Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 31:34
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
34. They shall each in the future possess, independent of external teaching, the knowledge of God, implanted by Himself in their hearts. Cp. Jer 24:7, and still more clearly Jer 9:24; so Isa 54:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jer 31:34
They shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.
Good things to come
A blessed season is here spoken of, very unlike what the world has hitherto seen. Such acquaintance with God is meant, as brings the power, the justice, the mercy, the holiness of God before the mind, and applies them so closely to the heart, that it may be ruled and actuated by that knowledge. And if it is this, and nothing less than this, then may we justly say, The time is not come, of which the prophet speaks, when all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest, saith the Lord. And it were a vain speculation to inquire when it shall be. These are among the times and the seasons, which God hath reserved in His own power. But it is not a vain speculation, and by Gods blessing it may prove good to the use of edifying, if we inquire how it might be–how this blessed consummation may be obtained, and the promise brought to its fulfilment. Looking, then, at the fulfilment of the prophecy, I first observe, that we have no ground for expecting that all will know the Lord, because mankind will bring another nature into the world–a nature which of its own accord shall turn towards God and righteousness. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and the time will never cease, when they who are taught of God to understand themselves will be forced to confess, I know that in me (that is, in my flesh, my original nature) dwelleth no good thing. Neither have we any right to expect that they shall know Him by any fresh or more general revelation This was not needed even by the Jews, to whom the promise was addressed. Our Lord declared that the knowledge of God was sufficiently Within their reach, if their hearts had not been closed against it. They had Moses and the prophets–let them hear them; they would teach them to know the Lord. How much more, then, is it true of those on whom the Sun of Righteousness has risen–the brightness of the Fathers glory, the express image if His person, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily! The agency, therefore, to which we are to look for the accomplishment of the prophecy, is no other than that from which whatever is good in man has been derived from the beginning. Every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the God and Father of lights. If the patriarchs served God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation–if Enoch and Abraham were governed by His laws–it was because His Spirit wrote them in their hearts; if they possessed the knowledge of God, it was because that knowledge was implanted in them by His Spirit. And so, when all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, it will be the same Spirit which worketh all in all. But there are diversities of gifts, though the same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, though the same Lord; and there are differences of results, even in the same administration. The means producing the abundant harvest will be no new means; the Spirit will take of the things of God, and write them in the heart by the instrumentality already in operation; the difference will be, that the instrumentality will be, first, universal, and secondly, more successful. It will be more universal. All shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest; from the youngest to the eldest, from the richest to the poorest. All, therefore, shall know Him from their youth; all shall be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. They shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; this shall be no longer needful. And why is it needful now? Partly, and for a first reason, because too many grow up without that knowledge; and they who from their years and experience in earthly things ought to be teachers in spiritual wisdom, are often children in real understanding. How few are accustomed to hear the knowledge of God treated as if it were the one thing needful to be acquired, and the one thing needful to be retained! How few parents use this language to their children–Seek knowledge, acquire learning; but first learn to know the Lord!–the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and the knowledge of Him, that is understanding. No wonder, then, that the impression made upon their tender minds, in regard to the God in whom they have their being, is like the footprint in the sand, washed away by the first wave of temptation, and quickly obliterated by the daily inroads of the world. But there are other classes, of which the larger part of human society must ever be composed. Shah we, then, leave the rich–reverse the prophets course, and now betake ourselves to the poor? Do they know the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God! Alas! they have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bands. Multitudes spring up from youth to manhood, with no more knowledge of the Lord than they might have possessed if the Lord had not revealed Himself to the world. If they hear His name, it is to hear it blasphemed; if they learn that the Lord has spoken to men, it is to learn that His message is despised. Whenever, then, the destined time shall arrive, when all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, all from the least to the greatest will be nurtured in the faith and fear of God. Christian instruction will be universal. Now it is rare–now it is partial–now it is imperfect, and marred by inconsistency; then it Will be general and complete. But further, Christian instruction, as it will be universal, so also it will be efficient and successful. I say not that it is unsuccessful now; I believe that it is greatly honoured of God, and that they bring a false report of the land of promise who reproach it as vain and unprofitable; but its effect is now impeded by so many hindrances. Its rarity is a hindrance. Those who have been taught to know the Lord, are encompassed on every side by those who know Him not. Take the most favoured case; the child who has hitherto sat beside the still waters, and drank of the pure fountain of piety and holiness, must soon be launched on the wide ocean of the world–must take his course among those who have gone with the stream of the multitude, and are guided by no scriptural direction; the parent who has sown good seed in his sons heart, and prays for its growth and fruitfulness, looks round after a while, and sees (we trust he sees) the wheat appearing–but he cannot help seeing that it is surrounded by tares, and how must he fear lest the tares should prevail and overspread it! In proportion, therefore, as education in Divine knowledge will become general, we may believe that it will become effective and permanently influential, If each one in his own household, and each one in his own neighbourhood, made this their chief and earnest care, that those in whom they are interested and by whom they are surrounded should know the Lord from their youth, the prophets words might be fulfilled, and the whole community become one well-ordered family, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost; all, from the least to the greatest, might be taught of God, blessing the pious endeavours of His people, and giving effect to the means which, in dependence on His grace, they would employ; all might walk with God, as Enoch–might trust in Him, as Abraham–might fear Him, as Joseph–might submit to Him, as Eli–might set Him before their eyes, as David–so that, living and dying, they might be the Lords. (Archbishop Summer.)
The duty of extending religious knowledge
I. The existing ignorance supposed. The impression that there is a God is seldom obliterated from the human mind. But this persuasion subsisting alone, or in connection with the grossest error, comes far short of making wise unto salvation. Oh! how lost is the immortal mind to all true apprehensions of Deity, when it can stoop to the worship of stocks and stones, the works of mens hands. Yet the heathen are not alone ignorant of God. It would be some relief if the eye, after surveying pagan lands, and compassionating these dark places of the earth filled with the habitations of horrid cruelty, could retreat securely to the nations of Christendom, and there soothingly repose on pervading spiritual intelligence. But, alas! there are multitudes in these favoured countries whose religious tuition has yet to be commenced, who have all the ignorance of heathens, wanting only its palliations. Nor does this remark apply only to the illiterate. A vast proportion of the learned themselves have still to acquire the veriest rudiments of this heavenly science. The list of the ignorant is not yet completed. To attain its completion, we must go to Christian sanctuaries. Yes, even of those who attend in the house of God, numbers seem as little instructed by their attendance as if they were frequenting heathen or Mohammedan temples. Their ears are inured to the sound of the Gospel, and this familiarity with its accents they are apt to mistake for acquaintance with its import. Thus wide are the realms of ignorance, and I need not tell you that its sway is most destructive. Without knowledge there can be no faith, for how can we believe what we do not know? And without faith, we are Divinely assured, it is impossible to please God.
II. As incumbent on us while ignorance lasts, the duty of teaching every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. You will readily admit the propriety of teaching every man his brother. You will own at once that Andrew, finding his brother Simon, did right in bringing him to Jesus, and that all Christian members of families would do well to imitate this commendable example. But, alas! the interval is often wide between a verbal acknowledgment of duty and its vigorous performance. And is it not so here? Are not Christians themselves too sparing in expostulation with careless, unawakened relatives? You would stand between them and temporal destruction, and the more they were bent on such ruin, the more you would remonstrate. And will ye give place to them, then, and facilitate their progress when they are madly encountering eternal destruction, and hastening to the gates of the second death? You observe, however, that you are required, moreover, to teach every man his neighbour. Here many will at once understand us to speak of missionary agents, not deeming themselves at all qualified for personally instructing a benighted neighbourhood. But this conclusion we cannot reach so hastily. It is often adopted as self-evident when it has no evidence, when it is on the contrary most erroneous and criminal. There are now Tract Societies and Christian Instruction Societies, which employ many members of our Churches in diffusing through the streets and lanes of our city the knowledge of the only true God. Why may not others join their number? Change of labour is sometimes rest; and if the maxim ever apply, it must surely hold good, when we pass from anxious wasting tasks to those scenes and subjects which prove all affliction to be light and momentary, and elevate the soul to a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. One hour a week, where more cannot be conceded, may be space enough for great usefulness. Yea, it were presumptuous to limit the happy effect of a single visit, for a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. It must be allowed, however, that all have not equal facilities for the personal prosecution of such works and labours of love; and even though they had, it would still be their duty to engage others in this service as well as themselves. Some are willing to devote their lives to the extension of Christs kingdom, if you will devote a portion of substance to their support. The proposal is most reasonable surely, and assigns you the easier department of the treaty. By adopting it, and reducing it to energetic practice, you may teach your neighbour and brother in the largest and noblest acceptation of the terms.
III. The ultimate prevalence of knowledge by which such obligations shall be superseded. The phrase, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, may be differently understood, but in every view it is delightfully significant. Does it refer to age? How beautiful on the one hand to see little children entering the kingdom, to see God, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, perfecting praise; and to witness on the other hand maturity of years and grace identified, to see the grey hairs a crown of glory being found in the way of righteousness How affecting to see these extremes of life united in devotion, the infant and the ancient joining the tender and the wrinkled hand to approach in fellowship the Father of mercies! Again, does the language refer to station? How attractive to see the degraded rising in character, and comfort, and piety, and the exalted humbly stooping from their loftiness to acknowledge and embrace the lowliest followers of the Lamb! to see all envy on the one hand, and all disdain on the other utterly lost and swallowed up in fraternal endearment. And these shall not be verdant spots in the desert as infrequent as lovely; the whole earth shall be such a paradise, for righteousness and peace shall spring forth before all the nations. And how shall this consummation be attained? Doubtless by God fulfilling His promise of putting His law in mens inward parts, and writing it on their hearts. But will He do so directly and independently of His revealed Word? No; we as the instruments in His hand must disseminate that Word, and then He will open mens understanding to understand the Scriptures. How honouring to be employed by such an Agent in such a work and for such ends! (D. King.)
The Churchs duty to the world, and the promised result of its performance
I. The churchs present duty.
1. The knowledge of God is essential to the well-being and happiness of man for time and for eternity–in other words, that it is essential to his salvation. It matters not in what region they may dwell, it matters not under what other circumstances favourable to their advancement in civilisation or commerce or the arts they may or may not be placed; such must be the lamentable result in every case where men live and die without the knowledge of God, while the guilt of such ignorance and the misery which it entails are only heightened and aggravated by the circumstance, when the ease occurs in a Christian land where the fight of the Gospel is wisely diffused.
2. A destitution of this knowledge is the natural condition of mankind.
3. The knowledge of God is that kind of knowledge which above all others we should be anxious to diffuse.
4. The way in which this knowledge is to be communicated is suggested in the text and adopted by this institution. We are to teach. We must exhort men to the attainment of this knowledge, as to an imperative duty. We must admonish them of the melancholy consequence of remaining in ignorance. We must warn them of their danger, whilst they continue thus ignorant of God and alienated from Him. We must reason with them, and remonstrate with all possible earnestness and affection, if peradventure God may grant them repentance to the belief of the truth.
II. The glorious prospect unfolded to the Church in connection with this duty, as a reward for its performance–and which, when fully realised, will render the performance of this duty no longer necessary; for then they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for there shall be no more necessity, the work shall have been done, and they shall know the Lord each and every one, from the least of them through all the grades of society unto the greatest of them, from the meanest to the most exalted.
1. The nature of the blessing which is thus assured. It is the possession and enjoyment of the knowledge of God.
2. The extent to which this blessing shall be diffused. It shall be universal. Riot and disorder, debauchery and drunkenness, robbery and fraud, assassination and murder, shall no more be known; for all those vile lusts and furious passions in the human breast, whence these enormities proceed, shall be eradicated and subdued, and men shall be bound together in one common bond of brotherhood and love. Then uprightness and integrity shall be the prevailing principles of commerce and of trade. Then the office of the judge shall become a sinecure, and the prison a solitude, and the criminal and the felon a name and a character belonging to a former state of things. Then Holiness to the Lord shall be written upon the bells of the horses; and men shall learn to combine diligence in business and honourable industry in their lawful callings, with the fervour of an ardent piety and supreme devotedness to God, while none shall undermine or overreach, none shall tyrannise or oppress, none shall slander or traduce, none shall hurt or destroy in all Gods holy mountain. (T. Raffles, D. D.)
Knowing the Lord through pardoned sin
If we regard this passage as instructive in its order, the knowledge of God follows close upon the application of the law to the heart. The work of grace usually begins, so far as we can perceive it, by the Holy Spirits bringing the law into contact with the inner man. The law outside of a man is forgotten; he may profess a reverence for it, but it does not affect his desires and thoughts. But when the Holy Spirit begins to put the law into the inward parts, the immediate result is the discovery of our shortcomings and transgressions, law-work is grace-work in its darker dress. It is the axe which rough hews the timber which grace goes on to fashion and smooth. By the operation of the law upon the conscience, convincing the man of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, the Holy Spirit works towards the transforming of the heart. He takes away the stone out of it, and makes it to be a fleshy, tender, sensitive thing. Then with His own finger He writes the Divine law upon the mind and the affections, so that the Divine commands become the centre of the mans life, and the governing force of his action. The man now loves that law which before he, at his very best, only feared: it becomes his will to do the will of God.
I. The one essential knowledge. This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. To know God is to live in the light. This knowledge brings with it trust, peace, love, holiness, and acceptance.
1. This knowledge is emphatically the knowledge of God. They shall all know Me. They may not know everything about God. Who could? Only the infinite can comprehend the infinite. The regenerate, however, know the Lord, though they do not, and cannot, understand His incomprehensible glories. They shall all know Me, saith Jehovah. Believers can say, Truly our fellowship is with the Father; can you say that? Were you ever conscious of the presence of God? Has He ever manifested Himself to you in any special way! One said to a Christian lady that he did not believe in the Scriptures, and she replied that she believed, in them, and delighted to read them. When asked her reason, she replied, Perhaps it is because I know the Author. Personal acquaintance with God turns faith into assurance. The knowledge of God is the basis of a faith of the surest and sweetest kind: we know and have believed the love which God hath towards us. Knowing God, we believe in the truth of His words, the justice of His sentences, the goodness of His acts, the wisdom of His purposes, yea, and the love of His chastisements.
2. Note, next, that it is a personal knowledge. Each renewed person knows the Lord for himself. You cannot see God with another mans eyes; you cannot know God through another mans knowledge. Ye must yourselves be born again! Ye must yourselves be made pure in heart, or you cannot see God.
3. Next, this knowledge is one which is wrought in us by the Spirit of the Lord. It is the duty of every Christian man to say to his neighbour, and to his brother, Know the Lord. God uses this effort as His instrumentality for saving men. But the man who really knows the Lord, does not know Him solely by such instruction. All Zions children are taught of the Lord. They know God by His revealing Himself to them.
4. Note, carefully, that this knowledge of God becomes manifest knowledge. It is so manifest that the most earnest workers who desire the conversion of their fellow-men no longer say to such a man, Know the Lord, for they perceive most clearly that he already possesses that knowledge, so as to be beyond the need of instruction upon that point.
5. Next, this knowledge of God is universal among the regenerate. The regenerate man with one talent knows the Lord; the man with ten talents boasts not of them, but rejoices that he knows the Lord.
6. This is the distinguishing mark of the regenerate, that they know the Lord. The knowledge of God lies at the bottom of every virtue and grace. The Lord is no more to us a stranger of whom we have heard–of whom a report has come to us through many hands. No; the Lord God is our friend.
II. The one grand means of obtaining this knowledge of God. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
1. Without the pardon of sin it is not possible for us to know the Lord. The thought of God is distasteful to every guilty man. It would be good news to him if he could be informed, on sure authority, that there was no God at all Darkness covers the mind, because sin has blinded the soul to all that is best and holiest. While sin lieth at the door, there is a difficulty on Gods part, too. How can He admit into an intimate knowledge of Himself the guilty man, as long as he is enamoured of evil? Beyond this, an awful dread comes over the guilty mind, even when it begins to be awakened. Conscience testifies that God must punish sin.
2. In the pardon of sin there is made to the pardoned man s clear and unmistakable revelation of God to his own soul The knowledge of God received by a distinct sense of pardoned sin is more certain than knowledge derived by the use of the senses in things pertaining to this life.
3. This personal manifestation has about it a singular glory of overwhelming self-evidence. How a man sees God when he comes to know in his own soul the fulness of pardon intended by this matchless word, Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more! Can this be so? Does the Lord make a clean sweep of all my sins? Can it be that the Lord has cast them all behind His back? Has He blotted out the record which accused me? Has He cast my sin into the depths of the sea? Hallelujah! He is a God indeed. This is a Godlike act. O Jehovah! who is like unto Thee? Mark, also, how freely, out of His mere love, the Lord forgives, and herein displays His Godhead! No payment on our part, of suffering or service, is required. The Lord pardons for His own names sake.
4. When the soul comes to think of the method of mercy, it has a further knowledge of God. In the extraordinary plan of salvation by grace through Christ Jesus, all the Divine attributes are set in a glorious light, and God is made known as never before. Oh, the splendour of redeeming love!
5. The immutability of Divine pardon is one of the most brilliant facets of the diamond. Some think that God forgives, but afterwards punishes; that you may be justified to-day, but condemned to-morrow. Such is not the teaching of our text. Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Our debts are so fully paid by our Lord Jesus that there is not an account upon the file of omniscience against any pardoned one. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Gods forgetfulness of sin
One of the appalling obstacles between sinful men now, and their eternal blessedness hereafter, is the indestructible fact of the memory of sin. The poet Dante, as he wandered through the forest of the terrestrial paradise, came to a stream which on the one side was called Lethe, and on the other Eunoe, for it possessed the double virtue to take away remembrance of offence, and to bring remembrance back of every good deed done. Immersed in Lethes wave he forgets his fault, and from Eunoes stream he returned
Regenerate,
Een as new plants renewd with foliage new,
Pure and made apt for mounting to the stars.
Where flows, then, the stream of happy forgetfulness? A poets dream may not beguile us;–what are the facts, the stem, unchangeable facts of memory? Is memory an unalterable record of life? Shall the shadow of this earth always lie before us upon our path? The facts of memory are these. The mind of man is a chamber of memories–a hall of echoes–a gallery of endless whispers–a house haunted by shades of the past. The mind is one labyrinth of memories–like a catacomb of the dead. Recollection is as the torch in the travellers hand through this endless labyrinth of memory; but memory itself is the receptacle of all our past. There is a place in it for all the deeds done in the body. All that the mind has been used for remains a memory wrought into its own structure and form. No ingenuity of human art has ever invented to watch the watchman a self-registering machine so accurate, so constant, so unalterably true, as is the human brain–Gods register of the deeds done in the body. Carry now this truth one step further. If in the present physical basis of life there m provision made for memory; if matter so gross as the brain can become the register of the mind; much more may memory be continuous and comprehensive in the spiritual embodiment of the soul; much more shall it be made perfect in the resurrection. The form shall be broken up, and they shall be distributed, dust to dust, and earth to earth; but the soul shall have taken, before this bodily form is broken up, the copy of this mortal life and its deeds, and hence shall continue with the impression of it stamped upon it for ever. But this is not all. Not only do we have in our own organisation a memory of ourselves which we cannot tear from us, but also the universe has a memory of us. The memory of mens lives is a part of the universe. The record of our life is a line written in the book of things. It belongs to nature. We cannot blot it out. And if we carry this truth of memory still further and higher, we rise to the conception of the unalterable memory of the Eternal. Can God forget? Can God put our sin out of His eternal remembrance? This is not simply a question of power over will. It is not simply a question as to what an Almighty God can do; but what God as an infinitely perfect moral Being will do. There are those who tell us that God out of His mere benevolence van forgive sin, and open the heaven of His holy presence to the sinner who would return. Yes, so might a kind human friend say to one who had done him wrong, I do not care; you may come back at any time and sit at my table if you please; I will not speak of the offence; I am willing to let it pass; but still, although unmentioned, the wrong also would be there, sitting at the same table with the two who sit down together again. The wrong once done shall be always as a shadow between them, until something be done to put it away; until something be done to enable both to forget it, something that shall cost some sacrifice, some suffering, some reparation for the wrong, some humiliation, and some manifestation of the evil really inflicted and the pain really felt on account of the sin which is to be forgiven. Something must be said and done once for all of the nature of an atonement for the sin which separates those two, in order that each may experience the joy of a restored friendship, and that full reconciliation in which the wrong done is to be henceforth morally forgotten as well as forgiven. Surely, then, it is not good theology to imagine God to be reconciled to this world at a less effort and at a less cost of sacrifice and suffering than is required for the perfect binding up of a broken human friendship. Reconciliation does cost humiliation, suffering, self-vindication, at least through sorrow and pain for the sin committed, on the part of the person who would forgive, and then the recognition also of this effort and cost of forgiveness on the part of him who is to be forgiven. Otherwise the forgiveness does not reach to the bottom of the wrong, and the healing is only on the surface of life. And shall the infinitely perfect One be less human in His forgiveness than we? How can the Holy One forgive and forget our sin? Heavens answer is the Cross of Christ! Through His work of atonement for sin is opened the Divine way of forgetfulness of the sin of the world. God remembers man henceforth as he stands before Him in the nature and grace of Christ. Hence He can forget man as he was without Christ. Justification is Gods covering the knowledge of what we once were in our sins by the blessed and all-transfiguring thought of what His own love in the suffering Redeemer has done and always is for us. And this is no mere act of power or violence over memory. It is no arbitrary act of forgetfulness. It contradicts no ethical principle of memory, human or Divine. It is a moral hiding from the Divine remembrance of the sin of the world, which has been already and once for all condemned in the same suffering for it by which the Divine willingness to forgive was made manifest. Our sin, which God always would forgive, can be sin forgiven and forgotten, because it has been at last perfectly confessed before God, and Gods necessary pain over it has been realised and revealed in the sufferings in it, and for it, of the Son of His love, and its condemnation, once for all, has been visited upon it in the death of Him who prays in Gods pure will that His enemies may be forgiven. If, then, God has made such a morally sufficient atonement for sin that He can forgive it, as He would forgive it, and can forget it without denying Himself, it follows also that we ourselves shall be able to put hereafter our own sin of this life out of mind, and all other pure beings shall be able to let it pass as a dream of the night. (Newman Smyth, D. D.)
Gods non-remembrance of sin
(with Isa 43:25; Heb 8:12; Heb 10:17):–These texts are all alike in their declaration that the Lord will not remember His peoples sins. In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established. Here, then, you have Isaiah and Jeremiah, two Old Testament saints affirming the same thing: is not this enough? Added to these you have the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and these three agree in one. Their united testimony is that Jehovah, the Lord God, will forgive the sins of His people, and do it in so complete a way that He will remember their iniquities no more. Does any unto generate person believe in the forgiveness of sin? I trow not. No man in sincerity believes it until God the Holy Ghost has taught him its truth, and has written it upon his heart. When a mans sins are set before him in the light of Gods countenance, his first instinct is to fear that they are altogether unpardonable. He looks to the law of God, and while he looks in that direction he will certainly conclude that there is no pardon, for the law knows nothing of forgiveness. It is, This do, and thou shalt live; disobey, and thou shalt die. What the law asserts, the understanding also supports; for within the awakened man there is the memory of his past offences, and on account of these his conscience passes judgment upon his soul, and condemns it even as the law doth. Meanwhile, many natural impressions and instincts assist and increase the clamours of conscience; for the man knows within himself, as the result of observation and experience, that sin must bring its own punishment; he perceives that it is a knife which cuts the hand of him that handles it, a sword that kills the man who fights therewith. Meanwhile the devil comes in with all the horrors of the infernal pit, and threatens speedy destruction. Thus, for once, the devil craftily co-operates with the law of God and with conscience; these would drive men to self-despair, but Satan would go further, and compel them to despair as touching the Lord Himself, so as to believe that pardon for transgression is quite impossible. With the desponding I shall try to deal at this time, and may the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, help me to console them.
I. There is forgiveness. Our four texts all teach us that doctrine with great distinctness.
1. This appears, first, in the treatment of sinners by God, inasmuch as He spares their forfeited lives. Assuredly the Lord meant pardon when He tarried to inquire, Adam, where art thou? In the morning of human history the Lords long-suffering displayed itself and gave promise of larger grace. The like is true of you and of me. If God had no pardons would He not long ago have cut us down as cumberers of the ground?
2. Why did God institute the ceremonial law if there were no ways of pardoning transgression? Why the bullocks and the lambs offered in sacrifice? Why the burnt-offerings in which God accepted mans gift, if man could not be accepted? Assuredly he could not be accepted if regarded as guilty. Why the peace-offering in which God feasted with the offerer, and the two united in feeding upon the one sacrifice? How could this be unless God intended to forgive and enter into fellowship with men?
3. Further than this, if there were no forgiveness of sin why has the Lord given to sinful men exhortations to repent?
4. If you will think of it you will see that there must be pardons in the hand of God, or why the institution of religious worship among us to this day? Why are we allowed to pray in secret if we cannot be forgiven? What is the value of prayer at all if that first and most vital favour of forgiven sin is utterly beyond our reach? Why are we allowed to sing the praises of God? God cannot accept the praises of unforgiven men; worshippers must be clean ere they can draw near to His altar with their incense; if, then, I am taught to sing and give thanks to God it must be because His mercy endureth for ever.
5. What assurance of pardon lies in the ordaining, sealing, and ratifying of the covenant of grace? The first covenant left us under condemnation, but one main design of the new covenant is to bring us into justification. Why a new covenant at all if our unrighteousness can never be removed?
6. Furthermore, why did Christ institute the Christian ministry, and send forth His servants to proclaim His Gospel? For what is the Gospel but a declaration that Christ is exalted on high to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins!
7. Why are we taught in that blessed model of prayer which our Saviour has left us, to say, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, or, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us? A star of hope shines upon the sinner in the Lords Prayer in that particular petition; for it seems to say, There is a real, true, and hearty forgiveness of God toward you, even as there is in your heart a real, true, and hearty forgiveness of those who offend against you.
8. The best of all arguments is this: God has actually forgiven multitudes of sinners.
II. This forgiveness is tantamount to forgetting sin.
1. You know what we do when we exercise memory. To speak popularly, a man lays up a thing in his mind: but when sin is forgiven it is not laid up in Gods mind. Of course the Lord remembers their evil doings, in the sense that He cannot forget anything; but judicially as a judge, He forgets the transgressions of the pardoned ones. They are not before Him in court, and come not under His official ken.
2. In remembering, men also consider and meditate on things; but the Lord will not think over the sins of His people. The great Fathers heart is not brooding over the injuries we have done: His infinite mind is not revolving within itself the tale of our iniquities.
3. Sometimes you have almost forgotten a thing, and it is quite gone out of your mind: but an event happens which recalls it so vividly that it seems as if it were perpetrated but yesterday. God will not recall the sin of the pardoned. The transgressions of His people are dead and buried with Christ, and they shall never have a resurrection. I will not remember their sins.
4. Furthermore, this not remembering, means that God will never seek any further atonement. The apostle saith, Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. The one sacrifice of Jesus has made an end of sin. The Lord will never demand another victim, nor seek another expiatory offering.
5. Again, when it is said that God forgets our sins it signifies that He will never punish us for them. How can He when He has forgotten them?
6. Next, that He will never upbraid us with them. He giveth liberally and upbraideth not. How can He upbraid us with what He has forgotten?
7. Once more, when the Lord says, I will not remember their sins, what does it mean but this–that He will not treat us any the less generously on account of our having been great sinners!
III. Forgiveness is to be had.
1. Why does God forget our sin! Is it not on this wise? He looks upon His Son Jesus bearing that sin.
2. Next remember that this forgetfulness of God is caused by overflowing mercy. God is love: His mercy endureth for ever; and He desired vent for His love.
3. How does God forget sin? Well, it is through His everlasting love. He loved His people before they fell; and He loved His people when they fell. I have loved thee, saith He, with an everlasting love; and when that great love of His had led Him to give His Son Jesus for His peoples ransom, it made Him also forget His peoples sins.
4. Again, God forgets His peoples sins because of the complacency He has in them as renewed and sanctified creatures. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 34. And they shall teach no more] It shall be a time of universal light and knowledge; all shall know God in Christ, from the least to the greatest; the children shall be taught to read the New Covenant, and to understand the terms of their salvation.
I will forgive their iniquity] It shall be a time of GENERAL PARDON; multitudes shall be daily in the Christian Church receiving the witness of God’s Spirit, and in their life and conversation witnessing a good confession. How wonderfully is this prophecy fulfilled in the age of Bibles, Sunday schools, and village preaching.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This must not be so interpreted as if under the gospel there should be no more need of ministerial teaching, for Christ himself sent out his apostles to preach; nor yet as if there should be no more need of brotherly teachings, by instruction or conception; the contrary is commanded, Col 3:16. It is only an expression signifying the increase of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, that should be after the pouring out of the Spirit: we have such expressions 1Jo 2:27. The learned author of our English Annotations thinks this phrase signifies, that under the gospel there should be a greater measure of means of knowledge, and of knowledge got by that means, and of clearness of understanding in persons, or ability to conceive things revealed, and a greater number of persons that should be enlightened with the saving knowledge of God. Others say, that by knowing the Lord is to be understood the first knowledge of God; Christians should not need be taught the first rudiments: but the apostle speaks otherwise, Heb 5:12. Others by knowledge understand the fear of the Lord. God saith, they should all know him; but it must not be understood of the same degree and measure, but in a degree of sufficiency for the duties which God expected from them upon their notion and apprehension of God. God makes the root of all this grace to be the free pardon and remission of their sins.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
34. True, specially of Israel(Isa 54:13); secondarily, trueof believers (Joh 6:45; 1Co 2:10;1Jn 2:20).
forgive . . . iniquity . . .remember . . . no more (Jer 33:8;Jer 50:20; Mic 7:18);applying peculiarly to Israel (Ro11:27). Secondarily, all believers (Ac10:43).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother,…. Which is not to be understood of the outward ministry of the word; in heaven indeed there will be no need of it, nor in the New Jerusalem state; but in every period of time before it. In the first times of the Gospel, persons were appointed and qualified by Christ to be pastors and teachers; and in the latter day men shall run to and fro, and increase knowledge; besides, the saints in the present state stand in need of teaching; since they know but in part, and there is room for a growth in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ: nor does this contradict brotherly teaching, or the private instructions of saints in religious conversation and Christian conference, which are very useful; but is rather opposed to pretended revelations of private men; or to the magisterial dictates of persons in public office; the word of God being the only rule of instruction in righteousness: or this may be not absolutely, but comparatively said; setting forth the abundance of knowledge under the Gospel dispensation, that, in comparison of former times, there would be no need of the means of further knowledge:
saying, know the Lord: not naturally, or as by the light of nature; but spiritually; nor in a general way, as the God of nature and providence, as a Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor; but in a special manner, as the God of grace, as the God and Father of Christ, and his people in him; not legally, but evangelically; not speculatively, but practically, and in a saving way and manner: this kind of knowledge now under the Gospel dispensation is greater than under the former; as the knowledge of God in his persons, in his perfections, in his titles and characters, and in his Son; and as to the manner of it, clearly, with open face as in a glass; and as to the persons to whom it is communicated, not to Judah only, but to men of all nations; all which is owing to a greater effusion of the spirit, as it follows:
for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: not all mankind; but all the house of Israel, all the family of God, all the children of God being taught by him; not all alike, but all with the same kind of knowledge. This is frequently applied to the times of the Messiah by the Jews n:
for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more; there was forgiveness of sin under the former covenant, but the blood of Christ was not then actually shed for it; it was held forth under types; and there was a remembrance of sin made every year; and saints had not such a clear and comfortable sight of pardon in common as now; and it was known and applied but to a few. This is the staple blessing of the covenant, and the evidence of all the rest.
n Zohar in Lev. fol. 10. 1. & 24. 3. and on Numb. fol. 54. 4. Vid. Chizuk Emunah, p. 51.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And no more shall every one teach his neighbor, and every one his brother, saying, Know ye Jehovah; for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more Here is mentioned another difference between the old and the new covenant, even that God, who had obscurely manifested himself under the Law, would send forth a fuller light, so that the knowledge of him would be commonly enjoyed. But he hyperbolically extols this favor, when he says that no one would have need of a teacher or instructor, as every one would have himself sufficient knowledge. We therefore consider that the object of the Prophet is mainly to shew, that so great would be the light of the Gospel, that it would be clearly evident, that God under it deals more bountifully with his people, because its truth shines forth as the sun at noon-day. The same thing Isaiah promises, when he says that all would become the disciples of God. (Isa 54:13) This was indeed the case also under the Law, though God gave then but a small taste of heavenly doctrine: but at the coming of Christ he unfolded the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, so that under the Gospel there is the perfection of what had been begun; for we know that the ancient people were like children, and hence God kept them in the rudiments of knowledge: now, as we are grown up, he favors us with a fuller doctrine, and he comes, as it were, nearer to us.
Hence, he says, No more shall every one teach his neighbor, and a man his brother (55) I have said that the Prophet here amplifies the favor of God. But we find that some fanatics have ignorantly and foolishly abused this passage, seeking to put down teaching of every kind, as the Anabaptists in our day, who reject all teaching; and flattering themselves in their ignorance, they proudly boast that they are endued with the Spirit, and say, that dishonor is done to Christ, if we are still disciples, because it is written as one of the praises and encomiums given to the new covenant, that no one shall teach his neighbor any more And hence it has also happened, that they are inebriated with strange and horrible doctrines: for the devil, when they become swollen with so much pride, can fascinate and delude them as he pleases; and their own pride also so leads them astray, that they invent dreams; and many unprincipled men have drawn aside this passage to serve their own purposes. For when they boast themselves to be prophets, and persuade the simple that they are so, they hold many attached to themselves, and derive gain by this sort of boasting.
But the Prophet here does not mean inspiration, nor does he exclude the practice of teaching, as I have already said; he only shews to us the superior brightness of the gospel light, as God, under the Law, did not so perfectly teach his people as he does us at this day. And hence is that saying of Christ,
“
Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see, and the ears which hear the things which ye hear; for many kings and prophets,” etc. (Luk 10:23)
Christ, then, is the best interpreter of this passage, even that God would cause the truth to shine forth more fully under the Gospel; and hence Christ is called by Malachi
“
the Sun of Righteousness,” (Mal 4:2)
for the Prophet there intimates that the Fathers had indeed some light, but not such as we have. In short, we ought to bear in mind the comparison, of which mention was made yesterday, even that God held his people in suspense with the hope of a better state.
And that we may no farther seek an explanation, let us carefully weigh the words; for it is not simply and without exception said, “No one shall teach his neighbor,” but it it is added, “Saying, Know ye Jehovah.” We hence see that the Prophet promises knowledge, so that they might be no longer alphabetarians; for these words, “Know ye Jehovah,” point out the first elements of faith, or of celestial doctrine. And, doubtless, if we consider how great was the ignorance of the ancient people, they were then only in the elements. He who is at this day the least among the faithful, has so far advanced, that he knows much more clearly what pertains chiefly to salvation than those who were then the most learned. The meaning then is, that all God’s chosen people would be so endued with the gift of knowledge, that they would no longer continue in the first elements.
Now, were any one pertinaciously to urge this one clause, it would be right to set before him a passage in Isaiah, for he certainly speaks of the kingdom of Christ, when he says,
“
Lay hold shall each on the hand of his neighbor, and say, Come, let us ascend into the mountain of the Lord, and he will teach us his ways,” etc. (Isa 2:3)
Now, let us reconcile these two prophecies. The design of both is to set forth the favor of God, manifested by Christ at his coming. The one passage says, “No one will teach his neighbor;” and the other, “Lay hold will each on the hand of his neighbor, and say, Let us come and ascend into the mountain, that Jehovah may teach us.” Now the way of reconciling them is this, — that Jeremiah says, that the people would not be so ignorant under the new covenant as to stand in need of the first principles of truth; but that Isaiah says, that each would lay hold on the hand of his neighbor, that they might mutually help one another, so as to attain the knowledge of God’s law. The question is thus solved; and we, at the same time, see how remarkable is the benefit with which God favors his people, as he thus makes himself familiarly known to them.
He says, All shall know me, from the least to the greatest He does not mean that knowledge would be in all in an equal measure. Experience indeed proves this to be false; and further we know, that God has testified from the beginning, as Paul also reminds us, (Rom 12:2) that the measure of his gifts is according to his good pleasure. But the Prophet means, that those who are the least or the lowest among God’s people shall be endued with so much light of knowledge that they will be almost like teachers. To the same purpose is the prophecy of Joel,
“
Prophesy shall your sons, your daughters shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” (Joe 2:28)
He promises that there would be everywhere prophets and teachers, because the grace of God would be at that day more abundant; and these things ought ever to be understood comparatively. Though, then, many are now ignorant among the children of God, and among those who are really of the number of the faithful, yet if we consider how great was the obscurity of the Law, those who are at this day the least among the disciples, are not otherwise than prophets and teachers. And for this reason Christ says,
“
He who is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than John the Baptist,”
who yet was superior to all the Prophets. (Mat 11:11) John the Baptist was, in his office, exalted above all the Prophets, and he excelled them in knowledge; and yet the least of those who professed the Gospel and bore testimony to it, was greater, says Christ, than John the Baptist. And this is not to be applied only to them individually, nor be confined to them, but rather to the clear and plain doctrine which the Gospel conveys, according to the passage we quoted yesterday, where Paul says that there is now no veil intervening, but that we are allowed to see God, as it were, face to face in the person of Christ. (2Co 3:18)
It follows, For I well forgive their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more The Prophet, no doubt, shews here the foundation of God’s kindness, even that he would receive the people into favor by not imputing to them their sins. If we then seek for the origin of the new covenant, it is the free remission of sins, because God reconciles himself to his people. And we hence conclude, that there is no other cause that we can imagine, why God appeared in his only-begotten Son, and manifested so great a bounty: for the Prophet here reduces to nothing all the glory of the flesh, and lays prostrate all merits, when he says, that God would be so bountiful to his people as to become propitious to them, freely to remit their sins, and not to remember their iniquities. This passage, then, cannot properly be taken as referring to the perpetual remission of sins, though this he included in the general doctrine; but we must bear in mind the design of the Prophet, which was to shew, that God from the beginning, with regard to his Church, was moved by no other cause than a desire to abolish sins.
The Apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, gives rather a refined interpretation of this passage, for he dwells on the word more, עד , od. He says, that under the New Testament God forgives iniquities, because expiation has been made, so that there is no more need of sacrifices. For he assumes the opposite idea, that God remembered iniquities until he made the new covenant. If he remembered sins, he says, until he made a new covenant, it is no wonder that he then required daily sacrifice to propitiate him: but now under the New Testament he remembers them no more. Then sacrifices cease, because there is now no need of satisfaction when sins are forgiven. He hence concludes, that we have been so expiated by the blood of Christ, and so reconciled to God, that confidence as to our salvation ought to give us an entire rest. But we ought to bear in mind what I have said, that the Prophet here expressly, and in the first place, speaks of the beginning of the mercy and grace which God promises; he therefore declares that God would be so kind and so gracious as not to remember iniquities
What, then, does the particle more intimate? Even that God had for a time been angry with his people, and visited their sins with judgment. For God is said to call our sins to remembrance, he is said to be angry with us, he is said to be the avenger of our iniquities, when he punishes us, when he gives evidences of his severity and of his vengeance. Whenever then God severely handled his people, he seemed to remember their iniquities; but when he made the new covenant, all iniquities were then buried, and cast, as another Prophet says, into the depths of the sea. (Mic 7:19) Then the Apostle misapplied the testimony of the Prophet: by no means; for he wisely accommodated it to the subject he was discussing: what God promises, that he would not any more remember iniquities, after having made the new covenant, was accomplished through the coming of Christ. Then Christ alone has effected this — that our iniquities should no more be remembered before God. Hence also we easily learn what the Apostle intended to prove, even that sacrifices cease when sins are expiated. These things indeed harmonize well together, and there is nothing forced or too refined.
Moreover, the Prophet does not here discuss the whole question respecting the difference between the Old and New Testament, but only takes this as granted, that the grace of God would be more abundant than formerly, in order that the faithful, supported by hope, might patiently endure their evils and most grievous trials with which they had to contend, and not despond until Christ was manifested, as we said yesterday. Here, then, he speaks of the grace of regeneration, of the gift of knowledge, and at the same time promises that God would be propitious to his people in a different and more perfect way than he had been in former times. But the Apostle in that Epistle seems to apply this to ceremonies, because these things are connected together; that is, the abrogation of ceremonies and the regeneration of the Spirit which is promised here. Then the Apostle does not wrest the words of the Prophet; but as he commends the new covenant, which was to be more excellent than the Law, he hence concludes, that it is no wonder that ceremonies were not to continue but for a time. For he assumes this principle, that a new covenant was to succeed the old: then some change was necessarily to be. He assumes also that the new covenant was opposed to the old, and that the old was subject to destruction. The Jews could not endure any change in the types, for they would have them to remain the same. But the Apostle says that it is nothing strange that a thing should decay; for God, he says, does not certainly without reason call that covenant old which he made by Moses; then it will not always continue valid. (Heb 8:13) Since it is so, it cannot be inconsistent with the truth and faithfulness of God, that the ceremonies should cease as to their use, while the Law itself remained unchanged. We now then see that the Apostle faithfully interpreted the design of the Prophet by accommodating his testimony to the abrogation of ceremonies.
But as I have to explain only the words of the Prophet, there is no need to speak further of the difference between the Old and New Testament, that is, in what particulars they differ; for the Old and New Testament differ also in other things. But the Prophet, as I have said, thought it sufficient to touch on this point, — that something better was to be hoped at the coming of Christ than what the Fathers in all ages had found. And thus, as I have said, he sought to alleviate the sorrow of the faithful, whom God exercised with hard trials before Christ was manifested in the flesh.
Moreover, the Law and the Gospel form a contrast like Moses and Christ. Then the New Testament is more excellent than the Law, as Christ excels Moses. But we must come to a passage in John, that we may more fully understand why the Prophet says that the grace of the new covenant would be different from that, of the old. John says,
“
The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (Joh 1:17)
John seems there to leave nothing to the Law but an evanescent shadow. For if Christ only brought truth to us, then there was no truth in the Law, and there was no grace in the Law; but this seems to east a reproach on the Law. Now this question was in part answered yesterday. But as I wish to finish this passage, let it be briefly observed, that whenever the Law is thus extenuated, it is only that the benefit of Christ may be set forth, so that we may know how invaluable is God’s mercy which appears in his only-begotten Son.
Were now any one to object and say, “But why had he previously published the Law? and why did he command it to be reverently received, if it was without grace and truth?” To this I answer, according to what I said yesterday, that the Law was not destitute of those benefits which we at this day receive under the Gospel, but that these benefits were then, as it were, adventitious, and that they do not properly belong to the Law; for if the Law were separated from the Gospel, it would be the same as if one was to separate Moses from Christ. If Moses be regarded, not as opposed to Christ, he was the herald and witness of God’s paternal kindness towards his people; his doctrine also contained promises of a free salvation, and opened to the faithful the door of access to God. But if Moses be set in opposition to Christ, he becomes the minister of death, and his doctrine leads to destruction; for the letter, as Paul in 2Co 3:6, calls it, killeth, — how so? Because whosoever is attached to Moses departs from Christ; and Christ alone possesses in himself the fullness of all blessings. It then follows, that nothing remains in Moses when considered in himself. But God promised salvation to his ancient people, and also regenerated his chosen, and illuminated them by his Spirit. This he did not do so freely and extensively as now. As then God’s grace is at this day more abundant, it is justly extolled in high terms by all the Prophets; and then, as I have already said, whatever God at that time conferred, was, as it were, adventitious, for all these benefits were dependant on Christ and the promulgation of the Gospel. Let us now proceed, —
(55) Literally the words are, —
And they shall teach no more, a man his neighbor, And a man his brother, by saying, “Know ye Jehovah;” For all of them shall know me, From the least of them to the greatest of them, Saith Jehovah.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(34) They shall teach no more every man his neighbour . . .We trace in that hope for the future the profound sense of failure which oppressed the mind of the prophet, as it has oppressed the minds of many true teachers since. What good had come of all the machinery of ritual and of teaching which the Law of Israel had provided so abundantly? Those repeated exhortations on the part of preachers and prophets that men should know the Lord, what did they present but the dreary monotony as of an old worm-eaten homily? To know Him, as indeed He is, required nothing less than a special revelation of His presence to each mans heart and spirit, and that revelation was now, for his comfort, promised for all who were willing to receive it as the special gift of the near or distant future which opened to his view in his vision of a restored Israel. Here also the words of Jeremiah echo those of an older prophet (Isa. 54:13), and find their fulfilment in those of Christ (Joh. 6:45).
I will forgive their iniquity . . .The second clause repeats the promise of the first, in a form which is, perhaps, from the necessity of the case, after the manner of men. Our thoughts of God as the All knowing preclude the idea of any limitation of His knowledge, such as the words I will remember no more imply. What is meant is that He will be to him who repents and knows Him as indeed He is, in His essential righteousness and love, as men are to men when they forget and forgive. He will treat the past offences, even though their inevitable consequences may continue, as though they had never been, so far as they affect the communion of the soul with God. He will, in the language of another prophet, blot out the sins which yet belong to the indelible and irrevocable past (Isa. 43:25; Isa. 44:22).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
34. I will forgive their iniquity I will break down the barriers of separation and bring back the lost harmony. The first good thing which the Lord can do to a sinner is to forgive his iniquity.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Ver. 34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour. ] Deest coactio, non deerit cohortatio. a Men shall learn with much less ado, because “taught of God,” and lively illightened by his Holy Spirit: et quando Christus magister, quam cito discitur quod doeetur? saith Augustine; when Christ becomes a man’s teacher, he must needs be a forwardly scholar. Some make this to be the sense of the words, that in gospel times the truths of Christ, and the knowledge of the Son of God, should be so evident, that men might get more of themselves without a teacher, than with one in the legal administrations; as Paul also showeth, 2 Cor. iii. Not that men should have no need of teaching at all in those times; for the best know but in part, and must daily grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Pe 3:18
For they shall all know me.
For I will forgive their iniquities.
a Oecolampadius.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
every man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
they shall all know Me. See note on Jer 9:24.
know. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), for all the effects of knowing Jehovah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
teach: 1Th 4:9, Heb 5:12, 1Jo 2:27
Know the: 1Sa 2:12, 1Ch 28:9, Joh 17:3
for they: Jer 24:7, Isa 11:9, Isa 30:26, Isa 54:13, Isa 60:19-21, Hab 2:14, Mat 11:27, Joh 6:45, Joh 17:6, 2Co 2:10, 2Co 4:6, 1Jo 2:20, 1Jo 5:20
for I: Jer 33:8, Jer 50:20, Isa 33:24, Isa 43:25, Isa 44:22, Mic 7:18, Act 10:43, Act 13:38, Act 13:39, Rom 11:26, Rom 11:27, Eph 1:7, Heb 8:12, Heb 10:17, Heb 10:18
Reciprocal: Jdg 2:10 – knew not 1Sa 15:2 – I remember 2Sa 19:19 – remember Psa 25:5 – teach Psa 103:12 – so far Psa 119:29 – grant me Psa 130:4 – But there Pro 2:5 – find Isa 29:18 – the deaf Isa 32:3 – General Isa 38:17 – thou hast cast Isa 40:2 – that her iniquity Isa 48:17 – which teacheth Isa 51:7 – in whose Jer 9:3 – they know Jer 9:24 – knoweth Jer 14:10 – he will Jer 22:16 – was not Jer 23:35 – General Eze 18:22 – his transgressions Eze 20:42 – ye shall Eze 39:22 – know Dan 11:32 – the people Hos 2:20 – and Amo 8:7 – I will Jon 3:5 – from Zec 3:9 – remove Mat 9:2 – be Luk 1:75 – General Luk 7:42 – he Luk 24:47 – among Joh 7:17 – General Joh 7:28 – whom Joh 8:32 – ye shall Joh 10:28 – they Joh 14:21 – that hath Joh 14:26 – he Act 3:19 – that Act 8:10 – from Rom 3:31 – yea 2Co 3:16 – the veil Gal 4:9 – ye have Eph 1:17 – in the knowledge Col 2:13 – having Heb 8:11 – they shall Heb 10:16 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 31:34, Not teach . . , his brother. Circumcision made an 8-day-old boy a full brother to all other members of the covenant. Yet that boy could not know anything about tbe Lord, and when he became old enough he had to be made acquainted with Him by his “brother” in the Jewish covenant. Under the new covenant a person must be old enough to know the Lord before he can become a member. See the comments on this subject at 1Sa 3:7 in volume 2 of this Commentary.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
31:34 And they shall {l} teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
(l) Under the kingdom of Christ there will be no one blinded with ignorance, but I will give them faith, and acknowledge God for remission of their sins and daily increase the same: so that it will not seem to come so much by the preaching of my ministers as by the instruction of my Holy Spirit, Isa 54:13 but the full accomplishing of it is referred to the kingdom of Christ, when we will be joined with our head.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
All the Israelites, from the least to the greatest, would also know the Lord intimately, without having to be exhorted to do so.
"The verb know here probably carries its most profound connotation, the intimate personal knowledge which arises between two persons who are committed wholly to one another in a relationship that touches mind, emotion, and will. In such a relationship the past is forgiven and forgotten." [Note: Thompson, p. 581.]
They would know Him in this intimate way because He would forgive their sins and not bring them to memory or judgment any more. True forgiveness, in contrast to the covering of sin that the Old Covenant sacrifices provided, would make intimacy with God possible (cf. Isa 54:10; Eze 34:25; Eze 37:26).
"The old covenant spoke of a great physical deliverance from Egypt through the blood of lambs and the power of God; the new covenant proclaims a great spiritual deliverance from sin and death through the efficacious blood of the Lamb of God and the power of God. The Passover Feast memorialized the first; the Lord’s Supper memorializes the second." [Note: Feinberg, "Jeremiah," p. 575.]
"In the old covenant, the law with its requirements is the impelling force; in the new covenant, the grace shown in the forgiveness of sins is the aiding power by which man attains that common life with God which the law sets before him as the great problem of life. It is in this that the qualitative difference between the old and the new covenants consists. The object which both set before men for attainment is the same, but the means of attaining it are different in each. In the old covenant are found commandment and requirement; in the new, grace and giving." [Note: Keil, 2:39.]
"Based on similar content and contexts, the following expressions may be equated with the New covenant: the ’everlasting covenant’ in seven passages (Isa 24:5; Isa 55:3; Isa 61:8; Jer 32:40; Jer 50:5) and later in Eze 16:60; Eze 37:26); a ’new heart’ and a ’new spirit’ in three or four texts (Jer 32:39 [LXX]; and later in Eze 11:19; Eze 18:31; Eze 36:26); and ’a covenant’ or ’my covenant,’ which is placed in the context of ’in that day’ in three passages (Isa 42:6; Isa 49:8; Isa 59:21; Hos 2:18-20). That makes a total of sixteen or seventeen major passages on the ’New covenant.’
"Still, Jer 31:31-34 was the locus classicus on the subject, as may be seen from several lines of evidence. It was this passage that stimulated Origen to name the last twenty-seven books of the Bible ’the New Testament.’ But it was also the largest piece of text to be quoted in extenso in the NT, vis., Heb 8:8-12 and partially repeated a few chapters later in Heb 10:16-17. Furthermore, it was the subject of nine other NT texts: four dealing with the Lord’s Supper (Mat 26:28; Mar 14:24; Luk 22:20; 1Co 11:25); two Pauline references to ’ministers of the new covenant’ and the future forgiveness of Israel’s sins (2Co 3:6; Rom 11:27); and three additional references in Hebrews (Heb 9:15; Heb 10:16; Heb 12:24; cf. the two large teaching passages mentioned above)." [Note: Kaiser, Toward an . . ., pp. 231-32.]
There are three basic views concerning the identity of the people with whom God would make this New Covenant and when He would make it. One view is that God will make it with Israel alone when He resumes dealing with that nation as formerly, namely, in the Millennium (cf. Romans 11). A second view is that God made it with the church alone, which advocates of this view (i.e., covenant theologians) say replaces Israel in God’s plans, and He made it at the Cross. A third view is that God made it with Israel at the Cross, and the church, which does not replace Israel, somehow enters into its blessings.
I hold the third of these views. It seems that God made the New Covenant with Israel when Jesus Christ died on the cross (Luk 22:20). The church now operates under this covenant (1Co 11:25; 2Co 3:1-14; Heb 8:8-12; Heb 10:16-17). [Note: The Apostle Paul pointed out seven contrasts between the Old and New Covenants in 2 Corinthians 3:6-11. See other comparisons of the two covenants in Hebrews 8:8-13; 9:15-28; 10:15-18, 28-29; and 12:18-24. E. W. Hengstenberg, "The New Covenant," in Classical Evangelical Essays in Old Testament Interpretation, pp. 237-51, argued that the differences between the old and new covenants were only matters of degree, but this view fails to recognize the profound differences between these two covenants.] However, Israel will enter into the blessings of this covenant, which God promised her, at the time of Israel’s restoration, namely, at the second coming of Christ. [Note: See John F. Walvoord, "The New Covenant," in Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands: Biblical and Leadership Studies in Honor of Donald K. Campbell, pp. 186-200; J. Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come, pp. 164-77; Rodney J. Decker, "The Church’s Relationship to the New Covenant," Bibliotheca Sacra 152:607 (July-September 1995):290-305; Bruce A. Ware, "The New Covenant and the People(s) of God," in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, pp. 68-97; and Craig A. Blaising, "The Fulfillment of the Biblical Covenants," in Progressive Dispensationalism, pp. 179-211. John R. Master, "The New Covenant," in Issues in Dispensationalism, pp. 93-110, argued for two new covenants, one with Israel and one with the church, as did L. S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, 4:325. See also Charles C. Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith, pp. 105-25.]
This arrangement resembles one that is possible to set up in a Charitable Lead Unit Trust under the Internal Revenue Code of the United States. Suppose there was a vastly wealthy and generous philanthropist of the magnitude of a Bill Gates. As he prepared his will he bequeathed millions of dollars to various charitable causes that would benefit millions of people all over the world when he died. He also wrote into his will that when his only son reached the age of 21, he would inherit billions of dollars. When this man died, his son was only five years old, so for 16 years he did not enter into his father’s inheritance. However, as soon as the philanthropist died, the millions of dollars he had bequeathed to charity went to work immediately-to help many people.
This illustration shows how the church enters into the blessings of the New Covenant. When Christ established the Lord’s Supper, it was as though He notarized His will; it became official then. The will is the New Covenant. When He died, His "estate" became available to those He chose to profit from it, namely: both Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus Christ. Soon many people around the world, Jews and Gentiles in the church, began to benefit from the blessings of His death. However, God’s chosen people, His son Israel, will not enter into his unique inheritance until the appointed time, namely: the Millennium. Blessings for the church began almost immediately after Christ’s death. Blessings for Israel will not begin until God’s appointed time arrives: Christ’s second coming.
"Perhaps an[other] illustration will help us better understand this duel fulfillment of the new-covenant prophecy. Standing with Jeremiah and Ezekiel at their vantage point in history, we are in a dark tunnel. As we look with them toward the light at the end of the tunnel, we see God making a new covenant with ethnic Israel. We then move through the tunnel and emerge into the light. There ahead of us we see the same scene we saw from afar-God implementing his covenant with ethnic Israel. But now that we have stepped out of the tunnel into the light, our peripheral vision is expanded. To the side of us, incapable of being seen from back in the tunnel, is another scene-God implementing this same covenant with the church of the present era, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. The prophets were not wrong-they simply had ’tunnel vision’ because their focus was on ethnic Israel." [Note: Chisholm, Handbook on . . ., p. 196.]
Which blessings of the New Covenant does the church enjoy now and which are for Israel in the future? There are four promises in Jer 31:33-34. The promise of having God’s law written on the heart has been fulfilled to a limited extent. Christians do have an innate desire to please God because of the indwelling Holy Spirit’s ministry, but we do not have the innate understanding of God’s will that God promised here since that was a promise for the Israelites. All people do not know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, now. Second, we have a unique covenant relationship with God as Christians, but we are not the same group that will have a unique covenant relationship with God in the future, namely, the Israelites. Third, all Christians know the Lord to some degree of intimacy now, but we do not all have the depth of relationship with God that He promised the Israelites here. We still need teaching and teachers, but apparently this will not be the case for Israel in the future. Fourth, Christians enjoy complete forgiveness of sins individually, as the Israelites will in the future, but the Israelites will also enjoy complete forgiveness of their corporate sins as the nation of Israel as well. So I would say Christians enjoy all these blessings to some extent, but not to the extent Israel will enjoy them in the future. As the return from exile was a partial fulfillment of the promises of restoration, so the church’s enjoyment of these blessings is only a partial fulfillment of what God promised Israel. [Note: See also Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 620.]
The New Covenant is a branch or outgrowth of the Abrahamic Covenant. In the Abrahamic Covenant, God promised Abraham a piece of real estate for his descendants, an incalculable number of descendants, and blessing for his descendants and for all people through his descendants (Gen 12:1-7; et al.). Deuteronomy 29-30, sometimes called the Palestinian Covenant, gave more information about the land God had promised Abraham. The Davidic Covenant gave more information about God’s promises regarding descendants (2 Samuel 7). The New Covenant revealed the particulars of the promised blessing (Jeremiah 31). Each of these later covenants relates to the Abrahamic Covenant organically; each is an outgrowth of it in the progress of revelation. In contrast, the Mosaic (Old) Covenant does not relate organically but "was added" (Gal 3:19) to explain how the Israelites could maximize the benefits God had promised in the Abrahamic Covenant. Consequently, when God terminated the Old Covenant, it did not eliminate anything He had promised in the Abrahamic, "Palestinian," Davidic, or New Covenants. [Note: I have put "Palestinian Covenant" in quotation marks because Deuteronomy 29-30 does not contain all the features of a typical ancient Near Eastern covenant, as the other covenants mentioned do. Some interpreters prefer to view these chapters as simply more information about the land promises in the Abrahamic Covenant. For a helpful distinction between which items in the New Covenant continue from the Old Covenant and which ones are new, see Kaiser, Toward an . . ., pp. 233-34.]