WHETHER the parable of the importunate widow was uttered as the sequel to the preceding discourse, I am not prepared to say; but this at least is plain, that the parable connects. itself very naturally with what had just gone before, though there seems to me a more general form of the truth also (as is common with our Evangelist) so as to fit in admirably with what follows. It forms, therefore, a pendant as well as a transition.
But the connection with chapter 17 is of importance if it were only to guard from the unfounded idea that its direct application is ecclesiastical, that the widow is the Church, and the judge her God and Father in heaven. Such notions are as far as possible from the context, as well as the contents of the parable; and the error lies incomparably deeper than missing the scope of the Scripture before us. It is of the deepest moment to understand as a Divine truth, in our estimate of relationship with God, that Israel was in the position of the married wife (Jer. 2; Ezek. 16) with Jehovah; whereas the marriage-supper of the Lamb is not celebrated till after the saints, changed into His likeness, are translated to heaven, and Babylon has been judged under the last vial of God’s wrath. (Rev. 19) Hence, whatever the anticipative power of faith in realizing our place as the bride before the consummation, and whatever the closeness of exhortation founded on Christ’s relation to the Church, the apostle speaks of betrothing us to one man or husband to present as a chaste virgin to Christ. So, on the other hand, the specific form of Israel’s unfaithfulness was adultery, as we hear so often in the prophets. But it is not so in Christendom, where the grievous corruption is designated under the figure of a great harlot, not an adulteress. (Revelation 17.) The assumption that we are like Israel, the married wife, falsifies our attitude both toward our Lord Jesus and toward the world. It Judaises the Church instead of leaving her in her proper place of waiting for Christ in holy separateness from the world.
Babylon the great, who falsely arrogates this place to herself, naturally follows it up by saying in her heart, “I sit a queen and I am no widow” (as poor Zion is) “and shall see no sorrow”; and so she has glorified herself and lives deliciously. “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.” But here have we no continuing city, though we seek one to come; and in this world we look for tribulation, and through much tribulation to enter the kingdom, being content, yea joyful to show Christ’s rejection where He was put to shame and death, and assured of appearing with Him when He appears in glory. Hence, though we suffer meanwhile with Christ, and glory in affliction, distress, and insult for His name’s sake, it is not as orphans or as widowed; for we enjoy the adoption of sons to our God and Father, and are one spirit with the Lord; but for this very reason we are in the secret of the Divine counsels, and await His coming who is on high, not of the world as He is not, till the day arrives for Him to take the world kingdom and for us to reign with Him. Thus we “reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us.” Refusing to assume the air of the wife in rest and possession of His inheritance, we feel that our sorrow here is joined with the communion of His love before He comes to receive us to Himself and to display us with Himself before the world.
In short, then, the parable touches the godly Jewish Remnant rather than the Christian when we come to the exact application of the widow; and this falls in aptly with those saints involved in the judgment of the quick described just before, where one shall be taken and the other left — an earthly scene, it is plain, without a word implying translation to heaven. Still, the Holy Spirit gives the exhortation a more general bearing and with the moral purpose we have so often remarked in our Evangelist. Every saint should profit by it.
“And he spoke also a parable to them, to the purport that they should always pray, and not faint, saying, There was a judge in a city, not fearing God, and not respecting man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came445 to him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary; and he would not for a time; but afterward he said within himself, If even I fear not God, and respect not man,446 at any rate because this widow annoys me, I will avenge her, that she may not by perpetual coming completely harass447 me.”
The reflection which the Lord adds as its second part and application makes all plain to the instructed ear. “And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God at all avenge his elect, who cry to him day and night, and he bears long as to them. I say unto you that he will avenge them speedily. But when the Son of man cometh, shall he indeed find faith on the earth?” It is an à fortiori analogy, which no more views the unjust judge as God than the unjust steward449 in chapter 16 means the disciple. In the two cases it is a powerful or a consolatory appeal. Jesus would encourage one always to pray without fainting if the answer seem to tarry and evil to abound. Even the unrighteous judge would rather see to the right of the most friendless and feeble than be ever stunned with appeals. How much more shall not God interfere on behalf of His elect against their enemies! It is true that He bears long as to His own; but he will avenge them soon, as all will own when the blow falls.
The attentive reader will note that the deliverance as well as the prayers are Jewish in character, not patient grace like the Christian’s. It is not by their going up to meet the Lord, but by Divine judgment on their foes. Still, the e is real faith in thus crying day and night to God, Who, if He delay, is not slack concerning His promises, but is bringing souls to repentance that they too might be saved. And there is perseverance till the answer is given. When the Lord comes, there are elect saints already glorified with Him (Rev. 17:14; 19:1414These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. (Revelation 17:14)
14And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)) but here they are on earth crying to God till He takes vengeance on those who wronged them. It would seem also, from the question which the Lord puts and does not answer, that faith will be rare then as in the days of Noah and Lot, when few were saved and some nearest to the saved were lost — so feeble and fluctuating the faith, too, that only He could find it.450
The next section of our Gospel sets forth, first by a parable, then by facts, lastly by the words which passed between the Lord and the twelve, the characteristics which suit the kingdom of God. The connection is with this as we know it now, rather than with its display when the Son of man comes in judgment of the quick as in the preceding parable. Indeed, the exceeding breadth of the lesson about to be taught we learn in the words with which the Evangelist opens: “And he spoke also to some, who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and made nothing of all the rest [of them], this parable.” It is no dispensational picture of the Divine ways with Jews. and Gentiles; it is a moral delineation which tells us how God regards those who plume themselves On their correctness of ways as a ground of confidence with Him, and, what His estimate is of those who are broken before Him because of their conscious and now to themselves loathsome sinfulness.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus to himself: God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-gatherer. I fast twice in the week, I tithe everything that I acquire. And the tax-gatherer, standing afar off, would not lift up even his eyes to heaven, but was striking upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me the sinner. I say unto you, this [man] went down to his house justified rather than that [other]; for every one who exalted himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
The Pharisee represents the religious world in its most respectable shape; the tax-gatherer, such as had no character to lose, but whatever he may have been, now truly penitent and looking to God’s compassion in self-judgment. How different are the thoughts of God from those of men! A delicate difference is implied in the two forms of the word which we translate “standing” in each case. With the Pharisee the form (σταθείς) implies a stand taken, a putting himself in position, such as one might naturally do in addressing a speech to an assembly. With the tax-gatherer it is the ordinary expression for standing in contradistinction to sitting ἑστώς).451
Again, the essence of the Pharisee’s prayer, if prayer it can be called, is not a confession of sin nor an expression of need even, but a thanksgiving; and this, not for what God had done and been for him, but for what he himself was. He was not, like the rest of men, violent and corrupt, nor even as the tax-gatherer, of whom he cannot speak without a tinge of contempt — “this tax-gatherer.” He finally displays his own habits of fasting452 and of religious punctiliousness. Not that he laid false claims; not that he excluded God, but he trusted, as a ground for acceptance, to his righteousness, and he made nothing of others. He never saw his own sins in the sight of God.
The tax-gatherer, on the contrary, is filled with shame and contrition. He stands afar off with not even his eyes raised to heaven, and beats withal on his breast, saying, “God be compassionate to me, the sinner if ever there was one.”453 There is no solid reason to infer that he pleads the Atonement in the word ἱλάσθητι. No doubt the idea of propitiating is expressed by the verb; but it is used far more widely, like its kinder world in Matt. 16:2222Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. (Matthew 16:22), in where no o e could suppose such an allusion. Whatever the origin or usage of the word, we are not to suppose that the tax-gatherer in employing it thought of the day of atonement, or of the mercy-seat in the holiest; still less are we warranted to attribute to him an intelligence of the mighty work of redemption which Jesus was soon about to accomplish. The word might allude to propitiation; but that he did so in his crying to God thus is another matter altogether. We easily transfer to souls before the death of Christ a knowledge which, however simple and clear to us since the Cross, could not be possessed before.
And this misapprehension has led to another, that the Lord was here pronouncing the tax-gatherer justified as we are who believe in the Lord Jesus and His blood. But this is not the teaching of the passage. The strong assertion of Archbishop Trench that it is, and the fact that Roman Catholic theologians deny it, need neither allure nor deter. It is in vain to say that the sentence of our Lord is that the publican was justified by faith at the time when he is described as going down to his house. There is a distinct comparison with the Pharisee, and it is affirmed that the tax-gatherer went down justified rather than the former. Had justification by faith been meant as in Rom. 3-5, no such statement could have been made. There are no degrees in the justification of which Paul speaks; the Lord implies that there are in what He speaks of. Besides the form of the word differs. He is said to have gone down, not δικαιωθείς absolutely, but δεδικαιωμένος... παπῤ ἐκεῖον/454 I do not doubt that this is the true text.
The common English version seems quite correct, though founded, no doubt, on the vulgarly received text, ἢ ἐκῖνος.
The great mass of Uncials and cursives join in giving the strange reading ῆ γᾶρ εκενος followed even in his eighth edition. by Tischendorf, spite of the Sinai MS. which casts its weight into the scale of the Vatican (B) and Parisian 62 (L), not to speak of D with its not infrequent additions, and some few other authorities.
Dean Alford shows us the danger of misapplying the case to justification, which is his own view, by the remark he adds: “Therefore, he who would seek justification before God must seek it by humility and not by self-righteousness.” It is the more to be regretted that this glaring error should have been made by one who had just confessed that we are not to find any doctrinal meanings in ἰλάσθητι. It would have been more consistent not to have pressed δεδικαιωμένος similarly.455
From the homily on lowliness in view of our sins we are now to receive another, lowliness because of our insignificance. “And they brought to him also infants that he might touch them; but the disciples when they saw [it] rebuked them. But Jesus calling them to [him] said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter into it.”457 The babes were of great price in the eyes of Jesus, not of the disciples, who, if not rabbis themselves, would have lowered their Master to the level of such an one in contempt of little ones. But this could not be suffered, for it was not the truth. Neither the Son nor the Father so feel toward the weak and evidently dependent. Nor is this all: “of such is the kingdom of God.” Those who enter into His kingdom must by grace receive the Saviour and His word as a child that of its parents. Self-reliance is excluded and replaced by dependence on God in the sense of our own nothingness.
Next comes the young and rich ruler, who went away sorrowfully from Christ rather than give up the self-importance attached to his manifold possessions. “And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Teacher, having done what shall I inherit life eternal?457a And Jesus said to him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, God./458 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother.458a And he said, All these things have I kept from my youth. And Jesus on hearing [this] said to him, One thing is lacking to thee yet: sell all that thou hast and distribute to poor [men], and thou shalt have treasure in the heavens; and come, follow me. But he on hearing these things became very sorrowful, for he was exceedingly rich. And Jesus having seen him [become very sorrowful said, How difficult shall those who have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to enter through a needle’s eye than for a rich [man] to enter into the kingdom of God.”
The case is plain. The young ruler had no sense of sin, no faith in Christ as a Saviour, still less did he believe that a Divine person was there, which indeed Ito must be to save sinners. He appealed to Jesus as the best expression of goodness in man, the highest in the class in which he counted himself no mean scholar. The Lord answers him on the ground of his question. Did he ask the Lord as the good master or teacher, what thing doing he should inherit eternal life? He took his stand on his own doing: he saw not that he was lost and needed salvation. It had never occurred to him that man as such was out of the way, none good, no, not one. That Jesus was the Son of God and Son of man. sent to save was a truth to him unknown. The Lord brings in the commandments of the second table: but his conscience was untouched: “All these things have I kept from my youth.”458b “One thing is lacking to thee yet,” said Jesus to the self-satisfied yet dissatisfied ruler, conscious that he had not eternal life and that he had no solid security for the future: “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.” The conscience which had resisted the test of law fell at the first touch of Jesus. “And hearing this he became very sorrowful, for he was exceedingly rich.”459
Yet how infinitely did the demand fall short of what we know and have in the Master, good indeed, God indeed, who never laid on others a burden which He had not borne,460 who bore one immeasurably greater and under circumstances peculiar to Himself, and for ends redounding to the glory of God, and with the result to every sinful creature on earth of a testimony of grace without limit, and of a blessing without stint where He is received! To the ruler it was overwhelming, impossible, the annihilation of all he valued; for indeed now it was evident that he loved his riches, money, mammon, a thing he had never suspected in himself before; but there it had been all along, discovered now in presence of and by Him Who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. The ruler valued his position and his property, and could not bear to have nothing and be nothing, Oh, what a contrast with Him who “counted it not a matter of robbery to be on equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking a bondsman’s form, born in likeness of men; and who, when found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself by becoming obedient as far as death, yea death of the cross.”
How plain, too, that worldly prosperity or wealth, fruit of fidelity according to the law, is a danger of the first magnitude for the soul, for eternity! And Jesus did not fail to draw the searching moral for the disciples, ever slow, through unjudged selfishness, to learn it. They knew not yet to what Christians are called, even to be imitators of God as dear children, and to walk in love according to the pattern of Christ. It is all but impossible, it is impossible, as far as man is concerned, for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.461 “And who can be saved?” is the remark of those who heard a sentence so counter to their secret desires.462 Jesus replied, “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.” 462a There is no other hope of salvation. It is of God, not of man. Yet to save cost God everything, yea His own Son. And “if the righteous are with difficulty saved, where shall the impious, and the sinner appear?” And why wonder at the danger to a rich man through the unrighteous mammon? None can serve two masters. Happy he who through grace makes wealth to be only for Christ’s service, looking to have the true riches his own in everlasting glory!
“And Peter said, Behold we have left all. things and have followed thee. And he said to them, Verily I say unto you, There is no one who hath left home, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who shall not get manifold more at this time, and in the age that is coming life eternal.”463 But if Peter was thus prompt to speak of their losses for Christ, who certainly repays as God only can both now and through eternity according to the riches of His grace, “he taking the twelve to [him] said to them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things written by the prophets of the Son of man shall be accomplished; for he shall be delivered up to the nations and shall be mocked, and insulted, and spit upon; and when they have scourged him they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.” Again, what a contrast even with the thoughts and hopes of disciples! Alas! “they understood none of these things; and this word [or matter] was hidden from them, and they did not know what was said.” So it ever is where the eye is not single, By faith we understand. Where nature is still valued by saints, the plainest words of Jesus are riddles even to such.465
The final scene approaches. Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem and to present Himself in the flesh to the Jews for the last time. Our Evangelist slowly traces this journey (chapters. 9:51; 13:22, 31, 33; 17:11; 18:31; 19:28, 29, 37, 41), with the infinite consequences which flow from that cross which, to human eyes, was His rejection, but which faith knows to be the glorifying of God forever, as well as the only possible ground of salvation for sinners.
Jericho held a remarkable place as the way to Jerusalem from the Jordan, and of old, when it stood in its might, the key of the position. Hence its solemn destruction under Joshua; hence the curse pronounced on him who should dare to rebuild it. But there Elisha, after the translation of Elijah and his own crossing through the miraculously parted river, healed the waters. So here the Lord, drawing towards the close of His long and last journey, after the transfiguration, performs a miracle of mercy on the blind man. It was an especial sign of His Messiahship; and rightly, therefore, led of God, did the blind man call on Him as Son of David: so the three synoptic Gospels carefully record.
It is to be observed, however, that not Mark nor Luke, but Matthew records the fact that two blind men were healed at this time. F know that the son further, Mark, who as usual adds details of the most graphic description, lets us know that the son of Timæus, Bartimæus, was thus healed as the Lord was going out of Jericho, Matthew also intimating that it was on leaving, not entering, the place. Luke, on the other hand, has been generally supposed to say that the miracle was performed on entering Jericho. So all the old English translations, Wickliff, Tyndale, Geneva, Cranmer, the Rhemish, as well as the Authorized: so the Latin, Syriac, and other ancient versions, with most moderns.
But it appears to me that the Greek phrase is so constructed as to avoid any such conclusion, and that, the genuine, unforced meaning is “while he was near to Jericho.”
According to the usage of the New Testament there might have been ground for the objection raised, if Luke had employed the genitive absolute. In strict grammatical nicety there is nothing to tie the sense to the entry into Jericho; it means equally well, as far as language is concerned, while the Lord was in the neighborhood.
I cannot doubt that what weighed with translators in general is the fact that chapter 19 opens with the Lord’s entering and passing through Jericho. Hence it was assumed that the previously mentioned circumstance must have preceded this in time. And it must be owned if Luke, as a rule, adhered to the order of occurrence in his account, it would be most natural to translate chapter 18:35 as in the Authorized Version. But it has been shown throughout our Gospel that he adopts another and deeper order than the mere sequence of events, and habitually groups the words, works, and ways of our Lord in moral connection, whenever it is needful to this end, putting together what may have been far apart in time.
In the present case it seems to have been in the mind of the Spirit that all three who dwell on the Galilean ministry of Christ should mark Jericho and the healing of the blind there as a common starting-point before His formal appearance in Jerusalem. We can understand, therefore, why Luke, even if the incident of Zacchæus occurred after the miracle, should, according to his manner, postpone his account of it till he had told us of the blind man healed. But there seems to have been a yet stronger reason of a similar character in the fact that, if the healing had been introduced after Zacchæus, when have no doubt) it really took place, adherence to the mere chronology of the facts would have spoiled the very impressive order actually adopted, in which we see the tale of Zacchæus, with salvation brought to his house though a chief tax-gatherer, followed at once by the parable of the pounds, which together beautifully set forth the general character and differing objects of the two advents of the Lord, who was about suffer as the Ground of righteousness and salvation for the lost, instead of at once establishing His throne in Zion as others fondly thought.
If this were the design of the inspiring Spirit, as I conceive it certainly to b, gathered from the special character traceable throughout its course, it does not seem possible to suggest any other order, so admirably calculated to convey it as that which is pursued. Hence the point in verse 35 was to choose a phrase which, while not breaking the thread of the narrative, and, of course, in. words thoroughly consistent with the exact truth, should nevertheless convey the thought of a time or state during which, the particular act related took. place. This, in my opinion, has been done perfectly in the language of Luke: so much so that, granting the aim to be as I suppose, no man can desire better words to combine what is intimated, or to avoid, a false inference for all aware of that design. If, on the contrary, men, however learned, assume a bare order of fact, this naturally would influence their translation; and so I think we may fairly account for the common mistake.
Accordingly there is no need of resorting to any of the various methods of reconciling Luke’s account with Matthew and Mark. We are not driven to the harsh supposition that Luke’s blind man was healed before entering Jericho, and that the news of this reached Mark’s blind man, Bartimæus, so that he went through a similar process of appeal on the Lord’s exit, as Origen and Augustine supposed in early days, Greswell, etc., in our own time. Nor is it necessary (though undoubtedly quite legitimate, and the fact elsewhere) to suppose that Matthew combined the two instances in one summary. Less reasonable is the view of Euthymius, who will have it that all three instances were distinct, and, therefore, that four blind men were healed at this time near Jericho. Nor is there any substantial ground to argue, as men have done from Calvin to Wordsworth, that the blind man began crying as our Lord approached Jericho, but was not healed till another joined him outside, and both received sight as Jesus left the place. Still more violent are the hypotheses of Markland and of Macknight. The truth is that there is nothing in this to reconcile, all that being evidently harmonious, when the language of Luke is seen to be such as falls in with the time and place described more precisely by Matthew and Mark. It may be well, however, to add that Matthew elsewhere names two where Mark and Luke as here speak only of one, as in the case of the demoniacs. (Compare Matthew 8:28-3428And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. 34And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. (Matthew 8:28‑34) with Mark 5:1-201And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. 8For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. 10And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 11Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. 14And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 16And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 17And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 18And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. 19Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. 20And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. (Mark 5:1‑20) and Luke 8:26-3926And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. 27And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. 29(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) 30And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. 31And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. 32And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. 33Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. 34When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 36They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. 37Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. 38Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. (Luke 8:26‑39).) See also Matthew 9:27-3127And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. 28And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. 29Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. 30And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. 31But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. (Matthew 9:27‑31).
This was all right, when the fact (as here) warranted it, in one writing especially for Jews, with whom it was a maxim to demand at least two witnesses. The other Evangelists were each led to dwell only on the one that best suited the design of his own Gospel.
It is striking also to note that as there was a reason why Matthew, and not Mark nor Luke, should record pairs which were healed, so there is the strongest indirect evidence in this against the very poor theory that the omissions of the first Evangelist were supplied in measure by the second, and yet more by the third and so on. For it was the earliest who in these instances speaks of the two; which is irreconcilable, on the supplementary theory,466 with the second and third mentioning but one. The Holy Spirit made them by His power the vessels for setting forth the various glories of Jesus the Son of God on the earth. Each had his own line given and perfectly carried out, and fact or sayings are recorded by each, whether reported by the others or not, as they bore on his proper objects.
“And it came to pass when he was in the neighborhood of Jericho, a certain blind man was sitting by the wayside begging;467 and when he heard the crowd passing, he asked what this might be. And they told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by, and he called aloud, saying, Jesus, Son of David, pity me. And those in advance rebuked him that he should be silent; but he kept crying much more, Son of David, pity me. And Jesus stopped and ordered him to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, What wilt thou that I should do for thee? An he said, Lord, what that I should receive my sight. And Jesus said, Receive sight: thy faith hath healed thee. And immediately he received sight, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people saw, and gave praise to God.”
The Lord was still the rejected One, not understood even by His disciples, yet with a heart towards the most lowly and wretched in Israel who cried to Him in faith. The blind man near Jericho was one of them, and seized the moment of His presence, made known to his sightless eyes by the heedless noise of those who seeing saw not. Blindness in part had happened to Israel in good sooth, blindness most of all to such of them as least acknowledged it. Here was one who, near the city of the curse, dared to confess Him to be the Messiah Whom the religious chiefs had long desired to destroy, and sooner than they hoped were to be allowed to do so, and yet they dared to ask of Him that sign of opening the eyes of the blind peculiar to the Son of David, as even rabbinical tradition confessed. The story of His gracious power was not lost on the blind man. Now was his opportunity: might it not be the last? He called aloud; and the more rebuked, the more by far he cried. If to others Jesus was but the Nazarene, to him none other than David’s Son. “Son of David, pity me.” And never in vain goes forth the appeal of distress to Him. How pleasant in His ears the persistent call on His name! Jesus stops, commands hint to be brought, inquiries into his want, and gives all he asks. So will He in the day of His power when Israel (the remnant becoming the people) shall be made willing, shall call on Him and find sight, salvation, and every other god thing to the praise and glory of God.468
But it was still the day of His humiliation, of Israel’s blind and willful unbelief; and Jesus steadily pursued His sorrowful path to the Holy City about to perpetrate the most unhallowed deed of this world’s sad history.
Endnotes
445 Verse 3. — “Came”; or, “kept coming” (imperf.). Cf. Ecclesiasticus 35:11 ff.
446 Verse 4. — “The creed of a powerful atheist” (Bengel).
447 Verse 5. — “Completely harass” or “plague.” Cf. “wear out,”
448 Verse 7. — The αὐτοῖς would be either, as the Expositor take, it, the “elect” Remnant (cf. Matt. 24:2222And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:22), Rev. 6:9-119And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6:9‑11)); or, the adversaries (cf. 2 Pet. 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)). Field “He deferred His anger on their behalf” (that of the elect). Cf. further, Ps. 8:1f., 55:17 and 94:1-4; also Prov. 9:1111For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. (Proverbs 9:11); Ecclesiasticus 35:18.
For “and he” American Revv. have “and (yet) he.”
449 Cf. Ps. 36: 1 and 94:20, which latter some (as B. W. Newton) have understood as predicted of the Beast’s legislation, but the Psalmist seems to speak there of judicial, rather than political oppression, “seat” representing tribunal (Jennings and Lowe).
450 Verse 8. — See Isa. 60:22For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:2), Matt. 24:1212And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12), 2 Thess. 3:22And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. (2 Thessalonians 3:2) and 2:10 of that Epistle for the few believers on the earth then. Cf. Bruce ad loc. Jewett of Balliol, in sermon at St. Mary’s, Oxford (1872), paraphrased thus: “What prospect is there of any great moral or religious improvement among mankind?” Farrar well says that such faith as the Son of Man will find among men will be faith in themselves.
Dr. Arnold has a sermon preached from this verse (“Christian Life,” p. 20).
“The (or, that) faith,” τὴν πίστιν. This is variously taken as (a) such faith as the widow’s, typical of the Remnant (Exposition, and so very much B. Weiss); (b) personal faith in general; (c) Christianity (Canon Scott Holland, in sermon at St. Paul’s). Dr. Frederic Harrison, presumably, would understand it of creeds in general. He closes his autobiographic “Memories” (1911) by saying, “Our age has no abiding faith in any religion at all,” which should include that “of Humanity,” of which he is himself the English prophet (note 147a).
The Mohammedan Seljuks of the thirteenth century originated a belief that Aissa, the saint said to have preceded the Prophet by some 500 years, will visit every country of Europe, England, and America, but find none faithful to his teaching, until he reaches the Lake of Tiburijeh (art. by Capt. von Herbert in Hibbert Journal, Oct., 1908).
FAITH — For faith in the word of JESUS, see Mark 1:1515And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:15); for faith in Himself, Matt. 8:1010When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. (Matthew 8:10). Cf. note 98 on Mark.
The “Catholic” definition would be found in the “Explanatory Catechism,” No. 9. For Cardinal Newman’s Theory of Belief, see the psychological analysis of it in Mellone, “Leaders of Religious Thought” (1902). According to Maher, a living Catholic professor, Newman’s faith would be no more than opinion (“Psychology,” p. 328). See the Cardinal’s “Grammar of Assent,” chapters 4, 6, 7. Another representative of Catholicism comes near to the Expositor’s view in treating Faith as belief on Divine testimony (Rickaby, “First Principles,” part 2, chapter 8).
A recent work by Dean Inge deals with the psychological aspects of Faith. Sir W. Hamilton wrote: “Knowledge is a certainty founded upon insight; belief is certainty founded upon feeling. The one is perspicuous and objective, the other obscure and subjective.”
The theological aspect of Faith has been thus stated by Fairbairn “Faith is an intellectual act, for it is a form of knowledge; it is an emotional attitude and activity, for it trusts persons and works by love it is a moral intuition, for it sees obligation in truth and right in duty” (“Philosophy of the Christian Religion,” p. 548). Of Rom.1:5, Gal. 5:66For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. (Galatians 5:6), and note 9 on John, sub init.; and see also Stalker, “The Ethic of Jesus,” chapter 8.
For a scientific appreciation of the present state of Religions Belief in “Christian” communities, see Pratt, “Psychology of Religion,” especially chapter 8. (p. 231 ff.). This writer’s third class of believers is composed of those who by the Evangelist are regarded as truly such. A correspondence in the Daily Telegraph some years ago, which has since been republished in a volume edited by W. L. Courtney, revealed the many lights in which this Vital subject is now regarded. One of the contributors referred to an aphorism which would be found in Nietzsche’s “Antichrist”. (§ 52), that “Belief means not wishing to know what is true.” (Cf. Herbert Spencer on “Christian Scepticism.”)
Newman, from his Oxford pulpit, spoke well when he said, “Unbelief is opposed to Reason criticizes the evidences of Religion, only because it does not like it, and really goes upon presumptions and prejudices as much as Faith does.”
In this connection it is odd that Hume, the protagonist of Doubt in the eighteenth century, avowed that he had never read the New Testament! Here it becomes a question of those who live in glass houses not throwing stones.
Benn, in Literary Guide and Rationalist Review, Oct., 1908, has strikingly written, “Faith is no more than a particular application of Reason. It means confidence in the legitimacy of inferring the future from the past; the unseen from the scene; the unknown from the known.” Christian thinkers would acquiesce in this, from passages of Scripture like 1 Pet. 3:1515But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1 Peter 3:15). The Bishop of Ossory, in Evidential Lecture at King’s College, London, in the year 1909, expressed himself in a like sense; emphasizing, of course, the element of trust, which adheres to Benn’s view nol. vol. But Christian faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:88For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)), of which JESUS is originator (Heb. 12:22Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2); cf. Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)); and here lies all the difference.
Cf. notes 54 and 58 on Mark, and note 133, in particular, on John.
See Spurgeon’s Sermons, 856 and 1963.
“Stood,” For σταθείς, cf. 19:8, of Zaccheus. Standing was, and remains, the habitual attitude of Jews in prayer: cf. Mark 11:2525And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25). The scriptural: attitudes are either standing (Abraham, in Gen. 18:2222And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. (Genesis 18:22): cf. Jer. 15:11Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. (Jeremiah 15:1), of Moses and Samuel), or kneeling (Solomon, Daniel, our Lord in 22:41, Stephen, Peter, Paul). For the quaint expression “sat” in 1 Citron. 17:16, cf. Matt. 4:1616The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. (Matthew 4:16): the Hebrew word and its Greek equivalent being used for abiding, tarrying. Cf. further 21:35 of this Gospel.
452 Verse 12. — “Twice, etc.” That is, on Mondays and Thursdays, according the Talmud. It is prescribed in Old Testament Scripture only for the Day of Atonement. The Didaché enjoined its observance by Christians on Wednesdays and Fridays (§ 8.).
453 Verse 13. — “Was striking upon his breast.” Cf. Neander’s fatuous saying, “The breast makes the theologian,” which carried the sympathy of Schleiermacher. The words of the writer of the well-known Church History were those of a man of genius.
“The sinner”; or, as A.V., retained by Revv., “a sinner.” That is, “who is a sinner,” the article being then regarded as equivalent to a relative pronoun, as in Rom. 7:2121I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (Romans 7:21).
The same words were on the lips, when dying, of Archbishop Usher and William Wilberforce.
There is a discourse of Bunyan on verses 10-13 (“Works,” vol. ii.), also sermons of G. Whitefield and Isaac Williams.
454 “Justified,” δεδικαιωμένος. Meyer, Godet, and Weiss suppose that it means Pauline doctrinal justification, a view which the Expositor’s remarks were designed to meet. Cf. Wellhausen: justified relatively.
455 For verses 9-14, see “Pilgrim’s Progress,” part 2: “Great heart” to the pilgrims; also sermon of Whitefield, and Spurgeon’s 1949.
Critics, as the manner is, suppose a duplicate here of 14:11.
456 Verse 15.―The connection with Matt. (19:13f.) and Mark (10:13 ff.) is here resumed.
457 Verse 16f.―The KINGDOM (“moral” aspect).
“To receive” (verse 17); or, “to accept,” δέχεσθαι (active). Observe the distinct force of this word in 1 Cor. 2:1414But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14), compared with verse 10 there; also 2 Cor. 11:44For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:4), where both λαμβἀνειν and δέμβάειν instructively occur in the same verse. The Vulgate in Luke 18 has distinguished δεχ. in present verse from λαμβ. in verse 30.
Stock: “receiving is not exactly a passive thing” (p. 230).
As to acceptance of the Kingdom (God’s Sovereignty, or Christ’s Lordship), see Dalman, p. 91, and note 105 on Mark; for entrance, which in Scripture is regularly used of the time of recompense, Dalman, p. 95, and note 99 on the same Gospel.
The GOSPEL as popularly used (see note on 8:1) is only the scaffolding of the KINGDOM, not the building itself. Children of at least Christian parents obey them readily, from the heart, so far as they do respond to faithful “nurture and admonition.” Cf. Rom. 1:5, 6:17, and Eph. 6:44And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4): in the last passage they are required to recognize the Lordship of Christ, to be subject to that. In the child as such there is no consciousness of merit; and so for those who entertain the doctrine of the Kingdom and enter upon the path which leads to its attainment.
“As a little child.” See Nicoll, “Return to the Cross,” pp. 201, 210, and chapter “The Theology of Little Children” (p. 142), quoting Bushnell: “it is the very character and mark of all unchristian education that it brings up the child for future conversion.” This American writer also remarks, “Of the Moravian Brethren not one in ten recollects the time when he began to be religious” (quoted ibid., p. 145); in other words, to love the Lord.
(1.) “heirs of GOD,” obtaining an endless inheritance promised (Tit. 1:2, 2:3; Heb. 9:1515And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15); cf. 1 Pet. 5:10), which “fadeth not away” (1 Pet. 1:44To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4) f.) and connected with Pauline justification, by FAITH, “of life” (Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39); Rom. 5:1818Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:18)), clenched by “this grace wherein (we) believers stand”;
(2.), “but,” as Vulg. rightly : see Meyer, “joint-heirs with CHRIST, if so be . . . that we may be also glorified with (Him),” where a semicolon after “Christ” obscures the meaning. For this cf. Col. 3:2424Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:24); 2 Tim. 2:1212If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (2 Timothy 2:12). and Heb. 3:1414For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; (Hebrews 3:14) (Greek). In Rom. 8:1717And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17) the μέν and δέ together make up the “but.” This distinct inheritance, which is the prelude to the other (verse 30; cf. 2:7 of the same Epistle), popularly confounded with it, is related to justification by WORKS in James (2:18, 24).
It is sometimes said by apologists for crude “Reformed” doctrine that, because Paul alone uses “before God” (Rom. 4:22For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. (Romans 4:2)), justification in James means: before seen (cf. Matt. 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)), and appeal is made to Jas. 2:2424Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (James 2:24). But that the Apostle James uses the word “see” for ideal sight is proved by verse 11 of his Epistle. Bishop Bull’s second Dissertation (chapter 1) on Justification has refuted what he describes as this “foolish scheme.” That one believer’s works are open to another’s human appreciation is clear from Jas. 2:1818Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. (James 2:18) but James’s reference to Genesis (22:19) is different from that made by Paul (15: 6): observe in Gen. 22:1515And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, (Genesis 22:15), “now I (Jehovah) know,” when no men were on the scene but Abraham and his son. Luther (like Calvin, note 1921 did not apprehend the truth of the Kingdom, any more than that of the Church, which together have come out more clearly during the last eight years.
See further 21:36 of this Gospel and 1 Cor. 10:1212Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12), which, in harmony other passages, establish the standing in responsibility (obnoxious to Calvinists alongside of that in grace (obnoxious to Arminians). The statement of Norris that “Justification is complete, though liable to be forfeited” (“Rudiments of Theology,” p. 125), is misleading: cf. Rom. 8:3030Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30) and 1 Tim. 2:44Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4), which strike one note with 1 Thess. 2: 12, which strikes another. “Probation,” recognized in the New Testament (1 Cor. 9:2727But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (1 Corinthians 9:27), etc.), has to do with standing in responsibility. The Holy Spirit would jealously guard such a scripture as Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39) from an interpretation admitting of antinomianism in any shape or form. See 2 Pet. 3:1616As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16); 1 Cor. 10:1111Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1 Corinthians 10:11) f., etc.
Controversialists, Roman and Protestant, High Anglican and Evangelicals, too often will but “see” one side of the ease: whilst Higher Critics are wont to divorce Gospels from Epistles, and, from Lutheran tradition, to view these as in disharmony (cf. note 617).
Kingdom blessing depends, not on conform to “the Law,” as the term is used by the Apostle Paul (Gal. 2:1616Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Galatians 2:16), “the works of the Law”; cf. Rom. 6:1414For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)), but upon the believer’s realization of, and conformity to, New Testament requirements: see in particular Matt. 7:24, 28:20. and 1 Cor. 9:2121To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. (1 Corinthians 9:21). The Kingdom in its manifestation will be the sphere of recompense for doing and suffering: see 14:14, comparing 1 Thess. 4:14-1714For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:14‑17), Phil. 3:1010That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)f.
“Eternal life,” as used by the “ruler,” is the “life for evermore” of Ps. 133:3, and so always by the Synoptists, who exhibit it in its historical limitations. Not that in the Fourth Gospel any more it is used as equivalent to the synoptic “Kingdom,” as says Garvie (after E. F. Scott). From Luke’s treating the Kingdom largely from a “moral” point of view, bearing on the present dispensation (1 Cor. 4:2020For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. (1 Corinthians 4:20)), he has seemed to some German writers to lead up to what they suppose to be a merging, by the fourth Evangelist, of I he Kingdom in Eternal Life; just as early “fathers” thought, on the other hand, that the βασίλεια swamps the ζωὴ αἰώιος. This has resulted from an imperfect induction of passages. The lineaments of the Synoptic Kingdom are engraved indelibly on John 15:1-81I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (John 15:1‑8), where not a word occurs about “life,” and where the three stages of fruit-bearing in Mark iv. 20 are plainly recognizable, Again, the “abundant” life: of John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) is as thoroughly Lucan as it is Petrine. Cf. notes 65, 66, and 66a on John.
When Wernle criticizes Hermas amongst sub-apostolic writers for the conviction that many Christians would forfeit Kingdom blessings on the ground that the writer of the Shepherd “never got quit of Jewish uncertainty of salvation” (“Beginnings,” ii., p. 303), it must be remembered that, whilst it is true that none of the spokesmen of that generation laid hold of the Biblical fact that the believer has a “purged conscience” (Heb. 10:22For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. (Hebrews 10:2) and 22), their imperfect understanding of Grace arose from the mistake above mentioned, which may have been accentuated by misunderstanding of 2 Pet. 1:1111For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:11); this, notwithstanding critics’ depreciation of the Epistles as a whole, has become classical.
458 Verse 19.―The emphasis is on “good,” not on “Me.” Cf. Ullmann, “Sinlessness of Jesus,” p. 148, ff. and note 107 on Mark, which deals with the point raised in such popular books as Schmiedel, “Jesus in Modern Criticism,” p. 23. The limitations of the Lord’s humanity we cannot determine outside Scripture (John 5:1919Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5:19), etc.), they were incidental to His self-imposed humiliation. There is here no more avowal of imperfection than in 20:41-44 a repudiation of his Davidic Sonship. It is noticeable that the Qorân, whilst more than once recording Mohammed’s sense of need of forgiveness of sins, nowhere attributes to Aissa any such confession, although apocryphal gospels, from which “the Prophet” received his information, are not free from insinuations of the kind.
For “good” (ἀγαθός) applied to the Lord, cf. John 7:1212And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people. (John 7:12). “Goodness” (ἀγαθωσύνη) GOD displays specially in sacrifice (verse 22; cf. Rom. 8:3232He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)). Ethical religionists may talk of “sacrifice in behalf of the race,” but JESUS first taught and practiced it, as none other could or would do. Treasured have ever been words of the “judicious” Hooker in his great sermon on Justification: “We care for no other knowledge in the world than this, that man hath sinned and God hath suffered; that God hath made Himself the sin of teen, and that men are made the righteousness of God.” Had Irving and others held to this fundamental truth, we should never have had the unhappy suggestion of peccability of the Lord intruded on the Church.
458a Verse 20.―We have here, of course; a summary of the Ethical Code on its manward side, and that alone.
458b Verse 21.―In the Talmud the inquiry is raised, “Why did God give so many commandments?” To which a rabbinical answer is, “To multiply Israel’s merit”!
459 Verse 23.―Matthew adds here, “he went away.”
461 Verse 24 f.―Difficult as it may be for the affluent to accept the Gospel of salvation, still more is it for such, when already Christians, to conform their conduct to the principles of the Kingdom. But heavenly grace suffices for the one situation as for the other. The same Evangelist, who in this chapter of his record has commemorated the offering of the “poor widow,” has in another (23:50f.) told of the loving service rendered to the Master, when He was no longer on the scene to acknowledge it, by one of the class (of. Matt. 27:55And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. (Matthew 27:5), πλούσιος) here spoken of, “who was looking for the Kingdom of God” and, we may well suppose, will be awarded a place in it.
“Needle’s eye.” The small gate for foot passengers is not beside (Adeney), but within the larger one for animals (Schor, p. 30). Both words here (τρῆμα, βελόνη) are medical terms: see Hobart.
462 “Saved.” As to Messianic salvation, see note 361 (13:23).
463 Verse 30.― “Manifold more.” Garvie: “communion of saints instead of family relationships.”
“In this time.” Nietzsche: “Buddhism gives no promise, but keeps every one; Christianity gives any promise, but keeps none” (“Antichrist,” § 42). This is the language of a man not understanding what he said (1 Tim. 1:77Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. (1 Timothy 1:7)) in either direction. The Buddhism that he so much lauded occupies novice and gray-haired men alike in a delusive struggle against suffering. Nietzsche wrote of Pascal, that the eminent French Christian’s intellect was ruined by his faith; but this miserable man himself, as elsewhere stated, died insane. Again, Stanton Coit writes: “Many have asked and no one has answered, save where the prayer was overheard by some fellow man” (“The Lord’s Prayer,” p. 12). Myriads of men and women “in this time” can give the lie to this airy statement.
“Receive,” λαμβάνειν (passive).
The “age to come” will witness the initial manifestation (cf. references in note 457a, following that to present verse) of the Eternal Life of the Fourth Gospel, which is, or should be, known morally by all believers now. Cf. 1 Tim. 4:88For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. (1 Timothy 4:8), “having promise of the life to come” (μελλούαης, a word regularly used in millennial contexts (cf. note 355)); and for the manifestation of the sons of God, Rom. 8:1919For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19).
The promise is made to those who have already acted as Peter says (Boehmer).
464 Verses 31-34.―See note 220a on John (12:1). Verses 31-43 appear in the “Lectionary” as Gospel for Quinquagesima, to accompany 1 Cor. 13. as the Epistle. “The one affords a transcript from actual life of that which the other exhibits as an ideal” (A. W. Robinson).
466 Verse 35f.―The variations of the several Evangelists here are set out in Plummer, p. 429. As to the “supplementary theory,” see Westcott, “Introduction,” p. 183f.
467 See note 111 on Mark. Luke agrees partly with Matthew and partly with Mark, a feature which is somewhat embarrassing to advocates of the current documentary theory.
Of the various explanations available, that seems to be most worthy of Consideration which is derived from the fact that there were two Jerichos, the older site and the city then lately built, at a distance of 1¼ mile from each other. Excavations are being conducted by Prof. Sellin under the auspices of a German archaeological society.
Nösgen, as the Expositor, has followed Grotius’ explanation of ἐγγίζειν εἰς; but the present writer is not prepared to resist the suggestion of motion conveyed independently by the preposition (cf. the Greek 19:29), and agrees with the remarks ad loc. of Bishop Goodwin, p. 311. Chrysostom: “Such apparent discrepancies between the Evangelists do but tell for their mutual independence. The Holy spirit has not been pleased to supply us with all the facts.” The most satisfactory rendering seems to be the one followed in the present volume, which happens to agree with that of Wellhausen.
668 For Messianic passages on blindness, see Isa. 29:18, 35:5, 42:7.
Bartimæus was the first of those outside the apostolic band who addressed the Lord by His Messianic title.
A poem of Longfellow was derived from this narrative.