Peter on the one hand, or the three orders of clergy and the divine origin of episcopacy on the other. Philosophical differences are in the background, into which the differences about Scripture also resolve themselves. They seem to run up at last into a difference of opinion respecting Revelation itself—whether given beside the human faculties or through them, whether an interruption of the laws of nature or their perfection and fulfilment. This effort to pull the authority of Scripture in different directions is not peculiar to our own day; the same phenomenon appears in the past history of the Church.
At the Reformation, in the Nicene or Pelagian times, the New Testament was the ground over which men fought; it might also be compared to the armoury which furnished them with weapons. Opposite aspects of the truth which it contains were appropriated by different sides. The fifth and ninth chapters of the Romans, single verses such as 1 Cor. The difference of interpretation which prevails among ourselves is partly traditional, that is to say, inherited from the controversies of former ages. The use made of Scripture by Fathers of the Church, as well as by Luther and Calvin, affects our idea of its meaning at the present hour.
Another cause of the multitude of interpretations is the growth or progress of the human mind itself. Modes of interpreting vary as time goes on; they partake of the general state of literature or knowledge. It has not been easily or at once that mankind have learned to realize the character of sacred writings—they seem almost necessarily to veil themselves from human eyes as circumstances change; it is the old age of the world only that has at length understood its childhood.
Or rather perhaps is Edition: Much of past history is dimly seen and receives only a conventional interpretation, even when the memorials of it remain. There is a time at which the freshness of early literature is lost; mankind have turned rhetoricians, and no longer write or feel in the spirit which created it. In this unimaginative period in which sacred or ancient writings are partially unintelligible, many methods have been taken at different times to adapt the ideas of the past to the wants of the present.
One age has wandered into the flowery paths of allegory,. Another has straitened the liberty of the Gospel by a rigid application of logic, the former being a method which was at first more naturally applied to the Old Testament, the latter to the New. Both methods of interpretation, the mystical and logical, as they may be termed, have been practised on the Vedas and the Koran, as well as on the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, the true glory and note of divinity in these latter being not that they have hidden mysterious or double meanings, but a simple and universal one, which is beyond them and will survive them.
Since the revival of literature, interpreters have not unfrequently fallen into error of another kind from a pedantic and misplaced use of classical learning; the minute examination of words often withdrawing the mind from more important matters. A tendency may be observed within the last century to clothe systems of philosophy in the phraseology of Scripture.
More common than any of these methods, and not peculiar to any age, is that which may be called by way of distinction the rhetorical one. The tendency to exaggerate or amplify the meaning of simple words for the sake of edification may indeed have a practical use in sermons, the object of which is to awaken not so much the intellect as the heart and conscience. Spiritual food, like natural, may require to be of a certain bulk to nourish the human mind. For the preacher almost necessarily oversteps the limits of actual knowledge, his feelings overflow with the subject; even if he have the power, he has seldom the time for accurate thought or inquiry.
And in the course of years spent in writing, perhaps, without study, he is apt to persuade himself, if not others, of the truth of his own repetitions. The trivial consideration of making a discourse of sufficient length is often a reason why he overlays the words of Christ and his Apostles with commonplaces. The meaning of the text is not always the object which he has in view; but some moral or religious lesson which he has found it necessary to append to it; some cause which he is pleading, some error of the day which he has to combat.
And while in some passages he hardly dares to trust himself with the full force of Scripture Matt. Any one who has ever written sermons is aware how hard it is to apply Scripture to the Edition: The phenomenon which has been described in the preceding pages is so familiar, and yet so extraordinary, that it requires an effort of thought to appreciate its true nature.
We do not at once see the absurdity of the same words having many senses, or free our minds from the illusion that the Apostle or Evangelist must have written with a reference to the creeds or controversies or circumstances of other times. Let it be considered, then, that this extreme variety of interpretation is found to exist in the case of no other book, but of the Scriptures only. Other writings are preserved to us in dead languages—Greek, Latin, Oriental, some of them in fragments, all of them originally in manuscript.
It is true that difficulties arise in the explanation of these writings, especially in the most ancient, from our imperfect acquaintance with the meaning of words, or the defectiveness of copies, or the want of some historical or geographical information which is required to present an event or character in its true bearing. In comparison with the wealth and light of modern literature, our knowledge of Greek classical authors, for example, may be called imperfect and shadowy. Some of them have another sort of difficulty arising from subtlety or abruptness in the use of language; in lyric poetry especially, and some of the earlier prose, the greatness of the thought struggles with the stammering lips.
It may be observed that all these difficulties occur also in Scripture; they are found equally in sacred and profane literature. But the meaning of classical authors is known with comparative certainty; and the interpretation of them seems to rest on a scientific basis. It is not, therefore, to philological or historical difficulties that the greater part of the uncertainty in the interpretation of Scripture is to be attributed.
No ignorance of Hebrew or Greek is sufficient to account for it. Even the Vedas and the Zendavesta, though beset by obscurities of language Edition: To bring the parallel home, let us imagine the remains of some well-known Greek author, as Plato or Sophocles, receiving the same treatment at the hands of the world which the Scriptures have experienced.
The text of such an author, when first printed by Aldus or Stephens, would be gathered from the imperfect or miswritten copies which fell in the way of the editors; after awhile older and better manuscripts come to light, and the power of using and estimating the value of manuscripts is greatly improved. We may suppose, further, that the readings of these older copies do not always conform to some received canons of criticism. Many reasons are given why it is better to have bad readings to which the world is accustomed than good ones which are novel and strange—why the later manuscripts of Plato or Sophocles are often to be preferred to earlier ones—why it is useless to remove imperfections where perfect accuracy is not to be attained.
A fear of disturbing the critical canons which have come down from former ages is, however, suspected to be one reason for the opposition. And custom and prejudice, and the nicety of the subject, and all the arguments which are intelligible to the many against the truth, which is intelligible only to the few, are thrown into the scale to preserve the works of Plato or Sophocles as nearly as possible in the received text. Leaving the text, we proceed to interpret and translate.
The meaning of Greek words is known with tolerable certainty; and the grammar of the Greek language has Edition: Yet the interpretation of Sophocles is tentative and uncertain; it seems to vary from age to age: Several schools of critics have commented on his works; to the Englishman he has presented one meaning, to the Frenchman another, to the German a third; the interpretations have also differed with the philosophical systems which the interpreters espoused.
To one the same words have appeared to bear a moral, to another a symbolical meaning; a third is determined wholly by the authority of old commentators; while there is a disposition to condemn the scholar who seeks to interpret Sophocles from himself only, and with reference to the ideas and beliefs of the age in which he lived.
And the error of such an one is attributed not only to some intellectual but even to a moral obliquity which prevents his seeing the true meaning. It would be tedious to follow into details the absurdity which has been supposed. By such methods it would be truly said that Sophocles or Plato may be made to mean anything. It would seem as if some Novum Organum were needed to lay down rules of interpretation for ancient literature. Still one other supposition has to be introduced which will appear, perhaps, more extravagant than any which have preceded.
Conceive then that these modes of interpreting Sophocles had existed for ages; that great institutions and interests had become interwoven with them, and in some degree even the honour of nations and churches—is it too much to say that in such a case they would be changed with difficulty, and that they would continue to be maintained long after critics and philosophers had seen that they were indefensible? No one who has a Christian feeling would place classical Edition: And the figure is no exaggeration of the erring fancy of men in the use of Scripture, or of the tenacity with which they cling to the interpretations of other times, or of the arguments by which they maintain them.
All the resources of knowledge may be turned into a means not of discovering the true rendering, but of upholding a received one. Grammar appears to start from an independent point of view, yet inquiries into the use of the article or the preposition have been observed to wind round into a defence of some doctrine. Rhetoric often magnifies its own want of taste into the design of inspiration.
Logic that other mode of rhetoric is apt to lend itself to the illusion, by stating erroneous explanations with a clearness which is mistaken for truth. Learning obscures as well as illustrates; it heaps up chaff when there is no more wheat. These are some of the ways in which the sense of Scripture has become confused, by the help of tradition, in the course of ages, under a load of commentators.
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The book itself remains as at the first, unchanged amid the changing interpretations of it. The office of the interpreter is not to add another, but to recover the original one; the meaning, that is, of the words as they struck on the ears or flashed before the eyes of those who first heard and read them. He has to transfer himself to another age; to Edition: The history of Christendom is nothing to him; but only the scene at Galilee or Jerusalem, the handful of believers who gathered themselves together at Ephesus, or Corinth, or Rome.
The greatness of the Roman Empire is nothing to him; it is an inner not an outer world that he is striving to restore. All the after-thoughts of theology are nothing to him; they are not the true lights which light him in difficult places. His concern is with a book in which, as in other ancient writings, are some things of which we are ignorant; which defect of our knowledge cannot, however, be supplied by the conjectures of fathers or divines.
The simple words of that book he tries to preserve absolutely pure from the refinements or distinctions of later times. He acknowledges that they are fragmentary, and would suspect himself, if out of fragments he were able to create a well-rounded system or a continuous history. The greater part of his learning is a knowledge of the text itself; he has no delight in the voluminous literature which has overgrown it.
He has no theory of interpretation; a few rules guarding against common errors are enough for him. His object is to read Scripture like any other book, with a real interest and not merely a conventional one. He wants to be able to open his eyes and see or imagine things as they truly are. Nothing would be more likely to restore a natural feeling on this subject than a history of the Interpretation of Scripture.
It would take us back to the beginning; it would present in one view the causes which have darkened the meaning of words in the course of ages; it would clear away the remains of dogmas, systems, controversies, which are encrusted upon them. Such a work would enable us to separate the elements of doctrine and tradition with which the meaning of Scripture is encumbered in our own day.
It would mark the different epochs of interpretation from the time when the living word was in process of becoming a book to Origen and Tertullian, from Origen to Jerome and Augustine, from Jerome and Augustine to Abelard and Aquinas; again, making a new beginning with the revival of literature, from Erasmus, the father of Biblical criticism in more recent times, with Calvin and Beza for his immediate successors, through Grotius and Hammond, down to De Wette and Meyer, our own contemporaries.
We should see how the mystical interpretation of Scripture originated in the Alexandrian age; how it blended with the logical and rhetorical; how both received weight and currency from their use in support of the claims and teaching of the Church. We should see how the word inspiration, from being used in a general way to express what may be called the prophetic spirit of Scripture, has passed, within the last two centuries, into a sort of technical term; how, in other instances, the practice or feeling of earlier ages has been hollowed out into the theory or system Edition: We should observe how the popular explanations of prophecy as in heathen Thucyd.
We might remark that in our own country, and in the present generation especially, the interpretation of Scripture had assumed an apologetic character, as though making an effort to defend itself against some supposed inroad of science and criticism; while among German commentators there is, for the first time in the history of the world, an approach to agreement and certainty. For example, the diversity among German writers on prophecy is far less than among English ones. That is a new phenomenon which has to be acknowledged. More than any other subject of human knowledge, Biblical criticism has hung to the past; it has been hitherto found truer to the traditions of the Church than to the words of Christ.
It has made, however, two great steps onward—at the time of the Reformation and in our day. The diffusion of a critical spirit in history and literature is affecting the criticism of the Bible in our own day in a manner not unlike the burst of intellectual life in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. Educated persons are beginning to ask, not what Scripture may be made to mean, but what it does.
And it is no exaggeration to say that he who in the present state of knowledge will confine himself to the plain meaning of words and the study of their context may know more of the original spirit and intention of the authors of the New Testament than all the controversial writers of former ages put together. Such a history would be of great value to philosophy as well as to theology. It would be the history of the human mind in one of its most remarkable manifestations. For ages which are not original show their character in the interpretation of ancient writings. Creating nothing, and incapable of that effort of imagination which is required in a true criticism of the past, they read and explain the Edition: Such a history would form a kind of preface or prolegomena to the study of Scripture.
Like the history of science, it would save many a useless toil; it would indicate the uncertainties on which it is not worth while to speculate further; the by-paths or labyrinths in which men lose themselves; the mines that are already worked out. These interpretations would destroy one another if they were all placed side by side in a tabular analysis. It is an instructive fact, which may be mentioned in passing, that Joseph Mede, the greatest authority on this subject, twice fixed the end of the world in the last century and once during his own lifetime.
In like manner, he who notices the circumstance that the explanations of the first chapter of Genesis have slowly changed, and, as it were, retreated before the advance of geology, will be unwilling to add another to the spurious reconcilements of science and revelation. Or, to take an example of another kind, the Protestant divine who perceives that the types and figures of the Old Testament are employed by Roman Catholics in support of the tenets of their church, will be careful not to use weapons which it is impossible to guide, and which may with equal force be turned against himself.
Those who have handled them on the Protestant side have before now fallen victims to them, not observing as they fell that it was by their own hand. Much of the uncertainty which prevails in the interpretation of Scripture arises out of party efforts to wrest its meaning to different sides. There are, however, deeper reasons which have hindered the natural meaning of the Edition: One of these is the unsettled state of many questions which have an important but indirect bearing on this subject.
Some of these questions veil themselves in ambiguous terms; and no one likes to draw them out of their hiding-place into the light of day. In natural science it is felt to be useless to build on assumptions; in history we look with suspicion on a priori ideas of what ought to have been; in mathematics, when a step is wrong, we pull the house down until we reach the point at which the error is discovered.
But in theology it is otherwise; there the tendency has been to conceal the unsoundness of the foundation under the fairness and loftiness of the superstructure. It has been thought safer to allow arguments to stand which, although fallacious, have been on the right side, than to point out their defect. And thus many principles have imperceptibly grown up which have overridden facts. No one would interpret Scripture, as many do, but for certain previous suppositions with which we come to the perusal of it. The accuracy of the Old Testament is measured not by the standard of primaeval history, but of a modern critical one, which, contrary to all probability, is supposed to be attained; this arbitrary standard once assumed, it becomes a point of honour or of faith to defend every name, date, place, which occurs.
The suspicion of Deism, or perhaps of Atheism, awaits inquiry. By such fears a good man refuses to be influenced; a philosophical mind is apt to cast them aside with too much bitterness. It is better to close the book than to read it under conditions of thought which are imposed from without. Whether those conditions of thought are the traditions of the Church, or the opinions of the religious world—Catholic or Protestant—makes no difference.
They are inconsistent with the freedom of the truth and the moral character of the Gospel. It becomes necessary, therefore, to examine briefly some of these prior questions which lie in the way of a reasonable criticism. Among these previous questions, that which first presents itself is the one already alluded to—the question of inspiration. Almost all Christians agree in the word, which use and tradition have consecrated to express the reverence which they truly feel for the Old and New Testaments.
But here the agreement of opinion ends; the meaning of inspiration has been variously explained, or more often passed over in silence from a fear of stirring the difficulties that would arise about it. Pascal seriously charges the Jesuits with acting on a similar maxim—excommunicating those who meant the same thing and said another, holding communion with those who said the same thing and meant another. Errors about words, and the attribution to words themselves of an excessive importance, lie at the root of theological as of other confusions.
In theology they are more dangerous than in other sciences, because they cannot so readily be brought to the test of facts. The word inspiration has received more numerous gradations and distinctions of meaning than perhaps any other in the whole of theology. There is an inspiration of superintendence and an inspiration of suggestion; an inspiration which would have been consistent with the Apostle or Evangelist falling into error, and an inspiration which would have prevented him from erring; verbal organic inspiration by which the inspired person is the passive utterer of a Divine Word, and an inspiration which acts through the character of the sacred writer; there is an inspiration which absolutely communicates the fact to be revealed or statement to be made, and an inspiration which does not supersede the ordinary knowledge of human events; there is an inspiration which demands infallibility in Edition: Lastly, there is a view of inspiration which recognizes only its supernatural and prophetic character, and a view of inspiration which regards the Apostles and Evangelists as equally inspired in their writings and in their lives, and in both receiving the guidance of the Spirit of truth in a manner not different in kind but only in degree from ordinary Christians.
Many of these explanations lose sight of the original meaning and derivation of the word; some of them are framed with the view of meeting difficulties; all perhaps err in attempting to define what, though real, is incapable of being defined in an exact manner. Nor for any of the higher or supernatural views of inspiration is there any foundation in the Gospels or Epistles. There is no appearance in their writings that the Evangelists or Apostles had any inward gift, or were subject to any power external to them different from that of preaching or teaching which they daily exercised; nor do they anywhere lead us to suppose that they were free from error or infirmity.
Paul writes like a Christian teacher, exhibiting all the emotions and vicissitudes of human feeling, speaking, indeed, with authority, but hesitating in difficult cases and more than once correcting himself, corrected, too, by the course of events in his expectation of the coming of Christ. And the result is in accordance with the simple profession and style in which they describe themselves; there is no appearance, that is to say, of insincerity or want of faith; but neither is there perfect accuracy or agreement.
These are a few instances of the differences which arose in the traditions of the earliest ages respecting the history of our Lord. But he who wishes to investigate the character of the sacred writings should not be afraid to make a catalogue of them all with the view of estimating their cumulative weight. For it is obvious that the answer which would be admitted in the case of a single discrepancy, will not be the true answer when there are many. For the proportion which these narratives bear to the whole subject, as well as their relation to one another, is an important element in the estimation of differences.
In the same way, he who would understand the nature of prophecy in the Old Testament, should have the courage to examine how far its details were minutely fulfilled. The absence of such a fulfilment may further lead him to discover that he took the letter for the spirit in expecting it. The subject will clear of itself if we bear in mind two considerations: There is no other source to which we can turn for information; and we have no right to assume some imaginary doctrine of inspiration like the infallibility of the Roman Catholic Church.
It is a fact which we infer from the study of Scripture—not of one portion only, but of the whole. Obviously then it embraces writings of very different kinds—the book of Esther, for example, or the Song of Solomon, as well as the Gospel of St. It is reconcileable with the mixed good and evil of the characters of the Old Testament, which nevertheless does not exclude them from the favour of God, with the attribution to the Divine Being of actions at variance with that higher revelation, which He has given of himself in the Gospel; it is not inconsistent with imperfect or opposite aspects of the truth as in the Book of Job or Ecclesiastes, with variations of fact in the Gospels or the books of Kings and Chronicles, with inaccuracies of language in the Epistles of St.
For these are all found in Scripture; neither is there any reason why they should not be, except a general impression that Scripture ought to have been written in a way different from what it has. Scripture itself points the way to answer the moral objections to Scripture. Lesser difficulties remain, but only such as would be found commonly in writings of the same age or country. There is no more reason why imperfect narratives should be excluded from Scripture than imperfect grammar; no more ground for expecting that the New Testament would be logical or Aristotelian in form, than that it would be written in Attic Greek.
The other consideration is one which has been neglected by writers on this subject. It is this—that any true doctrine of inspiration must conform to all well-ascertained facts of history or of science. The same fact cannot be true and untrue, any more than the same words can have two opposite meanings. The same fact cannot be true in religion when seen by the light of faith, and untrue in science when looked at through the medium of evidence or experiment. It is ridiculous to suppose that the sun goes round the earth in the same sense in which the earth goes round the sun; or that the world appears to have existed, but has not existed during the vast epochs of which geology speaks to us.
But if so, there is no need of elaborate reconcilements of revelation and science; they reconcile themselves the moment any scientific truth is distinctly ascertained. As the idea of nature enlarges, the idea of revelation also enlarges; it was a temporary misunderstanding which severed them.
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And as the knowledge of nature which is possessed by the few is communicated in its leading features at least to the many, they will receive with it a higher conception of the ways of God to man. It may hereafter appear as natural to the majority of mankind to see the providence of God in the order of the world, as it once was to appeal to interruptions of it. It is true that there is a class of scientific facts with which popular opinions on theology often conflict and which do not seem to conform in all respects to the severer conditions of inductive science: But it is not worth while to fight on this debateable ground a losing battle in the hope that a generation will pass away before we sound a last retreat.
Almost all intelligent persons are agreed that the earth has existed for myriads of ages; the best informed are of opinion that the history of nations extends back some thousand years before the Mosaic chronology; recent discoveries in geology Edition: Now let it be granted that these facts, being with the past, cannot be shown in the same palpable and evident manner as the facts of chemistry or physiology; and that the proof of some of them, especially of those last mentioned, is wanting; still it is a false policy to set up inspiration or revelation in opposition to them, a principle which can have no influence on them and should be rather kept out of their way.
The sciences of geology and comparative philology are steadily gaining ground; many of the guesses of twenty years ago have become certainties, and the guesses of to-day may hereafter become so. Shall we peril religion on the possibility of their untruth? A similar train of thought may be extended to the results of historical inquiries. These results cannot be barred by the dates or narrative of Scripture; neither should they be made to wind round into agreement with them. Again, the idea of inspiration must expand and take them in. Their importance in a religious point of view is not that they impugn or confirm the Jewish history, but that they show more clearly the purposes of God towards the whole human race.
The recent chronological discoveries from Egyptian monuments do not tend to overthrow revelation, nor the Ninevite inscriptions to support it. The use of them on either side may indeed arouse a popular interest in them; it is apt to turn a scientific inquiry into a semireligious Edition: And to religion either use is almost equally injurious, because seeming to rest truths important to human life on the mere accident of an archaeological discovery.
Is it to be thought that Christianity gains anything from the deciphering of the names of some Assyrian and Babylonian kings, contemporaries chiefly with the later Jewish history? As little as it ought to lose from the appearance of a contradictory narrative of the Exodus in the chamber of an Egyptian temple of the year bc This latter supposition may not be very probable. But it is worth while to ask ourselves the question, whether we can be right in maintaining any view of religion which can be affected by such a probability. It will be a further assistance in the consideration of this subject, to observe that the interpretation of Scripture has nothing to do with any opinion respecting its origin.
The meaning of Scripture is one thing; the inspiration of Scripture is another. It is conceivable that those who hold the most different views about the one, may be able to agree about the other. Rigid upholders of the verbal inspiration of Scripture, and those who deny inspiration altogether, may nevertheless meet on the common ground of the meaning of words. If the term inspiration were to fall into disuse, no fact of nature, or history, or language, no event in the life of man, or dealings of God with him, would be in any degree altered. The word itself is but of yesterday, not found in the earlier confessions of the reformed faith; the difficulties that have arisen about it are only two or three centuries old.
Therefore the question of inspiration, though in one sense important, is to the interpreter as though it were not important; he is in no way called upon to determine a matter with which he has nothing to do, and which was not determined by fathers of the Church. And he had better go on his way and leave the more precise definition of the word to the progress of knowledge and the Edition: It is one evil of conditions or previous suppositions in the study of Scripture, that the assumption of them has led to an apologetic temper in the interpreters of Scripture.
The tone of apology is always a tone of weakness, and does injury to a good cause. The natural meaning of particular expressions, as for example: The language, and also the text, are treated on the same defensive and conservative principles. The received translations of Phil. An English commentator who, with Lachmann and Tischendorf, supported also by the authority of Erasmus, ventures to alter the punctuation of the doxology in Rom.
That in most of these cases the words referred to have a direct bearing on important controversies is a reason not for retaining, but for correcting them. The temper of accommodation shows itself especially in two ways: Now the creeds are acknowledged to be a part of Christianity; they stand in a close relation to the words of Christ and his Apostles; nor can it be said that any heterodox formula makes a nearer approach to a simple and scriptural rule of faith.
Neither is anything gained by contrasting them with Scripture, in which the germs of the expressions used in them are sufficiently apparent. Yet it does not follow that they should be pressed into the service of the interpreter. The growth of ideas in the interval which separated the first century from the fourth or sixth makes it impossible to apply the language of the one to the explanation of the other.
Between Scripture and the Nicene or Athanasian Creed, a world of the understanding comes in—that world of abstractions and second notions; and mankind are no longer at the same Edition: The language of the New Testament is the first utterance and consciousness of the mind of Christ; or the immediate vision of the Word of life 1 John i.
And although this last had a truth suited to its age, and its technical expressions have sunk deep into the heart of the human race, it is not the less unfitted to be the medium by the help of which Scripture is to be explained. If the occurrence of the phraseology of the Nicene age in a verse of the Epistles would detect the spuriousness of the verse in which it was found, how can the Nicene or Athanasian Creed be a suitable instrument for the interpretation of Scripture?
That advantage which the New Testament has over the teaching of the Church, as representing what may be termed the childhood of the Gospel, would be lost if its language were required to conform to that of the Creeds. To attribute to St. Paul or the Twelve the abstract notion of Christian truth, which afterwards sprang up in the Catholic Church, is the same sort of anachronism as to attribute to them a system of philosophy.
It is the same error as to attribute to Homer the ideas of Thales or Heraclitus, or to Thales the more developed principles of Aristotle and Plato. Many persons who have no difficulty in tracing the growth of institutions, yet seem to fail in recognizing the more subtle progress of an idea. It is hard to imagine the absence of conceptions with which we are familiar; to go back to the germ of what we know only in maturity; to give up what has grown to us, and become a part of our minds.
In the present case, however, the development is Edition: The statements of Scripture are unaccountable if we deny it; the silence of Scripture is equally unaccountable. Still greater difficulties would be introduced into the Gospels by the attempt to identify them with the Creeds. These simple and touching words have to be taken out of their natural meaning and connexion to be made the theme of apologetic discourses if we insist on reconciling them with the distinctions of later ages.
Neither, as has been already remarked, would the substitution of any other precise or definite rule of faith, as for example the Unitarian, be more favourable to the interpretation of Scripture. How could the Evangelist St. No one who takes words in their natural Edition: But while venturing to turn one eye on these perhaps obsolete perversions of the meanings of words in old opponents, we must not forget also to keep the other open to our own. The object of the preceding remark is not to enter into controversy with them, or to balance the statements of one side with those of the other, but only to point out the error of introducing into the interpretation of Scripture the notions of a later age which is common alike to us and them.
The other kind of accommodation which was alluded to above arises out of the difference between the social and ecclesiastical state of the world, as it exists in actual fact, and the ideal which the Gospel presents to us. An ideal is, by its very nature, far removed from actual life. It is enshrined not in the material things of the external world, but in the heart and conscience. Mankind are dissatisfied at this separation; they fancy that they can make the inward kingdom an outward one also.
But this is not possible. Translated by James Murphy, LL. Supplemented by a Commentary on the Books of Chronicles. By Ernst Bertheau, Professor in Goettin-gen. Translated by James Martin, B. This is a most important help to the expositor. The student will not, however, find much in the way of reflections and doctrines. The Books of the Kings. This appears to be another form of the work mentioned above.
At least there can be no necessity for purchasing both. This is the better. Daily Bible Illustrations, "Solomon and the Kings. Full of deeply interesting matter. It is a treasury to the preacher, and is all the more precious because we have next to nothing upon the books of the Kings. Bunyan hammers away at each type, but no one may call it tinkering. This will supply the student with all that he needs upon the subject in hand. Orbis miraculum; or, the Temple of Solomon pourtrayed by Scripture light. The Days of Jezebel. A fine poetic drama, worthy of quotation by preachers; but hardly in the line of works contemplated by this Catalogue.
Elisha the Prophet, a Type of Christ. This author is always interesting, shewing close acquaintance with Jewish customs, and knowing how to utilize his information.
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Elijah, the Desert Prophet. Very picturesque and poetical. A work to be read for enjoyment. Too well known and approved to need any commendation from us. The Prophet of Fire. Macduff writes popularly, yet he is by no means weak or shallow, He is to the young minister all the more useful, because he has worked out the problem of making sound thought intelligible to the multitude. Reflections on the Life and Times of Elijah. Lectures upon the History of Elisha.
He says that, had he known of Krummacher's having written upon the subject, he should not have attempted it himself. What shall he do that cometh after a King, or after a Krummacher? The History of the Prophet Elisha. Not very deep, but interesting. Life of Elisha, in eleven plain dis-courses. Ministers do not need it. Telling in style, and earnestly evangelical. These chapters are good specimens of popular expounding. Naaman the Syrian, his disease and cure; discovering lively to the reader the spiritual leprosie of sinne and selfe-love; together with the remedies, viz.
Here is the author's way of describing a hen which has hatched ducklings. See Keil and Bertheau, No. The Book of the Chronicles. By Andrew Harper, B. Without indicating either the spiritual lesson or the moral of the history, Keil simply explains the facts, and in so doing aids the reader to realize them.
We confess we should like something more. Commentary on Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Translated by Sophia Taylor. Just the kind of book in which Keil's method of commenting appears to the best advantage. He gives much needful information, and thus supplements more didactic works. We cannot read Keil with pleasure, for we want spiritual meat, but yet it is most desirable for us to know what the text really means. A Godlie Exposition upon certeine chapters of Nehemiah. Reprinted in the Parker Society's edition of Pilkington's Works. Very old fashioned and singular, somewhat in the style of Latimer and perhaps a little coarser.
Pilkington's downright onslaughts upon the vices and follies of his times are fine instances of personal, faithful preaching; they are, however, so minutely descriptive of the manners which then prevailed that they are the less useful now. The style is cramped, and even grotesque in places, yet Pilkington is a grand old author.
He has only written upon five chapters.
The substance of thirteen Sunday evening addresses to a village congregation, "dictated by the author, who is nearly blind, on the following Monday. Students will not learn much from these sermons, but they may see how rustic preaching should be done. The heads of these chapters would serve exceedingly well for the keynotes of a series of sermons. He gives fourteen good, sensible lectures on the Book. Thoughts on the Character and History of Nehemiah. Words, and only words. The Book of Esther is here used for instruction in doctrine and practice.
The work is not so much for the study as for the family. Esther and her People. Good evangelical discourses, but nothing very special. Intended for the general reader. The discourses are as spiritual and unaffected as their excellent author. John Brown, in commending all the Lawson books, says that "he has rendered subjects, apparently barren, full of instruction.
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Davidson says of Dr. The Book of Esther typical of the Kingdom. An allegorical interpretation, which commences with these words: Who then is Vashti? Critical Remarks on the Books of Job, Prov. Worthy of attentive reading. See under Whole Bible, No. Thomas Wilcocks, Minister of God's Word: Paul's Epistle to the Romans. The notes are brief, but furnish many hints for sermons. This is not by Archbishop Abbot, neither is the work of any value. This Abbot was a Member of Parliament, and his paraphrase is better than we could have expected from an M.
The Book of Job. The design did not allow of more than slender notes, but those notes are good. Rout ledge's edition, edited by Dr. One of the best of this author's generally valuable productions. The student should purchase this work at once. Original works are far better. As a commentator he lacked the profound insight and comprehensive grasp of Calvin, but as a critical scholar he is said to have been his equal if not his superior. Pope speaks of the power of Blackmore's numbers "to soothe the soul in slumbers. Miserable paraphrasers are ye all, ye brethren of jingling rhyme and doubtful measure.
Sermons on the Booke of Job. Translated out of French. Not the same as the Commentary, but equally rich. Purely critical and exegetical. The author has grappled manfully with all difficulties, and has stored up a mass of precious materials with which to illuminate a book dark from its antiquity. Exposition, with Prac-tical Observations. It would be a mistake to suppose that he is at all prolix or redundant; he is only full. In the course of his expounding he has illustrated a very large portion of the whole Bible with great clearness and power.
He is deeply devotional and spiritual. He gives us much, but none too much. We do not believe in abridgments of a book which is goad throughout. Think of twelve large volumes condensed into one small one! An ox in a gallipot is nothing to it. Chappelow and several other authors follow Schultens in the belief that the Hebrew can only be read by the light of the Arabic; they even imagine that the Book of Job was originally composed in Arabic by Job himself and then translated by someone else into the Hebrew tongue.
This opened a fine field for parading their learning. The Book of Job; from the Hebrew. See American Bible Union. Hebrew Tutor, New Coll. A Commentary Grammatical and Exegetical; with a Transla-tion. Strict grammatical treatment of Scripture is always commendable, and in this case the results are highly valued by advanced scholars.
Biblical Commentary on Job. Exposition of Job, 12mo. Orme only mentions it upon the authority of Wafts Bibliotheca. It is certain to be good, for Durham is always admirable. Lectures on the Book of Job. They are quite out of the usual run of Church of England preaching, and are full of thought and originality. They would have been all the better for a little gospel, for even if his text does not look that way, we do expect a Christian minister to have something to say about his Master. Annotations on Job and the Psalms,. New Translation and Exposition, with.
Written in a devout, enquiring' spirit, with due respect to learned writers, but not with a slavish following' of their fancies. Fry's work is somewhat of the same character as Good's No. We greatly esteem this exposition for its own sake, and also for the evangelical tone which pervades it. An Improved Metrical Version, with preliminary dissertation and notes. His work is of very moderate value. This Bishop ascribes the authorship of Job to Ezekiel! The Book of Job literally translated.
Good's learning was, however, more extensive than accurate, and it would be dangerous to accept his translations without examination.
On the Book of Job. Library of the Fathers. The Fathers are of course beyond criticism, and contain priceless gems here and there; but they spiritualize at such a rate, and also utter: All that is good in this book is marred by its utterly untenable conjectures. It,treats Job with slender reverence. Do not lumber your shelves with it.
Poor Job's book has been the subject of trials as numerous as those of its hero, and Hodges has given the finishing stroke. The course of dreaming can no further go. Hodge the village Methodist could never have raved at the rate c f Dr. Hodge, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford. The Gospel Revealed to Job. Thirty Lectures, with Notes. An unusually good book; exceeding1y comprehensive and helpful in many ways. The author aimed at usefulness and has succeeded wonderfully. We wonder that his work has not been better known.
An Exposition upon Job, being the sum of Lectures. Whenever the student sees a Commentary by Hutcheson let him buy it, for we know of no author who is more thoroughly helpful to thee minister of the Word. He distils the text, and gives his readers the quintessence, ready for use. Thoughts on the Book of Job. A Commentary by Otto Zockler, D. Translated from the German, with-Additions by Prof. Contains a large collection of available material, and, if within a minister's means, should be a foundation book in his library.
We are very far from endorsing all Zockler's remarks, but the volume is an important one. The Book of Job translated; with Introduction and Commentary. Barnes says, "This work is not what might have been expected from the learning and reputation of Prof Lee. It abounds with Arabic learning, which is scattered with ostentatious profuseness through the volume, but which often contributes little to the elucidation of the text.
It is designed for the critical scholar rather than the general reader. A New Translation, with Notes. Noyes belongs to the Unitarian body, but we fail to see any trace of Arian or Socinian views in this volume. We do not agree with all that he says, but he strikes us as being an honest, able, and accurate translator and commentator, worthy to stand in the foremost rank. A Critical Dissertation on the Book of Job. Peters was an eminently learned man, and well versed in argument; but his work is,of very small use for homiletical purposes.
Job Militant, with Meditations, Divine and Moral. A Homiletic Commentary on Job. This we hope will be of use to preachers, but we have hardly enough before us to judge of it. Of spotless manners, with a soul sincere, Evil his hate, and God alone his fear. Senault was a famous preacher of the Oratory in Paris, who, from the character of his works, would seem to have been almost a Protestant. His writings were highly esteemed in their day, and translated into English.
The Book of Job translated from the Hebrew, with Annotations. We know of no rhyming version of any part of Scripture, except the Psalms, which can be called a success. Certainly this is not one. The author's notes deserve consideration. The Book of Job, Metrically arranged, and newly translated, with Notes. Well may Magee say that it is full of "precipitances, mistakes, and mutilations. It takes a great man to perpetrate a very great folly. A metrical translation of Job with Notes in six weeks!
In that time slacks bloom to perfection. Perhaps that fact operated on our author. Let this blundering haste serve as a warning to young divines. John Hamilton Gray, M. Useful philologically; but Barnes would supply far more in that direction, and spiritual exposition besides. Evenings in the Land of Uz; a Comment on Job. Isaac Taylor commends this volume as one which "disclaiming all purpose of critical exposition, aims only under the guidance of Christian feeling and experience to follow and to unfold the spiritual intention of this rich portion of Holy Scripture.
Sermons on the Book of Job. We have here nothing very fresh, but everything is sound and good. Job and his Times. New Version, with Notes. It is not so much of the nature of a Commentary as a collection of fragments and brief essays on various topics referred to in the Book of Job. Being a pithie and clear opening of the Scope and Meaning of the Text, to the capacitie of the Weakest.
Though not of the first order, many of his remarks are good. Abbot was nephew to the Archbishop of the same name. The Psalms Translated and Explained. Occupies a first place among expositions. It is a clear and judicious explanation of the text, and cannot be dispensed with. The Book of Praises. The Psalms, with Notes. The Notes are mostly from other authors, and are selected with discretion. They do not appear to have been designed by their collector for use beyond his own family circle, and they were published after his death by his friends.
We question the wis-dora of the publication. As a Father he is beyond ordinary criticism, or we would venture to say that he is too frequently mystical, and confounds plain texts. No theological library is complete without this work, for there are grand thoughts in it like huge nuggets of Australian gold.
Very pious; but if the work should ever disappear from literature its absence will not leave a very great gap. Bishop Horne and Dr. Hawker between them more than cover the space. Using these notes constantly, we are more and. For the general run of preachers this is probably the best commentary extant. Translated from the Latin, by the Ven. He is frequently as evangelical as a Reformer. He follows the Vulgate text in this comment. Short Meditations on the Psalms, chiefly in their Prophetic character. Mere fragments, in a style which we do not admire, which seems to be peculiar to,certain brethren.
Only the initiated can understand what such writers mean. Their History, Teachings, and Use. A highly valuable work. It is not an exposition, but can readily be used as such, for it possesses a good index to the passages treated of Dr. Binnie reviews with great skill and intense devotion the various sacred poems contained in the Book of Psalms, and gives the general run and character of each one.
Christ and his Church in the Book of Psalms. His remarks are always weighty, spiritual, and suggestive; we only wish there were more of them He has cultivated brevity. Evangelical, devotional, and expository. Preachers will find good thought here. The Book of Psalms in English Verse. The Psalms rhymed in a New Testament spirit: A Commentary on the Book of Psalms. With a new literal version. Does not appear to have been reprinted in England. To which are added by the Translator a Praxis of the first eight Psalms.
We agree with the statement found in the Preface of this work: The Psalms of David and others, with Commentaries. Translated by Arthur Golding. The Psalms, newly translated from the Hebrew. The emendations are carefully made by the translator, who has been for many years engaged upon the Singalese version. The Psalms in Metre. We do not think much of the metrical rendering, which often jars on the ear. There are a few good notes at the end. A Textual Commentary on the Psalms. Make one for yourself. Commendable in its way, but not important. Most of its matter is to be found elsewhere.
Psalterium Messianicum Davidis Regis et Prophetae. The large type swells out a small quantity of material to a needless size, and so puts purchasers to an unnecessary expense. A New Version, with Notes. The translation is mainly that of Rogers No. We see no use whatever in this production. The Psalms; with Notes. It might be reprinted in England, with the probability of a large sale.
They are deservedly held in esteem. The author has labored hard to arrive at the correct meaning of the Hebrew, and to versify it. The work is very carefully done, but few preachers can afford to spend their money on a book of this kind. Too mystical for ordinary minds. If the author would write in plain English his readers would probably discover that there is nothing very valuable in his remarks. Commentary; Critical, Devotional, and Prophetical. A second-advent interpreter; and one of the best of his class. Highly esteemed by those who are enthusiastic upon prophetical subjects.
Commentary on the Psalms. Thoroughly learned, but wants unction. Not adapted for common readers, but scholars will prize it greatly. The Princeton Review says of it: A brief explanation of the Psalms. Reprinted in 2 vols. Invaluable to the preacher. Having read and re-read it, we can speak of its holy savor and suggestiveness.
We commend it with much fervor. This author spiritualizes far too much. His metaphors are overdone. A paraphrase of no great value. Even Masters of Arts may fail. The writer was an able man, but his book is of small worth. Lectures on the Psalms. His comments were given at the public reading of the Scriptures, and although destitute of spirituality and Gospel clearness, they are not without a measure of originality. Sixty Lectures on the Psalms. We pity the hearer who sat out these sixty lectures. Annotations on Job and Psalms, from several Commentators.
Sermons by a Northamptonshire Rector of the Broad School. They do not strike us as being anything very wonderful; certainly "The Voice of God" is not remarkably audible in them. Here the Psalms are thrust out of their usual order, and treated after the manner eft he Broad School of thought.
We do not attach any great value to this production. With some persons perversity passes for profundity, and if a man differs from everybody else they are persuaded that he must be an original genius: We neither believe in their chronology, their theology, nor their philology. A version held in high esteem. A Translation and Exposition of the Psalms, on the principles adopted in the posthumous work of Bishop Horsley; viz.
The work is not fair either as a translation, or as an exposition.
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It is useful in its own direction, as showing how a peculiar theory has been supported by an able man; but it must not be implicitly relied upon. A Lyrical, Literal Version [with Notes]. A valuable literal version. Notes scant, but scholarly. A Raman Catholic divine. New Translation, with Various Readings and Notes. Henderson speaks of Geddes as flagrantly disfiguring his Biblical labors with profanity.
He was a singular mixture of Romanist and free-thinker. Historical Outline of the Book of Psalms. Edited by the Rev. John Mason Neale, B. Historical light is frequently the very best which can be cast upon a passage, and Dr. Good has known how to apply it. He may sometimes be thought fanciful, but he is never really speculative, and he almost always says somethin6 worth notin6.
Good was a medical gentleman with a large practice, and yet he managed to produce this learned volume. The progress made in Hebrew philology and exegesis since his day has been great; but his work has not been altogether superseded. It is of a high class, from a literary pint of view, but must not be blindly followed. A Translation, with Notes.
Hammond's weighty tome is somewhat dry, and many of his remarks are rather those of a linguist than of a divine, but he touches on many matters which others omit, and is, upon the whole, an expositor of singular merit. The Psalms in appropriate Metres; a strictly literal Translation, with Notes. We prefer our own version, and do not think many of Mr. Hapstone's stanzas successful as attempts at poetry. Notes on the Psalms [I. The author confounds rather than expounds. Tegg's edition, 1 vol. This is not true, for he had natural poetry in his soul; and even if it were true, his work would 60 far to show how abundantly piety compensates for other deficiencies He is among the best of our Eng1ish writers on this part of Scripture, and certainly one of the most popular.
The Book of Psalms. With Notes Explanatory and Critical. The notes show the hand of a master, and have exerted much influence in directing thoughtful minds to the subject of the Second Advent, as foreshadowed in the Old Testament, but they must be used with extreme caution. The Psalms, with Introductions and Critical Notes. Learned, but more occupied with mere verbal criticisms than with any useful suggestions which could be turned to account by a preacher. The Psalms; with Reflections. The Psalms translated from the Hebrew.
With Notes, chiefly Exegetical. A refreshing book; the notes being' out of the ordinary run, and casting much light on many passages. To thoroughly appreciate this author one should be a Hebrew scholar. Author of "The Christian Year. The Psalter, in English Verse. A poet's version of a grand series of poems. Not up to the usual standard of this admirable series.
Still, it is among the best of modern commentaries. The Psalms of David and Solomon explained. A small affair in all ways. A Manual of the Book of Psalms; or the subject-contents of all the Psalms. The Christian's Family Library. In this instance we can-less that there may be real poetry in a metrical version, and through the flame does not in each composition burn with equal brilliance, yet in some verses it is the true poetic fire. Mant is no mean writer. The Book of Psalms translated into English verse, with Notes.
Contains nothing of any consequence to an expositor, though the verse is considerably above the average of such productions. The Psalms Paraphrased in English verse. They are rather more suited for the admirers of poetry than for ministers of the Word. It is said that some of the notes are by Archbishop Secker, and that Lowth also aided in the exposition; but the combined result is of no great value to the preacher.
Exposition of the Book of Psalms, explanatory, critical, and devotional. An Essay towards a New English Version. Mudge was highly esteemed by Dr. Johnson, and he was no doubt a very worthy man; but his exposition can be dispensed with. A Critical and Exegetical Comment. We will not spend the time this morning detailing what is found in the next three verses.
But these verses contain the reminders of those who had once claimed to believe, but instead turned from living like God wanted them to. Verse 5 begins with the phrase- I will therefore put you in remembrance. What did he remind them of? That God did some things to these that had apostatized.
What did He do? He destroyed the Jews that did not believe. Remember, how God had delivered the children of Israel out of the bondage in Egypt? God had lead them from their captivity, to the remarkable trip through the Red Sea. He provided for them water and quail and manna. But, when God said, This is why I brought you out. Here is the great Promised Land. They believed God enough to get them out. They believed God enough every morning to feed them. But, when it came to actually doing something God wanted- their faith ended. He departed the angels from Heaven.
God created the angels. They were all created good. He disintegrated Sodom and Gomorrah 7. Here is an entire region overcome by wickedness. Sexual immorality was rampant. Enoch according to verse 14 prophesied of these things. Understand this text in verse 4 is not saying that these people were specifically created to this condemnation.
Thus we have seen the pretenders are deceivers, declared of old ,…. Destitute of God — ungodly. In 25 verses he uses the word 6 times. These claimed to belong to God, but were ungodly in their lifestyles and actions. That must mean that there is a way to live godly and a way to live ungodly. Thus if you and I are going to be blessed we must avoid the counsel of the ungodly. We often wonder why our society and our Christian homes in particular struggle. It is because we are getting all of our advice and counsel from the ungodly.
That means turn off Oprah, and Phil, and Maury and the The View and every other heathen ungodly show and get back to the Bible. Most of the time these shows try to explain why people act the way they do without it being their fault. I could here Oprah interviewing Eve.
Eve, were you having struggles in your home that caused you to be attracted to this snake? Well, you know Oprah, I had this sheltered life. God told me what I could and could not do. Adam was the only one I was allowed to talk to. It was like I was in a prison in paradise. When this attractive serpent came along and promised me a better life- well what was I to do. I was a prisoner in paradise. Oh, honey, I understand this is not your fault. Your circumstances made it necessary. No the truth is- she made a conscious decision to rebel against God.
If someone is going to trust Christ as their Saviour, then act like it. If someone is going to say they are a Christian, then act like it. Do not be like these athletes- I thank God for this great victory. Do not be like the entertainers that sing a hymn to end their concerts and then smoke and drink and live immoral. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
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Peter, brings us to the conclusion of our thoughts this morning. If he righteous scarcely be saved. We go back to Lot in Sodom. There are numerous people who have struggled over salvation. I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt 6 weeks before I got saved, that I needed to be saved.
I struggled with the decision to trust Christ. Many people hear the gospel message numerous times. Maybe they first heard it from Grandma. Perhaps a Sunday School teacher. Albert Barnes states this: What hope is there of their salvation? The meaning is, that they would certainly perish; and the doctrine in the passage is, that the fact that the righteous are saved with so much difficulty is proof that the wicked will not be saved at all.
So now there must be these questions asked? Are you a pretender- saved but not acting like it? This morning we began this message- Who are the great pretenders? Jude was trying to identify these great pretenders -. Let me say, it is still going on today. Yes, we must warn against the Mormons. Yes, we must let people know of the Satanic influences of the Roman Catholic Church. But, the truth be known, these folks will in all likelihood not influence New Testament Baptist Church. But, these apostates- These great pretenders- They will annihilate the work of God. This morning we saw three of these descriptions concerning the great pretenders.
Now tonight is the beginning of about eight straight messages where things are going to get a little rough. The message of Jude becomes a little more straightforward. This is going to be good. This is going to be a help to our church and our lives. So, take notes and study along and we will come through this where God wants us to be. Desire to Change Doctrine. It is as if Jude is referencing II Peter 2: Then we will make comments, a few quotes, then see what Paul has to say about the matter. Turning- to transfer, exchange, pervert. Grace is unmerited favor.
Being given by God something that we do not deserve. Just like the bank mortgage is due on the 10 th of each month. If we do not pay it on the 10 th they give us grace until the 20 th before they tack on a late fee. We do not deserve that. We do not deserve the grace of God to save us. We do not deserve the grace of God in our everyday lives. What was taking place was the thought that God had wiped away all their past sin. Thus, they were saved by the grace of God and they could live any way they desired.
In other words licentious living- living out the lusts of the flesh. It is the absence of moral restraints in behavior. Usually this individual will say to someone who has standards- You are a legalist. You will not find that term in Scripture. The correct term found in Scripture was Pharisee who thought they were more spiritual because they added things to the Bible. If I were to preach you had to stand on your head, and recite John 3: That would be adding to the Word of God.
That would be another area of wrong doing. But for the believer to follow the Word of God- this is right. For the believer to be taught the Word of God and turn away from it, that is turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. That takes in a whole lot of things. A woman should not wear that which pertains to a man: A woman should not bare the thigh: This is a description of one who has taken the positi on of a harlot. She lost her charm and innocence. She crossed a natural boundary. Men things are not better for us. We could mention I Thessalonians 5: We could mention that God talks about britches for men.
We could mention the use of proper language. We could mention I John 2: We could mention Romans We could mention men allowing the wrong music in the home.
We are not to fill our mind with the things of the world. Much of the music of today is talking about perverted love, affairs, one night stands, drugs, alcohol, some form of illicit sexual activity. That is not for the Child of God. This is the absence of moral restraint. These things end up in the church house. A lack of moral restraint. Why is the CCM movement so huge? Cary Monaco in the Baptist Edifier June said this: More and more so the worship of the Lord in churches is being replaced by the traditions of man which revolve around worshipping self.
Such a church would sure to be wildly popular.
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Grace is not just forgiveness it is a change. How are they denying the Lord? These that have left the faith- no they did not lose their salvation- but they have left the principle and actions of the doctrines of the Bible. Denying the Lord that saved them by their very actions.
God will judge apostasy. He will judge those that have turned form the grace of God. I have heard some say- well He has not yet. Then one of two things will happen. Second, you are probably not saved and will have the fires of Hell to judge you through all eternity. Jude Puts Us in Remembrance. As we have seen thus far, Jude is writing a warning about these creepers- apostates.
These who have turned their backs on the faith once delivered to the saints were sneaking into the churches and perverting the Gospel. In verse 4 we were solidly introduced to these that had rebelled against the truth of the Gospel. Last week we used 5 words that began with D to enlighten us- they were deceivers, they were declared of old, destitute of God, desiring to change doctrine and denying the Lord. Jude, like his mentor the Apostle Peter, reaches back into the Old Testament to give reminders. Jude cites three examples of how God deals with those who disobeys.
There have been a number of times I have been asked the question: Because the Old Testament is a recounting of history and an example for us. In a few minutes we will see how Paul makes a clear case for this in I Corinthians The writer of Hebrews also supports this thought in Hebrews 3 and 4.
Reminders are good, so long as you use them to avoid previous mistakes or enjoy previous successes. The problem with many folks is they have memory failure or just plain refuse to be reminded. Those things that could make him confidence in the flesh. Paul points us in the direction of remembrance like Jude.
Jude Puts Us In Remembrance. He does this with three specific examples. Jude brings to remembrance that Israel had been rescued from Egypt but due to rebellion were destroyed. Paul, brings the details a little clearer in I Corinthians The thought is this: God will judge His own. There are Christians that really believe they never do anything wrong. They believe that every one else is at fault, everyone else is out to get them. That makes great Charismatic doctrine.
That makes wonderful fertilizer to grow a garden of pride. But it is not Bible. Paul shows us in specifics what Jude casually mentions: God will punish those who abuse the grace of God to follow their own lusts. They had been thorough instruction in this before. These in Israel had been saved rescued then destroyed.
The writer shows to specific actions. Like Paul Harvey and the rest of the story. Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,. But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness.
I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh , and Joshua the son of Nun. To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.
But with whom was he grieved forty years? Exodus 32 they made the golden calf and worshipped idols. The result was a judgment of 3, people killed because they turned to idolatry. In Numbers 25 Israel began to commit fornication. Not only were they involved with sexual relations with those in Shittim but they also were committing spiritual whoredom. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Exodus 16; Exodus 17; Numbers 14, and Numbers 16 mention specifics of the murmuring. The serious warning v 12, It is interesting to note that Jude, as Peter, makes mention of these angels. For other than the account of the fall of Satan mentioned in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 and the accounts of Peter and Jude about the fallen angels, we are left clueless as to all the circumstances surrounding the event.
But suffice it to say- God judged the angels for their rebellion. Debauched Sodom v 7. This is the most explicit of these examples. One can not but read of this in Genesis 18 and 19 and see the wrath of God on those that had turned form Him. There are three things to see in this account: This was a willful, intentional desire. They on purpose sought after sexual pleasure. Warren Weirsbe said- they indulged in them. We have a generation that, like Sodom , indulges in sex. Yes, Sodom was destroyed by God. But, this group of people did not just wake up one day to homosexuality- they started in indulgence.
Our society is over sexed. Books, magazines, movies, commercials, our society talks about sex openly- too openly. Girls at 12 are considered a geek if they have not been kissed. That is purity and should be guarded. If you never hold hands, you will never get pregnant. Going after strange flesh. Specifically they had taken the step of homosexual and animal involvement. God makes them an example. They were openly exposed as an example for all eternity. God will judge those that leave the natural boundaries that He has set up.
So how do we conclude this morning? Go with me to II Peter 3: God will judge his people. It took 40 years to accomplish the judgment on Israel in the wilderness. God is patient and longsuffering and not willing that any should perish. Are you trying to please Him in everything you do? Or are you living for all the pleasures of this life? So now we must ask the question. Can we protect our church from these creepers.
Can we do our best to make sure that the church is kept pure and unspotted from the world? Yes, it is possible. There is no doubt about it. There are four keys to protecting our Church. The Word of God must have the priority. Paul exhorted Timothy to preach the Word. Because of the Charge. Because of the Coming Judgment v 1. Because the time has Come v 3. Church will not want sound doctrine. Church will not want truth. Because we are to be Careful v 5. We must realize this watching is done under the auspices of the Word of God.
Where and how money is spent must be protected. We must guard how the money God has entrusted us with is spent. I get easily 10 requests a month for money. I get letters from frauds claiming to be missionaries. I must have stupid written across my forehead. I get a couple of calls a month from Philippine Nationals wanting American money to build their church. Obviously, they are getting it because they fly over here and spend 6 months raising money. We must be careful of psuedomissions. We must be careful of spending to spend. Wisdom in Biblical separation must be pressed upon.
We must correct those who have strayed from the Word. We must not be ashamed of what we believe. There is little doubt that we are protect our church from creepers. But it takes a knowledge of the Word. It takes a willingness to watch and pray. It takes a diligence about the finances. It takes a willingness to follow Biblical guidelines of separation.
That means those that cross these lines are not to be fellowshipped with or communicated with unless they want to make things right. The Character of the Deceivers. Jude has just given us this absolute graphic remembrance of the situation in Sodom. How these lived their lives uncontrolled in their fleshly appetites. Jude then makes the transfer- Likewise. Likewise- just like those that were in Sodom and Gomorrah , and those cities in the plains. In other words, these apostates and these in Sodom were rebellious towards the things of God. Rebellion has become such a part of American society.
In reality, rebellion has become so much a part of this society it has become difficult to recognize. It has almost become normal to be rebellious. Oftentimes rebellion is mistakenly identified as individualism. Or perhaps someone will say, They are being themselves. They are just trying to find themselves.
They are making a statement. The doctrine of rebellion has been fueled by the music and lifestyle of rebellion. The music industry has been the catalyst for this rebellion. Which should not surprise us since the devil was in charge of the music in heaven and he rebelled against the Almighty. As the days go by the rebellion and rebellious acts increase. Styles of dress, tattoos, piercings, bizarre hair coloring, guns, I believe in the second amendment, but people who have the right to bear arms are intelligent enough to know the purpose of those guns. While rebellion may be hidden or mislabeled by most, God is very clear as to his sentiments about rebellion.
The word translated witchcraft is the Hebrew word divination. Listen to what the Bible has to say about witchcraft-. Rebellion defined is this: Rebellion and pride go hand in hand. Rebellion is open resistance to lawful authority. The way one gets to the point of open rebellion is pride. Psalm 10 describes the actions of the rebellious. The rebellious are bullies. Especially of those trying to do right. The rebellious are boasters. They are not afraid to talk of their own desires and their own covetousness. They are not good team players. The rebellious are belligerent.
They do not seek God. They try to hurt others because they are always right. They believe themselves to be so right nothing is their. The rebellious are backstabbers. Cursing- speaks evil of God and man. Deceit- tries to entrap folks into believing they are not rebellious. Fraud —is the style of living. The rebellious are behind bushes. They are trying to quietly work their magic in destroying the work of God. You have made your point about the rebellious, but what does this have to do with the text we read back in Jude? The devil will try to commandeer the church.
He will try to destroy the house of God The calculated work of the rebellious is to destroy the work of God. Jude gives a description of the deceivers. These that were rebellious and doing their best to keep it concealed while they destroyed the work of God. They live in a dream world. They believe that they are the absolute authority. Look at the first part of verse They have a dream-world religion that revolves around themselves. Jesus talked about this in this manner in Matthew 7: Defile the Flesh Jude 8.
While they may come to the church house, they live outside the church house after the desires of the flesh. We are expressly forbidden from living our life after the flesh. These that Jude is warning about live their lives to please the flesh. Because of their rebellion, they believe- if it feels good, do it. In most case these have set themselves up as their own authority and try to recruit others to follow after them. This is how false religions have been birthed throughout time: Catholics- look to the Pope.
Mormons- look to the Book of Mormon. Protestants- look to committees and councils. Charismatics- look to the authority of experience. I have known Baptist preachers that have set themselves up as absolute authority outside the parameters of the Word of God. Dignities spoken evil of. While the dominions are the authorities in ones life, the dignities are those that require respect. These are spoken evil of. Once again these described by Jude fit the description of the Psalmist in Psalm How do we then conclude things this morning? How To Handle The Devil? We now come to verse 9 in our thoughts as we preach through he Book of Jude.
There is little doubt that Jude as relating a story or quoting a tradition that had been recorded in the Apocryphal book — The Assumption of Moses. Let me say a few things about this quoting from the Apocrypha- those books that have not been included in the 66 books that make up the canon of Scripture. First, just because Jude is quoting from this spurious book does not mean he is condoning the entire piece of literature. Second, just because a portion of the writing is quoted in the inspired Word of God does not mean that Divine approval has been given to those Apocryphal books.
Third, since this story is included in the Book of Jude, which is included in the canon of Scripture- then we can rest assured that this is then a true story- even though it was never referred to the Old Testament. Fourth, it would make sense that this event would have taken place. It would have been just like the Devil to want to relate to the Jews the exact burial spot of Moses.
Listen, if when Israel said they did not know where Moses was when he was on the mountain and they built a golden cow, what kind of shrine or object of worship do you think they would have built had they known where to build it. The mother of the Jewish nation- Sarah- and now the great leader of Israel- Moses- both have their death downplayed. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab , over against Bethpeor: Jude has in the portion we looked at this morning, charged these deceivers with speaking against dignities.
In this verse he speaks of Michael the archangel. We oftentimes are caught up in running our mouths are especially running down those who have dominion or authority over us. When we speak in this manner we are speaking out of pride. The title of the message is How To Handle the Devil. There is a group of people who have made great money and gathered quite a following by telling people to rebuke the Devil.
I sight this very example of Jude. Michael simple responded- The Lord rebuke thee. I leave thee to the Judge of all. How then are we to handle the Devil? Be Sober I Peter 5: Not just to abstain from strong drink but to be discreet. Calm, not mad or insane, not heated with passion.