_Therefore_ Because you are forgiven by God, and have been so much loved; (Ephesians 4:32;) _be ye followers_ Μιμηται, _imitators, of God_ In loving and forgiving; _as dear_ Αγαπητα, _beloved, children_ Whom he hath not only forgiven after many and great offences, but hath taken into his peculiar fa... [ Continue Reading ]
_But fornication_, &c. But any impure love, and any vice flowing therefrom, or connected therewith; _let it not be once named_ Or heard of; _among you_ Except with detestation. Keep at the utmost distance from it; _as becometh saints_ Who are conscious of the sanctity of your name and profession, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this ye know_ Of this ye cannot be ignorant, favoured as you have been with the light of the gospel, _that no whoremonger, &c., hath any inheritance_ Here or hereafter; _in the kingdom of Christ or of God_ That is, purchased by Christ, and bestowed by God. The reason why the apostle, in this an... [ Continue Reading ]
_For ye were sometimes_ That is, _once; darkness_ In a state of total blindness and ignorance, without any light of instruction without, or divine grace within, and therefore had some excuse for living such unrighteous and profane lives: _but now ye are light in the Lord_ Enlightened by the divine w... [ Continue Reading ]
_And have no fellowship_ No society, no participation _with_ wicked men in _the unfruitful works of darkness_ Works which bring no advantage, but mischief, (Romans 6:23,) and called _works of darkness_, because they usually proceed from ignorance, Acts 3:17; are contrary to the light of the word, Jo... [ Continue Reading ]
_But all things that are reproved_ Or, _discovered_, or _confuted_, as ελεγχομενα may be properly rendered; _are made manifest_ Have their iniquity laid open to the actors themselves, as well as to others; _by the light_ Of divine truth; or, as Whitby interprets the clause, “being discovered by the... [ Continue Reading ]
_See then_ That you may be fit to reprove sin in others; _that ye_ Yourselves, upon whom the light of Christ already shines; _walk circumspectly_ Ακριβως, _accurately_, with the utmost exactness; making his will, as made known to you in his word, your rule, and his glory your end, in all your action... [ Continue Reading ]
_And be not drunk with wine_ As the heathen are when they celebrate the feasts of Bacchus, their god of wine; _wherein is excess_ Which is the source of all manner of extravagance, and leads to debauchery of every kind. The original word ασωτια, here rendered _excess_, signifies entire dissoluteness... [ Continue Reading ]
In the following directions concerning relative duties, the inferiors are all along placed before the superiors, because the general proposition is concerning submission: and inferiors ought to do their duty, whatever their superiors do. _Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands_ Unless where G... [ Continue Reading ]
The apostle now proceeds to speak of the duty of husbands to their wives, the principal of which consists in their loving them, without which they would abuse their power to tyranny and oppression. But how are they to love them? The apostle says, _as Christ loved the church_ Namely, with a love that... [ Continue Reading ]
_That he might sanctify and cleanse it_ Might remove the guilt, power, and pollution of sin; _with the washing of water_ In baptism, as the sign of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, which can only renew, sanctify, and cleanse the soul. See 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; Titus 3:5. _By the word_ T... [ Continue Reading ]
But to return to the subject from which this pleasing digression has led us: _So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies_ That is, as themselves, or a part of themselves; the bond of marriage making the husband and his wife one, and establishing an inseparable community of interests betwee... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nevertheless_ As if he said, But though there be such a mystical sense in the marriage of Adam and Eve, or in the union subsisting between a man and his wife; though it be a striking emblem of the union between Christ and his church, yet the plain, literal sense especially now concerns you. _Let ev... [ Continue Reading ]