misery. Satan's kingdom is called the kingdom of darkness, and the wicked are the children of darkness ; and the state of final perdition is " outer darkness." Nothing can he more in- congruous than light and darkness, whether in the literal or figurative meaning of the terms. The attempt, therefore, of Christians to remain Christians and retain their inward state as such, and yet to enter voluntarily into intimate fellowship with the world, is as impossible as to combine light and dark- ness, hohness and sin, happiness and misery.
15. And what concord liath Christ Avith Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ?
What concord, {(rvfjL(j>o)V7]aLs,) " harmony of voice." How discordant or opposite are Christ and Belial ? How then can their followers agree ? The proper orthography of the word according to the Plebrew is Belial, as here in the received text. Many MSS. read Beliar, (agreeably to a common change of the 1 for r by the Jews w^io spoke Greek,) others Beliam. The word is properly an abstract noun signifying wo7'thless?iess, then toickedness. Hence the wdcked are called " sons of Belial," i. e. worthless. It is used as a concrete noun in 2 Sam. 23, 6. Job 34,18. "Wicked one," and hence, by 'way of eminence, for Satan, Avho is 6 TrovT^pd?, the evil one. Compare 1 Cor. 10, 21, where the hnpossibility of uniting the service of Christ and the service of Satan is presented in much the same terms as it is here. Christ is God manifest in the flesh ; Satan is the prince of darkness. How can they, or their followers agree ? Or what part (fj^^pts, in the sense ot'j^artici- 2mti07i, felloivship. Col. 1, 12) hath he that believeth with an infidel. In modern usage an unbeliever often means one des- titute of saving faith ; and an ififidel one destitute even of speculative fiiitli, one who denies tlie gospel to be a revelation from God. This is a distinction unknown to the Bible. The word here rendered infidel is in v. 14 rendered unbeliever. In the apostolic age all who professed faith of any kind were called believers, and unbelievers were infidels. It was as- sumed that the faitli possessed was genuine ; and therefore it was assumed that all believers were truly the children of God. A mere speculative believer and an infidel may agree well enough in their tastes, character and pursuits. There is no such incompatibility or antipathy between them, as the apos- tle assumes to exist between the (Trto-Tos and uTna-Tos) believer