Things being thus, it is not to be wondered at that John had never seen Jesus, who lived obscurely so remote from him, and that he knew not where he was, or how to find him, till God showed him to him.
John ii. 1, 2. Concerning the marriage at Cana of Galilee. The company here at this wedding may represent the church of Christ, who are often represented as the guests called together to a marriage feast. Jesus, and his mother, and his disciples were there; thus it is in the church. The former circumstances of the marriage, wherein they wanted wine, represent the state of the church before Christ came, or rather before the evangelical dispensation was established. The latter state of the wedding, wherein they had plenty of wine, represents the latter state of the church after the glorious pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, and especially after the fall of antichrist. The wine represents the spiritual supplies of his church, the grace and comforts of the Holy Spirit, which are often represented by wine in Scripture. Their wine ran low and was just out; so formerly the Old-Testament church had a supply of wine; but when Christ came into the world it was just out, they had in a manner no wine. But when Christ came and ascended up to heaven, he soon gave his church plenty of wine, and much better wine than ever the Jewish church had enjoyed, as it is said, "Thou hast kept the best wine until now." So again, before the glorious times of the church commence, the church's wine runs very low, and is almost out; what they allay with is water; human learning, sapless speculations and disputations, and dead morality. Formerly the Christian church had wine, as in the times of the primitive church, and in the times of the reformation, but now their wine is just gone. But after the beginning of these glorious times their water shall be turned into wine, and much better wine than ever they had before. The mother of Jesus may represent the more eminent ministers of the gospel, or the public ecclesiastical authority as exercised in synods, public schools, &c. They in a dark and dead time of the church complain to Christ of their unsuccessfulness, of the want of wine in the church, and look to him for a supply, but must not expect an answer till Christ's time is come; their prayers are not answered till then, and then they shall be fully answered; their prayers are not rejected, they are offered up with incense, the cries of the souls under the altar that cry, "How long, Lord, holy and true!" are not rejected; but yet it is said to them that they should wait till God's time comes. The servants represent gospel ministers, they have a command from Jesus's mother, i. e. from the church in her public authority, to do whatsoever Jesus commands. Whence we may note that the way to have a plentiful effusion of the Spirit with his word and ordinances, is to be faithful in their work. They are to fill up the water-pots of purification with water; that is all that they can do. They can in the use of the ordinances of God's house, and the appointed means of grace and purification, be instant in season and out of season; they can fill the water-pots up to the brim; they can be abundant in preaching the word, which as it comes only from them is but water, a dead letter, a sapless, tasteless, spiritless thing, but this is what Christ will bless for the supplying of his church with wine.
John ii. 21. "But he spake of the temple of his body." And it seems to me here that he should speak of his body in two senses: in one sense, of the church, which is called his body, and is also called the temple of God, of which the temple of Jerusalem was a type. The temple of Jerusalem may signify the Jewish church Christ put an end to by his coming, and in three ages after erected his spiritual temple, the Christian church.
John v. 45. viii. 15. xii. 47. "I judge him not, for I am not come to judge the world, but to save the world." Men are not properly judged and condemned by the covenant of grace, but by the law, a covenant of works, that is the eternal rule of judgment. The covenant of grace is a deliverance from this judgment: those who are Christ's are delivered from the law and escape the condemnation of it; the law has its force upon Christ, and can go no further; but the law has its full force upon unbelievers.
John vii. 38, 39. "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit." The Spirit of God in the saints is called living water upon three accounts.
1. And chiefly it is meant that the water had life in it; common water is mere passive dead matter. But this water is alive, it is a living divine person. So Christ is called a living stone, 1 Peter ii. 4. This water is not only something living, but it is life itself; it is that spirit that is the very life of God, arid so is divine and infinitely perfect life, and act, and energy; for which cause partly the Spirit of God is called water of life, Rev. xxii. at the beginning. Because divine life is the very matter of this water.
2. He is living water, as he is life-giving water, as Christ is called the living bread, John vi. and as the Spirit of God is called living bread there in that chap. ver. 63. vid. No. 262. He is living bread, as he is life-giving bread; for so Christ explains himself in that chap. iii. It is living water in those in whom it is, as it is like a spring that never fails; as it gives life, so it will infallibly maintain life for ever. So it seems to be explained by Christ, John iv. 10, 11, 13, 14. and especially the 14th. So Christ is called bread of life, because they that eat of him shall never die, but live for ever, John vi. So the hope of Christians to which they are begotten by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, is said to be, 1 Peter i. 3. a living hope, i. e. a never-dying, never-failing hope; vid. Notes in loc. But yet it is not probable that this water would on account of its perpetuity be called living water, if there was no life in the water, and life was not the thing that was perpetual; for it does not appear that springs of water that were never dry were, on that account, called living springs then, as now, but it seems to be a metaphor invented since.
John x. 34, 35, 36. "Jesus answered them, It is written in your law, I said, Ye are gods. If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him," &c. The rulers of God's people were called gods, because unto them the word of God came, i. e. his law was come to them, was committed to them, and trusted with them for them to enforce and execute: they were herein instead of God to the people. Because they held forth the law, or word of God, the law of God was in a sense their law. They were judges or executors of the law for God, for the judgment was God's, Deut. i. 17. 2 Chron. xix. 6. Herein they were types of Christ, to whom the Father hath committed all judgment. Thus it was a ceremony in Israel, in inaugurating a king, to bring the law and commit it to him; as 2 Kings xi. 12. "And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and they made him king, and anointed him, and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king." Thus the word of God came to him. This interpretation of this exposition of Christ is confirmed by what God says to Moses, Exod. iv. 16. "And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall be, even he shall be unto thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God;" i. e. by speaking the word of God to him, he was instead of God, because the word of God came to him, and was committed to him to speak in God's name, and so in the 7th chap. verse 1. "And the Lord said unto Moses, See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet:" he represented God before Pharaoh, by the word of God in his mouth, as he spake in his name, and by his word wrought miracles before him.
These earthly rulers were called gods, because the external word of God came thus to them; whereby they were rendered types and images of the Son of God, the internal word of God; hence they are not only called gods, but the sons of God. Psal. lxxxii. 6. "I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you children of the Most High;" and if they were called gods, only for thus resembling God's Son, how much is Christ to be justified, who was himself the Son of God, when he called himself God!
John x. 34, 35, 36. "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I have said, Ye are gods," &c. In the 82nd Psalm., to which this refers, we see, ver. 6. those who are called sons of the Highest by the word of God that came to them, are by that same word called gods. So that in that passage, son of the Highest, is the same with God. Jesus takes notice that they are called gods, and he says the scripture cannot be broken, i. e. it must be verified; but verified it could not be in them who died like men, and fell thereby like other princes, (who were not called gods,) from that eminent station wherein they were called gods. It is not every prince or potentate among men that is called god in this psalm. Those called gods, are plainly the princes of Israel, the judges in God's land, who stood and judged among them in that theocracy; and they are manifestly distinguished from other princes on the very same account on which they are called gods. For in their office as rulers and judges of Israel, they prefigured him who was to rule the house of Jacob for ever, and they stood in that office as his types, even as the priests prefigured him in his priesthood; therefore they are called gods; and the scripture calling them so is not broken, because what is said of these types holds fully true in their antitype; who is plainly enough pointed at in that same psalm, ver. 8,. "Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations." They shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes: but he arises from the dead to judge and inherit the church of all nations. His resurrection manifests him to be truly God; the same God that stood in the congregation of these mighty, and judged among them, to whom the word of God came, "Ye are gods, and sons of the highest." Vid. Glass's Notes on Scripture Texts, No. 1. pp. 11, 12.
They are called gods, as the manna is called the bread from heaven, and angels' food, and as Cyrus is called God's Christ and his beloved, Isa. xlv. 1. xlviii. 14.; and as Saul (whom the psalmist has a special respect to in Psal. lxxxii.) is called the Lord's Christ, (he fell like one of the other princes who were not called gods,) and as the rock in the wilderness is said to be Christ, and as many things are said of Solomon in the 72nd Psalm,. that are verified only in Christ That passage, 1 Kings xviii. 31. may serve to explain these words, To whom the word of God came; "According to the number of the tribes of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel (i. e. the Prince of God) shall be thy name. The word of God came to Jacob in his prevailing with God, two ways.
1. God said to him, I have called you ISRAEL, Prince of God; as here, Psal. lxxxii. he says to the princes of Israel, "I have called you gods;" and that word of God came to them in Exod. xxii. 28.
2. God, by a special designation, made Jacob, in what he ordered concerning him, to be a type. Now, types are a sort of words; they are a language, or signs of things which God would reveal, point forth, and teach, as well as vocal or written words, and they are called the word of the Lord, in Zech. iv. 6. and xi. 11. "And thus also the word of the Lord came to the princes of Israel," i. e. that state and those circumstances came to them, and were ordered to them, that were typical of the Son of God, and were as it were God's word, signifying the dignity and office of the Messiah. Such divine significations, when persons were made the inherent subjects of them, were generally of the Son of God, the eternal personal Word; and therefore when such a typification happened, or was ordered to a person, or any person became the inherent subject of such a divine signification, the word of God was said to come to him. It was the signification or typification (if I may so speak) of the word of God, both as it was God's signification, and also as the thing signified was the personal word of God.
John xi. 51. "And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation." By this it appears that things are ordered by God to be acted and spoken, after such a particular manner, with a design to indicate and represent heavenly things, without the least thought of the actors or speakers. See Note on Gen. xxii. 8.
John xvi. 8,. &c. "And when the Comforter is come he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." He shall convince the world of sin, as men must be convinced of their guilt, in order of their receiving of Christ. That is, the reason that sin and guilt lies upon them, is, because they believe not in Christ; and their rejecting Christ above all things enhances their guilt. Of his righteousness, that is, he will convince them of the sufficiency of Christ's righteousness, of the way of removing guilt by him. Christ finished his work as priest, what he did for the removal of guilt, by his ascending into heaven, his entering into the holiest of all with his own blood to make intercession for us, and thereby gave evidence to the world, that what he had done was enough. Ver. 10. "Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;" that is, he shall convince the world of Christ's sufficiency and excellency as a king and head of influence and government, as the sanctifier and deliverer of his people from their enemies, and he that brings them to eternal life. He delivers from the influence and power of the devil, redeems his captives, and in spite of him sanctifies and glorifies. In thus redeeming men by power, Satan is judged. John xii. 31, 32. Verse 11. "Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." The conviction here spoken of righteousness and judgment is to the same purpose with that, Isa. xlv. 24. "In the Lord Jehovah have I righteousness and strength," and in the next verse, "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."
John xvi. 8, 9, 10, 11. "And when he is come he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." In these words of our Saviour is a great manifestation of his divine knowledge and wisdom.
The greatest SIN that is in the world, is sin against the gospel, contempt of, and opposition to, Jesus Christ; and the greatest evidence of the sin and wickedness of man, is the world's ill treatment of Christ, and the gospel, and the followers of Christ. In this does most clearly appear the malignant nature of sin, and the true nature of it is fully manifest; and particularly that violent opposition that appears on occasion of the pouring out of the Spirit of God. As the coming of the Spirit is the occasion of this; so his coming eventually holds forth matter of conviction to the world of its wickedness. And those that are savingly taught by the Spirit, are in the first place convinced of sin, especially as appearing in their sinning against Christ, or against God, as revealing himself in the gospel. Thus we find that immediately after the pouring out of the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, the Jews that were awakened, were reproved for this sin, of rejecting and crucifying Christ, and for this they were pricked in their hearts, and said, "Men and brethren, what shall we do," Acts ii.; see also chap. iii. 13, 14., &c. iv. 11,. &c. v. 30., &c. vii. 51., &c. And when Saul was converted, this especially was the sin which he was reproved for, and convinced of. Acts ix. 4, 5. In most places where the apostles preached, there first arose great opposition, and the gospel finally prevailed against their opposition, and opposers were converted; and in this case we may suppose the thing wherein chiefly they were convinced of their sinfulness, was their opposition to Christ. This seems to have been the case with the gaoler; and so in all ages, they that are truly humbled by the Spirit of God, and brought to repentance, are wont to be convinced of their sins against the gospel.
The greatest and most glorious righteousness that ever was in the world, is the righteousness of Christ. Indeed it was infinitely the most excellent righteousness that ever was wrought out by any servant of God in heaven or earth. It was the only righteousness properly so called, (i. e. agreeable to that grand and eternal rule of righteousness, the law of God,) that ever was among mankind, and the only righteousness by which any of mankind are accepted as righteous. And the greatest, strongest, and most convincing evidence of the reality, excellency, sufficiency, and completeness of this righteousness, was Christ's going to the Father, and his being seen here no more in such a state as he was in when the disciples saw him here. God's raising Christ from the dead, was a great testimony of God to the sufficiency and completeness of Christ's righteousness; but his bestowing upon him so glorious a reward in heaven; God's exalting him at his own right hand, far above all principalities, &c. and there admitting this high priest into that holy of holies, with his own blood, not merely to bow down before the throne in humble posture as the high priests of old, but to sit down on the throne, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and so to be a priest on the throne, was a far more striking evidence of it. And it was a great evidence of the transcendent excellency of this righteousness, its acceptableness to the Father, and his exceeding delight in it. And it greatly heightens the strength and brightness of the evidence, that Christ did not only go to the Father, but that he went thither to return no more to be seen on earth in a state of humiliation. He needed to suffer no more, to go through no more labours and self-denials, in order to complete his righteousness; he offered up himself; by one offering, he perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Having by his righteousness completed our redemption, he sat down for ever on the right hand of God. He entered into the holiest of all, not as the high priest of old, to be there a little while, and then to return and go there again once a year, but he there enters to abide there. He is set down for ever on the right hand of God. He ever lives there to make continual intercession for us. See Heb. x. 12, 13. and ix. 11, 13, 24, 25, 26.
Christ's ascension into heaven, everlastingly to live and reign there, was the greatest evidence of righteousness in all senses and respects. It was the greatest evidence of Christ's innocency, and that he suffered wrongfully. It was the greatest evidence of the righteousness and veracity in the words which he spake, the doctrine that he taught concerning God and himself, and his design in coming into the world, and concerning life and immortality, and a future state, and the greatest evidence and confirmation of the truth of his promises made to his disciples of eternal life, and heavenly glory, and indeed of all his promises, especially taken with that consequence of his ascension, the coming of the Spirit, whereby his people are sealed to the day of redemption. The great promise of Christ, the sum of all his promises, fulfilled in the earnest of it in their hearts. And this ascension taken as the completing and crowning of the grand affair of redemption, and so taken with its antecedents and the things manifested by it, particularly the divinity and infinite dignity of the person of Christ; I say, taken with these, shows it was the greatest evidence of the righteousness and holiness of God in saving sinners, of his faithfulness in fulfilling the promises of the Old Testament, and in general by far the greatest manifestation, and the brightest effulgence, of the moral perfection and glory of the Divine Being that ever was.
The greatest instance of judgment that ever was, or ever will be in the world, is in Christ's judging Satan, the prince of this world. God hath set Christ as King on his holy hill of Zion, having put all things under his feet, made him the Head of all authority and power, and has committed all judgment to the Son, and this is the greatest instance of Christ's power of ruling and judging. Satan is the greatest and highest of all the enemies of God, and Christ, and his people; he probably originally was the highest and strongest of all creatures. He has usurped the throne; as he is called the prince of this world, he set up himself as god of this world. It is the greatest evidence of Christ's kingly power and his might, as the Captain of the salvation of his people, to overcome this enemy, dispossess him of his throne, cast him like lightning from heaven; and make him his footstool, and bruise his head under his feet; and it is the greatest manifestation of his high judicial authority to judge and condemn this great rebel, and head and leader of all the rebellion in the universe, and to execute vengeance upon him.
By judgment, as the word is used in the New Testament, as appears by the Greek Concordance, is most commonly meant the exercise of judicial authority, or the manifestation and effect of it; sometimes the exercise of rule and authority in general, because judging is a chief exercise of it; and sometimes particularly a righteous exercise of such authority; and when the fruit or effect of judgment is meant, in sentence or execution, commonly a sentence of condemnation, or the execution of such a sentence, is meant. Sometimes, though rarely, the word is used to signify a judgment passed in the mind concerning moral matters, or the expression of it in words, and sometimes it means one's right in judgment. So that the use of the word in the New Testament will clearly justify the interpretation that has been given of it in this place.
Gospel light and knowledge consist in these three things, and the things implied in them.
A conviction of these three things, is the sum of that conviction which is implied in saving faith. By the knowledge of these things, God's people say, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength."
In the knowledge of these things consists the true knowledge of ourselves, and the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, or the light of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of these things is the foundation of all true compliance with the gospel in the heart, of repentance, faith, hope, charity, obedience, and joy.
God permitted the fall, that his elect people might know good and evil. The saving knowledge of good and evil consists in the spirit's conviction of these three things.
These three things are the most important objects of knowledge in the world, in order to sanctification and comfort, holiness and happiness.
John xvi. 16. "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." A little while, and ye shall not see me, i. e. when I ascend into heaven; and a little while, and ye shall see me, that is, spiritually, when I shall send the Holy Ghost, who would not come if I did not go to the Father. Seeing of Christ is so understood, chap. xiv. 19.
John xix. 14. "And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour." Mark says (Mark xv. 25.) it was the third hour, and they crucified him, which seems by the context, to be manifestly the time of his being nailed to the cross at Golgotha, with which this place in John is reconciled thus. John is here as it were beginning a new paragraph, containing an account of that grand event of the last passion of our Saviour, which he proceeds to do from hence to the 38th verse. John had before been giving a large account of those things that went before this his last passion, and made way for it; but now he being about to proceed directly to this event itself, the greatest and most astonishing of all events, he as it were makes a pause, and begins an account of it as a distinct story, worthy to be peculiarly taken notice of. Those words in the 14th verse. are the introduction to the story of this event, giving an account at what time it came to pass, viz. on the day of the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour, that is, in the middle of the day, so that the words, it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour, do not relate especially to the words immediately following, And he said unto the Jews, Behold your King, but rather to the whole story, beginning with these words and ending with the 37th verse, or the grand event related in the story, viz. Christ's last passion; for the words are an introduction to the story of this event, and not to that particular fact of Pilate's saying, "Behold your King;" and this is very manifest by John's interrupting the thread of his narrative, and standing to tell us that it was the preparation of the passover; if he only meant it was the preparation of the passover, when Pilate said, "Behold your King;" for, if so, why should he stand in this place to tell us it was the preparation of the passover, and to tell us that this fact happened on this day, any more than any of the other many facts as important as this, that he had been giving an account of before, from the 28th verse of the preceding chapter, which all were on the same day? so that John's design is not to give us an account of the precise time when Pilate said those words, but of the time in general of that great event of Christ's last passion, the story of which he immediately introduces in this verse, and goes on with to the end of the 37th verse. He says it was about the sixth hour, i. e. at the middle part of the day, it beginning at the third hour, or middle of the forenoon, and ending at the ninth hour, or middle of the afternoon; and if the time of this grand event be signified by mentioning any hour about which it was, it is most properly said to be about the sixth hour, for that was the very centre or middle of the time about which it was, it beginning three hours before it, and continuing three hours after it. The three preceding evangelists all agree that the darkness by the sun's withdrawing his light, began at the sixth hour, and as they all relate the story of the crucifixion, it seems manifest that some considerable time passed after he was nailed to the cross before this darkness began. So that it seems on the whole beyond doubt that Christ was nailed to the cross about the third hour, and hung about six hours on the cross before he expired.
John xxi. 25. "And there are many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." If here, by the things that Jesus did, be not only meant the actions of Christ, but the things done or accomplished by those actions, we may suppose it to be literally true, that if they were written every one, the world itself is not large enough to contain the books that should be written. There are other things that belong to what Christ did, besides merely the external action, that was immediately visible to the eye, or the words that might be heard by the ear, which we must suppose are included in what the evangelist means by the things that he did. There was the internal manner of doing, the design with which it was done, what moved and influenced Christ in doing; the ends and events brought to pass by doing, the evangelist does not mention; some of Christ's ends, and motives, &c. in acting. The apostle John in this history mentions some of them, but to mention all, would be to write a declaration of all the glorious, wise purposes and designs of God's wisdom and grace, and the love of Christ, and all that belongs to that manifold wisdom of God, and those unsearchable riches of wisdom and knowledge, in the work of redemption, that we read of in the Scripture, which, if they should be all written, it is probable the universe would not contain the books; for here are the multitudes of God's mercies that we read of in Psal. v. 7. and li. 1. and lxix. 13, 16. and cvi. 7. and cxix. 156. These works that the evangelist speaks of that Christ wrought, are the same with those spoken of, "Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts, which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation;" and Psal. lxxi. 15. "My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day: for I know not the numbers thereof;" and Psal. cxxxix. 17. "How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee." The wonderful things designed and virtually accomplished in what Christ did when on the earth, are so manifold as to be sufficient to employ the contemplation of saints and angels to all eternity, who will discover more and more of the manifold wisdom of God therein, and yet never will discover all.
Acts i. 15. "The number of the names together were about one hundred and twenty." Great respect seems to be shown to the number twelve in things pertaining to the church, as may be seen in the account of the new Jerusalem in Revelation, and the number of the sealed of every tribe were twelve thousand, and here the number of the church, when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon it, is one hundred and twenty; there were twenty-four elders round about the throne.
Acts iv. 32,. &c. The reasons why the primitive Christians of the church of Jerusalem had all things common, seem to be these:
1. Great part of the members of this church were strangers or Hellenists, or Grecians, as here called. The first Christian church was set up in Jerusalem, the centre of the resort of the Jews from all nations, when they came up to their three great feasts; and therefore the christian church of Jerusalem, as it was the only christian church then in the world, was, as it were, the house for the reception and entertainment of the people of Christ, that came from all parts of the world, as we read that this church was constituted of Jews from every nation under heaven. But these strangers did not bring their estates with them, and yet it was very needful that they should mostly keep together in their new and infant state, and not disperse by returning into their several countries; it was fit therefore that the Hebrew Christians should entertain them, and give them of what they had; they all lived upon the estates of the Christians that properly belonged to Judea, and therefore it came to pass that there soon arose a complaint that the Grecians were neglected in the daily ministration; for the estates being originally the Hebrews', they some of them began to grudge to bestow so freely of it on them as on themselves. The circumstances of this church being such, it was thought meet that the church of Jerusalem, which was the first church, and then the only Christian church, and a long time after as a mother to all other churches, should be as a common father's house, where all the children from the utmost ends of the earth might be freely entertained, without money and without price: representing the manner of their spiritual entertainment in their Father's house.
2. Many of them were to be continually employed as teachers, as the apostles, and the whole number of that first one hundred and twenty, on every one of whom the Holy Ghost was poured out in his extraordinary gifts, sitting on each of them in the appearance of cloven tongues of fire, to fit them and mark them out for teachers; and accordingly they all began to exercise their gifts in teaching, as appears by the beginning of the second chapter of Acts. And after this the same miraculous gifts were given to great numbers of others among them, to fit them also to be teachers, for it was agreeable to the circumstances the church was then in, a little flock in the midst of a dark, blind world, and agreeable to that design of God, of a swift propagation and dispersion of the gospel over great part of the world, that great numbers of the first Christians should be teachers; but those being constantly employed in this work, it was necessary that they should be maintained by the substance of others; and there being so many of them was another thing that made it needful that they should have all things common.
3. The state that this church was in, in the midst of an enemy's country, liable to be sorely persecuted, and driven to and fro, made this requisite, on several accounts:
First. It was needful that their possessions should be turned into that which was portable, so that when persecuted in one city they might fly to another.
Secondly. Their being subject to such great and continual persecutions, made it needful that they should not be entangled in the world, or encumbered with worldly cares about their estates. This made it needful that they should do as a man that is going a journey, about to remove to some other country, sell what he has, and carry the effects with him. A man in his journey has no care but only to use what he carries with him, to lay out his money to support him from hand to mouth; or as a man that goes into the wars, he has no care about any thing but fighting, and receiving his food daily from a common stock.
Thirdly. This made them less liable to the rage of their persecutors. A people that are supported one by another, by what they have among them in common, are not so liable to be deprived of all support, as he that has nothing but a possession of his own to depend on; for when things are in common, if they took one, and took from him what he had about him, yet there remained others to help him. A portable estate, consisting in money, is also more easily concealed, and kept out or the way of persecutors, than a real estate.
Acts xvii. 26, 27. "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him:" i. e. God hath so ordered the state of the world of mankind, though scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, that provision should be made in providence at all times, that the nations of the world, if their heart had been well disposed to seek after the truth, might have had some means to have led them in their sincere and diligent inquiries to the knowledge of the true God, and his ways; partly by making them all of one blood, and partly by an adjustment of the particular places and limits of the habitation of the people that had the knowledge of the true religion, and might hold forth light to others, and to the Gentiles that had it not; and the different times, changes, and circumstances of the world of mankind, that the bounds of their habitations, and the state of the times, might be so adapted one with the other, that the Gentile world might always be under a capacity of receiving light from the Jews. The world had great advantage to obtain the knowledge of the true God, by their being all made of one blood; by this means the knowledge of the true religion was for some time kept up in the world by tradition, and there were soon great corruptions and apostacies crept in, and much darkness overwhelmed great part of the world; yet there was so much light remained till Moses's time, that tradition, and the memory of things past, would have afforded means sufficient to an honest, sincere, and faithful inquirer to have come to the knowledge of the true religion; at least that, together with what there was here and there of revelation among those that still held the true religion, the bounds and limits of whose habitation was appointed and fixed to that end. And afterwards, even till Christ's time, there remained by tradition many scraps of truth among the heathen, that would greatly have served with well-disposed inquirers, as a clue in their search after truth.
About Moses's time, when truth, that had been upheld by tradition, was very much lost, and former things became much out of sight by being far off, and the professors of the true religion, except in the posterity of Jacob, very much ceased in the world, God took care that there might be something new, which should be very public, and of great fame, and much taken notice of abroad in the world, that might be sufficient to lead sincere inquirers to the true God; and those were the great things God wrought in Egypt, and at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, for the children of Israel.
These things were very publicly wrought. Egypt, where many of them were wrought, was one of the most noted heathen nations in the world; and we often read how that those great miracles that God wrought were actually taken notice of by the heathen nations round about; and probably most, if not all the heathen nations, heard of them. See Exod. ix. 16. "And in very deed, for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." For then the bounds of their habitations were so appointed that they did not live near so much dispersed abroad as afterwards they did; see Gen. xli. 56, 57. They were probably almost all within hearing of these great things, which it is likely became yet more public, and were carried further abroad in the world, together with other great things that God did in Canaan when the sun stood still, (which was a miracle done in the presence of the whole world,) and Joshua had conquered that land, and multitudes of the inhabitants were driven out, and went some to Africa, to Carthage, and other parts of Africa, and to the isles of the sea, to many parts of Europe as well as Asia, to carry the tidings of those things, and to interpret the miracle of the sun's standing still. So that, in a manner, the whole world heard of these great things. See Deut. ii. 25. "This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of thee." And the memory of these things was kept up a great while among the nations, as appears by the accounts we have of the occasional mention which the neighbouring nations from time to time make of them, till about David's time, when the memory of those things began to be lost among them. And then God did new things to make his people Israel, who had the true religion, taken notice of among the heathen, viz. his subduing all the nations from the Euphrates to Egypt under David, and setting Israel at the head of the greatest empire in the world, in his days, and the days of his son Solomon. This there is respect to in many such passages in the Psalms, as that Psal. xcviii. 2. though there be also a prophetic respect to what should be in gospel days: and the great wisdom and prosperity of Solomon, and the great things that were done by him, the fame of which filled the world to the utmost bounds of it, though by that time God had enlarged the bounds of their habitation. That one design of Providence in these things was, that the heathen nations might hear the fame of the God of Israel, and so have opportunity to come to the knowledge of him, is confirmed by 1 Kings viii. 41, 42, 43. The memory of these things kept up the fame of that nation and of their God for several hundred years. They were remembered until the Jews were carried captive into Babylon, as appears by the mention that the enemies of the Jews make of them in their letter to Artaxerxes, and by Artaxerxes's answer, in the 4th chapter of Ezra. But then when the memory of these things was decaying, and the bounds of the habitation of the heathen nations was enlarged, God altered the place of the habitation of his people, and carried them to Babylon, the mistress of the world, where some of them, especially Daniel and his three companions, raised the fame of the true God, and caused it to go from thence through the world by the great things he wrought by and for them, and also by what he wrought for Daniel in Persia. After this, the appointed bounds of the Jews' habitation were not the limits of any one land, but they were dispersed all over the world, as they were very much in Esther's time, when they were a people very famous through the world by what was done respecting them in her time, and afterwards were much more dispersed abroad in the world, and so remained till Christ's time; so that the heathen world had opportunity by them to have come to the knowledge of the true God.
God appointed the particular place of the habitation of the Jews to be as it were in the midst of the earth, between Asia, Africa, and Europe; and in the great contests there were between the great empires of the world, they were always in the way; and before the days of the gospel, the bounds of the world of mankind seem not to have been near so extensive as since; and particularly it is probable that America has been wholly peopled since. See Isa. xlv. 19. Ezek. v. 5.
Romans i. 16, 17, 18. Justification Christ's righteousness. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ," &c. "For herein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." In these verses I would note two things:
First. That here, in the beginning of this discourse of his of the wickedness of the whole world, both Jews and Gentiles, which is continued from this place to the 19th, 20th, and 21st verses of chap. iii. as well as in the conclusion in that part of the 3rd chapter, he manifests his design in it all to be to show that all are guilty, and in a state of condemnation, and therefore cannot be saved by their own righteousness; that it must be by the righteousness of God through Christ received by faith alone. He here in the 17th verse. asserts that it is thus only that men have justification, and then in the 18th verse. enters on the reason why, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;" and so goes on setting forth the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men through most of those three first chapters, and then at the end concludes his argument as he began it; that, seeing all are under sin, "Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified in his sight;" but that it is by the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Christ.
Secondly. I observe that, by the righteousness of God, in this place, cannot be meant merely God's way of justifying sinners, but that hereby is meant the moral, legal righteousness which God had provided for sinners, is evident by two things.
1. It is the righteousness or justice which those that are justified have, by which they are righteous or just; as is evident from the apostle's selecting that passage of the Old Testament to cite on this occasion, "The just shall live by faith."
2. It is evident from the antithesis; for here it is most manifest that the righteousness of God, by which God's people are just, in one verse, is opposed to the unrighteousness of men, by which they in themselves are unjust, as is evident from the argument of the apostle in those verses. It is a righteousness that believers are vested with, as is evident from chap. iii. 22, 23. The same is also manifest from the antithesis in that place. The same is manifest both those ways from Philip. iii. 9. The same is very manifest from Rom. x. 3, 4. "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." The antithesis here makes it evident that by God's righteousness, is meant a righteousness, in having which we are righteous. And the 4th verse shows that this righteousness was procured for every believer by Christ, as he was subject to the law; "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness;" the natural meaning of which is, that as to what concerns the elect, or them that believe, the Lawgiver, in making the law and establishing it as a rule for them, had respect to Christ only for its being answered. The law that requires righteousness looks to Christ only to produce that righteousness that it requires; "who, of God, is made to be righteousness," and who is "the Lord our righteousness." I can find no instance in the New Testament where the word Greek or Hebrew, here translated end, is any where used in Scripture for final cause, but it seems properly to signify the final term, finishing, or accomplishing; so that the words might be rendered, Christ is the finishing and completing of the law, as to the righteousness it requires, as it respects all them that believe.
There is one place where the same word in the original is used as here, and also speaking of the end of the law, or commandment, that exceedingly confirms this interpretation, viz. 1 Tim. i. 5. "Now the end of the commandment is love;" i. e. the accomplishment or fulfilment of the law; as the same apostle says, "Love is the fulfilling of the law," in this epistle of Romans xiii. 8, 10. So that it is manifest from this place that that righteousness, which this apostle calls the righteousness of God, consists in Christ's fulfilling or answering the law; and therefore that it is the same thing with what we call the righteousness of Christ.
This righteousness of God, which the apostle so often speaks of in the matter of our justification, is in Christ. 1 Cor. v. 21. "He was made sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in him." "He was made sin," i. e. sin was imputed to him; and what sin was it? Why that sin that was in us. So we are made the righteousness of God. But what righteousness of God is it that we are made? Why that which was in Christ our Mediator.
It is not called by the apostle Christ's righteousness; because the righteousness, by which a believer stands just before God, does but in part consist in that which can properly be called Christ's righteousness, for it is only the obedience of Christ that is properly his righteousness. But this is not all that by which we stand just before God; for, beside this, his sufferings as our atonement were necessary. Without this we are not righteous, but must appear sinful before God, because our old sins would remain. Those sufferings, abating the obedience that was in them, were not in themselves Christ's righteousness, and therefore the Scripture does not ordinarily call them so; but calls the whole of the provision made of God as in Christ, for our appearing just, consisting both in his obedience and atonement, God's righteousness, and the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Christ. Chap. iii. 22. See Note on chap. x. 3.
Rom. ii. 29, 30. "But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." That by this last expression, "Whose praise is not of men, but of God," the apostle has respect to the insufficiency of man, to judge concerning him, whether he be inwardly a Jew or no, and would signify that it belongs to God alone to give a voice in that matter; is confirmed by the same apostle's use of the like phrase, in 1 Cor. iv. 5. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God." The apostle in the two foregoing verses says, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord." And again, it is further confirmed, because the apostle in this 2d chapter to the Romans., directs himself especially to those that had a high conceit of their own holiness, that made their boast of God, and were confident of their own discerning, and that they knew God's will, and approved the things that were more excellent, or tried the things that differ, as it is in the margin, verse 18., and were confident that they were guides of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, instructors of the foolish, teachers of babes; and so took upon them to judge others See verse 1, and 17, 18, 19, 20. These things show that for any to take upon themselves, by only a little occasional conversation with others, that are professors of godliness, to judge them as hypocrites, unexperienced and unconverted men, is a great error. The same is confirmed by 1 Cor. ii. 15. "But he that is spiritual judgeth [discerneth] all things, but he himself is judged of no man," or (as it is in the margin) is discerned of no man.
Every thing in the Christian, that belongs to the spiritual and divine life, is spoken of in Scripture as being hidden, known only to God and to himself. His life is said to be hid with Christ in God, but to appear, and to be made manifest at the day of judgment, when Christ shall appear. Col. iii. 3, 4. Their joy is said to be what others intermeddle not with. Their spiritual food is said to be hidden. Rev. ii. 17. "To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the hidden manna." So Christ told his disciples that he had meat to eat that they knew not of. And their new name, which is the name they have as new creatures, as born again, is said to be what no man knows but he that receives it. Rev. ii. 17. The heart, which is the thing that God looks at, and in which are those spiritual ornaments and graces, by which persons are sincere Christians, is called the hidden man. 1 Peter iii. 4. "But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible," &c.
Again: The same is confirmed from that in the parable of the good seed, and the tares, in the 13th chap. of Matt. 28, 29, 30th verses. "The servants said unto him, Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together, first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." The servants of the householder can be interpreted of nothing better than ministers, who were represented by Abraham's servant; and by the servants of the householder in the parable of the king, that made a wedding for his son, and sent forth his servants to call guests; and by the servant of the man that made a great supper in the 14th of Luke; and by the servants of the householder, to whom he committed the care of his family when travelling into a far country; and by the servants of the householder that waited for the coming of their lord, in the 12th chapter of Luke.; and by the servant or steward in the same chapter, that gives to every one his portion of meat in due season; and by the servant that beat his fellow-servant; and by the servants of the householder, that dressed, and adorned, and fed the returning prodigal; and by the servants that were sent to receive the fruit of the vineyard, Luke xx. The same that were there to take care of the fruit of the vineyard, are those that in this parable have the care of the fruit of the field. The servants of the householder are oftentimes very apt to conceit themselves sufficient to separate between the wheat and the tares; but the householder says, Stop. He is aware of more danger of their rooting up the wheat with the tares, than they are, and therefore commands that they should let both grow together until the harvest, and signifies that that is the proper time of doing it. This parable shows plainly, that the proper time of judgment in this respect, viz. of judging who of professors are sincere, and who not, is the day of judgment; and that therefore, if any take it upon them to do this now, they do it out of its proper season. And therefore, judging men in this sense, comes under that prohibition forementioned, 1 Cor. iv. 5. "Therefore judge nothing before the time."
When we are so often forbidden to judge, that we be not judged; without doubt it refers to a judging of men's state, of their sincerity and hypocrisy, of their good and evil principles, of their hearts in general, as well as of particular actions. For what is meant by that prohibition is doubtless, that men should not take God's work out of his hands, and anticipate the proper business of the day of judgment. In the place just now mentioned, we are forbidden to judge; in 1 Cor. we are forbidden to judge others upon that account, because it is before the time; and in the 14th of Rom. at the 4th verse., we are forbidden to judge others upon the other account, because we therein go out of our place, and take God's work into our hands. Rom. xiv. 4. "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth;" and James iv. 12. "There is one lawgiver, that is able to save and to destroy; who art thou that judgest another?"
These two reasons are given as good reasons in Scripture against judging others, but they are as strong against judging the state of men's hearts in general, as against judging the state of their hearts with regard to particular actions:
For, 1. It is as much the proper work of God, and his prerogative, to judge the state of men's hearts in general, to determine what hearts are good, and what not, what hearts are sincere, and what not, as to judge the state of the heart with regard to particular actions. When knowing the hearts of men is so often ascribed to God as his great prerogative, one thing principally intended is his knowing the state of their hearts, whether they are sincerely godly or no, as is evident by what Peter says concerning the conversion of the Gentiles before the council of Jerusalem, Acts xv. 7, 8. "God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe: and God which knoweth the hearts bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us." It is often challenged by God as one of the most glorious prerogatives to search the heart and try the reins of the children of men. And this is challenged as God's prerogative, especially as it relates to the trial of the general state of the hearts of professors, in Rev. ii. 22, 23. There Christ threatens to destroy, and finally condemn, certain professors, except they repent; and adds, "And all the churches shall know, that I am he which searcheth the reins and the hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." And again, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. this divine prerogative is asserted, with respect to the judging of the state of the heart in general, and in order to that salvation, or destruction and casting off for ever, that depends on it, "And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever." So Ps. vii. 9, 10, 11. "O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but do thou establish the just. For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. My defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day." So, trying the hearts is spoken of as God's prerogative, as the furnace tries what is gold, and what is dross or base metal. Prov. xvii. 3. "The fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord trieth the hearts." So the psalmist prays in the 26th Psalm, that God would judge him with respect to his integrity and trusting in God, and that he would examine him, and prove him, and try his reins and his heart, and not gather his soul with sinners, nor his life with bloody men, verse 9. So it was part of Christ's prerogative to know which of his followers, and professed believers on him, were to be depended on, and which not, John ii. 23, 24, 25. "Many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of men, for he knew what was in man." It is God's prerogative to weigh the spirits and ponder the hearts of men, Prov. xvi. 2. and xxi. 2. It belongs to him to weigh men in the balance, and say who is found wanting, Dan. v. 27. This certainly is as much and much more claimed in Scripture, as God's prerogative, than taking vengeance is; and therefore for any one to take upon him to decide what professors are sincere, and what insincere, and to draw a dividing line between them, is as much and much more invading the divine prerogative, than private revenge is.
2. If that reason why we should not judge men be a good one, that in so doing we shall judge men before the time, because the proper time for this is the day of judgment; then there is a good reason why we should not take upon us to judge professors with respect to their state; for this is one great and principal part of the work of the last judgment, and one special end of the day of judgment, to make an open distinction between the sincere and hypocrites, to separate between sheep and goats, between wheat and tares, between good grain and chaff, between gold and dross, as is manifest by Mal. iii. 2. "But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap;" and Matt. iii. 12. "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Yea, in most of the descriptions we have in Scripture, this is all the work that is mentioned. This is all that is mentioned in the description we have of the day of judgment, in the explication of the parable of the good seed and tares in the 13th chapter of Matthew.; and this is all the business that is mentioned in that famous description that Christ gives of the day of judgment in the 25th chap. of Matthew.; and this is all the business mentioned in that description we have in the 20th chap. of Revelations., which is the most famous of any we have in the Bible, excepting that in the 25th of Matthew.
Yea, judging of persons' state, and sentencing or damning them, is chiefly intended by Christ when he forbids us to judge them; for this is most properly judging them, or judging and condemning their persons. We may blame a man for many things he does, yet not condemn or sentence the man in doing the part of the Great Judge of men that is chiefly forbidden, which is either to justify them or condemn them as wicked or righteous.
As to that text, Judges xii. 6."Then said they unto him. Say now Shibboletk; and he said, Sibboleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right; then they took him and slew him at the passages of Jordan;" though that be an undoubted truth, that want of experience has a tendency to cause men to lisp, and greatly to fail and blunder in talking of experimental religion, which may very fitly be compared to the failing of the Ephraimite in pronouncing Shibboleth, yet we cannot infer from it that we are warranted to go as far in judging men's state by what we think of their rightly expressing themselves in spiritual and experimental language, any more than we can infer that it is committed to us to proceed upon it as far as they did in the wrong pronunciation of Shibboleth. We cannot carry the inference so far, because the thing here principally typified is not the language of false professors, as it sounds in the ears of fellow-professors in this world, but in the ears of their Judge, and of the saints or assessors with him at the passage of the Jordan, i. e. in their passage out of this world into the next, or when they are attempting to pass out of this world into the heavenly Canaan. In Christ's ears, no man can learn the language of the Canaanites but those that are indeed Canaanites, even as no man can learn the song of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, but only those that are redeemed from the earth. What is wanting, is the heart and the practice, which are the essential part of the song; and it is the language of the heart and practice that are the essential part of the language of a Christian. And these are the things by which we are often told professors of religion shall hereafter be judged, by him that searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins, and renders to every man according to his works.
When Christ and his apostles so much warned against judging others, they doubtless had especially respect to judging their hearts. And Christians in those days understood this to be the thing so strictly prohibited, and a practice marked out as so presumptuous; as is confirmed by the manner of the apostle James, introducing what he says in the 2d chap. of his epistle, at the 4th verse.; speaking of their preferring of a man of gay appearance to the man in mean apparel, he says, Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"
The eleven disciples, though they were all true converts, did not know but that Judas was also converted, and always supposed him to be so, though they had such abundant opportunity of conversation with him, and Christ all along treated him as if he had been a true disciple, and even sent him forth to preach the gospel, because he therein acted as minister of the visible church. He did not take it upon him to act as an Omniscient Judge at that time, but as setting an example for his disciples and ministers how to behave themselves in the visible church. The psalmist, though so wise a man, and a man so greatly acquainted with the word of God, and a man of such great experience, did not find out that Achitophel was not a convert, though he had so long been so intimately acquainted with him, but always looked upon him as a saint, and an eminent saint, and delighted in him as such. Psal. lv. 13, 14. "But it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance; we took sweet counsel together; we went to the house of God in company."
And besides, we are nowhere directed to judge of men chiefly by the account they give of their experiences, but chiefly by their works; and it is evident it was not the manner of the apostles to judge of Christians' sincerity chiefly by the account they gave of the manner of the work in their hearts, but by their behaviour.
And the signification of the word Shibboleth seems to intimate the same thing, which is an ear of corn. This seems to intimate that it is the fruit, or ear, that is the grand characteristic by which the true friends of Jephthah may be known from hypocrites, or the wheat known from tares. It is the fruit that we shall be judged by at last; our fruits shall be weighed in the balance, and, if they are found wanting, we shall be slain in this Jordan, and never suffered to go over into Canaan. It is probable that, according to the dialect of Ephraim, an ear of corn was called Sibboleth, and so that was the name of the fruit of Jephthah's enemies; but Shibboleth was the name of the fruit of Jephthah's friends, according to the dialect of Gilead. This, therefore, signifies that if at last our fruit be found to be not the fruit of the friends of Christ, but that of his enemies, we shall be slain.
It seems very probable that the devil, though he sees and hears a great deal more what men do and say than we, and has incomparably more experience, yet does not know who are converted, and who not. Thus he did not know that Peter was converted, and therefore hoped to overthrow him. So he did not know that Job was, as God told him, a perfect and an upright man; he questioned it, though he was so eminent a saint, he doubted whether he would not fail in the trial (unless we may suppose that the devil seeks to overthrow particular Christians, only as he seeks to overthrow the church of God, which he does what he can to destroy, though God has promised that it shall never be destroyed).
Rom. iv. 3, 4. "What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." The apostle lays stress upon the word counted, or imputed. If he had had a righteousness, that is, of his own, upon the account of which the reward was of proper debt, it would not have been expressed in this manner, as he evidently argues in the following verses. Abraham's believing God was not righteousness, but was only imputed for it. It was of God's mere grace looked upon as supplying the room of righteousness.
Rom. iv. 12. "And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham," &c. In the foregoing verse it is set forth how Abraham is the father of those that are uncircumcised, if they have the faith of Abraham. In this verse the apostle declares that he also is the father of the circumcised, who have not only or barely circumcision, but also walk in the steps of the faith of their father Abraham. So that, put both verses together, this is what the apostle declares, that Abraham received circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had being yet uncircumcised; whereby God sealed to him the promise he made to him, that he should be the father of all such as should believe as he had done, and only to such, whether they were circumcised or not, that he should be the father of the uncircumcised Gentiles, that should believe as he had done, and the father of no more of the circumcised Jews than should believe as he had done.
Rom. v. 18. "Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life." Seeing the words judgment, and the free gift, are not in the original, I do not see why it would not have been better construing to have translated it thus, "Therefore as by the offence of one, the offence came upon all men to condemnation, so by the righteousness of one, righteousness came upon all men to justification of life;" and so the word that is understood would have been the same with that that is expressed. The placing of the same word in the 16th verse, gives considerable colour for this translation.
Rom. vi. 8, 9. "Now if we be dead with Christ," &c. These two verses, with the context, seem irrefragably to prove perseverance.
Rom. vi. 14. "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace." The law, or covenant of works, is not a proper means to bring the fallen creature to the service of God. It was a very proper means to be used with men in a state of innocency, but it has no tendency to answer this end in our present weak and sinful state; on the contrary, to have been kept under the law would have had a tendency to hinder it, and would have been a bar in the way of it, and that upon two accounts.
1. It would have tended to discourage persons from any attempts to serve God, because under such a constitution it must necessarily have been looked upon as impossible to please him and serve him to his acceptance; and one in despair of this would have been in no capacity to yield a cheerful service to God, but would rather have been far from any manner of endeavours to serve him at all. But to have abandoned himself to wickedness by such a despair, the dominion of sin would have been dreadfully established, and all yielded up to it, as in the damned in hell.
2. God must necessarily have been looked on as an enemy; which would have tended to drive from him and stir up enmity against him. A fallen creature held under the covenant of works cannot look on God as a father and friend, but must necessarily look on him as an enemy; for the least failure of obedience by that constitution, whether past or future, renders him so. But this would greatly establish the dominion of sin or enmity against God in the heart, and indeed it is the law only that makes wicked men hate God. They hate him no otherwise than as they look upon him as acting, either as the giver or judge of the law, and so by the law opposing their sins, and the law tending to establish the hatred of God. Hence it is necessary to be brought from under the dominion of it, in order to a willing serving of God.
Corol. Hence men, when they are convinced of the law, under awakenings, and have God represented to them as a strict lawgiver and judge, before they are convinced of the gospel, have sometimes such sensible exercises of enmity of heart stirred up against God.
But those that are redeemed from the bondage of the law, they have,
1. Great encouragement to serve God, in that their poor and imperfect obedience may be accepted.
2. They have a great deal to incline them to an ingenuous obedience; for God now represents himself as a merciful God, a God ready to pardon past transgressions and future infirmities, and he promises that if we will yield ourselves willingly to serve him as we are able, he will be our friend, and will treat us as a merciful and gracious father.
If a man does perform an external service while under the bondage of the law, it is no real service, it is merely forced by threats and terrors, it is not performed freely and heartily, but is a dead, lifeless obedience. But a being delivered from the law and brought under grace, tends to win men to serve God from love, and with the whole heart; Rom. vii. 6. "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."
Rom. viii. 15. "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." That is, ye have not the spirit of slaves and bond-servants, that work by slavish fear, but the spirit of children, so that you are not afraid, but dare cry, Abba, Father; dare, as children, approach God with a holy boldness. The spirits are different; one is the spirit of God, the other is not.
1 Cor. i. 1. "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God." St. Paul, when he calls himself an apostle, does commonly add some such clause as this, "through the will of God;" so 2 Cor. i. 1. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God;" and the very same words, Eph. i. 1. and Col. i. 1. and 2 Tim. i. 1. and 1 Tim. i. 1. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ;" and Rom. i. 1. "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God." Ver. 5. "By whom we have received grace and apostleship;" which was because he continually carried a deep sense of his unworthiness to be an apostle, who before was so great a sinner. And how it was not owing to any thing in him that he was promoted to such dignity, but only to the sovereign will and pleasure and free grace of God, which, of a persecutor of the church, made him an apostle in the church. Therefore, when he takes the honour of the name of an apostle, he ascribes it to God's sovereign pleasure and grace. The cause of it is a sense of what he expresses in 1 Cor. xv. 9, 10. "For I am the least of the apostles, and am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But, by the grace of God, I am what I am;" and Eph. iii. 8. 'Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."
1 Cor. i. 24. "But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." The power of God answers to a sign or miracle, which the Jews sought after; and the wisdom of God, to the wisdom which the Greeks sought after, mentioned in the last verse but one preceding.
1 Cor. ii. 15, 16. "For he that is spiritual judgeth all things; but he himself is judged of no man." He that has the Spirit of God to teach him truth, he is not in those things subject to the judgment or correction of any of the wise men of this world. The instruction, and judgment, and correction of a human master, of what he understands or believes by the Spirit of God, is what he needs not. In this case it does not take place, it will not alter him, for, says the apostle, "Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? for we hare the mind of Christ." A man that has the mind of Christ, is taught by his Spirit; if he should be subject to the judgment and correction of men, that would argue that the mind of the Lord itself was subject to human correction.
1 Cor. iv. 6. "And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos, for your sakes, that ye might learn not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another." It seems that it was not Paul and Apollos particularly that the Corinthians were divided about; but what the apostle means, when he says, "some say they are of Paul, and others of Apollos," is, that some were for one teacher, others for another; they over-valued their teachers, and built their faith upon them. He mentions his own name, and that of Apollos, personating any human teachers whatsoever; he transferred it in a figure to himself and Apollos, that they might not be apt to suspect that he reproved them for being for this and that man, out of respect to himself; he would not have them set too much by men, though it were himself.
1 Cor. ix. 16. "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of." That is, In case I had a dependence upon preaching the gospel for a livelihood, then might it be said that necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. That this is what the apostle means, I think is evident by the context.
1 Corinth. xi. 14. "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" Having the head covered by long custom, had been used to denote subjection; and as a mark of subjection in man, it was plainly against nature itself. The plain light of nature had taught all nations the superiority of man to woman, and his rights to rule over her. The apostle had been pleading against man's wearing long hair, or his covering the head, only on this score, that it was a debasing of man below the place that God had put him in, that it was unnatural and a shame, a debasing of man, and confusion of the order of nature, and in this sense against nature. In this nature teaches the contrary, it is a disgrace to him, Greek or Hebrew, to appear below the woman, a debasing of him below his nature, and therefore nature teaches the contrary; not but that, if having the head uncovered were a sign of subjection, it would have been as much against nature for the man to have his head uncovered. And that which is against nature in this sense, is against it in a proper sense. It is against nature in a proper sense, to bow down before an idol, because it is against nature to adore an idol; and bowing down, by universal custom, is used to denote adoration; but if bowing down by universal custom were used to denote contempt, it would not be against nature.
1 Cor. xiii. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, Now we see through a class darkly," &c. There is a twofold failing or ceasing of those miraculous and other common gifts of the Spirit, both of which the apostle has doubtless respect to: one is their failing at the end of the present state of probation, or the present imperfect state of God's people in time, with respect to particular persons that have common gifts, at death, and with respect to the church of God collectively considered, at the end of the world; and the other is the failing of miraculous gifts in the church of Christ, even while yet remaining in its temporary and militant state, as they failed at or about the end of the apostolic age, that first and more imperfect, and less settled and established state of the Christian church, before it was wholly brought out from under the Mosaic dispensation, wherein it was under tutors and governors, and before the canon of the Scripture was fully completed, and all parts of it thoroughly collected and established. Miraculous, and other common gifts of the Spirit, cease at the end of the imperfect state of the church: wherein the church knows in part, and is in a state of childhood in comparison of the more perfect state that follows. So there is a twofold perfect state of the church to answer them, wherein the church may be said to be in a state of manhood, with respect to that more imperfect state that they succeed. The first state of the church, in its first age on earth, before the canon of the Scripture was completed, &c. is its imperfect state, wherein the church knows in part, and is as a child, and speaks, and understands, and thinks as a child, and sees through a glass darkly, in comparison of the state of the church in its latter ages, wherein it will be in a state of manhood, in a perfect state, and will see face to face in comparison of what it did in its first infant state; and so the gift of prophecy and tongues, &c. ceased at the end of the church's age of childhood, but charity remains when the elder age of the church comes, and when it shall put away childish things. That age shall be an age of love, but there shall be no miraculous gifts of the Spirit, as being needless, and more proper helps for the church in a state of infancy, than in that state of manhood.
Again, the church, all the while it remains in a militant state, is in an imperfect state, a state of childhood, sees through a glass darkly, thinks, speaks, and understands as a child, in comparison of what it will be in its heavenly and eternal state, when it shall be come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; when it shall see face to face, and know as it is known, then it shall put away such childish things, as the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, but love shall gloriously prevail. The world shall be a world of love. If we thus understand the apostle, it fully proves that the gifts of tongues, and miracles, &c. are not to be upheld in the church in the millennium.
1 Cor. xiii. 13. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity; these three, but the greatest of these is charity." The apostle in this place is not comparing these together as three distinct graces, but gifts of the Spirit of God. They cannot be properly three distributively distinct graces, or saving virtues, because charity or love is the sum of all saving virtue, as abundantly appears from the foregoing part of the chapter, and from innumerable other places of Scripture. Love is an ingredient in saving faith, and is the most essential thing in it, is its life and soul, and so it is in hope. The apostle is here comparing gifts of the Spirit, and not graces, as is manifest from the last verse of the foregoing chapter, and the former verses of this and the beginning of the next; what is in faith and hope, which is distinct from love, which are principles or exercises of mind that are called also by those names of faith and hope, though they are not Christian and saving faith and hope, yet they are principles that are gifts of God. And in those three gifts of the mind, Faith, Hope, and Love, are the three gifts into which all Christianity, as a principle in the mind, is to be resolved.
The first, viz. Faith, as distinct from love, hath its seat purely in the understanding, and consists in the understanding of divine things, and an apprehension of their reality. Hope, if we mean that hope that is distinct from love, has its seat both in the understanding and natural will, or inclination, and apprehends not only the reality of divine things, but our interest in them.
Love has its seat in the spiritual will, and apprehends divine things as amiable. And in these three consists the whole of that respect that the mind of man has to divine things wherein the Christianity of the mind consists; and those three, when joined together and united in one, constitute saving faith, or the soul's savingly embracing Christ, and Christianity. But of these three constituents of justifying faith, love is the greatest; the other two are the body, that is, the soul.
1 Cor. xv. 28. "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." Christ as Mediator has now the kingdom and government of the world so committed to him, that he is to all intents and purposes in the room of his Father. He is to be respected as God himself is, as supreme, and absolute, and sovereign Ruler. God has left the government in his hands wholly, now since his exaltation, that he may himself have the accomplishment and finishing of those great things for which he died. He is made head over all things to the church until the consummation; and he is now king of the church, and of the world, in his present state of exaltation. He is not properly a subordinate ruler, because God hath entirely left the government with him, to his wisdom, and to his power. But after Christ has obtained all the ends of his labours and death, there will be no farther occasion for the government's being after that manner in his hands. He will have obtained by his government, all the ends he desired; and so then God the Father will resume the government, and Christ and his church will spend eternity in mutual enjoyment, and in the joint enjoyment of God; not but that Christ will still be the king and head of his church, he will be as much their head of influence and source of good and happiness as ever. But with respect to government, God will be respected as supreme orderer, and Christ with his church united to him, and dependent on him, shall together receive of the benefit of his government.
1 Cor. xvi. 21, 22, 23., &c. "The salutation of me, Paul, &c. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you." The apostle concludes his epistle with a curse and a blessing; he curses all that do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, but yet he blesses all that are of the church of Corinth; by which it is evident that those that are regularly of the communion of the Christian church are visible lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, they are so looked upon in public charity, and treated as if they were really such.
2 Cor. i. 24. "Not for that we have dominion over your faith," &c.; this verse is to be joined to the 14th verse.
2 Cor. ii. 14, 15, 16. "Maketh manifest the favour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour of death unto death, and to the other we are the savour of life unto life." This last verse might more literally, and more properly, have been translated thus: "To those indeed we are a savour of death unto death, but to these a savour of life unto life," which makes the sense much less perplexed. Ministers are, as it were, the vessels that carry the sweet ointment of the name of Christ, whose name is said to be as ointment poured forth. Christ is the fragrant rose. That knowledge of Christ that is diffused by his ministers is the savour of this rose, and this is the savour that the apostle speaks of, which in the 14th verse. he calls the savour of his knowledge. This is always a sweet savour to God. The name of Christ is ever delightful to God, and the preaching of Christ in the world, whether to elect or reprobates, is acceptable to God, as he delights in having the name of his Son glorified; for Christ's being made known to those that perish, shall be greatly to the glory of Christ. God loves to have the name of his Son made known to all men for his Son's glory, so that the knowledge that reprobates receive of Christ, by the preaching of the gospel, is a sweet savour to God; for wherever the name of Christ is found, it is acceptable to God. But yet it is not always a sweet savour to them to whom the gospel is preached, though it be to God. Indeed to the elect, to those that are saved, it is a sweet savour as well as to God; it is a savour of life; we are to them a savour of a living Redeemer; they believe him to be a risen and glorified Redeemer. He is a savour of life unto life, i. e. not only a sweet savour as of a living Redeemer, but a refreshing, renewing, life-giving savour.
But to them that perish he is a savour of death unto death; the preaching of Christ crucified is not a sweet savour unto them, but an odious savour, as of a slain dead carcass; they do not believe his resurrection; they look upon him dead still; and the doctrine of Christ crucified is nauseous to them; it is a savour of death unto death.
2 Cor. iii. 17. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." It seems to refer to that place, 51st Psalm, 12th verse., where the Spirit of God is called the free Spirit.
2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty;" that is, freedom of looking; and behold our sight is not hindered as the children of Israel's was, but we have liberty to see. "But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord;" with open face, not covered with a veil, as Moses's face was, as in the 7th and 13th verses; [are changed into the same image;] as Moses was by beholding God's brightness, his own face shone; [from glory to glory;] that is, changed from the glory of God, from a sight of his glory, to a glory to, and glory in, ourselves like it.
2 Cor. iii. 18. "But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord." The word in the original, Greek or Hebrewi, signifies beholding, as in a reflecting glass, or looking-glass. Had the meaning been, beholding through a transmitting glass, the word Greek or Hebrew would rather have been used, which signifies to see through or to look through.
We behold the glory of God, as in a glass, in two respects, both which seem to be intended in these words.
1. We behold the glory of God, as in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the brightness of God's light or glory, as it were reflected; and is the express image of the Deity; the perfect image of God, as the image in a plain and clear looking-glass is the express image of the person that looks in it; and this is the only way that the glory of God is seen by his church, he is seen no other way but in this perfect, and as it were reflected, image; for no one hath seen God immediately, at any time; the only-begotten Son of God that is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. He is "the image of the invisible God;" and "he that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father;" and the Father is seen no other way but by the Son; and it is only by this image in Christ, that God is seen in heaven by the saints and angels there; yea, it is by this image only that God sees himself, for he sees himself in his own perfect substantial idea. And that one thing here meant by the image in the glass, is the image of Christ, that is to be seen in Christ's face, may be argued from two things.
(1.) The apostle is here comparing the glory of God that we see in Christ to the reflected glory of God which the children of Israel beheld in Moses, where Moses's face was instead of a glass to them, in which they beheld the glory of God reflected to their view; though with this difference, that a veil was put over the glass then, or there was a veil between their eyes and Moses's face, which was the glass that reflected God's glory, because the children of Israel could not bear to look upon the glass immediately; but now we all with open face behold the image in the glass.
(2.) Another thing that argues this, is what follows here in the continuance of the apostle's discourse on this subject, in the 4th verse of the next chapter; where the apostle, speaking of the same glory, mentions it as the light of God's glory, which we see in Christ as the image of God; (i. e. as the image in the glass is the image of the man it represents;) and in the 6th verse he speaks of this same glory as that which is seen in the face of Christ; alluding to the children of Israel seeing the reflected light of God's glory in the face of Moses.
2. We behold the glory of God as in a looking-glass in another respect, and that is as we behold it by the intermediation of the outward means of our illumination and knowledge of God, viz. Christ's ministers, and the gospel which they preach, and his ordinances which they administer; which serve instead of a looking-glass, to reflect the glory of the Lord. When men read the Holy Scriptures, they there may see Christ's glory, as men see images of things by looking in a glass, so we see Christ's glory in ordinances. Ministers are burning and shining lights; but then they do not shine by their own light, but only reflect the light of Christ. They are called stars, that are held in the right hand of Christ, and shine by reflecting Christ's light, as the stars shine by reflecting the light of the sun; and so they are as mirrors that bring the light of Christ's glory to the view of the church. They are lights set up in golden candlesticks; by looking on these lights, they see light, they see the light of Christ reflected. It is evident the apostle is here speaking of the light of Christ's glory as ministered and communicated by ministers of the gospel, and ministers of the Spirit, which is that light and glory, as we shall show presently. Verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. So in the words next following in the beginning of the next chapter, ver. 1, 2, 5. and which is strongly to the purpose in the 6th verse., he expressly speaks of the light of this glory as communicated to men by ministers in this way, viz. by first shining upon them or into their hearts, and then being communicated, or given from them to others, which is just as light is communicated from a reflecting glass. "For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And in the next verse they are spoken of as the vessel that conveys the treasure: now a vessel is to the treasure that it conveys, as a glass is to the light that that conveys. And, it further argues that the apostle has respect to ministers and to the means of grace, as a glass in which we see the glory of the Lord, by that to which he here alludes, viz. the children of Israel's seeing the glory of the Lord in Moses's face; but Moses is here by the apostle spoken of, as in this representing both Christ and gospel ministers. That he speaks of him as in this thing representing Christ, is most evident by the 6th verse of the next chapter; and that he also speaks of him as herein like gospel ministers the apostles and others is also evident, because the apostle does expressly compare Moses's holding forth the glory of God in his face to ministers' holding forth the glory of Christ, as in the 12th and 13th verses.
And herein the sight, that the saints have of the glory of Christ in this world, differs from that sight that the saints have in heaven; for there they see immediately face to face, but here by a medium, by an intervening looking-glass, in which the glory is but obscure in comparison of the immediate glory seen in heaven. 1 Corinth. xiii. 12. "Now we see through a glass darkly, then face to face." But it is a very plain and clear sight in comparison of that which was under the law; it is beholding with open face in comparison of that, though the face that is seen be in a glass; the sight we have now is by a medium as well as then, though the medium made use of now excels that made use of under the law, as much as an open glass, for discerning, exceeds a glass covered with a veil.
"Are changed into the same image." In this there is an agreement between our looking in this glass, and a person's looking in a material glass, that there is an exact resemblance between the image in the glass, and the person that beholds it, in both cases. But in this there is a difference, that, whereas when a person looks in a glass, the image in the glass is conformed to him, as being derived from him as his image; he impresses his image upon the glass; but, when a person looks in this spiritual glass, the image that he beholds there conforms him to it. It is not his image, but the image of God, and reflects and impresses its likeness on the beholder.
2 Cor. iii. 18. "Behold as in a glass." What seems especially to be meant by the looking-glass here spoken of, is the figurative representation of gospel things in the Old Testament, especially the law of Moses; which, to the Jews, who did not know the meaning of them, nor see the image of Christ, or gospel things, in them, was as a veil; but to us, to whom the image plainly appears as unveiled by the gospel, those types and other figurative representations are as a glass, in which we see the image of Christ's face.
2 Cor. v. beginning. The house from heaven means the body of Christ's resurrection; as appears by the last clause of the 4th verse.
2 Cor. v. 1. It is a confirmation that the apostle meant the body of the resurrection by a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens, that Christ said, Destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will raise another, made without hands; as the false witnesses testified, probably, so far truly.
2 Cor. viii. 10. "Who have begun before not only to do, but also to be forward, a year ago." It may seem strange that the apostle says, not only to do, but also to be willing. Doing is more than merely being willing, but it is as if he had said, Ye have not only begun to do before now, but you have been ready to do for a long time, even a year ago: to be forward so long ago, was something that might well be mentioned, in addition to their having now begun to do.
2 Cor. xi. 4. It ought to have been translated, Ye have well borne, or ye might well have borne with me. In the beginning of the chapter he desires them to bear with him because he was jealous over them, having betrothed them to Christ, that he might present them a chaste virgin to Christ. He was jealous lest they should yield their supreme affections to other objects, and be denied; and he tells them in this verse that, seeing they were solicited to forsake Christ, seeing that he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, he might well be jealous, and they might well bear with him in his boasting to set himself off, or rather to set off Christ, appearing, speaking, and working in him, to their affections, that so they might not like his rivals better.
Verse 5. "For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chief," &c.; and so accordingly now he begins to boast.
2 Cor. xii. 13. "Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell." When the apostle said, absent from the body and present with the Lord, he doubtless meant by absent from the body, the same that he here means by out of the body, which is a proper separation of the soul from the body.
2 Cor. xiii. 1. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." These words seem to be quoted from the law of our Saviour, Matt. xviii. 16. and not from the law of Moses in Deuteronomy; not only because the words are the same with those in Matthew, but from the likeness of the case. In Deuteronomy, the law given concerns only judicial trials; in Matthew, it is a rule given for the management of persuasion used to reclaim offenders by fair means, before coming to the utmost extremity; which is the case of Paul here. The witnesses, which he means that he made use of to persuade them, being his two epistles. That, by witnesses, he means his two epistles, is plain from his way of expressing himself here, where he carefully sets down his telling them twice, viz. before in his former epistle, chap. iv. 19.; and now a second time, in his second epistle, and also by these words, as if I were present with you a second time. By our Saviour's rule, the offended person was to go twice to the offender; which the apostle refers to. Mr. Locke's exposition.
Gal. i. 17. "Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus." It is probable that this was Arabia Deserta, which was that part of Arabia that lay nearest to Damascus, lying east of the land of Canaan, and reached up to the very neighbourhood of Damascus. By the apostle's going from Damascus into Arabia, and returning from thence into Damascus again, it looks as if the Arabia that he went into, was that which was neighbouring to this city. As Christ after his baptism withdrew into the wilderness, before he actually began to preach; so it is no improbable conjecture that Paul, after his conversion and baptism, withdrew into the deserts of Arabia, there to receive the knowledge of the gospel, by immediate revelation from Christ; and that this being done, he returned to Damascus, and after this his return that way preached Christ in their synagogues, as Acts ix. 20. See Wells's Sacred Geography, part ii. p. 22, 23. This very well agrees with this context, in which the scope of the apostle is to show that he had his gospel not from men, but by revelation of Jesus Christ, as verse 12. "For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by revelation of Jesus Christ;" and verse 15, 16. "But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood."
Then follow the words of this verse that we are upon, to show how he did not confer with flesh and blood, but was taught immediately of Christ; "neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.1 " This is a desert, uninhabited country; and therefore it is the more probable that the apostle went thither for this end, and not to preach the gospel to any that dwelt there. And the inhabitants that were in Arabia Felix, under whose king, Aretas, Damascus then was, they were chiefly heathens; but preaching to the heathens was not yet begun, though there were then some Jews, that were then inhabitants of Arabia, of whom we read in the 2nd chapter of Acts; "Cretes and Arabians."