Mat 25:34, Mar 10:17, Eph 1:11, 5:5, Col 1:12, 3:24, Heb 6:12, Rev 21:7 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 34. The King . That is, the Lord Jesus, the King of Zion and of the universe, now acting as Judge, . Blessed of my Father . Made happy, or raised to felicity by my Father. . Inherit the kingdom . Receive as heirs the kingdom, or be received there as the sons of God. Christians are often called heirs of God, . Prepared for you , etc. That is, designed for you, or appointed for you. The phrase, from the foundation of the world , is used to denote that this was appointed for them in the beginning; that God has no new plan; that the rewards which he will now confer on them he always intended to confer. Christ says to the righteous that the kingdom was prepared for them . Of course God meant to confer it on them. They were individuals; and it follows that he intended to bestow his salvation on them as individuals. Accordingly, the salvation of his people is uniformly represented as the result of the free gift of God, according to his own pleasure, bestowed on individuals, and by a plan which is eternal, ; . This is right and consistent with justice; for, (1.) all men are by nature equally undeserving. (2.) Bestowing favours on one does not do injustice to another, where neither deserves favour. Pardoning one criminal is not injuring another. Bestowing great talents on Locke, Newton, or Paul, did not injure me. (3.) If it is right for God to give eternal life to his people, or to admit them to heaven, it was right to determine to do it, which is but another way of saying that God resolved from all eternity to do right . Those who perish choose the paths which lead to death, and will not be saved by the merits of Jesus. No blame can be charged on God if he does not save them against their will, . (a) "blessed of" (b) "inherit" (c) "the kingdom" (d) "prepared"

Matthew 25:34

Verse 34. The King. That is, the Lord Jesus, the King of Zion and of the universe, now acting as Judge, Lk 19:38, Jn 18:37, Rev 17:14, 19:16.

Blessed of my Father. Made happy, or raised to felicity by my Father. Mt 5:3.

Inherit the kingdom. Receive as heirs the kingdom, or be received there as the sons of God. Christians are often called heirs of God, Rom 8:17, Gal 4:6,7, Heb 1:14, 1Jn 3:2.

Prepared for you, etc. That is, designed for you, or appointed for you. The phrase, from the foundation of the world, is used to denote that this was appointed for them in the beginning; that God has no new plan; that the rewards which he will now confer on them he always intended to confer. Christ says to the righteous that the kingdom was prepared for them. Of course God meant to confer it on them. They were individuals; and it follows that he intended to bestow his salvation on them as individuals. Accordingly, the salvation of his people is uniformly represented as the result of the free gift of God, according to his own pleasure, bestowed on individuals, and by a plan which is eternal, Rom 8:29,30, Eph 1:4, 5, 11, 12, 2Thes 2:13; 1Pet 1:2, Jn 6:37. This is right and consistent with justice; for,

(1.) all men are by nature equally undeserving.

(2.) Bestowing favours on one does not do injustice to another, where neither deserves favour. Pardoning one criminal is not injuring another. Bestowing great talents on Locke, Newton, or Paul, did not injure me.

(3.) If it is right for God to give eternal life to his people, or to admit them to heaven, it was right to determine to do it, which is but another way of saying that God resolved from all eternity to do right. Those who perish choose the paths which lead to death, and will not be saved by the merits of Jesus. No blame can be charged on God if he does not save them against their will, Jn 5:40, Mk 16:15, 16.

(a) "blessed of" Ps 115:15 (b) "inherit" Rom 8:17, 1Pet 1:4 (c) "the kingdom" 1Thes 2:12, Rev 5:10 (d) "prepared" 1Cor 2:9, Heb 11:16

Mark 10:17

Verses 17-31. See Barnes Mt 19:16, and Mt 19:17-30.

Verse 17. Gone forth. From the place where he had been teaching.

Into the way. Into the road or path on his journey.

Running. Thus showing the intensity with which he desired to know the way of life. Zeal to know the way to be saved is proper; nor is it possible to be too intense, if well directed. Nothing else is so important, and nothing demands, therefore, so much effort and haste.

Ephesians 1:11

Verse 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. We who are Christians. Most commentators suppose that by the word "we" the Jews particularly are intended, and that it stands in contradistinction from "ye," as referring to the Gentiles, in Eph 1:13. This construction, they suppose, is demanded by the nature of the passage. The meaning may then be, that the Jews who were believers had first obtained a part in the plan of redemption, as the offer was first made to them, and then that the same favour was conferred also on the Gentiles. Or it may refer to those who had been first converted, without particular reference to the fact that they were Jews; and the reference may be to the apostle and his fellow-labourers. This seems to me to be the correct interpretation. "We the ministers of religion first believed, and have obtained all inheritance in the hopes of Christians, that we should be to the praise of God's glory; and you also, after hearing the word of truth, believed," Eph 1:13. The word which is rendered "obtained our inheritance" κληροω--means, literally, to acquire by lot, and then to obtain, to receive. Here it means that they had received the favour of being to the praise of his glory, for having first trusted in the Lord Jesus.

Being predestinated. Eph 1:5.

According to the purpose. On the meaning of the word purpose, see Notes on Rom 8:28.

Of him who worketh all things. Of God, the universal Agent. The affirmation here is not merely that God accomplishes the designs of salvation according to the counsel of his own will, but that he does everything. His agency is not confined to one thing, or to one class of objects. Every object and event is under his control, and is in accordance with his eternal plan. The word rendered worketh ενεργεω---means, to work, to be active, to produce, Eph 1:20; Gal 2:8, Php 2:13. A universal agency is ascribed to him. "The same God which worketh all in all," 1Cor 12:6. He has an agency in causing the emotions of our hearts. "God, who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure," Php 2:13. He has an agency in distributing to men their various allotments and endowments. "All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will," 1Cor 12:11. The agency of God is seen everywhere. Every leaf, flower, rose-bud, spire of grass; every sunbeam, and every flash of lightning; every cataract and every torrent, all declare his agency; and there is not an object that we see that does not bespeak the control of an all-present God. It would be impossible to affirm more explicitly, that God's agency is universal, than Paul does in the passage before us. He does not attempt to prove it. It is one of those points on which he does not deem it necessary to pause and reason, but which may be regarded as a conceded point in the discussion of other topics, and which may be employed without hesitation in their illustration. Paul does not state the mode in which this is done. He affirms merely the fact. He does not say that he compels men, or that he overbears them by mere physical force. His agency he affirms to be universal; but it is undoubtedly in accordance with the nature of the object, and with the laws which he has impressed on them. His agency in the work of creation was absolute and entire; for there was nothing to act on, and no established laws to be observed. Over the mineral kingdom his control must also be entire, yet in accordance with the laws which he has impressed on matter. The crystal and the snow are formed by his agency; but it is in accordance with the laws which he has been pleased to appoint. So in the vegetable world his agency is everywhere seen; but the lily and rose blossom in accordance with uniform laws, and not in an arbitrary manner. So in the animal kingdom. God gives sensibility to the nerve, and excitability and power to the muscle, He causes the lungs to heave, and the arteries and veins to bear the blood along the channels of life; but it is not in an arbitrary manner. It is in accordance with the laws which he has ordained, and [which] he never disregards in his agency over these kingdoms. So in his government of mind. He "works" everywhere. But he does it in accordance with the laws of mind. His agency is not exactly of the same kind on the rose-bud that it is on the diamond; nor on the nerve that it is on the rose-bud; nor on the heart and will that it is on the nerve. In all these things he consults the laws which he has impressed on them; and as he chooses that the nerve should be affected in accordance with its laws and properties, so it is with mind. God does not violate its laws. Mind is free. It is influenced by truth and motives. It has a sense of right and wrong. And there is no more reason to suppose that God disregards these laws of mind in controlling the intellect and the heart, than there is that he disregards the laws of crystallization in the formation of the ice, or of gravitation in the movements of the heavenly bodies. The general doctrine is, that God works in all things, and controls all; but that his agency everywhere is in accordance with the laws and nature of that part of his kingdom where it is exerted. By this simple principle we may secure the two great points which it is desirable to secure on this subject--

(1.) the doctrine of the universal agency of God; and

(2.) the doctrine of the freedom and responsibility of man.

After the counsel of his own will. Not by consulting his creatures, or conforming to their views, but by his own views of what is proper and right. We are not to suppose that this is by mere will, as if it were arbitrary, or that he determines anything without good reason. The meaning is, that his purpose is determined by what he views to be right, and without consulting his creatures or conforming to their views. His dealings often seem to us to be arbitrary. We are incapable of perceiving the reasons of what he does. He makes those his friends who we should have supposed would have been the last to have become Christians. He leaves those who seem to us to be on the borders of the kingdom, and they remain unmoved and uneffected. But we are not thence to suppose that he is arbitrary. In every instance, we are to believe that there is a good reason for what he does, and one which we may be permitted yet to see, and in which we shall wholly acquiesce. The phrase "counsel of his own will" is remarkable. It is designed to express in the strongest manner the fact that it is not by human counsel or advice. The word "counsel"--βουλη--means, a council or senate; then a determination, purpose, or decree. See Rob. Lex. Here it means that his determination was formed by his own will, and not by human reasoning. Still, his will in the case may not have been arbitrary. When it is said of man that he forms his own purposes, and acts according to his own will, we are not to infer that he acts without reason, he may have the highest and best reasons for what he does, but he does not choose to make them known to others, or to consult others. So it may be of God, and so we should presume it to be. It may be added, that we ought to have such confidence in him as to believe that he will do all things well. The best possible evidence that anything is done in perfect wisdom and goodness, is the fact that God does it. When we have ascertained that, we should be satisfied that all is right.

(a) "being predestinated" Acts 20:22

Ephesians 5:5

Verse 5. For this ye know. Be assured of this. The object here is, to deter from indulgence in those vices by the solemn assurance that no one who committed them could possibly be saved.

Nor unclean person. No one of corrupt and licentious life can be saved. See Rev 22:15.

Nor covetous man, who is an idolater. That is, he bestows on money the affections due to God. See Col 3:5. To worship money is as real idolatry as to worship a block of stone. If this be so, what an idolatrous world is this! How many idolaters are there in professedly Christian lands! How many, it is to be feared, in the church itself! And since every covetous man is certainly to be excluded from the kingdom of God, how anxious should we be to examine our hearts, and to know whether this sin may not lie at our door!

Hath any inheritance, etc. Such an one shall never enter heaven. This settles the inquiry about the final destiny of a large portion of the world; and this solemn sentence our conscience and all our views of heaven approve. Let us learn hence,

(1.) that heaven will be pure.

(2.) That it will be a desirable place--for who would wish to live always with the licentious and the impure?

(3.) It is right to reprove these vices, and to preach against them. Shall we not be allowed to preach against those sins which will certainly exclude men from heaven?

(4.) A large part of the world is exposed to the wrath of God. What numbers are covetous! What multitudes are licentious! In how many places is licentiousness openly and unblushingly practised! In how many more places in secret! And in how many more is the heart polluted, while the external conduct is moral; the soul corrupt, while the individual moves in respectable society!

(5.) What a world of shame will hell be! How dishonourable and disgraceful to be damned for ever, and to linger on in eternal fires, because the man was TOO POLLUTED to be admitted into pure society! Here, perhaps, he moved in fashionable life, and was rich, and honoured, and flattered; there he will be sent down to hell because his whole soul was corrupt, and because God would not suffer heaven to be contaminated by his presence!

(6.) What a doom awaits the covetous man! He, like the sensualist, is to be excluded from the kingdom of God. And what is to be his doom? Will he have a place apart from the common damned--a golden palace and a bed of down in hell? No. It will be no small part of his aggravation that he will be doomed to spend an eternity with those in comparison with whom on earth, perhaps, he thought himself to be pure as an angel of light.

(7.) With this multitude of the licentious mad the covetous, will sink to hell all who are not renewed and sanctified. What a prospect for the gay, the fashionable, the moral, the amiable, and the lovely, who have no religion! For all the impenitent and the unbelieving, there is but one home in eternity. Hell is less terrible from its penal fires and its smoke of torment, than from its being made up of the profane, the sensual, and the vile; and its supremest horrors arise from its being the place where shall be gathered all the corrupt and unholy dwellers in a fallen world; all who are so impure that they cannot be admitted into heaven. Why, then, will the refined, the moral, and the amiable not be persuaded to seek the society of a pure heaven? to be prepared for the world where holy beings dwell?

(a) "no whoremonger" Heb 13:4, Rev 22:15 (*) "whoremonger" "fornicator" (b) "an idolator" Col 3:5

Colossians 1:12

Verse 12. Giving thanks to the Father. This is another mode by which we may "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing," Col 1:10; to wit, by rendering appropriate thanks to God for his mercy. The particular point which the apostle here says demanded thanksgiving was, that they had been called from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. This had been done by the special mercy of the Father, who had provided the plan of salvation, and had sent his Son to redeem them. The connexion shows that the word "Father" refers, in this place, not to God as the Father of his creatures, but to the Father as distinguished from the Son. It is the "Father" who has translated us into the kingdom of the "Son." Our especial thanks are due to the "Father" in this, as he is represented as the great Author of the whole plan of salvation as he who sent his Son to redeem us.

Who hath made us meet. The word here used ικανοω means, properly, to make sufficient, from ικανος sufficient, abundant, much. The word conveys the idea of having sufficient or enough to accomplish anything. 2Cor 3:6. The verb is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. In its use here, there seems to be implied the idea of conferring the privilege or the ability to be thus made the partakers of the kingdom, and the idea also of rendering us fit for it. The sense is, he has conferred on us grace sufficient to make it proper that we should partake of the blessings of his kingdom. In regard to this "fitness" or "meetness" for that kingdom, we may remark,

(1.) that it does not mean that we are rendered fit by our own merits, or by anything which we have done; for it is expressly said that it is God who has thus rendered us "meet" for it. No one, by his own merits, ever made himself fit for heaven. His good works cannot be an equivalent for the eternal rewards of heaven; nor is the heart, when unrenewed, even in the best state, fit for the society and the employments of heaven. There is no adaptedness of such a heart, however amiable and however refined, to the pure spiritual joys of the upper world. Those joys are the joys of religion, of the love of God, of pleasure in holiness; and the unrenewed heart can never be wrought up to a fitness to enter into those joys. Yet

(2.) there is a fitness or meetness which Christians possess for heaven. It consists in two things.

First, in their having complied with the conditions on which God promises heaven; so that, although they have no merit in themselves, and no fitness by their own works, they have that meetness which results from having complied with the terms of favour. They have truly repented of their sins, and believed in the Redeemer; and they are thus in the proper state of mind to receive the mercy of God; for, according to the terms of mercy, there is a propriety that pardon should be bestowed on the penitent, and peace on the believing. A child that is truly broken-hearted for a fault is in a fit state of mind to be forgiven; a proud, and obstinate, and rebellious child is not.

Secondly, there is, in fact, a fitness in the Christian for the participation of the inheritance of the saints in light. He has a state of feeling that is adapted to that. There is a congruity between his feelings and heaven--a state of mind that can be satisfied with nothing but heaven. He has in his heart substantially the same principles which reign in heaven; and he is fitted to find happiness only in the same objects in which the inhabitants of heaven do. He loves the same God and Saviour; has pleasure in the same truths; prefers, as they do, holiness to sin; and, like the inhabitants of heaven, he would choose to seek his pleasure in holy living, rather than in the ways of vanity, his preferences are all on the side of holiness and virtue; and, with such preferences, he is fitted for the enjoyments of heaven. In character, views, feelings, and preferences, therefore, the Christian is made "fit" to participate in the employments and joys of the saints in light.

To be partakers of the inheritance. The privileges of religion are often represented as an heirship, or an inheritance. Rom 8:17.

Of the saints in light. Called, Col 1:13, "the kingdom of his dear Son." This is a kingdom of light, as opposed to the kingdom of darkness in which they formerly were. In the East, and particularly in Persia, there prevailed early the belief that there were two great kingdoms in the universe--that of light, and that of darkness. We find traces of this opinion in the Scriptures, where the kingdom of God is called "light," and that of Satan is called "darkness." These are, of course, figurative expressions; but they convey important truth. Light, in the Scriptures, is the emblem of holiness, knowledge, happiness; and all these are found in the kingdom over which God presides, and of which Christians are the heirs. Accordingly, we find the word light often used to describe this kingdom. Thus it is said of God, who presides over it, that he "is light, and in him is no darkness at all," 1Jn 1:5; of Christ, that he is "the light of man," Jn 1:4; that he is "the true light," Jn 1:9; that he is "the light of the world," Jn 8:12. Comp. Jn 12:35; Lk 2:32. The angels of that kingdom are "angels of light," 2Cor 11:14. Those who compose that kingdom on earth are "the children of light," Lk 16:8, 1Thes 5:5. And all the descriptions of that kingdom in heaven represent it as filled with light and glory, Isa 60:19, Rev 21:23, 22:5.

(m) "meet to be partakers" Rev 22:14 (n) "inheritance of" Acts 20:32

Colossians 3:24

Verse 24. Col 3:22.

Hebrews 6:12

Verse 12. That ye be not slothful. Indolent; inactive. This was what he was especially desirous of guarding them against. By diligent and strenuous effort only could they secure themselves from the danger of apostasy.

But followers. Imitators--that you may live as they lived.

Of them who through faith and patience. By faith, or confidence in God, and by patience in suffering--referring to those who in times of trial had remained faithful to God, and had been admitted to heaven. In Heb 11 the apostle has given a long list of such persevering and faithful friends of God. See Notes on that chapter.

The promise. The promise of heaven.

Revelation of John 21:7

Verse 7. He that overcometh. Rev 2:7.

Shall inherit all things. Be an heir of God in all things. Rom 8:17. Compare Rev 2:7,11,17,26, 3:5,12,21.

And I will be his God. That is, for ever. He would be to them all that is properly implied in the name of God; he would bestow upon them all the blessings which it was appropriate for God to bestow. 2Cor 6:18; Heb 8:10.

And he shall be my son. He shall sustain to me the relation of a son, and shall be treated as such. He would ever onward sustain this relation, and be honoured as a child of God.

(1) "all" "these"