Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 3 John 1:7
Because that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.
7. Because that for his Name’s sake ] Much more forcibly the true text ( ABCKL), For for the sake of the Name: the ‘His’ is a weak amplification in several versions. A similar weakening is found in Act 5:41, which should run, ‘Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the Name.’ ‘The Name’ of course means the Name of Jesus Christ: comp. Jas 2:7. This use of ‘the Name’ is common in the Apostolic Fathers; Ignatius, Eph. iii., vii.; Philad. x.; Clem. Rom. ii., xiii.; Hermas, Sim. viii. 10, ix. 13, 28.
they went forth ] Comp. Act 15:40.
taking nothing of the Gentiles ] Hence the necessity for men like Gaius to help. These missionaries declined to ‘spoil the Egyptians’ by taking from the heathen, and therefore would be in great difficulties if Christians did not come forward with assistance. We are not to understand that the Gentiles offered help which these brethren refused, but that the brethren never asked them for help. ‘The Gentiles’ ( ) cannot well mean Gentile converts. What possible objection could there be to receiving help from them? Comp. Mat 5:47; Mat 6:7; Mat 18:17, the only other places where the word occurs. There was reason in not accepting money or hospitality at all, but working for their own living, as S. Paul loved to do. And there was reason in not accepting help from heathen. But there would be no reason in accepting from Jewish converts, but not from Gentile ones.
Some expositors render this very differently. ‘For for the Name’s sake they went forth from the Gentiles, taking nothing;’ i.e. they were driven out by the heathen, penniless. But ‘went forth’ is too gentle a word to mean this; and the negative ( not ) seems to imply that it was their determination not to accept anything, not merely that as a matter of fact they received nothing. For ‘receive from’ in a similar sense comp. Mat 17:25.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Because that for his names sake – The word his here refers to God; and the idea is, that they had undertaken this journey not on their own account, but in the cause of religion.
They went forth – Or, they have gone forth – exelthon – referring to the journey which they had then undertaken; not to the former one.
Taking nothing of the Gentiles – The term Gentile embraced all who were not Jews, and it is evident that these persons went forth particularly to labor among the pagan. When they went, they resolved, it seems, to receive no part of their support from them, but to depend upon the aid of their Christian brethren, and, hence, they were at first commended to the church of which Gaius and Diotrephes were members, and on this second excursion were commended particularly to Gaius. Why they, resolved to take nothing of the Gentiles is not stated, but it was doubtless from prudential considerations, lest it should hinder their success among them, and expose them to the charge of being actuated by a mercenary spirit. There were circumstances in the early propagation of Christianity which made it proper, in order to avoid this reproach, to preach the gospel without charge, those to whom it is preached to contribute to its maintenance, and that it is the right of those who preach to expect and receive a support. On this subject, see the 1 Cor. 9 notes, particularly 1Jo 1:15, 1Jo 1:18 notes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
3Jn 1:7-8
For His names sake they went forth.
Christian missions
I. The motive, conduct, and disinterestedness of missionaries.
1. Their motive: for His names sake–for Christs service.
2. Their conduct: they went forth. With the gospel in his hand and the Saviour in his heart he makes his way through burning deserts and the howling wilderness, braving the rage of climates.
3. Their disinterestedness: taking nothing of those to whom they are sent. When an artisan or commercial man quits his native country for foreign lands it is in the hope of making a fortune; or when a navigator undertakes an arduous voyage of discovery, it is with the hope of immortalising his name. Not so the Christian missionary.
II. The powerful and encouraging motives which we have to be fellow-helpers to the truth by contributing towards the great work of propagating the gospel.
1. It is the command of our Divine Redeemer: Go ye into all the world, etc.
2. Every intelligent and responsible being needs the gospel, which alone can supply all his moral and spiritual wants.
III. What is our duty under these affecting calls upon our sympathies and benevolence?
1. There is a widely-kindling zeal for the diffusion of knowledge, on the one hand, and an evident eagerness to receive instruction on the other.
2. The facilities for propagating the gospel are now greater than ever.
IV. the blessed effects which have actually resulted to mankind through the Divine blessing on missionary efforts.
V. The distinguished religious privileges with which we are pre-eminently favoured. (T. H. Home, B. D.)
Primitive missionaries
I. The example of the primitive missionaries.
1. They were well principled. This appears from their going forth, not only at the command of Jesus Christ, but for His names sake.
2. They were active amidst scenes of hardship. They went forth.
II. The case of private Christians, that is, what duty requires them to do on behalf of missionaries.
1. We are fellow-helpers to the truth when we suggest what is calculated to animate Christian ministers in their sacred career.
2. We are fellow-helpers to the truth when we contribute to the pecuniary support of Christian ministers.
3. We are fellow-helpers to the truth when we intercede earnestly on behalf of ministers, and of all whom they endeavour to bring to the knowledge of the truth. (O. A. Jeary.)
Missionary enterprise
I. The motive. To feel a strong compassion for perishing souls is a good incentive, but to work for the glory of God is better.
1. The glorious name. Its lustre is on every page of history.
2. The gracious name. And His name shall be called Jesus.
3. The enduring name. As long as the sun will shine in the heavens.
II. The enterprise. They went forth to proclaim this name.
1. An enterprise of self-sacrifice. Every earthly prospect was abandoned.
2. An enterprise of peril. Not only danger arising from natural causes, but from persecution. It meant possibly death.
3. Consequently an enterprise of faith.
III. The discretion. They accepted no hospitality from those who might have misunderstood their motive. They were careful that nothing should hinder the work. Prosperity as well as work was their aim. (The Weekly Pulpit.)
For the names sake
In all the older manuscripts the phrase is, For the names sake. The meaning is the same, but the expression of it is more striking in the general form.
I. For the names sake is the availing plea in acceptable prayer. God has revealed Himself in Christ. The name is the character; the name of God is the character of God as manifested among men. He has got Himself a glorious name, and our knowledge of that name has been completed, rounded, fulfilled, alone in Christ. To pray in His name, therefore, is to recognise God in Him, in His whole personality, in His whole history, in what He has done and suffered on our behalf.
II. For the names sake is in a pre-eminent degree the spring and motive power of holy obedience. This is the meaning of the text in its own connection. These men went forth in a spirit of self-consecration that asked no questions, that fixed no limits; they went forth to tell the world the news. And they lived upon the news they told. When they had plenty of outward comfort it was hallowed by the name. When they had no comfort the gospel was compensation. The gospel would be benefited by their self-denial–that settled the question in a moment. Nor was this a transient impulse pertaining exclusively to the very earliest days. It multiplied itself in great numbers of instances, it continued from age to age. The whole secret of such loyalty, of such endurance, of life so unselfish, so divine, lay in this–For the names sake. Nor let any one say that in this matter we live upon the past, and that we are always speaking of a glory that has faded from among men. Answer ye graves of missionaries on Indian plains! and ye martyrs for Christ lately slain. Ye glorious company of consecrated souls! You and your labours are more to the city, and more precious to the State, than bridges and viaducts, and queenly procession and regal pomp. What essentially is this Christian service? It means the consecration of the redeemed self in wholeness to the glory of Christ and to the service of our fellow-men under Him. The love of Christ has this perfectly unique peculiarity, that it is the love of God and the love of man in one; and when, for the names sake, we give ourselves to God and live to God, then we are swayed by this all-comprehending love. And just as surely as we are so, we are more than conquerors. For love is invincible. Of what importance, then, must it be to a Christian to be full of love, full of the love of Christ to him, full of quick answering love to Christ, full of the power of the name. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
Fellow-helpers to the truth.
Truth helpers
I. We are fellow-helpers to the truth when we yield ourselves to the influence of truth. The most powerful agencies only effect their work through co-operation.
II. We are fellow-helpers to the truth as we show its power in our lives. If you want to judge of the electric light you go and see it in operation, and as you see mansions, halls, and streets illuminated, you are impressed with the greatness and utility of the discovery more than you would be by all the writers and lecturers who attempt to describe its merits. So, when you see a man temperate, upright, and benevolent, happy amidst surrounding ills, patient in suffering, gentle under opposition, firm in upholding what is right, you see what education cannot do, what human effort cannot accomplish–what can only be realised and exhibited by those who know and receive the truth. You are impressed, convinced, led to admire and desire the same experience yourselves.
III. By prayer we may be fellow-helpers to the truth (2Co 1:11).
IV. We may be, and ought to be, fellow-helpers to the truth by personal and pecuniary contributions. We should be, like Caius, hospitable and generous. Men are honoured who fight the battles of their country, who make discoveries in science, who improve the arts of civilised life; but I tell you to have lived the truth, to have contributed to the advancement of the truth, will count for more in the eternity of the future than all the wreaths of honour that victors ever won or all the wealth that the millionaire has ever amassed. (R. Sewell.)
Fellow-helpers to the truth
What distinguishing honour has God put upon His chosen that He not only makes them partakers of His grace, but instruments for communicating that grace to others? Not the intellectual and the learned alone, not the bishop and the priest alone, but the weak and the despised.
I. The precious treasure confided to the disciples of Christ. The Truth. It is the Truth of God. Not merely as all truth may be said to be of God. It is not truth as gathered up from the works of God, it is not truth as wrought out by the efforts of human reason, it is not truth as discovered by investigating the mysterious page of providence, of which the apostle speaks, but it is the Truth revealed by God Himself. The Truth of God. Because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. The Truth of God: which He has authenticated by incontestable miracles, to which He has given the stamp and character of His own glory. The Truth of God: because, as God hath recorded it, so God conveys it to the believing mind and heart. It is written, All thy children shall be taught of God. It is the Truth of God that is entrusted to us, and it is the truth touching eternity. Take away this simple word and you take from the world all its moral, spiritual, eternal light. It is, too, the truth unto salvation. It does not merely reveal our origin, our duty, our destiny; it does not merely unfold to us the law that we have transgressed; it does not merely thus reveal to man what will deepen his guilt and darken his doom; but it does all this to prepare the way for the disclosures of that unspeakable work–the redemption of lost mankind through the incarnation, death, and blood of Gods own Son.
II. What is the duty of those to whom God has confided so untold a treasure? what is their duty towards that truth? We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow-helpers to the truth. And first of all, it is clear, our duty is to receive the truth in the love of it for our own souls. What mean we to aid in building the ark if we ourselves do not enter it? But if we receive the truth in the love of it, it is clear from the whole tendency of the gospel that we shall look upon that truth us a treasure confided to us us stewards, and it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. The truth is evidently not designed for the few, but for the many; not for some one chosen nation, but for the whole world. There is no exclusiveness in the gospel. Then the truth as it is in Jesus cannot communicate itself. God has made no provision for the truth to be self-propagated. He hath not ordained that it should be so much spread abroad by the written hook as that it should be proclaimed principally by the living voice. It is dear, therefore, that the truth is confided to the Church, that the Church may be fellow-helper to the truth, aiding it in its glorious career; giving it its chariot in which it may ride on conquering and to conquer; supplying, if we may so speak, the gale that is to spread the sails of the vessel, freighted with the pearl of great price, that it may bear it round the world.
III. How can we discharge ourselves of this responsibility? and how can the lowliest amongst us discharge his duty in this high matter? (H. Stowell, M. A.)
Fellow-helpers to the truth
1. By speaking friendly to the preachers of the truth. Hezekiah spake comfortably to the Levites, which was a cheering of their hearts, as the word importeth.
2. By a private instructing of others, as Priscilla and Aquila did Apollos. Householders that catechise their families are great fellow-helpers to the truth.
3. As they that made apologies for them.
4. By pulling them out of dangers. So they that let down Paul in a basket through the wall of Damascus were fellow-helpers to the truth that Paul preached.
5. By helping them to their maintenance. So did Hezekiah by commanding the people to pay their tithes and offerings to the priests and Levites, whereby they were encouraged in the law of the Lord (2Ch 31:4).
6. By ministering temporal things to them, by receiving the preachers of the truth into our houses, by relieving of their necessities, by affording them all the comfort we can, by sending to them if they be in distress. (W. Jones, D. D.)
All ought to be fellow-helpers
In the old coaching days, before railways were as common as they are now, I observed a notice about the amount of first, second, and third-class fares upon one of these coaches. As the seats all appeared alike, I took a third-class ticket, expecting to be as well off as those with second or first-class tickets, and beside that, I should have the satisfaction of having saved my money. However, at the foot of a steep hill the driver stopped, and shouted in stentorian tones, First-class passengers keep your seats; second-class passengers get out and walk; third-class passengers push behind. Let us all be third-class passengers, not sitting at ease looking on while others do the work, nor walking off from it, but pushing behind with all our might, and so helping and encouraging the often overworked and overstrained leaders who are bearing the burden and heat of the day. (F. Clarkson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. For his name’s sake they went forth] For the sake of preaching the Gospel of the grace of God, and making known JESUS to the heathen.
Taking nothing of the Gentiles.] Receiving no emolument for their labour, but in every respect showing themselves to be truly disinterested. Sometimes, and on some special occasions, this may be necessary; but the labourer is worthy of his hire is the maxim of the author of Christianity. And those congregations of Christians are ever found to prize the Gospel most, and profit most by it, who bear all expenses incident to it, and vice versa.
But some construe , they went out, with , from the Gentiles, or rather by the Gentiles, and give the passage this sense: They went out, i.e., were driven out by the Gentiles, taking nothing with them, i.e., leaving all their property behind, so that they were in a state of great destitution. A curious reading here, , heathenish men, for , Gentiles, which latter might imply those who were converted from among the Gentiles, while the sense of the other term seems to be restrained to those who were still unconverted, may seem to strengthen the above interpretation; and although the construction seems rather harsh, yet it is not, on the whole, unlikely. The reading above referred to is that of the most ancient and reputable MSS. That to be driven out or expelled is one scriptural meaning of the verb , see Mt 8:32: And when they were come out, , and when they were DRIVEN OUT. Mt 12:43: When the unclean spirit is gone out, , is DRIVEN OUT. See Mr 5:13; Mr 7:29: The devil is gone out of thy daughter, , is EXPELLED. Mr 9:29: This kind can come forth by nothing , can be DRIVEN OUT by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Lu 8:2: Mary Magdalene; out of whom went, , out of whom were CAST, seven demons. See also 1Jo 2:19; Re 3:12; and Schleusner, in voc. .
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles; it thence appears these were Jews, who went out from their own country to serve the interest of the gospel, which therefore he should serve in helping them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
hisnames sake Christs.
wentforth as missionaries.
takingnothing refusing to receiveaught by way of pay, or maintenance, though justly entitled to it, asPaul at Corinth and at Thessalonica.
Gentiles the Christians just gathered out by their labors from among theheathen. As Gaius himself was a Gentileconvert, the Gentiles here must mean theconverts just made from the heathen,the Gentiles to whom they had goneforth.It would have been inexpedient to have taken aught (the Greekmeden implies, not that they gotnothing, though they had desired it, but that it was of theirown choicethey tooknothing)from the infant churches among the heathen: the case was different inreceiving hospitality from Gaius.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Because that for his name’s sake they went forth,…. From Judea; either of their own accord to preach the Gospel, or being drove out by the unbelieving Jews, for professing the name of Christ; and be it which it will, there was good reason why they should be regarded, and especially since they did as follows,
taking nothing of the Gentiles; even of those who were converted, though their preaching the Gospel, to whom they ministered, for of others, the unconverted Gentiles, they could not expect to receive; and this they did, as the apostles before them, because they would not be chargeable to them, and lest it should be thought they sought their own worldly interest, and not the good of souls and glory of Christ, and so a stumblingblock be laid in the way of the Gospel, to hinder the progress of it. The Ethiopic version reads this in the singular number, “and I went forth for his name’s sake, taking nothing of the Gentiles”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For the sake of the Name ( ). The name of Jesus. See Acts 5:4; Rom 1:5 for and Jas 2:7 for the absolute use of “the name” as in 1Pe 4:16. “This name is in essence the sum of the Christian creed” (Westcott) as in 1Cor 12:3; Rom 10:9. It is like the absolute use of “the Way” (Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23; Acts 24:22).
Taking nothing ( ). Present active participle with the usual negative with participles (1Jo 2:4).
Of the Gentiles ( ). Instead of the usual (Lu 2:32), late adjective for what is peculiar to a people () and then for the people themselves (Polybius, Diodorus, not in LXX), in N.T. only here, Matt 5:47; Matt 6:7; Matt 18:17. Like our heathen, pagan. John is anxious that Christian missionaries receive nothing from the heathen, as our missionaries have to watch against the charge of being after money. There were many travelling lecturers out for money. Paul in 1Co 9 defends the right of preachers to pay, but refuses himself to accept it from Corinth because it would be misunderstood (cf. 1Thess 2:6; 2Cor 12:16). Note here as in collecting taxes (Mt 17:25) rather than , which may be suggestive.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
For His Name’s sake [ ] . His is supplied by the A. V. It is not in the text. Rev., correctly, for the sake of the Name. The Name (Jesus Christ) is used thus absolutely in Act 5:41; compare Jas 2:7. For a similar absolute use of the way, see on Act 4:2. See on 1Jo 1:7.
Taking nothing of [ ] . For the phrase taking of, or from, see on 1Jo 1:5.
The Gentiles [] . This word occurs elsewhere only in the Gospel of Matthew. The more common word is eqnh, which is the reading of the Tex. Rec. here : ejqnwn. See on Luk 2:32.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Because that for his name’s sake” the term “his name’s sake” refers to Jesus Christ, the person of truth, and His written Word of Truth, referred to 3Jn 1:1; 3Jn 1:3-4 above. See also Joh 14:6; Joh 17:17; Joh 8:32. On behalf of His name, certain brethren had visited Gaius and this church in Asia Minor, where he was a faithful missionary helper.
2) “They went forth”, the “they” who had gone forth seem to have been some well known and some less known (stranger) missionary brethren.
3) “Taking nothing” this term (Greek Lambanontes) means to seize by pressure or strong hand. (meden) not one thing.
4) “Of the Gentiles” This term means “from the races”. Let it be noted that while Paul appealed to brethren of Churches, well established congregations, to contribute, to help in missionary and benevolent work, he never used pressure of force or threat to elicit such. He rather suffered wrong, went in need, or worked with his own hands, than to be a bad example before the unsaved and weak Christians, 1Co 4:9-16; 1Co 9:11-18; 1Co 16:1-6; 2Co 12:13-19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. His name’s sake Literally, for the name, they went forth; that is the name above every name, of Jesus.
Went forth As holy itinerants, commissioned by the apostle, and preaching Jesus.
Taking nothing Receiving no compensation, and no payment of expenses.
Gentiles Among whom, rather than among Jews, their course of journey lay.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3Jn 1:7. Because that for his name’s sake “For the sake of spreading the name or religion of Jesus:” out of zeal for his honour and interest, they went out, abandoned their habitations, possessions, and callings, that they might spread his gospel; receiving nothing of the Gentiles among whom they laboured, that they might take off all suspicion of those mercenary views, above which divine grace had so far raised them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
3Jn 1:7 . Confirmation of the exhortation that has been uttered: the brethren deserve such help, for, etc. ] With the Rec. reading: , refers back to ; but this is to be regarded as an interpolation; (without ) is neither “the Christian doctrine or religion,” nor “the name of the brethren” (Paulus: “because they were called missionaries”), but “the name of Christ” (Lcke, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Sander, Braune, etc.), as in Act 5:41 (according to the correct reading); comp. also Jas 2:7 , and Ignatii ep. ad Ephes. cap. 3 and 7.
is here used in the same sense as in Rom 1:6 , and as in Act 15:40 (Lcke, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Sander, Braune, etc.); so that the sense is: for the sake of the name of Christ, i.e. for the spread of it, they went forth (as missionaries). Several commentators (Beza, Schmidius, Bengel, Carpzovius, Wolf) connect with [ ] in the sense: expulsi sunt a paganis; but this idea is arbitrarily imported into ; [20] besides, the connection with . . is unsuitable, because then the words remain too indefinite. The assertion of Wolf, that is not construed with , is refuted by Mat 17:25 . By the addition: , the necessity of assisting these brethren is brought out. The present participle is either used in the imperfect sense (3Jn 1:3 ), or as is more probable it is used in order to indicate the . . as the maxim of these missionaries (so also Dsterdieck and Braune). It is very usual to regard this maxim as the same as that which Paul took for his, and of which he speaks in passages like 1Co 9:18 ; 2Co 11:7 ff; 2Co 12:16 ff.; 1Th 2:9 ff.; but (= , comp. Mat 6:7 ; Mat 18:17 ) does not suit this; the maxim of Paul was not to make the care for his support an obligation on the Churches among which he laboured, but here it is heathen that are spoken of. It was by these that these missionary brethren would not allow themselves to be assisted, because they did not want to build up Christ’s work by the wealth of the heathen, but trusted to Christians that in Christian love they would provide for them what was needful. [21]
[20] Grotius, indeed, correctly connects . . with , but interprets : a Judaea ejecti sunt per Judaeos incredulos; the erroneous idea that the apostle considered the Jews as the antithesis of the Gentiles has clearly led him to this arbitrary interpretation.
[21] Ewald unsuitably deduces this maxim from the command of Christ, Mat 10:8-10 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
7 Because that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.
Ver. 7. They went forth ] To preach and gain souls to God. And this they did gratis, as Paul, because the false apostles did so at Corinth, seeking occasion against the true teachers, 2Co 11:12 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3Jn 1:7 . , sc. of Jesus ( cf. Act 5:40-41 ). There is perhaps a reference to this verse in Ignat. ad Eph. 7:1: , . 3:1: . , sc. from Ephesus, the seat of the Apostle and therefore the headquarters of the Church in Asia Minor. Cf. Introd. p. 155. , see note on 1Jn 2:4 . Winer (Moulton’s Winer, p. 463, note 1) draws a distinction, perhaps too fine, between and , The former would have been used here had the Gentiles “ proferred an acknowledgment; the latter implies exaction . The missionaries might have accepted maintenance (Mat 10:10 ), but like St. Paul they waived their right, “that they might cause no hindrance to the Gospel of Christ” (1Co 9 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
3 John
FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME
3Jn 1:7 .
The Revised Version gives the true force of these words by omitting the ‘ His,’ and reading merely ‘ for the sake of the Name.’ There is no need to say whose name. There is only One which could evoke the heroism and self-sacrifice of which the Apostle is speaking. The expression, however, is a remarkable one. The name seems almost, as it were, to be personified. There are one or two other instances in the New Testament where the same usage is found, according to the true reading, though it is obscured in our Authorized Version, because it struck some early transcribers as being strange, and so they tried to mend and thereby spoiled it.
We read, for instance, in the true reading, in the Acts of the Apostles, as to the disciples, on the first burst of persecution, that ‘they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name.’ And again, in Philippians, that in recompense and reward for ‘His obedience unto death’-the Father hath given unto the Son-’the Name which is above every name.’ Once more, though less obviously, we find James speaking about ‘ the worthy name by which we are called.’
Then the other part of this phrase is quite as significant as this principal one. The word rendered ‘for the sake of,’ does not merely mean-though it does mean that-’ on account of,’ or ‘by reason of,’ but’ on behalf of,’ as if, in some wonderful sense, that mighty and exalted Name was furthered, advantaged, or benefited by even men’s poor services. So, you see, a minute study of the mere words of the Scripture, though it may seem like grammatical trifling and pedantry, yields large results. Men do sometimes ‘gather grapes of thorns’; and the hard, dry work of trying to get at the precise shade of meaning in Scriptural words always repays us with large lessons and impulses. So let us consider the thoughts which naturally arise from the accurate observation of the very language here.
I. And, first, let us consider the pre-eminence implied in ‘the Name.’
Now I need not do more than remind you in a sentence that eminently in the Old Testament, and also in the New, a name is a great deal more than the syllables which designate a person or a thing. It describes, not only who a man is, but what he is; and implies qualities, characteristics, either bodily or spiritual, which were either discerned in or desired for a person. So when the creatures are brought to Adam that he might give them names, that expresses the thought of the primitive man’s insight into their nature and characteristics. So we find our Lord changing the names of His disciples, in some cases in order to express either the deep qualities which His eye discerned lying beneath the more superficial ones, and to be evolved in due time, or declaring some great purpose which He had for them, official or otherwise.
So here the name substantially means the same thing as the Person Jesus. It is not the syllables by which He is called, but the whole character and nature of Him who is called by these syllables that is meant by ‘the Name.’ The distinction between it, as so used, and Person, is simply that the former puts more stress on the qualities and characteristics as known to us.
Thus ‘the Name’ means the whole Christ as we know Him, or as we may know Him, from the Book, in the dignity of His Messiahship, in the mystery of His Divinity, in the sweetness of His life, in the depth of His words, in the gentleness of His heart, in the patience and propitiation of His sacrifice, in the might of His resurrection, in the glory of His ascension, in the energy of His present life and reigning work for us at the right hand of God. All these, the central facts of the Gospel, are gathered together into that expression the Name, which is the summing up in one mighty word, so to speak, which it is not possible for a man to utter except in fragments, of all that Jesus Christ is in Himself, and of all that He is and does for us.
It is but a picturesque and condensed way of saying that Jesus Christ, in the depth of His nature and the width of His work, stands alone, and is the single, because the all-sufficient, Object of love and trust and obedience. There is no need for a forest of little pillars; as in some great chapter-house one central shaft, graceful as strong, bears the groined roof, and makes all other supports unnecessary and impertinent. There is one Name, and one alone, because in the depths of that wondrous nature, in the circumference of that mighty work, there is all that a human heart, or that all human hearts, can need for peace, for nobleness, for holiness, for the satisfaction of all desires, for the direction of efforts, for the stability of their being. The name stands alone, and it will be the only Name that, at last, shall blaze upon the page of the world’s history when the ages are ended; and the chronicles of earth, with the brief ‘ immortality’ which they gave to other names of illustrious men, are molded into dust. ‘The Name is above every name,’ and will outlast them all, for it is the all-sufficient and encyclopaedical embodiment of everything that a single heart, or the whole race, can require, desire, conceive, or attain.
So then, brethren, the uniqueness and solitariness of the name demands an equal and corresponding exclusiveness of devotion and trust in us. ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord thy God is one Lord. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.’ And in like manner we may argue -There is one Christ, and there is none other but He. Therefore all the current of my being is to set to Him, and on Him alone am I to repose my undivided weight, casting all my cares and putting all my trust only on Him. Lean on none other. You cannot lean too heavily on that strong arm. Love none other except in Him; for His heart is wide enough and deep enough for all mankind. Obey none other, for only His voice has the right to command. And lifting up our eyes, let us see ‘no man any more save Jesus only.’ That Name stands alone.
Involved in this, but worthy of briefly putting separately, is this other thought, that the pre-eminent and exclusive mention of the Name carries with it, in fair inference, the declaration of His Divine nature. It seems to me that we have here a clear case in which the Old Testament usage is transferred to Jesus Christ, only, instead of the Name being Jehovah, it is Jesus. It seems to me impossible that a man saturated as this Apostle was with Old Testament teaching, and familiar as he was with the usage which runs through it as to the sanctity of ‘the Name of the Lord,’ should have used such language as this of my text unless he had felt, as he has told us himself, that ‘the Word was God.’ And the very incidental character of the allusion gives it the more force as a witness to the commonplaceness which the thought of the divinity of Jesus Christ had assumed to the consciousness of the Christian Church.
II. But passing from that, let me ask you to look, secondly, at the power of the Name to sway the life.
I have explained the full meaning of the preposition in my text in my introductory remarks. It seems to me to cover both the ground of ‘on account of,’ or ‘ by reason of,’ and ‘on behalf of.’
Taking the word in the former of these two senses, note how this phrase, ‘for the sake of the Name,’ carries with it this principle, that in that Name, explained as I have done, there lie all the forces that are needed for the guidance and the impulses of life. In Him, in the whole fullness of His being, in the wonders of the story of His character and historical manifestation, there lies all guidance for men. He is the Pattern of our conduct. He is the Companion for us in our sorrow. He is the Quickener for us in all our tasks. And to set Him before us as our Pattern, and to walk in the paths that He dictates, is to attain to perfection. Whosoever makes ‘for the sake of the Name’ the motto of his life will not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
And not only is there guidance, but there is impulse, and that is better than guidance. For what men most of all want is a power that shall help or make them to do the things that they see plainly enough to be right.
And oh, brother, where is there such a force to quicken, to ennoble, to lead men to higher selves than their dead past selves, as lies in the grand sweep of that historical manifestation which we understand by the Name of Jesus? There is nothing else that will go so deep down into the heart and unseal the fountains of power and obedience as that Name. There is nothing else that will so strike the shackles off the prisoned will, and ban back to their caves the wild beasts that tyrannize within, and put the chain round their necks, as the Name of Jesus Christ. That is the Talisman that ennobles everything, that evokes undreamed-of powers, that ‘out of these stones,’ the hard and unsusceptible and obstinate wills of godless men, will ‘raise up children unto Abraham.’ This is the secret that turns the heavy lead of our corrupt natures into pure gold.
And where does the impulsive power lie? Where, in that great continent, the whole life and work of Jesus Christ, is the dominant summit from which the streams run down? The Cross! The Cross! The Love that died for us, individually and singly, as well as collectively, is the thing that draws out answering love. And answering love is the untiring and omnipotent power that transmutes my whole nature into the humble aspiration to he like Him who has given Himself for me, and to render back myself unto Him for His gift. Brother, if you have not known the Name of Christ as the Name of the Divine Saviour who died on the Cross for you, you do not yet understand the power to transform, to ennoble, to energize, to impel to all self-sacrifice that lies in that Name. In the fact of His death, and in the consequent fact of the communication of life from Him to each of us if we will, lie the great impulses which will blessedly and strongly carry us along the course which He marks out for us. And they who can say ‘.For the sake of the Name’ will live lives calm, harmonious, noble, and in some humble measure conformed to the serene and transcendent beauty to which they bow and on which they rest. The impulse for a life-the only one that will last, and the only one that will lift-lies in the recognition of the Name. And so, let me remind you how our consequent simple duty is honestly, earnestly, prayerfully, always, to try to keep ourselves under the influence of that sweet compulsion and mighty encouragement which lie in the Name of Jesus Christ. How fragmentary, how interrupted, how imperfect at the best are our yieldings to the power and the sweetness of the motives and pattern given to us in Christ’s Name! How much of our lives would be all the same if Jesus Christ never had come, or if we never had believed in Him! Look back over your days, Christian men, and see how little of them has borne that stamp, and how slightly it has been impressed upon them.
Our whole life ought to be filled with His Name. You can write it anywhere. It does not need a gold plate to carve His Name upon. It does not need to be set in jewels and diamonds. The poorest scrap of brown paper, and the bluntest little bit of pencil, and the shakiest hand, will do to write the Name of Christ; and all life, the trivialities as well as the crises, may be flashing and bright with the sacred syllables. Mohammedans decorate their palaces and mosques with no pictures, but with the name of Allah, in gilded arabesques. Everywhere, on walls and roof, and windows and cornices, and pillars and furniture, the name is written. There is no such decoration for a life as that Christ’s Name should be inscribed thereon.
III. Lastly, notice the service that even we can do to the Name.
That, as I said, is the direct idea of the Apostle here. He is speaking about a very small matter. There were some anonymous Christian people who had gone out on a little missionary tour, and in the course of it, penniless and homeless, they had come to a city the name of which we do not know, and had been taken in and kindly entertained by a Christian brother, whose name has been preserved to us in this one letter. And, says John, these humble men went out ‘on behalf of the Name ‘ to do something to further it, to advantage it! Jesus Christ, the bearer of the Name, was in some sense helped and benefited, if I may use the word, by the work of these lowly and unknown brethren.
Now there are one or two other instances in the New Testament where this same idea of the benefit accruing to the name of Jesus from His servants on earth is stated, and I just point to them in a sentence in order that you may have all the evidence before you. There is the passage to which I have already referred, recording the disciples’ joy that they were ‘accounted worthy to suffer shame on behalf of the Name.’ There are the words of Christ Himself in reference to Paul at his conversion, ‘I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake.’ There is the church’s eulogium on Barnabas and Paul, as ‘men that have hazarded their lives for the Name of our Lord Jesus.’ There is Paul’s declaration that he is ‘ready, not only to be bound, but to die, on behalf of the Name of the Lord Jesus.’ And in the introduction of the Epistle to the Romans he connects his apostleship with the benefit that thereby accrued to the Name of Christ. If we put all these together they just come to this, that, wonderful as it is, and unworthy as we are to take that great Name into our lips, yet, in God’s infinite mercy and Christ’s fraternal and imperial love, He has appointed that His Name should be furthered by the sufferings, the service, the life, and the death of His followers.
‘He was extolled with my tongue,’ says the Psalmist, in a rapture of wonder that any words of his could exalt God’s Name. So to you Christians is committed the charge of magnifying the name of Jesus Christ. You can do it by your lives, and you can do it by your words, and you are sent to do both. We can ‘adorn the doctrine’; paint the lily and gild the refined gold, and make men think more highly of our Lord by our exam pie of faithfulness and obedience. We can do it by our definite proclamation of His Name, which is laid upon us all to do, and for which facilities of varying degrees are granted. The inconsistencies of the professing followers of Christ are the strongest barriers to the world’s belief in the glory of His Name. The Church as it is forms the hindrance rather than the help to the world’s becoming a church. If from us sounded out the Name, and over all that we did it was written, blazing, conspicuous, the world would look and listen, and men would believe that there was something in the Gospel.
If you are a Christian professor, either Christ is glorified or put to shame in you, His saint; and either it is true of you that you do all things in the Name of the Lord Jesus and so glorify His Name, or that through you the Name of Christ is ‘blasphemed among the nations.’ Choose which of the two it shall be!
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Because that = For.
for, &c. = on behalf of (App-104.) His name.
His. The texts read “the”.
taking = receiving.
nothing. Greek. medeis.
of. App-104.
Gentiles. Greek. ethnos.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3Jn 1:7. , the name) Understand, of God: Lev 24:11. Comp. Jam 2:7.-[, they went forth) either as exiles, or as preachers of the Gospel.-V. g.]-, nothing) They waived that to which they were justly entitled; and either received no reward for their labour, or submitted to the spoiling of their goods.-, from) Construct this with they went forth.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
that: Act 8:4, Act 9:16, 2Co 4:5, Col 1:24, Rev 2:3
taking: 2Ki 5:15, 2Ki 5:16, 2Ki 5:20-27, 1Co 9:12-15, 1Co 9:18, 2Co 11:7-9, 2Co 12:13
Reciprocal: Mat 10:11 – inquire Mat 19:29 – my Joh 21:17 – Feed Act 21:17 – the brethren 1Co 16:6 – that ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
BACK TO CHRIST
Behold, He cometh.
Rev 1:7
These words give us an Advent message. Back to Christ, that is the motto of to-day. We commemorate in the Advent season that the Lord has come, that the Lord will come, that the Lord is here. Many have been His comings since He came a child to Nazareth, many they will be before He comes in that last wonderful way of which we know not how to speak, except in such parables as He Himself has given.
I. Imparting gifts.The message of Advent links itself with the message of St. Andrews Day, We have found the Messiah. So spoke St. Andrew to his brother Peter; and that, again, is linked with that other saying that follows it so closely of Philip, Come and see (the Christ). For why do we wish that Christian missions should go out? Is it not because we have something so precious that it must be given away? It is the nature of all the precious things upon earth that they must not be kept, but given away. Nothing is too precious to give away. That which you want to have for yourself, that which you cannot enjoy with another, is not precious. Think what are the most valuable things. Take two only:
(a) The gift of knowledge. What do you want to do when you know? To impart. And why? Because in teaching you know that you know much better than you thought, and because you have the sympathy of another who knows; but best of all because knowledge is too good a thing to keep to yourself.
(b) The gift of love. What does love consist of but giving love? And love grows by being given away. These two things, knowledge and love, they are what we have of Jesus Christ, and so the Divine call Back to Christ is linked with the call of St. Andrews Day, Come and see. So it is that we want to teach, or to cause other people to teach, because we have something so precious that we must give it away.
II. Back to Christ.Are there any hearts here which are not stirred, are there any hearts here which do not know that Christ is so precious, that the knowledge and love of Christ are such precious things that they must needs publish them, that they must needs give them to others? Let me be a missionary to these hearts for one or two moments. Let me ask them humbly to go back to Christ.
(a) Back to Christ as He was, as you may read of Him, as you may almost follow His steps up and down the country of Galilee, as you may hear Him speak, as you may see Him die. Go back to him and see what kind of friend He was. Understand, again, what it was in Him that saved men and women, how He would never despair of any one who had despaired of themselves, of any one who would come and not place the confidence of their heart where they had so often placed it and misplaced it before, upon their own hopeless frailty, but upon His strength. Believe in Me, He said throughout His life, and thou shalt be saved. What is the message for men and women who despair, what is the message for men and women who are tired of their perpetual shortcomings? Not in yourself, but in the power which is outside you and yet which is so near, so near that from the outside it can come into the inside and there reanimate you. That is the message which He brought when He came to give life, namely, His own life, that men might live by it as He lived.
(b) And then again, as you come back to Christ, you see how, partly in condescension to our frailty, partly because of our Lords prevision of the dulness of human nature to understand mere words, partly because He knew that no language could convey what was meant as a simple symbol might, He enshrined that very truth, that very promise, that very essence of His healing power, in the simplest of symbols, the symbol, namely, of our eating and drinking, by which our bodily life is sustained. He handed down, for all those who followed Him to hand on, this great truth enshrined in the Sacrament, so much more expressive than any words, that by Him we live.
(c) Go back to Christ and learn at the altar that by Him you may live and live His life. And why? Because last of all He claimedand He has substantiated His claim in all these thousands of years and millions of believersHe claimed that in Him dwelt the Godhead, and He was one with the Father.
Bishop E. J. Palmer.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
LOOKING FOR THE LORDS RETURN
Who are they that are looking for their Lord? Who are they that are really watching for Him and that are expecting Him?
I. They are those who are so impressed with the persuasion of their Lords being at hand as to keep on the look-out.They are as faithful servants listening for their Masters knock. Soon, they exclaim, will He be here, either to require my soul in death, or to call me with the millions of my fellow-men before His judgment throne. Their hearts, therefore, are wakeful. They are observant of the times and seasons. They are attentive to events and providences. They seem to hear His voice in almost everything which happens to them. Prepare to meet thy God, and they hearken to that voice, spoken to them as it is both by Providence and Scripture. Christ is their Way, their Truth, and their Life, and they seek no other way of access to the Father but by Him.
II. How earnest are they for the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; and for that new heart which He creates! Anxious are they to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God, and through the grace bestowed on them, their desire is not in vain. They do exercise themselves in these blessed fruits of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Their expectation of their coming Lord has an influence on their earthly dealings and transactions.
III. They who look for Christ are those who love His appearing.We may expect things and prepare for things which we earnestly desire may never happen. It is not so with the man who looks for Christ. It is altogether otherwise; he looks for his Lord as longing for his Lords arrival. He is like one who is expecting the approach of him whom he dearly loves. That man, you know, will count the hours. He will think that time runs slowly till his friend is at his doors. So they who look for Christ anticipate the joyful moment of His coming, and are glad of everything which seems to promise it.
Rev. Dr. E. J. Brewster.
Illustration
Said the brave old Rabbi, Bury me with my sandals on and my staff beside me, that I may be ready when Messiah comes.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
3Jn 1:7. These traveling brethren were evidently engaged in spreading the Gospel, for the next verse speaks about being fellowhelpers to the truth. The Lord has “ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1Co 9:14). Yet Paul refrained from such support in order that he might relieve the brethren of that pressure. The brethren of our verse did something similar, except they evidently made that concession to the people of the nations (Gentiles).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Verse 7
Taking nothing of the Gentiles. This expression indicates that the persons referred to were preachers of the gospel who went forth to the Gentiles, but who wished to depend for support upon their Christian brethren.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The brethren in view in this whole situation were traveling preachers. To go out in the name of Christ was a great honor because of that name. This is the only New Testament book that does not mention Jesus Christ by name.
"This ’Name’ is in essence the sum of the Christian Creed (comp. I Cor. xii. 3; Rom. x. 9)." [Note: B. F. Westcott, The Epistles of St. John, pp. 238-39.]
Early Christian preachers normally received material support from other believers (cf. Act 20:35; 1Co 9:14; 2Th 3:7-9) or they supported themselves (cf. Act 18:3). They did not solicit or accept funds from unbelievers (cf. Ezr 8:22; Mat 10:8; 2Co 12:14; 1Th 2:9). "Gentiles" was a general term for unbelievers. Most of the Gentiles were pagans.
"There were numerous peripatetic streetpreachers [sic] from religious and philosophical cults who avariciously solicited funds from their audiences." [Note: Hiebert, 144:574:200.]
"Even in the present day, there is something unseemly in a preacher of the gospel soliciting funds from people to whom he offers God’s free salvation." [Note: Hodges, p. 913.]
"This does not mean that God’s servants should refuse a voluntary gift from an unconverted person, as long as the person understands that the gift will not purchase salvation. Even then, we must be very cautious. The king of Sodom’s offer was voluntary, but Abraham rejected it! (Gen 14:17-24)" [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, 2:543.]
Sometimes gifts from unbelievers, and some believers, have strings attached; returned favors are expected.