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019 - Chapter 4 verses 1-4 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians

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  Speaker 1: Section nineteen of Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians
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  Speaker 1: by John Calvin, translated by Reverend John Pringle this LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recordings of the public domain, Chapter four, verses one to four. Masters,
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  Speaker 1: give unto your servants that which is just and equal,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that ye also have a master in Heaven. Continue
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  Speaker 1: in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving withal,
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  Speaker 1: praying also for us that God would open unto us
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  Speaker 1: a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: for which I am also in bonds, that I may
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  Speaker 1: make it manifest as I ought to speak. One masters,
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  Speaker 1: what is just? He mentions? First? What is just? By
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  Speaker 1: which term he expresses that kindness as to which He
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  Speaker 1: has given injunction in the Epistle to the Ephesians Ephesians
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  Speaker 1: six eight. But as masters, looking down, as it were,
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  Speaker 1: from aloft, despise the condition of servants, so that they
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  Speaker 1: think that they are bound by no law, Paul brings
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  Speaker 1: them under control, because both are equally under subjection to
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  Speaker 1: the authority of God. Hence that equity of which he
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  Speaker 1: makes mention and mutual equity. Some understand it otherwise, But
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  Speaker 1: I have no doubt that Paul here employed isoteta to
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  Speaker 1: mean analogical or distributive right, as in Ephesians ta ota
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  Speaker 1: the same things. For masters have not their servants bound
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  Speaker 1: to them in such a manner as not to owe
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  Speaker 1: something to them in their turn, as analogical right to
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  Speaker 1: be in force among all ranks. To continue in prayer,
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  Speaker 1: he returns to general exhortations, in which we must not
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  Speaker 1: expect an exact order, for in that case he would
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  Speaker 1: have begun with prayer, but Paul had not an eye
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  Speaker 1: to that. Farther as to prayer, he commends here two things,
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  Speaker 1: first assiduity. Secondly alacrity or earnestness, For when he says continue,
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  Speaker 1: he exhorts to perseverance, while he makes mention of watching
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  Speaker 1: in opposition to coldness and listlessness. He adds thanksgiving, because
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  Speaker 1: God must be solicited for present necessity in such a
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  Speaker 1: way that in the meantime we do not forget favors
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  Speaker 1: already received. Farther, we must not be so important as
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  Speaker 1: to murmur and feel offended if God does not immediately
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  Speaker 1: gratify our wishes, but must receive contentedly whatever he gives.
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  Speaker 1: Thus a twofold giving, oh thanks is necessary. As to
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  Speaker 1: this point, something has also been said in the Epistle
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  Speaker 1: to the Philippians Philippians four six three pray also for us.
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  Speaker 1: He does not say this by way of pretense, but because,
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  Speaker 1: being conscious to himself of his own necessity, he was
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  Speaker 1: earnestly desirous to be aided by their prayers, and was
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  Speaker 1: fully persuaded that they would be of advantage to them.
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  Speaker 1: Who then, in the present day would dare to despise
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  Speaker 1: the intercessions of brethren, which Paul openly declares himself to
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  Speaker 1: stand in need of. And unquestionably, it is not in
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  Speaker 1: vain that the Lord has appointed this exercise of love
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  Speaker 1: between us, that we pray for each other. Not only
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  Speaker 1: therefore ought each of us to pray for his brethren,
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  Speaker 1: but we ought also, on our part diligently to seek
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  Speaker 1: help from the prayers of others, as often as occasion requires.
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  Speaker 1: It is, however, a childish argument on the part of Pappus,
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  Speaker 1: who infer from this that the dead must be implored
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  Speaker 1: to pray for us. For what is there here that
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  Speaker 1: bears any resemblance to this. Paul commences himself to the
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  Speaker 1: prayers of the brethren, with whom he knows that he
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  Speaker 1: has mutual fellowship according to the commandment of God, who
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  Speaker 1: will deny that this reason does not hold in the
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  Speaker 1: case of the dead. Leaving therefore such trifles. Let us
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  Speaker 1: return to Paul, as we have his signal example of
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  Speaker 1: modesty in the circumstance that Paul calls others to his assistance.
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  Speaker 1: So we are also admonished that it is a thing
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  Speaker 1: that is replete with the greatest difficulty to persevere steadfastly
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  Speaker 1: in the defense of the Gospel, and especially when danger presses.
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  Speaker 1: For it is not without cause that he desires that
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  Speaker 1: the churches may assist him in this matter. Consider too,
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  Speaker 1: at the same time his amazing ardure of zeal. He
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  Speaker 1: is not solicitous as to his own safety. He does
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  Speaker 1: not ask that prayers may be poured forth by the
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  Speaker 1: churches on his behalf, that he may be delivered from
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  Speaker 1: danger of death. He is contented with this one thing,
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  Speaker 1: that he may, unconquered and undaunted, persevere in a confession
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  Speaker 1: of the Gospel. Nay More, he fearlessly makes his own
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  Speaker 1: life as secondary matter as compared with the glory of
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  Speaker 1: Christ in the spread of the Gospel by a door
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  Speaker 1: of utterance. However, he simply means what in Ephesian six
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  Speaker 1: nineteen he terms the opening of the mouth in what
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  Speaker 1: Christ calls a mouth in wisdom Luke twenty one fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: For the expression differs nothing from the other in meaning,
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  Speaker 1: but merely in form. For he here intimates, by an
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  Speaker 1: elegant metaphor, that it is in no degree easier for
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  Speaker 1: us to speak confidently respecting the Gospel than to break
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  Speaker 1: through a door that is bared and bolted. For this
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  Speaker 1: is truly a divine work. As Christ himself said, it
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  Speaker 1: is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your
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  Speaker 1: Father that speaketh than you Matthew ten twenty. Having therefore
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  Speaker 1: set forward the difficulty, he stirs up the colostions the
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  Speaker 1: more to prayer by declaring that he cannot speak right
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  Speaker 1: except in so far as his tongue is directed by
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. Secondly, he argues from the dignity of the
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  Speaker 1: matter when he calls the Gospel the mystery of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: for we must labour in a more perfunctory manner in
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  Speaker 1: a matter of such importance. Thirdly, he makes mention also
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  Speaker 1: of his danger. Four as I ought, this clause sets
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  Speaker 1: forth more strongly the difficulty, for he intimates that it
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  Speaker 1: is no ordinary matter. In the Epistle to the Ephesians
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  Speaker 1: Ephesians six twenty, he adds parisiassomee, that I may speak boldly,
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  Speaker 1: from which it appears that he desired for himself an
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  Speaker 1: undaunted confidence, such as befits the majesty of the Gospel. Farther,
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  Speaker 1: as Paul here does nothing else than desire that grace
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  Speaker 1: may be given him for the discharge of his office.
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  Speaker 1: Let us bear in mind that a rule is in
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  Speaker 1: like manner prescribed to us, not to give way to
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  Speaker 1: the fury of our adversaries, but to strive even to
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  Speaker 1: death in the publication of the Gospel. As this, however,
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  Speaker 1: is beyond our power, it is necessary that we should
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  Speaker 1: continue in prayer, that the Lord may not leave us
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  Speaker 1: destitute of the spirit of confidence. End of section nineteen
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  Speaker 1: read by David Ronald