A Commentary On The Greek Text Of The Epistle Of Paul To The Philippians PDF Download

Excerpt from Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians But the meaning of the epistle to those who originally received it being ascertained, the second question is - What are the value and signification of the same writing for us? What was simply personal between Paul and Philippi, was so far temporary, though it does suggest lessons of permanent interest. But believing that the apostle was inspired, I accept his dog matic and ethical teaching as divine truth - truth derived from God, and by God's own impulse and revelation communicated to the churches. This unreserved acceptance of scriptural truth is not at all hostile to the free spirit of scientific investigation. But it is wholly contrary to such a belief, and at variance with what I hold to be the origin and purpose of the New Testament, to regard the apostle's theology as made up of a series of Jewish theories, not always clearly developed or skilfully combined and adjusted; or to treat it as the specula tions of an earnest and inquisitive mind, which occasionally lost itself among deep things, and mistook its modified and relative views for universal and absolute truth. What are called St. Paul's opinions, are conceived, worded, or pre sented by a conscious mind, according to its own habits and structure; but they are in themselves enunciations of divine truth, in and through the Spirit of God, for all ages; while the private matters mixed up with them show, that inspiration did not lift a man above what is natural, that divine guidance did not repress the instincts of a human temperament, check the genial outburst of emotion, or bar the record of mere impres sions about future and unrevealed events, such as the alterna tives of the apostle's own release or 'martyrdom. With such convictions, and under this broad light, I have endeavoured to examine this epistle; and my heart's desire and prayer to God is, that He who gave the Word, and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, may bless this honest and earnest effort tovfii preface. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.