posing that the Father and the Son are one and the same Person. — Such expressions are an unanswerable proof that the Fathef and the Son are two distinct Persons, though one God. We must never forget the words of the Athanasian creed,— " Neiuier confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance."
28, 29. — [Afarvel not at this.] These words imply that the hearers of our Lord were astonished at the things He had spoken con- cerning His Divine commission to give life and to judge. He proceeds to tell them that they have not yet heard all. If they wondered at what they had already heard, what would they think when He told them one thing more ?
[The hour is coming.] This means the last day. To use the present tense of a time so distant as this is characteristic of one who is very God, to whom time past, time present, and time to come, are all alike, and a thousand years are as one day.
[All that are in the graves shall hear his voice..,come forth... dam- nation, etc.] These words are singularly like those in Daniel xii. 2. They contain one of the most distinct statements in Scrip- ture of that great truth, — the resurrection of the dead. — It shall be universal, and not confined to a few only. "AH "in the graves shall come forth, whether old or young, rich or poor. — It shall take place at Christ's command and bidding. His " voice" shall be the call that shall summon the dead from their graves.-^ There shall be a distinction of those who rise again, into two classes. Some shall rise to glory and happiness, — to what is called a " resurrection of life," Some shall rise to be lost and ruined for ever, — to what is called a " resurrection of damnation." — The doings of men shall be the test by which their final state shall be decided. " Life" shall be the portion of those tliat have " done good," " damnation" of those that " have done evil," in the resurrection-day.
(a.) This passage condemns those who fancy that this world is all, and that this life ends everything, and that the grave is the conclusion. They are awfully mistaken. There is a resurrection and a life to come.
(6.) This passage condemns those who try to persuade us in the present day that there is no future punishment, no hell, no condemnation for the wicked in the world to come, — that the love of God is lower than hell, — that God is too merciful and compassionate to punish any one. There is a " resurrection," we are told, "of damnation."
(c.) This passage condemns those who try to make out that resurrection is the peculiar privilege of believers and saints, and that the wicked will be punished by complete annihilation. Both heie and in Acts xxiv. 15 we are distinctly told that both bad
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and good shall rise again. In St. Paul's famous chapter about the resurrection (1 Cor. xt.), the resurrectioii of behevers only is treated of.
(d.) This passage condemns those who try to make out that men's lives and conduct are of little importance so long as they profess to have faith and to believe in Christ. Christ himself tells us expressly that the '' doings " of men, whether good or evil, will be the evidence that shall decide whether they rise again to glory or condemnation.
Musculus remarks that the goodness which God requires of us is not such as only begins in the next world, after the resurrec- tion. We must have it now, and it must precede the time of iudgment. It is not said, '' some shall rise again that they may be made good and partakers of life," but, " they that have done good shall come forth to a resurrection of life." We should take care to be such in this hfe as we desire to be found in the day of judgment. — He also remarks that our Lord does not say, *' those who have known or talked what is good," but, " those who have actually done good " shall come forth to a resurrection of life. Those only will be found to have " done good " who are Grod's elect, born again, and true believers. Nothing but true faith will bear the fruit of good works.
Calvin remarks that our Lord is not here speaking of the cause of salvation, but of the marks of the saved, and that one great mark which distinguishes the elect from the reprobate, is good doing.
There are two different Greek words used to express the Eng- lish words " they that have done," and it is difficult to say why. Precisely the same difference exists in John iii. 20, 21. The attempts made to explain the distinction between the two words do not appear to me very successful. For instance, — Wordsworth remarks : " Good made and done has permanence for ever. Evil is practised, but produces no fruit for eternity." Yet I doubt whether this remark will apply to Rom. i. 32, aud ii. 3, where both the two Greek words for " doing " are used together, and applied to the same clasa of persons, viz., the wicked.
It is thought by some that this passage supports the doctrine of the first resurrection as the peculiar privilege of the saints. (Rev. XX. 5.) But it must in fairness be remembered that there is nothing said here about distinction of time in the resurrection of the good and bad.
As to the manner in which Christ's " voice " will be heard by the dead ^' in the graves " we are told nothing. It is remark- able that there are two other places beside this in which a
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