Love to Christians on account of their likeness to Christ is a fruit of the Spirit, and an evidence of being born of God. It is also a means of promoting our love to Christ and the enjoyment of his presence. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16. This... [ Continue Reading ]
ENTERTAINED ANGELS; GENESIS 18:2-19; Genesis 19:1-3.... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER; sympathize with, pray for, and be ready, as you have opportunity, to assist THEM THAT ARE IN BONDS; whatever be the kind of bondage, especially those who are bound or imprisoned on account of their religion. IN THE BODY; and of course liable to similar trials. Love to Christians for Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
HONORABLE; right, proper, and for ministers of the gospel as well as others. As marriage is God's institution for the happiness of man and the prevention of fornication and other abominable vices, he who forbids or discourages it increases the temptations to these crimes, and exposes himself to the... [ Continue Reading ]
CONVERSATION; manner of life. COVETOUSNESS; inordinate regard for money or such things as money will procure. I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE, NOR FORSAKE THEE; the words occur in Deuteronomy 31:6, as a promise to all Israel, and again in 1 Chronicles 28:20, as a promise to Solomon. The apostle has simply... [ Continue Reading ]
THEM WHICH HAVE THE RULE; your leaders and guides; those who have proclaimed to you the will of God. THE END; of their earthly course; their peaceful, happy, joyful death. Acts 7:59-60; Philippians 1:23. These words should not be connected with the following verse, as is plain from the construction... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS CHRIST-FOR EVER; rather, Jesus Christ is the same, etc. Of course he can sustain, comfort, and bless you, as he did them.... [ Continue Reading ]
BE NOT CARRIED ABOUT; from one opinion to another; or, according to another reading, carried away, namely, from the right path. Adhere steadfastly to your steadfast Saviour, and the truth concerning him as ye have received it. NOT WITH MEATS; the Jewish distinctions of meats, and the whole ceremoni... [ Continue Reading ]
WE; Christians. HAVE AN ALTAR; a spiritual altar. We are spiritual priests, and partake by faith of Christ's body sacrificed for us; from which they are excluded who still depend on Jewish sacrifices.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE BLOOD IS BROUGHT INTO THE SANCTUARY; the reference is to the bullock and goat that were offered as sin-offerings in the great day of atonement, and whose blood was carried by the high-priest into the holy of holies, Leviticus 16:27. In being thus burned without the camp they typified the sacri... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH HIS OWN BLOOD; carrying it as their great High-priest into the true holy of holies, that is, into God's presence in heaven. Chap Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:24. WITHOUT THE GATE; JOHN 19:17-18.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US GO FORTH-WITHOUT THE CAMP; some, taking the Israelitish camp as a symbol of the Mosaic economy, suppose the meaning to be, Let us forsake Judaism, cleave to Christ, and suffer with him. But the more natural meaning of this verse is, Let us follow Jesus in his shame and suffering. BEARING HIS... [ Continue Reading ]
HERE HAVE WE NO CONTINUING CITY; our stay on earth will be short. This is a reason why we should cheerfully bear reproach with Jesus, that we may share with him the glory of the heavenly city that is to come.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY HIM; as our great High-priest, not by Jewish priests on Jewish altars. THE SACRIFICE OF PRAISE; the spiritual thank-offering of praise, which the Mosaic thank-offerings shadowed forth. THE FRUIT OF OUR LIPS; quoted after the Greek version from Hosea 14:2, where the Hebrew has, "the calves of ou... [ Continue Reading ]
TO COMMUNICATE; impart blessings as you have opportunity to the needy. It is not enough for men to be pious, devotional, and grateful: they must also be beneficent, disposed to communicate of their blessings to others. This they are prone to forget, and they need often to be reminded that it is with... [ Continue Reading ]
THEM THAT HAVE THE RULE; who guide you, by making known to you the will of God. SUBMIT YOURSELVES; to be governed by his will, which they declare. WATCH FOR YOUR SOULS; their object is to promote your salvation, by obeying God to whom they are accountable. WITH JOY; in having been instrumental of... [ Continue Reading ]
HONESTLY; uprightly, in a manner suitable to a minister of the gospel and an inspired apostle. Enlightened ministers of Christ often express a desire for the prayers of Christians on earth, but never ask or desire others to ask for them the prayers of Peter, Paul, Mary, or any of the saints in heave... [ Continue Reading ]
RESTORED TO YOU THE SOONER; be sooner able to visit you. Prayer is efficacious not only with regard to spiritual, but temporal things. It often enables persons to do what they otherwise could not do, and to confer and receive blessings of which they and others without prayer would fail. But in order... [ Continue Reading ]
THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT; these words are best connected with the preceding part of the verse. It was by virtue of the expiatory blood of Christ, by which he ratified the everlasting covenant of grace, that God raised him from the dead and exalted him to universal dominion. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Every thing thought, felt, or done by men which is holy and acceptable to God, is the fruit of his working in them both to will and to do. It comes to them in consequence of the death of Christ as a propitiation for their sins and the sins of the world; and to him all who feel and act rightly will g... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE COME SHORTLY; to me; for though set at liberty he was yet absent from the writer.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL-AND ALL THE SAINTS; the ministers and brethren of the churches. THEY; the Christians in Italy, whence this epistle was written, the great object of which was to enable the Jewish Christians rightly to understand the Old Testament, especially its rites and ceremonies, and to persuade them to per... [ Continue Reading ]