The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 156

oak; that ie unJerstood. Ho will e.sk for "life "-for new life where there has ber-n none, for more life where it is feeble, for revived life where it is flagging. Note also the.t it ie here supposed that the intercesRory prayer will not loRe its point by wandering over general themes e.nd spheres, but will aim at laying the case of one sin,,,,ing brother before God. How much point and power would our prayers gain if they were more intercessory I How much force would accrue to intercessory prayer if it were more spcci fie! IV. A BOON BEOUnED. "He shall give him life for them that sin not unto ll.eath;" and theRo are those for whom the petitions are offered. 'fhere are fonr points to be noted. 1. The gift is life. This suggestive word includes all ~piritual good in each case as it is needed. 2. The Giver is God; the Divine name is not specified, but we cannot be in doubt, since (1) none but God can give life, and (2) it is to him the prayer is addressed, therefore from him the answer comes. 3. The gift of life is for those who have sinned, but not unto death. These are the wanderers whose case was borne upon the pleader's heart. 4. This gift of life for the dead and dying ones is God's gift to the anxious pleader. Beautiful gift! To see life from God coming to those for whom we pray is surely the largest gift our hearts can desire. It is the " open reward " of the prayers offered to the Father in secret. Not thousands of gold and silver, yea, not the wealth of worlds, can compare with a boon like this I What must be the joy of him who can point to a thousand living souls turned from the error of their ways in answer to his prayer 1 V. A QUESTION BESEBVED, "There is sin unto death" (not "a sin." Whether that be so or no, it is not what the apostle says here. He i~ speaking rather r,f the state than of a specific e.ct). Great obscurity rests on this phrase; for the reason given in division I., we regard it as necessarily meaning a state of sinning that is beyond the hope-line. 1. What is this state 1 Tbe following texts sum up nearly all that we know: John xv. 6; Luke xii. 10; Phil. iii. 19; Heb. vi. 4--6. (1) Severance from Christ; (2) the sin against tbe Holy Ghost; (3) apostasy; (4) final and fixed impenitence. Either of these is a state of" sin unto death." There are rocks out at sea in perpetual mist. Such is this rock cif fatal sin. We cannot ~ketch it, nor point out its exact locus. God keep us all far away from it I But granting such a case : 2. What is to be done 1 1 Is no intercessory voice to go up for such a one? The apostle is alarmindy silent. He does not say. An appalling thought is here brought into the field of vision. 'l'hat possibly a man may be so far gone in sin that not the fondest intercessor co11ld offer up a prayer for him, if he knew how far the sin had gone. We cannot venture to write on such a theme without fear and trembling. But we ask the reader to note the words we have italicized, "if he knew," etc. We are never in a position to pronounce a case hopeless ; hence there is nothing to bar our pleading for the worst of sinners. Besides, if a man be a man of prayer, the Spirit of God will guide him for whom to pray and what to pre.y for ; and wherever a praying man is borne along by God's Spirit to pru.y without ceasing for the conversion of this one or that one, such inward groaning, divinely born, is a pledge of a gracious answer. In the life of a medical missionary (Dr. Henderson) we are told by him that he had ten thousand cases under his care in the hospital. For some cases he could not open his lips in prayer. In other cases he was borne along to plead again and again for their recovery; and when tbis was so, he never lost a case. VI. 'l'HE BEBULT, when all such reserved cases are allowed for. The boon secured as touched on in division IV. will still remain, a witness to the power of prayer, a seal to the reality of communion with God, and a blessed reward for the "strong crying and tears" of the faithful pleader. Note: 1. "The apostolic teaching recognizes a my~terious dependence of man on man in the spiritual order, like that which is now being shown to exist in the physical order" (Canon Westcott). Even so. There are wandering souls whose wee.I is bound up with the intercession of the saints. 2. It is by tbis intercessory service that the priesthood of believers is to become a practical reality. We are "kings and priests unto God" (Rev. i. 6). No priest was ever made such for his own sake. Priests are for others. We are to go into the holy of holies, and there to bee.r precious souls upon our heart before God. 3. Whe.t vast possibilities of life a.re wrapped up in a believer's prayers I When the breath of prayer rises up 1 The obange of verb is remMkable-we have •P""'" instead of tlTfi11, rogare instead of pet.ue (eee Canon Westcott thereon).  THE FIRST E:t'ISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. [an. v. 1-4.