Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 20:35

I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

35. I have shewed you all things ] Better (as Rev. Ver.) “ In all things I gave you an example.” The verb is cognate with that noun which Jesus uses (Joh 13:15), “I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done unto you.”

how that so labouring ] i.e. in like manner as the Apostle laboured. And the verb implies “wearying toil.” He had spared for no fatigue. He speaks of this toil (2Co 11:27), “in labour and travail.”

ye ought to support [ Rev. Ver. “ help ”] the weak ] By “weak” does St Paul here mean those standing in need of material or moral help? Grimm (s. v.) takes it for the poor, those who are in want from any cause, as those must have been who could not support themselves, and whose wants the Apostle supplied by his own labour. Yet this is a very rare sense, as he admits, for the verb to have, and “feebleness” of faith and trust is much the more common meaning. And that sense suits well here. If among new converts large demands should be made for the support of those who minister, they who are weak in the faith as yet, may be offended thereby, and becoming suspicious, regard the preacher’s office as a source of temporal gain. An example like St Paul’s would remove the scruples of such men, and when they became more grounded in the faith, these matters would trouble them no more. For the use of “weak” in the sense of moral, rather than physical, weakness, cp. Job 4:3-4; Isa 35:3.

and to remember Jesus ] He appeals to them as though the saying was well-known, and as we notice this, we cannot but wonder at the scanty number of the words which have been handed down as “words of Jesus” beyond what we find in the Gospel. This is the only one in the New Testament, and from all the rest of the Christian literature we cannot gather more than a score of sentences beside. See Westcott, Introd. to Study of the Gospels, pp. 428 seqq.

how he said ] The Greek has an emphatic pronoun, which is represented in the Rev. Ver. “ he himself said.”

It is. receive ] In support of what has just been said about strengthening the feeble in faith, these words seem as readily applicable to that view of the Apostle’s meaning, as to the sense of “poverty.” What would be given in this special case, would be spiritual strength and trust; what is referred to in “receive” is the temporal support of the preacher, which St Paul refrained from claiming. We cannot doubt that he felt how much more blessed it was to win one waverer to Christ than it would have been to be spared his toils at tent-making by the contributions of his converts.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I have showed you – I have taught you by instruction and example. I have not merely discoursed about it, but have showed you how to do it.

All things – Or, in respect to all things. In everything that respects preaching and the proper mode of life, I have for three years set you an example, illustrating the design, nature, and duties of the office by my own self-denials and toil.

How that – Or, that – hoti. I have showed you that ye should by so laboring support the weak.

So labouring – Laboring as I have done. Setting this example, and ministering in this way to the needs of others.

To support the weak – To provide for the needs of the sick and feeble members of the flock, who are unable to labor for themselves. The weak here denotes the poor, the needy, the infirmed.

And to remember – To call to mind for encouragement, and with the force of a command,

The words of the Lord Jesus – These words are nowhere recorded by the evangelists. But they did not pretend to record all his sayings and instructions. Compare Joh 21:25. There is the highest reason to suppose that many of his sayings which are not recorded would be treasured up by those who heard them; would be transmitted to others; and would be regarded as a precious part of his instructions. Paul evidently addresses the elders of Ephesus as if they had heard this before, and were acquainted with it. Perhaps he had himself reminded them of it. This is one of the Redeemers most precious sayings; and it seems even to have a special value from the fact that it is not recorded in the regular and professed histories of his life. It comes to us recovered, as it were, from the great mass of his unrecorded sayings; rescued from that oblivion to which it was hastening if left to mere tradition, and placed in permanent form in the sacred writings by the act of an apostle who had never seen the Saviour before his crucifixion. It is a precious relic – a memento of the Saviour – and the effect of it is to make us regret that more of his words were not recovered from an uncertain tradition, and placed in a permanent form by an inspired penman. God, however, who knows what is requisite to guide us, has directed the words which are needful for the welfare of the church, and has preserved by inspiration the doctrines which are adapted to convert and bless man.

It is more blessed to give – It is a higher privilege; it tends more to the happiness of the individual and of the world. The giver is more blessed or happy than the receiver. This appears:

(1) Because it is a condition for which we should be thankful when we are in a situation to promote the happiness of others.

(2) Because it tends to promote the happiness of the benefactor himself. There is pleasure in the act of giving when it is done with pure motives. It promotes our own peace; is followed by happiness in the recollection of it; and will be followed by happiness forever. That is the most truly happy man who is most benevolent. He is the most miserable who has never known the luxury of doing good, but who lives to gain all he can, and to hoard all he gains.

(3) It is blessed in the reward that shall result from it. Those who give from a pure motive God will bless. They will be rewarded, not only in the peace which they shall experience in this life, but in the higher bliss of heaven, Mat 25:34-36. We may also remark that this is a sentiment truly great and noble. It is worthy of the Son of God. It is that on which he himself acted when he came to give pardon to the guilty, comfort to the disconsolate and the mourner, peace to the anxious sinner, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, life to the dead, and heaven to the guilty and the lost. Acting on this, he gave his own tears to weep over human sorrows and human guilt; his own labors and toils to instruct and save man; his own life a sacrifice for sin on the cross. Loving to give, he has freely given us all things. Loving to give, he delights in the same character in his followers, and seeks that they who have wealth, and strength, and influence should be willing to give all to save the world. Imitating his great example, and complying with his command, the church shall yet learn more and more to give its wealth to bless the poor and needy; its sons and its daughters to bear the gospel to the benighted pagan; its undivided and constant efforts to save a lost world. Here closes this speech of Paul; an address of inimitable tenderness and beauty. Happy would it be if every minister could bid such an adieu to his people, when called to part from them; and happy if, at the close of life, every Christian could leave the world with a like consciousness that he had been faithful in the discharge of his duty. Thus dying, it will be blessed to leave the world; and thus would the example of the saints live in the memory of survivors long after they themselves have ascended to their rest.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 20:35

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The blessedness of doing good

I. That these words represent the character of our Lord. He was devoted to all the offices of humanity and good nature. The two general habits which filled the whole intenseness of His soul were unaffected piety towards God and charity to mankind. He had not any one affection in the blessed frame of His mind but what was Divinely exercised in constant acts of beneficence; for He scarce so much as ever indulged Himself in any one innocent pleasure of human life, but the going about continually to do good. And here observe that our Lord chose not the charity of almsgiving for His province, how blessed a part soever that be, for gold and silver He had none; neither had He the like obligations with us to lay a good foundation against the time to come. This part, therefore, He left for those principally whom He intended to honour with the sacred trust of being the immediate stewards of His providence; to whose commiseration and care He should commit the indigent creatures of His family. This part of liberality, I say, our Lord exercised not; but His Divine compassion was intent upon a charity much more exalted than this–the relieving the souls of men, and providing for their eternal welfare.

II. That they express the genius of his religion, the natural tendency whereof is to smooth and soften our harsh and unrelenting tempers, that thereby we might be perfectly disposed and furnished unto every good work.

III. That they declare to us wherein the peculiar blessedness of the Christian life doth consist, which is best promoted by giving and by doing good. For charity is not a solitary virtue, a single blessing, but the happy conspiration of all those tender passions from whence humanity, that is, the most perfect state of human nature, takes its name. Nay, all that we know of God, whereby He is in Himself the blessed for evermore, and to us, the great object of our love and adoration, is, that He is absolutely perfect in all the infinite varieties of goodness, wherein the several infirmities and wants and sins of all His creatures take their sanctuary and their refuge. Reflect, I beseech you, on all the various scenes of life which employ the sons of men. What part can we act upon this great theatre so delightful, so honourable, and so nearly allied to God, as that of a patron and friend of mankind! But how blessed it is to give! how much of the life of God there is in it! (G. W. Brooke, D. D.)

Charity blessed

I. I am to explain the grounds upon which we are obliged to works of charity.

1. The principles of natural justice; and–

2. The light of revelation.

II. In what measure our charity is demanded by God.

1. That we are bound to give in proportion to the necessities of the poor. And as their numbers and wants increase, we are to be more liberal; as they lessen, by being set on work, or provided for otherwise, we are under no obligation of scattering unnecessary relief.

2. That every man is obliged to give in proportion to his own affluence and stated income; and between God and his own conscience to allot such a part of it for charity as may answer the general precepts concerning it.

III. Let us now consider upon what objects our charity is most usefully employed.

1. Such as suffer for the truth of the gospel, either against infidelity, or against idolatry and gross corruptions. And in them most properly Christ Himself is relieved.

2. In distinguishing objects of mercy let us regard those especially that are recommended to it by their own worth, or by that of their progenitors.

3. Such objects are well qualified for our compassion as fall into distress or decay by a sudden calamity overtaking them, or by the immediate hand of God; and not by idleness or vice, where the relief of a scourge is generally the fittest.

4. Such objects are very fit for our charity as will improve what is given them, and lay it as the foundation of their future livelihood.

5. From these who are bred up for the service of their country let us proceed to those who by serving it are maimed, and disabled from getting their own bread; and these certainly are worthy objects of public charity.

6. Whenever we are disposed for acts of mercy, they that have the most pressing wants to speak for them are always fittest for our present choice; for charity looks not barely at the man, but at his necessities.

And now upon review, I shall briefly annex five rules concerning the management of our alms.

1. Charity which prevents men from being oppressed with poverty is better than that which only supports them under it.

2. Charity which aims at the public service is better than that which is only for private relief.

3. Charity which is disposed of into a perpetual fund is better than that which is immediately melted and consumed.

4. Charity applied to the making of men virtuous is better than that which only refresheth the body.

5. Charity expended for correcting the idle, and forcing them to work, is better than that which gives them a present ease.

IV. And what need I say more for the encouragement of all these charities than to repeat the words of our Lord Jesus, It is more blessed to give than to receive?

1. It is the advantage of works of charity that they are usually attended here with temporal and spiritual mercies. If thou satisfy the afflicted soul the Lord shall guide thee continually, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden (Isa 58:10-11).

2. The blessedness of charity is yet much greater in that it secures an endless inheritance in the next world (1Ti 6:18-19). And is not this abundant conviction that it is more blessed to give than to receive?

And to confirm us in this persuasion, I shall strengthen what has been said with two considerations.

1. That God will strictly inquire hereafter what the rich have done with all that plenty which He bestowed upon them. And therefore it behoves them to be well prepared for their answer to Him.

2. Let it be considered that the only way to make riches a blessing is to employ and manage them as God hath appointed. (Z. Isham, D. D.)

Receiving and giving

These words suggest three things in relation to Christ.

1. The unrecorded portions of His words.

2. The unworldly character of His teaching.

3. The unselfish character of His life. The text suggests–

I. That receiving and communicating are the two grand functions of life.

1. Man has acquisitive tendencies and powers. His desire for getting is ever active and ineradicable.

2. Man has the impartive tendencies and powers. His social and religious instincts urge him to give what he has attained.

II. That the eight discharge of both these functions is blessedness. This is implied by the word more. To receive in a right spirit, and for right ends, is a truly blessed thing.

1. Receiving as the reward of effort is blessedness. It is natural to feel happiness when the result laboured for has been reached.

2. Receiving as a consciousness of fresh power is blessedness. A conscious augmentation of our powers and resources is joy.

3. Receiving with religious gratitude is blessedness. Gratitude is joy; it is the inspiration of Heavens anthems.

III. That the blessedness of the right discharge of the communicating function is the greater. It is more blessed, etc., because–

1. It is more spiritualising. Every generous, disinterested act tends to detach the soul from the material and temporary, and to ally it with the spiritual and eternal. The man who is constantly gaining and not giving, becomes more and more the slave of selfishness, materialism, and time.

2. It is more socialising. In giving you awaken in the social sphere sympathy, gratitude, and admiration. The loving man awakens love, and happiness has been defined as loving and being loved.

3. It is more God-assimilating. God gives, but cannot receive. He gives all, and only gives. The nearer we approach to God the more blessed we are. Cicero says that men resemble the gods in nothing so much as in doing good to their fellow creatures. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

It is more blessed to give than to receive

The few words of the Lord Jesus here preserved for us by St. Paul, are his crystallisation of a truth which is as deep as the nature of God, which penetrates his whole creation, and on which certainly Jesus own life turned. It forms a key to the whole disclosure of the Divine character which lies open to us in the mission of the Son. Yet it needs no more than a very moderate knowledge of human society to discover that mankind at large act on an opposite rule. That each should take all he can get and mind Number One, are the commonplaces of worldly wisdom. Gladly to take, but to give with reluctance, is, as we say, human nature. At the same time there are certain deeper facts of life which prove this Divine maxim not to be at variance with true human nature, but only with the present unnatural state of human character. In order to see this it is needful to attend to–

I. What these words do, or rather do not mean.

1. They do not mean that it is an unblessed thing to receive. God has made us all dependent upon His own giving, and also dependent mutually upon one another. We must receive before we can give; and whenever we begin to give someone must receive. The relation is blessed on both its sides. Service, therefore, like mercy, is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes; but of two blessednesses, saith Jesus, the higher is that of giving. Now, does not the human heart respond to this comparative estimate? Nearly all men will agree that the domestic relations form the happiest part of life. But this family blessedness turns far more on what we give than on what we get. The infant, for example, which receives everything and gives back nothing, has a blessedness infinitely feebler than that of its nursing mother. They do not mean that giving is more pleasant. Very often it is quite otherwise. Perhaps all giving means temporary loss and suffering. It is eminently so, at least, with the noblest sorts of giving, e.g., a mothers devotion to her child; yet her giving is more blessed than its receiving because it expresses nobler affections, trains her to nobler habits. I ask again, does not the world echo this thought of Christs? In the articulations of society each one has something to give, and he must give it. But we count that man noble who gives to the general good the largest amount of costliest service.

III. The conditions on which giving brings blessedness. These conditions may be summed up in one brief law–That the act of giving is only blessed when it is moral; and always blessed in proportion to its moral pureness and nobleness.

1. There is an unconscious giving. This mutual ministry of help pervades creation. Earth gives of her strength to feed her inhabitants, and of her hidden treasures to enrich them. The beasts lend to man their skill and muscle, and bequeath to him their very bodies when they die. But it is needless to add that all this unconscious and involuntary exchange of benefits in dead or in brute nature, brings no blessedness. A child knows that there is no real worth, nor blessedness, in any giving which is not the intentional act of a conscious agent, which is not, in short, moral. When the human worker is content to work like an animal in the mere struggle for existence, his work may be ever so precious a gift to society, but he is no longer blessed in his giving, and–

2. There is reluctant giving. We make presents because they are expected; we entertain our friends that they may entertain us; we pay compliments for politeness sake; we subscribe to charities under the constraint of opinion; we lend to our neighbour wishing he had not asked us. Now, to whatever extent the wish retracts what the hand bestows, to that extent giving brings no blessedness, because it is immoral in motive. It brings rather cursedness, both because it is to that extent false, wearing a show of charity which is not genuine, and because it argues a division of the man against himself.

3. There is a giving which is not simply defective through the weakness of charity, but at bottom utterly base through the want of it. It is a mean thing to oblige a man with a slight accommodation in the hope of extorting or coaxing from him a greater return; to pay court to a great man, not from loyalty, but for the paltry vanity of being noticed, or the ignoble desire to profit by him; to use ones influence for an importunate suitor, only to get rid of his importunity; to give handsome sums to public charity that ones name may appear well in the advertisements. We must be simpler in our giving if we would be blessed in it. Evil is never so cursed as when it walks in the stolen white garb of good, nor selfishness ever so unblest as when it mimics charity.

III. Rising above human giving, let us gaze upon the Divine–the ideal after which men are to be remade in Christ. God has this solitary preeminence in blessedness, that He gives everything and receives nothing. On this account, as on every other, His is the noblest life, because He is forever imparting of His own to all, and gets in return only what He first has given. It utterly baffles imagination to conceive what streams of reflected gladness must pour back upon the heart of the Infinite Lover from even one small section of the world which He has made so happy. The sunshine and the field s delight us sometimes for a little; they delight God always; and when we, with our love and tenderness, sweeten each others life, that adds more sweetness to the life of God. The rarest joy granted to man below is the joy of leading a brother into the light and love of our common Father; but He, our Father, has the luxury of leading all of us into light, of teaching every child He has to know at least a little of the truth and to love the good a little. God has tasted a still deeper blessedness. When God made all things good, or when He makes His fair world glad, He gives only as rich men give stray coins away, feeling no loss. But can God feel loss? or touch the mysterious blessedness which underlies the pain of sacrifice? For us sinful men and for our salvation, God has–so to speak–drawn upon the resources of His moral nature, and expended not His thoughts, or strength, or pity only, but Himself. He left nothing ungiven when the Son gave Himself for us. Jesus life was one of giving. Because He received so little from His fellow men and gave them so much, His life reveals God. Just here there was realised the supreme blessedness of the Divine nature; for here the Divine character realised in act its supreme nobleness. Down through the mysterious anguish of giving Himself away in utter loss, and pain, and death, the Divine heart pierced to a blessedness than which nothing can be more blessed, the blessedness of daring to die for the saving of the lost. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)

More blessed to give than to receive

An Irish schoolmaster who, whilst poor himself, had given gratuitous instruction to certain poor children, when increased in worldly goods began to complain of the service, and said to his wife he could not afford to give it any longer for nothing, who replied, Oh, James, dont say the like o that–dont; a poor scholar never came into the house that I didnt feel as if he brought fresh air from heaven with him–I never miss the bit I give them–my heart warms to the soft, homely sound of their bare feet on the floor, and the door almost opens of itself to let them in. (Clerical Library.)

Wherefore is it more blessed to give than to receive

Because–

I. It delivers us from ourselves; from–

1. The bonds of selfishness.

2. The cares of superfluity.

3. The burden of dependence.

II. It unites us to the brethren.

1. By their friendly attachment.

2. Their active gratitude.

3. Their blessed intercession.

III. It brings us nearer to our God. We are permitted to be–

1. Similar to the image of the All-Good.

2. Sharers in the delight of the All-Loving.

3. Expectants of the reward of an Eternal Rewarder. (K. Gerok.)

To give more blessed than to receive

1. After this there was nothing more to be said; from such words there is no appeal. But the elders had heard them before, and were asked to remember what had become a proverb among them.

2. The saying is unequivocally in the style and manner of our Lord. It is another beatitude. As there were many things that Jesus did which could not be written, so with many things that He said.

3. Meanwhile this saying, like a flower from the early gospel time, floating down the stream of Church life, has been caught by an apostles hand, and because so caught is as fresh and fragrant as at the first. It comes to us, not increased in value, for it is already priceless, but recommended and enforced by the great apostle. The manner of quoting it is unmistakably St. Pauls. The Lord Jesus is a designation he frequently uses, full both of reverence and tenderness.

4. The proverb has many sides, and touches human and Christian life at every point. It is true in reference to–

I. The production of happiness. We are blessed in doing good, even if we gain no reward. I knew a man of immense wealth, but his mind was always uneasy, his face always anxious. He was not without conscientious feelings in regard to his property; but he could not make up his mind to give largely. And then death came when his wealth ceased to be of use: but it might have been of use here, and then there would have been a reaction upon himself. Another I knew, far less wealthy; but his life was laid out in diffusing happiness, and there was a perpetual smile upon his face.

II. The formation of character. The highest qualities of heart and life can be acquired only through active exercise. A man is not really unselfish unless he acts unselfishly. By giving we obtain the power of giving. No natural object is more full of characters than a river; but it is by reason of its motion that it becomes beautiful and beneficent. The tree by putting forth its leaves in confident profusion this year grows firmer and larger for next year. The harvest suggests deeper analogies. The dying of the seed corn is set before us as the law of self-sacrifice; and how grandly Paul teaches this analogy from Psa 112:1-10. (2Co 9:8, etc.).

III. The exertion of influence. If we desire to be great and godlike by exercising a power for good, it must be by the diffusive power of our religion. Our Lord says, Ye are the salt of the earth, etc., immediately after the beatitudes whose spirit is carried into these sayings also.

IV. The sustentation of Church work. True Church prosperity is secured by the perpetual habit of giving, and not simply our money, but our service, sympathy, time, etc. For the Church is a cooperative society in and for which each member is appointed to give out that which he has to give, and to find and create happiness in so giving. Many think they can be quite good Christians while they are mere recipients; but it is a great mistake. No one can be holy or happy without giving.

V. The vigour of missionary enterprise. Christianity is in its very conception an aggressive and converting religion. If not this, it is nothing. Who ever gave so much to the world as Paul, and received so little from it? And who has been more truly blessed?

VI. The standard and encouragement of the ministerial office. This office consists in perpetual giving, and hence must be preeminently blessed. This is a danger lest it should degenerate into the discharge of certain functions. But let there be a sincere self-consecration for Christs sake, and with all his anxieties no position is so really happy as that of a Christian minister. It is his very trade to do all the good he can. (Dean Howson.)

The comparative blessedness of giving and receiving

1. We might easily imagine occasions on which these words may have dropped from Christs lips. They may have checked the entreaties of His disciples that He would for once think more of Himself and less of others. They may have answered some kind and friendly remonstrance when He turned aside from an untasted meal to attend to the sorrows and sicknesses which ever thronged the doors within which He rested. They may have explained on any occasion the secret of His perpetual self-sacrifice.

2. Were they not indeed the key to His whole life? Was not this the secret of His humiliation? And when He had thus humbled Himself, did not the same principle originate every act and prompt every motion?

3. How bright a light does this one expression throw upon the whole character of Jesus, Suppose that He had been personally known to later generations but by this one brief sentence? Should we not all have framed to ourselves instinctively some conception of that character which thus expressed itself, of that life which this principle must have moulded? What an intuition must He have possessed, who thus spake, into the real secret of greatness, the true dignity of man, and the essential characteristic of God! More blessed to give than to receive? More blessed, asks the selfish old man, to have an empty coffer than a full one? More blessed, asks the young man of pleasure, to admit another than myself to the desired scene of gaiety? More blessed, asks the man of business, the statesman, or, the student, to stand aside and let others pass me than to reap the fruit of my own skill or perseverance? Nay, let me hear that, however painful, the loss must be submitted to; that it is a condition of the kingdom, and I can understand you: but say not that there is any blessedness in such a life of mortification. Such is ever the true feeling of a fallen and unrenewed nature: there was an inspiration in the words before us; and till He who spake also inspires, we shall hear them still as exaggerated or unmeaning words. And yet if more blessed means in other words, more Divine, more Godlike, is not the saying at once proved true? God, who possesses all things, cannot receive: God, who upholds all things, is ever giving. To receive is to be a creature: to give is to be so far a partaker of the Divine nature. We will illustrate the saying in two particulars.

I. Take the commonest and most obvious of all applications–money.

1. It has many uses; purchases many pleasures; has many powers. With limitations, it can even buy knowledge, rank, subservience. If it cannot buy love, it can buy some substitutes. The rich man is better off than the poor man. Not happier, necessarily, nor better: but better off; speaking of this life only. Now can we possibly say of money, these being its advantages, that it is more blessed to give than to receive? Few men seem to find it so. What an eagerness is there to get money! What a pleasure in finding it multiply! What a desire to die rich! At last it becomes a passion, a business, an appetite, a disease. It is too late, perhaps, then to gain an audience for this Divine saying.

2. But let us try it betimes. Is there nothing in human nature which responds to it? I can fancy a man of average virtue saying, My chief pleasure in money is in paying it away. I rejoice to feel that I owe no man anything; to think that that man, who has served me, is the better for me. Yes, I enjoy paying away at least as much as receiving. This is a poor and faint image of the glorious principle of the text: but it is well to show that Christianity is not all transcendental, but that it seizes upon something which is in all of us till we are utterly hardened, and raises it into a region where approval at least and admiration may follow it.

3. But I do not believe that hearts will ever be changed into the love of giving, save by the entrance of the Spirit of Christ. When the world is seen as it is, and heaven as it is; when we perceive that we are not our own, but bought with a price; when once the example of Christ, who left heaven for us, and the faith of Christ, who opened heaven to us, are felt by us as real motives; then we shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory; we shall value the wealth of this world chiefly for its power of relieving distress and spreading the gospel; we shall find that the Saviours saying is verified.

II. I pass from the basest to the highest of possessions; from money to love.

1. There are those amongst us whose nature is athirst for love. Life is a wilderness to them without it. If there were but one person who loved them they feel that they should be happy. And it comes not. Or they have love, but it is not the love which they desire.

2. We cannot but think that our Saviour has a word for these, and that the text speaks to them, and says, Little as you may think it, it is more blessed, in this respect, to give than to receive. Christ came unto His own, and His own received Him not. It is more blessed, because it is more Christlike, to love than to be loved. To love, and therefore to do good; to love, and therefore to be willing to spend and be spent, though the more abundantly I love, the less I be loved. This is what Christ did: and the disciple is not greater than his Lord.

3. One thing you can say even now, if you be His; that you would not exchange the lot of the unloved for the lot of the unloving. You would not part with the power to love; even for the sake of being free from its disappointments, free from its aching voids or its rough repulses.

4. Purify and refine your affection, more and more, by every argument and every motive of the gospel; wash out of it all, earthly stains, burn out of it all human corruptions: and then cherish it, give it, yea, lavish it. Give as your Saviour gave, without a bargain, and without an expectation, and without a repining, and without one backward look, and in the end you shall be able to echo His words. (Dean Vaughan.)

The blessedness of giving more than receiving

To be governed by this principle is an argument–

I. Of a more happy spirit and temper. Because–

1. It is the nearest resemblance of the Divine nature, which is perfectly happy.

2. It is a grateful acknowledgment of our obligations to God, and all that we can render to Him for His benefits.

3. It is an argument of great wisdom and consideration; for the reflection upon any good that we have done is a felicity much beyond that of the greatest fortune of this world; whereas the spirit contrary to this, is always uneasy to itself; but were our nature rectified and brought back to its primitive frame and temper, we should take no such pleasure in anything as in acts of kindness, which are so suitable and agreeable to our nature that they are peculiarly called humanity.

II. Of a more happy state and condition.

1. To receive from ethers plainly shows that we are in want. But to be able to benefit others is a condition of freedom and superiority, and the happiness which we confer upon others we in some sort enjoy, in being conscious to ourselves that we are the authors of it. And could we but once come to this excellent temper we need not envy the wealth and splendour of the most prosperous.

2. To depend upon another, and to receive from him, is the necessary imperfection of creatures; but to confer benefits is to resemble God. Aristotle could say, that by narrowness and selfishness, by envy and ill-will, men degenerate into beasts, and become wolves and tigers to one another; but by goodness and kindness, by mutual compassion and helpfulness, men become gods to one another.

3. The angels are, as it were, perfectly transformed into the image of the Divine goodness, and therefore the work which, with so much cheerfulness and vigour, they employ themselves in, is to be ministering spirits, to bring men to goodness, and to encourage, and assist, and comfort them in well-doing. And our blessed Lord, when He was upon earth, did in nothing show Himself more like the Son of God than in going about doing good.

III. Of a great reward. There is no grace which hath in Scripture the encouragement of more and greater promises than this.

1. Of happiness in general (Pro 14:21; Mat 5:7; Luk 6:38; Job 25:12).

2. Of happiness in this life (Psa 37:3; Pro 28:27; Psa 41:1-3).

3. Of happiness in death (Pro 14:32; Isa 57:1).

4. Of happiness in the world to come (Luk 14:13-14; Luk 16:9; 1Ti 6:17-19). (Abp. Tillotson.)

The blessedness of giving

I. It is blessed to give because God Himself is the bountiful giver. He is the Author and Giver of all good things, and it is blessed be permitted in any measure to reflect His image and to be followers of Him. If it be the design of true religion to restore the moral image of God to the soul, it must indeed be blessed to act habitually in a spirit which is so harmonious with the Divine mind and will. If, then, we would prove ourselves to be the children of God, we must cultivate this grace, and give freely as God hath prospered us. We must give liberally of our substance for the service of God, for the advancement of true religion in the world, and for the relief of the poor and needy. Nay, more, we must do so not grudgingly or of necessity, nor because our circumstances or social position render it respectable to do so, but from purer and holier motives, because we would be followers of God as dear children, do as our Father in heaven does, and accomplish His will during the little day that we are on the earth.

II. It is also blessed to give because God has commanded us to do so, and blessed are they who do His commandments. He who deals so bountifully with us, and loads us with His benefits, has commanded us to acknowledge Him in the mercies which He bestows. In Old Testament times His people were forbidden to appear before Him empty. They were to honour Him by setting apart of their substance for His service and glory (Exo 22:29; Exo 23:19). Nor were they to forget the poor and needy (Deu 15:11). In studying the history of the Jewish Church nothing is more striking than the large proportion of their temporal blessings which they were required to consecrate to the service of God and to the relief of the poor. In the best days of their history their tithes and offerings, their thank offerings and free-will offerings, were on a scale of truly splendid munificence; nor were they losers thereby, for they found in their happy experience that the blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and that He addeth no sorrow with it. The whole spirit of the New Testament confirms and strengthens these commands. Hear what the great Teacher saith, Freely ye have received, freely give; Give, and it shall be given unto you; Sell that ye have and give alms: provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth neither moth corrupteth. Hear some of the many exhortations of His inspired apostles–Charge them who are rich in this world, that they be ready to give and glad to distribute; To do good and to distribute forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased; Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him; Whoso hath this worlds good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassions from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

III. Giving is, moreover, a Divinely appointed way of acknowledging Gods mercies, and hence it is blessed. When filled with gratitude and love, the Psalmist asked, What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits? Feeling that he had nothing to bestow, he replies, I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now, in the presence of all His people. We have indeed nothing to render that we have not received, yet is He pleased to accept our offerings as tokens of our gratitude and praise; nay, He has appointed them to be made in this spirit and accepted for this end. We are not as Israel were, waiting for the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, but are rejoicing in the brightness of His rays. We have to thank God not merely for salvation promised, but for salvation fully accomplished and freely offered to us all. What boundless gratitude and what large acknowledgments do these unspeakable mercies call for at our hands! If His ancient people offered so willingly unto Him that it was needful to restrain them from further offerings, shall we come before Him empty?

IV. Finally, it must be blessed to give, because great and precious promises are made to those who do so. We are told that the Lord loveth the cheerful giver; and many are the promises which He has given to those who give with a willing heart and a liberal hand–promises of a rich return for all that they have truly lent unto the Lord. Are we exhorted to honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase? There is a great and precious promise connected with so doing: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. Are we told to cast our bread upon the waters? We are assured that we shall find it after many days. Are we charged to give a portion to seven and also to eight? The reason given for it is that we know not what evil may be upon the earth, and we do know that the faithful Promiser has said, Blessed is the man that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Did the Lord reprove the Jewish people because in a time of coldness and declension they had robbed Him in tithes and in offerings? Hear the gracious words of promise by which He sought to recall them to the path of duty (Mal 3:10). No man ever regretted having been a cheerful giver, and many have been enriched thereby. We have often seen instances of this–of men who have conscientiously honoured God with their substance from their early days, and who have found by experience that godliness hath the promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come. There are doubtless exceptional cases. There is much discipline needed in the school of Christ, and hence we see good men overtaken by adversity and placed in the furnace of affliction. These are appointed trials, but the promise standeth sure: Them that honour Me I will honour; and he who, from love to Christ, has given to the least of His disciples a cup of cold water only, shall in no wise lose his reward. And what heart can conceive, what tongue can express, the joy of the cheerful givers in that day when the Lord Jesus shall come again in the glory of the Father and all the holy angels with Him, and when He shall say to them, I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat, etc.! (W. Niven, B. D.)

The blessedness of self-giving

It is more blessed to give than to receive. Two principles of action are here contrasted. Egoism makes self the centre for inflowing streams. Altruism makes self a centre, but chiefly for distribution. And Jesus declares that action according to the latter principle offers to any moral being the more satisfactory results. We might argue this truth from the outcome of action to the contrary. The miser in his dreary counting-room, the self-lover torn with jealousy, the victim of overweening ambition, the spoiled child of luxury yielding to vice and perishing of ennui, the degraded recipients of misdirected charity, business rivals cutting each others throats in obedience to an iron law of competition, employers and employed fighting for what they call their rights, and the State estopped from its high destiny by parties intent only on the spoils of office, are not to be called blessed even by poetic license of speech. Only as intelligence and morality prevail over brute instincts do men discern common interests and seek the common well-being. If humanity ascends into the Divine, it must be along this pathway of self-giving. If God has ever drawn near to man, He has moved along the heavenly portion of the same blessed way. Was not creation itself a first step in the royal way of the Cross, as a Kempis names it? Has not the whole course of revelation been a continued giving as men could understand and themselves impart what they were themselves receiving? Note three significant incidents in the ministry of Jesus. In the wilderness incarnate self-seeking promised, I will give Thee the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them if Thou wilt fall down and worship me. Incarnate self-giving replied, Get thee hence, Satan. And angels ministered to the Victor. By the lake side His own people were ready to bestow on Him a crown; but the strong Son of Man again held Himself only to giving, fortifying Himself in this purpose by a night alone with His Father in the mountain solitude. Soon another mountain saw Him transfigured. The Altar that bore the offering for the sins of the world was glorified to dazzling whiteness by its self-offered burden. After some such fashion it is possible to argue the superiority of the rule of self-giving. But in the practical stir of daily business and pleasure it seems little more than a vision of the beautiful, a dream of the land that is very far off. Paul was a bolder, loftier spirit. Both in theory and in practice he accepted the Masters opinion.

I. Pauls theology was built about this principle of self-giving. The gospel as he conceived it was a story of the grace of God. Every man looks at the mission of Jesus from the standpoint of his own personal experience. The vision on the road to Damascus is the clue to Pauls doctrine. That he, the violent persecutor of the followers of Jesus, should have been made to see in Jesus the perfect revelation of Gods love to men, was an unmerited favour for which he could find no parallel. Gods treatment of him, the chief of sinners, gave him a universal message. He might apply to the disciples relation to God through Jesus all the legal formularies of Jewish councils and Roman courts. He might find in the ritual of Israel the type of Jesus mediatorship. He might speak of the death of Jesus on the Cross after the fashion of the priests who delighted in the details of their bloody sacrifices. But all such special language was intended simply to describe the self-giving of God to His needy and sinful creatures. Symbols and comparisons of every kind were seized upon to convey this idea. He could even rise to the audacity of declaring that the Ephesian Church was part of the Church of God, purchased with His own blood, yet the boldest imagery was inadequate to describe his vision of the exceeding riches of Gods grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. To this same word of His grace he turns as the last resort after all his care and reminiscence and exhortation. God might sanctify the Church by imparting new knowledge, by providential interference, by spiritual contact. But mainly he must work by the story of grace.

II. Side by side with this self-giving of God to man Paul maintains that this same principle must absolutely prevail in the Church. Great urgency characterises his repetition of this exhortation to the elders. Take heed to all the flock, he says. The Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the Church. Watch ye. Help the weak. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. What but a thorough-going adoption of the principle of self-giving could answer to such a charge? Doubtless those poor elders of the Church felt their hearts sink again within them, if indeed they at all comprehended the meaning of his earnest words. The pressure of self-seeking invades the body of Christ and paralyses many of its best intentions. Shall we not say, then, that the Church exists for the manifestation of the spirit of Jesus, to be the corporate incarnation of the life of God? This is obviously Gods method. When He would bring about an elevation of the world He never effects His purpose by a pull at once at the whole dead level of humanity. He has always set to work by giving special gifts to a few elect souls, and through their means leavening the whole of humanity by degrees. The local Church is to be the constant expression of the mind of God for the worlds redemption. It is to be a centre of moral and spiritual health to the changing social organism. It is not a mutual benefit association, a moral insurance company, a religious creche, or even an organisation for the maintenance of public worship. It is all this by being more, a body of servants of Jesus pushing the kingdom of Gods grace intensively and extensively.

3. Our lesson contains illustration by practice as well as by theory and exhortation. Paul could declare with full sense of his responsibility that he was pure from the blood of all men. No person in Ephesus could rise up and say that Paul had not cared for his soul. With lowliness of mind, with tears, with trials, coveting no mans silver or gold or apparel, but caring for himself and his companions by daily labour at his trade, he gave himself to teaching publicly and from house to house, going about preaching the kingdom. He shrank from nothing that was profitable to either Jew or Greek, declaring the whole counsel of God and admonishing everyone night and day with tears. How intense, too, the flame of his devotion still was that had burned so brightly in Ephesus for three years! He was going to Jerusalem under constraint of the Spirit. They should see his face no more. Just what was to befall him he did not know. Only as he went on clear warning came in every city that bonds and afflictions of some sort waited for him, and yet the course marked out for him in Gods grace allured him more than it frightened him. He would accomplish it at any cost. The spirit of self-giving utterly triumphed in him as in his Master. He gloried in his tribulations. He rejoiced in his sufferings in behalf of the disciples. One cannot but feel after this review of the apostles conception of the Christian faith and practice that the principle here commended is fundamental to Christianity. More than any other it voices the essential truth of the religion of Jesus. Herein the religions of the nations fail to stand the test. Strip them of their superstitions and falsehoods, and they are powerless to control the mighty passions of mankind. Christianity alone seizes upon the hearts of men and makes appeal to grateful love, because it is neither a philosophy nor an ethical code nor a scheme of life, but a simple story how God gives Himself to men, in intimate and loving ways, for the removal of their weakness and misery and rebellion. (J. R. Gow.)

The larger blessing and the less

1. This word, like the great apostle who has reported it, was born out of due time. It lay silent in loving hearts, or was whispered by loving lips, until spoken by Paul. In another sense it was like him–not a whit behind the chiefest of the Masters sayings in preciousness and power.

2. Luke reports Pauls speech, and Pauls speech holds a priceless fragment. It is as when a seaman in a shipwreck has seized a servant, who, when she is raised, discovers in her arms an infant of the family she serves. We have here a word of Christ rescued from sinking into oblivion, with a word of Pauls wrapped round it; the jewel and its setting.

3. These words were employed to stimulate the Ephesian Christians to charity; but if you limit them to that application you will miss their deepest meaning. A child sees in the stars only twinkling lights, but you know they are central suns. As the difference between the intrinsic greatness of the fixed stars, and their incidental usefulness at night, is the difference between these words in their origin and their application to Christian contributions.

4. The Redeemer here expressed His own experience. He who loves a cheerful giver is a cheerful giver. A penitent may encourage his soul with the fact that the cure of his disease will impart greater joy to the Physician than to himself. Forms of beauty may be thrown off by common workmen; but the one type grew in the secret of a greater soul. So off the experience of Jesus in His work of redemption from the beginning in the eternal purpose, till its finishing in the fulness of time, was this maxim taken. The love wherewith Christ loved us is the mould in which this practical rule was cast. And so all who have left a beneficent mark on the world have first practised what they preached. Nor has Christs giving ceased now that He is exalted (Eph 4:8).

5. This glimpse into the heart of the Redeemer is a salve for the greatest of all sores. Jesus, for the joy of giving us salvation, endured the Cross. Let us bear these words, then, on our hearts when we pray. He Himself counts it blessedness to give.

6. These words do not mean that it is unblessed to receive. When the receiver is needy, the gift good, and the giver generous, it is blessed to receive. Evidence that Christ delighted in the self-consecration of His disciples crops up everywhere–e.g., in the narratives of the woman with the alabaster box, and the one leper out of ten. It was kind of Him to let us know that He values our gifts, although we render to Him only what we have received. And now that He has gone beyond our reach, it is His express wish that we should consider the poor as receivers for Him. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

The greater blessedness of giving

1. When St. Paul visited Miletus, several of his most potent letters had been already penned. These were saturated with thoughts the origination of which we cannot fairly attribute to him, and for which we can find no adequate explanation in existing literature. Where can we find any explanation of this more rational than that Paul had been himself revolutionised by the words of the Lord Jesus?

2. Strange to say, from our modern standpoint, not one of the four Gospels had then been written. Nevertheless, the teaching of Jesus had gone forth into all lands. And neither Matthew, Mark, Luke, nor John gathered up a tithe of these Divine words, which spread like prairie fire round the whole seaboard of the Mediterranean.

3. We could more willingly part with many an ancient classic, whole sutras of Buddha, and the entire Vedic literature, than with this Divine utterance, which goes down to the very depths of human life, and stretches out to embrace the essential blessedness of God Himself. Small and bright as a dew drop, yet, as we watch, it swells into a veritable ocean of love, on whose placid surface are reflected all the glories of heaven and earth.

I. It is blessed to receive. There is no antithesis here between the blessedness of giving and the non-blessedness of receiving. Oriental mysticism, Buddhist legends, the hyperbole of self-sacrifice for its own sake, have stumbled into this pit of pessimism. Christ illumined the profoundest problems of ethic and the true secret of religious life, when He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

1. It is blessed simply to receive natures gifts.

(1) All the progress of man is measured by the degree to which he has received and appreciated these. When man first understood what nature had done for him in offering him the flower and fruit and seed of corn, then began the harvest of the world. When human intelligence apprehended what was involved in the chalk, coal, and mineral wealth at his feet; when he grasped the meaning of fire and lightning, and the contents of water and air; when he began to receive and utilise the energies which had been moulding the world for untold centuries–then science took its birth. If we refuse to receive the light of heaven, we stumble into pitfalls. If we refuse to receive our daily bread, we perish.

(2) Furthermore, nature lavishes upon us appeals to our higher and more subtle desires, and gives us the sense of beauty, truth, and goodness. The surpassing loveliness of much of natures work must be received by those who have the eyes and ears of the spirit opened to receive it. The great artists and poets, musicians and sculptors, have so embodied their strong emotions in abiding form and material, that others may learn from them the blessed secret of receiving the mystery of beauty, and accepting some of the truth and goodness of its eternal source.

2. All human love is a ministration of Divine love. Human tenderness is but a channel cut by Holy Providence through which the rivers of Gods pleasure flow. Now, it is blessed to receive human love and the gifts of love. See the child with its hands full of birthday gifts, intense joy lighting its eye, almost bursting the tiny heart. Only on this principle can the inequalities of human power and capacity be compensated, can the strong help the weak, the physician heal the sick, the wise instruct the foolish, the ignorant walk in the light of knowledge. Because it is blessed to receive, we can drink into the spirit of the mighty dead, and apply to our own case their hoarded wisdom. All beneficence would be dried at its source, if there were no blessedness in receiving the streams of living water which are always pouring forth from human hearts.

3. The most impressive illustration of the principle is the blessedness of receiving the grace of God. The secret of receiving from the living God what is neither earned nor merited, but which we have gracelessly forfeited, is a secret which some are slow to learn. It is blessed to receive what Jesus Christ gives to man, even though it smite down our pride and explode our self-sufficiency. It is blessed to receive the greatest gift, to receive into our very nature a new and endless life, to sit in the sunshine of the Divine Presence, to be satisfied with the grace of the Lord Jesus, to be filled with all the fulness of God, to be forever with the Lord.

II. But it is more blessed to give than to receive.

1. Can any reason be assigned for such a sweeping and comprehensive inversion of all ordinary maxims? Should we not tremble to put it to such a test here in this Christian England of ours? Let the race course and the stock exchange, the insurance office, Parliament, and the law courts answer! Let diplomacy, with its duties, let trade and speculation, let professional etiquette and social distinctions and cliques be submitted to the fire of this principle. The honest advocate of such a law of life would be branded with scorn, and hustled off any stage of human activity.

2. Is this the regal principle in what calls itself the very body of Christ? Individuals may occur to us whose whole being is one unceasing process of giving, and on whose brow there sits the dome of peace, and in whose eyes, which are full of tears of boundless sympathy, there gleams the light of heavens own joy. But is their experience a final proof? Can we take the Son of Man at His word?

3. The judgment of the Lord Jesus was authoritative for St. Paul. The saying of the text must be true, because He who is the truth uttered it. He put the principle to the most complete expression. He tested it, as no other could possibly do, by, on the one hand, a receptivity open to all the amplitude of the Holy Fathers love lavished upon Him from eternity; and, on the other, a sacrifice and gift of Himself which was practically and to our most vivid imagination infinite and absolute.

4. The eternal relation of the Father and the Son is the eternal interchange of giving and receiving love. In the text we see the very order of the Trinity. The Fathers giving greater than the Sons receiving. Jesus says, I and the Father are one; but the Father is greater than I. From this principle we see some hint for the motive of the creation. The Lord called forth an object for the superfluity of His infinite love. Great is the joy of the Lord in the praises of His children, but greater still in bestowing upon them ever-abounding reasons for their praise.

5. The noblest and the most wonderful gift of the Lord God is the incarnation of the Son of God, and that great act of the Father is the blessedest of all. He gave His only-begotten, His well-beloved.

6. But we must adapt this great principle of blessedness to the smaller range of our own experience.

(1) Ye ought to remember and act upon the words of the Lord Jesus, because it is a truth you are, in the corruption and weakness of nature, in continual danger of forgetting. I grant you all the blessedness of receiving the gifts of nature and of the love of man: you must aim at the higher and greater blessedness of diffusing to others what you know to be worthy. The first believers stripped themselves utterly that they might yield themselves to this sublime impulse, and know something of the blessedness of Christ and of God.

(2) Ye ought to remember these words of the Lord Jesus when you are tempted to say, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. There is a question between the blessedness of buying a ring, or a picture, or a house, or a book, or a co, at for yourself, and the blessedness of giving to the sick, the helpless, the naked, and the fatherless.

(3) Most earnestly St. Paul counsels you to receive the grace of God. But art thou going to sit and sing thyself away to everlasting bliss? Nay, Remember the words of the Lord Jesus. There is a greater blessedness: you are to give yourself back to God in holy consecration. You are not your own, but His who has given Himself for you and to you. Conclusion: We shall find the truth of our Lords undying words when we enter into His joy. Not until we chant the endless hallelujah, not until we yield ourselves absolutely to our Lord God for eternity, having no will but His, shall we fully know how much more blessed it is to give than to receive. (Principal Reynolds.)

The superior blessedness of giving

It is more blessed to give than to receive, because it is–

I. Far higher privilege. To receive may be an advantage, but the very act implies dependence and want, and therefore is so far an irksome feeling. But to be so graciously advantaged by the Giver of all good that we can assume the attitude of bestowers, must at once be admitted to be far the most distinguished privilege.

II. More safe. To be a receiver of good is dangerous, because it is fitted to nourish that selfish yearning so innate in our souls. How many there are who, when they were poor and little exalted in this life, had a heart open to pitys call, and a hand stretched out at pitys claim; but just in proportion as they got more, they gave less, and, as riches increased, they set their hearts upon them. But giving has not this peril. It has, indeed, its attendant danger. Our giving, if it minister to self-complacency–if it lead us to put it in the stead of the free gift of God, which is eternal life by Christ Jesus–it will do us sad harm, and our very acts of charity maybe converted into splendid sins. Nevertheless, there is in Christian giving far less danger than in receiving; there is something in the very exercise that is fitted to keep humble, because he is reminded, Who maketh me to differ from another? and what have I, that I have not received? And then how few comparatively injure their souls by giving, while many and mournful are the examples of those who injure their souls by getting!

III. Happier. There is a pain too often in reception from man, and it requires a very lowly and submissive mind in a rightly constituted poor man to be a dependent upon the kindness of others. And whatever pleasure there may be in gratitude, there is far more pleasure in benevolence. God hath so made us, that our duty is our happiness; and those dispositions which are most pleasing in His sight are most pleasurable in themselves. There is a pleasure that the mother feels in feeding, etc., her child; and in the patriot, whose heart is most passionately attached to his country. And does not this show us that if even the natural exercises of the communicating spirit be its pleasures and its relish, how much more when it is baptized by the Spirit of God, and when it assumes its proper purpose–to glorify God and benefit His creatures! Then, indeed, in giving we get.

IV. More godlike. God is love. And what does His love delight in? Communicating its own beneficence to all. And that goodness hath shown itself infinitely more than all, in that God spared not His own Son, etc., and how shall He not with Him also freely give all things to them that are Christs? And shall we not contemplate the Godlike character of the spirit of benevolence, as it is manifested in God incarnate? Oh! then, would we be imitators of God as dear children? would we put on the Lord Jesus Christ? would we be like our Father in heaven? would we be partakers of the Divine nature, and transformed into the Divine likeness? We must know and feel that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

V. We argue the same blessed truth from the approval and complacency with which God regards the giver. The promises to the receiver are few and not so direct; but the promises to the giver are rich and manifold and animating. Conclusion:

1. What a fatal mistake are most making in the way they set about to be happy! To get more wealth, admiration, power, influence, indulgence. What a mistake! Take a selfish heart to heaven, if it were possible, and it would be miserable; take a generous heart to hell, if that were possible, and it would be happy there.

2. Then what a stupendous change must pass upon our fallen nature I No marvel that it should be called a new birth, a resurrection from the dead. (Canon Stowell.)

The blessedness of giving

It is pleasant to hear people talk about things with which they are well acquainted; but if a person attempts to speak on a subject he knows nothing about, nobody wants to hear him. Suppose someone should lecture about the way houses are built in the moon, would you care about going to hear him? But suppose that a great explorer, after he had spent two winters up towards the North Pole, should lecture about the Polar regions, should not we all be anxious to hear him? Well, when Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than to receive, He knew all about it. It is more blessed to give than to receive because–

I. It is more like God. God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. Who gave us our hands to work with? our feet to walk with? our ears to hear, and our tongues to talk with? our minds to think, and our hearts to love with? these lungs to breathe with? God. Yes, God gives us our health, our strength, our clothes, our friends, our teachers, our parents, our homes, our churches, our ministers, our Bibles.

II. It is more useful. If God should stop giving for just one day, everything would perish.

1. It is more useful to ourselves. Suppose I want to have my arm become very strong. If I carry it in a sling, and do not use it all, after a while it will grow weak and thin. But if I use it all I can, the stronger it will grow. Look at the blacksmith! And what is true of the arm is true of the heart. Our hearts will grow larger, and stronger, and better, by proper exercise. And the proper exercise for the heart is giving. A good many people carry their hearts in a sling. And the consequence is that their hearts grow narrow and little, and good for nothing. If they would begin to exercise their hearts by giving, they would find that what Jesus said is true, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

2. It is more useful to others. If we keep our money without using it, what good will it do? There was once a Scottish nobleman–Lord Brace. He was very rich, but very miserly. He was so close and stingy, that one day when a farmer came to pay his rent, the money he brought was just one farthing short, and the man had to go all the way back to his home, a distance of several miles, and get that farthing before he would give him a receipt. Well, when it was all settled, the farmer said, Now, Brace, Ill give you a shilling if youll let me see all the silver and gold youve got. Agreed, said the miserly lord. Then he took him into his vault, and opened the great iron chests full of gold and silver, so that he could see it all. Then the farmer gave him the promised shilling, and said, Now, Brace, Im as rich as you are. Ay, men, said his lordship, and how can that be? Because Ive looked at your gold and silver, and that is all you will ever do with it. Now let us take an example of a different kind. Some years ago a certain Sunday school was making up a box of things to send to a missionary station. One poor little girl was very anxious to send something. But all she had in the world to give was a single penny. So she bought a tract with that penny, and gave the tract to her teacher to put in the box. It was opened at Burdwan, in India. That tract fell into the hands of the son of one of the chiefs and led him to become a Christian. Then he was very anxious that others should become Christians too. In one year fifteen hundred of the natives of that part of the country gave up their idolatry and became Christians, through the labours of that young prince. And all this good resulted from the one tract bought by that poor little girls single penny. Now think of all this good being done by one penny, and then think of all Lord Braces gold and silver lying useless, and you must admit that it is more blessed to give than to receive or keep.

III. There is more happiness in it. Little Robert Manly thought a great deal about pleasing himself, and this is not at all the best way to be happy. One day a poor woman came to Roberts mother to beg a little new milk for her sick baby. Mrs. Manly had none to spare, except what she had saved for her Roberts supper; and at supper time his mother told him how she had given away his milk for the poor sick baby. Robert didnt like this at all, and kept muttering about the milk being his, and nobody else having any right to it. The next day Robert was taken to see this poor family, and it made him shiver to look round on that cheerless home. The poor woman thanked Mrs. Manly over and over again for the new milk. It kept the baby still all night, she said. As they walked home, Robert did not say a word, though he was generally very talkative. At supper time his bowl of milk was set by his plate, but in a few minutes he went to his mothers side and said in a whisper, Mother, may I take my milk to the poor sick baby? Yes, my son, said his mother. By and by he came bounding into the room covered over with snowflakes, and shouting cheerfully, Mother, the babys got the milk. Her mother said, God bless you, my child! and, mother, my milk tastes very good tonight (smacking his lips); I mean my no milk. Yes, little Robert was proving the truth of our Saviours words. (Richard Newton, D. D.)

The pleasure of giving

It is sometimes hard for one who has devoted the best part of his life to the accumulation of money to spend it for others; but practise it, and keep on practising it, and I assure you it becomes a pleasure. (George Peabody.)

Glad of the opportunity of giving

A gentleman called upon Mr. H. to solicit his aid towards the erection of a Sunday school in a poor and populous district. Mr. H. contributed, and the gentleman began to thank him, when he said,

I beg you will give me no thanks; I thank you for giving me an opportunity of doing what is good for myself. I am thankful to God for the experience I have had that it is more blessed to give, etc.

The blessedness of liberality

I. There is more real pleasure in giving than in receiving.

1. There is always a pleasure in receiving, and this pleasure is sometimes greatly heightened by the circumstances of the receiver, or the disposition of the giver.

(1) A seasonable gift is acceptable, because it is immediately beneficial.

(2) A necessary gift is still more acceptable, because it comes in a time of want.

(3) A great gift excites greater joy, because it not only gratifies the natural desire of property, but throws the mind into a state of pleasing surprise and admiration.

(4) Any gift never fails to afford a sensible pleasure to the receiver, when it comes as a mark of affection and esteem from the giver. But in these and all other cases the giver is more blessed than the receiver.

2. There is a higher and purer happiness in rejoicing in the good of others than in rejoicing in our own good.

(1) The receiver rejoices in his own happiness; and let his joy rise ever so high, it still terminates in himself. But the giver, instead of rejoicing in his own good, rejoices in the good of others.

(2) In receiving gratefully, there is a mixture of submission to our state of dependence; but in giving freely, there is a mixture of joy in being able to give. The receiver is laid under obligation to the giver; but the giver is laid under no obligation to the receiver. And who can doubt whether it be not more blessed to give than to receive an obligation?

II. More virtue; and therefore the giver is more happy than the receiver.

1. The receiver may, indeed, exercise virtue by evincing gratitude. But the virtue of the receiver principally consists in a suitable regard to himself; the virtue of the giver, however, altogether consists in a proper regard to others.

2. There are many circumstances which augment the virtue of giving that do not enhance the virtue of receiving.

(1) The poverty, the distress, and even the unworthiness of the receiver, augment the virtue of the giver. It is truly Godlike to bestow favours upon the evil and unthankful.

(2) The virtue of the giver is always equal to his design in giving. A man may give a Bible to a poor and vicious person, with a sincere design to promote his spiritual and eternal benefit; but he may have a mean or wicked design in receiving it.

(3) And it is generally true that the giver has much more noble and extensive views than the receiver. This our Saviour intimated in His observation upon the conduct of the poor widow.

(4) There is self-denial in giving, which is wholly absent from receiving.

III. God promises to reward the giver, but not the receiver. This distinction plainly intimates that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

1. There are but few things which God has promised to reward men for in this life; but He promises to reward acts of munificence with special tokens of His favour now. Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered. The alms as well as the prayers of Cornelius were had in Divine remembrance, and he was rewarded in his lifetime with peculiar tokens of the Divine favour.

2. But this is not all; He means to reward them more openly and fully at the great day of retribution. Hence our Saviour told the almsgiver to give secretly, and thy Father, who seeth in secret, Himself shall reward thee openly. He declared that the smallest act of charity to one of His followers should meet with a future recompense (Mat 25:1-46) Conclusion: If it be more blessed to give than to receive, then–

1. We ought to entertain the most exalted ideas of the blessedness of the Supreme Being.

2. We may see why charity or beneficence holds the highest rank among all the moral and Christian virtues.

3. It is a great and peculiar favour to be made rich. Poverty is a real calamity in itself, and draws after it a long train of natural evils. It not only deprives men of the power and pleasure of giving, but subjects them to the disagreeable necessity of receiving alms.

4. We may learn what ought to be the supreme and governing motive of men, in pursuing their secular concerns, and seeking to increase their worldly interest.

5. None have any reason to think that they are real Christians who have never experienced this peculiar blessedness.

6. The covetous and parsimonious defeat their own design, and take the direct method to diminish rather than to increase their temporal interest.

7. Those who are able to give should esteem it a favour when Providence presents them with opportunities of giving. (N. Emmons, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 35. I have showed you all things] The preposition is to be understood before ; and the clause should be read thus-I have showed you IN all things, c.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.] That is, the giver is more happy than the receiver. Where, or on what occasion, our Lord spake these words we know not, as they do not exist in any of the four evangelists. But that our Lord did speak them, St. Paul’s evidence is quite sufficient to prove. The sentiment is worthy of Christ. A truly generous mind, in affluence, rejoices in opportunities to do good, and feels happy in having such opportunities. A man of an independent spirit, when reduced to poverty, finds it a severe trial to be obliged to live on the bounty of another, and feels pain in receiving what the other feels a happiness in communicating. Let, therefore, the man who is able to give feel himself the obliged person, and think how much pain the feeling heart of his supplicant must endure, in being obliged to forego his native independence, in soliciting and receiving the bounty of another. I am not speaking of common beggars these have got their minds already depraved, and their native independence reduced, by sin and idleness, to servility.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I have showed you all things; as in Act 20:27.

So labouring; with more than ordinary pains and constancy.

To support; that they do not fall; or, being fallen, that they may rise again. The word imports the stretching out of the hand to retain any that are going away, or to hold up any that are falling.

The weak; in knowledge, faith, or any other grace.

The words of the Lord Jesus; Paul might have these words by the relation of others who heard them spoken by our Savionr; for all things that he said or did could not be written, Joh 20:30.

It is more blessed to give than to receive; not so much in that giving speaks abundance and affluence, but as it shows our charity and goodness, in which we resemble and imitate God. The substance of these words which are attributed to our Saviour, though not the terms, may be found in divers places, as Luk 6:38; 16:9.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

35. that so labouringas Ihave done for others as well as myself.

ye ought to support the weakto remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he“howHimself.”

said, It is more blessed togive than to receiveThis golden saying, snatched fromoblivion, and here added to the Church’s abiding treasures, is apt tobeget the wish that more of what issued from those Lips which”dropped as an honeycomb,” had been preserved to us. Butsee on Joh 21:25.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

I have showed you all things,…. Both as to doctrine and practice, and had set them an example how to behave in every point, and particularly in this:

how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak; the sense of which is, that they should labour with their hands as he did, and so support the weak; either such who were weak in body, and unable to work and help themselves, and therefore should be helped, assisted, relieved, and supported by the labours of others, that were able; or the weak in faith, and take nothing of them, lest they should think the preachers of the word sought only their own worldly advantage, and so they should be stumbled and fall from the truth:

and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus; which the apostle had either collected as the sense of some passages of his, such as Lu 6:30, c. or which though not recorded in any of the Gospels, the apostle might have received from one or other of the twelve disciples, as what were frequently used by Christ in the days of his flesh and which the apostle had inculcated among the Ephesians, and now puts them in mind of them, they being worthy of remembrance: how he said,

it is more blessed to give than to receive: it is more comfortable, honourable, pleasant, and profitable: the giver is in a more comfortable situation, having an abundance, at least a sufficiency, and something to spare; whereas the receiver is often in want and distress, and so uncomfortable: it is an honour to give; an honour is reflected upon the giver, both by the receiver, and others; when to receive is an instance of meanness, and carries in it, among men, some degree of dishonour: it is a pleasure to a liberal man to distribute to the necessities of others; and it cannot be grateful to a man to be in such circumstances, as make it necessary for him to receive from others, and be dependent on them; and great are the advantages and profit which a cheerful giver reaps, both in this world, and that to come: wherefore the conclusion which the apostle would have drawn from hence is, that it is much more eligible for a man to work with his own hands, and support himself, and assist others, than to receive at the hands of others.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

I gave you an example (). First aorist active indicative of , old verb to show under one’s eyes, to give object lesson, by deed as well as by word (Lu 6:47). H means example (John 13:15; Jas 5:10). So Paul appeals to his example in 1Cor 11:1; Phil 3:17. is accusative plural of general reference (in all things).

So labouring ye ought to help ( ). So, as I did. Necessity (). Toiling () not just for ourselves, but to help (), to take hold yourselves (middle voice) at the other end (). This verb common in the old Greek, but in the N.T. only in Luke 1:54; Acts 20:35; 1Tim 6:2. This noble plea to help the weak is the very spirit of Christ (1Thess 5:14; 1Cor 12:28; Rom 5:6; Rom 14:1). In 1Th 5:14 we have Paul’s very idea again. Every Community Chest appeal today re-echoes Paul’s plea.

He himself said ( ). Not in the Gospels, one of the sayings of Jesus in current use that Paul had received and treasured. Various other Agrapha of Jesus have been preserved in ancient writers and some in recently discovered papyri which may be genuine or not. We are grateful that Paul treasured this one. This Beatitude (on see on Mt 5:3-11) is illustrated by the whole life of Jesus with the Cross as the culmination. Aristotle (Eth. IV. I) has a saying somewhat like this, but assigns the feeling of superiority as the reason (Page), an utterly different idea from that here. This quotation raises the question of how much Paul personally knew of the life and sayings of Jesus.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

I have shewed you all things [ ] . The verb means to shew by example. Thus Luk 6:47, “I will shew you to whom he is like,” is followed by the illustration of the man who built upon the rock. So Act 9:16. God will shew Paul by practical experience how great things he must suffer. The kindred noun uJpodeigma is always rendered example or pattern. See Joh 13:15; Jas 5:10, etc.; and note on 2Pe 2:6. Rev., correctly, In all things I gave you an example.

As I have done.

To help [] . See on Luk 1:54.

He said [ ] . Rev., more strictly, “he himself said.” This saying of Jesus is not recorded by the Evangelists, and was received by Paul from oral tradition.

The speech of Paul to the Ephesian elders “bears impressed on it the mark of Paul ‘s mind : its ideas, its idioms, and even its very words are Pauline; so much so as to lead Alford to observe that we have probably the literal report of the words spoken by Paul. ‘It is, ‘ he remarks, ‘a treasure – house of words, idioms, and sentences peculiar to the apostle himself” ‘ (Gloag).

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “I have shewed you all things,” (panta hupedeiksa humin) “I have showed (demonstrated to) you all, all things,” been an example to them in all kind of things, that members of the flock of God (the church) should do, or practice, in following him, as he followed Christ, 1Co 11:1; Eph 5:1; Php_3:17.

2) “How that so labouring,” (hoti houtos kopiontis) “That labouring continually, as I have shown you by example;- the Gk. verb indicates laboring, wearying-toil, even earning bread at times by the sweat of the face, Gen 3:19; 1Th 4:11-12.

3) “Ye ought to support the weak,” (dei antilambanesthai) “Ye ought (or it becomes you) to succor, sustain, or give aid to those who are ailing, continually weakened or sick,” in body or mind, physically or emotionally, as practiced and commended of the Lord, Eph 4:28.

4) “And to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,” (mnemoneuein te ton logon tou kuriou lesou) “To continually remember or keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus,” some of which were repeated by the disciples, which the gospel writers admittedly did not record, Joh 21:25.

5) “How He said,” (hoti autos eipen) “That He said,” emphatically declared, though it is not recorded by the Evangelists, as indicated Joh 20:31; Joh 21:25; This may have alluded to Luk 6:38.

6) “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (makarion esin mallon didonai a lambranein) “It is (exists as) more blessed (a more blessed thing) to give (again and again) than to receive, again and again.” The Sea of Galilee gives, and gives repeatedly, with life and fresh water, while the Dead Sea receives continually, but never gives, resulting in lifelessness and inactivity in her body, Mat 25:34-40.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(35) I have shewed you all things.The words point to his motive in acting as he did. He sought to teach by example, to indicate in all things how others ought to act.

To support the weak.The Greek verb is rightly rendered, but it deserves notice that it is the root of the noun translated help in 1Co. 12:28. The word weak is to be taken as implying bodily infirmities. (See Note on previous verse.)

To remember the words of the Lord Jesus.The words that follow are not found in any of the four Canonical Gospels, nor indeed in any of the Apocryphal. They furnish, accordingly, an example of the wide diffusion of an oral teaching, embodying both the acts and the words of Christ, of which the four Gospels, especially the first three, are but partial representatives. On the other instances of sayings ascribed to our Lord, and probably in many cases rightly ascribed, see the Introduction to the First Three Gospels in Vol. I. of this Commentary. The injunction to remember the words implies that they had often been prominent in the Apostles teaching.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

35. The weak The helpless.

Words An unwritten saying of the Lord, for the record of which we are indebted to this speech of Paul’s.

More blessed ”Plutarch relates that Artaxerxes said, To bestow is more royal than to take away. And Aristotle says: It belongs to a freeman to give rather than to receive. Both of these sayings correspond in expression to the aristocratic views of antiquity. The former refers to the distinction which existed between rulers and the people; the latter to the ancient distinction between freemen and the slaves. Seneca, on the other hand, speaks in reference to the gods when he says: He who bestows benefits imitates the gods; he who takes, the usurers. There is, however, in all these classic sayings a certain aristocratic pride of sentiment, which cannot fail to be perceived. The saying of Christ, on the contrary, is founded on the fact that God is love.” Lechler. It will, indeed, be generally found, on close examination, that passages of the Christian Scriptures which are paralleled by some heathen quotation are rooted in deeper and purer grounds, and infused with a higher life.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“In all things I gave you an example, that so labouring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, which he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’.”

And now he wants them to take what he has done as an example that they too might labour without charge, helping the weak and remembering what the Lord Jesus Himself had taught, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’. Thus they are to be givers, not receivers. For those who give are the ones who will truly be blessed, for they enjoy both the thrill of giving and benefiting others, and the certainty that the Lord will reward them (Mat 10:42).

This may have been Paul’s interpretation of sayings such as, ‘freely you have received, freely give’ (Mat 10:8). ‘Give to him who asks of you’ (Mat 5:42; Luk 6:30). ‘Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you measure out, in that way it will be measured to you again’ (Luk 6:38). ‘But rather give charitably of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean to you (Luk 11:41). ‘Sell what you possess, and give charitable gifts. Provide yourselves with wallets which do not grow old, a treasure in the heaven that does not fail, where no thief approaches, nor moth spoils’ (Luk 12:33). The thought is certainly the same. But there is really no reason why Paul might not have known of such an actual saying. We do in fact lack considerable amounts of what Jesus taught, and it has His ring to it.

On these words of Jesus about being more blessed to give than to receive, which epitomised his whole message, he ended his message. He had given them much to think about as to how to conduct their own ministries.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Act 20:35. To support the weak, &c. To assist the infirm, The word has exactly this signification; and, as Raphelius has shewn, may express either sickness or poverty; yet here undoubtedly it signifies such poor persons as were disabled by some means or other from maintaining themselves by their own labour. Compare Eph 4:28. The evangelists have assured us, that they neither intended to relate, nor have related, all that our Lord did and said; the latter clause therefore, quoted by St. Paul, was one of those which they omitted, and was probably a favourite saying of our Lord’s.

Inferences.What a mercy is it to see the servants of Christ get safe through the uproars that are at any time made against them, and to take our leave of them in peace! And how affectionately should they part with their Christian friends and brethren, who cannot but be grieved at the loss of their edifying company and ministrations; especially when they have reason to think that they shall never see their faces any more! But in the most afflictive and self-denying cases, it becomes us to say, The will of the Lord be done: however, since ministers must die as well as other men, how ready should we be to accompany them, as long as we can; in their services and sufferings, and to attend their holy ministrations, especially on the Lord’s days, which are divinely set apart for the celebration of sacred ordinances, such as hearing the word, breaking of bread, and prayer! And whenever we are engaged in religious worship, how should we watch against drowsiness and sleep, lest we meet with a rebuke like Eutychus, who fell down dead; though God, for his own glory, and the comfort of his people, raised him to life again? How indefatigable was the great apostle in the service of his Lord! He sometimes laboured with his hands to supply his own and others’ wants, as knowing that our Saviour himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive; and at other times he laid himself out, by night and by day, for counselling, cautioning, establishing, and building up believers, and directing the pastors of churches, as well as for the conversion of sinners. What an excellent pattern has he set the ministers of the gospel! And how happy is it for them to be able, with a good conscience, and in view of a future judgment, to appeal to their hearers, at their last parting, as witnesses for them! With what prayers and tears, affectionate concern and holy zeal, humility, condescension, and contempt of this world, should they, like this great apostle, serve the Lord Jesus, amid the various trials that befal them! With what unbiassed and disinterested faithfulness and plainness should they declare the whole counsel of God, insisting especially on the most necessary and practical parts of it, such as repentance and faith, that the guilt of souls that perish may be chargeable upon their own stupidity and obstinacy, and not on any partiality or neglect of those that ministered to them! And how cheerfully should they follow the footsteps of Providence in their ministrations, whatever dangers it may expose them to! They should expect sufferings for the sake of Christ, and even despise their own lives, in comparison with finishing their course with joy, and fulfilling the trust which Christ has committed to them, for setting forth the excellencies of the gospel of the grace of God. O with what diligence should they look to themselves, and to the church of the dear Saviour, who is God, and by his own infinitely dignified blood has purchased it for himself! How, in love and duty to him, and to the Holy Ghost who has made them overseers, should they feed his people with sound doctrine, and watch over them in the Lord, that neither secret nor open enemies may seduce any of them! But, alas, who is sufficient for these things! And how much need have pastors, as well as their flocks, to be recommended by prayer, and to commit themselves by faith to Christ, and to the power and promises of God through him, to carry them on with an increase of gifts, graces, and success, and to give them a free admission at last to the eternal inheritance, which is to be enjoyed by none but holy souls!

REFLECTIONS.1st, Soon after the uproar, which Demetrius raised, had ceased, St. Paul determined to proceed on his journey as he had before purposed.

1. After an affectionate parting with the brethren, St. Paul set off for Macedonia to visit the churches that he had planted; and, having gone over those parts, and given them much exhortation to persevere, amidst all opposition, in the profession of the faith which they had embraced, he came to Greece,into Achaia, where he abode three months, employed in the same profitable manner, confirming and strengthening the faithful; and thence was purposing to sail for Syria, in order to go directly to Jerusalem; but, by intelligence or inspiration, having learned that the Jews intended to way-lay and murder him, and carry off the collection which the churches had made for their poor brethren in Judea, he changed his route, and returned through Macedonia.

2. The companions of his travels into Asia were Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus; and now Luke the historian, who had probably been left in those parts before, to carry on the work so prosperously begun, seems to have joined the apostle’s train. The rest, going before, tarried for Paul and Luke, and those who accompanied them, at Troas; whither they followed immediately after the passover, sailing from Philippi; and in five days joined their companions at Troas, where they stayed seven days.

2nd, Seven days the apostle abode at Troas, desirous to spend one Lord’s day with the disciples, before he went on his journey. And a blessed day, no doubt, it was to the church in that place.
1. According to their established custom, upon the first day of the week, which had succeeded to the Jewish sabbath, and, in memory of the Lord’s resurrection and the descent of the Holy Ghost, was consecrated henceforward to God’s more immediate service in all acts of religious worship and for the public administration of the ordinances, the disciples came together to break bread, commemorating, as they constantly did every week, the sacrifice and sufferings of their Lord. Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and, having much to say, and being probably not likely ever again to have another opportunity of speaking to them, his warm heart led him on, so that he continued his speech until midnight, unwearied in exhortation, and addressing himself to those who counted the longest of his discourses short. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together; they were content to put up with this probably mean inconvenient place of meeting; and, as no deeds of darkness were found among them, they took care that the place should be well illuminated, to confute the malicious insinuations of their enemies. Note; According to the practice of the apostles and the primitive church, the first day of the week is appointed for the assemblies of the faithful disciples of Jesus, to join together in all acts of religious worship, hear his word, partake of his ordinances, and maintain communion with each other. They who neglect the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is, evidently shew that they have renounced Christianity, and have no part nor lot among the faithful in Christ Jesus.

2. A melancholy accident happened to a youth in the company, whose name was Eutychus. He sat in a window that was open; and, the apostle lengthening his sermon so much more than usual, sleep overtook the young man; and, falling backward through the window, which was three stories high, he was killed on the spota warning to those who sleep under sermons, where they have none of those things to plead which might be urged in his excuse.
3. St. Paul raises him again to life. It served for a momentary interruption to the assembly, but in the issue contributed to the furtherance of their faith and joy. The apostle immediately went down, and fell on him, and embracing him, as Elijah stretched himself on the dead corpse of the widow of Sarepta’s son, 1Ki 17:21 said, Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him, restored by divine power. Then he returned to the room where they had assembled, and, after the administration of the Lord’s supper, spent the remainder of the night, till break of day, in sweet communion and conversation; when, in the most affectionate manner, he took his leave. But, before they parted, they brought the young man alive into the assembly; and were not a little comforted, as some reproach might have been cast upon them, had he thus died; but now it tended to the credit of the gospel. Note; (1.) They who know the sweetness and profit of Christian conference, are glad to improve every moment while in the company of those faithful ministers, whose discourse so greatly tends to quicken and comfort them. (2.) Providences which appear at first view very afflictive, God can and often does overrule to the increase of our joy.

3rdly, St. Paul now without delay hastened to Jerusalem. His companions went by ship before to Assos, where they were to take in the apostle, who, for some important reasons which we are not told, resolved to go thither on foot. There embarking, they all sailed for Mitylene, whence, without stropping, they proceeded the next day as far as the isle of Chios; and the next arriving at Samos, they made a short stay at Trogyllium: the following day they arrived at Miletus, sailing by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia; for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem, the day of Pentecost; and he apprehended that the importunity of his Ephesian friends might have delayed him. Note; When the glory of God and the business of our station call for our attendance, pleasant and delightful as it is to enjoy the company of our dear friends, we must forego that satisfaction.

4thly, Though St. Paul would not call at Ephesus, he greatly desired to see the elders of the church, and therefore sent for them to Miletus. They attended him accordingly at Miletus, where he addressed to them such an affecting and solemn discourse, as can scarce, even now, be read by any gracious heart without a tear.
1. He begins with a noble appeal to them concerning his life and doctrine during the time he had sojourned among them.
[1.] As to his life. Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, how exemplary, holy, and unblamable his conversation had been; how uniform his conduct; how steady amidst all his trials; serving the Lord with all humility of mind. His master’s service was his one business; and, amidst all the honours which the Lord had put upon him, he sought no glory nor applause; but, with the lowliest thoughts of himself, and deepest condescensions towards others, was ready to stoop to any service, even to the meanest, whereby the Saviour might be glorified, and the bodies or souls of men be benefited; and with many tears, in his prayers for them, and affectionate discourses to them, he watched over their spiritual welfare, deeply concerned for those who obstinately rejected the counsel of God against their own souls, tenderly sympathizing with the afflictions of the faithful, and lamenting over backsliders and apostates; and with many temptations, added he, which befel me, by the lying in wait of the Jews, ever contriving his destruction: in all which his approved fidelity had been abundantly manifested, and his example remained for their imitation.

[2.] As to his doctrine. Ye know how I kept back from you nothing that was profitable unto you, not shunning, with all simplicity and sincerity, to declare the whole counsel of God; unawed by fears, undismayed by difficulties, uninfluenced by any worldly motives; and have shewed you and have taught you publicly in the congregation, and privately from house to house, continually labouring to diffuse a sweet savour of Christ, and to communicate edification, encouragement, and consolation, wherever he went; testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, with the most earnest affection and concern, repentance toward God, the necessity and nature of it, as implying a deep and humbling sense of sin, its evil malignity, and danger; a genuine self-abhorrence in the view of its guilt and ingratitude, with an unfeigned and unreserved renunciation of it; and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, directing sinners to him as the great object of all their hopes, describing the fulness, freedom, and all-sufficiency of his salvation, and urging them to trust in his infinite merit and intercession for pardon, peace, adoption, glory. Note; (1.) What was St. Paul’s doctrine must be ours, if ever we would approve ourselves to God, and profit men’s souls; under the influence of the spirit desiring to lead them to a deep conviction of their ruin, and a humbling sense of their sins, and then pointing out the glorious remedy provided in a crucified Jesus. (2.) They who have the care of immortal souls lying upon them, can never be too diligent. Their private conversation must breathe the same spirit as their discourses in the pulpit; and every company where they are found, should be the wiser and better for them. (3.) No fear or shame should ever lead us to suppress a tittle of those glorious gospel truths which are so offensive to human pride; at least, it should be our labour to deliver our own souls, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear.

2. He lets them know what a series of sufferings was before him. He left them not to avoid the cross, but was about to encounter greater persecutions than ever. And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, led thither by the mighty constrainings of the Holy Ghost, and fully determined in my own soul to follow his guidance and direction; not knowing the things that shall befal me there; the particular sufferings to which he should be exposed, God had not revealed to him; save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me; either in general he had this notice given him, or, in every city he passed through, the divinely-inspired prophets foretold the sufferings which awaited him: but none of these things move me, to terrify him from his duty, or shake his constant mind; neither count I my life dear unto myself; valuable as it was, he paid no regard to it, when the cause of Christ called him to death or danger, content to suffer whatever the Lord pleased to permit; so that I might finish my course with joy, accomplishing his blessed Master’s work, and reaching the prize of his high calling; and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God, freely and openly publishing the unsearchable riches of Christ, and proving by the fullest evidence, the truth that he declared; displaying in the most reviving manner the unmerited and boundless love and grace of God, manifested in the gospel of his dear son towards sinners. Note; (1.) If our hearts are truly fixed on God, and our conversation in heaven, we shall look down upon the malice of men and devils as unable to hurt us, and fearless put our lives in our hands, when Christ calls for them. (2.) Life is our race, and death the goal; our one concern is to finish our course with joy; and that by persevering fidelity approving ourselves to God, we may receive the crown of life and glory which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to all his faithful servants. (3.) Our ministry is received from the Lord; and to him must we shortly render up the solemn account. (4.) The grand subject of all discourses, if we would fulfil that ministry we have received of the Lord, must be the gospel of the grace of God, in opposition to all the pride of self-sufficiency, labouring to make lost sinners know the necessity of a free justification through the merit and intercession of a Redeemer, and, from a view of their utter impotence and corruption, to lead them to those supplies of grace and strength which can only be derived from him.

3. He informs them that he is now taking his last leave of them, and appeals to God for his freedom from the blood of all men. And now, behold, I know, that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, the doctrines, privileges, and duties thereof, shall see my face no more, nor ever again enjoy my personal ministry among you. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men; for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. He appeals therefore to them in the presence of God for his fidelity: the whole truth of the gospel, so far as God had revealed it to him, he had declared; and now, if any souls among them perished, their blood was on their own heads; he was free. Note; (1.) It is a singular satisfaction, when we can make such an appeal to God, and to those to whom we have ministered, for our simplicity and faithfulness in the discharge of our sacred trust. (2.) The whole counsel of God, without reserve, must be declared; the truths of God need no concealment: and they shew their ignorance of the spirit of the gospel, who mention its glorious privileges with timidity, pretending fear, lest the free and boundless grace of God should be perverted to licentiousness. We must declare it: let men abuse it at their peril.

4. He gives them a solemn parting charge. Take heed unto yourselves, that your own conversation may be exemplary, and your souls influenced by that gospel which you preach to others; and to all the flock committed to your charge, for whom you must give an aweful account shortly before the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls; over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, appointing you to your office, and furnishing you with gifts for the discharge of it; to feed the church of God with knowledge and understanding, and to preside over them with wisdom and meekness; which he hath purchased with his own blood; the inestimable value of their souls therefore is evident, when he who is very God, became incarnate, and submitted to the death of the cross, to make atonement for their sins, and to purchase them for his own. Did Jesus bleed to redeem them, and can we, if called to the ministry of the gospel, be his servants, and not desire to spend and be spent in the service of their faith? Surely a negligent minister, beyond all others, tramples under foot the blood of the Son of God.

5. He warns them of the dangers against which they would be called to contend, and exhorts them to be watchful. For I know this, by revelation, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you; both persecutors will ravage, and false teachers more terribly seek to corrupt the faith, and ruin the souls of the people, not sparing the flock, using every vile art to seduce, ensnare, and destroy them. Also of your ownselves shall men arise, of those who now perhaps make a fair profession, and in whom you place confidence; speaking perverse things, departing from the simplicity of the gospel, disseminating pernicious heresies, and introducing dangerous innovations, to draw away disciples after them, and erect themselves into heads of parties. (See 2Ti 1:15; 2Ti 2:18. ) Therefore watch, the greatest vigilance would be necessary; and, being forewarned, they were fore-armed, and should with indefatigable diligence endeavour to confirm the disciples’ faith, and caution them against those deluders; that they may not by them be moved away from the hope of the gospel: and remember the example which I have set you, which you are called to imitate; that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears; so fervently and affectionately had he been concerned for them, carefully observing the first efforts of deceivers, jealous over the least appearances of a declension from the purity of the faith and the simplicity of the gospel, lamenting with deepest sorrow when any staggered or fainted in their mind, and declined from their holy profession: and ceaseless in his admonitions, he endeavoured to recover the fallen, and to warn others to be more watchful, taught by their sad examples. Oh that we, who are put in trust with the gospel, may be enabled to shew such zeal, fidelity, and affectionate concern toward the souls of our people!

6. He solemnly commends them to the divine care and keeping. And now, brethren, having admonished you of the dangers you must encounter, and knowing that more than mortal wisdom and strength are needful for you that you may approve your fidelity to Christ, I commend you to God, to his power to protect, his wisdom to guide, his spirit to comfort you; and to the word of his grace, to his written and revealed word, for your conduct and direction, or to the essential word Christ Jesus, out of whose fulness alone they must receive grace for grace, and by him be preserved and kept steadfast amidst all the wiles of deceivers, and the opposition of persecutors; which is able to build you up, in faith, hope, and holiness, to establish you unto the end, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified, preparing you for that kingdom which he hath prepared for his faithful saints in light and glory everlasting. Note; (1.) None may hope for a part among God’s saints in heaven, who are not partakers of their grace upon earth, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost. (2.) The gospel is the great means of producing, through the power of divine grace, true sanctification.

7. He particularly reminds them of the deadness which he had shewn to this world, and of his labours, that he might not be beholden to any man for a provision, while he freely preached the gospel. I have coveted no man’s silver or gold, or apparel, content with what he could obtain from his own industry, and burdensome to none of them for a maintenance. Yea, you yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities; entitled as he was to a liberal provision, he chose for the sake of the gospel to wave his right, and to work at his trade, by which he was enabled not only to earn a subsistence for himself, but also to help them that were with him, who were less able to provide for themselves: and this he did with a view particularly to the false teachers, that he might remove every shadow of objection which they would have been glad to urge against him. Thus, by my example, I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring as I have done, ye ought to support the weak, assisting the necessitous, and relieving their wants; and removing, as far as possible, every prejudice which the deceivers might seek to instil into the minds of the weak brethren, as if they laboured for mercenary ends. And to encourage them hereunto, he begs them to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive; it is more godlike, a mark of a more noble Christian spirit, to relieve the wants of others, and lay out ourselves for their good without a recompence, than to be burdensome to them for a maintenance.

5thly, Having finished this most affecting discourse,
1. He kneeled down, and prayed with them all, commending them solemnly to the Lord Jesus, and begging, no doubt, that they might be enabled faithfully to discharge the solemn trust committed to them, and observe the good counsel which he had delivered, Note; (1.) Ministers must water with their prayers the word sown, that God may give the increase. (2.)

Friends will do well to part in prayer, that if it please God they may meet here again in peace; and, if not, that they may together shortly unite their never ending praises before the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2. They parted with floods of tears and the most affectionate embraces. They all wept sore, deeply affected with his discourse, his prayer, and his departure from them; and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him, taking their last farewel of their dear pastor, with hearts full of love, and swelling with grief; sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. To part was bitter; to part for a long while, would have been yet more irksome; but to part, without the hope of ever meeting again among the living here belowthis added peculiar anguish to the separation, and antedated the funeral sorrows: it was a kind of living burial. And they accompanied him unto the ship, willing to enjoy his company to the last moment, and testify their deep respect and fervent love towards him; Note; Though our friends may be separated from us, so that we can see their faces no more upon earth, it is our consolation, if we are united in Jesus, and perseveringly cleave to him, that we shall assuredly meet in a better world, never to part again.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 1803
THE BLESSEDNESS OF LIBERALITY

Act 20:35. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

SCARCELY any thing can be conceived more calculated to improve our minds, than the committing to memory such portions of Scripture as are peculiarly important. The Jews were accustomed to have select passages of their law fastened upon their garments, in order that they might be continually reminded of their duty. David, with less ostentation, and more piety, hid Gods word within his heart, as the means of preserving him from sin [Note: Psa 119:11.]: and he has recommended a similar practice to all young people, in order that their corrupt inclinations may be checked by the recollection of Gods commands [Note: Psa 119:8.]. Among the various passages which claim peculiar attention, this which is before us has a very distinguished place. It should seem that our gracious Lord was in the habit of frequently inculcating the divine lesson in the text. And so generally was this saying known among his Disciples, that the Evangelists did not judge it necessary to record it in any of their Gospels. Almost thirty years after his death, it was commonly mentioned in the Church, and was enforced by his Apostles as a principle of action, which was to be adopted by all his followers. St. Paul, having summoned the elders of the Ephesian Church to meet him at Miletus, took his final leave of them, and gave them all the cautions and directions which he judged necessary. He entreated them more particularly to cultivate to the uttermost a spirit of benevolence; remembering the example which he himself had set them, and bearing in mind that saying of our Lord, of which he had so often reminded them, namely, that it was more blessed to give than to receive. Happily for us, St. Luke was inspired to record in the history of St. Paul, what he, and all the other Evangelists had omitted in their histories of Christ. And the very circumstance of its being so providentially preserved, may well render it an object of our most attentive regard.

Let us consider then,

I.

The grounds of this declaration

That the man who lessens his property by giving, should, by that very act, become more truly blessed than the most destitute person can be made by receiving, appears a paradox that cannot be explained. But to evince the truth of it, we shall point out some particulars, wherein the act of giving is manifestly more blessed than that of receiving

1.

It calls forth more noble feelings

[The feelings of him who receives in a becoming manner, are by no means despicable. Gratitude is a very refined and dignified sensation; and, when ennobled by a view of Gods hand, and an acknowledgment of his overruling providence in raising up to us a benefactor, it becomes one of the noblest exercises of the human mind. Yet we must confess, that the donor has the advantage of the receiver in these respects: for generosity and compassion are more elevated sentiments than gratitude, inasmuch as they have in them less of what is selfish, and originate, not in any personal gratification, but solely in the wants and miseries of a fellow-creature. Moreover, if the donor be in a right spirit, he will act altogether with a view to Gods glory: he will consider himself simply as Gods agent or steward; and, instead of admiring himself on account of what he does for God, he will bless and magnify his God for employing him in so honourable a service. Would we form a just idea of the feelings of a good man discharging the duties of benevolence; let us paint to ourselves the sensations of the angel who was sent to strengthen our Saviour after his conflicts with all the powers of darkness [Note: Luk 23:43.]. Did he receive with joy the Fathers mandate? did he fly on the wings of love to execute his divine commission? did he administer consolation to Jesus with unutterable tenderness; and return with ardent gratitude to express his sense of the high honour conferred upon him? In him then we behold the true image of a saint, performing towards the afflicted the kind offices of love.]

2.

It more assimilates us to the Deity

[We do not at first sight behold any likeness to the Deity in him who receives an alms: yet, methinks, we may, without dishonouring our God, trace some resemblance: for Jehovah himself is receiving daily from his creatures a tribute of prayer and praise, which comes up before him as incense, and is the offering by which he considers himself as glorified. Moreover, our blessed Lord identifies himself with his distressed followers, and acknowledges himself as fed and clothed, when food and raiment are administered to them [Note: Mat 25:35-36.]: yea, in the days of his flesh, he condescended to subsist through the benevolence of others [Note: Luk 8:3.]. But in the donor there is a very striking likeness to the Deity, who is daily opening his hand, and filling all things living with plenteousness. More particularly, if the donor be overlooking the trifling distinctions of neighbourhood or of party, and be extending his alms to all, whether friends or enemies, he approves himself in the highest degree conformable to the image of his God, who is the comforter of all them that are cast down [Note: 2Co 7:6.], and who makes his sun to rise upon the evil and upon the good, and sends his rain upon the just, and upon the unjust [Note: Mat 5:44-45; Mat 5:48.].]

3.

It is a source of more extensive benefits

[He who receives an alms, benefits himself and those who depend upon him. The world around him too derive some good from his example, in that he teaches them a quiet submission to the will of God in circumstances of affliction and necessity. But the good which is done by the donor is almost incalculable. In the first place, he relieves the wants of others, who but for his timely aid, perhaps, must have languished, or even perished, for want. But the joys of penury relieved, form but a small portion of the benefits which a benevolent Christian imparts. He exceedingly improves his awn soul, confirming in himself the most benevolent affections, and establishing habits which greatly conduce to his own happiness. Nor are the advantages which accrue to himself confined to this world: for even in heaven will he have a recompence [Note: Luk 14:14; Luk 16:9.], and that too proportioned to the zeal with which he had cultivated the principle of love [Note: 2Co 9:6.]. Moreover, the benefits extend to all around him. Who can estimate the good which he does to the souls of others, while he adorns and recommends the Gospel of Christ? for, he not only makes himself an example to other professors of religion, and provokes them to emulation, but he removes the prejudices of the ungodly, and constrains them to confess the excellence of those principles which in their hearts they abhor [Note: Mat 5:16.]. With humble reverence we may say, that the benefit reaches even to Christ himself: for, as in all the afflictions of his people he is afflicted [Note: Isa 63:9.], so in all their consolations also he is comforted [Note: Mat 25:40.]. Further, if further we can go, even God the Father also is made a. partaker of the benefit. For that which above all things he regards, is, his own glory: and our alms-deeds are often the occasion of most heartfelt praises and thanksgivings to him. This St. Paul specifies as one of the most blessed effects of liberality; an effect, in comparison of which, the relief of a fellow-creature is almost unworthy of notice [Note: 2Co 9:12.].]

Having pointed out the grounds of this extraordinary declaration, we proceed to shew,
II.

The improvement that should he made of it

St. Paul, in exhorting the Ephesian Elders to remember this saying of the Lord Jesus, designed to stimulate them to a suitable improvement of it. Now it will be found of use to us,

1.

To form our principles

[There is a benevolence which is extremely profitable to the world in a temporal view, while it is altogether unprofitable, and even ruinous, to their spiritual interests. When this principle is considered as the whole of religion, when it is made the foundation of a sinners hope, and substituted in the place of Christ, it is then worthless, and odious, in the sight of God. But when it is cultivated from a regard to Christ, and exercised with a view to his glory, it is an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice well-pleasing to God [Note: Php 4:18.]. When viewed with all its attendant exercises of mind, it is the sum and substance of all practical religion [Note: Gal 6:2.]. Without this, all pretences to religion are vain: for if we do not love our brother, whom we have seen, it is impossible that we should love God. whom we have not seen [Note: 1Jn 4:20.]. As for wealth, we should consider it as of no value, any further than it enables us to exercise ourselves in offices of love. To amass wealth, or to spend it on ourselves, should afford us no pleasure, in comparison of devoting it to pious purposes: for, if it is more blessed to give it away, than to receive the most needful supplies, much more must the giving it away render us more blessed than either the spending or the saving of it can do. This is manifestly the scope of the divine aphorism in the text; and on this estimate of wealth our principles should be formed. It should be an established maxim with us, that to do good is to receive good, and to exercise love is to be truly blessed.]

2.

To regulate our practice

[Let the fore-mentioned principle be duly considered: and, when we are fully persuaded that to do good is the surest way to receive good, we shall gladly embrace every opportunity of benefiting others, and of getting good to ourselves.
Behold then, an opportunity now offers itself to every one of you! and, in the name of our adorable Lord, we entreat you both to confer, and to receive, blessedness.

First, confer blessedness [Note: If this be a. Charity Sermon, it will be proper in this place to shew the particular nature of the charity, and what blessings are likely to accrue from it.] Think that perhaps your present generosity may be overruled, not merely for the temporal relief of a distressed brother, but for the everlasting salvation of some immortal soul. O let this thought stimulate you to the most cheerful and beneficent exertions.

If any say, I have nothing but what I earn by manual labour; and even that is little more than suffices for my own necessities; I answer, This is the very case stated by St. Paul, who determines that such persons ought to give according to their ability [Note: Eph 4:28.]; and, in the very verse before the text, he tells us how he himself acted under those circumstances; and then he adds, I have shewed you, that, so labouring, ye ought to support the weak [Note: ver. 34, 35.].

Next, receive blessedness. We have hitherto spoken on behalf of our indigent and afflicted brethren. But we must change our voice: it is not for them, so much as for you, that we preach: yes, you who are opulent, you who have the means of doing good, you are the persons to whom we preach, and for whom we preach. Receive blessedness, I say; far greater blessedness than it is in your power to confer on others. Strengthen in yourselves the habits of benevolence. Imitate Him who went about doing good; Him, who, though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich [Note: 2Co 8:9.]. Imitate the God and Father of the universe, whose tender mercy is over all his works. Go, and put your money into his hands: fur, what you give to the poor, you lend unto the Lord; and he will pay it you again [Note: Pro 19:17.]. It is fruit that will abound to your own account [Note: Php 4:14.]. If you trust in your wealth, it will be a foundation of sand, a broken reed: but do good with it, and you will lay up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come [Note: 1Ti 6:18-19.]. Whether then ye covet present or future happiness, remember the words of the Lord Jesus, and shew the love to others which he has shewn to you [Note: Joh 13:34.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Ver. 35. It is more blessed ] Epicurus could say, , that to do good was not only better, but sweeter also than to receive good. Julius Caesar counted nothing his own that he bestowed not upon others. And it better pleased Cyrus to give than to possess any good thing that he had. (Xenoph.)

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

35. ] In all things : so Paul (only), see reff.

] A word used by Paul fourteen times, by Luke once only (Luk 5:5 ( Luk 12:27 v. r.)).

] Not here the weak in faith (Rom 14:1 . 1Co 8:9 ), as Calvin, Beza, Grot., Bengel, Neander, Meyer, Tholuck, which the context both before and after will not allow: but the poor ( , Aristoph. Pac [139] 636. , Eurip. ap. Stob. cxv. (Wetst.)), as Chrys., Theoph., Heinrichs, Kuin., Olsh., De Wette.

[139] Pac ianus, Bp. of Barcelona , 370

. . . .] This saying of our Lord is one of very few not recorded in the Gospels, which have come down to us. Many such must have been current in the apostolic times, and are possibly preserved, unknown to us, in such epistles as those of James, Peter, and John. Bengel remarks, ‘alia mundi sententia est:’ and cites from an old poet in Athenus, viii. 5, , But we have some sayings the other way: not to quote authors who wrote after this date, and might have imbibed some of the spirit of Christianity, we find in Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. iv. 1, , . .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 20:35 . .: “in all things I gave you an example,” R.V., see also critical note. The verb and the cognate noun are both used in Greek in accordance with this sense, Xen., Oec [345] , xii., 18, Isocr., v., 27, see Plummer on Luk 3:7 , etc., so , Xen., De re eq. , ii., 2, and for other instances of the similar use of the word see Westcott on Heb 8:5 , Sir 44:16 , 2Ma 6:28 ; 2Ma 6:31 , 4Ma 17:23 , cf. also Clem. Rom., Cor [346] , 5:1, 46:1. , i.e. , as I have done, cf. Phi 3:17 . : not of spiritual labours, but of manual, as the context requires. No doubt the verb is used in the former sense, 1Co 16:16 , Rom 16:12 , 1Th 5:12 , but also in the latter, 1Co 4:12 , Eph 4:28 , 2Ti 2:6 (so also by Paul). In St. Paul’s writings it occurs no less than fourteen times, in St. Luke only twice, Luk 5:5 (Luk 12:27 ). In classical Greek, so in Josephus, it has the meaning of growing weary or tired, but in LXX and N.T. alone, laboro viribus intentis (Grimm). , see above on p. 63. .: only in Luke and Paul, Luk 1:54 , 1Ti 6:2 , cf. 1Co 12:28 . The verb = to take another’s part, to succour (so too cognate noun), in LXX, Isa 41:9 , Sir 2:6 ; Sir 3:12 ; Sir 29:9 ; Sir 29:20 , of helping the poor, cf. also Psalms of Solomon , Act 16:3 ; Act 16:5 , Act 7:9 , see further Psalms of Solomon , Ryle and James edit., p. 73; on , H. and R., sub. v. In classical Greek used in middle voice with genitive as here. ., cf. 1Th 5:14 , for a similar precept. The adjective need not be limited to those who sought relief owing to physical weakness or poverty, but may include all those who could claim the presbyters’ support and care, bodily or spiritual, cf. Rom 12:13 . The usage of the gospels points to those who are weak through disease and therefore needing help, cf., e.g. , Mat 10:8 , Mar 6:56 , Luk 9:2 , Joh 5:3 , so also by St. Paul, Php 2:26-27 , 2Ti 4:20 , although there are instances in LXX where the word is used of moral rather than of physical weakness. When the word is used of moral or spiritual weakness in the N.T., such a meaning is for the most part either determined by the context, or by some addition, e.g. , , Rom 14:1 . : the verb is used seven times by St. Paul in his Epistles, once by St. Luke in his Gospel, Luk 17:32 , and twice in Acts in the words of St. Paul, cf. Act 20:31 . Twice in the Epistle of St. Clement of Rome we find a similar exhortation in similar words, ch ap. 13:1 and 46:7, and in each case the word may refer to a free combination of our Lord’s words ( cf. Luk 6:30 ; Luk 14:14 ), so too in St.Polycarp, Epist. , ii., 3. From what source St. Paul obtained this, the only saying of our Lord, definitely so described, outside the four Gospels which the N.T. contains, we cannot tell, but the command to “remember” shows that the words must have been familiar words, like those from St. Clement and St. Polycarp, which are very similar to the utterances of the Sermon on the Mount. From whatever source they were derived the references given by Resch, Agrapha , pp. 100, 150, show how deep an impression they made upon the mind of the Church, Clem. Rom., Cor [347] , ii. 1, Did [348] , i., 5, Const. Ap. , iv., 3, 1; cf. also Ropes, Die Spriiche Jesus , p. 136. In thus appealing to the words of the Lord Jesus, St. Paul’s manner in his address is very similar to that employed in his Epistles, where he is apparently able to quote the words of the Lord in support of his judgment on some religious and moral question, cf. 1Co 7:10-12 ; 1Co 7:25 , and the distinction between his own opinion, , and the command of Christ, ( Witness of the Epistles , p. 319). : Weiss (so Bethge) holds that the word closely connects the two clauses, and that the meaning is that only thus could the weak be rightly maintained, viz. , by remembering, etc., being causal. But however this may be, in this reference, , “how he himself said,” R.V. (thus implying that the fact was beyond all doubt), we may note one distinctive feature in Christian philanthropy, that it is based upon allegiance to a divine Person, and upon a reference to His commands. The emphatic personal pronoun seems to forbid the view that the Apostle is simply giving the sense of some of our Lord’s sayings (see above). Similar sayings may be quoted from pagan and Jewish sources, but in Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. , iv., 1, it is the part to give when and where and as much as he pleases, but only because it is beautiful to give; even in friendship, generosity and benevolence spring from the reflection that such conduct is decorous and worthy of a noble man, Eth. Nicom. , ix., 8. In Plato’s Republic there would have been no place for the . Even in Seneca who sometimes approaches very nearly to the Christian precept, when he declares, e.g. , that even if we lose we must still give, we cannot forget that pity is regarded as something unworthy of a wise man; the wise man will help him in tears, but he will not weep with him; he helps the poor not with compassion, but with an impassive calm. : emphatic in position, see critical note. Bengel quotes from an old poet, cf. Athenus, viii., 5, , , . The lines are by no means to be regarded as the best expression of pagan ethics, but the ., which occurs more than thirty times on the lips of our Lord, bids us aim at something altogether higher and deeper and fuller than happiness blessedness. In Judaism, whilst compassion for the poor and distressed is characteristic of a righteous Israelite, we must still bear in mind that such compassion was limited by legality and nationality; the universality of the Christian precept is wanting, Uhlhorn, Christian Charity , pp. 1 56, E.T., instances in Wetstein, and Bethge and Page, in loco .

[345] Oecumenius, the Greek Commentator.

[346] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[347] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[348] .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Acts

PARTING COUNSELS

THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING

Act 20:35 .

How ‘many other things Jesus did’ and said ‘which are not written in this book’! Here is one precious unrecorded word, which was floating down to the ocean of oblivion when Paul drew it to shore and so enriched the world. There is, however, a saying recorded, which is essentially parallel in content though differing in garb, ‘The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.’ It is tempting to think that the text gives a glimpse into the deep fountains of the pure blessedness of Jesus Himself, and was a transcript of His own human experience. It helps us to understand how the Man of Sorrows could give as a legacy to His followers ‘My joy,’ and could speak of it as abiding and full.

I. The reasons on which this saying rests.

It is based not only on the fact that the act of giving has in it a sense of power and of superiority, and that the act of receiving may have a painful consciousness of obligation, though a cynic might endorse it on that ground, but on a truth far deeper than these, that there is a pure and godlike joy in making others blessed.

The foundation on which the axiom rests is that giving is the result of love and self-sacrifice. Whenever they are not found, the giving is not the giving which ‘blesses him that gives.’ If you give with some arriere pensee of what you will get by it, or for the sake of putting some one under obligation, or indifferently as a matter of compulsion or routine, if with your alms there be contempt to which pity is ever near akin, then these are not examples of the giving on which Christ pronounced His benediction. But where the heart is full of deep, real love, and where that love expresses itself by a cheerful act of self-sacrifice, then there is felt a glow of calm blessedness far above the base and greedy joys of self-centred souls who delight only in keeping their possessions, or in using them for themselves. It comes not merely from contemplating the relief or happiness in others of which our gifts may have been the source, but from the working in our own hearts of these two godlike emotions. To be delivered from making myself my great object, and to be delivered from the undue value set upon having and keeping our possessions, are the twin factors of true blessedness. It is heaven on earth to love and to give oneself away.

Then again, the highest joy and noblest use of all our possessions is found in imparting them.

True as to this world’s goods.

The old epitaph is profoundly true, which puts into the dead lips the declaration: ‘What I kept I lost. What I gave I kept.’ Better to learn that and act on it while living!

True as to truth, and knowledge.

True as to the Gospel of the grace of God.

II. The great example in God of the blessedness of giving.

God gives-gives only-gives always-and He in giving has joy, blessedness. He would not be ‘the ever-blessed God’ unless He were ‘the giving God.’ Creation we are perhaps scarcely warranted in affirming to be a necessity to the divine nature, and we run on perilous heights of speculation when we speak of it as contributing to His blessedness; but this at least we may say, that He, in the deep words of the Psalmist, ‘delights in mercy.’ Before creation was realised in time, the divine Idea of it was eternal, inseparable from His being, and therefore from everlasting He ‘rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men.’

The light and glory thus thrown on His relation to us.

He gives. He does not exact until He has given. He gives what He requires. The requirement is made in love and is itself a ‘grace given,’ for it permits to God’s creatures, in their relation to Him, some feeble portion and shadow of the blessedness which He possesses, by permitting them to bring offerings to His throne, and so to have the joy of giving to Him what He has given to them. ‘All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.’ Then how this thought puts an end to all manner of slavish notions about God’s commands and demands, and about worship, and about merits, or winning heaven by our own works.

Notice that the same emotions which we have found to make the blessedness of giving are those which come into play in the act of receiving spiritual blessings. We receive the Gospel by faith, which assuredly has in it love and self-sacrifice.

Having thus the great Example of all giving in heaven, and the shadow and reflex of that example in our relations to Him on earth, we are thereby fitted for the exemplification of it in our relation to men. To give, not to get, is to be our work, to love, to sacrifice ourselves.

This axiom should regulate Christians’ relation to the world, and to each other, in every way. It should shape the Christian use of money. It should shape our use of all which we have.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

have shewed = shewed. Greek. hupodeiknumi. See note on Act 9:16.

labouring = toiling. Greek. kopiao. Compare Mat 6:28, first occurance.

support. Greek. antilambanomai. Only here, Luk 1:54. 1Ti 6:2.

weak. Greek. astheneo. Often translated “sick”.

It is, &c. This is one of the Paroemiae (App-6)of the Lord, not elsewhere recorded.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

35. ] In all things: so Paul (only), see reff.

] A word used by Paul fourteen times, by Luke once only (Luk 5:5 (Luk 12:27 v. r.)).

] Not here the weak in faith (Rom 14:1. 1Co 8:9), as Calvin, Beza, Grot., Bengel, Neander, Meyer, Tholuck,-which the context both before and after will not allow:-but the poor ( , Aristoph. Pac[139] 636. , Eurip. ap. Stob. cxv. (Wetst.)), as Chrys., Theoph., Heinrichs, Kuin., Olsh., De Wette.

[139] Pacianus, Bp. of Barcelona, 370

. …] This saying of our Lord is one of very few not recorded in the Gospels, which have come down to us. Many such must have been current in the apostolic times, and are possibly preserved, unknown to us, in such epistles as those of James, Peter, and John. Bengel remarks, alia mundi sententia est: and cites from an old poet in Athenus, viii. 5, , But we have some sayings the other way: not to quote authors who wrote after this date, and might have imbibed some of the spirit of Christianity, we find in Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. iv. 1, , . .

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 20:35. -) i.e. I have showed you, as all things, so also this, that, etc. If I had not showed you this, I should not have showed you all things.-, I have shown) by actual example.-, you) the bishops. He admonishes these by his own example, courteously, without precept. Therefore in Act 20:33 he does not say, the silver, etc., of none of you, which was evident of itself (without needing that he should say so); but of no man, viz. of no one even of my hearers.- , the weak) viz. in the faith, 1Co 9:6; 1Co 9:22.-, to remember) accompanied with actual obedience.- , the saying) So the ancient MSS., and with them the Latin Vulg. It is a reading midway between the extremes. Others read . Most read , which reading has arisen from the alliteration to the preceding . Joh 15:20, .-) Himself.-, said) Without a doubt the disciples kept in memory many sayings of JESUS, which are not to be read in our Scriptures in the present day.-) blessed, divine. To give, is to imitate the blessed God, and to have recompense, Luk 14:14.-, to give) A specimen of the Divine giving occurs at Act 20:32.-) to receive, although in a lawful way. The sentiment of the world is the very reverse, as expressed by an old poet in Athenus, lib. viii. ch. 5, in the following Senarian Iambics:-

, .

.

, .

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

It is more

See, Luk 14:12.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

The Beatitude of the Giver

In all things I gave you an example, how that so labouring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.Act 20:35.

This is a golden saying of our Lords, snatched for us from oblivion (for it is not found anywhere in the Gospels) by the inspired Apostle, and handed down by him for the use of the Church in every age, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Very honestly St. Paul could press it on the regard of the Ephesian elders; for his own life, his whole apostolic life, had been an exemplification of it. And it was well that it was so. For, so contrary is the saying to the practice at leastthe whole spirit and practical judgmentsof men, that when a public teacher declares that he is more happy in giving than in receiving, the question is apt to arise in the minds of his hearers, Does he really believe it?

I

The Example of St. Paul

1. The interest with which we study the text attaches chiefly to the saying of Jesus which St. Paul quotes; but we might notice first the remarkable immediate use or application of it by the Apostle. We are told elsewhere that he had learned a craft, that of tent-making, and had worked at it for his living at Corinth. But the most noticeable point in his reference to this fact is not merely that he had thus supported himself, but that he had thereby ministered to those that were with him; and he tells the elders of Ephesus that so labouring they also ought to support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

2. It is true that of worldly goods the Apostle had but little to give. But his very poverty was only a nobler exemplification of the saying. And as to all other kinds of giving, his whole apostolic life was spent in the spirit of those words. For example: I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but you; for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. Surely that was giving. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. I coveted no mans silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I gave you an example in all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The Rabbinical law required that every Jew should be taught a trade. St. Paul, therefore, being able to support himself by his own labour, did not ask for material reward, and was free to turn the main stream of his energy into the channel of service. His life is our assurance that true happiness does not lie in anything outside the man. It has been the common aim of every pure religion, and of every great teacher in the world, to undermine practical materialism, and to warn us that only in the soul itself is the secret of content. It may be questioned whether we have learnt the lesson. We still catch at the imaginary delights with which life tries to cheat us; we still dream of a happiness which, if not now, can never be ours; we still find something paradoxical in St. Pauls saying, though it is in fact as simply true as the converse saying of Socrates, that he who commits an injustice does harm only to himself. It is a simple truth, verified by common experience, and, like every fundamental truth of Christianity, rooted in a psychological law. Imagine a man, comparatively poor and friendless, inheriting or gradually winning a magnificent estate. Does he add to his pleasure in life? Alas! he adds absolutely nothing. His conservatories with their wealth of flowers will never charm him more than the yellow primrose which was the passion of his youth; the great library with its store of books will never give him the exquisite relish of those few tattered volumes which first stirred his intellectual thirst. He may have added to his opportunities of pleasure; he may have changed the objects of his pleasure; he may have found roads to new pleasures, once unknown; but his capacity for pleasure he cannot change. That is a constant force. It is the same, though in another sphere. What he gains here, he loses there. In everything there is compensation. He wins a high positiongood; but then, with the position comes a responsibility from which he was free before. He attains great wealth; but wealth also has its responsibilities. The higher he rises, the more delicate and difficult, as a rule, his work becomes; and while he secures more honour, he rarely wins more peace.1 [Note: S. A. Alexander.]

I wish the good old times would come again, she said, when we were not quite so rich. I do not mean that I want to be poor; but there was a middle stateso she was pleased to ramble onin which I am sure we were a great deal happier. A purchase is but a purchase, now that you have money enough and to spare. Formerly it used to be a triumph. When we coveted a cheap luxury (and, O! how much ado I had to get you to consent in those times!) we were used to have a debate two or three days before, and to weigh the for and against, and think what we might spare it out of, and what saving we could hit upon, that should be an equivalent. A thing was worth buying then, when we felt the money that we paid for it. Do you remember the brown suit which you made to hang upon you till all your friends cried shame upon you, it grew so threadbareand all because of that folio Beaumont and Fletcher, which you dragged home late at night from Barkers in Covent Garden? Do you remember how we eyed it for weeks before we could make up our minds to the purchase, and had not come to a determination till it was near ten oclock of the Saturday night, when you set off from Islington, fearing you should be too lateand when the old bookseller with some grumbling opened his shop, and by the twinkling taper (for he was setting bedwards) lighted out the relic from his dusty treasuresand when you lugged it home, wishing it were twice as cumbersomeand when you presented it to meand when we were exploring the perfectness of it (collating you called it)and while I was repairing some of the loose leaves with paste, which your impatience would not suffer to be left till daybreakwas there no pleasure in being a poor man?2 [Note: Charles Lamb, The Last Essays of Elia, 170.]

There is more happiness, more satisfaction, a truer life, and more obtained from life, in the cottages of the poor than in the homes of the rich.1 [Note: Andrew Carnegie.]

I pitied one whose tattered dress

Was patched, and stained with dust and rain;

He smiled on me; I could not guess

The viewless spirits wide domain.

He said, The royal robe I wear

Trails all along the fields of light:

Its silent blue and silver bear

For gems the starry dust of night.

The breath of Joy unceasingly

Waves to and fro its folds starlit,

And far beyond earths misery

I live and breathe the joy of it.2 [Note: A. E.]

II

The Great Maxims of the Great Teachers

Ye ought to remember the words of the Lord Jesus.

1. We have all heard of the seven wise men of Greece, who laid the foundations of philosophy in some pithy maxim or phrase, such as, Suretyship is the precursor of ruin, Know thy opportunity, Man, know thyself, and Nothing too much. Of these maxims the last two were unquestionably great and fruitful thoughts. The motto, Know thyself, was regarded by the ancients as an inspired, heaven-sent thought, and was honoured with a place on the walls of the temple at Delphi. It turned the great mind of Socrates from natural to moral philosophy; from the investigation of nature and her laws to the investigation of man and his duty. The maxim, Nothing too much, easily expanded into the philosophy of Epicurus, and is echoed over and over again in the pages of Horace and countless subsequent writers. But giving the fullest value to the maxims which have secured for these sages an immortality of fame, there is not one of them that can compare for a moment with this great saying of Christ, which is the subject of the text. It is strange that it is recorded by no evangelist, and seems only saved from oblivion by a casual quotation. It is strange, because if this saying were the single remnant of the teaching and life of Christ, it would place Him far above the pioneers of Greek philosophy. It is a brilliant paradox as well as a profound truth; for, as has already been noticed, the worlds verdict is otherwise. It is more blessed to receive than to give; more blessed to win, to gain, to take, to treasure; that is, that must be, the verdict of the worldof all those whose guiding principle is selfishness, or even worldly prudence and worldly considerations.

Depend upon it, if any one of you has this principle of Christ naturally planted in his heart, he has to thank Providence for instincts of phenomenal excellence. We are born into this world in a state of helpless dependence. We are in no condition to give or to do. Nature bestows on infants no capacities beyond the power to make their wants known, and to insist on their being supplied. Love, devotion, tender solicitude, watch over our cradle, divine our wants, anticipate our wishes. What can be more natural than for the dawning intelligence of boys or girls to regard these things as their right? to consider that parents and servants were created to minister to their wishes and wants? I do not believe it ever came into the heart of any man that he was sent into this world not to be ministered unto but to minister to othersto sacrifice himself, and not other peopleexcept through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. In this maxim of Christs lies the key to the kingdom of heaven. This key alone can open the door to real nobility, to real heavenliness of character. The thought in it lies at the bottom of every noble life and of every noble deed.1 [Note: A. W. Potts, School Sermons, 228.]

2. It should be noticed that the personal pronoun is emphatic (the Revised Version, by inserting himself, has given the correct rendering of the original Greek): How he himself said implies that the fact was beyond all doubt. We may note one distinctive feature in Christian philanthropy, that it is based upon allegiance to a divine Person, and upon a reference to a divine Person, and upon a reference to His commands. The emphatic personal pronoun seems to forbid the view that the Apostle is simply giving the sense of some of our Lords sayings.

What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

I would bring a lamb,

If I were a wise man

I would do my part

Yet what I can I give Him,

Give my heart.1 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]

III

The Words of the Lord Jesus

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

From what source St. Paul obtained this, the only saying of our Lord, definitely so described, outside the four Gospels, we cannot tell, but the command to remember shows that the words must have been familiar words, like those from St. Clement and St. Polycarp, which are very similar to the utterance of the Sermon on the Mount. From whatever source they are derived, references in the Apostolic Fathers show how deep an impression they made upon the mind of the Church.

i. It is blessed to receive

It is more blessed to give than to receive. Our Lord said more blessed. Then it is blessed to receive. Until we know the blessedness of receiving, we cannot appreciate the higher blessedness of giving. There is no antithesis here between the blessedness of giving and the non-blessedness of receiving. The comparison which our Lord made was between the greater and the less, between the higher and lower forms of blessedness. Oriental mysticism, Buddhist legends, have urged the hyperbole of self-sacrifice for its own sake, and have stumbled into this veritable pit of pessimism. The Lord Christ illumined the profoundest problems of ethics and the true secret of the religious life, when He said: It is more blessed to give than to receive; freely ye have received, freely give.

1. It is blessed simply to receive Natures gifts, even before we can apprehend their full complexity, their lavish abundance, their anticipation of our desires, their hidden secrets, and their boundless possibilities. All the progress of man is measured by the degree to which he has appreciated and received, discovered and utilized, the free gifts of God in nature. When man first understood what Nature had done for him in offering him the flower and fruit and seed of corn, then began the harvest of the World. When human intelligence understood what was involved in the chalk-beds and coal-fields and mineral wealth at mans feet; when he grasped the meaning of fire and lightning, and the contents of water and air; when he thus received these treasured forces and boundless provisions of nature; when he began to receive and utilize the energies which had been moulding the world for untold centuriesthen science took its birth. If we stubbornly refuse to receive the light of heaven, we stumble blindfold into the pitfalls at our side. Should we refuse to receive our daily bread, or put it from us with suicidal hand, we perish. Furthermore, Nature lavishes upon us, together with these elementary gifts, appeals to our higher and more subtle desires, awakens them by her magic touch, and gives us the sense of beauty, truth, and goodness. The surpassing loveliness of much of Natures work must be received by those who have the eyes and the ears of the spirit opened to perceive it.

All that Art has ever done to soften and beautify the career of man upon earth, has been to record the high joy, or subtle pain akin to bliss, which the perception and reception of the glory of Nature has given to a comparatively few elect souls. The great artists and poets, musicians and sculptors, have so embodied their strong emotions in abiding form and material, that others may learn from them the blessed secret of receiving the mystery of beauty, and accepting some of the truth and goodness of its eternal Source.1 [Note: H. R. Reynolds.]

Oh, give thyself to the kind grey day

That doth not bargain nor betray!

The tranquil stream

Shall hallow thy dream;

The grasses dry

Divine thy sigh;

And the withered weed

Thy need;

The silent trees

Shall give hearts ease,

Shall dower thee with soft distances,

Vistas of soul tranquillities;

Ah, the silent trees

Appease!

Thy heart shall render due reply

To the quiet of earth and the peace of sky;

Yea, the grey, mysterious depths of the day

Shall fashion thy soul, in a secret way,

To meet Infinity;

If thou wilt yield thee to the day

That doth not bargain nor betray.

2. All human love is a ministration of Divine love. Human tenderness is but the Channel cut by Providence through which the rivers of Gods pleasure flow. God lavishes His own love upon us through the hearts and by the hands of those who love. Now, it is blessed to receive human love, and the gifts of love. Self-sacrifice would be a form of selfishness, if it monopolized all the blessedness of the process. See the child with its hands full of birthday gifts, intense joy lighting its eye, almost bursting the tiny heart. If the little one had no blessedness in receiving fathers, mothers, and sisters tokens of love, and found no joy in its new riches, if such were thrown idly away and conveyed no thrill of bliss, the grace of giving would be doubtful. Sometimes pride of spirit refuses to be beholden to another, resenting the sense of obligation. But all beneficence would be dried at its source, all philanthropy and evangelism at home and abroad would sicken and die, if there were no blessedness in receiving the streams of living water which are always pouring forth from human hearts.

There lives a glory in these sweet June days

Such as I found not in the years gone by,

A kindlier meaning in the unclouded sky,

A tenderer whisper in the woodland ways;

And I have understanding of the lays,

The birds are singing, forasmuch as I

Have learned how love avails to satisfy

A mans whole heart, and fills his lips with praise.

The morning air is laden with the scent

Of roses; and within my garden grows

A rosebud that shall some day be a rose,

Whose bloom and perfume never shall be spent

The flower of love: and he who hath it knows

The endless summer of complete content.1 [Note: P. C. Ainsworth, Poems, 87.]

3. The most impressive illustration of the principle is the blessedness of receiving the grace of God. The secret of receiving from the living God what is neither earned nor merited, and, moreover, that to which we cannot lay the smallest claim; nay, further, that which we have madly, meanly, gracelessly, forfeited, is a secret which some are slow to learn. Human pride comes in and resents unmerited compassion, and disputes the necessity for mercy. Philosophy helps to minimize the peril of sin, and a shallow science throws all the blame of sin on nature or matter or on God Himself. The blessedness of receiving Christs supreme gift is disputed, because it involves too severe a self-scrutiny. The flesh which crucified Him once, resists the crucifying process when faith begins to drive the nails into its own quivering hands. The world must be crucified by the cross of Christ, but the world in our hearts dies hard.

Thou sayest, Fit me, fashion me for Thee.

Stretch forth thine empty hands, and be thou still;

O restless soul, thou dost but hinder Me

By valiant purpose and by steadfast will,

Behold the summer flowers beneath the sun,

In stillness His great glory they behold;

And sweetly thus His mighty work is done,

And resting in His gladness they unfold.

So are the sweetness and the joy divine

Thine, O beloved, and the work is Mine.2 [Note: Gerhardt Tersteegen, trans. by Frances Bevan.]

ii. It is more blessed to give

1. It is more blessed to give than to receive. These golden words of Christ admit and enforce all that has been said about receiving, but they authoritatively proclaim a deeper truth, and promise a blessedness which surpasses that of receiving from nature and human love their best gifts, or even that of receiving Divine grace. Can any reason be assigned for such a sweeping and comprehensive inversion of all ordinary maxims? Why should the bestowal of joy be a greater blessedness to the giver than to the receiver?

2. Our Lord does not say it is more natural or more pleasant. He lifts our thoughts into a new region. He appeals to the spiritual and the eternal. He bids us consider the issue and the permanence of conduct. And we cannot understand His words till we feel that they are of universal application. The principle is not to be limited to the material bestowal of alms, to the help of the needy and the suffering. It does indeed apply here, but in such cases we can see that the power of giving involves an obvious superiority, an abundance of resources, a freedom from distress, which tend to hide the true nature of the benediction. The blessedness of which the Lord speaks is far deeper than ease and comfort. The giving which He contemplates is not measured by any outward standard. The spirit which the giving embodies finds countless forms under which it shows itself. It reaches through the whole fabric of our lives. It is true of thought, true of feeling, true of action, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. And this blessedness is not for one, but for all. We can all be givers as we are all receivers. In the unity of the State he who gives recognizes in giving that he himself receives, and he who receives learns to give even in receiving.

(1) Few things can be more delightful than to enrich the mind with new truths; to apprehend a little more clearly than before the laws by which the world is governed; to discern a little more intelligently the marvels of beauty which lie everywhere about our feet; to rise to a larger understanding of the conditions of human progress; to feel that we have made our own that which great men have established for the ennobling and the enlightening of life. Few things can be more delightful, but our experience will teach us that at least one thing isif ever we have been enabled to make some simple fact plainer to a learner, to bring from our treasures a thought which another has required; to expose a falsehood which a friend has unwarily admitted; to see the seed of good which we have scattered ripening to a fruitful harvest. We compare the two joys of learning and teaching, both pure, and generous, and abiding, and our judgment is beyond appeal. In thought, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

(2) No one, again, can be insensible to the deep joy which comes from feeling that others love us: that there are those who wait with watchful eagerness to render to us offices of kindly ministry; to serve the cause which we embrace; to follow where we lead; to yield their own wills to our judgment. Such tender and brave devotion enlarges the scope of our life, and multiplies the powers of our action. As a nature is generous and lofty, such devotion disciplines and purifies it. But there is something higher still. To love is better, nobler, more elevating, and more sure, than to be loved. To love is to have found that which lifts us above ourselves, which makes us capable of sacrifice, which unseals the forces of another world. He who is loved has gained the highest tribute of earth. He who loves has entered into the spirit of heaven. The love which comes to us must always be alloyed with the sad sense of our own unworthiness. The love which goes out from us is kept bright by the ideal to which it is directed. In feeling, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

(3) In the daily conduct of life we grow stronger and more courageous when we know that a host of fellow-workers are furthering the labours in which we are busy. Their force sustains us when we faint. Their energy inspires us with enthusiasm. Their example stirs us to rivalry. We need not wish to disparage the greatness of the debt which we owe to friends and fellow-citizens, or to lessen the gladness of gratitude. But what then? He who has turned aside from the march of the great army to bring help to one who has fallen, he who has yielded a foremost place that he might restore another, has felt something of the joy of his Lord, the joy of absolute self-surrender, and known that there is a priceless victory in what seems to be failure in the eyes of men. In action, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Giving is twice blest. The natives of Australia have a curious weapon called a boomerang, which they are able to throw from them in such a way as to make it return to them again. Every gift is a boomerang; it returns to the giver in blessing. When Thomas Carlyle was six years of age he found this out. An old man came to the door begging. Carlyle was alone; there was no food in the house, but, asking the man to wait, the little lad got his penny-pig off the shelf, broke it, and gave the old man all the money it contained. And, said he, I never knew before what the joy of heaven was like.

Who shuts his hand, hath lost his gold:

Who opens it, hath it twice told.1 [Note: G. Herbert.]

The Rev. S. Vincent, of Plymouth, has told of an aged man in the hospital, whose wife came to see him once a week. They were very poor, and it cost one shilling and fourpence each journey. One week she brought the copy of the Missionary Herald, and read the appeal for greater funds; and after prayer, though the weekly visit was their one ray of sunshine, and could not be often repeated because the man was near death, yet they decided to miss one week that the one shilling and fourpence might go to the missionary society.

He who bends to himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy;

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in eternitys sunrise.2 [Note: W. Blake.]

I know you are not over-fond of Moore: I hate his politics, but he is a very amusing companion.

I must tell you one of his stories, because, as Sir Walter Scott is the hero of it, I know it will not be unacceptable to you. When George IV. went to Ireland, one of the pisintry, delighted with his affability to the crowd on landing, said to the toll-keeper as the King passed through

Och, now! and His Majesty, God bless him, never paid the turnpike! an hows that?

Oh! Kings never does: we lets em go free, was the answer.

Then theres the dirty money for ye, says Pat. It shall never be said that the King came here, and found nobody to pay the turnpike for him.

Moore, on his visit to Abbotsford, told this story to Sir Walter, when they were comparing notes as to the two royal visits.

Now, Mr. Moore, replied Scott, there ye have just the advantage of us. There was no want of enthusiasm here: the Scotch folk would have done anything in the world for his Majesty, butpay the turnpike.1 [Note: R. H. D. Barham, The Life and Letters of the Rev. Richard Harris Barham, 207.]

We might all of us give far more than we do, without being a bit the worse;

It was never yet loving that emptied the heart, or giving that emptied the purse,

We must be like the woman our Saviour praised, and do but the best we can.

Ay, thatll be just the plan, neighbour, thatll be just the plan.2 [Note: Dora Greenwell.]

IV

The Example of Jesus

We began by studying the example of St. Paul, let us end with a higher example. If you would see this saying exemplified in its perfection, you must go to his Masterto the utterer of the saying. Even St. Paul was behind Him who was rich, and for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich!behind Him who was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! St. Paul was behind Him who, in uttering the saying without reference to Himself, might yet have written in it the motto of His life, from Bethlehem to Calvary and the graveIt is more blessed to give than to receive!

You have seen church windows painted with scenes from our Lords life, and, although they may be but imperfectly executed, they enable you to realize those divine facts better than a sermon could do. Let us stand in imagination before such a window now, and look with reverence and attention at some of the acts of the Incarnate Life, as a commentary upon the text.

(1) There, then, first is Bethlehem. Round the manger cradle only His mother and foster-father Joseph are standing, with the shepherds and the cattle, where he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. Look at the Child lying therein who is yet the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Where are the robes of majesty, His sceptre and His crown? where the Divine Glory which He had with the Father before the world was? where the legions of angels, warders, and ministers of the palace where Jehovah dwells? All for the time laid aside, left behind Him, given up. In the Heaven of Heavens the seven lamps are glowing, as for evermore the Throne is exalted, and before it are worshipping those who do, without swerving, the will of God perfectly; the Presence Chamber is ringing with the Hymn of the Seraphim and the strains of harps of gold; while the King of the Palace has come down from Heaven, has emptied Himself of His gloryis made Man.

(2) We pass on to the next subject, the Central Light of the Windows. What does Calvary say to us, Calvary with its Cross and Him that hangs thereon? What do we read in the Eyes so full of anguish yet of infinite love, in the Hands stretched out, the Body racked and pierced, in the purple stream of Life-blood, in the surrendered Spirit? What but thiswhile we were yet sinners Christ died for us, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. And this life He surrenders as a voluntary gift. I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again, no man taketh it from me.

(3) Our third and last picture, bright with a triumphant light, carries us forth in spirit to the Mount of Olives. From the green slopes of the hillside Christ has gone up, and the little knot of men to whom He has been more than Master, Teacher, and Brother, stand gazing wistfully up into Heaven. Do they behold the radiance gleaming from the outermost rank of the heavenly host, and catch the welcoming smile on angel faces as they receive their returning and victorious King? Do they hear the last echoes wafted down the waves of space, echoes of that mighty chorus of the ten thousand times ten thousand joyful spirits, Lift up your heads, O ye gates? And if they did, and if their sad hearts followed Jesus yet as He passes onward to the Throne, must it not have seemed as if a great gulf had opened between them and their Lord, and that a bereaved and weary and impoverished life alone remained with them? And what is the reassuring message sent down to them? The same Jesus shall so comethe same Jesus who taught, healed, and died for you, shall come. And meanwhile, as He is seated above, God of God, Light of Light, He is not unmindful of His own. Why did He ascend up, why again receive His glory, but that He might prepare a place for us, that He might send the Comforter to us, that He might receive gifts for us, that in a word He might write above the Great White Throne itself, It is more blessed to give than to receive?1 [Note: E. C. Paget.]

The Beatitude of the Giver

Literature

Alexander (S. A.), The Christianity of St. Paul, 73.

Alford (H.), Quebec Chapel Sermons, ii. 1.

Bamford (J. M.), The Burning Heart, 183.

Brown (C. J.), The Word of Life, 293.

Burrell (D. J.), The Wondrous Cross, 73.

Cox (S.), An Expositors Note Book, 388.

Jerdan (C.), Pastures of Tender Grass, 168.

Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year (Miscellaneous), 300.

Leader (G. C.), WantedA Boy, 55.

Mackenzie (W. L.), Pure Religion, 127.

Neville (W. G.), Sermons, 300.

Paget (E. C.), Silence, 139.

Potts (A. W.), School Sermons, 228.

Reynolds (H. R.), Light and Peace, 55.

Westcott (B. F.), Peterborough Sermons, 383.

Christian World Pulpit, xx. 156 (MCree); xxxix. 99 (Jones).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

showed: Act 20:20, Act 20:27

how that: Isa 35:3, Rom 15:1, 1Co 9:12, 2Co 11:9, 2Co 11:12, 2Co 12:13, Eph 4:28, 1Th 4:11, 1Th 5:14, Heb 12:12, Heb 12:13, Heb 13:3

It is: Psa 41:1-3, Psa 112:5-9, Pro 19:17, Isa 32:8, Isa 58:7-12, Mat 10:8, Mat 25:34-40, Luk 14:12-14, 2Co 8:9, 2Co 9:6-12, Phi 4:17-20, Heb 13:16

Reciprocal: Gen 23:13 – I will Deu 15:10 – thine heart Deu 15:14 – the Lord 2Sa 6:19 – he dealt 2Ki 5:26 – Is it a time 2Ki 6:2 – and take thence Psa 37:21 – righteous Psa 112:9 – dispersed Pro 14:21 – he that hath Pro 21:26 – the righteous Pro 22:9 – He that hath a bountiful eye Pro 31:20 – she reacheth Ecc 3:12 – but Mat 20:27 – whosoever Mat 25:36 – was sick Luk 6:30 – Give Joh 4:32 – I have Joh 4:34 – My meat Joh 13:14 – ye also Joh 13:29 – that Joh 14:26 – bring Joh 21:25 – there Act 9:39 – and showing Act 11:16 – remembered Act 18:3 – and wrought Rom 12:11 – slothful Rom 12:13 – Distributing 1Co 9:6 – have 2Co 9:7 – God 2Co 11:27 – weariness Gal 5:13 – but Phi 2:5 – General 1Th 2:9 – our 1Th 5:12 – labour 1Ti 4:6 – thou put 1Ti 5:17 – labour Tit 3:14 – maintain good works

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

RECEIVING AND GIVING

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Act 20:35

In these words, not recorded in the Gospels, but rescued by St. Paul from the oblivion into which they might have fallen, our Lord has given us a telling portrait of Himself. It was blessed for Him to receive, it was still more blessed for Him to give.

I. It was blessed for Him to receive, and as Man he did receive.

(a) He received from the Father, says St. Peter, honour and glory.

(b) It was blessed, too, for Him to receive, not only from His Father, but from His fellow-men. The cup of cold water, the alabaster box of very precious ointment, the washing of His feet with the tears of a penitent, the poor hospitalities of Mary and Martha, these, the few crumbs of love, which the grudging hand of man offered Him but now and then, He welcomed with joy.

II. It was still more blessed for Him to giveand His whole career was one of giving. The Father gaveHe spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. But it is the Lord Jesus Christ as man that we have before us, and His career on earth was all giving. It was meat and drink to Him to give. It was life and joy to Him to give; no fatigue could hinder Him, no weariness or want of rest, no burning noon-day sun, no ingratitude of men, no contradiction of sinners, no cold indifference to His love. In spite of all this He gave, and gave, and gave again, till, at last, He gave His life.

III. And now to come to ourselves.We shall find that as it was with our Lord, so is it with His Church. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Let us apply the principle to the service of the Sanctuary. We come there to receive, but more especially we come there under an obligation to give.

(a) It is blessed in Gods House to receive. We bring our sins there for pardon, our weakness for strength, our temptations for the way of escape. We bring there our sorrows, and often, so often, do we find that He is with us Who is the Comforter, and we see a light of hope shining on our perplexities and our griefs.

(b) But the Sanctuary is the place not so much to receive as rather to give. For the good of our fellow-Christians each of us ought to have his contribution to bring, of money, if you will; but even more than thatof influence, of example, of spiritual fervour, and, above all, of intercessory prayer and of worship. We should feel our mutual responsibility as members of the same household, and be ever communicating that to our brethren which shall advance their spiritual well-being; and then more blessed still is it, in the Sanctuary, to give to God. Worship means not to receive from Him but to give to Him. It means praise rather than prayer.

Rev. J. H. Drew.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES

The Apostle, summing up what our Lord Jesus Christ said, both by His lips and by His life, has really given us, in one place, the whole moral and spiritual side of life.

I. There are two principles on which men will and may proceed, any moral being will proceedone is to give and the other is to get. And there are only these two. The moral value of all thoughts, prayers, deeds, the things that we do for ourselves or for our neighbours, the moral value is determined by the fact whether you have proceeded on the more selfish or unselfish of these two principles in your thought, your word, your action. Do not talk carelessly, for your talk has great moral value. Remember it is possible for a person to commit every sin against the law of God and against himself though he may be paralysed, or lying on a bed of sickness, utterly unable to move a single limb.

II. Our Lords example.If we ask, where did the Lord Jesus say these words? Did St. Paul ever hear Him say them? I think we may say this in reply: He never did actually say them, so far as we have any record. He never uttered the phrase, but it was the motto of His life. If we ask ourselves the meaning of that life, from the cradle in the manger to the death upon the cross, we should say, He never said anything else, except this one thing, It is more blessed to give than it is to receive. All that He ever uttered by His lips, all that in that most eloquent of all utterance, the utterance of action, it all amounts to this, It is more blessed to give than to receive, for any moral or spiritual being. And a man can only live upon one or other of these two mottoes, can only have one or other of these motive powers in his life. He must either live, in each of his actions, to get something, or to give himselfto give something.

Rev. W. Black.

Illustration

We seem to see, in what we are told by the early ecclesiastical historian, and in all that we really know about St. Alban, that the principle was grasped by his heart when, without apparent cause for giving, he gave all that he had to give; he gave his life. Whether it was exactly to save the life of another, because he knew its value as the life of a Christian teacher, a Christian priest, or whether it was from the higher and more delicate motive, which was tinged simply with the feeling of what he seemed so to have grasped the principle of, that he was eager to carry that principle into execution, we cannot tell. But of one thing we may be sure. He did not say to himself as people say now, Is such a thing necessary for me to undergo? Do you think that such a thing is innocent, is not wrong? May I safely do it without running any risk of my salvation? No! he said, How much can I do? What can I give? How much can I let my own heart grasp and feel that it has got hold of this great principle that to give is blessedbecause I suffer in the giving? This surely is the one lesson that the protomartyr of England teaches us. This one incident shines out, serene and bright through all the ages of the Church, and especially of the Church in this country. It is more blessed for me to give than it is to receive.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

5

Act 20:35. Another purpose Paul had in his manual labor was to set an example of working to supply the needs of those who cannot work. The words of Jesus quoted are not recorded elsewhere in the New Testament, but Paul could repeat them by inspiration.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 20:35. I have showed you all things, how, etc. All things here signifies in all ways, by teaching and by life. Not only have I told you in words what is the duty of a Christ-loving man, but I tried to live the life before you which I told you of.

That so labouring ye ought to support the weak. So labouring as I have done, ye ought to help and succournot here the weak in faith, the anxious, the doubter, the sceptic, but the sick, the feeble, the poor, who are unable to help themselves. It is a beautiful and touching reminder not only to these elders of Ephesus, but to all who say they love the Lord Jesus, to exercise self-denial in various ways, that they may possess some means wherewith to help those poorer, weaker, more helpless than themselves (Eph 4:28). It is evident from the quotation of the words of the Master which follow, that this is the meaning of the weak here.

And to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. These beautiful words of the Master, Paul quoted as evidently well known, and as quite familiar to his listeners, yet they are not found in the four Gospels in any form. They are evidently a memory, a loved memory, of one of the Masters favourite sayings; and although they enforce with the solemn distinctness of a command of God the duty of liberality and kindness to the poor and helpless, they possess a far deeper meaning, for they assert as an eternal truth, the higher blessedness of giving than receiving. Perhaps the full truth of this Divine saying of the Holy One and Blessed, in all its length and breadth, and depth and height, will never be grasped by any but the redeemed, and not by them till they enter the city of the Lamb. Do they not foreshadow in some way the occupation of the blessed in heaven? Will they not all then be ministering spirits?

The whole question concerning the traditional sayings of the Lord is discussed at some length in Excursus B., which follows this chapter.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

See notes on verse 28

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Verse 35

These words are not recorded by any of the evangelists among the sayings of the Savior.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought {m} to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

(m) As it were by reaching out the hand to those who otherwise are about to slip and fall away, and so to steady them.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes