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THE LUTHERAN COMMENTARY 
 
 A PLAIN EXPOSITION OF THE 
 
 i^oJp ^cripturc^ of tf)e l^etD Ce^tanieiit 
 
 BY 
 
 SCHOLARS OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 HENRY EYSTER JACOBS 
 
 Vol. IX. 
 
 flew 13orft 
 €l)e Cf)nj6fttan literature Co. 
 
 MDCCCXCVI 
 
^ ^.l/, 
 
ANNOTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EPISTLES OF PAUL 
 
 TO THE 
 
 EPHESIANS 
 
 PHILIPPIANS 
 
 COLOSSIANS 
 
 THESSALONIANS 
 
 E. T.'HORN, D. D. 
 
 Pastor ofSt.Jolin's Lutlieran Church, Charleston, S. C, 
 
 A. G. VOIGT, D.D. 
 
 Professor of TIteology, Newberry College, Newberry, S. C. 
 
 •Wew l)?orft 
 
 €|)e Cljn^ttan ^literature €o» 
 
 MDCCCXCVI 
 
Copyright, 1896, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE COMPANY. 
 
ANNOTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 
 
 BY 
 
 ANDREW G. VOIGT, D.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE 
 UNITED SYNOD OF THE SOUTH, NEWBERRY, S. C. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Church Addressed. There are some doubts 
 whether this epistle was addressed to the Church at 
 Ephesus. The absence of personal references and of 
 allusions to the previous intimate relations between Paul 
 and that Church is remarkable. The doubts suggested 
 by this circumstance are increased by the omission of the 
 words for " in Ephesus " (i : i) in several of the best 
 manuscripts of the New Testament ; for example, the 
 Vatican and the Sinaitic. This omission is confirmed by 
 certain statements of early writers. Tertullian is authority 
 for the statement that the heretic Marcion declared the 
 letter to be addressed to the Laodiceans. The writings 
 of Origen and of Basil contain statements which indicate 
 that they knew of texts which omitted the words for " in 
 Ephesus." 
 
 Nevertheless these suggestions of doubt are only 
 sporadic, and the large preponderance of historical proof 
 both in the form of textual evidence and ancient testi- 
 mony is in favor of Ephesus as the destination of the 
 epistle. 
 
 This condition of things has given rise to various 
 theories in regard to those addressed in this epistle, of 
 which the three following are the chief : 
 
 1. It was directed to Laodicea. 
 
 2. It was a circular letter intended to be read in various 
 Churches in Asia. 
 
 3 
 
4 //^ TROD UC TION. 
 
 3. It was addressed to the Church at Ephesus. 
 
 The last two theories are sometimes combined by mak- 
 ing Ephesus the starting-point of the circular letter. 
 
 The first of these theories rests upon a conjecture based 
 upon Col. 4 : 16 and may be rejected. The second is 
 plausible and most generally received now ; but it fails to 
 explain the almost unanimous agreement with which the 
 ancient Church regarded the epistle as directed to Ephe- 
 sus. It cannot be argued from the letter itself (1:15; 
 3 : 2) that Paul was not personally acquainted with those 
 to whom he wrote, as he certainly was with the Ephe- 
 sians. If the writer really was unacquainted with his 
 readers, we might expect some notice of it similar to Col. 
 2:1. The third theory is best supported by ancient tes- 
 timony, and on the whole is the most satisfactory. We 
 cannot tell why Paul should have written a letter of such 
 a general character to a Church with which he was so in- 
 timately connected. But once admitting that occasion 
 for such a letter might have arisen (and there is no diffi- 
 culty of conceiving an occasion of this kind), we can easily 
 understand the absence of personal references in so gen- 
 eral a letter. 
 
 Relations of St. Paul to Ephesus. The city of 
 Ephesus, situated near the mouth of the Cayster and 
 famous for its wonderfully beautiful temple of Diana, was 
 the capital of the Roman province of Asia, which formed 
 the western part of what is generally called Asia Minor, 
 and was the great commercial centre of that region. 
 The relations of St. Paul to this important city must be 
 learned chiefly from the book of Acts. The founding 
 of the Church there was begun by the apostle himself 
 during a brief visit on his second missionary journey, 
 and was continued by Aquila and Priscilla and after- 
 wards by ApoUos (Acts 18 : 18-28). During his third 
 
INTHODt/CTIOAt. 5 
 
 missionary journey St. Paul returned to the city, com- 
 pleted the organization of the Church, and made Ephesus 
 the centre of a missionary activity extending through the 
 whole province of Asia (Acts 19), and continuing for 
 several years (Acts 19: 10; 20:31). Finally, Paul was 
 compelled to leave the city, but by that time the Church 
 wss already well established under the direction of " pres- 
 byters " or "bishops" (Acts 20 : i, 17, 28). At a later 
 period when St. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, he 
 had a farewell interview with these presbyters at Miletus 
 (Acts 20 : 16-38). 
 
 One of the travelling companions of St. Paul, Trophi- 
 mus, was an Ephesian (Acts 21 : 29), and possibly another, 
 Tychicus, also was (Acts 20 : 4). At a later date St. 
 Paul probably once more came to Ephesus and left 
 Timothy there (i Tim. i : 3 ; 2 Tim. i : 18). 
 
 The Time and Place of Writing. It used to be 
 generally believed that this epistle was written from 
 Rome, and there is no good reason to depart from this 
 opinion, although in recent times another view has found 
 great favor. It is supposed by many recent scholars that 
 the epistle to the Ephesians, together with those to Phil- 
 emon and to the Colossians, were written in an earlier 
 period of St. Paul's imprisonment while he was confined 
 at Caesarea. The famous New Testament scholar Bern- 
 hard Weiss ably advocates this opinion. 
 
 This question deserves some discussion. It is certain 
 that the apostle was a prisoner at the time of writing this 
 letter (3 : i ; 4 : i ; 6 : 20), as well as those to the Colos- 
 sians (4 : 3, 18), Philemon (ver. i, 9, 13), and also the 
 Philippians (i : 7). This fact as well as the correspond- 
 ence in style and contents justify the grouping of these 
 four letters as the epistles of the captivity. The epistle 
 to the Philippians, however, does not bear as close rela- 
 
6 IN TROD UC TION. 
 
 tions to the other three as these do to each other. These 
 three must have been written about the same time. The 
 epistle to Philemon was evidently sent by the slave One- 
 simus ; and he was a companion of Tychicus (Col. 4 : 9), 
 the bearer of the epistles to Colossae (Col, 4 : 7) and to 
 Ephesus (Eph. 6:21). The similarity in style and lan- 
 guage of the last two letters, amounting at times to 
 verbal agreement, also proves that they were written 
 near the same time. What that time was will depend 
 upon the decision in regard to the place of writing. 
 
 The circumstances under which the apostle wrote must 
 determine the place of writing. Although a prisoner, he 
 still enjoyed considerable liberty, so that he was able to 
 continue his apostolic work (Eph. 6 : 19; Col, 4 : 3, 11), 
 This corresponds with what we know of the condition of 
 St, Paul at Rome (Acts 28 : 30), but does not agree with 
 what we learn of his condition at Caesarea. For there his 
 liberty hardly extended so far (Acts 24 : 23). Again, 
 from Philemon (ver, 22) it is evident that the apostle ex- 
 pected a speedy liberation, so that he even appointed a 
 dwelling at Colossae. It cannot be proved that the out- 
 look for liberty was ever very promising at Caesarea. 
 On the contrary, the gloomy foreboding uttered at 
 Miletus, in the touching farewell to the elders of Eph- 
 esus, could not have been dismissed from his mind very 
 quickly. Nor is there anything told about the imprison- 
 ment at Caesarea in the book of Acts which indicates that 
 Paul hoped for a speedy deliverance, whatever he de- 
 manded as an act of justice. It is to Rome that we must 
 look for a turn in his affairs which raised his hopes, al- 
 though we have no narrative of the events which led the 
 imprisoned apostle to expect his freedom. Another 
 argument in favor of Rome as the place of writing is 
 found in what we know of the plans of the apostle. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 During the captivity at Ceesarea the desire of the apostle, 
 as it had been his long-cherished wish before, was to go 
 to Rome (Acts 23 : 11) and not to Asia Minor. It is 
 necessary to suppose that Paul changed a long-cherished 
 plan, if he had any intention of going from Caesarea to 
 Colossse (Philemon, ver. 22). But in the event of his libera- 
 tion at Rome nothing could be more natural than that 
 the long-imprisoned apostle should desire to visit his old 
 fields of labor. Accordingly it seems best to regard 
 Rome as the place from which the epistles to the Ephe- 
 sians, Colossians and Philemon were written. 
 
 In accordance with this result in regard to place the 
 time will have to be fixed at about 62 A. D. Assuming, 
 in agreement with the commonly received chronology, 
 that St. Paul arrived at Rome in the spring of 61, some 
 time would necessarily elapse before his case had devel- 
 oped so far as to create a hope of a speedy acquittal (cf. 
 note on Col. 4 : 3). Hence it is towards the latter part 
 of the " two whole years," referred to at the conclusion 
 of the book of Acts, that the composition of the epistles 
 to Philemon, the Colossians and also the Ephesians must 
 be assigned. 
 
 The Contents. The similarity in contents between 
 the epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians is at 
 the first glance very striking. A closer examination re- 
 veals that the similarity is in details rather than in gen- 
 eral argument. In the latter respect the epistle to the 
 Ephesians exhibits much similarity to that addressed to 
 the Romans. In both epistles St. Paul has given a gen- 
 eral statement of his gospel. In Romans the apostle 
 argues that salvation is for Jews and Gentiles alike by 
 faith in Christ. He concludes the doctrinal part of that 
 epistle by showing how the manifestation of salvation 
 was all in accordance with an eternal purpose of God. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In Epliesians the same system of ideas is presented, but 
 the order is reversed. Beginning with the eternal pur- 
 pose of God, the apostle proceeds to show how the Gen- 
 tiles share with the Jews in salvation through Christ. 
 Although the epistle to the Romans is longer, that to 
 the Ephesians is really more comprehensive in scope, 
 exhibiting Christ in His central position in the revelation 
 of God, and in His universal relations to all things and to 
 the Church in particular, the special sphere of the mani- 
 festation of His gracious powers. In this respect there 
 is a close afifinity between Ephesians and Colossians. 
 For the latter also presents Christ as the head and centre 
 of all things and of the Church in particular. But it 
 does this with a polemical purpose to counteract certain 
 heresies. A controversial purpose of this kind is entirely 
 wanting in Ephesians. There are also some interesting 
 correspondences between this epistle and i Peter. 
 
 Literature. In a popular commentary like this it 
 would be beyond the purpose to attempt anything like 
 an exhaustive list of the literature on the book under 
 discussion. The class of readers contemplated in this 
 commentary will be best served by the mention of a few 
 of the best books, which will themselves open the way 
 for those who desire to pursue more extensive studies. 
 It is unnecessary to refer to the well-known lives of St. 
 Paul, or to the valuable articles in Bible dictionaries and 
 other works of reference. On questions pertaining to 
 the time and circumstances of writing this, among the 
 other books of the New Testament, the Introduction to 
 the New Testament by Weiss is very instructive. 
 
 Commentaries written by Lutherans will of course 
 have to be sought in the theological productions of 
 Germany. Among German commentaries we think con- 
 servative Lutherans will find those by the following four 
 
INTR OD UC TIOAT. 9 
 
 writers most satisfactory : Harlcss, Meyer, Braiine and 
 Schncdcrmann. The work of Harless was first published 
 in 1834, but is still valuable. Meyer s reputation is so 
 great that it is in vain to commend him. Braiuie fur- 
 nished the comments on Ephesians in the later editions 
 of Lange's Bibelwerk. Schncdcrmann wrote the annota- 
 tions on Ephesians in Strack and Zockler's commentary 
 on the whole Bible. 
 
 The leading English and American commentaries are 
 by Eadie, Ellicott. Alford, Hodge, Fausset and Dale. 
 Among these Ellicott deserves special attention for gram- 
 matical accuracy. For the ordinary reader no book will 
 serve better to lead into the general thought, the line of 
 argument and the historical situation of this epistle than 
 the Lectures on Ephesians by the recently deceased Dr. 
 R. W. Dale. In the Notes on Epistles of St. Paul from 
 Unpublished Commentaries by the late Bishop Lightfoot 
 there are some very valuable comments on the first four- 
 teen verses of the epistle. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 The Salutation. I. 1-2. 
 
 This salutation has the general features of the greet- 
 ings found in most of St. Paul's epistles, but has a 
 special likeness to the salutation in the epistle to the 
 Colossians. 
 
 I. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints 
 which are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus : 
 
 Christ Jesus. At the present day this sounds like an 
 inversion of names. But Christ is not a mere personal 
 name. It is a title, and here comes first because the 
 appointing of the apostles was a Messianic function, — 
 Through the will. From the stress laid upon the will of 
 God in this epistle (i ; 5, 9, ii ; 5 : 17 ; 6 : 6), it might 
 be supposed that an emphasis was intended on these 
 words here. But a comparison of other epistles (i Cor. 
 I : I ; 2 Cor. i : i ; Col. i : i ; i Tim. i : i ; 2 Tim. i : i) 
 shows that it was customary for Paul to refer to the 
 source of his apostolic office, both as an expression of 
 gratitude and to assure his readers that he spoke divine 
 truth. — Saints. A common designation for Christians in 
 the N. T., expressing the special grace received in Christ. 
 Fellowship with Christ makes saints. — At Ephesus. It is 
 doubtful whether Ephesus was originally named in the 
 epistle. (Cf. Introduction.) Those who regard the letter 
 as circular of course think it was not. (See on Col. 4 : 16.) 
 But then they are perplexed to find a reasonable inter- 
 
 II 
 
12 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. \\. i. 
 
 pretation of the clause without the mention of some des- 
 tination. " To the saints which are" — it is in vain that 
 commentators have turned these words in every way to 
 find a satisfactory meaning in them as they thus stand. 
 On the other hand, the supposition that the destination 
 of the epistle was purposely left blank so as to be filled 
 in as it went around, is too artificial to commend itself. 
 Some destination must have been originally named; and 
 if any place was mentioned, the best evidence is in favor 
 of Ephesus. — In Christ. The sphere within which the 
 epithets " saints" and " faithful " are applicable to Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Grace. In this customary greeting of St. Paul grace 
 points to the good-will of God as the source of all bless- 
 ings. — Peace. This describes the condition which re- 
 sults when the grace of God has been received. (See on 
 Col. I : 2.) — Lord Jesus. Grace and peace come from 
 Jesus as the Mediator, the Lord to whom all authority 
 has been given (Matt. 28 : 18). 
 
 Praise to God for the Blessings of Salvation. 
 
 I. 3-14. 
 
 Summary. Praise to God for His blessings in Christ 
 (3) — this is the theme of the entire following paragraph, 
 which consists of a single sentence from the third to the 
 fourteenth verse. Nevertheless it contains the whole 
 plan of salvation in grand^ outline. God's blessings in 
 Christ have their origin in the election of God before the 
 foundation of the world and their end in the sanctification 
 of believers (4). The nature of this election is that God 
 embraced us as adopted sons in the love which He bore 
 
I. 3.] CHAPTER I. 13 
 
 to Jesus Christ, the Beloved (5-6). We are brought into 
 this relation to Christ through His work of redemption, 
 which secures for us the forgiveness of sins (7). God's 
 grace enables us to know and apply this truth (8) and to 
 understand the grand purpose of God, which is to bring 
 all things into harmony and unity in Christ (9-10). In 
 accordance with this great purpose the Jewish Christians 
 were made a heritage for God's glory (i 1-12), and the 
 Christians addressed in the epistle received the Gospel 
 and the seal of the Holy Spirit as an earnest of a final 
 inheritance, also to the praise of God's glory (13-14), 
 
 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath 
 blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly //ar^j in Christ : 
 
 Blessed. (Cf. i Peter i : 3.) The recurrence of the 
 words blessed, hath blessed and blessing should be ob- 
 served. To bless means to speak, wish or do good. Men 
 bless God by word and thought. God blesses men by 
 act. — The God and Father of our Lord. This formula 
 occurs a number of times in the N. T. The American 
 Committee on Revision give as a marginal rendering: 
 " God and the Father," a translation to be preferred. 
 God blesses us because He is God, and because He is the 
 Father of our Lord and through Him our Father. How- 
 ever, there can be no objection to the expression : " The 
 God of our Lord Jesus Christ." St. Paul uses it in verse 
 17. — Spiritual blessings. Not those which afTect our 
 spirit, but those which spring from the Spirit of God. 
 Both good and evil receive blessings from God, but the 
 spiritual blessings are given only to those in Christ. — In 
 the heavenly places. God's blessings in Christ are in 
 the region of the heavenly, the domain of spiritual bless- 
 ings. The nature of God's blessings is described by the 
 addition of this phrase. They descend from heaven. 
 
14 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [l. 4. 
 
 In the sense of this epistle the true Christian is already 
 in heaven, not his future abode, but the heaven that is 
 within and about him. (Cf. 2:6, 19; Phil. 3 : 20.) Thus 
 LiGHTFOOT beautifully explains. — In Christ. More than 
 through Christ. Union and fellowship with Christ are 
 implied. 
 
 4. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that 
 we should be holy and without blemish before him in love : 
 
 Chose US. (Cf. I Peter i : 20.) The apostle proceeds 
 to unfold the blessings of God and begins with their 
 origin. This is not in man's goodness, but in God's 
 goodness — a contrast emphatically stated in ch. 2 : 9. 
 The full meaning of the word translated chose is " chose 
 out for himself," implying that God chose out some per- 
 sons from among others who were left unchosen. From 
 fear of restricting the universality of God's grace, we may 
 be tempted to diminish the force of this word so as to 
 deprive it of its true sense of election. On the other 
 hand is the danger of approaching the word with the 
 preconception of an absolute predestination, and of carry- 
 ing into it the idea of arbitrary selection, which it does 
 not contain. The emphasis of the word is not to be 
 thrown on the contrast between those chosen and those 
 not chosen. The entire stress is to be placed upon the 
 positive idea that the ultimate source and cause of the 
 blessings of salvation are solely in the will and election 
 of God. The practical comforting nature of this truth 
 is excellently brought out in the Lutheran Confession, 
 as the following quotation from the Formula of Concord 
 (cf. Book of Concord, Jacob's Trans., p. 657) will show: 
 " Therefore this doctrine affords also the excellent, glori- 
 ous consolation that God was so solicitous concerning 
 the conversion, righteousness and salvation of every Chris- 
 tian, and so faithfully provided therefor, that before the 
 
I. 4.] CHAPTER I. 15 
 
 foundation of the world was laid He deliberated concern- 
 ing it, and in His purpose ordained how He would bring 
 me thereto and preserve me therein. Also, that He 
 wished to secure my salvation so well and certainly that 
 since, through the weakness and wickedness of our flesh, 
 it could easily be lost from our hands, or through craft 
 and might of the devil and the world be torn or removed 
 therefrom, in His eternal purpose, which cannot fail or be 
 overthrown, He ordained it, and placed it for preservation 
 in the almighty hand of our Saviour Jesus Christ, from 
 which no one can pluck us (John 10 : 28)." — In him. 
 Christ is the sphere in which we were chosen. When 
 God framed His eternal purpose to save the world, that 
 purpose so to speak took shape in the person and work 
 of Christ, everything else finding its place from the rela- 
 tion it sustained to Him. — In Christ thus denotes the 
 source from which the election and salvation of God 
 proceed to us. Not because we were in Christ were we 
 chosen, but in Him is the ground of our election, the 
 power of our salvation and the order in accordance with 
 which we are chosen. — That we should be holy. The 
 purpose of the election. It is a question whether this 
 refers to Christ's holiness imputed to us (our justification) 
 or to the holiness which we are to attain by God's grace 
 (our sanctification). Harless argues earnestly for the 
 former view, and Meyer defends the same opinion. But 
 there is such an implication of moral condition in the 
 words holy and without blemish that in this and similar 
 passages (5 : 27 ; Col. i : 22) the reference to our sanctifi- 
 cation seems preferable. As LiGHTFOOT points out, 
 there is a sacrificial metaphor here. Holy denotes the 
 consecration, without blemish the fitness of the victim 
 for this consecration. (Cf. Rom. 12 : i.) — In love. Ob- 
 serve the marginal rendering of the R. V., which connects 
 
l6 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [i. 5, 6. 
 
 this with the following participle, having foreordained. 
 If it is not so connected, it should be joined with chose 
 and not with holy and without blemish. It is not man's 
 love but God's love which is meant, and which the apostle 
 is making prominent in the entire paragraph. 
 
 5. Having foreordained us unto adoption. as sons through Jesus Christ 
 unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 
 
 Foreordained. The election is carried forward in the 
 form of a decree or regulation made before the founda- 
 tion of the world. This is the sense of the word foreor= 
 dained. There is more emphatic reference in this word 
 than in the word chose to the end for which the election 
 was made. That end is here declared to be the adoption 
 
 as sons Through Jesus Christ. All the purposes of 
 
 God proceed through Christ as the Mediator between 
 God and men. He is God's only son, and God knows no 
 son except in Him. Others can be included in the filial 
 relation only by adoption through Christ (Rom. 8 : 16). — 
 The good pleasure of his will. This expression does not 
 merely assert the unlimited freedom of God's will. It is 
 true that God was determined solely from within Himself 
 to save man, and not by the merit of human works. But 
 the word "will, which denotes the mere power of volition, 
 is here qualified by good pleasure, which refers to the 
 content of the decision of the will as something good. 
 Hence it is not only the freedom but the grace of God's 
 will which we find in the expression. 
 
 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on 
 us in the Beloved : 
 
 To the praise, etc. The' final end of our predestina- 
 tion. In all of God's blessings two purposes must be 
 distinguished : our good and His glory. — The glory of 
 his grace. " The glory is not directly termed God's, so 
 
I. 7.] CHAPTER J. 17 
 
 far is the author from that view of God's being as the abso- 
 lute, existing per sc\ from which the Preclestinarian view 
 started. Only God's attitude (Verhalten) toward His 
 people is praised, and accordingly in His relation (Ver- 
 haltniss) to them is grace ascribed to Him " (ScHNEDER- 
 MANN). — Which he freely bestowed. Tke marginal ren- 
 dering is more literal : Wherewith he endued us. The 
 verb means " to cause to have grace," namely, God's 
 grace, as is explained in the next verse. — In the Beloved. 
 Namely, of God. (Cf. Matt. 3:17; Col. 1:13.) " God, 
 when He gave us His ' Beloved,' gave us all graces with 
 Him " (Lightfoot). 
 
 The punctuation of the R. V. correctly indicates the 
 conclusion of a line of thought at the end of verse 6. 
 Having thus explained the origin of God's blessings, the 
 writer proceeds in the next verses to the historical un- 
 folding of God's grace. 
 
 7. In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness 
 of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 
 
 In whom, etc. Almost the same words in Col. i : 14. 
 Both Ephesians and Colossians treat of the redemption 
 in Christ, the former connecting the doctrine with the 
 gracious will of God, and the latter connecting it with 
 the divine glory of Christ's person. — Redemption. Lib- 
 eration secured by a price or ransom. The price paid 
 for our redemption is indicated in the words : through 
 his blood. The idea is sacrificial. Redemption itself is 
 not strictly a sacrificial term, but it easily connects itself 
 with such. (Cf. Rom. 3 : 24, 25.) The sacrifice removes 
 sin and impurity and thereby delivers from the penalties 
 of sin and impurity. In this way the sacrifice is a means 
 of redemption. The statement in the text is equivalent 
 to that of Christ : " To give his life a ransom for many " 
 (Matt. 20 : 28). This is shown by a comparison of Lev. 
 
1 8 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [i. 8, 9. 
 
 17 : II, where atonement is ascribed to the blood, because 
 the Hfe is in it. — Forgiveness. The first fruits of the 
 redemption. All other blessings follow this. " Where 
 there is forgiveness of sins, there also is life and salva- 
 tion " (Luther in the Small Catechism). Forgiveness 
 is in a manner identified with redemption in this place, 
 for forgiveness consists in our redemption from the guilt 
 and punishment of sins. A more complete redemption 
 is mentioned in ver. 14. — Trespasses. (See on Col. i : 14.) 
 — The riches. " The addition of riches we may doubt- 
 less explain by the nature of the object, the knowledge 
 of which is disclosed through grace ; by that dominion 
 of Christ embracing heaven and earth (cf. ver. 10), the 
 thought of which fills the apostle " (Harless). 
 
 8. Which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom ani prudence, 
 
 Wisdom, Not God's wisdom, but the wisdom which 
 He imparts to men through His Spirit and the Gospel 
 (ver. 17; 3 : 4, 18). As the writer here combines wisdom 
 and prudence, so he combines " wisdom and understand- 
 ing " in Col. I : 9 and " wisdom and knowledge " in Col. 
 2 : 3. All these terms have a moral bearing and not only 
 an intellectual significance. Wisdom is the knowledge 
 of God and His salvation, and as a comprehensive term 
 embraces prudence, understanding and knowledge. Pru= 
 dence here is not simply wisdom applied to practice. 
 That idea is inapplicable to what follows. Prudence 
 denotes a state of mind imbued with wisdom and able to 
 perceive the relation of things to God's truth. Hence 
 the term is closely related to " understanding " as the 
 word is used in Col. i : 9: (See on that passage.) 
 
 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to 
 his good pleasure which he purposed in him. 
 
 Made known unto us. To the apostles, by revelation ; 
 
I. lo.] CHAPTER I. 19 
 
 to US by the Gospel and the illumination of the Holy 
 Spirit. — Mystery. In the N. T. not what is incompre- 
 hensible but what is hidden until revealed by God. (See 
 on Col. I : 26.) — The mystery of his will. This refers to 
 the purpose of redemption through Christ, the same that 
 is called the mystery of Christ in ch. 3 : 4 and the 
 mystery of the gospel in ch. 6:19. "It is Christ as the 
 Great Reconciler, not only of Jew and Gentile, but of 
 heaven and earth " (LiGHTFOOT). — Good pleasure. Not 
 only free, but gracious disposition of will. (Cf. note on 
 ver. 5.) — In him. Not Christ, but God. 
 
 10. Unto a dispensation of tlie fulness of the times, to sum up all things 
 in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth ; 
 
 Dispensation. Management such as a housekeeper or 
 steward exercises. " The same metaphor occurs in vari- 
 ous relations elsewhere in the New Testament. God is 
 the great ' householder ' in not less than five parables 
 (Matt. 13 : 27; Matt. 20: i, 11 ; Matt. 21 : 33; Luke 13 : 
 25 ; Luke 14 : 21) ; the Church is the household of God 
 (i Tim. 3:15; Hebr. 3 : 2 sq. ; 10 : 21 ; i Peter 4 : 17); 
 Ihe believers are the members of this household (Eph. 
 2 : 19 ; comp. Gal. 6 : 10); the ministers are the stewards 
 or dispensers (i Cor. 4 : i sq. ; Tit. 1:7)" (LiGHTFOOT). 
 The connection with the preceding verse should be ob- 
 served. God purposed His good pleasure unto or with 
 reference to a certain management or arrangement. This 
 arrangement is described as belonging to the fulness of 
 the times. The knowledge of Christ and of salvation 
 was given progressively in separate times, what we now 
 call dispensations. These times taken together make up 
 a fulness. One such fulness is mentioned in Gal. 4 : 4, 
 when God sent His Son. Whether the present passage 
 refers to that consummation or to the final consumma- 
 tion at the end of the world is difficult to determine. 
 
20 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAA:^ |i. lo. 
 
 The following clause agrees best with the latter idea. — 
 Sum up. This should not be connected with dispensa- 
 tion, but with the words which he purposed in the pre- 
 ceding verse. The good pleasure which God purposed 
 was to sum up all things, that is, to re-establish universal 
 harmony and unity in Christ. Some suppose that the 
 Greek word used here contains a reference to Christ as 
 the head over all things, as this epistle declares Him to 
 be (ver. 22), But this supposition requires that the verb 
 be derived from the Greek noun for " head," which is 
 incorrect. The word simply means to summarize, to 
 recapitulate, just as the summary of a book contains the 
 chief heads. The thought expressed here is that Christ 
 is the summary of all things, rather than their head. It 
 is a mistake to find in this passage the doctrine of uni- 
 versal restoration, in which even the fallen spirits are to 
 be redeemed. But there is an idea of restoration here, 
 namely, the redintegration of the world from the disturb- 
 ance of the original order by sin. This verse is often 
 connected with Col. i : 20 as a parallel, and not altogether 
 incorrectly. But the difference should be observed. The 
 phrase sum up is more comprehensive than reconcile used 
 in Colossians, and includes it. Christ is the summary of 
 all things, because in Him universal harmony and unity 
 are re-established, as explained in Col. i : 16 sq., the one 
 unto whom all things have been created and in whom all 
 things consist. All threads of life run together in Christ 
 as a centre. This summing up is not yet a fully accom- 
 plished fact ; but it is being realized in the successive 
 dispensations of God, and will be completed when in the 
 end all things have been subjected to Christ. (Cf. ver. 
 22 ; I Cor. 15 : 24 sq.) — All things. Not to be limited 
 to persons, but to be taken in its comprehensive sense. 
 — The things in heaven, etc. The reference is not to 
 
I. II.] CHAPTER I. 21 
 
 angels nor to departed saints. The entire expression 
 simply denotes the universe. Heaven and earth are the 
 parts distinguished in the simplest, most natural division 
 of the world. (Cf. Gen. i : i ; 2 Peter. 3:13.) 
 
 II. In him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been 
 foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after 
 the counsel of his will ; 
 
 Also. To be joined with the relative pronoun or with 
 the verb, not with the subject we. The writer is passing 
 from the general idea of God's purpose in Christ to its 
 realization in time. The also indicates this progress in 
 the thought. — We. In ver. 12 there is a limiting clause, 
 which indicates that the writer is here speaking of the Jews : 
 we who had before hoped in Christ. In contrast with 
 this the Gentiles are described in ver. 13. — Were made 
 a heritage. There is much difference of opinion as to the 
 meaning of the Greek word thus translated in the R. V. 
 The word occurs in the N. T. only in this place. Its 
 classical meaning is " to be chosen by lot " or " to obtain 
 by lot." But the idea of a lot is so unsuitable to the 
 purpose of God, described in this connection, that most 
 commentators prefer to discover some other possible ex- 
 planation. There is a noun of the same root as this verb, 
 which with kindred words is frequently used in Bible 
 language, meaning " inheritance." Assuming that Paul 
 conformed the verb here used to the meaning of 
 this noun, we may find the same thought here which is 
 expressed in Col. i : 12 : "Who hath made us meet lo 
 be partakers of the inheritance of the saints." In this 
 sense the A. V. has the translation : Have obtained an 
 inheritance. Luther's version agrees with this. This 
 interpretation is quite satisfactory, but probably that 
 adopted in the R. V. is to be preferred. According 
 to it there is an allusion here to the O. T. thought ex- 
 
22 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [i. 12, 13. 
 
 pressed in Deut. 4 : 20 and elsewhere. Israel is called 
 "a people of inheritance " unto God. Taking up this 
 idea Paul says the Jews were thus made a heritage of 
 God in fulfilment of His eternal purpose. 
 
 12. To the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who 
 had before hoped in Christ : 
 
 Had before hoped. This word plainly means that there 
 was a hope which existed beforehand for something that 
 occurred in the coming of Christ. Hence the only in- 
 terpretation which is not forced is to refer the phrase to 
 the Jews. Christ was the hope of Israel even though all 
 the Jews did not believe. — In Christ. According to the 
 Greek this does not denote the object toward which 
 hope was exercised, but the sphere in which the hope 
 was cherished. Ellicott remarks : " To have hoped in 
 Christ was a higher characteristic than to have directed 
 hope towards Christ." To the faith even of O. T. 
 believers Christ was not a mere distant future hope, but 
 a present reality, just as to us Christ is now the judge of 
 the quick and the dead although the day of judgment is 
 future. (Cf. I Cor. 10 : 4.) 
 
 13. In whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of 
 your salvation, — in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the 
 Holy Spirit of promise, 
 
 In whom ye also. The Gentile readers of the epistle 
 are now considered in contrast with the Jews. The con- 
 striction is irregular, either the verb being implied or the 
 interrupted construction is resumed in the second in 
 whom. In the former case it is best to supply were 
 made a heritage. In the latter case, and this is 
 preferable, the verb sealed expresses the blessing 
 which the Gentiles received corresponding to the 
 prerogative of the Jews in being made a heritage of God. 
 
1. 14.] CHAPTER I. 23 
 
 — The word of the truth. Something more significant 
 than the true word. Christ is the truth, which is pre- 
 sented in the word. — The gospel of your salvation. In 
 
 Col. I : 5, the apostle also joins together in a unity the 
 
 word of the truth of the gospel. Salvation is effected 
 
 through the Gospel as the divinely ordained means of 
 
 grace. — Believed. This necessarily follows heard. The 
 
 blessings of God are brought near to all who hear, but 
 
 are made the possessions of only those who believe. — 
 
 Sealed. The figure of sealing is used twice in this epistle 
 
 and frequently in the N. T. The seal is the Holy Spirit, 
 
 because the possession of the gift of the Holy Spirit is 
 
 the assurance that we are the adopted sons of God. (Cf. 
 
 Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4 : 6.) — Spirit of promise. So called 
 
 because promised in the O. T. and by Christ. 
 
 14. Which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of 
 Goo's own possession, unto the praise of his glory. 
 
 Earnest. This like " the first fruits of the Spirit " 
 (Rom. 8 : 23) is a preliminary gift to impart assurance 
 that more of the same kind will follow. The possession 
 of the Holy Spirit is an evidence that the other posses- 
 sions intended for God's children will also be given in due 
 time. Bengel has in his terse manner excellently in- 
 dicated the connection of things discussed here. He 
 says : " Through the word the Holy Spirit had been 
 promised. Therefore when the Holy Spirit was given, 
 those who believed the word were sealed. And those 
 who have the Holy Spirit know that every promise will 
 be fulfilled to them." — Redemption. Here as in ch. 
 4 : 30, and unlike ver. 7, redemption is represented as 
 something future. Our deliverance from sin is in a cer- 
 tain sense already an accomplished fact through that 
 which Christ has done for us. And yet we wait for the 
 full realization of our liberation from sin and its conse- 
 
24 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [i. 14. 
 
 quences. — Possession. The rendering of the R. V. is a 
 paraphrase rather than a translation of the Greek word 
 here used. There is no word for God's in the original. 
 But this explanation which makes the meaning to be God's 
 own possession, referring to believers as the people of 
 God, is the best. There is a parallel in i Peter 2 : 9. The 
 Greek noun here used corresponds with the verb in 
 Acts 20 : 28 : " The Church of God which he purchased 
 with his own blood." So here the meaning is the people 
 which God purchased for His own possession. 
 
 This concludes the discussion of the entire paragraph, 
 verses 3-14. The transcendent importance of this pas- 
 sage demands some general observations in regard to 
 it. 
 
 Luther has classed this epistle with the chief writings 
 of the New Testament, " which exhibit Christ to you and 
 teach all that is necessary and blessed for you to know, 
 even if you should never see or hear any other book or 
 doctrine." In this glorious epistle the introductory para- 
 graph is the jewel. The contents of this passage are so 
 rich that it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the 
 whole truth of Christianity is here presented in grand 
 outline from centre to circumference. In all of Paul's 
 letters nothing is more remarkable than the manner in 
 which he here views all things from one centre and contem- 
 plates all in Christ. This reference is repeated in almost 
 every verse. In ver. 3, it is in Christ ; ver. 4, in him ; 
 ver. 6, in the Beloved ; ver. 7, in whom ; ver. 10, in 
 Christ and in Him ; ver. 11, in whom ; ver. 13, in whom. 
 So the controlling thought in relation to which everything 
 is considered is Christ, and not an abstract idea of the 
 absolute will or nature of God. Although the range of 
 ideas extends back to before the foundation of the world, 
 yet even there the apostle sees all things in him. This 
 
I. 14.] CHAPTER J. 25 
 
 Christocentric doctrine of St. Paul is of the greatest prac- 
 tical importance. In reading this epistle it must be borne 
 in mind that it is not an abstract theological, much less 
 philosophical discussion of " obstinate questionings about 
 fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute." It is a sad 
 perversion of a passage full of the sweetest consolation 
 and of the highest joy to make it appear in a doubtful 
 light, which only causes uncertainty of mind and anxiety 
 of soul. Bengel rightly remarks that the teaching of 
 this epistle is pathetice exposita, set forth with deep 
 stirrings of emotion. It is not anxious questioning, but 
 reverent, joyful, triumphant contemplation of the won- 
 ders of God's grace as revealed in Christ, viewed in their 
 unity and totality as well as in their special applications 
 to God's own people. The apostle wrote not with cool 
 reflection nor quiet abstract reasoning, but with strong 
 pulsations of joy and gratitude, while his gaze was in- 
 tently fixed upon Christ. In successive waves the com- 
 bined thought and emotion culminate in the praise of 
 God's glory (ver. 6, 12, 14). The speculations and abstract 
 logical deductions which theologians have connected with 
 this and similar places in the writings of St. Paul are their 
 own, not the apostle's. He does not begin with an ab- 
 stract conception of God's absolute sovereignty and then 
 reason downward step by step as to what will become of 
 men ; but he contemplates and joyfully declares all the 
 glories of divine grace and all the possibilities for a sinful 
 world revealed in Christ. Those seeming contradictions 
 between God's predestination and man's free will evi- 
 dently did not trouble St. Paul much with Christ before 
 his eyes. In Christ he saw all contradictions vanish ; in 
 Him he saw all things reconciled, summed up and har- 
 monized. 
 
26 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [i. 15, 16. 
 
 Pryaer for the Readers of the Epistle. I, 15-23. 
 Summary. The living faith of those addressed is a 
 cause of constant thanksgiving and an occasion for prayer 
 (15, 16). The object of Paul's prayer is the deepening of 
 their knowledge (17), especially of their future hope (18) 
 and of the power of God operative in believers (19). It 
 is the same power of God which effected the resurrection 
 and glorification of Christ, giving Him the supremacy 
 over all things (20, 21), a headship which Christ exercises 
 in a special manner in the Church, the body which results 
 from His world-filling operations (22, 23). 
 
 1 5. For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus 
 which is among you, and which jv^ she-iv toward all the saints, 
 
 For this cause. (Cf. Col. i : 3, 4.) The blessings de- 
 scribed in the preceding verses are the cause. — I also. 
 Presuming that they themselves gave thanks. — Having 
 heard. Nothing can be inferred from this as to whether 
 the writer was personally acquainted with the readers or 
 not. Assuming that the letter was addressed to the 
 Ephesians, it is necessary to understand him to be speak- 
 ing of the progress which they made in faith since his 
 departure from them. — Faith in the Lord. The Lord 
 Jesus was not only the object of their belief, but also its 
 element. Their faith was grounded in Him. A vital 
 union with the Lord is implied. — Which ye shew. The 
 marginal reading of the R. V. inserting the love is to be 
 preferred. In either case the practical exercise of faith 
 toward fellow-Christians is meant. 
 
 16. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my 
 prayers ; 
 
 Cease not. (Similarly Col. i : 9.) — Making mention. 
 
 Paul was more abundant in labors than others, and cer- 
 tainly not less abundant in prayers. Considering the 
 
1. i;.] CHAPTER I. 27 
 
 many churches and even individuals (Philemon 4) he 
 made mention of, it is evident that his prayers were very 
 specific and occupied much of his thought and time. 
 
 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may 
 give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him ; 
 
 The God cf our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the basis 
 of our relations to God. Jesus Christ is our Lord, and 
 His God is our God, (Cf. John 20 : 17.) There is no sub- 
 ordination of the eternal Son to the Father implied in 
 this. Each person of the Trinity is God for the other 
 two persons. — The Father of glory. Glory is the char- 
 acteristic quality of God as revealed. When God be- 
 comes manifest, that manifestation is glory. The special 
 form of glory to be thought of here is that described in 
 ver. 6, the glory of grace. The believer who through Christ 
 has this Father of glory as his own, may from Him expect 
 glory. (Cf. " riches of the glory of his inheritance " in 
 the next verse.) — A spirit of wisdom and revelation. The 
 person of the Holy Spirit is not meant, but that state of 
 the believer which is produced by the imparting of God's 
 Spirit to him. Hence wisdom and revelation are not to 
 be regarded as attributes of the Holy Spirit, but as pos- 
 sessions of the man whom God has blessed. Revelation 
 is knowledge of divine truth directly communicated by 
 God. Its addition to the more comprehensive term wis- 
 dom serves to specify the kind of wisdom meant. The 
 apostle himself enjoyed revelations from God, and he 
 desired that others should receive the same blessing. 
 Nevertheless he was very far from encouraging men to 
 rely upon inner revelations for their knowledge of God, 
 apart from the gospel He preached and taught by word 
 and Scripture while he prayed for the spirit of revelation 
 for others. — Knowledge of him. That is, of God, not 
 Christ. 
 
28 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [i. i8. 
 
 i8. Having the eyes of your heart enUghtened, that ye may know what 
 is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in 
 the saints, 
 
 The eyes of your heart. More than the intellectual 
 faculties. The heart is the life centre. If there is dark- 
 ness there, the truth of God cannot be perceived. This 
 darkness is the result of a depraved will more than of a 
 deficient understanding. (Cf. 4 : 18.) The darkness of 
 the heart is sin. Hence enlightened eyes of the heart 
 denotes not only an intellectual perception, but a purified 
 spiritual perception, such as indicated in the Lord's 
 words : " Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see 
 God." — riay know. The object to be known is specified 
 in three particulars : a hope, riches, an operation of 
 power. — The hope of his calling. The hope which His 
 calling begets in us, not the thing hoped for. God's 
 election in Christ, applied to us through the Gospel, con- 
 stitutes our calling. From this calling springs our 
 hoping. Christians need to learn to hope as well as to 
 love and believe. — The riches of the glory of his 
 inheritance. This is the second thing to be known. 
 It properly follows hope, because it is the object hoped 
 for. Certainly it is an object commensurate with the 
 greatest power of hoping the heart can ever attain to. 
 Observe how the apostle heaps up words to express the 
 grandeur of this object. It is an inheritance. It is his 
 inheritance, that is, it comes from God. It is an in- 
 heritance of glory, such as " the Father of glory " 
 bestows. The glory is not easily estimated because of 
 its riches. The inheritance is future, known chiefly 
 through the hope begotten of God's calling ; but at the 
 same time present, because those called have been made 
 partakers of it (Col. i : 12) and have received " an 
 earnest " of it (ver. 14). — In the saints. Because the 
 
I. 19] CHAP IE R I. 29 
 
 riches just spoken of are in a measure already enjoyed 
 
 by believers, they are said to be among the saints. The 
 
 glorious gifts of God are already in the Church. (Cf. 
 
 3:16; Col. 1:12; Phil. 4 : 19.) 
 
 19. And what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who 
 believe, according to that worlcing of the strength of his might 
 
 The exceeding greatness of his power. This is the 
 third particular which the apostle prays may be known. 
 Here is the everlasting foundation on which Christian 
 hope rests. At the basis of all the believer's hopes is 
 God's power or rather separate operations of God's 
 power. For the exceeding greatness of this power is to 
 be perceived as it is displayed in believers and still more 
 in Christ (ver. 20). — To us-ward. The change from the 
 second person to the first is significant. The manifesta- 
 tion of God's power might be seen in the readers of the 
 epistle themselves (2 : i); but perhaps still more dis- 
 tinctly in the experience of others, notably St. Paul, 
 through whom God wrought so much (Col. i : 29). — 
 According to. The connection of the passage beginning 
 thus is variously explained. It is simplest to join it with 
 the preceding clause, but not merely with believe. The 
 meaning is not that we believe according to a certain 
 working, but the greatness of God's power toward be- 
 lievers is according to a certain working described in 
 what follows. — According to indicates measure. The 
 resurrection of Christ was a signal display of God's 
 power. The greatness of what God is doing towards 
 those who believe is to be estimated by that event and 
 what follows it. — Working of the strength of his might. 
 These words trace the operation of God back from the 
 manifestation of His power to its inner source. ^Might 
 is within ; strength is might put forth ; strength in 
 action is energy cr working. 
 
30 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [l. 20, 21. 
 
 20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, 
 and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly //a^r^j, 
 
 Wrought in Christ. In the person of Christ God 
 wrought a work which is not Hmited to that person, 
 but extends to us who beheve. The exaltation of 
 Christ is the guarantee or rather the actual beginning of 
 the exaltation of those whose hope is in Him. So the 
 apostle says : " Christ in you, the hope of glory " (Col. 
 
 1 : 27). — Raised him. Christ belonged to the category 
 of the dead, but God raised Him out of that class. 
 The quickening power thus displayed continues to act 
 through the living Christ upon those who are dead in 
 sin as well as upon the physically dead. (Cf. 2:5; Col. 
 
 2 : 12; I Cor. 15 : 22.) — Sit at his right hand. This 
 refers not to the ascension of Christ, but to His exalta- 
 tion generally, the fulfilment of the prayer of the Lord 
 given in John 17:5. God's right hand is wherever God 
 is and wherever He reveals Himself. Hence Christ ex- 
 ercises kingly power everywhere. This He does not only 
 according to His divine nature. He sits at the omni- 
 present right hand of God according to that nature in 
 which He was raised from the dead. In other words, 
 Christ's exaltation belongs to both natures, the human 
 and the divine. — In the heavenly places. (Cf. ver. 3.) 
 In this expression the heavenly order of things is con- 
 trasted with the earthly order of things. There is no 
 reason to suppose that heavenly places are extensively 
 located in space above or even outside of earthly 
 places. 
 
 21. Far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and 
 every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is 
 to come : 
 
 This verse explains the universal sovereignty which 
 belongs to the exalted Christ. — Rule, authority, power. 
 
I. 22.] CHAPTER I. 31 
 
 dominion. These terms do not designate different 
 orders of angels, for it is impossible to discover a grada- 
 tion in the list. Angels were undoubtedly prominent in 
 the apostle's thought at this place as in other places, 
 where he uses similar designations. (Cf. 3 : 10; 6 : 12 ; 
 Col. I : 16; Rom. 8 : 38 ; i Cor. 15 : 24.) Nevertheless 
 the terms used are general and it is unnecessary to re- 
 strict them. The widest reference to anything in the 
 universe that has power, suits best to the leading 
 thought of the supreme and universal exaltation of 
 Christ. — Every name that is named. Every name that 
 is given to power of any kind ; or better still, more com- 
 prehensively, every name that designates anything that 
 exists. — Not only, etc. The addition of this phrase 
 makes the preceding clause, if possible, still more com- 
 prehensive. The contrast between this world and that 
 which is to come is not identical with that between 
 earth and heaven. This world denotes the present order 
 of things both on earth and in heavenly places. In the 
 future there will be a new order of the universe. In 
 both worlds, in the present and in the future order, Christ 
 shall have supreme exaltation. 
 
 22. And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to 
 be the head over all things to the church, 
 
 And he put, etc. Application of the language of Ps. 
 8 : 6 to Christ, as in i Cor. 15 : 27 and Hebr. 2 : 8. That 
 psalm indeed speaks of man generally, but its utterances 
 only find complete fulfilment in Christ, the second 
 Adam. It becomes manifest in this verse that the 
 exaltation of Christ described in these verses is not one 
 of local transference to a place in heaven, but consists in 
 elevation to a position of supreme authority. — The head 
 over ail things. Not merely over all persons, but ail 
 things in the widest extent, as in ver. 10. The term head 
 
32 . EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [i. 23. 
 
 is not synomymous with ruler. The function of the 
 head is described in ch. 4 : 16 and Col. 2 : 19. The head 
 does not merely bear sway. It is the vitalizing and 
 organizing centre of the whole body. As head over all 
 things, all things were created by Christ and consist in 
 Him (Col. I : 16, 17). — To the church. The peculiar con- 
 struction of the sentence must not be resolved into the 
 two ideas that, first, God gave Christ to be head over all 
 things ; and secondly, that He gave Him to be head over 
 the Church. The apostle's declaration is that He gave 
 Christ to the Church, and He gave Him in the supreme 
 exaltation over all things described in the preceding 
 verses. More is meant than the idea that the head of all 
 things is also head of the Church. The writer has finished 
 his description of the exaltation of Christ, and now re- 
 sumes the idea of the power which works among believ- 
 ers (ver. 19). The statement here is that the great 
 power which effected all this glorious and world-wide 
 exaltation of Christ, is in the Church in the person of the 
 Lord. He with His universal power has been given and 
 thus belongs to the Church. Through the Lord the uni- 
 verse is so governed as to redound to the upbuilding of 
 the Church. — The church. It consists of those who have 
 been gathered out of the world to be in Christ. In an 
 ancient Greek city the ekklesia was the assembly of 
 voters as opposed to the entire population. This 
 ekklesia was the essence of the city. In like manner the 
 ekklesia or Church of Christ is the quintessence of the 
 world, in which the vital relations of Christ's headship 
 are especially realized. 
 
 23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 
 
 His body. So also Col. 1:18. The term corresponds 
 with head in the preceding verse. The same life pul- 
 
1. 23J CHAPTER I. 33 
 
 sates through all parts of the body ; the same vital prin- 
 ciple animates the whole ; and this life-principle has its 
 seat and source in the head, Christ.— The fulness. The 
 precise meaning of this word is much disputed. The 
 word in its primary signification simply means " that 
 which is filled." From this primary meaning we can 
 easily pass to an idea which corresponds better than any 
 other with the context. That context declares that 
 Christ filleth all, and that He is the animating head. 
 Then His body, the Church, is that which is filled not only 
 by Him, but with Him. As Christ filleth all things, as He 
 is the head that supplies the body, so He fills the Church 
 and supplies it with the gifts, graces and blessings that 
 come from His person. (Cf. 3 : 19.)— That filleth all in all. 
 Christ is the upholder of all things in all respects. (Cf. Col. 
 I : 16 ; Hebr. i : 3.) Probably a better translation is: 
 filleth all things with all. Christ fills all things, the uni- 
 verse with all that is in it. This world-filling power of 
 the Lord is exercised with special potency in the Church, 
 and herein lie the greatness and the glory of the Church, 
 which the apostle sets forth with glowing fervor in this 
 epistle. 
 
 At this point we may ask what has become of the 
 prayer with which the writer began in ver. 17? It has 
 imperceptibly passed over into discussion.. And yet it 
 was evidently not lost sight of by the apostle ; for in 
 the next chapter he proceeds to make an application to 
 the readers for whom he prayed. The line of thought in 
 the writer's mind was this : he desired his readers to per- 
 ceive with enlightened eyes the glory of the Church of 
 Christ, so that they might realize the glorious blessings 
 which have come to them in and through this Church. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 New Life freely given in Christ. II. i-io. 
 
 Summary. Those dead through sins (i), being inter- 
 mingled with the world, governed by the power of evil 
 (2), and thus being by nature children of wrath (3), God 
 in His love and mercy (4) has raised to new life with 
 Christ (5) and exalted with Him (6), in order to exhibit in 
 future worlds His great grace (7). For all salvation is 
 of grace (8). The glory of it is not man's (9), since all 
 human goodness is God's workmanship, effected accord- 
 ing to the purpose of God (10). 
 
 I. And you did he quicken, when ye were dead through your trespasses 
 and sins, 
 
 And you. Observe the conjunction. The connection 
 between this and the preceding paragraph is the very 
 closest. The writer does not begin a new thought. He 
 merely carries forward the thought he has been present- 
 ing to its application to the readers. — Did he quicken. 
 This verb is not found in the original, but is properly sup- 
 plied in the English version from ver. 5, where it occurs 
 after the interrupted construction of the sentence is re- 
 sumed. But the connection with what precedes is so close 
 that it might easily have been supplied from ch. i : 20 : 
 " When He raised Him from the dead." — Ye were dead. 
 Separated from God, the source of life. Death is first 
 spiritual, then bodily, finally eternal. The new life comes 
 in the same order, first spiritual resurrection, then resurrec- 
 
 34 
 
II. 2.] CHAPTER II. 35 
 
 tion of the body, finally life eternal.— Through your 
 trespasses and sins. (Cf. Col. 2 : 13.) The means by 
 which death is brought about are here denoted. The 
 A. V. omits your before trespasses. This pronoun is not 
 emphatic, but it is significant. Your trespasses and not 
 another's are the means of your death. Whatever the 
 connection between our death and Adam's sin may be, 
 that connection is made effective through our own sins. 
 
 2. Wherein aforetime ye walked according to the course of this world, 
 according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now 
 worketh in the sons of disobedience ; 
 
 Ye walked. This term denotes not merely separate out- 
 ward acts, but an inner moral state as well. — The course. 
 The Greek word is the same as that translated world in 
 ch. I : 21. It strictly means "age," but expresses not 
 only time but moral quality, the living which belongs to 
 the age. — The course of this world. The present order 
 of things in implied contrast with a future order. — The 
 prince of the power of the air. (Cf. Col. i : 13.) Look- 
 ing below the surface of things, it is found that an in- 
 visible power determines the moral character of the 
 world. This power is not a single person, but a host ; 
 for the word in the original is a collective term. At the 
 head of this host is a personal leader or prince. The 
 power has its abode about the world, for it does not 
 belong to the mundane order of things. (Cf. 6 : 12.) 
 Hence it is said to be of the air — of the spirit. Not a 
 personal spirit ; for the word is not in apposition with 
 prince (as might be supposed from the English version), 
 but with power. The supermundane nature of this 
 power was described in the words of the air ; now the 
 power is also described as to the quality in which it is 
 manifested in the world, its spirit, its animating principle. 
 The spirit can be seen in its workings in the sons of dis- 
 
36 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [ii. 3. 
 
 obedience. — Now worketh. In contrast with aforetime 
 ye walked. The spirit no longer worked in those obedient 
 to the faith. — Sons of disobedience. So also 5 : 6 and 
 Col. 3 : 6. 5ons used figuratively does not signify 
 descent or origin, but the class. Those whose actions 
 spring from a certain source, those who belong to a cer- 
 tain class are sons. The class here spoken of are character- 
 ized by disobedience. This is to be understood with 
 reference to the Gospel, and not only the general laws of 
 God. It is contrary to the obedience of faith (Rom. 
 I : 5), as a comparison of Rom. 1 1 : 30 shows. Unbelief 
 is the animating principle of the sons of disobedience. 
 The apostle does not refer to the grossly immoral Gentiles 
 as opposed to the more moral, but to the Gentiles and 
 Jews generally as opposed to those quickened with Christ. 
 
 3. Among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of cur flesh, doing 
 the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of 
 wrath, even as the rest : 
 
 We also. The Jews including the writer. — The lusts 
 of our flesh. Whatever difference there may have been 
 between Jews and Gentiles in regard to the forms of 
 vice, they were all alike as to the lusts. Flesh denotes 
 man both as to body and soul, as separated from the 
 spirit, which is of God. Lusts are the desires and 
 appetites which spring from such flesh. Lusts accord- 
 ingly are those impulses which tend away from God in- 
 stead of towards Him. — Doing the desires. The lusts of 
 the flesh are manifested in certain doings which spring 
 from desires or movements of the will. — flind. Literally 
 thoughts. The flesh, embracing both body and soul, 
 really includes the thoughts. But the latter, especially 
 through the imagination, are such a direct source of 
 desires that they receive special mention. — By nature 
 children of wrath. The wrath is that of God. — Children 
 
u. 4, 5.J CHAPTER II. 37 
 
 of wrath are those who belong to the class to whom 
 wrath is applicable. They are not only liable to wrath in 
 the future, but are now under wrath. In the words 
 children of wrath by themselves nothing is implied as to 
 origin, as if the expression meant that by birth we 
 belong to wrath. But the addition of by nature intro- 
 duces that idea. Here it limits the sphere in which the 
 assertion were children of wrath is true. Taken ab- 
 solutely without this limitation the assertion was not true 
 of the Jews. The fact that they were the people of God 
 with the hope of the Messiah altered their case. But 
 by nature the Jews Avere even as the rest, — Nature is 
 opposed to grace (ver. 5). In the state prior to grace, the 
 state in which we were from birth, we were children of 
 wrath. How we came to be in this condition is not 
 stated. Hence there is no direct reference to original, 
 hereditary sin here. But the doctrine of the universal 
 condition of sinfulness is found in this verse, and that 
 doctrine logically presupposes original sin. 
 
 4. But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved 
 us, 
 
 His great love. There was nothing lovable in those 
 who were dead through sins. God was moved by His love 
 alone to quicken them. 
 
 5. Even when we were dead through our trespasses, quiclcened us to- 
 gether with Christ (by grace liave ye been saved), 
 
 Quickened US, etc. This is more than being quickened 
 like Christ. We have here a profound thought which St. 
 Paul expresses in a number of instances (Col. 2: 13; 
 Rom. 6 : 4-6). The processes by which a man is re- 
 newed through Christ are not merely moral, giving in- 
 struction and prompting to imitation, but vital. The 
 energies which are active in the person of Christ con- 
 
38 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [11. 6-S. 
 
 tinue to act in the persons of those who become united 
 with Him. When God raised Christ from the dead 
 (i : 20), He potentially quickened all believers. All 
 that remains is that the act should work out its effects 
 in mankind. But the effects are accomplished by the 
 operation of the same energies that were in Christ at 
 His resurrection and are still in Him. Our new life is 
 already an accomplished fact in Christ, " who is the 
 beginning, the first-born from the dead" (Col. i : 18); 
 it is also accomplished in us when we appropriate what 
 is in Christ by faith. — By grace have ye been saved. 
 In passing, the apostle calls attention to the fact that all 
 this glory comes in accordance with his central doc- 
 trine, salvation by grace. 
 
 6. And raised us up with him and made us to sit with him in the heavenly 
 places, in Christ Jesus : 
 
 Raised us up. As in the case of Christ, vivification 
 was a distinct act from resurrection, so in the believer 
 quickening precedes resurrection. — In heavenly places. 
 
 The believer's life, like that of his Lord, belongs to the 
 order of things peculiar to the heavenly world (Col. 3 : 1-3 ; 
 Phil. 3 : 20). 
 
 7. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his 
 grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus : 
 
 The ages to come. Beginning with Christ's resurrec- 
 tion and extending into the ages of ages. — The exceeding 
 riches. What the marvellous abundance of God's grace 
 is, no man will realize until it is manifested in the light 
 of eternity. — In kindness toward us. Again the apostle 
 repeats the motive of God in salvation. 
 
 8. For by grace have ye been saved through faith ; and that not of your- 
 selves : 
 
 By grace, etc. Grace is God's means to save. Faith is 
 
II. 9, lo.] CHAPTER II. 39 
 
 man's instrument to obtain salvation. Although faith is 
 our act, our holding power on Christ, it too is a part of 
 the riches of grace which God made to abound towards 
 us, " I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in 
 Jesus Christ " (Luther in the Small Catechism). — Faith. 
 On this important word Harless has some discriminating 
 remarks which are reproduced here in substance. Faith 
 stands in contrast with sight (2 Cor, 5 : 7), The name is 
 adapted to the character of its object, which is " things 
 not seen" (Heb. 11 : i). It has this object in common 
 with hope (Rom. 8 : 24.) Christian faith is essentially 
 different from human faith with its uncertainties, because 
 it is an effect of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5 : 5 ; i Cor. 12 19; 
 Rom. 12:3); and because it is belief in certain, divinely 
 revealed truth (Rom. 10: 17 ; Col. 1:5; 2 Thess, 2 : 13). 
 — That not of yourselves. That points not to faith (as 
 might be supposed from the English version), but to the 
 main subject discussed, which is salvation. The same 
 remark applies to the next words : It is the gift of God. 
 
 9. // is the gift of God : not of works, that no man should glory. 
 
 Not of works. Salvation includes work, as the next 
 verse shows, but as an effect, not as a cause. — That no 
 man, etc. God's purpose is that He alone should obtain 
 the glory of salvation. (Cf. i : 6, 12.) 
 
 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 
 which God afore prepared that we should walk in them. 
 
 His workmanship. So far from our salvation being' 
 our own work, we ourselves are God's work. — Created in 
 Christ Jesus. The time of this creation was not at the 
 beginning of the world, but in our resurrection with Christ. 
 (Cf, 2 Cor. 5 : 17.) — For good works. The end for which 
 we are regenerated. — Which God afore prepared. There 
 is a reference here to the eternal purpose of God. The 
 
40 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [ii. ii. 
 
 end appointed for believers is holiness (i : 4). Good 
 works were foreordained as the sphere in which the re- 
 generate should walk. According to the course of the 
 world, men walk in trespasses and sins (ver. 2) ; according 
 to God's purpose in Christ, believers walk in good works. 
 
 Unity between Jews and Gentiles and Peace 
 WITH God through Christ. II. 11-22. 
 
 Summary. The former condition of the Gentiles was 
 one of separation from God and His covenant (11-12). 
 This separation has been abolished in Christ (13), who 
 removed the division between Jews and Gentiles and 
 made peace with God for both (14-15) by His atoning 
 death (16), which is preached to both alike (17), so that 
 both have access to God together (18). Accordingly the 
 former condition of the Gentiles has been changed into 
 fellowship with God (19) by their faith in Christ, as taught 
 by apostles and prophets (20), whereby they were incor- 
 porated into the spiritual temple of God (21-22). 
 
 II. Wherefore remember, that aforetime ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, 
 who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the 
 flesh, made by hands ; 
 
 Wherefore. In view of the blessings just described in 
 ver. i-io. — Remember. The memory of their former 
 state of misery would increase their appreciation of their 
 present blessed state. — The Gentiles in the flesh. This 
 verse must be interpreted in accordance with the general 
 argument of the passage, which is evidently intended to 
 show how the Gentiles were inferior in advantages to the 
 Jews, but became equal to them through Christ. The 
 words in the flesh therefore signify more than mere 
 natural condition. They imply that the Gentiles did not 
 belong to God's covenant, not having its mark in their 
 
II. 12] CHAPTER II. 41 
 
 flesh like the Jews. — Called Uncircumcision. Circum- 
 cision and Uncircumcision were distinctive names for 
 Jews and Gentiles, and are so intended by St. Paul. But 
 the Jews spoke of the Gentiles contemptuously as the 
 uncircumcised. — In the flesh, made by hands. There 
 was no reason for the contempt of the Jews, because their 
 outward circumcision was also in the flesh. It belonged 
 to the domain of the flesh. The advantage of the Jews, 
 which was real, was in the inner circumcision (Rom. 
 2 : 28 ; Phil. 3 : 3). 
 
 12. That ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the 
 commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, 
 having no hope and without God in the world. 
 
 Separate from Christ. (Cf. i Peter 2 : 10.) The Gen- 
 tiles had no hope of the coming Messiah as the Jews had. 
 — Alienated. They became such "because knowing God, 
 they glorified him not as God " (Rom. 1:21; Col. i : 21). 
 — The commonwealth of Israel. Not the Jewish state. 
 Israel has a theocratic, spiritual meaning. It is not " the 
 circumcision in the flesh," but " the Israel of God " (Gal. 
 3:3; Rom. 9 : 6). The advantage of the Jew over the 
 Gentile is fully recognized in the use of this name. — 
 Strangers. The covenant was framed not to exclude, 
 but include Gentiles. But these having become alienated, 
 made themselves strangers not belonging to God's cove- 
 nant. — The covenants of the promise. The promise is 
 that given to Abraham (Gen. 12:2). The covenants are 
 spoken of in the plural number because the promise was 
 renewed to Isaac and Jacob. — Having no hope. The 
 mention of " the promise " suggests a special reference 
 to the Messianic hope. But the phrase ought not to be 
 so limited. The misery of the Gentiles was that they 
 had no hope for the future in general. — Without God. 
 More than mere ignorance of God, that is, the true God. 
 
42 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESTAMS. [ii. 13, 14. 
 
 Without God means the opposite not only of knowing 
 God, but also of being known by Him (Gal. 4 : 9). LuTHER 
 in the Large Catechism, in explanation of the first com- 
 mandment, says : " What is it to have a God ? or what is 
 God? Answer: A God is that whereto we are to look 
 for all good and to take refuge in all distress; so that to 
 have a God is to trust and believe Him from the whole 
 heart ; as I have often said that the confidence and faith 
 of the heart alone make both God and an idol." — In the 
 world. This completes the desolateness here depicted. 
 The world is out of God lying in wickedness, and those 
 in it are utterly estranged from God. 
 
 13. But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in 
 the blood of Christ. 
 
 Now. Very emphatic. — In Christ. The condition 
 " separate from Christ " has been exchanged for a state 
 " in Christ." — Made nigh. To God. Equivalent to" rec- 
 onciled " in Col. I : 21. — In the blood of Christ. The 
 
 means of bringing the Gentiles near to God. The blood 
 is used in a sacrificial sense. We are reconciled to God 
 by the atonement effected by Christ's blood shed as a 
 sacrifice for our sins. (Cf. Hebr. 9 : 12.) 
 
 14. For he is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle 
 wall of partition, 
 
 He is our peace. The emphasis is on he, not on peace. 
 In His person Christ is our peace, for our peace was 
 made in His own body. (Cf. ver. 16; Col. i : 22 ; i Peter 
 2 : 24.) Does this mean peace with God or peace be- 
 tween Jews and Gentiles? Both ideas are to be found 
 here, the latter being based upon the former. The 
 general line of thought is not that the Gentiles were 
 "made nigh" to the Jews, nor that the two classes 
 were caused to meet on middle ground ; but both were 
 
ti. 15-] CHAPTER II. 43 
 
 brought near to God through the atonement of Christ, 
 and thereby all enmity between them ceased. Christ 
 became the peace between Jews and Gentiles by becom- 
 ing first the peace of both with God. This twofold sense 
 in which Christ is called " our peace " is further explained 
 in the following verses in this order : first, the peace be- 
 tween Jews and Gentiles (14-15) ; secondly, the peace of 
 both with God (16-18). — Who made both one. The 
 both, as the next words show, are not God and man, but 
 Jews and Gentiles. — Middle wall of partition. If there 
 is any allusion to anything in the structure of the temple, 
 it is not very distinct. The figure is so natural that it is 
 unnecessary to trace any special allusion to some par- 
 ticular object in it 
 
 15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of command- 
 ments contained in ordinances ; that he might create in himself of the twain 
 one new man, so making peace ; 
 
 In his flesh. In Col. i : 22 more explicitly "in the 
 body of his flesh through death." By His atoning 
 death Christ made the cause of enmity between Jews and 
 Gentiles of no effect. For from that time " neither is 
 circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new 
 creature " (Gal. 6 : 15). — The law of commandments con- 
 tained in ordinances. This is the root of the enmity. 
 Not the law itself, for it is good, but the law externally 
 considered as made up of separate commandments, which 
 imposed outward ordinances without being attended with 
 the fulfilling spirit. In this sense the law was the cause 
 of separation between God and man. It made demands, 
 but did not give the spirit which secured the fulfilment 
 of them. This separation from God was the real cause 
 of the enmity between Jews and Gentiles. Those who 
 love God and thus fulfil the law are not at enmity with 
 others. — Of the twain. Jew and Gentile. Peace was 
 
44 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [ii. i6. 
 
 made not by making Jews out of the Gentiles (so some 
 Jewish Christians erroneously thought), much less the 
 reverse ; but by making something new, namely Chris- 
 tians, out of both. — New man. A new life as opposed 
 to the former life of sin, a life wrought by the Holy 
 Spirit. Hence a life of holiness and spirituality. (Cf. 
 4 : 24; Col. 3 : 10; Gal. 6 : 15.) — In himself. In Christ's 
 person the old man of sin and enmity died when Christ 
 was crucified, and the new man of righteousness and 
 peace was created. The cross was the potential begin- 
 ning of all new life (Gal. 2 : 20). — flaking peace. Christ 
 being in His own person our peace with God, is the peace- 
 maker between men. 
 
 16. And might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the 
 cross, having slain the enmity thereby : 
 
 Reconcile them. The writer now takes up the primary 
 point in the peace-making of Christ, namely, with God, 
 of which the peace between Jew and Gentile was the 
 consequence. The Greek word for reconcile in this 
 place is an intensive compound, denoting complete rec- 
 onciliation. It is characteristic of the language of the 
 New Testament that it never speaks of reconciling God 
 or God being reconciled, but only of man being recon- 
 ciled and God reconciling. The reason for this usage is 
 by nO means that reconciliation is only a change of atti- 
 tude on the part of man, as if his alienation from God 
 were only a misconception of God's disposition towards 
 him. The enmity of sin is real both on the side of God 
 and of man, and Christ's atoning death was a real atone- 
 ment, doing enough to satisfy God's demands and to coun- 
 teract the sins of men. The reason for the peculiar 
 usage of the New Testament, which never makes God the 
 person to be reconciled, arises from the fact that the 
 reconciliation originates with God. He w^as in Christ 
 
II. 17-] CHAPTER II. 45 
 
 reconciling. Even in the Old Testament the sacrifices 
 were God's appointment to show that He provided the 
 way of approach to Himself for man. God is not 
 appeased, as the heathen think their gods are appeased, 
 through gifts and sacrifices. Men cannot win God's 
 favor by their works. God's wrath against sin belongs to 
 His eternal righteousness. That wrath is expressed in 
 His law. From love God changes the relation of men to 
 Him as under the law, by including them (if they will) 
 in the object of His immutable love, Christ, who blotted 
 out the bond that was contrary to us (Col. i : 14). This 
 is the reconciliation. — In one body. Not the Church, 
 but Christ's crucified body. — The cross. Brief for the 
 death on the cross. — Having slain the enmity thereby. 
 The enmity is that between man and God. This enmity, 
 the expression of which was the law, Christ nailed to the 
 cross in His own person and slew by His own death. 
 By making peace through His vicarious death the enmity 
 was slain. — Thereby means by the cross. Some prefer 
 to translate in himself instead of thereby. 
 
 17. And he came and preached peace to you that were far off and peace 
 to them that were nigh : 
 
 And he came. The grammatical connection of this 
 verse is with the words he is our peace in verse 14. 
 Christ's work of peace was completed by its announce- 
 ment and application to those in need of it. This work 
 was done through the apostles and other witnesses of 
 Christ. The words he came cannot refer to the incarna- 
 tion, nor to the resurrection, nor to the outpouring on 
 Pentecost. Christ came through the Spirit to those who 
 heard the Gospel and accepted its peace. " Not only 
 according to John (14 : 18), but also according to Paul, 
 Christ Himself came from heaven in the Holy Spirit 
 
46 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [ii. 18-20. 
 
 (since He is the Spirit of Christ) to those who received 
 the Spirit, and dwells and rules in them " (Meyer). 
 
 18. For through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the 
 Father. 
 
 This verse gives the proof of the announcement of 
 peace to both Jews and Gentiles. Both have the one 
 Holy Spirit and freedom of approach to God through 
 Him. The three persons of the Trinity are brought 
 together here, as is not uncommon in the epistles of St. 
 Paul. Through Christ as Mediator, in the Holy Spirit 
 as the element of our new life, we come unto the Father. 
 — In one Spirit. Not in one mind, but the one Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 19. So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow- 
 citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, 
 
 Strangers and sojourners. This verse points back to 
 verse 12, but it is not a mere repetition. There the 
 apostle was speaking of the Old Testament privileges 
 belonging to the commonwealth of Israel ; here he is 
 speaking of the kingdom of God as it has come through 
 Christ. In respect to this kingdom they had been 
 strangers without citizenship, and sojourners without 
 rights and privileges. But the announcement of the 
 peace of Christ had changed that. — FelIow=citizens with 
 the saints. Not the saints of the O. T., but of the king- 
 dom of Christ. The thought is the same as in Col. 1:12. 
 — Of the household of God. (Cf. Gal. 6 : 10.) The figure 
 of speech is changed from a city with its citizens to a 
 family. 
 
 20. Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ 
 Jesus himself being the chief corner stone ; 
 
 Being built. (Cf. Col. 2 : 7; i Peter 2 : 5.) Again the 
 figure of speech is modified from a household to a house, 
 
II. 21.] CHAPTER II. 47 
 
 in which believers are the "living stones" (i Peter 2 : 5). 
 — The foundation of apostles and prophets. Not the 
 
 persons, but the preaching of the apostles and prophets, 
 constitutes the foundation. The close connection of 
 prophets with apostles and the order of the words in- 
 dicates that N. T. prophets are meant, and probably but 
 one class of persons is denoted by the two terms. For 
 the apostles were also prophets, bringing promises to 
 those who heard their message. — The chief corner stone. 
 In I Cor. 3:11 Christ is called the foundation. The 
 figure is different here. The foundation has already 
 been designated, and Christ is something higher than that 
 foundation. The corner stone determines how the walls 
 of the building are to come together. Christ is the 
 regulating principle determining how all the parts of the 
 house are to be " fitly framed together." (Cf. note on the 
 word head, ch. i : 22.) 
 
 21. In whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into 
 a holy temple in the Lord ; 
 
 In whom. Not equivalent to upon whom. For the 
 antecedent is not corner stone, but Christ Jesus. This 
 phrase is not figurative, but expresses a reality like in 
 the Lord at the end of the verse. By faith Christians 
 are in Christ Jesus. In this relation of union with Him 
 Christian growth and edification progresses. — Each sev- 
 eral building. The translation of the A. V. is simpler : 
 all the building. But the Greek requires the more diffi- 
 cult translation : every building. Possibly the reference 
 is to every separate congregation, but it is better to think 
 of individuals. The idea presented is a complex one. 
 Every Christian is a temple (i Cor. 3 : 16; 6 : 19), and at 
 the same time a part of the great temple, the Church. — 
 Fitly framed together. The same word once more in 
 4 : 16. We may not be able to picture to ourselves the 
 
48 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. \ii. 22. 
 
 form of the building here described ; but the thought is 
 clear. It must be borne in mind that the building and 
 growth here discussed are not outward, but inward and 
 intensive. The more completely any believer has become 
 a temple of God, the more fitly framed is he to join to- 
 gether with others in the Lord. The building of the 
 body of Christ is effected in separate individual souls. — 
 Groweth. As a living thing it grows. In Col. 2 : 7 the 
 apostle also combines the ideas of growing and building. 
 
 22. In whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Ye aJso. Application of the foregoing truths to the 
 readers. They also are in Christ and in the Church. — 
 Habitation of God. The readers are considered individu- 
 ally. God dwells in each one. — In tlie Spirit. The Holy 
 Spirit is meant. He is the sphere or element in which 
 they become a habitation of God. All of God's gracious 
 operations come to us through the Holy Spirit, and when 
 this Spirit abides in us, we abide in Him. (Cf. Rom. 
 8:9; I Cor. 3 : 16.) 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Apostle's Ministry to the Gentiles. 
 III. 1-13. 
 
 Summary. Paul, a prisoner for preaching the Gospel 
 to the Gentiles (i), desires that the readers of the epistle 
 should understand Jiis ministry to the Gentiles, com- 
 mitted to him by revelation (2-4). The mystery, re- 
 vealed now as never before, that the Gentiles participate 
 in the blessings of Christ, was entrusted by special grace 
 to St. Paul (5-7). Unworthy as he deemed himself, it 
 was still his privilege to preach the riches of Christ to the 
 Gentiles, yea, to all men (8-9), so that the manifold wis- 
 dom of God should be displayed to the heavenly world 
 (10), in fulfilment of God's eternal purpose in Christ (ii), 
 faith in whom gives confidence to approach God (12). 
 The apostle's tribulations should not be a discourage- 
 ment, since they are an honor to those whose apostle he 
 is (13)- 
 
 I. For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you 
 Gentiles, — 
 
 For this cause. That given in the verses immediately 
 preceding. — Paul. His name had weight and carried 
 authority with it. — The prisoner of Christ. (Cf. 4:1; 
 Philemon i and 9.) Many think the apostle means that 
 it was really Christ who held him prisoner. We prefer 
 to find here the simpler idea that as a prisoner as well as 
 in all other relations of life the apostle belonged to Christ. 
 4 49 
 
50 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [ill. 2. 
 
 Whether at this time he was at Caesarea or at Rome is a 
 question which we have felt constrained to decide in 
 favor of Rome. (See the Introduction.) — In behalf of you 
 Gentiles. His ministry among the Gentiles was the 
 particular cause of his imprisonment. (Cf. Acts 21 : 28.) 
 The grammatical construction is now interrupted. 
 Various explanations have been offered to connect this 
 verse with what follows. The easiest from a grammati- 
 cal point of view is to supply the verb " am " before 
 prisoner. But it makes no good sense to say that Paul 
 was a prisoner because the Gentiles became a habitation 
 of God, as this explanation requires. The interpretation 
 most generally received makes the whole passage from 
 ver. 2-13 an afterthought and parenthesis, the regular 
 construction being resumed in ver. 14. But this also is 
 unsatisfactory. Apart from the great length of the 
 parenthesis thus obtained, the contents of ver. 2-13 are 
 too important, too essential a part of the whole epistle, to 
 be an afterthought. Hence we prefer to regard the 
 construction as a true anacoluthon ; that is, the construc- 
 tion is broken and its continuity is not resumed. There 
 is, however, a logical connection which binds this para- 
 graph with the general argument of the epistle. Paul 
 desires his readers to appreciate the ministry which has 
 been committed to him, the apostle of the Gentiles, 
 since their place in the kingdom of God depends upon 
 the truth of the gospel which he preached. 
 
 2. If so be that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God 
 which was given me to you-ward ; 
 
 If so be, etc. Not that they only knew of Paul's 
 ministry by hearsay, if at all. If so indicates not doubt, 
 but on the contrary emphatic certainty. This is, as 
 Ellicott says, a " gentle appeal expressed in hypo- 
 thetical form and conveying the hope that his words had 
 
III. 3-5.] CHAPTER III. 51 
 
 not been quite forgotten." (Cf. 4:21; Col. i : 23.) — Dis- 
 pensation. (Cf. Col. I : 25.) — Stewardship, as in the 
 margin of the R. V., is better. LUTHER translates Amt, 
 office. As a steward (i Cor. 4:1; Titus, i : 7 ; i Peter 
 4 : 10) he has to dispense grace. — That grace of God. A 
 possession which, as the writer adds, was given to him 
 to apply it for the benefit of the Gentiles. 
 
 3. How that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery as I 
 wrote afore in few words, 
 
 By revelation. Their confidence in God was to be 
 
 remembering that the gospel of their apostle came by 
 revelation, and not from any secondary source. (Cf. Gal. 
 I : 12.) — The mystery. That stated in ver. 6. — As I wrote 
 before. In the preceding chapters of this epistle. 
 
 4. Whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the 
 mystery of Christ ; 
 
 Ye can perceive. The apostle thus expects independ- 
 ent judgment on the part of his readers. — fly under- 
 standing. This epistle is designed to strengthen their 
 confidence in him as their apostle. What they read here 
 would confirm what they had previously learned from him. 
 — The mystery of Christ. — The Lord Himself is the 
 mystery. (Cf. Col. 2:2.) 
 
 5. Which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of 
 men, as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in 
 the Spirit ; 
 
 Which. Refers to mystery. — Other generations. 
 
 Expression of time in contrast with now. — Not made 
 known. Comparatively, not absolutely. For in a cer- 
 tain manner the mystery of Christ was revealed in the 
 O. T., and St. Paul himself argues the truth of his gospel 
 from it. But the kind and degree of knowledge were 
 not such as hath now been revealed. — The sons of men. 
 
^2 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iii. 6, 7. 
 
 A peculiar expression not uncommon in the O. T., but 
 rare in the N. T., denoting man in his actual, natural, 
 imperfect state. F. W. ScHULTZ remarks on Ps. 8 : 5 : 
 ^^ Ben-adain (son of man) the man of reality as distin- 
 guished from adam (man) the ideal man." Imperfect 
 mankind is here contrasted with the holy character of 
 the apostles and prophets. — Holy. By their office and the 
 inspiration of the Holy Spirit. — Prophets. Of the N. T., 
 as in 2 : 20. — In the Spirit. This describes the manner 
 in which it hath been revealed : not merely through the 
 Spirit as the instrument, but the apostles and prophets 
 were located (so to speak) in the Holy Spirit, so that they 
 spoke out from Him. 
 
 6. To-wit, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members of the 
 body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the 
 gospel, 
 
 That the Gentiles etc. This is the purport of the 
 mystery (ver. 3). SCHNEDERMANNhas a good analysis of 
 this verse, as follows : " The three members point back, 
 the first to ch. i : 14, 18 ; the second to ch. i : 23 ; the 
 third to ch. i : 13 ; 2 : 12 ; and all together to ch. 2:12. 
 The first member [fellow-heirs] emphasizes the relation 
 to future salvation ; the second [fellow-members] to the 
 Church, which is already an embodiment of salvation ; 
 the third [fellow-partakers] to the word, which from an- 
 cient times prepared the way and opened the prospect 
 of salvation. None of the blessings of salvation are 
 withheld from the Gentiles." 
 
 7. Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of that grace 
 of God which was given me according to the working of his power. 
 
 A minister, St. Paul uses three words in speaking of 
 himself as a servant. The word used here and in Col. 
 I : 23 has reference to the work and not to any condition 
 
III. 8, 9.] CHAPTER III. 53 
 
 as servile or free. In Rom. i : i and other places he 
 uses a word which means bondservant (cf. 6 : 5), the 
 reference being to the dependence upon the Master. In 
 I Cor. 4:1a word is used which denotes an assistant, a 
 subordinate official, such as John Mark was to Paul and 
 Barnabas (Acts 13 : 5). — The gift of that grace. The 
 measure and form of the grace any man receives is his 
 gift. St. Paul tells what his peculiar grace was in ver. 8. — 
 According to the working of his power. (Cf. i : 19.) 
 The apostle experienced the working of God's power in 
 his conversion. The grace which was bestowed upon 
 him then made him Christ's apostle. 
 
 8. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace 
 given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ; 
 
 Less than the least. Not merely modesty, but a con- 
 fession of sinfulness. (Cf. i Cor. 15:9; i Tim. i : 15.) — 
 The unsearchable riches of Christ. Not only Christ's 
 grace but also His glory constitute the riches of Christ. 
 This greatness of Christ's glory is one of the special 
 themes of the epistle to the Colossians. 
 
 9. And to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery 
 which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things ; 
 
 Hake all men see. Literally " enlighten all." (Cf. 
 I : 18.) This illumination comes by preaching, as the 
 apostle here declares, and not by any direct illumination 
 of the Holy Spirit in the heart without the eternal 
 word. — All men. A new feature of St. Paul's ministry. 
 He was the apostle of the Gentiles, but his work was not 
 limited to them. By his gospel he was to enlighten 
 Jews also, so as to make all men, Jews and Gentiles, see 
 the works of God. — ^The dispensation. Not the " steward- 
 ship " of Paul, as in ver. 2, but God's " arrangement," as 
 in I : 10. All men were to see how God disposed and 
 
54 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iii. lo. 
 
 regulated events, so that the Gospel came to the Gentiles. 
 — Which from all ages had been hid. (Cf. Col, i : 26.) 
 Not absolutely hid, but in comparison with the full 
 revelation of the present, as in ver. 5. — Who created all 
 things. Why this reference to creation here? It can- 
 not explain the word hid. For although creation is the 
 foundation of all subsequent dispensations of God, it in 
 no way explains why the purposes of God were hidden 
 for a time. Nor will it do to regard this clause as estab- 
 lishing the connection with the next verse, as if the 
 apostle meant to say that God created all things to the 
 intent of making known His manifold wisdom. The con- 
 nection of ideas is manifestly that the purposes of God 
 were hidden from the beginning, to the intent that now 
 they should be revealed. It is best to regard the clause 
 who created all things as an explanation of dispensa= 
 tion. At the basis of the entire dispensation lies the act 
 of creation. The plan of redemption is conjoined with 
 that of creation from eternity. "The same Son of God 
 is the Mediator of the creation of the world and the 
 Mediator of the redemption of the world (John 1:3; 
 Hebr. 1:2; Col. i : 20) " (Frank). 
 
 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the 
 heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold 
 wisdom of God, 
 
 Principalities and powers. (Cf. 1:21.) It is not nec- 
 essary to restrict these to the good angels, for the bad 
 angels also belong to the sphere of the heavenly (6 : 12). 
 Angels are capable of an increase of knowledge, and they 
 study the progress of God's kingdom through the Church. 
 (Cf. Luke 15 : 10; i Cor. 11 : 10; i Peter i : 12.) — 
 Through the church. " The theatre of God's works " 
 (Bengel). — rianifold wisdom. God's revelations are 
 successive, so that each is a fuller display of the manifold 
 
III. 11-13.] CHAPTER III. 55 
 
 wisdom of God. Especially is this true of the last 
 revelation which has been given. 
 
 11. According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus 
 our Lord : 
 
 According to, etc. Connect with might be made 
 known. — In Christ Jesus our Lord. (Cf. i : 4.) The 
 purpose of God was framed in Christ and fulfilled in Him. 
 According to this purpose God's wisdom is displayed to 
 angels. This is done through the means of the Church, 
 which consists of those who belong to Christ and have 
 Him for their Lord. Through our Lord we are connected 
 with all the glorious works of God into which angels 
 desire to look (i Peter i : 12). 
 
 12. In whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our 
 faith in him. 
 
 In whom, etc. This is the crowning revelation of 
 God's wisdom before angels, the preparation of a way by 
 which all, Jews and Gentiles, could approach Him freely. 
 This way is through our faith in him. Thus at the con- 
 clusion of the discussion of his ministry the apostle again 
 arrives at the central thought of all his teaching, salva- 
 tion by faith. — Boldness. Freedom from the constraint 
 of fear. This is produced by the removal of our guilt 
 through Christ. When our guilt is taken away we have 
 boldness, when our enmity is taken away we have access 
 in confidence before God. (Cf. 2 : 16-18.) 
 
 13. Wherefore I ask that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which 
 are your glory. 
 
 Wherefore. In view of the greatness of his ministry, 
 set forth in ver. 1-12, the apostle requests them not to 
 be discouraged at his distressful condition. The comfort 
 of his readers depended upon the truth of his ministry; 
 but the state of the apostle as a prisoner might appear 
 
56- EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [in. 13. 
 
 contradictory to the truth of his calling. It might be 
 supposed that if he was God's chosen instrument, the 
 Lord would release him more speedily. This verse anti- 
 cipates any such doubts. — Ask that ye faint not. The 
 object of ask and the subject of faint are both omitted 
 in the Greek text, and there is some uncertainty as to the 
 way they are to be supplied. Some expositors make 
 " God " the object of ask, and others " you " ; again, 
 some make " I," and others " you," the subject of faint. 
 If we translate " I ask God " in the first clause, there is 
 hardly any doubt that we must translate " I faint not " 
 in the second clause. But we prefer not to believe that 
 the apostle had any doubts about his own constancy, and 
 therefore prays to God in his own behalf to keep him 
 from growing faint under his trials. We think it more 
 probable that the apostle had fears for his readers lest 
 they should become discouraged on account of his afflic- 
 tions. Hence we prefer the translation : " I ask you that 
 ye faint not." The confidence of the readers of the 
 epistle was to be built on his divine call and not on his 
 personal experiences ; although the adversities he en- 
 dured, properly viewed, were not a disproof of his divine 
 vocation, but rather a confirmation of it. (Cf. 2 Tim. 
 I : 8.)— Which are your glory. The grammatical con- 
 struction is irregular in that it does not clearly indicate 
 what is the antecedent of the relative pronoun which. 
 This may refer to faint not, and the thought that it is 
 their glory not to faint would not be inappropriate in 
 this connection. But a better construction is obtained 
 by making which refer to tribulations. The tribulations 
 of the apostle, so far from being a cause for discourage- 
 ment, were their glory, because they were " the signs of 
 an apostle." (Cf. 2 Cor. 12:12 and the entire argument 
 from II : 16 — 12 : 10 in that epistle.) 
 
III. 14, 15.] CHAPTER III. 57 
 
 A Prayer for the Readers of the Epistle and 
 A DoxoLOGY. II. 14-21. 
 
 Summary. A prayer to the true Father (14, 15) for 
 two gifts: first, spiritual strengthening (16); secondly, 
 the indwelling of Christ (17). These gifts are to establish 
 them in love and further them in knowledge (18), espe- 
 cially in the knowledge of the love of Christ, with a view 
 tO' their final perfection (19). 
 
 The doxology ascribes to God, the mighty worker of 
 all the wondrous blessings described in the epistle (20), 
 glory in the Church and in Christ forever (21). 
 
 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, 
 
 For this cause. Not a resumption of ver. i, as some 
 take it. (Cf. note on that verse.) The reference is to the 
 preceding verse, or to the entire preceding paragraph. 
 Bow my knees. Representation of the attitude of prayer. 
 
 15. From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 
 
 Every family. The translation fatherliood must be 
 excluded, because the word does not have that meaning. 
 It signifies " family, tribe." (Cf. Luke 2:4; Acts 3 : 25.)' 
 But the etymological connection between the Greek words 
 for" family " and "father" is of importance here. Every 
 family, says the apostle, receives its name from the Father, 
 and this is indicated by the Greek words themselves. 
 The relation of names expresses a relation of facts here. 
 God is the true Father to every family, loving it and 
 caring for it. How is he the Father ? Not through crea- 
 tion, but through the new creation in Christ (cf. 2 : 10). 
 Hence every family does not denote all tribes of men, 
 but every group and community of God's children. The 
 apostle is not uttering anything like the idea of Pope's 
 Universal Prayer: 
 
58 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [in. i6. 
 
 " Father of all ! in every age, 
 In every clime ador'd, 
 By saint, by savage, and by sage, 
 Jehovah, Jove, or Lord ! " 
 
 He is not speaking of a universal fatherhood of God 
 over all creatures, but of the special fatherhood over the 
 sons adopted through Jesus Christ unto Himself ; in other 
 words, over every part of the Church, on earth and in 
 heaven. If now God cares for every family as Father, He 
 also cares for that family for which the apostle is praying 
 here. It is with this Christian confidence in the Father 
 that he makes his prayer. 
 
 i6. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that 
 ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man ; 
 
 According to the riches. (Cf. i : 7 ; 2 : 4, 7.) "The 
 large ransom paid for our redemption is a measure of the 
 wealth of God's bounty " (LiGHTFOOT). — His glory. 
 This includes not only His power, but the whole complex 
 of God's perfections. — That ye may be strengthened. 
 The first gift prayed for. It is assumed that they already 
 have the beginnings of faith. These, are to develop into 
 perfection. St. Paul's idea of a Christian was not that he 
 should have just enough religion to admit him to heaven. 
 He desired to see a constant increase of spiritual life in 
 his converts. His prayers in this respect present an ex- 
 ample which should be an incentive to Christian pastors 
 to pray not only for the conversion of men, but for the 
 growth and strengthening of those already converted. 
 With power. Not the means, but the mode of the 
 strengthening. He prayed for a mighty strengthening. 
 The means arc expressed in the words through his 
 Spirit. The Spirit's strength is the only strength 
 the Christian has. In all stages of his life his confes- 
 sion is that of the Small Catechism of Luther : " I 
 
III. 17.] CHAPTER III. 59 
 
 believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength 
 believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him ; but 
 the Holy Ghost has called me through the Gospel, en- 
 lightened me by His gifts, and sanctified and preserved 
 me in the true faith." — In the inward man. The Greek 
 preposition signifies "into," thus denoting the direction of 
 the strengthening. God's Spirit, coming from without, 
 penetrates into the inward man, carrying His power there. 
 The expression the inward man is not identical with the 
 new man (4 : 24), although somewhat like it. The new 
 man is the regenerated man. The inward man does not 
 describe the regenerated man as such, but the part or 
 sphere within man in which regeneration and all subse- 
 quent operations of grace are effected. (Cf. Rom. 7 : 22 ; 
 2 Cor. 4 : 16.) 
 
 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith ; to the end that 
 ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 
 
 That Christ may dwell, etc. The second gift prayed 
 for. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is Christ. The 
 indwelling of Christ, the mystical union as it is often 
 called, is one of the most comforting realities of Chris- 
 tianity. It should not be conceived as if Christ were only 
 representatively present in the person of the Holy Spirit. 
 He is personally present in the heart of the believer, so 
 that there is an abiding communion of the believer with 
 his Lord, and the most secret sigh of sorrow or penitence 
 and the most hidden stirring of joy or praise are imme- 
 diately perceived by him, and need not first be conveyed 
 by the Spirit beyond the skies to Christ. The degree of 
 perfection to which any Christian life has attained is 
 marked by the completeness of this indwelling of Christ. 
 — To the end that ye, etc. The designed effect of the 
 gifts, just prayed for, now follows. The grammatical 
 construction is rather irregular ; but from this point all 
 
6o EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iii. i8. 
 
 until the middle of verse 19 should be combined in one 
 thought, namely, this : By love ye learn the great love of 
 Christ. — Rooted and grounded. (Cf. Col. i : 23 ; 2:7.) 
 The double metaphor expresses firmness, fixedness. — 
 In love. Not God's love, but man's love to God is ob- 
 viously meant. Love is the root and foundation of the 
 Christian life. This by no means conflicts with what is 
 everywhere taught in the Bible of faith as the root and 
 foundation of regenerated life. " Faith worketh by love " 
 (Gal. 5 : 6). Here love does not denote certain acts or 
 works. In them is not the foundation on which the 
 believer is built up. But underlying the Christian's 
 works is the state or condition of love produced by faith. 
 Herein is the root from which originates the believer's 
 growth ; here is the foundation on which his character is 
 built up. 
 
 18. May be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth 
 and length and height and depth, 
 
 Strong to apprehend. This strength comes from the 
 Holy Spirit and by the indwelling of Christ, as shown in 
 the verses just preceding. Although the strength re- 
 ferred to is to apprehend something, nevertheless its 
 power lies not in intellectual culture, however valuable 
 this may be to the Christian, but in love. Here is the 
 one greatest gift in which all Christians may share and be 
 equal, however different they may be in other respects. 
 The strong Christian is not he that knows most, nor even 
 he that does most, but he that loves best. — With all the 
 saints. As the power of apprehension is love, the growth 
 in apprehension will depend upon the union of believers. 
 A man may pursue knowledge by himself, but not love. 
 This requires union with all the saints. .There is a knowl- 
 edge spoken of here, but it is a knowledge which belongs 
 not to any man by and for himself. It is to the Church 
 
III. 19.] CHAPTER III. 61 
 
 and for it. — Breadth and length and height and depth. 
 
 Vast dimensions are implied ; hence something extraor- 
 dinarily great. However, the idea may perhaps be, that 
 the object should be known on all sides and in all rela- 
 tions, although this is less likely. But what is the great 
 object referred to ? Perhaps " the mystery," which is the 
 prominent topic of the whole chapter. But it is not 
 necessary to look far away for the object implied. It is 
 most easily supplied from the next clause, the love of 
 Christ. The breadth, length, height and depth of the 
 love which Christ has shown to us, is an object which 
 demands our greatest strength to know even as also we 
 are known. 
 
 19. And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye 
 may he filled unto all the fulness of God. 
 
 To know the love of Christ, etc. A paradox, like 2 
 Cor. 12:9. 
 
 " The love of Jesus, what it is 
 None but His loved ones know." 
 
 Bernhard of Clairvaux. 
 
 The love of Christ. Christ's love to us. — That ye may 
 be filled, etc. This is the goal of perfection, and it is 
 set before the Christian to be striven for in this life, and 
 not to be postponed for the life hereafter. The fact that 
 we know that we never will attain to our goal, does not 
 release us from the obligation of constantly moving to- 
 wards it. — The fulness of God. Not the abundance of 
 what God is in His own being, but of what comes from 
 Him to us. Hence this expression signifies the full meas- 
 ure of His gifts, graces and blessings. Of course this is 
 a bounty which no man will ever exhaust in this life, nor 
 even in the life to come. (Cf. note on ch. i : 23.) In the 
 sense of what God is in His own being, " the fulness of 
 the Godhead dwelleth in Christ" (Col. 2 ; 9), but it never 
 
62 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [in. 20, 21. 
 
 will in any other man, not even through the indwelling of 
 Christ. 
 
 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that 
 we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 
 
 Now, etc. This doxology forms a conclusion to the 
 preceding prayer, and at the same time to the entire first 
 half of the epistle. — Able to do, etc. A more literal trans- 
 lation might bring out an idea that does not appear 
 clearly in the rendering of the R. V. The apostle first 
 makes a general declaration of the omnipotence of God : 
 " Able to do abov^e all things." Then he applies this 
 thought to those who pray : " Abundantly beyond what 
 we ask or think." The hindrances to our confidence in 
 God that spring from our own hearts and minds, are 
 overcome by the omnipotence of God. — The power that 
 worketh in us. The experience of our own hearts con- 
 firms us in our trust in the power of God to do above all 
 things. In ch. i : 19, the apostle already referred to the 
 exceeding greatness of the power that makes us believers. 
 The greatness of the change which is wrought in the re- 
 generation of a man, points to such a mighty power as its 
 source, that the Christian should be taught by what he is, 
 to expect from God everything which is necessary to bring 
 His new creation to perfection. 
 
 21. Unto him /^f the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all 
 generations for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 In the church. The place where God's fulness is re- 
 vealed and imparted. There His glory is willingly 
 acknowledged. — In Christ Jesus. A true acknowledg- 
 ment of God's glory is only possible in union and fellow- 
 ship with the Lord. Those out of Christ may be over- 
 whelmed by the majesty of God, and in the end surely 
 will be. But they will never know, much less freely ac- 
 
III. 21.] CHAPTER III. 63 
 
 knowledge that magnificent display of divine attributes, 
 which is experienced by those who have learned in them- 
 selves the love and grace received in Christ Jesus. All wor- 
 ship of God in spirit and in truth is in the Church and in 
 union with Christ. — All generations. Strictly speaking, 
 there are no generations in eternity. But creatures of time 
 cannot express the duration of eternity except by forms 
 of speech derived from time and the present world. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Exhortation to Unity. IV. 1-16. 
 
 Summary. With the authority of his bonds, the 
 apostle exhorts to walk worthily of the Christian calling 
 (i), with special attention to those virtues (2) which se- 
 cure peace and unity (3). For all that belongs to the 
 Church points to its unity (4-6), even the diversity of gifts 
 coming from the one Christ (7), who, as is shown by a 
 quotation from the Old Testament, fills the whole world 
 (8-10). Accordingly, the diversity of offices (11) is in- 
 tended to contribute to the upbuilding of the body of 
 Christ (12), until the Church attains to unity in perfection 
 (13). Furthermore, this diversity of ofifices is designed to 
 preserve the members of the Church from all delusions 
 (14) and to enable them to grow into complete commun- 
 ion with Christ, the head (15), from whom the body of the 
 Church, combining unity with multiplicity, effects its own 
 development (16). 
 
 I. I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of 
 the calling wherewith ye were called, 
 
 Therefore. Points back to what precedes, either to the 
 last chapter where Paul explains his apostolic relation to 
 them, or to the entire first part of the epistle. On the 
 basis of the doctrines thus^ far explained, the apostle, as 
 is his usual practice, makes exhortations of a moral and 
 practical nature in the last three chapters of the epistle. 
 — The prisoner in the Lord. As a prisoner he stands in 
 
 64 
 
IV. 2.] CHAPTER IV. 65 
 
 fellowship with Christ and His sufferings. Hence he is 
 able to exhort with the authority which comes from his 
 peculiar Christian and apostolic experience. (Cf. 3 : i.) — 
 Walk worthily. So also Col. i : 10. As was remarked 
 in connection with ch. 2 : 2, the verb walk does not refer 
 merely to separate acts or outward conduct, but ex- 
 presses a moral condition which manifests itself in a 
 certain mode of action. — The calling. The calling was 
 " that we should be holy." (Cf. i : 4; i : 18; 2 : 10.) 
 This calling is attended and made effective by wonderful 
 operations of God's power. (Cf. i : 19; 2 : 5 ; 3 : 20.) The 
 moral condition of the believer should correspond with 
 the power of the calling and its exalted aim. Note that 
 God's call is not based on our worth ; but our worthiness 
 follows our calling. 
 
 2. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one 
 another in love ; 
 
 Lowliness and meekness. The writer now proceeds 
 to detail the positive demands involved in the calling of 
 God, in the first half of this chapter, following this up 
 with negative requirements in the latter half. The vir- 
 tues mentioned in this verse are those most essential to 
 unity. It is noteworthy how closely the apostle binds 
 the growth of the believer up to the full measure of his 
 calling with the life and unity of the Church. Not in 
 seclusion and separation is the best Christian life devel- 
 oped, but in the fellowship of the Church. Lowliness 
 refers more to the inner disposition, meekness to the out- 
 w^ard attitude. — With long=suffering. If these words are 
 not grammatically connected with the following forbear- 
 ing, they at least stand closely related to it in thought. 
 As long as the Church consists of imperfect men, long- 
 suffering and forbearance with the faults of others will 
 always be needed. — In love. This is the disposition 
 5 
 
66 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. 3, 4. 
 
 underlying forbearance, the perfect bond which holds all 
 together, whereas, an uncompromising assertion of rights 
 would tend to drive the members of the Church apart 
 and engender strife and division. Even those who are in 
 the right frequently do much wrong from the want of 
 meekness and forbearance. 
 
 3. Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 
 
 Keep the unity. This is the central exhortation of the 
 entire paragraph. The unity of the Spirit already exists ; 
 hence the exhortation is to keep, to guard it. The unity 
 is ascribed to the Spirit, because He effects it. — The bond 
 of peace. Peace is the bond which holds the Church to- 
 gether in unity. In Col. 3:14" love " is called " the 
 bond of perfectness." Peace here is essentially the same 
 as love, since it refers to the inner disposition and not to 
 outward agreement. 
 
 4. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one 
 hope of your calling ; 
 
 The arrangement of the following description of the 
 unity of the Church (ver. 4-6) is by threes. There are 
 three clauses, each with three parts. — One body and one 
 Spirit. Unity is a characteristic mark of the Church. 
 Therefore we confess, in the Nicene Creed, " one holy 
 Christian and Apostolic Church," and similarly in the 
 Augsburg Confession, Article VII. As man is body and 
 spirit, so the Church is one body pervaded by one Holy 
 Spirit. The concession here is that the Church is not only 
 an organization, but an organism, animated by a divine 
 power of life. " It is the Spirit that quickerieth." The 
 body is one ; it is not made one by the peace and har- 
 mony of its members. God has made the body one ; for 
 this reason peace should prevail among the members. 
 The one Spirit is not the unanimity of the members of 
 
IV. 5, 6.] CHAPTER IV. 67 
 
 the Church, but the one Hfe-giving Holy Spirit. — Even 
 as ye were called. The unity characteristic of the Church 
 may be recognized in the experience of its members. 
 Every Christian knows that the hope which his calling 
 begets, is one and the same hope that all have, who are 
 called of God. The one common hope of all Christians 
 is that of a perfect communion with God and a perfect 
 fellowship of saints. It is such a body that the Spirit 
 is bringing into existence by His presence in the Church. 
 When this one body with one Spirit is fully realized, 
 then the one hope of our calling will be fulfilled. 
 
 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 
 
 This is the second group of three which describes the 
 unity of the Church. The unity of the Church is thus 
 confirmed by a consideration of what makes men Chris- 
 tians and members of the Church. One Lord is the Saviour 
 of all, and it is only by Him that men have access to God. 
 This Saviour is appropriated by all through one faith, 
 and there is no other way of obtaining the benefits of His 
 redemption. One baptism is the means of incorporating 
 all into union with the one Lord and the unity of the one 
 Spirit. 
 
 6. One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. 
 
 One God and Father. The unity of God, in the three- 
 foldness of His relation to all believers, crowns the argu- 
 ment for the unity of the Church. — AH. AH believers, all 
 members of the Church. The universal fatherhood of 
 God over all men is a truth, but it is not spoken of here. 
 All believers have one Father: hence there should be 
 peace and unity of spirit among them. — Who is over all, 
 etc. All members of the Church acknowledge the same 
 divine majesty over all, the same divine energy and ac- 
 tivity through all, and the same divine indwelling in all. 
 
68 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. 7, 8. 
 
 The variation of prepositions, over, through, in, expresses 
 the totahty of God's relations. It does not reflect the 
 three persons of the Trinity. But it should be observed 
 that the whole arrangement of the series of predicates 
 which mark the unity of the Church is Trinitarian in an 
 ascending order : first, the Spirit in ver. 4 ; secondly, the 
 Lord in ver. 5 ; and finally, the Father in ver. 6. And, 
 although it is not stated, the manifest implication is that 
 these three are one. 
 
 7. But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure 
 of the gift of Christ. 
 
 Unto each one. Those things which are individual in 
 the Church need not and should not conflict with the 
 unity just described. On the contrary, they confirm the 
 unity ; for, however varied they may be, they all come 
 from one Giver, and all contribute to the one great pur- 
 pose of God in the Church. — Was the grace given. 
 (Cf. 3 : 2, 7.) The verb is emphatic. The diversity of 
 gifts in the Church is not for the honor or the selfish use 
 of those who possess them, but to profit withal. They 
 were given. The gift points to the Giver as the One 
 who determines the design of every given grace. — 
 According to the measure of the gift of Christ. The 
 grace of God which comes through Christ is common to 
 all members of the Church, but it is operative in distinct 
 gifts. These gifts are defined by a certain measure. 
 Both the gift and the measure come from Christ. And 
 the measure is of such a nature that they all fit together 
 to preserve the unity of the Church. The gifts of Christ 
 are not to lead to individualism and segregation, but to 
 supplement each other in the communion of believers. 
 
 8. Wherefore he saith, 
 
 When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, 
 And gave gifts unto men. 
 
iv. 8.] CHAPTER IV. 69 
 
 He saith. The quotation in this verse is designed 
 to prove that Christ is the Giver of gifts, and it must be 
 considered with this purpose in view. Accordingly the 
 emphasis would seem at first sight to lie on the words 
 gave gifts. But since the apostle himself in the next 
 verses comments on the words he ascended, the predom- 
 inant thought should be found in them. And, indeed, 
 there lies the guarantee that Christ is the Giver of gifts. 
 For the significance of this ascension of Christ, as the 
 apostle argues and clearly states in ver, 10, is that he 
 fills all things. It is this world-filling exaltation of 
 Christ that proves that the gifts which are possessed 
 in the Church come from Him. The apostle thus recurs 
 to a thought which he already expressed when he said 
 the Church was " the fulness of him that filleth all in 
 all." (Cf. I : 22 and the notes on that verse.) — The 
 citation is from Ps. 68 : 18, but with alterations. The 
 explanation that these alterations are owing either to the 
 imperfect memory of the apostle, or the Rabbinical 
 method of his use of Scripture, or his adherence to a 
 traditional interpretation in making the quotation, is super- 
 ficial and satisfactory. St. Paul, doubtlessly, well knew 
 the words and the meaning of the original ; but in using 
 them here in his argument, he "succinctly, suggestively 
 and authoritatively unfolds " their Messianic meaning, as 
 Ellicott correctly remarks. The O. T. singer is 
 celebrating the victories and conquests of the people of 
 Israel as Jehovah's triumph and exaltation. The words 
 of the psalm in the R. V. are these : " Thou hast ascended 
 on high, thou hast led thy captivity captive ; thou hast 
 received gifts among men." This exaltation of Jehovah 
 St. Paul applies to the exaltation of Christ. The most 
 important change in so doing is that instead of the original 
 received gifts, the apostle says, what is apparently just 
 
70 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iV. 9. 
 
 the reverse, gave gifts. Nevertheless, he is not depart- 
 ing from the original thought. For the conqueror who 
 has received gifts from his enemies has gifts to bestow 
 upon his own people. As Jehovah's victories brought 
 gifts to His people from His conquered enemies, so Christ's 
 exaltation brought gifts to the Church as the fruit of His 
 victory. Fr. VV. Schultz, in commenting on the psalm 
 under discussion, makes the following remarks pertinent 
 to the present passage : " Inasmuch as David and his men 
 received the gifts in question, Paul had a right to see a 
 spiritual antitype to this ascent of Jehovah in the fact 
 that Christ had ascended and had given gifts, charismata, 
 to those that are His (Eph. 4 : 8). In fact the ascension 
 of Christ first brought the ascent of Jehovah to its con- 
 summation, and Paul was all the more justified in refer- 
 ring the latter to the former, because the ascension, as he 
 expressly points out, presupposes a descent, which had 
 never preceded so deeply as in the case of Christ." — Led 
 captivity captive. This phrase is equivalent to " subdued 
 his enemies." The abstract captivity Is placed for the 
 concrete captives. 
 
 9. (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended into 
 the lower parts of the earth ? 
 
 What is it but, etc. (Cf. John 3 : 13.) The ascent im- 
 plies a preceding descent. — The lower parts of the earth. 
 
 Perhaps this means simply the earth, designated thus 
 peculiarly for the sake of the contrast with the heavens, 
 to which Christ ascended. If this is the meaning, the 
 clause refers to the incarnation, when the Lord came to 
 the earth. But a better view is that the apostle did not 
 mean to limit the descent to the earth, but to exlend it 
 to the parts beneath the earth, for his purpose is to show 
 that by His descent and ascent Christ might fill all 
 things. Hence it is preferable to understand the ex- 
 
IV. 10, II] CHAPTER IV. yi 
 
 pression of Christ's descent into Hades. (Cf. i Peter 
 3 : I9-) 
 
 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the 
 heavens, that he might fill all things.) 
 
 The same. This identity is emphasized because it was 
 
 the purpose of God that all things should be filled by the 
 one person Christ. (Cf. i : lo, 23.) — Above all the 
 heavens. The heaven in which God dwells is beyond the 
 visible heaven. Hence St. Paul can speak of heavens in 
 the plural. So, it is said, Christ our high priest passed 
 through the heavens (Hebr. 4 : 14). By descending into 
 the regions lower than the earth and by ascending to the 
 highest region, of which we can think, Christ filled all 
 things with His presence and power. It is this exalted 
 Christ that is the Giver of the powers, graces and gifts, 
 by which the Church is built up. 
 
 11. And he gave some /<? ^^ apostles ; and some, prophets; and some, 
 evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; 
 
 Gave some, etc. A series of gifts, not a gradation of 
 offices, is mentioned here. The reference is not to out- 
 ward organization, but inner possessions and powers. 
 Naturally the offices resulted from the possession of the 
 gifts. Several of these gifts might be combined in one 
 person. Rom. 12 : 6-8 and i Cor. 12 : 8-10 are parallel 
 passages. It should be carefully noted here that the 
 apostle speaks of the persons, endowed with the various 
 gifts of Christ, as given to the Church. It would be well 
 if congregations would not consider their pastors so much 
 as men occupying an office, but as men given by the Lord 
 with gifts to edify the Church. For this view would 
 develop a greater respect for the ministry. On the other 
 hand, if pastors considered themselves more in this light, 
 perhaps there would be less inclination among them to 
 change places. 
 
72 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. 12, 13. 
 
 12. For the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto 
 the building up of the body of Christ : 
 
 For the perfecting, etc. LUTHER translates this verse 
 as follows: " In order that the saints be prepared for the 
 work of the office, whereby the body of Christ is to be 
 built up." This is probably the best interpretation of a 
 rather perplexing verse. The difficulty lies in the con- 
 nection of the three clauses, each beginning with a prepo- 
 sition. Apparently every conceivable arrangement has been 
 proposed. But the progress of the thought is most simply 
 maintained by making the clauses successively dependent 
 upon each other, as Luther's translation does. Christ 
 gave gifts in diversity for the purpose of perfectly fitting 
 the saints. Fitting for what ? For the work of service of 
 every kind. And the service is for what ? For the ulti- 
 mate purpose of building up the body of Christ. We 
 have here the idea of a church in which all the members 
 (saints) are workers, an idea to be found elsewhere in the 
 writings of St. Paul. (Cf. i Cor. 15 : 58 ; 2 Cor. 9 : 8.) 
 
 13. Till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge 
 of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature 
 of the fulness of Christ ; 
 
 Till we all attain. This is the end which the gifts of 
 Christ serve to bring about. — The unity of the faith. It 
 
 is not unity of doctrine, of creed that is referred to here. 
 That will be the outcome of the unity of faith. But the 
 unity of the Church is dependent upon the growth of the 
 Church in faith, in the act and state of believing. Hence 
 one faith in verse 5. One faith is a characteristic of the 
 Church, but at the same time the Church is in a continual 
 state of progress in faith and in the unity produced by 
 faith. — The knowledge of the Son of God. Nothing essen- 
 tially different from the faith of the Son of God. The 
 addition of this clause indicates the completeness of the 
 
IV. 14.] CHAPTER IV. 73 
 
 apprehension of Christ to which the Church must attain. 
 For the goal of ail Christian Hfe is to know even as also 
 we are known, — A fullgrown man. Contrast with 
 children (ver, 14). Not the members severally, but the 
 Church collectively is referred to. The Church is to be- 
 come a fullgrown man. The body of Christ must de- 
 velop, and the end of this development is full maturity. 
 — The measure of the stature, etc. For the words the 
 fulness of Christ, see the note on 3 : 19. The full meas- 
 ure of gifts, graces and blessings which come from Christ, 
 is meant. When the Church has received from Christ as 
 much as it can contain, then its stature is of full measure. 
 The question of time, whether this will ever occur in this 
 world, was probably not in the apostle's thought when 
 he wrote this verse. His purpose was to describe the 
 ideal end to be attained, irrespective of the time when. 
 Undoubtedly the growth towards this glorious consum- 
 mation belongs not to the future, but to the present 
 world. 
 
 14. That we may be no longer 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 ; 
 
 That we may be, etc. The conditions implied in this 
 and the following verses cannot follow the state of per- 
 fection described in the preceding verse. Hence this 
 verse carries us back to verse 12. In the preceding verse 
 the writer stated positively what must be the end of the 
 development to be brought about by the work of minis- 
 tering of the saints. In this verse he states negatively 
 what the development must not be. — No longer children. 
 It is no disgrace to be children in faith in the beginning ; 
 but the time must come when the Church will be children 
 no longer. (Cf. i Cor. 13:1 1.) — Tossed to and fro, etc. A 
 similar figure occurs in James i : 6 and in Hebr. 13:9. 
 
74 EPISTLE rO THE EPHESTANS. [iv. 15. 
 
 A lack of steadiness is characteristic of youth. — Every 
 wind of doctrine. There is nothing in this expression to 
 imply that the doctrine is bad ; but the context implies 
 this. — The sleight of men. An expression derived from 
 the use of dice in gaming. The unsettling of believers 
 by evil doctrines is carried on with design. The real 
 author of such designs and sleights is the unseen power 
 of evil. — The wiles of error. There is a kind of personi- 
 fication in the word error. The word translated wiles is 
 connected with the English word method. The thought 
 is that error as a power of deceit has its agents at work 
 among believers, who methodically practise fraud upon 
 the unwary and the unstable. 
 
 15. But speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, 
 which is the head, eveti Christ ; 
 
 Speaking truth. This is one word in Greek. Interpre- 
 tations of this word, and indeed of the entire sentence, 
 have varied. The contrast with the preceding verse 
 should be carefully observed. — Speaking truth stands 
 opposed to wiles of error. It has reference not only to 
 speech, but to that truthfulness of the Christian spirit 
 which begets truth in speech. This spirit of simple truth 
 must disarm the crafty agents of error, and secure the 
 true growth of the Church through us. — In love. Some 
 connect this with the verb may grow up, which follows. 
 But the connection with the participle, speaking truth, 
 presents less difficulty. Love must not be identified 
 here with mildness, leniency, as if the exhortation were to 
 speak gently and indulgently of error. Love in speaking 
 the truth must sometimes use the very opposite of gentle 
 tones, because it " rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but 
 rejoiceth with the truth " (i Cor. 13:6). Love here denotes 
 that inner state of the heart from which truthfulness 
 springs. " Rooted and grounded in love" (3 : 18), those 
 
IV. id] CHAPTER iV. 75 
 
 who are children in faith will keep the spirit of truth and 
 thereby be protected against the delusions of error. — 
 Grow up. A contrast with children (ver. 14), — Into him, 
 which is the head. All the vitality, all the powers of 
 growth are in Christ, the head. Hence the growth must 
 be into this sphere and element of vitality, just as the 
 tree strikes its roots deeply into the soil. In other words, 
 the condition of all growth in the Church is union with 
 Christ. 
 
 16. From whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that 
 which every joint supplieth, according to the working in dtie measure of 
 each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of 
 itself in love. 
 
 From whom all the body. The figure of a body, rep- 
 resenting the Church perfecting its unity, is now. carried 
 out in detail. The source of all the increase is the head. 
 In Col. 2 : 19 we find a parallel which throws much light 
 on this verse. — Fitly framed and knit together. (Cf. 
 2 : 21.) The organization of the Church by the spiritual 
 relations of the various parts (for the mere outward 
 organization is not referred to here) makes it a harmoni- 
 ously and compactly joined body, and thus adapts it for 
 growth in unity. — Through that which every joint sup- 
 plieth. There is some uncertainty as to the meaning of 
 the clause thus translated. The margin of the Revised 
 Version gives a literal translation : " Through eve:y joint 
 of the supply." The supply comes from Christ. All His 
 gifts contribute to the unity of the Church. These gifts 
 which form the supply might be regarded as forming 
 joints, and thus the clause might be taken in its literal 
 rendering. But it is very awkward to speak of the supply 
 forming joints. It is much better to consider the supply 
 as passing through all the various joints, thus contribut- 
 ing to the growth of the body. This is the thought con- 
 
76 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. i6. 
 
 tained in the translation of the R. V. and confirmed by 
 the parallel passage Col. 2 : 19. — According to the work= 
 
 ing, etc. In the body each several part has a measure of 
 work to perform to sustain the whole. If any part fails 
 to contribute its " supply " to the other parts, then the 
 growth is hindered. — Maketh the increase of the body. 
 The subject is all the body. The body effects its own 
 increase, of course, only through the joint operation of 
 all the various members. While the growth has its 
 source in the head, Christ, at the same time it is carried 
 on through the action of each several part of the body. 
 Endeavoring to form a detailed conception of the ideas 
 of this verse, we would view the matter as follows : The 
 believers in Christ are the members of the body ; the 
 gifts which Christ bestows constitute the supply ; the 
 joints would then naturally be found in those functions 
 and offices, which the supply of gifts develops ; by the 
 interaction of the members through their various offices 
 and functions, according to the measure of each, the sup- 
 ply is carried through the whole body for its increase. — 
 Unto the building up of itself. Edification is the great 
 end of the activities of the Church. 
 
 Exhortation to Forsake the Vices of Heathen- 
 ism. IV. 17-24. 
 
 Summary. This exhortation is in three parts. First, 
 to put off the old man and to put on the new man (4 : 17- 
 24). Secondly, to exercise Christian virtues in place of 
 heathen vices (4 : 25-32). Thirdly, especially to avoid 
 the predominant vices of -carnal impurity and covetous- 
 ness (5 : 1-14). 
 
 The first part of the exhortation, demanding the put- 
 ting off of the old man and the putting on of the new, is 
 
IV. 17, i8.] CHAPTER IV. 77 
 
 a solemn appeal to walk no longer as the Gentiles do (17), 
 who through alienation from and ignorance of God (18) 
 gave themselves up to all uncleanness (19). The readers 
 of the epistle had learned that the truth of Christ (20-21) 
 required the putting off of the old man of heathenism 
 (22) and the putting on of the spiritual man (23-24). 
 
 17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk 
 as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind, 
 
 This I say therefore. The general thought of ver. i is 
 resumed and now unfolded negatively. — In the Lord. In 
 fellowship with the Lord. The appeal gains in solemnity 
 by being based not on human motives, but on the fellow- 
 ship of Christ. — Vanity of their mind. (Cf. Rom. i : 21.) 
 This vanity was the loss of the one great reality, God. 
 From this resulted general depravation. 
 
 18. Being 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 ; 
 
 Darkened in their understanding. This accounts for 
 their conduct. They lost the light to guide them. The 
 life of God. Not a coarse life, but actually the life which 
 is in God and which comes from Him. (Cf. John i : 4.) 
 The Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life. The loss 
 of the gracious operations of the Spirit of God signifies 
 the loss of life and spiritual death. — Ignorance that is 
 in them. That is, abiding, indwelling ignorance. But 
 was not this an excuse for them rather than an aggrava- 
 tion of their guilt? By no means. The connection with 
 the next verse shows that not mere intellectual lack of 
 knowledge, but a moral incapacity to know, is meant. 
 This moral condition, which precluded knowledge of the 
 truth, was the cause of heathen alienation from God. — 
 Hardening. Spiritual callousness, insensibility. How 
 this awful ignorance and callousness came about is de- 
 
jS EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. 19, 20. 
 
 scribed in Rom. i : 21. The implication here is, that it 
 was their own fault. 
 
 19. Who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to 
 work all uncleanness with greediness. 
 
 The preceding verse described their depraved condition, 
 this their depraved conduct. — Past feeling. The ex- 
 tremity of wickedness ; the state where no compunctions 
 of conscience are any longer experienced. — Gave them- 
 selves up. Their own choice made them the slaves of 
 vice. This is their condemnation. Because they gave 
 themselves up, God also " gave them up " (Rom. i : 24). 
 — Lasciviousness. Not only sensual sins, but all kinds of 
 wanton conduct are included in this term. — To work all 
 uncleanness. With conscious purpose, as the business 
 of their lives. Further than this it is impossible to go in 
 sin. — Uncleanness. Pre-eminently sensual filthiness, of 
 which heathenism developed most unnatural forms. — 
 With greediness. This addition, after the reference to 
 such gross sins, is so peculiar that many have thought 
 that the word does not have its usual meaning of " covet- 
 ousness " here, but that it denotes some excess of un- 
 cleanness. But there is no sufficient reason to ascribe 
 any other than the true meaning to the word. Covetous- 
 ness is brought into close connection with impurity in 
 other passages of the N. T. (Cf. 5:3; Col. 3 : 5 ; i Cor. 
 5 : II.) Slaves of lust as they are, their minds are at the 
 same time dominated by covetousness. No vices seem 
 to have such general and complete control of men as 
 these two. Indeed, these are the salient features of a 
 worldly spirit, uncleanness and greediness. 
 
 20. But ye did not so learn Christ ; 
 
 Learn Christ. Not merely the doctrine of Christ. The 
 substance of Christian truth is what Christ is in His own 
 
IV. 21.] CHAPTER IV. 79 
 
 person. (Cf. i Cor. i : 23 ; Phil. 1:15.) What He is in 
 Himself, shows what He should be in us. The truth that 
 appears in Christ is all purity and holiness, so that it is 
 utterly opposed to every form of uncleanness and selfish- 
 ness. 
 
 21. If so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth 
 is in Jesus : 
 
 If SO be, etc. (Cf. note on 3 : 2.) The apostle emphat- 
 ically implies that they had heard. — Taught in him. 
 They were taught not only about Christ, but were in 
 communion with Him, when they were taught. — Even as 
 truth is in Jesus. The simplest explanation of this 
 troublesome clause is to connect it with the preceding 
 words were taught. It describes the manner in which 
 they were taught. From 5 : 6 it is evident that another 
 manner of teaching had come in among them. Dale 
 gives a good statement of the meaning of ver. 20 and 
 21 which we repeat here: " Ye — he places them in em- 
 phatic contrast with their fellow-citizens who were out- 
 side the Christian Church and who had not received the 
 Christian Faith. — Ye did uot so learn Christ. He means 
 that they did not learn Christ in such a way as to suppose 
 that they could continue to be guilty of lying, of theft, 
 of drunkenness, of sensuality, and all the vices of heath- 
 enism. The knowledge of Christ which they had received 
 might be imperfect, but it did not leave them ignorant of 
 the necessity of righteousness. For, as the apostle hopes 
 and believes, they had not merely listened to human 
 teachers whose conception of Christian truth might be 
 false and who might be unable to convey the truth they 
 knew to others ; Christ's own voice had reached them ; 
 when they became Christians they heard HIM. Truth, 
 the highest truth, the truth it most concerns Christian 
 men to know, is /« Jesus. Truth can never be rightly 
 
8o EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. 22. 
 
 known when separated from Him. All real and effective 
 teaching must be in harmony with truth as truth is in 
 Him. But this was precisely the teaching which the 
 apostle trusts had been given to the Ephesian Christians. 
 For they themselves were in Him and were taiigJit . . . 
 even as truth is in Jesus!' 
 
 22. That ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old 
 man, which waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit ; 
 
 That ye put away. This is what they were taught. 
 
 The beginning of all Christian morality is a thorough 
 conversion. The pronoun ye is emphatic, as in ver. 20 : 
 ye as Christians, no longer Gentiles. The readers had 
 need of being reminded of the necessity of a complete 
 moral transformation, since much of their former manner 
 of life doubtless still adhered to them. — The old man. 
 Not only certain features of their former life were to be 
 dropped, but the whole mind, will and nature, underly- 
 ing all the manifestations of sin, were to be put away. 
 The term the old man designates more than certain acts 
 or habits. In Col. 3 : 9 the apostle says,'-" The old man 
 with his doings," so that the doings are distinct from the 
 old man. The term denotes the nature (cf. 2 ■: 3) which 
 underlies actions. This nature should no longer be theirs, 
 for it belongs to a time previous to the new birth (Tit. 
 3:5; John 3 : 3) by which the old man died (Rom. 6: 6). 
 For this reason it is called old. This old man being dead 
 should remain dead and not be revived. — Waxeth corrupt. 
 The old man represents a nature which is not only par- 
 tially bad, but entirely bad. Nevertheless there is a 
 growth in corruption. The^depravity may become more 
 and more intense, and this is the tendency of the evil 
 nature of men. — The lusts of deceit. Sin is deceit (Hebr. 
 3 : 13.) The lusts which spring from sin cause an increase 
 in corruptness. That is the nature of these lusts ; they 
 
IV. 23, 24-] CHAPTER IV. 8 1 
 
 necessarily tend to corruptness. So they are properly 
 ascribed to deceit, which as a power makes slaves of evil 
 men without their perceiving the bondage they are in. 
 
 23. And that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 
 
 Renewed. In the Greek word there is an idea of re- 
 juvenation or restoration to a former condition. The 
 apostle sees the original nature of man shine through all 
 the corruptions which come upon him, God's work which 
 underlies all man's marring. This original nature he 
 desires to see restored. — In the spirit of your mind. Not 
 simply the inner nature, as if the expression were equiv- 
 alent to "the inward man" (3 : 16). flind here is the 
 organ of moral thinking. Spirit is the life-principle. 
 The life-principle of all true moral thinking and living is 
 not original with man, least of all in his fallen condition ; 
 but it is derived from the Holy Spirit. The renewal 
 therefore is to be in that spiritual power of the mind 
 which is effected by the Holy Spirit. The expression 
 forms a contrast with the words former manner of life 
 (ver. 22). In their former condition they were without 
 the spirit of mind, because they were without the Holy 
 Spirit, who imparts true spiritual power to man. Their 
 renewal consists in the attainment of that spiritual power 
 of mind which originally belonged to man. 
 
 24. And put on the new man, which after God hath been created in 
 righteousness and holiness of truth. 
 
 Put on. In putting away the old man the new is put 
 on. There are not two acts, but a positive and negative 
 side to the same act. — The new man. The nature oppo- 
 site to that designated by the old man, the nature that 
 manifests itself in deeds of holiness. The new man is 
 not something fashioned by man. It is given to him. 
 
 Its existence is assumed here, and the exhortation is to 
 6 
 
82 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. 25. 
 
 bring to perfect development the life of the Spirit which 
 is given in regeneration. This is done in the progress of 
 sanctification. — After God. God Himself is the pattern 
 of the new man. (Cf. Matt. 5 : 48.) There is a reference 
 here to the image of God, in which man was originally 
 made (Gen. i : 27). This is clearly proved by the parallel 
 passage, Col. 3 : 10. — Created. God's works in man, 
 not man's own production. (Cf. 2 : 10.) — In righteous- 
 ness and holiness of truth. As deceit (ver. 22) is pro- 
 ductive of evil lusts, truth is the source of inner purity 
 or holiness, and just conduct or righteousness. 
 
 Exhortation to forsake the Vices of Heathenism 
 continued. iv. 25-32. 
 
 Summary. The second part of the exhortation is an 
 appeal to practise Christian virtues instead of heathen 
 vices. This presents the workings of renewal in contrast 
 with the evil habits of their old nature. Falsehood must 
 give way to truth (25) ; anger must be restrained (26-27) '< 
 theft must cease, and work with beneficence begin (28) ; 
 impure speech must be exchanged for speech that is 
 profitable (29); the indwelling Spirit must not be grieved 
 (30) ; every form of bitterness must yield to kindness, 
 according to the example of God in Christ (31-32). 
 
 25. Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his 
 neighbour: for we are members one of another. 
 
 Special manifestations of the old man are now con- 
 sidered. In the exhortations which follow in rapid suc- 
 cession, the apostle evidently has the relations of Chris- 
 tians to each other in the Church in view. — Speak ye 
 truth. Already in ver. 15 the apostle has spoken of 
 truthfulness as a condition of the growth of the Church. 
 Truth lies at the basis of all Christian life. Men become 
 Christians by learning the truth, as it is in Jesus. Nor 
 
IV. 26.] CHAPTER IV. 83 
 
 can any true union between man and man, such as is 
 essential to the Church, exist, except on the basis of 
 truth. — Each one with his neighbour. Fellow-Christians 
 are referred to, as the next words show. — Members one 
 of another. Here is the motive for speaking the truth, 
 and indeed for all the virtues recommended in the entire 
 paragraph. Christians are members one of another in the 
 Church. They are parts of the body of Christ, held 
 together in that unity which God has created through the 
 Holy Spirit, and which is described in verses 4-6. False- 
 hood breaks down this unity, for it sets up between mem- 
 bers that power of " deceit " (ver. 22) which brings forth 
 the lusts that cause wars and fightings (James 4: i). 
 
 26. Be ye angry, and sin not : let not the sun go down upon your wrath ; 
 
 Be ye angry, etc. A quotation from Ps. 4: 5, accord- 
 ing to the Septuagint translation. The negative belongs 
 only to the word sin. The strange imperative, Be ye 
 angry, has caused much perplexity. To regard the 
 imperative as merely giving permission, is doubtful 
 grammatically and, what is worse, as to the thought 
 obtained. For it would imply a concession to what in 
 itself is not right. By the imperative the apostle does 
 not conceive what is really wrong, but requires them to 
 do what is right. But even with the knowledge that 
 there is a just indignation, it seems unnecessary to com- 
 mand people to be angry. The best explanation is this. 
 The force of the first imperative is limited in its application 
 by the second imperative, containing a negative. The 
 idea then is that we are to be angry only in the right 
 way ; that is, in such a way as not to sin. In short, be 
 angry so as not to sin. — Let not the sun, etc. The day 
 of provocation should also be the day of forgiveness and 
 reconciliation. 
 
84 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. 27-30. 
 
 27. Neither give place to the devil. 
 
 In the display of anger and all the passions associated 
 with it, the devil finds a fine opportunity to do his evil 
 work. In this connection we must think not only of the 
 mischief which he does among individuals, but the evil 
 he inflicts on the Church. For as it is the Holy Spirit 
 who holds the Church together in unity, it is the evil 
 spirit who destroys the unity of the Church through the 
 evil passions of men. Resentment is in itself a separation 
 of fellowship. 
 
 28. Let him that stole steal no more : but rather let him labour, working 
 with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to 
 him that hath need. 
 
 Steal no more. However strange this exhortation 
 may sound when addressed to Christians, it was not 
 superfluous for those recently reclaimed from heathenism 
 and its loose moral ideas. — Working, etc. Self-support- 
 ing ; not living by the labors of others. — The thing thnt 
 is good. Not only what is legally allowed, but what is 
 positively beneficial. Some forms of business allowed by 
 law a Christian should not follow. — Have whereof to 
 give. The Christian should work, not to accumulate 
 wealth, but to be a benefactor. Herein lies the strongest 
 contrast to being a thief. 
 
 29. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is 
 good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that 
 hear. 
 
 Corrupt. Whether obscene or malicious. The Greek 
 word is the same that is used to designate a corrupt tree 
 in Matt. 7: 17. — As the ^need may be. Seasonableness 
 is an important element in edifying speech. — Give grace. 
 Bestow a favor or benefit. In other words, be helpful. 
 
 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto 
 the day of redemption. 
 
IV. 31, 3-] CHAPTER IV. 85 
 
 And. Connects this verse closely with the preceding, 
 so that what follows is not a new exhortation, but a con- 
 tinuation of that begun in the last verse. — Grieve not the 
 Holy Spirit. Corrupt speech is more than an offence 
 against man ; it is an offence against the indwelling Holy 
 Spirit. If the Holy Spirit were not a person, He could 
 not be said to be grieved. There is therefore in this 
 statement an argument against the Unitarian idea of 
 God. — Sealed unto the day of redemption. (Cf. 1:13.) 
 This fact makes the admonition more serious. For the 
 Holy Spirit will forsake the person that grieves Him, and 
 thus the seal with all its glorious hopes will be lost. 
 
 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and railing, be 
 put away from you, with all malice : 
 
 The sins enumerated in this verse are all manifestations 
 of hatred. The series begins with the inner source of 
 this form of sin and proceeds outward to the works in 
 which it is manifested. — Bitterness. A state of mind 
 which must be exchanged for sweetness of temper before 
 the sins which follow can be avoided. — Wrath. Agitation 
 of bitter feelings. — Anger. Not mere provocation, but 
 resentment. — Clamour. Outbreak of anger in speech. — 
 Railing. The form which the clamor is apt to take. 
 The Greek word is blasphemy, but here directed against 
 man, not God. — flalice. Not wickedness generally, but 
 in accordance with the context the malicious act, which 
 is prompted by wrath. 
 
 32. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, 
 even as God also in Christ forgave you. 
 
 This verse forms the contrast with the preceding, and 
 recommends the fundamental Christian virtue, love, but 
 in the special form of forgiveness. — Kind. The opposite 
 of bitterness. — Tenderhearted. Contrary to wrath and 
 
86 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [iv. 32. 
 
 anger. — Forgiving. Opposed to clamor, railing, and 
 malice. — Even as God, etc. The relation which Christians 
 sustain to each other in God and Christ is to be the 
 motive for their conduct. The forgiveness of sins through 
 Christ is what brought Christians together into the unity 
 of the Church. The experience of this forgiveness should 
 keep alive in them the spirit of forgiveness towards 
 others. How God forgave in Christ, was shown in ch. 
 I. The details of conduct into which the apostle has 
 entered here are based on the great doctrines exhibited 
 in the first part of this epistle. Without faith in all those 
 great and wonderful truths which show how God forgave 
 us in Christ, how He blessed us in Him, and how He 
 created us in Him for good works, it is impossible to 
 attain to the virtues here recommended. Thus does 
 Christian doctrine, through the medium of faith, lie at the 
 basis of all Christian life. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Exhortation to forsake the Vices of Heathen- 
 ism CONTINUED. VeR, I — 14. 
 
 Summary. The exhortation against the special vices 
 of heathenism, impurity and covetousness begins with 
 the highest moral principle of imitating God in love ac- 
 cording to the example of Christ in His sacrificial death 
 (1-2). In pursuance of this general principle, the pre- 
 dominant vices of heathenism, impurity in every form 
 and covetousness are to be shunned (3-4) ; for these 
 vices exclude from the kingdom of God (5), notwithstand- 
 ing vain and sophistical objections (6). Ceasing from these 
 vices (7-8), the children of light should exhibit the power 
 of light (9-10), reproving the works of darkness, the 
 shameful deeds of secrecy (11-12) ; for this is the func- 
 tion of light (13) ; as God in His word also reproves those 
 dead in sins (14). 
 
 I. Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; 
 
 The first series of exhortations against the vices of the 
 heathen (4 : 17-24) and also the second (4 : 25-32) ended 
 by leading up to the thought of taking God for a pattern 
 of correct conduct. This third series begins on the same, 
 plane. The highest expression which can be given to 
 Christian duty, is that it is imitation of God. — Imitators 
 of God. The language of the text seems almost too 
 strong. Is it possible for man to be an imitator of God ? 
 In an absolute sense it is not possible ; but in the sense 
 
 87 
 
88 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [v. 2. 
 
 explained in the next verse it is possible. — Beloved chil= 
 dren. It is this filial relation to God, which, while 
 relaxing nothing of the obligation, facilitates the imita- 
 tion of God. Love calls forth love. Being beloved 
 of God, we are inwardly impelled to do to another as 
 has been done by us. (Cf. i John 4 : 11.) 
 
 2. And walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up 
 for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell. 
 
 Walk in love. In this respect we are to imitate God. 
 Of course there can be no comparison in the degree of 
 divine and human love. But in however limited a degree, 
 man can exercise the divine privilege of love. — Christ 
 also loved. The love of God which is our pattern is 
 presented to us in human form in Christ. In this form 
 we can imitate it. — Gave himself up. So also ver. 25. 
 In expressions of this kind the manifest meaning is to 
 death : *' Greater love hath no man than this, that a 
 man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15 : 13). — 
 For us. Not merely for our benefit, but in our stead. 
 The relation between Christ and us is distinctly shown in 
 the next words. If Christ died as a sacrifice for us, the 
 meaning must be that He died instead of us. — An offering 
 and a sacrifice. It is manifest that the apostle is not 
 merely using O. T. sacrificial terms with a strict O. T. 
 signification. Hence in explaining the difference between 
 these two terms, offering and sacrifice, distinctions like 
 bloody and unbloody sacrifices, or sin-offerings and peace- 
 offerings, are inapplicable. Both terms must refer to the 
 death of Christ, just before mentioned. According to 
 Hebr. 5:1, even in the ceremonial of the O. T. gifts as 
 well as sacrifices were offered^forsin. Christ's offeringand 
 sacrifice were the fulfilment of what was prefigured not 
 only in certain, but in all the gifts and sacrifices of the 
 O. T. The offering and the sacrifice were both for sin. 
 
V. 3J CHAPTER V. 89 
 
 Accordingly we find here t'le idea of atonement. In His 
 death Christ was a sacrifice ; in that He gave Himself up, 
 He made an offering of Himself. By both sacrifice and 
 offering He became our peace (2 : 14) and the propitiation 
 for our sins (i John 2 : 2). — Odour of a sweet smell. 
 Indicating acceptance with God. The expression is 
 derived from the O. T. (Exod. 29 : 18 ; Levit. i : 9). 
 
 3. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even 
 be named among you, as becometh saints; 
 
 But. Having stated the principle of morality in its 
 highest form positively, the writer proceeds to state some 
 negatives. In doing so he passes from the supreme 
 virtue directly to the worst vices of heathenism, those 
 which would present the strongest temptations to men 
 who had recently emerged from heathenism. No stronger 
 contrast can be conceived than that between the imita- 
 tion of God in love and the practice of the grossest 
 sensuality. Hence this verse properly begins with a 
 very emphatic but. — All uncleanness or covetousness. 
 The same combination in 4 : 19. In regard to unclean- 
 ness the moral sense of the heathen was very obtuse. 
 Next to uncleanness probably covetousness was the most 
 prevalent vice. — Not even be named. Much less done. 
 Impure speech is proof of an impure mind. — As becometh 
 saints. This appears like a mild statement of the ground 
 for purity. But properly considered this propriety is a 
 higher obligation than any legal restraint. For the sense 
 of what is becoming must have its roots in the heart. 
 St. Paul evidently attached much weight to decency and 
 propriety, as the following instances show. ** Not be- 
 fitting " (ver. 4) ; " worthily of the calling " (4:1); " this 
 is right " (6 : i). (Cf. also i Cor, 11 : 13 ; i Tim. 2 : 10 ; 
 Tit. 2 : I.) 
 
go EPISTLE TO THE EPtiESlANS. [v. 4, 5. 
 
 4. Nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, or jesting, which are not befitting; 
 but rather giving of thanks. 
 
 Filthiness. Everything shameful, whether in word or 
 deed.— Foolish talking. Not to be limited to obscenity. 
 Holiness requires a serious mind. " As the pride of the 
 Roman people was justly offended when they saw an 
 emperor descend into the arena with charioteers and 
 gladiators, so the finer feeling of the Church is justly 
 offended when Christian men indulge in buffoonery and 
 play the fool" (Dale). — Jesting. This refers to re- 
 finements of speech which gild vice. — Not befitting. The 
 sinfulness and danger of these subtler forms of impurity 
 are easily overlooked. — Giving of thanks. (Cf. ver. 20.) 
 This one thing is placed in opposition to all the sins just 
 referred to. The Christian is to live in a state of gratitude, 
 and thereby to counteract the entire state of sin. It is 
 this state of mind which will give to the Christian mind 
 that cheerfulness which is befitting as opposed to worldly 
 merriment. 
 
 5. For this ye know of a surety, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, 
 nor covetous man, which is an idolater, hath any inheritor in the king- 
 dom of Christ and God. 
 
 Which is an idolater. Probably the covetous man 
 
 alone is thus characterized (cf. Col. 3 : 5), and not the un- 
 clean person. However, it is true that the other classes 
 referred to also serve another master besides God. (Cf. 
 Phil. 3 : 19.) The seriousness of this charge would be 
 deeply felt by those who had recently escaped from idol- 
 atry. — Hath any inheritance. (Cf. Gal. 5:21;! Cor. 
 6 : 9.) Not only will not have in the future, but has not 
 and cannot have. The inheritance is indeed future, but 
 the seal of the Spirit, which is the assurance of the in- 
 heritance, is a present possession. The sins referred to 
 cause the loss of this assurance. (Cf. 4 : 30.) — The kinj^- 
 
V. 6-S.] CHAPTER V. 9I 
 
 dom. This is a fundamental conception in the doctrine 
 of the New Testament. The kingdom of God is the 
 sphere of God's gracious operations through Christ. 
 Only that which is wrought by the Holy Spirit has place 
 in it. Whoever is not led by the Spirit, and in whomso- 
 ever the redemption of Christ is not effective to put down 
 sin, can have no share in it.— Of Christ and God. This 
 may be one of the few cases in which St. Paul calls Christ 
 God directly. (See Rom. 9 : 5.) But it is more in ac- 
 cordance with the usage of St. Paul to refer God not to 
 Christ, but to the Father. 
 
 6. Let no man deceive you with empty words : for because of these 
 things Cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience. 
 
 Deceive you witli empty words. Sophists who " call 
 evil good and good evil " are to be found in every age. — 
 Cometh the wrath. (Cf. Col. 3 : 6.) Not merely in the 
 future. That the wrath of God also comes in the present 
 world is clear from chap. 2 : 3 and many passages of the 
 Bible. 
 
 7. Be not ye therefore partakers with them ; 
 
 Partakers. The reference is not to the wrath, but to 
 the sins spoken of. The allurements of old associations 
 might easily tempt them. 
 
 8. For ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord : walk as 
 the children of light 
 
 Ye were. Emphasis on this word. It is now a thing 
 of the past. — Once darkness . . . now light. The 
 
 change is not merely one of condition, but of nature. 
 They are not only in light, but are light. Those who 
 have been "enlightened" (cf. i : 18) through Christ, 
 must themselves emit light. — Children of light. Those 
 who belong to the principle of light. Not his deeds 
 make a Christian a child of liqht, but God's grace does 
 
92 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [v. 9-1 2. 
 
 this. The walk must correspond with the grace re- 
 ceived, 
 
 9. (For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and 
 truth), 
 
 This verse adds an explanation to the exhortation just 
 given, thereby adding emphasis to it, an emphasis which 
 is all the stronger because the verse is only a reminder of 
 what they well knew was so. 
 
 10. Proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord; 
 
 The Christian life requires continual proving, testing, 
 examining of what is good, right and true. The test- 
 question is in all cases : " Is it well-pleasing unto the 
 Lord?" — Lord. Christ is referred to. The Christian's 
 relation to Christ is his chief concern, and his walk is to 
 be judged by its effect upon this relation. 
 
 11. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but 
 rather even reprove them ; 
 
 Have no fellowship. Not even by countenancing or 
 conniving. — Unfruitful works of darkness. A contrast 
 with " fruit of the light " (ver. 9). But the writer does 
 not say " Fruit of darkness," but works, because dark- 
 ness is not productive. Similarly in Gal. 5 : 22, " The 
 fruit of the Spirit ;" but in ver, 19, " The works of the 
 flesh." — Unfruitful. Not productive, only tending to 
 destruction. — Reprove them. In words and not merely 
 by silent conduct. 
 
 1 2. For the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even 
 to speak of. 
 
 For. This verse gives a reason for the reproving rec- 
 ommended in ver. 11. — Done by them in secret. The 
 works of darkness tend to such extremes that even the 
 sons of disobedience do them in secret. — Shame. The 
 very mention, much more the doing of them, is a shame. 
 
V. 13, 14-] CHAPTER V. 93 
 
 Of course this does not include the mention of them in re- 
 proof. Quiet discountenancing is not enough. They 
 must be brought to light by energetic reproof, because they 
 are so exceedingly shameful. St. Paul himself sets an 
 example, how this is to be done in this chapter and 
 elsewhere in his epistles. 
 
 13. But all things when they are reproved are made manifest by the 
 light: for everything that is made manifest is light. 
 
 All things. All those things of which he is speaking, 
 the things done in secret. — Hade manifest by the light. 
 
 Reproof brings evil deeds out from darkness and into the 
 light where they can be seen. — For everything, etc. A 
 general proposition to confirm the preceding statement. 
 An object when illumined is itself light. Evil deeds are 
 made light by reproof, and thereby stand condemned. 
 
 14. Wherefore //^ saith. Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
 dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee. 
 
 He saith. A formula used in introducing quotations 
 from the O. T. (Cf. 4 : 8.) But commentators have 
 been puzzled where to find the verse which St. Paul 
 quotes. The general opinion is that the citation is from 
 the beginning of chapter 60 of Isaiah, but that the 
 apostle introduces into the passage a N. T. interpreta- 
 tion. So where the original says: "Arise, shine," the 
 apostle explains that those who are to arise are sleepers 
 who are to awake, and the dead who are to arise. And 
 where the original says : " The glory of the Lord is riseni 
 upon thee," he explains that this glory of the Lord is 
 Christ. But after the source of the quotation is thus 
 determined, another difificult question arises, namely, as 
 to its application. The writer has been admonishing his 
 readers to be reprovers of evil. But the quotation 
 which he adds, is not an admonition to reprovers, but to 
 
94 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [v. 14. 
 
 the reproved themselves. The best explanation is that 
 the apostle is presenting an example, a model for the 
 Christian reprover of sinners in the action of God. The 
 verse in this way becomes a crowning reason for the 
 propriety and necessity of reproof, since God Himself 
 reproves man in order to enlighten him through Christ. 
 
 Exhortation with Respect to Various Relations 
 OF Life. V. 15 — VI. 9. 
 
 Summary. This exhortation is subdivided into four 
 paragraphs. First, a general exhortation to wise living 
 (5 : 15-21). Secondly, an exhortation in regard to the 
 duties of husband and wife (5 : 22-33). Thirdly, an ex- 
 hortation in regard to the duties of parents and children 
 (6 : T-4). Fourthly, the duties of servants and masters 
 (6 : 5-9). 
 
 In the general exhortation to live wisely the apostle 
 advises to walk with caution, as wisdom requires (15), 
 making full use of the opportunities of life, according to 
 the will of the Lord (16, 17) ; avoiding excess, full of the 
 Spirit (18), edifying others as well as themselves with 
 song (19), always rendering thanks to God (20), with 
 mutual subjection in Christ (21). 
 
 Continuing the general thought of mutual subjection 
 the apostle takes up the duties of wife and husband. 
 He requires that wives should show obedience to Christ 
 by being subject to their husbands in a way similar to 
 that in which the Church is subject to Christ (22-24). 
 As Christ loved the Church, making it glorious for Him- 
 self, so husbands should love their wives, who are their 
 own bodies (25-28). This is an unselfish kind of self-love, 
 just as Christ loves the members of His own body (29-30). 
 Such love was contemplated in the original institution of 
 
V. 15-] CHAPTER V. 95 
 
 marriage, which established that close relation of man 
 and wife that prefigures the relation of Christ to the 
 Church (31-32). Severally and individually they are to 
 realize this intimate relation, the husband by love, the 
 wife by fear (33). 
 
 The respective duties of children and parents require, 
 in accordance with the general principle of mutual sub- 
 jection, that children render Christian obedience to their 
 parents, as both nature and the divine law demand 
 (6 : 1-3) ; and that fathers do not make it dif^cult for 
 their children to obey, but bring them up with the 
 consciousness that they themselves are governed by 
 Christ (4). 
 
 Finally, in regard to servants and masters, it is the duty 
 of the former to serve their earthly masters so as to serve 
 Christ at the same time (5), with sincere hearts doing the 
 will of God and not mere service unto men i^f)^ looking 
 to the Lord for reward (8). On the other hand, it is the 
 duty of masters to forbear threatening, and on their part 
 to fear the impartial Master of all men (9). 
 
 15. Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; 
 
 Many commentators regard the paragraph which be- 
 gins here as a conclusion of the preceding exhortation. 
 But the close connection between verses 21 and 22 rather 
 requires that it be considered as a transition from what 
 precedes to the special exhortations which follow. — Care= 
 fully. The translation of the R. V. connecting this with' 
 look instead of with walk, as in the A, V., is based on a 
 more accurate Greek text. The Christian dare not allow 
 himself to go to any place to which inclination or circum- 
 stances would carry him. He must look before he sets 
 his foot down anywhere. — Wise. It is assumed that God 
 has given them wisdom. (Cf. i : 8, 17.) 
 
96 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [v. 16-18. 
 
 16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 
 
 Redeeming the time. (Cf. Col. 4 : 5.) Making the 
 opportunity your own by using it for good. — The days 
 are evil. The time and surroundings in which the 
 Ephesians Hved were very unfavorable to righteousness. 
 Hence the need for a careful use of opportunities. 
 
 17. Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the 
 Lord is. 
 
 Foolish. The folly referred to here is wickedness, as 
 everything is that is against the will of the Lord. — Un= 
 derstand, etc. This understanding is at the bottom 
 of all truly wise living. Just as soon as we act without 
 regard to the will of our Lord, we fail to do right. The 
 Lord, spoken of here is not God the Father, but the Lord 
 Christ. The exhortation is this : not to fall away from 
 the knowledge of what Christ, their Lord, wills ; for if 
 they do so and lapse into their old life, they will prove 
 themselves foolish, wicked and unworthy of Christ. 
 
 18. And be not drunken with wine, wherein is not, but be filled with the 
 Spirit ; 
 
 Drunken, One notorious way of playing the fool. — 
 Riot. Release from all moral restraint. Drunkenness 
 produces such an unsettling of the moral nature. — Be 
 filled, etc. A contrast with the preceding clause. But 
 the contrast is not, as would appear at first sight, between 
 wine and the Spirit, as if the apostle meant to say Spirit- 
 filled as opposed to wine-filled. These two words are not 
 in the same construction in the Greek text. Filled with 
 the Spirit does not deno.te a state of intoxication, 
 but of soberness, whatever exaltation of mind may be 
 produced by it. Compare St. Paul before Festus, Acts 
 26 : 25 : "I am not mad, most excellent Festus : but 
 speak forth words of truth and soberness." This sober- 
 
V. 19, 20.] CHAPTER V. 97 
 
 ness produced by the Spirit is the corrective of being 
 drunken. 
 
 19. Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 
 singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord ; 
 
 This and the two following verses indicate various ways 
 in which their being filled with the Spirit is to be mani- 
 fested. First it is to show itself in relations of fellowship 
 with others. There is a reference in this verse to gather- 
 ings, religious or social, or probably both. — Psalms, etc. 
 No very marked distinction need be made between 
 psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. The last designation 
 is general ; hymns are praise songs, and psalms are such 
 compositions as are called by this name in the O. T. The 
 variety of designations here employed indicates that any 
 song, pervaded by the Holy Spirit, is suitable for mutual 
 edification and enjoyment. (See on Col. 3 : 16.) — With 
 your heart. In the second place, their being filled with 
 the Spirit must show itself in inner joy and self-edifica- 
 tion. When not in company, or if unable to sing, the 
 heart of the Christian is still to be lifted up to the Lord 
 in inner melody. 
 
 20. Giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ to God, even the Father ; 
 
 Giving thanks. This is a third form in which being 
 filled with the Spirit is to manifest itself. — All things. 
 Not only certain things, but all things ; things unpleasant 
 as well as things pleasant ; things withheld not less than 
 things received. All things work together for good for 
 the Christian. — In the name, etc. God blesses us through 
 Christ, in whom is our access to God. His name makes 
 our thankgiving acceptable. — God, even the Father. 
 Literally translated in the margin of the R. V. : " the 
 God and Father." (Cf. i : 3.) By the designation of 
 7 
 
^8 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [v. 21, 22. 
 
 God as the Father the fihal relation of the Christian to- 
 wards God is emphasized. 
 
 21. Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ. 
 
 A fourth mode of exhibiting fulness of the Spirit, and 
 at the same time a direct transition to the special exhor- 
 tations which follow. God's Spirit teaches love and 
 humility as the governing principle of Christian conduct 
 and courtesy. — In the fear of Christ. Reverence for 
 Christ and dread of His judgment inspire a fear of offend- 
 ing Him in the persons of fellow-believers and fellow-men 
 generally. 
 
 22. Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 
 
 A general remark in regard to the entire paragraph 
 which begins here will clear the way for the understand- 
 ing of some of the details. The apostle presents an 
 analogy between the relations existing between husband 
 and wife, and those existing between Christ and the 
 Church. But in part the writer does more than this; for 
 he exhibits the relations between Christ and the Church 
 independently of the analogy. Hence some features in 
 the relation of the Lord and the Church are referred to 
 for which there is no counterpart in the relation between 
 husband and wife. — Be in subjection. (Cf. i Peter 3:1.) 
 This verb is not contained in the Greek text, but is very 
 naturally supplied from the preceding verse. Dale lays 
 great stress on the fact that the apostle does not say 
 " obey " in describing the duties of the wife towards her 
 husband. But some kind of obedience seems to be im- 
 plied, although all servile, obedience of wife to husband is 
 excluded in this exhortation. — Own husbands. So called 
 not in contrast with other men. But their husbands are 
 their own ; they possess them and love them ; and in this 
 intimate relation to them should be founded their sub- 
 
V. 23, 24-] CHAPTER V. 99 
 
 jection to them. — As unto the Lord. Faithful perform- 
 ance of this duty, as of every other, is subjection to the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head 
 of the church, being himself the saviour of the body. 
 
 The husband is the head. Not the Lord, not the abso- 
 lute master of the wife. The dependence of the wife upon 
 the husband is indeed expressed here, but that dependence 
 is not of the nature of abject submission. There is an 
 assertion of the superiority of the husband here ; but that 
 superiority consists in the ability to care for the wife, as 
 the head cares for the body, and as Christ cares for the 
 Church. — Christ also is the head. From ch. 4:15 it is 
 evident that Christ is for the Church the head of supply, 
 which regulates the growth of the whole body. The connec- 
 tion between Christ and the Church is a living one. Not 
 force, but the power of love, unites the Church to its Lord. 
 So it should be between husband and wife. — Saviour of the 
 body. By His salvation He made the body His own, and 
 thereby became its head. It is useless to try to find any- 
 thing in the relation of husband and wife parallel to this 
 work of salvation. Here is one of the places where the 
 analogy of Christ and a husband fails. The apostle's 
 thought drops the relation of husband and wife for a 
 moment, and lingers on the wonderful relation of Christ 
 and the Church alone. 
 
 24. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to 
 their husbands in everything. 
 
 But. Resuming the analogy after a momentary inter- 
 ruption. — Subject. The relation of dependence described 
 in the preceding verse makes subjection necessary. The 
 Church must obediently allow its head to care for it, and 
 the wife must obediently accept the care of her husband. 
 
lOO EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [v. 25-27. 
 
 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, 
 and gave himself up for it ; 
 
 Gave himself up. (Cf. i Peter 3 : 7.) To death as a 
 sacrifice. (Cf. ver. 2.) Here again the apostle goes 
 beyond the analogy between Christ and a husband, and 
 dwells upon what is true of Christ alone. 
 
 26. That he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water 
 with the word, 
 
 Sanctify it. As in 1:4 sanctification is made an end 
 of election in Christ, so here it is an end of His atoning 
 death. — Cleansed it. This purification is the first step in 
 the sanctification. — The washing of water with the 
 word. The more literal translation " in the word " would 
 be preferable for a reason indicated below. This peculiar 
 phraseology of the apostle could be understood by the 
 readers of the epistle of nothing else but of a washing that 
 was well known to them, namely, baptism. The language 
 here used calls to mind the familiar definition of baptism 
 in Luther's Small Catechism : " The water compre- 
 hended in God's command and connected with God's 
 word." The washing is not one of water alone nor of the 
 word alone, but of water in the word. The water is 
 joined with the word, so to speak encased in it, and thus 
 applied for purification. The word is that of the Gospel. 
 This word applied with the water brings the blessings of 
 the Gospel, without which there is no purification from 
 sin, namely, the forgiveness of sins and the beginning of 
 a new life by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2 : 38 ; 
 22 : 16 ; Titus. 3 : 5). The Church is cleansed by baptism 
 because its members are purified by this washing on their 
 entrance into it. 
 
 27. That he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not 
 having spot or wrinkle or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and 
 without blemish. 
 
V. 27-] CHAPTER V. loi 
 
 This verse contains a fuller statement of the process of 
 sanctification. It is common to regard it as a figure of 
 speech drawn from the custom of preparing a bride and 
 bringing her to her bridegroom. The context, which dis- 
 cusses the marriage relation, readily suggests this idea, 
 and the language of 2 Cor. 11:2 seems to confirm it. 
 Nevertheless this interpretation is objectionable. Here 
 is a point at which the general principle about this whole 
 paragraph stated above (see on ver. 22) is especially 
 applicable. The apostle does not only think along the 
 line of the analogy between Christ and a husband; but 
 sometimes he follows out thoughts which are applicable 
 to the relation of Christ and the Church alone. To inter- 
 pret this verse as a figure derived from matrimony is liable 
 to open the way for a use of the imagination which runs 
 into fanciful details, and is hardly consistent with a sober 
 understanding of the Scriptures. But even if fanciful 
 details are avoided, nevertheless it is objectionable to find 
 here a figure derived from the purification of a bride 
 preparatory to being led to her husband. It would make 
 of the passage an allegory, representing the relation of 
 Christ under the forms of marriage. Now it should be 
 observed that the apostle is doing the very reverse of 
 this. He is deriving the relations which should exist be- 
 tween husband and wife from the relation of Christ to the 
 Church. The whole passage, beginning with the latter 
 part of verse 25 and extending to the end of verse 27, 
 describes features in the love of Christ which display its 
 greatness, but for which there is no parallel in the love of 
 a husband. 
 
 But while we exclude the figure of matrimony, we 
 recognize that the language of this verse is indeed figur- 
 ative ; but only as sacrificial language in the N. T. 
 generally is figurative. For the terms here used, " not 
 
IOJ8 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [v. 28-30. 
 
 having spot or wrinkle or any such thing," and " holy and 
 without blemish," are such as are commonly used to 
 describe a perfect sacrifice. (Cf. Col. i : 22 ; Rom. 12:1; 
 I Peter i : 19.) The truth of this verse briefly stated is 
 this : Christ offered Himself in order to make the Church 
 a perfect offering to Himself. 
 
 28. Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own 
 bodies. He that loveth his own wife loveth himself : 
 
 As their own bodies. An additional argument why 
 
 they should love their wives ; they are their own bodies. 
 
 Hence not to love them is to sin against nature. 
 
 29. For no man ever hated his own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth 
 it, even as Christ also the church ; 
 
 Nourisheth and cherisheth. As with a mother's love. 
 — As Christ also, etc. The Church is not the flesh, but 
 the body of Christ. Nevertheless the relation of Christ 
 to the Church teaches the same truth that nature teaches 
 in this matter. 
 
 30. Because we are members of his body. 
 
 The oneness of man and wife has its analogy in the 
 oneness of the Church and Christ's person. For the pro- 
 found meaning of this verse is not merely that we are 
 members of that body which Christ acknowledges as His, 
 the Church ; but that the members who constitute the 
 Church are in some sense members of His personal body. 
 The A. V. adds the words : " Of his flesh and of his 
 bones." The textual authority for these words may not 
 be sufficient to retain them ; nevertheless the idea they 
 express is in perfect harmony with the thought of the 
 verse. The same life that is in the person of Christ is in 
 us. The same life is in the'branches and in the vine. It 
 is in harmony with this intimate union between Christ 
 and believers that the Lord communicates His own body 
 and blood in the Holy Supper. 
 
V. 31, 32-] CHAPTER V. 103 
 
 31. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall 
 cleave to his wife ; and the twain shall become one flesh. 
 
 For this cause. The thought is not that because 
 believers are members of the body of Christ, therefore 
 husband and wife are one. The verse is a free citation of 
 Gen. 2 : 24. But the connection in which the apostle 
 places it, both with the preceding and the following verse, 
 shows that he had more in mind than the marriage rela- 
 tion. It is true that inasmuch as marriage is an analogous 
 relation to the union of Christ with His members, a man 
 must cleave to his wife even if other tender ties, like 
 filial relations, are thereby severed. But the apostle is 
 not only speaking of human relations. In the words he 
 quotes, he somehow saw the wonderful union that exists 
 between Christ and the Church. Because we are mem- 
 bers of His body, for this cause (as the text says) the prin- 
 ciple stated in Gen, 2 : 24, of marriage, is true also of 
 Christ and the Church. The apostle himself declares that 
 he finds this " mystery " in it. But the words are not 
 an allegory requiring that an antitype be found for every 
 detail. Hence it is fanciful and vain to try to show how 
 Christ left His father and mother. The details of the 
 quotation belong only to the human relation ; but the 
 principle, the underlying idea of unity, of cleaving to- 
 gether, is true of Christ and the Church, 
 
 32. This mystery is great : but I speak in regard of Christ and of the 
 church. 
 
 " While the words of the quotation from Genesis are 
 on his lips and he is dictating them to the friend who is 
 writing the epistle for him, I think I see a look of dreamy 
 abstraction come over his face, showing that his thoughts 
 have passed from earthly to heavenly things. He is in 
 the presence of the transcendent unity of Christ and the 
 
104 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [v. y^. 
 
 Church. . . . Forgetting that he was writing about mar- 
 riage, he exclaims, The mystery is great'' (Dale). 
 
 33. Nevertheless do ye also severally love each one his own wife even 
 as himself ; and let the wife see that she fear her husband. 
 
 In conclusion the apostle makes an individual applica- 
 tion of the general truth of the whole paragraph. — Fear. 
 Not slavish fear, but fear inspired by love ; fear of causing 
 offence. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord : for this is right. 
 
 It was natural for the apostle to pass from the duties 
 of husband and wife to those of children and parents. 
 (Cf. Col. 3 : 20.) Obey. This is the form in which the 
 general rule of 5 : 21 applies to children. It is evident 
 that the apostle is especially addressing children who are 
 not small. — In the Lord. Their obedience to parents was 
 to be a service to the Lord Christ, to whom they belonged. 
 — This is right. The nature of the case requires such 
 obedience. LUTHER translates well : Das ist billig (that 
 is proper). Here again the apostle insists on propriety. 
 
 2. Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with 
 promise), 
 
 3. That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the 
 earth. 
 
 Not only natural propriety, but God's express com- 
 mandment, requires, obedience to parents. The impor- 
 tance of this commandment is emphasized by referring to 
 the unique promise connected with it. — The first com- 
 mandment. The fourth is the first with a specific prom- 
 ise attached to it, and indeed in this respect it is unique 
 in the decalogue. The first commandment also has a 
 promise added to it (cf. Exod. 20 : 6) ; but the promise is 
 quite general, and moreover belongs to all the ten com- 
 mandments, as Luther clearly shows in his Catechism. 
 — It may be well, etc. The promise of longevity and 
 temporal prosperity is fulfilled collectively rather than 
 
 105 
 
io6 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [vi. 4, 5. 
 
 individually. The temporal welfare of nations depends 
 upon nothing more than well-regulated family life, and 
 the fourth commandment aims to secure this. 
 
 4. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture 
 them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 And. The conjunction is of much force. The recip- 
 rocal duty of parents immediately follows that of chil- 
 dren. — Fathers. The mothers are not mentioned, because 
 their position has already been defined in 5 : 22. In 
 virtue of this position they are included in the term 
 " fathers." — Provoke not, etc. Children cannot honor 
 their parents in wrath, even if they outwardly obey. 
 Hence parents must not exercise their authority so as to 
 provoke rebellious feelings in their children. This ex- 
 hortation applies both to moody conduct of parents and 
 to false ideas of discipline. — Chastening. Not mere 
 chastisement, although this may form a part of what is 
 intended. That which is required here is the training 
 and moulding of the child-nature generally. — Admonition. 
 A special feature of "chastening." It consists in encour- 
 agement of the child when it is right, as well as setting it 
 right when it is in danger of going wrong or has gone 
 wrong. — Of the Lord. The chastening is the Lord's 
 chastening. Much attempted bringing up of children is 
 not. The parent, according to the apostle's view, is the 
 minister of the Lord Christ. In this view there is a grave 
 responsibility for the Christian parent, but also a great 
 comfort. For Christ is present in the household to give 
 to the training done under Him effect and success. If 
 children grow up well, it i§ not owing chiefly to parental 
 wisdom, but divine grace. 
 
 5. Servants, be obedient unto them that according to the flesh are your 
 masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto 
 Christ ; 
 
VI. 6, 7] CHAPTER VI. 107 
 
 After discussing the duties of parents and children the 
 apostle proceeds to address those who belong to the 
 family in a wider sense, the domestics or slaves. So 
 also Col 3: 5. (Cf. I Pet. 2: 28.) — According to the flesh. 
 Describes their human masters in contrast with Christ 
 the Lord. There is in these words the recognition that 
 inwardly in their spirits they are not bound, but free in 
 the bondage of Christ. — Fear and trembling. — Not dread 
 of their earthly masters, but such a regard for them as 
 the fear of Christ inspires. (Cf. Phil. 2 : 12 ; i Cor. 2 : 3.) — 
 Singleness. Best understood from its opposite, duplicity. 
 — As unto Christ. The true Master, for whom all serv- 
 ice should be rendered. If a slave might have doubts 
 what kind of service his earthly master had a right to 
 claim from him, he could have no doubt about what kind 
 of service he owed to Christ. 
 
 6. Not in the way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers ; but as servants of 
 Christ, doing the will of God from the heart ; 
 
 Eyeservice. Only to please the master's eye, not to do 
 their duty. — Men-pleasers. It is not wrong to desire the ap- 
 proval of men ; but flattery and fawning service is beneath 
 the dignity even of a Christian slave. Christian servants 
 are to be God-pleasers. — Servants of Christ. St. Paul 
 everywhere represents the Christian as the servant of 
 God and Christ. From this relation of service arise all 
 his earthly obligations. ChrysostOMOS aptly says : 
 " This is the servitude that even Paul, the free man, 
 serves. . . . Look how he divests thy slavery of its 
 meanness." — From the heart. Even slave's work is to 
 be soul work. Not that a master possesses his servant's 
 soul. But God binds the soul of the servant to his 
 master's service. 
 
 7. With good will doing service, as unto the Lord, and not unto men : 
 
lo8 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [vi. 8, 9. 
 
 There is a kind of paradox here ; for doing bond-service 
 rests not upon will, but compulsion. The exhortation is 
 that the servant's good will is to anticipate all compul- 
 sion. 
 
 8. Knowing that whatsoever good thing each one doeth, the same shall 
 he receive again from the Lord, whether he be bond or free. 
 
 Receive again. Good works are like a deposit with 
 Christ. When He comes again to judge He will give back 
 to each his own. This verse anticipates any objection 
 which might arise from the injustice of a human master. 
 — Bond or free. In this way the apostle lifts the servant 
 to a higher plane on which he is the equal of others. 
 
 9. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, and forbear threaten- 
 ing : knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no 
 respect of persons with him. 
 
 And. The. conjunction forcibly brings forward the 
 other side, as in ver. 4. — Do the same things. Have the 
 same spirit ; act in the same fear of Christ, according 
 to the general rule (5 : 21). — Forbear threatening. This 
 habitual fault, with which such vices as cruelty and op- 
 pression begin, is to cease entirely. — Their Master and 
 yours. Christ as Judge is referred to. From ver. 5-7 
 it might look as if St. Paul really made the demands of 
 slavery more severe, just as if the Lord were on the side 
 of the master, whether he was just or unjust. But here 
 Christ appears on the side of the servant, as the vindicator 
 of his rights and the avenger of his wrongs. If the slave 
 is to serve with fear and trembling (ver. 5), the earthly 
 master also has his Master, before whom he must live in 
 fear and trembling. — No respect of persons. The right- 
 eous Judge will consider the case, not the person. " Think 
 not, he would say, that what is done towards a servant, 
 he will therefore forgive, because done to a servant " 
 (Chrysostomos). (See on Col. 4 : i.) 
 
VI. lo, II.] CHAPTER VI. 109 
 
 Final Exhortation to Valiant Warfare. VI. 10-20. 
 
 Summary. The Church has a conflict to sustain with 
 evil spirits, in which it must use the might of God (10). 
 The panoply of God is needed in this warfare, for it is 
 a battle against the devil, very different from warfare 
 against feeble men (11-13). The various parts of the 
 armor of God are the girdle, breastplate, sandals, shield, 
 helmet, and sword, consisting respectively of truth, 
 righteousness, Gospel-preparation, faith, salvation, and 
 the word of God (14-17). The use of this armor is to be 
 accompanied with prayer for the whole host of the Church, 
 and in particular for Paul himself, in order that he may 
 do his part successfully by boldly proclaiming the Gospel 
 as an ambassador in chains (18-20). 
 
 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. 
 
 Be strong. At first sight a strange imperative. The 
 command is not to become strong, but to be strong. 
 Can we be stronger than we are ? No, but we can be 
 weaker than we really are by failing to use the power 
 which God gives us. (Cf. i : 19.) When we avail our- 
 selves of the strength which God has given through 
 Christ, we are strong. The apostle is not speaking of 
 our own strength, but the power which we have " in the 
 Lord." 
 
 " With might of ours can naught be done, 
 Soon were our loss effected ; 
 But for us fights the Valiant One 
 Whom God Himself elected." 
 
 11. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand 
 against the wiles of the devil. 
 
 The general conception of this entire paragraph is not 
 that of an individual conflict, but of the warfare of the 
 whole host of the Church against the kingdom of the 
 
no EPISTLE TO THE EPHESihnS. [vi. \2. 
 
 devil. But each individual in the army of God must put 
 on his armor. — Armour of God. That furnished by 
 God. — 5tand. This verb is used three times in this con- 
 nection. (Cf. ver. 13 and 14.) In the latter place the idea 
 is clearly " to take your stand, to be ready for the fight," 
 and not " to stand your ground," which is expressed by 
 withstand in ver. 13. The thought is the same here as 
 in ver. 14. The believer is to be fully armed and ready 
 to take his place in the battle. — The wiles of the devil. 
 (Cf. " the wiles of error " in 4 : 14.) But there the Greek 
 word for " wiles " is in the singular, while here it is in 
 the plural, to indicate the separate " cunning assaults of 
 the devil," as LUTHER happily translates. 
 
 12. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the 
 principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, 
 against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly //ar^j. 
 
 Wrestling. The apostle is describing a battle ; but 
 this word indicates an individual, hand-to-hand conflict. 
 However, it is doubtful whether the literal meaning of the 
 word is to be pressed. — Flesh and blood. That is, men. 
 But is not the Christian warfare against men and organ- 
 izations of men ? Yes ; but the real enemy is invisible, 
 fighting through men and their organizations. — Princi- 
 palities, etc. (Cf. I : 21 ; 3 : 10.) These are general 
 terms. They do not describe different orders of enemies. 
 The particular class of beings referred to must be inferred 
 from the context. There can be no doubt that evil spirits 
 are meant here ; but from the use of different terms to 
 describe them no inference can be made as to different 
 degrees or orders among them. — This darkness. The 
 present spiritual and moral darkness. The times of the 
 New Testament were times of great prevalence of evil in 
 the world. (Cf. " the course of this world," ch. 2 : 2.) 
 The apostle speaks here in the plural of " world-rulers," 
 
VI. 13-] CHAPTER VI. 1 1 1 
 
 who dominated over this darkness. Elsewhere the N. T. 
 represents the world as controlled by a single evil spirit. 
 (Cf. John i6 : 1 1 ; 14 : 30 ; 2 Cor. 4:4;! John 5 : 19.) 
 The devil is the world-ruler, but doubtlessly has other 
 evil spirits associated with him. — Spiritual hosts. The 
 word " hosts " is not in the original. But the form of 
 the word " spiritual " which is neuter plural, and the 
 context show that some term of this kind must be sup- 
 plied. The '' spirituals," against which the Church has 
 to contend are principalities, powers and world-rulers, 
 who form a host. — In the heavenly places. The loca- 
 tion, the domain of the spiritual hosts of wickedness. 
 Our surprise that the apostle should locate evil spirits 
 in the region of the heavenly will be removed by a 
 proper understanding of his language. The " heavenly" 
 in this epistle is not what is commonly understood by 
 heaven, the abode of God and good spirits. It forms the 
 contrast with the earthly, and hence designates the super- 
 nal. (Cf. I : 20 ; 2 : 2.) In the heavenly places there 
 may be different regions. The sphere of the activity of 
 evil spirits is not the same as the sphere of the good. 
 
 13. Wherefore take up the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to 
 withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. 
 
 The evil day. The day of trial, of temptation. Not 
 every day is the evil day, but any day may become so. 
 —Having done all. Some refer this to the preparations 
 for the conflict. But it is better to understand it of 
 the work of the conflict itself ; yet not in the special 
 sense of vanquishing (which the word may indeed have), 
 but with the general idea of leaving nothing undone to 
 frustrate the wiles of the enemy. — To stand. (Cf. note 
 on ver. 11.) This verb cannot have the meaning here of 
 taking one's stand. Standing, after having accomplished 
 all in the fight, is to stand as victor, safe and triumphant. 
 
112 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [vi. 14, 15. 
 
 14. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put 
 on the breastplate of righteousness, 
 
 3tand. As in ver. 11, ready for the conflict. The 
 apostle may have had Isaiah 59 : 17 in mind when he 
 wrote the description of the armor which follows. — 
 Girded. For unimpeded action, the first necessity is pre- 
 paring for conflict. — Truth. In defining the significance 
 of this and the following terms, which make up the 
 armor of the Christian, it is necessary to bear in mind 
 that the panoply is of God. Hence the reference here 
 is not to mere human sincerity or truthfulness, but to the 
 truth of God as apprehended in the heart. — Breastplate. 
 For protection. — Righteousness. Not mere moral recti- 
 tude, but the righteousness which God gives, the imputed 
 righteousness of Christ. (Cf. Rom. 8 : 33.) The man 
 who is filled with God's truth is ready for action ; the 
 man who is covered with Christ's righteousness is secure 
 against the thrusts of the adversary. 
 
 15. And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of 
 peace ; 
 
 5hod. For free and active movement. A Christian 
 soldier must not be annoyed by sharp stones, thorns, 
 briers and other little obstacles in the path of duty. — 
 The preparation of the gospel of peace. Possibly this 
 means readiness to preach the Gospel which proclaims 
 peace. Certainly this is a part of the Christian warfare. 
 But it is not so easy to perceive how this readiness is a 
 part of the warrior's outfit corresponding with the other 
 parts mentioned. Hence it is better to understand the 
 expression of the preparation, the readiness in movement, 
 which the Gospel of peace imparts. The Gospel gives to 
 the soldier peace, takes away his inward fears and fight- 
 ings, and thus is the source of that strength which en- 
 
VI. i6, 17.] CHAPTER VI. 1,3 
 
 ables him to go to meet his foes, trampling difficulties 
 under foot. 
 
 16. Withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to 
 quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. 
 
 The shield of faith. " Faith is not a shield and de- 
 fence of the soul in as far as it is a quality or virtue in us, 
 but in as far as it apprehends God and His promises and 
 acquiesces in them " (Calovius quoted in Harless). — 
 Fiery darts. Missiles wrapped with combustible ma- 
 terials were used in ancient warfare. Satan's weapons are 
 of the most dangerous kind ; nevertheless they are power- 
 less against the believing soul. 
 
 17. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which 
 is the word of God : 
 
 The helmet of salvation. (Cf. i Thess. 5 : 8.) There 
 the apostle calls the hope of salvation a helmet. But in 
 this place salvation must not be understood of the hope 
 of a future deliverance. It is the present application of 
 Christ's redemption to ourselves, with which we are to 
 cover our heads against all perils. — The sword of the 
 Spirit. Not the sword of which the Holy Spirit is the 
 author; nor that with which the Spirit Himself fights; 
 but the sword which is the Spirit Himself. In what sense 
 the Spirit can be denominated a sword, is explained by 
 the clause which the writer adds. — The word of God. 
 The Spirit is so closely connected with the word of God 
 that the same effects are ascribed to both in the Bible. 
 The living and saving power which is in the word (Rom. 
 I : 16; Hebr. 4 : 12) is nothing less than the Holy Spirit 
 Himself. Hence it can be said that he who wields the 
 word of God wields the Spirit of God. In this sense it is 
 true that the word of God is that sword, which is the 
 Spirit. 
 
114 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [vi. i8, 19. 
 
 18. With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, 
 and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the 
 saints, 
 
 The entire preperation for battle described in ver. 14-17 
 is to be accompanied with persevering prayer. The punct- 
 uation of the R. V. does not sufificiently indicate this, 
 for it connects this verse with only the one preceding. — 
 All prayer. The prayer of the Christian soldier is varied 
 according to different needs. Prayer is not spoken of as 
 a weapon or part of the armor, nor is it such, however 
 important it is in Christian life, and especially in conflict. 
 But the armor here described is God-given ; whereas 
 prayer is man's act, by which he calls in the aid of God. — 
 In the Spirit. It is the consistent teaching of the New 
 Testament that there can be no real prayer to God except 
 by the Holy Spirit.— Watching. So that nothing fail for 
 the lack of prayer. Our activity is all in vain, unless we 
 obtain God's co-operation by prayer. Hence there must 
 be perseverance in supplication. — For all saints. There 
 must not only be prayer all along the line, but each part 
 must try to sustain every other part of God's host by its 
 prayers. Here is communion of the saints. 
 
 19. And on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me in opening 
 my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 
 
 St. Paul, the wonderfully endowed, the divinely in- 
 spired, the apostle of Christ, feels himself dependent upon 
 the help and support of the prayers of much weaker men 
 than himself for success in his ministry. (Cf. Col. 4:3; 
 Rom. 15 : 30; Phil, i : 19 ; 2 Thess. 3 : i.) What an ex- 
 alted idea he had of the intercession of those whom h • 
 calls saints ; notwithstanding their many imperfections. 
 If he had great power with God, so that he prayed for all 
 churches, he trusted that others also had power with God 
 to assist in furthering his work by their prayers. So 
 
VI. 20.] CHAPTER VI. 115 
 
 should it be between pastor and people. — Utterance may 
 be given. The apostle knew the part he iiad to perform. 
 He described it in chap. 3. He knew he had obtained a 
 revelation from God to perform his ministry. But he also 
 knew that God had to give him what to say in every in- 
 stance. For it is not the opportunity to speak which he 
 here desires ; it is the utterance itself which he asks for. 
 — In opening my mouth. This phrase, frequently used in 
 the Bible (e. g. Matt. 5:2; Acts 8 : 35 ; 10 : 34^ simply 
 designates the act of speaking, and not the quality of 
 the speech, either as bold or full or solemn. But the 
 apostle certainly does not intend to say merely, " When I 
 speak, may I have utterance." He looks to God for open- 
 ing of his mouth as he looks to Him for utterance. — With 
 boldness. This confident joy follows from the assurance 
 of receiving speech from God. The minister who is as- 
 sured that he has a message from God to deliver can 
 speak boldly. 
 
 20. For which I am an ambassador in chains ; that in it I may speak 
 boldly, as I ought to speak. 
 
 In chains. The Greek word is singular ; and hence it 
 has been thought that St. Paul was here alluding to the 
 fact that he was chained to a guard, although allowed to 
 move about. (Cf. Acts 28 : 20 ; 2 Tim. i : \(\) But this 
 inference is questionable. — In it. In proclaiming the 
 mystery of the Gospel. — I may speak boldly. It is un- 
 likely that this is a mere repetition of the thought of 
 ver. 19. The sense of duty is emphasized. The apostle 
 knew that he ought to speak boldly. By their prayers he 
 trusts it will be so. 
 
 Conclusion of the Letter. VI. 21-24. 
 Summary. He sends Tychicus to bear information 
 
ll6 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [vi. 21, 22. 
 
 concerning his condition and to comfort them (21-22). 
 He wishes peace, love and grace to the brethren (23-24). 
 
 21. But that ye also may know my affairs, how I do, Tychicus, the 
 beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you 
 all things : 
 
 Ye also. Some think this imphes a contract with the 
 apostle. He has been writing about them ; they also 
 may learn about him from Tychicus. An explanation to 
 be preferred to this is, that St. Paul was informing others 
 about his affairs as well as them also. Who these others 
 were is not clear. Possibly he refers to the Church at 
 Colossae (cf. Col. 4 : 7), to which he wrote a letter about 
 the same time with this. It has been attempted to de- 
 rive an argument from this in favor of the idea that the 
 apostle first penned the epistle to the Colossians, then this 
 epistle. But the whole matter is too uncertain to draw 
 any satisfactory conclusion. — Tychicus. He was " of 
 Asia" (Acts 20 : 4), possibly an Ephesian, the bearer of 
 this letter and of the one to Colossae (Col. 4 : 7). Later 
 he was sent to Ephesus (2 Tim. 4:12) and possibly to 
 Crete (Titus 3 : 12). 
 
 22. Whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know 
 our state, and that he may comfort your hearts. 
 
 Comfort your hearts. In whatever respect they needed 
 comfort. The comfort may have reference to their sym- 
 pathy with his afflictions. (Cf. 3 : 13.) At any rate some 
 degree of personal friendship is implied in the personal 
 messages alluded to here. Although the force of the fad, 
 that there is a remarkable absence in this letter of any 
 personal references to the intimacy existing between Paul 
 and the Ephesians, cannot be underrated, nevertheless 
 even the slight personal references here given at the end 
 of the epistle accord better with the theory that it was 
 addressed to a Church like that at Ephesus, where the 
 
VI. 23, 24-] CHAPTER VI. II7 
 
 apostle was known, than that it was a circular letter for 
 Churches which had no personal acquaintance with the 
 apostle. 
 
 23. Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father 
 and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 The absence of salutations such as are found in most of 
 St. Paul's epistles is remarkable and inexplicable. For 
 even a circular letter might have salutations, as is the case 
 with I Peter. — The benediction is more comprehensive 
 than is usual. The full meaning of its terms is best un- 
 derstood by referring back to the truths taught in the 
 epistle. The peace is that described in chap. 2 : 14-18. 
 The love is that spoken of in chap. 3:18. With this 
 love is to be blended faith, as is the case in a harmonious 
 Christian character. The faith is the underlying prin- 
 ciple of their religious life, as was shown in chap. 2 : 8 
 and 3:17. 
 
 24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in uncor- 
 ruptness. 
 
 A second and general benediction. The whole epistle 
 is an exhibition of the grace of God. The pronouncing 
 of this benediction is therefore an application of all the 
 glorious blessings unfolded in the epistle to those who re- 
 ceive it. — In uncorruptness. This addition is most natu- 
 rally connected with love and not with grace. It is not 
 imperishable grace, but imperishable love, which the 
 apostle speaks of. The idea of uncorruptness is not that 
 of sincerity and moral purity, but of imperishableness, in- 
 destructibility. True love to Christ is immortal. True 
 love to the Lord never ceases. The love that perishes is 
 not genuine. The grace of Christ with its eternal blessings 
 will remain only with those who have undying, unfading, 
 imperishable, incorruptible love to the Saviour. 
 
ANNOTATIONS 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 
 
 BT 
 
 EDWARD T. HORN, D.D. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. 
 
 In the i6th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we have 
 the story of the foundation of the Christian Church in Phil- 
 ippi. It was in the year 52 A. D. that Paul, Silas, Luke 
 and Timothy came up from Neapolis into Philippi. They 
 had come by a rapid voyage from Troas in Asia Minor. 
 They probably walked from Neapolis on the Egnatian 
 Way. Paul's missionary journeys in Asia Minor had 
 been successful : though persecuted there and driven out 
 of cities, he had succeeded in founding Christian congre- 
 gations that survived persecution. But on this second 
 tour he had felt himself withheld whenever he planned 
 new routes, until he had come to the limit of Asia, 
 and looked over towards Europe ; and there a man of 
 Macedonia, a European, came to him in a vision, and 
 said. Come over into Macedonia a7id help its. This ex- 
 plained God's unwillingness to let him go northward or 
 southward. And, without delay, he set out, impelled by 
 these two motives : the assurance that he was sent by 
 God and sustained by Him, and deep pity for the most 
 civilized men on earth, who needed his help because they 
 did not know Christ. 
 
 Paul is said to have been an odd-looking little man, 
 with close curling hair, quick, enthusiastic, irrepressible. 
 Of Silas we know little, save that his name indicates that 
 
 121 
 
142 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 he was either a Greek or a Jew born and bred out of Pal- 
 estine, and like Paul he was a Roman citizen. Luke was 
 an educated Greek physician of cheerful temperament. 
 He had joined Paul at Troas ; became a very son to him, 
 having fully imbibed his spirit ; and, though separated 
 from him at times in discharge of duty, remained his 
 companion, attendant and assistant to the end of his life. 
 The Gospel of St. Luke may also be described as the 
 Gospel of St. Paul. I would not be surprised to be told 
 that St. Luke had been a surgeon and physician on the 
 ships plying regularly between the Asiatic and Grecian 
 ports. He may have been God's instrument in first turn- 
 ing Paul's mind to the need of the Gospel in Greece and 
 the kind reception that awaited him there. He may 
 have been acquainted in Philippi, and it may have been 
 he who did not let Paul linger in Neapolis. Timothy 
 was a delicate young man, like-minded with Paul, who 
 soon would show that he labored with him in the Gospel 
 like a son with a father. 
 
 They remained in Philippi several days before they are 
 said to have preached to any one. There were not 
 enough Jews in Philippi to have a synagogue. Philippi 
 was a Roman colony ; i. e. the city that stood there, near 
 to the field of battle where Brutus and Cassius were de- 
 feated after the death of Julius Caesar, had been adopted 
 by Augustus and settled with Roman soldiers, the ad- 
 herents of his rival, Antony, Such a colony made it a 
 point to imitate Roman customs ; it was more Latin than 
 Greek in the fashion of its life ; so that Paul's claim to 
 citizenship and his subsequent reference to our heavenly 
 citizenship get especial meaning. 
 
 On the Sabbath the four knew of a place of prayer 
 where the very few who knew of the One True God were 
 likely to resort. It was a mere enclosure by the side of a 
 
INTR0DUCTI02\r. 123 
 
 stream which, in summer, became but a river-bed, some 
 distance beyond the gate. Here, unobserved and undis- 
 turbed, while the rest of their townsmen sought their 
 pleasures or did their work, these few regularly assembled ; 
 and these few were wojuen only, and, as the names would 
 indicate, women not of Jewish birth, but attracted to the 
 Jewish faith. To these Paul and his companions came, 
 and sitting down like teachers told why they had come, 
 and what had happened twenty years before at Jerusalem. 
 Just so now in India missionaries accost persons in the 
 market-place or join them on the roads, and in simple 
 conversation tell the Gospel. God also was in that place, 
 and He opened the heart of one of the women. A 
 Lydian woman, perhaps named Lydia, a purple-seller of 
 Thyatira in Asia, a city famed for its purple cloth, was 
 then residing at Philippi in the way of her calling. She 
 believed. Her household — whether her children or her 
 work-people or both, we cannot say — yielded to her in- 
 fluence, and were baptized with her. Luke does not say 
 all the women they spoke to believed. There may have 
 been others besides Lydia, but she is mentioned because 
 of her ability and readiness to help. She modestly put 
 her house at their service. For the rest of their stay in 
 Philippi they were her guests. Her place of business 
 and home gave them room and prominence. 
 
 The mission of St. Paul and his companions made 
 rapid progress in Philippi. Other women were gathered 
 in — such were Euodia and Syntyche. But men also; for 
 we are told that before Paul left the city he met the 
 brethren at the house of Lydia. Such was Epaphroditus, 
 whom he afterwards refers to as his companion in labor 
 and fellow-soldier ; and Clement ; and there were others 
 who passed to their reward before his epistle was writ- 
 ten ; and one, unnamed in the letter, whose assistance was 
 
124 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SO marked that Paul called him his true yoke-fellow. It 
 is extraordinary that in a few days such zeal was begot- 
 ten. Not Paul and Silas and Luke and Timothy only, 
 but all, men and women, labored in the Gospel. It may 
 be because of this character of the Philippian Church as 
 a working Church, that, while other Christian Churches 
 are said each to have had a bishop by the end of the first 
 century, there is no record that the Philippian Church 
 ever had any one person who could be said to unite in 
 himself the force and authority of the congregation. 
 Paul writes to the bishops and deacons, or, more properly, 
 the overseers and servants. This working Church divided 
 itself for organized service. 
 
 This active Church soon encountered the works of the 
 devil. There were men who led about a slave girl, who, 
 under alleged spiritual influence, told fortunes, and taking 
 up a mocking echo of their own words, followed Paul and 
 his friends day after day, crying, These are the servants of 
 the Most High God, which shezv unto us the way of salva- 
 tion. Paul cast the evil spirit out of her ; her masters 
 accused him and Silas before the magistrates of teaching 
 wrongful customs, and especially complained against them 
 as Jews. The Jews had just been expelled from the city 
 of Rome, for making a disturbance there. The magis- 
 trates yielded to the crowd, had Paul and Silas whipped 
 and threw them into the inner prison. We cannot linger 
 to tell of their prayers and songs in the prison, of the 
 earthquake that liberated them, and of the apology of 
 the magistrates ; except to note that the jailor and his 
 household were added to the little Church. 
 
 It continued to be a helpful Church. Those who had 
 labored in the Gospel in their own town determined to 
 become partners in Paul's mission. From Philippi he 
 went to Amphipolis, thence to ApoUonia, and came to 
 
IN TROD UC 77 ON. \ 2 5 
 
 Thessalonica. He was there about three weeks, and 
 while there worked at his trade as a tentmaker so as to 
 be independent ; but more than once in that time mes- 
 sengers came to him from Philippi bringing gifts to him. 
 Paul was a proud man ; he gloried in being a burden to 
 nobody ; he made it a rule to take nothing for himself 
 from the churches he planted, though he taught it as a 
 principle that they who labored in the Gospel should live 
 from the Gospel ; but he was so touched by the prompt 
 and insistent kindness of the Philippian Church, and so 
 assured of the spirit in which they gave, that he accorded 
 them the distinction of being the one Church from which 
 he would receive what they offered to give for lus own 
 relief. 
 
 Not till the year 57 did he see them again, as he went 
 down into Greece ; and in the spring of the next year he 
 came back, on his way to Jerusalem. He was then 
 occupied in making up a great collection in all his 
 churches in Greece and Asia to carry up to the relief of the 
 poor in Jerusalem. It was to signalize the unity of spirit 
 between the Christians who had been heathens and those 
 who had been Jews. In this work the Philippians were 
 helpers. He used their example to urge those of Corinth, 
 for they had their gifts ready long before his coming and 
 had given cheerfully far beyond their ability, because they 
 first gave themselves to the Lord. 
 
 The Epistle to the Philippians affords the last picture in 
 the New Testament of this earnest people. Ten years 
 have elapsed (A. D. 62). They bear all the features of 
 an ordered congregation. It is almost the only congre- 
 gation St. Paul has written to, in which he finds no reason 
 for blame. Only, he detects the danger that always 
 hangs over an active congregation — the peril of dissension ; 
 and he urges them to be of one mind. He was at this 
 
126 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 time a prisoner at Rome. They had sent Epaphroditus 
 to him with a generous gift. In his trials he professes 
 himself sustained by their fellowship. And he grounds 
 his hopes of release and further usefulness upon his assur- 
 ance of their prayers. 
 
 This epistle is sweet because of its unreserved out- 
 pouring of the apostle's heart to those who, he knows, 
 understand and love him. He gives thanks upon every 
 remembrance of them ; he is confident of their final salva- 
 tion, because he has them in his heart ; he acknowledges 
 them as sharers in his calling, and in the defence and 
 confirmation of the Gospel ; he sets before them the 
 master-motive of his life, the humiliation and crucifixion 
 of our Lord ; and in the third chapter pours out the 
 earnest longing that filled him. Rejoice, he says. Rejoice. 
 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. 
 
 n. 
 
 King Agrippa said to Festus, after he had heard Paul's 
 defence. If this man had not appealed unto Caesar, he might 
 have been set at liberty. But his appeal was not a de- 
 vice to escape the passing danger at the hands of clamor- 
 ous adversaries and a judge who foresaw that inconven- 
 ience would arise to himself from strict justice ; but Paul 
 wished to be carried to Romeand brought into the presence 
 of the master of the world and allowed to state there the 
 Gospel for preaching which he had been arrested. God 
 assured him that his life and mission could not end until 
 he had borne witness at Rome. To some the book of 
 the Acts of the Apostles may seem incomplete. It tells 
 very little of what Paul did at Rome. It leaves us in the 
 dark as to the issue of his testimony there. But in- 
 asmuch as in his coming to Rome the story of the Gospel 
 
INTRO D UCTION. 
 
 127 
 
 had reached its climax, it is evident that Luke had 
 brought it to the very point he had had in mind from 
 the beginning. Here, at length, the story that began at 
 Nazareth, the publication of the Gospel begun on Pente- 
 cost, had penetrated to the presence of Caesar. That 
 which had been whispered in seaport towns, which had 
 been driven from synagogues, which Roman governors 
 considered beneath their attention, having attained to the 
 centre of the empire, demands the attention of the most 
 august court on earth. 
 
 And yet, in what shape did the Gospel come to Rome ? 
 What dress did the ambassador of Eternal God wear ; 
 what state, when he drew near to Caesar? Like Christ 
 was before Pilate, so St. Paul came to Rome a poor 
 prisoner. The impression he had made on his guards 
 during his voyage was lost. His high thoughts and 
 irrepressible purpose seemed to be overwhelmed. When 
 our Lord was before Pilate, He met the hardness of 
 Roman criminal law, and detected the flaw in the judge; 
 when Paul was summoned before Caesar, he met the abso- 
 lutism of Rome, and met it in the man who has become 
 the symbol of unbridled and frightful power, the Em- 
 peror Nero. 
 
 The Rome of that day was a city of 2,000,000 inhabit- 
 ants. The stately edifices, of which relics are now being 
 dug up, belong to a later period. Only after the time 
 of Julius Caesar did marbles begin to take the place 
 of brick, and the wonders of Nero's " Golden House " 
 belong to the period succeeding the great fire, which was 
 after St. Paul's first captivity. There were a few exten- 
 sive buildings ; the house of Caesar occupied a precinct ; 
 but the Rome St. Paul saw was a vast stretch of lofty 
 brick buildings, crowded on narrow and tortuous streets, 
 and filled with people from every part of the world. 
 
128 INTRODUCTIOJ\r. 
 
 Maybe half of the population were slaves ; most of these 
 spoke Greek ; many of them were of a high degree of 
 intelligence, and most of the mechanical work was in the 
 hands, not of free artisans, but of the servile households 
 of great proprietors. There were many Jews in Rome. 
 Pompey had brought many of them, and they dwelt in a 
 district of their own. They were more or less turbulent. 
 Before his coming, in the time of the Emperor Claudius, 
 the Jews had been banished because of a tumult excited, 
 it is said, by one Chrestus: most probably it was a tumult 
 occasioned by the first preaching of Christ among the 
 Jews. At any rate, there were Christian communities 
 whom Paul had addressed in his letter to the Romans a 
 few years before, and these met him and welcomed him 
 to the city. Agrippa was well known at Rome. While 
 Paul was a prisoner there, the historian Josephus came as 
 a petitioner to Caesar; and a solemn embassy headed by 
 the high priest came also. For the emperor, after 
 divorcing and murdering his young wife, married an in- 
 famous woman, who pretended to be very religious and 
 was reputed a proselyte to the Jewish faith. 
 
 When Paul was brought to Rome he was delivered to 
 the commander of the imperial guard. He was allowed 
 to rent a house for himself, most probably near the great 
 fortified camp of the guard, and here to see any one he 
 pleased. But he was always chained by the wrist to the 
 wrist of a soldier, and perhaps at night had to sleep be- 
 tween two. That he made good use of this vexatious 
 restraint is shown by his description of the Christian 
 armor, and by the fact that " his bonds became mani- 
 fest throughout the whole praetorian guard." We know 
 how he won the centurion who had charge of him on 
 shipboard. And here, as every day a different soldier 
 was locked to him, to spy upon and guard him, he 
 
JNTRODUCTIOiV. 129 
 
 preached to him the Gospel. The man saw and heard in the 
 apostle's manners and the intercourse between him and 
 his friends, in their prayers and hymns and sacraments, 
 a truth and hope and life he had not known before. 
 Many came to Paul, and he taught them boldly. Timothy, 
 Luke, Mark, Demas, Tychicus, Aristarchus, were with 
 him, except when sent on errands, and acted as his mes- 
 sengers and servants. One day Epaphroditus came with 
 a gift of money from Philippi. Then the faithful mes- 
 senger fell sick and the whole house of Paul were deeply 
 concerned until the good man was well enough to go 
 back to the home he so longed to see. Then Epaphras 
 of Colossae arrived to bring a long story of new heresies, 
 of false teachers, of weakness that might have been ex- 
 pected, — intelligence weighed and discussed in the little 
 circle, and occasioning such letters as we have, which 
 Paul composed and his friends wrote at his dictation and 
 joined in after reading them. A runaway slave found 
 refuge there, and was converted and readily went back to 
 his master with Paul's letter and at his bidding. Thus 
 the "hired house " of Paul was'a council of the Church, 
 a centre of evangelistic effort in the city of Rome, and a 
 centre of correction, encouragement and leadership to all 
 the churches which had known the apostle. 
 
 It is quite clear that the activity of that household 
 made a stir in Rome. Up to this time we know of but 
 one lady of prominence supposed to have become a 
 Christian. The philosopher Seneca was living then;' 
 he seems to have been a fair-minded man, though too 
 subservient ; he was a brother of that Gallio who refused 
 to trouble himself about the questions between the Jews 
 and the Christians ; in his writings are many thoughts so 
 like some sayings of the Gospel that succeeding ages 
 accounted him a Christian and invented a correspondence 
 9 
 
130 INTRO L ^'CTION. 
 
 between him and Paul ; but it is very strange indeed, 
 and indicative of the hidden mainer in which the leaven 
 worked, that Seneca himself does not seem to have known 
 or cared about Paul at all. Yet at this time Paul could 
 congratulate himself that the whole guard was interested 
 in him. In the city many brethren were emboldened by 
 his bonds to speak the word of God without fear. Some 
 even tried to stir up the flame in order to increase his 
 danger. Among " the saints " were numbered some of 
 Caesar's household. It was not very long after this that 
 Nero endeavored to divert the hatred and vengeance of 
 the people by charging the Christians with having set 
 fire to Rome, and persecuting them for it. Soon after- 
 wards we read of Christian converts, confessors and 
 martyrs, in the highest circles, even in the family of the 
 emperor. 
 
 During this captivity Paul wrote the letters to the 
 Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and to Philemon. It 
 has been debated whether our letter preceded, or fol- 
 lowed, the others. On the one hand, in its general tone 
 it is more like Paul's earfier epistles than like these ; on 
 the other, it has been thought to show a gloomier out- 
 look than theirs. He spent his enforced leisure in reflec- 
 tion on the peculiar dangers which threatened the 
 churches. He added to the eager joy with which an 
 evangelist tells the Gospel to the unconverted, the pene- 
 trating, careful sympathy of a pastor, who seeks to use 
 opportunity and ward off perils from imperfect faith 
 and character. His Christian friends passed under 
 review; he prayed for all, be prayed for each ; he studied 
 the theories which were urged instead of, or beside, the 
 Gospel ; he tried to develop the truth from their stand- 
 point and to express it in the language they thought 
 in, instead of his native Jewish forms of thought. He 
 
IN TROD UC TION. 1 3 1 
 
 fretted at being shut up so, longed to see them again, felt 
 how necessary he was to them, and was cast down to 
 think how much was left undone. Now he would com- 
 mend his attentive friends. Then he would compare a 
 faithful one with others who were lukewarm and double- 
 faced. Life became a burden ; but his work was un- 
 finished. And under these temptations he learned more 
 and more of the riches of Christ. The Epistle to the 
 Philippians shows how he put before him Christ on the 
 cross, and made the Passion and the Resurrection the 
 motto, the master-thought, the be-all and the end-all of 
 his life. It is his resource, his model ; it is the talisman 
 he commends to others ; it is the criterion by which he 
 tries everything. And if moved by the aspect of the 
 greatness and complexity of the world of mankind, which 
 must have been felt so near to the Imperial Court at 
 Rome, it only led him to see how Christ is before all 
 things, and in Him all things hold together. 
 
 This captivity continued for about two years. We 
 have no certain account of the end of it. Some writers 
 have believed that he continued a prisoner until executed 
 under Nero. But it was the universal tradition of the 
 ancient Church that he was set at liberty and was able to 
 fulfil the promise of visiting him, which he makes to 
 Philemon. He is said to have visited Spain. The letters 
 to Timothy and Titus deal with other questions than 
 those which occupied the imprisonment to which 
 Philippians and Colossians belong. 
 
 These epistles show the springs of the Christian piety 
 of the great apostle. They teach us the uses of a period 
 of enforced inaction. Such a period offers above all an 
 opportunity for reflection. We owe many of the deepest 
 thoughts of our religion to Paul's imprisonment. It 
 gave him occasion and opportunity to look at it from all 
 
138 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sides, and then to penetrate to the very centre of the 
 Gospel he preached to others. He tried himself ; he 
 analyzed his motives ; he recognized the only hope of 
 any man ; and he saw how strong, how immovable that 
 Hope is. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 1-2. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in 
 Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, ^ith the bishops and deacons : Grace to 
 you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 I. The Salutation. Paul. As in i and 2 Thess. 
 and Philemon, he writes here as a friend, not asserting 
 his apostoHc authority. — And Timothy. Timothy was 
 well known in Philippi (Acts 16 : i, 2 ; 19 : 22). Paul 
 thus associates with himself one whom he means to send 
 to Philippi, in order to accredit him (i Cor, i : i). Tim- 
 othy also consented in this letter, and was in so far a 
 co-author. — Bondsmen of Christ Jesus. Significant as 
 written from Rome, a centre of human slavery, where per- 
 haps half of the inhabitants were bondsmen. Paul and 
 Timothy had been " bought with a price." A title of 
 dignity outweighing all earthly honors. (See also Numb. 
 12:7; Josh. I : 2 ; 9 ; 24; i Chron. 6 : 49.) Accordingly, 
 early a technical appellation in the Church (Col. 4 : 12 ; 2 
 Tim. 2 -. 24; Tit. i : l ; James i : i ; i Peter 2 ; 16 ; 2 Peter 
 1:1; Jude I ; Rev i : i, etc.). — ^To all. He addresses all 
 without distinction, in acknowledgment of the kindness 
 in which all had j'oined ; in exhortation to the unity 
 which should be the aim of all. — ^The saints (i Cor. i : 2). 
 Not, as RUSKIN says, the Church Invisible only. The 
 word saints, or holy ones, is here " used in its most in- 
 clusive sense " (Ellicott). All were consecrated to Christ 
 in baptism and their faith (Col. 2 : 11, 12), as the Israel- 
 ites were consecrated in the Old Testament ; a holy 
 
 ^11 
 
134 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [i- i-2- 
 
 priesthood ; a peculiar people. He embraces them all in 
 the New Covenant. — In Christ Jesus. In contradistinc- 
 tion from the Old Covenant. The distinction lay upper- 
 most in Paul's mind, whether he was writing to Jews or 
 Gentiles. All in Christ are holy. " These alone are holy, 
 and those henceforward are profane " (Chrysostom). 
 " Those who are in Christ Jesus are holy indeed " (Theo- 
 PHYLACT). See I Cor. 5 : 17. — Which are at Philippi. A 
 Roman colony in Macedonia, near the field where Aug- 
 ustus and Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius. Settled 
 by Augustus with adherents of Antony. Imitating Rome, 
 and more Latin than Greek in its customs. The first 
 place in Europe Paul had visited (Acts 16), Here Lydia, 
 Epaphroditus, Clement and others " labored in the Gospel," 
 with Paul. At least ten years intervened between that 
 first visit and this letter — A. D. 52-62. (See Introduction.) 
 — With bishops and deacons. See Bengel : " The Church 
 is before the bishop. And the apostolic scripture is sent 
 more directly to the Church than to those who have the 
 leadership in it (Hebr. 1 3 : 24 ; Eph. 3:4; Col. 3:18 ss.; 
 4 : 17; Rev. I : 4, 1 1 ; i Thess. 5 : 12)." — He addresses the 
 Philippians, not as individual persons, but as an organized 
 community. The Church at Philippi had as its officers 
 overseers and serving-men. The word bishop {episcopiis) 
 then had the general meaning of one set to oversee. In the 
 Septuagint the name is applied to public officers, re- 
 ligious as well as civil ; and thence the apostles took it 
 (Acts I : 20 ; Ps. 109 : 8. See Numb. 4 : 16 ; 31 : 4 ; Judges 
 9 : 28 ; 2 Kings 12 : 22 ; 1 1 : 16 ; Neh. 11 : g, 14 ; Isai. 
 60 : 17). The Syriac version renders the word here elders. 
 The elders in the early Christian Church were such over- 
 seers. Both words are used of the same office. Acts 
 20:17, 28; Tit. I : 5; I Peter 5 : 1,2. Among the Greeks, 
 the name overseer (bishop) was given to the financial 
 
I. 1-2.] CHAPTER I. 1^5 
 
 officer of burial clubs, confraternities, etc., and to the 
 special officer sent by the Athenians to subject states. 
 The synagogues of the Jews were ordered by a body of 
 elders, of whom it is not by any means certain that one 
 was chief. Christian communities naturally adopted the 
 same order. So at Jerusalem, Acts 15:6. Sohm has 
 suggested that the confusion of lists, and the short terms 
 of " bishops " of Jerusalem and Rome, may be due to the 
 fact that several were overseers at the same time there, as 
 here in Philippi. — St. Paul began by appointing elders in 
 his mission congregations in Asia Minor (Acts 14 : 23). 
 These were not primarily the teachers, but the leaders 
 of the community (i Thess. 5 : 12; i Tim. 5: 17; Rom. 
 12 : 8; Hebr. 13 : 7, 17, 24; Clement of Rome, i : 21). — 
 The government of the congregation was not a monarchy, 
 nor was it a democracy, nor was it even an aristocracy. 
 That time was familiar with government by a gerousia 
 or senate, as we are with monarchy or representative gov- 
 ernment, which they did not know at all. The elders 
 were the governing college in a community where any 
 one taught to whom the Holy Ghost came with the 
 charism and the call. The decision was by the word of God, 
 not by vote. (See Ramsay, The Church in the Roman 
 Empire, p. 367 : " The modern idea of a committee was 
 unknown ; any presbyter might become an episcopos for 
 an occasion, yet the latter term conveyed an idea of 
 singleness and of executive authority which was wanting 
 to the former. Bodies of 3, 5, 10 or more officers were 
 frequent in Rome ; but they were not committees. Each 
 individual possessed the full powers of the whole body. 
 The act of one was authoritative as the act of all ; each 
 could thwart the power of his colleagues; no idea of act- 
 ing by vote of the majority existed.") ^/^<?rj were called 
 bishops first in Greek communities, because they were 
 
136 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [i. 1-2. 
 
 overseers, shepherds, pastors. How the monarchical 
 episcopate grew out of the earlier order still is a matter of 
 dispute. Sohm declares that those became bishops, in 
 contradistinction from the other presbyters and deacons, 
 who had the administration of the Holy Supper especi- 
 ally committed to them, originally as surrogates for those 
 specially designated by the Holy Ghost, or for confessors. 
 (See Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, XH., XV.: " Now 
 appoint for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the 
 Lord, men meek and not avaricious, and upright and 
 proved ; for they, too, render you the service of the 
 prophets and teachers. Despise them not, therefore ; for 
 they are the ones honored of you, together with the 
 prophets and teachers.") Hatch teaches that the one 
 who received the offerings in the Holy Supper and 
 distributed them, having in his power the list of those 
 entitled to offer, and to receive, and who could give or 
 determine upon the recommendatory letters of visiting 
 brethren, became tJie bisJiop par excellence. Ramsay, that 
 the office developed under the system of correspondence 
 established by Paul — the representative of the congrega- 
 tion ad extra became the bishop. Baur, that the office 
 developed in the opposition to Gnosticism, in the need of a 
 depository of traditional doctrine. At the beginning, the 
 elders were for the most part really the older members, 
 with whom were associated those of ripe piety, or dis- 
 tinguished by their gifts and service ; first of all the 
 earliest converts (Clem. Rom. 42). But these " clergy " 
 did not at at once give up ordinary avocations (HATCH, 
 148). It was natural, therefore, that the actual oversight, 
 the leitoiirgia, should becoricentrated in the hands of one. 
 This arrangement became general hy t\iQ opening of the 
 Second Century ; and the leaders of the Church endeav- 
 ored to confirm it as of divine appointment. At Philippi 
 
1. 3-7.J CHAPTER I. 137 
 
 we see the earliest stage. There are several presbyters, 
 and all are appointed overseers or pastors. This arrange- 
 ment may have continued there, for POLYCARP in his 
 letter does not address ^ bishop. Only since the Council 
 of Trent is the divine institution of the episcopate, and its 
 original distinction from the presbytcrate, a dogma of the 
 Roman Church. — Deacons. Servants. With these cf. the 
 young men (Acts 5 : 6, 10), and the seven, appointed to re- 
 lieve the apostles from " serving tables " (Acts 6 : 1-6). 
 Diakonie or service was the technical term for the ofifices 
 of mutual love in the congregation. It is used of the 
 apostolic office (Acts i : 17, 25 ; 20 : 24; 21 : 19; Rom. 
 II : 13), and EUSEBIUS (H. E. 5, i) says, "The Diakonie 
 of the episcopate." The diaconate of Archippus (Col. 
 4:17) and these deacons at Philippi are the first mention 
 of the ofifice outside Jerusalem. HATCH teaches that 
 originally bishops and deacons were the same, but that, 
 afterwards, while the former received and blessed the 
 offerings of the people, the latter only distributed them ; 
 and they were then likened to Levites. — Service is the 
 fundamental notion of the ministry and ministers of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 2. See on Eph. i : i ; Rom. i : 7 ; 2 Cor. 1:2; Col. 
 I : 2 ; I Thess. i : I ; I Peter i : 2. 
 
 3-7. I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you, always in every 
 supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy, 
 for your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until 
 now; being confident of this very thmg, that he which began a good work 
 in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ : even as it is right for me 
 to be thus minded on behalf of you all, because I have you in my heart, inas- 
 much as, both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation of the 
 gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace. 
 
 3-7. Paul's thanksgiving and prayer for them. (Eph. 
 1:15; John 17.) He had them in mind continually, and 
 never thought of ihcni without thanksgiving. " His 
 
138 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [i. 3-7 
 
 whole association with the Philippian Church prompted 
 him to devout acknowledgment " (Eadie). " To be 
 loved of Paul so earnestly is a proof of one's being great 
 and admirable" (Chrys.). The faithful friend, the 
 faithful pastor, thinks of, and prays for, and gives thanks 
 for, all. He did not only preach, but prayed for those 
 entrusted to him. Mark the weapon and means of a 
 pastor (Rom. i : 8 ; i Cor. 1:4; Col. 1:3;! Thess. 
 
 1 : 2 ; 2 Thess. i : 3). His thanksgiving, supplication and 
 joy are based on their fellowship for the Gospel, his con- 
 fidence in the good work which has been begun in them, 
 his own love for them and theirs for him, and their actual 
 share in all that made his life. The passage abounds in 
 technical Christian terms. Thanksgiving, the Eucharist, 
 became the name of the Holy Supper. — The gospel, the 
 good tidings. The day of Jesus Christ marks the term 
 for Christian preparedness. 
 
 Your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel. Fellow- 
 ship means partnersJiip, participation, sharing together, 
 having things in common. We have fellowship of the 
 Body and Blood of Christ (i Cor. 10 : 16), of the Holy 
 Ghost (2 Cor. 13 : 14), " the apostle's fellowship " (Acts 
 
 2 : 42) ; " fellowship in ministering to the saints " (i Cor. 
 8:4); "of the stewardship " (Eph. 3:9);" in giving and 
 receiving " (Phil. 4:15); " with the Father and the Son " 
 (i John 1:3); and the contribution (Rom. 15:26) and 
 " distribution " (2 Cor. 9:13) of the churches are called a 
 fellowship for t lie poor. So Hebr. 13: 16 and i Tim. 6: 18. 
 The idea runs all through this epistle. Here he calls 
 them partners in his bonds (ver. 7) ; and he refers to their 
 continued contributions to his relief and support as a 
 fellowship with him. The first Christians looked upon 
 their association as a fcllozvship with one another and 
 with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost (i 
 
I. i-7.] CHAPTER I. 139 
 
 John I :6, 7). The Comforter had come, and abode in 
 all of them. They were members of one another ; 
 washed the saints' feet ; and their homes were the homes 
 of travelling brethren. The contributions they made to 
 their needy brethren were naturally cAled fellowship with 
 them ; and as from the very beginning it was the custom 
 to make such offerings at the Holy Supper, the offering 
 in the Sunday Service came to be called the fellowship 
 (Acts 2 : 42). Under this one term are included, our 
 communion with God, with the Body and Blood of the 
 Lord, with the Spirit in the Apostolic Benediction, our 
 regard for one another, our mutual duties, our works of 
 charity and missions, and our Sunday collections. All 
 this was in Paul's mind, as he acknowledged their gift and 
 the motive that prompted it. — From the first day. (See 
 
 4:150 
 
 Being confident. Neander : " It is not God's way to 
 
 do only half of a thing." The mere beginning of faith 
 and repentance, a me re desire to know and do God's will, 
 is a proof of His gracious operation and purpose. — Even 
 as it is right, etc. (See 2 Cor. 3:2; 7:3.) We may 
 read, Even as you have me in your heart. Doubtless Paul 
 was conscious of this double sense of his words, setting 
 forth the reality of their fellowship ; from which he as 
 confidently argues to the reality of the fellowship be- 
 tween them and God. — Both in my bonds, etc. Even in 
 bonds he asserted and proved the good tidings, and de- 
 fended it against gainsay ers and judges. They sustained, 
 him in this. He owns them as partners in his especial 
 calling of the Spirit. Chrys. : " If he stands fighting and 
 taking blows, and you wait on him when he returns from 
 battle, take him in your arms, wipe off the sweat and 
 restore him, and comfort, soothe and refresh his wearied 
 soul, you shall be partakers of his reward " (4: 14). 
 
140 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [i.S-ii. 
 
 8. For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the tender mercies 
 of Christ Jesus. 
 
 8. Tender mercies. Bowels — heart. Christ's heart 
 beats in Paul. Mark the inner unity of the Church: they 
 have one another in their hearts; they love one another 
 in the bowels of Christ ; they are conscious of all-inclusive 
 fellowship ; they have a common duty ; they pray and 
 give thanks for one another; they find in their own 
 mutual love a witness and pledge of God's love and pur- 
 pose. 
 
 9-11. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in 
 knowledge and all discernment ; so that ye may approve the things that are 
 excellent ; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ ; 
 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, 
 unto the glory and praise of God. 
 
 9. His prayer, i. Here, as in Col. 1:9; Eph. i : 18, he 
 prays that they may increase in knowledge. The Chris- 
 tian love, which causes him such joy, is not of itself com- 
 plete. — riay abound more and more betokens a continued 
 growth. — In knowledge. More than knowledge : accurate, 
 " complete, intelligent apprehension of an object," e. g. 
 of revealed truth (Delitzsch). See Luke 9 : 45 ; Hebr. 
 5 : 14. — And all discernment. " Ethical tact " (Elli- 
 COTT). Not vainly does Paul make love the starting- 
 point. "Love imparts a sensitiveness of touch, gives a 
 keen edge to the discriminating faculty, in things moral 
 and spiritual " (LiGHTFOOT). WiCLIF has, /« kiinnynge 
 and al wit. 2. This increase of knowledge renders pos- 
 sible the second thing Paul prays for : That ye may try 
 the things that differ, and, having tried them, may ap- 
 prove the things that are better. Bengel : " In outward 
 things we use great care in choosing ; why should we not 
 in things spiritual?" 3. This will render them clean and 
 without offence unto the day of Christ. — Sincere. The 
 
I. 12-26.] CHAPTER I. 141 
 
 word means sifted ; " excludes uU double-mindedness, the 
 divided heart, the eye not single, all hypocrisies " 
 (Trench). " Not for my sake, says he, do I say this, 
 but that ye may be sincere, that is, that ye receive no 
 spurious doctrine under the pretence of love " (CllRYS- 
 ostom). Wiclif has " clene." Luther, laiiter. (See 
 Luke 22:31 .) — Void of offence. Causing no one to stumble, 
 throughout their whole life. Such cleanness and harm- 
 lessness, so rendered possible, will cause them to be filled 
 with all the fruits of righteousness. (See Acts 24 : 16.) 
 
 12-26. Now I would have you know, brethren, that the things which 
 happetied MViio me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel; 
 so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole prae- 
 torian guard, and to all the rest ; and that most of the brethren in the Lord, 
 being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the 
 word of God without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and 
 strife ; and some also of good will : the one do it of love, knowing that I am 
 set for the defence of the gospel : but the other proclaim Christ of faction, 
 not sincerely, thinking to raise up affliction for me in my bonds. What 
 then .'' only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is 
 proclaimed; and therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that 
 this shall turn to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of 
 the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, 
 that in nothing shall I be put to shame, but that with all boldness, as al- 
 ways, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, or 
 by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if to live in 
 the flesh, — ^ythis is the fruit of my work, then what I shall choose I wot 
 not. But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and 
 be with Christ ; for it is very far better : yet to abide in the flesh is more 
 needful for your sake. And having this confidence, I know that I shall 
 abide, yea, and abide with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith ; 
 that your glorying may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence ■ 
 with you again. 
 
 12-26. He tells them what has befallen at Rome, and 
 of his assurance that he will yet see them in the flesh. 
 
 I want you to know. They may have criticised or 
 doubted the providence of God ; or the apostle may 
 have feared they would. Observe the process of debate 
 
142 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [i. 12-26. 
 
 in his mind. He qualifies his own statements, and 
 answers his own words. Shows his boihng mind in the 
 prison And how unpremeditated the letter is — a true 
 picture of the inner processes of his spirit. 
 
 13, riy bonds have become manifest in Christ (Eph. 
 4:1; 3:1; I Peter 4 : 16). All saw he suffered not as 
 an evil-doer, but because he was a Christian. — Through- 
 out the whole praetorian guard, from which his watchers, 
 chained to his wrist, were taken. — And to all the rest. 
 Even some of Caesar's household (4 : 22). 14. The brethren 
 in Rome also were emboldened by his courage and will- 
 ing submission. It is evident that there was courageous 
 confession of Christ in that busy city. But even in the 
 early Church there were conflicting motives ; some 
 preached Christ out of envy and strife, some of good 
 will ; some of love, assisting him ; some with the self- 
 seeking of a hireling, not purely, in order to add trouble 
 to his bonds. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion 
 that there were professed Christians at Rome, who were 
 enemies of Paul, and made this enmity their master- 
 motive ; Judaizers, maybe. If they preached Christ to 
 this end, it must have been to set up rival and separatist 
 communities, or to draw the attention of the authorities 
 to him as one that was turning the world upside down. 
 Here is a peril among false brethren (2 Cor. 11 : 26). 
 " Many of the unbelievers themselves also preached 
 Christ, in order that the emperor's wrath might be in- 
 creased at the spread of the Gospel, and all his anger 
 might fall on the head of Paul. It is possible to do a 
 good work from a motive which is not good " (Chrys- 
 OSTOM). Paul answers his own bitter complaint, In 
 every way Christ is proclaijned (Matt. 18:7; Phil. 
 4 : 14 ; Luke 22 : 42). " What is the force of this never- 
 theless ? It wraps up (like the tJiercfore of John 19 : i) a 
 
I. 12-26.] CHAPTER I. 143 
 
 whole train of thought " (GOULBURN, The Collect for 
 the Day, II. 96). Often since that day, strife and parti- 
 sanship have been main factors in great movements in 
 the Church ; and while they are bitter enough to those 
 who follow Christ meekly. He can make the wrath of 
 man to praise Him. 
 
 19. Their supplication and the supply of the Spirit of 
 Jesus Christ will transmute it, so that it shall turn to his 
 salvation. (A verbal quotation from Septuagint, Job 
 3 : 16.) (See Eph. 4 : 16 ; 2 Cor. i : 11.) We have here 
 the two forces which sustain a preacher and a missionary 
 — the prayers of the Church and the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 20. In my body. (See Gal. 6:17; Col. i : 24.) 
 
 21. To live is Christ. (See Gal. 2 : 20.) The object of 
 my life is to attain to Christ. I seek those things which 
 are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. 
 Therefore to die is gain. 
 
 22. But if to live in the flesh, if this shall bring fruit 
 from my work (see American Revisers). To live in the 
 flesJi is contrasted with attainment to Christ, for which 
 he longs ; and his rezvard, with fruit. 
 
 22-25. He debates the matter with himself. " Both 
 these things lye harde upon me " (COVERDALE.) " I 
 am greatly in doubt " (Geneva Version). He desires 
 to break up camp and end his pilgrimage and be- 
 at rest (epexegetical of ver. 21). This is very far 
 better (2 Cor. 5:1, 8). But to abide in the flesh, 
 in camp, or pilgrimage, is more necessary for you: 
 Observe the manner of Paul's intuition of the future : he 
 balances c//<7zV^ against his vocation; what is preferable 
 against what is more necessary to those committed to 
 him ; and thence arises a conviction. There is not an 
 immediate infusion of knowledge. " The apostle had no 
 revelations ordinarily as to his own personal future " 
 
144 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [i. 27-30. 
 
 (Eadie). (Acts 20 : 22, 23 ; 16 : 6, 7.) He also walked by 
 faith. But he is confident that he shall abide witJi them 
 all. It is probable that he was set at liberty after a cap- 
 tivity of about two years, and fulfilled his purpose of 
 visiting Philippi and Colossse. The pastoral epistles 
 belong to a second captivity, which followed shortly 
 afterwards, and ended with his death under Nero, about 
 A. D. 6"/. And, doubtless, in that brief interval he was 
 able to further their faith and to give them matter for 
 boastmgm. Christ Jesus in him. In 21-25 we see the 
 mind of one whose citizenship is in heaven. The dying 
 Christian, the martyr, expects through death to be at 
 once with Christ. There is no sleep of the soul, no 
 Purgatory. But the longing of a heavenly mind to be 
 with Christ must be postponed to the work to which 
 Christ calls us. The advantage of those we can serve in 
 Him, and not what seems most worthy, is the law of His 
 disposition. Still, life in the flesh is only a pilgrimage, 
 however full of fruit it may be. WitJi Christ is the 
 Promised Land. 
 
 27-30. Only 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 the faith of the gospel ; 
 and in nothing affrighted by the adversaries : which is for them an evident 
 token of perdition, but of your salvation, and that from God ; because to 
 you it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, 
 but also to suffer in his behalf : having the same conflict which ye saw in 
 me, and now hear to be in me. 
 
 27-30. Moved by the hope of seeing them again, he 
 exhorts them to unity of spirit. 
 
 27. Only; i. e. in any case. — Walk worthily. Behave 
 as good citizens, fulfil your duty as citizens ; i. e. your 
 public and mutual duties as members of the Christian 
 community. A remark having especial point in Philippi, 
 a Roman colony, where Roman citizenship was of value, 
 
I. 27-30.] CHAPTER I. 145 
 
 and had counted in the Hfc of Paul ; and as written from 
 the centre of the world state. Refers (i) to such 
 duties as Christians owe each other as members of one 
 body ; and (2) to such duties as belong severally to each 
 in his ofifice in the one bod}'. — ^Whether I come. (See on 
 ver. 25.) Shows that Paul received information from his 
 churches. — Stand. As soldiers. — In one. He exhorts to 
 unity above all, this evidently being the exhortation they 
 most needed. Spirit is the soul of the higher life, which 
 is in communion with the Spirit of God. — Soul. " The 
 principle in man which is affected by the world without, 
 and is the centre of perception and impulse " (Meyer). 
 — Striving together with the faith (i Cor. 13 : 6; 2 
 Tim. I : 8 ; 3 John 8). The faith is personified, because, 
 like " the Gospel " and " the Truth," it is recognized as 
 an independent and active and indefeasible power. — 
 And in nothing affrighted. Shows that the Philippians 
 also had adversaries. These said, when they saw the 
 courage of Christians, They arc crazy. " ' This readiness 
 to die,' writes M. Aurelius (XL 3), ' should follow from 
 individual judgment, not from sheer obstinacy, as with 
 the Christians, but after due consideration,' etc." (in 
 LiGHTFOOT, 318). But their courage was the gift of God, 
 and therefore an earnest of all grace. 
 
 It hath been granted. To suffer for Christ is a char- 
 ism (Acts 5:41; Rom. 5 : 3). 
 
 Having the same conflict, i. They had seen the perse- 
 cution he endured with Silas. 2. They hear of the peril 
 and trial he is in at Rome. 3. They perceive the coiifiict 
 within him, which they had seen in him before. This 
 debate, this perpetual eager offering of himself for 
 Christ and for them, is to be compared only with the 
 agony of our Lord before His final passion. So they, 
 both in actual suffering and in the face of suffering, have 
 10 
 
146 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [i. 27-30. 
 
 an agony and a passion. " In ver. 5 he mentions ' fellow- 
 ship for the Gospel ' as the prime distinction of the 
 Philippia 1 Church, and in this last section he only throws 
 it into bold relief, by describing the united struggle it 
 necessitated, the opposition it encountered, and the calm 
 intrepidity which it ought ever maintain " (Eadie). (See 
 Luke 1 3 : 24 ; 22 : 24 ; John 1 8 : 36 ; Rom. 1 5 : 30 ; i Cor. 
 9:25; Col. I : 29 (and note) ; 4 : 24 ; i Thess. 2 : 2 ; i 
 Tim. 6 : 12 ; 2 Tim. 4:7; Hebr. 12 ; i.) 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 1-4. If there is therefore any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of 
 love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, 
 fulfil ye my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being 
 of one accord, of one mind ; doing nothing throur,h faction or through vain- 
 glory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other l^etter than himself; not 
 looking each of you to his own things, but eac'.i of you also to the things of 
 others. 
 
 1-4. Again an exhortation to unity, showingthat in the 
 lack of this lay the fault and danger of those in Philippi. 
 
 I. If there be any cncoiiragcvicnt in Christ, if any in- 
 centive in love. So, practically, COXYBEARE, HOWSON, 
 LiGHTFOOT, Eadie and Meyer. (See Hatch, Biblical 
 Greek, 82 ; i Thess. 2 : 71.) Here is a reference (i) to the 
 gift of prophecy, so highly valued in the early Church 
 and by Paul, an allusion which the Philippians would rec- 
 ognize at once (i Cor. 14 : 3); and (2) to the brotherly 
 love, which was the first and natural outcome of faith 
 (Gal. 5 : 6), the bond of their fellowship, and the funda- 
 mental activity of the Church ; which moreover was 
 celebrated in connection with their Eucharist (the agape 
 or love-feast). If, he says, you have these and value 
 them. — In Christ " defines the encouragement, etc., 
 as specifically Christian, having in Christ its being and 
 operation, so that it proceeds from the living fellow- 
 ship with Him. is rooted in it, and by it is sustained 
 and determined " (Meyer). — If any fellowship of Spirit ; 
 i. e. any fellowship with one another in the Holy Ghost, 
 
 ^47 
 
148 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [11. 5-1 1. 
 
 who pours out His gifts on you all (2 Cor. 13:14). If any 
 kindly feelings {hearty love, Eadie) and imitiial pity, — the 
 natural feelings of those who are in Christ. — The funda- 
 mental motive to unity, therefore, was their assurance 
 of the presence and continued operation of Christ among 
 them by His Spirit (John 14 : 26 ; 15 : 26; 16 : 7-14), an 
 assurance based on their own experience, on an encourage- 
 ment and incitement they had received, and on a fellow- 
 ship in which they were conscious of having part. — We 
 see here how the belief in a holy Christian Church found 
 its place in the Third Article of the creed. 
 
 2. TJien make viy joy complete. How ? By thinking 
 the same thing, having the same mutual love, your souls 
 being accordant with each other, aiming at the one pur- 
 pose, doing nothing out of factiousness or partisanship, 
 nor of vainglory. Self-seeking, love of praise, party 
 spirit, are inadmissible, and can bring only ruin to the 
 Church (1:15, 16). 
 
 3. He says, in the lowliness of mind, indicating a dis- 
 tinctively Christian virtue, manifested by Christ. (See also 
 Neander, Planting, etc., I. 483 ss. Ellicott : " With 
 due lowliness of mind.") 
 
 4. Not aiming each at his-own e?ids (not his owvl profit 
 only, but his own plans). It is a lesson to those in the 
 Church to postpone their own wisdom even, for love's 
 sake and unity's. 
 
 5-1 1. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : who, 
 being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with 
 God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the 
 likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he huTr.bled himself, 
 becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Where- 
 fore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is 
 above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
 things in heaven and thmgs on earth and things under the earth, and that 
 every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father, 
 
II. 5-n] CHAPTER 11. 149 
 
 5-1 1. Epistle for Palm Sunday. The collect has 
 grasped St. Paul's argument : Who hast sent Thy Son, 
 our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon Him our flesh, 
 and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind 
 should follow the example of His great humility. — 
 Christiaji unity is based upon the self-humiliation of the 
 members of the Christian body, after the example of the 
 patience of Christ. How immense the motive urged here, 
 in order to compose the disunion of a little band of dis- 
 ciples ! How immense the motive which always rests 
 on the conscience of Christian men ! — St. Paul's refer- 
 ence to the evident proofs of the presence of the Lord 
 among them suggests the use of His example (Matt. 
 1 1 : 29 ; 20 : 26-28 ; John 13:15; i Peter 2:21; i John 
 2 :6). 
 
 5. Have this mind in you. Let this continually de- 
 termine your will. 
 
 6. Christ Jesus — existing in the form of God, i. e. being 
 essentially God, counted it not a prize to be snatched at, 
 to be equal with God. He might have asserted His 
 Godhead in His incarnate life, had He chosen to do so, 
 and made the display and use of His glorious power and 
 Godhead the aim of His life on earth (John 17:5; 2 
 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; Hebr. 1:3; John 10 : 30, 38). 
 
 7. But he emptied himself of His glory, having 
 taken the form of a slave. 
 
 " The Lord of all things made Himself 
 Naked of glory for His mortal change." 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 St. Paul wrote this in the centre of slavery ; where intel- 
 ligent and even lofty-minded men lived divested of all 
 human right under the will of a master ; and he had seen 
 the, lordly master who, without intrinsic worth, grasped 
 at equality with God\ — Becoming in the likeness of 
 
150 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [11. 5-1 1. 
 
 men. Exegetical of the form of a slave. Adam was made 
 in the likeness of God ; Jesus grew up like men in all 
 things (yet without sin). Paul says not, In the likeness 
 of a man, as if to suggest a docetic Christ, but, in the 
 likeness of me7i. 
 
 8. Here a new sentence begins. There are three words : 
 (i) Form signifies the specific character, the essence in 
 which the essential attributes inhere; (2) likeness; and 
 (3) fashion is the shape or appearance, that which strikes 
 the eye. (See Mark 16 : 12 ; Matt. 17 : 25 ; Rom. 8 : 29 ; 
 Phil. 3 : 10 ; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2; Gal. 4 : 19 ; 
 Phil. 3 : 21 ; I Cor. 7 : 31 ; i Peter i : 14; 2 Cor. ii : 13, 14, 
 15.) Therefore, appearing to men simply as a man. He 
 further humbled Himself, becoming obedient (Rom. 
 5 : 19 ; Hebr. 5 : 8, He learned obedience), even to the ex- 
 tent of death. — Of the cross ; i. e. a death of ignominy, 
 rejection, which involved utter rejection by all, and, so 
 far as their will went, extinction. The subject of this 
 whole statement is Christ Jesus, not the Logos simply, 
 but the Logos Incarnate. He retained the Form of God 
 though Incarnate. He might have used this for His im- 
 mediate glorification, if He had pleased. This also He 
 might have done at any point in His ministry : He is the 
 subject of the whole sentence. His miracles — e. g. the still- 
 ing of the tempest, the feeding of the multitude, the raising 
 of the dead, and His Transfiguration — show that He had 
 not so divested Himself of His Godhead as not to be able 
 to use it as He pleased. He did use it. He glorified the 
 Father, manifested His Name, and those whom His 
 Father gave Him saw His glory, the glory as of the only- 
 begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. The 
 *' form " of God, and " equality " with God are not only 
 light and glory, but grace and truth (John i : 14). 
 Compare the collect for loth Sunday after Trinity : O God, 
 
ir. S-ii] CHAPTER li. 151 
 
 who declarest Thine ahnighty power chiefly in showing 
 mercy and pity. However inexplicable it may seem, the 
 form of a slave which He took, is as real as the Form of 
 God, in which He exists. He w^^-subject to His parents; 
 He increased in wisdom and stature ; He learned obe- 
 dience by the things which He suffered ; He ran with 
 patience the race that was set before Him, etc. He was 
 treated like a man. And He humbled Himself (John 
 10 : 17, 18). It must not be conceived that in His In- 
 carnation He took a step that shut Him up to this inex- 
 tricably ; but He took, He emptied, He humbled Himself, 
 — it was at every step His choice. His conscious free self- 
 determination, even to tiie death of the cross : e. g. in 
 Gethsemane, where He might have asked for legions of 
 angels (Matt. 26 : 53), but said. Not my will but Thine be 
 done. (See also the miracle of the Stater in the Fish's 
 Mouth, Matt. 17 : 24-27.) 
 
 9. Him. Christ Jesus, the Godman. — And gave unto 
 him. Gave to Him by grace, that which He might have 
 taken as His right. — The name which is above every 
 name (Eph. 1:21; Hebr. i : 4). The incommunicable 
 Name of God. A reason for prayer to Jesus, not in His 
 Godhead only, but the Godman. 
 
 10. Isai. 45 : 23. Jesus is worshipped alike in heaven and 
 on earth. The early Christians sung " hymns of Christ as 
 God " (Letter of Pliny). 
 
 11. The acknowledgment of Jesus is to the glory of 
 the Father. He is the express image of the Father (Hebr. 
 1:3); Eternal life is to know Him and Jesus Christ, 
 whom He hath sent (John 17:3); No man hath seen 
 God at any time. The Only begotten Son who is in the 
 bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him (John i : 18). 
 — It is a mistake to try to force the clauses of this passage 
 into the categories of the Apostles' Creed and of later 
 
152 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [11. 12. 
 
 theology. And what we cannot reconcile, we still must 
 state. The example set us is : i. A surrender of one's 
 rights. 2. A subordination of personal aims. 3. Self- 
 humiliation. 4. Patience in it to the end. Such an imi- 
 tation God will acknowledge, give to us a new name (Rev. 
 2 : 17), and will set us on His throne (Rev. 3:21). 
 
 12. So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my 
 presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own sal- 
 vation with fear and trembling; 
 
 12. So then. He takes up his exhortation again — As 
 ye have always obeyed. There may be an allusion to 
 the obedience unto death of Christ. But it seems probable 
 that he means they always have obeyed Him. — Not in my 
 presence, etc. It is as if he said. You have been obedient 
 when I was with you, and always have been obedient in 
 my absence ; and, as if I were present, and much more 
 in my absence, work out, etc.; i. e. complete. — Your own 
 salvation, i. As the obedience of Christ sug-o-ested their 
 unbroken obedience, so the exaltation of Christ sug- 
 gests their salvation, which is to be the issue and reward 
 of their obedience. 2. He commends their obedience and 
 devotion to Himself, but is mindful of their own supreme 
 interest and need. The emphasis is on the verb. — With 
 fear and trembling. Because of the incalculable impor- 
 tance of the matter. What shall a man give in exchange 
 for his soul? and because of the perils which beset a soul 
 that is being saved (Eph. 6 : 10-17). 
 
 Here is suggested the question, in what sense is the 
 salvation of a Christian not yet complete? and in how 
 far is the completion of it in his own power? We must 
 hold fast ... to the end. We must not grieve the Spirit 
 of God, whereby we are sealed. We must let patience 
 have her perfect work. 
 
II. i3-i6.] CHAPTER II. 153 
 
 13. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to work, for 
 his good pleasure. 
 
 13. Worketh. Worketh mightily, effectively (LiGHT- 
 FOOT). — And to work. The same word he has just used of 
 God, the same from which our word energy comes. — For 
 his good pleasure. For the fulfihnent of His benevolent 
 purpose (Lightfoot). This is an instance of the rush of 
 Paul's thoughts and of the manner in which he immedi- 
 ately qualifies a statement, in order to secure a rounded 
 truth. We must workout our salvation to the appointed 
 end ; but it is God who actually produces in us the desire 
 and purpose to do so, and then enables us to carry that 
 purpose to good effect (Hebr. 13:21). The Collect for 
 Peace confesses the former of these thoughts : " O God, 
 from whom all holy desires, good counsels and just works 
 do proceed." The Easter Collect urges the other : " We 
 humbly beseech Thee, that as Thou dost put into our 
 minds good desires, so by Thy continual help we may 
 bring the same to good effect." The text is not only a 
 description of the methods of grace, and of amendment of 
 character, but a promise. He who is conscious of a wish 
 to become what God would have him be, and to fulfil 
 God's will, is thereby assured that God is working in 
 him effectually and will perfect that which He hath begun 
 (1:6; I Cor. I : 9). 
 
 14-16. Do all things without murmurings and disputings ; that ye may 
 be blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst 
 of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in 
 the world, holding forth the word of life ; that I may have whereof to glory 
 in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labour in vain. 
 
 14. Those whom Christ saved may fail to work out 
 their salvation. They may lag in their service, and, 
 being brought to the very border of the Promised Land, 
 may turn back to wandering and bondage. — Murmurings. 
 Discontent with one's lot, fault finding with God. Ques- 
 
154 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS- [ii. 14-16. 
 
 tionings, not dispiitings, — in one's own mind, not dispute 
 and debate with others. Some hesitate over duty, want to 
 be convinced that it is theirs, weigh it against others' 
 duty, suggest conflicting obhgations, and so entangle 
 conscience. Conscience and Christian service should be 
 frank, simple and ready. 
 
 15. Rom. 16 : 19 : Eph. 1:4; Col. i : 22 ; i. e. with- 
 out faults which justly lay you open to the criticism of 
 others; and unmixed, sincere and simple in your own 
 heart and conscience, with nothing blameworthy before 
 yourselves. — Without blemish (Deut. 32 : 5, Septuagint ; 
 Luke 9 : 41). — In the midst, etc. This is a quotation ; but 
 it describes the contrast between what it is God's good 
 pleasure that His children should be, and the world in 
 which they were. The contrast still holds. The world 
 goes " on devious ways ; " its life is perverse, distorted, 
 confused ; its aims manifold and contradictory ; its mo- 
 tives will not bear the light. In the midst of this let 
 Christians be blameless and as harmless as doves. — 
 Among whom ye appear as luminaries in a cosmos. 
 Christian men and women, who live blamelessly and 
 purely, nay, even those who try to do so, and therefore 
 give evidence that God is working in them mightily to 
 will and to do of His good pleasure, are like the heavenly 
 bodies that divide our day and night, and order our 
 seasons, and hold their places so that men can steer by 
 them. "As givers of light" (Wiclif). They are the 
 proofs and joints of the divine order of the universe be- 
 fore the eyes of the world — the only certain things in its 
 darkness and confusion. Men who seek a word of life 
 have recourse to them. To men who seek a word of life 
 they offer it. Their life points to the word by which 
 they live (Matt. 5 : 14). 
 
 16. Run, as in the race. — Labour, as one who disciplines 
 
II. i7-i8.] CHAPTER II. 155 
 
 himself for the games (i Cor. 9 : 24, 25). (See Gal. 2 ; 
 2 ; I Thess. 3 : 5. Also Isai. 49 : 4 ; 65 : 23.) 
 
 17-18. Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacritice and service of your 
 faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all : and in the same manner do ye also 
 joy, and rejoice with me. 
 
 17. Yea, and if I am poured out as a drink-offering 
 upon, etc. Here, in his characteristic manner, the 
 apostle is again overcome by the feeling of his actual 
 peril. He looks forward hopefully to happiness in their 
 completed salvation — an issue of his self-discipline and 
 strenuous endeavor after the pattern of Christ, to an 
 imitation of which he is encouraging them ; but will he 
 live to see them again before " that day " ? But if not, 
 how willingly will he pour out his blood for them • and if he 
 may, he will be glad, and they should be glad, and instead of 
 regrets for it there should be mutual congratulation. Here 
 we see a natural shrinking from execution, and a yearning 
 of love, striving with an heroical martyr spirit, which re- 
 produces our Lord's sorrow even unto death yet victorious 
 resignation in Gethsmane. His description of his possible 
 death as a being poured forth as a drink-offering, a libation 
 of his blood {see. 2 Tim. 4 : 6), refers to the fact that as a 
 Roman citizen he could not be crucified (though intent 
 to be obedient even unto death, after the example of 
 Christ), but must be beheaded. The figure of the text is 
 derived from the customs of heathen sacrifice and the 
 usual phraseology of the early Church concerning its 
 own worship, i. It was customary to pour a libation of 
 wine over the heathen sacrifices ; and with this custom 
 his readers were familiar. (See also Numb. 28 : 7.) 
 2. The word here translated service is Leitotirgia, the 
 original of our word Liturgy. (See Rom. 15 : 16.) It 
 denoted primarily a public function rendered to the peo- 
 ple as a state. Then it came to mean a public sacrifice ; 
 
156 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [11. 19-24. 
 
 and consequently, "a sacerdotal ministration." It was 
 applied to the religious services, sacrifices, of the Jews 
 (Hebr. 8:6, 9 : 21, and commonly in the Septuagint). 
 Then it began to denote the Chief Service, the Euchar- 
 istic Service of the Church ; and became the common 
 designation of them in early writings. (See Teaching of 
 the XII. App. XV.) Doubtless Paul had this service in 
 mind, and he adds " Sacrifice"" (Hussia), to strengthen 
 the illustration. (The Chief Service of the Christians, the 
 Eucharist, consisted in a thank-offering of themselves and 
 their possessions, especially of the fruits of the earth, and 
 the reception of the blessed elements which, having been 
 given to the Lord, He returned as the vehicles of His 
 own Body and Blood in the Holy Communion. It was 
 from offerings made at such a service, doubtless, that the 
 contribution to the relief of St. Paul's necessities had 
 been sent by the Philippian Church. Now St. Paul says, 
 I will be glad and we should congratulate each other 
 even if my blood be poured out over this sacrifice and 
 service of yours, as a libation. The custom of the Church 
 here alluded to was familiar ; the figures drawn from 
 heathen customs, obvious (i Peter 2 : 5). " Paul repre- 
 sents his blood as a material of sacrifice, yet as a con- 
 stituent of a greater offering, with a solemn service, in 
 which the chief offering is the faith of the Philippians, 
 and Paul himself is the sacrificer and ministrant" 
 (Zockler). 
 
 19-24. But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, 
 that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have 
 no man like-minded, who will care truly for your state. For they all seek 
 their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. But ye know the proof of him, 
 that, as a child serveth a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the 
 gospel. Him therefore I hope to send forthwith, so soon as I shall see 
 how it will go with me : but I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall 
 come shortly. 
 
II. 25-30.1 CHAPTER II. 157 
 
 19. I hope in the Lord Jesus. Everything Paul docs, 
 and especially all he does in relation to his fellow- 
 Christians, he does in the Lord (2 Thess. 3 : 4). This is 
 not a mere phrase, but it implies here, for instance, if 
 the Lord will, resignation to Ilim, recognition of His 
 supreme wisdom. — That I may be, etc. Shows his 
 tender anxiety concerning them. 
 
 20. Like=minded. Allusion to Septuagint version of 
 Ps. 55 : 13 ; Mine equal ; whom I estimate to be worth as 
 much as mine own self (Gesenius). Vulgate: Una- 
 nimis. With a spirit like his (CllRVS.). Tyndale : 
 "That is so like-minded to me." — Truly. Genuinely, as 
 being of the same blood and birth. The relations be- 
 tween Timothy and the Philippians had been intimate. 
 (See I Cor. 16 : 10.) 
 
 21. A hard saying, showing how Paul was vexed by 
 the selfishness of even the professed brethren who sur- 
 rounded him. The factiousness, enmity and selfishness 
 that he complained of in that circle, were not strange in 
 those newly converted to Christ who had not completely 
 assimilated the Gospel nor more than begun to work out 
 their salvation. So the missionaries of our day may ex- 
 pect to be vexed by the imperfections of the first gen- 
 eration of converts. 
 
 22. Acts 16. Also I Cor. 4:17; i Tim. i ; 2 ; 2 Tim. 
 I : 2. 
 
 23. 24. He does not yet know what the outcome of his 
 own case will be ; but he hopes confidently to come to 
 them. (See i : 25,) In that which seemed to be of the 
 greatest importance for the work committed to him, he 
 had to trust i?t the Lord (Philem. 22). 
 
 25-30. Rut I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my bro- 
 ther and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier, and your messenger and minister 
 to my need ; since he longed after you all, and was sore troubled, because 
 
1^8 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [ii. 25-30. 
 
 ye had heard that he was sick : for indeed he was sick nigh unto death : but 
 God had mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might 
 not have sorrow upon sorrow. I have sent him therefore the more dili- 
 gently, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the 
 less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy ; and hold 
 such in honour : 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. 
 
 25. Epaphroditus. A common name at that time. 
 We know no more about him than this epistle tells us. 
 — My brother. It is no condescension in the apostle to 
 speak of this friend and messenger of his beloved Church 
 as a brother, — And fenow=worker. He doubtless refers 
 to work for the Gospel which they had done together in 
 Philippi in former days. — And feIlow=soldier (Philem. 2). 
 Their common labor had been a battle — against gain- 
 sayers, against persecution. Epaphroditus probably was 
 an "elder,'' one of the older members of the Church, a 
 " booty " and associate of the earliest days of Paul's min- 
 istry among them. These names represented precious 
 recollections of both.— Your messenger. Your " apostle," 
 he says. An " apostle " was one sent forth, a mis- 
 sionary. There were many apostles. There came to be 
 a recognized distinction between the apostles of the 
 churches (2 Cor. 8 : 23), and the apostles of the Lord 
 (Col. I : i). In the second age it was a common desig- 
 nation of wandering evangelists, who probably enjoyed 
 t lie gift of teaching, and like Paul claimed to be apostles 
 not from men, nor through men, but through Jesus 
 Christ (Gal. i : i). Their immunities were abused by 
 some of them, and in the Teaching of the XII. Apostles 
 they evidently had become burdensome, and their rights 
 were regulated. — And minister to my need. Paul says, 
 Leitourgos, i. e. the one completing your liturgy, your 
 churchly service, by bringing to me the " yield " of your 
 
II. 25-30.] CHAPTER II. 1 59 
 
 offerings. It was the distinction of the Liturgos in the 
 Christian Service, later the Bishop, to receive and di.s- 
 tributc the offerings of the Church to their designated 
 recipients, who, as, for instance, the poor, were accord- 
 ingly called the altar (HATCH, SOHM). Evidently Paul 
 was in need. As the Lord became poor for our sake, 
 and was assisted by those women who followed and min- 
 istered to Him, so Paul had to accept the charity of the 
 Church. (See 2 Cor. 11 19.) 
 
 26. Epaphroditus was homesick. Not homesick be- 
 cause sick ; but the thought of their anxiety worried him. 
 What an assurance of their affection he had ! What 
 tenderness of sympathy ! What simplicity of brotherly 
 affection marked the infant Church ! What delicacy does 
 Paul show in describing the matter ! 
 
 27. Imagine the delicate-minded stranger sick \\\ Rome, 
 and far from his dear ones, who had heard of his sickness, 
 but were too far away quickly to hear of his convalescence. 
 — God pitied him. Here we see Paul's fatherly and brother- 
 ly love. The continued illness, the death, of Epaphroditus 
 would have overwhelmed him. Recovery from illness, 
 the postponement of the death which would admit a 
 Christian to the immediate presence of the Lord, is spoken 
 of asrt; mercy. It is not wrong to pray for the recovery to 
 health of those we love, and to rejoice in their recovery 
 as a mercy of God. 
 
 28. He sends him back at once with this letter, for their 
 sake, and, we may be sure, for Epaphroditus's too. It 
 would be a pleasure to Paul too, to think of their happi- 
 ness on being together again. He thinks of them, not of 
 himself. But in spite of his exhortations to joy, and his 
 joy in the Lord, he has sorrow, is sorrowful ; and he will 
 only be less sorrowful, not without care. 
 
 29. A solemn and, as it were, official commendation. 
 
l6o EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [ii. 25-30. 
 
 He comes back not merely to his place in the family and 
 among neighbors ; receive him in the Lord. — Hold such 
 in honour. Does this imply his presbyteral dignity ? 
 
 30. The work is, like apostle, liturgy, the way, in Acts, 
 and the Gospel, a technical expression (Acts 15 : 38; 
 Ignatius, Eph. 14; Rom. 3), The early Christians spoke 
 of " the Work," as now some speak of " the Cause." 
 They were filled with inspiration for a great work, which 
 Christ had done and was doing in the world, and to which 
 they were enabled to contribute. — Hazarding his life. 
 Epaphroditus then, like Paul, like Christ, had been obe- 
 dient unto death. In the discharge of ordinary duty, 
 therefore, one can hazard his life for Christ, and may be 
 a martyr dying of disease, as well as at the headsman's 
 hands. Well might Paul accredit him to the place of 
 honor in the Church, which in later times was readily 
 accorded to Confessors. The phrase means that he 
 hazarded his life on the throw, as when one plays with dice. 
 That he did not die, was not because he was unwilling or 
 afraid to be poured out. Though a delicate soul and 
 homesick, he had been no weakling in zeal and faith. 
 — What was lacking in your service. Their service is 
 again called a Leitourgia, i. e. the public, common, sacred 
 service of them all, sanctified in their Eucharist. It 
 would have been ineffectual without Epaphroditus's 
 service of love. It lacked only his bringing. He com- 
 pleted it at the hazard of his life. (See i Cor. 16 : 17.) 
 
CHAPTER in. 
 
 I. finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things 
 to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe. 
 
 I. Finally. For the rest ; in conclusion. It is evident 
 that at the end of ch. 2, or perhaps at the end of 
 this salutation, the epistle was interrupted. — Rejoice 
 in the Lord. A parting salutation. But he begins 
 anew, taking up the line of thought he has maintained 
 throughout, having in mind the divisions and dangers 
 of division among them. He seems, upon beginning 
 the epistle again, after a short interval, excited perhaps 
 by some new exhibition of meanness of the Juda- 
 izers among the Christians at Rome, perhaps by the 
 thought of the necessity of warning his Philippians against 
 a probable attack on their faith. He has determined to 
 be more plain-spoken and personal in this part of the 
 letter. He apologizes for recurring to the one theme of 
 the letter — the correction of a persx^nal or factious spirit in 
 the Philippian Church, by the example of Christ. It has 
 been suggested that new intelligence from Philippi had 
 been received after the second chapter had been written. 
 The supposition is unnecessary. — The same things has 
 awakened the question whether St. Paul had written 
 other letters to the Philippians, which have not come 
 down to us. POLYCARP refers to the letters which Paul 
 had written them ; but LiGHTFOOT holds that the plural 
 might have been used of a single letter. Commentators 
 have been unwilling to admit that letters of an inspired 
 apostle may have been lost. To us it seems probable 
 II i6i 
 
1 62 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [in. 3. 
 
 that Paul wrote many more letters than those we have ; 
 while we are not encouraged to believe that they would 
 have added any essential to our faith. But, whatever 
 answer may be given, there is nothing in our passage that 
 refers to another letter. 
 
 2. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the con- 
 cision : 
 
 2. Beware. He has warned them of his strenuous 
 temper. " Look at the dogs," he says. The dogs, the 
 evil luorkcrs, the concision, here referred to, are not three 
 classes, but the same class of teachers. While he would 
 warn against them, he rather points at them. They are 
 before his eyes — at work in the Roman Church ; before 
 their eyes — creeping into every church ; the Judaizers, 
 who, while Christian in profession, misconceive and mis- 
 state the Gospel, seeking to lead all back to the Law and 
 make the Gospel of none effect. The Philippian Church 
 was predominantly a Gentile Church, yet not without 
 Jews and proselytes in it, and near to Thessalonica and 
 Beroea, where the Jews were hostile from the first, and 
 where the temptation to conciliate them might strengthen 
 the opponents of Paul. Paul calls such "dogs" (Ps. 
 59 : 14, 15). He was severe in controversy (Gal. 5 : 12V 
 So was Christ sometimes (Matt. 23). The Jews called 
 the Gentiles dogs; their principal notion in the name 
 being that the Gentiles were outside the Covenant, went 
 in and out of the house and got only the crumbs. St. 
 Paul turns the name upon them. They now are outside 
 the New Covenant. And he thinks of the homeless, 
 snarling curs of an Eastern village. Such were these 
 wandering enemies of the Gospel and the Church of 
 Christ (Isai. 56 : lO, II ; Gal. 5 : 15; Rev. 22 : 15). — 
 Concision. He will not even call them the circumcision, 
 but puns on the word ; " The circumcision, which they 
 
III. 3] CHAPTER III. 163 
 
 vaunt, is in Christ only as the gashings and mutilations 
 of the idolatrous heathen " (Lightfoot). (See the story 
 of Elijah on Carmel.) Paronomasia or punning is not 
 unusual in Paul's style, LiGHTFOOT alleges 2 Thess. 
 3:11; Rom. 12:3. Winer, LXVIII. 793 sq. There is 
 a monograph on the subject by BoETTCHER. On puns in 
 the Old Testament, see LiGHTFOOT, p. 144, who also 
 gives examples from profane Greek authors and from 
 English. Meyer (p. 128) gives from LUTHER, Decret 
 and Z>r(f;r/^r/, turned \.o Drecket tlxkA Drecketal,Jiirisperitos 
 into Jnrispcrditos, ScJnvcnkfeld into Stenkfeld. So 
 Fairbairn (Christ in Modern Theology, 144) : " Contro- 
 versies begotten of disputations, hate and unreasoning 
 love are things the judicious, who love to pass for judicial 
 men, do not care to touch." (See Horace, Odes, I. 
 33, 2.) So Shakespeare : " Old John of Gaunt, and gaunt 
 in being old ; " and Tennyson : " His honor rooted 
 in dishonor stood, and faith unfaithful kept him falsely 
 true." 
 
 3. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and 
 glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh : 
 
 3. We are the circumcision ; i. e. you and I. St. 
 
 Paul here asserts that those who are in Christ are the 
 heirs of the promises, the true Israel, the continuation of 
 the people and "Church" of the Old Testament — even 
 though he was writing to those of whom a majority had 
 been Gentiles (Deut. 10 : 16 ; 30 : 6 ; Rom. 2 : 28 s. ; 
 4:11, 12; Col. 2 : 11). But note how familiar these 
 already were with the customs and themes of the Old 
 Testament. The Old Testament, far from being abro- 
 gated, already had been laid at the foundation of the 
 Gentile Church by the apostle to the Gentiles and his 
 fellow-workers. — Who worship by the Spirit of God. 
 
i64 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [in. 4-6. 
 
 The correct reading. Our worship is the spiritual wor- 
 ship desired of God and to which He moves us, in con- 
 trast with tJic service of God (Rom. 9 : 4), founded on 
 previous revelation, which the Jews have and boast and 
 wish to compel us to conform to. The word Latreia, 
 latrenontes, is the broadest word used to describe religious 
 worship (John 4: 23, 24; Rom. 12 : i). The "reason- 
 able " or " spiritual " service of the latter passage often 
 was referred to by early Christian writers as a description 
 of Christian worship in contrast with Pagan as well as 
 Jewish rites. In it they gave the sacrifice of prayer, 
 praise and thanksgiving, and offered their bodies in 
 reasonable service instead of the bloody sacrifices of the 
 old cults. — And glory in Christ Jesus (Jer. 9 : 24 ; 
 Gal. 6 : 14). The Judaizers doubtless boasted of their 
 temple, history, service, and pointed with scorn at the 
 lowliness and isolation of the Christian communities. 
 These words are full of encouragement to little companies 
 of men who know they are in Christ, but are despised by 
 the world. — And have, etc. The emphasis is on the flesh ; 
 a scornful fling at those who boasted they had been cir- 
 cumcised. 
 
 4-6. Though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh : if any 
 other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more : circum- 
 cised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a 
 Hebrew of Hebrews ; as touching the law, a Pharisee ; as touching zeal, 
 persecuting the church ; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, 
 found blameless. 
 
 4-5. Paul says they cannot say he takes the other side 
 because he has not what they have. He was not a pros- 
 elyte. No rite had been neglected in his case. He was 
 of pure descent. His father and mother were Israelites, 
 and not of one of those tribes which broke away from 
 the service of the temple. In every sense of the M'ord 
 he was a Hebrew ; not a Hellenist ; brought up in all the 
 
XII. 7-«I CHAPTER III. 165 
 
 traditions and customs ; from childhood in sympathy with 
 the heart of the history of the race ; speaking the ancient 
 tongue. (St. Paul quotes the Old Testament from the 
 Hebrew, translating it for himself, not leaning on the 
 Septuagint.) — A Pharisee. The Pharisees were the 
 strictest of the Jews in their interpretation and observance 
 of the Law and the traditions, a society of recognized 
 devotion, the Puritans of the time of Christ. 
 
 6. He had given proof of his sincerity and narrow 
 devotion by his severity and cruelty toward the Church. 
 In the eyes of men also, he was so good after the phari- 
 saic fashion, that no man found a flaw in him. It is a 
 confession of the earnestness and completeness of Saul's 
 endeavor to meet the requirements of the Law. In 
 every good sense he had been a Pharisee of the Phari- 
 sees, not a failure and an outcast. 
 
 7-8. Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss 
 for Christ. 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, and do count them but dung, 
 
 7. In comparison with Christ these things I boast were 
 worthless; and, inasmuch as they were obstacles to entire 
 recourse and surrender to Christ, they were worse than 
 worthless — a loss. 
 
 8. Yea verily. St. Paul heaps up little words here, as 
 if almost stuttering with his pen, in unutterable feeling. — 
 riy Lord, he says, in his assured possession of that knowl- 
 edge. (See Small Catechism, 2d Art. of Creed.) He 
 does not mean a knowledge of the doctrine of Christ, but 
 such knowledge of Him and of His Gospel of grace and 
 of His power, as is got only by actual experience (John 
 17 : 3). — The loss of all things ; i. e. of all these things, 
 and the fancied or worldly advantages to which they 
 might lead. He certainly had given up all for Christ. 
 
1 66 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [in. 9-10 
 
 — Dung. Refuse, rubbish. The English word originally 
 means that which is cast away (Skeat). " Expresses 
 utter contempt" (ZOCKLER). That which is fit neither to 
 be touched nor to be looked on (Bexgel). 
 
 9. That I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteous- 
 ness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through 
 faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith : 
 
 9. In him, as the very atmosphere in which I 
 live, move and have my being. Without any other 
 name, place or relation. (See 1:1, 8, 13, 14, 26 ; 
 2:2, 19, 29 ; 3 : 3, 14; 4:7, 10.) Mark that Paul, 
 though confident that Christ is his, still exhibits 
 this strenuous determination, aspiration and energy of 
 faith. — A righteousness of mine own. Got by me, by 
 my own endeavors.— Which is from law, but that 
 which is through faith of Christ. Faith in Christ takes 
 hold of His righteousness. — Which is from God upon 
 faith. Here God is set against lazv as the source of 
 righteousness. God gives righteousness to faith upon 
 faith. Law merely provides a method of working out a 
 mechanical righteousness. Through faith, indicates that 
 faith is the means by which we take the righteousness 
 God gives. This righteousness rests on faith, — faith is 
 its foundation in us. " The use of various prepositions 
 to express the different relations of an object, is one of 
 the apostle's peculiarities of style" (Eadie. Rom. 5 : i). 
 
 10. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the 
 fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death ; 
 
 10. That I may know him. The reason why he wishes 
 above all things to gain Christ and to be found in Him. 
 Now he knows but in part ;' he yearns to know as he is 
 known (i Cor. 13 : 12). " This knowledge is that of a 
 deep and deepening experience " (Eadie). It is the 
 knowledge of Christ possessed b}' one who is conscious 
 
III. 10.] CHAPTER III. 167 
 
 "that he is justified in Christ (Isai. 53 : 11 ; John 17 : 3). — 
 The power of his resurrection (Eph. i : 19, 20 ; 2 : 5 ; 
 Rom. I : 4 ; 4 : 24, 25 ; 5 : 10 ; 6 5 ; 8 : 1 1 ; i Cor, 1 5 : 
 22 ; 2 Cor. 4 : 10, 1 1 ; 13 : 4 ; Phil. 3:21; Col. 2 : 12, 13 ; 
 3:4; I Peter i : 3 ; 3 : 21). — i. There is a power of an 
 endless, indissoluble life. It raised up Jesus from tlie 
 dead. It will quicken our mortal bodies. 2. That power 
 of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ still is in 
 the world, and manifests itself whenever a man dead in 
 trespasses and sins is quickened to newness of life. He 
 is quickened by the same power that raised Jesus from 
 the dead and gives eternal life to us. 3. That power is 
 connected with holy baptism. When a person is baptized, 
 he becomes a partaker of the power of the resurrection 
 of Christ. 4. Having received the power of the resurrec- 
 tion in baptism, we keep it and know it, i. e. receive 
 and feel it, by faith, by believing in the Risen Lord, and 
 putting our trust in Him. And this faith is wrought 
 in us by the power of His resurrection. — The fellow- 
 ship of his sufferings. John and James wished to sit 
 on the right hand and the left of the Messiah in His 
 kingdom : a lofty expression of faith in the Christ in the 
 midst of His humiliation ; Paul wishes for the fellowship 
 of His sufferings (to be baptized with His baptism and 
 to drink of His cup) : an irrepressible utterance of his 
 sympathy with the inmost mind of the Lord. Mark that 
 the thought of 2: 5-1 1 is here in Paul's mind, as it was 
 when he wrote of Epaphroditus, and will appear again. 
 He, for his part, he says it consciously or unconsciously, 
 has and seeks to have the same mind in him that was in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord. (See i Peter 4 : 13.) — Becom- 
 ing conformed unto his death. The word here used for 
 form is the same as that used of the form of God and 
 the forjn of a slave in 2 : 5, 7. It implies that Paul does 
 
i68 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPFIANS. \\n. 11-12. 
 
 not seek to suffer like Christ in the estimation of men, but 
 really in himself to be conformed to the death of Christ. 
 Our Lord in His death gave Himself to pain, ignominy, 
 abandonment, total rejection, expiatory suffering for the 
 sake of His enemies. St. Stephen was conformed to the 
 death of Christ (Acts 7 : 59, 60). 
 
 11. If by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. 
 
 11. The resurrection. An unusual and emphatic term 
 for the resurrection is used. He means not the general 
 resurrection of all merely, wherein good and bad alike 
 will rise, as if he would imply that some never shall rise 
 again while some shall ; but he seeks the first resurrec- 
 tion, the resurrection unto life. This is the exaltation 
 he ever keeps in view, while he seeks the fellowship of 
 the sufferings of Christ (Luke 20 : 35 ; Acts. 26 : 7). 
 
 12. Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but 
 I press on, if so be that I may apprehend that for which also I was appre- 
 hended by Christ Jesus. 
 
 12. Not that I have already obtained. " In the high- 
 est fervor the apostle does not lose his spiritual sobriety," 
 says Bengel. An instance of the essential sanity of 
 Paul's mind. And also of his oratorical powers. No 
 doubt, in his speech, as here in his letter, he knew 
 how to concentrate his auditors' attention on himself 
 and carry them with him in emotion ; but always was 
 master of himself, and so of them. He is careful to 
 guard against any possible exaggeration or one-sided 
 misapprehension of his saying ; and knows how, having 
 awakened their throbbing sympathy, to teach and stamp 
 a lesson. The difference qf tense of the two verbs is in- 
 tentional. He says, Not that I attained in the moment 
 of my conversion ; nor that I now already am perfected. 
 (The former verb is an aorist, descriptive of a momentary 
 action, complete in a past moment ; the latter verb is a 
 
III. 12.] CHAPTER l/I. 169 
 
 perfect^ He teaches: i. That he does not consider him- 
 self to be a perfect man ; his attainments are not all they 
 ought to be, nor all that he wishes and expects them to 
 become. 2. A Christian is not made perfect in the in- 
 stant of conversion, nor in any moment. 3. But his life 
 in Christ should be a progress ; he must be perfected. 
 4. Even before he has reached the goal, he is in Christ. 
 A man may be in Christ, and be able to speak of Him as 
 "■My Lord," though he has not yet " obtained," neither 
 is " already perfected." He explodes the theory of a 
 " sinless perfection " on earth and that of a " total imme- 
 diate sanctification " of believers. The Christian life is a 
 moral progress. Salvation is given to those in whom 
 dwelleth no good thing. Justification is the beginning, 
 not the result, of holiness. " Indeed, so much will sin- 
 fulness still adhere to all his performances, that even the 
 most advanced Christian will come short of the requirements 
 of duty ; as Paul referring to himself acknowledges " 
 (Neander, Planting, I. 474). " I have now been reading 
 the Bible for thirty years with the greatest zeal and dili- 
 gence, yet am I not so healed as to be able to acquiesce 
 with complete trust in the remedies God offers. I wish 
 to be stronger and more robust in faith, and to have 
 more boldness in Christ, but am not able " (Luther, 
 on Genesis 45). — I press on. A figure taken from the 
 foot-race, with which the Philippians were familiar. Like 
 a racer, hoping to get the prize. — That for which also I 
 was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. The English transla- 
 tion seems to mean that the prize which Paul strives for 
 is that which the Lord had in view for Paul when he 
 first called him to the race. We prefer, Because I was 
 laid hold on ; with Meyer and LiGHTFOOT. (See Rom. 
 5 : 12; 2 Cor. 5 : 4.) Paul runs this race because Christ 
 has taken hold on him. He cannot do otherwise. His 
 
t^o EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [ni. 13-15. 
 
 language may have been determined here by " the 
 attraction" of the figure ; and ahnost without Paul's in- 
 tending it seems to imply that he tries to get the prize 
 set before him, because he was the prize Christ ran for 
 and got. 
 
 13-14. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have apprehended : but one 
 thing /(/(?, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward 
 to the things which are before, I press on tovvard the goal unto the prize of 
 the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
 
 13. He reiterates his sincere profession that he is not 
 perfect : which implies a criticism of those in the Philip- 
 pian Church who may have professed tliey were perfect. 
 (See on Col. i : 28.) — But one thing : forgetting. It is 
 not necessary to tell just what *' things which are be- 
 hind " are meant. Paul describes the eager straining for- 
 ward of a runner. " Stretched forward ; the eye goes 
 before the hand, the hand before the foot, and draws it 
 after " (Bengel). The eager racer thinks not of the 
 things he passes and leaves behind him. His eyes are on 
 the goal (i Cor. 9 : 24). 
 
 14. I press on. As in ver. 12. /;/ Christ there was for 
 Paul, there is for us, a calling (Col. 3:15; Eph, i : 18; 
 4: 1,4). It is God's call to \xs, from above, and heaven- 
 zvard, therefore upivard. 
 
 15-16. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded : and if 
 in anything ye are otherwise minded, even this shall God reveal unto you : 
 only, whereunto we have already attained, by that same rule let us walk. 
 
 15. Let us then, as many as be perfect. He here in- 
 sinuates a censure of those who claimed most faithfully 
 to represent his own teaching; and, while in assenting 
 to the name they gave themselves — X.\\& perfect, or grown- 
 up — there is inevitable irony, he-mollifies it by charitably 
 reckoning himself among them. Those who recognized 
 that they were not under law, and perceived the newness 
 
HI. 1 6.] CHAPTER III. 171 
 
 and independence of the Gospel, were also tempted to 
 hold themselves above law. They might be careless of 
 the weak ; and they might not hold the faith in a good 
 conscience, and so would make shipwreck of their souls. 
 Paul does not deny the maturity of their faith, con- 
 science and spirit. But if they are " perfect," let them 
 still with him recognize an upward calling of God in 
 Christ Jesus, and with him press forward to the things 
 which are before. " It belongs to him that is perfect, 
 not to regard himself as perfect " (Chrysostom). 
 
 If in anything ye think amiss. It is possible that you 
 differ in some things, and that some of you have some 
 views that are wrong. Let us admit that we are not in- 
 fallible. But if you keep your eye on the goal and 
 press forward to it, if the one consideration be the prize 
 of your upward calling in Christ Jesus, God will set you 
 right whereinsoever you now are wrong. Paul, while not 
 undervaluing " orthodoxy," shows the method by which 
 alone a Christian may attain to a knowledge of the 
 truth (John 7: 17). And he indicates the method by 
 which a Church may attain and maintain unity in a pure 
 confession. 
 
 16. But he would not have them conclude that if only 
 a man tries to live a right life, it matters not what he 
 thinks or believes. They are to keep the foundation he 
 has laid. They are not to go back or away from that to 
 which they have already come. It is to be the starting-, 
 point. In order to have a right faith and live aright life, 
 and obtain the prize of their upward calling, they have 
 not to unlearn all they have been taught and undo all 
 that has been done for them. But on the basis of the 
 faith they have been taught, let them run the race, 
 always keeping their eyes fixed " on the greater and 
 higher task which they see opening before them as they 
 
172 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [in. 17-18. 
 
 go forward step by step " (Meyer). " This is a very 
 necessary and firm rule, not to accept any doctrine which 
 is not revealed by God ; and that such doctrine must 
 aeree and accord with the doctrine of faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Where such a revelation does not agree 
 with the doctrine, it is not to be thought a revelation of 
 God, but a delusion of the evil one, it matters not what 
 miracles may accompany it " (Veit Dietrich). 
 
 17. Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them which so 
 walk even as ye have us for an ensample. 
 
 17. What a high consciousness of his exemplariness 
 this apostle of Christ had ! Yet Paul would have them 
 imitate not himself, but his endeavor to be like Christ. 
 No doubt he wished them to be imitators together with 
 one anotJicr, but he refers them to those who in all the 
 churches receive his instruction and mind his example. 
 Association with others who are running the Christian 
 race is a great help to the imperfect ; and the thought of 
 " the holy Church throughout all the world " is an in- 
 spiration. Our text is also a solemn admonition to the 
 messengers of the Lord, whose disciples are likely to be 
 imitators together of them and to walk so as they have 
 them for an ensample.— Hark them. Look at them, to 
 them, for instruction. St. Paul shrinks from pointing to 
 himself only ; he says, us. 
 
 18-19. For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even . 
 \ie.e.-^\\\g, that they are \.\\Q enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is I 
 perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who 
 mind earthly things. 
 
 18. Many walk. Even so early in the Church, and in 
 the days of persecution, there were in the Church many 
 ?.\\z\\ as St. Paul now proceeds to describe. They were 
 professed Christians ; who easily could have left the 
 
III. i8.] CHAPTER in. 173 
 
 Church ; who, singularly enough, remained in it, when to 
 be called a Christian was considered no honor ; who had 
 been baptized in ripe years with their own full consent 
 and at their own desire. It is a mistake to speak of the 
 apostolic age as necessarily the purest age of the Church. 
 Those who were gathered into the churches were but 
 partially dissevered from Judaism or from the errors and 
 corruption of Paganism, and they had but imperfectly 
 apprehended Christ. Here were Judaizers, puffed-up 
 men who boasted they were full-grown men in Christ, 
 belly-worshippers, selfish men and quarrelsome ; there 
 were roots of heresy, roots of bitterness, roots of perdi- 
 tion, at Rome and in the Church of Philippi (i Thess. 
 5 : 14 ; 2 Thess. 3:11. Also Matt. 13 : 28-30, 42-50). 
 See Luther, on Gen. 37 : 20 : " It is indeed miserable 
 to see in that home and Church, which at that time was 
 the one and holiest in the whole earth, such monstrous 
 births. Isaac was the teacher, the Word of God and the 
 promises concerning Christ flourished, the Holy Spirit 
 reigned, and the most beautiful examples of piety, disci- 
 pline and domestic life shone forth, yet from that home 
 came forth horrible things. For Jacob and all his Church 
 were under the devil and all his angels, so that not 
 strangers, nor enemies, nor heretics, but his own sons, 
 whom he himself had brought up and taught in the 
 Word, were ready to slay their innocent brother." And 
 so on ch. 44. 
 
 Of whom I told you often. When I was with you. 
 Therefore he is not referring particularly to some in 
 the Roman Church whose conduct just then offended 
 him. And if he had often told \.\\q. Philippians of such, 
 there must have been numerous examples of such be- 
 havior in other churches and at an earlier period. Such 
 behavior was not infrequent in apostolic churches. 
 
174 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [in. 19. 
 
 Missionaries may expect grave misbehavior among those 
 lately won from heathenism. ' A faithful pastor is not to 
 be discouraged if some of his flock are no better, and 
 even urge his own teaching as their excuse. The truth 
 and power of Christ may live in a church where some 
 are whose end is destruction. — Even weeping. How 
 grave must the cases have been ! No doubt there were 
 such before his eyes; and there must have been reason 
 to remind the Philippians of what he had told them be- 
 fore. — They are the enemies of the cross of Christ. 
 Instead of having in them the mind that was in Christ 
 Jesus, or imitating him who wished to be conformable to 
 His death. He refers not to those who were urging the 
 righteousness of the Law and found the cross a stum- 
 bling-block, but to those who refused to take up their 
 cross and follow Christ. (See Gal. 6 : 14.) " Nothing is 
 so incongruous in a Christian, and so foreign to his char- 
 acter, as to seek ease and rest ; and to be engrossed with 
 the present life is foreign to our profession and enlist- 
 ment. . . . The cross belongs to a soul at its post for 
 the fight, longing to die, seeking nothing like ease. 
 . . . Every one who is a friend of luxury, and of 
 present safety, is an enemy of that cross, in which Paul 
 makes his boast " (Chrysostom). 
 
 19. Whose end is perdition (Rom. 6:21; 2 Cor. 
 II : 15; Hebr. 6: 8). He does not qualify this at all. 
 It certainly will be the issue of such a mind and conduct. 
 There is no intimation of delayed and probationary 
 punishment. — Whose god is the belly (Rom. 16 : 18). 
 A figure not unknown to heathen ethics. (Seneca, Eu- 
 ripides, Cicero, Lightfoot in he, Meyer.) Yet 
 literally true of many. How ea.sy is it, in prosperity, to 
 fall to worshipping the belly. — Whose glory. They 
 boast of what is most disgraceful. — Who mind earthly 
 
in. 20-2I.] CHAPTER III. 17^ 
 
 things. Here he sums up the whole description. In- 
 stead of the mind of Christ, who emptied and humbled 
 Himself, their whole life is set upon things on the earth. 
 
 20. For our citizenship is in heaven ; from whence also we wait for a 
 Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : 
 
 20. 17-21 are the Epistle for the 23d Sunday after 
 Trinity, and are thus made to answer to the Gospel 
 (Matt. 22 : 15-22). The Church thus compared the heav- 
 enly commonwealth to which we belong with the earthly 
 state. The word is is not the simple copula, but is 
 emphatic: our state, our commonwealth, actually exists 
 in heaven. Over against the system of things which our 
 eyes see, and which were so real to the Roman colony of 
 Philippi, St. Paul asserts the existence of the heavenly 
 republic, with its relations, duties, powers, stability 
 (i : 27; Eph. 2 : 12, 19; Gal. 4 : 26 ; Acts 23 : i). — From 
 whence also. We earnestly expect ; we confidently and 
 patiently await. The Christians of that age looked for 
 the Lord's coming in their lifetime. He would come to 
 save them from the earthly things which seemed so 
 hostile and powerful, and against which the heavenly 
 commonwealth seemed so shadowy. We also look for a 
 Saviour from heaven (i Thess. 5 : i ; 2 Thess. 2 : i). 
 
 21. Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiHation, that it may be 
 conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he 
 is able even to subject all things unto himself. 
 
 21. Ojir humiliation is here laid beside His. If we 
 have the same mind in us, if we humble ourselves, there 
 shall be for us also an exaltation. There may even be a 
 reference to the Transfiguration ; but certainly to our 
 Lord's resurrection-body. In our bodies we shall be 
 fashioned anew. — That it may be conformed (i John 
 3 : 2). The body in which our Lord rose is a hint of 
 
iy6 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [in. 21. 
 
 what we shall some day be like. "Fashion," in the 
 former clause, means that the outward appearance of our 
 bodies shall be changed ; " conformed," that they shall 
 be essentially and permanently changed, to be like that 
 of Christ. As to problems suggested by the promise of 
 the resurrection and glorification of the body, it is enough 
 to know " the Scriptures and the power of God " (Matt. 
 22 : 29). " By His resurrection, Jesus, we are told, be- 
 came the ' first-fruits,' — the preluding sample of them that 
 sleep : their change, on emerging from death, is simply 
 into the likeness of their forerunner ; and is described by 
 the apostles in terms which, on the one hand, negative all 
 the properties of mere flesh and soul, and, on the other, 
 afHrm those of Spirit, — incorruptibility, immortality, and, 
 as manifested, a brilliancy as of a glorious light " (J AS. 
 Martineau, Seat of Authority, 368-9). (See Rev. i : 14, 
 15, 16.) — " Designated as He is, the Mediator between God 
 and Man, He keeps in His own self the deposit of the 
 flesh which has been committed to Him by both parties 
 — the pledge and security of its entire perfection. For 
 as ' He has given to us the earnest of the Spirit,' so has 
 He received from us the earnest of the flesh, and has 
 carried it with Him into heaven as a pledge of that com- 
 plete entirety which is one day to be restored to it. Be 
 not disquieted, O flesh and blood, with any care ; in 
 Christ you have acquired both heaven and the kingdom 
 of God " (Tertullian, de Res. Carnis, LI.). So Paul 
 completes another strophe on this wonderful self-humilia- 
 tion and exaltation of Christ. He urges the example of 
 the Lord ; he interprets th,e service of Epaphroditus by 
 it ; he makes it the inspiration and rule of his own life ; 
 he shows how every Christ-like " Passion " shall be made 
 to issue in the communion of His glory. Via crucis, 
 via lucis. 
 
III. 21.] CHAPTER III. i-ji 
 
 " 'Tis not this fleshly robe alone 
 Shall link us, Lord, with Thee; 
 Not only in the tear and groan 
 Shall the dear kindred be. 
 
 " Thou to our woes who down didst come, 
 Who one with us wouldst be. 
 Wilt bring us to Thy heavenly home, 
 Wilt make us one with Thee." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 I. Wherefore, my brethren beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, 
 so stand fast in the Lord, my beloved. 
 
 1. Wherefore. Because of this which he has said 
 (3 : 17-21). — Longed for. St. Paul loved his Philippians 
 especially. Longed for occurs here only in the New Tes- 
 tament. He lingers on the thought of them, — he yearns 
 to see them, to be with them. — Hy joy and my crown 
 (i Thess. 2 : 19; Sir. i : 9; 6 : 31 ; 15 : 6 ; Ez. 16 : 12 ; 
 23 : 42 ; Prov. 16 : 31 ; 17 : 6; Job 19 : 9). The crown 
 here meant is not a diadem, but a chaplet or garland, the 
 victor's wreath, or the garland worn at feasts by those 
 who make holiday. One cannot repress the thought of 
 the difference between real crowns and make-believe 
 crowns. Here is Paul a prisoner and little thought of, 
 whose crown are these saved from death and assured of 
 everlasting life (Dan. 12 : 3) ; and there Nero, the ruler 
 of the world, and the garlanded master of orgies. — So 
 stand. So, as I have said. Stand, as soldiers (Eph. 
 6 : 13). In the Lord : the one element in which he and 
 they live. — My beloved. Observe here, and in the follow- 
 ing sentences, the tremulous iteration which tells Paul's 
 excitement of affection. 
 
 2-3. I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of the same mind in 
 the Lord. Yea, I beseech thee also, true yokefellow, help these women, for 
 they laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my 
 fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life. 
 
 2. By all this introduction he has prepared the way for 
 personal appeal. If they have followed him thus far, 
 
 178 
 
IV. 3-] CHAPTER IV. 179 
 
 these women cannot resist his exhortation now ; and in 
 the face of the motive he has ur^jcd, they will not resent 
 this direct address. Euodia and Syntyclic were two women 
 in the Philippian Church. That Church most probably 
 was pre-eminently a women s church. It began with Lydia 
 the purple-seller and her household. The faults alluded 
 to in this epistle, especially dissension, women are most 
 prone to ; and the readiness they always had shown to 
 minister to Paul's wants betokens the sympathy and good 
 sense of women. Between these two leaders of the women 
 of the congregation a difference had begun. St. Paul 
 says I exhort E., I exhort S. ; repeating the word, in 
 order to make a direct and separate appeal to each. (The 
 names Euodia and Syntyche occur in inscriptions. ( M u RA- 
 TORI, Gruter.) (See LiGHTFOOT.) — To be of the same 
 mind in the Lord. Not to think the same thing. It is 
 impossible at once to change one's opinion, even at the 
 bidding of an apostle. The same language is used 2 : 5. 
 There may be unity in disposition and purpose between 
 Christians, even where opinions differ. They were to be 
 of the same mind in the Lord. Well does Meyer say, 
 " A union of minds out of Christ, Paul does not at all 
 desire." When men compromise truth for the sake of 
 unity, they do not fulfil this exhortation. But it is ad- 
 dressed to those whose hearts are divided. 
 
 3. Beseech. Rather ask. The word here used (the 
 former ask in John 16 : 23) " implies that he who ask.s 
 stands on a certain footing of equality with him of whom 
 the boon is asked, or, if not of equality, on such a footing of 
 familiarity as lends authority to the request " (TRENCH, 
 Synonyms, 137). — True yokefellow. Who was the 
 "true yokefellow" here addressed? LiGHTFOOT says 
 Epaphroditus, the bearer of this letter ; and with him 
 agree GROTIUS.CaLOVIUS, Michaelis, HengSTENBERG, 
 
l8o EPISTLE TO THE THILIPPIANS. [iv. 3. 
 
 Baumgarten-Crusius, and Others. Bengel says, Silas ; 
 EsTius, Timothy; Clement of Alex., Isidore, 
 Erasmus, Musculus, Cajetan, Flacius and others 
 think it is the wife of the apostle, who Renan thinks 
 might have been Lydia. But the word is masculine. 
 Others, that he may have been the husband or brother ol 
 either Euodia or Syntyche ; so Chrysostom, Theopm v- 
 LACT, Camerarius, Beza. Howson suggests Luke, 
 who at this time was not with Paul, but certainly had 
 had close relations with the Philippian Church. St. 
 Paul, however, seems to address him as one who had not 
 shared the elementary labor at Philippi. Luther says, 
 " The principal bishop at Philippi." St. Paul nowhere 
 else uses this term in address. But it is not improbable 
 that, even at so early a time, among several bishops or 
 presbyters one should be president. Meyer prefers to 
 consider it (although it occurs nowhere else) as a proper 
 name, Syzygus, as in the margin of Westcott and 
 HORT. The name means yokefellow. And as Paul ad- 
 dresses him, moved by the tender recollection of labor 
 they had borne like oxen in one yoke, and by confidence 
 in him, he plays upon his name, O Syzyge, O yokefel- 
 low, who truly art a yokefellow, true to thy name ! — 
 Help. The same word used (Luke 5 : 7) when Peter and 
 Andrew beckoned to John and James to help them. 
 While he hints to them a rebuke of the difference be- 
 tween Euodia and Syntyche, he recognizes their zeal and 
 discouragement and noble purpose. Many a dissension 
 arises in a congregation, because those who have borne 
 the burden and heat of the day become weary in well- 
 doing and are tempted to think no one stands with them. 
 St. Paul, who could make the same complaint, and even 
 has written that besides Timothy he had no man like- 
 minded, could sympathize with such.— For they labored 
 
IV. 3-] CHAPTER IV. i8i 
 
 with me. They were among the original believers and 
 fellow-workers with Paul at the beginning of the Church 
 at Philippi. How tenderly does he recur to those ear- 
 nest, happy days. There is no special mention of Lydia. 
 Perhaps she, in the course of her business, had returned 
 to Thyatira. How much may one do in the Z^r^ during 
 even a temporary sojourn in a place. — With Clement also. 
 LiGHTFOOT would read, " I ask thee with Clement also 
 to help." Meyer, on the other hand, " Who labored 
 with me, with Clement also." A change of prepositions 
 causes this uncertainty of rendering. Clement of 
 Rome, whom ancient ecclesiastical tradition recognized 
 here, belonged to the next generation. The name was 
 a common one. Tradition has confounded two who bore 
 the same name. Evidently St. Paul refers to one held 
 in grateful remembrance at Philippi, who with those 
 women and Epaphroditus had shared with him the 
 initial labors and persecutions of the Philippian Church. 
 A pastor will know how dear are the recollections which 
 unite those who, in a former generation, strove and 
 agonized for the well being of a church. Paul speaks of 
 these to awaken the old feeling of unity, the former dis- 
 position to postpone all personal aims to the common 
 good. — The book of life. Clement was dead, I think ; 
 and so were many Paul here refers to. Whether in this 
 world now or not, and though he does not mention them 
 severally by name, their names are written in a Book of 
 Life. " The ' book of life,' in the figurative language of 
 the Old Testament, is the register of the covenant people " 
 (LiGHTFOOT). (Isai. 4:3; Ez. 13:9; Dan. 12:1; Ps, 
 69 : 28 ; Ex. 32 : 32. See also Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 
 20 : 12, 15 ; 21 : 27 ; 22 : 19. Also Luke 10 : 20 ; Hebr. 
 12 : 23.) St. Paul might have written thus of those still 
 in the world. '' It is clear from Rev. 3 : 5 that the 
 
i82 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [iv. 4, 5. 
 
 image suggested no idea of absolute predestination " 
 (LightfoOT). Ver. 1-3 are peculiarly the word of an affec- 
 tionate pastor. By the highest motives and the tender- 
 est recollections, by direct appeal and with sincere sym- 
 pathy, he tries both to set those he speaks to on the right 
 way, and to encourage and further them. 
 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway: again I will say, Rejoice. 
 
 4. A farewell But after his wont, the apostle dwells 
 on the meaning of the word, suggested to him after it 
 has been written. " I have bidden them Rejoice ; yes, I 
 will say it again. Rejoice." For he will show them how, 
 under all possible trial, a Christian always should, and 
 always can, rejoice. 
 
 5. Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 
 
 5. Forbearance. Margin, Gentleness. A. V., Moder- 
 ation. WiCLIF, Patience. Tyndale and Cranmer, Soft- 
 ness. Geneva, Your patient mind. Rheims, Modcstie. 2 Cor. 
 10: I, Gentleness oi Q^ixxst. LiGHTFOOT, The opposite, 
 contentious and self-seeking spirit. M. Arnold, Sweet 
 reasonableness. Making allowance. Eadie : " What 
 is proper and fair, or what is kind and reasonable, especi- 
 ally in the form of considerateness and as opposed to the 
 harshness of law. . . . It does not insist on what is its due ; 
 it does not stand on etiquette or right, but it descends 
 and complies. It is opposed to that rigor which never 
 bends nor deviates, and which, as it gives the last farthing, 
 uniformly exacts it. . . . That generous and indulgent 
 feeling that knows what is right, but recedes from it ; is 
 conscious of what is merited, but does not contend for 
 strict proportion. Slow to take offence, it is swift to for- 
 give it. Let a misunderstanding arise, and no false 
 delicacy will prevent it from taking the first step towards 
 reconciliation or adjustment of opinion." (See LUTHER 
 
IV. 5-] CHAPTER IV. 183 
 
 on Gen. 48 : 17.) In his sermon on 4th Sunday in Advent 
 (8:118) he translates by the word Lindigkeit. "One 
 makes not himself the aim and rule, nor wants every one 
 to bend, go, and govern himself according to him. He 
 divides all right into rigorous right and gentle right, and 
 what is rigorous he softens ; that is equity, moderation, 
 clemency (i Cor. 9:20-22; Matt. 12: 1-13 ; Mark 2 : i- 
 13). . . . Nothing is necessary to a Christian but faith 
 and love ; all else should be left free to love, to hold or 
 to refuse, as the interests of others may require. . . . 
 There could be no better example than that of two good 
 friends. As they are towards each other, so should we 
 be to all men. Each does what pleases the other ; and 
 gives up, withdraws, suffers, does, yields, what he sees the 
 other needs or wishes for. Neither uses any compulsion. 
 ... In short, here is no law, no right, no force, no need, 
 but just freedom and favor. (See Eccl. 7: 16.) By all 
 men we are here to understand ^//j'^r/j' ^/"wr;/, friends 
 and foes, great and small, masters and servants, rich and 
 poor, our own and strangers." So ERASMUS advises 
 Melanchthon (C. R. I. 78) to show himself the 
 superior of his opponents in moderation as well as 
 in argument. This specific virtue of a Christian is 
 explicated in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5 : 37-48 
 and ch. 6). It was exhibited by our Lord when He 
 girded Himself with a towel and washed the disciples' 
 feet ; this, however, only because what He did then was 
 of a character with His whole life. A Christian 
 should not set his heart on his " rights " ; should not urge 
 his " claims." He in every sense denies himself. This 
 character should be so real that men would perceive it. 
 Thus, much more than by busy activity, we would let 
 our light shine. LUTHER (8 : 132): *' See how Paul 
 teaches a Christian. First, let him be joyful in God 
 
i84 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [iv. 6. 
 
 through faith, and then sweet and kind towards men. If 
 he answer, How can I ? he answers, The Lord is at hand. 
 But if I be persecuted, and every one takes advantage of 
 me? He answers, Be not anxious; pray to God and let 
 Him care. Yes, but I become weary and heavy in 
 prayer! No, the peace of God will guard you." — The 
 Lord is at hand. St. Paul's watchword and the watch- 
 word of the early Church (i Cor. 16:22; James 5 : 8). 
 The thought of judgment and reward is here. In view 
 of the near coming of the Lord, why should Christians 
 insist on their " rights " over against each other in 
 earthly associations and in the estimation of men ? A 
 reason for such " forbearance " as Christ set us an ex- 
 ample of, and a support of it. LuTHER : " This epistle 
 teaches us in brief a Christian life towards God and men ; 
 viz. : he lets God be all things to him, and he is there- 
 fore all things to all men ; he is to men as God is to him ; 
 he receives from God and gives to men ; and the sum 
 of all is Faith and Love." 
 
 6. In nothing be anxious ; but in everything by prayer and supplication 
 with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 
 
 6. In nothing be anxious. Bengel : " To be anxious 
 and to pray, are more contrary the one to the other than 
 fire and water are" (Matt. 6:25; i Peters:/). — But. 
 This is the reason a Christian never need be anxious. — In 
 everything. No care is too small to be shared with God. 
 — Prayer and supplication. The former is a general 
 term for address to God ; the latter might be addressed 
 to men. The latter seems to imply a deeper sense of 
 need, \n\v\& prayer might include ascriptions of praise and 
 thankful vows. Prayers and supplications include par- 
 ticular requests. Our prayers should not be general only 
 and formal, but we should ask of God the very things we 
 wish for and think we need. If we do this in a filial 
 
IV. 7] CHAPTER IV. 185 
 
 spirit, He will sift our requests, giving us those things 
 that be profitable for us, and not so granting our requests 
 as to send leanness to our souls. Our prayer should be 
 made with thanksgiving (Luke 17: 18). From this 
 word Thanksgiving, Encharistia, was derived the name of 
 the central and characteristic service of the Christian 
 Church, the Eucharist. It was so called from earliest 
 time. The Preface of our service represents the thanks- 
 giving which characterized it, after the example of the 
 Lord, who when He took the bread blessed it, gave 
 thanks. In the early Church a thanksgiving was made at 
 length rather for the gifts of God's providence than for 
 redemption, as now ; as was indeed natural in the first 
 joy of those who were delivered from false gods to the 
 knowledge of our Father in heaven (Acts 14 : 1 1-14 ; 
 17:23-31 ; IREN^US, Adv. Haer. IV. 18). And with this 
 thanksgiving they joined a prayer for all estates of men 
 in the Church. By prayer and supplication with thanks- 
 giving they made their requests known unto God. In 
 this passage St. Paul may have alluded to the Christian 
 service of worship then in process of formation. At 
 least, these words have had no little effect on that 
 development. 
 
 7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard 
 your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. 
 
 7. The peace of God. " The rest and satisfaction of the 
 mind in God's wisdom and love, excluding all internal 
 dissension, doubt and contradiction (Roin. 8:18, 28) 
 (Meyer. John 14 : 27). — Which passeth all understand- 
 ing. " Surpassing every device or counsel of man " 
 (Lightfoot). Paul may here allude to measures which 
 some had been urging as absf)lutcly essential to the safety 
 or well-being of the Philippian Church, and in advocacy 
 
l86 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [iv. 8. 
 
 or criticism of which a danger of division had risen. He 
 suggests a better protection than the plans of the wisest. 
 — Shall guard, hi Christ Jesus. All our works should 
 be begun, continued and ended in Him. The heart is 
 the seat of life and thought ; thoughts issue thence. 
 This is not merely a wish, but a promise and a prophecy 
 (see ver. 9); and it is fitly incorporated in the Christian 
 service of worship in which we fulfil the injunction of 
 the preceding verse. (Compare Numb. 6 : 24-26.) 
 
 Verses 4-7 are the Epistle for the Fourth Sunday in 
 Advent. The watchword of the apostle is there joined 
 with the cry of John Baptist. 
 
 8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are 
 honourable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatso- 
 ever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any 
 virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 
 
 8. Finally. The apostle begins to sum up his thought 
 again, so as to conclude. — Whatsoever things are true. 
 
 He does not propose to separate virtues, but analyzes the 
 one Christian character. True is here not veracious 
 merely, but real, agreeing with reality, with the Gospel. 
 Not theoretical truth, but fact. — Honourable. Worthy 
 of reverence, reverend. The word honest, in the Author- 
 ized Version, bears the same sense. " Opposed to what 
 is mean, frivolous, indecorous and unworthy " (Eadie). 
 — Pure. Stainless. — Lovely. Amiable, love-worthy.— 
 Of good report. The word has not a passive sense, but 
 should be rendered as in the margin — gracious, 1. e. win- 
 ning. Observe that we always are tempted to look away 
 from what is true, to appearances ; from that which is 
 right, to that which is expedient ; from that which is pure, 
 to that which is amusing; from that which is amiable, 
 to that which excites and is admired ; from that which is 
 winning, to that which asserts itself. How necessary is 
 
tv. 9.] CHAPTER IV. 187 
 
 it to urge these particulars of the forbearance, modera- 
 tion, gentleness of Christ. — If there be any virtue. A 
 word used nowhere else in the New Testament, except 
 I Peter 2:9:2 Peter i : 3, 5 ; and there in a special sense. 
 Meyer calls attention to the fact that instead of virtue, 
 the Old Testament suggested another line of ideas such 
 as righteousness, holiness, sanctity, sanctification. The 
 heathen moralists who exalted virtue moved in another 
 sphere. The word is too mean, Beza says (quoted in 
 Trench), when compared with the gifts of the Spirit. 
 Here, I think, is an instance of St. Paul's irony. Virtue 
 and praise may have been urged as motives or ends in 
 the dissensions at Philippi, to which he would make an 
 end. He sums up his appeal in an argumentum ad ho7n- 
 inem, — Think on these things. " First meditation; then 
 practice " (Calvin). A rule for Christians in the 
 selection of books to read, and in meditation on life and 
 history. 
 
 9. The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in 
 me, these things do : and the God of peace shall be with you. 
 
 9. Which ye both learned. From me and other 
 teachers of the Gospel. — Received. Took them in, ac- 
 cepted, approved them. — And heard and saw in me. 
 
 The matter of St. Paul's instruction and example. 
 — These things do ; i. e. practise. — And the God of peace 
 shall be with you (4 : 7). Here again a promise and a 
 prophecy. Certainly this seems to indicate a conse- 
 quence, as in the former case. A requisite of the pres- 
 ence with us of the God of peace, and of His protection 
 of our minds and hearts, is not only prayer, praise and 
 thanksgiving, and participation in the worship of His 
 Church, but also attention to the things which are true, 
 
i88 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [iv. lo-ii. 
 
 etc., and obedient practice of the things we have been 
 taught and have received. 
 
 I0-20. 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. Not that I speak in respect of want : for I have learned, 
 in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. I know how to be abased, 
 and I know also how to abound ; in everything and in all things have I 
 learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and 
 to be in want. I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me. Howbeit 
 ye did well, that ye had fellowship with my affliction. And ye yourselves 
 also know, ye Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I 
 departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me in the matter 
 of giving and receiving, but ye only ; for even in Thessalonica ye sent once 
 and again unto my need. Not that I seek for the gift ; but I seek for the 
 fruit that increaseth to your account. But I have all things, and abound : 
 
 1 am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came ixoxa. 
 you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. 
 And my God shall fulfil every need of yours according to his riches in glory 
 in Christ Jesus. Now unto our God and Father be the glory for ever and 
 ever. Amen. 
 
 10. Again " in the Lord!' Greatly is made emphatic. 
 He says, / rejoiced ; i. e. on the reception of your gift. 
 — Ye have revived your thought for me. The figure is 
 derived from the putting forth of fresh shoots in the 
 spring ; as if they had been dormant for a winter, but 
 now showed Hfe again. — Lacked opportunity ; i. e. it was 
 not the season. He pursues the figure. — Take thought. 
 He seems to pause on the meaning of the word, and 
 after his fashion hastens to correct an inference they may 
 draw from what he has said, which he had not intended. 
 
 11. I do not mean to imply that I have been or am in 
 want. I is emphatic : I, for my part. — Have learned. 
 By experience. — To be content. Sufficient in myself. 
 " Self-supporting, independent " (Ellicott). St. Paul 
 disciplined himself to want little, to be superior to 
 wants. And he labored with his own hands (i Thess. 
 
 2 : 9 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 7-9 ; 2 Cor. 1 1 : 7-9; Acts 18:2, 3). 
 
IV 12-15.] CHAPTER IV. i8g 
 
 12. I know how to be abased. I know humiliation. 
 The same word he had used of our Lord : He humbled 
 Himself. — To abound. To have more than enough. He 
 had had personal experience of both conditions. — \ have 
 learned the secret. I have been initiated, as in the 
 heathen mysteries, the allusion to which his hearers 
 would at once perceive. (Initiation into the mysteries was 
 very general.) Meyer calls attention to the climax: I 
 have learned, I know, I have been initiated. The word 
 is used of the initiation into the successive degrees of the 
 heathen mysteries, and expresses a knowledge which 
 Paul has, and not every one possesses, a knowledge got 
 " by preparatory toil and discipline " (Eadie). (See 
 Col. I : 26.) 
 
 13. Both to be filled — that strengtheneth me. These 
 are the degrees of the fraternity in which St. Paul was 
 initiated. He is equal to all things in Him, who infuses 
 strength into him (2 Cor. 12 : g). 
 
 14. Ye had fellowship with my affliction. The verb 
 has an active sense. (See on i : 3-7.) It was good for 
 them to have assisted him, whether he absolutely needed 
 their gift or not. 
 
 15. Acts 17 : 14, 15 ; 2 Cor. 11:8, 9. — Fellowship. In 
 both verses, the communion signalized in the prayers and 
 offerings of the Eucharist. — No church — but ye only. 
 The relation between him and this Church was unusually 
 affectionate. Aid, which he would shrink from taking 
 from others, he received from them from the first. This 
 could only be because they and he from the first were 
 conscious that they understood each other. He knew 
 that they gave out of fellowship, not in order to pay him ; 
 and they knew that he took to admit them to fellowship, 
 not out of a mercenary spirit. — Once and again. Once 
 and twice. 
 
igo EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [iv. 16-18. 
 
 16. Paul was not maintained by the Philippians while 
 he was at Thessalonica, for while there he labored with 
 his own hands (2 Thess. 3:8); but he gratefully remem- 
 bers the gifts they sent him. It is a pleasing proof of 
 their simplicity that they continued to send to him their 
 ineffectual gifts at the very beginning of their life as 
 Christians, at once entering into admiring fellowship with 
 the sailmaking missionary. A lesson to " mission- 
 churches." An instance of genuine Christian zeal, the 
 utterance of Christian faith. 
 
 17. Not that I seek for the gift. He does not say all 
 this, that by the exuberance of his thanksgiving he may 
 compel them to give him more. — But I seek. Emphatic: 
 I do seek. — The fruit. It is not necessary to define this 
 fruit and account. Whether he refers to the reward 
 which will be laid up for them and will be given them at 
 the day of Christ, or to the blessedness he quickly knows 
 who freely gives. Paul means both. He acknowledges 
 their gifts courteously, and by all this circumlocution 
 preserves his self-respect. He indicates the spirit in which 
 a minister of Christ may accept gifts, and in which Chris- 
 tians should support the ministry. Like Christ, pastors 
 dare not refuse to be ministered unto. They should ad- 
 mit others into fellowship with them. But they should 
 be initiated both to abound and to be in want. They 
 should be willing to receive, but not for their own sake, 
 but for the sake of those who give. It needs grace, thus 
 to receive, and yet to remain what Paul means when he 
 calls himself content ; i. e. superior to all gifts and all 
 want. 
 
 18. / have all things to the full, I have more than 
 enough, having received from Epaphroditus the things 
 which came from you. What a gentleman Paul was ! He 
 shrank from seeming to be mean-spirited. But, having 
 
IV. 19-22.] CHAPTER IV. 191 
 
 guarded his self-respect, he gives way to heartiest com- 
 mendation of their thoughtfuhiess and generosity, and 
 makes it very clear he is not asking for more. — An odour 
 — a sacrifice (Rom. 12:1; i Peter 2:5; Hebr. 13 : 16 ; 
 see on i : 3-7 ; 4 : 6). A figure from the Old Testament 
 and from the usages of heathen worship, most familiar to 
 them. Not only the calves of their lips, but the fruit of 
 their works are appropriate sacrifices of Christians upon 
 their altar. The support of the ministry and contribu- 
 tions to missions are properly called an offering to the 
 Lord. And such sacrifices ought always continue in the 
 Christian Church and have their place in Christian wor- 
 ship. 
 
 19. And my God. How confidently could Paul, in face 
 of his need, and in acknowledgment of their kindness to 
 him, declare that God would requite it. — Shall supply 
 every need of yours (Matt. 20 : 28). We should not 
 infer that in return for the kindness we do some one, God 
 will give us just so much in return. This would not be 
 to give in the Lord. In Christ we give, looking for 
 nothing in return. Yet, Give, and it shall be given unto 
 you (Luke 6 : 38). Not in kind will God repay those 
 who devote all unto Him. Eye hath not seen nor ear 
 heard (i Cor, 2 : 9). 
 
 20. All mutual thanksgiving, all sense of mutual obliga- 
 tion, merges in their sense of common obligation and 
 joint thanksgiving to our God and Father. 
 
 21-22. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with 
 me salute you. All the saints salute yoii, especially they that are of Caesar's 
 household. 
 
 21. The brethren which are with me. He refers to 
 those who might be said to make up his household at 
 the time. 
 
 22. All the saints ; i. e. those of Rome, where the 
 
192 EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [iv. 23. 
 
 letter was written. Paul therefore was in communication 
 with the churches of the city and they knew his occupa- 
 tions. — Caesar's household. Caesar's household included 
 a vast number of persons, occupying various minutely- 
 divided offices. In the Catacombs many of their names 
 and of their offices have been recovered ; and among 
 them names which occur among the salutations in the 
 Epistle to the Romans. The Gospel is not likely to have 
 won many highly distinguished persons, but those referred 
 to here probably were of the emperor's freedmen and 
 slaves. Among these were many Orientals and Jews. 
 This probably was the particular Christian congregation 
 of Rome of whom Paul saw most and with whom he may 
 have worshipped regularly. 
 
 23. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. 
 
 23. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your 
 spirit. The salutation of Paul, which he was accustomed 
 to write with his own hand, as a token (2 Thess. 3:17, 
 18 ; Rom. 16 : 24). 
 
ANNOTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 
 
 r.Y 
 
 EDWARD T. HORN, D.D. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Colossi was a city of Asia Minor, on the river Lycus, 
 within a few miles of the more important cities of Laod- 
 icea and Hierapolis, not more than a hundred and fifty 
 miles from Ephesus, and on the great trade-route between 
 that city and the East. The original inhabitants of the 
 region were Phrygians ; there were many Jews among 
 them (JOSEPHUS, Antiq. 12 : 3, 4 ; 14 : 10, 20; CiCERO. 
 pro Flac. 28) and also Greeks and Romans. St. Paul 
 had not visited these cities (2 : i), but Colossae, and per- 
 haps Hierapolis and Laodicea, had received the Gospel 
 from Epaphras (i : 7), a disciple of Paul, who may have 
 been converted during Paul's stay at Ephesus (a. D. 54-57). 
 During Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, Epaphras 
 came to him (i : 8), and, while he reported that the 
 Church of Colossae was orderly and steadfast in the faith 
 (2 : 5), he also told that its well-being was threatened by 
 a false teacher or false teachers (2 : 4, 8), who pretended 
 to lead into a higher knowledge than the Gospel furnished, 
 which was to be attained by ascetic practices (2 : 16-23). 
 
 It was a period of great unrest. Christianity was not 
 the only religion that challenged the attention of the 
 earnest. Remnants of ancient religions, legends and rites, 
 clustering round prehistoric monuments, kept their hold 
 in places under the forms of the Roman worship. An- 
 cient Asian Mysticism, Persian Dualism, Buddhism also, 
 
 195 
 
196 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the speculations of Greek philosophy, " an idealized 
 Mosaism ■' (Eadie), the symbolic teachings of the Eleu- 
 sinian, Egyptian and Mithraic Mysteries, all were urged 
 in the busy centres of trade and thought. Travelling 
 sophists commanded an audience ; false brethren 
 hastened after St. Paul to disturb and undo his work ; 
 the apostles John and Peter encountered a Simon Magus 
 (Acts 8); Paul, a false prophet, who was a Jew, called 
 Bar-Jesus, in Cyprus (Acts 13:6), and vagabond Jewish 
 exorcists who took in vain the name of the Lord Jesus at 
 Ephesus (Acts 19: 13); and St. John, in his letters to 
 churches of this region, reproves errors savoring of what 
 was afterwards called Gnosticism (Rev. 2:6, 14, 24). 
 The Essenes, a fraternity of Jewish anchorites, combined 
 with rigid devotion to certain Jewish tenets, elements 
 derived from Zoroastrianism, and perhaps from the Bud- 
 dhism of India. Philo of Alexandria (b. C. 20-50 a. d.), 
 a contemporary of St. Paul, tried by means of allegory to 
 subject the facts of the Old Testament to the forms of 
 Greek speculative philosophy. The mixture of these 
 notions and forms of thought with the Gospel issued, in 
 the first and second centuries, in what is known as 
 Gnosticism (from the Greek word Gnosis, meaning knotvl- 
 edge). There were many systems — interesting as monu- 
 ments of the struggle between the Gospel and the Ethnic 
 religions, and of a strange phase in the history of the 
 human mind, — but they may be divided into groups, 
 according as the Greek philosophy or Oriental concep- 
 tions preponderated in them, or again, as they were hostile 
 or favorable to the Old Testament. It has been well 
 said, " There was scarcely one of the Catholic determin- 
 ations of doctrine in the second and third centuries, 
 which was not affected by the conflict with Gnosti- 
 cism " (JACOBI, in Herzog, 5:217). After that period it 
 
/NTRO DUCT/OAT. Igy 
 
 ceased to be a force, but influenced heretical sects during 
 the Middle Ages, as, for instance, the Albigenses (see 
 Lea's History of the Inquisition), was related to the 
 Kabbala, or later mystical philosophy of the Jews, and 
 survives in modern mystical and theosophic writings. 
 
 The subjects of Gnostic speculation are fairly stated in 
 the Recognitions of Clement, I. 20 : " First of all it 
 ought to be inquired what is the origin of all things, or 
 what is the immediate thing which may be called the 
 cause of all things which are : then with respect to all 
 things which exist, whether they have been made, and by 
 whom, through whom, and for whom ; whether they have 
 received their subsistence from one, or from two, or from 
 many ; . . . whether there is anything that is better 
 than all, or anything which is inferior to all ; whether 
 those things which are seen, were always, and shall be 
 always ; whether they have come into existence without 
 a creator, and shall pass away without a destroyer." It 
 tried to explain creation as the result of a process in God. 
 The Supreme God was said by it to be incapable of self- 
 manifestation. One of the Gnostic systems identified 
 Him with non-existence. The Creator of the world and 
 the Saviour were assigned varying places in the series of 
 emanations from the Most High. The problem of 
 Creation started the problem of the Origin of Evil. 
 The doctrine that matter is essentially evil led to a false 
 asceticism, which, in turn, issued in license. 
 
 To meet such a danger St. Paul wrote this letter. 
 Many of the words he uses play a great part in later 
 Gnosticism. We cannot decide whether the false teachers 
 really derived them from St. Paul, as they claimed to do ; 
 or whether he took them up, to put a right meaning into 
 words, which such already had abused. The false teachers 
 at Colossae proposed to lead the initiated into deeper 
 
ig8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mysteries than the Gospel opened to the vulgar ; they 
 seem to have had doctrines about angelic mediators ; 
 they did not accord to Christ His supremacy in nature 
 and in grace ; and urged both a spurious asceticism and 
 a rigid observance of legal rites. It was the beginning 
 of the later Gnosticism, a first meeting of the mixed 
 Judaism and Oriental mysticism of the Essenes with 
 Christianity and the Alexandrian philosophy, 
 
 St. Paul shows us how Christianity in our own age 
 must meet Buddhism, Theosophy, Spiritism, the spurious 
 mysticism traditional in some secret organizations, and 
 all pantheistic speculation : it is by simple faith in the 
 historical Christ, God manifest in the flesh, offered for 
 our sins, risen, and ascended to the right hand of God. 
 
 The epistle was written at the same time as that to 
 the Ephesians. Opinions may differ as to which was 
 written before the other. Both were sent by Tychicus, 
 about 62 A. D. With Tychicus was associated Onesimus, 
 who brought a special letter to Philemon. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 1-2. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and 
 Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are 
 at Colossae : Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 
 
 I. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. An assertion of 
 his authority. An ofificial letter, and in this respect dif- 
 ferent from the letters to the Philippians, to Philemon, 
 and I and 2 Thessalonians. The former two were per- 
 sonal and familiar ; the latter two are the earliest of his 
 letters, written in conjunction with others, and before 
 either his work had been so extended as to require 
 and justify " the care of all the churches," or his apostle- 
 ship had been impugned by Judaizers. We may add 
 Melanchthon'S note on this passage: "An apostle is a 
 person immediately called by God to teach the Gospel, 
 and having the divine witness that he does not err, but 
 he is not sent to bear rule in an earthly kingdom. A 
 bishop ox pastor or doctor is a person called by God medi- 
 ately, through the Church, or those to whom the Church 
 commits this duty, to teach the Gospel as it has been 
 written by prophets and apostles, and having no witness 
 to the truth of his teaching except those very prophetic 
 and apostolic Scriptures, and when he dissents from these 
 he errs. . . . This distinction answers the question, why 
 Paul is to be believed rather than the bishops. . . . The 
 Son of God is directly at work, whether it be through 
 prophets, or apostles, or pastors, that His Gospel is 
 preached." — Through the will of God (i Cor. i : i ; 2 
 
 199 
 
200 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 2. 
 
 Cor. I : I ; Gal. i : i ; Eph. i : i ; i Tim. i : i ; 2 Tim. 
 
 1 : I. See Phil. 2 : 25). — And Timothy the brother. So 
 
 2 Cor. I : I ; Philem. i ; but in Hebr. 13 : 23 c>//r brother. 
 " The same designation is used of Quartus (Rom. 16 : 23), 
 of Sosthenes (i Cor. i : i), of Apollos (i Cor. 16; 12. Cf. 2 
 Cor. 8: 18:9:3, 5; 12: 18.)" (Lightfoot.) Certainly an 
 honorable appellation. The churches recognized some 
 as the constant companions, deacons, emissaries, of St. 
 Paul. Timothy may also have been the amanuensis, by 
 whose hand this letter was written. 2. To the holy and 
 faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae. 
 On the import of Jioly or saints, see on Phil, i : i. Ob- 
 serve that he here addresses the bretJircn, not as a Church. 
 (Cf. Phil. 1:1.) Lightfoot calls attention to the fact 
 that Paul uses this mode of address in the Epistle to the 
 Romans, and those which follow it. The Christians at 
 Colossae do not seem to have been very numerous. 
 Though imperfect, they are addressed as brethren, as 
 holy, as faithful. Such they were in Christ, " the Head, 
 Avhich is the centre of life and the mainspring of all 
 energy throughout the body " (Lightfoot). While the 
 address to them according to their ideal may have been 
 an admonition, it was not intended to separate some from 
 the rest, and address such as a Church within the Church. 
 — Christ is the atmosphere in which their spiritual life 
 "lives and moves and has its being" (3 : 3). — Grace to 
 you. Grace is the generic word for all those blessings 
 which we receive from the favor of God through Christ 
 (John I : 14, 16). Peace is a specific result of grace. It 
 is the Hebrew salutation. ," In this place it signifies, first 
 joy in God, then the good estate of the Church, and then 
 God's gift to each one of all that is required for his 
 sanctification, life and calling " (Melanchthon. Ps. 
 122 : 7, 8). 
 
1.3,4] CHAPTER I. 2ol 
 
 3-8. We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 praying always for you, 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, which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the 
 world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also, since the day ye 
 heard and knew the grace of God in truth ; even as ye learned of Epaphras 
 our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our be- 
 half, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. 
 
 3. We give thanks. On hearing of the spiritual "progress 
 of the Colossians, they did not congratulate one another, 
 but both gave the glory to God " (Eadie). — The Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. Herein lies our relation to God. — 
 Praying always for you. Indicates the apostle's unre- 
 mitted intercession for the churches, and for the mem- 
 bers of the churches. 
 
 4. Having heard, etc. The key of this epistle is 
 to be found, on the one hand, in what St. Paul had 
 heard of these Colossians, and secondly, in what he 
 asked God to give them. It is not to be supposed that 
 these words were an idle compliment. He had heard 
 (i) of their faith ; (2) of their love to all the saints (cf. 
 Philem. 5, 7) ; (3) that the word of truth was bearing fruit 
 and increasing in them ; (4) of their love for Him, ver. 8 ; 
 
 (5) that there was a peril that they might be moved from 
 the hope of the Gospel (i : 23), by one who might delude 
 them by persuasive speech, through philosophy and vain 
 deceit (2 : 4, 8), the particulars of which will appear ; and 
 
 (6) they therefore needed to be admonished again concern- 
 ing the particulars of lowly duty. Philem. 7 would in- 
 dicate that their love to all the saints had shown itself in 
 hospitality, a characteristic and necessary virtue of the 
 early churches. Ramsay says (The Church in the Ro- 
 man Empire, p. 364), " The central idea in the development 
 of the episcopal office lay in the duty of each community 
 to maintain communication with other comnuinitics. 
 
io2 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 5. 
 
 . . . Such a vast organization of a perfectly new kind, 
 with no analogy in previously existing institutions, was 
 naturally of slow development. We regard the ideas 
 underlying it as originating with Paul. The first step was 
 taken when he crossed the Taurus ; the next more con- 
 scious step was the result of the trial in Corinth, after 
 which his thought developed from the stage of TJiessa- 
 lonians to that of Galatians, Corinthians and Romans. 
 The critical stage was passed when the destruction of 
 Jerusalem annihilated all possibility of a localized centre 
 for Christianity, and made it clear that the centralization 
 of the Church could reside only in an idea, viz., a process 
 of intercommunication, union and brotherhood." Phil- 
 emon showed distinguished hospitality as a man, not as 
 an ofificer ; as many a family now is representative in 
 its congregation. 
 
 5, Because of the hope. Their love was founded 
 on their hope. Christian love must flow from Chris- 
 tian faith. The proper way of cultivating Christian 
 virtues, is the establishment of hope based on faith. 
 Here are faith, hope and love, as in i Cor. 13, and 
 I Thess. 1:3. It will be found that, with all variety of 
 expression, and upon all the various occasions of his letters, 
 Paul holds certain definite principles and moves within 
 a definite circle of ideas. — Laid up for you in the heavens. 
 Stored up, as in a granary. The prime motive of a Chris- 
 tian is that which is laid up for him, which shall be re- 
 vealed, which he sliall have ; not any earthly result. — 
 Whereof ye heard before, etc. St. Paul is assured they 
 had heard this. It must therefore have been of the sub- 
 stance of the ordinary instruction of the Church. See 
 how much instruction these Gentiles must have received 
 from those who first brought the good tidings to them. 
 The whole conception of the other world which belongs 
 
I. 6, 7.] CHAPTER i. 
 
 203 
 
 to Christianity, must have been new to them (i Thess. 
 3:4:4: I, ii; 5:2; 2 Thess. 2': 5, 15 ; 3 : 6, 10). 
 
 6. Even as it is also in all the world. HyperboHcal, 
 indeed ; but Paul's all the ivorld meant the Roman Em- 
 pire. — Bearing fruit and increasing. Like the leaven and 
 t\\Q grai?i of inustard'Seed. — As it doth in you. In spite 
 of the imperfections and dangers at Colossae, there was 
 no check to the progress of the good tidings. Neither 
 were they turned away from the truth, though Epaphras 
 wa5 so troubled about them. The word continued to 
 extend the Church and do its work in the hearts of be- 
 Hevers. " An unfruitful Gospel would be no Gospel, nor 
 would one that did not continually strive to extend itself 
 and conquer for itself new realms " (RcENTSCH). 
 
 7. Even as ye learned of Epaphras. They had heard 
 the Gospel of Epaphras, not of Paul (2 : i). He was 
 Paul's fellow=sIave of Christ. (See on 3 : 22.) Like him, 
 Epaphras realized that he was not his own, but had been 
 bought with a price ; and it was woe to him if he 
 preached not the Gospel. He was a minister, i, e. a 
 deacon, of Christ — not officially a deacon, but really such 
 as those, who were chosen afterwards by the Church, 
 should aim to be. He was a minister of Christ for, or 
 on beJialfof, Paul. It is altogether likely that Epaphras 
 first visited Colossae as a minister of Christ under Paul's 
 direction. When Paul resided at Ephesus, he not only 
 gained many converts from other places who then hap- 
 pened to visit or reside in that metropolis (as Philemon,- 
 and perhaps Epaphras), but he most probably sent out 
 men, like our catechists and native helpers in India and 
 Japan, who visited the cities and regions to which Paul 
 could not go, especially their own native places, and went 
 back and forth between them and him. These were 
 Paul's churches ; and there liis Gospel was preached. 
 
264 Epistle to the colossians. [1.8,9, 
 
 though they never saw his face in the flesh. A Hke 
 activity continued while he was in prison, as all these 
 epistles witness. 
 
 8. Who also declared unto us your love ; i. e. their 
 love for Paul whom they had never seen, with whom they 
 were one in the Spirit. Here Epaphras has come to Paul 
 in Rome, to report to him ; maybe sent by the Colos- 
 sians ; maybe driven by his own anxiety concerning 
 them. 
 
 9-12. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to 
 pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of 
 his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the 
 Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in 
 the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to the might 
 of his glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy ; giving thanks 
 unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of 
 the saints in light; 
 
 9. For this cause. Therefore : On account of all he 
 has told us. — We also. Like Epaphras (4 : 12, 13). — Since 
 the day we heard it. Paul's prayers for the churches 
 were not a formal custom, but were prompted by their 
 exigencies. — Do not cease to pray and make request for 
 you. The churches were knit together by intercession 
 for each other, as well as by mutual offices of love. The 
 Church is blessed not only by the grace of God and the 
 continual intercession of our Great High Priest, but 
 also by the prayers and supplications and interces- 
 sions of all the Church for all the Church (2 Thess. 3 : i). 
 For what does Paul make request ? (See on ver. 4.) 
 (i) That they may be filled with the knowledge of God's 
 will, (2) in all spiritual wisdom and (3) understanding. (4) 
 That they may walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleas- 
 ing, (5) bearing fruit in every good work, (6) increasing in 
 the knowledge of God, (7) strengthened unto all patience 
 and longsuffering with joy, (8) and giving thanks. — -That 
 
I. 9.] CHAPTER I. 205 
 
 ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will. (See 
 the Collect for First Sunday after Epiphany : " Grant 
 that Thy people may both perceive and know what 
 things they ought to do.") The word means more than 
 knowledge, a thorough and exact knowledge, a knowledge 
 such as can come only of growth, experience. St. Paul 
 lays much stress on this, and prays that his converts may 
 have it (Phil, i : 19; Eph. i : 17 ; Philem. 6). This, 
 not only in contrast with the sophistry and affectation 
 which passed itself off as gnosis (knowledge), and because 
 in this epistle and at this time he had especially to resist 
 those who claimed to be Gnostics, or knowing ones, pos- 
 sessed of an esoteric knowledge confined to the few ; but 
 also because in the quiet of his prison, in his reflection 
 on the dangers of his churches, he saw how much their 
 knowledge of God and of the Gospel needed to be deep- 
 ened and extended, in order to withstand vain deceit. 
 As the Gospel is now conceived as a faith, or is urged as 
 a disposition of love, so in earlier time it was also con- 
 ceived as a philosophy, as wisdom, and this, without mis- 
 conception of its purport (John 17:3; cf. Collect 74: 
 "In knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life"). 
 The antidote to falsehood is increase of knowledge. 
 Christian people should not be content with the elements 
 of Christ, but should press on unto perfection (Hebr. 
 6 : i). Not only should the formulas of faith be fixed in 
 the memory of all the children of the Church, but, as long , 
 as they live. Christian people should give heed unto in- 
 struction and search the Scriptures. But the knowledge 
 we are to seek is a thorough and accurate and growing 
 knowledge of the will of God. " It is indeed a marvel- 
 lously great knowledge, that the heart of a man, born in sin, 
 should be able to ponder and be assured of this, viz., that 
 God, in the depths of His majesty and of His divine 
 
2o6 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 9. 
 
 heart, has finally and irrevocably decreed, and would 
 have every man know and believe, that He will not im- 
 pute sin to the sinner, but will forgive it and be merciful, 
 and will give eternal life for the sake of His dear Son " 
 (Luther). (See i Thess. 4 : 3.) " A wise man is a 
 Christian who is able to tell God's will towards us, and 
 how we know it by faith, and may grow in it, and may 
 walk in it " (lb.). — In all spiritual wisdom and under- 
 standing ; i. e. the zvisdom and understanding imparted 
 by the Spirit of God. Wisdom is the knowledge of 
 things and their causes. It is a moral as well as a mental 
 quality. It conforms to the truth it recognizes. LUTHER 
 says : " Understanding makes use of wisdom, notes what 
 accords with it, puts it into practice, subtly tests what 
 comes with the name and appearance of wisdom, discrim- 
 inates, and therefore guards against anything that is not 
 wise." " We need in the Church not only the doctrine which 
 gives wisdom, but the persistent admonition which gives 
 understanding." See his discussion of these two words in 
 sermon on this passage (24th Sunday after Trinity). 
 Understanding mdivked the Boy Jesus in the temple (Luke 
 2 : 47). In the Parable of the Sower those who bare fruit 
 understaitd the word (Matt. 13 : 23). In Phil, i : 9 St. 
 Paul uses a term me^imng perception. Understandinghert 
 is insight, discernment, spiritual sagacity ; as we should 
 say, the ability to put two and two together ; and this 
 in the realm of the Spirit. How desirable is it for Chris- 
 tian men not only to have a good disposition in general, 
 but a faculty of spiritual discernment, a right judgment 
 of things, motives and occasions ; and also wisdom in the 
 application of the heavenly rule to earthly details. These 
 can be gained only by practice, by experience under the 
 instruction of the Spirit of God. At this each should 
 aim. And for this a pastor should pray. 
 
I. IO-I2.] CHAPTER /. 207 
 
 10. To walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing ; 
 
 i. e. to please Him ijt every way. — Bearing fruit in every 
 good work. The Church of Christ, united to the Vine, 
 bears fruit in every kind of good work. So the Christian 
 does not enough, in fulfilling a particular task. He 
 should be fruitful in every good work, " works of our call- 
 ing, done as unto the Lord, works belonging to our re- 
 lations in life, the being good husbands, wives, parents, 
 children, masters, servants, and so forth, — works of piety 
 and philanthropy, and the use of every means in our power 
 to spread the knowledge of Christ and His gospel " (GouL- 
 BURN, The Collect for the Day, H. 137). — And increasing 
 in the knowledge of God. The thorough knowledge, 
 though it fills, ever increases, ever should grow. 
 
 11. Unto all patience and longsuffering with joy. 
 Patience is a fundamental Christian virtue. Especially is 
 patience with joy something more than resignation. It is 
 endurance, courage, steadfastness, enduring to the end. 
 Longsuffering is the same virtue in respect of those who 
 treat us ill. " He distinguished longsuffering from pa- 
 tience as something greater and stronger. When the devil 
 fails to overcome a heart with suffering and plagues, he 
 tries to wear it out, so that patience seems too long tried 
 and to have no end. That is knightly Christian strength 
 that can withstand the devil's many, great and various 
 attacks, and sustain them to the end " (Luther). 
 Observe that, in order that we may endure thus and be 
 patient to the end, we need the Almightiness of God. 
 So great a basis — so great a need ! who can be patient 
 and longsuffering with joy, in his own strength .'' 
 
 12. Giving thanks. Always giving thanks. — Who hath 
 made us meet. " Competent " (Lightfoot). Some 
 read you for us. — To be partakers, etc. For the part or 
 share of the inheritance. The apostle constantly keeps 
 
ao8 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 13. 
 
 before the eyes of his converts the eternal reward of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 13. Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us 
 into the kingdom of the Son of his love ; 
 
 13. Who delivered us. An act of God, done, once for 
 all.— Out of the power of darkness. We were under the 
 tyranny of darkness ; we were its slaves. How perti- 
 nent here, in an epistle written to counteract the 
 apostles of a false knowledge, is this contrast of their 
 former with their present condition, as a contrast between 
 darkness and light. — And. translated us. Transferred 
 us. As of old kings would bring whole nations from 
 their native seats to colonize new regions. So Antiochus 
 Epiphanes brought 2,000 Jewish families at once into a 
 region of Asia Minor. So the Romans formed colonies 
 throughout their empire. — Into the kingdom. The 
 ordered kingdom of heaven is contrasted with the law- 
 less tyranny of darkness. — Of the Son of his love. The 
 equivalent of ^'Beloved Son,'' in Matt. 3 : 17 ; 12 : 18 ; 
 17 : 5, and Eph. i : 6. Note the crises in the ministry 
 of Christ, at which this was said to Him. Here LlGHT- 
 FOOT has this instructive note : " In the preceding 
 verses we have a striking illustration of St. Paul's teach- 
 ing in two important respects. First, the reign of Christ 
 has already begun. His kingdom is a present kingdom. 
 Whatever therefore is essential in the kingdom of Christ 
 must be capable of realization now. There may be 
 some exceptional manifestation in the world to come, 
 but this cannot alter its essential character. In other 
 words, the sovereignty of .Christ is essentially a moral 
 and spiritual sovereignty, which has begun now and will 
 only be perfected hereafter. Secondly, corresponding to 
 this, and equally significant, is his language in speaking 
 of individual Christians. He regards them as already 
 
I- 14] CHAPTER I. 209 
 
 rescued from the kingdom of darkness, as already put 
 in possession of their inheritance as saints. They are 
 potentially saved, because the knowledge of God is poten- 
 tially salvation, and this knowledge is within their reach. 
 Such is St. Paul's constant mode of speaking. He uses 
 the language not of exclusion, but of comprehension 
 He prefers to dwell on their potential advantages, 
 rather than on their actual attainments. He hopes to 
 make them saints, by dwelling on their calling as saints 
 (Eph. 2 : 6)." 
 
 14. In whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins : 
 
 14. In whom we have redemption. The phrase, 
 througJi His blood, has been introduced here, from Eph. 
 I : 7. Paul says, tJie redemption, not our redemption. 
 This is described as a present possession, an accomplished 
 fact. " I believe that He has redeemed me." The work 
 of Christ is described as the payment of a ransom in order 
 to free us. The price was His life. Himself. This He 
 gave for all (Matt. 20 : 28 ; Mark 10 : 45 ; i Tim. 2 : 6). 
 This is not a mere possibility, or a figure, but the funda- 
 mental fact which the ministers of the Gospel go forth to 
 tell (Luke 24:47,48). "The preaching of the Gospel 
 must show us both sin znd forgiveness, wrath and grace, 
 death and life, how we lay in darkness, and how we have 
 been delivered therefrom. For it aims not first to make- 
 sinners of us (like the Law), nor to lead us to deserve 
 and earn grace, but shows that, although condemned and 
 under the power of sin, death and the devil, we by faith 
 receive and know the redemption given to us, and should 
 be thankful for it " (LUTIIER). This mention oi sin, and 
 assertion of redemption, at the beginning of his letter, 
 was aimed by Paul at the fundamental fallacy of Gnosti- 
 cism, "which, by virtually denying the existence of sin, 
 14 
 
2IO EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 14. 
 
 and consequently of redemption from sin, took away the 
 whole significance of the revelation of Christ " (Mansel, 
 Gnostic Heresies, 13). This redemption is further defined 
 as tJie forgiveness of sins. GOULBURN says, Forgiveness is 
 of sins, remission is of a debt, and therefore both are ap- 
 plied in the variants of the Lord's Prayer. TRENCH 
 (Synonyms of N. T.) says, *' The image which underlies 
 the word here used is that of a releasing or letting-go. 
 Probably the year of jubilee, the year in which all debts 
 were forgiven, suggested the higher application of the 
 word." In Eph. i : 7 Paul says " trespasses " ; here, 
 '•'■ sins'' Sin is "the word of largest reach " (Trench). 
 It is derived from a word meaning to fail of, to miss, as 
 to miss the mark. It is used 174 times in the New Testa- 
 ment, 71 of these by Paul. The word translated trespasses 
 occurs 21 times in the N. T., 16 of these in Paul's 
 writings. " There is such a thing as collective sin, but 
 trespasses are individual, and save as single acts cannot 
 be. Sin reigns, plays the lord, holds in bondage, has a 
 sort of distinct being of its own, and is even independent 
 of action, though action is not independent of it. But 
 trespasses have no being save through choices, or as acts 
 of will. Man may be a sinner without being a trans- 
 gressor, but he cannot be a transgressor without sinning. 
 Adam's act could be alternately described as sin, trans- 
 gression, or a trespass, but the consequence to his poster- 
 ity would be described as sin, but not by either of the 
 other terms " (Fairbairn, Christ in Modern Thought, 
 312). All former English versions say sins, in both 
 passages. The redemption of Christ frees us from our 
 sin and our sins (John i : 19; i John 2:2; 3 : 5 ; see 
 also the two versions of the Gloria in Excelsis). Because 
 this verse is true, the Absolution holds so prominent a 
 place in Christian worship. Our reformers held that 
 
I. 15-17] CHAPTER I. 
 
 211 
 
 '" The sermon itself is properly and fundamentally an 
 absolution, for the forgiveness of sins is in it proclaimed 
 to many in common and publicly, or to one person alone 
 either publicly or secretly " (MelanchthOx\ to Senate 
 of Nurnberg, C. R. II. 647. See Luther's concurrence, 
 lb. 650). So is the forgiveness of sins given in the Holy 
 Sacraments. A minister can say with all confidence, 
 " God JiatJi had mercy on us, and forgiveth us." Paul 
 here appeals to the Christian consciousness of the Colos- 
 sians. "Our Christian experience is made the starting- 
 point for Christian reflection " (SCHNEDERMAN). 
 
 15-17. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all crea- 
 tion ; for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, 
 things visible and things invisible, whetiier thrones or dominions or prin- 
 cipalities or powers ; all things have been created through him, and unto 
 him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. 
 
 This passage contains words which are characteristic on 
 the one hand of the Alexandrian Graeco-Judaic philosophy, 
 an attempt to construe the Old Testament Revelation 
 according to the forms of the Platonic philosophy : and 
 on the other hand of the Gnosticism of a later age. In 
 some degree, the latter may have derived these terms (as 
 it professed to do) from St. Paul's use of them. There is 
 also allusion to doctrines which were held by the Essenes 
 among the Jews, and afterwards received a fantastic 
 development among the Gnostics. Some of these terms 
 were used in the Septuagint also. While it is hard for 
 us to appreciate the methods of thought of a different 
 and remote time — as the speculations of the later Greek 
 Fathers on the nature of the Godhead are not quite in- 
 telligible to us — yet it is clear that it was not natural for 
 Paul either to think or express himself in the modes and 
 terms of Alexandrian philosophy. His method of reason- 
 ing was more allied to that of the rabbins. He here 
 
2 12 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 15. 
 
 accepts the cant of the schools, of the would-be wise, and 
 shows what the truth is. There is a measure of irony in 
 his use of these terms. In order to explain them, wc 
 must compare their meaning, (i) in the Septuagint, (2) in 
 Philo and his like, and (3) in the later use of the Gnostics. 
 15. Who; i. e, the Son of His love — Christ. St. 
 Paul is not wont to say one thing of Christ in His divine 
 nature, and another of Him in His human nature. He 
 speaks of the concrete Christ. He who was man is He 
 who, before He was man, was. And what is here said of 
 Him is true of Christ exalted, " of the whole, full, divine- 
 human Personality of the Lord " (RcENTSCH). — An image 
 (Wis. 7 : 26 ; 2 Cor. 4 : 4). The same thought as expressed 
 by "the Word " in John 1:1, but not co-extensive with 
 it. LiGHTFOOT says \\\& Image implies (i) Representa- 
 tion, but necessarily perfect representation ; and (2) Mani- 
 festation. Philo says, " The image of the unseen 
 nature." Trench says the word implies not merely re- 
 semblance but also derivation. The Alexandrian Jewish 
 philosophy taught an incommunicable Godhead and 
 a Logos, or Word, or Image, through whom He uttered 
 Himself in Creation and Revelation. The Gnostics 
 taught that there were many mediators, and had to be, 
 each being finite and incomplete. St. Paul ascends in 
 his ascription of completeness to Christ : he begins, Christ 
 is an image of the invisible God (i Tim, 6 : 16). In 
 Christ, in His visible concrete manifestation, we have 
 " the declaration of the unseen God, whom no man hath 
 seen " (John i : 18) : " the shining forth of His glory and 
 the impress of His substance " (Hebr. i : 3). He who would 
 know what God is may know Him in Christ (Matt. 
 II : 27 ; John i : 14 ; 3 : 13 ; 14 : 9). " The Father is such 
 as the Son proclaims Him ; the Word is the Image of 
 His mind " (Melanchthon). " The Father is eternal, 
 
I. 15-] CHAPTER I. 213 
 
 immortal, powerful, light, king, sovereign, God, Lord, 
 Creator and Maker. These attributes must be in the 
 Image, to make it true that he ' that hath seen ' the Son 
 'hath seen the Father.' If the Son be not all this, but, 
 as the Arians consider, originate, and not eternal, this is 
 not a true Image of the Father, unless indeed they give 
 up shame, and go on to say, that the title of Image, given 
 to the Son, is not a token of a similar essence, but His 
 name only. . , . For what is the likeness of what is out 
 of nothing to Him who brought what was nothing into 
 being? or how can that which is not be like Him that 
 is, being short of Him in once not being, and in its hav- 
 ing its place among things originate?" (Athanasius, 
 Agt. the Arians, I, 21). "This Image of God has been 
 sent to us, that through Him we may be made the image 
 of God again" (Melanchthon). 2 Cor. 3 : 18. — First- 
 born. It seems strange that he does not say tJie First- 
 born. It implies His priority in time zrxd station and His 
 possession of the sovereignty over all derived from and 
 created by God. It is Philo's designation of the Logos 
 as the archetype of creation. It is the Old Testament 
 designation of the chosen people, and was applied by the 
 rabbins to the Messiah (Ps. 89 : 28 ; Ex. 4 : 22 ; 4 Esd. 
 6 : 58). — Of all creation ; i. c. He is before all creation ; 
 He is over all creation. This may be translated every 
 creation, and may cover other creations than that of 
 which we are a part. Jesus Christ belongs to the cre- 
 ation of God. He has a created soul and body. Of 
 this creation He is first in time (Eph. i : 4), and in 
 dignity (Col. i : 18). "The Word also, when in grace 
 towards us He became man, said, ' The Lord created 
 me.' And in the next place, when He put on a created 
 nature and became like us in body, reasonably was He 
 therefore called both our Brother and ' Firstborn,' . . . 
 
214 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 16. 
 
 But if He is also called * Firstborn of the creation,' still 
 this is not as if He were levelled to the creatures, and 
 only first of them in point of time (for how should that 
 be, since He is ' only-begotten ' ), but it is because of the 
 Word's condescension to the creatures, according to which 
 He has become the' Brother' of ' many ' "(Athanasius, 
 Agt. the Arians, W. 61, 62). " He says not, He is First- 
 born above the rest of the creation, lest He be reckoned 
 as one of the creatures, but it is written, of the whole 
 creation, that He may appear other than the creation " 
 
 (lb. 63). 
 
 16. For in him were all things created " In Christ 
 rested the act of creation. It took place not independently 
 of Him, nor in a causal relation lying outside Him. It 
 had in Him its essential conditioning basis. In Him lay 
 the potency of life from which God let the work of crea- 
 tion proceed, inasmuch as He is the personal principle of 
 the divine self-manifestation, and therefore the fulfiller 
 of the divine idea of the world" (Meyer). In other 
 words, Christ is the Principle of God's self-manifestation 
 and of all His creation, essentially, from all eternity. In 
 Him lay the idea of creation and of all created things ; 
 even as tJirough Him they came into being. Observe 
 that in this verse St. Paul denies that Christ is one of many 
 co-ordinate Mediators, or one of a series. All things in the 
 heavens and upon the earth (" all creatures, of whatever 
 place, kind, or rank, without any exception whatever "). 
 derive their being from Him. Our Lord here is said to 
 have the same place in the physical as in the moral 
 world. — Things visible and things invisible, or things 
 seen and unseen. St. Paul may have thought of the 
 series of emanations some teachers imagined. But his 
 language will apply with equal truth to the unseen con- 
 stituents of this visible world — to the forces, laws, media. 
 
I. 1 6.] CHAPTER I. 215 
 
 relations, of which modern science speaks. — ^Whether 
 thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. (See 
 Eph. I : 21.) Doinintons : lordships. These names, in 
 current Judaic theology, in subsequent Christian writ- 
 ings, and in Gnostic speculations, were applied to grades 
 of angelic beings. Therefore, though they may be ap- 
 plied as truthfully to earthly dignities, they here refer to 
 such a "worshipping of angels" as in 2 : 18 he rebukes. 
 " It appears that St. Paul does not profess to describe 
 objective realities, but contents himself with repeating 
 subjective opinions. He brushes away all these specula- 
 tions without inquiring how much or how little truth there 
 may be in them, because they are altogether beside the 
 question. His language shows impatience with this 
 elaborate angelology " (LiGHTFOOT). He is asserting 
 the One Principle of the manifestation of God, over 
 against those who taught that Christ is but one of many. 
 — Have been created. A change of tense, intended to 
 include all the works of God up to the present time. 
 Some Gnostics taught that God did not make the world, 
 but it was the work of an emanation from Him, a 
 " Deniitirge" ; and some taught that this Demiurge was 
 hostile to God, and His work, therefore, was essentially 
 evil. They made evil to reside in matter itself. And 
 somewhat of this — allied to Zoroastrian tenets and 
 other doctrines of the East — may be detected in the ex- 
 aggerated asceticism censured in ch. 2. But Paul says all 
 things were made by " the Son of His love." And they' 
 are made for, or unto Him. They tend to Him. They 
 are summed up in Him. As He is the Eternal Arche- 
 type and Principle of creation. He is the Archetype of 
 its processes, and the end and summary of it. In Jesus 
 we see God. No less is Jesus Christ the fundamental 
 principle, summary and key of all the works of God. 
 
2i6 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 17, 18. 
 
 " We may observe that the mediate creation, and final 
 destination, of the world, here referred to the Son, are in 
 Rom. 1 1 : 36 referred to the Father. Such permutations 
 deserve our serious consideration ; if the Son had 
 not been God, such an interchange of important rela- 
 tions would never have seemed possible " (Ellicott). 
 
 17. And he is before all things. This teaches the pre- 
 existence of the Son of God. (Cf. John 8 : 24, 28, 58; 
 13 : 19 ; Ex. 3 : 14.)— And in him all things consist; i. e. 
 hold together. (Cf. i Peter 3 : 5 ; Hebr. i : 3.) Philo also 
 described the Logos as the Bond of the Universe. Cer- 
 tainly St. Paul seems to assert of our Lord all that the 
 Alexandrian philosophers taught of the Sole and Abso- 
 lute Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Principle of Crea- 
 tion, and also of the preservation of all things — of Provi- 
 dence. Here ends Paul's description of the significance 
 of Christ in reference to the natural creation. 
 
 18. And he is the head of the body, the church : who is the beginning, 
 the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre- 
 eminence. 
 
 18. He is the head of the body, the church. (See Eph. 
 I : 22, 23 ; 4 : 15, 16.) The Church is called the body of 
 Christ, because it is the unity of many members. It is 
 made a unity by its communion with the head. Christ 
 is the head of the Church, not in the sense in which the 
 pope assumes to be the head of the Church on earth — as 
 an earthly ruler, speaking the mind of Christ ; but in the 
 sense of the head of the body of a man, the centre of 
 sensation, motion, thought and will, having immediate 
 relation to every part, and being the principle of the cor- 
 relation and unity of all the parts. LiGHTFOOT shows 
 that the ancient physicians knew the significance of the 
 head, as the centre of bodily life. At this time, Luke, 
 the beloved physicir.n, was Paul's intimate companion. 
 
I. 19] CHAPTER I. 217 
 
 Mark that here he speaks of the Church as a unity /;/ 
 Christ. (See on Eph. i : 22.) — Who is the beginning. 
 Who is Beginning, Origin, Source of being and life. (See 
 Gen. 49 : 3 ; Rev. 3 : 14 ; i Cor. 15 : 20.) — Firstborn from 
 the dead. He seems to make the resurrection parallel 
 with a new birth. It is natural to explain firstborn here 
 and the same word in ver. 16 by each other. Lazarus, 
 Jairus' daughter, the widow of Nain's son, had been 
 awakened from the dead before our Lord's resurrection. 
 He, however, was the principle, the source, of their 
 resurrection. Because He lived, they lived also. So 
 Jesus was born in the flesh only in the fulness of times: 
 but in Him all things were created. He is the First- 
 born of all creation. (See Rom. i : 4.) — He might have 
 the pre=eminence. That He who is before all things (ver. 
 17), vc{\<^\\. become ^x?X in all things or among all. The 
 change of verbs suggests our Lord's historical manifesta- 
 tion, His voluntary submission to human growth, disci- 
 pline, part in creation, moral development, and even 
 death. To the essential pre-eminence of Christ, is added 
 the historical pre-eminence, won by Him. Not in crea- 
 tion only, not only in the physical world, but also in the 
 realm of spirit, of freedom, is He First. 
 
 19. For it was the good pleasure 0/ the Father that in him should all the 
 fulness dwell ; 
 
 19. This may be read. For in Hivi all the Fulness was 
 pleased to dwell. The words, Of the Father, have been 
 supplied by the translators. The word Fulness is, in the 
 original, Plcroina. It was used in the Old Testament to 
 translate a word meaning Contents or Abundance (Ps. 
 24 : I ; 96 : 1 1 ; 98 : 7). The Gnostics used it for the 
 complement or sum-total of the csons, as they called the 
 successive emanations from Deity ; or for the abode of 
 the aeons ; or for the higlicr spiritual region from which 
 
2i8 EP/STLE TO THE COLOSS/AJVS. [i. 20. 
 
 the manifestations of the divine powers issued forth. 
 LiGHTFOOT says, " A recognized technical word in the- 
 ology, denoting the totality of the divine powers and 
 attributes," In 2 : 9 Paul further says, The fulness of the 
 Godhead; Meyer, Die ganze Gottheitsfiille. But in this 
 place Meyer says, " The whole charismatic wealth of 
 God, the fulness of grace, of spiritual blessing." So 
 Beza : " The heaped-up store of all divine things, which 
 the scholastics call habitual grace, from which, as from an 
 inexhaustible fountain, all graces are derived to us 
 according to the measure of every part." This meaning 
 the word bears in the Epistle to Ephesians. But, says 
 Schnederman, "The meaning here does not coincide 
 with its meaning in Eph. i : 10, 23 ; 3 : 19 ; 4: 13. It is 
 made clearer by its use there, and by the addition of the 
 words ' of the Godhead ' in 2 : 9. Everything in the 
 world yearns for completion, which now it lacks. Wher- 
 ever and howsoever such a completion takes place, it is a 
 'fulness,' and in the highest and most comprehensive 
 sense, according to the decree of God, it takes place in 
 Christ." It does not appear why a distinction should be 
 made between its meaning here and in 2:9. In the latter 
 passage the declaration is made stronger, and in another 
 relation. — Dwell. The word means, take up its perinane7it 
 habitation. 
 
 20. And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made 
 peace through the blood of his cross ; through him, / say, whether things 
 upon the earth, or things in the heavens. 
 
 20. Unto himself; i.e. unto God. Christ is the Medi- 
 ator both in Creation and Redemption. (See on Eph. 
 2:16.) — Having made peace through the blood of his 
 cross. Observe: i. Peace has been made. 2. It has been 
 made through blood, througli the cross of Jesus Christ. 
 Paul does not linger in speculations about cosmogonies, 
 
1.21,22.] CHAPTER I. 219 
 
 but hastens to that central historical fact, the death of 
 Jesus on the cro.ss. Religion depends on the One Medi- 
 ator ; and His mediation is not to be vaguely conceived. 
 Blood, death, the cross, — these make the definite centre of 
 faith. — Whether things upon the earth, or things in the 
 heavens. As all things shared in the consequence of 
 man's sin, so all have been reconciled to God by the blood 
 of the cross (Rom. 8: 20-23 ; James i : 18). Jesus undid 
 the fall. 
 
 21-22. And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind 
 in your evil works, yet now hatli he reconciled in the body of his flesh 
 through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable 
 before him : 
 
 21. And you. He concentrates the doctrine and ap- 
 plies it. — Being in time past alienated. (See 2 : 1 3.) — And 
 enemies. Hostile to God. — In your mind, in your evil 
 works. In your disposition and deeds. This is the 
 actual condition of those for whom Christ died, they yet 
 being ungodly. 
 
 22. Now hath he reconciled. " Not through pacifica- 
 tion of men's hostile minds, but by taking away the rela- 
 tion of guilt " (Schnederman). The work by which 
 God saves men has been done for every one of us. 
 There remains no more sacrifice for sin. It was and is a 
 reconciliation of all things to God — which it only needs 
 that each should accept and trust. — In the body of his 
 flesh through death. If in the preceding verses St. 
 Paul has set forth the Godhead of our Redeemer, how 
 clearly does he here teach His incarnation, humiliation 
 and death. How clear does he make it, that God does 
 not mean to save us through Christ in any way but 
 through His death. — To present you holy and without 
 blemish and unreproveable before him. Before Him : 
 in His sight now ; but also at the great day of judgment. 
 
220 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIAAS. [i. 23, 24. 
 
 Their eyes must be directed to that account. And God 
 has done all this that we may then be found consecrated 
 to Him, spotless within, and faultless in our works. A 
 contrast with our alienated mind and our former condition 
 and works. 
 
 23. If so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not 
 moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was 
 preached in all creation under heaven ; whereof I Paul was made a minister. 
 
 23. We have seen what God has done through the 
 blood of His Son. For us, for the Colossians, it remains 
 necessary that we should accept this and remain firm in 
 this faith until that great day. This passage emphasizes 
 the necessity of a correct belief, — that we should believe 
 wJiat is true. He says. If so be that you continue in the 
 faith. The faith is further defined as the Gospel zvhich 
 ye have heard, viz., under the instruction of Epaphras ; 
 zvhich zvas preached, etc., i. e. by way of anticipation, the 
 Catholic faith ; and finally, whereof I, Paul, was made a 
 minister — as he says elsewhere, My Gospel. There is no 
 hope in any other Gospel than this of the One Mediator 
 and of the Blood of His cross (2 : 8). (See Rom. 12:6; 
 I Cor. 16: 13 ; Gal. i :24; 6 : 10 ; Phil, i : 27 ; Tit. i : i, 
 4, 13 ; I Tim. 3 : 9 ; 4 : 6 ; 5 : 8 ; 6 : 10, 21 ; Jude 3; James 
 2:1; Rev. 2:13; 14 : 12.) 
 
 24. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part 
 that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's 
 sake, which is the church ; 
 
 24. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. My 
 
 is not expressed in the original. For your sake is con- 
 nected with sufferings, not with rejoice. Nozv refers to 
 the glorious truth Paul has been telling, and to his joy in 
 being a servant of it. The sense is, Nozv I am glad to 
 stiffer for you. Of course, the reference is to the suffer- 
 ings they knew he was undergoing. " The patient suffer- 
 
t. 24-] CHAPTER I. 22 1 
 
 ings of its confessors have always been the best defence 
 of Christianity, because they thereby prove their convic- 
 tion of its truth " (R(ENTSCH). I Peter 4; 13. — And I fill 
 up on my part that which was lacking of the afflictions 
 of Christ. Afflictio)is : tribuhitions : not to be confounded 
 with the sacrifice by which Christ redeemed us. " Many 
 of the mediaeval Catholic interpreters understood the 
 clause as referring to the atonement, and that its defects 
 may be supplied by the sufferings of the saints. . . . This 
 inference is in direct antagonism to the whole tenor of 
 Scripture, which represents the sacrifice of Jesus as per- 
 fect in obedience and suffering, so perfect as to need 
 neither supplement or repetition " (Eadie ; Hebr. 9:11, 
 12; 10 : 1-13). The apostle rejoices to supplement 
 Christ's tribulations by tribulations endured with Him 
 for His Church. He is glad if the Master has left some- 
 thing for him to sufifer. Christ suffers in and ivith His 
 Church (Acts 9:4, 5) ; and the sufferings which His 
 members endure for His sake, and in order to live godly, 
 they endure with Him (2 Tim. 2 : 10-13 ; 3:12; Matt. 
 20 : 22 ; 2 Cor. 1:5; Hebr. 13:13; 1 1 : 26 ; 2 Cor. 2 : 10). 
 Christ suffers still in His body, the Church, and He ad- 
 mits His chosen to a fellowship in His sufferings (Phil. 
 3 : 10). They also suffer for the sake of the world and of 
 each other. " Because suffering for righteousness' sake 
 is the highest of all Christian sufferings, the Christian 
 must be careful not to confound his personal interests, or 
 the cause of his Church-party, with that of Christ, ant! 
 imagine himself a martyr. The sufferings we endure for 
 God and His kingdom's sake are likewise to be regarded 
 as sufferings for ourselves and our salvation "(MartenSEN, 
 Ethics (tr.) H. 331). — In my flesh, etc. Paul's flesh is set 
 over against the Church, which is Christ's body, flesh of 
 His flesh. 
 
222 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [l. 25, 26. 
 
 25. Whereof I was made a minister, according to the dispensation of 
 God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God. 
 
 25. Whereof I was made a minister; i. e. a servant, a 
 "deacon." Paul was a servant of the Gospel (i : 23); of 
 the Church ; and, like Epaphras, of Christ (i : 7). — The 
 dispensation of God ; i. e. the Stetvardship. He is a stew- 
 ard, with the keys (Isai. 22 : 22 ; Eph. 3 : 2), — Given me 
 to you=ward. The particular ofifice of Paul, the apostle- 
 ship to the Gentiles. The Colossians were for the most 
 part a Gentile Church. — To fulfil the word of God. Paul, 
 as apostle to the Gentiles, was called to carry out among 
 them the purpose and promise of God's entire revelation 
 — the unification and summing up of all things in Christ. 
 
 26-27. Ezfen the mystery which hath been hid from all ages and gener- 
 ations : but now hath it been manifested to his saints, to whom God was 
 pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery 
 among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory : 
 
 26. The mystery. Here, and afterwards (i : 28 ; Phil. 
 4:12; Eph. I : 14; cf. Ignatius, Eph. 12), there is an 
 allusion to the Greek and other "mysteries." The word 
 was used in the Old Testament Apocrypha for " \.\\e secret 
 of a king" (Tob. 12 : 7 ; Judith 2 : 2), and "the secret 
 counsels of God" (Wis. 2 : 22) ; and so in the New Testa- 
 ment (Matt. 13 : II; Rom. 11:25; 16: 25 ; i Cor. 15:51; 
 Eph. I : 9 ; 3 : 3, 4, 9 ; 6 : 19. See also Col. 2 : 2 ; 4 : 3 ; 
 I Tim. 3:9; 3 : 16 ; 2 Thess. 2 : 7). The " mysteries'' 
 were " scenic representations of mythical legends." They 
 taught by means of symbols. " Such symbolical repre- 
 sentations played a much more important part in the 
 world in early times than they play now ; the expression 
 of ideas by means of pictures only passed by gradual and 
 slow transitions into the use of written signs, in which the 
 original picture was lost : and every written word was 
 once a mystery " (Hatch, Essays in Biblical Greek, 61). 
 
I. 27.] CHAPTER I. 223 
 
 The ancient " mysteries " professed to lead their adepts 
 into a deeper knowledge of God than those outside could 
 know, and perhaps did enshrine and hand down some cen- 
 tral truths. It is probable that these mysteries threat- 
 ened to be a temptation to the lively-witted Colossians, 
 whose conscience and spirit had been excited by the 
 Gospel. Some of them may have been tempted to try 
 whether in them they could not learn more and more 
 truly about the nature of things and of God. The three 
 allied perils at Colossae were a false philosophy, the mys- 
 teries and a baseless asceticism. The earliest Gnostics 
 (the Naassenes) are said to have borrowed some of- their 
 tenets from the ancient Mysteries (HiPPOLYTUS, Ref. of 
 All Heresies, V. 2-5). Against the Mysteries, Paul op- 
 poses the Mystery, into which they have been initiated, 
 and in which they may go on unto perfection. In ex- 
 plaining why He taught by parables, our Lord spoke of 
 " the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven " (Matt. 
 13: 11). — Which hath been hid from the ages and the 
 generations. So in the Original. This Mystery God 
 pleased to keep a secret, for ages and generations. The 
 word for ages is ceoiis. It signifies an indefinite stretch of 
 time, including many generations. By the Gnostics it 
 was adopted to be the designation of successive eman- 
 ations from God, of whom the Valentin ians fabled thirty. 
 — But now hath it been manifested to his saints. This 
 is a secret no longer to be enjoyed only by a few. Their 
 consecration introduced them into this mystery. 
 
 27. The very substance of the secret of God is, its 
 world-wide publication. The word Gentiles means 
 the nations, and to the Colossians bore that meaning 
 rather than suggested a contrast with tJic Jcics. As they 
 read it, it meant to them all the world. — Which is Christ 
 in you, the hope of glory. There arc two readings here. 
 
224 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [i. 28. 
 
 According to the one, the sentence means tJie riches, etc., 
 is Christ i)i you ; according to the other, tJie mystery is 
 Christ in you. As Paul wrote it, he meant both. Com- 
 mentators agree that the emphasis is on in you : it is 
 Christ in the Gentiles, not simply Christ, who is the 
 riches and the viystery—di marlc of the importance 
 (ahnost impossible for us to appreciate), in the first age, 
 of the truth that Christ died for all mQW. Meyer trans- 
 lates, Christ among yon ; LiGHTFOOT, in you. (See John 
 14 : 23 ; 15:5; Rom. 8 : 10 ; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 4 : 19 ; 
 Eph. 3 : 17.) Christ in them is a pledge of their final 
 and eternal salvation (i Cor. 1:9; Phil, i : 6). 
 
 28. Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every 
 man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ ; 
 
 28. Admonishing : to repentance. — Teaching : unto 
 faith. Addressing both the zvill and the understanding 
 (Schnederman). " The one describes the means em- 
 ployed to arouse the soul and stimulate it to reflection, 
 and the other the definite form of instruction which was 
 communicated to the anxious and inquiring spirit" 
 (EyVDiE). This writer quotes CLEMENT: "Admonition 
 is the prescribed diet of a diseased soul, advising it to 
 take what is salutary, and warning it against what is per- 
 nicious." The apostles were not only " evangelists " ; 
 they taught (Matt. 28 : 19, 20). This whole epistle em- 
 phasizes the importance and necessity of instruction. In 
 this admonition and teaching the apostle used all possible 
 ivisdom : indicating his deliberation, study and art. — That 
 we. What he is saying, i§ a general description of the 
 ideal and practice of preachers of the Gospel. — May pre= 
 sent every man perfect in Christ. Observe : they ad- 
 monish every man, teach every man, in order to present 
 every man perfect. Every is repeated. The knowledge 
 they offer is not to be confined to an esoteric few. The 
 
I. 29. J CHAPTER I. 225 
 
 Gospel is for every vi\-AX\. It may also refer to \.\\& per- 
 sonal care of a pastor. He not only preaches to his con- 
 gregation ; he is to admonish and teach eacJi, according 
 to the measure and need of each, in every way and upon 
 every opportunity that wisdom can suggest (Acts 20 : 20, 
 27 ; I Thess. 2 : 7, 8). In the Greek mysteries " the per- 
 fect" were those who had gone through all the " degrees." 
 Probably those who were boasting to the Colossians of a 
 higher knowledge called themselves "the perfect," as the 
 Pharisees had looked down on " this people who know 
 not the law." Paul declares his endeavor and ability to 
 make every man perfect in CJirist. 
 
 29. Whereunto I labour also, striving according to his working, which 
 worketh in me mightily. 
 
 29. It is difficult to reproduce the rugged energy of 
 the apostle's words. I labor, he says, agonizing, 
 " like one who contends in the lists," according to the 
 energy energizing in uic in poiver. He has a conflict within 
 him ; he agonizes in prayers and tears : a mighty self-con- 
 secration not unlike that of our Lord in the Garden, a 
 wrestling with spiritual wickedness in high places; and 
 out of that spiritual conflict he comes to the contention 
 with falsehood and imperfection in the Church and the 
 opposition of the world ; and to this he is brought and 
 held by the inward operation of God working in him. — A 
 man's usefulness in the Church is built upon his inward 
 struggle. The agony we endure in spirit, under the oper- 
 ation of the Spirit of God, is intended for the behoof 
 of the children of God. (See on Phil, i : 30.) 
 
 15 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 1-5. For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for 
 them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh ; 
 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and 
 unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know 
 the mystery of God, even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom 
 and knowledge hidden. This I say, that no one may delude you with per- 
 suasiveness of speech. 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. 
 
 1. How greatly I strive. How great an agony, or con- 
 flict, I have. The figure is taken from the Greek games. 
 (See on 1 : 29 and Phil, i : 30.) HOWSON calls attention 
 to the fact that Paul, who makes no allusion to scenery, 
 draws many figures from the active life of men. He was 
 a keen observer. Evidently he here means an imvard 
 conflict. — Them at Laodicea. Those of Laodicea and 
 Hierapolis also belonged to Epaphras (4 : 13), and doubt- 
 less were exposed to the same dangers. — And for as many, 
 etc. How different is Paul's feeling of responsibilty from 
 the mind of a vulgar fanatic. Here is the proof that he 
 was not personally acquainted with the members of those 
 churches. 
 
 2. Tliat their hearts may be comforted. The original 
 meaning of the English word comforted is strengthened. 
 (So WiCLIF, in Luke i : 80, Tyndale in Luke 22 : 43.) 
 Here the word means encouraged. It is the word from 
 which is derived the designation of our Lord(i John 2 : i) 
 and of His Spirit (John 14 : 16), — t\\Q Paraclete, the Com- 
 forter. The comfort, the encouragement, is real, not 
 
 226 
 
11. 3 ] CHAPTER II. 227 
 
 fictitious, being derived from the presence with our 
 spirits of the Spirit of God. — Being knit together in 
 love. Compacted. Septuagint and Vulgate, Instructed. 
 WiCLiF, Taughte in cJiarite. A result of a process 
 under the instruction of the Spirit. It is well to note 
 that Christian comfort and strength are not infused as 
 such, but result from instruction and unification in love. 
 " In the peculiar condition of the Colossian Church, this 
 virtual prayer was very necessary. The entrance of error 
 naturally begets suspicion and alienation " (Eadie). — 
 Unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding. 
 Meyer : The complete certainty of Christian insight. 
 A just confidence in one's own trustworthy Christian 
 judgment. — That they may kown. Unto a thorough 
 knozvledege of. — The mystery of God. " The mystery of 
 redemption is the key to the knowledge of mankind ; 
 it opens to us the meaning of human life. By means of it 
 we understand ourselves, and also the world " (RCENTSCH). 
 — Of God, even Christ. Here the MSS. vary. This seems 
 the most probable reading, Christ being in apposition 
 with mystery. Or it may be read " Of the God Christ," 
 Christ being in apposition with God. Or it may be, 
 " Of the God of Christ." 
 
 3. "■ While knowledge applies chiefly to the apprehension 
 of truths, wisdom superadds the power of reasoning about 
 them and tracing their relations " (Lightfoot). "The 
 latter emphasizes the inner reasonableness of the think- 
 ing, the former its agreement with outer fact " (SCHNED- 
 erman). Knowledge apprehends things and truths ; 
 wisdom, their source and the ideas which underlie them. 
 Knowledge is intellectual ; wisdom, moral. Wisdom and 
 knowledge were the good things which the false teachers 
 at Colossae were pretending to offer. — In Christ, Paul 
 says, are not only what you now know ; you have not ex- 
 
228 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [ii. 4-6. 
 
 hausted this mystery. In Him all the treasures of wisdom 
 and knowledge are hidden, stored away, to be searched for, 
 found, enjoyed, inexhaustibly. 
 
 4. These verses testify Paul's nervous anxiety for the 
 good estate of the churches. It may be that those who 
 would have led them astray, said Paul cared no more for 
 them and was indeed a thing of the past. 
 
 5. He explains how he comes to warn them of an in- 
 stant peril. — Your order. Great as were the dangers 
 which this epistle discloses, the Colossians had not yet 
 yielded to them ; and there is no hint of such dissension 
 among them as there certainly was at Corinth and even 
 at Philippi (Phil. 4 : 2). — The stedfastness of your faith 
 in Christ. Firmament : a firm foundation built stably. 
 They were well-grounded in faith, as we say, and had not 
 moved therefrom. Epaphras had been a faithful builder. 
 
 6-7. As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 
 rooted and builded up in him, and stablished in your faith, even as ye were 
 taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 
 
 6. (See I Thess. 4:1.) They had received Jesus as the 
 Christ, and as their Lord. As we say in the Catechism : 
 I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord, who has redeemed 
 me (i Cor. 12 : 3 ; Phil. 2 : 11). This involves faith in 
 the historical Person Jesus, and in the true explanation of 
 Him. " The Gnostics regarded the Christian revelation 
 as having a similar relation towards speculative philoso- 
 phy to that in which the Jewish religion was regarded 
 by Christians as standing towards their own belief. 
 As the institutions of Judaism under type and symbol 
 prefigured in the Christian belief the fuller revelation 
 of Christ, so Christianity itself, in the estimation of 
 the Gnostics, was but a figurative and symbolical ex- 
 position of truths, the fuller meaning of which was 
 to be supplied by philosophical speculation. . . . 
 
11.7,8.] CHAPTER n. 229 
 
 Christianity had furnished a simple and universally in- 
 telligible solution of every enigma which had occupied 
 thinking minds — a practical answer to all the questions 
 which speculation had busied itself in vain to answer. It 
 established a temper of mind by which doubts that could 
 not be resolved by the efforts of speculative reason were 
 to be practically vanquished " (Mansel, op. cit. 9, 10). 
 
 7. They were in danger of being led astray from the 
 faith, the Christ, in whom they had begun. But in 
 Jesus Christ the Lord we are to walk; in Him are to be 
 the roots of all our life, which will wither and die if 
 separated from Him ; in Him only can we be builded up. 
 There is a constant temptation to seek the continuation 
 and growth of character and knowledge outside the four 
 Gospels and the Saviour whom they tell of. — Stablished 
 in your faith. By the faith, in the original. — Even as ye 
 were taught — by Epaphras. This is directly connected 
 with as yc received. He insists on the vital importance of 
 sound doctrine. — Abounding in thanl<sgiving. Some 
 MSS. add /;/ it. (See 3:15; Eph. 5 14, 20.) 
 
 8. Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you 
 through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the 
 rudiments of the world, and not after Christ : 
 
 8. Take heed. Christians have to be on guard not 
 only against fleshly lusts, but also against teachings which 
 "have a show of wisdom " (2 : 23). — Lest there shall be 
 any one. The phraseology shows that there was some 
 one, meant by Paul, who, however, does not mention his 
 name, though the Colossians would know it well enough. 
 — That maketh spoil of you. That carrieth you off as 
 spoil. Inconceivable as it may appear to the simple, 
 there are many who spread soul-destroying doctrines, of 
 whose correctness they are by no means convinced, 
 merely to win applause or get a following ; and they take 
 
230 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [li. 8. 
 
 pleasure in unsettling men's minds. — Through his philos- 
 ophy and vain deceit. St. Paul uses the word " philos- 
 ophy " scornfully here. The false teacher boasted a 
 " philosophy " ; it was vain deceit. Paul does not pre- 
 cisely disparage all philosophy, but it is easy to know 
 what he would have said of it if asked, who counted 
 all things but rubbish for the excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus. Some of the Greek Fathers regarded 
 philosophy as a divine training of the Greeks for 
 the Gospel ; Tertullian and others regarded it as " only 
 the parent of all heretical teaching." Certainly the 
 noblest speculation is flimsy rubbish in comparison of 
 the life of Jesus and the Gospel of the Christ. " At a 
 later time pJiilosophy and the cognate words are found 
 used almost technically for the anchorite life and prin- 
 ciples. I do not know of a distinct instance before the 
 Apologia Origenis of Pamphilus ; but the usage is very 
 common in Eusebius and in later Greek Fathers. This 
 late usage, if not descended from an earlier mode of 
 speech exemplified in the Colossian ' philosophy,' is at 
 least illustrative of it " (HORT, Judaistic Christianity, 
 I2i). — After the tradition of men. The Essenes, the 
 Gnostics, the Scribes and Pharisees boast an esoteric 
 tradition. The later mystical theology of the Jews was 
 called Kabbala, or " tradition." The Greek philosophy 
 was a tradition ; and, especially in the apostolic age, 
 was rather a threshing over of traditional ideas and profit- 
 less dialectics than a discovery of truth. So Scholasticism 
 was an unwinding and reweaving of tradition. In our day 
 German theological and philosophical writers must trace 
 a thought through its successive digestions by Kantian, 
 Schellingian and Hegelian schools. Paul scorns a philos- 
 ophy which came by vie n?{.x\d from men. — After the rudi- 
 ments of the world. LiGHTFOOT savs : " Do not submit 
 
II. 9-1 1.] CHAPTER 11. 231 
 
 yourselves again to a rudimentary discipline fit only for 
 children." " The A, B, C of religious truth *' (Rcentsch). 
 The emphasis is rather on world than on rudiments. 
 Paul scorns a philosophy which pretended to an explan- 
 ation of God and of created things drawn from created 
 things, and not derived from Revelation. — And not after 
 Christ. He is the only wisdom. Except in Him, no man 
 can know. 
 
 9-10. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in 
 him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power : 
 
 9. (Cf. I : 19.) There can be no question of the mean- 
 ing here. In Christ all that God is has His permanent 
 habitation. He is God, and is the manifestation of God. 
 He manifests God not by His teaching only — God dwells 
 in Him in a human body. The whole truth of the incar- 
 nation is taught here — true God begotten of the Father 
 from eternity, and also true man born of the Virgin 
 Mary. 
 
 10. In Him ye are being made full. (See quotation 
 from SCHNEDERMAN in I : 19.) In Him ye become par- 
 takers of that fulness that dwells in Him. But no other- 
 wise than in Him. (See 2 Peter 1:4.) — The head of 
 all principality and power. Of every principality and 
 power : names applied by false teachers to fabled super- 
 human beings, which, they said, mediate between God 
 and the world. 
 
 11-12. In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made 
 with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision 
 of Christ ; having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also 
 raised with him through faith in the working of God, w.io raised him from 
 the dead. 
 
 11. It may be that Judaizers were found even at Colos- 
 sae ; perhaps some of the Essenes took this line; or the 
 thought may have been suggested to the apostle by what 
 
232 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [ii. 12, 13. 
 
 was going on around him at Rome and in other of his 
 churches. Against the requirement of circumcision he 
 alleges baptism as the circumcision instituted by Christ, 
 in which the whole body of the flesh of sin is put off. 
 Here baptism is paralleled with circumcision. The total 
 putting-off of all sin is contrasted with the particular 
 ascetic practices urged by false teachers. — " No hand im- 
 parts this circumcision, but the Spirit. It circumciseth 
 not a part, but the whole man. When and where ? In 
 baptism " (Chrysostom). 
 
 12. (Rom. 6: 4.) " In the burial of Christ all who con- 
 fess Him are buried also, so far as their sinful flesh is 
 concerned ; but individually, the subjective appropriation 
 of this by each is through his baptism, without which this 
 communion of burial is not realized by the individual " 
 (Meyer). — Wherein; i.e. in baptism. — Ye were also 
 raised with him. We share Christ's eternal life, which 
 includes the future life.- — Through faith, etc. " The 
 working of God in the resurrection of Christ is the surety 
 of our salvation " (Meyer). " Baptism confers everlast- 
 ing salvation on all who believe " (Catechism ; Mark 
 16: 16). The necessity of faith is taught here : but faith 
 in something, and guaranteed by an event, an event out. 
 side ourselves and our experience. 
 
 13-15. And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircum 
 cision of your flesh, you, I say, did he quicken together with him, having 
 forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond written ni 
 ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us : and he hath taken 
 it out of the way, nailing it to the cross ; having put off from himself the 
 principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing 
 over them in it. 
 
 13. And you. You Colossians. — Being dead through 
 your trespasses. They had been evil-doers. — And 
 the uncircumcision of your flesh. They were Gentiles. 
 
II. 14. 15-1 CHAPTER IT. ■i-i^l 
 
 He refers to the fact that before the Gospel they had 
 been outside the Covenant of God, without God and 
 without hope in the world. — You did he quicken together 
 with him. When God raised up Christ from the dead, 
 He raised up the Colossians also, and He raised up us, 
 together with Him. " Should the Head rise, and leave 
 His members dead ? " — Having forgiven us all our tres- 
 passes. How natural for Paul to change the person and 
 include himself and us. And how courteous too. (See 
 on Col. I : 14.) 
 
 14. Having blotted out the bond, etc. The bond 
 is a note or written obligation signed and therefore 
 acknowledged by ourselves. " The ordinances will in- 
 clude all forms of positive decrees in which moral and 
 social principles are embodied or religious duties defined ; 
 and the ' bond ' is the moral consent of the conscience, 
 which (as it were) signs and seals the obligation " 
 (Lightfoot). The laws men make are an acknowledg- 
 ment of sin. And such are the " moral systems " they 
 affect. So Luther says, " Nothing is so severe against 
 us as our own conscience, whereby we are convicted as if 
 by our own sign-manual, when the Law discovers our sin." 
 Melanchthon calls the judgment of conscience " a 
 valid practical syllogism drawn from the law." — Having 
 nailed it to the cross — Again the cross is indicated as 
 the means of forgiveness. " By His blood, i. e. by His 
 whole obedience. He destroyed the bond of the law " 
 (Melanchthon). Christ is the sum-total of all law, and 
 He made Himself the summary of our acknowledgment 
 of guilt ; and He thus died for us upon the cross. 
 
 15. The " principalities and powers" are most likely 
 the object after " He made a show of." To interpret, 
 " Having put off from Himself His body,'' like many of 
 the fathers, is to change the subject. It is God who 
 
^34 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [ii. i6. 
 
 quickened and nailed. To read the word " despoiled," is 
 to overlook the fact that it belongs to the middle voice, 
 and should be rendered, " Having stripped Himself." 
 Why not adopt the explanation (which LiGHTFOOT dis- 
 misses as " an isolated metaphor which is not explained 
 or suggested by anything in the context "), Having 
 stripped for mortal conflict, He made a shoiv of principali- 
 ties and powers, triumphing over thcjn on the cross. "He 
 means that the devil held possession of the bond which 
 God made for Adam, saying, In the day thou eatest of 
 the tree, thou shalt die. This bond the devil held in his 
 possession. And Christ did not give it to us, but Him- 
 self tore it in two, the action of one who remits joyfully " 
 (Chrvsostom). 
 
 16-17. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect 
 of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day : which are a shadow of the 
 things to come; but the body is Christ's. 
 
 16. These are golden and prophetic words. The old 
 legalistic conception has again and again threatened to 
 get dominion in the Church — in Old Catholic time, in 
 the Middle Ages, under the guise of Puritanism, and 
 under the asceticism of the opposite theory. The super- 
 naturalness of the revelation of Christ is visible in its dis- 
 sent from the merely natural religion of earnest men. 
 St. Paul here refers to the regulations of Jewish law. 
 ScHUERER shows that Jerome's statement that the 
 Essenes abstained from flesh and wine is unfounded. — 
 Meats refers to distinctions of meats made by the Jews, 
 and may also include the difficulties with reference to 
 meats offered to idols, which vexed the Corinthians and 
 the Romans (Rom. 14; i Cor. 10). — Feast=days were the 
 annual festivals, new moons the monthly, the sabbath 
 the weekly. These, he says, were but but a shadow cast 
 by that which was to come. It has come. The " body " 
 
II. i6.J CHAPTER II. 235 
 
 that cast the " shadow " is Christ's (Hebr. 10: i). Now, 
 says he, go on your way, and if any one judges or con- 
 demns you for your observance or non-observance of 
 such particulars of Judaic law, I simply say, Do not be 
 worried at all by doctrines of that kind. They have no 
 reference to you at all. " Paul yields and gives way to 
 the weak in the observance of food and times and days 
 (Rom. 14 : 6). But to the false prophets, who wished to 
 impose these on the conscience as necessary things, he 
 will yield not even in those things which in themselves 
 are indifferent " (Form, of Concord, 700). " The cele- 
 bration of Christian festivals and Sundays was not yet 
 elaborated. A one-sided passionate opposition on re- 
 ligious grounds to this or that sort of food, or extrava- 
 gance in keeping festivals, or the transference of the 
 Sabbath to Sunday, is, accordingly, decidedly opposed to 
 the Gospel " (Schnederman). There always will be a 
 tendency to reduce religion to a system of rules. For 
 the guidance of the young and uninstructed,. rules are 
 necessary. So Paul gave precepts to the Thessalonians 
 when he was with them (i Thess. 4:2); such, indeed, as 
 follow in this letter. Luther urges this in his German 
 Mass, while he begs that no one will make a law of it. 
 An earnest man will make and adopt rules for his own 
 discipline. But there is no system of rules of this 
 sort which have necessary, because divine, authority. 
 The one thing is for a man to be in Christ by faith, 
 and to walk in Him, i. e. by His example, according to 
 His teaching, as moved by His Spirit, in the system of 
 relations into which union with Him places him, refer- 
 ring all to Him, and deriving all from Him. Observances, 
 abstinences and compliances are a secondary matter. On 
 the one hand, the false teachers at Colossae would have 
 made these rules the great matter, and Christ a matter 
 
236 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [11. 16. 
 
 by the way ; on the other, to be in Christ is everything, 
 and these rules are of no importance. We keep the 
 Lord's day for devotion's sake and loves ; and the 
 Church Year for the sake of instruction in the Word 
 of God. " If it be objected to us on this subject that 
 we ourselves are accustomed to observe certain days, 
 as for example the Lord's day, the Preparation, the 
 Passover, or Pentecost, I have to answer, that to 
 the perfect Christian, who is ever in his thoughts, words 
 and deeds serving his natural Lord, God the Word, 
 all his days are the Lord's, and he is always keep- 
 ing the Lord's day. He also who is unceasingly 
 preparing himself for the true life, and abstaining from 
 the pleasures of this life, which lead astray so man)', — 
 who is not indulging the lust of the flesh, but keeping 
 under his body and bringing it into subjection, — such a 
 one is always keeping Preparation-day. Again, he who 
 considers that Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, 
 and that it is his duty to keep the feast by eating of the 
 flesh of the Word, never ceases to keep the paschal feast ; 
 for iho. pascha means ' a passover,' and he is ever striving 
 in all his thoughts, words and deeds to pass over from 
 the things of this life to God, and is hastening towards 
 the city of God. And, finally, he who can say. We are 
 risen with Christ, and. He hath exalted us, and made us 
 to sit with Him in heavenly places in Christ, is always 
 living in the season of Pentecost ; and most of all, when 
 going up to the upper chamber, like the apostles of Jesus, 
 he gives himself to supplication and prayer, that he may 
 become worthy of receiving the mighty wind rushing 
 from heaven, which is powerful to destroy sin and its 
 fruits among men, and worthy of having some share of 
 the tongue of fire which God sends " (Origen, Agt. 
 Celsus, VHL 22 ; see also 23). Incidentally, Paul makes 
 
II. i8.] CFIAFTER II. 237 
 
 a pregnant remark on the Old Testament system of wor- 
 ship, " That it was a shadow so designed, and not a for- 
 tuitous and unmeaning system " (Eadie). 
 
 18-19. Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and 
 worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he hath seen, vainly 
 puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast the Head, from whom 
 all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, 
 increaseth with the increase of God. 
 
 18. Let no man rob you of your prize; i.e. you are 
 running a race, and running well. Let no one divert you 
 from the course. They were in danger of giving more 
 respect to the decision of others than to that of the true 
 umpire. " What else is this but to divert us from faith, 
 which is the only way to salvation, to works, as the monks 
 and the popish teachings do ? " (Luther). (See also 29, 
 376.) — By a voluntary humility, or, as in Margin, Of his 
 own mere ivill, by humility. Humility is used in a bad 
 sense. Such self-abasement, unlike the humility that 
 submits to the calling of God, introducing at best an 
 imitation of John Baptist, is characteristic of Ethnic 
 religions, and doubtless was imported from the East. 
 Neander (Planting, etc., L 483) distinguishes between 
 true Christian humility, based on the consciousness of 
 dependence on God and faith in the Redeemer, and " a 
 self-abhorrence with a denial of the dignity founded on 
 the consciousness of redemption, — a sense of depression 
 without that sense of exaltation which is blended with it 
 in the consciousness of redemption." There is a Scotch 
 sect that abstains from the Holy Supper, in such affected 
 humility. How common is such affectation among sec- 
 taries! "Fanatical pride is often associated with this 
 humility, as when, for show, the beggar's feet are washed, 
 and the friar in his coarse rags walks barefooted and 
 begs" (Eadie). " Humility, when it becomes self-con- 
 
238 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [11. 18. 
 
 scious, ceases to have any value " (LightfoOT). — And 
 worshipping of the angels. The word signifies ivorsJiip 
 in its outward aspect. For an exhaustive account of 
 Jewish angelology, see Edersheim, Life and Times of 
 Jesus the Messiah, Ap. XIII. He shows how many of 
 the rabbinical notions about the angels were " brought 
 from Babylon," as the Talmud indeed says ; and adds, 
 " The teaching of the New Testament on the subject of 
 angels represents, as compared with that of the Rabbis, 
 not only a return to the purity of Old Testament teach- 
 ing, but, we might almost say, a new revelation." The 
 Essene novices were sworn, on their admission to full 
 membership, not to disclose the names of the angels 
 (JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews, 11. 8, 7). The Gnostics 
 multiplied heavenly mediators, the Valentinians teaching 
 that there were as many as thirty aeons. We may gather 
 from Iren^US (Against Heresies, II. 32, 5) and others, 
 that they also used " invocations of angels, incantations 
 and other curious wicked art." The early Church was 
 profoundly affected by this tendency. It was thought a 
 great thing to boast a knowledge of " the angelic orders, 
 the distinctions between powers and dominions, the diver- 
 sities between thrones and authorities, the mightiness of 
 the aeons, and the pre-eminence of the cherubim and sera- 
 phim " (Ignatius, ad Tral. 5). It is curious that the 
 worship of angels seems to have persisted at Colossae. 
 At Khonai (Colossae) there is a church dedicated to St. 
 Michael, who is fabled to have descended and confounded 
 the heathen there. " A remarkable example of the wor- 
 ship of angels is contained in an inscription of Miletos. 
 In this strange instance of superstition, inscribed (neces- 
 sarily by public permission) on the wall of the theatre, the 
 seven archangels who preside over the seven planets are 
 invoked to protect the city " (RAMSAY, Ch. in the Rom. 
 
II. i8.] CHAPTER II. 239 
 
 Empire, 468, 480). Among the canons of a Council of 
 Laodicea, A. D. 364, occur the following : XX. It is not 
 necessary for Christians to rest from labor on the Sabbath 
 like the Jews. XVI. On the Sabbath the Gospels are 
 to be read, as well as the Old Testament. XXXV. Chris- 
 tians ought not forsake the Church of God and go to 
 meetings for paying reverence to angels. Another canon 
 is directed against wandering magicians and the use 
 of charms. (See Neander, Planting, etc., I. 326.) An 
 indication of the particular heresy urged at Colossae — a 
 worship of lesser beings, as if it were virtuous for a man 
 to think himself too mean to approach God through His 
 Son. The same tendency afterwards encouraged the in- 
 trusion of saints as mediators. In the Roman Church 
 the priest says, in confessing before the Mass, "Therefore 
 I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the 
 Archangel, blessed John Baptist, the holy apostles Peter 
 and Paul, and all the Saints, and you, father, to pray to 
 the Lord our God for me." — Dwelling in the things 
 which he hath seen, or taking his stand upon, or invad- 
 ing. Thus put, it means that these false teachers founded 
 their teaching on visions and experiences of their own, 
 instead of the revelation of Christ, common to the faith 
 of the Church. AUGUSTINE notes (Confessions, 10:42) 
 that many who had recourse to the angels, fell " into a 
 longing for curious visions, and were held worthy of illu- 
 sions." Even Gregory the Great tried to prove the 
 existence of Purgatory from visions he had had of souls 
 of the dead. It is characteristic of fanatics to put more 
 confidence in visions of their own than in the written 
 word. In order to relieve a dif^culty here, a various 
 reading was inserted, " Which he hath not seen ; " and 
 LiGHTFOOT ingeniously conjectures an emendation, 
 which would read, " Walking on the air,'' like a tightrope 
 
2 40 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [ii. 19, 20. 
 
 dancer or a bird in flight ; i- e. dealing with uncertain and 
 perilous doctrines. — Vainly puffed up by his fleshly 
 mind: by the reason of his flesh. The false teacher may 
 have asserted that he was led by " reason." The apostle 
 answers, By the " reason " of his flesh, his unregenerate 
 and godless mind. " Their profession of humility was a 
 cloke for excessive pride " (LiGHTFOOT). 
 
 19. And not holding fast the head. The sijte qua nan. 
 — Supplied. Nourished. (Eph. 4 : 16.) — Knit together. 
 " Brought and held together in mutual adaptation " 
 (Eadie). — Joints. The relations between contiguous limbs. 
 — Bands. Nerves, muscles, ligaments. Althouo-h this is 
 said in pursuance of the figure, it reflects the fact that the 
 Body of Christ is not merely the Head and the members, 
 but is made and maintained by the mutual relations, the 
 arrangement, the offices, of all the parts. — Increaseth 
 with the increase of God. Perhaps this is an allusion to 
 a demand or promise of growth made by false teachers. 
 Much that is caWed ^-rozvth and progress in the Church is 
 not the increase of God. 
 
 20-23. If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as 
 though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle 
 not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), 
 after the precepts and doctrines of men ? Which things have indeed a show 
 of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body ; but are 
 not of any value agamst the indulgence of the flesh. 
 
 20. If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the 
 world (2:8); i. e. from the principles which are not de- 
 rived from the revelation of 'God (Rom. 7 : 3, 4 ; Gal. 2 : 19). 
 — Why do ye subject yourselves to ordinances ; such as 
 those of the Essenes, or of the Jews ? It is common to 
 regard will-worship or legalism as higher than simple 
 fidelity in the callings of life, to which St. Paul in this 
 epistle recalls the Colossians. See Augsburg Confession, 
 
Ji. 21-23.] CHAPTER n. 241 
 
 XXVI., XXVII, XXVIII. " This is the grievous error 
 which God sends- upon those who love not the truth, but 
 believe a lie " (LuTHER, 26: 188). 
 
 21. Handle not, nor taste, nor touch. He quotes a 
 maxim from the false teachers. How singular that this 
 very maxim, scorned by the apostle, should in aftertime 
 have been adopted and urged as an inspired command- 
 ment ! 
 
 22. All which things are to perish in the using 
 (Matt. 15 : 17; Mark 7 : 19). — After the precepts and 
 doctrines of men. A warning against those teachers who 
 affect an improvement on the morality of the Gospel. 
 (See Matt. 15:9; Mark T : J \ Isai. 29 : 13.) 
 
 23. (See verse 18.) A condemnation of will-worship. 
 Christ does not merely impart a sentiment, which can in 
 turn construct a service better than His; but the utmost 
 His disciple can aim at is, to be as his Master. In the 
 Old Testament, vows made to God were to be fulfilled, 
 but it was better not to vow (Deut. 23 : 22-24). Ir^ 
 vowing, a man takes upon himself " an obligation which 
 goes beyond ordinary duty. This comes near to being a 
 God-tempting challenge : a sinful man should remember 
 thathecannotcomeup to the measure of his ordinary duty. 
 An Israelite should remember that as a member of the 
 Covenant people of God he may rely upon God's good- 
 ness without a corresponding promise of special services ; 
 and if he has made a vow, he has a little distorted the 
 relation in which he stands to God. The vow itself is a 
 condition of guilt, which must be taken away by an 
 atoning sacrifice " (KliefOTH). So Martensen (Ethics, 
 II. 419): " There is no duty whatever to which we are 
 not already bound ; there is only one vow God requires 
 of us, namely, our baptismal vozv. No doubt it may be 
 
 useful to renew a good purpose in the presence of God. 
 16 
 
242 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [n. 23. 
 
 But solemnly to vow to God that to combat a particular 
 sin or temptation, we will apply this or that means, a 
 means not at all expressly prescribed in God's word, but 
 prescribed by ourselves or other men, — pedagogic, per- 
 haps even merely experimental means, e. g. a sacrifice that 
 God does not require, an abstaining from certain in them- 
 selves permitted enjoyments, — is a folly. The whole 
 doctrine of special vows to God, so far as they should 
 have an ascetic import, is to be reduced to this, that in 
 all our discipline we constantly renew our baptismal vow, 
 and especially should remind ourselves that we have once 
 for all renounced the devil, all his works and all his ways, 
 and apply this to the special case, the special require- 
 ment." The austerities of early " saints " are recorded 
 as a warning. " Hermits hid themselves in the wilderness, 
 even their families having been forsaken. Monks insti- 
 tuted celibacy and other rites " (MelanchthON). Olym- 
 pias, the friend of Chrysostom, was praised because she 
 did not bathe when she should. Among the most singular 
 of these ascetics were the Stylites or pillar-saints. Of 
 Symeon it is said : " He lived ten years in a narrow pen ; 
 after which he built a pillar, and took his position on the 
 top of it, which was only about a yard in diameter. He 
 removed successively from one pillar to another, always 
 increasing the height, which in the last of them was forty 
 cubits; and in this way he spent thirty-seven years. His 
 life is compared to that of angels — offering up prayers 
 for men from his elevated position, and bringing down 
 graces on them. His netkwas loaded with an iron chain. 
 In praying he bent his body so that his forehead almost 
 touched his feet. A spectator once counted twelve hun- 
 dred and forty-four repetitions of this movement, and 
 then lost his reckoning." It is hard to see wherein this 
 differs from the extravagance of East Indian devotees. 
 
II. 23] CHAPTER II. 243 
 
 (Cf. also the Flagellants, and Luther's experience in the 
 Erfurt Monastery.) Eadie states that in 1854 a new 
 saint was added to the Popish calendar, as a proof of 
 whose holiness it was alleged that " he was a model of 
 humility, abstinence and mortification, taking only for 
 food remains of cabbage, lemon-peel or lettuce leaves, 
 which he picked up in the streets. He even ate, once, 
 some spoiled soup which he found on a dunghill, where it 
 had been thrown." Other detailed proofs of his filthiness 
 were shown. But it must not be overlooked that the 
 same spirit may be shown in a cleanlier way. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 1-4. If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are 
 above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on 
 the things tliat are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For 
 ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our 
 life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. 
 
 1. Accordingly, Paul now proceeds to give his prescrip- 
 tion against will-worship. (See 2:12, 13.) Our ascension 
 with Christ is guaranteed in our resurrection with Him. 
 Christ's session on God's right hand is His reward, and 
 is a promise that if we overcome we shall sit with Him in 
 His throne (Rev. 3 : 21). That " virtue is its own reward," 
 is not the doctrine of the Christian. He expects a re- 
 ward. 
 
 2. '' Mind the things above, for your life is hidden with 
 Christ : when He is manifested, so shall ye be also " 
 (Ellicott). This is the first particular of Christian moral- 
 ity. A Christian goes through the world, conscious that 
 his citizenship is in heaven, and seeking the things that 
 are there, and laying up treasures there. He neither 
 regards, seeks nor values what the world can give or take 
 away. 
 
 3. Christ's death was ours. " Like His, our death is 
 not the end to our life, but a being hid in God " (SCHNE- 
 derman). In Baptism we died and were buried, with 
 Christ. We are to regard ourselves as dead, so far as 
 this world is concerned, and alive only in Christ (Gal. 
 6 : 14; Rom. 6 : 11). Bengel : "The world knows 
 
 244 
 
III. 4. ■ CHAPTER III. 245 
 
 neither Christ nor Christians ; and, indeed, Christians do 
 not yet clearly know themselves." It doth not yet ap- 
 pear what we shall be, St. John says (i John 3 : 2). 
 Neither doth it yet appear what we are. So was it with 
 Christ (Acts 3 : 17 ; 4 : 11), but He was declared to be 
 the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the 
 dead (Rom. i : 4). 
 
 4. (Rom. 8 : 18-21 ; i John 3 : 2.) Christ is here iden- 
 tified with our life ( I John 5 : 12). 
 
 5-7. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth ; fornica- 
 tion, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, the which is idol- 
 atry ; for which things' sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of 
 disobedience ; in the which ye also walked aforetime, when ye lived in these 
 things. 
 
 5. riortify. Put to death. They will be put to death 
 " if you acknowledge them in repentance and earnestly 
 turn from them and accept forgiveness from Christ by 
 faith, and resist sinful desire so that it come not to actual 
 sin and get no dominion over you " (Luther). Matt. 
 5 : 29. — Your members which are upon the earth. Paul 
 shows that Christian freedom is not license, but a very 
 definite character. — Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil 
 desire (i Thess. 4:5; Eph. 4 : 19). Unchastity of mind 
 and body was a characteristic sin of the old heathen 
 world ; it still is the vice of heathendom ; and, in Chris- 
 tendom, of the zvorld. — And covetousness, which is 
 idolatry. (See i Thess. 4 : 6.) LiGHTFOOT: "Impurity 
 and covetousness may be said to divide between them 
 nearly the whole domain of human selfishness and vice. 
 * Man out of God,' says Bengel on Rom. i : 29, ' seeks 
 his gratification in the creature, either through pleasure 
 or through luxury.' " Chrysostom (on John, LXV.) 
 says, " The love of money says. Sacrifice thy soul to me : 
 and thou obeyest." LUTHER : " Whatsoever a man hangs 
 
246 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [in. 6-9. 
 
 his heart upon, that is his god." (See on First Command- 
 ment in Large Catechism.) How timely is this warning 
 
 now ! 
 
 6. Cometh the wrath of God. Upon the sons of dis- 
 obedience was inserted here from Eph. 5:6. i. The 
 wrath of God is coming on those who do these things. 
 2. The wrath of God always is coming on such sin and 
 vice, but all things hasten to the great day of His wrath. 
 
 7. There are who live in these things, and no other- 
 wise ; while Christians live in Christ. And such were the 
 Colossians. The moral condition of the heathen world 
 at the advent of the Gospel is almost inconceivable now 
 (Rom. I : 18-32). Yet it has been paralleled by those 
 who have trampled Christ under foot. The injunctions 
 which follow indicate the former life and the present en- 
 vironment of the Colossian Christians. 
 
 8. But now put ye also away all these ; anger, wrath, malice, railing, 
 shameful speaking out of your mouth : 
 
 8. Paul now goes on to a new class of vices which are 
 members of ourselves upon the earth. Compare the 8th 
 Commandment. — Anger. Deep settled hatred. — Wrath. 
 The breaking forth of angry passion. — flalice. We have no 
 better word for it : the disposition that seeks to do evil 
 to others. — Railing. Evil speaking of others, slander, in- 
 jurious gossip. The original is blasphemy. — Shameful 
 speaking out of your mouth. Abusive speech. 
 
 9. Lie not one to another ; seeing that ye have put off the old man with 
 his doings, 
 
 9. Lie not one to another. This does not imply that 
 they were to be truthful to each other, though not to 
 others ; but reflects the fact that a lie is a breach of the 
 charity which should be between Christians. A Chris- 
 tian should have nothing to conceal from his fellow ; no 
 
HI. 9.] CHAPTER III. 247 
 
 motive to misrepresentation. BURGER (in Herzog, 9 : 2) 
 calls attention to the frequency of falsehood in our mod- 
 ern life, in the tone of society, in common conversation, 
 in the public prints, in political and party life, in parlia- 
 mentary debate and in diplomacy, in trade and on the 
 exchange ; falsehood with which we are so familiar that 
 we do not call it lying, but invent softer names and ready 
 excuses. It is evident that such falsehood betokens an 
 absence of Christian love and a denial of Christian fellow- 
 ship. Ljn'ng- is any intentional deception of our neighbor. 
 (See John 8 : 44; Eph. 4 : 25 ; i Peter 2 : 22 ; Rev. 21:8; 
 22 : 15.) The cases cited from the Old Testament (Gen. 
 12 : II ; 20 : 2 ; i Sam. 21:2, 13 ; 27 : 10, etc.) suggest 
 the question whether it is ever allowable to deceive. 
 " The greatest authorities are here opposed to each other. 
 So even the most esteemed Church Fathers. Basil the 
 Great rejects every lie of exigency, while Chrysostom de- 
 fends it. Auguitine condemns it most decidedly, and says 
 that even if the whole human race could be saved by one 
 lie, one must rather let it perish ; Jerome again finds the 
 lie of exigency permissible. Calvin will on no account 
 hear of it ; Luther calls it not good indeed, but yet ex- 
 cuses it in certain cases as admissible. Kant and Fichte 
 reject it; Jacobi defends it" (Martensen, II. 216). 
 Among English moralists, Jeremy Taylor, Milton and 
 Paley have been quoted as admitting it. But MarteN- 
 SEN goes on to say : " The inevitableness of the lie of ex- 
 igency will disappear in proportion as a person develops 
 into a true personality, a true character ; the more he 
 grows in faith, in courage, in willingness to suffer and 
 make sacrifices for the truth's sake, in right wisdom ; in 
 the measure in which a man grows in moral power and 
 energy, he will be able to dispense with the application of 
 craft." BuRGERurges thecxamnleof Christ (i Peter 2 ; 22). 
 
248 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [iii. lo, ii. 
 
 As a wilful lie is a violation of Christian love, and be- 
 tokens its absence or imperfection ; so what is called the 
 lie of necessity or of exigency seems to be occasioned by 
 distrust of God. — Seeing that ye have put off. Put off 
 
 and put on are the words used for putting c/othcs off and 
 on, as in 2:15. This intimates that aforetime the 
 Colossians might have allowed such shameful sins. And 
 indeed, are there not who now excuse themselves in them 
 on the plea that they do not profess to be Christians ? 
 But they are totally incompatible with the new life hid 
 with Christ in God. 
 
 lo-ii. And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto 
 knowledge after the image of him that created him : where there cannot be 
 Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond- 
 man, freeman : but Christ is all, and in all. 
 
 10. Our Christianity is : i. A death and resurrection with 
 Christ, complete in idea, appropriated and imputed in 
 Baptism (2 : 12, 20: 3 : 1-4). 2. It commits us to the 
 death of our old nature with all its dispositions and pro- 
 pensities, and to the birth and completion unto perfect 
 knowledge of the new nature, — a restoration of the 
 divine image which Adam lost. 3. Our Christian life is 
 a continual slaying of these evil propensities, even those 
 which the world allows, and a continual renewal in the 
 image of God. (See the last question on Baptism in the 
 Catechism.) — Which is being renewed. The renewal is 
 spoken of as present and continuous. 
 
 11. Here every possible distinction of nationality, reli- 
 gious training, culture and condition is considered. As 
 the Jews divided all men into Jews and Gentiles, so the 
 Greeks called all but themselves Barbarians. In Chris- 
 tianity all these distinctions ceased ; and even the Scyth- 
 ian, the lowest of Barbarians, and perhaps looked upon 
 with utmost disgust in this region, is made one with the 
 
III. 12.] CHAPTER III. 249 
 
 rest in Christ. It was especially fitting that in sending 
 this epistle by Onesimus, a converted slave returning to 
 his master and now become a brother beloved, Paul should 
 say, There cannot be freeman and bondman — Christ is 
 all in all. The verb has the force of cannot be. All dis- 
 tinctions are lost in the primal unity of men in Christ. 
 " The idea of mankind as one family, as the children 
 of one God, is an idea of Christian growth. . . . The 
 common origin of mankind, the differences of race and 
 language, the susceptibility of all nations of the highest 
 mental culture, these become in the new world in which 
 we live problems of scientific, because of more than 
 scientific interest " (F. Max Mueller, Science of Lan- 
 guage, I. 118). 
 
 12-13. Put °" therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of 
 compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering ; forbearing one 
 another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against 
 any ; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye : 
 
 12. God's elect. Those chosen out of the world. (See 
 I Thess. I : 1,4.) — Holy. Saints — consecrated ones (Phil. 
 I : i). — Beloved. Sharers in God's love for His Son 
 (i : 13).— A heart of compassion. (Cf. Luke i : 78.) The 
 bowels included all the nobler viscera. — Kindness (Gal. 
 5 : 22 ; Eph. 2:7; 4 : 32). Friendliness, " sweetness of 
 disposition " (Ellicott). " The lovely character of a man 
 who is friendly to every one, repels no one with sour 
 looks or harsh words or rude gestures, but of whom every 
 one says. Oh, he is so friendly ! It denotes not one sort 
 of doing, but the whole life. On the other hand, there 
 are men who never are pleased unless others do what they 
 wish and accord with their opinion " (Luther). — Hu- 
 mility (Phil. 2 : 3). Lowliness of mind in our disposi- 
 tion towards others; excluding all secret pride (2 : 18). 
 " Where one holds himself to be the least, and others to 
 
S^o EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIAA'S. [in. 13, 14; 
 
 be above him, and, as Christ says, takes the lowest place 
 at the feast " (Luther).— Heekness (Gal. 5 : 23). Op- 
 posed to rudeness, harshness. " Is not angry, swears not, 
 strikes not, hates not, nor does nor wishes any one evil, 
 not even an enemy " (lb.).— Longsuffering (Gal. 5 : 22). 
 Slow to resent the unkindness of others. " You may find 
 those who bear much and are patient yet comfort them- 
 selves with the thought that in due time they will be 
 revenged. But longsuffering does not wish to be revenged, 
 but wishes the amendment of the sinner " (lb.). 
 
 13. Forbearing one another. Showing your meekness 
 and longsuffering thus towards each other. The virtues 
 of a Christian are to find their sphere in the close circle 
 of every-day life. — And forgiving each other. Paul says, 
 Forgiving yourselves, to indicate that they are members 
 one of another. — If any man have a complaint against 
 any. Evidently, against any one of the congregation. 
 It is not to be presumed that our life will be such that 
 one will never have any reason to complain of others. 
 " Here all rights between Christians are abolished, and no 
 one of them is allowed to demand anything of the other 
 as a right, but we are to forgive and yield to one another. 
 Christ is set as our example. He forgave not only the 
 sin done and past, but St. John says. If any man sin, we 
 have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
 Righteous " (Luther). — Even as the Lord forgave you. 
 The supreme motive, and the measure. 
 
 14. And above all these things /«^ 07i love, which is the bond of perfect- 
 
 ness. 
 
 14. Above. In addition to, upon, over all these ; as one 
 would put on a girdle over other garments to hold them 
 together. " Since it is possible for one who forgives, not 
 to love ; yea, he saith, thou must love him too " (Chrys- 
 OSTOM). — The bond of perfectness. Three related explan- 
 
III. 14.] CHAPTER III. 251 
 
 ations are suggested. LUTHER says : " Love holds the 
 hearts together, not partially, or only in some particulars, 
 but through and through, over all and in all things. It 
 makes us all to be of one mind, one heart, one purpose, 
 and permits no one to set up a private separate opinion 
 in doctrine and faith : all remains equal and in accord. 
 It binds the hearts of rich and poor together, of the mighty 
 and their subjects, of sick and strong, of high and low, of 
 those honored and those despised, and withholds its 
 blessing from no man ; but on the other hand it takes up 
 every man's burden as its own ; so that everywhere there 
 may be full and perfect unity and fellowship in prosperity 
 and in adversity. That is the meaning of tJie bond of 
 perfectnessy A little differently Melanchthon : " The 
 word perfection here is not to be understood as the private 
 perfection of some one person or the perfect fulfilment of 
 the law ; but means the unification of the body of the 
 Church, or the conservation of its unity and concord. 
 That is, so long as the teachers of the Church preserve 
 mutual love for one another, even though they may hap- 
 pen to differ in opinion, the Church is not torn by that 
 difference, but the learned bear with the weak and try to 
 heal them, and the weak heed the more learned as modest 
 children listen to their parents." But again, LUTHER 
 says: "Where love is not, hearts may be joined and be 
 of one mind, but only in certain points, while in others 
 they are far apart. Robbers are united in robbery and 
 murder. Worldly friends are of one mind, so far as their 
 own profit is concerned. Monks are at one in matters 
 referring to their order and their glory. Herod and Pilate 
 were friends together, but only in reference to Jesus 
 Christ. But there scarcely is a monk or priest or layman 
 at one with the other ; their bond in worthless — as when 
 one ties chaff together with a wisp of straw." So ChryS- 
 
252 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [in. 15. 
 
 OSTOM : " What he wishes to say is this : that there is no 
 profit in those things, for all those things fall asunder, 
 except they be done with love. It is as in a ship, even 
 though her rigging be large, yet if there be no girding 
 ropes, it is of no service ; and in a house, if there be no 
 tie beams, it is the same; and in a body, though the 
 bones be large, if there be no ligaments, they are of no 
 service. For whatsoever good deeds any may have, all 
 do vanish away, if love be not there." Love is the unity 
 of all Christian virtues ; the guaranty against fault in our 
 behavior. It is to be noted that the Gnostics taught 
 that knowledge was the bond of cojnpleteness. 
 
 15. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye 
 were called in one body ; and be ye thankful. 
 
 15. The peace of Christ. (John 14 : 27 ; Eph. 2 : 14 ; 
 Phil. 4 : 7.) " That calm of mind which is not rufBed by 
 adversity, overclouded by sin or by a remorseful con- 
 science, or disturbed by the fear and the approach of death" 
 (Eadie). — Let the peace of Christ be arbiter, umpire, in 
 your hearts. He had just told them not to mind if any 
 found fault, or would lead them to another race than 
 that which the Captain of their salvation set before them 
 (2 : 16). " He hath represented an arena within, in the 
 thoughts, and a contest, and a wrestling, and an umpire. 
 If two thoughts are fighting together, set not anger, set 
 not spitefulness to hold the prize, but peace; for instance, 
 suppose one to have been insulted unjustly ; of the in- 
 sult are born two thoughts^ the one bidding him take 
 revenge, the other to endure : if the Peace of God stand 
 forward as umpire, it bestows the prize on that which 
 bids endure, and puts the other to shame " (Theophy- 
 lact). Meyer dissents, saying : The context goes 
 deeper ; and translates : Let the peace of Christ arrange 
 
III. i6.] CHAPTER III. 253 
 
 and guide the conflict and give the reward. (See Wis. 
 10 : 12.) — In one body. (Eph. 4:4.) 
 
 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching 
 and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns ^zwo' spiritual songs, 
 singing with grace in your hearts unto God. 
 
 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all 
 wisdom. \\\ every ki)id of ivisdovi,-;x'^\x\ i : 28. The words 
 of Christ may not yet have been written in the form of our 
 Gospels. But each Church had received the tradition of liis 
 Word (Acts 20 : 35) ; and He spoke through the prophets. 
 What Christ had said was normative ; and they were (i) to 
 keep it in mind and (2) learn to apply it on all occasions. 
 " What is this word of God ? The words of the holy Gospel 
 and of the inspired apostles and of the prophets of God. 
 How does the word of God dwell in us in all wisdom ? 
 Through the hearing and reading and observance of the 
 Scriptures of God. When we attend to these constantly 
 and carefully, our memory is stored, our mind is enriched, 
 our heart overflows and streams of divine instruction 
 pour from our lips " (NiCEPHORUS). — Teaching and ad= 
 monishing (i : 28 ; compare the Third Commandment). 
 — One another. Yourselves. " Here St. Paul makes the 
 teaching-office common to all Christians " (Luther). 
 The constant function of the Church within itself is, 
 mutual instruction and admonition based on the word of 
 Christ. It will appear that St. Paul is particularly bent 
 on excluding other " wisdom," by which false teachers 
 and the simple might seek to teach and admonish. — 
 With psalms. Doubtless the Psalter. The Psalms of 
 David were sung by the Jews in worship, and naturally 
 formed a part of the service of the early Church. (See 
 Bingham, XIV.) The Psalms are the Prayer-book of 
 the fellowship of Christ — they are given of God ; they 
 record the communion of the Old Testament saints 
 
254 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [iii. 16. 
 
 with Him ; how dear they were to our Lord is evinced 
 by His words on the cross ; and the experience of every 
 generation of His saints has been sung into them. " The 
 Psalter is a vast pahmpsest, written over and over again, 
 illuminated, illustrated, by every conceivable emotion of 
 men and nations ; battles, wanderings, dangers, escapes, 
 deathbeds, obsequies, of many ages and countries, rise, 
 or may rise, to our view, as we read it " (STANLEY). 
 " This is the peculiarity of the Psalter, that everyone can 
 use its words as if they were peculiarly and individually 
 his own " (Ambrose). " The Psalms are interwoven 
 with the texture of the New Testament. . . . The fifth 
 verse of the 31st Psalm rises from saint after saint. It 
 was spoken by Jesus first ; then it came from St. Stephen, 
 St. Polycarp, St. Basil, Epiphanius of Pavia, St. Bernard, 
 St. Louis, Huss, Columbus, Luther, Melanchthon, Silvio 
 Pellico. . . . Many portions of our Lord's teaching were 
 addressed, through an audience which could not receive 
 or understand them, to those far away in time and place. 
 They presuppose such hearers and readers ; they imply 
 the kindling of a light in which they could be read, the 
 existence of natures to which they should become in- 
 telligible. In the same way the Psalms presuppose an 
 audience for which they were suited, and a tone of feel- 
 ing and devotion which should answer to them. If these 
 deep sighs and unutterable yearnings were intended to be 
 used, they imply the knowledge of a character not yet 
 perfected by the Holy Ghost ; of souls, with finer gifts 
 and higher susceptibilities, to be moulded out of our fallen 
 humanity. They may well call themselves new songs. 
 They are new songs for new men " (Bp. W. ALEXANDER). 
 The Church has assisted in the Christianization of the 
 Psalter not only by its traditional interpretation, but by 
 its arrangement of the Psalms in the service, in the special 
 
in. i6.] CHAPTER III. 255 
 
 seasons of the Christian year, and as introits and re- 
 sponsories. These inspired songs are best fitted to be 
 the perennial songs of the Church for the same reason 
 that the Lord's Prayer fits all times and seasons. An 
 earnest Christian grows in his appreciation of the Psalms. 
 — Hymns ; i. e. sacred songs of Christian composition. 
 Luther makes it to refer to other songs taken out of 
 Scripture, besides the Psalms, such as the songs of Moses, 
 Deborah, Habakkuk, Hezekiah, and the MagJiificat, 
 Benedictus, Nuncdiniittis, and Song of the Three Children. 
 Such were the Gloria in Excelsis and Gloria Patri and 
 Alleluia. (See Acts 4 : 24 ; 16 : 25 ; i Cor. 14 : 15, 26 ; 
 Eph. 5 : 14; I Cor. 13; i Tim. 3: 16; and the songs in 
 Revelation.) That from the beginning the Christians 
 sang hymns to Christ as God, we learn from the cele- 
 brated letter of Pliny (X. 97 ; see EUSEBIUS, Hist. V. 28, 
 and Bingham, XIV. 2 ; my Liturgies, pp. 78 ff.). — And 
 spiritual songs. " Songs not taken from the holy Scrip- 
 tures, such as might be made at any time " (Luther). 
 That this does not refer to singing in common worship 
 only, we gather from Tertullian. (See Acts 16 : 25.) 
 Clement of Alexandria enjoins the substitution of such 
 songs in their feasts and mirth, instead of the objection- 
 able music and songs of the Greeks, " St. Jerome tells 
 us that the Psalms were to be heard in the fields and 
 vineyards of Psalestine. The ploughman, as he held his 
 plough, chanted Hallelujah ; and the reaper, the vine- 
 dresser and the shepherd sang the songs of David. 
 Sidonius Apollinaris represents boatmen, as they worked 
 their heavy barges up the waters, singing Psalms till the 
 banks echoed with Hallelujah, and applies it to the voy- 
 age of the Christian life. 
 
 " Here the choir of them that drag the boat, 
 
 ^— While the banks give back responsive note — 
 
256 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [in. 17. 
 
 Alleluia ! — full and calm 
 
 Lifts and lets the friendly bidding float — 
 Lift the Psalm. 
 Christian pilgrim ! Christian boatman ! each beside his rolling river, 
 Sing, O pilgrim ! sing, O boatman ! lift the Psalm in music ever." 
 
 — Alexander. 
 
 We are to observe St. Paul's recognition of the use of 
 Christian song in teaching. The songs of the Church, 
 their selection and arrangement in the service, teach, as 
 well as the lections and sermon. Therefore should we 
 be careful to guard against all falsehood and all that is 
 unworthy in " sacred " song. And a warning of Erasmus 
 (letter of Aug. 13, 1529) is also to be heeded : ''The sing- 
 ing of hymns was an ancient and pious custom, but when 
 music was introduced fitter for weddings and banquets 
 than for God's service, and the sacred words were lost in 
 afTected intonations, so that no word in the Litany was 
 spoken plainly, away went another strand of the rope." — 
 With grace ; i. e, in God's grace. The reading is, in tlie 
 grace. Paul does not insist that singing must be sweet 
 or graceful. LuTHER : " Some songs have the choicest 
 words, but are worldly and of the flesh ; others have good 
 matter, but words so unfit that they have neither favor 
 nor grace." — In your hearts unto God. ClIRYSOSTOM : 
 " Though thou be in the market-place, thou mayest sing 
 in thyself without any one hearing it." " Not that your 
 mouth is to be silent, but that the words of your mouth 
 shall express your heart's sentiment " (LUTHER). 
 
 17. And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, a'l^all in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 
 
 17. ''The work of a Christian has no special name, 
 season or place, but what they do — that is good ; and 
 when they do it — it is right ; and whenever they do it, — it 
 is well. Therefore St. Paul here names no special work, 
 makes no distinction, but takes all together, and makes 
 
in. 18-21.J CHAPTER III. 257 
 
 all good, eating, drinking, sleeping, waking, going, stay- 
 ing, speaking, silence, work and rest, all are alike precious 
 if in the name of the Lord Jesus. We go in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus when we hold in firm faith that Christ is 
 in us, and we are in Him; therefore we rest, and He 
 works in us (Gal. 2 : 20). But if we do anything as of 
 ourselves, it is in our name, and has no good in it " 
 (Luther). 
 
 18-19. Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the 
 Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 
 
 18. This is Marriage in the Lord. (See on i Thess. 
 4 : I ss.) It is proper that wives should submit to their 
 husbands. There must not be disunited households. Nor 
 would it be fitting to bid husbands obey their wives. (See 
 on Eph. 5:4; Philem. 8.) 
 
 19. On the other hand, husbands are to love their 
 wives, and not be bitter, harsh, cross-grained, towards 
 them. As one thinks how applicable this and ver. 18 are 
 to households in the Church in the present day, he can- 
 not but admire St. Paul's close observation. In that day 
 there were unloving, fault-finding husbands, hard to 
 please, and wives who asserted for themselves a sphere 
 of interests outside the home. He defines their mutual 
 duty in the Lord ; and a later age cannot escape from it. 
 
 20-21. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing 
 in the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children, that they be not dis- 
 couraged. 
 
 20-21. This is the Fourth Commandment "in the 
 Lord." Certainly, these injunctions rest on close obser- 
 vation and much reflection. An exacting parent irritates 
 his children ; a harsh one breaks their spirit. 
 
 22-24. Servants, obey in all things them that are your masters accord- 
 ing to the flesh ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of 
 heart, fearing the Lord : whatsoever ye do, work heartily, as unto the Lord, 
 17 
 
258 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [in. 22-24. 
 
 and not unto men ; knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recom- 
 pense of the inheritance : ye serve the Lord Christ. 
 
 22-24. Servants ; i. e. bondservants, slaves. Paul here 
 approaches a dehcate subject. The letter was brought 
 by Onesimus as well as Tychicus, and the former 
 was a runaway slave of Philemon, a prominent member 
 of the Colossian Church. He had fallen in with Paul at 
 Rome, perhaps resorted to him in distress, and under his 
 influence had been converted ; and now, transformed into 
 "a brother beloved," was demonstrating the reality of his 
 conversion by coming back to his master at Paul's bid- 
 ding. It is possible that many others of the Colossian 
 Christians were bondmen, and it may have been because 
 of this, and in reference to the triumphant mission of 
 Onesimus, that St. Paul refers to himself and Timothy, 
 and Epaphras and Tychicus, as bondmen of Christ (i : 7 ; 
 4 : 8). It is noteworthy how many sorts of persons were 
 already to be found in the Church. Probably there was 
 a representative of every class mentioned in 3 : 1 1 in 
 the Colossian congregation. Paul addresses bondmen as 
 moral personalities. Though treated by the law as chat- 
 tels, their masters having over them the power of life and 
 death, and often making them the dumb instruments of 
 their sins, there is for them a rule and life in Christ. Paul 
 had seen their eyeservice (a word of his own coining); 
 their double-dealing, their trifling, superficial performance 
 of duty. He says, In all things obey (i Peter 2 : 18-24) ; 
 in singleness of heart ; diligently work, from your hearts 
 serving ; as unto the Lord; and not unto men. And the 
 Lord will requite you. You are treated as if you were 
 not human here — only slaves ; but there you shall have 
 an in]ieritance. How great the wisdom and sympathy of 
 this great man, writing from Rome, the centre of slavery, 
 to slaves ! 
 
III. 25.] CHAPTER III. 259 
 
 25. For he that doeth wrong shall receive again for the wrong that he 
 hath done : and there is no respect of persons. 
 
 25. While this verse is closely connected with the pre- 
 ceding verses, and shows the penalty of the disregard of 
 what is said in ver. 24, it is no less closely connected with 
 what follows. Bondage begets vices. He whom the law 
 does not protect comes to think himself free from the 
 law. But punishment awaits a bad slave as well as a bad 
 master. And, on the other hand, those who are suffer- 
 ing injustice from which there is no appeal on earth, are 
 reminded that with God there is no respect of persons. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 I. Masters, render unto your servants that which is just and equal; 
 knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. 
 
 I. Thus says the man who rejoiced to call himself 
 the slave of Jesus Christ. He requires from all servants 
 hearty service ; from all masters justice and fairness ; and 
 reminds them that they also must give account. 
 
 Prisoners taken in war were sold as slaves in the an- 
 cient world. It is estimated that about the time of Paul 
 there were in the Roman world three times as many slaves 
 as freemen. They were considered by the law as the 
 absolute property of their owners. Revolting stories of 
 cruelty are told. No doubt these were exceptional. And 
 there are evidences of the gradual growth of a better 
 sentiment, even outside the influence of Christianity. 
 The Essenes forbade the ownership of slaves. Emancipa- 
 tion was urged by Gnostics, but not by the Church. Paul 
 bade Onesimus return to his master, but introduced him 
 as the dear brother of Philemon and himself, even as his 
 own self (Philem. i6, 17). Early Christian authors 
 (Tatian, Tertullian, Lactantius) take the same position, 
 accounting the outward condition of a man to be of small 
 moment in comparison of his being in Christ. The early 
 Church recognized no call to reform and reorganize the 
 state and worldly society. (See i Cor. 7:21.) It ad- 
 dressed the individual heart and conscience, and trans- 
 formed it, and it was not until the Church became dom- 
 inant in the world that it recognized its duty in reference 
 260 
 
IV. I.] CHAPTER IV. 261 
 
 to social problems. But by that time it had lost also 
 somewhat of the singleness of its eye. " The Christianity 
 of the Roman Empire was not a pure Christianity, but a 
 mixture of Christian views with those of the ancient 
 world. It is the merit of Protestantism to have finally 
 delivered Christianity from the remnants of the mixture 
 of ancient life " (Uhlhorn). But the views and practices 
 of the Church contributed (i) to the mitigation of slavery, 
 and (2) to its final extinction. It recognized the common 
 manhood of slave and master, their equal responsibility 
 before God, their independent conscience. A slave be- 
 came a brother in the Church, and was eligible to any, 
 even its highest, offices. Pope Calixtus was a slave. 
 Slaves ate of the same blessed Bread and drank from the 
 same Cup. And slaves were honored among the martyrs 
 and confessors. Slavery came to an end in the Roman 
 Empire by gradually merging into Villenage. Christian- 
 ity had the same mitigating and solvent effect on this in- 
 stitution. (See Hallam, Middle Ages.) " Slavery, for 
 the first time in history, became extinct in Europe some- 
 where about the fourteenth century. . . . The two doc- 
 trines which contributed most to producing the extinction 
 of slavery were the doctrine of salvation and the doctrine 
 of the equality of all men before the Deity " (KiDD, 
 Social Evolution, 151, 181). The same gradual effect is 
 even now being produced on the relations between em- 
 ployers and their workmen, or capital and labor. 
 
 The method of Paul — wise in its simple truthfulness, 
 and proved wise by the progress of centuries — doubtless 
 sets a lesson and utters a prophecy in regard to other evil 
 social institutions of the heathen world, with which our 
 missionaries now come in contact, such as caste and poly- 
 gamy ; except that, because of increased means of com- 
 munication and tlie preponderance of Christendom, the 
 
262 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. \\\. 2-6. 
 
 process will be much more rapid. The moral process of 
 the Gospel in the social world is therefore rather that of 
 resolution and reformation, than of revolution. 
 
 2-4. Continue stedfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving ; 
 withal praying for us also, that God may open unto us a door for the word, 
 to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds ; that T may 
 make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 
 
 2. (Rom. 12 : 12.) Watching therein. Awake while 
 you pray; not "lax and distracted."— With thanks= 
 giving, (i Thess. 5:17.) 
 
 3-4. Paul asks them to pray for his liberation. Now. 
 he preached and wrote from behind a closed door. He 
 longs that the door may be opened that he may go forth 
 to fulfil his calling. (See 2 Thess. 3:1.) 
 
 5-6. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. 
 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know 
 how ye ought to answer each one. 
 
 ' 5-6. A Christian must not be careless of the good 
 opinion of those who are not in Christ. He must provide 
 things honest in the sight of all men, that his light may 
 shine and he may glorify God. Those without are not 
 to be regarded as the Jews regarded the Gentiles, but we 
 should long to win to Christ our brethren according to the 
 
 flesh. Redeeming the time. Rather as the original. 
 
 Buying up the opportunity. Valuing and quick to ac- 
 quire opportunity to do them benefit. "What is really 
 said is this, Buy out of the market what you may never 
 buy so cheap again ; use the opportunity while you have 
 it, and use it thoroughly " (HOWSON, Metaphors of St. 
 
 Paul, 69). 
 
 6. Let your speech always be with grace; i. e. ani- 
 mated by kindliness towards every one, as God's grace is 
 freely given us, and therefore pleasant and attractive. In 
 this sense, we should bring sunshine wherever we go.— 
 
IV. 6.] CHAPTER IV. 263 
 
 Seasoned with salt. In the mouth of a Greek this 
 would mean zvitty. Here it means, Let it not be thought- 
 less, unconsidered ; but, as a cook makes a toothsome 
 mess of that which savages eat unseasoned, so let your 
 speech always have flavor, taste, worth. Salt makes food 
 savory and also preserves it. Our speech should be 
 stimulating, and also pure. CONYBEARE AND HOWSON : 
 "Free from insipidity." (See Matt. 12 : 36.) — That ye 
 may know how to answer each one. They had to 
 answer many questions and many gibes. Constant pre- 
 paredness, gravity, a kindly spirit, thorough sympathy with 
 the Gospel, would enable them to use each of these 
 opportunities for the benefit of the questioner. Upon 
 always, Eadie transcribes this, from ELTON (1620) : 
 " Wouldest thou then be able to speak fitly, and to good 
 purpose on every occasion, as in one particular case, in 
 time of distress, in time of trouble, and vexation of body 
 or mind, wouldest thou be able to speak a word of com- 
 fort, and as the prophet saith (Isai. i : 4), know to minister 
 a word in time to him that is weary ? Oh, then let thy 
 tongue be ever powdered with the salt of grace, have in 
 thy mouth at all other times gracious speeches, and 
 certainly thou shalt not be to seek of sweet and comfort- 
 able words in time of need. Many come to their friends 
 whom they love well, and wish well unto, in time of their 
 trouble, haply lying on their sick-beds, and are not able 
 to afford them one word of spiritual comfort, only they 
 can use a common form of speech, ask them how they do, 
 and say, they are sorry to see them so, and then they 
 have done : here is one special cause of it, their mouths 
 are not seasoned with gracious speeches at other times, 
 and so it comes to pass that when they should, and (it 
 may be) would, use gracious and comfortable words, they 
 cannot frame themselves to them, but even then also 
 
264 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [iv. 7. 
 
 they are out of season with them ; learn thou therefore 
 to acquaint thyself with holy and religious speeches, let 
 thy mouth at other times be exercised in speaking graci- 
 ously, and then (doubtless) though thou canst not speak 
 so eloquently, as some that foam out nothing but goodly 
 speeches, yet thou shalt be able to speak to better pur- 
 pose, because (indeed) it is not man's wit, but God's 
 grace, that seasons speech, and makes it profitable and 
 comfortable." 
 
 7-9. AH my affairs shall Tychicus make known unto you, the beloved 
 brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord : whom I have 
 sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know our estate, and that 
 he may comfort your hearts ; together with Onesimus, the faithful and be- 
 loved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all 
 things that are done here. 
 
 7. All my affairs shall Tychicus make known unto 
 
 you. He was the bearer of this epistle, and also of an 
 epistle to the Asian Churches, which we know as the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians. They were at liberty to ques- 
 tion him about the apostle and his manner of life and 
 prospects of trial or liberation at Rome. Tychicus was a 
 native of Asia (Acts 20 : 4). He probably had been one 
 of the delegates of the churches appointed to accompany 
 St. Paul when he carried up to Jerusalem their contribu- 
 tions for the relief of that Church, and certainly went at 
 least part of the way with him. Again, he was Paul's 
 messenger at this time. And later St. Paul sent him to 
 Ephesus (2 Tim. 4 : 12), and proposed to send him to 
 Crete (Titus 3 : 12). The name is found in inscriptions in 
 Asia Minor, and once in connection with the name Onesi- 
 mus. — The beloved brother. (See i : i.) — And faithful 
 minister. Deacon, Servant. Paul may have meant that 
 he was a faithful servant of the Church. But proba- 
 bly this is an affectionate acknowledgment of the offices 
 
IV. 8-IO.] CHAPTER IV. 265 
 
 of love Tychicus did not fail to show him in his impris- 
 onment. — And felIow=servant in the Lord. Fellow-slave 
 (i : 7). Tychicus was like-minded. Paul saw in him the 
 same conviction of obligation. 
 
 8. The comfort Paul sends is exhortation and encour- 
 agement. 
 
 9. For Onesimus, see on 3 : 22, and Ep. to Philemon. 
 He whom they had known as a slave, and not a reputable 
 one, now returns as St. Paul's messenger, is recommended 
 as one of them, and bears with Tychicus and Timothy 
 the name of the faithful and beloved brother. He is sig- 
 nalized as one whose worth and service are well known. — 
 They shall make known unto you all things that are 
 done here. There seems to be an intimation that there 
 is much to ask and to tell that St. Paul may not have 
 thought it prudent to write. 
 
 lo-ii. Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner saluteth you, and Mark, the cousin 
 of Barnabas (touching whom ye received commandments ; if he come unto 
 you, receive him), and Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circum- 
 cision : these only are my fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God, men 
 that have been a comfort unto me. 
 
 10. Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner. Aristarchus was 
 a companion of St. Paul on the vessel from Caesarea, and 
 probably as far as Myra. He was a Thessalonian (Acts 
 19 : 29; 27 : 2). He was with Paul at the writing of this 
 letter and of that to Philemon, but not when the letter 
 to the Philippians was written. In Philemon Epaphras 
 is called Paul's fellow-prisoner , as in Rom. 16 : 7 An- 
 dronicus and Junias are. Paul may thus have designated 
 those who shared his hired house with him ; or it may 
 have been an affectionate reminiscence of their fellowship 
 on the vessel at the beginning of his journey to Rome. 
 Then Aristarchus, a passenger, may not have been 
 ashamed of Paul's bonds, or he even may have taken 
 
266 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSS/AJvS. [iv. n. 
 
 passage in order to be with him, or afterwards joined him 
 in Rome with the same mind. One who thus associated 
 himself with the prisoner of the Lord deserved to be 
 called Paul's fellow-prisoner. — And Mark, the cousin of 
 Barnabas. Barnabas is mentioned as one in high repute. 
 On Mark, see Acts 12 : 12, 25 ; 13 : 5, 13 ; 15 : 37-39. 
 He was at this time with Paul. The recollection of his 
 former disagreement and his departure from him had 
 been effaced by commendable service (2 Tim. 4:11). A 
 man who has made mistakes may recover himself on re- 
 pentance. Mark's residence in Rome at this time is 
 interesting in connection with the tradition that his gos- 
 pel was written for that Church (Iren. III. 1,1; Eus. Hist. 
 HI. 39), and contains Latin words and forms of speech.— 
 Touching whom, etc. i. There was a likelihood that 
 Mark would visit them. In Peter's first letter (5 : 13), 
 Mark, said to be his companion and amanuensis, salutes 
 these churches. 2. They had already received command- 
 ments concerning him. 3. There was especial reason for 
 this very emphatic commendation. On cousin, see Numb. 
 36 : II in Septuagint. 
 
 II. Jesus, which is called Justus. Nothing more is 
 known of this man.^ — Who are of the circumcision. All 
 these were converts from Judaism. Aristarchus there- 
 fore was a Jew. — These only, etc. ; i, e. these are the 
 only Jewish Christians who have been fellow-workers and 
 a comfort unto me (Phil, i : 15 ff. ; 2 : 20). It is proba- 
 ble that after Paul's coming there was a division among 
 the Christians of Rome, some associating themselves 
 closely with Paul, others holding aloof. (See LiGHTFOOT, 
 on Galatians, p. 336.) " The last notice of the Roman 
 Church in the apostolic writings seems to point to two 
 separate communities, a Judaizing Church and a Pauline 
 Church. The arrival of the Gentile apostle in the me- 
 
IV. 12.] CHAPTER IV. 267 
 
 tropolis, it would appear, was the signal for the separation 
 of the Judaizers who had hitherto associated with their 
 Gentile brethren coldly and distrustfully. The presence 
 of St. Paul must have vastly strengthened the numbers 
 and influence of the more liberal and Catholic party ; 
 while the Judaizers, provoked by rivalry, redoubled their 
 efforts, that in making converts to the Gospel they might 
 also gain proselytes to the law." The word here rendered 
 comfort occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The 
 two other words of like signification occur Phil. 2 : i 
 and I Thess. 2:11. LiGHTFOOT says that the word 
 here used is wider in its import ; Bengel, that while 
 one of the others refers to comfort " in domestic sor- 
 row," this refers to comfort and encouragement " in 
 public peril." It is derived from a word meaning (i) 
 to address, to exhort ; (2) to appease, to soothe. It was 
 used in medicine, of " assuaging,'' "alleviating." It has 
 in it also the sense of adviee, eounsel.. 
 
 12-13. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, saluteth 
 you, always striving for you in his prayers, that ye may stand perfect and 
 fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness, that he hath 
 much labour for you, and for them in Laodicea, and for them in Hierapolis. 
 
 12. Epaphras, a servant of Christ Jesus ; i. e. a slave, 
 a bondman (i : 7). — Always striving for you in his 
 
 prayers. Agonizing and struggling like a wrestler in the 
 arena (Rom. 15 : 30; Luke 22 : 44. See Col. i : 29). 
 The agony or conflict, of which Paul speaks repeatedly, 
 most likely was an imvard con'?C\z^. — That ye may stand 
 perfect and fully assured in all the v^'ill of God. Epa- 
 phras, parted from them, is always solicitous for them ; 
 and not, in the first place, for their outward well-being, 
 but, like Paul, that they may stand firm, and be perfect 
 (see I : 28), and may ha\'c the assurance of complete and 
 
268 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [iv. 13-15. 
 
 unshaken conviction. Mark the first and chief object of 
 a pastor's concern for his flock. 
 
 13. Laodicea and Hierapolis are neighboring places, 
 and Epaphras most probably had been the evangelist, 
 and practically was the pastor, of all. See how a pastor 
 is married to his flock. 
 
 14. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas salute you. 
 
 14. Luke, the beloved physician (Acts 16:10). Here 
 we find two of the evangelists in Paul's company at once. 
 (See 4 : 10; Philem. 24; 2 Tim. 4 : 11.) — And Demas (2 
 Tim. 4 : 10). He does not give Demas any special com- 
 mendation. (See on Philem. 23, 24.) 
 
 15. Salute the brethren that are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the 
 church that is in their house. 
 
 15. The Laodicean Church probably was a yf/m/, or off- 
 shoot, of this at Colossae, smaller and to some extent 
 dependent on it, though, that being a larger field, it grew 
 more rapidly (Rev. 3 : 14 ff.). It probably held its meet- 
 ings in the house of Nymphas (or, if Jier be the right 
 reading, of Nympha). Their might be intended to in- 
 clude all the brethren. The early Christians assembled 
 in private dwellings. Separate buildings for Christian 
 worship were not allowed before the third century. There 
 might be several such groups, each having its own recog- 
 nized place of assembly, as in Rome (Rom. 16:4, 10, 11, 
 14). But it is probable that the house of Nymphas was 
 the centre of the only Church at Laodicea, as that of 
 Philemon was the meeting-place at Colossal (Philem. 
 2). For proof that regular assemblies of the Church were 
 held, see 4: 2, 5, 10, 15, 16; 3: 11, 13, 16; i : 18, 24. 
 
 16. And when this epistle hath been read among you, cause that it be 
 rend also in the church of the Laodiceans ; and that ye also read the epistle 
 from Laodicea. 
 
IV. 1 6, 17-] CHAP IE R J I'. 269 
 
 16. Here is a beginning of a canon of apostolic Scrip- 
 tures. (See on i Thess. 5:27; 2 Thess. 3: 17.) The 
 apostle recognized the importance of a definite codex of 
 apostolic explanation, exhortation and injunction, not to 
 be read once only and then laid aside, but to be passed 
 from one to another, to be preserved, to be read over, to 
 be appealed to, as an authentic declaration of the word 
 of Christ (i Thess. 5:27; Rev. i : 3). Through their 
 word, which is also His Word, the Spirit and the apostles 
 witness to Jesus. The written word is the witness 
 of the Holy Ghost and the Church (John 15:26,27). 
 There can be little doubt that the Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures were read in the earliest assemblies of the Church, 
 as was customary in the synagogues (Acts 15:21), and 
 those of the New Testament were soon ranged with them. 
 Bingham says that at Rome only Gospel and Epistle 
 were read, in earliest time. (See Bingham, Antiquities, 
 etc., XIV. 3. ; my Liturgies, 32 ff.) — And that ye also read 
 the epistle from Laodicea. No epistle under this name 
 has been preserved to us in our canon. It has been sup- 
 posed that our Epistle to the Ephesians was a circular 
 letter intended for several churches in that region, and is 
 here referred to. From at least the sixth century a so- 
 called epistle to the Laodiceans has been extant in Latin, 
 and was generally acknowledged in the Middle Ages. It 
 is nothing but a selection of texts from Philippians, 
 without point. It is given by LiGHTFOOT in his volume 
 on Colossians, and by others. 
 
 17. And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast 
 received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it. 
 
 17. And say to Archippus. The only person of this 
 name known to us is called by Paul his fellozv-soldicr 
 (Philem. 2). Heseemsto have been the son of Philemon, 
 and probably a young person. — Take heed, etc. This 
 
270 EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [iv. iS. 
 
 Archippus recently had received "a ministry" — been 
 made a deacon, a recognized servant or minister in the 
 Church. Here is a beginning of offices in the Church, in 
 our modern meaning of the word, — in other words, of an 
 organization of the congregation. It does not appear 
 that he was the deacon of a bishop, as Sohm says always 
 was the case. His ministry was in the Church, and under 
 its direction. There seems to have been reason to fear 
 he might be lax in his service. Archippus was of the 
 second generation of believers, a son of those who had 
 been converted to the faith from former darkness, and 
 from childhood had been brought up in the Gospel. 
 There always is danger of laxity in those to whom such 
 service is rather " a second nature " than distinctively an 
 activity resulting from the new birth. As a child of the 
 Church, one known by all from boyhood, an officer among 
 elders who were scarred by battle for the truth, he would 
 be regarded by all with especial interest. Finally, here 
 is evidence that at this time the offices in the Church and 
 the proper discharge of them were under the control of 
 the Church itself. They were solemnly to admonish 
 Archippus, See that thou fulfil it. " The assumption of 
 a regular and continuous episcopate in such a place as 
 Colossae at this date seems to involve an anachronism " 
 ( LiGHTFOOT on Philemon, 307. See on Phil, i : i). 
 
 18. The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. Remember my 
 bonds. Grace be with you. 
 
 18. The customary autograph attesting the epistle (2 
 Thess. 3 : 17; i Cor. 16: 21). — Remember my bonds. Re- 
 member that I am a prisoner for you and for the Lord. 
 A claim on their love, confidence, attention, prayers. — 
 Grace be with you, 77z^ grace be with you. His blessing. 
 (See 1:2.) 
 
ANNOTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 FIRST EPISTLE 
 
 TO THE THESSALONIANS 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD T. HORN, D.D. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Saloniki is the second city of European Turkey. It 
 still is the residence of many thousands of Jews, the 
 most recent estimate (1895) being, that of 120,000 inhab- 
 itants two-thirds are Jews. It is built on hills that rise 
 like an amphitheatre from the Gulf, and commands a plain 
 of great fertility. Its principal street is the old Egnatian 
 Way, the great Roman road, which of old was the prin- 
 cipal line of communication between Asia and Europe. 
 In the Middle Ages a great fair was held there, to which 
 came men of all nationalities and climes ; and in much 
 more remote ages it was such a mart, a place of liveliest 
 intercourse, of enterprise and toleration, where every 
 new thing was discussed, where the strangest contrasts 
 jostled each other, and where one might meet and talk 
 with other men from the ends of the earth. 
 
 As we walk its ancient streets, we are reminded of 
 many things ; of Philip of Macedon and his son the great 
 Alexander, from whose sister the more ancient city 
 derived its present name ; of Cicero, who was an exile 
 here ; of the great Theodosius, who made this his virtual 
 capital, and issued hence the edicts for the forcible ex- 
 tinction of ancient paganism, but chiefly marked it by his 
 frightful massacre of its tumultuous and saucy people, 
 for which the greater Ambrose exacted the public pen- 
 ance of the emperor ; of the missions among the barbar- 
 ians of Eastern Europe, which found their centre here ; 
 18 273 
 
274 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and of the unhappy days when Thessalonica was first a 
 bulwark of the empire against the Goths, and a last strong- 
 hold of Europe against the Turks. But the greatest 
 event in the history of Thessalonica was the foundation 
 of its Church by the apostle Paul, 53 A. D., and the re- 
 ception from his hand of the two letters to the Thessa- 
 lonians, which were probably the first books of our New 
 Testament that ever were written, 54 a. d. 
 
 Paul and Silas, having been whipped at Philippi 
 and expelled from that city, came directly to Thes- 
 salonica. On the way they passed through Am- 
 phipolis and the smaller town of ApoUonia; but prob- 
 ably hastened to Thessalonica, because it was the metrop- 
 olis of that district of Macedonia and then, as now, a great 
 Jewish centre. There was the synagogue, which served 
 all the Jews of the district. And besides the Jews, settled 
 there for purposes of trade, there were many proselytes 
 — persons of Greek extraction who had become adherents 
 of the Jewish faith, either from conviction, or to escape 
 military service, or under the influence of Jewish wives, 
 or for the sake of profit, — and also many women of good 
 estate who perhaps were Jewesses married to heathen 
 men of distinction. Such always were Paul's congenial 
 audience, having either on the one hand or the other 
 broken with ancestral custom, having begun the habit of 
 proving all things to hold fast that which was good, hav- 
 ing their minds open to catch a further word of God to 
 lead them into all truth. We are struck, as we read the 
 story, by the unconquerable zeal of Paul and Silas. The 
 pain of their wounds, the stifl"ness produced by a long 
 and rapid journey on foot, and the apparent failure of 
 their attempt at Philippi, caused no delay ; but, as his 
 custom was, Paul went at once to the synagogue and 
 reasoned with those wiio gathered there, Three weeks 
 
INTRO D UC TION. 
 
 75 
 
 at least they remained at Thessalonica, perhaps longer, 
 for three weeks hardly would suffice for the work they 
 did. Night and day they worked at their trades, to earn 
 their living; staying in the house of Jason, perhaps a 
 well-known lodging-house for Jews, but taking assistance 
 from nobody, except that twice in that time their friends 
 in Philippi sent aid to them ; but on the Sabbath days 
 work was laid aside and they became preachers. Adher- 
 ents multiplied ; besides Jason there were other Jews, 
 and a great number of the proselytes, not a few of the 
 chief women, and, as the epistles show, many who for- 
 merly had not been Jews in any sense, but worshippers of 
 idols. The work of Paul is so important and so sug- 
 gestive of the true principles of Christian missions, and 
 the history and his letters tell us so much about it, that 
 we may ask how did Paul set about his work in Thessa- 
 lonica, and what was it he said to zuin and to instruct 
 these converts of a few eager weeks ? 
 
 It will be observed that he spoke to them first in the 
 synagogue, and he took the Scriptures of the Old Testa- 
 ment read there as his text. Like Christ (Luke 24 : 26), 
 he proved from them that the Christ promised in the Old 
 Testament ought to suffer and to rise again from the dead ; 
 and having thus opened to them the sense of the Scrip- 
 tures, he proved thdit fes us is the Christ. The heathen 
 further learned the meaning of Christ's coming, and all 
 were stirred to a lively hope of the second coming of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and were called to share in His king- 
 dom and glory (2: 13). The Gospel, as yet unwritten, 
 was told them by the word of Paul, and they received it. 
 as it was in truth, as the word of God, feeling its power 
 in themselves. The Holy Ghost came upon them, and 
 some were endued with prophetic gifts, enabling them to 
 further expound the Scriptures and admonish and in- 
 
276 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 struct. Paul did not hide from them that they were 
 adopting a Hfe of trial, that Christians are called to suffer 
 afifliction (3 : 4). He taught them how they ought to 
 walk and please God, showing the deep contrast between 
 the carelessness of the heathen and the conduct of those 
 God had called to sanctification ; and admonished them 
 to live as sons of light, whom the day of the Lord would 
 not overtake as thieves in the night (5 : 1-4). The word 
 of Paul came to them in power and in the Holy Ghost 
 (i : 5) ; but this does not imply that without any effort on 
 his part he exerted a miraculous influence, which con- 
 strained the minds of men. His boldness (i : 5 ; 2 : 2) 
 was heroic, and his zeal was the outward flame of an 
 inward agony. He did not flatter. He did not try to 
 please men. He lived in unbroken consciousness of the 
 presence of God. He impressed the Thessalonians by 
 his disinterestedness and his affection for them. Without 
 assumption, evidently eager to impart his own soul to 
 them, with tenderness like that with which a mother 
 presses her child to her bosom, he did not preach only, 
 but dealt with each, exhorting, encouraging, adjuring 
 them, like a father ; — not only seeking to gain them to 
 his cause, but that they might walk worthily of God who 
 called them. 
 
 He was rewarded by the character of the Church he 
 founded. They became imitators of him, and ere long 
 he learned from the reports that reached him at Corinth 
 that they had sent out the word of the Lord through all 
 Greece, and that all Macedonia and Achaia rang with the 
 story of their faith in God. The Jews of Thessalonica 
 stirred up a tumult against his friends, and Paul had to 
 be hurried away by night. The Thessalonians had to 
 suffer the same things of their own countrymen as the 
 churches of Judea suffered of the Jews. But they stood 
 
INTRODUCTION. i-ji 
 
 firm, and Paul could thank God for their work of faith, 
 and labor of love and patience of hope. 
 
 When Paul had left Thessalonica, after brief service 
 there of Silas and Timothy, the Church was presided over 
 by certain men, who labored among them, and admon- 
 ished them, as the apostle had done. There was some 
 disposition to reject their authority (5 : 12), and perhaps 
 on their part some want of respect for the opinion of 
 others (5 : 27). As in the Corinthian Church, there were 
 " prophesyings " in their assemblies ; most necessary, we 
 should think, for the further Christian exposition of the 
 Old Testament, but, at the same time, alarming the more 
 prudent by the peril of fanaticism ; so that Paul after- 
 wards had to admonish them, on the one hand, not to 
 despise prophesyings nor quench the Spirit, and, on the 
 other, to test what the prophets said and hold fast that 
 which was good. To this end he had instructed them in 
 the word of the Lord, and left them precepts and a tradi- 
 tion (2:13; 3 : 3, 4; 4: I, 2 ; 5 : 2 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 6). But 
 some were disorderly (5 : 14 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 6). There might 
 be danger of unfairness (5 : 19-22, 27). And, of course, old 
 vices were not conquered all at once (4: 1-8). But at the 
 same time there grew up among the Thessalonians a dan- 
 gerous error. These early believers seem to have been 
 filled with an eager expectation of the coming of Christ, 
 which threatened to border on fanaticism. Many of them 
 gave up their daily work. They restlessly discussed the 
 matter. And finally, when one and another of their 
 number died, they were troubled for fear that these had 
 passed away too soon, and would not share in the king- 
 dom and glory which they fondly believed would come 
 before many days. It is a lively picture of the lambent 
 faith of the early Church, and of its necessary imperfec- 
 tion and immaturity. 
 
278 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the Providence of God their danger became the 
 occasion of a great blessing to us. To allay their excite- 
 ment and lead them to the truth, Paul wrote them these 
 letters. In the meantime he had been alone at Athens, 
 his spirit stirred among those precious works of art to see 
 that city wholly given to idolatry. Then he had come to 
 Corinth, one of the busiest cities of the world, and one of 
 the most corrupt. There he was at work now with Aquila 
 and Priscilla, fugitives from Rome ; probably Christians 
 before Paul met them. And there Silas and Timothy re- 
 turned to Paul and reported the prosperity and mission- 
 ary activity of the Church of the Thessalonians, and also 
 the peculiar questions and dangers which disturbed it. 
 Paul, who once and again had wished to go back to Thes- 
 salonica, but found it impossible, wrote them a letter ; and, 
 on the return of themessenger by whom it had been sent, 
 wrote them another. He had been in Thessalonica in the 
 year 53 ; this was in 54. 
 
 In a sense, every book of the New Testament is a let- 
 ter. The Gospel of Mark is the only possible exception. 
 The Gospel of Matthew evidently was written to the 
 Jews. Luke addresses his gospel and the Book of Acts 
 to a friend ; and John, by his " I " and " You " (21 : 25 ; 
 20 : 31), shows the same purpose. The Book of the Reve- 
 lation is addressed to the Churches. And the other 
 books are professedly nothing else than letters. Now 
 letters are written by men, to men ; they betray the mind 
 and situation of the writers and those they write to ; and 
 bear also the marks of the time and place in which they 
 were written. To understand them, we must understand 
 the writers and the recipients, and know much of their 
 time and environment. It is very instructive, that God 
 chose letters as the mode in which to give and preserve 
 His living and effective truth to the end of time. The 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27^ 
 
 Holy Spirit, who spoke through apostle or evangelist, 
 was the Holy Spirit who abode in his heart and in the 
 hearts of those he wrote to, and bound them together in 
 the One Body of Christ ; and so the words which they 
 have written are the Word of God who prompted them, 
 and also the Word of Christ in His Church, out of whose 
 heart they came, and into whose heart they came ; they 
 are the vital circulation of the life-blood of the Body of 
 which He is the Head, and all Christians are members. 
 
 St. Paul did not write his letters (except that to Phile- 
 mon) with his own hand. He dictated them, and added 
 at the end of each a few words to attest his authorship. 
 You can feel, as you read them, that he said \.\\qvw. They 
 glow with personal affection ; you can perceive the pro- 
 cess and flood of his eager thought, and how he has had 
 to struggle against the torrent of suggestion ; he is led off 
 by it sometimes; but he comes back again, and no more 
 disdains to repeat than we do in a familiar letter. These 
 letters also show us a good deal concerning the nature of 
 the apostle's inspiration. He does not hesitate to say 
 that he is telling the word of the Lord, and that they 
 who despise it despise not m.an's word but God's, who 
 has given His Holy Spirit to them. Yet the apostles of 
 our Lord were not possessed of all possible wisdom and 
 knowledge, so that they could give an infallible answer to 
 any question on every subject. Paul in the first letter to 
 the Thessalonians, though God enabled him to foretell the 
 manner of the Resurrection in answer to the peculiar dif- 
 ficulty of those he was writing to, still expected to sur- 
 vive until Christ's coming ; and when he wrote to the 
 Philippians, years afterwards, did not foreknow the cir- 
 cumstances of his own death. He was deceived in men 
 sometimes. So Peter made mistakes. They were not 
 raised above the necessity of using their judgment, of 
 
28o INTRODUCTION. 
 
 exercising faith, of disciplining character. But God gave 
 them wisdom to decide perplexing questions ; opened to 
 them the sense of the Scriptures ; brought to mind what 
 He had said and done ; granted them special revelations ; 
 and so provided them with all they needed to tell for the 
 guidance and continued well-being of the Church. 
 
 God still gives His word to us through men; the word 
 of His Spirit is the testimony of His Church. He pleased 
 to save men by the foolishness of preaching. These holy 
 books come down to us by the hands of His faithful 
 people through many generations. In our customs, as 
 well as through study, we imbibe the explanation of them 
 which these generations have received and given. The 
 Church has divided, selected and translated them for us. 
 And they are read and explained again by preachers of 
 the Gospel, come out of the bosom of the Church, trained 
 in her fellowship, and united with their hearers' in the one 
 faith by the One Spirit. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 I. Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalo- 
 nians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ : Grace to you and 
 peace. 
 
 I. Paul. This is the earliest of the extant letters of 
 St. Paul, and probably was written in the year 54, while 
 the apostle was at Corinth. (See Acts 18 : 5.) Paul 
 uses his name only, not his official title (cf. Phil. 1:1; 
 Col. I : i), there being no occasion to assert his authority, 
 which had not been questioned, and his relations with the 
 Thessalonians having been recent, intimate and simple. 
 " He drops his official title at the outset, not wishing to 
 assert his apostolic authority when he could appeal to the 
 higher motive of love " (LiGHTFOOT, Biblical Essays, 
 249). — Sylvanus. So called by Paul (2 Cor, i : 19); the 
 same as Silas. A chief man among the brethren of Jeru- 
 salem (Acts 15 : 22), himself a prophet (Acts 15 : 32), 
 whom Paul chose to be the companion of his second mis- 
 sionary journey, after the parting from Barnabas (Acts 
 15 : 40). Acts 16 : 19 ff. ; 17 : 4, 10, 18; i Cor. i : 19. 
 Though a Jewish Christian, he was, like Paul, a Roman 
 citizen. " He is not mentioned as accompanying St. 
 Paul, when the apostle left Corinth at the close of this 
 second missionary journey, nor is his name found subse- 
 quently in St. Luke's narrative." He afterwards appears 
 as a messenger of St. Peter (i Peter 5 : 12), — Timothy 
 (Acts 16 : i). Silas and Timothy had been left at Beroea 
 (Acts 17 : 14). The latter probably rejoined Paul at 
 
 Athens, and thence was sent by him to Thessalonica (i 
 
 281 
 
a82 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i. i. 
 
 Thess. 3 : i), and with Silas rejoined Paul at Corinth 
 (Acts 18:5). These two had been Paul's fellow-workers 
 in Thessalonica, and now were working with him at Cor- 
 inth (i Cor. I : 19), and therefore are associated with him 
 in the salutation of this epistle. One of them probably 
 was his amanuensis at this time. It will appear that in 
 the letter he sometimes includes them with himself, and 
 sometimes uses the plural pronoun of himself alone. (" A 
 case for an epistolary plural in St. Paul's epistle has 
 not been made out." — LiGHTFOOT.) — Church of the 
 Thessalonians. The word here translated ChiircJi, viz., 
 ekklcsia, was used by our Lord (Matt. 16 : 18 ; 18: 17), 
 and by St. Stephen (Acts 7 : 38), and in this place first 
 afterwards. As it gradually became a technical term for 
 the New Testament people of God, it is well to inquire 
 what its first meaning was. It was the designation of 
 " the lawful assembly in a free Greek city of all those 
 possessed of the rights of citizenship, for the transaction 
 of public affairs. They were smmnoned out of the whole 
 population, and were a select portion of it " (TRENCH, N. 
 T. Synonyms, 2). (Acts 19 : 32, 39,41.) The Septuagint 
 employed the word to translate the Hebrew term for the 
 Assembly or Congregation of tJie people of Israel, consid- 
 ered as a unity. So St. Stephen speaks of " the Church 
 in the wilderness " (Acts 7 : 38). There can be little doubt 
 that St. Paul (and others) applied this term to the Chris- 
 tian community in Thessalonica (and elsewhere) in ex- 
 press contrast with those who claimed to be the true 
 "congregation" of God, or the real "assembly" of the 
 city, and to cast them out (2 : 14-16; Acts 17 : 5-8, 13 ; 
 Rom, 2 : 28, 29). They represented the true people of 
 God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ among the 
 Thessalonians. It is noteworthy that in the later epistles 
 (Rom., Eph., Phil., Col.) Paul addresses the saints, not the 
 
1. 1.] CHAPTER //. 283 
 
 ChurcJi ; but there the salutations of the churches are ex- 
 changed. — Of the Thessalonians. He does not say, At 
 Thessalonica, as he afterwards says, At PhiHppi, etc. 
 (Phil. I : i) ; probably because the Church already had 
 spread throughout the district of which Thessalonica was 
 the metropolis, and of which the synagogue there was the 
 Jewish centre (i : 8). He did not know how far their 
 boundaries extended, and did not wish to limit his greet- 
 ing or his instruction. — In God the Father and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. This was the mark which proved them to 
 be the true ecclesia in Thessalonica. The assembly of 
 God's people in Thessalonica may be marked by these 
 words in distinction — first, from their heathen com- 
 patriots, and, secondly, from their Jewish persecutors 
 (2 : 14 ; Gal. i : 22). — Grace, etc. (See Col. i : 2.) The 
 words, From God, etc., in the Authorized English Ver- 
 sion, although found in several of the most ancient MSS., 
 are supposed to have been supplied from other epistles, 
 by copyists. 
 
 2-10. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you 
 in our prayers ; remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labour 
 of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and 
 Father ; knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that our. 
 gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy 
 Ghost, and in much assurance ; even as 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 received the word in much affliction, with joy 
 of the Holy Ghost ; so that ye became an ensample to all that believe in 
 Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you hath sounded forth the word of 
 the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith 
 to God-ward is gone forth ; so that we need not to speak anything. For 
 they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had 
 unto you ; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and 
 true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the 
 dead, even Jesus, which delivereth us from the wrath to come. 
 
 2. (See Phil. I : 3.) There was an interval of ten years 
 between this and the letter to the Philippians ; and mak- 
 
2^4 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i. 3. 
 
 ing allowance for the probability that there was a set 
 form of salutation at the opening of letters, it still is in- 
 structive that Paul always gave thanks at the thought of 
 his dear fellow-believers, who were his converts ; and con- 
 tinued to give thanks for all of them, making mention of 
 them in his prayers. His habit, thus stated, and abun- 
 dantly illustrated in his letters, shows how he abode in 
 communion with God, and prayed for each one commit- 
 ted to him. We are taught to pray for one another ; for 
 the members of our congregations ; for those who require 
 our especial care ; and also to give thanks to God when 
 we mention them in our prayers. — Our prayers. Paul 
 observed regular seasons of prayer. Without doubt, 
 Paul, Silvanus and Timothy prayed together for these 
 Christians of Thessalonica, making mention of them be- 
 fore God, as well as discussing their faith, etc., and their 
 dangers. Observe that such a course contributes to both 
 unity and wisdom in action. Ministers, missionaries, 
 teachers of the word of God, should together give 
 thanks to God and make mention of the objects of their 
 care. (See Eph. i : 16; Philem. 4.) 
 
 3. Remembering without ceasing before our God and 
 'Father. In his prayers, but not while engaged in the act 
 of prayer only (5 : 17), Paul always felt the presence of 
 God ;not that he simply kept in mind that God sees all, 
 but in spirit he came before God and thought and did 
 and said all before His Face. And, while in the very 
 presence of God, he unremittingly thought of them 
 (Rom. 1:912 Tim. i : 3). Cf. 2 : 9, and think of Paul 
 working night and day, preaching even while he worked, 
 and praying meanwhile too. — Faith, love, hope. (5:8; 
 1 Cor. 13 : 13; Gal. 5 : 5t 6; Col. i : 4, 5 ; 2 Thess. i : 3, 
 4.) Mark the similarity of thought and expression at far 
 difTerent periods of Paul's life. Whatever progress he 
 
I. 4] CHAPTER I. 285 
 
 may have made in the truth, we see that he had the 
 whole of it, from the beginning to the end. Their faith 
 showed itself in active work, not in mere profession (Gal. 
 5:6); their love uttered itself in willing toil (" not only 
 work, but fatiguing work,'' LiGHTFOOT) ; their hope led 
 them to patientj heroical endurance. (See Rev. 2:2; 
 Tit. 2 : 2.) Beside the former picture of St. Paul work- 
 ing with his hands, praying and preaching, we must put 
 this of the activity, that did not become weary in well- 
 doing, and the endurance, of his Thessalonian converts. 
 LiCHTFOOT : " Here we have, first, faith, the source of all 
 Christian virtues ; secondly, love, the sustaining principle 
 of Christian life ; 2iwdi lastly, hope, the beacon-star guiding 
 us to the life to come." — Hope. Their hope was not a 
 vague cheerfulness, but was hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 the hope of salvation in Him (5 : 8, 9) ; the hope of His 
 speedy coming to their deliverance (4 : 13-18). — Before 
 our God and Father ; i. e. remembering this before God. 
 (See 3 : 9.) 
 
 4. Brethren beloved of God ; i. e. dear not to me only, 
 but also to God (2 Thess. 2 : 13). This is the ground of 
 their election (Eph. i : 4). — Your election. This word oc-- 
 curs also Rom. 9 : 1 1 ; 1 1 : 5, 7, 28 ; 2 Peter 1:10; Acts 
 9:15. Paul says, I know that you have been selected 
 by God from among the Thessalonians. He knows this, 
 not by any special revelation, but (i) from the manner in 
 which his gospel came to them (ver. 5), and (2) the man- 
 ner in which they received it, becoming imitators of him 
 in turn, and of the Lord (ver. 6). (See Bengel on I Cor. 
 I : 27 : " Every one who is called is from the first mo- 
 ment of faith elect ; as long as he remains in the calling 
 and in faith, he continues to be elect ; if ever he loses 
 the calling and faith, he ceases to be elect. When in 
 faith he brings forth fruit, he confirms his calling and 
 
286 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i. 5, 6. 
 
 election ; if he returns to faith and falls asleep believing 
 he returns to the state of election and dies one of the elect. 
 And such are called both elect and foreknown.") 
 
 5. Paul recalls the confidence (Rom. 14 : 5 ; Col. 2:2; 
 4 : 12; Hebr. 10 : 22) with which he had addressed the 
 Thessalonians and worked among them, which was no 
 less than miraculous in view of the discouragement from 
 which he had lately come (2 : 2). The powe)' of His 
 Gospel was manifest in its speedy success (Acts 17 : 5)- 
 And that this was the work of the Holy Ghost was 
 proved by the fruits of the Spirit immediately manifest 
 among them (i : 3). They had also partaken of the 
 miraculous fruits of the Spirit (5 : 19, 20). And Paul and 
 they had felt, even while he spoke to them, the wonder- 
 ful power of the Spirit of Christ knitting together their 
 hearts in Him. — Even as ye know. Paul could confi- 
 dently appeal to their recollection of his self-denying zeal 
 for their sake (2 : 8). — We showed ourselves. We became. 
 There was a great contrast between the former Saul, and 
 the Paul they knew. The change was an evidence of the 
 work of the Holy Ghost. It was wrought by God, and 
 by the deep earnestness of Paul's longing for their salva- 
 tion. We see here that confidence begotten of the Holy 
 Gho.st, and complete devotion, are requisites of a success- 
 ful sermon. — Our Gospel. (See 2 Thess. 2 : 14; Rom. 
 2 : 16 ; 16 : 25 ; 2 Cor. 4:3; 2 Tim. 2 : 8.) 
 
 6. The second proof of their election is their recep- 
 tion of the word of the Gospel. To receive here means 
 not to hear only, but to heed, to accept (Matt. 1 1 : 14). 
 Though to accept the Gospel necessarily brought afiflic- 
 tion, they received it 7i<ith Joy of the Holy Ghost ; and 
 they at once became imitators of Paul, and of the Lord 
 Himself, in self-sacrificing devotion to the spread of the 
 Gospel of salvation (1:8. See i Cor. 11 : i. Also i 
 
i. 7, 8.] CHAPTER I. 287 
 
 Peter 4 : 13; Phil, i : 29). — Joy of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This is the joy which the Holy Ghost begets (Gal. 5 : 22) ; 
 the exultant gladness of those who are in fellowship with 
 one another in the Father and the Son ; which goes forth 
 in unresting and triumphant service of the Lord. " They 
 have afflicted you and persecuted you, but the Spirit did 
 not forsake you, even in those circumstances. As the 
 Three Children in the fire were refreshed with dew, so 
 also were you refreshed in affliction " (Chrvsostom). 
 
 7-8. For shows that they became an ensample, etc., 
 in that the word of the Lord sounded forth from them. 
 They were an ensample, as a community, not simply as 
 individual persons. — Sounded forth : " like the ringing 
 peal of a trumpet " (Eadie). The Christians at Thessa- 
 lonica sent out preachers of the Gospel. Those who 
 came to that busy centre of trade carried the story home 
 with them. Their faith to Godward was contrasted 
 with their former worship of idols. The story of the 
 work among them of Paul and his companions, of the 
 matter of their preaching, of the remarkable change in 
 the Thessalonians, and of their hope of a second coming 
 of the risen Jesus, was so spread, that Paul heard it told 
 in every place, before he could begin to preach. — To all 
 who believe. The obedience of a Christian man 
 preaches to other Christians, not to unbelievers only. 
 To imitate those who gave the Gospel to us, and Him 
 who came to seek and to save the lost, is not only 
 natural to a Christian, it is a test of the reality of his 
 faith. " As a sweet-smelling ointment keeps not its 
 fragrance shut up in itself, but diffuses it afar, so admir- 
 able men do not shut up their virtue within themselves, 
 but by their good report benefit many, and render them 
 better " (Chrvsostom). We see also the wisdom of St. 
 Paul in planting his missions in commercial centres, 
 
288 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i. 9, 10. 
 
 towns of great resort. For this reason, probably, he hur- 
 ried past Apollonia and Amphipohs to Thessalonica. 
 The country people coming to the synagogue there, and 
 seamen and traders carried the Gospel everywhither. 
 So, also, does this example lay an especial responsibility 
 on Christians in towns. They should be centres of 
 evangelization. So it was of old. The young should 
 not come from country places to the towns to learn vice ; 
 but from towns the word of the Lord should sound 
 forth in every place. — Macedonia and Achaia ; i. e. all 
 Greece. — The word of the Lord. The message of the 
 Gospel (2 : 13). 
 
 9-10. How ye turned unto God from idols. Just be- 
 fore writing this Paul had come from Athens (Acts 
 17 : 16), " where his spirit was provoked within him, when 
 he saw the city full of idols." The Hebrew word for an 
 ?V/^/ means nothing^iess ; for the Hebrew opinion of idols, 
 see Ps. 115 : 4-8. These helpless "works of mens 
 hands " the Thessalonians had turned from ; to serve a 
 living God, who is a true God ; waiting with joyful ex- 
 pectation for His Son from heaven. (See Acts 14 : 15.) 
 The majority of the Thessalonian Christians, accordingly, 
 had been heathen. We see here some of the particulars 
 of the faith in which St. Paul had instructed them 
 during his brief ministry among them — a faith (i) in 
 God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ; 
 (2) in His only Son, our Lord ; (3) who suffered, died, 
 was buried ; (4) and rose again from the dead ; (5) as- 
 cended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of 
 God ; (6) who shall come again to judge the quick and 
 the dead. — Which delivereth ns. An allusion to the 
 meaning of the '^■ascvQ Jesus. (Septuagint, Isai. 59 : 20.) 
 He says not, who delivered us, but wJio delivereth. Christ 
 is even now delivering us from the wrath to come. The 
 
I. 10.] CHAPTER I. 289 
 
 dispensation of the Spirit is the continuation of the 
 Gospel. " Christ redeemed us once for all ; He is deliv- 
 ering us always" (Bengel). — From the wrath to come. 
 
 He speaks of it as even now coming. In spite of the 
 Deliverer and the Deliverance He has accomplished, 
 there still is wrath ; the fulfilment of which is even now 
 drawinor nicrh. " There is ' a wrath of God,' who would 
 not love good, unless He hated evil, the two being insep- 
 arable, so that either He must do both or neither ; a 
 wrath also of the merciful Son of Man (Mark 3:5)" 
 (Trench, Synonyms, 126). Evidently, Paul, in his preach- 
 ing at Thessalonica, made very prominent the Last 
 Things, death, resurrection, judgment, heaven, wrath 
 (Rom. I : 18 ; 2 : 3-16; John 3 : 36; Rev. 6 : 16 ; Rom. 
 
 5:9)- 
 
 19 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 I-I2. For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in unto you, that it 
 hath not been found vain : but having suffered before, and been shamefully 
 entreated, as ye know, at PhiUppi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto 
 you the gospel of God in much conflict. For our exhortation is not of 
 error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile : but even as we have been approved 
 of God to be intrusted with the gospel, so we speak ; not as pleasing men, 
 but God which proveth our hearts. For neither at any time were we found 
 using words of flattery, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness, God is 
 witness ; nor seeking glory of men, neither from you, nor from others, when 
 we might have been burdensome, as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle 
 in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children : even so, 
 being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto 
 you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were 
 become very dear to us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and 
 travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we 
 preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, 
 how holily and righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves toward 
 you that believe : as ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father 
 with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging jw/, and testifying, 
 to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into his 
 own kingdom and glory. 
 
 1. It hath not been found vain ; i.e. the event proves 
 that I came ivitJi poivcr. 
 
 2. Having suffered before and been shamefully treated 
 at Philippi (Acts i6:22, 37). The Roman scourge was 
 a whip, on whose leathern lash pieces of metal or bone 
 were fastened. The prisoner was made to stoop and the 
 lash tore his stretched back. Herein Paul and Silas were 
 called to imitate the Lord. It involved great physical 
 and mental suffering. To whip a Roman citizen, uncon- 
 demned, unheard, was, moreover, an outrage. Paul shows 
 
 290 
 
II. 3-] CHAPTER II. 29 1 
 
 how keenly he still felt it. — As ye know. In all proba- 
 bility, it was very few days after their suffering at Philippi 
 that Paul and Silas came to Thessalonica. and the Thes- 
 salonians could recall how they saw with their own eyes 
 the marks of their pain. — We waxed bold (Col. 2:15; 
 Eph. 3:12; 6 : 20). Paul looks back with wonder at the 
 readiness with which God enabled them to begin again to 
 preach His word. — Our God (Phil. 1:3; 4: 19; Philem. 
 4). God was the source of his confidence. He was 
 moved and sustained by his assurance that God directed 
 and upheld him (i Co-r. 2 : 3-5). — To speak unto you the 
 gospel of God (Acts 17: 1-3). These men came to Jews 
 and heathen with good tidings from God (Luke 2 : 10) 
 which they never had heard before, and which cannot 
 rest unspoken in the heart which believes it (3 : 2). It 
 is the story of the fulfilment of God's eternal purpose in 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. — In much conflict. (See on Phil. 
 1:30; Col. 1:29; 2:1.) He sustained the sufferings 
 that came upon him, not without pain, and through a 
 great battle and victory within himself. The miraculous 
 assistance given to the apostles of our Lord gave them 
 no exemption from trial and the necessity of effort and 
 sacrifice. The intensity of their self-sacrifice is witnessed 
 by this chapter. These words are as true of Silas as of 
 Paul. 
 
 3. Our exhortation. The Holy Ghost is the Paraclete, 
 the Comforter. The word used here is derived from the 
 same root, and is rendered comfort, consolation, entreaty, 
 appeal, as well as exhortation (Rom. 15:4; Phil. 2:1; 
 2 Cor. 8:4; Lightfoot). His address to them was not 
 simply teachings but appealed to their feelings as well as 
 their understanding. It \Vi&\ji^tA sinnmons, encouragement, 
 incitement, as well as instruction. (See on 2 : 1 1.) It was 
 an exhortation informed with the quickening power of 
 
292 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [11. 4. 
 
 the Holy Ghost. — Is not of error. Paul refers to his 
 teaching while among them. But he has in mind not a 
 past address, but the contents of it, which abide forever. 
 Therefore the translators supply the word " is." It was 
 not grounded on error. He knew that what he told them 
 was true. — Nor of uncleanness. He may be defending 
 himself against insinuations which he and they may have 
 heard even while he was among them. There were not a 
 few women among his first converts (Acts 17:4), and 
 some may have slightingly said of Paul and Silas what he 
 afterwards had occasion to say of others (2 Tim. 3 : 6). 
 " St. Paul was at this very time living in the midst of the 
 worship of Aphrodite at Corinth, and had but lately 
 witnessed that of the Cabiri at Thessalonica. . . . How 
 naturally prone the early converts were to sensualize even 
 the religion of Christ may be inferred from many passages 
 in St. Paul's epistles, and is seen in the monstrous aber- 
 rations of some forms of Gnosticism ; i. e. of Simon 
 Magus " (Lightfoot). Or they may have been accused 
 of seeking their own profit, i. e. of impure motives (i 
 Tim. 3:8; Titus i : 7). — Nor in guile. They used no 
 trickery. So should all preachers of the Gospel, without 
 selfish aims, or uncandid methods, speak forth the con- 
 victions of the heart. 
 
 4. So we speak. This is contrasted with the wrong 
 manner described in the preceding verse. Paul says, We 
 do not speak error for our own ends, etc., but we speak 
 as those to whom it has pleased God to entrust His 
 Gospel ; and therefore we aim to approve ourselves to 
 Him. — Even as we have been approved of Qod (Gal. 1:1). 
 This does not mean that God has given them this 
 stewardship as a mark of His approval of their past con- 
 duct. It is equivalent to : God has chosen to entrust 
 this to us. — To be intrusted with the gospel. The Gospel 
 
II. 5, 6.] CHAPTER II. 293 
 
 is a trust (i Cor. 9: 16; 2 Cor. 5 : 18). It is a talent, of 
 which the Church of every age will have to give account. 
 It is not enough to keep the faith in a pure confession ; 
 we must give an account of our stewardship of that Gospel 
 which is the power of God (Rom. 1:16; Matt. 25 : 27). — 
 Not as pleasing men. This is not our purpose at all, or 
 at any time (2 Cor. 5:9). "They had none of that 
 mixed motive, astute self-adaptation and versatility of 
 address, discovered in menpleasing " (Eadie). — Who 
 trieth the hearts (Jer. 11 : 20). 
 
 5. He proceeds to the proof of this, calling them to 
 witness. He says, We were not found in speech of flattery . 
 We did not cringe to you, trying to humor and wheedle 
 you into consent with us. — Norinaclokeof covetousness ; 
 i. e. we did not make pretences, to cover up covetousness ; 
 we evidently sought not our own profit at all. " Neither 
 was our conversacioun in cloked covetousness " (Tyn- 
 DALE). — God is witness (2 : 10). " Of an open thing He 
 calls men to witness ; of a thing hidden in the heart, God ; 
 of a thing partly hidden and partly open, God and men " 
 (Bengel). 
 
 6. How common is it for those who care not for money 
 to be greedy of praise ! — When we might have been 
 burdensome. The R. V. suggests three translations: (i) 
 the one already given: (2) the yizx^Wi \ claimed honor ; 
 and (3) the suggestion of the American Committee : 
 claimed authority. For (i) the use of the same expres- 
 sion, in this sense, in verse 9, speaks. (See 2 Thess. 3:18; 
 2 Cor. 12 : 16.) So WiCLiF: "Might be in charge to 
 you," and Tyndale : " We might have been chargeable." 
 For (2), the connection in this verse. For (3), Cranmer's 
 Bible : " We might have been in auctorite." Paul hardly 
 would have used the same expression twice, so nearly in 
 the same place, yet with different meanings. It seems 
 
294 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [li. ?. 
 
 that he means, we might have exacted our support from 
 you, inasmuch as we were messengers of Christ. — 
 Apostles. Silas and Timothy are called apostles here. 
 (See on Pliil. 2 : 25 ; Col. i : i ; Gal. i : i.) 
 
 7. We have in this verse an example of the manner in 
 which " various readings " may occur. Some of the best 
 MSS. read Gentle, and as many and as good read Babes. 
 The decision hinges on the question whether St. Paul 
 uttered a single consonant, or whether a reader or copyist 
 prolonged or repeated the consonant which ended the 
 former word. If Paul said, We were babes among you, 
 he meant that they put themselves on a complete level 
 with the Thessalonians. So the Vulgate has it, and 
 accordingly WiCLiF translates, " We weren made litil in 
 the myddil of you ; " and RlIEIMS (1582), " We became 
 children in the middes of you." But if Paul said, we 
 were gentle, it suits the rest of the figure, in which he 
 likens his gentleness to that of a nurse cherishing her 
 own children; i. e. to a mother pressing her own child to 
 her breast. The words that follow, and the intense 
 affectionateness of this whole letter, show that this is not 
 an exaggerated figure. We cannot but wonder at the 
 tenacious love Paul had for every one who received the 
 Gospel from him. In it we learn to appreciate the 
 Saviour's love for every soul of His (John 10 : 1 1, 1 5, 28 ; 
 13: i). "The inversion of the metaphor, the Chris 
 tian teacher being first compared to the child and then to 
 the mother, is quite in St. Paul's manner. ... (2 Cor. 
 3 : 13-16; Rom. 7 : I ; 2 Cor. 2 : 14). His earnestness and 
 rapidity of thought led him to work out his metaphor to 
 the utmost, turning it about and reapplying it, as it sug- 
 gested some new analogy. . . . Rhetorical rules were as 
 notlilng to him compared with what he had in view " 
 (LlGlITFOOT). 
 
li. 8, 9.] CHAPTER it. 295 
 
 8. Paul, Silas and Timothy gladly gave themselves for 
 and to the Thessalonians. This is the true method of 
 " Church work." It is the history also of every real 
 Christian pastorate. We greatly love the souls we toil 
 for. The souls we are permitted to lead to God arc 
 bound to us by a tie stronger than that of blood. " From 
 a friend we may both ask a favor and receive one without 
 suspicion. When they enjoin anything upon us, then 
 we feel indebted to them ; but when they are slow to do 
 this, then we are sorrowful. We have nothing which is 
 not theirs" (ChrysOSTOM). 
 
 9. Labor and travail. A good translation of these 
 two words (used also 2 Thess. 3:8:2 Cor. 1 1 : 27), 
 which perhaps may differ in expressing (i) the actual 
 labor and toil, and (2) the combination therewith of in- 
 ward struggle and anxiety. " The teacher ought to do 
 nothing that tends to the salvation of his disciples with a 
 feeling of being burdened. For if the blessed Jacob was 
 buffeted night and day in keeping his flocks, much more 
 ought he, to whom the care of souls is entrusted, endure 
 all toils, though the work be laborious and mean, looking 
 only to one thing, the salvation of his disciples, and the 
 glory thence arising to God " (ChrysOSTOM). — Work- 
 ing; i. e. with their hands, so as to earn their own bread 
 (2 Thess. 3 : 8). " The other apostles in their youth had 
 earned their livelihood by a regular employment, but 
 yet one which they could not follow in every place ; 
 Paul, on the other hand, though destined to be a Jewish 
 theologian, yet according to the maxims prevalent in the 
 Jewish schools along with the study of the law had 
 learned the art of tentmaking, and easily gained a main- 
 tenance by this handicraft wherever he went, on account 
 of the mode of travelling in the East and the manifold 
 occasions on which tents were used" (Neander, Plant- 
 
296 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [11. 10. 
 
 ng, I. 181). — Night and day. This shows how hard they 
 had to work. — That we might not burden any of you 
 
 (2 : 6). This was to maintain their independence, and to 
 ward off any imputation of selfish motive (Phil. 4 : 10- 
 18). At their first coming to Thessalonica it could not 
 have been expected that any would contribute to their 
 support, inasmuch as they and their mission were un- 
 known. Afterwards, though many of their converts were 
 working people (4 : 11 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 12), there were 
 not wanting some able to give much (Acts 17:4). 
 But even then Paul and his friends were divinely led to 
 persist in independence (2 Thess. 3 : 8), and were thereby 
 enabled to set their converts a salutary example. In 
 this they were helped by repeated contributions from 
 their loving friends in Philippi. But even as it is said our 
 Lord wrought no miracles for His own behoof, these 
 apostles could thus maintain themselves only by labor 
 and toil night and day. (See Acts 20 : 34. So he worked 
 at Ephesus, as at Corinth, 18:3.) It is good to have 
 one's feet on earth, while the heart is with Christ at the 
 Right Hand of God, and not to be exempt from the 
 cares and duties of our fellow-men. — We preached unto 
 you the gospel of God. This, not their support, was 
 their object. It is a pathetic picture. Even helped by 
 the Philippians, it needed night and day work to make 
 for them a mere subsistence ; yet they found time and 
 opportunity to see so many and so different people, 
 to proclaim the Gospel, to tell them so much about it, 
 and to pay especial attention to each one. — Several words 
 are translated preach. Tlie word here used means to 
 .publish, to proclaim like a herald. Paul proclaimed the 
 good news of God. 
 
 10. Ye are witnesses, and Qod (2 : 5). How much 
 God knows of a preacher's preaching, which his hearers 
 
II. II.] CHAPTER 11. 297 
 
 cannot know. — Holily : before God. — Righteously : in all 
 
 relations and dealings with men. — Unblameably : without 
 any fault which those without could take hold of, if they 
 knew it. Paul here utters the confident testimony of his 
 own conscience. And he shows what the ideal and life 
 of a Christian must be, in order that he may do the work 
 of God. — Toward you that believe. Holiness, righteous- 
 ness and blamelessness marked their behavior towards 
 each other, in the Church, and were not merely a face 
 they turned towards those without. 
 
 II. As ye know. He here appeals to the recollection 
 of each one of them, calling to mind all that had passed 
 between Paul, or his companions, and them. — How we 
 dealt with each one of you (Col. i : 28). The work of 
 Christ cannot be fulfilled in dealing with the congrega- 
 gation as a whole, but must be done with each member 
 of it. A true pastor must adapt his teaching to the want 
 of each, and like the Good Shepherd must go after the 
 one until he find it. Here is the example of Seelsorge, 
 the responsibility for, and service of, each member of the 
 flock. We are too much tempted to think the success of 
 a pastor lies in the increase of the numbers and the cor- 
 porate wellbeing of his congregation. The old Lutheran 
 custom of personal confession of sin and private absolu- 
 tion afforded an opportunity which nothing else supplies. 
 — As a father with his own children. Only after they 
 had been won and instructed and arranged in a congre- 
 gation, could the Thessalonians have recognized author- 
 ity in Paul. But he did not lord it over God's heritage. 
 The tie between them was that of affection. Without 
 assumption, yearning over them, he admonished them as 
 a father. " It is remarked by the commentators from St. 
 Chrysostom downwards, that when the apostle wishes to 
 dwell on his tenderness and affection for his converts he 
 
^98 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [11.12,13. 
 
 uses the figure of a mother; while here, where he is 
 dwelling on his teaching and advice, he adopts that of a 
 father as more appropriate. ' A nurse cherishes the lit- 
 tle ones,' says Pelagius, ' but a father instructs those 
 who are growing up'" (Lightfoot). — Exhorting and 
 encouraging. (See 2:3; Phil. 2 : i.) — And testifying. 
 He also besought (TvNDALE), adjured (RheimS), charged 
 
 (Authorized Version) them (Eph. 4: 17; John 3 : 11, 
 26, 28). 
 
 12. His exhortation and encouragement, and, finally, 
 his solemn and urgent charge to them in the sight of 
 God and in view of the Gospel, was to the end, etc. (See 
 4 : I.)— Who calleth you. He speaks of God's call as 
 present and continuous. God even now is calling us 
 (Rom. 8 : 29, 30). 
 
 13. And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when 
 ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye 
 accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, 
 which also worketh in you that believe. 
 
 13. Perhaps Paul here means to resume the thought of 
 I : 2.— We thank God (Phil. 1:3; Col. i : 12).— With- 
 out ceasing. Working, preaching, giving thanks, pray- 
 ing without ceasing, how busy must the heart of Paul 
 have been. — The word of the message. The original is 
 the word of hearing. (See Rom. 10 : 16 ; Hebr. 4 : 2.) It 
 is not probable that at that early date the apostles brought 
 a written gospel with them. Thus Mark is said to have 
 written his gospel to preserve the stories of our Lord 
 which he often had heard St. Peter tell. But this word, 
 which Paul and his associates told, he expressly declares 
 to have been a word of God. — Which worketh, etc. (Col. 
 I : 29 ; Phil. 2 : 13; James i : 18, 21). This word of God 
 is His Revelation in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a seed ; 
 it is spirit ; it is life. Paul states a fact here. He ex- 
 
.1. 14. iSl CHAPTER It. 299 
 
 plains that which is going on in them and is being wrought 
 through them : it is the natural operation of the word of 
 God. He shows also the essential nature of that word: 
 in those who believe, it works. " The word received 
 into the ears, the word appropriated in the heart, the 
 word fructifying in good works — these are the stages 
 which the apostle here expresses " (LiGHTFOOT). 
 
 14-16. For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which 
 are in Judaea in Christ Jesus : for ye also suffered the same things of your 
 own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews ; who both killed the Lord 
 Jesus and the prophets, and drave out us, and please not God, and are con- 
 trary to all men ; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be 
 saved ; to fill up their sins alway : but the wrath is come upon them to the 
 uttermost. 
 
 14. For. He proceeds to give proof that the word of 
 God works in them. These are, then, tests of the opera- 
 tion of the word of God, as well as of our election (i : 5). 
 Such a proof is found in their prompt imitation of the 
 churches (i : 6) in Judaea, viz. : in patiently enduring per- 
 secution for Christ's sake at the hands of their own coun- 
 trymen. — Of your own countrymen. T/icir countrymen 
 are contrasted with the /czuis/i persecutors of the churches 
 in Judaea. The Christians of Thessalonica were some of 
 Jewish and some of Gentile blood ; and they were cast 
 out by both Jew and Gentile. (See Acts 17.) Observe 
 that ^/le ChurcJies of God in Jiidcea are spoken of in the 
 plural. (See I : I.) The several Christian congregations of 
 one province, and of one race and tongue, are not spoken 
 of as one organization. 
 
 15. And drave out us (Acts 8 : i). — Are contrary to 
 all men. Paul may here adopt the current criticism of 
 the Jews (Tacitu.S, Hist. V. 3 ; J U VENAL, XIV. 103, 
 104 ; Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. Tyan. V. 33 ; DiOD. 
 Sic. XXXIV. i), but explains his meaning in the next 
 verse. 
 
300 THE EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [ii. 16-18. 
 
 16. Though they would not accept the Gospel, they 
 still forbade the publication of it to others (Acts 17 : 13). 
 — To fill up. (See Gen. 15 : 16.) The wrath, etc. As 
 they always were filling up their sins, so the wrath of 
 God, which broke upon them so often in the course of 
 their history, is coming to the end. " The article, ' the ' 
 wrath, shows that it was long ago due and predetermined 
 and predicted " (Chrysostom). " It had reached its 
 extreme bound, and would at once pass into inflictive 
 judgments" (Eadie). This is a prophecy of the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem and of the dispersion of the Jews. 
 Doubtless Paul knew our Lord's prophecy of that event, 
 and he could easily infer this issue of their final rejection 
 of the Messiah and of the violence they showed daily. 
 
 17-18. But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season, in 
 presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more exceedingly to see your face 
 with great desire : because we would fain have come unto you, I Paul once 
 and again ; and Satan hindered us. 
 
 17. He speaks of his necessary separation from them 
 as a bereavement, and declares that while he was at 
 Athens, and even at Corinth, nevertheless his heart was 
 with them at Thessalonica. This does not say, that he 
 was not " in heart " at Corinth, too ; though there can be 
 no doubt that he felt a peculiar affection for his Mace- 
 donian converts. 
 
 18. He uses the singular here, because Silas and Tim- 
 othy had been with them longer, while he had tried to 
 come to them, and had not been able. — Once and again ; 
 and Satan hindered us. " What sayest thou ? does Satan 
 hinder.? Yes, truly, for this was not the work of God. 
 For in the Epistle to the Romans he says that God hin- 
 dered him (Rom. 15 : 22); and elsewhere Luke says that 
 * the Spirit ' hindered him from going into Asia (Acts 
 16 : 7). And in the Epistle to the Corinthians he says, 
 
II. i8.] CIJAPTER II. 301 
 
 that it is the work of the Spirit, but here only of Satan. 
 But what hindrance of Satan is he speaking of? Some 
 unexpected and violent temptations : for a plot, it says, 
 being formed against him by the Jews, he was detained 
 three months in Greece " (Chrysostom) — To hinder is 
 to throw obstacles in the way of. It is idle to speculate 
 as to the obstacles that prevented St. Paul's return to 
 Thessalonica at that time. We observe that he does not 
 hesitate to ascribe those hindrances to the operation of a 
 personal devil (2 Cor. 4 : 4), and this literally. " Satan acts 
 through bad men " (Bengel). F. D. Maurice says in a 
 letter to Dr. Hort (Life, II. 21) : " You think you do not 
 find a distinct recognition of the devil's personality in my 
 books. I am sorry if it is so. I am afraid I have been cor- 
 rupted by speaking to a polite congregation. I do agree 
 with my very dear friend, Charles Kingsley, and admire 
 him for the boldness with which he has said that the 
 devil is shamming dead, but that he never was busier 
 than now. I do not know what he is by theological 
 arguments, but I know by what I feel. I am sure there 
 is one near me accusing God and my brethren to me. 
 He is not myself; I should go mad if I thought he was. 
 He is near my neighbors ; I am sure he is not identical 
 with my neighbors. I must hate them if I believed he 
 was. But, oh ! most of all, I am horror-struck at the 
 thought that we may confound him with God ; the per- 
 fect darkness with the perfect light. I dare not deny 
 that it is an evil will that tempts me ; else I should begin 
 to think evil is in God's creation, and is not the revolt 
 from God resistance to Him? If he is an evil will, he 
 must, I think, be a person. The Word upholds his ex- 
 istence, not his evil. That is in himself ; that is the mys- 
 terious, awful possibility implied in his being a will. I 
 need scarcely say that I do not mean by this acknowl- 
 
302 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [ii. 19, 20. 
 
 edgment of an evil spirit that I acknowledge a material 
 devil. But does any one ? " — Luther was not unlike Paul 
 in ascribing hindrances to the evil one. 
 
 19-20. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not 
 even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming ? For ye are our glory and 
 our joy. 
 
 19. Paul was at Corinth when he wrote this, near to 
 the place where the Isthmian Games were celebrated. 
 The victor in those games received a chaplet. So were 
 the Thessalonians and others won by his Gospel, the re- 
 ward of his conflict (2 : 2). The expression is found in 
 the Septuagint (Prov. 16 : 31 ; Ez. 16 : 17; 23 : 42). — 
 Even ye. Also ye ; for Paul is careful not to exclude his 
 other converts (so Chrysostom). — Before our Lord Jesus 
 Christ at his coming. If Paul looked at the Isthmian 
 Games, or perhaps looked at a victor in those games, 
 crowned, rejoicing and applauded, it must have been 
 with deep wonder, and also with deep scorn in his heart 
 (i Cor. 9 : 25), With that award he compared the worth 
 of the conflict in which he was a wrestler, the Great Judge 
 who would award his prize, and the concourse of the Day 
 of Judgment ! 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 1-2. Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to 
 be left behind at Athens alone ; and sent Timothy, our brother and God's 
 minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you con- 
 cerning your faith ; 
 
 1. Unable to go to them, but unable to overcome his 
 solicitude, he preferred to send Timothy to them, and 
 to be left at Athens alone. Acts 17 : 14, we are told that 
 Silas and Timothy remained at Beroea, when Paul was 
 hurried to Athens ; and from Athens he directed them to 
 come to him with all speed. Acts 18:5, Silas and Tim- 
 othy are said to have come to him from Macedonia after 
 he had arrived at Corinth. As in Acts 17 : 16 he is said 
 to have waited for them at Athens, it seems probable 
 that Timothy alone joined him there, and Paul, because 
 of his solicitude for the Thessalonians, at once sent 
 him to Thessalonica. Then Silas and Timothy together 
 came to him at Corinth. Paul's words show that at 
 Athens he felt his loneliness. 
 
 2. Timothy, our brother. (See on Col. i : i.) Phil. 2 : 
 20, 22. Timothy is not here called an apostle.- Qod's, 
 minister; \. e. Servant ; the same word which is trans- 
 lated deacon. This passage has undergone much correc- 
 tion at the hands of copyists, many MSS. reading Felloiv- 
 worker with God (iCor. 3 : 9). Both terms indicate for 
 Timothy a relation of direct service of God. — In the gos- 
 pel of Christ. This shows the sphere of Timothy's serv- 
 ice. The Gospel is conceived as including the whole 
 
 303 
 
304 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [iii. 3-5. 
 
 work of Missions, by which the good news of salvation 
 through Christ was being spread. — To establish you, etc. 
 This was his object in sending Timothy, not merely to 
 get word from them. He was solicitous lest their faith 
 might prove not sufficiently instructed to bear affliction 
 (3 • 3) 'o)- — ■^"'^ comfort. Timothy was sent to encourage 
 their faith by the instruction of the Holy Ghost (2 : 3). 
 
 3-4. That no man be moved by these afflictions ; for yourselves know 
 that hereunto we are appointed. For verily, when we were with you, we 
 told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction ; even as it came to pass, 
 and ye know. 
 
 3. rioved. That no one be disturbed (Chrysostom 
 and Theophylact) ; but LiGHTFOOT : " Drawn aside 
 and allured by the prospect of an easier life." He then 
 translates, /;/ these afflictions.) — By these afflictions ; 
 i. e. by the sufferings which come upon them because of 
 their faith in Christ (2 : 14). — To this we are appointed 
 (2 Tim. 3:12; Matt. 10 : 34-39). 
 
 4. We told you before. Paul had made plain to them 
 that the confession of Christ would bring persecution. 
 "The language employed had often been used to the 
 Thessalonian converts ; St. Paul had dwelt on this topic " 
 (LiGHTFOOT). Acts 14 : 22. They had counted the 
 cost. 
 
 5. For this cause I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent that I 
 might know your faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, 
 and our labour should be in vain. 
 
 5. Here we see the reason of his anxiety. Every 
 convert he won, thenceforth lay upon his heart. — In vain. 
 Had they yielded to persecution, his work among them 
 would have been fruitless (Gal. 2:2: Phil. 2 ; 16 ; 2 
 Cor. 6:1; Septuagint : Isai. 29 : 8 ; 65 : 23 ; 45 : 18 ; Jer. 
 6 : 29 ; 18 : 15 ; 51 : 53 ; Job 39 : 16 ; Mic. i : 14 ; Hab. 
 2 : 3)- 
 
III. 6-9.] CHAPTER III. 305 
 
 6-10. But when Timothy came even now unto us from you, and brought 
 us glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance 
 of us always, longing to see us, even as we also to see you ; for this cause, 
 brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction 
 through your faith : for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. For 
 what thanksgiving can we render again unto God for you, for all the joy 
 wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God ; night and day praying 
 exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lack- 
 ing in your faith ? 
 
 6. Even now. This letter must have been written 
 promptly on Timothy's coming. — -Brought us glad tid- 
 ings. — The same term elsewhere used for the proclama- 
 tion of the " good tidings of great joy." The glad tidings 
 of Timothy to Paul were i. that their faith was standing 
 the trial ; (2.) that they showed love to one another (Gal, 
 5:6); (3) that they remembered Paul and were as eager 
 to see him as he was to see them. This is good news 
 from redeemed men, answering to the good news of 
 God's redemption. 
 
 7. Therefore were we comforted. The word is the 
 same as that employed in 3 : 3. The tidings that their 
 faith was unshaken wrought for him the very comfort 
 which he had sent Timothy to give to them.— In all our 
 distress and affliction. " Some outward trial and afflic- 
 tion under which the apostle was then suffering "(Elli- 
 COTT). Just at this time Paul was opposed by the Jews at 
 Corinth and was " constrained by the word to testify " 
 to them (Acts 18 : 5-10). His life at Corinth was marked 
 by want and trial. The news of the progress of the 
 Gospel in the hearts of his Thessalonians was a comfort 
 to him. 
 
 8. The comfort and reward of a faithful pastor. No 
 
 earthly gifts can console him, if his people flinch in the 
 
 hour of trial or have the name of godliness without its 
 
 power. (See Phil, i : 27 ; 4 : i ; Gal. 5:1.) 
 20 
 
3o6 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [in. lo, 13. 
 
 9. He rejoices in them before God; and again gives 
 thanks for that joy. We see a glimpse of the hidden life 
 of Paul before his God. 
 
 10. (Cf. 2 : 9, 13.) He prays night and day, (i) to see 
 them again, and (2) to complete what is lacking in their 
 faith. The word here used for " complete " sometimes 
 is applied to military and naval preparation, "as of man- 
 ning a fleet, of supplying an army with provisions " 
 (LiGHTFOOT). 
 
 II. Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct 
 our way unto you : 
 
 11. Here, says Athanasius (Agt. the Arians, HI. 11), 
 Paul " guards the unity of the Father and the Son." 
 He prays to the Father and the Son. He expects the 
 answer from the Father and the Son.— Direct our way. 
 It was the especial guidance of the Spirit of Jesus that 
 had brought Paul to Europe and Thessalonica ; and he 
 could trust He would bring him to them again (Acts 
 16 : 6-10). God's providence in the past encourages us 
 to believe that He will not leave us in uncertainty con- 
 cerning duty in any case. 
 
 12-13. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one 
 toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you ; to the 
 end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God 
 and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. 
 
 12. He prays that the same love which he has for them 
 may be made to increase and abound among them to 
 each other, and to all men. Christian love goes out not 
 to those only to whom we, are indebted for a benefit, but 
 to all our fellows, and overflows upon all men (2 Peter 
 I : 7). The Thessalonians had shown such love in their 
 prompt spread of the Gospel. 
 
 13. The means of their establishment in holiness is the 
 growth of their Christian love. He wishes them to be 
 
III. 13.1 CHAPTER III. 307 
 
 blameless before God at the coming of Jesus (2 : 20 ; 
 4 : 13). — With all his saints, i. e. His holy angels and 
 the spirits of just men made perfect (2 Thess. 1:7; 
 Matt. 25 : 31 ; Hebr. 12 : 23. Also Ps. 89 : 5 ; Zech. 
 14 : 5 ; Dan. 4 : 10 ; Matt. 13 : 41 ; Mark 8 : 38 ; Luke 
 9 : 26). 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1-2. Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord 
 Jesus, that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, 
 even as ye do walk, — that ye abound more and more. For ye know what 
 charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 
 
 I. Finally. (See Phil. 3:114:8.) Marks the com- 
 pletion of the former part of the letter, and the transi- 
 tion to certain practical admonitions. — We beseech and 
 exhort. He does not command ; but, as one who has 
 their heart, knowing that they have his, and in the mutual 
 relations in which they stand in the Lord Jesus, he 
 affectionately asks them. — Exhort. The same word 
 translated comfort in 3 : 2, 7. (See on 2 : 3.) The " com- 
 fort " of the Holy Ghost is the " medium " of all Chris- 
 tian intercourse, like the hypothetical ether, whose vibra- 
 tions in the natural world transmit light and heat. — As ye 
 received of us. They not only had heard his instruction 
 on this point, but had accepted it. — To walk (2:12; i 
 John 2 : 6). The life of a Christian ought to put Chris- 
 tian principle into action, continuously, before the eyes 
 of men. — And please God ; so as to please God. — That 
 ye abound more and more. He owns that they have 
 heeded his precepts. But the Christian life should also 
 be 2. progress. Perfection is not to be looked for in its 
 beginning ; imperfection and immaturity do not destroy 
 the title to the name of Christian ; but a Christian can- 
 not rest in any degree of imperfection or immaturity. 
 308 
 
IV. 3, 4-] CHAPTER IV. 3C9 
 
 2. What charge we gave you : i, e. What precepts of 
 life. It is evident that besides proclaiming the Gospel, 
 the apostle taught what manner of life accorded with it 
 and was pleasing to God. These precepts he gave them 
 through the Lord Jesus The substance of them was 
 from Him, and was solemnly imparted in virtue of the 
 duty and authority which belonged to Paul as Christ's 
 messenger. The following instance (ver. 6) shows that 
 the apostle had criticised faults of social life, in the name 
 of the Lord. (See 4:11; 2 Thess. 3 : 4, 6, 10, 12.) 
 
 3-8. For this is the will of God, eve)i your sanctification, that ye abstain 
 from fornication ; that each one of you know how to possess himself of his 
 own vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the passion of lust, even as 
 the Gentiles which know not God ; that no man transgress, and wrong his 
 brother in the matter : because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as 
 also we forewarned you and testified. For God called us not for unclean- 
 ness, but in sanctification. Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, 
 but God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you. 
 
 3. Even your sanctification : i. e. God wishes and 
 intends your progress unto holiness. With this the 
 laxity, the uncleanness, the indecency, which the heathen 
 allowed and encouraged, was in conflict. Paul, in the 
 name of Jesus, forbade fornication (Acts 15 : 20). 
 (" Speaking of the decay of the Athenian people, Mr. 
 Francis Galton says : ' We know, and may guess some- 
 thing more, of the reason why this marvellously-gifted 
 race declined. Social morality grew exceedingly lax ; 
 marriage became unfashionable and was avoided ; many 
 of the more ambitious and accomplished women were 
 avowed courtesans, and the mothers of the incoming 
 population were of a heterogeneous class.' The same 
 state of popular feeling with respect to marriage pre- 
 vailed during the decline of the Roman Empire." — KiDD, 
 Social Evolution, 316, n.) 
 
 4. The word translated possess means acquire.— His, 
 
3IO FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [iv. 5-8. 
 
 own vessel means his own wife (i Peter 3 : 7). This 
 passage may therefore be taken as a sanction of Chris- 
 tian marriage, and an injunction to marry instead of 
 yielding to the common impurity of their time (i Cor. 
 7 : 9). In contrast with the looseness of family life 
 among the heathen, both then and now, a Christian is to 
 form and maintain a home. He is urged to personal 
 purity, to temperance, to respect for the restraints of 
 law, and for the needs and rights of others. (Christian 
 marriage rites are mentioned by Ignatius, ad Polyc. 5, 
 and Tertullian, de Monogamia, 1 1 ; ad Uxorem, II., VIII.) 
 
 5. The knowledge of God produces an entirely different 
 conception of the world and of life, and transports into a 
 different sphere of moral ideas. 
 
 6. In the matter. This shows that, although covetous- 
 ness and uncleanness are elsewhere ranged together by the 
 apostle (Rom. i : 29; i Cor. 5 : 10; 6 : 10; Eph. 5 : 3, 5 ; 
 Col. 3 : 5), he here refers to the same general subject that 
 occupies the preceding verses. There he forbade unclean- 
 ness of life, and commanded the sanctification of a Chris- 
 tian's own home. Here he forbids adultery, the invasion 
 and destruction of a brother's — i. e. a neighbor's — home. 
 He wrote from Corinth, a city proverbial for its unclean- 
 ness of manners. — The Lord is an avenger, etc. In those 
 relations which are hidden in our homes, and never are 
 brought before human tribunals or told to any one, the 
 Lord sees, sifts and judges. He who forms the tie of 
 man and wife watches over it. 
 
 7. (See 4 : 3 ; 5 : 23.) ".Holiness is to be the pervading 
 element in which the Christian is to move" (Light- 
 FOOT). 
 
 8. To reject these injunctions is to reject God, the Giver 
 of the Holy Spirit, whose " gifts " they enjoy, whose life 
 animates them, who makes them one. 
 
IV. 9-1 1] CHAPTER IV. 3II 
 
 9-10. But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write 
 unto you : for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another ; for in- 
 deed ye doit toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. But we 
 exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more; 
 
 9. Ye have no need. Really an emphatic form of 
 speech (Philem. 19). " The thing is so necessary as not 
 to require instruction. For things that are very impor- 
 tant are manifest to all. By saying this he makes them 
 more ashamed than if he had admonished them" (Chrys- 
 OSTOm). — For, etc. The love of God shed abroad in 
 their hearts taught them to love one another. Taught of 
 God (John, 6:45). 
 
 10. (3 ;6; 4: I.) " It is probable that in the interval 
 between St. Paul's departure from Macedonia and the 
 writing of this letter other Christian communities were 
 established, at least in the larger towns, such as Amphip- 
 olis, Pella, etc., either by the instrumentality of the 
 more active of his recent Macedonian converts, or by the 
 missionaries of his own sending, such as Luke, Silvanus 
 and Timotheus, all of whom seem to have been actively 
 engaged in Macedonia during this interval " (LlGHT- 
 FOOT). 
 
 11-12. And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and 
 to work with your hands, even as we charged you ; that ye may walk 
 honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing. 
 
 11. The Thessalonians were excited by the hope of the 
 coming again of the Lord, and were tempted to lay aside 
 their usual avocations, and spend their time in idle dis- 
 cussion. " A restless, meddling and practically idle 
 spirit exposed them to the comments of those without " 
 (Ellicott). Perhaps the great charity of some encour- 
 aged the idleness of others. Paul exhorts them to set 
 their ambition on being quiet, attending to their own 
 business, and working for their living. These symptoms 
 of unrest, fanaticism and idleness had appeared while he 
 
312 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i v. 12, 13. 
 
 was yet with them, and he had charged them on the sub- 
 ject. It is evident that to folloiv Christ does not require 
 us to give up daily work, nor does it justify us in becom- 
 ing busybodies in other men's matters. 
 
 12. As a sufficient reason for this advice Paul instances 
 (i) their reputation among those without, and (2) their 
 duty to maintain their independence, as, in his own case, 
 he had set them an example (2 : 9). A Christian should 
 walk unblameably (2 ; 10), and thereby may glorify the 
 name of Christ (Matt. 5 : 13-16; i Tim. 3: 7). But he 
 may not make public opinion his rule of life (Matt. 5:11; 
 23 : 28. — Of nothing. This may be translated, may 
 have need of no man. In both cases it enforces the duty 
 of self-support, independence. If the Thessalonians had 
 stopped working, they soon would have become a burden 
 on the alms of the community and put the name of Christ 
 to shame. On the other hand, they should work, to have 
 to give to those who were in need (Eph. 4 : 28). This 
 explodes the theory of the sanctity of voluntary poverty, 
 so praised by the Mendicant Friars before the Reforma- 
 tion. " Let us therefore renounce our parents, and kins- 
 men, and friends, and wife, and children, and possessions, 
 and all the enjoyments of life, when any of these things 
 become an impediment to piety " (Const. App. V. i, 5). 
 
 13-18. But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them 
 that fall asleep ; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope. 
 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are 
 fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you 
 by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the 
 coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. 
 For the Lord himself shall descend^from heaven, with a shout, with the 
 voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and 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: and so shall we 
 ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 
 
 13. But. Although he has thus enjoined them to 
 
IV. 14.] CHAPTER IV. 313 
 
 work quietly among those who expected no coming of 
 the Lord, he will not leave the question which troubled 
 their excited hearts unanswered. They were distressed, 
 lest those who had died among them would have no part 
 in the glories of Christ's coming. (LiGHTFOOT refers to a 
 similar question in Clem. Rec. I. 52, and says, " It is not 
 necessary to suppose any lengthened existence of the 
 Church of Thessalonica at the time when this letter was 
 written, in order to account for this difficulty. If only 
 one or two of the converts had died in the meanwhile, it 
 was sufficient to give rise to this question.") — Them that 
 fall asleep. (LiGHTFOOT : Them that are lying asleep.) 
 Death is called a sleep, because from it we shall awake 
 (Matt. 9 : 23). — Even as the rest (5:6; Eph. 2 : 3). — 
 Which have no hope. Ancient literature and the inscrip- 
 tions on ancient tombs show that they had no hope of 
 an awakening. 
 
 14. If we believe, etc. " Observe that he says not. If 
 you believe that Christ hath fallen asleep ; but makes it 
 harder with Christ's death than with ours, saying, If we 
 believe that Christ died ; while of us he says, not that 
 we die, but that we sleep. Our death he calls not death 
 but sleep ; and Christ's death he calls a real death. So 
 he ascribes to the death of Christ such power that in 
 comparison with it ours is but a sleep. For this is the 
 right way to comfort, viz., to snatch out of sight the 
 death we suffer and to look only at the death of Christ. 
 Paul as much as says with these words. Why do you think 
 much of your death ; look at Him who really is dead, in 
 comparison with whom all others are not dead. If we 
 would grieve let us grieve for the death of Christ. That 
 is to be called a real death, not alone because it was so 
 bitter, shameful and great, but also because it was so 
 powerful that it baptized all the rest of the dead, so that 
 
314 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [iv. 15. 
 
 henceforth they are to be called not dead, but asleep. He 
 always leads our heart (because He cannot so lead our 
 eyes) away from that which the eyes look on, to that 
 which God says, and to Christ, that we may not at all 
 doubt that He will bring us with Christ " (LUTHER). — 
 That are fallen asleep in Jesus. The Greek has " through " 
 Jesus, and seems to imply that through Him death has 
 become a sleep. This verse is significant as one of the 
 earliest recorded declarations of Christian faith, (i) in the 
 resurrection of our Lord, and (2) that all those who sleep 
 through Him shall live with Him. " Almighty God 
 Himself will raise us up through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 according to His infallible promise, and grant us a resur- 
 rection with all those that have slept from the beginning 
 of the world ; and we shall then be such as we now are 
 in our present form, without any defect or corruption. 
 For we shall rise incorruptible ; whether we die at sea, or 
 are scattered on the earth, or are torn to pieces by wild 
 beasts and birds, He will raise us up by His own power, 
 for the whole world is held together by the hand of God" 
 (Const. App. V. i, 7). 
 
 15. Paul proceeds to answer their question. His 
 solemn appeal to a word of the Lord, and the carefulness 
 with which on certain other occasions he tells that he is 
 giving Jiis own judgment (i Cor. 7:25, 40), establish the 
 fact that he received from God special revelations to 
 guide him in his duty and teaching (Gal. i : 12 ; 2 : 2 ; 
 Eph. 3:2; 2 Cor. 12 : i). The Holy Scriptures of the 
 New Testament as well as the Scriptures of the Old 
 Testament (2 Peter i : 21 ; 2 Tim. 3 : 16) are a record of 
 revelations from God. Paul's inspiration, however, must 
 be defined as he defined it. In this verse he seems to 
 include himself among those who would be alive and be 
 left unto the coming of the Lord, and certainly did not 
 
IV. i6.] CHAPTER IV. 315 
 
 know he would be among those "asleep in Jesus." 
 Though the Lord enabled him to know what was essen- 
 tial for him to know for the well-being of the Church, He 
 did not give him a full prevision of all that would befall 
 him (Phil, i : 25. See 2 Kings 4 : 27). Neither were 
 he and the other apostles raised above the need of exer 
 cising their conscience, reason and judgment. — That re- 
 main. He thus qualifies the preceding words, so as not 
 to assert that he will survive until the coming of the 
 Lord. " St. Paul himself shared in that expectation 
 (that their Lord would come again in that very genera- 
 tion), but being under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, 
 he did not deduce therefrom any erroneous practical con- 
 clusions " (CONYBEARE and HOWSON, 314. See Mark 
 13 : 32; I Cor. 15 : 51 ; i Thess. 5 : i, 2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 
 2 Peter 3 : 8). " Here Paul shows how Christians should 
 comfort themselves when a father, or a mother, or an- 
 other dear one, dies. They should not think as heathen 
 do ; for these think that such an one is gone forever. But 
 Christians should know that they will come again and 
 hereafter will live with them again in a better life. For 
 just as Christ is risen from the dead, so shall all Chris- 
 tians also rise again, and there will be no difference be- 
 tween those who died, whether one died before or after 
 the other. Such a hope should not only lessen our grief 
 for those who are dead, and keep us from despondency, 
 but also should make death soft and easy to us who re- 
 main " (Veit Dietrich). This verse is Paul's direct an- 
 swer to the question of the Thessalonians, which they 
 seem to have debated among themselves. 
 
 16. The Lord himself shall descend. (Acts i : 11.) — 
 With a shout. The victorious cry summoning the dead 
 to life (John 11:43). "Used of a cry addressed to a 
 multitude " (Bengel). — The voice of the archangel. (Cf. 
 
3i6 FIRST EP/STLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [iv. 17, i8 
 
 Matt. 24:31; 25:31 ; 2 Thess. 1:7.) — And with the 
 trump of God. Compare the sound of the trumpet on 
 Sinai, Ex. 19 : 16. Among the Jews the New Moon that 
 ushered in the seventh month was called the Feast of 
 Trumpets. The seventh month of every year was in- 
 tended to repeat, intensify and explicate the thought 
 presented in the Sabbath day : the Feast of Trumpets 
 declared the Last Judgment, the Day of Atonement 
 showed the need of repentance and promised the Sacrifice 
 once for all, and the Feast of Tabernacles prefigured the 
 joyous harvest home, when God shall gather His wheat 
 into the garner. The year of Jubilee also began with a 
 progress of the priests throughout the land, blowing 
 trumpets. Its characteristic thought was the home- 
 coming of every one, the Sabbath of the world (Numb. 
 10:2 ; 31:6; Joel 2:1). 
 
 17. He states the order of that great event : (i) the 
 resurrection of those fallen asleep in Christ, (2) the 
 change of those still living upon earth at that time (i Cor. 
 15:51); and (3) that both alike shall be taken to dwell 
 with the Lord forever. — The dead in Christ. He is not 
 speaking here of the general resurrection, but particularly 
 of those who had fallen asleep in Christ. These rem.ain 
 in Christ, though they have passed from our sight. 
 
 18. Here is material of comfort. But we are to com- 
 fort one another with these words of the Lord. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 1-3. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no 
 need that aught be written unto you. P"or yourselves know perfectly that 
 the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are say- 
 ing, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail 
 upon a woman with child ; and they shall in no wise escape. 
 
 1. The times and the seasons. T/ie thnrs is a. general 
 terin ; t/ie seasons is definite, meaning " the right or fitting 
 time." LiGHTFOOT says, " ' Times ' points to the ^/a/c ; 
 while ' seasons ' refers to the occurrences which will mark 
 the occasion, the signs by which its approach will be 
 ushered in" (Matt. 16:3). — Ye have no need. (See 
 4:9.) He had told them before that the Lord had said 
 they were not to know just when He will come again 
 (Matt. 24 : 4, 42 ; Acts i : 7). 
 
 2. Matt. 24:43; Luke 12:39; - Peter 3:10; Rev. 
 3:3; 16: 15. — Day of the Lord. Many MSS. omit the 
 article before day. Day of the Lord is a technical term 
 in the Hebrew prophets for the revelation of God's just 
 judgment (Isai. 2 : 12 ; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 7 : 10 ; 13:5; 
 Joel 1:15; 2:11; 3:14; Zeph. 1:14: Mai. 4 : 5 ). Paul 
 may here remind them of a "general law " of such final 
 judgments on nations and systems of corruption which 
 God has tolerated with much longsuffering : Ye know 
 perfectly that a day of the Lord comes suddenly, unex- 
 pectedly, without announcement, stealthily, like a thief 
 in the night. Paul's words seem to imply (i) their knowl- 
 edge of the Old Testament Scriptures, and (2) their 
 familiarity with our Lord's declarations on the subject. 
 
 1^1 
 
3i8 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [v. 3-«. 
 
 3. When they are saying (Ezek. 13:10, 16; Matt. 
 24:36-39; Luke 17:26-30). — Sudden destruction (Luke 
 21 : 34, 36). Such it will be to those who look not for it. 
 The point is, its suddenness, and the utter impossibility 
 of escaping it. — As travail. (See Ps. 48 : 6 ; Jer. 6 : 24.) 
 
 4-1 1. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should over- 
 take you as a thief : for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day : we are 
 not of the night, nor of darkness ; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, 
 but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night ; and 
 they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of 
 the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love ; and for a 
 helmet, the hope of salvation. For God appointed us not unto wrath, but 
 unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for 
 us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 
 Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do. 
 
 4. As a thief. Christians will not be taken at un- 
 awares, because they always are heeding our Lord's in- 
 junction to watch (Luke 21 : 36). Some MSS. read 
 thieves ; as if Paul meant to liken ungodly and unbelieving 
 men to those doing evil in the dark, and revealed at their 
 mischief by sudden light. 
 
 5. I John I : 5-7 ; Eph. 5:8-11; John 3 : 19-21 ; 12 : 36 ; 
 Luke 16:8. (Cf. Luke I :78 ; 2:32.) 
 
 6. Let us not sleep. Let us neither remain uncon- 
 cerned and unprepared, nor pass our time in levity and 
 carousing. But let us be awake and watching, "with all 
 our senses and capacities in full exercise *' (Ellicott). 
 " It is in our power always to have it day " (Chrys- 
 OSTOM). 
 
 8. The figure of an earnest soldier, arming himself for 
 battle, with full preparedness of soul, not with the light 
 eagerness of one untried. (See Rom, 13: 12,13). — Putting 
 on. Isai. 59: 17: Putting on the armor of God. The 
 figure is expanded, Eph. 6: 10-17. (See also Rom. 13:12; 
 2 Cor. 10:4.) The armor consists of Faith, Love and 
 
V. 9-12.] CHAPTER V. 319 
 
 Hope. (See i : 3.) Faith and Love are the breastplate, 
 or coat of mail, corresponding to God's righteousness. 
 Faith lays hold on the righteousness of God. The 
 Christian wears the righteousness which is from God by 
 faith (Phil. 3 : 9). Faith works through love (Gal. 5 : 6). 
 God's helmet is salvation. We put on a hope of salva- 
 tion. This is our crest. 
 
 9. This is our warrant for thus putting on the armor 
 of God. God intends that we shall obtain salvation 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 10. Who died for us. (See on Col. i : 20.) Our 
 salvation is founded on the death oi Jesus Christ /i?r us. 
 As our future life is assured by His resurrection (4 : 14), 
 so our deliverance has been wrought by His death. 
 (See I : 10.) Paul had taught the Thessalonians the 
 doctrine of Christ's atonement for our sins. — Whether 
 we wake or sleep. This is said with reference to the 
 question of 4 : 13-17. 
 
 11. Wherefore. Because of this assurance of salva- 
 vation. — Exhort (2:3; 3 ; 2). — Each other. Each is 
 here urged to encourage and build up his fellows singly. 
 — Build up (Eph. 2 : 20 ; i Cor. 3 : 9, 16 ; 8 : i ; 10 : 23 ; 
 2 Cor. 6 : 16). Edification is proposed, the edification of 
 each one, rather than " the building-up " of the congre- 
 gation in numbers and influence. And this is made a 
 duty of each and all. " The full meaning is, * build one 
 another up that you may all together grow into a temple 
 of God ' " (CONYBEARE and HOWSON). 
 
 12-13. But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among 
 you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you ; and to esteem them 
 exceeding highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among your- 
 selves. 
 
 12. (See Eph. 4:11; i Tim. 5 : 17.) At this early 
 period the Church at Thessalonica had officer^ : persons 
 
320 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [v. 12. 
 
 who presided over them, labored among them, and ad- 
 monished them. There were several who shared this 
 office of oversight and responsibility, as at Philippi (Phil. 
 
 I ; i) ; there was not one bishop only. (See also Acts 
 
 II : 30; 14 : 23 ; Eph. 4 : ii.) They presided in their 
 common worship. (See Justin's First Apology, LXV. : 
 " There is then brought to the president (or to that one 
 of the brethren who is presiding) bread and a cup of wine 
 mingled with water ; and he, taking them, gives praise 
 and glory to the Father of the universe, through the 
 name of the Son and of the Holy Gho?t, and offers 
 thanks at considerable length for our being created 
 worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when 
 he has concluded the prayers and the thanksgivings, all 
 the people present express their assent by saying Amen.") 
 They also conducted their common affairs " in the Lord." 
 They laboured among them : the word showing that their 
 office demanded toil and weariness. (POLYCARP, in his 
 letter to the Philippians, VI., besides speaking of the 
 necessary moral qualifications of such officers, says: " Let 
 the presbyters be compassionate and merciful to all, 
 bringing back those that wander, visiting all the sick, 
 and not neglecting the widow, the orphan or the poor.") 
 And, besides, it was their office to admonish by word 
 each according to his need. These presidents or presby- 
 ters did not lay down their ordinary avocations, and live 
 upon the contributions -of the Church. " The bishops 
 and presbyters of those early days kept banks, practised 
 medicine, wrought as silversmiths, tended sheep, or sold 
 their goods in open market " (Hatch). (See SoCRATES, 
 History, i : 12 ; 7 : 28 ; Greg., M. Ep. 13 : 26 ; Basil, 
 Ep. 198 ; EpiphaniUS, Heresies, 80 : 6.) The apostles 
 found it necessary from the beginning to appoint such 
 responsible officers in every congregation (i Ep. of 
 
• V. 13, 14] CHAPTER V. 321 
 
 Clement, XLIV,). Those who had been newly won to 
 the Gospel needed to be held in fellowship with their 
 brethren, and to be edified by further instruction and 
 pastoral care. So do old established congregations need 
 the continual service of the Christian ministry. They 
 need not only the offices of ministering love, but the 
 admonition of the Word. Paul exhorts the Thessalon- 
 ians to know those thus laboring among them ; i. e. to 
 appreciate and acknowledge them. We may infer that 
 this admonition was needed. Some were disorderly 
 (5 : 14 ; 2 Thess. 3:6). In the next generation, St. Clement 
 wrote a letter to the Corinthians, who were inclined to 
 displace a presbyter. The success of the ministry de- 
 pends in great measure on the openness with which their 
 admonition is received. Their work is laborious, respon- 
 sible and of the highest worth. 
 
 13. They are to esteem them in love. The tie be- 
 tween them and the ofificers of their community is to be 
 the common tie between all the members of the body of 
 Christ, with especial recognition of their ofifice. — Be at 
 peace among yourselves The Vulgate has zvith them ; 
 and so Luther translates it. There may have been a 
 difference of opinion among the Thessalonians, which 
 threatened division, some esteeming the presidents, 
 some standing aloof. Paul intimates the danger, and the 
 necessity of preserving the unity of the community. 
 
 14-18. And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage 
 the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all. See that 
 none render unto any one evil for evil ; but alway follow after that which is 
 good, one toward another, and toward all. Rejoice alway ; pray without 
 ceasing; in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ 
 Jesus to you-ward. 
 
 14. He indicates the causes which may have occasioned 
 the danger. Some have thought that here he specially 
 addresses the presbyters (so CONYBEARE and HOWSON, 
 
 21 
 
322 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [v. 15. 
 
 who, however, add, " It must be admitted that many of 
 the duties here enjoined are duties of all Christians"); 
 but he continues to address those whom he has exhorted 
 to maintain peace. There were among them some dis= 
 orderly (WiCLIF : " unpesible " ; TyndalE: "unruly"; 
 RheimS: "unquiet"); i. e. persons who were not will- 
 ing to submit to the order established and acquiesced in 
 by the others. " Such are not wanting even in the most 
 flourishing Church" (Bengel). They would not "keep 
 in line." They were to be admonished by their 
 brethren. This means, that the rest were to speak to 
 them, and show them how improper was their per- 
 versity. There were also fainthearted ones. (Elli- 
 COTT : " Feeble-minded, unduly anxious and sorrowful 
 about the state of those that were fallen asleep.) Sep- 
 tuagint : Isai. 57:15; Eccles. 7:10; Prov. 18 : 14. Such 
 they were to encourage (2 : 11). And some were 
 weak (Rom. 4 : 19 ; 14 : i, 2 ; i Cor. 8:7, 10 ; 9 : 22 ; 
 1 1 : 30). It may mean that some among them were as 
 yet very imperfect, and therefore unstable against either 
 temptation or persecution ; and Paul exhorts the rest not 
 to abandon such, or to despise them, but to keep near 
 them and support their wavering faith. They were to 
 lift them up (Cranmer.) The word here used is in other 
 passages translated hold to (Matt. 6 : 24 ; Luke 16 : 13 ; 
 Titus. I : 9). — Be longsuffering towards all. The confes- 
 sors of the truth might be tempted to despise the weak. 
 WiCLIF : "Have continual patience towards all men." 
 " There is no one to whom longsufYering cannot be 
 shown ; no one to whom a believer ought not show it " 
 (Bengel). 
 
 15. Some had to suffer wrong from others of their own 
 number. But Rom. 12 : 17-19; i Peter 3 : 9. This in- 
 junction is enough for every Christian conscience. 
 
V. I6-20.] CHAPTER V. 323 
 
 16. Rejoice alway (Phil. 4 : 4). 
 
 17. Pray without ceasing (2 : 13 ; 3 : 10 ; Eph. 6 : 18 ; 
 Col. 4:2). A man may pray while engaged in his work. 
 Paul does not mean that we should continually be saying 
 words of prayer, but that we should always live in the 
 presence of God, so that at any moment we can lift up 
 our hearts and speak our thought into His ear (Ps. 34 : 1 5). 
 
 18. In everytliing give thanks (Phil. 4:6; Col. 1:3; 
 3:1512 Cor. 4 : 1 5 ; 9 : 1 1 , 1 2). He describes the sphere 
 of Christian worship, always, luithoiit ceasing, in every- 
 thing. It is the will of God that His people should 
 always live in praise and prayer. " The trades of the 
 faithful are works by the by, but the worship of God is 
 their great work " (CONST. APP. LXI.). 
 
 19-21. Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings ; prove all 
 things ; hold fast that which is good ; 
 
 19. Quench not the Spirit. These letters of St. Paul 
 admit us into the varied life of the infant Church. There 
 were not only the offices of mutual love, and the labors 
 of the elders, but there was discontent too, threatening 
 disorder ; questions, perplexities, conflicting counsels. 
 Some at Thessalonica had received special gifts of the 
 Spirit (4 : 8). Others shrank from these exhibitions, which 
 sometimes led to disorder, perhaps to deceit, and were 
 not always edifying. (See i Cor. 14.) They were tempted 
 to resist and check the utterance of the Spirit through 
 themselves or others. Paul warns against this extreme 
 judgment. 
 
 20. Despise not prophesyings. " Like him who spake 
 with tongues, the prophet also uttered the speech of the 
 Spirit (Acts 19 : 6), but with his own consciousness wide 
 awake, and with reference to the congregation (i Cor. 
 14 : 3, 4). What he immediately received from the Lord 
 was revelation. But not simply revelation of the future 
 
324 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [v. 20. 
 
 (Acts II : 27; 21 : 10). The spiritual gaze of the prophet 
 penetrated the depths of the soul (i Cor. 14:25), the 
 mind of the spirits (i Tim. i : 18 ; 4 : 14), the real wants 
 of the congregation (i Cor. 14 : 3-5). The peril of 
 knowledge was obscurity (i Cor. 8:1); the peril of the 
 gift of tongues lay in self-satisfaction and vanity ; and the 
 peril of prophecy, in the temptation to go beyond the 
 basis of faith (Rom. 12 : 6). The prophet, who, inspired 
 by the faith, spoke forth from the fulness of life, built 
 up the life of the congregation in the faith (i Cor. 
 12 : 3-5). The three classes of spiritual gifts therefore cor- 
 respond to the three momenta around which the life of 
 the congregation is disposed, doctrine, moral common 
 life or fellozuship, and cultiis (Acts 2 : 42) " (Kahnis, 
 Doct. of the Holy Ghost, 75). "According to the classi- 
 cal usage, the meaning is that of forthtelling rather than 
 oi foretelling. The Hebrew term w^'^/ originally signified 
 nothing more, though the idea of prediction is more fre- 
 quently associated with it. In the New Testament the 
 notion of foretelling is kept in the background, rarely 
 appearing (as in Acts 11 : 28) except in reference to the 
 prophets of the Old Dispensation. When any of these 
 words are used by St. Paul of the special gift of the 
 Spirit, there is not the slightest allusion to the anticipa- 
 tion of future events. Prophecy is, in short, the impas- 
 sioned and inspired utterance of the deep things of God" 
 (Lightfoot). The rich use which the early Church, 
 many of whose members had been recently won from 
 heathenism, made of the Old Testament Scriptures, and 
 the skill with which they interpreted them of Christ, 
 leads to the conclusion that many of " the prophets " 
 were inspired to expound these Scriptures and apply 
 them. So ERASMUS says on this passage, " Prophecy is 
 the declaration of the secret, hidden meaning of the 
 
V. 21.] CHAPTER V. 325 
 
 Scriptures." Doubtless the enthusiastic addresses of the 
 prophets had had a part in begetting the unrest and ex- 
 pectation which had been reported to Paul, and which he 
 had already rebuked (4 : 11). Notwithstanding, he does 
 not give his sanction to a contempt for this extraordinary 
 instruction. 
 
 21. If a usage proved not unto edification, they might 
 discard it (i Cor. 14 : 26-28). When the prophets poured 
 forth their wonderful utterances, the rest were to discern, 
 and not to accept everything that was said (i Cor. 12 : 10; 
 14 : 29 ; I John 4 : i). The discernment of spirits was a 
 spiritual gift, as well as prophecy. All hearers should 
 try by the Word of God what they are taught. " They 
 should hear with understanding, and judge and try whether 
 it agrees with the truth and the Spirit of God, who speaks 
 in the Holy Scriptures " (ERASMUS). " The simple fact of 
 a preternatural inspiration is not enough to establish the 
 claims of a spirit to be heard. There are inspirations 
 from below as well as from above (i John 4:1).... The 
 earliest Christian writers have preserved in connection with 
 this injunction an alleged saying of our Lord, which has 
 not been recorded in our gospels — Be ye approved 
 money-changers " (LiGHTFOOT). " See, here he will have 
 no doctrine or proposition held, except it be tried by the 
 congregation hearing it, and be by them approved. This 
 * proving ' does not belong to the teachers, for they first 
 must say what the others are to prove. So the judgment 
 is taken from the teachers and given to the disciples 
 among the Christians, so that among them it is just the 
 opposite to the way of the world. In the world masters 
 bid as they will, and those under them must receive it. 
 But among you, says Christ, it shall not be so, but every 
 one is the judge of the other, and again every one is 
 subject to the other " (Luther). 
 
326 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [v. 22-24. 
 22. Abstain from every form of evil. 
 
 22. He lays a direct responsibility on every conscience. 
 They were to try the doctrine they received. They were 
 not to allow themselves to be led into any kind of evil. 
 This and the preceding verses are quoted by early Chris- 
 tian writers in direct connection with an alleged saying of 
 our Lord — " Be skilful money-changers." 
 
 23-24. And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may 
 your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the 
 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will 
 also do it. 
 
 23. God is called the God of peace, in reference to the 
 elements of discord which have just now been considered. 
 I Cor. 14 : 33 : God is not a God of confusion, but of 
 
 peace. He gave those gifts in order to minister peace. 
 They are to be received and tried and used in the spirit 
 of peace. On this verse Tertullian says (de res. Carnis, 
 XLVn.) : " Here you have the entire substance of man 
 destined to salvation, and that at no other time than at 
 the coming of the Lord, which is the key of the resurrec- 
 tion." The spirit of a man is that part of his being in 
 which God enters into communion with him. The soul is 
 his intellectual nature, including his feelings and impulses. 
 (See on Phil, i : 27.) The apostle has had reason to ad- 
 monish them with reference to the body (4 : 1-8) ; and 
 also in reference to their life in fellowship with one 
 another and before the eyes of those without ; and again, 
 as to the extraordinary manifestations of the Holy Spirit. 
 As if summing all up, he prays that God may sanctify 
 them wholly, and present them perfect and without blame, 
 at the coming of the Lord. 
 
 24. I Cor. 1:9; Rom. 8 : 30; Phil. 1 : 6; i Peter 
 5 : 10. God's call brings an assurance o{ His purpose. It 
 
V. 25-27-] CHAPTER V. 327 
 
 is a promise (i Thess. 3 : 3). This may have been a 
 " watchword " of the time. 
 
 25. Brethren, pray for us. 
 
 25. He desires their prayers (Col. 4 : 3). After having 
 admonished them and prayed for them, he says, I also 
 need your prayers. Deny them not to me. 
 
 26. Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. 
 
 26. Rom. 16 : 16; I Cor. 16 : 20; 2 Cor, 13 : 12; i 
 Peter 5 : 14 ; Tertullian, de Oratione, XVIII. ; Justin, 
 I. Ap. LXV. The kiss was an ordinary mode of friendly 
 salutation, as it now is between women in some countries, 
 and in some countries between men. In the Christian 
 service of worship, before the administration of the Holy 
 Supper, it was given by one to the other in token of mu- 
 tual reconciliation and unclouded friendliness. Thus in 
 the Const. App. II. 57 : " Let the deacon say. Let no one 
 have any quarrel against another ; let no one come in 
 hypocrisy. Then let the men give the men, and the 
 women give the women, the Lord's kiss. But let no one 
 do it with deceit, as Judas betrayed the Lord with a 
 kiss." The custom is said to have continued in the 
 Western Church until the thirteenth century, and in 
 the Coptic Church to this day. The Pax in the Luth- 
 eran service is a memorial of this rite. St. Paul here 
 insists upon this entire mutual reconciliation in all their 
 assemblies for worship. However Christians may differ 
 from each other on matters of opinion, they should let 
 nothing come between their hearts (Matt. 5 : 23, 24). 
 " Greet all the brethren with the kiss, not with the kiss 
 that is customary among men, but with the pure, holy 
 kiss that befits Christian love " (ERASMUS). 
 
 27. I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the 
 brethren. 
 
 2"]. This solemn adjuration seems to imply that there 
 
328 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [v. 28. 
 
 was a possibility that some would think of excluding 
 others from direct communication with the apostle. Per- 
 haps \hQ presidents may have been charged with shutting 
 others out ; perhaps their friends may have kept apart 
 from their critics; but Paul requires that his letter should 
 be read to every one. Like our Lord's special direction 
 that all should drink of the Cup, this seems to witness 
 against the Romish prohibition of the Scriptures to the 
 laity. 
 
 28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 
 
 28. The Salutation and Benediction. 
 
ANNOTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SECOND EPISTLE 
 
 TO THE THESSALONIANS 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD T. HORN, D.D. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (See the Introduction to the former Epistle.) 
 
 The messenger who took the First Epistle to the Thes- 
 salonians must have brought back word, that, while the 
 Thessalonians were steadfast under persecution, some of 
 the troubles Paul had referred to were more threatening 
 than ever. Some of the believers still neglected their 
 daily work and, idle, discussed trifles. A new question 
 was debated — viz. whether the day of the Lord was not 
 just at hand ; and it is probable that some even alleged 
 the authority of the apostle for their contention that the 
 end of all things was so near that it was useless and foolish 
 to continue in the ordinary occupations of earthly life. 
 There were some also who were not at all prompt to yield 
 to the injunctions of the former letter. 
 
 Therefore we observe in this letter a tone of positive 
 commandment on the part of the apostle, beyond his 
 manner in other letters. He insists on their submission 
 to order. He emphasizes the example of daily work and, 
 consequent independence he had set them. He teaches 
 that the day of the Lord is not just at hand, but that 
 certain developments must be completed before it will 
 come. 
 
 It was written while Silas and Timothy were with him. 
 The condition of things at Thessalonica was not very 
 
 331 
 
332 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 different from that which occasioned the former epistle, 
 and it exhibits the same Hne of thought. It was written 
 after churches had begun to be in the neighborhood of 
 Corinth (i : 4), and in the midst of sufferings at the hands 
 of Jews; probably in the beginning of A. D. 54. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 1-2. Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessa- 
 lonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; Grace to you and 
 peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 1. (See on i Thess. i : i.) 
 
 2. The best MSS. read, (7«r Father. (See 2 Thess. i : 12. 
 So I Cor. 1:3:2 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:2; Phil. 1:2; 
 Col. 1:2; Philem. 3.) — Grace and peace. (See on Col. 
 I : 2.) Ellicott quotes Thomas Aquinas : " Grace is 
 the source of every good thing ; peace is the issue of all 
 good things." Grace and peace come to us from the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who is here spoken of in the unity of 
 the Father. 
 
 3. We are bound to give thanks to God alway for you, brethren, even 
 as it is meet, for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each 
 one of you all toward one another aboundeth ; 
 
 3. (See 2:13; also Phil. 1:3: Col. i : 3.) The apostle 
 here confesses that the thanksgiving which always rises 
 when he thinks of his converts, is also a duty. " We 
 may take it as a settled principle, that in the communion 
 of the Christian with God, his petitions should always 
 take the second place, and thanksgiving the first. Many 
 a sin is committed in asking rather than giving thanks" 
 (Frank, Hy. and Critique of Recent Theology, 322). — 
 Alway. It is not enough to acknowledge each gift of 
 God when it comes to us, but we should abide in thank- 
 ful praise of His grace. (See the Preface in the Com- 
 munion Service.) — As it is meet, etc. He proceeds to 
 give the special reasons which justify thanksgiving 
 
334 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i. 4. 
 
 in this instance. This is not flattery, but a proof of 
 the prosperity of the Church of the Thessalonians. Paul 
 had commended their love in his former letter (i Thess. 
 I : 3 ; 3 : 6; 4 : 9, 10), and wished that it might abound 
 more and more, and he has now received information that 
 their faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of cacJi 07ie 
 toward tie another aboundetJi. He gives thanks that his 
 prayers for them are heard. " The words {^groweth, etc., 
 and aboundcth) are carefully chosen ; the former implying 
 an internal, organic growth, as of a tree ; the other a dif- 
 fusive, or expansive character, as of a flood irrigating the 
 land" (Lightfoot). There is in this letter abundant 
 evidence that the Thessalonian Christians still were im- 
 perfect ; but here is proof of the presence of the life of 
 God among them. Paul uses an emphatic word to 
 describe the growth of their faith. Christians should 
 grow in conviction of the truth of the Gospel, in apprecia- 
 tion of what God has done and is doing for us, and in 
 patient fidelity to Him and His cause and the duties with 
 which the Gospel endows us. The love here spoken of 
 is love towards one another. It characterized every 
 member of that Church. It embraced as its object every 
 member of the Church. Even those who were faulty 
 were not destitute of this affection for their fellow- 
 believers. The love which covers a multitude of sins is 
 not, therefore, an infallible proof of present perfection, 
 
 4. So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your 
 patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye 
 endure ; 
 
 4. (See 2 Cor. 8 : i, 2 ; 9 : i, 2.) It was natural for 
 Paul to tell everywhere the good news that came to him 
 of the steadfastness and growth of his churches, and to 
 stir up some by the example of others. He gloried in 
 their patience ; i. e., their brave endurance, their stead- 
 
I. 5] CHAPTER I. 335 
 
 fastness ; and in their faith. Faith here manifested itself 
 in fidelity, unshaken by the perils to which it exposed 
 them. In spite of what they had to endure, they persisted 
 in the obedience of Christ. (For faitJi used in the sense 
 oi faithfulness y see Gal. 5 : 22 ; Rom. I : },\ Titus 2 : 10. 
 Cf. also the adjective, i Thess. 5 : 24 ; 2 Thess. 3:3:1 
 Cor. 1:9; 10:13; 2 Cor. i : 1 8 ; 2 Tim. 2:13; LuENE- 
 MANN.) For at that v^ery time they were enduring not 
 only the afflictions which their separation from their own 
 people naturally brought about, but also positive perse- 
 cutions at the hands of Jews and Gentiles. We here learn 
 that afflictions, from which no men are free, though a 
 trial, are the sphere in which Christian faith finds exercise 
 and may grow exceedingly. While our brethren in the 
 world suffer under them (i Peter 5 : 9), we are sustained 
 in them by the grace of God, and they work out for us 
 the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 
 4 : 17). Christ did not promise, and Paul did not pray, 
 that His followers might be exempt from affliction (Acts 
 14 : 22).— In the churches of God. Either the zeal of 
 Paul and his fellow-workers must already have been re- 
 warded by the formation of churches in the neighborhood 
 of Corinth (Cenchreae), or he must have "gloried" in 
 other letters of this period, which have not been preserved 
 to us. 
 
 5. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the 
 end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye 
 also suffer : 
 
 5. A manifest token. (See Phil, i : 28 ; Rom. 8 : 17:2 
 Tim. 2 : 11, 12.) Their patient endurance and courageous 
 faith under affliction and persecution, being a gift of God, 
 is an earnest of His present interest in them, and of His 
 final reversal of the injustice of the world (Rom. 2 : 5-1 1). 
 The same righteous judgment that now upholds them 
 
336 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i. 6, 7. 
 
 under persecution, and enables them to persevere, will 
 also acknowledge their title to the kingdom of God, for 
 the sake of which they now are suffering. — The kingdom. 
 (See Rom. 14 : 17.) " The new order of things as estab- 
 lished under Christ, though with a special reference to 
 its final and perfect development in His future kingdom " 
 (Lightfoot). At the great day of final account, men 
 shall receive that which they really make the object of 
 their lives (Rom. 2 : 7). St. Paul's argument here rests 
 upon a fundamental confidence in the righteousness and 
 fairness of God. This underlies the New Testament and 
 the Old (Gen. 18 : 25 ; Luke 11 : 13 ; 18 : 7. Also Luke 
 16 : 25). 
 
 6. If so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense afflic- 
 tion to them that afflict you, 
 
 6. If SO be. Equivalent to ^ for it isjiistivitJi Godi^ovsx. 
 8 : 9, 17; I Cor. 8 : 5). The Christian relies upon the 
 character of our Heavenly Father. 
 
 7. And to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the 
 Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power 
 
 7. Rest. The word, used also in 2 Cor. 13 : 7; 7:5, 
 means relaxation after conflicts, as when the strings of a 
 harp are loosened after playing. The rest which Paul is 
 confident of enjoying (with us, 2 Cor. 1:7; Phil, i : 30), 
 and which he is as confident that God will give to the 
 persecuted Thessalonians, is here put in contrast with the 
 present tension and efTort of their trial. It is " the im- 
 mediate aspect of heaven to the suffering, rest to the 
 weary and worn-out, release from all the disquiet, pain 
 and sorrow of the earth, stillness after turmoil, the quiet 
 haven after the tempest " (Eadie). Every servant of 
 God may comfort himself with this assurance of a part 
 in the inheritance of the saints in light (Rev. 3 : 20). 
 This waits until the revelation of the Lord Jesus from 
 
1. 8.] CHAPTER I. 337 
 
 heaven. We are in this world as He was. But those 
 who share His humihation shall also share His glory. 
 (See Col. 3 : 3, 4; i John 3:1-3; Rom. 8 : 17; Rev. 
 7 : 13-17.) The second coming of our Lord is spoken of 
 as a revelation, for then He shall come in His glory. 
 The exaltation of our Lord had not yet been fulfilled. 
 Risen and ascended, at the right hand of God, having all 
 power in heaven and earth. He is yet to come again, 
 manifesting His power as well as his grace, judging the 
 quick and the dead, and to be glorified in them that be- 
 lieve. The second coming of our Lord was eagerly 
 expected by the apostles (2 Peter 3:12), and formed a 
 principal topic of their preaching (Acts 3 : 20 ; 10 : 42 ; 
 17 : 30, 31), as well as of their more intimate communi- 
 cations to believers (2 : 5, 6). It occupied St. Paul's 
 mind at this time, as well as the minds of his Thessalon- 
 ian converts ; and it was to strengthen their expectation 
 of it, as well as to remove false views concerning it, that 
 he wrote this letter. The coming of our Lord with power 
 and great glory. He Himself had promised (Matt. 24 : 30; 
 25 : 31). The angels are the ministers of His power. 
 (See Matt. 26 : 53,) 
 
 8-10. In flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, 
 and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus : who shall suffer 
 punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from 
 the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and 
 to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto 
 you was believed) in that day. 
 
 8, In flaming fire. (See Ex, 3:2; 19 : 18 ; Deut. 
 4:11; Ps. 68 : 17 ; 104 : 4; Isai. 66', 15 ; Dan. 7:9, 10; 
 Mai. 4 : II.) Paul here ascribes to our Lord the same 
 manifestations of divine majesty which the Old Testa- 
 ment ascribes to Jehovah. Two classes of persons are 
 here mentioned as destined to feel the vengeance of God : 
 them that know not God; viz. the heathen, or the 
 
338 SECOiVD EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i. 8. 
 
 Gentiles (i Thess. 4:5; Gal. 4:8; Eph. 2 : 12); and 
 them that obey not the gospel ; viz, the unbelieving 
 Jews (Rom. 10 : 3, 16, 21), including also those Gentiles 
 who, in spite of instruction, rejected the Gospel. It is 
 noteworthy that those who have, but disregard, the light, 
 join with those who sit in darkness to persecute those 
 who have and bring the light (John 3 : 19-21). Both 
 love darkness rather than light, and therefore are con- 
 demned to darkness (Jude 13). Salvation is impossible 
 without knowledge of God. To know Him is eternal 
 life (John 17:3, 25). Many are responsible for their 
 ignorance (Rom. i : 28). Many refuse and persecute 
 the Gospel which comes to make God known to them 
 (Jer. 10 : 25). Ignorance does not excuse sin. Though 
 Peter said that the people of Jerusalem had slain Christ 
 " through ignorance " (Acts 3 : 17), he shortly before had 
 declared that they did it " with wicked hands " (Acts 
 2 : 23). Though Paul says he obtained mercy because 
 he had persecuted the Church " ignorantly in unbelief," 
 he still declares that in his rage against the Church he 
 was " the chief of sinners." The infanticide of India, 
 the fearful excesses of devotees, the calm face with 
 which an inquisitor could watch the sufferings of a 
 Protestant on the rack, will show that a man may do 
 wrong ignorantly, but not innocently. All want of con- 
 formity to the law of God is sin. There are, however, 
 degrees of sin. So our Lord compared Capernaum and 
 Bethsaida with Sodom ; the servant who knew his mas- 
 ter's will and did it not, with those who say, I see ; those 
 who delivered Him to Pilate with the governor himself. 
 In the Old Testament God provided a sacrifice for sins 
 •A ignorance. The sacrifice on the great day of atone- 
 ment was intended to take away the sins the worship, 
 pers had not been able to confess. The heathen are in 
 
1. 9.] CHAPTER I. 339 
 
 a state of guilt. They not only are strangers to the 
 covenant of prornise, and know not God ; but they 
 choose to act against conscience. The Jews are deaf to 
 their own Scriptures (John 5 : 39), and obey not the 
 Gospel of Christ. For many of our sins of ignorance we are 
 responsible. Though the Lord has promised to give His 
 Spirit to them that ask Him, we do not ask. We do not 
 use the opportunities God gives us to grow in spiritual 
 understanding. We should humbly mourn the sins into 
 which we fall ignorantly, and ask God to forgive them. 
 But though we are much worse than in our most earnest 
 and rigorous moments we imagine ourselves to be, and 
 are guilty of sins and shortcomings we never dreamt of, 
 all these are covered and forgiven by the great atone- 
 ment of our Saviour and the mercy of our Father in 
 heaven (Luke 23 : 24 ; Matt. 5 : 21-22 ; 10 : 15 ; ii : 21- 
 24; 12:31, 32; Luke 12:47, 48; John 19:11 (see 
 Tholuck) ; Acts 2 : 23 ; 3 : 1 7 ; 1 3 : 27 ; 1 7 : 30 ; Rom. 
 2:9;! Cor. 2 : 8 ; I Tim. 1:13; i John 5 : 16 ; i Kings 
 8:46; 2 Chron. 6:36; Ps. 19:12. Also Mueller, 
 Christian Doctrine of Sin, L 203 ; GERHARD, Loci, H. 
 10; VL23 ; XX. 92; J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, 
 L 7). The gospel. The good ne\^■s of salvation, of the 
 mercy and fatherl)^ care of God, comes only in and 
 through our Lord Jesus. It cannot be obeyed, without 
 obedience to Him. 
 
 9. Eternal destruction. The word eternal places the 
 doom of the condemned beyond all time. No notions of 
 succession or measurement apply to it. It certainly con- 
 veys the meaning of hopeless exclusion from the presence 
 or favor of God. — From the face of the Lord. (See Isai. 
 2 : 10; Jcr. 4 : 26.) Those who clamor against the doc- 
 trine of unending punishment for those who forget God, 
 really desire an eternal life which is not before His face, 
 
340 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [i. lo. 
 
 in His presence. God blesses His people with the assur- 
 ance that His face will shine upon them, the light of His 
 countenance will be lifted up upon them (Numb. 6 : 25, 
 26). The wicked, the worldly, desire nothing so much as 
 to hide from the face of Him that sitteth upon the 
 throne (Rev. 6 : 16). God will fulfil the desire of 
 every heart. Some shall see Him (Matt. 5 : 8; i John 
 3:2); others shall suffer eternal destruction from His 
 face. Paul also accounts it suffering to be destroyed 
 from the glory of his might. While the power of the Most 
 High fills His enemies with terror, it fills His children 
 with awful joy. 
 
 10. When he shall come, etc. (i Thess. 3 : 13 ; Phil. 
 3 : 20). Observe the parallelism in this verse, indicative 
 of the exaltation of St. Paul's spirit as he dictated it. We 
 have here another step in the exaltation of our Lord. 
 Not only shall He be revealed with His power and glory 
 and surrounded by His holy angels, but He shall be 
 glorified in His saints ; the Body of Christ, of which He 
 is head and all we are members, shall be glorified with 
 Him. As He is, so shall redeemed mankind be, un- 
 blameable in holiness. The glorious completion of His 
 redemption of mankind is essential to His great glory. 
 
 " Thou to our woe who down didst come, 
 Who one with us wouldst be, 
 Wilt lift us to Thy heavenly home, 
 Wilt make us one with Thee ! "' 
 
 Consider, then, the history of a " saint." He is (i) a poor 
 sinful man, consecrated to God, and admitted to the new 
 covenant with Him in Holy Baptism. (2) He becomes 
 thereby a member of the Body of Christ. (3) He there- 
 fore suffers with Him. (4) He is made like Him. (5) He 
 reigns with Him, is glorified together with Him. God's 
 great day is the day not only of the revelation of the 
 
I. II.] CHAPTER I. 341 
 
 Lord Jesus, but of the manifestation of the sons of 
 God (Rom. 8: 19).— In all them that believed. "The 
 results of faith are so marvellous " (Eadie). — Because 
 our testimony unto you was believed. The position of 
 the verb in the original renders it emphatic. Paul 
 gratulates himself upon the readiness with which they 
 had received his testimony. (See i Thess. 2: i, 13.) — 
 Our testimony. The particular testimony Paul and his 
 companions had borne, concerning God and Jesus, and 
 " that day." 
 
 11-12. To which end we also pray always for you, that our God may 
 count you worthy of your calling, and fulfil every desire of goodness and 
 every work of faith, with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus may be 
 glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 II. To which end : refers to the happy issue described 
 in the preceding verse. Knowing what God had called 
 them to, Paul continually prayed that they might attain 
 to it. — Always. To be taken literally, Paul never ceased 
 to pray for those who had believed through his word. — 
 Our God. (See i Thess. 3 : 3.) — Hay count you worthy, 
 etc. (See Rev. 3 : 16.) The prayer is, that they may 
 continue to have God's approval (i Thess. 2 : 1214: i). 
 The calling includes not only the first call addressed to 
 them, but the whole purpose of God in calling them. — 
 Every desire of goodness : refers to the fresh youthful 
 aspirations of the Thessalonian believers. He prays that 
 God will not let those desires be disappointed, but will 
 bring them to fulfilment. Goodness here is not benefi- 
 cence, but moral goodness (Gal. 5: 22; Rom. 15: 14; 
 Eph. 5 : 9). " It is something to do good, but it is a 
 higher stage of moral progress to delight in doing good " 
 (LiGHTFOOT).— Work of faith (i Thess. i : 3). We here 
 are admonished to expect from God the fulfilment of our 
 
342 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [l. I2. 
 
 good desires, and the performance of the works to which 
 we are urged and bound by faith. — With power. These 
 words belong to fulfil. Paul wishes for them a mighty 
 operation and performance of God. 
 
 12. That: so that: i. e. the fulfilment of every good 
 purpose of His followers and the energetic work of faith 
 are the means of the glorification of our Lord on earth. 
 — The name. Not Christ, but His Name ; showing 
 that Paul has in mind not the certain revelation of the 
 last day, but prays that on earth, and now, the name of 
 Jesus may be glorified in His followers, and they in Him, 
 or in it (Luenemann, Hofmann). John 17: 23 ; 2 Cor. 
 3: 18; Acts 3: 16; Phil. 2:9; Heb. i: 4. "The 
 Name of God is hallowed when the word of God is taught 
 in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, 
 lead holy lives in accordance with it. But whoever teaches 
 and lives otherwise than God's word prescribes, profanes 
 the Name of God among us " (Catechism). 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 1-2. Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him ; to the end that ye be 
 not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, 
 or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is now 
 present ; 
 
 1. We beseech you. (See i Thess. 4 : i.) "A transi- 
 tion from his request for them to his request of them" 
 (Eadie). He grounds this request on the co7ning of the 
 Lord and thew gatheri?tg together unto Him. (See 2 Peter 
 3:11. Also 2 Mace. 2:7; Matt, 24 : 31 ; Mark 13 : 27.) 
 He says, We beseech you for the sake of the coming. 
 This was a prime motive of the early Church. 
 
 2. From your mind. LiGHTFOOT : " Judgment, reason, 
 sober sense, as opposed to any fit of enthusiasm, or any 
 feverish anxieties and desires." From your fixed Chris- 
 tian purpose, which had shown itself in faith and patience, 
 and in the desire of goodness and work of faith. — Troubled. 
 " Nor yet be confused " (LiGHTFOOT). — By spirit ; i. e. 
 by false prophecy (i Thess. 5 : 19-21). — By word. Some 
 have interpreted this as meaning computation, and have 
 referred it to calculations based on the predictions of the 
 Old Testament. But it means a report of an alleged 
 saying of the apostle — By epistle as if from us. " Such 
 forgeries were not at all uncommon in this century after 
 the beginning of the Alexandrian period of literature, 
 and their authors were very adroit in justifying such de- 
 ceptions for the sake of giving currency to certain princi- 
 ples and opinions" (Neander, Planting, etc., I. 208; 
 EUSEBIUS, History, IV. 23). The apostle found it neces- 
 
 343 
 
344 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [ii. 3. 
 
 sary to give in this letter a token by which they might 
 discriminate a genuine from a spurious epistle (3:17). 
 We now come to the particular error which he means to 
 correct, and for which a special revelation, or a miscon- 
 struction of something he had said, or a forged letter, or 
 a false inference from his former letter, may have been 
 pleaded ; viz. that the day of the Lord is present, is 
 commencing, has come. Against this view, he tells them 
 what must occur before the coming of that day. 
 
 3. Let no man beguile you in any wise : 
 
 3. These words seem to imply that some were trying 
 to deceive them. 
 
 3-9. For /'^ w/// «<7^^^, except the falling away come first, and the man 
 of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth 
 himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped ; so that he 
 sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. Remember ye 
 not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things ? And now ye 
 know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his 
 own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work : only 
 there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And 
 then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with 
 the breath of his mouth, and bring to naught by the manifestation of his 
 coming ; tven he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with 
 all power and signs and lying wonders, 
 
 3. Paul foretells an apostasy, the apostasy, evidently 
 from the truth of God, from the Gospel of Jesus. " The 
 revolt, the rebellion, springing up from within rather than 
 from without " (Lightfoot). So our Lord .said. When 
 the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? 
 Such an apostasy occurred, for instance, in the great 
 spread of Gnosticism in the early centuries, and in the 
 secularization of the Church which coincided with the 
 Christianization of the Empire, and in the victory of 
 Islam throughout Western Asia, and in the revival of 
 essential heathenism in the Roman Church. — The man of 
 sin. Sin is " lawlessness." His comingf is described as a 
 
11. 4] CHAPTER II. 345 
 
 revelation, for the mystery of lawlessness already is at 
 work (verse 7), but its revelation is not yet (verse 8). 
 Paul refeis to something he had told the Thessalo- 
 nians while he was with them, which would make these 
 words clear to them (verse 5). There were current 
 among the Christians of that time criticisms on the 
 ruling powers in the state and prophecies of their 
 overthrow, which would bring about an entire change of 
 the social world, which, however, were spoken of darkly, 
 and under cryptograms. See, for instance, "the number 
 of the beast " in the Revelation. Apocalypses, after the 
 pattern of Daniel and Esdras, were current among the 
 Jews at that time. Such Christian Apocalypses are the 
 Revelation of John and, later, the Shepherd of Hermas. 
 Paul, probably, had communicated to the Thessalonians 
 and explained to them our Lord's prediction of the 
 catastrophe of the Jewish state and the end of the world. 
 The phraseology in this passage is based on the revela- 
 tions of Daniel (see Dan. 7 : 25 ; 11:36), which com- 
 monly are referred to Antiochus Epiphanes and his per- 
 secutions. — The son of perdition (John 17:12). " When 
 lawlessness increaseth, they shall hate and persecute and 
 betray one another, and then shall appear the world-de- 
 ceiver as the Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, 
 and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he 
 shall do iniquitous things which have never yet come to 
 pass since the beginning" (Teaching of the Twelve 
 Apostles, XVI.). 
 
 4. Dan. 1 1 : 36. He exalts Himself in the very sanc- 
 tuary. " In the temple ; i. e. becomes in the Christian 
 Church a regent and king, a preacher. There will he sit, 
 and will exalt himself and resist God, not aiming at ex- 
 ceeding God in majesty, but exalting himself abovo God 
 as He is preached and worshipped. That is, he will put 
 
345 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [it. 5-S. 
 
 himself higher than God is, not in majesty but in his 
 words. When the Holy Scripture bids something, he will 
 not regard it as God's Word to him. The doctrine of the 
 pope is nothing but an exaltation above God and resist- 
 ance to Him, not as He is in His majesty, but as He has 
 revealed Himself to us in His Word, or as God is preached 
 to us. The Turk does not sit in the Church, but the 
 pope handles both Word and Sacraments. Yet with all 
 violence he sets himself against them, and will have it 
 that the Divine Word and Sacrament are not right, but 
 that lies and the devil are " (LuTHER, on John, 3:47, 
 147). " So Gregory the Great saw at least " the forerunner 
 of Antichrist " in John the faster, patriarch of Constanti- 
 nople, because he claimed the title of " Universal Bishop " 
 (Ep. Vn. 33)- 
 
 5. (See on 5 : 3 ; i Thess. 3 : 4.) 
 
 6. That which restraineth. There was something, or, 
 as the next verse has it, some one, who then hindered the 
 revelation of the man of sin, though the mystery of law- 
 lessness already was at work. Some earlier commenta- 
 tors found here a Greek rendering of the Latin name of 
 the Emperor Claudius. They referred this to the Roman 
 state. " What obstacle is there but the Roman state, 
 the falling away of which, by being shattered into 
 kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist ? " (Tertullian, de 
 Res. Carnis, 24). " This aforesaid Antichrist is to come 
 when the times of the Roman Empire shall have been 
 fulfilled, and the end of the world is drawing near " 
 (Cyril, Catech. XV. 12.) Dan. 10 : 13, 20. 
 
 7- The " restrainer," being described here as a person, 
 and in verse 6 as a thing, may be a principle, or an organ- 
 ization, or a system of things, of which a man is the re- 
 presentative before the world. 
 
 8. (Isai. II : 4.) 
 
II. 9-] CHAPTER II. 347 
 
 9. " He concentrates in himself every satanic error " 
 (Iren.-EUS, 5 : 25). Miracles alone do not guarantee 
 the truth of him who does them. (See i Tim. 4 :i-3 ; 
 I John 2 : 22 ; 4 : 1-3.) This prophecy of St. Paul 
 has not yet been completely fulfilled. It is not neces- 
 sary to suppose that he had so clear a prevision of 
 the Antichrist that he could have described him to 
 us in every detail. He describes the essential char- 
 acteristics and general features of the Antichrist. The 
 Old Testament prophets did not know what time, 
 or what manner of fulfilment, God intended when 
 He spoke through them ; and there is no reason to 
 suppose the New Testament prophets had or could have 
 a more definite knowledge. In the Old Testament a 
 prophet foretold an event near to his own time and intel- 
 ligible to his own age, which the progress of revelation 
 has shown to refer to a greater event far more remote 
 (Isai. 7 : 14, 53 ; Jer. 31 : 15). The supposition that this 
 may be the case here is strengthened by the fact that 
 Paul borrows his phraseology from the Old Testament. 
 Such a prophecy might even have a series of fulfilments, 
 identical in principle and expressive of the continual 
 opposition of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of 
 evil. 
 
 St. Paul here uncovers a fundamental spiritual fact. 
 Side by side with the mystery of the Gospel (Col. i : 26- 
 28) the mystery of lawlessness is working. It will culmin- 
 ate in an uncovered and shameless, direct and definite 
 opposition to our Lord Jesus Christ. Before that culmin- 
 ation there will be an apostasy. And when the man of 
 sin is revealed, he will be found enthroned in the 
 sanctuary of God, of the Church and of the faith, set- 
 ting himself forth as God. It is not necessary to con- 
 fine this interpretation to one person (i John 2 : 18). 
 
348 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [ii. 9. 
 
 The description might fit such a system as the Papacy, 
 which never is without a representative, but hands down 
 an unbroken policy and process of assumption from 
 pope to pope. TertuUian applied it to Marcion (adv. 
 M, III. 8), Athanasius to Constantius (Ep. ad Solit. 
 Vit. Agent. 842, 852). 
 
 It is to be remembered that in the Papacy has culmin- 
 ated that earthly organization of a church, which con- 
 tradicts the spiritual conception of Christ ; which substi- 
 tutes its laws and canons, its decisions and traditions, 
 its hierarchy, for the teaching and the spirit of our 
 Master ; which has proceeded from the claim of sole and 
 universal authority to the declaration that when the pope 
 speaks ex cathedra his is the voice of God, and that the 
 Holy Scriptures are to be received only according to his 
 interpretation ; and which claims the power to open to and 
 shut against souls the kingdom of heaven. His dictum, 
 it is said, cannot be reversed, and even may not be ex- 
 amined, in spite of conscience. Therefore, while we 
 cannot say that there may be no other manifestation of 
 Antichrist, we must say of Rome, Here is Antichrist. 
 
 This passage warns us against too great readiness to 
 admit theories of the nearness of the advent of our Lord. 
 And it also warns us not to be of those who grow cold 
 and fall away. We must resist the mystery of iniquity 
 that already is at work. There are too many optimistic 
 Christians, who hail every new manifestation as a fore- 
 gleam of the millennium. It also puts us on our guard 
 against a merely formal and outward Christianity, that 
 sees the kingdom of heaven only in outward organization, 
 in numbers and power, instead of in righteousness, peace 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14 : 17). 
 
 10-12. And with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that are perish- 
 ing; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be 
 
II. IO-I2.] CHAPTER II. 349 
 
 saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they 
 should believe a lie : that they all might be judged who believed not the 
 truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 
 
 10. The deceit of unrighteousness deceives those that 
 are perishing, because they received not the love of the 
 truth. They might have been saved, but would not. 
 " The truth might be received in some so lightly, and 
 understood so superficially, that no true love for it might 
 coexist ; and where this love for it is absent, the mind is 
 open to assaults and hesitations " (Eadie). 
 
 11. Upon such, and for this cause, God sends the 
 working of error, etc. (Rom. i : 32). He says that they 
 should believe the lie ; that is, the fundamental, soul- 
 destroying lie of the adversary of Jesus. The natural 
 consequence of their rejection of the truth, which is its 
 just punishment also, God lets come upon them, sends it 
 on them (Ps. 51:4). A fearful warning to those who 
 are tempted to acquiesce in decrees of earthly authority 
 (for instance, of the pope, etc.) against conscience. 
 
 12. They rejected the truth — and, therefore, believe the 
 lie. The one involves the other. They had pleasure in 
 unrighteousness — and therefore fall victims to the deceit 
 of unrighteousness. Salvation is impossible in unright- 
 eousness, and without the truth ; and they who prefer 
 unrighteousness and falsehood thereby perish. This also 
 is the righteous judgment of God. " * Truth ' and ' false- 
 hood ' are terms belonging not more to the intellectual 
 than to the moral world. Wrong-doing is a lie, for it is 
 a denial of God's sovereignty ; right-doing is a truth, for 
 it is a confession of the same " (LiGHTP'OOT). 
 
 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 : where- 
 unto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of oui 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
350 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [ii. 13, 14. 
 
 13. He resumes the thought of i : 3. — Beloved of the 
 Lord. I Thess. i : 4, he says, Beloved of God. — For 
 that God chose you. For the proof that they had been 
 chosen by God, see i Thess. i : 5. — From the beginning. 
 (See I John i : i ; 2 : 13 ; Eph. i : 4; 3 : 9 ; Col. i : 26.) 
 The choice and purpose of God are not found in time, in 
 consequence of other operations, and to meet unforeseen 
 exigencies ; but, though manifest in the course of the 
 world's history, are, by their nature, eternal. Those 
 whom He chooses. He chose before the foundation of 
 the world. — Unto salvation. This is the purpose of God 
 in choosing them. This salvation consists in sanctifica- 
 tion by the Holy Ghost, and belief of the truth. Our 
 faith is a part of the purpose and work of God, and is in- 
 cluded in sanctification by the Spirit. If we have faith, 
 it is a gift of God, and a proof that we are chosen by 
 Him in His Beloved. 
 
 14. Whereunto ; i. e. to which salvation, thus described, 
 He called you. The eternal choice of God is manifested 
 in our lives, by the call, which comes to us through the 
 Gospel. (Catechism, Third Article of the Creed.) To 
 whomsoever the Gospel comes, thereby the call of God 
 comes to him, which if he receives (i Thess. i : 6), he 
 makes his calling and election sure. No one need de- 
 bate whether he is chosen of God or not : if he heeds 
 God's call, he may know he is chosen. Our gospel ; i.e. 
 through the Good News which Paul and Silas and 
 Timothy told. He has no doubt of the eternal truth of 
 that which he preached. It was the voice of an eternal 
 purpose of God. And wherever that Gospel is proclaimed, 
 there sounds forth the call of God. — To the obtaining of 
 the glory, etc. This is parallel to the former verse. The 
 outward glory answers to the inward salvation ; if, indeed, 
 the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ be not rather inward 
 
11.15.] CHAPTER II. 351 
 
 also (i Thess. i: 5; 5: 9; Rom. 8: 17, 29; John 
 
 17: 22). 
 
 15. So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye were 
 taught, whether by word, or by epistle of ours. 
 
 15. So then, stand fast ( I Thess. 3:8; Phil. 2 : 12-16). 
 They must abide in the calling and salvation of God. — And 
 hold the traditions, etc. Paul refers to the instructions he 
 had given them while he was with them, and those con- 
 tained in his former letter. This is evident, because in this 
 letter he repeats and emphasizes them. — Traditions. On 
 the word, see Matt. 15:2; Mark 7:3; Gal. i : 14 ; Col. 2 : 8. 
 " ' Tradition ' in the scriptural sense of the word may be 
 either written or oral. It is a synonym for ' teaching,' 
 implying on the part of the teacher a confession that he 
 was not expressing his own ideas, but delivering or ha7id- 
 ing on a message that he had received from heaven " 
 (Lightfoot). It is evident that Paul gave the Thessa- 
 lonians, while he was with them, very thorough instruc- 
 tion, in Christian doctrine, in the Christian hope, and in 
 the particulars of Christian conduct (2 : 5 ; 3 : 6, 10 ; i 
 Thess. 3:4; 4 : 6, II ; 5 : 2. Also i Cor. 11:2, 23 ; 
 15:3). The instructions which he gave, and could refer 
 to thus, were not traditions of men (Col. 2 : 8), but had 
 the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ (3 : 6). While the 
 Thessalonians necessarily had to read and understand 
 this letter in the light which St. Paul's recent teachings 
 cast upon it, and, on the other hand, had to correct the 
 exaggeration and misinterpretation of his oral teaching 
 (of which some were guilty) by the more detailed explan- 
 ation which he writes, it is manifest that zvc cannot in- 
 terpret this letter by those traditions, because we do not 
 know what instructions he gave, except in those cases in 
 which he has repeated them in the letter, Romanists 
 hold that Holy Scripture does not contain everything 
 
352 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALOMIANS. [ii. 15. 
 
 that pertains to faith and piety, but that many things 
 necessary to faith and practice, which are not taught in 
 the Scriptures, and cannot be proved from the Scriptures, 
 must be accepted on the authority of unwritten tradition. 
 Therefore they teach that the Holy Scriptures are to be 
 received only as they are interpreted by the tradition of 
 the Church. Their contention shatters on the impos- 
 sibility of an infallible depository of that tradition. If it 
 be argued that that is true which survives in the belief of 
 the Church after ages of debate {securiis jiidicat orbis tcr- 
 rariini), we are left without any decision at all, for we 
 never know whether the end of the process has been 
 reached. If it be contended that this tradition is en- 
 trusted to the universal episcopate, we find (i) that Rome 
 confines it to the episcopate so far as the bishops are in 
 communion with Rome; and (2) that Councils of the 
 Church have disagreed with and anathematized each 
 other. And finally, Rome has declared that the decision 
 of a Council requires the approval of the bishop of 
 Rome, and that he only is the infallible final interpreter 
 of the word of God. Yet popes have disagreed with and 
 anathematized popes. A far better rule is found in Gal. 
 1:8. By this every doctrine, inference, custom and 
 tradition must be tried. 
 
 Chemnitz ennumerates different sorts of traditions : 
 (i) the words of Christ and of His apostles, which after- 
 wards were written down by apostles and evangelists ; 
 (2) the testimony to the authenticity of the New Testa- 
 ment Scriptures, given by^the Primitive Church ; (3) the 
 witness of antiquity ; (4) the consent of the early Church 
 as to the exposition, true sense and native meaning of 
 the Scriptures ; (5) those dogmas, which are not in so 
 many letters and syllables written down in Holy Scrip- 
 ture, but are collected from its plain testimony by good, 
 
ir. i6, 17.] CHAPTER II. 353 
 
 certain, firm and manifest reasoning; (6) the Catholic 
 
 consent of the Fathers ; (7) the rites and ancient customs 
 
 which antiquity referred to the apostles, among which 
 
 certainly are some added since the apostolic age, for the 
 
 sake of edification, order and decency ; and (8) popish 
 
 traditions concerning faith and morals, which have not 
 
 the approval of the Scriptures. Of these he says, that 
 
 those which agree with the Scriptures are to be approved, 
 
 but among the others are to be found mistakes of good 
 
 men and impostures by the bad. It is not enough to 
 
 allege that a tradition is Apostolic or from the Fathers. 
 
 16-17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father which 
 loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, -^'■— 
 fort your hearts and stablish them in every good work and word. 
 
 16. St. Paul wishes and expects comfort and strength- 
 ening from the power of the Lord, as from the Father. 
 He prays to Him, and confesses that He is the hearer and 
 answerer of prayer. — Which loved us, etc. Refers to the 
 Father (John 3 : 16; Rom. 8 : 32, 37 ; Gal. 2 : 20). In 
 our tribulations and afflictions God gives us eternal com- 
 fort ; in our weakness, eternal encouragement. He admits 
 us into fellowship with Him and His Son in the Eternal 
 Spirit (John 14 : 23). — In grace. The grace of God is the 
 element in which we live and move and have our being ; 
 in which we enjoy His eternal comfort and have a good 
 hope. 
 
 17. (See I : II.) ■ . 
 
 23 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 I. Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and 
 be glorified, even as also it is with you. 
 
 I. Finally (Phil. 3 : i ; 4 : 8 ; i Thess. 4: i). " Suffice 
 it to say, that the use of the phrase implied that the 
 primary object of the writer has been gained ; that what 
 especially prompted him to compose the epistle has 
 already found a place in it, and that what follows is more 
 or less supplementary in its nature : 2 Cor. 13:11; Eph. 
 6 : 10" (Eadie). — Pray for us. He had just now prayed 
 for them, and in return asks their prayers. So pastor 
 and people, the ministry and those Christians who are 
 engaged in secular occupations, missionaries and the 
 churches at home, and all Christians indeed, are knit to- 
 gether by prayer for each other. The General Prayer of 
 the Christian service of worship, the prayer for all estates 
 and conditions of men, not only is becoming, but is the 
 natural pulsation of the common life of the Church 
 (Phil. 4:6; Col. 4 : 3). Paul asks them to pray for him 
 and his associates, but not for their personal advantage, 
 but that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified. 
 The " word of the Lord " is the good news of salvation 
 through Christ. It ran, when, conquering all impedi- 
 ments, it became known further and further. It was 
 glorified, when the story of its triumphs was told far and 
 near (i Thess. i : 7, 8 ; 2 : i, 13 ; Acts 13 : 48). Those 
 who have received the Gospel should pray that it may 
 be preached to all men, and may meet with like triumphs 
 everywhere. 
 354 
 
111. 2.] CHAPTER in. 355 
 
 2. And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men ; for 
 all have not faith. 
 
 2. And that we may be delivered, etc. (Rom. 15 : 30, 
 31 ; Acts 18 : 6, 12-17). Just at this time the apostle 
 and his associates were vexed and threatened by the per- 
 sistent and unreasonable opposition of Jews at Corinth. 
 Paul describes them as unreasonable and wicked. The 
 former word, by which the penitent thief described his 
 evil deeds, "This man hath done nothing amiss'' (Luke 
 23 : 41), seems to denote persons who are utterly aim- 
 less and, having no intelligent principles, cannot be 
 reached by reason at all. They are " impracticable." 
 In answer to Paul's proof that Jesus is the Christ, they 
 railed at him, and acted zvitJi one accord, and therefore 
 with no exertion of their own conscience, in the sense- 
 less and ineffectual tumult made against him. They 
 were also wicked ; not thoughtless only, but positively 
 bad. It is to be observed that though the apostles had 
 difificulty enough to bring their message to the hearts of 
 thoughtful and sincere men, who would be slow to em- 
 brace a faith which required them to be born again and 
 become as little children, and the success of which would 
 involve the necessary dissolution of the existing order of 
 the world, their principal sufferings were caused by the 
 clamor and tumult of lewd fellows of the baser sort. 
 The power of " unreasonable " men to force others to com- 
 bined wrong-doing is a continual shame to mankind. — 
 For all have not faith. Does this mean merely. Not all 
 the Jews here at Corinth believe, — a mere statement of 
 fact, an item of news ? Or is it a sorrowful reflection of 
 the apostle — the recognition of the sad fact that some 
 seem incapable of faith, a barren soil on which though 
 the Divine Seed falls it cannot enter, utterly deaf to and 
 impenetrable by the Spirit of God? It certainly is true 
 
356 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [iii. 3, 4. 
 
 that some, many, seem to have no side at all for spirit- 
 ual verities. These, however, are not such as the 
 Beroeans (Acts 17 : 11), but unreasonable and wicked 
 men. Not all have faith ; therefore we, who, by the 
 grace of God, believe, should be thankful that this grace 
 has been wrought in us, and should keep our faith rev- 
 erently. 
 
 3. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you and guard you from 
 tlie evil one. 
 
 3. The Lord is faithful (Phil. 2 : 13; i Thess. 5 : 24). 
 This is the guarantee of our faith. We have it, because 
 He gave it ; we will be stablished and guarded, because 
 the Lord is faithful. Very probably this was a common- 
 place, a watchword of the Church, like i Cor. 16 : 23 ; 
 I Cor. 1:9; Phil. I : 6. The Lord is Christ. Paul 
 teaches not only, that He went up into heaven, and 
 possesses all power, but that He regards and takes care 
 of all His followers (Matt. 28 : 18-20). He establishes 
 them in the faith, and guards them against the assaults 
 and guile of the evil one (Eph. 6 : 16; Matt. 13 : 19). 
 
 4. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do 
 and will do the things which we command. 
 
 4. Gal. 5:10; Phil. 2 : 24. His confidence was not 
 in anything in them, but in the Lord. The good thing 
 we desire of any one in the Lord, we must seek of Him. 
 We have a right also to believe that He intends to accom- 
 plish in every Christian that which ought to be. The 
 particular grace which Paul here expects the Lord to 
 work in them, is a readiness to do what he now bids them 
 do. Obedience to those whom God has called and set 
 to instruct us, is a Christian grace. Paul, far distant 
 from them, because of his confidence in the Lord, does 
 not doubt that the Thessalonians are even now observant 
 
III. 5, 6.J CHAPTER ///. 357 
 
 of what he had enjoined on them, and will continue to 
 heed his bidding. 
 
 5. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the 
 patience of Christ. 
 
 5. The aim of his commandment was their growth in 
 the love of God and the patience of Christ. He prays 
 that the Lord will always open and incline their hearts to 
 such instruction. The patience of Christ is a patience 
 like Christ's ; and the love of God, a love patterned after 
 God's. (See i Thess. 1:3:1 John 4 : 7-20.) The earlier 
 English versions agree with this ; the patient waiting for 
 Christ appears in the Genevan Version, 1557. 
 
 6-15. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh dis- 
 orderly, and not after the tradition which they received of us. For your- 
 selves know how ye ought to imitate us : for we behaved not ourselves 
 disorderly among you ; neither did we eat bread for nought at any man's 
 hand, but in labour and travail, working night and day, that we might not 
 burden any of you : not because we have not the right, but to make our- 
 selves an ensample unto you, that ye should imitate us. For even when we 
 were with you, this we commanded you. If any will not work, neither let 
 him eat. For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work 
 not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and 
 exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat 
 their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. And if any 
 man obeyeth not our word by this epistle, note that man, that ye have no 
 company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed. And jc/ count 
 him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 
 
 6, After such an affectionate and impressive introduc- 
 tion, he proceeds to command them. Observe the posi- 
 tive and uncompromising manner in which he here insists 
 on their duty. It is evident he means that his bidding 
 shall not be misunderstood or be liable to any misinter- 
 pretation (2 : 2). (See verses 10, I2.) There are duties 
 which no Christian dare disregard. St Paul here solemnly 
 commands an exercise of Church discipline. This, not 
 merely because in his opinion salutary, but in the name 
 
358 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [in. 7-9. 
 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ (i Cor. 5 : 4). Therefore, by 
 
 revelation. They ivere to witJidraiv thejnselves from every 
 brother that walketh disorderly. In i Thess. 5 : 14, he 
 had bidden them adnionisJi such. The admonition hav- 
 ing proved fruitless, they were to withdraw from associa- 
 tion with him (verse 14), while still holding him as an 
 erring brother, not an enemy (verse 15). A disorderly 
 man was one who would not keep in line with the rest ; 
 would not submit to the regulations which the apostle 
 had given them, or they made for the order of their 
 community; who insisted on his own way, over against 
 the common sense of the rest or the teaching of the Lord 
 (i Thess. 5 : 14). So were they to treat those who would 
 not observe " the traditions " which Paul had given 
 them. It is evident, therefore, that Christian congrega- 
 tions should punish with exclusion from their communion 
 not only such as deny the faith, and commit notorious 
 sins(i Cor. 5 : 9-1 1), but those also who will not submit 
 to just order and to those regulations of conduct which 
 the apostles have given in the name of Christ. The 
 Gospel is not merely a theory, or a promise, it is also a life. 
 7-9. Phil. 3:17. Paul confidently refers to his ex- 
 ample (i Thess. 2 : 9). And it appears that he had pre- 
 served his independence of their charity, that he might 
 be an example to them. We discover how keen he was 
 to detect the characteristics of those he labored among. 
 He had seen the disorderly disposition of some who were 
 ready to listen to and follow him. They were light- 
 minded men, prone to disagree with others, and proud of 
 singularity, as if it betokened exceptional wisdom ; and 
 they welcomed an opportunity of getting out of line and 
 concentrating on themselves the attention of others. 
 Such spread the fanatical reports of the present end of 
 the world, forsook the avocations by which they ought 
 
III. II, 12.] CUAPTER III. 359 
 
 to have earned a livelihood, and became a charge to the 
 Christian community. Our missionaries are troubled by 
 such converts now ; such gather round every new sectary 
 in Christendom ; and such are to be found in every 
 parish. The salvation of their own souls depends on 
 their receiving admonition from the Church, and, if they 
 will not heed it, severer discipline. Christians show 
 their obedience to the apostolic tradition, not by " for- 
 saking the world " after the manner of those ascetics who 
 gave their all to the poor, abandoned their families and 
 callings, and retired to deserts and caves in the moun- 
 tains ; but by diligence, that they may maintain their 
 own, and have to give to him that needeth. " The Lord 
 our God hates the slothful. For no one of those who are 
 dedicated to God ought to be idle " (App. Const. II. 63). 
 
 11. Here we have a definition of their disorderliness. 
 They did no work, but they were continually at work 
 in what did not concern them (Acts 19 : 19; i Tim. 
 5 : 13). Those who are conscientious in the discharge 
 of their own duty will not be tattlers and busybodies. 
 (See Phil. 3 : 3. Also i Cor. 7:3112 Cor. i : 13 ; 6 : 10 ; 
 10 : 12 ; Hebr. 5 : 8.) 
 
 12. Paul addresses himself to these erring brethren 
 again. He commands them again (i Thess. 4 : 11) ; he 
 exhorts them. He exhorts them to quietness. It is an 
 admonition to those busy Christians, who always wish to 
 be observed and talked about. He rebukes their willing- 
 ness to be supported by the rest. They were what are 
 called in the East Rice-Christians : such as join the 
 Church for worldly profit. (See Teaching of the Twelve 
 Apostles, XL, XII.; EUSEBIUS, History, V. 18, 2.) In 
 our own day many profess to follow Christ, or, denying 
 duty, go from congregation to congregation, for the sake 
 of trade or of social advancement. 
 
360 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE TH ESSALONIANS. [iii. 13-17. 
 
 13. But now he turns to the whole body again, as much 
 as to say, Though they may not do right, and you often 
 are disappointed to find those on whom you have lav- 
 ished your confidence untrustworthy, still be not weary 
 in welUdoing. Do not let it discourage you from charity, 
 though the objects of your almsgiving are found to be 
 undeserving. 
 
 14-15. He returns to stern command. If any one per- 
 sists in disobedience to the clear word of this letter, let 
 him be a marked man, one to be avoided. Not that he 
 is an enemy, but because he is a brother ; for he must be 
 taught in what a perilous case he is, and must be made 
 ashamed, that he may be saved. The end of Church dis- 
 cipline is not the purification of the community, much 
 less is it the preservation of its good name, but the rescue 
 and sanctification of the offender. Christian charity re- 
 quires that a persistent sinner, deaf to every admonition 
 and remonstrance of the Word of God and the Christian 
 congregation, should be excluded from the fellowship of 
 the Church. 
 
 16. Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all 
 ways. The Lord be with you all. 
 
 16. The Lord of peace himself, i. e. Christ. In i 
 Thess. 5 : 23 the Father is spoken of as tJie God of peace. 
 — Give you peace (Phil. 4:7; Col. 3:15; John 14 : 27). — 
 At all times, in all ways. God can give peace in the 
 midst of tribulations and labors, as well as in a time of 
 tranquillity. 
 
 17. The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token 
 in every epistle : so I write. 
 
 17. Paul wrote his letters by the hand of an amanuen- 
 sis (Rom. 16 : 22), but thus early adopted the habit of 
 adding his Salutation in his own handwriting, as a token 
 of the genuineness of the letter ; doubtless led to this by 
 
III. 1 8.] CHAPTER III. 361 
 
 the ascription to him of forged letters or false teaching. 
 (See 2:2; Gal. 6 : 11.) This is, so far as we know, only 
 the second in order of those letters of St. Paul which have 
 come down to us ; but his words make it not improbable 
 that before this he had written more than one. (See on 
 Phil. I : 4; 3 : I.) This apostolic signature is the first 
 step towards fixing the New Testament Canon of Holy 
 Scriptures. The genuineness of this epistle is attested by 
 its own contents, by its relation to the former epistle, and 
 by Polycarp (Phil. 11), Justin Martyr, Irenaeus (Adv. 
 Haer, 3, 7, 2), Clement of Alexandria (Strom. 5), Tertul- 
 lian (de res. Carnis, 24), the Muratorian Fragment, the 
 earliest Syrian Version (the Peschito), and by the quota- 
 tions of the heretic Marcion. 
 
 The canonical authority of this letter is grounded on 
 its apostolic origin and the fact that Paul in it utters the 
 Word of God. These are the two marks he has afifixed to 
 it and to all his epistles. The Church, or the scholars in 
 it, or the men composing it, weighs the historical evidence 
 concerning the preservation and authorship of a sacred 
 book, the evidence of its own contents, its relations to 
 other scriptures, and its consonance with the whole Gos- 
 pel. But that which gives a book authority is, that 
 it was written by one whom Jesus called to witness 
 directly to His truth. 
 
 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. 
 
 18. The Apostolic Benediction. He wishes that the 
 grace of Christ may be with them all. That they receive 
 that grace, is enough ; that it abide with them, will be 
 enough forever. 
 
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 HIGHSMITH #45230