Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Jews as the chosen people wikipedia , lookup
Holocaust theology wikipedia , lookup
God in Christianity wikipedia , lookup
God in Sikhism wikipedia , lookup
God the Father wikipedia , lookup
Binitarianism wikipedia , lookup
Divinization (Christian) wikipedia , lookup
State (theology) wikipedia , lookup
Christian pacifism wikipedia , lookup
God the Father in Western art wikipedia , lookup
NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS Phil1v1 Paul does not here describe himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus, as in 2 Corinthians 1.1, where he links Timothy with himself in addressing the Corinthians. In both epistles to the Corinthians he has to defend his claim to being an apostle (1 Corinthians 9.1,2; 2 Corinthians 11.1-33). Here in Philippians he describes himself and Timothy as bondservants or slaves, bought slaves (1 Corinthians 6. 20). "To all the saints," saints are "holy ones," such as are "sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints" (1 Corinthians 1.2), that is, saints by effectual calling, they having responded to the call in the gospel. "God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 2.13,14). Though all believers in Christ are saints, not all, alas, are saintly in their behaviour. Bishops: a bishop (Episkopos) means an overseer or guardian, "a superintendent in the apostolic age and equal to Presbuteros (an elder) in the New Testament." It conveys the thought of one who watches over others. Deacons: a deacon (Diakonos) is a servant or waiting man. The bishop or overseer is one who is responsible to rule over and care for God's saints and His work; the deacon or minister is one whose business is to be engaged in the Lord's work in the ministry of His word and to attend faithfully thereon, and thereby to gain "a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 3.13). Overseers and deacons are saints, but not all saints are deacons, and not all deacons are overseers. See 1 Timothy 3.1-13; Titus 1.5-9. Phil1v2 Paul's salutation to the Romans and the Corinthians is similar to this here. Peace was the salutation of the Hebrews of the Old Testament and grace is the salutation of the New. Phil1v3,4 To Paul the memory of God's work in the saints in Philippi was ever sweet. Deep appreciation of God's grace to them filled his heart with thanksgiving as he made his supplication on their behalf "making my supplication with joy," he said. It may not be that we can say this about all for whom we pray, that we make our supplication with joy. Phil1v5 Paul writes of "all my remembrance of you," as he thinks of the course they had followed, which no other church had, for only they ministered to his needs in Thessalonica; when he departed from Macedonia, they ministered to him (Philippians 4.15,16). He could not forget these tokens of their love and fellowship. How unlike they were to the gifted and selfish Corinthians! (2 Corinthians 11. 7-10; 1 Corinthians 1.4-7). Sad it is when gift and greed meet in the same person; the latter destroys the lustre of the former. Phil1v6 The good work in the Philippians started with Lydia and the jailor from the time that God's grace reached their hearts. Both took Paul into their houses and cared for him. Lydia said: "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there." And the jailor washed Paul's stripes and brought him up to his house and set meat before him. It is poor Christianity that says to the needy, "Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit?" (James 2.16). The actions of the Philippians from the first were far otherwise than this. Many years had passed from those early days and they were still maintaining the same good works toward the apostle, and Paul was confident that this would continue. Paul wrote in such wise as believing that the Lord's coming would take place while he and the saints were yet alive, but we know that they have been at rest for long centuries and the Lord has not come yet, but we hope for His coming while we are alive. "The sky, not the grave, is our goal." Phil1v7 Paul had the saints in his heart as a fond parent, and it was right for him to wish that God's good work in them would be perfected until the Lord's coming. Paul joins bonds with the defence and confirmation of the gospel in his account of his many sufferings for Christ's and the gospel's sake; in 2 Corinthians 11.16-33, he speaks of "in prisons more abundantly." Such was the cost to the gospel preachers in the days of the apostles, and of this the Lord forewarned them. In the present we live in a time of freedom from violent persecution, bought for us by the blood of martyrs of former days, but days of violent persecution will come again. That splendid declaration of the apostle Paul makes us all feel very small: "The Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But I hold not my life of any account, as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20.23,24). The Philippians were partakers of grace which ever has supported the suffering witnesses of Christ. Phil1v8 The tender mercies or bowels of Christ Jesus tell of the most intense tenderness, such as a mother's love for her babe; it reveals a yearning and longing that cannot be measured. Only God could see down into the inner, secret parts of Paul's being, and bear witness to the reality of what he says. Phil1v9,10 The word here for love (Agape), we are told, "expresses a more reasoning attachment (than Philein, to love), of choice and selection ... from a seeing in the object upon whom it is bestowed that which is worthy of regard" (Trench). Here love is to abound "in knowledge and all discernment," not simply to love (Philein) instinctively, with a love arising from feelings or natural affection. The consequence of love (Agape) working in knowledge and discernment is that the saint may prove the things that differ (see Romans 2.18), so that points of difference in divine things may be proved and approved. In the study of the word of God there is too much lumping of things together on the part of the ignorant, with the result that there is failure to see the excellence there is in the things wherein God has made a difference. Hence so many wander about in ways displeasing to the Lord and do so, ignorant of the will of God. Phil1v10,11 Here we have the result of love abounding in knowledge and discernment, that we may be sincere, which means, in the Greek, to be examined in the sun's light and found to be genuine, unmixed and pure; and void of offence, not stumbling or turning aside from the path of obedience and virtue unto the day of Christ; that is, the day of His coming for the saints of this dispensation, when they will appear before the judgement-seat of Christ to receive the things done through the body, whether they be good or bad (2 Corinthians 5.9,10). The day of Christ should be distinguished from the day of the Lord, which commences with the Lord's return to earth in judgement, for the punishment of the wicked and the deliverance of His suffering people. It is more than a thousand years in extent. Note the words of 2 Peter 3.10: "The day of the Lord will come as a thief, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise," and so forth. This is at the time of the judgement of the Great White Throne. See Revelation 20.11,12. How pleasant it with the fruits fruit is to the being the fruit is to contemplate enlightened saints being filled (Greek, fruit, R.V.M.) of righteousness! Such glory of God and to His praise through Jesus Christ, of His Spirit (Galatians 5.22,23), and the fruit of the light (Ephesians 5.9). The righteousness we have in Christ through faith is not the righteous acts of the saints (Revelation 19. 8). Phil1v12,13 The Greek word for "progress" (Prokope, Pro = before, kopto = to strike or cut) is thought to be borrowed from the practice of armies which cut away obstacles which impeded their progress. In the apostle's case what seemed to be barriers to the spread of the gospel were turned by God as means of spreading it, for each soldier of the Imperial guard to whom Paul was bound from day to day learned that he was a prisoner in the Lord (Ephesians 4.1) and from him also of the glorious message of the gospel. He was one who was chosen to bear the name of Christ "before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9.15), to publish the statute, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee," a statute which is the very core of the gospel. How many hardened warriors of Rome heard the divine message of love and mercy from Paul and believed it, the day of Christ will reveal. That there were some we cannot doubt, for Paul speaks of the progress of the gospel. Phil1v14 "Brethren" defines those who are born of God. "In the Lord" shows their position as united together in assembly life, as being subject to Christ as Lord. A fearless leader engenders the same courageous spirit in those that follow. Paul was fearless and tireless. He had had visions of the Lord that dwarfed all men and earthly things which opposed him in his course in the fulfilment of the ministry which he had received of the Lord: even his own life was of small account to him in this great work. No wonder men looking on this man with a poor afflicted body and with many weaknesses, yet fired with a zeal that burned with increasing vehemence, caught somewhat of the same boldness and determination to speak the word of God! This is the powerful weapon put into men's hands, that the Holy Spirit uses in the carrying on of the work of God, against which the powers of darkness cannot stand. Phil1v15,16,17 Motive and effect we do well to keep apart; they are often confused. This portion clearly shows that the gospel may be preached in an envious (jealous of the good fortune of another), factious (faction is the demon of strife) spirit, and some preachers may even be actuated by a spirit of covetousness and greed. Yet, despite this, souls may be saved, for God is sovereign and may bless His word though the preacher may not be acting in fellowship with Him. Jonah's message, both in the ship and in Nineveh, was most signally blessed to the turning of the mariners to Jehovah and the Ninevites to repentance, yet he was both a disobedient prophet and one who was angry with the LORD Himself when He showed mercy to the men of Nineveh, and said that he did well to be angry even unto death. Paul had great difficulty with the Judaizers of his time, in Antioch and Jerusalem, in the Churches of Galatia, and no doubt in Rome also. Such were active in preaching Christ in a party spirit, their object being to stir up affliction for Paul the prisoner, the defender of the fundamental principles of the gospel, which he set out so clearly that there was no room left for legal works or the flesh to glory. On the other hand, there were those in the church of God in Rome who preached out of good will; all honour to them! Phil1v18 Paul's view is that of the Lord as to those who use His name and professedly do His work. John said, "Master, we saw one casting out devils (demons) in Thy name; and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. But Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against you is for you" (Luke 9.49,50). The name of Jesus is all-powerful, though those who may speak it may know little of its power, and those that preach Christ may not be walking with Him, yet the gospel will do its work in the hearts of those who believe. The Lord issues no interdict against using His blessed name. This must not be confused with that other statement of the Lord: "He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth." The Lord only gathers disciples together according to the principles of His word (Acts 2.41,42). Alas, there are many who set aside these divine principles and gather according to the doctrines of men, either ancient or modern, and such are scatterers of the Lord's sheep. Phil1v19,20 "My salvation" cannot mean Paul's assured deliverance from prison, though some have thought so, but rather that salvation indicated in the words, "that in nothing shall I be put to shame, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." Paul wished no such calamity to befall him as befell John the Baptist, who from his prison sent his disciples to the Lord with the words, "Art Thou He that cometh, or look we for another?" (Matthew 11.3). Whether he was in "Doubting Castle," or whether some other motive caused him to act as he did, it may be impossible to say, but who can doubt that he needed to be saved from such a state that caused him to act as he did? The gloom of discouragement or doubt is as a creeping paralysis from which we all need to be saved. What buoyancy is in the apostle's spirit, when he contemplates Christ being magnified in him, whether by life or death! The preaching and praying of saints on the manward side, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ on the Godward, would effect this glorious result in the apostle's life and testimony right to the end. Phil1v21 We have here an intriguing statement, yet it is but the summing up of the previous verses. It is what he puts in other words in different places, as for instance, "God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him" (Galatians 1.15,16). It was not to reveal His Son to Paul, but to reveal His Son in him. "I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2.20). "Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body" (2 Corinthians 4.10). The objective in Paul's life was to live Christ; the old Saul of Tarsus was dead, and Christ was living over again on earth in the man Paul the apostle. What a conception! What an expectation and hope. Christ magnified in the body of a man! Of the greatest of worldly men whose portion is in this life, it can be written, "To die is loss", but with Paul and all such-like men, "To die is gain." The reason is, their portion is not in this life, but in the life to come. Their treasure is in heaven, where thieves do not break through and steal. What gain it will be! There is our citizenship, our country and our home, our friends, our wealth, and, above all else, the Lamb, our Saviour and our Lord. Phil1v22,23 Paul has just placed before his readers two propositions - to live, and to die. What is meant here by "this is the fruit of my work," or "this is to me the fruit of work"? "This" points us back to what he has been saying with reference to the purpose of his life, that for him to live was Christ, and that Christ should be magnified in his body. Between living such a life in the flesh, and departing to be with Christ put him in a strait. Which should he choose? Who can answer such a question? No one, unless he is assured, as Paul was, not a great while later than this, when he wrote, "For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4.6,7), that his time has come to depart and to be with Christ. We all want to live until we have borne such fruit in our lives to God as it is His will we should, and then to be called home is the best for us. Those who live Christ live fruitful and victorious lives. Phil1v24,25 The need of the saints ever pressed itself upon Paul, and his will was to abide with them, and he seemed confident that this was the Lord's will for him at that time also. It is, I think, better to render "your progress and joy of faith," of the A.V., than "in the faith," of the R.V. Though the definite article is before faith here, it is the subjective faith of the Philippians, rather than objective faith, i.e. the faith. The definite article is frequently in the Greek before faith where it is subjective faith. See Romans 10.17; 2 Corinthians 1.24; 4.13, etc. Phil1v26 We have here the unique expression concerning the boasting of the Philippians - "Christ Jesus in me" (Paul). In Christ Jesus denotes Him in whom their boasting ever was, and the presence of the apostle with them again a further cause for glorying. Phil1v27 "Manner of life" literally means "to behave as citizens"; and remembering that our citizenship is in heaven (chapter 3.20), we see how fitting a worthy manner of life is for such citizens, so that by life as well as by lip the gospel may be commended. How necessary also is divine unity to the progress of the gospel! The Lord prayed that those whom He was leaving as His witnesses on earth might be one (John 17.21,22). Paul here entreats the Philippians "to stand fast in one spirit, with one soul." Division blights divine testimony. How successful the enemy has been in causing this! The striving (striving together) is not for, but with (R.V.M. ) the faith of the gospel. The gospel is the weapon which the combatants use in the combat against the powers of darkness. Striving (Sunathleo) comes from the Greek word for athlete, so the church in Philippi was a group of heaven's athletes engaged in a mighty contest of rescuing souls from the power of darkness. Phil1v28 Christians are not to be scared or terrified by their opponents. The athlete who is afraid of his opponent enters the stadium in the spirit of a beaten man. He that fears God need fear the face of no man. "Who art thou, that thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?" (Isaiah 51. 12). The opposition of the adversaries is, Paul says, a demonstration or omen of their destruction and of our salvation in due time from them. God will in due time deal with opposers and save the faithful witnesses. Phil1v29,30 "To believe in Him" here, presents faith in the same sense as in 1 John 5.4,5; "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith, and who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" It is not here the initial act of faith which brings salvation to the believing sinner, but the faith which is continuous, the victorious faith of the believer in an antagonistic world, which is granted to him on the behalf of Christ, both to believe on Him and to suffer in His behalf. Those who are of this faith will be sufferers, be their sufferings great or small. The same conflict which was in the Lord, and also in Paul, will be in them. Conflict is ever known by the athlete, the violent struggle which they had seen in Paul in past days, and which still continued in him in the then present time as a prisoner of Rome. Phil2v1 Here the apostle raises powerful arguments, based on Christian experience, in reference to what he is about to put before them as to the need of being of one mind and having the same love. There could be no doubt that the Philippians had known comfort in Christ, for He is a Comforter, as is also the Holy Spirit. Had they not known the consolation (or encouragement) of love? for God's love had been shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, as in the case of the Romans (Romans 5.5), that blessed restfulness that only love can minister to a restless and storm-tossed soul. They could not have missed having known that fellowship with the Father and the Son, that the indwelling Holy Spirit makes possible for those to know in whom He dwells (1 John 1.1-7; 2 Corinthians 13.14); this fellowship is to be experienced through walking in the light. And of tender mercies and compassions, who should know more of these than those who know the yearning love of the Father, Son and Spirit for the children of God? The Philippians had known all these. "If" here is not the "if" of doubt, but the "if" which forms the premise of an argument. Phil2v2 What can be more disastrous to an army facing an enemy than dis-unity? Dis-unity amongst saints is a tragedy, and we are in this day of sectarianism surrounded by it. The apostle has just been viewing the saints as striving together with the faith of the gospel, but if through dis-unity their team-work is destroyed, how helpless they will become! Instead of striving together against the common enemy they would be striving against one another. Paul's joy over them was in their being of the same mind and having the same love. It is said of the multitude of the disciples in Jerusalem in the early days, that they were of one heart and soul (Acts 4.32). What progress was made in those early days as the result of this unity! "Of one mind" means "joined in soul." Phil2v3,4 Some words have both a good and a bad meaning according to the context in which they are found, but faction is ever a bad word. It was used in the past of such as canvassed for public office, intriguing, and doing anything for gain or ambition, courting applause. It has been called the demon of strife. Vainglory is simply empty pride. In contrast to striving for applause or empty glory, saints should be characterised by lowliness of mind, humility, modesty, each esteeming the other better, a more excellent man, than himself. How foolish is the practice of peering into and preening oneself before, the mirror of self-admiration! The women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting of old gave their copper mirrors to provide the Laver for the cleansing of the priests in the service of God. A worthy example! Saints are not to be looking, viewing intently, their own things, matters, interests, qualities, or advantages, or whatever would engender pride of heart, but rather the things or excellencies of others. We have to be exceedingly careful in the consideration of our own things that we do not fall a prey to self-gratifictaion as to what we are or have. Phil2v5,6 Here we have the humility of Christ Jesus set as a pattern of mind for those who would follow Him. Men by nature are proud, some more than others, but by the contemplation of Christ His lowly mind is to become ours. The mind of Christ is, that He who is, and was, and ever will be, in the form (Morphe) of God took the form of a servant. He was originally (R.V.M.) in the form of God, and "none can be in the form of God who is not God." "Morphe (form) ... signifies the form as it is the utterance of the inner life," and "mode of existence." Being truly and fully God, He did not grasp, as a prize in rapine or robbery, at being on equality with God, for He was equal in all the attributes and prerogatives of Deity, of glory, honour, majesty, and so forth, which are peculiar to, and exclusively those of, Deity. Phil2v7,8 He being God, it was impossible for Him to grasp anything as a prize and so enrich Himself, but He could empty Himself, He could become poor; "Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor" (2 Corinthians 8.9). He could not empty Himself of the form of God, but He "emptied, stripped Himself of the insignia of majesty," as is implied in John 17.5: "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." This casts light on the self-emptying of the Lord. He could not divest Himself of that glory which is inherent in Divine Being, the glory of the only begotten Son (John 1.14), which the apostles beheld, veiled as it was by the veil of His flesh, and so tempered to their sight; but of that glory which is associated with Deity on the throne of heaven He emptied Himself in His self-humiliation and taking the form (Morpho) of a servant (bondservant). The two actions coincide, the self-emptying, and the taking of the form of a bondservant. As with the form of God, so with the form of a bondservant, all the characteristic attributes of bondservice are implied, such as subjection and obedience and all that goes with bondservice. In this taking the form of a bondservant is implied the Lord's humanity. He who is Lord of all became Jehovah's Servant to minister to others and to die for them. See Matthew 20.28, and note the context. "The likeness of men" strengthens the former statement, "the form of a servant," for man was made to be God's bondservant, which the apostle gladly acknowledges in chapter 1.1 when he writes of himself and Timothy being bond-servants of Christ Jesus. Sinners are bondservants broken loose from their Divine Master and Maker, and this rebellion will become more manifest yet, as Psalm 2.3 clearly shows. Christ came in the likeness (Homoiomati) of men, truly man, but with a difference, for He was not man utterly; He was God, the Word, who had become flesh (John 1.14), and He was only in the likeness (Homoiomati) of sinful flesh (Romans 8.3). He was found in fashion (Schemati) as a man. This is how men found Him; in His outward appearance there was no apparent difference between Him and other men. The Jewish people condemned Him, because He being Man made Himself God (John 10.33). Pilate and the Lord's accusers took Him for a man merely (Isaiah 53.2,3). The words form (Morphe), likeness (Homoioma), fashion (Schema), are worthy of careful study. There is a grading of thought from Morphe, the form as expressive of the inner life, to Schema, the outward, superficial appearance. He who humbled Himself from the throne of God to the stable in Bethlehem to be Man on earth, humbled Himself still further, becoming obedient, as Jehovah's Servant, to death, the death of the cross, the death of a slave or a common criminal. Mystery of mysteries! Phil2v9,10,11 The former verses describe the Lord's descent from the throne to the cross, these show the ascent from the cross to the throne. Christ emptied and humbled Himself, but God highly exalted Him, giving Him a name that is above every name. There are differences of opinion as to what this name is, as to whether it is the name "Jesus" or a new name as yet unknown to us. It should, I think, be noted that this name which has been given to Him is given in connexion with His exaltation, whereas the name Jesus was given when He humbled Himself and became the Babe of Bethlehem. It seems to me that this is the name referred to in Revelation 3.12, "Mine own new name," which He promised to write upon the overcomer of the church in Philadelphia. It seems to be connected with the thought of overcoming, for it was after the Lord had overcome all that was opposed to Him and had triumphed through the cross, that this name was given to Him, befitting the Lord as Victor in resurrection; thus the name of the Great Overcomer will be written on all overcomers. But on the other hand men in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, will be compelled to bow in the name of Jesus, the name that so many have despised, and the name of the rejected One, and to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that to the glory of God the Father, the Father of His co-equal Son. Phil2v12,13 The Philippians were dear to Paul. He called them "my beloved." They had been obedient to God both when the apostle was present with them and when he was absent. In the light of all he has just written as to the humiliation and exaltation of the Lord, he calls on them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. This is not salvation from sin's penalty (which was a past experience with them) but from sin's power. We all need deliverance from "the power of cancelled sin." We need to know deliverance from the power of sins which have been forgiven that they may not still enslave us after we are saved. The drunkard, after he has been forgiven, needs to be saved from the sin of drunkenness, the gambler from gambling, the railer from railing, and so on. The old roots of sin stick fast in the flesh and are a trouble to us like bad teeth. Deliverance does not arise from ourselves. We are commended to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, but whence comes the power? The answer is, It is God that worketh in us first to will, to make us willing to be saved from all evils, and then to work for His good pleasure. He cannot save the saint against his will from any evil practice, even as He cannot save a sinner from hell against his will. But the power to save in each case is available if there be the will to be saved, so that the sinner may be saved eternally and the saint have a saved life and not a lost one. Phil2v14,15,16 How much harm has been done by saints murmuring and disputing! Think of Jehovah's pattern Servant: "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench" (Isaiah 42.2,3). He was holy, guileless (harmless), undefiled (Hebrews 7.26). We should count it an honour to be engaged in the lowliest part of the Lord's service, and carry it out with a sweet unmurmuring attitude of mind. It is to be coveted to be blameless and unblemished children of God living in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. The world has not changed its character, nor can it, since Paul's time; and the present generation is perhaps more perverse than the past. The children of God are to be lights or luminaries (as the lights of heaven that shine in the darkness) in the world. The world would be without light save for them. "Ye are the light of the world," said the Lord to His disciples (Matthew 5.14). The work of those who have been illuminated is to hold forth the word of life. If the Philippians so continued, then Paul would have whereof to glory in the day of Christ; but if they failed in their testimony, in so far as that is concerned, Paul would have run and laboured in vain. Phil2v17,18 Offered here is "poured out" as a drink offering (2 Timothy 4.6), which means to give his life. This pouring out should not be confused with the Lord's emptying of Himself (verse 7). The emptying coincided with His incarnation, not with His death on the cross. But Paul's pouring out of himself was in his life being spent in the service of others, and he reached that point in 2 Timothy 4.6. If Paul poured out his life upon the sacrifice of the faith of the saints and on their priestly service in their witness for Christ, then he rejoiced and congratulated them, and in the same manner they were to rejoice and congratulate him. Phil2v19,20,21 Paul's hoping and acting in the Lord shows how truly his actions and thoughts were governed by the Lord's will. "If the Lord will" should be a governing factor in the lives of all believers (James 4. 15). Through the visit of Timothy to Philippi Paul expected to learn of their spiritual state and might be comforted by his report. He said that He had no man like Timothy who would genuinely care for them. Even in Paul's day there was not a surfeit of spiritual men of worth. We need not wonder that this is so in our time. Many then, as now, sought their own things and not the things of Jesus Christ. Phil2v22,23,24 The proof of Timothy was in his being a tried and consequently approved man. He was Paul's child in faith (1 Timothy 1.2), and as a child to a father, he served as a bondservant with his spiritual father in the gospel. This tried and trusted man was soon to be sent to Philippi, as soon as Paul saw how it would go with himself. He seemed confident in the Lord that he would be liberated and would himself visit them. It is generally held that he was set at liberty, and visited Ephesus (1 Timothy 1.3; 2 Timothy 1.15-18), Macedonia, and Miletus (2 Timothy 4.20). He hoped to visit not only Philippi (Philippians 1.25), but also Colossae (Philemon 22). Then finally he hoped to winter at Nicopolis (Titus 3.12), where, it has been suggested, but without scriptural evidence, that he was arrested, and sent to Rome for his second term of imprisonment in Rome, which was his last. There Nero, that bestial man, killed one of the noblest characters that ever lived. Phil2v25,26,27 What a number of glorious titles this man has, far greater than the titles of nobility or royalty - my brother, fellow-worker, fellow-soldier, your apostle and minister to my need! Crowns, coronets, orders, medals and ribbons mark the world's great ones, but these honours are nothing compared with the honours of Epaphroditus. The diadems of the Caesars are lost in the rubble of Rome, but these men who lived within its walls, and, in Paul's and Timothy's cases, its prisons, shall wear the crowns and unfading laurel of heaven. Paul counted it necessary to send Epaphroditus to Philippi, whence he had come bearing the gift of the Philippian saints to Paul. In this work of mercy he had almost lost his life, whether on the way or at Rome we know not, but he had been at death's door. But God had mercy both on him, and on Paul that he might not have sorrow upon sorrow. Epaphroditus was glad to return, for Paul says that "he longed after you all, and was sore troubled, because ye heard that he was sick." This is one of those affectionate touches that show the anxiety of love. Phil2v28,29,30 Paul sent Epaphroditus the more diligently because of his longing for the Philippian saints, for they had heard that he was sick. This shows how news travelled throughout the Roman world from assembly to assembly. Paul said that they were to receive him in the Lord with joy, and honour him for what he had done. Epaphroditus left Paul, carrying, it is believed, this wondrous epistle back with him, a much greater gift than Paul had received, necessary as were the material comforts which the Philippians had sent to him. Phil3v1 Finally, in conclusion, rejoice, be joyful, in the Lord. Rejoice is also used in salutation - Farewell. The great spirit of the apostle rises above his sorrow alluded to in the former chapter, and he strikes a joyful note, for well he knew the meaning of what he wrote to the Corinthians at an earlier time, "Our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4.17). It was not irksome for him to write, and it was safe for the Philippians to get such an epistle with such truths. Phil3v2,3 Paul calls the Judaizers dogs. They were the evil workers from whom Paul suffered so much. They were also the concision or the cutters. Circumcision was with them a mere rite which bore no relation to their inward state; it was as the gashings and the mutilations of the heathen. The saints were the circumcision, for they had been "circumcised with a circumcision not m{de with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ" (Colossians 2.11). Paul wrote of this in other words to the Romans; "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (Romans 8.9). Hence Paul wrote as above, "We ... worship (Latreuo, religiously serve) by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Here the believer in Christ parts company with the mere religionist, whether Jew, Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or any other, all who depend on mere ceremonials, and promote the doctrine of perfecting the flesh. The fundamental doctrine of the faith is, "Ye must be born again," "born of the Spirit." "The flesh profiteth nothing." Phil3v4,5,6 Here is a veritable galaxy of qualifications which would dazzle any who were seeking perfection in the flesh. Dare any one rest in confidence as to eternal peace upon any one or all of these things which were so much admired in Jewish society? Circumcision in Paul's case had been attended to scrupulously; his pedigree was correct, he being of Israel and Benjamin; his parents were both Hebrews, who adhered to the Hebrew language and customs, and in strict upbringing and profession he was a Pharisee, "a son of Pharisees" (Acts 23.6). His zeal could never be called in question, for he persecuted the church of God in Jerusalem and laid it waste (Acts 8.3), and as touching the law's righteousness men (not God) found him blameless. Truly he was a pattern of a man in the flesh, which availed much in time, but nothing in eternity. Phil3v7,8 Paul was not only born again; he was soundly converted. He stepped out boldly upon the doctrine of Christ - "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." When the Lord spoke those words, "many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him" (John 6.63,66). Many still cling to the flesh and seek the wordly gains the flesh brings, but Paul sought a truer gain. He suffered the loss, the confiscation, of all things, and in his old age he still viewed those things as loss, as he did in the early days of his first love, when he regarded them as dung, or offal to be cast to the dogs. Christ was Paul's gain or enrichment, and in order to advance in that knowledge which eclipses all other forms of knowledge, the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, he regarded all else as worthless. No one who reads Paul's writings can fail to see the richness of his mind in the knowledge of Christ, and many, many have been enriched by him. Phil3v9 What were his earliest thoughts about the righteousness of God were still his thoughts after long years of persecution and privation, that his righteousness should not be a legal righteousness of his own, but that which is through faith in Christ, even that righteousness of God which rests upon faith and not upon works of law. God's righteousness in Christ was his soul's resting place and his hope for glory. Phil3v10,11 The true knowledge of Christ is not theoretical or merely historical, it is experimental and practical; it affects the whole life and conduct of the person who has it and seeks it. With some the knowledge of Jesus Christ is no better than the knowledge of Julius Caesar so far as yielding any real fruit in their lives is concerned. Christ is an historical Person truly, but He is much more; and besides, He is alive and Caesar is dead and gone to dust. The words that the Lord spoke are spirit and are life (John 6.63), such are not the words of men. Besides, He, the eternal Son of the Father, has sent forth the Holy Spirit into the hearts of His own to comfort and quicken them and to revive their hopes. With Paul the knowledge of Christ was intensely practical. In these verses there is a cycle - resurrection, sufferings, death, resurrection. It is a spiral; it means that the person ascends each cycle. This ascending is by sharing His sufferings, by being conformed unto His death, and by attaining unto the out-resurrection out from among dead ones. This is to be the present experience of those that follow the Lord. They are to take up their cross daily (Luke 9.23), and die daily (1 Corinthians 15.31), if they would know that power which raised Him from the dead, and will raise them from among the dead among whom they live. This power is the exceeding greatness of His (God's) power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead (Ephesians 1.19,20). It is one thing to know about Christ's resurrection, but it is quite another for that to be working in us who believe. This power makes real living for Christ possible. Phil3v12 What he strove after in the practical knowledge of Christ in his day by day experience, he had not yet obtained. He was not yet made perfect (though he was in another sense perfect in Christ), but he pressed on towards it, for in the knowledge of Christ he would learn the purpose that Christ had in apprehending him. He knew much already, He knew that he was a called apostle of Christ Jesus, and he knew what the Lord had wrought in and through him towards the Gentiles, as well as his own people, but he had not apprehended all that it was the Lord's purpose to accomplish through him. The painting of Paul's life was not yet complete. "I press on", he said; that is, he pursued for the purpose of catching or obtaining what was still in front of him. Phil3v13,14 Not apprehending all God's purpose in him, he sought to forget and to neglect the things that were behind him; these things cannot be lived over again and improved. He stretched forward, as a runner in a race to the course that lies in front, toward the goal, the mark at the end of the racecourse on which the eye is fixed, to the prize (as the crown, wreath or chaplet which was bestowed on the victor in the public games). The race is towards the place whence the call came. The calling is heavenly (Hebrews 3.1); it is an upward calling, hence the course is ever ascending. Phil3v15,16 "Perfect" here should not be confused with "made perfect" (verse 12); the latter may lie in the future while we are on earth, but the former word signifies mature full-grown persons, and such persons of full growth are to press on towards that perfect state (1 Corinthians 13.10) which lies ahead. But if there be differences of mind arising from the standard of spiritual growth, even that will God reveal. Such differences will inevitably arise, for some make marked progress, while others are slow, and some make little or no advance in spiritual things. There is a danger, in seeking to preserve unity, of making the standard of the backward believer that for all the rest. The standard by which we shall all be measured in due time, and by which we are to walk now, is that whereunto we have attained. Walk (Stoichein) means to walk in order. Phil3v17 The Philippians were together to imitate Paul and so bear his resemblance. All such as followed this course of Paul-like, and consequently Christ-like, behaviour were to be marked as persons worthy of being ensamples or patterns of conduct for others to follow. These good-living people were to be marked, considered and followed, but those of Romans 16.17 were to be marked and avoided, because they caused divisions contrary to the doctrine. Phil3v18,19 The persons here indicated were believers who followed a life of self-pleasing and indulgence. They were not enemies of God in the sense of Romans 5.10, but they were enemies of the cross. They knew little or nothing of the truth of Paul's words, "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2.20). Their end was perdition, the complete loss of their life for God (Matthew 16.25; Hebrews 10. 39). Their God was a belly-god; they were devoted to uncurbed appetites. Their glory was nought but shame, and the whole bent of their minds was down and not up, earthly and not heavenly. Over the conduct of these Paul wept bitter tears of sorrow, because of his love for his Lord and for them. Phil3v20,21 It is a distortion for a believer to have his mind set on earthly things, seeing that his citizenship is in heaven. There is his commonwealth and his politics. He has not bought this citizenship, as the Roman captain bought Roman citizenship (Acts 22. 28), for he has been born from above. Hence Paul says that we are to "behave as citizens worthily" (Philippians 1.27, R.V.M.). We wait for the Lord, the Saviour from heaven, who is coming to deal with the bodies of the saints, called properly in the R.V. "the body of our humiliation," and not "our vile body," as in the A.V. These bodies will be fashioned anew, their outward appearance will be changed, and they will be conformed to the body of His glory. Thus the bodies of the saints will express the inner life, the eternal life which they already have in Christ; Christ is already their life (Colossians 3.4). This conformation like unto the Lord's resurrection body will remain unchanged and unalterable. The power which will effect this change is said to be "according to the working whereby He is able to subject all things unto Himself." The same power which will put down instantly and irrevocably the antichrist and his minions, and bring into being a state of ordered government on earth and throughout the universe, is the same as that which will cast out sin and mortality from the bodies of saints for ever. Never again will there be an emotion or thought in these bodies which is out of alignment with His holy will. Blessed thought! Phil4v1 "Wherefore," as those who are citizens of heaven, who are beloved and longed for (this last description is not found elsewhere), his joy and crown (see 1 Thessalonians 2.19), he exhorts them to "so stand fast in the Lord." "In the Lord" indicates subjection to the Lord's will. Phil4v2,3 Some have thought that Euodia and Syntyche were men. Though there is no word for women in the Greek, yet the fact that "these" (Autais) is feminine, should determine the matter that they were women. They may have been two of the women that gathered with Lydia at the place of prayer (Acts 16.13,14). In any case they had been of those who laboured with the apostle in the gospel in past days. Now a difference had come in between them, and this state of dis-unity was having a harmful effect on the church in Philippi. Help is to be given to the women by one who is called a true yokefellow, who proably is Epaphroditus who will shortly be bearing this epistle to Philippi. Clement cannot be identified, but the thing that really matters is, that he and the rest of those that laboured in the gospel have their names in the book of life. This is the same book as is referred to in Revelation 3.5. Phil4v4,5 Here Paul repeats his words of chapter 3.1, "Rejoice in the Lord," and adds "alway." The believer has nothing to rejoice in himself, or in the world, but however turbulent be the lives of saints on earth, they can by faith look up to and rejoice in the Lord. Forbearance is gentleness, mildness of disposition. This gentle, Christ-like spirit is to be made known to all. Can the believer afford to maintain this mildness of temper always? Yes, for the Lord is at hand to be his Helper. This is not the coming of the Lord that is at hand, as in James 5.8. The Lord is the Helper of His saints (Hebrews 13.5,6). The power of the Lord is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12.9). Paul entreated the Corinthians "by the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10.1). Phil4v6,7 To be anxious is to be cumbered with care. Note how the elders are to cast all their anxiety upon God, for He cares for them, while they seek to care for others (1 Peter 5.7). Saints are to bring their cares to God, in supplication, and prayer with thanksgiving, "nothing doubting" (James 1.6). The peace of God like a garrison will enter to guard their hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus. This experience passes all understanding. "Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!" Peace is concord, harmony, unity, the opposite of anxiety, which conveys the thought of a divided mind. Phil4v8,9 The mind is the most difficult part of ourselves to be happily and usefully engaged. But here are things for useful and profitable employment. Things true, conformable to truth; honourable, grave and dignified; just, nothing superfluous or deficient, in just proportion; pure, chaste, modest, blameless; lovely, amiable, grateful; good report, commendable, laudable; virtue, goodness, good quality of any sort, excellence; praise, honour paid, commendation. Think on these things, and let us remember that our thoughts find expression in our acts and ways; they build our characters. Excellent thoughts reveal themselves in a beautiful character. Paul had demonstrated these things in his conduct amongst the Philippians in past days; he says, "The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and" says he, "The God of peace (of concord and harmony) shall be with you." Phil4v10,11,12,13 The apostle rejoices greatly in the Lord at the revival of the thought of the Philippians for him, and he gives them credit for the lack of opportunity to express it. He does not speak of their gift as though want caused him to write as he did, for in his arduous and abundant labours he had learned (as a disciple) the secret (Mueo - from Muo, to shut the mouth - to initiate, to instruct in secret rites and mysteries; used only here in the N.T.) of contentment in all his varied circumstances whatever they were, whether he was brought low in times of privation or abounded in times of plenty. It is not an easy secret to learn, both to be filled and to be hungry, to abound and to be in want. Contentment is a mind contented with its lot, "independence of external circumstances." Paul added that he could do all things in Him that strengthened him, an echo of what he wrote in 2 Corinthians 12.9. Phil4v14,15,16 The well-doing of the Philippians, that they had fellowship with the apostle in his affliction, has been to their credit all the centuries since they sent Epaphroditus with their gift, and will remain so for ever. The carrying of the treasure of ravaged lands to Rome by Rome's victorious legions was as nothing compared with this; such deeds of rapine will be to their shame as long as their history remains. Not only was it now that the Philippians were mindful of the apostle, but while he was at Thessalonica they sent to him once or twice to meet his need, and when he left Macedonia they continued to minister to his necessitieis. How gratefully he recalls their care for him! Phil4v17 The great-souled man rose above the thought of his own comfort to the thought of what it would mean for them in the day of reward. It was their reward he sought, not their gift. How different this is from commercialized religions, which like the horseleach cry, "Give, give," and never say, "Enough!" Phil4v18,19,20 The needs of the apostle, never hard to supply and often met by his own hands, were met by the gift sent to him. He was filled by it. He speaks of the gift in similar terms to the offering of Christ Himself, of whom he says, "Christ ... gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell" (Ephesians 5.2). His offering was as the sweet savour of rest of the burnt offering (Genesis 8.21; Leviticus 1.9). So also was the gift of the Philippians, for the death of the Lord was the foundation of their giving. Paul links God's unspeakable Gift with the giving of which he writes in 2 Corinthians 9. "My God," the personal God of the apostle, would, in consequence of their giving to His bondservant, supply every need of theirs, for God is no man's debtor. The fulfilling of their need was to be in no stinted way, it was to be according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. What wealth and fulness are here indicated! He closes with a doxology to God the Father, whose is the glory for ever and ever. Phil4v21,22 What a Christian gentleman Paul was! "Every saint," the poor with the rich, were worthy of salutation. There was no passing of saints with him as unworthy of notice. The brethren that were with Paul saluted the Philippians. Then all the saints in Rome saluted them, and, especially, they of Caesar's household, those in the imperial household, slaves and others who had accepted Christ. How glorious were the triumphs of the gospel then! and how penetrating its ray had been to reach even into Caesar's palace! Wonderful will be the story of divine grace, when it is all written as to where this one and that one have been born (Psalm 87.4-6). Phil4v23 Grace is the closing salutation of Paul in all his epistles, as he wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3.17,18. Grace had not been found vain in him (1 Corinthians 15.10). GENERAL NOTE When Paul arrived in Europe for the extension of the Lord's work, having been directed to Macedonia by the vision he saw at Troas, he made for "Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the first of the district" (Acts 16.12). The work began in an unostentatious way. The account by Luke shows the small beginning of a work which was to have a not unimportant place in sacred annals of the work of the Lord. It is said, "On the sabbath day we went forth without the gate by a river side, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which were come together" (Acts 16.13). Whether it was a synagogue or some other praying place is not told us, but here hearts were won by the story of divine love, amongst such was that of Lydia, the purple-seller. Such trophies of grace were yet to be augmented by Satan over-reaching himself and sending after the preachers for many days the young woman possessed of an evil spirit, but those trophies were not won without grievous bodily suffering on the part of Paul and Silas. The story is well known to us all. Through stripes, imprisonment, stocks and earthquake, at last Paul and Silas sat round the hospitable board of the jailor, who with his whole household had become subjects of God's saving grace and had shown proof thereof in being baptized. Such was the beginning of what became the church in Philippi. Both Lydia and the jailor cared for the preachers in their homes, an example which has happily been followed by many, but besides, the church in Philippi in acknowledgement of the debt they owed to the Lord and His servants sent once and again to the need of Paul and his fellow-workers (4.15,16). This same exercise in regard to the apostle's need in early times was revived when Paul was a prisoner in Rome. Of this he wrote, "But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at length ye have revived your thought for me; wherein ye did indeed take thought, but ye lacked opportunity" (4.10). How gracious are Paul's words as he speaks of the reviving of their thought, he makes no accusation that they had been lax or indifferent! He quicky adds, "Ye did indeed take thought, but ye lacked opportunity." It was just like how a fond parent would speak of a somewhat forgetful child. They prepared their bounty and entrusted it to the care of Epaphroditus, whom Paul describes as "my brother and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier and your messenger and minister to my need" (2. 25). The long and hazardous journey of those days resulted, either on the journey or at Rome, in sickness which brought him nigh unto death (2.27), and later, in verse 30, Paul adds, "Because for the work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me." Thus we learn that the supplying of the apostle's need was the work of Christ. The reception of the gift of the Philippians was the occasion of the writing of this letter. It is a letter of grateful acknowledgement with which no letter of like sort could ever be compared. It is of course an inspired epistle and that accounts for a great part of the difference between it and all other letters, but besides this, there is a human side and here Paul the writer leaves indelibly the impress of his personality. This is true of all Scripture. All is inspired of God, and on all we see the character of the man who wrote. Whilst Romans is Paul's grand treatise on the gospel, Philippians is his treatise on the spread of the gospel. "Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that, whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving for (with, R.V.M.) the faith of the gospel" (1.27). Earlier, in verse 7, he says, "Both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye are all partakers with me of grace." In this work, alas, there were those who preached Christ of envy and strife, but there were others who did it of good will. But in whatever way the gospel was preached he said, "Whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and therein I rejoice, yea and will rejoice" (verse 18). In chapter 2 Paul shows the unity of mind which should exist in any church in connexion with its responsibility toward men in the preaching of the message of life and peace. "Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be of the same mind having the same love, being of one accord (joined in soul), of one mind" (verse 2). This is seen in action in the early days in Jerusalem: "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul; ... And with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4.32,33). If there is that lowliness of mind, the mind which was in Christ Jesus, there will be little difficulty in maintaining unity; but if faction and vain glorying enter, then unity and peace will flee. These things cannot dwell together. So that saints might have the correct spirit of lowliness of mind before them, he draws that beautiful and entrancing picture of the Lord, of what He was, of His self-emptying, of what He became, and of how He went down, down, down to death, that of the cross. Can pride exist here? Can men preach Christ in pride and self-conceit? They may, but surely it is preaching Chirst with their backs to the Crucified and sporting themselves before men. Surely we should preach Christ looking upon Him, and if the preacher keeps looking at this great sight others may be disposed to look also; otherise they may just look on a preacher with his back to Calvary. There is one thing that towers above all others in importance in connexion with the preaching of the gospel, and that is, to know Christ who is the Subject of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel is concerning Him, who is of the seed of David, and is declared to be the Son of God with power. God and man - one Christ. It is of the insatiable desire to know Him that Paul speaks in chapter 3. Paul had many natural advantages of birth, religious training, zeal and ability, things connected with the flesh; and on mere worldly attainments he would, no doubt, have risen high in his own nation, and being besides a Roman citizen by birth, he might have attained to considerable prominence in the empire. But God had other work for him with an infinitely greater recompense at the end. Carnal advantages Paul cast aside as offal, for these were of no value to him as a herald of the crucified Saviour. There was one thing only which would make him a sufficient minister of the New Covenant, and that was to know Christ Jesus his Lord. No sacrifice was too great and no suffering too painful for him to attain to this goal. He said, "Yea, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things ... that I may gain Christ" (3.8). Those who would preach Christ must make their choice. Are they willing to lose worldly advantages and preferments to gain Christ, so that Christ may so enrich their minds and their thoughts, that as the message of life flows from their lips a crucified and living Saviour may be painted by words glowing with the glory and grace of this Saviour of men. Is it not the case that the words of Balaam are true of some gospel preachers and gospel addresses; "I see Him, but not now: I behold Him, but not nigh"? Many words are spoken, but Christ is lacking. Let us get back again to "the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ" (2 Corinthians 11.3). Let us learn Christ (Ephesians 4.20); let us gain Christ, and then we shall speak from a present and personal knowledge, and let us then note the difference that it will make in ourselves and others. Here in this epistle is the strife of women, alas, of Euodia and Syntyche (4.2,3). But we have also in contrast the devotedness and self-sacrifice of Paul and Timothy and Epaphroditus and others. NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS Col1v1 Paul only of all the apostles writes of himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus - of Christ who is Jesus, He who has been raised from the dead. His apostleship was "through the will of God," not through any personal merit on his part. Timothy is described as "the" brother. He is similarly referred to in 2 Corinthians 1.1 and Philemon 1. Col1v2 There are not two classes in view here. The saints or holy ones addressed here were also faithful brethren in Christ. They were not simply believers, they were faithful and stedfast. He refers to their stedfastness in chapter 2.5: "For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the Spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ." He greets them with his usual salutation of grace and peace, but in this salutation He speaks of the Father only. In all other salutations Jesus Christ is associated with the Father. Col1v3 Here Paul and Timothy are seen mingling their prayers with their thanksgiving for the Colossian saints, and how continuous was the flow of their prayers - "praying always for you"! In Ephesians 1. 15,16, we have a somewhat similar statement - "I ... cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." What a beautiful pattern to copy! Col1v4 Whether the apostle had any personal acquaintance with the Colossian church seems questionable, though the results of his labours in Ephesus durng his two years' work in that city extended far and wide, inasmuch as we read that "all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord" (Acts 19.10). Having heard of their faith in Christ, and of their love to all saints, it not only caused him to pray for them always, but it caused him to write this delightful epistle to them. Faith without love would be as a husk without a kernel, but how complementary they are to each other is seen in the statement - "faith working through love" (Galatians 5.6). Their faith found its sphere and source of life in Christ. Faith is one of a triad - faith, hope and love. Faith in Christ which does not find its counterpart in love to the saints will soon shrivel and die, but faith which draws nourishment from Christ its source of supply must find an outlet in love to the saints. Col1v5 Faith, hope, and love, the essence of the Christian faith, are seen joined together in 1 Corinthians 13.13 and 1 Thessalonians 1.3, and are also seen here - faith in Christ, love to the saints, because of the hope which is laid up or stored in the heavens for all who believe. The believer has an inheritance above, which Peter describes as an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and unfading, which is reserved in the heavens (1 Peter 1.4). It is not a false hope, but one of which the word of the truth of the gospel speaks. Note how definite is the assertion of the veracity of the good news: it is the word of the truth. There is no fraud in this message, no spurious pretensions of a hope where none exists. This gospel is true and genuine and though saints have not seen the glorious heavenly country, yet their hope rests on truth which is unassailable. Col1v6 The gospel which reached them is stated to be still present with them. It was no transient message with an ephemeral hope. The word of the gospel is both living and abiding. When it enters it abides in the believing heart. It came not to the Colossians only, it was also in all the world. Whilst the message reaches, blesses and dwells in the individual believer, it is a universal message, it is neither local nor national. It was to be proclaimed to "the whole creation" (Mark 16.15) and to "all the nations" (Luke 24.47), and it is constantly bearing fruit in all the world even to this hour. The gospel has that power as a plant whose seed is in itself. It is the power of God unto salvation to every believer. It is characterized in Colossians by "bearing fruit and increasing". In Acts 6.7 we read, "And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem." Again it is said, "But the word of God grew and multiplied" (Acts 12.24). And yet again we are told that "so mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed" (Acts 19.20). Here we see an irresistible power in operation. It is like the working of the leaven hid in three measures of meal (Matthew 13.33). In Colossae we have a miniature of a world-wide fact - "as it doth in you also, since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth". Theirs was no passing emotion; they knew and thoroughly appreciated the grace of God. Col1v7 Under the instruction of Epaphras the Colossian saints had learned the grace of God. They had been learners or disciples under the careful and faithful ministry of this minister of Christ, a beloved fellow-servant of the apostle Paul. He is said to have ministered on the apostle's behalf, thus Paul sets his seal to the work of Epaphras. Col1v8 As he had been a minister of Christ on the apostle's behalf, so he also declared to Paul in Rome the love of the saints. Their love is alluded to in verse 4 - their love toward all the saints - not love to a small coterie of friends, but hope springing from the Holy Spirit's work in the heart which was toward all the saints. How hateful is the love which picks its circle of friends and does not reach to all the saints! Love is one of the "fruits" of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22). Col1v9 "For this cause," because of their faith and love referred to in verse 4, which Epaphras declared, Paul and Timothy ceased not to pray and make request for the Colossians, and that from the day they heard it. Their prayer was to the end that they might be filled with the knowledge (thorough or full knowledge) of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. "Wisdom is mental excellence in its highest and fullest sense." Spiritual understanding or intelligence is that by which we understand the bearings of things. This is not natural intelligence and is the opposite of what we read in chapter 2.8 - "Philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." This spiritual acumen is the result of the operation of the Holy Spirit in the mind, for "we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God" (1 Corinthians 2.12). Col1v10 The knowledge of the will of God is intensely practical; it is in order that we may walk in such a way as to please the Lord, which means that the whole course of the believer's life should be regulated by the word of God. If we are to please God we must know His will. To walk in a manner pleasing to God will lead to ever-increasing fruitfulness. "By the knowledge of God" (R.V.marg.) seems to be the better rendering here; it shows the cause of the increase referred to. It is like the streams of water which nourish the tree of Psalm 1, which is a picture of the man who meditates in the law of Jehovah day and night, from which he derives the knowledge of his God. Col1v11 The might of God's glory is the source of the power by which the believer is strengthened or made powerful. The word for "might" here is almost exclusively used of God in the New Testament, the one exception being Hebrews 2.14, "the power (might) of death." The manifestation of Divine Glory to men is the source of their greatest power. The God of Glory appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia. Moses saw the Divine Glory in Mount Sinai. The three apostles saw the glory of the Lord in the Mount of Transfiguration: and Paul saw the Lord's glory on the Damascus road. Isaiah too saw His glory and spoke of Him. What power this engendered within these men! Earthly glory seemed to them from henceforth as a faded flower. These were each strengthened thereby "unto all patience and longsuffering with joy." "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward" (Romans 8.18). Those who have seen the glory of His grace (John 1.14) wait for glory of His appearance (Titus 2.13). It is wondrously true that the might of His glory makes saints and martyrs strong to endure and suffer - and that with joy; to be joyous sufferers, not murmurers or complainers. Endurance "is the temper which does not easily succumb," and longsuffering "is the self restraint which does not hastily retaliate a wrong." Col1v12 There may be some measure of diversity of view whether this means Paul and Timothy gave thanks (this view goes back to verse 9, "we ... do not cease to pray ... for you") or whether the subject is "you", the Colossian saints, who were to be strengthened unto patience and longsuffering. The latter view seems to be more in keeping with the context. There is great cause for thanksgiving when we contemplate the Father's work in making us meet, competent or capable (not worthy) for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the light. There is an analogy between what is stated here and the sharing by the tribes of Israel of their inheritance in the promised land; that was a shadow of the greater and better thing. "In light" shows where the inheritance of saints is. Col1v13 In contrast to "in light" of the previous verse we have here reference to the power of darkness in which we were bound and enslaved, but God rescued us from that thraldom. The power or authority of darkness was great, but the power of our Deliverer is greater. Divine deliverance in the case of Israel from Egypt's slavery and darkness is a picture of this greater deliverance which is known by all believers. The word for "power" in this verse means authority or delegated power, and delegated power when unlawfully exercised is turned to tyranny; such is the arbitrary tyranny under which all slaves of sin are. When God delivered us from the tyranny of darkness He translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. The transportation of Israel from Egypt to Canaan is a figure of the transportation of all who accept Christ, from darkness, from the organized lawless tyranny of darkness, to that happy sphere - the kingdom of the Son of His love. Every believer is translated into this kingdom at the time of regeneration. This is not the kingdom of God. To enter and maintain one's position in the kingdom of God requires subjection to the Lord's authority as revealed in the Faith once for all delivered to the saints, but translation into the kingdom of the Son of God's love is an act done once for all. We are in this kingdom by an act of sovereign grace on the Father's part. The Son of His love is God's only begotten Son. As God is love, love must also be the essence of the Son, and therefore He is the only One who can perfectly reveal God and represent Him who is love, for upon Him rests the Father's love. Col1v14 "In whom" - the Beloved of Ephesians 1.6,7 - the Son of His love, "we have our redemption". We do not hope to obtain redemption, but we are redeemed, having been delivered by the Father from the power of darkness. The Father's deliverance is through the Son's redemptive work. The Israelites were redeemed by divine power, but they were also redeemed by the blood of the paschal lamb. So here God delivered us by His overwhelming power from the power of darkness, but this was effected by the price paid for our redemption by our great Redeemer, the One in whom we have redemption. Redemption is all one with the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness means the sending away of sins, not the passsing over of sins as in the dispensation of law (Romans 3.25, the R.V. rendering is much more correct than the A.V. in this verse). The believer's sins have been sent away never to return - removed from him as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103.12), so that he stands clear of sin's guilt and bondage. God in His covenant mercy remembers his sins no more (Hebrews 10.17). Of old by redemption God brought His people out of Egypt, and through the blood of atonement, by which sins were forgiven, the high priest entered the sanctuary into the Holy of Holies, so now believers are redeemed from sin's penalty and made nigh to God through the work of the Son of God's Love. Col1v15 Here the Son is seen firstly in relation to God as the perfect Image and visible manifestation of the invisible God; and, secondly, in relation to all created things, as the Firstborn of all creation, though He Himself is nowhere in Scripture ever spoken of as having been created. Image = Eikon "implies an archetype of which it is a copy". He who is the Image of the invisible God is Himself truly God, as John 1.1 says, "The Word was God," and also Hebrews 1.8 "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," and again verse 10 says, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth. " Other passages show clearly the Deity of the Son. He is the eternal Logos, the true expression of the mind of Deity; for "no man (one) hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (John 1. 18). It takes a Divine Being to reveal Deity, hence the necessity of the incarnation of the Logos. "The Firstborn of all creation" does not mean that He is an essential and integral part of creation, for the following verse says that "in Him were all things created," and verse 17 says, "He is before all things." He forms no part of the created things. In Revelation 3.14 the Lord says that He is the "Beginning of the creation of God", that is, that "in Him the whole creation of God is begun and conditioned: He is the source and fountain head". He Himself had no beginning. "Eternal Being" is as true of the Son as of the Father. The Father says in Revelation 21.6, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end," and the Son says in Revelation 22.13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Had God a beginning or will He have an end? Never! and what is true of God the Father is true also of God the Son. The name "Firstborn" can have nothing to do with the Lord's human birth, nor has it anything to do with Him as the Son of the Father, for in that sense He is not the first, but the only begotten Son. His being the only begotten Son admits no relationship to any creature, it shows that relationshp in which He stands to the Father. "Firstborn" here does not mean first or eldest born, one who enjoys the priority of birth, but it is used here in the sense in which it is used in Psalm 89.27, where David is spoken of by God "I also will make him My firstborn The highest of the kings of the earth." David was not related to any of those kings, save in the sense that as God's first king he was put to the place of priority and precedence above all kings. So Christ as Firstborn is one who occupies the postiion of dignity and precedence, of priority to all creation, as is indicated in the words, "He is before all things ... the Beginning ... that in all things He might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1.17,18). Christ is "Firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8.29), but He was in being throughout all ages. He is also "the Firstborn of the dead" (Revelation 1.5), and here in Colossians "of all creation". None of these titles describes His origin, but show Him in certain relationships as one who must in all things have the pre-eminence. Col1v16 Here we have the reason for the appellation "the Firstborn of all creation", because in Him were all things created, not because He was created before all things. The latter view of the Firstborn is that taken by some to their own destruction. The Son's priority to all things is here clearly stated, for "in (not "by" - A.V.) Him were all things created"; consequently it follows that "in Him all things consist" ("hold together", R.V.Marg.). He is "pre-existent and all including," for "in Him was life" (John 1.4). The fact of creation is plainly stated here by the aorist tense. All things in heaven were created in the Firstborn, as well as all things upon earth, both visible and invisible; the things visible being vastly greater in extent than the visible things of the creation, which declare to man God's everlasting power and divinity (Romans 1.20). The whole system of divine government instituted amongst created intelligences has its beginning and source in the Firstborn, who is here seen pre-eminent over all, whether they be thrones, lordships, governments, or authorities; all were created through or by Him and unto or for Him. The act of creation was His act; it was by His means that all being has its being, and it is unto Him as the end, as giving the reason for its existence. What a sweep of mental vision there is in these three prepositions which are used in this verse, which describe the creation of all things in the Firstborn - in Him, through Him, unto Him! He is the Beginning and the End; the whole cycle of creation is complete in Himself. The highest of created intelligences with the lowest owe their existence to the divine fiat of the Son of God's love, who also upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1.3). These are the stupendous facts revealed to us here, and what is more amazing is the fact that this is He who was laid in a manger, yea also, who was nailed to the cross, who died for the sins of the creature. Col1v17 Note that it does not say that "He was before all things," but that "He is before all things". This describes the absolute existence of the eternal "I AM", who said to the Jews, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8.58). It is not that His being simply ante-dates all things, that He was before them, but He is as the eternal One before all, with an eternity of being that admits of no comparison between the created and the Increate. Here, too, in this verse we learn the reason for the continuance of all things in their present state. "He is the principle of cohesion in the universe. He impresses upon creation that unity and solidarity which makes it a cosmos instead of a chaos." All things hold together in Him, and this was as true of Him when He was the Child Jesus as now upon the throne of heaven. Without beginning or decline, Object of faith, and not of sense; Eternal ages saw Him shine, He shines eternal ages hence. As much, when in the manger laid, Almighty ruler of the sky, As when the six days' work He made Filled all the wondering stars with joy. Col1v18 As the entire universe subsists or holds together in Him, and as He is the Head of all principality and authority (chapter 2.10), so is He the Head of the Church which is His Body. This Church is comprised of all His members, all the redeemed of this dispensation of grace who are baptized in one Spirit into one Body (1 Corinthians 12.12,13). As Head He is the Centre of its unity, and the Source of its life. He is its Creator, Builder and Preserver, the Centre of its love and sympathy, and its Nourisher and Cherisher. In due time He will present it to Himself in all the sweet loveliness with which He has adorned her, for she will be without spot or wrinkle. Then will she stand complete as a wife to her Heavenly Bridegroom. "Who is the Beginning" (present tense), not who was the Beginning. This is He who says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega ... the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 22.13. As Head He is the Beginning of the Church, but this statement, I judge, is not limited to the Church, but reveals Him as the One who has absolute priority in a sense which is beyond human imagination. He is the Head of all, whether it be the beginning of Genesis 1.1 and John 1.1, the beginning of human creation (Mark 10.6), the beginning of the Gospel (Mark 1.1), or the beginning of the Church, the Body (Acts 2.11-15), or if there be any other beginning in time or times eternal, He is the Beginning, and there can be no beginning without Him. "The Firstborn from the dead," that is, He is the first to rise of that company of which He is the first-fruits - they that are Christ's, the vast number of the redeemed who shall rise and leave other dead persons in their graves. He is also "the Firstborn of the dead" (Revelation 1.5), of all the dead, both just and unjust. He is Head, Beginning, Firstborn, "that in all things He might have the preeminence." "In all things," how inclusive! and who can doubt it in the face of the testimony of John who heard ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying, "Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain," and also every created thing ascribing to God and to the Lamb, the blessing, the honour, the glory, the dominion, for ever and ever (Revelation 5.12,13)? Col1v19 Who could contain such a content, such a complement, such a plenitude, as the whole fulness of God, but one who is God? and it was God's good pleasure that in the Son of His love such divine fulness should dwell or "have its permanent abode". Preeminence, fulness and reconciliation are here seen inter-related. A picture of this is seen in Joseph in Egypt in his position and wise administration in that land. He was raised by Pharaoh to a position of absolute preeminence over his whole land and kingdom. In him as governor the entire fulness of the storehouses full of golden grain reposed. "Go to Joseph" was Pharaoh's word to all his people, and of his fulness they received bushel upon bushel. It was by means of his corn, which proved to be salvation for all, that the whole land and people of Egypt were put on a different footing relative to Pharaoh, his rule and portion. "Thou hast saved our lives," said they, "let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants" (Genesis 47.25). This is a shadow of the immensely greater fact. All the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, and through His crosswork there will be a restitution of things. Col1v20 "Through Him" is through Christ, and "unto Himself" means unto God. The way in which reconciliation is accomplished is by the peace He made through the blood of His cross. A stupendous change is contemplated here. "Things" in the New Testament frequently means "persons" (1 Corinthians 1.28), but whether "all things" relates to intelligent beings is somewhat difficult to say. There is in view some radical change in things in heaven and earth in consequence of the work of the cross. There is no reconciliation "of things under the earth", in hell. We may be perfectly certain that, whatever the "all things" include, and whatever restitution may result from the peace Christ has made, "all things" do not include "the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25.41), nor the wicked dead who shall be commanded to depart into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels - eternal punishment - nor those whose part will be in the lake of fire (Matthew 25.46; 2 Thessalonians 1.9; Revelation 14.10; 20.10,15; 21.8). Universal restitution of all created things to a state of reconciliation and salvation is nowhere taught in the Scriptures. Col1v21 The Colossians before they heard the word of the truth of the gospel from Epaphras were estranged - strangers to grace and to God, an alien folk, and not only aliens, but enemy aliens; they were enemies in their mind and such a habit of mind found expression in their evil works. But they had been reconciled; they were no longer enemies and strangers, they were friends, fellow citizens with the saints. What blessed concord follows reconciliation through the blood of His cross! Peace whispers its message from Calvary - Peace! for Christ has died, and, overawed, perchance, the listener rises to gaze upon the strange spectacle of the Man of Calvary, and perhaps to sing as the pious Newton did long ago I saw One hanging on a tree In agonies and blood, Who cast His holy eyes on me As near His cross I stood. Col1v22 "In the body of His flesh through death": this is the base of true reconciliation. To be reconciled describes the renewed condition of the believer toward God produced by the death of Christ. God did not need to be reconciled to man; His attitude to man was one of love. Man was an enemy and hater of God, hence the need of his being reconciled. The heart of man was too hard for anything but the death of Christ to soften it. The death of God's incarnate Son turns man's stony heart to tears as did divine goodness to Israel, the rock in Horeb to streams of water. This reconciliation has in view a time when believers will be presented to God. The One who will present those who are reconciled is evidently the Son, and the presentation is to God the Father. This is not the presentation of the Church the Body by the Lord to Himself in His own beauty and worth, without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5.27), but is the same as that of which Jude 24 speaks: "Now unto Him that is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy." To be holy, without blemish and unreproveable, as mentioned in the verse under consideration, describes a condition which is dependent upon the believer's obedience, as the following verse shows. Col1v23 To be without blemish and unreproveable is conditioned by "if so be ye continue in the Faith." Every believer by reason of divine election and saving grace is in a state of being holy and without blemish before Him (God) in love (Ephesians 1.4), but such in another sense will be blemished and blameworthy if they do not continue in the Faith. In the coming day of Christ there will be a double presentation, (1) the presentation of the Church by Christ to Himself, and (2) the presentation of saints to God, which may be at or subsequent to the judgement-seat of Christ. "Grounded and stedfast" was how they were to continue in the Faith. "Grounded" in the original is a verbal form of the word for foundation. Parkhurst says that it means "to found, settle, or establish on a foundation, in a spiritual sense." The Faith is the foundation, as we have it also spoken of in Jude 20: "But ye, beloved, building yourselves on your most holy Faith," etc. This grounding or building on the foundation was to be done stedfastly or firmly. They were not to be moved away or shifted from the hope of the gospel. Then Paul alludes to what he said in chapter 1.5,6 as to the extensive promulgation of the gospel in all creation under heaven, and he adds, "whereof I Paul was made a minister," or deacon. Thus he concludes one of the most remarkable descriptions of our blessed Lord to be found anywhere in the Scriptures. He, Paul, the once proud Pharisee, the chief of sinners, was now a lowly deacon of the greatest of all themes - the gospel of God concerning His Son. The Son of His love is here shown to be the Redeemer and Sin-Bearer, the Image of God and the Firstborn of all creation, the Creator and Upholder of all, pre-existent and preeminent, the Head of the Body, the Beginning, and the Firstborn from the dead, the One in whom Divine fulness permanently resides, the Reconciler and Peace Maker. All this with a depth and profundity rolls past our mind's eye like a mighty river, a depth that no human mind can fathom, but where faith finds waters abundant to swim in. Here may the sons of deepest want Exhaustless riches find. Riches above what earth can grant And lasting as the mind. Col1v24 So highly did Paul esteem the saints, the fruit of the gospel, that he rejoiced in his sufferings for their sake. Though they were but of the foolish things in this world, yet by grace they were citizens of heaven, and the excellent of the earth. Paul further says that he filled up that which was lacking of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh for His (Christ's) Body's sake. The afflictions of Christ must not be confused with the vicarious sufferings of Christ. No believer can have fellowship in such suffering; the afflictions are the sufferings of Christ in this scene at the hands of men when He sought to fulfil the will of God during His earthly ministry. Such sufferings may abound to us (2 Corinthians 1.5), and in such sufferings we may share (Philippians 3.10). Natural children are not born without the pain and labour of childbirth, and spiritual children are not begotten without travail. Members of Christ, once sinners ready to perish, are not brought into union with Christ without those who are used as instruments knowing something of the afflictions of Christ. Alas, how very much may be lacking of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for His Body's sake! Some have travailed in birth in foreign lands (speaking figuratively) for His Body's sake, that the elect might obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory (2 Timothy 2. 10). Paul said to Timothy, "Take thy part in suffering hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2.3, R.V.Marg.), and he himself said later in the same chapter (verse 9), "I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a malefactor" in connexion with what he called "my gospel". We have each our part to play, some greater than others, and each our part to endure of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh, for His Body's sake, but these, also, may be sadly lacking, and in consequence much of our work will remain undone. Let us take our part in suffering hardship, and fill up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ. Col1v25 Paul was a deacon of the gospel and a deacon of the Body, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what was the dispensation of the mystery which from all ages was hid in God who created all things (Ephesians 3.8,9). This dispensation, stewardship, or economy (the way in which God has disposed things in this period from Pentecost to the Lord's coming to the air) of God was given to Paul, as he says, to you-ward. "You-ward" primarily means the Colossians, but not these only; it embraces all saints of this dispensation. "To fulfil the word of God" has reference to the will of God peculiar to this dispensation. The Old Testament reveals much relative to the human race, the patriarchs, and the nation of Israel, both as to the past and as to the prophetic future, and the Gentiles in relation to God's ancient people; but the word of God would have been incomplete apart from the revelation of the mystery of the Body of Christ. To the apostle Paul in a very special manner and especially toward the Gentiles was this stewardship committed. Now the word of God is complete; the entire area of His dealings with mankind has been covered and God will in due time implement every promise and fulfil every prophecy. Col1v26 This marvellous secret has now been revealed which was hid in God the Creator from all principalities and powers during all ages, and from all generations of men in time. We can now look back into the Old Testament and see in type, such as in Adam and Eve, the foreshadowing of that which was yet to be revealed, but to the patriarchs and the prophets, to angels and archangel, Adam and Eve were but Adam and Eve; they saw nothing of Christ and the Church in that pair who were the centre of divine purpose and of earthly government relative to the cosmos which God had brought out of chaos. We, enlightened by the Spirit, see in Eve and certain other brides in Scripture shadows of the mystery of Christ and the Church, this that is now manifested to the saints. It is a privilege to know such a secret and a greater privilege to be partakers of the riches of this great mystery. Col1v27 What divine favour is shown us here that this mystery should be revealed to us, and that we should be sharers in the wealth of its glory, that Christ should be in us, He who is the hope of glory! To us who are Gentiles in the flesh, once alienated from Israel's ancient commonwealth, has come this abundance of God's grace. Christ is in each member of His Body; His Spirit indwells and His life possesses and flows through the entire organism, producing a unity which is indestructible and giving a hope which the darkest hour cannot efface. Well might Peter write as he did when he thought of the glory of that future day when we shall see our eternal Lover - "whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1.8). "Joy unspeakable"! "Full of glory"! do we know by experience what such words mean? Col1v28 Here the proclamation of Christ is associated with practical results in the lives of believers, for whilst Christ will present every one perfect in His own perfect work in that coming day, yet Paul anticipated to present, through the effects of his ministry, every man perfect in Christ. He wrote to the Thessalonians and said that they were his hope and joy and crown of glorying before our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming (1 Thessalonians 2.19), and where saints turned back he spoke of having laboured in vain (Galatians 4. 11; 1 Thessalonians 3.5). Col1v29 What labour! What profit! God working in him supplied the power and with him was the willingness. Such self-sacrificing labour is much like what he wrote of to the Philippians: "Yea, and if I am offered ("poured out as a drink offering." R.V.Marg.) upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all" (Philippians 2.17). He truly spent his life for others, but his will be a saved life for eternity. Col2v1 In the previous chapter (1.28,29) Paul speaks of his labour and his striving to present every man perfect in Christ, so here he would have the Colossians know how much he strove for them and for those at Laodicea and for as many as had not seen his face in the flesh. We may safely infer that Paul had no personal acquaintance with the Colossians and the Laodiceans; these with others had not seen him. This striving was in prayer, I judge, as we have it referred to in chapter 1.3,9. This should be an incentive to us to strive in prayer for many that we have never seen and may never see on earth. What a service we may render them in this respect, and they also for us! Col2v2 "That their hearts may be comforted," or rather confirmed or encouraged, for the evil in view in this chapter is not that of persecution and suffering, but of being drawn away from Christ by the philosophy and vain deceit of the evil workers who sought to make a prey of the saints. Thus they required to be confirmed in their faith and knit together in love (for knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up - 1 Corinthians 8.1, R.V.M.) that they might advance "unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding". The true wealth of man is in his mind, not his pocket, and this enrichment is definitely associated here with the saints being "knit together in love". This full assurance of understanding is unto a full or thorough knowledge of the mystery of God, even Christ. We follow the R.V. here, though there is some difference of mind as to the original text. That blessed One who is God and Man - Christ - is the Divine Treasury; and what a privilege it is, as Spirit-taught, to acquire a thorough knowledge of Him as revealed in the Scriptures, that is, in so far as we may with our limited capacity. Christ is to be seen in all the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation. Paul wrote at this time to the Philippians, when he was such a one as Paul the aged, expressing his intense longing in the words - "that I may know Him". "I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3.8,10). Col2v3 Though these reach; they them. Here that seeketh treasures are hidden in Christ they are not beyond our are accessible to the believer who would search for it is true: "Seek, and ye shall find" ... "for ... he findeth." Treasure is kept in secret, it is hidden. There is a false wisdom, that which is earthly and demoniacal (James 3.14,15), but Christ is the treasure house of all true wisdom and knowledge. He is as a mine from which every kind of gem to adorn the mind may be dug. The most pithy and witty of human sayings are as proverbs of ashes compared with the delectable words of our Lord. Did they come from the end of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon? Well, a Greater than Solomon is here. Col2v4 What is in Christ - all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge - was stated in order that no one by false reasoning and persuasive speech might deceive them and lead them astray. Human reason is frequently a menace to the acceptance by simple faith of divine revelation. High sounding words, on the one hand, and the limitations of human knowledge and experience, on the other, are liable to lead away the heart from Christ. Col2v5 Paul, though absent in bodily presence, yet was present in the spirit (not the Holy Spirit, but his own spirit); this means that he had an accurate knowledge of the state of the Colossian church, this having been communicated to him by Epaphras who was now with him in Rome. In his spirit he beheld, as though he were actually present with them, their order and the steadfastness of their faith in Christ. It has been stated that the word order (Taxis) means "orderly array", and is a military metaphor. Steadfastness (Stereoma) means a "solid front, close phalanx", also a military metaphor, and shows the order and solidity of an individual church. Col2v6 This verse has been punctuated thus, "As therefore ye received the Christ, Jesus the Lord." They received by faith the Christ in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden, and the Christ is Jesus the Lord, and as they received Him by faith they are to walk in Him by faith. It is in the matter of walking by faith that so many fail. The one act of faith in the Redeemer is to be followed by a life of faith. We cannot turn back from the results that this one act of faith has brought us, but we can draw back from the path of faith. "My righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, My soul hath no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10.38). Col2v7 Two tenses are used here. "Rooted" is in the perfect participle; they were firmly rooted and remain so. "Builded up" is in the present participle which shows that building which goes on continually. As having been and remaining rooted in Christ and being builded up in Him, they are to be stablished (present participle) or confirmed in their faith in Him, thus they would remain true to what they had learned from the faithful Epaphras. And as they viewed their position and portion in Christ it was fitting that they should abound in thanksgiving. Col2v8 The Colossians were to look out because of a peril which was imminent, against which they must be on their guard, lest any one (dangerous persons of whom Paul had had experience, as to their practice of leading saints away as their prey) should make them his spoil. He warned the Ephesians of similar danger, of being "children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error" (Ephesians 4.14). Philosophy, held in high esteem of old in Greece and also by many today, is seen in bad company here. Indeed Paul views "philosophy and vain deceit" as twin brothers. He thought but little of philosophy, which is the product of the human mind and not of the mind of God. "After the traditions of men"; here is the source of philosophy, it is human and not divine, tradition and not revelation. It is antagonistic to all that is to be found in Christ, who is the Revealer of God. Though highly esteemed by some it is after all but elementary, but the rudiments of the world belonging to the earthly, carnal, material and external sphere of things, and not suited to the spiritual man, who is to find his whole source of supply in Christ. Christ is the source of all spiritual life, of all true wisdom and knowledge, and the perfect rule of faith and conduct. Col2v9 Here we have the reason why such traditional wisdom, such vain philosophy, was to be eschewed, because in Christ abides for ever the fulness of the Godhead. "The fulness" signifies "the totality of the divine powers and attributes". "Of the Godhead," Trench in his "Synonyms" writes - "Paul is declaring that in the Son there dwells all the fulness of absolute Godhead; they were no mere rags of divine glory which gilded Him, lighting up His Person for a season and with a splendour not His own, but He was, and is, absolute and perfect God; and the apostle uses Theotes to express the essential and personal Godhead of the Son." This divine fulness dwells eternally in the Son, because He is God. "Bodily" means in Christ's human body. No wonder the apostle asserts in verse 3 "In whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden". Col2v10 "In Him are ye made full." Here we have the perfect participle again, showing they were and still are complete in Christ and require nothing supplementary from philosophy, circumcision and law-keeping, or any other source, to make them more complete. Our fulness is in Him in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead. For of His fulness have we all received, and grace for grace (John 1.16). "Who is the Head of all principality and authority." Every form of heavenly government finds its source of life and energy in Him, for all were created in Him (chapter 1.16). All such are subject to His sovereign authority. He is Head over all things (Ephesians 2. 21,22). Col2v11 Circumcision was the great primal rite of the people of Israel. No one could be joined to the nation or partake of the privileges of Israel's religious life who was not circumcised. In this verse, in contrast to Israel's circumcision we have the circumcision of Christ, which is "the putting off of the body of the flesh." "Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away" Romans 6.6). We were crucified, and died in God's reckoning, at the time of our regeneration. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me" Galatians 2.20). As every believer begins his spiritual life by being regenerated, so every believer is circumcised, the flesh is cut away, and he is no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Romans 8.9). Israel's circumcision is the type, but Christ is the antitype. Col2v12 Baptism is the grave of the believer. He is buried with Christ through baptism. The old man was crucified with Christ. The regenerated man, not regenerated by water baptism, but by faith in Christ, rises from the waters of baptism to walk in newness of life (Romans 6.4,5). Those who have been buried with Him in baptism are raised with Him through faith in the working of God. Baptism is more than a dipping in water for the believer, for as God raised Christ from the dead, he is to realize by faith that he too has been raised by the operation of God. Col2v13 This verse contains similar truth to that of Ephesians 2.5, where we read, "When we were dead through our trespasses, (He) quickened us together with Christ." Death here is not because of Adam's sin, but because of the personal trespasses of the sinner. The consequence of sin is death. The uncircumcision of the flesh describes that state of corruption in which the sinner is by nature, till, having believed in Christ, he has been quickened and delivered from that sinful state, and is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Romans 8.9). He has passed from death to life, from being in Adam to being in Christ, from a state of sin to one of righteousness, having had all his trespasses forgiven. Col2v14 It is now impossible to trespass the law of ordinances because God has blotted out the bond written (or handwriting) in ordinances or decrees which was against and contrary to us. This bond is undoubtedly the Mosaic law, and through failure to keep it man became a transgressor. The Jewish believer who had been forgiven through the sacrificial work of Christ would inevitably have become a transgressor had he still been under law, and the Gentiles who had believed would have been in like condemnation had truth been on the side of the Judaizing teachers and had they brought them under the law of Moses, for they said, "Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15.1). Paul shows in Galatians 5.3 that the man who received circumcision was "a debtor to do the whole law", and also if he received circumcision Christ would profit him nothing (verse 2). This bond to which Israel subscribed at Sinai has been removed; it has been nailed to the cross. The work of Christ on the cross has discharged the bond. There every claim that the law could make has been fully met. He is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth (Romans 10.4). We cannot now become dead through trespasses, for we are not under law. "Ye are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6.14). "We have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden" (Romans 7.6). Law cannot enact upon a dead man. Now being quickened with Christ we are free from all obligation to the law, so far as our having been justified with the justification of life is concerned. We are discharged from the law and the law itself has been taken out of the way. Col2v15 This is confessedly a difficult verse to understand. The American revisers translate it, "Having despoiled the principalities and powers". This practically agrees with the rendering in the Englishman's Greek New Testament, "having stripped the principalities and powers". Ancient Greek commentators viewed the passage as showing how the Lord stripped off from Himself the powers of evil that assailed Him with their temptations during the days of His flesh; over these He was completely victorious. The Latin commentators interpret the verse as signifying the stripping or putting off of His body in the victory of the Cross, which view is followed in the R.V. marginal reading. The first question that arises is whether the antecedent of this verse is "God" or "Christ". Verse 13 says, "You ... did He quicken together with Him, having forgiven ... " (verse 14) " ... having blotted out" (verse 15) " ... having put off." The parallel passage in Ephesians 2.4,5, shows that the act of quickening is God's act, so that the antecedent of this verse we judge to be God. God nailed the handwriting of decrees to the cross, the law which was given through angels (Hebrews 2.2; Acts 7.53), and in so removing and doing away with the bond He has triumphed over or led in triumph those through whom the law was given (not fallen angels, but angels who have kept their principality - principalities and authorities). This same word is used in 2 Corinthians 2.14, which shows God leading men in triumph in Christ. The bond is removed by the cross and the principalities and authorities are stripped or despoiled. God is triumphant in the triumph of the cross; why then should there be the worshipping of angels, as in verse 18, an error into which the Colossians were liable to fall? The foregoing is offered as a contribution to a difficult verse and is made suggestively. Col2v16 In view of the fundamental change which has taken place, as is indicated in verses 13-15, in that the law with its ordinances is now removed through the work of Christ, no man is to be allowed to condemn the saints in the matter of eating or drinking, or in regard to a feast day, weekly or monthly. None of the rites and ceremonies of the dispensation of law is binding on disciples in this day of grace: we are free from legal bondage to ordinances. Col2v17 Here we have the Substance and the shadow. The body which cast its shadow in the Typical ordinances of the past is Christ's. When men reach the Substance they can disengage themselves from the shadows. "In Him the shadows of the law Are all fulfilled, and now withdraw." Col2v18 The Colossians are warned against the false teacher who would obstruct and fraudulently deprive them of the prize held out by Christ; the purpose of the false teacher ("of his own mere will," R. V.Marg.) was to side-track them into what must be mere pseudo-humility and a worshipping of angels. Angelolatry is but a form of idolatry. John wrote of the angel which showed him the things of the book of Revelation; "I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren the prophets, and with them which keep the words of this book: worship God" (Revelation 22.8,9). Such a false teacher is said to dwell in or stand upon what he has seen. He is not such an one as the apostle who said, "We walk by faith, not by sight." The description of his carnal mind shows how truly the humility of this verse is a false humility, for he is said to be "vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh." He was a proud, carnally minded individual masquerading as a humble and enlightened teacher of divine things. Col2v19 Whilst every member of the body is joined to Christ, the Head of the Body, with indissoluble ties, he is nevertheless responsible to hold fast the Head so that he may receive the spiritual nourishment essential to his growth and development. Only in the sense of communion and consequent growth can it be said, as in Galatians 5.4, "Ye are severed from Christ." Our communion with Christ can be severed, but not our union with Him. As to our union with Christ there can be no severance or separation. But as John 15.6 shows, a believer may not abide in Christ, and, as a branch severed from the vine, there is no spiritual nourishment, no growth and consequent fruitbearing. The believer becomes spiritually dead and unfruitful. All the body is supplied from the Head; this is also true of the human body. As the human body is knit together by joints (the contacts which separate parts make with each other), and bands (the ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves) which bind all together, so in a spiritual sense is the Body of Christ knit together. By the joints and bands spiritual food is ministered to the members which produces the due increase: it "increaseth with the increase of God. " Spiritual ministry essential to growth is to be given by such as are viewed as joints and bands, men who were given by the ascended Christ, for the perfecting of the saints and the building up or edifying of the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4.11,12). Col2v20,21,22 If the believer is complete or made full in Christ he has no need to return to the rudimentary things and to put himself under meaningless prohibitions as though Christian life is to be one of "Don'ts" - "handle not, taste not, touch not." He is freeborn, and has the living word of God for his food and guidance; he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit; his life is therefore to be vital and aggressive in the service of Christ. Why should he subject himself to mere negative things, to precepts and doctrines of men, mere human prohibitions in regard to externals and leave the things eternal in which he is to find his true occupation? Col2v23 Human commands enjoining abstinence and prohibition have a reputation for wisdom and voluntary worship, worship which emanates from the human will and not from divine revelation. Subjecting the body to hard treatment may appear very laudatory, but it is useless in dealing with the corruption of human nature; it is not a true remedy for the indulgence of the flesh. God's way of dealing with the flesh as to its appetites is not by abstinence, but by death. "If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world" - this is the true remedy. We have died to the things wherein we were occupied, and henceforth it is a new life in Christ that is the vital matter. Col3v1 If they, the Colossian saints, died with Christ, as in chapter 2.20, to all rudimentary, mundane things, to things below, they are now to seek the things that are above, because of the fact that they were raised together with Christ. In Ephesians 2.6 our being raised with Christ has in view the coming display of divine grace - "That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." In Colossians our being raised with Christ is to have a present effect in our lives, we are to seek heavenly things, the things which are where Christ is seated on the right hand of God. Heavenly men should seek heavenly things. Col3v2 Heavenly men should also be heavenly-minded; their thoughts should be occupied with heavenly things, as one has put it, "You must not only seek heaven, you must also think heaven." It is alas only too true that many believers are earthly-minded; they maintain the silence of death when one speaks to them of heavenly things. Novel reading, the radio, and many other undesirable things occupy their time and divert their mind from heavenly things, till their heavenly character is lost and they become like mere worldlings. The believer should be careful about what occupies his mind, for his mind will affect his manners, it hews out his character - and character is imperishable, therefore the thoughts of his mind will affect him both in time and eternity. Col3v3 The believer who has died, his life is hidden out of sight. It is a life the world knows nothing of. He has died to the world and its things, and in consequence his life is not in that sphere wherein he formerly lived and found his pleasure. As Paul says here, "Your life is hid with Christ in God." It is hidden now but the day of manifestation will come. Col3v4 "As He (Christ) is, even so are we in this world" (1 John 4.17). He died and passed from this world. The world saw Him no more after His body was laid in Joseph's new tomb. Christ is the hidden life of the believer, for He is alive, raised and glorified, and when He shall be manifested then shall we also be manifested in glory. In a sense it has ever been true that God's saints have been hidden ones in this world "They take crafty counsel against Thy people, And consult together against Thy hidden ones" (Psalm 83.3). This manifestation in glory is "When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed" (2 Thessalonians 1.10. Col3v5 The principle of death and resurrection is to find expression in the life of the believer in the world, consequently he must mortify or kill his immoral members, the members of the old man, which are upon the earth of which there are five - "fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness." As men ever leave a physical impress of five - five fingers, five toes, even so morally these five forms of sin are in evidence in all humanity. Number "five" in Scripture frequently indicates weakness, and sin ever brings weakness. In these sins we see the gratification of self in the corrupt desires of the human heart. This is especially so in covetousness, wherein the human soul is devoted to the native greediness that is inherent in man, and it becomes a form of worship, a most pernicious form of idolatry. Indeed most forms of idolatry which have blighted this earth are corroded through and through with covetousness. The greediness of priestcraft is proverbial. horse-leach which says, "Give, Give." It is like the Col3v6 Whilst God punishes men even in this life for their vice, His wrath will eventually come upon all the sons of disobedience. Eternal punishment will be the portion of the disobedient. His wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah for their uncleanness is a singular proof of God's judgement, and those wicked cities of the plain are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Col3v7 These things being their members, they formerly lived in them, and they regulated their habits - they walked in them. Were they in a worse case than we? Nay verily! These things have characterized men in all time. Col3v8 Not only were they to kill and consequently put away their immoral members, they were to put away the whole crop of the product of fallen nature. Sins of an uncharitable kind are specified by Paul, of the same number as our members which are upon the earth - anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking, all of them sins which are plainly against the terms of the moral law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Anger "denotes a more or less settled feeling of hatred"; wrath, "a tumultuous outburst of passion." Malice is the "vicious nature which is bent on doing harm to others. " Railing (blasphemy) is "evil speaking or slandering." Shameful speaking is "filthy talking" or "abusive conversation" or "foul-mouthed abuse." How unbecoming for a Christian man to harbour such guests! They were his friends once, but he must put them away if he would enjoy the Lord's friendship. Col3v9 I remember a conversation with a believer who was greatly disturbed about a Christian telling a lie to another, in view of what is said in Revelation 22.15; "without are the dogs ... and every one that loveth and maketh a lie," as to whether making a known lie and telling it affected the eternal security of the believer in Christ. Those who understand clearly what it means to be in Christ are not so disturbed, but also it is sadly true for one Christian to tell a lie knowingly to another. It ought not so to be, but if it were not possible there would be no need to be exhorted against it. The reason given here why we ought not to lie is because we have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man. In Ephesians 4.25 we are enjoined to truthfulness because we are members one of another. Col3v10 Ephesians 4.22 exhorts us to put off the old man as to our former conduct, and to put on the new (kainos) man. Kainos means fresh, as to quality and condition, in contrast to that which is old, effete, jaded and languid. But in Colossians 3.10 we have to put on the new (neos) man, one who is new, as being young, a new man who has just been born, in contrast to an old man, which describes our standing in Adam. Neos "refers solely to time"; Kainos "denotes quality also." Colossians 3.9,10 states a fact that at the time of the new birth we put off the old man and put on the new, but Ephesians 4.22-24 exhorts us to put off the old man as concerning our manner of life and to put on the new. The new (neos) man or regenerate man is ever or continually being renewed unto full or perfect knowledge according to the image of God. The divine impress of the image of God upon the soul becomes more and more deepened as the believer increases in the knowledge of God. "This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ" (John 17.3). Col3v11 In regard to being a new man, in this estate there cannot be national, religious, cultural, or social distinctions. Christ obliterates all these differences, for "Christ is all"; and He permeates the life of all believers, for He is "in all". Ye all are one man in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3.28). Col3v12,13 Having put on the new man (verse 10), it is proper that Christians should be arrayed in befitting garments. The elect or chosen ones of God are both holy and beloved. The excellences mentioned in this verse were seen perfectly expressed in Christ, and He being "all, and in all", all other differences which distinguish mankind, such as Greek, Jew, Scythian, and so forth, having been swept away, so far as believers are concerned, such graces should be seen in all His followers. "A heart (or bowels) of compassion": heart here is splagchna, which describes the inwards, the seat of sympathetic feelings. In 2 Corinthians 7.15 the word is rendered "inward affection". It is used in Luke 1.78 in the words, "the tender mercy of our God", and in Philippians 1.8 in "the tender mercies of Christ Jesus". "Kindness," signifies utility, usefulness, beneficence. In Ephesians 2.7 and Titus 3.4 we have God's kindness to us in Christ Jesus, the bestowal upon us of that which we so much needed. This bestowing of what was needed is eminently seen in the story of David and Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9). How useful to Mephibosheth were the gifts of David! "Humility" means to be of a lowly mind, to be humble in thought, which finds its expression in humility of conduct. It signifies modesty. ~he word is rendered "lowliness of mind" in Philippians 2. 3. "Meekness" is gentleness, lenity, mildness, and is opposed to rudeness, harshness. The Lord is meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11.29). Moses was more meek than any man on earth in his day. Paul intreated the Corinthians by the meekness and gentleness of Christ (2 Corinthians 10.1), and who would not yield on that ground? "Longsuffering" means to be patient, clement, and is the opposite of resentment or revenge. The adverbial form of the word is rendered "patiently" in Acts 26.3. "Forbearing one another": forbearing means "to hold self back", to support, to endure, bear with. Solomon says - "By long forbearing is a ruler persuaded, And a soft tongue breaketh the bone" (Proverbs 25.15). "Forgiving each other": this means to be gracious to, not to exact, to forgive freely. There will always be something to bear and forbear, always something to forgive. The forgiveness by Christians of each other is to be after the pattern in which they have each been forgiven by the Lord, with that freeness and speed and with no harking back on what is forgiven. "Love covereth a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4.8). Col3v14 Upon all these, over and above all these excellencies "the" love which is or should be proper to the Christian is to be put on. This "outer garment holds all others in their places" and is the bond of perfectness, it completes all the rest. Col3v15 The "peace of Christ" is what He gave to His disciples ere He left them in the night of the betrayal, when He said, "My peace I give unto you" (John 14.27). This peace is to rule or arbitrate (R.V. Marg.) in the heart; it is to be the decider or umpire when two or more thoughts are in conflict. If peace gave its decision in the conflict of the mind, and if this applied not merely to one but to all, how harmonious would be the collective life of believers! There would be one heart and one soul. It is to peace we are called in one Body - and there can be no schism in a body (1 Corinthians 12.25) - but it is failure to recognize we are members of one Head and members one of another, and that Christ cannot be divided (1 Corinthians 1.13), that has led to serious disturbances, resulting in self-chosen paths and sectarianism with their carnal warfare and strife and attendant grief and misery. Let us be thankful we have been called in one Body and seek to enjoy the decisions of peace, peace which is given, not as the world giveth. Col3v16 "The word of Christ": this phrase is found nowhere else in the New Testament. It denotes the word Christ spoke and speaks, the inspired word. This word is to dwell in each and all richly. This can only be realized as there is the continual reading of, and prayerful meditation in, the word. There must be an appetite for the word, and a vigorous appetite can only be ours as things harmful to spiritual life are abandoned. The world has many decoys to draw away the Christian from his Bible, many ways of swallowing up his time so that there is little leisure for meditation, and often, alas, instead of a rich indwelling of the word there is barrenness of soul. This leads to poverty of thought in ministry, and instead of the scribe bringing out of his treasure things new and old there is much staleness. "In all wisdom": there may be difference of mind whether to take these words, as punctuated in A.V. and R.V., with the preceding clause or with what follows. The believer's wisdom comes from the word of Christ - Christ is his wisdom, and the more He knows of Him the wiser He will become. But the word which dwells in him richly may in all wisdom be applied in teaching and admonition. How excellent is the word when applied with wisdom! "The heart of the wise instructeth his mouth, And addeth learning to his lips" (Proverbs 16.23). "The tongue of the wise uttereth knowledge aright" (Proverbs 15.2). "Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs: These three definitions would not have been used if one would have conveyed fully the meaning of the apostle, but to define exactly the difference of meaning in the three is not easy. "Psalms." "Psalmos, from psao, properly a touching, and then a touching of the harp or other stringed instrument with the finger or plectrum, was next the instrument itself and last of all the song sung with this musical instrument ...In all probability the Psalmoi of Ephesians 5.19, Colossians 3.26, are the inspired psalms of the Hebrew canon" - Trench. See the following places where the word Psalm is used in the New Testament. Luke 20.42; 24.44; Acts 1.20; 13.33; 1 Corinthians 14.26; Ephesians 5.19; Colossians 3.16. "Hymns": "Augustine in more places than one states the notes of what in his mind are essentials of a hymn - which are three: (1) It must be sung; (2) It must be praise; (3) It must be of God" Trench. Besides Ephesians 5.19, Colossians 3.16, the word is used in its verbal form humneo in Matthew 26.30, Mark 14.26, Acts 16.25, Hebrews 2.12. "Spiritual Songs": A song (ode) may be about any subject, but here the word "spiritual" describes the kind of ode that the apostle signifies. It is concerning spiritual things. In Revelation 5.9, 14.3, 15.3, we read of "a new song", and "the song of Moses ... and the song of the Lamb." The Lord's work in this dispensation and our experience thereof require fitting words of praise and exultation, as truly as did men of a past dispensation find in the psalms and songs of David, Asaph and others, words to express their praise to Jehovah their God. Whatever may be said about the word "Psalm", in this dispensation there is no singing contemplated to the accompaniment of a musical instrument in the assemblies of God's people, for in Ephesians 5.19 the singing (adontes, from the word 0de) and making melody (psallontes, from the word psalmos) is with the heart to the Lord, and not with either stringed or wind instruments. The singing in Colossians 3.26 is with grace, that grace which we have received which has produced a spirit of thankfulness within, unto God. Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs are to have an outward voice to one another in teaching and admonition, and an upward voice to God in our singing with grace to Him. Col3v17 The entire activity of the believer in word and work is to be governed by the name of the Lord Jesus. What a moderating influence this would cast on all our speaking and doing, if we remembered that all is to be done in His name! Many words would be left unspoken and deeds undone if this were the guiding principle of our lives. As with our words and works, so with our thanksgiving, it is through Him this is to ascend unto God the Father. Here we have the guiding principle as to thanksgiving, it is to the Father through the Son. Col3v18 In this paragraph we have certain instructions regarding social and domestic relationshps. Wives are to be in subjection to their husbands. Subjection does not signify inferiority. This subjection is governed by the words "as is fitting in the Lord". In Ephesians 5.23 we are told that the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is Head of the Church. The headship of the male over the female is dealt with in 1 Corinthians 11, where it is not the married state that is in view, but the relationship of males and females in assembly life. We are told that the man was not made for the woman, but the woman for the man. The same point is emphasized in 1 Timothy 2.11-15, where we are told that Adam was first formed, then Eve, but she was first in transgression; she was beguiled, but Adam was not. Being "in the Lord" is not the equivalent of being "in Christ". The latter, as in Romans 16.7, 2 Corinthians 5.17, 1 Thessalonians 4. 16, etc., describes what is true of all who are born again and are members of Christ's Body, but the former describes such as are subject to the will of the Lord, and also that which is done in obedience to His will. We are told that our labour is not vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15.58). We read of those who are over us in the Lord (the elders or overseers) and who admonish us (1 Thessalonians 5.12). We are taught in 1 Corinthians 11.11 that neither is the man without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord; that is, in the church of God there are ever males and females. God never contemplates a fellowship of males without females, nor females without males. Marriage is in consequence to be in the Lord (1 Corinthians 7.39). Where marriage is in the Lord we may expect to see wives in subjection to their husbands, as is fitting in the Lord, and also children obedient to their parents in the Lord, for this is right (Ephesians 6.1). Onesimus was a brother in the flesh and in the Lord, for he was subject to the same Lord and in the same fellowship as Philemon, and he was a natural brother to Philemon as well, I judge (Philemon 16). We read of brethren in the Lord (Philippians 1.14), and also of a brother being received in the Lord (Philippians 2.29). Col3v19 As the relationship of wife to husband is dealt with in Ephesians 5. 22-24, so the relationship of husband to wife is dealt with at length in verses 25-33. Husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies, even as they love themselves, and if this is so, then there will be no bitter, harsh treatment of the wife by her husband. Col3v20 Children here are especially children in the church in Colossae, children in the Fellowship, whose parents were likewise in the Fellowship. Children thus come under the first form of divine government, seen in the rule of parents, and here we are told that obedience to parents is well-pleasing in the Lord. The commandment being exceeding broad (Psalm 119.96), the general principle of obedience to parents enjoined in this verse should be observed, whether parents are in the Fellowship or not. The time might come however, when, for the Lord's sake, children might be required by their parents, who may not be in the Fellowship, to do what the higher claims of the Lord forbade; then they would be faced with a peculiarly difficult situation, and would have to beg their parents to excuse them from doing what they could not do. Col3v21 Fathers must not be too exacting upon their children, to provoke and irritate them to the extent that they become discouraged and dispirited. Repeated punishment or restriction may cause children to lose heart and may beget in them a sullen, moody disposition. The tendency of the present age is in the other other direction. Each child differs from another in a family, and each must be treated according to the build of its mind; the wills of some are more easily bent than others. It is somewhat remarkable that there is no word to mothers in this verse. Though in the previous verse it says, "Children, obey your parents," this verse is a word to fathers in particular. Col3v22,23,24,25 The word "servants" here means slaves or bondsrvants, not hired servants; though such servants also may well find a guiding principle of obedience to masters in such words. Note here the limitation that they are masters according to the flesh, and they must not therefore infringe what properly belongs to the realm of spiritual things. The Christian servant has a supreme Master, the Lord Christ. He is not to give mere eyeservice, to work when his master's eye is upon him; he is to work heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men, for the Lord's eye is always upon him. As a God-fearing man he ought to be the best of servants, and he has good cause to be, for he shall receive double recompense, such reward as his earthly master gives, though it may have been meagre in some cases, and from the Lord he shall receive the recompense of the inheritance, which means the inheritance. What slaves could not hope to obtain, an inheritance, will be the slaves' portion from the Lord. See what is said about Eliezer in Genesis 15.2-4. Even for ordinary labour well done, the bondservant shall receive the Lord's reward, if rendered heartily as to the Lord. Servants should remember this, and it will save them from thinking that only work done in the spiritual sphere will be rewarded. The opposite will be true in regard to the slave that wronged or defrauded his master; he shall receive again for the wrong done, perhaps even now, but certainly hereafter. Col4v1 As Christian servants should be the best of servants, so Christians should make the best of masters. They should be just and fair in their treatment of their servants. The laws of Rome treated slaves as chattels, and Greece was no better. The slave had no rights, for him there was no justice. But Christian practice was to be on the basis of what was just. A balance of equity was to be maintained by the Christian master, as to what was due to the slave, in regard to his faithful service to his master. "Equal" does not mean that the slave was to be treated as his master's equal, even though both were in the Fellowship, but he was to be treated with justice and fairness, and there was to be no partiality in the treatment of the several bondservants a master might have. The conduct of masters to their servants would be regulated and moderated by the fact, as they remembered it, that they had a Master in heaven and that they were His slaves. Col4v2 The Colossians were to persevere or remain constant in prayer. In long-continued prayer we were liable to sag, to become listless or to fall into a state of spiritual inertia, but this exhortation enforces the necessity of watchfulness. The Lord said to the disciples in Gethsemane, "Watch and pray" (Matthew 26.41). David also said in Psalm 5.3, "In the morning will I order my prayer unto Thee, and will keep watch". The state of watchfulness in Colossians 4.2 is to be "in thanksgiving", in a cheerful, thankful spirit, not in a morbid, grumbling disposition, if answers to prayer seem delayed. We have much to thank God for each day we live. We should be Thankful Thankful Thankful God, our for our for our for our God, is being, food, clothing good. Col4v3 Prisoners usually long for a door to be opened to let them out of their captivity, but Paul, the prisoner of Rome, is anxious that God would open a door for the entrance of the gospel. The gospel is described here as the mystery of Christ. For this great mystery he was in bonds. His own liberty was of small importance provided that the word of God, which is not bound (2 Timothy 2.9), entered and brought life and liberty to those who were dead in, and bound by, sin. To this end he sought the prayers of the saints. Col4v4 There is nothing of the spirit of the prison in these words. and imprisonment had not damped his ardour. His spirit is as as when he breathed the desert air of Arabia, when he received revelation of the gospel which he was to preach to Jew and Gentile. He longed to make the mystery of Christ manifest. had the secret in his bosom of which the most of mankind were unaware, and he earnestly desired to speak as he ought. Bonds free the He Col4v5 The Christian's behaviour is to be characterized by wisdom. How often a foolish act, or foolish talking, has taken the lustre off the testimony of a believer! The words of the New Covenant which are written on the hearts of saints, should be seen in their exemplary ways, by those who are outside the pale of the churches of God. Every opportunity should be bought up. Seasons for service, and for the sowing of the seed, may never return to us again when once they have slipped away. Col4v6 There should be a winningness about the speech of a Christian always. A harsh, hard mode of speaking ill becomes a follower of Him who said, "I am meek and lowly in heart". But this pleasant, gracious mode of speaking is not to be merely human niceness; such speech may be too nice to be wholesome. The believer's speech is to be seasoned with salt, that is, in fitting measure the salt of the word of God is to be added to Christian conversaton. But we need not overdo references to the Scriptures until we have added salt in such quantity as to make our conversation altogether nauseous to the hearer, as Pollock, the poet, writes of the hypocrite " ... In sermon style he bought And sold and lied; and salutations made In Scripture terms." We should remember that gracious speech is to be seasoned with salt, so that we may be able to answer each one as we ought, whether it be master or servant, parent or child, prince or peasant, friend or foe. The Christian's speech should be distinctive and characteristic of Him whose he is and whom he serves. Col4v7,8 Tychicus and Trophimus are said, in Acts 20.4, to be of Asia. Trophimus is called, "Trophimus the Ephesian", in Acts 21.29. It is possible that both belonged to Ephesus. The name of Tychicus occurs several times in Paul's epistles (Ephesians 6.21; Colossians 4.7; 2 Timothy 4.12; Titus 3.12) . He was with Paul in Rome till almost the close of the apostle's ministry, and Paul says of him at that time, "Tychicus I sent to Ephesus". Earlier he had been sent to Ephesus (Ephesians 6.21), and to Colossae (Colossians 4.7). The two visits probably took place in the same journey. Then Paul hoped to send Artemas or Tychicus to relieve Titus in Crete. Paul highly commends this servant of the Lord; he describes him as "the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord", honourable titles all of them. He was sent to Colossae for the double purpose, that the saints might know Paul's estate, and that he might comfort or encourage their hearts, for the apostle's imprisonment must have had a saddening and discouraging effect upon them. Col4v9 The Colossians may have known this man as a worthless fellow, who became at length a runaway slave. But now, instead of being disloyal, as he had been to his master Philemon, he is called a faithful brother and he was also a brother beloved. Paul describes him as "one of you". The black record of the past may well be forgotten on account of his excellent conduct since grace reached him. He who was a disgrace now adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour. Onesimus would be able to corroborate the facts as Tychicus related them concerning all that was done in Rome. What a story they would have to tell of Rome in those days! Col4v10 Aristarchus belonged to Thessalonica (Acts 20.4). He with Luke accompanied Paul on his journey to Rome (Acts 27.2). Now he is described by Paul as his fellow-prisoner. Epaphras of whom we read in Colossians 1.7; 4.12, is also called Paul's fellow-prisoner in Philemon 23. Mark is undoubtedly John Mark, who withdrew from the work (Acts 13. 13) and over whom Paul and Barnabas differed so sharply that they, who had been sent forth of the Holy Spirit together (Acts 13.2), parted company. Barnabas, we are told, took Mark and sailed away to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas, and what is worthy of more than ordinary note is the fact that "Paul chose Silas, and went forth, being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord" (Acts 15. 36-41). The commendation of brethren is something not to be lightly disregarded. There is a great contrast between "Barnabas took Mark ... and sailed away" and "But Paul chose Silas, and went forth, being commended by the brethren". Mark, we are told here in Colossians, was the cousin of Barnabas. How seriously family ties may affect right judgement! It is evident however that past incidents were rectified, and the apostle says - "touching whom ye received commandments; if he come unto you, receive him". The apostle commends the usefulness of Mark's ministry in 2 Timothy 4. 11. He is also mentioned in Philemon 24 amongst Paul's fellow-workers. His early disaffection seems to have been entirely effaced in the later part of his life. He has the high honour of being used to write the Gospel which bears his name. Col4v11 Aristarchus, Mark and Justus, these only were of Paul's fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God, who were of the circumcision. Many of the teachers of the word who had been converted from Judaism were antagonistic to Paul, but it is comforting to note that Mark is amongst the few who stood faithfully by Paul in the Lord's work in Rome. Apart from the reference here, we had not known that Aristarchus was of Jewish descent, for he is called a Thessalonian elsewhere, as we have seen. These men, Paul said, "have been a comfort to me". The clear cut teaching of Paul, in which he showed the distinction between law and grace, was viewed with suspicion by many Jewish converts in those days, but Christians now love the man for his teaching, which was so misunderstood by many of them. Col4v12 Epaphras, one of the Colossians, who was with Paul in Rome, his fellow-prisoner, as well as his fellow-servant, salutes his fellow-Christians through Paul's epistle. He agonized or wrestled with God in prayer always, that the Colossians might stand fast, without vacillation, fully convinced and perfect in all the will of God. They were to be perfect and fully persuaded "in everything willed by God". Well might we copy this godly man's example and so wrestle in prayer for each other! Col4v13 The original word for labour here is of rare occurrence in the New Testament and "is usual in the toil of conflict in war, thus answering to 'striving'" (verse 12). The toil of Epaphras may be compared to what is said of the Levites. See Numbers 8.24, R.V. Marg. - "the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to war the warfare in the work". The Levites did not go forth to war, they went in to war in the tent of meeting. The agonizing and toiling in prayer on the part of Epaphras was not for the Colossians only, but he laboured in prayer for the contiguous churches of Laodicea and Hierapolis. Col4v14 Luke the faithful companion of Paul is here described as the beloved physician, and only here do we learn the profession of that great man. As the apostle approaches the close of his life, he writes very touchingly to Timothy, "Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4. 11). Medical attendance may have been very necessary to the aged warrior, suffering it may be from many weaknesses. But in contrast to the faithfulness of Luke we have the backsliding of Demas, "for Demas forsook me, having loved this present world (age)". He forsook Paul at a time of peril and need, when comforters were few; he forsook him because his heart and inward affection had gone wrong; he forsook him having loved this present age. His reward was meagre and momentary, but Luke's is for ever. Luke and Demas stand together in Colossians 4.14, but Luke and Demas, in 2 Timothy 4.10,11, are very far apart. This is the story of Scripture from the first, not of men only, but also of women, as witness the decisions of Ruth and Orpah (Ruth 1). How many in our own time have forsaken the truth and the path of separation and have gone back! Col4v15,16 Laodicea, a name of ill fame, but it was not always so. They had better days than their last days (Revelation 3). It is a sobering question. Which shall be our best days, our first or our last? The Laodiceans themselves might have said that their last days were their best, for they had become rich and were increased with goods, and had no need. The sun of material prosperity had shone upon them, but it had withered their spiritual life, and they had become as a desert without leaf or fruit. The Colossians were to salute their Laodicean brethren (on the apostle's behalf), and Nymphas one of those brethren - or it may have been a sister, see R.V. Marg. - comes in for special mention. The church which met at the house of Nymphas is also mentioned specially, which was no doubt part of the church of God in Laodicea. The epistle from (Ek = out of) Laodicea is thought by some to have been the epistle to the Ephesians, whilst others have endeavoured to identify this with another of Paul's epistles, such as, his first letter to Timothy. There can be no certainty about the matter, as to which of Paul's epistles is alluded to, but it is an interesting side light to see how epistles, though written to one church were read in others, showing the universality of divine doctrine even in those early days, a thing that we take for granted now. Col4v17 Archippus is also mentioned in Philemon 2, as the apostle's fellow-soldier. Here the church in Colossae is taught to admonish this servant of Christ with reference to the fulfilment of the ministry which the Lord had given him. This should be a proper and powerful word to us all as well as to Archippus. What greater monument to failure can there be than an uncompleted tower? (Luke 14.28,29). How useless is a half-done job! Even if we do not do our work as well as we ought, let us complete the task. Col4v18 The letter was written undoubtedly by an amanuensis, but here Paul adds his own autograph. This epistle stands in this respect in contrast to the letter to Philemon, written at the same time, but which was evidently written entirely by Paul. The words, "Remember my bonds", not only indicate that he was a prisoner, but also why he was bound, that it was for the sake of the mystery of Christ (verse 3). The reason for those bonds would speak loudly to their hearts, for he was there for Christ's sake and for theirs also. "Grace be with you" is the token of the Pauline authorship of all his epistles - so we are told in 2 Thessalonians 3.17,18. Thus ends this remarkable letter of the great apostle of the Gentiles, one of many which enrich the Book of God and the minds of Believers. SECTION NO. 3 Notes on I and II THESSALONIANS I and II TIMOTHY TITUS . PHILEMON HEBREWS PREFACE The Bible is a book of hidden treasures which are to be obtained only by searching. The full value of them is realized by study, and pondering. Ezra and Nehemiah understood this when they gathered the people, "and they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly: and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading" (Nehemiah 8.8). It has long been the practice of preachers to expound the Scriptures, often, alas! with human fallibility. The Holy Spirit is the true Interpreter, Himself being a Searcher in the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2.9-16). No man is infallible, but we welcome these expositions of the Epistles of the New Testament from the pen of Mr. Miller, believing that very largely they have been the fruit of much study under the influence of the Holy Spirit. These writings have appeared over many years in the pages of Bible Studies, and readers will find many helpful contributions to an understanding of the Scriptures. It is not Mr. Miller's wish to do otherwise than to give his mind on the portions. We do not suppose that in all cases we have the last words on the portions, but rather it is his desire and ours that others may be helped to appreciate what the Holy Spirit desires us to know. Special reference should be made to the Notes on the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book which is not generally understood. The teaching on the House of God is of fundamental importance, for things concerning the House of God are among the things revealed by the Holy Spirit unto "them that love Him" (1 Corinthians 2.9). May the hearts of readers be such as to respond to the Holy Spirit's work in these things! A.T. Doodson. NOTES OF ON PAUL THE TO FIRST THE EPISTLE THESSALONIANS 1Thes1v1 Silvanus is Silas of Acts 15.22,32,39-41, who was one of the "chief men among the brethren," and one of the prophets, whom Paul chose as his fellow-worker after Barnabas parted from him in Antioch, and they went forth, being commended to the grace of the Lord. In Acts 16.1-3 we read of Timothy's going forth to the work of the Lord: "Him would Paul have to go forth with him." These three men wrought together in the Lord's work in Macedonia, where they planted churches in Philippi and Thessalonica. Here they are joined together in this letter from Paul to the Thessalonians. The manner in which this church is addressed is somewhat unique - "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." This shows what the Lord prayed for in John 17.20,21: "Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me." This oneness in "Us" is seen in the church of the Thessalonians, and the effect of this unity was felt far and wide in their collective testimony. Without seeking to enter into a discussion on the textual grounds as to whether in Paul's greeting it is simply "grace and peace," or whether "Grace and peace are from the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," we may say that in others of Paul's epistles, from Romans to Philemon, grace and peace are in every one from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (the Lord Jesus Christ though present in the A.V. is omitted in the R.V., in Colossians 1.2). I am disposed therefore to accept the wording of the A.V. as correct. 1Thes1v2,3 Paul writes similarly in Romans 1.8,9; Philippians 1.3; and Colossians 1.3,4. In other epistles he gives thanks for the saints. Prayer and thanksgiving make an excellent combination. It is well when we have many things and persons to thank God for, and many persons and things to pray for. The remembrance of these three servants of God was unceasing on behalf of the Thessalonians; of their work of faith, a work which sprang from a living faith ("Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself." - James 2.17); their labour (Kopos, wearisome toil, such as only love can bear without murmuring) of love; and their endurance of hope. All three things originated in and sprang from our Lord Jesus Christ, not simply that their endurance of hope was in Him. Indeed the words are in the genitive, and should read, "of our Lord Jesus Christ." These holy men were acting as the Lord's remembrancers (see Isaiah 62.6,7). 1Thes1v4,5 Election here is that of Ephesians 1.4, in that God chose believers in Christ before the foundation of the world. This is referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2.13,14: "But we are bound to give thanks to God alway for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul was ready to endure all things that God's elect might be saved, even as he wrote to Timothy, "I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Timothy 2.10). Thus it was with the elect in Thessalonica, that to them the gospel did not come in word only, but in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. Some commentators associate these words with the manner in which Paul preached the gospel. It seems to me rather to indicate the manner in which the gospel came to the Thessalonians. There is undoubtedly a relationship between how the gospel is preached and the effect it has on the hearers, as there is between the arrow leaving the bow and striking the target. What Paul is saying is like the arrow striking the target, as to the power it had on the hearts of the hearers. The gospel came unto them in power, etc. Literally it "became" (Egenethe, a form of Ginomai, to become) unto (Eis, into) them, in word, in power, in the Holy Spirit, in much assurance. The assurance was clearly not Paul's assurance that he was preaching the right gospel or preaching the gospel aright, but the assurance of those that heard it. Paul and the others backed their gospel preaching with their Christian living - "toward you for your sake." They practised what they preached. It ill becomes preachers to be as the Pharisees, who said and did not. 1Thes1v6,7 Ye became (the same word as in verse 5 above, a form of Ginomai), imitators (Mimetes, from which the English word "mimic" is derived) of us, and of the Lord, whose behaviour was seen in that of the preachers. They accepted the word of the preachers in much tribulation (from men) and with much joy of the Holy Spirit (from God). They were a happy, suffering people. Thus the whole church became a pattern of behaviour to the new-born believers in the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia; this work of the Lord was a new work in those parts. Thus it was that Paul and his fellows imitated the Lord, their converts imitated them, and other believers elsewhere found in the Thessalonian church a pattern to imitate. Happy are young converts who find in others an excellent pattern to follow. 1Thes1v8 A brilliant light had been lit in Thessalonica, and from this church the light streamed out to distant parts. Aristarchus and Secundus, of Acts 20.4, and Gaius, of Acts 19.29, were possibly men in the forefront of the work and used by the Spirit in the diffusion of the word of the Lord. So powerful was the testimony of the Thessalonians that it reached far beyond the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia, for in every place their faith towards God had gone abroad. We have here a pattern assembly in testimony; one in which preaching and practice were in harmony. 1Thes1v9,10 Paul did not need to say anything about the Lord's work in Thessalonica, for the report of the entrance of the Lord's workers there had been related far and wide, of how the Thessalonians had turned to God from their idols. They first found the living and true God, and then their idols were given up. The evils of idolatry fell from them like withered autumn leaves. Their service (bondservice) was from henceforth to God who is both living and true, in contrast to the service of lifeless false idols, which are nothing at all in the world (1 Corinthians 8.4). They served God as they waited for Jesus His Son from heaven. "Which delivereth (delivered, A.V.) us from the wrath to come" (R.V.), is not to be understood as though the Lord is continually delivering us from the wrath to come. The word "delivereth" in the Greek is a present participle, which simply means that He is the delivering One from the wrath to come. He delivered us from coming wrath when He saved us through grace. 1Thes2v1,2 The Thessalonians knew that the entering in of these servants of God among them had not been in vain (see Acts 17.1-9). The gospel had wrought great and blessed changes among them. Paul and Silas before they came to Thessalonica had been shamefully treated in Philippi. The prison, the rods, and the stocks, had left deep marks in their memory, which the kindly treatment of the jailor had not effaced (Acts 16.19-40). We can see the boldness of the Lord's servants in Acts 17, and also the conflict that they faced in the preaching of the gospel in Thessalonica. The Jews incited the rabble fellows of the city to make an assault on the house of Jason, and they dragged him and certain brethren before the rulers of the city. In consequence of the general uproar, the brethren sent away Paul and Silas to Beroea by night. 1Thes2v3,4 Paul calls the preaching of the gospel by himself and the others, "our exhortation" (Paraklesis, either exhortation or comfort according to the context). The gospel may be of exhortation and persuasion, exhorting men to be reconciled to God, and the gospel may be taught, in which the fundamental facts of the gospel are expounded. The former is how the gospel should be presented to the sinner, the latter to the believer. Paul's gospel was not of error (Planes, wandering), a delusion causing people to wander in their mind. It was not of uncleanness or impurity, such as were the practices associated with pagan religions. It was not of guile or fraud. As men whom God intrusted with the gospel, which brings boundless blessings to men, they were not men-pleasers, but their object was to please God who proved their hearts. 1Thes2v5,6 Flattery is a deadly bait used by crafty men to catch souls. It was practised in Eden's garden by the old he said to Eve that they would become as gods if they forbidden fruit (Genesis 3.4,5). David spoke of the his time: simple Serpent when ate of the unfaithful in "They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: With flattering lip, and with a double heart, do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaketh great things" (Psalm 12.2,3) The Thessalonians knew that Paul used no flattery in his preaching when he laid the charge of sin against them (Romans 3.9,19). Their preaching was no cloke to cover a covetous heart. They were not preachers, as some who preach according to their stipend, with one eye on their sermon and the other on the collection bag. Persons not pounds were what Paul and his fellows sought. They did not seek glory of (Ek) men, neither from (Apo) the Thessalonians nor others; and though they might have been burdensome (for such as preach the gospel should live of the gospel - 1 Corinthians 9.14), as apostles of Christ, they did not exercise their right in this respect. 1Thes2v7,8 The preachers were placid, mild (or gentle) among the Thessalonians. Their gentle demeanour was like that of a nurse (a suckling mother) who cherishes (Thalpo, to impart warmth, as a hen by brooding) her own children. Their loving desire for the Thessalonians was such that they were well pleased or delighted to impart the gospel of God to them, but, like a suckling mother, they imparted their souls or lives to them, because they were very dear to them. Nothing could be more tender than this Christlike love. 1Thes2v9 There is little diference of meaning between labour and travail, though the latter includes the idea of pain. The apostle and his co-workers wrought in manual labour in Thessalonica, as he did in Corinth (Acts 18.3), when he wrought with Aquila at tent-making. He says here, that they so wrought that they might not be a burden to the Thessalonians in preaching the gospel to them. What suffering, self-denying, and loving servants of Christ these men were, and what an example they have left behind! 1Thes2v10,11,12 Men could only testify to the outward actions of righteousness and blamelessness, but God witnessed to the holiness of the hearts from which those actions sprang. Such was the standard of conduct of himself and his fellows toward the Thessalonians. The person who lives holily before God will not fail to live righteously and blamelessly before men. Without holiness of heart a man's righteousness is but the garb of the Pharisee. As a father must be careful of his behaviour before his children, the apostle was careful of his behaviour before his spiritual children. In verse 7, they acted as a mother, and here, in this verse, they acted as a father. Paul says that they dealt with each one of the Thessalonians, exhorting, encouraging or consoling, and testifying; the object in all this was that they might walk worthily of God, the One who calls (Kalountos, present participle, the calling one) into His own kingdom (i.e., the kingdom of God) and glory. This is the present kingdom of God, expressed in the churches of God, God's little flock. The glory is that of John 17.22,23, which was given by the Father to the Son in connexion with His work on earth, as He said, "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me." "Given" is in perfect tense in the Greek showing that the giving in the past remains to the present; and the object of giving this glory is that the Lord's disciples may be one in a visible unity which has a bearing on testimony to the world. 1Thes2v13 Here thanks are given to God for the reception from (Para, from, of, indicating source or origin) Paul and his co-workers of the word of the message or of hearing the word of God and not of men which wrought in the believing Thessalonians, as the living word should ever do. 1Thes2v14,15,16 The brethren in the church of God in Thessalonica became imitators of the churches of God in Judaea, because the same doctrine which was taught in the churches of God in Judaea was taught in Thessalonica. Unity in doctrine results in unity of practice. The churches of God in the Fellowship of God's Son (1 Corinthians 1.9) in the time of the apostles were taught and held the same doctrine, even as Paul wrote of "my ways which be in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church" (1 Corinthians 4.17). The result of the same doctrine held and practised led to similarity of suffering. The Jews killed both the Lord and the prophets and drave out the apostles and others. Likewise the brethren in Thessalonica suffered the same things of their countrymen. Paul adds concerning the Jews, that they pleased not God, and were contrary to all men. They also forbade Paul and the others to preach the gospel to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up to the full the measure of their sins. God's wrath came upon them to the uttermost, as Paul shows in Romans 11, in their being cast away nationally, except a remnant according to the election of grace. The wrath of God which appointed that they should stumble nationally at Christ, the Stone of stumbling and Rock of offence (1 Peter 2.8), and on whom they could not believe (John 12.36-43), was until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (Romans 11.15,25). 1Thes2v17,18 "Being bereaved," here, is similar to the experience of parents who have lost their children, but Paul speaks of bereavement for a season, for an hour, and that in presence, not in heart. He greatly desired and endeavoured to see the Thessalonians time and again, but there was always some hindrance which Satan (the Adversary) put in the way. Whom or what he used we are not told. We see here the Adversary unveiled as the opposer of the Lord's work and workers, as he is in some other parts of the Scriptures (Zechariah 3.1,2). 1Thes2v19,20 Here the apostle contemplates the Lord's coming again, and the presence of the Thessalonians in that coming as a sufficient reward for the labours that these servants of God had expended. He views them as their hope, joy and crown of glorying. Indeed, this will be the chiefest of all crowns of God's servants, when they see in the glory the fruit of their labours. 1Thes3v1,2,3 Paul could not bear the suspense of not knowing how the Thessalonians were faring, and he decided to send Timothy, and himself be left alone at Athens. Timothy therefore was sent to Thessalonica to establish and comfort the saints in their faith, that they should not be moved, disquieted or shaken in mind, by the tribulations which were common to both Paul and themselves. He said that they knew that saints were appointed to these afflictions. Paul in sending Timothy was acting similarly to both Jacob and Jesse in past times, who sent Joseph and David to see how it fared with their brethren. All parents know the common anxiety of love for their absent children. This epistle is said to have been written by Paul from Athens at the time of the arrival back of Timothy from Thessalonica. (See end of A.V. which says, Written from Athens." Certain modern commentators say, "Written from Corinth.") 1Thes3v4,5 The affliction of which Paul had beforehand told the Thessalonians and others came to pass, as we see in chapter 17 of Acts, and as is alluded to in the previous chapter. But lest they should have been tempted by the devil to give up the Christian warfare, like the rocky-ground hearers of Matthew 13.20,21, he sent Timothy that he might know their faith, lest his work should be in vain, for he feared the evil work of the tempter. 1Thes3v6,7,8 The arrival of Timothy in Athens from the Thessalonians with the good news that their faith had stood the shock of the afflictions which they were enduring brought great joy. They also held the apostle and his fellows in loving regard, for Timothy bore testimony to their faith and love, and of how they longed to see Paul and Silas; this longing was mutual, for Paul longed to see them. Midst the present distress of the apostle the tidings brought by Timothy were a great comfort. "Now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord," said Paul. If the work of the apostle had collapsed after he left the different cities he visited, then the memory of Paul would have perished. But when saints stood fast in the Lord, God's servants lived on, as they do now, embalmed in the imperishable records of Holy Scripture. These records will live for ever, and further, they are the test which God applies and will yet apply to the lives of those that have followed after, as to whether they will walk in the light of, and in obedience to, these divine truths therein contained. 1Thes3v9,10 "Thanks is itself a return for God's favours." Praise is the declaring of God's excellencies. Here Paul asks what thanksgiving he could render to God for all the joy he had in the Thessalonians. Here we see the up-surge of the tide of joy in this great-souled man; in him surged the joy of the Lord. In the face of the hindrance of Satan, Paul's prayers abounded exceedingly, beseeching that he might see again the face of these beloved Thessalonians. Only God could rebuke Satan for his hindrance (Jude 9); and until God did this Satan would continue to hinder the desire of the apostle. Paul's object in again visiting the Thessalonians was to perfect (Katartizo, which means, sometimes, to repair or mend, to render perfect, also to supply or make good what is lacking; it is used in the second sense here, in verse 10) that which was lacking or deficient in their faith; for it must be remembered that the Thessalonians were but young believers. 1Thes3v11,12,13 Paul, following his earnest pleading that he might see the face of the Thessalonians, leaves the matter with God, that He and the Lord Jesus might direct his way towards them. His desire was for an increase of their love to each other and toward all men. If this is so, there will be no fear but that the behaviour of saints towards others will be as it ought to be. The love of Paul and his fellows abounded towards the Thessalonians. The object of this was the establishing of their hearts blameless in holiness before God the Father at the coming of the Lord. John writes somewhat similarly, when he says, "that if He shall be manifested, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (1 John 2.28). "With all His saints" - "with" (Meta, with a genitive, as here, means, with, together with) may signify the coming of the Son of Man, when His saints shall come with Him, as in 2 Thessalonians 1. 10. But, if we read coming (Parousia) as presence, it would read "at the presence of our Lord Jesus with all His saints," and would indicate His coming for His saints. As the construction of the passage indicates our hearts being established in holiness before our God and Father,it seems to indicate the latter view and not the former. 1Thes4v1,2 Here Paul reaches the closing part of his epistle, and says, "Finally," or for the rest; he exhorts them in the Lord Jesus, with that authority derived from Him, as they had previously received in the ministry of himself and the others, how they ought to walk and to please God. "Walk" here, as in very many other places in the Scriptures, signifies the entire conduct of a person. Paul says that they were so walking, but sought that this good beginning they had made in their behaviour should abound yet more. He refers to his former injunctions or commands that he had given to them in this matter through the Lord Jesus. 1Thes4v3 Paul comes down heavily on irregular conduct which has from ancient times stained the history of mankind - the lewd intercourse of the sexes. Fornication, being one of man's immoral members (Colossians 3.5), is a form of sin against which the Scriptures wage a ceaseless warfare. Paul says, that "the body is not for fornicatin, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." "Flee fornication," he says (1 Corinthians 6.13,18), even as Joseph did when enticed in Egypt (Genesis 39.12,15). God's will is a life of sanctification from moral corruptions. 1Thes4v4,5,6 Whilst, no doubt, both sexes are included in this corrective word of the apostle, the male sex, is, I think, more in evidence. He is to possess or keep his vessel in sanctification and honour. Men should ever think of how their act may affect the following generation both mentally and physically, and not be wholly engulfed in their own passing pleasure of lust. The Gentiles in Paul's time were, and also are to-day, in a sordid state in this matter, but God's saints should know better, as both God's grace in their hearts and His word should teach them holy living. Certainly where a brother transgresses and wrongs his brother in this matter, this raises a serious issue, and the Lord is an avenger in all such things, as Paul had forewarned and testified to the Thessalonians. 1Thes4v7,8 The object in the call of God out from among them to a path of separation is not to uncleanness, but to perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 6.14-7.1). Paul says that we "were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh" (Galatians 5.13). We are called in sanctification. Sanctification means a setting apart from what is common. This is the root meaning of holiness. A saint is a holy one, set apart to a life of holiness (1 Corinthians 1.30). Paul says that he that sets aside or rejects this teaching of sanctification, rejects not man, but God, who has given each believer the Holy Spirit, who is the Sanctifier of saints. 1Thes4v9,10 Philadelphia, love of the brethren, is taught us by the grace of the new nature, the result of the new birth, by the indwelling Spirit of God, and by His word. This love the Thessalonians showed to all the brethren who were in Macedonia, and they were encouraged by the apostle to abound more and more in this grace. Love begets love. 1Thes4v11,12 Some are naturally quiet, and some are talkative. The latter need more grace to give heed to the apostle's exhortation to be ambitious to be quiet. Some are lazy, and some are diligent in business, and the former need more grace, and the latter need wisdom not to let their business swallow them up. Paul had enjoined upon the Thessalonians "a quiet, industrious, holy life." Saints are to live a grateful, courteous, becoming life toward those who are without, and being diligent and honest may have need of nothing. 1Thes4v13,14 We come now to one of the most illuminating paragraphs in the New Testament relative to the coming of the Lord for His saints of this dispensation, who form the Church which is His Body. Old Testament saints will not share in this resurrection, but will be raised in connexion with the Lord's coming to earth (Daniel 12.1-3; Revelation 11.18; 20.4-6). We are not able to shed light on which is the correct reading "them which are asleep" (A.V.) (perfect tense) or "them that fall asleep" (R.V.) (present tense), but these young believers in Thessalonica required to be instructed, as we do, as to what will happen to saints who die or fall asleep before the coming of the Lord. First of all, saints are not told not to sorrow when their loved ones fall asleep, but they are not to sorrow as the rest who have no hope. The rest, the unsaved who have no hope, have no hope of reunion nor will they wish any in eternity, as we see from the rich man's words in hell (Luke 16.27-31). The joyous hope of reunion in resurrection is based upon the words, "if we believe that Jesus died and rose again," for "if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which have fallen asleep in Christ have perished" (1 Corinthians 15.17, 18). But Christ having been raised, then them also that are fallen asleep (or fallen-asleep ones) through (not in) Jesus will God bring or lead with Him. There have been differences between Greek scholars in regard to the Greek here, as we see from the R.V. Margin. Some think it should read "fallen asleep through Jesus," and some, "will God through Jesus bring with Him." I am of the opinion that the reading should be, "fallen asleep through Jesus," that is the Jesus mentioned earlier in the verse, who died and rose again. Jesus died, He did not fall asleep, but saints fall asleep through or because of Him who died and rose again, for had He not died and risen again their death would not have been a sleep; they would have perished. "Shall God bring with Him": this should not be read as though it means the sending by God of the souls of the saints with the Lord when He descends into the air, as we read later on, but it means the bringing from the dead the sleeping ones in that resurrection of which Christ is the Firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15.20). "With Him" does not mean at the same time, but is the "with" of association, similar in meaning to our being quickened, raised and seated with (Sun) Him in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2.5,6), this being the spiritual quickening of the soul, while that of 1 Thessalonians 4.14 is the raising and quickening of the dead in Christ in a bodily resurrection. 1Thes4v15 What Paul says here is backed by his claim that it is the word of the Lord. The living saints in Christ at the Lord's coming shall have no precedence over the dead in Christ; they shall not precede them that are fallen asleep in Christ. 1Thes4v16,17,18 Three definitions are given to what seems to me to be the same thing. The Lord descends from heaven while this sound is heard, which is described as, "in a shout" (of command), "in voice of archangel," and "in trump of God." The result of this command to assemble will be, that the dead in Christ will rise first. Though it is clear that the dead in Christ will be the first to rise of all the redeemed dead, who will rise each in his own order or rank (1 Corinthians 15.23), yet "first," in verse 16, is in relation to the living in Christ. The first in the upward movement will be of the dead in Christ. Then they that are alive at the Lord's coming shall join them and shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Only here is it revealed where the meeting will take place between the Lord and His saints; no other portion of Scripture reveals this. Only God can speak of "first" and "then," as the upward movement of the quickened dead and the changed living will be so close to each other. The reunion of sleeping and living saints will be complete as they ascend to meet the Lord together in the rapture of that glorious day. So shall they ever be with the Lord. The sorrow of verse 13 is meanwhile largely dispelled by the comfort of verse 18. What a blessed hope as compared with the bleak outlook of the future in the case of those who do not believe in the Lord or in resurrection! How glorious that reunion of saints in the glory of God! 1Thes5v1 The coming of the Lord to the air for all who are in Christ is not related to the times and the seasons. These have to do with earthly events connected with the nations and the nation of Israel. This dispensation of grace in which we are is a unique period of time in the dealings of God with men, during which the Lord is building what He calls, "My Church," which is the Church which is His Body (Matthew 16.18; Ephesians 1.22,23), the Bride of the Lamb. 1Thes5v2,3 The day of the Lord begins with the descent of the Son of Man from heaven (Acts 2.16-21, and many Old Testament Scriptures), when He comes "in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thessalonians 1.7,8). This day is more than a thousand years in extent, as we learn from 2 Peter 3.10, for in it the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works therein shall be burned up. This brings us to the judgement of the Great White Throne (Revelation 20.11), when the earth and the heaven shall flee away from the face of Him who sits upon the throne, and no place will be found for them. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, when men least expect it; when they are saying, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction shall come upon them, and there will be no escape. 1Thes5v4,5 These verses show clearly the error of those who hold that saints of the Church which is Christ's Body shall pass through the time of the Great Tribulation. If saints of the Church shall pass through the Tribulation, then that day, the day of the Lord, shall overtake them. But the reason given that they will not do this is, that they are sons of the light and of the day. We are not of the world's dark night; but we see the shades of that night gathering around us, a sign of the coming great apostasy, when men shall acclaim a corruptible man to be god (2 Thessalonians 2.3,4), but that will not make him God whatever they do or whatever he claims for himself. It will be the worst form of idolatry which has ever appeared and it will overspread the earth. 1Thes5v6,7,8 We are exhorted not to sleep (as, alas, the five wise virgins did, as did also the foolish in the parable of Matthew 25.1-13), as do the rest, such as have no hope (4.13); but we are to watch or be awake, and to be sober, as vigilant sentinels who are armed with breastplate and helmet, as those that await the dawn of day. It becomes sentinels to watch on behalf of the souls of men, neither to sleep nor be drunken. "Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night." The morning will come for some, the night for others. 1Thes5v9,10 This verse should be read in the context in which it is found, in the consideration of the saints of this dispensation in regard to the day of the Lord and the wrath of that day. Also, "us" of verse 9 is dispensational in character, and does not apply merely to Paul and the Thessalonians. That hardly needs to be said. The wrath to which we are not appointed or set is quite evidently that of the day of the Lord; that wrath we shall not see, the reason being that we are set to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, for before the day of wrath comes upon this earth we shall have been saved finally and fully by that salvation which is nearer to us than when we first believed (Romans 13.11), with that salvation which is ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1. 5). It is this hope of salvation which we have as a helmet as we watch for the dawn of day. How comforting and assuring are the words, though they give no excuse for sleeping, that the Lord died for us, that whether we wake (watch) or sleep (not live or die), we should live together with Him! Our being with the Lord and living with Him is not determined by our waking or sleeping, but by our having received Him by faith. It was even so with the five wise virgins. They entered the marriage feast because they had oil in their vessels with their lamps, not because they had kept awake. Saints would be in great peril, if their being with the Lord was dependent on their watchfulness. "Wherefore," said Paul, "exhort (or comfort) one another, and build each other up." This the Thessalonians also did. 1Thes5v12,13 Here Paul asks them to know their leaders in the Lord, men who laboured among them and admonished them. "Over them" (Prostemi) means literally, to stand before, and signifies to be set over or appointed with authority. The word is rendered "ruleth" (Romans 12. 8; 1 Timothy 3.4); "to rule" and "ruling" (1 Timothy 3.5,12); "rule" (1 Timothy 5.17); "maintain" (Titus 3.4,8). The men referred to were elders or overseers of the church of God in Thessalonica. They were to be highly esteemed for their work's sake. Paul called upon the saints to be at peace among themselves, for this would give the elders less work and trouble. 1Thes5v14,15 Here Paul addresses the overseers in their responsibility in caring for the saints. The disorderly, the fainthearted, the weak, come in for special mention as to how they were to be treated, and the overseers were to be long-suffering toward all. Saints rendering evil for evil were not to be tolerated, but they were to follow after good, one saint toward another, and toward all. This is love in practice. 1Thes5v16,17,18,19,20,21,22 Whilst these words may have a special application to overseers who stand before the saints and should be pattern men, they are of general application to all saints. One is reminded of the similarity of these exhortations to those of Romans 12, and also of the manner in which they are given. These exhortations are so simple and their meaning so self-evident that they call for no comment. 1Thes5v23,24 Here the Sanctifier is called the God of peace. See other references to the God of peace (Romans 15.33; 16.20; 2 Corinthians 13.11; Philippians 4.9; Hebrews 13.20). This entire sanctification is a setting apart of the whole person from sin in every form. It is explained further in what follows. I am of the opinion that the A.V. rendering here is better than the R.V., except that "may" should take the place of the words, "I pray God," in the A.V. which being in italics are shown not to be in the Greek. Thus it would read, "May your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless." Thus the sanctification is of the whole person, of spirit and soul and body subsisting, and is to be preserved blameless at or in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit of the redeemed person is that part of man on which the Spirit of God works, and the spirit of man should control the soul, the reasonable soul, the person. The soul should control the body in its appetites and desires. Alas, if the body gains control, then indwelling sin will enslave the soul, and the spirit will be cast as it were into prison and darkness, and as a consequence, the Holy Spirit will be grieved and quenched. The God of peace will sanctify us wholly, if we allow Him, and our whole being of spirit and soul and body will act in harmony, which is the root idea in peace. If the body with its appetites is allowed control, then sin will enter, the harmony will be broken, bringing grievous disturbance to the whole system within, and this will result in blameworthiness at the coming of the Lord. 1Thes5v25,26,27,28 Paul frequently besought the prayers of the saints, as here. A holy kiss was the mode of salutation in those past times; in this country a warm shake of the hand is the mode of salutation. Paul adjures them that they read this epistle publicly to all the brethren. He closes his epistle, as in every epistle of his, with, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." NOTES ON THE SECOND TO THE THESSALONIANS EPISTLE 2Thes1v1,2 The second epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians followed closely on the writing of the first. The second forms the complement of the first; for whereas the first deals in the main with the Lord's coming to the air for His saints who comprise the Church which is His (Christ's) Body, commonly called the coming of the Son of God (1 Thessalonians 1.10), the second deals principally with the coming of the Son of Man to earth in judgement, and with events which will immediately precede that coming, especially with the apostasy and the revelation of the man of sin. In addition, the last chapter gives warning against unreasonable and evil men, and deals with disorderly conduct in the church in Thessalonica, and the course of admonition by the church is in addition to that indicated in 1 Thessalonians 5.14, where the overseers are exhorted to admonish the disorderly. It will be noted that the manner of address of the epistle is similar to the first. 2Thes1v3,4 These servants of God gave thanks to God continually for the Thessalonians, for that their faith grew exceedingly, and their love toward each other abounded. Their glorying or boasting in them in other churches of God must have been by letters which were sent to the different churches, for we know of no journey by the apostle from Athens (Acts 17) until he departed from Athens and came to Corinth (Acts 18.1). The Thessalonians were a suffering people, as we see from the first epistle, and also here we read of their patience and faith in the persecutions and afflictions which they endured. 2Thes1v5,6 Such as have caused God's saints to suffer will themselves suffer divine displeasure for their acts of persecution. We do not speak of those who have repented of their acts, as the Apostle Paul did. This is a righteous thing with God, and the suffering of saints at the hand of the wicked is a manifest token of God's righteous judgement which will come upon the wicked for their wickedness. At the same time, and in God's manifold wisdom in dealing with His own, those who stand the test of suffering, whose faith does not give way, are thus counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which they suffer; that is, such saints as are in the kingdom of God. The kingdom is not something that is entered once for all, nor is it entered by the new birth, though all must be born again before they can either see it or enter it. The words of Acts 14.22 are helpful, where Paul is seen confirming the souls of the disciples in the churches of God in Galatia, as it says, "Confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the Faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God." The words of Hebrews 12.28,29, show also continuity in the reception of the kingdom of God: "Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire." Believers who are in the kingdom of God and are guilty of any of the sins of 1 Corinthians 5.11, 6.9,10, Ephesians 5. 5 cannot inherit or have any inheritance in the kingdom of God. Hence they must be put away by the church of God, which is the local expression of the kingdom of God. See Revelation 1.6, where the seven churches of God in Asia are described as having been made a kingdom and priests by the Lord Jesus unto His God and Father. This was God's kingdom then. The kingdom of God is not entered by being in a spiritual frame of mind, nor are persons out of it if their spiritual condition of happiness is not on a high plane. The kingdom of God is righteousness, the right acting of those who are together in obedience to the call of God, righteousness which is according to the teaching of the Faith (Jude 3; Acts 14.22,23; Matthew 6.10,33; Romans 14.17,18). The kingdom of God was taken from Israel, and given to the little Flock of the Lord's disciples in the beginning of this dispensation (Matthew 21.43,31,32; Luke 12. 31,32; Acts 1.3). 2Thes1v7,8 The words of the Lord Jesus, in Luke 18.7,8, speak of the same time as that of the verses above: "Shall not God avenge His elect, which cry to Him day and night, and He is longsuffering over them? I say unto you, that He will avenge them speedily. Howbeit when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find (the) faith on the earth?" God has betimes visited men in judgement for their wicked persecution of His saints, as witness the parable of the kingdom of heaven, in Matthew 22.1-14, in which the Lord showed God's punishment of the Jews by the Romans for their shameful treatment and killing of His servants. But the full recompense of the wicked upon the earth will be when the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, is revealed from heaven with His angels in flaming fire, when vengeance will be taken on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus. This gospel is, I judge, the gospel of the kingdom, which will be preached unto all the nations (Matthew 24.14). The subject of the gospel of the grace of God, which is preached in this dispensation (Acts 20.24), and the gospel of the kingdom, is the same in both cases, even "the Lord Jesus"; the former case tells of Him who died, was buried and raised again, and went back to heaven; the latter case of His imminent return to earth in judgement. "Obey not" (Me hupakouo) means to refuse to listen, hence to refuse to submit and obey. The attitude shows intentional neglect or sheer rebellion. 2Thes1v9,10 Those who refuse to listen to the gospel shall suffer punishment or pay the penalty (Dike, judicial punishment), and this penalty is eternal destruction (Olethros, vengeance, perdition, destruction). This is not annihilation, an end of being, but an eternal or continuous state of punishment. Vain are the hopes of those who persist in refusing to hear and obey the gospel, that sometime in eternal fire of eternal punishment (see Matthew 25.41,46) they will cease to be. It is said of the Devil, that he, with the beast and the false prophet, will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Revelation 20.10). Even so will it be with the wicked of the human race (Revelation 20.14,15). The punishment of the wicked envisaged in the verses above will begin when the Lord comes back to earth with His angels and His saints, when He will come to be glorified in His saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that have believed. All who have believed will be with the Lord in that day of judgement and victory. The condition of being with Him is not obedience and faithfulness, but simply one of believing, though those who are with Him in His war against the beast and his ten confederate kings will be such as are "called and chosen and faithful" (Revelation 17.12-14). 2Thes1v11,12 The object or end of the prayers of God's servants was that God might count them worthy of their calling. They had been called out to a path of separation, as in 2 Corinthians 6.14-7.1, and called into the Fellowship, as in 1 Corinthians 1.9, which is simlar to the call, in 1 Thessalonians 2.12, "God, who calleth you into His own kingdom and glory." The purpose in their being counted worthy was that there might be fulfilled in them, or brought to completeness, every desire or good pleasure of goodness, toward God (see Hosea 6. 4; Jeremiah 2.2), and work of faith (1 Thessalonians 1.3), toward men, with power, that the name of the Lord Jesus might be glorified in them, and they in Him, and this could only be through the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2Thes2v1,2 The coming of the Lord and our gathering unto Him is what is referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4.16,17. They were not to be quickly shaken in their mind, as to what the apostle taught them, from whatever cause, by spirit, by word, nor by epistle purporting to have been written by the apostle, as that the day of the Lord was then present. Certain things, which are afterwards stated, must transpire ere that day is present. 2Thes2v3,4 The day of the Lord cannot come or be present until two things take place, (1) the falling away or the apostasy, and (2) the revelation of the man of sin, the son of perdition, who is also called the antichrist, and the (wild) beast (1 John 2.18-22; Revelation 13.3-8, 12-15, etc.). Mankind, with the exception of the faithful remnant of Israel, and the multitude of faithful witnesses scattered over the earth, and others who will succour them, will apostatize completely from God and will worship the beast and his image when the beast is revealed. The man of sin and the (wild) beast describe the same person who is the object of worship. The second beast of Revelation 13.11-18 is the false prophet, not the antichrist. As to what some have alleged, that the Jews, the apostate Jews, would not acknowledge a Gentile to be a messiah, I think it will be found, from Ezekiel 21.25, that the deadly wounded one (the beast with the death-stroke or deadly wound, of Revelation 13.3,12) is the prince of Israel, whose day is come, in the time of the iniquity of the end. So that all that has been said about the apostate Jews not receiving a Gentile king (indeed we do not know whether the antichrist will be a Jew or a Gentile by race, though he sits on a Gentile throne), and that the second beast who is a Jew is the antichrist (Revelation 13.11-18), is just so much unsupportable exposition. (On this subject, see my notes on the book of the Revelation.) The man of sin exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. This agrees with what is said in Daniel 11.36-39: "The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods ... Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his place (office) shall he honour the god of fortresses: and a god whom his fathers knew not (the Dragon, or Devil - Revelation 13.4) shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a strange god (the Devil)." These words show clearly that the man of sin is the king that shall come, the last of the kings of the north, the antichrist and the (wild) beast. Some few have taught that the man of sin is Judas Iscariot, because both are called "the son of perdition" (2.3; John 17.12). There is as much sense in this, as if we were to say, that because Judas (John 6.70) and Satan are called diabolos (Devil), therefore Judas and Satan are the same person. The temple (Naos) of God is that which will yet be built in Jerusalem, probably by the Jews. Though God shall not dwell therein, yet that place is His by right, hence it is called "the temple of God." 2Thes2v5,6,7 "Your mind", of verse 2, about these coming events was formed by the teaching of the apostle, as he shows in the above verses: "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" We have in verses 6 and 7, "that which restraineth," and "one that restraineth," or "the restraining thing," and "the restraining one. " Restraineth, Katecho, means here to hinder or impede. The "restraining thing" is the coming apostasy which must come first. "The restraining one" is the Devil, who will hold back until the season (the condition of time appropriate to the revelation of the man of sin, "when the transgressors are come to the full" - Daniel 8. 23) arrives, which is in the time of the great apostasy. The old interpretation of verse 8 is quite incorrect, that the one that restrains is the Holy Spirit, whose restraint will be removed when He is taken out of the way at the coming of the Lord for the Church. This interpretation implies that the Holy Spirit will not be in the earth to restrain the uprising tide of lawlessness. Far from the Holy Spirit being taken from the earth, there will be a world-wide out-pouring of the Spirit upon all flesh before the day of the Lord comes, as is shown from Joel 2.28-32; Acts 2.16-21. The battle between the Spirit-filled saints of that period and the antichrist or (wild) beast will be vigorous and fierce, as the book of Revelation shows. The quotation from Joel 2 by Peter in Acts 2 was an application of what that prophet said as to what was transpiring in Jerusalem at Pentecost, but it was by no means the fulfilment of the Joel prophecy. The words of verse 7 above are, in my opinion, better rendered as follows: "Only he who restrains at present, until out of the midst he become." He who restrains is the Devil, and he who shall become out of the midst is the antichrist or (wild) beast. When he rises out of the midst, then shall be revealed the lawless one. If the one who restrains and is taken out of the way were the Holy Spirit, then the revelation of the beast would take place consequent upon the Lord's coming for the Church, which cannot be supported from Daniel and Revelation. 2Thes2v8,9,10 When the man of sin or (wild) beast rises from the midst, "out of the sea" (Revelation 13.1) - "the waters which thou sawest, ... are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (Revelation 17. 15) - "then shall be revealed the lawless one." Him "the Lord Jesus shall slay" (Analisko, take away or destroy, not slay, as we learn from Revelation 19.20, where are told that the beast and the false prophet "were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone") with the breath (Pneuma, spirit or breath) of His mouth. He shall also bring him to nought (Katargeo, to render inactive, make useless: see of death, 2 Timothy 1.10; of the Devil, Hebrews 2.14; etc.), not annihilate, by the appearing (Epiphaneia), or brightness, of His coming (Parousia). The coming (Parousia) of the lawless one, the beast or antichrist, is according to the working of Satan, "in every power and signs and wonders of falsehood" (translated literally), all of which will be aided and abetted by the false prophet, who shall work great signs in the sight of the beast, and shall deceive them that dwell on the earth (Revelation 13.13,14). Such wonders of falsehood shall be connected with the deceit of unrighteousness, for sin is ever a deceitful thing (Hebrews 3.13). This deceit shall be to the perishing ones, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. They loved falsehood rather than truth, hence they were deceived, and they loved to be deceived. What a sad story! But is it different in kind from what exists today? Nay verily: the deceit may be different in measure, for deceit will then have reached its high water-mark, but it is not different in kind from the many forms of deceit practised now. 2Thes2v11,12 Herein lies the cause of the rise of antichrist; men in general want to be told lies, because they have pleaure in unrighteousness. They want to sin; they neither want to be righteous nor to do righteousness. Men need not blame the devil or the antichrist; the state of the world, which will admit of the last tragic scenes of Gentile government and behaviour, will be that which men have made it for themselves. Hence we have the awful reality and truth of these verses, that God will send them a working of error, that they all may be condemned who believe not the truth. The condition of men's hearts will be fully revealed in that they will actually love lying rather than truthfulness, hence the devil, the father of lies, will find men an easy prey. 2Thes2v13,14 Paul gives thanks again for the Thessalonians, that God chose (Haireo, strictly "to take, to choose"; elsewhere he uses Eklego, to pick, to choose, for election) them from the beginning unto salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, which is God's side of salvation, and belief of the truth, which is our side. In 1 Peter 1.1,2, we have election and sanctification of the Spirit again spoken of, but there it is unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, which is the New Testament answer to Exodus 24.3-8. But in verse 13 above sanctification of the Spirit is unto salvation. These facts should be carefully noted. It was unto this salvation that the Thessalonians were called through the gospel which had been preached by God's servants. 2Thes2v15 Seeing that this was God's purpose regarding them, in election, salvation and glory, they were exhorted to stand fast and firm, and to hold fast the traditions. "The traditions" were the oral instructions or instructions by letter which were given by the apostles to the saints while as yet there was no New Testament. The epistles to the Thessalonians were among the first, if not the first, parts of th New Testament to be written, so we see how the saints of those days were shut up for instruction to the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2.42) which was the traditions (1 Corinthians 11. 2; 2 Thessalonians 2.15; 3.6). The word traditions ceased to be used in the inspired writings of the New Testament as these writings began to appear and be circulated among the saints. 2Thes2v16,17 The words, "which loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace," apply to the Father. But Paul wishes the Lord Himself and God the Father to comfort and to stablish the Thessalonians in every good work and word. The thought of the Father having loved us and given to us eternal comfort and good hope through His wondrous grace is very precious indeed. Eternal comfort - nothing can disturb the inward state of rest of the soul that rests completely in Him who says, "Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest." 2Thes3v1,2 Finally, or for the rest, the apostle asks them to pray for him, as he often does throughout his epistles, that the word of the Lord might run rapidly and be glorified in reaching the throne of the hearts of the hearers, even as it had in reaching the hearts of the Thessalonians. There are ever opposers of the work of the Lord, hence Paul writes of unreasonable and evil men, "for," said he, "all have not (the) Faith." The definite article is present before faith and should appear, as evidently it is the Faith and not faith. 2Thes3v3 "The evil" would point out some definite form of evil, but no evil is mentioned. It seems more natural to conclude that it is "the evil one" who is envisaged. The Lord, who is faithful, would stablish or fix firmly, and guard them from the evil one. He would guard them as a sentinel, for the evil one goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5.8). 2Thes3v4,5 "In the Lord" is a term which implies subjection to His will; and Paul was confident in Him that they were so subject that they both did and would do what he commanded them, within the compass of the Lord's will. His wish for them was, that the Lord would direct their hearts into the love of God, which is the mainspring of all true acting, and into the patience or endurance of Christ. The endurance of the Master should be the endurance of all who follow Him. 2Thes3v6,7,8 Whilst the overseers were exhorted, in 1 Thessalonians 5.14, to admonish the disorderly (Ataktos, "principally spoken of soldiers who desert their ranks"), we have here a state of disorder which calls for admonition to be administered by all within the church; all the saints being commanded in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to withdraw themselves from the disorderly. This command would be made by a public announcement by the overseers to the church. The apostle and his fellows had taught them how to walk orderly when tjey were with them, and had shown orderly behaviour by working in manual labour to maintain themselves while they preached to the Thessalonians. He described how that they had wrought night and day in ceaseless toil, working and preaching, so that they would not be a burden to any of them. 2Thes3v9,10 Paul had the right, as one who preached the gospel, to live of the gospel (1 Corinthians 9.14). But to show themselves ensamples for others to follow, these men wrought to keep themselves, so as to make the gospel without charge (1 Corinthians 9.18). How wholesome are his words, "If any man will not work, neither let him eat"! 2Thes3v11,12 Lazybodies become busybodies, officious, prying, intermeddlers, persons who are a stain on any community and serious causes of trouble with their tittle-tattle. Such Paul commanded and exhorted in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness, to give their tongues a rest and their hands work to do, and to eat their own bread, and not that of others. 2Thes3v13 The saints in Thessalonica in general were well-doing people, and they were exhorted not to be weary in well-doing. 2Thes3v14,15 If the corrective words of this epistle were not obeyed by any one, that man was to be marked (Semaino, from Sema, a sign or mark, and means to signify, also to declare, to announce), and the saints were not to keep company or associate with him, so that he might be ashamed of his conduct. He was to be admonished as a brother and not accounted as an enemy. This is admonition within the church. 2Thes3v16,17,18 We read of the God of peace several times. Here we have the Lord of peace Himself who would give them peace always and in every way. Paul's wish was, "The Lord be with you all." As of old, so now, He will be with us, if we be with Him. Here is Paul's salutation, a salutation in every one of his fourteen epistles, that of "grace." It is given under his own hand, as in 1 Corinthians 16.21; Colossians 4.18. See in contrast Romans 16.22, and also Galatians 6.11. NOTES ON THE TO TIMOTHY FIRST EPISTLE 1Tim1v1,2 Paul speaks of himself as being a called apostle of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 1.1. (See also 2 Corinthians 1.1; Ephesians 1.1; Colossians 1.1; 2 Timothy 1.1), but here he speaks of himself as being an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God and Christ Jesus. God is called here our Saviour and Christ Jesus is our Hope. Christ is our Hope before God, our Priest, the "better Hope, " through which we draw nigh unto God (Hebrews 7.19; see also 6.18; 3.6). He is also the blessed Hope, the One who is coming again (Titus 2.13), "who shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him unto salvation" (Hebrews 9.28); not salvation from the penalty of sin, but from the presence of sin, that salvation which is "ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1.5), which is nearer to us than when we first believed" (Romans 13.11). The A.V. gives "my own son in the Faith." It is not "my own son," but "my true child," and it is "in faith" not "in the Faith," though there are differences of opinion on the point among scholars as to whether "the" is implied before "faith," though the definite article is not in the Greek. We may safely follow the R.V. reading - "my true child in faith." 1Tim1v3,4 The question arises, "When did Paul exhort Timothy to tarry at Ephesus when he was going into Macedonia?" Was it some time before his imprisonment in Rome, of which we read in Acts 28.16,30, when he abode in his own hired dwelling "with the soldier that guarded him"? Was there but one imprisonment, or were there first and second imprisonments? In Philippians 1.26 Paul writes anticipating being with the Philippians again, and in Philemon 22 he writes to Philemon in Colossae, "But withall prepare me also a lodging: for I hope that through your prayers I shall be granted unto you." To Timothy he also wrote, "The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when thou comest, and the books, especially the parchments" (2 Timothy 4.13). In this same chapter he said, "Trophimus I left at Miletus sick" (verse 20). It seems to me that these references indicate that there were two imprisonments, and that the events he alludes to in 1 and 2 Timothy took place after the book of the Acts closes, between Paul's two imprisonments in Rome. Timothy was besought or exhorted by Paul to stay in Ephesus while he himself proceeded to Macedonia. The object, as Paul stated, was that Timothy should charge certain men not to teach heterodox doctrines, doctrines contrary to what Paul had taught, nor to give heed to fables (Titus 1.14 speaks of Jewish fables) and endless genealogies. In these interminable genealogies the Jews, in their pride of race and natural birth, took a special delight. The genealogy of Jesus Christ is the only genealogy in the New Testament. He being proved to be the Messiah, having come of the seed of David and Abraham, the vital matter from then on is not natural birth, but the new birth, the birth from above, by the Spirit and word of God, by which all so born are children of God. These fables and genealogies led to questionings out of which arose strifes, the produce of the carnal mind. This is the opposite of a dispensation which is in faith. Here is the great cleavage between that which is natural and that which is spiritual, of works and faith, of law and grace. If people are believers it matters not whether they are Jews or Gentiles, royal or noble or of the common folk; pedigrees have no value now with God. 1Tim1v5 The end, object or purpose, of the charge was love out of a pure heart. Of what value is love, if it does not proceed out of a pure heart, if the motive behind a profession of love is not pure? Love is easily felt where it exists; it is evident in love's labour (1 Thessalonians 1.3). Then follows the next component of the charge, "a good conscience." No believer can please God with a bad or defiled conscience. What is conscience? It is the inward knowledge of a person which bears witness to his words and works whether they are good or bad, right or wrong. Conscience either accuses or excuses (Romans 2.15). It may be seared as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4.2), and so rendered ineffective in its witness. Conscience is not in itself the standard of right and wrong; it can be perverted by wrong teaching. Paul claimed to have lived with a good conscience even when he was a proud Pharisee persecuting the saints (Acts 23.1). When he became subject to the doctrine of the apostles then his conscience, enlightened by the new teaching, reacted in quite another way. The third part of the charge is "faith unfeigned." Faith is the result of hearing the word of God (Romans 10.17). If there is no revelation there can be no faith. Some say, "I believe," when they should say, "I think." Faith unfeigned is not a mere pretence at believing, nor is it a false faith which does not rest upon the word of God. 1Tim1v6,7,8 To swerve is to miss the mark. Sin also means to miss the mark. Men like to talk who have no ear to listen to God talking to them. "The talk of the lips tendeth only to penury" (Proverbs 14.23). How useless is empty talk! trivial, vain disputings! Such vain talkers desired to be teachers of the law, but they were without understanding of its use in this dispensation. Indeed it is well for all carefully to follow Paul's teaching regarding the law, its functions as a rule of life, not a means of life, its uselessness in dealing with sin as rooted in the flesh, its inability to give life to the sinner dead in sins, or to provide him with righteousness. Its use to saints is the same in this dispensation as in the past, as a lamp to their feet and a light to their path, to teach them how to behave before God and men, love being the fulfilment of law (Romans 13.8-10). Paul says of the law in Romans 7.12 that it is holy, and the commandment thereof holy, righteous, and good. Its use is to guide the just who are liable to go wrong, and man being by nature a wrong-doer must learn that wrong-doing is sin against God, and so by the law cometh the knowledge of sin (Romans 3.20). 1Tim1v9,10,11 Here we have a lengthy list of various forms of evil-doing and vice which illustrates what Paul wrote in Galatians 3.19: "What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed (Christ) should come to whom the promise hath been made." "Through the law cometh the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3.20). "I had not known sin, except through the law" (Romans 7.7). The true motive power of all well-doing is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The Lord said, "On these two commandments hangeth the whole law, and the prophets" (Matthew 22.34-40). He gave the meaning of what He called the second commandment in His teaching in Matthew 7.12: "All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets." This is the simplest, greatest and most corrective statement of the conduct of men toward each other that was ever made, and, if it were obeyed on earth, would turn earth into a veritable heaven. But self-love, with its covetousness and all other forms of evil, makes this world a heap of reeking moral and physical corruption. It is against such a state that the voice of the law speaks loudly, in the light of which men are called to repent. Even the world's legislatures are continually churning out laws to control men in their sinful propensities. Kind and loving people need few laws. The cause of all the trouble is that state of moral corruption which Paul so frequently calls "the flesh." A list of its works he gives in Galatians 5.19-21. The moral depravity of human nature was the cause of Israel's and also of the world's corruptions and distresses. Against the fruit of the Spirit who indwells all believers there is no law (Galatians 5.22,23). The gospel of the glory of the blessed (or happy) God proclaims the need of new birth to men; this message of divine glory is totally against human sin and corruption. It opens the door to a new way of life, a divine and heavenly mode of living in a world which is waxing worse and worse. 1Tim1v12 "I thank Him," or "I am thankful to Him" (Charin Echo can correctly be rendered "I am thankful." See 2 Timothy 1.3; Luke 17.9; Hebrews 12.28) who strengthened or empowered me; such was the appreciation of Paul in regard to the grace which he had known and which was not found vain in him (1 Corinthians 15.10). It produced in him a spirit of thankfulness. He speaks of the Lord counting him faithful, appointing him to his service (Diakonian). The Lord makes no mistakes, for His gifts and calling are without repentance on His part (Romans 11.29). He knew Paul perfectly when He saved him on the Damascus road; He had separated him even from his mother's womb (Galatians 1.15), and long ages before that, in times eternal, there was a purpose and grace given to him in Christ Jesus, which became manifest through his being saved and called with a holy calling (2 Timothy 1.9); this calling became evident to men in Acts 13.1-3. 1Tim1v13,14 The record from the pen of Luke of Paul's actions prior to his conversion, and what he says of himself in the Acts and elsewhere, fully confirm what he says here, that he was indeed to the full extent a blasphemer, not only one himself, but he sought to make the saints who suffered at his hands blasphemers also. He persecuted the saints even to foreign cities (Acts 26.11), and he laid waste the church of God in Jerusalem, haling men and women to prison (Acts 8.3; 1 Corinthians 15.9; Galatians 1.13). How deeply Paul felt in his conscience the memory of those past days! But God had mercy on him, because, he says, "I did it ignorantly in unbelief." The Lord prayed for those that killed Him in the words, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23.34). Peter said to the Jews in Jerusalem, "Brethren, I wot that in ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers ... Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3.17,19). Ignorance and unbelief were far from being good qualities in Paul. They did not provide merit so that God had mercy on him, but show the justice of God in discriminating between what may be done in ignorance and the terrible evil of rebellion, of sinning against light. Paul evidently was one of those to whom the Lord referred in John 16.2, when He said, "The hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God." The grace and love of the Lord abounded exceedingly in Paul's case, for which he was truly thankful to Christ Jesus his Lord. "Which is" is the English rendering of the Greek singular definite article Tes and refers to the love which is in Christ Jesus. The passage indicates Paul's faith and Christ's love. 1Tim1v15 Here it is clearly stated that the purpose of the Lord's coming into the world was not to set up His millennial kingdom and to reign over Israel and the world. No such kingdom was offered to the Jewish people, as some interpreters have erroneously explained the words of John the Baptist and of the Lord, "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3.2,4,17). It is also said "For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him" (John 3.17). We know from many scriptures that the judgement of the world precedes the millennial reign of Christ, and had He come with the intention of reigning, and not suffering, then must He have come to judge the world. But the Lord is most emphatic that He was not sent to judge, but to save the world. The words of John 3 were spoken at the commencement of His public ministry and those of Matthew 20.28 near the close of His life. He said, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." He is the Saviour of the world, and He had not come to save Israel from the power of Rome, but from their sins (John 18.36; Matthew 1.21). He came, as Paul says, to save sinners from the penalty and also from the power of sin. Of the vast concourse of sinners Paul puts himself first and chiefest of all. 1Tim1v16 The purpose, emphasized by Paul, why the Lord had shown mercy to him was that He might show forth in Paul an ensample of His longsuffering mercy with sinners. Need we say that Paul is not here speaking of his suffering for Christ and the gospel's sake as an example for others to follow, but that he was an ensample of the Lord's longsuffering with men who in the hardness of their hearts kick against the goads of divine reproofs, so that they might know the way of God's salvation? Surely divine mercy waited on Saul of Tarsus, who was fitting himself to be a vessel of destruction. Here in the chief of sinners we see the longsuffering of the Lord magnified. Peter says that the Lord is longsuffering to usward, not wishing that any should perish. He also refers to the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah (2 Peter 3.9; 1 Peter 3. 19,20). 1Tim1v17 The redeemed soul of Paul, as he thinks of God's abundant love, grace and mercy to him, a one-time persecutor and now an apostle of Jesus Christ, bursts out in praise to God, the eternal King and only God, who is incorruptible and invisible, of whose infinite kindness he had known. Instead of languishing in torment which his sin deserved, he, in the joy of salvation, praises God whose hand in mercy had been stretched out toward him. Shall we not ever do likewise when we too take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord? 1Tim1v18,19,20 After the digression Paul has made, first to speak of the purpose of the law and of God's mercy to himself, a law-breaker, he returns to the charge referred to in verse 3. He writes to Timothy in the endearing term of "my child," not "my son." He refers to the prophecies connected with Timothy's call to the ministry, first as a fellow servant with Paul. This is referred to in 4.14, where Paul says, "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." God had spoken by the mouths of persons, perhaps the brethren at Lystra and Iconium, as we read in Acts 16.2: "The same was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium." Whilst the minister of Christ is one who feeds the lambs and sheep, and the flock of God, he is, in another sense, to be a warrior who will face and fight those who are enemies of God's flock. David the shepherd-king of Israel was such. He fed his father's sheep, but when a lion or a bear took a lamb out of the flock he went after him, and slew him and deliverd the lamb. Later, when he cared for the flock of God, he slew Goliath and other enemies besides. Timothy was to take sword and shield and to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus and to war against false teaching and false teachers. There are times for soft words and times also for words that are strong and powerful. The Christian soldier must hold faith and a good conscience; otherwise he will be weak before the enemy. Some had violently thrust these essentials from them, little realising their immense value, and were as a vessel without chart or rudder, a plaything of wind and wave. Shipwreck was the result. Few things present such a hopeless and melancholy sight as a shipwreck. What once had been a noble vessel, perchance the pride of the seas, at last becomes a wreck, mere scrap for the furnace, or worse, to go gradually to pieces as it sinks daily to oblivion beneath the waves. Of such as made shipwreck concerning the Faith (not concerning salvation) were Hymenaeus (perhaps the same as in 2 Timothy 2.17) and Alexander (perhaps Alexander of 2 Timothy 4.14). These two men had been guilty of blasphemy. (Blasphemy literally means hurtful speaking, to speak injuriously, evil speaking. In things pertaining to God, it means, "to speak of God and divine things in terms of impious irreverence.") These men had been excommunicated, that is, they had been delivered to Satan for their evil speaking. (See 1 Corinthians 5, where the man there was delivered unto Satan for immoral conduct). In both cases the judgement of the apostle, which was God's judgement, had been given effect to in the respective churches. 1Tim2v1,2 Here begins that section of the epistle which deals with the behaviour of men and women, of overseers and deacons, in the house of God (2.1-3.16). Of this part Paul writes, "These things write I unto thee ... that thou mayest know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God" (3.14,15). Any movement that is of God, whether in an individual or among a people, begins with and is maintained by prayer. If men have no living, continuous contact with God, then there can be neither light nor power. This dispensation began with prayer: "These all with one accord continued stedfastly in prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren" (Acts 1.14). The powerful witness of the apostles continued on similar lines: "Now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto Thy servants to speak Thy word with all boldness ... And with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4.24, 29-33). Great power and great grace were the result of much prayer. Here in 1 Timothy right behaviour begins with prayer. Supplication, prayer, intercession, are words which convey ideas much akin to each other. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word translated supplication conveys the idea of graciousness, a seeking of grace. Gesenius says that properly it means the cry for mercy. This seems to be borne out in the first use of the word in Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the house of the LORD. He uses the word frequently (1 Kings 8.28,30,33,38,45,47,49,52,54, 59). Note particularly the words of verse 52: "That Thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of Thy servant, and unto the supplication of Thy people Israel, to hearken unto them whensoever they cry unto Thee." The Greek word for supplication in 1 Timothy 2.1 means a petition, a begging as the result of need, an asking. Prayer means a wish, entreaty made to God as the result of need, an asking. Prayer means a wish, entreaty made to God only, or a vow. Intercession means a meeting with, an interview, intercourse with the object of interceding for someone. Thanksgiving is the expression of gratitude, the use of grateful language to God. These words are all in the plural, showing that there is to be a continuance in their exercise. Such are to be made for all men. In the matter of prayer there is gross darkness in many hearts in many lands, and there are many lying vanities. The Buddhist turns his prayer wheel and cries, "O Jewel of the Lotus, Amen." The Moslem prays to Allah, Mahomet's god. The Romanist ceaselessly repeats "Hail Mary." Protestants pray betimes to Almighty God without reference to Jesus Christ, the one Way of reaching the ear of God His Father. They, at least, should know better. There are prayers in plenty, but most who pray know neither the Lord Jesus nor His Father. Such prayers are vain. The Lord said to His disciples in the matter of prayer, "In praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking" (Matthew 6. 7). Surely there is much need for prayer by those in whom is the Spirit of God and who know Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, for men steeped in ignorance and unbelief who are drifting on to hell and eternal misery. Particular prayer is to be made for kings and all in eminence or dignity in human affairs, so that things may be overruled by God that we may be able to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity. The Christian should be a godly and grave person, not gloomy and dejected: he has everything to make him happy and cheerful in the present joy of the Holy Spirit and the future inheritance in glory. 1Tim2v3,4 God is not ignorant of the need of the souls of men nor does He need to be stirred to concern and activity concerning that need. So great was His love for the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die on Calvary (John 3.16; 1 John 4.9,10). He has also sent forth His Spirit to convict men of sin and to bear witness concerning Christ (John 15.26; 16.7-11). What more could He have done? His will is that saved illuminated men and women should be His witnesses in the world, each in his own sphere, shedding their light in the darkness. God is the Saviour, saints are His messengers, the instruments He uses, but they must be in touch with Him, hence the need for prayer. God willeth, that is, he desires, all men to be saved. God's desire is equal to the provision He has made, for there is one Mediator between God and men, and that Mediator is the redemption price as well. Saved men should not stop at being saved. Alas, many do. They should go on to the knowledge of the truth. Coming to the knowledge of the truth does not mean coming to know the way of salvation from hell. It means coming to know the way of the truth for believers, for God has a way in which they should walk as well as a way for them to be saved. See the following passages where the phrase "the knowledge of the truth" is mentioned: 2 Timothy 2.24-26; 3.7; Titus 1.1; Hebrews 10. 26. If the knowledge of the truth was synonymous with being saved, then we should certainly have the falling away doctrine taught in Hebrews 10.26-31. That believers can fall away from the living God and from a place in divine service is plainly taught in the word, but they cannot fall away from grace and be lost eternally. Believers should not remain ignorant of what the will of God is. The Lord revealed in John 7.17 the principle on which God works, "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching." If the believer is willing to do God's will then God will teach him. 1Tim2v5,6 Men conceive and make gods many (1 Corinthians 8.5). Idolatry and mythology stocked the world and men's minds with gods in abundance, and still do. Greece, to take one example, the land of philosophy and worldly wisdom, had gods for all purposes, gods for war and gods for peace, for land and sea, for debauch and sensuality, gods that married and gods that fought with each other, and in addition there was AN UNKNOWN GOD, who was the God that Paul declared to the philosophers in Athens (Acts 17.22,31). Worldly wisdom did not rid the minds of men of such vain imaginations, nor can worldly wisdom rid men's minds of the idolatry of our times. The Scriptures proclaim from first to last that there is one God. How did the world get on and how were men saved before the arrival of the pope of Rome and all the idolatrous images of the papal system or the ikons of the Greek church? and what of the world before the arrival of Buddha and Mahomet? Where was God then? The God of Israel and of the patriarchs of the book of Genesis is the same one God that Paul proclaimed. Any other person or thing that claims the veneration of men, a veneration which is due to God alone, is idolatry. In the days of the apostle men had angelic mediators whom they worshipped (Colossians 2.18). Papal Rome carries on this practice, but instead of it being angels it is Mary, whom the Roman catholics worship as the queen of heaven, which is an ancient form of idolatry which is condemned by God in Jeremiah 7.16-20; 44. 15-30. To mariolatry (the worship of the Virgin Mary, whom they have erroneously held for long years as "ever virgin") they have recently added the dogma that she went to heaven in bodily form, and it is mortal sin for a Roman catholic not to accept this. Where in the Scriptures do we find the death of Mary? or where do we find that she went to heaven when she was alive or that she died and was raised from the dead and went to heaven? Such are nowhere to be found in the whole New Testament. Men believe what they want to believe and what they think will be to their advantage. Lies spring out of the earth today like weeds in a garden, but, thank God, the day of the Lord is coming when truth shall spring out of the earth (Psalm 85.11); then the hideous monstrosities of idolatry, of Rome and all other systems of idolatry, will be swept away. Before that day men will cast their idols to the moles and the bats, and shall seek to cover themselves in the caverns and clefts of the ragged rocks from the terror of the LORD. (See Isaiah 2.5-22; Revelation 6.12-17.) Let it be shouted from the housetops that there is one God and but one Mediator and one High Priest. There is no other priest or mediator that comes between the souls of men and God, it matters not what systems of education or ordination men may establish; men's systems are human, Scripture revelation is divine. The blessed Man Christ Jesus, the one Mediator, is Himself the ransom price of the souls of men. He is between God and all men; He also gave Himself a ransom for all men, so that there is abundant provison for all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. If men are not redeemed the fault does not lie at God's door, but at the door of those who refuse the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God has done all that is possible, providing salvation and eternal life as a gift (Romans 6.23; Ephesians 2.8). 1Tim2v7 Here Paul shows his part in the work of God relative to the salvation of men, and the coming to the knowledge of the truth on the part of those that are saved. Paul's work lay principally among the Gentiles; he was an apostle of Gentiles, as sent to them. Some men may be more of the herald than the teacher, and some more of the teacher than the herald, but Paul was one who could sling equally well with both hands. He could make disciples and also teach them to observe all that the Lord had commanded (Matthew 28.19,20). 1Tim2v8 Here the original word for "desire" is Boulomai, the word "willeth," in verse 4, Thelo. Wordsworth says "that Thelo expresses a stronger desire than Boulomai." The former "has been explained of active volition and purpose," and the latter (Boulomai) "of mere inclination, passive desire, or propensity." Paul desires that men should pray. Here he makes a difference between the sexes, as he does in verses 9-15 in regard to women. Prayer in public, which Paul has in view, is the function of the men. There is little fear in regard to men's conduct in the house of God if they are praying men who pray lifting up holy hands without wrath or disputing. Wrath and disputation will dispel holiness of life and fervency in prayer, these things cannot dwell in the same heart as prayer. 1Tim2v9,10 In assemblings where the men are to pray (for all men and kings and so forth) the women are not to mar these gatherings by their clothing or behaviour, but they are to appear in seemly guise, their arrangement of dress is to be with modesty and discreetness. "Shamefacedness" of the A.V. is a corruption of the word "shamefastness" of the R.V., which is correct. The word means modesty. Women are to exhibit proper womanly reserve so becoming of their sex. Many modern women have cast aside much of this reserved dignity and grace, and this is not to their honour. Women are not to adorn themselves with plaits of hair, gold or pearls, but (what is becoming in women professing godliness) through good works. How fitting it is for men to be lifting up holy hands in prayer to have such women in their company whose attire and decorum is of that godly sort which is an encouragement and not a hinderance to prayer! 1Tim2v11,12 As in public gatherings the men are to pray, so also in public gatherings women are not to teach, but to be in quietness. This is the voice of the Spirit of God, for here Paul is writing inspired Scripture, and not as some say, who wish to get round the commandment of the Lord, that it is Paul's opinion. To make this to be Paul's opinion would make His writings on other matters Paul's opinion also. Where would this lead us to? Women who fear God will hear and heed God's word as here given. They will be glad to take the place assigned to them by God from the very beginning. Women are to be in subjection. This does not mean inferiority. If subjection meant inferiority then it would mean that the Son of God is inferior to God (1 Corinthians 15.28). He is the equal of God the Father (John 5.18), and on equality with God (Philippians 2. 6), and of the essence and nature of God, and consequently in the image of God (Colossians 1.15-19; Hebrews 1.3). Woman is man's equal in essence and nature, not an inferior creature, but in God's all-wise purpose, in our present earthly estate, she is in subjection to the man, in the ordination of God, and must not in public assemblings teach, and she must not exercise dominion over the man. The Greek word for "to have dominion" is Authenteo, which means one acting by his or her own authority, to domineer. 1Tim2v13,14 Here Paul gives reasons why the woman is to be in subjection and in quietness; the first is in the order in which man and woman were made. Paul uses the Greek word Plasso for formed, a word similar in meaning to the Hebrew word used by Moses in Genesis 2.7: "The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground"; both words mean to mould, as the potter moulds a vessel of clay. Eve in contrast was made of a rib taken from Adam's side. The word "made" in "made He a woman" (Genesis 2.22) means "to build" (R.V.marg.). It means to build anything, a house, a city, and so forth. It is also used of a man and a woman building a house by having children (Genesis 16. 2; Deuteronomy 25.9; Ruth 4.11). The Lord when speaking of the Church, which is His Body, His Bride, speaks of building the Church (Matthew 16.18). The purpose of God in the woman was that she should be a help meet, a female helper to the male, to aid, succour, and answer to man's needs in all respects, spiritually, mentally and physically, and to assist him in wedlock in building his house by bearing him children. No other creature that God had made could do this. The animals had no spiritual life, no consciousness of the Divine Being, no mental ability such as man was given as the lord of all earthly creatures, and to mix with beasts physically would have been bestiality of the most abominable kind. Thus woman is man's true helper, answering to him in all his needs. Alas, the second reason for the woman's subjection to the man lies in how the fall took place. Eve was beguiled, deceived or seduced, and fell into transgression. Hence the sentence of God in Genesis 3.16, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Adam, in contrast to Eve, was not deceived. His transgression, being sin against light, was the more serious of the two. 1Tim2v15 In what sense is the woman to be saved through the childbearing? What is her danger? This verse is integrated with what goes before by the conjunction "but" (De). She is not to have dominion over the man or to teach publicly. Childless Eve acted on her own authority without consulting her husband. She took of the forbidden tree, and did eat of its fruit and also gave to her husband, and he did eat. Thus the devil wrought from beneath, through the animal, the serpent of the field, to the woman, and through the woman to the man. He ever works from beneath. God works from the man to the woman and by them to the animals. He works from above. Thus it was that the fall of mankind came about. To meet the ravages of death, conception and the birthrate had to be increased, and what was God's judgement on the woman and womankind was to be to their salvation. Their desire was to be to their husbands who would rule over them. The childless wife is in need of special grace so that she will not usurp the rights and place of her husband, and act on her own authority and teach him what to do. Some have this grace, and those who have not got it should seek it. This comely state of the proper relationship of husband and wife will be realized, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety. Sobriety means discreetness or restraint of the desires or passions. The childbearing is the natural childbearing of a husband and wife, and has nothing to do with the Lord's miraculous birth or with salvation which comes to us by His death and resurrection. 1Tim3v1 "If a man seeketh," that is, stretches forward to overseership, does not mean that one through ambition or otherwise expresses a wish to be appointed or recognized as an overseer, but by his actions shows that he is stretching forward to do such a work which the Lord has laid upon his heart. The work of constituting a man an overseer is of the Holy Spirit. "Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in the which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops (overseers), to feed the church of God" (Acts 20.28). Men may ambitiously seek overseership, and others may appoint to that position those who have shown no evidence in their life that they are seeking the work, but are seeking only the position of overseers. This is the sure road to trouble. Note that overseership means work, place is of very secondary importance. Indeed the overseer should be the servant of all and the least of all. There is no word in the Greek for "office." The words "the office of a bishop" are one word in the Greek, Episkopes, which means "overseership." Paul says that this is a good or beautiful work. 1Tim3v2,3 The overseer's conduct is carefully dealt with by Paul, for he is a public man and one who is to be a pattern to the saints. They should be able to look to him as an ensample, and the overseer might at times correct his behaviour by asking himself the question, "Would I like all the saints to be like me?" If he would not, then it is time to apply the proper correction to his life. He is to be irreproachable, blameless, one whose conduct cannot be attacked or censured. "The husband of one wife" has been the subject of considerable discussion. There are at least five views as to what these words mean:(1) A man who prior to conversion had had more than one wife, and who were still alive. (2) A man who has but one wife alive (though there is no evidence whatever that Christians at any time were guilty of polygamy, of having more than one wife). (3) A man who has been married once only, a second marriage upon the death of his wife being disallowed in the case of an overseer (see chapter 5.9). (4) Chaste fidelity to the marriage vow ("that neither polygamy, nor concubinage, nor any offensive deuterogamy, should be able to be alleged against such a person") (5) A man who is an overseer should be a married man, the husband of a wife. We may dismiss (5) in the light of the fact that Paul himself was not a married man, or, as some think, a widower (1 Corinthians 7.7, 8; 9.5,6). An apostle was an elder or overseer (1 Peter 5.1). It might be argued that the words, "One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity," imply that he must be married and also he must have children. Even if he had but one child he would thus not be eligible, for the scripture speaks of children. This, we judge, would be straining Scripture beyond its proper limit. As to (4), this is too vague. It is not simply that a man believes in the chastity of marriage and faithfulness to the marriage bond, but that he is himself the husband of one wife. Then in regard to (3), Paul elsewhere shows that death severs the marriage bond, making the person thus freed free to marry again (1 Corinthians 7.39; Romans 7.2). In 1 Timothy 5.14 he desires the younger widows to marry. As to (2), does the apostle mean that overseers must have only one wife but saints may have more than one? We believe that this would be a very improper view to take. Saints were not allowed to have more than one wife. When Paul says that the overseer must not be a brawler, a striker, or a lover of money, he is not allowing that the saints may be brawlers, strikers or lovers of money. Paul is making positive statements as to conduct. Should an overseer's wife die, are we to lay it down as the Lord's will that he must live a celibate life afterwards? Would not this be going beyond what the Lord says about a man's gift in Matthew 19.11,12? and such a course of teaching might reap its terrible reward in some cases. We must avoid the teaching of certain in the days of the apostle, and in our own times, whose doctrine he sums up in the terse words "forbidding to marry." Death discharges the bond of marriage, leaving the freed person free to marry in the Lord, if he so desires, though the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 7.40 may have a bearing in some cases. Then as to (1), it seems to us that the correct view of "husband of one wife" is, that prior to conversion a man may have married and divorced his wife and remarried another woman, and there might have been, besides the wife he was living with, one or more women alive who had been his wives. The following is an extract from "The life and epistles of Paul," by Conybeare and Howson, page 751:"In the corrupt facility of divorce allowed both by the Greek and Roman law, it was very common for man and wife to separate, and marry other parties, during the life of one another. Thus a man might have three or four living wives; or, rather, women who had all successively been his wives ... We believe it is this kind of successive polygamy, rather than simultaneous polygamy, which is here spoken of as disqualifying for the Presbyterate." The overseer must be temperate, that is sober, not given to wine, therefore vigilant; soberminded, that is discreet, sensible, prudent, wise; orderly, decorous, well behaved; given to hospitality, one who loves or is kind to strangers; apt to teach, one who is skilful or qualified to teach. The overseer is not to be a brawler, a reviler, as the result of wine-drinking; he is not to be a striker, one apt to strike, a characteristic allied to being a brawler. He is to be gentle, mild, yielding easily; not contentious, not disposed to fight, not quarrelsome; no lover of money, and as a consequence, liberal, generous. 1Tim3v4,5 The household of an overseer should be a pattern of order and his children should be in subjection with gravity or solemnity. If a man fails in the rule of his own house, Paul quite correctly asks how will such a man care for the church of God; if he fails in the lesser sphere of rule, how can he succeed in the greater? The principle of added responsibility being, as the Lord said, "He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much" (Luke 16. 10). It must not be deduced, as we have said before, from what Paul says here, that a single man is not eligible for oversight work because he has no household and no children. It must at the same time be conceded, I think, that, generally speaking, the family man is taught many practical lessons that can be profitably turned to good account in the rule of a church of God. 1Tim3v6,7 A novice is one that is newly planted in a church of God; a church of God is a planted thing (1 Corinthians 3.6). The word translated "puffed up" (Tupotheis) comes from the word smoke. It not only signifies being puffed up or inflated, but that pride, which is like smoke that blinds the eyes, blinds one to a proper sense of one's importance. Such a proud puffed coxcomb would be useless in the position of ruling others. A novice cannot become an overseer lest he fall into the fault or crime of the devil, which was pride (Ezekiel 28.17). The overseer must also have a good testimony from without, that is, without the church of God. "Them that are without" is a phrase which was first used by the Lord (Mark 4.11) to describe those who were outside the circle of His disciples. It is also used in 1 Corinthians 5.12,13; Colossians 4.5; 1 Thessalonians 4.12, as well as here in 1 Timothy 3.7. If overseers are to have a good testimony from them that are without, then they must walk in wisdom and honesty toward them. This is what Paul enjoins in Philippians 2.15, and Peter also says, "Having your behaviour seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2.12). He who is the accuser of the brethren before God (Revelation 12.10) will soon fill the mouths of his servants with reproaches against saints whose behaviour is not what it ought to be. Those who fall into the devil's snare, whatever form it may take, may have great trouble getting out, and especially so if such persons should be recognized in the public work of oversight. Falling into the devil's snare may be like the bird with the broken pinion that ne'er soared as high again. 1Tim3v8,9 Deacons are mentioned in Philippians 1.1 with saints and bishops (overseers). What is a deacon and what is an overseer? A deacon is a servant, a waiting man, a messenger. Liddell and Scott say, "Commonly derived from Dia (through) and Konis (dust), one who is dusty from running ..., or one who sleeps in dust and ashes." Another opinion is that the word is derived from Diako, to run or hasten. Its application in Scripture is that it signifies a servant or minister. An overseer (Episkopos) literally means one who watches over, a guardian, a superintendent; it is equal to Presbuteros (elder). See Acts 20.17,28; 1 Peter 5.1,2. Ministry of various kinds, but particularly ministry of the word, is the function of the deacon. Rule, feeding, and caring generally for the flock, is the responsibility of overseers. Such as are overseers are to be obeyed by the flock (Hebrews 13.17). Deacons are to be grave, serious, venerable; not double-tongued (diligos), not speaking one thing and meaning another, not deceitful in words; not given to much wine. See the wise words of king Lemuel's mother to her son (Proverbs 31.4,5). Deacons are not to be greedy of filthy lucre, that is sordidly greedy of gain; they are to be holding the mystery (hid from many and revealed to some) of the Faith (the revealed will of God for His people in this dispensation) in a pure (clear, unsoiled) conscience. 1Tim3v10 Note the force of the word "also" in connexion with the proving of deacons, which shows that the overseers had been proved. Overseers are to be proved by overseers. When proved they are to minister or act as deacons, if they be blameless. By their general ability for the work of ministry deacons show their fitness for the work. The proving requires a time of probation. A man may do carpenter work who would not be described as a carpenter, so also one may do deacon work who is not a deacon. A deacon is one who (might we say?) has served his apprenticeship. 1Tim3v11 There being no word for "wife" in the Greek, as there is no word for "husband," has led to divided judgement as to whether women here should be wives, that is wives of deacons, or whether they are deaconesses. Why should wives of deacons be mentioned, and a standard of conduct be demanded from them, and the wives of overseers be not referred to? The work of overseers being somewhat more prominent and responsible than that of deacons, the conduct of their wives would be of first importance. I am of the opinion that the women here are female deacons, that is, deaconesses. We have one reference to a deaconess which is of help in the interpretation of this verse. Paul says, in writing to the saints in Rome, "I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant (deaconess) of the church that is at Cenchreae." Her work as a deaconess was not public nor in the public ministry of the word, but within a woman's sphere of service. This is explained by Paul in the words, "She herself also hath been a succourer of many, and of mine own self" (Romans 16.1,2). The deaconess is to be grave, serious, and not to be a slanderer (Diabolous - devils). See also Titus 2.3, where the same word "slanderers" is used. They are to be temperate (see verse 2). How much is comprehended in the words "faithful in all things"! The deaconess is one who can be trusted implicitly that the work with which she is entrusted will be carried out in a manner worthy of the work of the Lord. (Would that this could be said about all, both men and women, for, alas, it seems to be with some that anything will do for God. What many human masters would not tolerate God seems to have to put up with.) 1Tim3v12 Deacons, like overseers, are to be husbands of one wife (see remarks on verse 2, and are, like overseers, to rule well their children and their houses. Having children on the part of a married man is contemplated in a deacon, but having no children cannot be a cause of exclusion from being a deacon. 1Tim3v13 Serving well as deacons has its present recompense, for by their service they gain for themselves a good standing or degree. The word means a step. There is an ascent to higher heights in the things of God. Many are content to remain at the bottom of the ladder; they do not give themselves to God's things, as Timothy was exhorted to do (1 Timothy 4.15), consequently there is no progress manifest. An eminent servant of Christ used to say, "Many are at the bottom; few are at the top." Those who have served well gain also great boldness or confidence; it literally means freedom of speech in the Faith in Christ Jesus, not faith in Christ Jesus. 1Tim3v14,15 "These things" refer to the things of chapters 2 and 3 in regard to prayer, and the proper behaviour of men and women, of overseers and deacons. Paul hoped to come to Timothy sooner than perchance he thought as he wrote the epistle, but if he tarried, what he had written would show Timothy and others what Paul's (and the Spirit's) mind was as to proper conduct in that which is the house of God. What was proper behaviour for the church of God in Ephesus was correct behaviour in every other church of God; Paul taught the same things in every church of God (1 Corinthians 4.17). The house of God which is the church of the living God is the pillar and ground (or base, not foundation) of the truth. It is a pillar of witness to the truth of God. Testimony and conduct are ever wedded together. If good conduct goes then testimony will perish. Hence it was that with such public servants as overseers and deacons, Paul went into their behaviour fully and carefully. The thought of the pillar of testimony carries the mind back to Jacob, in Genesis 28, when he set up his stone pillow as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it, and said, "This stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee" (Genesis 28.11,17,18,22). The tabernacle in the wilderness is called the "tabernacle of the testimony" (Acts 7.44). The house of God and the Body of Christ should never be confused and confounded; such distinctions as men and women (i.e. males and females), overseers and deacons, are not in the latter as there are in the former. There are many other distinctions in these widely different things. 1Tim3v16 Proper conduct in the house of God is godliness; that piety, or reverential awe, which befits those who are in God's earthly dwelling. How and where shall we learn this? We shall learn it from One who was manifested in the flesh, who is the mystery of godliness. Those who are Christ-like set forth this behaviour that Paul calls for. There has been much discussion as to what is the correct rendering in this verse, whether it should be "God was manifested in the flesh," or, "He who (or who) was manifested in the flesh," whether Paul wrote OS (or Ths) (an abbreviation for Theos God) or OS (Hos - who). Textual critics differ in their judgement as to which word was written by Paul. One has asked what our spiritual reaction would be if it were read thus: God was manifested in the flesh; God was justified in the Spirit; God was seen of angels; God was preached among the nations; God was believed on in the world; God was received up in glory. Reading the verse thus, our reaction would be in favour of "who" rather than "God." In this complex sentence "God" or "who" is in the nominative. It must not be concluded that those who favour "who" here are against the Deity of the Lord in doing so. The Deity and Eternal Sonship of the Lord are well established in many other passages of the Scriptures. The mystery of godliness is the incarnate Christ, on this there is little or no difference between all true believers. 1Tim4v1,2 The Greek word rendered "expressly" is derived from Rhetor, an orator, and signifies "plainly" or "expressed in words." How the Spirit spoke is not revealed, and how men, such as Paul, were definitely assured that the Spirt had spoken are among the secret things about which conjecture is vain. "In later times" signifies times later than those when this epistle was written. They do not mean the same as "the last days" of which 2 Timothy 3.1 speaks. Some were to fall away or apostatize from the faith. This means that they would give up the stand that they had taken earlier for the truth as being in that which is the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth (3.15). We are told how this falling away was to take place. It was to come about by lying and hypocritical men who would be used by seducing spirits to propagate the doctrines of demons. Such evil spirits are the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places (Ephesians 6.12) against which the Christian soldier must wage a ceaseless battle. He is provided with armour by his Captain for this warfare. How do demons operate? They first win men to their side, often for filthy lucre or mercenary gain. The conscience of such perverted men is branded, as one has said, "with the foul marks of their moral crime," and being thus cauterized is rendered ineffective. In hypocrisy they speak the devil's lies to the destruction of those that hear them. Alas, the way of Judas, whose covetousness led him to the fatal choice of getting easy money, is followed by many still. Christ is being betrayed on all sides, and those only escape who give heed to and hold fast to the word of God as written. 1Tim4v3 We have, no doubt, here reference made to the heresis of the Essenes and others who regarded marriage to be contrary to their ideas of the purification of the body; the same ideas prevailed among them on the matter of meats. They failed completely to appreciate the meaning of the Lord's teaching on meats, in Mark 7. 14-23, that it is not what goes into the stomach that defiles, but what comes out of the heart. This matter of eating meats is dealt with in Acts 10 and Romans 14. Marriage, we are told, is honourable (Hebrews 13.4), but some for the kingdom of heaven's sake (Matthew 19.12), or for other reasons, live celibate lives. Satan either leads men into spiritual and moral depravity, or teaches a supposedly higher state of body purification than is taught in the Faith, but he neither can nor will come down foursquare on the doctrine taught by the Lord and His apostles, which is truth, for there is no truth in him. Rome follows the Essene ideas in commanding her priests and nuns to live celibate lives, and alas, what moral perversions and fatal retributions have followed this mere human commandment, which is contrary to the constitutions of human beings in general! Rome also commands the abstention from meats at certain seasons. Those that know the truth enjoy the greatest liberty in the matter of eating, for there is nothing unclean of itself (Romans 14.14). 1Tim4v4,5 Of every creature it is said, "God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1. 25). Nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving. It is sanctified to the Christian's use by the word of God in Mark 7, and this is repeated in other passages already referred to. It is sanctified by the prayer of the recipient. This is more than the relationship of man to his Creator, it is that of the believer to his God. In the Levitical code, when God was dealing with Israel after the flesh, certain meats were common and unclean and unfit for the consumption of a holy people, and certain were sanctified by God in the law and were to be thankfully received by Israel. 1Tim4v6 "These things" of chapter 3.14 are the things of chapters 2.1-3. 13. "These things" of this verse (6) are the things of which the Spirit had expressly spoken concerning the apostasy of certain from the truth, from the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Timothy in his laying these things before the brethren, the divine institution of marriage, and all that goes with it, and also the matter of meats, things covering so great an area of human existence in this scene, would be a good minister or deacon of Christ Jesus. He would be combating the fast-flowing tide of the heresies of the Essenes and others concerning these things, which submerged and drowned so many in later times. His faithful ministry would reveal that he had been nourished (which means to make firm or solid, and in consequence one who by reason of education and training would not be moved) in the words of the faith and of the good (the word also means beautiful) doctrine which he had closely followed till then. He was no mere camp-follower, one who followed a long way behind. 1Tim4v7,8,9 How much precious time, a most precious thing for the Christian in this life, is wasted upon profane (from Greek Belos - a threshold, what is open to all and is consequently unholy) and old wives' fables, things which are silly and absurd, and are often harmful! Such were to be declined, avoided, refused, by Timothy and all like him, but in contrast to the listless and enervating effect that these old wives' fables produced, he was to be a man of firm moral and spiritual fibre by exercising himself unto godliness. Godliness is the reverential awe of the Divine Being which is not natural to man in his fallen state. Such is produced in the believer by the prayerful reading of the Scriptures and the practising of what is read. Fables feed the natural superstition in the human mind, which is the opposite of godliness. Human beings are often superstitiously afraid of things and persons that they need not fear at all. Some fear priests, statues, images, stocks, stones and wells and relics of paganized Christianity in which there is nothing to fear. Think, too, how much evil is done by novels, those fabulous fabrications, all of them untrue in fact, which often pander to the lower and lustful side of human nature. If novel reading is persisted in, then be sure that godliness like a scared bird will fly out of the window. Godliness is not attained in a day or two. Exercise in the Greek is the word Gumnazo - gymnastic exercise. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is and of the life to come. Thus the godly man gets the best out of life here and hereafter. We must keep up this exercise of godliness all through life, for the athlete who gives up exercise soon deteriorates and the profit derived from exercise passes like a morning cloud. Bodily exercise is really of small profit compared with the exercise of godliness. 1Tim4v10 The living God is the Saviour or Preserver of all men. Here it is not salvation from sin's penalty but from the effects of sin's awful power. The human race has in it all the potentialities of self-destruction, and it had long perished from off the earth but for the fact that the living God is the Preserver of all men, not simply of believers. Paul and others laboured and strove after that present salvation which is connected with godliness, for God saves the godly from many temptations which drown other men. Indeed the godly have ever been as the salt of the earth (Matthew 5.13), men and women whose presence on earth retarded the world's corruptions. Peter in this connexion asks, "If the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? (1 Peter 4.18). There is no such thing as the believing sinner being scarcely (Molis - with difficulty, hardly) saved from sin's penalty. In contrast, the believer who works out his own salvation by the power of God working in him (Philippians 2.12,13) has often a hard task against the flesh, the world and the devil, and often bemoans his ungodly thoughts, though he may appear outwardly a moderately godly person. We all know this labouring and striving, and the nearer to the Lord we seem to get the greater the inward strife seems to become. 1Tim4v11,12 Here Paul measures preaching with practice. The rule is ever the same as that exhibited in the life of the Lord, in "all that Jesus began both to do and to teach" (Acts 1.1). Doing and teaching should never be divorced. Timothy the teacher was to be a pattern of godly living. Here we see the spectrum of the beautiful life of godliness broken up into its parts through the mind of Paul, revealing its several excellences - in word, manner of life, love, faith, purity. Timothy was to be a model for all to follow. How often Paul refers to his own life as a pattern for saints to imitate! (1 Corinthians 11.1, etc.). Youth is no disqualification to gift and godliness. 1Tim4v13,14 Until the apostle should come, who would confirm his work, Timothy was to give heed, attend to or give himself to, the public reading of the Scriptures, to public exhortation and teaching of the Old Testament and such other books of the New Testament as were by that time written. He was not to neglect, not to allow to decay through carelessness, the gift that was in him. This was a gift of service answering to the spiritual ability of Timothy for such service. Paul says in 2 Timothy 1.6, "Stir up (into a flame) the gift of God, which is in thee through (Dia - by means of) the laying on of my hands." Timothy was a young man with God-given natural ability, which was sanctified by the added gifts in grace of the Spirit. Such were seen by others, and through (Dia) prophecy, and through (Dia) the laying on of the apostle's hands, the gift of a fuller sphere of divine service was imparted to him; this was done with (Meta) the laying on of the hands (the fellowship) of the elderhood or presbytery. It is comely when there is the recognition of God's gift in a man, that he be given the gift of service for which he is divinely fitted. It is as uncomely when a man is seeking to do a work for which he is not fitted. No number of men can supply a gift that God has left out of any man's constitution. The historical account of what Paul alludes to in these verses is given in Acts 16.1-3: "And he came also to Derbe and to Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess which believed; but his father was a Greek. The same was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him." 1Tim4v15,16 "Be diligent" (the Greek word here means to meditate on, think upon, revolve in the mind): "give thyself wholly to them", that is, literally, "in these things be"; they were to be the business of Timothy's life. The Lord said to His parents, "Wist ye not that I must be in the things of My Father?" (Luke 2.49, R.V.M.). If one would make progress in the things of God, one must make them one's lifework. Other things are incidental and accessory to redeemed men's chief business in this world. When other things, things worldly and material, dominate the believer's life, though no moral misdemeanour is seen, he begins to lose ground, and if that state of things continues, the deterioration in both service and living for God becomes more rapid, till at last the service of God may be given up entirely and the believer loses all the marks of a saint on the way to glory. "Take heed to thyself" comes before, "and to thy teaching." Practice comes before preaching. If the practice is wrong, the preaching should stop till the practice is put right. Paul asks, "Thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?" By continuing in these things, by preaching what he practised, Timothy would save both himself and those that heard him. How profitable is a godly life and a godly minister! 1Tim5v1,2 "Elder" here, as the context shows, means simply an old person, not an elder or overseer. An old man was not to be sharply rebuked, but exhorted as a father, and the younger men were not to be lorded over, but treated as brethren. Likewise, elder women were to be dealt with as mothers and the younger as sisters. Such relationships were to be in all purity, that is, in chastity, modesty, blamelessness. 1Tim5v3,4 Honour those who are really widows, which means that their needs were to be supplied. See the Lord's teaching in Matthew 15.3-6. Here is wholesome instruction for those who are children or grandchildren in regard to their widowed mother or grandmother. It is a shame for children to cast their widowed mother on the care of others. It is a shame for any to do this, but for professing Christians to do this is abominable. Words cannot be too strong to describe such hard-heartedness. Let children think long and soberly of a mother's love and unwearied care on their behalf before they turn them out for strangers to look after. We repeat Paul's weighty words, "Let them learn first to shew piety to their own family, and to requite their parents." Let us each think of the Lord's care for His mother when He was dying on the cross, and how He left her in the care of the apostle John. It is said that he "took her to his own." There is no "home" in the Lord's words. All that was John's was hers, home, food, clothing, and so forth. Alas, we live in a cruel and heartless age! Sin is proud, selfish and cruel. Care of parents is acceptable in God's sight. Let children remember the first commandment with promise, which is, "Honour thy father and thy mother." 1Tim5v5,6,7 Here we have two kinds of widows, the real, sincere, pious widows, and the merry widows, the frivolous and light hearted who live for self-gratification. The one sort live in continuous touch with the throne of God, the other are dead while they live. Such things were to be commanded; it was not a matter of entreaty, for reproach could be brought upon the testimony of the Lord by careless behaviour. 1Tim5v8 To provide means, literally, to perceive beforehand, to foresee. It has the same meaning as when Abraham said, "God will see for Himself" (Genesis 22.8, R.V.M.). Jehovah-Jireh means, "The LORD will see" or provide (Genesis 22.14, R.V.M.). Pre-vision comes before pro-vision. The head of a Christian household is responsible to foresee the needs of those for whom he is responsible, and to make provision for them up to his capacity so to do. If he wantonly fails in the discharge of his duty he comes under the stricture of the apostle: "He hath denied the Faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." Let it be noted that this verse comes into the paragraph that deals with the care of widows. 1Tim5v9,10 We must, I think, make a difference between ministering to the poor and needy and the enrolment or listing of widows. The poor may require to be cared for at a much earlier age than sixty years, but widows were not to be enrolled for the purpose of being relieved until they were sixty. Then there are other conditions which show that the enrolled widows had been persons of a high standard of Christian conduct. Regarding the condition, "the wife of one man," see note on 1 Timothy 3.2. The conditions show that widows were not enrolled, shall we say automatically, when they became sixty. In being cared for by the church they were reaping a little of the fruit of their sowing in past years, when they ministered to the need of others. Verses 4-16 show that if they could be cared for by others, relatives in particular, this should be done so that the church should not be burdened. 1Tim5v11,12 Timothy and the elders with him were to decline enrolling widows younger than sixty. The word rendered "refuse" here is rendered "reject" in connexion with the heretic, in Titus 3.10 A.V. In the one case it is to refuse enrolment for relief; in the other it is to refuse fellowship to the heretic. The gifts of the church to younger widows, as Paul viewed it, would tend to increase a state of wantonness against Christ. The word rendered "wanton" here is derived from a word which means "to take away the rein," and means "to revel, to become luxurious or lascivious against". Paul later recommends the younger widows to marry; there is a Christian propriety in such a matter. Here desiring to marry is the excessive desire born of lasciviousness, which is unbecoming in those who are disciples of Christ. In such a course of conduct by widows, they are guilty or condemned, for they have cast off their first faith, which was so real and sound that it led to chastity of conduct which the Faith requires of the Lord's disciples. "Their first faith" does not mean, in my opinion, the marriage bond of the first marriage, which was discharged by death. 1Tim5v13 Here we have a description of women out of control with idle hands and loose tongues. They learn to be idle; what a school of learning to attend! They also go about from house to house, an aimless but harmful life. The original word for "tattler" is derived from a word which means "to boil over or bubble." Such tattlers or gossipers and busybodies, prying, intermeddling persons, are a menace to the peace of any community. How seriously the characters of saints suffer at their hands! To some, retailing scandal seems a pleasant occupation. Garbage collecting is poor employment for one on the way to heaven. 1Tim5v14,15 There is no conflict between 1 Corinthians 7.39,40 and Paul's expressed desire here, that the younger widows marry and bear children. The widow in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says, "is free to marry whom she will: only in the Lord." But in the matter of happiness, he gave his judgement, that is, that higher happiness which springs from being devoted to the Lord and free from the cares of married people, of which he wrote in 1 Corinthians 7.34: "She that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married is careful for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. " It is in the light of this that Paul says that "she is happier if she abide as she is, after my judgement." This matter of remaining unmarried is one of gift (Matthew 19.10,11). In view of the fact that some younger widows had given way to carnal desires, and had gone after Satan, and others seemed to be tending in the same direction, Paul could not counsel them in regard to the higher happiness, and he advises that the younger widows should marry, when, of course, opportunity offered, and live the respectable life of a married Christian woman, in bearing children (not seeking to avoid the consequences of the marriage of normally healthy people), ruling the household, and giving no occasion to the adversary for railing. 1Tim5v16 Certain textual critics (the R.V. takes the same line) delete "man" here. Such as had widows, beyond the relationships indicated in verse 4, that of children or grandchildren, were to relieve them so that the church might relieve such as were widows indeed. 1Tim5v17,18 Here we have an interesting fact, we have two quotations made by Paul, both of which are called Scripture, the one about the ox from Deuteronomy 25.4, and the other from Luke 10.7. The Gospel according to Luke is divinely inspired Scripture as is the book of Deuteronomy. Peter also classes the writings of Paul among the Scriptures (2 Peter 3.15,16). Elders are not equal in ability, piety and devotedness. Such as take the lead and do so well are to be counted worthy of double honour. There are those still, who, like Korah and his company of old, would rise up against God-given leaders, and say by their actions what Korah said, "Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy" (Numbers 16.3). Good leaders have to be honoured and all leaders obeyed (Hebrews 13. 17). It would seem that as there were whole-time ministers of the gospel, who, as they sowed spiritual things, were to be ministered to in carnal things (1 Corinthians 9.11), so there were elders who ruled well and laboured in the word and teaching in whole-time service, who were to be cared for by the saints. The same words are used of both, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." An ox might be muzzled at other times, if, or when, he was not treading out the corn; but when he was at the work of providing food for others he had a God-given right to eat himself. 1Tim5v19 Some think that their individual testimony against another, and perhaps especially against an elder, should be accepted without question, and seem peevish and think that they are regarded as being untruthful if their word is not received and acted upon. The apostle's command here is no doubt based upon Deuteronomy 19.15. See also Numbers 35.30; Matthew 18.16; 2 Corinthians 13.1. God's ways in judgement are perfect. We each do well to consider the Lord's words in Matthew 7.1-5, especially His words about the mote and the beam. 1Tim5v20 Where sin is duly proven it must be dealt with. To cover up the sin of an elder because he is an elder is a sure road to trouble, which may become widespread and the many be defiled (Hebrews 12. 15). Such as sinned had to be convicted on the evidence of witnesses, and had to be reproved or rebuked that the rest of the elders might be in fear, for dealing with wrong has, or should have, a salutary effect on all. "The rest" here are not the rest of the saints in an assembly. Elders are to be dealt with by their peers and before their peers and not before the saints. 1Tim5v21,22 Here is a most important charge on the serious matter of divine judgement, which God in the present phase of His kingdom has committed to men on earth, wherein some have to deal with the actions of their fellows. The charge is given before the highest court of judicature - God, Christ Jesus, and the elect angels. Who are the elect angels? Two views may be put forward for consideration: (1) that they are the "good angels as distinguished from the bad," the latter being the angels of the devil (Revelation 12.7); (2) that they are certain of the heavenly host who are chosen out for special service in connexion with heavenly worship and government. It seems to me that (2) is the correct view. I would draw the attention of the reader to two scriptures and suggest, without being dogmatic, that they show a class of heavenly beings which are distinct from the innumerable hosts of angels. In Hebrews 12.23 we have "the church of the firstborn (ones) who are enrolled in heaven." This is a distinct company as the Greek of the passage plainly shows, from the innumerable hosts of angels which form the general assembly. It is an unfortunate translation in both the A.V. and R.V. The error is corrected in Mr. Darby's translation (see footnote). Compare with this the inner place around the tabernacle which was occupied by the Levites, who were taken instead of the firstborn sons of Israel who sinned in the matter of the golden calf. See Exodus 13.2,15; 32.26-29; Numbers 3. 44-51. It seems clear that the church of firstborn ones are angels called out by God according to His purpose. Church signifies such as are called, and it also implies election. Then in Revelation 4 and 5, we have twenty-four elders; heavenly beings who are distinct from the ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of angels. Twelve is a governmental number, as witness the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. Twice twelve is also a governmental number. These twenty-four elders sit on twenty-four thrones, which show that they have spheres of authority and rule. We learn from Colossians 1.16, 2.10 etc., that all angels are not equal; there are those over others, as is clearly indicated in thrones, principalities, and so forth. Timothy, in the matter of judgement, was to act without prejudice, that is, apart from judging a matter beforehand, before evidence was given by faithful witnesses. The day of Christ will reveal how often brethren have decided a case, for one reason or another, before the time had arrived for judging according to the evidence. Timothy was also to be impartial, that is, without leaning towards anyone and showing favour, without being biased, in his judgements. He was not to lay hands hastily on any one. The whole of a man's conduct over past years needed to be taken into account when he was being considered for some particular responsibility in the service of God. How comely it is when a man is given work for which he is suited! Timothy was also to be careful that he did not involve himself in the wrong-doing of others. His honour would be tarnished by being a partaker in other men's sins. He was to keep himself pure. The original word for "pure" means "to watch over, to be on one's guard against, to take care"; his ways and actions were to be irreproachable. 1Tim5v23 It may be right to think of Timothy as being a man of weak physique and timid disposition. At the same time we can well understand that the strain of great assembly responsibilities would drain the vital force of his nervous system, and in consequence his stomach and digestion would suffer. He was an abstemious man, a drinker of water, and Paul advised him for medicinal purposes to use a little wine for his stomach's sake and his frequent weaknesses. Trouble with false teachers, experienced by one who had a highly spiritual mind and a weak body, resulted in the physical weaknesses of Timothy. Any one who has had a measure of such troubles knows how much one's health may suffer at times. The connexion in which Paul alludes to Timothy's health is significant. FOOTNOTE Mr. Darby renders the passage: "and to myriads of angels, the universal gathering; and to [the] assembly of the firstborn [who are] registered in heaven;" The Englishman's Greek New Testament translates somewhat similarly: "and to myriads of angels, [the] universal gathering; and to [the] assembly of [the] firstborn [ones] in [the] heavens registered; ..." - J.M. 1Tim5v24,25 Some men's sins are flagrant and open and pass on to judgement before the day of judgement comes; that is, the judgement with which Timothy had to do. On the other hand the sins of others are secret, and only after due inquisition are they discovered. In the one case the notoriety of their wrong-doing precedes them; in the other their sins follow them, and sin ever follows the wrong-doer; he can never free himself from it. So also is it with good works. Some good works are clearly seen, and some are secret, but the latter cannot remain hidden; they too will be discovered. We may think that our actions will not be revealed. That is impossible. "Every child maketh himself known by his doings, Whether his work be pure, and whether it be right" (Proverbs 20.11). 1Tim6v1,2 Servants here were bondservants or slaves, slaves under the yoke, and were to honour their unbelieving masters. Christian slaves who had unbelieving masters would no doubt be greater in number than those who had believing masters (Despotes, a master of slaves). Christian slaves by their conduct were not to cause the name of God and the doctrine to be blasphemed. Even household servants were to suffer their wrongs patiently (1 Peter 2.18-23). Christ was to be their example of patient suffering. Such slaves as had believing masters were not to despise them because they were brethren, but to serve them the rather. Though there is no slavery today, as in that past day, it is still a difficulty where there are Christian masters and servants. Sometimes such masters may not be the best of masters, and equally the servants do not make the best of servants. Each may make too great claims on the other. It at times presents difficulties where assembly and business relationships are involved. The same difficulties seemed to exist in the apostle's days also. Paul's words here, if heeded, will be found to be helpful. Who are those that partake of the benefit? It seems to be the masters that partake of the benefit of the service of the slaves. A good slave was, no doubt, a sharer in many benefits and good work-people today often reap bountiful rewards. 1Tim6v3,4,5 We return in this verse to the purpose for which Paul left Timothy in Ephesus, namely to "charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine" (1.3). The words of the Lord Jesus are the test of sound, healthful doctrine, which issues in a godly life. Any doctrine which does not result in godliness is unhealthy. In contrast, the doctrine of Christ received and acted upon makes men like Christ. Another (Heteros, of a different kind) doctrine results in pride, the person who teaches it is puffed up (Tuphoo, which is derived from Tuphos, smoke), knowing nothing, his mind is darkened by his smoky pride and it has a like effect on his hearers. He is one who is doting (Noseo, sick, and has a depraved appetite) about questionings and disputes of words, an argumentative, proud fellow. Think of the list that follows from this state of spiritual sickness: envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, wranglings of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth. Could we have a brood of vipers worse than these? They would drive peace out of any community and poison any communion to its vitals. What is the object of such teachers? What do they hope to gain by it? Paul's answer is plain - "supposing that godliness is a way of gain." Their religion was but a gainful occupation. It was the things of earth and not those of heaven they sought. It was self and not Christ! Theirs was the religion of Judas, who carried the bag and stole the Lord's money. 1Tim6v6,7,8 Godliness, that comely reverential fear of God, coupled with a mind contented with its lot is, says the apostle, great gain or profit. Such a person is one of heaven's noblemen. We brought nothing into the world at birth, neither can we carry anything out at death, though we can, according to the exchange of heaven in the matter of giving on earth, have a treasure laid up for ourselves where there are no thieves to steal what will be ours permanently. Having sustenance and covering we are to be content. Pilgrims should not attempt to carry too heavy loads! 1Tim6v9,10 Paul here is not condemning rich people, but such as desire to be rich, persons who have a craving after riches. Such fall into temptation, tempted to do shady or dishonest things for gain. Often they are caught in a snare and are trapped by the devil and lose their Christian liberty, and are no longer free to serve the Lord, as, perhaps, they once did. They may also fall into many foolish lusts which are hurtful to themselves and perchance to others also. These things sink men into destruction and perdition. The lives of such believers might have been lives of usefulness and of eternal profit, but they became saved believers with lost lives. The love of money (not money itself) is a root of all kinds of evil. All kinds of sin against God and crimes against humanity are traceable to this vile root, which has spread throughout the whole race of mankind. It seduces men from the Faith, and they pierce themselves through with many sorrows. 1Tim6v11 A man's greatness is not in what he has, but in what he is. Nabal of old (1 Samuel 25) was a great man, because his greatness consisted in having three thousand sheep and a thousand goats (verse 2). But "Nabal (fool) is his name, and folly is with him" (verse 25). The Lord said, "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke 12.15). There are qualities in a Christian man's life that no money can buy, such as those which Paul indicates here, and which are proper to a man who can be called a man of God. Here is a pursuit in life worthy of us all. 1Tim6v12 The fact that the definite article is before eternal life here does not make it something different in kind from eternal life in John 3. 16, etc. Life here is something that is set before us to lay hold upon. Eternal life, which is the gift of God to all believers, may be increased in the measure in which we grow spiritually. The Lord said, "I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly" (John 10.10). The measure of the life of a babe in Christ is not to be the measure of the life of a young man or a father (1 John 2. 12-14). Paul in Galatians 6.8, writes about reaping eternal life, that is, by sowing to the Spirit we may reap an increase of the eternal life that we already have. A spirit of lifelessness will yield no increase of life, and such as follow this course continue as mere children to be tossed to and fro by the winds of doctrine, the playthings of the devil's stratagems. The present conflict calls for living, vigorous saints, such as not only have life, but are laying hold of it. Plants that have been planted in the soil are alive, but they never grow and develop the life that they have until they lay hold of the earth in which they are and begin to draw from it the nourishment that they need. We are called to live the eternal life that has been given to us, but, alas, we may have a name to live and yet be dead (Revelation 3.1), there being no movement in the soul. Timothy had a vigorous life, for he had confessed a good confession in the sight of many witnesses. Witness-bearing demands that we live the life to which we bear witness. To what purpose is it to speak to others of eternal life, if that life has no manifestation in ourselves? 1Tim6v13,14 Timothy was charged before God who makes all things to live, who would quicken him to keep, preserve as a sacred trust, God's commandment without spot and irreproachable until the Lord appeared. He was charged also before Christ Jesus, of whom it is said that He witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate. Thus we have in God the Source of Life for all obedience and testimony, and the blessed example of the Faithful Witness (Revelation 1.5), who right to Pilate's bar confessed a good confession. The Lord's appearing is His returning to this scene of testimony, not His appearing to His own. This fact is seen in the next verse. 1Tim6v15,16 "He shall shew"; who is the "He"? It is the Lord Jesus Christ of the previous verse. "Its own times" refers to the day of the Lord's appearing. In that day of the Lord, He will show, make visible, that He is Himself the blessed and only Ruler, the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. He only, at the time that Paul wrote to Timothy, had immortaility, raised in a resurrection body in which He neither will nor can die again. We also at His coming again, if alive, shall put on immortality, and if we are then amongst the dead in Christ then shall put on incorruption (1 Corinthians 15.34-54). The Lord saw no corruption when He lay in the tomb (Acts 13. 35-37). Rome has now proclaimed that Mary, the Lord's mother, went to heaven in bodily form. This is impossible, for notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.23, "Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ's, at His coming." Note the force of "then", not "then Mary," but "then they that are Christ's." Note, too, what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4.16,17: "The dead in Christ shall rise first: then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. " The first to rise from the dead after the Lord's resurrection are the saints of this dispensation, those that are in Christ, at which time the living in Christ shall put on immortality. Let none confuse immortality with eternal life; immortality has to do with the body, not with the soul. Every believer has already received the gift of eternal life (John 3.16,36, etc.), but believers are mortal, that is, subject to death, as to their bodies. Let none be trapped by those who ask the question about having an immortal soul. This is a confusing of terms, and it is the confusing of terms that has led to so many heresies. Mortal and immortal have to do with the body, not with the soul. Sinners are dead through their trespasses while they are alive in a mortal body, and if they believe in Christ they are made alive with Him (Ephesians 2.1,5) and are saved by grace. At the present time the Man Christ Jesus dwells in light unapproachable, which no mortal man has seen or can see. We shall shortly see Him at His coming, even as He is now, and be like Him (1 John 3.2), and we shall then have bodies like unto His glorious body (Philippians 3.21). To God's Christ, who is both God and Man, be honour and might eternal. 1Tim6v17,18,19 Here we have Paul's charge to the rich in this present age. First, they are not to be high-minded, an ever present danger in the case of rich folk. Earthly riches are uncertain and fortune is fickle, hence believers are not to make riches the basis of their hope of security for future contingencies in earth's changing scenes. The living and unchanging God is our security, and He provides richly for our enjoyment and we have His promises which can never fail. The rich are to be rich in good works, liberal in distributing and ready in their fellowship. In so doing they are laying up treasure for themselves, which is a good foundation for the future. In this way they lay hold on what is truly life, which was what Timothy was exhorted to do in verse 12. It was a vain life, the life of such a man as the Lord described in Luke 16.19, but alas, many still live this kind of life. 1Tim6v20,21 That which was committed to Timothy was "the deposit." What was this deposit? Was it (1) the doctrine that he taught? or was it (2) the work which the Lord entrusted to him and to which he was called? It seems to me that it is (2), the work to which he was called. But it should at once be definitely stated, that the work of Timothy and also of Paul could only be accomplished within the compass of the Faith, which Paul in the end of his life claimed to have kept (2 Timothy 4.7). If we compare verse 20 here with 2 Timothy 1.9,12,14 we shall be helped, for there again he writes to Timothy of the deposit. Paul and Timothy were saved and called, not according to their works, but according to God's purpose and grace whch was given them in Christ Jesus before times eternal. This purpose was manifested by the appearing of Christ Jesus. Paul was appointed a preacher, an apostle and a teacher. He writes in verse 12 of "my deposit," what the Lord had committed to him, and which, being unable to guard himself, he committed to the Lord to guard for him. Likewise Timothy was to guard his deposit, not in his own strength, but "through the Holy Spirit, which," says Paul, "dwelleth in us." Only by turning away from babblings and oppositions of false knowledge, which was no real knowledge, could Timothy hope to guard his deposit, otherwise he would be overthrown. Some had professed this pseudo-knowledge and had erred from the Faith, and many still err through a false knowledge. Paul ends his epistle to Timothy, his true chld in faith, with his usual salutation in all his epistles, "Grace be with you." NOTES ON THE TO TIMOTHY SECOND EPISTLE 2Tim1v1,2 As in 1 Corinthians 1.1 and Galatians 1.1, Paul here again claims the divine character of his call to apostleship, and with this he links that he is an apostle "according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus." This was the substance of the message which he preached, as he says in Romans 6.23; "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is the same as the gospel which was preached by the other apostles, as John says, "The witness is this, the God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life" (1 John 5.11,12). Here is a life which is secure above all the storms and trials through which we may pass in this earthly life, and Timothy in Ephesus was passing through storm and tempest, seeking to maintain the testimony of the Lord in the face of men bent on introducing evil doctrine. How tender were the ties that bound Paul and Timothy; he calls him "my beloved child"! He called him "my true child" in his first epistle. It may be in this Paul's last letter, and in the light of his early departure, and his leaving Timothy behind, the love of the apostle's being finds vent in the words "My beloved child." 2Tim1v3,4,5 "I thank God" may be rendered as some do, "I am thankful," as also in 1 Timothy 1.12. "Whom I serve (Latreuo, a service which must be rendered to God only - Matthew 4.10) from my forefathers in a pure conscience": here Paul asserts again what he did before the Jewish council in Acts 23.1, "I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day." Conscience is not in itself the standard of right and wrong. A person who has been subject to a certain form of teaching may do wrong with a perfectly good conscience. Paul evidently was one of those referred to in John 16. 2: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God." Service here is Latreia, the noun form of the verb Latreuo which Paul uses in verse 3. In Acts 23, the high priest, who could not understand how Paul could have a good conscience in persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ and then later preaching Jesus Christ, commanded that one should smite him on the mouth. The teaching that he received prior to his conversion was from his forefathers, but what came to him at his conversion, and later, was by revelation of the Lord. Hence he claims ever to have acted with a good and pure conscience. How unceasing was his remembrance of Timothy! and with this went those intense prayers for him, his supplications. Some render this, as in the A.V., "my supplications night and day," but others, as in the R.V., "night and day longing to see thee." Whichever way is right, one can visualize, or at least try to, Saul in the Roman prison longing to see Timothy, longing as Jacob did of old to know about his sons, when he sent Joseph to see how it fared with them and with the flock. Any father or mother can understand this longing, which nothing can satisfy but the one for whom the longing is. "Remembering thy tears, that I may be filled with joy." Here is a remarkable contrast. The tears of Timothy for the joy of Paul! Of old it was said, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalm 126.5). Many have sowed in tears in this world and others, sometimes many others, have reaped in joy. The greatest of all joys have come from Him who sorrowed and suffered, who wept and died. Blessed Lord! Gracious Saviour! The words in between "I thank God" and "having been reminded" of verse 5 form a parenthesis. Paul was thankful as he remembered the unfeigned faith of Timothy, his strong and immovable confidence in the word of God and in the God of the word, the one thing that would enable him to steer a straight course in the tempestuous waters at Ephesus. This unfeigned, unwavering faith first dwelt in his grandmother Lois, then in Eunice his mother, and then in Timothy. How often the faith of sons may be traced to their mothers or grandmothers! Was not the faith of Jochebed later seen in Moses, and the faith of Hannah in Samuel? Of old it was asked, "Who is their father?" (1 Samuel 10.12), but with as much fitness it might be asked, "Who is their mother?" Often the names of the mothers of the kings of Judah are given, perhaps to indicate the kind of kings they turned out to be. Let mothers make their sons, and the sons will make them, but remember this demands a faithful, prayerful, God-fearing life. 2Tim1v6,7 "The which cause" is the unfeigned faith which Paul was persuaded was in Timothy. Paul puts him in mind of this, so that he would stir to a flame, revive, the gift of God which was in him, which was the ministry he had received by the laying on of the apostle's hands (see 1 Timothy 4.14), for which God had eminently suited him by his upbringing and by his natural ability, which was sanctified by the gifts given by the Spirit of grace. Should "spirit," in the words "spirit of fearfulness," be "Spirit, " that is, the Holy Spirit, or should it be a spirit, a disposition of mind and heart? I am of the opinion that it is the same Spirit as rested upon the Lord. "The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD" (Isaiah 11.2). Though spirit in this place is printed with a small "s", both in the A.V. and R.V., yet without doubt it is the same Spirit that is referred to in Isaiah 61.1, which is printed with a capital "S" in the A.V. and with a small "s" in the R.V.; and why the R.V. should print it Spirit in the quotation of Isaiah 61.1,2, in Luke 4.18 requires some explaining. Spirit in 2 Timothy 1.7 is the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, so it seems to me. The Holy Spirit is not a Spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and wise discretion, of power in contrast to weakness, of love, which leads to a self-sacrificing life in the service of others, and of discipline, to be of a sound mind, which will lead to the proper regulation of one's life, resulting in exhorting and instructing others. The Spirit which God has given us knows no timidity or fear of man. Those in whom He dwells who fear God need not fear men. Think of Peter's cowardice in Galatians 2.11-16, when he feared them which were of the circumcision. What disastrous results might have ensued but for Paul's courage in dealing with the matter! 2Tim1v8 Paul the undaunted old general encourages Timothy, whom he charged and left at Ephesus and had exhorted him to fight the good fight of the faith (1 Timothy 6.12), and not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord. It is remarkable, yet how true it is, that that of which there is no reason to be ashamed, we are ever liable to be ashamed of. The testimony of the Lord is not popular and never was. The Lord well knowing this said, "For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also shall be ashamed of him, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8.38). We cannot read these words without feeling their weight and solemnity. The boldness of Paul rings out in his declaration to the saints in Rome, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Romans 1.16). Of old the testimony was the law written on the two tables of stone, which were put in the ark of the testimony, and which in turn was put into the tabernacle of the testimony. This testimony was that for which Israel stood nationally amongst the nations. Now the testimony of the Lord is to Him and His words ("Me and My words"). It was for this that Paul was a prisoner in Rome. Timothy was not to be ashamed of him as the Lord's prisoner. This is explained in Ephesians 4.1, where he calls himself, "the prisoner in the Lord," that is, he was a prisoner in Rome according to the Lord's will. Again in Ephesians 3.1, he calls himself, "the prisoner of Christ Jesus." Why are we betimes ashamed of the testimony of the Lord? Is it not because we do not wish to suffer the coldness, the slighting, and the alienation of worldly companionship, and also, perchance, the loss of position and profits. Being ashamed of the testimony of the Lord is set in contrast to - "but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God." Are we willing to suffer for so great a cause? Then we shall let our light shine before men. If we are unwilling, we shall put our light under the bushel or the bed, to use the Lord's words; we shall hide the light and move on with the crowd, with the Christ rejectors and neglecters. What power sustains those who speak, who preach and who suffer? The answer is, "the power of God," "strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man" (Ephesians 3.16). 2Tim1v9,10,11 There is a call to sinners in the gospel prior to justification. "He called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 2.14). "Whom He foreordained, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified" (Romans 8. 30). The vast panorama of divine purpose in salvation is stretched before us in these words - foreordained, called, justified, glorified. But here in this verse in 2 Timothy is a call following salvation; "Who saved us, and called us with a holy calling." Sinners are called in the gospel to come to Christ wherever they may be; saints are called out from amongst unbelievers (and also from those who hold wrong doctrine - 2 Timothy 2.19-20) by God, who commands, "Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord" (2 Corinthians 6.17). God does not "call out" without having a "call in" in view. Hence we read, "God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the Fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1.9). Then we have those who are called to special service, such as Paul and others. He describes himself as "Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1.1). God's calling is a holy calling, not to common service, but to holy service. The call of God is like election, it is not according to works. We had no good works to offer so that God might favour us by calling us, and God's call is not according to good works as foreseen by God, but His call is according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal. Note that it is something that is given, which precludes anything of worth on our part; His call is not a reward, it is a matter of grace and according to His own purpose. God's purpose and grace were given us in Christ Jesus, not in times eternal, but "before times eternal," or as one has rendered it, "before the periods of ages." What God's purpose was in eternity was at length revealed in time; it "hath now been manifested by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus." He is the Revealer of many secrets. Two things are said to have been done by Christ Jesus through the gospel. (1) He abolished death; (2) He brought life and incorruption to light. The Greek word Katargeo is used only in the writings of Paul, save in Luke 13.7, where it is rendered "cumbereth. " Paul uses it first in Romans 3.3, where it is translated "shall make of none effect," and again in verse 31, "Do we make of none effect?" He again uses it in Romans 6.6, where we read, "Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away" (destroyed, A.V.). In Hebrews 2.14 we read, "That through death He might bring to nought (destroy, A.V.), him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Here in this verse in 2 Timothy it is said that Christ Jesus "abolished death." In 1 Corinthians 15.26 we read, "The last enemy that shall be abolished is death." But this will not take place until the time of the Great White Throne (Revelation 20.13,14). It is evident that no single word can be used to give the sense of Katargeo in the contexts where it is found, hence various words are used. In the passages in Romans 6. 6, Hebrews 2.14, and 2 Timothy 1.10, with reference to "the body of sin," "the devil," and "death," the thought is not annihilating, but rather of making of none effect, rendering them inactive or useless. The believer can sing:"O death, O grave, I do not dread your power, The ransom's paid." Not only is death made of none effect to the believer through the gospel, but life and incorruption are brought to light by it. The A.V. wrongly renders "incorruption" as "immortality." Life is begun for the believer here and now; at the Lord's coming the mortal body will put on immortality. The soul of the believer is not only in a state of life now, but is also in a state of incorruption. This was the good news of which Paul was appointed a herald, an apostle, and a teacher. 2Tim1v12 In verse 8 he exhorts Timothy to "suffer hardship with the gospel. " Here he says that for this cause, that is, the gospel, he was even now suffering, yet he was not ashamed. Who is there now, who, looking back over the centuries, does not admire the man who suffered so much for the blessing of so many? He was not ashamed, for he knew whom he had believed, and he was persuaded in His ability to keep what Paul called "my deposit" against that day, the day of Christ, when He will come having His reward with Him (Revelation 22.12). Paul's deposit was the ministry which he had received from the Lord, as indicated in verse 11, who appointed him a herald, an apostle, and a teacher. This ministry was too much for him to guard, so he committed it back to the Lord to keep for him. The deposit was not the soul of Paul or himself, nor was it the truth of God as contained in the faith, but the ministry which He entrusted to him. 2Tim1v13,14 The word pattern in the Greek means a sketch or outline. Sound means healthy; the Greek word is used by Paul only in the epistles to Timothy and Titus in regard to words, doctrine and the Faith. Paul had given to Timothy an outline of sound words in which was traced the doctrine of the Lord; to this he again refers in chapter 2.2 and to this Timothy was ever to hold or hold fast. Timothy had heard the outline "in faith and love" (which describes how Timothy heard and received the words) which is in Christ Jesus. From Him this faith and love sprang. "That good thing," "the good deposit," similar in meaning to the deposit of Paul (verse 11), Timothy was to guard, not in his own strength, but through the Holy Spirit which dwelt in him. The deposit was the ministry which he had received from the Lord. 2Tim1v15 "Turned away from" is the translation of one word which is in the aorist tense and shows that the turning away was at a definite time. It is difficult to decide who are included in "all that are in Asia." Timothy was in Ephesus in Asia. The turning away was from the person of Paul, but it was symptomatic of something deeper, even that turning away of their ears from the truth, of which we read in chapter 4.3,4: "For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables." To turn away from Paul, the faithful teacher, was in time to lead to turning away from the truth he taught. Timothy was in Ephesus in Asia to seek to retard the spread of evil teaching. 2Tim1v16,17,18 The actions of those of whom Phygelus and Hermogenes were specimens stand in contrast to what is said about Onesiphorus. Paul says of him that he oft refreshed him, and was not ashamed of his chain. In Rome he had been at some pains to find Paul. It seems strange that the saints in Rome could not have taken Onesiphorus to where Paul was imprisoned. Was this neglect on their part? In Ephesus Onesiphorus had often ministered succour and comfort to Paul. He writes of the house of Onesiphorus. What had happened to this dear man's household that Paul desired mercy of the Lord for them? Much remains to be filled in, though Timothy was well acquainted with this kind brother's actions. It has been suggested that Onesiphorus was dead at the time of the wriitng of this epistle, but that is uncertain. Paul refers to Onesiphorus finding mercy of the Lord at the judgement seat of Christ, some, perhaps many, or even all, will need mercy of the Lord in that day, not mercy as sinners, but mercy as servants. It will be a day of affliction of soul for us all (Leviticus 16.31). 2Tim2v1,2 The grace of God is manifold (1 Peter 4.10), that is, it is various (Poikilos, various, of various colours, variegated). It suits all the various needs of men, electing, saving, justifying; grace to help the needy, grace to strengthen, to stand, to speak, to sing, to preach, to serve, and to suffer, and so forth. Indeed, there is grace for every need and every emergency. There is besides the throne of grace, and when time for us shall be no more, there is grace yet to be shown in the ages to come. Is grace not that love of God for us broken up in the prism of human need and experience, whereby we may see the beauty of our God, who is Love, and who is Light, and in whom is no darkness at all (1 John 4.9, 1.5)? In the passage above Timothy was exhorted to be strong ("an abiding state") in that grace which was available to him in the spiritual battle, the grace which is in Christ Jesus. Though others had forsaken Paul and were turning from the truth he taught, yet Timothy was to be strong. What he had heard from Paul, which many witnesses could attest, that he was to pass on to faithful, trustworthy men, who would faithfully teach others also. Thus there was to be a continuous stream of pure doctrine flowing in the hearts and through the mouths of the faithful. Of old the word of God was to be passed from father to son. "Give ear, O My people, to My law: . . . . . . . . Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from our children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD" (Psalm 78.1-4) In this day the progress of God's work is not amongst people who have a common natural birth, as in Israel, but the word of God is to be passed on by faithful men to other faithful men in a line of spiritual descent, men who hold the sacred trust of divine doctrine with that steadfastness it demands (Acts 2.42), and shall teach it to others also. 2Tim2v3,4 One renders this as, "Take thy share in suffering." There is no original word for "me," but the verb implies that Timothy was to suffer hardship with other good soldiers, Paul and all the rest of the Lord's warriors. "Good" (Kalos) means beautiful as well as good. Here the soldier is not retired, but on active service. It is even so now, as in the days of Rome, that soldiers on service must not be entangled, interwoven, intertwined, in the matters, doings, businesses, of this life (Bios, "the present state of existence," "not existence, but the time or course of life"). The soldier must be free to yield himself in the undivided service of him who enrolled him. In this way only can he please him. 2Tim2v5,6 There are no words in the original for "in the games," but the word Athle shows that the contending or striving is that of an athlete, consequently, "in the games" is implied. There are the days of preparation for the athlete; then comes the time of the contest. The athlete was not crowned with the laurel wreath of victory, even though he should be the victor, unless he contended according to the rules laid down. If he failed to observe these he was disqualified. It is so still. Here is a needful lesson for Christian runners in the race that leads to the heavenly goal; the rules for the runners are clearly laid down in the Scriptures. Let us each see that we hold to the course. Then the labouring husbandman is the first to partake of the fruit of his labours. Many may partake later of the harvest of his work, but he is the first. 2Tim2v7 The Greek word Noeo means more than consider, it means also to "perceive," "understand." As the result of perception of the figures of speech used by Paul regarding the soldier's freedom from the things of this life which engaged the attention of others, the athlete who had to equip himself and contend according to the rules of the game, and the husbandman, that he must labour before he can be the first to partake of the fruit of his toil, the Lord would give to Timothy understanding in all things. 2Tim2v8,9 What does Paul wish Timothy to remember? It is that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. He has been raised from (ek, out of) dead (persons). Some translators leave out the comma in the R.V. after Jesus Christ; this is helpful, as it is not remember Jesus Christ, but remember Him raised from the dead. Jesus Christ is also of the seed of David; thus, according to the gospel which Paul preached, He is the Messiah who was promised in the Holy Scriptures. This is vital. In this gospel, that is, in the preaching of it, Paul suffered unto chains or fetters. See chapter 1.16, where he writes of "my chain." It is touching to one's heart to think of this beloved servant of God as he wrote line upon line of this epistle, while his chain clanked its mournful dirge. How much suffering Satan has caused God's faithful saints through perverted men! "As a malefactor"! It reminds one of Calvary, where the Lord was numbered with the transgressors: "There they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left" (Luke 23.33). In contrast to the Lord and His saints whom they bound and imprisoned, the word of God is not bound; it cannot be fettered. As in this epistle, it went out from beloved Paul, who was bound, imprisoned and closely guarded in the Praetorium, to fly to all lands with its words of grace and glory. Sometimes where least expected it alights, like the dove of old upon the ark, bringing to hearts which welcome it the heavenly olive leaf of life and hope. 2Tim2v10 This verse contemplates, so it seems to me, the elect who have not yet been reached by the gospel; this seems clearly to be implied in the words, "that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus." Many of the elect had obtained salvation; "that they also" shows that they are persons in addition to others. Paul's words show that divine election and human effort and endurance are welded together. It is mere fatalism for a sinner to suppose that if he is to be saved he will be saved, and it is fatalism on the part of believers to assume that the elect will be saved whether they endure in the preaching of the gospel or not. Fatalism and divine election are as wide apart as the poles; the one is satanic and the other divine. Paul well says in Roman 10.14, 15: "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!" How beautiful indeed are those feet which are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace! (Ephesians 6.15). "Preparation" means readiness, inclination, promptness of mind, alacrity; it shows a person ready at any time to speak the word of the gospel, in public or private, to speak a word in season to bear fruit in due time. Salvation is joined with eternal glory present salvation, future glory. Could any work be greater or more important than this, to lend a hand to others that they may share what we have? 2Tim2v11,12,13 Here is another of Paul's faithful sayings (1 Timothy 1.15; 3.1; 4.9; Titus 3.8). If we died, points the believer back to the time when he was quickened (Ephesians 2.5), at which time he died. "Ye died with Christ." "For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 2.20; 3.3); see also Romans 6.8. Having died with Him our living with Him is assured. Reigning with Christ is conditional upon "if we endure." "Died" in verse 11 is the aorist tense, pointing back to what happened in the past, but "endure" in verse 12 is present tense, showing that it is to be a continuous present experience. "Shall reign" like "shall live" is future. "If we endure" is linked with the words of verse 10, "I endure all things for the elect's sake." Note that while the reigning here is conditional upon our enduring with Him, it should be noted that reigning with Christ as here spoken of is different from what is said in Romans 5.17, where it says that those that receive the gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the One, even Jesus Christ. This "reigning in life" will be the portion of all who are justified by faith through grace. "If we shall deny Him, He also will deny us." We learn from the Lord's words in Matthew 10.32,33, that denying the Lord is the opposite of confessing Him. He said, "Every one therefore who shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven." It is possible to deny Him by our works as well as by our words. Paul said, "They profess that they know God; but by their works they deny Him" (Titus 1.16). How sadly Peter failed in his thrice denial of the Lord! But would we have done better if we had been there that night? He denied Him to the extent of saying with an oath, "I know not the Man." Later in denying the Lord he began "to curse and to swear." Poor Peter! (Matthew 26.70,74). Happily he repented and was converted and nobly confessed the Lord later. "If we are faithless, He abideth faithful." He will not deny His promises and His purposes. If we fail Him, He neither can nor will fail (Psalm 77.7-9). He cannot deny Himself. If we confess Him, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. We must ever deny our old wicked, sinful selves and all the self-love of the old man. We have died to ourselves and sin. We must also die to the world and all the corruptions thereof, as well also to its politics and plans for human betterment. God's one hope for mankind is the gospel. If this be rejected He has nothing else to offer. 2Tim2v14 These things are the things of the previous verses. Timothy was to cause the saints to remember, testifying earnestly to them before the Lord, not to dispute about words that are without profit, to the subverting, ruin, overthrow (Katastrophe, from which the English word catastrophe is derived) of them that hear. How often Paul warns against the vain use of empty words and their harmful effect! 2Tim2v15 Timothy was to endeavour earnestly, or to strive, to present himself approved unto God, one who had been proved and consequently was approved, because he had stood the test; a workman not ashamed, handling aright, cutting straight, and consequently rightly dividing, the word of truth. How often in expository works on the Scriptures lines are drawn where there should be none, dividing what should be kept together, and in other cases things are joined together which are different! Such is the work of bad workmen. 2Tim2v16,17,18 Timothy was to shun the empty babblings to which some were giving themselves in the church in Ephesus. He was to stand aloof from these, to avoid them, for the course of these babblers would lead to further ungodliness. Their word, wherever it lighted, would have a killing effect on the soul, it would spread and pasture, devour, like gangrene. Of such people were Hymenaeus and Philetus. Their particular error was that they said that the resurrection was past already. On what they based their teaching is not revealed. It might be on the rising of the bodies of saints at the Lord's death, and their coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection (Matthew 27.52). It is vain to conjecture what we are not told. The sad thing was that their false teaching was overthrowing the faith of some. 2Tim2v19 What is the firm (steadfast or strong) foundation of God? Of old it was said, "His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loveth the gates of Zion" (Psalm 87.1,2). Here was the ark of the covenant (which was also the ark of the testimony and the law). This formed the foundation on which the mercy-seat rested, which was the place of God's throne in Israel. In the day to come, "Out of Zion shall go forth the law" (instruction or doctrine). From thence will issue the standard of truth by which the lives and conduct of mankind will be regulated. It is said, "Many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths" (Isaiah 2.3). What is the issue in which verse 19 of 2 Timothy 2 is found regarding "the firm foundation of God"? The issue plainly is that of truth and error. Timothy was to be a workman handling aright the word of truth, whilst Hymenaeus and Philetus and others had erred concerning the truth. There could be no knowledge of the truth unless there was some unchanging standard of measurement, some firm foundation on which men can stand and not be moved by the vagaries of error. How were men to know about the resurrection? Only by God's firm foundation, His word of truth. We judge the firm foundation of God to be the established, and unchanging truth of God. By it we can look back to Hymenaeus and his friends and see the seriousness of their error, for if the resurrection is past, what of the Lord's coming and all that is connected therewith? The firm foundation of God has this seal, (1) "the Lord knoweth them that are His," and (2) "let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness." The seal has two sides, (1) divine knowledge, and (2) human responsibility. In early days, in times of persecution, it was not difficult to know who belonged to the Lord, but when times were more easy-going, grievous wolves entered amongst overseers (Acts 20.29), as well as the flock, and in 2 Peter and Jude it can be seen that a serious state of things existed. Men could be deceived in the profession of certain, but the Lord knew His own. Those that named the name of the Lord were to withdraw or stand aloof from unrighteousness. In this way it would be manifestly seen who were the Lord's. 2Tim2v20,21 In verse 20 we have the illustration of a great house used by Paul to force home the application of what he says in verse 21. The great house is neither the house of God, nor yet is it Christendom, it is simply a simile. In a great house (note the force of the adjective "great," such vessels as of gold and silver are not usually found in the houses of common people) there are different kinds of vessels made of different materials, some unto honourable use and some unto dishonour; some, indeed many, vessels would never be placed on the dining table of the master. Then Paul says, "If a man therefore purge himself from these (people, such as Hymenaeus, etc.) he shall be a vessel unto honour." Purge (Ekkathairo) means "purge out" and is strengthened by apo from, so that the passage literally means, "If a man purges himself out and away from these." The verb being in the aorist shows that the act being done once does not need to be repeated. In 1 Corinthians 5 the church of God in Corinth is told to purge out the old leaven (that is, the man who had been guilty of fornication), which was done, but here in Timothy evil doctrine had gained such a footing in the church in Ephesus that it was no longer able to deal with the teachers of evil, so that if saints were going to be able to hold the sound doctrine and to follow the Lord, they had to come out from the teachers of evil doctrine and their followers. The man who purged himself out would be a vessel unto honour, sanctified (set apart) and serviceable to the Master (Despotes, a master of slaves). It is too our responsibility to be in a state in which we are prepared and ready to be used by the Lord, whether He chooses to use us or not. 2Tim2v22,23 It is not "fight" youthful lusts, but "flee" them. This is aptly illustrated by the conduct of Joseph towards the lustful and infatuated wife of Potiphar. After days of attempted seduction, one day she caught him by the garment, and it says, "He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out" (Genesis 39). She lied to her husband to cover her sin; the consequence was that Joseph was cast into prison. Better to be in prison with honour, than to be in sin and ease with dishonour! Through the prison was the way to the palace and the throne. "Flee youthful lusts" and "pursue righteousness" are correlated ideas. Failing in the former there is no hope of the latter. Timothy and all who purged out themselves were to pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with (Meta, which denotes companionship) such as called on the Lord with a pure heart. Much is said throughout the Scriptures, from the time that Seth's son Enosh was born, about calling on the name of the Lord. It is said in that distant day, "Then began men to call upon the name of the LORD" (Genesis 4.26). Many were no doubt professedly calling on the Lord, perhaps even among those who had erred from the truth, so that Paul adds "out of a pure heart," a description which shows those who called upon the Lord sincerely. Here again in verse 23 Paul warns Timothy about foolish and undisciplined questionings, of such as followed a course of self-choosing and self-will. Strifes were the product of such minds. 2Tim2v24,25,26 The Lord's servant must not (it is imperative) strive; he must not be found amongst those who contended in the foolish and undisciplined questionings of verse 23. He must be gentle (mild, placid) towards all, apt, ready to teach such as were teachable, forbearing, that is, "patient under evils or injuries", in meekness correcting or disciplining such as oppose themselves, persons of an opposite opinion or who are decidedly adverse. This course was to be followed by Timothy toward such as had been taken in the devil's snare, which had been set for their feet, by Hymenaeus and Philetus, and perhaps for others of like sort. There is a difference between those that set snares and such as are caught in them. Timothy's work of correction was in the light of the possibility that God will grant such persons repentance. See the following places where the knowledge of the truth is mentioned, 1 Timothy 2.4; 2 Timothy 2.25; 3.7; Titus 1.1; Hebrews 10.26. Hebrews 10.26 shows how serious is the case of wilful sin against the knowledge of the truth. If God granted repentance, those who had been ensnared could recover themselves, that is, "awake up," out of the snare of the devil unto the will of God. See R.V. marg., which, I judge, gives the correct thought. It seems to me that what Paul is saying is, that they may awake up out of the snare of the devil, unto the will of God, having been taken captive by the devil. 2Tim3v1 Sad and dark as were the days of Timothy and the closing days of Paul, as the apostasy of those days rolled on dark and foreboding, the last days which were future to those times were to be more terrible still. It may well be that we are merging upon the last days of this verse. They were to be grievous times, that is, fierce, savage, atrocious times, times of great peril and danger. Let it be noted that it is not the heathen world that is in view here, as in Romans 1.18-32, but it is the state of things amongst such as have a form of godliness, but have denied the power thereof. Here is a state of things religious in which, no doubt, many professing children of God will be found. 2Tim3v2,3,4,5 How could days be other than full of peril for godly people in the light of such a catalogue of evils? The list begins with that which is ever the characteristic of fallen, human nature, namely, self-love, which amounts to selfishness. In the gratification of self follows, "lovers of money." Paul had already said that the love of money is "a root of all kinds of evil," religious, political, economic, social evils, and all the others where the greedy hand of covetousness is stretched out to grab the possessions of others. Self is written on the different faces of the characters that Paul passes in review - empty boasters, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, profane, without natural affection, implacable (such as will make no truce), slanderers, incontinent (of unsubdued passions), inhuman, no lovers of good, traitors, headlong (rash), puffed up, and then emerges self life-size, "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." Here stands the flesh in all its native ugliness. Its breath is deadly to all that fear God, and to all spirituality. But over such is cast a form of godliness, but it is but a dead formality, for the power of godliness is denied. Timothy is exhorted, "From these also turn away." "Also" shows these to be additional to the people from whom he and others were to purge themselves out, as in Chapter 2.21. 2Tim3v6,7,8,9 These, mentioned in the former verses, are they that sneak into houses on their proselytizing work and lead captive silly (little women, that is, trifling, weak, silly) women laden with sins, led away with various lusts; no doubt coming under the description of those of whom Peter writes, "Promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption" (2 Peter 2.19). How different was Paul's vigorous public work, and his visiting the homes of those who had been made disciples! (Acts 16.15,34); and of his work in Ephesus, he said, "teaching you publicly, and from house to house" (Acts 20.20). These evil workers were "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." It could not be said of unregenerate persons that they were "ever learning," and not coming to the knowledge of the truth. This is possible for saved persons only (1 Timothy 2.4). Those contemplated are professing believers of the apostasy of the last days. The description is true of many believers in these days, that they are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. " Evangelism is the one thing that fills the minds of many. Regeneration is but the beginning of the life of a child of God; the whole truth and will of God lie before him. How great hinderers such people who go in for the gospel and little more can be to a child of God who sets out to learn the will of God and to do it! Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of Egypt, are held up as an example, men who sought to hinder the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. They could do wonders as Moses did. They cast down their rods and they became serpents like Aaron's rod (Exodus 7. 12). They turned water into blood like Moses (Exodus 7.20-22). But in the plague of lice the magicians failed and they said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8.18,19). In due time the folly of such as withstand the truth will be seen, as was the folly of Jannes and Jambres in the past, but how many may be deceived before the folly is manifest to all! It is our privilege to come to the knowledge of the truth, for only by the truth shall we escape from the devil's lies, snares and pitfalls. 2Tim3v10,11,12 Timothy had closely followed Paul's teaching. There could be no doubt that Timothy followed Paul as Paul followed Christ. Paul was his spiritual father and pattern. He had carefully noted all that went to make up the wonderful life of the apostle, his teaching, conduct, purpose, longsuffering, and so forth; he knew it all by heart, not as of a hero long dead, but as of one alive whose life cast its shadow over the younger man. He had not descended to the same measure of suffering as Paul (few men have), but he had shared his part, as he was fitted to bear it. As Paul looked back over life's journey with its sufferings and persecutions he seemed to heave a sigh of relief, even though he was yet a prisoner, and said, "Out of them all the Lord delivered me." By divine power he had won through all the past stages of the journey home. Then he said, "Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." It is not all who are godly, but whose wish is to live godly; this is their aim in life, and to them the word comes, that they "shall suffer persecution." They must not think that some strange thing happened to them (1 Peter 4.12); it follows as a consequence of living in such a world as we do. 2Tim3v13,14,15 Evil men (Poneroi, bad, the same word is used of the "evil one," which describes one who is wholly gone over to badness) and impostors (jugglers, magicians, like the magicians mentioned in verse 8: there are various breeds of them today who seek to perform magical bodily cures and to speak with tongues) were to advance and become worse and worse, deceiving others whilst they themselves were deceived. What systems of evil! What chaos! But Timothy, in contrast to the juggling impostors, was to continue in the things that he had learned and been convinced of, knowing the kind of persons they were who had taught him, his grandmother and his mother, and later, the apostle Paul. Good doctrine, when acted upon, produces good living, as it had done in those people. From a babe Timothy had known the sacred letters. (This description is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. The use of Gramma here,which literally means a letter, a character of the alphabet, though it is also used in a secondary sense of a writing, book, an epistle or letter, an account or bill, appears to me to indicate that it was the alphabetical characters that Timothy was acquainted with from babyhood.) It may be that, as his grandmother or mother read the Scriptures, Timothy when very young learned the sacred characters, whether these were the letters of the Hebrew or Greek Old Testament it may be impossible to say. Others may think that Gramma is the equivalent of Grapho, Scripture, of verse 16. I simply state my opinion on the matter. Here in Timothy's case is a pattern for Christian mothers, if they would see their sons in front-rank places in the things of God. An intimate and accurate knowledge of the Scriptures is a prime necessity. No time is wasted that is spent over the word of God. Here is the only means whereby men are made wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Spiritual poverty comes through neglect of the Scriptures. 2Tim3v16,17 There being no verb "to be" in verse 16, scholars have differed on where "is" should be placed to give the sense of the original. We judge the R.V. marginal reading to be better than the text of the R. V.: "Every scripture is inspired of God, and profitable." What is true regarding the inspiration of the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi, is true also of the New, but not of the Apocrypha. The latter is not in the canon of Scriptures, though Rome holds it to be. The Jews to whom the Old Testament Scriptures were committed do not place the Apocrypha among the Holy Scriptures. Peter classes Paul's writing among the Scriptures (2 Peter 3.16). Paul claims that what he wrote was the commandment of the Lord (1 Corinthians 14.37). The change made in the Levitical law by the Lord in Mark 7.18,19, and repeated in Acts 10, is said to be the word of God (1 Timothy 4.5). The New Testament must not be added to or taken from (Revelation 22.18,19) equally with the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 4.2; 12.32; Proverbs 30.5,6). Because every Scripture (Grapho, writing, is never found in the New Testament for any other writing than Holy Scripture) is God-breathed, it is therefore profitable for teaching. The persons who read and meditate in the inspired Scriptures will be taught by them; they will also convict the reader of wrong done, and they will correct, that is, put straight, and bring back to a pristine state. They will also instruct or discipline in righteousness: all this with a view to fit or make perfect the man of God, so that he may be one who is completely furnished, fitted or prepared to every good work. Besides the individual reading the Scriptures and applying its teaching to his life, there is great profit to be derived from the public reading, exhortation and teaching of the word (1 Timothy 4.13), especially by such as are gifted of God for such work. 2Tim4v1,2 Paul charged (earnestly testified) Timothy before God and Christ Jesus to preach the word. Christ Jesus is about to judge the living and the dead. It is difficult to decide between the A.V. "at His appearing," and the R.V. "by His appearing." This is one of the places where there is a difference in the Greek text. It seems that His appearing and kingdom are connected with the judgement of the quick and the dead. This appearing is when the Lord comes as Son of Man to the earth. How vitally necessary it is that those who have the word of God committed to them should preach it in the light of that day of judgement! If men do not preach the word privately and publicly, the blood of other men, not only of sinners, but also that of erring saints, may lie at their door. Timothy was to proclaim the word, to be urgent in season, out of season, to convict, rebuke, exhort, in all long-suffering and teaching. The cause for this urgency is shown in what follows. 2Tim4v3,4 The process of apostasy is here clearly indicated. Men simply would not have the sound, healthful teaching. They wanted to listen, not to the sober truth of God, but, having itching ears, that is, a longing desire or appetite for something fanciful, they heaped up teachers suited to their lusts. Is not this very thing manifest in this and in all lands? These are the fewest in number who have any desire for the plain truth. Those who gain the ears of the masses must, generally speaking, coat their message with the entertainment of song. It is all so very different from what took place in the house of Cornelius, in which Cornelius said of those whom he had gathered together to hear the word of the Lord; "Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God, to hear all things that have been commanded thee of the Lord" (Acts 10.33). The speaker, in this case Peter, not only proclaimed the gospel of faith in Christ, but he also commanded them when they had believed to be baptized (Acts 10.43,47,48). There was no such course followed by Peter as that of simply preaching salvation by faith in Christ, and hiding all that the Lord had commanded about baptism and all else (Matthew 28.18-20). Many preachers do not even preach salvation by faith alone; to proclaim, "Ye must be born agian," would mean the end of their stipend, and they know it. For filthy lucre's sake they are unfaithful to the Lord and His truth, and so the mischief goes on apace. Even so it was in the past, They "will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables." 2Tim4v5 Paul's work was that of the pioneer to cut his way and make roads through the forest of men and to bring the gospel and the truth to them. Timothy's work was to endeavour to keep the roads good so that there might be the free flow of the divine message. Both things were vigorously opposed by Satan. By persecutions and sufferings he sought to hinder the hardy pioneer, and through false teachers he sought to fill the highway with boulders and debris of all kinds. It mattered little what it was, so long as the road was blocked and the work of God hindered. Timothy's work was difficult, but he was to suffer hardship, to evangelize, and to fulfil his ministry. 2Tim4v6,7,8 The Lord said, "The night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9.4). The day of Paul's service was drawing swiftly to a close; the shadows of night were gathering round the valiant and scarred warrior. Soon that hand to which we are indebted for so much of divine truth would no longer hold the pen which had traced the sacred letters upon the papyrus. Can we picture Timothy, as the news, with a sledgehammer blow, smites his affectionate heart, that Paul's end is drawing near? His spiritual father and the friend and companion of youth and through life's wanderings will soon sail for the harbour in the land of fadeless glory. One thinks one hears the falling of the great salt tears upon Paul's letter and sees the bodily frame of Timothy shiver and shake. Paul gone! The world for Timothy would be an empty place! As one thinks of Paul, the words of the hymn keep ringing in one's mind I've wrestled on toward heaven, 'Gainst storm and wind and tide; Now, like a weary traveller, That leaneth on his guide, Amid the shades of evening, While sinks life's lingering sand, I hail the glory dawning From Immanuel's land. Deep waters crossed life's pathway; The hedge of thorns was sharp; Now these lie all behind me: Oh for a well-tuned harp! Oh to join Hallelujah With yon triumphant band, Who sing, where glory dwelleth, In Immanuel's land! Paul says, "I am already being poured out as a drink-offering" (R.V. Marg.). He had written to the Philippians earlier, "Yea, and if I am poured out as a drink-offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all" (Philippians 2.17, R.V. Marg.). This was the spirit in which he had lived since the Lord revealed Himself to him on the Damascus road: pouring himself out in the service of others. Was his life misspent in so doing? No! it was sure to reap the greatest reward. "The time of my departure is come," he says. He also wrote to the Philippinas, "But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ: for it is very far better" (Philippians 1.23). Now that earnest desire is about to be granted. He writes, striking a note of triumph, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith." His task was completed and his reward sure. He says, "Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day." This is "the day of Christ" (Philippians 1. 10), the day of His coming to the air (1 Thessalonians 4.16,17), when the judgement seat of Christ will be set up, before which saints of this dispensation of grace will be made manifest (2 Corinthians 5.10). Few men, if any others there have been, have known on this earth that theirs would be a crown of reward. There are three crowns mentioned in the New Testament which are rewards for faithfulness, (1) the crown of righteousness, for such as love the Lord's appearing, (2) the crown of life, for such as endure temptation, whether from their own flesh (James 1.12-15), or from tribulation (Revelation 2.9,10), and (3) the crown for the faithful shepherds of the flock (1 Peter 5.1-4). 2Tim4v9,10,11,12 Demas who is mentioned with Luke in Colossians 4.14, who was with Paul in Rome, had gone by the time of writing of 2 Timothy. He forsook Paul. Perhaps he saw Paul's end approaching and thought only of himself and the present life - he "loved this present age" and he went off to Thessalonica. He has left a black mark against his name in Holy Writ. Others went off in the Lord's work under the Spirit's guidance, Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, and Tychicus went to Ephesus, perhaps to relieve Timothy whom Paul wished to come to Rome. Mark was to be brought with Timothy. He is mentioned in Colossians 4.10,11 as being among Paul's fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God. Though he was restored from his act of departing from the Lord's work earlier, he must have looked back on that episode in his life with considerable heart-burning; it was the cause of the cleavage between such great men as Paul and Barnabas. How careful the servants of the Lord need to be that their acts do not make wounds, which, though they may be healed, may for ever leave their mark! Let us each humble ourselves and learn. The brief facts, as given here, afford us an insight into the movements of the Lord's servants of those days. Paul touchingly says, "Only Luke is with me," his faithful medical attendant, the beloved physician (Colossians 4.14). Paul who healed others did not heal himself. 2Tim4v13 Some who have argued against the inspiration of the Scriptures have inveighed against a statement about a cloke as being too insignificant a matter to be regarded as inspired. There are things of much lesser importance than that, which form part of the Holy Scriptures. This verse reminds me of the similarity to what is contained in a letter written by that noble martyr, William Tyndale, to whom the English speaking races owe a great debt. The letter was written, shortly before his martyrdom, from the castle of Vilvorde in Belgium. "If I am to remain here during winter, you will request the Procureur to be kind enough to send me from my goods which he has in his possession, a warmer cap, for I suffer extremely from the cold in the head, being afflicted with a perpetual catarrh, which is considerably increased in the cell. A warmer coat also, for that which I have is very thin: also a piece of cloth to patch my leggings; my overcoat is also worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woollen shirt of mine, if he will be kind enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thick cloth for putting on above: he also has warmer caps for wearing at night. I wish also to have a candle in the evening, for it is wearisome to sit in the dark. But above all, I entreat and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the Procureur that he may kindly permit me to have my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Grammar and Hebrew Dictionary, that I may spend my time with the study." Paul's request to Timothy is briefer regarding his cloke, books and parchments, but it is of the same nature as William Tyndale's. It is easy enough for the comfortable infidel, who can toast his toes at the fire on a cold winter's night and then retire to a warm and comfortable bed, to criticize men and their writings and the divine character of the Scriptures, men who suffered so much to bring untold blessing to untold multitudes. We can write over the memory of such men - "of whom the world was not worthy." All honour, we say, to these illustrious, yet suffering, servants of God! They shall yet shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever. 2Tim4v14,15 Alexander is perhaps the same as in 1 Timothy 1.20, and if so, he was still at his former evil work of opposition to the work of Paul, who says, "He did me much evil." He withstood the apostle exceedingly. We have also an Alexander, a Jew, mentioned in Acts 19.33. Timothy was warned against Alexander. He will, like all else, be rewarded according to his works, possibly here, and certainly hereafter. 2Tim4v16,17,18 At Paul's first defence before a court (it cannot be dogmatically held that this was before Nero) all his friends deserted him, but, says, he, "May it not be laid to their account," or reckoned to them. If forsaken by men, the Lord did not forsake His worthy servant; He stood by him and empowered him. What a comfort the Lord's presence must have been to Paul! Paul set forth his case before his judge or judges, that the gospel might be fully proclaimed and that all the Gentiles might hear. The news of what Paul said in his defence would stream out throughout the Empire. Paul said that he was delivered from the lion's mouth. Ancient writers understood the lion to be Nero. It is thought that Paul being a Roman citizen would be exempted from being thrown to literal lions. It may well be left, that what Paul means is that he was delivered at that time from a martyr's death. He was confident in the delivering power of the Lord Jesus from every evil work, who would also preserve him unto His heavenly kingdom. This was his consolation, and is that of us all. To the blessed Lord be glory unto the ages of the ages! 2Tim4v19,20,21,22 Prisca and Aquila are better known to us than many saints who are now alive. How much Paul owed to them! (Romans 16.3,4). See reference to the house of Onesiphorus in chapter 1.16. Erastus: an Erastus the treasurer of Corinth sent greetings to Rome (Romans 16.23); these may be the same, or he may be the Erastus who went to Macedonia with Timothy (Acts 19.22). We may know better about this in due time. Trophimus was an Ephesian (Acts 21.29-36), whose presence with Paul in Jerusalem caused Jewish rioting. He is mentioned with Tychicus in Acts 20.4, one of that party of great men who accompanied Paul from Macedonia to Asia, and who broke bread on the first day of the week with the church of God in Troas. Paul did not heal all sick people he came across, nor yet did he heal all the sick among the servants of Christ, if he healed any, for he left Trophimus at Miletus sick, and Timothy suffered often, yet Paul did not heal him. Nowhere else in the new Testament do we read of these Roman saints, Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia, who with all the brethren saluted Timothy. Timothy was to endeavour to reach Paul before the winter, bringing Paul's cloak, books and parchments, and accompanied by Mark. Then Paul ends this his epistle and his inspired letters, for this is his last, and, as seems fitting, is written to his beloved child, Timothy. He closes with "The Lord be with thy spirit. Grace be with you." NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TITUS Tit1v1,2,3 Paul writes of himself as a bondservant of Jesus Christ, in Romans 1. 1, of himself and Timothy as bondservants of Christ Jesus in Philippians 1.1, and here of himself as a bondservant of God. All angels, save those who are fallen, and all redeemed men, are bondservants of God (Revelation 19.10). Paul was also an apostle (one who is sent) of Jesus Christ. He was an apostle "according to the faith of God's elect." Is this "faith" or "the Faith"? We think that it is the former There is no definite article before "faith". Even though persons are elect before the foundation of the world, they must exercise faith in the message that Paul was chosen to bring to them, for salvation is through faith. To this end Paul said that he endured all things for the elect's sake, that they might obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory (2 Timothy 2.10). Paul the herald of the divine message must reach the elect, some of whom were in prison and some free, for they must hear and believe the gospel in order to be saved. "Belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of (God or) Christ" (Romans 10.17). "And the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness:" Paul joins two things together here, faith and the knowledge of the truth. This he does again in 1 Timothy 2.4, where he says that it is God's will that "all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." These two statements cover the apostle's work among men: (1) faith and salvation, (2) the knowledge of the truth. The truth known and acted upon by believers results in godliness of life. Paul, as we have seen, was an apostle according to (1) the faith of God's elect, and (2) the knowledge of the truth. Then he says that it was "in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal." "In" here is in the Greek Epi - "upon"; of this one has said, "The condition under which the apostolic mission rests." How useless would have been Paul's apostleship, if it was not in the fulfilment of a promise of One who cannot lie, who promised eternal life to all believers before times eternal, namely, from eternity! Though the words "the hope of eternal life" in Titus 1.2 and 3.7 are alike, yet the connexion in which they are found is different, and consequently their meaning is different. The promise of eternal life, which is the same as "His word," was manifested in the message or proclamation with which Paul was intrusted. This messge was to be manifested in His, or its, own seasons. All this was according to the commandment of God our Saviour. Here is stretched out before us the promise of eternal life before times eternal and the fulfilment of the promise in time in the message of the word of God which is received by faith on the part of God's elect. Tit1v4 Paul calls Titus his true (genuine) child after a common faith; he described Timothy also as his true child in faith (1 Timothy 1.2). "In faith" and "a common faith" mean the same kind of faith, not "the Faith." It is faith common to all believers. Paul's salutation is, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. God is our Saviour in verse 3. Tit1v5 Paul left Timothy in Ephesus, and Titus in Crete. Each was given his charge as to the need existing in the churches in those places. The work of Titus was to set in order things that were wanting, and the lack of recognised elders to care for and rule in the flock must have been outstanding amongst the things that were wanting in the churches in Crete. Some have postulated that, since we have today no apostles to appoint elders, as in Acts 14.21-23. and no apostles' delegates, as Timothy and Titus, we can have no men recognised as elders now. Surely the work of feeding and shepherding the flock of God still exists, as in the time of the apostles, and there is the need for men being recognised who are fitted to do this. Also, what use would there be today for such portions of the word of God as 1 Timothy 3.1-7 and Titus 1.6-9? None at all! There is no hidden satanic poison in the words "elder" and "overseer" that we should need to avoid their use, and substitute some other word coined by men in modern times to describe elders and overseers, the shepherds of the flock. We definitely believe that the Scriptures teach the recognition and appointment of elders to care for the flock, and that such elders form an elderhood or presbytery. These are addressed collectively in a much wider sphere than the elders of an individual church. See in proof of this 1 Peter 5.1-11, where the elders of the churches of God in five provinces in Asia (1 Peter 1.1), which formed a spiritual house (of God) and a holy and royal priesthood (1 Peter 2.3-5,9,10) are addressed as a whole "The elders therefore among you I exhort . . . tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight." Tit1v6,7,8,9 Here again is a picture, as in 1 Timothy 3.1-7, of the character and conduct of an elder or overseer. Having already, in 1 Timothy 3, remarked on "the husband of one wife," I suggest that this should be read. An elder must be blameless, one against whom no charge can be laid. He has to have but one wife. If he has believing children, they are not to be loose in behaviour or morals or unruly, that is, insubordinate. The overseer, as God's steward in His house, must be free from any charge. He must not be selfwilled or headstrong, not soon angry or passionate when his views and judgements are not accepted. He is not to be given to wine, and consequently not a brawler, not a striker, not greedy of base gain: so much for the negative side of his life. As to the positive, he is to be hospitable, that is, a lover of strangers, a lover of good, sober-minded, of sound mind, that is, discreet or self-restrained, just and holy (pious), temperate; holding to, or fast clinging to, or not letting go, the faithful word, which is according to the teaching which he had been taught. In consequence of his holding to what he had been taught, he would be able to exhort or encourage others in the sound and healthful doctrine, and also to convict or refute the gainsayers, such as question or contradict. Tit1v10,11 Whilst we shall be for ever indebted to men of Jewish race, such as the apostles and others, for the work they did at the beginning of this dispensation, and for the New Testament Scriptures which they left behind, we cannot fail to see in the New Testament how much the work of God suffered, both from Jews (they of the circumcision) who were in the churches of God, and also from Jews outside, who persecuted Paul and his fellow-workers continually. Here in these verses they of the circumcision are seen, with others, at their deadly, damaging work. They were insubordinate, men who would not be subject to authority, vain talkers and deceivers; a trio of badness which would ruin any community. Paul said that their mouths must be stopped. Though their mouths could not well be stopped in private, their mouths must be stopped in public by a public statement that such men were not allowed to speak. They were to be silenced in all gatherings of God's people. What serious work is indicated in the fact that they overthrow whole houses by teaching things that are not befitting, that is, that they teach what they ought not to teach, and they do it for the sake of base gain! Tit1v12,13,14 The natural state of the Cretans was low; so much so, that their avarice, ferocity, fraud and begging, were proverbial, of which several ancient writers have written. Epimenides, a Cretan, and a prophet of their own, described them in the words quoted by Paul. Their ferocity is expressed in the words, "evil wild beasts," one of the lowest descriptions given of men. It is God's description of the coming antichrist, "the wild beast." Of their fraud, they were said to be always liars, and of their avarice and begging, they were lazy gluttons. One could hardly imagine a more demoralized people; and the miracle was that the gospel was received by many of them, and that there were churches of God in every city in Crete. There was ever the fear that they would slip back to their former manner of life, and Titus was told to reprove them sharply or severely, that they may be sound, or healthy, in the faith. Also, that they were not to give heed to Jewish fables and the commandments of men who were turning from the truth, such as those of the circumcision of verse 10. Tit1v15,16 Purity of mind is the result of the acting out by believers of healthful teaching. The word of God like pure water has a cleansing effect in the heart where it flows. Pure minds see pure things, but corrupt minds things that are corrupt. Two people may approach the city, the one with eyes and heart full of lust, to seek the dens of sin and the haunts of vice, the other with holy aspirations, to seek the companionship and homes of the godly. The bee flies over the field seeking the flower with its scent and honey. The blow-fly seeks the stench of the corrupting carcase. We ever seek out what we are ourselves, the pure, the things that are pure, but to the polluted saint and unbelieving sinner nothing is pure, because their minds and consciences are polluted. Profession and practice should agree. We should eschew what is implied in the words, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau" (Genesis 27.22). What profit is there in professing before men that we know God and deny Him by our works? The one cancels out the other. Works such as being abominable, disobedient, and to every good work worthless, reveal a desperate plight in the conduct of any believer. Tit2v1,2 How frequently Paul writes of healthy words and teaching! There cannot be a healthy spiritual life apart from health-giving instruction. Old men are to be temperate or sober; grave, that is, venerable or serious, not hilarious; discreet or of sound mind. They are to be sound or healthy in faith (not in the Faith here, though it is sound in the Faith in Titus 1.13), and in their love and patience. Tit2v3,4,5 Old women, like old men, were to be "in deportment as becomes sacred ones." They were not to be slanderers. Slanderer here is the feminine of Diabolos, devil. They were not to be given to much wine, but to be teachers of what is good, right or beautiful in conduct. The object was to school, admonish, counsel, rebuke, the young women in the holy arts of domestic life; to love their husbands and their children; to be sober-minded or discreet; to be chaste, pure, modest; to be keepers at home, that is, "diligent in homework"; to be kind or good; to be subject to their own husbands, such is a woman's place in relation to her husband as assigned to her by God. The object of all this is, that the word of God be not blasphemed or evil spoken of. Tit2v6,7,8 The younger men were to be exhorted to be soberminded or discreet. One is reminded of what is said of David while a youth, and shortly after he slew Goliath: "he behaved himself wisely"; "he behaved himself wisely in all his ways"; "he behaved himself very wisely"; and he "behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul" (1 Samuel 18.5,14,15,30). Titus was also to show himself a pattern in all good works. He was to be a model of the doctrine he taught. What Titus was in his behaviour he was to enjoin upon others. He was to manifest uncorruptness in teaching, in gravity, in sound or healthy speech, which could not be condemned. The object of this good behaviour, both in Titus and his hearers, was that those of the contrary part could say no evil thing of those in the churches in Crete. Tit2v9,10 Paul frequently gives instruction to slaves or bondservants, as in Ephesians 6.5-8; Colossians 3.22-25; 1 Timothy 6.2. Here again he returns to the subject. Christian slaves were to be in subjection to their masters and to be well-pleasing to them in all things. They were not to be contradictory when their masters spoke to them. They were not to embezzle or steal their masters' goods, but to show good fidelity, being trustworthy. In this way, before their masters and others, the doctrine they held, the doctrine of God our Saviour, would be adorned and beautified in their eyes. The excellence of the doctrine would be seen in the changed behaviour of those who were once liars, evil wild beasts, lazy gluttons (1.12). Tit2v11 Appeared (Gk. Epiphaino - to shine upon, give light to): the epiphany of grace is before the epiphany of glory (verse 13). The first is through the incarnation, atonement and resurrection of the Lord; the second is at His coming again. There is no original word for "bringing." Salvation (Soterios) is an adjective and is part of the subject "the grace of God." Dr. Young in his version renders the verse, "For the saving grace of God was manifested to all men." Alford also says that Soterios is part of the subject. The gospel is like sunshine, the former shines to bring eternal health to the soul, the latter to give health to the body. Foolish people may hide themselves from both and die, both in soul and body. Tit2v12,13 The saving grace of God becomes the teacher of such as are saved by grace. It teaches us to deny, renounce, disown, ungodliness (we were once ungodly, Romans 5.6, persons in a fearful state, yet it was for such Christ died), and worldly lusts (see 1 Peter 4.2), and to live soberly, discreetly (behaviour in regard to ourselves), righteously (in regard to our neighbours) and godly (in regard to God's requirements) in this present age; looking for what God's grace teaches us to expect, even God's glory. This will be ours when the blessed hope will be realized in the coming again of the Lord, who has promised to return, at which time He will appear in glory to His own. This is not to be read as though the passage means two things, (1) the coming of the Lord, as Son of God, for His own, and (2) His coming, as Son of Man, with His saints. If it read the blessed Hope and the appearing of the glory, then there would be two things indicated, but there is no definite article before "appearing," hence only the Lord's coming to the air is in view. Note how the Deity of the Lord is clearly indicated in verse 13. Jesus Christ is our great God and Saviour. The A.V. is not correct here; it indicates two Persons, the Father and the Son. Tit2v14 This verse again emphasizes the Deity of the Lord. Jehovah in a past dispensation redeemed Israel, so that they should be to Him a peculiar treasure. He said, "If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me from among all peoples: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus 19.5,6). Similarly today, but on a higher plane, the Lord gave Himself for us, not merely to redeem us from past sins, but from present lawlessness, that is, from doing our own will and being a law unto ourselves, and to purify unto Himself a peculiar (that is, excellent) people. The character and conduct of this people is to be, "zealous of good works." To many saved folk the thought of God having a people is not in their thoughts. To many, evangelism fills entirely their thoughts and time, but God's will is that He should have a peculiar people, a subject people under the authority of the Lord, who is our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Tit2v15 In these instructions already given we have Paul authorizing Titus by the words of an inspired epistle to speak, exhort and reprove the disciples who were in the churches of God in Crete. In the carrying out of the apostle's commands no man was to despise him. Tit3v1,2 Subjection is one of the basic truths of the Scriptures, subjection to rulers and authorities (Romans 13.1), subjection of younger elders to older elders in the flock of God (1 Peter 5.5), of wives to husbands (Colossians 3.18; Titus 2.5; 1 Peter 3.1), servants to masters (Titus 2.9; 1 Peter 2.18), to those that help in the work and labour (1 Corinthians 16.16), to one another (Ephesians 5.21). Also the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets; God has not taken the control of man out of his own hand (1 Corinthians 14.32). In contrast, "The mind of the flesh ... is not subject to the law of God," and it is evident in these days that it is not subject to any other law, save the law of sin and death (Romans 8. 2); the lawless are increasing like locusts in the earth, devouring peace with an insatiable appetite. Believers are also to be obedient, save in such a matter as where the will of God and of men clash (Acts 4.16-21). They are also to be ready towards every good work, to speak evil of no one, not to be quarrelsome, to be gentle or mild, and to show meekness to all. These are all excellent Christian virtues. Tit3v3 Who are the "we also"? It seems to me that there is here a contrast between "we" and "them" of verse 1. "Put them in mind," that is the Cretans. The Cretans were always liars (1.12), their state before conversion. Then Paul gives us an insight into the state of the Jews, that is, those who are described as "we also." The Cretans, a pagan people, were degraded in their habits, but the Jews were really no better, for beneath a cloke of religion was a totally corrupted society. The Jews were without intelligence, disobedient (ever rebelling against God's law and that of the Romans), led astray, and serving various lusts and pleasures. As to their social life, that also was in rags; the Jews were living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. The conduct of each was hateful to others and consequently they hated each other. An external religion is but a mask, a guise to cover the natural wickedness of the human heart. Tit3v4,5,6,7 God is our Saviour; He is the Source whence salvation comes. Jesus Christ is our Saviour; He is the One by whom salvation was wrought. Kindness means first of all utility, usefulness. To give a millionaire a shilling would be no kindness, but it would be to a hungry beggar. To give a man a suit of clothes who has twenty suits would be no kindness, but it would be to a man clothed in rags. How well suited to the need of those whose righteousness is as filthy rags is the kindness of God! God's kindness is born of His love toward men (Philanthropia, philanthropy, only twice used in the New Testament, in Acts 28.2, of the kindness of the pagans in Melita to Paul, and here of God's love toward mankind). God's philanthropy was manifested in the incarnation, atonement and resurrection of the Lord. This reaches us not through any good quality in ourselves or our works, for there is none that doeth good (Romans 3.10-12). It is according to His mercy He saved us. We have been saved through or by means of the washing or laver of regeneration [Laver, Loutron, is a noun here, not a verb; it is a laver or bath, though the use of the bath is implied, and may legitimately be rendered bathing or washing in a bath, whereby the whole person and not a part is washed or bathed. Note the distinction the Lord makes, in John 13.10, between the washing of the feet in a basin and being bathed all over. "He that is bathed (in a Loutron, laver) needeth not save to wash (in a Nipter, basin) his feet, but is clean every whit"]. Regeneration (Paliggenesia) literally means, being born again, and is equivalent to "born again" (Gennao anothen) in John 3.3,7. The laver of regeneration is the word of God, through which, when received by faith, through the message of the gospel in the power of the Spirit, the sinner is born again or regenerated (see John 3.3,7; 1.12,13; 1 Peter 1.23; 1 John 5.1), and is made clean every whit (John 13.10; 15.3; Hebrews 10.22; Ephesians 5.26), and in that state of purity he remains for ever, though his feet need to be washed, which means that the word of God needs to be applied to his ways and walk. Palingenesia is found again only once in the New Testament, in Matthew 19.28, where it is used in a different sense, not in connexion with the regeneration of the individual soul, but in the regeneratin of human society at the coming of the Son of Man to earth, when a fountain shall be opened for sin and uncleanness (Zecheriah 13.1). "Renewing of the Holy Spirit": renewing (Anakainosis, found only here and in Romans 12.2, but see cognate verbs in 2 Corinthians 4.16; Colossians 3.10; Hebrews 6.6) describes the complete renewal of the individual by the Holy Spirit. These two statements regarding regeneration and renewing are complementary, and describe the operation of the word and Spirit of God on the soul, as spoken of by the Lord to Nicodemus, when He said, "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3.5). This act of God in grace is, Paul says, "poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Having been justified by grace (Romans 3.24), we have become heirs (of God and joint-heirs with Christ - Romans 8. 17) according to the hope of eternal life. This is not the hope of having eternal life sometime in the future, but the hope that springs from and belongs to eternal life, in which state we were saved (Romans 8.16,17,24,25), in which hope we rejoice that one day we shall enter upon the inheritance of the saints in light, for which God has made us meet (Colossians 1.12,13). Tit3v8,9 The "faithful saying" here is what Paul has been writing about, salvation, regeneration, and so forth. Such things were to be affirmed confidently. The present object of this is, that those so graced of God as to be saved, regenerated, renewed, justified, and to enjoy for ever a glorious inheritance, should maintain good works consistent with the grace they have received. Good works wrought by Christian people are both good and profitable to men. But what could be more inconsistent than that the heirs of heaven should be moving heavenward wrangling about what they have in the flesh, such as the Judaizers were doing, continually rhyming off their genealogies, as though to be children of sinners was to be compared with being children of God? The Lord said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and flesh it remains with all its sin and troubles. But many Jewish believers never seemed to enter into the meaning of the Lord's words and the teaching of the apostles, and were a continual menace to peace and a hindrance to the progress of the Lord's work. Such questionings and genealogies and legal contentions begat strifes and fightings and were unprofitable and vain. Tit3v10,11 A heretical man is a self-chooser, a party man who by his practice and doctrine would make a sect, "a self-chosen and divergent form of religious belief and practice." He is sectarian in out-look and intent, "one who creates a faction." It can be seen how dangerous such a person would be to the Fellowship. He is to be given a first and second admonition publicly before the church, and if he is obdurate, he is to be refused or rejected by the church; they are to decline fellowship with him, not simply to close his mouth, as in chapter 1.11. See 1 Timothy 5.11, where we have the same word. The younger widows were to be refused enrolment as widows to be supported by the church. See also 1 Timothy 4.7; 2 Timothy 2. 23; Hebews 12.25 for the same word. The heretical man is perverted (Ekstrepho, from Ek, out of, and Strepho, to twist or turn round). It means "to turn inside out," "to change for the worse," "to become corrupt." Such a one sinneth, is living in sin; it is his habit. He condemns himself. Tit3v12,13 Artemas is not elsewhere mentioned, but Tychicus is mentioned several times. Paul hoped to send either of these brethren to Crete to relieve Titus, whom Paul wished to come to him to Nicopolis (supposed to be Nicopolis in Thrace) where Paul had decided to winter. Zenas and Apollos had been in Crete, and Titus was exhorted to send them on their journey diligently and to see that nothing be lacking to them for the journey. The epistle was evidently written when Paul was at liberty, between his first and secnd imprisonment. It may have been written from Macedonia about the time of the writing of 1 Timothy. Tit3v14 It is profitable here to note the importance of the word "also." Titus was to set forward Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, and that nothing be wanting to them, and the saints also were to maintain good works for necessary uses. Why does Paul say this after he has spoken about the journey of these two servants of the Lord? It seems to me that if the saints did not give of their substance, then there would be meagre supplies for the Lord's servants on their journey. Saints were to give, and Titus was to see that the Lord's servants' needs were met. Tit3v15 Those who were with Paul at the time of his writing, who are not mentioned by name, saluted Titus, and Titus was to salute those who loved (Phileo) Paul and his co-workers in faith. Some translators think, though there is no definite article before faith, that it is implied in the grammatical construction, and that it should read, "Salute them that love us in (the) Faith." Paul closes with his usual salutation in all his epistles - "Grace be with you all." NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO PHILEMON Philv1,2,3 This epistle was written, it is supposed, with those to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Hebrews, from Rome during Paul's first imprisonment. Here Paul states again that he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus, as he does in Ephesians 3.1, and in the Lord, in 4.1, and in Philippians 1.13 he alludes to his bonds. In Philemon he associates Timothy with himself in verse 1. It may be that Timothy was also a prisoner with him, for, probably some little time later, he wrote to the Hebrews and said, "Know ye that our brother Timothy hath been set at liberty" (Hebrews 13.23). The epistle was written by Paul concerning Onesimus, who, as we learn from Colossians 4.9, belonged to Colossae. Then the references to Archippus in Colossians 4.17 and Philemon 2 strengthen the view that Philemon also belonged to Colossae. Paul writes endearingly when he calls Philemon "the brother" and "our beloved," and commends also his labours as a fellow-worker, labours wrought with the apostle perhaps in Colossae or elsewhere. Some think that Apphia was the wife of Philemon, but this is conjecture, also that Archippus was one of the family or household; but whilst such are possibilities there is no proof. A church met at the house of Philemon, possibly part of the church of God in Colossae. Paul's salutation is common to his epistles. Philv4,5,6 There is a difference amongst translators, whether "always" belongs to "thank" or to "making mention." Hence, in contrast to R.V. above, some punctuate thus: "I thank my God, always making mention of thee in my prayers." It is a technical point in Greek grammar about which the learned may differ. Whichever way the verse is read, it shows the regularity of the intercession of Paul in his prayers for Philemon, a worthy example for us all! We can understand the love of Philemon toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, and we can also understand his faith toward the Lord Jesus, but what does it mean when Paul refers to his faith toward the saints? The text of the R.V. in Ephesians 1.15 is somewhat similar, though there is some doubt whether the text or the margin of the R.V. is correct. If we consider James 2.15-20, it seems clear enough that we can show faith as well as love toward the saints. To see a brother in want and not minister to his need manifests a complete lack of faith as well as love for faith without works is both barren and dead. So Paul wrote to Philemon of his faith and love toward all the saints as well as toward the Lord Jesus. Then Paul continues and writes "that the fellowship (fellowship, Koinonia, has various meanings: community, fellowship, society, participation, communion, communications, alms, charity, and so forth) of thy faith may become effectual," which I take to mean, as one has put it, "the communication of thy faith may become effectual," that is, that it may be operative. Fellowship is not static; it is living and operative. It means sharing in common. Paul was touching a chord in this good man's being which had been working for long, when he wrote of the full knowledge he had of what he called "of every good thing which is in you, unto Christ." This is the regulator of Christian conduct; if saints are right toward or unto Christ, they will not fail to be right toward each other. Philemon had not only provided a meeting place for the church that met at his house, but quite evidently he was a large and good-hearted man who loved the Lord and His people and sought to care for them. Philv7 Here we have the work of Philemon laid open by Paul,in that the hearts (bowels, which describe the tenderest feelings) of the saints had been refreshed (given rest, quiet, refreshment) by him. This was undoubtedly a joy and comfort to the saints, as the knowledge of it was to Paul the prisoner. Paul ever rejoiced when it was well with the saints. He was like a good shepherd whose flock feeds quietly in the lush grass beside the still waters. Philv8,9,10 The aged father, Paul, pleads with Philemon concerning his child, Onesimus. One day, perhaps, the whole story will be told, and it will be a touching tale. Who and what was Onesimus? He was a brother in the flesh of Philemon (verse 16), and it appears that he was also a bondman or slave to his brother. Hereon may hang a tale of waywardness on the part of Onesimus in his unconverted days. Paul says, "Who was aforetime unprofitable to thee." He left Philemon and Colossae, possibly ran away and turned up in Rome. How did he come into contact with Paul in prison? Had he joined the Praetorian guard? (Philippians 1.13). Or was he one of the soldiers that guarded Paul? (Acts 28.16). Or was it worse than that: had he committed some crime which resulted in imprisonment, and thus he met Paul the prisoner? We cannot say. But we can picture to ourselves their meeting and think that we can follow the course of the conversation which led to Onesimus being led to Christ, "begotten," as Paul says, "in my bonds." Both knew Colossae and both knew Philemon. They met on common ground here, and soon they both stood on the common ground of being in Christ. Later Onesimus was added to the church in Rome, for Paul writes of him being in the Lord (verse 16). Paul could have enjoined upon Philemon the right Christian course to be followed by him towards Onesimus, but he took the better course of beseeching him for love's sake. Philv11,12,13 There is perchance a long story of waywardness on the part of Onesimus in the statement, "Who was aforetime unprofitable to thee. " Philemon may have lifted his brother and slave out of many troubles. Is this not true of many sinners, that their life is entirely unprofitable? "Destruction and misery are in their ways" (Romans 3.16), but they are not beyond the power of God in the gospel to save them from a vain manner of life and entirely to transform them. There have been many such trophies of grace. Paul says that since Onesimus was converted he "now is profitable to thee and to me." (Possibly we have here a play on the name of Onesimus, which means Helpful.) This is what is to be expected from the transforming power of divine grace, and where it is not in evidence, it makes one wonder whether the grace of God has indeed reached the heart, and the regenerating power of the Spirit has been known. Paul would have kept Onesimus at Rome to minister unto him in the bonds of the gospel, but true conversion leads to rectification, as far as possible, of past wrongs. This is seen in the case of Zacchaeus, who said, after he had known the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold" (Luke 19.8). So grace taught Paul to send Onesimus to Colossae to Philemon his brother, so that past wrongs might be put right. In parting with Onesimus Paul parted with what he called "my very heart," so dear had Onesimus become to him. Philv14,15,16 Paul would do nothing regarding Onesimus without having the mind of Philemon, that is, his decision or judgement. Paul wished to do nothing apart from this. Brethren should ever be careful that, where the interests and responsibilities of others are involved, there should be no action taken without having their mind or judgement. Often much trouble has been caused where the mind of others has not been sought. Paul also says that the goodness of Philemon should not be shown towards Onesimus out of necessity, but of free will. Paul lays the case before him in a masterly fashion, but brings no pressure to bear upon him. Philemon must be a free agent in what he does. Who knows the manifold working of God? Paul says that perhaps Onesimus was parted from Philemon for a season, that he might have him for ever, eternally, for during the interval Christ had reached and saved him. Now he returns to Philemon, not as a slave but much more, a brother beloved, to Paul especially, but much rather to Philemon, "both in the flesh and in the Lord." Thus we see that Onesimus was a brother in a double sense, a natural brother of Philemon, and now also a brother in the Lord. Philv17,18,19 Those who are in the Fellowship or Partnership (Acts 2.42; 1 Corinthians 1.9) are fellows or partners. See Luke 5.10: "James and John, sons of Zebedee, ... were partners with Simon." Paul and Philemon were in the same Fellowship, for the churches of God are one, in one Fellowship; and the saints received one another when they moved about carrying letters of commendation from church to church. See Romans 16.1,2; 2 Corinthians 3.1. Paul asks Philemon, and also the church at his house (note verses 1,2), to receive Onesimus as he would have received Paul himself. If there was anything which would hinder fellowship, such as past wrongs committed by Onesimus, whereby Philemon had suffered loss, he was to put that to Paul's account, who would repay him. It is dangerous doctrine to think and to say that because God forgives the sinner for all past wrongs, because of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, who has in His death paid the sinner's debts to God, that therefore all debts to men have to be regarded as repaid and forgiven. This is not so, as the story concerning Onesimus clearly teaches. Though Christ restored to God what He took not away (Psalm 69.4), there may still be restoration to men to be considered. Paul then touches lightly upon the point of the debt that Philemon owed to him, "I say not unto thee how that thou owest to me even thine own self besides." Here was a debt that Philemon had not paid and never could. Philv20,21 Paul hoped for joy and refreshment in the matter of Onesimus. As he committed this letter to Onesimus, so it is thought, he sent him forth on the long journey (in those days) back to Colossae; his arrival there would be like the return of the prodigal in Luke 15. We can well believe, though the sequel of the story is hid from us, that the joy in Colossae would be similar to the joy in the father's heart and home, where the best robe, the ring and the sandals were brought for the long-lost son, and the fatted calf was killed. The joy that divine grace brings, the like of which there is not on the earth besides, would, we think, be in the home of Philemon when Onesimus arrived. Paul said that he had confidence in the obedience of Philemon, not to Paul, but to the teaching of divine grace, that he would do even beyond what Paul said. This letter shows a taste and touch in handling a domestic difficulty, where estrangement had, no doubt, existed, of the most exquisite kind. Such matters are often the most difficult to handle, where family love has been flouted. Divine grace must be poured in in large measure to heal wounds that have been made. Philv22 "Prepare me also a lodging." "Also" shows that Paul anticipated that Onesimus had found lodging with his brother. If this were so, Paul's arrival in Colossae would fill the cup of each to overflowing. Here was the result of the Lord's work as the Peace Offering. In the peace offering in the past the LORD had His portion of the fat and the blood, the offering priest had his, the priestly family theirs, the offerer had the major portion of the sacrifice, and of this everyone who was clean could eat. It was the fellowship offering, the offering which reconciled men to God and to one another. In our time it speaks of the hearts of saints being refreshed in Christ whose death has brought them together and given each a portion in Himself to enjoy together. Here the eyes and faces of each participant may glow with the love of Christ. For the liberation and coming of Paul Philemon was to pray, and we are of the opinion that Paul gained his liberty for a time. Philv23,24,25 Epaphras is referred to in Colossians 1.7 and 4.12. The Colossians had become disciples by the ministry of this faithful man. It says, "Even as ye learned (as disciples) of (from) Epaphras." He strove much in prayer for the saints in Colossae, and for those in the contiguous churches in Laodicea and Hierapolis. It is sad to think that by the time of the wiriting of the book of the Revelation, perhaps some thirty years afterwards, the churches in Colossae and Hierapolis no longer existed as churches owned by the Lord; ony seven churches existed in Asia by that time, and even Laodicea was in a woeful condition of lukewarmness. When Paul wrote to Philemon, Epaphras was in prison, a fellow-prisoner of Paul: it might be that he was a prisoner when Paul wrote to the Colossians, though that is not stated. Paul evidently was quite near to Epaphras when he could write of the intensity of his prayers for the Colossians. Paul closes with his usual salutation of grace. Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." "The grace of our This is one of the finest letters, probably the finest, that was ever written to reconcile those involved in a domestic difficulty. NOTES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS Heb1v1,2 God is the speaker in both the Old and New Covenants: the channel of communication of old was the prophets - He spoke "in the prophets," but now He speaks "in Son," that is, in one who is Son. The absence of the definite article "more emphatically and definitely expresses the exclusive character of His Sonship." His manner and method of speaking of old time was varied; He spoke "in many parts" and "in many ways," in inspiration as varied as His material universe. Variety is the law of the universe: neither men nor beasts (of the same species), nor trees, nor leaves, nor blades of grass are exactly similar; so is the variety and beauty of His word. The Psalms are different from the Proverbs, though they are the writings of father and son, and the Canticles diverse from Ecclesiastes, the writings of the same man. "The fathers" were they to whom His words were spoken, but now He has spoken to "us," and happy are they who so view God's word as His message to them. God appointed (Tithemi, to place, set or appoint) the Son to be His Heir, a fact which the Aorist shows to be in the past, but when we are not told. Abraham's appointment of Isaac to be his heir is a beautiful type of this. All things have been given by the Father to the Son. He, the Heir, washed the disciples' feet, though He knew "that the Father had given all things into His hands" (John 13. 3). The Heir was killed by the Jews - "This is the Heir, come let us kill Him and take His inheritance." His inheritance is wider than Israel - "I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance" (Psalm 2.8), and it is wider than that still. The Son was the Master Workman who carried out the Father's designs (Proverbs 8.30; John 1.3). The word "worlds" is "ages," usually translated "ages" in the R.V.Marg. The LORD is "the Father of Eternity" (Isaiah 9.6, R.V.M.). Age, Aion, duration, finite or infinite, in its plural form indicates periods of duration past or future in what is called eternity; it is also used of periods of duration in time not bounded by the ordinary fixed limits by which time is reckoned, such as years and so forth. We read of "the course (age) of this world (Cosmos)" (Ephesians 2.2), and of "this present evil world (age)" (Galatians 1.4). It seems that more is involved in Hebrews 1.2 than periods of duration, and more, too, than the material universe; it may be that to each of the rolling ages He gave a character and content diverse and beautiful, and as the ages roll along there will be fresh unfolding of His mind and purpose. Our present limitation should make us careful not to dogmatize in so profound a matter. "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning," not merely those which have existed or do exist, but such as shall yet be. Heb1v3 "Who being" describes what He is (not what He became) and what He can never cease to be. "The effulgence": He is the radiation of the glory of Deity, not partially, but absolutely. This is no transient glory as was seen in the face of Moses, who carried in his hands the law which revealed God's Holiness. Every attribute of Deity is to be seen in the Son, who is the Revealer of God - His justice and holiness, His truth, grace, goodness, gentleness, meekness, love, compassion, and so forth, and every beauty of the splendour which is called the Glory (Tes Doxes), which of old the Hebrews called "the Shekinah," radiates in the person of the Son. He is also "the very Image" (Charakter, from Charagma, to cut in, engrave, impress or stamp) or "exact impress" of the substance or subsistence of God (Hupostasis, to place under, substance, "something of which we can say it is, opposed to He Phantasia, mere appearance, Hebrews 1.3"). We can say truly "God is" and He has expressed Himself in His "exact impress" His Son, His "very image." We may help ourselves to grasp what is meant by such similitudes as the impress of a seal on soft wax, as a stamp on paper, a penny from the die in the mint, or as the image in marble, chiselled by the sculptor, who has cut with precision the delineations of his subject in the stone. Upholding (Phero, to bear); the weight of all things spoken word (Rhema, what is spoken), and His word has (Dunamis) or ability that it will never fail or break creative word, when He spoke and it stood fast, still He brought into existence. hangs upon His so great power down. His maintains what "By Himself" and "our" are omitted by the most of the great textual critics, as having no sufficient authority to be inserted. Here we have the antitype of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16, but He needed not first to offer for His own sins, only for the sins of the people. The high priest of old went in to sprinkle, to cleanse and to retire, but He, the great High Priest, went in to sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. He sits with perfect right on the throne of Deity, because he is God. Heb1v4 He has become better because He is better. He who in incarnation became "a little lower than angels," has in His ascension on high become better than they, because of the inherited name He bears that of Son, a name which describes His true and eternal relationship to God the Father. This name was His before His incarnation: "For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him." Note the words "into the world" (Eis ton Cosmon); He was the Son before He was sent into the world (John 3.17). The name Son was His whilst on earth, and it always will be His. Heb1v5 The answers to these questions are, that at no time and to none of the angels did He ever so speak. They are creatures, but He the Increate - begotten, not made, the Only Begotten. One who is immutable in essence and attributes as the Father; One who remains the same "Yesterday and today, yea and for ever." from Psalm 2 is stated to be a "decree," This quotation "I will tell of the decree: The LORD said unto Me, Thou art My Son." This "decree" is a statute to be observed, believed and owned by all created intelligences, a fact which is the very core of the gospel; faith in the Son of God is necessary to salvation. "This day have I begotten Thee"; was this the resurrection morn? Nay! for He was the Son of God on earth, and before He came to earth. This text is quoted thrice in the New Testament, I, in association with His birth (Acts 13.33) (compare the raising up (Anistemi) of Jesus, in verse 33, with the raising up (Egeiro) of David, in verse 22, - contrast the uses of Anistemi and Egeiro in verses 16 and 30 - and contrast these with His being raised up from the dead, in verse 34); II, in association with His being raised from the dead in Hebrews 1.5; and III, in association with His priesthood, in Hebrews 5.5. "This day" (Semeron, today) is not a point in time, nor yet any point in eternity which is past. God is the ever present "I am," to Him there is no past or future. He dwells in one ever-present "today" that had no yesterday and will have no tomorrow. It is what Peter calls "the day of eternity" (2 Peter 3.18, R.V. marg.). Here we may quote the weighty words of J. H. in N.T., Vol. 31, pages 140-141:"Some may create difficulty by associating the 'To-day' of the oracle with the event expressed in the words, 'In that He raised up Jesus.' There is no warrant for this. 'To-day' expresses neither past nor future; it is a day that was not born out of yesterday, and never shall pass into tomorrow. The term here indicates an eternal age, an eternal now; surely, no simpler words can be found to express more effectively perpetual and eternal generation, for 'To-day' is associated with the words 'I have begotten Thee,' and corresponds in duration to the verb expressed in the words 'Thou ART My Son'; and during future millenniums untold will His oracle be as appropriately and absolutely true as at the first moment in which it was uttered. Note carefully, God does not say, 'I have adopted, declared or constituted,' but 'I have begotten Thee'; by which we understand the communication of His own divine essence and nature, by a method altogether beyond human conception. How surely and clearly the beloved apostle entered into the deep thoughts of the eternal Father's bosom when he designated His co-equal and well beloved Son, 'THE ONLY BEGOTTEN FROM THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH'!" "Thou art" and "to-day" stand co-related in an indivisible union. The Lord neither became Son of God by incarnation nor yet by resurrection; He is Son by being begotten, and is the Only Begotten. If human generation is a deep mystery, how deep is the mystery of the Divine Sonship of our blessed Lord! "These things are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name" (John 20.31). "To Him," "To Me," describe the mutual obligations which devolve upon each because of the relationship indicated in the previous statement - "I have begotten Thee." Compare this with 2 Corinthians 6.18, where it is said to God's obedient children, "(I) will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to Me for sons and daughters." This does not describe how they became the children of God, but what the LORD Almighty will be to them if they are obedient to Him. This second quotation of Hebrews 1.5 is taken from 2 Samuel 7.14, where Jehovah promises to David that He would be a Father to his son Solomon, to whom, if he committed iniquity, He would act a father's part and chastise him with the rod of men. But He who is Son of God needed no such stripes as wayward Solomon received. Heb1v6 Just as "Only Begotten" shows that unique relationship in which He alone stands to God the Father (for though both unfallen angels and redeemed men are called sons of God and are sons by creation, the Son knows no creation), "First-born" shows Him in the premier place as being before, over, and pre-eminent above all things, "that in all things He might have the pre-eminence" (Colossians 1.18). First-born is a title of pre-eminence, sometimes used where relationshp exists, as in the case of the first-born of a family, and sometimes where no relationship exists, as in the case of David, whom God calls His first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth (Psalm 89.27). Christ is God's First-born, the One who is pre-eminent over all. (See Needed Truth, Vol. 19, page 244, J.H. on "First-born"). "Again bringeth" shows that He was in the inhabited earth before. At His second advent the angels of God shall worship, or bow before Him doing Him the honour which the rebellious earth refused, though some bowed in mockery. This quotation is the LXX. rendering of Deuteronomy 32.43, "Let all the angels of God worship Him." Heb1v7 Only twice in the New Testament (R.V.) is Pneuma rendered "wind," in John 3.8 and Hebrews 1 .7. The marg. of R.V. may in both cases be the better rendering, "The Spirit breatheth" and "spirits." See Hebrews 1.14, where angels are called "spirits." The Seraphim of Isaiah 6.2,6, are "burning ones," so that "a flame of fire" is not a figure of speech. These mighty beings are completely under His control, who is called God in verse 8. Heb1v8,9 This is a quotation from Psalm 45.6,7. The R.V. marginal reading of the Psalm, "Thy throne is the throne of God," is without justification. God addresses His Son as "O God," and any weakening of words which present Him as being truly God ("The Word was God," John 1.1) should be eschewed by all who have learned to love Him. Psalm 45 is Messianic and consequently we have both the Divine and human natures of the Lord touched upon. Thy The Thy Thy throne. sceptre. kingdon. fellows. Here beyond doubt it is His human fellows (Metochos, a partner or partaker); this involves His incarnation, for it could never be said that He was anointed with the oil of gladness above the Father and the Holy Spirit, His Fellows of the Trinity. See Zechariah 13. 7 - "the Man that is My Fellow, saith the LORD of Hosts." Because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity, God has anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows, Peter, James, John, and myriads besides, over whom He is enthroned, and who gladly acknowledged His enthronement and His place of authority over them. Heb1v10,11,12 In the previous quotation from Psalm 45 we have a description of the King, the Divine Ruler; in this quotation He is set forth as the Creator and Maker of all, and though His material universe in the heavens and earth shall wax old and perish, He abides the same and His years fail not. What a stay it was to the Hebrew Christian, who might be wavering on the matter of the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, to know and be assured that that Man was truly God, the Creator of the ends of the earth! How comforting too to the afflicted in Psalm 102, from which this quotation is taken, that though his days were like a declining shadow (verse 11), His God was Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who fainteth not neither is weary (Isaiah 40.28,29), whose years fail not! The Child born and the Son given is the Mighty God (Isaiah 9.6). Surely no further proofs are needed of the Lord's Deity! Some hold that the material universe will be purified and restored as the new heaven and earth, but the opposite is stated here. It is said that "they shall perish." The heavens and earth shall "wax old," be "rolled up" and "be changed," not into something new, but will give place to something new; for we are told that the earth and the heaven shall flee away from the face of Him that shall sit on the great white throne, and no place shall be found for them (Revelation 20.11). The new heaven and earth that shall be are not renewed but new. The present earth (Ge, land or earth) and its works shall be burned up (2 Peter 3.10). Heb1v13 No angel was ever invited to sit upon the throne of God, yet the Son of David, who is also David's Lord, has been so addressed. "The LORD (Jehovah) saith unto my Lord (Adon), Sit Thou at My right hand" (Psalm 110.1). Heb1v14 Verse 7 says that He maketh His angels spirits, and here we are told that they are ministering spirits. This ministry is on behalf of those who shall inherit salvation; this salvation is yet future; the heirs are viewed as in the place of trial and temptation, and need angelic ministration. The Lord in His temptations was the subject of such ministry (Mark 1.13; Luke 22.43), and so may those be who endure temptation now, who shall shortly inherit salvation. Heb2v1 To drift means to glide or flow along like a river. It is not the thought of rapid movement, but something that glides away almost imperceptibly. Because of the importance of the matter - that God has spoken to us in His Son - we ought to give heed with more abundant zeal to the things that were heard. How much depended upon those whom the Lord entrusted with His word at the first! If they had proved unfaithful to the trust, like many in the later days of the New Testament, how should men have fared afterwards? and if we are unfaithful what of the Lord's work in time to come? Heb2v2 "Stedfast" shows the stability of the word in contrast to the word "drift" (or "slip," A.V.) of the previous verse. The law was given "through" (Dia, by means of) angels. Acts 7.53 says that Israel received it by disposition (Diatagas rendered "arrangement" by Dr. Young, by others as "promulgation" or "the act of promulgating") of angels. God's stedfast law imposed just penalties on all acts of transgression and disobedience. Heb2v3,4 "How shall we (the people of God, those to whom God has spoken, in contrast to those who received the law in the past dispensation) escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" The sinner may reject what is offered him, but saints may neglect (Ameleo, not to care for. See 1 Timothy 4.14) what they have. There is only one means of escape from losing one's life for God in this scene and that is by giving the most earnest heed to the great salvation which was at the first spoken by the Lord. This great salvation covers the whole of the doctrine of Christ, the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3), the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ which saints are to hold (James 2.1). The writer of the Hebrews was not one who had himself heard the Lord, for he says that it "was confirmed unto us by them that heard." With those who heard, God bore witness by miraculous evidence, attesting the divine character of the message. The Holy Spirit and the apostles were to bear dual testimony - "The Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me; and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning" (John 15.26,27). God having confirmed the great salvation by miracles, these have been withdrawn, God leaving the reception of His word to faith unassisted by sight. The working of miracles never occurred according to the whims of men, but "according to His (God's) own will." Heb2v5,6,7,8 In this quotation there seems to be an allusion to both Adam and Christ. In Psalm 8.4-7 man, in "what is man," is Enosh, mortal or frail man, and Christ was never a mortal man. He was not subject to the frailty and mortality of the race. He died because He willed to do so, laying down His life of Himself (John 10.17,18). He is the Son of Man (Man here is Adam), the Son of him whom God formed of the dust of the earth who was made in the image of God. Adam became an "Enosh" through sin, and in consequence much that God put into his hand got beyond his control and beyond the control of his sons, but He who is Son of Man, the Heir to his inheritance, who was made a little lower than angels, will deliver creation from the present bondage of corruption in which it languishes into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8.18-22). Christ the Son of Man was crowned on earth in perfect manhood with glory and honour; all was given into His hand and put under His feet. Whilst angels seem in some way to have to do with the government of the inhabited earth - and this was probably rendered necessary because of Satanic interference in earth's government from the days of Adam (see Daniel 10.13,20; 12.1; Ephesians 6.12) - the time will come when God's original purpose in the subjection of earth to man shall be fulfilled in all being subjected, and manifestly seen to be subject, to the Son of Adam. God wherein men failed. Christ shall fulfil the purposes of All things have been subjected to Him, but the words "not yet" show that the time for the manifestation of this fact has not yet arrived, which will be in the coming of the Son of Man, which is yet future. Heb2v9 Does this verse say that the crowning with glory and honour was before or after His death? The usual interpretation is that he was crowned with glory and honour after death. This is true of the Lord's glorification in another sense, but here as the Son of Man He was crowned with glory and honour to suffer. His crowning was because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, He, and He only, of all the sons of men, should taste death for every man. To accomplish the work of redemption He had to become the Son of Man, so that as Kinsman-Redeemer He might have the right of redemption. He was the one perfect, holy Man who could effect salvation for men of the human race with which He had associated Himself in incarnation. To "taste death" is simply to experience death or to die, and "for every man" shows the vicarious nature of that death. A twofold glorification of Christ is spoken of by Himself in John 13. 31: "Now is (was or has been) the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; and God shall glorify Him in Himself and straightway (immediately) shall He glorify Him." Heb2v10 It was a becoming thing for God, the great End as well as the original Cause of all things, to make the Author (Archegos, chief, leader, prince, or efficient cause), the One who was the Cause of their salvation, who is also the Leader (both thoughts are in the word Archegos) of the ransomed band, perfect through sufferings. If of old time it was said of Jehovah, the Author of Israel's salvation and their Leader, "In all their affliction He was afflicted," it cannot be less true of Him who leads the ransomed host to glory in our day. He would be greatly deficient as Leader of God's sons, who had themselves sufferd, if He had not Himself suffered. But He, the great Sufferer, the pattern of all sufferers, has acquired perfection through His sufferings - His sufferings in life which were brought to a climax by His sufferings on the cross, for He could never have been the Author of salvation but for His crucifixion. Heb2v11 He that sanctifieth is the Lord. This sanctifying One and the sanctified ones are all (Ek, out of) of One (the Father), and consequently there is kinship existing between the Sanctifier and the sanctified. In consequence of this kinship He calls them "brethren." This word "brethren" has been misapplied and used to describe an ecclesiastical position or those in an ecclesiastical position, whereas it is used to dscribe those who have sprung from a common fatherhood. He is not ashamed to describe those who are born of God as "brethren" (see John 1.13 "which were born ... of (Ek, out of) God"). Note the distinction between this and Hebrews 11.16, where God is not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and such like, because their conduct as pilgrims and strangers on earth had His approval. In Hebrews 11.16 it is conduct, but in Hebrews 2.11 it is relationship. It is possible for God to be ashamed of many who are called "brethren," because their conduct is not that of pilgrims and strangers, who have not been separated from the world, and who know practically nothing of what it is to have a God to worship and serve. Heb2v12 "Thy name": What name? It must be a name co-related to the name "brethren," a name which describes Him out of whom all brethren are. What name can describe this relationship like the name "Father"? To the patriarchs He revealed Himself as the "Lord Almighty," to Israel He made known somewhat of the mysteries of His name Jehovah - "I am Jehovah your God," but to all who are brethren the Lord reveals to such His Father as their Father. "I ascend to My Father and your Father" (John 20.17). The disciples were taught to address Him as "Our Father which art in heaven," and the Spirit of adoption has come into our hearts whereby we cry, "Abba, Father. " The Hebrew word "Abba," the Greek word Pater, the English word "Father" and whatever word may be used in any language to express "Father," such is the name by which God is addressed by those who are begotten of Him. We have in the former statement the co-related terms of the name (Father) and "brethren," but here we have those previously viewed as brethren now seen in a separaed position as having been called out and called together (Ecclesia comes from Ek, out of, and Kaleo, to call). The Lord cannot be in the midst of a scattered people. The Revisers in rendering Ecclesia by the word congregation had no doubt the thought of a people together, and also a wider thing is contemplated than a local church, for in this epistle the writer does not limit his view of God's people to those resident in a single city, but the whole are contemplated. Of old God separated His people from Egypt and gathered them unto Himself and around Himself in the wilderness. He dwelt in their midst in the Tabernacle which was His Sanctuary. In Psalm 50.5 He says, "Gather My saints together unto Me: Those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." Today, as truly as ever, God wants a together-folk, called out and separated, in the midst of whom the Lord is the Leader of the praise. He says that here He will sing (Humneso, hymn) God's praise. We on our part, as part of that gathered-together people, are in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5.19,20) to be singing (Adontes, singing), and making melody (Psallontes, psalming, from the word Psalm), not with the accompaniment of a musical instrument, when together as the people of God to praise Him, but as the next words show, "with your heart" (Te kardia). Neither wind instruments nor stringed instruments, etc., are allowed by God to find a place in His service today amongst His gathered people. If the Lord sings, who shall play with an instrument? Let us also sing under His leadership with hearts tuned to His praise in holy melody. These words will, no doubt, have a wider meaning when the Lord at His coming stands in the midst of His own and rejoices over them with singing. Heb2v13 The Lord as perfectly trusts (Peitho, to persuade, to be persuaded) His Father as He sits on the throne as He did in the days of His flesh on earth, for there He carries on the work with reference to God's people which He began on earth. He is still associated with them, for He says, "Behold, I and the children which God hath given Me." It is "I and the children" in a blessed unity. This quotation is from Isaiah 8.18 where the Lord is seen, during the time of Israel's rejection, associated with children that God has given Him. In John 17.6 He says, "I manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were and Thou gavest them to Me; and they have kept Thy word." These are undoubtedly those referred to as "My disciples" (Isaiah 8.16) amongst whom the testimony was to be bound and the law sealed, the children God gave Him who were for signs and wonders in Israel. These are God's people during the time that Israel, God's Old Testament people, are set aside. Heb2v14 The children were common sharers (from Koinoneo, which in turn comes from Koinos, common) of blood and flesh (R.V. marg., is correct), but the Lord partook (Metecho, from Meta, with, Echo, hold possession of, to have) of what others shared in common. Flesh and blood speaks of man in his natural state, but the Lord partook of blood and flesh, for though He is Man who was made of a woman, "in like manner" as the children, yet it must ever be remembered that it was in the likeness of sinful flesh He came (Romans 8.3). He was no co-partaker of a fallen nature. He was born holy and was ever separated from sinners. In temptation He ever repelled and resisted the devil by the power of the word of God, saying, "It is written." How perfect is His example and how encouraging to us to follow His steps! "Through death" - His death on the tree - the Son of Man has annulled the devil, who had the power of death, in a crushing defeat. The word Katargeo, rendered "bring to nought" (R.V.), "destroy" (A.V.), which is the same word as in 2 Timothy 1.10, means to render inactive or to make of none effect. It does not mean to cause to cease to be or to exist, but to render useless or ineffective. See Luke 13.7 where the ground was rendered useless by the barren fig tree; word. also see Romans 6.6, etc., for the same Heb2v15 Here we have saints of a by-gone day alluded to; those who lived in fear of death during their lifetime, who had not the bright hope of believers today, to whom the words come - "absent from the body" "at home with the Lord." Saints of Old Testament times prior to the Lord's death and resurrection went down to Sheol (not to the place of torment in Sheol beneath). See Genesis 37.35; 42.38; 44. 29,31 ("grave" here is "Sheol," not the place of burial); Psalm 16. 10; Acts 2.27,31. Compare the liberation of Hebrews 2.15 with the leading of "captivity captive" (Ephesians 4.8). Heb2v16 When the Lord became incarnate, by partaking of blood and flesh, it was with the object of helping men, not angels. He came to lay hold of, with a view to assisting, the seed of Abraham. "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are the children of God; but the children of promise are reckoned for a seed" (Romans 9.7,8). Here we view, not Abraham's natural descendants, but the children of faith. The faithless Jew did not want Messiah's help, but those who are sons of Abraham through faith are such as the Lord lays His hands upon to help. "He giveth help to the seed of Abraham" (American Revision). The R. V. rendering of the passage is better, in our judgement, than the A. V. Heb2v17 The propitiatory work of the Lord is viewed from three points of view in the New Testament, in regard to three distinct kinds of need:(1) Christ is the propitiation for the whole world (1 John 2.2). He gave Himself a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2.6). Men may approach to God through the one Mediator between God and men, "Whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by His blood" (Romans 3. 25). The word propitiation here is Hilasterios, one who makes expiation or propitiation (Hilasterion, the propitiatory or mercy-seat: Hebrews 9.5). (2) Christ's propitiatory work has in it not only that which meets the sinner's need, but there is in it that which meets the need of the child of God, for "if any man (one) sin" (1 John 2.1) - any of the children of God - Christ "is the propitiation for our sins" (verse 2). He who is an Advocate (and we have two Advocates, the Lord and the Holy Spirit) on behalf of the children of God, pleads the merits of His propitiatory work, so that forgiveness might be theirs. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1.9). Forgiveness here is with a view to fellowship with God and with one another, not in order that we may be saved, for believers are forgiven all and saved eternally. Salvation was an assured matter when we came as sinners to God, through Christ, who is the propitiation for the whole world. (3) In Hebrews 2 we have something further than being children of God, here we have "the people." Firstly: Chri st the Mediator and propitiation meets the sinner's need that he may be saved. Secondly: Christ an Advocate and propitiation meets the need of the child of God, so that he may live in fellowship with God and with the children of God. Thirdly: Christ is the High Priest who meets the need of the people of God so that they may serve Him in the house of God. His work of propitiation has in view (1) Salvation: (2) Fellowship: (3) Service; having in view (1) all Men; (2) God's children; (3) God's people. In "the people" we see a collective folk, a nation, which, in the work of God, has many faults and failings. "In things pertaining to God," God's people are a sinful people. Do we not seek our own pleasure rather than His will? Do we give to Him of our strength, time and substance as we ought? Are we devoted to Him? Do we love Him with our whole heart, soul, strength and mind? Have we not acted as though in our service the lame and the blind of our offerings would do for our God? indeed the carnal mind says that anything will do for Him. Have we not done the things we ought not, and left undone the things we ought to have done? How much of our work is fulfilled before our God? (Revelation 3.2). Who meets such a need of His people and gives to God satisfaction for the many deficiencies of their unworthy service so that they may continue to be His people in His house? It is the High Priest who is in God's presence, who having offered Himself a propitiatory sacrifice has gone in through (Dia) His own blood to make propitiation for the sins of the people. God is getting satisfaction in the priestly work of the Lord, who is the Surety of the covenant (Hebrews 7.22), for the ignorances and deficiencies, even the sins of His people. The need is continuous and so also is the provision to meet it. Heb2v18 He who was made in all points like unto His brethren (not our elder Brother) suffered in temptation as a man. He, as God, never was or could be tempted of evil things. Divine nature is above all temptation. But He who hungered felt in His weak and dependent humanity the sting of the evil one's suggestion that He should turn stones into loaves. He was the Son of God truly, but as a man He bore hunger and temptation. His answer was, "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Strange that He, the eternal Logos, should live by every single word (Rhema, a saying) that proceedeth out of God's mouth! This remarkable Person - of indivisible personality, yet of two natures, Divine and human, in the form of God, yet in the form of a bond-servant - who fed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes would not feed Himself with loaves made of stones. He would depend and suffer, till He was succoured when the temptation was past. This is He who is able to succour with a Dunamis (power or ability), that no one need fail in the hour of temptation, and those who come through victorious may return in the power of the Spirit to their divinely-appointed work (Luke 4.14). Heb3v1 These holy brethren are the brethren indicated in Hebrews 2.12,17. "Holy" shows that they are brethren of a holier order than the sons of Israel, of whom David wrote, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133.1). They are not only brethren, but they are also sharers or have a part (Metochos, see Hebrews 1.9; 3.14; 12.8: see also the verbal form of the word in Hebrews 2.14) in a heavenly calling. Israel's calling was earthly, to the wilderness where they built God's house, which was a sanctuary of this world, though it was a copy of things in the heavens, and to the land of Canaan their inheritance. Ours is heavenly, first of all to separation from the world, with the object of building and being built up a spiritual house, even the house of God (see verse 6, and 1 Peter 2.3-5; 1 Corinthians 3.9-17), and we also have a heavenly country in view. As brethren and partakers we are exhorted to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession - the Apostle who came from God with God's word, and the High Priest who has gone to God to meet the need of His people who hold and keep the word He committed to them, their confession. Israel had their confession in "the law," their apostle in Moses, and their high priest in Aaron; we have our confession in "the Faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3), and our Apostle and High Priest is the Lord Himself, who fills both offices. Heb3v2 "Appointed" is "made" (see R.V. Marg. Poiesanti). The word is used in the same way as in Acts 2.36: "God hath made Him both Lord and Christ." Christ was the faithful Apostle and He is also the faithful High Priest. Of Moses God said, "My servant Moses ... is faithful in all Mine House" (Numbers 12.7). Heb3v3 In this illustration of a builder and a house we have a principle indicative of why the Lord is worthy of more glory than Moses, because the builder is ever more honourable than what he builds. We may admire the building, but we admire more the mind that conceived the plan and fabricated the structure. God, too, is ever greater than His work, and Christ is greater than what He accomplished, wondrous as that work is. Heb3v4 How true! when we see a house we know that there has been a builder there. Houses are not rained from the skies, nor do they grow from seed. So we conclude in regard to the material universe, in all its marvellous design, that there must have been a Divine Builder at work. "He that built all things is God." See Acts 7.44-50. Heb3v5 Here we have reference to one of the most remarkable houses ever built by man - the Tabernacle in the wilderness - the pattern of which was divinely given. This house was built by some one. It did not descend complete from the heavens. In the Tabernacle Moses was a faithful minister (Therapon, servant, minister, used of Moses in the LXX in Exodus 14.31. From this word comes Therapeia, service, attendance, aid, help, and Therapeuo, to serve, to minister). Moses' faithfulness in the house of God was typical of the Lord's faithfulness, who is the One in authority over the house of God. Heb 3v6 Moses was a servant in (En), but Christ is a son over (Epi), the house of God. The house of God today is not made of curtains, boards, and bars and so forth, but of persons - "whose house are we" - and these persons are not in heaven, but on earth. But who are included in "we"? Many answer, "all born-again persons on earth who are members of the Church, the Body of Christ, are the house of God: the Church which is Christ's Body and the house of God are one and the same - the same thing under different figures. " We know that the most of the members of Christ are in heaven, yet believers will confuse the Body with the house of God. What saith the Scripture on the point? Whose house are we, if we hold fast." Are we born-again persons if we hold fast? or members of Christ if we hold fast? Surely if holding fast is a vital necessity to the new birth, then those who hold the falling away doctrine - that saved persons may be lost eternally - have truth on their side. The fact of the matter is, that the house of God does not signify all born-again people on earth, nor does it mean the Body of Christ under another figure. The conjunction "if" is Eanper (or Ean in the Revised Greek Text) and means "if indeed" or "if truly", for Ean with the subjunctive mood Kataschomen shows beyond question that "if" here is the "if" of condition, and that continuance in the house of God is conditional upon those therein holding fast. This passage does not show how those therein came to be in the house of God. But a comparison of 1 Peter 2.3-5 with Acts 2.41,42, 2 Corinthians 6.14-18, etc., shows how disciples came to find a place in the house of God. They tasted that the Lord was gracious, by receiving the Word, and having been baptized, they saved (or separated themselves) themselves from a crooked generation by going forth to Him who is the rejected Stone, the Stone that was rejected by the Jewish elders (Matthew 21. 40-46); coming to Him they were built up a spiritual house, or were added as in Acts 2.41, etc., or were received as in 2 Corinthians 6. 17, but this being built, added, or received was not final, for what they did in going forth to Him they must continue to do; thus we have the exhortation - "Let us therefore go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Hebrews 13.13). For such a separated, added or built together people the Lord has gone into God's presence as High Priest and they are and will continue to be God's house if they hold fast their boldness and the glorying of their hope firm unto the end. The coming again of the Lord is also the hope of God's saints, but Hebrews 3.6 is the "going in" hope, not the hope of His "coming out." The hope of the Lord in the presence of God is called "a better hope" and such a hope is an "anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 7.19; 6.18,19). Heb3v7,8,9,10,11 This is a citation from Psalm 95.7-11 which shows the unique opportunity given to Israel in the days of David, in the revival in the early part of His reign, when Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Abinadab in the Hill (1 Chronicles 13. 1-14; 15.1-29), where it had been for many years (1 Samuel 7.1), subsequent to the disastrous days of Eli when the Ark was taken by the Philistines. The day of forward movement in David's time is contrasted with the backsliding of Israel at Kadesh-Barnea (Numbers 14), when Israel refused to go into the land of Canaan and turned back in heart into Egypt. These same men from twenty years old and upwards, who had been numbered, had said, "All that the LORD hath spoken we will do" (Exodus 19.8; 24.3), but they disbelieved in the LORD, disobeyed His word, and perished in the wilderness. This erring people who never learned God's ways, and in consequence failed to enter God's rest in the land (Deuteronomy 12.9), is held up by David as a solemn warning and example of the results of disobedience, and if Israel heard God's voice in his time he exhorted them not to repeat the folly of that past day. Happily Israel in David's day heard God's voice, obeyed, and went forward into times of prosperity and greatness during the reigns of David and Solomon, times which were never equalled in the history of Israel. Such are some of the fruits of obedience. This quotation is the voice of the Holy Spirit to God's people and is used as His message to such as were in His house. If they should harden their hearts against the voice of God then disaster would overtake them, as it did Israel in the wilderness, but if they went forward as in the days of David then God's rest and its blessed possibilities would be theirs. Heb3v12 Unbelief has dogged the footsteps of mankind since Eden's garden, and is the root cause of all disasters which have overwhelmed the race and individual men thereof. In the case of Israel in the wilderness the cause of their disobedience was that they judged things by the sight of their eyes and not by the hearing of faith. Giants and fenced cities filled their minds with fear and they disbelieved in Jehovah their God and in His power to bring them into the promised land; in Him who had with a mighty hand and outsretched arm saved them from the power of Pharaoh, and had fed them with Manna, and turned the flinty rock into a pool of water. Their present trial shut out the remembrance of past deliverances. We too need to take heed lest we also fall away from the living God, the God of the house of God (1 Timothy 3.15). A living God is ever the object of a living faith; He is the God of such as live by faith. If our faith becomes a dead faith (James 2.14-26), we shall surely, as dead leaves fall from a living tree, fall away from the living God, yet we may have a name that we are alive, though we are dead (Revelation 3.1). Heb3v13 How blessed is the ministry of a day-by-day exhortation or encouragement! Happy is it, too, where it is mutual - "one another" - and not one continually exhorting the rest. It is to go on so long as it is called "today," which is the present day of our life's opportunity, and the object of it is "lest any one be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Sin deceives men so thoroughly that they believe that their best interest is served and their happiness lies in its service. Sin hardens the heart against the word of God in its commands, its warnings and pleadings. Heb3v14 Partakers (Metochoi) is the same word as "fellows" in Hebrews 1.9 and "partakers" (3.1). They would cease to be the fellows of Christ if they failed to hold fast the beginning of their confidence to the end, for in the beginning their confidence was such that they took joyfully the spoiling of their possessions, knowing that they had a better possession and an abiding one (Hebrews 10.34). Heb3v15 Here the present opportunity of "today" is again emphasized and the seriousness of hardening the heart against God's voice. Heb3v16 Rebellion against God's word is the worst of offences. The word provoke is from the word Parapikraino which means "to render bitter, " which comes from Para, beside and Pikros, bitter, and shows the embittered state of the hearts of the men of Israel against the word of God; their bitterness and rebellion God could never forget. He had not forgotten His experience with Israel even in David's time. Heb3v17 Throughout the whole of the forty years of their wilderness journey God was displeased with His people. He was displeased (Prosochthizo, grieved or disgusted with, detested or abhorred) with all the men of Israel who were numbered and sinned, save Caleb and Joshua, who only (the tribe of Levi to which Moses and Aaron belonged was not numbered with these) of all the vast number of 603, 550 (Exodus 38.25-28; Numbers 2.32) entered God's rest in the land of Canaan. All the rest knew not God's ways. Heb3v18 The A.V. says, "to them that believed not." The word is Apeithesasin, which comes from A, not, Peitho, to persuade, and shows that despite all that the LORD and His servants said to Israel they refused all persuasion; the word of God fell on deaf ears, and rebellious and bitter hearts, and in consequence God in His wrath swore that they should not enter His rest. Heb3v19 Israel's disobedience arose from their lack of faith (Apistian, unbelief, from A, no, or without, Pistis, faith); they disbelieved God and His word, hence their failure to enter the land. THE REST OF GOD In Matthew 11.28,29 we have two different aspects of Rest:(1) "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heaven laden, and I will give you rest." (2) "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." The first rest is rest from labour, the second is for the soul through labour. The LORD gives to the believer rest from his burden of sin, and then gives Him a burden to bear in His service. His is a light burden and an easy yoke. In verse 28 it is the verb Anapauo, which, according to Dr. Strong, means: "to repose, to refresh, take ease, refresh (give, take) rest." In verse 29 it is the noun Anapausis, which comes from the verb Anapauo, and the meaning given by Dr. Strong is: "intermission, rest." In Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 we have a third aspect of rest: (3) "We which have believed do enter into that rest" (Hebrews 4.3). Rest here is Katapausis, which Dr. Strong describes as: "resting down, i.e. (by Hebrew) abode, rest." The verb Katapauo means "to settle down." (restrained), Hebrews 4.4,8,10. See Acts 14.18 The only other mention of the noun Katapausis in the New Testament, besides its frequent use in Hebrews 3 and 4, is in Acts 7.49, where it is associated with God's place of rest, when the Lord said, "Your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23.38), and Stephen truly said that now the most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands" (Acts 7.48). Then where is the place of His rest now? It is in the house that is described in Hebrews 3.6, over which Christ is as Son - "Whose house are we, if we hold fast." What is said of God's rest in Hebrews 3 and 4 is all in association with God's rest in His house. Heb4v1 Here it is anticipated that though the numbered men of Israel failed to enter in through unbelief, the promise is left so that others by faith may enter God's rest. The promise is here brought up to date - "lest haply ... any one of you should seem to have come short of it." The very appearance of having come short is to be dreaded. To have come short signifies abiding failure, even as in the sinner's case with reference to salvation: "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3.23). Faith is necessary to salvation and faith is necessary so that the people of God may enter God's rest. Heb4v2 This is not the good tidings of the gospel for the sinner, but the good tidings of the rest of God for the saint. They had the good tidings of the land of Canaan, God's rest for Israel, preached to them by Joshua and Caleb, but that "word of hearing" did not profit them, and the reason given was because "it was" not united or mixed with faith in the hearers. Though "it was" may not be so well attested by authorities as "they were," it seems to convey the correct meaning. The preachers were Joshua and Caleb, the hearers the men of Israel, but there was no fusion, no union formed, in the hearers' hearts between the message and their faith. God's word must mix with faith in the hearer's heart if it is to become an integral part of his being, as, for instance, in the parable in Matthew 13 the Lord speaks of "he that was sown among thorns" verse 22), "he that was sown upon good ground" (verse 23), where the plain meaning is - the word of God which was sown in individual hearts in which it took root and grew. The Israelites exercised no faith in the good tidings, hence the word did not profit them. Heb4v3 "We ... do enter," not "did enter." The entrance into God's rest is never a completed thing, that we need never fear lest we fall away. That is true of salvation; we can rejoice that we have been saved and that we shall never perish, but it is not so with God's rest, which is dependent on a continuous faith in the promise that is left, which comes to us in the ever present "Today" in which the living God speaks to us - "Today if ye shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts." True, the works were finished then, for God had wrought six days and finished the work. He had created and made, and then rested the seventh day; but unbelief entered and then disobedience, and so God's rest was disturbed, which necessitated His beginning to work again. Just as the rest of creation was lost through the sin of unbelief, so also was the rest of the land lost to the men of Israel through unbelief, for God sware in His wrath that they should not enter. Heb4v4,5 Here we see a portion of time (the seventh day) united with a portion of land (Canaan, God's rest). After the work of six days, the sabbath day is entered, and after the afflictions of Egypt and the trials of the wilderness, they were to enter the land. Wherein lay the difference between that day and land and other days and lands? The sun shone on other days as it did on the sabbath; all nature acted on the seventh day as it did on the other six, and other lands were beautiful and fertile like the land of Canaan. The distinction was in the choice of God and His hallowing a day and a land. The seventh day was a holy day, and the land of Canaan a holy land. In each they were by faith to rest with God in His rest. "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of the LORD honourable; and shalt honour it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD" (Isaiah 58.13, 14). Sabbatic rest was to be enjoyed by the land as well as by the people, and when the sabbatic rest was broken the people were carried to Babylon till the land had enjoyed her sabbaths. No human labour could turn another land into a Canaan and make it the place of God's rest, and men must not change the calendar and substitute another day for the seventh. By divine choice this day and this land were God's rest. Heb4v6,7 God did not penalize all because of the disobedience of certain, though many may suffer through the disobedience of others. God does grant times of revival, though there may be long intervals between. "After so long a time" covers a period of fully five hundred years, from the time of the rejection of the land till the time of the bringing up of the Ark. Psalm 95, though not stated to be a psalm of David, is nevertheless shown here to be his. Israel, on their knees before God, are caused to look back to the disastrous failure in the wilderness, and to think of the present opportunity of bringing up the Ark to the place of God's rest in Zion (Psalm 132. 8,13,14). They heard God's voice and entered into God's rest, now seen to be associated with His house, the place of His rest (Isaiah 66.1,2; Acts 7.49). It is ever "today" however often men may have heard God speak in the past; His word like an ever-flowing stream is with us today. However many may have looked into the clear waters of the river of God's word and have been blessed, yet, though they have gone, His word flows on, ever murmuring its sweet lay, "To-day, as it hath been before said, To-day, if ye shall hear His voice." Heb4v8 The R.V. helpfully substitutes Joshua for Jesus, which is the Greek form of his name. See R.V. marg. How did Joshua fail to give the people rest though they were in the land? The answer is that they disobeyed God, as shown in the beginning of Judges. "And it came to pass, when Israel was waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to task work, and did not utterly drive them out" (Judges 1.28). And God said to them, "I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you" (Judges 2.3). From Joshua to Saul the record of Israel is an exceedingly chequered one. Even the brightest spots, when deliverance was granted from oppressing foes, reveal little acknowledgement of God or praise to Him for His goodness. The sin of unbelief wrought havoc amongst God's people, and again and again they rebelled against Him. But God had another and better day in view, a day when He would speak to them in David. Heb4v9 This sabbatic rest or sabbatism remains, and note it is for a people - the people of God. It was presented and refused by the people of God in the wilderness: the people of God after Joshua's time failed to enjoy it through their wilful disobedience, but the people of God in David's time heard, believed and obeyed, and brought up the Ark to God's rest in Zion, and began to go up on the highways to Zion to praise Him in His holy hill. The sabbatic rest remains for us, for God's gathered people. It is not a rest for the isolated individual, but for a together-folk, for those who are the house of God - "whose house are we" (Hebrews 3.6). This rest is not contemplated as primarily relating to the Milennium or Heaven, but is associated with "Today if ye shall hear His voice, " and with our responsibility not to harden our hearts. Heb4v10 To be in God's rest, God's house, is a matter of faith and not of works. Our works do not make that in which we are. When men reached the sabbath day they ceased work, they saw that that day was different, not that it was different because the sun was brighter, or that all animated nature rested, but because God had hallowed it. They believed God, and so they ceased from toil and rested. The true Israelite believed Canaan was God's land and rest, and he also believed that Zion was the place of God's choice, His resting-place. So also those who are in God's house, if they would continue to be in the place of God's choice, must continue to hold the beginning of their confidence. From the day that doubts and unbelief enter the heart and those in God's house begin to question whether they are in the place God would have them be, they are found standing in slippery places. No amount of filling their hands with work, so that they may not be occupied with doctrine, and with what may be regarded by some to be the dry bones of a divine position, can maintain them in such a position. Faith alone can maintain a person in God's house. Many have never seen the place of God's rest, and others have despised it, but happy are those who by revelation have seen it and who are able to say, "How lovely are Thy tabernacles O LORD of Hosts!" (Psalm 84.1), and again, "One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple" (Psalm 27.4). Heb4v11 Those who are in God's kingdom must through many tribulations continue to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14.22). Those who have gone forth to be with the Lord in His rejection must continue to go forth - "Let us go ... forth" (Hebrews 13.13). Those who are in God's house must continue coming to the living Stone to be built up a spiritual house (1 Peter 2.5). And those who have known God's rest must give diligence to enter His rest. There is no standing still. Those who stand still will be left behind. God ever advances, and His people must follow on. We must hold fast the beginning of our confidence and the boldness and glorying of the hope firm unto the end. We must hear His voice today, and be diligent in faith to enter His rest. The disobedience and failure of Israel is ever held up by the Spirit as a warning to us. Heb4v12 The Speaker is the living God, and His word a living word; it is charged with divine life. It is not only living, but full of untiring activity; ceaseless in its energy. It is sharper than the keen edges of a two-edged sword. It is so sharp and piercing that it can divide what no human intellect can ever divide between the soul and the spirit of man. Men say that the soul and spirit are but one, but the word of God distinguishes the one from the other and divides them. It can also divide betwen the joints and the marrows. Men may divide the joints, but God's work is keener than men's knives and lances. It is a discerner also of the thoughts of men and what they intend to do. How keen is its criticism! How just its judgement! Heb4v13 The word of God by an over-mastering and irresistible power lays open the inner secrets of the heart before God. It enters into the inner recesses of the heart. No bars or bolts can withstand its penetrating power, and, after discerning our state exactly, it brings us into the light of day before Him to whom our account must be made. The word of God truly finds us out, and we know it. We are stripped and the mask of unreality is torn away. Happy are those who have ceased to criticise the word of God and who allow the word to criticise them. Heb4v14 Having shown in chapter 2.18 that we have a High Priest to succour us in temptation, and shown too in chapters 3 and 4 the dangers of unbelief, of falling away from the living God, the God of the house of God, and also from His house, His rest, the writer brings us back again to the High Priest. Despite our weakness and the proneness of our hearts to unbelief, and despite the fact that our inmost thoughts are known to God, which we realise through the piercing criticism of His word, we have the strong and kindly succour of Jesus the Son of God, a Divine-human High Priest, One whose power as God is mingled with the sympathy of Man. Having such a great High Priest let us pick up courage, and "let us hold fast our confession." Such an One has passed through the Heavens and penetrated right "into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us" (Hebrews 9.24). Our need as a failing, feeble people is adequately met in Him. Heb4v15 The exaltation of the Lord to glory has not cut the tender ties of His sympathy for His own. He can never forget them, nor can He forget the days of His own temptations in the days of His flesh. He remembers how in the days of hunger He was tempted to make stones into loaves of bread; with a path of suffering before Him He was tempted to take a short and easy (but disastrous) way to the seat of power. Even the daring Peter, used by Satan and speaking his words, sought to turn Him aside from the paths of suffering and faithfulness to the Father's will; "Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall never be unto Thee" (Matthew 16.22). He was tempted to give up the path of faithfulness, from hearing the word of God from day to day - "Today if ye shall hear His voice." "In all points," there is no point in obedience to God upon which Satan did not challenge the Lord and on which he will not challenge us. The Lord knows our weakness, our infirmity to doubt God ("This is my infirmity," said Asaph of old, Psalm 77.10), and He is touched upon the throne of heaven. In His case there was no traitorous, unbelieving heart in the camp to deal with, no depravity in His holy flesh. No temptation in His case ever issued in sin; this seems to be the meaning of "without sin," though some may prefer to think of these words as indicating that He was never tempted from sin in His nature, as we are, for He was sinless. "In Him is no sin" (1 John 3.5), and He was the only man "who did no sin" (1 Peter 2.22). Heb4v16 Because we have One so powerful and so sympathetic towards such as suffer from so great and many infirmities, let us draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace. This is not a throne set as a judgement-seat from which justice is dispensed, but one where the failing may receive mercy for failure and grace to help them to overcome in times of need and trial. This is God's Mercy Seat in the present dispensation. Here the High Priest pleads the merits of His own great sacrifice to meet the need of all who in faith would maintain His truth and hold fast their confession. Heb5v1 This clearly indicates the position and work of a high priest. He was once among men, one of them, and then he is taken from among those men by God and appointed for them in things that are towards or that relate to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Heb5v2 Every high priest of Aaron's line could bear gently or exercise forbearance, not that they always did so, with the ignorant and erring (not with the rebellious or the presumptuous; wilful sin could not be atoned for), for they were themselves men of like passions and compassed with infirmity or weakness as the people were on whose behalf they served God. Heb5v3 Being liable to sin, the priest was provided for by God in the priestly sin-offering. He had to offer for himself as well as for the people. This is clearly seen on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16). Heb5v4 No high priest took such honour or appointed himself, to the priesthood, no one was ever self-elected to the honour of being high priest. Their appointment was by a Divine call. This comes out in the case of Korah's rebellion and is seen in Aaron's rod that budded (Numbers 16 and 17). Heb5v5,6 Here are the words of Divine appointment. Christ is not self-appointed as High Priest, but God-appointed. But we must distinguish between His Sonship and His Priesthood. He was born a Son, but He was made a priest. He was a Son from all eternity, but He was made a priest by the word of the oath in resurrection in the power of an endless life. Heb5v7 Christ attained perfection to fit Him for the High Priest's office through His suffering in the days of His flesh. The high priests of Israel bore with the ignorant and erring because they found in themselves the same weaknesses and tendencies to sin, but the Lord can bear gently because of His experience in the scene of His suffering. Here He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. He, the Man Christ Jesus, did not receive special consideration because He was the eternal Son. God heard His prayer because of His godly fear. His prayer to God was that God would save Him "out of" death, not from going to death. "Not My will, but Thine be done" was the true spirit of His whole life. Heb5v8 The Son was ever one who rendered perfect obedience to the Father. But though still the Son, yet as Man, He learned in a scene of disobedience what obedience meant, and how great was the cost of obedience to God on earth. It is not that He learned to be obedient; to be obedient was His very nature, but He who is perfect in knowledge, learned what obedience meant in this scene of rebellion, and it cost Him many a sorrow and many a tear. Even when yielding to God in the last great act of obedience to God, for He was obedient unto death, He was reproached by His foes, and reproach broke His heart, but He had learned all there is to know in the meaning of the word "obedience." He learned by the things that He suffered. Heb5v9 The perfect Sufferer was made perfect through His sufferings. "Author" here is not the same as "Author" in chapter 2.10. There it is Archegos, "chief leader, author, captain, prince." Here it is Aitios, "author or causer." To all who obey Him with the "obedience of faith" (Romans 1.5), Christ is the Cause of eternal salvation. Heb5v10 He has not only been "called of God," but He has been "named" or saluted. He has been spoken to by God. In Psalm 110 we have two statements associated with the LORD's resurrection, the first relating to authority, the second to His priesthood. "The LORD saith unto My Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand" (verse 1), "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." What a moment that must have been in the glory when the Father so addressed the Son, when He was made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2.36) and saluted and so constituted High Priest! Heb5v11 The things were concerning Melchizedek and consequently related to Christ who was after Melchizedek's order. The great mysteries of His priesthood require quick hearing and lively faith. The writer found it difficult to explain what he wanted to say owing to their dullness or sluggishness. Heb5v12 Things pertaining to Christ's priesthood are for advanced scholars, which they ought to have been considering while they had been under Divine instruction. Indeed they should not have been merely scholars, they should have advanced to being teachers of others. They had so squandered their time that they even needed someone to teach them the rudiments, the most elementary things of the Christian faith, the rudiments of the first principles. The first principles are mentioned in chapter 6.1,2. The oracles of God are New Testament oracles, the word spoken in the Son, the great salvation. Their infantile state is clearly indicated in the fact that they were in need of milk and not of solid food. They were as mere "sucklings." Heb5v13 A babe is without experience in the word of righteousness; he is unskilled to divide rightly the word of truth. How much havoc has been wrought by spiritual babes presuming to handle matters for which they have no competence! Many have been drowned by wading beyond their depth. Let the babes have milk by all means, but they ought not always to be kept in that state; they should have food of the word of righteousness as they can bear it. Heb5v14 Full growth or perfection is attained by exercise: it is so physically, and so too in the exercise of the faculties of spiritual intelligence. Continual training enables a person to discard the evil and select the good. This perception is never more needed than in reading men's writings. How much that is read is like the clay from the diamond mine, it has to be dumped, and for all our labour how infrequently we get a gem! Babes would be well advised to stick to the pure fountain of Divine truth in the Scriptures for some time, before they read much from the pens of men. Learn truth and then you will easily discard error, having had your senses exercised. Heb6v1 Because he had begun to speak of the more advanced things of the word of Christ, he would not have them to return to the beginning, but rather to press on to perfection, or full growth, to a perfect spiritual understanding of His word and doctrine. They had already laid a foundation of repentance which could never make alive (Galatians 3.21), ordinances which were in themselves weak and beggarly (Hebrews 9.14; Galatians 4.9); they had turned from these to faith in the living God. The bondage of legalism of the past was an unbearable burden (Acts 15.10) and men of faith must have longed for the day of Christ's appearing. Now that Christ had come, faith in God shook itself free of the rites and ceremonies of the law. Heb6v2 Baptisms: Such baptisms are mentioned in the New Testament as John's baptism, the baptism of the Lord's disciples, the Lord's baptism on the Cross, baptism in the Holy Spirit, besides the "baptisings (or washings) of cups and pots and brazen vessels" (Mark 7.4) by the Pharisees. We have also reference made to the baptism of Israel in the Red Sea, and of Noah being saved through water, which is a true likeness of baptism. Baptism, which comes from Bapto, to dip, ever signifies a dipping or immersing, never sprinkling. Baptism in water is a figure of death and resurrection and should take place in the case of disciples at the beginning of their spiritual life. It is one of the plainest of the Lord's commands (Matthew 28.18-20; Acts 2.37-42; 10.44-48). Laying on of hands: In Leviticus 16.21 Aaron was commanded to lay both his hands on the head of the scapegoat, and the elders were to lay their hands on the head of the sin offering for the people (Leviticus 4.15), and thus they became identified with these offerings. In the New Testament men who laid their hands on others (Acts 8.18; 13.3; 19.6; 1 Timothy 4.14) identified themselves with them, whether in the matter of the gift of the Holy Spirit or in connexion with the service of God. Resurrection of the dead: The resurrection of the dead is definitely one of the first principles of Christ. He taught both resurrection from the dead (Luke 20.35), of those that are His (1 Corinthians 15.13), and then after the thousand years of His reign on earth (Revelation 20.6) the resurrection of all the dead (John 5. 28,29). Eternal judgement: Eternal judgement is also one of the fundamental principles of the Lord's teaching, for speaking of Himself as the King who shall judge the nations of the earth, He said, "These shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25.46). Heb6v3 The writer was not for the present, in view of the danger of falling away that seemed to exist in certain cases, going to relay the foundation already laid, but at some future time, if necessity existed, and if God permitted, he was willing to do so; for when men have fallen away it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance. Heb6v4,5 Those who are here described were not mere professors; they had been definitely enlightened. Words could not make the reality of the new birth more certain. Who but true believers are made partakers of the Holy Spirit and taste of the good word of God? Theirs was no fleeting ecstasy of passing emotion. Heb6v6 The falling away here was not from relationship to Christ, which can never take place, but from a position of responsibility in testimony for Him. These believers had once taken their stand for Him in the house of God, but, alas, they fell away from the living God (Hebrews 3.12), the God of the house of God (1 Timothy 3.15), and ceased to be partakers of Christ (Hebrews 3.14). To themselves they crucified the Son of God afresh; they did what the world did once, which refused God's chosen Ruler and crucified the King; they turned their back on Him who rules over the house of God (Hebrews 3. 5,6), who fills a similar place in our day relative to God's house to that of faithful Moses in the past (though we need to observe the force of the prepositions "in" and "over" of verses 5 and 6). They despised His authority and exposed Him to shame in their life, habits and conversation, the One whom they ought to have sanctified in their hearts as Lord. Each one who falls away does this in his measure, but the Jewish believer did so more especially, having regard to the awful depths of unbelief into which the Jewish nation had fallen and from which faith in the word of God brought him. Help will be derived if reference is made to Judas Iscariot. Judas was ever "a devil" (John 6.70); he was never other than an unregenerate man, but Peter said of him that he had a "place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away." He fell away from a place of service and testimony, but never from relation to Christ, for Judas Iscariot never was one of Christ's. So also the apostle Paul said of his place as a servant - "lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected" (1 Corinthians 9.27). "The while" of the R.V. marg. may seem to hold out hope of the restoration of those who fall away, but the text of the R.V. more correctly explains the meaning of the original - "seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh." Alford reinforces this when he renders the meaning here by the words - "crucifying as they do." No hope of restoration is held out in the passage. Heb6v7,8 Those who fell away are illustrated here by unfruitful land which is irresponsive and unproductive despite the tillage of man and the blessing of God in plenteous rainfall. After all the toil and blessing it has received it bears only thorns and thistles; what can be done to such land? - "it is rejected"! The word "rejected" here (Adokimos) is exactly the same word as the apostle uses in 1 Corinthians 9.27 to which we have already alluded, "lest ... I myself should be rejected." Note that it is said to be "nigh unto a curse," but it is not accursed, "whose end is to be burned." Land itself is never burned, it is ever the weeds it produces that are burned, such things as are indicated here by thorns and thistles. Note how the believer's carnal works are burned in 1 Corinthians 3.15 - "If any man's works shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved: yet so as through fire. " So is it in Hebrews 6, where it is not the eternal security of the believer that is dealt with, but his falling away and his unfaithfulness in Divine service. Heb6v9 How gracious is the apostle's spirit, that though he writes in a warning tone he thinks better of them, though he has alluded to certain who had fallen away! Note how he writes not of salvation, but of things that accompany, are next to, or are bordering on, salvation. it is not of the eternal security of the believer he writes, but of such things as service and fruit-bearing which accompany salvation, things that should not be divorced from salvation and accounted of little importance. Heb6v10 God is not unrighteous to forget, like the butler in the story of Joseph (Genesis 40.23), the work of His saints, nor their love in ministering to the needs of others. Such love is declared to be toward His name. God has a book of remembrance and He will recompense His saints. Such service is amongst the things that accompany salvation. Heb6v11,12 The apostle earnestly desires a continuance of the work and loving ministry of the saints to which he refers in the previous verse. Their diligence in this service was not to be one sided, but mutual - "that each one of you may show the same diligence." "Unto the fulness of hope" shows the place that the promises of God have in relation to the ministry of the saints. Paul writes to the Colossian saints of their love toward each other: "Having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel." The more brightly this hope burns within us the more will we give ourselves to ministry to others, and the more we are taken up with earthly and worldly things the less will we serve others, and we shall become like the man with the muck-rake in Bunyan's allegory. Faith and hope eliminate sluggishness from the believer, for it is through faith and patience the heirs inherit the promises. Heb6v13,14 God having promised to Abraham a son, even Isaac, and also that He would give him innumerable seed by that son (who is a type of Christ the promised Seed), He reinforced the promise by the word of the oath. He could not swear by one greater so He sware by Himself for the encouragement to patient endurance on the part of His friend Abraham, whom He would bless and multiply. Heb6v15 The promise that he obtained was in the birth of Isaac, his promised son, in whom his seed was called. Note the contrast between this and Hebrews 11.13, where it is said, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Here the promises are associated with "a country of their own," but in Hebrews 6.15 the promise was obtained by Abraham in the birth of Isaac, through whom Abraham would obtain seed as numerous as the stars of heaven, the sand upon the sea shore, and the dust of the earth. Heb6v16 "The greater" is one greater than man and refers to God Himself. The oath is the end of all strife or disputation or gainsaying of men, for the purpose of confirmation to which all disputants consent. Human disagreement should end when men swear by the Greater. Heb6v17 If men find the end of gainsaying in the word of the oath, how much more should the heirs of the promise be settled in mind; the word of the oath should silence for ever the disturbing voice of unbelief, for God has put Himself under oath; he interposed (mediated R.V.marg.), that is, came in as a middle person, as it were, between Himself and Abraham. God previously made promise to Abraham, then He sware to what He had before promised. He promised Abraham seed by Isaac, but when Isaac had passed through death (as in a figure) and had been raised again on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22. 16-18), he interposed with an oath. KLA24 Heb6v18 The two immutable things are the promise and the oath. The promise was made prior to the death and resurrection (in figure) of Isaac, and the oath subsequent to his figurative death and resurrection. In these things, the promise and the oath, it is impossible for God to lie. Not only had the heirs, the men of faith, of past days strong encouragement, but we also have strong encouragement in the immutability of Divine counsel, we who in the present storms of unbelief have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. "The hope" here is what we may call "the going in" hope, and refers to the Lord entering as a priest into God's presence for His people. It is the same hope as Hebrews 3.6 and Hebrews 7.19 - "a better hope, through which we draw nigh unto God." God, who had promised much in Christ, swore, after His Son had gone through death and had been raised again, saying, "The Lord sware and will not repent Himself, Thou art a priest for ever" (Hebrews 7.21). From the disputes of men and from every stormy wind that blows the heirs should find refuge through God's immutable counsel in the High Priest who has gone into God's presence for them. To Him they should hold fast. Heb6v19 The High Priest, who is the hope of God's people, is an anchor of the soul. A ship in a storm does not cast anchor, it flees for refuge, and when it reaches calmer waters then it drops its anchor. So the saint who is compared here to a vessel finds in Christ an anchor of the soul. The ship's anchor when cast is unseen; it is veiled from the sailor's eyes; it is far below in the deep waters beneath; but the anchor of the soul is far above in the heights of heaven at God's right hand. Though He is out of sight, He is not out of reach by faith; faith can make contact, it can lay hold of Him, and can know by real experience His power to keep. The Lord is within the veil and we are without, but our anchor cannot drag, so we are safe, and safe so long as we hold fast. He who saved us once for all from eternal destruction saves us day by day as His people. Heb6v20 "Whither" signifies "within the veil." There Jesus entered as forerunner. The word forerunner was used of old of "scouts who were sent out before an army" and "also of any others sent before. " As forerunner Jesus has entered on our behalf. He has become High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. There He represents us as is indicated in the words "for us" and he is "forerunner" as showing that we are to follow. Heb7v1 Melchizedek was a king-priest (Zechariah 6.13). He was a king; his authority had to be owned by those on whose behalf he ministered as priest. Just as in Israel, such as knew the value of Aaron's priestly ministry had to obey the law of Moses. "A man that hath set at naught Moses' law dieth without compasssion on the word of two or three witnesses" (Hebrews 10.28). Aaron's priestly work at the alter could never avail for the presumptuous and rebellious sinner. Even so is it today, the Lord must be sanctified in the heart (1 Peter 3.15; Acts 2.36) and His authority owned (Matthew 28. 18-20), and His word obeyed (John 14.21-24), if the priestly work of the Lord is to be known and enjoyed. The fact that the Lord is King as well as Priest carries with it very weighty responsibility for us in regard to obedience to His word. A king is God's representative among men; a priest is men's representative before God. Melchizedek met Abraham at a unique time - when he was returning from the slaughter of the kings, when he was weary with fighting and marching, and when he was about to be tempted by the king of Sodom. In Genesis 14.17 we read that "the king of Sodom went out to meet him," but ere he reached him, verses 18, 19 say, "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine ... and he blessed him." Abraham was strengthened and blessed, and so fortified to meet the temptation of the king of Sodom. What a picture of the Lord's work, He who is able to succour them that are tempted (Hebrews 2.18)! Heb7v2 The priest's work is seen in that (1) he succoured Abraham with bread and wine; (2) he blessed Abraham of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; (3) he received a tenth of the chief spoils, an offering to his God. Such is also the work of our great High Priest; He succours, He blesses, and He received the offerings of His people to give to His God and Father. The apostle interprets to us the meaning of Melchizedek's name King of righteousness; he was a righteous king; his name describes his character. Names were given as descriptive of persons and things. His sphere of rule was Salem, which means peace, therefore peace was characteristic of his realm. We need not enquire where Salem was situated, whether it was Jerusalem or some other city. The Holy Spirit wishes us to know the interpretation of his name and his place. He was king of righteousness and king of peace. Heb7v3 In a book (Genesis) wherein we have fatherhoods and motherhoods, in a book of generations and genealogies, this great person has none. We need not try to get round to the back of the picture that God has given us in Genesis 14 and ask whence he came and whither he went. Where can we search for the genealogy of his father, or the pedigree of his mother, nowhere but in the Scriptures and there he has none. He did not derive his priesthood from his father as the sons of Aaron did from theirs; they had to be able to produce their genealogy or they were deemed polluted and put from the priesthood (Ezra 2.61-63). As God, the Son has a Father but no mother, and as Man He had a mother but no father. Melchizedek has neither beginning of days nor end of life and is made like unto the Son of God. He is not declared to be the Son of God; he is made like Him. The term "made like unto the Son of God" is associated with having neither beginning of days nor end of life. The Son of God has a Father. He is the only begotten Son of God. But the Son of God has neither beginning nor end. He is the beginning and end, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 22.13), as truly as His Father is (Revelation 1.8). "This Melchizedek ... abideth a priest continually." He comes into view a priest in the full exercise of his office and passes from view still a priest. As long as we see him he is a priest and so the Holy Spirit says that "he abideth a priest continually." It is quite beside the mark to say that Melchizedek as a priest had no father or mother in his office, but as a man he had both; parents are ever the father and mother of a man, of a person, not of an office; besides, it is a person who has, or has not, beginning of days or end of life. It should be remembered, too, that the omissions of Scripture are important, as are also what God has inserted, and what God has of purpose omitted, let no man supply. Heb7v4 Abraham gave a tenth, this is the first mention of the tithe in Scripture (Genesis 14.20). There is no word for "man" (this man) in the Greek. The word Houtos refers back to the priest of the previous verse. It is the greatness and dignity of this priest that the writer would emphasize who is above Aaronic priesthood. Heb7v5 Of old the people brought the tithe to the sons of Levi and the Levites gave a tithe of the tithe unto the priests (Numbers 18. 21-28), so that what Abraham gave, perhaps, voluntarily, the people and the Levites were commanded in the law to give. Heb7v6 A man, if he were of the Levitical family, because of his genealogy could claim legally his share of the tithe, but here was Melchizedek, receiving tithes of Abraham though he was not of the Levitical line, and blessing Abraham to whom God had promised much, for He had said "I will bless thee ... I will bless them that bless the, and him that curseth thee will I curse" (Genesis 12.2,3). Heb7v7 Melchizedek was in a position in which he could bestow blessing, for he was priest of God Most High. In his official position he was "the better," and Abraham, who was already blessed with Divine promises, was "the less." Heb7v8 Here we are thrown back on verse 3 where it is stated that Melchzedek is without end of life. The Levites received tithes and died, but Melchizedek received tithes but he liveth. Hence the conclusion of the following two verses: Heb7v9,10 Just as we all were involved in the fall of Adam (we who have sprung from him) though as yet unborn; so Levi, who was yet in Abraham's loins, is involved in the giving of tithes to Melchizedek. The apostle here points out the exalted dignity of Melchizedek as a priest in that Israel paid tithes to the Levites (who were dying men), but the Levites paid tithes through Abraham (they paid tithes of the tithe to Aaron or other high priest, but they also paid tithes to a higher priest, a priest who lives) even to Melchizedek. Heb7v11 Was there perfection under the Levitical priesthood? The answer is, no! The sacrifices of the law could not take away sins or make the worshipper perfect (Hebrews 10.1-4), and the ceremonials were weak and beggarly (Galatians 4.9), "for the law made nothing perfect" (Hebrews 7.19); hence the need for another priest to arise of another order. God can never be satsfied with anything that is imperfect. "It shall be perfect to be accepted" (Leviticus 22. 21). Christ's one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10.14). Heb7v12 The priesthood of Aaron and his sons forms an integral part of the law of Moses and the service of God involved in that law. A new order of priesthood requires a new law. The law of Moses gives place to the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9.21), otherwise called the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ which was once for all given to the saints (James 2.1; Jude 3). Heb7v13,14 The Lord was precluded from priesthood on earth, being of Judah, the royal tribe, and not of Levi, the priestly tribe. The case of King Uzziah is a striking proof of this, whom God smote with leprosy because he dared to enter the sanctuary to burn incense on the golden altar (2 Chronicles 26.16-21). To Aaron and his sons, only, pertained the right of priesthood and not to any man of Judah, even though he were of David's royal line. The transference of the priesthood from Levi and from the family of Aaron to some other tribe and family in Israel would have availed nothing. There is a complete change in the priesthood and law. Heb7v15 The fundamental change in things is clear, if a priest should arise outside of the Aaronic line, a priest who is better than the priests of Aaron's line, who will bring in a better order of things. Heb7v16,17 Priests are made, not born. The Lord is not begotten a priest, whether we view Him either as the only begotten Son or as Man in Bethlehem. Aaron was made a priest, as were also his sons, after the law of a carnal commandment. Carnal is used here not in its bad sense, as indicative of a fleshly, corrupt state of mind, but it is used in the sense that the commandment was of force during the tenure of the earthly life of a man in the flesh. When life in the flesh was over for a high priest then his place was taken by another, who in turn was made priest after the same carnal commandment. In contrast to this the Lord is made a Priest "after the power of an indissoluble (R.V.Marg.) life." What a power such a life is, over which death has no power! Of old God silenced rebellion in the camp of Israel concerning the priesthood of Aaron by the fact that Aaron's rod budded. His rod came to life amidst eleven dead rods, typically foreshadowing what is indicated here, that the Lord is priest in the power of an endless life. This clearly indicates that the Lord was made a priest after His death and resurrection. A priest of Melchizedek's order cannot die, for it is witnessed of Melchidezek that he liveth (Hebrews 7.8). Heb7v18 "Disannulling" means a putting away or aside. A carnal commandment must in its nature be a weak and useless thing, as all that pertains to man's brief life in the flesh is. Thus God has set aside the law, His commandment which pertained to the appointment and service of priests of the Aaronic order. Heb7v19 The carnal commandment (the law which made nothing perfect), by which priests were made, is put aside and the priest after Melchizedek's order is appointed. He is the better hope through whom we draw nigh unto God. The high priest of old was the one through whom God's people Israel approached, for he carried them on his shoulders and on his breast - written on the onyx stones and on the stones of the breast plate (Exodus 28.6-30), but now as Melchizedek is called "the better" as contrasted with Abraham and Levi who was in his loins, so the hope in our great High Priest is better. This is the same "hope" as Hebrews 3.6; and 6.18,19, and is the Priest who has been made and who has entered the presence of God for us through whom we draw nigh unto God. Christ has drawn nigh to God through sacrifice and we draw nigh through Him and through His sacrifice. Heb7v20,21 We have here a striking distinction drawn between the Aaronic priests and the Lord, who is after the order of Melchizedek. They were made priests by law, but He is a priest by the word of the oath. The law made many men high priests, each being consecrated to the priest's office as the first had been, but the word of the oath makes one priest who had no predecessor and has no successor. The Lord does not follow Melchizedek in his priestly office, for it is witnessed of Melchizedek that he liveth (Hebrews 7.8). If Melchizedek had died and the Lord had taken his office then we should have had what was true of the house of Aaron, but the Lord is a priest after the order of Melchizedek of whom it is said that he "abideth a priest continually." The Lord was made a priest for ever and God will never repent nor will He have any need to do so in regard to what He has done. We need no rods to be laid up before the LORD, for the word of the oath is final (Hebrews 6.16), and the Lord is the first to rise from the dead in immortality and He enters His priesthood in the power of an indissoluble life. Heb7v22 In the past economy God held the priest responsible for the carrying out of the terms of the covenant. He acted as the Trustee of a will. He was taken from among men and appointed for men in things pertaining to God. In the carrying out of his duties he had to be faithful to the terms of the covenant. In the covenant there was gracious provision for the exercise of mercy in regard to those who were defaulters, who had not rebelliously set aside the covenant. God took him out from men as a surety: he bore the iniquity of the holy things (Exodus 28.38) and the judgement of the children of Israel (Exodus 28.30). Even so is it with the Lord who is the Surety of a better covenant. How excellent is the change-over from the past order of things, for in our High Priest we have "a better hope" and He ministers according to "a better covenant" of which He is the Surety! How great is His suretiship! The Aaronic priests are only sureties for a time, but He is Surety for ever. The Lord is also the Mediator of the New Covenant. Heb7v23,24 With the Aaronic priests in their earthly life in the flesh there was no abiding, as David said when he gave to Solomon the pattern of the house of God and the wealth he had prepared for the building of it. "For we are strangers before Thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding" (1 Chronicles 29.15), but He who is a Priest for ever abideth for ever. There can be no death in the office of this Melchizedek-Priest, hence, as the R.V.Marg. puts it, He "hath a priesthood that doth not pass to another." It is "inviolable" (R.V. marg.). Heb7v25 The R.V. marg. gives a better view of what is meant to be conveyed by the word "uttermost" where it says "Gk. completely." The thought is of completeness rather than duration of time. Christ has a competence, ability, or power, to save, to rescue or deliver everyone that is coming to God through Him. Just as the Lord cannot save a sinner who refuses to come at His invitation, so also the saint cannot be saved by this High Priest unless he comes to God by Him. A prayerless saint is in a perilous position, but if he draws near to God in prayer then there is one who makes intercession for him and who ever lives to make intercession, the Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is before God's face. Then let His people come and continue coming for salvation and complete salvation will be theirs. Heb7v26 "Became us," that is, was fitting, suitable or right. Then follows the reasons why the Lord is so befitting in His Priesthood. He is holy. In Acts 2.27 the same word is used, where He is called God's "Holy One." He is harmless; in Him is no bad quality or disposition; He has no mischievous or harmful propensities. He is perfectly simple and sincere. He is also undefiled; He is unstained. The word means not to be tinged, dyed or stained. In thought and word and deed He is undefiled and unsullied. He was separated "from the whole race and category of sinners." He was so different from all priests of Aaron's order who were sinful men (some, alas, very sinful) who were sanctified or separated to the priest's office. These men had to offer a sin offering for themselves first before they offered the offering for the people. Sinful men were placed in a holy office by a law of a carnal commandment, and with that state of things God found fault (Hebrews 8.7,8). Our High Priest has become higher than the heavens, for He has gone into the presence, and sat down on the right hand, of the Majesty on high. Heb7v27 There is no need for Him to offer a sacrifice for Himself, for the simple reason that He was Himself the Sacrifice for others. Had He not been holy, harmless, undefiled, He could not have been the Lamb of God, the Sin Bearer. Some would make the shadows of the law the exact resemblance of the antitypes. But it is well to remember the apostle's words - "The law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things," and it is fitting to apply such a statement here in the answering of such a question. Did the Lord minister as a priest at His own sacrifice? The answer is, no! for the simple reason that the following verse and the previous verses show that He was made a Priest by the word of the oath, when He rose from the dead. The Lord was the sacrifice and He offered Himself as a sacrifice. His sacrifice is once for all and needs not to be repeated, as the Levitical offerings were. Heb7v28 In this verse we have a summing up of what is given before in the chapter. The law, the carnal commandment, appointed men liable to sin and death with all attendant infirmity, but the word of the oath which God hath sworn hath appointed One who is a Son, not simply a man or a servant, but one who is truly the Son of God, who has passed through this earthly life and learned obedience by the things that He suffered, and is by this perfected to become a Priest on behalf of others. Note how it says that the word of the oath is after the law, which does not mean that it was spoken prophetically in David in Psalm 110 after the giving of the law by Moses. The law obtained until the Lord's death on Calvary. The law finds its fulfilment and end in Him. In resurrection God swears and makes the Son a priest for ever. His priestly functions in this dispensation are associated with the heavenly sanctuary and with God's people in His house. Heb8v1 In the mass of spiritual argument which the apostle is setting before his readers, he indicates that the chief point or sum of all, is the fact that we have a High Priest who has sat down on the throne of God. Of old in the Tabernacle and the Temple there was no seat for the high priest of Israel in the holy or most holy place, but this High Priest, who is shown to be the Son (Hebrews 7. 28), has sat down in a place of equality with God. The apostle evidently joins verses 1 and 4 of Psalm 110 together and shows that what is true of Him as Lord - "Jehovah saith unto my Adon (Lord), sit Thou at My right hand" - is true equally of Him as Priest. Heb8v2 He is a minister (Leitourgos - a public minister from Leitos, public) of the Sanctuary or Holies (see Hebrews 9.8,12,24,25; 10.19; 13.11). The Holies are described to be the true Tabernacle, not that the Tabernacle in the wilderness in Moses' time was a false one, but that the heavenly Tabernacle which the Lord pitches is the ideal one, and that of Moses was but a copy and a shadow (Hebrews 8. 5). The Holies of Moses' Tabernacle were like in pattern to the true (Hebrews 9.24). Heb8v3 Note how the words "for sins" (Hebrews 5.1) are omitted here. In His offering the gifts and sacrifices of God's people, the Lord Jesus Christ does not offer sacrifices for sins. His offering for sin was done once for all (Hebrews 7.27; 9.12; 10.10). It is fitting, nevertheless, that, as with the priest in the past, so with the Lord our Priest today, He should have somewhat to offer. See Hebrews 13.15; 1 Peter 2.5, where the offering of the sacrifice of praise is "through Him." Heb8v4 As God never had two houses of God at one time, even so He had not two orders of priesthood at one and the same time, nor had He two forms of divine service going on concurrently. Whilst the Lord was on earth He went to the temple, but only to the Hieron, the temple, including the whole buildings and courts, but He never entered the Naos, the temple, the holy place and holy of holies, into which the priests alone entered. He never gave attendance at the altar. The Lord did not commence His priestly service till He had pronounced sentence on the temple in Jerusalem - "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23.38) - and had died and been raised from the dead, and entered the Holies of the true Tabernacle (Hebrews 8.2; 9.11,12). The apostle is most emphatic. "If He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all." His priestly functions are associated with the true Tabernacle, not with a copy, and thus we have the following statement of those who offer according to the law. Heb8v5 The Tabernacle that Moses made was a representation or delineation, and a shadow of heavenly things, even of the things that pertain to the sanctuary in the heavens. What care Moses had to exercise, and what faithfulness he exhibited in connexion with the building and service of that earthly sanctuary! God said of him, "He is faithful in all Mine house" (Numbers 12.7; Hebrews 3.5). That Tabernacle is a parable for the time now present (Hebrews 9.9), hence how careful the builders in the house of God today should be that they build according to the pattern! Many, alas, build, who have never, we fear, seen the pattern, and what they build is not God's house. Heb8v6 "But now" is in contrast to "if He were on earth" of verse 4. The Lord has obtained a ministry (Leitourgia, public miistry, see verse 2) more excellent than that of the priests of the Aaronic order, and as the ministry is more excellent so also is the covenant better of which He is the Mediator. The covenant is enacted upon better promises, and the New Covenant contains such promises as that every man shall "know the Lord ... from the least to the greatest of them, " and again, "I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8.11,12). Heb8v7 God made promise of a New Covenant in the dark days of apostasy in the times of Jeremiah. Complete failue had overwhelmed the nation of Israel. The ten tribes had been carried away by Shalmaneser during the reign of Hezekiah to Assyria (2 Kings 18.9-12), and Judah and Benjamin were carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Midst the prevailing darkness shines the gleam of hope of a New Covenant being made with both houses of Israel. It is like God who gives oftentimes His brightest promises in darkest days. He has sought and found a place in the present dispensation and in the future millennium for that new economy of things. Heb8v8 The first covenant presented God's perfect standard of holiness and righteousness with which man in the flesh was not able to comply; by law came the knowledge of sin and when the law entered sin became exceeding sinful, but God could not present to man less than a perfect standard. Coupled with this was a system of sacrifices which could never take away sins and make the worshippers perfect, and which could only exist until a time of reformation. The New Covenant will yet be made with Israel and Judah, but it is also made with us, as witness what is said in Hebrews 10.14-18: "And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us ..." "This is the covenant that I will make with them." What is true relative to the Covenant is true of other things, such as the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.16,17). The use of Old Testament Scriptures in the New Testament is an important and helpful study. Heb8v9 At the time of the promise of a New Covenant Judah (and before that Israel, the ten tribes) brought that part of their national history to a close with all manner of abominable idolatry. Josiah's short reign was as a brief ray of sunshine between the darkness of Manasseh's reign which preceded it (Amon's brief two years' reign was like his father's) and the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah which came after. The words, "Thou shalt have none other gods before Me" (Exodus 20.3) was as an idle tale. "Thou shalt do no murder" was also unheeded, for children who would naturally look to their parents for love and kindness were cruelly butchered and burnt in honour of the god Molech (2 Chronicles 28.3; 33.6). Their last act of callous treachery was to murder God's Holy Child (or servant) Jesus. God had drawn up a covenant which Israel agreed to keep, but alas, from the very beginning, in the matter of the golden calf, they continued not in His covenant. In the New Covenant not only will the terms be new, but also the whole nation, with whom the covenant will be made, shall all know the Lord from the least to the greatest, a fact which was not true of Israel under the law. God disregarded that law-breaking nation; that is, he neglected or did not care for them. Since that time He has been carrying out His purposes amongst the Gentiles. But they are still beloved not for their own - but for the fathers' sake (Acts 15.14; Romans 11. 28). Heb8v10 Under the New Covenant the repository of the law is not an acacia ark overlaid with gold, now it is the hearts and minds of His people. Note how the heart and the mind are transposed in Hebrews 10.16, indicating that to write, or inscribe, the law on the heart is the same as to put it there. The Lord puts His laws into the seat of intelligence - the mind, and into the seat of affection the heart, so that His people may serve Him intelligently and lovingly. God will only be the God of men (or of a people) who receive His laws and obey them. Note how in the case of obedient Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that God is not ashamed to be called their God (Hebrews 11.16), and also how, at the second giving of the Law (as well as at the first, Exodus 19 to 24) on the plains of Moab, the LORD avouched Israel to be His people, and they avouched Him to be their God, and this would only be true if they walked in His ways, kept His statutes, His commandments, His judgements and hearkened to His voice (Deuteronomy 26.16-19). Many of God's children understand something of God as a Father, but few know what is meant by - "I will be to them a God", God who is the Object of their worship because they obey His word which is written on the heart. See 2 Corinthians 3.1-11, where the church of God in Corinth is spoken of as an epistle of Christ, because the word of God was written by the Spirit of God upon hearts of flesh. Each church of God was to express in its own locality what was true of God's people as a whole. Heb8v11 This will be a happy day for Israel. Every Israelite shall in that day know the meaning of what Abraham their great forefather knew that a man is justified by faith apart from works (Genesis 15.6; Romans 4.1-5); for it is said, "Thy people also shall be all righteous" (Isaiah 60.21), and, not only so, but they shall go on to know the LORD more fully, for it is also said of them: "All thy children shall be taught of the LORD" (disciples, R.V. marg.) (Isaiah 54.13). The wicked amongst God's people of old persecuted the righteous - "The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him" (Psalm 37.32), but that day for Israel will be for ever past. Sectarianism today is much like the condition of things in Judaism of old in the days of the Old Covenant, when those who knew God had to teach their brother and fellow-citizen, "Know the Lord"; but that state of things is not proper to the New Covenant, for under it all know (by Divine revelation at the time of the new birth) the Lord; this is one of the conditions of the New Covenant. Alas, what bondage believers are in who are joined with dead sinners in church communion! Let them come out from among them and be separate, whether they have to leave other believers behind or not. Each one is responsible to hear and heed the word for himself. Believers know God as Samuel did - "by the word of the LORD" (1 Samuel 3.21). Two words are used in this passage for know. "Know (Ginosko) the Lord," and "All shall know (Oida) Me." Of Ginosko and Oida it is said, "The former signifies objective knowledge, what a man has acquired." "Oida conveys the thought of what is inward, the inward consciousness of the mind, intuitive knowledge not immediately derived from what is extrnal." In the case of the knowledge of the Lord (Oida) in this passage, that comes by the revelation of the Lord to the heart of the believer, it is immediate, unlike the thought in Ginosko, that which is learned over a period of time. Heb8v12 How sweet is Divine forgiveness! Everyone who is in relationship with God in terms of the New Covenant is in the enjoyment of forgiveness of sins. In Israel the question of sin was ever recurring, with the individual and with the nation. With the nation there was a remembrance of sins year by year, on the day of atonement (Hebrews 10.3), and the individual had to come as often as he sinned, but now the sin question is settled once for all (Hebrews 10.9-18). The believer is in the enjoyment of full and free forgiveness (Acts 10.43; 13.38,39; Romans 4.1-8). God has forgiven and also blotted out the remembrance of the sinner's sins (Acts 3. 19). Heb8v13 It is ever the new that makes another thing old. God, by His word, when He said, "A new" covenant, has enacted that the first is "the old" covenant and so we too may rightly so speak of them. Following on the entrance of the new into the activity of human life the old began to show how true were the words of God. It seemed like old age in the presence of virile youth. It "is becoming old," "waxeth aged," and "is nigh unto vanishing away." Such is the view of the writer as he sees the Old Covenant in his day, for soon after, the Temple, with its priests and its ritual of the past economy, passed away in the destruction of the Temple by Titus, and has never been restored. Heb9v1 The first covenant, as well as the New Covenant, had ordinances (things righteously appointed by God) of divine service (latreia). The sanctuary wherein this divine service was performed was of this world (in contrast to the heavenly sanctuary of chapter 8.5). Heb9v2 Though the writer speaks of the Holy place as the first tabernacle and the Holy of holies as the second, the book of Exodus speaks of one tabernacle. "Thou shalt make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to another with the clasps: and the tabernacle shall be one" (Exodus 26.6). The writer makes no allusion to the altar of incense being in the Holy place, only to the fact that the lampstand and the table with the shewbread were there. To describe the lampstand as a candlestick is entirely wrong, and why the Revisers should perpetuate the error of the A.V. is hard to understand. The lampstand in the tabernacle upheld with its six branches and central stem the seven lamps; there were no candles either in the tabernacle or temple. Heb9v3,4 The Holy Spirit, instead of using the word "wherein," as in verse 2 when He describes the furniture of the Holy place, uses the word "having." This may explain the difficulty in connexion with the censer (or altar of incense, R.V.Marg.) being associated with the ark of the covenant and the Holy of holies, and not with the Holy place. The altar of incense was placed in front of the veil in the Holy place, and the word "having" shows that it belonged to the Holy of holies. This view of the use of the word "having" is strengthened by what is said of the altar of incense in the Solomonic temple: "And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished: also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold" (1 Kings 6.22). A close connexion between the ark and the altar of incense is also indicated by Exodus 30.6. If the altar of incense had been placed in the Holy of holies the priests would not have had access to it to burn incense when the morning and evening sacrifices were offered at the time of prayer, the high priest alone having access to the Holy of holies once in the year. Thus it was that though the altar belonged to the Holy of holies, it was placed in the Holy place. This seems to be the explantion of what appears at first sight to be an apparent discrepancy. The ark of the covenant which belonged to the Holy of holies had its place therein, "wherein" were the golden pot with the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. Both the manna and Aaron's rod were at the first laid up before the Testimony (the tables of the covenant) (Exodus 16.34; Numbers 17.10), but it seems that they were at length placed in the ark beside the tables of stone. In the days of Solomon we are told that "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb" (1 Kings 8.9). This statement seems to indicate that there had been at one time other things in the ark besides the tables of the covenant. The ark with its contents typically foreshadowed the Lord; the tables of the law typified Him as the Word of God, the manna as the Bread of God, and Aaron's rod as the Priest of God. We have everything in Him, so that we may obey God, live for Him, and serve Him. Heb9v5 The cherubim, as it were, fenced and guarded the holiness, and maintained the glory of God. Between the cherubim dwelt the Shekinah or glory of God. This was God's throne - the seat of mercy - in the midst of His people. Here mercy and truth met together, as seen in the mercy-seat and the ark with the tables of the law, and righteousness and peace kissed each other (Psalm 85. 10), a beautiful type of Him that was to come. The mercy-seat was never to be separated from the ark; the law without mercy would be unbearable to man, and mercy, apart from God's requirements in the law being met, would have been intolerable to God. The blood of the atoning sacrifice had to be sprinkled upon the mercy-seat. Into the teaching of the several vessels of the tabernacle the apostle found it inopportune to enter, having before him in particular the priestly work of the Lord as typified in the work of Aaron. Heb9v6 The tabernacle having been made and erected, and the furniture set in order, the priests went into the Holy place continually, day after day, in their service for God according to the Levitical law. Heb9v7 One priest - the high priest - once in the year on the day of Atonement entered the Holy of holies, the second tabernacle. He dare not approach without blood, and this he offered for himself, he being a sinful man, and for the pepole of Israel whom he represented. This blood was offered for sins of ignorance; for if any one in Israel sinned, whether priest, ruler, or one of the common people, when they became aware of it, they had to bring their sin offering which atoned for their acknowledged sin. Sin is sin in God's sight, whether done in ignorance or not. Sins unknown to the people were atoned for by the sin offering on the day of atonement. Heb9v8 The first tabernacle is that of verses 2 and 6, the Holy place, and, so long as it stood, the way into the Holies (or the way of the Holies) was hid from the people. They could see the high priest enter the first veil or door of the tabernacle, but they never saw the second veil, which typically speaks of the flesh of the Son of Man (Hebrews 10.19,20). All the service of the priests under the law was performed in connexion with the first tabernacle, they were not allowed to enter the presence of God in the Holy of holies, save the high priest once in the year. So long as the first tabernacle stood and the service in connexion with it continued, the people remained blind to the way of the Holies, in that they saw not the veil (the incarnation and atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ), the way to God, on the day of atonement. Heb9v9 The first tabernacle with its gifts and sacrifices is a simile or parable to teach us in the present time, and many lessons with reference to divine service we could not have learned but for the parabolic teachings of the tabernacle. The things which were offered could not clear the conscience and make the worshipper perfect, as one having no more conscience of sin (Hebrews 10.1,2). Heb9v10 They were carnal ordinances, ritualistic and outward, dealing only with man's outward condition, and never touching the inward spiritual state of the conscience. With such a state of affairs God could not be well pleased, so it was only imposed upon Israel after the flesh until the time of reformation or of setting things right, when He would make a New Covenant with His people, based upon the death of Christ, whose blood is the blood of the eternal covenant, the fulfilment and substance of the shadows of the law. Heb9v11 Christ has come or appeared or approached as a High Priest; this is not at His birth in Bethlehem, nor yet at His entrance upon His public ministry at His baptism in Jordan, but at His entrance into the presence of God as a High Priest of the coming good things. He has approached through the greater and more perfect tabernacle which is not made by hands, nor yet is it of this creation. It is not made of acacia wood, fine linen, ram's skins dyed red, and so forth; this heavenly tabernacle is not of this earthly creation from which come all materials for building houses built by human hands. Heb9v12 As the high priest of Israel approached to God to the mercy-seat through the tabernacle and through the blood of bulls and goats, so has Christ our High Priest approached through (dia) the more perfect tabernacle and through (dia) or by means of His own blood. Dia, through, shows that the blood was instrumental as supplying the means of approach to God. He did not approach with His own blood, as carrying His own literal blood into heaven, but His blood, that is His death, was the means by which He entered the Holies of that heavenly tabernacle, and all the infinite value of His blood-shedding is present with Him in heaven, for He entered in, having obtained or having found eternal redemption. Heb9v13 This was the length to which the sacrifices of the law went, they sanctified those that were defiled unto the cleanness of the flesh. Heb9v14 Great is the contrast between this verse and the former one, between the flesh and the conscience, between sacrifices which ceremonially sanctified and cleansed the flesh, and a sacrifice which cleanses the conscience. The Israelite was unclean by contact with the unclean or with the dead body of a man, even so those who engage in dead ritualistic works are unclean, and require, if they would serve the living God, to have their conscience cleansed by the blood of Christ. Christ as an offering was without spot, there was no flaw, no fault in Him. The eternal Spirit is like the fire which consumed the sacrifices of old; it was through Him that Christ offered Himself to God. There is no exhausting of the value of the sacrifice which is offered in the eternal Spirit. The Trinity are thus seen in the sacrifice of Calvary. Christ, the Son of God, offered Himself through the eternal Spirit to God. Heb9v15 "For this cause," because the Lord offered Himself and obtained eternal redemption by His atoning death, He is the Mediator of a new covenant. This is also repeated by Paul in 1 Timothy 2.5,6: "There is one God, one Mediator also between God and men, Himself Man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all." There was an accumulation of transgressions under the first covenant, "because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God" (Romans 3.25), for it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins, hence it was necessary that the death of Christ should redeem those transgressions, so that those who were called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, which means that they were not to receive a promise merely, but the thing promised, namely, the eternal inheritance. It is said of Abraham in Hebrews 6.15 that "having patiently endured, he obtained the promise," that is, he obtained what God had promised him, his son Isaac. Under the old economy those who were redeemed and called out of Egypt had the inheritance of the promised land of Canaan before them, but the New Covenant, through the death of Him that made it, has the eternal inheritance of saints in view. Thus, through the death of Christ, Old Testament saints obtain the eternal inheritance here spoken of. Heb9v16 Of old, the covenant was the testimony, and God's covenant today has also a testamentary sense, both thoughts of covenant and testament being in the word Diatheke. In the illustration in this verse a testament requires the death of the testator, the testator makes his testament in view of his death and the document is of no particular value until his death, it is a deed waiting to come into force at the death of the testator. Heb9v17 When he that makes his last will and testament dies, then it becomes a legal instrument or disposition, by which the will of the testator is carried out. Such an illustration is used to show how God's covenants came into force through death. Heb9v18 The Sinaitic covenant was not dedicated or inaugurated without blood, it became operative as the law of God, the legal instrument to control the heirs under that covenant, through the sprinkling of the blood of the covenant. The perfect tense in the word inaugurated would show that what was done in the past was to remain effective in the present life of the Israelites ever after, throughout all their generations. Heb9v19,20 When God's representative, the Mediator Moses, had spoken every commandment, and the Israelites were aware what they were agreeing to, and when they confessed their agreement therewith, then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and here, in Hebrews, we are told that he also sprinkled the book of the covenant and the terms of the covenant became binding; the covenant became law. It was to them the law of God, the Magna Charta of Israel's national life and vital to their existence as a people. We too have come to the blood of sprinkling who like Israel have come to God's holy mountain (Hebrews 12.18-24; 1 Peter 1.2). Note how Peter associates obedience with the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, having evidently before his mind what took place at Sinai, when God covenanted with His people who professed obedience to His will. Heb9v21 As the book of the covenant, which revealed the conditions of their service, and the people, who were to serve God, were sprinkled with blood, so also were the tabernacle, wherein God's service was carried out, and the vessels, by which the service was done. Only on the ground of the sprinkling of blood could a sinful people serve God. Heb9v22 Cleansing by blood was almost the invariable rule in connexion with the Old Covenant, and there is no remission apart from the shedding of blood. The Lord's words in the night of His betrayal are helpful, when He said, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is shed for many unto remission of sins" (Matthew 26.28). The shedding of blood signifies the taking of life, and the pouring out of blood or the death of a sacrificial victim was essential to the remission of sins. The offering of the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin-offering by a poor person (Leviticus 5. 11-13) in no way affects the law's requirements of old regarding blood shedding or the still wider demand in that declaration which finds its answer in the death of Christ - "apart from the shedding of blood there is no remission." Heb9v23 Here we have a contast between the copies and the originals; the earthly things of the Mosaic tabernacle and the heavenly things of the greater and more perfect tabernacle. If the copies have been cleansed by the blood of the Old Covenant sacrifices, the heavenly things need also to be cleansed. The plural in the words "better sacrifices" has been a difficulty, for these evidently speak of one sacrifice, even that of Christ. Of the use of the plural here, a scholar writes: "Categoric plural of an abstract proposition; not therefore implying that the sacrifice was repeated: applicable in its reality, only to the one Sacrifice of the body of Christ once for all, and most emphatically designating that as a sacrifice." As the tabernacle and its vessels had to be cleansed by blood, so that the priests who were sinful men might serve God, so the heavenly things had to be cleansed by Christ's sacrifice in order that God's people of this dispensation might draw near to Him to serve Him in the Holies of the heavenly tabernacle. But for the death of Christ and all the infinte value of that death being known in its cleansing power in heaven no one could approach to God; but by Christ's cleansing blood those who have known its cleansing power have through that blood boldness to draw near. It should be clearly understood that on the day of Atonement the high priest of Israel was acting on behalf of God's people collectively. So in this dispensation also the Lord approached into the Holies in heaven on behalf of a people in a collective sense. Thus the Holies in heaven were cleansed so that God's people (a description which should not be confused with God's children, who are His children simply on the ground of the new birth) might be able to draw nigh to God thereinto. It should be clearly seen that the drawing nigh of Hebrews 10.19-22 is a collective drawing nigh of God's gathered together people. Heb9v24 The Lord entered not such Holies as those into which the high priests of Israel entered, which were figures or copies of the true Holies in heaven, but He entered heaven itself into the heaven of the very presence of God, there and now to appear before the face of God for us. In the value of the sacrifice He offered once for all, and which abides in perpetual efficacy, the Lord appears to intercede for God's people whom He represents. There is no need of the renewal of His offering which was offered in the eternal Spirit. Heb9v25 The offering of Himself is compared to the high priest's offering of the blood of the sin offering in the Holy of holies, and whilst the high priest appeared again and again with blood in God's presence, the Lord offered Himself but once. The high priest entered in blood, that is, as though covered by blood not His own, but the Lord entered in the value of His own person and His death on Golgotha. Heb9v26 Repeated entrance, as in the case of the Levitical high priests, required repeated suffering on the part of the victims which were sin offerings; even so, had Christ often offered Himself before God then He would have suffered as often as He offered Himself, but now once, and only once, at the end of the ages (the foundation of the world saw the beginning and Christ's cross-work the end) hath He been manifested to put away sin. Here we see Christ displacing (or abrogating) sin which formed an obstruction between man and God, so that man was shut out from having fellowship with, and from being a worshipper of, God. Heb9v27 Death is laid up for or apportioned to men "We must needs die" (2 Samuel 14.14). Christ suffered and offered Himself to God once, but men are appointed once to die, and after death, judgement. Why judgement? Because men are not as Christ, who died without spot. Each man must give account of himself unto God. Heb9v28 Men die and so Christ also died, but He was offered to bear the sin of many. Men die because of the power of death which they cannot resist, however much they might wish to rebel against it. Christ was offered, and thus we see the perfect submission of the Lord to God's will, of which He said "I am come ... to do Thy will, O God. " The writer has evidently before his mind, as he writes, the sin offering, and in particular what Leviticus 16 teaches as to atonement: also, Isaiah 53 is plainly before his mind. Christ at His first coming put away sins, but He shall appear a second time without or apart from sin. The offering of Himself has eternally settled the sin question. "To them that wait for Him" does not signify that only the saints in an expectant, waiting attitude will be caught up at His coming. "In Christ" is a wide and inclusive term as descriptive of all who are redeemed in this dispensation, and all "in Christ" shall hear His voice and respond (1 Thessalonians 4.13-18). Waiting for the Lord is (or should be) the normal attitude of those who know the value of Christ's sacrifice, as waiting for the high priest to come out of the Holy of holies was the proper attitude of Israel on the day of Atonement. "Salvation" is the salvation of His people from the presence of sin, a salvation which is ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein we greatly rejoice (1 Peter 1.5,6). saints will be complete. Then salvation for God's Heb10v1 "For" connects chapter 10 to the last paragraph of the previous chapter. The apostle lays down a principle of interpretation in the typical teaching of the Old Testament; it had a shadow of coming good things, but was not the very image. Already we have tasted of those good things in association with which Christ is High Priest (Hebrews 9.11), and we are destined to enter more fully into their enjoyment. The sacrifices which were offered continually (or in perpetuity; see verse 12 where the Lord's one sacrifice is for ever, or in perpetuity, and also verse 14, where it is said that He hath perfected for ever, or in perpetuity, them that are sanctified), could never make perfect those who approached to God thereby. Heb10v2 The sacrifices would have ceased had they been able to remove the guilt of sin from the conscience, but the sacrifices of the law sanctified to the cleanness of the flesh only; they never reached the conscience (Hebrews 9.13). Heb10v3 Year by year, as the day of Atonement came round, there was a calling to mind of sins. The high priest confessed before God the sins of Israel, which were ceremonially sent away upon the head of the scapegoat; a truly wonderful shadow of the Lord's death when He put away sin! Heb10v4 Here the atoning sacrifices of the law are shown to be ineffectual in dealing with sin. They were merely shadows of the Lord's propitiatory sacrifice by which alone sins could be put away for ever. God in His forbearance passed over sins and forgave the sinner because He would receive full satisfaction in the death of His Son. The shadows of the law were intended to teach the Israelite the heinousness of sin, and referred to the great Sacrifice that was coming. Heb10v5,6,7,8 "Wherefore," because of the inadequate character of the sacrifices of the law, the Son came to do the will of God. "When He cometh into the world, He saith"; this shows the pre-existence of the Son of God. No mere human child could so speak of knowing the purposes of God. were true - But of Him alone the words Thou didst make Me trust when I was upon My mother's breasts. I was cast upon Thee from the womb: Thou art My God from My mother's belly. (Psalm 22.9,10). The citation from Psalm 40 shows how fully the Lord entered into the reason for His coming, and shows too His devotion to His God. The four great sacrifices of the law are indicated here - peace offering, meal offering, burnt offering and sin offering. God had no pleasure in these. The quotation from Psalm 40 is from the LXX; this accounts for the variation between Psalm 40 and Hebrews 10. The former, following the Hebrew, gives, "Mine ears hast Thou opened" (which I judge, has been wrongly taken to be an allusion to the boring of the Hebrew servant's ear: Exodus 21.6), whereas the Greek translation gives "A body didst Thou prepare for Me." The Hebrew emphasizes the importance of having opened ears, the first necessity of a servant, and the Greek shows that in a divinely prepared body Jehovah's Servant would obey His God in all He commanded Him in the roll of the book. It seems to the present writer that underlying the fact that He had opened ears is the greater fact of the incarnation. He had taken the form of a bondservant to obey His Divine Master, and His obedience was unto death, the death of the cross. Heb10v9 He taketh away the first - the will of God in the sacrifices of the law, which could only be of a temporary character, that He might establish the second - His will relative to the sacrifice of Christ. In the first He had no pleasure, but in the second he has found eternal satisfaction and pleasure. Heb10v10 The believer has been sanctified by the will of God, fulfilled in the Lord's perfect offering and finished work. The offering of Christ's body was once for all and so is the sanctification which results from it. Heb10v11 Such was the divine requirement of the law. Because of the nature and character of the sacrifices, the Aaronic priests had to minister daily in the priest's office in offering the same sacrifices which could never (how strong is the word "never"!) take away sins. Heb10v12 "For ever" (see note on verse 1) means "in perpetuity" and shows the enduring state and value of the Lord's one offering of Himself for sins. When He had offered Himself He sat down on God's right hand. No priest of the house of Aaron ever sat down in the sanctuary, there were no seats for them there; but the Lord went into God's presence and sat down on His right hand and will never again rise to deal with the question of sins. He has dealt with sins once for all. Heb10v13 He is seated at God's right hand and is waiting, according to Psalm 110, the time when He will put all His enemies beneath His feet. The Father has subjected all to the Son, as Son of Man, but the Lord waits the Father's time when He will take His great power and reign manifestly. Heb10v14 Those who are sanctified (as verse 10 shows) by the will of God are perfected for ever (in perpetuity) by that same one offering. They are set apart in a state of perfection. The believer is perfect in Christ through the perfection of His offering; he is for ever free from the guilt of His sins. In himself, because of the old Adamic nature in his flesh, there are manifold imperfections: Heb10v15,16,17 Note that here the voice of the Spirit is to us, though God will also make this New Covenant with Judah and Israel (Hebrews 8.8). Israel rejected Christ and so He turned and covenanted with us, but after those days He will turn toward Israel and they will accept Him and He will covenant with them. The New Covenant has two outstanding characteristics. I. The remission of sins of the believer; II. the putting of God's laws into the mind and the heart. The first in order is the remission of sins, though it is the last of the terms of the covenant mentioned; we begin where God leaves off. Heb10v18 Remission of sins is the result of offering for sin. Remission Aphesis means "to dismiss," from Aphiemi, to send away; the believer's sins are dismissed or forgiven; they are removed from him as far as the east is from the west, as David wrote in Psalm 103. 12. God will never remember them or bring them up against him for ever; he enjoys eternal redemption. Heb10v19 "Therefore," because the Lord, our great High Priest, entered the Holies by His own blood, having made complete atonement and having cleansed the Holies by His sacrifice, we have boldness (which literally means freedom of speech, but it goes beyond such liberty of utterance to that freedom of conscience which we enjoy from the guilt of sin) or confidence to enter the Holies by the blood of Jesus - the blood of the great Sin Offering, for our confidence rests upon His shed blood. Whilst the presence of God is open to the child of God at all times and in all places, the drawing near indicated here is that of a people entering in. Of old the high priest of Israel drew nigh in a collective sense, that is, he drew nigh representatively on behalf of the people. Even so has the Lord drawn nigh, and because of His perfect sacrifice God's people have boldness to enter in by Him who has gone into the Holies. In the past the high priest alone went in, but today the High Priest has drawn nigh and the people also may enter in. Heb10v20 The way which He dedicated or initiated was never open to man before. It is described as being "new and living"; it is new, that is, the way is Prosphatos, newly slain. As God's people enter in, the sacrifice is seen as slain immediately prior to their entrance; the victim is as if it had been freshly killed. The Lord in His sacrificial work will ever so appear. John saw in the throne a young Lamb standing as though it had been slain, wondrous sight! (Revelation 5.6). The way is also living, for the slain Lamb is alive, and alive in the body in which He was slain. It is a melting sight to see One alive, yet with the wounds of His sacrifice and passion. The shadows of the past, however moving they might be to the Israelite with a tender heart, as he saw the victim of the sin offering die for him, could never move the heart like a sight of the Lamb alive, yet bearing the wounds of His cross still fresh upon His holy flesh, as when they pierced Him on the tree. "Through the veil, that is to say His flesh." The veil of the tabernacle was the first covering of the ark and mercy-seat when they were carried from place to place in the wilderness. That veil was typical of the holy flesh of the Son of Man. When the tabernacle was erected the veil divided the Holy place from the Holy of Holies and through it the high priest entered the Holy of Holies year after year. Access to the Holies now is through the veil of His flesh. Man can only reach God mediately, and that through the incarnate Son of God, who died and rose again from the dead, never immediately or in his own right. Heb10v21 He is Son over (Epi) (Hebrews 3.6) and Great Priest over (Epi) the house of God. The house of God is not the Holies or heavenly sanctuary, but is the same house as is indicated in Hebrews 3.6 "whose house are we, if we hold fast." The house of God is the people of God who are builded together (1 Peter 2.5) at which judgement first begins (1 Peter 4.17). In Hebrews 3 where He is typified by Moses, the Son is seen in authority as the One by whom God speaks - "Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, Today if ye shall hear His voice" (verse 7), but in Hebrews 10.21 He is the Great Priest whose entrance into the presence of God is vital to those in the house of God in their drawing near to God. He is the Great Priest, not the greater nor the greatest; He is above all comparison, in nature, being, and position. Heb10v22 What an introduction! What an array of facts relative to God's provision in Priest and Sacrifice, in Sanctuary and Covenant, ere we come to these vital words of exhortation - "Let us draw near." We are to approach with a heart that is sincere, without hypocrisy or insincerity. "In full assurance of faith": the revelation God has made to us of His will, and His provision so that we might have access into the Holies, should leave no dark, lurking doubt in our minds. "Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience"; our conscience was once defiled by the guilt of sin, but our hearts were sprinkled, and so they were cleansed from such defilement. Thus it is that the worshipper who is once cleansed has no more conscience of sins. This is the once for all cleansing of the conscience by the sacrifice of Christ and that cleansing abides for ever. "Having our body washed with pure water." It seems beyond question that the writer has before his mind, as he writes, the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood and their being cleansed by the sprinkling of blood, and washed by Moses at the laver. (See Exodus 29.4,21). The Lord referred to such washing done by Him once for all in John 13.10: "He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit," and in John 15.3: "Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you." This washing is called the washing of regeneration in Titus 3.5. Heb10v23 Allusion is made to the same hope as that which is spoken of in Hebrews 3.6 and 6.18, the "better hope" of Hebrews 7.19, which is Christ as Priest in the prsence of God on behalf of God's people. What a confession for the Hebrew Christian who at one time acknowledged the divine appointment of a high priest of the house of Aaron! Now He confesses that his High Priest is after the order of Melchizedek. If his confession wavers he is on slippery ground and liable to return to the old covenant order of things and to deny the Lord in His sacrificial and priestly work. Heb10v24 First let us consider ourselves and let us hold fast, then let us consider one another. How much there is in the consideration of each other! What propensities we have and what inherited tendencies! Some are strong and some are weak; some harsh, some mild; some avaricious, some liberal; some over-estimate their own importance, some depreciate themselves; some are autocratic and overbearing, some humble, and between such extremities we have all grades. The question is, How can we get the best out of each other? How can we provoke (not to evil) to love and good works? Next to the affectionate consideration of Deity is the consideratin of man, for the divine commandments were, "Thou shalt love the LORD thy God" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Heb10v25 If we cease to hold fast we shall not be amongst those who assemble themselves together, and if we do not consider one another our coming together may be far from a joy to us. But where there is the due acknowledgement of our responsibility to God, and an affectionate regard for God's people, our souls shall greatly desire the assemblings of the saints. Some had fallen into the custom of neglecting such assembling of themselves together, it had become their habit, their usual practice. This gives us an insight into what transpired even in apostolic times; there was in some the habitual neglect of what God had arranged for as necessary to the well-being of His people. The asssembling of themselves together was vital to their position in the house of God, and their exhorting one another was essential to the proper condition of soul, relative to this divine position. All this had in view the approaching day of the Lord's return. Heb10v26 "For" joins this verse to the previous one (verse 25), and shows possiblities of the utmost gravity which may follow in the train of the custom of saints forsaking the assembling of themselves together. The loss of fellowship and exhortation to those who absent themselves may result in disregard of the Lord's will and claims and may lead to one of the worst of all forms of sin, the sin of wilful disobedience, which in essence is rebellion. It was that of which Saul the king of Israel was guilty and because of which he lost the throne. He continued as king for many a day afterwards, but his course was disastrous; its one outstanding feature was his persecution of God's chosen king, David. "Rebellion," Samuel told Saul, "is as the sin of witchcraft." There was no sacrifice that could meet the sin of a witch or a rebel (a presumptuous sinner); even so it is now with those who wilfully sin against the knowledge of the truth. The knowledge of the truth is the knowledge of the revealed will of God for God's people. The sin of apostasy is so serious that when one takes one's stand intelligently in the will of God, to go back wilfully from the will of God, there is no sacrifice for the rebellious person. God "willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2.4). The Lord's servant must be gentle: "In meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 2.25). Certain may be "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3.7). "The faith of God's elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness" (Titus 1.1). In Hebrews 10.26 it is wilful sin after the person has come to the knowledge of the truth. It is like Saul's in his rebellion relative to God's plain command in regard to the destruction of Amalek. Israel's attitude to Amalek was one of the fundamental things associated with their national life (Exodus 17.8-16; Deuteronomy 25.17-19). Saul was never restored again, and neither can those be who set aside God's truth wilfully; the loss sustained abides. Heb10v27 This verse must be read in the light of verses 30 and 31. "The Lord shall judge his people." The judgement which the rebellious believer expects to receive cannot be eternal judgement. The sacrifice of Christ for ever secures for him safety from all fiery punishment which will be the portion of the disobedient sinner in his Adamic standing. The apostle is dealing with the rebellious believer, not with an ungodly sinner. The God whom we serve is "a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12.29). The God of such a serving people is a jealous God (Exodus 20.5; 34.14), and who may stand before the fierceness (Zelos, fervour, jealousy R.V.M.) of His fire! Poor Saul sought peace in music from a mind in perpetual unrest. He is a picture of an unhappy saint who has wilfully sinned against God's revealed will. Heb10v28 Here we have an illustration of those who wilfully sin against the knowledge of the truth, from what happened in the days of the law. There was provision made for sin under the law, even as there is in this day of grace. By the sin offering atonement was made and sin was forgiven (Leviticus 4). So today, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1.9). But in this verse reference is made to something worse, it is presumptuous sin, it was a man who set at nought Moses' law. See Numbers 15.30; Deuteronomny 17.8-13; Psalm 19.13, as to presumptuous sin. There was no sacrifice for such sin, no forgiveness or possible restoration; death was the penalty. Heb10v29 Great light and great privileges brought correspondingly great responsibilities in the past dispensation. But we are more privileged still, who live in this economy of grace. Death was the punishment under law. Is there anything sorer than death? Is not the expectation of judgement (of verse 27) worse than even the enacting of the death penalty in the past, an expectation to receive something that we know is inevitable, which is consequent upon wilful disobedience; a punishment which God has not exactly defined, but which will be commensurate with the wrong that has been done? What is the wrong? The enormity of the crime of the rebellious person is put under three heads: (1) that he "hath trodden under foot the Son of God"; (2) that he "hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing"; (3) and that he "hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." It is impossible to tread under foot the Son can only refer to a symbolic act of treading authority of Him who is Son over God's house exhorted to see that we "refuse not Him that 25). of God in person; it down the word and (Hebrews 3.6). We are speaketh" (Hebrews 12. The sanctification here must, I judge, be in keeping with the acceptation of the Son of God in His authority; it is associated with the setting apart of a people for Himself. "Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us therefore go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Hebrews 13.12,13). The blood of the covenant at Sinai set apart Israel as a people, for they professed that they would be obedient to the law (Exodus 24.1-8). If a man set at nought Moses' law in regard to which he with others had "answered together" that they would do what the LORD had spoken (Exodus 19.8), he counted the blood of the covenant a common thing, a thing not to be esteemed above anything else. This was an act of the most outrageous profanity. Could the blood of the covenant be so regarded in the past? and should the blood of the covenant Victim be so viewed or treated in this dispensation? If we are sanctified by it, let us maintain our separated character by going forth to our rejected Lord, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, for such separation is because of the sanctification of God's people by the Holy blood of the Covenant. The rebellious person has done despite to or insulted the Spirit of grace. What a fearful thing to do! We may grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4.30) and the Spirit may be quenched (1 Thessalonians 5. 19), but here it is much worse, the Spirit is insulted. The Spirit of grace describes the Holy Spirit in His character as the gracious Guide and Teacher of God's people, He who is in each believer (1 Corinthians 6.19,20), and who dwells in and walks in them collectively as gathered together in the churches of God (1 Corinthians 3.16,17; 2 Corinthians 6.16; Ephesians 2.22). The wilfully disobedient turns back from His gracious leading and instruction and pursues a path of his own by self choice. Heb10v30 God is slow to anger, but vengeance is His; it is His prerogative, not ours. Will He repay the wicked doer? Is there punishment for wrong doing in the case of the rebellious believer? "I will recompense." There is no equivocation here. "I will" -let us hear and fear! "The Lord shall judge His people"; it is His people, not men of the world. Their day too will come. Judgement begins at the house of God, and the house of God is shown to be "us" those who are "built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2.5). "The time is come for judgement to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4.17). It seems needless for us to say that the house of God is not and cannot be the Body of Christ, yet because of abounding error and confusion on the point, we make this remark. There can be no judgement in the Body of Christ; we are there as members of Christ in all the perfection of the Lord's work, but in the house of God we have responsibilities and privileges relative to obedience and Divine service. Heb10v31 The living God is the God of the house of God (1 Timothy 3.15). Those who fall away fall away from Him (Hebrews 3.12), and it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands to be punished for wilful disobedience, if we have rebelled against His word and will. May we be warned against self-will and presumptuous sin! Heb10v32 Those Hebrew believers had had former days, days of suffering and of corresponding joy; for there is ever a weight of joy measured to believers in the balances of suffering. The former days were to be recalled and rehearsed in the memory. They were the precious days of early enlightenment, when the glowing prospect of eternal joys, like the coming of a new day with all the glories of the dawn, burst upon them, and in the joy of a new experience they endured a great conflict, a conflict which consisted in the sufferings they passed through. Was that all for nothing? would there be no recompense for their suffering and loss? and were they going to abandon the hopes which Divine light brought to them? Surely not! Heb10v33 Here we have part of their sufferings described, that in their own persons they were a spectacle, as though in the theatre they were exhibited and exposed to the reproaches of the multitude in all their afflictions. This was their conflict on the one part. The other side was that they were not so absorbed with their own trials that they forgot the trials of others: they became partakers with them who were in like affliction. Their Christian sympathy went out to their persecuted brethren and they became in their love for their brethren partners with them. This marks true Christian living; this was no fair weather friendship, but that kind in which saints are joined heart to heart in a common love in dark days of persecution and tribulation. There had been nothing in those early days of what, alas, will yet be true; "Because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold" (Matthew 24.12); and even in such a time to come there is this relief in such a desolate prospect, it says "many" and not "all." Heb10v34 "I was in prison, and ye came unto Me" (Matthew 25.36) - a precious ministry indeed! They had compassion, they had sympathy, they suffered with their brethren. The sufferings of their afflicted brethren who were in bonds were their sufferings, and in what way they could mitigate those afflictions they did it. They also took joyfully the spoiling of their goods. What an attitude of mind! No sorrow, no tears over the destruction of personal effects or of goods and chattels! Business premises wrecked, years of patient labour lost, domestic quarters, perchance, plundered; all this they took with joy. Why? Because they had their true wealth and possession where thieves do not break through and steal. There they had a better possession and an abiding one. Only a clear view from the "Delectable Mountains" of faith of the inheritance that waited them could have enabled them to look with complaisance and joy on the hand of wantonness that was laid upon their personal effects. Heb10v35 Having suffered so much, are they now going to cast away such boldness, such firm conviction and fortitude of spirit, which came by Divine enlightenment, and which had carried them through the dark clouds of persecution, clouds which had such a silver lining? Their boldness had great recompense of reward. Note it is not simply recompense, but it is great recompense, God will amply reward; He will fully indemnify the loser, for he that loses his life shall find it. It is the most wanton extravagance on the part of the saint to spend his time in this world as though he were a mere worldling without future prospect. Such a life spent in the gratifiction of one's desires, even though they may seem innocent enough, but which have not the vital consideration of seeking first God's kingdom, is a life that will be lost, a life in which God is not glorified and Christ is not well pleased. Heb10v36 God does not recompense suffering according to His will on the day on which we suffer, nor at the end of the week. Nor yet does He recompense the sinner for his sins with quick retribution. He is the God of patience, and we must learn to wait patiently the coming day of reward. We must occupy till the Lord comes. If we are busy the time will slip past all too quickly, for He may arrive before we have half done what we had hoped to do. Let us not become disgruntled and say with certain, "It is vain to serve God: and what proift is it that we have kept His charge?" (Malachi 3.14). If we have done the will of God then let us patiently await the coming of the Rewarder who has said, "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to each man according as his work is" (Revelation 22.12). Heb10v37 "A very little while," or "a little, little while," or "a very very little while," the idea here expressed is that the little while is the very least time imaginable, and also that we have here the great definiteness of the promise relative to the One who is coming emphasized. Were the Hebrew believers flagging in their zeal and earnestness? then nothing could be thought of which would revive their hopes like the prospect of the imminent and certain return of the Lord. The coming One shall not tarry; He will not delay. The quotation is from Habakkuk 2.3,4. The prophet sees the vision and says, "Though it tarry, wait for it; not delay." because it will surely come, it will The devastation of the Chaldeans would come truly, when there would be the spoiling of goods, the destruction of homes, the captivity of the LORD's people; but was there any hope amidst such calamities? Oh, yes! even in such a day faith saw the dawn of a new day, the coming of a new era. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 3.14). Surely such a day was worth waiting for! Such a vision would cheer the man of faith amidst the ruins of the labours of his forefathers. The Chaldean was coming, but the Messiah was coming also, He who would bring right into a scene of wrong and who would bring order out of chaos, and to the sorely tried and afflicted the Sun of Righteousness would arise with healing in His wings. Heb10v38 How was the righteous or just man to live in Habakkuk's time ? "By faith." He would win through amidst all the turbulence of his time. His faith and hope was to be in God. If his trust was in things, then that prop would go and leave his mind without a stay in the swelling tide of human woe. But if in Jah Jehovah he found his everlasting Rock (Isaiah 26.3,4), then the calm of an abiding peace was assured. If the eye got fixed on the circumstances, on the upheavals, then faith would be liable to lose its hold. Peter when he essayed to walk upon the sea saw the storm and began to sink. Who could not walk on a calm sea at the Lord's command? Peter was told to come to the Lord on a tempestuous sea. Fair days and full barrels need but little faith, but a famine and a handful of meal in a barrel need a daily faith (1 Kings 17.10-16). If from the trial of faith the Lord's righteous man shrinks back, then the pleasure the Lord had in him is gone, for without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto Him. We may be either a pleasure or know God's displeasure. See Matthew 12.18. Heb10v39 Here is a breath of fresh air, a burst of sunshine! Men of this kind have held the pass against the enemy in all ages. "We are not of them that shrink back." The writer was neither a shirker nor a shrinker. He had no cold feet and was not a valiant fireside soldier, a Reubenite of great resolves of heart sitting among the sheepfolds, far from the tramp of armed men and from the noise of archers (Judges 5). Perdition means utter loss and here it is the loss of the believer's life. No saved person can shrink back and lose eternal salvation. Such as are a new creation in Christ Jesus remain so eternally, but a saved man may not have a saved life; all his works may be burned up, yet he himself shall be saved so as by fire - all his life work gone! (1 Corinthians 3.14,15). How happy to be amongst those who have faith to the saving of the soul (or life)! The word "saving" is not Soteria, a saving or safety, but it is Peripoiesis (from Peri, about or around, and Poeio, to make, form, construct), an acquiring or obtaining, an acquisition, or a preserving as a result of faith in the living God and His word. Those whose lives are so preserved will have them as their abiding possession; they shall not go to utter loss. Heb11v1 In this verse we have a definition of faith, the faith referred to at the close of chapter 10: "My righteous one shall live by faith" (Hebrews 10.38). Faith is the assurance of things hoped for or "the giving substance to" (R.V.Marg.). Hupostasis, "assurance" (the A.V. gives "substance," and this original word was understood by most ancient interpreters to mean "the real and true essence"). Faith makes the things of Divine revelation to the believer substantial realities; the heavenly Jerusalem is more real to him than Paris or New York, the throne of God nearer and more accessible than that of a king. We walk by faith and "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen" (2 Corinthians 4.18). The glory and all else for which we hope are made to us substantial realities by faith. Hope is cheered and strengthened by faith. Faith is also the proving of things not seen. Are the unseen things true of which God has spoken? Faith answers, "Yes!" Faith accepts the words of the Speaker. The matters are demonstrated to the eye of faith and the believer stands convinced. Where reason fails with all her powers, There faith prevails and love adores. Heb11v2 Some have thought that the elders are those ancient and patriarchal men of whom he writes in detail - Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, etc. but it may be that those of whom he writes are the leaders to whom he refers in chapter 13.7 whose faith was to be imitated. Heb11v3 The apostle states the understanding of the believer relative to the creation of Genesis 1.1, that the worlds (or ages) were not made out of material manifest to our senses now, but that they were made by the word of God. God's utterance (Rhema) or word of command, we believe (and our faith is based on revelation), is the first and efficient cause of creation. We perceive this to be the case not by reason or investigation, nor by science, but by faith, we believe God (Psalm 33.6,9; John 1.3). "For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." The mystery of the universe can only be explained by the word of God, for by His word the universe came into being. Alford's note on "the ages" is helpful - "The expression Hoi Aiones (the ages) includes in it all that exists under the conditions of time and space, together with those conditions of time and space themselves, conditions which do not bind God, and did not exist independently of Him, but are themselves the work of His word." Heb11v4 The excellence of Abel's sacrifice over Cain's was in fact that he offered it by faith, whereas Cain's was not of faith, but according to his own mind. God revealed His will with reference to sacrifice, and Abel offered according to the will of God, but Cain did not. Hence God had respect to Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain He had not respect. Cain had listened to the devil's voice and consequently he became of the evil one (1 John 3.12). Abel believed God and we see that his offering is typical of the Lord in His sacrificial work. Through the respect God paid to Abel's sacrifice he had witness borne to him that he was righteous. He was righteous through the sacrifice offered by faith, even as is the believer in Christ's sacrificial work. Through his sacrifice Abel continues to speak. Some have thought about "through it he being dead yet speaketh" that the "it" refers to Abel's faith; but faith in itself is unseen and unheard till it manfiests itself, and the manifestation of Abel's faith in the word of God was through the sacrifice he offered of the firstlings and the fat of his flock, so Abel's voice, the voice of an accepted and justified man, is heard through what he offered. But the blood of sprinkling, of Jesus Christ, speaketh better than that of Abel (of the blood of Abel's offering). Heb11v5 Enoch, like Abel, believed God's word and in consequence he was translated; but what God said to him we are not told. He left this earthly scene, not in the normal way, by death, for he was translated by God (Metatithemi, to transfer, transport, translate) that he should not see death. "He was not found" indicates that they sought him, as the sons of the prophets searched for Elijah; both were suddenly transported and disappeared from the scene, and neither was found. What a glorious end to a God-pleasing life, during which he had witness borne to him that he pleased God well! Heb11v6 In this verse the Holy Spirit makes a deduction from the life of Enoch which is applicable to all persons during all time: no one can do one single act well-pleasing to God without faith. Those who would please Him must live and walk and work by faith. And, further, those who would come to Him must first believe that He is. It would be folly to seek a god who is not - many do! - for there are gods many, that are no gods, but to us there is one God, the Father. Those who are coming ones, whose habit it is to come to Him, believe in His existence, and not in that merely, but that He is the rewarder of true seekers after Him. Why should we seek Him and say to Him that He is not? or that He is powerless to answer? We believe He is the living God, the prayer-hearing and prayer-answering One. He will reward the faithful by and by, but we believe that even now He rewards the seeker after Him. Enoch is an example of this faith as he is also a type of saints who, at the Lord's coming, shall be translated without death. Heb11v7 See Hebrews 8.5, where Moses was warned to make the Tabernacle according to the pattern that had been shown him. Noah was warned concerning unseen things that were coming; believing the Speaker he took good heed to the Divine warning and prepared an ark according to the God-given instructions. The ark was not for the salvation of the world, but for the preservation of his house, that is, his family, and in so doing, acting by faith, he became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. He also by his faith condemned a world of unbelievers who took no heed to his word of warning, as a preacher of righteousness, and perchance scoffed at his work. All who believe the Divine message today not only enjoy salvation, but by their faith they condemn the unbelieving. God's provision for men means, either salvation for those that believe or condemnation for those who disbelieve. Heb11v8 "Abraham, when he was called" (not "he that was called, named, Abraham") out of Ur of the Chaldees obeyed the call of God and went out not knowing whither he went. In Abel and Enoch we have sacrifice and translation emphasized. In Noah and Abraham we learn the truths of salvation and separation. God said to Noah, "Come in," but to Abraham He said, "Get out." Thus the call of God is seen in two aspects, the one being the complement of the other, and these aspects of the Divine call have still their place in the Divine will, as witness Matthew 11.28 and Romans 8.30 and in contrast 2 Corinthians 6.17,18. In the will of God for Abraham the divine place of separation and service was in view; he "obeyed to go out unto a place" and it was only in tht place, that land, that Abraham could build an altar in agreement with the mind of God, and call upon the Name of Jehovah. Heb11v9 Though he was in the divinely-chosen place, yet the Canaanite was in the land, and as it took faith in the call of God to bring Abraham from Ur to Canaan, so it took faith in that same call to keep him in the place to which he had come. Even so is it now. It takes a continuous faith to keep a man out in the place of separation. The land was Abraham's, but not in actual possession in his day; he dwelt as a stranger in tents with his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob, the co-heirs with him of the promise. Heb11v10 Though Abraham was in Canaan, the divinely-chosen place of separation and service, he was in the place of trial and tribulation, where he had testings manifold, as a sojourner, for he waited for the City which has the foundations, whose Architect and Constructor is God. Not Jerusalem whose foundation is in the holy mountains (Psalm 87.1), but the New Jerusalem, the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb (Revelation 21), which shall be God's tabernacle with men eternally, when He shall dwell with them and they shall be His peoples (Revelation 21.3). The heavenly Jerusalem (and here let me speak suggestively) shall be, as it ever has been, the dwelling place of the angelic host, the centre of their service; and the New Jerusalem shall be the centre of the redeemed of the human race. Here the Lamb will enjoy for ever the delights of love in His Bride, to whom He will be married at the time of Revelation 19.7-10, prior to His coming as Son of Man. The nation of Israel, as seen in the names of the twelve tribes on the gates, it is generally agreed, shall occupy a midway place between the Bride and the redeemed nations without the city, as is indicated by the names of the tribes on the gates; and the redeemed nations shall walk without in the glory of God which will radiate from the city, from the Lamb who is the lamp thereof. For this final scene, however dimly understood by him, Abraham waited, content to dwell in a tent. A father of many nations shall he be, for the fruit of his faith shall be seen in full measure then. Heb11v11 The Spirit's assurance is very beautiful here, that though Sarah laughed when she heard the announcement regarding the birth of her son, she counted Him faithful that promised. Hence, because she believed the promise, she received power to conceive seed in her old age, when according to nature it was impossible. Heb11v12 Through the quickening power of God, which was experienced by Sarah through her faith, there sprang from Abraham, one as good as dead according to the power of natural generation, so many as the stars of heaven in multitude and as the sand of the sea shore innumerable. Such is one of the marvels of faith in the word of God! Heb11v13 These - Abraham,Isaac, Jacob, and also Sarah - all died, not by faith, but in or according to faith, having received the promises by faith and in that faith died. They saw and greeted by faith the realisation of the promises from afar and besides so greeting the promises they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. Heb11v14 They that say that they are strangers and pilgrims (for a pilgrim has an objective before him in his pilgrimage) show that they are seeking, not such a country through which they as pilgrims are passing and where they are strangers, but a fatherland (Patris, fatherland or homeland, from Pater, father), a homeland where they will be at home and where their stranger character will be past forever. Heb11v15 They could have gone back to Ur of the Chaldees had they wished, but Abraham made it clear to his servant that there must be no going back, not even for his son Isaac who was a sharer in his father's call and a co-heir in the promise God made to him. "Beware thou that thou bring not my son hither again. The LORD, the God of heaven ... took me from my father's house, and from the land of my nativity" (Chaldea) (Genesis 24.6,7). The call of God was too real for him to go back to the place from whence it brought him. They were not even mindful of that country; it was to them a dead land, for which they never had a hankering after. Heb11v16 They desire (Orego, to stretch one's self forward in order to lay hold of anything) a better homeland, a heavenly one, and of such persons God is not ashamed to be called their God, and those also who follow in the steps of faithful Abraham may know Abraham's God as theirs. Note the difference between Hebrews 2.11: "He is not ashamed to call them brethren," where it is a relationship that is in view, and Hebrews 11.16, where it is conduct. Three countries are in view in these verses: I. Chaldea, from which Abraham was called and to which he never went back; II. Canaan, the land of promise, the place of his sojourning and service, of testing and testimony; and III. the heavenly country the Patris, the fatherland, or all that is conveyed in that sweet word, Home. For such persons as pilgrims God has prepared a city, the city of verse 10, the city of gold as clear and pure as transparent glass, such gold as men have never seen. Into this the kings of the earth shall bring their glory. Heb11v17 Note the R.V.marg. - "hath offered up." Alford says of the tense, "Perfect, as if the work and its praise were yet enduring." Abraham stood the testing of his faith in the promises, which he had so gladly accepted. "Was offering up his only begotten son" - "was offering": imperfect tense, and again Alford says, "He was in the act of offering - the work was begun." The son of the bondwoman who was born after the flesh was cast out in Genesis 21, and then God claimed Isaac, the only begotten, as a burnt offering in Genesis 22. How beautiful the type as to the casting off of Israel after the flesh, the children born to legal bondage, and the sacrifice of the true Only Begotten, the Son of God; and from the Only Begotten, God's seed comes, even as it was in the promise, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called"! "When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed" (Isaiah 53.10). Heb11v18 Because Abraham believed the word, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," he was able to say to the servant, "Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder: and we will worship, and come again to you" (Genesis 22.5). Abraham believed that the same Isaac that God had given to him, and who toiled up Moriah's rocky ascent by his side, would descend again. Wondrous faith! Heb11v19 If he had offered Isaac and burnt him as a burnt offering Abraham reckoned that God, who is able to raise the dead, would have raised him, for raise him He must so that His word might have fulfilment. And from the dead, the writer says that he received him back as in a parable, for the ram was slain in Isaac's stead, and Isaac arose alive from off the altar. Heb11v20 One would almost have thought that faith had gone astray in the domestic tangle of Isaac's home, but no, for Isaac's oracular blessing of his sons was by faith. Though he trembled very exceedingly when Esau came, he said, "Who then is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed" (Genesis 27.33). There was no retracting of Jacob's blessing, and no place of repentance for Esau, though he sought it diligently with tears. But Isaac blessed Esau also in regard to things to come, but not with the blessing of the firstborn, for the birthright was Jacob's. Heb11v21 The light of faith shone clearly in Jacob as he crossed his hands (though his eyesight was dim), much to Joseph's displeasure, and gave the blessing of the firstborn to Ephraim the younger son, and thus gave to Ephraim's descendants that outstanding place which they had amongst the tribes of Israel at the first. But, alas, they forfeited this premier place by turning back in the day of battle. "He (God) forsook ... Shiloh ... And chose not the tribe of Ephraim; But chose the tribe of Judah, The Mount Zion which he loved. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . He chose David also His servant." (Psalm 78.9,10,57,60,67,68,70). Previous to the blessing of Joseph's sons, Jacob worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. In Genesis 47.31 it is said that he "bowed himself upon the bed's head." Alford says: "The same Hebrew word ... signifies a staff, or a bed, according as it is pointed ... And, as there are no points in the ancient Hebrew text, it is an open question which meaning we are to take. The LXX have taken rhabdos (staff), though as Jerome notices, in loc., they have rendered the same word kline (bed) in Genesis 48.2 (and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed) two verses after." The writer of the Hebrews follows the word used in LXX (rhabdos) in this reference to Jacob's act of worship. Jacob, because of his strong faith in the promises of God, made Joseph swear that he would bury him in Canaan, in the burying place of Isaac and Abraham his fathers, in the cave of Machpelah, and in the light of the promises of God this aged pilgrim and servant of God bowed before Him in this act of adoration. There was no worshipping the top of his staff with Jacob, according to the fulsome idolatrous teaching of Rome. Heb11v22 At the close of the life of princely Joseph, Egypt's glory had not dimmed his vision, for he made mention of the departure of the sons of Israel from the land over which he had ruled so well. Canaan and not Egypt filled the vision of this man of faith, and he gave commandment concerning his bones. These lay in a coffin in Egypt, as the closing words of Genesis tell us, till the Exodus. Heb11v23 In Exodus 2.2 in the Hebrew it is said of the mother of Moses that "she hid him three months," but the LXX have the plural as in Hebrews 11.23; he "was hid three months by his parents." Moses was a beautiful or fair child. Stephen says that he was "fair unto God" (Acts 7.20, R.V.marg.). The faith of Moses' parents led them to fear and obey God, and in consequence they feared not the king's command, and they hid their beautiful son. Heb11v24 As with his parents and Pharaoh's command, so it was with Moses, God's will ran athwart the designs of Pharaoh's daughter. When grown up, Moses refused adoption by Pharaoh's daughter; he would not be called her son. He knew that the purposes of God were associated with Abraham's seed enslaved in the brick fields of Egypt, and he would be true to his belief in Divine promise; so he renounced a pseudo-relationship, with all the earthly honour and wealth bound up with it. Heb11v25 Refusing and choosing are prerogatives of the human will, and never did a man refuse a greater offer and choose a path more against the natural enjoyments of the flesh than Moses did, but he did it by faith. He was like another who said, "What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ" (Philippians 3.7). Moses willed to become a co-sharer in the afflictions of the down-trodden Israelite nation, rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. How temporary and transient are such pleasures! The pleasures of the Egyptian court had evidently become odious and loathsome to this great-souled man, and a life of affliction was to Him more to be desired with a people who were the people of God by Divine choice and would become so in reality. Heb11v26 Paul called his sufferings in the doing of the will of God "the sufferings of Christ" (2 Corinthians 1.5), "the fellowship of his sufferings" (Philippians 3.10), and "the afflictions of Christ" (Colossians 1.24), that is, his sufferings were like unto those which Christ endured at the hands of men when He did God's will on earth. Even so it was with Moses; the odium in which he would be held, the reproach which he would endure from men, because of the step he was taking, from the palace to the brick fields, from being known as an Egyptian to being seen as a true Israelite, was typical of that reproach which Christ would endure in the days of His humiliation. But to be similar in character and circumstances to Christ, even in some small measure, is greater treasure than all the world's wealth, for it will yield its recompense of reward; for he that loseth his life in this world for Christ's sake shall save it. Egypt's treasure passed away, but Moses' recompense and riches abide. Oh, to have an eye to see as he saw, and a mind to weigh accurately things temporal and eternal as he did! Heb11v27 This was not at the Exodus, but it describes his personal flight from Egypt, though there seems to be a contradiction between the Spirit's testimony in this verse and the historical account in Exodus. "Moses feared, and said, Surely the thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well." We ask, What was the real cause why Moses left Egypt, was it faith or fear? Did he fear? Yes, for Exodus says so. Did he act in faith? Yes, for Hebrews says so. The real reason of his leaving the land of Egypt was because he knew God's will for him was that he should leave it and not through fear of the king of Egypt, for had God commanded him to remain he would have remained and faced the king of Egypt, as he later did this king's successor. The two statements that he "fled from the face of Pharaoh" and that "by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king" are complements of each other, as are those concerning the flight of Joseph with the Child Jesus and His mother; they fled from Herod, but they fled at the command of God (Matthew 2.13,14). Moses endured as seeing (not "to see") the invisible One. was ever before him, as seen by faith. Jehovah Heb11v28 By faith Moses kept (the perfect tense is used as indicating that what was done then abides, it is not merely an historic event) the passover and the sprinkling (or affusion, proschusis, a pouring out upon, effusion) of blood. The blood was not sprinkled on the lintel and side posts. The LORD's command was, "They shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel," and Moses showed them how it was to be done: "Ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood" (Exodus 12.7,22). Proschusis - a pouring out upon, comes from pros, towards, and cheo, to pour. Ekcheo, to pour out, to shed (blood) is ek, out of, and cheo, to pour. The word to sprinkle, as in Hebrews 9.19, etc., is rhantizo, to sprinkle, besprinkle, and the sprinkling of blood first took place at Sinai: "He (Moses) took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself, and all the people." The sprinkling of blood conveys the thought of cleansing, purification, and sanctification of those who were sprinkled. The affusion of blood saved the firstborn from the destroyer. All firstborns then and ever afterwards were to be sanctified to the LORD (Exodus 13.12,15); the clean animals had to be sacrificed; and the first-born ass, and the firstborn of man associated with the unclean ass, had to be redeemed. Heb11v29 They crossed (neither by bridge nor ford, neither by swimming nor wading, though the Greek word can be used in these senses) as by dry land. This the Egyptians assayed to; in their case it was presumption, for they had no command so to act; they walked by sight, and made a trial or experiment of what Israel did by faith. Men should from such events learn a lesson, to do what God has commanded, for Israel in obeying God's command were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Corinthians 10.2), and thus they were saved from the hand of the enemy; though, let it be observed, they were saved from the wrath of God which fell on Egypt by the blood of the passover. Let those who presume to follow the Lord's command, given to those redeemed by blood, to be baptized, who have never known salvation by the shedding of the blood of Christ our Passover (1 Corinthians 5.7; 1 Peter 1.18,19) beware of the fearful calamity such a course will lead to. The professed baptizing (or sprinkling) of unbelievers can only result in leading such persons (but for the intervention of God's grace and power) into the jaws of eternal death. Heb11v30 Israel carried out implicitly and patiently (for he that believeth shall not make haste) for seven days the plain command of God, and then at a given moment they shouted and Jericho's walls fell down, and each Israelite went into the city straight before him. God takes delight in His people when they obey Him as He has commanded them. Heb11v31 Here we have the last specific example of faith, and that in one in whom, because of her character and conduct, you would least have expected to find such faith. The greatest sinners have sometimes become the greatest saints, as witness, Saul of Tarsus, and Mary Magdalene. Rahab said, "I know that the LORD hath given you the land ... for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath" (Joshua 2.9,11). In such words shines faith of no ordinary kind. Because of her faith in Jehovah she hid the two spies who belonged to His people. She was at peace with them, for she was not hostile to their God. Therefore she, a believer, perished not with the disobedient (apeithesasin, those who would not be persuaded). They had the same evidence of Jehovah's power as Rahab had, in the drying of the waters of the Red Sea and the destruction of Sihon and Og (Joshua 2.10). Heb11v32 The writer names six men of faith, but not in chronological order, for Barak lived before Gideon, Jephthah before Samson, and Samuel before David. No doubt in these three pairs the greater man of faith is placed first in each case. Samuel stands at the head of the prophets, not that he was the first prophet, but he was first of that line of men who are generally described as "the prophets." (See Acts 3.24: "Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after." Heb11v33,34 In David many of these things are exemplified in a remarkable degree. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego seem also to be in the writer's mind. Heb11v35 Such believing women as the woman of Zarephath (1 Kings 17.17) and the Shunammite (2 Kings 4.17) had their sons raised from the dead by Elijah and Elisha. Other faithful ones were beaten to death (R.V.marg.). (Tumpanon, a drum, also an instrument of torture, on which criminals were extended to be scourged and beaten even to death), absolutely refusing the deliverance offered to them, which undoubtedly was a deliverance under conditions with which their faith could not agree. They refused deliverance that they might have a better resurrection, for there is not only the resurrection of the dead, there is resurrection from the dead, that is, (ek) out of the dead, when many shall rise in a pre-millennial resurrection to share the glories of Christ's kingdom. The rest of the dead shall not rise till the thousand years of Christ's reign are finished. The Lord speaks, in Luke 20.35, of those that are accounted worthy to attain to that world (age, R.V.marg), and the resurrection from (ek) the dead. Heb11v36,37,38 Well does the writer say of such godly persons who suffered such ungodly treatment, "of whom the world was not worthy"! What power the devil has to set the one part of the human family against the other! But it is the story of Cain and Abel told over and over again. "Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's righteous." The devil carries on this unholy war against God, in which the wicked persecutes the righteous (Psalm 37),the flesh, the spirit, and yet though the righteous is slain, he is the conqueror of the manslayer. Who is the victor, John the Baptist or Herod Antipas? Christ or Pontius Pilate? Heaven's nobility wandered in a foreign land in sheepskins and goatskins, in deserts and mountains and caves, but what robes and what mansions shall yet be theirs! Heb11v39,40 They "received not the promise"; compare this with Hebrews 9.15. Those who died in faith under the Old Covenant received not the promise of the eternal inheritance, nor could they until Christ had died for the redemption of the transgressions which were committed under that covenant. These saints died and went down to Sheol (upper), and were there till the resurrection of Christ. When He was raised this new dispensation which God had foreseen began, for apart from "us," of this dispensation, who have been brought into the blessings of the eternal covenant through the death of the covenant Victim, they could not have been made perfect. Note how the two peoples are seen in Ephesians 4.8 "Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men." "He led captivity captive," these captives were held under a measure of captivity till the death and resurrection of Christ, and then they were liberated by Him, and they are seen in association with the heavenly Jerusalem as "the spirits of just men made perfect" (Hebrews 12.23). These during their earthly lifetime were subject to bondage through the fear of death (Hebrews 2.15), but now know Divine deliverance through Christ's death and resurrection. "And gave gifts unto men," these are the gifts of the present dispensation - "apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers." The "something better" of this dispensation above the past dispensation of law is what has resulted from the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which so much is made by the apostle in the earlier chapters of this epistle. There is no thought here of these Old Testament saints becoming members of Christ's Body. They are a company of saints distinct from the eternal purpose of God proper to this dispensation of grace, durng which Christ is building the Church the Body, which is a distinct and separate thing, an eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus. Heb12v1 In addition to those described in chapter 11, we also are to run the race before us. In the imagery used of the runners in the race there seems to be some allusion to the runners being surrounded by a great crowd - a cloud of witnesses. Some have thought there are two meanings in the word "witnesses": 1, that they are witnesses to the power of faith in their life's work and experience; 2, that they are onlookers on the runners of this dispensation. I do not view the witnesses as spectators. No scripture, that I know of, would justify the thought that saints who have left this earthly scene are now viewing the progress of saints on earth. I regard the first sense, that they are witnesses who have borne and bear testimony to the power of faith, to be the correct one. Like runners who divest themselves of every burden, even that of heavy clothing, so the Christian runner is to lay aside every weight which would hinder him. In particular he must lay aside the besetting, or easily surrounding, sin of unbelief, a sin which would hem him in on all sides. How can we run the race of faith with an unbelieving heart? is allied to patience or endurance. The race is not one of minutes, but of years. Faith Heb12v2 Some render this "looking off" or "looking away," but looking to one object - faith's Leader (not the Author) and Completer necessitates that we look away from every other object. We can only truly look at one object at a time. The Lord Jesus is to fill the runner's vision. He is the Leader of faith (as He is the Leader of many sons to glory), who by His perfect example takes precedence over all others. He is also the Completer of faith; He "exhibited faith in perfection in His own example." No clouds of unbelief ever filled His sky or were seen on the horizon of his thoughts as morning by morning God wakened His ear to hear as a disciple. He said, "The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward" (Isaiah 50.4,5). This perfect Man, subject and obedient, coming at the close of a past dispensation and opening a new dispensation, becomes before all; He surpasses all, and we see in Him, the Leader of faith, the course we are to pursue. He, our great Example, in the days of His flesh endured the cross, and He despised all the shame which consummated in His Crucifixion, in view of the joy of His triumph and the satisfaction He would have as the result of the travail of His soul. His earthly sufferings o'er, He sat down on God's right hand. Such is the picture that is to fill the minds of those who patiently endure in the race - the Lord's endurance and His resultant joy. Heb12v3 Consider, "think on, by way of comparison." Compare Him with ourselves, how He stood, how He endured such or so great gainsaying of sinners; such gainsaying as "All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn: They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, Commit Thyself unto the LORD; let Him deliver Him: Let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighteth in Him." (Psalm 22.7,8) "My tears have been My meat day and night, While they continually say unto Me, Where is Thy God?" (Psalm 42.3). Whether we read "against Himself" (A.V.) or "against themselves" (R. V.) it matters but little, for the gainsayng of men against the Lord will rebound against themselves; for who can despise the suffering Saviour without despising the salvation He by His sufferings wrought, with all the inevitable and awful consequences? Great is the tonic to sufferers who drink from the well at Calvary, and as we consider Him and think of "His wearied frame and thorn-crowned head, " we feel our own weariness the less. Heb12v4 No blood had yet flowed from the Hebrews in the spiritual contest in which they were engaged, as had flowed in the case of their Master, and had flowed in the case of many of old time, who were stoned, sawn asunder and slain with the sword. "Wrestling against sin" is not our striving against the evil which arises from the old nature in our flesh, but resistance to external oppression; and were we to yield to such we should be found doing what is contrary to the will of God. Earlier, the Hebrews had taken joyfully the spoiling of their possessions, and now that that early joy had passed, under the present pressure they were liable to give way. Heb12v5,6 Chastisement by external persecution, causing the Christian much distress of mind and perchance grief, is not to be lightly regarded or despised. His wrestling to do God's will is a necessary part of his discipline and education. God strong. Such discipline makes the sons of "A planter had the cocoon of an Emperor moth, and one day watched it bursting. He saw it struggle to burst its bonds, pitied it, and taking a pair of scissors, cut the old garment so as to permit it to emerge easier. So it did, but it was an abortion, it could neither stand nor fly." We must not despise our strivings against sin, our standing for God; it is part of the Father's discipline of His sons. The quotation in these verses is taken from Proverbs 3.11,12, as to God's chastising. In the first seven chapters of Proverbs we have Solomon's instruction to his sons. God too wishes to instruct His sons. These are our school days, and whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. Our future will depend upon our learning of present lessons God would teach us. The reception of sons here must not be confused with the reception of sinners (Luke 15.2), nor yet with the reception into the Fellowship at the time we were added thereto (Acts 2.41), but is the reception of sons by the Father into His school of experimental dealing and instruction that we may be useful to Him in His service. A man without training is like a fruit tree without pruning - all wood and no fruit, or like a horse that has never been trained, an animal whose strength is going to waste, and which may be a real danger. Heb12v7 Whilst God will afflict those that afflict His people, and vengeance belongs to Him, not to them (2 Thessalonians 1.5-8; Romans 12.19), yet such affliction is part of God's discipline for His sons. "It is unto chastening that ye endure." This affliction comes by Divine permission. There is nothing haphazard in God's training. We endure affliction, perhaps we say, because we must, it is inevitable and there is no use fighting against it; we must not view it in that light. "It is for discipline." God is going to teach us some lesson by its means that we could not have learned otherwise. Storms on the sea of Galilee taught the disciples how small their faith was, a very necessary lesson. In calm waters they no doubt thought that they had great faith. The storm was needed to show how weak was their faith. Storms cause the oak to send its roots deeper into the earth, so should afflictions, which are oft sent in mercy, cause us to lay hold upon God by His word, because faith ever comes by hearing and by the word of God. Heb12v8 The son who knows no chastening is not a son in God's reckoning, but a child without a father. All sons are made partakers of chastening. How much a person misses in life who has had no fatherly care, no restraint, no correction, no pruning, allowed to grow wild! But how beautiful is the character of a properly trained person, whose disposition by training has been rendered mild and moderate, who is a real asset and embellishment to the life of any community! On the other hand, how disturbing and destructive of peace is the lawless, fiery spirit, who has never been put under restraint, never been displeased by paternal control (1 Kings 1.6), who becomes a displeasure to all who know him, a rebel against law and order! This sort of character is becoming more and more manifest in the perilous times of the last days, in which being disobedient to parents and headstrong are outstanding features. (2 Timothy 3.1-5). Heb12v9 Here the contrast is drawn between the fathers of our flesh and the Father of spirits. The former chastened us and we gave them that respect due to them, but in the greater and more important matter of the disciplining of the human spirit, naturally so lawless, restless and rebellious, ought we not, who own this Divine Father as our Father, to subject our spirits to Him and live? When oppression and affliction come should our spirits become bitter as Israel's did at the waters of Meribah? Should we murmur and rebel against the Lord? Is it not better that we should remember the beautiful words of Paul in such circumstances? "Our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4.17). We may rebel, but we shall dwell in a parched land (Psalm 68.6) and there die, or we may subject ourselves to the dealing of the Father of spirits, grow fat on the bread of affliction and live before Him. Heb12v10 During the few days our fathers had control over us they chastened us as seemed good to them; the apostle does not say the chastening was just and right, but the chastening was what seemed to them proper to the need and the occasion. How much rather should we welcome divine discipline, in view of the fact that the profit accruing therefrom shall abide when time shall be no more! To be partakers of His holiness means that we should be holy, as is enjoined in 1 Peter 1.16: "Ye shall be holy; for I am holy," and again in 2 Corinthians 7.1 "... perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Heb12v11 Here we have "the grievous present" contrasted with "the fruitful afterwards." Here we have the sowing during divine chastisement contrasted with the reaping time of the peaceable fruit, even that of righteousness. James 3.18 says that "the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace," and in Isaiah 32.17, it says, "The work of righteousness shall be peace: and the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever." The reaping of righteousness is only true in the case of those who are exercised concerning chastisement. Happy are the people who can say, "Come, and let us return unto the LORD: ... He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. And let us know, let us follow on to know the LORD" (Hosea 6. 1-3). An unexercised mind is like an athlete who has not exercised his body for the contest; failure will inevitably be his; so the believer should have an exercised mind, a mind trained, and to such his experiences will yield abundant fruit. Heb12v12,13 Having said so much to runners as to the Lord's example and our being disciplined and trained, the writer reverts to the race again. If there has been a slackening off or a ceasing to run, in the light of what has been said they are to lift up the hands that hang down. No runner runs with his hands dangling at his side as mere appendages, far less do palsied or paralysed knees befit a runner. They were to straighten their hands and knees and also to make straight tracks or paths for their feet. There was to be no zig-zag running like the ostrich. If the strong runners run as they should, then the weak and lame will be able also to keep to the path and to go straight on, and in time, by practice and goodly example, may themselves run well. But the failure of the strong has often turned the weak out of the way. Heb12v14 We are to pursue peace with all. "Men" is not in the original. We are to follow peace manward and sanctifiction Godward. The Christian is to be a man of peace and a holy man. Without sanctification no man shall see the Lord. James 5.11 says, "Ye ... have seen the end of the Lord," that is, the end of the Lord's dealings with Job. To see the Lord, in the sense here spoken of, is to see Him, not in person, but in His dealings with us. When Samuel told Eli every whit of the LORD's visitation to him the previous night, Eli said, "It is the LORD." "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5.8), they shall see Him with the eyes of their heart, here and now, as well as in time to come. Heb12v15 The analogous scripture to this in the Old Testament is in Deuteronomy 29.18, which contemplates the possibility of a man or woman, or family or tribe, turning away from Jehovah to idolatry, which would result in a root bearing gall and bitterness. It is not falling short of God's grace, but one who has known it falling back or away from it. It is not God's grace in salvation (Titus 2.11), but the grace of God as a teacher, which instructs us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age (Titus 2.12). A backslider in heart is ever a trouble, and often many are affected by such a root of bitterness. Sometimes through such a root some, who have themselves done right, have gone away from the holy place and have been forgotten in the city; this also is vanity (Ecclesiastes 8.10). Heb12v16 Reuben was a fornicator and lost his birthright, and Esau was a profane person and sold his. With the selling of the birthright went all the spiritual inheritance of the promises of God, and also the blessing and service of God. Whatever material wealth may be got for the birthright it is but a mess of pottage or a moment of carnal pleasure. Afterwards comes the loss, the life a blank, and in due time comes the remorse consequent upon such outrageous acts. Heb12v17 Birthright and blessing go together. At the first his father Isaac would have blessed Esau with the firstborn's blessing, but later, having understanding of God's purpose by revelation, he rejected his son's entreaty. Esau found no place of repentance; though he had changed his mind God had not changed His, and his tears did not move his father to repeal the words of blessing pronounced upon Jacob, whose was the birthright. Let us hear and fear! Let us hold fast what we have that no one take our crown (Revelation 3.11). Jacob knew much of divine chastening, but he died in possession of the fruits of the birthright and the blessing, and passed on the birthright to Joseph and to Ephraim. Heb12v18,19,20,21 This is the description of that fearful appearance of Jehovah upon Mount Sinai; the mountain to which Israel came, where they received the law and where they commenced their national service for God, in connexion with the sanctuary which they built there for Jehovah their God. God appeared thus to Israel that they might fear Him and keep His covenant. Heb12v22,23,24 There are here eight clauses, in which eight things and persons are mentioned, which are joined by Kai, and 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Mount Zion, and The city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and Innumerable hosts of angels, the general assembly, and The church of the firstborn (ones) who are enrolled in heaven, and God, the Judge of all, and The spirits of just men made perfect, and Jesus the Mediator of a New Covenant, and The blood of sprinkling. We suggest that the earthly copy seen in Israel of the heavenly things as enumerated here finds answer in 1. Mount Sinai 2. The encampment of Israel 3. The people of Israel, God's host on earth 4. The Levites, who were called out of the tribes to take the place of the firstborn sons of Israel 5. The God of Israel 6. -- 1. Mount Zion 2. The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem 3. The innumerable hosts of angels, the general assembly 4. The church of the firstborn (ones) 5. God, the Judge of all 6. The spirits of just men made perfect 7. Moses the mediator of the Old 7. Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Covenant 8. The blood of the Covenant 8. The blood of sprinkling. (The sprinkled on Sinai, by which blood of sprinkling should not the covenant was ratified be confusd with the teaching and Israel became God's holy associated with the blood of nation, a kingdom of priests, and a peculiar people the passover) The following remarks are made as a contribution to a difficult, yet important subject, and are not dogmatically made, but are given suggestively. With present knowledge the writer considers that the heavenly Jerusalem is not the New Jerusalem. The latter is the Lamb's Bride and Wife. The heavenly Zion, God's holy mountain, is alluded to, I judge, in Ezekiel 28.14-16, where we read of the holy mountain of God: there too, I judge, was and is the heavenly Jerusalem, the seat of government and centre of worship of the heavenly hosts. This heavenly Zion and heavenly Jerusalem cast their shadow on earth, when Israel reached the mountain of God in the wilderness (Exodus 3.1,12; 19.1-8 etc.) where they received the law, built the sanctuary, and commenced their national service for God. This earthly shadow of heavenly things is seen later when Israel reached the land and God revealed His choice of "the place of the Name," which in David's time was Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Though God forsook Shiloh, He never chose another place when once He reached Zion, despite the sad and repeated failures of His people, both in regard to the whole nation and also the remnant that later were associated with Jerusalem, the place of the Name. This centre of Zion and Jerusalem will again play an all-important part in connexion with the government and service of God in the Millennium in those glorious days which are fast approaching. Then in the eternal state there will be a New Jerusalem, the centre of things in the new earth, when God's purposes in Eden, so long suspended by the entrance of sin, will be realized, with the added glory, a glorious state from which men can never fall. But this, it seems to me, will not affect the heavenly centre in the heavenly Jerusalem, which existed before man's creation, for I believe that the scene of Ezekiel 28.13-16 is pre-Adamic. We have not come to Sinai, for we are not subject to Moses and his law, but we are come to Zion where the Lord Jesus is enthroned with all authority in heaven and on earth. We are subject to the Lord upon the throne, the precious corner stone which is laid in Zion, of sure foundation. Thither we have come collectively to receive God's word for His collective people and to do service to our God in connexion with His holy mountain. Hence, we must not refuse Him that speaketh. God, who is served by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, gives to His few and feeble people boldness to approach to Him. He will listen to us, if we hearken to Him; but if we refuse His words, our worship will be in vain. Heb12v25 Under the Old Covenant there was no way of escape open to those who refused Him that warned (divinely instructed, - "an oracular command given by the Deity") them on earth; much less is there an avenue of escape open for such as turn away or are turning away from Him that warneth from heaven. Heb12v26 Despite the seriousness and the responsibility of hearing and obeying God's voice, it is comforting in these days of remnant testimony to remember that the quotation in this verse is taken from Haggai, and is amongst the words of encouragement which that prophet spoke to the remnant at the time when the work of the building of God's house had ceased. God was with the remnant in their work as truly as He had been with the entire nation when they built the Tabernacle in the wilderness. His voice then shook the earth and He gave visible tokens of His power and presence, but there were no such evidences to the remnant which had returned from Babylon. Yet they were assured, that as God had spoken in the past and given proof thereof, and they were to abide in His spoken word, He would again speak, and both heaven and earth would tremble, and in that day the latter glory of the house of God would be greater than the former. In such words they were assured that their work in association with God's house would fill its place, and not an unimportant one, in the history of God's work amongst His people and amongst men, and would meet its due recompense. Heb12v27 What shall remain eventually, the material or the spiritual? the things that are seen or the things unseen? the things God has made in His natural creation or the things He has wrought in the souls of His people by the operation of His word and Spirit? that which is outward or that which is inward? The things which shall be shaken are heaven and earth. What cannot be shaken? - His word (which shakes the shaken things), and those that rest upon it as the sure foundation of their souls and all their work. As buildings shaken by an earthquake become dangerous and are better taken down and removed, so God will remove from His universe in due time all those things that are shaken and will etablish for ever the unshaken and unshakable. Heb12v28 The kingdom is unshaken, for God's throne is established for ever. Christ said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24.35; Revelation 20.11). In this kingdom - the kingdom of God - the word of God, the authority of His Christ, and our subjection to Him are the outstanding characteristics. No human teaching or authority can be allowed or tolerated. There is one Lord and one faith (the revealed will of God for His people) and one baptism. Should we not have grace or thankfulness, if we have reached and found a place in such a kingdom under the authority of our one and only Lord, Jesus Christ, to render service well pleasing to God with reverence and awe? Heb12v29 Our God is no less a great and terrible God in this day of grace than He was under the law. Those who fear Him who speaks in a "still small voice" need not fear the tempest, and the rending of the mountains and the rocks, the earthquake and the fire (1 Kings 19.11-13). The day of testing will come when each man's work will be tried (1 Corinthians 3.13-15), and all shall go save that which has been wrought in God (John 3.21). "He that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God." Heb13v1 Brotherly love had existed amongst those to whom the epistle was addressed, for they had ministered to the saints and still continued in this good work (chapter 6.10). They had also had compassion on them that were in bonds (chapter 10.34). In Chapter 10.24, they were exhorted to consider one another to provoke unto love and good works. This sweet brotherly affection was not to die and leave them to a cold, dead, formal Christianity. "In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another" (Romans 12.10). Heb13v2 "Given (or pursuing) to hospitality (love of strangers)" is one of the exhortations to the Roman saints (Romans 12.13). It is also one of the characteristic features of an overseer - "given to hospitality" (1 Timothy 3.2). Peter also exhorts; "using hospitality one to another without murmuring" (1 Peter 4.9). The Hebrews were to love the brethren and not to forget to love strangers and to show them hospitality, because some, such as Abraham, who entertained the three men who visited him (Genesis 18. 3), had entertained angels unawares. Bearing in mind that saints, who may be strangers to us, are children of God, we are honoured to entertain God's own children. Heb13v3 To be able to see ourselves in another's circumstances and to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us, will have a softening effect on our hearts. Where love is, the sorrows and sufferings of those you love become in measure your sorrows and sufferings. Thus those in bonds were to be remembered by those who were actualy free, as though they were bound with them. And those who were evil entreated and in distress were to be remembered in the light of the fact that similar distress could reach to those who though free were in the body. Heb13v4 Here we have exhortations to chastity. The honour of marriage was to be maintained among all. Whilst saints were called upon to judge and to excommunicate the fornicators, in 1 Corinthians 5, yet God Himself will judge fornicators and adulterers. Heb13v5 The manner of life or turn of mind of the Christian is that he should be free from the love of money. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6.10). The overseer is to be "no lover of money" (1 Timothy 3.3). We are to be content, satisfied or sufficed, with present things or circumstances, for some who have reached afer money, in the love of it, have been led astray from the faith and have been pierced through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6. 10). We must not, however, confuse contentment with indolence and slothfulness. "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Timothy 6.6). To such as are free from avarice the promise has peculiar sweetness; "for Himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee." Deuteronomy 31.6,8, and Joshua 1.5 contain similar words. This is one of the strongest and most comforting of God's promises in relation to what He is to His own in the trials of life. However hard and trying the circumstances may be, and He has brought His own through many difficulties, He will neither fail nor forsake His own; He has said so Himself. Heb13v6 If the Lord is with us we may each be of good courage and cheerfully give our reason - "the Lord is my Helper." What can man do if the Lord helps His own? Heb13v7 "Remember your leaders," the leaders who had at one time led them, and consequently ruled them; which spake, but are no longer speaking, to them the Word of God. Considering, contemplating or surveying, the issue of their life, conduct or manner of life, their behaviour or walk, they were to imitate their faith. Issue, ekbasis, is rendered in 1 Corinthians 10.13 "way of escape." The word may mean - "way out", "egress," and also "result," "termination. " Some have thought that "issue" means "result, "as to what had accrued from their faithful lives, and others "termination" as to how they left this scene, bringing their lives to a triumphant conclusion. Heb13v8 The faithful leaders had gone, but that did not mean that all good had gone with them. Jesus Christ is the same: He who supported their leaders yesterday, will support those that are left today, and He will be the same for ever. Jacob said to Joseph, "Behold I die: but God shall be with you" (Genesis 48.21). The God of the fathers will be the God of their sons. "LORD, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations," said Moses (Psalm 90.1). Jesus Christ the Shepherd and Comforter of His saints will be the same to His own during all the rolling centuries of passing generations. "Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this" (Ecclesiastes 7.10). Heb13v9 Ephesians 4.14 speaks of infants being tossed about with every wind of doctrine. Here the possiblty is contemplated of saints being carried out of the way or course by various and strange doctrines, teachings that they had formerly been unacquainted with. Their hearts were to be confirmed with grace not with meats. God's people in the past economy were never profited spiritually by meats. In this dispensation of grace it is words of grace that feed and stablish the hearts of God's people, not meats, and there must be no mixture of law and grace, ritualism and faith. "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall bring to nought both it and them" (1 Corinthians 6.13). Heb13v10 Those who served the tabernacle received their meat through the altar. We receive grace through our Altar, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who serve the tabernacle and have their portion from the altar (1 Corinthians 10.18) have no right to eat of our Altar. There must be no fusion of meats and grace, no amalgamation of service in connexion with the tabernacle and that of Christ, no confusion between their altar and our Altar (Christ), no mixture of Judaism and Christianity. They had the shadows, but we have the Substance. Heb13v11 Such beasts, whose blood was brought into the holy place, were the highest kind of sin offering. Their bodies were not eaten by the priests, but were burned outside the camp. This is the type of the Lord's sacrifice. He entered the holy place (or Holies) through His own blood (Hebrews 9.12), and cleansed the heavenly things by His sacrifice (Hebrews 9.23,24). Heb13v12 As the bodies of the highest kind of sin offering were burned without the camp, so Jesus suffered without the gate - outside Jerusalem - so that He might sanctify or set apart His people by His blood. Two things are indicted in verses 11 and 23, "the holy place" (or Holies) and "without the camp." This sanctification is not that of Hebrews 10.10,14 - "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ... By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified," which indicates a sanctification which is eternal and abiding. In Hebrews 13.12 not only is the blood-shedding necessary to this sanctification, but the place of His suffering is a vital consideration - "without the gate." Heb13v13 Note how in verse 12 it is the sanctifiction of "the people"; it is the collective sanctification of God's people that is in view. Unto the realization of this it is necessary that we obey the exhortation - "Let us go forth." It is not here that we are "set apart" by one act of faith in Christ, but a sanctification manifested in a continual going forth to Him. We see the state of the camp. Man's will has taken the place of God's will. Christ has been rejected; His claims have been set at naught, and He has been taken outside and crucified. This has been done by Jew and Gentile, Herod, Pontius Pilate and the people of Israel, and there has been no rescinding by the world of the decision of Golgotha. We are responsible to go forth unto Him, to identify ourselves with Him, and to bear His reproach, the odium which is associated with Him, and the place and manner of His death. If we are reproached "for the Name of Christ," then let us know that the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon us (1 Peter 4. 14). If we are to know the service of the Holies, we must go forth to Him outside the camp. The priest of old went into the Holies with the blood of the victim whose body was burned outside. Let us remember too, that "He led them out until they were over against Bethany" and, "He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven" (Luke 24.50,51). He went "in" for those whom He led "out. " Are we "out" here and "in" there, or do we wish to be "in" here and "out" there? We cannot be "in" in both. Some go "in" - into the city - too soon, as Jonathan did (1 Samuel 20.42); natural ties seemed too strong for him to remain outside the gate with David, but David, who was "out," went to the house of God, to the priests of Nob and there he ate of the holy bread from "the holy place" (1 Samuel 21.1-6), which no others ever did, save the priests of the house of Aaron. Heb13v14 As those who have gone out to Him we are pilgrims and strangers; have no continuing city. "We are but strangers here, Heaven is our home." We seek the city which is to come, the Bride, the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21). we "He that overcometh ... I will write upon him the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God" (Revelation 3.12). Heb13v15 "Let us go forth" precedes "let us offer up." Separation comes before service. He who is the leader of praise (Hebrews 2.12), through whom the sacrifice of praise is offered, was cast out. He is outside all sects and systems of men, outside the camp which is defiled by man's will usurping the place of God's will, and if we would offer the sacrifice of praise through Him we must be outside with Him. Continuous praise is contemplated here, not spasmodic. "Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth Me" (Psalm 50.23). The sacrifice of praise is the fruit of lips which make confession to His name. "The fruit of lips" is also spoken of in connexion with the preaching of the Gospel of peace. "I create the fruit of lips: Peace, peace, to him that is far off and to him that is near" (Isaiah 57.19; Ephesians 2.17). Heb13v16 The sacrifice of praise should not be disconnected from the sacrifice of material things, in doing good and having communion with others in respect of their needs. "Communicate" is koinonia, frequently rendered "fellowship." We have here in these verses 15 and 16 two kinds of sacrifice (and we speak suggestively), that which may answer to the Burnt offering, in the sacrifice of praise, which is something that is wholly for God - "we render as bullocks the offering of our lips" (Hosea 14.2) - and the Peace offering or fellowship offering in which all who were clean might share. The fat of the peace offering was burnt upon the burnt offering on the altar, so that God's portion in the peace offering was always connected with the burnt offering; even so here, the sacrifice of praise and the sacrifice of doing good in communicating to and having fellowship with the need of others are seen joined together. Heb13v17 "Remember (with a view to imitation) them that had," and "obey them that have the rule (your leaders) over you," are the injunctions of verses 7 and 17. Obey means "to be persuaded." Leaders rule by persuasion, not by lording it over their charges or allotted portions (1 Peter 5.3). The leaders go before and persuade others to follow by the word of God, which in some degree finds its answer in their lives. Saints are to submit to their leaders (or overseers). What great responsibility leaders have - "They watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account"! If they do not watch how shall they give account? How serious on the other hand it will be if saints refuse their watchful care and are rebellious against their rule! Overseers may give the account of their stewardship, either with joy or grief (groaning or lamentation). If it is given with grief then it will be unprofitable for the saints who have been under their care. Let each give cause for others to have joy in them, both now, and then at the judgement seat of Christ. God grant spiritual leaders or guides, and grant, too, a spiritual state amongst saints! Heb13v18 Here the writer joins others with himself - "Pray for us." This is characteristic of Paul to link others with himself (1 Thessalonians 5.25; 2 Thessalonians 3.1). Whatever may have been said against the writer and his fellows they had a good conscience and desired to maintain this toward men, as well as to Godward, in an honest life. Heb13v19 Here the writer drops into the personal note, "I exhort." He exhorts them again with added force to pray, that he, personally, might be restored to them the sooner. Heb13v20,21 The God of peace is frequently referred to in Paul's epistles. "The God of peace be with you all" (Romans 15.33). "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Romans 16.20). "For God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace" (1 Corinthians 14.33). "The God of love and peace shall be with you" (2 Corinthians 13.11). "The God peace shall be with you" (Philippians 4.9). "The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly" (1 Thessalonians 5. 23). "The Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in all ways" (2 Thessalonians 3.16). "This is the only place where our writer mentions the Resurrection ... that which lay between Golgotha and the throne of God, between the Cross and the heavenly sanctuary, the resurrection of Him who died as our sin offering." But for the resurrection of Christ chaos and darkness would have won a great victory; but He who made peace by the blood of His Cross has been raised by the God of peace, and now the Great Shepherd feeds His flock in green pastures, beside the still waters. Whatever disturbing elements may have been indicated in this epistle, these are possible of adjustment provided there is a turning to Him the Great Shepherd. The covenant was sealed by His blood, in (En) virtue of which He has been raised, its terms become living through His death, but they could not be put into operation till the Shepherd and mediator had been raised from the dead. Christ is to this dispensation what Moses was to the dispensation of law. The Lord calls Himself the Good Shepherd who laid down His life (John 10.11); the Great Shepherd was raised from the dead (Hebrews 13.20); and the Chief Shepherd is coming to reward the under shepherds of the flock (1 Peter 5.4). Though we have been made perfect by Christ's sacrifice (Hebrews 10. 14), yet we need to be made perfect in every good thing or work to do God's will. How imperfect we are in this respect! Heb13v22 Here we have a personal exhortation again, "I exhort." They were to bear or endure the sound words of exhortation and not be as those, of whom we read, who would not endure the sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4.3). As we view the epistle we say, "What an exhortation!" and what wealth is contained in what are described as "few words"! Every word is precious as the fine gold of the sanctuary. What an exaltation of Christ! and what an indicating of that which is due to God! yet throughout there is a pious restraint and wistful longing for the spiritual betterment of those to whom he wrote under the inspiration of the Spirit. Heb13v23 The writer would have them know that Timothy, who had been imprisoned, had been released from custody, and he anticipated his coming and hoped with Timothy to see those to whom he wrote. Heb13v24 "Salute all your leaders," not some of them merely. Not only were all the leaders to be saluted, but all the saints as well, the poor as well as the rich (James 1.9-11; 2.2-5); the less honourable as well as the more honourable (1 Corinthians 12.23) are to be saluted. "Hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons." "They of Italy salute you," that is "the saints from Italy," who were not now resident there. Heb13v25 This is the invariable Pauline salutation, "which," he says, "is the token in every epistle; so I write" (2 Thessalonians 3.17). John in Revelation (22.21) uses the same salutation, but in no other epistle, save Paul's, is this salutation found. Great difference of mind has existed from early days as to who wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, whether Paul, Apollos, Luke or some other, and it may remain a matter of disputation, but there can be no doubt of the divinely inspired nature of the epistle, and this is what counts after all has been said. We turn to this wonderful epistle to learn of the Lord's priesthood and His work in connexion with the heavenly sanctuary and also the service of the people of God in association therewith. It is indeed a precious inheritance to God's people and may we prize more and more its mind-illuminating contents. Amen. SECTION No.4 Notes on JAMES - I and II PETER I, II and III JOHN JUDE - REVELATION PREFACE This section is the last of Mr. Miller's writings on the New Testament Scriptures and, as previously stated, these notes have appeared in Bible Studies. They embody much study and many addresses which have delighted many audiences, who have felt refreshed by the ministry and by the exposition of many difficult parts of the Word. Since the days of his early manhood Mr. Miller has been a living example of the word to Timothy: "Give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching" (1 Timothy 4.13). In his later days he has not abated his energies in this respect and continues to find fresh gems of truth in the Scriptures so that many of his readers can truly say that they never saw things that way before. It is perhaps when old age is creeping upon men, and study becomes more arduous, that their ministry tends to be concentrated upon the middle term (exhortation) of Paul's advice to Timothy, but that is not so with Mr. Miller, who has endeavoured to keep a balance between the three terms, and neither to neglect the reading nor the teaching. There is a lesson in the rods laid up before the LORD, as detailed in Numbers 17, that the rod of Aaron "put forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and bare ripe almonds." The blessing of God is seen when it is no barren rod that comes from His presence, but something that shows present fruit, full of ripeness, and early promise of yet more to come, and hints of yet further blessing. The buds and the blossoms would not yield diverse fruit from the ripe almonds, but would reveal consistencies of teaching which would develop. At any rate these Notes are set forth that they might be received by students of the Word as a sincere and humble contribution to the exploration of the Scriptures. A.T. Doodson. NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES Jas1v1 It is not possible to say with certainty whether this is James the son of Alphaeus (Acts 1.13), called James the less, or James the Lord's brother (Galatians 1.19). See note on Jude 1. He describes himself as a servant, bondservant or slave, of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He addresses his epistle to the twelve tribes of or in the Dispersion. Those addressed were such of the twelve scattered tribes of Israel as had embraced the gospel, and not all Jews of the Dispersion, and those who had embraced the gospel were in the Fellowship of God's Son, as in Acts 2.42 and 1 Corinthians 1.9. It is clear from the address that James did not believe in what are called by some "the lost ten tribes." In his salutation he wished them joy. Jas1v2,3,4 We are to esteem it all joy when we fall into various temptations (Peirasmos, a trying, putting to the proof; this is not a bad word in itself, but it is frequently used of temptation or solicitation to sin, from the flesh, from Satan and the world.) By temptation there is a proving (Dokimion, "that by which anything is being tried"). Dokimos, a proving, is generally used in a good sense to reveal the excellence of what is proved, so that it may be approved. James says that the proof (Dokimion) of your faith worketh endurance. Peter also speaks of the proof of faith: "Though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold temptations, that the proof (Dokimion) of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, might be found unto praise and glory and honour at (in) the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1.6,7). The proving of faith through temptations may at the coming of the Lord be seen to have been unto God's glory and will in consequence be unto our glory. In the meantime it worketh endurance, which means literally, to remain under trial, to endure it. Paul says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10.13). The Lord taught His disciples to pray, "Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6.13). The Lord was Himself "led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil" (Matthew 4.1). James says, "Ye have heard of the patience (endurance) of Job" (5.11). Job said, "But He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23. 10). But Elihu said to him, "Would that Job were tried unto the end, because of his answering like wicked men" (Job 34.36). If we refuse to endure when temptations gather around us, we shall not be perfect and entire, for in the temptation God has something to teach us that we could not learn in any other way. Jas1v5 We have an apt illustration of this verse in the case of Solomon. When he was raised to be king over Israel, God told him to ask what He should give him, and it pleased God when he said, "Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this Thy people, that is so great?" Because he had not asked riches, honour, nor the life of his enemies, nor even long life, God gave him wisdom and knowledge such as none had before his time nor after. The wise instruction of his father bore fruit. Solomon said of his father's teaching, "I was a son unto my father ... and he taught me ... Get wisdom, get understanding; ... Wisdom is the principal thing; ... yea, with all thou hast gotten get understanding ... She shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her" (Proverbs 4.3-8). The value of wisdom in dealing with men and in dealing with things amongst God's remnant people cannot be over-estimated. Seeing that God has not chosen many who are wise after the flesh from among men (1 Corinthians 1.26-29), we, the foolish things of the world, should have a source of supply of wisdom available to us. Hence we are here told, that if any lack (Leipo, to be left or deserted) wisdom they are to ask of God, who giveth to all liberally, and He reproaches us not for our foolishness. Let young men and women ask wisdom from God in the beginning of their lives, that disaster may not overtake them in youth's early days. But let us all take knowledge from the end of Solomon, that wisdom alone will not preserve the life of those who have it. We need the keeping power of God. Jas1v6,7,8 Faith was characteristic of praying Enoch who walked with God. Those who pray must believe that God is and that He rewards them that seek after Him (Hebrews 11.5,6). Hence the persons who pray for wisdom must ask in faith. There must be no doubting, staggering or wavering. Abraham is an example of one who doubted not (Romans 4.20); "He wavered (same word as in James) not through unbelief." Having come to the decision to ask wisdom, it is to be done without wavering or hesitancy, but rather with assured trustfulness that what has been asked for will be given. The wavering doubter is as unstable as the surge of the sea which is driven by the wind and tossed, but a man of faith is not so moved. A doubleminded or two-souled man is unstable, not fixed, inconstant; such will receive nothing from the Lord. To what purpose would it be for the Lord to give wisdom to an unstable man? It would be much like the proverb about a beautiful woman who has no intelligence: "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, So is a fair woman which is without discretion" (Proverbs 11.22). Again, "Wisdom is too high for a fool" (Proverbs 24.7). Jas1v9,10,11 It has been the way of God from ancient times to raise up the lowly. Many scriptures testify to this. "He setteth up on high those that be low" (Job 5.11). Hannah in her prayer said, "The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, He also lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, to make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory" (1 Samuel 2.7,8; see also Psalm 113.7,8). Mary too struck the same note, in Luke 1.52. Thus it was among Christians in the same Fellowship, the poor were exalted and the rich made low, so that in divine things they might be sharers together in common. The greatness of man is not in what he has, but in what he is. The simile which James uses to force home his words to the rich is powerful, in the effect of the burning east wind from the desert on the grass of Palestine. It turned lush pastures to a land of brown stubble, and flowers which adorned the grass just wilted away. "So also," James said, "shall the rich man fade away in his goings." Jas1v12 Temptation here, as the following verses show, is from man's own lust which arises from the flesh. The crown of life is mentioned twice, here and in Revelation 2.10. In the latter place it was promised to those in the church in Smyrna who were faithful unto death in the temptation which they were enduring from the tribulation of their time. They were to have tribulation for ten days. Some were to be cast into prison. The crown of life is promised to those who endure temptation, either from within their own selves or from without, and those who endure temptation manifest in this way their love for the Lord. By enduring temptation saints are proved and approved. Jas1v13,14,15,16 It says, in Hebrews 4.15, "For we have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." The "all points" do not include the temptation of which James writes. The Lord was not tempted from lust and sin within as we are. He knew nothing of the lust of the flesh, for "the flesh," indicative of fallen human nature, had no place in His holy Manhood. There was no sin in Him, and He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5.21; 1 John 3. 5). He came in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8.3) - not in sinful flesh. His temptations therefore were all from without, from the devil and from the world (Matthew 4.11; John 16.33). No temptation from without was ever allowed to enter and alight upon and defile His holy humanity. He was ever holy, harmless (guileless), undefiled, separated from sinners (Hebrews 7.26). Nevertheless, the temptations which He suffered in His Manhood were real and terrible (Luke 22.28; Hebrews 2.18). His divine nature, He being of one substance with the Father, was above all temptation, for God cannot be tempted of evil things. God proves, but tempts no man with evil things. This is done by the devil who works upon human lust to bring forth sin. James says that when a man is tempted, he is drawn away or dragged out by his own lust, and enticed (Deleazo, to trap or catch with a bait). Then the lust conceives and gives birth to sin, and sin, when completed or fullgrown, brings forth death. Sin is a killer, its object, like a wild beast, is to kill the sinner who commits sin. "The foolish make a mock at guilt (or sin)" (Proverbs 14.9), little realizing its deadly character. We can no more safely play with sin than with a deadly serpent. Let us not be deceived, but kill the lust before it has brought forth its children. Jas1v17,18 Every good giving, or act of giving, and every perfect free gift, is from above (Anothen, see John 3.3,31; 19.11 etc.), coming down from the Father of lights. No doubt we have a contrast here between what is said about man and his lust and sin, in verses 12-15, and God, the Source of all good, who is without variation in His goodness. It may be that we have here a veiled allusion to the sun, as illustrating what is said of the Father of lights. The sun is the earth's source of light and heat, without whose abundant, changeless, life-giving rays, life on this earth would quickly becme impossible. Whatever change there is by turning, and whatever variation there may be, these are caused by the earth's relation to the sun and by its turning on its axis; these result in the changes of day and night, summer and winter, etc. Similarly, whatever changes there may be in our experiences towards God, the changes are ours, not His. We sing, "We change, He changes not." In these verses James gives us a picture of the meaning of the name Jehovah, who said of Himself by Malachi, "I Jehovah change not, therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed" (Malachi 3.6). It may be that the LORD used the name of Jacob in this verse to show His gracious dealings with a man who had many changes, as had also his sons. Jehovah was changeless in His goodness to them as we learn, for instance, from His giving the manna with unfailing regularity for forty years, though they on their part disobeyed, rebelled and lusted in the wilderness. As they did in the wilderness, so did they in all the years afterwards. The Lord said, "Your Father which is in heaven ... maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5.45). Paul said to the pagans of Lystra, that "the living God ... left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14.15,17). This good and unchangeable God has brought us forth by a new birth, as 1 Peter 1.23-25 also shows, by the word of truth, the living and incorruptible message of the gospel, in order to be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Here is a great honour which should make us humble and contrite before God, He having willed it in the counsels of eternity, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His earthly, human creatures. Jas1v19,20 Critics differ as to whether verse 19 should commence with "Ye know" or "So that," whether the word is Hoste or Histe. Whichever is the correct word, the following exhortations emerge from what James has written in the previous verse concerning the excellence of the goodness and changeless character of God. We cannot fail to see the wisdom in what is said. The flesh will be babbling, but a Christian man does not aspire to have a glib tongue. The quickness of the ear should ever come before the quickness of the tongue. Indeed the tongue, that restless evil, needs to be reined in like a horse (3.3). Paul says, "Study to be quiet" (1 Thessalonians 4. 11). It is a safe course to be a good listener. The tongue often leads people into trouble, the ear but seldom. "Slow to wrath" is a wise precaution. One of the qualities of an elder is "not soon angry." The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty" "The discretion of a man maketh him slow to anger" (Proverbs 16.32; 19.11). Wrath or anger is one of the things that the believer is to put away (Colossians 3.8). Jas1v21 We are to lay aside all filthiness, things squalid, sordid, dirty. Purity of conduct is required of the believer. The Lord said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5. 8). Timothy was to be an ensample of purity (1 Timothy 4.12). James also says, "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; purify your hearts, ye double minded" (4.8). We are also to lay aside abounding, superabundant wickedness (Kakia, malice, a word with always a bad meaning), and to receive with meekness or gentleness the implanted (Emphutos, from En, in, and Phuton, a plant) word. As the word of God brought salvation to us as sinners, so the word of God when received with meekness will save our souls (lives) for God. We as saints cannot be saved without it (Hebrews 2.3). Jas1v22,23,24 There may be many hearers of the word, but few doers. The causes that the doers are few many be very varied, love of self, of pleasure, present profit, friendship, etc., etc. Deluding (Paralogizomai, "to make a wrong computation, defraud by a false reckoning") means to deceive or delude. Those who hear the word should reckon aright, as to the effect in present loss now through obedience, and of future gain. There is profit and loss both ways. The Lord propounded this matter of profit and loss to His disciples, in Matthew 16.24-27. James says that a man who is a hearer and not a doer is like a man who, having seen himself in a mirror, forgets what he is like. We can see ourselves in the mirror of the word, both as to our perfection in Christ as God in grace has made us, and also as to what we are like through obedience or disobedience. The word of God gives a true reflection as we stand before it. Here we may learn what Paul says, in Hebrews 4. 13: "There is no creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Jas1v25 He that looketh (Parakupto, "to stoop down towards, bend forward, particularly for examination") into the perfect law of liberty, refers not to the law of Moses in the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life (2 Corinthians 3. 6): it is the spiritual meaning of the teaching of the old covenant. Note the contrast which Paul draws between the law and the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, in 1 Timothy 1.6-11. The gospel condemns all forms of wrongdoing, and at the same time provides a remedy for the wrongs. The law of liberty is liberty through doing what is right, not licence to do wrong. The saving grace of God instructs us, "to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world" (age) (Titus 2.11,12). The doer receives the blessing, not the forgetful hearer. Note Revelation 1.3, also Psalm 1.1-3. Jas1v26,27 The Greek word Threskeia (religion) is used only four times in the New Testament, in Acts 26.5; Colossians 2.18 (worshipping); James 1. 26,27; and Threskos (religious) once, in James 1.26. Paul calls Phariseeism religion. Dr. Young calls religion "outward religious service." Religion may be but an outward, hollow sham, a cloke to cover mere hypocrisy and wickedness. James describes a man with an unbridled tongue and a deceived heart as one who has a vain religion. But he shows what pure religion is, to care for the fatherless and widows, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Here is a saint in the robes of a saint, and not a hypocrite in stolen garments. Jas2v1 The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is "the Faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). It is, as we have said before, the body of doctrine containing the will of God for His New Testament people, as the law of Moses which was commanded in Horeb was for all Israel, God's Old Testament people (Malachi 4.4). Of old Israel ws commanded, "Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty" (Leviticus 19.15). "Ye shall not respect persons in judgement; ye shall hear the small and the great alike" (Deuteronomy 1.17). God said to the remnant through Malachi, ye "have had respect of persons in the law" (Malachi 2.9). Jas2v2,3,4 Here we have discrimination of the worst kind. David said, "Though the LORD be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly" (Psalm 138. 6). Again, the LORD blessed the man that respected not the proud (Psalm 40.4). One of the beautiful events in David's life was his treatment of Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, who was lame on both his feet. How he lifted up the grandson of Saul his persecutor from his poverty, and made him to sit at his table as one of his sons, will ever add lustre to the illustrious name of David, more than any of his many victories. We do well to lay to heart the words of Elihu, "Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any" (Job 36.5), and also Solomon's words, "He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that hath pity on the poor, happy is he" (Proverbs 14.21). Such words in their own Scriptures, and there are many others of like kind, would have saved the Jewish believers from acting as James outlined. Jas2v5,6,7 It is evident, I think, that God has a special liking for the poor or He would not have chosen so many of them. Scripture speaks in many places of His care for the poor. "The rich man's wealth is his strong city" (Proverbs 10.15), but the poor have no such defence, so their hope is the Lord, and in many cases the poor turn to Him for help, and such as trust in the Lord are never disappointed. "Riches profit not in the day of wrath" (Proverbs 11. 4), but the poor whose faith is in the Lord fear no day of wrath. The Lord spoke of the deceitfulness of riches, in Matthew 13.22. What kingdom is this that was promised to them that love God? There is the present kingdom of God, of which the Lord said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12.32). This was that highly favoured place of being under the rule of God under the lordship of Christ. This favoured place of being a people governed by God was once Israel's, but on their rejection of the Lord it was taken from them and given to another nation (Matthew 21.43), even to God's New Testament people who were gathered in churches of God, forming the house of God. It is evident that the kingdom of God is a present inheritance (1 Corinthians 6.9; Ephesians 5.5). Righteousness, doing what is right, according to God's revealed will, is an essential feature of the kingdom of God (Matthew 6.33; Romans 14.17, 18), apart from which collective service for God is impossible. But what is the kingdom of which James writes? Is it the present kingdom of God? It will be noticed that the words, "promised to them that love Him," are used in 1.12, where the allusion is to a future reward, to the receiving of the crown of life. I am inclined to the thought that the kingdom of verse 5 is a future kingdom, such as that of Luke 22.28-30, and also in the parable of Luke 19.11-27, when rewards will be given for faithful service. The time will come when the saints shall possess the kingdom (Daniel 7.18,22,27; see also Revelation 2.26). Who were the rich that oppressed the poor? These were not the rich among the saints (though it is not impossible for rich saints to follow this course), they are the rich as a class, as distinct from the poor as a class. It was not uncommon for the rich (1) to oppress the poor, (2) to drag them before the judgement-seats, and (3) to blaspheme the Lord's name. Jas2v8,9 What a powerful corrective to all forms of misconduct is the royal law, a kingly law which reigns over and sums up all laws of conduct of man toward his fellow-man! It is a law which says that man's care for himself is to be his care for others; "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." "Who is my neighbour?" was the question asked by the Pharisee, and in answer the Lord spoke the parable, commonly called that of the good Samaritan, by which He showed that a man's neighbour is his fellow-man whether rich or poor, sick or otherwise. Hence the royal law is the remedy of all ills between a man and his neighbour. It saves from the sin of having respect of persons, as Proverbs 14.21 also shows. Jas2v10,11 It does not require every link of the anchor chain to break for a ship to be at the mercy of wind and wave and to drift on the rocks. If one link breaks, it is as bad as if every link had broken. So is it with the law. Both murder and adultery were capital charges under Moses' law. If one of the statutes of the law was broken, then the law-breaker was a transgressor, and he was guilty. "The wages of sin is death," and death, even that of the Lord had to take place for the sinner to be forgiven. Jas2v12,13 The law of liberty is the law of Christ, who said, "For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you." Then the Lord spoke about taking the beam out of one's own eye before one seeks to remove the mote from our brother's eye (Matthew 7.1-5). Then we have the Lord's summing up of the teaching of the whole law and the prophets as to man's behaviour towards his fellows in one sentence: "All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7.12). It is truly a law of liberty, but if we act differently towards others than we act towards ourselves we are making a rod to break our own back; "for," says James, "judgement is without mercy to him that hath no mercy." See Matthew 18.21-35. Jas2v14 A lifeless faith which merely acquiesces to certain facts, but which does not reach the heart, a faith of the head but not of the heart, can save no one from any danger whatever, whether from hell or any other danger. Saving faith affects the whole being of the believer and he is changed in his attitude to God - "reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Romans 5.10). He is converted to God, and begins to move heavenward. Saving faith is a living, working faith in the heart. Thus we read of "your work of faith. " Faith comes before works, as love comes before labour, and hope before patience (1 Thessalonians 1.3). Here let it be noted in this verse in James, that it is faith being shown to men, not to God. God sees and knows in whose heart faith exists, he does not need to be shown it by the believer's works; but if we are to prove to men that we have faith, we can only show that by our works. Men cannot see into the heart where God can see. If we keep this before us in the consideration of this paragrpah in James, we shall see that there is no conflict between what Paul says in Romans about justification by faith, which is by God and before God, and justification by works which is before men. Jas2v15,16,17 The feelings of our common humanity would teach us how to act in such a case; how much more those who have faith in the living God, the supreme Provider for the need of every living thing! But if a brother should act towards a fellow-saint in such a manner as James says - "Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled," but not at my expense, where is faith in such behaviour? James does not say that it does not exist, but that it is dead. To be dead implies that life once existed. We do not speak of stones, bricks, iron, etc., being dead, but all forms of earthly life may die, and faith may die, it may be quite inert and lifeless in itself. To men it is only evident if it have works. The Ephesians showed their faith to all the saints (Ephesians 1.15). Philemon too showed it toward the saints. This was done by the work that they did for the saints. Jas2v18,19 Faith is an action of the heart which cannot be seen by men (Romans 10.9,10). We only know those in whom it is by their profession and actions. How otherwise can we prove to others that we have faith? Many may believe that God is one, but their belief is no better than the belief of demons, for it produces no change and good works in them. They no more love God than demons do, who believe and shudder with fear and horror. Jas2v20 James addresses an imaginary, vain, empty man, and says that faith without or apart from works is idle; the A.V. says that it is dead; it is unemployed, and consequently barren of good. Jas2v21,22,23 Here we have two incidents in Abraham's life contrasted, (1) that of Genesis 15, when he believed God that he would have a son and heir by whom he would have seed as numerous as the stars of heaven; and (2) that of Genesis 22, when he offered up that son, in whom his seed was called, on the altar on mount Moriah. The faith of Genesis 15 was fulfilled in the act of Genesis 22; faith first and works second. Abraham's faith in the darkness of the night when he stood alone with God was seen by no one but God, and faith is ever before God. We had not known that Abraham believed God had He not told us. But we can see his act on Moriah when he laid his son on the altar, and by his works was faith made perfect. He was justified by faith before God, and justified by works before men. Who can doubt the faith of Abraham in the light of the works of Abraham? He who had received the promise offered up his only begotten son in obedience to God, for he believed that God would, if he offered him as a burnt offering, raise his son from the dead. Such is a living faith that shows itself in its works. Thus Abraham was called the friend of God. Jas2v24 "Not only by faith" are words which show that a man is justified by faith. This agrees with what Paul says in many places in the epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians. For instance, we find him saying, "We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law," and again, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness" (Romans 3.28; 4.5). Besides, a man is justified by his works before men. Jas2v25,26 In Joshua 2.1 the two men whom Joshua sent to Jericho are called "spies," but here James calls them messengers (Angelos, "one sent, messenger, angel"). This is the word that is used of the seven messengers, one from each of the churches of Asia, in Revelation 1. 20; 2.1, etc. See also the following where Angelos is used of a human messenger: Matthew 11.10; Mark 1.2; Luke 7.24,27, 9.52. James views the two spies as messengers who brought to Rahab a message of salvation, and those men who brought their message to her, Rahab sent out another way. Thus her faith in the God of Israel (Joshua 2.9-11) wrought, as Abraham's did, with her works, and by her works was faith made perfect. She too was justified by works as well as by faith. She is amongst those envisaged in Isaiah 45.22: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." As the spirit cannot be separated from the body without death taking place, so faith cannot live if it is separated from works. Let us think a little on the worthies of faith in Hebrews 11 and of what they did through faith. James in nowise cancels out Paul, nor Paul James. Each describes the two sides of a circle, faith and works, faith before God and works before men. Jas3v1 Having dealt with the believer, that it is necessary for him to show to men his faith by his works, James now turns to the teacher. Paul asks, "Thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?" (Romans 2.21). James warns the teachers that a greater judgement awaits them. The principle is, that to whom much is given of the same much is required. It is said of the Lord,in Acts 1.1, that He began both to do and to teach. He was the only one who ever did all that He taught. Paul called upon the saints to imitate him as he imitated Christ. He also wrote to the Thessalonians and said, "Ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 1.6). Doing should come first and teaching afterward in all who would teach others. Jas3v2 How true it is that we stumble, stagger or fall, many times! If we remembered the Lord's words, "And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement" (Matthew 12.36), we would be more conservative with our words. The spoken word cannot be recalled. If a man can bridle (put reins on) his tongue, he is able to bridle his whole body also. Such is what James calls a perfect man, a man who is complete, deficient in nothing. Jas3v3,4 Here we have illustrations of bridling the tongue and in consequence the whole body, in the bridling of a horse and bringing the whole animal under control. This conception of control is strengthened by the use of the rudder in the steering of a ship. The ships in James's day were small things as compared with the giants that sail the oceans these days, yet the early principle of guiding a ship by the rudder is still followed and likely to be. The same principle is followed in the ships that sail across the sky as well as on the sea. This matter of control, and controlling oneself, is of very great importance. Jas3v5,6 How much evil has been caused in the world through masses of men being swayed by oratory of one of their fellows! We can think of the passions of men being aroused by this means, and of wars, world-wide conflagrations, breaking out in consequence. Men's boasting with their tongues is like the small fire kindling much wood. But the tongue may cause an unholy burning in smaller spheres than amongst the nations. A child might light a fire that it would take a fire brigade to put out. "The tongue is a fire," says James. It is the world of iniquity or unrighteousness set in our members. World (Kosmos) here does not mean order, a thing of beauty, an embellishment, but rather the conception of the present world, with weakness, sin and vice, etc., the aggregate of what the world contains (see 1 John 2.15,16). The tongue is here viewed as something utterly bad, and, of course, signifies the tongue that is not under the control of the Spirit of God. James says that the tongue defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course or wheel of nature. The word for wheel or course is Trochos which is derived from Trecho, to run. Trochos may describe a runner or a running course, anything round or circular, a wheel of any kind. The word nature is the Greek word Genesis, which has a variety of meanings, origin, source, beginning, birth, race, generation, etc. The course of nature may signify the course in which nature runs. It conveys to the mind that the tongue inflames or sets on fire that which is intensely vital in our being, and this that sets the course or wheel of nature on fire is itself set on fire by Gehenna. Whilst Hell (Hades) was the abode of all the dead in past dispensations, both of the righteous and the wicked, Gehenna is the place where the wicked only will be punished in eternal fire. James sees destruction as the fire which sets on fire the tongue, which is a fire which sets on fire the course of nature. It is altogether a fearful picture. The unbridled tongues of men reek with the very stench of the pit of destruction. But David describes his tongue as his glory (Psalm 30.12; 57.8). So also does Christ speak of His tongue being His glory, in Psalm 16.9. Jas3v7,8 James says that every species of creature, of beasts, birds, creeping things, and sea creatures, have been tamed (Damazo, subdued, or restrained within limits) by the human species. Such was the ordinance of God at the beginning, when he said, "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1.28). But in contrast to man's ability to control living things outside of himself, he is not able to control his own tongue, and to restrain it within proper limits. It is a restless evil. Man's other members may become weary, but not his tongue. It is as restless as the troubled sea, which continually casts up mire and dirt (Isaiah 57.20). The tongue is also full of deadly poison; millions have been poisoned by it. Our sole source of pure thought is the Scriptures; there is no other. Jas3v9,10,11,12 The R.V. gives "the Lord and Father," which is very unusual; the A. V. wording is, "God, even the Father." The contrasts drawn by James are easily understood, that out of the same mouth should not proceed blessing and cursing, even as from the same hole or opening do not pour sweet and bitter waters, or waters salt and sweet. So also men do not gather olives from a fig tree, or figs from vines. Each tree is true to its nature, but often believers are not true to their new nature, the old man is often heard speaking by the believer's tongue. Such things ought not so to be. Jas3v13,14 After the many illustrations he has used James comes to grips with their application to assembly life. He addresses the wise and understanding among God's gathered people, that they are to show by their good life (Anastrepho, moving up and down, conduct, mode of life, frequently rendered conversation in A.V.) their works in meekness of wisdom. But if there is bitter jealousy (Zelos, this word may have a good and a bad meaning according to the context in which it is found, it may mean strong affection or zeal, and also envy, jealousy) and faction (Eritheia, this word unlike the former has no good side in the Scriptures, it is the demon of strife, it means "to do anything for gain or ambition," to contend or dispute) in the heart, James says that they are not to boast and lie against the truth. Jas3v15,16 This wisdom, that which is seen in jealousy and faction, is not heavenly, but earthly, sensual (Psuchikos, soulish, animal, "swayed by the affections and passions of human nature"), devilish (Daimoniodes, demoniacal, "pertaining to or proceeding from demons"). Where jealousy and faction are there is confusion or tumult, and every vile (Phaulos, refuse, worthless, evil, wicked) deed. Jas3v17,18 The wisdom from above is pure (chaste, modest, innocent), it is also without variance (impartial), and without hypocrisy (unfeigned, real, sincere). What excellent qualities the wisdom from above has! Here the behaviour of heaven is defined for men on the earth who are moving heaven-ward and hope to be there one day. The kingdom of God in its moral characteristics is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14.17). If we want peace we must first do what is right. "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever" (Isaiah 32.17). "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God" (Matthew 5.9). Jas4v1,2,3 These verses present a sorry picture of carnality. Wars and fightings are traced to the desire of these believers for physical pleasures and lust; "pleasures that war in your members." They were not abstaining from fleshly lusts which war against the soul (1 Peter 2.11). They lusted, they killed and coveted, but could not obtain. They fought and warred, but they had not. They either ceased to pray, or they prayed and asked amiss, and if they received aught, they spent it to gratify their lust for pleasure. One could hardly visualize a worse state than what is depicted here. Jas4v4,5 In John 14 to 16 and in 1 John 2.15-17, we have the world's attitude to the Christian and the Christian's attitude to the world clearly defined, and here James calls those who are friends of the world adulteresses, such as break their marriage vows, and form a lewd association. Often in the prophets the association of Israel with the nations and their gods is called adultery; Israel was frequently guilty of unlawful and lewd intercourse. Similary James views the believer's unlawful association with the world as adultery. The devil is the prince of this world (John 12.31; 14. 30), and the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4.4), and it is impossible to walk with God and with the world. It is serious, for the world's friendship is enmity with God, and to be a friend of the world makes a believer an enemy of God. The world is guilty of the rejection and crucifixion of the Lord, hence, if the believer would be faithful to his absent and coming Lord, he must treat the world as it treated his Master. We must not be like a soldier who deserts and joins himself to the camp of the enemy. The flesh in the believer is an ally of the world, hence the flesh must be crucified with the passions and lusts thereof. To the enemy within you cannot allow liberty of action to open the gate of the heart to the world and allow the world to walk in and pervert the affections and to turn the believer from minding heavenly things to minding earthly things. We know that the Spirit does not speak in vain to those who have ears to hear. "Spirit" in verse 5, though printed in both A.V. and R.V. "spirit", is undoubtedly the person of the Holy Spirit, and not a disposition of mind. Jas4v6 God gives greater grace, greater grace for greater need, for grace is given according to need (Hebrews 4.16). The words "the scripture" are in italics, and consequently are not in the Greek, "He saith," of the A.V. is correct. God resisteth or sets Himself against the proud (Huperephanos, Huper, above, and Phaino, to shine), such as would be conspicuous above or shine above all others. Such persons have no place with God. He giveth grace to the lowly, those who are not conspicuous. Such was His Son and the prophets and the apostles. Jas4v7,8 The saints were to be subject to God, but to stand against the devil, and if they resisted and repelled him, he would flee from them. Here is a word of encouragement both towards God and towards the devil. God said to Asa of old by Azariah, "If ye seek Him, He will be found of you" (2 Chronicles 15.2). Moses also said, "What great nation is there, that hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is whensoever we call upon Him?" (Deuteronomy 4.7, Mg.). Jeremiah said, "Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee" (Lamentations 3.57). As to the matter of cleansing our hands and purifying our hearts, David said, in Psalm 24.3,4, that those who would ascend the hill of the LORD and stand in His holy place must have clean hands and a pure heart. Asaph also said, "Surely God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart" (Psalm 73. 1). The Lord said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5.8). If we do God's work we must have clean hands, and if we think God's thoughts we must have pure hearts. To be double-minded means to be two-souled, and describes one who is fickle and inconstant. Jas4v9,10 Ecclesiastes 3.4 says that there is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. In the light of the condition of those of whom James writes, as shown in the former verses, it was a time to mourn and weep, and to afflict one's soul. Jeremiah had been called the weeping prophet, and well might he weep over the condition of God's remnant people prior to the Babylonian captivity. The LORD said, "Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein" (Jeremiah 6.16). Later Jeremiah said, "Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains; and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock is taken captive" (Jeremiah 13. 15-17). James calls for mourning and heaviness because of the condition of God's people in his day. If they humbled themselves in the Lord's sight then He would exalt them, but He could not exalt them as they were. Jas4v11,12 These words are like those of the Lord, in Matthew 7.1-5, when He said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Again He said, "Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful. And judge not, and ye shall not be judged: and condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: release, and ye shall be released: give, and it shall be given unto you" (Luke 6.36-38). It is well to remember the incident of Aaron and Miriam when they spoke against Moses (Numbers 12) in this matter of speaking against brethren. James says that he that speaks against his brother speaks against the law, a very serious matter, and he becomes not a doer of the law, but a judge. Paul said that it was a small matter with him to be judged of man's judgement or "man's day." He who judged him was the Lord, who would give a true judgement, having all the deep secrets of the human heart before Him. Whilst God's people are called to judge under the direction of elders, especially where there is sin in the camp, they are to cease judging one another. "He that despiseth his neighbour is void of wisdom" (Proverbs 11.12). Jas4v13,14 God's wisdom through Solomon gives guidance as to all our plans and projects: "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3.6). Both the uncertainty of earthly things, and of life itself, should make us in all things seek the leading of God's good Spirit. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8.14). The future of our pilgrimage is in God's hands, not our own. Human life is but a vapour, both in its uncertainty and in its brevity. David said at the end of his remarkable and turbulent life, "Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding" (1 Chronicles 29.15). Jas4v15,16,17 They were saying of their own volition that they would go here and there and trade and get gain (and have no losses), instead of seeking the Lord's will in their movements and enterprises. "If the Lord will" is not to be merely a saying with us, but implies a seeking and discerning what the Lord's will is in any of our purposes and movements. If we do not know what His will is, we do well to halt, as did Ezra at the river Ahava (Ezra 8.21), and to seek of God a right way. To embark on a self-chosen way would be as foolish as for a ship to put to sea without chart or compass. Their boasting and vauntings were evil in the sight of God. Ostentation and pomp have no place with God. If they knew what was good to do and did it not, then it was sin; this is true both to them to whom it was written and to us. It is a very corrective word. Jas5v1,2,3 Whilst the words of James may have a general application to the rich as a class, their primary application was to the rich among God's people, whom James addresses. Though it is not an evil for any to be rich among God's people, provided that they are rich in good works (1 Timothy 6.17,18), yet there is a danger of loving riches for their own sake. This is an evil and a danger. This was the evil James saw in the rich believers of his time. They were to weep and howl for their miseries were approaching, and would come upon them. How small a displacement of the balance of economic stability would leave many, who are esteemed rich, poor and without means of subsistence! James uses some very potent descriptions of the miseries which he saw coming. He said that their riches were putrified, and moths had destroyed the garments which they had stored. Moths do not eat the clothes that people wear, only those that are laid aside. Rust does not corrupt silver and gold in use. The sin and lust of Pharaoh of Egypt in the past was to have great store cities and to fill them as the result of the tears and sweat of his Israelite slaves. It is this evil, in which some have more than enough and many less than enough, which fills the earth with sin and misery. The whole of the teaching of the Scriptures is against this curse, and the Lord told His disciples where to lay up their treasures, where there are neither rust nor moths and where there are no thieves either. The Lord spoke powerfully of profit and loss, in Matthew 16.24-27: gain in the present, loss in the future; loss in the present, and gain in the future. Gold still glitters in the light of this world and drives some people mad, as it did Balaam of old, and Demas in the present dispensation, not to speak of Judas Iscariot. How paltry was the gain of each! Last days is a bad time to lay up treasures on earth. Jas5v4 Here we have the evil work of the rich of the former verses revealed. Instead of rendering to their servants "that which is just and equal" (Colossians 4.1), according to the command of Paul, they kept back the labourers' hire by fraud, and what was cast into the treasury of the rich fraudulently cried out against the unlawful possessors. It should have been in the needy hands of the labourers. Though the authorities of those days, perchance, paid little heed to such injustice, the cries of the reapers came into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. He will recompense, if men do not, and well may the unjust rich weep and howl in the light of God's just judgement. God is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. Jas5v5,6 Whilst others lived lives of semi-starvation by their proper wages being fraudulently kept back, the rich luxuriated in delicate living in pleasure. They nourished their hearts in a day of slaughter, for there are more ways of killing men than hitting them over the head with a bludgeon. It is not revealed who is referred to as the unresisting righteous one, who was condemned and killed, but the crime is laid by James at the door of the rich. It is not the Lord, Stephen or James, I judge, who is referred to, but some other tragedy connected, perhaps, with the fraudulent dealings of the rich with their workers. Jas5v7,8 The husbandman here is not the Lord, but he illustrates how the Lord waits, and that we too are to be patient, and to establish our hearts, for the Lord's coming is at hand. The husbandman waits till the fruit of the earth receives the early rain to cause the seed to sprout, and the latter rain to fill the ears of the corn. It has no promise or indication that there will be Pentecostal showers of blessing at the end of the dispensation as there were at the beginning. That is not the subject that is being dealt with in the paragraph. The subject is the longsuffering of saints in view of the soon-coming of the Lord. Jas5v9,10,11 It may be that in the words, "Murmur not ... one against another," which means to groan or sigh, we have a reference to Job and his three friends, who "when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was great" (Job 2.12,13). Is it any wonder that after such a silence Job opened his mouth and cursed the day in which he was born? (Job 3). Their words were no better than their weeping and silence, of which Job said, "To him that is ready to faint kindness should be shewed from his friend" (Job 6.14), and later he said, "Miserable comforters are ye all" (Job 16.2). Job said that were they in his state, "I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips should assuage your grief" (Job 16.5). They had only one idea and that was to condemn Job for his supposed wickedness which they thought was the cause of his great suffering. Some of the greatest saints have been the greatest sufferers. Suffering is not always to be traced to the sin of the sufferer. This is proved in Job's case. Those who suffer, the Lord pointed out, are not the greatest sinners (Luke 13.1-5). Let us learn the art of comforting the afflicted. Whilst we have the end of the Lord's dealings with few of His prophets, Moses, David and Elijah being exceptions, and we have none of the end of the Lord's dealings with the apostles, except James, we have the end of the LORD; that is, the end of the LORD's dealings with Job. God gave to him twice as much as he had before, and an equal number of sons and daughters to whose upon whom the house fell, proving that the LORD is full of pity and merciful. In Job we have an example of patience in suffering, an example worthy of following. Jas5v12 The command of the LORD, in Leviticus 19.12, was, "Ye shall not swear by My name falsely, so that thou profane the name of thy God. " There has been difference of mind about swearing, as to Matthew 5.33-37, and in the verse above; some holding that what was before the Lord and James was men swearing lightly by this and that, and has nothing to do with a person taking the oath before a court or tribunal, or swearing fealty to any king or government. Clearly there was no ban on swearing under the law. The swearing, in Leviticus 19.12, is in connexion with not stealing or dealing falsely with one another. Then in Numbers 30.2, when a man swore an oath and bound himself, he was not to break his word, but to do according to what he had said. Again in Deuteronomy 23.21,22, it was sin for any one to vow and not to perform the vow, but if there was no vow it was not sin. The Lord cancels all swearing, as under the law, for His disciples by His word, "Swear not at all." The Christian's word is his bond, and anything beyond, "Yea, yea; Nay, nay," is of the evil one. Whilst it may be argued that what is taught in these two passages has no primary application to the taking of the oath in a court of law, etc., yet I am of the opinion that the Lord's words, "Swear not at all," contain a guiding principle even to an oath in a court of law. We are not to swear lest we fall under judgement in not fully performing what we say. There is in Britain provision whereby a person may affirm instead of taking the oath. Jas5v13 Paul and Silas, in the prison in Philippi with lacerated backs and feet in the stocks, first prayed in their suffering, and later, in the upsurge of spiritual joy, they sang praises to God, and the prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16.25). If suffering saints pray long and fervently, they too may sing praises. God does not ask praise from a heavy heart, most birds do not sing in the winter; but to the afflicted He can and does give joy. Of the Thessalonians it is said, that they "received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 1.6). Jas5v14,15 Five things in this passage appear on the surface, (1) the sick man, (2) the church, (3) the elders of the church, (4) the prayer of faith, (5) the anointing with oil. There is one thing that does not appear on first reading, and that is, perhaps, the most important of all, the knowledge of the Lord's will, namely whether it is the Lord's will that this saint should be healed or not. For elders to go and pray over a sick saint and anount him with oil, professedy in the name of the Lord, not knowing that it is the Lord's will to heal the person, is to act blindly. It is no prayer of faith at all. No wonder many who have acted blindly in their praying and anointing have failed in their supposed curing, and have blandly laid the blame on the sick person; a shameful thing to do. The blame lay with the would-be miracle workers. Shame on those who pretend to carry out James 5.14,15, and blame the sick person for their failure! It is such as carry out the praying and anointing who are the failures. It is quite erroneous for any one to say that the healing of James 5.14 is not miraculous healing. Anointing with oil is twice mentioned in the New Testament, in Mark 6.13, and James 5.14. The first was the work of the twelve apostles, who were sent out by the Lord with power to heal the sick and to cast out demons. "And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils (demons), and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them." No one can deny that the events recorded in these verses were miracles. The saving or raising up of the sick in James is also miraculous. It is not that the sick man, in James, felt a little better after being anointed and prayed over, and little worse the next day, and better the following, and so on, oscillating between better and worse. It might be that because he has been anointed he adopts auto-suggestion, and seeks to convince himself by saying, "I am getting better and better and better." It has been well said that you may have a miracle, or no miracle, but you cannot have half a miracle. Miracles of healing and casting out of demons were wrought by the Lord in which He proved to men His Deity, and the Lord's disciples were given power by Him to prove the divine character of their message (John 10.36-38; 14.10,11; 15.22), and when the Lord returned to heaven the working of miracles continued to prove the truth of the great salvation; "God also being witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts (distributions) of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will" (Hebrews 2.4). Many claim miraculous powers today whose doctrines are unscriptural and Satanic, communities of people whose doctrines differ entirely from one another. Is God, who is One and whose doctrine is one, putting His seal on all those who claim to be able to perform cures? It simply cannot be. God cannot deny the unity of His own Being and the unity of His revealed will as given in the Scriptures. What church is referred to in James 5.14? It cannot be the Church which is Christ's Body (Ephesians 1.22,23), which the Lord called "My Church" (Matthew 16.18), against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. That Church never meets and it has no elders. The most of its members are in heaven. The church James mentioned was one of the churches of God (1 Corinthians 1.2; 11.16; 1 Thessalonians 2.14; 2 Thessalonians 1.4, etc.), of which there were many in the days of the apostles. Miracles were not performed because of the godliness of the apostles, consequently the power to work miracles was not lost through the ungodliness of the men who followed the apostles. Hear the words of Peter, "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this man? or why fasten ye your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him to walk?" The power which healed the lame man was the power of the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 3.6,7,16). James 5.14,15 belongs to a miraculous period at the beginning of this dispensation, and such as mimic the miracles of those days will receive a mimic's reward. Does God hear prayer for the sick? We emphatically believe He does, and He has in our experience healed the sick in answer to prayer. According to the wisdom which God has given us, we use the natural means of healing and seek God's blessing thereupon. Careful nursing has often been richly blessed of God. God has often been pleased to use the simple means used to the recovery of the sick. Even Paul, a great miracle-worker, wrote to Timothy to use a little wine for his stomach's sake and his often infirmities (1 Timothy 5.23); this was wine used medicinally, as we may use medicinal preparations. Till men are given that knowledge that they know that it is God's will to raise a sick person up, they will be wise to leave the oil bottle at home, when they go to visit the sick and to pray for them. If, in the time of James, sin was the cause of the sickness, then the sin would be forgiven. In this way both soul and body would then be brought into a state of well-being. Jas5v16,17,18 Verse 16 does not teach us that sins, such as in 1 John 1, are to be confessed one to another, the intimate things which occur in the lives of believers which have to do with their communion with God. The sins that have to be confessed to one another are such faults and offences which have been committed by saints between themselves, which have affected communion between themselves, and, in consequence, their communion with God. These should be confessed to one another and prayer made for each other. And where sickness has been in consequence of these sins, through confession and prayer the sick person will be healed. Then we are told of the effectiveness of prayer of a person who is righteous and right with God. Elijah is held up as an example as showing what is meant by the prayer of faith. Could any sincere and righteous Israelite have prayed for God to send no rain on the land, and then again for Him to send rain, and God would have hearkened to him? We judge not. What are we to learn from Elijah's prayer? It is this, that we must first learn what the will of God is, and then to pray according to His will (1 John 3.19-22; 4.14,15). Elijah the prophet was one who claimed to stand before God (1 Kings 17.1), but he was not at liberty to pray against Israel, because he thought that they should be punished for their wrong doing (1 Kings 19.9,10, 13,14; Romans 11.2,3). His prayers had to be according to the will of God. Hence it was that God revealed to himn that there would not be dew or rain for years upon Israel, and he prayed for the fulfilment of God's word. Then God revealed to him His will as to sending rain at the end of three years and a half of drought, and He again prayed for the fulfilment of God's word. We see him in prayer on Carmel, bowed down upon the earth, with his face between his knees. The rain came according to the word of the LORD and Elijah's prayer. It is quite possible by not knowing God's will that we ask amiss (James 4.3). Elijah's prayer was the prayer of faith, prayer as the result of divine revelation, for where there has been no revelation there can be no faith. Jas5v19,20 It is better to read the passage - "If any among you is seduced from the truth, and one convert him"; this is a most profitable and desirable work. What is said here about recovering the erring is like what is said in 1 John 5.16: "If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for them that sin not unto death." If a sinning brother goes on in his way of error, then death, spiritual death, will be the result, but if he is converted by someone then he will be saved from death, and a multitude of sins which would have been committed will be covered or concealed (Kalupto, to hide, conceal, or to prevent, but not to cover in the sense of atone for). NOTES ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER Peter, James and Paul wrote epistles to the same people, to the saints of the Dispersion (James 1.1; 1 Peter 1.1; 2 Peter 3.15). The Dispersion was the dispersed Jews who lived in Gentile lands. The only epistle of Paul which answers to what Peter said is that of the Hebrews, and we are of the opinion, despite what some modern writers have written to the contrary, that Paul was the writer of the Hebrews. 1Pet1v1,2 Peter writes as an apostle. Those to whom he writes are the elect in Pontus, Galatia, etc. The elect are viewed as sojourning on earth, a pilgrim people, like the children of Israel in their journey through the wilderness. This is different from the view of election in Ephesians 1.4, where the saints are viewed as chosen in Christ before there was any earth. "He chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world"; and as chosen ones we were blessed with every spiritiual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. In Ephesians we are taught to look away from earth to the heavenlies in Christ, the place of our blessings and election, but in 1 Peter we look to the earth and see a chosen people wending their way as pilgrims through a strange and foreign land to their inheritance above. These elect in 1 Peter were sojourners in a double sense, they were Jewish people sojourning among the Gentiles, away from their own land, but they were also "sojourners and pilgrims" (chapter 2.11) in the higher sense; they were pilgrims on earth going on to their heavenly country. Like Abraham, they desired "a better country, that is, a heavenly" (Hebrews 11.16). The five places Minor, which is churches of God planted by Paul mentioned, Pontus, etc., were Roman provinces in Asia now called Turkey. In these provinces there were in various cities, certain of which we know were and his fellow-workers. These elect sojourners were elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Of old, God chose the seed of Abraham, His friend, and we can see how in His foreknowledge He made provision so that His purposes might be fulfilled. We point out but one thing in this connexion, the choice of the sons of Joseph, according to God's foreknowledge of future events, who were given a place among the sons of Jacob as though they had been Jacob's own sons (Genesis 48.5,6). This was because the day would come when Levi would be given the place of the firstborn sons of Israel because of the idolatry of the latter in the matter of the golden calf (Exodus 32.26-29; Numbers 3.44-51). In this election of 1 Peter 1 we are to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1.10), but in that of Ephesians 1, which is coupled with foreordination, we cannot make it more sure (Ephesians 1.5). What is said in Ephesians 1 is similar to what is recorded in Romans 8.30: "whom He foreordained, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified." This foreordination, which is connected with justification and glory, cannot be made more sure, but in service, during the days of our sojourning on earth, we are to make our election sure. Election in 1 Peter is "unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." This takes us back to Sinai, to the time when Israel became the people of God, to which they had previously been chosen. The sprinkling of the blood of the covenant at Sinai should not be confused with the blood of the passover which was put upon the portals of the doors of the homes of the Israelites in Egypt. Two very different lessons are to be learned from the blood in each case. It was when Moses "took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people", and they said, "All that the LORD hath spoken will we do, and be obedient," that Moses took the blood of the covenant, and sprinkled it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words" (Exodus 24.7, 8). No obedience, save what was involved in the killing of the passover, applying the blood, and eating the passover lamb in preparation for their journey, was required of Israel in Egypt, but it was quite different in regard to the blood of the covenant; the covenant required continual obedience on the part of Israel. It is even so in regard to the obedience and sprinkling of the blood in 1 Peter 1.2. There is a great difference between obedience to the Faith (Acts 6.7), and the obedience of faith (Romans 1.5; 16.26). To the gospel the believing sinner renders the obedience of faith; he is not allowed to do more than believe, and hence he is saved and justified by faith. But when he is justified, then he has to be obedient to the Faith in all its commandments, the Faith being the revealed will of God for His people in this day, as the law was for Israel in the past. In the past the covenant was the law, and the law was the testimony; it was the ten commandments written on the tables of stone which were placed in the ark in the Holy of Holies. Peter salutes this elect, sanctified, obedient, blood-sprinkled people with the words "Grace to you and peace be multiplied." Even such as Nebuchadnezzar wrote of peace being multiplied (Daniel 4.1), and of Messiah's kingdom it is written "Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end" (Isaiah 9.7). 1Pet1v3,4 Peter begins this paragraph with an ascription of praise to God the Father, whom He calls the God (this implies the manhood of Christ, who as Man was an obedient worshipper) and Father (this implies the Deity of Christ, who is the only begotten Son of the Father) of our Lord Jesus Christ. He according to His great (not Megas, great, but Polus, "great in magnitude or quantity, much") mercy begat us again unto a living hope, and that living hope springs from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus were in a disconsolate and hopeless state, for to them the Lord was dead. They said, "We hoped that it was He which should redeem Israel," but their hope blazed up afresh when He was known of them in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24.35). "The Lord is risen indeed" is the hope of the believer, and to such a hope he is begotten again. The A.V. uses the Old English word "lively." At times this hope, though it is alive in the believer, is not "lively"; it is a fact which does not quicken his pulse, brighten his eyes, raise his head. He is more like those who followed the body of the Lord to Joseph's new tomb, than like those who walked out with Him in resurrection to the slopes of Olivet, when He went back to heaven. hopelessness. We have been begotten again to a hope, not to We have also been begotten again to an inheritance, for since we are children of God with the Spirit-taught words, "Abba, Father," upon our lips, we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8. 15-17). Ours is an incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance. There are no death duties here to reduce a noble inheritance to what is but a faded memory of fabulous fortunes. The inheritance which is ours is in heaven, where there is neither illegal theft, nor legal appropriation. The inheritance does not fade away till its wealth and glory are gone. Neither the corrupting hand of sin nor the defilements of earth can affect it; it is reserved, kept for us against our arrival in heaven. One day we shall claim our own unto which we have been born again. The inheritance is not something we have laboured to attain, but it comes to us through the new birth. 1Pet1v5 Guarded means that we are guarded as with a military guard. The danger of these pilgrim-heirs was great as they made their way through what was truly "a waste, howling wilderness." Israel's wilderness was a "land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent" (Isaiah 30. 6); it was the Negeb (the South) of Israel's wanderings. The power of God guarded His people in the past and the power of God is the guard of His people now. Thus we have a reserved inheritance for a guarded people. We are guarded through faith, for we must not stray from the path marked out for us in the Scriptures, for if we stray to the right and left, we may fall a prey to the devil, who, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (chapter 5.8). "We walk by faith" (2 Corinthians 5.7) should follow being saved by faith. We have been saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2.8); we are being saved daily by working out our own salvation through God working within us (Philippians 2.13); and there is salvation yet further, which is nearer to us than when we believed (Romans 13.11), and which is ready to be revealed in the last time; this is at the Lord's coming again. 1Pet1v6,7 "Greatly rejoice," the word translated is Agalliao, which means "to leap for joy, exult." This is what is called "the rapture" by some teachers of the word. On the one hand, we are "transported with desire" at the thought of being saved completely from the world and its corruptions; on the other, we may be put to grief by manifold temptations, if there should be need for this. "But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10.13). "With the temptation" (with, Sun, together with), shows that the temptation and the escape, the issue or way out, are made together. Often, perchance, we are so grieved with the temptation that we do not wait on God to reveal the way out, which will surely come if we wait for it with patience. The way of escape came for Job after his weary days and nights of temptation. It came also for David, for Joseph, and for many others. Why should there need to be temptations? The answer is, they are a test of faith. God has had great pleasure in displaying the faith of His saints. Think in particular of faith's "picture gallery" in Hebrews 11. How frequently we have gone round and viewed the characters of those faithful men and women, as the Spirit of God has painted them! That is a display in miniature of what will yet be, which is sufficient to encourage present sufferers to imitate their faith. But wjat will it be when at the revelation of Jesus Christ the proof of the faith of saints will be exhibited, a proof so precious that gold could not buy it, which will be found unto praise, glory and honour? The revelation of Jesus Christ here is not His revelation to the world in flaming fire, as in 2 Thessalonians 1.7,8, etc. The different words used in connexion with the Lord's coming again should be studied. The word Parousia, "coming," or more correctly "presence," is used both in connexion with the Lord's coming to the air for His saints (1 Thessalonians 4. 15) and His coming to earth as the Son of Man (Matthew 24.27). Phaneroo, to be manifested or appear, refers to Christ at His first coming (Hebrews 9.26; 1 John 1.2, 3.5-8) and to His coming again for His saints (1 Peter 5.4; 1 John 2.28, 3.2. Epiphaneia, appearing or manifestation, refers to the Lord's first coming (2 Timothy 1.10; Titus 2.11), to His coming for His saints (Titus 2.13, "the blessed hope and appearing of the glory"), and to His coming to earth (1 Timothy 6.14; 2 Timothy 4.1). Apokalupsis, uncovering, revelation or appearing, refers to His being revealed to His saints at His coming for them (1 Corinthians 1.7; 1 Peter 4.13; 1 Peter 1.5,13; revelation also applies to the Lord's coming in judgement to earth (2 Thessalonians 1.7). 1Pet1v8,9 We believe in One whom we have not seen (John 20.29), and we also love Him whom we have not seen. Peter is careful to use "ye" and not "we," for he had been privileged to see the Lord daily. Though we see Him not, yet believing (faith makes things more real to the believer than sight, for faith implies seeing persons and things as God sees them), we rejoice greatly (Agalliao, "leap for joy," the same word as in verse 6) with joy unspeakable, with a joy which cannot be told out, and which human words cannot express. Peter thinks of saints leaping for joy, their whole being exulting, something like David when he danced before the LORD at the bringing up of the ark to Zion. Doxazo (full of glory) means to be glorified or such as are glorified; it is a present experience like being changed from glory unto glory, as from the Lord the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3.18). We are believing ones now; we shall be receiving ones shortly, for we shall receive the end of our faith. This faith which applies to the present circumstances of life (though faith, hope, love, we judge, shall never cease) shall reach its end or issue, which is the salvation of our souls or selves at the Lord's coming. 1Pet1v10,11 Salvation will not be completely effected until we receive the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls or selves. As has often been pointed out, there is (1) salvation once for all from sin's penalty (Ephesians 2.5,8; Titus 3.5), (2) salvation daily from sin's power, effected by the work of God within us and by our own work and the ministry of others (Philippians 2.12,13; 1 Timothy 4. 16), (3) salvation from the defiling presence of sin when we fall asleep in Christ (1 Corinthians 15.18) or when the Lord comes (Romans 13.11). God's saving grace has appeared, by which we are already saved (Titus 2.11), but there is yet grace which is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ when He comes for His saints (1 Peter 1.13). Two words are used, of somewhat similar meaning, of the exercise of the prophets of the Old Testament, they sought out, they set themselves to seek out concerning this salvation of which they wrote, and they also traced out, investigated, scrutinized their own writings and they did so diligently. A prophet not only searched out the matter in is own writings, but he searched the writings of other prophets. Daniel read the prophecy of Jeremiah, and Zechariah referred to what the former prophets had written. What was the cause of their deep and painstaking interest? It was because the Spirit of Christ which was in them testified beforehand the sufferings of (Eis, unto, belonging to) Christ, and the glories that should follow them. What would be the time and what would be the manner of the time of the sufferings of Christ? How evil would be those days, and the people thereof, when men would cause the Messiah, the very Son of God, to suffer! They searched out also the days of the glories of Messiah; these were to follow Messiah's sufferings. Such are still the cause of much diligent searching of the Scriptures on the part of God's saints. Here are mines where they may dig riches untold. 1Pet1v12 What had been covered was revealed to the prophets, but they did not minister the things to themselves, but they ministered in their prophecies things which had their application to those who would have the gospel preached to them. Such are the ways of God who uses some to minister for the good of others. The spirit of this is found in Paul's resignation to the divine will to serve for the blessing and spiritual progress of others; "Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all" (Philippians 2.17). The fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies in the Lord's days and afterwards is referred to by Him in the words, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not" (Matthew 13.16,17). In the comparative gloom of the times of the prophets, as compared with the noon-day light which resulted from the coming of the Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the holy men of old sought out and searched out concerning the day of grace which lay ahead of them. What a day of the fulness of divine revelation there is in our time! We have the full revelation of God in the Scriptures to which God will add no more. When the Lord comes He will speak in Person. The Holy Spirit is the One who empowers the preacher of the gospel, even as the Lord said, "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses" (Acts 1.8). The preaching was "by," or, rather, "in" the Holy Spirit. The following words show the interest of heaven in the work of God on earth: "which things angels desire to look into." "To look" (Parakupto) means "to stoop down towards, bend forwards, particularly for examination." How wonderful is this conception of the angels bending down and gazing upon the suffering Saviour and examining the glorious results of His sufferings in that salvation which is bound up with His sufferings and glories! 1Pet1v13 The grace of God is manifold, that is, it is variegated (1 Peter 4. 10). There is grace for every need and every time of need. Then there is grace to be brought unto us at the Lord's coming for His saints. The revelation of Jesus Christ here is not His revelation to the world, when every eye shall see Him, but His revelation to His own. We have not to allow our minds to go loose and to be occupied with all manner of unworthy objects, but to set our hope perfectly on the Lord's coming, that great crowning act of grace on His part towards His unworthy people. If we have our hope set on Him we shall be purifying ourselves even as He is pure (1 John 3.2, 3). 1Pet1v14,15,16 The children of God are to be children of obedience. They are not to fashion themselves (Suschematizo): the Greek word signifies that the outward appearance or likeness bears no relationship to the nature which is within. Scheme, "fashion," has a vastly different meaning from Morphe, "form," which signifies the external form of the inward nature or essence, "the utterance of the inner life." We, who have a new nature by the new birth, are not to fashion ourselves according to the present evil age (Romans 12.2), but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, which is similar in meaning to Peter's exhortation here, not to fashion ourselves according to our former lusts in the time of our ignorance. In contrast, we are to be holy as God who called us is holy and that in all manner or mode of life, conduct, deportment. Peter strengthens his exhortation by a quotation from Leviticus 11.44, in which God commanded His people to keep themselves from everything unclean. Then it was physical cleanness and holiness, now it is moral and spiritual holiness. We are to be separate and to touch no unclean thing and to be perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 6.14-7.1). 1Pet1v17 God loves all His children equally, and in the matter of the judgement of their works there are no preferences for the one more than the other. But the faithful or unfaithful work of saints will make a difference both here and hereafter. It is in the hands of saints themselves whether they, through their works, will be commended or condemned. God cannot be blamed for the result, for He judges the work of His saints without respect of persons. How proper and how just are His ways! Hence we are to pass our earthly days in holy fear, not in dread of punishment, but in fear lest our actions should displease our God. 1Pet1v18,19 Peter has before him Leviticus 11.44, in which the people of Israel were commanded to be holy, because God brought them forth from the land of Egypt to be their God. Peter writes of God's people in his day as being redeemed also, not by earthy precious metal, corruptible riches, but with precious blood, even the blood of Christ, from their vain manner of life handed down from their fathers, a life of ritualistic observance in which they were in bondage to the ceremonial law's requirements (Galatians 4.3,8-10,24, 25, 5.1. Of old, God's people, Israel, were in bondage to Pharaoh, from which God redeemed them by power and by the blood of the paschal lamb. Pharaoh's bondage was a vain, empty life, so also was the bondage of the law; it was a weary round of ceremonials for such as were not men of faith. Faith saw beyond the shadow to the substance, which was Christ (Colossians 2.16,17), who is without blemish and without spot, therefore the paschal lamb had to be so too (Exodus 12.5). See 2 Peter 2.13, where the pleasure-lovers are described as spots and blemishes, persons who were a disgrace to Christian society. There is neither blemish nor spot on the Lord's behaviour. He is "holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners" (Hebrews 7.26). 1Pet1v20,21 Christ, the incarnate Son of God, was foreknown before the foundation of the world; saints, who are members of the Church which is His Body, were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Note that others, not of this dispensation of grace, had their names written in the book of life from the foundation of the world (Revelation 17.8, 13.8; Matthew 25.34. The mystery of the wisdom of God is Christ who was crucified, who was foreordained before the ages unto our glory (1 Corinthians 2.7,8). None of the rulers of this world knew of this hidden wisdom, or they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. He who was foreknown was manifested at the end of the times for our sakes. He was manifested that we might enjoy fellowship with the Father and with the Son and with one another (1 John 1.1-4), and to take away sins (1 John 3.5; Hebrews 9.26), and to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3.8). It is through Christ that we are believers in God, not by the visible things of the creation which declare God's eternal power and divinity (Romans 1.20), nor yet by the fact that He spoke to Moses and Israel out of the midst of blazing Sinai when He gave to them the law, but through the Man Christ Jesus we are believers in God. The words and miracles of His life were proved to be divine, if proof were needed, by His resurrection from the dead, for God glorified His holy Servant Jesus (Acts 3.13-15). Through this incarnate, crucified and risen Christ, the believer's faith and hope in God are firmly fixed. 1Pet1v22 Purified (Hagnizo) means "to live like one under a vow of abstinence, as the Nazirites, to purify in a moral sense." Obedience to the truth brings us, not into a state of bondage, but into one of glorious liberty in which the heart is free and the conscience is pure. This purity, resulting from obedience to the truth, has for its object unfeigned love of the brethren. "Unfeigned" means "without hypocrisy," not to appear to be what we are not, for there is nothing so fulsome as insincere love, if such love can exist. We are to love one another from the heart fervently. Though the R.V. leaves out "pure" (with a pure heart, A. V.) and certain textual critics leave out Katharos (pure) from the Greek Text, yet purity of heart is undoubtedly involved in loving with the heart fervently, which means intensely, earnestly. 1Pet1v23,24,25 God's elect had been both redeemed by the precious blood of Christ (verse 19), and born again. The new (Anothen, again, anew, or from above: John 3.3) birth is by the incorruptible seed of the word of God, which word of God is the word (or saying) of the gospel which was preached. Peter uses the word Anagennao in this verse and verse 3. The preposition Ana signifies "again" in composition, as well as "back" and "up." Gennao means "to beget or generate." In Titus 3.5 the word rendered regeneration is Palingenesia, Palin, "again," and Geneses, "birth," the noun form of the verb Gennao, so that in effect the different words Paul and Peter use are similar in meaning. Both mean another or a second birth, a birth again. The new birth is of water (the laver or washing with the word: Ephesians 5.26; Titus 3.5) and the Spirit ("renewing of the Holy Spirit": Titus 3.5). See John 3.3,5. It is by the incorruptible seed of the living word of God (1 Peter 1.23); it is by receiving Christ by faith in the gospel which is preached (John 1.12,13; 1 John 5.1); for the new birth never was or could be effected by baptism in, or sprinkling of, literal water, either in the case of adults or infants. That which is born of the flesh (by corruptible seed) is flesh, a thing as corruptible as grass or the flowers of the grass. The life of the flesh of man is longer than that of grass, but the end is the same; it falls back again into the dust whence it came: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3.19). Thus comes to an end the material part of man (in saying this we are not oblivious of the fact of resurrection), but the soul, the individual, which is created by the breath of God, does not end thus. The soul, the person, which came into being by the breath of God (Genesis 2.7), needs to hear inspired or God-breathed Scripture which lives and abides, and that for ever. There is life in the word. This is the living message of the gospel which was preached unto those to whom Peter wrote, by which they were begotten again. 1Pet2v1,2 Here are evils which must be put away if the children of God are to grow. They are harmful evils and were, and still are, the habits of life of the old man, the corrupt nature which is still in our flesh. "Wickedness" (Kakia) signifies "worthlessness, cowardice, malice, malignity." It is derived from Chazo, "to retreat in battle." It describes a cowardly, dastardly action, something done with the object to cause harm to another and often done in a cowardly way. "Guile" (Dolos) means "fraud, deceit, insidious artifice, iniquity." It indicates the action of one who sets out to deceive others. Hypocrisies (Hupokrisis); we know what this means; the Pharisees of old were past-masters at the art of appearing to be what they were not. The Lord called them whited sepulchres. The hypocrite is one who assumes a feigned character. Envies (Phthonos), this word is derived from Phthino, which means "to decay, pine away." There is usually little envying where there is health, vigour, and forward movement. Those given to envy are such as see others making progress either spiritually or materially and themselves being surpassed. Envy is well illustrated in the stroy of Saul and David. Saul could not bear the women of Israel singing, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (1 Samuel 18.7). Evil speakings (Katalalia), this is "detraction, backbiting, calumny." This describes the tearing of the characters of others to pieces. When two evil speakers get together they tear their victim limb fromlimb. Peter contemplates those to whom he writes as newborn babes, and as natural babes long for milk, so were these to desire or long for To logikon adolon gala, which literally means, "the mental, without guile, milk." This mental milk is for the spiritual mind of the children of God, as natural milk is for the bodies of babes. This is the milk of the word of God. If this milk is freely and regularly taken there will be growth, "unto salvation." God's children, who follow this course, will be saved from many evils, to which those fall a prey who scarcely ever read the Scriptures and meditate therein. The salvation of the sinner is by one act of faith in Christ, and this salvation is once for all, but salvation by growth is a continuous process and never ceases during the earthly lifetime of the children of God. 1Pet2v3,4 "If" (Ei) means, "because, since"; it is not the "if" of doubt, but the "if" of argument. There was no doubt that thoseto whom Peter wrote had tasted that the Lord is gracious, for they had been redeemed and born again. It is the same conjunction (Ei) that is used in Colossians 3.1; "If (Ei) then ye were raised together with Christ." There was no doubt that they had been raised with Christ. But it is quite different in Hebrews 3.6, where "if" (Ean) means "if, on condition that." It is the "if" of condition, and not the "if" of argument. Those in the house of God would remain there on condition that they held fast. About this there cannot be two opinions, and those who faithfully handle the inspired Scriptures will be careful to follow the mind of the Spirit in each passage. Since those to whom Peter wrote had tasted that the Lord was gracious, they had to come again to Him and to continue coming, not to a Saviour who would save them frm the penalty of sin - that was an accomplished fact - but to Christ, the living Stone, the Stone which the builders rejected (Psalm 118.22; Matthew 21.42), the Stone which was and still is rejected by men, but with God He is both elect, or chosen of God, and precious. Here we have a similar thought, but under a different similitude, to what Paul writes in Hebrews 13.13, "Let us therefore go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." Christ is both elected and rejected, elected by God and rejected by men, and we should be like Him in this world. 1Pet2v5 Christ is the living Stone, and we also are living stones, but stones do not make a house, unless they are built up according to a pattern. God's house had ever a pattern. Moses was given the pattern of God's house, the tabernacle in the wilderness. "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it" (Exodus 25.8,9). David, too, got the pattern of the house of God which he gave to Solomon (1 Chronicles 28.11-21). Ezekiel also received the pattern of God's house which he was to show to the house of Israel (Ezekiel 43.10-12). "Let them measure the pattern, " said God through Ezekiel. God's children do well today to measure the pattern of the house of God in the New Testament, and then with the measuring rod of God's word, measure where they are to see whether it agrees with the Scriptures. Let them not hold down the truth in unrighteousness, but let the truth speak to them (Romans 1.18). "Ye are built up," means "ye are being built up"; it is continuous. It may also be rendered "be ye built"; see A.V. margin. The building of the house of God is a continuous process; a condition of remaining in God's house is, "if we hold fast." In Hebrews 3 the falling-away doctrine is plainly taught, not falling away from Christ as Saviour, which can never take place, but falling away from the living God (verse 12), the God of the house of God (1 Timothy 3.15). God's spiritual house, composed of saints, built together according to the pattern contained in the New Testament, is also a holy priesthood, the purpose of which is to offer up spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, the Great Priest (Hebrews 8.3,10.21,22). God the Father is the object of worship (Matthew 4.10; John 4.23,24). 1Pet2v6,7 The house of God remains ever a possibility, and the offering of spiritual sacrifices therefrom by a holy priesthood is because of the fact that the Lord is laid in Mount Zion above as the chief corner Stone (Hebrews 12.22). All the heavenly hosts are under His control; all created heavenly beings are in alignment with Him, as a building is laid out from the corner stone, it is under the rule of line and plummet. Christ is Son and Great Priest over the house of God (Hebrews 3.6,10.21), over those who acknowledge His authority. He has also all authority on earth, though we see not yet all things subjected to Him (Hebrews 2.8), but the time will come when He will sit upon earthly Zion, and then judgement will be the line, and righteousness the plummet, and all will be brought into line with His authority (Isaiah 28.16,17). But that day for the earth is not yet; it awaits His coming again as the Son of Man. The Stone which the builders (the elders of Israel) rejected has become the Head of the corner in the heavenly Zion, of the edifice of the whole angelic order. And if saints on earth would be right they, too, must obey His word, spoken by the Lord Himself and by Him through His apostles. "For you therefore which believe is the preciousness. " Believe what? Believe in Christ as Saviour? No, that is not the truth with which Peter is dealing. He is dealing with Christ, the living corner Stone whom men rejected, and whom God has exalted to His throne on Mount Zion above, to whose authority it is the privilege of saints to be subject, and whose commandments they are privileged to obey, if they would become a house for God to dwell in, and a priesthood to offer to Him. But what of those who disbelieve? Their portion is stated in the next verse. 1Pet2v8 Here we have the fatal choice of the people of Israel through their elders: "And as soon as it was day, the assembly of the elders (the elderhood) of the people was gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and they led Him away into their council" (Luke 22.66) (Sanhedrim, the council of seventy elders who sat in Moses' seat, Matthew 23.2,3; Numbers 11.16,17), and they condemned and rejected the Lord there. He was to the leaders of the nation and all who followed them, a Stone of stumbling and Rock of offence. They stumbled at Him nationally and fell and were broken to pieces (Matthew 21.44). They stumbled because they were disobedient; they refused to be convinced despite all He said and did. Then we come to the solemn word of divine decision in regard to the Israel nation - "Whereunto also they were appointed." Paul deals fully with this matter of God's governmental dealings with Israel in Romans 11, in which we see God giving to Israel a spirit of stupor, and their eyes were darkened that they should not see, and so a hardening in part befell Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in (Romans 11.7-10,25). Though Israel was appointed to stumble nationally at Christ and fall and be broken to pieces, no individual Jew is appointed to stumble at Christ and fall and become a lost soul in eternity. The message of life is to whomsoever, and it was to the Jew first and also to the Greek. We must distinguish between God's dealings with Israel nationally and with the Jew as a man. Though the nation rejected Christ, yet the door of mercy was ever open to those who repudiated the action of their leaders or to the leaders who repudiated their own action in the crucifixion of the Lord, as many did, in Acts 2.36-42 and after, for a great cmpany of the priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6.7). The wrath of God came upon Israel nationally (1 Thessalonians 2.14-16. God eventually sent the Romans who destroyed the Jews and burnt Jerusalem (Matthew 22.7), but this must be distinguished from the rejection of Christ by the individual Jew and the punishment of the Christ-rejector in hell. 1Pet2v9,10 "Race" (Genos) means offspring, progeny, and, in consequence, family, kindred. They were "an elect race." Besides, they were "a royal priesthood." In verse 5 these same people are called "a holy priesthood." It has been taught from the time of Luther that all believers are priests. It is more correct to say that all believers have a birthright to priesthood, but not all believers exercise their birthright. Those who are called priests, in Revelation 1.6, were in the seven churches which were in Asia, and are comprehended within the scope of Peter's first letter, who wrote to those in Asia as well as the other four Roman provinces. Priests of the house of Aaron could not function apart from being in the house of God. Priestly service and God's house cannot be separated, either in the past or present. Blemished sons of Aaron who had permanent defects could not engage in the work of priests in a past dispensation, though they ate the bread of their God. Such could neither come into the sanctuary nor approach to the altar (Leviticus 21.16-24). Again a man of Aaron's seed who was a leper or had a running issue was not even allowed to eat of the holy things. If he did approach to the holy things he was to be cut off from before the LORD (Leviticus 22.3,4). It is far too undefined a statement to say that every believer is a priest. To be priests, however, is the birthright of believers. In order to exercise this birthright believers must be in the house of God, forming part of the holy and royal priestood. "A holy nation" shows a people together subject to authority, and obedient to the law which governs the nation, not the law of Moses now, but the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9.21), which is the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ (James 2.1), which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). "A people for God's own possession," or "a peculiar people," this carries one back in thought to Exodus 19.5,6, where we hear God saying to Israel at Sinai: "Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me from among all peoples: ... and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." The parallel between 1 Peter 2 and Exodus, chapters 19 and 24, is too close to be denied. The conditions are similar in both cases - obedience to the revealed will of God, for if people are to be together and function together in collective life, then obedience to revealed and collectively accepted conditions are necessary. Upon Israel's acceptance of the conditions of the covenant, God revealed to them His desire to have a house, a dwelling or sanctuary, and to dwell among them (Exodus 25. 1-9), and thus the tabernacle came into being and the service of God in Israel commenced. The purpose of God in a holy priesthood is to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ (2.5), and that in the same people as a royal priesthood is to show forth the Lord's excellencies, which are the excellencies of Deity revealed in the Lord's Manhood. "Excellencies" means "virtues." Virtue (Arete) means "goodness of any kind" and here means "tanscendence of divine perfections." We have been called, in His effectual calling, out of darkness into His marvellous light. It is marvellous light indeed when we contrast the darkness of unbelief with the light in which the enlightened believer dwells through the Spirit in revealed truths of the Scriptures, which truths form the truth, like the colours of light which together form light. God's New Testament people were once no people, but in wondrous grace, through divine regeneration and the call of God to come out and be separate in order to give effect to His revealed will, God's people came into existence in the days of the apostles, and today a remnant is found together in God's house to do what the churches of God did at the beginning of the dispensation. Such a people knew not the mercy of God once, but now they have obtained mercy. God's remnant today can say as the remnant of old said, "And now for a little moment grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving" (Ezra 9.8). 1Pet2v11,12 "Beseech" may also be rendered "exhort." Believers in this world are only sojourners or temporary residents. It is also true of all men that their day in the world is very temporary compared with the permanence of eternity, but the unbeliever does not acknowledge this, for this world is the only home he has; his portion is in this life. The enlightened believer is travelling on to his home and rest. He is a pilgrim, a person residing in a country not his own. He is exhorted to abstain from fleshly lusts, or desires of the flesh, which war (as an army on a military expedition) against the soul. Their objective is to wound and reduce the believer to enslavement, so that he may become useless to God. By such lusts, if permitted, he is dragged back to the level of ordinary men of the world. In contrast, his behaviour is to be of such a character, that though men would wish to speak against the believer, his good works cause them to glorify God in the day that He visits them. Visitation (Episkope) means "inspection" and is the word used of the work of an overseer, in 1 Timothy 3.1. The word may be applied to a time of God visiting men in mercy, as in Luke 19.44. A day of visitation may also be one of judgement, as in Isaiah 10.3. The visitation Peter has in mind seems to be one of mercy, wherein men glorify God for the lives of saints which were as shining lights to them. 1Pet2v13,14 Subjection is a necessary lesson which God's saints need to learn, especially in the present state of things in the world: (1) subjection to rulers (verse 13); (2) subjection of servants to masters (verse 18); (3) subjection of wives to their own husbands (3.1). The form of human government is a human institution or creation (Ktisis, creation, see R.V. margin). Perhaps there never was a day when so many diverse forms of human government occupy men's minds: (1) rulers by natural descent, (2) rulers elected by the people, (3) rulers raised up by dominating foreign powers, and (4) autocrats who grasp the reins of government by destroying the lives of others, or by artifice, or by both. It is not for believers to choose the kind of government they think should exist, but to acknowledge the institution of men as that to which they are to be subject. They must be subject to the supreme head, king or president, and to their governors who are sent to maintain law and order, and to punish evil-doers and to praise well-doers. To these and all forms of human government in whatever land it may be, the believer is to be subject. 1Pet2v15,16,17 "Well-doing" is the banner and battle-cry of saints. With it they march against the forces of ignorance and all kinds of evil. Through it they are strong, and without it they are as a flock of terror-stricken sheep ready to be devoured by wolves. The will of God was that by well-doing they should silence and put to shame human ignorance. Though freeborn, and delivered from the bondage in which they previously were, yet they were bond-servants of God; and a cloke of wickedness ill became those in such high service and employment. They were as heaven's gentlemen to be careful of their manners and to honour all men. Courteous behaviour is ever becoming in a Christian. Whilst we are to honour all men, there are those who are nearer to us, and these we are to love; love the brotherhood, all such as are in a unity of brethren. The word is again used in 1 Peter 5.9, where it is translated brethren, but it should be brotherhood (see R.V. Marg.). It shows those who were brethren joined together in unity, similar to priests united in a priesthood (2.5,9). They were to fear God, and of the fear of the LORD David said that it "is clean, enduring for ever" (Psalm 19. 9). It is both wisdom (Job 28.28), and the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 1.7,9.10). The word Honour (Timao) means "to estimate," "to fix a value upon," and in consequence "to respect, to reverence." This reverence due to the king must ever be regulated by the reverence due to God inplied in the fear of God. 1Pet2v18,19 "Servants" means household-servants (see R.V. marg.), they were domestic servants who lived in the house, who were probably household slaves. This thought is strengthened by the word in the Greek for "master" (Despotes), the "absolute master or lord" who had unqualified authority, a master of slaves. To such masters Christian household-servants were to be subject, whether the masters were good and gentle or froward (Skolios, "crooked" or "perverse, hard to please, peevish, morose"). To be subject to masters of the latter sort was acceptable (grace, R. V. marg.); it showed what grace could do or bear for conscience towards God, when servants had to suffer wrongfully. 1Pet2v20 There is no glory in suffering for one's own wrong-doing, but there is glory when one suffers for well-doing. If such suffering is taken patiently then such is acceptable or grace with God. The fruits of grace in the lives of saints are well-pleasing to God. How well pleasing this is to God is revealed in the next verse. 1Pet2v21 Christ is the example for all, whether they be suffering servants or other sufferers. Saints are called to a path of suffering in this world. The Lord assured His own that in the world they would have tribulation, but in Him they would have peace. They were to be of good cheer, for He had overcome the world (John 16.33). He suffered for us; it was because of us that He had all His suffering as Jehovah's Servant, and servants were called upon to follow His steps. They were to be sufferers, following a suffering Leader. 1Pet2v22,23 Joh tells us that "in Him is no sin," no original sin such as that in which all mankind is conceived (Psalm 52.5), and here we are told by Peter that He "did no sin." No guile, fraud or deceit, was found in His mouth. When He was reviled or was railed at, He railed not in return. He did not return word for word or blow for blow. When He suffered He did not threaten His persecutors with dire retribution for their actions. He committed His cause to God who judgeth righteously, as is said, "He is near that justifieth Me" (Isaiah 50.8). The time will come when His persecutors will stand before Him to hear His just sentence, but that was not in His lifetime on earth. 1Pet2v24,25 Here was the consummating act of God's suffering Servant, when in His own body He bore our sins upon (Epi, upon), not to or up to the tree. The suffering of Christ for sins was once only (1 Peter 3. 18), and that was when He was hanging on the tree. It was then that God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53.6). Peter, without doubt, had Isaiah 53 before his mind when he wrote "by whose stripes (or bruises) ye were healed," and that "ye were going astray like sheep." We have now a Divine Shepherd and Overseer to care for our souls, and, like David, we can say, "The LORD is my Shepherd" (Psalm 23.1), He who is the Good, Great and Chief Shepherd. Christ bore our sins as our Saviour and Substitute, and we in Him have died unto (not for) sins, and now it is ours to live unto righteousness, to the doing of what is right. 1Pet3v1,2 "In like manner" casts us back on the matter of the subjection of believers to kings and governors, and of believing servants to their masters. Here it is the subjection of wives to their own husbands. Subjection is one of the necessary lessons Christians need to learn. Christian wives are to seek to gain their husbands who are disobedient to God's word, not by firing scripture texts at them, or reproving them in other ways, but by their behaviour. In them husbands are to be able to witness the word of God in practice in a chaste manner of life in fear. Not dread, but fear lest anything be done which would destroy the objective they have before them, of gaining or enriching themselves by having their husbands walking in obedience to the Lord, like themselves. 1Pet3v3,4 Here are two ways of adorning: (1) the body, with braided hair, wearing jewels and fine clothes; (2) the hidden man of the heart, with that which is incorruptible, a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. If the heart is right within, then there will be little need for cosmetics and other things for bodily adornment (Greek, "cosmos," translated adorning, the beautiful display of hair, jewels and the conspicuousness of the latest fashion). The beauty of the hidden man of the heart will give womanly grace which all who see it cannot but admire. Such clothing is heaven's fashion, not according to the fashion centres of the earth. 1Pet3v5,6 The conduct of holy women is contrasted with that of common women. The latter went in for a great display of bodily adornment, the former were concerned with the beauty of the heart. We have to remember that "the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16.7). In fleeing from decking oneself according to the latest fashion model, women need not run to the opposite extreme and become dowdy in their appearance, as though dowdiness would more abundantly show the beauty of the hidden man of the heart. One need not become a spectacle to show this. Dowdiness may equally mar testimony as fashionableness. Christians should so dress, both men and women, that their outward attire may be in keeping with their profession. "In modest apparel" are the fitting words of Paul (1 Timothy 2.9). Subjection is seen in the words of Sarah in her old age. She still in old age had that reverence for her husband which she had in youth. She said to the angel concerning her husband Abraham, "my lord being old also" (Genesis 18.12). In such a case wives will not be put in fear by any terror, and married life will be a delight, as God intended it should be. 1Pet3v7 Husbands have to see that they play their part in the happiness of married life. What an amount of wise dealing is contained in the exhortation - "Dwell with your wives according to knowledge"! In the secrets of married life that only husband and wife are privy to, the husband's knowledge of his wife, who is the physically weaker partner, or generally so, of the union, plays a large part. If he acts according to his knowledge, he will be a wise man and will pave the way to his own happiness as well as that of his wife and of his family, if they are blessed with a family. It is abominable if Christians follow the ways of the world. The husband is to give honour to the wife as unto the weaker vessel. He is the head and chief partner to the union and much depends upon him. The English word husband is an abbreviation of "house-band," the one who binds the house together. Husband and wife are joint-heirs of the grace of life. This is a peculiar statement not found elsewhere in the Scripture. It is evident that Peter views marriage here as much more than the physical union of male and female, in that they become one flesh. The word here is not Bios, which means the present state of existence, but Zoe, the word always used in the Scriptures wherr reference is made to eternal life, that is, to the higher life. That the "grace of life" is the higher spiritual life is indicated by the words which follow, "that your prayers be not hindered." The behaviour of the husband and wife is to be such that communion between themselves in spiritual things is not broken, and, in consequence, communion with God hindered. It is a calamity in the home of Christians when the Bible is not opened and read and when joint prayer ceases. 1Pet3v8,9 It is of the greatest importance that saints together in the house of God should be of the same mind, not only in doctrine, but in their disposition or attitude to each other, "thinking, feeling, and acting alike," "compassionate," that is, sympathetic, "loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humbleminded." No exposition is needed of such excellent words of exhortation; their meaning is evident. If believers were in such a condition, how smoothly collective life would flow! There is to be no rendering of evil for evil, nor reviling for reviling. The Lord is to be our example in this, for when He was reviled, He reviled not again. The Christian instead of being a reviler or railer should be one whose words are a blessing, they should "give grace to them that hear" (Ephesians 4. 29. Paul said, "Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not" (Romans 12.14). If they bless, then they will themselves inherit a blessing. The words which form their title to this inheritance of blessing are clear. 1Pet3v10,11,12 These words are the teaching of David on the fear of the LORD, when he said, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD" (Psalm 34.11-16. This psalm was written by David following his deliverance from Abimelech (Achish) (1 Samuel 21. 10-15). He fled from the persecution of Saul to Achish for protection, but he found that he was in even greter danger among the Philistines than he was from Saul and his own people. If he was to win through to the good days the LORD had promised him, when he would be king over all Israel, it would not be by a policy of vilification of Saul and of Israel. He had to keep his tongue from evil, and there should be no deceit in his mouth. He was to do good though others might do evil to him. He was to be in hot pursuit of peace even amidst his days of turbulence. He was to learn that the LORD knows all, for His eyes are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. His face is against the evil-doers. If we would ever remember that God sees us and hears when we cry to Him, it would save us from saying and doing things that grieve Him and which are against our own well-being. 1Pet3v13,14 Solomon wrote, "When a man's ways please the LORD, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Proverbs 16.7). When Jehoshaphat walked in the first ways of his father David and when he sent princes, Levites and priests to teach the law of the LORD in all the cities of Judah, "the fear (or terror) of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat" (2 Chronicles 17.3-10). It does, nevertheless, happen that God's saints are caused to suffer for righteousness' sake, even as th blessed Master suffered in His day on earth. "A sufferer all His life was He, A dying Lamb at last." He said, "Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake," and again, "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven" (Matthew 5.10-12). "Fear not their fear" is a rendering of Isaiah 8.12. Men have their fear, but men's fear is not to be the fear of God's saints. Those who fear God have no fear of divine retribution, but for persecutors there is punishment ahead; for though God allows His saints to suffer betimes, He is not unconcerned about it. See 2 Thessalonians 1. 4-10. 1Pet3v15,16 Here is one of those proofs of the Deity of the Lord Jesus which occur frequently in the Sacred Scriptures. This refers to Isaiah 8. 13, where we have Isaiah saying, "The LORD of hosts, Him shall ye sanctify." Peter renders this, "Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord" (R.V.). Christ the Lord is the LORD of Hosts. Sanctify means to set apart, and the Lord is to be Lord in our hearts, to dominate our whole being in all its affections and activities. If this is so, then we shall be ever ready to give a reason for our hope, and this we are to do with meekness and fear, without ostentation. If we have a good conscience that our manner of life is in keeping with our testimony, then we need be in terror of no one, whatever may be said regarding our life and hope. "Christ liveth in me," said Paul. The old Saul-life was dead; it was now the Christ-life, a life ever beautiful and radiant. 1Pet3v17-18 Christ is an Ensample in suffering. He suffered for the sins of others, the object of this was that He might bring them to God. He was righteous and those who caused Him to suffer were unrighteous. If saints suffer, let it not be for evil-doing. The Lord was a sufferer all His life, suffering ever for well-doing, but when He suffered for sins, it was once and once only, when He hung on the cross, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. He was not the Sin-bearer all His lifetime. We must distinguish between His suffering once at the hands of God for sins, and His day-by-day sufferings at the hands of men. He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened or made alive in the Spirit. Spirit here is the Person of the Holy Spirit and should be printed, as in A.V., with a capital. The Spirit was the One by or in whom He was made alive. He rose from the dead in the body in which He was nailed to the tree. He showed to the disciples and also to Thomas the print of the nails in His hands, and the spear-wound in His side, the marks of identification (John 20.20,25,27). 1Pet3v19,20 We have here an admittedly difficult passage upon which we tender our view. Firstly, we are told that Christ did not go in Person and preach to those spirits, but went in the same Spirit as that in which He was quickened after His death on the cross. If the heralding took place in prison, in Hades, why was it limited to the people who perished in the flood of Noah? Others perished in signal judgements, such as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea, the host of Sennacherib, and why should the preaching be limited to the Antedeluvians? This presents a difficulty, if the preaching took place in Hades. Then again, What could be the message heralded to these people in Hades? Was it a message of hope and deliverance? This could not be! If it were, it would open up a vast question which would be against any scripture we know in the whole range of the word of God. Then, Was the message one of added doom and despair? What would be the value of such a preaching? It seems to us that the simple, straightforward interpretation of the passage is this, that Christ went in the Holy Spirit and preached by the mouth of Noah who was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2.5). Both the preaching to and the disobedience of the Antedeluvians (who disbelieved aforetime) were "when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." "When" and "while" refer to the same time as the preaching and the disobedience. God speaking to men on earth by the mouth of His prophets, and also by the apostles (2 Peter 3.2), is one of the most common things in the Scriptures. "He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began" (Luke 1.70). "God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began" (Acts 3. 21). "The Holy Spirit spake before by the mouth of David" (Acts 1. 16). David spoke in the Spirit (Matthew 22.43), and the Spirit of the LORD spoke by him, and His word was upon his tongue (2 Samuel 23. 2). The Spirit of Christ who was in the prophets "testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them" (1 Peter 1.11). "Men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1.21). We believe that Christ in the Spirit spoke to the men of Noah's time, even as the gospel is now preached "by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven" through men (1 Peter 1.12). The following is a helpful note by Mr. William Kelly on this difficult passage: "To be understood, this verse must be taken with what goes before. Christ was 'put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah,' etc., just as we read, in 1 Peter 1.10-12, of Christ's Spirit in the prophets tetifying, so here we learn that His Spirit preached (i.e. in Noah). Those who heard were disobedient then, and their spirits are in prison now. Christ's Spirit, by Noah, went and preached to them when they were living men, before the Deluge came; but they rejected it, and now, consequently, their spirits are kept for judgement. The collocation of the Greek (Tois en Phulake Pneumasin) is decisive, that the true connexion is not between the preaching, but the spirits and the prison. The preaching was by Christ's Spirit in Noah to men on earth, whose spirits are now imprisoned till the judgement of the dead." Peter tells us that those in the ark were saved through water. They were saved by the ark from the water, which was God's judgement upon the world, but they were saved by the water from the corrupt world which was destroyed by the flood. "Saved" and "salvation" do not refer always to salvation from the same danger - God's wrath. We need to be saved from men, as well as from God's wrath, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation," said Peter (Acts 2.40), and there are many like exhortations regarding salvation from surrounding dangers in this present evil age. 1Pet3v21,22 Sprinkling water on infants and adults is a mockery of divine regeneration, and the mocking rite of churches (so called) which do not hold baptismal regeneration, is in no sense baptism. Baptism means dipping, and in scriptural language signifies burial and resurrection, a figure of the Lord's burial and resurrection (Romans 6.3,4; Colossians 2.12). Baptism in water is not necessary to salvation from hell, as some teach, for salvation from hell is by God's grace through our faith in Christ, and through faith in Christ alone (Acts 16.30,31; Ephesians 2.5,8,9). As Noah and his family were saved by the ark from the waters of judgement and from a corrupt world by the same judgement of the flood, so after a true likeness baptism saves us, if we truly appreciate that baptism is not just dipping a person in water, but it has a spiritual significance. It signifies that the believer who died with Christ to sin is buried with Him and raised with Him, the object of this being that the old life which ended in death is finished and buried. We should be raised from a corrupt world, as the ark of Noah was by the water, from the evil world that then was to the top of Ararat. The believer is now to walk in newness of life. If this truth is appreciated it will save the believer from the corruptions of the world. It is in such a sense that the believer is saved through water. Though the believer should regard himself as dead to this world and buried, dead to all its plans and pleasures, the corruptions of his flesh are not put away by baptism. Noah, who was saved from a corrupt world, planted a vineyard, made wine and drank too freely, and "was drunken" (Genesis 9.21), and "old Noah," or "old Adam," still lives in our flesh, and we need to learn what it means to die daily (1 Corinthians 15.31). Paul also said of himself, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body" (2 Corinthians 4.10). Death is the only way that the corruptions of the flesh can be dealt with. Baptism is the question or demand of a good conscience, and when it is obeyed it is the answer of that same good conscience toward or unto God; it is the outward sign of the invisible conscience within. Christ is raised from the dead, but the unbaptized believer who died with Him is neither buried nor raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2.12). He who has been raised is on the right hand of God, and to Him angels, authorities and powers are subject, but the unbaptized believer is not subject or obedient. No wonder conscience often knocks at his heart's door demanding that he should obey the word of the Lord. 1Pet4v1,2 Here the believer is to arm himself with the same idea, thought, or intention, that he is to be a sufferer in the flesh as Christ was, He who suffered at the hands of men. Consequenty, when suffering is his portion, he is not to be surprised as though some strange thing has happened to him (verses 12,13). It is what the believer is to expect in this world. Then Peter adds, "For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin," that is, he has done with, left off, desisted or refrained from sin. Suffering in this world (not bodily illness) is a purifier in the life of the believer, as we learn from Hebrews 12.4-11, and by it God chastens His sons so that they may become partakers of His holiness. The object of suffering, as stated by Peter, is that we should no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh (that is during this earthly life) to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. "The rest of your time," what an opportunity, be the time long or short, to devote it to the doing of God's will, and there is nothing more important! 1Pet4v3,4 The time past, previous to conversion, is a sufficient part of human existence to be devoted to work the desire, purpose or determination of the Gentiles, and to have walked in all forms of lust, and in some cases idolatry. How frequently the unbeliever is surprised in the changed behaviour of a friend who has just been saved by grace! The whole attitude of each to each is changed by the one having become a new creature in Christ. The greater the change in the believer the greater the wonderment of the unbeliever. Then sometimes evil-speaking starts and scorn is heaped on the believer. 1Pet4v5,6 Solemn indeed will be the accountability of the wicked in the day of judgement. They wilfully allow themselves to be cheated that the day of judgement will never come or that it is far distant from them and they have more than enough time to reform their ways, whereas the Lord is ready to judge, and was ready to judge the living and the dead when the epistle was written. The wicked have no time to lose to repent and believe the gospel. Death is an enemy who may come upon them unawares, and then time will be gone. Then we are told that it was unto this end, in view of divine judgement, that the gospel was preached to the dead, that is the dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2.1), not to persons who once lived and are now dead (certainly not to the physically dead), that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, their sins having been borne and judged in the person of Christ their Substitute (2.24; Romans 5. 6,8), the judgement of God for them is past (John 5.24; Romans 8. 1). Now it is theirs to live according to God in the Spirit. Spirit here is the Holy Spirit. "If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk (Galatians 5.25). 1Pet4v7,8,9,10 New Testament writers speak of this dispensation as the "end of the times" (1.20), "the last days" (James 5.3), "the last hour" (1 John 2.18). If the end was at hand when Peter wrote, how close to us the end must be now! In the light of the swiftly approaching end we are to be of sound or sober mind, to be sober, watchful, vigilant, unto prayers. We are to be fervent in love among ourselves. Love coves sins, not discovers them. Where there is little love the sins and wrongs done by one believer to another grow like the snowball, when rolled for a time, to enormous proportions. "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all transgressions" (Proverbs 10.12). Where love is, believers act like Shem and Japheth in regard to their father's sin and shame, but loveless believers act like Ham (Genesis 9.20-27). How fulsome and wrong it is to murmur at the need of showing hospitality, which means love for strangers, and be glad to see them go! How has God treated us who were strangers and aliens? If God loved us, should we not be like the Father's children and love one another? Whatever gift we have, whether it is in spiritual things or things material, we are to minister it among the saints as good and beautiful stewards (for we are only stewards of what God has given us) of the manifold (Poikilos, various, variegated, different) grace of God. God's manifold grace suits every need and time: His grace is all-sufficient. 1Pet4v11 Speaking and ministering or serving (Diakoneo) are quite evidently not identical. The speaker is to speak (Laleo) the words as if he were speaking oracles of God, and he that serves is to do so in the strength with which God has supplied him, which, I judge, is something different from mere physical, bodily strength, though that too is necessary in its place. All is to be done that God may be glorified amongst His people through Jesus Christ. Due to God is the glory and the dominion or might unto the ages of the ages. Amen. 1Pet4v12,13 Satan had been allowed by God to turn on the fire of persecution, to try or tempt (Peirazo) God's saints so that they might break down in the temptation, but they were not to think that something strange had happened. The Lord continually warned His disciples of the suffering that they must expect in this world for His sake. "If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it hated you. . . . Now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father" (John 15.18,19,24). These are but a few of the Lord's statements of the world's attitude to the Father, the Son and His disciples. Suffering saints are to rejoice if they are partakers of, if they share in, the sufferings of Christ, for at the revelation of His glory great will be their joy. Great sufferers will be great rejoicers! 1Pet4v14 "Reproached" (Oneidizo) is a bad word, it means "to revile, scoff at, insult with opprobrious language." It is the language of those who live in the darkness of sin when they see coming into view one upon whom the light of the glory of God's Spirit dwells. Such as hate the light, hate also the light-givers, believers who are as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life (Philippians 2. 16). If the believer hides his light, then there will be no reproach, for he will be as an ordinary man in whom no light is, but the glorified saint in this world is sure to be reproached. But blessed are they who shine in this dark world. "Ye are the light of the world," said the Lord (Matthew 5.14). How dark this world would be without the children of God! 1Pet4v15,16 Believers may bring suffering upon themselves by their behaviour, but they should not. Some think that a believer might be a thief, an evil-doer or a meddler in other men's matters, but he could never be a murderer. Such forget that one who hates his brother is in God's sight a murderer. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (1 John 3.15). Indeed if it were not possible for a believer to be a murderer such an exhortation would not have been given by Peter. But if any one suffers as a Christian, a disciple of Christ, he is not to be ashamed of being one who belongs to Christ and follows Him, but rather, he is to glorify God in this name by which he is called. We are told "that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 11.26). It was not a nickname, but a correct definition of their character. They lived like Christ. Called (Chrematizo) means "to transact public business; to converse or treat about business . . . in the N.T. to impart a divine warning or admonition . . . to be called, named, be known by a particular appellation . . ." (Acts 11.26; Romans 7.3). 1Pet4v17,18 This judgement which begins at the house of God is not such as we read of in 1 Corinthians 5.12,13: "For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within, whereas them that are without God judgeth? Put away the wicked man from among yourselves." Both the elders and the church of God in Corinth had failed in their responsibility to judge the fornicator and to put him away, hence Paul had to judge the case, as he says, "For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him that hath so wrought this thing" (verse 3). This same kind of judgement had to be effected by Joshua the high priest in the remnant that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem to build the temple. "Thus saith the LORD of Hosts: If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge, then thou also shalt judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts" (Zechariah 3.7). See also Deuteronomy 17.9 and 1 Corinthians 6.1-8. Thee is a parallel between judgement beginning at the house of God in the above verses and judgement beginning at God's sanctuary or house as portrayed in Ezekiel 9. Men were marked who sighed and cried because of the condition of God's people and were to be spared in the judgement which was about to fall in the coming of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, whilst others were to fall in that judgement as set forth in the six men with weapons in their hands. The judgement of God's house in these verses, in the connexion in which they are found, leads one to conclude that it was by external persecution, which the carnal, worldly-minded believers would not endure but would leave the faithful to continue in their testimony as the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3.15). If God judges His house by fiery trial, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel? They have but one end, the fiery torment of hell. If the righteous is scarcely saved! Mark, it is not if the sinner who believes is scarcely saved, for there can be no "scarcely", or with difficulty, in that glorious salvation by Christ. But here it is the salvation of the righteous. What is his danger? His danger is not that of eternal fire, but the dangers of this evil world through which he is passing. He has a trinity of evils to combat, Satan the adversary in front of him, the world around him, and the flesh within. But what of the ungodly and sinner who know no present salvation from such evils, who are slaves to sin? Where will they appear? The answer is at the Great White Throne judgement, there to hear the fatal sentence and to be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20.11-15). Those who will be there are defined in Revelation 21.8. 1Pet4v19 The Lord in encouraging His disciples in Luke 12 said that they were not to fear them that kill the body, but to fear Him who had power to cast into Gehenna (not His disciples but others). Then He speaks of God in His faithfulness as Creator, that not one common sparrow is forgotten in His sight, and His disciples were of more value than many sparrows. He said that the very hairs of their head were all numbered. He also taught them lessons from God's care for the ravens and from the lilies of the field. Such is the faithful Creator to whom all sufferers are to commit their souls in well-doing. Let them do well, and God the Creator will not fail to do well for them. Let none say as did Zion, "Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me . . . Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me" (Isaiah 49.14,16). 1Pet5v1 As the saints in the churches of God in the five provinces of Asia are addressed as a whole (1.1) and viewed as a holy and royal priesthood (2.5,9) and together as a brotherhood (2.17; 5.9), so here the elders of the churches are viewed together and addressed as a whole. The elders were among the flock (verse 1), and in verse 2, the flock is among the elders. Peter describes himself as a fellow-elder. An apostle was an elder, though an elder was not an apostle. Undoubtedly the church of God in Jerusalem was cared for by the apostles who were also elders, before there came to be "the apostles and the elders" (Acts 15.6). "A witness" (Gk., Martus) is one who bears testimony, but if he is to bear testimony he must first of all see and hear, even as Peter and John said, "We cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard" (Acts 4.20). What they saw and heard fitted them to be credible witnesses. Thus Peter testified of the sufferings of Christ which he saw. He was also a partaker of the glory which is to be revealed. Suffering and glory is the way of Christ and His saints. Alas, the world's way is glory (for those who get it) and suffering. It is death and life with the Lord and His own, but life and eath with the world. These things are exemplified in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16.19-31; suffering and comfort in the one case and comfort and suffering in the other. The lot of each was determined by his attitude to God. 1Pet5v2,3 The elders are here exhorted to tend or shepherd, to feed and care for, the little flock of God. The word "little flock" is found in all places where flock refers to the Lord's own in the New Testament, except in Matthew 26.31; John 10.16. "Exercising the oversight," means doing the work of an overseer. Of this Paul wrote to Timothy that if any seeketh (stretches forward to) the work (not the office of a bishop) of an overseer, he desired a good work. A man qualifies for overseership by the work he does. Oversight work is not to be of constraint or compulsion, but is to be voluntary or spontaneous. "According unto God" is not in the A. V. and some authorities omit the words, but it is true nevertheless that oversight work is to be carried out according to God. It is not to be undertaken for monetary reward, for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, nor yet is there to be any lording of the overseers over their allotted charge (Ton kleron, the lot, which falls to any one, "the church or people of God, which are said to be their peculiar possession or property, 1 Peter 5.3"). Instead of lording it over God's little flock they were to make themselves ensamples. Eastern shepherds go before the flock, they do not drive them forward with dogs. So also shepherds of God's little flock should go before them as enxamples for them to follow and imitate. An ensample is a type or pattern. 1Pet5v4 The Lord is the Good Shepherd who died (John 10.11), the Great Shepherd was was raised from the dead (Hebrews 13.20), and the Chief Shepherd who shall be manifested to His own at His coming again, as here, bringing His rewards with Him (Revelation 22.12). "Crown" (Stephanos) does not always mean a victor's crown, but means one which adorns as well. The faithful shepherds of the little flock will be adorned, and so rewarded with the crown of glory which will never fade. 1Pet5v5 The younger elders are to be subject to the older elders, and, indeed, all elders are to bind or gird on humility as clothing in order to serve one another, even as the Lord did prior to the institution of the remembrance of Himself on the night of the betrayal. He girded Himself with a towel, poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet (John 13.4,5). Such was His blessed example of lowly service toward His own. God resisteth, or sets Himself against, the proud, but He giveth grace to the humble for humble service. 1Pet5v6,7 God gives grace to the humble to keep them humble and to enable them to humble themselves still further under the mighty hand of God. The Lord is our example, who emptied Himself and humbled Himself to become Man. Then He humbled Himself still further, becoming obedient to the death of the cross. What grace was His! The mighty hand of God under which elders are to humble themselves is the same hand which will exalt them in due season. A season is a brief period of time. Elders are to cast all, not some, of their anxiety or care upon God, who cares for them, in the burdens He has given them to bear. Moses of old complained to God about the great burden the care of the children of Israel was to him, and seventy elders were chosen, men who were already elders, to share with him the burden of responsibility in the rule of God's people (Numbers 11). 1Pet15v8,9 Be sober (not intoxicated either with alcohol or with the pride of position as an elder or with anything which takes away sense), that is, be prudent, and be watchful, be awake and vigilant, for there is a lion about and the flock needs to be guarded. The roaring lion, the devil, is your adversary and theirs, and he is out to kill and devour. "Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey?" (Amos 3.4). The elders are to withstand him, stand against or resist him, firm, steadfast, in the faith. I think the A.V. is correct here "in the faith" rather than "in your faith" (R.V.). The same sufferings which the elders addressed were enduring were being accomplished in their brotherhood elsewhere in the world. 1Pet5v10,11 "In Christ," a term used by Paul to describe the abiding and eternal relationship to Christ of believers who are members of Christ's Body, is here used by Peter. God, the God of all grace, the Source of all the grace which has been poured out richly upon us through Jesus Christ, has called us unto His eternal glory in Christ. Here again glory is connected with suffering. For after these saints had suffered a little while He would perfect (Gk., Katartizo, "repair, i. e. restore from breach or decay, mend, whatever damaging effects suffering had had upon them"). He would also establish, render firm, and strengthen, impart strength to them. To Him be the dominion or might unto the ages of the ages. Amen. 1Pet5v12,13,14 As Tertius wrote the epistle to the Romans at Paul's dictation (Romans 16.22), so Silvanus (Silas), the faithful brother as Peter reckoned him, wrote this epistle at the dictation of Peter. He sums up this brief letter as being the true grace of God, covering election, salvation, redemption, regeneration, the house of God, the functions of the holy and royal priesthood, subjection, suffering, rule. It is an epistle which contains much in little, and he exhorts and testifies that they stand fast in God's true grace which he outlines in this letter. She that is elect together with them in Babylon is the church of God there. Church is a feminine noun, hence the feminine definite article (He) is used here. There is neither the word for church nor woman in the verse. The corrct meaning, I judge, is given in the A. V., "The church that is at (in) Babylon." Babylon here I take to mean literal Babylon and not the Roman church. The apostate Roman Catholic church was not then in existence. Then it was political Rome. Saints and churches sent salutations to each other by apostolic letters, as witness Romans 16. They were to salute each other with a kiss of love, we may do likewise by a warm shake of the hand. Peace (the salutation of the Hebrew) be unto you all in Christ. NOTES on the SECOND EPISTLE of PETER 2Pet1v1,2 In the first epistle Peter writes of himself as "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ," but here he speaks of himself as "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ." He uses his name according to nature, Simon, and his new name according to grace, Peter. In the former epistle to the same people as he now writes (3.1, he wrote of the true grace of God, grace which covers the matters of salvation, service, suffering and rule, and carries the mind forward to the day of the revelation of the Lord to His own. In his second epistle he writes to them as those that have obtained by lot a like or equally precious faith, because this faith is in the same thing, even the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Faith ever partakes of the quality of that in which, or the person in whom, it reposes. If men place faith in men or in deceitful or unworthy things, then their faith is like in quality to that in which their trust is. The A.V. renders the Greek en "in", by "through," that this like precious faith is obtained through righteousness, but, I judge, the R.V., literally translating en "in, " gives us the correct thought. This is not faith in imputed righteousness, but faith in the righteous character of all the dealings of the Lord Jesus Christ with His own. Moreover, the faith here is not the initial act of faith of the believing sinner in Christ his Saviour. That faith is not obtained by lot, but comes by the hearing of the word of God or of Christ in the divine message of salvation. We obtain fiath by lot as the children of Israel obtained the land by lot at Shiloh (Joshua 14.1,2, etc.). The tribes lived on the things their inheritance produced. We in this dispensation have not obtained land, but in contrast believers obtain faith by lot, the word of God is that "the just shall live by (ek, out of) faith." There is nothing more just than land, if it is tilled it will yield its increase; if it receives rain and sunshine, the blessings of God. Our faith is in the Lord's righteousness, who will deal justly with His own according to the irrevocable law, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life" (Galatians 6.7,8). The Lord will deal justly with His own both now and at the judgement-seat of Christ. "God accepteth not man's person" (Galatians 2.6; Deuteronomy 10.17). Some have thought that the R.V. by making a change in the text in 1 Timothy 3. 16, from "God" to "He who," was weakening the testimony of the New Testament to the Deity of Christ, but here, and in Titus 2.13, in the R.V., the testimony to the Lord's Deity is strengthened by correctly rendering the words "our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ," instead of "God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," as in the A. V. The R.V. says that Jesus Christ is God as well as Saviour. "Grace and peace," in the apostolic salutations, are multiplied within the sphere of the knowledge of our God and of Jesus our Lord. The true knowledge of the divine Persons of the Godhead does not puff up, but is a spiritual knowledge which produces lowliness of mind and humility of demeanour. 2Pet1v3 The source of the supply of all things is by the divine power of God. All things are His servants. The covenant God (El Shaddai) of Abraham, who gave His pilgrim-friend all he possessed, was God Almighty; and our God, too, who calls us to separation from evil to one of sanctification to Himself, is also the Lord Almighty (2 Corinthians 6.14-18). He has granted us all things that pertain unto life, as He did in the case of ABraham. He has said to us, "Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for Himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee. So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not fear: what shall man do unto me?" (Hebrews 13.5,6). What God has granted to His own will be implemented by His divine power. There can be no failure with Him. As He has granted all that pertains to life (Zoe), He has granted all that pertains to godliness, so that our lives may be godly lives. Paul says, "Godliness with contentment is great gain: for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall be therewith content . . . For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6.6-10). Divine provision of all that pertains to life and godliness is through the full knowledge of Him who called us; not our full knowledge of Him, but His full knowledge of us and of our needs. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will see, and the Lord will provide - pre-vision and provision, the one precedes the other. He called us through His own glory and virtue (excellence). We were not called because of any glory or excellence in us. Peter was just a fisherman amongst the rest of fishermen of Galilee, and a wilful one at that, for when he was young he girded himself and went where he would (John 21.18). Those who are called have nothing wherein to glory in themselves, but they glory or boast in the glory and virtue of Him who of His own glory and virtue called them. The worthiness of what we are by grace is in Him, not in us. 2Pet1v4 Faith and promise are related to each other, as are works and law. What men see, either with their eyes or the eyes of the mind, they lust after, and men want to satisfy their lust now. But in contrast, God promises, and faith waits patiently and hopefully for the fulfilment of the promise. Such a man of faith was Abraham. "Looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform" (Romans 4.20,21). "And thus,having patiently endured, he obtained the promise" (Hebrews 6.15). God's promises are exceeding great. his promises, as His works, are worthy of Himself; there is nothing small and petty with God. Through His promises which we receive by faith we become partakers of a divine nature, a nature which lives by faith, for the just shall live by faith. The initial act of faith in the gospel brings life, and every act of faith afterwards is the means by which we have life abundantly (John 10.10). The believer who is living the life of faith in God's promises is one who has escaped from the world's corruptions in lust. This world lies in a state of incurable corruption, for it lies in the evil one, in the devil who is totally and completely bad (1 John 5.19). As a system it can never be cured till the Lord returns, when the devil and the wicked will be removed in the day of judgement. God's message in the gospel to men in this world is their one and only hope. 2Pet1v5,6,7 We are to be such as have added, or brought in besides, all diligence; but it may be asked what is diligence added to? It seems clear that diligence is added to faith in God's promises and with diligence we are to supply virtue in our faith. Virtue is goodness, excellence, of any kind. In virtue knowledge; for virtue is soon dimmed by ignorance. In knowledge temperance: temperance saves those who have it from giving a loose rein to knowledge, which is ever liable to be accompanied by pride, to the destruction of themselves and others (1 Corinthians 8.1,7,10,11). In temperance patience: temperance or self-control does well to have as a friend patience or endurance, indeed these should never be parted for they are twin-brothers. In endurance godliness: even the most patient of men may endure their trials, but if endurance is not wedded to godliness you have a stoical attitude of mind, and not that godly disposition of reverence and awe which is most becoming in the patient. Was it not in this that Job failed? He was patient truly, but he justified himself rather than God (Job 32. 2). In godliness love of the brethren: some may have a kind of seeming godliness, which is really an aloofness which springs from pride, in which there is little or no mingling with the brethren, a monkish or hermit kind of godliness. If such as would be godly in Christ Jesus truly love the brethren, they will desire to be with the objects of their love. In love of the brethren love: love of the brethren, that warm-hearted love (Philadelphia), sometimes liable to run to excess, should be governed by love (Agape), that in which the mind plays a part, governing the affections and directing their flow. In the outflow of love (Agape) we should love God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, love God's people and house, love the Word; briefly, we should learn to love what God loves and hate what God hates. 2Pet1v8,9 These excellent qualities, supplied one in the other, being or subsisting in believers, and abounding, or in abundance, will make them to be neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To know Christ was the yearning desire of Paul, and for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord he suffered the loss of all things and counted them as offal. The knowledge of Christ is not passive, but active, bringing our whole being and activities into alignment with His purpose and will, as Paul further puts it in Philippians 3.10-14, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead . . . I press on." Onward and upward is to be the path for the disciple of Christ, and if we are following Him we shall ever be led in triumph to Christ. Sufferings there will and must be, but it will be a triumphant life; even though it be a lowly and obscure one, it will have a triumphant end. The lack of the things of which Peter writes makes the believer shortsighted; he sees only the things immediately surrounding him; he has no long vision of coming glory, and as to the past has forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. He sinks into a morbid condition of soul, doubting, it may be, whether he had been saved by God's grace. 2Pet1v10,11 Such as believe in the truth of eternal salvation know that the calling and election associated with that cannot be made more sure than it is. This is plainly taught in Romans 8.29,30,33,34: "For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom He foreordained, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified . . . Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that shall condemn?" Foreordained, called, justified, glorified! Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? In this view of God's calling and election human failure can never enter; it is all of God's work in Christ, not ours; these cannot be made more sure by us, whatever we as believers may do. But the view of the calling and election of which Peter writes is not that which is connected with eternal salvation, but with service. It is such a calling as those in Corinth had known when, as the church (Ekklesia, a called-out people) of God in that city, they had obeyed the call of God and had come out and were separate (1 Corinthians 1.2; 2 Corinthians 1.1; 6.17,18), and by obedience to that same call they were found in the Fellowship of that time: "God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the Fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1.9). From that position it was possible for them to go back to the synagogue or to the idol's temple, whence they were called, after they had known the call in the gospel, of Romans 8.30. Also, they could leave that people who are described as God's house (1 Peter 2.5; 4.17), of which each church of God formed a part, and cease to be of the elect who were in Pontus, Galatia, etc., where they are viewed as God's elect as to service, not as to salvation, as in Romans 8.33; Ephesians 1.4. Peter exhorts them to be diligent in making their calling and election sure, for if they acted as he had exhorted them, by supplying the things mentioned to the enrichment of their faith, they would never stumble. Stumbling is one of the evidences of childish and carnal believers. Every little stone has to be carefully removed from their path lest they should trip over them; but the believer with a rich and strong faith views mountains as molehills and strides forward with vigour as he pursues the work of the Lord in helping others. The believer with an enriched faith will in the day to come have a richly supplied or furnished entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour. What an entrance this will be for some, who by a rich and strong faith have marched through life here! They will enter upon a still wider sphere of service in that eternal kingdom. As compared with the entrance of some, who, instead of having gone from strength to strength, have gone from weakness to weakness, and have, in the sea of life, been the mere plaything of every wind of doctrine! 2Pet1v12 Things we should remember we are ready to forget. Frequently in the Scriptures God's people, both in the past and present dispensations, have been called upon to remember. Amongst God's last words in the Old Testament are these, "Remember ye the law of Moses My servant" (Malachi 4.4), and amongst Paul's last words in his last epistle, his second to Timothy, he said, "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead" (2 Timothy 2.8). So here Peter calls them to remember the things of which he was writing; not that they did not know them, for they were established in the truth which was present with them. 2Pet1v13,14,15 Peter here looks back to the incident by the sea of Tiberias in that early morning when the resurrected Lord sought them after their fruitless night of fishing, when He filled their nets with fish and themselves with food, and then spoke to him of His needy lambs and sheep, that they needed to be fed rather than that they should feed themselves, as the faithless shepherds of Israel did of old (Ezekiel 34.2). Then he told Peter concerning the manner of his death by which he was to glorify God (John 21.18,19). Peter sees that his end is approaching swiftly and his earnest desire is, that those to whom he is writing would not forget when he was gone the things which they had learned. He as a faithful shepherd had fed them with the good word of God, but soon his voice would be heard no more teaching and admonishing, feeding and shepherding them. These words of Peter must have been received with genuine sorrow by the faithful amongst God's people who had been blessed by the ministry of this outstanding leader of the people of God. Those words wee akin to the words of Paul to Timothy concerning his approaching end (2 Timothy 4.6,7). Thus it was that to the persecuting hand of Nero and the iron kingdom ofImperial Rome there fell the two great apostles of the Lord, Peter and Paul; but they left behind a heritage of divine truth, the latter especially, which was to endure when Imperial Rome had disappeared. This tabernacle is Peter's body. Paul also uses a similar word for the human body in 2 Corinthians 5.1-4. 2Pet1v16 The world is filled with skilfully invented fables. It takes an expert liar to devise deceptions which will be received and believed by multitudes of others. There is nothing cunning and artful about the truths and promises of Scripture. God's stories and promises are backed by unassailable truth, and evidence is borne by chosen witnesses of unimpeachable veracity. The power and coming (Parousia, presence) of the Lord is attested by what Peter, James and John saw on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the Lord appeared in glory, when Moses and Elijah appeared with Him and spoke of His decease at Jerusalem. They were eyewitnesses of His majesty. They got a glimpse of what will yet be seen when the Son of Man comes in His kingdom (Matthew 16.28), when the Son of Man shall come "with power and great glory" (Matthew 24.30). 2Pet1v17,18 He who had chosen to become Man, to partake of all the circumstances of his lowly birth and life on earth, received from the Father honour and glory in the presence of His three apostles, when the Father declared for the second time who He is, and ever shall be, even His beloved Son: not a Son by His human birth in time, but God's only begotten Son, who is Son before all ages. In God's declaration at the Jordan that He was well pleased in His Son, He summed up His Son's earthly life from the time He emptied Himself and took the form of a bond-servant (Philippians 2.7) until His baptism in Jordan at the hands of John the Baptist (Matthew 3. 13-17). Here in these verses He reviews His life of public ministry, concerning which He adds, "Hear ye Him." In this public ministry He found equal pleasure to the life of His Son in the home of Joseph and Mary in Nazareth, about which we know but little. Peter, one of the three holy apostles, the most credible of witnesses, who heard the Father's voice, says, "This voice we ourselves heard come out of heaven, when we were with Him in the holy mount." 2Pet1v19 The prophetic word was confirmed by what took place on the Mount of Transfiguration, and Peter says that we do well to take heed to the prophetic word, which is as a lamp shining in a squalid, filthy, dark, obscure, murky place. The word Peter uses (Auchmeros) is a word of dismal meaning, associating darkness with squalor, dryness and neglect. The sole light in such a place of darkness is the word of God. There is none else beside. In the darkness of this present night we look for the Day-star, which is the Lord, who will not rise in the heavens like Venus the morning star, but will rise in our hearts and will never set there. He is "the Bright, the Morning Star" (Revelation 22.16). He rises as the Morning Star before He appears as the Sun of righteousness, with healing in His wings, for the deliverance of Israel and other sufferers, when He comes as Son of Man (Malachi 4.1,2). 2Pet1v20,21 These verses tell us that the prophecies of Scripture do not interpret themselves. One part of the Scripturs casts light on the other. The words of Malachi cast light on God's dealings with Easu and Jacob (Malachi 1.2-5; Genesis 25.23, etc.). Again the word of Malachi reveals the meaning of the name and character of Jehoavah, "I, Jehovah, change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed" (Malachi 3.6; Exodus 6.2-4). Neither His name nor His covenant with the fathers of the Israel people changed. So it is with all Scripture. The Divine Author of the sixty-six books of the word of God is the Holy Spirit. No part of the Scriptures ever came by the will of man, but men spake from God (Balaam and Caiaphas, who both prophesied, the one unwittingly and other unknowingly, were not holy men, yet both prophecies are of profound meaning and importance) (Numbers 23.7-10,15-24; 24.3-9,15-24; John 11.49-52) being moved, or borne along, as things by the wind, by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit used whom He would to communicate His word to men. Though given "by divers portions and in divers manners" (Hebrews 1.1), yet the complete volume was before the mind of the Spirit before one word was spoken or written, for "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world (or from eternity)" (Acts 15.18). Into this book's treasuries none but the believer may enter. Here are things hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed unto babes (Matthew 11.25,26). 2Pet2v1 How a false prophet was to be treated in Israel is dealt with in Deuteronomy 13.1-5. Such an one was to be put to death even though his sin or wonder came to pass. His validity as a prophet was to be determined, not by his wonder, but by the import of his message. By such a false prophet God proved His people whether they did love Him with their heart and soul. False teachers were also to arise in the churches of God in the later apostolic period and bring in by stealth evil doctrine. Paul referred to those when he spoke to the elders of the church in Ephesus. He said, "I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (Acts 20.29, 30). The faithful shepherd Paul departed and the grievous wolves entered in. Later, Paul left Timothy in Ephesus, when he was going into Macedonia, to charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine (Heterodidaskaleo to teach a different kind of doctrine than Paul taught) (1 Timothy 1.3). Later still, Paul called upon Timothy and those who were faithful to the word of truth to purge themselves out from such as Hymanaeus and Philetus and their followers because of their false teaching (2 Timothy 2.15-22), for only thus could the pure teaching be preserved from the corrupting effect of false doctrine. The heresies taught by the false teachers were destructive, both to teachers and hearers, destructive of the house or temple of God (1 Corinthians 3.16,17), and also destructive, not merely of the lives of believers in their service for God, but ultimately, the destruction of human souls. This we see going on all around. Doctrines are being taught which sink men in endless perdition. That these false teachers, to begin with, were persons saved by grace, we doubt not, for it says, "denying even the Master that bought them," but we doubt very much if many of those who followed them were saved people. False doctrine can produce only perverted people, and such, we judge, were many of those who followed in their false way. 2Pet2v2 If the devil cannot destroy those who walk in the way of the truth by enemies without, he will try the more subtle method; he will seek to corrupt them from within. He has been more successful in the latter method of attack. These teachers were licentious, given to lewdness. They were the exact opposite of Paul, as seen in what he wrote to the Thessalonians. "Ye know what manner of men we shewed ourselves toward you for your sake. And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having receivd the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit; so that ye became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia" (1 Thessalonians 1.5,6,7). The evil doctirne and practice of the false teachers were followed by many, for men will naturally follow the wrong way rather than the right. Only by the Spirit's enlightenment and quickening power do believers ever follow the way of the truth. Because of the excess and licentiousness of these people the way of the truth would be evil spoken of or blasphemed. 2Pet2v3 Not sufficed with those whom they have deceived and perverted, they go forth, like the Pharisees, who compassed land and sea to make one proselyte (Matthew 23.15), with feigned words, well formed, invented words of deceit, to enrich themselves with an increase of numbers, which amounts to making merchandise of human souls. This goes on on all sides. The Lord said of the proselyte of the Pharisees, "When he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell (Gehenna) than yourselves." Thus evil teaching and practice spread. But as with the Pharisees and these false teachers, neither their sentence nor their destruction lingers or slumbers. God will ever requite the wrong-doer. 2Pet2v4 Peter cites different incidents of divine judgement, and here he begins with the angels that sinned. These are perhaps the angels of the devil, referrd to in Matthew 25.41; Jude 6; Revelation 12. 7. Jude speaks of "everlasting bonds" (A.V. chains, under darkness, Desmos, a bond, a cord, chain or fetter). The A.V. renders the word Seirais (Seira, a cord, rope band or a chain) in Peter as "chains," but the R.V. gives "pits," and others "dens" (Sirois or Seirois). The sinning angels were cast down to Tartarus, "which in the mythology of the ancients was that part of Hades (or Hell) where the souls of the wicked were confined and tormented. " According to the ancients the souls of all went to Hades, both good and bad, but Tartarus was the place where only the bad or wicked were confined. If the sinning angels were cast down to Tartarus, how is it that they are in heaven, in Revelation 12.7, and are cast down by Michael with the dragon, the devil, to the earth in the middle of Daniel's prophetic week of seven years (Daniel 9. 27)? Here is a mystery as yet unrevealed (to me) in the Scriptures. Questions such as, how long are the chains that bind them to the Tartarian dungeons? What measure of freedom do these everlasting bonds allow those angels that sinned? That they were cast downt to Tartarus, and that they will be found in heaven with the dragon, and later be found on earth are plain statements of the Scriptures, but how is the gap between these statements filled in? Milton fills it in in his "Paradise Lost," by his account of the escape of Satan from Hades, but we need more than a poet's dream, we need the words of the inspired truth to rest upon. Whatever be the solution of such an obscure passage of the word, we are assured that those angels that sinned are now reserved or kept unto judgement, that is the solemn consequence of their sin. It may be useful to some to say that the Greek word here rendered "Hell" in the R.V. and A.V. is not the noun Tartaros (Tartarus), but is a participle, Tartarosas, of the verb Tartaroo. Someone with an expert knowledge of the Greek may help us to understand the use of the Greek participle here, and what the Spirit through Peter is telling us of the fearful and solemn event of the delivering of the sinning angels to dens or chains of darkness. Parkhurst, in his Greek lexicon, gives a lengthy comment on the difficulty of the word Tartarosas. He says in summing up:"The true original sense of that word (Tartarus) above explained which, when applied to spirits, must be interpreted spiritually; and thus Tartarosas will import that God cast the apostate angels into Sophos tou Skotous, 'Blackness of darkness' (2 Peter 2.17; Jude 13), where they will be for ever banished from the light of His countenance, and from the beautifying influence of the blessed Three. " 2Pet2v5 Sin will bring its recompense. God's judgement was world-wide in Noah's day. We are told that "all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits (about 27 feet) upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered" (Genesis 7.19,20), and only eight persons were saved (1 Peter 3.20), "Noah with seven others." Noah was a preacher of righteousness, who condemned sin and called upon men to repent of their wickedness, but they were unheeding and went on corrupting God's way upon the earth (Genesis 6.12). God has had at all times a way in which men should walk. It was "the law" in Israel's day (Psalm 119.1), it is "the Faith" today, "the Way which they call a sect" (Acts 24.14). It was the Way Paul first persecuted (Acts 9. 2; 22.4). 2Pet2v6,7,8 Not only did God turn these wicked cities of the plain of the Jordan to ashes by fire and brimstone from heaven, but Jude tells us that they are now suffering the punishment of eternal fire (verse 7). Eternal fire is something different from the fire which destroyed Sodom and the other cities. Many men have still some measure of dread upon them as they think of the consequences of the sins of Sodom, and laws have been enacted under which the sins of Sodom are punished. Such has been the result of the example of divine punishment in that long past time. Lot was a back-slider, but the changes wrought in him by the work of God through his uncle Abraham were such that to him the lawless licentiousness of the people of Sodom was revolting; it distressed and tormented his soul what he saw and heard in that wicked city; both their conversation and acts were filthy and abominable. Such is the course the flesh takes in man when given a loose rein. Deliverance came for Lot,in one sense through the prayers of his uncle, though God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked (Genesis 18.23; 19.29). 2Pet2v9 How to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment are the prerogatives of God, who in infinite wisdom deals with men, as He sees and knows, with perfect insight, their thoughts and ways. This work He has not delegated to any created being whatsoever. He is the Judge of all. Let the godly be comforted with this word, that their deliverance from temptation is with the Lord, who will not suffer them to be tempted above that which they are able to bear, but with the temptation will make the way of escape (1 Corinthians 10.13). How deliverance will come is known to Him, not to us. 2Pet2v10,11 Here we have the lawlessness of the flesh uncovered. Men are hastening along a slippery course in the lust of pollution and defilement. "Who is lord over us?" is the expression of their thoughts. They despise dominion or lordship. They are lord over themselves and claim the right to direct their own lives according to their own appetites. It has been well said, that "self-determination is self-destruction." Hence it is that they are daring, presumptuous; they persuade themselves to act as they please, and in consequence are self-willed, arrogant, and they do not tremble to blaspheme, rail at, "glories" (R.V.M.). They know of nothing more glorious than their own carnal and corrupt selves. In contrast, the angels, though greater in strength and power than men, do not bring against such glories, not even against the devil (Jude 9), a railing charge or judgement before the Lord. He who created the "glories," even though they be fallen from their original estate, as in the case of the devil, has the sole right to charge His angels with folly (Job 4.18). 2Pet2v12 Peter is not here dealing with the matter of God's free grace towards men, but with the behaviour of men. That a child of God can get far away from God, and sometimes his behaviour is such that there seems to be no evidence that he had ever known the grace of God, is not a matter of doubt, but of fact. Peter exhorts his readers that none is to suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer (1 Peter 4.15). Only the Lord Himself knows some of those that are His, and it may be a surprise to some, who at one time believed in Christ and who thereafter drifted far from Him into sin and lost the joy of salvation (Psalm 51.12), to be caught up at the Lord's coming again. Those that Peter here describes are such as walk after the flesh, and a believer who walks after the flesh is little different from sinners in the flesh. These are "as creatures without reason, born mere animals," but they were not cratures without reason, though they lived bestial lives. As brute beasts in their ignorance they railed in matters about which they were totally ignorant, and in their destroying or corrupting others they would themselves be destroyed or corrupted. This is what Paul said when he wrote to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man destroyeth (corrupteth) the temple of God, him shall God destroy (corrupt); for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (1 Corinthians 3.16,17). It follows as a sequence that one who corrupts others corrupts himself, and so his work of destruction results in self-destruction. Some may think that they are wise and clever enough to destroy others, and that they themselves shall be saved from the effect of their works, but that is quite impossible. So also in reverse it is the case, that those that seek to save others shall themselves be saved, even as Paul exhorted Timothy, "Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee" (1 Timothy 4.16). 2Pet2v13 Wrong-doing or unrighteousness has ever its reward, hire or wages. Wrong-doing ever rests in the wrong-doer. Of old Cain cried out when he knew what his wrong-doing brought to him, "My punishment is greater than I can bear." What a man sows he shall also reap (Galatians 6.7), and the reaping from some forms of sin is fearful. Not sufficed with revelling in the night, for "they that be drunken are drunken in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5.7), shamelessly they carried on their revels in the day-time; they indulged in their passing pleasure. They were spots and blemishes on Christian conduct; stains upon the testimony of the Lord; living luxuriously in their love-feasts while they banqueted or feasted with the faithful - "with you." 2Pet2v14 It is not having eyes full of adultery, but "eyes full of an adulteress." The would-be adulterer has his eyes full, not of adultery, an abstract act, but full of the object of his adultery, the woman, the object of his lust. These false teachers who are here described could not cease from sin, for they sinned continually in thought, as the Lord clearly stated of those whom He condemned in Matthew 5.27,28. They allured or enticed unsteadfast souls, and woe to the women who became their prey. Their heart, which was exercised in sin, became increasingly strong in its coveting, lust, or craving, which was against the law which said, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife," as well as anything else that was their neighbour's. Truly, such false teachers and their dupes were children of a curse, as in 1 Corinthians 16.22. 2Pet2v15,16 These false teachers were once in the right way, but they left it. This is what Paul prophesied would happen in Ephesus after his departing, that, besides the grievous wolves who would enter in among the flock, and possibly among the elders also, from among the elders men would arise, speaking perverse (perverted or distorted) things to draw away the disciples after them (Acts 20.30). Thus the false tachers went astray themselves and deceived others who followed them, for teachers ever seek to lead others to where they are themselves. They followed the way of Balaam, who, it is said, loved the hire of wrong-doing. If men have not heavenly rewards before them for right-doing, they will have before them the wages of the hireling in worldly honour and wealth. Each man will have his price according to his gift and astuteness. Let it be clearly understood that such men and their works will be against God's people, as was Balaam of ond, whom Balak sent for to curse Israel. God calls Balaam's way "madness," and He caused his ass to rebuke him with a man's voice. It was a miracle indeed, which, if it had been heeded, would not simply have "stayed" the prophet's madness, but would have stopped it and sent him home again. Alas, it did not cure his madness, so on he went in his folly to curse, if possible, a people whom God had blessed. Men believe what they want to believe and do what they want to do. 2Pet2v17 In their ministry there was no refreshing. They were dry as dust and as lifeless; their ministry had neither spirit nor soul, but was a mere body of words, and such words are no better than pebbles in the mouth. They were as mists which beclouded the eyesight, but gave no rain; for such men the gloom of darkness is reserved. Confessedly, it would be a great difficulty if the words "for ever" (Eis Aiona), as in the A.V., were in the original Greek text, for the chapter begins by telling us that the false teachers denied the Master that bought them. No sinner bought by the Lord with His precious blood can be in the blackness of darkness for ever. The words "for ever" are omitted in the R.V. and by several of the great textual critics, so we judge that the gloom of darkness which is kept for these false tachers is the gloom of present darkness, and not the outer darkness of the lost. The "swift destruction," of verse 1, is not eternal destruction, but the destruction of the life of the believer. 2Pet2v18,19 Swelling words were words which swelled like a tumour, pompous, boastful words, the language of pride. They were words of vanity, useless, unprofitable, but they were words to bait, to allure and trap, for they wrought by lasciviousness or lewdness on the flesh of those who were just escaping from them that live in error. If these escaped out ofone snare, they were faced with the snare of the false teachers. How artful and mischievous the devil is! He sets his snares everywhere to catch God's children and keep them from ever reaching God's house where they may serve God according to His word. The appeal of false teaching is ever to the flesh, in one kind or other of carnal attractions. The false teachers promised liberty, while they were themselves bondservants of corruption; it was a promise which could never be fulfilled. If the false teachers overcame, vanquished, or subdued those who were escaping from error, then they brought them into the same bondage as they were in themselves. 2Pet2v20 Here we have contemplated persons escaping from one form of evil through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then being trapped and overcome in another form of evil through the work of false teachers. This state of things abounds in our times, and it becomes all who would find the right way, the way of the truth, to pray like David, "Teach me Thy way, O LORD; I will walk in Thy truth" (Psalm 86.11). All that is taught by men should be tested by the word of God, which, by the Holy Spirit's guidance, will surely direct the steps of all who would be led by Him. Escaping from one snare and then to fall into another, the last state of the person will become worse than the first. 2Pet2v21,22 It is better, and will incur less responsibility and correspondingly less judgement, for a person not to know what is right than to know what is right and turn back from it. Sin against light is worse than sin in darkness, for the former involves the sin of the will which is rebellion, which is the worst form of wrong-doing. Then Peter quotes a proverb showing what happened in the case of those who were overcome by the false teachers. It must not be interpreted as teaching that as the dog and the sow were unclean animals, so these who were overcome wre unregenerated sinners who had never been cleansed from their sins. Unregenerate sinners do not escape from evil by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as these backsliders had been escaping when they became entangled and overcome by the false teachers. The proverb simply teaches that they have become entangled in a like evil, perhaps a worse, than that in which they had been. Sectarianism is like a rabbit burzow with many holes. By whichever hole you enter, you are in the same burrow of sectarianism. Some leave one form of sectarianism and go to another. They vomit up the former phase of sectarianism and swallow it in the other. So also the sow which wallowed in one heap of mire, comes out, is washed, but returns to another heap to wallow again as before. Let children of God turn to their Bibles and to the God of the Bible, and according to the sure promise of the Lord, "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching" (John 7.17). 2Pet3v1,2 Of old God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to make a proclamation to grant liberty to the Jewish people, to return to Jerusalem to build the house of the LORD, and He also stirred the spirit of the heads of the fathers' houses of the remnant to go up to build the house (Ezra 1.1,5). God stirs some to life and activity and these stir up others. We may also stir ourselves up, as Timothy was told to stir into flame the gift of God which was in him. Here, in Peter, it is to stir up their sincere (Eilikrines, which means to judge in the sunshine, and in consequence of being viewed in the sunshine, what is seen is pure and bright) minds to remember the words of the Old Testament prophets, and the Lord's commandments through their apostles in the New Testament. How vital it is to us all to have our minds well-stored with the Scriptures of both Old and New Testaments! 2Pet3v3,4 "Mockers" and "mockery" are words derived from Empaizo (En,in, Paizo, "to play in the manner of children"). Paizo comes from Pais, a child. Such mockers sported and treated God's things as child's play. What folly! Instead of treating life as real and earnest, they walked after their lusts, scorning the idea of the Lord's return, and their accountability to Him. They were like the mockers of Noah's time. Where was the promise, or the evidence of the promise of His coming? The certainty of the promise could not be demonstrated; all things were as they ever had been, and would be to the end, so they thought. 2Pet3v5,6 Such mockers willingly hide from themselves the work of God, that there were heavens of old, and an earth which out of and amidst, or through water, subsisted, when by the word of God it arose from the waters on the third day of Genesis 1, when God said, "Let the dry land appear." Those same waters which receded and were gathered together, overflowed the world in Noah's time and the world perished. No doubt the wicked mockers in the days of Noah mocked him as he, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his family, by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Peter thus draws a parallel between the mockers of the last days and what happened in the time of Noah. 2Pet3v7 This verse does not teach by the words, "stored with fire" (R.V.marg. ), that the centre of the earth is a burning molten mass. That is no doubt perfectly true. What it does say is that both the present heavens and the earth are, by the word of God, stored up for fire, or, as the A.V. says, "kept in store, reserved unto fire." We think of what men have discovered in the last few decades about the atom, that the earth and heavens have in them all the potential for self-destruction when the day of burning comes. That time of destruction is in the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men, which carries the mind forward to the judgement of the Great White Throne (Revelation 20.11-15). 2Pet3v8 Time, as we know it here on earth, given to us by the movement of the earth in relation to the sun, moon and stars (Genesis 1.14-19), does not exist with the Lord, as is evident from the statement, "that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (Psalm 90.4). Thus the fulfilment of the Lord's promise to return again is not regulated by our clocks and calendars. He shall come in His own time, at a time when the evil servant was saying, "My lord tarrieth; . . . in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not" (Matthew 24.48-50), He shall come. We have to be ready for His coming and expecting Him. 2Pet3v9 The "perishing" here is not the perishing of sinners, but that of saints, in the loss of the lives of saints in service, not the eternal loss of sinners. Note the words, that the Lord "is longsuffering to you-ward." The Lord's desire is that we should be anxiously awaiting His coming as He Himself is, who says, "I come quickly." He looks forward with keen expectancy to His coming again and to the joy of that day. May we respond to His words, "I come quickly," and say, "Amen: come Lord Jesus"! With such words our Bible closes, words which have sung their way from heaven to us, the sweetest music to the hearts of saints, and which have echoed back to the throne in that long "Amen," the sweetest sound that rises from earth in our Lord's ears - "Come, Lord Jesus," we want Thee to come. If in any wise our hearts have wandered from Him, His desire is that we should come to repentance, that with a change of mind our whole inward being should be properly adjusted to Himself. 2Pet3v10 The coming of the Lord for His saints, as in verse 9, and the coming of the Lord with His saints in the beginning of the day of the Lord, as in verse 10, are two different events. Note how verse 10 begins with "but." The day of the Lord is more than a thousand years in extent. It begins with the coming of the Lord to earth as the Son of Man, and continues to the judgement of the Great White Throne, when the earth and heaven flee away from the face of the Lord who shall sit upon that throne, and there will be found no place for them (Revelation 20.11). Note the force of the words "in the which, " that is, in "the day of the Lord." The heavens are to pass aay with a great noise. The great explosions of atomic weapons may give some faint idea of this "great noise." We are told that "the elements shall be dissolved (Luo, to loose or unbind) with fervent heat." "Elements" (Stoicheia) is described by Liddell and Scott as "the first and simplest component parts." The elements, to the ancient Greeks, were "water, earth, etc.," but there is no doubt a depth in the word Stoicheion used by the Greeks which they could not imagine with their rudimentary knowledge. What the conflagration will be when the elements disunite and are dissolved, we cannot now conceive. Then the earth and its works shall be burned up. Some say, as in R.V.marg., "shall be discovered" or others "shall be detected," for "burned up," but it is difficult to understand what is to be discovered when the elements are dissolved. 2Pet3v11 The present participle does not mean that a thing of necessity is going on. Note "delivereth" in 1 Thessalonians 1.10. Quite evidently the Lord was not continually delivering. Also see John 1. 29, "beareth," the Lord was not then bearing sin. How God will yet deal with the earth in that coming day of judgement, should make us to behave ourselves holily and godly, and to set our affections on things above and not upon things on the earth. Earthly things should be used as a means to an end, not as though they were themselves the end and objective in life here. Yet how many seek to build abiding habitations around themselves with what is yet to be completely destroyed! 2Pet3v12,13 "Looking for" means to wait with expectation; "earnestly desiring" is rendered by some as "hastening." The Greek word here, Speudo, is rendered "hasting unto" (A.V.) and "earnestly desiring" (R.V.) and "hastening" (in some other translations). It does not seem to me that we can hasten, that is lessen as to time between now and then in any sense in regard to a day which is in the hand of God; but we can eagerly desire it and long for that eternal day of joy and rest. (The thought of hasting doesn't infer the bringing forward of the day of God, but the Christian's looking forward to the day of God. It relates to the zeal and carefulness produced by the "all holy living and godliness" of the previous verse. This manner of living will heighten the believer's anticipation of the coming (Gk. parousia) and unique splendour of that ultimate and unending day.) "Wherein" (A.V.) is quite incorrect, for the passing away of the heavens and the dissolving of the elements with fervent heat is in the day of the Lord, as verse 10 shows, and not in the day of God. The R.V. is correct when it says, "by reason of which," that is the coming or presence of the day of God. The "day of God" is similar, I judge, to "the day of eternity" (R.V.marg.) rendered "for ever" in the A.V. and R.V. (2 Peter 3.18). This day follows on after the "day of the Lord", which closes with the passing away of the heaven and the earth and the judgement of the Great White Throne. Earth and heaven and material things of the present order of things having passed away, and the dead having been raised and judged, things of the eternal order connected with the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem will then become the permanent order in the "day of God," the eternal day. Thus Peter says that "according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2Pet3v14 Whilst the Church which is the Body of Christ will be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing in the day of the Lord's coming, when He shall present it to Himself in all the perfection of His own work, the saints as to their behaviour may not be without spot and blameless, but we have to be diligent to be found in peace and in this spotless and blameless condition. This has to do with our behaviour and service. 2Pet3v15,16 We have here a most affectionate reference by Peter to Paul, his fellow-apostle. He does not say, "Paul wrote to you," or "the apostle Paul," or "our brother Paul," but "our beloved brother Paul. " It shows that even though differences may creep in betimes between the Lord's fellow-workers, as happened at Antioch between Paul and Peter (Galatians 2.11-21), these should not antagonize brethren, allowing the flesh to produce a state of bitterness between them. Let us emulate Peter's example and think of our fellow-workers as beloved brethren. Paul wrote to the same people as did Peter and the only epistle which answers to this is the epistle to the Hebrews, the Pauline authorship of which has unfortunately been disputed by some. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews is written on the subject of the salvation of God's saints from the great evil of falling away from the living God (Hebrews 3.12), by drifting away from the things that were heard during the Lord's ministry (Hebrews 2.1-4). Peter writes his epistles in a similar strain, that the salvation of saints is through the Lord's longsuffering, as it says in verse 9, that "the Lord ... is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." See note on verse 9. Peter says that Paul wrote in his epistles some things that are hard to be understood. It is interesting to think the apostles read and pondered the writings of other apostles, even as the prophets read the writings of other prophets (Daniel 9.2; Zechariah 1.4,5,6; 7.7, 12). But, sad to say, the untaught, or ignorant, and the unstedfast or unestablished, wrest, distort (Strebloo, which comes from the Greek word for a rack, an instrument of torture, on which the limbs of a victim were racked or distored) the writings of Paul, as they do the other scriptures. Note the force of the word "other" here, which shows clearly that the epistles of Paul were regarded by Peter, and as Peter was writing by inspiration, were regarded by God to be part of the Holy Scriptures. The words "scripture" and "scriptures" are never used in the New Testament of any other writings than the Holy Scriptures. Men who wrest the Scriptures destroy themselves in so doing, besides destroying others. 2Pet3v17,18 The apostle closes his epistle with a note of warning and an exhortation. They were to beware of the error (Plane, deception which causes wandering) of the wicked, lawless or unrestrained, by which they would be led away or seduced to follow the example of the lawless, and so fall from their stedfastness in the Lord's way. In contrast to this they were to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which will ever save us from falling a prey to evil and to evil men. To our blessed Lord be the glory both now and unto the day of eternity. Amen. NOTES OF ON THE FIRST EPISTLE JOHN 1John1v1 Here we have the neuter relative pronoun which is rendered "that which." In John 1.1, John writes of the Word who was in being in the beginning, before all things were made, who was with (Pros, toward) God, in perfect communion and intercourse with God, and that He was God, truly and fully God in essence, nature and attributes, for "the Word was God." By Him all things were made. But in this epistle John writes of that which was from the beginning concerning the Word of life. That which was from the beginning was in due time heard, seen, beheld and handled. In John 1.1, John writes of the Word "who" was in the beginning, but in this epistle he writes of "that which" was from the beginning concerning the Word. The Word was the One by whom Deity was revealed, and there was that which men on earth heard of Him. In due time men saw with their eyes those things about Him which became indelibly impressed upon them, so that they said, "We cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard" (Acts 4.20). He was not only seen with the eyes, but the apostles and others beheld, that is, viewed with attention, gazed upon, that which was revealed in the incarnate Word. Then as He came still closer to them, they could say that their hands handled the Word who had become flesh. From the remoteness of the beginning the Word of life came ever nearer and nearer to men, and when raised from the dead, in order that they might be fully convinced that He was still in the flesh, He said, "Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold Me having" (Luke 24.39). In this place also it says that "He shewed them His hands and His feet" (verse 40), the very hands and feet that bore the wounds of the nails by which He was hanged on the cross. 1John1v2 When the Life was manifested or brought to light, the apostles could say, "We have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the Life, the eternal, which was with the Father." Quite evidently the Life is not an abstract thing, but a blessed Person. We gather this from 5.20, where reference is made to God's Son, Jesus Christ; "This is the true God, and eternal life." Eternal life is in the Son, consequently, "He that hath the Son hath the life" (5.12). And, as Paul says, "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6.23). Christ is our life. "When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory" (Colossians 3.4). Whilst the Gospel according to John was written that "ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name" (John 20.31), the first epistle of John was written to teach believers how to live the life that they had obtained through faith in Christ. If the apostles were to know the character of this new life that they might be able to live it and teach it to others, it was necessary that the Life should be manifested. The apostles who lived with and followed the Lord saw the manifestation of the life in Him. They saw how He lived and walked amongst men, how He talked and acted. The lives of the disciples were such that they were called Christians (Acts 11.26); they were Christ-like people. They lived like Him. Paul, who was one of the chief teachers in Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians, later wrote to the Corinthians, "Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11.1). The apostles, being men of like passions with us, had the old Adamic nature in their flesh, and they needed to have demonstrated to them in the life of the Lord how they were to live to please God. Paul often emphasizes his manner of life in connexion with his preaching of the gospel: "Ye know what manner of men we shewed ourselves toward you for your sake. And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 1.5,6). In John's Gospel it is the gift of life, and in this epistle it is how to live that life. Many vainly seek to live the life of a Christian without having obtained life, being yet dead in their trespasses and sins. 1John1v3,4 The object in the manifestation of the Life is fellowship, first, fellowship with the Father and with the Son, in that fellowship which is produced by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God (2 Corinthians 13.14; Philippians 2.1). Then, as the result of each walking in the light of God, fellowship with one another (verse 7). Not only does life issue from the Lord, He is also the Light that came into the world; He is the one and only Light of this world. "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1.4). "There was the true Light ... coming into the world," and His purpose in coming was to lighten every man. We first need life to enable us to walk, and we need light to teach us how to walk, even to follow the Lord. No one can possibly walk who has not first received life. Fellowship here is fellowship with (Meta, together with), not that fellowship or community into which those in the church of God in Corinth and all similar churches were called, which latter is synonymous with that fellowship in which those in the church of God in Jerusalem continued stedfastly (Acts 2.42; 1 Corinthians 1.9). Fellowship means a sharing in common. It began with the Father and the Son sharing with the apostles the spiritual things of the New Testament. These things the apostles shared with others in their oral ministry and by their inspired writings in the books of the New Testament. These Scriptures are the basis of divine fellowship. John wrote this epistle to promote fellowship and in it he also shows what will hinder fellowship and cause it to cease altogether. John tells of the joy he had in writing his epistle; he says, "that our joy may be fulfilled." 1John1v5,6 All man's works are evil in God's sight. "There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one" (Romans 3.12). Hence it is, "This is the judgement, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil" John 3.19). Even in those who have been turned from darkness to light (Acts 26.18), there is much of darkness as to the knowledge of God and of His will, but in God, who is light, there is no darkness at all. This is the message which the Lord taught His apostles. The gods of the heathen bear no resemblance to Him, for they have eyes and see not, and ears but they hear not, and a mouth but they cannot speak, and, alas, they that make and serve them become like unto them. But in contrast, those that know their God, and walk in fellowship with Him, take on His likeness. If we should say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not the truth. It would be a contradiction in terms, if we said we walked with One who is light and walked in darkness at the same time. To walk in the light means that we walk according to His word. The word of God is the only source of light to men in this world, and apart from it the darkness is dense and complete. Walk signifies the behaviour or deportment of anyone. We manifest the inward condition of our hearts by our walk. Fellowship being an inward experience of the heart in touch with God, so we may measure inward condition by outward behaviour. 1John1v7 Man originally lived in fellowship with the LORD God his Creator, but when he disobeyed the command of God and sin entered, death spiritually resulted and fellowship ceased. The Lord came that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10.10). This opened the way that those who have this new life in Him should so walk that they might know the experience of Eden again. The standard is that we are to walk in the light as He is in the light, a high standard indeed, but God can only have one standard. If each one so walks, then we have fellowship with one another. Fellowship is not politeness nor is it friendliness; it cannot be manufactured. It is the the result of the Lord's coming from heaven and teaching the truth of God, and if the children of God walk in the light of that truth then they will have fellowship with one another. Remember that as in Eden the breaking of God's command resulted in the destruction of fellowship, even so it will be now. It is this matter of disobedience that has resulted in the scattering of God's children and the ceasing of fellowship. Those who walk in God's light find out their many defects, and realize their need of cleansing. Hence we have available the one and only cleanser from sin, even the blood of Jesus, God's Son. It is the same blood-shedding that cleansed the believing sinner on the day of his salvation, but here it is not the cleansing of the believing sinner, but the cleansing of God's children. In 1 John 1 it is not the matter of union with Christ that is in view, but that of communion with Him. 1John1v8,9,10 It is needful that the believer should know something of his own complex person. On the one hand he is not free from sin, and cannot say that he has not sinned; if he should say so, then the truth is not in him and he is a liar. On the other hand, "whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because His seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God" (1 John 3.9). Here would seem to be at first sight a head-on collision between two statements of Scripture by the same writer, if it were not for the fact that we know that there is still the old man or nature in the flesh of the believer, as Paul says, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7.18), and that there is also in him "the new man, which after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth" (Ephesians 4.24). Judicially our old man was crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be done away or annulled [Romans 6.6; the same word rendered "done away" (R.V.) here, used of the devil in Hebrews 2.14, Katargeo, does not mean to destroy in the sense of annihilate, but to render ineffective or unproductive]. The believer has sin in him, that is in his flesh, and John says that if the child of God should say that he has not sinned he makes God a liar, a very serious thing to do, and His Word is not in him. Confessing sins is the responsibilityof the child of God. The sinner is not forgiven on the ground that he confesses his sins to God, far less is he forgiven if he confesses his sins to a priest. No mortal man, whoever he may be, in whatever office of any church he may be, can forgive one sin or make atonement by any mass or prayer he may make. The forgiveness of sins by man is a hoax, plied with the devilish arts of the evil one on credulous people who from their childhood are easily deceived. The forgiveness of the sinner is on the ground of fatih in the Sin-Bearer. The words of Peter to Cornelius and his household make the matter of forgiveness crystal clear: "To Him (Christ) bear all the prophets witness, that through His name everyone that believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins." Faith and faith alone in Christ results in the sinner being forgiven all his sins. This is clearly seen in the fact that the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard Peter's word (Acts 10.43,44) . Paul's testimony in the synagogue of Antioch is similar to Peter's, "Be it known unto you, ... that through this Man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins: and by Him everyone that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13.38,39). The believing sinner is forgiven [which means that his sins are sent away, never to return, on Him on whom God laid the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53. 6; 1 Peter 2.24)] and he is justified by God, declared righteous, so righteous that no charge can be laid against him (Romans 8.33,34). The sinner believes in Christ and is forgiven and justified, but the sinning child of God confesses his sins to his heavenly Father and is forgiven. Justification is not connected with this forgiveness. This is not that he may be saved, but that he might live in fellowship with the Father and the Son in the fellowship or communion of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 13.14; Philippians 2.1) who dwells within him. We must be careful to distinguish between union with Christ, which is for ever, and communion with Him, which sin can affect and sometimes destroys. 1John2v1,2 The gracious provision for the forgiveness of sin should not be taken as an encouragement, but rather a deterrent, to sin. Let none turn the grace of God into licence to do evil, but rather let us be thankful for God's gracious provision to meet our weaknesses, for they are many. A learned scholar says of the verb "sin," which is aorist 2 subjunctive, "The moods of the aorist usually express single definite actions not contemplated as continuing." Then the writer who makes this quotation from this scholar suggests the translation of the verse as follows:"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye may commit no act of sin; and if any (of us) shall have committed an act of sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." John wrote to his little children, who were also God's children, that they might not sin, but if they did, then they had an Advocate with the Father. God's children have two Advocates, Comforters or Helpers, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Lord promised His disciples, "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you for ever ... for He abideth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14.16,17). Though all God's children have two Advocates or Comforters, God's people have but one High Priest. The office of High Priest should not be confused with the work of the Advocate. The Lord as the Advocate is with the Father on behalf of the Father's children, so that they might live in fellowshp with their Father, but it is in connexion with the service of a people that the High Priest makes propitiation. Besides being the propitiation for the sins of God's children He is the propitiation for the whole world. The words "the sins of" the whole world shown in italics in the A.V. are not part of the inspired Word. Thus the Lord is the propitiation (1) for the whole world in the matter of salvation, (2) for the sins of the children of God in the matter of fellowship, and (3) as a Priest to make propitiation for the sins of the people of God in the matter of service. The following note is by Mr. William Kelly:"I see no reason for giving up the common view of Christians, that Jesus is called the Paraclete, as taking up the cause of believers with the Father: as for a similar reason the Holy Spirit is so styled by John, as to His place in and with them on earth, though of course carried on in a different way (John 14.16). It is not correct to say that the propitiation of Jesus is here stated to be for the sins of the whole world. The English version says so, I know, but it is by inserting words which are better left out. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. There is provision for it to the uttermost; but Scripture never speaks of the sins being borne away, save of believers. And it is as plain as possible that this very passage discriminates between 'us' and the 'world,' even as to expiation; while advocacy with the Father is in no way connected with the world, but with the family of God." 1John2v3,4 Here is the test of knowledge, and the Lord, in John 14.21, made the keeping of His commandments the test of love. "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." Many movements of our time, "Youth movements" and such-like, characterized by such a term as, "all one in Christ," have little time or place for the sobering Word of the Lord and of John. Obedience to the commandments of the Lord is set aside and there seems to be little more than froth and foam of the turbulent activity of the flesh. Others seek to sketch a better plan than that outlined clearly in the Lord's commandments. The Psalmist said, "I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart" (Psalm 119.32). But those who are in the movements indicated characterize those who go in "the way of God's commandments" as narrow-minded, but instead, they are such as are narrow, for the word of God can find no way of entrance into their hearts. They need enlargement of heart. John's words are powerful and plain, that such as say they know God, yet keep not His commandments, are liars and the truth is not in them. Strong words indeed! 1John2v5,6 We are told in chapter 5.3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." This is not a description of the immensity of God's love, or of how it has been manifested in our case (1 John 4.9,10), but it is the way in which the love of God is manifested by us and the way by which we reflect His love to Him and to others. Without obedience to His word, which is the only way we keep His word, His love is not perfected in us; it has not effected in us that which is God's will that it should. The child of God keeps the word by doing, just as an electric dynamo keeps electricity in itself, namely by rotating and by movement. If it stops then there is no electricity and consequently no power. In the obedience of the Lord unto the death of the cross, we learn the love of God, and this love which reaches us through obedience should have like actions in us in our obedience to God's Word. By this means we know that we are in Him. This is the condition of "abiding in Him," not "being in Christ by being united to Him as members of His Body," the Church. Verse 6 shows this to be the case. The steps John indicates are plain; (1) keeping His Word, (2) abiding in Him, (3) walking as He walked. Walk describes the life and behaviour of a disciple of the Lord. Christ is ever our pattern, if we would be truly Christians. 1John2v7 The old commandment is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," which, Paul shows, sums up all the commandments of God in man's relationship to his neighbour (Romans 13.8,10). "Love therefore is the fulfilment of the law." The Lord in one sentence summed up the meaning of the whole Old Testament in this matter of man's behaviour to his neighbour: "All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7.12). 1John2v8 The new commandment is that which is contained in John 13.34,35; "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. " This commandment "is true in Him, and in you," and cannot find a place among any but the Lord's disciples. The old commandment of the law was "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," but the new commandment is that we shall love each other as the Lord loved us. How can this be attained in any measure? only by the abandonment of self and self-interest by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. This is better expressed in the words of Paul, in regard to himself, "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2.20). Saul was dead, but Christ was alive in Paul. Only by Christ living in us can we in any measure love as He loved. The darkness of unbelief, of jealousy, hatred, and every evil work, passes away where the true light of the light and love of Christ sheds its health-giving, purifying rays. 1John2v9,10,11 Hatred and darkness are associates even as love and light. One cannot be in the light and yet hate his brother. John goes further, we might say, in chapter 3.15, when he says, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." He does not say that no murderer has eternal life, but he says that no murderer hath eternal life "abiding in him." All members of the Body of Christ are in Christ and have Christ in them the hope of glory (Colossians 1.24-27), but many such may not be abiding in Him (John 15.4,5). "Brother" here is not a brother in the flesh, but one who is a brother by the new birth, so that a child of God may live in the darkness because of his behaviour. In contrast to this, a brother who loves his brother abides in the light, and his correct and praiseworthy behaviour gives no occasion for anyone to stumble. But one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and like a blind man knows not whither he goes, for he is blinded by the darkness of his own wickedness. 1John2v12 Little children are not expected to know much, but they should know this quite clearly, that their sins are forgiven through (Dia, by means of) His name. The infinite value of the name (which signifies the Person) of the Redeemer is the ground of divine forgiveness. 1John2v13,14 Whilst the children know that which is recent in their experience, even the forgiveness of their sins, the knowledge of the fathers stretches back over the ages to Him who was from the beginning, but who had been manifested, as in 1 John 1.2. It is precious to hear the exuberant joy of those newly born again over the fact that their sins are forgiven, but it is pitiful when fathers make no advance from that state, in whose soul there are no deeper soundings of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. "That I may know Him" was the yearning of Paul at the end of his life as it had been at the beginning (Philippians 3.7-12). Young men should be the warriors, those who join issue with the evil one. Those who are here addressed had been in the battle and had overcome the devil. "The evil one" describes one who is utterly bad; one who gives no quarter. In any battle with him it is war to the death. The devil may flee (James 4.7) but let not the Christian soldier think he will escape if he should flee from him. There is no armour for the soldier's back. We have in these verses the subdivision of God's children into children, fathers and young men. John says, "I write," and, again, "I wrote." The little children whose sins were forgiven know or have knwon the Father. The Spirit of His Son has come into their hearts, whereby they cry, "Abba, Father" (Romans 8.15; Galatians 4. 6). Fathers are again said to know or have known Him which is from the beginning. The young men were strong because of the Word abiding in them, and by the power of the Word they had overcome the evil one. Satan cannot stand before what is written in the Word of God. When the Lord said, "It is written", three times in the temptation, Satan's power of deception utterly failed. As light dispels darkness, so truth overcomes error. "No lie is of the truth" (Chapter 2.21). Young men should diligently read the Word, store their minds with the sacred writings, so that when the day of battle and war with the evil one comes it may find them prepared for the fight. But if in time of peace they have squandered their time on questionable employments they may be found quite defenceless against the foe. 1John2v15,16 Why should children of God direct their affections towards and set their love upon such a heartless thing as the world? It has no heart to return any love bestowed upon it. Its pleasures and its things have an appeal to the carnal and material, but afford no satisfaction, no pleasure to the soul in its higher and spiritual life. It can never minister to the human spirit which, freed from the bondage of sin, stretches its hands upward to grasp heavenly and eternal things. The Lord's sheep who seek their pasture in the world's fields are grazing among weeds which are poisonous to spiritual life, where there are but the pleasures of sin which are but for a season. Of old, Moses turned away from these. Upon the palace and upon all that the world had then to offer, he turned his back and set his face towards the brickfields, the wilderness, and, above all, toward God. The world of the Pharaohs has disappeared, save in the mummified relics of a glory which has passed away, but that Moses, who despised the world, its glory and its gifts, lives on in the imperishable record of the divine Scriptures, the first part of which he wrote 'midst the wastes of the Sinaitic desert. Men who went outside the world system of their day wrote the Scriptures, and men who would read and understand these writings must go outside the world system of their time. The truths of the Bible can never mix with the world, and to obey its words we must be prepared to "go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Hebrews 13.13), for no one was ever more truly outside the world system than the Lord Himself. Two loves cannot exist in the same heart, just as no man can love and serve two masters, or love equally two women at the same time, as witness the life of Jacob. If children of God love the world, they cannot love the Father. The world and God being two opposites, the world hated the Father and the Son (John 15.24) and crucified the Son, and it hates the Lord's disciples. Then we are told what is in the world, (1) "the lust of the flesh," (2) "the lust of the eyes," and (3) "the vainglory of life." These three things are seen in Eve's temptation and sin, and in the Lord's temptation without sin. (1) It is said that "the woman saw that the tree was good for food." In the Lord's temptation the tempter said, "If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." "If" here is not the if of doubt, but the premise of an argument, for the devil knew well who He was, and it had been plainly declared in the hearing of the devil in the Father's words at the Lord's baptism, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3.17). The Lord could not be tempted as God or the Son of God in the wilderness, for the Divine nature cannot be tempted of evil things (James 1.13); He was tempted as Man, as His reply clearly shows: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Where Eve failed in rejectng the Word of God, the Lord triumphed by means of God's Word. (2) It is told us in Luke that the devil led the Lord up (the R.V. leaves out "an high mountain" as in the A.V., though it is given in Matthew) and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Was ever such worldly glory and power flashed before the eyes of man in a moment of time, before or since? We believe, never! All this the devil claimed as his, and that he had power to give it to whomsoever he would (we may well, I think, doubt his claim), and all this would be the Lord's on one condition only, if He would worship before the devil. The bait which many myriads have greedily swallowed was utterly and immediately rejected by the Lord, who said, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." But Eve in her innocence looked and took and fell, for the forbidden fruit "was a delight to the eyes." How easily she was fascinated! Colour schemes are still fashionable and fascinating to her daughters. We need to be careful about what we allow our eyes to see, for it is well to remember that the eye is but the lens of the mind and scenes and pictures may be fixed indelibly for life on the mind which may be a deadly menace to spiritual life. Let us guard against having wandering eyes and a wandering mind. Remember that you cannot see clearly through glass which is dipped into a filthy pool, and you cannot have purity of thought where the mind is defiled by thngs the believer should not look upon. Was there ever a day such as the present when the lust of the eyes is catered for in ever increasing volume? (3) Then as to the vainglory of life, we are told that when the woman saw that "the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." Earthly, natural, sinful wisdom burst in upon the minds of the guilty pair. The bait of the serpent was swallowed - "for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods (Mg.), knowing good and evil." Was ever the glory of innocence so despised? and in the hand which so easily gave it up was placed only vainglory! Pure gold was given up for tinsel. Inward peace, like the surface of a lake on which is reflected the glory of heaven, was given away for a dark, storm-tossed, condemned conscience, which knew what was right to do but had no power to do it. Such was the plight of man by the fall and such it is still. In contrast to this, the devil led the Lord to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle, the wing or edge of the temple. Here again he repeats, "If Thou art the Son of God," and encourages Him in vainglory to presume upon divine providence, wrongly quoting from Psalm 91.11,12, by leaving out the words that are vital to the whole passage - "to keep Thee in all Thy ways." The Son of God needed no angelic keeping, or ministration, as He received in the garden of Gethsemene (Luke 22.43), but the Son of Man was ministered to and kept by angels in the weakness of His Manhood (Matthew 4.11), even as saints are the object of angelic ministration (Hebrews 1.14). The Son of Man was not vainglorious to cast Himself down into the Kidron valley, to do what God had never told Him to do, and so He said again, "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." He, the Man Christ Jesus, is our example in all temptation; adherence to what is written is the sure defence against all the wiles of the devil. The flood-gates of sin and misery were opened upon the human race by the rejection of and disobedience to the Word of God, but the flood-gates of mercy were opened by the obedience of the Lord, obedience which was unto death, the death of the Cross. Let us be fully persuaded that all that is in, and is characteristic of, this world-system, which is not of the Father, and its lust for power and hatred of what is right, were truly manifested when it rejected the Father's Son, the Prince of Life. Remember, the friendship of the world is enmity with God (James 4.4). 1John2v17 Here we have what is passing and what is permanent, what pas{es with the using, and what remains by the doing. The world is like the daily newspaper, with its reports of the actions of men in the flesh, and is but fit material to kindle the fire with the next day; but he who reads the Bible and keeps what is written therein is as abiding and permanent as the Bible. "The Word of the Lord abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1.25). "He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." The latter acquires his permanence from the former. 1John2v18 The closing days of the apostolic period were days in which many false teachers arose among God's people, and others crept in privily, as we learn from the epistles to Timothy, 2 Peter, Jude, and the Revelation, who made havoc of the work of God, a havoc more deadly in character than that of Saul of Tarsus, who laid waste the church of God in Jerusalem. He persecuted the saints, but he did not corrupt them as these antichrists did. The work of the antichrist is in part told us in Daniel 11.32,34: "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he pervert (corrupt, A.V.) by flatteries: but the people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. And they, [the teachers of the people (R.V. marg.)], shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days." Then later we read, "But many shall join themselves unto them with flatteries. And some of them that be wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end" (verses 34,35). Flattery, the praise of insincerity, is a deadly form of deception plied by those who are tools of the devil. Many have been caught in this spider's web and have never escaped therefrom. It is a bait to which the flesh takes readily. The savage times described by the Lord in Matthew 24.4-14 will be days of great peril, but 'midst the foul flatteries on the one hand, and the violent martyrdoms on the other, there will be a people led by men of enlightenment, grit and courage, who will teach and instruct the people at the peril of their lives, and will yield not an inch of truth in the midst of the frightful turbulence and deceptions of the days of antichrist. Let us, like them, stand against the perils and evil teachings of our own day, for if John's time was the last hour, the clock of eternity is quickly approaching the last minutes of that hour. 1John2v19 Where had the antichrists arisen, as stated in verse 18? Acts 20. 30 supplies the answer: "From among your own selves (the elders) shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." The antichrists arose in the churches of God; they sowed their poisonous doctrines and overthrew the faith of some (2 Timothy 2.17,18), and then out they went with their followers. Thus sect after sect appeared in the first century and after, each with its own peculiar blend of poison, each pernicious and deadly. The verse says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us." The doctrines of men (Matthew 15.9) and of demons (1 Timothy 4.1) cannot mix with the doctrine of the apostles (Acts 2. 42). Thus the false teachers, the antichrists, went out from among the Lord's faithful disciples, and it became manifest what they were. As it was then, even so it is now. 1John2v20 Peter speaks of Jesus of Nazareth being anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power (Acts 10.38). Saints also are anointed with the Holy Spirit; "Now He that stablisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 1.21,22). Paul writes in Ephesians 1.13,14, "Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance." Thus the gift of the Holy Spirit to all believers in Christ is an anointing, and by His teaching (John 16.13,14) we shall be guided into all the truth, know things that are yet to come, and have declared to us the things of Christ. The condition laid down by the Lord is, "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know (Ginosko, to learn) of the teaching" (John 7.17). Note, in contrast, the use of know (Oida, to see), which means, not to learn, but to know, to see. By the Spirit's anointing men who are but babes see things hidden from the wise (Matthew 11.25). 1John2v21,22 By the revelation of the Spirit, by the anointing of the Holy One, they knew (Oida, to see) the truth, and it was because they knew the truth that John wrote to his dear little children that they might be warned against existing lies and liars, for, says he, "no lie is of the truth." Lies and the truth can never unite. It is ever the devil's aim to coat his lies with a semblance of truth, even as he seeks to fashon himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11. 14). Who is the liar? The answer is, the antichrist. Why? because antichrist and antichristian teaching deny that Jesus is the Christ and deny the Father and the Son. The truest definition of who Jesus is was made by Peter when he said who he believed the Son of Man to be, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16.16). All who believe in Him as such are born again, and are members of His Body, the Church, against which the gates of Hell cannot prevail. This is not the Romish church nor any other of the so-called churches of Christendom, but one composed of all believers in Christ throughout this whole dispensation of grace until the Lord comes. Who is Christ? He is, as to His manhood, "the Son of David." This answer the Jews gave, when asked by the Lord, "What think ye of the Christ? whose Son is He?" But they were silent, and are to this day, when the Lord asked the further question, "How then doth David in the Spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, sit Thou on My right hand, till I put Thine enemies underneath Thy feet. If David then calleth Him Lord, how is He his Son?" Christ is David's Lord as well as David's Son. He is both God and Man. But in what sense is God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son? The ancient and misleading statement, "Holy Mary, mother of God," is still the central pillar of the religion of myriads, the logic of which is that Jesus is God, and Mary is the mother of Jesus, hence the illogical conclusion that she is the mother of God. Did Jesus become God by being born of Mary? No, certainly not, for He was God in the beginning (John 1. 1). There is not, and never was, motherhood in the Godhead, but in the Godhead there is both Fatherhood and Sonship. Women are not the mothers of gods, even though both men (judges) (Exodus 21.6) and angels (Psalm 8.5) are called in Hebrew Elohim (God plural). "Mothers of gods" is mythology and paganism, as is the statement, "Holy Mary, mother of God." The Scriptures are ever careful, when speaking of the Lord in His manhood, to use the words "according to the flesh" (Kata Sarka) (Romans 1.3; 9.5). The same considerations arise in the case of those who hold that Christ became the Son of God through His birth of Mary in Bethlehem. If this is so, then the whole argument of Paul as to the Person of Christ disappears, for the One who is the theme of the gospel which He preached is God's Son, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and who is declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness. "According to the flesh" and "according to the spirit of holiness" describe the two natures of Christ as Man and as God, Son of Man and Son of God. Who was born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem? The answer is, One who was to be called the Son of the Most High and the Son of God. Did He become the Son of God by that birth? He no more became the Son of God by that human birth according to the flesh than He became God by that birth. He became the Son of David by that birth. To Him shall be given the throne of His father David (Luke 1.32-35), for He is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham (Matthew 1.1) and also the Son of Man (Adam) (Psalm 8.4; Hebrews 2.6-8) in His manhood. But to confuse His manhood with His Godhood and to confound His being the Son of God from eternity, before all ages, with His being born the Son of Man in time, is a fatal mistake and a heresy of the worst kind. What happened at His incarnation was that He, the eternal Son, of uncreated essence and nature took the body womb of His mother, a body of created substance of which God had prepared for Him (Hebrews 10.5-7). Psalm 40.6, "Mine ears hast Thou opened (digged)", prepared in the blood and flesh In contrast to Hebrews 10.5 follows exactly the LXX rendering of this psalm, "A body didst Thou prepare for me." Human ears demanded a human body in which the will of God, which He heard with His ears, might be done. Jesus Christ is One person, not two beings, a Man called Jesus, and God the Son. He is One Person, the Son of God, only begotten and eternal, who became Man by a human birth according to the flesh. The Word, who was fully and truly God in the bginning (John 1.1), became flesh in time (John 1.14), and was "manifested in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3.16) "for your sake" (1 Peter 1.20). To say that the Lord became the Son of God by His human birth is utterly wrong, and heretical, and antichristian. If God had no eternal Son, then God the Father is not the eternal Father. The Fatherhood of God and the eternal Sonship of Jesus Christ stand or fall together. 1John2v23 Anyone who says that the Lord's Sonship as the only begotten Son began with His birth in Bethlehem has denied the Son and consequently he has not the Father. This would make the Fatherhood of God date from the incarnation, whereas it says, "When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4.4). From whence did God send Him forth? From His presence in heaven undoubtedly. The Lord Jesus said, "I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father" (John 16.28). Note that it was One called the Father from whom the Son came out, before He came into the world. Also, "God sent forth His Son," and this sending forth was prior to His being born of a woman. Again it is said, "Because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts" (Galatians 4.6). "Sent forth" in reference to the Spirit is the same Greek word as "sent forth" (Exapesteilen) in regard to the Son: it literally means to send out from some person or place. The Son came out, because He was sent out from the Father. To deny such plain facts in relation to the Father and Son is to deny them both; this is the spirit of antichrist. But he that confesses the Son hath the Father also. 1John2v24,25 What these believers had heard from the beginning of their spiritual lives was that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God, the only begotten Son of God in whom they had believed, and in whom and from whom they had received eternal life (Matthew 16.16; John 3. 16;10.27-29). If this divine truth were abiding in them, then they would abide in the Father and the Son, and the promise which the Son had promised to all who believed was theirs. Without this life all are dead in trespasses and sins. 1John2v26,27 The business of these false teachers, these antichrists, was to lead God's little children astray, that is, to make them wander. They had wandered from the truth themselves and they could but make those that hearkened unto them wanderers also. Thus Solomon wrote long ago, "The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall rest in the congregation of the dead" (Proverbs 21.16). The noun "anointing" (like the Greek word Pneuma, spirit) is a neuter noun, hence the definite article and pronoun must be in the neuter gender. Thus we have "as it taught you"; but it must not be concluded that either Chrisma, "anointing," here, and Pneuma, "spirit," elsewhere, used of the Holy Spirit, describes things, because in the correctness of grammatical usage, the neuter pronoun is used both in Greek and English. (See 1 Peter 1.11 and Romans 8. 26 R.V., etc.) The anointing is the Holy Spirit whom we have received, and He is our gracious Teacher, and never at any time does He depart from the truth. He is the Spirit of truth (John 14.17; 16.13), hence He is true and is no lie. Men often depart from the truth, but the blessed Spirit of God never does. He can and will teach God's children, if they are submissive to His will, without the aid of human instruments, but He uses human teachers, as we learn from Ephesians 4.11-13, for the perfecting of the saints in their edification, so that they might attain to unity of the faith, and the full knowledge of the Son of God, unto full growth. The condition necessary to the spirit's teaching is that we abide in Him, the Lord Jesus. Whether we are submissive to the Spirit's teaching or not, one thing is here and elsewhere taught, that the Spirit or the anointing abides in us. The Spirit willnot leave believers though He may be grieved and even quenched in them. 1John2v28,29 Abiding in Him is conditional, whereas being "in Christ," as in 2 Corinthians 5.17, etc., is unconditional for the believer. We are responsible to abide in Him. The R.V. says "If He shall be manifested," but the A.V. gives "when He shall appear" or be manifested. The difference arises from whether it should be "If (Greek Ean) He shall be manifested" or "when (Greek Hotan) He shall be manifested." Alford, who favours Ean, suggests that to give the sense it might be rendered "in our time," though he does not favour the words appearing in the text. There is no doubt about the Lord's coming, the only doubt existed as to whether He would come when those in John's time were alive, and the same doubt exists in our day. The following is the note I made before I read Alford. It may, however, be that the measure of doubt in "if He shall be manifested" may mean if He is manifested during our lifetime, for undoubtedly the exhortation here refers to the attitude of living saints on earth, for the condition of having boldness and not being ashamed before the Lord at His coming or presence refers to the employments of saints on earth at that time and not to saints who are with Christ. It may, alas! be that the Lord's coming may take many unawares, for some may be occupied with things and be in places which are quite inconsistent with being brought face to face with Him. Will not shame burn deeply in their bosoms and be seen in their faces then? Let us rather be doing what is right when He comes, for, given that we know that He is righteous (many wish ever to think of His love and grace and forget the attribute that He is righteous), we know that every one that does or practises righteousness is begotten of Him. Unregenerate persons cannot do what is right in God's sight. "There is none righteous, no not one. " "In this the children of God are manifested, and the children of the devil" (3.10). 1John3v1 Divine love is manifested in different ways. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3.16). It was in this way that the love of God was manifested in our case (1 John 4. 9). God the Father also loves those who love the Son and obey His commandments (John 14.21;16.26,27). "Christ ... loved the Church and gave Hmself up for it" (Ephesians 5.25). "God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9.7). But here, in the verse above, it is the Father's love for His children, a love which He bears to all believers, which He has bestowed upon them, in that they are His own children begotten by Him. How precious and how close is this relationship! We are not merely called children of God, but we are such. Then we are told that because the world knew not the Lord to be the Son of God (John 1.10), even so the world knows not believers as children of God. God's work is in mystery now; shortly His work will be seen in manifestation. 1John3v2 Here John repeats the fact that even now, while yet in mortal body, we are children of God. Then the A.V. says, "When He shall appear, " proclaiming the certainty of the Lord's coming, but the R.V. gives "if He shall be manifested" as in chapter 2.28 (see note thereon), the meaning being, if He shall be manifested during our lifetime. The passage indicates this, and especially so verse 3, in which saints are contemplated as purifying themselves, which cannot apply to saints in Christ who are with Christ. The manifestation of the Lord here is to His saints, not His revelation to the world, for when the Lord is revealed to men at His coming as the Son of Man there will be no bodily change in those who see Him, for every eye shall see Him. But when the Lord is manifested to His own they will take on His likeness as dewdrops on the grass shine and sparkle in the light of the rising sun. Then His youth, young men, shall be to Him as the dew in the beauties of holiness, fresh from the womb of the morning (Psalm 110.3). In the darkness of the present night saints are unseen and unknown, but in the dawn of the eternal day, in His glory they shall shine for ever. In the Lord's coming agian the Lord shall appear even as He now is on the throne of God as the glorified Man Christ Jesus. There will be no veiling of His glory with the veil of His flesh as when He came at the first. This manifestation of Himself to His own even as He is "shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory" (Philippians 3.21). "For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8.29). How blessed, to see Him, to be like Him, and to be with Him for ever! 1John3v3 This quite clearly is moral purification. The hope of the imminence of the Lord's coming powerfully affects those who set this hope on Him. But in the measure in which we allow the thought of "My Lord tarrieth" (Matthew 24.48) to enter our hearts, we shall become lax, and may even engage in things which are very questionable for a Christian to do. But if we thought that the Lord is even at the door, how great would be the scurry to put away questionable employments! The Lord's purity is to be the standard and measure of our purity - "even as He is pure." He is ever the pattern in all things, and our conduct must in some sense be like His if we would walk with Him. 1John3v4,5 "Doeth sin" or practises sin shows the habit of the individual. "Doeth" is from the Greek word Poieo, which means "to make, form, construct." It shows the disposition of the mind to make and to do evil. The act of sin of which John writes in Chapter 1, which arises from the corruption of the flesh in us, is what we hate and detest. Such as practise sin practise lawlessness, for in its nature sin is lawlessness, a word frequently rendered iniquity; it means being without law. When the Lord came to earth the chief purpose of His coming was to be the Sin-bearer. In John 1.29 we are told, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (original sin). In 1 John 3.5 He lifts, bears and takes away sins, not sin. He has taken away our many sins, and the sins of countless myriads. But in the Sin-bearer there is no sin, and never was, and, moreover, He did no sin (1 Peter 2.22). 1John3v6 Here is the sovereign remedy against practising sins of intent, even by abiding in Him. But whosoever practises sin, makes it in the mind and practises it through the flesh, has not seen (Horao, "to see, discern, take heed"; this need not be confused with Oida often used "to see by divine revelation") Him, and knoweth (Ginosko, "to learn, acquire knowledge, find out, come to a knowledge of") Him not. This verse does not teach that such as practise sin have never been saved, but that they have not seen or discerned the Person of the Lord and His sinless character and ways and consequently have not learned of or from Him who said, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of (or from) Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11.29). Paul says, "But ye did not so learn Christ; if so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus" (Ephesians 4.20,21). So knowing, seeing and abiding in Him is the cure against practising sin. 1John3v7,8 At a time when men were bringing in destructive teaching, the practice of which led to loose living, and others were turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, it was necessary for faithful men to warn the saints against the wiles of the times and to show that the practice of righteousness was of first importance. John repeats here the warning against God's children being led astray or made to wander. Righteousness here is the practice of doing right, not imputed righteousness. This is what James calls being justified by works (James 2.21); a man is not only to be justified by faith, but also by works, the latter should follow the former, but should never be confused with it (James 2.17-26). The devil sins and has sinned from the beginning. His profound intellect is engaged in the forming of sin and doing it without cessation. Not one good thought has filled his mind since he sinned and fell. He who follows a similar course to that of the devil, forming sin and practising it, is of the devil. To be "of the devil" is as to the conduct of the person in view. Alas, a believer may so allow the devil to dominate him through sin in the flesh that he exhibits nothing of the divine likeness. The Son of God was manifested to take away sins, but He was not manifested to take away the sins of the devil, but to destroy the devil's works. The devil's vast schemes and plans, his works involving the employment of vast hosts of wicked spirits and of evil men, will one day crumble to dust. For "the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth" (Isaiah 24.21). The cause of the complete destruction of the devil's works is Calvary, even as the Lord said, "Now is the judgement of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself" (John 12.31,32). The loud cry of the Lord, "It is finished," has shaken the devil's works and kingdom to their foundation and in due time the Lord will march in triumph to claim His own. 1John3v9 This describes the believer as to his new nature even as 1 John 1. 8-10 describes what is true as to his old nature. As "the old man, " the flesh, is ever evil and evil-doing, the new man, the true and real self of the person who is begotten again, does no sin and cannot sin, because God's word, the seed by which he was begotten again (1 Peter 1.23-25), remains in Him. Thus there is in all believers, the carnal part which is yet in his flesh, which is sinful and sinning and must be mortified or made dead (Colossians 3. 5), if the believer is to enjoy peace; and there is the spiritual part, for the believer, as to his real self, is no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Romans 8.9), and cannot sin. If it were possible for the person who is begotten again to sin, in the sense of which John is writing here, then he would have become a sinful, fallen creature and would require to be born again. But there is no such thing in the Scriptures as being born again, and again, and again, as some of those teachers of the falling away doctrine would have people believe. If one new birth is not suffficient, then there is not another new birth spoken of anywhere in Scripture, and the person who has fallen away (if this were possible) is doomed; hell would be his portion. Fortunately, however, no such doom awaits the person who is born again, for he cannot sin. 1John3v10 Though the child of God has many a struggle within himself with the flesh and its works, and casts many a weary glance forward and upward to that day when he shall be delivered from "the body of this death" (Romans 7.24,25), the day of adoption and the redemption of his body (Romans 8.23), yet as to his conduct among men he is seen to be different from them, because of the new and eternal life that is in him, by being exemplary and godly in his behaviour. In this way the children of God are manifest. Let it be quite clear that a child of God does not become a child of God or a Christian by the life he lives, but that he lives the new life because he is a child of God. No one can live as a child of God who is not a child of God. As the children of God are manifest by their behaviour, so also are the children of the devil manifest by their behaviour, each manifests who his father is. Sometimes the devil's wolves put on sheep's clothing, and in other cases the Lord's sheep cannot very clearly be identified. The devil cannot change the nature of his children, but he may fashon the outward appearance to the exact opposite of what is within, even as he may fashon himself into an angel of light, though inwardly he is the prince of darkness, and his ministers also may fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, and well does the apostle add, "whose end shall be according to their works" (2 Corinthians 11.14,15). We are told in the above verse of two things which show that a person is not of God, (1) "whosoever doeth not righteousness," and (2) "he that loveth not his brother." We ask, Is it possible for a believer not to love his brother? We must, alas! say, "Yes, it is possible." If it were impossible, why the instruction to love the brethren and not to hate them? So also it is possible for a believer not to practise righteousness, that is, "doing what is right." Thus we must come to the conclusion that to be "of God" and to be "begotten of God" are two quite different things. The one has to do with conduct, and the other with birth. The conduct of a child of God may be very different from what it ought to be. 1John3v11,12 The command and exhortations to love one another are the most common in the teaching of the Lord and His apostles. Those who were written to had heard this divine message from the beginning. The conduct of Cain is held up as a warning to those who would hate their brethren. Why did Cain hate Abel and kill him? The answer is that he had listened to the voice of the evil one and had rejected the word of God. Hence it could not be otherwise than that his works were evil. Abel in contrast had accepted and acted upon the word of God, and as a result his works were righteous. So God and the evil one came into collision in these two brothers. Thus because Abel did what God commanded and so condemned his brother for his disobedience, Cain slew him in hatred and malice. 1John3v13,14 The Lord warned His disciples of what would be the atttiude of the world towards them. "If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15.18, 19). The more unworldly and the more godly a believer is, the more will he be hated by the world. The Lord said in His prayer in John 17.14, "I have given them Thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Whereas we were at one time amongst those who hated the brethren, the children of God, but now, because we ourselves have been born again, we love those we once hated. This love assures us that that great change has taken place, that we have passed from death unto life. But should a believer degenerate into a carnal condition and hate his brother, then he abideth in death, and is in the darkness. "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in the darkness even until now" (1 John 2.9). Life, love and light form a trinity in John's writings, as do death, hatred and darkness. 1John3v15,16 Thought is the parent of action, hatred the parent of murder, lust the parent of adultery. A person does not need to commit adultery to be an adulterer, he can be one in heart before the act is committed (Matthew 5.27,28). So also one who hates his brother is a murderer in thought and intent. Note that it does not say that no murderer has eternal life, but that no murderer has "eternal life abiding in him." It is possible for one to be in Christ, which describes the unchangeable relationship of all believers of this dispensation to Christ (2 Corinthians 5.17; Romans 16.7), and yet for that person not to abide in Him (John 15.4-7). Having eternal life abiding in one means that that eternal life, the new life of the believer, is controlling his thoughts and actions, but if the new life is not actuating him he will be found thinking and acting according to the flesh. Divine love is seen in action in the great fact that the Lord laid down His life for us. He is the pattern of behaviour for believers towards each other, that where need exists love goes the length that we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. The words of Paul in Hebrews 10.32-35 show how the Hebrews in their early days shared in each other's sufferings. There have been many examples of this divine love operating in saints in all ages. Paul expressed it thus: "Yea, and if I am offered (poured out as a drink-offering, R.V.marg.) upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all" (Philippians 2.17). 1John3v17 Here is a practical test of love. James speaks of right acting towards a needy brother as an act of faith, for he says that "faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself" (James 2.17). As James speaks of meeting the need of the needy as a work of faith, John speaks of it as a labour of love. The Greek for "the world's goods" is Bios. This word means "life, i.e. the present state of existence," and consequently applies to the substance or sustenance to maintain that state of existence. The word is derived from Bia, force, impetus. The widow of Mark 12.44 cast into the treasury all her living (Bios), all her means of sustenance. Well does John ask how the love of God can be abiding in one who sees his brother in need and has no compassion to assist him! Love, like faith, is intensely practical. They show themselves in deeds not words. 1John3v18 Paul speaks of the tongue in 1 Corinthians 13, the most beautiful treatise on love which was ever written. He says, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal." He says, among other things, that love is kind, which means the bestowal on someone of what is useful and profitable to them. Kindness is one of the excellencies of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22,23). Such as love with the tongue are often little better than a beast which licks its prey before it devours it. Love speaks in its actions, actions in truth which are the expression of the heart. Let love be seen in action and it is soon identified. 1John3v19,20 "Hereby" refers back to the previous verse, namely, to loving "in deed and truth," for in this we know we are of the truth. One who does not love in deed and truth will eventually find himself where the truth is not held and obeyed. Condition of heart will manifest itself. We cannot persuade or assure our own heart if we are not acting aright, and such as go on with a condemned heart will manifest themselves. God is greater than our heart and knows all, and if our own heart condemn us, how will we stand before God, an infinitely greater Judge? 1John3v21,22 How can we, if our heart condemns us, have boldness in prayer before God? Is this not the cause of so many prayerless and powerless lives? Believers are found indulging in things which are either positively wrong or very questionable, and the result is, they have no boldness before God (Parrhesia, "freedom in speaking, boldness of speech"). Like a condemned criminal in court, they are silent because they are condemned in their heart. But if our heart condemns us not, then we have boldness toward God, and what we ask we receive from Him. What we ask may come at once or it may not come for a long time, but, as has been well said, "delays are not denials. " We have to learn the meaning of the parable the Lord spake when he exhorted that men ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luke 18. 1-8). All prayers that God hears He will answer in His own time and way. It is ours to pray, but we must leave the answering to Him. He knows best what to do, and when to do it. Praying and the answering of prayer are conditioned upon, "because we keep His commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in His sight." 1John3v23,24 We have in this verse "His commandment" and "His commandments." His commandment is twofold, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another. The one flows out of the other, on the principle that "whosoever loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him." The R.V. margin says, "believe the name." which is literally according to the Greek wording, but the dative case, I judge, implies "believe in (or on) the name." Here John reveals who abide in Him, that is in His Son, and the Son in him, even such as keep His commandments, and this inward assurance that He abides in us is by the Spirit that He gave us. This assurance which is ours of abiding in Him and He in us, is through the indwelling Spirit. The Spirit also gives assurance of salvation, for "the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God" (Romans 8.16). 1John4v1 Here John returns to the same theme as in chapter 2.18-23, to the antichrists who, he says, "went out from us." Some seem to think that because men may be born again evil spirits cannot speak by their mouths. If Satan could speak by the mouth of Peter, as he did, when the Lord said to Peter, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumblingblock unto Me" (Matthew 16.23), it is no difficulty for evil spirits to speak by the mouths of professing children of God, who lay themselves open to this possibility by following heretical teaching. Indeed the Spirit said expressly through Paul, that in later times some would fall away from the Faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. Men in hypocrisy would speak lies (1 Timothy 4.1,2). The evils of the early centuries of this dispensation are well advanced in our time. The heresies of the early days are masquerading in a different guise under various aliases, but the doctrines of demons are the same fundamentally. The exhortation given here should be followed, that the spirits that speak by men should be proved, tested by the Word of God. 1John4v2,3 We have here two spirits, (1) the Spirit of God, and (2) the spirit of antichrist; both are in the world and are actively engaged in using men as their instruments. In every case where men bear a true testimony that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, that Spirit is of God. But every one who confesseth not (the) Jesus, referred to as Jesus Christ come in the flesh, that spirit is not of God, but is of the antichrist. Jesus Christ is Man; He, the etrnal Word and Son of God, became flesh through the body of the Virgin, so that He might give His flesh for the life of the world (John 6.51), by suffering in the flesh (1 Peter 4.1). Thus He said, "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood (by faith) hath eternal life" (John 6.47-54). 1John4v4 He who is in you is God, I judge (see verses 13,15,16), and he that is in the word is the devil. Because God is greater than the devil, God's children had overcome the devil's servants, those through whom the spirit of antichrist was speaking. 1John4v5,6 How soon in this dispensation did Satan introduce, in Christendom, a counterfeit Christianity, but his teachings were of earth, not of God or heaven! The world received neither Christ nor His teaching. These false prophets and antichrists were of the world; their talk was of the world, therefore the world heard them. But in contrast, such as John and others were not of the world, and the Lord had given them God's word and the world hated them (John 17. 14); they were of God, and such as knew (Ginosko, to have assured knowledge of God, not simply persons who were born again) God heard (hearkened or listened to) them; whereas those who were not of God heard them not. By this, in those that hear and those that do not hear, we know (Ginosko, acquire knowledge of) the spirit of truth and the spirit or error. When the Lord said to Pilate that He had come into the world to bear witness unto the truth, and that "every one that is of the truth heareth My voice," Pilate said unto Him, "What is truth?" Pilate belonged to a deceptive world where truth, like the dove which Noah let out of the ark, found no resting place. Christ is the truth, and He said of the Scriptures, "Thy word is truth" (John 14.6; 17.17; 18.37,38). 1John4v7,8 Here again we have the oft-repeated exhortation to love one another. Love is of God. The world without natural love would be a jungle; indeed men and women seek to make it so, a place of tooth and claw where it is the survival of the fittest. God has from the beginning implanted natural love in the breasts of human beings; this gives a measure of sweetness to human existence in this life. Satan by many ways works on the lustful passions of men and women, and especially in these days by cinema, televison, novels, and other such like things and in other ways, to drive out the vestiges of natural affection from the hearts and homes of people, and to leave them with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes. The blessed Lord Jesus came to establish a deeper and truer love than that which was enjoined by the law of Moses, that man shuld love his neighbour as himself. He said, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you" (John 13.34). This divine love was to exist among the Lord's own and was to be the mark of discipleship. This love is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5.5), and great indeed is the consolation of this love in the Spirit (Philippians 2.1; Colosians 1.8). It flows freely in hearts in which the Spirit dwells ungrieved. It can be in those only who are begotten of God, and it operates in those who know God (Ginosko, such as have acquired a knowledge of God). The person who is barren of love knows not God, for God is love. This is a true description of the Divine Being; He is essential love; it is His very nature. It is also true that God is light, essential light, and in Him is no darkness at all. But we cannot say that love is God, or light is God, making that which is abstract of the Divine Being as though it were the Divine Being Himself. God is not simply loving, but He is love. 1John4v9 God's love was manifested "in our case" (R.V.margin) or, perhaps more literally rendered, "among" us, and that in the fact that He sent His only begotten Son into the world. The words of this passage and many others would lose their meaning if we should interpret them as teaching that He sent One who was not His Son to become His Son through incarnation at His coming into the world. The words plainly mean that He sent One who was, prior to this sending, His only begotten Son. To say other than this is a fatal error in interpretation and is actually heresy. The object of this coming was that we who were dead in trespasses and sins might live through Him, by receiving the Son and having the life that is in Him (Romans 6.23; 1 John 5.11,12). 1John4v10 We were lovelss, "living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another" (Titus 3.3). We were entirely barren of divine love, having no love in our hearts toward God, and were enemies of God (Romans 5.10; Colossians 1.21); yet in that state God loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for (Peri, concerning) our sins. Propitiation (Hilasmos, expiation) means to give satisfaction for, to pay the penalty for. It means the same as the making atonement by the blood of a victim according to the law of sacrifice under the Old Covenant. Only by the death of a sin offering was the sin of the sinner forgiven of old. Christ is our propitiatory victim today (Romans 3.24,25). Reconciliation must not be confused with propitiation. 1John4v11,12,13 The spring of all love is in that God has loved us. The channel of that love by which it reaches us is the gift of His Son. The power by which it flows is the Holy Spirit. If God so loved us, then that puts those who have received His love in the gift of His love under the obligation to love each other. If this is not so, then something has gone wrong. We should search and know what causes the lack of love. Though no one has ever beheld God, yet such is the marvel of divine grace, that if we love one another the unseen God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us, that is, it has reached its end or objective, in that we love God's children. Love is not perfected until it finds its expression in loving others. We would just be like a water main that is blocked, which is useless for its purpose until the blockage is removed and the water it receives from the fountain-head passes freely through. It is by the inward instruction of the Spirit, ungrieved within us, that we know that we abide in God and He in us. 1John4v14 As the Son was the Son before He was sent, we learn here that it was the Father who sent Him. If the Son became the Son by His Virgin birth, then the Father could not have been the Father when He sent Him. According to the view of some, He could not be the Father until the incarnation of His Son. What a tangle of human reason is this! Fatherhood and Sonship stand or fall together. We believe emphatically what the Lord Himself said, that the Son had a glory with the Father before the world was (John 17.5), and that the Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world (John 17. 24). The object of the Father in sending the Son was that He, the Son, should be the Saviour of the world; this is His character and God's purpose. Full provision is made for all in Christ. He died for all (2 Corinthians 5.15), gave Himself a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2.5,6), and tasted death for every man (Hebrews 2.9). 1John4v15,16 1 John 5.10,11, says, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him ... and the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." But here, in verse 15, it is not he that believeth, it is "whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God." Confess (Homologeo) means literally "to use the same language or words of another." Our confession of the Son of God is in using the words of the apostles and others, who in turn received them from the Lord, and He in turn from God (John 12. 47-50). If any one publicly confesses that Jesus is the Son of God he has more than eternal life, for God abides in Him, and he in God. This is wonderful indeed, and an encouragement to the public confession of the Son. John repeats what he says in verse 9 about the love God has had in us, or in our case, and also repeats that God is love, and adds that he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him. (1) If we love one another God abideth in us; (2) if we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, He abideth in us; and (3) if we abide in love, He abideth in us. This abiding in God and He in us calls for heart exercise on our part in regard to such matters. Believers who live careless, indifferent lives, indulging themselves in material and carnal pleasures, know nothing of God abiding in them and they in Him. 1John4v17 How happy a man was Paul when he said: "I know nothing against myself," but he wisely added, "yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord"! (1 Corinthians 4.4) Moses who was so well used to the presence of God and with whom the Lord spoke face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend (Exodus 33.11), said, "Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance" (Psalm 90.8). Yet despite our imperfections in this body of our humiliation (Philippians 3.21), in which we should know the plague of our own hearts (1 Kings 8.38), there may be perfect love in us by which we may have boldness in the day of judgement (at the judgement-seat of Christ) when "each man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire" (1 Corinthians 3.10-15). The judgement-seat of Christ is one of reward, not of punishment. All who are present there are persons who have been saved by grace, and though their works may be burned up, they themselves shall be saved, yet so as through fire. Boldness means freedom of speech, which comes from a heart that is uncondemned, the exact opposite of a convicted and condemned person who stands in silence. If saints keep before them that as He is in this world, the One who is despised and rejected of men, even so are they in this world, and take their place with Him in His rejection (Hebrews 13.12,13; 1 Peter 2.3-5), then they can look forward with joy to meeting Him and standing before Him in the day of judgement. That love for Him which led them to go outside the camp to Him will support their hearts in that day. 1John4v18,19 Phobos (fear) is derived from Phebomai, "to flee or run from, and signifies fear, terror, affright." This must be distinguished from that proper fear of God which is reverential fear, awe, veneration, which is akin to godliness. Very much is said in the Scriptures of that reverential fear of God which produces in those who fear Him the worship of God and a life of reverence of God. John is writing of fear as terror, by which love for their parents may be quite driven from children's hearts. Instead of love begetting love, cruelty produces terror, and they may tremble with fear when their parents come near to them. There is no terror in love. This is easily understood, and perfect love casts out terror. Instead of terror causing the saint to flee from God, as terror will cause the wicked to flee in the day of judgement (Revelation 6.12-17), the saint flees in all his troubles to God his Faher as a child does to a loving parent. But he that is affrighted at God is not made perfect in love. When our hearts condemn us not, we come to God as to our home and resting place. So said Moses of the righteous of all times: "LORD, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations" (Psalm 90.1). We love because He first loved us. The parent by love begets love in the heart of his child. 1John4v20,21 John is very forthright and definite when he says that a man is a liar who says he loves God and at the same time hates his brother. It would seem that in that deceptive day, as in this, there were those who claimed to be right in their hearts toward God, and yet were wrong in their behaviour toward their brethren. Inward condition is easily measured by outward behaviour. "Even a child maketh himself known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right" (Proverbs 20.11). The Lord said, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit" (Matthew 7.18). We may seek to cheat ourselves, but we cannot cheat God, nor even our neighbours. We always reveal what we are by what we do. We cannot be lovers of God who are not lovers of our brethren. God's commandment is "love God and love your brother." This is the same in principle as the meaning of the whole law and the prophets; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hangeth the whole law, and the prophets"; thus spake the Lord (Matthew 22.37-40). 1John5v1 How beautiful a thing on earth is that family where parents love their children and children love their parents, and the children love each other! So God ordained it in the beginning. But how soon sin and Satan blasted family life! The pleasure that might be among God's children has been much destroyed by sin. First of all, in the verse above it is explained to us how we become children of God, by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who was promised in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1.1-4). Those who love the Father who begat them love also those that are begotten by Him. 1John5v2,3 Here is a very important consideration in the matter of love for God's children. We learn (Ginosko) that we love the children of God by loving God and doing His commandments. What can be more destructive of love in a family than children being disobedient to their parents? One of the characteristic evils of the apostasy of the last days is, "disobedient to parents" (2 Timothy 3.1,2). It is also one of the evils of the Gentile world (Romans 1.30). Under the law, a stubborn and rebellious son was stoned to death in Israel (Deuteronomy 21.18-21). The Lord said to His disciples, "If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments" (John 14.15). We are told here, that "this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. " Keeping His commandments is not a definition of the love of God, but is the effect of the love of God upon us and how it is manifested by us. Love which does not result in obedience to God's commandments is not true love. We are not to love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and truth (1 John 3.18). We are to love by doing. It is not difficult to obey God, for "His commandments are not grievous." Any difficulty that arises comes from disobedience. Disobedience ever spoils the picture, and dark indeed is the record of disobedience revealed in the Scriptures. 1John5v4,5 We have already seen that "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God" (5.1), and that "whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin ... and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God" (chapter 3.9), but in the verse above, it is not "whosoever" but "whatsoever is begotten of God." We know that in certain places of the Word men are called "things" as, for instance, in 1 Corinthians 1.27,28, and in Romans 4.17. But here in verse 4 it does not appear to be persons that are in view, but every thing begotten of God. Some have thought that this refers to a "church of God" which is truly as much "of God" as a child "of God" is, but I am doubtful of the correctness of this interpretation, for a church of God may be overcome by the world, as witness the letters to the seven churches of God in Rvelation 2 and 3. It seems rather to indicate whatsoever is begotten of God in a child of God by the operation of the Word and Spirit of God, whatsoever act of faith that is so produced in him overcomes the world. This thought seems to be reinforced by what follows, "and this is the victory that hath overcome the world (the apostle looks back to the past victory of faith), even our faith." Dr. Westcott in his notes on John's epistles, on this matter of "whatsoever is begotten of God," states "John chooses the abstract form in order to convey a universal truth. The thought is not so much of the believer in his unity, nor of the Church, but of each element included in the individual life and in the life of the society." This seems similar to the views expressed above, though in a much more scholarly way. It seems to me that what John is saying is, that each act of faith, produced in the believer by the Word and Spirit of God, overcomes the world; it rises supreme above all the world's forces. The same consideration arises when God's people act together in faith in the carrying out collectively what God has commanded them. We can look back to the victory of faith in the many of Hebrews 11, of the victory of men in the New Testament, and of the princely Leader and Perfecter of faith, and such victory as we ourselves may have won in a hostile world. Who is the overcomer? he only who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Though this defines who the overcomer is, it does not describe how the victory is won, nor does it describe the phase of evil the world has plied upon the believer in regard to which he has overcome. That the world may overcome one who does believe that Jesus is the Son of God is not in doubt, for, alas, the world has swallowed many believers as to their life of service for the Lord. 1John5v6,7,8 We do not tarry to speak of the three that bear witness "in heaven" (A.V.), which words eminent authorities say do not form part of the Holy Scriptures. Jesus Christ came to men "through" or "by means of" water (baptism) and blood (His death), not by water (baptism) only. He could never have reached us by baptism only, which is but a figure of death and resurrection (Romans 6.3-5); He had to undergo death in all its awfulness whereof He said, "I have a baptism to be baptized with: and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" (Luke 12.50; Mark 10.38). The Spirit has borne witness to such facts, even as the Lord said, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me: and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning" (John 15.26,27). The Lord said, "I am ... the truth" (John 14.6). "The Spirit is the truth" (verse 17). "Thy word is truth" (John 17.17), and God is the "God of truth" (Psalm 31.5). Woe unto those who challenge the Scriptures in any of their words, and who would make God, who cannot lie, a liar in any part of His inspired Word! Here is the sure foundation of faith, the living Oracles of God. There are three who bear witness, the Spirit, who came upon the Lord at His baptism (Matthew 3.16,17), and who came, as in Acts 2, as sent by the Son from the Father (John 15.26), the water (His baptism) and the blood (His atoning death), and these three are a perfect oneness in their testimony. 1John5v9,10 Here we have contrasted the witness of men and the witness of God. We receive continually the witness of men in their acting, speaking and writing, but God's witness must ever be greater than that of men, infinitely so. He has borne witness concerning His Son. In a lying world we can rest here with certainty and safety. Besides, he that believeth hath the witness in him, the witness of divine life, as stated later, but the unbeliever has made God a liar, by not believing the witness God hath borne concerning His Son. Into what responsibility and peril the unbeliever has launched himself in his unbelief to make the God of Truth a liar! Alas, there are many who do this. 1John5v11,12 The witness is that God gave us the life that is in His Son. This is what Paul says in Romans 6.23, "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," note "Through Jesus Christ," as in the A.V. Christ is the eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us (1 John 1.2). The reception of Christ the Son of God by faith implies tht we receive the life that is in Him and thus He becomes our life (Colossians 3.4). Many Scriptures clearly show that the believer has in possession now the gift of eternal life. He is one in life with Christ now and will shortly be one in glory with Him. Eternal life and immortality should never be confused. Eternal life is given to the sinner who believes, who has been dead in trespasses and sins, but though he has eternal life, he is still mortal, that is, subject to physical death. Mortal and immortal both relate to the body, never to the soul, in the New Testament. He who has the Son by faith has the life, and he who has not received the Son of God by faith has not the life. 1John5v13 The assuring words of the previous verses, that believers have eternal life, having received the Son by faith, are here reinforced. These things John wrote that they might know (Oida, see) that they have eternal life, the only condition being belief on (Eis,into) the name of the Son of God. To believe on the name is all one with believing on the Person who owns the name. The name and the Person are one and the same. How assuring this verse is to all who believe on the Son of God! 1John5v14,15 In chapter 3.22 the answering of prayer rests on the doing of God's will in the keeping of His commandments, but here it is conditioned upon asking for what is according to God's will to give; both things need to be borne in mind in asking from God. James says, "Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures" (James 4.2, 3). From such we gather that (1) we may cease to ask, (2) we may ask not may not amiss to squander God's gifts in an unworthy manner, (3) we may be doing God's will, and thus our condition is wrong, and (4) we not know His mind so as to ask according to His will. Have we felt, sometimes, as we listened to the prayers of some, like saying, "Ask something!" How needful for God to awaken us to our need and the need of others! Hannah when she prayed for a son wept sore, but when she knew that her prayer was heard she went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. In due time her prayer was answered and she called her son Samuel (asked of God). Hannahs and Samuels are needed in our time. If we subscribe to the conditions of doing God's will and asking according to His will, then God will hear us, and every prayer that God hears He answers in His own time and way. He said to Moses, when the latter requested, "Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan," "Speak no more unto Me of this matter" (Deuteronomy 3.25, 26). David, too, though he was told that his child by Bathsheba would die, "besought God for the child" (2 Samuel 12.14,16). Great men though these were, they prayed for what was not God's will to grant. Samuel, too, mourned for Saul and was asked by the LORD "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel?" (1 Samuel 16.1). In each of these cases God had revealed His will, and hence to ask what was contary to His will was wrong. 1John5v16,17 "Sin unto death," "unto" here is Pros, which with the accusative, as here, means, that to which anything tends. Sin in its nature is lawlessness (chapter 3.4), and all unrighteousness is sin, but all forms of sin are not of the same gravity; some sins are much worse than others. Adam's sin was unto death. King Saul's sin, by turning back from following the LORD in not fulfilling His commandment (1 Samuel 15.11), was unto death. The sin of the numbered men of the twelve tribes of Israel in refusing to enter the land of Canaan was sin unto death (Numbers 14.28-34). This serious event in the history of Israel is taken up in Hebrews (chapters 3 and 4) as a warning against failing to hold fast the boldness and glorying of the hope firm unto the end, and against falling away from the living God, which is sin unto death, as Hebrews 6.1-8 shows. Sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth (Hebrews 10.26-31) is sin unto death. What we have in James 5.19,20 is similar to what is contained in the above verse, about asking life for such as sin not unto death. "If any among you do err from (or is seduced from) the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from (Ek, out of) death, and shall cover a multitude of sins." Paul also speaks similarly in 2 Timothy 2.24-26 of the work of the Lord's servant in seeking to correct those that oppose themselves that they might recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. Let us ever fear to sin, and especially to sin this sin, of rebellious stubbornness against the will of God, which is sin unto death. In cases other than this we are to pray for, and seek, the restoration of such as go astray. 1John5v18 We have here the statement of chapter 3.9, repeated, but the cause of not sinning is different. In chapter 3.9 the reason given why one who is begotten of God cannot sin is because His (God's) seed (1 Peter 1.23-25) abideth in him. Here we are told that He who was begotten of God keepeth him. The whole analogy of Scripture supports "him" of the R.V. and not "himself" of the A.V., and in particular the words of the Lord in John 17.12. The Keeper of the souls of His saints is the Lord, He who was begotten of God, God's only begotten Son. He keeps the one who is begotten of God so securely that the evil one cannot even touch him to do him harm. 1John5v19 Here is a great contrast to what is stated in the previous verse. There, the one who is begotten of God is free from even the touch of the evil one, but here we are told that the whole world lies in the evil one, not in wickedness as in the A.V., although that is nevertheless true. Should we not be abundantly thankful for that love of God through which we are now His begotten children? 1John5v20 These three verses (18,19,20) begin with "we know" (Oida, see), a knowledge which is ours by revelation. We know the Son of God is come and hath given us understanding. "Who hath given understanding to the mind?" asked God of Job (Job 38.36). "The Lord" is the answer, and the same Lord came to give understanding to such as were "darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart" (Ephesians 4.18). The object in giving this understanding to the child of God is that he might "know (Ginosko, to acquire a knowledge of) Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ" (John 17.3). The believer has in the life which he has received the ability to know God. This is the true God, the Fathr, and Eternal Life, the Eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us (1 John 1.2) even the Son of the Father. Some, however, delete the definite article before "eternal life" and treat eternal life here as the revelation of God in Christ. About this there is much difference of mind. Many have even regarded the true God to be Christ. 1John5v21 In contrast to the heavenly and sublime teaching of John concerning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, idols are gross, dead, useless things. Paul said, "We know (Oida, see) that no idol is anything in the world." It is blind, deaf and dumb and suits the blind, deaf and dumb among men. "They that make them shall be like unto them; yea, every one that trusteth in them" (Psalm 115.8). Living saints need only the living God, but at the same time they need to guard themselves from idols. NOTES OF ON THE SECOND EPISTLE JOHN 2Johnv1,2 John writes of himself as "the elder," as he does in 3 John to Gaius. He does not claim to be an apostle in his wiritings. He writes to the elect lady and her children. We may safely follow the A.V. and R.V. text that lady (Kuria, the feminine of Kurios, lord) is correct, and not that it is Kyria, a proper name. We may also dismiss the thought that Kuria signifies a church that is addressed; if Kuria is the church, who can the children of the church be, for the children are distinct from Kuria? John loved this lady and her children in truth with a similar love to others who knew the truth, and for the truth's sake which abode in them and would be with them for ever. This shows a bond of affection existing amongst those who know the truth beyond that which is true of those who are begotten of God (1 John 5.1). We are told in John 8.31,32, "Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed Him, If ye abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Those who are sanctified (set apart) in Christ Jesus, Christ having become their sanctification, as He is their wisdom, righteousness, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1.2,30), should afterwards be sanctified in the truth, and for this the Lord prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth ... And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth" (John 17.17,19). The Lord walked a sanctified, separated path in this world and His example is our pattern. The will of God is "that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2.4). Some may be "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3.7). Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, "according to the faith of God's elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness" (Titus 1.1). But if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knwoledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins" (Hebrews 10.26), hence there is no forgiveness and restoration for such as wilfully sin against the truth. Those who have bought the truth should never sell it: "Buy the truth, and sell it not" (Proverbs 23.23). "The house of God, which is the church of the living God," is "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3. 15); it is where the truth is to be found. It was from the house of God of old that God sent forth His light and truth to lead men thither (Psalm 43.3,4). It was "out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth," and He said, "Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice" (Psalm 50.2,5). It will be even so in the millennium as in the past (Isaiah 2.3). Let us remember that the truth which we make our own now and which abides in us "shall be with us for ever. " May we have a heart to say like David, "Shew me Thy ways, O LORD; Teach me Thy paths. Guide me in Thy truth, and teach me; For Thou art the God of my salvation; On Thee do I wait all the day" (Psalm 25.4,5). 2Johnv3 This is not a salutation merely, but an assurance, that this excellent trio of blessings, grace, mercy, peace, shall be with us from both the Father and the Son, in truth, for it is no lie, and in love, for such is the attitude of Father and Son toward us. 2Johnv4 This verse further strengthens the thought that it is not a church that is addressed, but a lady, for John speaks that he found certain of (Ek out of) her children walking in truth. "Certain" though in italics in the R.V. is implied in the preposition Ek, "out of." The truth in which they walked was according to the commandment which they had received from the Father and not according to what they or others thought to be truth. Truth is to be found only in God's word. 2Johnv5,6 What John writes here to this lady, that love finds its true expression in those who are God's children in their obedience to His commandments, is what he wrote in 1 John 5.2,3, and this also the Lord taught from the beginning: "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me" (John 14.21). Some talk of loving God though they pay no heed to keeping His commandments. We need to learn to speak as the Lord and His apostles have spoken and not from a fleshly mind. Where there is no obedience to God there is no real love for Him. Let us learn that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. This is a corrective and sobering truth. 2Johnv7 In 1 John 4.2 we have the words, "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh"; this refers to His coming at His birth in Bethlehem. But here it is His coming again; He is the coming One in the flesh. He was raised in that body of flesh in which He died on the cross, whereof He said, "Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold Me having. And when He had said this, He shewed them his hands and His feet" (Luke 24.39,40). Those same hands He lifted up when He blessed them on the slopes of Olivet ere He returned to heaven: "He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven" (Luke 24.50,51). Two angels told the disciples, "This Jesus, which was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven" (Acts 1.11). He went to heaven in the flesh and shall so come again. The followers of Mrs. Mary Eddy (so-called Christian Scientists), and the followers of self-styled "Pastor" Russell (so-called Jehovah's Witnesses) and others, deny these facts of Holy Scripture and are deceivers and antichrists. 2Johnv8 It may be impossible to say with certainty whether it should read "we have wrought," that is, the divine doctrine which the apostles had so carefully taught, or "ye have wrought," the things which the elect lady and her children, and others, had wrought through their obedience to the truth contained in God's commandments. Their reward would be seriously affected if they turned away from the truth. A full reward would be affected if they lost the things the apostles had wrought or what they themselves had wrought. It gets back to the important matter of holding fast the truth which has been committed to us. This is what the Lord meant in Revelation 3. 11, "I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." One is reminded of the words of Boaz to Ruth, when he said, "The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou are come to take refuge" (Ruth 2.12). She had left her own land and people and god, and had come with Naomi to the land and people of Israel and, more than that, to the God of Israel. Hers was a great decision, and a great reward. 2Johnv9 The A.V. says "whosoever transgresseth," but the R.V. follows another reading of the Greek, Proago, which means "to go before," or "taketh the lead," R.V. Marg. We learn from this verse how vital it is to be sound in the teaching of Christ, for if we abide in the teaching we have both the Father and the Son. This is what the Lord Himself promised to His disciples if they were obedient to the words of the commission of Matthew 28.16-20, "Lo, I am with you alway (all the days), even unto the end of the world (age)." It is solemn indeed in the case of those who have taken the lead but not faithfully held to the teaching of Christ, and have in consequence led many out of the way. Such things abound on all sides. 2Johnv10,11 We cannot be faithful to the Lord and hospitable to destroyers of souls by their evil teaching. The comment of the apostle is clear; they are neither to be received into our homes nor are we to greet them as though we encouraged them in their evil works. If we love truth we shall hate evil. It becomes us to be like the Psalmist who says, "I hate every false way" (Psalm 119.104,128). 2Johnv12,13 To speak face to face, or more correctly "mouth to mouth" (Newberry, Mg.), is much the better way of communication at any time, but what would we have done without the permanent record contained in the letters of the apostles? Writing has an abiding value which conversation and oral ministry have not, however excellent these are at the time. We thank God for the inspired Scriptures. Writing at times may be irksome, but Paul said that to him it was not irksome and for the Philippians it was safe (Philippians 3.1), and we have in his writings safety too, by holding to them we are safe from falling. By John's letter, the children of the elect sister of this lady sent their salutation. It is a beautiful family greeting sent by the aged John to those who were not only relatives in the flesh, but also in the Lord. NOTES OF ON THE THIRD EPISTLE JOHN 3Johnv1,2 It may be quite impossible to say who this Gaius is, whether Gaius of Macedonia (Acts 19.29), Gaius of Corinth (Romans 16.23: 1 Corinthians 1.14), Gaius of Derbe (Acts 20.4), or another Gaius. It was presumably a common name in those days. He was evidently one who was well known to John and beloved by him and others; the words "whom I love in truth" are similar to his words of address to the elect lady of the former epistle. It was John's wish that his physical health and his prosperity might be equal to his soul's prosperity (Euodoomai, from Eu, good, Odos, way). Prosperity of soul is to be desired beyond all forms of prosperity. 3Johnv3,4 Elders worthy of that name must similarly rejoice when they hear of their fellow-elders and others walking in truth and not in error. The truth in which Gaius walked is called "thy truth," truth which this beloved brother had made his own, truth "which abideth in us, and it shall be with us for ever" (2 John 2). Gaius evidently had bought the truth. It is well when brethren can bear witness of each other's steadfast adherence to the truth. There is joy in heaven (and on earth too) over one sinner that repenteth (Luke 15. 7); there is joy over brethren walking in the truth (2 John 4) and there will be exceeding joy when the Lord sets us before the presence of the glory of God (Jude 24). To John the joy over the salvation of sinners was no greater than his hearing of his spiritual children walking in the truth. Often the former is so magnified above the latter as to make the latter of small importance. Let us hold a just balance in the things of God, for "A false balance is an abomination to the LORD" (Proverbs 11. 1). We are sure that John's balance in joy is correct, that there is no greater joy than that over children of God walking in the truth. 3Johnv5,6 Here we have a class of brethren who moved about from place to place in the work of the Lord, after the pattern set by the Lord and His apostles. The Lord "went about through cities and villages, preaching" (Luke 8.1). "Peter went throughout all parts" (Acts 9. 32). Paul said that "from Jerusalem, and round about even unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ" (Romans 15. 19). Gaius did a faithful work in his love for the Lord and His workers in caring for them, and as Titus in Crete was exhorted to "set forward Zenas the lawyer and Appolos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them" (Titus 3.13), even so John encouraged Gaius that he did well to set forward these servants of the Lord, who are described as "brethren and strangers withal," on their journey in a manner worthy of God. This manifest love of Gaius was borne witness to before the church where John was at that time. 3Johnv7,8 The difficult and often dangerous work of those days was undertaken by those men who had been called by the Lord to it, because of the love they bare to the Name, the name of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They went out not to be supported by wordly organisations or Gentiles or by gentilish ones, such as those who had to be treated as the Gentile and the publican (Matthew 18.17), that is, as persons outside the Fellowship. Those who preached the gospel and ministered the word were to be ministrered to by those in the Fellowship, as Paul ordained in the churches (1 Corinthians 9.9-14; 1 Timothy 5.17,18). John says in regard to these servants of the Lord, "We therefore ought to welcome such" (as well as set them forward on their journey worthily of God), "that we may be fellow-workers with the truth." 3Johnv9,10 Here we have a character the opposite of Gaius, namely Diotrephes, who loved to have the preeminence (Philoproteuo - to love to be first), not perhaps, because he was chief in spiritual growth or ability, but he was a place-seeker; he loved the chief place, like the Pharisees of former times, who loved chief seats in the synagogues, salutations in the market places, and to be called "Rabbi." Such a course was to be eschewed by the Lord's disciples, among whom the person with the least opinion of himself was in the Lord's view the greatest. The result of this pride of place in Diotrephes was that he refused to receive John or others of the Lord's servants, because their spiritual power would immediately challenge his opinion of the place he thought himself to be competent to fill. He not only would not receive them, but those who would he forbade, and cast those out of the church who dared to receive them. To what lengths does impudent pride go! The church here is, of course, not the Church which is His (Christ's) Body (Ephesians 1.22,23), but is the church of God (1 Corinthians 1.2). There were many churches of God in the days of the apostles, but there was and is but one Church, one Body of Christ. Diotrephes was not to be allowed to continue his lawless ways, for John anticipated a visit to the church where he was, when he would bring to remembrance his words and works. Such a state of things could not be allowed to continue in a church which was "of God." 3Johnv11 The English word "mimic" is derived from the Greek Mimetes, "an imitator." "to imitate" means "to strive to resemble." "Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 4.16: 11.1). Seek to have a good ensample or pattern to work to. "Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love" (Ephesians 5.1,2). "He that doeth evil hath not seen God," says John. He has not seen the perfect Pattern of all good, for, as the Lord said, "None is good save one, even God" (Mark 10.18). He is essentially good, others may be imitating His goodness and be relatively good. The Lord again said, "Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; that ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven: ... Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5.44-48). John's teaching here about doing good is in alignment with that of the Lord and John's fellow-apostles. 3Johnv12 Demetrius, of whom John says but little, had the witness of all and of the truth as to his well-doing, behaviour the exact opposite of the proud evil-doing of Diotrephes. 3Johnv13,14 What John had to write to Gaius about we may imagine, but we do not know. He said that it was not his will to write concerning many things. He hoped to come shortly, or immediately, and to speak with him mouth to mouth. He sends the Hebrew salutation of peace. The saints in the church where John was he calls friends (Philoi), and sends their salutation to Gaius, and the saints, the friends with Gaius were to be saluted by name, personally. NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE Judev1,2 Who Jude was who wrote this epistle cannot be dogmatically stated, whether he was the brother of James the brother of the Lord (Galatians 1.19), there being a James and a Judas among the Lord's brothers (Matthew 13.55), or whether he was an apostle, as there was also a James and a Judas among the apostles (Acts 1.13,14). James, the brother of John, was killed by Herod before the epistle of Jude was written (Acts 12.2). Jude does not call himself an apostle, but simply a bondservant, as also does James, the writer of the epistle of James. Jude writes to the called ones, who are also beloved (the A.V. says, "sanctified") ones in God the Father, and kept ones in (R.V. says "for") Jesus Christ. The Lord in John 17. 11, in view of His being about to die, prayed that the Father might keep them in "Thy name which Thou has given Me," which name is the name of Jesus, not "in Christ," in which name there is eternal security for all believers. "In Jesus" is a term in which we see saints on earth seeking to carry out the truth of God (Ephesians 4. 21; Revelation 1.9). In John 17.12 the Lord says that while He was with them He had been keeping them in that name, the name of Jesus. The Lord not only kept them, but He gaurded them. Here we have not only the thought of keeping or preserving His disciples in the matter of service, but also of guarding them in the matter of salvation, for as to eternal salvation all believers are in His hand and in His Father's hand, so that they can never perish (John 10.28, 29). Thus it was that the Lord said that not one of them perished, save the son of perdition; Judas was never one of His. I am of the view that "preserved in Jesus Christ," as in the A.V., is the correct rendering of Jude 1, and not "kept for Jesus Christ," as in the R.V. Jude's salutation of mercy, and peace and love be multiplied, is what we all feel the need of, and an increase of such excellencies of peace and love is greatly to be desired. Judev3 Here we have an evidence of what Peter wrote, that "no prophecy ever came by the will of man" (2 Peter 1.21), for while Jude had intended to write on the sbuejct of salvation, he was constrained to write on contending for the Faith. This controlling power of the Spirit over the words of the Scriptures is never more truly seen than in the case of Balaam the soothsayer, who, though intent on cursing Israel for the glittering rewards of Balak, king of Moab, was told by the angel of the LORD, "Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak" (Numbers 22.35). Of Balaam's words Balak said, "What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether" (23.11). Balaam said later to Balak, "Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; what the LORD speaketh, that will I speak?" (24.12,13). The common salvation simply means the salvation which is common to all believers, and does not mean something that is common or inferior. Because of the need amongst God's people at that time, the Spirit turned Jude from his original purpose, from writing of the common salvation to writing on the Faith, and on the need of contending earnestly for it. The reason for this was that certain men had crept in privily amongst the saints. They were to contend as athletes who were trained for the contest. The Greek word for "contend" is an athletic word. It is derived from Agon, "a place of contest, stadium." To what purpose would anyone enter the stadium to contend with athletes, if he had not first been under training? It would be futile. The Faith is the body of doctrine committed to, and to be kept by, the saints of this dispensation, wherein is contained the will of God. It answers to the law of God which was given through Moses in Horeb for all Israel (Malachi 4. 4). By the time that Jude wrote, the Faith had already been given to the saints. It was given "once for all," but it was not given "all at once." It was given like the teaching of the Lord, who gave His disciples His word according as they were able to bear His teaching. The Faith is called the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ (James 2.1). The fundamental principles of the Faith were given at the beginning of this dispensation, but certain matters were revealed and more clearly understood as time went on. It was so also with the law that was given on mount Horeb with its statutes and judgements, for Moses spoke of his doctrine coming upon Israel like the rain and the dew: "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the dew; As the small rain upon the tender grass, And as the showers upon the herb" (Deuteronomy 32.2). Judev4 Jude does not say what Peter says about the false teachers of whom he writes; Peter's words concerning them are - "denying even the Master that bought them" (2 Peter 2.1). Peter views the false teachers as men who had been bought by the Lord. This I would understand means buying in the sense of 1 Corinthians 6.20, "Ye were bought with a price." Some have thought that because they were in the field, the world, they were bought, but the Lord bought the field because of the treasure that was in it, that is, His saints (Matthew 13.44). He did not buy the wicked that were in the world. Jude, in contrast, does not refer to these ungodly men as having been bought. They had crept in privily, disguised as sheep, whilst they were actually wolves. Paul said in his parting message to the elders of the church of God in Ephesus, "I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the (little) flock" (Acts 20.29). He did not stop there, he continued to say, "And from amongst your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (verse 30). Thus we see that, as the apostles were disappearing from the scene, two classes arose among God's people, elders who taught things which were destructive of the Faith, and ungodly, unregenerate men, who crept in as wolves, men who did not spare the flock. Jude has the latter class specially before his mind as he writes, and, perchance, Peter has the former, though it might be difficult to detect a difference between them. Even Judas was not detected by the rest of the apostles until the end, when he came out in his true colours. The Lord warned His disciples with the words, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wovles" (Matthew 7.15). These ungodly men turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, that is, lewdness, debauchery. They changed the freedom that believers enjoy, through divine grace, into an occasion for the flesh to run riot (Galatians 5.13). In contrast to this the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world (age) (Titus 2.12). Instead of denying ungodliness, these ungodly men denied the Lord, whose example and teaching ever point in the direction of godly living. Judev5 Jude cites a few of the judgements which came upon those who rebelled against God, and he begins with the 603,548 men of Israel who were numbered at Sinai, who entered into a covenant of obedience to obey all that the LORD commanded them. All these later disbelieved and disobeyed God at Kadesh-barnea and were sentenced to death in the wilderness, and were not allowed by God to enter His rest in the land of Canaan. The Arabah became the graveyard of those rebellious men. Such are held up by Jude as a warning to the saints not to fall after the same example of disobedience (Numbers 14.29). Judev6 The fallen angels, presumably the angels of the devil (Matthew 25. 41; Revelation 12.7), who kept not their "first or original state, or state of dignity" and of their own volition left their own dwelling or habitation which was assigned to them by God, have been kept in everlasting bonds under darkness to the judgement of the great day. The devil will not be cast into the eternal fire of the Lake of Fire until after the Millennium (Revelation 20.7-10), and the judgement of the great day possibly refers to the judgement of the Great White Throne (Revelation 20.11-15). See my notes on 2 Peter (2.4). It is a great difficulty to apprehend how the angels that sinned who were cast down to hell (Tartarus, R.V.marg.) are in heaven, in Revelation 12.7, if the passages refer to the same angels. Judev7 This verse has been used by those who hold that the sons of God, in Genesis 6.2, were fallen angels who married wives of the daughters of men, and had hybrid children by them, half angelic and half human. These words, "having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication, and gone after strange flesh" - that as Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. went after strange (other) flesh, they say, that the angels went after strange (Heteros, different) flesh, flesh of another kind. The whole case breaks down when we remember that angels are spirits (Hebrews 1.7,14), and have not got bodies of flesh at all; hence they could not go after other flesh when they themselves are not flesh. The whole idea of persons who are spirits marryng women with a body of flesh is a wild dream. Angels neither marry nor are given in marriage (Matthew 22.30). What the verse says is this, that Sodom and Gomorrah, and the contiguous cities in like manner with Sodom and Gomorrah, gave themselves over to fornication and bestial practices (see Leviticus 18.23;20.15,16; Deuteronomy 27.21). These cities were veritable sinks of iniquity, and their punishment was such as is an example of God's wrath on such as similarly defile themselves. The inhabitants of these cities are suffering the punishment of eternal fire from then till now. "In like manner" does not refer to the angels that sinned at all. Judev8,9 These carnal dreamers defiled themselves by their dreamings, and were like those of whom Peter writes, who had eyes full of an adulteress and could not cease from sin (2 Peter 2.14). They also set aside, or at nought, all lordship. They would be under authority to no one, having denied the lordship, the absolute authority, of Christ (verse 4). They also blasphemed or railed at glories. In contrast to their carnal and rebellious behaviour, so high a person as Michael, the archangel, durst not bring a railing judgement against the devil. Yet puny men often speak disparagingly of this great and dread being who is the deceiver of the whole world. The Scriptures do not reveal when this contention took place between Michael and the devil, but the body of Moses was the matter, or one of the matters, about which they disputed. Daniel 10.12-21 sheds some light on what takes place in the realm of the unseen. The Lord alone may rebuke the devil (Zechariah 3.2). We do well not to go beyond the Scriptures when we speak of the evil one whose judgement and destiny are fixed by God. Judev10 A more gross and rebellious state could hardly be described, than for men to be compared to beasts or creatures without reason, who in their railing at things which they do not understand corrupt and defile themselves. Judev11 What was the way of Cain? It was the way of a man who listened to the devil and rejected the way of God, who spoke to Cain twice at least before he committed the terrible act of slaying his brother. "And wherefore slew he him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3.12). What were his evil works? First in importance of these was Cain's bringing of the fruit of the ground as an offering unto the LORD, whereas he should have brought a like offering to that of Abel his brother, an offering, the blood of which had been shed. The devil was behind Cain's act. What of Balaam? He went hurriedly and rashly against the word of God also. He thought to enrich himself with the hire of wrong-doing. A dumb ass rebuked him for his mad folly, but he went on to sin and to reap the consequences of his sin. Then of Korah's pride and rebellion we are well acquainted. He perished in the revolt which he headed against God and His servants Moses and Aaron. In the case of each of these men, Cain, Balaam and Korah, we see the same spirit at work; men, who knew the will of God, gave themselves to the evil one and rebelled against the plain word of God. These evil men of whom Jude writes would perish too in their sin and rebellion. Judev12,13 Here we have a number of similes describing the character and works of the ungodly men who had crept in privily amongst the saints. They were sunken rocks, a danger to voyagers even in a calm sea, and the danger was more abundantly present, for they ingratiated themselves with the saints as they feasted with them in love-feasts. They fed (there is no word for shepherds) or shepherded themselves and cared not for the flock. They were clouds without water. Their ministry was just words, words, and afforded no water for the thirsty and weary. They were autumn trees, trees of the harvest, but barren of fruit. Thy were said to be twice dead, a difficult description indeed! The words must bear relationship to autumn trees, plucked up by the roots. In Romans 4. 19 Paul speaks the thoughts of Abraham when he considered the deadness of Sarah and of himself to produce naturally the son of promise. "And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb." In the light of this, unfruitfulness is no doubt regarded as deadness, and besides, the barren fruit trees were actually dead. Thus we have a double state of deadness. The result is, such trees are not cut down, but pulled up by the roots. The Lord said, "Every plant which My heavenly Fathr planted not, shall be rooted up" (Matthew 15.13). These evil men who had crept in privily had not been planted by God in His house, and, consequently, they were in due time rooted up. They were also wild waves of the sea, full of action and turbulence, but only foaming out their own shame (or shames). They were as the wicked of Isaiah 57.20,21, as a troubled sea that cannot rest, whose "waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Then we have the fearful end of these ungodly men, "for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved for ever." They were on earth like wandering stars (the planets, some suggest comets), always on the move, and they will be wanderers for ever in utter darkness. If Judas Iscariot could company with the apostles and was chosen by the Lord for the fell work of betraying Him, the Lord knowing his character from the beginning that he was a devil, it was no wonder that the wrong kind of material got in among the saints, persons who were inside only for what they could get. Judev14,15 Certain have thought that this prophecy of Enoch is derived from the apocryphal book of Enoch, which is thought to have been written about the time of Herod the Great, but this is thought by others to be very uncertain. I myself think it to be very uncertain. If a traditional account of Enoch's prophecy existed in the time of Herod the Great, so as to be recounted in this apocryphal book of Enoch, then it would be equally well known to the apostles and the Jewish Christians of the early days then the Lord was on earth. Whence Jude's knowldege of this prophecy is derived is a matter of mystery about which it is impossible to be dogmatic. As to the truth of the propehcy there can be no doubt, as Jude's epistle is an inspired epistle like the rest in the New Testament. Jude sees the same characteristics in the judgement of God which will overtake the ungodly, as overtook the ungodly in Noah's day, when they were swept away by the flood. Jude gives us a view of what existed in the Fellowship at the close of the apostolic period or shortly afterwards, when Judaism and other fatal doctrines of demons were taught by ministers of Satan. These were in a frenzy of haste to bring to an end the testimony of the Lord which the apostles and their co-workers had raised in the churches of God. Four times Jude writes of "ungodly" and "ungodliness." In view of the oncoming tide of ungodliness no wonder that Paul wrote to Timothy of the need for godliness, and wrote to him of the Mystery of Godliness, even Christ, who was manifested in the flesh, in whom we learn what is proper conduct in the house of God. To be ungodly is to be bereft of the fear of God, that reverence and awe that is due to the Divine Being. There is no fear of God before the eyes of the ungodly (Romans 3.18). Judev16 Murmurers are persons who "utter secret and sullen discontent," which has a most harmful effect on the peace of any community. The world was never more full of this than it is today, and, woe to the Fellowship of God's Son if such people become numerous, for they will drive out peace before them. Complainers, these are fault-finders, persons such as the Lord described, who see motes in their brother's eye and do not see that they have a beam in their own (Matthew 7.4,5). "Thou hypocrite!" the Lord said to such. Jude said that such were walking after their own lusts. They were such as would put restrictions on others with their complaints, but would seek full scope for their own licence. David writes, in Psalm 12.2-4, of those who spoke to their neighbours with flattering lip and a double heart, and who claimed the right to speak as they would. Such were the men of Jude's time as indicated here. They were men with a glib tongue who uttered great swelling words, and showed respect of persons, that is, they admired persons for profit, a foul and nauseating course of conduct. Judev17,18 These words are similar to those of 2 Peter 3.2,3. Paul, Peter and now Jude, show the character of the last days of the apostolic period; the shades of night were falling and the wolves, of whom Paul spoke in Acts 20, were ravishing the flock. Not only were the last days of the apostolic period in view, but the last days before the Lord's coming also are indicated. Who can doubt that these are upon us? Our safety is found in the words which Paul spoke when he commended the elders of Ephesus to God and to the word of His grace. Here Jude calls upon the saints to remember the words of the apostles of the Lord which had been spoken to them. This is ever the safeguard of saints in dark days. If we fail to read and to adhere to the Scriptures, we leave ourselves open to become a prey to the evil one and to the character of the times in which we live. Judev19 Here is further proof that these men had never been born again. They were mere natural (Psuchikoi, soulish) men; men such as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 2.14. "Now the natural (Psuchikos, soulish) man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged." They had no powers of discernment, for they had not the Spirit. Hence, being led by mere natural reason, they caused separations. Paul speaks of certain, in Romans 16.17, who were causing divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which the saints had learned, and the saints were to turn away from such. What could be expected from men who had not the Spirit, than that they would blunder in spiritual things in the darkness of their own natural minds? Judev20,21 The Faith here is the same Faith, as in verse 3, which was once for all delivered to the saints, and for which they were to contend earnestly. It is here viewed as a foundation, and is the base of Christian conduct, both individual and collective. This is the foundation, and we are to be the builders. Then we are to be ever praying in the Holy Spirit. This is similar to Paul's words, in Ephesians 6.18, "praying at all seasons in the Spirit." Prayer, we learn from Ephesians 2.18, is to be made through the Lord Jesus, in the Spirit, unto the Father. "For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father." We are to keep ourselves in the love of God, a continuous act of keeping ourselves in divine love by building ourselves upon the Faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. Does not this simply show to us that we keep ourselves in God's love, by listening to Him and doing what He says to us in the words of the Faith, which is His revealed will, and by seeking the ear of our God in prayer? If these two lines of communication are kept open and clear, God speaking to us and we to Him, then we shall indeed keep ourselves in His love, that love which He bears to those who are obedient to Him, "Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life": this is to be our present continuous experience. Great will be that mercy of God to us, for there before us lies that eternal life, that condition of life for which we who have the gift of eternal life are already prepared (Romans 6. 23). Then life within and life without shall be in the fullest accord. The study of the words "eternal life" will be found fruitful to those who give time to it. Judev22,23 The R.V. marginal reading says that the Greek text here is uncertain. It would seem that the better rendering is, "And some who dispute, convict, but others save, from fire snatching them." Of old Joshua the high priest was described as "a brand plucked out of the fire" (Zechariah 3.2). See also John 15.6. This use of fire, in a figurative way, shows a present destruction of the lives of believers, lives which might have been lived to God's glory. On some they were to have mercy, but they were to hate the garment, the habits of the persons, which had been defiled by the flesh. They were to carry out this work in fear. Thus each case was to be treated on its merits, the contenders were to be convicted; those whom the fire was consuming were to be saved; and those whom the flesh had defiled were to be shown mercy. Such as seek to restore others are exhorted by Paul - "looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Galatians 6.1). Judev24,25 What a day of exultation it will be when the Lord brings His saints in before His Father! "Wise" before God in the A.V. is omitted by many authorities and is omitted in the R.V. The Spirit-given words of Jude in his ascription of praise to God our Saviour of glory, majesty, dominion and power, will never cease throughout eternity's unending ages. Here is one of the finest of doxologies, comparable to that with which Paul ends the epistle to the Romans. It is difficult to say who is referred to as "Him," whether it is God the Father or the Lord Jesus. "Him" may refer to the Lord Jesus, and "His" in "His glory" is, I think, the Father's glory. So that the Lord Jesus is able to guard us from stumbling with the object in view of setting us in the presence of the Father's glory without blemish and that with exceeding joy. We sometimes sing of this in the hymn, "When Christ shall bring us in to Thee, We'll praise Thy grace more worthily." NOTES ON THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION The book of the Revelation is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, not of St. John the divine. God gave to Him this revelation of events which must shortly (shortly or speedily as God speaks of time) come to pass. The object was to show to God's bondservants in the seven churches in Asia, first of all, the course of coming events, events which had primarily to do with the time immediately prior to the millennial reign of Christ and afterwards stretching on into eternity. This outline of events is preceded by things which John saw, as in chap.1. and which were then existing, as outlined in the seven messages or letters which were written in one book, which was to be sent to the seven churches in Asia. Jesus Christ sent it by His angel (17.1,15; 19.10; 22.8,9), and signified (that is, gave it by signs or symbols) to His bondservant John. John was a faithful witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw. He with Peter said earlier, "We cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard" (Acts 4.20). Rev1 Blessed is he that readeth. This evidently is public reading, for the hearers also are blessed by the reading, but reading and hearing fail in their purpose unless there is the keeping of the things of this prophecy. John to the seven churches. The seven churches were in the Roman province of Asia, not the Continent of Asia, nor what is called Asia Minor. These are not seven churches selected from among other churches in Asia. John addresses this book "to the seven churches" (Tais Hepta Ekklesiais). The churches of God in Troas (Acts 20. 5-7), Colossae and Hierapolis (Colossians 1.2; 4.13) were churches in Asia at one time, but were no longer in existence, or perchance no longer acknowledged by the Lord, when the Revelation was written. Laodicea, which formed with Colossae and Hierapolis a group of churches in the south east corner of Asia, was, alas, in a wretched state (Revelation 3.14-17), and unless they repented would be disowned as a church of God by God. Grace to you and peace. This salutation of grace and peace is from the Trinity. God the Father is here described as the self-existing, eternal Jehovah, One who is, who was, and who is coming, a Being Ineffable, to whom past, present and future are an eternal NOW, and as is the Father so are the Son and the Spirit. Jehovah is a name proper to all three Persons. The Spirit is described as "the seven Spirits which are before the throne", seen in Revelation 4.5 as seven Lamps of fire. Again in Revelation 5.6, the seven Spirits are the seven Eyes of the Lamb sent forth into all the earth. There is one Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4.4). Seven, it has been suggested, shows "His plenitude and perfection," though it is wiser betimes not to use words to cover our ignorance. Seven in Ephesians forms a unity or oneness; the unity of the Spirit is (1) one body, (2) one Spirit, (3) one hope, (4) one Lord, (5) one faith, (6) one baptism, (7) one God and Father of all. Henotes (unity) is derived from Hen neut. of Heis (one). So the seven Spirits are, I judge, one Spirit. The mystery of the Divine Being shall in time to come be more fully understood by us. We do well in these our childhood days (1 Corinthians 13.9-12) not to darken counsel by words without knowledge (Job 38.2). We feel that much of what has been written about the book of the Revelation comes within the meaning of the LORD'S words in Job. The seven lamps upon the Lampstand in the tabernacle are, we judge, symbolic representations of the seven Lamps of fire, which are the seven Spirits. No book in the Scriptures has so many groups of sevens: seven Spirits, seven churches, seven angels, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven heads of the beast, seven angels which have the seven bowls with the seven last plagues. Jesus Christ is described in a threefold way, which is of universal application: (1) "the faithful Witness," (2) "the Firstborn of the dead," and (3) "the Ruler of the kings of the earth." He is the faithful Witness conveying a world-wide message to men, which, as Luke shows in Acts 1.1, He continued through the apostles and prophets (Hebrews 2.3,4; Ephesians 2.20) after His resurrection. He is the Firstborn of the dead, that is, the Firstborn of all the dead. He is also the Firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1.18), that is, He is the Firstborn of all the blessed dead who shall be raised prior to the millennium. He is also the Ruler of the kings of the earth, being King of kings, and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6. 15). "Firstborn" describes one who is supreme, pre-eminent, who has priority in rank (Psalm 89.27). The Lord is Firstborn of all creation (not the first to be born, as though He were Himself a creature), for in Him, through Him and unto Him were all things created (Colossians 1.16; John 1.3). He is the Cause of all creation. He is also the Cause of all resurrection. "For as in Adam all die, soalso in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15.22). He is also the Firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8.29). "Unto Him that loveth us:" the present participle for "loveth" describes the characteristic action of Jesus Christ; He is the loving One who loves His own and will for ever love them (John 13.1). "Loosed" in the original is an aorist participle which shows that He is the One who loosed or freed us in the past from our sins. The loosing from sins is a past event but the loving is present and continuous. And He made us to be a kingdom. In this note of praise we have definite allusion to what took place at Sinai, in Exodus 19.24, in its anti-typical meaning, when the terms of the covenant which God was about to make with Israel, who had already been redeemed, were read in their hearing. Upon their acceptance thereof, they were to become a kingdom of priests, as well a a peculiar people and a holy nation. This same truth is implied here in Revelation 1.6. We have in Titus 2.14, and in 1 Peter 2.5-10, a peculiar people and a holy and royal priesthood. The seven churches, though a people in much failure and weakness, were still owned by Him, and the Lord walked in their midst and ruled over them. Whilst we believe all born-again persons have a birthright to priesthood, as the sons of Aaron had, not all who are born again are gathered together according to Acts 2.41,42, subject to the Lord's will and authority (Matthew 28.18-20). Consequently they are not a kingdom and priests to God. Those who have a birthright to priestly service should be together, as in 1 Peter 2.5-10, as a holy and royal priesthood to be built up as a spiritual house. Of old the priesthood of the house of Aaron served God in His house and temple and could not render service to God apart from His house. Kingdom, priesthood and house are linked together both in the past and present dispensations. It should be carefully noted that it was those who were gathered together in the seven churches in Asia who were made a kingdom and priets by the Lord to God His Father. Behold He cometh with the clouds. Here we have graphically portrayed the coming of the Son of Man to earth in judgement, of which Matthew 24.27-31, Revelation 19.11-16, and many other portions, speak. Every eye of men on earth shall see Him then, and the Jewish people shall look upon Him whm they pierced, as we learn from Zechariah 12.10; and besides the mourning Jews all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him. Many, alas, will be ill prepared for His coming, for many in that day shall call on the mountains and the rocks to fall on them and hide them from His face and His wrath (Revelation 6.15-17). I am the Alpha and the Omega. These are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. If we place the letters of the alphabet in a circle and place A over Z, then whichever way we move round the circle we come to A and Z. So that if we go backward in thought over the ages then God is there, and forward, God is there also. David the psalmist said, "Thou hast beset me behind and before" (Psalm 139.5). "In Him we live, and move, and have our being," said Paul (Acts 17.28). Happy are those who can say with Moses that "The eternal God is thy dwelling place" (Deuteronomy 33. 27; Psalm 90.1). The One who is the Alpha and the Omega is the eternal Jehovah, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. What is true of the eternal Father, is true of the eternal Son, and of the eternal Spirit. The Son also says in Revelation 22.13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." I John, your brother. This describes the abiding relationship of all who are born again, they have all one Father. John was also their companion, fellow or fellow-partaker. Whilst all born-again persons are brethren, not all such are companions or fellow-partakers in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus. Those "in Christ," new creatures or a new creation in Him, are united to Christ their Head by ties of life and love which never can be severed, but "in Jesus" shows saints on earth in a scene of tribulation, trial and temptation, for the kingdom of God in such a scene ever involves suffering (2 Thessalonians 1.5,6). Truth, we are told, is in Jesus (Ephesians 4.21), the blessed One who is the Truth and who taught it during the days of His earthly sojourn and also suffered for it (John 18.37,38). John was knowing that tribulation which comes through obedience to the truth, for he was in the Isle of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. He adhered to what God's word said and to what Jesus tetified. He was in God's kingdom, though for the time being he could not meet with God's gathered saints. The kingdom of God, that favoured position which Israel occupied as His people under His rule, was taken from them upon their rejection of the Lord and given to another nation, as we learn from Matthew 21.43, which should bring forth the fruits thereof. That nation was the little flock of Luke 12.31,32, to which the Lord said, "Howbeit seek ye His kingdom," (the kingdom of God, A.V., R.V.margin) "and these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Of the kingdom of God Paul reasoned and persuaded in the synagogue in Ephesus, but because of Jewish opposition Paul had to separate the disciples from the synagogue (Acts 19.8,9). Paul says again in Acts 14.22 that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of Revelation 1.9 is the same as that of verse 6, "He made us to be a kingdom." As in Acts 14.22 and 2 Thessalonians 1. 5, tribulation and suffering are connected with the kingdom of God which those are called upon to endure who are subject to the Lord's authority. Thus "in Jesus" shows saints on earth in the place of suffering in obedience to the authority of Christ, whereas "in Christ" applies to saints of this dispensation, who, by baptism in the Spirit, are members of His Body (1 Corinthians 12.13), and "in God" is true of all men, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17.28). John, according to tradition, had been banished to the rocky Isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. Why he was there he states was because of the word of God and the Testimony of Jesus. I was (became) in the Spirit on the Lord's day. "In the Spirit," according to Romans 8.9, is true of all believers in Christ; "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." "In the flesh" describes that naturally sinful, immoral state in which all unbelievers are; but at the time of regeneration believers are delivered from being in the flesh to being in the Spirit, when the Spirit of God enters into them, making their body His temple (1 Corinthians 6.19). "In the Spirit," in the Revelation, was that ecstaic state into which John entered (became), something he was not in before (on the Lord's day). It was not in spirit, denoting merely a condition of mind, nor was it in his own spirit, but "in the Spirit," that is, the Holy Spirit, to whom his whole being was tuned and in harmony; he was alive to spiritual realities of which men contiguous to him were entirely unaware. Paul's experience as he lay on the ground, stoned, outside the city of Lystra (Acts 14.19), at which time it is thought he was caught up to the third heaven and heard unspeakable words, as he tells us in 2 Corinthians 12.1-4, seems to be a somewhat similar experience to John's. Peter's experience in Acts 10 seems to be similar also. Daniel too, in Daniel 10, tells us of his experience when he was brought into contact with intense spiritual realities. In Daniel 8.27 we are told of the physical effects of Daniel's experience in receiving divine revelations: "I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days." The day on which John became "in the Spirit" was the Lord's day. The word rendered "Lord's" here is only twice used in the New Testament. This word in the Greek is an adjective, not a possessive noun. It is used here to describe the day, and in 1 Corinthians 11.20 to describe the supper; the day and the supper are linked together, the latter is proper to the day. The word "Lordly" has been used to give the meaning of the Greek adjective. "The Lord's day" is not "the day of the Lord," which is referred to frequently in both the Old and New Testaments and is of more than a thousand years in extent (2 Peter 3.10); it commences with the Lord's coming as Son of Man and continues till the judgement of the Great White Throne. I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet: This trumpet-like voice commanded John to write what he heard in a book and to send it to the seven churches. There was but one book for all the seven churches, but in chapters 2 and 3 there was a special message which was given by the Spirit to each from the Lord who walked in their midst. Whilst it was the Lord who spoke to the churches, it was equally true that the Spirit spoke, as we read, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches" (Revelation 2.7). The seven churches in the province of Asia are specifically mentioned as located in seven well known cities at the time of the writing of this book. Some have embarked on a system of exposition based on the interpretation of the meaning of the names of these cities which were given to them by pagans, names which have no spiritual significance whatever. Again, what is said in certain of the messages to the churches is spiritualized, as, for instance, Jezebel of chapter 2.20 is made to mean the church of Rome, whereas, quite evidently, she was a woman in Thyatira, who taught the same doctrine as certain in Pergamum held, even the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. May we mention what has been written by certain expositors? In dealing with the name Philadelphia it is said, "Philadelphia signifies 'brotherly love'; and brotherly love is one of the special features of the acting of the Spirit of God as formative of the Philadelphian church." Smith's Bible Dictionary (Book 2, page 830) says this about Philadelphia: "A town on the confines of Lydia and Phrygia Cataceaumine, built by Attalus II, king of Pergamus," it is "still represented by a town called Allahshehr (city of God)." Philadelphia receivd its name from its founder Attalus Philadelphus, and what king Philadelphus, who lived before any apostle came to Asia with the message of divine ove, had to do with Christian brotherly love leaves one in bewilderment. This method of interpreting the word of God is simply grasping at shadows and losing the literal, plain and evident meaning of the Scriptures. Think also of the exposition based on the meaning of Laodicea:"Laodicea probably means 'righteous people.' The seventh and last church corresponds with the seventh parable in Matthew 13 - the parable of the net. There are two things which characterize the last stage of the Church's history - outwardly, increasing activity in Gospel work; inwardly, self-righteous, spiritual pride, and lukewarmness as to the truth and authority of Christ." "Righteous people" by a stranger juggling with words becomes "self-righteous people," and, stranger still, the name Laodicea has some connexion with an implied spiritual significance with "the last stage of the Church's history." But what church can this be? Is it Christendom, that Babel of confusion which with lip service acknowledges Christ, but does no more? or is it the Church which is Christ's Body? It cannot be the latter, for the sins of self-righteousness and spiritual pride can never enter there, for that Church will be presented by Christ to Himself "not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Ephesians 5.27). We are left to guess what church was before the writer's mind, and what is meant by the church's history. It is this loose method of using the word "church" that has led to the hopeless confusion that exists in regard to church truth. How did the city of Laodicea get its name? The answer is, it "derived its name from Laodice, the wife of Antiochus II, king of Syria." Here again the name comes from pagans who had no connexion whatever with "the last stage of the Church's history." Then as to the Laodicean church answering to the parable of the net, in Matthew 13, it has no similarity to that parable whatever, other than that they are the seventh in order in each case. Let us adhere to and state unequivocally the fact that the book of the Revelation was sent by John to the seven churches which were in Asia at the time that John wrote the book, and were located in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, and so forth, cities which were well known in the world then. The book was not written to and sent to seven stages, epochs or developments of what expositors have been pleased to call "the church," a use of the word "church" which is nowhere found in the New Testament. Christendom is no church at all. If God's children would be right as to church truth let them study the uses of the word church in the New Testament, and they will find that there are no such ideas there, such as that the church is composed of people who make a nominal profession of Christianity, or that the church is composed of all believers on earth at any one time, or that because they are not together therefore the church is in ruins. If believers would be right they require to see the clear distinction between the Church which is Christ's Body, which includes all believers from Pentecost until the coming of the Lord for that Church, and the church of God which is ever a local gathering of God's separated saints, such as were the seven churches in Asia. The book of Revelation is first of all a book which contains messages to the seven churches concerning their state at that time. But like all Scripture, which was written to people who lived when the books were written, it contains a message for all time. The principle on which the Scriptures were given is laid down by Paul in Romans 4.23,24: "Now it was not written for his sake alone, ... but for our sake also." And I turned to see the voice which spake with me: As was natural John turned in the direction whence the voice came, and what met his gaze were seven golden lampstands, not candlesticks. There was one lampstand in the tabernacle and ten in the temple. The lampstand had six branches and a central stem, on these were set seven lamps. These with the lampstand and the vessels thereof were made of a talent of pure gold. The lamps were dressed and filled in the morning at the time of the morning sacrifice and of the offering of the incense on the golden altar, at the hour of prayer. They were lit at the time of the evening sacrifice. "Candlestick" for "lampstand," "bishop" for "overseer," and "baptism" for "dipping," are some of the defects in translation in our English Bibles. Gold lamps signify children of God, such as are born again. Alas, many who are children of God, who strenuously uphold the need for the new birth, are not so careful about seeing that they are set on a gold stand (gold speaking of that which is divine and of divine glory); a silver, brass or wooden stand serves well enough for them. But children of God should not be satisfied with anything less than being in a church of God. Gold speaks of the divine character of each of the seven churches. Children of God and churches of God - "of God" shows their divine origin and character. In the New Testament children of God are not contemplated as being in anything else than a church of God, but alas, the devil has scattered the children of God in almost all the sects of Christendom. Though the seven churches were equal in preciousness as to their position, they were very diverse as to their condition. Condition may vary greatly in different churches and in the saints therein, but position admits of no variation, the position is either divine or it is not. A church is either a golden lampstand or it is not. The seven lampstands were the seven churches of God in Asia. In the midst of the lampstands One like unto a son of man: The Lord appeared to John like a son of man. In Philippians 2.7 we are told that He was "made in the likeness of men." He was clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. As the high priest of old was to judge God's house and to keep His courts (Zechariah 3.7), even so the Lord in the midst of the seven churches, in Revelation 1-3, is viewed as judging God's house, as seen in the seven churches. All judgement has been given by the Father to the Son, because He is Son of Man, that all may honour the Son even as they honour the Father (John 5.22,23). In due time He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17.31; Matthew 25.31-46), but judgement begins at the house of God, "at us" who are described as a spiritual house (1 Peter 2.5; 4.17). It is not His loins, the seat of strength, that are girt with a golden girdle, but His breasts, the place of affection. Of old the breastplate of judgement was upon the breast of the high priest; he bore the names of the children of Israel upon his heart continually. The Lord's judgement of His own is ever tempered by love. His head and His hair were as white wool, white as snow. Such was the appearance of the Ancient of Days to Daniel (Daniel 7. 9). This bespeaks infinite purity and holiness. The mind of Christ is infinitely pure and holy as is the mind of God. The thought of sin never enters the mind of Deity. His eyes were as a flame of fire. In the Lord's case, unlike that of men, it is not light from without that enters and illuminates Him; He sees by light from within. He is Himself Light (John 1.4). He is the Light of the world (John 8.12). From His eyes proceed rays of divine fire piercing and entering into the recesses of the heart, and all the processes of human thought, hidden from human sight, are naked before Him. Paul describes such divine sight in the words, "There is no creature (angelic or human, fallen or unfallen) that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4.13). His feet were like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. Brass speaks of judgement, and righteousness is intimately associated with this. Whilst on earth the Lord walked in the paths of judgement (Proverbs 2.8), and in the paths of uprightness (verse 13), and in the paths of righteousness (Psalm 23. 3). He loved righteousness, and hated iniquity (Psalm 45.7; Hebrews 1.9). His feet were beautiful upon the mountains (Isaiah 52.7). There ws no defilement in His walk on earth. Now as Judge His feet are as refined brass. Who has the right to judge but One who is Himself perfectly just? In matters of judgement Paul exhorted Timothy, "Keep thyself pure." A judge who judges others but practises the same things will not escape the judgement of God (Romans 2.1-3). His voice was as the voice of many waters. Such was the sound of the voice of the Almighty, in Ezekiel 1.24, and the voice of the God of Israel, in Ezekiel 43.2. Such a voice keeps the ear listening and is indicative of the infinite mind and depth of thought which lie behind such a voice. David, in Psalm 29.3,4, describes the voice of the LORD thus:"The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: The God of glory thundereth, Even the LORD upon many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty." He had in His right hand seven stars: These, we are told, are the angels or messengers of the seven churches (verse 20). They are in (En, in) His right hand (verse 16), but in (Epi, upon) His right hand (verse 20), as though He had opened His hand to show them to John. Out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. When the Lord comes to earth in judgement He is called "the Word of God. " In John 1 He is shown as the Word in three ways. (1) In verse 1 He is shown as the Word in the beginning in full fellowshp with (Pros, towards) God. (2) In verse 2 He is seen as the Maker of all things, the One through whom all things became, that is, came into being. (3) In verse 14 it is said that the Word became flesh, that is, He was born of a woman to become Kinsman-Redeemer. He appeared in grace so that men might of His fulness receive grace for grace. Then last of all He will appear as the Word of God in judgement. Then shall He speak unto men in His wrath (Psalm 2.5). "Out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations" (Revelation 19.15). "He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked" (Isaiah 11.4; 2 Thessalonians 2.8). How different it will be then from His lowly earthly life, when He moved about as the Man of sorrows and the One who was well acquainted with grief! He said, "I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting" (Isaiah 50.6). Men may be as stars in His right hand, lights to be seen and to give light in this world's night, but the Lord's countenance was as the sun shining in its strength: before this light, intense, strong and beautiful, all other lights are as nothing, even as stars disappear in the light of the sun. Here indeed is the glory that excelleth. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead. This is the same One in whose bosom John lay at the last supper in the upper room, but how different He is now from then! As it was with John, so was it with Daniel, who, when he saw the vision by the river Tigris, said, "There remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength ... then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground" (Daniel 10.8,9). It such was the effect on human flesh in John and Daniel, how true must be the words of the LORD to Moses! - "Thou canst not see My face: for man shall not see Me and live" (Exodus 33.20). Here is One who dwells in light unapproachable; "Whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (1 Timothy 6.16); who veils His glory in His manhood so that men may bear the glory in His manifestation as the Divine Son. He laid His right hand upon John and told him not to fear, for He was the first and the last. Here is one of the many "fear nots" of Scripture, the first of which was spoken to Abram: "Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (Genesis 15.1). The Lord said to John, "I am ... the Living One; and I was (became) dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." Millions follow Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, and venerate popes many in number, but they are all dead. Jesus Christ is alive. Here is an infinitely important and vital difference. What can the dead do for either living or dead men? Nothing, absolutely nothing! Our case is most pitiable if Christ is not raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15.19). The Lord became dead by an act of His own will; He laid down His life of Himself, no one took it from Him (John 10.17,18). The living One has the keys of death and of Hades; He has complete control and authority over the dead in the realm of the unseen. ("Hades" is a Greek word composed of the negative A and Eido - I see, and means literally "what cannot be seen, the place of the unseen, where the sight of man cannot penetrate." It is not the grave, the place of the interment of the body; that we can easily see. Hades is the invisible abode of the souls of the dead.) None of the saints of the Church which is Christ's Body go to Hades at death; when they are absent from the body they are at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5.6-8); they are with Christ, which is very far better (Philippians 1.23.) Old Testament saints were delivered from it, from the place therein called Paradise, by the Lord (Luke 23.43; Ephesians 4.8-10; Hebrews 2.14,15). See also Psalm 16.8-11, quoted by Peter in Acts 2.27, where the Lord says that His soul would not be left in Hades (that is, He Himself, see verse 31, R.V.). Saints of both Old Testament and New Testament times who have died, are now in heaven. Write therefore the things which thou sawest: Here we have a threefold division. (1) The things which John saw were the visions of the Lord, the lampstands and the stars. (2) "The things which are": these were the things which were existing in the seven churches, as revealed by the Lord to John, contained in chapters 2 and 3. (3) "The things which shall come to pass hereafter" are the things which will transpire after the Church which is Christ's Body is complete, and the Lord has come to the air for all in Christ, the living and the dead. Then churches of God will cease to exist; for though the Church which is Christ's Body is an eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ (Ephesians 3.4-11), churches of God are local gatherings of God's gathered people, which may come into being or cease to exist, and they will certianly cease to exist when the Lord calls His saints away from this earth to meet Him in the air. Much has been written which is spurious and thoroughly unscriptural as to this dispensation of grace being divided into seven periods, beginning with the Ephesian period and closing with the Laodicean. One expositor writes thus:"A special, but by no means exclusive, application of the first three chapters to the Asiatic assemblies named must be admitted. Thus, John greets 'the seven assemblies named which are in Asia' (verse 4); he has them equally in view in verse 11; while to each of the seven a special epistle is addressed (chapters 2 and 3). But while a primary application to the seven Asiatic assemblies is undoubted, it is equally clear that they are representatives of the whole Church, not only at any given moment, but also in the successive moral stages of her history." Here we have three propositions placed before us by the writer: (1) the primary application to the seven churches in Asia existing at the time of the writing of the book of the Revelation; (2) that the seven churches in Asia are representative of the whole Church at any moment in this dispensation of grace; and (3) that these churches represent seven successive moral stages in the history of the Church throughout its entire history, from Pentecost, I presume, until the Lord's coming. We differ entirely from this writer, and others also who have repeated the same thing, as to there being any application other than the primary one. It would be foolishness to deny that the book of Revelation was written to the seven churches in Asia, two of which are referred to elsewhere in the New Testament (Ephesus and Laodicea). Then, by a strange confusion of thought which we cannot accept, the writer alluded to gives two further interpretations in points (2) and (3), for if the seven churches show the Church (one Church) "at any given moment," then they cannot show seven successive moral stages in the Church's history as well. For instance, if we are now in the Laodicean stage we cannot also be in the Ephesian stage. What is this Church which has a history to which this writer refers? The Church which is Christ's Body has no history whatever. This Church is comprised of all believers from Pentecost who have been baptized in the Spirit into the Body. Most of these are in heaven, and many of those members still on earth, even in the same town, are quite unknown to one another. It has been described by theologians as the invisible Church. What is the visible church which has a history? Where is this history? Where was this church prior to or at the time of John Huss of Bohemia and Martin Luther of Germany, or even after the Reformation? Is this the union of professing Christians, many of whom are not born again? It is this unscriptural use of the word church which has led to all the confusion as to church truth which exists among would-be instructors of the uninstructed, leading to such ideas as that the church is in ruins. There is no such idea in the New Testament Scriptures as that "the whole church" is composed of believers who are scattered in almost every sect in Christendom. As this is a most important line of truth, we plead with the reader to examine the use of the word church in the New Testament. These first three chapters of the Revelation have a simple, primary meaning, namely, that they were written by John in Patmos and sent to the seven churches in Asia to correct certain disorders therein: the remainder of the book was to make known to God's servants the things that must come to pass hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars: The seven stars are said to be the angels of the seven churches. Who were those stars or messengers? (1) Were they angels and not men? (2) Was the angel a bishop over each church? (3) Were they the elders (or overseers) of each church viewed as one, each church being ruled by a plurality of elders together? (4) Do they symbolize the ministry (in the hands of the elders and deacons) in each church? (5) Was the angel a man who acted as the messenger of the church to which he belonged? We may dismiss (1) in the light of the fact that the angel who was written to by John was a person who belonged to a church. We may also dismiss (2), as nowhere in the New Testament is a church (of God) ruled by one bishop or overseer. Even Peter the apostle, in his capacity of ruler, calls himself a fellow-elder (1 Peter 5.1). As to (3), while a lampstand shows a number of lights placed together to shed one light, stars are individual lights; thus we judge that a star or angel does not speak of a group of overseers acting together. (4) The ministry of a church in the hands of the elders and deacons is too impersonal and could not be written to; so we judge that the angel does not refer to the ministry of a church. (5) The book of the Revelation does not contain general ministry of the word, but is a book of special revelation from God which was committed to persons to be conveyed to the seven churches in Asia, as in chapter 1.4: "John to the seven churches which are in Asia." The angels were as definitely indicated as the churches. It seems to me that some help on this subject may be derived from the case of Epaphroditus who came from Philippi to Paul at Rome with the bounty of the Philippian church. Paul calls him "your messenger (apostle) and minister to my need" (Philippians 2.25). He also calls him his "fellow-worker" and "true yoke-fellow": "I beseech thee also, true yoke-fellow, help these women, for they laboured with me in the gospel (chapter 4. 3). Such a reference seems to support the generally-accepted view that Epaphroditus carreid back to Philippi this wonderful epistle, in which Paul acknowledged with gratitude the tangible expression of their thought for him. Without seeking to fill in what God has left out, it seems, from the case of Epaphroditus, a reasonable view to take of those angels or messengers, that they were men sent by the seven churches to John, whether for spiritual help or with a material gift to meet his need; and that they carried back to the churches from which they came the book of the Revelation, and caused its contents to be read in each of the seven churches, special emphasis being given by each messenger to the particular epistle for the church to which he belonged. See Matthew 11.10, Mark 1.2, Luke 7.24,27, 9.52, James 2.25, where the word Aggelos (angel) is applied to a human messenger. Had this been done in Revelation 1,2,3, it would have saved much confusion of thought among commentators on the book of the Revelation. "Angel" in these chapters means a human messenger. Rev2 To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: As the church in Ephesus was a definite group of saints, capable of loving and hating, working and enduring, hearing and repenting, so it seems that the angel of the church was a man who could be addressed. In each of the several epistles the Lord presents Himself in a special character. Here He speaks of Hmself as One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, and walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. Being present in the midst He knew exactly the condition of the Ephesian church. He says, "I know" (Oida, I see, not Ginosko, I learn); He saw with eyes as a flame of fire, therefore He knew perfectly their works, labour and endurance. He knew that they could not bear evil men, and had tried those that said that they were apostles, perhaps by such tests of apostleship as Paul applied to himself (1 Corinthians 9.1,2; 2 Corinthians 11.5-15), and found them liars. They had borne with endurance, had laboured and not grown weary. All this was to their credit, and the Lord ever praises and will praise that which is worthy in His saints. Alas, there was that which overshadowed all the good that they had done; they had left their first love. There are some who think that the leaving of their first love means that they had left their first Lover, the Lord. I am of the opinion that "love" here means a state, not a person, though it must be conceded at once that leaving their first state of love must affect their relationship with their Divine Lover. Ephesus had had a great past, from the days when Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more carefully (Acts 18.24-28). Then came Paul and found the twelve disciples who were following the teaching of John the Baptist, as Apollos had been, and Paul brought them up to date in the progress of the work of God. Paul continued in the work of the Lord in the synagogue until he found it necessary, because of the opposition of the Jews, to separate the disciples from the synagogue. After this he continued to reason in the school of Tyrannus. Special miracles were wrought by Paul, diseases departed, evil spirits went out, and books of magical arts, valued at fifty thousand pieces of silver, were publicly burned. The Spirit's comment through Luke is, "So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed" (Acts 19.1-20). But, alas, other days fell upon Ephesus, as Paul prophesied in Acts 20.29,30, when from among the elders, men arose speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them, and grievous wolves entered in, not sparing the flock. Paul's three years' work was attacked by Satan. Later, Timothy was left by Paul in Ephesus to charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine (1 Timothy 1.3). Then came the separation of 2 Timothy 2.21, when those who were faithful to the Lord and the truth which they had learned were called upon to purge themselves out from the false teachers and their followers, such men as Hymenaeus and Philetus. Whilst there can be no valid excuse for leaving one's first love, yet we need to have the whole picture of the Ephesian church before our mind to see possible causes why such a condition had befallen them. We are all liable to look back on the past and to say that "the former days were better than these" (Ecclesiastes 7.10). The darker the day and the harder the way the more we should lean on the strong arm of our Beloved. Men change, times change, but He changes not. Changes in Ephesus had told their sad tale. Paul was now with the Lord, and also most, if not all, of the other apostles had gone, like Paul, to a well-earned rest. The aged John was confined in Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. The days were grim, both within and without the Ephesian church, and the once sparkling lustre of the love of the saints had grown dim. Though many had gone and their loss was sadly felt, the Lord was still present, walking in their midst. If the mighty happenings and the powerful preaching of past days were gone, yet the Lord was near to love and be loved. He felt the loss of their love. The atmosphere of the assembly was cold and clammy. He would leave unless there was a change. The lampstand would be removed. They would be unchurched. To remove the lampstand does not mean that He would remove all the saints by death from earth, the scene of testimony. The Lord compares the loss of first love to a fall; "Thou art fallen," He said. Their inward attitude to the Lord was changed, as was the attitude of Adam and Eve, who when they sinned no longer walked and talked with the LORD as formerly. The Lord calls upon the Ephesian church to repent (that means, to change their mind and their whole attitude to Him), and to do the first works; these are the works wrought in the power of first love, the strongest and sweetest emotion which fills the breasts of God's people. The Lord commends them for their hatred of the works of the Nicolaitans, "which," He said, "I also hate." Who were the Nicolaitans? Some in early times said that they were the followers of Nicolas of Antioch (Acts 6.5), but others deny this. There is no certainty whence these people sprang, but there is a general agreement on this, that they were heretical, an impure sect whose works were hated by the Lord and by the Ephesian saints. It is futile to follow a specious interpretation of who the Nicolaitans were from the meaning of their name, which is derived from Nike, victory, and Laos, people, and think of them as a victorius people, for they were otherwise than that. To follow still further in this specious interpretation into the difference between "clergy" and "laity," however unscriptural the ideas in these terms may be, can lead to no definite conclusion as to who these people were or what they believed. To the repentant overcomer the promise of his reward is this, that he will be given the privilege of eating of the Tree of Life that is in the Paradise of God. The word Paradise has three uses in the New Testament (1) It is used by the Lord to describe that part of Hades (called by the Jews, Abraham's bosom - Luke 16.23) to which the Lord and the repentant robber went after death, and where were all the blessed dead of past dispensations. (2) In 2 Corinthians 12.2-4, it is the third heaven to which Paul was caught up. (3) In Revelation 2.7, the Paradise is the city of the New Jerusalem, where the Tree of Life grows on each side of the river of Water of Life, which flows in the midst of the street of the city. "Paradise" literally means "a pleasure garden with various kinds of trees, a place of delight." And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: Here the Lord speaks of Himself as the First and the Last, which became dead and lived. What can give greater comfort than the knowledge that the One who became dead by His own act of laying down His life for us is alive for evermore? It is a living Lord who saves and keeps. The Lord speaks little of the works of the church in Smyrna, butamuch of tribulation and poverty. He says, "Thou art rich"; although poor as to this world's goods, yet rich in faith (a rich faith means a rich saint), and heirs of the kingdom which the Lord promised to them that love Him (James 2.5). Tribulation is a refiner: gold becomes more precious as it is refined. In Daniel 11.33-35, it speaks of the wise instructors of the people falling "by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days." Then we are told, "Some of them that be wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end." Such will be the experience of many during the time of the Great Tribulation. This suffering church has no accusation laid against it by the Lord. In this respect it is like that of Philadelphia, though the emphasis is laid on the lack of strength in Philadelphia. The Jews who frequently and viciously attacked Paul in his day, and were enemies of the gospel, were still at their work in Smyrna, for here we read of the blasphemy of them which say that they are Jews, but are a synagogue of Satan. Far from being Jews, as Paul defined a Jew in Romans 2.28,29, they manifested the same spirit as when they cried, "Crucify, crucify," in regard to the Lord; so here they blaspheme His followers. The devil was about to cast some of the suffering saints into prison, and their tribulation was to extend ten days, but whether this was for ten literal days, or for ten, "the unknown quantity," it is perhaps impossible to say. We believe that this tribulation has nothing whatever to do with the persecutions from A.D.249 to A.D.284, as some have taught, under Roman emperors Decius, Valerius, Aurelius, and Diocletian. The tribulation of the church in Smyrna was before the end of the first century A.D. The special promise to the sufferers is, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life." This crown is promised to such as endure temptation, whether from fleshly lusts, as in James 1.12-15, or from external trial and persecution, as here in Smyrna. Here is another of the "fear nots" of Scripture. The promise to the overcomer is, "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." What does it mean to be hurt of the second death, which we are told in Rvelation 20.14; 21.8, is the lake of fire? Some help may be derived from the use of the word "perdition" or destruction. It is used of the "man of sin" (the beast), who is called the "son of perdition" (2 Thessalonians 2.3), who will with the false prophet be cast into the lake of fire (19.20). This same word is used in connexion with the destruction of the life of the believer, for it is possible for a saved person to have a lost life, a life which has gone to perdition. Paul says, in Hebrews 10.39, "But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul (or life)." It is only in such a sense that a believer, saved with an eternal salvation (Hebrews 5.9), can be hurt of the second death. See also 1 Corinthians 3.13-15; Matthew 16.24-26. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: Here the Lord speaks of Himself as having a sharp two-edged sword. He adopts a warlike attitude because there were those in Pergamum who held the teaching of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans. Satan's throne, we are told, was in Pergamum. Here was the seat of Roman government, and here had been erected a temple in which divine honours were given to Augustus. Many, many thousands of Christians throughout the Roman empire suffered death rather than give divine honours (due to God alone) to Roman emperors. Satan and his hosts are called "the principalities ... the powers ... the world rulers of this darkness ... the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6.12). From Pergamum, the place of Satan's throne and dwelling, he carried on his baleful work against the saints of God, but those in Pergamum had stood firm. The Lord said, "Thou holdest fast My Name, and didst not deny My faith." They had been true to Him and to His word. Antipas had been valiant in the fight against the powers of darkness, and touchingly the Lord refers to him as "My witness, My faithful one," who had been killed for his faithful testimony. If Satan does not manage to destroy God's saints by evils without, he will sek to destroy them by evils within. In Pergamum were those who were playing the traitor's part. They held the teaching of Balaam, who, though the Lord would not allow him to curse Israel, taught Balak how to destroy Israel, by the daughters of Moab being let loose among the sons of Israel, with the result that those women through their lust enticed the sons of Israel to sacrifice to their gods. The result was that Israel was joined to Baal-peor. Fornication and idolatry have ever been wedded evils. We are not told that certain in Pergamum practised these evils; they held the teaching, and it is only a step from holding teaching to practising it. Others held the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner. Now that such sin had been discovered by the Lord, action by the church was called for, and the church was called upon to repent or the Lord would make war with them with the sword of His mouth. The case was somewhat like to the sin of Achan. The Lord said that Israel had sinned, not that all the people had committed the sin of Achan, but there was sin in the camp, and defeat was theirs until the devoted thing had been removed and judgement had fallen on Achan and his house. The sword of His mouth is the word of God (Revelation 19.13-15,21; Hebrews 4.12,13). Here again the reward to the overcomer is different - the hidden manna, and the white stone upon which is a new name which only the overcomer knows. The hidden manna of wilderness times is what is referred to in Exodus 16.33,34: "Take a pot, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations ... so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. " This, we learn from Hebrews 9.4, was a golden pot wherein was this manna, which was placed in the ark of the covenant. As the manna speaks of Christ, the overcomer is destined to have a very special portion of that blessed one to delight his heart above other believers. What is the white stone or pebble? It is said that in the past in criminal cases a white pebble was given in the case of acquittal, and a black in condemnation. A white stone was also given to the victors in the games. The Greek word for "stone" is only twice used in the New Testament, here, and in Acts 26.10 where it is the voting stone of persons in authority. Paul says that when the saints were put to death he ever gave his vote, or "stone" against them; that was in his unconverted days. Here the white stone indicates the Lord's approval, and possibly the appointment of the overcomer to a place of authority. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: To this church the Lord speaks as the One whose eyes are like a flame of fire, and His feet like burnished brass. Whilst to Ephesus He is the One who is present in the midst, and to Pergamum He is ready to make war with them with the sword of His mouth, here He is seen in the role of the Judge. By the inherent light which streams from His eyes He sees all. He needs no evidence to be led to arrive at a judgement. Brass speaks of judgement, and here it is burnished brass. He knows perfectly and His judgement is just. He says, "I know (Oida)" thy works: - love, faith, ministry, patience, - and He knew that their works now were more than at the beginning. All this was highly commendable. The whole church was not corrupted, but there was one evil allowed, and that was, that they suffered an evil woman whom the Lord called Jezebel, because she had the characteristics of that daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, who had married Ahab and led her husband and Israel into the sin and immoralities of the worship of Baal (1 Kings 16.30-32; 2 Kings 10. 19-28). Jezebel in Thyatira taught the same as her ancient namesake, even idolatry and fornication. The church in Thyatira was responsible to deal with this evil woman and her followers. A number of expositors think that they see in Jezebel the church of Rome. What has this woman to do with the rise of the papacy? Nothing whatever! She lived at the time of John, towards the end of the first century of the Christian era, when political Rome was in power and papal Rome did not exist. So many bring their ideas to the Scriptures and cram them in, in order to take them out, instead of allowing the Scriptures to mould their thoughts. Jezebel was a woman who taught literal idolatry and fornication to those who listened to her; those in Pergamum also held this teaching. She was a woman; she is called, "the woman Jezebel," and not a church (so called). If this woman did not repent, and the Lord had given her time to do so, the Lord would take direct action toward her, and deal with her and her paramours who committed adultery with her. He would also kill her children with death. One can understand the simple, straightforwad words of the Lord, but how all this can be wrought out in regard to the rise of papacy in Rome is quite inexplicable. It is like so many sermons and books that are written on the Bible; the Bible itself is often simple enough, but the preaching and writing of men are like dark clouds that shut out the light. The world would be well blessed if many of the sermons and books about the Scriptures were taken and publicly burned as was done with the books of magic arts in Ephesus long ago. Note here that the Lord speaks to all the churches; "and all the churches shall know." He is the one who searches the hearts and gives to each according to his works. If the woman Jezebel is the church of Rome in the early or middle centuries of this dispensation, what churches were these that were outside of her, who were to know that the Lord was the Searcher of hearts and the Judge of actions? We are left in an inextricable maze by this unscriptural periodic interpretation of these chapters and churches. Think of the words of the Lord, "But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira." There were Jezebel and her dupes in Thyatira (not in Rome or anywhere else), and "the rest in Thyatira". The Greek preposition en, in, here shows clearly the location of those who are written to. Upon the rest in Thyatira the Lord cast none other burden than to clear themselves of the teaching and practices of the woman Jezebel, and to take such action toward her as was necessary. To defame the whole church in Thyatira, as some have done with their teaching concerning the Roman Jezebel, is to do injustice to the church in Thyatira and the faithful therein. The church in Thyatira was still a church of God where the Lord walked; it was not apostate Christendom. He that overcame, and kept the Lord's words to the end, was promised a place of authority over the nations in the coming kingdom. When the Lord would rule or shepherd the nations with a rod of iron and break them as a potter's vessel, He would give the overcomer the same honour as His Father had given to Him. The overcomer would also be given the morning star. Peter speaks of the Day (or Morning) Star arising in our hearts, not in the heavens, a reference to the Lord's coming for the Church (2 Peter 1.19). This is no doubt in contrast to the rising of the Sun of Righteousness upon those who fear God's name at the Lord's coming as Son of Man to earth (Malachi 4.2). The Lord calls Himself the Bright and the Morning Star (Revelation 22.16). The giving of the Morning Star to the overcomer is some special distinction that will be given at the Lord's coming again; even as those will be rewarded who have waited for Him to reappear (Hebrews 9.28; 2 Timothy 4.8). Rev3 And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: Here the Lord speaks of Himself as having the seven Spirits and the seven stars. His having the seven Spirits is no doubt an allusion to what is said in Revelation 5.6, "I saw ... a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth." The Holy Spirit is seen as seven Lamps of fire burning before the throne (Revelation 4. 5). The Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son (John 15. 26). The Spirit, according to Psalm 139.7-10 is everywhere, in heaven, in hell, and in the uttermost parts of the sea. He is omnipresent as all the Persons of the Godhead are (Jeremiah 23. 24). See also 2 Chronicles 16.9; Proverbs 15.3; Zechariah 4.10, as to the eyes of the LORD being in every place, keeping watch. Such as spiritualize away the whole sense of the Lord's messages to the seven churches think that they see Protestantism in the church in Sardis. Portestantism was a protest at the first against the iniquities of the Romish church, in which a demand was made for the cleansing of that church and its priesthood. Where is there any protest made by Sardis against the evil woman Jezebel (said to be Rome) in the church in Thyatira? No such allusion is made to such a thing. To speak of Thyatira as Rome and Sardis as Protestantism is an interpretation forced into these passages of Scripture. It is pure imagination. The church in Sardis was in the first century, and not in the time of Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Zwingle, and others in England, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, etc. By such spiritualizing the clear teaching of church truth in the New Testament has been lost to many chidlren of God. Such teachers seem to come under the apostle's stricture, "They understand neither what they say, nor whereof they confidently affirm" (1 Timothy 1. 7). Think of some of the birds that roost under the cover of Protestantism today, with doctrines as foul and unclean as have ever been hatched in Rome. Is this to be thought of as the church of God in Sardis? Having said so much about the erroneous interpreataion of certain, let us now hear what the Lord says to those saints in Sardis who lived in the first century. The church in Sardis had a name that they were alive, but they were dead. Still they were a golden lampstand, and the Lord walked among them as He did in Smyrna and Philadelphia. Their position was right, but their condition was wrong. Their works were dead, a lifeless formality had set in. They were called to be watchful, that the things that yet remained, in which there was life but no movement, might be strengthened and stablished. Of old we read that the hair of the shorn Samson began to grow. Life in the once strong man began to manifest itself. Recovery was slow and gradual. Samson could never have his eyes again, but his hair grew. In time the evidence of his separation to the Lord was seen. A church may get far down spiritually, but if the matter of separation to the Lord and His service is attended to, there will be an evidence of life, of revival. Let not saints allow everything committed to them to die, for if so, then they themselves will die, and a church that once existed will exist no more. Let us soberly ask ourselves, "What works of ours does God see before Him?" May we listen to what the Lord said to those in Sardis, "Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent." Received, hear, keep, repent! Is there not ever room for repentance, a change of mind which will result in a change of conduct? We may all change for the better or the worse. It lies with ourselves, and there is ever grace available for a change for the better. If the saints in Sardis did not watch, then the Lord would come upon them unexpectedly as a thief, and they would learn to their sorrow what such a visitation would mean for them. But in contrast to the many, there were a few names in Sardis known to the Lord, who did not defile their garments. Garments speak of habits. Their behaviour was clean. Such the Lord said were worthy and would wclk with Him in white. Walking with the Lord in unsoiled garments will lead to a closer walk with the Lord in the ages to come. We must walk with Him in His ways; He will not walk with us in our ways. Enoch walked with God. Noah too walked with God. Walking with Him demands that there shall be nothing in our lives that causes our hearts to be at a distance from Him. The promise to the overcomer in Sardis was, that his name will not be blotted out of the book of life, and that the Lord would confess his name before His Father, and before the angels. The second part of the promise is similar to what He promised to those who confessed Him before men (Matthew 10.32; Luke 12.8). As to the first part, it seems to me that there is a double writing in heaven, (1) the writing of all born-again persons (Psalm 87.6; Luke 10.20), and (2) a writing of such as serve the Lord (Philippians 4.3). Only in the latter sense is it possible for names of redeemed persons to be blotted out of the book of life. We must ever distinguish between the new birth and service. In human affairs there are records kept of persons who are born, and also records of servants. These are not confused in men's affairs. Here is an honour for the overcomer, to have his name confessed by the Lord in heaven, and shame for those who do not overcome, to have their names expunged from the record of the Lord's servants. May we have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the church in Sardis and to each of the other churches also. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: Of Philadelphia one writer says, "Philadelphia signifies 'brotherly love,' and evidently points to the characteristic feature of the work of God in our days." "The revival of long-forgotten truths, and their application to the souls and lives of God's saints, was the Philadelphian work of eighty years ago." Here we are supposed to get the meaning and intent of this periodic teaching of the seven churches. Philadelphia is derived from Phileo, I love, and Adelphos, brother, and means "brotherly love". So the teachers of the "Brethren" movement apply this to themselves, as to what took place in Dublin and Plymouth. We have already pointed out that this city was called after its founder Attalus Philadelphus who lived before the Christian era began. What the name of the city of Philadelphia had to do with brotherly love among the Christians who formed the church in Philadelphia is a mystery. But it becomes a bewildering mystgry when it is applied to the "Brethren" movement, as is done by the writer whom I have just quoted, and by others also. It is easy enough to write piously about brotherly love amongst so-called "Plymouth brethren," but what are the facts? Are such writers serenely oblivious of the cruel division between Darby and Muller, which separated these two men's followers into two camps even to this day? We need not refer to lesser divisions which have taken place from time to time in both camps. The exposition regarding Thyatira, that the woman Jezebel is the Papacy, is bad; that concerning Sardis, that this is Protestantism, is equally bad; but, if possible, the claim by "Brethren" writers that Philadelphia is the "Brethren" movement is worse. Philadelphia has nothing to do with the "Brethren" movement. It was a city in which there was a church of God in the days of John the apostle in the first century of this dispensation. The Lord writes to the angel of the church in Philadelphia as "He that is holy, He that is true." He is the Holy One of God, of absolute holiness, equal to that of the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is also true, for He is the Truth. It is impossible for Him to lie. He could not say what was untrue from ignorance or by intent. He said, "He that sent Me is true," and "My witness is true" (John 8.14,26). He also speaks as the One who has the key of David, who opens and none shuts, and shuts and none opens. He knew the works of those in Philadelphia, and that they had kept His word, and had not denied His name. They had also a little power left, as though to indicate to them that they had had greater power at an earlier time. He set before them an open door. He would assist them; He would open a door for them to enter. How needful it is in the work of God that the Lord should open doors for the entrance of His word! See what Paul said about a great door and effectual being opened to him at Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16.9; see also Acts 14.27; 2 Corinthians 2.12; Colossians 4.3). In Isaiah 22.20-25 reference is made to the key of David, and to the work of Eliakim, on whose shoulders it was laid in the past. Shebna the scribe and treasurer was to be thrust from his office, and Eliakim exalted to the place of authority. Such indeed is the Lord; no one else but He is worthy to occupy the seat of having all authority in heaven and on earth. He will shut and He will open as seems right to Him. There was a synagogue of Satan in Philadelphia as there was in Smyrna, those who, like their master, were opposers of the truth and work of God. See how Satan opposed the work of God in the returned remnant from Babylon (Zechariah 3.1,2). Where God is working Satan will also be found working in opposition. Those who composed the synagogue of Satan, Jews according to the flesh, but not Jews according to Paul's judgement in Romans 2.28,29, were in due time to be brought and made to worship at the feet of those in the church in Philadelphia, and to know that the Lord loved these saints. This does not mean that these saints would be worshipped as God is worshipped, but the Lord would honour them in this way, because they had kept the word of His patience. Patience here means endurance "the word of My endurance." James says, "We call them blessed which endured" (5.11). There was a present reward for the Philadelphian church, that, because of their endurance, the Lord was going to keep them from the hour of trial that was coming on the whole inhabited earth to try the inhabitants thereof. This has nothing to do with the time of the Great Tribulation, for those saints with all the saints of the Church which is Christ's Body, will not pass through the Tribulation, whether they have kept the Lord's word or not. The Lord will have come to the air for the Church before the seventieth week of Daniel 9 begins; this applies to Israel, and the second half of it is the time of the Great Tribulation. The New Testament writers wrote in the strain that the Lord's coming was imminent, and so here the Lord speaks of coming quickly, as also in chapter 22.7,12,20. The Greek word Taxu here may mean speedily, hastily, or soon, shortly. It seems gravely possible that, through our failing to hold fast what has been entrusted to us, the crown we might have received may be given to another who has been more faithful. The promise to the overcomer in Philadelphia is very outstanding. The Lord says, "I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he hall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and Mine own new name." We might say that it is a galaxy of promises. First the Lord says, "I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God." But we read of the new Jerusalem, that John says, "I saw no temple therein," that is, no material temple; yet there is a temple, "for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof." Evidently faithful men will have a close and permanent asociation with Deity in that coming city and in the worship therein. Let none despise or mar God's present-day temple (which is not the Body of Christ) in the light of what is coming (1 Corinthians 3.16,17; 2 Corinthians 6.16; Ephesians 2.21,22). God's temple is God's house. On this pillar will be written three names; the name of His God, that is, the God of the Son of Man, who in His Manhood became a worshipper, the name of the new Jerusalem, and the Lord's own new name. If the name of the new Jerusalem will be written on certain of the saints of this dispensation, we can from this see who will compose the Bride of the Lamb, which is the new Jerusalem. Though the names of the twelve tribes of Israel will be on the gates of the city, this does not prove that the Bride is the redeemed of Israel, or that Israel is incorporated with the Church to form the Bride. We expect to deal with this point later on. The Lord's new name is not revealed as yet. To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The state of the church in Laodicea is supposed to set forth the last phase of what some are pleased to call "the professing church". But what is the professing church, and what does it profess? Is it Christendom, that Babylonian conglomeration which pays but lip-service to Christ? The writer before referred to says, "Whatever the general condition fo the church may be at any period, Christ never deserts it." Again he says, "The true and the false may enter the 'House' ... 'caught up' and 'spued out' intimate the respective destiny of the true and the false, of true believers and mere professors." The church in this writer's view is a mixture of saved and unsaved people, a view of the church never once found in the New Testament Scriptures. Indeed the call of God condemns such an idea. God's call to the church of God in Corinth was, "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers ... Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2 Corinthians 6.14-18). The confusion of Darbyism as to "the church of God" and "the house of God" is utter and complete. No unsaved people are contemplated as being in the church in Laodicea, nor in any other church of God. "Lukewarm" shows that the saints had some measure of warmth, though such a state is detestable to the Lord. An unsaved person has no warmth at all, he is dead in his trespasses and sins, and as cold as death. If "lukewarm" means mere profession, the whole church was lukewarm, and therefore there was not a saved person in it. Let us think for a moment of the church of God in Corinth as giving guidance on the composition of a church of God. We are told in 1 Corinthians 15.2 that they were saved by the gospel that Paul preached. Also, the body of each of the saints therein was "a temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6.19), and they had each been baptized into one Spirit (the Holy Spirit) into one Body (of Christ) (1 Corinthians 12.12,13). Where are the false believers here? Then, God's spiritual house is built of persons who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and, as living stones, have come to Christ, the living but rejected stone, to be built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God thrugh Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2.2-5). All these had been redeemd with the precious blood of Christ, and were born again (1 Corinthians 1.18,19,23). Where are these false believers and mere professors in the church and house of God? Laodicea does not present a professing church at the close of the dispensation of grace, but was the church of God in the city of Laodicea, of which we read in Colossians 4.13-16, "the church of the Laodiceans." The character in which the Lord presents Himself to this church is that of "the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God." God is "the God of truth" (Isaiah 65.16, Amen, R.V.Marg.). The first words that God put into the mouth of Balaam were concerning His truthfulness. "God is not a man, that He should lie; Neither the son of man, that He should repent: Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Numbers 23.19). God is not yea and nay. As to "the promises of God, in Him (Jesus Christ, the Son of God) is the yea: wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us" (2 Corinthians 1.19, 20). God speaks down to us in His Son and says, "Yea," and we say back to God "Amen" through His Son. The Lord Jesus is the Amen in all the work of God, whether in creation (John 1.1-3), or in grace (John 1.14,16,17), or again in judgement (Revelation 19.11-16). He is the true expression and response, the Amen, to the mind and will of God. Hence He is the faithful and true Witness. He, the incarnate Word full of grace and truth, came to tell God out or declare Him. He is the beginning of the creation of God, though He Himself has no beginning nor end. He is, as the Almighty Himself, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 1.8; 22.13), the Alpha and the Omega. In Him and through Him and unto Him were all things created (Colossians 1.16), and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist or exist (verse 17). It is the rankest heresy to hold that there was a time when the Lord was not, and a time when He was created. This was the doctrine of Arius, a doctrine which was condemned in the early centuries. His followers, the Jehovah's Witnesses (so-called), and others, are with us at this day. The Lord is the eternal Son of the eternal Father. God, the Father, and God, the Son, are co-existent. Many, many scriptures proclaim the true and full Godhead of the Son. Why had the Laodiceans become lukewarm? The answer is that they had turned from the Lord to things. They had become rich in material things and they had need of nothing. They were well-found as to worldly things, but, alas, in the heavenly things they were poor. They had temporal and material wealth, but they seriously lacked that which was spiritual and eternal. They did not even seem to need the Lord. Once they were hot, that is boiling, boiling with vigour and enthusiasm, but now the fire was burning low and they were tepid and insipid. The Lord was about to vomit them out of His mouth; His portion in them had lost its pleasantness. They only thought that they were rich, while they were poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked. They had not learned the teaching of the Lord, that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth. The wealth of a man is in what he is, not what he has. His wealth is in his soul, not his pocket. The Lord spreads His riches before them like a merchant in the market place, and calls on them to buy from Him. He has for sale fine gold, white garments, and eyesalve for their blindness. They are deaf to the cry of the divine Merchantman, so He packs together His goods and makes His way to their homes, and as a pedlar stands at the door and knocks. He will come in to them with His riches, if they will but open the door to Him. Moreover, He is prepared to sup with them and they with Him. What an enriching Christ is this! Some there are who think that the Lord's words set forth a day of individual testimony at the close of the dispensation. Nothing can be further from the truth. The saints here addressed were such as were in the church of God in Laodicea, not saints sitting at home and in fellowship in no church at all. We know that in the last days perilous times will come, as Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3, but we must not allow ourselves, because of this, to dose off into sleep, thinking that the church in Laodicea prophetically sets forth a time of apathetic indifference to collective testimony at the close of the dispensation. The truth regarding the church in Laodicea was for that church towards the close of the first century. We, of course, may learn lessons therefrom as we can from what is said to the church in Ephesus, and to the other churches as well. All these churches have words ofinstruction for us, if we have ears to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He said to the Laodiceans, "As many as I love, I reprove and chasten." He loved them. They were His born-again people, not false professors, mere tares to be cast out and burned. He called upon them to hear His voice through the Spirit. He spoke, but it is equally true that the Spirit spoke His message. He holds out to the overcomer a glorious promise. He says, "I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My father in His throne." We can never sit on the throne of the Father; only Deity may sit there. Of old David and Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah in Israel. It says, "Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD (Jehovah) as king instead of David his father and prospered" (1 Chronicles 29.23). This is Messiah's throne in which the overcomer will sit with the Lord, as He promised. For the sake of those who are exercised of God about church truth, we give our understanding of the subject, as revealed in the New Testament. (1) There is a secular use of the word church, as applied to the free citizens who ruled the city of Ephesus, called "the regular assembly" or church (Acts 19.39). It is also applied to the irregular assembly or church of Demetrius, who had gathered the church of silversmiths together (Acts 19.32). (2) It is applied to Israel, the church in the wilderness, comprised of that called-out and gathered-together people (Acts 7. 38). (3) It is used of the Church which is His (Christ's) Body, which He is building on Himself, the Rock, and which He will present to Himself without spot or blemish or any such thing, when He comes to the air for all who are in Christ (Matthew 16.17,18; 1 Corinthians 12.12,13; Ephesians 1.22,23; 5.22-32; 1 Thessalonians 4. 13-18). The building of this Church began at Pentecost (Acts 1.4, 5; 2.1-4), and it comprises all believers in Christ who are baptized in and indwelt by the Holy Spirit from Pentecost until the Lord's coming for the Church. (4) It applies to the church and churches of God, which describe local gatherings of God's called-out and gathered-together people, for the purpose of divine service Godward in praise and prayer, and divine service manward in testimony to men. Such a people must be separate from the sects of Christendom, whether ritualistic or evangelical. There was a church of God in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1. 2; 2 Corinthians 1.1), in Jerusalem (Acts 8.1; Galatians 1.13), in Antiosh (Acts 11.26; 13.1), and in many other cities and towns. The churches were linked together in Roman provinces for the administration of God's will among His people. Thus we read of the churches of God in Judaea (1 Thessalonians 2.14; Galatians 1.22); of the churches of Galatia (Galatians 1.2; 1 Corinthians 16.1); of Macedonia (2 Corinthians 8.1); of Asia (1 Corinthians 16.19; Revelation 1.4,11). Then churches of God are mentioned without being viewed as grouped together in provinces (1 Corinthians 11.16; 2 Thessalonians 1.4). (5) We have the churches of Christ (Romans 16.16), and the churches of the saints (1 Corinthians 14.33), and also the church at the house (Romans 16.5; 1 Corinthians 16.19; Philemon 2). These uses of the word church, apply, in our opinion, to groups of saints forming the one church of God in the place, as in Rome, Ephesus, and Colossae, and, of course, Jerusalem, where there were thousands of saints who could not be accommodated in one building. Nowhere do we read of the church of Christ or of the church of the saints. The definitions are found twice and in the plural in both cases. (6) In 1 Timothy 3.15 we read of "the house of God, which is the church of the living God." Though we frequently read of the churches of God, we never read of the houses of God. There is but one house of God at any one time, whether in Israel, in the days of the apostles, or now. God's house is where men require to learn to behave themselves. Being in it is conditional, the condition being, "if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end" (Hebrews 3.6). This should not be read, "seeing we hold fast"; that would violate the plain meaning of the Greek, also the A.V. and R.V. versions and any other version of value. The house of God must not be confused with the Body of Christ; the former is conditional, the latter unconditional. The house of God is both a holy and a royal priesthood, to render divine service Godward and manward (1 Peter 2.3-10). Each church of God bears the character of the house of God, and altogether they form the one house, the dwelling place of God on earth. This unity is seen very early in the work of God in the Acts, for we read of "the church throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria," (He ... ekklesia kath holes, "the church throughout all" or whole, from which words "the church catholic" is derived. It shows the unity which existed among the divinely gathered disciples wherever found. (See Acts 9. 31, R.V.). (7) "The church of the firstborn (ones)," of Hebrews 12.23, is a company of heavenly beings who are called-out and are distinct from the general assembly of innumerable hosts of angels. A picture of this is seen in the tabernacle in the wilderness. The outer circle of those around the tabernacle was composed of the twelve tribes; the inner circle of the sons of Levi. Moses and Aaron and his sons were on the east, and on the other three sides were the three branches of the Levitical family, Kohath, Gershon and Merari. The Levites were taken instead of the firstborn of the sons of Israel, who, but for the serious incident of the Golden Calf would have occupied the inner place. This inner circle of the Levites instead of the firstborn is a copy of things in the heavens to which those in the house of God have come. Rev4 and 5 As chapters 4 and 5 present heaveny scenes and are integrated together, we shall seek to deal with them accordingly. Chapter 4 begins with the words, "After these things." The truth contained in the letters to the seven churches is truth proper to the churches of God during the dispensation of grace, as is the truth in other epistles of the New Testament. Whilst the New Testament Scriptures contain many things that have a bearing on men in general, and many things apply to all born-again people, yet we must recognize that the epistles were written to the divinely gatheed saints in the churches of God and house of God. From chapter 4 onwards the Lord is beginning to unfold events which will transpire after He has come for the Church, that is for all who are in Chirst, the dead and the living. We shall find, as we proceed from chapters 4 to 19, that the events are not given always in serial form in the order in which they will transpire. There will be found to be an overlapping. We may briefly point out what we mean, when we indicate that at the end of chapter 6 with the opening of the sixth seal we come to the time of the coming of the Lord in the great day of His wrath. At the end of chapter 11 we come again to the Lord's coming to earth, when the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. Then in chapter 19 we come again to the Lord's coming in judgement, and to the battle of Armageddon. In chapter 4.1 we are told that a door was opened in heaven, and John was commanded by one with a voice like a trumpet to come up hither and he would be shown the things that would come to pass hereafter. "Straightway," he says, "I was (or became) in the Spirit." He describes what he saw. He saw a throne set in heaven and One sitting upon it, who was like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was no form or similitude, only the flashing splendour like in character to these precious stones. Jasper is said to be as clear as crystal, in Revelation 21.11, and sardius is a stone of blood-red colour. This was the glory of God, the glory of Him who is the Father of lights in whom there is no darkness at all. This is the light unapproachable in which the Man of Sorrows now dwells, in the glory which He had with Him before the world was. There was a rainbow round about the throne like an emerald to look upon. Who has not been entranced by a glorious sunrise or sunset as he viewed the streaming light paint the heavens with the exquisite colours of created light? or again been captivated by the colours of the rainbow? But what will it be to see the glory of God in any manner or measure? Those who will see the rainbow around the throne will be such as will be in covenant relation with God, even as those are who have watched the rainbow from Noah's time. The blessings are far, far greater in the former than the latter. Round about the throne are four and twenty thrones, on which sit four and twenty elders, with crowns on their heads. Some may agree with the following statement of an expositor of the book of the Revelation: "The thrones and crowns point to a royal company of the redeemed and glorified saints in heaven." He also says, "By the elders we understand, therefore, the innumerable company of the redeeemed saints, raised, changed, and caught up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thessalonians 4.17)." Thus, the four and twenty elders are identified as the Church which is Christ's body. It is easy to make such statements, but we are anxious to know how this is worked out. The throne of God is one. Is not the number twenty-four as definite? Do the millions of saints in the Church, the Body of Christ, crowd on the twenty-four thrones, or are the twenty-four thrones symbolic of millions of thrones? Again, will all the saints of this dispensation be crowned with crowns of gold? Several reasons have been adduced as to why the twenty-four elders are all the redeemed of this dispensation: (1) that angels "say," but saints "sing"; (2) that these twenty-four elders are old, mature persons, which points to a previous life; (3) that they are crowned with gold crowns, the word crown (Stephanos) being used of a victor's crown, showing that they have been victorious in their previous life on earth; (4) that in the A.V. they sing a new song, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God with Thy blood," us showing that they are redeemed persons; the angels not having sinned do not need to be redeemed. There may be other reasons for supposing that the twenty-four elders form the Church which is Christ's Body, but those given may be sufficient for examination at the moment. (1) Note that in chapter 4 the elders say, and in 5 they both sing and say. Moses both sang and spoke in Exodus 15.1; and David spoke in the words of his song, in Psalm 18. See the inspired heading of the psalm. But the whole case for angels not singing breaks down completely before the words of the LORD, in Job 38.4-7, where we read of the time of creation, "When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy." We may dismiss entirely the thought that angels do not sing. (2) As to the elders being old, mature persons, one would think from this that the saints of the Church were older than the angels, but this is not the case. Elders amongst God's people are not necessarily the oldest men. Younger men are often among the elders that rule because of their geater gifts and spiritual wisdom and experience. If for the moment we think of the elders as heavenly beings, who can say that all the angelic beings were created at the same time? May there not be some who are older than others? Whatever be the answer to such thoughts, the fact is, that angels were not all created equal in rank. Among celestial beings there are thrones, dominions, principalities and powers (Colossians 1. 16). There are fatherhoods in heaven as well as on earth (Ephesians 3.14,15), though there is neither marriage nor birth in heaven (Luke 20.34-36) like what is on earth. In Colossians 1.16 we have thrones, and in Revelation 4 we have the twenty-four thrones of the elders. (3) Then as to crowns, it is contended that the Greek word for crown (Stephanos) always means a garland, chaplet, wreath, conferred on a victor in the public games and it is always used in the Scriptures in the sense of the honour conferred on a victor. We might ask, "Will all the saints be victors and wear a victor's crown?" Even with a very limited knowledge of the Scriptures we would have to confess that that will not be so. If all saints are victors and overcomers, why those letters to the seven churches which we have just considered? Why Paul's words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.1-13? Will all saints wear the crowns of life, righteousness and glory? Have these not to be won? In Revelation 6.1,2, the rider on the white horse was given a crown (Stephanos) before he went forth to conquer. It is not a reward for victory achieved, but a mark of honour inview of the work he was given to do. The same is true of the woman, in Revelation 12.1-6; she is crowned with a crown (Stephanos) of twelve stars. The woman is Israel. The twelve stars are the twelve tribes. What victory had Israel won? None at all! They had even crucified the Lord, who is seen as the Man-child that the woman, Israel, brought forth. Nevertheless such was the honour, according to God's electing grace, that He conferred upon her, that she should be the chosen vessel by whom the Lord would enter this world, as Paul says in Romans 9.5. "Of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever." Israel is still honoured in the purposes of God and has before her a great future, and that because of the Man-child, the Lord, who is now upon the throne of God. I judge that it is right to say that both Adam and the Lord were crowned with glory and honour by God before the work they were given to do; Adam, as set over all the work of God on earth, and the Lord in that He was to taste death for every man, and of course to reign as the Son of Man afterwards (Hebrews 2.6-9). How often we hear Hebrews 2. 9 quoted as though it had a NOW in it, "Jesus, because of the suffering of death (now) crowned with glory and honour"! There is no "now" in the verse. It is helpful, I think, to quote what Liddell and Scott say as to the Groek word Stephanos: "Mostly, a crown, wreath, garland, chaplet, whether given as a prize, mark of honour, or festal ornament." In the case of the elders, I judge that the crowns of gold are marks of honour befitting their being seated on thrones round the throne of God, and are not indicative of their having been victors on earth. (4) As to the insertion of the plural pronoun "Us" in Revelation 5. 9, it all depends on whether the Greek plural pronoun Hemas in this verse is part of the Scriptrues. As to this, authorities differ. Some textual critics of weight exclude it, and in consequence it is read as in the R.V.; other textual critics include it, and consequently it is to be read as in the A.V. Chapter 5.8-10 reads: "And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God (A.V. has, "hast redeemed us to God") with Thy blood men (A.V. "out") of every tribe (A.V. "kindred"), and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be (A.V. "hast made us") unto our God a kingdom (A.V. "kings") and priests; and they (A.V. "We shall") reign upon (A.V. "on") the earth." There is no doubt that verse 10 should read as in the R.V. "and madest them (Autous, them, not Hemas, us) unto our God." Thus the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders are not speaking of themselves in verse 10. If this is so in verse 10, they cannot be speaking of themselves in verse 9 either; consequently the weight of grammatical evidence in the passage is for the omission of Hemas in verse 9, for you cannot have Hemas in verse 9 and Autous in verse 10. It is a great weight to put on a disputed text, to conclude that the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders are human beings who have been purchased with the blood of Christ, a very great weight indeed. This is nevertheless what some have done. If the four and twenty elders are the saints of the Church which is Christ's Body, it is strange that in Revelation 19.4 they are mentioned as a different company from the Lamb's wife, mentioned in verses 7 and 8. Again, how are we to understand the matter when we read of "one of the elders" (5. 5), in the light of the interpretation that the twenty-four elders signify millions of saints? We read also in 7.13 of "one of the elders." If the four and twenty elders are myriads of the ransomed, then so must also be the four living creatures, for they with the four and twenty speak the words of 5.9,10. We do not accept that the four living creatures are redeemed beings. We shall write of this matter later. We are told by John in 4.5 that "there were seven Lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." In regard to the interpretation of such a statement it is well to give heed to the LORD'S words to Job:"Who is this that darkeneth counsel By words without knowledge?" (Job 38.1,2). In Ephesians 4.4 we are told that there is one Spirit. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the Divine Trinity - one God (Matthew 28.19). The tabernacle with its service was a copy of the things in the heavens. In the tabernacle was the lampstand with its seven lamps of fire. In the vision shown to Zechariah there was a lampstand with a bowl on the top of it and seven pipes to the seven lamps, and the explanation of the vision, of the continuous flow of oil from the bowl to the lamps, was - "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of Hosts" (Zechariah 4. 2-6). The two live trees, which were Joshua and Zerubbabel, on whom rested the responsibility of leadership in the LORD'S work in the remnant which had returned from Babylon, poured out the golden oil to maintain the lamp of testimony. They were empowered for this work by the Spirit of the LORD of Hosts. As in the tabernacle and the temple, the lampstands upheld seven lamps of fire, giving light for divine service. The seven gave one light, not variegated lights. We learn from Ephesians 4.3-6 that the seven ones mentioned form the unity of the Spirit. Unity is a state of being one, a oneness. Thus, I judge, that the the seven Spirits are one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. We may learn later why the Spirit is seven. Those who are instructed in Scriptural numerics speak of seven being the Spirit's number, and of seven being a perfect number, but even when this has been said, how much are we instructed in the fact that there are seven Spirits? Before the throne was also a glassy sea like unto crystal. What are we to learn from this? It does not say that the sea was either glass or crystal, but it was like in appearance to crystal. I see no need to enter into a discussion of the difference between glass and crystal, that glass is the product of the hand of man, but crystal is a natural product got from the earth. In 15.2, this sea is mentioned again, and in this passage John says, "I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire." The sea appears to be a solid substance, at leastit had that measure of solidity, that those who came triumphant from the beast stood upon it. But whatis the message of the sea? In the court of the tabernacle was the laver, and in the temple there was a molten sea of brass which held three thousand baths of water. The water in both of these vessels was for the priests to wash themselves (2 Chronicles 4.2-6; Exodus 30. 17-21). The laver was made of fine brass (or copper), of the mirrors of the serving women who served at the door of the tabernacle (Exodus 38.8). The laver speaks of the laver or washing of regeneration, which is the word of God, by which every believer is bathed, and in consequence is clean for ever. The water of the word is afterwards to be used for the cleansing of the hands and feet in service for God (John 13.1-17; 15.3; Hebrews 10.22; Titus 3. 5; Ephesians 5.25-27; John 3.5). If we think of the laver being made of fine burnished copper, we may think of it revealing defilement and also providing the water for cleansing of the defilement. Similarly, the word of God reveals defilement and cleanses it, when the word is applied. When we think of the glassy sea we have reached a place where there is no defilement. The sea before the throne provides no water for cleansing. It is something of intense purity in which the least spot of defilement would be revealed. It seems to me that this is like what Ezekiel calls the terrible crystal (1.22), terrible indeed for man apart from the cleansing power of the blood of Christ and the word of God. Ezekiel says, "And over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of a firmament, like the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above." I leave the reader with the result of my meditations. (The Hebrew word rendered crystal in Ezekiel is rendered ice in Job.) "In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind" (4.6). Because of the insertion of "us," in chapter 5.9 (A.V.), "for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God," some have concluded that the four living creatures are the Old Testament saints, and the four and twenty elders the saints of the church which is Christ's Body. It is difficult to see how this is arrived at, and how the distinction is made between the Church and the saints of the Old Testament. For ourselves we are of the opinion that the four living creatures are four living creatures, and the four and twenty elders are four and twenty elders. This we think is the simple and straightforwad explanation of who these beings are. The likeness of the living creatures in Ezekiel 1, which we know from chapter 10 to be the cherubim, is very similar to that of Revelation 4, in that they have faces like a man, a lion, a calf, and an eagle; they are also connected with the throne of God. From this we are led to conclude that the same holy beings are in view. There are slight differences, truly, in the descriptions given, but those differences need not necessarily lead one to think that they are different beings. Differences in the Gospel narratives need not lead us to think that different narratives are in view. If the glassy sea reveals perfect purity in those who are privilged to stand before the throne of God, here are beings with countless eyes, which penetrate to depths far beyond mortal sight; with untiring and ceasless energy they proclaim the thrice holiness of their Creator. It may be difficult for us to say with our present knowledge whether the cherubim and seraphim are the same beings. The seraphim, in Isaiah 6, are the burning or fiery ones, and there is likeness in this respect to the cherubim of Ezekiel 1.13. We may in God's good time, and until then it is well not speculation. We are nevertheless strongly of the living creatures of Revelation 4 are the cherubim 10. learn who they are to indulge in view that the of Ezekiel 1 and It is a grievous fact that Satan fell from his place amongst these holy beings, for he was the anointed cherub that covereth (Ezekiel 28), and God commanded the prophet to take up a lamentation for him. From amongst the twelve apostles there was one who fell away too, Judas Iscariot, whom the Lord called a devil (John 6.70). It is perhaps of more than ordinary interest that the faces of the living creatures are those of four distinct classes of earthly creatures; the lion, the king of beasts; the ox, the greatest among cattle; the eagle, the chief among birds; and man, the greatest of all. These symbols have from ancient time been used to set forth the different characters of the Lord in the four Gospels; Matthew, the lion; Mark, the ox; Luke, the man; and John, the eagle. The old Rabbis taught that the standards of the four encampments of the tribes of Israel round about the tabernacle were those of the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle, but the Scriptures reveal nothing of this. When the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sits upon the throne, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him and worship, and cast their crowns before the throne saying, "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power: for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were, and were created." The R.V. gives the correct rendering of the verse here. Here we have clearly stated that nothing came into being of its own will or through fortuitous chance. The great Dagon of evolution here lies beheaded befoe the Ark of God's word, by one single verse. This verse says that all things were created by God and were created according to His will. Nothing could be plainer than these words. Which shall we believe, God or man? The answer is obvious! The wheel of chance may do for the gaming table, and here the devil and his votaries may seek an elusive fortune, but the God of heaven works according to plan and purpose. All will be effected "according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1.11). Woe to those who set aside His will in any age. His object in creation was that He might have pleasure in His creatures and they in Him. Worship is an abbreviation of worth-ship. It is the shape or acknowledgement that worth produces upon another. In the Greek it signifies bowing down or prostrating oneself. We see this demonstrated in the act of the four and twenty elders who fell down before Him that sitteth on the throne when His worth or excellence was proclaimed by the four living creatures. When God reveals Himself the proper attitude for angel or man to take is to bow before Him. David expresses the thought of worship when he says in Psalm 95.6, "O come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker." There is the bowing of the body and also the bowing of the spirit (John 4.24). Job cursed the day when God gave him being, but we shall for ever bless God, we who are redeemed, that we ever were born; though some may wish that they had never been born. In chapter 5 we come to events in heaven necessary to the revelation of the events which are recorded in the following part of the prophecy of this book. These events begin to be unfolded with the opening of the seven seals. The reference in verse 1 to a book casts us back to what is said in 1.1, where we read of the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him. In the hand of the Almighty is a book which is close sealed with seven seals. A strong angel proclaims with a great voice, "Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look thereon. Upon this John wept much. One of the elders said to him, "Weep not: behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome, to open the book and the seven seals thereof." In Jacob's oracular blessing of Judah, he called him a lion's whelp (Genesis 49.9), that is a young lion. Here is the Lion Himself from whom Judah sprang. In Isaiah 11.1,10, we read of both the Shoot and the Root of Jesse, and, in Revelation 22.16, the Lord calls Himself "The Root and the Offspring of David." The Lord is the Root of David, as to His Deity, and the Offspring, as to His humanity. The Lord ovrcame because of who and what He was. Hence to Him the Overcomer is given not only the work of unfolding the future to His servants, but, having authority in heaven and on earth, of fulfilling all that is revealed. John says, "And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a (young) Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth." It was not a ram that John saw, but a young Lamb, which speaks of weakness and tenderness; and having been slain, it bore the marks of death, but it was not lying dead, it was standing in the midst of the throne of God. Resurrection means the upstanding of one who has fallen in death. Here is the Lamb in resurrection in the midst of the throne and of the living creatures who are in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, and in the midst of elders who are round about the throne. Once He was enclosed and compassed about by an assembly of evil doers (Psalm 22.16; 88.17); He spoke of being in the midst of two or three of an assembly gathered into His name (Matthew 18.20); He walked in the midst of the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 1.11-13); He is now in the midst of the throne of God and of heaven's greatest beings and innumerable hosts. His place is ever in the midst. The seven horns and eyes of the Lamb are the seven Spirits of God. These are sent forth into all the earth. The horns speak of strength by which He will execute His will and defend His saints. The eyes tell of His infinite and accurate knowledge of all. In 2 Chronicles 16.9, we are told that "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." (See also Proverbs 15.3; Zechariah 3.9;4. 10) Whilst it was ever true that the Spirit moved about everywhere in Old Testament times, effecting the will of God, there was a new sending forth of the Spirit as sent by the Son from the Father, which took place at Pentecost (Acts 2), and He ever proceedeth from the Father and the Son. What a comfort it is to know that the Lamb knows all and His strength is ever availing on our behalf in every contest of the battle of life! Such was the One who came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne. When the Lamb had taken the book, the four living creaturs and the four and twenty elders fell down before Him, an act of worship in the light of the infinite worth of the lamb. They had each a harp and golden bowls full of incense. Certain say that the harps and bowls apply to the elders, but not to the living creatures, but there is nothing in the Greek to support such a conclusion. Those who fell down before the Lamb were such as had harps and bowls. The Lamb is here worshipped by these heavenly beings as God is worshipped (4.11). He is "of full Deity possessed." The golden bowls are full of incenses, of sweet odours of various kinds. These are the prayers of the saints who are on on earth. The prayers of the saints are of manifold variety, yet all of them are viewed as sweet odours. They sing, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders, not simply the elders. In contrast to the song of creation of 4.11, the substance of their new song, the song of redemption, is: "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood (men) of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them (to be) unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth." We have already, in our notes on chapter 4, dealt with the exclusion of "us" (Hemas), in verse 9 here in the R.V., and the change from "us" (Hemas) to (Autous) "them." In keeping with this the R.V. also changes "we shall reign" of the A.V. to "they reign." Our view is that we can safely follow the R.V. reading of verses 9 and 10. Doing this we conclude tha