2 Corinthians 1:20

2Co_1:20

For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

All the promises

I. The dignity of the promises. They are the promises of God.

1. They were each one made by Him according to the purpose of His own will.

2. They are links between His decrees and His acts; being the voice of the decree, and the herald of the act.

3. They display the qualities of Him who uttered them. They are true, immutable, powerful, eternal, etc.

4. They remain in union with God. After the lapse of ages they are still His promises as much as when He first uttered them.

5. They are guaranteed by the character of God who spoke them.

6. They will glorify Him as He works out their fulfilment.

II. The range of the promises. All the promises. It will be instructive to note the breadth of the promises by observing that--

1. They are found both in the Old and New Testaments; from Genesis to Revelation, running through centuries of time.

2. They are of both sorts-conditional and unconditional: promises to certain works, and promises of an absolute order.

3. They are of all kinds of things--bodily and spiritual, personal and general, eternal and temporal.

4. They continue blessings to varied characters, such as--

(1) The Penitent (Lev_26:40-42; Isa_55:7; Isa_57:15; Jer_3:12-13).

(2) The Believing (Joh_3:16; Joh_3:18; Joh_6:47; Act_16:31; 1Pe_2:6).

(3) The Serving (Psa_37:3; Psa_9:40; Pro_3:9-10; Act_10:35).

(4) The Praying (Isa_14:11.; Lam_3:25; Mat_6:6; Psa_145:18).

(5) The Obeying (Exo_19:5; Psa_119:1-3; Isa_1:19).

(6) The Suffering (Mat_5:10-12; Rom_8:17; 1Pe_4:12-14).

5. They bring us the richest boons: pardon, justification, sanctification, instruction, preservation, etc. What a marvellous wealth lies in all the promises!

III. The stability of the promises. All the promises in Him are yea, and in Him Amen. A Greek word Yea, and a Hebrew word Amen, are used to mark certainty, both to Gentile and Jew.

1. They are established beyond all doubt as being assuredly the mind and purpose of the eternal God.

2. They are confirmed beyond all alteration. The Lord hath said Amen, and so must it be for ever.

3. Their stability is in Christ Jesus beyond all hazard; for He is

(1) The witness of the promise of God.

(2) The surety of the covenant.

(3) The sum and substance of all the promises.

(4) The fulfilment of the promises, by His actual incarnation, His atoning death, His living plea, His ascension power, etc.

(5) The security and guarantee of the promises, since all power is in His hand to fulfil them.

IV. The result of the promises. The glory of God by us. By us, His ministers, and His believing people, the God of the promises is made glorious. We glorify--

1. His condescending love in making the promise.

2. His power as we see Him keeping the promise.

3. Him by our faith, which honours His veracity, by expecting the boons which He has promised.

4. Him in our experience which proves the promise true.

Conclusion:

1. Let us confidently rest in His sure word.

2. Let us plead the special promise applicable to the hour now passing. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The promises

1. A promise is the antithesis of a threat. The Bible abounds in both.

2. When God more apparently guided the courses of man personally, promises were made to individual men. To patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; and by such they were upborne through trial. But when this became impossible the promises were made applicable to whole nations and generations.

3. Thus the Word of God is filled with assurances of blessings as no other book is. Promises cover the whole period of human life. They meet us at our birth; they cluster about our childhood; they overhang our youth; they go in companies into manhood with us; they divide themselves into bands and stand at the door of every possible experience. Therefore there are promises of God to the ignorant, poor, oppressed, discouraged, etc.; to every affection, to every sphere of duty, to all perils and temptations. There are promises for joy, sorrow, victory, defeat, adversity, prosperity, etc. Old age has its garlands as full and fragrant as youth. All men, everywhere, and always--have their promises of God.

4. They belong to mankind. There have been periods when, for special and beneficent reasons, Gods promises seemed to belong only to His own people.

5. And they are fresh with everlasting youth. The stars never wear out; the sun is not weary from the number of years. The heaven and the earth, however, shall pass away, but Gods word shall not pass away.

6. Not one promise has ever been unfulfilled. There is not a witness in Gods universe that can testify that he has leaned on a promise of God, and that God forgot to be gracious to him.

I. What are the uses to which we are invited to put Gods promises?

1. To make rude duties more attractive. It is affecting to see with what tenderness God has taken care of those that no one else cares for. How He goes down to the poor, and the ignorant, and the enslaved. How He goes down to those that can find no motive for right living in their ordinary experience, and says to them, Be faithful, if not for the sake of your master, then for My sake. And once let us know that We are serving One that we love, and One that loves us, and love vanquishes difficulty.

2. To fortify our faith. Duty is often surrounded by peril or hardship, and is often apparently without adequate result. It is needful, therefore, that there should be some promise which shall assure us that a perilous duty well performed will bring down upon us the Divine blessing. You are oftentimes brought into trials when it seems as though everything would be wrecked, and the world says, Prudence: experience says, Draw back; policy says, Change a little; and expediency says, Compromise; but the Word of God, which is yea and amen, says, He that will lose his life for a right principle shall save it. And in the end, when you come to count the wrecks along the shore, you will find those men who would save their lives by losing their principles are the men that have lost their lives.

3. To equalise the conditions of life. Men are of different calibre, and, owing to this, men follow Christ in different ways. Now, if a party of men are going to California assured that each shall be the possessor, in five years, of one million dollars, the differences between them are annihilated while they are going across. One may have twenty-five dollars in his pocket, another a hundred; one may have almost no conveniences, and another all that heart could wish; and yet, if they are assured that in five years they shall each have a million dollars, they do not care for these inequalities. And let the promises of God rest on the poor mans lot, and he forgets the inequalities of life. For that man who is ere long to be crowned in eternity cannot find the road there so hard that he will complain of it.

4. To redeem secular life from barrenness, and make it worth our while to continue faithful to the end. And while there are promises of God that run through our whole lower life, the promises grow broader and deeper as you go up to those spheres where a man is obliged to live by faith, and above the ordinary affairs of life. So the promises of God are in proportion to our exigencies.

II. What are the obstacles in the way of using the promises of God?

1. We are ignorant of them. There is many a man that lives on his farm years and years without knowing the different growths that it produces. Many a man is buried within a yard of plants that, if their healing properties had been known, would have saved his life. Many a field is capable, if properly tilled, of producing fourfold as much as it is made to produce. Gods Word is like such a field. There are promises in it that no man has ever tried to find. There are treasures of gold and silver in it that no man has taken the pains to dig for. There are medicines in it, for the want of a knowledge of which hundreds have died.

2. When men find them they do not know how to use them. Tea was first served in England as greens. The people rejected it, and thought it rather an imposition. When potatoes were first introduced into Ireland they were rejected there, because they did not know how to use them. And many and many a man rejects, or fails to profit by, the promises of Gods Word, because he does not know how to gather them, and cook them, and use them.

3. We are afraid to venture upon using them. There is many and many a man that would be afraid to trust himself upon a single plank stretched across a deep chasm, though others had walked over on it often without accident. There is many a promise of God that is strong enough to carry men across the abyss of this life, but they do not dare to try it. In an emergency the promises of God are to many men what weapons of defence are to a man who does not know how to use them when he finds that he must fight for his life.

4. We wish the result without the fulfilment of the conditions attached. Many a child that is promised a vacation on condition that he will perform a certain amount of labour, would like the vacation, but does not like the condition on which it is promised. So many of the things promised we would like to steal, instead of working for them.

5. We do not appropriate them. The promise of grace to help in time of need comes to men thousands of times without benefiting them for this very reason. Many carry the promises as a miser carries bank bills, the face of which calls for countless treasures, but which he does not carry to the bank for presentation. Many a man holds bills for blessings of God, but does not present them. They enter upon a philosophical inquiry as to whether there is a presumptive argument in favour of prayer, and whether God will stop the laws of nature for our benefit, or so use them as to fulfil His promises to us. But the way to employ a promise of God is to comply with its conditions, and then wait for its fulfilment.

6. Many are afraid of presumption. Well, it may be presumptuous for you to go into a strangers house without an invitation; but if a man has invited you to come and see him it is presumptuous for you not to take him at his word. And to be afraid to appropriate the promises of God is to charge Him falsely.

7. Many would like to take the promises of God, but they fear they may be self-deceived. You may be, but God is not; and therefore you may rest upon the promises.

8. There are others that have a fear about their own unworthiness; which is as if a man should advertise that he would cure the infirmities of men free of expense, and a blind man should say, I would go to this physician if I were not so blind. Therefore plead the promises because you are sinful; the nature of goodness is to relieve want, even though that want be founded on sin.

9. Much of the want of faith in the promises comes from a neglect on the part of Christians to bear witness to the fulfilment of those promises in their own experience. There are hundreds of men whose life God has made significant and memorable, and they have never uttered a word about it to those around them. (H. W. Beecher.)

The promises, how they become ours

I. By us as ministers--publishing, explaining, applying them. A promise is often like a box of ointment, very precious; but the fragrance does not fill the room till the preacher breaks it. Or it is like the water that was near Hagar, which she saw not till God opened her eyes and showed her the well.

II. By us as relievers realising the excellency and efficacy of them in our character and conduct. It is when these promises are reduced to experience--when they are seen cleansing us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, making us partakers of the Divine nature, leading us to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, filling us with kindness and supporting us in trials--it is then they glorify God by us. (W. Jay.)

The promises of God

Note--

I. That they are the promises of God. Because they are His promises they are utterly incapable of any failure. God is not a man that He should lie, etc. In our presumptuous readiness to liken the Almighty to ourselves, we may imagine instances in which Divine promises have failed to be accomplished. But--

1. There may have been an incorrect apprehension as to the subject of the promise; and in the error cherished thereupon, something has been imagined and expected which has not been promised. The Jews misapprehended the meaning of prophecies concerning the Messiah.

2. There may have been some mistake or negligence on our part as to the condition on which the promise was suspended, and the circumstances under which it became actually due.

3. The time for its accomplishment may not be fully come. For the promises of God, though sure, are not in every instance designed for immediate fulfilment.

II. The truth and faithfulness of these promises as resulting from their connection with Christ. They are in Him yea, and in Him Amen, as He is the great foundation of the promises. God sees in Him, as our once suffering but now exalted Mediator, an unchangeable and everlasting reason why all His other promises should be fulfilled.

III. They are to the glory of God by us.

1. In the very circumstance of their original annunciation.

2. As they constitute a new and separate manifestation of His own character and attributes.

3. As in that very act of faith by which those promises are accepted and become available, God is glorified in that particular, in reference to which His glory was, in the first instance of mans sin, insulted and invaded.

4. In the accomplishment of the promises.

5. As furnishing, to all who may be interested in it, an additional encouragement to exercise that faith, by means of which the God of the promises is glorified, and the result of which must be the reiterated accomplishment of the same promise.

Conclusion: Learn--

1. The true character of unbelief. It is--

(1) Unreasonable.

(2) Wicked.

2. The means by which alone the soul can rise to the exercise of that faith in the promises which is required as the condition of their accomplishment, and that it is only when, and in proportion as, we view them in their connection with Christ, that we can so believe them as to receive experimentally and savingly the benefit and comfort of them. (Jonathan Crowther.)

All Gods promises Yea in Christ

Gods promises are His declarations of what He is willing to do for men, and in the very nature of the case they are at once the limit and inspiration of our prayers. We are encouraged to ask all that God promises, and we must stop there. Christ Himself, then, is the measure of prayer to man; we can ask all that is in Him; we dare not ask anything that lies outside Him. How this should expand our prayers in some directions, and contract them in others! We can ask God to give us Christs purity, simplicity, meekness, and gentleness, faithfulness and obedience, victory over the world. Have we ever measured these things? Have we ever put them into our prayers with any glimmering consciousness of their dimensions, any sense of the vastness of our request? Nay, we can ask Christs glory, His resurrection life of splendour and incorruption--the image of the heavenly, God has promised us all of these things, and far more; but has He promised all that we ask? Can we fix our eyes on His Son, as He lived our life in this world, and remembering that this, so far as this world is concerned, is the measure of promise, ask without any qualification that our course here may be free from every trouble? Had Christ no sorrow? Did He never meet with ingratitude? Was He never misunderstood? Was He never hungry, thirsty, weary? If all Gods promises are summed up in Him--if He is everything God has to give--can we go boldly to the throne of grace, and pray to be exempted from what He had to bear, or to be richly provided with indulgencies which He never knew? What if all unanswered prayers might be defined as prayers for things not included in the promises--prayers that we might get what God did not get, or be spared from what He was not spared? The spirit of this passage, however, does not urge so much the definiteness as the compass and the certainty of the promises of God. There are so many that Paul could never enumerate them, and all of them are sure in Christ. And when our eyes are once opened on Him, does not He Himself become, as it were, inevitably the substance of our prayers? Is not our whole hearts desire, Oh, that I might win Him! Oh, that He might live in me, and make me what He is! Do we not feel that if God would give us His Son, all would be ours that we could take or He could give. (J. Denney, B. D.)

Gods certainties and mans certitudes

Yea and amen are in the A.V. nearly synonymous, and point substantially to the same thing--viz., that Christ is, as it were, the confirmation and seal of Gods promises. But the R.V. indicates two different things by the yea and the amen. The one is Gods voice, the other is mans. When we listen to God speaking in Christ, our lips are, through Christ, opened to shout our assenting Amen to His great promises, Consider--

I. Gods certainties in christ. Of course the original reference is to the great promises given in the O.T.; but the principle is good on a wider field. In Christ--

1. There is the certainty about Gods heart. Everywhere else we have hopes, fears, guesses, inferences. Nothing will make us sure here but facts. We want to see love in operation if we arc to be sure of it, and the only demonstration of the love of God is to witness it in actual working. And you get it where? On the Cross. Herein is love, not that we loved God, etc.

2. In Him we have the certainty of pardon. Every deep heart-experience has felt the necessity of having clear knowledge about this. And the only message which answers to the needs of an awakened conscience is the old-fashioned message that Jesus Christ the Righteous has died for us sinful men. All other religions have felt after a clear doctrine of forgiveness, and all have failed to find it. Here is the Divine Yea! And on it alone we can suspend the whole weight of our souls salvation.

3. We have in Christ Divine certainties in regard of life. We have in Him the absolutely perfect pattern to which we are to conform our whole doings. He stands the Law of our lives. We have certainties for life, in the matter of protection, guidance, supply of all necessity, and the like, garnered in Jesus Christ. For He not only conforms, but fulfils, the promises which God has made. Christ is protean, and becomes everything to each man that each man requires. And in some of those sunny islands of the Southern Pacific one tree supplies the people with all that they need for their simple wants, fruit for their food, leaves for their houses, staves, thread, needles, clothing, drink, everything--so Jesus Christ, this Tree of Life, is Himself the sum of all the promises, and, having Him, we have everything that we need.

4. In Christ we have the Divine certainties as to the future, over which, apart from Him, lie cloud and darkness. Here again a verbal revelation is not enough. We have enough of mans peradventures. What we want is that somebody shall cross the gulf and come back again. And so we get in the Resurrection of Christ the one fact on which men may safely rest their convictions of immortality.

II. Mans certainties, which answer to Christs certainties. The latter are in Christ, the former are through Christ. The only fitting attitude for Christians in reference to these certainties is that of unhesitating affirmation and joyful assent.

1. There should be some kind of correspondence between the assurance with which we believe these great truths, and the firmness of the evidence upon which they rest. It is a poor compliment to God to come to His affirmations, and to answer with a hesitating Amen. Build rock upon rock. Be certain of the certain things; for it is an insult to the certainty of the revelation when there is hesitation in the believer. The Christian verb is we know, not we hope, we calculate, we infer, we think, but we know.

2. I need not speak about the blessedness of such a calm assurance, about the need of it for power, for peace, for effort, for fixedness in the midst of a world and age of change. But I must point to the only path by which that certitude is attainable. Through Him is the amen. He is the Door. The truths which He confirms are so inextricably intertwined with Himself that you cannot get them and put away Him. Christs relation to Christs gospel is not the relation of other teachers to their words. You may accept the words of a Plato, whatever you think of Plato. But you cannot separate Christ and His teaching in that fashion, and you must have Him if you are to get it.

3. If thus we keep near Him our faith will bring us the present experience and fulfilment of the promises, and we shall be sure of them because we have them already. And whilst men are asking, Do we know anything about God? Is there such a thing as forgiveness? etc., we can say, One thing I know, Jesus Christ is my Saviour, and in Him I know God, and pardon, and duty, and sanctifying, and safety, and immortality; and whatever is dark, this, at least, is sun-clear. Get high enough up and you will be above the fog; and while the men down in it are squabbling as to whether there is anything outside the mist, you, from your sunny station, will see the far-off coasts, and haply catch some whiff of perfume from their shore, and see some glinting of a glory upon the shining turrets of the city that hath foundations. So live near Jesus Christ, and, holding fast by His hand, you may lift up your joyful Amen to every one of Gods yeas; and when the Voice from Heaven says Yea! our choral shout may go up, Amen! Thou art the faithful and true witness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 Corinthians

GOD’S YEA; MAN’S AMEN

2Co 1:20.

This is one of the many passages the force and beauty of which are, for the first time, brought within the reach of an English reader by the alterations in the Revised Version. These are partly dependent upon the reading of the text and partly upon the translation. As the words stand in the Authorised Version, ‘yea’ and ‘amen’ seem to be very nearly synonymous expressions, and to point substantially to the same thing-viz. that Jesus Christ is, as it were, the confirmation and seal of God’s promises. But in the Revised Version the alterations, especially in the pronouns, indicate more distinctly that the Apostle means two different things by the ‘yea’ and the ‘amen’ . The one is God’s voice, the other is man’s. The one has to do with the certainty of the divine revelation, the other has to do with the certitude of our faith in the revelation. When God speaks in Christ, He confirms everything that He has said before, and when we listen to God speaking in Christ, our lips are, through Christ, opened to utter our assenting ‘Amen’ to His great promises. So, then, we have the double form of our Lord’s work, covering the whole ground of His relations to man, set forth in these two clauses, in the one of which God’s confirmation of His past revelations by Jesus Christ is treated of, and in the other of which the full and confident assent which men may give to that revelation is set before us. I deal, then, with these two points-God’s certainties in Christ, and man’s certitudes through Christ.

Now these two things do not always go together. We may be very certain, as far as our persuasion is concerned, of a very doubtful fact, or we may be very doubtful, as far as our persuasion is concerned, of a very certain fact. We speak about truths or facts as being certain, and we ought to mean by that, not how we think about them, but what they are in the evidence on which they rest. A certain truth is a truth which has its evidence irrefragable; and the only fitting attitude for men, in the presence of a certain truth, is to have a certitude of the truth. And these two things are, our Apostle tells us, both given to us in and through Jesus Christ. Let me deal, then, with these two sides.

I. First, God’s certainties in Christ.

Of course the original reference of the text is to the whole series of great promises given in the Old Testament. These, says Paul, are sealed and confirmed to men by the revelation and work of Jesus Christ, but it is obvious that the principle which is good in reference to them is good on a wider field. I venture to take that extension, and to ask you to think briefly about some of the things that are made for us indubitably certain in Jesus Christ.

And, first of all, there is the certainty about God’s heart. Everywhere else we have only peradventures, hopes, fears, guesses more or less doubtful, and roundabout inferences as to His disposition and attitude towards us. As one of the old divines says somewhere, ‘All other ways of knowing God are like the bended bow, Christ is the straight string.’ The only means by which, indubitably, as a matter of demonstration, men can be sure that God in the heavens has a heart of love towards them is by Jesus Christ. For consider what will make us sure of that. Nothing but facts; words are of little use, arguments are of little use. A revelation, however precious, which simply says to us, ‘God is Love’ is not sufficient for our need. We want to see love in operation if we are to be sure of it, and the only demonstration of the love of God is to witness the love of God in actual working. And you get it-where? On the Cross of Jesus Christ. I do not believe that anything else irrefragably establishes the fact for the yearning hearts of us poor men who want love, and yet cannot grope our way in amidst the mysteries and the clouds in providence and nature, except this-’Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’

The question may arise in some minds, Is there any need for proving God’s love? The question never arose except within the limits of Christianity. It is only men who have lived all their lives in an atmosphere saturated by Christian sentiment and conviction that ever come to the point of saying, ‘We do not want historical revelation to prove to us the fact of a loving God.’ They would never have fancied that they did not need the revelation unless, unconsciously to themselves, and indirectly, all their thoughts had been coloured and illuminated by the revelation that they profess they reject. God as Love is ‘our dearest faith, our ghastliest doubt,’ and the only way to make absolutely certain of the fact that His heart is full of mercy to us is to look upon Him as He stands revealed to us, not merely in the words of Christ, for, precious as they are, these are the smallest part of His revelation, but in the life and in the death which open for us the heart of God. Remember what He said Himself, not ‘He who hath listened to Me, doth understand the Father,’ but ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.’ ‘In Him is yea,’ and the hopes and shadowy fore-revelations of the loving heart of God are confirmed by the fact of His life and death. God establishes, not ‘commends’ as our translation has it, ‘His love towards us in that whilst we were yet sinners Christ died for us.’

Further, in Him we have the certainty of pardon. Every deep heart-experience amongst men has felt the necessity of having a clear certainty and knowledge about forgiveness. Men do not feel it always. A man can skate over the surface of the great deeps that lie beneath the most frivolous life, and may suppose, in his superficial way of looking at things, that there is no need for any definite teaching about sin and the mode of dealing with it. But once bring that man face to face, in a quiet hour, with the facts of his life and of a divine law, and all that superficial ignoring of evil in himself and of the dread of punishment and consequences, passes away. I am sure of this, that no religion will ever go far and last long and work mightily, and lay a sovereign hand upon human life, which has not a most plain and decisive message to preach in reference to pardon. And I am sure of this, that one reason for the comparative feebleness of much so-called Christian teaching in this generation is just that the deepest needs of a man’s conscience are not met by it. In a religion on which the whole spirit of a man may rest itself, there must be a very plain message about what is to be done with sin. The only message which answers to the needs of an awakened conscience and an alarmed heart is the old-fashioned message that Jesus Christ the Righteous has died for us sinful men. All other religions have felt after a clear doctrine of forgiveness, and all have failed to find it. Here is the divine ‘Yea!’ And on it alone we can suspend the whole weight of our soul’s salvation. The rope that is to haul us out of the horrible pit and the miry clay had much need to be tested before we commit ourselves to it. There are plenty of easygoing superficial theories about forgiveness predominant in the world to-day. Except the one that says, ‘In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin,’ they are all like the rope let down into the dark mine to lift the captives beneath, half of the strands of which have been cut on the sharp edge above, and when the weight hangs on to it, it will snap. There is nothing on which a man who has once learned the tragical meaning and awful reality and depth of the fact of his transgression can suspend his forgiveness, except this, that ‘Christ has died, the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God.’ ‘In Him the promise is yea.’

And, again, we have in Christ divine certainties in regard to life. We have in Him the absolutely perfect pattern to which we are to conform our whole doings. And so, notwithstanding that there may, and will still be many uncertainties and much perplexity, we have the great broad lines of morals and of duty traced with a firm hand, and all that we need to know of obligation and of perfectness lies in this-Be like Jesus Christ! So the solemn commandments of the ethical side of Divine Revelation, as well as the promises of it, get their ‘yea’ in Jesus Christ, and He stands the Law of our lives.

We have certainties for life, in the matter of protection, guidance, supply of all necessity, and the like, treasured and garnered in Jesus Christ. For He not only confirms, but fulfils, the promises which God has made. If we have that dear Lord for our very own, and He belongs to us as He does belong to them who love Him and trust Him, then in Him we have in actual possession these promises, how many soever they be, which are given by God’s other words.

Christ is Protean, and becomes everything to each man that each man requires. He is, as it were, ‘a box where sweets compacted lie.’ ‘In Him are hid all the treasures,’ not only of wisdom and knowledge, but of divine gifts, and we have but to go to Him in order to have that which at each moment as it emerges, we most require. As in some of those sunny islands of the Southern Pacific, one tree supplies the people with all that they need for their simple wants, fruit for their food, leaves for their houses, staves, thread, needles, clothing, drink, everything-so Jesus Christ, this Tree of Life, is Himself the sum of all the promises, and, having Him, we have everything that we need.

And, lastly, in Christ we have the divine certainties as to the Future over which, apart from Him, lie cloud and darkness. As I said about the revelation of the heart of God, so I say about the revelation of a future life-a verbal revelation is not enough. We have enough of arguments; what we want is facts. We have enough of man’s peradventures about a future life, enough of evidence more or less valid to show that it is ‘probable,’ or ‘not inconceivable,’ or ‘more likely than not,’ and so on and so on. What we want is that somebody shall cross the gulf and come back again, and so we get in the Resurrection of Christ the one fact on which men may safely rest their convictions of immortality, and I do not think that there is a second anywhere. On it alone, as I believe, hinges the whole answer to the question-’If a man die, shall he live again?’ This generation is brought, in my reading of it, right up to this alternative-Christ’s Resurrection,-or we die like the brutes that perish. ‘All the promises of God in Him are yea.’

II. And now a word as to the second portion of my text-viz. man’s certitudes, which answer to God’s certainties.

The latter are in Christ, the former are through Christ. Now it is clear that the only fitting attitude for professing Christians in reference to these certainties of God is the attitude of unhesitating affirmation and joyful assent. Certitude is the fitting response to certainty.

There should be some kind of correspondence between the firmness with which we grasp, the tenacity with which we hold, the assurance with which we believe, these great truths, and the rock-like firmness and immovableness of the evidence upon which they rest. It is a poor compliment to God to come to His most veracious affirmations, sealed with the broad seal of His Son’s life and death, and to answer with a hesitating ‘Amen,’ that falters and almost sticks in our throat. Build rock upon rock. Be sure of the certain things. Grasp with a firm hand the firm stay. Immovably cling to the immovable foundation; and though you be but like the limpet on the rock hold fast by the Rock, as the limpet does; for it is an insult to the certainty of the revelation, when there is hesitation in the believer.

I need not dwell for more than a moment upon the lamentable contrast which is presented between this certitude, which is our only fitting attitude, and the hesitating assent and half belief in which so many professing Christians pass their lives. The reasons for that are partly moral, partly intellectual. This is not a day which is favourable to the unhesitating avowal of convictions in reference to an unseen world, and many of us are afraid of being called narrow, or dogmatisers, and think it looks like breadth, and liberality, and culture, and I know not what, to say ‘Well! perhaps it is, but I am not quite sure; I think it is, but I will not commit myself.’ All the promises of God, which in Him are yea, ought through Him to get from us an ‘Amen.’

There is a great deal that will always be uncertain. The firmer our convictions, the fewer will be the things that they grasp; but, if they be few, they will be large, and enough for us. These truths certified in Christ concerning the heart of God, the message of pardon, the law for life, the gifts of guidance, defence, and sanctifying, the sure and certain hope of immortality-these things we ought to be sure about, whatever borderland of uncertainty may lie beyond them. The Christian verb is ‘we know,’ not ‘we hope, we calculate, we infer, we think,’ but ‘we know.’ And it becomes us to apprehend for ourselves the full blessedness and power of the certitude which Christ has given to us by the certainties which he has brought us.

I need not speak about the blessedness of such a calm assurance, about the need of it for power, for peace, for effort, for fixedness in the midst of a world and age of change. But I must, before I close, point you to the only path by which that certitude is attainable. ‘Through Him is the amen.’ He is the Door. The truths which He confirms are so inextricably intertwined with Himself that you cannot get them and put away Him. Christ’s relation to Christ’s Gospel is not the relation of other teachers to their words. You may accept the words of a Plato, whatever you think of the Plato who spoke the words. But you cannot separate Christ and His teaching in that fashion, and you must have Him if you are to get it. So, faith in Him, the intellectual acceptance of Him, as the authoritative and infallible Revealer, the bowing down of heart and will to Him as our Commander and our Lord, the absolute trust in Him as the foundation of all our hope and the source of all our blessedness-that is the way to certitude, and there is no other road that we can take.

If thus we keep near Him, our faith will bring us the present experience and fulfilment of the promises, and we shall be sure of them, because we have them already. And whilst men are asking, ‘Do we know anything about God? Is there a God at all? Is there such a thing as forgiveness? Can anybody find anywhere absolute rules for his life? Is there anything beyond the grave but mist and darkness?’ we can say, ‘One thing I know, Jesus Christ is my Saviour, and in Him I know God, and pardon, and duty, and sanctifying, and safety, and immortality; and whatever is dark, this, at least, is sun-clear.’ Get high enough up and you will be above the fog; and while the men down in it are squabbling as to whether there is anything outside the mist, you, from your sunny station, will see the far-off coasts, and haply catch some whiff of perfume from their shore, and see some glinting of a glory upon the shining turrets of ‘the city that hath foundations.’ We have a present possession of all the promises of God; and whoever doubts their certitude, the man who knows himself a son of God by faith, and has experience of forgiveness and guidance and answered prayer and hopes whose ‘sweetness yieldeth proof that they were born for immortality,’ knows the things which others question and doubt.

So live near Jesus Christ, and, holding fast by His hand, you may lift up your joyful ‘Amen’ to every one of God’s ‘Yeas.’ For in Him we know the Father, in Him we know that we have the forgiveness of sins, in Him we know that God is near to bless and succour and guide, and in Him ‘we know that, though our earthly house were dissolved, we have a building of God.’ Wherefore we are always confident; and when the Voice from Heaven says ‘Yea!’ our choral shout may go up ‘Amen! Thou art the faithful and true witness.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:20 God has put a seal of approval, with a resounding “Yes!” on the Old Testament prophecies as they are fulfilled in Christ. Believers respond with “Amen,” meaning “confirmed and agreed.”

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co 1:20. Ἐπαγγελίαι) promises, declarations.—τὸ ναὶ—τὸ ἀμὴν, yea—amen) The words yea and amen agreeing together, stand in pleasant antithesis to the words yea and nay, 2Co 1:19, which are at variance with each other: yea by affirmation; amen, by an oath; or yea in respect of the Greeks; amen in respect of the Jews; comp. Gal 4:6 note; for yea is Greek, amen is Hebrew; or yea, in respect of God who promises, amen in respect of believers; comp. 1Jn 2:8; yea in respect of the apostles, amen in respect of their hearers.—τῷ Θεῷ πρὸς δόξαν [to the glory of God] to God for His glory) For the truth of God is glorified in all His promises, which are verified in Christ.—πρὸς δόξαν, to the glory) 2Co 4:15.—διʼ ἡμῶν, by us) construed with there is, again to be understood. For whatever may be the number of [as many soever as are] the promises of God, there is in Him the Yea, and in Him the Amen [every promise has its yea and amen, i.e. its fulfilment in Him]. To the glory of God (is that Yea and Amen) by us. The yea is re-echoed by us.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_1:20. A more precise explanation and confirmation of ναὶ ἐν αὐτῷ γέγονεν, running on to the end of the verse. Hence ὅσαι … ἀμήν is not to be put in a parenthesis, as Griesbach, Scholz, and Ewal.

τὸ ναί and τὸ ἀμήν cannot be synonymous, as most of the older commentators take them (repetit, ut ipsa repetitione rem magis confirmet, Estius), for this is rendered impossible by the correct reading διὸ κ. διʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀμήν (see the critical remarks). Rather must the former be the cause (διό) of the latter. And here the expression τὸ ἀμήν is without doubt to be explained from the custom in worship, that in public prayer a general Amen was said as certifying the general assurance of faith as to its being heard (see on 1Co_14:16). Accordingly τὸ ναί and τὸ ἀμήν are here to be distinguished in this way; τὸ ναί, as in the whole context, denotes the certainty objectively given (comp. on that point, Rom_15:8), and τὸ ἀμήν, the certainty subjectively existing, the certainty of faith. Consequently: for, as many promises of God as there are (in the O. T.), in Him is the yea (in Christ is given the objective guarantee of their fulfilment); therefore through Him also the Amen takes place, therefore it comes to pass through Christ, that the Amen is said to Gods promises; i.e. therefore also to Christ, to His work and merit, without which we should want this certainty, is due the subjective certainty of the divine promises, the faith in their fulfilment. Billroth, indeed (and in the main, de Wette), thinks the conception to be this: that the preachers of the gospel say the Amen through their preaching, so that τὸ ναί refers to the living working of God in Christ, in whom He fulfils His promises, and τὸ ἀμήν to the faithful and stedfast preaching of these deeds of God. But the saying of Amen expressed the assurance of faith, and was done by all; hence τὸ ἀμήν would be in the highest degree unsuitable for denoting the praedicatio. Finally, Rückert is quite arbitrary when he says that τὸ ναί relates to the fulfilment of the prophecies wrought by the appearing of Christ Himself, and τὸ ἀμήν to the erection of the church, which had grown out of that appearing.

The article before ναί and ἀμήν denotes the definite Yea and Amen, which relate to the ἐπαγγελίαι Θεοῦ and belong to them. The article was not used before in 2Co_1:19, because no definite reference of the yea was yet specifie.

τῷ Θεῷ πρὸς δόξαν διʼ ἡμῶν] a teleological definition to διʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀμήν with the emphatic prefixing of τῷ Θεῷ: to Gods honour through us, i.e. what redounds to the glorifying of God (2Co_8:19) through us.

διʼ ἡμῶν] nostro ministerio (Grotius), in so far, namely, as the ministry of the gospel-preachers brings about the Amen, the assurance of faith in Gods promises, Rom_10:14.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 1:20 . ὅσαι γὰρ ἐπαγγελίαι κ . τ . λ .: for how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the Yea . Not only was Christ a διάκονος περιτομῆς … εἰς τὸ βεβαιῶσαι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας τῶν πατέρων (Rom 15:8 ), but He is Himself, in His own Person, the true fulfilment and recapitulation of them all ( cf. Gal 3:8 ). διὸ καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ Ἀμήν κ . τ . λ .: wherefore also through Him is the “Amen,” to the glory of God, through us . The reading of the received text conceals the force of these words. It is because Christ is the consummation, the “Yea” of the Divine promises, that the “Amen” is specially fitting at the close of doxologies in public worship (1Co 14:16 ). The thought of the fulfilment of God’s promises naturally leads to a doxology (Rom 15:9 ), to which a solemn Ἀμήν , the Hebrew form of the Greek ναί , whose significance as applied to Christ has just been expounded, is a fitting climax. διʼ ἡμῶν in this clause includes, of course, both St. Paul and his correspondents; it refers, indeed, to the general practice of Christians in their public devotions.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ is set also forth to exhibit and fulfill them all most assuredly, and without all doubt.

Last of all he declareth the sum of his doctrine, to wit, that all the promises of salvation are sure and ratified in Christ.

Through our ministry.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Rather, How many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the "yea" ("faithfulness in His word": contrasted with the "yea and nay," Co2 1:19, that is, inconstancy as to one's word).

and in him Amen--The oldest manuscripts read, "Wherefore through Him is the Amen"; that is, In Him is faithfulness ("yea") to His word, "wherefore through Him" is the immutable verification of it ("Amen"). As "yea" is His word, so "Amen" is His oath, which makes our assurance of the fulfilment doubly sure. Compare "two immutable things (namely, His word and His oath) in which it was impossible for God to lie" (Heb 6:18; Rev 3:14). The whole range of Old Testament and New Testament promises are secure in their fulfilment for us in Christ.

unto the glory of God by us--Greek, "for glory unto God by us" (compare Co2 4:15), that is, by our ministerial labors; by us His promises, and His unchangeable faithfulness to them, are proclaimed. CONYBEARE takes the "Amen" to be the Amen at the close of thanksgiving: but then "by us" would have to mean what it cannot mean here, "by us and you."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. For all the promises of God] Had we been light, fickle, worldly-minded persons; persons who could only be bound by our engagements as far as comported with our secular interest; would God have confirmed our testimony among you? Did we not lay before you the promises of God? And did not God fulfil those promises by us-by our instrumentality, to your salvation and his own glory? God is true; therefore every promise of God is true; and consequently each must have its due fulfilment. God will not make use of trifling, worldly men, as the instruments by which he will fulfil his promises; but he has fulfilled them by us; therefore we are just and spiritual men, else God would not have used us.

In him are yea, and in him amen] All the promises which God has made to mankind are yea-true in themselves, and amen-faithfully fulfilled to them who believe in Christ Jesus. The promises are all made in reference to Christ; for it is only on the Gospel system that we can have promises of grace; for it is only on that system that we can have mercy. Therefore, the promise comes originally by Christ, and is yea; and it has its fulfilment through Christ, and is amen; and this is to the glory of God, by the preaching of the apostles.

From what the apostle says here, and the serious and solemn manner in which he vindicates himself, it appears that his enemies at Corinth had made a handle of his not coming to Corinth, according to his proposal, to defame his character, and to depreciate his ministry; but he makes use of it as a means of exalting the truth and mercy of God through Christ Jesus; and of showing that the promises of God not only come by him, but are fulfilled through him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. For all the promises of God — Here again he shows how firm and unvarying the preaching of Christ ought to be, inasmuch as he is the groundwork of all the promises of God. For it were worse than absurd to entertain the idea that he, in whom all the promises of God are established, is like one that wavers. Now though the statement is general, as we shall see ere long, it is, notwithstanding, accommodated to the circumstances of the case in hand, with the view of confirming the certainty of Paul’s doctrine. For it is not simply of the gospel in general that he treats, but he honors more especially his own gospel with this distinction. “If the promises of God are sure and well-founded, my preaching also must of necessity be sure, inasmuch as it contains nothing but Christ, in whom they are all established.” As, however, in these words he means simply that he preached a gospel that was genuine, and not adulterated by any foreign additions, let us keep in view this general doctrine, that all the promises of God rest upon Christ alone as their support — a sentiment that is worthy of being kept in remembrance, and is one of the main articles of our faith. It depends, however, on another principle — that it is only in Christ that God the Father is propitious to us. Now the promises are testimonies of his fatherly kindness towards us. Hence it follows, that it is in him alone that they are fulfilled.

The promises, I say, are testimonies of Divine grace: for although God shows kindness even to the unworthy, (Luke 6:35,) yet when promises are given in addition to his acts of kindness, there is a special reason — that in them he declares himself to be a Father. Secondly, we are not qualified for enjoying the promises of God, unless we have received the remission of our sins, which we obtain through Christ. Thirdly, the promise, by which God adopts us to himself as his sons, holds the first place among them all. Now the cause and root of adoption is Christ; because God is not a Father to any that are not members and brethren of his only-begotten Son. Everything, however, flows out from this source — that, while we are without Christ, we are hated by God rather than favorably regarded, while at the same time God promises us everything that he does promise, because he loves us. Hence it is not to be wondered if Paul here teaches, that all the promises of God are ratified and confirmed in Christ.

It is asked, however, whether they were feeble or powerless, previously to Christ’s advent; for Paul seems to speak here of Christ as manifested in the flesh. (1 Timothy 3:16.) I answer, that all the promises that were given to believers from the beginning of the world were founded upon Christ. Hence Moses and the Prophets, in every instance in which they treat of reconciliation with God, of the hope of salvation, or of any other favor, make mention of him, and discourse at the same time respecting his coming and his kingdom. I say again, that the promises under the Old Testament were fulfilled to the pious, in so far as was advantageous for their welfare; and yet it is not less true, that they were in a manner suspended until the advent of Christ, through whom they obtained their true accomplishment. And in truth, believers themselves rested upon the promises in such a way, as at the same time to refer the true accomplishment of them to the appearing of the Mediator, and suspended their hope until that time. In fine, if any one considers what is the fruit of Christ’s death and resurrection, he will easily gather from this, in what respect the promises of God have been sealed and ratified in him, which would otherwise have had no sure accomplishment.

Wherefore, also, through him let there be Amen. Here also the Greek manuscripts do not agree, for some of them have it in one continued statement — As many promises of God as there are, are in him Yea, and in him Amen to the glory of God through us. The different reading, however, which I have followed, is easier, and contains a fuller meaning. For as he had said, that, in Christ, God has confirmed the truth of all his promises, so now he teaches us, that it is our duty to acquiesce in this ratification. This we do, when, resting upon Christ by a sure faith, we subscribe and set our seal that God is true, as we read in John 3:33, and that with a view to his glory, as this is the end to which everything should be referred. (Ephesians 1:13, and Romans 3:4.)

The other reading, I confess, is the more common one, but as it is somewhat meagre, I have not hesitated to prefer the one that contains the fuller meaning, and, besides, is much better suited to the context. For Paul reminds the Corinthians of their duty — to utter their Amen in return, after having been instructed in the simple truth of God. If, however, any one is reluctant to depart from the other reading, there must, in any case, be an exhortation deduced from it to a mutual agreement in doctrine and faith.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(20) All the promises of God . . .—Literally, as many as are the promises of God. Many of the better MSS. give a different reading: “In him is the Yea, wherefore also by him is the Amen to God for glory by our means.” The thought in either case is the same. The promises of God have been fulfilled and ratified in Christ. He was, as it were, a living incarnate “Amen” to those promises. Comp. St. John’s use of the word Amen as a name of Christ, the “faithful and true witness” (Rev_3:14). The words “by us” are determined by the context as referring to the preacher rather than to the hearers of the Word.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. For all the promises of God in him are yea] Literally, for how many soever the promises of God be, in Him is the yea. The Apostle here, as elsewhere, reminds us that God’s gifts depend upon His promise. Gal_3:14-29. And this promise is an affirmative utterance, never to be withdrawn or explained away. Whatever gifts are received by the ministration of His servants are the same in their character.

and in him Amen] This may refer either (1) actively, to the ratification by God of His own promises, see Heb_6:12-18; Heb_7:20-21; Rev_3:14; or (2) passively, to the security we may feel that His Divine Word will never fail us. But our security is ever in Him. Some editors read (with the Vulgate) ‘wherefore through him is the Amen,’ in which case the meaning would be that because God’s promises were unchangeable, they were to be depended upon.

unto the glory of God by us] i.e. through our instrumentality, because by the first preachers of the Gospel these glorious promises were made known.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For all the promises of God in him are

yea,.... This is a reason or argument proving what is before said, that "in" Christ "was yea", since "all the promises of God in him are yea"; and shows, that God has made many promises to his people: mention is here made of "promises", and of "all" the promises; or, as the words may be rendered, "as many promises of God". There are some which concern the temporal good of the saints; as that they shall not want any good thing; and though they shall be attended with afflictions, these shall work for their good, and they shall be supported under them. Others concern their spiritual good; some of which relate to God himself, that he will be their God, which includes his everlasting love, his gracious presence, and divine protection. Others relate to Christ as their surety and Saviour, by whom they are, and shall be justified and pardoned, in whom they are adopted, and by whom they shall be saved with an everlasting salvation: and others relate to the Spirit of God, as a spirit of illumination, faith, comfort, strength, and assistance, and to supplies of grace by him from Christ: and others concern everlasting life and happiness, and are all of them very ancient, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; are exceeding great and precious, suited to the various cases of God's people; are free and unconditional, immutable and irrevocable, and will all of them have their certain accomplishment. These promises are all "in" Christ; with and in whom could they be but in him, since he only existed when they were made, which was from everlasting? with and in whom should they be of right, but in him with whom the covenant, which contains these promises, were made, and who undertook the accomplishment of them? where could they be safe and secure but in him, in whose hands are the persons, grace, and glory of his people? not in Adam, nor in angels, nor in themselves, only in him. Moreover, these promises are "in him yea",

and in him amen; they are like the Gospel which exhibits them, consistent, and all of a piece; like the covenant which contains them, and is ordered in all things, and sure; and like the author of them, whose faithfulness and lovingkindness to his in Christ shall never fail; and like Christ himself, in whom they are, who is "the amen, the true and faithful witness, the same today, yesterday, and for ever"; by whose blood, the covenant, and all the promises of it, are ratified and confirmed, and in whom, who is the truth of them, they are all fulfilled. And these are

unto the glory of God by us; these serve to illustrate and advance the glory of God, when they are preached by us, and held forth by us in the Gospel, just as they are in Christ, free, absolute, and unconditional; and when they are received "by us" as believers in Christ; for the stronger we are in the faith of the promises, the more glory we give to God; faith by laying hold on, and embracing the promises, glorifies the veracity, faithfulness, power, and grace of God. The Syriac version puts the "Amen" into this last clause, and reads it thus, "therefore by him we give Amen to the glory of God".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Ver. 20. In him are yea and amen] That is, truth and assurance. They will eat their way over all Alps of opposition, as one speaketh.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For all the promises of God in him - All the promises which God has made through him. This is another reason why Paul felt himself bound to maintain a character of the strictest veracity. The reason was, that God always evinced that; and that since none of His promises failed, he felt himself sacredly bound to imitate Him, and to adhere to all His. The promises of God which are made through Christ, relate to the pardon of sin to the penitent; the sanctification of his people: support in temptation and trial; guidance in perplexity; peace in death, and eternal glory beyond the grave. All of these are made through a Redeemer, and none of these shall fail.

Are yea - Shall all be certainly fulfilled. There shall be no vacillation on the part of God; no fickleness; no abandoning of his gracious intention.

And in him amen - In Rev 3:14, the Lord Jesus is called the “Amen.” The word means true, faithful, certain. And the expression here means that all the promises which are made to people through a Redeemer shall be certainly fulfilled. They are promises which are confirmed and established, and which shall by no means fail.

Unto the glory of God by us - Either by us ministers and apostles; or by us who are Christians. The latter, I think, is the meaning; and Paul means to say, that the fulfillment of all the promises which God has made to His people shall result in His glory and praise as a God of condescension and veracity. The fact that He has made such promises is an act that tends to His own glory - since it was of His mere grace that they were made; and the fulfillment of these promises in and through the church, shall also tend to produce elevated views of His fidelity and goodness.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The doctrine which the apostle delivered to them was not ambiguous, doubtful, or contradictory, first one thing, then another; on the contrary, it was such, that the apostle could say, (ver. 14.) we are your glory. --- Amen. All the promises made by God, with regard to Christ, are fulfilled in him; therefore we may say Amen, and give glory to God, through Jesus Christ, who hath fulfilled all his promises. (Calmet) --- One of the distinctive marks, as the holy fathers affirm, between separatists and Catholics is; the former are fond of innovation, changes, and reform, the latter are scrupulously tenacious of what has been delivered from the beginning. See St. Irenæus, lib. i. chap. 18.; Tertullian, de præscript.; St. Basil, ep. 12. Vine: Lyr. See also Les Variations, by Bossuet.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As Christ was yea, and all his doctrine certain and uniform, so all the promises of God are yea; the promises of the Messiah have their yea and Amen in him; all the promises of grace, whatsoever is promised to believers, shall be verified by him, that so God may be glorified, and have from men the honour of being always esteemed a true and faithful God, one that cannot fail and falsify his word. But how are the promises of God yea and Amen in Christ by us?

Answer. As the ministers of the gospel are the ministers of Christ for the explication and application of them. The promises are from the Father, through Christ as the meritorious cause, and internally applied by the Holy Spirit, while they are more externally applied by the ministers of the gospel.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. St. Paul now tells of what the yea in Christ was an affirmation, namely, the promises of God.

All the promises—Literally, How many soever are the promises of God, in him (Christ) is the yea; all God’s promises find their expression in Christ.

And in him—By the best reading, Wherefore also through him is the Amen to God to his glory through us. As the yea of God’s promises is in Christ, so our responsive Amen is through Christ to God’s glory. Christ is thus made, by the apostle, the medium through whom God’s promises become ours, and our praises becomes God’s. By this the Christine party are made to realize that they cannot well represent St. Paul as the depreciator of Christ.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For all the promises of God in him are yea; rather, For so many as be the promises of God, in him is the yea. All the promises of God find in him their unchangeable fulfilment. He was "a minister to confirm the promises" alike to the Jews and the Gentiles; (Rom_15:8, Rom_15:9) and "the premise of the eternal inheritance" can only be fulfilled in. (Heb_9:15) And in him Amen. The true reading is," Wherefore by him also is the Amen to God, uttered by us to his glory" (a, A, B, C, F, G, etc.). In Christ is the "yea" of immutable promise and absolute fulfilment; the Church utters the "Amen" of perfect faith and grateful adoration. Here, as in 1Co_14:16, we have a proof of the ancientness of the custom by which the congregation utters the "Amen" at the end of praise and prayer. But as the "yea" is in Christ, so it is only through him that we can receive the grace to utter aright the "Amen" to the glory of God.

The certainty of Divine promises.

I ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD. From the first (Gen_3:15) which points to the Saviour"s first coming, to the last (Rev_22:20) which assures us of his second coming, these are all very good. Their range is vast, their bounty large, their comfort sweet and strong. They bring balm to our wounds, help to our infirmities, rest to our weariness, encouragement to our prayers. They are "exceeding great and precious." Scattered as the promises are over the Bible, they should be searched out and read with an intelligent regard to the time when they were given, the persons to whom they were addressed, and the nature of the dispensation under which they were issued. They are profitable in a general sense as exhibiting the Divine character and mind, and they convey individual comfort to those who, in express terms or by fair inference from the express terms, are indicated in particular promises. These comprehend assurances of

(1) temporal welfare;

(2) Free pardon;

(3) a renewed and obedient heart;

(4) the indwelling of the Holy Spirit;

(5) the return of the Lord and our gathering to him in his glory.

These are the keys to open all doors in the dungeons of Doubting Castle and set captives free. These are the strong withes that bind the holiest affections of men, or the cords and bands let down from above, which they hold as they skirt the precipices of moral danger and climb the steep places of duty. These are the stepping stones across waters of despondency, on which pilgrims may pass dry shod to the happy shore.

II THE SECURITY OF ALL THOSE PROMISES IS IN JESUS CHRIST. No Divine promises are made to us out of Christ, and no promise in him can fail. This arises from:

1. The constitution of his mediatorial Person. He is very God and veryman: God who is true and cannot lie, in union with a guileless Man who had no deceit in his mouth.

2. The nature of his mediatorial offices. As he is the Prophet, all thepromises of Divine teaching and enlightenment are secure in him. As he is the Priest, all the promises of pardon, of acceptance in worship, and of salvation to the uttermost are secure in him. As he is the King, all the promises of the subdual of sin and of deliverance from spiritual adversaries are secure in him.

3. The covenant relations of Christ to his people. They are socomprehended in him or represented by him that all the promises made to him are for their help and consolation, and all the promises made to them are for his glory. So are they assured of pardon through him, eternal life in him, the Holy Spirit of him and by him, and the new heavens and new earth with him who is the Amen, faithful and true.

III THE END IN VIEW IN THE SURENESS or THE PROMISES. "For glory to God through us." It is glorifying to him that we go to the promises for solace and live on the promises by faith. It was when Abraham believed a promise, and was strengthened in faith, that he gave glory to God. And this way of glorifying our God is open to all of us. Let us not stagger at his promises, but believe his love and rely on his faithfulness, He cannot deny himself. Glory be to the Father, who promises to be a Father to us, and to take us for his sons and daughters! Glory be to the Son, in whom all things are ours by free grace, and God himself is not ashamed to be called our God! Glory be to the Holy Ghost, for the anointing, the sealing, and the earnest in our hearts (vers. 21, 22)! The promises of God being established in Christ, we too who believe are established in Christ by the Holy Spirit, and so the promises are ours. What will you do who have no hold of the promises, no hearty faith in the Divine Promiser? For you there is no bright future; for the inheritance is by promise of free grace in Christ Jesus. Yet we do not ask you to believe a promise. Strictly speaking, there is no promise to men who are not in Christ. But Christ himself is set before you and offered to you. Believe on the Name of the only begotten Son of God, according to the tenor of the gospel. Then all things will be yours. The promises of grace and glory are for you; for they are all yea and amen in Jesus Christ our Lord. F.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For all the promises of God are yea and amen in him - Are surely established in and through him. They are yea with respect to God promising; amen, with respect to men believing; yea, with respect to the apostles; amen, with respect to their hearers.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Our apostle had proved in the foregoing verse the constancy of his own doctrine which he preached from the immutabilithy and constancy of Christ, the subject of it. Here he proveth Christ to be unchangeable, in that all the promises which God hath made to us are fulfilled both in him and by him. All the promises of God in him are yea, and amen; that is, verified and fulfilled in him, and confirmed by him to us.

Learn, 1. That God has made promises, many promises to his people.

2. That all the promises which God has made to his people, are made in Christ, and ratified by him. Christ acts the part and office of a surety; he undertakes and engages for God, that all which he hath promised shall be made good to us.

Learn, 3. That the promises made by God, and ratified and confirmed in Christ, do all tend to the glory of God. They show the sovereignty of his grace, in making promises to his creatures of mercy, who deserved nothing but flaming vengeance and implacable fury. They show the amplitude of his grace; for if grace did not flow abundantly from the heart of God towards us, we could never have received so large a stock of promises from him. Let us then glorify God, by setting a just value upon his promises, as the unchangeable assurance of his love and grace.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. For all the promises of God in him are yea. They are sure and positive.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

20. διὸ καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ (אABCFP) rather than καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ (D2KL).

2Co 1:1-2. THE APOSTOLIC SALUTATION

20. ὅσαι γὰρ ἐπαγγελίαι θεοῦ, ἐν αὐτῷ τό Ναί. For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea (R.V.), or possibly, in Him is their yea, i.e. their fulfilment. Numerous as they have been, Christ has fulfilled them all, not merely those which affect the Jews. For here again ἐν αὐτῷ probably means ‘in Christ.’ S. Paul says promises, not prophecies. He is not thinking of such fulfilments as S. Matthew (Mat 1:22; Mat 2:5; Mat 2:15; Mat 2:17; Mat 2:23, &c.) and S. John (Joh 12:38; Joh 13:18; Joh 19:24; Joh 19:36) love to suggest, but of such as he points out Rom 9:25; Rom 9:33, Gal 3:8; Gal 3:22. Both ἐπαγγελία and ἐπαγγέλλομαι are used in the N.T. in two main senses: (1) the promises of the O.T. which are fulfilled by the Gospel (Act 13:32; Act 26:6; Rom 4:13-20; Rom 9:4, &c.); (2) the promises made by Christ (Gal 3:14; Eph 1:13). Ἐπαγγελία is one of the words which links the disputed passage, 2Co 6:14 to 2Co 7:1, to the rest of the letter.

διὸ καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ τό Ἀμήν. See critical note. Wherefore also through Him is the Amen (R.V.), viz. the Amen in public worship (1Co 14:16; Deu 27:15 ff.; Neh 5:13; Neh 8:6; Psa 41:13). By uttering the Amen in the public services the Corinthians had given their assent to this preaching of Christ. It was through His (or God’s) fulfilment of the promises that their Amen came to be uttered. Or perhaps better, the Ναί refers to Christ’s promise, the Ἀμήν to the response of the disciple: comp. Rev 22:20. The other reading seems to make ‘the Amen’ a mere repetition of ‘the yea,’ like ‘Abba, Father.’

τῷ θεῷ πρὸς δόξαν διʼ ἡμῶν. To the glory of God through us, His instruments, as in 2Co 1:19. The emphasis is on τῷ θεῷ. The sequence runs thus: God made promises; Christ fulfilled them all; the Apostles preached Him as the fulfilment; the Corinthians said Amen to this; God was glorified (2Co 8:19) through this effectual preaching.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20.] ὅσαι γὰρ … is an independent relative clause, as in ref.,—not the subject answering to ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ ναί as a predicate, as E. V.:—For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea (the affirmation and fulfilment of them all); wherefore also through Him is the Amen, for glory to God by our (the Apostles’) means. This reading, which has the stronger external authority, may have arisen from an idea that the clause had reference to the Amen uttered at the end of prayers. So Theodoret, οὗ δὴ χάριν καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ τὸν τῆς εὐχαριστίας αὐτῷ προσφέρομεν ὕμνον, from which comment De Wette thinks the reading has sprung. The apparent objection to it is, that then ἡμῶν must mean ἡμῶν καὶ ὑμῶν, which without notice it perhaps could hardly do. In the next verse, when such is about to be its meaning, we have first ἡμᾶς σὺν ὑμῖν, and then in ver. 22, ἡμᾶς … ἡμῶν in the general sense: but here, without any such preparatory notice, διʼ ἡμῶν must signify ‘by means of us Apostles,’ ‘by our work in the Lord.’ Thus ἀμήν will be merely a strengthening of ναί—the affirmation and completion of God’s promises.

21,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. ὅσαι γὰρ ἐπαγγελίαι Θεοῦ. This is an independent clause, ‘For how many soever are the promises of God’; it is not (as AV) the subject, of which the next clause is the predicate, which obscures the meaning. With ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ Ναί we may understand γίνεται from v. 19: ‘For of all the promises of God, however many they may be, in Him is found the fulfilment’: ἐν αὐτῷ again means ‘in Christ,’ who sums up the historical development of Divine revelation. By ‘the promises’ are meant those which were made to the Jews, and through them to mankind, with reference to the coming of the Messiah (Rom 9:4, Rom 9:15:8; Gal 3:14). The word is frequent in N.T., but is hardly ever used of anything else but Divine promises, for which it is the constant expression. It implies that what is promised by God is freely offered, it is not an engagement extracted by negotiation. See Lightfoot on Gal 3:14. The word is rare in LXX, and there it has no such special meaning. In Eph 1:13, Eph 3:6, the Gentiles are said to share in the promise through Christ. What is said here is that to all God’s promises Christ is the never-failing Yes, the Yes that assures, confirms, and fulfils.

διὸ καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ Ἀμήν. ‘Wherefore also through Him is the Amen.’ This doubtless refers to the Amen in public worship (Deu 27:15 f.; Neh 5:13, Neh 5:8:6; Ps. 41:14) which the Church had taken over from the Synagogue: see on 1Co 14:16. This does not imply that ‘Amen through our Lord Jesus Christ’ was already the usual formula for closing each prayer in public worship. About the response of ‘Amen’ by the congregation there is ample evidence, and in this way the Corinthian converts had again and again given their adhesion to the teaching of St Paul and his colleagues. Their saying, ‘Jesus is Lord’ (1Co 12:3), was of a similar character. The article, τὸ Ἀμήν, means ‘the customary Amen,’ and ἐστίν, or possibly γίνεται, is to be understood. Calvin erroneously makes the clause a wish; quare et per ipsum sit Amen Deo ad gloriam per nos. The reading, και ἐν αὐτῷ, followed in AV, makes the Ἀμήν a repetition of the Ναί, like ‘Abba, Father,’ which is weak. The clause is not a mere amplification of the first part of the verse, but a deduction from it. The fact that in Rev 3:14 Christ is called ὁ Ἀμήν, ὁ Μάρτυς ὁ πιστός, probably helped to cause the corruption of the text.

τῷ Θεῷ πρὸς δόξαν διʼ ἡμῶν. These words belong to τὸ Ἀμήν exclusively, to the saying of Amen by the Corinthians in public worship, not to the first half of the verse; and τῷ Θεῷ is placed first with emphasis. It is to God, for His glory, that this assent by the congregation is given. In 1Co 10:31 we have εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ. For the history of the word δόξα, see Milligan on 1Th 2:12 ; Parry, St James, pp. 36 f.; Hastings, DCG. 1. pp. 648 f. The διʼ ἡμῶν repeats the διʼ ἡμῶν of v. 19 : ‘all this comes to pass nostro ministerio, through our preaching of Christ to you.’ It is the Corinthians who are inconsistent if, in the face of their own public asseveration, they tax their teachers with inconsistency. Others understand διʼ ἡμῶν as meaning that the ‘Amen’ is said by the Apostle and his colleagues as the spokesmen of the congregation; which weakens the argument. Still farther from the Apostle’s meaning is the corrupt reading which omits διʼ and makes ἡμῶν the genitive after πρὸς δόξαν, ‘to our glory.’ There is no καύχησις ἡμῶν (v. 12) here: he is answering the charge of levity. People who cause glory to be given to God for His faithfulness are not likely to be unfaithful.

διὸ καὶ δἰ αὐτοῦ (א A B C F G O P 17, 37, Latt. Copt. Goth. Arm.) rather than καὶ δἰ αὐτοῦ (D* d e Ambrst.) or καὶ ἐν αὐτῶ (D2 and 3 E K L, Chrys. Thdrt.). πρὸς δόξαν διʼ ἡμῶν (א A B D E F G K P) rather than πρὸς δόξαν ἡμῶν (C L O, ad gloriam nostram f Vulg.). The addition of dicimus after ad gloriam nostram in some Latin writers is a gloss without authority in any Greek text.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All [οσαι] . Wrong. As many as.

Are yea, etc. Making this the predicate of promises, which is wrong. The meaning is that how many soever are God 's promises, in Christ is the incarnate answer, "yea!" to the question, "Will they be fulfilled?" Hence Rev., correctly : How many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea.

And in Him Amen [και εν αυτω το αμην] . The correct reading is : dio kai dij aujtou to ajmhn Wherefore also through Him is the Amen. In giving this answer in His person and life, Christ puts the emphatic confirmation upon God 's promises, even as in the congregation the people say Amen, verily. In Him is in His person : through Him, by His agency. By us [δι ημων] . Through our ministration. Christ, in and through whom are the yea and the amen, is so proclaimed by us as to beget assurance of God 's promises, and so to glorify Him.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.