Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_200.lzh/6_243.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-18 | 7KB | 128 lines

between the doctrine which is according to godliness,
and that which is corrupt and unsound, and eats as
cloth a canker; between holy worship, and supersti-
tion; between holy duties, and profane and Heathen
rites and ceremonies; and between persons sanctified
by the spirit and grace of God, and unconverted ones:
and cause them to discern between the unclean and the
dean; impure persons, doctrines, and manners, and
those which are agreeable to the word of God; the
sense is, that they shall take pains to instruct persons
in the knowledge of divine things, and shall do it
truly, faithfully, and sincerely..
Ver. 24. And in controve-rsy they shall stand in judg-
ment, &c.] When any controversy arises among the
saints concerning civil things, this shall not be carried
into a court of judicature, of the men of the world;
but it shall be brought before the church, and there
heard, tried, judged, and determined; the ministers of
the word there presiding, who shall give the definitive
sentence, and stand to it, and abide by it, I Co,. vi.
1--7. and when any controversy arises about the doc-
trines of the Gospel, or modes of worship, or rules of
di.scipline, they shall rise Up, discuss the point, deter-
mine the question, pass the sentence, and not depart
from it: and they shall judge it according to my judg-
ments; not according to their own judgments, or accord-
ing to their own fancies, or the reasonlugs of their
own minds, but according to those directions and
rules given in the word of God; which is profitable
for the settling and establishing true doctrine, and
the reproof and correction of error, and for the instruc-
tion of men in the paths of righteousness: and they
shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assem-
blies; which assemblies are the churches of Christ,
gathered according to Gospel order; where the saints
assem.ble together for divine worship, and where the
LOrd grants his presence; and where his word is
preached, and his ordinances administered, and so
called his; and of which assemblies Gospel ministers
are the masters, and where they preside; and whose
business is to observe the laws and statutes the Lord
has made, and to interpret them unto the people, and
enforce them on them, and see that they are kept by
them: and they shall hallow my sabbaths; such times
as are appointed for divine worship; th'ese they shall
keep holy themselves, in the exercise both of private
and publicworship, and shall exhort and stir up all with
whom they are concerned to do the same.
  Ver. 25. And they shall come at no dead person to de-
file themselves, &e.] Shall not come into places where
they are, nor touch them, nor attend their funerals,
Lev. xxi. 1, 11. that their work might not be inter-
rupted, or they through grief and sorrow be made unfit
for it, Matt. viii. 22. this, in a spiritual sense, may
signify, that they should have no conversation or fel-
lowship with men dead in trespasses and sins; and
should abstain from all dead works, as all sinful ones
are: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for
daughter,-for brother, or for sister that hath had no
husband, they may defile themselves; by coming near
them, touching them, at least attending their funerals,
because of their near relation to them, and that natu-
ral sympathy and affection that must be in them: all
sorrow and mourning for dead relations is not forbid-
den saints, nor ministers of the word; provided it is in
moderation, and not to excess, and is not for gracious
persons, as those without hope; and should as little as
possible break in upon the duties of their office, 1 Thess.
iv. 13. John xi. 33, 35.
· Ver. 26. And after he is cleansed, &c.'l From any
sin or iniquity, failing and imperfection, that he has
been guilty of at such seasons, in mourning for the
dead, by a fresh application of the blood of Christ,
which cleanses from all sin; typified by the water of
separation, made of the ashes of the' red heifer, by
which those who were in this way ceremoniously un-
clean were cleansed, Heb. ix. 13, 14: they shah reckon
unto him seven days; that is, seven days shall be
reckoned from the time of his cleansing, before he en-
ters on public service again: according to the old law,
seven days were reckoned from the defilement to the
purification; here seven more are numbered after the
purification is made; and therefore, as Kimchi truly
notes, this is a new law or rule, to be observed in
after-times.
Ver. 27. And in the day that he goeth into the sanc-
tuary, &c.] Into the house and church of God, after
his cleansing, and when the seven days from thence
are up: unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary;
among the inward-court worshippers, to minister in
things to them; to preach the Gospel, and admi-
nister Gospel ordinances: he shall offer his sin-offering,
saith the Lord God; though he has been privately
cleansed in the fountain of Chrisfs blood, in which he
has washed for sin and uncleanness; yet when he comes
into the house of the Lord, he must acknowledge his
sins and imperfections over Christ the sin-offering;
which he must bring in the arms of his faith, and so
enter into the courts of the living God, and do the ser-
vice of the sanctuary.
Ver. eS. And it shall be unto them for an inheritance,
&c.] Either the sin-offering, or the priesthood, and
the perquisites belonging to it: or, they shall have an
inheritance {r}; but what shall it be ? God himself:/am
their inheritance; the Lord is the portion and inhe-
ritance of his people, who are made priests unto him,
whether in a private or public capacity; they are heirs
of God, he is their portion in the land of the living, and
forever: Godin all his perfections is theirs; and though
incommunicable, they have the use and advantage of
them, so far as they are capable and stand in need of
them; as his eternity, iramutability, omniscience, om-
nipotence, omnipresence, grace, mercy, goodness, truth,
and faithfulness: he is theirs in all his persons; God
the Father is their covenant God and Father; the Son
of God is their Head and Husband, their Saviour and
Redeemer, Mediator and Peacemaker, their Prophet,
Priest, and King; his blood, righteousness, sacrifice, and
faithfulness, theirs, and even all that he is and has: the
Spirit of God is their convincer and enlightener, their
uickener and sanctifier; their Comforter, and the Spirit
'adoption to them, the seal and earnest of their future
ory; and God under every character is theirs, as the
of nature and providence, and as the God of all

{r} \^hlxnl Mhl htyhw\^ habebunt etiam hereditarium aliquid, Tigurine
version.