Correspondence.

R. H. —What is the meaning of John 14:2121He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)? Is the manifestation present or future? We have in the context what the Lord promises in view of His absence. By-and-by He would come again that they might go to be with Him (vs. 3); but meanwhile He would come to them (vs. 18), and the Spirit Who was to be given would make that presence known and enjoyed (vs. 20). But He also shows (vs. 21) that an obedient walk is necessary to that manifestation. Keeping the commandments of Jesus is a proof of the saint’s love, and the reward is a special sense of the Lord’s presence. The manifestation is therefore present and spiritual (contingent, however, on obedience), in contrast with the future public manifestation to the world (Col. 3:44When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)).
E. H. B. —Will you explain James 5:19, 2019Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. (James 5:19‑20)? James looks here at the working of divine love in the heart of the saints in seeking one astray from the truth with a view to the forgiveness of his sins. Love ever desires not the exposure, or perpetuation, but the blotting out of sins. The reward of such who thus become the means of converting a sinner is the salvation of a soul from death and the covering of a multitude of sins (Prov. 10:1212Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. (Proverbs 10:12); 1 Peter 4:88And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)). The principle seems general, as usual in this epistle, and therefore applies to the restoration of backsliders as well as to the salvation of the lost.
B. S. — (1) Who are “the sheep, the goats, and the brethren” in Matthew 25? At the Lord’s public appearing, the Gentile nations, then alive on the earth, are gathered before Him to be judged. They are divided into two classes (the sheep and the goats), according as they have either received or rejected the testimony of God by the Jewish preachers of the gospel of the kingdom (whom the Lord calls His brethren). (2) Please explain more fully “clothed” and “naked” (2 Cor. 5:33If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. (2 Corinthians 5:3)). The apostle is speaking of his own earnest desire and that of other saints to be clothed upon with the house which is from heaven, that is, to assume the spiritual bodies which they will possess throughout eternity. But he adds a solemn warning. “If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.” For every unforgiven sinner, though clothed in a resurrection body, will be “naked” before God, that is, not covered by Christ. Every saint will not only be in a spiritual body, but in Christ also Who is his acceptance before God.