Bible Verses
The false Righteousness
of the Scribes and Pharisues is like
the ornaments of a grave or dressing up a dead body, only for show.
"because he hath
gathered the mammon of falsehood;''
Job 27:8
------- For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God
takes away his soul?
Verse 8. - For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though
he hath gained. The
hypocrite and liar may get advantage in this life by his lies and his
hypocrisy. He may deceive men; he may raise himself in their opinion; he may
derive worldly advantage from having secured their approval But what will he
have to look forward rein the end, when God taketh away (i.e. removeth from earth) his soul? Job evidently regards the soul that is
"taken away" or removed from earth as still existing, still
conscious, still capable of hope or of despair, and asks what hope of a happy
future could the man who had lived a hypocrite entertain, when God required his
soul, and he felt under God's judgment. The question reminds us of those words
of our blessed Lord "What
shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36, 37).
1 Corinthians – On the judgment by Man or by
Man’s Courts
4:1-6 Apostles were no
more than servants of Christ, but they were not to be undervalued. They had a
great trust, and for that reason, had an honorable office. Paul had a just
concern for his own reputation, but he knew that he, who chiefly aimed to
please men, would not prove himself a faithful servant of Christ. It is a
comfort that men are not to be our final judges. And it is not judging well of
ourselves, or justifying ourselves, that will prove us safe and happy. Our own judgment
is not to be depended upon as to our faithfulness, any more than our own works
for our justification. There is a day coming, that will bring men's secret sins
into open day, and discover the secrets of their hearts. Then every slandered believer will be justified, and every faithful
servant approved and rewarded. The word of God is the best rule by which to
judge as to men. Pride commonly is at
the bottom of quarrels. Self-conceit contributes to produce undue esteem of
our teachers, as well as of ourselves. We shall not be puffed up for one
against another, if we remember that all are instruments, employed by God, and
endowed by him with various talents.
Thus the verse discourages all morbid self
introspection. It also
shows that St. Paul is not arrogantly proclaiming himself superior to the
opinion of the Corinthians, but is pointing out the necessary inadequacy of all
human judgments. The heart is too liable
to self deceit (Jeremiah 17:9, 10) to enable it to pronounce a judgment with
unerring accuracy. Hence neither a man's contemporaries nor the man himself can
form any final estimate of him or of his fitting position, because their
knowledge is too imperfect. History often reverses the decision of
contemporaries.
The Wickedness of the heart.
Trust in one's own heart is as foolish as in our fellow man (Pr
28:26).
only the spirit of a man
can know the things of a man within him; though the natural man does not know
the plague of his own heart; the Pharisee and perfectionist do not, or they
would not say they were without sin; such rant arises from the ignorance of
their own hearts; only a spiritual man knows his own heart, the plague of it,
the deceitfulness and wickedness in it; and he does not know it all; God only
knows it fully,
1 John 4:4
Victory is already won – It is a small thing to be judged
by the courts of man.
Ye are of God, little children,
This, with what follows, is said for the comfort of the saints, and to deliver
them from the fears of being drawn aside by the delusions of the false
prophets, and antichrists; since they belonged to God, were his elect, and
therefore could not be finally and totally seduced; they were the children of
God by adopting grace, and could not
become the servants of men; they were born of God, and so were kept by the power of God unto
salvation, as all that are begotten unto a lively hope are; they were enlightened by the Spirit of God,
and had a discerning of truth from error, and therefore could not be imposed
upon:
and have overcome them; the false prophets, being in a good cause, fighting the good fight of faith, and
having good weapons, particularly the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God, and invincible arguments from thence; and also gracious assistance
from the Spirit of God, who gives a mouth that none can shut, and wisdom that
none can resist; as well as an inward experience of the truth, and power of
Gospel doctrines: a testimony within
themselves, which will stand the whole shock and opposition of the enemy: the
Vulgate Latin version reads, "and have overcome him"; antichrist,
whose spirit was then in the world; or
the world itself, or Satan, the god of the world; and so the Ethiopic
version reads, "and have overcome the evil one", as in 1 John 2:13; the reason
of which victory, and which adds to the comfort and support of saints in their
present warfare, is,
because greater is he that is in you,
than he that is in the world; by "he that is in the world" is
meant either the devil, the prince and
god of the world, and who goes up and down in it, dwells in the hearts of
the men of it, under whose influence they are, and in whom he works
effectually; or antichrist, whose spirit was now in the world, and whose
doctrine was propagated by the false teachers, in whom he began to appear; but
he that is in the saints, either God who dwells in them, and their in him, 1 John 4:15; is mightier than the man of sin, and his
emissaries, to keep and preserve from all corruptions, and every false way; or
Christ, who dwells in their hearts by faith, and is stronger than the strong
man armed, and able to save and deliver out of his hands; or the Spirit of
God; and so the Arabic version reads, "the Spirit that is in you";
who is in the saints, as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification, as a
spirit of adoption, and the earnest of their inheritance; he is able to carry
on the work of grace in them, and finish it, and will do it; and he, as a spirit of truth, is more powerful than the
spirit of error; and when the enemy comes in like a flood, or pours in a
flood of errors and heresies, he lifts up a standard against him, causes him to
fly, and secures the saints from being carried away with it: compare with this
the Septuagint version of Psalm 124:1, "if
it had not been the Lord who was on our side"; which render it thus,
"if the Lord had not been in us".
1 Corinthians
6:9-11New International Version (NIV)
9 Or do you
not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor
adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor
drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit
the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit
of our God.
