Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr19/olbpnt1.zip/PNT.001/V00600

Text File | 1993-04-21 | 20KB | 507 lines

00600
 # Mt 18:17
    \\Tell [it] to the church.\\ If neither effort is of avail,
 then report it to the church for action. This is the second
 instance in the NT use of the word "church." The first is in
 # 16:18
    \\If he shall neglect to hear the church.\\ The admonition
 and entreaty of the church through its elders. The church has
 power to admonish and to exclude.
    \\Let him be to thee as an heathen man and a tax collector.\\
 Have no religious fellowship with him, more than you would have
 with a heathen, or a publican. The publicans were usually
 apostate Jews. The orthodox Jews had no social intercourse with
 heathen or publicans.
 (PNT 101-102)
00601
 # Mt 18:18
    \\Whatever ye shall bind.\\ What was said to Peter is
 addressed to all the apostles.
 # 16:19
 It is spoken to all a second time.
 # Joh 20:23
 All had the keys as well as Peter. The apostles were, under the
 direction of the Holy Spirit, to establish the rules of the
 church discipline, as well as to announce the conditions of
 salvation by the gospel. These rules and conditions, found in
 Acts and the Epistles, bind and loose men. As they were to speak
 and write as moved by the Holy Spirit, what they announced would
 be ratified in heaven.
 (PNT 102)
00602
 # Mt 18:19
    \\If two of you shall agree.\\ Two shall constitute a
 Christian fellowship. The united prayers of this fellowship for
 any legitimate object shall be heard. The assurance of this is
 found in the fact that Christ will be present wherever two or
 three are gathered in his name. Their united prayers will
 ascend, made mighty by the intercession of the Son of God. By
 his presence it becomes his prayer.
 (PNT 102)
00603
 # Mt 18:20
    \\In my name.\\ As followers of Christ.
 (PNT 102)
00604
 # Mt 18:21
    \\Then came Peter to him.\\ The Lord had just spoken of the
 duty of seeking reconciliation with those who trespassed against
 us, and there seems to have been some doubt in the mind of Peter
 how far this principle should be carried.
 # 18:15-17
    \\Till seven times?\\ It is stated that the Jewish Rabbis
 held that forgiveness must be extended to one who confessed his
 fault, but this was limited to three repetitions of the offense.
 Peter had an idea that the Saviour's rule would insist on still
 greater forbearance.
 (PNT 102)
00605
 # Mt 18:22
    \\Until seventy times seven.\\ That is, there should be no
 limit at which it shall be refused if it is asked in the spirit
 of sincere penitence. By reference to Luke, one can see the
 condition of forgiveness.
 # Lu 17:4
 It is that the offender professes repentance. We are to forgive
 men their trespasses on the same condition that God forgives us
 ours, and he does not forgive the impenitent. Our mercy must be
 just as unlimited as that of God.
 (PNT 102)
00606
 # Mt 18:23
    \\Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened.\\ The Lord next
 enforces the great doctrine of forgiveness to our fellow-man in
 a parable.
    \\To a certain king, who would take account of his
 \\servants.\\ The king is the Lord, the servants those who
 profess to serve him as King; the kingdom is his church on
 earth, but reaching beyond the earth.
 (PNT 102)
00607
 # Mt 18:24
    \\One was brought to him.\\ Observe that he had to be
 brought. A defaulter does not willingly come to settle his
 accounts, any more than a sinner would seek the bar of judgment.
    \\Who owed him ten thousand talents.\\ An immense sum. The
 talent was a weight, not a coin, and its value would depend on
 the purity of the precious metal used in the coinage. If the
 Greek silver talent is meant, the ten thousand talents would
 about to about $7,500,000. What is meant is that the sum was
 beyond human ability to pay.
 (PNT 102-103)
00608
 # Mt 18:25
    \\But as he had nothing with which to pay.\\ He had used his
 king's money and was not able to settle his accounts. He
 represents the sinner, who has no way to settle the debt of his
 sins. See
 # Lu 7:42
    \\His lord commanded him to be sold.\\ An absolute king is
 represented, who could do according to his will with his
 servants. It was common, even until modern times, for persons to
 be sold for debt. In many nations the wife and children were
 involved in the hapless fate of the debtor.
 (PNT 103)
00609
 # Mt 18:26
    \\Fell down, and worshipped him.\\ In Oriental countries,
 almost all who approach monarchs prostrate themselves and offer
 homage. This is especially true of those who urge a petition.
 See
 # Es 8:3
    \\Have patience, . . . I will pay thee all.\\ This promise
 was one that could not possibly be fulfilled, though the servant
 might think it possible.
 (PNT 103)
00610
 # Mt 18:27
    \\The lord . . . forgave him the debt.\\ He is represented as
 so moved by compassion that he did far more than was asked and
 forgave the entire desk.
 (PNT 103)
00611
 # Mt 18:28
    \\But the same servant went out.\\ His own exhibition of
 brutality was immediately after the great mercy he had received.
 What follows shows that he had only been frightened, not
 converted.
    \\An hundred pence.\\ The denarius, or penny, was a silver
 coin equal to from sixteen to eighteen cents. The whole debt
 would therefore be from sixteen to eighteen dollars. Its
 smallness compared with his debt to his lord is intended to show
 that our neighbours' sins against us are insignificant when
 contrasted with ours towards God. We need such boundless mercy
 that we ought to be prepared to give mercy freely.
    \\Took [him] by the throat.\\ The great defaulter, who had
 been treated with such mercy, had no mercy.
 (PNT 103)
00612
 # Mt 18:29
    \\Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.\\ It will
 be noticed that this unfortunate debtor makes exactly the same
 appeal as his exacting creditor had made to his lord.
 (PNT 103)
00613
 # Mt 18:30
    \\And he would not.\\ He would not even grant delay, whereas
 he had been forgiven.
    \\Cast him into prison.\\ To cast into prison for debt was
 once the custom in all countries.
 (PNT 103)
00614
 # Mt 18:31
    \\His fellowservants . . . were very sorry.\\ Unmerciful
 treatment of the unfortunate is always wont to excite
 compassion. The servants were not only sorry for their wretched
 comrade, but they carried the case to their lord. It is always
 proper to carry the wrongs of fellow-beings which we cannot
 redress to our Heavenly Father.
 (PNT 103)
00615
 # Mt 18:32-33
    \\O thou wicked servant.\\ The sin of which the servant was
 guilty and charged is not that needing mercy he refused to show
 it, but that having received mercy he remained unmerciful still.
 (PNT 104)
00617
 # Mt 18:34
    \\His lord . . . delivered him to the torturers.\\ This
 language is to be interpreted by customs that still prevail in
 the East, where torture is still used to compel debtors to
 confess where they have hidden treasures that they are suspected
 of having concealed. In both Greece and Rome torture was used on
 prisoners to compel confession, and until within a century or
 two it was still employed in Great Britain and Europe.
    \\Till he should pay all.\\ As, however, he never could pay,
 he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment.
 (PNT 104)
00618
 # Mt 18:35
    \\So likewise shall my heavenly Father do to you\\, etc.
 Observe Christ says, "My heavenly Father," not "your." God will
 not be their heavenly Father unless they emulate his spirit of
 mercy, and are as ready to forgive others their trespasses as he
 is to forgive their own.
 # 5:7 7:2 6:12 Ga 6:7
 If we are hard and unforgiving to our fellow-men, we can never
 expect our heavenly Father to overlook our own sins. It is a
 vital doctrine that we, by our own mind towards others,
 determine what shall be the mind of God towards us.
 (PNT 104)
00619
 # Mt 19:1
  SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 19
  \\Marriage and Divorce; The Rich Ruler\\

  The Last Departure from Galilee
  The Question of the Pharisees about Divorce
  Christ's Law of Divorce
  Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's Sake
  Blessing the Little Children
  The Rich Young Ruler
  Eternal Life
  Rich Men and the Kingdom of God
  Leaving All for Christ's Sake

    \\He departed from Galilee.\\ Compare
 # Mr 10:1-12 Lu 16:18
 This is the final departure from Galilee before the Saviour's
 death.
    \\The borders of Judaea beyond Jordan.\\ From Galilee he
 followed the route on the east of the Jordan to Jerusalem. The
 region where the conversation on divorce occurred is called
 Perea, which means "the land beyond," or east of the Jordan.
 (PNT 104)
00620
 # Mt 19:2
    \\Great multitudes.\\ Because his fame was now well known
 over all Palestine.
 (PNT 104)
00621
 # Mt 19:3
    \\Pharisees also came.\\ As usual, ready to oppose.
    \\Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every
 \\cause?\\ Hillel, the greatest of the Jewish Rabbis whom Jews
 have sought to compare with Christ, taught that almost any
 ground of displeasure on the part of a husband would justify
 divorce. He even specifies scorching the bread as sufficient
 cause. Josephus, the historian, says he "divorced his wife
 because he was not pleased with her manners."
 (PNT 104)
00622
 # Mt 19:4
    \\Made them male and female.\\ In the creation, God made man
 male and female and united the two by an indissoluble bond in
 the marriage of one man to one woman.
 (PNT 105)
00623
 # Mt 19:5
    \\For this cause.\\ The bond of husband and wife is stronger
 than that between children and parents.
    \\Be one flesh.\\ Two lives joined into one.
 (PNT 105)
00624
 # Mt 19:6
    \\What God hath joined together.\\ If God hath so joined them
 that the twain are one, no human ordinance has the right to
 separate them.
 (PNT 105)
00625
 # Mt 19:7
    \\Why did Moses then command?\\ See
 # De 24:1-4
 They insinuate that he contradicts Moses.
 (PNT 105)
00626
 # Mt 19:8
    \\Moses . . . permitted.\\ Moses "suffered" some things that
 were not right on account of
    \\The hardness of your heart.\\ A low state of morals. A
 people cannot be lifted from moral depravity to a high standard
 at once. Hence the law permitted some things that were below the
 perfect standard of Christ.
    \\From the beginning.\\ In the beginning there was no divorce
 and no polygamy. The first polygamist was the race of Cain.
 # Ge 4:19
 (PNT 105)
00627
 # Mt 19:9
    \\I say to you.\\ We have here Christ's law of divorce in
 contrast with that of Moses.
    \\Except for immorality.\\ There is only one sufficient cause
 of divorce; that is, unfaithfulness to the marriage relation.
    \\Committeth adultery.\\ Because he is married still to his
 former wife, who is still his wife in spite of the divorce; so,
 too, if any man marries the divorced woman, he marries another
 man's wife.
 (PNT 105)
00628
 # Mt 19:10
    \\It is not good to marry.\\ Such a rigid marriage law was
 too high for their loose Jewish ideas. It seemed to them as if
 it would be impossible to live up to so high an ideal. If a man
 could not get rid of his wife, if he tired of her, it were
 better not to marry.
 (PNT 105)
00629
 # Mt 19:11
    \\To whom it is given.\\ Only those can receive and live up
 to this rule who are enlightened by Christianity. The less
 Christianity, the lower the ideal of marriage. This is the rule
 everywhere.
 (PNT 105)
00630
 # Mt 19:12
    \\There are some eunuchs.\\ The classes are named who need
 not marry:
 (1) Those born physically impotent;
 (2) those made eunuchs by mutilation, once a very common
     practice in the East, and
 (3) those who voluntarily abstain from marriage to devote themselves,
     free from worldly cares, to their work. Jesus and Paul were
     examples of this class.
 (PNT 105-106 edited)
00631
 # Mt 19:13
    \\They brought to him little children.\\ Compare
 # Mr 10:13-16 Lu 18:15-17
 It was the Jewish custom to bring children to the synagogue on
 their first birthday for the Rabbi to bless them. So these
 persons came to one whom they regarded the greatest of all
 Rabbis.
    \\The disciples rebuked them.\\ They thought it an
 interruption.
 (PNT 106)
00632
 # Mt 19:14
    \\Permit little children.\\  Do not forbid or hinder them by word
 or bad example.
    \\To come to me.\\ Whatever mortal, young or old, wishes to
 come to Christ should be encouraged.
    \\For such is the kingdom of heaven.\\ Those who have loving
 simplicity, humility, and trust.  See
 # 18:1-14
 These words show,
 (1) that children are not, as some have taught, unable to respond;
 (2) that the earlier they come to Christ the better;
 (3) that they should not be hindered from coming by bad teaching;
 (4) that parents should bring them to the Saviour.
 (PNT 106)
00633
 # Mt 19:15
    \\Laid [his] hands on them.\\ And blessed them.
 (PNT 106)
00634
 # Mt 19:16
    \\Behold, one came and said.\\ Compare
 # Mr 10:17-27 Lu 18:18-30
 We learn that
 (1) he was a young man;
     # 19:20
 (2) he was a ruler, probably of a synagogue, although these were
     usually elderly;
     # Lu 18:18
 (3) he was rich, which probably accounts for his holding office,
     at an unusual age;
     # 19:22
 (4) he came running to Jesus and kneeled to him.
     # Mr 10:17
    \\Good Master, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal
 \\life?\\ Whether he had before heard Christ or not, he had
 learned that eternal life belonged to heirs, the heirs of God,
 his children, and had to be inherited.
 (PNT 106)
00635
 # Mt 19:17
    \\Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one,
 \\[that is,] God.\\ The ASV, following the Siniatic, Vatican,
 and some other manuscripts, leaves off "good" before Master in
 verse 16, and changes this to, "Why asketh thou me concerning
 that which is good?" Still, Mark and Luke give the question in
 the form of the KJV here; hence we are justified in adhering to
 the text as above.
 # Mr 10:18 Lu 18:19
    Some have seen in these words of Christ an affirmation that
 he was not divine. To these, Stier replies: "Either there is
 none good but God, Christ is good, therefore Christ is God; or,
 there is none good but God, Christ is not God, therefore Christ
 is not good." There is no answer to these syllogisms but to deny
 the sinlessness of Christ.
    \\If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.\\ The
 Lord had evidently asked his first question to prepare the way
 for this direction. He has, in saying that no man is absolutely
 good, said that no man can keep the commandments perfectly.
 (PNT 106)
00636
 # Mt 19:18-19
    \\Thou shalt do no murder.\\ The Lord passes over the first
 four of the ten commandments, throws the young man back to his
 relations with his fellow-men, compels him to give an account of
 his moral goodness, and after keeping the letter of the moral
 commands, still to confess his sense of a lack.
 (PNT 106-107)
00638
 # Mt 19:20
    \\All these have I kept from my youth.\\ There was, no
 doubt, great ignorance in this reply.
    \\What lack I yet?\\ He was sensible of the fact that there
 was a lack. His soul had not found rest in outward duties.
 (PNT 107)
00639
 # Mt 19:21
    \\If thou wilt be perfect.\\ To be good he must be perfect.
    \\Sell what thou hast.\\ The injunction of the Lord is
 manifestly intended to bring out the fact that the young man
 had made an idol of his riches.
 (PNT 107)
00640
 # Mt 19:22
    \\He went away sorrowful.\\ He would like to be a disciple of
 Christ, and an heir of life, but was not ready to pay such a
 price. The Lord had struck his difficulty, his besetting sin,
 his ruling passion. This man was required to use his wealth for
 God and for man; so are we to use ours. There is just one
 difference; he was commanded to sell and give away; we are
 required to turn all over to Christ and to hold it as it his
 stewards.
 (PNT 107)
00641
 # Mt 19:23
    \\It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
 \\heaven.\\ The Lord does not say that a rich man shall not enter,
 but that he shall enter with great difficulty.
    Mark says that when Christ uttered these words the disciples
 were astonished, and then Jesus explained by the words, "How
 hard it is for them \\that trust in riches\\ to enter into the
 kingdom of God," which shows the sense in which he spoke.
 # Mr 10:24
 A man who has $100 may trust in it, as well as one who has $100,000.
 (PNT 107 edited)
00642
 # Mt 19:24
    \\It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
 \\needle.\\ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
 needle than for a rich man (i.e., as already explained, one who
 trusts in riches) to enter into the kingdom of God. In other
 words, one whose trust is in wealth cannot enter at all.
 (PNT 107)
00644
 # Mt 19:26
    \\With men this is impossible; but with God all things are\\
 \\possible.\\ This means that human efforts alone cannot save a
 man. The young man was zealous in keeping the commandments, but
 there was a great lack. The grace of God only can save. It can
 break down the trust in wealth, take away the love of wealth,
 and fill the heart with the love of Christ. It is the LOVE of
 money, not money, that is the root of all evil. See
 # 1Ti 6:10
 A pauper may love money as much as a millionaire.
 (PNT 107)
00645
 # Mt 19:27
    \\Behold, we have forsaken all.\\ Compare
 # Mr 10:28-29 Lu 18:28-30
 The apostles had left all they had for Christ. The case of the
 rich young man suggested Peter's question.
 (PNT 107)
00646
 # Mt 19:28
    \\Ye.\\ The apostles.
    \\In the regeneration.\\ At the coming of the Lord the second
 time.
    \\When the Son of man shall sit,\\ etc. In his final triumph
 over all evil.
    \\Shall sit on twelve thrones.\\ Christ shall sit on the
 throne of his glory and the apostles also shall have thrones.
    \\The twelve tribes of Israel.\\ The reference is probably
 spiritual rather than literal. The inspired preaching of the
 apostles presented the conditions of pardon under the New
 Covenant. Thus they "bind" and "loose," or "judge." In judgment,
 salvation will turn on whether the Jews, or the true Israel,
 # Ga 3:29
 have obeyed the "apostles' doctrine." The apostles even now
 judge the church.
 (PNT 108)
00647
 # Mt 19:29
    \\Every one.\\ Not only apostles, but every one who leaves
 all for Christ shall receive a hundred fold.
    \\An hundredfold.\\ Mark says, "Now in this time." They shall
 be taken care of in this world, and have earthly peace and joy,
 such as no sinner can have, and above all, "eternal life."
 # Mr 10:30
 (PNT 108)
00648
 # Mt 19:30
    \\Many [that are] first shall be last,\\ etc. There will be
 reversals; those rich on earth, but poor hereafter; those high
 in station, degraded hereafter; and the lowly on earth, exalted
 hereafter. The right man to follow any cause, be it what it
 will, is he who loves it well enough to fling to it everything
 he has in the world, and then think that not enough, and so
 fling himself after it. This last item often weighs down the
 scales in heaven, and the man gets what he gave himself for.
 (PNT 108)
00649
 # Mt 20:1
  SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 20
  \\The Labourers in the Vineyard; The Ambitious Mother\\

  The Householder and the Labourers
  Those Hired at the Eleventh Hour
  The Recompense to All
  The Lord's Sufferings at Jerusalem Portrayed
  The Ambition of the Mother of Zebedee's Sons
  The Baptism of Suffering
  Two Blind Men Healed at Jericho

    \\For the kingdom of heaven.\\ This parable is added to
 illustrate what was said just before, in the last chapter.
    \\A man [that is] a householder.\\ The householder represents
 God, the vineyard is the kingdom of Christ, the labourers his
 disciples.
    \\Went out early in the morning to hire.\\ Said to be a
 common custom in the East. Unemployed labourers gather in the
 market place of the villages, waiting for an employer.
 (PNT 108)