as sheep in the midst of wolves be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. 18 And ye shall be brought be joy spiritual peace. Matt. v. 10; 1 Pet. by declaring the Messiahship of Jesus, 16. As sheep in the midst of wolves. The bad are often denoted, in figurative language, by rapacious animals; and the good, by those which are harmless and inoffensive. By this expressive figure, our Lord forewarned his apostles what perils they must encounter. He would not have them indulge hopes of constant ease and prosperity, which he knew must be disappointed, but distinctly pointed out the trials and tribulations which awaited his devoted followers, ver. 37, 38. They were about to be exposed to the hostility and rage of wicked men. The Jews, stimulated by their leaders, would persecute, oppress, torture, and slay them. For all this they must be prepared. They were few in number, and could not repel their persecutors by force. Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. They were to combine the characteristics of the serpent, long the emblem of wisdom, and of the dove, the emblem of purity and innocence. The wisdom, however, required of them, was not that craft and cunning which is sometimes dignified by that name; but rather a spirit of prudence and caution, which should enable them to avoid unnecessary contests, and to escape from imminent perils. While they honestly and fearlessly proclaimed the truth of God, they were to do so in a manner which would not needlessly exasperate their adversaries. And they were not to court persecution and martyrdom, but rather to use all proper exertions to avoid them, ver. 23. At the same time, they were to preserve the most unspotted innocence and moral purity. Whatever they suffered must be suffered for righteousness' sake, if they would en 17. But beware of men. That is, of those men before represented as wolves. Be on your guard against their hostility, whether open or secret. ¶ Councils. Although this word, in the gospels, generally denotes the great Sanhedrim, yet Lightfoot and others suppose, with much probability, that it means here the tribunals of three officers in each synagogue, who had power to judge of sundry offences, and to punish by scourging. See note on Matt. v. 22. ¶ Scourge. Beat with rods or thongs. By the Jewish law, the number of stripes, inflicted at one time, might not exceed forty. Deut. xxv. 2, 3. In the synagogues. The sentences pronounced by the rulers of the synagogues were sometimes executed in their presence, and in the synagogues. Matt. xxiii. 34; Acts xxii. 19; xxvi. 11. 18. Ye shall be brought before governors and kings, &c. At that time, to a superficial observer, it might seem improbable that a doctrine, advocated only by a few fishermen and others of like humble station, should ever attract the attention of rulers and kings. But Jesus foresaw and foretold the agitation which his doctrine would produce, and the violent means for its suppression, which would be adopted. And most signally was his prediction fulfilled. Acts v. 27; xii. 1-4; xxii. 30; xxiii. 33; xxvi. 1, 30; 2 Tim. iv. 16. And history abundantly proves that, in succeeding years, a multitude of like cases occurred. ¶ For my sake. On account of your profession and advocacy of my gospel. ¶ For a testimony against them and the Gentiles. "Rather, for a testimony unto them, as in Matt. viii. 4. The sense is, for the bearing witness to them of what ye have seen me do and heard me teach. Accordingly Peter testified this to the Jews, in Acts iv. 9, and v. 30, and Paul to the Gentiles, in Acts xxvi. 26."-Pearce. Their testimony was such as none could gainsay or resist. They attested matters of fact, which they had seen and heard, and pledged their own lives for the truth of their testimony. This was a testimony fore governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. to rulers and Gentiles, because it was so satisfactory in its nature: It was a testimony against them, if they rejected it; because, though men may suffer martyrdom in devotion to an opinion, without proving that opinion correct, yet no man was ever known to surrender his life in attestation of a fact alleged to be within his own knowledge, unless he knew his testimony was true. 19. When thus brought before rulers, they were not to study speeches for the occasion. They were to speak the plain unvarnished truth, and trust in God for language to express that truth, and for grace to make it effectual. Unlearned as they were, and unaccustomed to stand in the presence of kings and governors, they would naturally be confused and embarrassed, unless they had assurance of divine assistance. Such assistance their Master assured them they should have. And such assistance they evidently did have. When in the most imminent peril of life, and in presence of the most powerful and exalted among men, they spake with perfeet freedom and boldness. They spake in a manner, to make even governors tremble. Acts xxiv. 25. See also Acts v. 28, 33. It is impossible to account for the manner and effects of the apostles' testimony, unless it be admitted that they sincerely believed they were speaking the truth, and were guided and sustained by the divine spirit. 20. For it is not ye that speak, but, &c. It is not so much ye who speak, as the divine spirit. A Hebraism, like that in Matt. ix. 12. The meaning is, the manner and success of your testimony will depend less on you than on your heavenly Father. 21. This prediction, though apparently most improbable, was literally fulfilled. History records instances in which sectarian zeal and hate over 21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: powered the natural affections, and induced men to betray their relatives unto death. Even now, we may discern traces of the same spirit; for, sometimes, a difference in religious opinion destroys the peace of a family, and fills its members with enmity towards each other. But such is not the spirit of that gospel which inculcates love towards God and love towards men. 22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. You shall be objects of general hatred and reproach, on account of your devotion to me and my gospel. As their labors directly tended to the overthrow of both Jewish and heathen follies and superstitions, it was natural that they should be disliked and hated. Such has been the common lot of reformers. ¶ But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. The same phrase occurs, and in a similar connexion, Matt. xxiv. 13. The meaning is, that those who were firm and steadfast in their profession of the gospel, notwithstanding the hostility of the Jews, should be most likely to secure their temporal safety, and should escape that terrible calamity which was soon to befall the Jewish people. The word saved has frequent reference to deliverance from this impending destruction. "He that endureth to the end of these days of persecution from the unbelieving Jews, shall be saved from the dreadful destruction coming on them." Whitby. "Whoever shall constantly and steadfastly endure, shall be saved; for either their enemies shall abate their hostility, or, being overcome by the Romans, shall be unable longer to injure them."- Wetstein. So also Pearce, Clarke, and Kenrick. See Selections, sect. xvii. 23. But when they persecute you in this city, flee, &c. Although the disciples were required to persevere in for verily I say unto you, Ye shall | not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord: if they have their profession of Christianity, and to called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26 Fear them not therefore for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light and what was spoken. The words are often used in this sense. See Matt. xxiv. 30; Mark xiii. 26; Luke xxi. 27, 32.”Barnes. 24. The disciple is not above, &c. That is, the disciples had no reason to expect better treatment than their Master received. 25. They must be prepared to endure what their Lord endured. If he was persecuted, they must expect persecution. If he was crucified, they must be ready for a violent death. Beelzebub. Sometimes called Beelzebul, a god of the Ekronites. 2 Kings i. 2. The word literally means god of flies; but, in the language of the Jews, means god of filth. It was, with them, a term of bitter reproach and contempt, and was applied to the object of their utmost detestation. Matt. xii. 24. They applied the same term, directly or by implication, to our Lord. And he forewarned his disciples that they must expect similar reproach and obloquy. 26. Fear them not, therefore. Or, as the phrase may be rendered, but fear them not. The reason follows:- For there is nothing covered, &c. Either, Though the gospel seems now hidden, yet it shall hereafter be gloriously manifested to the world, and shall triumph over all the arts of its opposers; and thus your efforts in its behalf will finally be deemed honorable and beneficial; and though men now persecute you, posterity, enjoying the benefits resulting from your labors, shall bless you. Or, Though your motives be now misunderstood and misrepresented, and you be regarded as disturbers of the public peace, the truth shall finally appear, and you shall be honored as sincere and devoted disciples of the truth, and benefactors of the human race. So Whitby, and others. 27. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. What I communi ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops. cate to you in private is designed for the general good of men, and must be publicly proclaimed. Darkness often represents secrecy; and light, publicity. In the ear. "Allusion is here made to the manner of the schools, where the doctor whispered out of the chair, into the ear of the interpreter; and he, with a loud voice, repeated to the whole school that which was spoken in the ear."-Lightfoot. House-tops. The tops or roofs of the houses in Judea were flat, and were used for places of rest, meditation, prayer, and the like. Perhaps public addresses might sometimes have been made from such a convenient elevation; though I know not whether there be satisfactory proof of it. The meaning, however, is plain enough. Whatever I communicate to you, even in the most private manner, is to be proclaimed publicly, Jesus had not, like some philosophers, one set of doctrines for his disciples, and another for the world. His doctrines required no concealment. They were pure, and designed for the common benefit of men. They were therefore to be published openly. 28. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The parallel passage is Luke xii. 4, 5. The word here translated soul is the same which is frequently and indeed generally translated life. See Matt. ii. 20; xví. 25; Luke xiv. 26; John xiii. 37; Acts xx. 24; and note on Matt. xvi. 26. The word translated hell is Gehenna, (yéɛvva.) It occurs twelve times in the New Testament; Matt. v. 22, 29, 30; x. 28; xviii. 9; xxiii. 15, 33; Mark ix. 43, 45, 47; Luke xii. 5; James iii. 6. See notes on Matt. v. 22. An opinion has long prevailed in the Christian church, that our Lord designed, in this passage, to teach that God both can and will condemn some of his children to a state of endless misery, subjecting both soul and body to the "pains of hell forever." To those who believe that God wills, purposes, and has promised, to make all his children holy and happy, this opinion appears inconsistent with his 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill character and the spirit of his gospel, incompatible with the fulfilment of his promises, and unwarranted by the context in which the passage occurs. For these and other reasons they reject it. But, doubtless, it is more easy to determine what is not, that what is, the precise import of these words of our Lord. Various theories have been proposed, of which I shall give a brief sketch. (1.) It has been said, that killing the body denotes the literal destruction of life, referred to in ver. 21; that the soul here means the mind; and that killing or destroying the soul denotes the destruction of its moral life; which, if I rightly apprehend the author's meaning, he considers synonymous with that death in sin, or moral death, mentioned Ezek. xviii. 20, Eph. ii. 1, Col. ii. 13. "The sense of the text is this: Fear not them which kill or destroy the body, that is, take away its natural life, but are not able to kill the mind, that is, take away its moral life; but rather fear him who is able to kill or destroy both body and mind, that is, take away both natural and moral life." It is added,-"That Gehenna, rendered hell in the text, means, literally, valley of Hinnom; that this valley was a place of great abominations, from causes that need not now be enumerated; and that, figuratively, it was used to represent the awful calamities coming upon the Jews for their sins,--are facts that will not be disputed by those who have any considerable knowledge of the scriptural usage and application of Gehenna. It is in its figurative sense, that the term is used in the text."-Rev. W. E. Manley, Ser. in "Magazine and Advocate," vol. x., pp. 145-148. (2.) It has been said, that Gehenna, literally meaning the valley of Hinnom, was made an emblem of the utter and irretrievable destruction of the Jewish nation. "From it there should be no return to national life, under the Mosaic dispensation. To represent this tremendous destruction, our Saviour employed the words of the passage under consideration, as a warning to his apostles who were Jews. As such, they were exposed to it, in common with their nation. There was no escape but . signification, and that the power of the Roman government and the inability of the Jewish, to take away life, are wellknown facts.-Rev. H. Ballou, on Luke xii. 4, 5, Univ. Expositor, II., 233-241. the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul by renouncing Judaism and all the tra- bodies, but have no authority to take ditions of the Pharisees, and embracing your lives, as of that more extensive the gospel. Christ connected Gehenna authority to which your brethren the with the destruction of soul and body, Jews will deliver you, by bringing you to convey to their minds an idea of its before governors and kings; for this awfulness. It was to be such great power can, after inflicting cruelties on tribulation as was not since the begin- your bodies, doom your lives and bodies ning of the world to that time, no, nor to be destroyed in Gehenna." Accordever shall be.' The destruction of soul ing to this theory, the Roman power and body, or consuming the soul and was the great object of fear; and the body, or killing them, our Saviour used word translated kill is to be understood only as a common proverb of that day, to indicate torture, but not the destrucwith which his disciples were evidently tion of life. In confirmation, it is alwell acquainted, and by which they un-leged that the word sometimes has this derstood, the total destruction of any nation to which it was applied. It was a proverb used in reference to nations or kingdoms, as bodies political or religious, and not to individual beings. As such, it was used by our Lord to his disciples, and he did not intend that the words soul and body' should be interpreted literally or spiritually. He merely meant to impress upon their minds that, if they, for fear of men, apostatized, God was not only able, but would destroy them with the Jews, as a nation, in such a manner as men were not able to destroy them, as a church or body of believers under the care of their heavenly Father. In the former case, their destruction would be final and irretrievable. They would never again be restored to national life in their own land, nor enjoy the religion of Moses in their temple worship. But, in the latter case, though men could put them to death with severest tortures, yet they could never exterminate his church, or that kingdom which it was his Father's good pleasure to give them.' It was built upon a rock, and the gates of hell could not prevail against it. To use the proverb, they could not destroy it 'soul and body,' or 'root and branch."" To prove that the phrase was proverbial, reference is made to Isa. x. 16-18, where Clarke explains "soul and body" to be a "proverbial expression," "meaning," in the Hebrew," from the soul to the flesh;" and indicating a national calamity; Mala. iv. 1, &c.-Rev. J. B. Dods, in "Trumpet," vol. xii., p. 73. (3.) It has been said, that the meaning of our Lord may be thus expressed: "And I say unto you, my friends, be not so much afraid of them who have power only to scourge you in their synagogues, and to administer cruel tortures to your (4.) It has been said, that to kill, in this passage, means to torture, and that the Gehenna punishment indicates the dreadful judgment executed on the Jewish nation. The disciples were encouraged to believe that although men might scourge or torture their bodies, their lives should be protected until they should willingly suffer martyrdom in the cause of truth; and hence they had no occasion to fear men. "But if, for fear of men, the disciples should apostatize from the Christian cause, they would fall under that judgment of God, which, after killing or torturing the body, would cast into Gehenna,--would destroy both life and body in that calamity which was called the punishment of Gehenna.-The judgment here referred to would be executed on the unbelieving Jews, and on the apostates from the Christian religion."—Rev. S. Cobb, Ser. on Luke xii. 4, 5. 6 (5.) It has been said, that "Christ intended, in the former clause, to guard his disciples against being deterred by the fear of those councils,' 'governors, and kings,' before whom he had just told them they might be arraigned, and who had power to put them indeed to death, but could do them no further harm: 'Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.'" In the second clause, "It was God whom the disciples were to fear; and this in consideration of his surpassing power. The infinite superiority of his power is illustrated by the remark, that he is able, after he has killed, (Luke |