"Who loved me and gave himself for me; 1 John iii. 16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Christ's death was for us as a sacrifice, and therefore, from the nature of the transaction, in our place. Whether the idea of substitution be expressed by nèg μã, depends on the context, rather than on the force of the preposition. To die for any one, may mean either for his benefit or in his stead, as the connection demands. Christ gave himself as an offering and a sacrifice, προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν. The latter term explains the former. Any thing presented to God was a προσφορά, but θυσία was something slain. The addition of that term, therefore, determines the nature of the offering. This is elsewhere determined by the nature of the thing offered, as in Heb. x. 10, "the offering of the body of Christ;" or, "himself," Heb. ix. 14, 25;—by the effects ascribed to it, viz., expiation of guilt and the propitiation of God, which are the appropriate effects of a sin-offering; see Heb. ii. 17, x. 10-14; Rom. iii. 25, v. 9, 10;-by explanatory expressions; "the one offering of Christ" is declared to be íav Stig ȧμagτιῶν θυσίαν, Tiv Svoíav, Heb. x. 12, "a sacrifice for sin ;" and goopogȧ wegl ἁμαρτίας, Heb. x. 18; ἀντίλυτρον, and λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν, as in 1 Tim. ii. 6; Matt. xx. 28. It is called "a propitiation," Rom. iii. 25, as well as a ransom. Christ himself, therefore, is called the Lamb of God who bore our sins; his blood is the object of faith or ground of confidence, by which, as the blood of a sacrifice, we are redeemed, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. He saves us as a priest does, i.e., by a sacrifice. Every victim ever slain on pagan altars was a declaration of the necessity for such a sacrifice; all the blood shed on Jewish altars was a prophecy and promise of propitiation by the blood of Christ; and the whole New Testament is the record of the Son of God offering himself up as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. This, according to the faith of the church universal, is the sum of the

περὶ

gospel, the incarnation and death of the eternal Son of God, as a propitiation for sin. There can, therefore, be no doubt as to the sense in which the apostle here declares Christ to be an offering and a sacrifice.

There is some doubt as to the construction of the words, "to God." They may be connected with what precedes, “He gave himself as a sacrifice to God;" or with the following clause, "For a sweet savour to God," i.e., acceptable to him. The sense of the whole would then be, 'He gave himself, Tageδωκεν ἑαυτόν (unto death, εἰς θάνατον), an offering and sacrifice well pleasing to God.' The reasons in favour of this construction are,-1. That agadidóvar means properly to deliver up to the power of any one, and is not the suitable or common term to express the idea of presenting as a sacrifice. The word almost always used in such cases is goopsgew, "to bring near to," "to offer." 2. With Paul, the favourite construction of Tagadidova is with sis, and not with the dative. 3. In Hebrew, from which the phrase siç douǹv suwdías here used is borrowed, the expression is (a sweet smelling savour to Jehoval), which the Septuagint render, ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας τῷ Κυρίῳ. It is not probable in using so familiar a scriptural phrase Paul would depart from the common construction. The Hebrew phrase properly means a savour of rest; that is, one which composes, pacifies, or pleases. The last is what the Greek expresses, and therefore the equivalent expression is suάgeoros T Oε, well pleasing to God, Rom. xii. 1; Phil. iv. 18. It was in the exercise of the highest conceivable love, which ought to influence all our conduct, that Christ delivered himself unto death, an offering and sacrifice well-pleasing unto God.

CHAPTER V.

SPECIFIC EXHORTATIONS, VER. 3-20.-RELATIVE DUTIES OF HUSBANDS AND

WIVES, VER. 21-33.

SECTION I.-Ver. 3-20.

3. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not 4. be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient; but 5. rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger,

nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any 6. inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man

deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh 7. the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye 8. therefore partakers with them. For ye were someitmes darkness, 9. but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and 10. truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no 11. fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove 12. them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are 13. done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the 15. dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circum16. spectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the 17. days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding 18. what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein 19. is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves

in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making 20. melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

ANALYSIS.

It becomes saints to avoid not only the sins of uncleanness

and covetousness, but also all impropriety of conduct and frivolity of language, ver. 3, 4; because uncleanness and covetousness not only exclude from heaven, but, whatever errorists may say, bring down the wrath of God, ver. 5, 6. Christians, therefore, should not participate in those sins, seeing they have been divinely enlightened and made the recipients of that light whose fruits are goodness, righteousness, and truth. They are bound to exemplify this in their conduct, avoiding and reproving the deeds of darkness, ver. 7-10. Those deeds are too shameful to be named, still they may be corrected by the power of that light which it is the prerogative of believers to disseminate; therefore the Scriptures speak of the light which flows from Christ as reaching even to the dead, ver. 12-14. Christians, therefore, should be wise, making the most of every occasion for good, in the midst of the evils by which they are surrounded, ver. 13-16. They should seek exhilaration not from wine, but from the Holy Spirit, and give expression to their gladness in psalms and hymns, praising and thanking God through Jesus Christ, ver. 17-20.

COMMENTARY.

Ver. 3. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints.—In the preceding section the apostle had spoken of sins against our neighbour; here, from ver. 3 to ver. 20, he dwells principally on sins against ourselves. Not only fornication, but every thing of the same nature, or that leads to it, is to be avoided, —and not only avoided, but not even named among believers. The inconsistency of all such sins with the character of Christains, as saints, men selected from the world and consecrated to God, is such as should forbid the very mention of them in a Christian society. With the sins of uncleanness the apostle here, as in the preceding chapter, ver. 19, connects movía, covetousness. The word is to be taken in its ordinary sense, as

there is nothing in the context to justify any departure from it. The assumption that sins of sensuality are alone mentioned in this and the following verse, leads to very forced interpretations of several of the terms employed.

Ver. 4. Neither filthiness.—The word airxgórns is not simply cbscenity, but whatever is morally hateful. The adjective αἰσχρός means deformed," "revolting," what excites disgust, physical or moral. It is the opposite of xaλós, which means both beautiful and good; and hence τὸ καλόν καὶ τὸ αἰσχρόν, means "virtue and vice." The substantive is equally comprehensive, and includes whatever is vile or disgusting in speech or conduct. Lesser evils are expressed by the words go20yia and surgarenia, "foolish talking" and "jesting." The former means such talk as is characteristic of fools, i.e., frivolous and senseless. The latter, according to its etymology and early usage, means "urbanity," "politeness." Naturally enough, however, the word came to have a bad sense, as the adjective surgámos, "what turns easily," as the wind, when applied to language or speech, means not only adroit, skilful, agreeable, witty, but also flippant, satirical, scurrilous. Hence the substantive is used for "jesting" and "scurrility." The former sense is best suited to this passage, because it is connected with foolish talking, and because the apostle says of both simply that they are not convenient, not becoming or suitable. This is too mild a form of expression to be used either of alagúrns, "filthiness," or of surgarshía, in the worse sense of those terms. Paul says, these things ("foolish talking and jesting") do not become Christians; oùx dvýnovra, 'what does not pertain to any one,' or 'to his office.' Foolish talking and jesting are not the ways in which Christian cheerfulness should express itself, but rather "giving of thanks." Religion is the source of joy and gladness, but its joy is expressed in a religious way, in thanksgiving and praise.

Ver. 5. The apostle reverts to what he said in ver. 3, and