FOOTNOTES:

“I heard the defaming of many; there was terror on every side.But I trusted in Thee, O Jehovah: I said, Thou art my God!”

To “take up the shield of faith,” is it not, like thePsalmist, to meet injuries and threats, the boasts of unbelief and of worldly power, the poisoned arrows of the deceitful and the bitter words of unjust reproach, with faith’s quiet counter-assertion? “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” says the apostle in the midst of tribulation. “God is my witness, whom I serve in the gospel of His Son,” he answers when his fidelity is questioned. No shaft of malice, no arrow of fear can pierce the soul that holds such a shield.

5. At this point (ver. 17), when the sentence beginning at verse 14 has drawn itself out to such length, and the relative clause of verse 16bmakes a break and eddy in the current of thought, the writer pauses for a moment. He resumes the exhortation in a form slightly changed and with rising emphasis, passing from the participle to the finite verb: “And takethe helmet of salvation.”

The wordtake, in the original, differs from thetaking upof verses 13 and 16. It signifies theacceptingof something offered by the hand of another. So the Thessalonians “acceptedthe word” brought them by St Paul (1 Thess. i. 6) and Titus “acceptedthe consolation” given him by the Corinthians (2 Cor. viii. 17)—in each case a welcome gift. God’s hand is stretched out to bestow on His chosen warrior the helmet of salvation and the sword of His word, to complete his equipment for the perilous field. We accept these gifts with devout gratitude, knowing from what source they come and where the heavenly arms were fashioned.

The “helmet of salvation” is worn by the Lord Himself, as He is depicted by the prophet coming to the succour of His people (Isai. lix. 17). This helmet, on the head of Jehovah, is the crest and badge of their Divine champion. Given to the human warrior, itbecomes the sign of his protection by God. The apostle does not call it “thehopeof salvation,” as he does in 1 Thessalonians v. 8, thinking of the believer’s assurance of victory in the last struggle. Nor is it the sense and assurance of past salvation that here guards the Christian soldier. The presence of his Saviour and God in itself constitutes his highest safeguard.

“O Jehovah my Lord, the strength of my salvation,Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.”

The warrior’s head rising above his shield was frequently open to attack. The arrow might shoot over the shield’s edge, and inflict a mortal blow. Our faith, at the best, has its deficiencies and its limits; but God’s salvation reaches beyond our highest confidence in Him. His overshadowing presence is the crown of our salvation, His love its shining crest.

Thus the equipment of Christ’s soldier is complete; and he is arrayed in the full armour of light. His loins girt with truth, his breast clad with righteousness, his feet shod with zeal, his head crowned with safety, while faith’s all-encompassing shield is cast about him, he steps forth to do battle with the powers of darkness, “strong in the Lord, and in the might of His strength.”

6. It only remains that “theswordof the Spirit” be put into his right hand, while his lips are open in continual prayer to the God of his strength.

The “cleansing word” of chapter v. 26, by whose virtue we passed through the gate of baptism into the flock of Christ, now becomes the guarding and smiting word, to be used in conflict with our spiritual foes. Of the Messiah it was said, in language quoted by the apostle against Antichrist (2 Thess. ii. 8): “He shallsmite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked” (Isai. xi. 4). Similarly, in Hosea the Lord tells how He has “hewed” the unfaithful “by His prophets, and slain them by the words of His mouth” (Hos. vi. 5). From such sayings of the Old Testament the idea of the sword of the Divine word is derived. We find it again in Hebrews iv. 12: “The word of God, living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword”; and in the “sword, two-edged, sharp,” which John in the Revelation saw “coming out of the mouth of the Son of man”: it belongs to Him whose name is “the word of God,” and with it “He shall smite the nations.”[174]

This sword of the inspired word Paul himself wielded with supernatural effect, as when he rebuked Elymas the sorcerer, or when he defended his gospel against the Judaizers of Galatia and Corinth. In his hand it was even as

“The swordOf Michael, from the armoury of God,... tempered so that neither keenNor solid might resist that edge.”

With what piercing reproofs, what keen thrusts of argument, what double-edged irony and dexterous sword-play did this mighty combatant smite the enemies of the cross of Christ! In times of conflict never may such leaders be wanting to the Church, men using weapons of warfare not carnal, but mighty to “cast down strongholds,” to “bring down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and make captive every thought to Christ’s obedience.”

In her struggle with the world’s gigantic lusts and tyrannies, the Israel of God must be armed with thislofty and lightning-like power, with the flaming sword of the Spirit. No less in the secret, internal conflicts of the religious life, the sword of the word is the decisive weapon. The Son of man put it to proof in His combat in the wilderness. Satan himself sought to wrest this instrument to his purpose. With pious texts in his mouth he addressed our Lord, like an angel of light, fain to deceive Him by the very Scripture He had Himself inspired! until, with the last thrust of quotation, Jesus unmasked the tempter and drove him from the field, saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan!”

7. We have surveyed the Christian soldier with his harness on. From head to foot he is clothed in arms supernatural. No weapon of defence or offence is lacking, that the spiritual combat needs. Nothing seems to be wanting: yet everything is wanting, if this be all. Our text began: “Be strong in the Lord.” It isprayerthat links the believer with the strength of God.

What avails Michael’s sword, if the hand that holds it is slack and listless? what the panoply of God, if behind it beats a craven heart? He is but a soldier in semblance who wears arms without the courage and the strength to use them. The life that is to animate that armed figure, to beat with high resolve beneath the corslet, to nerve the arm as it lifts the strong shield and plies the sharp sword, to set the swift feet moving on their gospel errands, to weld the Church together into one army of the living God, comes from the inspiration of God’s Spirit received in answer to believing prayer. So the apostle adds: “With all prayer and supplication praying at every time in the Spirit.”

There is here no needless repetition. “Prayer” is the universal word for reverent address to God; and“supplication” the entreaty for such help as “on every occasion”—at each turn of the battle, in each emergency of life—we find ourselves to need. And Christian prayer is always “in the Spirit,”—being offered in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, who is the element of the believer’s life in Christ, who helps our infirmities and, virtually, intercedes for us (Rom. viii. 26, 27). When the apostle continues, “watching[orkeeping awake] thereunto,” he reminds us, as perhaps he was thinking himself, of our Lord’s warning to the disciples sleeping in Gethsemane: “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” The “perseverance” he requires in this wakeful attention to prayer, is the resolute persistence of the suppliant, who will neither be daunted by opposition nor wearied by delay.[175]

The word “supplication” is resumed at the end of verse 18, in order to enlist the prayers of the readers for the service of the Church at large: “with wakeful heed thereto, in all persistence andsupplication for all the saints.” Prayer for ourselves must broaden out into a catholic intercession for all the servants of our Master, for all the children of the household of faith. By the bands of prayer we are knit together,—a vast multitude of saints throughout the earth, unknown by face or name to our fellows, but one in the love of Christ and in our heavenly calling, and all engaged in the same perilous conflict.

“All the saints,” St Paul said (i. 15), were interested in the faith of the Asian believers; they were called “with all the saints” to share in the comprehensionof the immense designs of God’s kingdom (iii. 18). The dangers and temptations of the Church are equally far-reaching; they have a common origin and character in all Christian communities. Let our prayers, at least, be catholic. At the throne of grace, let us forget our sectarian divisions. Having access in one Spirit to the Father, let us realize in His presence our communion with all His children.

FOOTNOTES:[168]Comp. Rom. viii. 37, xvi. 20.To bring down,overpower,conqueris the military sense ofκατεργάζομαι,—not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but, as it seems to us, unmistakable here. It occurs in Ezek. xxxiv. 4 (LXX), and 1 Esdr. iv. 4.[169]Col. i. 23, ii. 5; Phil. i. 27–30, iv. 1: comp. 1 Thess. v. 8; Rom. xiii. 11–14; 1 Cor. xvi. 13; 2 Cor. x. 3–6.[170]2 Thess. ii. 3; Acts xx. 29, 30; 1 Tim. iv. 1; 2 Tim. iii. 1.[171]Ch. 1. 17–23, iii. 16–19, iv. 13–15, 20–24.[172]Ἑτοιμασίαis adopted by the Greek translators as the equivalent of the Hebrew word forfoundation, orbase, in Ps. lxxxix. 14; Ezra ii. 68, iii. 3; Dan. xi. 7, 20, 21. See, however, the note of Meyer, who thinks that they misunderstood the Hebrew.[173]Θυρεός: Latinscutum; only here in N.T.[174]Rev. i. 16, ii. 12, xix. 13–15.[175]Ἐν πάσῃ προσκαρτερήσει:in every kind of persistence,—a perseverance that tries all arts and holds its ground at every point. The verbπροσκαρτερέωappears in the parallel passages: Col. iv. 2; Rom. xii. 12; also in Acts i. 14.

[168]Comp. Rom. viii. 37, xvi. 20.To bring down,overpower,conqueris the military sense ofκατεργάζομαι,—not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but, as it seems to us, unmistakable here. It occurs in Ezek. xxxiv. 4 (LXX), and 1 Esdr. iv. 4.

[169]Col. i. 23, ii. 5; Phil. i. 27–30, iv. 1: comp. 1 Thess. v. 8; Rom. xiii. 11–14; 1 Cor. xvi. 13; 2 Cor. x. 3–6.

[170]2 Thess. ii. 3; Acts xx. 29, 30; 1 Tim. iv. 1; 2 Tim. iii. 1.

[171]Ch. 1. 17–23, iii. 16–19, iv. 13–15, 20–24.

[172]Ἑτοιμασίαis adopted by the Greek translators as the equivalent of the Hebrew word forfoundation, orbase, in Ps. lxxxix. 14; Ezra ii. 68, iii. 3; Dan. xi. 7, 20, 21. See, however, the note of Meyer, who thinks that they misunderstood the Hebrew.

[173]Θυρεός: Latinscutum; only here in N.T.

[174]Rev. i. 16, ii. 12, xix. 13–15.

[175]Ἐν πάσῃ προσκαρτερήσει:in every kind of persistence,—a perseverance that tries all arts and holds its ground at every point. The verbπροσκαρτερέωappears in the parallel passages: Col. iv. 2; Rom. xii. 12; also in Acts i. 14.

Πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος οὔτε ζωὴ οὔτε ἄγγελοι οὔτε ἀρχαὶ οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα οὔτε μέλλοντα οὔτε δυνάμεις οὔτε ὕψωμα οὔτε βάθος οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν—Rom.viii. 38, 39.“Love for Christ is immortal.”—R. W. Dale.

“Love for Christ is immortal.”—R. W. Dale.

“And [pray] on my behalf, that the word may be given unto me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.“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: whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know our state, and that he may comfort your hearts.”—Eph. vi. 19–22.

“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: whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know our state, and that he may comfort your hearts.”—Eph. vi. 19–22.

The apostle has bidden his readers apply themselves with wakeful and incessant earnestness to prayer (ver. 18). For this is, after all, the chief arm of the spiritual combat. By this means the soul draws reinforcements of mercy and hope from the eternal sources (ver. 10). By this means the Asian Christians will be able not only to carry on their own conflict with vigour, but to help all the saints (ver. 18); and through their aid the whole Church of God will be sustained in its war with the prince of this world.

The apostle Paul himself stood in the forefront of this battle. He was suffering for the cause of common Christendom; he was a mark for the attack of the enemies of the gospel.[176]On him, more than on any other man, the safety and progress of the Churchdepended (Phil. i. 25). In this position he naturally says: “Watching unto prayer in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me.” If his heart should fail him, or his mouth be closed, if the word of inspiration ceased to be given him and the great teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth no longer spoke as he ought to speak, it would be a heavy blow and sore discouragement to the friends of Christ throughout the world. “My afflictions are your glory (iii. 13). My unworthy testimony to Christ is showing forth His praise to all men and angels.[177]Pray for me then, that I may speak and act in this hour of trial in a manner worthy of the dispensation given to me.”

Strong and confident as the apostle Paul was, he felt himself to be nothing without prayer. It is his habit to expect the support of the intercessions of all who love him in Christ.[178]He knew that he was helped by this means, on numberless occasions and in wonderful ways. He asks his present readers to entreat that “the word[179]may be given me when I open my mouth, so that I may freely make known the mystery of the gospel, on which behalf I serve as ambassador in bonds, that in it I may speak freely, as I ought to speak.” This sentence hangs upon the verb “may-be-given.” Jesus said to His apostles: “It shall begivenyou in that hour what you shall speak, when brought before rulers and kings” (Matt x. 18–20). The apostle standsnow before the Roman world. He has appealed to Cæsar, and awaits his trial. If he has not yet appeared at the Emperor’s tribunal, he will shortly have to do so. Christ’s ambassador is about to plead in chains before the highest of human courts. It is not his own life or freedom that he is concerned about; the ambassador has only to consider how he shall represent his Sovereign’s interests. The importance which Paul attached to this occasion, is manifest from the words written to Timothy (2 Ep. iv. 17) referring to his later trial. St Paul has this special need in his thoughts, in addition to the help from above continually required in the discharge of his ministry, under the hampering conditions of his imprisonment (comp. Col. iv. 3, 4).

The Church must entreat on Paul’s behalf that the word he utters may be God’s, and not his own. It is in vain to “open the mouth,” unless there is this higher prompting and through the gates of speech there issues a Divine message, unless the speaker is the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit rather than of his individual thought and will. “The words that I speak unto you,” Jesus said, “I speak not of myself.” The bold apostle intends to open his mouth; but he must have the true “word given” him to say. We should pray for Christ’s ambassadors, and especially for the more public and eloquent pleaders of the Christian cause, that it may be thus with them. Rash and vain words, that bear the stamp of the mere man who utters them and not of the Spirit of his Master, do a hurt to the cause of the gospel proportioned to the blessing that comes from such lips when they speak the word given to them.

Such inspiration would enable the apostle to “make known the mystery of the gospelwith freedom and confidence of speech”: the expression rendered“with boldness”[180]means all this. Before the emperor Nero, or the slave Onesimus, he will be able with the same aptness and dignity and self-command to declare his message and to vindicate his Master’s name. “The mystery of the gospel” is no other secret than that which this epistle unfolds (iii. 3–9), the great fact that Jesus Christ is the Saviour and the Lord of the whole world. Jesus proclaimed Himself to Pilate, who represented at Jerusalem the imperial rule, as the King of all who are of the truth; and the apostle Paul has the like message to convey to the head of the Empire. It needed the greatest boldness and the greatest wisdom in the ambassador of the Messianic King to play his part at Rome; an unwise word might make his own life forfeit, and bring incalculable dangers on the Church.

St Paul’s trial, we suppose, passed off successfully, as he at this time anticipated.[181]The Roman government was perfectly aware that the political charge against their prisoner was frivolous; and Nero, if he personally gave Paul a hearing on this earlier trial, in all probability viewed his spiritual pretensions on his Master’s behalf with contemptuous tolerance. If he did so, the toleration was not due to any want of courage or clearness on the defendant’s part. It is possible even that the courage and address of the advocate of the “new superstition” pleased the tyrant, who was not without his moments of good humour nor without the instincts of a man of taste. The apostle, we may well believe, made an impression on the supreme court at Rome similar to that made on his judges in Cæsarea.

St Paul’s bonds in Christ have now become widely“manifest” in Rome (Phil. i. 13). He pleads in circumstances of disgrace. But God brings good for His servants out of evil. As he said at a later time, so he could say now: “They have bound me; but they cannot bind the word of God.”[182]He was “not ashamed of the gospel” in the prospect of coming to Rome years before (Rom. i. 16); and he is not ashamed now, though he has come in chains as an evil-doer. Through the intercessions of Christ’s people all these injuries of Satan are turning to his salvation and to the “furtherance of the gospel”; and Paul rejoices and triumphs in them, well assured that Christ will be magnified whether by his life or death, whether by his freedom or his chains (Phil. i. 12–26). The prayers which the imprisoned apostle asks from the Church were fulfilled. For we read in the last verses of the Acts of the Apostles, which put into a sentence the history of this period: “He received all that came to him, preaching the kingdom and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,with all boldness, none forbidding him.”

The paragraph relating to Tychicus is almost identical with that of Colossians iv. 7, 8. It begins with a “But” connecting what follows with the statement the apostle has just made respecting his position at Rome. As much as to say: “I want your prayers, set as I am for the defence of the gospel and in circumstances of difficulty and peril. But Tychicus will tell you more about me than I can convey by letter. I am sending him, in fact, for this very purpose.”

St Paul knew the great anxiety of the Christians of Asia on his account. Epaphras of Colossæ had“shown him the love in the Spirit” that was felt towards him even by those in this region who had never seen him in the flesh (Col. i. 8). The tender heart of the apostle is touched by this assurance. So he sends Tychicus to visit as many of the Asian Churches as he may be able to reach, bringing news that will cheer their hearts and relieve their discouragement (iii. 13).[183]The note sent at this time to Philemon indicates the hopeful tidings that Tychicus was able to convey to Paul’s friends in the East: “I trust that through your prayers I shall be given to you” (Philem. 22). To the Philippians he writes, perhaps a little later, in the same strain: “I trust in the Lord that I myself shall come shortly” (Phil. ii. 24). He anticipates, with some confidence, his speedy acquital and release: it is not likely that this expectation, on the part of such a man as St Paul, was disappointed. The good news went round the Asian and Macedonian Churches: “Paul is likely soon to be free, and we shall see and hear him again!”

In the parallel epistle he writes, “that you may know” (Col. iv. 8); here it is, “that youalsomay know my affairs.” The added word is significant. The writer is imagining his letter read in the various assemblies which it will reach. He has the other epistle in his mind, and remembering that he there introduced Tychicus in similar terms, he says to this wider circle of Asian disciples: “That you also, as well as the Churches of the Lycus valley, may know how things are with me, I send Tychicus to give you a full report.” It is not necessary, however, to look beyond the last two verses for the reference of thealsoof verse 21: “I have asked your prayers on my behalf;and I wish you in turn to know how things go with me.” Possibly, there were some matters connected with St Paul’s trial at Rome that could not be fitly or safely communicated by letter. Hence he adds: “He shall make known unto you all things.” When he writes “that ye may know my affairs, how I do,” we gather that Tychicus was to communicate to those he visited everything about the beloved apostle that would be of interest to his Asian brethren.

The apostle commends Tychicus in language identical in the two letters, except that in Colossians “fellow-servant” is added to the honourable designations of “beloved brother and faithful minister,” under which he is here introduced. We find him first associated with St Paul in Acts xx. 4, where “Tychicus and Trophimus” represent Asia in the number of those who accompanied the apostle on his voyage to Jerusalem, when he carried the contributions of his Gentile Churches to the relief of the Christian poor in Jerusalem. Trophimus, his companion, is called a “Greek” and an “Ephesian” (Acts xxi. 28, 29). Whether Tychicus belonged to the same city or not, we cannot tell. He was almost certainly a Greek. The Pastoral epistles show Tychicus still in the apostle’s service in his last years. He appears to have joined St Paul’s staff and remained with him from the time that he accompanied him to Jerusalem in the year 59. From 2 Timothy iv 9–12 we gather that Tychicus was sent to Ephesus to relieve Timothy, when St Paul desired the presence of the latter at Rome. It is evident that he was a man greatly valued by the apostle and endeared to him.

Tychicus was well known in the Asian Churches, and suitable therefore to be sent upon this errand. And the commendation given to him would be very welcome to the circle to which he belonged. Theapostle has great tact in these personal matters, the tact which belongs to delicate feeling and a generous mind. He calls his messenger “the beloved brother” in his relation to the Church in general, and “faithful minister in the Lord” in his special relation to himself. So he describes Epaphroditus to the Philippians as “your apostle and minister of my need.” In conveying these letters and messages, this worthy man was Paul’s apostle and minister of his need in regard to the Asian Churches. He is a “minister in the Lord,” inasmuch as this office lies within the range of his service to the Lord Christ.

We observe that in writing to the Colossians the apostle applies to Onesimus, the converted slave, the honourable epithets applied here to this long-tried friend: “the faithful and beloved brother” (Col. iv. 9). Every Christian believer should be in the eyes of his fellows a “beloved brother.” And every true servant of Christ and His people is a “faithful minister in the Lord,” be his rank high or low, and whether official hands have been laid upon his head or not. We are apt, by a trick of words, to limit to the order which we suitably call “the ministry” expressions that the New Testament applies to the common ministry of Christ’s saints (comp. iv. 12). This devoted servant of Christ is employed just now as a newsman and letter-carrier. But what a high responsibility it was, to be the bearer to the Asian cities, and to the Church for all time, of the epistles of Paul the apostle to the Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon. Had Tychicus been careless or dishonest, had he lost these precious documents or tampered with them, how great the loss to mankind! We cannot read them without feeling our debt to this beloved brother and faithful servant of the Church.Those who travel upon Christ’s business, who link distant communities to each other and convey from one to another the Holy Spirit’s fellowship and grace, are “the messengers of the Churches and the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. viii. 23).

The Benediction.

“Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith,From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus ChristIn incorruption” (vv. 23, 24).

Grace and Peace were the first words of the epistle,—the apostle’s salutation to all his Churches. InPeace and Gracehe breathes out his final blessing. The benediction is fuller than in most of the epistles, and exhibits several peculiar features.

To the Thessalonians (2 Ep. iii. 16) St Paul wished: “Peace continually, in all ways, from the Lord of peace Himself”; and he commends the Romans twice to “the God of peace” (ch. xv. 33, xvi. 20): the Corinthians he bids to “live in peace,” so that “the God of love and peace” may be with them (2 Cor. xiii. 11). There is nothing in the least degree strange or un-Pauline in the wishes here expressed, except the fact that they are put in the third person—“Peace to the brethren,” etc.—instead of being addressed directly to the readers in the second person, as in all other of the apostle’s extant closing benedictions. This peculiarity, as we observed in the first Chapter, is in accordance with the encyclical and impersonal stamp of the epistle.[184]It is Paul’s most catholic benediction, his blessing upon “all the Israel of God” (comp. Gal. vi. 16).

“With faith,” that “love” is desired whereby,according to the Pauline ethics of salvation, faith works (Gal. v. 6), the love which as a vitalizing organic force creates the new man, formed in all his doings and dispositions after the image of Jesus Christ. From chapter iv. 1–3 we have learnt how “peace” and “love” attend each other. Love is the source of the forbearance, the mutual consideration and self-sacrifice, without which there is no peace within the Church. Peace springs from love: love waits on faith. Amongst brethren in Christ, members of the same household of faith, peace and love have their home. These are the sons of peace: with good will and good hope, entering or quitting their abode, we say, “Peace be to this house!”

The peace that the apostle looks for amongst Christian brethren is the fruit of peace with God through Christ. Such “peace guarding the thoughts and heart” of each Christian man, nothing contrary thereto will arise amongst them. Calm and quiet hearts make a peaceful Church. There are no clashing interests, no selfish competitions, no strife as to who shall be greatest. Differences of opinion and taste are kept within the bounds of mutual submission. The awe of God’s presence with His people, the remembrance of the dear price at which His Church was purchased, the sense of Christ’s Lordship in the Spirit and of the sacredness of our brotherhood in Him, check all turbulence and rivalry and teach us to seek the things that make for peace.

“Peaceand love,” the apostle desires. Love includes peace, and more; for it labours not to prevent contention only, but to help and enrich in all ways the body of Christ. By such “toil of love” faith is made complete. We are bidden indeed, in certain matters, to “have faith to ourselves before God” (Rom. xiv. 22).This maxim holds where one has a special faith in regard to such things as eating flesh or drinking wine, in which any one of us may without offence differ from his brethren. But it is a poor faith that dwells upon questions of this nature, and makes its religion of them. The essentials of faith, as we saw them delineated in chapter iv. 1–6, are things that unite and not distinguish us.

As faith grows and deepens, it makes new channels in which love may flow. “We are bound to thank God always for you,” writes St Paul to the Thessalonians (2 Ep. i. 3), “for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another multiplieth.” This is the sound and true growth of faith. Where an intenser faith makes men disputatious and exclusive; where it fails to breed meekness and courtesy, we cannot but suspect its quality. Such faith may be sincere; but it is mixed with a lamentable ignorance, and a resistance to the Holy Spirit that is likely to end in grave offence. “Contending earnestly for the faith” does not mean contending angrily, with the weapons of satire and censoriousness. It is well to remember that we are not the judges of our brethren. There are many questions raised and discussed amongst us, which we may safely leave to the judgement of the last day. It is too easy to fill the air with matters of contention, and to excite a sore and suspicious temper destructive of peace, and in which nothing but fault-finding will flourish. If we must contend, we may surely debate quietly on secondary matters, while we are one in Christ. If we have notlove with faith, our faith is worthless (1 Cor. xiii. 2).

Deep beneath the peace that dwells in the Churchand the love that fills each believer’s heart, is the eternal fountain ofgrace. “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ,” says the apostle. Grace is theirs already; and they desire nothing so much as its increase. Their love to Christ is the fruit of the grace of God that is with them. This wish includes all good wishes; it surpasses both our deservings and desires. All that God prepared for us in His eternal counsels, and that Christ purchased by His redeeming love, all of good that our nature can receive now and for ever, is embraced in this one word:Grace be with you.

“With all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul says; for it is to lovers of Christ that God gives the continuance of His grace. If our love to Christ fails, grace leaves us. God cannot look with favour upon the man who has no love to His Son Jesus Christ. In giving his blessing to the Corinthians, St Paul was compelled to write with his own hand: “If any man love not the Lord, let him be anathema.” The blessing involves the anathema. God’s love is not a love of indifference, an indiscriminate, immoral affection. It is a love of choice and predilection—“If any man love me,” said Jesus, “my Father will love him.” Is not the condition reasonable,—and the inference inevitable? The Father cannot grant His grace to those who have seen and hated Him in His Son and image. By that hatred they refuse His grace, and cast it from them.

On the other hand, a sincere love to the Lord Jesus Christ opens the heart to all the rich and purifying influences of Divine grace. The sinful woman, stained with false and foul love, who washed the Saviour’s feet with her tears, attained in that act to a height of purity undreamed of by the virtuous Pharisee. This new andholy flame burns out impure passion from the soul: it kindles lofty thoughts; it makes crooked natures straight, and timid and weak natures brave and strong. “To them that love God, we know, all things work together for good.” To them that love Christ, all things contribute blessing; all conditions and events of life become means of grace. If we love Christ, we shall love His people,—the Church, the bride of Christ from whom He will never be parted in our thoughts. If we love Christ, we shall love the work He has laid upon us, and the word He has taught us, and the sacramental pledges He has given us in remembrance of Him and assurance of His coming. If we love Him, we shall “keep His commandments,” and He will keep His promise to send us the “other Helper, to be with us for ever, even the Spirit of truth.” The gift of the Holy Spirit is the all-sufficiency of grace.[185]Here is the innermost sanctuary of our religion, the fountain and beginning of the soul’s eternal life,—in the love which joins it to the Lord in one spirit.

In incorruptionis the last and sealing word of this letter, which we have been so long studying together. It “stands as the crown and climax of this glorious epistle” (Alford). Like so many other words of the epistle, at first sight its interpretation is not clear. The apostle has used the term in several other passages, as synonymous withimmortality[186]and denoting the state of the blessed after the resurrection, when they will stand before God complete in body and in spirit, with all that is mortal in them swallowed up of life—“raised in incorruption.” But there is nothing in this contextto lead up to the idea of personal, bodily immortality. Those who construe the apostle’s words in this sense, place a comma before the final clause and treat it as a qualification of the main predicate of the sentence: “Grace be with all them that love our Lord,—grace [culminating] in incorruption”—or in other words, “grace crowned with glory!” But it must be admitted that this is somewhat strained.

The rendering of our ordinary version, “in sincerity” (in the Revised rendering, “uncorruptness”), gives an ethical sense to the word that is scarcely borne out by usage. It is a different, though kindred expression that St Paul employs to express “uncorruptness” in Titus ii. 7.[187]

It appears to us that the term “incorruption,” in its ordinary significance, applies fitly to the believer’s love for the Lord, when the word is read in accordance with the symbolism of the epistle. This love is the life of the body of Christ. In it lies the Church’s immortality. The gates of death prevail not against her, rooted and grounded as she is in love to the risen and immortal Christ. “May that love be maintained,” the apostle says, “in its deathless power. Let it be an unspoilt and unwasting love.”

Of earthly love we often say with sadness:—

“Space is against thee: it can part!Time is against thee: it can chill!”

Not so with the love of Christ. Neither death nor life parts the soul from Him. Our love to the Lord Jesus Christ seats us with Him in the heavenly places,—above the realm of decay, above this wasting flesh and perishing world.

FOOTNOTES:[176]Col. i. 24—ii. 1; Phil. i. 16.[177]Ch. ii. 7, iii. 10; Phil. i. 20; 2 Tim. iv. 17.[178]I Thess. v. 25; 2 Thess. iii. 1; Rom. xv. 30–32; Col. iv. 3, etc.[179]Out of the instances in which the English Version rendersλόγοςin St Paul byutterance, the Revisers have substitutedwordforutteranceonly in Col. iv. 3. One wishes they had done so throughout. Forλόγοςsurely implies thecontent, theimportof what is said. This passage reminds us of John xvii. 14: “I have given them Thy word”; and xiv. 24: “The word which ye hear is not mine, but His.”[180]Ἐν παρρησίᾳ: comp. iii. 12; Phil. i. 20; Philem. 8; 2 Cor. vii. 4; 1 Thess. ii. 2, etc.[181]Phil. i. 25, 26, ii. 23, 24; Philem. 22.[182]2 Tim. i. 7–12, ii. 3–10.[183]Comp. Phil. i. 24–26.[184]See pp. 13–17.[185]Ch. i. 14, iv. 30. See Chapter IV., above.[186]Rom. ii. 7; 1 Cor. xv. 42, 50, 53, 54; 2 Tim. i. 10. See Alford’s excellent note on this passage.[187]Ἀφθορία:ἀφθαρσίαis deleted in the critical texts.

[176]Col. i. 24—ii. 1; Phil. i. 16.

[177]Ch. ii. 7, iii. 10; Phil. i. 20; 2 Tim. iv. 17.

[178]I Thess. v. 25; 2 Thess. iii. 1; Rom. xv. 30–32; Col. iv. 3, etc.

[179]Out of the instances in which the English Version rendersλόγοςin St Paul byutterance, the Revisers have substitutedwordforutteranceonly in Col. iv. 3. One wishes they had done so throughout. Forλόγοςsurely implies thecontent, theimportof what is said. This passage reminds us of John xvii. 14: “I have given them Thy word”; and xiv. 24: “The word which ye hear is not mine, but His.”

[180]Ἐν παρρησίᾳ: comp. iii. 12; Phil. i. 20; Philem. 8; 2 Cor. vii. 4; 1 Thess. ii. 2, etc.

[181]Phil. i. 25, 26, ii. 23, 24; Philem. 22.

[182]2 Tim. i. 7–12, ii. 3–10.

[183]Comp. Phil. i. 24–26.

[184]See pp. 13–17.

[185]Ch. i. 14, iv. 30. See Chapter IV., above.

[186]Rom. ii. 7; 1 Cor. xv. 42, 50, 53, 54; 2 Tim. i. 10. See Alford’s excellent note on this passage.

[187]Ἀφθορία:ἀφθαρσίαis deleted in the critical texts.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS(Expositor’s Bible). Crown 8vo, cloth.COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS(Pulpit Commentary).COMMENTARY ON I. & II. THESSALONIANS(Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges).AN ESSAY ON THE PASTORAL EPISTLES(Sabatier’sThe Apostle Paul).THE EPISTLES OF PAUL THE APOSTLE:a Sketch of their Origin and Contents.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS(Expositor’s Bible). Crown 8vo, cloth.

COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS(Pulpit Commentary).

COMMENTARY ON I. & II. THESSALONIANS(Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges).

AN ESSAY ON THE PASTORAL EPISTLES(Sabatier’sThe Apostle Paul).

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL THE APOSTLE:a Sketch of their Origin and Contents.

Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol.

Colossians.

ByA. Maclaren, D.D.

St. Mark.

By Right Rev. the Bishop of Derry.

Genesis.

By Prof.Marcus Dods, D.D.

1 Samuel.

By Prof.W. G. Blaikie, D.D.

2 Samuel.

By the same Author.

Hebrews.

By PrincipalT. C. Edwards, D.D.

Galatians.

By Prof.G. G. Findlay, B.A.

The Pastoral Epistles.

By Rev. A.Plummer, D.D.

IsaiahI.—XXXIX.

By Prof.G. A. Smith, D.D. Vol. I.

The Book of Revelation.

By Prof.W. Milligan, D.D.

1 Corinthians.

By Prof.Marcus Dods, D.D.

The Epistles of St. John.

By Most Rev. the Archbishop of Armagh.

Judges and Ruth.

ByR. A. Watson, M.A., D.D.

Jeremiah.

By Rev.C. J. Ball, M.A.

IsaiahXL.—LXVI.

By Prof.G. A. Smith, D.D. Vol. II.

St. Matthew.

By Rev.J. Monro Gibson, D.D.

Exodus.

By Right Rev. the Bishop of Derry.

St. Luke.

By Rev.H. Burton, M.A.

Ecclesiastes.

By Rev.Samuel Cox, D.D.

St. James and St. Jude.

By Rev.A. Plummer, D.D.

Proverbs.

By Rev.R. F. Horton, D.D.

Leviticus.

By Rev.S. H. Kellogg, D.D.

The Gospel of St. John.

By Prof.M. Dods, D.D. Vol. I.

The Acts of the Apostles.

By Prof.Stokes, D.D. Vol. I.

The Psalms.

ByA. Maclaren, D.D. Vol. I.

1 and 2 Thessalonians.

ByJames Denney, D.D.

The Book of Job.

ByR. A. Watson, M.A., D.D.

Ephesians.

By Prof.G. G. Findlay, B.A.

The Gospel of St. John.

By Prof.M. Dods, D.D. Vol. II.

The Acts of the Apostles.

By Prof.Stokes, D.D. Vol. II.

1 Kings.

By Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury.

Philippians.

By PrincipalRainy, D.D.

Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

By Prof.W. F. Adeney, M.A.

Joshua.

By Prof.W. G. Blaikie, D.D.

The Psalms.

ByA. Maclaren, D.D. Vol. II.

The Epistles of St. Peter.

By Prof.Rawson Lumby, D.D.

2 Kings.

By Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury.

Romans.

ByH. C. G. Moule, M.A., D.D.

The Books of Chronicles.

By Prof.W. H. Bennett, M.A.

2 Corinthians.

ByJames Denney, D.D.

Numbers.

ByR. A. Watson, M.A., D.D.

The Psalms.

ByA. Maclaren, D.D. Vol. III.

Daniel.

By Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury.

The Book of Jeremiah.

By Prof.W. H. Bennett, M.A.

Deuteronomy.

By Prof.Andrew Harper, B.D.

The Song of Solomon and Lamentations.

By Prof.W. F. Adeney, M.A.

Ezekiel.

By Prof.John Skinner, M.A.

The Book of the Twelve Prophets.

By Prof.G. A. Smith, D.D. Two Vols.

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