The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Thessalonians — Section 125

anawering the enda of their being in a Christian eoclety. But let them go on, and not, - while only a little away from the starting-point, suppose that they have reached fino.lity. Let ua, too, make the end of our being in a Christian society comfort and, especially, edification to all the members.-R. F. Vers. 12-22.-&hortations. l. DUTY 'IXIWARD THE PREBIDENTB. "But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you; and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's s~ke." The Greek bears that those who labour, preside, and admonish are all one class. From other places in the New Testament we must understand that the reference is to the class of the elders. " And when they had appointed for them elders in every Church ,111d he.<l praye<l with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed." " For this cause," Paul says to Titus, " left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and appoint elders in every city as I gave thee charge." From I Tim. v; 17 it appears that there were elders who sim'ply ruled, and others who both ruled and taught. The language employed in the descrip- tion of the elders here does not require a. restriction in the application to teaching elders. It can only be said tha.t the greater extent of their duties warrants a specie.I application to them. There is put forward the idea. of their being workeTs. In any office the first thing to be looked to is the amount of real honest work that is done in it. Cert&inly it is not meant that any eoclesia.stical office should be a sinecure. There was spiritual work to be done among the Thessa.lonians, and there were those who were appointed for the doing of it. These did their work even to wearines1. Next to their being workers, they were presidents. In 1 Tim. v. 17 the elders a.re described as thus ruling or presiding. In this presidency there is implied the possession of ecclesia.stica.l power; but it is with limitations. Believers stand in an immediate peTsonal relation w the Lord. But there is also the relation in which believers stand collectively to the Lord. In this relation Christ is not only President ; but there a.re those who in each Christian society preside in the Lord, i.e. they preside in his Name, they represent his authority in the rela.tion. To them belongs the power of the keys, or of admitting and excluding. To them it belongs to preside at the ordinance of the supper. To them it belongs to sit in judgment in matters connected with the efficient working of the society. As presidents, they are ale.o monitors, not restrictively teachers. It belongs to them a.s characterized by piety and practical wisdom, and as foremost in every good work themselves, in a special manner,in virtue of their office, to press duty on those over whom they have been placed, to stir up the negligent, to ad.minister rebuke to the erring. It ill the duty of the members of a Christian society toward their laborious pr011idents and monitors to knoto them. It is usUAl to take this knowing as equivalent to knowing with appreciation, which is afterward defined as esteeming in love. It seems better not to bring forward the ideas of esteem and love, but to think only of that on which the esteem and love are founded, viz. such a marking of the presidents as leads to their being esteemed and loved. The esteem is to be founded on the work belonging to their office. They are engaged in the Lord's work, in seeking the spiritual good of those over whom they have been placed. And as that is the most important of all kinds of work, they a.re no& only to be esteemed, but esteemed ea:ceed- ing highl,y for their work's sake. While they are to be esteemed, they are also to be loved. Love is to be the element in which the esteem is to have its subsistence and nourishment. They a.re not to be judged harshly, but, in love, a kindly new is to be taken of them, and their defects overlooked. IL Dun OF REGARDING THE PEACE OF THE CHRISTIAN CDIOLB. "Be at peace among yourselves." Our Lord exhorts the twelve in almost the same terms: "Be at peace one with another." The exhortation means that we are to cultivate toward the members of the Christian circle such good feeling as will dispose us not only to refrain from strife, but also to be on good term• with them. And if we a.re to be peaceably dis- posed, u we are elsewhere exhorted, toward all men, much more are we to be peace- ably dhpoled, &11 we are here exhorted, to those t.o whom we stand in nearer alliance and engagement, who are subjecta with D.11 of the same Prince of peace. The most fruitful cauae of congregations! or more widely eccleeiutical dispeaee iefondnessfor power rK h<mou,r. It was when the twelve had disputed one with another who was c& T, 1-28.J THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THEBSALONIANS. 1215