Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Revelation 22:11

Revelation 22:11. He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness still: and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy still: he that is righteous, let him do righteousness still: and he that is holy, let him be made holy still. It is not possible to separate these words from the last clause of Revelation 22:10 or from Revelation 22:12. But the question still remains, In what sense are they to be understood? Are they a warning to the wicked as well as the good, so that the former may repent while there is time? They can hardly be looked at in this light. There is no appearance of an exhortation to the wicked to repent either in the passage before us or in any other part of the Apocalypse; and in Revelation 22:12 ‘reward' only, not punishment, is spoken of. The Apocalypse is a book for the Church, although indirectly it appeals to the world. Or, do the words contain the truth that the mystery of God's dealings is finished, and that nothing more will be done by Him to lead men to change their state? This we must take to be the meaning, a meaning applicable not simply to the few moments immediately preceding the Lord's coming, but to the whole Christian era. The words contain that solemn lesson often taught in Scripture, but nowhere so impressively as in the writings of St. John, that the revelation of Christ is the final test of the character, and the final arbiter of the fate, of man. It is the revelation of that Light which appeals to the spark of light in the breast of every one. Will one listen to the appeal; will he follow that voice of his nature which bids him bring his light to the Light, then his little spark will be kindled into a bright ever-enduring flame. Will he close himself against the light, will he, because he loves the darkness, refuse to admit the light, then his darkness shall continue and deepen, and the little spark that might have been fanned into ever-increasing brightness will expire. Under the influences of the Gospel of Christ we make out our own destinies; we sow the harvest that we shall eventually reap. Such is the great moral spectacle upon which, as he surveys the history of man, the eye of St. John always rests. It is this that lends to the world its solemnity, and to the revelation that is in Christ Jesus its unspeakable importance. We need not remain unrighteous and filthy: we may not remain righteous and holy; but, whatever the changes that we experience, this is true, that we are fixing our own character and conduct every day we live, and that, if judgment overtake us at the last, the result will be traceable to no arbitrary decree, but to the manner in which, as moral beings, we met the conditions of that moral system in the midst of which we have been placed.

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Revelation 22:11

Old Testament

New Testament