The ground of the certainty lies in the source from which the grace and
peace come. They flow "from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
The placing of both names under the government of one preposition
implies the mysterious unity of the Father with the Son; while
conversely St. John, in the parallel passage just mentioned, by
employing two prepositions, brings out the distinction between the
Father, who is the fontal source, and the Son, who is the flowing
stream. But both forms of the expression demand for their honest
explanation the recognition of the divinity of Jesus Christ. How dare a
man, who thought of Him as other than Divine, put His name thus by the
side of God's, as associated with the Father in the bestowal of grace?
Surely such words, spoken without any thought of a doctrine of the
Trinity, and which are the spontaneous utterance of Christian devotion,
are demonstration, not to be gainsaid, that to Paul, at all events,
Jesus Christ was, in the fullest sense, Divine. The double source is one
source, for in the Son is the whole fulness of the Godhead; and the
grace of God, bringing with it the peace of God, is poured into that
spirit which bows humbly before Jesus Christ, and trusts Him when He
says, with love in His eyes and comfort in His tones, "My grace is
sufficient for thee"; "My peace give I unto you."
II.
"I thank my God always, making mention of thee in my prayers,
hearing of thy love, and of the faith which thou hast toward the
Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints; that the fellowship of thy
faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing
which is in you, unto Christ. For I had much joy and comfort in thy
love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through
thee, brother."--PHILEM. 4-7 (Rev. Ver.).
Paul's was one of those regal natures to which things are possible that
other men dare not do. No suspicion of weakness attaches to him when he
pours out his heart in love, nor any of insincerity when he speaks of
his continual prayers for his friends, or when he runs over in praise of
his converts. Few men have been able to talk so much of their love
without betraying its shallowness and self-consciousness, or of their
prayers without exciting a doubt of their manly sincerity. But the
Apostle could venture to do these things without being thought either
feeble or false, and could unveil his deepest affections and his most
secret devotions without provoking either a smile or a shrug.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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