CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mark 3:14. Ordained.—Made, or set apart. The twelve were now singled out for closer attendance upon Him, and special instruction in His method of work. Their solemn “ordination” came afterwards (John 20:21-22). Twelve.—“The number twelve symbolises perfection and universality. Three indicates what is Divine; four, created things. Three multiplied by four gives twelve, the number of those who were to go forth as apostles into the four quarters of the world—called to the faith of the Holy Trinity.”
Mark 3:17 Boanerger.—It is uncertain whether each of them bore the name “Son of thunder,” or whether “Boanerges” was a dual name given to the pair, as the name “Dioscuri” was given to Castor and Pollux. It is also uncertain why the brothers were thus named; but we may bq sure it was not in any case intended as a term of reproach. Perhap it was suggested by some peculiarity in voice or manner of delivery which arrested attention and lent conviction to their preaching.
Mark 3:18. Simon the Canaanite.—Cananite, or Cananæan. An Aramaic word, signifying zealot. See Matthew 10:4; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13. Jerome says that his name preserves a reference to the place of his birth (Cana) as well as to his zeal. “No name is more striking in the list than that of Simon the Zealot, for to none of the twelve could the contrast be so vivid between their former and their new position. What revolution of thought and heart could be greater than that which had thus changed into a follower of Jesus one of the fierce war-party of the day, which looked on the presence of Rome in the Holy Land as treason against the majesty of Jehovah, a party fanatical in their Jewish strictures and exclusiveness?”
Mark 3:19. Betrayed.—Delivered, or surrendered. Same word used in Romans 8:32 of the Father’s surrender of the Son, whom He “delivered” into the power of men, in order that He might “deliver” mankind from the power of Satan.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Mark 3:13-19
(PARALLELS: Matthew 10:1-8; Luke 6:12-16.)
Choice and commission of the twelve.—It is recorded of Israel’s first king, while still in the zenith of his royal estate, that when he saw any strong man or any valiant man he took him unto himself, and thus recruited the ranks of the Lord’s host (1 Samuel 14:52). So here does the true King of Israel and of all men call to Himself twelve choice spirits—the best material to be found in His band of followers—in order that they may be trained under His personal supervision in the true principles of spiritual warfare, and form the nucleus of the heavenly kingdom which He has come to set up on earth. “The appointment of the twelve apostles was in an especial sense an act which marked the inauguration of that kingdom, an act by which our Lord represented the assumption of the powers which belonged to Him as the true Sovereign of the theocracy, for which all the institutions of Judaism were understood by the people of Israel themselves to have been but preparatory.” As at other critical times in His ministry, so now, the Pattern Man consecrates Himself to this great work by prayer (Luke 5:12). He also directs the whole body of the disciples to pray the Lord of the Harvest that He would send forth labourers into His harvest (Matthew 9:38); and ever since, from the ordination of Matthias to the present time, the Church has sought the special guidance of the Holy Spirit, by prayer and fasting, before proceeding to the laying on of hands.
I. The choice of the twelve.—The ministry in the apostles derived its origin and commission, not from the. Church or from the people, but from Christ. It was in the power of Christ to have called all His people together, and bid them choose their future rulers from amongst themselves; but He did not do so—they were chosen by Christ alone, who Himself designated them, and afterwards breathed upon them when He ordained them with full apostolic power. And when it pleased Christ to raise up two other apostles, it was by the Holy Ghost saying, “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”; and the latter expressly disclaims any commission from the people (Galatians 1:1).
II. The men chosen.—
1. The most noticeable thing is the disproportion between their natural abilities and the work they were set to do. All other great leaders of thought have striven first to secure the adherence of men “whose vigorous character or commanding position would give them a certain influence over the men of their time.” It was not so with Christ. “The channels through which His influence was to be conveyed were such as could contribute nought to its fulness; the fibres along which the electric current of His own impulsive energy was to run were to be simply passive in the transmission.” Passing by the courtier and the soldier, the noble and the sage, He selected His first ministers from classes not indeed oppressed by want, but lowly and unsophisticated and of little account in the world’s eyes.
2. Yet among the twelve, all drawn from the lower ranks of society, there was evidently great diversity of character. Each was a man of marked individuality. Notes on their personal characteristics will be found in the Outlines and Comments on the Verses
III. Their commission.—
1. “That they should be with Him”—observing His demeanour, and His manner of conveying instruction both by word and act; treasuring up in their minds the heavenly principles by which He was ever actuated; drinking in, little by little, some portion of the Divine Spirit which was given to Him without measure.
2. “That He might send them forth to preach”—to proclaim to all, high and low, rich and poor, the glad tidings of salvation through faith in Him.
3. “To have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out demons”—thus carrying on the war begun by Him against the devil and all his works, a war in which “there is no discharge” until the kingdom of darkness is utterly destroyed, and the kingdom of God and of His Christ is universally established in its place.
Mark 3:14. Unrecorded workers and heroes.—Half of these twelve are never heard of again as doing any work for Christ.
I. This peculiar and unexpected silence suggests the true worker in the Church’s progress—not man, but Christ.—Men are nothing except as instruments and organs of God. He is all.
1. How this should deliver us from all over-estimate of men, to which our human affections and our feeble faith tempt us so sorely!
2. What confidence it ought to give us as we think of the tasks and fortunes of the Church! One man with Christ to back him is always in the majority.
II. This silence of Scripture as to so many of the apostles may be taken as suggesting what the real work of these delegated workers was.—The one thing that must be found in an apostle was that he should have been in familiar intercourse with Christ during His earthly life, both before and after His resurrection, in order that he might be able to say, “I knew Him well; I know that He died; I know that He rose again; I saw Him go up to heaven.” For such a work there was no need for men of commanding power. Plain, simple, honest men who had the requisite eyewitness were sufficient. The sharpest weapon which any can wield for Christ is the simple adducing of his own personal experience. Christ is the true worker, and all our work is but to proclaim Him, and what He has done and is doing for ourselves and for all men.
III. We may gather the lesson of how often faithful work is unrecorded and forgotten.—
1. For most of us, our service has to be unnoticed and unknown. The earnestness and the accuracy with which we strike our blow are all important; but it matters nothing how far it echoes.
2. The magnitude of our work in men’s eyes is as little important as the noise of it. Were the Peters and the Johns more highly favoured than the others? Was their work greater in His sight? Not so. To Him all service done from the same motive is the same, and His measure of excellence is quantity of love and spiritual force in our deeds, not the width of the area over which they spread.
3. All service done for the same motive in the same force is of the same worth in His eyes. “Small service is true service while it lasts.”
IV. Forgotten work is remembered, and unrecorded names are recorded above.—
1. The forgotten work and workers are remembered by Christ.
2. The forgotten and unrecorded work lives, too, in the great whole. The fruit of our labour may perhaps not be separable from that of others, any more than the sowers can go into the reaped harvest-field and identify the gathered ears which have sprung from the seed that they sowed, but it is there all the same; and whosoever may be unable to pick out each man’s share in the blessed total outcome, the Lord of the Harvest knows, and His accurate proportionment of individual reward to individual service will not mar the companionship in the general gladness, when “he that soweth and he that reapeth shall rejoice together.”
3. The forgotten work will live, too, in the blessed results to the doers. Habits are formed, emotions deepened, principles confirmed, capacities enlarged, by every deed done for Christ, which make an over-measure of reward here, and in their perfect form hereafter are heaven. Nothing done for Him is ever wasted. “Thou shalt find it after many days.”—A. Maclaren, D.D.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mark 3:13-14. Christ’s call and man’s response.—
I. Christ’s call here is—
1. Addressed to those whom He has already tested.
2. A call to higher service and heavier responsibility. Hitherto they have been learners; henceforth they are to be teachers and healers as well.
II. Those called responded—
1. Of their own free will. The only constraint Christ ever uses is that of love.
2. Promptly. They answer to their names like soldiers at roll-call—only waiting for orders—ready to do or die.
3. Openly. Secret discipleship, besides being cowardly and mean, thwarts the very object Christ has in view—which is, the transformation of mere followers into apostles, the conversion of the world by the instrumentality of men.
Apostleship from discipleship.—Out of the heart of the discipleship came the apostleship.
1. Disciple means learner. The idea rests entirely between two persons, the teacher and the scholar. It involves nothing but the receiving of knowledge by some one docile mind. But apostle means missionary. Its idea is utterance or sending forth. What the disciple has drunk into his own satisfied soul, the apostle is to carry abroad, wherever there are men to hear it. When, then, Jesus turned His disciples into apostles, you see what an event it was. It was really the flowering of that gospel which He had been pouring into them through all their discipleship. The plant fills itself with the richness of the earth. No noise is made. The whole transaction lies between the plant and the rich earth that feeds it through its open roots. All is silent, private, restricted. But some day the world looks, and, lo! the process has burst open. Upon the long-fed plant is burning a gorgeous flower for the world to see. The earth has sent its richness through the plant to enlighten and to bless the world. The disciple has turned to an apostle.
2. Notice, when Jesus took this great step forward, He did not leave behind His old life with His disciples. He chose out of the number of His disciples twelve, whom also He named apostles. They were to be disciples still. They did not cease to be learners when He made them missionaries. The plant does not cease to feed itself out of the ground when it opens its glorious flowers for the world to see. All the more it needs supply, now that it has fulfilled its life. And so this great epoch in the Christian Church was an addition, not a substitution.
3. It is out of the very heart of the discipleship that the apostleship proceeds. It is the very best, the choicest, as we say, of the disciples that are chosen to be apostles. Always it is the best of the inward life of anything, that which lies the closest to its heart and is the fullest of its spirit, which flowers into the outward impulse which comes to complete its life. It is the most truly thorough learning which by-and-by begins to be dissatisfied with its own learned luxury, and to desire that all men should have the chance of knowledge. It is the most true refinement that believes in the possible refinement even of the coarsest man. The heart of any good thing is catholic and expansive. It longs to give itself away, and believes in the capacity of all men to receive it.—Bishop Phillips Brooks.
Mark 3:14-15. Christian privilege and power.—
I. The Christian’s privilege—
1. To preach, filling Christ’s place, doing Christ’s work, obeying Christ’s word.
2. The subject of this preaching. Proclaiming the advent of God’s kingdom on earth.
II. The Christian’s power—
1. In the manifestation of Christian sympathy for the afflicted.
2. In the uplifting of earnest prayer and supplication for the souls of men.
3. In the possession and disposal of his substance to compass both these objects, and exhibit by his works his faith.
The best endowment.—We need not regret that we have not the power to work miracles: we have something better. We have the living, life-giving Word of God. We have the promise of the Spirit; and by the Word and the Spirit moral miracles are being wrought every day. Preach and pray; plant and water: God will give the increase.
Sufficient equipment for every emergency.—At first the apostles had a smaller gospel (they had not got the Cross to preach) and a larger power of miracles; afterwards less miracles, but more gospel; but always a sufficient equipment. You have not to make bricks without straw; Christ gives you “power” for every duty.—R. Glover.
Mark 3:15. From temporal to spiritual.—How is it that the common-sense view of Christian Missions, on the principle of acting first on men’s secondary motives by relieving their temporal distresses, and as that principle is sanctioned by the practice of Christ and His apostles, has so much been lost sight of in the foreign operations of our Church? Of all human qualifications for a missionary’s Divine work, I should say that the knowledge of medicine was the most likely, under God’s blessing, to prove useful “to the furtherance of that gospel” which is the healing of men’s souls (Colossians 4:14; 2 Corinthians 8:18).—J. Ford.
Mark 3:16-19. The apostles.—
1. Points in which the apostles were alike.
(1) Social position: neither very poor nor very rich. Wealth, rank, high worldly position, are not necessary in order to employment and usefulness in the cause of God; and vice versâ.
(2) Mental attainments: neither very learned nor very ignorant. Scholarship, the very highest, may be consecrated to the service of Christ; but is not indispensable to Christian usefulness.
(3) Religious characters: in the main, sincere, yet defective.
(4) Business aptitudes. So far as we know, they were all called from real business life.
2. Points in which they were manifestly different. There was no one distinct mental type, and no one special mental characteristic is of exclusive or predominant importance for Christian service. All ministers are not of the same order of mind. Some are noted for the predominance of the imaginative; some of the logical; some of the metaphysical; some of the emotional; some, we might almost say, of the intuitional propensity or power. Souls are saved, instrumentally, by men as men, and not by men just as reasoners, scholars, poets, orators, etc.—G. J. Adeney.
The apostles were plain men who had not been perverted by the false philosophies, traditions, and morals of the day. They were mostly working men, business men, practical men, but of great variety of early training, and of business life. Some were poor; some were comparatively well off; some belonged to country villages, some to the city; several were fishermen; one was a publican, one a zealot. They were men of ability; there were great possibilities in them. Christ transformed common men into apostles, the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem, the leaders of the kingdom that was to transform the world. The charcoal was changed into diamonds. They were far from faultless, but the faults were flaws in a jewel, not the crudeness of the charcoal.—F. N. Peloubet, D.D.
Relationships among the apostles.—The difficulties connected with tracing the family descent or possible relationship between the apostles are so great that we must forego all hope of arriving at any certain conclusion. But these points seem clear. First, it appears that only the calling of those to the apostolate is related, which in some sense is typical, viz. that of Peter and Andrew, of James and John, of Philip and Bartholomew (Nathanael), and of Matthew the publican. Yet, secondly, there is something which attaches to each of the others. Thomas, called Didymus (“twin”), is closely connected with Matthew. James is expressly named as the son of Alphæus or Clopas. This we know to have been also the name of Matthew-Levi’s father. But, as the name was a common one, no inference can be drawn from it, and it does not seem likely that the father of Matthew was also that of James, Judas, and Simon, for these three seem to have been brothers. James is designated by St. Matthew as Lebbæus, from Lebh, a heart, and is also named Thaddæus, a term which we would derive from Thodah, praise. In that case both Lebbæus and Thaddæus would point to the heartiness and the thanksgiving of the apostle, and hence to his character. St. Luke simply designates him Judas of James, i.e. the brother (less probably, son) of James. Thus his real name would have been Judas Lebbæus, and his surname Thaddæus. Closely connected with these two is Simon, surnamed Zelotes or Cananæan, both terms indicating his original connection with the Galilean Zealot party. His position in the Apostolic Catalogue, and the testimony of Hegesippus (Euseb., H. E., iii. 11; iv. 22), seem to point him out as the son of Clopas, and brother of James, and of Judas Lebbæus. These three were, in a sense, cousins of Christ, since, according to Hegesippus, Clopas was the brother of Joseph, while the sons of Zebedee were real cousins, their mother Salome being a sister of the Virgin. Lastly, we have Judas Iscariot, or Ish Kerioth, “a man of Kerioth,” a town in Judah (Joshua 15:25). Thus the betrayer alone would be of Judean origin, the others all of Galilean; and this may throw light on not a little in his after-history.—A. Edersheim, D.D.
Three groups of apostles.—It can hardly be without significance that in all the apostolic lists they are divided into the same three groups.
1. In the first group we should naturally expect to find the men of the largest and strongest make—those whose capacity and force of character would fit them to lead the rest. And this expectation is justified. Peter and Andrew, James and John, are the natural leaders of the apostolic company. We might almost call them the Boanergic group, so marked and emphatic is the strain of passion in their service.
2. In the second group are the reflective men. Philip is the leader, and he was a man who would rather see than believe. They are excellent and thoughtful men, but they will not do much for the world apart from men of a more forward and adventurous spirit than their own.
3. The third we may call the Hebraistic or practical group.
(1) They held stoutly to the old Hebrew forms of truth and righteousness, and were at least as much Hebrew as Christian to the end.
(2) They were also men of practical gifts. This is especially seen in Judas—a man chosen to carry the bag because he was careful, prudent, busy, good at buying and selling, conversant with the world.—T. T. Lynch.
Mark 3:16. Simon, son of Jonas (Matthew 16:17; John 21:15-17), was surnamed Peter = a rock, by our Lord (Luke 6:14; John 1:42; Matthew 16:18 f.), was a fisherman by occupation (Matthew 4:18-19; Luke 5:3-12; Matthew 17:27; John 21:3); originally of Bethsaida (John 1:44; John 12:21), afterwards of Capernaum (Mark 1:21; Mark 1:29); a married man (Mark 1:30; 1 Corinthians 9:5); eager and impetuous, and with feelings easily roused (Luke 5:8; Matthew 14:28; Matthew 16:16; Matthew 26:33; Luke 22:61-62; John 13:6; John 13:9; John 13:37; John 21:7); one of the three with our Lord at the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37), at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1; 2 Peter 1:16-19), and in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37). He denied our Lord with oaths and curses (Matthew 26:69-75), but was pardoned and restored (Mark 16:7; Luke 22:31-32; John 21:15-18); preached on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14; Acts 2:38); healed the lame man (Acts 3:4; Acts 3:6-7); spoke before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:8; Acts 4:19; Acts 5:29); reproved Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:3-4; Acts 5:8-9); was followed by multitudes (Acts 5:15-16); confirmed in Samaria (Acts 8:14; Acts 8:17); healed a man long sick (Acts 9:33-34); raised a dead woman to life (Acts 9:40-41); had a vision, declaring God’s will concerning the admission of the Gentiles (Acts 10:9; Acts 10:17); admitted Cornelius and his company into the Church (Acts 10:46-48); was reproved by St. Paul (Galatians 2:11-15). His death was foretold by our Lord (John 21:18-19), and he is said to have been crucified at Rome with his head downwards. He is known in Christian Art by the key or keys (Matthew 16:19).—W. F. Shaw.
Simon Peter.—In a Continental picture-gallery there are to be seen, side by side, the first and the last works of a great artist. The first is very crude and faulty; the last is a masterpiece. The contrast shows the result of long culture and practice. So in this verse we have two pictures. “Simon” shows us the rough fisherman of Galilee—ignorant, rash, blundering. “Peter” shows us the apostle in his Pentecostal strength—the courageous leader, powerful speaker, brave martyr. It is not hard, remarks an American writer, to take roses, lilies, fuchsias, and all the rarest flowers, and with them make forms of exquisite beauty; but to take weeds, dead grasses, dried leaves, trampled and torn, and faded flowers, and make lovely things out of such materials, is the severest test of skill. Yet that is what Christ is always doing. He takes the poorest stuff—despised and worthless, outcast of men ofttimes; and when He has finished His gracious work we behold a saint whiter than snow.
Mark 3:17. James and John, like Simon, were fishermen (Matthew 4:21-22; John 21:2-3), in somewhat better circumstances, possibly, than some of the apostles (Mark 1:20); surnamed Boanerges, or “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17), on account of their fiery zeal (Luke 9:52-55); were with our Blessed Lord at the house of Jairus, on the Mount of Transfiguration, in the Garden; were ambitious (Matthew 20:20-24), but did drink of Christ’s cup of suffering, and were baptised with His baptism of blood, James being a martyr in deed, John a martyr in will, James being the first of the apostles who was put to death for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s (Acts 12:2), John dying in extreme old age, the last of all the apostles, after having suffered persecution and exile to Patmos (Revelation 1:9), after having been cast into a cauldron of boiling oil and escaping unhurt, and after having drunk of a poisoned cup and felt no harm (cf. Mark 16:18). John lived on at Ephesus unto extreme old age, until men even began to say that he should not die (John 21:23), and until he was so feeble that he was obliged to be carried through the streets in a litter, when, as the Christians crowded round him to receive his blessing, his one constant word of exhortation to them was, “Little children, love one another.”—W. F. Shaw.
Mark 3:18. Andrew, one of the first two to follow Christ (the other was probably John), has been called “the usher” of the Apostolic College. It seems as if his strong point was a certain tact for bringing people together (John 1:42; John 6:8; John 12:22). Probably he was of an unobtrusive and a practical turn of mind, ready at all times to perform those little offices of kindness and love on which the happiness of life so much depends. He is said to have preached in Scythia and Sarmatia (i.e. Poland and Southern Russia), and to have suffered martyrdom by crucifixion at Patræ, in the north of the Peloponnese of Greece.
Philip was a sincere but timid seeker of the truth: one of those who can hardly walk alone in the world, and need the support and sympathy of a friend, in good report and evil report. The moment he has been found by Jesus, he goes and confers with a friend, and brings him to judge whether or no He be the Christ (John 1:45-46). He can hardly dare approach our Lord in behalf of some strangers without getting one of his brethren to go with him (John 12:22). It is said that he preached the gospel in Asia Minor more particularly, and suffered martyrdom at Hierapolis in Phrygia.
Bartholomew is generally supposed to have been the same person as Nathanael, who was a friend of Philip before they both became followers of Christ (John 1:45-46). St. John always couples Nathanael, as the other Evangelists do Bartholomew, with Philip; and while they never mention Nathanael, he never mentions Bartholomew, but speaks of Nathanael instead. He belonged to Cana of Galilee (John 21:2); was highly commended by Christ (John 1:47); and was one of the seven who saw the Lord by the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:1-2). He is said to have preached the gospel in Armenia, converted the Lycaonians, afterwards visited the extreme confines of India, and finally to have been flayed alive by order of Astyages, King of Armenia; for this reason he is represented in Christian Art with a flaying-knife, and often also as holding the gospel in his hands.
Obscure Christians.—Bartholomew was one of the obscure, unknown Christians. Yet these men make up the army of God. It is the aggregate of small things that makes life. It is the stream of pennies that fills the treasury of God. The numberless leaves make the forest; the innumerable sands bound the sea. Not brilliant efforts, but repeated efforts, carry on the world’s progress. Thread by thread the cloth is woven; rail by rail the bands of steel encircle the earth; brick by brick the city is built. The one-talented men, like Bartholomew, make the world and the Church. The important people are the privates rather than the generals, the machinists rather than the mechanics, the ploughmen rather than the agriculturists, the pioneers rather than the emigrant agents, the loomsmen rather than the overseers, the faithful men of mediocrity rather than the brilliant men of genius.
Matthew.—The choice of Matthew, the man of business, is chiefly explained by the nature of his Gospel, so explicit, orderly, and methodical, and, until it approaches the Crucifixion, so devoid of fire.—Dean Chadwick.
Thomas is mentioned four times in the Gospels, apart from the record in the lists of apostles. These notices show us—
1. His great love for Christ (John 11:16).
2. His inquiring spirit (John 14:5).
3. That he, like the rest, would not believe in the resurrection of Christ until he had actually seen Him (John 20:24-25).
4. That the sight of the Risen Lord not only restored his faith, but brought absolute conviction of Christ’s Godhead (John 20:28).
James the son of Alphæus or Clopas (John 19:25), and Mary the sister of the blessed Virgin Mary, hence called “the brother,” i.e. cousin of the Lord (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3; Galatians 1:19), called also “the little” (Mark 15:40). We know little of him till after the Resurrection, when our Lord vouchsafed to appear specially to him (1 Corinthians 15:7), doubtless to instruct him in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and to the office of Bishop of Jerusalem, to which he was about to be chosen. For we find him occupying this position (cp. Acts 9:27, with Galatians 1:18-19; Acts 12:17; Acts 15:13; Acts 15:19; Galatians 2:9; Galatians 2:12; Acts 21:18), and indeed held in such esteem by the people of Jerusalem that he was called “James the Just.” He is the author of the Epistle which bears his name—was martyred by being cast down from the battlement of the Temple, stoned, and finally despatched with a fuller’s club, as he was praying for his murderers.—W. F. Shaw.
Mark 3:19. Judas.—In the life of Judas there was a mysterious impersonation of all the tendencies of godless Judaism, and his dreadful personality seems to express the whole movement of the nation which rejected Christ. We see this in the powerful attraction felt toward Messiah before His aims were understood, in the deadly estrangement and hostility which were kindled by the gentle and self-effacing ways of Jesus, in the treachery of Judas in the garden and the unscrupulous wiliness of the priests accusing Christ before the governor, in the fierce intensity of rage which turned his hands against himself and which destroyed the nation under Titus. Nay, the very sordidness which made a bargain for thirty pieces of silver has ever since been a part of the popular conception of the race. We are apt to think of a gross love of money as inconsistent with intense passion; but in Shylock, the compatriot of Judas, Shakespeare combines the two.—Dean Chadwick.
Judas among the twelve a sign of—
1. The all-endeavouring love of Christ.
2. The greatness of human depravity.
3. The dangers of the spiritual office (or of a mere external connexion with the Lord) without perfect fidelity in the spiritual life (an internal union with Him).
4. The aim and end of the Church—not a community of perfect saints, but of redeemed men.—J. P. Lange, D.D.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Mark 3:14. Preaching.—The more lax, the less laboured the style, the nearer it comes to colloquial language, the better. I am convinced that one of the things which make my ordinary sermons tell from the pulpit is this very circumstance—that I write precisely as I would talk, and that my sermons are as nearly as possible extemporaneous effusions.… When the Archdeacon and Mr. Watson say the sermon will (D.G.) do good, though not add to my character as an author, I hesitate not for one moment to publish: for what does my character signify? and how gladly would I sacrifice all its respectability as a writer, to do good to a single soul!—From a letter of Dean Hook.
Solemnity of preaching.—Dr. John Brown, speaking of a minister’s leaving his people for another pastorate, says that he mentally exclaims, “There they go! when next we meet it will be at the Judgment!”
Qualifications of a good preacher.—Ten qualifications are given of a good preacher by Luther. He should be able to preach plainly and in order. He should have a good head. Good power of speech; a good voice; and a good memory. He should be sure of what he means to say, and be ready to stake body and life, goods and glory, on its truth. He should know when to stop. He should study diligently, and suffer himself to be vexed and criticised by every one.
Mark 3:18. St. Matthew’s example led to one of the holiest lives recorded in the annals of the early Church. One of the most able and useful men in the North African Church was the Bishop Nulgertius. He had been a receiver of taxes, but one day it occurred to him, “May not I, like Matthew, become from a tax-gatherer a preacher of the gospel?” Accordingly he renounced his worldly employment, sought Holy Orders, and was ultimately a most useful bishop.
Mark 3:19. Judas an evidence to the worth of Christianity.—That which is most valuable and excellent in itself is most liable to be counterfeited. And it is no disparagement to a real diamond, a pure piece of gold, or a genuine bank-note, that they are liable to be imitated. We should act in the one case as we do in the other—be upon our guard against deception, learn to distinguish between the precious and the vile, and set a greater value upon that which we find pure and genuine.