Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 John 1:8
Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
8. Look to yourselves ] Exactly as in Mar 13:9, excepting the emphatic pronoun; ‘But look ye to yourselves’.
that we lose not ] The persons of the three verbs are much varied in our authorities. The original reading probably was, as R. V., ye lose we have wrought ye receive. To make the sentence run more smoothly some have made all the verbs in the first person, others have made them all in the second. For the construction comp. 1Co 16:10. The meaning is, ‘Take heed that these deceivers do not undo the work which Apostles and Evangelists have wrought in you, but that ye receive the full fruit of it’.
a full reward ] Eternal life. The word ‘reward’ has reference to ‘have wrought’. ‘Apostles have done the work, and you, if you take heed, will have the reward’. Eternal life is called a full reward in contrast to real but incomplete rewards which true believers receive in this life; peace, joy, increase of grace, and the like. Comp. Mar 10:29-30.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Look to yourselves – This seems to be addressed to the lady to whom he wrote, and to her children. The idea is, that they should be particularly on their guard, and that their first care should be to secure their own hearts, so that they should not be exposed to the dangerous attacks of error. When error abounds in the world, our first duty is not to attack it and make war upon it; it is to look to the citadel of our own souls, and see that all is well guarded there. When an enemy invades a land, the first thing will not be to go out against him, regardless of our own strength, or of the security of our own fortresses, but it will be to see that our forts are well manned, and that we are secure there from his assaults. If that is so, we may then go forth with confidence to meet him on the open field. In relation to an error that is in the world, the first thing for a Christian to do is to take care of his own heart.
That we lose not those things which we have wrought – Margin: Or, gained. Some copies read: which ye have gained, but that ye. The reading here referred to in the margin is found in several manuscripts and also in the Vulgate, the Syriac, and the Aethiopic versions. It is not, however, adopted in the late critical editions of the New Testament, and the common reading is probably genuine. The sense is not materially varied, and the common reading is not unnatural. John was exhorting the family to whom this Epistle was written to take good heed to themselves while so many artful errorists were around them, lest they should be drawn away from the truth, and lose a part of the full reward which they might hope to receive in heaven. In doing this, nothing was more natural than that he, as a Christian friend, should group himself with them, and speak of himself as having the same need of caution, and express the feeling that he ought to strive also to obtain the full reward, thus showing that he was not disposed to address an exhortation to them which he was not willing to regard as applicable to himself.
The truth which is taught here is one of interest to all Christians – that it is possible for even genuine Christians, by suffering themselves to be led into error, or by failure in duty, to lose a part of the reward which they might have obtained. The crown which they will wear in heaven will be less bright than that which they might have worn, and the throne which they will occupy will be less elevated. The rewards of heaven will be in accordance with the services rendered to the Redeemer; and it would not be right that they who turn aside, or falter in their course, should have the same exalted honours which they might have received if they had devoted themselves to God with ever-increasing fidelity. It is painful to think how many there are who begin the Christian career with burnings zeal, as if they would strike for the highest rewards in heaven, but who soon waver in their course, and fall into some paralyzing error, until at last they receive, perhaps, not half the reward which they might have obtained.
But that we receive a full reward – Such as will be granted to a life uniformly consistent and faithful; all that God has to bestow on his people when most faithful and true. But who can estimate the full reward of heaven, the unspeakable glory of those who make it the grand business of their lives to obtain all they can of its bliss. And who is there that does not feel that he ought to strive for a crown in which not one gem shall be missing that might have sparkled there forever?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Jn 1:8
Look to yourselves.
Self-inspection
I. look to your creed, whether it be scriptural. We know too well there may be a scriptural creed without real piety; but it does not appear how there can be the latter where faith in the gospel is entirely wanting. Every one that impartially reads the Scriptures must see how decidedly they speak of the really Divine character of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the cause and design of those sufferings which He endured in our world; also the weight and value that are attached to those subjects, and our reception in a believing manner of those Divine representations.
II. Look to your state, whether it be one of conversion to God. However excellent religion is in theory, its theory is insufficient for your salvation. An artificial flower may strikingly resemble a natural one, but a nearer inspection will detect the difference. The delicate tints and scents of nature cannot be supplied by the most practised hand in art, so as long to deceive. The difference between a mere nominal and a real Christian is immense. But immense as it is, it cannot be detected but by examination; and that examination must be by yourself. What are you to examine? Look to yourselves, to see whether you are born again? If there be the new birth, there will be spiritual life in the soul. If there be life there will be spiritual feelings. You feel that you have a soul to be saved or lost for ever, and you arc anxious to be instructed in the will of God, to cease to be what is wrong, and to become all that is right. And do you feel sin to be a burden? Souls born again do. Look to yourselves and see whether you do. What thoughts and feelings have you concerning Christ? We read, To them that believe He is precious. And not less necessary is it that you look to your temper and walk. Everything in its proper place. The cause of our justification before God is not in our own goodness, but if grace does not infuse its goodness into us, we are not Christians.
III. In case you are compelled to come to a conclusion unfavourable to your present condition, look to yourselves with apprehension. Are you satisfied to be irreligious because others are? Will it be any palliation of your guilt, or diminution of your final misery, to be lost with the multitude? Begin at once to look to yourselves–to look to your souls. (T. Pinchback.)
Danger of inattention
Her pilot was asleep below is given as the simple and sufficient explanation of the disaster that happened to the steamer Montana, which was grounded and wrecked upon a rock off the English coast. Of how many shipwrecked souls might the same thing be said, The pilot was asleep below.
The duty of self-inspection
It will not do for the sailor, however many dangers he may have passed safely through, or however far he may have advanced upon the voyage, to become unwatchful. While he is upon the sea he is in peril. So is it with the Christian, who is called so to pass through the waves of this troublesome world. It will not do for him to furl his sails, to neglect his compass, or to drop his hold upon the helm.
I. Look to yourselves. There is a looking to ourselves that is wrong, which we are to be careful to avoid, and which we are bound to overcome. Selfishness–the looking to ourselves, keeping always in view what we think is for our own personal interest or advantage–is one of the surest signs of a worldly and unbelieving mind. There is also a looking to ourselves in carnal confidence–putting confidence in our own goodness. What, then, are we to understand by looking to ourselves? When a man is going upon a dangerous journey, in which he may be very apt to make a false step or a slip–and that slip may cost him his life–you would naturally say to him, Look to yourself. Do not, you would say, let your attention be distracted, or taken up by the things you see upon the road; do not let anything carry you out of your way, but look to yourself; see that you are going right, see that you do not get betrayed into an unexpected snare, where you may lose yourself. Pay perpetual attention to the motives by which you are governed–to the ends you have in view, to the plans you are laying–see that they are all in accordance with Gods truth and will; see that they are such as become the disciples of Christ; see that you are walking worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Do not suppose it is all right with you, because you are comfortable and at ease, but suspect yourselves. We look at others often when we are hearing Gods Word, and think how suitable the word is to such and such an individual, and how exactly it fits the case of another. But are we looking to ourselves?
II. Note how beautifully this venerable and ripened servant of God, who stood prominent among the twelve, and who was now, we have every reason to suppose, a hoary-headed soldier in the army of Christ; look how he, with all humility, brings in himself; how he slips out of the address to others into an address that includes himself. At first he says, Look to yourselves; but he adds, that we lose not the things which we have wrought. What are we to understand by the things which we have wrought? and what by losing those things which we have wrought ? By those things which we have wrought is meant that work which through Gods grace has been accomplished in us and by us, in the times that are gone past. Is there any Christian that has not a recollection of this? Yet all need to have their recollection revived and refreshed. To look back upon your high privileges: you have been taught from your earliest days that you ought to be born again; you can recollect when God led you to know and see the way of reconciliation for your sin, and to find your peace in the righteousness of Christ your Saviour. What holy thankfulness! What fervour of first love filled your hearts! You can recollect how careful and anxious you were not to offend–how you studied to know the will of God in all things. Consider the things that you wrought in former days. Where are they now? Are they still with you, or have they passed away? They may be lost. Can any man in a world like ours, with a mind like ours, and Satans machinations ever against him, declare he is not in danger of losing what he hath wrought?
III. And let us take heed for others, because if we lose the things which we have wrought we shall also fail in the recompense of the reward. That we receive a full reward. It is called a reward in this sense because, though it is the free gift of God, it pleased God to ordain that in this world and in the world to come it should be proportionate to a mans diligence, and to the fruits he brings forth. We are judged solely with regard to our works; and the measure of our fidelity will be the measure of our recompense of reward. And this is true in this present world. Every one that hath, says Christ, is to make more of the talent that is given to him, whether it be money or diligence, and he shall have more. He that is a righteous man shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger. Such an one shall be as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. What a sad thing to have laboured in vain! What a sad thing for the Christian to lose the ground he has gained! Just as in the Pilgrims Progress, where the traveller Zion-ward is toiling up the hill to reach the City of Life. With many a weary step and many a straining muscle he has reached high upon the hill; but becoming weary or languid, or amusing himself with the landscape around him, or beguiled by the conversation of his fellow-pilgrims, or looking anxiously back at something left behind at the bottom of the mountain, he begins to slip backwards–he slips backwards unawares, step by step, till he finds himself not midway but wholly down at the bottom where he started from. What a sad and bitter thought–I have lost all.! I had just got up high; I have to go through all the mire and dust again! I have to begin again! Wherefore the rather, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, and do not lose the things which you have wrought; but rather go on from grace to grace and from strength to strength. (H. Stowell, M. A.)
Look to self
In the text itself we have two general parts considerable, First, the caution propounded. Secondly, the argument whereupon the caution is urged, or the matter wherein to be exercised. We begin with the first, the caution in its general and indefinite proposition, Look to yourselves. This is that which belongs to all Christians. The ground hereof is this:–First, the danger which they are exposed to, and the assaults which are upon them. Those which are subject to very much hazard, they had need to take very much heed. St. John before said, that there were many deceivers entered into the world; adds presently, Look to yourselves, as a caution very fitly consequent upon that intimation; where there are cheaters and cutpurses in the crowd people have need to look to their pockets. Secondly, as there are assaults upon them, so themselves without better heed are too apt to be overtaken with them. There is not more deceitfulness and malice in Satan and his instruments than there is likewise naturally in our own hearts to yield and comply with them; therefore we had need to look to ourselves. As it is in matter of the body, where people are more apt to take such infection or contagion in them, they conceive it does more concern them to be more heedful and regardful of their health; even so it is here. We are ready ever to comply with every evil suggestion and temptation which is administered unto us; we are like dry tinder to these sparks which are struck upon us, which is the difference betwixt us and Christ. Thirdly, add also hereunto the grievousness of the miscarriage. The Apostle John does in this case with these believers as some physician would do with his patient; who, when he has done all for him that belongs to him and lies in his power, bids him now to beware and take care of his own health and to look to himself, and accordingly it behoves all Christians so to do. And that for this reason especially, forasmuch as they may not always have other helps near unto them. This caution here of the apostle was not a word of negligence, but rather of prudent forecast for them. He had done his part already with them, and now does but provoke them to make good use of what they heard from him and to put those his doctrines into practice. I might here also further seasonably observe, that God will make use of ourselves in our passage to heaven. The second is the argument or matter which it is conversant about, which is laid down two manner of ways:–First, in the negative, That ye love not, etc.; and secondly, in the affirmative, But that we receive a full reward. We begin with the first, the negative, That ye love not, etc. Some copies read, That we love not, etc. We may understand it of either. First, That ye love not, etc. People have cause to look to it that they do not frustrate the labours of the ministers by losing those doctrines and instructions which are tendered unto them. First, that we may not lose things out of our memory. Secondly, meditation, that is also a good conduce merit hereunto. Thirdly, conference and holy communion. This does imprint them more (Deu 6:7). Lastly, practice and conscientious improvement. There is no such way for us to remember any doctrine as to draw it forth into exercise, which is the truest memory of all. That is the first particular in which we are to take heed of losing, viz., in regard of memory. The second is in regard of judgment. Then we are said to lose any doctrine when we alter our opinion of it, and so let it go from us. Thirdly, in regard of affection. Take heed ye lose not herein neither. Now therefore let us be careful to put this caution in practise; losses are for the most part unacceptable. We see in matters of the world how men do not love to lose anything; if they do, it is very grievous to them. And how much more does it then concern them to avoid it, and shun it all they can in such things as these are, which are of such weighty importance. Like some young scholars that lose more in a breaking up than they get in many weeks schooling and learning besides. I would not it should be so with you; I warn you of it. There are divers ways of losing in other things, as well as this, which accordingly are now to be avoided by you. First, by fraud and circumvention. Secondly, there is loss also by force and open violence. Thirdly, by mere carelessness and neglect. There is many a jewel which is lost thus for want of due and proportionable care in him that has it. But then further, take it in reference to their own works, that ye lose not the things which ye have wrought. The apostle, as he would not have them to frustrate his labours towards them, so neither their own labours to themselves. And so it is an exhortation to constancy. First, they lose their labour, and there is a great matter in that. Secondly, they lose that expediteness and facility of doing good, or of resisting evil. Thirdly, take it as to the reward; they are losers of what they have wrought as to this likewise. If a man will watch his house, how much more should he watch his soul? Now further, secondly, take it in the first as it is here in our own textual translation, That we lose not what we have wrought. First, I say, the heedlessness of people frustrates the labours of their ministers; it makes them lose the things which they have wrought. Now secondly, for what also is expressed, that ministers are justly very tender of the frustrating of their labours. First, the Person they work from, and that is God Himself. The miscarriages of the ministry redound to the dishonour of God. Secondly, the persons they work for, and that is the church and people of God (Eph 4:12). They watch for your souls (Heb 13:17). They would not lose their work in reference to those they work for. Thirdly, for the work itself, and that in sundry respects. First, the labour of it; it is a painful work, and therefore is it so often in Scripture set forth by such an expression. The more pains that any man takes the less willing is he to lose it. Secondly, the dignity of it; there is somewhat also in that. Men may take pains in a thing of nought. To lose such a work as this is, the work of the ministry, this is no ordinary business, nor so to be accounted. Thirdly, add to this the extent of it, and that which goes along with it, for if we lose our work there is somewhat more lost besides that, as is implied afterwards; and that is of yourselves, it is unprofitable for you (Heb 13:17). And the rather upon this added still to it, that it is irrecoverable, for so it is. If the work of the ministry take not there is nothing hereafter to be expected. The second is the affirmative, But that ye, or we, receive a full reward. Here is another piece of a motive why believers should look to themselves, not only that they might not lose, but that moreover they might gain and their teachers gain with them. We will take notice of both. First, take it as to themselves, that ye may receive a full reward. It is true indeed we have other things to move us, even the excellency which is in goodness itself, and that example which we have of it in God and regard to Him, that requires it of us. But yet moreover we may take in this with it, that recompense which it brings in with it in a better world. Secondly, observe this, that perseverance in goodness hath its reward belonging to it (Gal 6:9). There is no man serves God for nought who is a free and bountiful pay-master. When we hear of reward we may not dream of merit. But, thirdly, here is the word of amplification, a full reward. First, take it denominatively as a description of heaven and the condition of glory to come, it is a full reward–it is that which will make sufficient recompense. First, a fulness of sufficiency. There is nothing which is in any way desirable but it is to be found in this reward. Take the best things of this life and they have an emptiness; they are not sufficient, there is a great deal wanting in them. Secondly, a fulness of expectation. Whatever can be looked for shall be enjoyed. Thirdly, a fulness of compensation. Here is in this reward that which makes amends for all which has been undergone in reference to it. The wages is not here short of the work, but infinitely transcendent. This shows the fondness and vanity of those therefore which will deprive themselves of it; seeing it is a full reward, who would then not be partaker of it, and especially lose it for the want of a little care and heedfulness about it? Secondly, it is called so emphatically, as implying that there is a reward which is not full belonging to those which are inconstant, and declining in religion. Now, further, secondly, as they refer to the apostles and other ministers, that we may receive a full reward. This reward was not temporal, and from them which he did not so much look at; but from God, a reward in heaven. The apostle did hereby imply that these Christians, if they were careless, would be apt to deprive him of this. What is that? namely, of joy and rejoicing. Ministers, when people miscarry under their hands, they will miss of this, though not of their glory. And this the apostle signifies there in that place (Heb 13:17). That we may do with joy and not with grief. (T. Horton, D. D.)
Self-preservation
1. Look to yourselves, that ye lose not those gracious principles which seemed to be planted in your hearts by the Holy Ghost (Heb 2:1; 1Co 15:1; 2Co 6:1).
2. Look to yourselves, that ye lose not those vivid and vigorous impressions of Divine truth, which marked the early part of your Christian career.
3. Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the spirit of secret prayer, and proper seasons for attending to it. The lifeless performance of this duty is generally the forerunner of open sin or absolute apostasy (Jud 1:20).
4. Look to yourselves, that ye lose not your taste for domestic duties, and your relish for the public ordinances of the gospel.
5. Look to yourselves that ye lose not the power and practical influence of the gospel upon your hearts and lives.
6. Look to your selves that ye lose not a good conscience, the favour of God, the affections of His people, the blessings of the gospel, and the eternal salvation of your souls. (The Christian Herald.)
Looking after ones own interest
This is a glorious subject! Looking after our own interest; looking after Number One! It is a motto most men believe in. Never mind about anybody else, at any rate till your own turn is served. Men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. What will God do? Lot was a man who believed in looking after himself. His uncle Abraham and himself were large farmers, their herds pasturing together. The grass and water supply was scarcely sufficient for all, and as a result there were frequent quarrels between their herdmen. What was the result of Lots self-care? It left him poor indeed; his property was burnt in Sodom; his wife became a pillar of salt upon the plain! Gehazi was another man who believed in looking after his own interest. A lie is soon framed, carried out; Gehazi is enriched, and his spoil safely under lock and key. What then? Judas also firmly believed in looking after Number One. The rich farmer held the same doctrine about self-care. They were his grounds that brought forth so plentifully. Dives quite believed in taking every care of himself. Listen to what Jesus Christ will one day say to men who have done nothing but study their own interest–I was hungry, ye gave Me no meat, etc. Remember Jesus Christ, our great Example, came not to study His own interest, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
1. Christian men, look to your selves. See that ye walk worthy of your high vocation, as becometh sons of God; that ye let your light shine before men; that ye obey Jesus Christs commandments.
2. Unconverted men, look to yourselves. You have a priceless treasure; your soul. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Your body and its interests, what you call Number One, is really Number Two: the soul is most important. It may be, you have insured your house, and your life, against fire, accident, or death. What have you done for your soul? Look to yourselves.
(1) You have tremendous responsibilities. God has given His Son to die for you. Look to yourselves.
(2) You are running terrible risk out of Christ. Life is uncertain; with it ends the day of grace. Look to yourselves.
(3) Dont expect that some day some extraordinary influence will be brought to bear upon you, and that you will be suddenly anxious for salvation. (G. B. Foster.)
Concerning spiritual property
Persecution had to a large extent ceased at the time when this Epistle was written, but a far more dangerous form was assumed, viz., the preaching of false doctrines. The difference is that between open violence and stealth. The banditti storm the dwelling, and if the tenant is able to show any resistance he is at liberty to do so; but the thief creeps in silently into the house, and while the inmates sleep peaceably he steals all their valuables.
I. Protect the good which is in you, That ye lose not the things which we wrought. The Churches–we seem much more anxious to make converts than to retain them. 1, Remember the services of others. In the mansion you will see some old pictures of no great artistic value, and others of value but not of a modern style. You say, These are old, valuable heirlooms of the family. Sacred memories cluster around them. They speak of old times. These old pictures look at you from their elevated stations on the wall and say, See that ye lose none of the inheritance which your noble ancestors have gained for you. The elect lady alone knew the significance of the words which we have wrought. Did he not use all the persuasion of his soul to lead her and her children to the truth?
2. Exercise, watchfulness, and prayer. Even the valuable old pictures will decay unless they are protected from the ravages of time. Hold the fort of truth, and defend the citadel of faith. Remember that there are enemies ready to despoil you of your precious experience.
3. Guard the entrances. There is danger within as well as without.
II. Expect the reward which is before you. There is a present reward in any Christian act. Full reward hereafter. (T. Davies, M. A.)
That we lose not those things which we have wrought.
The wrought work of the Divine Spirit within the soul
I. The wrought work of our spiritual state.
(1) The wrought work of God. That we are what we are is due to the working of the Eternal Father in all His providential ruling, and of the Divine Son in His special redemptive work in this world: but more particularly to the working of the Holy Spirit in His direct and immediate action on the heart. If there be lines of beauty, tracings of truth on the tablet of our soul, it is because we bear within the imprint of His gentle but mighty hand.
(2) The wrought work of the Christian minister. Probably John wrote, The things which we have wrought. So far as the truth which is held in their minds, and the convictions which stir their conscience, and the principles which rule their life, are due to the fidelity of the minister of Christ, to that extent their spiritual state is the wrought work of the Christian teacher.
(5) The wrought work of the soul itself. Paul speaks (Gal 6:3) of a mans character as being his own work. We have thought seriously, felt deeply, prayed earnestly, resolved strenuously, chosen deliberately, wrestled manfully, persisted patiently. Our spiritual condition is the outcome of much expenditure of our own vital energy.
II. Its possible effacement. Can these lines of heavenly beauty and Divine truth, traced by the finger of God, be so crossed and counter-marked as to present nothing but a mass of senseless hieroglyphs? To this question we give
(l) The answer of a very sensible philosophy. In theory it certainly may be so. The waters wear the stones–not only the lashings of the mighty and furious waves of the Atlantic flinging themselves on the rock, but the nearly noiseless drip of a single drop falling on the slab of stone below. And surely the powerful forces of evil companionship, of frivolous or sceptical literature, of unwise self-indulgence, of excessive pleasure-seeking, acting daily, hourly, on the sensitive responsive spirit, will wear the soul and disfigure it.
(2) The answer of a too common experience; in fact it often is so.
III. Our practical wisdom in regard to it. We had better
(1) own to ourselves how disastrous would be the entire loss of it. What other loss will compare with this?
(2) Count the cost of a partial loss of it. If we do not heed there will be those who will fail to attain a full reward. These may be the ministers who will miss something of the blessedness that would be theirs if their converts were presented complete in Him; or they may be our own spirits, for there will be those who will rule over a few cities that might have ruled over many, who will be saved as by fire instead of having the abundant entrance.
(3) Take the most vigorous measures against spiritual loss. (W. Clarkson, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Look to yourselves] Be on your guard against these seducers; watch, pray, love God and each other, and walk in newness of life.
That we lose not those things which we have wrought] That we apostles, who have been the means of your conversion, may not be deprived of you as our crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Instead of the first person plural, , &c., WE lose, &c., many MSS., versions, and fathers, read the whole clause in the second person plural, , YE lose, &c. Take heed to yourselves that YE lose not the things which YE have wrought, but that YE receive a full reward. This reading is more consistent and likely, and is supported by at least as good evidence as the other. We find that if these persons did not keep on their guard they might lose their salvation, and the apostles their rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus. Even this intimation might put them on their guard. Had the apostle said ye cannot finally fall, what a different effect would it have produced! Griesbach has placed these readings in the margin as being very probable.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Such changes of the person, as we here find, are neither unusual, nor, in exhortation, inelegant; but some copies read in the two latter clauses
ye. He presses to constancy in the true, incorrupt Christian profession.
That we receive a full reward; that the expected recompence be not lost in the whole, or in any part, as Gal 3:3,4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Lookto yourselves amidst the widespread prevalence of deception so many being ledastray. So Christs warning, Mat24:4,Mat24:5,Mat24:24.
welose not … we receive The oldest manuscripts and versions read, That YE lose not,but that YE receive.
whichwe have wrought So one oldest manuscript reads. Other very old manuscripts,versions, and Fathers, read, which YE have wrought. The webeing seemingly the more difficult reading is less likely to havebeen a transcribers alteration. Look that ye lose not thebelieving state of truth and love, which WE (as Godsworkmen, 2Co6:1;2Ti2:15)were the instruments of working in you.
afull reward of grace not of debt. Fullyconsummated glory. If which YE have wrought be read with veryold authorities, the reward meant is that of their work (of faith)and labor of love. There are degrees of heavenly rewardproportioned to the degrees of capability of receiving heavenlyblessedness. Each vessel of glory hanging on Jesus shall be fullyhappy. But the larger the vessel, the greater will be its capacityfor receiving heavenly bliss. He who with one pound made ten,received authority over ten cities. He who made five pounds receivedfive cities; each according to his capacity of rule, and inproportion to his faithfulness. Compare 1Co15:41.There is no half reward of the saints. It is either lostaltogether, or received infull;in fullcommunion with God [Bengel]. Still no service of minister orpeople shall fail to receive its reward.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Look to yourselves,…. This is an exhortation to the elect lady, and her children, to look about them, and take care of themselves, and beware of these deceivers, and their doctrines:
that we lose not those things which we have wrought; or as the Alexandrian copy, and many other copies, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read, “that ye lose not those things which ye have wrought”; in embracing the Gospel, making a profession of it, walking in it, showing a zeal, and contending for it, expressing a love both by words and actions to the ministers of it, and suffering much reproach on the account of it; all which would be lost, and in vain, should they at last drop the Gospel, and embrace the errors of the wicked; see Ga 3:4. Moreover, such who do not go such lengths, as to let go the head, Christ, but retain him as the foundation, and the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel, yet, among many precious things, may lay much rubbish on this foundation; and therefore should take heed what they build upon it, since, though they themselves may be saved, their works may be destroyed, and so they suffer loss; see 1Co 3:11; and if we read the words, “that we lose not–which we have wrought”; the sense is the same, it being only a figure which rhetoricians call communion, and it is frequently used when a common duty is exhorted to; see 1Jo 2:28; unless it should be thought that this has a peculiar reference to the ministers of the Gospel, as it may: for though the Gospel preached by them can never be lost, being the everlasting Gospel, and the word which abides for ever; yet it may be received in vain, and persons may fall from it, and imbibe error, and so the labour of Christ’s faithful ministers may be so far in vain, and lost; and likewise, many souls whom they have thought they have gained to Christ, and that they have been instruments of working upon them for good, and have hoped they would be their joy and crown of rejoicing another day; when such are carried away by deceivers, fall off from the truth, ministers of the word lose what they thought they had wrought, which must give them great concern; and this is improved by the apostle into a reason and argument why the persons he wrote to should beware of seducers and their errors:
but that we receive a full reward; in heaven, and which itself is called the recompense of reward, and the reward of the inheritance; not that this is a reward of debt due to the works of men, which are not rewardable in themselves; for they are such as are due to God before they are performed; and when they are done, they are not profitable to him, nothing is given to him, or received by him; when all is done that can be done, men are unprofitable servants; but this is a reward of grace, God has of his own grace promised it to those who love and serve him; and because it will be given them of his grace, after their work is over, as wages are given to a servant when he has done his work, it goes by this name: and whereas it is said to be a “full” one, the meaning is not as if it was different to different persons, for there is but one recompense of reward, or reward of the inheritance common to all the saints; or, as if it might be incomplete in some; it only signifies a large and exceeding great reward; see Ge 15:1; in which last place the same phrase is used as here; and where the Septuagint interpreters use the same words as here; and which is thus paraphrased by the Targumist,
“the Lord give thee a good recompence in this world for thy good work, and let thy reward be , “full”, or “perfect”, in the world to come.”
And the Jews g often speak of a full reward, and an equal one, to be received hereafter. Perhaps regard is here had particularly to the ministers of the Gospel, who have their reward in part here, for the workman is worthy of his reward, and they will have it in full hereafter. Moreover, the apostle might here be concerned, that he, and every faithful minister, might have their full number, they expected, that none may be missing, and which he may call a full reward: though the above copies and versions read here, as before, “ye”, and “not we”.
g Targum on Eccl. i. 3. & ii. 11. & Midrash Kohelet, fol. 72. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Look to yourselves ( ). Imperative active with reflexive pronoun as in Mr 13:9. The verb often used absolutely (Php 3:2) like our “look out.”
That ye lose not ( ). Negative purpose with and first aorist active subjunctive of . This is the correct text (B), not (we). Likewise (that ye receive), not (we).
Which we have wrought ( ). This is also correct, first aorist middle indicative of , to work (Joh 6:27f.). John does not wish his labour to be lost. See Ro 1:27 for this use of for receiving. See Joh 4:36 for in the harvest. The “full reward” ( ) is the full day’s wages which each worker will get (1Co 3:8). John is anxious that they shall hold on with him to the finish.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Look to yourselves that [ ] . %Ina in order that, marks the intent of the caution. See on Joh 14:13.
We lose [] . The best texts read ajpoleshte, ye lose. So Rev, with destroy in margin. For the meanings of the verb see on Luk 9:25. We receive [] . The best texts read ajpolabhte ye receive. The compounded preposition ajpo, has the force of back : receive back from God.
Reward [] . See on 2Pe 2:13, and compare Mt 5:12; Joh 4:36; 1Co 3:8; Rev 11:18; Rev 22:12.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Look to yourselves”, (Greek blepete) take a look at yourselves, as a church – the bride, elect, lady- 2Jn 1:13; 2Co 11:1-2; 2Co 13:5.
2) “That we lose not” (Greek hina) in order that ye lose not – lose not hope of benefit from Rev 3:11; Rev 11:18.
3) “Those things which we have wrought”, to love and labor for things outside of the realm of truth and right – to walk and work with “will determined”, out of God’s will, is to prepare for a judgement of shame and day of lost rewards, 1Co 3:12-14; Mat 25:24-30.
4) “But that we receive a full reward” (Greek apobelete) but that ye may be able, by walking in truth and love, to receive a full reward. Rewards are given for, received as pay for, work done by an individual for the Lord. Salvation is a gift from God, present possession of every believer, Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-10. One may lose his rewards, but never salvation.
Note the full reward of the faithful servant, at our Lord’s return, Mat 25:20-23; Rev 2:10; Dan 12:3.
The elect lady, the church of our Lord, institutionally, and each of her members who walk faithfully in love and truth shall receive a superior reward from their Lord therefore. Rev 19:7-9.
GOD’S PAY
Who does God’s work will get God’s pay, However long may seem the day, However weary be the way; Though powers and princes thunder “Nay”, Who does God’s work will get God’s pay.
He does not pay as others pay,
In gold or land or raiment gay;
In goods that vanish and decay;
But God in wisdom knows a way,
And that is sure, I et come what may,
Who does God’s work will get God’s pay..
– Selected
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. Look to yourselves Words of solemn warning, warning against the deceptions of the deceivers. We The apostles by whom the true doctrine was witnessed and the true Church established.
We have wrought In your conversion and formation into genuine Christians.
A full reward For the accomplishment of your full salvation. A reading preferred by Alford substitutes ye for we in both parts of the verse.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Look to yourselves, that you do not lose the things which we have wrought, but that you receive a full reward. Whoever goes onward and abides not in the teaching of Christ, has not God. He who abides in the teaching, the same has both the Father and the Son.’
So the warning goes out to ‘watch out’. They are to look to themselves so that they retain the truth and live in it, lest they lose what the faithful preachers of the truth have wrought in them. Not that he feared that they would. He knew that God was at work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure. But he wanted them to ensure that they worked it out with greatest care (Php 2:13), for he did not want them to lose their full reward. This is a rare reference for John rarely speaks of the coming reward, as he rarely speaks of the second coming, but compare 1Jn 3:3, which demonstrates his emphasis on both. Those who were not faithful as they were, will lose the possibility of likeness with Christ.
‘Whoever goes onward and abides not in the teaching of the Christ, has not God. He who abides in the teaching, the same has both the Father and the Son.’ Going on in a general way is not enough, they must abide in the true teaching concerning the Christ, otherwise it will be evidence that they do not have God. That is, it will mean that they do not know the truth about Him and do not have Him abiding in them. For they cannot have the Father without the Son. Those who do abide in His teaching receive and enjoy both Father and Son. It is not possible to have the One without the Other.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Jn 1:8. Look to yourselves, &c. “Beware therefore of them; look about you; stand upon your guard; and take heed that your own faith and practice be not corrupted by them; that so neither you yourselves, nor we, the ministers of Christ, may lose the good fruit of our ministry, which was instrumental in gaining you over to Christ, not only in profession, but, as we trust, in sincerity and truth: but, after all the attempts of deceivers to pervert you, hold that fast which ye have, that no man take your crown (Rev 3:11.), and that we, together with you, may reap the whole of the blessed reward, answerable to the utmost of our hopes and desires, which God, for Christ’s sake, has graciously promised to his faithful servants that turn many to righteousness (Dan 12:3.), and to all them that love him (Jam 1:12.)”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Jn 1:8 . The warning against the deceivers.
] “ take heed to yourselves; ” with the refl. pron. besides here only in Mar 13:9 .
The construction after only in 1Co 16:10 besides; by it is not the purpose (“take heed to yourselves, sc. of them, so that”), but the immediate object of their foresight that is stated (contrary to de Wette, Braune, and A. Buttm. p. 209). [10]
. . .] Whatever be the correct reading, the thought remains essentially the same; the apostle warns his readers not to let themselves be deprived by the false teachers of the blessing, of which they became partakers through the evangelistic work. With the reading those who have worked are John and his associates; that , or a similar phrase, must be put along with it for more particular definition (Lcke) is unfounded, as this more particular definition lies in the context itself; with the reading , on the other hand, it is the work of the receivers of the Epistle themselves that is meant, who should just as little come short of the attainment of the blessing as the former.
The object of , indicated by , is not exactly the , which is also spoken of, but the work directly effected by the labour, the result or the fruit of it. Fruit had been obtained in the Church by means of the work (fruit of knowledge, love, etc.); it was of importance that they should not again be deprived of this fruit; this is expressed by ; their loss may also, however, be considered as a loss to those who had worked among them by the preaching of the gospel, so that, as far as the sense is concerned, the Rec. is perhaps justifiable; but the reading : “that they ( ) may not be lost,” also gives good sense, so that no cause exists for regarding it, with Lcke, as a mere clerical error.
If, however, that which was directly obtained by the work be lost again, then the future reward ( ) promised to Christians also disappears; therefore the apostle antithetically adds: . With the reading we might be disposed to understand by the reward the heavenly gift which the apostle himself had to expect on account of his work; but he could not he deprived of this by the conduct of those among whom he had laboured, as it depends not on the result, but on the faithfulness of the work; by , therefore, must certainly he understood the reward which those to whom John is writing have to expect; for this, however, the reading is plainly more suitable than (so also Brckner).
is not = (Carpzovius), but: “full reward;” by it is not meant that if they did not exhibit faithfulness they would receive only an imperfect reward, nor even that up to the present they had only received a part of the reward (Grotius, Aretius, Ebrard), but that the reward which, if they exhibit faithfulness, they shall obtain is a quite full reward, in which there is nothinglacking (Dsterdieck, Brckner).
[10] Braune here adduces various passages of the N. T. in order to vindicate for the particle the meaning of purpose (“so that”); but he has not paid attention to the distinction whether the verbal idea with which is connected is absolute or relative (requiring supplement), and he has not reflected that if the clause beginning with forms the supplement of the preceding verbal idea, cannot be = “so that.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
Ver. 8. That we lose not, &c. ] The godly, when they fall into foul courses, or grow remiss and leave their first love, may lose what they have wrought, 1. In respect of the praise of men; 2. In respect of their own former feelings of God’s favour; 3. In respect of the fulness of their reward in heaven. The Nazarite that broke his vow was to begin all anew, Num 6:2-12 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8 .] The warning is suddenly introduced without any coupling particle, and becomes thereby so much the more solemn and forcible. Look to yourselves (the construction with the reflective pronoun is not usual, see reff. here probably implies not as Bengel, “me absente,” but “yourselves,” as contrasted with the deceivers, that ye too become not as they), that ye lose not the things which we wrought (i. e. that ye, Christian converts, lose not that your Christian state of truth and love which we, Apostles and Teachers, wrought in you. This not being understood, the verbs have been altered in the various texts to the first or to the second person to conform to one another. The Apostles were God’s , Mat 9:37-38 ; Luk 10:2 ; Luk 10:7 ; 2Ti 2:15 ; the were , 2Co 11:13 , , Phi 3:2 ; the true was to cause men to believe on Christ, Joh 6:29 ; and this the false teachers put in peril of loss), but receive reward in full (what ? The connexion of with must not be broken. The idea is a complex one. Ye, our converts, are our in the day of the Lord: and this has suggested the use of the well-known word, even where it manifestly applies not to the teachers but to the taught, whose is the eternal life, which shall receive on that day its glorious completion: which is , . : see 1Jn 3:2 .
If this reading be right, the use which Roman-Catholic expositors, as Bart.-Petrus, Mayer, al., have tried to make of this verse to establish the merit of human works (“opera bona per Spiritum Dei facta mercedem apud Deum mereri,” B.-Petrus), falls at once to the ground. Nor indeed does it fare much better if either of the other readings be taken. If the whole be in the first person, then the apostolic , the souls which are to be their hire, must be understood: if in the second, no human merit, but the reward laid up for faithfulness, and for every thing done in His name, must be understood, which is reckoned of grace, and not of debt).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Jn 1:8 . , cf. Mat 20:8 ; Jas 5:4 . St. John here addresses not only Kyria but her family and “the Church in her house”. He views them as his fellow-labourers in the Lord’s vineyard: “We have worked together ( ): see that you do not forfeit the reward of your labour. Get a full wage. Be not like workmen who toward the close of the day fall off, doing their work hadly or losing time, and get less than a full day’s pay.” : “We have been fellow-workers thus far, and I mean to be faithful to the last; see that you also be so”. Their danger lay in taking up with false teaching and losing the comfort of the Gospel in its simplicity and fulness.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
2 John
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE
2Jn 1:8
We have here a very unusual form of the Apostolic salutation. ‘Grace, mercy, and peace’ are put together in this fashion only in Paul’s two Epistles to Timothy, and in this the present instance; and all reference to the Holy Spirit as an agent in the benediction is, as there, omitted.
The three main words, ‘Grace, mercy, and peace,’ stand related to each other in a very interesting manner. If you will think for a moment you will see, I presume that the Apostle starts, as it were, from the fountain-head, and slowly traces the course of the blessing down to its lodgment in the heart of man. There is the fountain, and the stream, and, if I may so say, the great still lake in the soul, into which its waters flow, and which the flowing waters make. There is the sun, and the beam, and the brightness grows deep in the heart of man. Grace, referring solely to the Divine attitude and thought: mercy, the manifestation of grace in act, referring to the workings of that great Godhead in its relation to humanity: and peace, which is the issue in the soul of the fluttering down upon it of the mercy which is the activity of the grace. So these three come down, as it were, a great, solemn, marble staircase from the heights of the Divine mind, one step at a time, down to the level of earth; and the blessings which are shed along the earth. Such is the order. All begins with grace; and the end and purpose of grace, when it flashes into deed, and becomes mercy, is to fill my soul with quiet repose, and shed across all the turbulent sea of human love a great calm, a beam of sunshine that gilds, and miraculously stills while it gilds, the waves.
If that be, then, the account of the relation of these three to one another, let me just dwell for a moment upon their respective characteristics, that we may get more fully the large significance and wide scope of this blessing. Let us begin at what may be regarded either as the highest point from which all the stream descends, or as the foundation upon which all the structure rests. ‘Grace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.’ These two, blended and yet separate, to either of whom a Christian man has a distinct relation, these two are the sources, equally, of the whole of the grace.
The Scriptural idea of grace is love that stoops, and that pardons, and that communicates. I say nothing about that last characteristic, but I would like to dwell for a moment or two upon the other phases of this great word, a key-word to the understanding of so much of Scripture.
The first thing then that strikes me in it is how it exults in that great thought that there is no reason whatsoever for God’s love except God’s will The very foundation and notion of the word ‘grace’ is a free, undeserved, unsolicited, self-prompted, and altogether gratuitous bestowment, a love that is its own reason, as indeed the whole of the Divine acts are, just as we say of Him that He draws His being from Himself, so the whole motive for His action and the whole reason for His heart of tenderness to us lies in Himself. We have no power. We love one another because we apprehend something deserving of love, or fancy that we do. We love one another because there is something in the object on which our love falls; which, either by kindred or by character, or by visible form, draws it out. We are influenced so, and love a thing because the thing or the person is perceived by us as being worthy, for some reason or other, of the love. God loves because He cannot help it; God loves because He is God. Our love is drawn out-I was going to say pumped out-by an application of external causes.
God’s love is like an artesian well, whensoever you strike, up comes, self-impelled, gushing into light because there is such a central store of it beneath everything, the bright and flashing waters. Grace is love that is not drawn out, but that bursts out, self-originated, undeserved. ‘Not for your sakes, be it known unto you, O house of Israel, but for Mine own name’s sake, do I this.’ The grace of God is above that, comes spontaneously, driven by its own fullness, and welling up unasked, unprompted, undeserved, and therefore never to be turned away by our evil, never to be wearied by our indifference, never to be brushed aside by our negligence, never to be provoked by our transgression, the fixed, eternal, unalterable centre of the Divine nature. His love is grace.
And then, in like manner, let me remind you that there lies in this great word, which in itself is a gospel, the preaching that God’s love, though it be not turned away by, is made tender by our sin. Grace is love extended to a person that might reasonably expect, because he deserves, something very different; and when there is laid, as the foundation of everything, ‘the grace of our Father and of the Son of the Father,’ it is but packing into one word that great truth which we all of us, saints and sinners, need-a sign that God’s love is love that deals with our transgressions and shortcomings, flows forth perfectly conscious of them, and manifests itself in taking them away, both in their guilt, punishment, and peril. ‘The grace of our Father’ is a love to which sin-convinced consciences may certainly appeal; a love to which all sin-tyrannized souls may turn for emancipation and deliverance. Then, if we turn for a moment from that deep fountain, ‘Love’s ever-springing well,’ as one of our old hymns has it, to the stream, we get other blessed thoughts. The love, the grace, breaks into mercy. The fountain gathers itself into a river, the infinite, Divine love concentrates itself in act, and that act is described by this one word, mercy. As grace is love which forgives, so mercy is love which pities and helps. Mercy regards men, its object, as full of sorrows and miseries, and so robes itself in garb of compassion, and takes wine and oil into its hands to pour into the wound, and lays often a healing hand, very carefully and very gently, upon the creature, lest, like a clumsy surgeon, it should pain instead of heal, and hurt where it desires to console. God’s grace softens itself into mercy, and all His dealings with us men must be on the footing that we are not only sinful, but that we are weak and wretched, and so fit subjects for a compassion which is the strangest paradox of a perfect and divine heart. The mercy of God is the outcome of His grace.
And as is the fountain and the stream, so is the great lake into which it spreads itself when it is received into a human heart. Peace comes, the all-sufficient summing up of everything that God can give, and that men can need, from His loving-kindness, and from their needs. The world is too wide to be narrowed to any single aspect of the various discords and disharmonies which trouble men. Peace with God; peace in this anarchic kingdom within me, where conscience and will, hopes and fears, duty and passion, sorrows and joys, cares and confidence, are ever fighting one another; where we are torn asunder by conflicting aims and rival claims, and wherever any part of our nature asserting itself against another leads to intestine warfare, and troubles the poor soul. All that is harmonized and quieted down, and made concordant and co-operative to one great end, when the grace and the mercy have flowed silently into our spirits and harmonized aims and desires.
There is peace that comes from submission; tranquility of spirit, which is the crown and reward of obedience; repose, which is the very smile upon the face of faith, and all these things are given unto us along with the grace and mercy of our God. And as the man that possesses this is at peace with God, and at peace with himself, so he may bear in his heart that singular blessing of a perfect tranquility and quiet amidst the distractions of duty, of sorrows, of losses, and of cares. ‘In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God; and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’ And he who is thus at friendship with God, and in harmony with himself, and at rest from sorrows and cares, will surely find no enemies amongst men with whom he must needs be at war, but will be a son of peace, and walk the world, meeting in them all a friend and a brother. So all discords may be quieted; even though still we have to fight the good fight of faith, we may do, like Gideon of old, build an altar to ‘ Jehovah-shalom,’ the God of peace.
And now one word, as to what this great text tells us are the conditions for a Christian man, of preserving, vivid and full, these great gifts,’ Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you,’ or, as the Revised Version more accurately reads,’ shall be with us in truth and love.’ Truth and love are, as it were, the space within which the river flows, if I may so say, the banks of the stream. Or, to get away from the metaphor, these are set forth as being the conditions abiding in which, for our parts, we shall receive this benediction-’In truth and in love.’
I have no time to enlarge upon the great thoughts that these two words, thus looked at, suggest; let me put it into a sentence. To ‘abide in the truth’ is to keep ourselves conscientiously and habitually under the influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and of the Christ who is Himself the Truth. They who, keeping in Him, realizing His presence, believing His word, founding their thinking about the unseen, about their relations to God, about sin and forgiveness, about righteousness and duty, and about a thousand other things, upon Christ and the revelation that He makes, these are those who shall receive ‘ Grace, mercy, and peace.’ Keep yourselves in Christ, and Christ coming to you, brings in His hands, and is, the ‘grace and the mercy and the peace’ of which my text speaks. And in love, if we want these blessings, we must keep ourselves consciously in the possession of and in the grateful response of our hearts to, the great love, the incarnate Love, which is given in Jesus Christ.
Here is, so to speak, the line of direction which these great mercies take. The man who stands in their path, they will come to him and fill his heart; the man that steps aside, they will run past him and not touch him. You keep yourselves id the love of G,6d,’by communion, by the exercise of mind and heart and faith upon Him; and then be sure-for my text is not only a wish, but a confident affirmation-be sure that the fountain of all blessing itself, and the stream of petty benedictions which flow from it, will open themselves out in your hearts into a quiet, deep sea, on whose calm surface no tempests shall ever rave, and on whose unruffled bosom God Himself will manifest and mirror His face.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Look to. App-133.
we. The texts read “ye” in both occurances.
lose. Greek. apollumi. See Joh 17:12.
have wrought. i.e. the truth and love resulting from John’s teaching.
reward. Greek. misthos. In John’s writings only here, Joh 4:36 (wages), and Rev 11:18; Rev 22:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] The warning is suddenly introduced without any coupling particle, and becomes thereby so much the more solemn and forcible. Look to yourselves (the construction with the reflective pronoun is not usual, see reff. here probably implies not as Bengel, me absente, but yourselves, as contrasted with the deceivers, that ye too become not as they), that ye lose not the things which we wrought (i. e. that ye, Christian converts, lose not that your Christian state of truth and love which we, Apostles and Teachers, wrought in you. This not being understood, the verbs have been altered in the various texts to the first or to the second person to conform to one another. The Apostles were Gods , Mat 9:37-38; Luk 10:2; Luk 10:7; 2Ti 2:15; the were , 2Co 11:13, , Php 3:2; the true was to cause men to believe on Christ, Joh 6:29; and this the false teachers put in peril of loss), but receive reward in full (what ? The connexion of with must not be broken. The idea is a complex one. Ye, our converts, are our in the day of the Lord: and this has suggested the use of the well-known word, even where it manifestly applies not to the teachers but to the taught, whose is the eternal life, which shall receive on that day its glorious completion: which is , . : see 1Jn 3:2.
If this reading be right, the use which Roman-Catholic expositors, as Bart.-Petrus, Mayer, al., have tried to make of this verse to establish the merit of human works (opera bona per Spiritum Dei facta mercedem apud Deum mereri, B.-Petrus), falls at once to the ground. Nor indeed does it fare much better if either of the other readings be taken. If the whole be in the first person, then the apostolic , the souls which are to be their hire, must be understood: if in the second, no human merit, but the reward laid up for faithfulness, and for every thing done in His name, must be understood, which is reckoned of grace, and not of debt).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Jn 1:8. , your own selves) in my absence.- , …) I think that the apostle wrote: , , that ye lose not the things which ye have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.[6] Whence some have put the whole admonitory sentence in the second person, others again, afterwards, in the first person.-, but) There is no half reward of the saints; it is either lost altogether, or received in full. There is a direct opposition. We must however consider the different degrees in glory.-, full) In full communion with God: 2Jn 1:9.
[6] The margin of the 2d Ed. and also the Germ. Vers. are in consonance. But in respect to the second member, the Germ. Version is at variance with the opinion here given, for it retains the second person; and in this very particular confirms the observation of the Gnomon, which presently follows, on the word .-E. B.
AB Vulg. Iren. Lucif. read and : Rec. Text, with inferior authorities, and .-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Look: Mat 24:4, Mat 24:24, Mat 24:25, Mar 13:5, Mar 13:6, Mar 13:9, Mar 13:23, Luk 21:8, Heb 12:15, Rev 3:11
that we lose: Gal 3:4, Gal 4:11, Phi 2:15, Phi 2:16, Phi 3:16, Heb 10:32, Heb 10:35, Rev 3:11
wrought: or, gained, “Some copies read, which ye have gained, but that ye receive, etc.”
that we receive: Dan 12:3, Joh 4:36, 1Co 3:8, 1Co 3:14, 1Co 15:8
Reciprocal: Lev 13:44 – utterly unclean Num 6:12 – but the Num 24:11 – the Lord 2Ch 15:7 – your work Psa 19:11 – keeping Pro 13:13 – rewarded Ecc 4:9 – a good Ecc 5:6 – destroy Eze 18:24 – All his Mat 6:1 – otherwise Mat 10:41 – a righteous man’s Luk 14:30 – General Luk 17:3 – heed Luk 19:19 – Be Luk 19:26 – and from 1Co 3:15 – he shall Col 2:6 – received Col 2:8 – spoil Col 4:10 – receive 1Ti 4:16 – Take 1Ti 6:5 – men
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Jn 1:8. Look to yourselves means for them to watch and not let the deceivers get in their evil work of leading souls astray. John had converted them to the Gospel and he did not want to have the disappointment of seeing them perverted by false teachers. That is what he means by lose not those things which we have wrought. He did not wish to lose the work he had accomplished in leading them to Christ. Full reward. No worker for Christ is to be rewarded with eternal life on the basis of his success in converting people nor on the faithfulness of his converts. But the reward consists in the joy (at the present time) of seeing them faithful. This is virtually the meaning of his statement in 3Jn 1:4 regarding his “children.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Jn 1:8. Look to yourselves: a rare expression, intimating the deep earnestness of the warning. That ye lose not the things which we have wrought: the apostles were Gods labourers; but, with refined delicacy, this apostle represents the reward of apostolic work, not as to be received by themselves, but, as to be received by their flocks.
But that ye receive a full reward: of our work and your own fidelity. The reward of Christian labour is a familiar idea in the New Testament; and the last chapter of the Apocalypse represents the Saviour as coming with His reward to render to each man according as his work is, Rev 22:12. But the labourers reward is not dependent on the fidelity of their converts, though the converts themselves lose it if unfaithful. The word reward here seems to refer to the other world; but, before mentioning that, St. John deprecates their losing the benefits of apostolic labours, which listening to evil workers would occasion. There is a beautiful contrast in the original words: See that ye let not slip all the fruits of our teaching, and all the benefits of your Christian discipline, in the present world; see that hereafter ye be found worthy of the completed rewards of Christian fidelity, as it is written, Every one therefore who shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father which is in heaven (Mat 10:32). The word full has no necessary reference to degrees of recompense: it is used as a most mighty stimulant, and what it means the next verse shows.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here our apostle resumes his exhortation to them to constancy and perseverance in the faith and obedience of the gospel, from this argument, lest they should lose the fruit of their faith professed, the profit of their afflictions which for the sake of Christianity they had suffered, and their works of piety and charity which they have performed; but continuing faithful to the death, might receive a full reward, even a crown of life.
Learn hence, That it is both lawful and needful, even for the best of saints in what they do in the service of God, to have an eye to the promised reward, by way of encouragement to them in the course of their obedience. We may with Moses have respect to the recompence of reward, but not only or chiefly, yet as a spur to provoke us to duty.
Perseverence in goodness has its reward belonging to it; that reward has a fulness of compensation, and a fulness of satisfaction, and that it is both lawful and laudable to have an eye in our working to this full recompence of reward.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
2Jn 1:8-9. Look to yourselves Take heed, lest you grow remiss or negligent in the course of your obedience. That we lose not, &c. Lest you lose the reward of what you have already done, which every apostate does; but that we receive Which every one that is faithful unto death shall do; a full reward That, having fully employed all our talents to the glory of him that gave them, we may receive the whole portion of felicity which God has promised to diligent, persevering Christians. Receive this as a certain rule; whosoever transgresseth Any law of God; and abideth not Does not persevere; in his belief of, and obedience to, the doctrine of Christ, hath not God For his Father and his God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ Believing and obeying it; hath both the Father and the Son Who have confirmed that doctrine in the most ample manner.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:8 {4} {e} Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
(4) He that makes shipwreck of doctrine, loses all.
(e) Beware, and take good heed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Compromise with the false teachers could lead to a loss of reward (cf. the warning passages in Hebrews). [Note: Barker, pp. 364-65; Marshall, p. 72.] Moreover loss for John’s readers would involve loss for him as well since he had a share in their lives. This loss would only be partial, however. They would still receive some reward (cf. 1Co 3:11-15). [Note: See Zane C. Hodges, "2 John," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, p. 907.] Loss of salvation is not in view at all.
"The readers are warned to take heed that the deceivers do not undo the work which the apostles and evangelists had done, so that they might receive a full reward." [Note: Ryrie, p. 1480.]
"John is anxious that they shall hold on with him to the finish." [Note: A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, 6:253.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 34
RAILING AT DIGNITIES-“THE ASSUMPTION OF MOSES”-ST. JUDES USE OF APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE.
Jud 1:8-12
ST. JUDE having given three terrible examples of the punishment of gross sin in Jews, Gentiles, and angels, proceeds to apply these instances to the libertines who in his own day, by their scandalous conduct as Christians, were provoking God to punish them in like manner; and the threefold description of their conduct here given seems to refer to the three instances just given, which are now taken in reverse order. Like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, these ungodly libertines “defile the flesh”; like the “angels which kept not their own principality,” they “set at naught dominion”; and like the unbelieving and rebellions Israelites in the wilderness, they “rail at dignities.” In all three particulars they show themselves as “dreamers” (). They are like men who say and do monstrous things in their sleep. They are deadened to all sense of decency and duty, “dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber” (Isa 56:10, where the same word that we have here is used in the LXX). They are sunk in the torpor of sin. {Rom 13:11} The Revisers have done rightly in omitting the epithet “filthy” in adding the word “also,” and in substituting “in their dreamings” for “dreamers.” The participle represented by “in their dreamings” does not belong to “defile the flesh” exclusively, but to the other two clauses as well; so that “filthy” is not even correct as an interpretation: it is quite unjustifiable as a rendering. There is no reason for suspecting that certain Levitical pollutions are indicated. Seeing that “in their dreamings” they “set at naught dominion, and rail at dignities,” dreaming must not be understood of actual sleep. Moreover, St. Jude does not say “defile their flesh,” but “defile the flesh” ( ), which includes more than their own bodies. He perhaps means that they pollute human nature, or even the whole animal world.
Like the men of Sodom, these profligates “defile the flesh.” Like the angels who sold their birthright for base indulgences, they “set at naught dominion.” But it is by no means easy to determine what this “dominion” or “lordship” () signifies. Calvin and others interpret this and “dignities” or “glories” () of the civil power: “There is a contrast to be noticed, when he says that they defiled or polluted the flesh, that is, that they degraded what was less excellent, and that yet they despised as disgraceful what is deemed especially excellent among mankind. It appears from the second clause that they were seditious men, who sought anarchy, that, being loosed from the fear of the laws, they might sin more freely. But these two things are nearly always connected, that they who abandon themselves to iniquity do also wish to abolish all order. Though, indeed, their chief object is to be free from every yoke, it yet appears from the words of Jude that they were wont to speak insolently and reproachfully of magistrates, like the fanatics of the present day, who not only grumble because they are restrained by the authority of magistrates, but furiously declaim against all government, and say that the power of the sword is profane and opposed to godliness; in short, they superciliously reject from the Church of God all kings and all magistrates. Dignities, or glories, are orders or ranks eminent in power or honor” (Calvins “Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles,” Eng. Tr., Edinburgh, 1855, p. 438). But if earthly rulers of any kind are meant by “dominion” and “dignities,” it is more probable that St. Jude is thinking of ecclesiastical officers; in which case the meaning would be that these libertines set Church discipline at defiance, and reviled the presbyters or bishops who rebuked them for their evil conduct.
It is, however, more probable that at least “dominion,” if not “dignities,” refers to unseen and supernatural powers. We must look backwards to Jud 1:4, and forwards to Jud 1:10, for a key to the interpretation. These profligates “turn the grace of God into lasciviousness,” and thus “defile the flesh”; and they “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ,” and thus “set at naught lordship.” Again, “what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed,” i.e., they ruin themselves, body and soul, by their carnal indulgences; while “they rail at whatsoever things they know not,” i.e., they speak with flippant irreverence respecting the invisible world, reviling angels, and perhaps mocking at Satan. We may, therefore, with some hesitation, but with a fair amount of reason, interpret “dominion,” or “lordship,” of Christ or of God, and “dignities,” or “glories,” of angels, remembering that either or both of these may include Christs ministers and messengers on earth. One of the ways in which these ungodly men denied Christ in their lives was by their contemptuous disregard of the teaching of His Apostles.
It is quite possible that in this particular also St. Jude is under the influence of the “Book of Enoch.” In it we read, “Ye fulfill not the commandments of the Lord; but ye transgress and calumniate greatness” (6:4); and again, “All who utter with their mouths unbecoming language against God, and speak harsh things of His glory, here they shall be collected” (26:2); and again, “My eyes beheld all the sinners, who denied the Lord of glory” (41:1). And with this last expression should be compared, “The splendor of the Godhead shall illuminate them” (1:8). But of course it does not follow that because St. Jude partly reproduces the language of this writer, therefore he uses it with precisely the same meaning.
“But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” The meaning of this illustration is obvious. The profane libertines allow themselves to speak of “dignities” in a way which even an archangel did not venture to adopt in rebuking Satan. It is a very strong argument afortiori. Consequently, the fact that it was an evil angel against whom Michael did not dare to rail by no means proves that it was evil angels against which the libertines did dare to rail. Rather the contrary may be inferred. They use language of good angels which Michael would not use of a bad one. That “dignities,” or “glories,” may include the fallen angels or evil spirits is perhaps possible; that it refers to them exclusively is very improbable. The word itself is against this; for “glories” is certainly a strange name to give to devils.
But a more interesting question lies before us as to the source from which St. Jude derived the story about Michael the archangel contending with the devil about the body of Moses. It is as unreasonable to suppose that he received a special revelation on the subject as to suppose that St. Paul received a special revelation respecting the names of the Egyptian magicians (see on 2Ti 3:8 in this volume). St. Jude refers to the incident as something quite familiar to his readers; and this could hardly have been the case if it had been specially revealed to himself. Lardner supposes that the reference is to Zec 2:1-2. But, excepting that the words, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan,” occur there, the difference between the two incidents is immense. Neither Michael nor the body of Moses is mentioned in Zechariah. The cause of Satans hostility is the consecration of Joshua the high priest. And it is the Lord, and not the angel, who rebukes the Evil One. These differences are conclusive; they leave just the features which need explanation still unexplained. We may safely decide that St. Jude is not alluding to anything contained in the Bible. More probably he is referring to some well-known Jewish story respecting the death and burial of Moses-in other words, to apocryphal literature.
“So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in the valley in the land of “Moab over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day”. {Deu 34:5-6} Those words excited the curiosity of the Jews; and as history told them nothing beyond the statement in Deuteronomy, they fell back upon imagination as a substitute, and the mysterious words of Scripture became a center round which a series of legends in process of time clustered. The “Targum of Jonathan” on the passage says that the grave of Moses was entrusted to the care of Michael the archangel. The “Midrash” on the same states that Sammael, chief of the evil spirits, was impatient for the death of Moses. “And he said, When will the longed-for moment come when Michael shall weep and I shall laugh? And at last the time came when Michael came to Sammael and said: Ah! cursed one! shall I weep while thou laughest? and he made answer in the words of Micah, {Mic 7:8} Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” The “Midrash” also contains another legend, in which the sin of the impure angels is mentioned in connection with the death of Moses. The soul of Moses prays that it may not be taken from the body: “Lord of the world, the angels Asa and Asael lusted after daughters of men; but Moses, from the day that Thou appearedst unto him. in the bush, led a life of perpetual continence”; the plea being that from so pure a body the soul need not depart. Both Gabriel and Michael shrink from bringing the soul, and Sammael failed to obtain it. “And Moses prayed, Lord of the world, give not my soul over to the angel of death. And there came a voice from heaven, Fear not, Moses; I will provide for thy burial. And Moses stood up and sanctified himself as do the Seraphim, and “the Most High came down from heaven, and the three chief angels with Him. Michael prepared the bier, and Gabriel spread out the winding-sheet. And the Most High kissed him, and through that kiss took his soul to Himself” (Plumptre in loco). These legends bring us a little nearer to the illustration used by St. Jude, for they bring Michael and the evil spirit into connection with what is related respecting the death and burial of Moses. But the contest between Michael and Satan respecting the body is not there. Origen tells us that this comes from an apocryphal book called “The Assumption” or “The Ascension ( or ) of Moses”; “In Genesis the serpent is described as having seduced Eve, regarding whom, in The Assumption of Moses (a little treatise of which the Apostle Jude makes mention in his Epistle), the archangel Michael, when disputing with the devil regarding the body of Moses, says that the serpent, being inspired by the devil, was the cause of the transgression of Adam and Eve” (“De Princip.,” III 2. sub init.). The book was fairly well known in the early Church. Clement of Alexandria quotes it (“Strom.,” 6. 15. sub fin.); and in the Latin translation of the “Hypotyposeis” his note on Jud 1:9 is “Hic confirmat Assumptionem Moysis.” Didymus of Alexandria says the same as Origen about St. Judes use of it, and censures those who made this an objection to the Epistle of Jude (“In Epist. Judge enarratio in Gallandi Biblioth. Patr.,” VI 307). Evodius, Bishop of Uzala, one of Augustines early friends (“Confess.,” IX 7:17; 12:31), in writing to him, speaks of it as the “Mysteries (Secreta) of Moses,” and calls it a writing devoid of authority (Aug. “Ep.,” 168. 6). It was known in the second half of the fifth century to Gelasius of Cyzicus, and in the second half of the eighth to Nicephorus of Constantinople, who, in his “Stichometria Sacrorum Librorum,” tells us that it was about as long as the Apocalypse of St. John. But from that time we hear no more of it until 1861, when Ceriani published about a third of it from a palimpsest in the Ambrosian Library at Milan (“Monu-menta Sacra et Prof.,” I 1. p. 55). This fragment contains the passage quoted by Gelasius, but most tantalizingly comes to an end before the death of Moses, so that we are still without the passage about the contest between Michael and the devil respecting his body. Nevertheless, we have no reason for doubting the statements of Origen and of Didymus that the book contained this incident, and that this is the source of the illustration used by St. Jude. Such evidence as we have confirms the statements, and there is no evidence on the other side. We know that there were legends connecting Michael and the Evil One with the death of Moses. We know that “The Assumption of Moses” contained similar material. Above all, we know that the incident mentioned by St. Jude is not in the canonical Scriptures, and therefore must have come from some apocryphal source, and that elsewhere in his Epistle St. Jude makes use of apocryphal literature. We are not, therefore, creating a difficulty by adopting the all but certain conclusion that this apocryphal work is the source from which St. Jude draws. Even if we reject this highly probable conclusion, the difficulty, such as it is, will still remain.
That “The Assumption of Moses” was written before our Epistle is almost universally admitted. Philippi is almost alone in thinking that its author was a Christian, and that he borrowed from St. Jude. Ewald, Dillmann, Drummond, Schurer, and Wiesler place it between B.C. 4 (the year of the war of Quintilius Varus, to which it almost certainly refers) and A.D. 6. Hilgenfeld, Merx, Fritzsche, and Lucius place it at different points between A.D. 44 and 70. But the earlier date is the more probable. The large fragment in Latin which we now possess was evidently made from a Greek document, and Hilgenfeld has attempted to restore the Greek from the Latin. But this Greek document may itself have been a translation from the Aramaic. In either case St. Jude would be able to read it.
That any true tradition on the subject should have been handed down orally through fifteen centuries, “without leaving the slightest trace in a single passage in the Old Testament,” is utterly improbable. This hypothesis, and the still more violent supposition of a special revelation made to St. Jude, are devices prompted by a reverent spirit, but thoroughly uncritical and untenable, to avoid the unwelcome conclusion that an inspired writer has quoted legendary material. Have we any right to assume that inspiration raises a writer to the intellectual position of a critical historian, with power to discriminate between legend and fact? St. Jude probably believed the story about the dispute between Michael and Satan to be true; but even if he knew it to be a myth, he might nevertheless readily use it as an illustrative argument, seeing that it was so familiar to his readers. If an inspired writer were living now, would it be quite incredible that he should make use of Dantes “Purgatory,” or Shakespeares “King Lear”? Inspiration certainly does not preserve those who possess it from imperfect grammar, and we cannot be certain that it preserves them from other imperfections which have nothing to do with the truth that saves souls. Besides which, it may be merely our prejudices which lead us to regard the use of legendary material as an imperfection. Let us reverently examine the features which inspired writings actually present to us, not hastily determine beforehand what properties they ought to possess. We not unnaturally fancy that when the Holy Spirit inspires a person to write for the spiritual instruction of men throughout all ages, He also preserves him from making mistakes as to the authenticity of writings of which he makes use, or at least would preserve him from misleading others on such points; but it does not follow that this natural expectation of ours corresponds with the actual manner of the Spirits working. “We follow a very unsafe method if we begin by deciding in what way it seems to us most fitting that God should guide His Church, and then try to wrest facts into conformity with our preconceptions.”