The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 138

tei71s tn) eave his lire (1/tux/iv).Here are set not be able, by paying down e.11 earthly forth the high-:,st motives for courage, en- goods, together witb the ee.rth itself, to d_ursnoo, and perseverance in the way of redec1n even.one soul" (Ohrys., 'Hom.,' lv.). nghteonsnellB. The word translated "life" The value of the son! ia often expreBBed in is used four times in this and the following classical adngea. verse, though in the latter it is rendered "soul" in the Anglican Version. The fact 'l'vxli• ')'lip obll/., ltrT1 ,,-,µ.,,l,Tfpov. is the word is used in two senses: for the "Naught is of higher value tho.n the eoul." life which now is-the bodily life: and Ob ')'ap ,,., ,j,uxijs ,r[A.., li111lpa<r1 ,t>lJ,,,TEpov liM<>- the life which is to oome-tbe spiritual, "Naught unto men is dearer the.n the life." the everlasting life. These are indeed two stages of the enme life-that which is So Homer, 'Iliad,' ix. 401- bounded by earth o.nd that which is to be " For not _the stores which Troy, they say, passed with the glorified body in heaven; oontamed but they are for the moment regarded as In peaceful times, ere came the sons of distinct, though intimately connected by Greece, belonging t.o the same personality. And Nor all the treasures which Apollo's the Lord intimates that any one who avoids shrine, bodily death and suffering by compromise The archer-god, in rock-built Pythoe of duty, by denying Christ and disowning holds, the truth, shall lose everlasting life. On May weigh with life . . . the other hand, whosoever sncrilices his life But when the breath of man hath passed for the sake of Christ, to promote his cause, his lips, shall save his soul nnd be eternally re- Nor strength nor foray can the loss repair." warded. Shall ind it. "Find," a.a the oppo- (Lord Derby.) site of" lose," is here equivalent to "save." Ver. 27.-For the Son of ma.n shall come. There mav, too, be in it a notion of some- The final judgment would put things in thing great and unexpected, a. treasure di..i- their trne light-would show the ve.lue of covered, "ea.Ive.tion far beyond all that they self-sacrifice, would reveal the punishment looked for" (Wied. v. 2). Se.ye St. Gregory, of self-pleasing. Our Lord seems to refer " If yon keep your seed, yon lose it; if yon to Dan. vii. 13, as it were, in testimony to sow it, yon will find it again " (' Hom. in the truth of whnt he had just said. Shall Evang.,' x::r:xii.). oome; µ.tM•1 lpx•trOa,: 1ienturu, est (Vul- Ver. 26.-.P'or what is a man (shall a man gate), is more than the ha.re announcement, be) profited ! This verse explains the para- and implies that it is in accordance with dox concerning loss and gain in the previous the eternal counsels of God that he should verse. H is probably intended as a remin- appear this second time. In the glory ot iscence of Pe. xliL 7, 8. Wordsworth notes his .Father. As one with the Father, and that it is quoted by Ignatius, 'Ep. ad Rom.,' his Representative. So he speaks of "the vi; bnt it is probably an early interpolation glory which thou ho.at given me" (John there. The whole world. It is but a trifle xvii. 22). Beward; d,rollC:.tr•a: render, reci- of the wholo world, with its riches, honours, det (Vnlgate). The term includes punish- pleasure6, which the most successful ma.n ment as well as recompense. Worka(,rpii(w); can obtain; but granted it all lay a.t his doing, t11ork. The word does not signify feet, how would it repay him for the loss isolated acts, but general course of conduct, of everlasting life? Lose hi.I own soul (Ufe) practice as a whole. ('r¾/• ,j,vx¾w alrroii (71µ.u.,Bff). The phrase Ver. 28.-This veree has always been a means" suffer loss in respect of," equivalent crux to commentators, who cannot deoide to "forfeit,'' &11 in Luke ix. 25. "Life" what iB the event to which it refers. Many, here is the higher life, the life in God. taking it in connection with the preceding The Vnlga.te renders, .1foi111lll f!ero ,u~ de- announcement, refer it exclusively to the trimentum patiatur. In exchange j l,,,,...c£>... day of judgment; but this idea is not oom- Nryµa.: Vulgate, commutationem; aa an patible with Christ's assertion that some equi'Dal,ent for hia life. Or, it may be, to present shall see it ere they die. Nor can purchase back his life. "Again, Le dwells it refer to Christ's resurrection and aeceneion, upon the same point. 'What? hut thon and the mission of the Holy Ghost, whioh another soul to give for this eoul?' saith took place only half a year after thie time, he. 'Why, shouldst thou lose money, and the prediction of which so short a time thou wilt be able to give other money; or before could not have been introduced in be it house, or slaves, or any other kind of the terms here used. Other expositors, and possession; but for thy soul, if thou lose it, some of great name, agree that the event to thou wilt have no other sonl to give; yea, which Christ alludes is his tranaflgnriition though thou hadst the world, though thou narrated in the next chapter. Bnt there wast king of the whole earth, thou wouldat are insuperable objeotiolll to this view. ea. xv1. 1-28.) THE GOSPEL ACCOilDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 141