Matthew 25:41

Verse 41. On the left hand. The wicked.

Ye cursed. That is, ye who are devoted to destruction, whose characters deserve everlasting punishment, and who are about to enter into it. To curse, is the opposite of to bless. It implies a negation of all the blessings of heaven, and a positive infliction of eternal sufferings.

Everlasting fire. Fire, here, is used to denote punishment. The image is employed to express extreme suffering, as a death by burning is one of the most horrible that call be conceived. The image was taken probably from the fires burning in the valley of Hinnom. Mt 5:22. It has been asked, whether the wicked will be burned in literal fire-- and the common impression has been that they will be. Respecting that, however, it is to be observed,

(1.) that the main truth intended to be taught refers not to the manner of suffering, but to the certainty and intensity of it.

(2.) That the design, therefore, was to present an image of terrific and appalling suffering--an image well represented by fire.

(3.) That this image was well known to the Jews, Isa 66:24 and therefore expressed the idea in a very strong manner.

(4.) That all the truth that Christ intended to convey appears to be expressed in the certainty, intensity, and eternity of future torment.

(5.) That there is no distinct affirmation respecting the mode of that punishment, where the mode was the subject of discourse.

(6.) That to us it is a subject of comparatively little consequence what will be the mode of punishment. The fact that the wicked will be eternally punished, cursed of God, should awe every spirit, and lead every man to secure his salvation. As, however, the body will be raised, it is not unreasonable to suppose that a mode of punishment will be adopted suited to the body, perhaps bearing some analogy to suffering here, in its various forms of flames, and racks, and cold, and heat, and war, and disease, and ungratified desire, and remorse--perhaps the concentration of all earthly woes, all that makes man miserable here, poured upon the naked body and spirit of the wicked in hell, for ever and ever.

Prepared for the devil. The devil is the prince of evil spirits. This place of punishment was fitted for him when he rebelled against God, Jude 1:6, Rev 12:8,9.

His angels. His messengers, his servants, or those angels that he drew off from heaven by his rebellion and whom he has employed as his messengers to do evil. The word may extend also to all his followers --fallen angels or men. There is a remarkable difference between the manner in which the righteous shall be addressed, and the wicked. Christ will say to the one that the kingdom was prepared for them; to the other, that the fire was not prepared for them, but for another race of beings. They will inherit it because they have the same character as the devil, and therefore are fitted to the same place--not because it was originally fitted for them.

(m) "Depart" Lk 13:27 (n) "into everlasting fire" Mt 13:40,42, Rev 14:11 (o) "prepared for the devil" Jude 1:6, Rev 20:10

Ephesians 6:12

Verse 12. For we wrestle. Gr., "The wrestling to us ;" or, "There is not to us a wrestling with flesh and blood." There is undoubtedly here an allusion to the ancient games of Greece, a part of the exercises in which consisted in wrestling. 1Cor 9:25, and following. The Greek word here used--παλη--denotes a wrestling; and then a struggle, fight, combat, here it refers to the struggle or combat which the Christian is to maintain--the Christian warfare.

Not with flesh and blood. Not with men. Gall 1:16. The apostle does not mean to say that Christians had no enemies among men that opposed them, for they were exposed often to fiery persecution; nor that they had nothing to contend with in the carnal and corrupt propensities of their nature, which was true of them then as it is now; but that their main controversy was with the invisible spirits of wickedness that sought to destroy them. They were the source and origin of all their spiritual conflicts, and with them the warfare was to be maintained.

But against principalities. There can be no doubt whatever that the apostle alludes here to evil spirits. Like good angels, they were regarded as divided into ranks and orders, and were supposed to be under the control of one mighty leader. Eph 1:21. It is probable that the allusion here is to the ranks and orders which they sustained before their fall, something like which they may still retain. The word principalities refers to principal rulers, or chieftains.

Powers. Those who had power, or to whom the name of powers was given. Milton represents Satan as addressing the fallen angels in similar language :-- "Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers."

Against the rulers of the darkness of this world. The rulers that preside over the regions of ignorance and sin with which the earth abounds. Eph 2:2 Darkness is an emblem of ignorance, misery, and sin; and no description could be more accurate than that of representing these malignant spirits as ruling over a dark world. The earth--dark, and wretched, and ignorant, and sinful--is just such a dominion as they would choose, or as they would cause; and the degradation and woe of the heathen world are just such as foul and malignant spirits would delight in. It is a wide and a powerful empire. It has been consolidated by ages. It is sustained by all the authority of law; by all the omnipotence of the perverted religious principle; by all the reverence for antiquity; by all the power of selfish, corrupt, and base passions. No empire has been so extended, or has continued so long, as that empire of darkness; and nothing on earth is so difficult to destroy. Yet the apostle says that it was on that kingdom they were to make war. Against that, the kingdom of the Redeemer was to be set up; and that was to be overcome by the spiritual weapons which he specifies. When he speaks of the Christian warfare here, he refers to the contest with the powers of this dark kingdom. He regards each and every Christian as a soldier to wage war on it in whatever way he could, and wherever he could attack it. The contest, therefore, was not primarily with men, or with the internal corrupt propensities of the soul; it was with this vast and dark kingdom that had been set up over mankind. I do not regard this passage, therefore, as having a primary reference to the struggle which a Christian maintains with his own corrupt propensities. It is a warfare on a large scale with the entire kingdom of darkness over the world. Yet, in maintaining the warfare, the struggle will be with such portions of that kingdom as we come in contact with, and will actually relate

(1.) to our own sinful propensities--which are a part of the kingdom of darkness;

(2.) with the evil passions of others--their pride, ambition, and spirit of revenge--which are also a part of that kingdom;

(3) with the evil customs, laws, opinions, employments, pleasures of the world--which are also a part of that dark kingdom;

(4) with error, superstition, false doctrine--which are also a part of that kingdom; and

(5) with the wickedness of the heathen world--the sins of benighted nations ---also a part of that kingdom. Wherever we come in contact with evil--whether in our own hearts or elsewhere--there we are to make war.

Against spiritual wickedness. Marg., "or wicked spirits." Literally, "the spiritual things of wickedness;" but the allusion is undoubtedly to evil spirits, and to their influences on earth.

In high places, εντοιςεπουρανιοις, "in celestial, or heavenly places." The same phrase occurs in Eph 1:3, 2:6, where it is translated, "in heavenly places." The word (επουρανιοις) is used of those that dwell in heaven, Mt 18:35, Php 2:10; of those who come from heaven, 1Cor 15:48, Php 3:21; of the heavenly bodies--the sun, moon, and stars, 1Cor 15:40. Then the neuter plural of the word is used to denote the heavens; and then the lower heavens, the sky, the air, represented as the seat of evil spirits. Eph 2:2. This is the allusion here. The evil spirits are supposed to occupy the lofty regions of the air, and thence to exert a baleful influence on the affairs of man. What was the origin of this opinion it is not needful here to inquire. No one can prove, however, that it is incorrect. It is against such spirits, and all their malignant influences, that Christians are called to contend. In whatever way their power is put forth--whether in the prevalence of vice and error; of superstition and magic arts; of infidelity, atheism, or antinomianism; of evil customs and laws; of pernicious fashions and opinions, or in the corruptions of our own hearts, we are to make war on all these forms of evil, and never to yield in the conflict.

(1) "flesh" "blood and flesh" (a) "against powers" Rom 8:38 (*) "world" "The rulers of this dark world" (2) "spiritual wickedness" "wicked spirits" (3) "high places" "heavenly" (+) "places" "in heavenly things"
Copyright information for Barnes