_Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal._ I. The duty of masters. They are not required to abdicate their mastership, but to exercise it as a service for Christ. 1. Justice has reference to servants as workers. They are to receive fair remuneration. The price of labour is gen... [ Continue Reading ]
_Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving._ We are here instructed to pray with I. Earnest perseverance. 1. The word rendered’“ continue” means to apply with ardour and assiduity to any difficult and laborious thing until you shall have brought it to the wished-for end, and obt... [ Continue Reading ]
_Withal praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance._ THE PEOPLE’S PRAYER AND THE MINISTER’S WORK I. The persons for whom we must pray. “For us,” Paul, Timothy, etc. 1. Observe in general (1) That we ought to pray not for ourselves alone, but for others. (2) That roger... [ Continue Reading ]
_Walk in wisdom towards them that are without._ THE WISE CONDUCT OF LIFE The conduct of life is to be regulated-- I. According to the dictates of the highest wisdom. 1. Religion is a life. “Walk.” 2. Religion is a life shaped and controlled by the highest wisdom. “Walk in wisdom.” 3. Religion... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let your speech he alway with grace, seasoned with salt._ I. The exhortation. 1. What: Your speech. (1) It is not sufficient to order our life and actions well unless we at the same time regulate our words (James 1:26). (2) Not only is there danger of guilt and damnation from wicked actions, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
_All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you._ CHRISTIAN COMMENDATIONS AND SALUTATIONS “What is in a name!” Nothing, is the ordinary reply, but there may be much. The names of Solomon, Alexander, Napoleon, and Paul are associated with important events in history. Each is a record, and stirs up ad... [ Continue Reading ]
_With Onesimus a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you._ I. The person. Onesimus teaches us-- 1. To despise no one for his former misdeeds after he has come to his right mind. This Onesimus was once contemptible, useless, and a runaway slave, but after his conversion he was thought worthy... [ Continue Reading ]
_Aristarchus, my fellow-prisoner, saluteth you._ THE SALUTATIONS I. The duty of salutation. The Greek word signifies either to embrace, as we are accustomed to do one who has been long absent, or to salute by word of mouth or letter. This salutation is the auspicious prayer of health and happiness... [ Continue Reading ]
_Epaphras, who is one of you._ THE SYMPATHY OF CHRISTIANITY 1. If you think of Christianity as a great thought, a transcendental doctrine, a grand conception, you are right; and if you think the preacher is called upon to speak the language of earth in she accent of heaven and expound celestial my... [ Continue Reading ]
_Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you._ LUKE THE BELOVED PHYSICIAN At the moment of the transition of Christianity from Asia to Europe he was enrolled among St. Paul’s companions. We ascertain this by a change of a pronoun--“they” (Acts 16:6) , “we” (Acts 16:10). The same language is con... [ Continue Reading ]
_Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas._ EARLY CHURCH LIFE I. The brethren at Laodicea. This salutation teaches us-- 1. That brotherly love should flourish among all Christians. The philosophers of old said that “a wise man was a friend to a wise man, although unknown”; but we ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_When this Epistle is read among you, cause it to be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans._ I. The apostle wished his Epistle to be read in the whole Church. Hence observe-- 1. That the sacred Scriptures were not written for the clergy, but for all Christian people, and that the ordinary read... [ Continue Reading ]
_And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry._ Often men who were once faithful grow negligent in the ministry. 1. Sometimes from discouragements from their people, either because they profit not, or because they weary their teachers. 2. Sometimes this comes from the corruption of their own n... [ Continue Reading ]
_The salutation of me, Paul _ WORDS OF FAREWELL Last words have in them a nameless touch of pathos. They linger in the memory as a loved, familiar presence, soothe life’s sorrows, and exert upon the soul a strange fascination. As the years rush by, how rich in meaning do the words of dying lips b... [ Continue Reading ]