PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The General Epistles of St. James and St. Jude
Plummer, Alfred · 146,075 words · 198 reading sections
Chapter Xxiv.
By the prophets St. James no doubt means the prophets of the Old Testament--Elijah, Jeremiah, and others. It is not likely that he includes any of the persecuted disciples of the New Testament, such as James the son of Zebedee, and Stephen. Here again we seem to have an echo of Christ's words: "_Blessed_ are ye when me…
732 wordsSECTION 122Chapter Xxiv.
But a more important question than either the reading or the division of the clauses is the meaning of the expression "the end of the Lord." Bede follows Augustine in understanding it of the death of Christ, which no doubt many of the readers of the Epistle had witnessed--"_Exitum quoque Domini in cruce quem longanimit…
868 wordsSECTION 123Chapter Xxiv.
Questions of this kind are among the many spheres in which we need that virtue on which St. James here insists with such simple earnestness--patience. When certainty has not been attained, and perhaps is not attainable, let us learn to wait patiently in uncertainty. Was there ever such a person as Job? Who wrote the Bo…
761 wordsSECTION 124Chapter Xxv.
[91] The word for "full of pity" (πολύσπλανχνος) was possibly coined by St. James himself; it occurs nowhere else. It might be rendered "large-hearted." A few inferior MSS. have πολυεύσπλανχνος, a word which is found in ecclesiastical and Byzantine writers. The simpler εὔσπλανχνος occurs 1 Pet. iii. 8; Eph. iv. 32; and…
722 wordsSECTION 125Chapter Xxv.
But the use of oaths is not only a sign of the existence of mischief, it is also apt to be productive of mischief. It is apt to produce a belief that there are two kinds of truth, one of which it is a serious thing to violate, viz. when you are on your oath; but the other of which it is a harmless, or at least a venial…
759 wordsSECTION 126Chapter Xxv.
But even if we suppose that he does mean this we have still to explain the _practice_ of those who were well aware of Christ's command respecting swearing, and certainly had no intention of deliberately violating it. If the first Christians were willing on certain occasions to take certain oaths, it must have been beca…
669 wordsSECTION 127Chapter Xxv.
No one who compares the two passages will believe that the similarity between them is accidental. Even if such an hypothesis could reasonably be entertained, it would be shattered by the number of other coincidences which exist between passages in this Epistle and the recorded words of Christ. In this instance we have …
557 wordsSECTION 128St. Matthew. St. James.
1. Blessed are they that have Count it all joy, my brethren, been persecuted for righteousness' when ye fall into manifold sake: for theirs is the temptations; knowing that the kingdom of heaven. Blessed proof of your faith worketh are ye when men shall reproach patience (i. 2, 3). you, and persecute you, and say …
742 wordsSECTION 129St. Luke. St. James.
These twelve parallels are by no means exhaustive, but they are among the most striking. The following are worthy of consideration, although those which have been quoted above are more than sufficient for our purpose:-- St. Matthew i. 19 St. James v. 19 " " i. 20 " v. 22 " " ii. 8 " vii. 12 " " ii. 10, 11 " v. 27 …
284 wordsSECTION 130St. John. St. James.
18. If ye know these things, Being not a hearer that forgetteth, blessed are ye if ye do them but a doer that worketh, (xiii. 17). this man shall be blessed in his doing (i. 25). 19. If ye were of the world, Know ye not that the friendship the world would love its own: of the world is enmity but because ye are no…
555 wordsSECTION 131Chapter Xxvi.
_WORSHIP THE BEST OUTLET AND REMEDY FOR EXCITEMENT. THE CONNEXION BETWEEN WORSHIP AND CONDUCT._ "Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Is any cheerful? let him sing praise."--ST. JAMES v. 13. The subject of this verse was probably suggested by that of the preceding one. Oaths are not a right way of expressing o…
810 wordsSECTION 132Chapter Xxvi.
But there is another advantage in making religious worship, whether public or private, the outlet for our emotions. It secures a real connexion between worship and life. Missionaries tell us that this is a frequent difficulty in their work. It is a hard enough thing to win converts from heathenism; but it is perhaps st…
770 wordsSECTION 133Chapter Xxvi.
"Touching musical harmony, whether by instrument or by voice, it being but of high and low in sounds a due proportionable disposition, such, notwithstanding, is the force thereof, and so pleasing effects it hath in that very part of man which is most divine, that some have been thereby induced to think that the soul it…
747 wordsSECTION 134Chapter Xxvii.
_THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH. THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK AND EXTREME UNCTION._ "Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he h…
1,020 wordsSECTION 135Chapter Xxvii.
II. The second point of interest is the anointing of the sick person by the elders. That what is said here affords no Scriptural authority for the Roman rite of Extreme Unction, is one of the commonplaces of criticism. One single fact is quite conclusive. The object of the unction prescribed by St. James is the recover…
732 wordsSECTION 136Chapter Xxvii.
On the other hand, it seems to be too much to say that the anointing had nothing to do with bodily healing at all, and was simply a means of grace for the sick. Thus Döllinger says, "This is no gift of healing, for that was not confined to the presbyters; and for that Christ prescribed not unction, but laying on of han…
908 wordsSECTION 137Chapter Xxvii.
When we reach the sixth century the evidence for the custom of anointing the sick with holy oil becomes abundant. At first any one with a reputation for sanctity might bless the oil--not only laymen, but women. But in the West the rule gradually spread from Rome that the sacred oil for the sick must be "made" by the bi…
881 wordsSECTION 138Chapter Xxvii.
[93] The question of the Origin of the Christian Ministry has been discussed in another volume of this series. See the _Pastoral Epistles_, pp. 104-117 (Hodder and Stoughton, 1888). [94] For additional evidence see J. C. Wolf, _Curæ Philol. et Crit._ V., pp. 79-81; Lightfoot, _Horæ Hebr._ II., pp. 304, 444, on Matt. v…
390 wordsSECTION 139Chapter Xxviii.
_THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE CONFESSION OF SINS. THE LAWFULNESS OF PRAYERS FOR RAIN._ "Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it…
1,039 wordsSECTION 140Chapter Xxviii.
All these writers have this main point in common, that a sinner who does not confess what he has done amiss is likely to become careless and hardened. And the principle is at least as old as the Book of Proverbs: "He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtai…
685 wordsSECTION 141Chapter Xxviii.
But it is probable that the origin, or at least the chief encouragement, of the practice of auricular confession is rather to be looked for in _monasticism_. Offences against the rule of the Order had to be confessed before the whole community; and it was assumed that the only other grave offences likely to happen in t…
813 wordsSECTION 142Chapter Xxviii.
"The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working." "The effectual earnest prayer" of the Authorized Version cannot be justified: either "effectual" or "earnest" must be struck out, as there is only one word (ἐνεργουμένη) in the original; moreover, the word for "prayer" is not the same as before (δέησις…
794 wordsSECTION 143Chapter Xxviii.
The picture which is here drawn sketches for us the consequences of allowing each individual to have control over the forces of nature. It is incredible that God could be induced to allow such control to individuals; but does it follow from this that He never listens to prayers respecting _His_ direction of the forces …
667 wordsSECTION 144Chapter Xxviii.
Does not the parallel difficulty point to a parallel solution? What right have we to assume that in either case effectual prayer interferes with the regularity which seems to characterize Divine action? May it not be God's will that the prayer of faith should be a force that can influence other forces, whether material…
775 wordsSECTION 145_The Work Of Converting Sinners; Its Conditions And Rewards._
"My brethren, if any among you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know, that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins."--ST. JAMES v. 19, 20. St. James has just been speaking of the case of a man who is sick, and needs …
998 wordsSECTION 146_The Work Of Converting Sinners; Its Conditions And Rewards._
It is the sins of the converted sinner that are covered when a brother has had the happiness of converting him. The saying "cover sins" is a proverbial one, and seems to have been common among the Jews. St. Peter also makes use of it (1 Peter iv. 8); and this is one of the points which make some persons think that the …
811 wordsSECTION 147_The Work Of Converting Sinners; Its Conditions And Rewards._
Of course there are times when it is our duty to do what we can to bring others over to opinions which we are persuaded are much sounder and safer than those which they at present hold; but such times are very much less frequent than many of us are inclined to believe. It is obviously our duty to undertake this difficu…
741 wordsSECTION 148_The Work Of Converting Sinners; Its Conditions And Rewards._
The case of St. Monica, praying for the conversion of her sinful and heretical son Augustine, will occur to many as a beautiful illustration of the principle here indicated. He himself tells us of it in his immortal _Confessions_ (III. xi., xii. 20, 21); how that for years, especially from his nineteenth to his twenty-…
704 wordsSECTION 149_The Work Of Converting Sinners; Its Conditions And Rewards._
What is the reward which St. James holds out to us to induce us to undertake the work of converting a sinner? He offers nothing; he promises nothing. The work itself is its own reward. To win back an erring brother is a thing so blessed, so glorious, so rich in incalculable results, that to have been enabled to accompl…
821 wordsSECTION 150_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. Jude._
[100] πλανηθῇ. This aorist passive _may_ have a middle signification, but it is simpler to allow it to be passive: the man has been led astray by evil influences, and he is led back by good influences. It matters not whether we regard him as led astray by sin (Bengel), or Satan, or wicked companions. [101] This is pro…
893 wordsSECTION 151_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. Jude._
The most serious item in the external evidence against the Epistle is its absence from the Peshitto, or ancient Syriac Version. The considerations already mentioned go a long way towards explaining this absence, and it is a great deal more than counterbalanced by the strong external evidence in its favour. This is surp…
1,040 wordsSECTION 152_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. Jude._
It remains to consider the second part of the question respecting the authenticity of this Epistle. We are justified in believing that it is a writing of the Apostolic age, by a person bearing the name of Judas or Jude. But to which of the persons who bore that name in the first age of the Church is the letter to be as…
835 wordsSECTION 153_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. Jude._
We may suppose that Jude, like the rest of his brethren (John vii. 5), did not at first believe in the Messiahship of Jesus, but was converted by the convincing event of the Resurrection (Acts i. 14). We know that he was married, not merely from the general statement made by St. Paul respecting the brethren of the Lord…
681 wordsSECTION 154_The Authenticity Of The Epistle Of St. Jude._
[102] _A plerisque rejicitur._ Possibly this means "is rejected by _very many_;" it certainly ought not to be rendered "is rejected by _most_." "Most" is the classical meaning of _plerique_; but in Tacitus it means no more than "very many" (_Hist._ iv. 84, etc.), and in Jerome and his contemporaries it need mean no mor…
287 wordsSECTION 155Chapter Xxxi.
_THE PURPOSE OF THE EPISTLE.--THE FAITH ONCE FOR ALL DELIVERED AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE_ "Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto …
701 wordsSECTION 156Chapter Xxxi.
"The faith _once for all delivered_ unto the saints" (τῇ ἅπαξ παραδοθείσῃ τοῖς ἅγίοις πίστει): both the adverb, "once for all," and the aorist participle, "delivered," are worthy of special notice. "The faith" does not mean any set formula of articles of belief, nor the internal reception of Christian doctrine, but the…
779 wordsSECTION 157Chapter Xxxi.
But _does_ the development of doctrine, in the sense contended for by the author of the celebrated Essay, mean making actual additions to the faith once for all delivered, as distinct from arriving at a better comprehension of the contents and logical consequences of the original deposit? This question must be answered…
1,023 wordsSECTION 158Chapter Xxxi.
Hence the necessity for the doctrine of Infallibility. For Roman developments are not the only ones. The Eastern Churches have theirs; Protestant Churches have theirs; and outside these there are other developments, both non-Christian and anti-Christian. Unless there is some authority which can say, "Our developments a…
659 wordsSECTION 159Chapter Xxxii.
[106] This is an assumption of De Wette, who in this followed Sherlock, and was followed by Brückner. It is worth noting that the Vulgate here is as ambiguous as the original Greek: "_Omnem solicitudinem faciens scribendi vobis de communi vestra salute necesse habui scribere vobis_," etc. [107] Lightfoot, _Philippians…
1,102 wordsSECTION 160Chapter Xxxii.
It is with the verse before us that the marked resemblance between the Epistle of St. Jude and the central portion of the Second Epistle of St. Peter begins; and it continues down to ver. 18. In this short letter of twenty-five verses, only the first three and last seven verses, _i.e._ about a third of the whole, have …
668 wordsSECTION 161Chapter Xxxii.
Not less confident is Archdeacon Farrar that exactly the opposite hypothesis is the right one. "After careful consideration and comparison of the two documents it seems to my own mind _impossible to doubt_ [the italics are Dr. Farrar's] that Jude was the earlier of the two writers.... I must confess my inability to see…
741 wordsSECTION 162Chapter Xxxii.
But, on the other hand, there are certain elements in 2 Peter of which St. Jude would probably have made use, had he seen them; _e.g._ the destruction of "the world of the ungodly" by the Flood; the "eyes full of an adulteress;" and the explanation of the "great swelling words" as "promising them liberty," which would …
966 wordsSECTION 163Chapter Xxxii.
NOTE.--On the question as to which of the two Epistles is prior, the opinion of scholars has been greatly divided; but a comparison of the following lists will show that among more recent critics the decision is commonly in favour of the priority of our Epistle:-- _For the priority of 2 Peter_: Bauer, Beausobre, Benso…
323 wordsSECTION 164Chapter Xxxiii.
_DOUBTFUL READINGS AND THE THEORY OF VERBAL INSPIRATION. THREE PALMARY INSTANCES OF DIVINE VENGEANCE UPON GRIEVOUS SIN._ "Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, how that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that believed not. An…
652 wordsSECTION 165Chapter Xxxiii.
(3) The Sinaitic MS. transposes the "once" or "once for all" (ἅπαξ) from "know" to "saved," and makes it answer to the "afterwards," or "the second time" (τὸ δεύτερον) which follows. In this it is supported by the Armenian Version and a single cursive of the fourteenth century.[117] If it were adopted, the sentence wou…
699 wordsSECTION 166Chapter Xxxiii.
The theory of verbal inspiration imports unnecessary and insuperable difficulties into the already sufficiently difficult problem as to the properties of inspired writings. It maintains that "the line can never rationally be drawn between the thoughts and words of Scripture;" which means that the only inspired Word of …
898 wordsSECTION 167Chapter Xxxiii.
"And angels which kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, He hath kept in everlasting bonds." This is St. Jude's second instance of God's vengeance upon gross sin, and this and the next are common to both Epistles. For the destruction of the unbelieving Israelites 2 Peter has the Deluge. The …
1,104 wordsSECTION 168Chapter Xxxiii.
It is specially worthy of remark that it is in these older portions of the _Book of Enoch_ that we meet for the first time in Jewish literature with the distinct conception of a general judgment. The idea is very frequent, and is expressed in a great variety of ways. Thus, what St. Jude calls "the Judgment of the Great…
716 wordsSECTION 169Chapter Xxxiv.
[116] W. & H. point out that ΟΤΙΟ = ὅτι ὁ might easily be corrupted into ΟΙΤΙ̅Ϲ̅ = ὅτι ἰησοῦς, or into ΟΤΙΚ̅Ϲ̅ = ὅτι κύριος. (vol. ii., p. 106. See also Scrivener, 3rd ed., p. 656). [117] The Latin translation of Clement of Alexandria has the same reading: "_Quoniam Dominus Deus semel populum de terra Ægypti liber…
650 wordsSECTION 170Chapter Xxxiv.
Like the men of Sodom, these profligates "defile the flesh." Like the angels who sold their birthright for base indulgences, they "set at nought dominion." But it is by no means easy to determine what this "dominion" or "lordship" (κυριότητα) signifies. Calvin and others interpret this and "dignities" or "glories" (δόξ…
792 wordsSECTION 171Chapter Xxxiv.
But a more interesting question lies before us as to the source from which St. Jude derived the story about Michael the archangel contending with the devil about the body of Moses. It is as unreasonable to suppose that he received a special revelation on the subject as to suppose that St. Paul received a special revela…
1,171 wordsSECTION 172Chapter Xxxiv.
That _The Assumption of Moses_ was written before our Epistle is almost universally admitted. Philippi is almost alone in thinking that its author was a Christian, and that he borrowed from St. Jude. Ewald, Dillmann, Drummond, Schürer, and Wiesler place it between B.C. 4 (the year of the war of Quintilius Varus, to whi…
768 wordsSECTION 173Chapter Xxxv.
[123] The Latin fragment has been several times published since Ceriani made it known in 1861; by Hilgenfeld in 1866 and 1876; by Volkmar in 1867; Schmidt and Merx in 1868; and by Fritzsche in 1871. A very full summary of literature on the subject is given in Schürer, _The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ_ (T.…
860 wordsSECTION 174Chapter Xxxv.
We cannot doubt that when St. Jude wrote the eucharist was still part of the agape or love-feast, as when St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians (A.D. 57, 58). It was still "the Lord's _Supper_" not merely in name, but in fact (1 Cor. xi. 17-34; Acts xx. 7-11). It is almost certain that when Ignatius wrote his Epistles (_c.…
825 wordsSECTION 175Chapter Xxxv.
In what follows St. Jude piles metaphor on metaphor and epithet on epithet, in the effort to express his indignation and abhorrence. But we cannot say that "no doubt also in the comparisons which he employs he has an eye to the original intention of the love-feast." It is somewhat forced to say that the love-feast "was…
953 wordsSECTION 176Enoch. St. Jude
And the way in which the prophecy is introduced makes us still more clear as to the source from which St. Jude derived it: "Enoch, _the seventh_ from Adam, prophesied." Nowhere in the Old Testament, and nowhere else in the New, is Enoch said to be "the seventh from Adam." But he is called "the seventh" in the _Book of …
818 wordsSECTION 177Enoch. St. Jude
It remains to give some further account of the intensely interesting writing which St. Jude appears to have used. The Books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah gave to the Jews a love of visions, revelations, and prophecies which at times was almost insatiable; and, when the gift of prophecy came to an end, the three cen…
1,000 wordsSECTION 178Enoch. St. Jude
Those who can should read the whole book in Laurence's translation, or still better in Dillmann's. But the more accurately translated portions given in Westcott and in Stanton will give some idea of the whole. The latter have been used in this chapter. The book is manifestly the work of a man of the most earnest convic…
602 wordsSECTION 179Chapter Xxxvi.
_THE DESCRIPTION CORRESPONDING TO BALAAM: IMPIOUS DISCONTENT AND GREED OF THE LIBERTINES. THE APOSTOLIC WARNING RESPECTING THEM._ "These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling words), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage. "But ye, beloved, re…
801 wordsSECTION 180Chapter Xxxvi.
"Showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage." This, again, is exactly what Balaam did. He had regard to Balak and the princes whom he sent as ambassadors; and he did this because he hoped to gain the large reward which they were told to promise him if he would but exercise his prophetic power in solemnly curs…
880 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.