Bet—fj'jccA:, "given :" It is my gracious (/i
Tlie Promise to the Cliurch at Sardis. REVELATION III. The Epistle to the Church at Philadelphia.
mixed praise, lie tliat Is holy—as in the Old Testament, "the Holy One of Israel." Thus Jesus and the God of the Old Testament are one. None but God is absolutely holy (Greek hagios, .separate from evil, and perfectly haticg it). In contrast to "tiie synagogue of Satan" (v. 9 tru^— Greek alethinos: very God, as distinguished from . jr< false gods, and from all tliose who say that they are what they are not (v. 9): real, genuine. Furthermore, He perj'ecUy realizes all that is involved in the narces, God, Light (Jolin 1. 9; 1 John 2. 8), Bread (John 6. 3'2), the Vine (John 15. 1); as distinguished from all typical, partial, and imperfect realizations of the idea. His nature answers to His name (Jolin 17. 3; 1 Thessalonians 1. 9). The Greek alethes, on the oilier hand, is truth-speaking, truthloving (John 3. 33; Titus 1. 2). he that hath the key of Daviil—the antitype of Eliakim, to whom the "key," the emblem of authority "over the house of David,'' was transferred from .Shebna, who was removed from the
"defile," or besmear (Greek molunein). Song of Solonion 5.
8. tikey sliall walk with lue iu ivlklte—TUe pioiui Ked reward accords with llie character of tliose to be revaided : keeping tlieir garments vndcfilcd and white til rough the blood of the Lamb now, they sliall ic<ilk ivith lliiii in wJiitc liereafter. On " willi me," of. the very same
Lulie 23. 43; John 17. 24. " WaiU" inlpu^^s spiritual life, for only the living walk; also lil)ort,v, for it is only the free who walk at large. The grace and dignity of flowing long garments is seen to best advantage wlten the person " walks: " so the graces of the saint's manifested cliaracter shall appear fully when he nitall At-rve the Lord perfectly hereafter (ch. 22. 3). tliey ai« woilliy—with the wortliiness (not their own, but that) which Christ has
5)ut on tliem (ch.7. 14). Ezekiel 16. 14, "perfect through MY comeliness which I had put upon thee." Grace is glory in the bud. "The worthiness here denotes a congruity between the saint's state of grace on earth, and that of t/lory, which the Lord has appointed for them, about to be estimated by the law itself of grace" [Vitkin(;a]. Contrast Acts 13. 46. 5. white—not a dull white, but glittering, dazzling white. [Gkotitis.] Cf. Alatthew 13. 43. The body transfigured into the likeness of Christ's body, and emitting beams of light reflected from Ilini, is probably the "white raiment'' promised here, the same Greek, "THIS man ;" he and he alone. So one oldest MS. reads. But two oldest M.SS., and most of the ancient versions, ".shall THUS be clothed," etc. raiment— Gi-ce/:, "garments." "He that overcometU" shall receive the same otlice of chamberlain or treasurer, as unwortiiy of it. Christ, the Heir of the throne of David, shall supplant all the less worthy stewards who have abused their trust iu God's spiritual house, and "shall reign over the house of Jacob," literal and spiritual (Luke 1.32,33), "for ever," "as a Son over His own house" (Hebrews 3. 2-6). It rests with Christ to open or shut the heavenly palace, deciding who is, and who is not, to be .admitted : as He also opens, or shuts, the prison, having t?ie keys of hell (the grave) and death (ch. 1. 18). The power of the ke.ys was given to Peter and the other apostles, only when, and in so far as, Christ made him and them infallible. Whatever degrees of this power may have been committed to minisit vvard as they who "have not defiled their garments"
(r. 4); therefore the two are identical. I will not— Greek, "I will not by any means." blot out ... name out of . .. Iiook of life—of the heavenly city. A register was kept iu ancient cities of their citizens: the names of the dead v.ere of course erased. So those wlio have a name that theij live and are dead {v. 1), are blotted out of God's roll of ters, the supreme power belongs to Ciirlst alone. Thus Peter rightly opened the Gospel door to the Gentiles (Acts 10.; 11.17,18; especially 14. 27, end). But he wrongly tried to shut the door in part again (Galatlans 2. 11-18). Eliakim had "the key of the liouse of David laid upoa his shoulder :" Christ, as the antitypical David, Himself tile heavenly citizens and heirs of eternal life; not that in God's electing decree tliey ever were in His book of lias the key of the supreme "government upon His shoulder." His attribute here, as in the former addresses, accords with His promise. Though "the synagogue of Satan," false "Jews" (v. 9) try to "shut" the "door'' which I "set open before thee;'' "no man can shut it" (r. 8). shutteth—So Vulgate and S'yriac Versions read. l!ut the four oldest MSS. read, "shall shut:" so Coptic Version and Okigen. situtteth, and no man openeth—Two oldest MSS., B, N, CopticVersion, and OiilGEN read, "shall open." Two oldest JISS., A, C, and Vulgate Vei-sion, support English V't*)-*io;i reading. 8. I hove life. But, according to human conceptions, those who bad a high name for piety would be supposed to be la it, and were, in respect to privileges, actually among those In the way of salvation; hut these privileges, and tlie fact that they ouce miglit iiave been saved, shall be of no avail to them. As to the book of life, ef. ch. 13.8;
17. 8; 20. 1-2, 15; 21. 27; Exodus 32. 32; Psalm 69. 2S\ Daniel
12. 1. In the sense of the cull, many are enrolled among the called to salvation, wlio sliall not be found among the chosen at last. The pale of salvation is wider than that of election. Election is li.xed. Salvation is open to all, and is pending (luimanly speaking) in the case of those mentioned here. But ch. '20. 15; 21. 27, exhil)it the hook of the elect alone In the narrower sense, after the erasure of the others, before . . . before Greek, "\n the presence of." Cf. the same promise of Christ's eonfrsslng before His Father, &c., thosH wlio confessed Uim, Iilalthew 10. .32, ;«; Lnke 12.8,9. He omits "in heaven" alter " my Kather," because there Is, now that He is in lieaven, no contrast between the Father m heaven and the Son on earth. He now sels His seal from heaven upon many of His words uttered on earth. [TiiUNCil.] An undesigned coincidence, proving that these epistles are, as they jirofess, in their words, as well as substance, Christ's own addresses; not even tinged with the colour of John's
Bet—fj'jccA:, "given :" It is my gracious (/i/Mo tltee. open «loor— lor evangelization ; a door of spiritual usefulness. The opening of a door by Him to the Phlladelphlan Church ai'cords witli tlte previous assignation to Him of "the key of David." and-The three oldest MSS., A, B, C, and Okiokn read, "which no man can shut." for—" because." a little-This gives the idea that Christ says, He sets before Plilladelphla an open door becau.se she has some little strength ; whereas the .staise rather is. Ho docs so because she has "but little strength:" being con.sciously weak herself, she Is the litter object for God's power to rest on [so AiilHNAsJ, that so the Lord Christ n\ay have all the glory, mill hast kept and so, the iitileness of thy strength becoming the source of Almighty power to thee, as leading thee to rest wholly on my great power, tliou liast kept my word. Gturnus nuikes " Utile strength ' to mean that sho had a Church small in numbers and ejclernal re.iourccs: "a st.vle, su<-h as It appears In his Gospel and ICpistles. The coincidence Is mainly with the three other Gospels, and not with John's, which mak<s the coincidence more markedly undesigned. So also 1he<rlause, "lie that hath an ear, let lilm hear," Is not repeated from John's Gospel, hut from the Lord's own words In the three .s.ynoptlc Gosiiels (.Matthew 11. 15; 13. 9; Mark 4. 9, 2:1; 7. 1(1; laike 8.
little flock poor in worldly goods, and of small account In the eyes of men." [Tkenoi.] So Ai.I'OUD. I prefer the view given above. The Greek verbs are in the aorlst tense: "'Thou didst keep . . . didst not deny my name:" alluding to some particular occasion when her lalthftilness was put to the test. O. 1 will make— (Vrw/c present, "I make," lit., "I give" (iXole, v.H). The promise to I'hlludeli)hia is larger than that to Smyrna. To Smyrna the promise was that "the syiuigogue of Satan" should notprevail against the faithful In her: to Philadelphia, that she should even win over some of "the synagoguS of Satan" to fall on their faces and conjcss God is in her itf a
8; 11. 35). O. (Cf. Note, ch. 2. 7.) 7. PhUn<lel|ihln— In Lydia, twenty-eight miles south-east of Sardls, built by AltaluH I'hlladelphus, king of I'ergnmos, who died 1;J8 A.n. It was nearly destroyed by an eartl Kjuuke in the reign of Tiberius. tTAClTU.s, Annals, 2. 47.J The connection of this Church with .I(!ws there causes the address to
It to have an ()l<l Tesliuner.t (colouring in lli<^ Images employed. Jl and Smyriiu alone of the seven receive uutruth. Translatt, "(some) of the synagogue." For uuUl ofiO