Rom 5:11, 2Cor 2:3, Gal 5:22, 1Th 1:6, 2:19-20, 3:9, 1Pe 1:8, Rev 14:17 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 11. And not only so . The apostle states another effect of justification. We also joy in God . In , he had said that we rejoice in tribulations, and in hope of the glory of God. But he here adds that we rejoice in God himself ; in his existence; his attributes; his justice, holiness, mercy, truth, love. The Christian rejoices that God is such a Being as he is; and glories that the universe is under his administration. The sinner is opposed to him; he finds no pleasure in him; he fears or hates him; and deems him unqualified for universal empire. But it is one characteristic of true piety, one evidence that we are truly reconciled to God, that we rejoice in him as he is ; and find pleasure in the contemplation of his perfections as they are revealed in the Scriptures. Through our Lord , etc. By the mediation of our Lord Jesus, who has revealed the true character of God, and by whom we have been reconciled to him. The atonement . Marg., or reconciliation . This is the only instance in which our translators have used the word atonement in the New Testament. The word frequently occurs in the Old, etc. etc. As it is now used by us, it commonly means the ransom, or the sacrifice , by means of which reconciliation is effected between God and man. But in this place it has a different sense. It means the reconciliation itself between God and man; not the means by which reconciliation is effected. It denotes not that we have received a ransom , or an offering by which reconciliation might be effected; but that in fact we have become reconciled through him . This was the ancient meaning of the English word atonement --AT ONE MENT--being at one, or reconciled. He seeks to make atonement Between the Duke of Glo'ster-and your brothers. Shakespeare . The Greek word which denotes the expiatory offering by which a reconciliation is effected is different from the one here. . The word used here--(καταλλαγην) is never used to denote such an offering, but denotes the reconciliation itself . (r) "joy in God"

Romans 5:11

Verse 11. And not only so. The apostle states another effect of justification.

We also joy in God. In Rom 5:2, he had said that we rejoice in tribulations, and in hope of the glory of God. But he here adds that we rejoice in God himself; in his existence; his attributes; his justice, holiness, mercy, truth, love. The Christian rejoices that God is such a Being as he is; and glories that the universe is under his administration. The sinner is opposed to him; he finds no pleasure in him; he fears or hates him; and deems him unqualified for universal empire. But it is one characteristic of true piety, one evidence that we are truly reconciled to God, that we rejoice in him as he is; and find pleasure in the contemplation of his perfections as they are revealed in the Scriptures.

Through our Lord, etc. By the mediation of our Lord Jesus, who has revealed the true character of God, and by whom we have been reconciled to him.

The atonement. Marg., or reconciliation. This is the only instance in which our translators have used the word atonement in the New Testament. The word frequently occurs in the Old, Ex 29:33, 36, 37, 30:10,15,16 etc. etc. As it is now used by us, it commonly means the ransom, or the sacrifice, by means of which reconciliation is effected between God and man. But in this place it has a different sense. It means the reconciliation itself between God and man; not the means by which reconciliation is effected. It denotes not that we have received a ransom, or an offering by which reconciliation might be effected; but that in fact we have become reconciled through him. This was the ancient meaning of the English word atonement --AT ONE MENT--being at one, or reconciled. He seeks to make atonement

Between the Duke of Glo'ster-and your brothers.

Shakespeare.

The Greek word which denotes the expiatory offering by which a reconciliation is effected is different from the one here. Rom 3:25. The word used here--(καταλλαγην) is never used to denote such an offering, but denotes the reconciliation itself.

(r) "joy in God" Hab 3:18

2 Corinthians 2:3

Verse 3. And I wrote this same unto you. The words "this same" (τουτοαυτο) refer to what he had written to them in the former epistle, particularly to what he had written in regard to the incestuous person, requiring them to excommunicate him. Probably the expression also includes the commands in his former epistle to reform their conduct in general, and to put away the abuses and evil practices which prevailed in the church there.

Lest, when I came, etc. Lest I should be obliged, if I came personally, to exercise the severity of discipline, and thus to diffuse sorrow throughout the entire church.

I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice. Lest I should have grief in the church. Lest the conduct of the church, and the abuses which prevail in it, should give me sorrow. I should be grieved with the existence of these evils; and I should be obliged to resort to measures which would be painful to me, and to the whole church. Paul sought to avoid this by persuading them before he came to exercise the discipline themselves, and to put away the evil practices which prevailed among them.

Having confidence in you all. Having confidence that this is your general character, that whatever adds to my joy, or promotes my happiness, would give joy to you all. Paul had enemies in Corinth; he knew that there were some there whose minds were alienated from him, and who were endear outing to do him injury. Yet he did not doubt that it was the general character of the church that they wished him well, and would desire to make him happy; that what would tend to promote his happiness would also promote theirs; and, therefore, that they would be willing to do anything that would make his visit agreeable to him when he came among them. He was therefore persuaded, that if he wrote them an affectionate letter, they would listen to his injunctions, that thus all that was painful might be avoided when he came among them.

Galatians 5:22

Verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit. That which the Holy Spirit produces. It is not without design, evidently, that the apostle uses the word "Spirit" here, as denoting that these things do not flow from our own nature. The vices above enumerated are the proper "works" or result of the operations of the human heart; the virtues which he enumerates are produced by a foreign influence--the agency of the Holy Spirit. Hence Paul does not trace them to our own hearts, even when renewed. He says that they are to be regarded as the proper result of the Spirit's operations on the soul.

Is love. To God and to men. Probably the latter here is particularly intended, as the fruits of the Spirit are placed in contradistinction from those vices which lead to strifes among men. On the meaning of the word love, 1Cor 13:1; and for an illustration of operations and effects, see the Notes on that whole chapter.

Joy. In the love of God; in the evidences of pardon; in communion with the Redeemer, and in his service; in the duties of religion, in trial, and in the hope of heaven. Rom 5:2. Comp. 1Pet 1:8.

Peace. As the result of reconciliation with God. Rom 5:1.

Long-suffering. In affliction and trial, and when injured by others. 1Cor 13:4.

Gentleness. The same word which is translated kindness in 2Cor 6:6. 2Cor 6:6. The word means goodness, kindness, benignity; and is opposed to a harsh, crabbed, crooked temper. It is a disposition to be pleased; it is mildness of temper, calmness of spirit, an unruffled disposition, and a disposition to treat all with urbanity and politeness. This is one of the regular effects of the Spirit's operations on the heart. Religion makes no one crabbed, and morose, and sour. It sweetens the temper; corrects an irritable disposition; makes the heart kind; disposes us to make all around us as happy as possible. This is true politeness: a kind of politeness which can far better be learned in the school of Christ than in that of Chesterfield; by the study of the New Testament than under the direction of the dancing-master.

Goodness. Rom 15:14. Here the word seems to be used in the sense of beneficence, or a disposition to do good to others. The sense is, that a Christian must be a good man.

Faith. On the meaning of the word faith, Mk 16:16. The word here may be used in the sense of fidelity, and may denote that the Christian will be a faithful man--a man faithful to his word and promises; a man who can be trusted or confided in. It is probable that the word is used in this sense because the object of the apostle is not to speak of the feelings which we have towards God, so much as to illustrate the influences of the Spirit in directing and controlling our feelings towards men. True religion makes a man faithful. The Christian is faithful as a man; faithful as a neighbour, friend, father, husband, son. He is faithful to his contracts; faithful to his promises. No man can be a Christian who is not thus faithful; and all pretensions to being under the influences of the Spirit, when such fidelity does not exist, are deceitful and vain.

(a) "fruit" Jn 15:5, Eph 5:9

1 Thessalonians 1:6

Verse 6. And ye became followers of us. "You became imitators-- μιμηται of us." This does not mean that they became followers of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, in the sense that they had set themselves up as teachers, or as the head of a sect, but that they imitated their manner of living. 1Cor 4:16; 1Cor 11:1.

And of the Lord. The Lord Jesus. You also learned to imitate him. From this it is evident that the manner in which the Saviour lived was a prominent topic of their preaching, and also that it was one of the means of the conversion of the Thessalonians. It is probable that preaching on the pure and holy life of the Lord Jesus might be made a much more important means of the conversion of sinners than it is. Nothing is better adapted to show them the evil of their own guilty lives than the contrast between their lives and his; and nothing can be conceived better fitted to win them to holy living than the contemplation of his pure and holy deportment.

Having retired the word in much affliction. That is, amidst much opposition from others. See Acts 17:5-8. It was in the midst of these trials that they had become converted--and they seem to have been all the better Christians for them. In this they were imitators of the Saviour, or shared the same lot with him, and thus became his followers. Their embracing and holding fast the truths of religion amidst all this opposition, showed that they were controlled by the same principles that he was, and that they were truly his friends.

With joy of the Holy Ghost. With happiness produced by the Holy Ghost. Though they were much afflicted and persecuted, yet there was joy. There was joy in their conversion, in the evidence of pardoned sin, in the hope of heaven. Acts 8:8. However great may be the trials and persecutions experienced in receiving the gospel, or however numerous and long the sufferings of the subsequent life in consequence of having embraced it, there is a joy in religion that more than overbalances all, and that makes religion the richest of all blessings.

(e) "followers of us" 2Cor 8:5 (f) "Holy Ghost" Acts 13:52

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20

Verse 19. For what is our hope. That is, "I had a strong desire to see you; to assist you; to enjoy your friendship; for you are my hope and joy, and my absence does not arise from a want of affection." The meaning, when he says that they were his "hope," is, that their conversion and salvation was one of the grounds of his hope of future blessedness. It was an evidence that he was a faithful servant of God, and that he would be rewarded in heaven.

Or joy. The source of joy here, and in heaven.

Or crown of rejoicing. Marg., as in Gr., glorying; that is, boasting, or exulting. The allusion is, probably, to the victors at the Grecian games; and the sense is, that he rejoiced in their conversion, as the victor there did in the garland which he had won. 1Cor 9:24-27.

Are not even ye. Or, will not you be?

In the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. "When the Lord Jesus appears at the end of the world, then our highest source of happiness and honour will be your conversion and salvation." Then their salvation would be a proof of his fidelity. It would fill his soul with the highest happiness, that he had been the means of saving them from ruin.

(1) "rejoicing" "glorying" (a) "in the presence" 2Cor 1:14, Php 4:1 (b) "of our Lord Jesus Christ" Jude 1:24 (c) "at his coming" Rev 1:7 Verse 20. For ye are our glory and joy. The meaning is, that the source of happiness to a minister of the gospel in the day of judgment will be the conversion and salvation of souls. The object of the apostle in dwelling on this, in a manner so tender and affectionate, is, to show them that his leaving them, and his long absence from them, Were not caused by any want of affection for them.

REMARKS on 1st Thessalonians Chapter 2

(1.) Ministers of the gospel should be entirely sincere, and without guile. They should attempt to carry no measure--not even the conversion of sinners--by trick or management, 1Thes 2:3-5.

(2.) They should not make it a point to please men, 2Thes 2:4. If they do please men; or if their ministry is acceptable to men, they should not regard it, indeed, as proof that they are unfaithful, for they "should have a good report of them that are without;" nor should they make it a point to displease men, or consider it a proof that because men are offended, therefore they are faithful; but it should not be their leading aim or purpose to gratify men. They should preach the truth; and if they do this, God will take care of their reputation, and give them just as much as they ought to have. The same principle should operate with all Christians. They should do right, and leave their reputation with God.

(3.) Ministers of the gospel should be gentle, tender, and affectionate. They should be kind in feeling, and courteous in manner --like a father or mother, 2Thes 2:7,11. Nothing is ever gained by a sour, harsh, crabbed, dissatisfied manner. Sinners are never scolded either into duty or into heaven. "Flies are not caught with vinegar." No man is a better or more faithful preacher because he is rough in manner, coarse or harsh in his expressions, or sour in his intercourse with mankind. Not thus was the Master, or Paul. There is no crime in being polite and courteous; none in observing the rules of good-breeding, and paying respect to the sensibilities of others; and there is no piety in outraging all the laws which society has found necessary to adopt to promote happy intercourse. What is wrong we should indeed oppose, but it should be in the kindest manner towards the persons of those who do wrong; what is true and right we should maintain and defend--and we shall always do it more effectually if we do it kindly.

(4.) Ministers should be willing to labour in any proper calling, if it be necessary for their own support, or to do good, 1Thes 2:9. It is, indeed, the duty of a people to support the gospel, but there may be situations where they are not able to do it; and a minister should be able to earn something in some other way, and should be willing to do it. Paul made tents; and if he were willing to do that, a minister should not feel himself degraded if he be obliged to make shoes, or to hoe corn, or to plough, or to keep cattle. He had better not do it, if he can avoid it well, for he needs his time for his more important work; but he should feel it no dishonour if he be obliged to do it, and should feel that it is a privilege to preach the gospel even if he be obliged to support himself by making either tents or shoes. It is no dishonour for a minister to work hard; and it is not well for a man to enter the ministry wholly unacquainted with every other way of procuring an honest living.

(5.) Every minister should be able to appeal to the people among whom he has laboured in proof that he is an honest man, and lives consistently with his profession, 1Thes 2:1,9-11. The same remark applies to all other Christians. They should so live that they may at once refer to their neighbours in proof of the uprightness of their lives, and their consistent walk. But to be enabled to do this, a man should live as he ought; for the world generally forms a very correct estimate of character.

(6.) The joy of a minister in the day of judgment will be measured by the amount of good which he has done, and the number of souls which he has been the means of converting and saving, 1Thes 2:19. It will not be the honour which he has received from men; the titles which they have conferred on him; the commendation which he has received for eloquence or talent, or the learning which he has acquired; but it will be found in the number of those who have been converted from the error of their ways, and in the evidence of the good which he did on the earth. And will not the same thing be substantially true of all others who bear the Christian name? Will it then be a source of joy to them that they were richer than their neighbours; or that they were advanced to higher honours; or that they had a more splendid mansion; or were able to fare more "sumptuously?" The good that we do will be remembered certainly with pleasure in the day of judgment: of how many other things which now interest us so much, can the same thing be said?

(7.) Paul expected evidently to recognise the Thessalonian Christians at the day of judgment, for he said that they would be then his "joy and crown of rejoicing," 1Thes 2:19. But this could not be, unless he should be able to know those who had been converted by his instrumentality. If he expected then to recognise them, and to rejoice with them, then we also may hope to know our pious friends in that happy world. Nothing in the Bible forbids this hope; and we can hardly believe that God has created the strong ties which bind us to each other, to endure for the present life only. If Paul hoped to meet those who had been converted by his instrumentality, and to rejoice with them there, then the parent may hope to meet the child over whose loss he mourned; the husband and wife will meet again; the pious children of a family will be re-assembled; and the pastor and his flock will be permitted to rejoice together before the Lord. This hope, which nothing in the Bible forbids us to entertain, should do much to alleviate the sorrow of the parting pang, and may be an important and powerful inducement to draw our own thoughts to a brighter and a better world. Of many of the living it is true that the best and dearest friends which they have are already in heaven--and how should their own hearts pant that they may meet them there !

1 Thessalonians 3:9

Verse 9. For what thanks can we render to God again. That is, what expression of thanksgiving can we render to God that shall be an equivalent for the joy which your holy walk has furnished, or which shall suitably express our gratitude for it.

1 Peter 1:8

Verse 8. Whom having not seen, ye love. This epistle was addressed to those who were "strangers scattered abroad," 1Pet 1:1, and it is evident that they had not personally seen the Lord Jesus. Yet they had heard of his character, his preaching, his sacrifice for sin, and his resurrection and ascension, and they had learned to love him.

(1.) It is possible to love one whom we have not seen. Thus we may love God, whom no "eye hath seen," 1Jn 4:20; and thus we may love a benefactor, from whom we have received important benefits, whom we have never beheld.

(2.) We may love the character of one whom we have never seen, and from whom we may never have received any particular favours. We may love his uprightness, his patriotism, his benignity, as represented to us. We might love him the more if we should become personally acquainted with him, and if we should receive important favours from him; but it is possible to feel a sense of strong admiration for such a character in itself.

(3.) That may be a very pure love which we have for one whom we have never seen. It may be based on simple excellence of character; and in such a case there is the least chance for any intermingling of selfishness, or any improper emotion of any kind.

(4.) We may love a friend as really and as strongly when he is absent, as when he is with us. The wide ocean that rolls between us and a child, does not diminish the ardour of our affection for him; and the Christian friend that has gone to heaven, we may love no less than when he sat with us at the fireside.

(5.) Millions, and hundreds of millions, have been led to love the Saviour, who have never seen him. They have seen--not with the bodily eye, but with the eye of faith--the inimitable beauty of his character, and have been brought to love him with an ardour of affection which they never had for any other one.

(6.) There is every reason why we should love him.

(a.) His character is infinitely lovely.

(b.) He has done more for us than any other one who ever lived among men. He died for us, to redeem our souls, he rose, and brought life and immortality to light. He ever lives to intercede for us in heaven. He is employed in preparing mansions of rest for us in the skies, and he will come and take us to himself, that we may be with him for ever. Such a Saviour ought to be loved, is loved, and will be loved. The strongest attachments which have ever existed on earth have been for this unseen Saviour. There has been a love for him stronger than that for father, or mother, or wife, or sister, or home, or country. It has been so strong, that thousands have been willing, on account of it, to bear the torture of the rack or the stake. It has been so strong, that thousands of youth of the finest minds, and the most flattering prospects of distinction, have been willing to leave the comforts of a civilized land, and to go among the benighted heathen, to tell them the story of a Saviour's life and death. It has been so strong, that unnumbered multitudes have longed, more than they have for all other things, that they might see him, and be with him, and abide with him for ever and ever. Php 1:23.

In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing. He is now in heaven, and to mortal eyes now invisible, like his Father. Faith in him is the source and fountain of our joy. It makes invisible things real, and enables us to feel and act, in view of them, with the same degree of certainty if we saw them. Indeed, the conviction to the mind of a true believer that there is a Saviour, is as certain and as strong as if he saw him; and the same may be said of his conviction of the existence of heaven, and of eternal realities. If it should be said that filth may deceive us, we may reply,

(1.) May not our bodily senses also deceive us? Does the eye never deceive? Are there no optical illusions? Does the ear never deceive? Are there no sounds which are mistaken? Do the taste and the smell never deceive? Are we never mistaken in the report which they bring to us? And does the sense of feeling never deceive? Are we never mistaken in the size, the hardness, the figure of objects which we handle? But,

(2.) for all the practical purposes of life, the senses are correct guides, and do not in general lead us astray. So,

(3.) there are objects of faith about which we are never deceived, and where we do act and must act with the same confidence as if we had personally seen them. Are we deceived about the existence of London, or Paris, or Canton, though we may never have seen either? May not a merchant embark with perfect propriety in a commercial enterprise, on the supposition that there is such a place as London or Canton, though he has never seen them? Would he not be reputed mad, if he should refuse to do it on this ground? And so, may not a man, in believing that there is a heaven, and in forming his plans for it, though he has not yet seen it, act as rationally and as wisely as he who forms his plans on the supposition that there is such a place as Canton?

Ye rejoice. Ye do rejoice; not merely ye ought to rejoice. It may be said of Christians that they do in fact rejoice; they are happy. The people of the world often suppose that religion makes its professors sad and melancholy. That there are those who have not great comfort in their religion, no one indeed can doubt; but this arises from several causes entirely independent of their religion. Some have melancholy temperaments, and are not happy in anything. Some have little evidence that they are Christians, and their sadness arises not from religion, but from the want of it. But that true religion does make its possessors happy, any one may easily satisfy himself by asking any number of sincere Christians, of any denomination, whom he may meet. With one accord they will say to him that they have a happiness which they never found before; that however much they may have possessed of the wealth, the honours, and the pleasures of the world--and they who are now Christians have not all of them been strangers to these things--they never knew solid and substantial peace till they found it in religion. And why should they not be believed? The world would believe them in other things; why will they not when they declare that religion does not make them gloomy, but happy.

With joy unspeakable. A very strong expression, and yet verified in thousands of cases among young converts, and among those in the maturer days of piety. There are thousands who can say that their happiness when they first had evidence that their sins were forgiven, that the burden of guilt was rolled away, and that they were the children of God, was unspeakable. They had no words to express it, it was so full and so new. "Tongue can never express The sweet comfort and peace of a soul in its earliest love."

And so there have been thousands of mature Christians who can adopt the same language, and who could find no words to express the peace and joy which they have found in the love of Christ, and the hope of heaven. And why are not all Christians enabled to say constantly that they "rejoice with joy unspeakable?" Is it not a privilege which they might possess? Is there anything in the nature of religion which forbids it? Why should not one be filled with constant joy who has the hope of dwelling in a world of glory for ever? Comp. Jn 14:27, 16:22.

And full of glory.

(1.) Of anticipated glory--of the prospect of enjoying the glory of heaven.

(2.) Of present glory--with a joy even now which is of the same nature as that in heaven; a happiness the same in kind, though not in degree, as that which will be ours in a brighter world. The saints on earth partake of the same kind of joy which they will have in heaven; for the happiness of heaven will be but an expansion, a prolongation, and a purifying of that which they have here. Eph 1:14.

(e) "not seen" 1Jn 4:20 (a) "joy" Jn 16:22

Revelation of John 14:17

Verse 17. And another angel. The fifth in order. This angel came for a different purpose--with reference to the cutting off of the enemies of God, represented by the gathering of a vintage. Compare Mt 13:41, 24:31.

Came out of the temple which is in heaven. Sent or commissioned by God. Rev 14:15.

He also having a sharp sickle. On the word sickle, Rev 14:14.