6th Sunday of Easter

Cornelius ... worshipped.[2] Some think Cornelius might look upon St. Peter as more than a man, and offer to him divine worship: by prostrating, he might only intend to pay such honour to him, as is paid to persons eminent in dignity, especially according to the custom of the eastern people. (Witham)

Procidens ad pedes ejus adoravit, Greek: peson epi tous podas prosekunesen. The same word, is often used for a civil worship.

St. John Chrysostom (hom. xxi in Act.) thinketh Peter refused this homage through humility, because this falling down, Greek: proskunein, is frequently used in Scripture towards men. St. Jerome (adv. Vigil. chap. ii.) holds the contrary sentiment.

In every nation, &c. That is to say, not only Jews, but Gentiles also, of what nation soever, are acceptable to God, if they fear him, and work justice. But then true faith is always to be presupposed, without which, (saith St. Paul, Hebrews xi. 6.) it is impossible to please God. Beware then of the error of those, who would infer from this passage, that men of all religions may be pleasing to God. For since none but the true religion can be from God, all other religions must be from the father of lies; and therefore highly displeasing to the God of truth. (Challoner) --- He that feareth him, and worketh justice. So he call the prayers, alms-deeds, and charitable works of this Gentile Cornelius. (Witham)

The Holy Ghost fell upon all them, and made his coming known in some visible manner and exterior signs, as on the day of Pentecost. The Christians who had come with St. Peter, who before had been Jews, were astonished to see that such extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were given to uncircumcised Gentiles. (Witham)

Can any man forbid water? &c. or doubt that these, on whom the Holy Ghost hath descended, may be made members of the Christian Church, by baptism, as Christ ordained? (Witham) --- Such may be the grace of God occasionally towards men, and such their great charity and contrition, that they may have remission, justification, and sanctification, before the external sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and penance be received; as we see in this example: where, at Peter's preaching, they all received the Holy Ghost before any sacrament. But here we also learn one necessary lesson, that such, notwithstanding, must needs receive the sacraments appointed by Christ, which whosoever contemneth, can never be justified. (St. Augustine, sup. Levit. q. 84. T. 4.)

19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. 20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. 21 Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? 22 And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by a holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. 23 Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And the morrow after they entered into Cæsarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. 25 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. 26 But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. 27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together. 28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. 29 Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? 30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, 31 And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. 33 Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.

We have here the meeting between Peter the apostle, and Cornelius the centurion. Though Paul was designed to be the apostle of the Gentiles, and to gather in the harvest among them, and Peter to be the apostle of the circumcision, yet it is ordered that Peter shall break the ice, and reap the first-fruits of the Gentiles, that the believing Jews, who retained too much of the old leaven of ill-will to the Gentiles, might be the better reconciled to their admission into the church, when they were first brought in by their own apostle, which Peter urges against those that would have imposed circumcision upon the Gentile converts ( ch. xv. 7 ), You know that God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel. Now here,

I. Peter is directed by the Spirit to go along with Cornelius's messengers ( v. 19, 20 ), and this is the exposition of the vision; now the riddle is unriddled: While Peter thought on the vision; he was musing upon it, and then it was opened to him. Note, Those that would be taught the things of God must think on those things; those that would understand the scriptures must meditate in them day and night. He was at a loss about it, and then had it explained, which encourages us, when we know not what to do, to have our eyes up unto God for direction. Observe, 1. Whence he had the direction. The Spirit said to him what he should do. It was not spoken to him by an angel, but spoken in him by the Spirit, secretly whispering it in his ear as it were, as God spoke to Samuel ( 1 Sam. ix. 15 ), or impressing it powerfully upon his mind, so that he knew it to be a divine afflatus or inspiration, according to the promise, John xvi. 13 . 2. What the direction was. (1.) He is told, before any of the servants could come up to tell him, that three men below want to speak with him ( v. 19 ), and he must arise from his musings, leave off thinking of the vision, and go down to them, v. 20 . Those that are searching into the meaning of the words of God, and the visions of the Almighty, should not be always poring, no, nor always praying, but should sometimes look abroad, look about them, and they may meet with that which will be of use to them in their enquiries; for the scripture is in the fulfilling every day. (2.) He is ordered to go along with the messengers to Cornelius, though he was a Gentile, doubting nothing. He must not only go, but go cheerfully, without reluctance or hesitation, or any scruple concerning the lawfulness of it; not doubting whether he might go, no, nor whether he ought to go; for it was his duty " Go with them, for I have sent them: and I will bear thee out in going along with them, however thou mayest be censured for it." Note, When we see our call clear to any service, we should not suffer ourselves to be perplexed with doubts and scruples concerning it arising from former prejudices or pre-possessions, or a fear of men's censure. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, and prove his own work.

II. He receives both them and their message: He went down to them, v. 21 . So far was he from going out of the way, or refusing to be spoken with, as one that was shy of them, or making them tarry, as one that took state upon him, that he went to them himself, told them he was the person they were enquiring for. And 1. He favourably receives their message; with abundance of openness and condescension he asks what their business is, what they have to say to him: What is the cause wherefore you are come? and they tell him their errand ( v. 22 ): " Cornelius, an officer of the Roman army, a very honest gentleman, and one who has more religion than most of his neighbours, who fears God above many ( Neh. vii. 2 ), who, though he is not a Jew himself, has carried it so well that he is of good report among all the people of the Jews —they will all give him a good word, for a conscientious, sober, charitable man, so that it will be no discredit to thee to be seen in his company—he was warned from God, " echrematisthe —" he had an oracle from God, sent to him by an angel" (and the lively oracles of the law of Moses were given by the disposition of angels), "by which he was ordered to send for thee to his house (where he is expecting thee, and ready to bid thee welcome), and to hear words of thee: they know not what words, but they are such as he may hear from thee, and not from any one else so well." Faith comes by hearing. When Peter repeats this, he tells us more fully, they are words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved, ch. xi. 14 . "Come to him, for an angel bade him send for thee: come to him, for he is ready to hear and receive the saving words thou hast to bring to him." 2. He kindly entertained the messengers ( v. 23 ): He called them in, and lodged them. He did not bid them go and refresh and repose themselves in an inn at their own charge, but was himself at the charge of entertaining them in his own quarters. What was getting ready for him ( v. 10 ) they should be welcome to share in; he little thought what company he should have when he bespoke his dinner, but God foresaw it. Note, It becomes Christians and ministers to be hospitable, and ready, according as their ability is, and there is occasion for it, to entertain strangers. Peter lodged them, though they were Gentiles, to show how readily he complied with the design of the vision in eating with Gentiles; for he immediately took them to eat with him. Though they were two of them servants, and the other a common soldier, yet Peter thought it not below him to take them into his house. Probably he did it that he might have some talk with them about Cornelius and his family; for the apostles, though they had instructions from the Spirit, yet made use of other information, as they had occasion for it.

III. He went with them to Cornelius, whom he found ready to receive and entertain him. 1. Peter, when he went with them, was accompanied by certain brethren from Joppa, where he now was, v. 23 . Six of them went along with him, as we find, ch. xi. 12 . Either Peter desired their company, that they might be witnesses of his proceeding cautiously with reference to the Gentiles, and of the good ground on which he went, and therefore he invited them ( ch. xi. 12 ), or they offered their service to attend him, and desired they might have the honour and happiness of being his fellow travellers. This was one way in which the primitive Christians very much showed their respect to their ministers: they accompanied them in their journeys, to keep them in countenance, to be their guard, and, as there was occasion, to minister to them; with a further prospect not only of doing them service, but of being edified by their converse. It is a pity that those who have skill and will to do good to others by their discourse should want an opportunity for it by travelling alone. 2. Cornelius, when he was ready to receive him, had got some friends together of Cesarea. It seems, it was above a day's journey, nearly two, from Joppa to Cesarea; for it was the day after they set out that they entered into Cesarea ( v. 24 ), and the afternoon of that day, v. 30 . It is probable that they travelled on foot; the apostles generally did so. Now when they came into the house of Cornelius Peter found, (1.) That he was expected, and this was an encouragement to him. Cornelius waited for them, and such a guest was worth waiting for; nor can I blame him if he waited with some impatience, longing to know what that mighty thing was which an angel bade him expect to hear from Peter. (2.) That he was expected by many, and this was a further encouragement to him. As Peter brought some with him to partake of the spiritual gift he had now to dispense, so Cornelius had called together, not only his own family, but kinsmen and near friends, to partake with him of the heavenly instructions he expected from Peter, which would give Peter a larger opportunity of doing good. Note, We should not covet to eat our spiritual morsels alone, Job xxxi. 17 . It ought to be both given and taken as a piece of kindness and respect to our kindred and friends to invite them to join with us in religious exercises, to go with us to hear a sermon. What Cornelius ought to do he thought his kinsmen and friends ought to do too; and therefore let them come and hear it at the first hand, that it may be no surprise to them to see him change upon it.

IV. Here is the first interview between Peter and Cornelius, in which we have, 1. The profound and indeed undue respect and honour which Cornelius paid to Peter ( v. 25 ): He met him as he was coming in, and instead of taking him in his arms, and embracing him as a friend, which would have been very acceptable to Peter, he fell down at his feet, and worshipped him; some think, as a prince and a great man, according to the usage of the eastern countries; others think, as an incarnate deity, or as if he took him to be the Messiah himself. His worshipping a man was indeed culpable; but, considering his present ignorance, it was excusable, nay, and it was an evidence of something in him that was very commendable—and that was a great veneration for divine and heavenly things: no wonder if, till he was better informed, he took him to be the Messiah, and therefore worshipped him, whom he was ordered to send for by an angel from heaven. But the worshipping of his pretended successor, who is not only a man, but a sinful man, the man of sin himself, is altogether inexcusable, and such an absurdity as would be incredible if we were not told before that all the world would worship the beast, Rev. xiii. 4 . 2. Peter's modest and indeed just and pious refusal of this honour that was done him ( v. 26 ): He took him up into his arms, with his own hands (though time was when he little thought he should ever either receive so much respect from or show so much affection to an uncircumcised Gentile), saying, "Stand up, I myself also am a man, and therefore not to be worshipped thus." The good angels of the churches, like the good angels of heaven, cannot bear to have the least of that honour shown to them which is due to God only. See thou do it not, saith the angel to John ( Rev. xix. 10 ; xxii. 9 ), and in like manner the apostle to Cornelius. How careful was Paul that no man should think of him above what he saw in him! 2 Cor. xii. 6 . Christ's faithful servants could better bear to be vilified than to be deified. Peter did not entertain a surmise that his great respect for him, though excessive, might contribute to the success of his preaching, and therefore if he will be deceived let him be deceived; no, let him know that Peter is a man, that the treasure is in earthen vessels, that he may value the treasure for its own sake.

V. The account which Peter and Cornelius give to each other, and to the company, of the hand of Heaven in bringing them together: As he talked with him — synomilon auto, he went in, v. 27 . Peter went in, talking familiarly with Cornelius, endeavouring, by the freedom of his converse with him, to take off something of that dread which he seemed to have of him; and, when he came in, he found many that were come together, more than he expected, which added solemnity, as well as opportunity of doing good, to this service. Now,

1. Peter declares the direction God gave to him to come to those Gentiles, v. 28, 29 . They knew it had never been allowed by the Jews, but always looked upon as an unlawful thing, athemiton — an abomination, for a man that is a Jew, a native Jew as I am, to keep company or come unto one of another nation, a stranger, an uncircumcised Gentile. It was not made so by the law of God, but by the decree of their wise men, which they looked upon to be no less binding. They did not forbid them to converse or traffic with Gentiles in the street or shop, or upon the exchange, but to eat with them. Even in Joseph's time, the Egyptians and Hebrews could not eat together, Gen. xliii. 32 . The three children would not defile themselves with the king's meat, Dan. i. 8 . They might not come into the house of a Gentile, for they looked upon it to be ceremonially polluted. Thus scornfully did the Jews look upon the Gentiles, who were not behindhand with them in contempt, as appears by many passages in the Latin poets. " But now, " saith Peter, " God hath shown me, by a vision, that I should not call any man common or unclean, nor refuse to converse with any man for the sake of his country." Peter, who had taught his new converts to save themselves from the untoward generation of wicked men ( ch. ii. 40 ), is now himself taught to join himself with the towardly generation of devout Gentiles. Ceremonial characters were abolished, that more regard might be had to moral ones. Peter thought it necessary to let them know how he came to change his mind in this matter, and that it was by a divine revelation, lest he should be upbraided with it as having used lightness. God having thus taken down the partition-wall, (1.) He assures them of his readiness to do them all the good offices he could; that, when he kept at a distance, it was not out of any personal disgust to them, but only because he wanted leave from heaven, and, having now received permission, he was at their service: " Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for, ready to preach the same gospel to you that I have preached to the Jews." The disciples of Christ could not but have some notion of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, but they imagined it must be only to those Gentiles that were first proselyted to the Jewish religion, which mistake Peter acknowledges was not rectified. (2.) He enquires wherein he might be serviceable to them: " I ask, therefore, for what intent you have sent for me? What do you expect from me, or what business have you with me?" Note, Those that desire the help of God's ministers ought to look well to it that they propose right ends to themselves in it, and do it with a good intention.

2. Cornelius declares the directions God gave to him to send for Peter, and that it was purely in obedience to those directions that he had sent for him. Then we are right in our aims, in sending for and attending on a gospel-ministry, when we did it with a regard to the divine appointment instituting that ordinance and requiring us to make use of it. Now,

(1.) Cornelius gives an account of the angel's appearing to him, and ordering him to send for Peter; not as glorying in it, but as that which warranted his expectation of a message from heaven by Peter. [1.] He tells how this vision found him employed ( v. 30 ): Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, this hour of the day that it is now when Peter came, about the middle of the afternoon. By this it appears that religious fasting, in order to the greater seriousness and solemnity of praying, was used by devout people who were not Jews; the king of Nineveh proclaimed a fast, Jonah iii. 5 . Some give these words another sense: From four days ago I have been fasting until this hour; as if he had eaten no meat, or at least no meal, from that time to this. But it comes in as an introduction to the story of the vision; and therefore the former must be the meaning. He was at the ninth hour praying in his house, not in the synagogue, but at home. I will that men pray wherever they dwell. His praying in his house intimates that it was not a secret prayer in his closet, but in a more public room of his house, with his family about him; and perhaps after prayer he retired, and had this vision. Observe, At the ninth hour of the day, three of the clock in the afternoon, most people were travelling or trading, working in the fields, visiting their friends, taking their pleasure, or taking a nap after dinner; yet then Cornelius was at his devotions, which shows how much he made religion his business; and then it was that he had this message from heaven. Those that would hear comfortably from God must be much in speaking to him. [2.] He describes the messenger that brought him this message from heaven: There stood a man before me in bright clothing, as Christ's was when he was transfigured, and that of the two angels who appeared at Christ's resurrection ( Luke xxiv. 4 ), and at his ascension ( ch. i. 10 ), showing their relation to the world of light. [3.] He repeats the message that was sent to him ( v. 31, 32 ), just as we had it, v. 4-6 . Only here it is said, thy prayer is heard. We are not told what his prayer was; but if this message was an answer to it, and it should seem it was, we may suppose that finding the deficiency of natural light, and that it left him at a loss how to obtain the pardon of his sin and the favour of God, he prayed that God would make some further discoveries of himself and of the way of salvation to him. "Well," saith the angel, " send for Peter, and he shall give thee such a discovery."

34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. 36 The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) 37 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judæa, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; 38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: 40 Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; 41 Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. 43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

We have here Peter's sermon preached to Cornelius and his friends: that is, an abstract or summary of it; for we have reason to think that he did with many other words testify and exhort to this purport. It is intimated that he expressed himself with a great deal of solemnity and gravity, but with freedom and copiousness, in that phrase, he opened his mouth, and spoke, v. 34 . O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open to you, saith Paul, 2 Cor. vi. 11 . "You shall find us communicative, if we but find you inquisitive." Hitherto the mouths of the apostles had been shut to the uncircumcised Gentiles, they had nothing to say to them; but now God gave unto them, as he did to Ezekiel, the opening of the mouth. This excellent sermon of Peter's is admirably suited to the circumstances of those to whom he preached it; for it was a new sermon.

I. Because they were Gentiles to whom he preached. He shows that, notwithstanding this, they were interested in the gospel of Christ, which he had to preach, and entitled to the benefit of it, upon an equal footing with the Jews. It was necessary that this should be cleared, or else with what comfort could either he preach or they hear? He therefore lays down this as an undoubted principle, that God is no respecter of persons; doth not know favour in judgment, as the Hebrew phrase is; which magistrates are forbidden to do ( Deut. i. 17 ; xvi. 19 ; Prov. xxiv. 23 ), and are blamed for doing, Ps. lxxxii. 2 . And it is often said of God that he doth not respect persons, Deut. x. 17; 2 Chron. xix. 7; Job xxxiv. 19; Rom. ii. 11; Col. iii. 25; 1 Pet. i. 17 . He doth not give judgment in favour of a man for the sake of any external advantage foreign to the merits of the cause. God never perverts judgment upon personal regards and considerations, nor countenances a wicked man in a wicked thing for the sake of his beauty, or stature, his country, parentage, relations, wealth, or honour in the world. God, as a benefactor, gives favours arbitrarily and by sovereignty ( Deut. vii. 7, 8; ix. 5, 6; Matt. xx. 10 ); but he does not, as a judge, so give sentence; but in every nation, and under ever denomination, he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him, v. 35 . The case is plainly thus—

1. God never did, nor ever will, justify and save a wicked Jew that lived and died impenitent, though he was of the seed of Abraham, and a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and had all the honour and advantages that attended circumcision. He does and will render indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil; and of the Jew first, whose privileges and professions, instead of screening him from the judgment of God, will but aggravate his guilt and condemnation. See Rom. ii. 3 , 8 , 9, , 17 . Though God has favoured the Jews, above other nations, with the dignities of visible church-membership, yet he will not therefore accept of any particular persons of that dignity, if they allow themselves in immoralities contradictory to their profession; and particularly in persecution, which was now, more than any other, the national sin of the Jews.

2. He never did, nor ever will, reject or refuse an honest Gentile, who, though he has not the privileges and advantages that the Jews have, yet, like Cornelius, fears God, and worships him, and works righteousness, that is, is just and charitable towards all men, who lives up to the light he has, both in a sincere devotion and in a regular conversation. Whatever nation he is of, though ever so far remote from kindred to the seed of Abraham, though ever so despicable, nay, though in ever so ill a name, that shall be no prejudice to him. God judges of men by their hearts, not by their country or parentage; and, wherever he finds an upright man, he will be found an upright God, Ps. xviii. 25 . Observe, Fearing God, and working righteousness, must go together; for, as righteousness towards men is a branch of true religion, so religion towards God is a branch of universal righteousness. Godliness and honesty must go together, and neither will excuse for the want of the other. But, where these are predominant, no doubt is to be made of acceptance with God. Not that any man, since the fall, can obtain the favour of God otherwise than through the mediation of Jesus Christ, and by the grace of God in him; but those that have not the knowledge of him, and therefore cannot have an explicit regard to him, may yet receive grace from God for his sake, to fear God and to work righteousness; and wherever God gives grace to do so, as he did to Cornelius, he will, through Christ, accept the work of his own hands. Now, (1.) This was always a truth, before Peter perceived it, that God respecteth no man's person; it was the fixed rule of judgment from the beginning: If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And, if not well, sin, and the punishment of it, lie at the door, Gen. iv. 7 . God will not ask in the great day what country men were of, but what they were, what they did, and how they stood affected towards him and towards their neighbours; and, if men's personal characters received neither advantage nor disadvantage from the great difference that existed between Jews and Gentiles, much less from any less difference of sentiments and practices that may happen to be among Christians themselves, as those about meats and days, Rom. xiv . It is certain the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; and he that in these things serveth Christ is accepted of God, and ought to be approved of men; for dare we reject those whom God doth not? (2.) Yet now it was made more clear than it had been; this great truth had been darkened by the covenant of peculiarity made with Israel, and the badges of distinction put upon them; the ceremonial law was a wall of partition between them and other nations; it is true that in it God favoured that nation ( Rom. iii. 1, 2 ; ix. 4 ), and thence particular persons among them were ready to infer that they were sure of God's acceptance, though they lived as they listed, and that no Gentile could possibly be accepted of God. God had said a great deal by the prophets to prevent and rectify this mistake, but now at length he doth it effectually, by abolishing the covenant of peculiarity, repealing the ceremonial law, and so setting the matter at large, and placing both Jew and Gentile upon the same level before God; and Peter is here made to perceive it, by comparing the vision which he had with that which Cornelius had. Now in Christ Jesus, it is plain, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, Gal. v. 6 ; Col. iii. 11 .

II. Because they were Gentiles inhabiting a place within the confines of the land of Israel, he refers them to what they themselves could not but know concerning the life and doctrine, the preaching and miracles, the death and sufferings of our Lord Jesus: for these were things the report of which spread into every corner of the nation, v. 37 , &c. It facilitates the work of ministers, when they deal with such as have some knowledge of the things of God, to which they may appeal, and on which they may build.

1. They knew in general, the word, that is, the gospel, which God sent to the children of Israel: That word, I say, you know, v. 37 . Though the Gentiles were not admitted to hear it (Christ and his disciples were not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ), yet they could not but hear of it: it was all the talk both of city and country. We are often told in the gospels how the fame of Christ went into all parts of Canaan, when he was on earth, as afterwards the fame of his gospel went into all parts of the world, Rom. x. 18 . That word, that divine word, that word of power and grace, you know. (1.) What the purport of this word was. God by it published the glad tidings of peace by Jesus Christ, so it should be read— euangelizomenos eirenev. It is God himself that proclaims peace, who justly might have proclaimed war. He lets the world of mankind know that he is willing to be at peace with them through Jesus Christ; in him he was reconciling the world to himself. (2.) To whom it was sent—to the children of Israel, in the first place. The prime offer is made to them; this all their neighbours heard of, and were ready to envy them those advantages of the gospel, more than they ever envied them those of their law. Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them, Ps. cxxvi. 2 .

2. They knew the several matters of fact relating to this word of the gospel sent to Israel. (1.) They knew the baptism of repentance which John preached by way of introduction to it, and in which the gospel first began, Mark i. 1 . They knew what an extraordinary man John was, and what a direct tendency his preaching had to prepare the way of the Lord. They knew what great flocking there was to his baptism, what an interest he had, and what he did. (2.) They knew that immediately after John's baptism the gospel of Christ, that word of peace, was published throughout all Judea, and that it took its rise from Galilee. The twelve apostles, and seventy disciples, and our Master himself, published these glad tidings in all parts of the land; so that we may suppose there was not a town or village in all the land of Canaan but had had the gospel preached in it. (3.) They knew that Jesus of Nazareth, when he was here upon earth, went about doing good. They knew what a benefactor he was to that nation, both to the souls and the bodies of men; how he made it his business to do good to all, and never did hurt to any. He was not idle, but still doing; not selfish, but doing good; did not confine himself to one place, nor wait till people came to him to seek his help, but went to them, went about from place to place, and wherever he came he was doing good. Hereby he showed that he was sent of God, who is good and does good; and does good because he is good: and who hereby left not himself without witness to the world, in that he did good, ch. xiv. 17 . And in this he hath set us an example of indefatigable industry in serving God and our generation; for we came into the world that we might do all the good we can in it; and therein, like Christ, we must always abide and abound. (4.) They knew more particularly that he healed all that were oppressed of the devil, and helped them from under his oppressing power. By this it appeared not only that he was sent of God, as it was a kindness to men, but that he was sent to destroy the works of the devil; for thus he obtained many a victory over him. (5.) They knew that the Jews put him to death; they slew him by hanging him on a tree. When Peter preached to the Jews, he said whom you slew; but now that he preached to the Gentiles it is whom they slew; they, to whom he had done and designed so much good. All this they knew; but lest they should think it was only a report, and was magnified, as reports usually are, more than the truth, Peter, for himself and the rest of the apostles, attested it ( v. 39 ): We are witnesses, eye-witnesses, of all things which he did; and ear-witnesses of the doctrine which he preached, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, in city and country.

3. They did know, or might know, by all this, that he had a commission from heaven to preach and act as he did. This he still harps upon in his discourse, and takes all occasions to hint it to them. Let them know, (1.) That this Jesus is Lord of all; it comes in in a parenthesis, but is the principal proposition intended to be proved, that Jesus Christ, by whom peace is made between God and man, is Lord of all; not only as God over all blessed for evermore, but as Mediator, all power both in heaven and on earth is put into his hand, and all judgment committed to him. He is Lord of angels; they are all his humble servants. He is Lord of the powers of darkness, for he hath triumphed over them. He is king of nations, has a power over all flesh. He is king of saints, all the children of God are his scholars, his subjects, his soldiers. (2.) That God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power; he was both authorized and enabled to do what he did by a divine anointing, whence he was called Christ—the Messiah, the anointed One. The Holy Ghost descended upon him at his baptism, and he was full of power both in preaching and working miracles, which was the seal of a divine mission. (3.) That God was with him, v. 38 . His works were wrought in God. God not only sent him, but was present with him all along, owned him, stood by him, and carried him on in all his services and sufferings. Note, Those whom God anoints he will accompany; he will himself be with those to whom he has given his Spirit.

III. Because they had had no more certain information concerning this Jesus, Peter declares to them his resurrection from the dead, and the proofs of it, that they might not think that when he was slain there was an end of him. Probably, they had heard at Cesarea some talk of his having risen from the dead; but the talk of it was soon silenced by that vile suggestion of the Jews, that his disciples came by night and stole him away. And therefore Peter insists upon this as the main support of that word which preacheth peace by Jesus Christ. 1. The power by which he arose is incontestably divine ( v. 40 ): Him God raised up the third day, which not only disproved all the calumnies and accusations he was laid under by men, but effectually proved God's acceptance of the satisfaction he made for the sin of man by the blood of his cross. He did not break prison, but had a legal discharge. God raised him up. 2. The proofs of his resurrection were incontestably clear; for God showed him openly. He gave him to be made manifest — edoken auton emphane genesthai, to be visible, evidently so; so he appears, as that it appears beyond contradiction to be him, and not another. It was such a showing of him as amounted to a demonstration of the truth of his resurrection. He showed him not publicly indeed (it was not open in this sense), but evidently; not to all the people, who had been the witnesses of his death. By resisting all the evidences he had given them of his divine mission in his miracles, they had forfeited the favour of being eye-witnesses of this great proof of it. Those who immediately forged and promoted that lie of his being stolen away were justly given up to strong delusions to believe it, and not suffered to be undeceived by his being shown to all the people; and so much the greater shall be the blessedness of those who have not seen, and yet have believed—Nec ille se in vulgus edixit, ne impii errore, liberarentur; ut et fides non præmio mediocri destinato difficultate constaret—He showed not himself to the people at large, lest the impious among them should have been forthwith loosed from their error, and that faith, the reward of which is so ample, might be exercised with a degree of difficulty. —Tertul. Apol. cap. 11. But, though all the people did not see him, a sufficient number saw him to attest the truth of his resurrection. The testator's declaring his last will and testament needs not to be before all the people; it is enough that it be done before a competent number of credible witnesses; so the resurrection of Christ was proved before sufficient witnesses. (1.) They were not so by chance, but they were chosen before of God to be witnesses of it, and, in order to this, had their education under the Lord Jesus, and intimate converse with him, that, having known him so intimately before, they might the better be assured it was he. (2.) They had not a sudden and transient view of him, but a great deal of free conversation with him: They did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. This implies that they saw him eat and drink, witness their dining with him at the sea of Tiberias, and the two disciples supping with him at Emmaus; and this proved that he had a true and real body. But this was not all; they saw him without any terror or consternation, which might have rendered them incompetent witnesses, for they saw him so frequently, and he conversed with them so familiarly, that they did eat and drink with him. It is brought as a proof of the clear view which the nobles of Israel had of the glory of God ( Exod. xxiv. 11 ), that they saw God, and did eat and drink.

IV. He concludes with an inference from all this, that therefore that which they all ought to do was to believe in this Jesus: he was sent to tell Cornelius what he must do, and it is this; his praying and his giving alms were very well, but one thing he lacked, he must believe in Christ. Observe,

1. Why he must believe in him. Faith has reference to a testimony, and the Christian faith is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, it is built upon the testimony given by them. (1.) By the apostles. Peter as foreman speaks for the rest, that God commanded them, and gave them in charge, to preach to the people, and to testify concerning Christ; so that their testimony was not only credible, but authentic, and what we may venture upon. Their testimony is God's testimony; and they are his witnesses to the world. They do not only say it as matter of news, but testify it as matter of record, by which men must be judged. (2.) By the prophets of the Old Testament, whose testimony beforehand, not only concerning his sufferings, but concerning the design and intention of them, very much corroborates the apostles' testimony concerning them ( v. 43 ): To him give all the prophets witness. We have reason to think that Cornelius and his friends were no strangers to the writings of the prophets. Out of the mouth of these two clouds of witnesses, so exactly agreeing, this word is established.

44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. 45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, 47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

We have here the issue and effect of Peter's sermon to Cornelius and his friends. He did not labour in vain among them, but they were all brought home to Christ. Here we have,

I. God's owning Peter's word, by conferring the Holy Ghost upon the hearers of it, and immediately upon the hearing of it ( v. 44 ): While Peter was yet speaking these words, and perhaps designed to say more, he was happily superseded by visible indications that the Holy Ghost, even in his miraculous gifts and powers, fell on all those who heard the word, even as he did on the apostles at first; so Peter saith, ch. xi. 15 . Therefore some think it was with a rushing mighty wind, and in cloven tongues, as that was. Observe, 1. When the Holy Ghost fell upon them—while Peter was preaching. Thus God bore witness to what he said, and accompanied it with a divine power. Thus were the signs of an apostle wrought among them, 2 Cor. xii. 12 . Though Peter could not give the Holy Ghost, yet the Holy Ghost being given along with the word of Peter, by this it appeared he was sent of God. The Holy Ghost fell upon others after they were baptized, for their confirmation; but upon these Gentiles before they were baptized: as Abraham was justified by faith, being yet in uncircumcision, to show that God is not tied to a method, nor confines himself to external signs. The Holy Ghost fell upon those that were neither circumcised nor baptized; for it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. 2. How it appeared that the Holy Ghost had fallen upon them ( v. 46 ): They spoke with tongues which they never learned, perhaps the Hebrew, the holy tongue; as the preachers were enabled to speak the vulgar tongues, that they might communicate the doctrine of Christ to the hearers, so, probably, the hearers were immediately taught the sacred tongue, that they might examine the proofs which the preachers produced out of the Old Testament in the original. Or their being enabled to speak with tongues intimated that they were all designed for ministers, and by this first descent of the Spirit upon them were qualified to preach the gospel to others, which they did but now receive themselves. But, observe, when they spoke with tongues, they magnified God, they spoke of Christ and the benefits of redemption, which Peter had been preaching to the glory of God. Thus did they on whom the Holy Ghost first descended, ch. ii. 11 . Note, Whatever gift we are endued with, we ought to honour God with it, and particularly the gift of speaking, and all the improvements of it. 3. What impression it made upon the believing Jews that were present ( v. 45 ): Those of the circumcision who believed were astonished —those six that came along with Peter; it surprised them exceedingly, and perhaps gave them some uneasiness, because upon the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, which they thought had been appropriated to their own nation. Had they understood the scriptures of the Old Testament, which pointed at this, it would not have been such an astonishment to them; but by our mistaken notions of things we create difficulties to ourselves in the methods of divine providence and grace.

II. Peter's owning God's work in baptizing those on whom the Holy Ghost fell. Observe, 1. Though they had received the Holy Ghost, yet it was requisite they should be baptized; though God is not tied to instituted ordinances, we are; and no extraordinary gifts set us above them, but rather oblige us so much the more to conform to them. Some in our days would have argued "These are baptized with the Holy Ghost and therefore what need have they to be baptized with water? It is below them." No; it is not below them, while water-baptism is an ordinance of Christ, and the door of admission into the visible church, and a seal of the new covenant. 2. Though they were Gentiles, yet, having received the Holy Ghost, they might be admitted to baptism ( v. 47 ): Can any man, though ever so rigid a Jew, forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? The argument is conclusive; can we deny the sign to those who have received the thing signified? Are not those on whom God has bestowed the grace of the covenant plainly entitled to the seals of the covenant? Surely those that have received the Spirit as well as we ought to receive baptism as well as we; for it becomes us to follow God's indications, and to take those into communion with us whom he hath taken into communion with himself. God hath promised to pour his Spirit upon the seed of the faithful, upon their offspring; and who then can forbid water, that they should not be baptized, who have received the promise of the Holy Ghost as well as we? Now it appears why the Spirit was given them before they were baptized—because otherwise Peter could not have persuaded himself to baptize them, any more than to have preached to them, if he had not been ordered to do it by a vision; at least he could not have avoided the censure of those of the circumcision that believed. Thus is there one unusual step of divine grace taken after another to bring the Gentiles into the church. How well is it for us that the grace of a good God is so much more extensive than the charity of some good men! 3. Peter did not baptize them himself, but commanded them to be baptized, v. 48 . It is probable that some of the brethren who came with him did it by his order, and that he declined it for the same reason that Paul did—lest those that were baptized by him should think the better of themselves for it, or he should seem to have baptized in his own name, 1 Cor. i. 15 . The apostles received the commission to go and disciple all nations by baptism. But is was to prayer and the ministry of the word that they were to give themselves. And Paul says that he was sent, not to baptize but to preach, which was the more noble and excellent work. The business of baptizing was therefore ordinarily devolved upon the inferior ministers; these acted by the orders of the apostles, who might therefore be said to do it. Qui per alterum facit, per seipsum facere dicitur—What a man does by another, he may be said to do by himself.

III. Their owning both Peter's word and God's work in their desire for further advantage by Peter's ministry: They prayed him to tarry certain days. They could not press him to reside constantly among them—they knew that he had work to do in other places, and that for the present he was expected at Jerusalem; yet they were not willing he should go away immediately, but earnestly begged he would stay for some time among them, that they might be further instructed by him in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Note, 1. Those who have some acquaintance with Christ cannot but covet more. 2. Even those that have received the Holy Ghost must see their need of the ministry of the word.

25-29. as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him-- a mark of the highest respect.

fell down at his feet, and worshipped him-- In the East this way of showing respect was customary not only to kings, but to others occupying a superior station; but among the Greeks and Romans it was reserved for the gods. Peter, therefore, declines it as due to no mortal [Grotius]. "Those who claim to have succeeded Peter, have not imitated this part of his conduct" [Alford] (therein only verifying 2Th 2:4 , and compare Re 19:10 ; 22:9 ).

34-35. Peter opened his mouth-- (See on Mt 5:2 ).

Of a truth I perceive-- that is, "I have it now demonstrated before mine eyes."

that God is no respecter of persons-- Not, "I see there is no capricious favoritism with God," for Peter would never imagine such a thing; but (as the next clause shows), "I see that God has respect only to personal character and state in the acceptance of men, national and ecclesiastical distinctions being of no account."

44-45. While Peter yet spake ... the Holy Ghost fell-- by visible and audible manifestation ( Ac 10:46 ).

46. heard them speak with tongues and magnify God-- As on the day of Pentecost it was no empty miracle, no mere speaking of foreign languages, but utterance of "the wonderful works of God" in tongues to them unknown ( Ac 2:11 ), so here; but more remarkable in this case, as the speakers were perhaps less familiar with the Old Testament songs of praise.

46-48. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water ... which have received the Holy Ghost, &c.-- Mark, he does not say, They have received the Spirit, what need have they for water? but, Having the living discipleship imparted to them and visibly stamped upon them, what objection can there be to admitting them, by the seal of baptism, into the full fellowship of the Church?

1. "O sing unto the Lord a new song"

(ver. 1). The new man knoweth this, the old man knoweth it not. The old man is the old life, and the new man the new life: the old life is derived from Adam, the new life is formed in Christ. But in this Psalm, the whole world is enjoined to sing a new song. More openly elsewhere the words are these: "O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the whole earth;" that they who cut themselves off from the communion of the whole earth, may understand that they cannot sing the new song, because it is sung in the whole, and not in a part of it. Attend here also, and see that this is said. And when the whole earth is enjoined to sing a new song, it is meant, that peace singeth a new song. "For He hath done marvelous things." What marvelous things? Behold, the Gospel was just now being read, and we heard the marvellous things of the Lord. The only son of his mother, who was a widow, was being carried out dead: the Lord, in compassion, made them stand still; they laid him down, and the Lord said, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." ..."The Lord hath done marvellous things." What marvellous things? Hear: "His own right hand, and His holy arm, hath healed for Him." What is the Lord's holy Arm? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Hear Isaiah: "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" His holy arm then, and His own right hand, is Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ is therefore the arm of God, and the right hand of God; for this reason is it said, "hath He healed for Him." It is not said only, "His right hand hath healed the world," but "hath healed for Him." For many are healed for themselves, not for Him. Behold how many long for that bodily health, and receive it from Him: they are healed by Him, but not for Him. How are they healed by Him, and not for Him? When they have received health, they become wanton: they who when sick were chaste, when cured become adulterers: they who when in illness injured no man, on the recovery of their strength attack and crush the innocent: they are healed, but not unto Him. Who is he who is healed unto Him? He who is healed inwardly. Who is he that is healed inwardly? He who trusteth in Him, that when he shall have been healed inwardly, reformed into a new man, afterwards this mortal flesh too, which doth languish for a time, may in the end itself even recover its most perfect health. Let us therefore be healed for Him. But that we may be healed for Him, let us believe in His right hand.

2. "The Lord hath made known His salvation"

(ver. 2). This very right hand, this very arm, this very salvation, is our Lord Jesus Christ of whom it is said, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God;" of whom also that Simeon who embraced the Infant in his arms, spoke, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." "The Lord hath made known His salvation." To whom did He make it known? To a part, or to the whole? Not to any part specially. Let no man betray, no man deceive, no man say, "Lo, here is Christ, or there:" the man who saith, Lo, He is here, or there, pointeth to some particular spots. To whom "hath the Lord declared His salvation"? Hear what followeth: "His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the heathen." Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the right hand of God, the arm of God, the salvation of God, and the righteousness of God.

3. "He hath remembered His mercy to Jacob, and His truth unto the house of Israel"

(ver. 3). What meaneth this, "He hath remembered His mercy and truth"? He hath pitied, so that He promised; because He promised and showed His mercy, truth hath followed: mercy hath gone before promise, promise hath been fulfilled in truth....

"And His truth unto the house of Israel." Who is this Israel? That ye may not perchance think of one nation of the Jews, hear what followeth: "All the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our God." It is not said, all the earth: but, "all the ends of the world:" as it is said, from one end to the other. Let no man cut this down, let no man scatter it abroad; strong is the unity of Christ. He who gave so great a price, hath bought the whole: "All the ends of the world."

4. Because they have seen, then, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands"

(ver. 4). Ye already know what it is to make a joyful noise. Rejoice, and speak. If ye cannot express your joy, shout ye; let the shout manifest your joy, if your speech cannot: yet let not joy be mute; let not your heart be silent respecting its God, let it not be mute concerning His gifts. If thou speakest to thyself, unto thyself art thou healed; if His right hand hath healed thee for Him, speak thou unto Him for whom thou hast been healed. "Sing, rejoice, and make melody."

5. "Make melody unto the Lord upon the harp: on the harp and with the voice of a Psalm"

David. His name occurs not in Hebrew, though the psalm is worthy of him. (Berthier) --- It may refer to the return from captivity, as a figure of the world's redemption. --- Things. In rescuing his people from slavery, and in the incarnation. (Calmet) --- For him. Or alone. (Menochius) --- Christ raised himself by his own power. (Calmet) (Isaias lxii. 5.) --- He redeemed mankind for his own glory, sibi. (Berthier)

Salvation. Cyrus, or the Messias, whose gospel is preached every where, (Calmet) and who has saved the world. (Worthington)

Israel. The prophets foretold the liberation of the Jew, and of mankind. The blessed Virgin Mary seems to allude to this passage, Luke i. 55. (Calmet) --- Some Jews were converted, Romans xi. (Worthington)

1 O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. 2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. 3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

We are here called upon again to sing unto the Lord a new song, as before, Ps. xcvi. 1 . "Sing a most excellent song, the best song you have." Let the song of Christ's love be like Solomon's on that subject, a song of songs. A song of praise for redeeming love is a new song, such a song as had not been sung before; for this is a mystery which was hidden from ages and generations. Converts sing a new song, very different from what they had sung; they change their wonder and change their joy, and therefore change their note. If the grace of God put a new heart into our breasts, it will therewith put a new song into our mouths. In the new Jerusalem there will be new songs sung, that will be new to eternity, and never wax old. Let this new song be sung to the praise of God, in consideration of these four things:—

I. The wonders he has wrought: He has done marvellous things, v. 1 . Note, The work of our salvation by Christ is a work of wonder. If we take a view of all the steps of it from the contrivance of it, and the counsels of God concerning it before all time, to the consummation of it, and its everlasting consequences when time shall be no more, we shall say, God has in it done marvellous things; it is all his doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. The more it is known the more it will be admired.

II. The conquests he has won: His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him the victory. Our Redeemer has surmounted all the difficulties that lay in the way of our redemption, has broken through them all, and was not discouraged by the services or sufferings appointed him. He has subdued all the enemies that opposed it, has gotten the victory over Satan, disarmed him, and cast him out of his strong-holds, has spoiled principalities and powers ( Col. ii. 15 ), has taken the prey from the mighty ( Isa. xlix. 24 ), and given death his death's wound. He has gotten a clear and complete victory, not only for himself, but for us also, for we through him are more than conquerors. He got this victory by his own power; there was none to help, none to uphold, none that durst venture into the service; but his right hand and his holy arm, which are always stretched out with good success, because they are never stretched out but in a good cause, these have gotten him the victory, have brought him relief or deliverance. God's power and faithfulness, called here his right hand and his holy arm, brought relief to the Lord Jesus, in raising him from the dead, and exalting him personally to the right hand of God; so Dr. Hammond.

III. The discoveries he has made to the world of the work of redemption. What he has wrought for us he has revealed to us, and both by his Son; the gospel-revelation is that on which the gospel-kingdom is founded— the word which God sent, Acts x. 36 . The opening of the sealed book is that which is to be celebrated with songs of praise ( Rev. v. 8 ), because by it was brought to light the mystery which had long been hid in God. Observe, 1. The subject of this discovery—his salvation and his righteousness, v. 3 . Righteousness and salvation are often put together; as Isa. lxi. 10 ; xlvi. 13 ; li. 5, 6, 8 . Salvation denotes the redemption itself, and righteousness the way in which it was wrought, by the righteousness of Christ. Or the salvation includes all our gospel-privileges and the righteousness all our gospel-duties; both are made known, for God has joined them together, and we must not separate them. Or righteousness is here put for the way of our justification by Christ, which is revealed in the gospel to be by faith, Rom. i. 17 . 2. The plainness of this discovery. He has openly shown it, not in types and figures as under the law, but it is written as with a sunbeam, that he that runs may read it. Ministers are appointed to preach it with all plainness of speech. 3. The extent of this discovery. It is made in the sight of the heathen, and not of the Jews only: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God; for to the Gentiles was the word of salvation sent.

4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord , all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. 5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. 6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord , the King. 7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together 9 Before the Lord ; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

The setting up of the kingdom of Christ is here represented as a matter of joy and praise.

I. Let all the children of men rejoice in it, for they all have, or may have, benefit by it. Again and again we are here called upon by all ways and means possible to express our joy in it and give God praise for it: Make a joyful noise, as before, Ps. xcv. 1, 2 . Make a loud noise, as those that are affected with those glad tidings and are desirous to affect others with them. Rejoice and sing praise, sing Hosannas ( Matt. xxi. 9 ), sing Hallelujahs, Rev. xix. 6 . Let him be welcomed to the throne, as new kings are, with acclamations of joy and loud shouts, till the earth ring again, as when Solomon was proclaimed, 1 Kings i. 40 . And let the shouts of the crowd be accompanied with the singers and players on instruments ( Ps. lxxvii. 7 ; lxvi. 25 ), as is usual in such solemnities. 1. Let sacred songs attend the new King: " Sing praise, sing with the voice of a psalm. Express your joy; thus proclaim it, thus excite it yet more, and thus propagate it among others." 2. Let these be assisted with sacred music, not only with the soft and gentle melody of the harp, but since it is a victorious King whose glory is to be celebrated, who goes forth conquering and to conquer, let him be proclaimed with the martial sound of the trumpet and cornet, v. 6 . Let all this joy be directed to God, and expressed in a solemn religious manner: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, v. 4 . Sing to the Lord, ( v. 5 ); do it before the Lord, the King, v. 6 . Carnal mirth is an enemy to this holy joy. When David danced before the ark he pleaded that it was before the Lord; and the piety and devotion of the intention not only vindicated what he did, but commended it. We must rejoice before the Lord whenever we draw near to him ( Deut. xii. 12 ), before the Lord Jesus, and before him, not only as the Saviour, but as the King, the King of kings, the church's King, and our King.

II. Let the inferior creatures rejoice in it, v. 7-9 . This is to the same purport with what we had before ( Ps. xcvi. 11-13 ): Let the sea roar, and let that be called, not as it used to be, a dreadful noise, but a joyful noise; for the coming of Christ, and the salvation wrought out by him, have quite altered the property of the troubles and terrors of this world, so that when the floods lift up their voice, lift up their waves, we must not construe that to be the sea roaring against us, but rather rejoicing with us. Let the floods express their joy, as men do when they clap their hands; and let the hills, that trembled for fear before God when he came down to give the law at Mount Sinai, dance for joy before him when his gospel is preached and that word of the Lord goes forth from Zion in a still small voice: Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord. This intimates that the kingdom of Christ would be a blessing to the whole creation; but that, as the inferior creatures declare the glory of the Creator ( Ps. xix. 1 ), so they declare the glory of the Redeemer, for by him all things not only subsist in their being, but consist in their order. It intimates likewise that the children of men would be wanting in paying their due respects to the Redeemer, and therefore that he must look for his honour from the sea and the floods, which would shame the stupidity and ingratitude of mankind. And perhaps respect is here had to the new heavens and the new earth, which we yet, according to his promise, look for ( 2 Pet. iii. 13 ), and this second mention of his coming (after the like, Ps. xcvi. ) may principally refer to his second coming, when all these things shall be so dissolved as to be refined; then shall he come to judge the world with righteousness. In the prospect of that day all that are sanctified do rejoice, and even the sea, and the floods, and the hills, would rejoice if they could. One would think that Virgil had these psalms in his eye, as well as the oracles of the Cumean Sibyl, in his fourth eclogue, where he either ignorantly or basely applies to Asinius Pollio the ancient prophecies, which at that time were expected to be fulfilled; for he lived in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, a little before our Saviour's birth. He owns they looked for the birth of a child from heaven that should be a great blessing to the world, and restore the golden age:—

Many other things he says of this long-looked-for child, which Ludovicus Vives, in his notes on that eclogue, thinks applicable to Christ; and he concludes, as the psalmist here, with a prospect of the rejoicing of the whole creation herein:—

1. gotten ... victory-- literally, "made salvation," enabled Him to save His people.

right hand, and ... arm-- denote power.

holy arm-- or, "arm of holiness," the power of His united moral perfections ( Psa 22:3 ; 32:11 ).

2. salvation-- the result of His righteousness ( Psa 7:17 ; 31:1 ), and both are publicly displayed.

3. The union of mercy and truth ( Psa 57:3 ; 85:10 ) secure the blessings of the promise ( Ge 12:3 ; 18:18 ) to all the world ( Is 52:10 ).

4-6. make a loud noise-- or, "burst forth" ( Is 14:7 ; 44:23 ).

Would someone please check the Psalm number in sentence formatted in blue in the 3rd note of

Ver. 7.Dearly beloved, let us love one another. These words are rightly connected with what preceded. He means that the spirit of error is the spirit of cupidity, but the Spirit of truth is the Spirit of love and charity. Erroneous and heretical doctrine teaches men to love honours, wealth, gluttony; but the Apostles teach us to love God and our neighbour. He subjoins the reason:

For love is of God. The Spirit of truth is the Spirit of charity, that we may love one another; because as truth is from God, so also is charity. Yea, God, who is the chief and eternal Truth, is also the highest and uncreated Love. Wherefore it follows as a necessary consequence, that any one who loveth (not by natural, but by supernatural charity) is born of God. Being born again of faith and charity, which are from God, he is made a child of God. For charity is a supernatural faculty, giving to the soul the ability to love God and our neighbour. That he may know God, not merely theoretically, but practically, because he supremely loves God whom he knows to be the Highest Good. Again, love causes a man more fully to know, and to have taste and experience of God, as it were by spiritual taste. And this taste and experience grow continually, even as love increases. Especially is this so, because God manifests Himself to him who loves, and more clearly reveals Himself to him by interior illuminations, inspirations, and consolations, according to that promise of Christ, "He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him." (Joh_14:21).

Observe: Love is of God,1st. Because the essential, uncreated charity flows naturally from the Divine Essence Itself, like heat from fire. Indeed, the Divine Essence Itself is Love.

2d. Because the Holy Spirit is Itself substantial or essential (notionalis) Love. For He, as essential Love, proceeds from the Father and the Son by that act of love by which they love one another with an infinite love.

3d. Charity was created by God, because it is the highest and noblest gift of God, according to the words (Rom. v. 5), "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts;" not as if the charity wherewith we love God were itself God, or the Holy Spirit. For this is an exploded error. But because God, who is uncreated Love, inspires and kindles in us that created charity with which we love Him. As the light illuminating produces the light illuminated, as S. Augustine says (Confess. 12. 15). And this is precisely S. John's meaning in this place, in which he tacitly intimates that this gift is not to be ascribed to our own strength, but is to be asked of God by constant prayer.

4th. Charity is of God, because God first loved us (1Jo_4:19), and by loving us inflames us to love Him in return.

5th. Charity is of God, because it is sanctioned by the law of God, and frequently and especially commanded by it. For the whole Decalogue is nothing else but the law of love to God and our neighbour.

From hence it follows that God is in Himself formal charity, and in us causal charity, and that as respecting every kind of cause: material, because He Himself is the object of our love; formal, because He is the pattern of the same; efficient, because He produces it in us; He is the final cause, because He is our end, and the end of our love.

Lastly, natural love is from nature, carnal love from the flesh, worldly love from the world; but supernatural love, or charity, is from God alone.

Ver. 8.He that loveth not knoweth not God. S. John having said just above, Every one that loveth is born of God, now proves the same thing from the contrary. He means, he who loveth not God and his neighbour, although he may know God speculatively, does not know Him practically, that is, experimentally. Just as no one knows experimentally the savour and sweetness of honey unless he taste it. For as taste is known by tasting, so is love known and tasted by actually loving. Wherefore, although S. John might in a similar manner have said, He who is not wise doth not know God, because God is Wisdom; or he who is not patient, knows not God, because God is Patience; or he who is not humble, knows not Christ, because Christ is Humility, and so onnevertheless, preferred to say, He that loveth not, knoweth not God, because God is Love. This was (1.) Because he is treating of charity, not of wisdom, patience, &c. (2.) Because being full of the love of God and Christ, he breathes and delights in nothing else. For, as S. Bernard says, "Between the bridegroom and the bride, i.e., between lovers, no union need be sought but to love and be loved, for that Spouse is not only loving, but Love Itself." This is what Jeremiah says (Jer_31:3), "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee."

For God is love: both formal and uncreate, and so essential, and also causal and created. For in God and the Divine Essence, on account of Its perfection and simplicity, there are no accidents, but those things which in us are accidents, are in God inseparable from His Essence. Wisdom, goodness, love, and power are themselves the Divine Essence. So the Council of Rheims defined against Gilbert. Moreover, God is charity, or love, both in the abstract and the concrete. For He is supreme affection, and loves supremely, and therefore ought to be supremely loved by us in return. God, then, is Love, because He hath supremely loved us. And He hath given us this most clear proof of His love in that He sent His only Begotten Son to save us. Hence S. Augustine and Bede teach that he who loves not his neighbour sins against God, because God is Love.

Again, S. Chrysostom teaches that nothing can be compared with charity, because God Himself, who is incomparable, is Charity. Gagneius declares that we are certain that God loves us with an infinite love because He is very Love Itself. Hence the Fathers infer that Charity commands and embraces all the other virtues, for God commands and includes them.

Ver. 9.In this love appeared: He now declares why he said, God is Love. It is because God hath declared His infinite love towards us by sending Christ in the flesh for our salvation, that by this means He might invite us to love Him back. There is an allusion to the words in 8. John's Gospel (Joh_3:19), "So God loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."

"Behold," says S. Augustine, "how we have an exhortation to love God. How could we love Him unless He had first loved us? If we were slow to love, let us not be slow to love again." Pathetically and learnedly does S. Paulinus write about S. Mary Magdalene (Epist. 4 ad Sever.): "Therefore, let us love Him whom it is our duty to love. Let us kiss Him whom to kiss is purity. Let us be joined to Him whose marriage-bond is virginity. Let us be subject to Him, at whose feet to lie is to stand above the world. Let us fall down because of Him for whom to fall is resurrection. Let us die for Him in whom is life. In whom we live though we are dead."

In this, i.e., in the love of God wherewith He loved us.  S. John, the beloved of Christ, lays special stress upon this, that God, moved by no love or duty on our part, but offended by our many provocations and wickednesses, first loved us. And when we were sinners and enemies, fleeing from Him, and fighting against Him, He followed us, and turned us by His love, that He might bring us back and save us. "For to this end He loved us," says S. Augustine, "that we might love Him." And therefore He sent his Son to be a propitiation, i.e., to be a propitiator, and a propitiatory victim for our sins.  S. Augustine reads libatorem, a pourer of libations, and explains it to mean Sacrificer. As S. Augustine says again, "He loved the wicked, that He might make them holy. He loved the unjust, that He might make them just. He loved the sick, that He might make them whole."

See in this how high the ways of God are above the ways of men. For with men, if any one despise them, vex or spoil them, straightway they hate him, and think how they may do him some greater injury. But Goddespised, contemned, robbed of His honour, injured in a thousand waysenlarges the bowels of His love towards us. With love He fights against man's hate. By hatred He is stirred up to love. Hatred is the whip of His love. He overcomes hatred by His infinite love, swallows it up, drowns and extinguishes it, as a mighty conflagration extinguishes a little drop of water. The love of God therefore towards His enemies is so wonderful, that by it He makes them His friends, His sons and heirs, and turns the greatest sinners into the greatest saints. Out of the thief upon the cross He made a preacher of Himself. Out of Saul He made S. Paul. Out of the sinful Magdalene He made a mirror of penitence and holiness. This is what Paul celebrates and admires

(1Ti_1:15), "This is a faithful saving, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief; but therefore I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might shew all patience, for the instruction of those who should hereafter believe in Him unto eternal life."

Let us love one another. This is the repeated admonition of St. John, the evangelist, both in this epistle and to the end of his life, as St. Jerome relates in his Epist. ad Galat. (cap. vi. tom. 4, part 1, p. 414) that the apostle being very old, and when carried to Church meetings of the Christians, being desired to give them some exhortation, he scarce said any thing, but "love one another;" and it being tedious to his disciples to hear always the same thing, they desired some other instruction, to whom (says St. Jerome) he gave this answer, worthy of St. John: that this was the precept of our Lord, and that if complied with, it was sufficient. --- Charity is of God, is love, is the fountain and source of all goodness and mercy, infinitely good in himself, and in his love and mercy towards mankind. This love and charity of God hath appeared by his sending his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. See John i. 14. --- Thus God having first loved us, (ver. 10) when we were sinners, and his enemies, let us not be so ungrateful as not to love him, and to love one another after his example. (Witham)

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

As the Spirit of truth is known by doctrine (thus spirits are to be tried), it is known by love likewise; and so here follows a strong fervent exhortation to holy Christian love: Beloved, let us love one another, v. 7 . The apostle would unite them in his love, that he might unite them in love to each other: " Beloved, I beseech you, by the love I bear to you, that you put on unfeigned mutual love." This exhortation is pressed and urged with variety of argument: as,

I. From the high and heavenly descent of love: For love is of God. He is the fountain, author, parent, and commander of love; it is the sum of his law and gospel: And every one that loveth (whose spirit is framed to judicious holy love) is born of God, v. 7 . The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. The new nature in the children of God is the offspring of his love: and the temper and complexion of it is love. The fruit of the Spirit is love, Gal. v. 22 . Love comes down from heaven.

II. Love argues a true and just apprehension of the divine nature: He that loveth knoweth God, v. 7 . He that loveth not knoweth not God, v. 8 . What attribute of the divine Majesty so clearly shines in all the world as his communicative goodness, which is love. The wisdom, the greatness, the harmony, and usefulness of the vast creation, which so fully demonstrate his being, do at the same time show and prove his love; and natural reason, inferring and collecting the nature and excellence of the most absolute perfect being, must collect and find that he is most highly good: and he that loveth not (is not quickened by the knowledge he hath of God to the affection and practice of love) knoweth not God; it is a convictive evidence that the sound and due knowledge of God dwells not in such a soul; his love must needs shine among his primary brightest perfections; for God is love ( v. 8 ), his nature and essence are love, his will and works are primarily love. Not that this is the only conception we ought to have of him; we have found that he is light as well as love ( ch. i. 5 ), and God is principally love to himself, and he has such perfections as arise from the necessary love he must bear to his necessary existence, excellence, and glory; but love is natural and essential to the divine Majesty: God is love. This is argued from the display and demonstration that he hath given of it; as, 1. That he hath loved us, such as we are: In this was manifest the love of God towards us ( v. 9 ), towards us mortals, us ungrateful rebels. God commandeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Rom. v. 8 . Strange that God should love impure, vain, vile, dust and ashes! 2. That he has loved us at such a rate, at such an incomparable value as he has given for us; he has given his own, only-beloved, blessed Son for us: Because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him, v. 9 . This person is in some peculiar distinguishing way the Son of God; he is the only-begotten. Should we suppose him begotten as a creature or created being, he is not the only-begotten. Should we suppose him a natural necessary eradication from the Father's glory or glorious essence, or substance, he must be the only-begotten: and then it will be a mystery and miracle of divine love that such a Son should be sent into our world for us! It may well be said, So (wonderfully, so amazingly, so incredibly) God loved the world. 3. That God loved us first, and in the circumstances in which we lay: Herein is love (unusual unprecedented love), not that we loved God, but that he loved us, v. 10 . He loved us, when we had no love for him, when we lay in our guilt, misery, and blood, when we were undeserving, ill-deserving, polluted, and unclean, and wanted to be washed from our sins in sacred blood. 4. That he gave us his Son for such service and such an end. (1.) For such service, to be the propitiation for our sins; consequently to die for us, to die under the law and curse of God, to bear our sins in his own body, to be crucified, to be wounded in his soul, and pierced in his side, to be dead and buried for us ( v. 10 ); and then, (2.) For such an end, for such a good and beneficial end to us— that we might live through him ( v. 9 ), might live for ever through him, might live in heaven, live with God, and live in eternal glory and blessedness with him and through him: O what love is here! Then,

III. Divine love to the brethren should constrain ours: Beloved (I would adjure you by your interest in my love to remember), if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another, v. 11 . This should be an invincible argument. The example of God should press us. We should be followers (or imitators) of him, as his dear children. The objects of the divine love should be the objects of ours. Shall we refuse to love those whom the eternal God hath loved? We should be admirers of his love, and lovers of his love (of the benevolence and complacency that are in him), and consequently lovers of those whom he loves. The general love of God to the world should induce a universal love among mankind. That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust, Matt. v. 45 . The peculiar love of God to the church and to the saints should be productive of a peculiar love there: If God so loved us, we ought surely (in some measure suitably thereto) to love one another.

IV. The Christian love is an assurance of the divine inhabitation: If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, v. 12 . Now God dwelleth in us, not by any visible presence, or immediate appearance to the eye ( no man hath seen God at any time, v. 12 ), but by his Spirit ( v. 13 ); or, " No man hath seen God at any time; he does not here present himself to our eye or to our immediate intuition, and so he does not in this way demand and exact our love; but he demands and expects it in that way in which he has thought meet to deserve and claim it, and that is in the illustration that he has given of himself and of his love (and thereupon of his loveliness too) in the catholic church, and particularly in the brethren, the members of that church. In them, and in his appearance for them and with them, is God to be loved; and thus, if we love one another, God dwelleth in us. The sacred lovers of the brethren are the temples of God; the divine Majesty has a peculiar residence there."

7. Resumption of the main theme ( 1Jo 2:29 ). Love, the sum of righteousness, is the test of our being born of God. Love flows from a sense of God's love to us: compare 1Jo 4:9 with 1Jo 3:16 , which 1Jo 4:9 resumes; and 1Jo 4:13 with 1Jo 3:24 , which similarly 1Jo 4:13 resumes. At the same time, 1Jo 4:7-21 is connected with the immediately preceding context, 1Jo 4:2 setting forth Christ's incarnation, the great proof of God's love ( 1Jo 4:10 ).

Beloved-- an address appropriate to his subject, "love."

love-- All love is from God as its fountain: especially that embodiment of love, God manifest in the flesh. The Father also is love ( 1Jo 4:8 ). The Holy Ghost sheds love as its first fruit abroad in the heart.

knoweth God-- spiritually, experimentally, and habitually.

8. knoweth not-- Greek aorist: not only knoweth not now, but never knew, has not once for all known God.

God is love-- There is no Greek article to love, but to God; therefore we cannot translate, Love is God. God is fundamentally and essentially LOVE: not merely is loving, for then John's argument would not stand; for the conclusion from the premises then would be this, This man is not loving: God is loving; therefore he knoweth not God IN SO FAR AS God is loving; still he might know Him in His other attributes. But when we take love as God's essence, the argument is sound: This man doth not love, and therefore knows not love: God is essentially love, therefore he knows not God.

9. toward us-- Greek, "in our case."

sent-- Greek, "hath sent."

into the world-- a proof against Socinians, that the Son existed before He was "sent into the world." Otherwise, too, He could not have been our life ( 1Jo 4:9 ), our "propitiation" ( 1Jo 4:10 ), or our "Saviour" ( 1Jo 4:14 ). It is the grand proof of God's love, His having sent "His only-begotten Son, that we might live through Him," who is the Life, and who has redeemed our forfeited life; and it is also the grand motive to our mutual love.

10. Herein is love-- love in the abstract: love, in its highest ideal, is herein. The love was all on God's side, none on ours.

not that we loved God-- though so altogether worthy of love.

he loved us-- though so altogether unworthy of love. The Greek aorist expresses, Not that we did any act of love at any time to God, but that He did the act of love to us in sending Christ.

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CHAPTER 15

Ver. 9.As the Father hath loved Me, &c.This is the sixth reason by which Christ stirs his disciples up to persevere in Him and in His love and faith. The word as does not imply equality, but similitude of love. For the Father loveth Christ far more than Christ loveth us. The meaning therefore is, As God the Father hath loved Me as man without any merits of mine freely before all others, and hath raised me to the Hypostasis of the Word, that I should be the Son of God, the Saviour and Redeemer of the world, and therefore not a natural vine but a Vine of salvation, so in like manner have I freely chosen you before other men, without any merits of your own, and raised you to the Apostolate, that ye should be made very near to Me as branches to the Vine, and that I through you should work out the salvation of all nations. Take heed therefore that ye abide in this My love. And this ye will do by loving Me and keeping my commandments. For so ye will deserve to be loved in return by Me, and be by Me constantly endowed with the benefits of which I have spoken. So S. Augustine.

Observe here, that Christ's predestination, election, love, and grace are the means, the end, and exemplar of our predestination, election, love, and grace. See what I have said on Rom_1:4.

Abide ye in My love; take care that I always love you. For it is a great thing to be loved by Christ. It is the fount and the cause of all graces. This is the active sense of the word My. But Rupertus here takes the love of Christ in a passive sense, meaning, abide in My love, advance in My love. This is an apposite, but not the direct meaning. It is inferential, thus, Take care that I love you. And this ye will be careful about if ye proceed to love Me. For I love those that love Me. Wherefore as the Father greatly loves Me, and so works through Me so many miracles and the salvation of the world, so also do I exceedingly love you, and therefore heap upon you so many benefits, gifts, and apostolic graces. Take heed then that ye continue in this My love and My grace. For so shall ye receive a daily increase of gifts from Me. Perceive from this the excellence and Divine virtue of love and affection. As Climacus says (Gradu 30), "I contemplate faith as a ray of the sun, charity like its orb in its fulness. Charity from its own very nature is likeness to God, so far as mortals can attain unto it. As regards its efficacy it is a sort of intoxication of the soul. Lastly, as regards its properties, it is the fountain of faith, the abyss of a just and patient mind, a sea of humility.

10. If ye keep my commandments, &c. If ye advance in loving Me and keeping my commandments, ye shall abide in My grace, favour, and affection, so that I shall proceed to heap My love and favours upon you.

Ver. 11.Even as I have kept My Father's commandments, &c. That is, as I proceed to obey the Father's commandments, and to preserve His grace and love towards Me. Hear St. Augustine. "Love precedes the keeping of commandments. For he who loveth not hath nothing from whence he may keep them. In what therefore He here saith He does not show from whence love is generated, but how it is shown, that no one may deceive himself by saying that he loves Him when he keeps not His commandments. This, however, must be referred to the love wherewith He loves us, thus: By this ye shall know that ye abide in the love with which I love you, if ye keep My precepts, not indeed that we first keep His commandments in order that He may love us, but that unless He loved us we could not keep His commandments. This is the grace which is plain to the humble, but hidden from the proud."

Prior therefore is that love of God which is the cause of love in us, and of the keeping His commandments. And this in turn is the cause of God's love towards us being maintained. So fire kindles and burns wood, and by its ignition is preserved and lasts.

Ver. 11.These things have I spoken unto you, &c. This is the seventh and last reason of Christ, by which He persuades them to abide in His love and charity. Because in so doing they would give great joy both to Christ and to themselves.

You will ask, what is this joy? 1st. Jansen explains thus, These things I have said unto you that your joy may be always like unto mine. My joy is because I am loved of My Father. Do you so keep My commandments that ye may be always loved of My Father and rejoice, and that thus your joy may be full through My Resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

2d. S. Cyril explains, These things have I spoken unto you that ye may have joy in those things in which I have joy, namely, in labours and perils endured for the salvation of mankind.

3d. S. Augustine expounds of the joy which God had from eternity at our salvation, thus, "These things have I spoken unto you that what has been from eternity, a cause of joy to Me, namely, grace and salvation, may be in you. And that your joy which you have in My company may be fulfilled by your gradual advancement to everlasting felicity." And he again says, "What is that joy of ours which He says is to he full, but to enjoy His company? He indeed had perfect joy over us when He rejoiced in His fore-knowledge and predestination of us. But that joy was not our joy, because we were not yet in being. This joy began to be in us when He called us. It begins to be in the faith of those who are born again: it shall be full in the faith of those who rise again."

4th. And most plainly, Christ here brings His disciples a twofold joy as a reward. The first joy is His own, the second that of the disciples. The meaning is, These things have I spoken unto you that in doing them ye may give Me joy. For parents and masters rejoice when they see their children and scholars act aright in obedience to their commands. This is the meaning of, that My joy may be in you, namely, that I may rejoice at your conformity to My will. As S. Augustine says, "What is the joy of Christ in us save that wherein He deigns to rejoice concerning us?" The second joy is that of the disciples, concerning which He says, And that your joy may be full. This was the joy which the disciples had in Christ, that they were His disciples. Christ has reference to the explanation which He subjoins to the parable of the vine and its branches, Abide in Me, and I in you. The meaning is, Like as the vine, if it could rejoice, would rejoice because its branches abode in it, and bore fruit, and as the branches for their part would rejoice because they adhered to the vine, and derived sap from it to bring forth grapes, so likewise if ye, 0 ye disciples, abide in Me, the true Vine, by love, and I also abide in you by the continual influx of the Spirit of grace for the bringing forth of good works, then shall I have joy in you thus cleaving unto Me, and ye shall have joy in Me because ye derive from Me grace and the Holy Spirit for the conversion of all nations. And this joy shall gradually be fulfilled here, but shall have its perfect consummation in eternal glory.

Lastly, the words in you may be taken simply, just as they stand, thus, These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy with which I rejoice concerning the glory of God and the salvation of the whole world to be accomplished by Me, I may transfuse into you as My Apostles and fellow-workers; and that this joy may increase as your labours and your fruit increase; until it be fulfilled in this life, but yet more completely in the life to come. For My good is your good, as the good of the Vine is the good of its branches.

This meaning seems the simplest, and is therefore sound. The words, That my joy may be in you, are exactly as if He said, That My joy may flow into you, way be communicated to you, and so be made your own.

Admirably saith S. Bernard (Epist. 114) "Verily that is the true and only joy which comes not from a creature, but from. the Creator, and which no one shall take away from him who possesses it. Compared with this all other gladness is only sorrow; all other pleasantness is pain, all sweetness bitter, all beauty but as ugliness." And elsewhere he says, "A sure sign of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul is spiritual joy." For the soul which exults in God exults because God inhabits it.

Ver. 13.This is My commandment, &c. The Greek is emphatic with the double art., ή ε̉ντολὴ ή ε̉μὴ, i.e. My precept, even Mine. This is to be referred partly to the words, if ye keep My commandments, partly to, in My love, which is the scope of the whole parable from the beginning of the chapter to this place. The meaning therefore is, I have commanded you to keep My precepts, among which know ye that the chief is this, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Again, I have bidden you, Abide in My love, i.e. continue and persevere in loving Me. And this ye will do if ye love one another, and bestow your kindnesses and offices of charity upon your neighbours. For ye can bestow nothing upon Me, but whatsoever ye shall bestow upon them, I shall account as bestowed upon Myself as the Parent of all. Wherefore He calls this "My commandment." There is an allusion to His words in xiii. 34, A new commandment I give unto you, &c. For what He here calls My commandment He there calls a new commandment. For He gives this precept to all Christians. For all were represented by the Apostles. For Christ willed by the Apostles and their successors to convert the whole world. He bids them therefore that out of love to Him they should love and seek the salvation of all nations, should expend all their faculties and labours upon that work, undergo all perils, sustain all persecutions, and lastly, should shed their blood for it. For so He loved them and all other men that He gave His life and endured the death of the Cross for them. Moreover, this precept in the first place concerned the Apostles, because Christ by them was about to accomplish His own work of preaching throughout the world. Wherefore it was the duty of every one to co-operate with and assist every other. For this union and mutual co-operation of many was most efficacious for overcoming all difficulties, and converting all nations however barbarous. And so we see the same thing at the present day in Religious Orders and in Religious and Apostolic men united among themselves. Thus it is said (Eccles. iv. 12.), "A threefold cord is not quickly broken."

This example of Christ was followed by S. Elizius, who died in the year 665. This was his last admonition to his people, as Sigobert testifies in his Chronicle: "If ye would pay me back my love for you, keep the commandments of Almighty God. Always breathe after Jesus Christ. Fix firmly His precepts in your minds. Love His name even as I have done."

Ver. 13.Greater love hath no man, &c. Christ here sets forth the manner and terminus or extremity of His love wherewith He loves us, and of that wherewith He wills that we should love one another. As though He said, I have supremely loved you, therefore I require the same of you, and have a right to ask it, that ye should supremely love one another. For the highest and supreme love is that in which a man not only gives his substance, but his life, that is, freely offers and lays it down for his friends. This I do for you, i.e. I will presently lay down My life for you. Do you therefore in like manner give your lives for your friends and neighbours in such a manner that ye do not refuse, but welcome, all labours, perils, persecutions, and every kind of torment and death for their salvation.

You may say, it is greater charity if any one lay down his life for his enemies than that he lay it down for his friends. Some reply to this by saying that the meaning is, There cannot be among men a greater love than to die for a friend, but Mine is a greater love for you, because I die for My enemies. To say for enemies was unnecessary, for it is never done among men. Whereas the friendship of Pylades and Orestes in being willing to die for one another is the theme of every one's praise, as something exceeding rare. And this is S. Paul's argument (Rom. v.): "For scarcely for a just man doth anyone die: but perchance someone would dare to die for a good man. But God commends His love to us," &c.

1st. And better Ribera and Toletus explain: The comparison here is not between friends and enemies, but between the acts of friendship, thus: Among all the acts and offices of friendship, none is greater than this, that any one should lay down his life for his friend. This I am about to do for you, who are My friends if ye keep My commandments.

2d. And most fully: friends are here called not those who love, but those who are loved, such as may even be enemies. It means, greater love there cannot be than his who dies for his friends, i.e. for those whom he loves and accounts his friends, even though they in fact be not his friends but his enemies. Thus Christ laid down His life upon the Cross for all men, who at the first were sinners and therefore his enemies. But many of them, through that death of His, and the grace which floweth from it, have been justified, and so become His friends and disciples. The Apostles and Apostolic men following Christ have done the same. And all Christians whatsoever ought to do the like, namely, when the salvation of a neighbour's soul is in peril, to expose their lives to rescue it, even though the neighbour he an enemy.

You may urge, Why then does Christ call them friends rather than enemies? I reply, 1st, Because He was speaking to the Apostles, who by His vocation and grace were His friends, although they had before been sinners and enemies. 2d, Rupert answers, "that by the sweetness of His manner of speaking He might instil into His hearers the sweetness of the love which He commanded them." 3d, To teach us that so far as Christ and we are concerned all men must be loved as friends, even though they on their part are hostile to us. For the love of Christ extends itself to all, enemies as well as friends. Wherefore He accounts His enemies friends and beloved, and by this means gains them to be friends instead of enemies to God and Himself. For love is the magnet of love. Nor can there be anything more mighty than love, for love forces enemies to win back love to him who loves them.

Lastly, there are some who understand this saying of Christ not only concerning spiritual and eternal salvation, but also concerning what is corporeal and temporal. They say that it is an act of heroic charity if any one gives his temporal life for the temporal life of his neighbour. For this is permitted, indeed sometimes persuaded, in the order of charity. Wherefore S. Gregory (Dial 1. 3. c. 37) praises a certain presbyter named Sanctulus who offered to die instead of a certain deacon who had been condemned to death by the Lombards. But God held the hand of the executioner, so that he could not bring down his uplifted sword upon his neck. The Lombards were struck with amazement, and began to reverence him as a Saint. And at his request they set all their captives free. Such was the power of charity that a man by the offer of his own life redeemed the lives of many

Ye are My friends if ye do (Gr.), i.e. if ye shall do, &c. This sentence refers to what precedes, Thus, I lay down My life for you as My friends. Do you in return render love for love, loving Me as My friends who have loved you. And this ye will do if ye keep My commandments, amongst which the chief, and embracing all the rest, is, that ye love one another.

Ver. 14.I will not henceforth call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, i.e. what he intends and proposes to do.

Ver. 15.But I have called you friends. S. Augustine (Tract. 85) inquires in what way this is true: for the Apostles really continued to be servants of Christ, and in the day of judgment He will say to them, as well as others, Well done, good and faithful servants. He answers, that there is a twofold kind of servitude, the one that which slaves render to their lords through fear, the other free and filial, which children render to their parents. The Apostles were not the servants of Christ according to the former fashion, but the latter. For in this way servants become friends. To this may be added what Rupert says, I will not call you servants, i.e. sinners and enemies, because, by Baptism and My grace, I have made you righteous and My friends.

The true and genuine meaning then is this: Although by your nature and condition ye are My servants, yet I bestow upon you such honour that I will make you and call you My intimate and most trusted friends, insomuch that all things which I have heard of My Father that I as His ambassador should communicate to men, I will communicate; not to the multitudes nor to the Scribes, but to you alone.

He saith now, because already when He was going away He revealed to them many things about which He had previously been silent. Other things also, which He had before spoken obscurely in parables, He now clearly and plainly explained to them. Now therefore when He was going away, He manifested, by thus explaining things to them, greater trust in them and confidence towards them. Wherefore He raises them to a higher dignity, condition and title, even that of friends. This then is the reason which Christ Himself here gives. He does not therefore deny that they still continued to be servants, but He asserts that, servants though they were, He raised them up to be His intimate friends, and endowed them with this name and prerogative. So Maldonatus, Ribera, &c., but before all others S. Irenæus, lib. 4. c. 27.

The servant knoweth not, i.e. ordinarily and usually, for some masters have faithful and prudent servants to whom they entrust their counsels and their secrets. But Christ speaks of what is the ordinary course of things among men.

All things which I have heard of the Father, &c. You may say, This seems to compete with what Christ had said a little before in the 12th chapter, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Leontius answers that Christ now revealed to the Apostles all things which the Father wished Him at that time to reveal to them, that is to say, all things which they were able to receive. 2d, And better, S. Augustine and Bede answer, that I have made known means I will presently make known, i.e. after fifty days, at Pentecost.

Somewhat differently Maldonatus, I have made known, i.e. I have determined to make known, namely, by the Holy Ghost, whom I am about to send.

Moraliter: learn from the saying of Christ that holy souls which are full of love to God, which, treading all earthly things under foot, dwell in heaven, and hold familiar converse with God in prayer, such talk frequently with God as His friends, such are illuminated by God, so that they hear and learn of Him His deepest mysteries and secret counsels. These men understand the Holy Scriptures. They learn of Him what He purposes to do in the time to come, as though they were admitted into the inner presence-chamber of God, and were there made members of His Privy Council. Such were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and the rest of the Prophets. S. Bernard eloquently unfolds this teaching (Tract. de Interior. Dom. c. 69). "Wouldst thou know, 0 soul, whosoever thou art, that the sublimity of the Divine revelations is a manifest proof of the Divine love? Now I will not call you servants, He saith, but friends, because all things which I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you. Labour therefore to love Thy God closely and supremely. Pant every hour with thine utmost longing for the joy of Divine contemplation. Gather thyself into thyself, rest only in the desire for God." S. Basil, S. Maximus, and others, have the same teaching. S. Francis, S. Catherine of Sienna, S. Francis Xavier, and very many others, by means of this loving friendship and converse with God, obtained the gifts of understanding and prophecy. So too in the olden time did Henoch, Noe, Abraham, Moses, and others, because they walked with God and conversed familiarly with Him, speaking to Him as a friend with his friend.

Ver. 16.Ye have not chosen Me, &c. S. Augustine, both on this passage and elsewhere (lib. 1, c. 17, de Predest. Sanct.) understands by this choosing the predestination of God: I have predestinated you, and chosen you, without any merits of yours, to glory. But this does not agree rightly with the words, ye have not chosen Me. For neither could the Apostles choose Christ to heavenly glory, nor does Christ here seem to have wished to reveal His predestination to the Apostles. For this He Himself is wont to attribute to the Father. For to the Father providence is attributed, a part of which is predestination.

More literally the meaning is, Ye did not first choose Me for your Master and Lord, but I first chose and called you, and by My vocation and grace I made you My friends, disciples, and Apostles. So S. Cyril, Chrysostom, and others. Wherefore S. Chrysostom thinks that Christ is here still dwelling upon the parable of the vine and its branches. The meaning then will be, As the husbandman chooses the best vines and grafts to plant in his vineyard, so have I chosen you, 0 My Apostles, that I should plant you, being made the most excellent vines by My grace, in My vineyard, for the production of grapes, i.e. of very many and very excellent believers.

Moreover, Christ saith this, 1st, To show His exceeding love for His Apostles, because He first chose them alone, above all other men who were more noble, learned, and eloquent, to be Apostles, i.e. to be His chief friends, and the Apostles of His Church. Wherefore He tacitly admonishes them that they should love Him in return, and abide constant in His love and obedience.

2d. That considering the lofty height of their dignity and apostleship to which they had been called by Christ, they should labour to be true to it, and so should be beforehand with all nations, and by their preaching should bring them to Christ.

Some writers add that Christ here wished to give the Apostles an incentive to humility: thus, Be it that I have called you friends, and admitted you to share in My secrets, yet do not ye be proud because of this. For ye have not merited it, but it is I who have freely chosen and exalted you.

And I have placed you that ye should go (to preach the gospel throughout all nations) and bring forth fruit, &c. S. Chrysostom being of opinion that there is an allusion here to the parable of the Vine, explains the words I have placed, to mean, I have planted, as it were fruitful vines in the vineyard of My Church. Maldonatus explains more simply, I have declared. For when any one is made a magistrate, he is first chosen, that is, designated, and settled in his office.

Most simply, you may expound I have p1aced by I have constituted you, or that Christ by this word signifies the authority, the firmness, and the fruit of His Apostles, namely, that they were commissioned, and therefore made strong, by Christ, so that no one could deprive them of their dignity, nor hinder their bringing forth fruit, even a most abundant harvest of souls throughout the whole world.

And that Your fruit may remain: Cyril refers this to the Gospel which remains, whilst the old Law was not to abide, but to be abrogated by Christ. More plainly and fully, you may refer the word abide to the conversion of all nations brought about by the Apostles, which remained even after their death, and which will remain in due and continual succession unto the end of the world. And this as it were the heavenly fruit and reward of the Apostles does remain, and will remain eternally.

That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name &c. The word that signifies not so much the end aimed at as the effect. The meaning is this, If ye bring forth the fruit for which I have chosen you, it will follow and come to pass that the Father will give you whatsoever ye shall ask in the same sense that I have shown (chap. xiv. 13). The Greek for I may give is δω̃, which may be rendered, with S. Chrysostom and Theophylact, in the first person, I may give. Wherefore Theophylact gathers from this passage against the Arians that the Son of God is of the same substance with the Father, so that He equally with the Father gives as God the things which are asked of Him. In My Name, i.e. by My merits. Moreover, S. Augustine says, "That which we ask in the Saviour's name is what pertains to salvation."

Ver. 17.These things I command you, &c. He says these things in the plural to signify that there were indeed many particular precepts commanded by Him, but that all of them were included in the one common and easy precept of love, so that if one fulfils that, one fulfils all.

Secondly, You may explain more simply with S. Chrysostom if you take the conjunction that to signify the end. Then the meaning will be, These things which I have spoken concerning My love I have said with this only end in view, that ye should have mutual love among yourselves, and that thus ye should endure all things for the salvation of men. To this pertains the exposition of S. Augustine (Tract. 87), "Because He had said, I have placed you that ye should go and bear fruit, now He saith, These things I command you, wishing to teach that the fruit which we are to bear must be love of our neighbour." And again, "The fruit of the Spirit, saith the apostle, is charity. Concerning this therefore He gives commandment. Deservedly indeed does He often speak of love, as if it were the only thing to be commanded, as being that without which all other good things cannot profit, and which we cannot have without having all other good things by which a man becomes good with it."

Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.9. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue in my love.10. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love--even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.11. These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Our Lord showed above, that those who plotted against them should be burned, inasmuch as they abode not in Christ: now He shows that they themselves would be invincible, bringing forth much fruit; Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit: as if He said, If it appertains to My Father’s glory that you bring forth fruit, He will not despise His own glory. And he that brings forth fruit is Christ’s disciple: So shall you be My disciples.

The fruit of the Apostles are the Gentiles, who through their teaching were converted to the faith, and brought into subjection to the glory of God.

Made bright or glorified; the Greek word may be translated in either way. In Greek it signifies glory; not our own glory, we must remember, as if we had it of ourselves: it is of His grace that we have it; and therefore it is not our own but His glory. For from whom shall we derive our fruitfulness, but from His mercy preventing us.

Wherefore He adds, As My Father has loved Me, even so love I you. This then is the source of our good works. Our good works proceed from faith which works by love: but we could not love unless we were loved first: As My Father has loved Me, even so love I you. This does not prove that our nature is equal to His, as His is to the Father’s, but the grace, whereby He is the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. The Father loves us, but in Him.

If then I love you, be of good cheer; if it is the Father’s glory that you bring forth good fruit, bear no evil. Then to rouse them to exertion, He adds, Continue you in My love; and then shows how this is to be done: If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love.

Who doubts that love precedes the observance of the commandments? For who loves not, has not that whereby to keep the commandments. These words then do not declare whence love arises, but how it is shown, that no one might deceive himself into thinking that he loved our Lord, when he did not keep His commandments. Though the words, Continue you in My love, do not of themselves make it evident which love He means, ours to Him, or His to us, yet the preceding words do: I love you, He says: and then immediately after, Continue you in My love.

Continue you in My love, then, is, continue in My grace; and, If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, is, Your keeping of My commandments will be evidence to you that you abide in My love. It is not that we keep His commandments first, and that then He loves; but that He loves us, and then we keep His commandments. This is that grace, which is revealed to the humble, but hidden from the proud. But what means the next words, Even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love: i.e., the Father’s love, wherewith He loves the Son.

Must this grace, wherewith the Father loves the Son, be understood to be like the grace wherewith the Son loves us? No; for whereas we are sons not by nature, but by grace, the Only Begotten is Son not by grace, but by nature. We must understand this then to refer to the manhood in the Son, even as the words themselves imply: As My Father has loved Me, even so love I you.

The grace of a Mediator is expressed here; and Christ is Mediator between God and man, not as God, but as man. This then we may say, that since human nature does not pertain to the nature of God, but does by grace pertain to the Person of the Son, grace also pertains to that Person: such grace as has nothing superior, nothing equal to it. For no merits on man’s part preceded the assumption of that nature.

Even as 1 have kept My Father’s commandments. The Apostle explains what these commandments were: Christ became obedient to death, even the death of the cross ( Phi 2:8 ).

Then because the Passion was now approaching to interrupt their joy, He adds, These things have I spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you: as if He said, And if sorrow fall upon you, I will take it away, so that you shall rejoice in the end.

And what is Christ’s joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice on our account? And what is our joy, which He says shall be full, but to have fellowship with Him? He had perfect joy on our account, when He rejoiced in foreknowing, and predestinating us; but that joy was not in us, because then we did not exist: it began to be in us, when He called us. And this joy we rightly call our own, this joy wherewith we shall be blessed; which is begun in the faith of them who are born again, and shall be fulfilled in the reward of them who rise again.

This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.13. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.14. You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.15. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his Lord does; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.16. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you.

Having said, If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, He shows what commandments they are to keep: This is My commandment, That you love one another.

But when all our Lord’s sacred discourses are full of His commandments, why does He give this special commandment respecting love, if it is not that every commandment teaches love, and all precepts are one? Love and love only is the fulfillment of every thing that is enjoined. As all the boughs of a tree proceed from one root, so all the virtues are produced form one love: nor has the branch, i.e. the good work, any life, except it abide in the root of love.

Where then love is, what can be wanting? Where it is not, what can profit? But this love is distinguished from men’s love to each other as men, by adding, As I have loved you. To what end did Christ love us, but that we should reign with Him? Let us therefore so love one another, as that our love be different from that of other men; who do not love one another, to the end that God may be loved, because they do not really love at all. They who love one another for the sake of having God within them, they truly love one another.

The highest, the only proof of love, is to love our adversary; as did the Truth Himself, who while He suffered on the cross, showed His love for His persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do

34 ). Of which love the consummation is given in the next words:Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Our Lord came to die for His enemies, but He says that He is going to lay down His life for His friends, to show us that by loving, we are able to gain over our enemies, so that they who persecute us are by anticipation our friends.

Having said, This is My commandment: that you love one another, even as I have loved you (1 Jn 3); it follows, as John said in his Epistle, that as Christ laid down His life for us, so we should lay down our lives for the brethren. This the martyrs have done with ardent love And therefore in commemorating them at Christ’s table, we do not pray for them, as we do for others, but we rather pray that we may follow their steps. For they have shown the same love for their brother, that has been shown them at the Lord’s table.

But whoever in time of tranquillity will not give up his time to God, how in persecution will he give up his soul? Let the virtue of love then, that it may be victorious in tribulation, be nourished in tranquillity by deeds of mercy.

From one and the same love, we love God and our neighbor, but God for His own sake, our neighbor for God’s. So that, there being two precepts of love, on which hang all the Law and the Prophets, to love God, and to love our neighbor, Scripture often unites them into one precept. For if a man love God, it follows s that he does what God commands, and if so, that he loves his neighbor, God having commanded this. Wherefore He proceeds: You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.

A friend is as it were a keeper of the soul. He who keeps God’s commandments, is rightly called His friend.

Great condescension! Though to keep his Lord’s commandments is only what a good servant is obliged to do, yet, if they do so, He calls them His friends. The good servant is both the servant and the friend. But how is this? He tells us: Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does. Shall we therefore cease to be servants, as soon as ever we are good servants? And is not a good and tried servant sometimes entrusted with his master’s secrets, still remaining a servant? We must understand then that there are two kinds of servitude, as there are two kinds of fear. There is a fear which perfect love casts out; which also has in it a servitude, which will be cast out together with the fear. And there is another, a pure fear, which remains forever.

It is the former state of servitude, which our Lord refers to, when He says, Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does; not the state of that servant to whom it is said, Well done, you good servant, enter you into the joy of your Lord ( Mat 25:21 ), but of him of whom it was said below, The servant abides not in the house for ever, but the Son abides ever. Forasmuch then as God has given us power to become the sons of God, so that in a wonderful way, we are servants, and yet not servants, we know that it is the Lord who does this. This that servant is ignorant of, who knows not what his Lord does, and when he does any good thing, is exalted in his own conceit, as if he himself did it, and not his Lord; and boasts of himself, not of his Lord. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you.

As if He said, The servant knows not the counsels of his lord; but since I esteem you friends, I have communicated my secrets to you.

But how did He make known to His disciples all things that He had heard from the Father, when He forebore saying many things, because He knew they as yet could not bear them? He made all things known to His disciples, i.e., He knew that He should make them known to them in that fullness of which the Apostle said, Then we shall know, even as we are known ( 1Co 13:13 ). For as we look for the death of the flesh, and the salvation of the soul, so should we look for that knowledge of all things, which the Only-Begotten heard from the Father.

Or all things which He heard from the Father, which He wished to be made known to His servants: the joys of spiritual love, the pleasures of our heavenly country, which He impresses daily on our minds by the inspiration of His love. For while we love the heavenly things we hear, we know them by loving, because love is itself knowledge. He had made all things known to them then, because being withdrawn from earthly desires, they burned with the fire of divine love.

All things, i.e., all things that they ought to hear. I have heard, shows that what He had taught was no strange doctrine, but received from the Father.

But let no one who has attained to this dignity of being called the friend of God, attribute this superhuman gift to his own merits:You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.

Ineffable grace! For what were we before Christ had chosen us, but wicked, and lost? We did not believe in Him, so as to be chosen by Him: for had He chosen us believing, He would have chosen us choosing. This passage refutes the vain opinion of those who say that we were chosen before the foundation of the world, because God foreknew that we should be good, not that He Himself would make us good.

For had He chosen us, because He foreknew that we should be good, He would have foreknown also that we should first choose Him, for without choosing Him we cannot be good; unless indeed he can be called good, who has not chosen good. What then has He chosen in them who are not good? you can not say, I am chosen because I believed; for had you believed in Him, you had chosen Him. Nor can you say, Before I believed I did good works, and therefore was chosen. For what good work is there before faith? What is there for us to say then, but that we were wicked, and were chosen, that by the grace of the chosen we might become good?

They are chosen then before the foundation of the world, according to that predestination by which God foreknew His future acts. They are chosen out of the world by that call whereby God fulfills what He has predestined: whom He did predestine, them He also called ( Rom 8:30 ).

Observe, He does not choose the good; but those, whom He has chosen, He makes good: And I have ordained you that you should go, and bring forth fruit. This is the fruit which He meant, when He said, Without Me you can do nothing. He Himself is the way in which He has set us to go.

I have set you, i.e., have planted you by grace, that you should go by will: to will being to go in mind, and bring forth fruit, by works. What kind of fruit they should bring forth He then shows: And that your fruit may remain; for worldly labor hardly produces fruit to last our life; and if it does, death comes at last, and deprives us of it all. But the fruit of our spiritual labors endures even after death; and begins to be seen at the very time that the results of our carnal labor begin to disappear. Let us then produce such fruits as may remain, and of which death, which destroys every thing, will be the commencement.

Love then is one fruit, now existing in desire only, not yet in fullness. Yet even with this desire whatever we ask in the name of the Only-Begotten Son, the Father gives us: That whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He may give it you. We ask in the Savior’s name, whatever we ask, that will be profitable to our salvation.

These things I command you, that you love one another.18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.19. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.20. Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If’ they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.21. But all these things will they do to you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

Our Lord had said, I have ordained that you should walk and bring forth fruit. Love is this fruit. Wherefore, He proceeds: These things I command you, that you love one another. Hence the Apostle said, The fruit of the Spirit is love( Gal 5:22 ), and enumerates all other graces as springing from this source. Well then does our Lord commend love, as if it were the only thing commanded: seeing that without it nothing can profit, with it nothing be wanting, whereby a man is made good.

Or thus: I have said that I lay down My life for you, and that I first chose you. I have said this not by way of reproach, but to induce you to love one another.

Then as they were about to suffer persecution and reproach, He bids them not to grieve, but rejoice on that account: If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you: as if to say, I know it is a hard trial, but you will endure it for My sake.

For why should the members exalt themselves above the head? You refuse to be in the body, if you are not willing, with the head, to endure the hatred of the world. For love’s sake let us be patient; the world must hate us, whom it sees hate whatever it loves;If you were of the world, the world would love his own.

As if Christ’s suffering were not consolation enough, He consoles them still further by telling them, the hatred of the world would be an evidence of their goodness; so that they ought rather to grieve if they were loved by the world, as that would be evidence of their wickedness.

He said this to the whole Church which is often called the world; as God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself ( 2Co 5:5 ). The whole world then is the Church, and the whole world hates the Church. The world hates the world, the world in enmity, the world reconciled, the defiled world, the changed world. Here it may be asked, If the wicked can be said to persecute the wicked; e. g., if impious kings, and judges, who persecute the righteous, punish murderers and adulterers also, how are we to understand our Lord’s words, If you were of the world, the world would love his own? In this way; The world is in them who punish these offenses, and the world is In them who love them. The world then hates its own so far as it punishes the wicked, loves its own so far as it favors them. Again, if it be asked how the world loves itself, when it hates the means of its redemption, the answer is, that it loves itself with a false, not a true love, loves what hurts it; hates nature, loves vice. Wherefore we are forbidden to love what it loves in itself; commanded to love what it hates in itself. The vice in it we are forbidden, the nature in it we are commanded, to love. And to separate us from this lost world, we are chosen out of it, not by merit of our own, for we had no merits to begin with, not by nature which was radically corrupt, but by grace: But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

For the dispraise of the perverse, is our praise. There is nothing wrong in not pleasing those who do not please God. For no one can by one and the same act please God, and the enemies of God. He proves himself no friend to God, who pleases His enemy; and he whose soul is in subjection to the Truth, will have to contend with the enemies of that Truth.

Our Lord, in exhorting His servants to bear patiently the hatred of their world, proposes to them an example than which there can be no better and higher one, viz. Himself: Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.

They observed it in order to calumniate it, as we read in the Psalms, The ungodly sees the righteousness . Theophylact: Or thus: If, He says, they have persecuted your Lord, much more will they persecute you; if they had persecuted Him, but kept His commandments they would keep yours also.

As if He said, you must not be disturbed at having to share My sufferings; for you are not better than I.

The servant is not greater than his lord. Here the servant is the one who has the purified fear, which abides for ever.

Then follows another consolation, viz. that the Father is despised and injured with them: But all these things will they do unto you for My name’s sake, because they know not Him that sent Me.

All these things, viz. what He had mentioned, that the world would hate them, persecute them, despise their word. For My Name’s sake, i.e., in you they will hate Me, in you persecute Me, your word they will not keep, because it is mine. They who do these things for His name’s sake are as miserable, as they who suffer them are blessed: except when they do them to the wicked as well; for then both they who do, and they who suffer, are miserable. But how do they do all these things for His name’s sake, when they do nothing for Christ’s name’s sake, i.e., for justice sake? We shall do away with this difficulty, if we take the words as applying to the righteous; as if it were, All these things will you suffer from them, for My name’s sake. If for My name’s sake mean this, i.e., My name which they hate in you, justice which they hate in you; of the good, when they persecute the wicked, it may be said in the same way, that they do so both for righteousness’ sake, which they love, which love is their motive in persecuting, and for unrighteousness’ sake, the unrighteousness of the wicked, which they hate. Because they know not Him that sent Me, i.e. know not according to that knowledge of which it is said, To know you is perfect righteousness (Wis dom 15:3 ).

As I also have kept my Father's commandments. He still speaks of himself, as man. (Witham) --- This frequent admonition, of keeping the commandments, proveth, that a Christian's life consists not in faith only, but in good works. (Bristow)

You are my friends. A wonderful condescension, says St. Augustine, in our blessed Redeemer, who was God as well as man, to call such poor and sinful creatures, his friends; who, when we have done all we can, and ought, are still but unprofitable servants. I have called you my friends, because I have made known to you, &c. We can only understand these words, as St. John Chrysostom takes notice, of all things which they were capable of understanding, or which it was proper to communicate to them; for, as Christ tells them in the next chapter (ver. 12.) I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (Witham)

O ineffable grace! For what were we, before Christ chose us, but wretched and abandoned creatures? Such we were; but now we are chosen, in order that we may become good by the grace of Him that hath chosen us. (St. Augustine, tract. 86. in Joan.)

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Christ, who is love itself, is here discoursing concerning love, a fourfold love.

I. Concerning the Father's love to him; and concerning this he here tells us, 1. That the Father did love him ( v. 9 ): As the Father hath loved me. He loved him as Mediator: This is my beloved Son. He was the Son of his love. He loved him, and gave all things into his hand; and yet so loved the world as to deliver him up for us all. When Christ was entering upon his sufferings he comforted himself with this, that his Father loved him. Those whom God loves as a Father may despise the hatred of all the world. 2. That he abode in his Father's love, v. 10 . He continually loved his Father, and was beloved of him. Even when he was made sin and a curse for us, and it pleased the Lord to bruise him, yet he abode in his Father's love. See Ps. lxxxix. 33 . Because he continued to love his Father, he went cheerfully through his sufferings, and therefore his Father continued to love him. 3. That therefore he abode in his Father's love because he kept his Father's law: I have kept my Father's commandments, as Mediator, and so abide in his love. Hereby he showed that he continued to love his Father, that he went on, and went through, with his undertaking, and therefore the Father continued to love him. His soul delighted in him, because he did not fail, nor was discouraged, Isa. xlii. 1-4 . We having broken the law of creation, and thereby thrown ourselves out of the love of God; Christ satisfied for us by obeying the law of redemption, and so he abode in his love, and restored us to it.

II. Concerning his own love to his disciples. Though he leaves them, he loves them. And observe here,

1. The pattern of this love: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. A strange expression of the condescending grace of Christ! As the Father loved him, who was most worthy, he loved them, who were most unworthy. The Father loved him as his Son, and he loves them as his children. The Father gave all things into his hand; so, with himself, he freely giveth us all things. The Father loved him as Mediator, as head of the church, and the great trustee of divine grace and favour, which he had not for himself only, but for the benefit of those for whom he was entrusted; and, says he, "I have been a faithful trustee. As the Father has committed his love to me, so I transmit it to you." Therefore the Father was well pleased with him, that he might be well pleased with us in him; and loved him, that in him, as beloved, he might make us accepted, Eph. i. 6 .

2. The proofs and products of this love, which are four:—

(1.) Christ loved his disciples, for he laid down his life for them ( v. 13 ): Greater proof of love hath no man to show than this, to lay down his life for his friend. And this is the love wherewith Christ hath loved us, he is our antipsychos — bail for us, body for body, life for life, though he knew our insolvency, and foresaw how much the engagement would cost him. Observe here, [1.] The extent of the love of the children of men to one another. The highest proof of it is laying down one's life for a friend, to save his life, and perhaps there have been some such heroic achievements of love, more than plucking out one's own eyes, Gal. iv. 15 . If all that a man has he will give for his life, he that gives this for his friend gives all, and can give no more; this may sometimes be our duty, 1 John iii. 16 . Paul was ambitious of the honour ( Phil. ii. 17 ); and for a good man some will even dare to die, Rom. v. 7 . It is love in the highest degree, which is strong as death. [2.] The excellency of the love of Christ beyond all other love. He has not only equaled, but exceeded, the most illustrious lovers. Others have laid down their lives, content that they should be taken from them; but Christ gave up his, was not merely passive, but made it his own act and deed. The life which others have laid down has been but of equal value with the life for which it was laid down, and perhaps less valuable; but Christ is infinitely more worth than ten thousand of us. Others have thus laid down their lives for their friends, but Christ laid down his for us when we were enemies, Rom. v. 8 , 10 . Plusquam ferrea aut lapidea corda esse oportet, quæ non emolliet tam incomparabilis divini amoris suavitas—Those hearts must be harder than iron or stone which are not softened by such incomparable sweetness of divine love. —Calvin.

(2.) Christ loved his disciples, for he took them into a covenant of friendship with himself, v. 14, 15 . "If you approve yourselves by your obedience my disciples indeed, you are my friends, and shall be treated as friends." Note, The followers of Christ are the friends of Christ, and he is graciously pleased to call and account them so. Those that do the duty of his servants are admitted and advanced to the dignity of his friends. David had one servant in his court, and Solomon one in his, that was in a particular manner the king's friend ( 2 Sam. xv. 37 ; 1 Kings iv. 5 ); but this honour have all Christ's servants. We may in some particular instance befriend a stranger; but we espouse all the interests of a friend, and concern ourselves in all his cares: thus Christ takes believers to be his friends. He visits them and converses with them as his friends, bears with them and makes the best of them, is afflicted in their afflictions, and takes pleasure in their prosperity; he pleads for them in heaven and takes care of all their interests there. Have friends but one soul? He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17 . Though they often show themselves unfriendly, he is a friend that loves at all times. Observe how endearingly this is expressed here. [1.] He will not call them servants, though they call him Master and Lord. Those that would be like Christ in humility must not take a pride in insisting upon all occasions on their authority and superiority, but remember that their servants are their fellow-servants. But, [2.] He will call them his friends; he will not only love them, but will let them know it; for in his tongue is the law of kindness. After his resurrection he seems to speak with more affectionate tenderness of and to his disciples than before. Go to my brethren, ch. xx. 17 . Children, have you any meat? ch. xxi. 5 . But observe, though Christ called them his friends, they called themselves his servants: Peter, a servant of Christ ( 1 Pet. i. 1 ), and so James, ch. i. 1 . The more honour Christ puts upon us, the more honour we should study to do him; the higher in his eyes, the lower in our own.

(3.) Christ loved his disciples, for he was very free in communicating his mind to them ( v. 15 ): "Henceforth you shall not be kept so much in the dark as you have been, like servants that are only told their present work; but, when the Spirit is poured out, you shall know your Master's designs as friends. All things that I have heard of my Father I have declared unto you. " As to the secret will of God, there are many things which we must be content not to know; but, as to the revealed will of God, Jesus Christ has faithfully handed to us what he received of the Father, ch. i. 18 ; Matt. xi. 27 . The great things relating to man's redemption Christ declared to his disciples, that they might declare them to others; they were the men of his counsel, Matt. xiii. 11 .

(4.) Christ loved his disciples, for he chose and ordained them to be the prime instruments of his glory and honour in the world ( v. 16 ): I have chosen you, and ordained you, His love to them appeared,

[1.] In their election, their election to their apostleship ( ch. vi. 70 ): I have chosen you twelve. It did not begin on their side: You have not chosen me, but I first chose you. Why were they admitted to such an intimacy with him, employed in such an embassy for him, and endued with such power from on high? It was not owing to their wisdom and goodness in choosing him for their Master, but to his favour and grace in choosing them for his disciples. It is fit that Christ should have the choosing of his own ministers; still he does it by his providence and Spirit. Though ministers make that holy calling their own choice, Christ's choice is prior to theirs and directs and determines it. Of all that are chosen to grace and glory it may be said, They have not chosen Christ, but he had chosen them, Deut. vii. 7, 8 .

[2.] In their ordination: I have ordained you; hetheka hymas —" I have put you into the ministry ( 1 Tim. i. 12 ), put you into commission." By this it appeared that he took them for his friends when he crowned their heads with such an honour, and filled their hands with such a trust. It was a mighty confidence he reposed in them, when he made them his ambassadors to negotiate the affairs of his kingdom in this lower world, and the prime ministers of state in the administration of it. The treasure of the gospel was committed to them, First, That it might be propagated: that you should go, hina hymeis hypagete —" that you should go as under a yoke or burden, for the ministry is a work, and you that go about it must resolve to undergo a great deal; that you may go from place to place all the world over, and bring forth fruit. " They were ordained, not to sit still, but to go about, to be diligent in their work, and to lay out themselves unweariedly in doing good. They were ordained, not to beat the air, but to be instrumental in God's hand for the bringing of nations into obedience to Christ, Rom. i. 13 . Note, Those whom Christ ordains should and shall be fruitful; should labour, and shall not labour in vain. Secondly, That it might be perpetuated; that the fruit may remain, that the good effect of their labours may continue in the world from generation to generation, to the end of time. The church of Christ was not to be a short-lived thing, as many of the sects of the philosophers, that were a nine days' wonder; it did not come up in a night, nor should it perish in a night, but be as the days of heaven. The sermons and writings of the apostles are transmitted to us, and we at this day are built upon that foundation, ever since the Christian church was first founded by the ministry of the apostles and seventy disciples; as one generation of ministers and Christians has passed away, still another has come. By virtue of that great charter ( Matt. xxviii. 19 ), Christ has a church in the world, which, as our lawyers say of bodies corporate, does not die, but lives in a succession; and thus their fruit remains to this day, and shall do while the earth remains.

[3.] His love to them appeared in the interest they had at the throne of grace: Whatsoever you shall ask of my Father, in my name, he will give it you. Probably this refers in the first place to the power of working miracles which the apostles were clothed with, which was to be drawn out by prayer. "Whatever gifts are necessary to the furtherance of your labours, whatever help from heaven you have occasion for at any time, it is but ask and have." Three things are here hinted to us for our encouragement in prayer, and very encouraging they are. First, That we have a God to go to who is a Father; Christ here calls him the Father, both mine and yours; and the Spirit in the word and in the heart teaches us to cry, Abba, Father. Secondly, That we come in a good name. Whatever errand we come upon to the throne of grace according to God's will, we may with a humble boldness mention Christ's name in it, and plead that we are related to him, and he is concerned for us. Thirdly, That an answer of peace is promised us. What you come for shall be given you. This great promise made to that great duty keeps up a comfortable and gainful intercourse between heaven and earth.

III. Concerning the disciples' love to Christ, enjoined in consideration of the great love wherewith he had loved them. Three things he exhorts them to:—

1. To continue in his love, v. 9 . "Continue in your love to me, and in mine to you." Both may be taken in. We must place our happiness in the continuance of Christ's love to us, and make it our business to give continued proofs of our love to Christ, that nothing may tempt us to withdraw from him, or provoke him to withdraw from us. Note, All that love Christ should continue in their love to him, that is, be always loving him, and taking all occasions to show it, and love to the end. The disciples were to go out upon service for Christ, in which they would meet with many troubles; but, says Christ, " Continue in my love. Keep up your love to me, and then all the troubles you meet with will be easy; love made seven years' hard service easy to Jacob. Let not the troubles you meet with for Christ's sake quench your love to Christ, but rather quicken it.

2. To let his joy remain in them, and fill them, v. 11 . This he designed in those precepts and promises given them.

(1.) That his joy might remain in them. The words are so placed, in the original, that they may be read either, [1.] That my joy in you may remain. If they bring forth much fruit, and continue in his love, he will continue to rejoice in them as he had done. Note, Fruitful and faithful disciples are the joy of the Lord Jesus; he rests in his love to them, Zeph. iii. 17 . As there is a transport of joy in heaven in the conversion of sinners, so there is a remaining joy in the perseverance of saints. Or, [2.] That my joy, that is, your joy in me, may remain. It is the will of Christ that his disciples should constantly and continually rejoice in him, Phil. iv. 4 . The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast. The word of the Lord enduring for ever, the joys that flow from it, and are founded on it, do so too.

(2.) That your joy might be full; not only that you might be full of joy, but that your joy in me and in my love may rise higher and higher, till it come to perfection, when you enter into the joy of your Lord. " Note, [1.] Those and those only that have Christ's joy remaining in them have their joy full; worldly joys are empty, soon surfeit but never satisfy. It is only wisdom's joy that will fill the soul, Ps. xxxvi. 8 . [2.] The design of Christ in his world is to fill the joy of his people; see 1 John i. 4 . This and the other he hath said, that our joy might be fuller and fuller, and perfect at last.

3. To evidence their love to him by keeping his commandments: " If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, v. 10 . This will be an evidence of the fidelity and constancy of your love to me, and then you may be sure of the continuance of my love to you." Observe here, (1.) The promise " You shall abide in my love as in a dwelling place, at home in Christ's love; as in a resting place, at ease in Christ's love; as in a stronghold, safe in it. You shall abide in my love, you shall have grace and strength to persevere in loving me." If the same hand that first shed abroad the love of Christ in our hearts did not keep us in that love, we should not long abide in it, but, through the love of the world, should go out of love with Christ himself. (2.) The condition of the promise: If you keep my commandments. The disciples were to keep Christ's commandments, not only by a constant conformity to them themselves, but by a faithful delivery of them to others; they were to keep them as trustees, in whose hands that great depositum was lodged, for they were to teach all things that Christ had commanded, Matt. xxviii. 20 . This commandment they must keep without spot ( 1 Tim. vi. 14 ), and thus they must show that they abide in his love.

To induce them to keep his commandments, he urges, [1.] His own example: As I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. Christ submitted to the law of mediation, and so preserved the honour and comfort of it, to teach us to submit to the laws of the Mediator, for we cannot otherwise preserve the honour and comfort of our relation to him. [2.] The necessity of it to their interest in him ( v. 14 ): " You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you and not otherwise." Note, First, Those only will be accounted Christ's faithful friends that approve themselves his obedient servants; for those that will not have him to reign over them shall be treated as his enemies. Idem velle et idem nolle ea demum vera est amicitia—Friendship involves a fellowship of aversions and attachments. —Sallust. Secondly, It is universal obedience to Christ that is the only acceptable obedience; to obey him in every thing that he commands us, not excepting, much less excepting against, any command.

9-11. continue ye in my love-- not, "Continue to love Me," but, "Continue in the possession and enjoyment of My love to you"; as is evident from the next words.

12-16. That ye love one another, &c.-- (See on Joh 13:34 , 35 ).

17-21. The substance of these important verses has occurred more than once before. (See on Mt 10:34-36 ; Lu 12:49-53 , &c.).