Acts 26:18

Act_26:18

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light.

The effects of the gospel

I. The opening of the eyes to let in the truth. The gospel shows us our dark, lost, and needy state, and the willingness and ample means of God to deliver us.

II. The new bias of the soul, as a consequence.

1. A turning away the mind from darkness and sin. Men love darkness rather than light in their natural state.

2. An opposite yearning towards God.

III. The grand object of that new bias is that the soul may receive additional blessings.

1. The forgiveness of sins--the crisis of the whole matter.

2. The gift of the inheritance. (E. Craig, M. A.)

Vital ministry

Should anyone ask, What does Christianity want to do in the world? point the inquirer to this verse--

I. To open their eyes.

1. Any religion that proposes to open our eyes is presumptively a true religion. Superstition says, Keep your eyes closed. Christianity, then, does not want to shut me up in some prison, priest-locked, roofed in with superstition, wound round with darkness.

2. There are no blind Christians. The Christian is a wide-awake man--all reason, all life. Christianity is rationalism because it opens the eyes.

3. Do not, however, suppose you understand it in a moment. This is a daily process in our education--namely, seeing things more clearly, noting their relations, proportions, and final issues.

4. There is no mission so sublime! It is almost like creating a man to give him sight. The greatest gift of man to man is the gift of idea, thought, new vision. To open the eyes is to give wealth. The poet cannot give me the acres of my lord, but he can give me the landscape that belongs to the poorest of the children of men.

II. To turn them from darkness to light. That is upon the same line of thinking? Not to open their eyes to see the darkness as seven fold greater than they dreamed it to be. Yet men will follow any demagogue who will delude and befool them, and turn their back upon the man who wants to lead them out of darkness into light. What a turning is this! Who can measure the distance from darkness to light? These are terms that transcend arithmetic.

III. There is another turning--namely, From the power of satan unto God. Christianity is the upward movement of the world. Nearer God! is the watch cry. We know what is meant by the power of Satan--the power that victimises us, that gives us promises which end ever in disappointments; the power that unmans us, breaks upon our self-control, mocks our prayers, and points us to the grave as the sad end.

IV. So far this is in some sense negative. Now we come to what may be termed a blessing more positive: That they may receive forgiveness of sins. No man ever invented that! Man has invented forgetfulness of sins; but Christianity will not administer narcotic to me; it will fight the battle right out, and the end shall be forgiveness. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Conclusion: Is it worth our while trying to open mens eyes, etc. In this faith I would serve and count all other programmes mean as lies. Then will come the inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me--new character, new brotherhood, new riches. This is what Christianity wants to do; and when this work is done, earth will be heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The commission of the Apostle Paul

I. The purposes of St. Pauls mission. It was--

1. To open their eyes.

(1) The words, like those spoken of Christs mission (Isa_42:7), refer to those spiritually blind, through inattention, unbelief (2Co_4:4), prejudice, superstition, love of the world, fleshly lusts, wicked habits.

(2) Paul opened their eyes--

(a) By means of his miracles, which tended to awaken their attention, and convince them that his mission was from God.

(b) By his discourses, informing their understanding and conscience.

(c) By his unblameable, holy, and useful life, overcoming their prejudices--partly by affecting their hearts, and exciting their sympathies with his sufferings.

2. To turn them from darkness to light. The heathen, even the learned Greeks and Romans, were in a state of great darkness, i.e., ignorance and error, as to spiritual things. By the preaching of the gospel and the influences of the Spirit, men are translated from this darkness. In equal darkness are involved the present heathen, Mahomedans, Jews, Papists, and many Protestants! Now missionaries are sent abroad, and ministers are labouring at home to enlighten them.

3. From the power of Satan unto God. Satan, who is the prince of darkness, the ruler of the darkness of this world (Eph_6:12), obtains his power over mankind through their ignorance. Through ignorance of the true God, they worshipped false gods (Rom_1:21-23); through ignorance of His purity, mercy, truth, and righteousness, they were filthy, cruel, and false. Hence their dreadful corruption of manners (Rom_1:24-32). And why did the Jews crucify the Lord of glory? Because they knew Him not (Act_3:17; 1Co_2:8). Why have so many nations embraced the Mahomedan delusions? From the errors with which their minds were blinded (Rev_9:2-3). Whence the superstitions of popery (1Ti_4:1; 2Th_2:3-9). And whence is it that among almost all descriptions of persons, even among us, the body is preferred to the soul, earth to heaven, the world to God; sin, the greatest evil, to holiness, the greatest good; Belial, the worst master, to Christ, the best! All this is from darkness, and the power of Satan exercised thereby. The gospel, by enlightening men, rescues them from his power, and brings them to the experimental and saving knowledge of God.

4. Hence, being turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, they receive the forgiveness of sins; being delivered from the dominion of them, they are exempted from their penalty. They do not merit this as a reward or debt, but they receive it as the effect of Divine mercy and grace (Tit_3:4-5); obtained through Christs sacrifice and intercession (Rom_5:9-10); received by faith in Christ (Joh_3:14-18; Gal_2:16), and sealed on the heart and conscience by the Holy Spirit (Eph_1:13).

5. And an inheritance among them which are sanctified. Sanctification is an internal change wrought by the Holy Ghost (1Pe_1:2; 2Th_2:13), by means of the Word (Joh_17:17), and faith in Jesus (see the text and Act_15:9). This implies a deliverance from sin, and from the world, a dedication to God in heart and life, in soul and body, in our faculties and members, our all being employed for Him; a conformity to Him, a participation of the Divine nature (2Pe_1:4); and hence walking with God (Gen_5:24), and communion with Him, living and walking in His Spirit (1Jn_1:3; Gal_5:25). How great is this blessing! They obtain an inheritance among the sanctified here and hereafter. Thus they have a lot among the wisest, best, holiest, the most honourable and blessed of the human race in this world and another; yea, among angels with Christ and God.

II. The infinite importance of His mission. These ends never were, and never will be obtained in any other way, than by the preaching of the gospel. Some few of the heathen had a degree of knowledge and virtue (chap. 10:35; Rom_1:19-20), and might attain some degree of happiness after death, but not the proper Christian salvation as here set forth. Hence the command of Christ, that His gospel should be preached to every creature (Mar_16:15; Mat_28:19; Luk_24:47). Hence this wonderful miracle wrought in the conversion of St. Paul (verse 16; Act_9:15). Hence the great sufferings to which he was exposed (Act_9:16; 1Co_4:9-13; 2Co_4:8-12). Hence, likewise, Christ requires all His disciples, and especially His messengers, to deny themselves, etc. (Mat_16:24; Mat_10:37-39; Luk_14:26). Nay, the Lord Jesus Himself was born and came into the world, and lived and died to bear witness to the truth.

III. Inferences. What, then, shall we think of--

1. Those Christians, so called, who, like the Jews in St. Pauls day, forbid the preaching of the gospel to the heathen (1Th_2:15-16)?

2. Those who are so attached to their worldly wealth that they cannot be induced to sacrifice a little of it to promote the salvation of the heathen? May not one properly use the words of Peter to such characters, and say, Thy money perish with thee!

3. Those pious young men, who have reason to think themselves called to missionary work, but are backward to offer themselves to this service?

4. Those, who, having set their hands to the plough, look back, and give up such a cause after they have undertaken it? (J. Benson.)

The work of man and the gift of God

I. The direct work of the Christian ministry. I send thee to open their eyes. The work is described, and the power is in the sending. If Christ sends, He will also give the power.

1. So then, before Him who looks on it from heaven, humanity lies as it were sleeping. The eye is closed: the eye of the understanding, of the heart, of the soul. Very remarkable is the contrast between this and the tempters promise. Then your eyes shall be opened. He prevailed, and the eyes of them both were opened--they knew that they were naked. That opening was to a consciousness of shame. To everything save wretchedness it was a closing. As Christ looks on from heaven, He sees man blind. He sends Paul to open their eyes. It was the first thing done for Paul himself. Brother Saul, receive thy sight. Look up, the word is, see again! What Saul needed man needs now.

2. The came eye may be opened to some things and closed to others. The very clearness of its vision for some things--say, for near objects--may be a mark of its dulness as to the mere distant. A man may be quick to discern his own rights, interests, pleasures, in the life that is; and yet utterly mistaken, or indifferent, as to his highest interest, happiness, duty, as a being born for immortality. Oh, how dull oftentimes is the man of business, politics, literature, or philosophy, when the thing presented to him is the work of Christ or the hope of heaven! He, too, needs to have his eyes opened.

3. And this is the office, we here read, of the Christian ministry. As Christs witness, if he cannot say, as St. Paul could say, Listen tome, for I have seen Jesus Christ; at least he should be able to say, Listen to me; for I know Jesus Christ; I have heard His voice, I have talked with Him in my soul, and He by His Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death. It is here that we fail. We bring a hearsay message, but we have not felt it ourselves, and therefore we have no evidence to bring of facts known, of things seen. Alas! it is too much with us, as it was with the prophets of old, who prophesied out of their own hearts, followed their own spirit, and had seen nothing.

4. In a true sense, all of us have at least seen the light. Light, the true light, is come into the world, but some love darkness rather than light, etc.

II. That work has a further object; in which not the minister, but the hearer, must be the agent.

1. That they may turn. Turning, or conversion, follows upon the opening of the eyes. The communication of light, by the faithful preaching of the gospel, is the work of another; but this turning is (under God) a mans own work. A minister may enlighten, but he cannot convert. That is (under God) an act of the will, of the individual will, consequent upon conviction. I see that this is true. Now therefore, seeing the light, I must turn to it. Therefore I awake and arise, and Christ shall give me light. I will walk in this light which He has brought to me. I will accept this two-fold blessedness which He offers me, of a forgiven past and a cleansed future. That is conversion. Oh, how unlike the dreams of many; who have mistaken the opening of the eyes for the turning to the light; more often a startled, feverish, fleeting feeling, for a deliberate self-surrender to a forgiving Saviour and a holy God!

2. But we must not exaggerate mans power, or forget the difficulty of that change. Satan has great authority. Let a man honestly turn from darkness to light, and then, if never before, he will become conscious of the strong grip of evil. Habits of life, habits of mind, habits of feeling, are not changed in a day. Let him turn, then, not only from the darkness to the light, but also from the authority of Satan unto God. There is a Stronger than the strong man armed.

III. The ultimate object of the work is that men may turn to God so that they may receive--

1. Forgiveness of sins. I know how lightly sin can sit upon the conscience of a transgressor. He has only to keep out of the light, and he may travel smoothly enough along a considerable stage of lifes journey. But let the light penetrate, let conviction come, and then see whether it is an easy thing to bear, or an easy thing to escape, that sense of sin! If it he true, as men say, that nature has no forgiveness; that the body and the life of man must still and forever be found out by iniquities long past, long repented of or forgotten; how much more does this magnify the unspeakable gift of God. He who heartily turns receives at once forgiveness, yea (for it is the very meaning of forgiveness) dismissal, of sins. Where, save in Christ, will you find this?

2. Dismissal of the past: and now an inheritance. Properly, a lot; and so an allotment; a portion falling to one by lot. It may remind us of those chapters of the Book of Joshua, in which we read of the assignment by lot to the tribes of Israel of their inheritance in the land of Canaan. And so in the Psalms, The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground: yea, I have a goodly heritage. The inheritance itself waits to be bestowed: but there is an earnest and a foretaste of it now.

3. Who are the sanctified? The consecrated; those whom God has taken to be His own; free from the contaminations of sin, and from the profanenesses of the world. This is not an attainment of man, but a gift of God. The word denotes not those who have made themselves holy, but those whom God has set apart for Himself by anointing them, as His kings and priests, with the Holy Ghost. We all have received the sign and pledge of this in baptism: which of us has the reality of it?

4. By faith that is in Me. He who speaks from heaven, still, even as when He spake on earth, makes faith everything. (Dean Vaughan.)

Divine forgiveness

In the State House at Albany is an old worn letter, an autograph pardon granted by President Lincoln. Its story is a short one. In the time of war a soldier was arrested, charged with desertion, and, though stoutly protesting his innocence, he was promptly tried, condemned, and sentenced to a deserters death. With emphatic remonstrance, he bravely prepared to meet his doom. The facts were laid before the merciful President, who was so affected by them that he was convinced that injustice had been done, and, taking his pen, wrote an autograph pardon for Boswell McIntyre of Co. C, 6th Regiment, New York Volunteers, on condition that he return to and remain with his regiment until it was mustered out of the service. We can better imagine than describe the joy of this man, as the pardon reached him just as he was preparing to die. In the busy activities of army life in Virginia, this incident was apparently forgotten. After the last battle of the war had been fought--the engagement that forced Lee ultimately to surrender--the battle of Five Forks, when the field was being cleared of the dead and wounded, the bullet-riddled body of Boswell McIntyre was found with that autograph pardon of the great president next his heart. Do we who have accepted the atonement of Christ wear His Divine pardon next the heart?

Faith that is in me.

Faith in Christ

1. It is commonly said that what are called the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity are rather found in the Epistles than in the Gospels, and the reason is that Christ came not to speak the gospel, but to be the Gospel. Yet if anybody asks us where did Paul get the doctrines which he preached, the answer is, Here, on the road to Damascus, when he saw his Lord, and heard Him speak. These words spoken then are the germ of all Pauls Epistles. Mans ruin, mans depravity, the state of darkness, the power of Satan, the sole redemptive work of Christ, justification by belief in that, sanctification coming with justification; and glory, and rest, and heaven at last--there they all are in the very first words that sounded upon the quickened ear of the blinded man when he turned from darkness to light.

2. To the one part of this comprehensive summary I turn. The word faith is so often on our lips that it has come to be almost meaningless in many minds. These keywords of Scripture meet the same fate as do coins that have been long in circulation. They pass through so many fingers that the inscriptions get worn off them.

I. The object of faith is Christ.

1. Christianity is not merely a system of truths about God, nor a code of morality deducible from these, but the affiance and the confidence of the whole spirit fixed upon the redeeming, revealing Christ. True, the object of our faith is Christ as made known to us in the facts of His recorded life and the teaching of His apostles. Apart from them the image of Christ must stand a pale colourless phantom before the mind, and the faith which is directed towards such a nebula will be as impotent as the shadow towards which it turns. Thus far, then, the attempt which is made to establish a Christianity without doctrines on the plea that the object of faith is not a proposition, but a person, must be regarded as nugatory; for how can the person be an object of thought at all, but through the despised propositions? But notwithstanding this, it is He, and not the statements about Him, who is the object of faith.

2. Look at His own words. He does not merely say, Believe this, that, and the other thing about Me; but believe in Me! He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and He that believeth in Me shall never thirst. I think that if people rightly grasped this truth, it would clear away rolling wreaths of fog and mist from their perceptions of the gospel--that Christ is it, and that the object of faith is not simply the truths that are recorded here in the Word, but He with regard to whom these truths are recorded. The whole feeling and attitude of a mans mind is different, according as he is trusting a person, or according as he is believing something about a person.

3. What a strong inference with regard to the Divinity of Christ is deducible from this! In the Old Testament you find constantly, Trust ye in the Lord forever; Put thy trust in Jehovah! Religion has always been the same in every dispensation. It has always been true that it has been faith which has bound man to God, and given man hope. But when we come to the New Testament, the centre is shifted. With calm, simple, profound dignity, Christ lays His hand upon all the ancient and consecrated words, and says, They are Mine--give them to Me! That ancient trust, I claim the right to have it. That old obedience, it belongs to Me. I am He to whom in all time the loving hearts of them that loved God have set. I am the Angel of the Covenant, in whom whoever trusteth shall never be confounded! And I ask you just to take that one simple fact, that Christ steps into the place filled by Jehovah; and ask yourselves honestly what theory about Christs nature and person and work explains that fact, and saves Him from the charge of folly and blasphemy? The object of faith is. Christ; and as object of faith He must needs be Divine.

II. The nature and the essence of the act of faith itself.

1. If the object of faith were certain truths, the assent of the understanding would be enough; if unseen things, the confident persuasion of them would be sufficient; if promises of future good, the hope rising to certainty of the possession of these would be sufficient; but if the object be a living person, then it follows that faith is the personal relation of him that believes to the living Person its object, viz., trust.

2. By laying hold of that simple principle, we get light upon the grandest truths of the gospel. It is the very same kind of feeling, though different in degree, and glorified, as that which we all know how to put forth in our relations with one other. When the child looks up into the mothers face, the symbol to it of all protection; or into the fathers eye, the symbol to it of all authority, that emotion by which the little one hangs upon the loving hand and trusts the loving heart is the same as the one which, glorified and made Divine, rises strong and immortal in its power, when fixed and fastened on Christ, and saves the soul. The gospel rest upon a mystery, but the practical part of it is no mystery.

3. And if this be the very heart and kernel of the Christian doctrine of faith, all the subsidiary meanings and uses of the Word flow out of that, whilst it cannot be explained by any of them. People are in the habit of setting up antitheses betwixt faith and reason, faith and sight, faith and possession. But the root from which springs the power of faith as the opposite of sight, as the telescope of reason, as the confidence of things not possessed, is the deeper thing--faith in the Person, which leads us to believe Him whether He promises, reveals, or commands, and to take His words as verity because He is the Truth.

4. And then, again, if this personal trust in Christ be faith, then there come also, closely connected with it, certain other feelings in the heart. For instance, if I am trusting to Christ, there is inseparably linked with it self-distrust, and it will obviously have for its certain and immediate consequence, love.

III. The power of faith. If a man believes, he is saved. Why so? Not as some people sometimes seem to fancy--not as if in faith itself there was any merit. What is that but the whole doctrine of works in a new form? When we say we are saved by faith, we mean, accurately, through faith. Faith is simply the channel through which there flows over into my emptiness the Divine fulness, or the hand which is held up to receive the benefit which Christ lays in it.

IV. The guilt and criminality of unbelief. People are sometimes disposed to fancy that God has arbitrarily selected this as the means of salvation, but the principles that I have been trying to work out help us to see that it is not so. There is no other way of effecting it. God could not do it in any other way than that, the fulness being provided, the condition of receiving it should be trust in His Son. And next they show where the guilt of unbelief lies. Faith is not first and principally an act of the understanding; it is not the mere assent to certain truths. It is the will, the heart, the whole moral being, that is concerned. Why does a man not trust Jesus Christ? Because he will not; because he has confidence in himself; because he has not a sense of his own sins; because he has not love in his heart to his Lord and Saviour. Unbelief men are responsible for. Unbelief is criminal, because it is a moral act. And therefore Christ, who says, Sanctified by faith that is in Me, says likewise, He that believeth not, shall be condemned. (A Maclaren, D. D.)

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

Acts

FAITH IN CHRIST

Act 26:18.

It is commonly said, and so far as the fact is concerned, said truly, that what are called the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity are rather found in the Epistles than in the Gospels. If we wish the clearest statements of the nature and person of Christ, we turn to Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians. If we wish the fullest dissertation upon Christ’s work as a sacrifice, we go to the Epistle to the Hebrews. If we seek to prove that men are justified by faith, and not by works, it is to the Epistles to Romans and Galatians that we betake ourselves,-to the writings of the servant rather than the words of the Master. Now this fuller development of Christian doctrine contained in the teaching of the Apostles cannot be denied, and need not be wondered at. The reasons for it I am not going to enter upon at present; they are not far to seek. Christ came not to speak the Gospel, but to be the Gospel. But then, this truth of a fuller development is often over-strained, as if Christ ‘spake nothing concerning priesthood,’ sacrifices, faith. He did so speak when on earth. It is often misused by being made the foundation of an inference unfavourable to the authority of the Apostolic teaching, when we are told, as we sometimes are, that not Paul but Jesus speaks the words which we are to receive.

Here we have Christ Himself speaking from the heavens to Paul at the very beginning of the Apostle’s course, and if any one asks us where did Paul get the doctrines which he preached, the answer is, Here, on the road to Damascus, when blind, bleeding, stunned, with all his self-confidence driven out of him-with all that he had been crushed into shivers-he saw his Lord, and heard Him speak. These words spoken then are the germ of all Paul’s Epistles, the keynote to which all his writings are but the melody that follows, the mighty voice of which all his teaching is but the prolonged echo. ‘Delivering thee,’ says Christ to him, ‘from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Me.’ Now, I ask you, what of Paul’s Gospel is not here? Man’s ruin, man’s depravity and state of darkness, the power of Satan, the sole redemptive work of Christ, justification by belief in that, sanctification coming with justification, and glory and rest and heaven at last-there they all are in the very first words that sounded upon the quickened ear of the blinded man when he turned from darkness to light.

It would be foolish, of course, to try to exhaust such a passage as this in a sermon. But notice, what a complete summary of Christian truth there lies in that one last clause of the verse, ‘Inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.’ Translate that into distinct propositions, and they are these: Faith refers to Christ; that is the first thing. Holiness depends on faith; that is the next: ‘sanctified by faith.’ Heaven depends on holiness: that is the last: ‘inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.’ So there we have the whole gospel!

To the one part of this comprehensive summary which is contained in my text I desire to turn now, in hope of gathering from it some truths as to that familiar word ‘faith’ which may be of use to us all. The expression is so often on our lips that it has come to be almost meaningless in many minds. These keywords of Scripture meet the same fate as do coins that have been long in circulation. They pass through so many fingers that the inscriptions get worn off them. We can all talk about faith and forgiveness and justifying and sanctifying, but how few of us have definite notions as to what these words that come so easily from our lips mean! There is a vast deal of cloudy haze in the minds of average church and chapel goers as to what this wonder-working faith may really be. Perhaps we may then be able to see large and needful truths gleaming in these weighty syllables which Christ Jesus spoke from heaven to Paul, ‘faith that is in Me.’

I. In the first place, then, the object of faith is Christ.

‘Faith that is in Me’ is that which is directed towards Christ as its object. Christianity is not merely a system of truths about God, nor a code of morality deducible from these. In its character of a revelation, it is the revelation of God in the person of His Son. Christianity in the soul is not the belief of these truths about God, still less the acceptance and practice of these pure ethics, but the affiance and the confidence of the whole spirit fixed upon the redeeming, revealing Christ,

True, the object of our faith is Christ as made known to us in the facts of His recorded life and the teaching of His Apostles. True, our only means of knowing Him as of any other person whom we have never seen, are the descriptions of Him, His character and work, which are given. True, the empty name ‘Christ’ has to be filled with the doctrinal and biographical statements of Scripture before the Person on whom faith is to fix can be apprehended or beheld. True, it is Christ as He is made known to us in the word of God, the Incarnate Son, the perfect Man, the atoning Sacrifice, the risen Lord, the ascended Intercessor in whom we have to trust. The characteristics and attributes of Christ are known to us only by biographical statements and by doctrinal propositions. These must be understood in some measure and accepted, ere there can be faith in Him. Apart from them, the image of Christ must stand a pale, colourless phantom before the mind, and the faith which is directed towards such a nebula will be an unintelligent emotion, as nebulous and impotent as the vagueness towards which it turns.

Thus far, then, the attempt which is sometimes made to establish a Christianity without doctrines on the plea that the object of faith is not a proposition, but a person, must be regarded as nugatory; for how can the ‘person’ be an object of thought at all, but through the despised ‘propositions’?

But while on the one hand it is true that Christ as revealed in these doctrinal statements of Scripture, the divine human Saviour, is the Object of faith, on the other hand it is to be remembered that it is He, and not the statements about Him, who is the Object.

Look at His own words. He does not merely say to us, ‘Believe this, that, and the other thing about Me; put your credence in this and the other doctrine; accept this and the other promise; hope for this and the other future thing.’ All these come with but are not the central act. He says, ‘Believe: believe in Me! “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life”: He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.’ Do we rightly appreciate that? I think that if people firmly grasped this truth- that Christ is the Gospel, and that the Object of faith is not simply the truths that are recorded here in the word, but He with regard to whom these truths are recorded-it would clear away rolling wreaths of fog and mist from their perceptions. The whole feeling and attitude of a man’s mind is different, according as he is trusting a person, or according as he is believing something about a person. And this, therefore, is the first broad truth that lies here. Faith has reference not merely to a doctrine, not to a system; but deeper than all these, to a living Lord-’faith that is in Me.’

I cannot help observing, before I go on-though it may be somewhat of a digression-what a strong inference with regard to the divinity of Christ is deducible from this first thought that He is the Object to whom faith has reference. If you look into the Old Testament, you will find constantly, ‘Trust ye in the Lord for ever’; ‘Put thy trust in Jehovah!’ There, too, though under the form of the Law, there, too, faith was the seed and germ of all religion. There, too, though under the hard husk of apparently external obedience and ceremonial sacrifices, the just lived by faith. Its object was the Jehovah of that ancient covenant. Religion has always been the same in every dispensation. At every time, that which made a man a devout man has been identically the same thing. It has always been true that it has been faith which has bound man to God, and given man hope. But when we come to the New Testament, the centre is shifted, as it would seem. What has become of the grand old words, ‘Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah’? Look! Christ stands there, and says, ‘Believe upon Me’! With calm, simple, profound dignity, He lays His hand upon all the ancient and consecrated words, upon all the ancient and hallowed emotions that used to set towards the unseen God between the cherubim, throned above judgment and resting upon mercy; and He says, ‘They are Mine-give them to Me! That ancient trust, I claim the right to have it. That old obedience, it belongs to Me. I am He to whom in all time the loving hearts of them that loved God, have set. I am the Angel of the Covenant, in whom whoever trusteth shall never be confounded.’ And I ask you just to take that one simple fact, that Christ thus steps, in the New Testament-in so far as the direction of the religious emotions of faith and love are concerned-that Christ steps into the place filled by the Jehovah of the Old; and ask yourselves honestly what theory of Christ’s nature and person and work explains that fact, and saves Him from the charge of folly and blasphemy? ‘He that believeth upon Me shall never hunger.’ Ah, my brother! He was no mere man who said that. He that spake from out of the cloud to the Apostle on the road to Damascus, and said, ‘Sanctified by faith that is in Me,’ was no mere man. Christ was our brother and a man, but He was the Son of God, the divine Redeemer. The Object of faith is Christ; and as Object of faith He must needs be divine.

II. And now, secondly, closely connected with and springing from this thought as to the true object of faith, arises the consideration as to the nature and the essence of the act of faith itself.

Whom we are to trust in we have seen: what it is to have faith may be very briefly stated. If the Object of faith were certain truths, the assent of the understanding would be enough. If the Object of faith were unseen things, the confident persuasion of them would be sufficient. If the Object of faith were promises of future good, the hope rising to certainty of the possession of these would be sufficient. But if the Object be more than truths, more than unseen realities, more than promises; if the Object be a living Person,-then there follows inevitably this, that faith is not merely the assent of the understanding, that faith is not merely the persuasion of the reality of unseen things, that faith is not merely the confident expectation of future good; but that faith is the personal relation of him who has it to the living Person its Object, -the relation which is expressed not more clearly, perhaps a little more forcibly to us, by substituting another word, and saying, Faith is trust.

And I think that there again, by laying hold of that simple principle, Because Christ is the Object of Faith, therefore Faith must be trust, we get bright and beautiful light upon the grandest truths of the Gospel of God. If we will only take that as our explanation, we have not indeed defined faith by substituting the other word for it, but we have made it a little more clear to our apprehensions, by using a non-theological word with which our daily acts teach us to connect an intelligible meaning. If we will only take that as our explanation, how simple, how grand, how familiar too it sounds,-to trust Him! It is the very same kind of feeling, though different in degree, and glorified by the majesty and glory of its Object, as that which we all know how to put forth in our relations with one another. We trust each other. That is faith. We have confidence in the love that has been around us, breathing benedictions and bringing blessings ever since we were little children. When the child looks up into the mother’s face, the symbol to it of all protection, or into the father’s eye, the symbol to it of all authority,-that emotion by which the little one hangs upon the loving hand and trusts the loving heart that towers above it in order to bend over it and scatter good, is the same as the one which, glorified and made divine, rises strong and immortal in its power, when fixed and fastened on Christ, and saves the soul. The Gospel rests upon a mystery, but the practical part of it is no mystery. When we come and preach to you, ‘Trust in Christ and thou shalt be saved,’ we are not asking you to put into exercise some mysterious power. We are only asking you to give to Him that which you give to others, to transfer the old emotions, the blessed emotions, the exercise of which makes gladness in life here below, to transfer them to Him, and to rest safe in the Lord. Faith is trust. The living Person as its Object rises before us there, in His majesty, in His power, in His gentleness, and He says, ‘I shall be contented if thou wilt give to Me these emotions which thou dost fix now, to thy death and loss, on the creatures of a day.’ Faith is mighty, divine, the gift of God; but Oh! it is the exercise of a familiar habit, only fixed upon a divine and eternal Person.

And if this be the very heart and kernel of the Christian doctrine of faith-that it is simple personal trust in Jesus Christ; it is worthy of notice, how all the subsidiary meanings and uses of the word flow out of that, whilst it cannot be explained by any of them. People are in the habit of setting up antitheses betwixt faith and reason, betwixt faith and sight, betwixt faith and possession. They say, ‘We do not know, we must believe’; they say, ‘We do not see, we must have faith’; they say, ‘We do not possess, we must trust.’ Now faith-the trust in Christ-the simple personal relation of confidence in Him-that lies beneath all these other meanings of the word. For instance, faith is, in one sense, the opposite and antithesis of sight; because Christ, unseen, having gone into the unseen world, the confidence which is directed towards Him must needs pass out beyond the region of sense, and fix upon the immortal verities that are veiled by excess of light at God’s right hand. Faith is the opposite of sight; inasmuch as Christ, having given us assurance of an unseen and everlasting world, we, trusting in Him, believe what He says to us, and are persuaded and know that there are things yonder which we have never seen with the eye nor handled with the hand. Similarly, faith is the completion of reason; because, trusting Christ, we believe what He says, and He has spoken to us truths which we in ourselves are unable to discover, but which, when revealed, we accept on the faith of His truthfulness, and because we rely upon Him. Similarly, faith is contrasted with present possession, because Christ has promised us future blessings and future glories; and having confidence in the Person, we believe what He says, and know that we shall possess them. But the root from which spring the power of faith as the opposite of sight, the power of faith as the telescope of reason, the power of faith as the ‘confidence of things not possessed,’ is the deeper thing-faith in the Person, which leads us to believe Him whether He promises, reveals, or commands, and to take His words as verity because He is ‘the Truth.’

And then, again, if this, the personal trust in Christ as our living Redeemer-if this be faith, then there come also, closely connected with it, certain other emotions or feelings in the heart. For instance, if I am trusting to Christ, there is inseparably linked with it self-distrust. There are two sides to the emotion; where there is reliance upon another, there must needs be non-reliance upon self. Take an illustration. There is the tree: the trunk goes upward from the little seed, rises into the light, gets the sunshine upon it, and has leaves and fruit. That is the upward tendency of faith- trust in Christ. There is the root, down deep, buried, dark, unseen. Both are springing, but springing in apposite directions, from the one seed. That is, as it were, the negative side, the downward tendency-self-distrust. The two things go together-the positive reliance upon another, the negative distrust of myself. There must be deep consciousness not only of my own impotence, but of my own sinfulness. The heart must be emptied that the seed of faith may grow; but the entrance in of faith is itself the means for the emptying of the heart. The two things co-exist; we can divide them in thought. We can wrangle and squabble, as divided sects hare done, about which comes first, the fact being, that though you can part them in thought, you cannot part them in experience, inasmuch as they are but the obverse and the reverse, the two sides of the same coin. Faith and repentance-faith and self-distrust-they are done in one and the same indissoluble act.

And again, faith, as thus conceived of, will obviously have for its certain and immediate consequence, love. Nay, the two emotions will be inseparable and practically co-existent. In thought we can separate them. Logically, faith comes first, and love next, but in life they will spring up together. The question of their order of existence is an often-trod battle-ground of theology, all strewed with the relics of former fights. But in the real history of the growth of religious emotions in the soul, the interval which separates them is impalpable, and in every act of trust, love is present, and fundamental to every emotion of love to Christ is trust in Christ.

But without further reference to such matters, here is the broad principle of our text. Trust in Christ, not mere assent to a principle, personal dependence upon Him revealed as the ‘Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,’ an act of the will as well as of the understanding, and essentially an act of the will and not of the understanding-that is the thing by which a soul is saved. And much of the mist and confusion about saving faith, and non-saving faith, might be lifted and dispersed if we once fully apprehended and firmly held by the divine simplicity of the truth, that faith is trust in Jesus Christ.

III. Once more: from this general definition there follows, in the third place, an explanation of the power of faith.

‘We are justified,’ says the Bible, ‘by faith.’ If a man believes, he is saved. Why so? Not, as some people sometimes seem to fancy, as if in faith itself there was any merit. There is a very strange and subtle resurrection of the whole doctrine of works in reference to this matter; and we often hear belief in the Gospel of Christ spoken about as if it, the work of the man believing, was, in a certain way and to some extent, that which God rewarded by giving him salvation. What is that but the whole doctrine of works come up again in a new form? What difference is there between what a man does with his hands and what a man feels in his heart? If the one merit salvation, or if the other merit salvation, equally we are shut up to this,-Men get heaven by what they do; and it does not matter a bit what they do it with, whether it be body or soul. When we say we are saved by faith, we mean accurately, through faith. It is God that saves. It is Christ’s life, Christ’s blood, Christ’s sacrifice, Christ’s intercession, that saves. Faith is simply the channel through which there flows over into my emptiness the divine fulness; or, to use the good old illustration, it is the hand which is held up to receive the benefit which Christ lays in it. A living trust in Jesus has power unto salvation, only because it is the means by which ‘the power of God unto salvation’ may come into my heart. On one side is the great ocean of Christ’s love, Christ’s abundance, Christ’s merits, Christ’s righteousness; or, rather, there is the great ocean of Christ Himself, which includes them all; and on the other is the empty vessel of my soul-and the little narrow pipe that has nothing to do but to bring across the refreshing water, is the act of faith in Him. There is no merit in the dead lead, no virtue in the mere emotion. It is not faith that saves us; it is Christ that saves us, and saves us through faith.

And now, lastly, these principles likewise help us to understand wherein consists the guilt and criminality of unbelief. People are sometimes disposed to fancy that God has arbitrarily selected this one thing, believing in Jesus Christ, as the means of salvation, and do not distinctly see why and how non-belief is so desperate and criminal a thing. I think that the principles that I have been trying feebly to work out now, help us to see how faith is not arbitrarily selected as the instrument and means of our salvation. There is no other way of effecting it. God could not save us in any other way than that, salvation being provided, the condition of receiving it should be trust in His Son.

And next they show where the guilt of unbelief lies. Faith is not first and principally an act of the understanding; it is not the mere assent to certain truths. I believe, for my part, that men are responsible even for their intellectual processes, and for the beliefs at which they arrive by the working of these; and I think it is a very shallow philosophy that stands up and says-{it is almost exploded now, and perhaps not needful even to mention it}-that men are ‘no more responsible for their belief than they are for the colour of their hair.’ Why, if faith were no more than an intellectual process, it would still be true that they are responsible for it; but the faith that saves a man, and unbelief that ruins a man, are not processes of the understanding alone. It is the will, the heart, the whole moral being, that is concerned. Why does any one not trust Jesus Christ? For one reason only: because he will not. Why has any one not faith in the Lamb of God? Because his whole nature is turning away from that divine and loving Face, and is setting itself in rebellion against it. Why does any one refuse to believe? Because he has confidence in himself; because he has not a sense of his sins; because he has not love in his heart to his Lord and Saviour. Men are responsible for unbelief. Unbelief is criminal, because it is a moral act-an act of the whole nature. Belief or unbelief is the test of a man’s whole spiritual condition, just because it is the whole being, affections, will, conscience and all, as well as the understanding, which are concerned in it. And therefore Christ, who says, ‘Sanctified by faith that is in Me,’ says likewise, ‘He that believeth not, shall be condemned.’

And now, brethren, take this one conviction into your hearts, that what makes a man a Christian-what saves my soul and yours-what brings the love of Christ into any life, and makes the sacrifice of Christ a power to pardon and purify,-that that is not merely believing this Book, not merely understanding the doctrines that are there, but a far more profound act than that. It is the casting of myself upon Himself, the bending of my willing heart to His loving Spirit; the close contact, heart to heart, soul to soul, will to will, of my emptiness with His fulness, of my sinfulness with His righteousness, of my death with His life: that I may live by Him, be sanctified by Him, be saved by Him, ‘with an everlasting salvation.’ Faith is trust: Christ is the Objeet of faith. Faith is the condition of salvation; and unbelief is your fault, your loss-the crime which ruins men’s souls!

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

Act 26:18. Ἀνοῖξαι, to open) He opens the eyes, who sends Paul; and He opens them by the instrumentality of Paul, who is sent. There is in this passage a noble description of the whole process of conversion. Comp. Isa 42:6-7.—αὐτῶν, their) viz. of Jews and Gentiles.—τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι) There is not added αὐτοὺς, as it is presently added to λαβεῖν· for which reason, as ἀνοῖξαι, so ἐπιστρέψαι, is said of Paul (as the modern Greek Version understands it, as also Beza and others): and τοῦ is explanatory, as in Luk 1:73, τοῦ δοῦναι, where the article indicates that the preceding Infinitive, ποιῆσαι, is explained by this subsequent one, “To perform the mercy—that He would grant unto us;” note.—ἀπὸ σκότους εἰς φῶς, from darkness to light) This clause more belongs to the people (the Jews): that which follows, more to the Gentiles. Comp. Act 26:20, note: εἰς, into light, 1Pe 2:9. Comp. Col 1:12-13; 1Jn 1:7; 1Jn 2:9-10; Rev 21:24. Φῶς here is without the article, as in Act 26:23.—ἐξουσίας, the power) which was very gross among idolaters. Comp. Col 1:13-14, “Redemption through His blood—the forgiveness of sins.”—Σατανᾶ, of Satan) Satan is opposed to GOD, as antichrist is to Christ.—τοῦ) Anaphora [the frequent repetition of the same word at beginnings].—ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν, forgiveness of sins) This belongs expressly to the people: ch. Act 2:38, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” Κλῆρον, lot, inheritance, among them who are sanctified, more applies to the Gentiles.—κλῆρον, inheritance) Comp. again Col 1:12-14.—ἐν τοῖς ἠγιασμένοις, among them which are Sanctified) See ch. Act 20:32, note (This title is applied to believers from among the Gentiles, not however excluding Jewish believers: therefore ἐν, not σὺν, is used).—πίστει, by faith) Construe this with λαβεῖν, that they may receive [not with ἡγιασμένοις, sanctified, as Engl. Vers.]

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

Act 26:18 . ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθ . αὐτῶν , cf. Act 9:8 ; Act 9:40 , and also Mat 9:30 ; so too Isa 35:5 ; Isa 42:7 . Both Jews and Gentiles were blinded ( οὕς above, referring to both), the former because seeing they saw not, Mat 13:13 , Rom 11:8 ; the latter in that knowing God in His creation they glorified Him not as God, and their senseless heart was darkened, Rom 1:21 ; and to both St. Paul proclaimed the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2Co 4:6 , Eph 1:18 . The infinitive of purpose depending on ἀποστέλλω , Burton, p. 157; Viteau, Le Grec du N.T. , p. 169 (1893). ἐπιστρέψαι : “that they may turn,” R.V. (” to turn them,” margin, so A.V.); in St. Luke, who uses the verb more frequently than any other N.T. writer, it is nearly always intransitive, except in Luk 1:16-17 , Moulton and Geden, while Grimm adds Act 26:20 below; so here all E.V [401] before the authorised, cf. Vulgate, “ut convertantur” (Humphry). If we thus take ἐπισ . as intransitive, it is subordinate to the previous infinitive of purpose, ἀνοῖξαι , and τοῦ λαβεῖν again subordinate to ἐπιστ ., expressing the final result aimed at (Page, and see also Wendt’s note, in loco (1899)). ἀπὸ σκότους εἰς φῶς : throughout St. Paul’s Epistles the imagery was frequent with reference not only to Gentiles but also to Jews, cf. Rom 2:19 ; Rom 13:12 , 1Th 5:5 , Eph 5:18 , Col 1:12 . The words gain in interest here if we think of them as corresponding with the Apostle’s own recovering from blindness, spiritual and physical (Plumptre). τοῦ Σατανα , Blass, Gram. , pp. 32, 144; no less than ten times by St. Paul in his Epistles; cf. 2Co 4:4 , Eph 2:2 ; Eph 6:12 (Col 1:13 . ἐξουσία σκότους , Luk 22:53 ). There is no reason to suppose with Bengel that St. Paul is here referring to Gentiles rather than to Jews, for whilst the Jews no doubt would regard the Gentiles as loving σκότος and in the power of Satan, cf. also Luk 13:16 ; Luk 22:31 , Act 5:3 . For current ideas with regard to Satan and the teaching of the N.T. cf. Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah , ii., p. 775; Charles, Book of Enoch , Introd., p. 52, and Assumption of Moses , x., 1, where Satan is apparently represented as the head of the kingdom of evil; cf. in the N.T. Eph 1:21 ; Eph 6:12 , Col 2:15 , for the whole hierarchy of evil spirits at the disposal of Satan, and 2Th 2:9 ; cf. 2Co 11:14 for his supernatural powers of deceiving or preventing men; see especially Sanday and Headlam, Romans , p. 145. τοῦ λαβεῖν : expressing the ultimate object of ἀνοῖξαι (see above, and Weiss, in loco ). ἄφεσιν ἁμαρ ., Act 3:16 , the language here is quite Pauline, cf. Col 1:12-14 , where also deliverance out of the power of darkness and forgiveness of sins in the Son of God’s love are connected as here. τῇ πίστει εἰς ἐμέ : may be connected with λαβεῖν , faith in Christ as the condition of forgiveness placed emphatically at the end; cf. Act 10:43 , A. and R.V. connect the words with ἡγιασμένοις , so Vulgate. κλῆρον ἐν τοῖς ἡγιας ., cf. Act 20:32 , Col 1:12 .

[401] English Version.

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

The end of the Gospel is to save them which are brought to the knowledge of Christ, and are justified and sanctified in him being laid hold on by faith.

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

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light--rather, "that they may turn" (as in Act 26:20), that is, as the effect of their eyes being opened. The whole passage leans upon Isa 61:1 (Luk 4:18).

and from the power of Satan--Note the connection here between being "turned from darkness" and "from the power of Satan," whose whole power over men lies in keeping them in the dark: hence he is called "the ruler of the darkness of this world." See on Co2 4:4.

that they may receive forgiveness . . . and inheritance among the sanctified by faith that is in me--Note: Faith is here made the instrument of salvation at once in its first stage, forgiveness, and its last, admission to the home of the sanctified; and the faith which introduces the soul to all this is emphatically declared by the glorified Redeemer to rest upon Himself--"FAITH, even THAT WHICH IS IN ME." And who that believes this can refrain from casting his crown before Him or resist offering Him supreme worship?

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 18. To open their eyes] To be the instrument of informing their understanding in the things of God.

To turn them from darkness to light] From heathenism and superstition to the knowledge and worship of the true God.

From the power of Satan unto God] Της εξουσιας του Σατανα, From the authority and domination of Satan; for as the kingdom of darkness is his kingdom, so those who live in this darkness are under his dominion; and he has authority and right over them. The blessed Gospel of Christ is the means of bringing the soul from this state of spiritual darkness and wretchedness to the light and liberty of the children of God; and thus they are brought from under the power and authority of Satan, to be under the power and authority of GOD.

That they may receive forgiveness of sins] That all their sins may be pardoned, and their souls sanctified; for nothing less is implied in the phrase, αφεσις ἁμαρτιων, which signifies the taking away or removal of sins.

And inheritance] By remission of sins, i.e. the removal of the guilt and pollution of sin, they become children of God; and, if children, then heirs; for the children of the heavenly family shall alone possess the heavenly estate. And as the inheritance is said to be among them that are SANCTIFIED, this is a farther proof that αφεσις ἁμαρτιων signifies, not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the purification of the heart.

By faith that is in me.] By believing on Christ Jesus, as dying for their offenses, and rising again for their justification. Thus we see that not only this salvation comes through Christ, but that it is to be received by faith; and, consequently, neither by the merit of works, nor by that of suffering.

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

18. That thou mayest open their eyes. Paul, in taking to himself that which is proper to God, doth seem to exalt himself too high. For we know that it is the Holy Ghost alone which doth lighten the eyes. We know that Christ is the only Redeemer which doth deliver us from the tyranny of Satan. We know that it is God alone who, having put away our sins, doth adopt us unto the inheritance of the saints. But this is a common thing, that God doth translate unto his ministers that honor which is due to himself alone, not that he may take any thing from himself, but that he may commend that mighty working of his Spirit which he doth show forth in them. For he doth not send them to work, that they may be dead instruments, or, as it were, stage-players; but that he may work mightily by their hand. But it dependeth upon the secret power of his Spirit that their preaching is effectual, who worketh all things in all men, and which only giveth the increase.

Therefore, teachers are sent, not to utter their words in vain in the air, or to beat the ears only with a vain sound, but to bring lively light to the blind, to fashion again men’s hearts unto the righteousness of God, and to ratify the grace of salvation which is gotten by the death of Christ. But they do none of all these, save only inasmuch as God worketh by them, that their labor may not be in vain, that all the praise may be his, as the effect cometh from him.

And, therefore, we must note, that so often as the Scripture doth extol the external ministry so honorably, we must not separate it from the Spirit, which quickeneth the same even as the soul doth the body. For it teacheth in other places how little man’s industry can do of itself. For they must plant and water, but it is God alone which giveth the increase (1 Corinthians 11:6). But because many are hindered by their own ignorance and malice, that they cannot reap such fruit of the gospel as they ought, we must note this description, which setteth before our eyes briefly and plentifully that incomparable treasure. Therefore, this is the drift of the gospel, that being delivered from blindness of mind, we may be made partakers of the heavenly light; that being delivered from the thraldom of Satan, we may be turned to God; that having free forgiveness of sins, we may be made partakers of the inheritance among the saints. Those which will rightly profit in the gospel must direct all their senses to this end; for what good shall the continual preaching thereof do us, if we know not the true use thereof? Also, the way and means to attain to salvation is described to us, all men boast that they be desirous of salvation, but few consider how God will save them.

Therefore, this place, wherein the means is prettily comprehended, is, as it were, a key to open the gate of heaven. Furthermore, we must know that all mankind is naturally deprived of those good things which Christ saith we have by believing the gospel; so that it followeth that all are blind, because they be lightened by faith; that all are the bond-slaves of Satan, because they are set free by faith from his tyranny; that all men are the enemies of God, and subject to eternal death, because they receive remission of sins by faith. So that nothing is more miserable than we, if we be without Christ, and without his faith, whereby it appeareth how little, yea, that nothing is left for the free will of men’s merits. As touching every part, this lightening is referred unto the knowledge of God, because all our quickness of sight is mere vanity and thick darkness, until he appear unto us by his truth. That reacheth farther which followeth afterward: To be turned from darkness to light; for that is when we are renewed in the spirit of our mind.

Therefore, in my judgment, this member, and that which followeth, express both one thing, to be turned from the power of Satan unto God. For that renewing which Paul declareth more largely in the second chapter to the Ephesians, (Ephesians 2:10, and Ephesians 4:23) is expressed in divers forms of speech. Remission of sins followeth next, whereby God doth freely reconcile us to himself, so that we need not doubt but that God will be favorable and merciful to us. At length, the furnishing and filling of all things is put in the last place; to wit, the inheritance of eternal life. Some do read it falsely in one text, among those who are sanctified by faith, because this word is extended unto the whole period. Therefore, the meaning thereof is, that by faith we come unto the possession of all those good things which are offered by the gospel. And faith is properly directed unto Christ because all the parts of our salvation are included in him. Neither doth the gospel command us to seek the same anywhere else save only in him.

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.

(18) From darkness to light.—The words gain a fresh interest if we think of them as corresponding with the Apostle’s own recovery from blindness. The imagery, though naturally common throughout Scripture, taking its place among the earliest and most widely received of the parables of the spiritual life, was specially characteristic of St. Paul. (Comp. Rom_13:12; 2Co_4:6; Eph_5:8-13; Col_1:12; 1Th_5:5.)

Among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.—Better, have been sanctified; the Greek participle being in the perfect. The word, as always, expresses primarily the idea of a completed consecration rather than of a perfected holiness (Heb_9:13; Heb_10:10; Heb_13:12); but the one thought passes naturally into the other. The last six words may be connected grammatically either with “sanctified” or with “receive.” On internal grounds the latter is, perhaps, the best construction. Faith, i.e., is theoretically connected with “forgiveness of sins,” as well as with the “inheritance,” which implies sanctification.

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

18. to open their eyes, and to turn them] More literally Rev. Ver. “that they may turn”. A sentence full of hope and promise of success. If the eyes of the Gentiles be but opened, then they will turn. In blindness the Jews often said (as Paul found) “We see,” therefore their sin remained.

them which are sanctified by faith that is in me] Better, with Rev. Ver., “by faith in me.” It is by their belief in Jesus that men are sanctified. And here “sanctified,” as so often “saint” in St Paul’s Epistles, is applied to those who have been set on the way of salvation, and not to those who are perfect in holiness. To that they will be brought if they persevere.

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.

To open their eyes,.... The eyes of their understanding, which were shut, and darkened, and blind: one copy reads, "the eyes of the blind"; and the Ethiopic version renders it, "the eyes of their heart"; and to have them opened, is to have them enlightened, to see their lost state and condition by nature, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the plague of their own hearts, the impurity of nature, the impotence of man to that which is spiritually good, the imperfection of obedience, and the insufficiency of a man's righteousness to justify him before God; and to see where help is laid, and where salvation is; to behold Christ as the only able, willing, complete, and suitable Saviour; to see that there is life and righteousness, peace, pardon, grace, and glory in him; and to have an insight into the doctrines of the Gospel, and a glimpse of the invisible things of another world. Now though this is all the work of the Spirit, by whom only the eyes of the understanding are enlightened; yet this is ascribed to the apostle, not as the efficient cause, but as the instrument and means through preaching of the Gospel, which the Spirit of God would, and did make use of:

and to turn them from darkness to light; or "that they might be turned", as the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions render it: by "darkness" is meant, the darkness of nature, the darkness of sin, of ignorance, and unbelief, in which all men by nature are; who are in the dark about, and are ignorant of God, and the perfections of his nature; and about sin, and the evil there is in it, and that comes by it; and the way of peace, righteousness, and salvation by Christ; and the work of the spirit in regeneration and sanctification upon the heart; and about the Scriptures of truth, and the doctrines of the Gospel, and what will be their state and portion in another world; they do not know where they are, what they are, nor where they are going: and in the effectual calling this darkness is in a great measure removed, and they are turned to light; to God, who is light itself, and to Christ, the light of the world, and to the light of the word, and to a participation of the light of grace here, in which they see light, and behold the above things, and of the light of glory hereafter. This is a phrase used by the Jews, at the time of the passover, when they praise the Lord, and give thanks unto him for the wonders he wrought for their fathers and for them, as that he had brought them out of bondage to liberty, and from sorrow to joy, and , "from darkness to a great light" (e). Conversion is the end of the Gospel ministry, and illumination is necessary to it; yea, it lies in a turn from darkness to light, as is here expressed: and this conversion is not a mere external one, or a reformation of manners; this is indeed sometimes called a conversion, and is a man's turning from the evil of his ways, from a vicious life and conversation, to a sober way of living, and is often brought about through the ministry of the word; but then this may be where true conversion is not, and where there is no special illumination of the Spirit, nor any true spiritual light; and there may be a turning again to the former course of life; besides, this external conversion, when it is right and genuine, is the fruit and effect of inward conversion, or true grace, and is at most but the evidence of it: nor is it a conversion to a doctrine in a professional way; men may be converted in this sense, and remain wicked; they may have the form, but not the power of godliness; know the doctrine and profess it, and yet be strangers to the experience of it: nor does it design a restoration after backslidings; which sometimes goes by the name of conversion, such as was Peter's after his fall; but the first work of conversion is here meant, which is internal, and is a turn of the hearts of men; and is not the work of man, but of God, who has the hearts of all in his hands, and can turn them as he pleases; and is what man is passive in, he does not turn himself, but is turned by the Lord; though ministers may be, and are instruments in it. It follows,

and from the power of Satan unto God: this power of Satan regards not his power over the rest of the devils, whose prince and head he is; hence he is called the prince of devils, and the prince of the power of the air; but his power over the world of men, which he has by usurpation, and therefore is called the prince of the world; but not his power over the bodies of men, by possessing them, inflicting diseases, and death itself upon them, nor over their estates; all which is only by permission of God, whenever he exercises it; but over the souls of men, in whom he rules as in his own kingdom: he is the strong man armed, and the hearts of men are his palaces, which are guarded with devils and unclean lusts; when all the goods are kept in peace by him, there is no concern about sin, no inquiry after salvation, no dread of the curses of the law, nor fear of hell and damnation, but all in the utmost security: and he not only dwells in the hearts of unregenerate persons, but he works effectually there; by stirring up their corruptions, putting ill things into their minds, and instigating them against true spiritual and powerful religion, and the professors of it: he has power over the minds of them that believe not, to blind them, by keeping them in blindness, and increasing it; which he does by diverting their minds from hearing the Gospel; and whilst hearing it, by filling them with enmity against it. Moreover, they are led by him as captives at his will; they are in his power, as the bird is in the snare of the fowler, and as a prisoner in the hands of a jailer; and are entirely at his beck and command, and do his lusts, and obey his will: and this also may have a particular respect to the power and authority which he exercised over the Heathens, before the Gospel came among them; Satan usurped a power over the Gentile world, and took upon him to be the god of it; and for many hundred of years was worshipped in their idols; and he held them fast bound unto him in the fetters of ignorance, superstition, and idolatry; but now the Gospel was sent among them to free them from this power and tyranny of his; and it was made effectual to the turning of multitudes of them from him, and subjection to him, which is done in the effectual calling of every person; not that Satan then has no more power over them to tempt and distress them, but not to rule over them, and lead them about at pleasure, and much less to devour and destroy them: and then also are they turned to God, to have true knowledge of him, and an hearty desire after him, which they had not before; and to a love of him, whose hearts before were enmity to him; and to believe in him, and trust in him as the God of providence, and of grace; and to have communion with him; and to be subject to his government, and yield a cheerful obedience to him, both externally and internally.

That they may receive forgiveness of sins: as an act of God's free grace, through the blood of Christ, which was shed for it; and which free and full forgiveness of sins is published in the Gospel, that whoever believes in Christ, may by faith receive it. This is what every enlightened soul sees it needs, and is desirous of; it is the first thing it wants, and asks at the hands of God; and nothing can be more suitable to its case, and welcome to it; and this is the good news which is declared in the ministry of the Gospel: and it is had in a way of receiving; for it is not purchased with money, nor procured by the merits of men; but is a gift of God, which is received by the hand of faith into the conscience of the enlightened sinner; the consequences of which are peace, joy, and comfort.

And inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in one: by the "inheritance" is meant, either something enjoyed now, as God himself, who is the portion of his people, and the lot of their inheritance; or a part and interest in Christ, who is that good part and portion, and which shall never be taken away; and the blessings of grace in him, which, besides forgiveness of sins, are peace with God, a justifying righteousness, and adopting grace: or rather eternal glory and happiness hereafter is here designed, which is called an "inheritance" or "lot", in allusion to the land of Canaan, which was distributed by lot; not that heaven is a casual thing; but it signifies that every Israelite indeed will have their share and portion in it. There are many things which show an agreement between heaven, and the land of Canaan; that was a goodly land, and ready prepared for the Israelites; and so heaven is the better country, and the city and kingdom God has prepared for his people from the foundation of the world: a wilderness was passed through first, and many battles fought before it was possessed; the people of God pass through the wilderness of this world, and fight the good fight of faith, and then enter into rest: the Israelites were introduced into it, not by Moses, but by Joshua; and saints get to heaven, not by the works of the law, but by Christ the Saviour, another Jesus or Joshua: and lastly, Canaan was a place of rest; and so is heaven. Moreover, it may be so called, in allusion to inheritances among men, though it vastly exceeds all earthly ones, being incorruptible, undefiled, which fadeth not away, reserved in the heavens; yet it bears some likeness to them; it is what is bequeathed to the children of God by their heavenly Father, and comes to them through the death of Christ the testator, and is for ever: it is neither purchased nor acquired, but is freely given; belongs only to the children of God, and is their Father's free gift unto them, and is only enjoyed by such who are "sanctified"; and it lies among them, and will be jointly and equally possessed by them. The heirs of salvation are said to be sanctified in different senses; they are sanctified by God the Father in eternal election, being separated from others, and chosen through sanctification to it; and they are sanctified "in" and "by" the Lord Jesus Christ: they are sanctified in him representatively, he being the covenant head of his people, has all grace, and so all holiness in him for them, which is perfect and complete; and this is the source of all that holiness that is in them, and which they have communicated to them by virtue of their union to him; and also they are sanctified "in" him through the imputation of the holiness of his human nature to them, which is a branch of their justification before God; and they are sanctified by him meritoriously, or by his blood, through which their sins are expiated, and fully atoned for; and so in this sense they are sanctified by it: and they are sanctified internally by the Spirit of God, who in regeneration produces principles of grace and holiness in them, which were not there before; man was originally possessed of a perfect moral holiness, but through sin is become an unholy creature; and in the same state and condition are the children of God by nature, as others, and need the sanctifying influences of the divine Spirit to make them meet for the undefiled inheritance: and this inheritance these sanctified ones receive by faith now, as they do the forgiveness of their sins; that is, they now receive by faith the promise of the inheritance, and the earnest and pledge of it, and their right unto it, and claim upon it: for the phrase,

by faith that is in me, is not to be connected with the word "sanctified", but with the word "receive", in the preceding clause; and has respect to both benefits, which it receives from Christ, the object of it here expressed; for it is not any faith, but faith which is in Christ, by which these blessings of grace are received and enjoyed: and the whole of this shows the great ends and usefulness of the Gospel ministry.

(e) Haggada Shel Pesach, p. 23. Maimon. Hilchot Chametz Umetza, c. 8. sect. 5.

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

18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Ver. 18. To open their eyes, &c.] An excellent description of St Paul’s commission to preach, by the five ends or effects of it, viz. conversion, faith, remission of sins, sanctification, salvation.

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.

To open their eyes - To enlighten or instruct them. Ignorance is represented by the eyes being closed, and the instruction of the gospel by the opening of the eyes. See Eph 1:18.

And to turn them from darkness to light - From the darkness of paganism and sin to the light and purity of the gospel. Darkness is an emblem of ignorance and of sin, and the pagan nations are often represented as sitting in darkness. Compare the Mat 4:16 note; Joh 1:4-5 notes.

And from the power of Satan - From the dominion of Satan. Compare Col 1:13; 1Pe 2:9. See the notes on Joh 12:31; Joh 16:11. Satan is thus represented as the prince of this world, the ruler of the darkness of this world, the prince of the power of the air, etc. The pagan world, lying in sin and superstition, is represented as under his control; and this passage teaches, doubtless, that the great mass of the people of this world are the subjects of the kingdom of Satan, and are led captive by him at his will.

Unto God - To the obedience of the one living and true God.

That they may receive forgiveness of sins - Through the merits of that Saviour who died - that thus the partition wall between the Jews and the Gentiles might be broken down, and all might be admitted to the same precious privileges of the favor and mercy of God. Compare the notes on Act 2:38.

And inheritance - An heirship, or lot κλῆρον klēron: that they might be entitled to the privileges and favors of the children of God. See the notes on Act 20:32.

Which are sanctified - Among the saints; the children of God. See the notes on Act 20:32.

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

That they may be converted from the darkness of error to the light of the gospel, and from the power of Satan to the liberty of the children of God.

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).

To open their eyes; the eyes of their minds, that they might know God, and their duty towards him. Our Saviour assures Paul, that he should do that for the souls of men which he should find effected in his own body, being made to see. Now though this be only the work of God, yet, to honour the ministry, he is pleased to attribute it unto his ministers, as being the instruments he ordinarily worketh it by; and who are hence called co-workers with God, 2Co 6:1.

To turn them from darkness to light; this was signified by the glorious light which came from the body of our glorified Redeemer, which appeared unto him.

The power of Satan; so are all sins, for by them Satan rules in the children of disobedience, Eph 2:2.

That they may receive forgiveness of sins; thereby intimating, that their former sins (how grievous soever) should not hinder their salvation, who received the gospel in the love and power of it.

By faith that is in me; by faith which purifieth the heart; but this may be referred, either to our being sanctified, or to our receiving of the inheritance, for both are by faith; and as without faith we are no better, and do no better, so we shall receive no better, than other men.

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

18. To open—The contents of his high office are now unfolded in a rich succession of beautiful clauses. Compare for beauty the prophetic commission of the Messiah himself, Luk_4:18-19.

That they may receive—This that, equivalent to in order that, depends upon open and turn.

Sanctified—Among the saints of Act_26:10. (See note.)

By faith… in me—Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith in Christ is here received from Christ himself. As Christ sets himself forth as Saviour of the world, so the world can be saved only by committing itself in good faith to him. And in the fulness of this faith in Christ is included the very fulness of obedience to Christ in every holy work.

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

That they may turn for and to turn them, A.V. and T.R.; remission for forgiveness, A.V.; an inheritance for in heritance, A.V.; that for which, A.V.; faith in me for faith that is in me, A.V. To open their eyes. (comp. Luk_4:18 and the LXX of Isa_61:1; 2Co_4:4-6, etc.) That they may turn from darkness to light (Col_1:12, Col_1:13; Eph_5:8; 1Pe_2:9, etc.) Remission of sins. (see Act_2:38 Act_3:19 Act_10:43)

The mission of the gospel to the world.

"To open their eyes," etc.

I THE STATE OF THE WORLD WITHOUT CHRIST.

1. Darkness. Intellectual. Moral. No exceptions. The light of the Greek and Roman worlds turned by sin into grosser darkness. Superstition.

2. The rule of evil spirits. The power possessed by false teachers. The dominion of the senses. The reign of fear.

3. The condemnation of Divine righteousness. Impossibility that such ignorance should remain. The visitations of judgment. Awful calamities of the ancient world, the working out of sin.

II THE DISPENSATION OF MERCY.

1. The preparation of light through the ages revealing the Divine purpose.

2. The advent of Jesus Christ and the lifting up of the light into the heavens.

3. The mission of the gospel through its preachers, so different from anything seen in the heathen world. "How shall they hear without a preacher?

4. The fulfillment of the mission from age to age, add its prospects of speedy accomplishment. They are turning to the light, and all the world shall see the salvation. R.

The ascended Savior"s description of his own work among men.

From the suddenly opened window of heaven into the suddenly opened ear of Paul, the ascended Jesus conveys in very brief the description of the work his gospel is to accomplish in the heart and life of the saved. The present description is fivefold. Each various representation of Christ"s work in the world invites our grateful, loving attention. Each such fresh representation throws fresh hues of beauty and of loveliness upon our own appreciation of the work. Jesus says here that he sends Paul to do five things for men, in his Name, by his warrant, through aid of his power.

I TO RESTORE A FACULTY. Whatever things men see, who see not Christ, Divine truth, the deep needs and grand opportunities of their own souls, they see the unimportant instead of the all-important. This is not to have the eye open, but shut.

II TO TURN RESTORED VISION FROM THE DREAD VANITY OF DARKNESS TO ALL THE WEALTH OF LIGHT AND OF WHAT LIGHT CAN SHOW. The power Jesus gives he satisfies. The craving he implants he provides for. The hope he awakens he will not deceive. The eye he opens shall not wander and grope and bemoan darkness, dimness, vague mist, but field after field of higher light and Diviner prospect shall feed its rejoicing sense.

III To RESCUE MEN FROM A FIERCE, LONG, CONFESSED THRALDOM AND STARTLE THEM WITH RENEWED TITLE OF SONS OF GOD, INSTEAD OF SLAVES OF SATAN.

IV To GIVE THEM THE HEALING, COMFORTING, ASSURING PRESENT GIFT OF PARDON OF THE FAST. Of what a fearful load will this at once relieve them! How dreadful the outlook still is made, whatever it might be, if it is haunted by the visions of the past, nay, far more, overtaken by the dead hand of the past, and stricken down in every attempt of its own hand, because of the overwhelming arrears due! That which might be the brightest future is dashed by memories only sometimes, but much more by memories that come barbed with sternest actual pains and with demands that cannot be satisfied.

V TO FIND THEM A PLACE AMONG A PEOPLE TRAINED BY A NEW, A SPECIAL, A HIGHEST KIND OF TRAINING. The place is found beyond a doubt here, as truly as there can be, as there is a "heaven on earth." In its perfection it is to be found, when years upon years have rolled; ever till then, holding out the thought of home, the haven of rest, the heart of perfect peace, the Church of ravishing worship, the unimaginable bliss of heaven, whatever that may be, and of God himself. How vast that contrast! What a change and growth from the first to this fifth stage! Now first our eye needs to be opened, then what will it be when each blessed one may say, "As for me, I behold thy face in righteousness; I am satisfied, awake, with thy likeness? B.

Ver. 18 (end)Christ"s own stress laid on faith in a personal object.

an inheritance among them that are sanctified," etc. The utterances of the ascended Savior to the man who was to be in a double sense the great first apostle of his religion to all the world cannot but be regarded by us as invested with the very fullest interest. The philosophy of religion is simple with Jesus; and he throws into clear prominence certain things, which may surely mark for us the prominence we should give them. Notice

I THE MANIFEST STRESS LAID ON FAITH IN THE PERSON CHRIST. "Faith, that which centers in me." So we may justly expound the words of Christ. Jesus speaks thus emphatically to protect against mysticism, defeat, deviation.

1. Faith in a living person can mean nothing short of general trust in him (unless particular qualification be expressed, e.g. faith in a person as a financier, etc.) and great trust in him, unless some qualification of measure be expressly stated, as is never done to Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ will include, therefore,

(1) trust in his teaching;

(2) trust in his example;

(3) trust in his loving, sympathetic guidance;

(4) trust in all that he says, in all that in his providence he does;

(5) trust in the worthiness of his service; as well as

(6) trust on the part of the soul"s deepest demands for him, in his last "power to save.

1. The service or office of faith is here suggested. It is not remarked on here in its elevating influence on the individual character, and in its present points of superiority over sight for such a nature as ours. But it is instanced in its function as the link of connection, real, vital connection, between Christ and any man. It has, in itself, elevating as are the conception and the gradual training inherent in it, no sufficient, no sovereign, certainly no saving, efficacy. It is nothing that is to be depended upon, of and in itself. But it leads to One, unites to One, keeps an open communication with One, and clings mightily to the end unto One, who is to be depended on, with all the heart, and mind, and strength, and soul.

2. The great calm, peace, divinest content and foretaste of heaven"s own happiness that are commanded by real trust should always be credited to faith in Christ. If these fail and when they fail, it is not that faith fails of its office, or that Christ fails of his goodness, but that men sever this golden link awhile, or let this golden conduit pitifully leak awhile.

II THE PLACE GIVEN TO FAITH IN THE PERSONAL CHRIST IN RELATION TO SANCTIFICATION. It appears from this pronouncement of Jesus that "faith that is in him" is responsible for our sanctification. There is no limitation to the statement that sanctification depends on faith in Jesus.

1. It rises out of that faith or trust already spoken of. Without the real and living connection with Christ, there would be no entrance possible to the knowledge and the privileges which come with him.

2. It is fed the whole way along by the truth, the example, the guidance, the sympathizing love, of Jesus.

3. It avails to take away that surest foe of all to sanctification, trust in self, at one stroke, but a stroke that must be felt life"s length.

4. Up to the very last, it is that simplest, purest, most depending trust of the soul on Jesus when it faces "the valley," and "the river," and "the shadow," and "the unknown," which completes, so far as we can trace it at all, the sanctification of man. If at that last moment the bond of faith should break, alas! all would break. But in that last moment, what reason we have to think that there is One who makes its strength equal to all the strain which by any possibility could be put upon it!

III THE PLACE BELONGING TO FAITH IN THE PERSONAL CHRIST AS THE WAY TO "THE INHERITANCE." "The inheritance," it distinctly appears, is that of a prepared place for a prepared people. The preparation is one; it is that of sanctification attained by faith only. The way to "the inheritance," therefore, cannot be found, except by the paths of faith, the "faith that is in Christ." And the review of the whole would teach us that it were well-nigh impossible to summarize more forcibly and briefly in one the offices of "faith that is in Christ." His own is the emphasis here given to it. And he shows that it runs like a golden cord through the whole work of redemption. B.

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

To open - He opens them, who sends Paul; and he does it by Paul who is sent; their eyes - Both of the Jews and Gentiles: that they may turn - Through the power of the Almighty, from the spiritual darkness wherein they were involved, to the light of Divine knowledge and holiness, and from the power of Satan, who now holds them in sin, guilt, and misery, to the love and happy service of God: that they may receive through faith - (He seems to place the same blessings in a fuller light,) pardon, holiness, and glory.

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

sins

Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. “To open their eyes.” The devil knocked the eyes out of humanity in the Fall. Hence all alike, good and bad, walk in the devil’s rayless midnight till the resurrection power gives sight to the blind to open their eyes. “To turn them from darkness into light.” We are not only in blackest darkness, but we ourselves are darkness throughout so long as we remain in the black regions of Satan’s rayless kingdom. Regeneration takes us out of darkness into the light of God’s kingdom. Then sanctification takes all the darkness out of us, so filling us with light as to make us light itself throughout, having no darkness. “From the dominion of Satan to God.” Regardless of all our moral goodness and church loyalty, we are in the devil’s merciless grip till the Omnipotent Jesus delivers us. “That they may receive remission of sins.” This is our first great deliverance. When the light comes, conviction interpenetrates, and we cry importunately to God for deliverance; in utter desperation fully recognizing our meetness only for hell fire, we cast ourselves on the mercy of God in Christ. Then for Christ’s sake alone He cancels all our sins from heaven’s chancery, removing our guilt, counting us righteous in Christ’s stead. “And inheritance among them who have been sanctified by faith, which is in me, and have it yet better than ever.” We have here the perfect tense of hagiadzoo, “sanctify,” which in Greek has more than double the force of the English, i. e., meaning that we have been sanctified in past time and have it yet better than ever. Oh, the riches of redeeming grace and sanctifying power! And how do we get it? “Not by works” (Eph 2:8); not by growth, death, nor purgatory, but as we see here so clearly and unmistakably revealed in Paul’s commission, it is by faith, and nothing but faith, having reached believing ground by radical and complete consecration. Here Paul becomes wonderfully impetuous, preaching to two kings and queens, as well as a great audience.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 12

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.

18. ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν, τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι, to open their eyes that they may turn. Here we have another shade of meaning of the genitival infinitive. By the opening of their eyes the Gentiles will be enabled to turn. Cf. LXX. 1Ki 8:58, ἐπικλῖναι καρδίας ἡμῶν ἐπ’ αὐτὸν τοῦ πορεύεσθαι ἐν πάσαις ὁδαῖς αὐτοῦ

ἀπὸ σκότους εἰς φῶς, from darkness to light. So complete is the change which the Gospel knowledge works.

ἐν τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις πίστει τῇ εἰς ἐμέ, among them which are sanctified by faith in me. It is by their belief in Jesus that men are sanctified, and here ‘sanctified,’ as so often ‘saint’ in St Paul’s Epistles, is applied to those who have been Bet on the way of salvation, and not to those who are perfect in holiness; to that they will be brought if they persevere.

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.

18. τοῦ ἐπιστ.] not, as Beza, and E. V., ‘to turn them:’ but, that they may turn; see ἐπιστρέφειν, ver. 20.

The general reference of οὕς becomes tacitly modified (not expressly, speaking as he was to the Jew Agrippa) by the expression σκότος and ἐξουσία τοῦ σατανᾶ, both, in the common language of the Jews, applicable only to the Gentiles. But in reality, and in Paul’s mind, they had their sense as applied to Jews,—who were in spiritual darkness and under Satan’s power, however little they thought it. See Col 1:13.

τοῦ λαβ.] A third step: first the opening of the eyes—next, the turning to God—next, the receiving remission of sins and a place among the sanctified, see ch. 20:32.

This last reference determines πίστει τῇ εἰς ἐμέ to belong not to ἡγιασμένοις but to λαβεῖν.

Thus the great object of Paul’s preaching was to awaken and shew the necessity and efficacy of πίστις ἡ εἰς ἐμέ. And fully, long ere this, had he recognized and acted on this his great mission. The epistles to the Galatians and Romans are two noble monuments of the Apostle of Faith.

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