Division IB^.^tc^^^^ 
 Section. ^,^.l.U.CO 
 No .... 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL TO THE 
 GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, AND PHILIPPIANS. 
 
GEORGE BELL & SONS 
 
 LONDON : YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN 
 NEW YORK : 66, FIFTH AVENUE, AND 
 BOMBAY: 53, ESPLANADE ROAD 
 CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL & CO, 
 
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL 
 
 TO THE 
 
 GALATIANS, EPHESIANS 
 
 AND 
 
 PHILIPPIANS 
 
 WITH NOTES CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL 
 
 BY THE REV. M. F. SADLER 
 
 LATE PREBENDARY OF WELX£ AND RECTOR OF HONITON 
 
 LONDON 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS 
 
 1898 
 
First published , June, 1889. 
 Reprinted, 1891, 1894, 1898. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 AUTHENTICITY. 
 
 THE Epistle to the Galatians has, from the first, been reckoned 
 by the Church among the Canonical Books. It is mentioned 
 in the oldest catalogue of these books, the Maratorian fragment, 
 thus : " Ipse beatus apostolus Paulus sequens prodecessoris sui 
 Johannis ordinem, nonnisi nominatim septem ecclesiis scribat 
 ordine tali ; ad Corinthios prima, ad Ephesios secunda, ad PhiHp- 
 penses tertia, ad Coloa^enses quarta, ad Galatas quinta," &c. 
 
 It is aUuded to by name in Iraeneus, " Against Heresies," iii. 7, 2 
 (a.d. 170 or 180). "From many other instances also, we may 
 discover that the Apostle frequently uses a transposed order in his 
 sentences, due to the rapidity of his discourses and the impetus of 
 the Spirit which is in him. An example occurs in the Epistle to 
 the Galatians, where he expresses himself as follows : * Wherefore 
 then the law of works ? It was added until the seed should come 
 to whom the promise was made, (and it was) ordained by angels in 
 the hand of a Mediator,' " &c. 
 
 Polycarp (before a.d. 150) : " For neither I, nor any other such 
 one can come up to the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul. . . 
 And when absent from you he wrote you a letter (or letters) which 
 if you carefuUy study you wiU find to be the means of building you 
 up in that faith which has been given you, and which, being followed 
 by hope and preceded by love towards God and Christ, and our 
 neighbour, *is the mother of us aU.' " Again he quotes the words, 
 " God is not mocked," only to be found in this Epistle. And again 
 he quotes the first chapter : " All that are under heaven who shall 
 beUeve in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His Father, Who raised 
 Him from the dead " (ch. xii.). In Justin Martyr's " Dialogue with 
 Trypho " (ch. xlvii.) there is a short but remarkable discussion 
 
 B 
 
Z INTKODUCTION. 
 
 whether those who conformed to the law would be saved, in which 
 is to be found the following plain allusion to Gal. ii. : " * But if, 
 Trypho,' I continued, ' some of your race who say they believe in 
 this Christ, compel those Gentiles who believe in this Christ to live 
 in all respects according to the law given by Moses, or choose not 
 to associate so intimately with them, I in like manner do not 
 approve of them.' " 
 
 In Clement of Alexandria this Epistle is quoted or alluded to 
 above thirty-five times ; in Irenaeus above twenty-four times ; 
 in Tertullian, excluding places in uncertain books, above sixty or 
 seventy times. 
 
 TIME AND PLACE OF WKITING. 
 
 It is impossible to arrive at an exact date respecting the writing 
 of this Epistle, for if the reader will turn to the chronological table 
 in the preface to my notes on the Acts of the Apostles, he will see 
 that various learned authorities give for the second missionary 
 journey of St. Paul dates varying from a.d. 47 (Bengel) to a.d. 53 
 (Usher), and the third journey from a.d. 49 (Bengel) to a.d. 56 (Usher). 
 Gonsiderable differences of opinion also exist respecting the data on 
 which we are to found our calculations. Bishop Lightfoot, for in- 
 stance, attaches very great weight to similarities of thought and 
 expression between this Epistle and those to the Eomans and 
 Corinthians (2nd), and considers that our Epistle was written after 
 the letters to Corinth. " In the interval, then, between the writing 
 of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and that to the Romans 
 the Galatian letter ought properly to be placed," and concludes 
 with : " It is not improbable that it was during St. Paul's residence 
 in Macedonia, about the time that the Second Epistle to the 
 Corinthians was written, that St. Paul received the news of the fall- 
 ing away of his Galatian converts, so that they were prominent in 
 his mind, when he numbered among his daily anxieties the care 
 of all the Churches." 
 
 Others, as Bishop Ellicott, do not lay so much stress upon this, 
 but take different ground. They note that St. Paul twice visited 
 Galatia. 1st, on his second journey, he and those with him " went 
 through Phrygia and the region of Galatia " on their way to 
 Macedonia by Troas (Acts xvi. 6). 2ndly, on his third journey 
 {Acts xviii. 23), when having started from Antioch, he went over 
 all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, " strengthening all 
 the disciples." They then take account of the words in Gal. i. 6 : 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 ** I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called yon 
 in the grace of Christ unto another Gospel," and deduce from this 
 that the Epistle must have been written very shortly after this 
 visit, i.e., at the beginning of the Apostle's prolonged stay at 
 Ephesus. But, I ask, vp-hy not before that visit? Why not at 
 some time between the two visits ? The words of Gal. i. 6 seem 
 to accord far better with a declension soon after their conversion 
 at the first visit than after the strengthening, or confirming, of the 
 second visit ; and at the second visit he would be able to strengthen 
 or confirm them all the more, because his letter, as in the case of 
 the reception of his letter by the Corinthians, had produced its 
 desired effect. Most commentators, however, suppose that the '* so 
 soon," alludes to the second visit. 
 
 Bishop Ellicott (in " Smith's Dictionary,") concludes : " When 
 we consider not only the note of time in Gal. i. 6 {ovtuj tuxsojq), 
 but also the obvious fervour and ireshness of interest that seems to 
 breathe through the whole Epistle, it does seem almost impossible 
 to assign a later period than the commencement of the prolonged 
 stay at Ephesus." I believe, as I have said, that the probability 
 is that it should be placed earher. 
 
 THE EEGION OF GALATIA. 
 
 The inhabitants of Galatia, though intermixed with the remains 
 'of original races, and containing a considerable proportion of Greeks 
 and Jews, were Gauls. Galatai was the same word with Keltai, 
 and the Galatians were in their origin a stream of that great 
 Keltic torrent which poured into Greece in the third century be- 
 fore the Christian era. Once established in Asia Minor they be- 
 came a terrible scourge, and extended their invasion far and wide. 
 The neighbouringkings, however, succeeded in confining them within 
 certain limits in the interior of Asia Minor. At the end of the Kepub- 
 lic Galatia appears as a dependent kingdom, at the beginning of the 
 Empire as a province. (Bishop Ellicott, in " Smith's Dictionary.") 
 Attempts have been made to account for the sudden defection of the 
 Galatians as arising from their nationality. The Galli were pre- 
 eminently fickle and inconstant ; and also it is assumed, though on 
 the slenderest imaginable grounds, that they were ritualistic ; but 
 surely the same inconstant temper of mind was manifested in the 
 Corinthians. The Apostleship of St. Paul was questioned, and his 
 ■doctrine opposed, not long after their conversion, and he had to 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 write to them in much the same strain as he wrote to the 
 Galatians; and as regards ritualism, that type ol it which has 
 prevailed throughout Western Europe is Italian or Koman, and 
 not Gallic, or Celtic. 
 
 We shall show very clearly that the root of the Galatian defection 
 was unbelief in the Divine Nature of Jesus, not in any ritualistic 
 tendency. 
 
 THE OCCASION FOR THE WRITING OF THIS EPISTLE. 
 
 The Epistle tells its own story. The men called Judaizers, 
 against whose active propagation of Judaism in the Christian 
 Church the council held at Jerusalem was summoned, had been 
 at work amongst St. Paul's converts in Galatia, and apparently 
 with much success. St. Paul treated this not as a matter of in- 
 difference, but as a question of life or death. 
 
 In his letter he first opposes it with asserting his authority as an 
 independent Apostle, having received the Gospel which he preached 
 direct from Jesus Christ (i. 11-21). In conference with the heads 
 ol the Apostolic College, before whom he laid his views, it was 
 found to be exactly the same as what they taught (ii. 9), and the 
 one only suggestion which they made was that he should keep in 
 mind the poverty of the poor Christians of Jerusalem, with a view 
 to sending them relief from the wealthier Gentile converts (ii. 9-10). 
 Then he mentions the very striking fact that even Peter, when 
 reproved by him on one occasion for not acting up to the principles 
 which he professed respecting the equality of the Gentiles, apart 
 from any observance of the law of Moses, immediately gave way 
 (ii. 11-15). Then he asserts dogmatically, as it were, the accep- 
 tance of Jews and Gentiles by faith in Christ (ii. 15-21). He next 
 proceeds to appeal to the fact that they had received the Spirit not 
 by the law, but by faith ; and that God confirmed the truth of his 
 preaching by miracles (iii. 1-6). Then he cites the case of Abra- 
 ham as justified by faith before he received circumcision ; shows 
 that the giving of the law could not annul the promise, and that 
 the law, so far from superseding the promise, was given for a tem- 
 porary pm'pose, and that, as a means of justification, it was to cease 
 when the Seed, the real Justifier, came (iii. 15-21). Then that they 
 are all the children of God not by circumcision, but by faith, and 
 that the seal of this was given them in Holy Baptism (iii. 24-29). 
 Then he speaks of those under the law as being in a state of 
 pupillage and so of comparative bondage, and that they who went 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 back to the law reverted from freedom to bondage (iii. 7-11). After 
 this he turns against the Judaizers their own allegorical interpreta- 
 tion of the expulsion of the bondwoman and her son from the family 
 of faith (iv. 22-31). And after a few earnest exhortations not to sur- 
 render their freedom, he shows how much further in the direction 
 of internal and spiritual holiness the Gospel went than the law (v. 
 16-26), and then concludes with some practical applications of the 
 law not of Jewish dead works, but of Christian love. 
 
 t 
 
p 
 
 A COMMENTARY. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 AXIL, an apostle, {^ not of men, neither by » ver. ii, 13. 
 
 Not of men" — "not from men." 
 
 1. " Paul, an apostle (not of men, neither by man,") &c. St. Paul 
 here asserts his Apostleship at the outset, because upon that, and 
 that alone, depended the allegiance of the Galatian Christians to 
 him as their spiritual father. Through his instrumentaiity they 
 had been converted to the faith, but that would not have been a 
 sufficient reason for their obedience to him in such a matter as the 
 rejection of circumcision, if he had been only an ordinary teacher, 
 sent by some other church to evangelize them. He had a special 
 message, and that was to declare the complete freedom in Christ of 
 the Gentiles, and this in the counsels of God required a distinct and 
 independent Apostolate ; and this distinct and independent Apos- 
 tolate God ordained in him. 
 
 " Not of men." There were, in this earliest age, men called 
 apostles who, though inwardly moved by God to take upon them- 
 selves the office, were " of men " — that is, they did not receive their 
 commission directly from the Lord. Such, apparently, was Bar- 
 nabas, for we nowhere read of his receiving such a call as St. Paul 
 and the original twelve received — such, probably, was Matthias ; 
 such in a sense was Epaphroditus (your Apostle, Phil. ii. 25), and 
 from the recently discovered Didache we learn that such quasi- 
 apostles were numerous. In contrast with these was St. Paul. He 
 
8 BY JESUS CHRIST. [Galatians. 
 
 to Acts ix. 6. man, but '' by Jesus Christ, and Grod the Father, 
 
 & xxii. 10, 15, . T 1 • P 1 n T N 
 
 21. & xxvi. 16. *^ who raised him irom the dead ;) 
 
 Tit. J. 3. ^ 
 
 « Acts ii. 24. 
 
 was *' not of men " in the same sense that SS. Peter and John were 
 "not of men," for he, as well as the original twelve, were called 
 directly and personally by Christ. 
 
 " Neither by man." More properly, " neither through man." 
 Christ in converting him used no human instrumentaUty. He was 
 separated to the Apostleship from the very womb. He was desig- 
 nated to the same office from the time of his conversion (Acts ix. 
 15). And though it pleased the Lord, even in the case of St. Paul, 
 to honour His own ordinance of the imposition of hands, yet this 
 was by the direct, one might say audible, voice of the Holy Ghost, 
 and this ordination was not committed to the original twelve, or 
 any one of them, but to certain very obscure prophets and teachers, 
 so that in no way could the Apostle be said to have been " of " them, 
 or "through" them, as it might have been said if he had been or- 
 dained or sent by some of the twelve.^ 
 
 *' But by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from 
 the dead." Here let the reader notice how the Apostolate of St. 
 Paul comes equally from God and from Christ. This can only be 
 because their glory is co-equal, their majesty co-eternal. 
 
 " God the Father." A similar expression to " Him hath God the 
 Father sealed " (John vi. 27). The term Father here designates, not 
 His relation to men as their Father, but His relation to the Son 
 Whom He has begotten from eternity. 
 
 "Who raised him from the dead." Many answers have been 
 given to the question : Why is the Eesurrection of Christ brought 
 in here ? Some say that the Eesurrection of Christ is the primal 
 truth of the Gospel, of which all the Apostles, as Apostles, are wit- 
 nesses (Acts i. 22) ; others give what is to me a strange answer, that 
 the Apostleship of St. Paul comes not from the man Christ Jesus, as 
 that of the twelve did, but from the glorified Son of God ; but surely 
 in the lowest depth of His humiliation He was as much the Son of 
 God as in His highest exaltation, just as He is now, as the One 
 Mediator, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. ii. 5). 
 
 Must not the reason be that St. Paul sends this Epistle to set the 
 
 See particularly my notes on Acts xiii. 1, 
 
Chap. I.] THE CHURCHES OF GALATIA. 9 
 
 2 And all the brethren ** which are with me, ^unto the 
 churches of Galatia : ^ Phii. ii. 22. 
 
 & iv. 21. 
 e 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 
 
 Galatians (and through them the Church), right upon the subject 
 of Justification, and so at the outset he brings in God raising Christ 
 from the dead, because according to what he has written in the 
 Epistle to the Eomans, the ultimate object of justifying faith is 
 God the Father, Who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead (Eom. 
 iv. 24, 25) ? Christ is raised from the dead for our justification. 
 Salvation is intimately connected with the gift of Life from our 
 Lord, as Eeconciliation is as intimately connected with the Death 
 of the same Lord. 
 
 Though the Lord's Death and Resurrection are one redeeming 
 act, and are inseparable, yet Justification is, in St. Paul's system, 
 more intimately connected with the Resurrection of the Lord, as 
 the restoration to Him of that Life which He can now impart to 
 us ; and without keeping this steadily in mind St. Paul's view of 
 this great matter cannot be properly understood (Rom. iv. 24, 25, v. 10). 
 
 2. "And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches 
 of Galatia." "All the brethren which are with me." These 
 brethren must be such men as Timothy, Titus, Tychicus, Trophimus, 
 Luke, and others, whom he had constantly in attendance upon 
 him, that he might send them with his letters and messages to his 
 various churches, and bring back word of their steadfastness in the 
 faith, or their vacillation. These he invested with some portion of 
 his own authority, that in his absence, or much more at his decease, 
 they might oversee the churches, and, as far as possible, continue 
 those churches in his teaching, and in his traditions. It is im- 
 possible to suppose that this " all " comprehends the members of 
 the particular local church in which he was writing this letter, 
 for it is in the last degree unUkely that he would submit such a 
 letter to them for their approval. In no way, we may be sure, 
 did these brethren contribute anything to the contents of the 
 Epistle. 
 
 " To the churches of Galatia." Not to the Christians of any one 
 city, but to those of a district. The principal cities of Galatia were 
 Ancyra, Pessinus, and Tavium. 
 
 3. " Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." " Grace " means favour, but the favour 
 
10 GRACE AND PEACE. [Galatians. 
 
 fRom.i. 7. 3 ^ Grace he to you and peace from God the 
 
 2 Cor! i! 2. Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
 Eph i 2 
 
 Phil! i! 2'. Col. 4 ^Who gave himself for our sins, that he 
 
 i.2. IThess.i. 
 
 1. 2 Thess. i. 
 
 2. 2 John 3. 
 
 g Matt. XX. 28. 
 
 Rom. iv. 25. of such a being as God, and one so full of love as the 
 Sh.' ^^* '^^** Lord Jesus, cannot be mere favour dwelling in the 
 breast of God ; it must include the outcoming of this 
 secret favour in actual tokens of love answering to the needs of the 
 creature, such as remission of sins, a new life, and new powers of 
 serving God : peace, too, is not only peace with God through recon- 
 ciliation to Him, but that from which it is inseparable, peace with 
 one another. From v. 15 of this Epistle we learn that the Galatians 
 were falling from this grace, for he there writes, " If ye bite and 
 devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of 
 another." 
 
 This the reader will observe is another proof of the co-equal God- 
 head of the Father and of the Son. But it may be asked, "Why is 
 not the Holy Spirit mentioned ? " Because He is the grace and 
 the peace, for He is the power of God within us. He is the promise 
 of the Father. Through Him the Father and the Son dwell in us, 
 
 4. "Who gave himself for our sins." He gave Himself as a 
 sacrifice — not as a substitute in a mere forensic sense, but a sacrifice 
 fulfilling the idea of those sacrifices of the old ceconomy, by which 
 God ordained that till the immolation of His Son He should be 
 worshipped. This mighty truth is expressed in various ways by 
 the Lord and His Apostles, as " the Lamb of God (of course a 
 sacrificial lamb) that taketh away the sins of the world ; " "I lay 
 down my life for the sheep ; " " the Son of man came ... to give His 
 Life a ransom for many ; " *' He was delivered for our offences ; " 
 *'In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us;" "He 
 himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree; " "He is the 
 propitiation for our sins." All such expressions (of which I 
 have given scarcely a tenth part) seem to have their root in the 
 evangelical prophecy, Isaiah liii., " He was wounded for our trans- 
 gressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of 
 
 our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed 
 
 The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." This evangeHcal 
 prophecy is the application to the Messiah that was to come of the 
 terms used with respect to Jewish sacrifices. Just as in the case of •. 
 
Chaf.L] this present EVIL WORLD. 11 
 
 might deliver us ^from this present evil world, ^seeis. ixv. 
 according' to the will of God and our Father : 19! & xvii. u. 
 
 'O 
 
 Heb. ii.5. & 
 vi. 5. 1 John 
 V. 19. 
 
 the burnt offering, the man who brought it was to lay his hands 
 on the head of the victim, and it would be accepted for him to 
 make atonement for him ; so we, in faith in the One all-sufficient 
 sacrifice, have to lay our hands on Him in the ways of His own 
 appointment, and we are partakers of it. 
 
 There is a difference of reading in respect of the prepositions. 
 In the Vatican MS. and Text. Eec. it is vTrkp. In t^, A., D., E., 
 F., G., &c., it is TTtpt. It has not the meaning of exact substitution, 
 but rather means " because of," but there is no difference, for if 
 the Son of God gave Himself for om* sins in any sense of the word 
 " for," it must have been to atone for them, and take them away. 
 
 " That he might deliver us from this present evil world," i.e.., 
 from its dominion, its slavery, its antagonism to God. The evil 
 world of St. Paul was twofold. It was the Jewish evil world, with 
 its self-righteousness, its legalism, its utterly Godless and immoral 
 traditions, forming a character of intense worldliness and deep- 
 seated alienation from God, and the Gentile evil world with its 
 lasciviousness, lusts, and abominable idolatries. The sacrifice of 
 Christ could alone deliver from this twofold world of evil. It re- 
 conciled men to God and purified their hearts by faith. 
 
 "This evil world " perhaps should be rendered, "this world of 
 evil." " World," we need hardly say, does not signify the globe 
 or even its inhabitants, but the course of things upon it in which 
 fallen men and fallen angels are concerned. Thus the Apostle John 
 speaks of " the whole world lying in wickedness " (1 John v. 19), and 
 the Apostle James of the "friendship of the world being enmity 
 with God" (James iv. 4). 
 
 " According to the will of God and our Father." Here at the 
 opening of the Epistle we have the whole redemptive act ascribed 
 to the will of the Father. This ought to have rendered impossible 
 that horrible caricature of Salvation which represents God the 
 Father as angry with the human race, and seeking nothing but 
 their punishment, and as lifting up his sword of vengeance to slay 
 them, whilst His Son rushes forward and receives the blow upon 
 Himself. As the Father has always been held to be the Fountain 
 
12 I MARVEL. [Galatians. 
 
 5 To whom he glory for ever and ever. Amen. 
 1 ch. V. 8. 6 1 marvel that ye are so soon removed ' from 
 
 of Deity, so He is the Fountain of all the attributes of Deity, such 
 as infinite love and compassion, as well as infinite justice. All the 
 love which is in God the Son dwells in Him because He is the 
 perfect image of His Father — the brightness of His Glory, and the 
 express image of His Person. 
 
 " God and our Father." Bather, " of our God and Father" — ac- 
 cording to the words of the Eisen Lord, " I ascend to my Father 
 and your Father, and to my God and your God." 
 
 *' To whom be glory for ever and ever." Many suppose tbat the 
 mention in the doxology of ages of ages, kg tovq aia>vag tCjv alwviov, is 
 to contrast them with the present evil alwv. Through one short age 
 or aeon God permits Himself to be dishonoured, throu.gh ages upon 
 ages He will be glorified, through the way in which He has over- 
 come evil with good. 
 
 It has been said that in this Epistle only are words of commen- 
 dation or assurance wanting, for the Apostle immediately begins 
 to blume them, which is referred to as showing the depth of their 
 apostacy ; but I think this is a mistake, for at the end of the third 
 chapter he uses words, if not of commendation, at least of assurance, 
 when he writes, " Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ 
 Jesus, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have 
 put on Christ." 
 
 But no doubt the Apostle considered their falling away a matter 
 for very serious expostulation ; no time was to be lost in compli- 
 ment, there must be no delay in their return to Christ. 
 
 6. " I marvel that ye are so soon removed," &c. Eather, " are 
 being removed," the act of tergiversation, or indeed apostasy, was 
 not complete, but it was proceeding with a rapidity which alarmed 
 him. 
 
 " From him that called you into the grace of Christ." Some sup- 
 pose that " him that called you " was the Apostle, because he was the 
 instrument by which God effectually called them, and by turning 
 away from him they turned away both from his Gospel, and from 
 Him Who had sent him to preach it, but it is probable that he 
 means the Father. " God is faithful by whom ye were called into 
 the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord " (1 Cor. i. 9). 
 
Chap. L] ANOTHER GOSPEL. 13 
 
 him that called you into the grace of Christ unto anothei 
 Gospel : 
 
 7 ^ Which is not another ; but there be some ^ 2 Cor. xi. i. 
 
 7. "Which is not aDOther." "Not another," supply, "for there can be bnt on»- 
 Gospel." Revisers, " A different Gospel -which is not another." 
 
 " In the grace of Christ." *' The calUng is from the Father, but 
 the cause of it is in the Son. He it is who hath conferred upon ua 
 the gift of atonement, for we were not saved by works done in 
 righteousness : or I should rather say that these blessings proceed 
 from Both, as He says, ' Mine are thine, and thine are mine.' He says 
 not * Ye are removed from the Gospel,' but ' from God who called 
 you,' a more alarming expression and more hkely to affect them. 
 Their seducers did not act abruptly but gradually, and while they 
 removed them from the faith in fact, left names unchanged. It is 
 the policy of Satan not to set his snares in open view : had they 
 urged them to fall away trom Christ, they would have been shunned 
 as deceivers and corrupters ; but suffering them meanwhile to con- 
 tinue in the faith, and calling their error the Gospel, they broke 
 into the edifice with entire security, using these names as protec- 
 tions, so to speak, to cover their approaches. As therefore they 
 gave the name of Gospel to this their imposture, he rightly con- 
 tends against the very name, and boldly says. Unto another Gospel 
 which is not another" (Chrysostom). 
 
 "Unto another Gospel." 
 
 7. " Which is not another ; but there be some that trouble you,, 
 and would," &c. To make a full sense we must paraphrase it : 
 Unto another Gospel which cannot be called a second or additional 
 Gospel, because there can only be one Gospel — all additional Gospels 
 are counterfeits. 
 
 " But there be some that trouble you." The full meaning is, 
 there was another Gospel among the Galatians just so far as this^. 
 that certain persons were unsettling their minds as to the true na- 
 ture of the Gospel (Howson). Chrysostom turns it: " That is to 
 say, ye will not recognize another Gospel so long as your mind is^ 
 sane, so long as your vision remains healthy and free from distorted 
 and imaginary phantoms." 
 
 "And would pervert the Gospel of Christ." The word "per- 
 
14 SOME THAT TROUBLE YOU. [Galatians. 
 
 i Acts XV. 1, ^ that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel 
 
 24. 2 Cor. ii. . ^-u . ^ "^ ^ 
 
 17. & xi. 13. 01 Christ. 
 
 ch. V. 10, 12. 
 
 vert " is not strong enough. It really means to " subvert," and in 
 fact destroy. 
 
 We must now consider how it was that the false Gospel of the 
 Judaizer altogether subverted the true Gospel. Unless we are on 
 sure ground with respect to this, we cannot realize the intention of 
 St. Paul in writing this Epistle, or of the Holy Spirit in inspiring 
 him so to do. 
 
 The Epistle has been supposed to be written against ritual. Cir- 
 cumcision is assumed to be, in the first place, a matter of ritual, and 
 so to be connected with the observance of the Jewish Kitual, and 
 co-ordinately with this with the observance of the moral law, i.e., 
 the Decalogue, as a means of Justification before God ; but the 
 ritual aspect of Circumcision is tacitly put in the first place. Now 
 if the observance of ritual be in any way contrary to the will of 
 God, how is it that there are any outward rites of any sort in the 
 Christian religion, for an outward rite or ceremony, or a sacrament 
 which has an outward part, necessarily postulates some outward 
 way of celebrating it, which way is simply ritual ? Take the Holy 
 Communion. They who receive it in a sitting posture as much 
 observe a significant ritual as they who receive it kneeling. They who 
 receive it in their fingers as much observe a sort of ritual as they 
 who receive in the palms of their hands. The clergyman who cele- 
 brates at the end of a long table observes a peculiar ritual just as 
 much as the clergyman who celebrates in the middle of the same 
 table. So that it is impossible to suppose that the preaching or 
 imposition of Circumcision as a mere piece of ritualism could 
 possibly subvert the Gospel, and make those who observed it 
 
 How, then, did the Judaizers by preaching Circumcision subvert 
 the Gospel ? Because Circumcision was not a matter of ritual but 
 a matter of covenant. It was even more — it was a matter of faith, 
 — of faith in Moses the servant, rather than of faith in Christ the 
 Son ; and the preaching of the law as justifying was the preaching 
 of that which was dead, by its very nature, instead of Him Who 
 was both living and life-imparting, according to the words of the 
 Apostle : " The last Adam was made a Quickening — a life-im- 
 
Chap. I.] THOUGH WE, OR AN ANGEL. 15 
 
 8 But thougli "' we, or an angel from heaven, ^^ ^ ^°^- *^»- 
 
 parting — Spirit;" and according to the words of the same Apostle 
 in this letter, " If a law had been given which could have given life, 
 verily righteousness should have been by the law " (iii. 21). 
 
 I pray the reader to carry the foregoing observations with him 
 as he reads my notes on this Epistle. 
 
 8. " But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other 
 gospel," &c. Why does the Apostle speak with such exceeding vehe- 
 mence ? Because he was conscious in himself that he preached with 
 all his power the Gospel revealed to him by the Holy Ghost, and be- 
 cause this Gospel was of such a nature, so full of grace and truth, that 
 nothing in the way of grace or truth could be added to it. If any 
 other Gospel was preached by man or angel, that Gospel, whatever 
 it was, detracted from the grace and truth of the one only Gospel. 
 For consider what St. Paul's Gospel was. It was not the gospel of 
 a mere formula as that we are justified by faith only, though that 
 aspect of it, as in this Epistle, had to be put in the front, when men 
 had been perverted to think that Moses must save as well as Christ, 
 that Baptism must be supplemented by Circumcision, and living 
 Christ by dead law. The Gospel of Christ was the gracious will of 
 the Father from eternity, decreeing and bringing about the Incar- 
 nation of the Eternal Son. It was that Son manifesting God in 
 the Flesh, dying as an aU-sufficient Sacrifice, rising again to im- 
 part to us of His very Life, ascending that He might have all 
 things put under His feet on our behalf. It was this Christ not 
 merely disseminating a doctrine, but gathering into Himself a 
 church ; so that He should be its Head, and the members of it His 
 Body, and this to the extent that it could be asked " Know ye not 
 that your bodies are the members of Christ ? " If there be any good 
 news in the assertion of the Apostle that we are buried with Him, 
 and raised with Him so that we are to reckon ourselves dead indeed 
 unto sin, but alive unto God, then this is part of the Gospel. If 
 Christ promises some great thing when He says, "He that eateth 
 my Flesh and drinketh my Blood, dwelleth in me and I in him," 
 then this is part of the one Gospel. If our bodies sown in corrup- 
 tion are to be raised in incorruption, then this is good news, and is 
 part of St. Paul's Gospel. If it be good news to be told, as from 
 God, that the passport to all these blessings is not a blameless past 
 Hfe, but faith reahzing the grace of Christ and receiving His pro- 
 
16 LET HIM BE ACCURSED. [Galatians. 
 
 preacli any other Gospel unto you than that which we have 
 preached unto you, let him be accursed. 
 
 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any Tnan 
 & Jf'si "prov V^^^^^ ^^y other G-ospel unto you ^ than that ye 
 XXX. 6. Rev. have received, let him be accursed. 
 
 xxu. 18. 
 
 mises, so that no matter what om* past ungodliness, we are par- 
 doned freely and receive His Spirit abundantly ; if a present in- 
 terest in Christ is assured to us which cannot be forfeited except by 
 our own almost incredible perverseness ; if it be good news to 
 think that we have come to Mount Zion — the city of the living 
 God — and an innumerable company of angels, to the perfected spirits 
 of the just, to Jesus, to His Blood (Heb. xii. 22), that we have an 
 High Priest, an altar, a way of approach to God always open 
 through the veil, i.e. His Flesh (Heb. x. 20, 21), — then what can be 
 added to all this in the way of grace and truth ? and so St. Paul 
 anathematizes the man or angel who preaches another gospel, be- 
 cause whatever gospel he preaches, it must come immeasurably 
 short of the grace and truth of this. 
 
 But must a man believe all this before he can be justified? 
 Certainly he need not. He must in some degree realize Christ 
 crucified and raised again ; but if he heartily believe these two 
 things he is in the direct way of realizing all grace and truth : 
 only he must be taught it all, and if his teacher, as is too often the 
 case, preaches a partial, and too often, mutilated Gospel, then he 
 comes under the Apostolic anathema. 
 
 " Anathema," i.e., " devoted to destruction." It is used of the 
 utter razing to their foundations of the cities of the Canaanites, as 
 Jericho (Joshua vi. 16, 17). It is pressing it too far to lay down 
 that it can mean nothing short of an eternity of sujBfering in fire. 
 Taking into account such passages as 1 Cor. v. 5, it probably sig- 
 nifies the extreme form of excommunication. Bishop Lightfoot 
 says : " It is doubtful whether dvaQefxa here means ' excommuni- 
 cated ' or ' accursed,' i.e., whether it refers to ecclesiastical or 
 spiritual condition." But surely St. Paul's ecclesiastical censure, 
 i.e., cutting off from the Body of Christ, would involve a fearful 
 change in spiritual condition. 
 
 9. " As we said before, so say I now again, If any man," &c. 
 Some suppose that " as we have said before," refers to the previous 
 
Chap. I] DO I YET PERSUADE MEN. 17 
 
 10 For ^ do I now ^ persuade men, or God ? or ° i Thess. ii. 4. 
 ^ do I seek to please men ? for if I yet pleased 7. Mita.xS'iVi. 
 men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 19' ° " '"' 
 
 q 1 Thess. ii. 4. 
 James iv. 4. 
 
 verse only, but it is much more probable that it refers to something 
 \^hich he had said long before at a previous visit. 
 
 10. " For do I now persuade men, or God ? or do I seek to 
 please men ? for if," &c. " Persuade " means rather conciliate. The 
 verse embodies an Hebrew parallelism. " Do I now please men 
 . . . if I yet pleased men." 
 
 It is generally supposed that St. Paul refers to a slander of the 
 Judaizers. To the Jews he had become a Jew that he might " gain 
 the Jews," but he took care that this conciliatory conduct on his 
 part in no way detracted from the fulness of the Gospel which he 
 preached. He was not likely to lay himself out to please men, 
 for, as he proceeds to show, he had in no sense received the Gospel 
 from men, but from Christ only. 
 
 Some lay great stress upon the " now." Can I be noio said to try 
 to conciliate men, when I sharply anathematize popular leaders ? 
 But this seems to me very unlikely. I had rather interpret the 
 "now " as referring to his whole life since his conversion, in con- 
 trast with his life before the appearance of the Lord to him. 
 Before this he laid himself out to please the Jewish rulers, now he 
 took no pains to please even the Apostles, for he had, as he pro- 
 ceeds to say, received the Gospel in no way through their in- 
 strumentality. 
 
 " If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." 
 This is a remarkable application of the words of the Lord, " No man 
 can serve two masters," to the matter of preaching. It has reference 
 indeed to the whole conduct of the minister, to his pastoral work, his 
 intercourse with the members of the Church, his pronunciation or 
 removal of censures, but particularly to his preaching. He must 
 never aUow his desire of popularity, or his fear of a clique, to inter- 
 fere with his setting forth any part of the Gospel. He must never 
 say to himself, " How will such or such persons take this ? " 
 He must never have before his eyes his party, whether in his con- 
 gregation or diocese, or out of it. A man may be very fearless in 
 denouncing his opponents, but is he eqully fearless about offending 
 his friends ? He must be, if he is to be the true servant of Christ. 
 
 c 
 
18 NOT AFTER MAN. [Galatians. 
 
 11 'But I certify you, brethren, that the G-ospel which was 
 T 1 Cor. XV. 1. preached of me is not after man. 
 8 1 Cor. XV. 1, 12 For ' I neither received it of man, neither 
 
 3. ver. 1. 
 
 »Eph.iii.3. was I taught it, but* by the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 11. " But." So X, A., E. (Gr.), K., L., P., most Cursives, Syr., Copt. ; but B., D., F., 
 G., 17, 213, d, e, f, g, Vulf»., read, " for." 
 
 11. " But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was 
 preached of me," &c. " I certify you, brethren," equivalent to an 
 emphatical *' I assure you, brethren." You have known it before, 
 but I must solemnly declare it again. 
 
 *' That the Gospel which was preached of me is not after 
 man." He does not mean by this that if he had learnt it of Peter 
 and John it would have been wrong or imperfect, but though the 
 same in all respects as that given from the first by the Apostles 
 who had personally known the Lord, it was not derived from them, 
 but directly from Christ by the same channel by which the first 
 Apostles had received it — i.e., by Kevelation, and so he proceeds to 
 say: 
 
 12. " For I neither received it of men, neither was I taught it 
 but by the revelation," &c. " I neither received it of man ! " But 
 did he not receive instruction from Ananias before he was bap- 
 tized ? Certainly not in anything except the merest rudiments ; 
 a.nd the narrative in the Acts does not even mention that. As we 
 have the account in Acts ix. Ananias does not give him one word 
 of instruction, but rather acts sacramentally, that through imposi- 
 tion of hands he might receive the Holy Ghost, and then baptized 
 him. The words are : " And Ananias went his way, and entered 
 into the house ; and putting his hands on him said. Brother Saul, 
 the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou 
 camest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be 
 filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his 
 eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith, and arose 
 and was baptized." (Acts ix. 17.) 
 
 And in the other two accounts in Acts xxii. and xxvi. there is 
 not a word of his receiving instruction in the Gospel even from 
 Ananias. 
 
 " But by the revelation of Jesus Christ." In Eplies. iii. 3-6 he 
 
CiiAP. I.] IN THE jews' religion. 10 
 
 ]3 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past 
 in the Jews' religion, how that *^ beyond measure "" Acts ix. i. & 
 I persecuted the Church of God, and ^wasted ii. iTim, i. 
 
 . ^ 13. 
 
 1^ • « Acts viii. 3. 
 
 tells us of the principal truth of his Gospel. He had a dispensation 
 of the grace of God given to him, *' the mystery of Christ given to 
 him by Kevelation, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and 
 of the same body, and partakers of God's promise in Christ by 
 the Gospel." This was undoubtedly the central truth of his teach- 
 ing, and if any part of his Gospel required faith, that men should 
 apprehend it, this did, and yet does. 
 
 If we understand by the Gospel the account of the Life and 
 Death and Resurrection of the Lord, then he had a special Revela- 
 tion respecting this, for he tells us that he " received of the Lord," — 
 no doubt direct from Him, — that account of the Institution of the 
 Eucharist which we find in 1 Corinth, xi., and perhaps that of some 
 of the appearances of the Risen Lord in 1 Cor. xv. So that in the 
 most complete sense of the words he received not his Gospel from 
 men, but by direct and apparently very circumstantial Revela- 
 tion. 
 
 13. "For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the 
 Jews' religion." *' Ye have heard," very probably from his own 
 lips. Two speeches of his, recorded in the Acts, begin with the re- 
 lation of the zeal of his earlier years against the Church of Christ 
 and his sudden change (xxii. 3, 4 ; xxvi. 9, 10, 11) ; and in all pro- 
 babDity he similarly related it whenever he first preached the 
 Gospel, because it served to bring out the Divine nature of the 
 miracle by which his course was so suddenly and otherwise un- 
 accountably changed. 
 
 *' Of my conversation in times past in the Jews' religion." " My 
 manner of life." It was not an ordinary Jewish career, but one of 
 almost unexampled passion and zeal. 
 
 "In the Jews' religion." In Judaism, — not in the strict keeping 
 of the Law of Moses, and the rest of the Old Testament, that would, 
 under God's guiding, have naturally led him to Christ (iii. 24, 
 also particularly John v. 46, " had ye believed Moses ye would 
 have beheved me ") ; but more especially in that vast body of evil 
 tradition which obscured the teaching of the law, made it void, 
 
20 TIIIO TRADITIONS OF MY FATIIKKS. [Galatians. 
 
 14 And profitod in the Jovvb' roligion above many my 
 
 lUr.ti/unis t (Mjuals in mino own nation, ^^ being moro (*x- 
 
 j Acu xxii. :i. (HHulingly zoalous * of tho traditions of my fatliors. 
 
 f h"iUii.^tj. I''* -l^iit wlion it ploasiid God, " who soparatod 
 
 'JV/ '"• !.* J»ti from my mother's womb, and called nie by his 
 
 Mutt. XV. 2. •' •' 
 
 Murk vii. r.. irraeo, 
 
 • In. xlix. l.r.. " 
 
 JtT. i. :.. .'VitB 
 
 ix. i:>. k xiii. 
 
 lii.' Uinn! i. i. ^'^- " ^^y B'lU"'*;" »••• "foiiti»ini)oi'iiri«»." 
 
 and excited the desires of tho people for a Christ after their own 
 heart. 
 
 *' How that boyoiid nioaKuro I porBoculod tho Church of God, 
 and wasted it." Saul made havoc of tho Church, lie broatlied out 
 throatoninps and slauj^'htor against tlie diKoiplos of tlie Lord ; lio 
 persooutod this way unto tlio death ; he punished them in every 
 synagoguo, ho oouipollod thorn to hhisplionio, and being exceedingly 
 mad against them, jwrsoouted tliom oven unto strange cities. 
 
 14. " And jji-ofitod in tho Jews' religion above many my ocpials.'* 
 rrolitod, i.o.y advanced, made progress, not of course in the sense 
 of Ixuiig nuulo hotter by it, but in tho sense of advancing in tlie 
 knowli'dgo of its i)rincij)los ami ritual. 
 
 "Above many my otpuils in mine own nation." "My equals,'* 
 ».e., my contomporarios. He probably alludes to those who hud 
 studiod with him in tlie school ofOanudiol. 
 
 " Being more exceedingly zealous of tho traditions of my fathers." 
 Not of the law of God as contained in the Old Testament, but of 
 the body of traditions which ovorlaid it and made it void. 
 
 To this poijit, then, that is to tho moment of his conversion, ho 
 could not have rocoivod any knowledge of the Gospel through men, 
 and so it was after liis conversion. 
 
 15. '* l)ut when it i)loasod God, who separated me from my 
 mother's womb." In writing this, ho nnist have liad in his mind 
 Jerem. i. 5, " Before I formed thoe in the wond) I knew thee, and 
 before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I or- 
 dained thoe a prophet unto the nations," i.e., Gentiles. 
 
 "And called me through his grace." He had done no works of 
 tho law to merit his call. It was all through God's grace, and yet 
 God, Who acts wisely rather than arbitrarily, must have foreseen 
 that ho was a fitting instrument for His purposes. As I have shown 
 
Chap. I.] TO REVEAL HIS SON IN ME. 21 
 
 • 16 ^ To reveal his Son in mo, that '^ I might preach liim 
 
 among the heathen ; immediately I conferred not '» 3 Cor. iv. e. 
 
 with " flesh and hlood : *& x'x!" 'Ji. '& 
 
 17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to the«i Uom'.xV. i-l'. 
 
 which were apostles before me; hut I went into yi'l'" '"' ^•. ,„ 
 
 ^ ' <l Matt. XVI. 17 
 
 Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. i^or- ^v. so. 
 
 '^ Eph. vi. la. 
 
 in notes on Rom. ix. 15, God would have us realize that in choos- 
 ing His agents, Ho acts out of a wise aud benevolent will, not out 
 of mere wilfulness. 
 
 16. '* To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among 
 the heathen." Some, as Professor Jowoit, take this "in me" to 
 mean, in my inmost soul ; but having regard to wliat immediately 
 follows (*'that I migiit preach him among the Gentiles,") I think 
 the explanation given by Bishop Lightfoot is the more probable : 
 *' It does not speak of a revelation made inwardly to himself, but 
 of a revelation made through him to others. He was not only the 
 instrument in preaching the Gospel, but also in his own person 
 bore the strongest testimony to its power." But, in point of fact, 
 both meanings coalesce. It was because in his inmost spirit he 
 was made to drink in the Gospel, that he was capable of revealing 
 the Son of God by his preaching and life. 
 
 ** Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." That is, 
 he was restrained from doing what it would have been, under other 
 circumstances, most natural and proper for him to have done, to 
 apply for instruction to those who had known the Lord from the 
 first commencement of His ministry ; but as it was the will of God 
 that both as to his commission and instruction he should be inde- 
 pendent of the Twelve, he proceeds to say, 
 
 17. " Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which wore 
 ajjostles . . . went into Arabia." No mention is made of Iiis 
 sojourn in Arabia, except in this place. It must have been short, 
 for only on that hypothesis can we account for the omission of any 
 allusion to it in Acts ix. And, for the same reason, it is probable 
 that it meant some part of Arabia not far from Damascus, for we 
 learn from Justin Martyr, a native of Palestine, that Damascus 
 itself was reckoned in Arabia, so that a retreat anywhere to the 
 north-east or east of Palestine would have been reckoned as one 
 into Arabia. It is most probable that this visit to Arabia was by 
 
22 I WENT UP TO JERUSALEM. [Galatians. 
 
 18 Then after three years ^ 1 1| went up to Jerusalem to see 
 • Acts ix. 26. Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 
 IS f cor^'iTs 19 ^^* ^ other of the apostles saw I none, save 
 
 g Matt. xiii. g James the Lord's brother. 
 
 55. Mark vi. 3. 
 
 18. • Peter." So D., E., F., G., K., L., P., most Cursive*, Itala, Vnlg., Arm. ; but S, 
 A., B., Syriac, Copt., ^Eth., read, " Cephas." 
 
 the Lord's direction, that it was for retirement, and that it was 
 there that he received such revelations respecting the Gospel as he 
 alludes to in 1 Corinth, xi. 23, respecting the Eucharist, and re- 
 specting the reception of the Gentiles into the Body of Christ 
 (Ephes. iii. 3-6). 
 
 18. "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see 
 Peter." These three years are most probably to be reckoned from 
 the time of his conversion as the most important event mentioned. 
 I think we are bound to choose the shorter time, for though the 
 Lord intended that St. Paul should receive nothing in the way of 
 instruction from any other man whatsoever in the jjarticulars of 
 the Gospel he was to preach, when that was thoroughly secured He 
 would not debar him from converse with one who had been so long 
 a companion to Him in the time of His sojourn on earth. 
 
 " To see Peter." To visit him, and make his acquaintance. The 
 word is used of visiting a city to learn all that could be learned 
 respecting its buildings, inhabitants, &c. (Chrysostom.) 
 
 "And abode with him fifteen days." His introduction to Peter 
 was through Barnabas, Acts ix. 27. He was not all these days in 
 close converse with Peter, but was speaking boldly in the Name of 
 the Lord Jesus, and disputing with the Hellenists, and his visit 
 was abruptly terminated by the conspiracy of the unbelieving Jews 
 to kill him. 
 
 19. " But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's 
 brother." They were no doubt dispersed, preaching the Gospel in 
 the countries to which God directed them to go. 
 
 " Save James the Lord's brother." He was the Bishop of Jeru- 
 salem, and so probably reckoned an Apostle, as Barnabas was. 
 I have discussed in an excursus at the end of my notes on 
 St. Mark, the probable relationship of the brethren of the Lord to 
 Him. One thing is certain, that whereas we may be in doubt 
 respecting who was the father of this man, we cannot, if we pay 
 
Chaf. I.] BEFORE GOD, I LIE NOT. 23 
 
 20 Now the things which I write unto you, *" behold, 
 before G-od, I lie not. i> Rom.ix. i. 
 
 21 ^ Afterwards I came into the regions of » Acts ix. so. 
 Syria and Cilicia ; 
 
 22 And was unknown by face ''unto the ''iThess.ii.u. 
 churches of Judaea which ' were in Christ : ' ^o™- ''^■'- 7. 
 
 23 But they had heard only, That he which 
 
 proper respect to the words of Scripture, have any doubt respecting 
 his mother, for a certain Mary, not the Virgin, is four times said to 
 be such.^ 
 
 20. " Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before 
 God, I lie not." This very solemn asseveration is thought by the 
 Apostle to be necessary, because of the unlikeHhood of what he 
 asserts. It was very improbable that so attached a follower of the 
 Lord should have studiously avoided the most likely means of 
 knowing all about His Life and Teaching, and the most likely 
 means, of course, would have been intercourse with those who had 
 known the Lord from the first. 
 
 21, 22. " Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia 
 . . . churches of Judaea which were in Christ." That is, he went 
 into regions where he could get no information respecting the life 
 and work of Christ, which he might have got from many Christians 
 of the churches of Judaea. 
 
 The chm'ches of Judaea cannot include the church at Jerusalem, 
 but the term must be taken in its natural meaning as the churches 
 in the country districts. 
 
 23. " But they had heard only. That he which persecuted us in 
 time past now," &c. " Now preacheth the faith," not faith only as 
 the means of salvation, but the faith (r/}v Tria-iv), that is, the truth, 
 respecting the Incarnation, Life, Death, and Kesurrection of the 
 Son of God, which God has given to us to believe in, and by be- 
 
 ' Once m Matthew xxvii. 56, " Mary the mother of James and Joses." Mark xv. 40, 
 •• Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses." Mark xvi. 1, and Luke xxiv. 10, 
 *' Mary the mother of James." From the mention of this James in this place it is clear 
 that no one could be nearer in point of consanguinity to the Lord than he, and he is car- 
 tainly neither the sou of Mary the Vii-gin nor of a previous wile of Joseph, for the mother 
 of James stood at the foot of the Cross, and must have consequeutly survived St. Joseph. 
 
24 THEY GLORIFIED GOD IN ME. [Galatians. 
 
 persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which 
 once he destroyed. 
 
 24 And they glorified G-od in me. 
 
 lieving in which with all our hearts we are justified (Eom. iv. 
 24; X. 9). 
 
 The pertinacity with which some in our own Church strive to 
 get rid of the fact that faith must have some outer object to fasten 
 upon, is extraordinary. If men preach faith, they must preach 
 something definite respecting Him on Whom they call upon men 
 to exercise faith, or they call upon men to believe in a phantom. 
 You preach faith in Christ, but who is Christ that you should call 
 upon men to exercise faith in Him ? He is the Son of God you say, 
 but we are all sons of God. What manner of Son of God is He, that 
 all men should believe in Him ? Oh, He is the only Son, the true 
 Son. Well, had you not better say with the Church, that ** He is 
 the only begotten Son ? " Other men are the servants, He is the 
 Son, as He says Himself in Luke xx. 13. 
 
 One writer of the Church, occupying one of its highest places 
 (Bishop Lightfoot) says, " It is a striking proof of the large space 
 occupied by ' faith ' in the mind of the infant Church, that it should 
 so soon have passed into a synonym for the Gospel." We should 
 change this into, " It is a striking proof of the large space occupied 
 by the Person and Work of Christ in the mind of the infant Church, 
 that it should so soon have been denominated the faith." Another 
 writer writes : " The faith, not quite as yet the body of Christian 
 doctrine, which was in process of forming, rather than already 
 formed, but the one cardinal doctrine of faith in Christ." Yes, but 
 here we are thrown back upon the same question. If faith is belief 
 what are we to believe ? Faith in Christ — as what ? As a good 
 man — as a very good man — as an archangel whom God has sent 
 amongst us ; as a Son of God, as the Son of God with many others 
 in all respects like him, or as the unique, the only, the proper Son of 
 God ? Why not then say outright, as the only begotten Son of God, 
 for who but the only Begotten could bear our sins in His own Body 
 on tho tree ? Who but the only Begotten could give His Flesh for 
 the life of the world ? 
 
 *' And they glorified God in me." In the power of God's grace 
 as manifested in my conversion, in my obedience to the Gospel, in 
 the success of my preaching in adding souls to the Body of Christ. 
 
Chap. II.] I WENT UP BY KEVELATION. 25 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 THEN fourteen years after * I went up again to Jeru. 
 salem witli Barnabas, and took Titus with » Acts xv. 2. 
 me also. 
 
 2 And I went up by revelation, ^ and communi- »» Acts xv. 12. 
 cated unto them that gospel which I preach among 
 
 1. " Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem 
 with Barnabas," &c. I believe, as I have said in my notes on 
 Acts XV. 1, that the journey to Jerusalem mentioned here was not 
 the one which St. Paul took to attend the council, for then he and 
 Barnabas were sent publicly by the Church ; but that this was one 
 of a more private character, for he was not sent apparently by any 
 determination of the Church, but *' by revelation." 
 
 This "fourteen years" must have been after his first journey to 
 interview Peter, and occurred some time during the long time men- 
 tioned in Acts xiv. 28. I have given in my notes on that passage 
 (page 278) what I conceive to be sufficient reasons for supposing it 
 to be a short journey not mentioned by St. Luke. 
 
 "With Barnabas," i.e., before the rupture which took place re- 
 specting the conduct of John Mark, after which he does not appear 
 to have travelled with Barnabas. 
 
 *' And took Titus with me." This is thrown in by the way as 
 introductory to what he relates in verses 3 and 4. 
 
 2. " And I went up by revelation." That is by some such inti- 
 mation from the Lord as that which he received at Corinth (Acts 
 xviii. 9). 
 
 " And communicated to them that Gospel which I preach among 
 the Gentiles, .... lest by any means," &c. The i^rima fade sense 
 of this passage seems to be that St. Paul laid his Gospel before the 
 leaders, not that he was in doubt of it, but to make assurance 
 doubly sure ; not that his Gospel could possibly be false, but lest 
 in one part of it he had expressed himself too unguardedly. For 
 consider (if we may be allowed to use such a term) the situation. 
 There was then no New Testament in existence, and not a single 
 
26 LEST BY ANY MEANS. [Galatians. 
 
 the Gentiles, but || privately to them which were of reputa- 
 u Or, severally, lion, lest bv anv means ''I should run, or had run. 
 
 ^ Phil. ii. 16. . . 
 
 I Thesa. iii. 5. m vam. 
 
 Epistle of any Apostle that we are aware of was received by the 
 Church as infallible. If there was any Gospel in circulation it would 
 be that of St. Matthew. The Scriptures in circulation would have 
 been principally those of the Old Testament, in which the converts 
 would read, " My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting 
 covenant," and there was nothing, apparently, in the whole book to 
 contradict or limit the universality of this statement. The Judaizers 
 therefore would entrench themselves behind such a saying. Now 
 the leaders, or ol Sokovvtsq, at Jerusalem were not men who relied 
 for their knowledge of the will of the Lord upon revelations only. 
 One had been his foremost disciple, privileged to see things such aa 
 the Transfiguration, which the greater part of the Lord's chosen 
 followers had not been permitted to see ; another had lain in His 
 bosom, another was, next to His mother, His nearest relative. In 
 all probability St. Paul laid before them his Gospel in order that he 
 might pointedly and directly put to them the question, " Do you 
 remember any one word of the Lord in which He would lead you 
 to believe that in the case of the Gentiles baptism must be supple- 
 mented by circumcision, or that the Gentiles must keep, as far as 
 possible, the law of Moses. He had said very emphatically that not 
 one jot or one tittle of the law should pass away till all be fulfilled. 
 Have you the shghtest reason to believe that in saying this He 
 intended to impose circumcision and the whole law on the Gentile 
 world?" Now St. Paul knew perfectly well what the answer would 
 be, but he chose, as it were, to put the matter doubtfully, as we 
 say hypothetically, as all men who have to dispute with adversaries 
 sometimes do. 
 
 By " run, or had run, in vain," St. Paul does not mean whether 
 on all points of the Gospel he had preached wrongly, but whether 
 on this one point of the submission of the Gentiles he had spoken 
 too strongly or unguardedly. The Gospel which St. Paul preached 
 was not only Justification by Faith, but the Incarnation, Death^ 
 Resurrection, and Ascension of the own Son of God, and he resisted 
 the imposition of circumcision, as we shall see (and indeed have 
 
Chap. II.] NEITHER TITUS. 27 
 
 3 But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was 
 compelled to be circumcised : 
 
 4 And that because of ^ false brethren unawares <> Acts xv. i, 
 
 . . . ., 24. 2 Cor. xi. 
 
 brought m, who came m privily to spy out our 26. 
 
 * liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, * that they vA'^/is.' ^^' 
 
 might bring us into bondage : ^^^^ .^,*'^- ^'- ^^' 
 
 shown, A.cts xv. p. 279), because it was at the root incompatible 
 with the Divine claims of the Eternal Son. 
 
 3. " But neither Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was 
 compelled to be circumcised : and that because," &c. At first sight 
 this seems todmply that Titus was circumcised : but if so St. Paul 
 gave way on a vital point. Titus was a Greek, and not like 
 Timothy, of a partially Jewish extraction. He had no reason to 
 be circumcised. If he had been, it is difficult to see how any 
 Gentile could have been exempted from circumcision. I think the 
 difficulty is to be met in this way : " Great influence was brought 
 to bear upon me to have Titus circumcised, but by whom ? Not 
 by the Apostles, nor even by the Church of Jerusalem, but by a 
 few contemptible false brethren who came in to us to spy out our 
 liberty which we had in Christ Jesus, that they might denounce it, 
 and bring us into bondage." Something must be added to complete 
 the sense between " was compelled " and " and that because of false 
 brethren," for if we allow that Titus was circumcised, then we can 
 assign no reason why St. Paul should write this letter. By whom, 
 then, was the compulsion attempted to be put upon Titus ? Not by 
 the Apostles, for how could St. Peter, and those in reputation, insist 
 upon the circumcision of Titus when they had not insisted upon the 
 circumcision of Cornehus, nor by the Church of the true brethren, 
 though they were "all zealous for the law," but by the false brethren. 
 The proper paraphrase will be this : But neither Titus (or not even 
 Titus) who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be cir- 
 cumcised. I was importuned to allow him so to be, but by whom ? 
 By false brethren unawares," &c. 
 
 " Who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in 
 Christ Jesus." The idea seems to be that these false brethren used 
 underhand methods to find out whether Paul and Barnabas, and 
 those with them, rigidly conformed to the law or not. If they 
 
28 NO, NOT FOR AN HOUR. [Galatians. 
 
 5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an 
 s ver. 14. ch. lioui' ; that " the truth of the ffospel might continue 
 
 iii. 1. & iv. 16. . ' o r & 
 
 With you. 
 fc ch. VI. 3. 6 But of these ^ who seemed to be somewhat, 
 
 (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to 
 
 found that they did not, then they would endeavour to bring the 
 pubHc opinion of Jerusalem to bear upon them. 
 
 5. " To whom we gave place by subjection, no not for an hour; 
 that," &c. They gave not a moment's heed to the suggestion of the 
 false brethren ; which seems clear proof that they, and they only, 
 desired the circumcision of Titus. 
 
 Professor Jowett and Bishop Lightfoot raise the question whether 
 the Apostles, Peter, James, and John, recommended concession in 
 the case of Titus ; but surely credit must be given to them for the 
 sincerity of their words at the council. St. Peter there is reported 
 as saying, " Why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the 
 disciples, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear ? But 
 we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus we shall be 
 saved even as they " (Acts xv. 10). These words surely have the 
 true Gospel ring about them, and so have those of St. James, " My 
 sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the Gen- 
 tiles are turned to God " (xv. 19). 
 
 " That the truth of the Gospel might continue with you." But 
 why should the truth of the Gospel be incompatible with the ob- 
 servance of chcumcision ? Did not St. Paul himself say, " Circum- 
 cision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of 
 the commandments of God ? " Yes, it is nothing in itself ; but the 
 Judaizers did not bind circumcision upon men as a thing indifferent, 
 but as a condition of salvation. Circumcision was the sign and seal 
 of the Old Covenant, but Christ had by His Death and Eesurrection 
 introduced the New and Better Covenant ; and no one who held the 
 true and eternal Sonship of the Lord could submit to the sign 
 which betokened the continued existence and validity of the Old 
 Covenant. Submission to circumcision on the part of a Gentile 
 was a sure sign of real unbelief. 
 
 6. " But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they 
 were it maketh no matter to me," &c. In attempting to explain this 
 and the following verses (6-9), we must first clearly ascertain what 
 
Chap. II.] IN CONFERENCE. 29 
 
 me : ' God accepteth no man's person :) for they who seemed 
 to he somewhat ^ in conference added nothinor to • Acts x. 34. 
 
 ° Rom. ii. 11. 
 
 ^^^ ' k 2 Cor. xii. 11. 
 
 is implied by the expression, '* They who seemed to be somewhat." 
 Does it imply that they only seemed to be something, but really 
 were nothing ? This is impossible : for the verb occurs first in the 
 2nd verse, in the words, " but privately to those which were of 
 reputation ; " where it has an honourable meaning. It is also im- 
 possible to avoid the same conclusion in the last instance of its use, 
 " who seeraed to be pillars." Were they not really and truly 
 pillars ? Surely the disciple whom Jesus loved, who wrote the 
 fourth Gospel, must have been a pillar wherever he was. It would 
 have been better if it had been translated in each case " those in 
 esteem." 
 
 I take the words " whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to 
 me: God accepteth no man's person," to mean : " Their authority 
 simply as Apostles was nothing to me, because I am conscious by 
 the teaching of Christ Himself that I have an independent Apostle- 
 ship, as effectual for my work as theirs was for their work." If they 
 had brought forward some distinct saying of Christ that the Gen- 
 tiles were to be circumcised, and keep the whole law as the Jews 
 did or do, then it would have been another matter altogether and 
 a very serious one : but they did nothing of the sort. In con- 
 ference they added nothing to me in the way of information re- 
 specting the will or the teaching of Christ in the matter of the 
 standing of the Gentiles. 
 
 I think that this matter will be plain if we consider the following 
 question. For what purpose would St. Paul communicate with the 
 elder Apostles as in verse 2 ? It could not be that he should sub- 
 mit to be guided by their Apostolical decision, for he himself had 
 as much a right to pronounce an Apostolical decision as they had, 
 and it would be disobedience to his Master to yield in this respect. 
 It could not be that he should receive the knowledge of something 
 which they had received by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 
 for he was constantly receiving as direct inspirations as they 
 were. 
 
 The only one point conceivable in which they had seemingly a 
 more perfect knowledge of the will of Christ, was in the matter of 
 
30 JAMES, CEPHAS, AND JOHN. [Galatians. 
 
 1 Acts xiii, 46. 7 But contrariwisG, 'when lliey saw that the 
 
 Rom. i. O. & I n ,1 • • • tr> ' . T 
 
 xi, 13. 1 Tim. gospel of the uncircumcision ™ was committed to 
 i.'ii, ' me, as the gospel of the circumcision was nnto 
 
 -lThess.ii.4. p^^g 
 n Acts IX. lo. ' 
 
 xxH'''^f & ^ (^^^ ^^^ *^^^* wrought effectually in Peter to 
 
 xxvi. 17, 18. the apostleship of the circumcision, " the same was 
 
 1 Cor. XV. 10. '^ -"^ 
 
 ch. i. 16. Col. o mighty in me toward the Gentiles :) 
 
 och.iii. 5. 9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who 
 
 Ephe^'n' 2o!^" seemed to be ^ pillars, perceived '^ the grace that 
 
 Rev. xxi. 14. ^^g^g ^iven unto me, thev S2,ave to me and Barnabas 
 
 <l Rom. i. 5. & ° ' . & 
 
 xii. 3, 6. & XV. 
 
 1.5. ] ('or. XV, 
 
 10. Eph. iii. 8. 
 
 their personal intercourse with Him during His earthly ministry. 
 On this it is conceivable that they might have added something, but 
 they could not. They had not a word to say respecting the will of 
 Christ in the matter of the circumcision of the Gentiles which 
 would go counter to his teaching. 
 
 " God accepteth no man's person." This seems to mean : Even 
 though a man has been the bosom friend of His Son, God will not 
 personally accept his mere human word against the truth, even on 
 account of such a consideration — and a higher one cannot be con- 
 ceived. 
 
 7, 8. " But contrariwise, when they saw that the Gospel of the 
 Tincircumcision .... mighty in me toward the Gentiles." How 
 could they see this ? Evidently in two ways : 1, ministerial suc- 
 cess in the conversion of souls and the planting of churches ; 2, in 
 the performance of miracles as the outward signs and seals of the 
 Apostleship. Did St. Peter restore Dorcas to life ? — so did St. Paul 
 restore Eutychus. Did the shadow of Peter heal the sick ? — so did 
 the handkerchiefs or aprons which had touched the person of St. 
 Paul. Did St. Peter lay his hands on men and they spake with 
 tongues and prophesied ? — so did Paul (Acts viii. 18, xix. 6). 
 
 The words translated " wrought effectually" and "was mighty" 
 are the same, and might be translated by the word " energized." 
 " He who energized for Peter energized for me." 
 
 9. " And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be 
 pillars," &c. " Who were esteemed or reckoned pillars." They were 
 reckoned by the Church to be what they were — what Christ Him- 
 
Chap. II.] THE RIGHT HANDS OF FELLOWSHIP. 31 
 
 the right hands of fellowship ; that we should go unto the 
 heathen, and they unto the circumcision. 
 
 self had made them by his whole conduct towards them, at least 
 towards Peter and John. 
 
 Now why does the Apostle use this expression, (1) those of repu- 
 tation, (2) those who were esteemed or accounted to be so? The 
 more one thinks of the fact that the choice of the Apostles was not 
 of themselves, but was by Christ Himself according to the will of 
 the Father, — as the Lord said, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have 
 chosen you ; " *' Thine they were and thou gavest them me," — the 
 more absurd it seems to suppose that St. Paul threw any doubt 
 upon the reality of the position of SS. Peter and John. Why, then, 
 should he designate them as oi cokovvtsq ? Evidently because there 
 were some of great influence, or great seeming zeal for the law, or 
 great pertinacity, or in other respects of great power, who were not 
 01 doKovvreg, in the sense that the three Apostles were, but yet who 
 desired the circumcision of the Gentiles, and everything it involved, 
 and carried many with them. It may be asked, then. Why did not 
 St. Peter put them down by authority ? Because they were not so 
 to be put down. He was certainly not esteemed even in the 
 Church of Jerusalem, to be infallible. He well recollected how he 
 was called to account by some who must have been in every respect 
 immeasurably his inferiors, after they heard the report of the bap- 
 tism of Cornelius — how they that were of the circumcision con- 
 tended with him, saying, " Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised 
 and didst eat with them. And how did he put down these men? Not 
 by asserting his Apostolical authority — not by citing Scripture, but 
 by the evidence on his behalf of the miraculous interposition of the 
 Holy Ghost. (Acts xi. 14-17.) 
 
 What St. Paul, then, means by all this respecting the oi doKovvTeg 
 is this : Men professing to come from the Church of Jerusalem have 
 troubled you and subverted you ; but they came not from the oi 
 doKovvTeg, but from men very inferior to them. The esteemed ones, 
 the recognized leaders, acknowledged the hand of God in all that I 
 did, and acted accordingly ; for when they *' perceived the grace 
 that was given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand 
 of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto 
 the circumcision." 
 
32 REMEMBER THE POOR. [Galatians. 
 
 10 Only they would that we should remember the poor ; 
 &txS^i7^^' ^ *^^ same which I also was forward to do. 
 
 Rom. XV. 25. 
 
 1 Cor. xvi. 1. 
 
 2 Cor. viii. & 
 ix. chapters. 
 
 There is a considerable difficulty respecting this division of labour^ 
 or compact as we may call it, because it seems never to have been 
 strictly observed. We have no account of any missionaiy journeys 
 of St. Peter, but in the account of St. Paul's work in heathen 
 cities, we find that he constantly preached the Gospel in the syna- 
 gogues, observing his own great principle, " to the Jews first." St. 
 John's later years appear to have been spent in Ephesus gathering 
 in Gentiles rather than Jews. Of the other nine Apostles no men- 
 tion whatsoever is made, they were no doubt all dispersed in fields 
 far apart from those in which St. Paul exercised his ministry. It 
 is also impossible to suppose that if St. Peter preached in a city 
 where there was a large colony of Jews that he would so confine 
 himself to them, as not to proclaim the Gospel to the heathen 
 outside. 
 
 The original contains no words answering to "should go," it is 
 simply, " we to the heathen, they to the circumcision." I think that 
 the best way of explaining it is by supposing it to refer to the ex- 
 ercise of Apostolical oversight. A city with a large preponderance 
 of Jews in it would be under the oversight of the Apostles of the 
 circumcision ; a city in which the Jewish element was feeble would, 
 if first evangelized by him, be assigned to St. Paul. The compact 
 or agreement was no doubt made, not for the sake of avoiding col- 
 lisions, but in the interests of Christianity. St. Paul was, to say 
 the least, most unpopular with the dispersion. He seems to have 
 had little or no success in such places as Damascus. At Antioch, 
 in Pisidia, he made no way with his countrymen ; though, as re- 
 gards the Gentiles, almost the whole city came together to hear the 
 word of God. So it was also at Phihppi and at Corinth. This no 
 doubt was the principle which underlay this division of labour — 
 not the desirability of avoiding collision. 
 
 10. " Only they would that we should remember the poor," &c. 
 This "only" shows that there was not the smallest shade of difi'e- 
 rence on important matters such as doctrinal ones. The Apostles 
 of the circumcision first mentioned the poverty of the Jewish 
 churches, and St. Paul, who had previously to this come with contri- 
 
Chap. II.] HE WAS TO BE BLAMED. 33 
 
 11 'But wlien Peter was come to Antiocli, I withstood 
 him to the face, because he was to be blamed. ' Aetaxv. 35. 
 
 12 For before that certain came from James, 
 
 *he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they * Acts x. 28. 
 
 & xi. 3. 
 
 were come, he withdrew and separated himself, 
 fearing them which were of the circumcision. 
 
 11. " Peter." So D., E., F., G., K., L., most Cursives, &c. ; bnt S. A., B., C, H., P., 
 
 seven or eight Cursives, Vulg., Syriac, Copt., Arm., ^th., read, "Cephas." 
 
 12. "They were come." So A., C, E., H., K., L., P., most Cursives, Vulg., Syriac, 
 &c. ; but a, B., D., F., G., read, " he came." 
 
 butions to alleviate it (Acts xi. 29, 30), was only too glad to accede 
 to a suggestion which might be a bond of union and brotherly 
 love. 
 
 11-13. " But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him 
 to the face, because .... their dissimulation." It is sad to see 
 the way in which this incident has been treated by controversialists. 
 Protestants have hailed with something of malicious delight the fall, 
 or at least the stumbling, of an Apostle, because if St. Peter could 
 be proved to have been once in error, it is assumed that there is an 
 end of the infallibility of the Bishop of Kome ; and on the other 
 hand, some of the Fathers and others in later times, have contended 
 that St. Peter was not really reproved by St. Paul ; but that there 
 was a sort of scene got up between them in the interests of the truth, 
 by which, as it would seem to us, both Apostles were involved in 
 something very like deadly sin. Protestants, if they would not 
 play into the hands of Komanists, should remember that no Koma- 
 nists contend for the sinlessness of a Pope — what they assert is that 
 if a Pope, ex cathedra, delivers any opinion after due deliberation, 
 his decree is infallible. In order to put this incident in its proper 
 light, let us first consider the expression, " certain who came from 
 James." What does this mean ? It need only mean, and in all 
 probability does only mean, certain Jews who came from Jerusalem, 
 who were sent by James on some mission or other to Antioch. 
 Now how would these people behave when they came to Antioch as 
 regards eating and drinking *? Just as they had done all their lives. 
 Rightly or wrongly, they conceived that the profession of Christ did 
 not forbid them to act in the manner of eating as Christ did when 
 on earth. They would be able to adopt the words of St. Peter, 
 
 D 
 
84 BARNABAS ALSO. [Galatians. 
 
 13 And tlie other Jews dissembled likewise with him ; inso- 
 much that Barnabas also was carried away with their dis- 
 simulation. 
 
 " Nothing common or unclean has ever entered into my mouth." 
 Without, then, absolutely blaming the Gentiles, they would refuse to 
 eat with them, simply because, if they eat with them, they would do 
 what they had never done before, they would taste of some creature 
 which had not been properly killed, or of some animal forbidden in 
 Levit. xi. These men would, no doubt, join in all Christian inter- 
 «ourse with the Gentiles of Antioch ; they would join with them in 
 prayer and thanksgiving, and in partaking of the Eucharist, but 
 not in these feasts in their private houses. 
 
 Now St. Peter showed a discreditable fear of the prejudices of 
 these men. Instead of boldly saying to them, as he said to 
 Cornelius, " God hath shewed me that I should not call any thing 
 common or unclean," he weakly gave way, and partook no more 
 with the Gentile Christians in their food, at least for the time. 
 
 But St. Paul, by far the stronger-minded man, would not consent 
 for a moment to this conduct. He saw at once that that great truth 
 of the Gospel — that there was in Christ Jesus neither Jew nor Greek, 
 that we are all < ne in Christ Jesus, that in Christ Jesus neither 
 circumcision avail eth, nor uncircumcision — was imperilled ; and he 
 reproved Peter to his face before them all for changing his conduct 
 through fear of those who came from James. 
 
 He spoke of Peter as being to be blamed. Properly rendered, 
 *' he had been condemned " by his change of conduct. He was self- 
 condemned : for if his conduct had been right, in treating the 
 Gentiles as emancipated from the ceremonial law, it was now 
 clearly wrong if he withdrew from them, as if either he or they 
 could be defiled by that which entered into a man's mouth. 
 
 When it is said, " the other Jews dissembled with him," and that 
 *' Barnabas was carried away," it shows the urgency of the crisis. 
 
 Singular it is to reflect that in this matter, as in many others, St. 
 Paul was the Catholic, contending for the catholicity of the Church, 
 for if he had yielded on this point there would have been a schism 
 in it from the beginning. The two systems, Judaism and 
 Catholicity, could not be amalgamated : the one was national, the 
 other knew no distinction of race in Christ ; the one was local, the 
 other universal ; the one of the letter, the other of the Spirit ; the 
 
Chap. II.] THEY WALKED NOT UPRIGHTLY. 35 
 
 14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly ac 
 cording to " the truth of the gospel, I said unto " ver. 5. 
 Peter ^ before them all, ^ If thou, being a Jew, ^t 1 t m. v. 20 
 livest after the manner of G-entiles, and not as ^ xl*3.''" ^^* 
 do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to 
 live as do the Jews ? 
 
 U. "Peter." Rather, perhaps, "Cephas," H, A., B., C, 10, 17, 67**, 137, Vulg,, 
 Copt.. Arm., .^tb. ; but D., E., F., G., K., L., P., most Cursives, d, e, f, g, read, 
 " Peter." 
 
 one of law, the other of grace ; above all, the one was the system of 
 the servant, the other of the Son — the Master. 
 
 14. " But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according 
 to the truth of the Gospel," &c. If Christ had declared the abolition 
 of meats and drinks as affecting men's standing in the sight of God 
 as holy or unholy, which He had done very emphatically in his 
 words as recorded in Mark vii. 19, then they who Judaized in the 
 matter of meats, clean and unclean, showed their lurking disbelief 
 in the system of Christ as all-sufficient, and professed their behef 
 that it must be supplemented by Judaism. St. Paul laid down that 
 meats were indifferent. " Meat commendeth us not to God, for 
 neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we eat not are we the 
 worse " (1 Cor. viii. 8), but St. Peter had contravened this. He had 
 behaved as one who believed that if he eat not the Gentiles' meat he 
 was more acceptable to God. Now if he had been a mere private 
 Christian his conduct in this matter should have been noticed : 
 but from his position as the principal leader, it was far worse ; and 
 he who was the most tender and appreciative and liberal ot men, 
 and yet the most uncompromising asserter of the truth of Christ, 
 at once called him to account, and the elder Apostle submitted. 
 Such was the influence of this great Apostle that, if he had held 
 out, as it were, and vindicated his conduct, and entrenched him- 
 self behind his authority, and so on, there would have been a 
 division in the Church, which probably it would never have re- 
 covered, to say nothing of a serious corruption of the doctrine of 
 grace at its fountain head. 
 
 It remains to consider one more question : Why did St. Paul 
 insert this account of his reproof of Peter in this letter? Not 
 for a moment because he desired to show his equality with Peter 
 in Apostleship, in that that he had power to reprove him. 
 
36 JEWS BY NATURE. [Galatiaks. 
 
 « Acts XT. 10, 16 ^ We who are Jews by nature, and not 
 11. . . 
 
 » Matt. ix. 11. * sinners of the Grentiles, 
 
 b Ac't's xiii. 38 ^^ ^ Knowing that a man is not justified by the 
 
 39. " ' 
 
 but for this, that St. Peter, feeling that he was wrong on such 
 a point, at once yielded ; for there cannot be a shadow of a doubt 
 that this was the conclusion of the matter. And the lesson to 
 those who were being led away by the Judaizers was this : that so 
 far from bein^ able to claim St. Peter as an upholder of the Jewish 
 system, when he was at Antioch he renounced conformity to the 
 Bystem ; and when led away by his (shall we call it) constitutional 
 weakness, he yielded to unworthy fear and compromised — instead 
 of holding out, he gave way at once ; and the sooner those led 
 away by the false teachers followed his example the better. 
 
 15. " We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the 
 Gentiles." It is very doubtful whether the following verses form 
 part of the remonstrance with Peter. St. Paul seems to turn off 
 from the reproof of St. Peter, and address himself to the Galatians. 
 But even if these 15th and 16th verses are said to Peter, the 17th 
 and following cannot well be. 
 
 "We who are Jews by nature," &c. We do not merely contend 
 that the Gentiles are justified by faith, but that the Jews them- 
 selves can be justified in no other way. The Jews called the 
 Gentiles universally " sinners." St. Paul, as it were, accepts the 
 term on behalf of the Gentiles, and in effect declares that whatever 
 the Gentiles are in the sight of God, the Jews have to be justified 
 in exactly the same way of faith. 
 
 16. " Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the 
 law," &c. For what did God send His Son amongst the Jews ? In 
 order that through faith in Him they might be justified. They 
 were already in a sense near to God by having received God's 
 revelation of Himself [" If he called them gods unto whom the word 
 of God came," John x. 35] , by being the children of Abraham, by 
 having been circumcised ; but the very coming of Christ amongst 
 them, and His calling upon them to believe in Him for salvation, 
 was proof positive of this, that whatever their spiritual or ecclesias- 
 tical position was before Christ came, now that Christ had come 
 they were to believe in Him for exactly the same purposes of salva- 
 tion as the Gentiles had to believe in Him, the only real difference 
 being that the Jews were first called upon to believe. 
 
Chap. II.] EVEN WE HAVE BELIEVED. 37 
 
 works of the law, but *'by the faith of Jesus cRom. i.17. 
 
 & iii 22 28 & 
 
 Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, vih. '3. eh. iii. 
 that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, is,' 19. 
 
 16. " But by the faith of Christ." " Save through faith in Christ," Revisers. See 
 below, 
 
 " But by the faith " (sdv fii)). This is literally and properly "ex- 
 cept by or through faith in Jesus Christ," as if through faith in 
 Glirist and only through faith in Him, a man is justified by the 
 works of the law, but this is contrary to the teaching of the whole 
 Epistle, that faith alone justifies. This is got rid of in various ways. 
 Bishop Lightfoot, perhaps, does least violence to the apparent 
 meaning, by supposing such a paraphrase as "a man is not justified 
 by works of law — he is not justified, except by faith in Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 But it seems questionable to me whether we need resort to any 
 means of getting rid of the difficulty, for the difficulty is probably 
 one of our own creation, brought on by our anxiety to make the 
 Apostle speak with extreme accuracy upon the relations between 
 faith and works — in fact, to make him speak as a modern Lutheran 
 or Solifidian or Evangelical. But any one who has read his 
 Epistles carefully, and cares to speak honestly, will acknowledge 
 that St. Paul expresses himself constantly in a spirit of liberty on 
 this point, as if the great truth of our Justification was not a matter 
 of verbal accuracy. Take, for instance, his words in Rom. ii., where 
 he speaks of God giving eternal life " to them who by patient con- 
 tinuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality," 
 and " honour, glory, and peace to every man that worketh good," — 
 that we must suffer with Christ if we are to be glorified with him, — 
 that we are saved by hope. In this very Epistle he says — and fearful 
 words they are — " They that are Christ's have crucified the fiesh 
 with its affections and lusts." I have given a list of such passages in 
 my " Church Doctrine Bible Truth," chap. xi.,to which I refer the 
 reader. We may, then translate lav /x?) here as we would elsewhere. 
 
 " Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justi- 
 fied by the faith," &c. Even we, though children of Abraham, 
 circumcised and separated from the Gentiles, even we have believed 
 in Christ, that we might be ^ustified through faith in Him, and not 
 
38 NOT BY THE WOEKS OF THE LAW. [Galatians. 
 
 and not by the works of the law : for ^ by the works of 
 d Ps. cxiiii. 2. the law shall no flesh be iustified. 
 
 Rom. iii. 20. . . *' 
 
 ch. iii. 11. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by 
 
 8, 9.^*^^" *"• Christ, we ourselves also are found ^ sinners, is 
 therefore Christ the minister of sin ? G-od forbid. 
 18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I 
 make myself a transgressor. 
 
 by the works of the law. Why should the Son of God become In- 
 carnate and be crucified and rise again ? Simply that He should 
 be made to us what we so much need, " Wisdom, and righteous- 
 ness, and sanctification, and redemption." 
 
 *' For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." This 
 seems to be a free citation of a verse in Psalm cxiiii., " Enter not 
 into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living 
 be justified." The Apostle appends to it " by the works of the 
 law," and it is clear tbat he has a right to do so, for all men when 
 this Psalm was written were under the law, and so were all incapable 
 of standing before God by the deeds of the law. If they did stand 
 before God, it was through God's mercy anticipating in their case 
 the virtue of the All-sufl&cient Sacrifice. 
 
 17. *' But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves 
 also are found," &c. This, according to the commentators, is a place 
 of no ordinary difficulty. I give an explanation which seems to me 
 very plain and which I find is adopted by Wesley as well as by 
 others. 
 
 If while seeking our justification through Christ we are yet 
 found wilful sinners (continuing in sin that grace may abound), is 
 Christ the minister of sin? Does the freeness of justification 
 through His Gospel encourage us to indulge our sinful lusts with- 
 out fear of consequences ? God forbid, let it not be thought for a 
 moment, 
 
 18. •' For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make 
 myself a transgressor." Wesley's paraphrase seems admirable : 
 " If I build again by my sinful practice the things which I destroyed 
 by my preaching — I only show myself, not Christ, to be a trans- 
 gressor ; the whole blame lies on me, not on Him or His Gospel. 
 As if he had said, the objection were just, if the Gospel promised 
 
CHAP.n.J I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. 39 
 
 19 For I ' through the law ^ am dead to the ^ Rom. viii. 2. 
 law, that I might ^ live unto God. & vii. 4, 6." 
 
 20 I am 'crucified with Christ: nevertheless I 2S,r;.l5!^* 
 
 1 Thess. V. io. 
 
 Heb. ix. 14. 
 
 1 Pet. iv. 2. 
 
 i Rom. vi. 6. 
 
 19. " Am dead." Rather, " died." <'^' 7; 24- & 
 
 VI. 14. 
 
 justification to men continuing in sin. But it does not ; therefore, 
 if any who profess the Gospel do not live according to it, they 
 are sinners, it is certain, but not justified, and so the Gospel is 
 clear." 
 
 19. " For I through the law am dead to the law." " I," that is 
 the Apostle himself, " through the law executing its office of con- 
 vincing me of sin, am dead or died to the law. I died to the law 
 as the means of my justification, or standing in the sight of God. 
 When the law convinced me of sin, it at the same time convinced 
 me of its own weakness, and led me to seek in Christ the only 
 means of justification." 
 
 " That I might live to God." Such was the example of living to 
 God set forth in the example of Christ, and in the hves of the first 
 Christians, that the mere keeping of the Decalogue in the letter 
 seemed wretched in comparison. The life to God by which St. 
 Paul lived was not through seeking to obey the ten command- 
 ments, but by having the Ufe of Christ working within him. This 
 made him obey the ten commandments and infinitely more, it 
 made him live a life of sacrifice to God, consciously doing all to 
 the glory of God. It made him live a life of prayer, of ApostoUcal 
 poverty and self-denial, of devotion to the service of Christ and of 
 His Church such as we could not have conceived unless a small 
 part of it had been recorded in the pages of the New Testament. 
 
 20. " I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, 
 but Christ," &c. " I am crucified with Christ." In what sense ? 
 Evidently in the sense of Eom. vi. 1-12. In verse 8 of that chapter 
 we read : " If we be dead (or rather died) with Christ, we believe 
 that we shall also live with him." When did this take place ? 
 The Apostle most assuredly assumes that it first took place in 
 Baptism. The Apostle most certainly lays down that at the time 
 of Baptism a very mysterious union took place with Christ, parti- 
 cularly as regards His Death and Resurrection; so that it was 
 
40 CHRIST LIVETH IN ME. [Galatians. 
 
 live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which 
 
 afterwards proper to say of the baptized person that he was buried 
 with Christ through his baptism into His Death, that "like as 
 Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so he 
 also should walk in newness of life " (Rom. vi. 1-4). 
 
 But is this crucifixion with Christ the same as that alluded to 
 in chapter v. 24 : '* They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh 
 with its affections and lusts " ? In the Apostle it was. He was cruci- 
 fied with Christ at the very beginning of his Christian career, and 
 now, after long abiding in Christ, he could say, " I am Christ's, 
 for I have crucified the flesh with its afi"ections and lusts ; " but few, 
 however, of the Galatians, as far as we can judge from the tone and 
 tenour of his letter to them, could say this. The mystical Death and 
 Burial with Christ had taken place, but it had to be worked out 
 in the after life (Phil. ii. 12). At the beginning grace was given to 
 work it out, but the grace had to be realized and used. 
 
 *' Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This 
 is a still more remarkable way of speaking, that it should be said 
 that Christ liveth in the true Christian. Its root is in the words 
 of Christ in John vi. 56 : " He that eateth my flesh and drinketh 
 my blood dwelleth in me and I in him." A continuation of the 
 idea is to be found in the parable of the vine and the branchcB 
 (John XV. 1-10). Just as the branch lives and bears fruit, because 
 being a branch of the vine, it hves by the life and bears fruit by the 
 goodness of the stem, so the true Christian lives the spiritual Hfe, 
 not from his partaking of the life of the first, but because of his 
 partaking of the life of the Second Adam. 
 
 The life of the Apostle (together with that of his brethren) was 
 so extraordinary a phenomenon in this world of sin and death, it 
 was so different from any other human life, Jewish or Gentile, 
 so above the world, so above nature, so above philosophy or human 
 wisdom, that it must be accounted for ; and the way in which the 
 Apostle accounts for it is the only reasonable way — that God had 
 given to the world a new Life in His Son, that this Life being the 
 life of an Adam, a federal Head could be communicated, so that 
 as the life of the Old Man was in men working sin and death, so 
 the Life of the New Man could be, and was in men, working right- 
 eousness and life. 
 
Chap. II.] THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME. 41 
 
 I now live in the flesh ^ I live by the faith of i^ 2 Cor. r. 15. 
 the Son of Grod, ^who loved me, and gave himself 1 Pet.iv. 2. 
 
 « ich. i. 4. 
 
 for me. Eph. v. 2. 
 
 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for Titusii.u. 
 
 *' And the Hfe which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith 
 of the Son." "In the flesh," i.e., in the present state of things, 
 whilst my renewed soul is encased in an unrenewed body. 
 
 " I hve by the faith of the Son of God." The life of his soul or 
 spirit was a life of constant looking to Christ as the Son of God, 
 crucified, risen and ascended. His faith, the evidence of things not 
 seen, constantly evidenced to him the presence, and the power, 
 and the love of the Son of God. 
 
 Mark the use of the term '* Son of God." His belief in Christ is 
 a belief in Christ in His highest Nature as the Son of God. This 
 was the source of the supernatural hfe. As the Father hath life in 
 Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself 
 (John V. 26). 
 
 •' Who loved me, and gave himself for me." " I have loved thee 
 with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I 
 drawn thee." Known unto God are all His works from the foun- 
 dation of the world, and therefore Christ's love to Paul as a chosen 
 vessel to exhibit the power of God aud of Christ, could not be a 
 matter of yesterday, but must have been in the mind of God from 
 eternity. 
 
 He loved me before the foundation of the world. He gave Him- 
 self for me before I knew Him, and whilst I was His bitter enemy 
 He yet pursued me with His love, as said Ananias : " The God of our 
 fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldst know His will, and see 
 that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth " (Acts 
 xxii. 14). 
 
 " I do not frustrate the grace of God." '* I do not frustrate the 
 grace of God as do the Judaizers." If the law could bestow upon 
 men that reconciliation to God and that new Life which Christ 
 alone imparts, why should Christ have humbled Himself, and been 
 obedient to death? If the world could have had righteousness 
 without Him, why should He come and die for us ? 
 
 " "What can be more heinous than this error? What more im- 
 pressive than these words ? For if Christ died, plainly it was on 
 account of the inability of the law to justify us ; if the law does 
 
42 WHO HATH BEWITCHED YOU. [Galatians. 
 
 ""if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in 
 
 «n fh. iii. 21. vain 
 Heb.vii.ll. ^^1^- 
 See Rom. xi. 6. 
 ch. V. 4. 
 
 justify, then is His Death needless. Yet with what pretence can 
 that work be called vain which is so awful, so surpassing human 
 reason, and a mystery so ineffable, with which patriarchs travailed, 
 which prophets foretold, which angels gazed on with consternation, 
 which all confess to be the summit of the Divine tenderness" 
 (Chrysostom). 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 a ch. V. 7. /^\ FOOLISH Galatians, ^ who hath bewitched 
 
 o 
 
 &.\'.'i]' ' \^ you, that ye should not obey ^the truth. 
 
 1. "That ye should not obey the truth." So C, E., K., L., P., most Cursives, Vulg,, 
 Goth., &c. ; but N, A., B., D., F., G., d, e, f, g, Syr., Copt., omit. 
 
 1. "0 foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you," &c. "O 
 foolish Galatians." The Galatians were by no means a dull or 
 stupid race, but rather a versatile and inconstant one (Ellicott), and 
 so Hkely to be led away by follies and extravagances. 
 
 " Who hath bewitched you ? " Who hath fascinated you, who 
 hath cast upon you an evil eye ? " They deserved much severer 
 words. Observe too, I pray, how soon he stays his arm from 
 striking: for he adds not 'Who has seduced you, who has per- 
 verted you, who has misled you by sophistry ? ' but ' Who has 
 cast an envious eye upon you ? ' Thus tempering his reprimand 
 with somewhat of praise. For it implies that their previous actions 
 had excited jealousy, and that the present occurrence arose from 
 the spitefulness of a demon, whose breath had blasted their pros- 
 perous estate " (Chrysostom). 
 
 " That ye should not obey the truth." Probably an interpola- 
 tion here from v. 7 (see critical note). 
 
 " Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth." 
 
Chap. III.] CRUCIFIED AMONG YOU. 43 
 
 before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, 
 crucified among you ? 
 
 2 This only would I learn of you, Eeceived ye ° the Spirit 
 by the works of the law, ^ or by the hearing of "^^^^^ J"^ ^^■ 
 faith? ^•'^'';*? ^P- K 
 
 ver. 14. Eph. 
 
 i. 13. Heb. vi. 4. 
 
 d Rom. X. 16, 
 17. 
 1. "Among you." So D., E., F., G., K., L., P., most Cursives, d, e, f; but S, A., B., 
 C, some Cursives, Vulg. (Cod. Amiat.), Syriac, Copt., Sah., omit. 
 
 Jesus Christ is " openly set forth " in the preaching of the cruci- 
 fixion and in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. 
 
 He was set forth before the Galatians in the preaching of the 
 Crucifixion. This impUes much more than a doctrinal declaration 
 of the abstract truth of the Atonement as consummated iu the 
 Crucifixion. It necessarily implies that graphic and cu'cumstan- 
 tial account of the Crucifixion itself which we have in each one of 
 the Evangelists. Each Evangelist describes the Crucifixion itself 
 in its attendant circumstances of horror and distress, and not only 
 in its dogmatic significance. 
 
 If they had the Eucharist celebrated amongst them, then they 
 had that celebrated amongst them by which they showed forth the 
 Lord's death till He came. "He says not crucified, but evidently 
 set forth crucified, signifying that by the eye of faith they saw more 
 distinctly than some who were present as spectators. For many of 
 the latter, though they were spectators, yet received no benefit ; 
 but the former, though they were not eye-witnesses, yet saw by 
 faith more clearly. These words convey both praise and blame : 
 praise for their implicit acceptance of the truth ; blame, for that 
 Him Whom they had seen for their sakes stripped naked, trans- 
 fixed, nailed to the Cross, spit upon, mocked, fed with vinegar, 
 upbraided by thieves, pierced with a spear (for aU this is implied 
 in the words evidently set forth crucified), Him they had left, and un- 
 touched by these His sufi'erings betaken themselves to the law. 
 Here observe how Paul, leaving all mention of heaven, earth, and 
 sea, everywhere preaches the power of Christ, and bears about His 
 Cross : for this is the sum of the Divine love towards us " (Chry- 
 sostom.) 
 
 2. " This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by 
 the works," &c. " This only would I learn of you." The answer 
 
44 ARE YE SO FOOLISH? [Galatians. 
 
 3 Are ye so foolisli? ® having begun in the Spirit, are 
 • ch. iv. 9. ye now made perfect by ^the flesh ? 
 
 f Ufh. Tii. 16. 
 
 & ix. 10. 
 
 to one question will settle the whole matter. " By what means 
 did ye receive the Spirit ? was it whilst ye attempted to obey the 
 law, or was it whilst ye listened to and believed the Gospel ? " As 
 long as men were under the law the Spirit was not yet given ; but 
 when Christ had died and risen again, then He sent the Spirit ; 
 then appeared among men a righteousness such as they had never 
 seen before, and a power of speaking with tongues, and prophecy, and 
 healing, and working miracles, such as abundantly evidenced that 
 the Gospel and its mode of salvation, and the liberty which it pro- 
 claimed, were all from God. 
 
 3. " Are ye so foolish ? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now 
 made perfect," &c. The Spirit is power, the flesh is weakness ; the 
 Spirit is righteousness, the flesh is sin ; the Spirit is liberty, the 
 flesh is under bondage; the Spirit is immortahty, the flesh is 
 corruption. 
 
 Having begun in the Spirit by a repentance which severed your 
 affections from sin and the world, and by a faith which realized to 
 you God and His Son, and His Church and kingdom, and the 
 powers of the unseen and eternal world, and the sacraments by 
 which you were engrafted into His Body and fed with His very 
 Flesh and Blood — 
 
 " Are ye now made perfect in the flesh ? " Are ye made perfect 
 by a law which is outward, and by ordinances, such as circumcision, 
 which have no grace attached to them, and other elements weak 
 and beggarly to which ye desire to be enslaved ? 
 
 This passage has an important bearing upon the nature of sacra- 
 ments. "What are sacraments ? Are they things of the flesh or of 
 the Spirit ? They are things of the flesh if they are outward things, 
 betokening or typifying things which we should have within us, but 
 not primarily through them as instruments. Thus circumcision 
 had no gift of the Spirit connected with it, but merely symbolized 
 a circumcision of the heart. If then the sacraments are merely 
 types or figures, betokening what is absent rather than what 
 is present, then " converted" peiFons need not — rather should not 
 — use them. If baptism is merely circumcision under another 
 form, as vast numbers amongst us, even in the Church of England, 
 
Chap. III.] IF IT BE YET IN VAIN. 45 
 
 4 * Have ye suffered || so many things in vain? if it he yet 
 in vain. 5 Heb. x. 35, 
 
 5 He therefore ^ that ministereth to you the j or, so great. 
 Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he ^ ^ ^°'"- '"• ^• 
 it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of 
 
 faith ? 
 
 4. " If it be yet in vain." " If it be indeed in vain," Revisers, 
 
 say, then the heathen man who has been converted by the power 
 of the Spirit by seeking baptism seeks to be perfected in the flesh. 
 If we would not fall into this error, we must hold that the sacra- 
 ments are instruments of the Spirit in a far higher sense than Cir- 
 cumcision and the Paschal Lamb could possibly be. Baptism is 
 not a form after the analogy of a Jewish form, but a sacrament, a 
 thing which had nothing corresponding to it in Judaism. It is the 
 means by which the Holy Spirit grafts us into that mystical Body 
 which could not be conceived of till the Son of God had become in- 
 carnate, so that we should be in Him as branches of Himself the 
 True Vine, and members of Himself the Head of the Church. 
 
 4. "Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in 
 vain." This implies that they had suffered persecution for the 
 Gospel's sake, perhaps from their unbelieving brethren, perhaps 
 from the Jews, or at the instigation of the Jews. Here, then, he 
 tells them plainly that if they had reverted to Judaism their suffer- 
 ings on behalf of Christ would have been thrown away. But he 
 hopes better things of them, for he adds, " If it be yet in vain." 
 
 5. " He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh 
 miracles among you," &c. Was Paul an Apostle of the Law or of 
 the Gospel ? There were Apostles of the law troubling them who 
 preached Circumcision and Justification by the works of the law. 
 Had these men ministered unto them the life-giving Spirit, purify- 
 ing their hearts, and enabling them to live to God as St. Paul had 
 done ? Had these men worked miracles among them ? Had these 
 men laid their hands upon them and imparted to them the Holy 
 Ghost as St. Paul had done ? (Acts xix. 6.) 
 
 An attempt is made to get rid of the exercise of supernatural 
 power claimed in this verse by insinuating that the miracles were 
 moral miracles, whose sphere was only in the heart, but such 
 
46 THEY WHICH ARE OF FAITH. [Galatians. 
 
 i Gen. xr. 6. 6 Even as * Abraham believed God, and it was 
 
 Rom. iv. 3, 9, i . « • i 
 
 21, 22. James || accoTinted to him tor righteousness, 
 
 n Or, imputed. 7 Know jB therefore that ^ they which are of 
 
 k John viii. 39. faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 
 
 Kom. IV, 11, 
 
 12, 16. 
 
 would be no evidence of the truth of St. Paul's mission as against 
 the Judaizers. He most assuredly did work miracles in the out- 
 ward world in every place where he preached the Gospel, and 
 why should he not allude to them here ? 
 
 6. " Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to 
 him for righteousness." The Apostle's argument is very close, and 
 we should apprehend it better if we translated " faith " in the last 
 verse as " believing." — " By the hearing of believing, even as Abra- 
 ham believed God." Or we might retain the word faith, *' thehearing 
 of faith," and translate the first clause of the next verse, " Even as 
 Abraham exercised faith," &c. 
 
 The mention of faith {TritTng) brought to the Apostle's mind the 
 first great instance of Justification by faith mentioned in the Word 
 of God. The place may be paraphrased, " Doeth he it by the works 
 of the law, or by faith ? surely by faith, and with this agrees the 
 fact that your great forefather was not justified by the works of the 
 law, for he lived long before the law ; but when he believed God, 
 his faith was then counted for righteousness." 
 
 For the reason why God imputed Abraham's faith to Abraham 
 for righteousness, see my notes on Komans iv., especially on verses 
 20, 21, 22. God imputed righteousness to Abraham when he 
 simply exercised faith in God, in fact took Him at His word ; and 
 God's action in this respect was justified, if we may so say, for this 
 faith which was imputed for righteousness, when it had opportunity, 
 brought forth imequallod fruits of righteousness and obedience to 
 God. 
 
 7-8. " Know ye therefore that they which are of faith .... all 
 nations be blessed." The reader will remember the words of the 
 Lord, how He said, " If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do 
 the works of Abraham." The work of Abraham was first a work 
 of faith, a work, that is, in the soul, as the Lord says, " This is the 
 work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent," and it is 
 a work carried on in the whole life and conduct. " We walk by 
 faith," — '* the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of 
 
Chap. III.] THEY WHICH BE OF FAITH. 47 
 
 8 And Hhe scripture, foreseeing that G-od would justify 
 the heathen through faith, preached before the ^ see Rom. ix. 
 gospel unto Abraham, saying, ™ In thee shall all m Gen. x\C?i. 
 nations be blessed. xx^L^s.^^fts 
 
 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed *"' ^^' 
 with faithful Abraham. 
 
 the Son of God." *' Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of 
 our faith." 
 
 8. "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the 
 heathen through faith." The uniqueness of the expression, " The 
 Scripture foreseeing," as if Scripture was personified, has been 
 noticed. This, as shown in Bishop Ellicott's note, is a Jewish 
 form of expression. The Syriac translates it by God (Aloho). 
 
 "Preached before the Gospel," &c. "Hereby, too, is proved 
 another important point. For as it perplexed them that the Law 
 was the older, and Faith came after the Law, he removes this 
 difficulty by shewing that faith was really anterior to the Law, as 
 is evident from Abraham's case, who was justified before the giving 
 of the Law. He shews, too, that what had now happened fell out 
 according to prophecy. The S&ripiure, says he, foreseeing that God 
 would justify the heathen through faith, fore-announced the Gospel 
 unto Abraham. Attend to this point. He Himself Who gave the 
 law had decreed even before He gave it, that the heathen should 
 be justified by faith. And he says not ' revealed ' but ' preached ' 
 the Gospel, to signify that the Patriarch was in joy at this method 
 of Justification, and in gi-eat desire for its accomplishment" 
 (Chrysostom). 
 
 9. " So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful 
 Abraham." "They which are of faith" of course means they 
 who believe heartily in that Seed of Abraham in Whom all the 
 nations of the earth are to be blessed. They are blessed " with 
 Abraham." This implies that Abraham even now, whilst in the 
 unseen world, and before the resurrection of his body, is in a 
 state of blessedness, and truly he must be, for the Lord describes 
 the state of the blessed dead, that they are in Abraham's bosom. 
 
 10. " For as many as are of the works of the law are under the 
 curse .... in the book of the law to do them." The words 
 
48 UNDEE THE CURSE. [Galatians. 
 
 10 For as many as are of tlie works of the law are under 
 
 26^^Jer^:d^ 3* *^^ curse : for it is written, "^ Cursed is every one 
 
 *' Are of the works of the law," can only mean those who are 
 under the law as a means of justification. 
 
 " Cursed is every one that continueth not." The quotation is 
 from Dent, xxvii. 26 : " Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the 
 words of this law to do them." In the Septuagint it is, "Cursed 
 is every man that continues not in all the words of this law to do 
 them." The meaning of both renderings is exactly the same. 
 When Moses wrote, " Cursed is he that," &c., he meant every one. 
 "When he says, " confirmeth not," he means " confirmeth not to do 
 them ; " he who confirms them confirms them not only in word, but 
 in deed, and continueth so to confirm them, for the moment he 
 ceases practically to confirm them he is under the curse. 
 
 It will be necessary now to consider, as far as we are able, the 
 full import of this passage. 
 
 Assuming that St. Paul means by *' as many as are of the works 
 of the law" those who are under the dispensation of the law (or 
 who put themselves under the dispensation of the law) he must 
 mean one of two things. 
 
 (1.) Either that all those who lived from the time of the giving of 
 the law till the time of the preaching of the Gospel were accursed. 
 
 (2.) Or that those who, when the Gospel was preached refused the 
 way of Eighteousness through Christ, and adhered to the law as 
 the means of Justification, were accursed. 
 
 If he means the former, then we have to face this enormous diffi- 
 culty, that throughout the Old Testament, Israel, the " people of the 
 works of the law " are in every shape and way pronounced blessed 
 above all other people. Thus it was said to those under the law : 
 " Happy art thou, O Israel : who is like unto thee, people saved 
 by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thine 
 excellency ! " (Deut. xxxiii. 29.) The number of passages in the 
 Psalms to this effect is enormous. " In Judah is God known : his 
 Name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his 
 dwelling in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the 
 shield," &c. (Psalm Ixxvi.). Again, in Isaiah, " My beloved hath a 
 vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced it," &c. Even 
 carefully eliminating all the places which can be reasonably 
 
Chap, m.] THE BOOK OF THE LAW. 49 
 
 that continueth not in all things wluch are written in the 
 book of the law to do them. 
 
 referred to the glories of the Messianic times, the number of 
 places in which God declares or implies the blessedness of Israel 
 under the law as compared with the state of the heathen is very 
 great indeed. And yet it may be true, perfectly true — such are 
 the mysterious paradoxes in God's word, that a people may be 
 blessed, and yet the curse not removed. We have an illustration 
 of this is in the term, " children of wrath." All mankind were by 
 nature, *' children of wrath," and yet, during the ages in which the 
 nations were treasuring up wrath against themselves, God so loved 
 them as to be designing all the time to send them a Saviour, and 
 preparing them in various ways to receive that Saviour. Thus a 
 human father may have expelled a disobedient son, and yet be all 
 the time supporting him, praying most earnestly for him, and con- 
 triving means for his recovery. Thus it may have been among the 
 Jews. The curse may not have been formally removed, as it was 
 by the Death and Eesurrection of the Lord. It may have been 
 mitigated. It may have been suspended. The times of that igno- 
 rance God may have winked at, as He did with the Gentiles. 
 
 But we now come to the second hypothesis, that this curse came 
 into operation when the Gospel began to be preached, and what- 
 ever might be said of those under the law before the times of the 
 Gospel, it became then fearfully true that as many as then rejected 
 Christ and continued under the law, were under the curse. This 
 the Lord Himself declares when He says : " Ye will not come unto 
 me that ye may have life." " If ye believe not that I am he, ye 
 shaU die in your sins." With respect to the seeming harshness of 
 this assertion : "Cursed is every one that continueth not," &c., we 
 must remember that its very harshness was in mercy. It was de- 
 signed, if we may so say, to drive men to the Gospel, to compel 
 them to come in, to shut them up to the faith which was revealed. 
 
 And it is to be remembered that we are in no wise judges as to 
 what the effect of any one sin is — we cannot estimate the dishonour 
 it may do to God, the evil it may work in the Church, the para- 
 lyzing effect on our own souls. One has said that if we could see 
 but one sin in all its possible issues of evil, we should start back 
 as if we saw the flames of hell fire. 
 
 E 
 
50 THE LAW IS NOT OF FAITH. [Galatians. 
 
 o ch. ii. 16. 11 But ° that no man is justified by the law in 
 
 Horn. i*. 17. * the sight of God, it is evident : for, ^ The just shall 
 
 Heb. X, 38. t i £ -ii 
 
 <iRom.iv.4, live by faith. 
 
 & xiX^' ^' 12 And "^ the law is not of faith : but, ' The man 
 
 ' i^ev. xviii. 5. that doeth them shall live in them. 
 
 Neh. ix. 29. 
 
 Ezek. XX, 11, 
 
 Rom. X. 5. 
 
 11. " But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God 
 .... The just shall live by faith." There is a difficulty respect- 
 ing whether the words of the Hebrew original mean, " The just 
 shall live by his faith," or the just by his faith (that is, the man who 
 is rendered just by his faith) shall live. But it must be the former, 
 for the Apostle is here speaking of the justifying or saving effects of 
 faith itself. 
 
 The Septuagint reads, " The just by my faith (or faith in me) 
 shall live." No matter what shade of meaning we adopt it is plain 
 that the Apostle contrasts the cursing or killing effects of the law 
 with the contrary, i.e., the life-giving effects of faith. 
 
 This place, with some others in this Epistle, is to be carefully 
 noted, because it settles the question whether, in the mind of St. 
 Paul, justification was a matter of imputation or of life. It is evi- 
 dent that St. Paul very strongly holds it to be a matter of life ; not, 
 of course, excluding imputation, but the imputation is not to be 
 separated, even in idea, from the conveyance of life from the Person 
 of the Eternal Son. 
 
 12. " The law is not of faith : but. The man that doeth them 
 «hall live in them." It is necessary to examine, as far as we can, 
 into the exact meaning of this, for though the law requires obedience 
 it requires also faith. Take tlie very first commandment, " Thou 
 shalt have none other gods but me." Who is this ME ? The an- 
 .sweris,not an abstract definition of the Supreme Being, but " I am 
 the Lord thy God, Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.'* 
 Now to those to whom God gave this command from Mount Sinai it 
 would be a matter of sight ; but as the ages rolled on and miracu- 
 lous interpositions became fewer and fewer, and the Israelites came 
 more and more in contact with the great nations of the heathen 
 world, it became more and more a matter of faith, and, as such, it 
 was seldom, we may almost say never, obeyed. The Israelite was 
 <5alled upon to reaUze that the gods of such empires as Assyria and 
 
Chap. III.] A CURSE FOR US. 51 
 
 13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of * Rom.viii. 3. 
 the law, being made a curse for us : for it is ch. w. 5.* 
 
 Babylon, were nothing ; and that his God, the God of so paltry a 
 state as Palestine, was the One living and true God, and that he was 
 to have no other gods but Him ; and yet the law was absolutely 
 powerless to impress upon him this first truth. There was, seemingly, 
 a passion among the Israelites for breaking this commandment. A 
 king of Judah (2 Chron. xxv. 14) goes forth against the Edomites and 
 slaughters them, and when he returns home to Jerusalem, the first 
 thing he does is to set up the images of the gods of the very country 
 he had conquered and bow down to them. And even when a good 
 king reigned in Jerusalem the prophets thought it necessary to in- 
 veigh against the secret idolatries of the great body of the people. 
 So the first commandment was powerless, even in respect of that 
 which we should have supposed common sense and patriotism and 
 experience would have helped the Israelites to obey. Now why 
 was the law powerless ? Because it was not of faith. "Why was it 
 not of faith? because the object of faith, the Word made flesh, was 
 not yet revealed. The principle of faith, as the most powerful 
 energy in the human soul, was revealed clearly enough. Being in- 
 corporated in the earliest national history it formed part of the law, 
 but as the Apostle says, the faith had not come, it was afterivards 
 to be revealed ; and so till the coming of the faith all were of the 
 law, and could not be of faith. The law and faith were in their 
 very nature different ; the one said " do this and live," the other said 
 ** believe and live." Now doing and believing are not the same. As 
 God has constituted us creatures we must live by His Life before we 
 can do what pleases Him. The law, by its very nature as mere law, 
 can only issue a command, quite irrespective of the power of the sub- 
 ject of the law to fulfil it. Whereas the word of faith is " He that 
 believeth on the Son hath life," and this life enables him to fulfil the 
 law (Rom. viii. 1-4). 
 
 13. " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law .... 
 hangeth on a tree." This expression " made a curse for us " is not 
 without parallel. We have it in another form, but one equally 
 strong, in 2 Cor. v. 21, " He hath made him to be sin for us, who 
 knew no sin." In fact it underlies all expressions in which Christ 
 is said to bear our sins. If sin be a cursed thing, then if He bore 
 the sin He bore the curse. 
 
52 THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM. [Galatians. 
 
 t Deut. xxi. 23. written, * Cursed is every one that hangetli on a 
 
 tree : 
 u^Rom. iv. 9. 14 u rpj^^^ ^^iQ blessing of Abraham might come 
 
 But we must face the question, Why is there anything peculiarly 
 cursed in being hung on a tree ? Does not stoning, for instance, 
 seem equally cursed ? Now if we look at the original passage in the 
 book of Deuteronomy, the difficulty is by no means removed, for 
 there God orders that the malefactor who is hung on the tree is to 
 be taken down before night and his body buried (" for he that is 
 hanged is accursed of God "), that the land be not defiled. Here the 
 curse seems to be rather on the laud than on the body of the dead 
 man. And so when the King of Ai and the five kings were hung 
 on trees it is expressly noted that they were taken down the same 
 day (Josh. viii. 29, x. 27). 
 
 What then is this curse which rested on him that was hung on a 
 tree ? Why could men, if they hung a man, inflict on him a worse 
 curse than if they stoned him, and a curse of God too, a curse which 
 God ratified ? I can only account for it in this way, that the pro- 
 vidence of God brought about that men should not inflict such a 
 punishment on their fellows at their own mere will, but only where 
 God specially permitted it, and He only permitted it in the case of 
 special sinners ; so that because our Lord was in a special way 
 numbered with the transgressors, He was permitted to hang on the 
 tree — He must bear the extreme penalty. He must bear the curse : 
 and so the providence of God several times protected Him from 
 being stoned, but did not protect Him from being crucified and so 
 hanging on the tree, and bearing the curse of the law.^ 
 
 14. " That the blessing of Abraham might .... promise of the 
 Spirit through faith." The blessing of Abraham was " in thee shall 
 all the nations of the earth (t.e., all Gentiles) be blessed." 
 
 1 Chrysostom's comment deserves attention. " It is written, 'Cursed is every one that 
 hangeth on a tree.' But the people were subject to another curse, ' Cursed is every one 
 that continueth not in the things which are written in the book of the law.' To this 
 curse I say the people were subject, for no man had continued in, or was a keeper of the 
 whole law : but Christ substituted for this curse the one which said, ' Cursed is every one 
 that hangeth on a tree.' As, then, both he that hangeth on a tree, and he who trans- 
 gresses the law is cursed, and as he who is about to relieve from a curse ought him- 
 self to be free from it, and it was needful for Him to take a curse upon Him, therefore 
 Christ took upon Him the latver instead of the former, and relieved us from it." 
 
Chap, m.] THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT. 53 
 
 on the G-entiles tlirougli Jesus Christ ; that we might receive 
 "^ the promise of the Spirit through faith. ^ is. xxxii. 15. 
 
 15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men ; xxxj. 33. & 
 ^Though it he but a man's || covenant, yet if it xi. 19*. & "xxxvi! 
 he confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth 29.' Ze^ch"xii.' 
 
 , , 10. John vii. 
 
 thereto. 39. Acts u. 33. 
 
 16 Now ^to Abraham and his seed were the ^^eb. ix. 17. 
 
 II Or, testament. 
 2 Gen. xii. 3, 
 
 7. & xvii. 7. 
 
 ver. 8. 
 
 But what was the specific blessing ? Evidently that we, Jew 
 and Gentile alike, might receive the promise of the Spirit. The 
 promise of the Spirit was the promise of the Father. He came to 
 apply the work of Christ to each soul. By Him we are justified in 
 the Name of Christ. By Him we are baptized into the One Body. 
 By Him the things of Christ are shown to us. By Him we receive 
 gifts according to our place in the Church to fulfil our duty in that 
 place, and by Him we shall be raised at the last day. 
 
 15. " Brethren, I speak after the manner of men ; though it be 
 but a man's covenant .... or addeth thereto." The Apostle now 
 takes a further step in his argument against the Judaizers. He had 
 just quoted certain direct passages against justification by the law, 
 and in favour of the truth, that faith alone could justify — Abraham 
 was justified by faith ; through faith Abraham received certain 
 I)romises which are to be extended to all his spiritual seed ; those 
 who were, like Abraham, ** of faith," were to be blessed through 
 faithful Abraham — and he concludes with the truth that Christ was 
 accursed for us that the blessing of Abraham might come on the 
 Oentiles through Jesus Christ. 
 
 And now he has to face a serious objection. Did not the cove- 
 nant of the law disannul the former covenant ? No, he says, it can- 
 not be ; man is naturally deceitful and untruthful, and yet if men 
 enter into covenant with one another, and that covenant is duly 
 ratified, no man (i.e., neither of the contracting parties) can disannul 
 it, or add to it ; it must remain as originally ratified. 
 
 16. " Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. 
 He saith not," &c. Now by '* promises " here the words which come 
 after will oblige us to understand the covenants of promise — not 
 that there was any stipulation in the original Abrahamic covenant 
 which made the coming of Christ the Seed, and Redemption by Him, 
 
54 THY SEED WHICH IS CHRIST. [Galatians, 
 
 promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many ; 
 » 1 oor. xii. 12. but as of one, And to tliy seed, which is ^ Christ. 
 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was 
 b Exod. xii. confirmed before of Grod in Christ, the law, ^ which 
 was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot 
 c Rom. iv. 13, disannul, *^ that it should make the promise of none 
 
 14, ver. 21. ^ 
 
 effect. 
 
 17. "In Christ." So D., E., F., G., K., L., most Cursives, d, e, g, Syriac, Arm.; bn» 
 H, A., B., C, P., Vulg., Copt., Jith., omit. 
 
 contingent upon anything. No such thing — the promise was ab- 
 solute, and no matter how man sinned, must come to pass. It did 
 not depend upon the generations of men being virtuous, but upon 
 God's word. But, then, with whom was the covenant made ? the 
 Apostle tells us. 
 
 " He saith not. And to seeds, as of many ; but as of one, And to 
 thy seed, which is Christ." When God made the covenant of pro- 
 mise with Abraham, He made it with one in whom at that mo- 
 ment was the promised seed, for the Virgin and her offspring were 
 then in Abraham in the same sense as Levi was in the loins of 
 Abraham (Heb. vii. 10). 
 
 Now no Christian can possibly suppose that the Seed received 
 the promise on account of Abiaham — his faith, his works, his sacri- 
 fice, his anything ! No. God promised to Abraham because he 
 had elected Abraham to have the Seed in him ; but as the Seed 
 was not manifest in the flesh, God gave the promise to him in 
 whom He was. But when He gave it, God was careful to say 
 "thy seed," not " thy seeds," thereby excluding not only Ishmaelites 
 and Edomites, but also the successive generations of Jews, from 
 being the direct recipients of the promise. They were, of course, 
 indirect recipients, but there was only one direct recipient — He 
 "Who was in God's election "the Second Man," the seed in 
 Abraham, the Son of Abraham, " He whose goings forth have 
 been from of old, from everlasting." 
 
 17. " And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before 
 of God .... promise of none effect." It is absurd, and almost 
 bordering on blasphemy, to imagine that a promise such as that to 
 Abraham and to his One Seed of universal and eternal blessing 
 should ever be disannulled by the coming of the law. We must 
 
Chap. III.] NO MORE OF PROMISE. 55 
 
 18 For if '^ the inheritance be of the law, ^ it is no more 
 of promise : but God gave it to Abraham by ^ Rom. viii. 17. 
 promise. " ^°"^- ''• ^^' 
 
 19 Wherefore then serveth the law? ^It was ^Johnxv.22 
 
 Kom. IV. 1,5. & 
 
 added because of transgressions, till ^the seed '• ^'^*- * '": ^' 
 
 lo. 1 i.im. i« 9, 
 
 6 ver. 16. 
 
 look for some other purpose of the law than that it should make of 
 none effect so world-wide a promise, a promise of such glory to the 
 Jew, as well as of such benefit to the world through the Jew. 
 
 18. " For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of pro- 
 mise," &c. The inheritance, that is, the blessing of the promised 
 land at first, and of all other blessings of which it was the pledge, 
 could not be both of the law and of promise. It was given by a 
 faithful promise-keeping God long before the giving of the law, and 
 therefore it could not be " of the law." 
 
 If a man's covenant be once duly confirmed, as the Apostle had 
 said in verse 15, then nothing could be added to it. Thus obedience 
 to the law as a condition demanded on God's part before He fulfils 
 His promise, cannot be thought of. It would be a virtual with- 
 drawal of the promise. 
 
 19. "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because 
 of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise 
 was made," &c. " Because of transgressions." This is supposed 
 to be capable of two meanings, (1) It was added to restrain trans- 
 gressions ; (2) It was added to convince men of sin by transgressions 
 and so prepare them for Christ. Both these meanings are true. 
 
 It is absolutely necessary that such creatures as we are should 
 have some directions as to our duty to God and our neighbour. 
 The children of Israel, the poor slaves who had been working in 
 the Egyptian brick-kilns, required this, and God gave them a very 
 sufficient rule in the ten commandments. If they had obeyed 
 these in the letter only they wouid have been far happier, and far 
 less displeasing to God, and far less of a disgrace to His Holy 
 Name during the interval before the Seed should come. Who should 
 be a new Fountain of spiritual life to the race. 
 
 A moment's consideration must convince us that if a God of 
 truth gave the law. He desired that it should be kept. When He 
 said that men should not commit adultery, and should not steal, 
 He desired that they should not do these things ; but God, Whose 
 
56 ORDAINED BY ANGELS. [Galatians. 
 
 should come to whom the promise was made; and it was 
 h Acts vii. 63. ^ ordained by angels in the hand ^ of a mediator. 
 
 Ileb. ii. 2. ^ & 
 
 i Exod. XX. 19, 
 
 21, 22. Deut. 
 V. 6, 22, 23, 27, 
 
 31. John i. 17. wisdom is infinite, worked another purpose by the 
 
 Acts vii. 38. . X, J. . ^ • r • J.U i.\i, 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 5. law, that IS, to convince men of sm, so that they 
 should be prepared to welcome Him in Whom alone 
 was forgiveness and life. 
 
 *' Ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." Here the 
 Apostle gives another note of the inferiority and transitory nature 
 of the law, which is, that it was not given, as the promise was, 
 directly by God to the person to whom He made the promise, but 
 very indirectly ; for in the giving of the law God ordered that 
 there should be two intervening parties between Himself and the 
 Israelites ; first the angels (who in some way unknown to us, but 
 of which fact we are assured of by four or five plain statements of 
 Scripture, intervened between God and Moses) and then Moses, 
 who intervened between the angels and the people, so that the 
 law did not come directly from God ; but the promise to Abraham 
 came directly from God to him, just as a man who is walking with 
 his friend gives some promise directly to him, and does not give it 
 by the mouth of another ; and if we, for the moment, set aside 
 Abraham, and remember, as the Apostle has just told us, that it 
 was the Seed, the one individual Seed then in Abraham to Whom 
 the promise was made, then the directness of the intercourse was 
 transcendental. It was One Person in the adorable Trinity in 
 Unity communicating with Another. 
 
 20. " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one." 
 I cannot help thinking that additional difficulty has been given 
 to this undoubtedly hard passage by the neglect of the article. 
 'O }XEa'iTr]Q is not " a mediator," but " the mediator," and here, since a 
 particular mediator has just been mentioned, it seems natural to 
 translate it, "now (or but) the mediator (in the case before us) is 
 not of one." Now this was emphatically true of Moses. He was 
 not the direct mediator between the One God and the people. 
 There was another God-appointed intervention between himself 
 and the Supreme God, and this was the angels, not one but many; 
 for it is exceedingly remarkable that whereas, through almost the 
 whole of the Old and New Testaments, one angel, the angel of the 
 Lord, is represented as acting visibly on behalf of God, in the 
 
CiiAP.III.] GOD IS ONE. 57 
 
 20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, ''but G-od 
 is one. ^Rom.iii.29. 
 
 references to this angelic action on Mount Sinai, it is always " the 
 angels." ^ Now this reference to a plurality of angels must have 
 great weight attached to it. It emphasizes very considerably the 
 words respecting the mediator Moses, that he was not " of one." He 
 was not a mediator of one, that is, of Him Who is emphatically One, 
 directly, but of the angelic world which God had set betwixt Him- 
 self and Moses ; and God had His infinitely wise reasons for not 
 acting in this case as He usually did, through one angel, but 
 through many ; one reason very probably being that the angehc 
 world or the thousands of angels would not represent God so 
 directly as one would do, and God wished to emphasize the in- 
 directness of His action in the giving of the law.^ 
 
 " But God is one," rather "the God is one," the God Who created 
 all things, the God Who gave His promise at the fall ; the God Who 
 renewed the promise to Abraham ; the God Who made the faithful 
 oath unto David, the God Who fulfilled the promise, not through 
 
 1 Thus Acts vii. 63, "Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have 
 not kept it ; " and Hebrews ii. 2, " If the word spoken by angels was steadfast." Also 
 Psalm Ixviii. 17 and Dent, xxxiii. 2. 
 
 2 As my interpretation, though agreeing in the main with the one on which most 
 commentators seem to be coming to be of one mind, is not the same in so far as it postu- 
 lates a different understanding of the clause, " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one/ 
 I will go over in other words its several steps or stages. 
 
 Verse 18 asserts that the inheritance is not of the law but of promise. Verse 19 raises 
 the question. Does the law override the promise, seeing that it was given after the 
 promise ? No. The law is inferior to the promise in two respects — it was ordained only 
 for a time, whereas the promise was for ever, and it did not come directly from God as 
 th« promise did. The law was added, not as an addition to the promise to clog it, as it 
 were, but it entered by the way (Rom. v, 20) " ordained by angels in the hand of & 
 mediator." And now why did the Apostle follow this with the words, " Now a mediator 
 is not a mediator ol one " ? It is usually understood to mean that the mediator (any 
 mediator) implies two persons, but understood in this way, the assertion is the merest 
 truism ; in fact, mediatorship necessarily implies not two, but three persons — God, the 
 mediator, and the person who receives a message from God through the mediator. And 
 it must also be remembered that in this sense no communication of God to His creature 
 is " of one," for there must be God and the creature to whom He makes the communica- 
 tion ; so that it seems to me impossible that the Apostle should throw in here such a 
 truism. But if we understand it as, " Now the mediator in question," i.e. Moses, then 
 it is no truism but a remarkable fact that God in this case did not permit Moses exactly 
 to resemble the One Divine Mediator, but in order that Moses might not be "of one," 
 He put the Angelic Nature or world betwixt Himself and Moses. 
 
58 THE LAW THE PKOMISES. [Galatia>'s. 
 
 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? G-od 
 1 ch. u. 21. forbid : ^ for if there had been a law given which 
 could have given life, verily righteousness should 
 have been by the law. 
 
 the intervention of a human father, but through the power of the 
 Holy Ghost, is One (Luke i. 35). 
 
 The clause "God is one" must be completed in some way, 
 in order to conclude the argument, and it must be completed by 
 a relative sentence. I have endeavoured to complete it in the 
 way that the reader has seen ; others have completed it in other 
 ways, taking as their guides passages in which the unity of God 
 is connected with Redemption, thus "God is One Who will 
 justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through 
 the faith" (Eom. iii. 30). God is One "Who has no respect of 
 persons ; " God is One Who " was in Christ reconciling the world 
 unto Himself" (2 Cor. v. 19). All these fall in well with the great 
 scope of the Epistle, but I have endeavoured to establish an inter- 
 pretation which by antithesis sets forth the directness of the giving 
 of God's promise, with the indirectness of the giving of the law, 
 for that is the subject of the two verses.^ 
 
 21. " Is the law then against the promises of God ? God forbid." 
 Is the law, ordained in so glorious a way by angels in the hand of 
 a mediator, against the promises of God ? does it supersede them, 
 does it annul them, does it even weaken them ? God forbid. For 
 the promise is the coming of the Seed to give men life wherewith to 
 obey the law (Rom. viii. 4). The law would be against the pro- 
 mises of God, if it could impart to men such Divine Life unto 
 righteousness as the Seed was designed to impart, for then the 
 coming of the Seed would have been useless, and so he proceeds, — 
 
 " For if there had been a law given which could have given 
 life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." This 
 passage is the key to the Epistle. From it we learn why it was 
 that a man of severe hoHness (who dehghted in the law of God in 
 the inner man, who kept under his body, and brought it into sub- 
 
 1 Bishop EUicott seems to hold this view when he writes, " Because He dealt with 
 Abraham singly and directly, stood alone, and used no mediator." So also Dr. Eadi?, 
 "God himself, without any intervention, speaks the promise to Abraham; the promise 
 was conveyed through no third party, as was the law." 
 
Chap. III.] THE PROMISE BY FAITH. 5^ 
 
 22 But ™tlie scripture hath concluded °all under sin> 
 *• that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ mio^ht "' ^'^^'- ^■ 
 
 _ . ^ , 1 -, 1. " Rom.iii.9, 
 
 be given to them that believe. 19,23. & xi.32. 
 
 o Rom. iv. 11, 
 12, 16. 
 
 jection, who could say such a thing as " they that are Christ's 
 have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts,") should 
 write an Epistle depreciating the law, declaring that those who 
 were under it were under a curse, that it came somewhat indirectly, 
 and not directly from God as the promise did. He wrote aU 
 this and much more, not because he was lax about the law, 
 and was in his inmost hearb somewhat indifferent about its care- 
 ful observance, but because he desired righteousness, he desired 
 holiness, he desired that the law should be kept by us not in the 
 letter only, but in the spirit — to use his own words, " that the 
 righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after 
 the flesh, but after the Spirit." Now the Apostle knew that the 
 law could not effect this. It was only words — good and holy words — 
 but still words having no conveyance of a new Life in them ; and 
 so, if the law is to be obeyed, it cannot be by the law itself. There 
 must be the Seed, there must be a personal source of New Life, 
 and this Seed must have such extraordinary, such transcendent, 
 such Divine qualifications, that it is possible for God to insert Him 
 into the race, not at its beginning, but in the middle of that race's 
 existence, and so to insert Him that, by means of God's devising 
 He might be a new source of life, a new fountain of righteousness, 
 a new Adam, in whom men might be partakers of His New Nature, 
 and so of a New Life, the Life of God (John v. 26). 
 
 22. "But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the 
 promise by faith," &c. The Apostle had just spoken of men being 
 under the law. By " Scripture " does he mean the law ? I rather 
 think he means other Scripture (books or passages of Scripture), 
 besides the law, such as Psalms xiv. and liii., which in Eom. iii. he 
 applies with great force to bring in aU the chosen people guilty 
 before God. 
 
 " That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ," &c. As the promise 
 was not given by the law, so it could not be apprehended or laid 
 hold of by the law, i.e., by keeping its precepts. There must be 
 another thing on man's part by which it is to be apprehended, and 
 that is faith. " Ye beheve in God, believe also in me." " God so 
 
"60 BEFORE FAITH CAME. [Galatians. 
 
 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, 
 
 33. " We were kept." " Kept in ward," Revisers, 
 
 loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever 
 heUeveth in him," &c. The promise is especially addressed to those 
 whose conviction of sin by the law, or to use one word, whose re- 
 pentance has led them to desire such a remedy as is to be found in 
 the promise — that is in the Seed to Whom the promise was made, 
 and in Whose coming it was fulfilled. 
 
 23. " But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut 
 up unto the faith," &c. The omission of the article before faith in 
 our translation has been most disastrous to the right understanding 
 of this Epistle. It has much conduced to make it, in these latter 
 days, the prey of fanatics, instead of being a most precious part of 
 the heritage of the Catholic Church. Trjv TriaTiv is not faith, but " the 
 faith, "for it can come, whereas faith — that is, the virtue or faculty 
 — has always been one of the cliief functions of the human soul. 
 
 Now, when did the faith come ? We answer. When the Seed 
 came. The words "before the faith came" of this verse, and 
 " after that (the) faith is come " of verse 25, and " by (the) faith '* 
 of verse 26, all have reference to the words "till the seed should 
 come" of verse 19. The faith spoken of by St, Paul is the Gospel 
 or good tidings of the Seed, how He was the true, the own Son of 
 God, how He was made flesh, how He died for sin, how above all 
 He rose again, to be the Great object of Justifying Faith (Eom. iv, 
 22-25), how He ascended, how He mediates, how He will return, 
 how He will judge. This is the Gospel of the Seed, and it came 
 when the Seed — the Son of God — was manifested, and then faith, 
 i.e., the virtue or quality of faith, reached its climax, so to speak. 
 It rested now, not on the providence of God, but on the worthiest 
 Object which even God could reveal. His Eternal and co-equal 
 Son, crucified and risen again. 
 
 **We were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith," &c. 
 This verse is also of great importance. It teaches us that, except 
 to a very small extent, the revelations of the Gospel were not 
 anticipated in the times of the law. Nothing has made the inter- 
 pretation and application of the Old Testament more unreal than 
 the idea that all the great saints who lived under the law read the 
 full Gospel of Christ under the sacrifices and ceremonies of the 
 law, as we do who have the Epistle to the Hebrews to guide us. 
 
Chap. III.] THE LAW OUR SCHOOLMASTER. 61 
 
 shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be re- 
 vealed. 
 
 24 Wherefore ^ the law was our schoolmaster ?, ^^*"' I- ^^^ 
 
 Jblom. X. 4, 
 
 Col. ii. 17. 
 
 Heb. ix. 9, 10. 
 
 24. "Our schoolmaster;" rather, "pedagogue." The slaves who conducted children, 
 to school. 
 
 We should ever bear in mind the words of the Apostle respecting 
 the Old Prophets : ** Unto whom it was revealed that, not unto 
 themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now 
 reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto 
 you " (1 Pet. i. 12). 
 
 " Shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.'*' 
 Those under the law were, till the Son of God came, like men in a 
 dark prison, who were only to be brought out into hght and hberty 
 by the coming of the Eternal Son to open the doors of their prison. 
 Was this by the will of God ? Yes, most assuredly. We are, of 
 course, to remember that God wiU not judge these generations by 
 what they had not, but by what they had. They had hght — dim 
 it may be, but still light — by which they were enabled to judge 
 one another, and by which God will judge them. Their twilight 
 was as the brightness of day compared to the hght vouchsafed to 
 the heathen. 
 
 However, it was not by their own will, but by the providence of 
 God that they were bom and brought up in this state of com- 
 parative darkness and bondage. God Who brought it about made 
 it to subserve His purpose of grace and good will to men. It 
 forms one part of that amazing mystery according to which God 
 in this state of things deals unequally with men, giving to some 
 men more, and to others less, to some men more temporal, more 
 intellectual, more spiritual good things, and to others less. 
 
 24. " Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to 
 Christ, that," &c. Here a new idea comes in, which is more fully 
 developed in chap. iv. 1-4. The Apostle speaks in verse 10 very 
 disparagingly indeed of the law, that all under it were under the 
 curse : then he speaks of it as " added because of the transgres- 
 sions," and given not directly from God, but indirectly by angels, 
 and a mediator as well : but now he speaks of it as a necessary 
 preparation for Christ. " The law was our schoolmaster (or peda- 
 gogue) to Christ." 
 
62 AFTER THE FAITH IS COME. [Galatians. 
 
 to bring us unto Christ, ^tliat we miglit be justified by 
 
 ^ Actsxiii.39. faith. 
 
 25 But after that faith is come, we are no 
 longer under a schoolmaster. 
 
 The pedagogue was a superior slave, whose duty it was to attend 
 the children of great men to school, and bring them back again, 
 and see that they formed no bad acquaintances by the way. He 
 was empowered to exercise severity, though a slave. His functions 
 are well described in a passage, quoted by Eadie, out of the Lysis 
 of Plato : " Who then governs you ? (Socrates asks). My pseda- 
 gogue, he said. Is it so that he is a slave? How could he be 
 otherwise ? our slave, however .... And by doing what, then, 
 does this psedagogue govern you ? Of course, said he, he conducts 
 me to my masters." (Lysis 208 E.) 
 
 Though the pedagogue was in no way that we are aware of an 
 instructor to prepare the lad whom he conducted to school to receive 
 with more intelhgence the instructions of the master, for his duty 
 seemingly was no other than to protect him in going from one 
 place to another, yet St. Paul must have attached more to the idea 
 of the duty of the pedagogue than this. The words " to lead us " 
 are not in the original, which runs : " The law was our pedagogue 
 to Christ," and I cannot help thinking that St. Paul attaches more 
 idea of positive instruction to the functions of the slave in question 
 than we do. For the moral law was designed to make men feel 
 their need of Christ, especially in the way of Strength and Life ; 
 and the ceremonial law, especially that of Sacrifices, must have 
 made all the thinking ones realize the need of some better sacrifice 
 than the law afforded : so that the function of the law to those who 
 attempted to observe it was very deep instruction indeed, instruc- 
 tion in the need of something far beyond itself, instruction in the 
 matter of their need of Christ the Seed. 
 
 " That we might be justified by faith." The end of the function 
 of the law is not that we may receive the instruction of Christ, but 
 that we might be justified by faith, i.e., by faith apprehending 
 Christ for such purposes as that we may have His Life within 
 us. 
 
 25. *' But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a 
 schoolmaster." Here again there is the same unaccountable neglect 
 
Chap. III.] YE ARE ALL CHILDREN OF GOD. 63 
 
 26 For ye ' are all the children of God by faith ' John i. 12. 
 
 •^ "^ Rom. viii. 14, 
 
 in Christ Jesus. is, i6. ch. iv. 
 
 5. 1 John iii. 
 1,2. 
 
 26. "The children of God ;" rather, " the sons." 
 
 of the article. 'E\9ov<n]Q Sk Tfjg TriVrfwc is not " after that faith is come," 
 but "after that the faith is come," granting, of course, that there is 
 such a thing as the faith, the Gospel of the Seed, the faith which is 
 One everywhere, the faith once for all delivered to the Saints, apart 
 from the faculty of the soul which realizes it. When it is come, then 
 we no longer need a pedagogue, for we are in the presence of the 
 Master — more than in His presence, for we are united to Him, 
 we are members of His mystical Body — not only in His School, 
 but in Him. 
 
 26. " For ye are all the children (sons) of God by faith in Christ 
 Jesus." Here again the article has been neglected. It is not 
 faith, but "the faith" {did Ttjg TrtWfwc). We are not made children of 
 God by any faith, or by a faith in the Fatherhood of God apart 
 from the realization of the Sonship of our Blessed Lord. We are 
 made the children of God by our faith apprehending the One Faith 
 [One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism] . 
 
 "The children of God," rather "the sons of God." Perhaps 
 this is said as an advance upon the statement that " they which are 
 of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." The true children 
 of Abraham are of course the true children of God, but throughout 
 the Old Testament the term " child of God " or " son of God " is used 
 of the Jews, even of the true Jews, very sparingly indeed. The 
 proper translation is " sons," not " children," and should by all 
 means be so rendered here, for the children, i.e., the younger ones, 
 are under the pedagogue, but the sons are not. 
 
 Who are children of God ? May I repeat what I have written 
 before more than once ? There are four grades of children or sons 
 of God : (1) All men created of God in His image ; so Malachi 
 ii. 10. (2) All who have been brought into God's Church or family 
 (as here). (3) All who are led by the Spirit and follow that 
 leading (Matth. v. 9, 44, 45). (4) Those that at the last are 
 accounted worthy to attain to the Kesurrection (Luke xx. 35 ; Rev, 
 xxi. 7). 
 
 The whole body of the Galatian Church could only be all 
 children or sons of God in the second of these senses. They were 
 
64 BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST. [Galatians. 
 
 27 For *as many of you as liave been baptized into Christ 
 ■ Rom. vi. 3. * have put on Christ. 
 
 * Rom. xiji. 14. 
 
 assuredly not all led by the Spirit, and none of them had as yet 
 attained to the Eesm-rection. 
 
 This place is to be carefully noted, because it is a very striking^ 
 example of the inclusive way of speaking which St. Paul adopts 
 throughout all his Epistles in addressing the members of the 
 Christian Body. In not one of his Epistles does he divide the 
 Church to which he writes into justified and unjustified, regenerate 
 and unregenerate, children of God and childi-en of Satan, con- 
 verted and unconverted, believers and unbelievers, members of 
 Christ and not members of Christ. Instead of endeavouring, 
 because they were not living as Christians, to make them doubt of 
 their Christian standing or membership in Cbrist, he does exactly 
 the contrary : he would have them entertain no doubt of it, be- 
 cause if they doubted it they might lose what little hold on Christ 
 they had, and if they believed it they might be recalled, and put 
 right by such belief. 
 
 This verse, as I said, is a very striking example of such a mode 
 of speaking : " Ye are all the children of God ; " followed by " All 
 of you have by Baptism put on Christ ; " and " Ye are all one in 
 Christ : " and yet numbers of them *' were bewitched that they 
 should not obey the truth " — they had been moved from grace into 
 the acceptance of another Gospel, they had fallen from grace: 
 they needed to be reminded what the works of the flesh were, 
 and of such things as "he that soweth to the flesh shall of the 
 flesh reap corruption." And yet to such a Church the Apostle 
 speaks exactly as we have seen that he does to the members of the 
 Corinthian Church, assuming that all are in a state of grace, and 
 that if they do not live up to this state of grace they must be re- 
 called to it. 
 
 27. " For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have 
 put on Christ." What is meant by " putting on Christ" ? Some 
 take it to be putting on the profession of Christ ; but this is impos- 
 sible, for we are not made sons of God by a mere profession — i.e., an 
 outward profession ; and yet the proof alleged by St. Paul, that all 
 the Galatian Christians were children of God by faith in Christ, 
 was that by having been baptized into Christ they had put on 
 
Chap. III.] NEITHER JEW NOR GREEK. 65 
 
 28 " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is " Rom. x. 12. 
 
 1 Cor. xii. 13. 
 
 ' oh. V. 6. Col. 
 
 iii. 11. 
 28. " There is neither." Revisers, " There cannot be either." 
 
 Christ. We must look for a deeper meaning of the word svsdvaaaOs^ 
 and this we shall find in Ephes. iv. 23, 24 — " that ye be renewed in 
 the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the New Man which 
 after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Thifi 
 putting on must be internal. The term " endue " seems to be exactly 
 the term for it — *' as many of you as have been baptised into Christ 
 have been endued with Christ." This must be, of course, the same 
 as what St. Paul speaks of in Eom. vi. 1-4, and Coloss. ii. 12, as being 
 baptized into the Death and Resurrection of Christ ; and in 1 Cor. 
 xii. 12, 13, as being baptized into His body ; and, in Titus iii. 5, as 
 being saved by the bath of new birth, for the Apostle must be 
 held to be consistent with himseK. The Apostle then assumes 
 that all the Galatians who at all believed in Christ were baptized, 
 and that this baptism was not a mere external ceremony of out* 
 ward profession as circumcision, but that there and then they wer« 
 put into a new relationship with God through Christ. They were not 
 saved on their believing, no matter how lively their faith was, but 
 the reception of the benefits to which their faith entitled them were 
 suspended till they were incorporated into the Church of Christ : 
 for it was not the intention of Christ to save them as mere units, 
 each one by himself, but to incorporate them into a body in which 
 they were to receive grace and guidance from the Divine Head. 
 
 This place is to be noticed as showing that there was no 
 antagonism in the Apostle's mind between faith and Baptism as 
 there was between faith and Circumcision. If a Galatian Christian, 
 having been converted to the faith of Christ, received circumcision, 
 Christ would profit him nothing; whilst, on the contrary, his faith 
 would not profit him till he was incorporated into Christ in Holy 
 Baptism — then, and not till then, was he endued with Christ. All 
 this would have been impossible if Baptism had been a mere 
 edifying ceremony, taking the place of circumcision, as a rite of 
 dedication to God. In such a case, as I have shown on verse 3 of 
 this chapter, the convert having begun in the spirit would be made 
 perfect in the flesh. 
 
 28. " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor 
 free . . . one in Christ Jesus." Greek here means Gentile ; for they 
 
66 ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS. [Galatians. 
 
 neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female : for 
 X John X. 16. ye are all "" one in Christ Jesus. 
 
 & xvii. 20 21. 
 
 Eph. ii. 14, 15, 29 And y if ye he Christ's, then are ye Abra- 
 
 16. & iv. 4, 15. "^ *^ 
 
 y Gen. xxi. 10, 
 
 12. Rom.ix. were the Gentiles with whom the Jews came most 
 into contact. Baptism does not, of course, do away 
 with nationality ; but it puts all nations — the negro and savage, 
 for instance — on an equality as members of Christ with those who 
 trace their Christianity to the preaching of the Apostles. 
 
 " There is neither bond nor free." Christianity does not knock 
 off the fetters of the slave, but gives him a citizenship in heaven 
 (Phil. iii. 20), and a freedom in Christ which his master may not 
 possess. Some Father or ecclesiastical writer notices the fact that 
 it was not an unknown occurrence that when a master was con- 
 verted to Christ, he found himself under one as his Bishop who had 
 been, or perhaps was, his slave. 
 
 " There is neither male nor female." Under the law there was 
 a very great distinction betwixt male and female — the one could 
 receive the Covenant rite of circumcision, the other could not. 
 This is done away in Christ, in Whom all are engrafted into the 
 One Body. 
 
 The great principle enunciated in this verse, and in many parts 
 of the New Testament, is the root of two veiy great changes in 
 society — the abolition of slavery, and the raising of women, so 
 that they should take their rightful place in the Christian Church. 
 29. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed," &c. 
 This is the conclusion of the whole matter. The real argument 
 finishes here ; the remaining three chapters are upon real difficul- 
 ties, or assumed objections, or typical illustrations, or antinomian 
 perversions. 
 
 " If ye be Christ's." By being members of His body ; and ye 
 cannot belong to Christ more than by being His members. 
 
 " Then are ye Abraham's seed." For Christ is the seed of Abra- 
 ham, and ye, being in Christ, are the seed of Abraham, quite inde- 
 pendently of circumcision, or of the dispensation of the law. 
 
 "And heirs according to the promise." Not according to the 
 law, but according to the jDromise which was given by God directly 
 to the seed of Abraham, and could not be annulled or superseded by 
 the law. "And heirs according to the promise." Not according to 
 •the law, which was given only to Israel, as the preamble states, but 
 
Chap. IV.] AS LONG AS HE IS A CHILD. 67 
 
 ham's seed, and 'heirs accordino: to the promise. « Rom. viii. 17. 
 
 eh. iv. 7, 28. 
 Eph. iii. 6. 
 
 according to the promise: "In thee, in thy seed, shaU all the nations 
 of the earth be blessed" — blessed in renewal by the Holy Spirit, 
 blessed in the Eesurrection of their bodies when they enter into the 
 fulness of their inheritance. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 NOW I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, 
 differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord 
 of all ; 
 
 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time ap- 
 pointed of the father. 
 
 1. " Now I say. That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth 
 nothing," &e. The Apostle here cites another illustration drawn 
 from common life, following upon that ot verse 24 of last chapter. 
 The heir, though nobly born, is not only under a pedagogue to 
 guard him on his way to school and back, but in all else he is not 
 in a state of hberty, but differs in nothing from a slave. Though he 
 may have outgrown the state of infancy under the pedagogue, he is 
 still under tutors and governors : (tutors rather signifying the 
 guardians of his person ; and governors, the stewards of his pro- 
 perty). He is not allowed to manage his concerns himself: the 
 estate belongs to him, but the money is taken by the receiver or 
 steward. 
 
 By this the Apostle sets forth that the inheritance may be really 
 the heir's, but he may not have entered into its possess on, and 
 and must wait till the time appointed of the father. Under 
 Roman law he would not be of age till twenty-five ; and, if his 
 father was dead, would then enter upon his inheritance, apparently 
 as a matter of course. 
 
 In the spiritual things which the Apostle is illustrating, the time 
 appointed is the coming of God's Son into the world, as is told us 
 in verse 4. 
 
68 WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN. [Galatians. 
 
 » ver. 9. ch. 3 EvGii SO WG, when we were children, ^ were in 
 Coi.'ii. 8,' 20. bonda^-e under the 11 elements of the world : 
 
 Heb.ix.lO. ^ " 
 
 Or, rudi- 
 
 ments. 
 
 3. " Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under 
 the elements of the world." This can only refer to those under the 
 old Jewish economy; the case of Gentile Christians seems disposed 
 of in verses 6-10. The passage is similar to Ephes. i. 11 : " In 
 whom also we have obtained an inheritance . . . who first trusted in 
 Christ. ... In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word 
 of truth," &c. 
 
 " Under the elements of the world." This phrase has been very 
 variously interpreted. We can best ascertain its meaning by con- 
 sidering that it is used to explain the action of guardians and 
 stewards. Guardians necessarily abridge the heir of his liberty till 
 he is fitted by age to make a good use of it. Stewards do not allow 
 him the use of the whole of his property, only that small portion 
 with which he can be safely entrusted till he is supposed to be able 
 to administer it with prudence. Now this was the principle of the 
 Jewish law. It contained no spirit to enable men to soar above 
 the world. It rather attempted to keep them in proper bounds in 
 the world. Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, instead of " believe in 
 me," " come to me," " rest in me," "fill thyself with me," " eat my 
 flesh and drink my blood, and have My Life in thee." 
 
 Again, the steward is appointed to retain the property, and keep 
 it till the son can use it prudently. And so the old dispensation 
 had in its hands, as it were, all the good things of the new, but 
 doled them out to the heir so that he might not misunderstand or 
 misuse them. Take the great sacramental truths of Christianity. 
 They could not be realized till the substance of them was given in 
 and through the Incarnation. How could we eat life-giving flesh 
 till, through the mystery of the Holy Incarnation, Flesh could be 
 made life-giving ? And so there was the Passover and the par- 
 taking of other sacrifices and the washings and cleansings, which 
 rather contained truth to be afterwards enjoyed than made men 
 then and there enjoy it. " The elements of the world " have been 
 supposed to refer to the letters of the alphabet ((Tro/x£Ta),the rows — 
 because arranged in rows — the rudiments. And the rudiments of 
 reading, as of most branches of knowledge, are at first, and some- 
 times for long afterwards, elements of bondage. 
 
Chap. IV.] GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, 69 
 
 4 But ^ when the fulness of the time was come, »> Gen. xUx. lo. 
 God sent forth his Son, "^ made ^of a woman, Mark i.' 15/ 
 * made under the law, c joim i. 14. 
 
 Rom. i. 3. 
 
 Phil. ii. 7. 
 
 Heb. ii. 14. 
 
 But why are they " of the world " ? *' The Jewish is. vil* 14! * 
 economy was of the world, as it was sensuous — made 5{aTM^'23' 
 up of types appealing to the senses, and giving only Luke i. 31. & 
 but the first principles of a spiritual system. . . . ^e\iatt v 17 
 The child-heir, when he was a child, was taught only Luke ii. 27. 
 faint outlines of spiritual truth, suited to his capacity, and taught 
 them to some extent by worldly symbols — the fire, the altar, and 
 the shedding of blood (Heb. ix. 10), a state of dependence and 
 subjection, compared with the freedom and the fulness of enlighten- 
 ment and privilege under the Gospel." (Eadie.) 
 
 4. " But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth 
 his Son." " The fulness of the time." The time when iniquity was 
 full, when the ages of preparation had made all things ready ; when 
 men were in a state of expectation, looking for the coming of some 
 great One. 
 
 *' God sent forth his Son." In the way of the Incarnation, " Who 
 for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven." 
 
 These words rule those which follow, " made of a woman." Here 
 we cannot but recognize the " seed of the woman " of the original 
 promise. One commentator tells us that there is no allusion here 
 to the miraculous conception. " The phrase ' born of a woman,' was 
 of common use (compare Matthew xi. 11 : * Among them that are 
 born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.') 
 So here the expression is intended to bring out, not the Divinity, 
 but the true humanity of Christ." But how was it that our Lord's 
 true humanity needed to be brought out ? Anyone born of a par- 
 ticular nation, at a particular time in a particular city, is naturally 
 *' born of a woman," and so the Lord said, " of them that are born 
 of women," meaning, of course, the human race, all of whom with 
 One Exception are bom of woman in the ordinary way. But here 
 was the Exception, One born in a unique way. If He had been 
 born otherwise. He would have been born in sin, and so could not 
 have redeemed us. It is clear then that St. Paul could not have 
 used the expression " born of a woman," in the sense that our Lord 
 did when he said " of them that are born of women." His birth 
 
70 THE ADOPTION OF SONS. [Galatians. 
 
 f Matt. XX. 28. 5 ' To redeem tliem that were under the law, 
 Eph. i. 7.' ^ that we misjht receive the adoption of sons. 
 
 Titus ii. 14. 
 
 Heb. ix. 12. 
 
 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. 
 g John i. 12. 
 
 ch. iii. 26. of a woman was unique amongst births, for it was a 
 
 ^^ ■ *' ■ saving and redeeming birth, the birth of One sent into 
 
 the world as no one else was, for a purpose which no one else 
 could fulfil : so that when we read the words "born of a woman," 
 it is right and becoming that we should adore the mystery of the 
 Holy Incarnation ; for assuredly no other human being was sent 
 into the world in this way. 
 
 " Born under the law." Born of a Jewish mother under the care 
 of a Jewish foster-father, and so under the law, under which He 
 was formally brought when He was circumcised. 
 
 This juxtaposition of *' born of a woman," and "born under the 
 law," seems to me to show that St. Paul had in his mind that par- 
 ticular mention of the circumcision and presentation in the Temple 
 which we have in St. Luke's Gospel. (See my notes on St. Luke.) 
 
 Being born under the Jewish law, our Lord during His whole 
 Life strictly conformed to it ; so that they who for party purposes 
 represent Him as a non-conformist, ignorantly rob Him of a con- 
 siderable part of His redeeming work. 
 
 5. " To redeem them that were under the law, that we might 
 receive the adoption," &c. The Son of God in His pre-existent 
 state imposed the law. As the Eternal Word or Wisdom it proceeded 
 from Him, and by His submission in His human nature to that 
 law, under which He was not originally. He redeemed those who 
 were under it. As the Apostle says respecting its enactment, it 
 was a yoke which neither " we nor our fathers were able to bear," 
 but still it was obligatory on the chosen people until they were 
 redeemed from its servitude, which was at the coming of the 
 Son. 
 
 " That we might receive the adoption of sons." The adoption 
 of sons to distinguish it from natural sonship on the one hand, and 
 the Eternal Sonship of the Lord on the other. 
 
 The Jews, though in the position of slaves, being controlled and 
 restrained as if they were slaves, were yet " nourished and brought 
 up as children," Isaiah i. 2, and were " the sons and daughters of 
 the Almighty," but their true sonship, as regards Uberty and know- 
 ledge, and assurance of forgiveness and freedom of access, was re- 
 
Chap. IV.] ABBA, FATHER. 71 
 
 6 And because ye are sons, G-od hath sent forth ''the 
 Spirit of his Son into your hearts, cryinar, Abba, ^ Rom- v. 5. 
 
 ^ *^ "^ "-^ & viii. 15. 
 
 Father. 
 
 6. " Into yonr hearts." So E., K., L., almost all Cursives, Goth., Syriac, Copt., ^?ith. ; 
 but N', A., B., C, D., F., G., P., fifteen Cursives, d, e, f, g, Vulg. (Cod. Amiat.), read, 
 " our hearts." If this reading is correct, St. Paul must include himself and his brethren 
 the Jews as one with the Gentiles. 
 
 served till the coining of the Son. By being engrafted into Him 
 they became bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, His true brethren, 
 and so the sons of God in a far higher sense than any children of 
 Adam could have ever been before. 
 
 6. "And because ye are sons." As by the "we" of verses 3 
 and 5, St. Paul means his compatriots or co-religionists, the seed 
 of Abraham, so by this change of person, "ye," he must signify the 
 Gentiles. And there wastliis difference between Jews and Gentiles, 
 that the Jews being under a God-ordained system of servitude, re- 
 quired a special redemption from its yoke. They were, in a sense, 
 the first-bom (Exodus iv. 22), and the first-born must be redeemed, 
 whereas the Gentiles come in as simply members of the human 
 family. In this the Jews had the advantage, just as it is an advan- 
 tage to a man to have had some preparation for a sphere of useful- 
 ness rather than none at all. All the Apostles, all the first mis- 
 sionaries of the Gospel, were Jews. God apparently did not choose a 
 single Gentile to be an original propagator of the truth, or a founder 
 of Churches. 
 
 "What, then, was the mark of the adoption of the Gentiles ? Evi- 
 dently this, that they claimed God as a father. They could not 
 have done this, they could not have claimed the fatherly love and 
 protection of God, they could not have, with any sincerity, said to 
 God, " Abba Father," as they did whenever they addressed to Him 
 the prayer which the Son had enjoined them to use, unless they 
 had had the gift of the Spirit of God. As no one can say that Jesus 
 is the Lord, so no man can say to God, " our Father," but by the 
 Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost then was the sign ol 
 adoption. God would not give them the Spirit of His Son enabling 
 them to claim Him, and speak to Him as Father, unless He de- 
 sired in very truth that they should regard Him as such. He 
 would not teach them to call Him Father if He were not their 
 Father. 
 
72 NO MORE A SERVANT. [Galatians. 
 
 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son ; ' and 
 i Rom. yiii. 16, if a SOU, then an heir of God through Christ, 
 k Eph.ii. 12. 8 Howbeit then, '^^when ye knew not God, ^ye 
 ?Rom*i'25^ did service unto them which by nature are no 
 
 lCor.;xii 2.' ^o(is^ 
 Eph. u. 11, 12. o 
 1 Thess. i. 9. 
 
 7. " Heir of God through Christ." So D., E., K., L., P., most Cursives, d, e, Goth. ; 
 but ^f, A., B., C, 17, f, g, Vulg., Copt., read, "through God." 
 
 Bishop Lightfoot has a beautiful note on the junction of the 
 Syriac (vernacular Hebrew) and Greek inthematter of naming the 
 Name of God. He understands it as an expression of importunate 
 entreaty, illustrating the natural mode of emphasizing by repetition 
 of the same idea in different forms, and regards it as a speaking 
 testimony to that fusion of Jew and Greek which prepared the way 
 for the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen. 
 
 7. " Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son." ** Where- 
 fore " because of this proof of real sonship by the gift of the Spirit, 
 thou art no more a servant or slave under bondage. 
 
 *' But a son," being a member of Christ, thou art a child or son 
 of God, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 
 
 All the children of God are heirs. They must be if they are 
 members of Christ, as in the last verse of chap. iii. " If ye be 
 Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise." 
 But how can all men be heirs ? Because by possessing God they 
 possess all things. This is one of those many things which we 
 cannot know now, but we shall know hereafter. 
 
 8. " Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto 
 them which by nature," &c. " When ye knew not God," that is, in 
 your heathen state. Observe how the Apostle here denies by im- 
 plication that the heathen could know God through idolatry. Some 
 of them, as Socrates, might know God by the in-dwelling Word» 
 by the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world 
 (see Justin Martyr, " Apology," i. 46, and ii. 10), but not through 
 their mythologies. 
 
 " Ye did service to them which by nature are no gods." " Which 
 by nature," answers to our expression *' in reality," or "actually." 
 See 1 Corinth, viii. 4, " An idol is nothing in the world." 
 
 " Did service " by prayer and by sacrifice. The things offered 
 
Chap. IV.] HOW TURN YE AGAIN ? 73 
 
 9 But now, ^ after that ye liave known God, or •" i cor. viii. 3. 
 
 & xiii. 12. 
 
 rather are known of God, ° how turn ye || again 2 Tim. li. 19. 
 to ° the weak and beggarly || elements, whereunto co^u Ilso!' 
 ye desire aojain to be in bonda^je ? H ^^' ^'^'^^• 
 
 JO & o Rom. viii. 3. 
 
 Heb. vii. 18. 
 
 II Or, rudi- 
 
 ments, ver. 3. 
 
 in sacrifice were not merely offered by way of homage, but under 
 the belief that the deities or demons in some way partook of 
 them, and enjoyed their sweet savour. 
 
 9. " But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are 
 known of God." What is the meaning of this correction ? Some 
 suppose by this " or rather " the Apostle meant to correct any such 
 inference as that men can know God of themselves. The recogni- 
 tion must first be on God's part before men can recognize God ; 
 but may not the Apostle rather mean to correct the universality of 
 his words as applied to all the Galatian Christians ? " Ye have 
 known God," may not now be true of all, it may be a thing of the 
 past. Some — many — may have fallen from God, and so might not 
 then truly know God, and so he adds, " or rather are known of 
 God." Though ye have ceased to know God effectually God has 
 not ceased to know you. Ye are even now known of God, or I 
 His Apostle should not now be endeavouring to bring you back to 
 Him. 
 
 " How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, where- 
 unto ye," &c. There is this difficulty about this passage, that the 
 Apostle is evidently referring to the Gentiles when he speaks of 
 their "doing service to them which are no gods," and yet re- 
 turning to the " weak and beggarly " element seems only conso- 
 nant with reverting back to Judaism. Some have supposed that 
 the greater part of the Galatian Christians had gone through some 
 phase of Judaism before they embraced the Gospel, but this is very 
 unlikely indeed. No doubt the explanation is this : in becoming 
 Christians they had joined a religion which had an incipient stage 
 or period of childhood in Judaism, so that those who had been 
 converted from heathenism, if they yielded to the Judaizers, fell 
 back into that which was, after Christ came, effete and worthless. 
 They fell back from that which was strong to that which was weak, 
 from that which was rich in grace, to that which had no promise 
 of grace attached to it; from that which was perfect to that 
 
74 DAYS, MONTHS, TIMES, YEARS. [Galatians. 
 
 10 PYe 
 and years. 
 
 p Rom. xiv. 5. 10 P Ye observe days, and months, and times^ 
 
 Col.ii. 16. ^ * 
 
 which was rudimentary. "The Galatians had been slaves to the 
 uToixfta in the form of heathenism ; now they were desiring to en- 
 slave themselves again to the aroix^la, and to commence them anew 
 in the form of Judaism." (EUicott.) But it seems very doubtful 
 whether St. Paul would call heathen mythologies rudiments. 
 
 10. "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." 
 These were all Jewish days of observance, and the keeping of them 
 was condemned as such, and not because there was anything essen- 
 tially wrong in it. 
 
 Take the first of these, "the days." This could only be the 
 Jewish Sabbath, the Saturday. St. Paul would, no doubt, in 
 Galatia as elsewhere, ordain at least a weekly celebration of the 
 Eucharist ; and this would be of course on the Lord's day, the day 
 of the Kesurrection, the first day of the week. 
 
 Now if a Galatian Christian, converted from heathenism, began 
 to observe the Saturday, i.e., the Jewish sabbath, it was a very bad 
 sign : why should he observe Saturday, the seventh day ? simply be- 
 cause he did not realize the significance of the Lord's Eesurrection 
 on the first day. The reason for observing the Lord's day, the day 
 of the Eesurrection, was overwhelmingly greater than the reason for 
 observing any other day, even the Saturday which commemorated 
 the rest after Creation. Such a man, so doing, would not realize 
 that Eedemption of which the Eesurrection was the completion, 
 but would, as far as he could, commemorate creation before Ee- 
 demption. 
 
 The same applies to a Gentile believer keeping a Passover. 
 Having the Body and Blood of the true Pascal Lamb given to him 
 to feed upon, if he kept the Passover he would simply express his 
 belief in the permanency of the shadow, and so dishonour the Sub- 
 stance. If it be objected to this that St. Paul and the other 
 Apostles observed these days, we answer that they observed 
 them not as Christians, but as Jews, and being known to be Jews 
 by birth, they would avoid all needless causes of ofience to their 
 brethren according to the flesh : " To the Jews became they as Jews 
 that they might gain the Jews." It would be no sign of unbelief 
 in Christ in them, but a matter of national religious observance 
 
Chap. IV.] I AM AFRAID OF YOU. 75 
 
 11 I am afraid of you, « lest I have bestowed q ch. ii. 2. & 
 upon you labour in vain. 1 Thess. iii. 5. 
 
 not yet formally abolished ; whereas conformity to the Jewish law 
 of days in a converted Galatian would be a sure sign that he was. 
 not satisfied with his standing in Christ, and wished to supplement 
 it by a standing in the law which God had abolished in his case.'^ 
 On such a view of matters St. Paul naturally proceeds to say : 
 11. *' I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour 
 in vain." " I am afraid of you," lest ye have not learnt to realize 
 the foremost thing in my teaching, that the Eternal Son of God is 
 the one all-sufficient Head of His Body the Church ; that He is the 
 fountain of all grace, that His very Flesh and Blood are life-giving» 
 that ye are complete in Him Who is the Head of aU principality 
 and power. If ye had grasped this, as I taught it you, ye would 
 never think of reverting back to a system which is now wholly 
 Christless, to ordinances which are graceless, to seasons of com- 
 memorations which have lost their significance, for their first sig- 
 nificance cannot be remembered in the light of the things of Christ 
 which it is the extreme blessedness of Christians to plead with 
 God. 
 
 The attitude of Christians to the Mosaic law is finely shadowed 
 out beforehand by Jeremiah (iii. 16). The ark of the covenant was 
 by far the most sacred thing in the Jewish system, but of it the 
 prophet prophecies, " They shall no more say, The ark of the cove- 
 nant of the Lord : neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they 
 remember it, neither shall they visit it." And why ? because the 
 True Ark, the Ark in Whom is contained the law of the Spirit of 
 Life, and the hfe-giving Manna, and the ever-blooming rod of the 
 succession of the better priesthood has been revealed. "The 
 temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his 
 temple the ark of His testament " (Kev. xi. 19). The old state is 
 regenerated, is transfigured, is dissolved, and passes into the new, 
 and of those who fall back to the old the Apostle may well say " I 
 am afraid of you." 
 
 1 With respect to these days specified here Bishop Lightfoot writes : " The iii^Lipat are 
 the days recurring weekly, the Sabbaths; fAvet, the monthly celebrations, the new 
 moons; xaipoi, the annual festivals, as the Passover, Pentecost, &c.; gviauroj, the sacred 
 years, as the Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee." 
 
76 BE AS I AM. [Galatiaks. 
 
 12 Brethren, I beseecli you, be as I am ; for I am as ye 
 ■r 2 Cor. ii. 5. are : ^ ye have not injured me at all. 
 2 Cor!'xi"3o! 13 Ye know how ^ through infirmity of the flesh 
 
 ^ch^uQ. ' ^ preached the gospel unto you * at the first. 
 
 12. "Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am ; for I am as ye are," 
 •&C. " Though you had none other for a pattern, he says, to look at 
 me only would have sufficed for such a change. Therefore, gaze 
 on me ; I too was once in your state of mind, and I had a very 
 burning zeal for the law ; yet afterwards I feared not to abandon 
 the law, to withdraw from that rule of life. And this ye know full 
 well how obstinately I clung to Judaism, and how with yet greater 
 force I afterwards let it go " (Chrysostom). 
 
 St. Paul had abandoned all that, as a Jew, he once gloried in, 
 and lived as a Gentile, and he earnestly desired them to do the 
 same, for he knew well the danger of their tampering with this life- 
 less system. 
 
 *' Ye have not injured me at all." I have written to you veiy 
 vehemently. I have written as if I was angry and disappointed, 
 but do not think that this is because you have injured me ; no, it is 
 because ye have injured yourselves. 
 
 13. " Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the 
 gospel," &c. He now strives to win them back again by calling to 
 their minds their former affection towards him. 
 
 " Through infirmity of the flesh." There is very great difference 
 amongst commentators respecting the meaning of this passage. 
 Some insist on Sid with an accusative as meaning " on account of,'* 
 and explain it as if St. Paul alluded to a serious illness which overtook 
 him in Galatia, and detained him there for some time, which time 
 he employed in preaching the Gospel there, and so it was on account 
 of this illness only that he preached the Gospel to the Galatians. 
 Others (as Jowett) assert that Sid is joined with the accusative and 
 genitive indifferently, and translate it "amid." So Chrysostom 
 i(who preached in Greek), who asks, "What does he mean ? while 
 I preached unto you, I was driven about, I was scourged, I suffered 
 a thousand deaths, yet ye thought no scorn of me." This was St. 
 Chrysostom's view of the " thorn in the flesh " — that it was the op- 
 position, persecutions, distresses which the Apostle had to endure. 
 St. Paul here then, no doubt, alludes to the thorn in the flesh, which 
 
Chap. IV.] MY TEMPTATION. 77 
 
 14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised 
 not, nor reiected; but received me '^ as an anejel «2Sam. xix. 
 
 *' ' . ° 27. Mal.ii.T. 
 
 of Grod, ^ even as Christ Jesus. SeeZech.xU.s. 
 
 15 II Where is then the blessedness ye spake Lukex.'ie. 
 of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been iTheSln. i3. 
 possible, ye would have plucked out your own l^as'tfZ^^ 
 eyes, and have given them to me. 
 
 14. "And my temptation." So E., K., L., P., and most Cnrsives ; bnt S, A., B., D.» 
 F., G., 17, 39, 67**, d, e, f, g, Vulg., Copt., read, "And your temptation." 
 
 15. "Where is then?" So N, A., B., C, F., G,, P., some eight Cnrsives, Valg.^ 
 Syriac; but D., E., K., L,, most Cursives, &c., read, "What is the blessedness?" 
 
 in the next verse he calls " my temptation which was in my flesh."" 
 Another reading has " your temptation which was in my flesh," 
 meaning yom' temptation to despise me owing to the infirmity in 
 my flesh. I have shown in my notes on 2 Cor. xii. 7, that this 
 thorn in the flesh, this infirmity, was something connected with 
 his utterance, some stammering, some sudden and constantly re- 
 curring inability to utter what he intends, some want of recoUected- 
 ness, coming upon him at the most inopportune times. It could 
 not have been any pain or sickness, because such a thing would have 
 awakened pity and sympathy. It must have been something which 
 drew down ridicule. Something of such a sort one must infer from 
 the words, "Ye despised not nor rejected," literally "spat out." 
 
 14. " And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised 
 not, nor rejected ; but received me as an angel of God," &c. That is, 
 as one who came direct from God to declare unto men His will. 
 
 " Even as Christ Jesus." This seems a strong expression, but 
 let the reader look at Eom. xv. 8, " Now I say that Jesus Christ 
 was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm 
 (to the Gentiles) the promises made unto the fathers." 
 
 And still more the words of the Lord, "He that receiveth you 
 receiveth me." 
 
 15. " Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you 
 record," &c. " Where is then the blessedness ye spake of ? " Where 
 is the fehcitation of yourselves that through my preaching, though 
 under the cloud of my infirmity, you had attained to the highest 
 truth, and the prospect of never-ending happiness. 
 
 " For I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would 
 
78 AM I BECOME YOUR ENEMY ? [Galatians. 
 
 16 Am I therefore become your enemy, ^ because I tell 
 / ch. ii. 5, 14. you the truth ? 
 
 iRom. X. 2. 17 They ''zealously affect you, hut not well; 
 
 .(iOr,ws. yea, they would exclude || you, that ye might 
 
 affect them. 
 
 have plucked out," &c. Of all members of the body the eye was 
 naturally accounted the most precious. " Keep me as the apple 
 of an eye," the Psalmist praj^s. 
 
 Who, says he, hath deceived you, and caused a difference in your 
 disposition towards me ? are ye not the same who attended and 
 ministered unto me, counting me more precious than your own 
 ■eyes ? what then has happened ? whence this dislike ? whence this 
 suspicion ? is it because I have told you the trath ? 
 
 16. " Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the 
 truth? " Am I become your enemy because I assure you of the 
 firmness of your original standing in Christ, of the all-sufficiency 
 ■of the Gospel ye received at the first, and that ye have only injured 
 yourselves by your ail-but apostacy from Christ, in that ye have 
 reverted back to the law as the means whereby ye are to stand 
 before God ? 
 
 17. " They zealously affect you, but not well ; yea, they would 
 ■exclude you, that," &c. The best rendering or paraphrase seems 
 to be, " They zealously court you but not well." "Court " must sig- 
 nify to make proselytes — to adopt the Lord's words, " They com- 
 pass sea and land to make you their proselytes," but with no good 
 intention. From being Christians they desire to make you Jews 
 that they may glory in your flesh. 
 
 "Yea, they would exclude you," or shut you out, i.e., from your 
 justification or standing in Christ, that ye may com't or solicit 
 them to bring you under the bondage of the law. They assumed 
 a superiority over these poor ignorant Galatians. They professed 
 to be " of Christ," to follow the example of Christ and the earlier 
 Apostles in order that they might win greater respect and deference. 
 There is a natural tendency in the weaker sort of minds to defer 
 to those who are exclusive rather than to be won by those who are 
 inclusive. This is one great secret of the influence of Romanism 
 amongst us now : I am in the Church — you are not ; you must 
 •come into my charmed circle if you would be saved. 
 
CiiAP. IV.] I TRAVAIL IN BIRTH AGAIN. 79 
 
 18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a 
 good thing, and not only when I am present with you. 
 
 19 '^ My little children, of whom I travail in » i Cor. iv. is. 
 
 •^ Philem. 10. 
 
 birth again until Christ be formed in you, James i. is. 
 
 20 I desire to be present with you now, and 
 
 to change my voice; for III stand in doubt of \\ Or. Jam 
 
 ^ 'f " perplexed for 
 
 you. you- 
 
 18. " But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good 
 thing," &c. To what does he allude ? I think to the zealous care 
 and affection which they showed to him when he was present 
 preaching the Gospel to them, when they were ready to pluck out 
 their very eyes for his sake ; but in his absence this feeling had 
 grown cold. He catches at the word zealously courted or affected, 
 aud says in effect, it is a good thing always to be zealously affected 
 towards the truth [or to those who preach it]. Chrysostom seems 
 to hold something of this meaning : ** Here he hints that his absence 
 had been the cause of this, and that the true blessing was for dis-, 
 ciples to hold right opinions not only in the presence, but also in 
 the absence of their master." Several other meanings are given, 
 but the above seems the only one with a clear sense. 
 
 19. " My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until 
 Christ," &c. He had been their spiritual mother when they were 
 first born to Christ, enduring, as the mother does, the pains and 
 perils of child-bearing on behalf of her offspring. These birth 
 pains were His anxieties, His labours. His wrestlings in prayer, 
 and now all this He has to endure over again, for they had fallen 
 from Christ, and Christ had to be formed in them with the same 
 labour and travail endured over again. 
 
 There is, as Jowett remarks, a confusion of metaphor. " I am 
 in travail (not until ye are born again, but) until Christ be born in 
 you." But what is this but the wondrous fact that Christ has to 
 be formed in each one of us ? We are not only born into Him by 
 being grafted into Him, but He is, as the New Man, born in us 
 — we in Him and He in us. 
 
 20. "I desire to be present with you now, and to change my 
 voice ; for I stand," &c. I wish I could be present, and examine 
 for myself into your actual state, so that, if need be, I might change 
 the tone of my voice, and make it more or less severe, as your case 
 
80 DO YE NOT HEAR THE LAW? [Galatians. 
 
 21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not 
 hear the law ? 
 
 might require, for I am at a loss what to think about you, so 
 strangely have ye swerved from what I taught you at the first. 
 
 21, 22. " Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not 
 hear the law?" "For it is written," &c. A question arises re- 
 specting the very remarkable passage which ensues. Is the alle- 
 gorical interpretation of this passage St. Paul's own, or was it the 
 one commonly received at the time, which the Judaizers held, and 
 which he adopted and turned against themselves ? I believe the 
 latter. It cannot have been St. Paul's own original interpretation, 
 because he must have been conscious that the Judaizers would at 
 once question his right to interpret this passage in this way. For 
 instance, would they not, in a moment, turn round upon him and 
 demand, " Why do you make the Jerusalem that now is (of course, 
 meaning the Jews, its inhabitants), answer to Mount Sinai, and so 
 to Agar and her offspring ? You are totally reversing the obvious 
 truth of matters. We are the offspring of Sarah, the free woman, 
 not the offspring of Hagar the bondwoman." [We be Abraham's 
 seed, and were never in bondage to any man.] 
 
 So that from this it is very probable that St. Paul is turning a 
 traditional or Rabbinical interpretation, or rather, perhaps, parts 
 of it, against the Judaizers. 
 
 And this becomes still more probable from another matter in the 
 narrative which I ask the reader carefully to consider. St. Paul 
 says (verse 29), " As he that was born after the flesh persecuted 
 liim that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now." Now when 
 we come to look at the original Hebrew, as well as at the Septua- 
 gint of Genesis sxi. 9, we find no mention whatsoever of persecu- 
 tion on the part of Ishmael, and strange to say, no mention even of 
 mocking in the sense of ridiculing or flouting. The word trans- 
 lated "mocking " (Pr?lf9) has never that meaning. It is simply sport- 
 ing, and never in any instance means laughing in the sense of 
 ridiculing. Thus Gen. xxvi. 8, " Isaac was sporting with Eebecca 
 his wife." Again it is the word used by Potiphar's wife when she 
 accused Joseph. " He came in unto me to mock me." (Gen. 
 xxxix. 17.) Again it is the word used to signify the idolatrous 
 sports of the IsraeUtes in the worship of the Golden Calf. " The 
 people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." Exod. 
 
Chap. IV.] ABRAHAM HAD TWO SONS. 81 
 
 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, ^the 
 one by a bondmaid, ^ the other by a freewoman. »» Gen. xvi. 15. 
 
 c Gen. xxi. 2. 
 
 xxxii. 6. Again it is the word used of Samson making sport for the 
 PhiHstines, (Judges xvi. 25.) But though in neither the Greek nor 
 Hebrew texts can it mean ridicule, much less persecution, it is very 
 remarkable that it is so explained in the Babbinical traditions. 
 Jowett cites a tradition of the Eabbis, how Isaac and Ishmael had 
 a strife respecting the right of the firstborn, and how, as they were 
 in the field together, Ishmael pursued Isaac with his arrows, &c. 
 
 It is clear, then, that in this most important particular, St. Paul 
 has in his mind not the original narrative taken as it stands, and 
 still less a new interpretation of his own, but a well-known Rab- 
 binical gloss, which would be that adopted by his adversaries, and 
 which he shows them can be turned against themselves. 
 
 It is as if he said. You remember how your own interpreters of 
 Genesis tell you that the bondwoman and her son were cast out, 
 because the son of the bondwoman persecuted and ridiculed the 
 heir, the son of the free woman. Now matters may be altogether 
 reversed. You boast yourselves the offspring of the free woman. 
 But remember, that if you put yom- necks under the yoke of ordi- 
 nances and godless traditions, and above all, if you persecute those 
 who are evidently born anew by the operation of the Spirit, you 
 throw up the free position of Sarah and her offspring, and become 
 the real bondslaves and persecutors. But notwithstanding this, God 
 will carry out His eternal purpose. If Sarah and Isaac fall into 
 the place of the bondwoman and persecutor, as they have done, God 
 will raise up another Sarah and her offspring, a heavenly Jerusalem, 
 to take the place of the earthly — the Jerusalem which now is. 
 Those who make themselves bondslaves and persecutors must be 
 cast out. Only those whom the Son makes free, and who love 
 those who are led by the Spirit, can be the abiding inmates of the 
 house of God. 
 
 21. *' Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear 
 the law ? " It seems that the Apostle must have written this some* 
 what ironically. It could scarcely have been otherwise if he was 
 for a time assuming the truth of the Rabbinical tradition — particu- 
 larly when that traditional interpretation contravened the plain 
 sense of Scripture. 
 
 22. " For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one," &c . 
 
 G 
 
82 AN ALLEGORY. [Galatians. 
 
 23 But he who was of the bondwoman "was born after 
 
 dRom. ix.7,8. the flesh ; *but he of the freewoman tvas by 
 
 * Gea. xviii, 10, 
 
 ]4.&xxi. 1,2. promise. 
 
 ueb. XI. 11. 24 Which things are an allegory : for these are 
 
 jl Or, testa. i\^q two 11 covonants ; the one from the mount 
 
 The one by the bondmaid was the elder, but was not to have the 
 birthright. This, before Isaac was bom, was promised to a son of 
 Sarah. The birth of Ishmael, whose mother Agar conceived by 
 Abraham at the express suggestion of Sarah (Gen. xvi. 1-6), seems 
 to exhibit some lack of faith on Abraham's part. It could scarcely 
 have taken place if he had sought the guidance of God, for it would 
 have been very unlikely that God should have fulfilled the promise 
 to him through an Egyptian bondmaid. However, through Agar 
 he had a son, whom, it appears, he fondly loved. *' Othat Ishmael 
 might live before thee " (xvii. 18). All this, to say the least, would 
 not conduce to the peace of the household. 
 
 23. " But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the 
 flesh," &c. Both were bom after the flesh, for one only of all the 
 daughters of Eve conceived by the Spirit, but the Apostle means 
 born only after the flesh — without promise — without direction from 
 God ; indeed, if it be permitted to speak so respecting this other- 
 wise holy household, irreligiously. 
 
 " But he of the freewoman was by promise." There must also 
 have been some act of faith on Sarah's part to enable her to become 
 the ancestress of the Messiah. This is plainly told us in Hebrews 
 xi. 11. "Through faith also Sara herself received strength to 
 conceive seed." See my note on Eom. iv. 19. 
 
 24. "Which things are an allegory : for these are (the) two cove- 
 nants." " Are an allegory," i.e., have an allegorical, as well as the 
 historical meaning. The word, when interpreted according to its 
 derivation, means to speak so as to imply that something else 
 (aXXo) is meant besides what is said. 
 
 *' For these (women) are the two covenants." They represent 
 two modes of serving God: two principles, as it were, of religion, 
 which were afterwards set forth or embodied in two covenants. 
 
 " The one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, 
 which is Agar. . . . bondage with her children." Before examining 
 -the allegorical meaning which St. Paul gives to the two following 
 
Chap. IV.] SINAI WHICH IS AGAR. 83 
 
 t ^ Sinai, whicli gendereth to bondage, which is t Gr. Stna. 
 
 Agar. fDen.xxxm.2. 
 
 24. " Which gendereth to bondage " — " bearing children nnto bondage ; " t. e. which 
 are in a state of bondage from their birth. 
 
 verses, it will be necessary to consider what application in all pro- 
 bability the Judaizers made of them to serve their purposes. They 
 would say to the converted Gentiles, " See what a lesson is taught 
 you by the history of the household of Abraham. Abraham's eldest 
 son was Ishmael. He was very dear to his father, who prayed to 
 God that he might be the heir ; but notwithstanding this, he was 
 cast out with his mother. She was of Gentile extraction, and a 
 bondservant, and according to our time-honoured interpretation, 
 her son persecuted the true heir. So you Gentiles, whilst you re- 
 main as you are, cannot be of the household of God. You must, as 
 far as possible, renounce your Gentile standing. You must, as 
 far as possible, become Jews, you must be circumcised, and keep 
 the law, you must observe the Sabbath, the new moons, the times 
 of the Jewish feasts, you must abstain from all meats which are 
 pronounced unclean by the law — unless you submit to all this, and 
 much more, you cannot be the children of God." So far the Judaizers. 
 " No," says the Apostle, "this is not the true allegorical interpreta- 
 tion. The whole state of things is changed by the coming of the 
 Son of God, the true Seed, the Heir of all things. The law is a 
 bondage. Only look at it as it is embodied in the books of the law, 
 and you will see what a yoke you are under. Now from this yoke 
 you were delivered by the Death and Eesurrection of the Son of God. 
 But instead of acknowledging and asserting your freedom, you 
 despise the emancipation offered to you by the Son of God, and 
 again i)ut your necks under the yoke. And you do another thing 
 equally obnoxious to God. You follow the example of the son of 
 the bondwoman in persecuting those whom the Son has made free." 
 Something exactly corresponding to this must have been the use 
 made by the Judaizers of the passage. Its literal superficial 
 meaning would exactly suit their purpose. We proceed. 
 
 " The one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage." 
 That is, the children which she brings forth are from the birth 
 under the law, under bondage. 
 
 " Which is Agar." Agar, being a bondmaid, would, according to 
 the ancient law, bear children which were not her own, but 
 belonged to the master of the house. 
 
84 MOUNT SINAI IN ARABIA. [Galatians. 
 
 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and || an- 
 li Or, is in the swereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in 
 
 sime rank • ^ -, i •ti 
 
 with. bondage with her children. 
 
 25. " For this Agar is mount Sinai," &f. So A., B., D., E., Copt., Syriae; bnt H, C, 
 F., G., "Valg., Sah., read, " For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia." 
 
 25. " For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia." Many curious 
 reasons have been given for this assertion coming in here, that 
 Agar is Mount Sinai. Some have said that Agar was the Arabic 
 name of Sinai, others that there was a town near Sinai called Agar; 
 but these explanations have no real foundation. 
 
 It appears to me that whatever reading we adopt — whether "this 
 Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia," or "this Mount Sinai is in 
 Arabia" — St. Paul desired parenthetically to emphasize the fact 
 that the law of bondage did not proceed from Jerusalem, but from 
 a hard, barren, foreign mountain. A law did in God's own time pro- 
 ceed from Jerusalem ; but it was the law of the Spirit of life in 
 Christ Jesus, not the law of commandments contained in ordi- 
 nances. It was the law prophesied of as yet in the future by 
 Isaiah (ii. 3) : " He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in 
 his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the 
 Lord from Jerusalem." It was also foretold in Psalm ex. — the 
 most Messianic of Psalms — " The Lord shall send the rod of thy 
 power out of Zion ; be thou ruler even in the midst among thine 
 enemies." If the earthly Jerusalem — " the Jerusalem that now 
 is" — would have accepted this law, she would have for the first 
 time answered to her name, "the vision of peace." 
 
 "And answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage," 
 &c. Jerusalem, which might have sent forth the living and 
 powerful word, the law of the Spirit of life, of her own evil will 
 takes the place of Sinai, and sends out the dead law, the law of 
 bondage, the law of ordinances made by herself far more oppres- 
 sive than it was when she first received it. 
 
 "With her children." Her children seem unaccountably ta 
 delight in the old fetters, and not only so but everywhere the 
 Judaizers from Jerusalem constitute themselves the apostles of 
 bondage. 
 
 26. "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother 
 of us all." God's purposes could not be frustrated. The Jeru- 
 
Chap. IV.] THE MOTHER OF US ALL. 85 
 
 26 But ^Jerusalem whicli is above is free, whicli is the 
 mother of us all. k isa. a. 2. 
 
 27 For it is written, ^Eeioice, thou barren that Rev.' iii/12? 
 
 & xxi 2 10 
 
 bearest not ; break forth and cry, thou that h isa. uV. 1. 
 travailest not : for the desolate hath many more 
 children than she which hath an husband. 
 
 26. "The mother of us all." So A., K., L., P., most Cursives ; but S, B„ C, D., E., 
 
 F., G., a lew Cursives, Ital., Vulg., Syriac, Sah., Copt., read, "our mother" (^rirJi? 
 
 >!fJUav). 
 
 salem that now is, refuses to be delivered, to be gathered, to be 
 ■exalted. She became a burnt out city, a city of dry ashes ; but 
 from these ashes there arose like a phoenix a new city of God — a 
 free city, receiving all who will into the enjoyment of its freedom 
 — wonderfully free, for she is above the conditions of space — no 
 longer local, for wherever there is the setting forth of the Son of 
 God and the unifying Eucharist, there is Jerusalem from above, 
 freeing men, if they will, from the direst of all yokes, the yoke 
 of sin. 
 
 "Which is the mother of us all." There is doubt whether we 
 should retain the word " all," as it is not in most ancient authori- 
 ties and versions ; but it is absolutely true that the Church, the 
 heavenly Jerusalem, is the mother of us all, if it be true, as the 
 Apostle had said, *' We are all the children of God by faith in 
 Christ Jesus." The Church is the mother of all Christians, be- 
 cause by her doctrine, by her sacraments, by her ministry she 
 bears us to God. 
 
 27. "For it is written, Eejoice thou barren that bearest not; 
 break forth," &c. The barren that bears not signifies in the pro- 
 phecy the captive Jerusalem, for a time desolate and a widow. 
 She on her return became far more populous than she was before 
 her captivity, when she was married to God. And so the heavenly 
 Jerusalem, which existed in a measure in and under the earthly, 
 but had few or no children, is now called upon to rejoice, and 
 break forth into singing for the multitude of her offspring. The 
 "many more" betokens the myriads of Christians — first in Jeru- 
 salem, then spread over the earth — which the Catholic Cimrch has 
 borne to Christ. 
 
 I cannot see that it is proper to bring in here the barrenness of 
 
86 THE CHILDREN OF PROMISE. [Galatiaxs. 
 
 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are Hhe children of 
 
 I Acts iii. 25. prOHlise. 
 
 ch. iii. 29. ' 29 But as then ''he that was bom after the 
 
 k Gen. xxi. 9. f^^^^ persecuted him that was bom after the Spirit, 
 
 I ch. V. 11. & 1 even so it is now. 
 
 VI. 12. 
 
 28. "Now we, brethren." So H, A., C, E., K., L., P., most Cursives, Valg., Syriac, 
 Copt., Arm. ; but B., D., F., G., d, e, g, Sah., read, "ye." 
 
 Sarah, for she was never desolate, and she and Agar had each one 
 child. 
 
 28. " Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of pro- 
 mise." There is a difference of reading here, some MSS. read- 
 ing " we," others " ye." But it makes little difference to the inner- 
 most sense. The converted Gentiles were the children of the 
 promise to Abraham : '* In thy seed shall all the nations of the 
 earth (the GentUes) be blessed ; " but when Paul and his fellow 
 Apostles and the elect Jews accepted Christ, they also became 
 children of the promise ; they received the promise of the Father ; 
 they received the promise of the new and better covenant (Jerem. 
 xxxi. 33). They no longer rested on their circumcision and their 
 carnal Passovers, but on their partaking of Christ — on the promises 
 of God made to them in His Word and Sacraments. 
 
 29. "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted 
 him," &c. I have noticed that the word translated " mocking" has 
 no idea of ridiculing attached to it in the original, much less of 
 persecution ; but, in the glosses or legends of the Rabbis, Ishmael 
 is supposed to have persecuted Isaac. 
 
 St. Paul thus, it appears, turns the traditions of the Judaizers 
 against themselves.' 
 
 And if they voluntarily put themselves into the place of Ishmael, 
 refuse to believe in that Son Who would make them free indeed, 
 and persecute those who take refuge in Him, they do the deeds of 
 their proper typical ancestors ; they become as the seed of the 
 
 1 May I be permitted to suggest that Sarah may have had other reasons for resenting 
 this playing, this pnyo. If we follow the guidance of Gen. xxvi. 8 and xxxix. 17, it may 
 
 have been something lewd or indecent. If we take the meaning of Exod. xxxii. 6, it may 
 have been something idolatrous, as Ishmael's mother was an Egyptian. 
 
Chap. IV.] CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN. 87 
 
 30 Nevertheless what saith " the scripture ? ° Cast out the 
 bondwoman and her son : for • the son of the " ch. iii. s, 22. 
 bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the 10, 12.' **'* 
 freewoman. " ^"^'^ ''"• ^• 
 
 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of 
 
 bondwoman, and will share her ejection from the true house and 
 family of God, as the Apostle proceeds to say : 
 
 30. " Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bond- 
 woman and her son," &c. This was the request of Sarah to Abra- 
 ham ; but it was according to the express will of God, Who said to 
 Abraham, " Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, 
 and because of thy bondwoman . . . for in Isaac shall thy seed be 
 called." (Gen. xxi. 12.) 
 
 The seed of the bondwoman — i.e., the Judaizers — were never, as 
 far as we know, cast out of the Church as heretics, but, as I shall 
 show, their error sprang not from ritualism, but from unbelief, 
 Judaism and Faith in the Incarnation could not co-exist in the 
 Catholic Church, and they did not. The errors against which St. 
 Paul contended seem not to have been cast out, but to have cast 
 themselves out of the Chm-ch. The errors, or supposed errors, of 
 the mediseval Church could not, except by the most extreme per- 
 versity of language, be called Judaism or Judaizing. That the 
 Body and Blood of Him Whom the Jews crucified was to be the 
 spiritual Food of His people was not Judaizing, so far as I can see. 
 Keliance upon self is an evil inherent in the human heart, and in 
 its fruit of pride and self-sufficiency is particularly rife amongst 
 those who claim the teaching of this Epistle as peculiarly their 
 own. 
 
 31. " So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, 
 but of the free." This is the re-assertion in another form of, ** If 
 ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to 
 the promise." Both on the father's and on the mother's side we 
 are free- bom. We are children of God by faith in His Son. We 
 are children of the Church, the New Jerusalem of whom Sarah 
 was the type by the same faith. But let us take care that we 
 value and assert our freedom, and let our watchword be, "Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant ol 
 
88 CHILDKEN OF THE FREE. [Galatians. 
 
 p Jobn viii.36. the bondwoman, ^but of the free. 
 
 ch. V. 1, 13. 
 
 sin, and the servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son 
 abideth ever. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall 
 be free indeed " (John viii. 34). 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 STAND fast therefore in ^the liberty wherewith Christ 
 hath made us free, and be not entangled again ^ with 
 a John yiii. 32. the yoke of bondage. 
 1 Pet. ii." 16." 2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that '^ if ye be 
 
 b Acts XV. 10. 
 ch.ii. 4. &iv.9. 
 c Acts XV. 1. 
 See Actsxvi. 3. 
 
 circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 
 
 1. Bishop Lightfoot has two pages of discussion respecting a considerable number of 
 various interpretations. Revisers read, "With freedom did Christ set us free. Stand 
 fast therefore." So also Professor Jowett. Bishop Ellicott seems to side mostly with 
 Authorized. 
 
 1. " Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath 
 made us free," &c. There are various readings of this verse, some 
 connecting it more closely with the last verses of the last chapter, 
 but there is no real difiference in the meaning. 
 
 "With that liberty (wherewith) Christ has made us free." "Stand 
 fast, therefore, and be not entangled again with the yoke of 
 bondage." What does he mean by " again " ? Had they or some 
 of them been proselytes before they became Christians ? Or does 
 he allude to that law under which all men are naturally ? Cor- 
 nelius ^ Lapide amalgamates both : " Glim servistis idolis et dse- 
 monibus, cur iterum servire vultis non idolis, sed umbris, et crassis 
 onerosisque caeremoniis legis Mosi ? " 
 
 2. " Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, 
 Christ shaU profit you nothing." 
 
 3. "For I testify," &c. These two verses are of unspeakable 
 importance to the understanding of the whole scope of the Epistle, 
 
Chap, v.] A DEBTOR TO DO THE WHOLE LAW. 89 
 
 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, 
 ^ that lie is a debtor to do the whole law. * ch. iii. lo. 
 
 for they teach us that the argument of the Apostle is not upon a 
 matter of ritual, but of faith. Nothing effectually cuts off from 
 Christ except want of faith, and the Gentile, who after accepting 
 the faith of Christ, the Eternal Son Incarnate, Crucified, Risen, 
 and Ascended, and seaUng that faith by receiving Baptism into 
 the mystical Body ; yet deliberately, and with the full conscious- 
 ness of what he was doing, submitted to receive circumcision, 
 expressed as far as a man could do, his disbelief in the Cbrist of the 
 Gospel. For how could a man who really believed in the Son of 
 God as the Mediator of the New Covenant, revert back to the Old? 
 Christ was the Son over His own house; could a man really 
 believe this, and put himself under Moses the servant ? Circum- 
 cision was not one bit of ritual amongst many, but the God- 
 ordained sign of a Covenant wliich God instituted till the New 
 and better Covenant of His Son should take its place. 
 
 When, then, a baptized Gentile received circumcision, he de- 
 liberately expressed his conviction that a Baptism in which he 
 had been buried and raised again with the Son of God, and had 
 been joined mystically to One then ruling the universe at the right 
 hand of God, must be supplemented by a ceremony which, though 
 it had a moral significance, had no promise of grace — the promise 
 of grace being attached to Baptism, the inaugurating rite of 
 another order of things. And if he proceeded in his perverse course 
 he would express his belief that the Eucharist in which he had 
 been made to partake of the Living Bread must be supplemented 
 by the eating of a dead lamb, which set forth the deliverance of a 
 nation to which he did not belong from a mere carnal servitude. 
 Well may the Apostle say, "If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit 
 you nothing," for your submission to it is a sign of your rooted 
 unbelief in the whole system of salvation, introduced amongst us 
 by no less a thing than the Incarnation. 
 
 3. *' For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he 
 IS a debtor," &c. Circumcision was the sign of submission to a 
 covenant of works which of itself (apart from that grace which we 
 would fairly hope, in some way unknown to us, corrects or supphes 
 the defects of imperfect systems or ways of access to God), neces- 
 
90 YE ARE FALLEN FROM GRACE. [Galatians. 
 
 4 ^ Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of 
 « Rom. ix. 31, you are justified by the law ; ^ ye are fallen from 
 f Heb. xii. 15. grace. 
 
 Ir^-'ximlv^s' ^ ^^^ ^® through the Spirit ^ wait for the hope 
 of righteousness by faith. 
 
 sarily culminated in a curse, as St. Paul had said (iii. 10) : " Cursed 
 is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in 
 the book of the law to do them." The Gentile Christian, then, 
 who submitted to circumcision, ignored such a truth as " Christ has 
 delivered us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," 
 and invoked, as it were, the curse anew upon himself. 
 
 4. " Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you 
 . . . fallen from grace." Ye are fallen from grace because ye have 
 deliberately attempted to supplement a system every part of which 
 is instinct with grace, derived from the Eternal Son, by another 
 system, which had no promise of grace attached to it, and was a 
 preparatory and imperfect system, the system of a mere human 
 servant. Now such an act of retrogression was a real fall from 
 grace in each one personally who thus fell. It arose from a turning 
 of the mind from the glory of the Son of God, and from the Infinite 
 Sufi&ciency of His work, and from the cleansing and comfort of 
 the Holy Ghost, as things too bright for it. It was, in fact, a fall 
 from the faith and from the love of Christ. 
 
 5. " For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness 
 by faith." We, that is, we the true and consistent beUevers in 
 contrast to the Judaizers. Through the " Spirit " means in or by 
 the Holy Spirit — through the power of the Holy Spirit renewing 
 us and helping our infirmities. 
 
 " By faith." Not by external rites or even moral duties, but by 
 faith, the faith which enables us to lay hold upon, and cling to, the 
 Son of God. 
 
 " Wait for the hope of righteousness." This is the emphatic 
 part, for it is placed last, the order of the words in the verse being, 
 *' TjjJitiQ yap Trvtvfiari Ik Tr/oTfoig tXiriSa SiKawcrvvt]!; o.TreKdex^H'^^"^-" 
 
 What is the hope of righteousness ? It may be the crown of 
 righteousness, i.e., the eternal reward of righteousness, which the 
 Lord the Righteous Judge will give to His people in that day ; or 
 
Chap, v.] FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 91 
 
 6 For **iii Jesus Christ neither circumcision »> iCor.vii.i9. 
 
 ch. iii. 28. & vi. 
 
 availeth anything, nor uncircumcision ; but 'faith is. coi.iii.ii. 
 which worketh by love. james^iuVs,' ' 
 
 20, 22. 
 
 it may be the hope of perfecting of our righteousness here, the 
 Christian always looking for and earnestly desiring a more perfect 
 conformity to the mind and will of God. 
 
 6. " For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything," 
 &c. This is as if he said, " Supposing that a man be effectually in 
 Christ, then it does not matter in the least whether, as myself, he 
 was circumcised on the eighth day, or whether as any one of you, 
 he has been converted out of heathenism to Christ, and has never 
 received circumcision at all. The thing which avails is faith, and 
 that not a dead barren faith, but one which worketh by love." 
 
 This, of course, is not for a moment to be taken as if St. Paul 
 tacitly undid all that he had been before saying, respecting the 
 apostacy involved in a Galatian receiving circumcision. He can 
 only refer to those born Jews who Hke himself were circumcised in 
 infancy. "We have the best example of faith energizing by love in 
 the example of the Apostle who wrote these words. If Christian 
 faith is a spiritual hold on Christ — a living in Him and on Him — 
 then if it be possible to be true of any man that Christ dwells in 
 him, it was true of this Apostle ; the motto of his life was " the love 
 of Christ constraineth us." If love be shown by devotion to the 
 loved one, then how wondrously St. Paul's faith energized by love. 
 Much use has been made of this passage to show that in the matter 
 of our justification faith cannot be alone. We shall some day 
 wonder how such a question could ever have been raised. If faith 
 could be incarnated or made into a person, and we were able to 
 put to her the question, " Do you ever desire to be alone — in respect 
 of any sinner that you have to save, is it good for you to be alone ? " 
 What would she say ? 
 
 Much as I dislike Professor Jowett's mode of handling Holy 
 Scripture, I cannot forbear making the following quotation out of 
 his notes on this place. "There is no trace in the writings of St. 
 Paul of the opposition of faith and love, which is found in Luther. 
 Such an opposition did not exist in the language of Christ and His 
 Apostles. It came from the Schools ; Luther was driven to adopt 
 it by the exigencies of controversy. At some point or other it was 
 
92 WHO DID HINDER YOU. [Galatians. 
 
 7 Ye "" did run well ; ^ || who did hinder you that ye should 
 •k 1 Cor. ix. 24. not obey the truth ? 
 
 ii Or. who did 8 This persuasiou cometh not of him "' that 
 m t.r6 .''''■ calleth you. 
 
 7. "The truth." So C, E., F„ G., K., L., all Cursives; but without article in N, 
 -A., B. 
 
 necessary to draw a line between the Catholic and Keformed doc- 
 trine of Justification. Was it to include works as well as faith ? 
 but, if not, was love to be a co-efficient in the work of Justification ? 
 Luther felt this difficulty and tried to preserve the doctrine from 
 the alloy of self-righteousness and external acts by the formula of 
 * faith only.'" 
 
 " The necessity has passed away, and Christian feeling and the 
 common sense of mankind find a tnier reflection in the indefinite 
 language of Scripture itself. Whether we say that we are justified 
 by faith or by love (Luke vii. 47, 50), or by faith working by love, 
 or by grace, or by the indwelling of Christ, or of the Spirit of God, 
 the difi'erence is one of words and not of things. For although 
 these distinctions admit of being defined by logic, and have been 
 made the basis of opposing systems of theology, the point of view 
 in which the writers of Scripture regard them, is not that of diffe- 
 rence but of sameness. The words of St. Paul are equally far re- 
 moved from a protest against Protestant doctrine and against 
 Cathohc doctrine ; they belong to another world." 
 
 7. " Ye did run well ; who did hinder you that ye should not 
 obey the truth ? " "Ye were running well — on and after your con- 
 version — ye ran the Christian race as if ye were determined to win 
 the prize." 
 
 " Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? " Here 
 a personal hinderer, some leading heresiarch, seems to be pointed 
 •at. Note tbe term *' obedience to the truth." The truth has not 
 only to be believed, but to be obeyed. The Galatians would obey 
 the truth of the Divine Nature of the Son of God, and the conse- 
 quent all-sufficiency of His work, by keeping themselves apart from 
 that system of bondage from which He died to deliver them. 
 
 8. *' This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you." By 
 ■*• him that calleth you " he means God, to Whose will the effectual 
 
Chap, v.] I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOU. 93^ 
 
 9 "^ A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. » i cor. v. e. 
 
 ■^ & XV. 33. 
 
 10 ** I have confidence in you through the Lord, o 2 cor. ii. 3. 
 that ye will be none otherwise minded : but ^ he p ^hXi. 
 that troubleth you *J shall bear his judgment, who- 1 2 Cor. x. 6. 
 soever he be. 
 
 11 ""And I, brethren, if I yet preach circum- "-ch. vi. 12. 
 
 calling of the believers is always referred (Eom. viii. 30; 1 Cor. i.. 
 9, &c.). 
 
 9. " A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Here he seems 
 to refer to the insignificant number of the Judaizers, but their 
 perversion of the truth was, from some unaccountable reason, 
 rapidly gaining ground, and this, no doubt, was owing to declen- 
 sion in the faith on the part of the Galatians. It has been supposed 
 that the Apostle means that a yielding to the demands of the 
 Judaizers on one point would soon involve a submission to all, but 
 the former seems the more likely meaning. 
 
 10. " I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will 
 be none otherwise minded." Here he seems to separate the great 
 body of the Galatian Church from the few disturbers, tlie little 
 leaven which threatened to poison the whole body. 
 
 " Through the Lord." I have very earnestly committed you to. 
 His safe keeping, and He has by His secret inspiration assured me 
 that He will thus keej) you. 
 
 " That ye will be none otherwise minded." That is, in no other 
 mind than ye were in at the first. 
 
 " But he that troubleth you shall bear his burden, whosoever he 
 be." " He that troubleth you." This again refers to some leading 
 disturber of the peace of the Church. 
 
 " Shall bear his burden." Kather, his judgment or condemnation.. 
 This may mean he shall undergo his sentence at the judgment seat 
 of Christ, unless he repent; or the Apostle may allude to some tem- 
 poral judgment attending the excommunication of the offender, as 
 in 1 Cor. v. 5, or in 1 Tim. i. 20. 
 
 11. *' And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet 
 suffer," &c. It appears from this that he had been accused of 
 preaching circumcision, because, perhaps, he had caused his friend 
 and fellow-helper, Timothy, to be circumcised, or because, as he 
 writes to the Corinthians, " To the Jews he became a Jew, that Ik 
 
94 THE OFFENCE OF THE CROSS. [Galatians. 
 
 «. 1 Cor. XV. 30. cision, * why do I yet suffer persecution ? then is 
 
 ch. iv. 29. & vi. ^ , , _ n ^1 J 
 
 17. * the offence of the cross ceased. 
 
 ' 1 Cor. i. 28. 
 u Josh. vii. 2.3 
 1 Cor. V. 13. 
 ch. i. 8, 9. 
 X Acts XV. 1, 
 •2, 24. 
 
 12 "^ I would they were even cut off ^ which 
 trouble you. 
 
 might gain the Jews." To this accusation he replies, that if he 
 preached circumcision, the Jews would no longer persecute him, 
 for they desired above all things the extension of Judaism, that 
 they might glory in the flesh of the Gentiles. 
 
 " Then is the offence of the cross ceased." It appears that the 
 Jews would tolerate anything ; they would tolerate even that most 
 obnoxious of stumbling-blocks, the preaching of the Cross, provided 
 that those who were converted, were as far as possible made Jews 
 by circumcision and keeping the law. Their passion was to bring 
 all men under the same yoke as themselves. 
 
 12. " I would they were even cut off which trouble you." Most 
 expositors, including Chrysostom and Theodoret, take this cutting 
 off in the sense of making themselves eunuchs. It is as if he said, 
 ■* They trouble you by requiring you to make yourselves acceptable 
 to God by cutting off the flesh of your foreskin. Let such troubles 
 go further ; let them become as the priests of Cybele, with whose 
 mutilation ye are so familiar.' We cannot judge, of course, of the 
 mode of speaking in those days, by that of our own, but such an 
 interpretation seems exceedingly unlikely. It could not be said 
 seriously by the Apostle, and yet he was not Hkely to speak as 
 some trifling person would do who was in a pet, and did not regard 
 the significance of the words he used. If he used the words spor- 
 tively or jokingly, it is the only instance of his doing so. It has 
 been said that the use of " even " {kuI), looks to something abnor- 
 mally severe and degrading, as castration would be.^ But let us 
 face the question, which would be the worst punishment in the 
 eyes of the Apostle, to be mutilated, or to be cut off from the fellow- 
 ship of Christ's Church ? We cannot hesitate a moment about the 
 
 1 Bishop Ellicott, I see, translates it, " I wonld that they •would even cut themselves ofiF 
 <from you)." The verb airoxouru; (in the middle) does not at all necessarily carry with it 
 the sense of self-mutilation. In Aristotle's " Rhetoric " it is used to signify to break off 
 with a thing in speaking, and in Xenophon of cutting off enemies' troops from an elevated 
 post. 
 
Chap, v.] BY LOVE SERVE ONE ANOTHER. 95 
 
 13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty ; only 
 ^ use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but y i Cor. viii. 9. 
 * by love serve one another. 2 Pet", ii". 19. 
 
 *^ Jude 4. 
 
 ^' 1 Cor. ix. 19. 
 
 ch. vi. 2. 
 
 answer. If these Judaizers mutilated themselves, what good would 
 it do to any soul ? If they cut themselves off from the fellowship of 
 the Church, their powers of hurting the souls of others would be 
 immeasurably lessened, and the Apostle did not hesitate for a 
 moment between choosing what was to their detriment and what 
 was to the detriment of the flock of Christ. 
 
 *' That trouble you." The original means far more than troubling ; 
 it means subverting, or overthrowing. These Judaizers did not 
 merely introduce a disturbing element into Christian doctrine. 
 They made Christ Himself of none effect to those seduced by 
 them. 
 
 A marked change comes over the mind of the Apostle at this 
 point. Hitherto he has been contending for liberty, now he begins 
 to contend for law. But what law ? The law of the Spirit of life — 
 the law of liberty — not the law of a carnal commandment, but the 
 power of an endless Ufe. (Heb. vii. 16.) 
 
 13. *' For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty." Liberty 
 from the yoke of mere law — of a dead commandment which carried 
 no life along with it, — the liberty of the Spirit of God that we 
 should serve God in the newness of the Spirit, and not in the old- 
 ness of the letter. (Rom. vii. 6.) But do not abuse this liberty, nay, 
 rather understand aright its nature. It is liberty not to grovel in 
 lust, but to soar up to God. It is liberty to be led, not by what is 
 lowest in your nature, but by what is highest. It is liberty to those 
 who feel that that which degrades them is a burden, and who desire 
 to be free from the bondage of corruption, and to enjoy the glorious 
 liberty of the children of God. 
 
 " Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love 
 serve one another." " "What is the meaning of Use not liberty for an 
 occasion of the flesh f Christ hath delivered us, he says, from the 
 yoke of bondage. He hath left us free to act as we will, not that 
 we may use our liberty for evil, but that we may have ground for 
 receiving a higher reward, advancing to a higher philosophy. Lest 
 anyone should suspect, from his calling the law over and over again 
 a yoke of bondage, and grace a deliverance from the curse, that his 
 
96 IN ONE WORD. [Galatians. 
 
 14 For ^ all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this ; 
 
 » Matt, vii. 12. ^ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 
 
 *fc xxii 40 
 
 Jam. ii. 8. 15 But if jB bite and devour one another, take 
 
 iiattixllii'. 39. heed that ye be not consumed one of another. 
 
 Rom, xiii. 8, 9. 
 
 object in enjoining an abandonment of the law was that one might 
 live lawlessly, he corrects this notion and states his object to be, 
 not that our course of life might be lawless, but that our philosophy 
 might surpass the law. For the bonds of the law are broken, and 
 I say this not that our standard may be lowered, but that it may 
 be exalted." Chrysostom. 
 
 " By love serve one another." The glory of every intelligent 
 creature is service — ministering to the wants and necessities, the 
 temporal and spiritual benefits of others. In fact, in this all crea- 
 tures imitate the Divine Being, Who ceaselessly works for the good 
 of all. That we should be at liberty not to serve one another, 
 means that we should be at liberty not to be like God. But w« 
 serve not by mere command, but by love. Mere command cannot 
 define a thousandth part of the things in which we can serve one 
 another. Love, on the contrary, makes us look out for all possible 
 means of doing good to om* feUow creatures. 
 
 14. " For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this ; Thou 
 shalt love," &c. St. Paul reproduces this almost in the same words 
 in Eom. xiii. 9. The reader should notice how, in both these places, 
 the latter table of the law is laid stress upon as being all included 
 in the Second Great Commandment. We should suppose that he 
 would have emphasized the keeping of the first table, but he does 
 not. He does the contrary. He ignores the first table and he 
 insists upon the second. Why is this ? Because the first command 
 of God is now not to believe in His mere numerical Unity, but to 
 believe in His Son as much as in Himself. And there may be one 
 or two other reasons which I shall not specify. 
 
 15. " But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be 
 not consumed," &c. This caution seems to be thrown in without 
 particular connection with what has gone before. It seems to teach 
 us that the decline of the Galatians from the faith was owing to 
 party divisions, or to internal feuds, and decline in the faith is sure 
 to arise from want of strict attention to the Christian walk and 
 conversation. 
 
Chap. V.] WALK IN THE SPIRIT. 97 
 
 16 This I say then, '^ Walk in the Spirit, and « Rpm. vi. 12. 
 II ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. & xi!!; u. ver.' 
 
 25. 1 Pet. ii. 
 
 11. 
 
 n Ot, fulfil not. 
 
 16, 17, 18. " This I say then. Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall 
 not fulfil," &c. For the first time in the writing of this Epistle, the 
 Apostle begins to divide his converts into two classes, those who 
 were fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, and tliose who were bearing 
 the fruits of the Spirit. 
 
 This place is to be very carefully and very prayerfully noticed 
 and considered. It teaches how utterly wrong, how wicked it is to 
 impute to this Apostle the shghtest taint, the shadow of a shade, of 
 Antinomianism ; for here we have the Apostle telling us why he 
 repudiated the law as a means of Justification. He repudiated it, 
 because it was not sufficient to cleanse the soul so that it should be 
 pure even as Christ is pure. He repudiated it because it was not 
 able of itself to bless the soul with the first blessings of Christ — the 
 blessings of the Beatitudes. It could not impart to men poverty of 
 spirit, godly sorrow, meekness, hunger after righteousness, a mer- 
 ciful, pure, peace-making spirit. And so if men were to be con- 
 formed to the image of the Only Begotten, they must seek it, not 
 by a dead letter, but by a living Spirit, which Spirit was made 
 theirs, and shed on them abundantly, if they would receive Him 
 and retain Him. 
 
 16. "This I say then. Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not ful- 
 fil," &c. The Spirit is not a gift to be received once for all, but He 
 is to be continually and continuously '* walked in." Just as the 
 truth has to be walked in, and love has to be walked in, and the 
 hght has to be walked in, so the Spirit of God has to be walked in. 
 The Apostle here takes it for granted that Christians, even such 
 imperfect ones as these Galatians, were, in a sense, in the Spirit. 
 He never divides his converts into those who have, and those who 
 have not had the Spirit. He takes it for granted that they are all 
 the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ, for " as many of them 
 as had been baptized into Christ had put on Christ," and on this 
 he would build them. What walking in the Spirit implies we 
 shall see in verse 25. 
 
 " And ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Is this to be 
 taken as a precept or a promise? " Fulfil ye not," or " Ye shall 
 not fulfil"? In all probability the latter. If men are "in the 
 
 H 
 
98 THESE ARE CONTRARY. [Galatians. 
 
 17 For ''tlie flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the 
 <« Rom. vii. 23. Spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary 
 * Rom. vii'. 15, the one to the other : ^ so that ye cannot do the 
 ^^' things that ye would. 
 
 ^Rom.vi. 14. 18 But ^ if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not 
 under the law. 
 
 Spirit," they are in a different state to what those are in who are 
 only in the flesh. They are in a state of exaltation, of power, of 
 freedom of will, to choose what is above rather than what is 
 heneath. 
 
 17. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit 
 against the flesh," &c. Here we have the repetition, in few words, 
 of what the Apostle draws out at length in the account of the con- 
 flict described in Kom. vii. 
 
 "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." It craves indulgences 
 which the Spirit forbids. 
 
 " And the Spirit against the flesh." The Spirit earnestly desires 
 lioly and heavenly things which the flesh is unequal to compass, 
 and turns from with dislike. The Spirit, for instance, would pray 
 evermore, but the flesh is not equal to this, and very soon grows 
 weary and is distracted, and causes the mind to wander, and the 
 holy desires to flag. 
 
 " And these are contrary the one to the other : so that ye cannot 
 do." At present, till the flesh is renewed, they are contrary, for 
 lhe Apostle says, " I know that in me," that is, in my flesh, " there 
 dwelleth no good thing." 
 
 " So that ye cannot do the things that ye would." This does 
 not mean for a moment. Ye yield yourselves to the flesh, and are 
 taken captive by it — ye yourselves faintly resisting and allowing 
 yourselves to be overcome : but it means. Ye desire earnestly 
 to serve and please God to the uttermost, as with the service of an 
 angel, but ye are unable b^ause the flesh weighs down the spirit, 
 and clogs its upward aspirations, according to the words of the 
 Lord, " The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak " (Matth. 
 xxvi, 41). 
 
 18. " But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." 
 The reader will remember Eom. viii. 14, " As many as are led by 
 
Chap. V.] THE WORKS OF THE FLESH. 99 
 
 19 Now ^the works of the flesh are manifest, which 
 are these ; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, s i cor. iii. 3. 
 
 1 • . Ephes. V. 3. 
 
 lasciviousness, coi. iii. 5. 
 
 •Tames iii. 14, 
 15. 
 
 19. "Adalteiy, fornication." So D., E., F., G., K., L., N., most Cursives, Goth., 
 Arm. ; bat H, A., B., C, P., 17, 47, 57, Vnlg., Copt., Syriac, ^th., omit " Adultery." 
 
 the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." And if sons then not 
 slaves, then not under bondage. 
 
 "Ye are not under (the) law." This may mean, *' Ye are not 
 under the curse, ye are not under the condemnation of the law ; " 
 but may it not rather mean, " Ye are not under the law, for ye are 
 above it " ? Your own spirit requires of you far more than the law 
 requires, as we shall soon see when we consider the works of the 
 flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. Thus Chrysostom : *' He that 
 hath the Spirit as he ought, quenches thereby every evil desire, 
 and when released from such he needs no help from the law, 
 but is exalted far above its precepts." 
 
 19, 20, 21. *' Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are 
 these .... not inherit the kingdom of God." Abstinence from 
 the evil things enumerated in this list of the sins of the flesh goes 
 far beyond the hteral requirements of the decalogue. Adultery is 
 forbidden in the ten commandments, but notwithstanding this, 
 concubines seem to have been jDermitted, and divorce was allow- 
 able, and there is no specific mention of other sins of uncleanness : 
 idolatry, of course, is forbidden, and in other parts of the book of 
 the law, witchcraft ; but hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, 
 seditions, heresies, envyings, are not formally included under the 
 sixth commandment, and there is no mention of drunkenness and 
 revelling. If it be objected that, in saying this, I lay too much stress 
 on the non-requirements of the letter of the law, I ask the reader 
 to remember that the law was " letter," — letter written and 
 engraven on stones (2 Cor. iii. 7), and that the writing and engrav- 
 ing on the heart was in the Messianic future (Jerem. xxxi. 31). 
 
 Before considering the real meaning of some of these evil things, 
 I would particularly draw attention to the fact that, in the matter 
 of the prohibition of what is evil, these three verses of this Evan- 
 gelical epistle go far far beyond the prohibitions of the decalogue in 
 number and intensity. So that, so far as law is the forbidding of 
 sin and evil, here was a law far more searching, far more exacting, 
 
100 WRATH, STRIFE, SEDITIONS. [Galatianb. 
 
 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, 
 wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 
 
 far more contrary to flesh and blood, far more contrary to the 
 liberty which some men claim, than any which preceded it. And 
 let this, too, be remembered, that for some reason, in its entirety 
 known only to God, the decalogue had no future penalty attached 
 to it, whereas this list of sins has attached to it the severest penalty 
 that can be inflicted on an immortal being : " They who do such 
 things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 
 
 Are we then to take this list of works of the flesh and tear it out 
 of its context, and make it into a law of itself, aud by itself? No, 
 not for a moment. All the teaching of this Epistle respecting Grace 
 and Sonship must precede it. Such prohibitions could not for a 
 moment be imposed on unaided human nature. They are the out- 
 come of grace. They postulate a law, or rather a system, which can 
 give life ; they postulate the Incarnation, and the New Nature, and 
 the Divine-implanted Life. They postulate Sacraments, and the 
 very High Grace of Union in a Crucified and Risen Son of God 
 imparted in them. 
 
 We have now to draw attention to various meanings, or shades 
 of meaning, attached to these words. 
 
 Adultery is omitted by some editors after many ancient autho- 
 rities ; but it is coupled with fornication by the Lord in Matth. xv. 
 19, " Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, 
 fornication," &c. 
 
 " Uncleanness, lasciviousness." The first of these probably 
 alludes to forms of private or secret uncleanness, the second to 
 open wantonness. Idolatry probably follows on here, because its 
 forms were so associated with lewdness and profligacy. 
 
 "Witchcraft" {(papnaKtia, Vulg. veneficia) or (pdpfiaKov, signified 
 once herbs used for enchantments, and so it got to signify enchant- 
 ment itself. Whatever view we take of witchcraft, whether as real 
 intercourse with evil spirits, or only the pretence of such intercourse, 
 it was equally wicked. The assumption of such intercourse for 
 purposes of deceit and gain was a very great crime. 
 
 " Strife, seditions, heresies," translated by Revisers, *' factions, 
 divisions, heresies." These are incident upon the popular govern- 
 ment of the Church, i.e., its government by assemblies popularly 
 
Chap, v.] THEY WHICH DO SUCH THINGS. 101 
 
 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such 
 like : of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you 
 in time past, that '' they which do such things ^ i t.or. vi. 9. 
 
 ^ . Ephps. V. 5. 
 
 shall not inherit the kingdom of God. coi. iii. 6. 
 
 ° Rev. xxii. 16. 
 
 21. "EnA-yings, marders." So A., C, D., E., F., G., K., L., P., most Cursives, 
 Itala, Vnlg., Syriac, Copt., Arm., vEth., Goth. ; but ti, B., 17, 33, 35, 57, 73, omit 
 •' murders." 
 
 elected, and governing by a majority on show of hands. They are 
 also incident to a state in which there are divisions upon points of 
 doctrine or ritual. Now Church assemblies are not only lawful but 
 necessary, and what those who are engaged in them have to do, is 
 to see that divisions of opinion do not engender these sins and 
 offences. Discussions on most important matters can be carried 
 on in the spirit of love, and under self-control, and by the help of 
 God's Spirit they must be. Let the reader notice how many of 
 these which are called " works of the flesh " have their seat in the 
 mind and spirit, and yet the Apostle ranks them as *' works of the 
 flesh," because they are the works of the old man, whose seat is in 
 the flesh, and of the soul or mind which borders closely upon it. 
 
 " Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in times 
 past." " Of which I forewarn you (now) as I did forewarn you 
 when I first preached to you." 
 
 " That they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of 
 God." The kingdom of God is entered into and possessed here in 
 this life, and yet its final development at the coming of the Lord 
 is a matter of inheritance. This is one of those numerous places 
 which assure us that the judgment hereafter will be according to 
 works : and a large part of these works consists in the cleansing of 
 the soul — purging or purifying it — that the man be a vessel unto 
 honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared 
 unto every good work (2 Tim. ii. 21). And from what are such 
 excluded ? It may be needful merely to say from the presence of 
 Christ, " Depart from me, I never knew you, all ye that work 
 iniquity." 
 
 22. "But the fmit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, 
 gentleness," &c. How is it that he calls what comes from the 
 flesh " works," but what comes from the Spirit " fruits " ? Because 
 in almost all cases in which " fruit " is mentioned it is supposed to 
 
102 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. [Galatians 
 
 ■ John XV. 2. 22 But 'the fruit of the Spirit is love, ioy, 
 
 Ephes. V 9. ^ 
 
 be good fruit. Thus " the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and 
 righteousness, and truth," Ephes. v. 9 (see also John xii. 24; xv. 
 2, 5, 16 ; Kom. vi. 21, 22 ; Phil. iv. 17 ; James iii. 18). On the 
 other hand, the works of darkness are called " the unfruitful works 
 of darkness" (Ephes. v. 11). 
 
 "Love." What is this love? It must be "the love of God 
 which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost," as well an 
 the love of the brethren. St. John makes it a test of our having 
 passed from death unto life that we " love the brethren " (1 John 
 iii. 14). 
 
 " Joy." The Christian is commanded to rejoice in God, or in 
 the Lord. "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say re- 
 joice " (Phil. iv. 4). But joy cannot be produced by a command. 
 It is not a thing to be ordered to come and it comes. It must 
 spring from a clear conscience, a conscience cleansed by the Blood 
 of Christ (see Hebrews ix. 14). It must spring from a realization 
 of the Atonement (Rom. v. 11). There are two other things also 
 which are expressly revealed for our joy ; one is the truth of union 
 with Christ ; thus in John xv., having set forth the parable of the 
 vine and the branches, — containing such words as, " If a man abide 
 not in me, he is cast forth as a brand." " Herein is my Father 
 glorified that ye bear much fruit." " If ye keep my command- 
 ments ye shall abide in my love" — the Lord concludes with, 
 " These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain 
 in you, and that your joy might be full." 
 
 The second thing is the realization of the Incarnation. In his 
 first Epistle St. John writes the deepest truth respecting the Incar- 
 nation, " that our hands have handled of the word of life," " that 
 eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto 
 us," and he concludes with " these things write we unto you, that 
 your joy may be fulL" 
 
 This fruit of the Spirit is sometimes very perplexing. In a long 
 ministry I have known some to have it, or rather to boast of it, 
 who have, if the New Testament is to be believed, no business 
 whatsoever to have it ; men living directly contrary to the clearest 
 precepts of purity, and honesty, and charity ; and I have known 
 some who have hved most pure, self-denying, Christ-loving lives. 
 
Chap. V.] GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH. 103 
 
 peace, longsuffering, ^ gentleness, ^ goodness. ^ ci. iii. 12. 
 
 James iii. 17. 
 ™ faith, 1 Eom. XV. 14. 
 m 1 Cor. xiii. 
 
 7. 
 
 who have but faintly enjoyed it. The boastful profession of joy is 
 by no means a proof of sincerity even, I knew well one who never 
 sent me or anybody else a letter but there was a leaflet in it asking 
 some question as "Are you rejoicing?" "Are you at peace?" 
 &c., who, when I came to close questioning with him, confessed to 
 me that he seldom, very seldom, himself realized the things about 
 which he sent questions in all directions. 
 
 The Eucharist also, if in It we receive anything great enough to 
 correspond with such great words as the Body and Blood of Christ, 
 ought to work in us joy. I have heard of priests who, whilst 
 celebrating the Eucharist, were so overpowered with their feelings 
 that they were scarcely able to get through the service, and can joy 
 be embodied in deeper and higher words than at its conclusion ? 
 " We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, 
 we give thanks to thee forthy gi-eat glory. . . . Thou only art holy 
 — thou only art the Lord, thou only, Christ, with the Holy 
 Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father." 
 
 " Peace." Most probably here, as in many places in the Aposto- 
 lical Epistles, it signifies peace among ourselves, peace amongst the 
 members of the mystical body, " endeavouring to keep the unity 
 of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Here it seems opposed to the 
 much longer list of its opposites in the previous list, "hatred, variance, 
 emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings." Still peace 
 with God and peace with our brethren seem, when each of them is 
 properly understood and realized, inseparable. Must we not apply 
 to peace the words which St. John applies to love, "He thatloveth 
 not his brother whom he hath seen, how shall he love God whom 
 he hath not seen ? " 
 
 "Long-sujffering." In a world of contradictions and provoca- 
 tions like this, if there is to be peace, there must be much forbeai-- 
 ance, and if there is to be forbearance, there must be kindness both 
 of heart and demeanour, that is "gentleness " and "goodness." 
 
 " Faith." There is considerable difficulty respecting this Chris- 
 tian grace, as to whether it is the faith which apprehends God, and 
 Christ, and the Atonement, and Piesurrection, or whether it be 
 faith in the sense of good faith, i.e., fidelity, adherence to one's 
 
104 THEY THAT ARE CHRIST'S. [Galatians. 
 
 23 Meekness, temperance : '^ against such there is no 
 
 " 1 Tim. i. 9. law. 
 
 .V xHrir* ' 24 And they that are Christ's ° have crucified 
 
 I Pet", ii.'ii. the flesh with the || affections and lusts. 
 
 II Or, passions. 
 
 24. " They that are Christ's." Some MSS. add Jesus, " Jesus Christ's." 
 
 word and promise, truthfulness and trustfulness. The objection to 
 the first explanation is that it comes so far down in the list, 
 whereas in the Christian scheme of doctrine it comes first, or at 
 least, next to repentance (" Repent ye, and beUeve the Gospel." 
 "Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus 
 Christ,") but the truth is that St. Paul in giving lists of Christian 
 virtues, by no means always puts faith in the first place. Thus in 
 2 Tim. ii. 22, he mentions "righteousness, faith, charity, peace," 
 putting faith the second (so also 2 Thess. ii. 13 ; 1 Tim. iv. 12 ; 
 1 Tim. vi. 11, &c.) He was not so much the slave of a modem 
 system as many suppose him to have been. 
 
 " Meekness." Thus in the Beatitudes, " Blessed are the meek," 
 and the first is akin to it, " Blessed are the poor in spirit." It is 
 very remarkable how both the Lord and His servant put altogether 
 in the background what we may call, though in no invidious sense, 
 the self-asserting virtues, such as fortitude, courage, public spirit, 
 patriotism ; and rightly, for some of these are merely constitutional, 
 and win the applause of the world, and all have been practised by 
 men of immoral lives, whereas all the Christian graces mentioned 
 here are not of the world. They are some of them contrary to the 
 opinions and maxims of the world. Some of them are despised by 
 the world, and yet they are the first features in the example of 
 Christ. 
 
 " Against such there is no law." Why should he interject this ? 
 How can there be law against virtues such as these ? It is not im- 
 probable that he has in his mind the fact that all the evil things in 
 the list of works of the flesh are against law, and that any law 
 proceeding from God, either directly or indirectly, is against them. 
 It has been said that he means that they are out of the domain of 
 law, but surely they are within the domain of the " law of the 
 spirit of life in Christ Jesus." 
 
 24. "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with," 
 &c. Bishop Ellicott, and apparently Bishop Lightfoot, refer this to 
 
Chap. V.] LET US WALK IN THE SPIRIT. 105 
 
 25 P If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in p Rom. viii. 
 tlie Spirit. 
 
 25. " If we live in the Spirit." '• If we live by the Spirit," Revisers. 
 
 •Christian Baptism, as in Rom. vi. 3, '* Baptized into the death of 
 Christ .... knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him ; '* 
 but the grace and power which is given then must constantly be 
 stirred up through all after life, or our first crucifixion will only 
 Add to our condemnation. This concupiscence, or evil lust. Chris- 
 tians " crucify," that is, they painfully repress and mortify it, after 
 the manner of Christ's crucifixion. Crucifixion is a most painful 
 and lingering death. We cannot hope to crucify and kill our old 
 man in a moment, but no matter how painful it is to self we must 
 <;rucify it. 
 
 I need not call the reader's attention to the teaching of this 
 verse. How very narrow it seems to make the way of life. What 
 should we say to it ? We must rather say to God in well-known 
 words, " Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit, that our 
 hearts and all our members being mortified from all worldly and 
 carnal lusts, we may in aU things obey thy blessed Will." ^ 
 
 25. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." 
 What is the distinction imphed here between living in the Spirit, 
 and walking in the Spirit ? must not all they who live in the 
 Spirit also walk in the Spirit ? It seems not. Christianity, espe- 
 cially in its concrete form in the Church, is the habitation of the 
 Spirit. The Church is, as it were, the body of which the soul is 
 the Spirit of God. " There is one Body, and one Spirit." " The 
 manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal" 
 <1 Corinth, xii. 7). If a man profits by the Divine Gift, then he 
 walks in the Spirit. If we are members of the Church of Christ 
 we live in the Spirit ; and we walk in the Spirit when we take 
 every means of increasing within us the gift of the Spirit — when 
 we court His in-dwelhng by prayer for Him, by fearing to grieve 
 Him, by using carefully all the means of grace, by purifying our- 
 fielves, by cultivating love, and peace, and righteousness. 
 
 1 " Qnasi diceret : Christianas Christnm intnens pro snis percatis crncifixnm, camem 
 suam suamque vitiatam natnram crucifigit, nt sicnt Christns summo cum dolore mortans 
 ■est pro peccatis nostris ; ita non sine dolore moriatur in nobis peccatum " (Bernardine k 
 •Piconio). 
 
106 YE WHICH ARE SPIRITUAL. t^ALATiANS. 
 
 26 ^ Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one 
 another, envying one another. i Phii. a. 3. 
 
 26. "Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one an- 
 other," &c. This takes up the warning of verse 15, '* If ye bite and 
 devour one another." Evidently their heresies had been fostered 
 by their divisions. If they had kept the unity of the Spirit in the 
 bond of peace, there would not have been such opportunity for the 
 enemy to sow tares. 
 
 CHAP. VL 
 
 a Rom. xiv. 1. T^ EETHEElSr, * II if a man be overtaken in a 
 xii.ik' James JL) fault, ye ^ which are spiritual, restore such 
 w'or^ although, . an ono *^in the spirit of meekness; considering 
 
 b 1 Cor. ii. 15. 
 & iii. 1. 
 c 1 Cor. iv. 21. 
 2 Thess. iii. 15. 
 2 Tim. ii. 25. 
 d 1 Cor. vii. 
 5. &x. 12. 
 
 thyself, ^ lest thou also be tempted. 
 
 1. •' Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are 
 spiritual," &c. Some differences of translation (very slight) have 
 been suggested, but some leading grammatical commentators agree 
 with Authorized; however, the words, ' even if (Idv Kai) have to 
 be noticed, and they are best explained by reference to the pre- 
 ceding verses, " Let us walk in the Spirit in all charity and for- 
 bearance, let us not be desirous of vain glory .... and even if a 
 brother be overtaken in some fault or sin, let us not entertain any 
 uncharitable satisfaction at his fall, but at once restore such an one 
 in the spirit of meekness, considering," &c. 
 
 "Ye which are spiritual." There is a difference here as to 
 whether this means spiritual persons, i.e., persons led by the 
 Spirit, or those holding spiritual offices. It would seem to require 
 a special gift of the Spirit to restore the penitent in such a way as. 
 to reassure him of God's favour without condoning his sin, and 
 such a gift seems especially to belong to the pastorate (Ephes. iv. 
 
Chap. VI.] FULFIL THE LAW OF CHRIST. 107 
 
 2 ^ Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil « Rom. xv. i. 
 Hhe law of Christ. i Thess'.V. u. 
 
 f John xiii. 13, 
 U. 15, 34. & 
 
 XV. 12. Jaraei 
 
 ii. 8. 1 John 
 iv. 21. 
 
 11). But I think that the words must be taken more largely. It 
 is the duty and privilege of every true Christian to give spiritual 
 advice to his weak and erring brother ; and this at once, and pri- 
 vately, before it is known to the Church [see notes on St. Matth. 
 xviii. 15, page 268]. And this is what St. Paul here, I think, con- 
 templates, but such a spiritual adviser will, if he has common- 
 sense, remember that there are probably persons far more expe- 
 rienced than himself in dealing with the restoration of the fallen,, 
 and he will seek the advice of such.^ 
 
 " Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." He will re- 
 member that he and the lapsed sinner have the same fallen nature, 
 and that if God withholds His grace, he may fall into the sama 
 sin. 
 
 2. " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
 Christ." What burdens ? both temporal and spiritual — burdens of 
 v/ant and penury by generous assistance ; burdens of sorrow, by 
 sympathy and consolation ; burdens of sin by the application of the 
 promises of the Gospel; burdens of doubt by the communication to- 
 them, if possible, of your own clear faith. 
 
 "And so fulfil the law of Christ." The law of Christ may mean 
 *'love one another," and this Christ has bidden us fulfil to the- 
 uttermost when He added, " as I have loved you " ; but it may 
 allude with especial reference to Christ bearing burdens as set forth 
 in the words of Isaiah, cited in Matth. viii. 17, " Himself took our 
 infirmities and bare our sicknesses." Bishop Lightfoot seems to 
 think that St. Paul spoke somewhat ironically when he says,. 
 " Bear ye one another's burdens." " If ye must needs impose 
 burdens on yourselves, let them be the burdens of mutual sym- 
 pathy. If ye must needs observe a laiv, let it be the law of 
 Christ." But St. Paul did not regard law as a thing to be, if pos- 
 sible, ignored and avoided, for he says, " the law is holy," and " the. 
 
 1 Some commentators, as Cornelius a Lapide and Bernardine a Piconio, seem to con- 
 sider that "overtaken in any fault" means falling into Judaism or into the heresy of the 
 Judaisers ; but, this is unlikely, for it is in the original "in a7iT/ fault," ev t»v» 7rapairnI/u,aT» 
 
108 HE DECEIVETH HIMSELF. [Galatians. 
 
 3 For '^ if a man think himself to be something, when ^ he 
 g Rom. xii. 3. is nothinfi^, he deceiveth himself. 
 
 1 Cor. viii. 2. ^ _ "_ ^ . . , _ 
 
 <h. ii. 6. 4 But * let every man prove nis own work, and 
 
 & xi?. li."'* ^* then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone» and 
 ibS^ui:f '^ not in another. 
 
 k See Luke 
 
 xviii. 11. 
 
 law is spiritual," and " We know that the law is good if a man 
 use it lawfully," Eom. vii. 12-14, 1 Tim. i. 8. It is not to be men- 
 tioned in the matter of justification, but *' law," the law of God, 
 that is, the will of God, made known to His creatures, is their 
 guidance as to all moral conduct. 
 
 3. " For if a man think himself to be something, when he is no- 
 thing," &c. That within us which most of all opposes charity and 
 sympathy is pride. The more a man thinks of himself the less he 
 will think of others in the way of assisting them. Pride is the most 
 selfish of passions. 
 
 " When he is nothing." " He that thinks himself to be some- 
 thing," says Chrysostom, " is nothing, and exhibits at the outset a 
 proof of his worthlessness by such a disposition." Let the reader 
 remember the words of the Lord to the Church of Laodicea, " Be- 
 cause thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have 
 need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miser- 
 able, and poor, and blind, and naked " (Rev. iii. 17). 
 
 4. " But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he 
 have rejoicing," &c. Let every man prove, i.e., try, test, bis own 
 work. Chrysostom's commentary is very good. " If thou hast per- 
 formed a good action, consider whether it was not from vain glory, 
 or through necessity, or malevolence, or with hypocrisy, or from 
 some other human motive. For as gold appears to be bright be- 
 fore it is placed in the furnace, but when committed thereto it is 
 closely scorched and proved by the fire, and all that is spurious is 
 separated from what is genuine, so too our works, if diligently ex- 
 amined, will be distinctly made manifest, and we shall perceive 
 that we have exposed ourselves to much censure." 
 
 " And not in another." A man has rejoicing in another when 
 the fancied inferiority of the man with whom he compares himself 
 is made by him (the boaster) a means of exalting himself. This 
 would not be if he rigorously tested his own principles of action by 
 the wor^ of God and the example of Christ. 
 
Chap. VI.] HIS OWN BURDEN. 109^ 
 
 5 For ^ every man shall bear his own burden. ^ Rom. ir. e. 
 
 6 "^ Let him that is taught in the word com- m Rom. xr 
 municate unto him that teacheth in all good ii,u,^^^'^^' 
 things. 
 
 5. " For every man shall bear his own burden." This and what 
 follows (verses 6, 7, 8, 9), is a very important and noticeable state- 
 ment as coming at the end of such an Epistle as this. It assures 
 us that nothing which St. Paul has written respecting Justification 
 by faith, and the impotency of the law and Christian freedom, is 
 for one moment to be taken as setting aside, in the case of any 
 Christian soul, the just and righteous yet most merciful judgment 
 of God at the last day. It is paralleled by " Every man shall re- 
 ceive his own reward according to his own labour " (1 Cor. iii. 
 8), and "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 
 that every one may receive the things done in his body " (2 Cor. 
 V. 10). 
 
 Now what is this burden ? Is it a man's soul, or his person ah ty, or 
 his gifts of grace ? We may say that it is his responsibility — his being 
 accountable for all the gifts, whether of nature or of grace, which 
 God has given to him. For this is his burden which God has laid 
 upon him, and none can share it with him. But has not Christ 
 taken all this burden upon Himself? No. For in the extremest 
 point of all, the Crucifixion of Christ, Christ has not been crucified 
 for a man so that he should be excused from crucifying his flesh 
 with its affections and lusts. 
 
 It is a great paradox. Christ has borne the burden of all men.. 
 He himself bare our sins in His own body on the tree ; but for what 
 purpose ? " that we being dead to sin should hve unto righteous- 
 ness." Here is the burden, that all for whom He died should 
 "live unto righteousness." This is the burden under which so 
 many remove their shoulders and would fain plead the teaching of 
 this Epistle, but St. Paul writes here as he has written many 
 times elsewhere, " Every man shall bear his own burden." 
 
 6. "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto hirn 
 that teacheth," &c. It would seem from this that teachers, as a 
 rule, devoted all their time to their occupation, and had to b© 
 maintained by others. 
 
 The precept, in one shape or another, is constantly repeated in 
 
110 GOD IS NOT MOCKED. [Galatians. 
 
 n 1 Cor. VI. 9. 7 ° Be not deceived ; ° God is not mocked : for 
 ojobxiii. 9. P whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
 
 P Luke xvi. v/=>n-n 
 
 25. Rom.ii. ^®^P- 
 
 6. 2 Cor. 
 
 ix, 6. — 
 
 St. Paul's Epistles. Thus with reference to his own right of main- 
 -tenance, in 1 Cor. ix. 11, "If we have sown unto you spiritual 
 things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things ? " 
 This Apostolical direction will have to be very seriously impressed 
 upon members of the Church of England. There are a vast num- 
 ber of parochial cures — and they are increasing in number — which 
 do not afford a maintenance, even in decent poverty, to those who 
 serve them, and so they who present to them have to go a-begging 
 among men of private means to get them supplied. Now the plain 
 duty of all Christians is to support the pastorate. If through any 
 richness of the endowment they seem to be excused the performance 
 of this duty, the money so saved by each person should be given 
 to the maintenance of the Church in poor and populous towns 
 and cities, for none are in the sight of God exempted from this 
 duty. 
 
 7. " Be not deceived ; God is not mocked," &c. I do not think 
 that it is well to attempt to establish any specific connection be- 
 tween the verses of this concluding chapter. One thing suggested 
 another to the Apostle's mind. The " communication in all good 
 things " of the last verse suggests that benevolence and almsgiving 
 can be made by God's grace sowings to the Spirit, which will 
 become at the last day fruit which may abound to our account. 
 
 " God is not mocked." He is not mocked with any pretence of 
 sowing to the Spirit where there is no reality. He is not mocked 
 with good words, such as "be ye warmed and filled," which are 
 not followed by the giving of things which are needful to the body. 
 He is not mocked by a man of means putting the veriest trifle into 
 the alms-bag, when, without any self-denial, he might give gold. 
 He is not mocked by the semblance of prayer when the heart lifts 
 not up a single desire to God. St. Paul seems to have had in his 
 mind certain words contained in the book of Job, " They that plow 
 iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same " (iv. 8). St. Paul 
 expands this idea in Eom. ii. 6, " The righteous judgment of God, 
 who will render to every man according to his deeds. To them 
 who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and 
 
Chap. VI.] LET US NOT BE WEARY. Ill 
 
 8 ^ For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the i Job iv. 8. 
 flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the &xkC8.^^' 
 Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. &x!'i2."*Rom. 
 
 9 And "-let us not be weary in well doing: for m.'is!" "^^"'' 
 in due season we shall reap, ' if we faint not. H ^r-rhlss 
 
 10 * As we have therefore opportunity. "" let us "'■ ^^• 
 
 ^^ -^ " Matt. xxiv. 
 
 13. Hebr. iii. 
 
 6, 14. & X. 36. 
 
 & xii. 3, 5, 
 
 honour, and immortality, eternal life . . . butindigna- » Joiinix. 4. 
 tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul ^ ^"* ^^' 
 of man that doeth evil," &c. Js^ "^TT^r* 
 
 8. "For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the y^l^- '^^*- 
 flesh reap corruption; but he that," &c. Taken in 
 connection with verse 6, and with wliat follows in verses 9 and 10, 
 an important lesson is taught. We generally associate sowing 
 to the flesh with what are called fleshly sins, self-indulgence, 
 gluttony, drunkenness, &c., and we generally associate sowing to 
 the spirit with spiritual exercises, such as prayer, praise, Eucha- 
 rists ; but here by sowing to the flesh, St. Paul especially has in 
 his mind niggardliness, avarice, withholding that which is due 
 to the claims of charity ; and by sowing to the Spirit he means 
 liberality, generosity. Christian consideration for the wants of 
 others, and above all liberal contribution to the needs of the Church 
 in the persons of her ministers. 
 
 9. " And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we 
 shall reap," &c. Let us not be tired of praying, of visiting and 
 comforting the poor and afflicted, let us not be tired of contributing 
 to the needs of those who instruct us in the Lord, let us not be 
 weary of warning the unruly, comforting the feeble minded, sup- 
 porting the weak, and being patient towards all men. 
 
 "For in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." The due 
 season is the Second Coming of the Lord. "Henceforth," the 
 Apostle says, " there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 
 which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me in that day," — 
 not the day of death, but the day of His appearing. 
 
 10. " As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all 
 men." What is this " opportunity " ? It may be an opportunity 
 afforded by the providence of God. One in want or sorrow is 
 thrown in our way — we must seize the opportunity as if it came 
 
112 THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH. [Galatiaks. 
 
 do good unto all men, especially unto tliem who are of ^ the 
 X Ephes. ii. household of faith. 
 
 iii.' e!^*"^^' 11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto 
 
 you with mine own hand. 
 
 12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in 
 J ch. ii. 3, 14. the flesh, ^ they constrain you to be circumcised ; 
 « Phil. iii. 18. ^ only lest they should ^ suffer persecution for the 
 * ch. V. 11. ^j^Qgg of Christ. 
 
 11. '* How large a letter." Rather, " with what large letters." See below. 
 
 from the hand of God, to relieve him or comfort him ; or as Chry- 
 sostom seems to explain it, it may be the present time of our life.. 
 " As it is not always in our power to sow, so neither is it to show 
 mercy ; but when we have been carried hence, though we may de- 
 sire it a thousand times, we shall be able to effect nothing more» 
 To this argument of ours the ten virgins bear witness, who although 
 they wished it ever so much, yet were shut out by the Bridegroom 
 because they brought with them no bountiful charity." 
 
 *' To all men, especially unto them who are of the household of 
 faith." They were not to confine their deeds of mercy to their 
 Christian brethren, but extend them to the unconverted heathen. 
 There is a remarkable passage parallel to this in the matter of 
 God's active care for all men. " The living God, Who is the 
 Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe " (1 Tim. 
 
 iv. 10). 
 
 "The household of faith," i.e., the household of the faith 
 {rriQ iriaTUDo). Those who are one in the One Lord, the one Faith» 
 the one Baptism. 
 
 11. "Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you, with 
 mine own hand." Bather, " with what large letters." The Greek 
 cannot mean " how large a letter I have written." The meaning 
 most probably is, " Ye see how the very letters of this epistle are 
 formed with boldness and of a size which betokens that there 
 should be no misunderstanding respecting my meaning." (See 
 quotation from Theodore of Mopsuestia in Bishop Lightfoot.) 
 
 12. " As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they 
 constrain," &c. The most probable meaning of this verse is to be 
 got by taking into due consideration the last clause of the next 
 
Chap. VL] GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD GLORY. 1K> 
 
 13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep 
 the law ; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may 
 glory in your flesh. 
 
 14 ♦'But God forbid that I should gloiy, save JPhii.m.s. 
 
 13. "Who are circumcised." Some (B., L., fifty Carsives) read, "who have been 
 circumcised." 
 
 verse, " that they may glory in your flesh." If aGalatian Christian 
 was circumcised he might be considered, to all intents and purposes, 
 a proselyte to Judaism. Now this was very dear to the heart of 
 the Pharisaic Jews. They " compassed sea and land to make one 
 proselyte." The Judaizing party then thought to mitigate the ill- 
 feeling and consequent persecution on the part of the unbelieving 
 Jews, by boasting of the numbers they brought over to Judaism, 
 and the proof of this was their circumcision. 
 
 Their desire to make "a fair show in the flesh " does not mean 
 BO much "to make a pretentious display of their religion in out- 
 ward ordinances " (Lightfoot), as to make a display of the 
 numbers they added to the roll of the chosen people. 
 
 13. " For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep 
 the law." None could keep the law in its entirety. Not even a 
 Jew of Jerusalem could keep the whole law, much less a Gentile 
 of an inland country hke Galatia. How could he go up to Jeru- 
 salem three times a year to keep the feasts ? How could he offer 
 sacrifices which were only lawful at the one altar in Jerusalem ? 
 
 "But desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in 
 your flesh." That they may glory in you as now belonging, so far 
 as Gentiles can, to Israel after the flesh. This sinful ambition is 
 not extinct. When Churches and Christian bodies in this our day 
 publish the numbers of their members or converts, or, still worse, 
 the number of their communicants, do they not imitate these 
 proselytizing Judaizers ? Our ambition should be, not to increase 
 the number of communicants, but the number of those who in 
 communicating discern the Lord's Body. 
 
 14. "But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of 
 our Lord," &c. The Judaizers were ashamed of the cross, i.e., of 
 the Death to which the Messiah was put ; but St. Paul gloried in 
 it, and desired to glory in naught else. To him, it was the power 
 of God to attract all hearts, to crucify all sins ; it exhibited God as 
 conquering all evil by Himself undergoing the extremity of evil. 
 
 I 
 
114 A NEW CREATURE. [Galatians. 
 
 in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, || by whom the world 
 
 il Or, ichereby. is ^ crucified uuto me, and I unto the world. 
 
 ih^So'?' *"" 15 For *^in Christ Jesus neither circumcision. 
 
 iV ^°h ' V ' 6 availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but ^ a new 
 
 Col. lii. 11. creature. 
 
 e 2 Cor. V. 17. 
 
 15. " For in Christ Jesus." So H, A., C, D., E., F., G., K., L., P., most Cursives, d, 
 e, f, g, Vulg., Copt. ; but B., Syriac, omit " in Christ Jesus." 
 
 No one in this day can realize the significance of this glorying 
 in the Cross, for no one now can realize the shame of the Cross. 
 It is more than the shame of the gallows, of the gibbet, of the 
 8take. 
 
 "By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the 
 world." What influence can the world have over him who realizes 
 that the highest place in the Universe was won by submission to 
 the Death of the Cross (" He became obedient unto death, even the 
 death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, 
 and given Him the name which is above every name.") 
 
 *' By whom the world is crucified unto me." I regard the world 
 as a condemned world, and fear it no more than I should fear a 
 culprit expiring on the cross. 
 
 " I unto the world." I regard the world with that utter indiffe- 
 rence with which one would who was breathing out his last breath 
 in the agonies of a cruel death. 
 
 15. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything 
 nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." That is, it makes no 
 difference whether a man like myself, being born a Jew, was cir- 
 cumcised on the eighth day, or whether, like you, being converted 
 from heathenism, he has never been circumcised. The one thing 
 which makes the difference is whether, having been brought into 
 the Church, we abide in the grace of Christ, which renews us in 
 soul and spirit here, and will hereafter renew us even in body. 
 
 Or "new creature" may mean "new creation;" a state of things 
 altogether new is brought in by Christ, there is a new access to 
 God, a new power against sin, a new life, new hopes, new aspira- 
 tions, all things are become new. 
 
 10. " And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on 
 them, and mercy," &c. " This rule," that is the rule of the new 
 Creation, the rule of faith, the rule of the example of Christ. Or 
 
Chap. VI.] I BEAR IN MY BODY. 115 
 
 16 *^And as many as walk "according to this fPs. cxxv. 5. 
 rule, peace he on them, and mercj, and upon I ^^^^ "!' 29' 
 "^ the Israel of God. J >:• 12. & Jx; 
 
 17 From henceforth let no man trouble me : for UVJ'.^' ^o' 
 
 X nil. 111. o« 
 
 * I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. ' 2 Cor. i. 5. 
 
 18 Brethren, '' the grace of our Lord Jesus xi. 23. ch. v. 
 Christ be with your spirit. Amen. k 2 Tim. iv. 22 
 
 P.iilem. 25. 
 
 17. "Of the Lor.l Jesus." So E., K., L2., most Cursives; but A., B., C, Vulg. 
 (Amiat.), omit -'the Lord." 
 
 it may be the rule of holding that neither circumcision is any- 
 thing, nor uncircumcision, but that what avails with God is the 
 faith which worketh by love. 
 
 " And upon the Israel of God." That is, the spiritual Israel, 
 whether descended from Abraham or not. St. Paul includes all in 
 his blessing, of whatever stock or kindred, and then with his 
 thoughts turning (as they ever did) to his own brethren after the 
 flesh (Eom. ix. 3), he pauses to specify those who were once 
 Israelites, according to the flesh (1 Cor. x. 18), but now are the 
 Israel of God, true spiritual children of Abraham. (Ellicott.) 
 
 17. "From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my 
 body the marks of the Lord Jesus." These marks would be the 
 scars on his body which were the effects of the stouings (Acts xiv. 
 19), or the marks of the *' beatings with rods." Just as the marks 
 of the wounds in the Hands, the Feet, the Side of Jesus were the 
 stigmata of His sufferings, so the bruises on the body of St. Paul 
 would be the stigmata of his sufl'erings for the Gospel of Christ. 
 Very probably he appealed to these marks as confirming his autho- 
 rity as a servant of Christ. " Let no man trouble me by setting my 
 authority at naught : for my Divine Master will take care to up- 
 hold and vindicate the Apostleship of one to whom He has given 
 such tokens of approval as to cause him to suff'er for His sake." 
 
 18. '* Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your 
 spirit." He invokes ^race from Christ alone, as if in Him dwelt 
 all the fulness of the Godhead bodily : as if the Father had com- 
 mitted all things into His hands. 
 
 The word " brethren," which is the first word of this verso, 
 comes last in the original, and so the last word of an Epistle so full 
 of reproof is one of affection. 
 
116 PRESENT APPLICATION. 
 
 EXCURSUS I. 
 
 THE PRESENT APjfLICATION OF THE TEACHING OF THIS EPISTLE, 
 
 The Epistle to the Galatians is written to put certain Christiana 
 of the Apostolic Age on their guard against an error which, in out- 
 ward appearance, has long since passed away. This error was 
 that they should take the Old Testament to be permanent. By 
 the Old Testament I mean the Old Covenant. The teaching of 
 the Book of the Old Testament, as interpreted in the light of the 
 New, is permanent, and is a most precious heritage of the Church ; 
 but the Old Testament in the sense of a Covenant sealed by Cir- 
 cumcision, and binding upon believers a certain ceremonial yoke, 
 became obsolete by the Death and Eesurrection of Christ. Its 
 observance was tolerated by God amongst His ancient people, but 
 only till the time when it became impossible by the annihilation 
 of that altar on which alone its sacrifices were lawful. 
 
 But, as might have been expected, there was a large party 
 amongst the Christianized Jews who could not bear the thought 
 that Judaism as a religion, or way of access to God, should be 
 wholly superseded, and so they desired to graft Judaism on Chris- 
 tianity in the case of those converted from heathenism. 
 
 The first appearance of this fatal error is in Acts xv. in the ac- 
 count of the council which assembled in Jerusalem under the pre- 
 sidency of its Bishop. Words were said at that council by the 
 leading Apostle of the Circumcision, which to those who made 
 show of exalting his authority over that of the other Apostles 
 [especially St. Paul] ought to have settled the matter for ever ; they 
 are his expostulation with the Judaizers. " Now, therefore, why 
 tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which 
 neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that 
 through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved 
 even as they." This, coming from such lips, should have set the 
 matter at vest; but so far from this, we find that wherever St. Paul 
 had planted a church there followed these upholders of circum- 
 cision to draw away disciples ; so it was in Corinth, at Colosse, at 
 Philippi, and as the Apostle of the Gentiles he had to warn th& 
 Church of Rome agaixist their machinations. 
 
PRESENT APPLICATION. 117 
 
 Now it will be needful to draw attention to what constituted the 
 strength of the position of the Judaizers. Their strength was the 
 letter of Scripture. With respect to Circumcision they would 
 appeal to such a place as " My covenant shall be in your flesh for 
 an everlasting covenant " (Gen. xvii. 13). With respect to the 
 permanency of the law as the only thing which God had as yet 
 revealed, whereby men might be justified, they could appeal to in- 
 numerable declarations ; suf&ce it to mention one with which the 
 Old Testament all but concludes, " Kemember ye the law of Moses 
 my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, 
 with the statutes and judgments " (Mai. iv. 4). Now how was this 
 to be opposed and set aside ? It is clear that it could not be set 
 aside by a mere citation of Old Testament texts. Texts might sup- 
 port a doctrine which was otherwise established, but it is impos- 
 sible to suppose that any apostle would cite one text of God's 
 word to neutralize another. 
 
 The justification of Abraham before his circumcision was a proof 
 that faith might be imputed for righteousness, independent of any 
 legal rite or work, but there must be some other overwhelming proof, 
 or the Judaizer might rejoin, " It is all very well to cite so excep- 
 tional a case as that of Abraham, but what happened to so exceed- 
 ingly great a man is no rule for you." Again, if the propnecy of 
 Jeremiah (xxxi. 31-33) respecting the new Covenant was cited, it 
 might be rejoined that this did not forbid the new Covenant having 
 the same covenant sign and being one of works, though of a higher 
 or more spiritual kind. 
 
 Now the real argument against Judaizing and the permanence of 
 the Covenant of Circumcision, or of works, over the Gentiles, was 
 Apostolical authority. Thus both in the Epistles to the Romans 
 and the Galatians, St. Paul appeals to his Apostleship, and in the 
 Epistle to the Galatians he mentions the miracles which he had 
 wrought among them (Gal. iii. 5), and at the council held at Jeru- 
 salem, after St. Peter had spoken, it is said that the " multitude 
 kept silence," and "gave audience to Paul and Silas, declaring 
 what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles 
 by them." The significance of this is that these miracles being 
 wrought by the finger of God were a proof, not of the general truth 
 of Christianity, but of the particular truth which Paul and Bar- 
 nabas preached, that the Gentiles were not to be circumcised, and 
 become as far as possible Jews, but that, on their own standing as 
 
118 PRESENT APPLICATION. 
 
 members of the great human family, they were "fellow heirs and 
 of the same body, and partakers of God's promise in Christ by the 
 Gospel" (Ephes. iii. 6). This is the contention of St. Paul in the 
 Epistle to the Galatians. 
 
 If a Gentile, having received the Gospel of the Son of God by 
 the preaching of His special messenger — the messenger sent not 
 through others but personally from Christ Himself — if such an one, 
 having been brought into the mystical Body of that Son of God by 
 Baptism, was persuaded that this was not sufficient, but that he 
 must embrace Judaism, and be circumcised, and so enrolled in the 
 Jewish family and keep the law of Moses for purposes of Justifica- 
 tion, by so doing he apostatized, and cut himself off from Christ ; 
 for he could not thus fall back on Judaism if he had any real hold 
 of the truth that Christ was the very and only Son of God, and 
 that He had come to fulfil the promises made to Adam, to Abra- 
 ham, to David, and to bring in the New Covenant foretold by the 
 Prophets. 
 
 But, besides this, the whole system which Christ introduced was- 
 from beginning to end a system of grace ; and in this respect it 
 was in the greatest contrast with that which it superseded. The 
 ordinances of Judaism had no promise of grace attached to any one 
 of them. Circumcision, though it signified the cutting off of 
 worldly and fleshly lusts, did no more than signify or typify this. 
 Whereas Baptism, the thing corresponding to it in the Christian 
 system, was a participation in the atoning Death and life-giving 
 Eesurrection of the Son of God, so that each Baptized man should 
 walk in newness of life. Those who had been baptized into Christ 
 had been planted together in the likeness of His Death, that they 
 might be also in that of His Eesurrection, that is, that they might par- 
 take of his Eesurrection Life. They were to reckon themselves dead 
 unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, and sin should not 
 have dominion over them, for they were not under the law, but 
 under grace. So that the gate of Baptism is a gate of grace ; and 
 so in this Christian system there is a Passover feast, not, however, 
 the feeding upon a dead lamb, but the feeding on the living Bread 
 which came down from heaven, which Bread is the Flesh which 
 the Sou of God gives for the life of the world, and they that eat 
 His Flesh and drink His Blood dwell in Him and He in them 
 (John vi. 32, 33, 51, 56). 
 
 Besides this there is in Christ's system an ordinance or rite of 
 
PRESENT APPLICATION. 119 
 
 •* Laying on of hands " by which the Holy Spirit, with His mani- 
 fold gifts of grace, was conferred — to this there was nothing corre- 
 Bponding in the Mosaic system. 
 
 Besides this, the union between the members of the Jewish 
 system was that of fellow-subjects of the same kingdom, whereas 
 the union between the members of the Christian system or Church 
 is that of the members of an organized body partaking of one 
 Life, the Life of the Head. So that it could be said of them in a 
 mystical but most real sense, " Ye are the body of Christ, and 
 members in particular." So that the whole mystical body, being 
 in Christ, was in grace. 
 
 Such was the Christian system. Now if a man tried to supple- 
 ment this by Judaism, it was as if he would supplement power by 
 weakness, life by death, grace by nature. He deliberately seemed 
 to prefer a system of mere obligation to a system of Divine help ; 
 and besides, he preferred a system of lower morality and spirituality 
 to one of infinitely higher. And so it is no wonder that the Apostle 
 says that he had " fallen from grace." If he thus fell back on the 
 graceless, lifeless system, if, that is, he did it not ignorantly, but 
 with some consciousness of what was involved in his act, he com- 
 mitted as high a sin against Christ as he well could do. 
 
 And now it will be necessary to remind the reader that the 
 whole contention of the Apostle from beginning to end, is respect- 
 ing systems. Men who had been made partakers of a Divine system 
 — the Church — fell back upon what was then a human system. 
 The Divine had left it, or was taken away from it, so that any 
 Divinity which it had was lost, and after Pentecost it was as purely 
 a human system as any other merely human school of thought or 
 religion. The very key of the book in which it was contained was 
 taken away, and the Jew read his own Scriptures with a veil over 
 his face, which hid from him their true significance. 
 
 And now I think it will be easy to see what must be the grand 
 ever-enduring lesson of this Epistle. It is that the whole Christian 
 system, or kingdom, or Church, is, from beginning to end, in all 
 its aspects, parts, or branches, a system of grace, a Divine system, 
 all and every member of it in Christ. Now the Epistle teaches us 
 this lesson by comparison : the Christian system is put side by 
 side with that which it superseded, which system was itself Divine 
 in origin, and yet when the new order of things arose, the old 
 *' decayed and was ready to vanish away." The Old Testament 
 
120 PRESENT APPLICATION. 
 
 system was ordained by God with the most tremendous sanctions. 
 Nothing could be more divine than its origin, nothing more impos- 
 ing than its inauguration on Mount Sinai. And yet, after the 
 coming of the Son of God, and the setting up of His kingdom, it 
 was treason to God to adopt it even partially. There could be no 
 divided allegiance. Christ became of none eJBfect to those who 
 would so much as supplement Christianity by it. 
 
 If then we are now in New Testament times, and the teaching 
 of the New Testament now in the nineteenth century is applicable 
 to the Church as it was in the first, then the whole system of the 
 Church or kingdom of God is instinct with supernatural grace, and 
 it is part of our allegiance to God and Christ to receive and act upon 
 this. We are to look upon the whole of it as a system of grace. Its 
 sacraments are not merely duties but means of grace, and we are 
 to be prepared to receive in them, from God, the highest grace. 
 There are many amongst us, even of the Church of England, who 
 teach that Baptism simply takes th*^ place of circumcision ; but, if 
 so, Baptism is a merely outside ordinance, touching only the 
 flesh, so that if anyone having been converted by the Spirit comes 
 to receive Baptism, he comes under the lash of the Apostle when he 
 asks, " Having begun in the spirit are ye now made perfect by the 
 flesh? " (iii. 3). Baptism, if it is to be the door into a spiritual system, 
 must be an act of God endowing us with grace, and fitting us, if 
 we will but stir up its grace by prayer, to fulfil our place in the 
 present kingdom of God. And so with the Eucharist. If it be 
 held to be (as it is by vast numbers) a mere reminder of a past Ee- 
 demption, then it is an ordinance as legal as the Passover. If, on 
 the contrary, it is part of a system of grace, then we must believe 
 that in it God offers to us such grace that we may have Christ's 
 life in us, and (as we pray) that we may evermore dwell in Him and 
 He in us. So with Confirmation. It is not a sincere response to a 
 question, though it is most needful to insist upon sincerity in the 
 answer which the Church directs, but it is, in its reality, the "lay- 
 ing on of hands," that those who submit to it may receive the grace 
 and gifts of the Spirit. 
 
 So with the whole Church. It is not an established body, or a 
 State-aided body, or an instructing body only, but it is one vast 
 Sacrament, everywhere the outward visible sign of inward or in- 
 visible grace, as it is described in the Epistle to the Colossians 
 (ii. 19), " The head, from which all the body by joints and bands. 
 
PRESENT APPLICATION. 121 
 
 having nourishment ministered and knit together increaseth with 
 the increase of God." 
 
 Such, then, is the teaching of this Epistle. If we realize it, we 
 believe that Jesus Christ, the fountain of all grace, is spiritually 
 present in and with His Church, in all and every part of it, and we 
 live and pray accordingly. 
 
 But in writing all this, I am, of course, aware that the teaching 
 of this Epistle has not been always thus stated. Since the time of 
 the Eeformation particularly, the Church application of it, which 
 undoubtedly was St. Paul's, has been merged in the individualizing 
 application. This application takes no notice of the fact that St. 
 Paul never divides the Christian body into two sections, the 
 justified and the unjustified, that he never calls upon the baptised 
 to enter into some inner body to which he confines the enjoyment 
 of the promises of God, that he never calls upon the Gentiles, who 
 believed the great objective facts respecting the Son of God, to 
 believe as for the first time — reckoning their belief in the CathoHc 
 faith as nothing, till they had a firm persuasion that they were 
 themselves so personally "saved " that their ultimate acceptance 
 was assured to them, no matter how they lived. All this, which I 
 call the individualizing application, Luther and those who follow 
 him made, and St. Paul carefully avoided making. 
 
 Is there then an individualizing application needful ? Certainly 
 There are amongst professing Christians a large number who 
 regard Christianity as mainly a matter of duty or obligation. They 
 seem to be unable to regard it as a system of grace. Their view 
 of the office and work of Christ is to all appearance Socinian, 
 which is that He was mainly, if not wholly, a teacher and exemplar, 
 though they would abhor the Socinian view of His Person. Now, 
 how are such persons to be dealt with ? Evidently by bringing 
 before them or preaching to them the full doctrine of grace, the lull 
 view of the Church, or Christian system, as one of grace, not as one of 
 mere unaided work, but of grace, i.e., given in order to produce love 
 and good works. To this end the faith — the full faith — ^must be 
 brought before them, the full Catholic faith in the Incarnation of the 
 Second Person in the Trinity, in His Death, Eesurrection, Ascen- 
 sion, and Perpetual Intercession as our High Priest. Instead of this, 
 vast numbers of teachers and preachers direct them to certain 
 phases of experience in themselves, in their conversion and justi- 
 fication, so that they believe that what they have to do is to look 
 
122 PRESENT APPLICATION. 
 
 inward, not upward to the Eternal Son, nor outward to the whole- 
 Christian system as a pledge of the abiding Presence of Christ, but 
 inward — not with the view of self-examination, but with the view 
 of analyzing their feelings and frames, whether they are after a 
 certain approved model or not. 
 
 Now this was not the preaching or teaching of St. Paul, as I 
 shall abundantly show in another excursus. His preaching directed 
 men to the great objective truths, as the Incarnation and Eesur- 
 rection, as the pledge of both Atonement and New Life ; and so 
 must ours, if the soul is to be directed to the true Fountain of 
 Grace. It would seem impossible that the soul should dwell com- 
 placently on its merits or deservings in the presence of the humi- 
 liation of the Eternal Son. 
 
 Viewed in the light of the grace ofChrist, works are notforamoment 
 to be relied on or contemplated with satisfaction, but though not to 
 be relied on, they are never to be called or esteemed evil, for if we are 
 baptized, and if we hold the great truths respecting the Son of God, 
 we never can pronounce respecting any work of any professed 
 Christian that it is not wrought through the influence of the grace 
 of the Dispensation. We must be careful how in this day we, 
 who have no commission from God to judge, pronounce upon work 
 done with a good intention, or we may incur the woe pronounced 
 on those who call good evil (Isaiah v. 20), or we may pronounce that 
 to be self- righteousness, or legalism, or mere nature, which in God's 
 sight proceeds from the working of His Spirit. 
 
 And there is another consideration also to be taken into account. 
 It may be that, far oftener than we think, legalism, or a desire to 
 obey the will of God, may be what it was to the Jews, a state of 
 discipline to lead men to Christ. The law is, in their case, their 
 schoolmaster, to lead them to Christ. I have been struck with the 
 fact that very many who have been the most devoted servants of 
 Christ have had, as it were, a legal discipline : they have been shut 
 up for a length of time in an imperfect state to prepare them for 
 welcoming and abiding in the perfect state. 
 
 And contrariwise, is it not a fact that the number of those who 
 fall away under what is called Gospel preaching is very great ? I 
 have been told that great revival preachers do not count upon more 
 than one in ten continuing religious. May not this be because 
 repentance, which must always be cast in a legal mould, has not 
 been enforced ? There is no attempt at forming the honest and 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 123. 
 
 good heart ; siicli a thing is too often scouted, and so the seed cast 
 upon the roadside or the rocky ground, is caught up by the evil 
 one or withers away. If any teaching seems calculated to lead to 
 searching of heart as to the true state of our souls and the repen- 
 tance which should follow, it is that of the latter part of this 
 Epistle respecting the works of the flesh and the fruits of the 
 Spirit. What can come more directly home to the self-satisfied 
 soul than such words as, " They that are Christ's have crucified the 
 flesh with its afi'ections and lusts," or " Be not deceived, God is not 
 mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap," or^ 
 " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the 
 world"? Of such words it may be said that they are "quick and 
 powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the 
 dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow^ 
 and judging the thought and intents of the heart." 
 
 EXCUESUS II. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 The root idea of Christian Liberty is in the words of Christy 
 in John viii. 31-36, " Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed 
 on him. If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples in- 
 deed ; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you 
 free. They answered him. We be Abraham's seed, and were never 
 in bondage to any man : how sayest thou. Ye shall be made free ? 
 Jesus answered them. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Whosoever 
 committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abidelh 
 not in the house for ever : but the Son abideth ever. If the Son 
 therefore shall make you free, ye shall be fi'ee indeed." 
 
 It will be at once noticed that the Saviour here says not a word, 
 respecting freedom from circumcision, or that which it involves, 
 the yoke of ordinances or even of law. He simply adverts to free- 
 dom from sin, and apparently nothing else. " Whosoever com- 
 mitteth sin is the servant of sin." "If the Son shall make you free 
 (i.e., from sin), ye shall be free indeed." Now this freedom from 
 sin is never once recognized by the Apostle as the true freedom (I 
 mean, of course, in words). The highest freedom which, in this 
 
124 CHEISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 Epistle, he seems to recognize is a freedom from the bondage of 
 ordinances: "How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly ele- 
 ments whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ? " " Ye observe 
 days and months and times and years ; I am afraid of yon, lest I 
 have bestowed upon you labour in vain." Again, " Stand fast, 
 therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be 
 not entangled again in the yoke of bondage ; behold I, Paul, say 
 unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing. 
 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a 
 debtor to keep the whole law;" including, of course, the cere- 
 monial law, the laws of meats and days and washings, and such 
 things, as well as the moral law. In looking carefully over all the 
 references to liberty in this Epistle, I do not see one which asserts 
 even by implication (I mean direct imphcation), liberty from 
 the bondage of sin, the only liberty which Christ recognizes in 
 John viii. 
 
 And yet the teaching of the Lord, and of His great servant must 
 be identical. There must be a connection which unites them, for 
 there cannot be a doubt that if St. Paul had been asked what is the 
 only true freedom, he would have said in a moment freedom from 
 the power of sin. He was a man who knew the world of human 
 nature, and he must have been aware that a man might not only 
 be perfectly free from Jewish ordinances, but consider himself 
 above all Christian Sacraments, and yet be the slave of sin. Why 
 then, seeing that he had, and from Christ Himself, that Spirit of 
 which he wrote, " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," 
 does he not recognize outright, in plain words, the freedom set 
 forth in the words of Christ ? The answer is that he does, and that 
 in the words which I have ventured to pronounce the key of the 
 Epistle (Gal. iii. 21), " If there had been a law given which could 
 have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." 
 Here it is implied that the Heir, the Seed, the Son of God, by 
 coming amongst us gives us life. But what is the characteristic 
 of life ? Is it not freedom ? The dead rock is under the absolute 
 bondage of gravity, and cannot move in the slightest. The tree 
 has life, and though it is rooted to one spot, yet there is freedom in 
 the spread of its branches. All the higher creatures exhibit their 
 life in freedom of motion — till liberty culminates in man. He 
 alone has absolute freedom of will. He can devise and carry out 
 means of supplying his wants of which the lower creatures have 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. 125 
 
 not a glimpse. Other creatures, perhaps, can move more swiftly 
 than himself within their bounds, but he can move from one end 
 of the earth to the other. The lower creatures have only a will to 
 feed and propagate ; his will is free to subdue nature, according to 
 his charter, " Eeplenish the earth and subdue it." 
 
 Now this freedom on its moral side had been lost, and the Seed, 
 the Heir, the Son, had been sent to restore it to us, and it is His 
 will to restore it to us, not by naked abstract doctrine, but by a 
 system, a kingdom, a church. 
 
 Now when a Gentile put his neck under the yoke of ordinances 
 it was a sure sign that he neither desired nor valued the freedom 
 wherewith the Son makes free. The freedom which the Son gave 
 went far beyond obedience to the letter of the Decalogue, it was 
 freedom to obey the drawings and aspirations of the Spirit of God. 
 As the Apostle says elsewhere, "AVe are delivered from the law, 
 that being dead wherein we were held ; that we should serve in 
 newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter" (Eom. vii. 6). 
 And this the Judaizer or his dupe had no real desire for ; he loved 
 Mosaism, because he desired the lowest ^ype of righteousness 
 rather than the highest, and so he put away from him the life which 
 was the gift of the Son, which life was the highest conceivable 
 freedom to serve God as the angels do. (See my notes on Eom. 
 X. 3.) 
 
 The only true freedom recognized in the New Testament is free- 
 dom from sin. Freedom from the yoke of burdensome Jewish or 
 other ordinances is quite subordinate to this, for a man like Zacha- 
 riah or Simeon, who lived before the coming of Christ, might con- 
 sider himself bound to every jot or tittle of Jewish ritual, and yet 
 serve God in the spirit of love ; and on the contrary, a man may 
 be free as regards his opinion from the yoke of eveiy dogma which 
 makes the least demand upon his faith, and from every particle of 
 Church regulation which stands in the way of doing exactly what 
 he pleases in conducting the service of God, and yet be the servant 
 of corruption (2 Pet. ii. 18). 
 
 There is the greatest misconception respecting Christian liberty. 
 How often, for instance, is freedom to use any words which may 
 be suggested at the moment called liberty, whereas it may be, and 
 too often is, the most tyrannical infliction on those present to hear 
 God addressed in such terms. The liberty of the minister (as has 
 been said by one of the greatest of our public men) is the slavery 
 
l'2() CHEISTIAN LIBERTY. 
 
 of the congregation. Again, the very same man, thus allowed any 
 amount of license in the most solemn approaches to God, is, so far 
 as his teaching is concerned, under the tyranny of a clique. His 
 doctrine must be approved by men generally his inferiors in cul- 
 ture, in social position, and in knowledge of Scripture, or he may 
 be deprived of his means of subsistence. 
 
 Again, look at Christian liberty as regards the control of the 
 State. Late decisions in our law courts have abundantly proved 
 that if any body of Christians have any property secured to them 
 by title deeds in which are defined the doctrines which they are to 
 hold, the State must ultimately decide whether the j)reaching be 
 according to these formulas or not. 
 
 Again, what bondage can be greater than that of the Calvanistic 
 system ? 
 
 Again, how inestimable the liberty of not being tied down to a 
 theory of Inspiration. We can hold the Scriptures to be a full 
 revelation of God's will, sufificient for all x)urposes of faith and prac- 
 tice, and yet can hold that this revelation comes to us through 
 human channels, and therefore on matters of grammar and arith- 
 metic, and dates, and other small circumstances it is liable to 
 error, and yet he who submits to receive it in an obedient and 
 imcritical spirit, will by its means " know the truth," and shall be 
 made free by that truth. 
 
 A multitude of such questions may be raised respecting the 
 nature, and limits, and applications of Christian liberty, which may 
 practically be set at rest by the consideration that there is nothing 
 perfect in this state of things. As there is no absolutely perfect 
 faith, or love, or holiness, or knowledge, so there is no perfect 
 liberty. We are born under conditions of all sorts, and from these 
 we cannot be free. We are born inheriting traditions, governed 
 by institutions, having in innumerable cases to submit our indivi- 
 dual wills to the will of the majority or of the powerful ; and so, 
 for the enjo3^ment of j)erfect freedom, we must look beyond this 
 state in which we are made subject to vanity, to the time when 
 we " shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the 
 glorious liberty of the children of God." 
 
FAITH AND THE FAITH. 127 
 
 FAITH AND THE FAITH. 
 
 Much misconception respecting the meaning and scope of the 
 Epistle to the Galatians has arisen from the imperfect translation 
 of several passages owing to the entire neglect of the Greek article. 
 In the first one we shall consider the article is duly translated. 
 
 I. 23. " They had heard only that he which persecuted us in 
 times past, now preaeheth the faith which once he destroyed." 
 Here faith is evidently to be understood, not as the faculty of mind 
 by which unseen things are apprehended, but as the Gospel, the 
 objective facts respecting the Son of God, especially His Incarna- 
 tion, Death, and Resurrection (Eom. i. 1-3 ; 1 Cor. xv. 1-10), for 
 this only could Paul attempt to destroy. He would not attempt to 
 destroy faith as such, for by it only could men believe in God at 
 all, but he would attempt to obhterate from men's minds the 
 Death and Resurrection of Christ as the Son of God, by persecuting 
 those who held these things as truths of God. 
 
 But in iii. 23 the article is neglected. It is rendered " before 
 faith came," whereas it is " before the faith came we were kept 
 under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be 
 revealed." Here faith is evidently the same as the faith of i. 23, 
 because it could come only at a certain definite time. Faith as a 
 faculty of the mind can never be said to come, for it is always in- 
 herent in the mind, and it existed throughout the ages before the 
 coming of Christ, even all through the period of the law (Hebrews 
 xi.), but the faith which could be preached and accepted, came 
 when the promised Seed, the Heir, the Son of God incarnate came 
 Who was the object of justifying faith. So also in iii. 25, " But 
 after that faith is come," it is tTiq 7ri<TT£u)g. 
 
 Again, in verse 26, " Ye are all the children of God by faith in 
 Christ Jesus," should be " through the faith in Christ Jesus." 
 Also vi. 10. 
 
 Now what is this faith? It is evidently the one faith of 
 Ephesians iv. 5, " One Lord, one faith, one baptism." One Lord, 
 t.e.. One Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom is centred the one faith in 
 Him as Incarnate, Crucified, Risen, and Ascended, and this is 
 sealed in the One Baptism wherein is made the confession of faith, 
 
128 FAITH AND THE FAITH. 
 
 1 Peter iii. 21, and wherein God seals the confession of that faith 
 by grafting the person making it into the Body of His Son. 
 
 If it be asked, " "What is the faith ? " in what words can it be ex- 
 pressed or embodied? we should say, in the words of the Creed. 
 Thus the Apostle in Eom. i. 1-4, specifies his Gospel, i.e., the 
 faith which he preached, as mainly the Incarnation and Kesurrec- 
 tion, " Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made 
 of the Seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the 
 Son of God with power .... by the Kesurrection from the 
 dead." 
 
 Again, there is one place in which with marked emphasis he 
 re-declares and reiterates to his converts his Gospel, the faith 
 which he preached, and it consists in the Death for our sins, the 
 Burial and Eesurrection of Jesus Christ, particularly laying stress 
 upon the Resurrection, because some of his converts were denying 
 the resurrection of the body, which, in the Apostle's view, led 
 directly to the denial of the Resurrection of Christ Himself. (" If 
 there be no Resurrection from the dead, then is Christ not 
 risen." 1 Cor. xv. 1-10.) 
 
 Again, he asserts the objective fact of the Resurrection as having 
 the foremost place in his Gospel in 2 Tim. ii. 8 : " Remember that 
 Jesus Christ of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, accord- 
 ing to my Gospel," and at the opening of our Epistle, "Paul an 
 Apostle ... by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him 
 from the dead." 
 
 I give a considerable number of places bearing upon this in a 
 note.^ 
 
 Now we see from this the purpose for which this Epistle was 
 written. It was not written to glorify faith as such, or to declare 
 that per se it was justifying, for any Jew, who, before the coming 
 of Christ, kept or attempted to keep any one commandment with a 
 view to the approval of God, had some degree of faith ; but it was 
 written to glorify the justifying power of that faith which laid hold 
 on the Seed, the Heir, even the Son of God, when He was revealed. 
 This is the reason why the Christian dispensation is a dispensation 
 
 1 Thus, John iii. 18; vi. 69; viii. 24; xi. 25, 26,27; xiii. 19; xvi. 27-30; xx. 27, 28„ 
 
 29. Acts ii. 23, 24, 36 ; iii. 1;^, 14, 15 ; iv. 33; ix. 20; x. 39, 40, 41, 42 ; xiii. 23, 2S. 29, 
 
 30, 31, 32, 33 ; xxiv. 15 ; xxvi. 8, 9, 22; 23. Rom. iv, 24, 25 ; viii. 34 ; x. 9. 1 Cor. xv. 
 1-17. Col. . 23 ; i. 7. 1 Tim. iii. 9, 16. 1 Peter i. 11, 12, 21 ; iii. 22. 1 John i. 1-4. 
 Jude.3. 
 
FAITH AND THE FAITH. 129 
 
 of faith. It is because that at its outset the true object of re- 
 ligious faith — the Incarnate Son, was revealed. Till then the 
 word was true, " keep the commandment and live," but after that 
 the Son of God, that Eternal Word Who originally gave the com- 
 mandments, came, then it was turned into "If ye believe not that 
 I am, ye shall die in your sins." They mistake woefully the 
 purport of this Epistle who express themselves as if St. Paul means, 
 " believe in justification by faith," believe that you are justified, 
 and you are justified. Let your principal care be that some process 
 (justification, conversion, &c.), takes place in you after a certain 
 order. It really means, " Believe the faith, the faith in God In- 
 carnate, Crucified, Kisen, and Ascended. Believe in this, look to 
 this Jesus thus doing and sufi'ering for you. Believe in the 
 efficacy of all that He has instituted and ordained, and waver not, 
 slack not, be not moved for a moment from this your faith, and 
 you shall be partakers of Him, and continue in Him, and be re- 
 ceived by Him to Himself when He comes." 
 
 Luther says (would that he had always spoken in such a frame), 
 *' Wherefore, whensoever thou art occupied in the matter of thy 
 salvation, setting aside all curious speculations of God's unsearch- 
 able majesty, all cogitations of works, of traditions, of philosophy, 
 yea, and of God's law too, run straight to the manger, and embrace 
 this Infant, and the Virgin's little Babe in thine arms, and behold 
 Him as He was born, sucking, growing up, conversant among men, 
 teaching, dying, rising again, ascending up above all the heavens, 
 and having power above all things. By this means shalt thou be 
 able to shake off all terrors and errors, Hke as the sun driveth away 
 the clouds. And this sight and contemplation will keep thee in 
 the right way, that thou mayest foUow whither Christ is gone." 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAXS. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE Epistle to the Ephesians has been accepted from the first 
 by the Church as written by St. Paul. 
 
 It is quoted by an author living as early as the last decade of the 
 first century, Clement of Eome, who, in his first Epistle (ch. xlvi.), 
 writes : " Have we not all one God, and one Christ ? Is there not 
 one Spirit of grace poured out upon us ? And have we not one 
 calling in Christ ? " 
 
 Polycarp (at the beginning of the second century) writes : " By 
 grace ye are saved, not of works " (ch. i.). 
 
 He also quotes it as Scripture in chap. xii. " It is declared then in 
 these Scriptures : ' Be ye angry, and sin not,' and ' Let not the sun 
 go down on your wrath.' " 
 
 Ignatius to Ephesians, i., says : " Being the followers of God " — 
 lit. imitators (ni/xriTai), same word as in Ephes. v. i., also, " Him Who 
 gave Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God." 
 
 Ignatius to Polycarp, ch. v., writes : " In like manner, also, exhort 
 my brethren, in the name of Jesus Christ, that they love their wives 
 even as the Lord the Church." 
 
 Justin Martyr. This father (a.d. 140) three times quotes St. 
 Paul's rendering of Psalm Ixviii. 18, which is not according to 
 either the Hebrew or Septuagint. The words are these: "He 
 ascended on high. He led captivity captive, He gave gifts to men." 
 In both Hebrew and Septuagint we read : " Thou hast ascended," 
 &c., " Thou hast received gifts in man." 
 
 Irenaeus (a.d. 180) against Heresies, i. 8, 5. '* This also Paul says: 
 * For whatsoever doth make manifest is light.' " Also, v. 2, 3 : "As 
 the blessed Paul says, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, * For we are 
 members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.' " 
 
 In an index to Irenaeus, I see that the Epistle to the Ephesians is 
 referred to by him about thirty times. 
 
 The Muratorian Canon says : " Cum beatus Apostolus Paulus, 
 
134 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sequens prodecessoris sui Johannis ordinem, nonnisi nomiDatim 
 septem Ecclesiis scribat ordine tali : ad Corinthios (prima), ad Ephe- 
 sios (secunda), ad Philippenses (tertia)," &c. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria (end of second centmy) quotes or refers to 
 the Epistle to the Ephesians nearly sixty times. In book iii.,chap.xii. 
 of the Pedagogue he quotes verbatim almost all the latter part of 
 chap, iv., beginning with ** putting away lying." 
 
 TertuUian (end of second century) quotes the Epistle to the 
 Ephesians above fifty times in his work against Marcion, and above 
 seventy times in his other works. In chap. xvii. of his fifth book 
 he takes notice of the attempt made by Marcion to show that this 
 Epistle was written to the Laodiceans : " We have it on the true 
 tradition of the Church that this Epistle was sent to the Ephesians, 
 not to the Laodiceans. Marcion, however, was very desirous of 
 giving it the new title, as if he were extremely accurate in investi- 
 gating such a point." 
 
 The Epistle, then, was accepted by the Church from the first, and 
 has continued to be so received to the present times. In this cen- 
 tury some German critics, relying only on the conjectures of their 
 own imagination, and setting aside as beneath their notice such 
 testimonies of the first, second, and third centuries as are adduced 
 above, say that they discover in it language and ideas which they 
 pronounce to be not Pauline, and consider it to be the work of some 
 pupil of St. Paul's, who has contrived to impose upon the Church, 
 as genuine, a forgery ; and this for no apparent reason, for there is 
 no doctrine of this Epistle which is not set forth more fully in other 
 Epistles. The doctrine of Election, for instance, is more fully dis- 
 cussed in the Epistle to the Eomans ; the doctrine of Salvation by 
 grace, through faith, in the Epistles to the Galatians and Eomans ; 
 the truth that the Church is the Body of Christ, in the Epistles to 
 the Corinthians and Eomans ; the depravity of human nature, in 
 the Epistle to the Eomans ; the equahty of Jews and Gentiles in 
 Christ pervades the Eomans and Galatians ; the moral and evan- 
 gelical precepts, though sometimes expressed in different language, 
 are the same precisely as those in other epistles : so that no reason 
 of any sort can be assigned for the forgery. Besides, the absurdity 
 of forging an epistle to such a Christian community as that of 
 Ephesus and the neighbouring cities ! They would have at once 
 known that they had never received such a letter, and would have 
 denounced it. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 35 
 
 It should be remembered tliat these German destructive critics 
 live 1800 years after the publication and reception of these New 
 Testament documents. Their conduct is as absurd as it would be 
 for critics 1800 years hence — that is, in 3600 — putting us down as 
 deceived respecting the authorship of the theological books written 
 less than a century ago. 
 
 The Christians of the first two or three centuries were perfectly 
 familiar with the fact that there were such things as apocryphal 
 and spurious books then in circulation, and they kept them distinct 
 from the Canon. The whole history of Eusebius bears witness to 
 their care in receiving no book unless well authenticated.^ 
 
 DATE AND PLACE OF WETTING. 
 
 The date of the writing of this Epistle is mixed up with the 
 ascertainment of the place in which it was written. It was written 
 during the time when St. Paul was a prisoner. Now he was in 
 custody, more or less strict, from the time he was put in bonds by 
 the chief captain (Acts xxi. 33), about 58 or 59, to his release, after 
 his imprisonment in Eome, about a.d. 63. His confinement, when 
 he was at Csesarea, seems to have been by no means strict. It is 
 described in Acts xxiv. 23 : " He commanded a centurion to keep 
 Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of 
 his acquaintance to minister or come to him ; " but when at Eome 
 he was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him 
 (xxviii. 16). To this soldier he was chained, one end of a chain 
 
 ' De Wette's allegations against the genuineness of t\jis epistle because of its language 
 and ideas being different from that of St. Paul's, are well handled in Dean Alford's "Pro- 
 legomena," of which I beg leave to give the following outline, " It is either a genuine 
 production of the Apostle or a forgery. If a forgery, a most successful one, for it has 
 imposed on the sub-apostolic age; and on the Church ever since. We have then a right 
 to expect in it the pheenomena of successful forgeri/ : close imitation, skilful avoidance of 
 aught which might seem unlike him whose name it bears, and avoidance of eveiything 
 unpauline. But the whole of De Wette's reasoning assumes the exact opposite of what a 
 forger would do. The Epistle is to him unpauline both in diction and ideas. Now this 
 might be a good reason for believing an anonj/mous writing not to be St. Pauls, but it is 
 no reason why a forgery bearing his name should have been successful. On the contrary, 
 its unpauline diction and ideas would have caused it to be immediately detected, not only 
 in Ephesus, where he had so long laboured, but by all the readers of his other epistles 
 when they were collected and in the hands of the Church generally." 
 
136 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 being fastened to his wrist, and the other to the soldier's. To this 
 he alludes in Acts xxviii. 20. But during the time he was in Eome 
 — at least, the greater part of it — he had more liberty to preach 
 than what he had in Caesarea, for there, on account of the enmity 
 of the Jews, only his acquaintances, i.e., personal friends, were per- 
 mitted to visit him, whereas in Eome he " preached the kingdom 
 of God, and taught those things which concern the Lord Jesus," 
 most probably in a large room in his own hired house. 
 
 Now this latter fact makes it exceedingly probable, if not abso- 
 lutely certain, that he wrote the Epistle from Eome ; for, in vi. 19, 
 he asks the Ephesians to pray for him, *' that utterance may be given 
 unto him, that he may open his mouth boldly to make known the 
 mystery of the Gospel, for which he was an ambassador in bonds." 
 He could not have asked their prayers for this when only personal 
 friends were allowed to see him ; but he could when he was in a 
 place where all could come unto him, and he could preach the 
 kingdom of God to all. 
 
 This seems to me to put out of the question any writing from 
 Caesarea. But another and also powerful argument is, that assuming, 
 as in fact is certain, that the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colos- 
 sians were written at the same time, he had about him his chief 
 companions, Tychicus, Aristarchus, Marcus, Zenas, Epaphras, Luke, 
 and Demas. Now it is exceedingly improbable that these were 
 with him in Caesarea, though Lucas joined him as he embarked, 
 and Aristarchus also was in the ship. And in the Epistle to 
 Philemon, four of these are described as his fellow-labourers — a 
 name which could hardly be given to them when he himself was 
 shut up from labouring as he was able to do in Eome. 
 
 Another argument for assigning Eome to be the place is that 
 Onesimus is sent with Tychicus, when he bore the Epistle to the 
 Colossians to Colosse. Now he carried at the same time St. Paul's 
 letter to his master, Philemon, in which St. Paul desires Philemon 
 to prepare him a lodging, as he trusted that through his prayers he 
 should be given to him. He could not possibly have written this 
 from Caesarea, as he had then before him his imprisonment in 
 Eome, as his Lord Himself had assured him (Acts xxiii. 11). 
 
 There can be no doubt, then, that the Epistle was written during 
 his imprisonment at Eome, that is, between a.d. 60 and 63 ; but at 
 what time during those two or three years is uncertain. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 137 
 
 TO WHAT CHURCH WAS THE EPISTLE WRITTEN? 
 
 This question need not have been raised, except for the omission 
 of "in Ephesus," found in two Uncial MSS., and one Cursive, and 
 the fact that some fathers — Basil and Origen — consulted MSS. in 
 which the words, " in Ephesus " were not to be found. 
 
 If the Epistle was addressed to any one Church, it must have been 
 to that of Ephesus ; but the omission of the words is taken as signi- 
 fying that the Epistle was encyclical, and that in some manuscripts, 
 copied immediately after the reception of the Epistle, the words 
 IV 'E0e(T^ were omitted, and a blank space left to be filled up by the 
 name of the Church to which the copy was forwarded. 
 
 We will notice a few points in the contents of the Epistle, which 
 seem to some to indicate that this was the fact. 
 
 Chap. i. 15 has been supposed to imply that he had only heard of 
 their conversion by hearsay, or he would hardly have written, " I 
 also, after I heard of your faith .... and love; " but the Apostle 
 here cannot be thought to allude to their conversion, but to their 
 continuance in faith and love. 
 
 The Apostle having been in confinement for three years or more 
 before he wrote this, could have only heard of the faith and love of 
 the Ephesians through report ; and it seems as if he could not have 
 written this of the Churches of a large district, but only of one 
 Church, and that the principal one, in which he had personally 
 laboured so long. 
 
 2. Then it is said that in this Epistle there are no salutations at 
 the end, which it is assumed there would have been if it was written 
 to a Church in which he must have known so many. But the use 
 of such an argument is to me surprising, for of the nine letters of 
 the Apostle written to Churches, no less than six or, in fact, seven 
 are without salutations. There are none in the two Epistles to the 
 Corinthians; none in that to the Galatians; none in the two to the 
 Thessalonians ; none in this ; and though two or three names are 
 mentioned in the last chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, no 
 salutations are sent to particular persons ; so that, if we may judge 
 by his letters that are extant, it was not the Apostle's rule to send 
 particular greetings ; and, if it be urged that he had laboured long 
 among them, and must have had many to whom he was personally 
 attached, we reply that exactly the same thing was true of the 
 
138 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Corinthian, Galatian, and Thessalonian Churclies, to whom no 
 particular salutations are sent. Besides this, the very great number 
 of persons who had had the privilege of his personal ministrations 
 (Acts XX. 20, 31) would probably prevent him singhng out particular 
 persons ; and if we add that Tychicus, who brought the letter to 
 them, had a special order to declare to them personal matters 
 relating to himself (vi. 21), it is most probable that he sent special 
 salutations through him by word of mouth. 
 
 Upon the whole, giving the most ample significance to the difference 
 of reading (the omission of tv 'E(pea({j), the fact seems to have been 
 that he undoubtedly sent the original letter to the Ephesian Church, 
 inscribed to "the saints which are in Ephesus," but that he gave 
 directions that copies should be sent to the churches in the neigh- 
 bourhood; and that from these copies the words, "in Ephesus," 
 were omitted, as supposed to be unsuitable, and from some of these 
 copies the omission in the MSS., ^< and B., and in the copies men- 
 tioned by Basil, had its origin. It seems extremely improbable 
 that he would send a letter with so many personal references in it 
 without an inscription, and yet containing the participle toIq ovmv 
 ("which are"), which seems to demand the name of a place, which 
 place could be originally no other than Ephesus. 
 
 Another question before we conclude. The Colossi an Christians 
 are directed to send the Epistle which St. Paul wrote to them to- 
 the Laodiceans, and to receive in return, and read, some letter 
 from Laodicea. This could not possibly be a letter written by the 
 Laodicean Church, but must have been some letter of St. Paul's. 
 Was it, then, some letter which has been lost; or was it this 
 Epistle to the Ephesians which had been sent to the Laodicean 
 Church ? I believe the latter ; Laodicea was comparatively near 
 to Colosse, and both at a considerable distance from Ephesus. It 
 was natural, then, that if a copy of the Ephesian Epistle had been 
 sent to Laodicea by St. Paul's direction, that he should order the 
 Colossians to send for it, and send their's to Laodicea. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 139 
 
 FOE WHAT PUEPOSE WAS IT WEITTEN? 
 
 The more carefully we read the Epistle, the more plain it seems 
 that St. Paul had one object in writing it, and that was to set forth 
 the truth that the Church was " one body in Christ." 
 
 The Unity of the Church is not Unity in doctrine only, or Unity 
 in sentiment, or Unity in organization, or Unity in hope, or in love, 
 or in profession, but Unity in Christ as the Mystical Body of which 
 He is the Head. It may be said that the Epistle was written to set 
 forth the mystery contained in the two words, " in Christ." The 
 election, the predestination, the forgiveness, the exaltation, the 
 sealing, the vivifying, the new creating, the bringing near, the 
 union of the two divisions of mankind, the reconciling of all to 
 God, the building of the spiritual temple, are all "m Christ." 
 In Him is the calling, in Him is the Unity of Spirit, faith. Bap- 
 tism. In Him are the gifts of the ministry : He is the Head from 
 which the whole body maketh increase. In Him they have been 
 taught ; Him they have to be clothed with. Because in Him they 
 are members one of another, they have to put away lying. They 
 have to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another 
 even as God in Christ had forgiven them. 
 
 In the latter part of the fifth chapter, even the home duties of 
 famihes are based upon the relation of Christians to Christ, as 
 members of His Body ; wives are to be subject to their husbands 
 because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the Head 
 of the Chui-ch, and the Saviour of the Body — that is, the mystical 
 Body. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, 
 Who gave Himself for her that He might sanctify her, and cleanse 
 her in Baptism. And, lastly, the original mystery of marriage : 
 the wife being taken out of the flesh of the husband, is appealed to, 
 as illustrating the union of Christ with His Church. 
 
 Such is the teaching of the Epistle. All is founded upon being 
 in Christ, as if it was the Apostle's one idea ; and, as he treats it, 
 it is worthy of being such, for under it is comprehended all our 
 relations to God, and all our relations to our brethren. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ *by the ^|,^°^-3-^- 
 will of God, ^ to the saints which are at 2 Cor. i. i. 
 
 1. " Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." " By 
 the will of God." This has not the same signification as the " not 
 of men, neither by man," of Galatians, i. 1. He had no need in 
 writing this Epistle to assert his unique and independent Apostle- 
 ship. It seems rather to mean that, notwithstanding his early life 
 and his attachment to an obsolete system, God chose him to be an 
 Apostle. 
 
 "To the saints which are at Ephesus." It is very difificult 
 in this our day to realize that " saints " here means Christians ; 
 not Christians indeed, or true Christians only, but simply bap- 
 tized professing Christians. Our hesitation about this arises 
 from the disbeUef so widely spread amongst us in this day that 
 Baptism is a holy rite, ordained by God to admit us into a holy 
 fellowship — the mystical Body of Christ. And yet we must make 
 every excuse for those who, because of the lives of the great body of 
 the baptized, have this difficulty. It was felt as early as the time 
 of Chrysostom, who writes, " Observe whom he calls saints, men 
 with wives, and children, and domestics. For that these are they 
 whom he calls by this name is plain from the end of the Epistle, 
 as, e.g., when he says, ' Wives, submit yourselves to your own 
 husbands.' And again, ' Children, obey your parents,' and, ' ser- 
 vants, be obedient to your masters.' Think how great is the indo- 
 lence that now possesses us, how rare is anything like virtue, how 
 great the abundance of virtuous men must there have been, when 
 even secular men could be called saints and faithful." 
 
 " Saints " means persons dedicated to God. In the reHgion of 
 St. Paul's youth, the religion of Moses, and Joshua, and Samuel, 
 
142 THE FAITHFUL. [Ephesians. 
 
 e 1 cor.iv.i7. EpliesTis, ^ and to the faithful in Christ Jesus : 
 
 ch. vi. 21. 
 
 Col. i. 2. 2 ^ G-race he to you, and peace, from God our 
 
 Tit.*i.*4! Father, a.nd from the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 1. "At Ephesas." So A., D., E., F., G., K., L., P., all Cursives hut one (67**), 
 Ital., Vulg. ; but omitted by X, B., and apparently not read by Orifjen. There is a long 
 note on the reading in Westcott and Hort's " New Testament in Greek," vol. ii. p. 123. 
 The readings from the Fathers are given more folly in Tischendorf, eighth edition. 
 
 and David (which was his religion to the end, though regene- 
 rated and spiritualized,) priests and temples and vessels even were 
 sanctified, and so the Christians to whom he writes were sanctified 
 to be priests of God, temples of the Holy Ghost, vessels made to 
 honour. Nothing, we should think (if we did not know the per- 
 versity of human nature), would be more Hkely to bring men to 
 their senses in spiritual matters than the thought that they are in 
 any sense dedicated to God. 
 
 '* At Ephesus." For the doubt which some have cast on the reality 
 of these words, see Introduction. 
 
 "And to the faithful in Christ Jesus." Faithful here means 
 believers — beUevers in what afterwards was called the Catholic 
 Faith — the truth revealed by God respecting His Son as the 
 Eternal Word, His own Son, made man, crucified, risen, and 
 ascended. (Eom. i. 1-3 ; 1 Corinth, xv. 1-10 : Phil. ii. 5-10 ; 1 
 Tim. iii. 16.) The word also signifies at times faithful to the belief 
 professed, but it cannot mean so in this place, for in many places of 
 this very Epistle St. Paul assumes that some to whom he writes 
 might not be thus faithful, for he warns them against lying, un- 
 cleanness, fornication, and such like sins. 
 
 " In Christ Jesus." In Him in that unspeakably mysterious way 
 which the Lord first alludes to in John vi. 56, " He that eateth my 
 Flesh and drinketh my Blood, dwelleth in me and I in him ; " and 
 again in the same Gospel, ch. xv. 1-6, in the parable of the Vine and 
 the branches. 
 
 2. " Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from 
 the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace, i.e., kindness and favour, not merely 
 in the breast of God, but proceeding from Him to us in the shape of 
 spiritual life and power to crucify sin and love Him. 
 
 "And peace." Peace not only with Him, but with one another, 
 for discord and quarrelling and divisions separate us from God, and 
 prevent us from realizing His peace within us. 
 
 " From God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." This 
 
Chap. I.] HE HATH CHOSEN US. 143 
 
 3 Blessed ^he the G-od and Father of our Lord ! 2 Cor. i. 3. 
 
 1 Pet. 1, 3. 
 
 Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiri- 11 Ot, things, 
 tual blessings in heavenly || places in Christ : t Rom, viii. 
 
 4 According as ^he hath chosen us in him \t'iz.'^2Tim. 
 
 i. 9. Jam. ii, 
 
 5. 1 Pet. i. 2. 
 
 & ii. 9. 
 
 is one of those many places which by implication assert the God- 
 head of the Son as distinctly as if He was in them called God. Who 
 is this Jesus Christ ? He is One at the side of God, so as to be along 
 with His Father the fountain of grace. 
 
 3. " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.'* 
 " I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and 
 your God." 
 
 " Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly 
 places in Christ." Bather " who blessed us." This seems to inti- 
 mate a particular time when God thus blessed us in Christ, and 
 no doubt if we give due attention to the latter verses of this chapter* 
 we shall acknowledge that this time was that of the exaltation 
 of Christ ; for the Apostle says, " What is the exceeding greatness of 
 his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his 
 mighty power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him 
 from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly 
 places." 
 
 "In heavenly places " — "In the heavenlies." Some take this 
 as supra-local, as in the bosom of Deity, but if we take into full 
 account in " Christ Jesus," as in a living Divine Mediator, is it not 
 parallel to '* your life is hid with Christ in God," " Ye are complete 
 in Him who is the head of all principality and power " (Col. ii. 
 10, iii. 3.) ? 
 
 4, 5. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation 
 of the world . . . having predestinated us," &c. We now come to some 
 statements of the Apostle in which he employs predestinarian lan- 
 guage, and that, no doubt, as the expression of predestinarian ideas. 
 
 Now the question arises, why did he employ this language in 
 writing to the Ephesian Christians, or how came he to entertain 
 the ideas which these predestinarian terms embody ? Was the doc- 
 trine of predestination peculiar to him, or indeed was it his spe- 
 ciality ? There are many Christian interpreters who seem to think 
 that it was, but the mistake is surprising, for our Lord expresses 
 the whole truth in very absolute terms in John, xv. 16, " Ye have 
 
144 THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. [Ephesians. 
 
 g 1 Pet. i. 2, e "before the foundation of the world, that we 
 
 not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye 
 should bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain ; " and St. 
 Peter commences his Epistle with precisely the same predestinarian 
 terms as St. Paul does (1 Pet. i. 2, &c.). 
 
 St. Paul uses this predestinarian language and entertained these 
 ideas because he was a Jew, and thoroughly believed in the Old 
 Testament as the expression of the will and purposes of God. If it 
 be further asked, why does he use this language in writing to Gen- 
 tiles, we answer, it was because by far the greater part of the Scrip- 
 tures of his Gentile converts consisted of the Book of the Old Testa- 
 ment. Every Epistle seems to take for granted that the Book of 
 the Old Covenant was in the hands of the members of the Church. 
 In all probabiUty the Ephesian converts had only one of the four 
 Gospels — that according to St. Luke. It was very doubtful whether 
 any of the Epistles of the Apostle to local churches, such as those to 
 the Eomans, Corinthians, and Galatians, had been transcribed and 
 circulated among the churches generally. The Gospels and Epistles 
 of St. John and the Apocalypse were not yet written, so that the 
 Ephesian converts were thrown back mainly on the Old Testament 
 for their spiritual edification. 
 
 Now we scarcely realize how completely the Old Testament is a 
 Predestinarian Book. The key-note is struck in Deut. vii. 6, 
 *' Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God : the Lord thy 
 God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above 
 all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set 
 his love upon you, nor chose you because ye were more in number 
 .... &c. But because the Lord loved you, and because he would 
 keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers." 
 
 Now the whole of the Old Testament, with perhaps the exception 
 of the book of Job, proceeds on these hues. The history is that of 
 no common nation, but of a chosen people. Their very reverses 
 are the chastisements of a nation whom God had chosen to be His 
 peculiar people. Their national songs are those of an elect race. 
 Their prophets are sent, not to preach to the heathen, but to bring 
 back to God those whom He claimed as His own. The most im- 
 portant prophet begins his prophecy with, " I have nourished and 
 brought up children and they have rebelled against me." (Isaiah i. 
 2.) And the last prophet opens with, " I have loved you, saith the 
 
Chap. I.] HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME. 145 
 
 should ''be holy and without blame before him in ''i.^".^®,^ P- 
 
 •' ch. 11. 10. & 
 
 love: "*'-27- foi. i. 
 
 22. IThes. 
 
 iv. 7. Tit. ii. 
 12. 
 
 4. "Withont blame ;" without blemish, a sacrificial term. See Levit. i. 3. 
 
 Lord, Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us ? Was not Esau Jacob's 
 brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and 
 laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the 
 wilderness." (Mai. i. 1-3.) Again, all through the Psalms and the 
 Prophets it is "Jacob my chosen," " Israel mine elect." 
 
 Now this, with the exception of one Gospel and perhaps an 
 Epistle or two, was the Bible of the Apostohc Christians. The book 
 of God's promises seemed to witness to these Gentiles their own ex- 
 clusion. All through it the children of Abraham were the chosen, 
 the beloved, the children, whereas the Gentiles (and amongst 
 them, of course, those of Ephesus,) the unchosen, the unloved, the 
 strangers. How was this to be met ? It is very remarkable how St. 
 Paul in this chapter meets it. He puts from himself all the tokens of 
 God's election on which, before his conversion, he had relied : his 
 descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and from Benjamin, his 
 circumcision, his Ultra Judaism, his blamelcjsness in the matter of 
 the law. Whatever gain these might have been he counts them but 
 loss ; and he fixes the hopes of his own election and of those of his 
 countrymen who believed, on the fact that God had given him to 
 believe in the Seed to Whom, in reality, He had made the promises 
 (Gal. iii. 16-29). And this goodwill of God towards him was no 
 matter of yesterday. It was settled by God before the foundation 
 of the world, and its purpose was that he and his countrymen, co- 
 believers with him, should be *' holy and without blame before him 
 in love." So that he pronounces his own election, and those of his 
 converts, to be the same — an election not in Abraham as the fore- 
 father of the chosen race, but in Christ, in Whom all the families of 
 the earth should be blessed — in Christ, in Whom there is neither Jew 
 nor Greek, but He is all and in all. Now let the reader remember 
 that the Apostle could not say anything higher, anything more en- 
 dearing than this. The terms in which God sets forth His love to 
 His people are not addressed to individuals, but to the elect body. 
 ** The Lord hath chosen Zion to be an habitation for himself, he 
 hath longed for her. This shall be my rest for ever, here will 
 I dweU, for I have a delight therein." (Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14.) 
 
 L 
 
146 ELECTION. [EiMiESiANS. 
 
 So that, in these predestinarian words, the Apostle says to the 
 Ephesians : * You are partakers on equal terms with me in the 
 highest blessings which a creature can receive. God hath chosen 
 me to be an instrument of His greatest purposes ; to this end He 
 hath called me put of the mass of my countrymen to believe in His 
 Son, and He hath called you out of the unbelieving mass of your 
 countrymen to believe in the same Son. "We are both chosen in 
 Christ. And this was no afterthought on God's part. It was no 
 outcome of present circumstances, conceived yesterday and annulled 
 to-morrow. It was settled by Him from the first. " Known unto 
 God are all his works from the beginning of the world " (Acts xv. 
 18). Just as He pre-ordained the coming of His Son, so He pre- 
 ordained in Him His Church ; and if He has made His word to 
 come efifectually to you, He has pre-ordained you to be in that 
 Church, and so to be instruments of His purposes.' 
 
 Now, if the Calvinist says, This does not suit me, I must have 
 something more absolute, something more philosophical, some- 
 thing more independent of Old Testament ideas of nation and 
 Church than this : then we retort, You must go to someone besides 
 St. Paul for it, for he earnestly desires to connect the i)resent with 
 the past. But if you will have something more abstract, you have 
 it in St. Paul's words : *' Who maketh thee to differ from another, 
 and what hast thou that tliDU didst not receive ? Now if thou 
 •didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received 
 it (but didst endow thyself with it) ? " Now this is the great 
 general truth, that all creatures are what they are through the will 
 of God, and that this will is not a thing of to-day or yesterday, but 
 v^ras distinctly in the mind of God during past ages. Such must 
 be the truth of things if God has not left all things to chance, 
 but has a plan foreseen and pre-ordained which will make known 
 to the universe the wisdom and goodness of His purposes (ch. iii. 
 9, 10). 
 
 Such is the Election set forth in this Epistle. I have not brought 
 out the other side of it — that we have to respond to all this, to 
 justify God's goodness, to continue in the Vine of His grace (John 
 XV. 1-10 ; Eom. xi. 17-22), and such things. "We shall have abun- 
 dant opportunities for this as we go on. 
 
 •' That we should be holy and without blame before him in love." 
 This is the safeguard of this holy truth. "We are not chosen to 
 faith only, that we should be merely believers, but " that we should 
 
Chap. I.] HAVING PREDESTINATED US. 147 
 
 5 ' Having predestinated us unto ^the adoption 3o^°™;7'i{^^' 
 
 k John i. 12. 
 Rom. viii. 15 
 
 2 Cor. vi. 18. 
 
 Gal. iv. .5. 
 1 John iii. 1. 
 
 be holy and without blame before him in love." Chr3^sostom's 
 remarks are exceedingly good : " That you may not imagine then, 
 when you hear that He hath chosen us, that faith alone is suffi- 
 cient, he proceeds to add life and conduct. To this end, saith he, 
 hath He chosen us, and on this condition, ihat v^e should he Jioly, 
 and ivitliout hlame. And so, formerly. He chose the Jews. On 
 what terms? This nation, saith he, hath He chosen from the 
 rest of the nations. Now if men in their choices choose what is 
 best, much more doth God. And, indeed, the fact oi their being 
 chosen is at once a token of the loving kindness of God, and of 
 their moral goodness. For, doubtless. He chose them as approved. 
 He hath Himself rendered us holy, but then we must continue 
 holy. A holy man is he who is a partaker of faith ; a blameless 
 man is he who leads an irreproachable life. It is not, however, 
 simply holiness and irreproachableness that He requires, but that 
 we should appear such before Him. For there are holy and 
 blameless characters, who yet are esteemed as such only by men 
 — those who are like whited sepulchres, and like such as wear 
 sheep's clothing. It is not such, however, He requires, but such 
 as the prophet speaks of : ' And according to the cleanness of my 
 hands.' "What cleanness ? That which is so in His eyesicjlit. He 
 requires that holiness on which the eye of God may look." If it be 
 answered that God requires absolute holiness and blamelessness, 
 we answer, No. He does not require that which is impossible as 
 long as our flesh is unrenewed. He requires simplicity and godly 
 sincerity. He requires carefulness, watchfulness, and humiUty. 
 
 "In love." Some take this "in love" with the next verse, 
 ■" Having in his love predestinated us " ; but such was the stress 
 which St. Paul laid on love as the Christian grace, that the great 
 probability is he would associate it with hoUness and blameless- 
 ness — holiness of character, blamelessness of conduct, and love as 
 the firstfruit of the Spirit, without which no other grace was 
 acceptable (1 Corinth, xiii.). 
 
 5. " Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by 
 Christ Jesus," &c. This is an amplification of the preceding. He 
 chose us, having predestinated us. The choosing and the pre- 
 
148 THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN. [Epbesians. 
 
 1 Mat. xi. 26. of children by Jesus Christ to himself, ^ according 
 1 Cor. i. 21.' to the good pleasure of his will, 
 
 ver. 9. 
 
 destinating are, in the Divine Mind, independent of time ; all is 
 one act in God. Is there any difference in the ideas of election 
 and predestination ? Yes. Election is choosing out of a number, 
 whereas predestination is God's determining long beforehand to 
 do this. 
 
 "To the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself." "The 
 adoption of children " or " of sons " is, in the Greek, comprehended 
 in the one word vioQioia. To this adoption we are predestinated, not 
 in Adam, not in Abraham, but in Christ — through believing in 
 Him and being made members of His Mystical Body. All men 
 are naturally children of God in Adam. "We are also his off- 
 spring " (Acts xvii. 28) ; and in Malachi ii. 10: "Have we not all 
 one Father, hath not one God created us ? " also Luke iii. 38 : 
 The circumcised seed of Abraham partook also of a lower adop- 
 tion : thus God says, " Israel is my son, my firstborn." And God 
 says in Isaiah i. 2 : "I have nourished and brought up children, 
 and they have rebelled against me." 
 
 But the adoption under the Christian dispensation was far be- 
 yond this. " As many as received him, to them gave he right to 
 become the sons of God." This Sonship was by " a new birth of 
 water and of the Spirit." It was the being in Christ as branches 
 of the true Vine (John xv. 1-10), branches of the Divine OHve Tree 
 (Eom. si. 17), members of the Mystical Body. 
 
 Two or three questions arise respecting this. Is it connected 
 with Baptism ? We answer, it cannot ordinarily be dissociated 
 from it, for our Lord Himself has joined water with the Spirit as 
 co-efficients, in bringing us into the Kingdom of God, and our Apostle 
 says: " By his mercy he saved us by the bath of New Birth and 
 renewing of the Holy Ghost " (Titus iii. 5). 
 
 There is no difficulty about believing this if we can apprehend that 
 Christ is a Divine Person, Who has instituted a Divine System, 
 and is omnipresent to make every sacramental act as effectual in 
 the last age as in the first. 
 
 Secondly, does this Adoption belong to Infants? Our Lord's 
 words and acts respecting them oblige us to believe that it does, 
 and there is no difficulty in it if we believe that Christ is the 
 Second Adam, and that human beings, are grafted into Him in 
 
Chap. L] ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED. 149 
 
 6 To the praise of tlie glory of liis grace, ™ wherein he 
 hath made us accepted in ° the beloved. ^ ^°^- "*• 24- 
 
 7 ° In whom we have redemption through his "» Mat. iii. 17. 
 
 John iii. 35. 
 
 & X. 17. 
 
 o Acts XX. 28. 
 6. "Wherein." So D., E., G., K., L., most Cursives, d, e, f, g, CoM "l4 ^*' 
 Vnlg., Goth., &c. ; but N, A., B., P., some Cursives, &c., read, "where- Heb. ix. 12. 
 wth he endued us." So Revisers. 1 Pet. i. 18, 
 
 19. Rev. V. 9, 
 
 order to receive a benefit corresponding to the injury they have 
 received from the first Adam. It seems in accordance with the 
 goodness of God that He should ordain that the system of His Son 
 should be as comprehensive in transmitting good as the system of 
 evil which it was introduced to counteract and destroy is in trans- 
 mitting sin. 
 
 " By Christ Jesus." Christ is the channel or instrument through 
 Whom we receive all spiritual good things. 
 
 " According to the good pleasure of his will." What he means 
 to say, then, is this : God earnestly aims at, earnestly desires, our 
 Salvation. Wherefore, then, is it that He so loveth us, whence 
 liath He such affection ? It is of His goodness alone. For grace 
 itself is the fruit of goodness. 
 
 6. " To the praise of the glory of his grace," &c. Here grace is 
 tacitly opposed to nature. If man had continued in his original 
 innocence then there would have been abundant glory to God from 
 the natural order of things, but to remedy the fall grace was re- 
 quired, and now the glory of the new state of things in Christ, 
 is glory to Grace — i.e., to that which is infinitely above nature — to 
 the kindness and love which brought about the Incarnation, and 
 to the diffusion of the Nature of the Son of God consequent upon 
 that Incarnation. 
 
 " Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." " Made 
 us accepted," or " bestowed grace upon us." The same word as in 
 Luke i. 28 : " Hail, thou that art highly favoured," or *' replenished 
 to the full with grace." 
 
 "In the beloved," i.e., not in our state of nature, but in our 
 Evangelical state, as incorporated into Christ. 
 
 7. " In whom we have redemption through his blood, the for- 
 giveness of sins," &c. We must ask the same question respecting 
 the use of these terms of atonement by the Apostle as we did re- 
 
150 THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE. [Ephesians. 
 
 P Rom. ii 4. blood, the f ors^iveness of sins, according to ^ the 
 
 & 111, 24. & IX. *^ '=' 
 
 23. ch. ii. 7. riches of his grace ; 
 
 & ill. 8, 16. * ' 
 
 Phil. iv. 19. 
 
 specting the use of predestinarian terms. Why did St. Paul write 
 " In whom we have redemption through his Blood, the forgiveness 
 of sins " ? We answer, Because he was a Jew, and had from 
 his earliest youth been educated in the idea that atonement de- 
 pended upon the Jewish Sacrificial system ; and now, taught by 
 the Spirit of God, he centred all atonement in the One Sacrifice, 
 respecting which the prophet spake, " All we like sheep have gone 
 astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord 
 hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." All the propitiatory 
 expressions of the New Testament (at least the principal ones) are 
 derived from the Old Testament. It pleased Almighty God in 
 preparing a people for the reception and dissemination of the final 
 truth to give them a form of worship which could not be given to 
 unfallen creatures, but was eminently suited for fallen ones. The 
 ideas underlying this service were : first, confession that the offerer 
 deserved death, and required atonement ; and secondly, that he must 
 surrender himself in the victim or substitute which God ordered. 
 This is all comprehended in the account of the first sacrifice or- 
 dained in the book of Leviticus i. 1-4 : " He shall put his hand on 
 the head of the burnt-ofi'ering, and it shall be accepted for him to 
 make atonement for him." 
 
 This mode of worship being ordained by God, was no doubt in 
 the wisdom of God the best way for preparing His chosen people, 
 and, through them, mankind, to receive the way of access to God 
 through the Blood of the Eternal Son. What the blood of the par- 
 ticular victim did for the particular Israelite, that the Sacrifice of 
 the Son of God did for all mankind, and was efficacious for each 
 man who would claim his part in it. 
 
 I may, and with reason, be expected to say something respecting 
 the mystery of the Atonement. The mystery never, of course, can 
 be cleared up, because it is a purely Divine Mystery, for it concerns 
 a transaction between two Persons in the Ever-Blessed Trinity ; 
 but much of the difficulty may be cleared away if we dismiss from 
 our minds the idea that the Atonement is forensic, i.e., that a judge 
 sitting to administer justice accepts the punishment of an innocent 
 person instead of that of a guilty one. This is not the idea, but thd 
 
Chap. L] ATONEMENT. 151 
 
 underlying thought is the acceptance of an act of worship, i.e., a 
 sacrifice. Christ in the matter of His atonement does what we in 
 our way constantly do, He sacrifices Himself for others, for His 
 Church, for the race. The mystery is not in the act, but in His 
 being able to do the act, to gather up and represent in His own 
 Person all mankind. Now the explanation of this is the mystery 
 of His Person, that He was God and man, of a reasonable soul and 
 human flesh. God brought about at the first that all mankind 
 should be both naturally and federally in one man — Adam. He 
 might have done otherwise : He might not have willed the unity of 
 the race, but brought into being many heads ; but He willed that 
 they should be one, and so under one head, in order that He might, 
 if He chose, deal with them as one. This one fell (as in Adam all 
 die), and there seemed to be no hope, for where was it to come from? 
 
 Now God in His Eternal counsels had provided for this. He 
 permitted His Son to come amongst the race personally as a 
 member of its best and choicest family. He permitted that Son to 
 live under all the sinless conditions of our fallen human nature, 
 and in the strait path of duty — because He would assert the truth — 
 to expose Himself to the extremest hatred and malice of wicked 
 men and to die a fearfully painful and shameful death. 
 
 Now such an One so coming amongst us, so living, so suffering, 
 could not but be the Head of the race. If there could be an Adam. 
 He must be that Adam — the first Adam must surrender his place to 
 Him. If the race could be dealt with as one, it must be dealt with 
 through Him — if the race could be represented, it must be by Him. 
 All this, if the Incarnation be true, must be so. If the very Son of 
 God came into the race. He could not come to be a nobody. What 
 could He be ? He could be nothing but the Man, the Adam, the 
 Seed, the Heir, the Head, the First-Bom, for He was the God-man. 
 And so He offered Himself, not so much in the way of worship, 
 though every act of His was worship, but of devotion — He devoted 
 Himself to His Father so far as not to avoid death for the honour 
 of His Father's character. His true religion and worship. He had to 
 assert the truth respecting His Father, and respecting Himself as the 
 unique Son of that Father. He had to assert the truth respecting 
 religion that it was dishonoured in the persons of those who most 
 ostentatiously professed it. He had to assert the truth respecting 
 the most honoured traditions of His country that they made void 
 the law ; respecting the Sabbath, that it was made for man and not 
 
152 ATONEMENT. [Ephesiaks. 
 
 man for it ; respecting Jerusalem, the city of the great king, that it 
 would cease to be the home of God's worship. For thus swerving 
 not a hair's breadth from the path of duty in witnessing to the 
 truth — for this He was crucified. All other acts of devotion paled 
 before this, as well they might, and this His one crowning act 
 became, as we might well believe, the Sacrifice through which 
 God might accept the world. 
 
 One question more. Is there any imputation in this His Sa- 
 crifice ? There is, if we can rightly apprehend it. But it is not an 
 unreal forensic imputation, but we may say almost a natural one, 
 if Christ be the actual Head of Mankind ; for the idea of imputation 
 is very common amongst us. The disgrace of a foul deed, or the 
 honour of a good deed attaches to a whole family. A man takes 
 the son of a very valued friend into his employment, he fails in his 
 duty and his employer says to him, I might reasonably dismiss you, 
 but for the sake of your father, whom I warmly loved, I will not 
 do so. Now this acceptance " for the sake of," which we so con- 
 stantly act upon in our intercourse with one another, God acts 
 upon in His intercourse with us. It seems to me the best word 
 to describe the Divine reality. Under it may be comprehended 
 all the sacrificial terms. The Death of the Son of God was the 
 most real of all sacrifices. The virtue of all other sacrifices put to- 
 gether cannot be named beside it, and so the Apostle says, " In whom 
 we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins." 
 
 "According to the riches of his grace." The grace or good will 
 is on the part of God the Father, Who in the counsels of the ever- 
 blessed Trinity gave His Son, and the Son in obedience to Him 
 consented to become the Head of the fallen race. This " riches of 
 grace " is incompatible with the forensic explanation of the atone- 
 ment ; for there is no particular kindness or good will in accepting 
 an exact equivalent, but there is grace in accepting a sacrifice from 
 which in all its stages all idea of mere payment is excluded, and 
 which in all its stages is based on self-surrender, self-devotion, self- 
 sacrifice and filial obedience. 
 
 Again, much of the grace and mystery of atonement is wrapped 
 up in the words, " Therefore doth my Father love me, because I 
 lay down my life, that I might take it again " (John x. 17). He 
 laid down His life as an Atonement, that He might resume it again 
 as an Intercessor, and continue to ofi'er to His Father His people 
 in Himself. The Atonement is not to be contemplated apart from 
 
Cn-u>.I.] IN ALL WISDOM AND PRUDENCE. 153 
 
 8 Wherein lie hath abounded toward us in all wisdom 
 and prudence ; 
 
 9 ^ Having made known unto us the mystery ^^^^J^- j-'j^^ 
 
 9. Col. i. 26. 
 
 the Resurrection and Ascension and perpetual Intercession, as they 
 are not to be contemplated apart from it. 
 
 8. " Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and 
 prudence." This " wisdom and prudence " may be either the 
 wisdom and prudence with which God acts in the matter of atone- 
 ment and forgiveness, or it may be the wisdom and prudence which 
 He infuses into us. I cannot but think that, taking the context 
 into account, it is the former. The mode of atonement or forgive- 
 ness which God has instituted magnifies not only His grace, but 
 His wisdom and prudence, which latter may be described as wisdom 
 in action. It is an atonement dependent upon the most costly of 
 conceivable sacrifices. Its application to each sinner depends upon 
 his repentance and his belief in the Son of God, Who offered the 
 Sacrifice. It is complete in its remission of past sin and complete 
 in its grace against future sin. It enables God to pardon readily, 
 and yet not for a moment to be thought indifferent to sin. In fact, 
 the wisdom in planning and pre-ordaining it, and the prudence in 
 carrying it out, exceed all thought. 
 
 If, however, it means the wisdom and prudence infused into us, 
 then our minds revert to the spirit of wisdom and counsel with 
 which the Messiah was anointed that He might bestow it upon us. 
 
 The true Christian is the wisest of men, inasmuch as, taught by 
 the wisdom of God, he understands the things of God so far as they 
 can be apprehended by man in flesh and blood, and the most pru- 
 dent of men, because his prudence does not only take into account 
 the few years of his existence here, but the judgment which he will 
 have to undergo, and the eternal ages in which he must live in 
 heaven or in hell. 
 
 9. " Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, accord- 
 ing to his good pleasure which," &c. This mystery of God's will 
 is again touched upon in Ephes. iii. 5, 6, and to our examination of 
 this latter place we shall reserve our fuller consideration of this. 
 The mystery is made known, but it still remains a mystery — that 
 is, we know by revelation that it is, but not how it is — it yet 
 remains one of the most inscrutable things of God, but in this 
 
154 THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL. [Ephesians. 
 
 «■ eh. iii. 11. of hls wiU, according to liis good pleasure *" which 
 
 s Gal, iv. 4. he hath purposed in himself : 
 ix!'ia' "i Pet. 10 That in the dispensation of ^ the fulness of 
 
 t f Cor iii times ' he might gather together in one " all things 
 
 ?' ch ti ""lb ^^ Christ, both which are in f heaven, and which 
 
 & iii. 15. are on earth ; eve7i in him : 
 
 " Phil. ii. 9, 
 10. Col. i. 
 
 t Gr. the 
 heavens. 
 
 mystery of God's Will made known, St. Paul may allude to the 
 unfolding of the mystery of the call of the Gentiles in the Jewish 
 prophets, as particularly in the promise to Abraham, " In thy seed 
 shall all the nations of the earth be blessed " (Gen. xxii. 18) ; also 
 in the latter part of Ps. xxii., " All the ends of the world shall 
 remember themselves and be turned unto the Lord, and all the 
 kindred of the nations shall worship before him ; " and Isa. xi. 9-10. 
 
 •' According to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in 
 himself." A purpose prompted by His kindness and love, not by 
 His severity or justice. " "Which he hath purposed in himself.'^ 
 This seems to mean that, if we may say so with the utmost reve- 
 rence, in the counsels of the Trinity the Father took the initiative 
 of love and mercy, and resolved to establish that eternal concord 
 between all the members of his intelligent creation, which is ex- 
 pressed in the next verse. 
 
 10. " That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might 
 gather together in one all things in Christ." " In the dispensa- 
 tion." Eather perhaps for, or with regard to, the "dispensation," 
 I.e., the " economy " or " ministration." The fulness of the times 
 required its own economy or management, or dealing with. 
 
 " The fulness of times." No doubt the time of the Incarnation, 
 " When the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his son," 
 in order that He might gather together in one all things in Christ, 
 and might again knit them together in one. They were formerly 
 under one head in Adam (at least in God's intention), but through 
 sin there was disorganization and separation amongst God's in- 
 telligent creatures, and they were again to be brought under one 
 head {dvaK^paXaiojcaaeai) in a f^r more perfect and glorious way 
 than was possible under a mere forefather, or natural head of a race. 
 
 " All things in Christ, both which are in heaven," &c. No doubt 
 
Chap. I.] THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL. 155^ 
 
 11 ^In whom also we have obtained an in- '^Actsxx :!2. 
 heritance, ^ being predestinated according to ^ the J^™.- 'Jlj'- ^^• 
 purpose of him who worketh all things after the p/'l ^^j^^^^' 
 counsel of his own will : ji- 5. i Pet. 
 
 1. 4. 
 
 7 ver. 5. 
 
 « Is. xlvi. 10, 
 
 11. 
 
 11. "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance." So S, B., K., L., P., most 
 Cursives, f, Vulg., &c. ; but A., D., E., F., G., read, " we were called." 
 
 this includes all creatures that can understand Kedemption and 
 glorify God for it. Of course it includes all the angelic natures 
 who desire to look into the things made known by the Gospel 
 (1 Pet. i. 12), and for whose instruction in the manifold wisdom of 
 God the Church itself was ordained (Ephes. iii. 10). 
 
 But what means he by *' all things which are on earth," seeing 
 that so few, who have heard the preaching, have received the 
 Gospel, and so few of the untold generations of men have to this day 
 even so much as heard it ? We are to remember that a very 
 small part of God's dealings is yet made known to us — that we 
 know little or nothing of the wide application of such places, as 
 "for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are 
 dead " (1 Pet. iv. 6). 
 
 In fact, no limits can be assigned to the application of a verse 
 like this. It may include the inhabitants of other worlds besides 
 ours. It may extend to the farthest future— to the nations peopling 
 the new earth under conditions of which we can form httle or 
 no conception (Eev. xxi. 24). Such is the Divine Greatness of thfr 
 Author of Eedemption, that no limits of time or space of which 
 we are accustomed to take account, can be assigned to its issues. 
 
 11. "In whom also {i.e. in Christ) we have obtained an in- 
 heritance, being predestinated," &c. Here he descends from the 
 infinitely high and deep thoughts which seem to embrace the 
 universe, to assert his own part and the part of his brethren in 
 these unspeakable blessings. Surpassingly great though all this 
 be, we have our share in it, we have obtained part and lot in it,, 
 and that not as a matter of yesterday, but through the predestina- 
 tion of Him "Who is above time, Who inhabits eternity, with Whom 
 all duration is one eternal now. 
 
 " According to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after 
 the counsel," &c. The choice of ourselves and of all whom God 
 
156 YE ALSO TRUSTED. [Ephesiaks. 
 
 12 ^ That we should be to the praise of his glory, ^ who 
 2 Thess'i"*i3 ^^^* II *^^sted in Christ. 
 
 b Jam. i. 18. 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard 
 
 c John Tit. ^ *^^® word of truth, the gospel of your salvation : 
 
 ^ Cor. vi, 7.' 
 
 predestinates, is not according to chance, or if the word may be 
 spoken, caprice, but for an all-wise and all-benevolent purpose. 
 He has a purpose in the choice of His instruments, in order that 
 they may, through His working with them, carry out a settled plan, 
 which plan is, partially at least, revealed to us in Ephes. iii. 10, 
 ^'to the intent that now to the principalities and powers in heavenly 
 places might be known, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God." 
 "His own wiU." Of God's will in the destiny of the whole 
 universe, we may have but faint gHmpses, but of His will respect- 
 ing each one of us we have very plain revelations indeed. " God 
 our Saviour, who will (OeXei) have all men to be saved, and to come 
 to the knowledge of the truth " (1 Tim. ii. 4). " This is the will of 
 God, even your sanctification " (1 Thess. iv. 3). " Who gave him- 
 self for us, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, 
 according to the will of God and our Father" (Gal. i. 4). Have we 
 our place in the great plan of God, by which His Will, which 
 embraces all the world, is carried out? our one proof of this to our- 
 selves is that His Will is being accomplished in us — otherwise we 
 carry out His Will as the devils do, and not as the angels. 
 
 12. " That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first 
 trusted in Christ." This is held by many leading commentators 
 to mean, " who beforehand hoped in Christ — who hoped in the 
 Messiah before He came, and so welcomed Him when He appeared ; " 
 but this can hardly be the meaning, for St. Paul was not amongst 
 these. The commonly accepted meaning seems preferable, '* who 
 trusted in Christ first," t.e., before the Gentiles, and who were led by 
 God to believe in Him, that they might preach Him to the Gentiles. 
 
 13. " In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of 
 truth," &c. The word " trusted " is not in the original, and the word 
 which should be supplied is probably " were sealed." 
 
 **Ye also." "Ye Gentiles." Mark how even in this Epistle, 
 apparently addressed to all faithful Christians, the original distinc- 
 tion between the Jew and the Gentile (though done away in 
 Christ) yet occupies the Apostle's mind. Hitherto it has been 
 
Chap. I.] YE WERE SEALED. 157 
 
 in whom also after that ye believed, ^ ye were sealed with 
 
 d 2 Cor. i 
 ch. iv. 3C 
 
 that holy Spirit of promise. ^ 2 cor. i. 22. 
 
 ** we " the original election, now it is " ye " — " After that ye 
 heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation." The Gen- 
 tiles knew no prophecies respecting Christ till they heard them in 
 the preaching of the Gospel by their first Evangelizers. 
 
 " In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that 
 Holy Spirit," &c. Two or three interpretations have been given to> 
 this sealing. 
 
 1st. That it is the gift of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the under- 
 standing and purify the heart, considered as apart from any par- 
 ticular ordinance, such as Baptism or Confirmation, in the due recep- 
 tion of which, however, we are especially led to look for the Spirit. 
 
 2ndly. That it is Baptism. 
 
 3rdly. That it is the Laying on of hands. 
 
 At first, considering that the gift of the Holy Spirit in enlighten- 
 ing the understanding and purifying the heart, is of such unspeak- 
 able importance to each separate soul, and makes the all-important 
 difference between the heathen man and the Christian, we are 
 inclined to set aside all connection with any outward rite received 
 after the first-believing, but the very words of the Apostle here, 
 " after that having believed," point us to some particular time after 
 the first believing ; and here the account in Acts xix. comes in, as 
 showing that the Apostle evidently alluded to a sealing subsequent 
 to either first-believing, or Baptism. We read there that St. Paul 
 asked certain disciples, " Have ye received the Holy Ghost since 
 ye believed ? " and being answered in the negative, he caused them 
 to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and not till then did 
 he lay his hands upon them, and the Holy Ghost came upon them, 
 and they spake with tongues and prophesied. Now we find that 
 in the early Church this laying on of hands was constantly called 
 the seal, and the gift of the Holy Spirit associated specially with it. 
 Thus in Tertullian's treatise on Baptism (a.d. 200), " Next to this the 
 hand is laid upon us, calling upon and inviting the Holy Spirit 
 through the blessing;" and Cyprian (a.d. 250), " Which custom 
 has also descended to us, that they who are baptized may ba 
 brought to the rulers of the Church, and by our prayer, and by the 
 laying on of hands, may obtain the Holy Ghost, and be consum- 
 mated with the Lord's signature" (Epist. Ixxiii.). It is very pro- 
 
158 TPIE PURCHASED POSSESSION. [Ephesians. 
 
 •« 2 Cor. i. 22. 14 ^ Whicli is the earnest of our inheritance 
 
 & V. 5. 
 
 f Luke xv:i. 28. ^ Until the redemption of ^the purchased posses- 
 ch!Tv.'so.' ^^' sion, '' unto the praise of his glory. 
 
 ■S Acts XX. 28. 
 
 h ver. 6, 12. 
 
 1 Pet. ii. 9. 
 
 bable, then, that St. Paul has this in his mind imder the term 
 ** sealing," for this outward sealing, followed by the visibly miraculous 
 gifts of the Spirit, was God's particular witness to the call and 
 election of the Gentile believers ; thus Acts xi. 15, 18 ; and Gal. iii. 5. 
 Anyhow, the due consideration of Acts xix. 1-7, will convince us 
 that St. Paul attached great weight to this sealing, which was 
 manifested in visible gifts, as well as in invisible graces. 
 
 "With that Holy Spirit of promise." "With that Spirit of 
 promise the Holy One." This may mean that Holy Spirit Who 
 is the especial promise of the Father. " Behold, I send the promise 
 ■of my Father upon you " (Luke xxiv. 49) ; or that Holy Spirit Who 
 is, in Himself, the promise and pledge of all possible blessings 
 which the creature can receive. 
 
 14. " Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemp- 
 tion of," &c. See my notes on 2 Corinth, i. 22 for examination of 
 the word arrhabon {dppa(3ojv), here translated " earnest." The full 
 inheritance will not be recovered tiU the last day, when we 
 shall be raised again in our glorified bodies (Rom. viii. 23); but 
 the pledge of it is in the present possession of the gift of the 
 Spirit. *' If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead 
 dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also 
 quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you " 
 {Rom. viii. 11). 
 
 "Until the redemption of the purchased possession." The Lord 
 hath purchased the whole Church with His Blood (Acts xx. 28). 
 Now to purchase is to obtain possession ; but the Church, though 
 His by right, is not in its fullest sense His till each and every 
 member of it is perfected in His grace and presented faultless before 
 Him at the last (Ephes. v. 27) , each one being raised up in the likeness 
 of His glorious Body. Redemption is, in New Testament lan- 
 guage, not yet complete. The full price is paid, but the full value 
 purchased is reserved to the end. Thus in Rom. viii. 23, " the 
 Redemption of our body;" and in 1 Cor. i. 30, Redemption is 
 mentioned last : " Jesus Christ, Who of God is made unto us wis- 
 dom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and Redemption." 
 
Chap. I.] CEASE NOT TO GIVE THANKS. 159 
 
 15 Wherefore I also, 'after I heard of your faith in the 
 Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, pSemon'5 
 
 16 ^ Cease not to o'We thanks for you, making k Rom. i. 9. 
 
 ,. „ . - -^ ' ^ Phil. i. 3, 4. 
 
 mention or you m my prayers ; Coi.i.s. 1 
 
 17 That Hhe God of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2Tbes.'i.'3. 
 
 1 John XX. 17. 
 
 15. "And love." So 1)., E., F., G., K., L., most Cursives, d, e, f, g, Vulg., Syr., 
 ■Copt., Goth.; but H, A., B., P., Origeii, &c., omit "love." 
 
 16. "Making mention of yon." So D. (Gr.)*, E., K., L., P., most Cursives, Vulg., 
 Syr., Cop., Arm.; but N, A., B., D*., and nine Cursives, omit " of you." 
 
 15. " Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord 
 Jesus," &c. It has been supposed that this impUes that he had 
 not seen the persons to whom he now writes, but had only heard 
 of their faith and love through others ; but if it be remembered 
 that he wrote this Epistle from his prison, or state of confinement 
 in Kome, and that he was continually sending to know the spiritual 
 state of his converts in all parts of the world, then it is only likely 
 that he wrote this after having received some report of them that 
 they were not declining, but rather increasing in faith and love. 
 
 "Faith in the Lord Jesus — love to all the saints." "In Christ 
 Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, 
 but faith which worketh by love " (Gal. v. 6). 
 
 " Love to all the saints " may mean that they sent to reUeve the 
 wants of those who were living at a distance from them. St. Paul, 
 in the earnestness which he displayed in the matter of the main- 
 tenance of the poor saints in Jerusalem, seems to attach much 
 importance to assisting strangers whom Christians had never seen, 
 but whose only claim was the common profession of faith in the 
 Son of God. 
 
 16. " Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you 
 in my prayers." The thanksgiving being mentioned first seems to 
 predominate. He thanks God for what he has heard respecting 
 their faith, and he prays that they may progress in the realization 
 of what God has revealed to them. 
 
 17. "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of 
 glory," &c. Christ having become very man is, with respect to 
 His human nature, a creature of God ; as He says : " I ascend 
 unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God " 
 (John XX. 17). 
 
160 THE FATHER OF GLORY. [Epiiesians. 
 
 «» Col. i. 9. the Father of glory, ™ may give unto you the spirit 
 IcknowZdg-^ of wisdom and revelation || in the knowledge of 
 
 ment. Col. i • 
 
 ii.2. mm: 
 
 •^'^Acts xxvi. ]^g nrjijjg ^^^g q£ your Understanding being en- 
 
 » ch. ii. 12. lightened ; that ye may know what is ** the hope 
 
 18. "Your understanding." So a few Cursives; *ut S, A., B., D., E., F., G., K., L., 
 P., most Cursives, Diet., Vulg., Syr., read, "of your heart." 
 
 The Lord, then, has towards us not only the infinite benevolence 
 of the Divine Nature, but also all creature sympathy. He and we 
 have One common God and Father. He is, as He is described in 
 Colossians i., " the firstborn of every creature " (Col. i. 15). 
 
 '* The Father of glory." This seems to be a kindred expression 
 to the " Father of lights " in James i. 17. I do not consider that it 
 means here, as some suggest, the Father of the Lord's Divine 
 Nature. Glory, as here ; Lights, as in James i. 17 ; Mercies, as in 
 2 Cor. i. 3, are personified, and are supposed to issue so wholly 
 from the very Person of God, that He is not their maker or author, 
 but their Father. 
 
 *' The spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him.'* 
 The spirit of wisdom is placed first because the mind must be in a 
 prepared state, ie., endowed with heavenly discernment to receive 
 a revelation rightly. 
 
 18. *' The eyes of your understanding being enhghtened." There 
 can be little doubt but that " heart " is the true reading — " the eyes 
 of your heart " — Divine knowledge such as the Apostle prays for 
 being a matter rather for the heart to apprehend, than for the 
 understanding to comprehend. 
 
 The Apostle now proceeds to pray on behalf of his converts, that 
 being thus gifted with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and 
 enlightened in heart, they may know three things, " the hope of 
 His calling," "the riches of the glory of His inheritance," and 
 "the exceeding greatness of His power" towards believers as ex- 
 emplified in the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord, and His 
 Headship over all things on behalf of His Body the Church. 
 
 (1) " The hope of God's calling." When God causes His voice to 
 be heard in the inmost soul of one, ahenated till then from Him, and 
 so having no true or well-grounded hope, it must be to inspire that 
 man with hope, particularly as this calling on God's part separates 
 
Chap. I.] THE RICHES OF THE GLORY. 161 
 
 of his calling, and what the riches of the gloiy of his ^ in- 
 heritance in the saints. p ver. ii. 
 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his 
 
 a man from this world, and gives him Lopes and fears, too, above 
 and beyond the world. In the case of the earliest Christians these 
 hopes respecting this world came so completely to an end that the 
 Apostle could say : " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, 
 we are of aU men most miserable " (1 Cor. xv. 19). Now the hope 
 of God's calling was not only a hope beyond the grave — a hope of 
 eternal life — but it. was a hope that all things, no matter how 
 ad yerse^ worked together for good to them that loved God. The 
 victory of this hope over present things is best expressed in other 
 words of this Apostle : " Who shall separate us from the love of 
 Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or 
 nakedness, or peril, or sword ? . . . Nay, in all these things we 
 are more than conquerors through him that loved us " (Eom. 
 viii. 35). 
 
 *' And what the riches of the gloiy of his inheritance." The 
 visions of future good things are described in Scripture aa_heyond 
 measure^bri^ht and beautiful. No matter what explanation we 
 give to the two last chapters of the book of the Eevelation, they set 
 forth a state of material grandeur and magnificence suitable to be 
 the habitation of those who are raised up in the likeness of Christ's 
 glorious Body. 
 
 There, if anywhere, is an attempt to set forth the things which 
 *' eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the 
 heart of man to conceive." Until we get rid of the idea that the 
 future state of blessedness will be a vast hall or place of assembly 
 in which all will be equal and engaged in one unvaried occupation, 
 and rather look upon it as a kingdom (Luke xix. 17-19), having 
 the ranks and gradations and varied employments of a vast but 
 most holy community, we shall not be able to enter into this 
 ApostoUc prayer. Mark, too, how the epithets are, as it were, 
 j)iled on one another. It is not the inheritance, but the glory of 
 the inheritance ; and not that only, but the riches of the glory of 
 the inheritance. 
 
 19. " And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward 
 who believe," &c. The power exerted on our behalf in eternity 
 
 M 
 
162 FAR ABOVE ALL PRINCIPALITY. [Ephesians. 
 
 q eh. iii. 7. power to usward wlio believe, ^ according to the 
 
 Col. i. 29. & -^ _ r. 1 . . 1 
 
 ii. 12. working f of nis mighty power, 
 
 Id^uo/his 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when ''he 
 
 ?TcTsii 24 raised him from the dead, and ^ set him at his 
 
 3-^- own right hand in heavenly places, 
 
 Acts'vii.55, 21 * Far above all "principality, and power, and 
 
 Hebr. i. 3. & ' miffht, and dominion, and everv name that is 
 
 X 12 o ' 
 
 tphii. ii. 9. named, not only in this world, but also in that 
 lo! Hebr!" which is to come : 
 
 i. 4. 
 
 •u Rom. viii. 
 
 38. Col. i. 16. ' 
 
 & u. 15. 
 
 will be according to the measure of two things — the power exer- 
 cised by God in the Resurrection of Christ, and the power exerted 
 by God in causing Christ to ascend, and in giving Him a seat at 
 His right Hand, and putting all things under His feet. 
 
 The exceeding greatness of God's power as energized in Christ at 
 His Resurrection seems to be that He raised His Son from the 
 dead in a spiritual, life-giving, and glorified body — a body remain- 
 ing a body, and so capable of being felt, and handled, and yet having 
 all the j)roperties of a spirit, so that it should pass as a spirit 
 through all obstacles, be visible and invisible at will, be above the 
 conditions of space, and be able to rise from the earth to heaven 
 itself. 
 
 •* And set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." 
 21. " Far above all principality, and power, and might, and 
 dominion," &c. The power of God in the exaltation of Christ to 
 His right Hand seems a different exhibition of power to that put 
 forth in raising Him from the dead. If He caused Him to ascend 
 into heaven it was following this up to set Him at His own right 
 Hand in accordance with His prayer, " And now, Father, glorify 
 thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee 
 before the world was " (John xvii. 5). It may be that the power 
 of God was set forth in the bowing of the heavenly hosts of all 
 orders and ranks to adore in His human form Him Whom they had 
 in past ages adored as God only, in the bosom of the Father ; but 
 we know nothing whatsoever of the condition of this heavenly and 
 «temal world, only we have to remember that God hath exercised 
 fiome further power in the exaltation of Christ on our behalf. It 
 
Chap. I.] ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET. 163 
 
 22 And ^ hath put all things under his feet, and ^j^^^ ^;;»;,6: 
 gave him ^ to he the head over all things to the ^^- J ^^JL- , 
 
 ° ^ XV. 27. Hebr. 
 
 church, ii. 8. 
 
 y eh. iv. 15, 16. 
 
 Col. i. 18. 
 Hebr. ii. 7. 
 
 is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, 
 displayed in the exaltation of the God-Man. 
 
 It is to be remarked how often St. Paul recognizes the gradations 
 in the heavenly hosts. Thus Eomans viii. 38, *' I am persuaded 
 that .... neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers," &c., and 
 in Coloss. i. 16, " By him were all things created, that are in heaven, 
 and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, 
 or dominions, or principalities, or powers : " and he recognizes the 
 same gradations in evil angels, " We wrestle not against flesh and 
 blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers 
 of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " 
 (Ephes. vi. 12) ; and also Coloss. ii. 15, " Having spoiled principa- 
 lities and powers." 
 
 Now these, all these, by an exertion of the mightiest authority of 
 God, are under Christ. Just as God gave Him the Name which is 
 above every name, so hath He given to Him the power which is above 
 every power. And this for Himself and for us. For Himself that 
 He might be glorified in His human nature with the glory which 
 He had from Eternity in His Divine Essence, and for us, as the 
 following verses show. 
 
 22. " And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be 
 the head over all things," &c. " Put all things under his feet." 
 This seems to be much in the mind of the Apostle. He dwells 
 upon it very fully in 1 Corinth, xv. It is a citation or adapta- 
 tion of Psalm viii. But whereas in this Psalm it refers only to 
 earthly things (sheep, oxen, beasts of the field, &c.), in his reference 
 to it the Apostle applies it to the whole created universe. 
 
 " And gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which 
 is his body," &c. This mystery is dwelt upon with great fulness in 
 1 Corinth, xii. : " As the body is one, and hath many members, and 
 all the members of that one body, being many, are one body : so also 
 
 in Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body 
 
 The body is not one member but many Now ye are the 
 
 body of Christ, and members in particular." Here, however, it 
 seems to be spoken of still more divinely, or from its Divine side. 
 
164 WHICH IS HIS BODY. [Ephesians. 
 
 s! Rom. xii. 5. • 23 * Which is his body, ''the fulness of him 
 
 1 Cor. xii. 12, ^ ^,, ,, . „ "^ 
 
 27. ch. iv. 12. *» that filleth all m all. 
 
 & V. 23, :30. 
 
 Col. i. 18, 24. 
 
 » Col. ii. 9. 
 
 ch^ h"^io^"* ^' ^^ ^ ^°^* ^^' *^® Apostle principally contemplates 
 Coi. iii. if. the co-working ot the members together in this world ; 
 here he rather looks upon the Church as the Body of Christ in 
 heaven, and being inseparable from Him, as sharing His Exaltation. 
 
 The question presents itself, is this body visible or invisible? 
 Unquestionably it is regarded by the Apostle as visible. It is the 
 same thing which is spoken of in iv. 4 : *' There is one body, and 
 one Spirit " — one body, and, as such, bound to be visible ; one 
 Spirit, to which it pertains to be invisible. The Church is one 
 vast mystery or Sacramentum : having its outward part visible 
 amongst the things of time and sense, and its inward part, its mys- 
 terious connection by joints and bands with the Unseen Head, in- 
 visible and spiritual. To make it an invisible and merely spiritual 
 body is to frustrate, so far as can be, the intention of God in or- 
 daining its visible sacraments, and visible ministry and organiza- 
 tion, just as it frustrates the purpose of God if we regard it as a 
 function of the state, or a higher expression of the benefits of the 
 social state, and such things. 
 
 " His body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." That is, the 
 completeness of him that filleth all in all. If the Lord is a Head 
 He must have one Body which completes Him, as it were, as one 
 Divine Organization. In 1 Corinth, xii. 12, the whole body, Head 
 and Members, is called Christ, " As the body is one and hath many 
 members, and all the members of that one bodj'' being many are 
 one body, so also is Christ." " The fulness of Christ is the Church, 
 and rightly, for the complement of the head is the body, and the 
 complement of the body is the head Observe how he intro- 
 duces him as having need of all alike ; for unless we be many, and 
 one be the hand, and another the foot, and another some other 
 
 member, the whole body is not filled up Perceivest thou 
 
 then the riches of the glory of his inheritance ? the exceeding great- 
 ness of His power towards those who believe ? the hope of your 
 calling " (Chrysostom). 
 
Chaf. II.] YOU HATH HE QUICKENED. 165 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 ND * you hath he quicJcened, ^' who were dead ■ John v. 24. 
 
 '' _^ . Col.ii. 18. 
 
 in trespasses and sms ; b ver. 5. ch. 
 
 iv. 18. 
 
 1. *' And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses 
 and sins." "And you." Here the Apostle signifies the Gentiles 
 who believed in Christ and were brought into the Unity of His 
 Body. It is a carrying out of the distinction alluded to in verses 
 12 and 13 : " That we should be to the praise," &c. " In whom ye 
 also trusted." 
 
 " Hath he quickened." We have to supply this from verse 5. 
 But if so we must also supply, " Hath raised us up together, and 
 made us sit together," from verse 6. 
 
 " Who were dead in trespasses and sins." This being one of the 
 comparatively few, but very decisive places which pronounce those 
 not in Christ to be in a state of death, we must in all humility see 
 as to how far it actually conducts us in this direction, for we may 
 80 interpret it as to make nothing of the distinction between right 
 and wrong, and as if God, in His judgment of the heathen, would 
 make no difference between one heathen man and another, but 
 would sweep them all indiscriminately into the same pit of unut- 
 terable anguish. 
 
 It is universally true that all men require the new life from 
 Christ, and if they have it not are in a state of death compared to 
 those who have it. 
 
 But we commonly use the phrase " dead in sin," of those who 
 have no stirring of spiritual, or even of moral life within them, but 
 are, as we say, dead to all better feelings and aspirations. 
 
 Now it was not the Apostle's purpose to predicate this of all the 
 heathen ; if so, he would have denied the truth of what he asserts 
 by implication in Eom. ii. 26, "If the uncircumcision keep the 
 righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted 
 for circumcision ? " but it was the Apostle's purpose to predicate 
 this state of death of the generality of the heathen. This he could 
 do without denying that the Spirit of God worked in one here and 
 another there, which differed immeasurably from the mode of His 
 working in the Church (Titus ill. 6). 
 
166 THE COUKSE OF THIS WORLD. [Ephesiaks. 
 
 c 1 Cor. vi. 11. 2 "" Wherein in time past ye walked according 
 
 Col. i.' 21.* to the course of this world, according to '^the 
 
 John v". 19. prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now 
 
 d ch. VI. 12. worketh in ® the children of disobedience : 
 
 « eh. V. 6. 
 Col. iii. 6. 
 
 2 
 * According 
 
 '* According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit," &c. So Revisers, 
 ording to the prince of the empire of the air, of the spirit that," &c. EUicott. 
 
 If any one reads, in a Christian spirit, any heathen book, say 
 the " Odes and Satires " of Horace, he will find enough there to 
 convince him that the heathen were in a state of spiritual death. 
 He will find, it is true, much which shows that the moral sense 
 was, if one may so say, intellectually alive, but that is all ; they 
 had pleasure in unrighteousness, in all manner of wickedness. 
 They not only did the same, but had pleasure in them that did 
 them. 
 
 2. "Wherein in time past ye walked, according to the course of 
 this world." " The course of this world," literally, the " seon of 
 this world," but Alford and Ellicott deny any reference to Gnostical 
 Eeons, and assert (the former at least) that the authorized transla- 
 tion is the very best. The course of this world, its very days, as 
 the Apostle writes in chapter v., are evil. 
 
 " The prince of the power of the air." This is by many sup- 
 posed to mean that the evil one and his wicked angels are not in 
 heaven, and have no access there (Job. i. 6 : Luke x. 18), neither as 
 yet are they shut up in hell (Rev. xx. 2), but have power to inhabit 
 the air, and so to have ready access to all the dwellers upon earth. 
 
 Alford explains it as meaning that they have as ready access to 
 us as the very air with which we are surrounded, and illustrates 
 his meaning by the words of our Lord, when in the parable of the 
 sower He represents the devils as like the fowls of the air, who 
 snatch away the seed sown on the hard beaten path. 
 
 Others suppose it to be a Rabbinical interpretation. Thus Dale : 
 " The evil power is described, according to a Rabbinical tradition, 
 as having his home in ' the air,' beneath the happy seats of the 
 saints and of the angels which have kept their first estate, and 
 therefore above the sphere of human life." 
 
 " The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." 
 Those who are under the dominion of wilful sin are called here the 
 children of disobedience, just as those who walk in the hght are 
 
Chap. II.] CHILDREN OF WRATH. 167 
 
 3 'Among whom also we all had our conversation in 
 times past in ° the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling f Tit. in. 3. 
 t the desires of the flesh and of the mind ; and g oai. v* le. 
 ^ were by nature the children of wrath, even as ^ ^^- *''^ ""''** 
 
 •^ ' ti Ps. li. 5. 
 others. Rom. v. 12, 
 14. 
 
 said to be the children of light. Those who wilfully disobey God, 
 whoever they are, have the enemy — the evil one — the prince of 
 the power of the air, working within them. 
 
 3. "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times 
 past," &c. We all — all we the chosen people of God, the Israel, 
 the seed of Abraham — all we, notwithstanding our descent, our 
 Circumcision, our Scriptures, our Sacrificial Ritual, our Law — ful- 
 filled the desires of the flesh and of the mind. This is not said as 
 if there were no spiritual persons amongst the Jews, but there was 
 universally a far lower standard than that which was brought in 
 by the teaching of Christ, and by the descent of the Spirit at 
 Pentecost. 
 
 " Of the flesh and of the mind." The latter word, being in the 
 plural, signifies the thoughts or imaginations. It seems equiva- 
 lent to the fleshly thoughts or imaginations. 
 
 " And were by nature the children of wrath.*' " By nature " 
 can mean nothing else than " by birth." By our natural birth we 
 received from the first Adam a taint of evil which can only be 
 neutralized or removed by our new Birth into the Second Adam, 
 the Lord from heaven. The Scripture, however we may dislike 
 the idea, reveals no entrance of evil into the world but this. But 
 this term " children of wrath " must be read in the light of what we 
 read in the very next verse, "for his great love wherewith he 
 loved us." Here are children of wrath who are loved by God, the 
 Supreme Being Whom they have offended, with "great " love. How 
 can these two things be reconciled — children of wrath, and yet 
 greatly beloved ? With the greatest ease, I answer, if we only lay 
 aside the deductions of human systems. The race were under 
 wrath, and intended by the very God Whose wrath they had in- 
 curred to be redeemed from all the effects of that wrath, and 
 placed under an infinitely better state than they were in by 
 creation. 
 
 The history of the race, and of every part of it, especially the 
 
168 GOD WHO IS RICH IN MERCY. [Ephesians. 
 
 i Rom. X. 12. 4 But Grod, ' who is ricli in mercy, for his great 
 
 vh. i. 7. , . o 
 
 ver. 7. love wlierewitli he loved us, 
 
 8, 10 ™'vVr. 1. 5 ^ Even when we were dead in sins, hath 
 
 I Rom. vi. 4,5. 
 Col. ii. 12. 
 
 ^ quickened us together with Christ, (H by grace ye 
 
 i;{. & iii. 1. 3. are saved ;) 
 
 P Or, by whose ^ t -i ^ ■, > -, 
 
 fjrace: see 6 And hath raiscd US up together, and made us 
 
 Acts XV. 11. . 
 
 ver. 8. Tit. sit together ^ in heavenly ^places in Christ Jesus : 
 
 iii. 5. 
 
 •a ch. i. 20. 
 
 part most favoured by God, is the history of a race who deserved 
 wrath : a very great part of them, if we judge by the simplest rules 
 of right and wrong, deserved very severe wrath, and consequent 
 punishment ; and by another proof all are children of wrath, for 
 all incur the effects of wrath in the universal iDrevalence of death. 
 I am writing, of course, for those who believe that the Scriptures 
 reveal to us the will of God, and certainly the Scriptures make 
 temporal death to be the wages of sin. " By one man sin entered 
 into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, 
 in him in whom all have sinned " (Rom. v. 12). It is impossible to 
 isolate any part of the race, and to educate them so as to prevent 
 sin appearing in them, and not only appearing but ruling rampant 
 over them. God Himself for our sakes tried this in the case of 
 His chosen people, and as He foresaw and foretold, it failed. It 
 is then almost a natural, almost a self-evident truth that we are 
 by natm-e, or by birth, cbildi-en of wrath. 
 
 "As others," ^.e., "we Israelites even as the rest of men." I 
 need hardly say that this doctrine ot transmitted sin is our Lord's 
 doctrine as well as St. Paul's. The Lord by His universal preach- 
 ing of repentance assumes that men are sinners, and so have need 
 of it. By His institution of Baptism He assumes that all need to be 
 washed from sin in the bath of new Birth. He includes all under 
 sin when He says, " If ye then being evU know how to give good gifts 
 to your children," and He includes the chosen seed as all under sin 
 when He says, " If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your 
 sins." 
 
 4, 5, 6. " But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love 
 wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins, hath 
 quickened us together with Christ . . . And hath raised us up to- 
 gether," &c. God hath not quickened us — that is, made us to live 
 
Chap. II.] THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE. 169 
 
 • 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding 
 riches of his grace in ^his kindness toward us "Tit.iu. 4. 
 through Christ Jesus. 
 
 with a new principle of life by the law, or even by a new law of 
 mere words, but by the Resurrection of Christ. In His Resurrec- 
 tion God caused that we who believe in Him should receive a new 
 Life, and not only receive a new Life, but show it openly in a new 
 life before the world, and not only be raised, but be made to ascend 
 with Him and even sit together with Him in heavenly places. That 
 we receive a new life with Christ is the mystery set forth in Romans 
 vi. ; that we sit together with Him is contained in such words as 
 ** our life is hid with Christ in God." 
 
 The new life is not only a new life in the world, but a new life 
 above the world. Such was the Apostolic life, such was St. Paul's 
 life. Such has been and is the life of unnumbered saints whom 
 the world has not known, but whom God has known and whom 
 God will make known in a day which may be nearer than we 
 think. 
 
 But why does the Apostle interject, " By grace ye are saved " ? 
 Evidently to assert that it is not by nature. By nature we are 
 children of wrath only. By grace we are quickened, raised, and 
 set on high in Christ. Such things are beyond the imagination of 
 nature, they can only be in Christ, which is equivalent to " by 
 gi-ace," inasmuch as only by a special act of grace can we be brought 
 into Christ, 
 
 7. "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding 
 riches," &c. If He has begun with a thing so wondrous that it 
 could rightly be described as being raised together, and made to sit 
 together in the heavenlies in Christ, what may we look for in the 
 continuance of such loving-kindness ? " This then he saith, that 
 even we shall sit there. Truly this is surpassing riches, truly 
 surpassing is the greatness of His power, to make us sit down with 
 Christ. Yea, hadst thou ten thousand souls, wouldst thou not 
 lose them for His sake? Yea, hadst thou to enter into the 
 flames, oughtest thou not readily to endure it ? And He also 
 Himself too saith again, ' I will that where I am, there also shall 
 my servants be.' Why, surely, had ye to be cut to pieces everyday. 
 
170 BY GRACE YE ARE SAVED. [Ephestans. 
 
 8 ° For by grace are ye saved ^ through faith ; 
 id 
 God 
 
 « ver. V. 
 
 2 Tirii. i! 9. and that not of yourselves : '^it is the gift of 
 
 P Rom. iv. 16. 
 q Mat. xvi, 17. 
 John vi. 44, 
 65. Rom. X. 
 
 ought ye not, for the sake of these promises, cheerfully to embrace 
 it ? Think where He sitteth — above all principality and power. 
 And with whom is it that thou sittest ? With Him. And who art 
 thou? A dead carcase, by nature a child of wrath. And what 
 good has thou done ? Not any." 
 
 8. " For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of 
 yourselves ; it is the gift of God." This is the corollary from all 
 that precedes. Salvation is described by the Apostle in no ordi- 
 nary terms, but as a being quickened together with Christ, being 
 raised together with Him, being made to sit with Him in the 
 heavenUes. Now if this be not mere words, not exuberant imagina- 
 tion, but a reality, it is clear that it is of grace, for it is clearly not 
 only beyond human effort, but beyond the highest flights of human 
 imagination — imagination, that is, untaught and unexcited by 
 Kevelation, and even when we have Eevelation, we are slow to 
 apprehend it in such a transcendent form. For " by grace " we must 
 understand, of course, not merely a simple isolated putting forth of 
 God's Holy Spirit upon each particular soul, enabling it to believe, 
 but the whole scheme and work of Redemption by Christ ; God 
 decreeing, the Son of God accepting the decree, humbling Himself, 
 becoming man, becoming the Second Man, the Lord from heaven, 
 submitting to Crucifixion, rising again, ascending into heaven, 
 and in all this taking us along with Him in His Death, in His 
 resumption of life, in His Exaltation. This must be of grace, in 
 fact, it is all of it grace. And by this we have been saved, and 
 are saved by our submission to it and reception of it, for this is 
 faith. God requires, and He has a right to require, that if He 
 saves us in such a way we should acknowledge it, and this is our 
 faith. But even this is an act of grace, or unmerited favour on 
 God's part, that having no merits we should be saved without 
 merits, but by an act of God's free mercy. 
 
 " And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Whether 
 the "that " (neuter) refers to the fact of God's saving us by faith, 
 or the faith itself, is all the same ; both the graciousness of God'a 
 
Chap. IL] NOT OF WORKS. 171 
 
 9 ^ Not of works, lest anv man should boast. •• Rom. iii. 20 
 
 27, 28. & iv. 
 2. &ix. 11. & 
 
 xi. 6. 1 Cor. 
 
 i. 29, .30,31. 
 
 act in saving us by faith " that it might be of grace," Tit. iii. 5. 
 and the in working of faith in the soul, are of grace — 
 gifts of God to the undeserving. 
 
 But does not this shut out all but a select few — the elect, accord- 
 ing to the idea of Calvinistic election ? No ; quite the contrary is 
 intended, for when it is said that faith is the gift of God, it is 
 described as being a gift in the hands of a most bountiful Giver — 
 Who "gives to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." 
 
 If the faith or faculty of mind to apprehend such things as are 
 set forth in God's word were a thing to be worked out by the 
 endeavours of our own mind, we should never have it, but being a 
 gift of God, we can have it by asking Him for it : " Ask and ye 
 shall have." '* If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts 
 unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father 
 give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." 
 
 The place, the worth, the power ascribed to faith in the Word of 
 God, should make every one who has the least desire to be well 
 with God ask God to give him faith, and say to God constantly, 
 " Lord, increase my faith," " Lord, I believe, help thou mine un- 
 belief." 
 
 9, 10. " Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are 
 his workmanship," &c. Of no evil thing to which men are subject 
 does the Apostle seem to have a greater horror than of boasting. 
 And very reasonably, for boasting is incompatible on the one side 
 with the glory of God, and on the other with the true Christian 
 character. It is incompatible with the glory of God, for the 
 Highest authority lays down, that when we have done all, we are 
 to say, " We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which 
 was our duty to do" (Luke xvii. 10), and this servant says, *' Who 
 maketh thee to differ from another ? and what hast thou that thou 
 didst not receive ? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou 
 glory as if thou hadst not received it ? " (1 Cor. iv. 7). 
 
 It is incompatible with the true Christian character, as set forth 
 in such a Beatitude as, " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs 
 is the kingdom of heaven." It is incompatible with any true, 
 deep-seated repentance. It is absolutely incompatible with the 
 character of the Lord Himself. 
 
172 HIS WORKMANSHIP. [Ephesiaxs. 
 
 ■ Deut. xxxii. 10 For we are "his workmanship, created in 
 Is. xix. 20. & Christ Jesus unto good works, * which God hath 
 xiiT."2i.' John before 11 ordained that we should walk in them. 
 
 iii, 3, 5. 1 
 
 '€or. iii. 9. 2 
 
 Cor. V. 5, 17. 
 
 Tit.'ii. 14. 10. " For we are his workmanship, created in Christ 
 
 t ch. i. 4. Jesus unto good works." The intention of God in 
 
 vared!^^' Creating the new creation in Christ is that men should 
 
 do good works, good works not according to the de- 
 mands of the Old Law, but according to the requirements of the New 
 Law — the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. If created in 
 Christ to do good works, we are created to do in our measure the 
 good works which He did, particularly the good works of benefiting 
 the bodies and souls of our fellow-creatures. We are created in Him 
 to do works to God, in upholding the honour of God. We are 
 created in Christ Jesus to do such works of love or charity, as " suf- 
 fering long, being kind, envying not, vaunting not oneself, not 
 being puffed up, seeking not our own, not being easily provoked, 
 thinking no evil." When were we thus created ? Some say in 
 Baptism — others at conversion. The Church, following the Scrip- 
 tures says, and rightly, that we were grafted into Christ in Bap- 
 tism. Then, if so, we become partakers of the sap of the true Vine 
 — of the fulness of the Divine Olive ; but this is only the beginning, 
 we have to abide in the Vine, we have to continue in the goodness 
 of the Divine Olive Tree, and multitudes do not. Such need re- 
 pentance, restoration,conversion, almost we might say, re-engrafting. 
 
 But no teaching of Scripture can be plainer than this, that 
 in the Scriptures professing Christians are never addressed as if 
 they were lifeless and powerless to serve God. They are invariably 
 addressed as those who at the very commencement have received 
 some power, some life, some new faculty in Christ, and have to 
 believe this, to remember it, to call it to mind, to stir up some past 
 gift by prayer, and looking upward to Christ.^ 
 
 "Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in 
 them." Does this mean that God hath preordained the good 
 works of the Christian, so that he must of necessity walk in them, 
 •or are we rather to translate it "prepared," as meaning that God 
 hath aforehand prepared a way to His everlasting favour— the way of 
 
 I See particularly my notes on Bom. vi. 1-12. 
 
CuAP. II. J WHEREFORE REMEMBER. 173: 
 
 11 Wherefore "reniember, that ye hemg in time past 
 
 Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircum- " i cor. xii. 2. 
 
 cision by that which is called '^ the Circumcision i. ii.&ii. 13.* 
 
 in the flesh made by hands : 29. co'i. ii.'ii. 
 
 11. •' Ye being io time past Gentiles." " In time past ye," S, A., B., D., &c. 
 
 holy living, as He prophesied in Isaiah, " Thine ears shall hear a 
 word behind thee, saying. This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye 
 turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left " (Isaiah xxx. 
 21) ? I think the latter, though we must also remember the words 
 of the Lord, how He said, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have 
 chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth 
 fruit, and that your fruit should remain " (John xv. 16). 
 
 11. "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles 
 in the flesh," &c. As the Lord in His message to the church of 
 Ephesus says, " Kemember from whence thou art fallen," so here 
 by His Spirit through His servant He says, " Remember from 
 what slough and mne I raised thee." "Ye were Gentiles in the 
 flesh." There was no mark of God's covenant even on your flesh.. 
 
 "Who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called," &c.. 
 It is remarkable how the best of the Jews flung against the heathen 
 the taunt of their being uncircumcised. Thus even David : " This- 
 uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them " (1 Sam. xvii. 36) ;, 
 "Lest the daughter of the uncircumcised triumph" (2 Sam. i. 20). 
 This was very well for those who remembered, as David did, that 
 the covenant which God gave to the Jews, of which the sign was 
 circumcision, was His gift, and that it had to be lived to ; but it 
 became amongst most of the Jews a mere self-sufficient boast, as 
 St. Paul evidently means here, when he speaks of " that which 
 is called the circumcision in the flesh," as if he said, the so-called 
 circumcision — the mere outward form utterly unrealized in its true 
 spiritual significance, as making men " debtors to keep the whole 
 law." 
 
 " The circumcision in the flesh made with hands." The reader 
 will remember the strictly parallel passage in Coloss. ii. 11, in 
 which he speaks of Baptism as the " circumcision made without 
 hands." Both Circumstance and Baptism being administered by men 
 were made with hands, but in Circumcision all that was done was 
 by the hand of men, whereas in Baptism, though He makes use of 
 
174 HAVING NO HOPE. [Ephesians. 
 
 y ch. iv, 18. 12 ^ That at that time ye were without Christ, 
 
 ^ seeEzek. ^ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, 
 
 x."i6^' "^^''^ and strangers from ^the covenants of promise, 
 
 a Rom. ix. 4, b leaving no hope, "" and without G-od in the world : 
 
 b 1 Thes. iv. 
 
 13. 
 
 •c Gal. iv. 8. 
 
 1 Thess. iv. 5. 12. "Aliens ; " or " alienated," Revisers. 
 
 the hands of the minister, the Holy Ghost is the real Baptizer, 
 according to the words, " By one Spirit are we all baptized unto 
 one Body" (1 Cor. xii. 13). 
 
 12. " That at that time ye were without Christ." That is with- 
 out any conscious x)art in Him. This does not mean that they 
 were excluded from the benefits of His Intercession, or that they 
 did not belong to Him, as being among the " other sheep," which 
 He has, " which are not of this fold." They had no prophecies 
 of Him, no looking for His coming as Israel had. They were afar 
 off, and were not yet made nigh by His Blood. 
 
 "Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel," or the polity of 
 Israel. God said of Israel, " Israel is my Son, even my first-born " 
 (Exod. iv. 22) ; again, " You only have I known of all the families 
 of the earth " (Amos. iii. 2). Their privileges are set forth by the 
 Apostle in Eom. ix., ending with " of whom as concerning the flesh 
 Christ came who is over all, God blessed for ever." Bishop Barry 
 writes : " The word used is not alien, but alienated, implying — what 
 is again and again declared to us — that the Covenant with Israel, as 
 it was held in trust for the blessing of all families of the earth, so also 
 was simply the true birthright of humanity from which mankind 
 had fallen." The objection to this is, if they held it in trust for all 
 humanity, why were they not commanded to proclaim it far and 
 wide? 
 
 " Strangers from the covenants of promise." Not covenant, but 
 covenants. Thus in Eom. ix. 4 : "To whom pertaineth the adoption, 
 and the glory, and the Covenants." The Covenants were renewed 
 to the patriarchs in succession, and to Moses and David. Now in 
 some of these, particularly that to Abraham : " And in thy seed 
 shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," mention was made of 
 the Gentiles, and a part in the Messiah secured to them, but they 
 knew not of it. They were strangers from them. They were, till 
 the appointed time, out of the pale. 
 
Chap. II.] MADE NIGH. 175 
 
 13 ** But now in Christ Jesus ye wlio sometimes ^ Gai. iii. 28. 
 were far ® off are made nigh bj the blood of verf 17! * ^ ' 
 Christ. 
 
 "Having no hope." No well-grounded hope of a future state 
 even, much less of a redemption from past sin. St. Paul, when he 
 wrote this, must have been acquainted with the arguments on 
 which the better sort of heathens relied for the existence of the soul 
 after death, but here he makes nothing of them ; at the best they 
 were mere surmizes. They had no certainty ; and apparently no 
 moral power over heathen society to restrain it, much less to raise 
 it from its utter degradation. 
 
 " "Without God in the world." Without any knowledge or recog- 
 nition of a Creator and moral Governor and Judge. They had 
 gods to whom they offered sacrifice, but they were no gods, and 
 their very existence was disbelieved by the great multitude of the 
 sacrificers. 
 
 This is the description of the state of the Gentiles before the 
 Gospel came to them by one whose whole life was a contention for 
 their absolute equality as Christians with the seed of Abraham. 
 Attempts are made to soften all this, as, for instance, one which I 
 have noticed, that they were not originally aliens, but that they 
 alienated themselves. But from what ? Certainly not from any 
 commonwealth of Israel, for their widespread alienation preceded 
 by ages the forming of that commonwealth, or polity. If it be 
 said that they alienated themselves, or forsook some previous state 
 of Divine knowledge, we freely grant it, but that is not what St. 
 Paul had in his mind when he Used such terms as " the poUty of 
 Israel," or " covenants of promise." 
 
 13. " But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are 
 made nigh," &c. In every respect in which the Jews were made 
 nigh to God, so were the Gentiles. We cannot approach closer to 
 God than in the direct participation of the Sacrament of the Body 
 and Blood of Christ. Christ is one with God, and in partaking of 
 that most Holy Food the Lord assures us that He dwelleth in us 
 and we in Him. It is to be remembered that the Gentiles are not 
 made nigh to God by any natural means of nearness, or even by 
 the mere diffusion of Divine knowledge, but " in Christ Jesus." 
 After the Kesurrection of Christ, and the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost, the Jew became nigh, and entered into Covenant and par- 
 
176 HE IS OUR PEACE. [Ephesians. 
 
 f Mic. T.5. 14 For ^ he is our peace, ^who hath made both 
 
 A^ts x.le. ' * one, and hath broken down the middle wall of 
 
 coK i. 20.' partition between us ; 
 
 g John X. 16. 
 
 Gkil. iii. 28. 
 
 took of the Spirit, not by Circumcision, but by Baptism — the same 
 Baptism by which the Gentiles entered into nearness. 
 
 " By the blood of Christ," i.e., " by His Sacrificial Atonement." 
 The blood of the Temple victim brought the sacrificer into fellow- 
 ship with God. " It was accepted for him to make atonement for 
 him " (Levit. i. 4), and so the Blood of the All-atoning Victim 
 brought aU men into a state in which if they beUeved and were 
 baptized they would be saved now and at the last. 
 
 14. ' ' For he is our peace, who hath made both one." Christ is 
 not only the peacemaker, or reconciler, but He is in His own 
 Person the union of the parties who were at variance. God and 
 man were not at one, through sin, but Christ having in His Person 
 whole and complete the two natures which were at variance, hath 
 united both in Himself, and so is emphatically our peace. 
 
 But in a somewhat lower sense He is our peace, having made 
 both one — i.e., both Jew and Gentile. He hath made both one 
 not as having one nature, for that they had before He came, 
 nor as having one religion, but as members of one mystical 
 body. 
 
 " And hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.'* 
 Some suppose that here is an allusion to an actual low wall of par- 
 tition dividing the court of the Gentiles from the court of Israel.^ 
 There was undoubtedly such a wall of separation, but we are not 
 told that it was rent at the moment of the death of Christ, as was 
 
 1 Lewin, in his " Life of St. Paul," vol. ii., p. 133, gives an inscription engraven on the 
 wall in the original letters. He appends this note. "The literal interpretation of the 
 inscription is, ' No alien to pass Tivithin the balustrade round the temple and the inclosure. 
 Whosoever shall be caught (so doing) must blame himself for the death that will ensue.* 
 This stone is unquestionably one of the most remarkable discoveries made at Jerusalem. 
 It presents to us the very letters which must have been often read by our Lord and His 
 Apostles as day by day they frequented the temple. Josephus tells us that ' on advancing 
 to the second temple (lepov) a stone balustrade (SpocfjaxToj) was thrown around it four feet 
 and a half high, and withal beautifully wrought, and in it stood pillars at equal distances 
 proclaiming the law of purity (some in Greek and some in Roman letters), that no alien 
 (aXXo<{>v;Xov) might pass within the Sanctuary.' (Bell. Jud. v. 5, 2.) The stone was detected 
 by M. Ganneau by the side of the Via Dolorosa." 
 
Chap. II.] ONE NEW MAN. 177 
 
 15 *" Having abolished 4n his flesh the enmity, even the 
 law of commandments contained in ordinances ; ^ Coi. ii. u, 
 for to make in himself of twain one ^ new man, so i coi. i. 22. 
 making peace ; QliTii ^^' 
 
 ch. iv. 21. 
 15. " Of the twain," i.e., Jews and Gentiles. 
 
 the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of HoHes. Others 
 consider that reference is made to the hedge by which the Jewish 
 state of things described under the figure of a vineyard was sepa- 
 parated from the Gentile world, Isaiah v. 2 : "And he fenced it." 
 Both are very probable, but the Apostle himself tells us to what he 
 alludes in the next verse. 
 
 15. "Having aboHshed in his flesh the enmity, even the law of 
 conunandments," &c. The " ordinances " here should be rendered 
 "decrees." An allusion is made to those decrees or ordinances of 
 God which tended to separate the Jews from all other nations, 
 particularly those respecting meats as clean and unclean, for it was 
 these which prevented Daniel and his companions from eating of 
 the meat brought from the table of the King of Babylon. Such 
 ordinances were the real hedge separating the Jews not only in 
 matters of religion, but of common life, from the Gentiles ; and 
 these Christ abolished. 
 
 " In his flesh." That is, by the Incarnation and its results. 
 Christ assumed in the womb of the Virgin the common nature of 
 all men, and thus having reconciled us to God through the sufferings 
 of that Flesh gave that Flesh for the common life of the world — not 
 of the Jews only, but " of the world " (John vi. 51). Christ 
 aboHshed the enmity and abrogated the law of commandments 
 contained in ordinances, not by the mere teaching of His Spirit, 
 but by the sufi'erings of His Flesh. He saved and saves us by 
 that which pertained to His lower nature rather than to His 
 higher. 
 
 " For to make in himself of twain one new man, so making 
 peace." " Observe then," says Chrysostom, " that it is not that the 
 Gentile is become a Jew, but that both the one and the other are 
 entered into another condition. It was not with a view of merely 
 making this last other than he was, that He abohshed the law, but 
 rather in order to create the two anew. And well does he on all 
 occasions employ the word * make ' or ' create,' and does not 
 
 N 
 
178 RECONCILE BOTH UNTO GOD. [Ephesians. 
 
 » Col. i. 20, 16 And that lie miglit ' reconcile both unto God 
 
 m Rom. vi.fi. m onc body by the cross, ""having slain the 
 &yii. =3. Col. ^^^.^^ II thereby; 
 
 Idf' '" ^^^' ^^ '^^ came " and preached peace to you which 
 n Is. ivii. 19. were afar off, and to "them that were nigh. 
 
 Ze( h. ix. 10. 
 Ai-ts ii. :-i9. & 
 
 X. 36. Rom. 
 
 V. 1. ver. 13, 
 
 14. 
 
 o Ps. cxlviii. 16. " Thereby," in it. 
 
 14. 
 
 Bay * might change,' in order to point out the power of what was 
 done." 
 
 16. " And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by 
 ihe cross." Some suppose that by the one body the Apostle means 
 His own Body which was crucified. But it is far more probable 
 that he means in one mystical body, i.e. one Church. The recon- 
 ciliation to God was not of Jews and then Gentiles, but of both as 
 making np one Mystical Body. His Church was in Him and so 
 was afcepted by God as in Him when His sacrifice was accepted. 
 
 "Havin^' slain the enmity thereby." By the Sacrifice of the 
 •Cross all the signs of distinction between Jews and Gentiles were 
 done away. Now these distinctions had made a real enmity. The 
 Jews looked down upon the Gentiles as uncircumcised, unclean, 
 unholy, dishonourers of God through idolatry, and such senti- 
 ments naturally bred in them dislike and aversion ; which the Gen- 
 tiles returned with interest, calling the Jews haters of mankind. 
 AH the reasons for this enmity in the ordinances of separation 
 Christ did away by abolishing them through His Sacrifice, and 
 •one of the most remarkable signs that the enmity was at an end, 
 was the willingness of distant Gentile Churches to send relief to the 
 poor Christian Jews suffering by famine in Judaea. The enmity 
 was to a certain extent kept smouldering through the false teaching 
 of the Judaizers, but this soon came to an end and disappeared 
 utterly. 
 
 17. " And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and 
 to them," &c. He came and preached peace to them that were 
 nigh, when He came to the a-sembled Apostles and salu ed them in 
 the words, " Peace be unto you." He came and preached peace to 
 them which were afar off, when He said to His Apostles, *' Go ye 
 and dibciple all nations, baptizing them," &c., and when He said 
 
Chap. II.] WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS. 179 
 
 18 For P thro-Qo^li him we botli liave access i by p John x. 9. 
 
 ^ "^ & XIV. 6. 
 
 one Spirit unto the Father. Rom. v, 2. 
 
 ^ oh. in. 12. 
 
 Heb. iv. 16. & 
 
 X. 19, 20. I 
 
 Pet. iii. 18. 
 
 18. " Access," the access. ^.,1 ^'^^- ?"• 
 
 13. ch. IV. 4. 
 
 Go ye to all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
 And He preached in His Apostles, for not only did St. Paul say, 
 ** We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you 
 by us," but he said to the Corinthians " Since ye seek a proof of 
 Christ speaking in me " (2 Cor. xiii. 3) ; and again, the Lord Him- 
 self had said, " He that heareth you heareth me." 
 
 •' To them that were nigh." The Jews required the preaching of 
 peace, that is, of reconciliation with God, just as much as did the 
 Gentiles. They were practically alienated from God by their evil 
 traditions even whilst they worshipped Him (Gal. i. 14, iv. 9 ; 1 Pet. 
 i. 18), and the rending of the veil at the moment of the Death of 
 Jesus was to them as the breaking down of the wall of partition to 
 the Gentiles. 
 
 18. " For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the 
 Father." Through him, i.e., our peace and the proclaimer of peace 
 to all. " We both have access." — lit., " we have the access even both 
 of us." The access, i.e., the introduction, but access is perhaps the 
 better word, as introduction signifies more frequently only the first 
 Introduction : whereas, no doubt, continuous access is meant. The 
 access is by prayer and by Eucharist. Prayer is always offered by 
 the Christians by or through Jesus, naming His Name and relying 
 npon His Intercession, and to be accepted it must be offered " in 
 the Spirit," that is, helped by the Spirit (Eom. viii. 26), inspired to 
 a certain degree by the Spirit, and from a heart cleansed, or being 
 cleansed, renewed or being renewed, by the Spirit. And still more 
 with Eucharistic access. Take any one of our Eucharistic prayers. 
 Does not each one require faith in Christ's presence, faith to discern 
 the Lord's Body, and love to His brethren ? Add to this that the Spirit 
 of God is the real Consecrator in every Eucharist, coming upon the 
 elements that they may be to us the Body and Blood of Christ. In 
 this verse we have one of those associations of the Three Persons of 
 the Ever Blessed Trinity which even more than dogmatic statements 
 enable us to realize the Oneness of the Three — One in action, One 
 in will One in grace and love. 
 
180 NO MORE STRANGERS. [Efhesians. 
 
 r Phil. iii. 20. but "^ f ellow citizens with the saints, and of * the 
 
 23. * ' ' household of G-od ; 
 
 ch^ii.Ys.^*^' 20 And are * built "upon the foundation of the 
 
 ' 1 Cor. iii. 9, 
 
 10. ch. iv. 12. 
 
 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5. 
 
 1 Matt. xyi. 19. *' Now therefore ye are no more strangers and 
 
 Rev. xxi". 14. ' foreigners, but fellow-citizens," &c. This is in allusion 
 to verse 12. " Strangers " means those who came into 
 a city, transacted their business, and left: foreigners are persons 
 from other cities dwelling in the city, but having no rights of 
 citizenship, translated " sojourners " by EUicott. On the contrary, 
 they had not only acquired the rights of citizenship, but had been 
 invested with them. An equivalent expression is in Phil. iii. 20, "Our 
 citizenship (not conversation) is in heaven," and Galatians iv. 26, 
 " Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all," 
 and again, " Ye are come (Ht. ye have come) unto Mount Zion, 
 and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem " 
 (Heb. xii. 22). 
 
 " And of the household of God." This is an advance. They are 
 not only of God's city, but of His household — His family — He is not 
 only their King but their Father. 
 
 20. *' And are built upon the foundations of the Apostles and 
 Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself," &c. We have here a very abrupt 
 change of metaphor. Up to this the Apostle describes the Church 
 as a pohty or household, now it becomes a temple. Now there are 
 three things which are required to fulfil the Divine Idea. 
 
 There is the tree which bears fruit (John xv. 1-10 ; Eom. xi.), 
 and the Church is planted and nourished by Divine Grace in order 
 that it may bring forth fruit unto God. 
 
 There is the Body under one Head which makes all the members 
 active and energetic in their places and yet act as one (1 Cor. xii.). 
 
 There is the temple, because the Church is the place or sphere of 
 the true worship of God, as St. Peter describes (1 Pet. ii. 4), "To 
 whom coming, as to a living stone, disallowed indeed of men," &c. 
 " Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy 
 priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God by 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 " And are built upon the foundations of the Apostles and Pro- 
 phets." "Who are the prophets here mentioned? We are told 
 
Chap. II.] THE CHIEF CORNER STONE. 181 
 
 ^ apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself beino' * i Cor. xii. 
 
 y^^ X.- 4^ J. 28. ch.iv.ll. 
 
 ^ the chiei corner stone ; y ps. ,.xviii. 22. 
 
 Is. xxviii, 16. 
 Matt. xxi. 42. 
 
 that they cannot be the Jewish prophets because they are mentioned 
 after the Apostles. But surely this is a poor argument. The Chris- 
 tian Church is said by St. Peter to be built upon the foundation 
 of the prophets, when he says, " To him bear all the prophets wit- 
 ness." But this need not exclude the prophets of the New Testa- 
 ment who not only foretold the future, but especially were endowed 
 by the Spirit with insight into the mysteries of the Gospel (1 Cor. 
 xiii. 2). 
 
 But how can the Apostles and Prophets be called the foundation, 
 seeing that there is one foundation, even Jesus Christ ? We answer, 
 that as Christ is the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets them- 
 selves, so they are our foundation. The laying of the foundation in 
 the case of each individual soul is the teaching of that soul. Now 
 we are not taught by the lips of Christ Himself as the Apostles 
 were, but through those of SS. Peter, Paul, and John, who heard His 
 teaching and deUvered it to the Church and the Church to us. The 
 teaching or witness of the Apostle is between every Christian and 
 Christ. No man is or can be built upon Christ Himself except 
 through the intervention of those who heard Christ. And so with 
 the Prophets. Look at the multitude who are built upon the foun- 
 dation of Isaiah, the most distinguished prophet, through his fifty- 
 third chapter, and other prophecies. The very Apostles themselves 
 were in a sense built upon it. 
 
 Jesus Christ being the Alpha and Omega — the beginning and the 
 end, the first and the last— is at once the foundation and the top- 
 stone. The building rests upon Him, and the building is united 
 above in Him. 
 
 There is great dif&culty amongst expositors in reconciling the 
 two images, Christ the foundation, and Christ the head of the 
 comer, or chief comer stone. Some suppose that the latter is the 
 lowest stone of the principal angle of the building, in which the two 
 walls join and by which their respective hnes are regulated ; others 
 suppose that it is a large stone running up one corner and uniting 
 the two walls ; others that it is a stone at the top. It should be re- 
 membered that it is impossible to explain this metaphor, because the 
 building itself is a mystery, as it is a growing building, not growing 
 
182 ALL THE BUILDING GROWETH. [Ephesiaxp. 
 
 ^ ch. iv. 15. 16. 21 ^ In whom all the building fitly framed 
 &vi.i9.'"2 " together groAveth unto *an holy temple in the 
 
 Cor. vi. 16. T n 
 
 Lord : 
 
 by being built with hands, but from some inherent life. Thus St. 
 Peter describes it as a building composed of living stones which 
 are made living by coming to and touching One Which is Hving and 
 so Life-giving : "To whom coming as to a living stone .... ye 
 also as living stones are built up a spiritual house " (1 Pet. ii. 4, 5), 
 The idea seems to be that the building grows in proportion to a 
 stone which is at the head. The outward or physical idea, so to 
 speak, is incomprehensible, but the inward and spiritual teaching 
 is the plainest possible. We are built up upon Christ as the foun- 
 dation, for His Godhead, and Incarnation, and Atonement, are 
 the foundation of the whole religion ; and we are built up ac- 
 cording to His example. The topstone is in heaven, and all the 
 building of living stones rises up to it, and takes its proportions 
 from it. 
 
 21. "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth,'* 
 &c. This seems to be in accordance with what I have said respect- 
 ing the chief corner stone being not a part of the foundation or 
 resting upon it, but at the head of the building, so that the growth 
 of the whole building is regulated by its size, or form, or position. 
 So in the next chapter the Head, even Christ, is He " from whom 
 the whole body is fitly joined together and compacted." The 
 body, if it is to be in symmetry, must grow in proportion to the 
 head. 
 
 22. " In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of 
 God through the Spirit." Here again the three persons of the 
 Trinity are joined together as co-factors in the foundation and 
 building up of the Church. The whole is in Christ — it is through 
 the Spirit — it is that God may dwell in it. " The Lord hath chosen 
 Zion to be an habitation for Himself, He hath longed for her. This 
 shall be my rest for ever, here will I dwell for I have a delight 
 therein." "What then is the object of this building? It is that 
 God may dwell in this temple. For each of you severally is a 
 temple, and all of you together are a temple. And he dweUeth in 
 you as the Body of Christ, and dwelleth as in a spiritual temple." 
 We must remember that in old times the idea of a temple was not 
 
Chap. III.] AN HABITATION OF GOD. 18^ 
 
 22 ^ In whom ye also are builded together for an habita- 
 tion of Grod through the Spirit. » i Pet, ii. 6. 
 
 only a place to which worshippers resorted, but in which the 
 Deity especially dwelt. Worshippers resorted to it because they 
 supposed that God was peculiarly there ; and so " God is in the 
 assemblies of Christian worshippers of a truth " (1 Cor. xiv. 25). 
 
 CHAP. m. 
 
 FOR this cause 1 Paul, ^ the prisoner of Jesus » A' ts xxi. 33. 
 ^, . . ^ ^ ., & xxviii. 17, 
 
 Christ, for you Grentiles, 20. cb.iv. 1. 
 
 *' & vi. 20. 
 
 Phil. i. 7, 13, 
 14, 16. Col. 
 
 iv. 3, 18. 2 
 
 1. " For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus J'^; 'phiitm 
 Christ for you Gentiles." " For this cause," that is, i. 9. 
 because ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but Cr^. i 24.^^* 
 fellow citizens. " In whom ye are builded together 2Tim. ii. 10. 
 for an habitation." If these blessings belonged to 
 them so that they were entitled to them, they should know them, 
 and reaUze them, and live up to them. 
 
 *' I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles." In the 
 Epistles written during his imprisonment he frequently refers to 
 that imprisonment in order to draw out the love of his Gentile 
 converts for whose sake he suffered it. Three times he mentions 
 it in this Epistle, here and in iv. 1 and in vi. 20, where he describes 
 himself as " an ambassador in bonds." Also in Phil. i. 7, 13, 14, 
 16, and very touchingly as connected with his advanced years in 
 the letter to Philemon, " Being such an one as Paul the aged, and 
 now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ." The reader, of course, 
 knows that he was not a prisoner as being immured in a dungeon, 
 not able to speak except by special permission, but rather as a man 
 under restraint, the restraint of being chained to a soldier who kept 
 him ; and so, in all probability, having full liberty to attend all 
 meetings for worship, or preaching, or instruction. He was cer- 
 
184 THE DISPENSATION. [Ephesians. 
 
 c Rom. i. 5. 2 If ye liave heard of ^ the dispensation of 
 
 cor.'iv/i. the errace of Grod "^ which is given me to you-; 
 
 ch. iv. 7. Col. J" o J 
 
 i. 25. ward : 
 
 »i Acts ix. 15. 
 
 & xiii. 2. 
 
 Rom. xii. S 
 
 Gal. i. 16. 
 
 ver. 8. 2. "If ye have heard." Rather, " Since ye heard." 
 
 tainly able to receive " all that came in unto him," and to preach 
 to them the kingdom of God (Acts xxviii. 30, 31). 
 
 " For you Gentiles." He was a prisoner, not so much for preach- 
 ing Jesus Christ as for preaching the equality of all men in Christ. 
 The circumstance which led to his imprisonment in Eome was the 
 riot in the Temple, instigated by the words, " Men of Israel, help. 
 This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the 
 people, and the law, and this place " (Acts xxi. 28). 
 
 This place. Consider how the words just written about " the 
 whole building fitly framed together, growing into an holy temple 
 in the Lord," might be taken as spoken disparagingly against the 
 material temple in Jerusalem. 
 
 2. "If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God 
 which is given," &c. *' If ye have heard." This is understood by 
 many commentators as proving that the Epistle to the Ephesians 
 was a circular Epistle to be sent to many churches, some of which 
 may not have been founded by St. Paul, or ever visited by him. 
 It is inferred that if he had preached two or three years in Ephesus, 
 he could not have expressed as a somewhat doubtful matter whether 
 they had heard the principal feature of his message. But we must 
 remember that the word "if" (dye), may not express doubt, but 
 rather certainty, as meaning, "seeing that," "inasmuch as" ye 
 have heard. 
 
 " The dispensation of the grace of God." Rather, " the steward- 
 ship." A dispensation, in the larger sense of the Jewish or Chris- 
 tian dispensation, cannot be committed to any one, but the steward- 
 ship of it can, and it required a wise and faithful steward to dispense 
 such a mystery. 
 
 "Which is given me to you-ward." He was especially sent by 
 Christ to the Gentiles : " Depart, for I will send thee far hence 
 unto the Gentiles " (Acts xxii. 21). 
 
 8. " How that by revelation he made known unto me the mys- 
 tery," &c. The mode in which the revelation was conveyed to 
 
Chap. III.] BY REVELATION. 185 
 
 3 * How tliat ^ by revelation ^ lie made known e Acts xxii. 17, 
 
 unto me the mystery ; C' as I wrote || afore in few is! 
 
 T f Gal. i. 12. 
 
 ^^O^ds, S_Rom.xyi. 
 
 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand If ^°^' ^- ^^' 
 my knowledge ' in the mystery of Christ) h ch. i. 9, 10. 
 
 5 ^ Which in other ages was not made known [e/ore^ 
 unto the sons of men, ^ as it is now revealed unto j.jj ^f^'ig^' ^* 
 his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit ; ^ Acts x. 28. 
 
 ver. 9. 
 1 cb. ii. 20. 
 
 him was Kke that by which he received the details respecting the 
 institution of the Eucharist (1 Cor. xi). It was perhaps by vision, 
 perhaps by secret suggestion, or an inpouring of light more or less 
 sudden. Anyhow it cannot be Hmited to such a message as that 
 which he received in a trance in the Temple (Acts xxii. 17-21), for 
 that was a command rather than a revelation of a mystery. 
 
 "As I wrote afore in few words." This does not refer to some 
 former Epistle, but to former words of his in this Epistle. It may 
 be understood, " as I have just written," or " written above." He 
 had written a few words upon this mystery in chap. i. 11-23, and 
 ii. 11-22. 
 
 4. " Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge," 
 &c. They would perceive if they referred back to these words of 
 this letter that the Apostle had knowledge, not only of a bare fact, 
 the admission of both Jews and Gentiles on equal terms into the 
 Church of Christ, but of the mystery of the fact — rather of the 
 mystery of Christ — on what that mystery rested. It rested on the 
 mystery of the Second Adam, the New Head of the race in Whom, 
 late though He came into the world, aU could be gathered together 
 in one. The words to which he referred, few though they were, 
 would indicate what a grasp of this mystery God had given to him. 
 
 5. "Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of 
 men, as," &c. This does not mean that there were no intimations 
 of a future reception of the Gentiles, as in Gen. xviii. 18, and xxii. 
 18, and in Psalm xxii. 27 ; but that the exceeding graciousness of the 
 way by which Jews and Gentiles were all to be brought into one 
 in Christ was but very faintly, if at all, revealed. In other ages it 
 was not made known, as it is now revealed irnto His Holy Apostles 
 and prophets, by the Spirit, 
 
186 THE GENTILES FELLOWHEIRS. [Efhesians. 
 
 m Gal. iii. 28, 6 That the Gentiles *" should be fellowheirs^ 
 
 n ch. ii. 15, it5. and ° of the same body, and ° partakers of his 
 
 o Gal. iii. 14. promise in Christ by the G-ospel : 
 
 P Rom. XV. 16. ^ T . . 
 
 Col. i. 23, 25. 7 P Wliereof I was made a minister, ^ according^ 
 
 r Rom.xv!i8. to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by 
 
 i?29' ^^' ^'^^' ' ^^^ effectual working of his power. 
 
 The words of the Apostles Peter and James, at the council held 
 in Jerusalem, show that the Apostles of the circumcision entered 
 very fully into the acknowledgment of this mystery, as particularly 
 the words of Peter, '* Put no difference between us and them, puri- 
 fying their hearts by faith." But who are the prophets here? 
 Probably this term is here to be used in a very extended sense, as 
 indicating all ministers, all who preached and taught with any 
 assistance of the Spirit. 
 
 6. " That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same 
 body," &c. The Apostle's meaning would, I think, be brought out 
 more clearly if we read this as " That the Gentiles are co-heirs, and 
 co-members of one body, and co-partakers of his promise by 
 Christ." 
 
 All these are different descriptions of the same mystery. 
 
 We are co-heirs, because Christ is the Heir, and we are in Him. 
 
 We are co-partakers of God's promise, because to the one Seed 
 of Abraham were the promises made, and we are in Him. 
 
 This place is much to be thought of, for in it St. Paul himself 
 teaches us what is the central truth of his theology. It is not 
 justification by faith so much as membership in Christ. Justifica- 
 tion by faith is absolutely needful, because faith is God's require- 
 ment, before we can receive the blessing of union with Christ. 
 Christ and Justification by Christ, and Atonement through His 
 Blood, and Baptismal Incorporation into His Body, are all of 
 faith. Without faith they can neither be apprehended, nor 
 realized, nor continued in ; but faith is the means to an end, and 
 that end is inherence in Christ. 
 
 7. " Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the 
 grace," &c. The gift was a gift of grace to fulfil the Apostleship to 
 which God called him, and this grace was mighty in accordance 
 with the effectual working of God's power. God first gave the gift, 
 and assisted by His power the working of it out in such ways as 
 
Chap. UL] UNSEARCHABLE RICHES. 187 
 
 8 Unto me, ' who am less than the least of all ' i cor. xv. 9.. 
 saints, is this grace given, that * I should preach 15. 
 among the Gentiles " the unsearchable riches of & it, s.' \^' 
 
 ni,,^-o+ Tim. ii. 7. 2 
 
 Chnst ; Tim. i. 11. 
 
 9 And to make all men see what is the fellow- ", ^;^-. \l' 
 
 Col. 1. j7. 
 
 ship of '' the mystery, ^ which from the beginning ^ ver. 3. ch. 
 
 y Rom. xvi. 
 
 25. ver. 5. 
 9. " Make all men see." So B., C, D., E., F., G., K., L., P., most 1 Cor. ii. 7. 
 Cursives, Ital., Vulg. ; but N, A., 67**, omit " all men." ^°'- *• ^'°' 
 
 9. " The fellowship." With very little authority ; but S, A., B., C, D., E., F., G., K.,, 
 L., P., most Cursives, Ital., Vulg., Syriae, Copt., read " the economy." 
 
 the conversion of individual souls, the building up of churches, 
 the exercise of discipline (1 Cor. v. 3, 4, 5) and the overthrow of 
 adversaries. 
 
 8. " Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this 
 grace given," &c. God's having forgiven St. Paul, was to him no 
 reason why he should forgive himself. He cherished the memory 
 of his former persecuting and cruel life, to keep himself humble, 
 and to magnify the grace of God in His having made such an one 
 as he had been an effectual instrument of His grace. 
 
 *' The unsearchable riches of Christ." Riches which could not 
 be tracked out — beyond all reach of investigation. The knowledge, 
 the power, the grace, the love are alike infinite. And it must be 
 so if He is very God. And yet though beyond all power of search- 
 ing or investigation, we are yet to search and investigate them^ — 
 their being beyond our reach, is no reason why we should not go 
 as far as we can in tracking them out. 
 
 9. "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the 
 mystery," &c. Some MSS. and authorities omit " all men," in 
 which case we must understand Gentiles, *' and to make them (the- 
 Gentiles) see (or enlighten them upon)." 
 
 " What is the fellowship of the mystery." All the great uncials 
 and other authorities read " the economy, or dispensation of the 
 mystery," which is, no doubt, the genuine reading. The one 
 meaning, however, shades into the other, the principal feature of 
 the new dispensation is the Catholic fellowship, the gathering 
 together of all things into one in Christ. 
 
 "Which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God,, 
 who created all things," &c. Chrysostom supposes that the economy 
 
188 HID IN GOD. [Ephesians. 
 
 John f ?'"■ ^* ^^ *^^ world hath been hid in God, ^ who created 
 Col. i. 16. all thins^s by Jesus Christ : 
 
 Heb. 1. 2. . 
 
 a 1 Pet. i. 12. 10 * To the intent that now ^ unto the princi- 
 
 i> Rom. viii. 38. 
 h. i. 21. 
 
 Col. i. 16. 
 
 1 Pet. lii. 22. 
 
 9. " By Jesus Christ." Omitted by s. A., B., C, D., P., G., P., 17, 47, 68, 73, d, e, f, 
 g, Vulg., Syriac, Cop., Arm,, .<Eth., Goth. ; but retained by E., K., L., and most 
 
 of the mystery, so far as regards the admission of the Gentiles, 
 was hidden even from the angels. " Angels knew only this, that 
 ihe Lord's portion loas His people. And again it is said, ' The 
 Prince of Persia [meaning the Guardian Angel of Persia] withstood 
 me.' So that it is nothing to be wondered at that they were 
 ignorant of this, for if they were ignorant of the circumstances of 
 the return from the captivity, much more would they be of these 
 things. And the more so, for the glad tidings were these, * "Who 
 shall save ' (the Prophet Hosea saith) * his people Israel.' Not a 
 word about the Gentiles. But what concerns the Gentiles the 
 Spirit revealeth. That they were called indeed, the Angels knew, 
 but that it was to the same privileges as Israel, yea, even to sit 
 upon the throne of God, this, who would ever have expected ? Who 
 would ever have believed ? " It seems to me doubtful, however, 
 if we can go so far as this. 
 
 " "Who created all things by Jesus Christ." This is apparently 
 thrown in by the way. God, who created all things — that is, the 
 universe of intelHgent creatures — being infinitely good and merci- 
 ful, is only likely to care for them, and to gather them together in 
 Christ. 
 
 The preponderance of authorities is against retaining the words, 
 ■" by Jesus Christ." The fact, however, that He did so, is certain 
 from John i. 3 ; Colos. i. 16 ; Heb. i. 2. 
 
 10. " To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers 
 in heavenly," &c. I dwelt upon this place in my Excursus on 
 Election in Notes on the Epistle to the Eomans, and I will now 
 Teproduce the substance of what I then said, as it seems to point 
 the way to a practical solution of the difficulties which many have 
 felt respecting Predestination. 
 
 God has two purposes in carrying out the providential scheme 
 of the world. He desires to judge all men for the deeds done in 
 
Ch-U'. III.] THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD. 189 
 
 palities and powers in heavenly places '^ miglit be known by 
 the Church the manifold wisdom of God. \ \f^y^-^ /-^ 
 
 their bodies, at the judgment-seat of His Son at the last day. But 
 it is intolerable to think that the Son of God, the righteous Judge, 
 wUl judge men who have not been perfectly free agents, who hava 
 been compelled by a superior power to do good or to do evil, for 
 which good or evil they will be rewarded or punished. So that it 
 is impossible to reconcile the idea of Election, as generally under- 
 stood, with the idea of an infinitely just and perfect judgment at 
 the bar of Christ. And yet there is no truth so much insisted upon 
 as this just judgment. 
 
 So that it is impossible to suppose that God chooses men before- 
 hand to be on the right hand, or on the left, at that day. 
 
 But God, in creating the Church has, according to this verse on 
 which we are now commenting, another purpose. It is to show 
 His manifold wisdom in the government or ordering of that 
 Church, not only to men, but to the principalities and powers in 
 heavenly places. Now we men, from om* low and narrow stand- 
 point, can see what a number of lessons may be gathered from the 
 providence of God, as displayed in the history of the Church ; as, 
 for instance, the height to which men are raised in virtue and 
 goodness by the reception of the truth, the knowledge which by its 
 teaching they attain to respecting God and eternal things ; and, 
 on the other hand, the evil of divisions, the extraordinary per- 
 manence of such divisions, the baneful effects of superstition, and 
 yet the healing character of a firm hold on the Incarnation in 
 mitigating much of the evil of such superstition. We can see the 
 innate opposition between the Spirit of the Church and that of the 
 world, the disintegrating nature of all government except the Apos- 
 tolic, the tendency of established bodies to stagnate, and of sects to 
 decline from the faith, the necessity of holding firmly to all the 
 words of Christ, or of His Spirit, even though we may not be able 
 to reconcile them. Now if God has a preconceived and settled plan 
 in causing His Church to solve, or at least to approach to the 
 solution of so many problems of the deepest importance to respon- 
 sible intelligences. He must choose beforehand His instruments, 
 only we must remember that any power which God brings to 
 bear upon His instruments will, in no degree whatsoever*^ affect 
 
190 THE ETERNAL PUEPOSE. [Ephesians. 
 
 11 ''According to the eternal purpose whicli he purposed 
 •d ch. i. 9. in Christ Jesus our Lord : 
 
 tch. ii. IS. 12 In whom we have boldness and ^ access 
 
 f Heb. iv. 15. ^with confidencc by the faith of him. 
 
 their place at the Judgment Seat of His Son. No matter what the 
 difficulty, the infinite justice of the Judgment of Christ, and the 
 instructions to be afforded to the highest angels by the fortunes of 
 the Church, which necessitates a choice long beforehand of instru- 
 ments on God's part, are each to be held in absolute integrity. 
 But I must refer the reader to pages 354-358 of my Excursus in 
 Notes on the Epistle to the Romans, for the fuller investigation 
 of this matter. 
 
 11. "According to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord." It was in the counsels of God from eter- 
 nity to make this world the theatre of events which should afford, 
 even to the highest intelligences, lessons in His Infinite Wisdom, 
 and it was no marvel that it should be so, inasmuch as this world 
 was the scene of the Incarnation, and of the Life of the Eternal Son 
 under the conditions of a creature, and of His Death, whereby God 
 found means of reconciling all things to Himself, whether things 
 •on earth or things in heaven. 
 
 12. " In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by 
 the faith of him." The word " boldness " is used in the latter part of 
 this Epistle, vi. 19 (" that I may open my mouth boldly") of bold- 
 ness in speaking to men ; here it seems to signify rather confidence 
 and filial freedom in coming to God. 
 
 " And access with confidence." Even the High Priest, the 
 greatest minister of the Old Covenant, could not be said to have 
 ■*' access with confidence " into the presence of God, seeing that he 
 was in danger of death if he omitted any of the ceremonies where- 
 with he was to enter into the Holy of Holies ; whereas we have 
 such a promise as " Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my 
 Name, he will give it you," and such as " Having therefore, brethren, 
 boldness to enter into the hohest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new 
 and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, 
 that is to say, his flesh " (Hebr. x. 19). 
 
 " By the faith of him." The faith here is the truth respecting 
 His Divine Nature and work which is proposed to the acceptance 
 
Chap. III.] I DESIRE THAT YE FAINT NOT. 191 
 
 13 ^Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribula- 
 tions ^ for you, ' wliicli is your glory. ^ Acts xiv. 22. 
 
 14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the 1 Thess. ui. 3. 
 Feather of our Lord Jesus Christ, i 2 cor. i. 6. 
 
 14. "Of onr Lord Jesus Christ." So D., E., F., G., K., L., most Cursives, Ital., Vulg., 
 <5oth., Syr.; but omitted by K, A., B„ C, P., Copt., ^th. 
 
 ■of our faith. If God has redeemed us at such a cost, the thought 
 of such grace and goodness naturally, one would say, excites con- 
 £dence. 
 
 13. " Wherefore I desii'e that ye faint not at my tribulations for 
 you," &c. Why should they faint at his tribulations ? Because in 
 the rehgions which then prevailed throughout the world, tribula- 
 tions and distress were held to be the signs of the anger of the 
 Deity, whereas the Humiliation, Life, and Crucifixion of the Man 
 of Sorrows has changed all this utterly. Now instead of looking 
 upon distress as a sign of the anger of God, we look upon it as a 
 sign of God's favour, in conforming us in this respect to the image 
 of His Son. We interpret it by the words, " Rejoice, inasmuch as 
 ye are partakers of Christ's suffering" (1 Pet. iv. 13), and other 
 words, as *' If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with 
 sons " (Heb. xii. 7), and *' Count it all joy when ye fall into divers 
 trials " (James i. 2). 
 
 " Which is your glory." Why yotir glory ? Because it was a 
 sign that they were very dear to God, and very high in His favour 
 if He permitted one of His chiefest servants to suffer on their 
 behalf. The sufferings of the martyr and confessor are the glory 
 of the whole Church. 
 
 14, 15. " For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our 
 Lord .... is named." "I bow my knees." This posture in 
 prayer is, as Wordsworth says, commended to us by the example of 
 Christ (Luke xxii. 41), by that of the dying Stephen (Acts vii. 60), 
 by that of St. Peter (Acts ix. 40), and by that of St. Paul (Acts xxi. 
 5), and is prescribed by God Himself (Rom. xiv. 11). 
 
 This seems to signify that all created paternity is derived from 
 the uncreated. So Aquinas. 
 
 We cannot express in the English the connection in the original 
 between the word *' Father " of verse 14, and the " family " of verse 
 
192 THE WHOLE FAMILY. [EphesianS. 
 
 k ch.i 10. 15 Of whom ''the whole family in heaven and 
 
 Phil. a. 9, 10, •^ 
 
 11. earth is named. 
 
 I-h^?"?' '^i'hn ^^ That he would grant yon, ^according to the 
 
 iv.'l9. ' Col. i.' 
 
 27. ' 
 
 16. " The whole Family." " Every family," Rev. 
 
 15. It is, "I bow my knees unto the Father (Pater) of whom 
 every patria (or race) is named." 
 
 The word " family " in the Scriptures does not refer so much to a 
 particular family inhabiting one house under one father or head as 
 to races, or rather, to clans. 
 
 No doubt St. Paul in using this phraze here intends to signify that 
 all the Gentiles being the children of Adam, and each one being 
 brought into the world by a particular act of the will and power 
 of God, can all claim God as their Father, and are all of the natural 
 family of God, as we may say. This is particularly agreeable to the 
 beginning of a prayer put up by him on the behalf of Gentiles. 
 
 The Fatherhood of God through the Incarnation and Mediation 
 of Jesus Christ is so exceedingly great that it puts into the back- 
 ground His Natural Fatherhood, so that we are apt to forget it ; but 
 David did not when he prayed, " Thy hands have made me and 
 fashioned me : give me understanding that I may learn thy com- 
 mandments " (Ps. cxix. 73). 
 
 This text has various interpretations. St. Athanasius supposes 
 it to imply that God as Father of the Son is the only true Father, 
 and that all created Eternity is a shadow of the true (" Orat. in 
 Arian," i. 23). S. Jerome says, " As He Who alone is good makes 
 men good, and Who is alone immortal bestows immortality (1 Tim. 
 vi. 16), and Who alone is true (Kom. iii. 4), imparts the name of 
 truth, so too the only Father, in that He is Creator of all, and the 
 cause of substance to all, gives to the rest (of fathers) to be called 
 father." 
 
 But why race or family " in heaven " as well as in earth ? This 
 is a secret thing on which we cannot venture to intrude for a mo- 
 ment, only we should gather that as there are kingdoms in heaven 
 under various principalities, so there are races in some sort analo- 
 gous to those on earth. 
 
 16. " That he would grant you, according to the riches of his 
 glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner 
 man ; " 
 
Chai. III.] STRENGTHENED WITH MIGHT. 193 
 
 riches of his glory, ™ to be strengthened with might by his 
 Spirit in ° the inner man ; ^ f^- ^i- lo. 
 
 ^ . ' . Col. i. 11. 
 
 17 °That Christ may dwell in your hearts by "Rom.vii. 22. 
 faith ; that ye, ^ being rooted and grounded in o john'xiv. 23. 
 
 ^^^®' P Col. i. 23. & 
 
 ii. 7. 
 
 17. " That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith," &c. All 
 these astonishing things respecting the mystery of all things being 
 made one in Christ, were addressed to the intellect in order that 
 they might be received by the heart, and excite in that heart the 
 deepest and sincerest love of God ; and now St. Paul proceeds to 
 pray for this on their behalf. 
 
 Now observe the remarkable connection of the ideas. A. 
 strengthening by the Spirit in the inner man, in order that Christ 
 may dwell therein by faith. How is it that the Apostle prays that 
 the inner man may be strengthened, so that Christ by faith may 
 dwell therein ? Should we not have thought that he would rather 
 have prayed that the inner man may be enlightened, or purified,, 
 or warmed by love ? But he prays that their inner man may be 
 strengthened. Now this is because, from his point of view, unbe- 
 lief is the weakness, and faith is the strength of the soul. Faith 
 is that in the soul which lays hold on unseen things: Chris- 
 tian faith is that which apprehends, or lays hold of the unseen 
 Saviour. Owing to the sin of our nature, the soul, or spirit, or 
 inner man is miserably weakened in its very noblest faculty, its 
 faith by which it apprehends the Unseen God. Faith is the eye by 
 which the soul sees Christ, and by sin that eye has become weak 
 and dim. Faith is the hand which lays hold on Christ, and 
 by sin that hand is palsied. Now when the Spirit of God 
 strengthens the soul, the first effect of this strengthening is that 
 the soul has restored to it the faculty of faith in unseen and eternal 
 things. The eye of the soul is strengthened so that it sees the Son 
 of God ; the arm of the soul is strengthened so that it lays hold 
 upon Him, and the whole inner man is strengthened so that it 
 should be able to support the presence of such a Guest, for He hath 
 promised " He that eateth my Flesh, and drinketh my Blood, 
 dwelleth in me and I in him." ^ Many are the promises respecting 
 
 1 This I have reproduced from a. sermon of mine published nearly thirty years ago. 
 
 O 
 
194 BREADTH, LENGTH, DEPTH, HEIGHT. [Ephesians. 
 
 18 "^ May be able to compreliend with all saints •" what is 
 ^ ch. i. 18. i\^Q breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; 
 
 ' Rom. X. 3, 
 
 11, 12. 
 
 the astonishing effect of faith, such as "in that day ye shall know 
 that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you " (John xiv. 
 16-20). " I in them, and thou in me " (xvii. 23), " Christ is in you 
 of a truth " (1 Cor. xiv. 25) ; also Coloss. i. 27, " Christ in you," 
 and iii. 11, " Christ is all and in all." 
 
 " That ye, being rooted and grounded in love." What is this 
 love in which we are to be rooted and grounded ? Not the love of 
 God only, but the love of our neighbour — of the brethren. Thus 
 St. John, "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how 
 can he love God whom he hath not seen? " (1 John iv. 20). 
 
 But does not the Apostle say, rooted and built up in Him ? Yes, 
 but how can we be built up in Christ unless we attend to His own 
 particular commandment, " A new commandment I give unto you 
 that ye love one another as I have loved you." 
 
 18. " May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the 
 breadth and length," &c. St. Paul seems here to indicate the in- 
 finity of Eedemption, or of the love of Christ, if we supply what 
 seems deficient from the next verse. Eedemption itself, as well as 
 the love of Him Who wrought it, is infinite, in its length, reaching 
 through eternity — in its breadth embracing the whole intelUgent 
 creation — in its depth descending to the depths of Hades — in its 
 height ascending to the throne of God. Many of the ancient 
 Fathers (but not Chrysostom nor Theodoret), see here a reference 
 to the cross, which above all other things is the symbol of the love 
 of Christ, pointing upward to heaven, downward to hell, and its 
 arms extended to the ends of the earth. Thus Origen (quoted in 
 Wordsworth) : " By the cross He ascended up on high, and led cap- 
 tivity captive, by it He descended to the lowest parts of the earth 
 (iv. 9), and by it He extendeth Himself to the length and breadth 
 of the whole world." 
 
 The place, however, refers to the greatest of mysteries, unattain- 
 able in its height, unsearchable in its depth, infinite in its extension, 
 and had better be left as it is and not defined, particularly if we 
 join with it the next verse. 
 
 19. " And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," 
 &c. " The love of Christ "—in becoming Incarnate— in enduring the 
 
Chap. III.] ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD. 195 
 
 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth know- 
 ledge, that ye might be filled ^ with all the fulness « John i. le. 
 
 OI (jrOd. Col. ii. 9, 10. 
 
 20 Now * unto him that is able to do exceeding » Rom. xvi. 25. 
 abundantly " above all that we ask or think, "" ac- u^f cfrii 9 
 cording to the power that worketh in us. f '^er. 7. Coi. 
 
 contradiction of sinners, whilst living among them — in dying— in 
 rising again — and in interceding : all is unsearchable ; and so with 
 the love of Christ to the Church, and the love of Christ to each soul, 
 in pardoning it, illuminating it, instructing it, bearing with it ; all 
 is unsearchable, all passeth knowledge. This is the happiness of those 
 who belong to Christ, that the prospect before them is boundless. 
 As it is the greatest happiness of the creature to know God, so it is 
 a happiness in which he will always be progressing. 
 
 " That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." The ful- 
 ness of God in the Christian will be the fulness of Divine grace and 
 knowledge. " That ye may abound in all the gifts of God, as with 
 all knowledge of God in the mind, and with all love in the heart, 
 and so that ye may be strong and enduring, and never fail or fall 
 short of His Grace." Bernardine h Piconio. 
 
 20. " Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above 
 all that we ask or think." He becomes conscious, as it were, that 
 he has been praying on their behalf for impossibilities, that they 
 should know a love which passeth knowledge, and be filled with 
 the fulness of Him Who is infinite ; but though this is beyond all 
 human endeavour or even imagination or thought, God has put into 
 them His power, i.e.. His Spirit to work in them: for that is the 
 " power that worketh in us." And this Spirit is the third Person in 
 the Trinity. He is God, and can act in our souls with the power 
 of the Creator, enlarging, deepening, exalting, transforming, and so 
 that which seems impossible to men is possible with God. A time 
 there was with holy souls when they could not have asked for 
 what God has given to them, or thought of what God has revealed 
 to them. 
 
 21. " Unto him be glory in the Church in (or by) Christ Jesus 
 throughout," &c. To Him, that is, to God the Father, " of Whom 
 and through Whom and to Whom are all things." 
 
 The literal rendering of the last clause is " to all the generations of 
 
196 UNTO HIM BE GLORY. [Ephesians. 
 
 21 ^XJnto him he glory in the Church by Christ Jesua 
 & xvi"2?'* ^^' tlii'o^gliout all ages, world without end. Amen. 
 
 Heb. xiii. 21. 
 
 21. " In the Church by Christ Jesus." So K., L., P., most Cursives, Syriac, Arm., 
 iEth., but s. A., B., C, 17, 73, 18, 230, Vulg,, Copt., read "in the Church and in Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 the ages of ages." Eternity can only be expressed by this accumu- 
 lation of expressions of duration. This doxology is founded on 
 verse 10. " To the intent that now to the principalities and powers 
 in heavenly places might be known, by the Church, the manifold 
 wisdom of God." 
 
 Some MSS. read "in the Church and in Christ Jesus." But 
 surely all the glory which accrues to God from the Church is in 
 Christ Jesus, for we cannot conceive of any glory in the Church 
 to God apart from Him. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Phiiem"}*9 T 'I'HEREFOEE, nhe prisoner || of the Lord, 
 II Or, in the i bcseech you that ye ^ walk worthy of the vo- 
 >> "phii. i. 27. cation wherewith ye are called. 
 
 Col, i.'lO. 
 
 1 Thess. ii. 12. 
 
 1. *' I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye," &c. 
 The Apostle began the last chapter with calhng himself the prisoner 
 of the Lord, and then, as his manner so frequently is, went off to 
 assert the mystery of the call of the Gentiles, the asserting of which 
 was the real cause of his imprisonment. The whole of the last 
 chapter, then, is in a parenthesis, and now he begins practically to 
 apply the astonishing truths which he had ennunciated, and the 
 application is still more surprising than the truths themselves, for 
 he teaches us that revelations which seem to exalt us to heaven 
 itself are to be responded to, not by lofty thoughts and soaring 
 imaginations, but by self-abasement. We walk worthy of our vo- 
 cation, not merely by entertaining grand spiritual ideas and lofty 
 aims, but by submitting to do lowly duties. 
 
Chap. IV.] WITH ALL LOWLINESS. 197 
 
 2 '^ With all lowliness and meekness, with loner- «= Acts xx. 19. 
 sunering, forbearing one another m love ; Coi. lii. 12, 13. 
 
 2. •* With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, for- 
 bearing one another," &c. This is the echo of the Lord's very first 
 teaching, " Blessed are the poor in spirit," — "blessed are they that 
 mourn," — " blessed are the meek," — "blessed are the merciful," — 
 *' blessed are the peacemakers." Whether we ministers and 
 teachers feel these humble and humbling things in our own ex- 
 perience, we are bound to teach them as required by God and as the 
 counterpart in ourselves to the highest truths. For when the 
 highest truths, such as the Incarnation, the Headship of Christ over 
 all things, the Church the mystical body under the Headship of the 
 God-man — the fortunes of the Church as the means of instructing 
 the princes of the heavenly hosts in the manifold wisdom of God — 
 when these things are revealed to the soul and are duly received by 
 it, instead of inflating the soul they abase it : " Am I, such as I am, 
 called by God to know and receive and contemplate these things ? 
 who and what am I that I should be thus made to know the highest 
 things of God — the things which the angels desire to look into ? " 
 
 2. " With all lowliness." " Not that which is in words, nor that 
 which is in actions only, but even in one's very bearing and tone of 
 voice : be not lowly towards one and rude towards another ; be lowly 
 towards aU men, be he friend or foe, be he small or great." (Chry- 
 sostom). 
 
 " And meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in 
 love." Thus in the Epistle to the Galatians : *' Kestore such an 
 one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be 
 tempted "(vi.l). " With long-suffering " — the most difficult of Chris- 
 tian virtues, and the one in which the example of the Incarnate Son 
 is most conspicuous ; " Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, 
 when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself unto him 
 thatjudgeth righteously" (1 Pet.ii.23). ** Forbearing one another in 
 love ; " not, as Quesnel says, " to bear with the faults of our neigh- 
 bour through insensibility, or through a certain sweetness of temper 
 or human complaisance, or worldly civility or temporal interest, but 
 to do it through a true and most Christian charity." '* How is it 
 possible to forbear if a man be passionate or censorious ? He hath 
 told us, therefore, the manner: in love, saith he. If thou, he 
 
198 THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. [Ephesians. 
 
 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit **in tt'e 
 d Col. iii. 14. bond of peace. 
 
 would say, art not forbearing to thy neighbour, how shall God be 
 forbearing unto thee ? If thou bearest not with thy fellow servant, 
 how shall the Master bear with thee ? (Chrysostom.) 
 
 3. " Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
 peace." This is that for which the Lord prayed in His great inter- 
 cessory prayer, *' Keep through thine own name those whom thou 
 hast given me, that they may be one as we are." (John, xvii. 11.) 
 
 What is the unity of the Spirit ? It is this : The Holy Ghost is 
 one holy Divine Person, Who by His attribute of Omnipresence, 
 has power to enter into and dwell in the spirits of all men. Being 
 One Person in each soul, He would make each one believe, and love, 
 and think alike : but He has respect to the separate personality of 
 each soul, and so He gives Himself most fully to him who will re- 
 ceive Him most fully. Some welcome Him into them ; some 
 restrain Him; some even, at times at least, grieve and vex Him ; His 
 mission to each one is to show to him the things of the same Christ, to 
 graft in his heart the love of the same God, and to cleanse each one 
 after the same Pattern of Holiness. But ail this is to be seconded 
 by the endeavours of each one, so that endeavouring to keep the 
 unity of the Spirit is endeavouring to receive all the teaching, all the 
 love, all the cleansing of this one Divine Person. 
 
 This is our endeavour, and we are to work out this endeavour in 
 the bond of peace. We are, that is, not only to do this as to God, 
 but as to our brethren, acting with them, not separating ourselves 
 from them ; but even looking upon them as in the same family as 
 ourselves, and this because, — 
 
 4. " There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in 
 one hope of your calling." " One body," i.e., the mystical Body, the 
 Church. This body consists of members who are all united 
 together under one Head. " As the body is one and hath many 
 members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are 
 one body, so also is Christ." " The body is not one member but 
 many." *' Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in parti- 
 cular." (1 Cor. xii.) Now is this body visible ? Of course it is, or 
 the Apostle would not call it a body. He calls it a body as being in 
 its natm*e different from Spirit, though inhabited by Spirit. Body 
 
Chap. IV.] ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT. 199 
 
 4 ^ There is one bodj, and ^one Spirit, even as • Rom. xii. 5. 
 ye are called in one ^ hope of your calling : 13. ch. li. le. 
 
 f 1 Cor. xii. 4, 
 
 11. 
 
 g ch. i. 18. 
 4. " Are called." " Were called." 
 
 and Spirit are as different from one another as two things created 
 by God can be. And so he says : " There is one body, there is 
 one Spirit." But again, is this body organized ? it must be so if it 
 is to be properly called a body. A body is not a mere mass of un- 
 formed flesh — but if it is a body, it must have members, must have 
 nerves, must have joints and bands, and all things that properly 
 belong to the human frame. 
 
 But in what does the unifying organization consist? We are 
 told many times that it is (under Christ) in the Apostolic fellow- 
 ship. Thus, of the first planted Church, it is said that they " con- 
 tinued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship " (Acts. ii. 
 42). Thus St. Paul, in speaking of the Church with reference to 
 its unity, writes : " God hath set some (members) in the Church, 
 first Apostles" (1 Cor. xii. 28). St. Paul always writes to every 
 Church as if he was over them in the Lord. Thus he writes : " So 
 ordain I in all Churches ; " "I praise you that ye keep the ordi- 
 nances as I delivered them unto you " (1 Cor. vii. 17, xi. 2). " Ye 
 both do and will do the things which we command you." " We 
 command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 *' Such we conunand and exhort " (2 Thess. iii. 4, 6, 12). 
 
 Is there anything else in which consists the Unity of the Body ? 
 Yes, in the Sacraments. Baptism is mentioned in the next verse, 
 and the Holy Communion, as specially the condition of Unity, in 
 1 Cor. X. 17, •' We being many, are one bread and one body, for 
 we are all partakers of that one bread." 
 
 " One Spirit," the Holy Spirit, by which there is the Unity of one 
 life throughout the Body. I have mentioned it many times, and 
 note it here again, that the Apostles always assume that the Holy 
 Spirit is given to all — not to some, but to all in the Church. All 
 are held answerable for having received Him — all are commanded 
 to be filled with Him — all are bid not to grieve or quench Him. 
 
 "Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." What is 
 the hope of your calling ? It is the hope of being raised again in 
 the likeness of Christ's glorious body. " It doth not yet appear what 
 
200 ONE LORD, FAITH, BAPTISM. [Ephesians. 
 
 1 1 Cor. i. 13. 5 ^ One Lord, * one faith, ^ one baptism, 
 
 & viii. 6. & xii. r ' 
 
 5. 2 Cor. xi. 4. 
 i Jude 3. ver. 
 13. 
 
 28^H'eb''v/'6 ^® ®^^^ ^^' ^^* ^^ know that when he shall appear 
 * * ' we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is " 
 (1 John iii. 2). There may be many things comprehended in this 
 hope, but this the emphatically one hope of our calling. 
 
 5. " One Lord, one faith, one baptism." One Lord ; the Saviour ; 
 emphatically One and the same to all men, everywhere, in all 
 ages — the one Mediator — the one Judge of quick and dead, to 
 Whom even the Father has committed all judgment. "One faith " — 
 the faith once delivered unto the saints, the one faith professed at 
 the one baptism ; the faith in which, if we would be presented 
 holy and unblamable, and unreprovable, we must continue 
 " grounded and settled," — the mystery of Godliness, the first article 
 of which is the Incarnation. This faith is the setting forth of the 
 Lord Jesus as originally in the form of God, and equal with God, 
 as Incarnate, Crucified, Eisen, Ascended, and Eetuming to Judge. 
 This is the faith, the One faith, the common faith which God has 
 revealed to our faith — that the individual faith of each one of us 
 should apprehend it and hold it fast, and be united to God by its 
 apprehension. 
 
 One able writer has said, " One faith, not a common creed, but 
 a common trust in Christ for eternal righteousness and eternal 
 glory." But on reading this, the question instantly rises up. Who 
 is this Christ that we should thus trust in Him for eternal righteous- 
 ness and eternal glory ? What man can give us eternal righteous- 
 ness and eternal glory ? The only adequate answer is in the 
 words of the Creed, " The only-begotten Son of God, begotten of 
 his Father before all the ages . . . who for us men and for our 
 Salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy 
 Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man." If it be said that 
 this is implied, we answer that it should not only be implied, but 
 that it is due to God to express it, and the words of the Creed are 
 the expression of the fundamental truths of salvation, not only in 
 the simplest words, but in the order in which the events occurred 
 in the Divine Procedure. 
 
 " One Baptism," in which this faith is first professed, and in 
 which through the action of the Holy Spirit, we are grafted into 
 the Body of Him Who was Incarnate, crucified, and raised again 
 
Chap. IV.] UNTO EVERY ONE OF US. 201 
 
 6 One G-od and Father of all, who is above all, ' Mai. ii. lo. 
 
 1 Cor. viii. 6. 
 
 and "^ through all, and m you all. & xu. 6. 
 
 7 But " unto every one of us is given grace ac- „ j^^",'™' ^j^j' .,'' 
 cording to the measure of the gift of Christ. ^-^ ^ ^°^- -''"• 
 
 6. " In you all." " You " omitted by S, A., B., C, Copt., ^th., &c. " In you all " 
 read in D., E., F., G.. K., L., five Cursives, d, e, f, g, Vulg., Syr. 
 
 for US. According to the words of the Apostle, " By one Spirit we 
 are all baptized into one Body." 
 
 6. " One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through 
 all," &c. All leads up to the Father, God the Father, the fountain 
 of Deity, as He is sometimes called in the fathers. First, the 
 Spirit, as the counterpart of the one Body, then the Lord the Son, as 
 the Divine Head ; and as the Head of Christ is God, then the Father, 
 of Whom, and through Whom, and to Whom are all things. 
 
 Expositions slightly different are given of this account of the 
 relations of the Father to His creatures. The best seems to be that 
 of Chrysostom : " Above all, that is, above and over all ; and 
 through all, that is, providing for, ordering all ; and in you all, that 
 is, Who dweUeth in you all." (Blunt.) 
 
 7. "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the 
 measure," &c. Does this *' every one of us," or rather " each one of 
 ns," refer to all the members of the Church, or only to some ? Though 
 it is abundantly true that all members of the Church have a gift 
 of the Spirit to enable them to be, and to continue, and act as 
 members of Christ, yet here the Apostle seems to refer to those 
 who have ministerial gifts — gifts for the edification of the body. 
 This we gather from verse 11, all between verses 7 and 11 being 
 the exposition or application of a prophecy. 
 
 " According to the measure of the gift of Christ." This seems to 
 mean that Christ, Who alone has received the Spirit absolutely, 
 without measure, distributes the Spirit according to the faith, or 
 powers, or capacities of each one. Thus in the parable of the talents. 
 He gives to one five, to another two, to another one. In His infinite 
 wisdom He measures out differently to each one. For this 
 measuring out to each, see 1 Cor. xii., particularly 7, 8, 27, 28. 
 
 8. *' Wherefore he saith. When he ascended up on high, he led 
 captivity captive," &c. Why does the Apostle quote this passage ? 
 Evidently because it is the most striking prophecy in the Old 
 
202 WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH. [Ephesians. 
 
 8 Wherefore he saith, "When he ascended up on high, 
 • Ps. ixviii, 18. Phe led || captivity captive, and gave gifts unto 
 
 P Judg. V. 12. 
 
 Col. ii. 15. men. 
 
 Itudel/Tap. ^ *^ (^^^ *^^* ^® ascended, what is it but that 
 
 tivts. ^Q a^lgQ (descended first unto the lower parts of the 
 
 q J<.hn iii. 13. ^ 
 
 & vi. 33, 62. earth ? 
 
 9. "Descended first." "First" omitted by N, A., C, D.. E., F., G., 17, 46, 67**, 73, 
 d, e, g, Vulg. (Amiat.), Cop,, Sah,, jEth, ; but retained by B., K., L., P., most Cursives, 
 Goth., Syriae. 
 
 Testament of the Messiah receiving gifts for men, and that on His 
 Ascension into heaven. The Apostle had prayed for the Ephesian 
 converts, that they might reahze the exceeding greatness of God's 
 power to those who believe, which He wrought in Christ when He 
 set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. Then there 
 began to be one Body and one Spirit inhabiting that Body, One 
 Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. 
 
 But besides the general gift, which each one in the Church 
 possessed for his own salvation, there were particular gifts to 
 certain members of the Church who received them to use for the 
 benefit of the whole body. These gifts began to be poured out on 
 His Ascension. 
 
 '• For men." The Hebrew is literally, in man, ^Jlfc^n. So the 
 Septuagint, Iv av9poj7r<{t, which, signifies not "for man," but "in man," 
 that is, I suppose, in human nature. He received the fulness of 
 the Spirit not in His Divine, but in His Human Nature ; and He 
 received It not for Himself, but that He might impart It to His 
 brethren, so that though the rendering "for man " does not express 
 the literal meaning of the Hebrew or Septuagint, it expresses what 
 must be implied in the passage. He received the Spirit to dis- 
 pense that Spirit. 
 
 The clause, " He led captivity captive," is best explained by the 
 parallel passage in Coloss. ii. 15 : " Having spoiled principalities 
 and powers. He made a show of them openly, triumphing over 
 them in it." The place cannot be satisfactorily interpreted, because 
 it refers to what took place in the sight of the heavenly hosts, and 
 not in the sight of men. 
 
 9, 10. ("Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also 
 descended first into the lower parts, &c., that he might fill all 
 
Chap. IV.] HE GAVE SOME APOSTLES. 203 
 
 10 He tliat descended is the same also *■ that «• Acts i. 9, 11. 
 ascended up far above all heavens, ^ that he might Heb. iV. u. 
 
 II fill all things.) viii. 1. &'ix, 
 
 11 *And he gave some, apostles; and some, s Acts u. 33. 
 prophets ; and some, *" evangelists ; and some, B ^'^ f^^fi'- 
 
 ^ ^ ' & 5 ' t 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
 
 * pastors and ^ teachers ; ch. ii. 20. 
 
 u Acts xxi. 8. 
 2 Tim. iv. 5, 
 
 X Acts XX. 28. 
 
 y Bom. xii. 7. 
 
 things.") What is this descent, and why is it introduced here ? 
 Most commentators suppose that it signifies the descent into 
 Hades. No doubt it was introduced here to set forth the extreme 
 humiliation of the Lord : His Body was laid under the earth in the 
 grave, and His Spirit descended still further down into the place 
 of departed spirits. The Lord had said, " The Son of man shall 
 be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. xii. 
 40). If it should be asked why the Lord's humiliation is specifi- 
 cally mentioned, we answer that the whole passage forms part of 
 an exhortation to humility ("with all lowliness and meekness," 
 &c.). It is the constant habit of the Apostle to turn out of his 
 way, as it were, when any word suggests to him the main lesson 
 he desired to teach. The Lord might not have descended lower 
 than the grave, but it was His Will to accept all the conditions of 
 our death as well as of our life. 
 
 How is it that He ascended in order that He might fill all 
 things ? In order that He might fill them with His power. By 
 descending He took possession of the regions into which He de- 
 scended ; and by ascending He filled with His power all the 
 universe. " He descended," says he, " into the lower parts of the 
 earth, beyond which there is none other, and He ascended far 
 above all things to that place beyond which there is none other. 
 This is to show his divine energy and supreme dominion '* 
 (Chrysostom). 
 
 11. *' And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, 
 evangehsts." " He gave." The proper rendering is " He Himself 
 gave," emphasizing the fact that all ministry springs from Him 
 personally. 
 
 " Some Apostles ; " rather some, as Apostles, or some to ba 
 Apostles. Four ministries are enumerated, not as asserting that 
 
204 THE PERFECTING OF SAINTS. [Ephesians. 
 
 ■ 1 Cor. xii. 7. 12 ^ For the perfecting of tlie saints, for the 
 
 there are four orders of ministers, but as mentioning those who 
 were especially endued with the Spirit at that time. 
 
 The Apostles were the especial organs of the Spirit — the especial 
 representatives of Christ ; according to the words of the Lord, " As 
 my Father sent me, even so send I you, and when He said this He 
 breathed on them, and saith unto them, Keceive ye the Holy 
 Ghost " (John xx. 21). They comprehended in themselves all the 
 functions of the ministry. They governed as bishops; they 
 directed and led the Churches as pastors, even laying themselves 
 out for pastoral house to house visitation (Acts xx. 20) ; they did 
 the works of Evangelists in preaching to the heathen, and they 
 prophesied (2 Thess. ii.). 
 
 The prophets not only prophesied, as Agabus, declaring future 
 events, but made known special revelations from God, and unfolded 
 mysteries (1 Cor. xiii. 2). 
 
 The Evangelists cannot here signify any one of the four, but 
 seem rather to have been the preachers of the Gospel to the 
 heathen. The only one mentioned by name is Philip (Acts xxi. 8). 
 The pastors and teachers seem to have represented the local 
 ministry. 
 
 It may be asked why there is no mention here made of the orders 
 of the ministry — bishops, or presbyters, and deacons ? Evidently 
 because the Apostle is here occupied, not with orders of ministry, 
 feut with gifts of the Spirit, which were more conspicuous in 
 apostles and prophets at least than in the ordinary Presbyterate 
 and Diaconate. It was not because these orders were not yet in- 
 stituted, for bishops and deacons are expressly mentioned in an 
 Epistle written within a year of this — that to the Philippians. 
 
 It may also be asked, why there is no specific mention of govern- 
 ing power ? We answer, because St. Paul was the sole governor of 
 the Churches which he planted. This was a function of his 
 Apostolate, and during his lifetime he never parted witli it, or 
 even shared it with any other, and when he died it devolved, as it 
 naturally would, upon those whom he had so closely associated 
 "with himself and who knew all his mind. 
 
 12. "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
 ininistry," &c. The first "for," (for the perfecting), is a difi"erent 
 preposition {Trpbc) to the one in the latter clause (ft'e). In the 
 
Chap. IV.] A PERFECT MAN. 205 
 
 1 Cor. 
 26. 
 
 work of the ministry, ^ for the edifying of ** the 
 
 body of Christ : b ch. i. 23,^ 
 
 13 Till we all come || in the unity of the faith, ^°o^'^ into the 
 
 «and of the knowledge of the Son of God, nnto ^ a «"^^y' 
 
 ° c Col. iu 2. 
 
 perfect man, unto the measure of the || stature of d 1 cor. xiv. 
 
 the fulness of Christ : y qj.^ ^^^ ' 
 
 last revision it is rendered "for the perfecting of the saints unto 
 the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ." 
 Chrysostom, however, whose vernacular was Greek, makes no 
 difference. "Each one edifies, each one perfects, each one 
 ministers." 
 
 The perfecting seems not to refer to the private character of 
 each saint, but to the compacting together of one and all in one 
 body. 
 
 " For the work," or rather, for " work of ministry," as if all sorts 
 of ministerial work in the Church were here included. 
 
 For building up of the Body of Christ, ■i.e., for fashioning each 
 stone of the spiritual temple, and putting it in its place. This 
 is the work of God, but He does it by the operations of the 
 minister. 
 
 The reader will see that in this verse the Apostle has in his eye 
 not the edification of each individual person considered as an unit, 
 but of each member or stone as part of a body or temple. 
 
 13. " Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
 knowledge, .... measure of the stature," &c. There is the same 
 preposition in all the clauses of this verse ; the Kevisers render it, 
 " Till we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge 
 of the Son of God, unto a perfect man," &e. He who has attained 
 to the unity of the faith, and hy it to the knowledge of the Son of 
 God, has attained to perfect manhood. The unity of the faith here 
 is not merely the great facts of the Catholic creed, but the lively 
 apprehension of these facts. From this comes the true knowledge 
 of the Son of God, as a Person, having personally to do with each 
 true and faithful member of His Body. So that we not only know 
 about Him, but know Him. But is not charity required to form the 
 perfect man ? Yes, but the true knowledge of the Son of God can- 
 not be without charity. As St. John writes : " He that loveth his 
 brother abideth in the hght," i.e. in Christ the light (1 John ii. 10). 
 
206 THAT WE BE NO MORE CHILDREN. [Ephesians. 
 
 9 ^^I'coT^xiv -^'^ That we henceforth be no more ® children, 
 20- ^tossed to and fro, and carried about with every 
 
 I Matt. xi. 7* ° wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and 
 h Rom. xvi. 18. running craftiness, ^ whereby they lie in wait to 
 
 deceive ; 
 2Cor.'iv. 2. ' 15 But || spcaking the truth in love, ''may 
 John ii'i. 18. grow up into him in all things, ' which is the head, 
 \in:e'^^ evenQhri^t: 
 
 k ch. i. 22. & 
 
 ii. 21. ■ — . 
 
 1 Col. i. 18. 
 
 " Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Christ 
 alone possesses the full stature — He alone is absolutely the perfect 
 man. We have to attain to a measure of His fulness — to a parti- 
 cipation in His perfection ; and for this the ministry, every office 
 and degree of it, is constituted and ordained by God. With a view 
 to this may we ever pray, " Almighty God, by Whose Spirit the 
 whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified, receive our 
 supplication and prayers for all estates of men in Thy holy Church, 
 that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry may 
 truly and godly serve Thee " (Collect for Good Friday). 
 
 14. " That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, 
 and carried about," &c. Here the Apostle uses three figures to 
 describe the fickleness of unstable Christians. They are like 
 children who are always led by the last speaker, particularly if 
 he delivers what he has to say with confidence and vehemence. 
 They are like ships without ballast, which are at the mercy of 
 every gale of wind. They are like the dupes of gamesters who 
 are despoiled of their property by trickiness, by the skilful mani- 
 pulation of the dice, as Theodoret explains : " The Apostle calls 
 craft, Kviieia, which is from the verb Kv^tvio, to play at dice. Now 
 gamesters of this sort use to move the dice to and fro, and do 
 this craftily." If Christians, under Apostolic regimen, and taught 
 by inspired prophets and evangelists, were thus in danger of 
 making shipwreck of their faith, and being despoiled of their 
 inheritance, much more should Christians now in this age be 
 on their guard. 
 
 15. "But speaking the truth in love." "Speaking the truth 
 in love," has been variously rendered. Thus Alford : " Being 
 followers of truth in love." Eevisers (margin) " dealing truly in 
 
Chap. IV.] FROM WHOM THE WHOLE BODY. 207 
 
 16 "Trorn whom the whole body fitly joined together and 
 compacted by that which every joint supplieth, "' Coi. «. 19. 
 according to the effectual working in the measure 
 
 love." EUicott : " holding the truth in love." The latter seems 
 nearest to the idea of the Apostle. It can scarcely signify what is 
 ordinarily meant by " speaking the truth," — that is provided for 
 in verse 25. Wiclif and the Rheims translation have *' doing the 
 truth : " for which compare John iii. 21 : " He that doeth truth." 
 
 *' May grow up into him in all things, which is the head." The 
 mystical Body is to grow up to the standard of the Head, fully 
 developed as that is, so that there may be symmetry between the 
 two. It is to grow up in accordance with the Head. 
 
 16. " From whom the whole body, fitly joined together and 
 compacted." The meaning of this verse is, that as the human 
 body grows by the vital force flowing from the brain by means of 
 the nerves through each joint, and this vital force acts in each part 
 according to the need of each part (the working in the measure of 
 each several part) and so subserves to the increase of the body in 
 harmonious proportion ; so the mystical Body of Christ, which 
 also is fitly joined together and compacted for the better conveyance 
 of grace from Him, grows by grace flowing from Him, which grace 
 flows through the appointed channels into each part, according to 
 the place that part has to fulfil in the body, and so the whole 
 mystical body increases in due proportion, no part being un- 
 naturally large or abnormally strong ; but to this the willing, loving 
 co-operation of the members amongst themselves must conduce. 
 To the increase of the body each member must bring love or 
 charity, so that it may act in unity with its fellow members, for all 
 the true and healthy increase of the body depends on that. 
 
 A question or two arises. 
 
 What in the mystical body is the " being fitly joined together 
 and compacted? " Evidently that which in the natural body we 
 call the nervous system. If the nervous connection fails in joining 
 the head to any particular member, then that member ceases to 
 grow and ceases to act ; and so in the mystical body there are 
 channels of grace, which channels of grace are the ministry, and the 
 word and sacraments administered by such ministry. This is no 
 doubt what the Apostle means, for the verse is not an isolated one, 
 
208 EDIFYING IN LOVE. [Ephesians. 
 
 of every part, maketh increase of the body unto tlie edifying 
 of itself in love. 
 
 17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ''ye 
 n ch. ii. 1, 2, henceforth walk not as other G-entiles walk, ° in 
 Col. iii.'?. ' the vanity of their mind. 
 
 1 Pet. iv. 3. '' 
 
 ® Rom. i. 21. 
 
 17. "As other Gentiles walk." So E., K., L., P., most Cursires, Syriac, Goth., Arm. ; 
 but N, A.. B., D., F., G., 10, 17, 47, 51, 67, d, e, f, g, Vulg., Sah., Copt., ^th., omit 
 " other." 
 
 but follows upon verse 8, where Christ is said to give gifts unto 
 men ; upon verse 11, which explains these gifts as ministerial func- 
 tions, apostles, prophets, &c. ; upon verses 12 and 13, which tell us 
 that these are all ordained for the edifying of the body of Christ, 
 that the whole Church, and each member of it, may all come to 
 the perfect man : upon verse 15, where all that precedes is gathered 
 into " that we may grow up into him in aU things." So that this 
 verse, following upon those which precede it, reveals to us, no 
 doubt, the Church, as it exists in the mind and intention of 
 Christ, and as revealed by Him to His Apostle. 
 
 But a second question presents itself. Is this the actual state of 
 the Church now ? To which we answer, we do not know but what 
 it is. Notwithstanding all divisions, declensions, superstitions, 
 hypocrisies, fanaticism, coldness, Christ may discern these joinings, 
 these compactings, these joints of supply, and may act through 
 them. Surely this wonderful letter could not be written for one 
 century. It must be written for all time. Of one thing we can be 
 most certain, that if any minister or private member of the Church 
 would strive to act up to the ideal of this verse it would be the 
 most blessed thing possible for himself, for those to whom he 
 ministers, and for those with whom he comes in contact. 
 
 17. " This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye hence- 
 forth walk not," &c. There is a very marked change in the teach- 
 ing of the Epistle in this place. St. Paul here begins to insist upon 
 the practical nature of the high doctrine with which, to this point, 
 he had been occupied. He first commenced this practical applica- 
 tion in verse 1 of this chapter, but was led away from it by the 
 mention of the One Body — on the organization and spiritual growth 
 of which he dwells to the last verse, and then he resumes the thread 
 which he had dropped in verse 4, 
 
Chap. IV.] THE UNDERSTANDING DARKENED. 209 
 
 18 ^ Having the understanding darkened, ^ being p Acts xxvi. 
 alienated from the life of God through the igno- q ch.ii. 12. 
 
 Gal. iv. 8. 
 1 Thess. iv. 5. 
 
 " This I say therefore." Therefore, because you are in a system 
 of grace, receiving strength and power to live to God through the 
 joints of supply in the mystical body which I have just mentioned. 
 
 *' And testify in the Lord." St. Paul generally uses this word 
 emphatically. To " testify in the Lord" seems almost of the nature 
 of an oath, and shews his very deep feeling of the importance of that 
 which he is about to teach them. 
 
 "As other Gentiles," rather as "the Gentiles" — the unconverted 
 Gentiles — " walk in the vanity of their minds." Vanity does not 
 mean here conceit, but rather emptiness — nothingness — worthless- 
 ness. Not only were the gods of the heathen nothing and so worth- 
 less, but even their apprehensions of a future state were without any 
 real foundation. And this vanity or worthlessness was not harm- 
 less, but degrading. What could the worship of such deities as 
 Venus and Bacchus do for their votaries, but to lower them, and 
 destroy what remained of the original light within them ? 
 
 18. " Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from 
 the life of God . . . blindness (or hardness) of their heart." "The 
 understanding darkened." When we read some of the moral specu- 
 lations of some of the great philosophers of Greece, we are tempted 
 to think that however unclean were their hearts, their intellects 
 were unclouded ; but it is not so. There seems to have been 
 (I speak, of course, on so vast a subject under correction) no idea of 
 the hoHness of God, and, in very few, any idea of His absolute 
 justice. And any true conceptions of God and unseen things were 
 only the property of a few ; totally unlike the revelations of the 
 Jewish Scriptures, in which the moral character of God seems ex- 
 pressed in the simplest terms and brought down to the comprehen- 
 sion of the poorest : see for instance the first Psalm, the ten com- 
 mandments, and the greater part of the book of Proverbs. 
 
 " Being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance 
 that is in them, because of the blindness [hardness] of their heart." 
 Two things apparently, the Apostle says, contribute to their aliena- 
 tion from the life of God, their ignorance, and the hardness of 
 their hearts which led to this ignorance. 
 
 Now with respect to this hardness of heart, the reader must re- 
 
 p 
 
210 BLINDNESS OF THEIR HEART. [Ephesians. 
 
 •• Rom. i. 21. ranee that is in them, because of the ' || blindness 
 , Or, hardness, ^f their heart : 
 
 member that the Lord predicates it of His own people, the Jews, 
 where it is said, " He looked upon them, being grieved for the 
 hardness of their hearts." Again, and still more to the point, the 
 inspired Apostle writes, " Blindness (or hardness, the same word, 
 TTwpwffic,) in part has happened unto Israel." (Eom. xi. 25.) So 
 that this blindness, or hardness, which has come upon the Gen- 
 tiles, and is at the root of their ignorance, may be judicial, as 
 indeed it is said to be in Kom. i. 28: *' As they did not hke to retain 
 God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate 
 mind," &c. 
 
 We are to remember that in what he writes, the Apostle is not 
 revealing the future state of the Gentiles, but simply urging the 
 Christian, or converted Ephesians, not to imitate them. And as far 
 as I can see, nothing further. If the Apostle had been asked about 
 their state in another world, he would, I believe, have turned round 
 sternly on his interrogator, and said what he has written before, 
 *' Them that are without, God judgeth." (1 Cor. v. 13.) 
 
 But a question arises, Does the Apostle here speak of the Gentiles 
 as a body, or does he speak more of individuals? I think the 
 former. He would scarcely say of any individual Gentile that he 
 T^as of himself through his own action alienated from the life of God, 
 because he inherited his ignorance and hardness of heart ; but I 
 have shown in my notes on Eomans i. 18-23, that this is true of the 
 whole Gentile world, that they universally fell from a better faith 
 {certainly of the Unity of God) and a purer worship. But still we 
 must remember that God will judge, not worlds, not nations, but 
 individuals, and God will at the last reveal His secret working in 
 each individual soul, and then it will be seen that there was a crisis 
 in each man's inner life, in which he began to turn to the witness 
 of God within him (no matter how feeble) or to turn from it. If 
 he had turned to the good, much of the ignorance would have been 
 dispersed. If he turned to the evil, the hardness occasioned by 
 this would make the ignorance more invincible. All this seems to 
 me to be demanded by the inspired Apostle's assertion in Rom. ii. 
 14, 15, 16. 
 
 19. " Who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto 
 
Chap. IV.] BEING PAST FEELING. 211 
 
 19 * Wlio being past feeling ^ have given themselves over 
 unto lasciviousness, to work all nncleanness with * i Tim. iv. 2. 
 
 , . » Rom. i. 24, 
 
 greediness. 26. iPet. 
 
 20 But ye have not so learned Christ ; 
 
 21 " If so be that ye have heard him, and have " ch. i. 13. 
 been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. 
 
 lasciviousness." " Past feeling " — being utterly insensible to the re- 
 proofs or lashes of conscience. " Have given themselves over to 
 lasciviousness to work," &c. In Rom. i. 24, 26, it is said that God 
 gave them over, here they are said to have given themselves over. 
 Both are true, for both are the same. God gave them up to them- 
 selves to shew what, if left to themselves, they would do : and they 
 did what had become natural to them, " They gave themselves over 
 vmto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness." This 
 we learn not from the declarations of Scripture, but from the pages 
 of their popular writers, their wall paintings, and their statutes. 
 What must have been the state of a city whose principal temple 
 had 1,000 prostitutes as its priestesses ? 
 
 20, 21. " But ye have not so learned Christ ; if so be that ye have 
 heard him, and," &c. To learn Christ is not only to learn His doc- 
 trine or His teaching, or even the holiness of His example. It is 
 beyond all this. It cannot be expressed in words, but it can be felt 
 after : perhaps the best aid to our learning Christ is in His own 
 words, " I am the way, and the truth, and the hfe; no man cometh 
 unto the Father, but by me." It is to learn that He is the way to 
 God by coming to God through Him ; to learn that He is the truth 
 of God, by apprehending Him as the Image of God ; to learn that 
 He is the Life by beginning to live with His Life. It comprehends 
 the reception of all the teaching respecting His Person and work, 
 and of all His example and all His precepts. St. Paul expresses his 
 own experience of thus learning Christ when he speaks about 
 knowing Him, " and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellow- 
 ship of His Sufferings." (Phil. iii. 10.) 
 
 Did the Ephesian Christians then so learn Christ ? They had 
 begun to do so, and if they had begun, they were in the way of 
 going on to know more and more — but as to the perfection of this 
 knowledge, it will be the employment of an eternity to acquire it. 
 
 21. " If so be ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, 
 
212 PUT OFF THE OLD MAN. [Ephesians. 
 
 22 That ye "'put off conce; 
 conversation ^tlie old man, wl 
 cording to the deceitful lusts ; 
 
 Col. ii. 11. 22 That ye "" put off concerninp' ^ the former 
 
 v., iii 8 9 »/ X o 
 
 Hebr. xii.' 1. conversation ^ the old man, which is corrupt ac- 
 
 1 Pet, ii. 1 
 r ch. ii. 2, .S. 
 ver. 17. Col. 
 iii. 7. 1 Pet. 
 
 iv. 3. — 
 
 ' Roin. vi. 6. 
 
 as the truth is in Jesus." The words, " if so be," do not express a 
 doubt, but rather certainty, "seeing that ye heard Him, and were 
 taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus." They had heard Him— not 
 only about Him, for He spake to them in the accents of His Apostle, 
 and they were taught in Him according to that which He, the 
 wisdom of God, knew to be the truth. The word truth is without 
 the article in the original, but it can scarcely be rendered in Eng- 
 lish without it : for not only is there truth in Jesus, but " the truth." 
 Truth is not something indefinite, but something definite — and here 
 it signifies what is expressed in the next verse — the putting off of 
 the old man and the putting on of the new. 
 
 Wliatever the truth in Jesus is (and who can measure it ?) it is 
 tmth according to HoUness, and according to Godliness. This is its 
 first feature, that it is a sin-destroying, sanctifying truth, transform- 
 ing the man who heartily receives it into the image of God. 
 
 22. " That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old 
 man." The former conversation, i,e., the former manner of hfe — 
 that described in verses, 17-19. 
 
 " That ye put off ... be renewed . . . and that ye put on the new 
 man." The important question arises, does the Apostle here refer to 
 a past or to a present putting off? If we are led by the teaching of 
 two strictly parallel passages, it signifies that they had at a definite 
 point of past time ^Dut off the old man, and begun to be renewed, 
 and put on the new man. These places are Eomans vi. G, "Know- 
 ing this, that our old man was (not is) crucified with him, that the 
 body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve 
 sin : " and still more plainly, Coloss. iii. 9, " Lie not one to another, 
 seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds ; and have 
 put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image 
 of him that created him." Both these refer to a past putting off 
 and putting on — a deliverance from the guilt of sin, and an endow- 
 ment with power against sin given at Baptism. 
 
 And yet this past putting off, and putting on, must be fol- 
 lowed up by a present putting off and putting on : for the old man> 
 
CiiAP. IV.] BE RENEWED. 213 
 
 23 And ^ be renewed in the spirit of your » Rom. xii. 2. 
 nimd ; b Rom. vi. 4. 
 
 24 And that ye ^' put on the new man, which GaU^vi! "15. * 
 after God *^ is created in righteousness and || true coi.'iii.^fb. 
 holiness. ' *^h. ii. 10. 
 
 II Or, holiness 
 
 of truth. 
 
 though weakened, is not destroyed. He remains within us, and if 
 not constantly resisted, nay, constantly crucified, will again reassert 
 his power. Any grace given in Baptism, or at any other time, as at 
 Confirmation, has to be renewed. We have constantly to make an 
 act of faith, and to say, " I have been crucified with Christ ; I have 
 died with Him. I am His, how can I wilfully sin against Him? " 
 " CoiTupt according to the deceitful lusts " — the lusts of deceit, not 
 as if deceit itself lusted ; but because the lust itself deceives. It pro- 
 mises pleasure and it always inflicts pain. It promises content- 
 ment and it inflicts remorse. It says that you may gratify yourself 
 with impunity, and in the end you find God against you, and His 
 wrath pursuing you. 
 
 23. "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." That is, by 
 the Holy Spirit working in you the new heart and the right 
 spirit. 
 
 24. "And that ye put on the new man, which, after God, is 
 created in righteousness." The new man is no other than Christ 
 Himself, Who is given to us so that we should be clothed with Him. 
 ■" As many of us," the Apostle says, " as have been baptized into 
 Christ have put on Christ ; " and yet the putting on of Christ is a 
 daily work, for the same Apostle says to the baptized Eomans, 
 •" Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the 
 flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." (Rom. xiii. 14.) 
 
 This is not putting on an outward profession, but it is an invest- 
 ing of the innermost soul or spirit with Him, without Whom, in the 
 sight of a heart-searching God, our spirits are naked. 
 
 " Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.'' 
 The Second Man is the new creation of God, and is the express 
 image of God's Person, and so this Second Man is "after God", that 
 is, after the image of God, created in righteousness and true holiness, 
 and He is given to us in order that, being invested with Him, we 
 should be truly righteous and holy. 
 
 25. " Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with 
 
214 PUTTING AWAY LYING. [Ephesians. 
 
 25 Wherefore putting away lying, ** speak every man truth 
 
 d zeeh. riii. with his neis^hbour : for ® we are members one of 
 
 16. ver. 15. . ^ 
 
 Col. iii. 9. another. 
 
 f Ps^Tv T & ' ^^ ' -^® y® angry, and sin not : let not the sun 
 
 xxxvii. 8. gQ (joAvn uj)on your wrath : 
 
 his neighbour," &c. The Apostle now descends to particularize the 
 vices of the old man which are to be put off, and the virtues of the 
 new which are to be put on. 
 
 *' Putting away lying, speak every man," &c. Lying destroys all 
 confidence in human society. Now the members of the mystical 
 body have to work together in unity, and the first condition of this, 
 is that there must be no deceit, and so the Apostle reminds them of 
 the unity of the Body. We, in Christ, are members one of another. 
 If we are to work together in the common cause of Christ we must 
 be true to one another. 
 
 We cannot help noticing in passing what a hold this truth of our 
 being members of Christ must have had upon St. Paul if he could 
 use it with respect to such a vice as lying. The members of 
 the human body are dumb, and cannot speak to one another, and 
 yet in a certain sense they must be true to one another : but St. 
 Paul ignores the seeming impropriety of the allusion, or at least its 
 indirectness, because he would ground all relations of Christians to 
 one another on the unity and common sympathy of the members- 
 of a body to their fellow members. (Comp. 1 Cor. xii.) 
 
 26. " Be ye angry and sin not : let not the sun," &c. If we are not 
 angry when we see oppression, fraud, injury, and successful wicked- 
 ness in such matters as seduction, we can have no hatred of sin,, 
 and so we cannot have the mind of God with respect to what is evil ; 
 and yet this anger of God in numberless cases ends in bringing the 
 sinner to repentance, and destroying, not himself, but his sin. And 
 in our indignation against successful villany, we must bear in mind 
 constantly this undoubted truth, that in every case of successful 
 fraud or seduction of innocence, the knave or the seducer does far 
 more injury to himself than he does to the person he has injured. 
 Christ, Who is an infinitely just Judge, and has all the resources of 
 omnipotence and eternity at His disposal, will see to it that full 
 amends are made by the wrong-doer to the wronged one. He will 
 not allow the wrong-doer to hide himself in imputed righteousness. 
 
Chap. IV.] RATHER LET HIM LABOUR. 215 
 
 27 ^ Neither give place to the devil. « 2 cor. ii. 10, 
 
 28 Let him that stole steal no more : but rather iv* 7. 1 Pet. 
 
 V 9 
 
 ^ let him labour, working with his hands the thing h'Acts xx. 35. 
 which is good, that he may have || to give 'to him i^ ^2'^Thess. 
 thatneedeth. T;^'}''J^' 
 
 . _^ I! Or, to ais- 
 
 trilmte. 
 
 28. "Him that stole." Lit. " the stealer-the thief." * ^'^^^ "** •^^• 
 
 when he has made no effort to undo the mischief he has done. 
 The judge of all the earth must not only be an Inflicter of punish' 
 ment, but a Redresser of wrongs. And this must be in our minds 
 as a fixed principle in all our indignation against sin, if we would 
 *' be angry and sin not." 
 
 All commentators, almost as a matter of course, allude to Bishop 
 Butler's Sermon on Resentment, and if my reader has either not 
 read it, or does not remember its leading teaching, he should without 
 fail make or renew acquaintance with it. 
 
 I have spoken above of resentment against sin ; but with reference 
 to resentment against private injuries to ourselves (which we must 
 remember may not be sin) we must constantly call to mind the Lord's 
 words, " Do good to them that hate you." " Pray for them which 
 despitefully use you and persecute you." 
 
 *' Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." "Wesley says on 
 this : " Reprove your brother, and be reconciled immediately. Lose 
 not one day." A clear, express command, and Wesley adds the 
 question, " Reader, do you keep it ?" 
 
 27. " Neither give place to the devil." If you allow angry or 
 unforgiving thoughts to nestle in your mind you will find that you 
 cannot pray, and this will give Satan a ready entrance, for by prayer 
 alone do we lay hold on God's strength against our enemy. And 
 this applies not only to angry, but to unclean, or lustful, or cove- 
 tous thoughts. By keeping such thoughts in our minds we drive 
 away the good Spirit of God, and we allow the evil spirit to enter. 
 
 28. "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him 
 labour," &c. This precept also is grounded, though not so directly, 
 on membership in the one Mystical Body under Christ the Head. 
 He that steals must at once break himself of this habit, not only 
 that he may lead a reputable life, but that he maybe able to relieve 
 the wants of his fellow members in the same Body. The Apostle's 
 words seem to imply that steahng was no uncommon crime, and it 
 
216 GOOD TO THE USE OF EDIFYING. [Ephesians. 
 
 k Matt. xii. 29 ^ Let HO corrupt communication proceed out 
 
 Col. iii.'s.' * of your mouth, but Hhat whicli is good || to the 
 
 1 Thes's.*v.'ii. use of edifying, "" that it may minister grace unto 
 
 l^fi-At"^' tte hearers. 
 
 m Col. iii. 16. 
 
 is very probable that it was so, if, as we know, the Church was 
 largely recruited from the slave-class ; some of whom would not be 
 likely at once to sever themselves from old habits, such as pilfering, 
 which had become a second nature to them. 
 
 29. " Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, 
 but that which is good to the use of edifying," &c. Here again, in 
 the words " to the use of edifying," we have another allusion to the 
 myst cal body. Foul and filthy language acts in the spiritual 
 building like the leprosy on the wall of the house (Levit. xiv. 34) 
 rotting and polluting it. 
 
 •' That which is good to the use of edifying." This is variously 
 translated, " whatever is good for edification of the need " (Ellicott). 
 "But such as is good for edifying as the need may be" (Revisers). 
 ** For building up as may be needed " (Meyrick in Speaker's *' Com- 
 mentary "). As members in the mystical body we are not only to 
 speak no filthy or corrupt language, but we are bound to edify one 
 another, to build up one another on our most holy faith (Jude 20). 
 As we should watch over our tongue that we speak nothing pol- 
 luting, so we should be on the watch for opportunities of putting 
 in a good word. How many have been permanently benefitted by 
 a Christian word spoken in season, and how many would blot out 
 if they could from their memories some douhle entendre, some 
 sneer at holy things, some profane parody of a passage in the word 
 of God. 
 
 For corrupt speech is not only indecent speech, but profane 
 speech, and infidel conversation undermining the eternal hopes of 
 the hearer. 
 
 " That it may minister grace unto the hearers." Not only is 
 the sermon of the Christian preacher a means of grace, but so is 
 the private conversation of the true Christian, dispelling doubts, 
 strengthening good resolutions, chasing away evil, confirming men 
 in the faith, encouraging them to persevere, or, in the words of the 
 Apostle, "warning them that are unruly, comforting the feeble- 
 minded, supporting the weak " (1 Thess. v. 14). 
 
CuAP. IV.] GRIEVE NOT THE SPIRIT. 217 
 
 30 And "^ ffi'ieve not the holy Spirit of God, " isai. vn. 1.3. 
 
 ^ »' i ^ jxiii. 10. 
 
 " whereby ye are sealed unto the day of ^ redemp- Ezek. xvi. 43. 
 
 •^ •' 1 Thes. V. 19. 
 
 tion. o th. i. 13. 
 
 P Luke x\i. 
 28. Rom. viii. 
 30. "Are sealed." Lit. " were sealed." 2;i. ch. i. 14. 
 
 30. "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are 
 sealed," &c. This place, amongst others, teaches us the personality 
 of the Holy Ghost. Only persons can be grieved, for they only can be 
 capable of love, or anger, or grief. Thus St. Stephen speaks of the 
 disobedient Jews " always resisting the Holy Ghost" (Acts vii. 51), 
 just as Isaiah had said, " They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit " 
 (Ixiii. 10). 
 
 This teaches us the fearful truth that we may receive the Holy 
 Spirit and not retain Him, but provoke God to take Him from us ; 
 and so with great wisdom the Church puts into our lips the prayer 
 of the Psalmist, " Take not thy Holy Spirit from us." 
 
 " Whereby ye are seaU d (m- were sealed) unto the day of redemp- 
 tion." This seaUng may hav 3 been at Baptism, or at Confirma- 
 tion. Baptism is rather a work of the Spirit grafting us into the 
 body of Christ ; and the Spirit is given afterwards. At least so we 
 must understand the teaching of Acts xix. 2-6. 
 
 Chrysostom comments on this with great power : " Let this seal, 
 then, ever abide on thy mouth, and never destroy the impression. 
 A mouth that hath the Spirit never utters a thing of the kind. Say- 
 not, ' It is nothing if I do utter an unseemly word, if I do insult 
 such an one.' For this very reason is it a great evil, because it 
 seems to be nothing. For things which seem to be nothing are 
 thus easily thought lightly of ; and those which are thought lightly 
 of will thus go on increasing ; and those which go on increasing 
 will in consequence become incurable. Thou hast a mouth that 
 hath the Spirit. Think what thou art saying, the moment thou 
 givest birth to a word, think what words beseem a mouth like thine. 
 Thou callest God Father, and dost thou straightway revile thy 
 brother ? Think whence it is thou callest God Father. Is it from 
 nature? No, thou couldst never say so. Is it from thy goodness? 
 No, nor is it thus. But whence then is it ? It is from pure loving- 
 kindness, from tenderness, from His great Mercy. Whenever, 
 then, thou callest God, Father, consider not only this, that by 
 reviling thou art committing things unworthy of thy high birth. 
 
218 FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER. [Epiiesians. 
 
 q Col. iii. 8, 31 '' Let all bitterness, and wratli, and anger, 
 
 ' Tit. iii. 2. and clamour, and *" evil speaking, be put away from 
 
 i*Pet?ii?i. " you, * with all malice : 
 » Tit. iii. 3. 32 And * be ye kind one to another, tender- 
 
 t 2Cor. ii. 10. ,. . , ^ t r. 
 
 coi.iii. 12, 13. hearted, "forgivmg one another, even as G-od for 
 
 Markxi.^25. ' Christ's Sake hath foTgivcn you. 
 
 S2. "Forgiven you." So N, A., F., G., P., most Cursives, d, e, f, g, Goth., Sah.,. 
 Copt., ^th. : but B., D., E., K., L., thirty Cursives, Vnlg. (Cod. Amiat.), Syriac, Arm., 
 read, "us." 
 
 but also that it is of lo\dng-kindness that thou hast that high 
 birth." 
 
 31. " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and 
 evil speaking (railing), .... with all malice." Why does the 
 Apostle add, "with all malice"? Because in neither word, nor 
 demeanour, may there be anything like bitterness or apparent 
 wrath, not a particle of anger, no loud words, no railing, and yet 
 there may be deep-seated malice, watching its opportunity to in- 
 jure, to slander, to accuse, to ahenate friends, in fact, with placid 
 countenance and fair words to work all manner of evil. 
 
 32. " And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving 
 one another, even," &c. These good things are to be practised 
 amongst Christians, but they must first be sought. They are the 
 fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, gentleness, goodness. If any professing Christian feels 
 that he has them not, that he is constantly offending against the law 
 of kindness and mutual forgiveness, he must not give way and say, 
 *' It is my constitutional infirmity," but he must at once and con- 
 stantly bow before the throne of Him from Whom all good things 
 do come for the gift of love. The prayer for charity must not be 
 his occasional, but his daily prayer, " Pour into our hearts that 
 most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all 
 virtue, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before 
 thee." 
 
 " Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." St. Paul 
 always assumes that the Christians to whom he writes are (or have 
 been) forgiven, but as he does not assume for a moment that they 
 are sinless, they may have much to be forgiven. 
 
 Many of the Corinthians were not clean, not holy, some not 
 
Chap. V.] 
 
 FOLLOWERS OF GOD. 
 
 21^ 
 
 righteous, but he writes to them, " Ye are washed, ye are sanctified^ 
 ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of 
 our God " (1 Cor. vi. 11). 
 
 In the parallel passage in the Epistle to the Colossians, 1 Col. iii.» 
 St. Paul writes, "As Christ (or as the Lord) forgave you." 
 
 CHAP. Y. 
 
 BE * re therefore followers of Grod, as dear 
 children ; 
 2 And ^ walk in love, '^ as Christ also liath loved 
 US, and hath given himself for us an offering and 
 
 a sacrifice to God ^ for a 
 
 sweet smelling savour. 
 
 L., mo*t Cnrsives, d, e, f, 
 .V, A., B., P., about seren 
 
 2. •• Loved of-r So D., E., F., G., K., 
 p, Vnlg... Syria*:, Copt., Ann., Groth. ; bnl 
 Cnrsives, Sah., .-Eth., rea<i, "" yon." 
 
 2. '• Given himself for ns." So J«, A., D., E., F., O., K., L., P., most 
 Cursives, d, e, f, e, Vnlg., Syr., Copt., Arm. ; bnt B., three Cursives, 
 U7, 73, 116, Sah,. ,tth., read, "for yon." 
 
 » Matt. v. 45, 
 
 48. Lake vi. 
 
 3o. ch. iv. 
 
 32. 
 
 b John xiiJ. 
 
 34, & XT. 12. 
 
 1 Thess. iv. 9. 
 
 1 John iii. 11, 
 2.3. &iv. 21. 
 
 c Gal. i. 4. k 
 ii. 2iK Hehr. 
 vii. 27. i ix. 
 14. 26. & X. 10> 
 12. 1 John 
 iii. 16. 
 d Gen, viii. 
 21. Lev. i. 9, 
 
 2 Cor. ii. 15. 
 
 1, 2. "Be ye therefore followei-s of God, as dear children; and 
 walk in love," kc. This is to be connected with the last verse of the 
 last chapter, "God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be ye 
 therefore followers of God as beloved children." Thus our Lord 
 would have us imitate God (for the word signifies imitating [/n/x^rai] 
 i-ather than foUowing in anyone's footsteps) when He says, " Love 
 your enemies . . . pray for them that despitefully use you . . . 
 that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." It 
 is scarcely possible to suppose that St. Paul had not these words of 
 our Lord in his mind when he wrote this. 
 
 " Imitators of God, as dear children." Children almost always 
 endeavour to imitate their parents ; much more ought we to imitate 
 God in this matter of forgiveness, seeing that the only Son of God 
 has loved us to the extent of giving Himself for us. 
 
 " An offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.'* 
 A difference has been made between an offering (irpoc^opd) and a 
 
220 AS BECO:\rETH SAINTS. [Ephesiaxs. 
 
 e Rom. vi. 13. 3 But ^ fomication, and all uncleanness, or 
 
 ICor. vi.18. f-, . -, 
 
 2Cor, xii. 21. covetoiisness, Met it not be once named anions 
 
 ch.iv. 19.20. 1 XI . X 
 
 Col. iii. .5. vou as becometh saints ; 
 
 1 Thess. iv. 3, " 
 
 &c. 
 
 f 1 Cor. V. 1. 
 
 sacrifice {Ovaia) : the former meaning offerings of any sort, and the 
 latter the offering of a slain creature, from its derivation 9vu), 
 meaning *' to slay ; " but they are often used interchangeably. 
 
 The " sweetsmelling savour " first occurs in Gen. viii. 21, in 
 connection with the sacrifice of Noah; and it is constantly repeated 
 with reference to the sacrifices of the law ordained in the books of 
 Exodus and Leviticus ; thus Exod. xxix. 18, Levit. ii. 12. It is, 
 of course, not to be taken materially, but with regard to the devo- 
 tion or profession of obedience with which the offerer offered the 
 sacrifices. When used in connection with the Levitical offerings 
 it may mean that God discerned in each sacrifice a shewing forth 
 of that One Sacrifice which they were all intended to prefigure. 
 
 Here it signifies the infinite satisfaction with which the Father 
 regards the devotion and duty expressed in the self-oblation of His 
 Son. 
 
 3. " But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it 
 not," &c. Some suppose that the Apostle passes from holy love in 
 which, after the example of Christ, we are to walk, to unholy love, 
 by which we dishonour Christ, and destroy the life of God 
 within us. 
 
 Fornication, not esteemed as a sin among the heathen : all un- 
 cleanness, all secret impurity or open indecency, aU covetousness — 
 which does not here seem to mean avaricious, so much as impure 
 and incontinent desires. The commandment which forbids to 
 covet, forbids not only to covet the house, the servant, the ox, but 
 the wife. This is the following-up of the Lord's teaching, where 
 He says, " whoso looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath 
 committed adultery with her already in his heart " (Matth. v. 28). 
 
 " Let it not be once named among you." Avoid any mention, if 
 you can, of the commission of such sins — at least, never mention 
 any details, never dwell upon them in conversation. 
 
 " As becometh saints." As becometh those dedicated to God, 
 and in the act of that dedication grafted into the Body of a Holy 
 Saviour by the Holy Spirit. 
 
Chap, v.] RATHER GIVING OF THANKS. 221 
 
 4 ^Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting 
 * which are not convenient : but rather giving l^^^^' f^' 
 of thanks. 29". 
 
 h Rom. i. 28. 
 
 4. " Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which," 
 &c. " Filthiness " — that is, of course, lewd and indecent talk. 
 " Foolish talking," i.e., talking as the fool or /.iCJpog talks ; the /xuipog of 
 the book of Proverbs is not the silly man, but the wicked man, the 
 man who speaks against religion, disparages the righteous because 
 they are righteous, makes a mock at sin, makes excuses for it, 
 insinuates doubts respecting God's judgments, their certainty and 
 their severity. This is the " foolish talking " of the Bible. 
 
 " Nor jesting, which are not convenient." Barrow has a most 
 remarkable sermon on this text, in which he contends for the 
 lawfulness, in its due place, of wit and repartee, and innocent un- 
 bending in conversation. 
 
 Chrysostom, on the other hand, takes the sterner and more severe 
 side, and seems to condemn all jesting which has for its object the 
 raising of laughter, even when there may be nothing sinful in the 
 allusion. 
 
 " Wiiich are not convenient " — not fitting for a Christian to 
 utter. This seems to imply at first sight that, in naming "jesting," 
 the Apostle is only speaking of indecent or irreverent jesting ; but 
 we are to remember that one who lays himself out to be a witty 
 and pleasant companion, and is always on the look-out for some 
 opening for exciting mirth, cannot well be a man who takes life 
 seriously, as the Apostles and first Christians did. 
 
 A man was once writing in one of our literary journals against 
 the belief in the eternity of future punishment, and he asserted 
 that the leading preacher in one of our large towns had preached 
 the doctrine in all its horrors in his place of worship ; and yet, 
 meeting him afterwards at a dinner party, he found the man 
 brimful of wit and amusing anecdote, keeping the table in a roar, 
 and his inference was that the man could not, and did not, believe 
 what he preached. 
 
 " But rather giving of thanks.'' So wonderful are the providences 
 of God, so surprising the wisdom and goodness He displays in 
 benefitting His creatures, that opportunities for expressing thanks 
 and praise seem thrust upon us ; and yet we Christians may take 
 a lesson from the heathen. It is written respecting Belshazzar's 
 
222 ANY INHERITANCE. [Ephesiaks. 
 
 5 For this ye know, that 'no whoremonger, nor unclean 
 
 \p^^- "■'l-^' person, nor covetous man, ^ who is an idolater. 
 
 Gal. V. 19, 21. ^ ' _ ' ^ ' 
 
 k Col. iii. 5. ' hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ 
 
 lTim.vi.17. -, £ rx -, 
 
 1 Gal. V. 21. and 01 (jrOd. 
 
 Rev. xxii. 15. 
 
 5. " This ye know " (Jo-te yiyio-xovTs;). So E., K., L., most Cursives, Syriac ; but K, A. 
 B., D., F., G., P., thirty Cursives, Ital., Vulg., &c., read, "For this ye know, beings 
 assured of it," Irre ytvui<r>ccvTB;. 
 
 ^* impious feast," that they drank wine, and praised the gods of 
 gold and silver ; and yet there is no society from which the Name 
 of the true God and His works and His worship are so effectually 
 banished as they are from what is called good society amongst 
 professing Christians. 
 
 5. " For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, 
 nor covetous man," &c. There is a remarkable difference of read- 
 ing here. In the Keceived Text it is, " For this ye are knowing," 
 {hrf yivMaKovreg ) ; but in many Uncials, and in the Vulgate, it is, 
 " For this ye know, being assured of it." The Revisers translate, 
 " Ye know of a surety; " and no moral truth is more frequently re- 
 peated by the Apostle than that these sins, fornication, unclean- 
 ness, evil desires, are not venial, but deadly sins, cutting off from the 
 kingdom of God. But it may be a question for us preachers in this 
 day, " Are our people as certain about it as they ought to be ? " 
 
 " Nor covetous man who is an idolater." This seems to allude to 
 anyone who is the slave of some overpowering evil desire, whether 
 in the matter of the seventh commandment, or in the matter 
 of what is ordinarily called covetousness. 
 
 " Hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God." 
 Most commentators interpret this Christ and God as signifying the 
 same Divine Person, " Of Him Who is Christ and God." 
 
 But if not directly, yet indirectly the text asserts the Godhead of 
 the Lord, for the Kingdom is of Christ and the same Kingdom is of 
 God. Christ must have all the attributes of God if He is to rule 
 the Kingdom as being His as well as God's. 
 
 If a man, having become a Christian, is under the dominion of 
 these evil things, he loses his inheritance. His is the lot of Esau, 
 for as the Apostle writes, " Looking diligently lest there be any 
 fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat 
 sold his birthright," &c. (Hebr. xii. 15). 
 
Chap. V.] LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU. 223 
 
 6 ™ Let no man deceive you witli vain words : ™ Jer. xxix. 8. 
 
 *' 1 « Matt. xxiv. 4. 
 
 for because of these things " cometh the wrath of Coi. ii. 4, 8, 
 
 God °upon the children of || disobedience. ii.'a. 
 
 7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them. ° Jh!Ti*. 2,^^ 
 
 8 P For ye were sometimes darkness, but now II Or, unbelief, 
 
 '' . Col. iii. 6. 
 
 ^ are ye light in the Lord : walk as "^ children of p isai. ix. 2. 
 
 -,. - , Matt. iv. 16. 
 
 llgnt : Acts xxvi. 18. 
 
 Rom. i. 21. 
 
 ch. ii. U, 12. 
 & iv. 18. Tit. 
 
 6. " Let no man deceive you with vam words : for iii. 3. 1 Pet. 
 because of these things," &c. It is supposed that "'^V ... ,„ 
 
 ° ^^ . q John vni. 12. 
 
 these vain words were those of ancient heretics who & xii. i6. 2 
 would persuade men that sins of the flesh were no &7v.^6." ^1* 
 sins, inasmuch as the flesh was intrinsically evil ; and '^^,^^^- T.- 1- 
 certain forms of heresy, which were then first ap- rLukexvi's. 
 pearing, certainly taught this ; but what are the vain Johnxii. 36. 
 words by which men now encourage themselves in the commission 
 of these sins ? One is, that inasmuch as so many commit them, 
 Ood wiU not visit such a multitude with his severe displeasure ; 
 but this is to dethrone the Judge, and to make Him respect the 
 multitude rather than the law. 
 
 Another "vain word" is that these sins are engrained in the 
 natural constitution of men, and that they cannot help them ; but 
 the answer is, " we are now in a kingdom of grace, in which it is 
 said by the Spirit, Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are 
 not under the law, but under grace." (Rom. vl 14.) 
 
 And a third vain word is worse than all. It is that sin is not sin 
 in the elect — in the true people of God ; but surely if any persons 
 were elect these Christians of Ephesus were, and St. Paul assures 
 them that if they continue to do these things, nothing can save them 
 from the wrath of God here and hereafter. 
 
 7, 8. "Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were 
 sometimes darkness," &c. This light is the light of God and Christ 
 in the soul. This darkness is the deprivation of such light. " I am 
 the light of the world," the Lord says ; and to these Ephesians, into 
 whose hearts this Hght had shone, the Apostle says, " now are ye 
 light in the Lord." This light is never mere intellectual light. It 
 is not even the mere knowledge of the highest things, such as the 
 Trinity and the Incarnation. It is always moral hglit. The best 
 explanation of this is in the words of St. John, " The darkness is 
 
224 THE FRUIT OF THE LIGHT. [Epuesians. 
 
 9 (For ^ tlie fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righ- 
 ■ Gal. V. 22. teousness and truth ;) 
 
 9. ''The frait of the Spirit." So K., L., most Cursives, bnt K, A., B., D*., E*,, F., 
 G., P., six Cursives, Vulg., Goth., Syriac, Copt., Arm., ^th., read " the fruit of the light.'* 
 
 past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the 
 light and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He 
 that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occa- 
 sion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in 
 darkness, and walketh in darkness," &c. (1 John ii. 8, 10, 11.) Now 
 this was probably written in Ephesus, among the people whom St. 
 Paul had converted, and how wonderfully do the Apostles agree ! 
 But cannot there be true light without love ? Both the Apostles 
 say there cannot, for faith itself, which is the soul's eye by which 
 we discern unseen and eternal things, avails not without love (Gal. 
 V. 6). And this is the reason why the Lord so solemnly warns us 
 " take heed that the light which is in thee be not darkness." 
 
 " The light which is in us is darkness " (Luke xi. 35), if it seems 
 to show in us the Trinity and the Incarnation and the works of 
 the Spirit and the Church, and yet does not make us loving, 
 forbearing, forgiving, after the pattern of the Son of God. 
 
 We are, then, to walk as children of light, and what this walk is, 
 the Apostle proceeds to say. 
 
 9. " For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteous- 
 ness and truth." There is a remarkable difference of reading here 
 which agrees better with the context. " The fruit of the light." 
 At first sight the figure appears unsuitable, for the Hght cannot, it 
 is supposed, bear fruit. But when men are called, as they con- 
 stantly are, the children of the Hght, what are they but the offspring 
 or fruit of the light ? The fruit of the light is also the fi:uit of the 
 Spirit, for the Spirit sheds within us the light of truth and the 
 warmth of love, but the expression " fruit of the light," runs more 
 closely in connection with the context. 
 
 " In all goodness." That is kindness, gentleness, benevolence, 
 charity. 
 
 "And righteousness" in all holy and becoming outward de- 
 meanour, in all honesty and integrity. 
 
 " And truth," in all sincerity, or in all conformity to the truth of 
 God as revealed in the Gospel. 
 
 10. " Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord." Endeavouring 
 
Chap. V.] RATHER REPROVE THEM. 225 
 
 10 * Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 
 
 Phil. i. 10. 
 
 11 And " have no fellowship with "" the unfruit- i Thess. v. 21. 
 ful works of darkness, but rather ^ reprove them, u 1 cor. v. 9, 
 
 12 ' For it is a shame even to speak of those 2 cor.^vi! u. 
 things which are done of them in secret. 2 jhess. m. 6, 
 
 13 But * all things that are || reproved are made ^^J|™\^''- ^^' 
 manifest by the light : for whatsoever doth make cfai. vi. s. 
 manifest is light. 1 Tim', v. 20. * 
 
 z Rom. i. 24, 
 
 26. ver. ?,. 
 
 a John iii. 20, 
 L"?. See below. 21. Heb. iv. 
 
 13. 
 
 by seeking the guidance of God in prayer, by con- l^^g^'J'^' 
 suiting wise and holy men, and by jealously ques- 
 tioning our own private will and inclinations, to find out the will 
 of God, and then to do it. 
 
 11. " And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of dark- 
 ness, &c. For it is a shame," &c. The word " fruit," in regard to re- 
 ligious and moral actions, is always used in a good sense ; thus the 
 Apostle asks in Eom. vi. 21, "What fruit had ye then in those 
 things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things is 
 death : " and again in Gal. v. 19, he contrasts the worJcs of the flesh 
 with the fruits of the Spirit, as if the works of the flesh were the 
 doings of men, whereas the fruits of the Spirit are the ofi'spring of 
 grace. (John xv. 1-10.) 
 
 *' But rather reprove them." We have fellowship with the works 
 of darkness when we listen to the accounts of them without showing 
 any sign of disapproval. We can only show our want of fellowship 
 with them by reproof. 
 
 12. " For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are 
 done of them in secret." This seems to follow upon the words 
 " rather reprove them." The reproof must be short and decisive, 
 and must avoid any details respecting the deed of darkness reproved. 
 The reproof must be of such a sort as to show that you hate the 
 mention of the abominable thing. 
 
 13. " But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the 
 light," &c. " All things " seems to refernot only to the deeds of dark- 
 ness, but to all moral subjects, and " reproved " may be rendered 
 ** discovered." The light of Christian conviction being the light of 
 Christ shining in His people, makes all things to appear in their true 
 
 <4 
 
226 ARISE FROM THE DEAD. [Ephesians. 
 
 14 Wherefore || he saith, ^ Awake thou that 
 sleepest, and ^ arise from the dead, and Christ shall 
 give thee light. 
 
 1 Or, it. 
 
 
 b Isa. Ix. 
 
 1 
 
 Rom. xiii 
 
 . 11, 
 
 12. 1 Cor. XV. 
 
 34. iThess. 
 
 V. 6. 
 
 
 « John V. 
 
 25. 
 
 Rom. vi. 
 
 4,5. 
 
 ch. ii. 5. 
 
 Col. 
 
 iii. 1. 
 
 
 form or colour ; they are made manifest as to what they really are 
 by the true light. 
 
 *' For whatsoever doth make manifest is hght." The old way of 
 translating this passage was by rendering " make manifest " as a 
 middle form, in which case the sense is very easy, " Whatsoever 
 doth make manifest is light." There are various kinds of light — 
 natural, moral, intellectual — but they all agree in this, that they all 
 have the property of making light that which was before obscure 
 or dark. We are told, however, that such a rendering is inadmis- 
 sible, and that we must render (pavepovfisvov passively, in which 
 case I do not see the meaning of the passage, unless, perhaps, we 
 are allowed to understand that whatsoever is made manifest is in 
 the light, in that the Hght illuminates it. 
 
 Chrysostom has some searching remarks : " Wherefore I entreat 
 you, be ye never backward to reprove, nor displeased at being re- 
 proved. By all means let us do all we can to chase away the 
 deadness that is in our brethren, to scatter the darkness, and to 
 attract to us the sun of righteousness." 
 
 14. " Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise 
 from the dead," &c. St. Paul here seems to quote some scripture 
 passage, but the place is nowhere to be found in Holy Writ. The 
 nearest approach to it is in Isaiah Ix. i., "Arise, shine, for 
 thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee ; " 
 and it is suggested that this place may be adapted by St. Paul in a 
 free way, as he seems to adapt other places. Others suppose, with 
 more probability, from the rhythmical cadence of the Greek, that 
 he quotes from a hymn then in use in the Christian assemblies ; 
 and we know from the letter of Pliny that hymns addressed to 
 Christ as God were in use in the Churches in his time. It is very 
 probable, however, that the earUest Churches had far more religious 
 literature than we are aware of, and perhaps much of it the utter- 
 ance of the spirit of prophecy. 
 
 The passage itself is most important as regards its teaching. 
 We learn from it that in a Church favoured in every way, there 
 
Chap. V.] EEDEEMING THE TIME. 227 
 
 15 ** See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as <* Coi. iv. 5. 
 
 « 1 T , • e Gal. vi. 10. 
 
 tools, but as wise, cjoi. iv. 5. 
 
 16 "Redeeming the time, ^because the days are & xu.^l'' "^ohn 
 
 *^^"- vi. 13. 
 
 15. " Circumspectly "—" with strictness." Perhaps, "Look then carefully how ye 
 walk." So N, B, three or fonr Cursives; but A., D., E., F., G., K., L., P., most Cur- 
 sives, Vulg., Syr., read as ia Received Text. 
 
 may be some, in fact numbers, who are sleeping the sleep of death. 
 Their sleep, it is true, is not actual death, but it is the image of 
 death. They are hke men asleep who move not, work not, even 
 think not, except in disjointed and senseless dreams. These have 
 to be aroused from sleep; more than this, to be awakened as from 
 death. They are to be raised from the death of sin to the hfe of 
 righteousness. 
 
 "And Christ shall give thee light." The reader will remember 
 the words of St. Peter, 2 Epist. i. 19 : " Until the day dawn, and the 
 day-star arise in your hearts." 
 
 If we awake out of sleep, and arise ifrom our death-Uke slumbers, 
 it is no dim light that will shine upon us : no other than Christ 
 Himself shall dispel our darkness. 
 
 15. " See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as 
 wise." The word circumspectly is translated by most expositors 
 " strictly," and has reference to a way or path lying before us, 
 which we are carefully to keep to, not turning aside to the right 
 hand or to the left. 
 
 16. *' Kedeeming the time, because the days are evil." The days 
 which we pass through in this world are under the dominion of 
 evil ; and if we live hstlessly and carelessly, we yield ourselves to 
 this evil, and lose irrecoverably our precious time, and so by not 
 using it as to God, lay up no treasures in eternity ; but if we exert 
 ourselves in this our appointed time to do good, and to speak the 
 truth of God, and to cultivate good habits and holy affections, then 
 we redeem the time, we lay it up for ourselves, so that we so pass 
 through things temporal as to gain the things eternal. 
 
 It is surprising what men have been able to do by looking well 
 to what we should call the odds and ends of time. It is related of 
 a celebrated literary man of the last generation, that he learnt 
 several languages during the time that he was dressing every morn- 
 ing. It is related of a great physician that he translated one of the 
 
228 BE FILLED WITH THE SPIKIT. [Ephesians. 
 
 g Col. iv.5. 17 ^Wherefore be ye not unwise, but ''under- 
 
 i 1 Thess. iv. standing ' what the will of the Lord is. 
 
 3.&V. 18. 28 And ''be not drunk with wine, wherein 
 
 K Prov. XX. 1. ' 
 
 & xxiii. 20, 30. is excess ; but be filled with the Spirit : 
 
 Isa. V. 11, 22. ^ 
 Luke xxi. 34. 
 
 chief Roman poets into Enghsh verse during the time that he was 
 driving to see his patients. What time would many men save for 
 prayer if fchey got up as soon as they awoke in the morning ! 
 
 17. *' Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the 
 will of the Lord is." The most senseless people are those who have 
 no anxiety respecting the will of Him Who created them, and for 
 Whose pleasure they are and were created. 
 
 "But understanding what the will of the Lord is." And to 
 understand this will requires pains, for the will of the Lord re- 
 quires to be learnt daily : for not a day passes in which we have 
 not — perhaps in some very trifling matter — to choose between the 
 will of the Lord and our own will, or the will of our careless neigh- 
 bours and friends. 
 
 To understand what the will of the Lord is requires that in all 
 things by prayer we should consult God as a friend, and, if possible, 
 ask the advice of wise and good men, and carefully do what we 
 know is always according to the will of God ; in fact it follows on 
 the exhortation of the last verse, to walk strictly, and make the 
 most Christian use of our time. 
 
 18. "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be 
 filled with the Spirit." What a contrast between the two admoni- 
 tions, "Be not drunk," " Be filled with the Holy Ghost ;" — and yet it 
 is natural, for human beings crave some excitement. Those who are 
 apart from God crave some worldly, or sinful, or fleshly stimulant ; 
 those who are nearest to God crave most earnestly the complete 
 indwelling of His Holy Spirit. 
 
 What an extraordinary capacity for good or for evil human nature 
 has ! At first it seems incredible that two such precepts should be 
 addressed to the same person, but every minister knows well that 
 rehgious persons, or at least those who can speak and even act very 
 religiously, are constantly overtaken by the sin of drunkenness, or 
 by the sin of excess, which may not amount to actual drunkenness ; 
 and yet the very same persons, if they would put away their strong 
 
Chap, v.] SINGING — MAKING MELODY. 229 
 
 19 Speakinff to yourselves * in psalms and » Acts xvi. 25. 
 
 ^ . . , . . , , . 1 Cor. xiv. 26. 
 
 hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making Coi. lii. le. 
 melody in your heart to the Lord : m ps. xxxiv. 1. 
 
 20 ™ G-iving thanks always for all things unto Jf *i'. iH.'n'' 
 God and the Father °in the name of our Lord oxhessiKs.®' 
 Jesus Christ ; J Pet^'uT ^^' 
 
 &iv.h.' 
 
 drink, and earnestly com't the indwelling of the Spirit of God, may 
 be filled with a Person in the Trinity. 
 
 19. '* Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual 
 songs, singing," &c. " To yourselves," or " one to another." Some 
 suppose that this alludes to singing in the Christian assemblies, 
 which Pliny in his celebrated letter describes as done antiphonally 
 (see Excursus 3 in Notes on Acts, p. 521). 
 
 "Psalms." These may have been the Psalms in the Old Testa- 
 ment, as distinguished from the hymns, which may have been the 
 composition of persons at the moment, or may have included 
 such acts of praise as the Gloria in Excelsis, the Magnificat, the 
 Songs of Zacharias and Simeon. 
 
 " Hymns and spiritual songs." We have no means of knowing 
 what these were as distinguished from psalms, whether they were 
 metrical compositions or not. But we may be almost certain that 
 in every Church where there were spmtual gifts there would be 
 these effusions, some of them, perhaps, poured forth at the inspira- 
 tion of the moment. Neither Chrysostom, however, nor Theodoret 
 make mention of any difference or distinction between the three. 
 Jerome notices that in his time the peasants of Palestine used to 
 chant the psalms to themselves whilst they ploughed or tended 
 their cattle. 
 
 20. *' Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father 
 in," &c. " Giving thanks always." " Always," as if the mind was 
 not only ever to be in a thankful frame, but constantly to express 
 thankfulness. 
 
 " For all things." Wliat ! for disease and pain? Yes, we should 
 do this if we thoroughly believed in the words of the Spirit, " all 
 things work together for good to them that love God ; " if we re- 
 membered that all forms of prosperity may be curses, and all forms 
 of adversity blessings, according to the words, " Son, remember 
 that thou, in thy lifetime, receivedst thy good things, and likewise 
 
230 AS UNTO THE LORD. [Ephesians. 
 
 Phil. ii. 3. 21 ® Submitting yourselves one to another in the 
 p Gen. iii. 16. fear of God. 
 
 coLiii^is. ' 22 P Wives, submit yourselves unto your own 
 
 1 Pet.'iiifi. husbands, "J as unto the Lord. 
 
 q ch. -v-i. 5. 
 
 21. " la the fear of God." So most Cursives. " In the fear of Chi'ist" in X, A., B., 
 L., P., abont thirty-five Cursives, Vulg., Syriae, Copt., &c. 
 
 Lazarus evil things ; " if we remembered that that is absolutely 
 true which is written, "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and 
 scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." A man of very great 
 eminence had hved a very healthy and painless life, and when he 
 was at last called hence by a painful disease, he thanked God for 
 what he suffered, as it taught him to sympathize more perfectly 
 with those who suffered pain. 
 
 " In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." As He is the one 
 Mediator, through Whom aU blessings come to us, so all our thanks 
 for these blessings ascend to the Father through Him. 
 
 21. '* Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." 
 * Defer one to another,' * give way one to another,' hsten to one 
 another. Act as if each Christian brother was your superior, for the 
 time, at least. There is a remarkable difference of reading, «, A., B., 
 L., P., and other authorities having " in the fear of Christ." If it 
 be the true reading, that is, if St. Paul himself wrote it, it is the one 
 solitary instance in which any Apostle would have us make the Son 
 of God an object of fear. Submitting ourselves one to another in 
 the fear of God means that we are not to submit through fear of 
 men, or for the sake of advantage, or through natural shrinking or 
 timidity, but because God desires to see the working of His grace 
 within us in our yielding to one another. 
 
 22. " Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto 
 the Lord." What a remarkable place the relation between Christ 
 as the Head of the Mystical Body, and the Church as that Body, 
 must have had in the mind of the Apostle, if he could make use of 
 it as he does in the following verses, to inculcate submission in the 
 family. Wives are to submit themselves to their husbands, not 
 only because it is right, but because Christ is the Head of the Church. 
 And it is also a remarkable fact, that the Church of England has 
 been guided by the Spirit of God to follow up this instruction in her 
 
Chap. V.] THE SAVIOUR OF THE BODY. 231 
 
 23 For ""tlie husband is the head of the wife, even as 
 
 * Christ is the head of the Church : and he is the *■ i cor. xi. 3. 
 £ t J.1 T- J » ch. i. 22. & 
 
 saviour 01 the body. iv. 15. coi. i. 
 
 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto 1^11.1.23. 
 Christ, so let the wives he to their own husbands 
 
 -in every thing. l^^'^S'b. 
 
 Office for the Solemnization of Matrimony, not only in causing the 
 latter part of this chapter to be read as an exhortation at the end, 
 but in the beginning, where in the short exhortation we are told 
 that holy matrimony signifies unto us the Mystical Union that is 
 betwixt Christ and His Church, and that it was ordained that " such 
 persons as have not the gift of continency might marry, and keep 
 themselves undefiled members of Christ's Body." And it is also a 
 remarkable fact, that the Church did not derive this from the Eoman 
 office, in which there is no mention whatsoever of the Union of 
 Christ with His Church, as in any way bearing on the hoHness of 
 marriage. 
 
 " Unto the Lord." That is, as unto the Lord Jesus, as appears 
 from the next verse. 
 
 23. " For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is 
 the head of the church." The Apostle had written this before. '* I 
 would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and 
 the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God " 
 (1 Cor. xi. 3). There he enunciated this truth in order that women 
 might, when in Church, wear the veil, — the badge, or symbol, of sub- 
 mission ; now he repeats it in order that they might be really 
 subject. 
 
 Christ is not only the Head, but the Saviour of the body. Does 
 the Apostle mean by this that the husband is the Saviour, in any 
 sense, of the wife, by protecting or supporting her ? It seems not 
 improbable. And Bishop Wordsworth refers to a passage in Chry- 
 sostom : *' Such is the relation of a husband to his own wife. He 
 is the head, and therefore has the preeminence ; his office is also 
 one of protection and conservation, and he has, therefore, a double 
 claim to submission and affection on her side." 
 
 24. " Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the 
 wives be to their," &c. In everything — that is, in all lawful things 
 
232 AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH. [Ephesians. 
 
 Col. iii. 
 1 Pet. iii. 7. 
 
 25 "" Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ 
 so loved the church, and ^ gave hi 
 
 26 That he might sanctify and c' 
 the washing of water * by the word. 
 
 y Acts XX. 28. also lovcd the church, and ^ gave himself for it ; 
 20. ' ver! 2. ' 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it ' with 
 
 ^ John iii. 5. 
 Tit. iii. 5. 
 Heb. X. 22. 
 1 John V. 6. 
 a John XV. 3. 
 ^'1; xvii. 17. 
 
 — in everything which does not contravene the expressed will of 
 God and the faith of Christ.^ 
 
 This seems very strong, for the husband may be unreasonable, may 
 be harsh, may be wilful, but what the Apostle inculcates serves in 
 nine cases out of ten, when obeyed Hterally, to maintain peace in 
 the household. 
 
 25, 26. " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved 
 the church .... washing of water by the word." " Even as 
 Christ also loved the Church." Christ, in his loving relations to 
 His Church, is an example to all husbands. They cannot, of course, 
 attain to His love, but they can strive after some measure of it. 
 
 " And gave himself for it ; that he might sanctify .... word." 
 " With the washing of water." This, no doubt, refers to Holy Bap- 
 tism, and the expression is to be noted, because the Apostle assumes 
 that whatever sanctification was derived from Christ, it came, in 
 the first place, through Holy Baptism. The Apostle assumes this 
 everywhere. Washing is here rather "laver," or "bath," as in 
 Titus iii. 5, *' through the laver (or bath) of New Birth," the bath, 
 or font, being rather alluded to, than the act of washing. 
 
 " By the word," or "with the word." This, by some, is said to 
 mean, by belief in the word preached before receiving Baptism. By 
 others, the word always spoken in Baptism, " I baptize thee in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." But 
 the two must be united. The word must go before to prepare for 
 Baptism (Acts viii. 35, 36, and xvi. 32, 33), or what meaning can 
 Baptism have to the baptized sinner ? 
 
 " Sanctify and cleanse it." Here St. Paul, as is usual with him, 
 makes no difference between Sanctification and Justification. He 
 puts Sanctification first, as implying the dedication to God, by the 
 
 1 Another view, however, is taken of the meaning of this last clause more in accord- 
 ance with the old MSS. of the Greek and the Vulgate : "Being himself the Saviour of 
 the body, but (though no earthly husband can be this in the sense that He is) yet never- 
 theless as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let," &c. 
 
Chap. V.] HOLY AND WITHOUT BLEMISH. 233 
 
 27 ''That he might present it to himself a glorious 
 <jhurch, ^ not having spot, or wrinkle, or any ^ 2 Cor. xi. 2. 
 such thing ; ^ but that it should be holy and with- c cant. iv. 7. 
 out blemish. 
 
 d fh. i. 4. 
 
 person being engrafted into the Body of Christ, the internal or pro- 
 gressive Sanctification being intended to follow. 
 
 I cannot forbear giving Chrysostom's remarks. " So, then, she 
 was unclean ! So, then, she had blemishes ; so, then, she was un- 
 sightly ; so, then, she was worthless. Whatsoever kind of wife thou 
 shalt take, yet shalt thou never take such a bride as the Church, 
 when Christ took her, nor one so far removed from thee as the 
 Church was from Christ. And yet, for all that, He did not abhor 
 her, nor loathed her, for her surpassing deformity. Wouldst thou 
 hear her deformity described ? Hear what Paul saith : ' For ye 
 were sometimes darkness.' Didst thou see the blackness of her 
 hue ? What blacker than darkness ? But look at her boldness ; 
 * living,' saith he, ' in malice and envy.' Look again at her im- 
 purity, disoheddent, foolish. But what am I saying ? She was both 
 foohsh and of an evil tongue ; and yet, notwithstanding so many 
 were her blemishes, yet did He give Himself up for her in her de- 
 formity, as for one in the bloom of youth, as for one dearly beloved, 
 as for one of wonderful beauty. And it was in admiration of this 
 that Paul said, ' For scarcely for a righteous man will one die.' 
 And again, ' In that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' 
 And though such as this, He took her, and arrayed her in beauty, 
 and washed her, and refused not even this, to give Himself for 
 her." 
 
 27. ** That he might present it (or her) to himself a glorious 
 church, not having spot," &c. The presentation of the Church in 
 glory is described in Rev. xxi. 1-8. Her being " without spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing," in Rev. xxi. 27 : " And there shall in 
 no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever 
 worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written 
 in the Lamb's Book of Life." 
 
 " But that it should be holy and without blemish." This seems 
 to be founded on the sacrificial rule that tlie victim should be with- 
 out blemish. 
 
 28. " So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies." 
 
234 WE ARE MEMBERS OF HIS BODY. [Ephesianb. 
 
 28 So oiiglit men to love their wives as their own bodies. 
 He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 
 
 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but 
 nonrisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church : 
 eGen. ii. 23. 30 For ^we are members of his body, of his 
 
 Rom. xii. 5. *^ 
 
 1 Cor. vi. 15. flesh, and of his bones. 
 
 f Gen. ii. 24. 31 ' For this cause shall a man leave his father 
 
 Matt. xix. 5. 
 
 Mark x. 7, 8. 
 
 30. *' Of his flesh, and of his bones" omitted by S, A,, B., Copt., .(Eth. ; but retained 
 by D., E., F., G., L., P., almost all Cursives, Itala, Vulg., Syriat-. 
 
 As Christ loved the Church which He made His Body, so ought 
 the husband to love his wife as being his body. He that loveth his 
 wife loveth himself, for Christ considers the Church a part of Him- 
 self, and after His example the husband should consider his wife a 
 part of himself, and so the Apostle proceeds. 
 
 29. " For no one ever yet hated his own flesh ; but nourisheth 
 and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church." It is unnatural 
 in a man to hate his own flesh, i.e., to torment it, or starve it, or 
 weaken it, but rather, after the example of the Lord in His treat- 
 ment of His Church, he should nourish and cherish it : and so it is 
 the destruction of the husband's happiness if he ill-treat his wife. 
 It is as if he ill-treated his own body. On the contrary, kindness 
 and forbearance to the wife, after the example of Christ's conduct, 
 is Hke loving himself, it so conduces to his happiness, and that of his 
 household. 
 
 30. " For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his 
 bones." This is an adaptation of the words of Adam when he 
 recognized that Eve was not like the other creatures, alien in 
 nature from him, but that she was " bone of his bone, and flesh of 
 his flesh," Eve having been created, not out of the dust, but out 
 of the flesh and bone taken out of his side. The preponderating 
 authority is for the retaining of the words " of his flesh and of his 
 bones " : and without these words the mystery of tbe union is 
 not brought out. 
 
 31. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, 
 and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." 
 These are the words of Adam, speaking prophetically about what 
 would take place amongst his descendants. They set forth that 
 
Chap. V.] THEY TWO SHALL BE ONE FLESH. 235 
 
 and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they ^ two 
 shall be one flesh. g i Cor. vi. le. 
 
 32 This is a great mystery : but I speak concerning Christ 
 and the church. 
 
 the marriage union is closer than any other ; so that, on account 
 of it a man severs that parental union which has been hitherto the 
 most binding upon him. Hitherto his first duty has been to his- 
 Ijarents, now it is to his wife. 
 
 "And they two shall be one flesh." 
 
 32. *' This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and 
 the church." The institution of marriage brought before the 
 Apostle's mind its mystery. A very deep thing it is that two separate 
 human beings should become one flesh in the sight of God as well 
 as of man, nay, more indissolubly in the sight of God than of man ; 
 but he turned away from it, as it were, for the time, because there 
 rose up before his spiritual vision that infinitely greater mystery, 
 the spiritual union between Christ and His Church. They too are- 
 one flesh. There are three things which are called in Scripture 
 the Body of Christ. There is the Body which was nailed to the 
 Cross, and which rose again and ascended into heaven ; and there 
 is that of which He says, " This is my Body ; " and this last Body 
 unites in one the mystical Body, for the Holy Ghost assures us 
 that " the Bread which we break is the Communion of the Body of 
 Christ, for we being many are one bread and one Body, for we are 
 all partakers of that one bread " (1 Cor. x. 17), that is, of that 
 Inward Part, which amongst all difi'erences in the outward bread 
 is One and the Same Inward Part,^ and so makes those who partake 
 of it one. 
 
 1 In a veiy well-known passage in Hooker, 5, Iri. 7, 8, he recognizes this mystery of 
 Christ's Flesh nniting the Church in One Body. " Our being in Christ by eternal fore- 
 knowledge saveth us not without our actual and real adoption into the fellowship of His 
 saints in this present world. For in Him we actually are by our actual incorporation 
 into that society which hath Him for their head, and doth make together with Him One 
 Body (He and they having in that respect one name, 1 Cor. xii. 12), for which cause, by 
 virtue of this mystical conjunction, we are of Him and in Him, even as though our very 
 flesh and bones should be made continuate with His (Eph. v. 30). ... It is too cold an 
 interpretation whereby some men expound our being in Christ to import nothing else but 
 only that the self-same nature which maketh us to be men is in Him, and maketh Him 
 man as we are. For what man in the world is there which hath not so far forth com- 
 munion with Jesus Christ. It is not this that can sustain the weight of such sentences 
 
236 LOVE HIS WIFE AS HIMSELF. [Ephesians. 
 
 33 Nevertheless ^ let every one of you in particular so love 
 b ver. 25. liis wifo oveu as himself ; and the wife see that 
 i 1 Pet. in. 6. she * reverouce her husband. 
 
 33. " Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his 
 wife," &c. This seems to mean : if you cannot as yet realize this 
 exalted idea of marriage, as shadowing forth the unity betwixt Christ 
 and His Church, still attend to the plain duty that each one is to love 
 his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence (or, 
 Tather, fear) her husband. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 * Prov. xxiii. /^"^HILDEEN, * obey your parents in the Lord : 
 
 2'J. Col. iii. 20. I p -, . . . -, 
 
 V_^ for this is right. 
 
 1. " Children obey your parents in the Lord ; for this is right.'* 
 It is right according to the natural law. And many heathen 
 nations, as for instance the Hindoos, have been as a nation far more 
 strict in obeying this law than Christians ; but it is also right, inas- 
 much as it is a part of the moral law given to the chosen people. 
 
 as speak of the mystery of our coherence with Jesus Christ. (John xir. 20, xy. 4.) The 
 Church is in Christ as Eve was in Adam. Yea, by grace, we are every one of ns in Christ 
 and in His Church, as by nature we are in those our first parents. God made Eve of the 
 rib of Adam. And His Church He frameth out of the very flesh, the very wounded and 
 bleeding side of the Son of Man. His Body crucified and His Blood shed for the life of 
 the world, are the true elements of that heavenly being which maketh us such as Himself 
 is of Whom we come. For which cause the words of Adam may be fitly the words of 
 Christ concerning His Church, ' flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone ' — a true native 
 extract out of mine own body. So that in Him, even according to His Manhood, 
 we according to our heavenly being are as branches in that root out of which they 
 grow." . . . And again, " For doth any man doubt, but that even from the flesh of 
 Christ our very bodies do receive that life which shall make them glorious at the latter 
 day, and for which they are already accounted parts of His Blessed Body. Our corruptible 
 bodies could never live the Ufe they shall live, were it not that here they are joined 
 with His Body which is incorruptible, and that His is in ours as a cause of immortality, 
 a cause by removing through the Death and Merit of His own flesh that which hindered 
 the life of ours. Christ is therefore both as God and as man, that true Vine whereof we 
 both spiritually and corporally are branches." 
 
Chap. VI.] PROVOKE NOT YOUR CHILDREN. 237 
 
 2 ^ Honour thy father and mother ; which is •' Ex. xx. 12. 
 
 T . , . Dent. V. 16. & 
 
 the first commandment with promise ; xxvii. le. Jer. 
 
 XXXV 18 £ze 
 
 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou xxii.V. Mai/ 
 mayest live long on the earth. 4. Markvii.io! 
 
 4 And, '^ ye fathers, provoke not your children 
 
 Col. iii. 21. 
 <1 Gen. xviii. 
 
 to wrath : but ^ brinsj them up in the nurture and \^- ^^°*-j' • 
 
 or 9^ Yi. 7, 20. 
 
 admonition of the Lord. & xi. 19. ps. 
 
 Ixxviii. 4. 
 Prov. xix. 18. 
 
 . — — & xxii. 6. & 
 
 xxix. 17. 
 
 2, 3. •' Honour thy father and mother, which is the first," &c. 
 " five long on the earth." It is not the first hut the only command- 
 ment which has a promise attached to it. Chrysostom has a singular 
 reason why a temporal promise is mentioned by the Apostle. It is 
 that this injunction is addressed to children who could not under- 
 stand so well the promise of eternal happiness, " For if any one 
 inquire why it is that he omitted to discourse concerning a 
 (heavenly) kingdom, but set before them the commandment laid 
 down in the law, we will answer, that it is because he speaks to 
 them as infantine." And this accords with the fact that children 
 are to a great extent under the law, inasmuch as they have to do 
 that which is told them without requiring a reason. This is noticed 
 in Gal. iv. 1, " The heir, as long as he is a child dififereth nothing 
 fi-omaservant .... but is under tutors and governors." If it be asked, 
 are no obedient children taken off prematurely, we answer that 
 such may be taken from the evil to come, and such a promise as "that 
 it may be well with thee " has reference also to a hfe in a better state 
 of things. We may be sure, however, that a promise so emphasized 
 as this is, will be made good, and that God in this, as in all other 
 things, will be clear when He is judged. 
 
 4. " And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but 
 bring them up," &c. Provoke them not by unkind language and 
 undue severity, by partiality, by injustice, by inconsistency of 
 treatment. 
 
 " But bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.** 
 " Nurture " is properly " discipline," and is the same word as that 
 which is rendered " chastening " in Heb. xii. 5, " My son, despise 
 not thou the chastening of the Lord." Admonition is constant 
 putting in mind, and so Chrysostom : *' Never deem it an unneces- 
 sary thing that he should be a diligent hearer of the divine Scrip- 
 
238 AS UNTO CHRIST. [Ephesians. 
 
 e Col iii. 22. 5 « Servants, be obedient to them that are your 
 
 Titus ii. 9. masters according to the flesh, ^with fear and 
 
 IPet. ii. 18. , _ . . , n , 
 
 f 2 Cor. vii. 15. trembling, ^ in singleness of your heart, as unto 
 
 Phil. ii. 12. 
 g 1 Chron. 
 xxix. 17. 
 Col. iii. 22. 
 
 Christ ; 
 
 tures .... Make him a Christian. Is it not absurd to send children 
 out to trades, and to school, and to do all you can for this object, 
 and yet not to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord ? " 
 
 It is to be particularly noticed here how St. Paul assumes that 
 children are as much members of the Church, and so members of 
 Christ, as their parents, or elders. This shows two things : first, 
 that the children as a rule were brought into the Church by 
 Baptism, and that in this Baptism they were made universally 
 members of Christ. Secondly, that it had the same grace to all, or 
 else the Apostle would have laid down rules respecting the proper 
 age for baptism, and the Christian admonition necessary before 
 they were fit to receive it. 
 
 5. " Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according 
 to the flesh." Servants, not hired labourers or domestic servants, 
 but slaves, whose persons and labour entirely belonged to their 
 master. 
 
 He exhorts them to be obedient, not only to Christian masters, 
 but to their own masters according to the flesh, who in very many 
 cases would be heathen. It is remarkable how often and earnestly 
 this duty of slaves is insisted on, and the reason (or at least one 
 most necessary one) is not far to seek. The institution of slavery 
 was recognized over all the heathen world, and nothing could be 
 more detrimental to Christianity than for slaves to act on the 
 principle that their freedom in Christ enabled them to assert their 
 freedom from the obligations of their respective households. 
 
 " With fear and trembling." This phrase must not be under- 
 stood in exact hteralness, as implying that in this case love could 
 not cast out fear. It rather means, with all possible anxiety to please 
 the head of the household, just as " work out your own salva- 
 tion with fear and trembling " does not mean with slavish fear. 
 " These words do not refer to fear of punishment from the Master, 
 but to the anxiety and self-distrust which make the best Chris- 
 tians say to their Master in heaven, * we are unprofitable servants.' '* 
 
€hap. VI.] AS THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST. 239 
 
 6 ^ Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers ; but as the servants 
 of Christ, doing the will of Grod from the heart ; *» coi. ui. 22, 
 
 7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, 
 and not to men : 
 
 8 * Knowing that whatsoever good thing any 2Co™V"io' 
 man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, ^°i- '"• 2*. 
 
 ., , , J , -■ -. r. "^ G^al. iii. 28. 
 
 "^ whether he he bond or tree. coi. iii. 11. 
 
 " In singleness of your heart." Having one aim, which is to 
 please Christ in the service of your earthly master. 
 
 6. " Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers." This must have been 
 the common fault of those generations upon generations of slaves 
 who had no assured hope of the future. They obeyed their masters, 
 not for duty's sake, but through fear of punishment, and if they 
 knew that any neglect of duty would escape the knowledge of their 
 master, of course they would not trouble themselves about it. 
 
 "But as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from 
 the heart." In all your service to your masters, carry with 
 you the thought that everything which you do can be made 
 an offering well-pleasing to God, if it is done to God with the 
 intention of pleasing Him in the doing of it. 
 
 7. " With good will doing service as to the Lord, and not unto 
 men." If you lore the Lord and beheve that He is your Redeemer, 
 and that He has His eye upon you, then you will do your domestic 
 service with a right good-will, just as you do every other thing in 
 which you think you serve or honour Christ, with deep religious joy. 
 
 "With good will doing service." He does well to speak thus; 
 for since it is possible to do service, even with singleness of heart, 
 and not wrongfully, and yet not in any way with all one's might, but 
 only so far as fulfilling one's bounden duty, therefore he says, do it 
 with alacrity, not of necessity, upon principle, not upon constraint. 
 If thus thou do service, thou art no slave : if thou do it with good 
 will, from the heart and for Christ's sake. 
 
 8. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the 
 same shall he," &c. Here the Apostle extends the principle to all 
 men. No good thing shall lose its reward at the bar of Him Who 
 said, " Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these Httle ones 
 a cup of cold water only, he shall in no case lose his reward '* 
 (Matt. X. 42). 
 
240 YOUR MASTER IS IN HEAVEN. [Ephbsians. 
 
 • Col. iv. 1. 9 And, ye ^ masters, do the same things unto 
 
 rating!" ^' them, |1 "^ forbearing threatening: Imowing that 
 mLev.xsv.43. j I n y^^j, ]y[a^g^gi. q^Isq ig jji lig^ven 1 ° neither is there 
 
 P Some read, 'I "^ 
 
 botii you and respect of pcrsons with him. 
 
 their blaster. ^ ^ itt -t-tt 
 
 a John xiii. 13. 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong m the Lord, 
 o Roml ii'. ii'. and P in the power of his might. 
 
 Col. iii. 25. 
 
 P ch. I. 19. & 
 
 iii. 16. Col. 
 i. 11. 
 
 9. "Your master also." So K., most Cursives, d, e, Syriac, JEXii. ; but X, A., B., D., 
 P., fonr or five Cursives, Valg., Goth., Copt., Arm., " both their and your Master." 
 *' Your and their Master " read in E., F., G. 
 
 I shall, D.V., have more to say on this subject of the duties of 
 servants and masters when I come to the Epistle to the Colossians, 
 in which the same truths are set forth in nearly the same words. 
 
 9. " And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing 
 threatening." "Do the same things unto them." I think this 
 must mean, " serve them " — do what you can for their bodily and 
 spiritual welfare. Or it may simply mean, "Do to them as you 
 would have them do to you." In the corresponding part of the 
 Epistle to the Colossians it runs : " Give unto your servants what 
 is just and equal, forbearing threatening," i.e., all imperiousness and 
 harshness in giving your orders. 
 
 " Knowing that your Master also is in heaven." This is not to 
 be understood as if it meant, " Be afraid of that Master if you are 
 harsh," but it rather means, " Look to the approval of that Master 
 if ye are kind ; " for He has said : " inasmuch as ye have done it 
 unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unta 
 me " (Matth. xxv. 40). 
 
 "Neither is there respect of persons with him." All in His 
 sight are equal, made out of the same dust, redeemed by the same 
 Blood, having the same Baptism, the same faith, the same heavenly 
 and spiritual Food. 
 
 10. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the 
 power of his might." Having gone through the various duties of 
 Christians one towards another as members of the mystical body, 
 it naturally occurs to htm to ask, " Who is sufficient for these 
 things ? No one, in his own strength ; but then the least member 
 of Christ has the strength of Christ — of Him Whose strength is 
 made perfect in weakness — vouchsafed to him. One single look to 
 
Chap. VI.] THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD. 241 
 
 11 ** Put on the whole armour of G-od, that ye i Rom. xiii. 
 
 . *' 12. 2 Cor, 
 
 may be able to stand against the wiles of the vi. 7. ver. 13. 
 
 ., \, ^ lThess.v.8. 
 
 devil. 
 
 Christ, one single prayer to the Father in His Name, will renew in 
 him the strength of Jesus. 
 
 " Be strong then in the Lord," renew, realize your union with 
 Him. " The power of His might " is His Spirit. Thus the 
 Apostle prays for them that they may be strengthened with might 
 by His Spirit in the inner man — and the Spirit is "the Spirit of 
 power, and of love, and of a sound mind " (2 Tim. i. 7). 
 
 11. *' Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to 
 stand." The whole armour is, in the Greek, the panoply, the full 
 equipment of the soldier of ancient time, so that if he has his front 
 towards the enemy, none of his missiles can hurt him. The idea 
 of the panoply of God has been supposed to have been suggested 
 to the Apostle by the sight of the soldiers who guarded him, but 
 must it not have been formed on passages of the Old Testament, 
 as particularly Isaiah xi. 5: "And righteousness shall be the 
 girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins " ? And 
 again, God is said to "put on righteousness as a breastplate," (lix. 
 17), which seem all to be gathered up in a passage in the Book of 
 Wisdom (v. 17-20.) " He shall take to him his jealousy for complete 
 armour, [■ravoTrXia], and make the creature his weapon for the 
 revenge of his enemies. He shall put on righteousness as a breast- 
 plate, and true judgment instead of an helmet. He shall take 
 holiness as an invincible shield. His severe wrath shall he sharpen 
 for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the un- 
 wise." These words of the prophet and the wise man are applied 
 to God, but the wiser man — the Apostle taught by the Spirit — 
 changes their apphcation into one more in accordance with the 
 fitness of things, into the weapons of virtues and graces with which 
 God equips the man who fights on the side of His Son against the 
 powers of evil. 
 
 12. " For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against," 
 kc. It is remarkable (that is, when put in contrast with our present 
 unbelief on such matters) how real the world of spirits seemed to 
 our Lord, and to those by whom He chose to represent Himself to 
 mankind. Twice in this Epistle are the hierarchies of the unseen 
 world alluded to — the hierarchy of heaven, where it is said (chap. 
 
 B 
 
' Matt. xvi. 
 17. 1 Cor. XV. 
 60. 
 
 242 AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES. [Ephesians. 
 
 t Gr. blood 12 For we wrestle not against f ' flesh and 
 
 blood, but against ^ principalities, against powers, 
 against * tbe rulers of the darkness of this world, 
 
 ch^i°2r"cof' ^g^i^st II spiritual wickedness in || hi^ places. 
 
 ii.'lS. ' " 
 
 * Lukexxii.53. 
 
 & xiv 30 ch 12. " For we wrestle not." So ti. A., E., K., L., P., most Cur- 
 
 ii. 2. Col", i. 13. sives, Vulg., Copt., Arm. ; but B., D., F., G., 52, 115, 120, d, e, f, g, 
 
 \\ Or, wicked Goth., Syriac, .(Eth., read, "Ye wrestle not." 
 
 spirits. " Rulers of the darkness of this world." So E., K., L., P., most 
 
 I! Or, heavenly. Cursives ; but K, A., B., D., F., G., d, e, f, g, Vulg., Goth,, Copt., 
 
 as chap. i. 3. Syriac, read, " of this darkness." 
 
 iii. 10) that to the principalities and powers in heavenly places God, 
 in ruling the Church, teaches His manifold wisdom ; and in this 
 place, where the powers of evil are represented as an hierarchy, 
 there being gradations of ranks of evil spirits, some acting under 
 others : and it must be so, for if there is to be any proper warfare, 
 it must be waged by something analagous to armies, disciplined 
 under leaders, rather than to undisciplined mobs. 
 
 *' For we wrestle not against flesh and blood," that is, against 
 human nature within, or human beings without. 
 
 " But against principalities, against powers." " Against the 
 principalities, against the powers," both words having the article, 
 showing that there was much more belief in, and knowledge of, 
 these powers of evil than we now possess. 
 
 " Against the rulers of the darkness of this world." Properly, 
 "against the world-rulers of this darkness," as if their rule was 
 world-wide — capable of concentrating under themselves, and bring- 
 ing to a focus, the evil of this present state of things. 
 
 "Against spiritual wickedness in high places" — ^translated by 
 Bishop Ellicott as " the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly 
 regions." The heavenly regions cannot, of course, mean that these 
 spirits inhabit that third heaven, that highest region of all created 
 things, that paradise where the unspeakable words were heard by 
 the Apostle, but rather that they dwell where they can see all that 
 goes on in this present world, and act upon it at once, or, to use a 
 material expression, swoop down upon it, and make their power 
 felt in every part of it, — the very notion of an unembodied spirit 
 implying that he comes and goes not like a human being, but 
 traversing space so as to appear and disappear, be present or be 
 absent, at pleasure. The heavenly places thus seem to be the 
 
Chap. VI.] HAVING DONE ALL TO STAND. 243 
 
 13 "" Wherefore take unto you the whole armour " 2 cor. x. 4. 
 
 ver 11 
 
 of Grod, that ye may be able to withstand "" in the x ch. v*. 16. 
 evil day, and I! havine^ done all to stand. n ^'■' ^'^'"l^ 
 
 *' " o overcome oil. 
 
 14 Stand therefore, ^ havins' your loins erirt y isa. xi. 5. 
 
 ° -^ ° Lukexii. 35. 
 
 1 Pet. i. 13. 
 
 unseen universe with which this present world is environed, and 
 which, at a moment known only to God, will burst upon us, and 
 then we shall know that this present state of things, firm and stable 
 though it seems, is a shadow, and the spiritual and unseen world 
 is a substance. 
 
 13. " Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God .... 
 evil day .... having done all, to stand." Notice how he repeats 
 the order, *' take unto you the panoply." 
 
 "That ye may be able to stand in the evil day." What is this 
 evil day ? Is it some day of fierce persecution, or is it some day in 
 which our spiritual foes seem to leave us alone, or is it some crisis 
 in our lives which will put our Christian character more severely 
 to the test than ever it has been put before ? It may be all these 
 three. Our Lord said of His crisis, " This is your hour, and the 
 power of darkness." And He said of St. Peter, *' I have prayed 
 for thee that thy faith fail not." And St. Paul may have had such 
 a crisis when the Lord said to him, " My grace is sufficient for 
 thee." 
 
 " And having done all to stand." St. Paul could not possibly 
 have written this if he entertained the same idea of salvation as the 
 Plymouth Brethren, and those who are called the Salvation Army, 
 and others do, that salvation is accomphshed in a moment in the be- 
 ginning of the Christian career, and that the sinner has to do nothing 
 — some say not even to pray — but to receive only, and then he is safe 
 for eternity. Instead of this, the Apostle tells us, " Having done all, 
 he is to stand," i.e., in the crisis which determines his future. This 
 is not to be taken as militating against such a truth as " He loved 
 them unto the end," or " He that hath begun a good work in you 
 will perform it," but it must be taken as showing, as clearly as 
 possible, that there must be human endeavour, and that to the fuU 
 extent of human power (of course with the aid of all grace), and 
 that the armour must be put on acd never put off in this life. 
 
 14. " Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth." 
 •• Stand," I.e., be always ready, be always in the posture of defence. 
 
244 GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. [Ephesians. 
 
 « isa. lix. 17. about with truth, and ^ having on the breastplate 
 
 2Cor. vi.7. ^ . ^ ° ^ 
 
 1 Thes. V. 8. of rightoousness ; 
 
 as if you might at any moment be attacked. What is this girdle, 
 or this being girt about ? Chrjsostom takes it to be tbe girdle by 
 which the loins are braced up : " By the loins here he means this : 
 just what the keel is in ships, the same are the loins with us, the 
 basis, or groundwork, of the whole body ; for they are, as it were, a 
 foundation, and upon them as the schools of the physicians tell you, 
 your whole frame is built. Now, then, in girding the loins, he is 
 bracing together the soul (1 Peter i. 13)." Blunt takes it to be the 
 girdle, that is, a belt, from which hung many vertical straps covered 
 with plates of metal, and thus forming a defensive kilt reaching 
 from the waist half-way down to the knees, and of course the girdle 
 might effect this double purpose, strengthening the loins by bracing 
 them tight around, and being the upper part from which the defen- 
 sive armour of the lower part of the body was hung. 
 
 "With truth." It is said of the Messiah, "the rod of the stem 
 of Jesse," that " righteousness should be the girdle of His loins, 
 and faithfulness the girdle of his reins " (Isaiah xi. 5). This faith- 
 fulness, which is rendered in the Septuagint by dXrjQHa^ the same 
 word which St. Paul uses, mustmean faithfulness to God, thesincerity 
 of the servant of God ; and sincerity or faithfulness is the very 
 strength and bracing up of the loins of the mind. The first thing 
 in all religion is sincerity. It was the want of this which brought 
 down on the Pharisees the righteous invectives of the Lord, so that 
 St. Paul rightly puts this virtue or grace in the first place. The 
 purest creed, the clearest views of the doctrines of grace, are useless 
 without this truthfulness and sincere allegiance. It is the first 
 command which the Lord gives to those who would wait for Him, 
 " Let your loins be girded about " (Luke xii. 35). 
 
 "And having on the breastplate of righteousness." Is this the 
 righteousness of Christ, or that of the sinner? Most certainly the 
 former ; but then it is communicated to the sinner, so as to be not 
 outside of him, but in him, in his heart. It is the righteousness of 
 Christ, because it is derived from Him, audit becomes the sinner's by 
 being worked in him. If we have not righteousness, which compre- 
 hends all conformity to the will of God, the missile of the evil one 
 can come straight to our heart. In the first Epistle to the Thess. v. 
 
Chap. VI.] THE SHIELD OF FAITH. 245 
 
 15 "* And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel 
 of peace ; *■ isa. Hi. 7. 
 
 16 Above all, taking ^ the shield of faith, where- b 1 j'ohn v. 4. 
 with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts 
 
 of the wicked. 
 
 8, it is said to be "the breastplate of faith and love." Wesley 
 writes : " In the breast is the seat of conscience, which is guarded 
 by righteousness." 
 
 15. "And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of 
 peace." There is supposed, but without reason, to be a reference 
 here to the prophecy of the proclamation of the Gospel in Isaiah Hi. 
 7, " How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth 
 good tidings ; " but the allusion is evidently to the sandals of the 
 Roman soldiers, called the caligae, which were thick soles studded 
 with hobnails, which took a firm hold of the ground, especially in 
 rocky or mountainous passes, so that the wearer was not easily 
 moved, but in a state of preparedness for any attack. 
 
 Some, however, as Wordsworth, following Chrysostom, see a re- 
 ference to the Israelites eating their first passover. " Their guise 
 is that of wayfarers ; for their having on shoes, and staves in their 
 hands, and their eating standing, declares nothing else than this." 
 
 But how is it called the preparedness, not of watchfulness, but of 
 the Gospel of peace ? Because a true belief in the Gospel, that is, 
 in the truth of Christ incarnate, crucified, risen, and ascended, is 
 the only thing which gives us a firm footing, an immovable hold 
 on the ground. We are not moved by the things which assail us, 
 because our feet are firm on the Rock. There is peace between God 
 and ourselves through the mediation of Christ, and through our 
 having been enabled by God's grace to lay hold on it. This peace 
 of God, through our realization of the Gospel, makes us stand firm 
 on the side of God. 
 
 16. " Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be 
 able to quench," &c. The shield here is the thureos, a large weapon 
 of defence, four feet long by two feet and a half wide, capable of 
 protecting nearly the whole body. Its name was derived from OvpUf 
 a, door, as it shielded the soldier as if he were behind a door. This 
 shield is faith. In the original it is " the faith," as if it was the ob- 
 jective faith ; but the objective faith is of no avail, imless our own 
 
246 THE HELMET OF SALVATION. [Ephesians. 
 
 cisa.iix.i7. 17 And Hake the helmet of salvation, and 
 
 I Thes. V. 8. 
 
 faith, our faculty of faith, lays hold of it. The shield is not a de- 
 fence attached to the body, as the girdle, or the breastplate, but has 
 to be shifted to meet the darts or missiles, from whatever quarter 
 they come. So that we are taught that we must be on the alert to 
 receive on this shield any fiery dart, and so quench it. These fiery 
 darts seem to be the suggestions of infideUty and heresy, or any 
 other evil insinuations which could shake our confidence in God or 
 in Christ.^ It is easy to apprehend how the Apostle would have us 
 use this shield of faith. The moment an insinuation against the 
 goodness of God or the truth of the Gospel is injected, we must at 
 once call to mind that part of our faith to which it is opposed, as 
 the Incarnation of Christ, if we are tempted to think that God is 
 ndifferent towards us ; or the Death and Resurrection of the Son of 
 God, if we are tempted to doubt respecting the forgiveness of sins ; 
 or the Resurrection of the Son of God to be our life, if we are 
 tempted to forget the new Life from Christ. 
 
 17. "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the 
 Spirit," &c. This helmet, in 1 Thess. v. 8, is the hope of salvation. 
 Salvation, as I have said in note on 2 Cor. i. 10, is at once a past, a 
 present, and a future thing. It is a past thing inasmuch as Our Lord 
 purchased it for us by His Death, and made it over to us in Baptism. 
 (1 Pet. iii. 21.) Again, " God hath saved us and caUed us with an 
 holy calling." (2 Tim. i. 9.) It is present, for " Now is the accepted 
 time, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. vi. 2.) Audit is future, 
 for this helmet, in another Epistle, is the hope of Salvation. In 
 each of these ways the Christian will put on the helmet of Salva- 
 tion. He will call to mind that he is saved by the Death of Christ. 
 He will call to mind that he is baptized into the Death and Resur- 
 rection of Christ. He will be sure that God has given to him the 
 earnest of Salvation in the possession of the Spirit, or he would not 
 now be maintaining any struggle at aU, and he will comfort himself 
 with the assurance that God, " Who hath begun a good work in 
 him, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ " (Phil. i. 6). The 
 
 1 According to Alford, "One Greek anthor, ApoUodorns, uses the verj expression, 
 PaXuiv ^eKea-i irenrMpwfAvoii. Appian calls them tmp<p6pci TO?eo/x«T«. The Latin name was 
 malleoli. Ammianus Marcellinus describes them as cane arrows, with a head in the form 
 of a distaff filled with lighted material." 
 
Chap. VL] THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. 247 
 
 ^ the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of ^ Heb. w. 12. 
 
 _, ^ ^ Rev. i. 16. & 
 
 Uod : ii. 16. & xix. 
 
 18 ^ Praying always with all prayer and suppli- e inke xviii. 
 
 1. Ro. xii. i2. 
 
 cation in the Spirit, and 'watchiag thereunto c'oi.iv 
 with all perseverance and ^ supplication for all 
 
 1 Thes. V, 17. 
 f Mat. XX vi. 
 
 saiats: ^}- Markxiu. 
 
 33. 
 
 s ch. i. 16. 
 Phil. i. 4. 
 
 realizing of these things will protect his mind, his ^ '^*™' "' ^* 
 intellect, as the helmet protects the head. 
 
 "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Here 
 the Christian has the example of his Divine Master to follow. Who 
 opposed Satan with Scripture, It is written, It is written, It is 
 written, three times. And so we must have passages of God's Word, 
 which reprove our besetting sins, ever at hand. Are we tempted 
 to foul thoughts ? We should meet the temptations with, " Blessed 
 are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." If our uncurbed 
 tongue is our besetting sin, then let us caU to mind that, " for every 
 idle word that men sh-all speak they shall give account thereof in 
 the day of judgment " (Matth. xii. 36). If malicious or resentful 
 thoughts, " Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven ; " or, '* Let all bitter- 
 ness and wrath be put away from you with all maUce " (iv. 31). 
 
 18. " Praying always with all prayer and suppHcation in the 
 Spirit." Praying always, because the Christian is always in 
 danger ; he must be ready to call upon God always, whenever a 
 suggestion of evU rises up within him. 
 
 "With all prayer and supplication." Prayer is the general word 
 for all intercourse with God ; but because we needy creatures are 
 always requiring God's grace and help, it generally takes the form 
 of supphcation, that is, entreating God for aid in all necessities, and 
 asking God for grace against particular sins, and for particular 
 Christian graces. 
 
 " In the Spirit." The reader will remember the words in Jude, 
 " praying in the Holy Ghost," and the account of the assistance of 
 the Holy Spirit given to us, Eom. viii. 26, " Likewise the Spirit also 
 helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for 
 as we ought, but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groan- 
 ings which cannot be uttered." 
 
 "And watching thereunto with all perseverance." Watching 
 means, properly, to deny oneself in sleep, but it here means, most 
 
248 BOLDLY AS I OUGHT TO SPEAK. [Ephesians. 
 
 i» Acts iv. 29. 19 ^ And for me, that utterance may be eriveu 
 
 Col. iv. 3. 2 , ^ -, • , T ni 
 
 Thes. iii. 1. unto me, tnat I may open my moutn ^ Doldly. 
 
 k 2 Cor " 20 ' *^ make known the mystery of the gospel, 
 
 1 Attsxxvi.29. 20 For which ^I am an ambassador Ml in 
 
 & xxviii. 20. 
 
 *h. iii. 1. bonds: that i I therein ""I may speak boldly, as 
 
 Phil. i. 7. 13. T 1,^^ 1 
 
 14. 2 Tim. I. I ought to spcak. 
 
 Phii'em." 10. 21 But ^ that yc also may know my affairs, and 
 
 I Or, in a 
 
 chain, 
 
 II Or, thereof, 
 
 31. Phil. i. ' probably, watching against the attacks of our spiritual 
 20.^ 1 Thes. adversaries, and if we are idle and given to slumber 
 B Col. iv. 7. we cannot do this. It is once used of the vigilance 
 required of ministers in tending and guarding their 
 flocks. (Heb. xiii. 17.) 
 
 '* For all saints." Literally, for all the saintg,that is, more parti- 
 cularly for the members of the Church in Ephesus ; but of course 
 all Christians are bound to pray for the saints everywhere, as we 
 do when we pray " that all who profess and call themselves Chris- 
 tians may be led into the way of truth ; " that " all they that are 
 admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion may eschew those 
 things that are contrary to these professions ; " and that " every 
 member of Christ's Church, in his vocation and ministry, may truly 
 and godly serve God." 
 
 19. *' And for me, that utterance may be given unto me," &c. 
 The Apostle asks for their prayers, not that he may preach boldly 
 Christ crucified ; respecting that he had, as far as we know, little 
 persecution to fear compared to that which he brought upon him- 
 self by preaching that mystery of the Gospel which set forth that 
 the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and 
 partakers of God's promise in Christ equally with the chosen people 
 (Ephes. iii. 6). 
 
 20. '• For which I am an ambassador in bonds : that therein I 
 may," &c. He was in bonds, being kept chained to a soldier, and 
 yet he had full liberty to receive all that came unto him. A large 
 portion of these would be Jews, and he might be under some 
 temptation to keep back from them that equality of the Gentiles in 
 Christ which they so much disliked. 
 
 21. •• But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do," &c. 
 Literally, " But that ye may know, ye too, my affairs," &c. Many 
 
Chap. VI.] TYCHICUS. 249 
 
 how I do, ° Tychicus, a beloved brother and faitlif ul minister 
 in tlie Lord, shall make known to you all things : ° Acts xx. 4. 
 
 •^ ° 2 Tim. iv. 12. 
 
 22 P Whom I have sent nnto you for the same Tit. iii. 12. 
 purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that ^ ^"^' ^^* ^' 
 he might comfort your hearts. 
 
 23 ** Peace he to the brethren, and love with * 1 Pet. v. u. 
 faith, from Grod the Father and the Lord Jesus 
 
 Christ. 
 
 conjectures have been made respecting this " ye too." Some think 
 that it refers to the exactly similar message to the Church at 
 Colosse, and signifies that *' ye as well as others may know about 
 me ; " others, that as he had heard of their affairs (i. 15), so they 
 should also hear of his. 
 
 Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, 
 was one of the foremost of that band of the disciples of the Apostle 
 through whom he superintended the Churches which he had planted, 
 carrying his messages to them, and through them receiving accounts 
 of the spiritual state of the various Churches. He did not associate 
 these men with himself for mere fellowship's sake, but as his vicars 
 apostolic — the eyes by which he watched the work of God in 
 the Churches, and the hands by which he directed it. He first 
 appears as a companion of the Apostle in Acts xx. 4, and was with 
 him in his last imprisonment in Eome, whence the Apostle sent 
 him again to Ephesus (2 Tim. iv. 12). 
 
 22. " Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye 
 might," &c. " For the same purpose," rather " for this very pur- 
 pose." It would have been the worst of signs if the Ephesian 
 Churches had been indifferent to the concerns of the man through 
 whom they had received the Gospel, and through whose instru- 
 mentahty they had been united to Christ. St. Paul, as we gather 
 from almost every Epistle, was tenderly jealous respecting the love 
 of his converts, feeling that if they were not true to him, they were 
 probably decHning in the love of that Master Who had specially 
 sent him to them as the instrument of their salvation. 
 
 23. " Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God 
 the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Peace is very frequently 
 invoked upon the Churches along with grace. Here peace is 
 followed by love with faith, placing love before faith. There is 
 
250 IN SINCERITY. [Ephesians. 
 
 24 Grace he with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ 
 
 r Tit. ii. 7. "" || iu sincerity. Amen. 
 
 H Or, with in. 
 
 corruption. ^ Written from Eome unto the Ephesians by 
 
 Tychicus. 
 
 24. " Amen." So D., E., K., L., P., most CuTsives, Syriac, Copt., Goth. ; but omitted 
 by a. A., B., F., G., 17-73, f, g, Vnl^. (Cod. Amiat.), Arm., &c. 
 
 no theological significance in this, but it shows that the Apostle 
 was not tied to any sequence of doctrine, but expressed himself as 
 being free from the chains of any system. 
 
 24. *' Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in 
 sincerity." •' In incorruption." For such only can receive the 
 grace of the Lord. " In incorruption " means in sincerity, in purity, 
 in holiness. They love the Lord in sincerity who love Him for the 
 goodness and holiness which is in Him, and for the deliverance 
 from sin and the newness of life which He bestows upon them. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 AUTHENTICITY. 
 
 THE Epistle to the Philippians has always been received in the 
 Church as a genuine letter of St. Paul. 
 
 The first witness in point of time is Polycarp, who wrote an 
 Epistle to this Church, in which he mentions the Epistle of St. 
 Paul to them, and exhorts them to study it. " And when absent 
 from you, he wrote you a letter, which, if you carefully study, you 
 will find to be the means of building you up in that faith which has 
 been given you " (" Epistle of Polycarp," ch. iii.). 
 
 Also in chap. xi. *' But I have neither seen nor heard of any 
 such thing among you, in the midst of whom the blessed Paul 
 laboured, and who are commended in the beginning of his Epistle 
 [I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. ... he which 
 hath begun a good work in you, &c.]". 
 
 Irenaeus, (about a.d. 180) i. 10, " To Jesus Christ . . . according 
 to the will of the invisible Father, ' Every knee should bow of things 
 in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and 
 that every tongue should confess to him.' " 
 
 Again, iv. 5, 3. " This is meant by St. Paul, when he says, ' as 
 lights in the world.' " Again, iv. 8. "Wherefore also Paul says, 
 * I do not seek a gift, but I seek after fruit.' " Again v. 13. " Again 
 to the Philippians he says, ' But our conversation is in heaven, 
 from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus,' " &c. 
 
 The Muratorian fragment on the Canon (a.d. 170) : " Cum ipse 
 beatus Apostolus Paulus,sequens prodecessorissui Johannis ordinem 
 nonnisi nominatim septem ecclesiis scribat ordine tali : ad Corinthios 
 (prima) ad Ephesios (secunda) ad Phihppenses (tertia)," &c. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria appears to quote the Epistle to the 
 Philippians twenty times. One place will be amply sufficient. 
 "But the Apostle, writing to us with reference to the endurance of 
 
254 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 afifliction says, * And this is of God, that it is given to you on hehalf 
 of Christ, not only to heheve on him, but also to suffer for his 
 sake, having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear 
 to be in me. If there is, therefore, any consolation in Christ, &c.' 
 .... likewise also writing respecting Timothy and himself, he 
 says, * For I have no one Hke souled, who will nobly care for ypur 
 state.' " 
 
 In the Epistle of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons, a.d. 161-180, 
 we have Phil. ii. 6, " who being in the form of God, thought it not 
 robbery to be equal with God." 
 
 TertuUian writes : " So that as the Apostle says, ' God may be 
 magnified in your body.' " Phil. i. 20. 
 
 Again, in his treatise on the Eesurrection of the flesh he says : " It 
 is in expectation of this for himself that the Apostle writes to the 
 Philippians, ' If by any means I might attain to the Eesurrec- 
 tion of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, or 
 were already perfect.' And yet he had believed, and had 
 known all mysteries, as an elect vessel, and the teacher of the 
 Gentiles ; but for all that he goes on to say, ' I, however, follow 
 on, if so be I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended ' 
 (ch. xxiii.)." In an index to the quotations of Scripture in this author 
 I find forty citations of the Epistle to the Philippians exclusive of 
 those in his treatise against Marcion, which number eleven or 
 twelve. 
 
 PHILIPPI. 
 
 The city of Philippi is described by St. Luke as the chief city of 
 that part of Macedonia, and a colony (Acts xvi. 12, which the Revisers 
 translate "which is a city of Macedonia, the first of that district 
 and a colony "). The place was at first called " Crenides," or " Foun- 
 tains " from its numerous springs, which rising in the mountains of 
 the north ran down into the marsh to the south of Philippi. It also 
 at one time bore the name of Datum. Crenides, or Datum, was 
 originally in Thrace, for Macedonia was anciently bounded on the 
 east by the Strymon, but Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander 
 the Great, having triumphed over the Thracians, extended the 
 limits of Alexandria to the River Nestus. As the Thracians were 
 a warlike and restless people, it was necessary to establish a 
 garrison on the frontier to repress their incursions, and Philip 
 
INTRODUCTION. 255 
 
 fixed on Crenides as the most suitable spot, and erected a fortress 
 on the crown of the hill, on the southern slope of which Crenides 
 stood, and called the name of the place after himself, Philippi. It 
 afterwards became far more celebrated as the scene of the famous 
 battle of PhiUppi (b.c. 42), in which the army of Octavius and 
 Antony conquered that of Brutus and Cassius, and in honour of so 
 signal a victory it was patronized by Augustus, and a colony of 
 Eomans was settled there with the Italicum Jus, which carried with 
 it immunity from taxes, and other privileges, so that Latin was the 
 language of the colonists, while Greek was spoken by the native 
 population. The above is abbreviated from the account of Philippi 
 in Lewins' " Life of St. Paul." For the account of the Eoman colony, 
 see my note on Acts xvi. 12, page 305. Philippi was not on the 
 sea. Its port was Neapolis. It seems to have contained but few 
 Jews, as they had no synagogue, only a Proseuche or place for 
 prayer on the river side. 
 
 ST. PAUL AND THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH. 
 
 St. Paul visited Macedonia for the first time on his second 
 journey. After passing through Phrygia and Galatia, he was for- 
 bidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the Gospel either in the north, 
 that is in Bithynia, or on the south, that is in Asia, where Ephesus 
 was situated, but was directed by the Spirit to pass through Mysia 
 to the coast over against Macedonia. Here he had the vision of 
 the man of Macedonia, who prayed him to come and help them. 
 They accordingly sailed from Troas, and in two days reached 
 Neapolis, leaving which they speedily arrived at Philippi, and here 
 they were abiding " certain days." Here St. Paul preached the 
 Gospel to the Jewish women who resorted to the Proseuche on 
 the river side, then was hospitably entertained by Lydia, and 
 then was committed to the gaol on account of his having exorcised 
 the evil spirit out of the possessed woman. Having converted and 
 baptized the gaoler and his household, the next day, at the request 
 of the magistrates, he departed out of the city. He had, however, 
 laid the foundations of the Church there, which he left in the 
 charge of Luke, his fellow-evangelist, who probably had charge of 
 the Church there for five years, i.e., from the time St. Paul left 
 him there after his first visit, till St. Paul left Ephesus after the 
 
256 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 uproar in the theatre, when he departed to go into Macedonia (Acts 
 XX. 1). After he had gone over those parts, i.e., Philippi, Thessa- 
 lonica, Berea, he departed to Greece, where he abode three months, 
 and finding that it was dangerous to embark at Cenchrsea, because 
 of the laying in wait of the Jews, he returned through Macedonia, 
 and stayed at PhiHppi till after Easter (the days of unleavened 
 bread), when, taking Luke with him, he rejoined his companions at 
 Troas. 
 
 Shortly after this, his imprisonment in Csesarea took place, 
 then his voyage to Rome, where he was in prison two years, and 
 from which he wrote his Epistle to the Philippians, in which he 
 expressed a strong hope that he would soon see them again (i. 25, 
 ii. 24). Taking for granted that he was liberated and again im- 
 prisoned, which last imprisonment was terminated by his martyr- 
 dom, we have the fulfilment of his earnest wish indicated in 
 1 Tim. i. 3 : " As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I 
 went into Macedonia." 
 
 PLACE AND TIME OF WRITING. 
 
 All ancient authorities agree that it was written from Eome. 
 Some moderns (Germans) have thought that it was written from 
 CEesarea, but the whole contents of the Epistle seem against such a 
 supposition. Whilst at Caesarea the Apostle could not have spoken 
 as he does in chap. i. about his approaching liberation, for he had 
 the Lord's assurance that his removal from Palestine would be 
 followed by his bearing witness to Christ at Eome. (Acts xxiii. 11.) 
 And it seems beyond measure absurd to suppose that from Caesarea 
 he would send greetings to the Philippians from Caesar's household. 
 
 The time during his imprisonment in which this Epistle was 
 written, has also, since the Apostle seldom gives us any direct clue 
 to the date of his letters, been disputed, as to whether it was written 
 before or after the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. We 
 should certainly gather from the first chapter that it must have been 
 written some little time before he was about to be set at liberty, for 
 he writes, " I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart 
 and to be with Christ ; which 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 you .... only let your 
 
INTRODUCTION. 257 
 
 conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ, that whether 
 I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your afiairs," 
 &c. 
 
 Again, "Him (Epaphroditus), I hope to send presently, as soon as 
 I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I 
 also myself shall come shortly." 
 
 These expressions have made some (as Bishop Wordsworth) sup- 
 pose that the Epistle was probably written after the trial, and before 
 the sentence had been pronounced. 
 
 Other reasons are given for the later date of this Epistle, as, for 
 instance, that the spread of the knowledge of the Gospel, which we 
 learn from verse 13 of the first chapter, would require some con- 
 siderable period of time — and that some length of time would be 
 required for the double journey of Epaphroditus between Eome and 
 Philippi, and for his intervening sickness. " The Philippians had 
 heard of his imprisonment — had raised and sent these contributions 
 to him by Epaphroditus — had heard of Epaphroditus' sickness, of 
 the effect of which news on them he (Epaphroditus) had had time 
 to hear (ch. ii. 26), and was now recovered, and on his way back to 
 them. These occurrences would require four casual journeys." 
 (Alford's Introduction.) 
 
 Again, according to Alford, there is a spirit of anxiety and sad- 
 ness throughout this Epistle, which hardly agrees with the two 
 years of the imprisonment in the Acts, nor with the character of 
 those other Epistles. And this the Dean (with many others) attri- 
 butes to the change which had come upon Nero by the death of 
 Burrus and the decline in the influence of Seneca ; and that under 
 TigeUinus, the successor of Burrus, he was put into stricter custody, 
 with threatening of immediate peril of his Ufe. But all this is the 
 merest conjecture, and we must set against it the fact that the 
 Apostle himself thought that he was on the eve of being liberated. 
 
 All these arguments respecting the later date are opposed by 
 Bishop Lightfoot in his introduction to this Epistle, who not only 
 seems pretty effectually to set aside the arguments derived from the 
 length of time required for the spread of the Gospel in Eome and 
 from the journeys of Epaphroditus, and the change in Nero's con- 
 duct by the death of Burrus, but also brings forward some striking 
 coincidences of expression between the Epistle to the Komans and 
 this to the Philippians, for the purpose of showing that the Apostle 
 had the subject and language of the Epistle to the Komans much in 
 
258 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his mind when he wrote to the PhiUppians. To quote the Bishop's 
 words, " It represents an epoch of transition in the rehgious 
 controversies of the age, or to speak more correctly, a momentary 
 lull, a short breathing space, when one antagonistic error has been 
 fought and overcome, and another is dimly foreseen in the future. 
 The Apostle's great battle hitherto had been with Pharisaic Juda- 
 ism ; his great weapon the doctrine of grace. In the Epistle to the 
 Philippians we have tlie spent wave of this controversy. In the 
 third chapter the Apostle dwells with something like his former 
 fulness on the contrast of faith and law, on the true and the false 
 circumcision, on his own personal experiences as illustrating his 
 theme." 
 
 But surely the second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians as 
 much resembles the setting forth of the doctrine of grace in the 
 Epistle to the Eomans as does the tliird of the Philippians — in fact, 
 much more so. And the Epistle to the Ephesians is in more close 
 accord with that to the Romans in its statements respecting both 
 election and atonement ; so that, if sameness of idea and the lan- 
 guage in which it is embodied are to be taken as indicative of 
 proximity of time in composition, the Epistle to the Ephesians 
 must be set as close to the Epistle to the Romans as possible. 
 
 But there is another fact closely connected with all this, which 
 requires notice. It is true that the leading idea of the Apostle is 
 Salvation by grace ; but what is that grace ? It is unquestionably 
 the grace of Union with Christ as members of His mystical Body — 
 He the Head, and His people — His Church — the members. Now 
 certain Epistles of St. Paul recognize this very fully, as the 1st to 
 the Corinthians, that to the Romans, that to the Galatians (not so 
 folly), and those to the Ephesians and Colossians, whilst in the 
 Epistle to the Philippians the doctrine of grace but slightly as- 
 sumes this form, and in this respect closely resembles the pastoral 
 Epistles. I only mention this as shewing that resemblance in 
 doctrinal expression is not to be relied upon as any proof of the con- 
 temporaneousness of any Epistles. 
 
 I do not see how the evidence of the Epistle itself — that it was 
 written shortly before the Apostle's release from captivity — can be 
 got over. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 259 
 
 THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE EPISTLE WAS 
 WRITTEN. 
 
 Respecting this we can only say that it was written for the in- 
 struction and consolation of the Philippian Christians. It appears 
 to have been written for no dogmatic purpose, such as to uphold 
 any doctrine ol Christianity from which the Church, as a body, had 
 fallen, as the Galatians, for instance, had fallen from the doctrine 
 of salvation by faith, and needed to be brought back to it. 
 
 It cannot be analysed. Such a process only detracts from the 
 naturalness, so to speak, of the letter, which is throughout as un- 
 studied and informal as any letter from a pastor to a beloved flock 
 can be. The greater part of the letter is personal. A little after 
 the commencement he begins to remove the impression (a very 
 likely one) which they had entertained, that his imprisonment, or 
 bonds, had retarded the progress of the Gospel. On the contrary, 
 he assured them that his afflictions had contributed rather to its 
 furtherance ; then he comforts them with the thought that in all 
 probability they would shortly see him again (i. 22-30). Then he 
 exhorts them to lowliness of mind by the example of Christ, Who- 
 being in the torm ot God, took upon Him the form ol a slave (ii. 1- 
 12). Then he speaks to them of sending Timotheus, ol whom he 
 speaks in language of the warmest personal affection, and then of 
 Epaphroditus, oi whom he speaks in similar terms. Then, in the 
 next chapter the thought of the mischief done by the Judaizers 
 makes him denounce them in very strong terms indeed, and this, 
 again, leads to a digression respecting Salvation by grace, which 
 ends in a remarkable dogmatic assertion respecting the second 
 Advent and the Resurrection of the Body. 
 
 Then in the fourth chapter there are precepts of holy living, con- 
 cluding with deep expressions of personal gratitude for their kind- 
 ness to him in sending him assistance throughout the course of his 
 ministry — particularly whilst he was preaching to other Churches 
 the Gospel of God. So that the Epistle is mainly occupied with 
 personal matters, and, as I said, is written for no particular dog- 
 matic purpose ; and yet interwoven with these expressions of per* 
 sonal affection and practical exhortation, and almost naturally 
 springing out of them, are three passages as dogmatic in the sense 
 of setting forth the most supernatural dogmas ol Christianity as any 
 
260 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 to be found (with the exception of the fourth Gospel), in the New 
 Testament. One of these arises out of a context in which he is incul- 
 cating lowliness of mind, and he urges upon them to have the mind 
 which was in the Eternal Son of God, Who, instead of abiding in 
 the glory of the Godhead, laid it aside, and became man for our 
 sakes, and humbled Himself further to endure the death of the 
 Cross. This passage teaches us that the Godhead of the Eternal 
 Son is not to be ignored and passed over, even in practical teaching 
 and preaching, but ought to be brought forward prominently as illus- 
 trating and enforcing such lowly graces as " being of one accord, 
 of one mind," " in lowliness of mind each esteeming other better 
 than ourselves," and " every man looking not on his own things, but 
 every man also on the things of others." So that the loftiest and 
 most mysterious of dogmas is brought forward to enforce the 
 humblest and lowliest Christian graces. 
 
 Woe be to us ministers of Christ if we neglect this most sublime 
 of truths, if we are ashamed of asserting it, if we formally confess 
 it in creeds, and yet never practically use it to enforce that Christ- 
 like mind which, in all human probability, nine-tenths of our flocks 
 have not, and ought to have if they profess to be even followers of 
 Christ. 
 
 A second doctrine, that of " salvation by grace," is expressed in 
 such terms as " being found in Christ," '* having the righteousness of 
 faith," " knowing Christ and the power of His Kesurrection, and the 
 fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable to His death ; " 
 and the word " death" leads the Apostle on to a third mysterious doc- 
 trine, or dogma — the first Eesurrection — the Exanastasis to which 
 he seems to assert that he had not yet attained — but he asserts that he 
 forgot those things which he had left behind in the race, and reached 
 forth to the prize of his high calling, which was, that the Lord, at 
 His coming, should change his vile bodj', that it should be made 
 unto His glorious Body according to the working whereby He is 
 able even to subdue all things to Himself. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS, 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 PAUL and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to 
 all the saints ^ in Christ Jesus which are * i cor. i. 2. 
 at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons : 
 
 2 ^ Grace he unto you, and peace, from God ^ Rom. i. 7. 
 our Father, and /rom the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Pet. i. 2. 
 
 1. "Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the 
 saints," &c. " Paul." It is to be noticed that only in three 
 Epistles — in this, and in the two to the Thessalonians — does St. Paul 
 drop the title of Apostle. The reason usually assigned is, that in 
 these churches his Apostleship was not questioned, and so he did 
 not assert it. But may it not be because he wrote in more familiar 
 terms to these churches than to most others? 
 
 " And Timotheus." He associates this disciple of his as one with 
 him in sending the letter, but from the beginning to the end it is 
 written in the first person singular. He speaks of Timotheus in 
 ii. 19 in the third person, evidently implying that he had nothing 
 to do with the composition of the letter. 
 
 "To all the saints in Christ Jesus," &c. There had been, pro- 
 bably, very great unanimity throughout the whole Philippian 
 Church in sending to the supply of his needs, and so he recognized 
 this in addressing the letter to all the saints. 
 
 " Saints " here means Christians under their aspect of dedication 
 to God, just as " believers " looks to their common faith, and 
 " brethren " to their common love. 
 
 "With the bishops and deacons." Bishops here are, without 
 doubt, the presbyters who superintended particular congregations. 
 In a large city like Philippi, in which the Gospel had been preached 
 
262 MAKING EEQUEST WITH JOY. [Philippians. 
 
 c Rom. i, 8, 9. 3^1 thank my God upon every || remembrance 
 
 Ephes. i. 15, of yOU. 
 
 1 Thess."i.*2.' 4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all 
 i OrTmention. making request with joy, 
 
 d Rom. xii. 13. 
 & XV. 26. 2 
 Cor. viii. 1. 
 ch. iv. 14, 15. 
 
 5 ** For your fellowship in the gospel from the 
 first day until now : 
 
 5. '* In the gospel." Lit., " towards the gospel." See below. 
 
 for many years, the Christians would be very numerous, and would 
 meet together for prayer and Eucharist in upper rooms in private 
 houses, each having its own superintendent with the deacons, and 
 perhaps subdeacons, and readers. The Episcopate, in our sense of 
 the word, resided in the Apostle who ruled all the churches in every- 
 place (I say it with all reverence) autocratically.^ 
 
 3. "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." This 
 Epistle is exceptionally full of thanksgiving to God on behalf of his 
 converts, though we are to remember that with the exception of 
 that to the Galations every Epistle begins with expressions of 
 thankfulness : and putting out of sight for a moment the sincerity 
 and heartiness of this thanksgiving, there was a certain wisdom in 
 it, for by doing so he praised them, acknowledging the effectual 
 working of God's grace in them, and so showing that he had un- 
 abated confidence in them. 
 
 4. " Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request 
 with joy." By this he assures them that his prayers on their be- 
 half were not despondent, but full of joyful hope, so that he could 
 pray in that true faith to which the Lord had so abundantly pro- 
 mised an answer when He said "Whatsoever things ye desire, 
 when ye pray, beUeve that ye receive them, and ye shall have 
 them." (Mark xi. 24.) 
 
 5. " For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until 
 now." " In " should rather be translated " towards," or " in favour 
 of." Their fellowship was especially shown in aiding those who 
 preached it, particularly himself. 
 
 6. *' Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun 
 
 1 I mean by this that he did not take the sense of the Churches before he sent them a 
 decree, whether they would obey it or not, but simply issued it. Thus 1 Cor. iv. 17-21 ; 
 y. 3-6, 11 ; vii. 17 ; xi. 2, 34 ; xiv. 36, 37 ; 2 Thess. ii. 15 ; iii. 4. 
 
Chap. I.] BEING CONFIDENT. 263 
 
 6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath 
 begun *a good work in you || will perform it J xhUg'^- ^3^* 
 
 ' until the day of Jesus Christ : ii Or, ivui 
 
 7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of f"-er.\o. 
 you all, because || I have you ^in my heart ; inas- " Or, ye have 
 
 heart. 
 
 g 2 Cor. iii. 2. 
 
 & vii. 3. 
 
 a good work in you," &c. What is this good work? No doubt it is 
 their fellowship towards the Gospel, particularly in the form it took 
 of aiding the Apostle when he was preaching the Gospel to distant 
 Churches. 
 
 But this verse contains a great principle, which is, that God will 
 not lightly leave unfinished a work He has once begun. This applies 
 to individual souls as well as to Churches : and, in fact, the one (the 
 work in the Church) is only an extension of the work in souls. The 
 good work in the Church is the joint work of a number of souls 
 working in union ; each one inspired by the grace of God, and up- 
 held by His grace as long as it receives not His grace in vain. 
 
 We may then, with perfect confidence, apply this verse to the 
 encouragement of those who have, by God's grace, begun well, but 
 are haunted with fears respecting their final perseverance. If they 
 are not presuming upon this grace of God vouchsafed to them, but 
 are careful and vigilant, walking circumspectly, or strictly, giving 
 diligence to make their calUng and election sure, then they may 
 rely upon this assurance of the Apostle. All that we know of 
 God, as He is revealed in Scripture, is on the side of His " holding 
 up their goings in His paths," but if they grow lax, and presume 
 that their election by God is a proof that He " respects their persons," 
 an d that they are His favourites, no matter whether they are anxious 
 about the purity of their lives or not, then they are self-deceivers, 
 and have need to remember the Lord's warning, " If a man abide 
 not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men 
 gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned " 
 (John XV. 6). 
 
 7. " Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I 
 have you," &c. " It is meet to think this of you all," the stress is 
 to be laid upon " all." 
 
 " Because I have you in my heart." But why should his having 
 them in his heart make it meet for him to think of them all, that 
 
264 GOD IS MY RECORD. [PHiorpiAKS. 
 
 h Ephes. iii. much as both in ^ my bonds, and in ' the defence 
 Col. iv." 3, 18. and confirmation of the gospel, ^ ye all are || par- 
 
 2 Tim. i. 8. ^ , » 
 
 i ver. 17. takers of my grace. 
 
 k ch. iv. 14. 8 For ' G-od is my record, "" how greatly I long 
 
 takers with me after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 
 
 I Rom.^i. 9. 9 And this I pray, ° that your love may abound 
 i\2o!^iThess. yet more and more in knowledge and in all 
 m Iii. 26. II judgment; 
 
 &iv. 1, 
 
 •> 1 Thess. iii. , 
 
 12. Philem 6. 
 
 II Or, se7ise. 
 
 God Who had begun the good work in them would continue it? 
 Because he was sure that the fact that God had put them into his 
 (St. Paul's) heart was a sure sign that God had them in His heart. 
 
 "Inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and con- 
 firmation," &c. They were in his heart because they had made 
 themselves partners with him in his bonds by their sympathizing 
 assistance, and by enduring persecution similar to what he endured, 
 for the sake of the Gospel, for its defence against gainsayers, and 
 for its confirmation amongst believers. 
 
 "Ye are all partakers of my grace," " Ye are all partakers with 
 me in the grace of God, and as I am confident that God will con- 
 tinue in me the grace He has begun, so will He continue it in you." 
 
 8. " For God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the 
 bowels of Jesus Christ. The idiom of our language would rather 
 be " in the heart of Jesus Christ." As Christ is made unto us wisdom 
 and righteousness, so His tender afi'ections and longingforthe eternal 
 good of all His brethren are reproduced in us, who are truly joined 
 to Him. When a true Christian longs after his brethren, it is 
 Christ Who longs in him : so close is this wonderful conjunction. 
 
 9. " And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and 
 more," &c. This prayer is the expression of his longing. His long- 
 ing would not be aimless affection. He would long for them that 
 they might have the spiritual graces which he knew that they 
 needed. 
 
 " Your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and 
 in all judgment." Taking for granted that the words of this 
 prayer represent what the Philippian Christians needed, they seem 
 to have had much love and affection, but not sufficient knowledge 
 
Chap. I.] SINCERE, WITHOUT OFFENCE. 265 
 
 10 That ^'ye may || approve things that || are ^^J^g"'^^' 
 excellent ; ^ that ye may be sincere and without Ephes. v. lo. 
 offence '^ till the day of Christ ; ,1 or ' dijfer. 
 
 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, l^^^^^l^^l;^^ 
 ' which are by Jesus Christ, ^ unto the glory and ^^'j- is. & v. 
 praise of God. q i cor. i. 8. 
 
 "■ John XV. 4, 5. 
 
 . Ephes. ii. 10. 
 
 Col. i. 6. 
 
 s John XV. 8. 
 
 and judgment (or discernment) to direct this love in Ephes. 1. 12, 
 right channels, and to make it most effective for the 
 furtherance of the Gospel. How often do we find love not guarded 
 by knowledge or wisdom. 
 
 *' Judgment," that is " sense," or "perception." 
 
 10. "That ye may approve things that are excellent." This 
 is translated *' that ye may distinguish things that differ," " that ye 
 may have true spiritual discernment," but that which is expressed 
 in our translation must be the true scope of this petition ; the 
 Christian discerns between what is best and what is not, in order 
 that, as the Apostle says elsewhere, "proving," or "trying all 
 things," he may *' hold fast that which is good." 
 
 " That ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of 
 Christ." It is better to take this as a separate petition. 
 
 " Sincere," that is, as most render it, " pure," in the sense of " un- 
 mixed" and thence unsullied. EiXiKpivrjg is that which is held up to 
 the sunshine [Trpbg £i\t]v) and so is tested (/cpiVfrat), i.e., is found to 
 be without flaw, speck, or blemish (Wordsworth on 1 Cor. v. 8). 
 
 "Without offence," without stumbling — not stumbUng your- 
 selves, and not causing others to stumble. 
 
 " Till the day of Christ." The Apostle invariably looks upon 
 the day of Christ as the end — the end of conflict, of trial, of 
 labour. He never takes apparently into the least account the 
 day of our death. " The time is short," " the fashion of this world 
 passeth away," " the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." (1 Cor. 
 vii. 29, 31.) 
 
 11. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by 
 Jesus Christ." Christ is the True Vine (John xv. 1-10), the olive 
 tree of Divine grace (Rom. xi.), and through our union with Him 
 we bear fruit unto God. What these fruits are we learn from 
 Gal. V. 22, " Love, joy, peace, long-suffering," &c. 
 
266 MY BONDS IN CHRIST. [Philippians. 
 
 12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the 
 things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto 
 the furtherance of the gospel ; 
 
 IpT.for 13 gQ that my bonds 11 in Christ are manifest 
 
 t ch. iv. 22. * in all II the palace, and || in all other places ; 
 
 I Or, Cesar's 
 
 court. , 
 
 II Or, to all 
 others. 
 
 "But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things," 
 &c. They had heard of his imprisonments, first in Caesarea, fol- 
 lowed by the perils of his voyage to Eome, then of his imprison- 
 ment in Eome, and they naturally imagined that such calamities 
 would hinder the spread of the Gospel. The Apostle assures them 
 that it was quite the contrary. These things have fallen out 
 rather in assisting the spread of the Gospel. 
 
 13. " So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace," 
 &c. This has been interpreted as either " my bonds which are in 
 Christ are manifest," or " my bonds are manifest that they are in 
 Christ." I much prefer the former, for it would require a very 
 clear and deep view of the doctrine of Union with Christ to realize 
 such a term as "bonds being in Christ," — certainly it could hardly 
 be said of any pretorian guards, even if converted, that they at the 
 first, looked upon the Apostle's bonds as being *' in Christ." They 
 might have been able to enter into the meaning of such a term 
 when they were advanced in the Christian life, but I think not at 
 the first, and the Apostle evidently speaks of what took place at 
 the first hearing of the Gospel. But the term " my bonds in 
 Christ " is a very likely one for the Apostle to use, as he considered 
 himself as so entirely in Christ that his life, joys, sufferings, and 
 all pertaining to him were in Christ, as he himself was. 
 
 " In all the palace, and in all other places." " In all the 
 palace (prsetorium)." The old interpretation of the word^prseto- 
 rium " as the " imperial palace " seems to me the only one consis- 
 tent with the context. St. Paul is speaking of the way in 
 which, notwithstanding all adverse circumstances, the Gospel 
 penetrated everywhere in Eome from the palace downward. It 
 had evidently penetrated into the palace, or whatever the resi- 
 dence of the Emperor was called, for in the latter part of this 
 letter he sends salutations from "they of Caesar's household." 
 And when we consider that he was two years dwelling in his own 
 
Chap. I.] MANY OF THE BRETHREN. 267 
 
 14 And many of tlie bretliren in the Lord, waxing confi- 
 dent by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word 
 without fear. 
 
 15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and " strife ; 
 and some also of good will : " ch. u. 3. 
 
 14. "The word." So most Cursives; but N, A., B., D., E., P., twenty-Bve Cursives; 
 d, e, f, Vnlg., Goth., Syriac, &c., read, " the word of God." • 
 
 hired house, and received all who came in unto him, many of 
 whom would be Jews and slaves, it is certain that the knowledge; 
 of Christ and of His claims were known in all parts of tliQ 
 city. We must remember that this is entirely unaffected by the 
 locality of the hired house in which he dwelt, but it is greatly der 
 pendent upon the fact that he was chained to a praetorian soldier, 
 and the guard would constantly be changed, so that the soldier wh<? 
 guarded him would perhaps the next day be on guard in the 
 palace,^ and would doubtless speak to some there of the extraordi- 
 nary prisoner whom he had to keep, and of his zeal in making 
 known the " foreign superstition." 
 
 14. "And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by 
 my bonds," &c. Bishop Lightfoot, on the supposition that " in the 
 Lord " would be tautological after brethren, translates, *' waxing 
 confident in the Lord." 
 
 Seeing my sufferings in the cause of Christ, they themselves ex- 
 pose themselves to suffering after my example. " Be ye followers 
 of me even as I also am of Christ." (1 Cor. xi. 1.) , 
 
 15, 16, 17. " Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; 
 and some also of good will .... for the defence of the gospel." 
 How, it may be asked, could men preach the Prince of Peace through 
 envy and strife, and this for the purpose of adding affliction to 
 the Apostle's bonds, and yet this preaching of envy and strife be 
 
 1 It may be well to give the opinions respecting this Praetorium. 
 
 1. That it was the actual Palace. 
 
 2. That it was the barracks of the Imperial Guard adjoining the palace. 
 
 3. That it was the Praetorian camp outside tb? city. 
 
 4. That it was not a place, but meant the whole body of Praetorian soldiers every- 
 where. But evidently the Apostle in verse 13 alludes to some striking success; and hp 
 would scarcely consider as a striking success that his bonds in Christ were known in a 
 barrack adjoining the palace, or much less in a military camp outside the city, or least of 
 all amongst a scattered brigade of mercenary troops. 
 
268 THE OTHER OF LOVE. [Piiilippians. 
 
 16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, 
 supposing to add affliction to my bonds : 
 
 17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for ''the 
 « ver. 7. defence of the gospel. 
 
 16, 17. These two verses change places in Nf, A., B., D., E., F., G., P., ten Cursives, d, 
 e, f, g, Vulg., Goth., Sah,, Copt., Arm., ^th. The reading of the Received Text is that 
 of the greater part of the Cursives, but has little other authority. 
 
 such a preaching of Christ that the Apostle rejoices in it ? It seems 
 only capable of being accounted for in this way. These *' preachers 
 out of envy and strife " were the same as the false brethren or 
 Judaizers of the Epistle to the Galatians. They could not *' preach " 
 Christ in any such sense as made St. Paul give thanks for it, with- 
 out preaching His claims to be the Messiah, His miracles, and some 
 parts of His teaching. For this St. Paul would rejoice, for it was 
 better that Christ should be known, even imperfectly, than that 
 His Name, and miracles, and holy doctrine, should be utterly un- 
 known. But no doubt they preached the Judaical Christ — the 
 Christ after the flesh, the upholder of the law in all its strictness — 
 relying on their misinterpretation of such a saying as " Verily I say 
 unto you, till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in 
 no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." And this they would 
 do, not so much out of zeal for the Gosj)el of Christ, as factiously. 
 They would say, *' We know Paul's zeal for the liberty of the Gen- 
 tiles. "We will now, as he is in custody, go everywhere and preach 
 our Christ, and undermine his view of Christ, and then we will 
 make the renegade feel bitterly the offence he has given to the 
 religion of our fathers, by drawing away the Gentiles from our 
 nation, and priesthood, and temple." 
 
 This was the preaching of Christ of envy and strife — it was of 
 contention (faction, as the Revisers render it), not sincerely, for 
 much rancour was mixed up with their motives — they knew it would 
 disturb and annoy him, and so they did it with more zeal. 
 
 But there were others who " preached Christ of good will," and 
 as it is explained in verse 17, of love — love to Christ Himself, and 
 love to His captive Apostle, who would be comforted in his bonds 
 by the thought that, though he could not go where he wished, 
 there were sincere loving brethren who preached Christ as he did. 
 
 " I am set for the defence of the gospel." And so they help my 
 
Chap. I.] IN PRETENCE OR IN TRUTH. 269 
 
 18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in 
 pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I therein do 
 rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 
 
 19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation 
 
 18. "What then? notwithstanding." So D., E., K., L., most Cursives, Syr., Arm., 
 JEth., Goth., d, e, f, g; but S, A., F., G., P., about ten Cursives, Sah., &c., read, " only 
 that" (wXJiv oTi). 
 
 hands and cheer my heart by doing what I cannot at present do as 
 I wish. 
 
 18. " What then ? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pre- 
 tence, or in truth, .... will rejoice." How can we reconcile this 
 with the words of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galatians (i. 9), 
 where he says, " If any man preach any other Gospel unto you than 
 that ye have received, let him be accursed!" Surely those who 
 preached Christ out of envy and strife could not have preached the 
 same Gospel. The reconciUation is easy. In writing to the Gala- 
 tians the Apostle points at those who, by their preaching, divided 
 the Church, and strove to draw away those who were already Chris- 
 tians from their allegiance to Christ : here he speaks of those who 
 were preaching Christ to unbeUevers. The one subverted, or per- 
 verted ; the other could not subvert, inasmuch as those who heard 
 them knew not Christ, and had never received His Gospel, and 
 they might be attracted to beheve in Christ, or at least to inquire 
 respecting Him by the smallest word which set forth His goodness 
 and His grace. ^ 
 
 19. " For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through 
 your prayer." What is this that shall turn to his salvation ? Evi- 
 dently the preaching of Christ, both by the sincere and insincere. 
 For it was because of his sufferings by imprisonment, that Christ 
 
 1 With reference to the bearing of this place on our conduct respecting in-egular or 
 schismatical preaching, see my note on Mark ix. 39. I would also earnestly desire the 
 reader, if he can procure a sight of it, to read attentively (and it will bear reading and 
 re-ieading) a sermon published by Cardinal Manning when he was an Archdeacon in the 
 Church of England. He will find it in vol. iv. of his "Sermons," sermon iv., p. 60. The 
 subject is, " Christ preached in any way a cause of joy." He lays down very unhesitatingly 
 that the simplest truths of Christ are such that they must produce a very great effect on 
 the man who receives them. They must, at least, teach him the love of God ; they must, 
 at least, witness against, if not convince of, sin ; and they must, at least, bring men under 
 responsil/ility. 
 
270 WITH ALL BOLDNESS. [Philippiaks. 
 
 ^ through your prayer, and the supply of ^ the Spirit of 
 I 2 Cor. i. 11. Jesus Christ, 
 
 • Rom.vHi, 2^ According to my ^earnest expectation and 
 
 l^-^ my hope, that ^'in nothing I shall be ashamed, 
 
 c Ephes. vi. 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 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is 
 gain. 
 
 was so preached, and so God would, as it were, put it down to his 
 account. 
 
 " Through your prayer." The prayer that all which he did and 
 suffered might be amply rewarded. 
 
 " The Spirit of Jesus Christ." This, of course, is the Holy Spirit, 
 the Third Person in the Trinity. If He is called the Spirit of Christ 
 He must proceed from Him, according to the words of the creed, 
 *• The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son, neither made, 
 nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." 
 
 20. "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in 
 nothing," &c. This " according to " must be explained by the 
 words immediately preceding. Your prayer and the supply of the 
 Spirit of Jesus Christ wiU tend to bring about the fulfilment of '* my 
 earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed," 
 even if the opposition of my enemies grows still more virulent, 
 even if I am brought before Caesar in person. 
 
 " But that with all boldness (or confidence) as always (as it has 
 hitherto been) so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body." 
 Why does he mention particularly the body ? because his sufferings 
 were those of his body, for in his mind and spirit he rejoiced. 
 
 *' Whether it be by life, or by death." 
 
 21. *• For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." To live is 
 Christ. This is explained in part by the Apostle's word, " Christ 
 Hveth in me, and the life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith 
 of the Son of God." Christ is always present with me, so that I 
 know nothing but Christ crucified and risen. 
 
 " To die is gain." Because I shall then have more perfect inter- 
 course with Him, and if to die here implies a sealing for the Eesur- 
 
Chap. L] I AM IN A STRAIT. 271 
 
 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: 
 yet what I shall choose I wot not. 
 
 23 For ^ I am in a strait betwixt two, having a, ^ 2 Cor. v. s. 
 desire to ^ depart, and to be with Christ ; which is " 2 Tim. iv. e. 
 far better : 
 
 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for 
 you. 
 
 23. "Which is far better." So K, D., E., F„ G., K., L., P., most Cursives, Vulg., 
 Goth., Syriac, Basm., Arm., ^th. ; bnt A., B., C, six or seven Cursives, read, "for it 
 is far better " (inserting yap). 
 
 24. "In the fiesh." So B,, D., E., F., G., K., L., most Cursives; but S, A., C, P., 
 &f.. omit ev. 
 
 rection, then the gain is, " I shall be like him, for I shall see him as 
 he is." (1 John iii. 2.) 
 
 22. " But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour," «&c. 
 Various interpretations have been given of this very difficult, in- 
 deed, disjointed passage. The one which seems to me to yield the 
 best sense, is that of the Syriac. *' Si autem etiam in hac vita car- 
 nali fmctus sunt mihi in operibus meis ignoro quid eligam mihi." 
 Bemardine a Piconio takes this translation, and paraphrazes it. 
 *' Quod si in hoc mortali corpore vivere fructuosum sit et utile, nescio 
 quid eligam." DeanGwynne, in " Speakers' Commentary," para- 
 phrazes thus : — " To himself life seems to offer less than death. 
 But as he writes, another aspect of the question arises to his mind. 
 The thought of the services he may render to Christ's people is to 
 be set against the thought of the joy of being with Christ. Between 
 these he wavers, and the contending impulses, as they find utter- 
 ance, leave their trace in the broken sentences that follow ; imper- 
 fect and doubtful in construction, but yielding an insight into his 
 mind and heart than which none deeper is to be gained anywhere 
 in his writings." 
 
 The exactly literal rendering is, " If to hve in the flesh this [is] to 
 me fruit of labour, and what I shall choose I know not." It is 
 quite clear that something must be added or understood to com- 
 plete the sense. 
 
 23, 24. " For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to de- 
 part, and to be with Ch^rist .... needful for you." " A desire to 
 depart, and to be with Christ." Though the Second Coming is the 
 
272 I KNOW THAT I SHALL ABIDE. [Philippians. 
 
 25 And 'having this confidence, I know that I shall abide 
 fch.ii. 24. and continue with you aU for your furtherance 
 and joy of faith : 
 
 time when the saints will receive their crown (2 Tim. iv. 8), yet the 
 day of death is the beginning of their rest in Christ (Rev. xiv. 13). 
 It was but natural, then, that the Apostle, whose hfe in Christ had 
 been "in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in im- 
 prisonments," should desire to depart and to be in a state in which 
 Christ should be so visibly manifested to him that he should be 
 *' present with the Lord." (2 Cor. v. 8.) To be a saint in paradise 
 dwelling in the Hght of Christ's countenance, though not the perfect 
 state, because the body was not redeemed and raised up in the hke- 
 ness of Christ's glorious body, was in very deed "far better," but 
 the Church required further service from him, to fulfil which he 
 must abide in the flesh. 
 
 25. "And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and 
 continue," &c. His work, not only for the PhiUppians, but for the 
 whole Mystical Body, was not yet finished by any means. He had 
 yet the Pastoral Epistles to write. Sensible would have been the 
 loss to the Church if this saint had not written, " This is a faithful 
 saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into 
 the world to save sinners" (1 Tim, i. 15). Sensible, too, would 
 have been the loss if we had not had from him " The foundation of 
 God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that 
 are his " (2 Tim. ii. 19), and the dying confession, " I have fought 
 a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith " (2 
 Tim. iv. 7) ; and " Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious 
 appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gave 
 himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity " (Titus ii. 
 13) ; and, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but 
 by His mercy He saved us by the bath of new birth, and renewing 
 of the Holy Ghost " (Tit. iii. 5). Pdch as the Church is in the trea- 
 sures of the Divine Word, the Lord foresaw that she would want 
 these most precious assurances, and so the decree went forth that 
 some years more should be added to the days of this servant of 
 Christ. 
 
 " Having this confidence," " Being persuaded of this." " Con- 
 fidence " is too strong a word. " I know that I shall abide and 
 
Chap. L] YOUR CITIZENSHIP. 273 
 
 26 That ^yoTir rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus 
 Christ for me by my coming to you again. s 2 Cor. i. 14. 
 
 27 Only ^ let your conversation be as it be- h Ephes. iv. 1. 
 Cometh the gospel of Christ : that whether I come ? Thess.^ii. 12. 
 and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your ^ ^^'' ^* 
 
 continue with you." This confidence was proved to be true when 
 after his first imprisonment he writes to Timothy, i. 3, " As I be- 
 sought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia," 
 in which Philippi was situated. 
 
 Attention is drawn by commentators to the fact that though this 
 presentiment turned out to be well founded, another which he gave 
 utterance to on (apparently) a far more solemn occasion, i.e., when 
 he was taking leave of the elders of Ephesus, was not borne out by 
 events. We are taught by this that even the Apostles were not in- 
 fallible in their presentiments of what should happen to them- 
 selves, as I have written on this latter passage. May it not have 
 been a foreboding of his mere human soul, which God, for some 
 cause, allowed him to entertain, and yet prevented its fulfilment ? 
 
 "For your furtherance and joy of faith" — "for your greater 
 advancement and joy in the faith." By his presence he would 
 confirm their faith, and through it their joy. 
 
 26. "That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus 
 Christ," &c. It was his presence, and words, and example, and 
 manifest tokens of love towards them which added so much to their 
 joy in Christ, and this depended on his coming again to them. 
 
 27. " Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of 
 Christ." " Only, that is, no matter what the issue of my imprison- 
 ment is, let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of 
 Christ." " Conversation " is not daily intercourse with one another 
 through speech, but the life of citizens of the new and heavenly 
 Jerusalem. But it seems to me better to drop the idea of citizen- 
 ship as far as we can and consider the word as meaning " conduct." 
 I cannot help protesting against that system of interpretation so 
 much in favour mth modern expositors which makes the Epistles 
 of this great man the outcome, in a great measure, of small cir- 
 cumstances ; thus, if he describes the Christian armour, it is be- 
 cause the soldier who guards him is in armour ; if he writes to the 
 Ephesians as " growing unto an holy temple in the Lord," he only 
 
 T 
 
274 YE STAND FAST IN ONE SPIRIT. [Philipptams. 
 
 affairs, 'that ye stand fast in one spirit, ''with one mind 
 i ch. iv. 1. 1 striving together for the faith of the gospel ; 
 1 Jade^s ^ ^^ ^^ -^^^ ^^ nothing terrified by your adver- 
 m 2 Thess. sarics : ^ which is to them an evident token of 
 n Rom. viii. perdition, ° but to you of salvation, and that of 
 
 17. 2 Tim. ^ -, 
 
 ii. 11. Crod. 
 
 28. " Which is to them . .. but to yon of salvation." So K,, L.,most Cnrsives,&c. ; bnt 
 S, A., B., C, D., F., G., 17, 61, 177, 178, d, e, f, g, Vulg. (Amiat.),Goth., Arm., "which 
 is to them an evident token . . . but of your salvation." 
 
 thinks of it because the temple of Diana suggests it ; if he uses 
 words indicating citizenship, it is because Eome, more than any 
 other city, suggests citizenship. But had we not better give the 
 Apostle credit for a well-stored mind ? 
 
 " That ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving to- 
 gether." Notice here how the Apostle insists on unity, " in one 
 spirit, with one mind." They are not to agree to differ, but 
 to have within them the Spirit of Unity which will make them 
 of one soul or mind. They will then be as one man in their con- 
 tention with the adversaries. 
 
 " For the faith of the Gospel," i.e., " For the one faith " (Ephes. 
 iv. 5), for *' the faith once for all delivered to the saints " (Jude 3). 
 With whom were they to contend ? With the heathen without, 
 or with adversaries within ? Both perhaps, but I think especially 
 with the latter. Thus he says further on " Beware of dogs, beware 
 of evil workers, beware of the concision " (iii. 2). 
 
 Some here personify faith, as if we and the faith strove together ; 
 but inasmuch as all Christians have undoubtedly to contend for 
 the faith (for its integrity), if possible we should understand it as 
 contending for the faith here. 
 
 28. " And in nothing terrified by your adversaries : which is to 
 them," &c. This shews that the Phihppian Christians were then 
 either suffering, or about to suffer persecution. 
 
 The fearlessness of Christians under persecution was a token 
 that they were upheld by the power of God — that He was on their 
 side, and that they were consequently sure of victory. And if they 
 were sure of victory, then their adversaries were equally sure of a 
 terrible and irremediable defeat. This, of course, is not to be taken 
 as evidencing the truth of any opinions which may be held to the 
 
Chap. L] THE SAME CONFLICT. 275 
 
 29 For unto you ° it is given in the behalf of Christ, ^ not 
 only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his » Acts v. 4i. 
 
 •^ Rom. V. 3. 
 
 sake ; p Eph. ii. 8 
 
 30 *» Having the same conflict "" which ve saw in *^ ^'^'- "• ^- , 
 
 " ^ r Acts XVI, 1&, 
 
 me, and now hear to he in me. &c. i Thess. 
 
 II. 2. 
 
 death, but taking other matters into consideration, such as the holi- 
 ness of their lives, the Divine nature of their faith as a thing wholly 
 above the world, and similar gifts, their constancy and patience 
 were an evident sign from God, that He was on their side, and, if so, 
 that He was against their adversaries, and would visit them with 
 a destruction answering to the salvation with which He would 
 reward those who fought for His Church and Gospel. 
 
 Christ was their gi-eat rule. The sufferings which He endured 
 might be taken by some as evidence that God was against Him, 
 but not so ; they were the most evident tokens to those who 
 accepted the word of God that He was the true Messiah, and that 
 His Father had marked out for Him the path of suffering as the 
 path of victory ; and so with His people. If they were without 
 suffering they could not be His. If they believed in Him, and on 
 that account endured suffering, then this suffering was the pledge 
 of their election, for he proceeds, — 
 
 29. " For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ," &c. " Is 
 given," rather signifies, " it is given through grace " {exapiaOT])^ 
 "not only to believe on him." To believe in Christ seems to be 
 purely an act of our own wiUs, but here it is said to be the gift of 
 God ; and in such a world as this, and in such sin-polluted beings 
 as we are, it must be by divine aid, which is but another term for 
 divine grace. 
 
 " But also to suffer for his sake." The world, as such, univer- 
 sally takes happiness to indicate the favour of God and suffering 
 to be a token of His displeasure ; but here to suffer for Christ is 
 a gift of God, just as much as faith in Him is. Thus Christ pro- 
 nounces the blessedness of those who suffer for His sake: " Blessed 
 are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall 
 say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake " (Matth. 
 V. 11). 
 
 30. " Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now 
 hear to be in me." " Ye saw in me," that is, when I first preached 
 
276 FULFIL YE MY JOY. [Philippiass. 
 
 the Gospel to you, and was put in prison on account of the tumult 
 after having been beaten publicly (Acts xvi. 24). 
 
 This verse implies that the Philippian Christians were now under 
 persecution, but of this we have no account in the Book of the 
 Acts. 
 
 I 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 F there he therefore any consolation in Christ, if any 
 comfort of love, "* if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any 
 » 2 Cor. xiii. b ^Qwels and mercies, 
 
 14, 
 
 b Col. iii. 12. 2 '^ Fulfil ye my joy, ^ that ye be likeminded, 
 
 d iU)ra "xii^ 16 l^Q-^iiig tli6 same love, heing of one accord, of one 
 
 2 Cor. xiii. 11. 
 
 ch. i. 27. & 
 
 iii. 16. & iv. 2. 
 1 Pet. iii. 8. 
 
 1. "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any 
 comfort," &c. Again he urges upon them in most tender and 
 affectioriate words the necessity of Unity. 
 
 " If there be any consolation in Christ ; " TrapciKkriaiQ here must 
 mean " consolation." It cannot mean exhortation. " If there be 
 any exhortation in Christ " would make this fervent passage frigid 
 to the last degree. 
 
 *'If any comfort of love," the grace which binds souls together. 
 
 " If any fellowship of the Spirit." The Spirit inhabiting each 
 Christian soul makes all one. 
 
 " If any bowels of mercies," any tender affection, any yearning 
 for one another's eternal salvation. 
 
 If there be any of these Divine and Christian graces, and that 
 there are, your example in times past, your fervent love towards 
 me show, then, — 
 
 " Fulfil ye my joy, that ye may be likeminded, having the same 
 love." " Complete my joy, fill my cup of joy up to the brim." 
 
 " That ye be likeminded," *' that ye think the same thing," 
 having the same love one toward another. 
 
 " Being of one accord, of one mind," be united together in soul, 
 minding one thing. The Apostle evidently considers what is to us 
 
Chap. II.] IN LOWLINESS OF MIND. 277 
 
 3 ^Let nothing he done through strife or vain- • Gai.v.26. 
 glory ; but ^ in lowliness of mind let each esteem Jam! in'. u. 
 other better than themselves. E^h"*."". Ii! ^^* 
 
 1 Pet. V. b. 
 K 1 Cor. X. 24, 
 
 4 ^ Look not every man on his own things, but 
 
 every man also on the things of others. 33. & xiii. s. 
 
 5 ^ Let this mind be in you, which was also in John xiii. 15. * 
 
 ^1 . , -r 1 Pet. ii. 21. 
 
 (Jhnst J eSUS : 1 John ii. 6. 
 
 4. "Look not every man on his own things, bnt eA'ery man also on the things of 
 othei-s." Revisers read, *' Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of yon also 
 to the things of others." 
 
 such a seeming impossibility, to have been possible if men would 
 only sink self and surrender themselves wholly to the leading of 
 the indwelHng Spirit. Let the reader remember the message to 
 the Corinthians : *' I beseech you, by the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no 
 divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in 
 the same mind, and in the same judgment " (1 Cor. i. 10). 
 
 3. " Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory." Literally, 
 "nothing through strife or vainglory," there being no verb in the 
 original, which makes the injunction more powerful ; " strife," *.e., 
 through factiousness, or through party spirit ; " vainglory," ^.e., 
 personal vanity. 
 
 " In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than them- 
 selves." For as Wesley says, " Everyone knows more evil of him- 
 self than he can of another." A similar precept occurs in Eom. xii. 
 10, " In honour preferring one another." 
 
 4. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also 
 on the things of others." So " Let no man seek his own, but every 
 man another's wealth." (1 Cor. x. 24.) Thus " Charity seeketh 
 not her own." (1 Cor. xiii. 5.) The "let every man also " implies 
 that there is a seeking of our own which is not sinful. A due re- 
 gard for one's own things is not forbidden, but only such a regard 
 as makes us always, or indeed mostly, prefer our own interest. 
 
 5. 6. " Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : 
 Who, being in the form of God," &c. The "form "here, the EngHsh 
 reader must remember, is not the figure or outward appearance, but 
 the contrary. As Bishop Lightfoot explains, the form (fiopp)) is 
 that which is intrinsic and essential compared with that which 
 
278 IN THE FORM OF GOD. [Philippiaks. 
 
 i John i. 1, a. 6 "Who, ' being in the form of Grod, ^ thought 
 2 cor.iv. 4. it Hot robberv to be equal with God ; 
 
 Col. i. 15. "^ ^ 
 
 Heb. i. 3. 
 
 k John V. 18. 
 
 & X. 33. 
 
 6. " Being." Bather " subsisting " (Wapx.'^v') , " being originally " (Reviser's margin). 
 
 is accidental and outward (<Tx^/ia). " It suggests," he says, "the 
 same idea which is otherwise expressed in St. John by the 
 Logos." 
 
 " Thought it not robbery to be equal with God." In endeavour- 
 ing to ascertain the exact meaning, so far as we can, of this clause, 
 we must bear in mind that " equality with God " is ascribed to the 
 Son of God in the clause, " who being in the form of God," and for 
 this reason, that it is impossible to imagine that the form in which 
 He subsisted from all eternity did not express the reality of His 
 inmost Being. Other beings might take "forms " which did not 
 accord with the essential truth oi their being — not so, of course, 
 the Son of God. With Him, in His eternal state, form and reality 
 were the same. 
 
 " Thought it not robbery." The word apTrayfiog is thus rendered 
 in the oldest translations, the Latin and Syriac. Now, if we take 
 this word in the sense of robbery, we cannot suppose for a moment 
 that it means that the Son of God regarded it no robbery, that 
 is, no robbing His Father of His unique glory, to be equal with 
 Him, for if He was equal, which is implied in His being in the 
 form of God, how could He think it robbery to be what He was ? 
 We must then seek for another shade of meaning in this term, and 
 this we find in the idea of tenaciously grasping or holding to. The 
 Lord Jesus in His pre-existent state having equality with God did 
 not tenaciously grasp this or hold it fast (so far as regards its out- 
 ward manifestations of glory) as one would who had laid hold of a 
 prize or of a spoil which he had acquired. This sense is admir- 
 ably illustrated by Chrysostom : " Whatsoever a man robs and 
 takes contrary to his right, he dares not lay aside, from fear lest it 
 perish and faU from his possession, but he keeps hold of it continu- 
 ally. He who possesses a dignity which is natural to him, fears 
 not to descend from that dignity, being assured that nothing of 
 this sort will happen unto him. What do we say then ? That the 
 Son of God feared not to descend from His right, for He thought 
 not Deity a matter of robbery, He was not afraid that anyone 
 
Chap. II.] HE EMPTIED HIMSELF. 279 
 
 7 ^But made himself of no reputation, and Ig^^'ji^f '3 ^' 
 took upon him the form " of a servant, and " was E^°-/'^-26- 
 
 ^ ' Mark ix. 12. 
 
 made in the 11 likeness of men : Rom. xv. 3. 
 
 m Isa. xlii. 1. 
 
 . & xlix. .3, 6. & 
 
 Hi. 13. & liii. 
 ___ . 11. Ezek 
 
 would strip Him of that nature or that right, where- xxxiv. 2.3, 24. 
 fore He laid it aside, being confident that He should ^^^"^'j "xx^28 
 take it up again. "Wherefore He refused not to take Luke xxii. 27. 
 the form of an inferior. . . . He did not refuse to lay '^^^^J 3 ^^ 
 it aside, as one who had usurped it, but since He had yiii. 3. Gal. 
 it as His own nature, since it could never be jjaited 11/14,17. 
 from Him, He concealed it." ^ I, Or, habit. 
 
 7. " But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the 
 form of a servant." This is translated by all commentators as 
 "He emptied Himself." The words which best illustrate its 
 meaning are those of Christ to His Father, "And now, O Father, 
 glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had 
 with thee before the world was." (John xvii.) 
 
 It seems presumptuous to inquire into the meaning of this place — 
 as to how far He could empty Himself, without laying aside what 
 was essential to Him as God. We know not what power the Divine 
 Nature has over Itself, so that, for instance, It should lay aside 
 knowledge, and consent to be ignorant of " that day and that 
 hour," in which the crisis of the Universe will take place. Again, it 
 seems evident that He laid aside that power of instruction which 
 He possessed, for it is said that *' He through the Holy Ghost had 
 given commandments unto the Apostles whom He had chosen " 
 (Acts i. 2). Again, through the power of the Spirit, He cast out 
 devils (Matth. xii. 28), and in other ways, unknown to us, He 
 might have divested Himself of what seemed inherent in Him and 
 inseparable from Him. 
 
 " And took upon him the form of a servant." It is literally, 
 "He emptied himself (by) taking the form (/too^/)) of a slave." 
 " A slave," that is, the form of a creature who being the creation 
 of God is His absolute possession. If He had taken upon Him the 
 
 1 I cannot help suggesting that something had occurred in the Philippian Church to 
 suggest this use of this word apiray/u-oj. Some privilege or some advantage had been 
 clutched by some and tenaciously grasped or held toby others, as if they thought (rightly 
 or wrongly) that it only belonged to themselves, and that they wei'e in some degree 
 robbed of it if it was shared by others. The Jews, for example, held tenaciously to the 
 things which, as they thought, gave them superiority over the Gentiles. 
 
280 HE HUMBLED HIMSELF. [Philippians. 
 
 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled 
 °.«^^"- YZ^- himself, and ° became obedient unto death, even 
 
 39, 42. John ' 
 
 X. 18. Heb. the death of the cross. 
 
 V. 8. & xu. 2. 
 
 form of an angel it would still have been that of a slave of God. 
 The next clause expresses the order or rank among the creatures 
 which He assumed. 
 
 " He was made in the likeness of men." Why does not the 
 Apostle say " was made man," but " was made in the likeness of 
 man " ? Most probably owing to Christ's taking manhood without 
 sin. Sin is so inherent in us that it has become a part of our 
 nature, and so in Eom. viii. 3, we read, '* God sending His own 
 Son in the Ukeness of sinful flesh." 
 
 But though the Apostle says here, " was made in the likeness of 
 men," he does not mean to throw the smallest doubt upon the 
 truth of our Lord's humanity as being essentially the same as 
 ours, for he says elsewhere, " the man Christ Jesus " (1 Tim. ii. 5), 
 and " since by man came death, by man came also the Eesurrection 
 of the dead " (1 Cor. xv. 21), and '* the grace of God, and the gift by 
 grace which is by one man " (Eom. v. 15). 
 
 8. " And being found in fashion as a man." That is, being made 
 man in all respects, in appearance as well as in reality. " In the 
 present place the opposition is between what He is in Himself, and 
 what He appeared in the eyes of men." 
 
 " He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death," &c. 
 He took upon Himself not only the nature of man, but a nature 
 ( capable of death ; and though, since His human nature was sin- 
 less. He need not have died, yet He voluntarily submitted to death, 
 as He said, " Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay 
 down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from 
 me, but I lay it down of myself ; I have power to lay it down, and 
 I have power to take it again." (John x. 17, 18.) 
 
 The question occurs, does the Apostle in the words " He humbled 
 himself," allude to His Death only, or to His humiliation all 
 through His Life? " The Son of man came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister." " The Son of man hath not where to lay 
 his head." " I am among you as he that serveth." The humiliation 
 of His previous Life must be taken into account in these words *' He 
 humbled Himself," and the climax is, "And became obedient 
 unto death." 
 
Chap. II.] GOD HATH HIGHLY EXALTED HIM. 281 
 9 Wherefore God also ^ hath highly exalted p John xvii. i, 
 
 _ . _ . , . •,.,., 2, 5. Acts ii. 
 
 him, and "• ffiven him a name which is above every 33. Heb. ii. 9. 
 
 ^ '' q Eph. i. 20, 
 
 name: 21. Heb. i. 4. 
 
 9. " Given him a name." So D., E., F., G., K,, L., P., most Cnrsives, Arm. but K, 
 A., B., C, read, "the name" (tj ovofxa). 
 
 "Even the death of the cross.'" The most shameful, as well as 
 the most painful of all deaths. Truly it is a great and unspeakable 
 thing that He became a servant ; that He underwent death is far 
 greater ; but there is something still greater and more strange : 
 What is this ? all deaths are not alike. His death seemed to be 
 the most ignominious of all, to be full of shame, to be accursed ; 
 for it is written, "Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." 
 (Chrysostom.) 
 
 9. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given 
 him," &c. The Apostle, in the Epistle to the Ephesians (i. 20, 21), 
 prays that his converts might realize the exceeding greatness of 
 God, in that He set Christ at His own right Hand in the heavenly 
 places, " far above all principahty and power, and might and 
 dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, 
 but also in that which is to come," &c. 
 
 The exaltation is that in His human nature He should receive 
 the glory which He had with His Father before the world was, and 
 that in the place of the Father He should judge the universe. 
 
 " And given him a name (the name) which is above every name." 
 Joining this verse with the next, we should have said that there 
 could be but one opinion respecting this being an actual name, and 
 that it was the name by which He is familiarly known, the Name 
 of Jesus. When it is objected that this was His Name from the 
 time of His Birth, or rather from His Incarnation, and that many 
 other Jews had borne it, it seems sufficient to answer that the sig- 
 nificance of this name as His Name only began to be brought out 
 at His Eesurrection and Ascension. It then became apparent that 
 the fullest meaning must be given to it as signifying " Jehovah our 
 Saviour," and so though not new absolutely, it was new in its fullest 
 significance as applied to the Lord. Still other interpretations have 
 been given, and from the sacred writings themselves. Thus it is pro- 
 phesied of Him, " This is his name whereby he shall be called, the 
 Lord our Eighteousness " (Jer. xxiii. 6). Again, the Lord promises 
 to him that overcometh, " I will write upon him my new name " 
 
282 AT THE NAME OF JESUS. [Philippians. 
 
 ' Is. xiv. 23. 10 *■ That at the name of Jesus every knee 
 
 18. Rom. xiT. should bow, of tMugs in heaven, and things in 
 
 is! * * earth, and things under the earth : 
 
 (Kev. ill. 12); and again, "He had a name written that no man 
 knew but himself" (Eev. xix. 12); and yet, in the very next verse,. 
 "His name is called the Word of God." From all these things it has 
 been surmised that the Name here is not an actual name, but *' a 
 manifestation," that it does not mean a definite appellation, but de- 
 notes rank, office, or dignity, and such passages are appealed to a& 
 **the name of the God of Jacob defend thee." But we are constrained 
 to ask, " Is He to lose the Name which He received at His Incarna- 
 tion, and which was His when He was crucified, when He was 
 raised again, when He ascended ? " The subject is very mysterious, 
 but is it not better to understand that the name of Jesus receives a 
 Divine significance which it could not have before His Ascension, 
 so that it was a new name ? and I think we can easily understand 
 this when we remember that " Jesus the son of Nun," and " Jesus 
 who is called Justus," have not the significance of "Jesus of 
 Nazareth." 
 
 10. "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
 things," &c. This indicates that the actual Name, Jesus, must be 
 (or must include) the name which is above every name, which, 
 understood as Jehovah Saviour, it actually does. 
 
 " Every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in 
 earth," &c. This is a reference to Isaiah xlv. 22-25. It will be 
 well to cite the whole passage, for then we shall see how applicable 
 it is to the Second Person of the Trinity. " Look unto me, and be 
 ye saved, aU the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none 
 else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth 
 in righteousness, and shall not return. That unto me every knee 
 shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the 
 Lord have I righteousness and strength : even to him shall men 
 come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In 
 the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." 
 The words of salvation in this whole passage are true of the Incar- 
 nate Son peculiarly and emphatically. Men have to "look" to 
 Him, In Him they have righteousness and strength, to Him they 
 have to come ("Come unto me"), in Him all the true Israel is 
 justified and glory, and in the midst of these expressions of saving 
 
Chap. II.] EVERY TONGUE SHALL CONFESS. 283 
 
 11 And ^that every tongue should confess that » Johnxiii. 13. 
 Jesus Christ is Lord, to the erlory of Grod the Rom. iiv.'g. 
 i ather. & xu. 3. 
 
 grace we learn, "Unto me every knee shall bow." So that if it is 
 the Jehovah of the Old Testament Who says this, it is the Jehovah 
 Saviour, the Jesus of the New Testament of Whom it is all true. 
 Now in what perfect accord is this with the place, " Who being in 
 the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God." 
 The bowing at the adorable Name is to God and to Jesus — to God 
 manifest in the flesh, to God in Christ reconciling the world unto 
 Himself, to Him Who alone could say, " I and the Father are one," 
 *' he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." 
 
 " Of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 
 earth." That is, as we express it, of the whole universe. 
 
 " Of things in heaven." '* Worship him all ye gods," " let all the 
 angels of God worship him" (Ps. xcvii. 7 ; Heb. i. 6, 7). 
 
 *' Of things in earth." '* AU the ends of the world shall remember 
 themselves and be turned unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of 
 the nations shall worship before him " (Ps. xxii). 
 
 •' Of things under the earth." If these be devils, then the devils 
 were subject to the Apostles in His Name ; and one of them 
 confessed, " I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God " (Mark 
 i. 24). If these be men, then He is Lord of the dead as well as of 
 the hving (Eom, xiv. 9). 
 
 " Every knee should bow." Is this to be taken literally? Cer- 
 tainly, if we are to glorify Him in our bodies. Why should we 
 not? He has redeemed the body. Constantly when in the flesh 
 He received the homage of genuflexion and the prostration of men's 
 bodies, and why not now ? 
 
 11. *' And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is 
 Lord, to the glory," &c. This is the adaptation to the Son of God 
 of the remainder of the prophecy in Isaiah, " Unto me . . . every 
 tongue shall swear." To invoke the name of God religiously in an 
 oath, calling upon Him to witness to the truth of what is said, is a 
 recognition of His omnipresence, so that He hears and sees the 
 truth of what is done, and holds Himself ready to punish him who 
 takes His Name in vain. But it is remarkable that the Apostle 
 abides by neither the words of the Hebrew or of the Septuagint, 
 but gives a new rendering, "shall confess that Jesus Christ is 
 
284 WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION. [Philippians. 
 
 13 Wherefore, my beloved, *as ye have always obeyed, 
 •t ch. i. 5. not as in my presence only, but now much more 
 
 in my absence, work out your own salvation with 
 « Eph. vi. 5. » fear and trembling. 
 
 Ijord." Now throughout the Septuagint this word Kurios is the 
 translation of Jehovah, the highest name of the Supreme Being, 
 as being the self-subsistent One, so that when every tongue shall 
 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, every tongue exalts him as " God 
 over all, blessed for ever." 
 
 •* To the glory of God the Father." All glory ultimately centres 
 in the Father in that He has from eternity begotten such a Son, 
 in that He willed this Son to redeem us by taking our nature, in 
 that He exalted this Son in His human nature to His right hand. 
 So that in all things that pertain to redemption as well as to 
 creation, "Of him and through him and to him are all things." 
 
 12. " Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as 
 in my presence only," &c. "Wherefore my beloved." How does 
 this " wherefore " connect what he is now about to say with what 
 he has said ? Evidently by connecting the obedience of the 
 Philippians with that of Christ. Christ's humiliation was a part 
 of His obedience, and the Philippians, in following Christ in 
 humility, would follow Him in obedience. But some, as Wesley 
 regard it as a new departure — having proposed Christ's example, 
 he exhorts them to secure the salvation which Christ has pur- 
 chased. 
 
 " As ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only." This 
 is the greatest praise which he gives to the members of any Church, 
 and it is the more remarkable because it occurs in an Epistle in 
 which there is no blame. 
 
 *' Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my ab- 
 sence." Perhaps in writing this he remembered how he was forced 
 to write to the Galatians, " It is good to be zealously afifected always 
 in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you " (Gal. iv. 
 18), and to the Corinthians, *' Therefore I write these things being 
 absent, lest, being present, I should use sharpness " (2 Cor. xiii. 10). 
 
 What was this obedience ? Obedience to him, or obedience to 
 God ? To both ; because St. Paul always realized that he was 
 God's Apostle, His special messenger, so that Christ spake in 
 
Chap. II.] TO WILL AND TO DO. 285- 
 
 13 For ^ it is God which worketh in you both to will and 
 to do of his good pleasure. Heb?Sii''2L' 
 
 13. " To do." The same word as " work " in former clause, " worketh in you." 
 
 him, and so he did not merely exhort, but commanded as from^ 
 God. 
 
 " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembhng." 
 13. " For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do,'* 
 &c. This place has been treated as if St. Paul uttered a Divine 
 paradox, it being assumed that it is a sort of contradiction that 
 God worketh, and we also have to work, and " with fear and trem- 
 bling ; " but it seems to me to be no paradox at all, but a plain 
 truth, for if we have any true sense of God — of His power and of 
 His presence — we shall work along with Him, in fear and trem- 
 bling — we shall do anything which we have to do to further our 
 salvation with a certain awe, knowing Who is working in us; 
 vsdth a certain deep anxiety, that we work, if possible, according to, 
 and even, if it may be said, " up to " His working ; and with 
 seriousness, knowing that God and ourselves are jointly at work 
 upon that on which the happiness of our eternity depends. 
 
 These two verses together form one of the household words of 
 Christians. That we should work out our own salvation (for each 
 one has his individual salvation to work out) is the teaching of all 
 Scripture, and especially of the New Testament, for in the Old very 
 much less is said of future happiness and misery than in the New. 
 What, then, is this working out of our salvation ? It cannot be 
 working out our own atonement, for that was finished on the Cross, 
 but it is working together with the Holy Spirit in the sanetification 
 of our souls: it is crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts 
 (Gal. V. 24) ; it is following peace and holiness, and looking dili- 
 gently lest any man fail of the grace of God (Heb. xii. 15) ; it is 
 giving all diligence to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 
 i. 10) ; it is cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,, 
 perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. vii. 1) ; it is putting on 
 the whole armour of God (Ephes. vi. 11, 13) ; it is putting off the 
 old man and putting on the new (Ephes. iv. 22) ; it is putting on 
 bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind (Col. iii. 12);. 
 above all, it is putting on charity (Col. iii. 14). Innumerable, in 
 fact, are the statements which enjoin on us this working out of our' 
 
286 BLAMELESS AND HARMLESS. [Philippians. 
 
 J 1 Cor. X. 10. 14 Do all thinsrs ^^ without murmurinffs and 
 
 iPet. iv. 9. T . 
 
 « Rom. xiv. 1. ^ disputings : 
 
 ! MatriTs ^^ ^^^* y^ ^^7 ^® blameless and || harmless, 
 
 Eph. V. 1. a the sons of G-od, without rebuke, ^ in the midst 
 
 b 1 Pet. u. 12. 
 
 15. "Without rebuke." So D., E., F., G., K., L., P., most Cursives ; but S, A., B., 
 C, 17, 23, read, *• without blemish." 
 
 salvation, because " it is God that worketh in us." They all depend 
 upon this — that God worketh in us, and if we have any desire what- 
 soever to do any of these things, it is because God has excited that 
 desire. Any desire to be holy cannot come from beneath, neither 
 can it come from oui-selves, it must come from above, and it must 
 be fostered, and the presence of the Holy Spirit must be invited and 
 not repelled. 
 
 "God which worketh in you both to will and to do." How ex- 
 ceedingly familiar we are with this truth. It is embodied in a 
 prayer which we otTer to God every time we say evensong : " God, 
 from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do 
 proceed." If we have any will to please God, it is God that inspires 
 it ; if we are able to do anything good, it is God Who works in us to 
 do that good ; and this *' of His good pleasure." That is, it is His 
 will that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of 
 the truth. 
 
 14. " Do all things without murmurings and disputings." " Mur- 
 murings " signify open complaints ; " disputings" seem to refer to 
 what is within, doubtings, questionings, misgivings. Eeference 
 seems to be made to the children of Israel, who were always mur- 
 muring and discontented, and always doubting the power of God. 
 Shall God prepare a table in the wilderness ? He smote the stony 
 rock indeed, that the waters gushed out, but can he give bread also, 
 or provide flesh for his people ? (Psahn Ixxviii. 20, 21.) 
 
 15. " That ye may be blameless and hai-mless, the sons of God." 
 *' Sons of God," rather, children (reKva). The reader will remember 
 how the Lord, in the Sermon on the Mount, especially connects 
 peacefulness and gentleness with the true Sonship : " Blessed are 
 the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." 
 *' Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that 
 ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven" 
 <Matth. V. 9, 44, 45). 
 
Chap. n. I HAVE NOT RUN IN VAIN. 287 
 
 of ^^ a crooked and perverse nation, among whom « Dent, xxxii. 
 
 II ^ ye shine as lights in the world ; H or, sMne ye. 
 
 16 Holding forth the word of Hfe ; that « I may Jg^ Eph.' v.*8. 
 reioice in the day of Christ, that ^I have not run « 2Cor. i. i4 
 
 J . . 1 Thess. u. 19. 
 
 in vain, neither laboured in vain. f Gai. li. 2. 
 
 17 Yea, and if ^ I be f offered upon the sacri- g2Tim.iv'6. 
 
 t Gr. poured 
 forth. 
 
 " Without rebuke," rather, perhaps, " without blemish." 
 *'In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation." Eeference 
 seems to be made to Deut. xxxii. 5 (Sept.), in which the same 
 words appear. 
 
 " Among whom ye shine as lights in the world." Some suppose 
 that these lights refer to the luminaries {(puxTrfipsg) of Gen. i. 14 ; 
 one of which, the principal one which governs the night, gives not 
 its own light, but reflects the hght of the sun ; but others suppose 
 that the torches are referred to by which wayfarers were lighted 
 through the dark and devious streets and alleys of crowded and 
 ill-built cities. 
 
 16. " Holding forth the word of life." Both by example and by 
 actual teaching. "Whether all Christians did in public what was 
 analogous to our preaching is very doubtful, but each one would 
 have unbelieving relatives and friends to whom, as opportunity 
 offered, he would feel bound to impart some knowledge of bis 
 better hope. 
 
 •' That I may rejoice in the day of Christ " (or lit. that there be 
 glorying to me for the day), "that I have not run in vain, neither," 
 &c. Again we notice how the Apostle looks not to the day of his 
 death, but to the day of the Second Advent ; thus 1 Thess. ii. 19 : 
 •' What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? are not even 
 ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? " 
 Kunning, of course, refers to a race, and his life for Christ was 
 a race in its eagerness and sustained effort to win souls to Christ as 
 the prize of the race; labouring has been taken to refer to the 
 labour of preparation on the part of the athletes ; but why may he 
 not allude to ordinary ministerial labour ? 
 
 17. " Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of 
 your faith, I joy," &c. It is very difficult to make this sacrificial 
 idea of the Apostle understood, as it pertains altogether to the 
 Jewish sacrificial system, and that has utterly passed away. It 
 
288 THE SERVICE OF YOUR FAITH. [Philippians. 
 
 h Rom. XV. 16. ficG ^ and service of jour faith, ' I joy, and rejoice 
 
 » 2 Cor. vii. 4. •.-, n 
 
 qoi. i. 24. With you ail. 
 
 will be sufficient, perhaps, to remind the reader that every sacrifice 
 of any animal was not offered by itself, but with an accompanying 
 meat-offering and drink-offering. Thus in Numbers xv.4 : " Then 
 shall he that offereth his offering (of the herd or of the flock) unto 
 the Lord bring a meat-offering of a tenth deal of flour, mingled with 
 the fourth part of an hin of oil. And the fourth part of an hin of wine 
 for a drink-offering," &c. This wine was poured on the sacrifice. 
 
 Here, then, St. Paul regards the work and service offered by the 
 Philippian Church as a Liturgical Sacrifice {Ovaia kuI XsiTovpyia), and 
 he regards his own blood, if shed in martyrdom, as the drink offer- 
 ing, poured upon the sacrifice. According to the law of sacrifices, 
 each sacrifice must have its drink offering ; and if his blood was to 
 be shed in a violent death, as it might be almost immediately, if 
 his public trial were to go against him, then it might be considered 
 as the drink offering poured upon the sacrifice of faith and love 
 and good works of his converts. The idea seems to us, with our 
 imperfect realization of ancient sacrifices, somewhat strained, in 
 fact somewhat violent ; but it is exceedingly important as showing 
 the hold which the sacrificial system had on his mind. It is the 
 height of absurd anachronism to credit him with those anti-sacri- 
 ficial ideas which never were known in the world till the time of 
 Calvin or Zwingle ; and besides, if he had thought that the con- 
 tinuation of the sacrificial language after the supercession of sacri- 
 fices by the One Offering of the Lord was distasteful to God, he 
 would on no account have employed such language.^ I have never 
 come across any such terms as these in any Calvinistic or Zwing- 
 lian writer. 
 
 " I joy, and rejoice with you all." I can rejoice at the prospect 
 even of martyrdom, because the Ubation of my blood makes the 
 sacrifice of your faith more acceptable, and as this your sacrifice is 
 offered joyfully, so is mine, "I joy myself, and rejoice together 
 {(Tvyxaipt^) with you." 
 
 1 It is necessary to bear in mind this sacrificial language of St. Paul in connection with 
 the sacrificial terms applied in the very earliest Christian writers with respect to the 
 Eucharist. See Excursus II. in my Notes on the Epistles to the Corinthians. 
 
Chap.IL] I HAVE NO MAN LIKEMINDED. 289 
 
 18 For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with 
 me. 
 
 19 II But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send II Or, More- 
 ^ Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be k Rom. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 of good comfort, when I know your state. fjj; 2.^ ^^^**' 
 
 20 For I have no man ^ || likeminded, who will ^ ^^- '^'- ^^^ 
 
 j_ M n 11 II Or. so dear 
 
 naturally care tor your state. unto me. 
 
 18. "For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me." 
 As I rejoice in the prospect of my martyrdom, and share this joy 
 with yon, because the blood of my martyrdom is the completion of 
 your offering of yourselves, so your joy at the offering of your- 
 selves mingles with mine in offering myself, that we may rejoice 
 together in the Lord. 
 
 19. " But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly 
 unto you," &c. All that the Apostle says or thinks seems to be in 
 Christ. He was himself in Christ, he laboured in Christ, he rejoiced 
 in the Lord, he yearned after his converts in the bowels of Christ ; 
 and so he trusts in the Lord to send Timotheus unto them. He 
 trusted that with the approval of Christ, and under His ordering, 
 he would be able to send this beloved son to know how they were 
 faring. 
 
 And he seems to be sure that the report he will bring back will 
 be good, for he sends him that he, Paul the prisoner, may be of good 
 comfort when he hears of their progress in the Gospel. 
 
 20. " For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for 
 your state." " I have no man hkeminded," that is, there are none of 
 these whose care is like mine, who will naturally, ?'.e., as a father cares 
 for his children, care for your state. Timothy was St. Paul's own son 
 in the faith, and he would care for the Philippians as one would care 
 for them who was their true brother. " Had he then none likeminded 
 of those that were with them ? Not one. And what means this ? 
 None who has yearnings and takes thought for you as I do. No 
 one will lightly choose, he means, to make so long a journey for 
 this purpose. Timothy is the one with me who loves you. For I 
 might have sent others, but there was none like him. This, then, is 
 that likemindedness, to love the disciples as the master loves them.'* 
 (Chrysostom.) 
 
290 ALL SEEK THEIR OWN. [PiiiLipriANS. 
 
 21 For all ''' seek their own, not the things which are 
 •n 1 Cor. X. 24, Jesus Christ's. 
 
 33. & xiii. 5. 
 
 2 Tim. iv. 10, 22 But ye know the proof of him, ° that, as a 
 " 1 Cor. iv 17. son with the father, he hath served with me in 
 
 1 Tim. i. 2. ,, ^ -, 
 
 2 Tim. i. 2. the G-ospel. 
 
 23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so 
 soon as I shall see how it will go with me. 
 o eh. i. 25. 24 But " I ti'ust iu the Lord that I also myself 
 
 Philem.22. i n i - 1 
 
 shall come shortly. 
 
 21. " For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus 
 Christ's." This, if brought against his companions, is a heavy 
 charge. We would fain believe that it does not include those most 
 closely associated with him, as Epa^^hras, Aristarchus, Marcus, 
 Jesus (called Justus). These may have been all away at the time of 
 the writing of this letter, but it is a sad thing to think that of those 
 about him in the second rank, as it were, he should have to say, 
 "all seek their own." "Amazing!" exclaims Wesley, " in that 
 golden age of the church could St. Paul thoroughly approve of one 
 only, among all the labourers that were with him ? for there must 
 have been many who were in earnest about the Gospel" (i. 14, 17). 
 We say it with much misgiving and fear, but may it not be that his 
 own standard was so high that few, or almost none, could come up 
 to it, and so, perhaps, in a moment of temporary irritation, after 
 he had not been seconded by those about him as he thought he 
 ought to have been, he wrote this " all seek their own." However, 
 it should make us ask with Wesley, "And how many, do we think, 
 <}an now approve themselves to God? " 
 
 22. " But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the 
 father, he hath served with me in the Gospel." The best assistance 
 that a father could have in doing some work appointed to him, 
 would be that of an affectionate and obedient son, and this they 
 knew that Timothy had been to him. 
 
 " In the Gospel" — towards the Gospel. Kevisers translate "in 
 furtherance of the Gospel." 
 
 23. " Him therefore I hope to send presently, as soon as I shall 
 see how," &c. ; i.e., whether he should be condemned to death or 
 be acquitted, if the latter, then there follows, 
 
 24. " But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come 
 
Chap. II.] EPAPHRODITUS MY BROTHER. 291 
 
 25 Yet I suj^posed it necessary to send to you ^ Epaphro- 
 ditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and p fh. iv. is. 
 '^ f ellowsoldier, "■ but your messenger, and ^ he that ^ " ^"' ' 
 ministered to my wants. ^^• 
 
 •^ s 2 Cor. xi. 9. 
 
 2 Cor. viii. 
 
 i. 
 
 2 Cor. xi 
 
 26 * For he longed after you all, and was full <^b- i^- is- 
 heaviness, l 
 had been sick. 
 
 of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he 
 
 26. "He longed after you all." So B., F., G., K., L., P., most Cursives, f, g, Vulg. 
 but S, A., C, D., E., about thirty-fiA-e Cursives, d, e, Syr., Copt., Arm., add " to see. 
 
 shortly." This implies that he trusts that the sentence would not 
 go against him, but that for the sake of his converts he should be 
 spared to comfort and instruct the churches (see i. 24, 25). 
 
 25. " Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, 
 my brother," &c. Epaphroditus was a Philippian Christian, in all 
 probability a leading minister of the Church at Philippi, who had 
 brought the contribution of the Church to the Apostle (iv, 18), and 
 whom he sent back with this letter. He styles him here, *' his 
 brother and fellow labourer, and fellows oldier," but their Apostle, 
 that is their messenger, used in the same sense as in 2 Corinth, viii. 
 23 ("They are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of 
 Christ"). Some suppose that the title Apostle here conferred 
 upon Epaphroditus, signifies that he was the local Bishop of the 
 PhiUppian Church, but this is unlikely, as during his whole lifetime 
 the Apostle kept this of&ce of supreme overseer entirely in his 
 own hands. 
 
 26. " For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness," &c. 
 Properly, "he is longing and is full of heaviness " (epistolary aorist), 
 as one would be in a strange city far from home and friends, and 
 slowly recovering from the effects of an almost fatal illness. Note 
 how the anxiety of Epaphroditus was not about himself, but about 
 the grief of his friends and brethren at Philippi, because he knew 
 that they had heard of his sickness, and ere the news of his re- 
 covery reached them, probably believed that it had had a fatal 
 termination. The touches of tender regard of this sort with which 
 the Bible is so full, make it the most human as well as the most 
 Divine of books. 
 
 27. "For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had 
 
292 SORROW UPON SORROW. [Philippians. 
 
 27 For indeed he was sick nigli unto death: but God 
 had mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on me also, 
 lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 
 
 28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when 
 ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less 
 sorrowful. 
 
 29 Eeceive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness ; 
 ImS: ''""""'' ^^^ II '^ ^^^^ s^^^ ii"^ reputation : 
 
 w 1 Cor. xvi. 
 
 18. 1 Thess. 
 
 V. 12. 1 Tim. 
 V. 17. 
 
 mercy upon him," &c. Many suppose that this sickness was 
 brought on by his anxiety to bring the contribution of the Philip- 
 pians safe to St. Paul, and by his fatigues on the journey ; but 
 there is no very clear evidence of this. 
 
 Epaphroditus evidently recovered from his sickness by the ordi- 
 nary providence of God, and not through miracle. This teaches 
 us that those who had the gift of miraculous healing of sicknesses 
 did not exert it upon all who came in their way ; they could not 
 even restore to health those whom they would naturally have most 
 desired to restore, but their power depended upon the will of God 
 in each case, and in all probability some secret intimation was 
 given to them upon what case of sickness they were to exert their 
 power and in what case they were to refrain from doing so. 
 
 " And not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow 
 upon sorrow." How alive was the Apostle to the goodness of 
 God to himself, thus thanking God on his own behalf for the mercy 
 shown to his friend. 
 
 28. "I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see 
 him again," &c. The more carefully, perhaps because of his illness. 
 Bishop Lightfoot translates this adverb "the more eagerly " ; and 
 perhaps this accords best with "Ye may rejoice." He was eager 
 that they should rejoice in the restored health and presence of one 
 so dearly beloved. 
 
 "And that I may be the less sorrowful." Your joy will sensibly 
 lighten the load of sorrow that presses upon me. 
 
 29. " Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness," &c. 
 "In the Lord" — as St. Paul does all things "in the Lord," in 
 union with Him, in His grace, under His guidance : " hold such in 
 
CnAP. IIL] NOT REGARDING HIS LIFE. 293 
 
 30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh -unto death, 
 not reorarding^ his life, ^ to supply your lack of ^ i Cor. xvi. 
 service toward nie. 
 
 30. " Not regarding his life." So C, K., L., P., most Cursives ; but N, A., B., D., E. 
 F., Q., read, " staking (or hazarding) his life " (with the recklessness of a gamester). 
 
 reputation ; " not only himself whom ye receive back, but all who 
 are like him in faith and good works in the cause of Christ. 
 
 30. *' Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, 
 not regarding," &c. " Not regarding " — many ancient authorities 
 read "hazarding," as if he staked it at a game of hazard. 
 
 " To supply your lack of service toward me." They could not 
 Berve him personally, or they would have done so : so far as they 
 could, they made this up by the mission of Epaphroditus. 
 
 Chrysostom supposes that St. Paul, for some reason, was more 
 strictly guarded, and that Epaphroditus being of a noble nature, 
 despised all danger that he might go in unto him, and do every- 
 thing which need required, but this is scarcely in accordance with 
 the mention of his severe sickness. 
 
 *' To supply your lack of service." This lack does not imply 
 neglect, but simply that being so far distant they could not attend 
 upon him as they would have done, one and all, if they had been 
 near at hand. 
 
 CHAP. ni. 
 
 FINALLY, my brethren, ^ rejoice in the Lord. To write 
 the same thinsrs to you, to me indeed is not * 2 cor. xiii. 
 
 , ^ . . 11- <:l»- iv. 4. 
 
 grievous, but for you it is safe. 1 Thers. v. le. 
 
 1. "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the 
 same things to you, to me indeed," &c. What are these same 
 things, and when did he write them before ? Some think that he 
 alludes to his commands to them "to rejoice in the Lord," which 
 he had alluded to several times in this Epistle, as in i. 25, 26, ii. 2, 
 18, 28 ; others to what he had written in a lost epistle or epistles 
 
294 BEWARE OF THE CONCISION. [PinLipriA>». 
 
 b isai. ivi. 10. 2 ''Beware of dos^s, beware of ''evil workers. 
 
 Gal. V. 15. „ , . . 
 
 e 2 Cor. xi. be Ware of the concision. 
 
 d Rom. ii. 28. ^ -'^^^' ^® ^^® ^ *^^® circumcision, ^ whicli worship 
 
 Gal. v,'2.' 
 
 « Deut, X. 16. 
 
 & XXX. 6. 
 
 Jer. iv. 4. 3. " Who worship God in the spirit," " who by the Spirit of God 
 
 Rom. ii. 29. worship" (him). So S, A., B., C, E., F., G., K., L., g; but D., P.» 
 
 Col^'ii il ' most Cursives, d, e, f, Vulg., read as Authorisred. 
 
 t John iv. 23, 
 
 \ti 6^°™* against the Judaizers, which is not unhkely. For h© 
 again begins to inveigh against them, as if the Philip- 
 pian Christians were in great danger from them. 
 
 2. "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the con- 
 cision." It has been supposed by some that by "dogs " he means 
 the heathen, and that he expresses himself thus, because any 
 heathen into whose hands a copy of the Epistle might fall would 
 not recognize the persons to whom he alluded, and would not con- 
 sequently be provoked to persecute the Church. Others think, and 
 I think with more truth, that in all these expressions — dogs, evil 
 workers, concision — he alludes to Judaizers. 
 
 If any think the expressions harsh, they must remember that we 
 are not now able, as the Apostle was, to know the full mischief 
 these troublers of the Israel of God were doing. They were dividing 
 the Church,they were preaching a Gospel which was in fact no Gospel, 
 they were bringing in a yoke of intolerable bondage. They were 
 probably men of immoral lives, as they undervalued the Christian 
 means of grace, and preferred rites and ceremonies which had na 
 gi-ace attached to them, so that they had not the power against sin 
 which an acceptance of the full Christian system afforded. He 
 applies the same language to them in 2 Cor. xi. 13, " Such are 
 false apostles, deceitful workers," &c. 
 
 " Beware of the concision." Intending in the next verse to 
 claim for Christians the true circumcision, he will not give to what 
 the Judaizers inculcated even the name of circumcision; it was 
 simply the mutilation. It might have been good and holy before 
 Christ came, but now that He had come and introduced the true 
 Circumcision, the circumcision made without hands, it was not 
 right to call that which was superseded and abolished by the 
 name of what was once God's covenant rite, but was so no longer. 
 
 3. " For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, 
 and rejoice," &c. " Worship God in the spirit." Must not the 
 
Chap. III.] NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH. 295 
 
 God ill the spirit, and "rejoice in Christ Jesns, and have 
 no confidence in the flesh. e Gai. vi. i4. 
 
 4 Thouo-h ^ I miffht also have confidence in the ^ 2 Cor. xi. 
 
 j3 1 . 18, 21. 
 
 flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath 
 whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more : 
 
 5 'Circumcised the eis^hth day, ^ of the stock ' G^en.xvii.12. 
 
 ^ *" k 2 Cor. xi. 22. 
 
 Apostle have known the words of the Lord to the woman of 
 Samaria, " God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship 
 him in spirit and in truth " ? The ordinances of the Jewish religion 
 had no promise of the Spirit connected with them. In the prin- 
 cipal ordinance of worship of the Christian religion, we " spiritually 
 eat the flesh of Christ and drink His Blood, we dwell in Christ, 
 and Christ in us, we are one with Christ, and Christ with us." 
 
 " And rejoice in Christ Jesus." We can say, and do say, " Thou 
 art the King of glory, O Christ, thou art the everlasting Son of the 
 Father." 
 
 We rejoice in the thought that through His Incarnation He has 
 become our brother, in His Death He is our surety and our atone- 
 ment and reconciliation, in His Eesurrection He is our new Life, 
 in His Ascension He is our Intercessor. But, of course, we cannot 
 rejoice in the supposition that no matter what our conduct be, we 
 are His particular favourites — that would be to deprive Him of 
 one mark of His Godhead, that He is no Eespecter of persons. 
 
 " And have no confidence in the flesh." What it is to have con- 
 fidence (or reason for confidence), in the flesh, he proceeds to 
 describe. 
 
 4. " Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any 
 other. . . I more." God in choosing him to be His special wit- 
 ness against trusting for salvation in inherited privileges, chose 
 one who not only possessed all that an Israehte could possibly 
 boast in, but realized it so far as any one out of Christ could do. 
 
 •' I more." Remember his words to the Corinthians (2 xi. 22-23 ), 
 " Are they Hebrews ? So am I. Are they Israelites ? So am I. 
 Are they the seed of Abraham ? So am I. Are they ministers of 
 Christ ? I am more." 
 
 5. " Circumcised the eighth day" — and therefore born of Jewish 
 law-observing parents. 
 
296 AN HEBREW OF THE HEBREWS. [Philtppians. 
 
 • Rom. xi. 1. of Israel, ^ of the tribe of Benjamin, ™ an Hebrew 
 
 «n 2 Cor, xi. 22. 
 n Acts xxiii, 6. 
 & xxvi. 4, 5. 
 « Acts xxii. 3. 
 
 Gal. i, 13, 14. 6 '^ Concerning zeal, ^ persecuting the church ; 
 & ix. 1. " * "^ touching the righteousness which is in the law, 
 
 of the Hebrews ; as touching the law, "^ a Phari- 
 see ; 
 
 q Rom. X. 5. 
 r Luke i. 6. 
 
 ^ blameless. 
 
 *' Of the stock of Israel," i.e., none of his ancestors were prose- 
 lytes. 
 
 •' Of the tribe of Benjamin," i.e., not of one of the tribes which 
 apostatized in the time of Rehoboam from the house of David, but 
 of Benjamin, which continued true to the house of Jesse. 
 
 " An Hebrew of the Hebrews." That is, an Hebrew of the purest 
 blood, none of whose ancestors had married Gentile women, as at 
 the time of the return from the captivity so many had done. 
 
 " As touching the law, a Pharisee." None of the first elected 
 apostles were Pharisees. They were devout Jews, but were con- 
 stantly blamed by the zealots for transgressing the strict law of 
 the Sabbath, or for eating bread with unwashen hands. In order 
 to cut Pharisaism at the roots, God chose one who was alive to all 
 its tricks, by which it made void the law, and who could meet it 
 on its own ground. 
 
 " Concerning zeal, persecuting the church." He was not only a 
 Pharisee but a most zealous one, beyond measure persecuting the 
 Church, and wasting it, because in his ignorance he believed it to 
 teach what was contrary to the law. This was the outward and 
 public expression of his zeal for the religion of his fathers, but his 
 obedience was one of life and character, " touching the righteous- 
 ness which is of the law blameless." We are not to suppose from 
 this that he possessed evangelical righteousness, as he did after his 
 conversion, but that from his youth he had not broken such com- 
 mandments as "thou shalt not kill," "thou shalt not commit 
 adultery," " thou shalt not steal." In fact, he was exactly in the 
 position of the young ruler who had kept all these from his youth 
 up (Mark x. 20). 
 
 7. " But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for 
 Christ." The English reader can scarcely apprehend the full sig- 
 nificance of this verse, for the word " gain " is in the plural, " gains," 
 
Chap, m.] LOSS FOR CHRIST. 2D 7 
 
 7 But ^what things were gain to me, those I counted 
 loss for Christ. « Matt. xUi. 
 
 44. 
 
 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things hut loss 
 
 * for the excellency of the knowledere of Christ * isai. liii. ii. 
 
 •^ ^ Jer. ix. 23, 24. 
 
 Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the Johnxvii. 3. 
 
 •^ 1 Cor. ii. 2. 
 
 Col. ii. 2. 
 
 7. " But what things." So B., D., E., F. ; but fi. A., G., omit " but," 
 
 and "loss" in the singular. It is, as Bishop Lightfoot remarks, 
 *' All such things which I used to count up as distinct items with a 
 miserly greed, and reckoned to my credit, those I have massed 
 together, under one general head as loss." But it may be asked, 
 *'A11 this is very well as regards his circumcision, his Hebrew 
 descent, his Pharisaism, but can he possibly have accounted his 
 strict morality, his abstention from sin, his blameless life as * loss ' ? " 
 Certainly, if he made it a matter of inward pride or outward boast- 
 ing. It was intended to lead him to Christ, but his self-approval 
 and self-contemplation made it turn him away from Christ, so 
 that that which was in itself good, and which our Lord had actually 
 commended in the young ruler, became to him, through his per- 
 verseness, a stumbhng-block, " The thing that should have been 
 for his wealth was to him an occasion of falling." 
 
 8. *' Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the ex- 
 cellency of," &c. In the last verse he had said that he counted, 
 now he uses the present tense and asserts that he continues so to 
 do. "I now count all things but loss," and not only does he 
 account the particular things which he once esteemed religious gain 
 to be loss, but all things, wealth, power, the esteem of the great ones 
 of his nation, the reputation that he had as a man learned in the 
 law — all these he now counted loss. 
 
 " For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord." 
 *' Knowledge " seems here to be put for " possession," for the know- 
 ledge of Christ is given to us that we may by faith possess Him. 
 
 "For whom I have suffered the loss of all things." This prob- 
 ably means the loss of his property, but whether this was taken 
 from him when he became a Christian, or whether he surrendered 
 it as the first-called Apostles did theirs, we are not told. In either 
 case it would be equally for Christ. 
 
 " And do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." Com- 
 
298 MINE OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS. [Philippians. 
 
 loss of all things, and do count tliem hut dung, that I may 
 win Christ, 
 
 u Rom. X. 3, 5. 9 And be found in him, not having " mine own 
 &iiL2i,'22." righteousness, which is of the law, but ''that 
 
 & ix. 30, & X. 
 
 3, 6. Gal. ii. 
 
 lt3. 
 
 mentators are much divided as to what the word translated "dung'* 
 ((T/cv/3aXa) is. It is sufficient to say that it must mean what is 
 vile and refuse, — vile and refuse in comparison with Christ. 
 
 "That I may win Christ." This is a very remarkable expres- 
 sion, for had he not won Christ ? and yet he speaks as if Christ had 
 yet to be won ; surely he, aged Apostle as he then was, had won 
 Christ. And yet there is a sense in which those who have Christ 
 may be said to win or gain Him — they have to gain the Exanastasis 
 which is in Christ ; they have to gain perfection in Christ ; they 
 have to gain or win the prize of their high calling of God in Christ. 
 
 Mark the trembling, the humble confidence with which the 
 Apostle speaks, and compare it with the obtrusive — one might 
 almost say the immodest — boastful confidence with which some 
 nowadays speak of the certainty of their final acceptance so far as 
 even to deny the truth of Christ if they are not accepted at last.^ 
 
 9. " And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness.'* 
 Does the expression " that righteousness which is through the faith 
 of Christ," mean that this better righteousness does not become his 
 own ; that is, is not worked in his soul and spirit by the power of 
 Christ's spirit, and through union with him, but is simply imputed 
 to him, it being all the while another's ; or that it is a righteousness 
 which he derives from his union with Christ, which being assimi- 
 lated with the very elements of his soul, becomes his, so that by 
 the gift of it he is himself actually righteous with an infinitely 
 higher righteousness than that which comes from himself through 
 the law ? 
 
 1 There was a popular itinerating preacher in the West of England whose habit it was 
 constantly to assert before almost every congregation he addressed, the certainty of his 
 own final salvation at the last. He had been assured of it by God Himself. Before he 
 died, however, this confidence entirely deserted him, and he died seemingly in despair. 
 Now was this despair a sign of his condemnation.? Certainly not, no more than his pre- 
 vious confidence had been a sign of his salvation. It is marvellous to think how a man's 
 utterances when on his death-bed could ever have been regarded as a sign of his 
 acceptance or the contrary. Scripture is absolutely silent upon the subject. 
 
Chap. III.] THAT I MAY KNOW HIM. 299* 
 
 which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness 
 which is of Grod by faith : 
 
 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resur- 
 
 Is it imputed only or imparted ? Most unquestionably the latter. 
 The righteousness of any intelligent creature must be its own, 
 just as the wickedness of any intelligent creature must be its own. 
 The real matter in question is, is the righteousness of the Christian 
 his own in the sense of being produced by him from himself, and in 
 himself, or is it given to him by God ? Unquestionably it is given 
 to him — not thrown around him as a cloak, but given to him by 
 God, through His Son being given to him to be in him a fountain 
 of life. So that if Christ be in him, all that is good and holy is 
 within him. It is not manifested perhaps because it is hindered, 
 but the day will come when it will be manifested — for his renewed 
 flesh will present no obstacle to the reign of Christ in body, soul, 
 and spirit. 
 
 The exact translation of the last clause " but that (righteousness) 
 which is through faith of Christ," requires attention: it is, "the 
 righteousness of God upon the faith," i.e., it comes from God through 
 faith and rests upon the faith of the believer, it comes from God and 
 it finds that in the believer's soul on which it can rest, the faith held 
 firmly, the faith once delivered to the saints, the one faith (Ephes. 
 iv. 5) — the faith of the eternal Son incarnate, crucified, risen and 
 ascended. 
 
 10. " That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, 
 and the fellowship," &c. "That I may know him." Know Him 
 as one person knows another. The Christian knows Christ. He 
 is not out of his sphere, in an infinite distance above him, but so 
 near him spiritually that he has intercourse with Him, he commits 
 his way to Him — at times, it may be, following the example of the 
 Psalmist, he remonstrates with Him, but all this intercourse is, on 
 the Christian's part, conducted with the utmost reverence. He 
 never is familiar with the Lord, as if he was His equal. In all 
 that he says, he remembers the infinite condescension of the Son 
 of God in having anything to do with him. 
 
 " And the power of his resurrection." The power of His Resur- 
 rection is the power of His Eisen Life transferred from Him into 
 us. It is the power of His Risen Life which saves us, as His ser- 
 
300 CONFORMABLE UNTO HIS DEATH. [Philipkians. 
 
 7 Rom. yi. 3, roctioii, and ^ the fellowship of his sufferings, 
 ;2'cor. iv. io, lein^ made conformable unto his death ; 
 
 11. 2 Tim. ^ ' 
 
 ii.ll, 12. 1 
 
 Pet. iv. 13. 
 
 ^ant says, " If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God 
 by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be 
 saved by His Life." It is that to which He alludes when He says, 
 ■" Because I live, ye shall live also." It is the life of justification, 
 for justification is not principally a matter of imputation, but of 
 life, as it is written, " What the law could not do in that it was 
 weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the like- 
 ness of sinful flesh .... that the righteousness of the law might be 
 fulfilled in us," &c. (Rom. viii. 3, 4.) 
 
 The power of His Resurrection is the power, i.e., the goodness of 
 the True Vine and the Divine Olive Tree, to make us bear fruit 
 unto God. Is, then, the power of Christ's Resurrection the power 
 of the Spirit of God within us ? It is, and it is more ; for it is the 
 Spirit making us partakers of the manhood of Christ, of His lower. 
 His human natm'e. So that we are effectually in Him and He 
 in us. 
 
 The power of His Resurrection is also the power within us of our 
 ■own resurrection, for the Apostle says a little farther on, " Who 
 shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious 
 Body according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all 
 things unto Himself" 
 
 " And the fellowship of his sufferings." Some suppose that these 
 two latter clauses, " The fellowship of his sufferings," " being made 
 conformable unto his death," are the first in point of time — "We 
 must inwardly have the fellowship of His sufferings before we can 
 realize the power of His Resurrection;" but this, I think, is a mis- 
 take. It is the power proceeding from a risen and living Christ 
 which enables us to realize anything which pertains to Him. 
 
 " The fellowship of his sufferings." There is more than one way 
 of entering into this fellowship. (1.) When we devoutly contem- 
 plate these sufferings, and gratefully remember that He suffered 
 these bitter agonies for each one of us, and thank Him for them» 
 and put away at once any proud or self- sufficient thought which 
 would make us independent of these sufferings, knowing full well 
 that it is only through their merit that we are reconciled to God. 
 (2.) When we mortify our sinful inclinations, and crucify our flesh, 
 
OiiAP. III.] EXANASTASIS. 301 
 
 11 If by any means I might ^attain unto the resurrection- 
 of the dead. « Acts xxvi. 7. 
 
 11, "Of the dead." Rather, "out of the dead" (■n]V e^avarrota-iv -r^y ex veicpujv). So K,. 
 A., B., D., E., P., seven Cursives, d, e, f, g, Vulg., Goth,, Syriac, and Rec. Text. 
 Twv vcKpZv only in K., L., most Cursives, Arm., Copt. 
 
 with its affections and lusts, and daily endeavour to die to sin, and 
 rise again to righteousness. (3.) When we accept any suffering, or 
 pain, or distress which God may lay upon us as a means whereby 
 we may suffer with Christ ; as we read in the Church's Visitation 
 Service : " Our way to eternal joy is to suffer here with Christ, 
 and our door to enter into eternal life is gladly to die with 
 Christ." 
 
 " Being made conformable unto his death." There is a sacra- 
 mental conformity to His death. " We were buried with him 
 by baptism into 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 " (Kom. vi. 4). 
 
 But this, though it took place in past time, is never a thing of 
 the past, it must be daily remembered, daily stirred up by an act 
 of faith, as we read "in that he died he died unto sin once, but in 
 that he liveth, he liveth unto God ; so likewise reckon ye also 
 yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 And this leads to a continuous conformity to His death : " Mor- 
 tify therefore your members which are upon the earlh," " Put off 
 the old man, be renewed, put on the new " (Col. iii. 5 ; Ephes. iv. 
 22-24). 
 
 11. " If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the 
 dead." This is hterally " the Exanastasis," that is, the resurrection 
 from out of the mass of the dead, the first resurrection. Most 
 commentators consider it to be synonymous with the Kesurrection 
 of the Just ; but if Rev. xx. 4 is to be taken into full account, it is. 
 a Resurrection not of all the just, but of the martyrs, and of those 
 who have not worshipped the beast, and have not received his 
 mark. It is not possible to suppose that if St. Paul had there and 
 then died, he would not have risen to the Resurrection of Life, but 
 he might well have thought that he had yet to do and suffer much 
 before he attained to the Martyr's Resurrection of Rev. xx. I hope 
 the reader does not think that I am pronouncing dogmatically upoji. 
 
o02 I FOLLOW AFTER. [Phtlippians. 
 
 "iTim.vi. 12. 12 Not as though I had already ^attained, 
 b Heb. xii. 23. either were already ^ perfect : but I follow after, 
 
 this vision of the Kevelation, but Eev. xx. 4 must mean something, 
 and it certainly seems to describe an Exanastasis. 
 
 It is remarkable that the recently-discovered "Didache of the 
 Apostles " ends with these words : " And then shall appear the signs 
 of the truth. The first is the sign of a cross spread out in heaven ; 
 next the sign of the voice of a trumpet ; and the third a Eesurrec- 
 tion of the dead ; yet not of all, but as it is said : The Lord shall 
 come, and all his saints with him. Then shall the world see the 
 Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven." 
 
 12. " Not as though I had already attained, either were already 
 perfect." *' I had aheady attained." To what? Evidently to 
 the things mentioned just above — " to know Christ," i.e., as He 
 ought to be known, to know the power of His Resurrection — the 
 greatest Divine power put forth on behalf of sinners — to have such 
 conformity to His Death, that I am certain that I shall have part 
 in the Exanastasis. 
 
 "Either were already perfect," or "am already made perfect." 
 There is a sense in which the Christian is perfected in this life, and 
 4i sense in which no one is perfected till the Resurrection. St. Paul 
 was perfect so far as he could be, whilst his body was not renewed 
 and recreated after the likeness of Christ's glorious Body (see notes 
 on Rom. vii. 7-25). At least we must esteem him to have been so 
 when we read the accounts of his labours and sufferings, and see 
 how earnest he was in bringing his body under subjection. 
 Throughout his Epistles there are no confessions of sin such as 
 we find in the Psalms, and he seems to have obeyed the guidings 
 of the Holy Spirit so far as anyone could do who was yet in the 
 flesh. 
 
 And yet he was not perfected, for the perfect man is he whose 
 body and soul are alike renewed, and this will not be till the 
 Second Advent, and the change of the natural into a spiritual 
 body. 
 
 " But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also 
 I am," &c. Here the Apostle takes up, as is supposed, the figure 
 of the racer — " I follow after," rather " I press on," as a racer does 
 for the prize, as he says in 1 Cor. ix. 26, " I so run, not as im- 
 certainly," 
 
Chap, ni.] I MAY APPREHEND. 303 
 
 if that I may apprehend that for which also I am appre- 
 hended of Christ Jesus. 
 
 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended : but 
 
 13. " Not to have apprehended." So B., E,, F., G., K., L., most Cursives, d, e, f, g, 
 Vnlg., Goth., Syriac ; but ti. A., D., P., forty Cursives, Copt., ^th., read, "not yet" 
 
 " If that I may apprehend that for which also I am," &c. He 
 means that Christ Lad laid hold on him, and put him into the 
 beginning of the Christian race, in order that he might win the 
 prize of eternal life, and a crown of glory ; and so he presses on 
 with all his might that he might gain the prize which Christ de- 
 signed for him, by putting him on the course. "My life is still 
 one of contest, I am still far from the end, I am still distant from 
 the prize, still I run, still I pursue. . . . But if Paul, who had so 
 pursued, who had suffered so many things, yet saith, ' If I may 
 attain,' what must we say who are so lax in our efforts ? " (Chry- 
 sostom). 
 
 " That for which also I am apprehended." " ' I was,' he saith, 
 * of the number of the lost, I gasped for breath, I was nigh dead, 
 God apprehended me ' " (Chrysostom). 
 
 "His conversion marks the date, not of his obtaining, but of 
 Christ's laying hold on him, and setting him on the course in 
 which he seeks finally to lay hold on Christ " (Dean Gwynne in 
 *' Speaker's Commentary "). 
 
 13. "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but 
 this one thing," &c. The " I " (I count not) and the "myself'' 
 are both emphatic. The significance is, " whatever others think of 
 me, or whatever others think of themselves, I count not myself to 
 have as yet apprehended, or laid full hold of, or attained to that for 
 which Christ laid hold on me." 
 
 This place, and that which precedes it, is very much to be ob- 
 served, as it cuts at the roots of that confident assurance which is 
 so rife amongst us, which is, that God assigns salvation to a con- 
 vert at the moment of his first " believing," which salvation he can- 
 not throw away ; so that he is sure of going to heaven when he dies. 
 A meeting is held, stirring addresses are delivered, and it is announced 
 that so many persons were saved, and this is encouraged in the face 
 of the fact that of those thus supposed to be saved but a mere fraction 
 
304 I PRESS TOWARD THE MARK. [Philippians* 
 
 c Ps. xiv. 10. this one thing I do, *^ forgetting tliose things which 
 
 2 Cor. v'. 16. are behind, and ** reaching forth unto those things 
 
 24, 26?*Heb. which are beforc, 
 
 e'a Tim iv 14 ^ I press toward the mark for the prize of 
 
 7,__8.^ Heb. t^-j^Q ]^|gj^ calling of Grod in Christ Jesus. 
 
 t Heb. iii. 1. 
 
 persevere in some sort of outward profession. I have heard that 
 ** evangelists " only count upon one in ten persevering. 
 
 " But if Paul had not as yet apprehended, and is not confident 
 about the Eesurrection and things to come, hardly should they he 
 so who have not even succeeded in the smallest proportion with 
 
 him If he who had endured such suffering, he who harl 
 
 (been) persecuted, he who had in him the dying of the Lord Jesus, 
 was not yet confident about that Eesurrection, what extreme im- 
 pudence in this or that Plymouth brother or sister putting them- 
 selves above the Apostle in this respect." 
 
 *' But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are 
 behind," &c. Here is again the figure of the racer — taking no 
 account of the various land-marks in the racecourse which he has 
 passed, but reaching forth as the runner does, stretching out head 
 and neck, almost as if he were falling forward. No picture de- 
 noting intense energy can be more impressive. "Where shall we be 
 if the Apostle thought that in his case such straining of nerve and 
 limb was necessary ? 
 
 But, it may be asked, did not the Apostle once at least (2 Cor. xi. 
 23 sq.) recount his past sufferings ? We answer, only because he was 
 compelled, and he prefaced the enumeration with, " I speak as a 
 fool." " I desire not to dwell on anything which I have done or 
 suffered, but there is a necessity ; I cannot allow persons to vaunt 
 as if they only had the marks of the servants of Christ, whilst I 
 keep silence as to what the unmerited grace of God has wrought in 
 me." 
 
 14. " I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling 
 of God," &c. *' The high calling of God " is not a special calling, 
 as to the ministry, but that which belongs to every Christian. It 
 is the upward calling, the calling of Christ from heaven to join Him 
 there. Eternal happiness and glory in the presence of Christ is 
 not a gift but a prize, not a gift at the beginning of the course, but 
 a prize at the end. And yet it is a free gift, but not a gift given 
 
Chaf. III.] GOD SHALL REVEAL THIS. 305 
 
 15 Let us therefore, as many as be ^perfect, ^be thus 
 minded : and if in anv thinej ye be otherwise « i Cor. li. e. 
 
 . & xiv. 20, 
 
 minded, Grod shall reveal even this unto you. h Gai. v. lo. 
 
 16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already at- 
 
 indiscriminately, without exacting any exertion, or any prepara- 
 tion, or any discipline ; but yet it is a gift, for the exertion, or the 
 preparation, or the discipHne, are as nothing, and as less than no- 
 thing, compared to the unspeakable happiness of the gift, and the 
 length of the eternity in which it is to be enjoyed. 
 
 15. "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded," 
 &c. "Perfect" here seems to mean " of full age," "full grown," 
 "instructed thoroughly," "feeding not on the milk, but on the 
 strong meat." It does not mean, of course, the sinless Christians 
 or Christians very advanced in holiness, but rather the established 
 Christians as compared with the Neophytes. 
 
 "Be thus minded." " Be minded," that is, to forget the things 
 which are behind, to press forward to those things which are before, 
 and to press toward the mark ; so that if any think that they have at- 
 tained to any degree of Christian perfection, they must show it by 
 self-abnegation, not by self-satisfaction or self- approval. Or going 
 further back, it may mean those who desire to have not their own 
 righteousness but the righteousness which is of God by faith, that 
 they may know Christ, and the power of His Resurrection, and the 
 fellowship of His sufferings. 
 
 Ought we not to consider that both are included in being " thus 
 minded"? 
 
 "And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded." This seems to 
 mean that if ye are pressing forward to know practically the 
 whole truth respecting Jesus, and yet are deficient in grasping or 
 realizing the full truth, then if ye commit your way to God, if ye sub- 
 mit to all His teaching, and wilfully hold back from nothing which 
 the Spirit would reveal. He will reveal to you all that in which ye 
 are deficient. The idea seems to be that expressed in Hosea vi. 3, 
 "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." 
 
 16. "Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us 
 walk by the same," &c. The revisers translate this verse, " Only 
 whereunto we have already attained by that same rule let us walk." 
 The latter part of the verse is rejected by most editors. The sense 
 
 X 
 
306 BE FOLLOWERS OF ME. [Puilipfians. 
 
 tained, Met us walk ^by the same rule, 'let us mind the 
 i Rom. xii. 6 & sam.e thiner. 
 
 XV 5 
 
 k Gai. vi. 16. 17 Brethren, ^ be followers together of me, and 
 
 > ch. 11. 2. mark them which walk so as ^ ye have us for an 
 
 m 1 Cor. IV. '' 
 
 irt. & xi. 1. ensample. 
 
 <h. iv. 9. 1 ^ 
 
 Thess. i. 6. 18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you 
 
 n 1 Pet. V. 3. ^ "^ -^ 
 
 16. " Let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." So K., L., P., most 
 Cursives, Syriac ; but "rule, let us mind the same thing," omitted by N, A., B., 17, 67, 
 Copt., Sah., &c. 
 
 seems to be " only to whatever (light or grace) we have attained, 
 according to that same let us walk." "VVe should supply "light" 
 or " revelation," rather than " rule," as there has been no mention 
 of nile (KTrtvwv), but the last word of the last verse is " will reveal." 
 
 17. *' Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them 
 which walk," &c. He says this in no self-confident spirit, but 
 knowing that the Lord had set him to be their Apostle, and so their 
 €xampler as well as teacher. He could say with the utmost confi- 
 dence, " We have the mind of Christ " (1 Cor. ii. 16). And he had 
 said it before to the Corinthians, " Be ye followers of me, as I am 
 of Christ." The original word is " co-imitators " rather than fol- 
 lowers, and yet if we follow the footsteps or the example of any 
 person so far we imitate him. 
 
 " And mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample." 
 He was not present with them, but there were those with them 
 whose Christian characters had been moulded by him, and who 
 closely followed in his steps. These they were to mark and ob- 
 serve, but though at a distance from them he was still setting them 
 an example of patiently enduring persecution for the sake of Christ, 
 Then such as Timotheus, whom he would shortly send, Epaphro- 
 ditus, whom he was sending, and others, followed him as he followed 
 XDhrist. 
 
 18. •• For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now 
 tell you," &c. From the first, the very first, there was the same 
 mixture in the Church which the Lord foretold in His parables of 
 the field sown with wheat and tares, and the net gathering of every 
 kind, and which He also warned us about in His parable of the 
 Vine and the branches, and His servant in that of the olive tree from 
 which some branches were broken ofif, and in which some stood by 
 faith. (Kom. xi. 20-21). 
 
Chap. III.] THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS. 307 
 
 often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are °the 
 enemies of the cross of Christ : ° Oai. i. 7. 
 
 & ii 21 & vi 
 
 19 P Whose end is destruction, ^ whose G-od is 12. * ch! i. 15) 
 
 16. 
 
 P 2 Cor. xi. 
 
 15. 2 Pet. 
 
 ii. 1. 
 
 q Rom. xvi. 
 
 *' Now tell you even weeping, that they are the 18- 1 Tim. 
 enemies of the cross of Christ." St. Paul realizes the n'. " 
 double evil occasioned by the conduct of these men ; 
 they are the enemies of the Cross because they neutralize its 
 teaching, which is that we are to crucify the flesh with its affec- 
 tions and lusts : the Cross teaches not only atonement and recon- 
 ciliation with God, but death unto sin, bringing the body into sub- 
 jection, self-denial, self-surrender, and that our old man is crucified 
 with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth 
 we should not serve sin (Rom. vi. 6). But they are also the enemies 
 of the Cross because they neutralize its saving effect. The Cross is 
 salvation from sin, and they withdraw themselves from its shadow, 
 and bring themselves under that condemnation from which the Cross 
 delivered them, and this not only in their own case, but in that of 
 their brethren ; for example, both for good or for evil, is contagious. 
 
 It is a fearful word this " enemies of the cross," — enemies of that 
 which should of all things draw us to God, enemies of that by 
 which God would reconcile us to Himself; it is almost, if not alto- 
 gether, as if he had said " enemies of the love of God." 
 
 19. " Whose end is destruction, whose God is their beUy, and 
 whose glory," &c. "Whose end is destruction." He had been 
 speaking of the end of the Christian race, and our reaching forward 
 to the goal, and so he speaks of the end of these reprobates as 
 perdition. 
 
 *' Whose God is their belly." These backsliders had fallen back 
 into the vices from which they are supposed to have been deUvered, 
 and one of the foulest and yet one of the most fashionable of heathen 
 vices was gluttony : or he may not have alluded so much to the 
 pampering of the belly, as to serving it by being led to give up the 
 profession of Christ in order to enjoy more amply or more securely 
 the good things of this life. Thus in Rom. xvi. 17, 18, he speaks 
 of those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrines which the 
 Church had learned, as serving not Christ, but their own belly, as 
 fomenting divisions in order to make a livelihood by them. 
 
308 WHO MIND EARTHLY THINGS. [Philippiaxs. 
 
 2CoT*xi'i2 ^'"''6^** bell J, and "^ whose glory is in their shame. 
 
 Gal. vi. 13. 8 ^Yio mind earthly thing^s.) 
 
 • Eoin. viii. 5. r./^ -rn t ... 
 
 t Eph. ii. 6, 19. 20 For^onr conversation is m heaven; "from 
 
 u Actsi.^n whence also we ""look for the Saviour, the Lord 
 
 ^ Cor. i. 7. Jesus Christ : 
 
 1 Thes. i. 10. 
 
 Tit. ii. 13. 
 
 "Whose glory is in their shame." It is supposed by some that 
 he here refers to the profligacy of the Nicolaitans, who were already 
 beginning to disturb the chm-ches of Asia; by others that he refers 
 to those who made a boast of their Christian liberty, as permitting 
 them to do shameful things without sin. 
 
 " Who mind earthly things." Thus the Apostle had written to 
 the Eomans, " To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually 
 minded is life and peace" (viii. 6). The original is very abruptly 
 expressed, "Whose glory is in their shame ; the minders of earthly 
 things." In a society so very partially Christianized the " minders 
 of earthly things" would be those who fell back into the practices of 
 heathenism, though not perhaps into its profession. 
 
 Some, as particularly Bishop Lightfoot, seem to think that this 
 ten-ible declension was owing to Antinomian principles perverting 
 the idea of Christian liberty ; but was it owing to any principles at 
 all ? Was it not owing to slackness in the Christian warfare, to 
 backsliding from want of self-restraint, from yielding to the first 
 cravings of self-indulgence, or other vulgar common-place tempta- 
 tions of the flesh and of the mind, or from imagining that they 
 stood, and so need not keep their hearts with all diligence, or walk 
 circumspectly and strictly, and shun bad company ? 
 
 20. " For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we 
 look for the Saviour," &c. " Our conversation " is a wrong trans- 
 lation, or at least conveys a wrong idea. It should be rendered and 
 understood as " Our citizenship is in heaven," or perhaps, " Our 
 city," almost answering to our home, " is in heaven." The action of 
 St. Paul in pleading his rights as a Koman citizen when he was 
 very far ofl' from the city of which he was free, is very illustrative 
 of the use which we ought to make of our citizenship. As he 
 pleaded that he must be treated as a free Eoman, and not be beaten, 
 so must we remember our citizenship, and plead it with God, that 
 we may not again be enslaved, so as to glory in our shame and 
 mind earthly things. 
 
Chap. IIL] THE BODY OF OUR VILENESS. 309 
 
 21 '' Who shall change our vile body, that it ? i Cor. xv. 
 may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, ^ ac- co'i. lii. 4.* 
 
 1 John hi. : 
 z Eph. i. ' 
 
 " From whence also, we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ." Notice how the Apostle expresses himself as if we are not 
 to go to the Saviour, but as if the Saviour should come to us. 
 See as a parallel and illustrative passage, '* Unto them that look 
 for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salva- 
 tion" (Hebr. ix. 28), and "Looking for that blessed hope and the 
 glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" 
 (Titus ii. 13). 
 
 21. " Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned 
 like unto," &c. This is the prize of the high calling, this is the 
 the goal, for this the Lord had apprehended the Apostle. 
 
 " Our vile body." Kather, the body of our humihation. It is 
 that which humbles us. It is the seat of those lusts which war 
 against the Spirit, so that we cannot do the things which we 
 would (Gal. V. 17). 
 
 "That it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." In 
 what respects ? First of all that it may be a spiritual body, a body 
 which will in no respect hinder the spirit which inhabits it, but 
 will rather be in all things the helpmeet of the spirit. Like the 
 Body of the Lord it will pass as a spirit does through all obstacles. 
 Wherever the spirit wills to move it will move. Whatever the 
 spirit wills to do {i.e., consistently with creature limitations) it will 
 do. Above all it will in no wise hinder but help the devotion of 
 the spirit. It will not then be said of us, " the spirit indeed is wil- 
 ling, but the flesh is weak." And all this quite independent of 
 any physical radiance with which God will invest it ; and such is 
 intimated in the words of the Lord, " Then shall the righteous 
 shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father " (Matth. xiii. 
 43). 
 
 " According to the working whereby he is able to subdue." We 
 cannot measure the power of God in doing any one of His mighty 
 works, and compare it with the power needful for Him to exert in 
 doing another. We have no idea of the secret operation by which 
 he subdues souls so as to renew them, just as we have no know- 
 ledge of the influence he brings to bear upon matter so as to change 
 it; but of all the operations of God that seems to be the most 
 
310 TO SUBDUE ALL THINGS. [Philippians. 
 
 cording to the working wherebj he is able * even to subdue 
 »^i Cor. XV. 26, all things unto himself. 
 
 mysterious by which He endows matter with the properties of 
 spirit. The plenitude of His power seems to have been exerted 
 in the Lord's sepulchre, so that that which was buried a natural 
 body, came forth on the third day as a spiritual one. This is 
 the type of the resurrection of our bodies. To this they will be 
 conformed, and this is the power of His Eesurrection, for the body 
 that is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption, that is sown 
 in dishonour is raised in glory, that is sown in weakness is raised 
 in power, that is sown a natural body is raised a spiritual body. 
 Verily the right hand of the Lord hath the pre-eminence ; the right 
 hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass. I shall not die 
 but live, and declare the works of the Lord. " Almighty God who 
 through thy Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, 
 and opened unto us the gate of everlasting Ufe, we humbly be- 
 seech thee that as by thy special grace preventing us thou hast put 
 into our minds good desires, so by tliy continual help we may 
 bring the same to good effect." 
 
 T 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 HEEEFOEE, my brethren dearly beloved and * longed 
 for, ^ my joy and crown, so * stand fast in the Lord, 
 my dearly beloved. 
 
 a ch. i. 8. 
 b 2 Cor. i. 14 
 eh. ii. 16. 
 
 1 Thess. ii. 19, 
 
 20. 
 
 e ch. i. 27. 
 
 1. " Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my 
 joy and crown," &c. Notice these expressions of endearment. To no 
 other Church, except to that of the Thessalonians, does he use 
 such terms. To this latter Church he writes : " What is our hope, 
 or joy or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? " (1 Thess. ii. 19). 
 
 " So stand fast in the Lord." Stand fast in your confession of 
 
Chap. IV.] EUODIAS, SYNTYCHE. 311 
 
 2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, ** that they be 
 of the same mind in the Lord. ^..^\^- ^- * 
 
 3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help 
 
 those women which ^ laboured with me in the « Rom- xvi. 3. 
 
 ch. i. 27. 
 
 Gospel, with Clement also, and with other my 
 
 3. " A7id I entreat thee." So one Cursive, apparently 115 ; but h. A., B., D., E., F., 
 G., K., L., P., and most Cursives, read, "yea, I entreat thee" (vai). 
 
 faith in Him — in yom* conflict with your adversaries (i. 28), in 
 your hope of His coming. 
 
 2. " I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of 
 the same," &c. Very probably these were two leading women, who 
 by their variance were keeping up a division. It was no unimportant 
 matter in the eyes of the Apostle that two women were at open 
 variance; not, I should say, respecting some doctrine, but some 
 matter of Church order or discipline. Every pastor knows how 
 bitter the contentions of women are in the Church, and how 
 difficult is the healing of the schism. 
 
 3. " And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women," 
 &c. To whom St. Paul alluded in this " tnie yokefellow " was a 
 matter of conjecture even in the time of Chrysostom. Bishop 
 Lightfoot considers that he addresses Epaphroditus, the bearer of 
 the Epistle : " Yes, I ask you my faithful and true yokefellow, who 
 are now by my side, who will deliver this letter to the Phihppians, 
 to reconcile them again." 
 
 "Which laboured with me in the Gospel." Having laboured 
 with St. Paul in founding the Philippian Cburch, their influence 
 would probably be very great, and the effect of their quarrel or 
 difference very disastrous. 
 
 "With Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers." 
 Here he desires Clement, and other his fellow-labourers, to assist 
 in this work of concihation. From this we see how important in 
 his eyes it was that the Church should be absolutely one : as he 
 expresses it in 1 Corinth, i. 10 : " That it should be perfectly joined 
 together in the same mind and in the same judgment." 
 
 With respect to who this Clement was, there has been much 
 difference of opinion. Origen identifies him with the writer of the 
 Epistle to the Corinthians bearing his name, who was the third 
 
312 THE BOOK OF LIFE. [Philipfians. 
 
 f Exod. xjtxii. fellowlabourers, whose names are in 4he book of 
 
 32. Ps. txix. 
 28. Dan. xii. Me. 
 1. Luke X. 20. 
 Rev. iii, 5. 
 
 ii xiii. 8. & 
 
 XX. 12. & xxi. 
 27. 
 
 Bishop of Eome. Irenseus, earlier by half a century, speaks of 
 Clement thus: "In the third place from the Apostles, Clement 
 was allotted the Bishoprick. This man, as he had seen the blessed 
 Apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to 
 have the preaching of the Apostles still echoing in his ears, and 
 their traditions before his eyes." He seems here to speak of the 
 fellow-worker of St. Paul. An objection has been raised against 
 this, that Clement was now working not in Rome, but in Philippi : 
 but if he was yet attached to St. Paul as one of his staff, so to 
 speak, there is no difficulty about it. None of the awspYoi of St. 
 Paul were, it appears, settled in particular Churches. This took 
 place after the Apostle's death. It is not absolutely certain that 
 this Clement and the third Bishop of Eome were identical, but the 
 probabilities are all on that side. It is worthy of remark that 
 neither Chrysostom nor Theodoret take any notice of the name of 
 Clement in their comments on this place. 
 
 "Whose names are in the book of life." This can hardly be 
 taken as declaring absolutely the eternal salvation, not of Clement 
 only, but of a number of others. It can only mean that from all 
 that men could judge from holiness of character, from earnest faith, 
 from lives of hope and love, these men's names were in the Book of 
 Life. 
 
 4. " Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say. Rejoice." 
 Why should he thus so earnestly call upon them to " rejoice in 
 the Lord " ? Because rejoicing in Christ is, one would almost say, 
 the natural result of realizing all the things revealed to us in 
 Scripture respecting His love to us, and what it has led Him to do 
 and to suffer on our account. Fulness of joy is, according to St. 
 John, that which results from our firm belief in His Incarnation. 
 " That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our 
 eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of 
 the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen 
 it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which 
 was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which 
 we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may 
 
Chap. IV.] AGAIN I SAY, KEJOICE. 313 
 
 4 ^ Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say, e Rom. xii. 12. 
 Reioice. 1 Thess. v. le. 
 
 '' 1 Pet. iv. 13. 
 
 have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the 
 Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we 
 unto you that your joy may hefidl.'^ (1 John i. 1-4.) 
 
 According to our Blessed Lord's own words, rejoicing in Him is 
 the result of reahzing that He is the Vine and we are the branches, 
 for having told the Apostles that He is the true vine, and that every 
 branch in Him that beareth fruit His Father pruneth that it may 
 bring forth more fruit, that he that abideth in Him and He in 
 him, the same bringeth forth much fruit — that if men abide in 
 Him, and His words abide in them, they shall ask what they will 
 and it shall be be done unto them — He concludes with, " These 
 things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, 
 and that your joy might be full." (John xv. 1-10.) The fulness of joy, 
 then, results from our reahzing our Union with Him — that He is the 
 head, and we the members. Then there can scarcely be any lively 
 Christian joy unless we realize that we are saved by grace — by free 
 grace. If we think to be saved by works, the more we know of 
 ourselves the more we shall see how deficient are our best doings, 
 and we shall throw ourselves unreservedly upon Christ. 
 
 Then the reception of the Blessed Sacrament seems calculated to 
 fill with joy him who regards it as the means whereby we dwell in 
 Christ and Christ in us, we are one with Christ and Christ with 
 us. Anyhow, we Churchmen are convicted before God of some 
 measure of unreality, if we are not seeking Christian joy, for the 
 commonest act of praise which we render to God is the Magnificat, 
 in which we say to the Almighty, "My soul doth magnify the 
 Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he 
 hath regarded the lowUness of his hand-maiden. For behold from 
 henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is 
 mighty hath magnified me." Surely the soul which has received 
 any communication from the Head of the Universe is unspeakably 
 magnified. Much more if it has been called by Him — much more 
 if it has been forgiven — much more if He has begun to form His 
 Son in it. 
 
 I have written some of this before in my notes on eh. iii. 1, but 
 the Apostle on this point repeats himself, and so ought we. 
 
314 THE LORD IS AT HAND. [Philippians. 
 
 6 Let your moderation be known unto all men. ^ The 
 h Heb. X. 25. Lord IS at hand. 
 
 Jam. V. 8, 9. ^ • -r, 
 
 1 Pet. iv. 7. 6 ^ Be careful for nothing ; but m every thmg 
 
 See 2'Thess. ' by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let 
 i Ps! iv. 22. your requests be made known unto G-od. 
 
 Prov. xvi. 3. 
 
 Matt, vi, 2.5. 
 
 Luke xii. 22. 
 1 Pet. V. 7. 
 
 5. " Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is 
 at hand." The word rendered " moderation " seems to be nearer in 
 meaning to gentleness, or forbearance. The Kevisers translate it 
 in the text " forbearance," and in the margin "gentleness." The 
 internal feuds of the Church seem to have been noticed by the 
 heathen around, and so he bids them let their gentleness be 
 known to all, i.e., to those beyond the pale of the Church. 
 
 " The Lord is at hand." Chrysostom takes this as referring to 
 the shortness of the sufferings of Christians, and the recompense 
 which is so near : " For tell me. Wherefore are ye distressed ? 
 Because they rise in opposition ? Because ye see them living in 
 luxury? Be careful for nothing. Already the judgment is at 
 hand. Shortly shall they give account of their actions. Are ye 
 in affliction, whilst they are in luxury ? These things shall shortly 
 receive their end. Do they plot against you and threaten you ? 
 But these shall not at last turn out to their profit." St. James has 
 a similar warning : " Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts, for 
 the coming of the Lord draweth nigh " (v. 8). 
 
 6. " Be careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and 
 supplication," &c. " Be careful," i.e., be anxious about nothing — 
 as in the Sermon on the Mount, " take, therefore, no thought for 
 the morrow " ; that is, no anxious distracting thought. 
 
 " But in every thing by prayer and supplication." You have a 
 Friend always at hand — a Friend Who always hears and always 
 answers, though you may not perceive at once the nature of the 
 answer; it may not be in the form which corresponds to your 
 prayer, but if not, it will certainly be a better thing than what you 
 asked for. 
 
 *' In every thing." Do you pray respecting the steadfastness of 
 a friend, the love of a relation, the return of a child to obedience, 
 the confutation of a slander, the reconciliation of those at variance, 
 the cleansing of the Church, the peace and purity of the parish, or 
 
Chap. IV.] THE PEACE OF GOD. 315 
 
 7 And '^tlie peace of G-od, which passeth all under- 
 standing, shall keep your hearts and minds k John xiv. 27. 
 through Christ Jesus. Coi. iii.15. 
 
 of your own hearts, no matter how the answer is apparently de- 
 layed, there is an answer ; and if you are alive to God's providences 
 you will probably soon discover it. 
 
 " By prayer and supplication." Prayer is the more generalterm for 
 intercourse with God. Supplication is making particular requests. 
 
 "With thanksgiving." So He wills that our prayers should not 
 simply be requests, but thanksgivings, too, for what we have. For 
 how should he ask for future things who is not thankful for the 
 first ? " But in all," he saith ; that is, in everything. "Wherefore 
 we ought to give thanks for all things, even for those which seem to 
 be grievous, for this is the part of the truly thankful man. 
 (Chrysostom.) 
 
 7. "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding." 
 This seems a natural sequence. If we thoroughly believe God to 
 be our Father and God, watching over us, intent upon our happi- 
 ness, though knowing better than we do what will most effectually 
 promote it ; always more ready to hear than we to pray ; inviting 
 us to cast all our care upon Him, for He careth for us — if we thus 
 regard the Being in Whom we hve, and move, and have our beings 
 it would seem that nothing would worry us, nothing distract us ; 
 and if we add to all this the considerations derived from the Incar- 
 nation and Atonement and Eesurrection and perpetual Interces- 
 sion of the Mediator, then it would seem that the peace of God 
 must rule in our hearts, and abide with us always. 
 
 "Which passeth all understanding." These words should be left 
 as they are, without comment. They are the words of one who felt 
 this peace pervading the innermost depths of his soul, and pro- 
 nounced it to be beyond all thought. 
 
 " Shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." 
 Keep or guard our hearts from what? No doubt from all dis- 
 turbing thought, from aU irregular passions, from all distressing 
 doubts, from aU feelings of enmity and ill will ; for such things are 
 like storms in the mind, and ruffle it, and make it incapable of 
 prayer, or at least hinder and spoil our intercourse with God, and 
 weaken the Church of which we are members, as well as our own 
 souls. 
 
316 THINGS TRUE, HONEST, JUST. [Philippiaks. 
 
 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
 laWe'^^'*^ things are || honest, whatsoever things are just, 
 
 8. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
 things are honest," &c. "Whatsoever things are true." Here he 
 must refer to the whole domain of truth. Especially must he mean 
 the truth of God as set forth in His Son, Who is the Truth. If he 
 did not especially mean this he would omit out of his list of things 
 to be devoutly and lovingly contemplated, the things most glorious 
 to God and most beneficial to man. 
 
 But the Apostle says, "Whatsoever things;" so we are bound to 
 give to all these good things which we have to think upon the 
 widest applioation. If there be anything in science which shews 
 the wisdom of God, or if there be anything in nature which shews 
 His benevolence, or anything in history which shews His all- 
 ruling providence, we are to note these. 
 
 "Whatsoever things are honest." Some render this "honour- 
 able," others give it a deeper meaning, as "venerable." The original 
 classical signification of the word denotes inspiring religious 
 reverence. What, then, would St. Paul look upon as to be 
 reverenced ? I do not think he would look upon a heathen temple 
 as to be reverenced. It would be in his eyes the symbol of idolatry, 
 and, perhaps, of uncleanness — a work of the fleah, cutting men off 
 from God. Neither would he reverence a Jewish tradition, how- 
 ever old, for it might make void the law of God ; but he would 
 regard as worthy of reverence the characters of all good men, 
 whether written in the Scriptures or not. He would regard as 
 worthy of reverence any spark of the light which lighteth every 
 man that cometh into the world, which he found even in an 
 heathen author, as " We are also his offspring," or " Evil communi- 
 cations corrupt good manners." He would regard as worthy of 
 reverence any laudable traditionary custom which was on the side 
 of the Good, particularly if it contributed to the sanctity of the 
 family, or to the preservation of the State, which he regarded even 
 in its then condition as an ordinance of God. 
 
 "Whatsoever things are just" — i.e., are righteous; and as the 
 Apostle again says, " whatsoever things," we must include things 
 which are righteous before God as well as before men. In writing 
 it he probably glanced over in his mind righteous laws, righteous 
 
Chap. IV.] THINGS PURE, LOVELY. 317 
 
 whatsoever tilings are pure, wliatsoever things are lovely, 
 'whatsoever things are of good report; if there ' iThess. v. 
 he any virtue, and if the7'e be any praise, think 
 on these things. 
 
 principles of action, righteous deahngs in society, or trade, or the 
 family. 
 
 "Whatsoever things are pure." The purity with which in 
 common life we have most to do is undoubtedly purity in relation 
 to the sexes ; and St. Paul would have us here keep ever before us 
 all examples of chastity, such as Joseph amongst the people of 
 God, and numbers of cases among the early Christians and even 
 heathen, and such precepts as that of Solomon, " Keep thy heart 
 with all diligence," and the words of the Lord, " Whoso looketh 
 upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her 
 aheady in his heart." 
 
 "Whatsoever things are lovely " — lovely in themselves, and so 
 calculated to draw out love in those who see them or hear of them. 
 He desires that Christians should show themselves amiable to the 
 heathen, that they may conciliate them. By this the Apostle 
 seems to advert to that in which religious persons are too often 
 deficient, who by an austere and ascetic demeanour not a little 
 prejudice the cause of religion. 
 
 " Whatsoever things are of good report ' Bishop Wordsworth 
 quotes an admirable passage from Bishop Sanderson illustrating 
 this. " St. Paul does not think it beneath him to pay regard to 
 things of good rejJort. He who keeps his life clear of sin does good 
 to himself; he who keeps it clear of suspicion is merciful to others. 
 Our life is necessary to ourselves, but our good name is necessary 
 to others. Therefore the Apostle commands us to ' provide things 
 honest, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men ' 
 (2 Cor. viii. 21). And in this exhortation he does not omit to 
 mention things of good report, as necessary to be minded by us. I 
 suppose the Apostle did not overvalue the praise of men, for he 
 says, * If I pleased men I should not be tlie servant of Christ ' 
 (Gal. i. 10). But he endeavoured not only to live a good life, but 
 also to keep a good name — the one for his own sake, the other for 
 the sake of other men as well for himself " (Sermon on Eccles. vii. 1). 
 
 *' If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise," &c. This 
 
318 THE GOD OF PEACE BE WITH YOU. [Philippians. 
 
 9 ™ Those things, which ye have both learned, and re- 
 in ch. iii. 17. ceived, and heard, and seen in me, do : and ° the 
 & xvi. 20. ' ' Grod of peace shall be with you. 
 2 Cor. Sh. 11. 10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that 
 Heb.Tiiir2o. ' now at the last *'your care of me || hath flourished 
 
 o 2 Cor. xi. 9. 
 
 II Or, is re- 
 
 ■ceived. 
 
 is the only place, except in the Second Epistle of Peter^ where 
 virtue is mentioned as the description in one word of the character 
 of the good man or Christian. The sacred writer seems to avoid it 
 as somewhat heathenish, and Bishop Lightfoot accepts this sort of 
 heathen slur upon it as in the mind of the Apostle, and paraphrazes 
 the place. *' Whatever value may reside in your old heathen con- 
 ception of virtue, whatever consideration is due to the praise of 
 men." Anyhow the almost total omission of the use of a word so 
 common in heathen ethics has to be accounted for, and the only 
 way of explaining this fact seems to be that in the apostolic mind it 
 was opposed to grace ; it certainly did not comprehend holiness, 
 and it seemed to be out of the sphere of the influence or teaching 
 of the Spirit of God. 
 
 " Think on these things " — rather, take account of these things, 
 reflect on them, be " in " them. 
 
 9. " Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and 
 heard, and seen," &c. He must have been a very good man, he 
 must have hved in all good conscience towards God, he must have 
 daily exercised himself in keeping a conscience void of offence, he 
 must have been very conscious of the truth of his apostolic mission 
 if he could write thus to them. 
 
 "Learned and received" — that is, when he first preached to 
 them the Word of God. 
 
 " And heard and seen in me " — i.e., heard that I did, and saw 
 with your own eyes how I walked according to my precepts. 
 Thus he says to the Thessalonians, " Ye are witnesses, and God 
 also, how holily, and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves 
 among you that believe" (1 Thess. ii. 10). 
 
 10. " But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last 
 your care of me," &c. He now returns to the subject of their con- 
 tributions to his support whilst in Eome. This was the main cause 
 ^f his writing to them. Epaphroditus had brought the contribu- 
 
Chxp. IV.] YE LACKED OPPORTUNITY. 319 
 
 again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have 
 learned, in whatsoever state I am, ^ therewith to p i Tim. vi. 
 
 6 8 
 
 be content. 
 
 12 'I I know both how to be abased, and I know 1 1 Cor. iv. ii. 
 
 2 Cor. vi. 10. 
 
 how to abound: every where and in all things I &xi. 27. 
 am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, 
 both to abound and to suffer need. 
 
 tions, was taken ill, had recovered, and was now returning with 
 this letter. The literal translation has been considered doubtful — 
 some translating it actively, " Ye revived or caused to flourish again 
 your care for us ; " others intransitively, " that now at last ye 
 flourished again as concerning care for us" (literally, "Ye put forth 
 fresh sprouts like a tree reviving in Spring"). "Ye revived," of 
 course, alludes to their former kindness to him. " Even once and 
 again at Thessalonia ye sent unto my necessity." 
 
 " Wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity." He 
 inserts this in order that they might not think that he was 
 upbraiding them for having somewhat forgotten him. They had 
 not communicated these good things to him because they lacked 
 opportunity, and the opportunity presented itself shortly after he 
 arrived in Eome. 
 
 11. " Not that I speak in respect of want ; for I have learned in 
 whatsoever state," &c. When I said " I rejoiced in the Lord 
 greatly that now at this time ye revived," &c., I said it not as if I 
 was in want and your contributions were necessary for me, for they 
 were not, because I have learned to be contented whatever my lot 
 is. In other words, " I always know how to keep myself within my 
 means, and I always do." 
 
 12. " I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound : 
 every where and in all things I am instructed," &c. I am instructed, 
 i.e., I am initiated, I have learned the secret. Experience has 
 taught me this — not merely the experience of want and suffering, 
 but the experience of God's providential care in relieving me when 
 in the greatest straits. 
 
 13. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth 
 me." This is a maxim of universal application. If Christ has put 
 
320 YE HAVE DONE WELL. [Philifpians. 
 
 13 I can do all things "■ through Christ which strengthen- 
 r John XV. 5. eth me. 
 
 2 Cor. xii. 9. 
 
 • th. i. 7. 14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ^ ye 
 
 did commnnicate with my affliction. 
 
 15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the 
 
 beginning of the G-ospel, when I departed from 
 
 t 2 Cor. xi. 8, Macedonia, * no church communicated with me as 
 
 concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. 
 
 16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto 
 
 my necessity. 
 
 13. "Through Christ which strengtheneth me." So E. (Gr.), F. (Gr.), G., K., L., P.^ 
 nearly all Cursives ; but ti. A., B., D., d, e, f, r, Vulg., Cop., Arm., ^th., read, " Through, 
 Him that strengtheneth me." 
 
 before any Christian any work, either of endurance or labour, He 
 will assuredly not fail him, but will endow him with strength to 
 fulfil the task He has imposed upon him : but the Christian must 
 be sure that the task is not self-imposed, or he has no right to take 
 this as a promise. 
 
 14. " Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communi- 
 cate with me." Notwithstanding my contentment — notwithstand- 
 ing my ability to " do all things through Christ which strengtheneth 
 me," your contribution was not thrown away or ill bestowed, but it 
 came to me as a proof of your Christian fellowship. 
 
 15. " Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the 
 Gospel," &c. 
 
 16. " For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my 
 necessity." " In the beginning oftheGosper'means the first preach- 
 ing of the Gospel in Macedonia, when Paul obeyed the vision of 
 of the man from Macedonia calhng him to their help. Paul deter- 
 mined both in Thessalonica and Corinth, to take no contributions 
 from those amongst whom he was labouring, but worked with his 
 own hands, and received assistance from the Chm'ch of Philippi. 
 In his second epistle to the Corinthians he tells them that that 
 which was lacking on their part, the Churches of Macedonia supplied 
 (2 Cor. xi., 9), and now we learn that it was only one Church which 
 was thus privileged — that of Philippi, for while he was in Thessalonica 
 
 -he worked with his own hands (1 Thess. ii. 9 ; 2 Thess. iii. 8), and so 
 
Chap. IV.] I HAVE ALL AND ABOUND. 321 
 
 17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire " fruit that 
 may abound to your account. Tit!*iH*i4? ^* 
 
 18 But II I have all, and abound : I am full, S or, ihave 
 
 ., -T-i T T T. 7.7 received all. 
 
 navmg received ^ of Epapnroditus the things which x ch. u. 25. 
 were sent from you, ^ a.n odour of a sweet smell, *a ^ Heb. xiii. 18. 
 sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to G-od. 
 
 was not likely to receive contributions from them when he was at 
 Corinth. Bishop Wordsworth draws attention to the fact that this 
 expression " in the beginning of the Gospel " is used by Clement of 
 Rome in his epistle to the Corinthians with reference to St. Paul's 
 preaching amongst them. His adoption of such a phraze in such a 
 letter is an indication, though of course a slight one, that the writer 
 of that Epistle and the Clement mentioned in this Epistle are the 
 same. 
 
 17. "Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may 
 abound to your account." No man was more alive than St. Paul 
 to the fact that all men, though saved here by grace, will be judged 
 hereafter according to their works. And amongst works he includes 
 benefactions, charities (as we call them), and alms. Thus (1 Tim. 
 vi., 17, 18), " Charge them that are rich .... laying up in store 
 for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they 
 may lay hold on eternal life (or the true hfe)," and Gal. vi., 6 and 9. 
 
 *' Fruit." The reader will remember the teaching of the parable 
 of the vine and the branches, John xv., and of the Sermon on the 
 Mount, Matth. vi., 1-4, and of the Prophecy of the Judgment in 
 Matth. XXV., 31-36. 
 
 18. " But I have all, and abound : I am full, having received of 
 Epaphroditus .... an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, 
 wellpleasing to God." Again I must ask the reader's attention to 
 this use of sacrificial language by St. Paul. He could not possibly 
 have used it, if he thought that from the moment that Christ ex- 
 pired on the Cross all sacrificial terms were displeasing to God. 
 But he employs these terms frequently, as in Romans xii., 1, " Ye 
 present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy," &c. : 2 Cor. ii. 15, " A 
 sweet savour of Christ," &c., Ephes. v., 2, and Phil, ii., 17. Now 
 if he does not scruple to employ these terms with reference to 
 Christian good works he certainly would have no scruple to employ 
 them with reference to that Holy Sacrament of the Christian 
 
 Y 
 
New and cheaper Issue in Twelve monthly vols. 
 Crown 8vo, red edges, 4/6 each. 
 
 CHURCH COMMENTARY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 WITH NOTES, CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL, 
 INTRODUCTIONS, AND EXCURSUSES. 
 
 By the Rev. M. F. Sadler, 
 
 Late Rector of Honiton and Prebendary of Wells. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW. [Beady. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. MARK. [Beady. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE. [BeadAj. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. [Beady. 
 
 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [Beady. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. [Beady. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 [Bead/y. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE GALATIANS, 
 EPHESIANS, AND PHILIPPIANS. [Nov. 1. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS, 
 THESSALONIANS, AND TIMOTHY. [Bee. 1. 
 
 THE EPISTLES TO TITUS, PHILEMON, AND 
 THE HEBREWS. [Jgm. 2, 1899. 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF SS. JAMES, PETER, 
 JOHN, AND JUDE. [Feh.l. 
 
 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE 
 DIVINE. [Ma/rchl. 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 
 
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 THE GOSPELS. 
 
 From The Church Quarterly, October, 1883. 
 "It is far the best practical Commentary that we know, being plain- 
 spoken, fearless, and definite, and containing matter very unlike the milk 
 and water which is often served up in [so-called] practical Commentaries. 
 . . . For solid Church teaching it stands unrivalled. Nothing could be 
 better than the notes on the Sermon on the Mount, and the practical lessons 
 drawn with convincing clearness from our Lord's words on the subject of 
 Almsgiving, Prayer, and Fasting. Throughout the whole book the writer 
 is ever on the watch for general principles and teaching applicable to the 
 wants of our own day, which may legitimately be deduced from the Gospel 
 narrative." 
 
 From The Church Times, February 2Srd, 1883. 
 
 " The question of the origin of the Four Gospels is well treated, and a 
 more succinct account of the real standing of the Evangelists with respect to 
 each other, or to a supposed original document from which all copied, could 
 scarcely be found than that contained in these few pages. Some few pages 
 introductory to the critical portion of the volume, and explaining the 
 elements of textual criticism, bring us to the text of the Commentary itself 
 Throughout the whole of its pages the same evidence of scholarship and 
 critical acumen, which distinguishes all the author's work, is apparent ; 
 while the faculty of conveying such knowledge to the minds of the least 
 learned in a simple and forcible manner, is abtmdantly preserved, and will 
 procure for this work the position of one of the best of popular commentaries. 
 Many of the notes extend beyond the scope generally implied by the term, 
 and become full explanations of doctrinal subjects such as will prove of 
 immense value to the student as well as to the general reader. We may 
 cite as an instance of this exhaustive process the lengthy note on St. Matt, 
 xvi, 18, and those notes on the Parables, which, severally treated in their 
 entirety, present a more intelligible meaning than when explained in short 
 disjointed notes. Finally, it remains to mention the fact, which, however, 
 goes without saying, that the tone of the Commentary is thoroughly 
 Catholic, so that the reader will find here a firm defence of the supernatural 
 and divine character of the Gospel story, which never condescends to the 
 tone of much of modern criticism, but remains true to primitive Catholic 
 teaching." 
 
 From Church Bells, November ISth, 1882. 
 
 " It is written in a clear and sensible style, with a healthy tone ; and its 
 practical portions are devout without being wearisome or ' goody.' " 
 
 From The Church Review, November, 1883. 
 *' A valuable and substantial contribution to the literature of the New 
 Testament is made by Mr. Sadler in the volume now before us. . . . It 
 might be said that every page of the woi"k lights up the grand historical 
 character of the Church as the one supreme authority for the authenticity 
 and interpretation of the books of Scripture." 
 
From The Church Times, December 21st, 1883. 
 
 " We have much pleasure in announcing the issue of ' The Gospel according 
 to St. John, with Notes, Critical and Practical,' by the Rev. M. F. Sadler 
 (George Bell and Sons), a companion volume to his gloss on St. Matthew, 
 and a redemption of the pledge he gave therein to carry on his labours 
 to the remaining Gospels. This is admirably done, being exactly what 
 is wanted for that large and increasing class of readers who need the results 
 of genuine scholarship and sound vigorous thought, but who are repelled by 
 any surface display of ei'udition, and still more by dryness of treatment, 
 
 The admirable lucidity, which is the distinctive quality of Mr. 
 
 Sadler's style, comes out markedly in his annotations, whether they take 
 the form of pithy clearings up of verbal difl&culties or more elaborate 
 dissertations on important points of doctrine ; and he is a good judge in 
 selecting the best matter supplied by his precursors, such as Olshausen, 
 Stier, Godet, and, above all, St. Augustine, whose commentary on St. John 
 is one of that Father's ablest works. This is much less of a mere 
 grammatical inquiry than Professor Westcott's volume in the ' Speaker's 
 Commentary,' but it is much more of a theological explanation, and that of a 
 far sounder and deeper school," 
 
 From The Literary Churchman, December 7th, 1883. 
 
 "... Apart from these longer and more continuous glosses, the reader 
 constantly meets with single pithy notes, which by their clear common 
 sense solve a difficulty at once, and satisf}' the understanding promptly, 
 so that this is quite the best popular commentary on S. John we know, 
 without implying by that epithet that even advanced students of Biblical 
 literature will not find ample profit in consulting it." 
 
 From The Church Times, October Srcl, 1884. 
 " We gladly chronicle the third instalment of Prebendary Sadler's clear 
 and sensible Commentary on the Gospels, which exactly meets the needs 
 of that large and increasing class, which, without pretending any interest 
 in the more abstruse problems of scholarship in connection with the Greek 
 Testament, is desirous of having in its hands a trustworthy guide to the 
 actual meaning of the sacred writers, and some plain statement of the 
 results accepted by that calmer type of scholars who understand the nature 
 of evidence, and are not disposed to admit the validity of unsupported con- 
 jecture, however original and brilliant, as proof. .... The notes, as 
 always with Mr. Sadler, are singularly lucid, pithy, and to the point." 
 
 From Church Bells, November 22nd, 1884. 
 " This is a work of a veteran scholar and divine to whom the Church 
 owes much. Prebendary Sadler's writing is characterized by great clear- 
 ness of style, and he has a remarkably persuasive way of putting things. 
 His sermons, as well as his ' Church Doctrine Bible Truth,' &c., have done 
 much towards furnishing the parochial clergy with materials for feeding 
 their flocks. In this commentary he aims at a yet more important object, 
 the instruction of the educated classes. He has carefully compared the 
 original Scriptures with the authorized and revised versions, and has set 
 himself to meet objections of scientific sceptics, and he has achieved great 
 
 success The volume is full of thoughts and suggestions for preachers 
 
 as well as for general readers," 
 
From The Saturday Review, Fehrua/ry 21st, 1886. 
 " We can recommend his book to devout and cultivated Churchmen who 
 want to read the Gospels for instruction as well as for edification." 
 
 From The Church Quaeterly, January, 1885. 
 "In I'eading the notes upon the text, the feature which strikes us 
 most is their intensely practical character. Mr. Sadler has a remarkable 
 faculty of bringing the teaching of the incidents of our Lord's hfe on 
 earth to bear upon the circumstances of our own time. Even where 
 the points brought out are well worn and familiar^ there is a freshness in 
 his manner of treating them which adds greatly to the charm and value of 
 the Commentary." 
 
 From The Church Times, July Srd, 1886. 
 " Indeed, one great merit in this commentary and its companion volumes 
 is the frequency with which notes are found, which are capable of being each 
 expanded into useful sermons. They are like very strong essences or tinc- 
 tures, which will bear considerable dilution before being employed medically, 
 though for convenience they are usually kept in the more portable form." 
 
 From The Church Quarterly, July, 1886. 
 " We must begin our notice of this volume by offering Prebendary Sadler 
 our hearty congratulations on the completion of his work on the four 
 Gospels. The previous volumes were all reviewed in our columns as they 
 appeared, and we have no hesitation in extending the welcome which we 
 gave to them to their present companion. It is no slight distinction for a 
 writer, after having made his reputation by what is confessedly the best 
 popular work on Church doctrine, to have produced what we hold to be the 
 best popular commentary on the Gospel narrative. There is no other 
 occupying quite the same ground, and we cordially recommend these four 
 volumes, in the now familiar blue binding, as for practical purposes the 
 most useful to the general reader." 
 
 From Church Bells, July 2nd, 1886. 
 " Mr. Sadler's excellent qualities as a theological writer and expositor 
 are so well known that we need only introduce the reader to this, his last 
 Commentary on the Gospels, completing the series, by saying that it 
 presents the same features as its predecessors. It is somewhat longer than 
 any of the other three, a circumstance quite intelligible to those who con- 
 sider how a commentator's view of his responsibility must enlarge as he 
 proceeds with his work. To begin at the beginning, the Introduction is 
 excellent, clear, concise, and full. In short, it says all that need be said on 
 the authorship of the Gospel, and says it well." 
 
 From The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, Nov. 6th, 1886. 
 
 " Originality of treatment, depth of insight, and thorough grasp of the 
 practical side of Divine truth characterize these commentaries of Mr. Sadler 
 on the four Gospels." 
 
THE ACTS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES. 
 
 From The Guardian, July, 1887. 
 
 " We find, however, in the notes on St. Luke and the Acts the same 
 freshness in thought and style, the same direct and independent considera- 
 tion of the themes brought up on the sacred pages, the same knowledge of 
 what has been said by others, the same masterly use, alike without sub- 
 servience and without neglect, of the great and varied stores which our 
 predecessors have left to us of these days who study the New Testament. 
 The result is that Mr. Sadler's Commentary is decidedly one of the most 
 unhackneyed and original of any we have. It will often be found to give 
 help where others quite fail to do so, and its special value will be to the 
 preacher or teacher who has to give oral and practical instruction ; Mr. 
 Sadler's strong point being decidedly in pointing the application to con- 
 temporary thought and to life, its trials and its duties, of the divine words 
 with which he has to deal." 
 
 From Church Bells, July Sth, 1887. 
 
 " We can hardly imagine a commentary better adapted than Mr. Sadler's 
 for giving to the reader an antidote to that unsettling influence which is 
 now going about in the world, making people have a different set of 
 religious opinions every month or so." 
 
 From The Chuech Quarterly Reyiew. 
 
 " There is vigour and freshness about his writings which makes it 
 a pleasure to read them, while there is certain to be much that is in- 
 structive, and their tone and tendency are equally certain to be sound and 
 edifying. This short commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is no 
 exception to the rule, and it well supports the established reputation of its 
 author." 
 
 From The Church Times, August 26thj 1887. 
 
 " Prebendary Sadler's useful commentary on the New Testament is 
 advanced another important stage by the issue of this volume on the Acts 
 of the Apostles, a part of Scripture whose interest and value seems to 
 increase daily, as investigation into the beginnings of the Christian Church 
 are pressed on with fresh vigour, alike by those who wish to prove 
 Christianity a mere human evolution out of materials lying to hand in 
 the Augustan era, and those who accept it as a divine revelation. Much of 
 the work which has been done of late years in connexion with the Acts and 
 other Pauline records has been devoted chiefly to the externals of history, 
 geography, antiquities, and the like, rather than to the religious teaching 
 which they contain ; and this fact makes a gloss from a theologian like 
 Mr. Sadler all the more welcome." 
 
THE EPISTLES. 
 
 From Church Bells, May 18^/i, 1888. 
 
 " Mr. Sadler carries on his work with unabated vigour, and now we have 
 some hope of his being able to give us a commentary on the whole of the 
 New Testament. Undoubtedly such a work when completed will be of 
 great value, as giving a well-thought-out exposition of the whole of the 
 sources from which we derive the history of the founding, as well as the 
 doctrines, of the Christian Church, and this, too^ an exposition which sup- 
 plies, not the mere personal opinions of its writer, although it is everywhere 
 tinged by his individuality, but the historical meaning of the teaching of 
 individual writers and of the Church at lai'ge. The ' introduction ' to the 
 present volume is excellent, giving all the requisite information without 
 any unnecessary waste of words." 
 
 From The Church Times, June, 1888. 
 
 " There are three excursuses at the end of the volume, on Justification, 
 on Election, and on the Christology of St. Paul, all carefully written, but 
 with most pains bestowed upon the second. We do not know a better book 
 than this Commentary to put into the hands of an intelligent Evangelical 
 who is beginning to doubt the soundness of the system he has heretofore 
 accepted, and is striving to find his way out and up into a higher and 
 clearer atmosphere." 
 
 From The Church Quarterly Review. 
 
 " We hail with pleasure this addition to the Commentary on the New 
 
 Testament We think this volume will certainly sustain the high 
 
 position which Mr. Sadler has gained as a practical interpreter of Holy 
 Scripture." 
 
 From The Irish Ecclesla.stical GtAzette, April ISth^ 1890. 
 "Incomparably the best Commentary on the New Testament extant." 
 
 From The Banner, May 2Srd, 1890. 
 
 " Ordinary readers could hardly have a better exposition of the sacred 
 books." 
 
 From The Literary Churchman, February 6th, 1891. 
 
 " This volume will be found to present all the characteristic excellences 
 of Mr. Sadler's method ; and it would be hard, indeed, to find any points of 
 objection to these terse, thoughtful, Church-like notes." 
 
Uniform with the Church Commentari/ . 
 Second edition. Grown 8vo, 5s. 
 
 SERMON OUTLINES 
 
 FOE THE CLEKGY AND LAY-PEEACHEES. 
 
 321 Outlines aeranged according to the 
 Church's Tear. 
 
 This book, a book of suggestions rather than of mere divi- 
 sions, or skeletons as they were formerly called, has been 
 composed with a view to meeting the objection heard on all 
 sides that sermons at the present day are very deficient in 
 setting forth Christian doctrines. 
 
 From The Guardian, April 12th, 1893. 
 
 " It is easy to prophesy a considerable sale for this volume. . . . We 
 meet here all the well-known characteristics of his writings. The style is 
 straightforward and vigorous. There is never any doubt about his meaning. 
 His remarks are always pointed, and the arrangement of his material is 
 excellent." 
 
 From The Church Times, February 17th, 1893. 
 
 ''This volume differs in three respects from most similar volumes: (I) 
 It aims, primarily, at supplying sketches of sermons on Christian Doctrine, 
 couched in clear, definite language. (2) It is a book of ' suggestions, rather 
 than of mere divisions or skeletons.' (3) It includes lists of texts and 
 subjects for courses of Lenten and other sermons. The well-earned reputa- 
 tion of its author will be a sufficient guarantee for the soundness and 
 usefulness of the work." 
 
 From Church Bells, December 16th, 1892. 
 
 " They are adequate, and they are helpful ; they set forth the elementary 
 teaching of the Chui'ch's seasons, the redemption, salvation, and sanctifiea- 
 tion of mankind. Each Sunday of each Church season has several appro- 
 priate texts and heads of discourses, and these are rich in wise suggestions 
 as to helpful teaching. There is much simplicity and strong meat for 
 learners. Prayer-book lines are made the rule throughout — the best rule 
 of all." 
 
 From The Rock, November Uh^ 1892. 
 
 *' We should think that it would be difficult to find anywhere such a real 
 help for preachers as these outlines afford. . . . Such depth of spiritual 
 teaching is seldom to be found." 
 
 From The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, Nov. 11th, 1892. 
 " This should be among the most popular and useful of Prebendary 
 Sadler's writings." 
 
 From The Clergyman's Magazine, December, 1892. 
 " These outlines are both Evangelical and doctrinal. They occupy 
 exactly one page of the book, and therefore afford ample opportunity for 
 the preacher's own powers of expansion." 
 
WORKS BY THE REV. M. F. SADLER, 
 
 Rectob op Honiton and Prebendary of Wells. 
 
 New and cheaper Issue, price 2s. 
 CHURCH DOCTRINE— BIBLE TRUTH. 4>9th 
 
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 "Mr. Sadler takes Church Doctrine, specifically so called, subject by subject, and 
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 the Athanasian Creed, the Baptismal Services, the Holy Eucharist, Absolution and the 
 Priesthood, Church Government and Confirmation, are some of the more promiaent sub- 
 jects treated. And Mr. Sadler handles each with a marked degree of sound sense, and 
 with a thorough mastery of his subject." — Guardian. 
 
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 LONDON: G. BELL AND SONS, York Street, CovAjt Garden 
 

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. it