictijied, all those wlio, from age to age, through faith (verse 22) receive as their own that which has been procured for all men. (15) Whereof.— Better, And the Holy Ghost also heareth loitness unto us. The Holy Gliost, speaking in Scripture (chap. iii. 7; ix. 8) — the Scripture quoted in cluip. viii. 8 — 12 — beareth witn(>ss. After that he had said before.— Rather, after He hath said. Tlie word " before " is not in tho best MSS. (16) I will put my laws.— Rather, putting my laws upon their heart, upon their mind also ivill I write them. The first part of the quotation (chap. viii. 8, 9, 10 in part) is omitted, and also some later lines (the last words of verso 10 and the whole of verse 11 in eliap. viii.). In tho remainder we notice some variations, whicli prove tliat tho writer is not aiming at verbal agreement witli tho original passage, but is quoting the _sul)stance only. (See the Note on chap. viii. 10.) _ (1") Every reader must feel that as these verses stand m tho Authorised version tlio sense is imperfect. The words "after He hatli said before" (verse 15) imply *' then He saitli." or .similar words, at some point in the verses which follow. Our translators did not attemjit to comi)leto the seu.se ; for t lie marginal note ("some copies have, Then he saith. And their") found in ordinary editions was added at a later date.* By Bible " is in • From Dr. Scrivener's " Canibridpre Paraiyraph u (p. xxxii.) we Icani tlial the note was added bv I)r Pa the Cambridge Hible of 17ti2. Dr. Scrivener adds : •' probably n-on\ the Philoxenian Syriac version, then just becoming 326 many commentators it is believed that the words " saith the Lord " (verse 16) are intended as the completion of the sentence, so that no supplement is needed. This is, we think, very improbable. As it is the hist part of the quotation that is taken up here, it is at the beginning of this verse that the explanatory words must come in: " Then He saith. And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." This we have seen to be the crowning promise of the new covenant of which Jesus is the Mediator. When these words were first quoted (chap. viii. 12), some important points in the argument were still untouched. Now the firm basis of the promise has been shown, for the covenant has been ratified by the death of Christ, and the blessings He has won for men are eternal (chap. ix. 15, 12). (18) Now where. — Rather, But where remission (or forgiveness, see chap. ix. 22) of these is, there is no longer offering for sin. Here the argument reaches its triumphant close. At this point we enter on the last great division of the Epistle (chaps, x. 19 — xiii. 25), which is occupied with earnest exhortation, encouragement to perseverance alternating with solemn warning against apostasy. The first section of this main division extends to the end of this chapter. (19) Tl^e exhortation which here begins is veiy similar to that of chap. iv. 14 — 16. Its greater fulness and expressiveness are in accordance with the development in the thought. Therefore. — The chief thoughts taken up are those expressed in chap. ix. 11, 12. The word "boldness" has occurred in chap. iii. 6; iv. 16. (See the Notes.) By the blood of Jesus.— Better, in the blood of Jesus ; for the meaning pi-obably is, " Having therefore boldness in the blood of Jesus for entering into the Holy {i.e., the Holiest) Place." It is not that we enter "with the blood," as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies (chap. ix. 25) : no comparison is made between Christ's peojjlo and the Je^vish high pi-iest. But as when he entered Avithin the veil the whole people symliolically entered in with him, so do we enter with I our High Priest, who " by means of His own blood" entered for lis (and as our " Foreriinner," chap. \i. 20) into the immediate presence of God. In that throughj which He entei-ed we have our " boldness to enter." (20) By a new and living way.— Better, by thel way 7vhich He dedicated (or inaugurated) for us, a newt and living way. This way was opened to us by Him ;l in it we follow Him. For Him, the way into thel Holiest led through tho veil, His flesh. As the veil] concealed from the high priest the place of God's presence, which he could enter only by passing through the veil ; so, although in His earthly life Jesus dwelt ,j in the presence of God, yet as our representative The Way into the Holiest opened. HEBREWS, X. Provocation unto Love. hath consecrated^ for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh ; (^'^^ and having an high priest over the house of God ; (2^) let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with j)ure water. (-^^ Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering ; (for he is 1 Or, iicw made. faithful that promised;) (^> and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works : (-^^ not for- saking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is ; but exhorting one another : and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (26) -^Qj. if -^re sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the could not enter the heavenly sanctuary until He had passed through and out of His life of flesh (see chap. ix. 11). There is probably a covert allusion to the rending of the Temple veil in the hour when Jesus thus passed through the rent veil of His flesh. This way is new (chap. ix. 8, 12), it is living, for in truth this " way " is living union with Christ (John xiv. 6). (21) An high priest.— The Greek words properly signify a great priest (conip. chap. iv. 14), which is one of the names by which the high priest is frequently designated, both in the Heln'ew (Lev. xxi., et al.), and in the LXX. It may seem strange that tlie writer should here make use of a new word in tlie place of that which has occurred so frequently. But there is strong reason for believing that the language of one of the prophecies of Zechai-iah (vi. 11 — 13) is here before his mind. In the preceding verses (12 — 14) he has used words which united sacerdotal and kingly imagery; and it would be remarkable if this did not lead his thought to that prophecy. On the head of Joshua, " the great priest " (Zech. vi. 11), are placed crowns of silver and gold in token of royal dignity : then follows the prediction of Him of whom Joshua was the type. " He shall build the house of the Lord : and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne ; and He shall bo a priest upon His throne." In the verse before us are combined several of the characteristic thoughts of that passage — the great priest, tlie priestly rider, the house of God. The last-mentioned words are repeatedly used throughout the Old Testament, both in the Pentateuch and in later books, for the Tabernacle or Temple of God. In chap. iii. 6 (to which there is a manifest allusion here) the meaning is en- larged, but only so that under " the house " is also comprised the hnuseJiold of God. Here the two thoughts are combined. Into the house of God we may enter; over it Jesus rules as " the great Priest." The family of God subject to His rule includes the wliole community of " the people of God " in heaven and upon earth. (22) Let us draw near,— See verso 1 ; also chaps, iv, 16; vii. 25; xi. 6. With a true heart.— " True," the word used in chaps, viii. 2, ix. 24, a real — i.e., a sincere heart. As in cliap. vi. we read of " full assurance," or rather, "fulness of hope," so here oi fulness of faith. With- out this there could be for us no " living way " (verse 20) for entering into the holiest place. Tlie thought of the whole verse connects itself with the priestly character of those who are the people of God (Ex. xix. 6 ; Rev. i. 5, 6). It is as priests that they enter the house of God, sprinkled with the bh'od of atonement (chaps, xii. 24 ; ix. 14; Lev. viii. 30; 1 Pot. i. 2), and with all dcfdemeiit washecl away (Lev. xin. 6). " Sprinkled from an evil conscience : " that is, freed l)y means of the " sjirinkliiig " from a conscience defiled liy guilt. In the last words there is a clear allusion to baptism, 327 as the symbol of the new life of purity (Eph. v, 26; Tit. iii. 5; 1 Pet. iii. 21). (23) In this verse again we have the characteristic words of earlier exhortations : '' hold fast " (chap. iii. 6, 14) ; " profession," or, rathei', confession (chaps, iii. 1 ; iv. 14). Of our faith, — This rendering, apparently found in no earlier English version, is supposed to be due to oversight on the part of our translators. The true reading is " of the hoi^e " (chap. \'i. 11, 18, 19). The two following words must be joined with " confession," " let us hold fast the confessiim of the (Christian) hope so that it waver not." This hope " maketh not ashamed " (Rom. v. 5), for the promise is sure. (2^) Gradually the writer passes from that which belongs to the individual (verses 19, 20) to the mutual duties of members of a community. Possibly he knew that amongst those whom he addresses there had existed " provocations" that did not tend towards brotherly love. The strict meaning may simply be — let us take note of one another, to stimulate one another to good works ; but in the result, if not in the expres- sion, is included the converse thought, " that we may ourselves be thus provoked." (25) As the manner of some is,— Some members of this community, it would seem, had persuaded themselves that the relation of Judaism to Christianity, of the " synagogue " (the Greek word here used seems to allude to this technical name, and yet intentionally to avoid it) and the Church, was such as to permit them to avoid close intercourse with Christians and direct association with Christian assemblies. This neglect was the first step towards apostasy. Exhorting. — Better, encouraging. (Comp. chap, xii. 12.) The day.— See 1 Cor. iii. 13 — "the day shall declare " every man's work. Elsewhere we read of " the day of the Lord" (1 Tliess. v. 2); "the day of Christ" (Phil. i. 10), The words of Jesus to His disciples (Matt. xxiv. ; Luke x^-ii.) had enabled all who were willing to hear to understand " the signs of the times." As the writer gave these warnings, the day wlieu the Son of Man should come in His kingdom, bringing judgment upon Jerusalem (Matt. xvi. 28). was close at hand — that day which is distinctly presented to us in the New Testament as the iype of His final coming. (26) For,— The connecting links are tlie thought of the consequences to which such sinful neglect (verse 25) may lead, and the awful revelation of judgment wliich the final day will bring. Even more clearly tlian in chap. vi. 4 — G the state described is one of wilful and continued sin, which is the rcsxdt and the ex])ression of apostasy from Christ. It is not, " If we fall under temptation and commit sin;" but, "If we are sinning wilfully." The descriptive words are few as compared with those of the former passage, but they teach the same lesson. Not merely the " knowledge " but the No more Sacrifice for Sins. HEBEEWS, X. The Lord shall judge His People. trutli, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, <-^^ but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, wliich shall devour the adversaries. (28) He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses : (-"-'> of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath a Dent.32. 35; Rom. 12. la counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace ? <'^^^ For we know him that hath said, Vengeance helongeth unto me, I will recompense," saith the Lord. And again. The Lord shall judge his people. (^'^ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. *^'^ But call to remembrance the former " full knowledpfo " (Rom. i. 28) of the truth has been received by tliose to whom the writer here makes reference ; they have been " sanctified in the blood of the covenant " (verse 29). For such '' there remaineth no longer a sacrifice for sins : " that offering of Jesus ■which they deliberately reject has abolished all the earlier sacrifices. The observances and ceremonies of Judaism, which had been full of meaning whilst they pointed to Him that was to come, have lost all their virtue througli His coming. Nay more : for such sin as this, the sin of knowing and wilful rejection of the only Sin offering, God has provided no other sacrifice. In its general significance this passage does not differ from chap. vi. -i — 6. (See the Notes.) (27) But a certain fearfvil looking for.— Better, But a fearful awaiting of judgment, and a jealousrj of fire that shall devour the adversaries. For Christ's " waiting " servants the thought of " judgment " is lost in that of " salvation " (chap. ix. 27, 28) ; to these sinners nothing is loft but the awaiting of judgment. The next words are a partial quotation, or an adaptation, of Isa. xxvi. 11 : " Let them see (and be ashamed) the zeal for the people ; yea, fire shall devour Thine adver- saries." (The Greek translation gives the second clause correctly, but not the former part of the sen- tence.) In the proplietic imagery of the Old Testament tlie destruction of the enemies of Jehovah is but the other aspect of His zeal or jealousy for His i^eople. This imagery was familiar to every Hebrew; and no words could sliow more powerfully than these that to forsake Christ for Judaism was (not to join, but) to abandon " the people of God." For such apostates there remaineth the zeal, the jealous wrath, of a devour- ing fire. (Comp. diap. xii. 29; Mai. iv.) (28) He that despised Moses' law.— Rather. A man that hath set at nought a law of ^[oses dieth with- out jyity before two or three ivitnesses. Tiio reference is to Deut. xvii. 2 — 7, the last words being a direct quota- tion from verse 6 in that section. Tliere the subject is apostasy from Jeliovali to the worship of idols. That sin which, by the acknowledgment of all, had in ancient time robl)ed Israel of the name of God's people is tacitly nlaced by the side of tlie sin of those wlio for- sake Cnrist. It will be seen how impressively the thought of the la.st verse is maintained in this. (29) Shall he be thought worthy.— Better, shall he be accounlcd {or, judged) worthy, by God the Judge of all, wlien '"the JDay " sliall come. In the act of apostasy the sinner trampled under foot the Son of God, treated with contempt and .scorn Him to whom belongs this liigliest Name (cliap. i. 1 — 4); and the principle of this act becomes tlie principle of tlio whole succeeding life. That " blood " by which tlie new covenant was established (chap. ix. 15 — 17) — the blood in which he himself had received the sanctification which the law could not give — he has esteemed an un- 328 holy thing. There is no medium between highest reverence and utter contumely in such a case : to those who did not receive Jesus as Lord He was a deceiver (Matt, xxvii. 63), and one who deserved to die. Hath done despite.— Hath treated with outrage and insult the Spirit of whose gifts he had been par- taker (chap. vi. 4), for " grace " returning arrogant scorn. (30) Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense.— Tliis Cjuotation from Deut. xxxii. 35 completely preserves the sense of the original words, " To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence," whilst departing from their form. The LXX. shows still wider divergence, neglecting entirely the emphasis which rests on the words " to Me." It is therefore very remarkable that this quotation is given, in exactly the same form, in Rom. xii. 19. As, however, the words " I will recompense " are found in the most ancient of the Targums (that of Onkelos) it is very possible that St. Paul may have there adopted a form already current amongst the Jews. (See Note on Rom. xii. 19.) If so, there is no difficulty in accounting for the coin- cidence in this place. But, even if this supposition is without foundation, and the saying in this form was first used in Rom. xii. 19, is there any real cause for wonder if a disciple of St. Paul in a single instanco reproduces the Apostle's words ? It should be observed that tlie words " saith the Lord" must bo omitted from the text, according to the best authorities. The Lord shall judge his people. — Tliis, again, is a quotation, and from tiie same chapter (Deut. xxxii. 36). If the context of the original passage be examined, there will be no doubt as to tlie meaning of the words. As in Ps. xliii. 1, cxxxv. 14, "to judge," as here used, signifies to maintain the right of one who is exposed to wrong. " The Lord shall judge His people" (see verse 27) when He shall appear to establish their cause by taking vengeance on His enemies and theirs. With what impressive force would the quotations in this section (verses 27, 28, 30) — differing widely in form, but presenting a very striking agreement in their meaning — fall on the ears of readers familiar from childhood with the ideas and language of the Old Testament Scriptures ! (31) The living God.— As in chaps, iii. 12 ; ix. 14, the exact meaning of the ^vriter's words is " a Living God ; " and a reference to the first of these passages (and to chap. iv. 12) will show clearly what is their force in this place. There can be little doubt that Deut. xxxii., from which he has been quoting, is still in his thought. See verse 40 — " I lift up my hand to heaven, and say. I live for ever." (32) In the last six verses the writer has enforced his exhortation by an appeal to the danger of falling away and the fearful consequences of unfaithfulness. From warning he now turns to encouragement, as in chap. vi. ; Tlie Fight of Afflictions. HEBEEWS, X. The Recompence of Reward. days, in wliicli, after ye were illumi- nated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions ; (-"^ Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions ; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. (^*' For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in your- selves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. <^> Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. (36) Pqj. yg have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. ^^"^ For yet and here, as there, he thankfully recalls the earlier proofs which his readers had given of their Christian constancy and love. Let them call to mind and ever keep in remembrance what the grace of God had already enabled them to endure. (Comp. 2 John 8). As Theo- phylact has said, he bids them imitate, not others, but themselves. Illuminated. — Better, enlightened. It is important to keep the word used in the parallel verse, chap. vi. 4 (see Note). Fight of aflBictions. — Rather, conflict of sufferings ; for the last word has in this Epistle (chap. ii. 9, 10) as- sociations too sacred to be lost. The former word (akin to that used by St. Paul in 2 Tim. ii. 5 of the contests in the public games) recalls the intense struggles of the contending athletes ; it occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Comp. Phil. i. 27, iv. 3; (Phil. i. 30; Col. i. 29, ii. 1 ; 1 Tim. vi. 12 ; chap. xii. 1.) This struggle they had manfully endured. CM) Whilst ye were made a gazingstock.— Literally, being exposed in the theatre (see the Notes on Acts xix. 29; 1 Cor. iv. 9; xv. 32). Here also it is probable that the word has only a figurative sense. Whilst ye became companions.— Better, having become sharers with them that thus lived — that lived amidst " reproaches and afflictions." Not " com- panions " only had they been, but sharers of the lot of their persecuted brethren, both by sympathy and by voluntary association with their sufferings. (*i) For ye had compassion of me in my bonds. — Rather (according to the trae reading of the Greek), for ye had sympathtj with them that were in bonds (comp. chap. xiii. 3, " Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them "). The change of reading is very important in connection with the question of authorship. (See the Introduction.) And took joyfully. — Better, and accepted with joy the spoiling of your possessions. In the spirit of Matt. v. 12 (Acts v. 41 ; 2 Cor. xii. 10), they accepted persecution not with " patience and long suffering " only, but " with joy" (Col. i. 11). The rendering " pos- sessions " is necessary because a similar word (" sub- stance" in the Authorised version) will immediately occur. In the last clau.se two remarkable changes in the Greek text are made necessary by the testimony of our best authorities. The words " in heaven " must certainly be removed ; they are omitted in the oldest MSS., and are eWdently an explanatory comment which has found its way into the text. For the reading, " in yourselves," there is hardly any evidence whatever. The MSS. are divided between two readings, " your- selves " and " for yourselves ; " the former having also tlie support of the Latin and Coptic versions. There is little doubt that we must read " yourselves ; " and the most probable translation will now be, perceiving that ye have your own selves for a better possession and one that abideth. They had been taught the meaning of the words spoken by Jesus of the man who gains the world and loses himself (Luke ix. 25), and of those who win their souls by their endurance (Luke xxi. 19) ; so in verse 39 the writer speaks of " the gaining of the soiU." Thus trained, they could accept with joy the loss of possessions for the sake of Christ, perceiving that in Him they had received themselves as a possession, a better and a lasting possession. (It would be possible to render the clause, " knowing that ye yourselves have a better possession," &c. ; but the parallelism of verse 39 renders it almost certain that the former view of the words is correct.) (^) Cast not away therefore your confidence. — Rather, Cast not away therefore your bohhiess, seeing it hath a great recompence. To " cast away boldness " is the opposite of " holding fast the boldness of the hope " (chap. iii. 6) ; the one belongs to the endurance of the faithful servant (verses 32, 36 1, the other to the cowardice of the man who draws back (verse 38). This verse and the next are closely connected : Hold fast your boldness, seeing that to it belongs great reward ; hold it fast, for "he that endureth to the end shall be saved." On the last word, " recompence," see chap. ii. 2. (36) Patience — i.e., brave, patient endurance (see the Note on chap. vi. 12). The general strain of the exhortation in that chapter (verses 9 — 20) closely re- sembles these verses. That, after ye have done ... ye might. — Better, that, having done then-ill of God. ye may receive the promise. To do the will of God (chap. xiii. 21 ) is the necessary condition for receiving the promised blessmg and reward (see chap. xi. 39) ; for both " en- durance " is necessary. In these words we have an echo of Matt. vii. 21, where our Lord sums up His requirements from those who call themselves His in words which ex])ress the purpose of His own life (verses 7, 9 ; John iv. 34). (37) The connection is this : " Te have need of en- durance" for "the end is not yet " (Matt. xxiv. 6i ; ye shall "receive the promise," for the Lord shall surely come, and that soon. A little while.— Rather, a very little xchile. The expression is remarkable and unusual ; it is evidently taken from Isa. xxvi. 20 — " Come my people . . . hide thyself for a little moment until the indignation be over- past." Tlie subject of this passage, from which the one expressive phrase is taken, is the coming of Jehovah " to punish the inhabitanis of the earth for their iniquity; " in "a httle moment " shall the indig- nation consume His foes, then will He gfive deliverance to His people. Even this passing reference would serve to call up before the mind of the Hebrew readers the solemn associations of the prophecy — the promised salvation, the awful judgment. And he that shall come will come. — Rather, He that cometh will come and will not tarry. In this and the next verse the writer of the Epistle takes up a passage, Habak. ii. 3, 4, which occupies a very important place in the writings of St. Paul (Rom. i. 17 ; Gal. iii 11), and. as we have already seen {Note on cliap. vi. 1), in the latar Jewish teaching. St. Paul's citations are 329 The Just shall live hy FaitJu HEBREWS, XI. Let him not dravj hack. a little while, and lie tliat shall come will come, and will not tarry. ^^^ Now the just shall live hy faith : but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. ^^''> But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition ; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. CHAPTER XL— (1) Now faith is the limited to a few words of verso 4, " But the just shall live by faith ;" here are quoted the wliole of the fourth verse and part of the third. Perliaps it is too much to Bav tliat they are quoted, they are rather applied, for, as' will be seeu, the order of the clauses (see uext verse) is changed, and soino alteratious are made in the language. It is important in this Epistle to discrimi- nate l)etween the instances of direct quotation from tlie Scripfure, wliere the word of God is appealed to as fur- nishing ])i'Oof, and those in which passages of the Old Testament are explained and applied (see the Note on verse 5). The words before us nearly agree with the LXX., " If ho delay, wait for him. because coming lie will come, and will not tarry." The subject of the sentence there is not clear ; probal)ly tlie translator believed that the Lord spoke thus of His own coming, or the coming of the future Deliverer. In the Hebrew all relates to the vision, " it wiU surely come, it will not tarry." The only difference between the LXX. and tlie words as they stand here consists in the sub- stitution of " He that cometh " for " coining." Xow the reference to the Deliverer and Judge is made plain. No designation of the Messiah, perhaps, was move familiar than " He that cometh" (Matt. xi. 3, et al.) ; but it is here employed with a new reference — to the second advent in place of the first. The departure from the sense of the Hebrew is not as great as may at first appear. When the prophet says " The virion . . . shall surely come," it is of tliat which the vision re- vealed that he speaks, i.e.. of the fall of the Chaldeans; but the salvation of Israel from present danger is throughout the prophets the symbol of the great deliver- ance (comp. chap. xii. 26 and Hagg. ii. 6). With this verse comp. verse 25 ; also Phil. iv. 5 ; Jas. v. 8 ; 1 Pet. iv. 7 ; Rev. i. 3; xxii. 20, et al. ; and, in regard to the application of the prophecy, verses 27, 28, 30. (38) Now the just shall live by faith.— The Greek text of this clause is not perfectly certain, but it is probable that the word " my " should be added, so that the trauslatiini of the ver.se will be as follows. But my righteous one shall live hy faith. In the Hebrew the first part of the verso is altogether different : " Be- hold his soul is lifted up, it is not upright in him ; but the righteous shall live in (or, hy) his faithfulness (or, faith)." The first words seem to refer to tho hauglity Chaldean invader ; the rendering of the hist words is considered below. The Greek translation varies a little in dilfereiit MSS. : " If one draw back, my soul hath no pleasure in him; but the righteous one shall live by my faithfulness " (or possibly— not probably — " by faith in me"). In the Alexandrian MSS. the last words run thus : " But my righteous one shall live by faith " (or faithfulness). It is clear, then, that in the passage before us the writer has taken tho words as they stood in liis text of tho LXX., only changing the order of the clauses. Though the Hebrew word usually rendered faith in this passage occurs more than forty times in the Old Testament, in no other case has it this meaning, but almost always signifies faithfulness or truth. Here also the first meaning seems to bo "by his faithfulness"; but the thought of faithful constancy to God is inseparably connected with tnistful clinging 330 to Him. Hence the accepted Jewish exposition of tho passage seems to have taken the word in the sense of "faith." "My righteous one" will naturally mean " my righteous servant '" — the man who will not be seduced into wickedness ; he shall live by his faithful trust, for salvation and life shall be given him by God Himself. In this context the word righteous recalls ver.se otJ, " liaving done the will of God." The transposition of the two clauses makes it almost certain that the " righteous one " is the subject of both : not if any man, but, if he (the righteous one) shrink hack. The Genevan and the Authorised stand alone amongst English versions in the former rendering. (39) Of them who draw back.— Literally, But we are not of drawing (or shrinking) back unto perdition, but of faith unto the gaining of the soid. On the last words (which are nearly identical with those of Luke xvii. 33, though deeper in meaning) see the Note on verse 34. The exhortation thus closes with words of encouragement and hope. XI. Tliis chapter is very closely connected with the last verses of chapter x. Those verses have taught the necessiiy of faith for the attainment of the promise. Here we read of men to whom, through their faith, the promise has been made sure. (1) We have seen how the wi-iter approached the subject which is the chief theme of this last diA-isiou,of this Epistle. The coming of the Lord, for judgment; upon His adversaries, for salvation to His people, draws nigh. In the midst of dangers and judgments God's righteous servant shall live, and the ground, of his life is his steadfast faith — if he shrink back, destruction will overtake him. " Our principle of action " (the writer says to his Hebrew readers) " is not shrinking back, but faith. And faith is this . . . ." It has been debated whether that which follows is a definition of what faith is, or in reality a description of what faith does. It is not a complete definition, in the sense of including all the moments of thought which are present in the word as used in the last chapter (verse 38) or in this. The "things hoped for" are not mere figments of the imagination ; their basis is the word of God. If we keep this in mind, tho words, still remaining general in their form, agree with all that has led up to them and with all that follows ; and whether they be called defi- nition or description will be of little consequence. The exact meaning of the special terms here used it is not ea.sy to ascertain. The word rendered " substance " has already occurred twice in the Epistle. In chap. i. 3 this was its true moaning — the essence which, so to speak, underlies, " stands under." the qualities possessed. In chap. iii. 14 tho same metaphor of standing under is apjilied to steadfastness, confidence (see the Note). Tlie former of these renderings the Authorised version — in this instance deserting the earlier translations (which for tho most part have "sure confidence" or "ground") to follow the Rhemish in its rendering of the Latin substantia — has made familiar in the present passage. The sense which it presents, however, is not veiy clear ; Faith. HEBREWS, XI. Things not seen. substance^ of things hoped for, the evi- > ?j;;;,47^i';."'' "''• Chap. xi. The ^eiice of things not seen, triumphs of ('^^ For by it the elders Faith. obtained a good report. (3) Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. and the symmetiy of the verse almost compels us here to make choice of some word whicli denotes an act, or at all events an attitude, of the mind. Most commen- tators of our own day accept the second meaning explained above, " confidence '' or " assurance in regard to things hoped for." To adopt Dr. Vaughan's clear explanation, " Faith is that principle, that exercise of mind and soul, which has for its object things not seen but hoped for, and which, instead of sinking under them as too ponderous, whether from their difficulty or from their uncertaiiity, stands firm under them — supports and sustains their pressure — in other words, is assured of, confides in and relies on them." This interpretation yields an excellent sense, and has the advantage of assigning to the Greek word a meaning which it certainly bears in an earlier chapter, and in two places of St. Paul's Epistles. On the other hand, the analogy of the second member of the verse, and a peculiarity in the Greek construction which we cannot here discuss, seem to be in favour of a third rendering of the words : " Faith is the giving substance to things hoped for." It has indeed been said that by such a translation the things hoped for are represented as being without substance. But this difficulty is only apparent ; for mi regard to ourselves these objects of our hope do not yet exist, since they still belong to the future (Rom. viii. 24, 25). In the second clause the word " evidence " is likely to mislead ; very probably, indeed, it now fails to convey the sense intended by our translator-*, who here followed the rendering of the Genevan Bible {suggested by Calvin's " evidentia"). The Greek word, denotes putting to the test, examining for the purpose of proof, bringing to conviction. Under this aspect faith appears as neither blindly rejecting nor blindly accepting whatever may be said about things unseen, but boldly dealing with them as if with things seen, and then unffiuchingly accepting that which has stood the proof. One peculiarity of the Greek yet remains to be noticed. In the second clause the word "things" is expressed in the Greek (as in chap. vi. 18), but not in the first ; we are by this means reminded of the reality of that which is thus spoken of as unseen. The whole verse, then, may bo rendered " Now faith is the giving substance to what is hoped for, the testing of things not seen." And now passing away from the general aspect of the words to that in which they are presented by the context, we have as the meaning : Faith, holding to God's word, gives substance to wliat that word promises, investing the future blessings with a present existence, treating them as if already objects of sight rather than of hope. Through faith, guided by the same word, the things unseen are brought to the proof ; what that word teaches, though future, or though belonging to a world beyond human sight, is received with full con\-iction. Thus " every genuine act of faith is the act of the whole man, not of his understanding alone, not of liis affections alone, not of his will alone, but of all three in their central, aboriginal unity." And thus faith becomes " the faculty in man through which the spiritual world exercises its sway over him, and thereby enables him to overcome the woiid of sin and death." (Hare, Victoi-y of Faith.) (2) For by it.— Better. For therein the elders had witness borne to them. The coimection seems to be this : Faith truly accomplishes all this ; for it was in the exercise of such a faith that the elders gained the witness which the Scripture bears (see verses 4, 5, 39) to them and to their noble deeds. This verse, then, is added to confirm the first. (3) Through faith.— Rather,' By faith, as in the following verses. The first place is not given to " the elders," for the writer's object is to set forth the achievements of faith. "With these, he would say, the Scriptui-e record is filled. Even where there is no mention of this principle we must trace it in the lives of God's servants; even where there is no history of men, there is a necessity for the exercise of faith l)y our- selves, and the fii'st words of Scripture teach this lesson. That the worlds were framed.— Literally, thai the ages have been prepared. The remarkable expres- sion which was used in chap. i. 2 is here repeated. The complete preparation of all that the successive periods of time contain is the idea which the words present. The narrative of the first chapter of Genesis ascribes the whole creation of " the heaven and the earth " to God; and associates with "a word of God" every stage in the preparation and furnishing of the earth. (See Note on chap. i. 2.) This is the first lesson of that record. But it does not stand alone, as is taught more plainly still by the next clause. So that things which are seen.— A slight altera- tion in the Greek is necessai-y here — "the thing seen" (or "what is seen") being the true reading. A more important point is a change in the aspect of the whole clause, which the Greek seems to require. As the English words stand, they point out the significance of the statement of Scripture respecting the creative act : we believe the writer intended rather to state the di\-ine purpose in relation to that first creation and all subse- quent acts that are included in the " preparing of the ages." " In order that what is seen should not have come into being out of things which appear.'' Tliis is probably the true meaning of the clause. In the narrative of the first chapter of Genesis God w(juld have us learn a lesson for the whole course of human history and development. As the visible universe did not take its being out of what was apparent, so what from time to time is seen does not arise of itself out of what is manifest to man's natural perceptions. Not only is tlie eternity of matter denied, but from the begin- ning a warning has been given against a materialistic philosophy. The first page of Scripture is designed to teach the constant presence and work of the Creator. This lesson we learn and apply by faith ; and the result of its application is seen in many points of the history which lollows. In that history the operation of faith is twofold. The writer's most ob^-ious design is to call attention to the faith possessed by " the elders," and its wonderful triumphs ; but it is in many cases by the same faith that we interpret the Scripture record so as to discover this to have been their guiding prin- ciple. But seldom does the Old Testament directly speak of faith, and hence the importance of this verse (which some have thought incongruous, since it re- tards the exhibition of the elders' faith i as throwing light on our interpretation of the teaching of God's word. 331 Abel and Enoch. HEBREWS, XI. i\^oaA and A hraham. (*) By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.' (•^> By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death ; and was not found, because God had translated him : for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. <*^^ But without faith it is im- 1 Or, I.S yet spoken 0/. i Or, being wary. possible to please him : for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewai'der of them that diligently seek him. ('> By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,- prepared an ark to the saving of his house ; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (^* By faith Abraham, when he was called to W A more excellent.— The Greek literally means that. Abel's sacritice was " more than " Cain's (comp. chap. iii. 3, "more glory"; Matt. \i. 25; Luke xi. 32, et al.). The word " sacrifice " (which, as is the case with very many words in this chapter, is taken directly from the LXX.) has not its special sense (see Note on chap. X. 5) in the narrative of Gen. iv. ; for the offerings of the two brothers are there designated by the same name, both in the Hebrew (" offering ") and in the Greek (" sacrifice"). Hence, apart from the first words, " by faith," there is nothing here said to explain the superiority of Abel's offering ; though one who believes sacrifice to have been of Divine institution, and who notes the close connection between God's word and the actions of the men whoso faith is here recorded, may hold it probable that Abel's obedience was manifested in his mode of approacliiiig God. By which he obtained witness.— Probably, "through which fa itJi,'' but the Greek may also meau through ichich sacrifice. The witness (verse 2) is that borne by God in His acceptance of the offering (shown by some visible sign) ; we might also add that such a testimony to Abel is implied in the reproof of Cain (Gen. iv. 7 ), but the following words, " God bearing witness over " (or in regard to ) " his gifts," show what was chiefly in the writer's thought. Such acceptance implied Abel's righteousness, and thus testified to his " faith." It is remarkable that in three out of the four places in which Abel is mentioned in the New Testa- ment this epithet is used (Matt, xxiii. 35 ; 1 John iii. 12). In the later Jewish tradition (contained in the Targum of Jerusalem) the brothers are represented as types of faith and unbelief; and in verse 10, "thy brother's blood" (Hebrew, "bloods ") is exjjanded into " the blood of the multitude of the righteous who were to arise from thy brother." In this clause the autho- rities for the Greek text are much divided. One reading, "he testifying over his gifts to God," has the support of the throe oldest MSS., but can hardly be correct. And by it.— Better, and through it (his faith). The reforonco is to Gon. iv. 10, " the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground " (see chap. xii. 24) ; hence, as Calvin remarks, " he was pLiinly numbered among God's saints, whose death is preciotis in His sight." (S) See death.— See Luke ii. 26; Ps. Ixxxix. 48 (John viii. 51). And was not found . . . translated him.— An exact quotation from the LXX. (Gen v. 24). The word rendered " translated " is a very simple one, denoting merely change of place ; but nothing can equal the sim- plicity of the Hebrew, " he was not for God took him." He had this testimony,— Better, he hath had witness borne to him (verses 2, 4) that he hath been well pleasing to God. The form of the expression shows that the writer is again speaking of the ever present word of Scripture (chap iv. 9, &c.) That word does not record the translation of Enoch until it " hath " borne witness to him that he pleased God. The words " walked with God " are rendered in the LXX. " was well pleasing to God," and it is this rendering that is quoted here and in the next verse. The writer himself supplies the comment in the next verse, which has a very close connection with this. (■^) But without faith.— Better, and apart from faith it is impossible to be "well pleasiyig" (unto Him); for he that draweth near (chap. vii. 25 ; x. 1, 22) to God must believe . . . Thus the very statement that Enoch pleased God is an assertion that in him faith was found. No one can be the habitual worshipper of God (this is what the phrase implies) if his faith does not grasp these two truths. " Is a rewarder " — literally, becometh a recompenser (chap. ii. 2 ; x. 35) ; the future recompense is present to the eye of faith. (7) Being warned of God.— (See chap. viii. 5.) Moved with fear. — The marginal rendering "being wary " (or better, taking forethought) is preferred by some, and agrees very well with the proper meaning of the word ; but it is more probable that the writer has in view that devout godly fear which the words akin to this regularly denote in the New Testament. (See the Notes on chaps, v. 7 ; xii. 28.) Noah's obedi- ence to the divine warning was an evidence at once of his fear of God and of the faith which gave substance and present reality to "■ the things not seen as yet." By the which. — As before (verse 4), the words " through which " are slightly ambiguous, for they may relate either to the ark or to the faith. The latter reference is more probable. His faith, shown in the building of the ark, exposed the unbelief of " the world," which would not listen to his warnings, and thereby incurred the divine condemnation. Our Lord uses " condemn " in the same sense in Matt. xii. 41, 42. By the same faith Noah " became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." Noah is the first to receive in Script ui-e the name "righteous" (Gen. xi. 9). See also Ezek. xiv. 14, 20; and 2 Pet. ii. 5, " Noah, a preacher of righteousness." This righteous- ness is looked on as an inheritance, received by all who manifest the faith. In this place the righteousness is connected with faith, as in the writings of St. Paul, but with a change of figure. It is not looked on as arising out of faith (Rom. x. 6), or as resting on the condition of faith (Phil. iii. 9). or as obtained by means of faith (Rom. iii. 22), but as corresponding with faith, or answering to it. There is no important difference of thought, but the idea of a continuous inheritance answering to continuous faith is very strikingly presented here. (8) "When he was called to go out.— Our older versions are here better than the Authorised, bringing in the word " obeyed " after " called " — " obeyed to go out into," &c. 332 I The City which hath Foundations. HEBEEWS, XI. The Heavenly Home. go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (^^ By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise : ^^^^ for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. <^^' Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had pro- mised. (^) Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so 1 Gr according to faith. Which he should after receive.— The English rendering may seem to imply that when " called " Abraham received the promise that the land to which he would be directed should in the future be his inheritance. It is not so (Acts vii. 5) ; for this promise is not found in Gen. xii. 1 — 3, but was bestowed when he had obeyed (Gen xii. 7). The meaning here is, " unto a place which he was to receive." (9) The land of promise. — More correctly, accord- ing to the true reading, a land of the promise : into a land which the promise (Gen. xii. 7) made his own he came as a sojourner, and sojourned in it as in a land belong- ing to others, making his settled abode there in tents. The words of which this is a paraphrase are very expressive, especially those of the last clause. Abraham there " made his liome once for all, well aware that it was to be his home — expecting no change in this respect aU his life long — in tents," movable, shifting abodes — here to-day, there to-morrow — with (as did also in their turn) " Isaac and Jacob,"' the " heirs with him of the same promise." (Dr. Vaughan.) (If*) A city which hath foundations.— Bather, the city ivhich hath the foundations. The general thought is that which we find expressed in verses 14 — 16. There, the strangers and pilgrims are seeking for a country of their own ; here, the dweller in tents is waiting for the city that hath the foundations. AU the.se verses clearly teach that the promise as appre- hended by the patriarchs was not bounded by the gift of Canaan. Of what nature their expectations of the future life may have been we cannot tell ; but this they knew, that their fellowship with God and their interest in His promises would not cease with this transient life. What they saw of earthly blessing was but the earnest of some greater gift still future, and yet present through the power of their faith. The shifting tent might be Abraham's home now, but he waited for that city which should never know change — of which alono it could be said that it hath " the foundations," and whoso Architect and Maker is God. (Comp. Ps. Ixxxvii. 1 ; Rev. xxi.) (11) Through faith also Sara herself.— Rather, By faith Sarah herself also, or, even Sarah herself. This empliatic introduction of the name of Sarah may point to the unbelief which for a brief while she dis- played (Gen. x\-iii. 12); but the words may simply moan, "Sarah also, on her part" — the joint recipient witli Abraham of the divine promise, a promise in which it might at first seem that she had no part. (Comp. many as the stars of the sky in multi- tude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. ^^^^ These all died in faith,^ not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and em- braced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. By faith Abraham, wlieu he was tried, ottered up Isaac : and he that had received the promises ottered up his only begotten 8on, ^^'^^ of ^ whom it was said. That in Isaac shall thy seed be called : <^^^ ac- counting that God loas able to raise him up, even from the dead ; from whence also he received him in a figure. <^J By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau con- cerning things to come. <-^^ By faith 1 Or, to. Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph ; and wor- mi^ht retiini (15); hence it is no earthly but a heavenly country tluit thoy desire. This is the general current of thouufht in these verses, jiresentinj^ a very close analogy to the arjjfuinent of chap. iii. 7 — iv. 11; here, as there, Avorila whicii otherwise might appear to have but an earthly reference are seen to have a higher and a spiritual import. In verses 8 and 9 we have before us only the land of inhei-itance, but in verse 10 the heavenly rest ; and in verse 13 words wliich as read in Genesis might seem to refer to a wandering life in the land of Canaan are taken as a confessicm of sojourning upon earth. It is not necessary to suppose that the desires and yearnings of " the fathers " expressed them- selves in the definite forms which later revelation has made familiar; in all that is essential the hope existed, whilst the mode of the fulfilment was unknown. Through faith the patriarchs were willing to connect their whole life and that of their children with waiting at God's bidding for the fulfilment of a promise — wandering and sojourning until God's own time should come when He would grant a homo in a country of their own. And yet each of these servants of God recognised that relation to God in which lay the foun- dation of the promise to him to be personal and abiding. If these two thouglits be united, it Avill be easy to see how each one for himself would be led to regard the state of wandering in which he si)ent his life as an emblem of a state of earthly waiting for an enduring home; the sojourning in the land was a constant symbol of the sojourning upon earth. Hence (see the passages quoted in verse 13) the same language is used from age to age after Canaan is received as an in- heritance. (Comp. chap. iv. 9; and see Ex. iii. 15, and Matt. xxii. 31, 32.) But now. — See chap. viiL 6 ; the meaning is not " at this present time," but " as the case stands in truth." Wherefore God is not ashamed. — Rather, Wherefore G<>d is not nshamed of them (compare chap, ii. 11). Because of this lofty desire, or rather, because of the faith and love towards Him in which the desire was founded, and of which therefore the longing for a heavenly country wa.s the expression, God is not ashamed of them, to be called (literally siirnamed) their God (Gen. xvii. 7 ; xxvi. 24 ; xxviii. 13 ; Ex. iii. 6 ; et al.). 1 hat He is not ashamed of them He has 8ho>vn, " for He prepared for them a city." Before the desire existed the home had been provided. (Comp. Matt. XXV. Si.) <17) The patriarchs displayed their faith in the atti- tude of their whole life, and in their death. This has been the tliouglit of the preceding verses ; the writer now passes to the lessons taught by particular actions and events. Tried.- Gen. xxii. 1 : " God did tempt Abraham." Tlie following word is in the Greek "hath offered up Isaac." and several other exami)les of a similir pecu- liarity will present themselves in this chapter. As in former cases (chaps, iv. 9 ; y\\. 11 ; x. 9) the reference is to the permanent record of Scripture, in which the fact related is ever present. Abraham stands before us there as hanug offered his son. It will be seen that the oii'ering is spoken of as if consummated. As regards faith the .sacrifice was indeed complete; the perfect surrender of will had been made, and the hand was stretched out for the deed. And he that had received the promises offered up. — Rather, and he that had welcomed (gladly accepted) the jiroinises was offering up. From the figurative accomplishment of the deed the writer passes to the historical narrative ; hence we read, " ho . . . was (in the act of) offering." This clause and verso 18 set forth the greatness of the sacrifice (compare Gen. xxii. 2, in the literal rendering, " Take now thy son, thine only one, whom thou lovest, Isaac") ; verse 19 explains the operation of his faith. (18J Of whom.— That is, Isaac. But the Greek words should perhaps be rendered to whom (Abraham) : •' Even he to whom it was said.' On this quotation from Gen. xxi. 12 see the Note on Rom. ix. 7. (19) That God was able. — These words are better taken as the expression of a general truth — " Accouut- iug that God is alile to raise up even from the dead." The faith which tests and brings conviction of the things not seen made this reasoning possible, and gave power to act upon it ovon when Isaac must be slain. From whence also. — Better, /ro»i whence he did in a Jignre (literally, a parable] receive him. As in a figure the offering was completely carried out (verse 17), so also in figure he received his son back from the dead. (20) Concerning things to come. — It is probable, though not certain, that the word " even " should bo inserted before " concerning " ; on these words, then, tho empha.sis will rest. Not having regard to things present only, or things almost at hand, but looking far into the future, tin-ough the divine revelation which opened to him the meaning of the promises received by Abraham, he gave to each son the blessing designed by God (Gen. xxvii. 27 — 29, 39, 40). Isaac's confidence in the divine guidance of his words is especially seen in verse 33 of the chapter. (21) Both the sons. — Rather, each of the sons. The separate character of the two blessings is thus brought out (Gen. xlviii. 14 — 19). (See the last Note.) In tiie case of the two events mentioned in this ver.se the order of time is reversed, probably that the bless- ing of Jacob may immediately follow the similar record of verse 20. And worshipped. — The incident referred to will bo found in Gen. xlvii. 31. After receiving from Joseph a promise, confirmed b}^ oath, that he shall bo buried with his fathers, " Israel Ijowed himself upon " (or. worshipped towards) "the bed's head." In tho LXX. and in the Targums the words are under- stood as denoting an act of worship. The Greek trans- lators have taken the last word of the Hebrew verse to denote "staff" (Gen. xxxii. 10), not " bed," the words which bear these different meanings differing very slightly in form. The whole clause is given here as 834 The Faith of Moses. HEBEEWS, XI. His Choice. shipped, leanivg upon the top of his stall'. t--^ By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of^ the departing of the children of Israel ; and gave com- mandment concerning his bones. (^^^ By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child ; and they were not afraid of the king's com- mandment. ^^^^ By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 1 Or, remevibcred. (25) choosiug rather to suft'cr affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; '^''^esteem- 2 Or, for Christ, ing the reproach of Christ^ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. (^''' By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the it stands iu the LXX., the diiference between the renderings being immaterial for the purpose which the wi-iter had in view. The quotation of the familiar words serves to recall the scene, and brings before us Israel's thankful and devout satisfaction wlien assured that he should rest with his fathers in the land of Canaan ; by this, at the point of death, he expressed his faith in the promise by which Abraham and his seed received Canaan as their inheritance. (--) When he died. — Literally, drawing to his end. The word is taken from Gen.l. 26 ; and the mention of the departure (literally, the Exodus) of the children of Israel is found in verses 24, 25. This example of faith in the promise and clinging to the hope which it held forth needs no comment. For the fulfilment of Joseph's dying request see Ex. xiii. 19, " Moses took the bones of Joseph with him " out of Egypt; and Josh. xxiv. 32, "And the bones of Joseph buried they in Shechem." (23) Because they saw he was a proper child. — "Proper" has its now obsolete sense of handsome, comely, a meaning not uncommon in Shakespeare. The word used in the Greek translation of Ex. ii. 2 is preserved both in Acts vii. 20 (see the Note) and in this place. It would seem that the remarkable beauty of the infant was understood by his parents as a divine sign given for the guidance of their conduct. The next clause should probably be closely connected with this — " because they saw . . . and were not afraid of the king's commandment" (Ex. i. 16). Their reliance on the protection of God enabled them to brave the anger of the king. (21) Come to years— i.e., grown \vp, "when he was full forty years old" (Aots vii. 23). The words here used are taken from the Greek translation of Ex. ii. 11, where we first read of Moses as openly associating himself with his oppressed people. When Moses slew the Egyptian who was " smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren," he in act " refused to be called a son of Pharaoh's daughter," and choso " to suffer affliction with the people of God." (See Ex. ii. 15.) (2o) Choosing. — Better, having chosen. His act was an expression of his deliberate choice. He joined his people because it was " the people of God." To stand aloof for the sake of ease and pleasure would for him have been apostasy from God (" sin," comp. chap, x. 26). The faith of Moses had brought " conviction of the things not seen," which " are eternal"; lience he looked not at " the things seen " which are " for a season " (2 Cor. iv. 18. where the same word is used). (26) The reproach of Christ.— Better, The re- proach of the Christ. Many explanations have been proposed of this remarkable phrase, some of wliich — as " reproach for Christ."' " reproach similar to that which Christ endured " — cannot possibly give the true meaning. The first point to be noted is that the words are almost exactly a quotation from one of the chief of the Messianic Psalms (Ps. Ixxxix. 50, 51) — ' Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants ; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of many peoples : wherewith Thine enemies have reproached, O Lord ; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of Thine Anointed." Here the writer in effect speaks of himself as bearing " the reproach of the Anointed " of the Lord : pleading in his name and identifying himself with his cause. " The Anointed" is the kiug who (see the Xote on chap, i. 5) was the type of the promised Christ. Through- out the whole of their history the people of Israel were the people of the Christ. Tlieir national existence origi- nated in the promise to Abraham, which was a promise of the Christ ; and tiU the fulness of time should come their mission was to prepare the way for Him. The reproach which Moses accepted by joining the people of the promise was, therefore, " the reproach of the Christ," the tj-pe of that " reproach " which in later days His people will share with Him' (chap. xiii. 13). He who was to appear in the last days as the Messiah was already in the midst of Israel (John i. 10). (See Ps. Ixix. 9; Col. i. 24; IPet.i. 11; and the Note on 2 Cor. i. 5. Phil. iii. 7 — 11 furnishes a noble illustra- tion of this whole record.) For he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. — Rather, for he looked unto the recom- pence (chap. X. 35). He habitually "looked away" from the treasures in Egypt, and fixed his eye on the heavenly reward. (27) By faith he forsook Egypt. — It is a matter of great difficulty to decide whether these words refer to the flight into Midian (Ex. ii. 15), or to the Exodus. The former \'iew, which seems to be taken by all ancient writers and by most in modern times, is supported by the following arguments: — (1) The institution of tho Passover is mentioned later in this chapter (verse 28) ; (2) the second departure was made at Pharaoh's urgent request (Ex. xii. 31); (3) "he forsook" is too per- sonal an expression to be used of the general Exodus. On the other side it is tirged with great force : (1) that, although the actual departure from Egypt followed the institution of the Passover, the 'forsaking" really commenced in the demand of chap. v. 1 — 3. persevered in until the anger of the king was powerfully excited (chap. X. 28) ; (2) that, as might have been certainly foreseen, the wrath of Ijoth king and people was aroused as soon as the peojile had departed lEx. xiv. 5) ; (3) that the flight to Midian was directly caused by fear (Ex. ii. 14, 15); (4) that the following words, "he endured, &c.," are much more applicable to the determined persistency of Moses and his repeated dis- appointments (Ex. v. — xii.) than to the inaction of his years of exile. On tho whole the latter inteq)retation seems preferable. If the former be adoi)ted. we niiist distinguish between the apprehension which led him 33j The Triumphs HEBREWS, XI. of Faith. king : for he endured, as seeinf^ him Avho is invisible. ^^' Throu-j^h faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkHng of blood, lest he that destroyed the first- born should touch them. <-"> By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. (^^^ By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. (31) gy f;iith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not,^ when she had received the spies with peace. <^> And what shall I more say ? for the Or, thnt teere dis- obedient, a i M.acc. 7. 7. time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae ; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets : (^^ who through, faith subdued kingdoms, wrought right- eousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, <^^' quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. (35) "Women received their dead raised to life again : and others Avere tortured," not accepting deliverance; that thej to seek safety iu flight and the courage which enabled him to givo up Egypt. He endured. — In the presence of Pharaoh (or in the weariness of exile) he was strong and patient, as seeing the iu\-isil)le King and Leader of His people. (28, Through faith he kept.— Rather, By faith he hath kept (see verse 17). The celebration of the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood were acts of obedience, having reference to a danger as yet un- seen, but present in God's word (Ex. xii. 12). Lest he that destroyed — Better, that the destroyer of the first-born viay not touah them. (See Ex. xii. 21, 22, 28, 29.) (29) Which the Egyptians assaying to do. — Literally, 0/ ivhich the Egyptians making trial were swallowed up (Ex. xiv., xv.). In the same " trial," but with the support of the word of God, had consisted Israel's faith. The word land is not in the ordinary Greek text (and hence stands in italics), but is found in the best MSS. It is with this woi'd that the follow- ing clause ("of which . . . ") connects itself. (3'0 Seven days. — It is the persistence of Israel's obedience (in the midst, wo cannot doubt, of the un- measured contempt and ridicule of their foes) during the seven days of almost total inaction (Josh, vi.) that is here brought into relief. (31) That believed not. — Rather, that were dis- obedient (see chaps, iii. 18; iv. 6, 11). To her and to her countrymen alike had come the knowledge of what the Lord had d(jno for Israel (Josh. ii. 10). She recog- nised from these signs, and acknowledged, the supre- macy of Jehovah (verse 11), and she cast in her lot with His servants; tlie men of Jericho continued in their di.sobedienco, and perished (Josh. vi. 21). Through faith, therefore, a despised heathen woman became united with the people of God. With such an example these more detailed histories may fitly close. (32) The sacred writer has lingered over the life and deeds of the greatest of the patriarchs and of Moses the legislator of the nation : two examples only — differing in kind from those which have preceded, and peculiarly suggestive and important — have been taken from the history of the people after the d(>atli of Moses. Enough has now been said to guide all who are willing to search the Scriptures for themselves. With a brief mention of names which would call up before the minds of his readers achievements almost as wonderful as those on which he has been dwelling, ho passes from the elders who received witness from God by their faith, and (verses 33 — 38) speaks in general terms, but all the more distinctly, of the triumphs which faith has won. 336 The time would fail me.— The slight changes of text required by our best evidence give increased vivid- ness : For the time will fail me if J tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah. To the exploits of Barak (Judg. iv., v.), Gideon (\-i. — viii.j, Samson (xiii. — xvi.), Jephthah (xi., xii.), there is manifest reference in the words of later verses (33, 34). There seems to be no design in this arrangement of the names. In the following clause also, " of David and Samuel and the prophets," there is a similar departure from the order of time. (33) Subdued kingdoms.— Better, overcame king- doms. To all the deliverers of Israel of whom we have read in verse 32 (antl especially to David, 2 Sam. viii., X., xi.) these words will apply. They also " wrought righteousness," as each judge or king or prophet "executed judgment and justice unto all his people " (2 Sam. viii. 15). Obtained promises. — Do these words mean that these men of faith won promises of future blessing (such as were vouchsafed to David and the prophets), or that promises of deliverance were fulfilled to them ? There seems no reason for doubting that the writer's language may include both thoughts. The words wliich follow (though illustrated in the history of Samson and of David) clearly point to Daniel (chap. \i.). (Si) The violence. — Rather, the 2'>ower (Daniel iii.). Escaped the edge of the sword.— Though it would not })e difficult to trace the application of this and the following clauses to the heroes of Israel cele- brated in the Old Testament history (the perils of David and Elijah and the " weakness " of Samson and Hezekiah will occur to the mind of all), it seems likely that the writer's thought is resting maiidy on the his- tory of the Maccabsean times. That the following verse relates to narratives contained in the Second Book of Maccabees is generally acknowledged ; and no words could more truly characterise the general contents of the First Book than those of the present verse. (35) Raised to life again. — Literally, by a resurrec- tion. (See 1 Kings xvii. 22, 23; 2 Kings iv. 35—37.) At this point tiio character of the record is changed; hitherto we have heard of the victories of faith in action, now it is of the triumph of faith over suffering that the writer speaks. Those who " escaped the edge of the sword" (verse 34) and those who " were slain with the sword " alike exemplified the power of faith. Others were tortured.— See the account of the aged Eleazar (2 Mace. vi. 30), martyred because he would not pollute himself with swine's flesh and the " flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the I Co7ifessors and Martyrs. HEBREWS, XII. The Cloud of Witnesses. might obtain a better resurrection : (^^ and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment : (^"^ they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain vnth. the sword : they wan- dered about in sheepskins and goat- skins; being destitute, afflicted, tor- mented ; <-^^ (of whom the world was not worthy :) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (^^^ And 1 Ot, foreseen. these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise : (^^ God having pro- vided ^ some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. CHAPTER XII.— (1) Wherefore see- ing we also are compassed ^, ... ,_ ,o , .,, , ^ -, , Chap. xu. 1—17. about with so great a cloud Let us through of witnesses, let us lay aside f^i^^ persevere • 1 , T A • to the end. every weight, and the sin king." The following chapter records the martyr- dom of seven brethren, who for their adherence to their law were put to death with cruel tortures. (See especially verses 9, 14, 23, 29, 36.) Not accepting deliverance.— Literally, not ac- cepting the redemption, i.e., tlie deliverance offered, which must bo purchased at the price of their con- stancy. A better resurrection. — Better than that return to the present life which is spoken of in the first words of the verse. (36) The language becomes more general, but still chiefly refers to the same troublous times. Yea, moreover of bonds. — Lasting and cruel captivity, a worse fate even than " mockings and scourgings." (37) They were stoned.— As Zechariah (2 Chron, xxiv. 20 — 22), and — according to a Jewish tradition mentioned by Tertullian and others — Jeremiah. (See Matt, xxiii. 35, 37.) They were sawn asunder. — An ancient tra- dition, mentioned both by Jewish and by early Christian writers, relates tliat Isaiah was thus put to death by order of Manasseh. The following words, "they were tempted," are very remarkable in such a position ; and many conjectures have been hazarded on the supposition that a mistake of transcription has occurred. If the text is correct, the writer is speaking of the promises and allurements by which the persecutors sought to overcome the constancy of God's servants. Slain with the sword. — See 1 Kings xix. 1, 10 ; Jerem. xxvi. 23. They wandered about.— Rather, they went abotd, as outcasts; compelled to live the life of wanderers and exiles. Tormented. — Rather, being destitute, afflicted, ill- treated {of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountai^is and caves and the holes of the earth. Once more the Maccabaean persecutions seem to be chiefly in view. (See 1 Mace. ii. 28, 29; 2 Mace. V. 27 ; v\. 11. Comp. also 1 Sam. xxii. 1 ; 1 Kings xviii. 4.) (i9) Having obtained a good report. — Now that the history is concluded the word of verse 2 is resumed. That in such a faith as was described in verse 1 " the elders " received their witness from God, the records themselves have shown ; yet " these all, ha^-ing had witness borne to thorn through their faith, received not the promise," i.e., tlie promised blessing. Tliere are three passages of the Epistle which must be kept together — chap. vi. 15, "And so, liaAnng patiently waited, he (Abraham) obtained the promise ; " chap. X. 36, " Ye have need of endurance, that liaving done the will of G^d ye may receive the promise ; " and 88 337 the present verse. To the saints of the Old Testament the promised blessing was future ; they obtained it, but not within the limits of this present life. To us the promised blessing is present, revealed to us in its true nature, obtained for us once for all ; for we know that eternal redemption h.^s been won through Christ's entering for us once for all into the heavenly sanc- tuary (chap. ix. 12), and to us the "perfection" has come, in that through Him we " draw near to God " (chap. vii. 11, 19). That (1) the full personal appropria- tion of the gift is for every one of us still future, and (2) the full revelation belongs to another state of being, is true, but not inconsistent with what has been said. (•10) For us, — Rather, concerning us, that loithout (or, apart from) us they should not be made perfect. " Some better thing " — better than they had received (Matt. xiii. 17; 1 Pet. i. 10, 11). The design of God was that they and we may be perfected together ; first in the joint reception of mature knowledge and privilege through the High-priestly work of the Lord Jesus (comp. Eph. iii. 10 ; 1 Pet. i. 12) ; and then that we with them may, when the end shall come, " have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul, in the eternal and everlasting glory of God." Sea further the Note on chap. xii. 23. XII. In this chapter the writer takes up again the ex- hortation of chap. X. 19 — 39, pointing to the example of Jesus, encouraging those who are in trial, warning agaiust sin, and especially the sin of rejecting Him who speaks to us from heaven. (1) Wherefore seeing we also are com- passed about. — Rather, Tlierefore let us also — since we are compassed about ivith so great a cloud of ivitnesses — having put away all encumbrance and the sin . . . run with patient endurance the race that is set before U3, looking, &c. (In so difficult a verse as this we need an exactness of translation which might not otherwise be desirable.) It is jlain that the chief thought is, " Let us run our race with patient endurance, looking unto Jesus the Author ... of our faith ; " so that here again we have the thought which the writer is never weary of enforcing, tlie need of faith and patience for all who would inherit the promises. The connection is chiefly with the last verses of chap, xi., which are, indeed, a summary of the whole chapter. The purpose of God has been that those who throughout the past ages obtained witness of Him through their faith should not reacli their consumma- tion apart from us. To that consummation, then, let us press forward. Present to us in tlio view of Christ's accomplished sacrifice, it is all future in regard of Jwm the Author and HEBREWS, XII. Perfecter of Faith. which doth so easily beset ws, and let us run with patience the race that is set be- fore us, <-' looking unto Jesus the author ^ 1 Or, beginner. and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set personal attainment. As those who have preceded us reached the goal, each one for himself, by faith and patient endurance, so must we. The thought of per- severing effort crowned by a recompence of reward (chaps, vi. 12, IS ; x. 35 — 39) verj' naturally suggested the imagery of the public games (by this time familiar even to Jews), to which St. Paul in his Epistles so frequently alludes. (See 1 Cor. iv. 9; ix. 24—27; Phil. iii. 12—14; 1 Tim. vi. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8 ; comp. chap. X. 32, 33.) In these passages are called up the various associations of the great national festivals of Greece — the severe discipline of the competitors, the intcnseness of the struggle, the rewards, "the righteous judge," the crowd of spectators. Most of these thoughts are present here (verses 1, 2, 4), and new points of comparison are added, so that the scene is brought vividly before our eyes, It has been often supposed that the word " witnesses " is used in the sense of spectators of the race. To an English reader this idea is very natural (as '* witnesses " may simply mean beholders), but there is no such ambiguity in the Greek word {martifres). The Greek fathers rightly understood it to signify those who bear witness, and the chief point of doubt seems to have been whether the sense is general, or whether the word bears its later meaning — martyrs, who have borne testimony with their blood. Those who thus encompass us, a countless host (a " cloud " of witnesses), have had witness borne to them through their faith, and in tiirn stand forth as witnesses to faith, bearing testimony to its power and works. One and all tliey offer encouragement to us in our own contest of faith, and for this reason they are mentioned here. That the idea of the presence of spectators may be contained in the other words, " com- passed about with so great a cloud," is veiy possible ; out no interpretation must be allowed to interfere with the chief thought — that the runner's steadfast gaze is fixod on Him who has Himself traversed the course before us, and is now the Judge and Rewarder. Every weight. — The Greek word was sometimes used by Greek writers to denote the excessive si^e and weight of body which the athlete sought to reduce by means of training ; but may also signify the encum- brance of any burden, unnecessary clothing, and the like. It is here best taken in a general sense, as denoting anything that encumbers, and thus renders the athlete less fitted for the race. In the inter- pretation we might, perhaps, think of the pressure of earthly cares, were it not that the writer seems to have in mind the special dangers of the Hebrew Christians. Tlie "divers and strange teachings" spoken of in chap. xiii. 9, in which would bo included the Judaising practices which they were tempted to observe (such as St. Peter descrilied as a " yolce " too heavy to be borne), will probably suit the figure best. And the sin which doth so easily beset us. — The last six words are the tninslation of a single adjective, which does not occur elsewhere. The Greek commentators, from whom we might expect some light on the phrase, seem to be entirely reduced to con- jecture. Chrysostotn. for example, adopts in various places two altogether different meanings, " sin which easily (or, completely) surrounds us." " sin whicli is easily overcome." To these Theophylact adds a third. 338 " sin through which man is easily brought into danger." Tlie prevailing opinion amongst modern writers appears to be that the word signifies well (or, easily) surround- ing; and that the writer is comparing sin with a garment — either a loosely fitting garment by which the runner becomes entangled and tripped up, or one that clings closely to him and thus impedes his ease of movement. This view of the meaning is taken in our earlier English versions, which either follow the Latin (Wiclif, "that standeth about us;" Rhemish, "that compasseth us "), or render the words, the sin that hangeth on, or, that hangeth so fast on. The sense is excellent, but it is very doubtful whether the Greek will admit of such a rendering. Though the exact word is not found elsewhere, there are words closely allied as to the meaning of which there is no doubt. Analogy clearly points to the signification much admired (literally, ivell surrounded by an admiring crowd). It is not impossible that even with this meaning the words '' lay aside " or put away (often applied to putting off clothing) might still suggest a garment ; if so, the allusion might be to a runner who refused to put off a garment which the crowd admired, though such an encumbrance must cause him to fail of the prize. It is more likely that the writer speaks of sin generally as an obstacle to the race, which must be put aside if the runner is to contend at all. If we look at the later exhortations of the Epistle, we shall find repeated mention of the reproach which the followers of Christ must bear. Even in the history of Moses (chap. xi. 26) there are words which suggest the thought. (See also chaps, x. 33; xiii. 13). So in the next verso we read of the cross of Jesus and the shame which He despised. Over against this " reproach " is set the sin which is sure to \\\n man's favour and applause — the sin of which we have read in chap. x. 26 (comp. chap. xi. 25), which, seemingly harmless in its first approaches, will end in a " falling away from the li^'ing God." The rendering with which the Autho- rised version has made us familiar is full of interest, but cannot (at all events as it is commonly understood) be an expression of the sense intended. Whatever view bo taken of the one peculiar word, it does not seepa possible that the phrase can point to what is known as a " besetting sin," the sin which in the case of any one of us is proved to possess especial power. (2) Looking unto Jesus. — As in chap. ii. 9, the description precedes the mention of the name, " Look- ing unto the Author and Perfecter of (our) faith, Jesus." The first word is very similar to that of chap. xi. 26; the runner looks away from all other objects and fixes his gaze on One. Jesus is not directly spoken of as the .ludge (2 Tim. iv. 8) ; but, as the next words show, He has Himself reached the goal, and His presence marks the point at which the race will close. As the last verse spoke of our " patient endurance," this speaks of our faith, and of this Jesus is the Author and the Perfecter. The former word has occurred before, in chap. ii. 10; and here, as iheve, origination \s tha principal thought. Tliere the idea of leading the way was also present ; but here ' ' Author " stands in con- tra.st with " Perfecter," and the example of our Lore is the subject of the clause which follows. Because ii is He who begins and brings to perfection our faithi we must run the race with our eye fiixed upon Him| The Chastening of the Lord. HEBREWS, XII. A Father's Discipline. down at the right hand of the throne of God. (^) For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. ^^^ Ye have not yet re- sisted unto blood, striving against sin. <^^ And ye have forgotten the exhorta- tion which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him : ("^^ for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourge th every son whom he receive th. <^^ If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? <®^ But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. (^) Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjec- in Him is the beginning, in Him the completion of the Sromises (2 Cor. i. 20) ; and in the steady and trustful ependenco upon Him which this figiu'e describes consists our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. — The literal meaning is very forcible, eJifZio-ecZ a cross, despising shame ; the shame of such a death being set over against the joy that lay before Him. Here again we have the thought of chap, ii. 9 (Phil. ii. 9, 10) ; the joy of His accomplished pur- pose (Isa. liii. 11 ; Matt. xxv. 21 ; Luke x. 21, 22) and the glory with which He was crowned (John xA'ii. 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 11) being the reward for His " obedience even unto death." The whole form of the expression (comp. especially chap. vi. 18, "the hope set before us") shows that Jesus is presented to us as an example not of endurance only, but also of faith (chap. ii. 12). On the last words of the verse see chaps, i. 3, 13 ; viii. 1 ; X. 12, 13 ; there is here a slight change in the Greek, which requires the rendering, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (3) The figure of the race is stiU continued, " For unless ye thus look unto Jesus ye will grow weary." Consider. — Literally, compare ; place your suffer- ings by the side of His. Him that endured such contradiction.— Rather, Him that hath endured such gainsaying from sinners against themselves. The word " gainsaying," (cliaps. vi. 16 ; "vdi. 7) is so frequently used in the LXX. for the rebelliousness of the people of Israel, that we need not here limit it to contradiction in words. The change of " Himself " into " themselves " (the reading of the oldest MSS.) is important, but it is not easy to say with what tlie last two words should be joined; for the meaning may be either " sinners against themselves " (comp. Num. xvi. 38), or " gainsaying against themselves." In either case the force of the words will be that the sin or the opposition manifested against Him was really against themselves, since it was for their salvation that He came upon earth. To all His other sorrows were added the pain of their ingratitude and His grief over their aggravated guilt. And faint. — ^^ther, fainting in your souls. W Ye have not yet resisted unto blood.— StUl the general figure is retained, but for the foot- race is substituted the contest of the pugilists. In verse 1 sin was the hindrance which must be put aside; here it is the antagonist who must be subdued. It is interesting to note exactly the same transition in 1 Cor. ix. 26. (See Note.) The contest lias been maintained but feebly, for no blood lias flowed in their struggle with temptation and sin ; they have not deserted the arena, but have slirnuk from the suffering which a determined struggle would liave caused. It is possible that the writer goes beyond the figure in 339 these words, and that the price of their resistance might indeed have been their " blood." (5) In this cowardly avoidance of trouble and per- secution they have been shrinking from that chastening which every son receives from the Lord. Which speaketh unto you.— Better, which holds converse (or, reasoneth) ivith you as ivith sons. The words which follow are taken from Prov. iii. 11, 12, and agree with the text of the LXX., except that for "son" we have "my son," and for "reproveth"' (verse 6) " chasteneth." In the original passage Solomon is the speaker, and it is the second verse only that speaks of God's fatherly love. It may be so here also, but the exhortation of the Scripture seems to be quoted as if spoken dii-ectly by God Himself to His sons. Despise. — Better, thinlc not lightly of. In the next clause the Hebrew (" and loathe not His correction ") denotes rather a spirit that rejects and chafes under divine discipline. As the words are found here, they point to losing heart and hope. (6) And scoixrgeth.— As the words stand in our Hebrew text, the meaning is " even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." A very slight change in one word, however, wUl yield the sense in wliich the clause was understood by the Greek translators, and which is here retained. For the purpose of tliis quo- tation the difference between the two renderings is not material. (') If ye endure chastening.— The whole weight of ancient evidence is in favour of a change in the first Greek word. Iwo translations are then possible: (1) " It is for chastening that ye endure : " the troubles that come upon you are for discipline — are not sent in anger, but in fatherly love. (2i *' Endure for cliasten- ing : " bear the trial, instead of seeking to avoid it by unworthy and dangerous concession ; endure it, that it may effect its merciful purpose. What son is he. — Or, what son is there whom his father chasteneth not / (8) Whereof all are partakers.— Better, whereof all (God's children) have been made partakers. Were it possible that they have never known this fatherly " chastening," it must be that they are not sons whom a father acknowledges, and for whose training he has care. (9i Furthermore we have had fathers.— Rather, Furthermore ice had the fathers ofourjlesh as chasteners {i.e., to chasten us). The thought of the former verses has been, " He cliastens as a father.' From likeness we here pass to contrast. The contra^'t dra^vn is between our natural parents and "the Father of spirits" (comp. Num. xvi. 22; xxvii. 16; Zech. xii. 1) — the Creator of all spirits, who is the Giver of life to all, who knows the spirit wliich He has made isee Ps. xciv. 9, lO) and can discipline it by His chastening. The Fruit of Jiiyhteousiiess. HEBREWS, XII. Follow Peace and Holiness. tion unto the Father of spirits, and live? (10) Yov they verily for a few days chas- tened us after theu* own pleasure ; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. ^"^ Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. <^-^ Wherefore lift up I Or, even. 2 Or, fall from. the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees ; (^^^ and make straight ^ paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way ; but let it rather be healed. <^*) Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord : <^5) looking diligently lest any man fail of 2 the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and And live. — Since the life of the spirit subsists only iu Vmion with Him. (10) After their own pleasure. — Rather, as seemed good unto them. The contrast is continued here between human liability to mistake and the perfect knowledge of our heavenly Father, who seeks our profit, and cannot err in the means which He employs. There is a general resemblance between this verse and the last, the "few days" corresponding to the "fathers of our flesh ; " and the last clause here, " that we may be partakers of His holiness," to the words which close verse 9, " and live." To the " few days " no contrast is directly expressed in the second member of the verse; none was needed, because the last words so clearly imply the permanence of the result. (11) Now no chastening . . . — Better (the read- ing being slightly changed), All chastening seemeth for the present time to he not joyous, but grievous. The language, so far, would seem to be perfectly general, relating to all chastening, whether human or divine. Tlie following clause may seem to confine our thought to the latter ; but, with a lower sense of " righteous- ness," the maxim is true of the wise discipline of earthly parents. The peaceable fruit of righteousness. — Better, peaceful fruit, [fruit) of righteousness, to them that have been trained thereby. The " peaceful" fruit stands in contrast with the unrest and trouble which have preceded during the time of " chastening." But there is more than rest after conflict, for the object of the conflict is attained ; the fruit consists in righteous- ness. (Comp. Isa. xxxii. 17 ; Prov. xi. 30 ; Jas. iii. 17 ; Phil. i. 11.) It has been sometimes supposed that in the word " trained " the writer returns to the figure of verse 4 ; but this is not probable. (12) Wherefore.— As in chap. x. 24, the writer passes from the thought of personal risk and duty, to speak (in verses 12 — 17) of that which is binding on all members of a community. " Wherefore " — since the trouble which has brought discouragement should rather call forth tliankfulness — " strengtlien (literally, make straight again, restore to a right state) the weakened hands and the palsied knees." The words are almost a reproduction of Isa. xxxv. 3, where those who have lost ncart and hope (compared to men whoso limbs are palsy-stricken) are encouraged by the promise of the coming of their God bringing recomi)ense and salvation. (See chap. x. 36, 37.) (13) And make straight paths.— Quoted with some slight cliangos from the Greek translation of Prov. iv. 26, " ponder " (or, more probably, make even) " the path of thy feet." Be turned out of the way.— The difficulty in these words is concealed to some extent when they are separated from the following clause, as in the Autho- rised version ; this separation, however, the Greek will 340 not allow. If the words be rendered, " that what is lame may not be turned out of the way, but may rather be healed," we cannot but feel that the two members are somewhat incongruous. It is probable, therefore, that the first verb here bears the meaning which it not Tinfrequently has in medical writers, be put out of joint. Let the paths (or tracks) which you follow be straight, for crooked and uneven paths will make the limbs which are lame more helpless stUl ; should nothing aggravate the hurt that has been received, it may soon be healed. In the application, the words are a wai'uing against the shifting courses of men who are ready to turn aside from strict duty when persecution threatens, and seek to avert the danger by compliance with what they do not in heart approve. Whatever may be the result in the case of " the strong " (Rom. xiv. 1 ; I Cor. viii.), the example brings destruction on " the weak." (14) Follow peace.— More clearly (as our word " follow " is somewhat ambiguous), follow after peace. There is a manifest allusion to Ps. xxxiv. 14 (quoted also in 1 Pet. iii. 11). This charge is general (Rom. xii. 18), and must not be limited to peace with feUow Christians (Rom. xiv. 19). The two admonitions of thia verse were admirably suited to a period of per- secution. Let all make peace their aim, yet not so as to sacrifice purity. (Comp. Jas. iii. 17.) And holiness. — Better, and the sanctification with- out which no nian shall see the Lord. In chap. ix. 28 we have thei promise that " Christ . . . shall be seen " by them that wait for Him : hence it might be supposed (especially as in the next verse we read of " the grace of God") that " the Lord " is here, as in chap. ii. 3, a designation of our Saviour. As, however, this Epistle especially brings Him before us as the Sanctifier (chaps, ii. 11 ; xiii. 12), who leads us into the presence of (jod (chap. X. 19), >ve must rather look on these words as akin to M»tt. v. 8, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Rev. xxii. 4). (15) Lest any man fail. — Rather, whetlier any one be falling hack from the grace of God. The defection of one member of the community brings loss and danger to the whole body. The last words of phap. x. 26 will show what is implied iu tliis " falling back from the grace of God." Any root of bitterness.— It is clear that Dent, xxix. 18, though not formally quoted, is before the i writer's mind. In that chapter Moses had again brought before the people the covenant which, nearly forty years before, had been made and ratified "in Horeb " (see chap. ix. 18 — 20). With especial solemnity he sets before them the sin and terrible punishment of J idolatry, "Lest there should be among you man or I woman . . . whose heart turneth away this day from J the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these] nations; lest there should be among you a root that] Esau rejected. HEBEEWS, XII. The Terrors of Sinai. thereby many be defiled ; (^^^ lest there he any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthrig-ht. <^'^ For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected : for he found no place of repentance,^ though he sought it carefully with tears. (18) Yov ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that 1 Or, way to change his mind. burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, (1^) and the sound of a ^t^^ft^f,- trumpet, and the voice of of Sinai. The words; which voice they S^^j.^e^^''''"^ that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more : <-^^ (for they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the bearetli gall and wormwood." The marginal note on the last words (" poisouful herb ") explains their true mcaniug — that which springs from the root is not merely bitter, it is also poisonous. Again, therefore (see chap. x. 27, 28, 30), the apostasy to Avhich the Hebrew Christians were tempted is compared with the sin committed by those who by idolatry fell away from God's ancient covenant ; and as one idol-worshipper in a community might bring into it a root of bitter poison, so one apostate from the Christian faith would bring trouble and defilement on the Church. In Acts viii. 23 St. Peter makes reference to the same chapter of Deuteronomy as he speaks to Simon Magus, who, above all other men, proved a root of bitter poison in the early Church. Many.— Rather, the many (according to the best reading) — i.e., the whole community. (!*>) Lest there be. — Better (as in the last verse), whether there he. Though Jewish tradition (see, for example, the Targum of Palestine on Gen. xxv, 29) affirms that Esau was a man of impure life, it is not probable that he is so represented in this verse. Here he is mentioned as a type of " the profane," who care not for divine things, but only for the gains and pleasures of this world. Who for one morsel of meat. — Better, who for f one meal sold his oivn birthright (Gen. xxv. 29 — 34). We cannot suppose thai the writer has in thought the material rights of the firstborn, such as his claim on pre-eminence and, possibly (see Deut. xxi. 17), on a larger share of his father's possessions. Tradition relates that, up to the time of Aaron, priestly functions were discharged by each firstborn sou (comp. Num. iii. 5 — 12) ; and to the line of the firstborn would seem to belong that "blessing of Abraham" (Gen. xxviii. 4) f which every one who shared Abraham's faith would earnestly desire to possess. (17) For ye know how that afterward . . . — The meaning of the verse will bo seen more clearly if one clause be placed in a parenthesis : " For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected (for he found no place of repentance), though he sought it earnestly with tears." The blessing of Jacob related in Gen. xxvii. is here viewed (apart from all attendant circumstances) a.s a necessary consequence of Esau's "profane" scorn of liis birthright. Notwithstanding Esau's piteous entreaty, Isaac cannot but ratify (verse 33) the blessing which he lias pronounced ; though his son sought the blessing earnestly with tears (verse 38), he was rejected. Ho " found no place of repentance ; " that first act (Gen. xxv. 33) could not be recalled, but brought with it a loss which nothing could retrieve. (It is right to add that other interpretations of the verse have been given, which seem, however, much less probable. Thus, the last clause lias been understood to mean that Esau earnestly sought repentance ; and the preceding words, which wo have placed in a parenthesis, that he could not bring his father to a change of purpose.) (18—29) Tlie exhortation to faithfulness is most ittipres- sively enforced by means of a comparison between the earlier revelation and that which is given in Christ. The mount that might be touched. — It apj)ears certain that the word " mount " has no place in the true Greek text. Had this word been in the sentence as originally written, its absence from all our more ancient authorities would be inexplicable ; whilst, on the other hand, the contrast with verse 22, and the recollection of Deut. iv. 11, from which the last words in this verse are taken, would very naturally lead a transcriber to supply this word, which he might suppose to have accidentally dropped out of the text. If, how- ever, the writer did not make use of the word here, though the contrast of verse 22 was already before his mind, it seems certain that the word was not in his thought ; and hence we have no right to introduce it in the explanation of the verse. The true translation, in all probability, is as follows : For ye are not come unto a material (literally, a palpable) and kindled fire, and unto gloom and darkness and tempest. The object of the writer is to set forth the terrors which accompanied the gi\'ing of the Law, — that which the awe-stricken people saw and heard. Not the mount, but the terrible fire was that which met their gaze. Thus again and again in Deuteronomy we find reference to the voice and the, fire alone (chaps, iv. 33, 36 ; v. 4, 25, 2H; xviii. 16). Shortly before " the day of the assembly " in Horeb Israel had been led by "a pillar of fire" (Ex. xiii. 21) ; in verse 29 of this chapter tlie figure of " a consuming fire " is applied to God Himself. To avoid such associations as these, and \nvidly to represent what then was shown to the Israelites, he speaks of " a material and kindled fire." The metaphor in " palpable " as applied to fire is hardly more remarkable than that involved in " a darkness which may be felt " (Ex. x. 21, where the word used in the LXX. is almost the same as that which we have here). (19> See Ex. xix. 19 ("the voice of the trumpet''), Deut. iv. 12 (" the voice of the words "). Intreated. — " If we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die" (Deut. v.25; Ex.xx. 19). Though God drew near to Israel, to reveal Himself, so torrililo was His voice to them, so awful the penalties which fenced round their approach to Him, that they shrank back from hearing His words. (20) There is no sufficient reason for enclosing this verse and the next in a parenthesis. And if so much as.— Bettxt from Ex. xix. 13. (-1) And so terrible was the sight that .... — Better, And (so fearful urns the appearance) Moses said, I exceedingly fear and tremble. Dent. ix. 19, as it stands in the Greek translation, contains these words in part (•' I exceeding'ly fear"); there, however, they belonrj to a later time, wlion Moses was " afi-aid of the anger and liot displeasure '' of the Lord against the worshippers of tiie golden calf (Ex. xxxii.). Various Jewish traditions speak of the terror of Moses as upon Mount Sinai he beheld tho wonders of the heavenly world (see chap. ii. 2) ; but no saying that has been preserved throws additional light on the words before (22—24) " "WTiat it was to which Israel in the time of the Old Covenant drew nigh, we have now heard. Their drawing nigh wa*at the same time a standing afarotf ; the mount of the revelation might not be approached by them; the voice of God was too terrible to be borne; and yet it was only tangible material nature in which God at once manifested and concealed Himself. The true and inner communion with God had not yet been revealed : first must tlie Law lead to the painful con- sciousness that sin prevents such communion, and intensify the longing that sin may be taken out of the way. Under the New Covenant, no longer is a tangible mountain the place of a divine revelation made from afar; but heaven is thrown open, and a new supei'- sensuous world in which God is enthroned is opened to admit us, opened through the Mediator of the New Covenant, accessible in virtue of His atoning blood" (Delitzsch). (22) Unto mount Sion.— Literally (and in these difficult verses it is unusually important to follow the literal rendering of the Greek), Ye are come xnito Zion {the) mountain and city of a Living God, a heavenly Jerusalem. The thought of a celestial city which should bo the exact counterpart of the earthly Jerusalem is often dwelt upon in Jewish writings : hence the writer is using familiar words, but with a new and spiritual meaning. The same imagery has been employed in cliap. xi. 10, 13—16, for this is the city " tliat hath tho foundations, whoso Architect and Maker is Cod." (See also Rev. xxi. 2, et seq. ; Gal. iv. 26.) This " heavenly Jerusalem' is " Zion, mountain and city of a Living God." Mount Zion is mentioned first, because tht> contrast with Mount Sinai is throughout present in tliought. Tlie name recalls many passages of the Old Testament, especially of the Psalter, as far back as the time when David chose the place for the Ark of the Covenant. Here God desired to dwell (Ps. Ixviii. 16); in this holy hill He set His anointed King iPs. ii. 6). (See also Pss. xlviii. 2, 11; Ixxviii. 68; ex. 2; cxx\ii. 13.) Zion is not only the mount of God, His dwelling place ; it is also " the city of God, ' whose gates the Lord h)veth (Ps. Ixxxvii. 2). (See Ps. xhiii. 12, 13, et at.) In chap. viii. 2 we find associated the place of the si)ecial manif(>station of tho glory of God and the resort of His worshipping people ; so here the heavenly sanctuary and the city inhabited by " the ransomed of the Tiord" (Isjv. xxxv. 10). In Horeb Israel intreated that they might not hear the voice of " the living God " (Dent. v. 26). In this spiritual com- monwealth we all " have drawn nigh " to Him. In the first member of these three verses (22 — 24), therefore, there is very little that is open to question ; the difficulties lie in the words which follow, " and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven." Four or five different arrangements of these words are allowed by the Greek, and every one of these has been adopted and defended by writers of eminence. Here the discussion must be very biief. On a careful examination of the whole passage, it seems in the highest degree probable that the writer introduces by " and" each successive member of the sen- tence, and that groups of words not so introduced serve as appositions, explaining what precedes them. If this be so, the arrangement of the Authorised version is not tenable. We believe that the choice must lie between two renderings: (1) "And to myriads of angels, a festal assembly and congregation of the firstborn en- rolled in heaven." (2) " And to myriads, a festal assembly of angels and a congregation of the firstborn enrolled in lieaA'en." In the first of these renderings angels are the subject throughout ; in the second, '" the myriads " to whom we have come nigh are divided into two companies — the festal host of angels, the church of the firstborn. Let us look at the latter interpre- tation first. By it the " firstborn " are sought amongst men ; either those who are already inhabitants of the heavenly world, or men still living upon earth, though enrolled as citizens of heaven (Luke x. 20). Some have understood the words to relate to those who hold prece- dency, either in rank or in time, among men to whom God has given the name of sons ; as, saints of pre- eminent piety, " the noble army of martyrs," the faith- ful under the Old Covenant, Enoch and Elijah, the Apostles, tho first generations of Christians, or the believers of the later as distinguished from those of the eai'lier dispensation. A far more probable expla- nation is that which makes the word here " equivalent to heirs of the kingdom, all faitliful Christians being ipso facto ' firstborn,' because all are kings " (Dr. Lightfoot on Col. i. 15). See chap. i. 6 ; also, " as instances of the figurative use of Jirstborn in the Old Testament, where the idea of priority of birth is over- sliadowed by and lost in the idea of pi'e-eminence," Job xviii. 13 ; Isa. xiv. 30. If this be the true inter- pretation, 1 Pet. ii. !• unites the two thoughts which this figure suggests, " Ye are ... a royal priesthood " (see above, verse 16) ; and the whole of that verse, especially as compared witli Ex. iv. 22, well illus- trates the position here assigned to the company of the faithful upon earth. The word which we have here rendered congregation, moreover, is that Avhich is regu- larly applied to tho Church of Christ. There is, therefore, very much to be said on behalf of this inter- pretation, which is in every way attractive. And yet, full of interest as is such an explanation of the special words, it seems certainly unsuitable to the passage as a whole. It is not easy to believe that the words "and to myriads " are to be taken l)y themselves. It is still more difficult to explain the introduction of the living Church on earth in this positioii — between angels and the '' God of all," whilst " the spirits of just men made perfect " are mentioned later, in an association from 3V. I The Heavenly Fellowship. HEBREvVS, XII. Jesus, Mediator of a New Covenant. Jerusalem, and to an innumerable com- pany of angels, <-^^ to the general assem- bly and church of the firstborn, which are written ^ in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just 2 Or, testament. 1 Or, enrolled. men made perfect, (^4) and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,^ and to the blood of sprinliling, that speaketh better things than that o/ Abel. ^^'"^ See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. whicli the Church on earth cannot be severed — with " Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant and the blood of sprinkling." For these reasons especially it seems necessary to adopt the first-mentioned arrangement of the words : '" ye have come near ... to myriads of angels, a festal assembly and congregation of the first- born enrolled in heaven." Two passages of the Old Testament seem to have been chiefly in the writer's mind (Deut. xxxiii. 2, and Dan. vii. 10) ; in each of these the Lord appears attended by " myriads of angels," who stand before Him and minister to Him (Ps. ciii. 20). We who by means of the " better hope draw near to God " (chap. vii. 19) are led to this " holy hill " and city, and through the hosts of '' ministering spirits " into the very presence of the '' God of all." The de- scriptive words which follow are borrowed from the history of Israel. The first (Ezek. xlvi. 11 ; Hos. ii. 11 ; ix. 5 ; Amos v. 21 ; Isa. Ixvi. lU) is the general and joyous gathering for the feasts of the Lord ; the second is the word used throughout for the " church in the wilderness," the " congregation " of Isi-ael. The latter points to the united body of the servants of God, the former to the joyful gathering for His service. The second word is so commonly used of Israel and of the Christian Church that it has been denied that any other application is ever made ; but there is certainly an exception in Ps. Ixxxix. 7 (a Psalm which, as we have seen, was much in the writer's thoughts), " God is greatly to be feared in the congregation of the saints." How fitly angels — who in Job i. 6, ii. 1, xxxviii. 7 (comji. Ps. xxix. 1, et al.), are called "sons of God," are here spoken of as " firstborn," needs no explanation ; they are the enrolled citizens of heaven, whose assembly we are permitted to join (Rev. v. 11; comp. Luke xx. .36). (23) And to God the Judge of all.— The order of the Greek seems to require Ihe rendering, and to a Judge [ivho is) God of all. Up to this point our thought has rested on the heavenly world and those who from the time of their creation have been its inhabitants. Men who have passed through this earthly life have no essential right to citizenship in the " heavenly Jeru- salem." They come before a Judge (comp. chap, ix, 27). '• The Lord shall judge His people " (chap. x. 30), severing between His servants and His foes (Mai. iii. 18 ; iv. 1), condemning the wicked, and receiving the righteous to His own dwelling-place. This Judge is " God of all " — of angels and of righteous souls (Wisd. iii. 1), and of Christian men who " draw nigh " to the celestial city. How chavacteristic of the ^vriter and his theme is the introduction of those solemn words into the midst of this description of Christian privi- lege and blessing. And to the spirits of just men made perfect. — The last verses of chap. xi. are at once called before the mind l)y these words. The " righteous " men have "by faith" run their course (chaps, x. 38; xi. 4, 7; Phil. iii. 12); they have obtained the promises (chaps, vi. 15; xi. 1). Tlie analogy of Scripture forbids us to consider tlieir present state as the full consummation ; for that, these " sinrits" and we who are yet " in the body" await the day of the resurrection. These words, however, do not refer to the period of the Old Cove- nant only ; indeed they do not in sti'ictness belong to that period at all. The spirits of the righteous sciwants of Christ join the same fellowship ; and only when Christ was manifested does the state to which the name " perfection " is thus given seem to have begun. What was received by those "spirits of the righteous" when they saw the day of Christ, we cannot tell ; but the teaching of Scripture seems to bo that they were raised to some higher state of blessedness. These are the new inhabitants of the world above; they have come into the presence of God by means of the blood of sprinkling, through Jesus. (24) And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. — Rather, a new coveiKint. There is another change in the Greek which it is not easy to express. In all other places in which we read of the New Covenant (chaps, viii. 8, 13 ; ix. 1-5 ; Luke xxii. 20 ; 1 Cor. xi. 25 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6) a word is used which im- plies newness of kind and quality ; here it is a covenant which is newly made — literally " young," having all the freshness of youth in comparison with that which long since was waxing old (chap. viii. 13). Here also, if we follow the order of the original (see chaps, ii. 9 ; iii. 1 ; xii. 2, et al.), the description precedes, and the name " Jesus " follows, thus standing between the words which describe His covenant and those which speak of His blood. And to the blood of sprinkling. — Rather, and to blood of sprinhlincj that speaketh better (or, more powerfully) than Abel. Jesus is Mediator of a new covenant (chaps, viii. 6 ; ix. 15) through the shedding of His blood (chaps, ix. 15—17 ; x. 29). This is " blood of sprinkling," blood which cleanseth the conscience from dead works to serve a living God (chap. ix. 14) : it was typified by the blood of the covenant with which Moses sprinkled all the people (chap. ix. 19, 20). Abel being dead yet sj)eaketli (chap. xi. 4), for his blood crieth for vengeance. This blood speaks with greater power, and speaks not for wrath but for puri- fication and atonement. 1 John ii. 1, 2, completes the contrast : God was the Avenger of " righteous Abel," but Jesus Christ the righteous is our Advocate with the Father, and He is tlie projntiation for our sins. It does not seem probable that the writer designs a detailed contrast between the several particidars of these verses and of verses 18—21. The number in each case is the same {six), and in the case of the first and last some analogy may be traced; but this is all that can be said with safety. If our inteiin-e- tation of these verses is correct, there is no mention of the Church on earth. But can we wonder at this ? It is to that living Church that the words themselves are from age to age addressed. They describe the blessed heavenly fellowship to which each servant of Christ now toiling on earth is joined: when lie has run the race set before him, he will, through the blood of sprinkling and through Jesus the Mediator, reach the company of the just made perfect, and stand before the " God of all." (25) Refuse not.— In verse 19 we have read that the Israelites entreated that they might no more hear the 343 Tlbe Slutking of tJie EartL HEBREWS, XIII. Tlte Kingdom which cannot be moved. 2 Or, let ua hold /a»t. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn aAvay from him that speaketh from heaven: (26) whose voice then shook the earth : but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. ^'^^ And this ivord, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of > 2,fc,r" "' those things that are shaken,^ as ofj ^-^L!' things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have^ grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear : (^^^ for our God is a consuming fire. CHAPTER XIII.— (1) Let brotherly voice of God (literally, deprecated the speaking of more words). Twice in this verse the same word is used in the sense of declining to listen, with clear reference to the earlier verse. Him that speaketh. — God speaking to us from heaven (chap. i. 1, 2). See below. For if they escaped not who refused. — Rather (accoi-diug to the better reading of the Greek), For if they escaped not when they refused on earth Him that ivarned. The terrors which accompanied the giving of the Law were designed to impress all hearts with the fearful peril of disobedience. In shrink- ing from the voice of Him that warned they could not escape the declaration of the Law or the terrible penalties which awaited all transgressors. If we turn away. — Rather, who turn away from Him that {warneth) from heaven. The argument is similar to that of chap. ii. 2, 3, where the same word " escape " is found. He from whom they turned aside on earth is He who now speaks to us ; but then His voice was heard amidst earthly terrors, now His reve- lation comes through His Son who is exalted in heaven. If we do not hearken to the word of life and promise that is ever coming to us from God through His Son, it will be because we deliberately " turn away," for the excuse of the panic-stricken Israelites cannot be ours. The voice that speaks on earth fell on the outward ear, but Ho who speaks from heaven makes His voice heard in the inner conscience ; the one may fail to be heard and understood, the other will find us out, and is neglected only through stubbornness of will. Much less, then, sliall we escape if we turn away from Him who warns from heaven. (26) Shook the earth.— Ex. xix. 18, 19 ; Judg. v. 4, 5. The terrors of Sinai were, moreover, a tj^ie of a more terrible revelation of judgment, when not only shall the earth tremble, but the earth and the heaven shall be moved, and all that is transitory and mutable shall pass away. Tlie words of Hag. ii. 6 are taken as a prophecy of this consummation. The reference of the prediction of which this forms part to the first coming of the Messiah is passed over ; it is only as bearing upon tlie last days that the words are quoted here. Now he hath promised.— This whole time of waiting is includi-'n. The great difficulty of the verse is to ascertain on what word this clause depends. (1) If upon " removing," the sense will be : This word . . . signifieth the removing of the things made (as being created things), that the things not shaken may remain. The next verse throws light on the writer's meaning ; there that which " cannot be shaken " is the kingdom which wo receive : he is not speaking of tliat which belongs to a material creation. (2) The other view can only be briefly mentioned : Tliis word . . . signifieth the removing of the things shaken, as of things that have been made in order that the things not shaken may remain. The idea is striking — that created things were made for the very pm-pose of gi\ang place to what shall abide ; but the other view seems to give the more probable meaning of the verse. (28) Receiving a kingdom. — These words clearly contain a reference to Dan. \'ii. 18, " The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom." Nor can it well be doubted that the closing verses of Hag. ii. are also before the writer's mind; after verse 21, Avhieh repeats the words of verse 6, quoted above, the prophet declares the overthrow of earthly kingdoms, and con- tinues to His servant Zerubbabel the Messianic promise. Christ has made His people kings; and when heaven and earth have passed away, they shall be found heirs of a kingdom that cannot be shaken (chap. ii. 5 — 9). Let us have grace. — Many render the last word thanlcf Illness, but the ordinary translation, is prefer- able. There is for us a " throne of grace " to which we may draw near and " find grace " (chap. iv. 16). The characteristic of our Christian state is that we " have grace," and have not " fallen back from the grace of God" (verse 15). Let us continue in this state and thus be enabled to offer our priestly seri-ice unto God (chaps, ix. 14; xiii. 15). Acceptably. — Literally, ivell-pleasing. (See chaps. xi. 5 ; xiii. 16.) With reverence and godly fear. — According to the true reading of the Greek, the meaning is ivith reverent fear and awe. The former word is that which occupies so important a place in chap. a*. 7. (See Note.) The tone of the whole chapter — we might rather say, the whole Epistle — is presented in this combination of " grace " and acceptable service with awe and reverent fear. The last thought connects itself closely with the following verse. (29) A quotation from Dent. iv. 24. There these words follow a solemn warning against idolatry. This passage then belongs to the same class as chap. x. 27, 28, 30. (See the Notes.) XIII. This concluding chapter is chiefly occupied with special exhortations relating to Christian conduct: with these, however, are intermingled some important and charac- teristic references to tlie leading themes of the Epistle. (1) Brotherly love. — Better, The love of the brethren. (See Rom. xii. 10, and Note ; 1 Thess. iv. 9 ; 344 Tice Love of the Brethren. HEBEEWS, XIII. Jesus Christ, the Same for Ever, love continue. ^-^ Be not forgetful to Chap. xiii. 1— entertain strangers : for 6. Exhortation thereby some have enter- to brotherly , • -,'^ ^ love, purity, tamed, angels unawares, contentment. ' C^) Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them ; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. ^^^ Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed unde- filed : but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. <^* Let your conversa- tion he without covetousness ; and he content with such things as ye have : 1 Or, are the guides. for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." <^^ So that we may boldly say. The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (^^ Remember them which have the rulei over you, who ^hap. xiii. 7- have spoken unto you 17. Imitate the word of God: whose ^fdes^^^sir faith follow, considering Christ's re- the end of their conver- P^oach. sation. . xii. 16), and also against the false asceti- cism of men "forbidding to marry" (I Tim. iv. 3). The laxity of morals among Gentiles (Note on Acts xv. 20) and the prevalence of divorce amongst Jews (Matt. V. 32) explain the sudden introduction of such warnings : of these sinners the all-seeing God will be the judge. (Comp. 1 Thess. iv. 6.) (5) In these two verses (4, 5) we have the .same con- nection of thought as in chap. xii. 16; Col. iii. 5 ; Eph. v. 3. " Impurity and covetousness may bo said to divide between tliem nearly the whole domain of human selfishness and vice " (Lightfoot on Col. iii. 5). Conversation. — Literally, way of thought and life, character, disposition. For he. — Rather, for He Himself liath said. As in many other places in this Epistle, the word of Scrip- tixre is regarded as directly spoken by God ; but there is an emphasis here ("He Himself") which well suits the remarkable impressiveness of the words quoted, " I will in no ■wise let thee go ; no, nor will I forsake thee." This promise of divine support and protection does not occur exactly in the same form in the Old Testament, but is clearly taken from Deut. xxxi. 6, " He will not fail thee nor forsake thee." (Comp. also Gen. xxviii. 15 ; Josh. i. 5 ; 1 Chron. xxviii. 20.) The appositeness of these words and those which follow (verse 6) will be seen if we remember the trials which the Hebrew Christians had already endured (cliap. x. 32 — 34). It is very probable that this thought supplies the link of connection between verses 5, 6, and verse 7. (6) We may boldly say.— Rather, so that we say with courage. The words of the quotation (Ps. cxviu. 6) should be arranged thus: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear : what shall man do unto me ? " (7) Which have the rule.— Rather, which were your leaders (verse 17, 24; Acts xv. 22), who spalce imto you the word of God. These spiritual guides had been removed from them by death. Whose faith follow.— Better, and, contemplating the end (or, issue) of their life, imitate their faith. Their Christian life and course ( Jas. iii. 13 ; 1 Pet. i. 15, et al.), had been known by the Church ; they, too, have obtained a good report "by faith" (chap. xi. 2), and all who contemi)late the blessed issue of such a life will be strengthened to imitate their faith. We may well suppose that some had died a martyr's death, but the writer seems carefully to avoid any direct expres- sion of this thought ; his words ajiply to aU who have ended their course in the ti-iumph of faith. This verse recalls a striking passage in the Book of Wisdom, chap, ii. 17 — 20; especially verse 17, where the imgodly say of the righteous man, " Let us see if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him." (8) Jesus Christ the same . . .—Rather, Jesus Christ is yesterday aiid to-day the same; yea, also for ever. Their earlier guides have passed away (verse 7) ; their Lord and Saviour abides the same for ever. He who is the subject of all Christian teaching is the same, therefore (ver.se 9) " be not carried away by divers teachings." Thus, this verse stands connected both with what precedes and witli what follows. " Yester- day " carries the thought back to the lifetime of the teadiers now no more ; what the Saviour was to them, that will He be to their survivors. The wliole period .since Ho "sat down on the right hand of God" (chap. x. 12, 13) is covered by this word. What He was "yester- day and to-day " He will be for ever. (See chap. i. 11, 12.) 346 The Heart established by Grace. HEBEEWS, XIII. The Reproach of Christ. <9) Be not carried about -witTi divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good tiling that the heart be established with grace ; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. <^*^' We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. <"' For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. (12) Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people Avith his own blood, suffered without the gate. ^^^^ Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (^"^^ For (9) Be not carried about. — The better reading of the Greek gives a meaning somewhat clifEereut, Be not carried aivnii by divers and stranye teachings. The ordinary reading may liave come in from Eph. iv. 14. The " teacliings " by which tliey were in danger of being led astray were various, and were all foreign to the one true word. The contrasts expressed in the second part of this verse and in verses 10, 11, throw light on the nature and source of the erroneous doctrine. Its subject was not "grace," but "meats;" its pro- moters were connected with those who serve tlie Tabernacle. Hence the writer is probably speaking of doctrines and practices similar to those censured by St. Paul in Col. ii. 16—23. (See the introductory Note on Rom. xiv. ; also 1 Tim. iv. 3.) In chap. ix. 10 we read of " meats and drinks" in connection with the Law of Moses ; here the divers and strange teachings " must include human additions to that Law and perver- sions of its spirit. With grace ; not with meats.— Better, hy grace^ not by me(ds. Instead of being " carried away by strange teachings," let your hearts be made firm and sure by grace. As the whole system of ceremonial observance is alluded to under tlio one term " meats," so the blessings of the Christian faith are comprised under "grace," a word used throughout this Epistle with peculiar significance. (See especially chaps, x. 29; xii. 15, 28.) One human system of teaching will but lead on to another ; grace will keep the heart firm in its loyal love to Jesus Christ, who is ever "the same" (verse 8). Which have not profited.- Literally, in tohich they that ivalked ivere not profited. To the English reader the mode of expression must appear peculiar ; in the Greek, however, there is little or no incongruity, for the word which we render " walk " is used most freely to denote a course or manner of life. Comp. Eph. ii. 10, "unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Here the meaning is, tliat those who have made these external observances the rule of their life have failed of the profit which they sought. (Comp. chap. vii. 18, 19-) (10, 11) " Yfe need not such profitless teaching ; we already have sustenance which is 'meat indeed,' by wliicli the heart is established." According to the Law, the priests (they who " servo the Tabernacle," see chap. viii. 5) received for themselves a greater or smaller portion of the animals offered as peace-offerings and trespass-offerings ; in some cases, also, the flesh of the sin-offerings fell to their lot (Lev. iv., v., vii., xxiii.). When the high priest presented a sin-offering on his own behalf (Lev. iv. .3 — 12), or for the con- gregation (verses 13 — 21), he sprijikled some of the blood in the Holy Place in front of the veil ; on the Day of Atonement alone was the blood taken within the veil into the Most Holy Place. In the case of these three offerings the priest received no part of the 346 animal sacrificed ; certain portions were burnt on the altar of burnt-offering, and the rest of the body was carried forth "without the camp," and wholly con- sumed by fire. Though the writer here speaks of animals whose blood is brought into the Holy Place through the high priest, as an offering for sin, it is probable that (as in chaps, v. — ix.) he has in thought the Day of Atonement only, so that here " the Holy Place" bears the sense of the " Holiest of all." (See Note on chap. ix. 2.) (It will be noted that throughout ho uses the present tense ; see the same Note). For us there is but one sacrifice for sin, the efiicacy of which endures for ever (chap. x. 12) : Jesus entering the Hohest Place for us in virtue of His own sacrifice has fulfilled the tyjie contained in the high pi'iest's sprink- ling of the blood. But whereas those priests might not eat of their sin-offering, to us greater privilege is given ; we feed on Him Avho was slain for us, whose tlesh was for the life of the world (John vi. 51 — 56). We then (who are all " pi-iests unto God ") " have au altar of which," on the very principles of their Law, " they that serve the Tabei-nacle (see chap. viii. 5) have no right to eat." The stress is laid on the sacrifice, of which we eat, not upon the altar itself. If separately interpreted, the altar will be the place of sacrifice, the Cross. (12) The sin-offering was burned without the camp. Jesus who in all other points fulfilled the law of atone- ment fulfilled it in this point also, in that He suffered " without the gate " (Matt, xxvii. 32 ; John xix. 20). The two expressions answer to one another, each denoting that which lay beyond the sacred precincts, outside the special dwelling-place of God's people. " The people,' see chap. ii. 17 ; " sanctify," chaps, ii. 11; ix. 13; X. 10. (13) The suffering " without the gate " was a symbol of His rejection by the Jews. All who would be His must share the reproach which came upon Him, who was cast out by His people and crucified (chap. xi. 26) : they also must go forth "without the camp," for- sakijig the company of His foes. Each one must for himself make choice either of the synagogue or of the church of Christ ; between the two there can be no fellowship. (1^) In this verse there seems to be a union of two thoughts : (1) We are free to go forth from the city so long held sacred, for our hopes are bound up with no abiding earthly sanctuary. (2) We may not shrink from the reproach of Christ because it will sever us from kindred and friends ; for by the very profession of our faith we are " strangers and sojoui-ners " (chap. xi. 13), seeking after the heavenly Jerusalem (chaps, xi. 10; xii. 22). How impressive are these words when read in the light of the events then unlooked for, yet so near at hand, issuing in the destruction of both Temple and city ! We seek one to come.— Rather, we seek afte that (city) which is to come. The Sacrifice of Praise. HEBREWS, XIII. Pray for us. here have we no continuing city, hnt we seek one to come." ^^^^ By Lim there- fore let us offer the sacrifice of j^raise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to^ his name. (^'') But to do good and to communicate forget not : for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. ^^''^ Obey them that have the rule over^ you, and submit yourselves : for they watch for your souls, as they that must give 1 Gr. confessing to. 2 Or, guide. account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief : for that is unprofit- able for you. (18) Pray for us : for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live hon- —2^.' Closing estly. (^^) But I beseech salutations and you the rather to do this, P'^^y"'^- that I may be restored to you the sooner. (20) ]S]-Qyv the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, (15) By him.— Better, through Him. Tlirongli His sacrifice, which has made atonement, we are hallowed (verse 12), and fitted for our priestly service (1 Pet. ii. 5). Let us offer the sacrifice.— Eather, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continualhj unto God, tJiat is, fruit of lips viaJcing confession to His name. The sacrifice we may bring is that symbolised by the thank- offering of Lev. vii. 12 — where the same word is used. (See Vs. 1. 14, 23.) " We will render the fruit of our lips" is the Greek version of Hos. xiv. 2 ; the Hebrew text (as we have it) differs in expression but not in meaning, "We ^ill render our lips as buUocks" — i.e., as sacrifices. (Comp. Ps. cxix. 108; Isa. Ivii. 19.) The fruit is borne by lips which offer thankful acknowledgment to the name of God (Ps. cxiii. 1). (16) And yet another offering may we bring : with thankfulness to Him must be joined acts of well- doing to men ; these, too, being presented as saciifices to God. To communicate — i.e., freely to impart to others. (See Eom. xii. 13; xv. 26; 2 Cor. ix. 13; 1 Tim. vi. 18.) (1") The present section of the chapter begins (verse 7) and ends (verse 17) with a reference to the rulers of the Church : Remember your fonner leaders, and imitate their faith ; obey them that lead you now. Submit yourselves. — Better, yield {to them). Be- sides f ulfiUing their injunctions, be ready to comply with their wishes and requests. For they watch. — The Greek is emphatic : " For it is they that watch on behalf of your souls as having to give account." That they may do it. — Be obedient and yielding to them, tliat they may do this (may watch for your souls) with joy and not sighing (or, groaning), for this wordd he unprofitahle for you ; if ye so live that they must watch over you with grief, this will both weaken their hands and bring on you the divine displeasure. No words could more powerfully present to members of the Church the motives for obedience to their spiritual guides ; and to these guides themselves tlie ideal of their work and life, as men who are keeping watch for souls, either with rejoicing or with mourning (Acts XX. 31), ever mindful of the account they must give to God for Ihe flock which He entrusted to their care (Ezek. iii. 18; xxxiii. 7; xxxiv. 10; 1 Pet. v. 4). (18) Tlie following verses — containing personal notices relating to the writer himself and his readers (verses 18, 19, 22, 23), a prayer on their belialf (verses 20, 21), a doxology (verse 21). and brief salutations (verses 24, 25) — present many points of resemblance to the concluding sections in some of St. Paul's Epistles. The first words, " Pray for us." are found in Col. iv. 3 ; 1 Thess. V. 25 ; 2 Thess. iii. 1. That the winter does not use the plural pronoun of himself alone appears certain from the change in verse 19 ; but it is not clear whether he is associating himself with the rulers of the t hurch (mentioned in verse 17), or with the companions in labour who were with him as he wrote. We trust. — A change in the reading of the Greek requires the translation : For we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring in all things to conduct ourselves ivell. Some prejudice against the writer, or some mistrust of his motives, must have existed in the Church ; that amongst Hebrew Christians a disciple of St. Paul should be misrepresented or misunderstood, can cause us no surprise. But whatever suspicion might be cherished by a few, the next verse is proof that he knew himself to be beloved by the many. (19> But I beseech you, — Rather, And I exhort you the more (literally, tlie more abundantly) to do this. All that we can certainly infer from this verse (see Introduction) is that the winter had formerly been asso- ciated with those whom he now addresses, and that he is at present hindered from returning to them. ^0) Now the God of peace.— See Rom. xv. 33; xvi. 20 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 11 ; Phil. iv. 9 ; 1 Thess. v. 23 ; 2 Thess. iii. 16. In almost all these places there is something in the context suggestive of strife or turmoil to be brought to rest by "the God of peace." Hence we may well believe that the writer here has in thought those di^•islons of thought and feeling which have been hinted at in Acrses 17 — 19, and which in truth were the expression of the deep-seated mental unrest which it is the object of the Epistle to remove. Our Lord Jesus. — As in chaps, ii. 9, iii. 1, xii. 2, the name is introduced after the description, according to the order of the Greek : " Xow the God of peace that brought up from the dead (Rom. x. 7) the great Shep- herd of the sheep, by the blood of an eterual covenant, our Lord Jesus . . ." Two passages of the prophets have contributed to the language of this remarkable verse: (1) Isa. Ixiii. 11. " ^\ here is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock ?"' Here the shepherds are no doubt Moses and Aaron (Ps. Ixxvii. 20); the Greek translation, however, has, " Wliere is he that raised up out of the sea the shepherd of the slieep ? " Moses, who led Israel through the sea, was brought up therefrom in safety to be the " shep- herd " of his people Israel ; by the same Almighty hand the great Shepherd of the sheep has been brought up from among the dead. (2) Zech. ix. 11. "As for tliec also, by tlie blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." In other words, " because of the blood which ratified thy covenant (Ex. xxiv. 8) I have released thy prisoners." As in the former case, tlie resemblance between the words in the LXX. and tliose here used is sufficient to con\-ince us that the passage was in tlie writer's thought. In {i.e., in virtue of) the blood of an 347 The Everlasting Covenant. HEBREWS, XIII. Salutations. that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, • ^-^^ make you perfect in every good work to do his will, work- ing- in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom he glory for ever and ever. Amen. (") And I beseech you, brethren, sulfer the word of exhortation : for I have written a letter unto you in few words. 1 Or, testament. 2 Or, doing. <23) Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty ; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. (^4) Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. ^^^ Grace he with you all. Amen. ^ Written to the Hebrews from Italy by Timothy. eternal covenant (chap. ix. 15 — 18) God lias raised up the Lord Jesus. The covenant was ratified by His blood ; the first of the blessings of the covenant, and that in which all blessing lay included, was this, that God raised Him up from the dead to be " the great Shepherd of the sheep." If these prophetic words re- specting Him who brings jDeace to the world (Zech. ix. 10, et ah), Avere in the writer's mind, how natural is his appeal to the God of 2)eace. It has been often observed that this is the only passage in the Epistle in which we read of the resurrection of our Lord apart from His ascension ; elsewhere His exaltation is contemplated as one act (chap. ii. 9, et al.). It is not certain that we have an exception even hei'e, for though the meaning of Rom. X. 7 is beyond doubt, the words may in this place be used with a wider meaning. (21) Make you perfect.— To "make perfect" is the translation of two different words in this Epistle. In the one, which is of frequent occun-ence (chaps, ii. 10; X. 1; xii. 23, et al.), "perfect" stands contrasted with that which is immature, which has not attained its end and aim. The other, which is used here (and in a somewhat different sense in chaps, x. 5, and xi. 3), rather conveys the tliought of completeness, complete equipment or jireparation. Every good work.— The best authorities read "every good thing;" and below, substitute " us " for " you." Working.— Literally, doing, or making. Tlie words of Phil. ii. 12, 13, are different, but the general thought is the same. " Well pleasing " recalls chaps, xi. 5; xii. 28; verse 16. (Rom. xii. 2; Eph. v. 10.) Through Jesus Christ.— That is, "working in us through Jesus Christ that which is well-pleasing in His sight." In verse 20 (as in chap. ii. 9) we read of the exaltation of " Jesus." Here, where the subject of thought is the lasting mediation of our High Priest, the writer introduces the complete name " Jesus Christ," thus preparing for the doxology which follows. That this ascription of praise is addressed to our Saviour (as in 2 Tim. iv. 18 ; Rev. i. 6 ; 2 Pet. iii. 18), it seems hardly possible to doubt. Glory.— Rather, the glory. (See Gal. i. 5.) C^) And I beseech you.— Rather, But I exhort you, brethren, bear with the loord of exhortation; for indeed it is in feio words that I have written unto you. How fitly the whole Epistle may be spoken of as an " exhortation " is obvious. (See Note on chap. v. 11.) And if wo take into account the subjects with which the writer has been dealing, wc shall not wonder that a Letter which might have been read to the assembled church in less than an hour should be described as brief. (Comp. 1 Pet. v. 12.) (^3) It is clear that the Hebrew Christians knew of the imprisonment of Timothy, but had not heard the news of his release. In 2 Cor. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1; Philem. verse 1, Timothy is spoken of as "the brother;" in 1 Thess. iii. 2, and here, as " our brother " (for the word " our " printed in italics in the Authorised version, belongs to the true text). With him, the writer adds, " if he come shortly [sooner than the date at which he himseM must depart], I will see you." (24) That have the rule over you.— Better, that are your leaders : see verses 7, 17. They of Italy salute you.— These much dis- cussed words are consistent with either of two hypo- theses : — (1) That the writer is in Italy, and salutes "the Hebrews " in the name of the Christians of Italy : (2) That the writer is addressing a Church of Italy, and sends greeting from Christians who have their home in Italy, but are now with him. (See Introduction.') (-5) Grace be with you all.— This brief closing benediction is also found in Titus iii. 15, and, with the omission of " all," in Col. iv. 18 ; 1 Tim. vi. 21 ; 2 Tim. iv. 22. [As in the other Epistles the subscription is destitute of authority, not being found (in the form given above) in any MS. of the Epistle earlier than the ninth century. No ancient MS. contains more than the simple notice, " To the Hebrews," except the Alexandrian, which adds " written from Rome." The mention of Rome or Italy is, no doubt, due to verse 24. It is possible also that verse 23 is the only authority for the reference to Timothy as the bearer of the Epistle : for an ancient interpretation understands that verse to speak, not of the release of Timothy from captivity, but of his departure on some official mission.] [The works chiefly used have been the commentaries on the Epistle by Bleek, Delit/.sch,Hofmann, Liinemann, Kurtz, Bengel, Ewald, Alford, Wordsworth, McCaul, and Biesenthal ; Westcott On the Canon ; Lightfoot's Clement ; Bleek's Einleitung in das N. T. (by Mangold); Ewald's Gesc/iic/i^e; Davidson's two Ju^ro- ductions to the New Testament; Reuss's History of Christian Theology ; Riehm's special work on the Doctrinal System of this Kpistle ; Stanley's Sermons and Essays ; the Commentaries on the Psalms by Delitzsch, Perowne, Jennings and Lowe ; and Carpzov'a Sacrae Exei'citatiunes.J 348 THE GENEEAL JPISTLE OF JAMES. INTRODUCTION THE GENEEAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. I. The Writer. — Questions of Identity. — " James, a servant (literally, a slave) of God and the Lord Jesus Christ : " this is all the direct information to be learned from the author concerning himself. The name James was, of course, a favourite Avith the Jews under the more common form of Jacob, and is familiar to us in studying the books of the New Testament. We read there of : — 1. James the son of Zebedee. 2. James the son of Alphseus. 3. James " the Loi*d's brother.'' 4. James the son of Mary. 5. James " the Less " (or, " the Little " ). 6. James the brother of Jude. 7. James the first Bishop of Jerusalem. Is it possible for us to decide between so many, or even feel fairly convinced that we can identify one of these as the writer of our Epistle? To reject them all, and ascribe it to another James, of whom no further mention is made, would seem to be the addition of fresh and needless difficulty to a problem ah'eady sufficiently obscure. The first claimant in the above list may be dismissed at once, from the fact of his early death. James the Great, as he is called, the brother of John, was executed by Herod Agrippa I. in a.d. 44 (Acts xii. 2), a date much too early for this Letter; and no tradition or opinion worthy of consideration has ever atti-ibuted it to him. The next inquiry must be one of much circumspec- tion, beset as it is with thorns of controversy : in fact, the conflict of authorities must seem well nigh hopeless to an ordinary mind. Apart from the main question, many collateral ones have arisen to embitter the dis- pute, and by no means the last word has been said on either side. If, then, an attempt bo here made to arrive at some conclusion, it must confessedly be with much misgiving, and fuU admission of the almost equal arguments against our decision. By comparing St. Paul's description concerning numbers 4 and 7 (above) in Gal. i. 19 and ii. 9 — 12, it is thought he must be referring to one and the same man ; let that be granted, therefore, to begin with. We may identify numbers 3 and 4 by the knowledge that James the son of Mary had a brother called Joses (Matt, xxvii. 56), and so also had James " the Lord's brother" (Matt. xiii. 55) ; and further we may consider numbers 3 and 6 identical, because each was brother to Judo (Mark vi. 3 ; Jude, verse 1) ; James the Little, number 5, is clearly tlie same as tlie son of Mnry. number 4. (Comp. Matt, xxvii. 5H ; Mark xv. 40; Luke xxiv. lo.i 'llieso ir.iglit. it is true, be coincidences merely, and. wlien we | remember the frequency of Hebrew names, seem in- 35 sufficient for more than hypothesis; but we are arguing on probability only, and not to absolute demonstration. Thus far, then, numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, are thought to be one and the same pei-son — the Apostle James, and he the Lord's brother ; the claims of number 1 have been disposed of ; those of number 2, the son of Alphaeus, remain. The question, perliaps the greatest of all, is whether the process of identification can be extended furtlier, for on this depends largely the issue of the dispute with regard to the bretlu-en of the Lord and the perpetual vij-ginity of His mother. Further Consideration of "the Brethren of the Lord." — We have no need in the present instance to enter on the war-path of this theological quarrel. There seems an intentional silence in Holy Writ concerning the family of our Saviour, to teach us, perhaps, that it stood in no spiritually peculiar position nearer to Him than we may be ourselves, and to remind us of His precious words, " Whosoever shall do the wiU of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother" (Matt. xii. 48 — 50). Bearing this in mind, and with thoughts of peace in our heart for those who truly — and reverently — differ from us, we may soon learn the outlines of this discussion. The terms " brother " and " brethren " meet us so often in the New Testament, as applied to Jesus Christ, that ve can hardly pass them by. Do they infer the strict and actual relationship, or one merely collateral? 1. Uterine, or Helvidian Theory. — The advocates of the natural sense, that these men were tlie younger sons of Joseph and Mary, urge the plain meaning of the Greek word adelj^hos, i.e., "brother," and deny its use figuratively. They point, moreover, to Matt. i. 25, and sujDpose from it the birth of other children in the holy family. Those who shrink from such a view are charged with sentiment, as impugners of marriage, and even with ideas more or less Mauichnean concerning the impurity of matter. The German commentator Bleek, and Dean Alford and Dr. Davidson amoiigst ourselves, contend thus for the actual brother'iood, maintaining the theory originally propounded by Helvidius, a writer of the fourth century, answered by the great Augustine. To their first argument we may answer that in holy Scripture there are four senses of brotherhoofi, namely, of blood, of tribe, of nation, of friendship, and the tlirce last of these will all apply to the case in point. As for tlie view Iwsed on Matt. i. 25, the words, either in the Greek tongue or our own, authorise it not. To say " ho did not do such a thing imtil the day of his death " does not (as Bishop Pearson has observed) suggest the inference that he did it then or afterwards; and the term '• tii*»it born " by no means implies a second, even in our present use of language, under similar JAMES. circnmstances. Above all, though it is confessedly no argument, tliere is the feeling alluded to by Pearson and others, and acquiesced in by many, that there could have been no fresh maternity on the part of " Her who with a awcet thanksKiving Took in tranquillity what God niii,'ht bring; Blessed llini, and waited, and within her living Felt the arousal of a Holy Thing." "And as after His death His body was placed in a sepulchre ' wherein never man before was laid,' so it seemed fitting that the womb consecrated by His pr.'senco should not henceforth have borne anything of man." It is right, however, that the reader should be referred to the excellent Note of Professor Plumptre on Matt. xii. 46, where the question is carefully discussed. 2. Agnatic, or Epiphanian Theory. — A second class of divines are in accordance with the theory of Epi- phauius, who was Bishop of Salamis, in Cjl^rus, towards the end of the fourth century, and no mean antagonist of the Helvidians. At the head of their modern repre- sentatives, facile princeps for scholarship and fairness, is Canon Lightfoot. The brethren of the Lord are said to bo the sons of Joseph by a former wife, i.e., before his espousal of the Virgin Mary, and are rightly termed adelphoi accordingly. Far from being of the number of the Twelve, they were believers only after Christ's resurrection. Thus, then, are explained such texts as Matt. xii. 46, Mark iii. 31, Luke viii. 19, John vii. 5. By this supposition, James the Loi'd's brother must be a distinct person from James the son of Alphaeus. But an objection — nay, " the one which has been hurled at the Helvidian theory with great force . . . and fatal effect" — is strangely thought by Lightfoot to be powerless against his favourite Epi- phanian doctrine. It is this : our Lord on the cross commended His mother to St. John : " Behold tliy mother," " Behold thy .son " (chap. xix. 26,27); "and from that hour," we are told, " that disciple took her unto his own home." If the Uterine theory be right, she had at least four sons living at the time. " Is it con- ceivable that our Lord would thus have snapped asunder the most sacred ties of natural affection ? " Nor could the fact of His brethren's unbelief " override the paramount duties of filial piety ; " and the objection is weakened further by our knowledge that within a few days " all alike are converted to the faith of Christ : yet she, their mother, living in the same city, and joining with them in a common worship (Acts i. 14), is consigned to the care of a stranger, of whose house she becomes henceforth an inmate." Now, all this argument, forcible and fatal as it unquestionably is to the idea of real and full relationship, is hardly less so against that of step-sons. For, seeing they were borne by a former wife, they must have been older than Jesus ; and, on the death of Joseph, the eldest would certainly have become head of the family, in full dominion over the younger children and the widow herself, and with chief responsibility for th(>ir ]»rotec- tion and welfare. The custom prevailed under Roman law as well as Jewish, and exists in the East still : being, in fact, a relic of immemorial antiquity. Nor can we conceive, for other than the weightiest reasons, such as immorality or crime, that our Lord, who came " not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil," would thus openly have set one of its firmest obligations aside. It seems clear that the widowed mother watdiing by the cross, and soon to be childless among women, with the sword of separation piercing to and through h(>r own soul (Luke ii. 35), had none to care for her, except the beloved dis- ciple into whose charge she was given by her dying Son. 362 3. Collateral, or Hieronymian Theory. — Tliere remains one proposition more, known, from the name of its foremost champion, Jerome, as the Hieronymian theory; and this, on the Avhole, presents fewest diffi- culties to the religious mind. The sons of Alphaeus (or Cleopas : the name is the same in different dialects) were the cousins of our Lord, their mother and His being sisters ; and such a relationship would entirely justify the use of the word " brethren." The balance of evidence seems to the writer of these Notes to incline towards this venerable belief; and, identifying "the son of Alphaeus" with "the brother of the Lord," he considers him to have been the James of the Epistle. Unless this solution of the difficulty be allowed, we are committed to the recognition of a third James an Apostle, and one so called in only a secondary sense. It is true the term was not strictly applied to the original Twelve, and therefore might have been applied to a third James as well as to a Barnabas ; and we will further admit that, if James were one of the unbelieving brethren mentioned in John vii. 5, he could hardly have been the early convert enrolled by our Saviour in His apostolic band : though Bishop Wordsworth, on the contrary, thinks that he, like Peter, might have fallen away for a time. A better account for such a state- ment may be sought in the reflection that, although it is recorded " neither did His brethren believe in Him," there is no evidence against them all ; and in the absence of negative proof it seems safer — at least, not iuconsi.stent with the charity which " hopeth all things" — to think of James and Jude as happy exceptions to the family jealousy and mistrust. Again, unless we consider the son of Alphaeus the brother of our Lord, in the tribal sense of Jerome, we must admit the existence of two men, strikingly similar in life and calling, e\ddently related, each with a mother named Mary, and brethren Joses and Jude ; and to which of these two, if they were not one and the same, can the Epistle be best ascribed ? Opinions of Theologians. — These problems, hard as- suredly, seem fairly such as may best be solved by the ingenuity of ancient ^VTiters, well acquainted with con- temporary ideas. The opinions of moderns, such as Lightfoot, Bleek, Alford, and Davidson, are grounded on no discovery of facts hidden from theologians who were at least as able and honest as themselves; and the old testimony has been so thoroughly sifted that, until more be brought forward, we had better remain un- decided if we cannot hold a conclusion fortified by the consensus of Clement of Alexandina and John the Eloquent, in the Greek Church ; Jerome and Augustine, in the Latin ; Pearson, Lardner, Home, Wordsworth, and Ellicott in our oAvn ; and by German ■writers, such as Lampe, Hug, Meier, and Lauge. Conclusion. — Thus we see the best ecclesiastical authority and traditions have pretty constantly assigned the authorship of the catholic Epistle to the third name on our li.st (above), and identified him with the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, in accordance with what we venture to afl&rm is the plainest path out of the maze. Further History of James. — So much externally ; for internal e\'idence we have a singular agreement betweei the fervid abrupt style of the Letter and the charactei of its reputed writer, known as " the Just " by the JewsJ and termed by them (in honour, not reproach) the " Camel^ kneed," from his long and frequent devotions. In nc way conspicuous amongst the disciiiles, he comes int prominence only after the Resurrection ; perhaps that witness to the Lord Christ was specially needed in hial JAMES. case to perfect faith, and to transform the silent man of prayer into the strong and fearless leatler of the infant Church. As tho first Bishop of Jornsalem wo find him (Acts XV.) presiding in a solemn assembly to hear tho mis- sionary reports and to arrang(» for the requirements of Gentile converts. Tlio pastoral letter (Acts xv. 24 — 29) may bo ccmipared witli tlio catliolic one now before us. as it was probably written by tlie same hand. Tho last Scriptural notice of James is (Acts xxi. 18) on St. Paul's final visit to tho Holy City, when, again, a synod of tlie elders seems to have been held. A Greek Christian MTiter, named Hegesippus, himself a convert from Judaism, tells us more of the fate of this " bul- wark " of the fold. Comparing hi.s highly artificial account (preserved for us in the histoiy of Eusebius : too prolix for insertion here) with the narrative in Josephus, the plain truth seems that James the Just was hurled from a pinnacle of the Temple, and finally despatched by stoning, as a believer in Jesus of Nazareth, about the year 69, immediately before the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman emperor Vespasian. Josephus {Ant. xx. 9) accuses the high pnest Ananus, a Sadducee, of the judicial inurder, and declares that the " most equitable of the citizens, and such as wore the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, disliked what was done," and complained to King Agrippa and Albinus the procurator, who, in consequence, removed Ananus from his office. Many authors, ancient and modem, have been of opinion that the martyi'dom of James was tho " filling up of the sins of Jerusalem, and made its cup of guilt to overflow." "Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceed- ing small : Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all." II. His Epistle. — To whom xoritten. — In tho first and chief place, James unquestionably wi'ote to his comitrymen, scattered over the whole eartli, though still belonging to their twelve tribes. But in no sense can tlie Letter be looked upon as an appeal to un- belie\'ing Jews, abounding as it does with references to Christian doctrines held, and Christian works to be maintained, by those who had " the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ." That the majority of its readers would be the poor and meek can hardly be doubted, if we turn to such passages as those in chaji. ii. And it would seem that these struggling societies of humble Christians were in a danger more peculiar to the poor — that is, of envjing and fawning upon tlie rich and well- to-do ; forgetting that they themselves M^ere oppressed by such, dragged before judgment-seats, and exj^osed to the blasphemy and contempt outpoured by un- believers on tlie " Chri.stian" name (chap. ii. 6, 7). Style and Character. — In his denunciation of tho rich def rauders, James breaks out into a fiery elo([uence worthy of an ancient prophet ; the tender change from rebuke of the wrongers to comfort for tlie wronged (chap. V. 7, 8) is xmsurpassed in the wliole roll of inspired utterance; and in condemnation of lust (chap, iv. 1 — 4), pride (chap. iv. 5 — 10), evil speaking (chap, iv. 11, 12), and all worldliness (chap. iv. 13 — 17), tho fervour and righteous indignation of the Apostle show of themselves the manner of his life and death : for again, as with God's serA-ant of old, " the land was not able to bear all his words " (Amos vii. 10). Scope and Aim. — Nothing can be clearer and simpler than tho scope and aim of this Letter ; as tho Sermon on the Mount compared with the rest of Matthew, so this exhortation of James the Just (or " the "Wise," as the 89 353 Greeks love to call him) stands forth among its fellow Epistles, a lovely gospel of good works, of Christian steadfastness and patience. Some theologians un- fortunately, blinded by their OAAm partial apprehension of one side of God's truth, have misread its chajjlers, and found therein an opposition to the doctrine of St. Paul. Luther even could go so far as to call the Epistle " worthless as one of straw." Happily, later criticism has vindicated tlic teaching of the brother of tlie Lord ; and th(^ plainest reader may learn for him- self tliat Paul and James were at one, infallibly moved by the .same Spirit of the living God. State of Religious Opinion : — Judaism and Chris- tianity.— Let us recollect a little more fully the con- dition of the faith among those Christians who were first converted from Judaism. With them the ad- herence to outward forms, tho stickling for the letter of the Law. and other like barren principles, had become a belief, which displayed itself in new shapes, coiTc- sponding with their altered state of refigion. " Where- over," it has bt>en well said, " Christianity did not effect a complete change in the heart the old Jewi.sh spirit naturally manifested itself in the professed converts." It was what our Puritan divines quaintly, but correctly, termed " the Popery of the human heart." The souls that had trusted wholly and entirely in sacrifice as a bare substitution of A-ictims, and deliverance from an indis- criminate vengeance, now clung to faith, as a passive thing, instead. The old idol had, as it were, been torn down by these ardent disciples : a new one was upraised to the vacant niche ; faith in a faith became the leading idea, and the light which was in them turned to dark- ness, the breath of life to death. Affected by Oriental Tlieories. — But perliaps a cause of this confusion is to be foimd much further afield. The Jewish Church had become largely affected by the more remote Eastern thought ; the capti\"ity, while it ei'adicated utterly all wish for idolatry, in- fluenced the chosen people in a strange and unlooked- for way. The power of the mystical specidations of India, more especially of the devout followers of Gotoma Sakya Muni, now known as Buddhists, is only beginning to be rightly pondered by Christian scholars and divines. It was not the Persian systems, nor the Chald«an, but the Hindu (and not infrequently woi-k- ing through, and by means of, them) which peqjlexed anew the Oriental mind. Here was, doubtless, the origin of the Essenes and other offshoots of Judai.sm ; and even in the Church itself similar mischief may be traced in the varying forms of heresy which drove her almost to destruction. The ancient theory of sacrifice in India was abandoned by the Brahmans, and in its place faith was ever}'where preached ; the sole essential was dependence on God ; implicit " reliance on Him made up for all deficiencies in other respects, whilst no attention to the forms of religion or to the niles of morality was of the slightest avail Avithout this all- important sentiment." * Precisely the same wave of thought seems to have broken on the JcAvish Church ; and one not much dissimilar, we know, in later times, has changcMl the whole set of religious tendencies in Western Europe. Denounced accordingly. — It seems, then, that in com- plete aversion from .such innovations, James wrote what he did of moral rigliteousness, as opposed to correct belief ; in other words, contending for a religion of tho heart and not the lips alone ; with him • See Elphinstone's India. Vol. i.. Book 2, chap, iv., quoting from the text-book called Bhag^rat Gita. JAMES. Christianity was indwd " a life, and not a mere bundle of dead opinions." " Wilt thou know, O vain man," pleads the impassioned Apostle (cliap. ii. 20, 21), "that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac ? " And surely here wo CAtch the echoes of a greater than James, who answered the Jews when they boasted to Him in tlio Temple, " Abraham is our father," " If ye were Abraham's cliildr6n ye would do the works of Abraham" (John ^^ii. 39). His "faith, working by love." ui)h('ld hiin tlu-ough a desolating trial. If we look at the motive, he wjls justified by faith; if we look at the result, he was justified by works. No less a faitli than Abraham's could have wrought thus mightily b<'fore tlio face of hoavon, or can so take the kingdom lliereof by violence still: and the theology whicli could discern opposition in the plain declarations of God's word heroin is tit only for the dust that has buried its volumes on forgotten shelves. " Who arc we that with restless feet, And griulgiiig eyes unimrKcd and dim. Among the eartlily shadows beat, And seek to question Him?" Date of the Epistle. — Tlie Epistle has been called "general " — that is. '' universal " — chiefly because it. was addressed to no body of believers in one place in par- ticular. The absence of all allusion to Gentile converts fairly proves an earlier date than the circular letter preserved in Acts xv. 2-i — 29, that is, somewhere about the year a.d. -it. And, if such be correct, we must look on this as one of the oldest writings in the canon of the Xew Testament. Gennlneness and Canonicify. — It does not seem to have been known at first to all the early Church, no direct quotation being foiuxd till the time of Origen, though indirect references may be traced in the Apostolic Fathers. In the lists of sacred be iks xini- versally acknowledged, or the contrary, drawn up by Ensebius, Bishop of CiEsarea (in Palestine), at the beginning of the fourth century, the Epistle of James is amongst the latter — the " autilegomena," or " those spoken against," along with the Epistles of Judo, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John. Tlie uncertainty was mth regard to its author ; little doubt ever being felt con- cerning its inspiration. Tlie groat Greek Fathers of the fourth century all quote it as canonical, and are supported by the Latin. Some of the divines of the Reformation, however, mistru.sted it, chiefly on account of internal and doctrinal o^^dence ; and, of course, the German rationalists have eagerly attacked the Epistle from such a ground of advantage. But it has thus far well survived the .storms of controversy, and will a-s surely remain unharmed, to be the help and delight of the patient souls who trust still that " the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." " Ilora novissima. tcmpora pcssima sunt, vigilemus; Kcce niinaciter inuninet, Arhitcr Ulc siiprenius : Inuninet. inuninet, ut uiahi tcnninct, ifcjim coronet, Kectu rcniuncrct, anxia libcrct, oethera donet." So wrote Bernard of Morlaix, seven hundred yeai-s ago, with the words of James (chap. v. 8) above quoted in liis heart. It were well to grave them on our oAni : "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry " ^Heb. x. 37). The free trans- lation appended is the familiar one, by Dr. Neale : — " The world is very evil ; the times are waxing late ; Be sober, and keep vigil ; the Judge is at the gate : The Judge that comes in mercy, the Judge that comes with might. To terminate the evil, to diadem the right." Analysis of Contents. The Salutation (chap. i. 1). I. Appeals on behalf of— (i.) 1. Patience (chap. i. 2 — i). 2. Prayer for msdom : to be asked in faitli (chap. i. 5 — 8). 3. LoAvly-miudedness (chap. i. 9 — ll). (ii.) o. Endurance (chap. i. 12 — 15). /3. Because of God's goodness (chap. i. Ifci— 18). (iii.) 1. Meekness (chap. i. 17 — 21). 2. Self-knowledge (chap. i. 22—25). 3. Practical religion (chap. i. 26, 27). II. Rebukes on account of— (i.) a. Re.spect for persons (chap. ii. 1 — 9). /8. Because leading to a violation of law (chap. ii. 10, 11). (ii.) Faith without Avorks (chap. ii. It — 26). o. Example of Abraham (chap. ii. 21 — 24). /3. Example of Rjihab (chap. ii. 25). y. Summary (chap. ii. 26). (iii.) Censoriousness and sins of the tongue (chap. iii.). o. Warnings and examples against (chap. iii. 5—12). /3. Exhortations to gentleness, or silence (chap, iii. 13—18). (iv.) 1. o. Lust (chap. iv. 1 — 4). y3. Pi-ide (chap. iv. 5 — 10). 2. E^-il speaking (chap. iv. 11, 12). 3. a. Worldliness (chap. iv. 13 — 17). 0. Trust in riches (chap. v. 1 — G). III. Conclusion. (i.) Exhortation to patience (chap. v. 7 — 11). (ii.) Caution against swearing (chap. v. 12). (iii.) Adnce of divers kinds : — a. 1. To the sorrowful (chap. v. 13). 2. To the joyful (chap. v. 13). 3. To the sick and suffering (chap. v. 14, 15). i8. 1. Concerning confession (chap. v.lGV 2. Concerning prayer : example of Elias (chap. v. 17, 18). 3. Concerning conversion (chap. v. 19, 20). [References. — Much abler and fuller treatment of the subject may be read in the following books, to all of which, and to many others by way of reference, the writer of these Notes is under much obligation : — Alford's Greek Testament, with a Critically-revised Text. Vol. IV. Ri%-ingtons, 1871. Block's Introduction to the Neiv Testament. (Trans- lated by Urwick.) Vol. II. T. & T. Clark, 1874. Davidson's Introduction to the New Testavient. Vol. III. Bagster, 1851. Home's Introduction to the Holy Scriptures. Vol. IV. Twelfth Edition. ByTregeUes. Longmans, 1869. Lightfoot on St. PauVs Epistle to the Galatians: Dissertation II., The Brethren of the Lord. MacmUlan, 1869. Mcyrick's articles on "James" and "Tlie General Epistle of James," in Smith's Dictio7iary of the Bible. Vol. I. Murray, 1863. Wordsworth's New Testament, with Introductions and Notes, The General Epistles, &c. Rivingtons, 1872.] :io4 1 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OP JAMES. CHAPTEE I.— (1) James, a servant Chap. i. 1. The ^f God and of the Lord sahitation. Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting, Mj brethren, count it all joy when (2) (1) James, a servant (or slave, or hond-servant) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.— Bound to Him, i.e., in devotion and love. In like manner, St. Paul (Rom. i. 1, et seq.), St. Peter (2 Pet. i. 1), and St. Jude brotlier of James (verse 1), begin their Letters. The writer of this has been identified {see Introduction, ante, p. 352 ) with James the Just, first bishop of Jeru- salem, the brother of our Lord. To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. — Or, to the tivelve tribes in the disper- sion. To these remnants of the house of Israel, whose "casting away" (Rom. xi. 15) was leading to the " reconciling of the world ; " whose " fall " had been the cause of its " riches ; " " and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles " (verse 12). Scattered abroad indeed they were, " a by-word among all nations " (Deut. xxviii. 37), " a curse and an as- tonishment " ( Jer. xxix. 18) wherever the Lord had driven them. But there is something figurative, and perhaps prophetic, in the number twelve. Strictly speaking, at the time this Epistle was written, Judah and Benjamin, in gi-eat measure, were returned to the Holy Land from their captivity, though numbers of both tribes were liA-ing in various parts of the world, chiefly engaged, as at the present day, in commerce. The remaining ten had lost their tribal distinctions, and have now perislied from all historical record, thougli it is still one of the fancies of certain writers, rather pious than learned, to discover traces of them in the abori- gines of America, Polynesia, and almost everywhere else ; most ethnologically improbable of all, in the Teutonic nations, and our own families tliereof. But long before the dcstniction of Jerusalem by Titus, and even the preaching of Christianity, Jewish colonists woi-e found in Europe as well as Asia. " Even where they suffered most, through tlieir own turbulent disposition, or the enmity of their neighbours, they sprang again from the same undying stock, however it might be hewn by the sword or soared by the fire. Massacre seemed to have no effect in tliinniag their ranks, and, like tlieir fore- fathers in Egypt, they still multiplied under the most cruel oppression." (See Milman's History of the Jews, vol. i., p. 449, et seq.) While the Temple stood these scattered settlements were colonies of a nation, bound together by varied tics and sjin pat hies, but ruled in the East by a Rabbi called the Prince of the Captivity, and in the West by the Patriarch of Tiberias, who, curiously, had his seat in that Gentile city of Palestine. The fall of Jerusalem, and the end therewith of national existence, rather added to than detracted from the authority of these strange governments ; the latter 355 ceased only in the reign of the Emperor Tlieodosius, while the former continued, it is said, in the royal line of David, until the close of the eleventh century, after which the dominion passed wholly into the hands of the Rabbinical aristocracy, from whom it has come down to the present day. The phrase " in the dispersion " was common in the time of our Lord ; the Jews won- dered whether He would " go unto the dispersion amongst the Gentiles " (John vii. 35, and see Note there). (2—27) Immediately after the salutation, and with more or less a play upon the wordwhicli we translate "greet- ing" ('• rejoice, " verse 1; " count it aU joy," verse 2) there follow appeals on behaK of patience, endurance, and metkness. (2) Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, — Better, Accotmt it all joy ivhenever ye fall into divers temptations — i.e., trials ; but even witli this more exact rendering of the text, how can we, poor frail creatui-es of eartli. it may well be asked, feel any joy under such ? Do we not pray in our Savioui-'s words, " Lead us not into temptation " ? (See Matt. vi. 13, and Note there.) Tet a little con- sideration will open out the teaching of Holy Scrip- ture very plainly. The Apostle hei-e is following the same line of thought as that expressed in Heb. v. 14. By use (or habit, more properly) our senses may be exercised to the discernment of good and evil. The grace of God given to the soul is capable of growth and enlargement, like the powers of body and mind. If either bo unemployed, weakness must supen-ene, and eventually decay and death. And just as the veteran who has proved his armour well, and learned to face habitual danger as a duty, is more trustworthy than a raw re- cruit, liowever large of limb and stout of heart, so with the Cliristian soldier. He must learn to " endure hard- ness " (2 Tim. ii. 3), and bear meekly and even gladly all the trials which are to strengthen liim for tlie holy war. Innocence is a grace indeed, and yet there is a higher stage of the same -virtue, \\z., the purity wliich has been won l)y long and often bitter conflict with the thousand suggestions of evil from without, stu-ring up the natural impurity within. Temptation is not sin. " You cannot," says the old German divine, " prevent the birds flying over your head, but yon can from making nests in your hair ; " and tlie soul victorious over some such trying onset is bv that very triumph stronger and better able to undergo the next assault. The act of virtue has, in truth, helped to build up the Of Patience xmder Trial, JAMES, I. and of Prayer for Wisdom, ye fall into divers temptations ; (^^ know- in*^ this, that the trying of S^peaf'ot; your faith worketh pa- behalf of pa- tionce. <^' But let patience tience. have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothinor. (^) If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to . all men liberally, and up- wiXm' to he braideth not ; and it shall prayed for in be given him. («) But let *'''^^- him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the habit, fi-Din wliioh, when it is perfected, a happy life cauuot fail to spring. The interpretation of our Lord's prayer is rather the cry fur help to God our Father iu the trial, tliau for actual escape from it : Lead us not, i.e.. where we iu our free will may choose the wrong and i)erish. Aud there is a strangely sweet joy to be snatched from tlie most grievous temptation in the remembrance that '" God is faitliful, wlio will not suffer you to bo tempted above tliat ye are able ; but will with tlie temptaticm also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it " (1 Coi*. x. 13). (■*) Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. — ^^nd this verse confirms our view of the preceding one ; the habit of patience is to be the blessed result of all the weary effort under God's probation. James the Wise had learned it long and painfully, and he returns to his exhortation of it again, especially in chap. v. 7 — 11 (which see). (*) Let patience have her perfect work.— Do not thuik the grace will come to its full beauty iu an hour. Emotion and sentiment may have their place in tlio beginning of a Christian career, but the end thereof is not yet. Until the soul be quite un- moved by any attack of Satan, the work cannot bo deemed *" perfect." The doctrine is not mere quietism, much less one of apathy, but rather this, that tho conscious strength of patient trust iu God is able to say at all times (comp. Ps. Ixiii. 8) — " >ry soul liatli followed hard on Thee ; Thy rifjht hand hath upholden me." And if in this patience we can learn to possess our souls (Luke xxi. 19) the perfect work of God will be wrought within us. That ye may be perfect and entire (or, com- plete).— A special proof herein for religious people may be taken with regard to temper. Few trials are harder; and sweetness of disposition often melts away from pliysical causes, suclx as ill-health or fatigue. But tlie great test remains ; and it is one which the world will ever apply with scorn to the nominally Christian, refusing to admit tlie claims of saintliness on tlie part of any whose religion is not of the house- hold as well as the Church. The entirety and com- pleteness of the life hidden with Christ in God (Col. iii. 3 1 are manifested mo.st by self-resti'aint. Wanting nothing.— The older version, "lacking." found in Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Genevan Bible seems decidedly better. Here is no wi.sh that the faithful sh(mld be free from care, heeding nothing ; but rather that their whole hves might be without fault or flaw : a pt>rfect siicrifice. as it were, offered up to God. And tliis idea is confirmed l)y reflecting on the original meaning of the word translated "entire" above in the Autliorised version— co»jj)ic