The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Thessalonians — Section 56

Ver. l6.-Fttl11ess of sins. "To fill up their sins alway.n This is a terrible and mpt~rious expression. Some light may be gained by considering it in relation to the history of the Jews, as it is of these people that it is here written. They had accnmulated sin upon sin in slaying Christ and the prophets, in expelling the apostles from their communion, and finally in hindering the Gentiles from receiving that gospel which they had rejected for themselves. But there was to come an end to this tale of wickedness. The time was drawing near when the Jews would no longer have power to hurt the cause of Christianity, and when swift punishment for their accumulated iniquities would descend in the destruction of their city and nation. They were hastenint to fill up the sine which must issue in this fearful doom. I. THE GREATEST SIN IS THAT OF BINNING WITHOUT RESTRAINT, It is a mistake to speak of every sin as of infinite guilt, or of all sins as equally guilty. Such an assertion is not only false, it tends either to despair or to reckless excess in sinning. However far one has gone in sin, it is better to stop than to go on to greater enormities. To be adding sin to sin, and to be sinning" al way," are signs of reckleBB, abandoned depravity. IL Timu: 18 A FULNESB OF BINS WHICH BRINGS ITS OWN PENALTY. When sin reaches thiB point the penalty can no longer be stayed. The cup once full flows over in wrath and ruin. It i.s as though forbearance and guilt were in the scales. When guilt is full the balance dips. There is an end to all possible long-suffering. The more men go on ID excesses of sin, the faster do they approach the inevitable day of reckoning. The .100ner the sin is filled up to the measure which passes endurance, the sooner m1111t the stroke of doom fall IIL FULNEsB oF SINS M:UBT LEAD TO FULNE88 OF PUNISBM:ENT. They who fill up their sins always will have the wrath " come upon them to the uttermost. n The worst debtor must be made to pay the last farthing. The swifter the rush downhill, the greater the crash at the bottom. The more tares that e.re sown in spring, the more bundles to burn in harvest. He who fills the present life with sins will have the next life filled with wrath. IV. 'l'HEBE SEEM:S TO BE A LIM:IT TO BINS. There is a fulness of sin& There ia no fulness of virtues; these can be developed indefinitely. The good man is growing up to a perfection. The bad man is being corrupted, not to a perfection, but to a fulness. Evil bas limit.a ; goodness has none, Satan is let loose for a time. G..d restrains the wrath of the wicked. Sin, throuah rebellion against God, cannot break away from all Divine control Sins e.re limited by several means: 1. Capacity. We have a limited power of sinning. 2. Time. God sometimes cuts the sinner off in the midst of his days, and brings the guilty nation to destruction. 3. Providential control. The fulness of sins is not the amount which God predestines to be committed, for God is not the author of sin nor does he will or permit it. This fulness is the measuro beyond which God sta'ys the evil from proceeding. When the tide of iniquity, driven onwards by rebellio1111 powers, reaches this fulness, God says, "Here shall thy proud waves be stayed,n and the storm beats itself ou& in impotent fury.-W. F. A. Ver. 18.-Hindered by &tan. Bt. Paul tells hie friends at Thesealonica that he was anxio1111 to revisit them, and that he made the attempt to do so more than once, but that he was hindered by Satan. The direct impediment may have been the 11ppoeition of his enemies (Acts xvii 13, 14); or it may ~a~e been_ bodily sic~~ess-~ a thorn in the flesh, a meBBenger of Satan." Whatever this 1mmed1ate and Vl8lble h1n- t:ll. 111. 1-lJ.J 'l'HE 1''1RS'f EPISTLK TO THE THESSALONIANS. 611