Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

Matthew XVIII. 34, 35. 595
to be this, that when love shews itself in a way so imperfect,
that it is seen merely in the receptive form, not in the communicative,
there is, in that case, no fitness for the kingdom of God. The
man devoid of love is committed to the ^uAa/c?/, that the conviction
of his real state may he brought home to him. Thus it is plain that
it is not the standard of the law which is here applied (for accord-
ing to law, it is not unrighteous to take violent measures in
enforcing debt), but that of the Gospel. He who wishes, however,
to be meted by this measure, must himself apply it to others.
(Matth. vii. 2.) As the hard-hearted servant did not so act, the
severity of the law fell on his Own head. The (pvXaKij here is thus
= ad?/f = ViNi the general assembling-place of the dead who did
not die in the Lord, but all of whom, it does by no means follow,
shall on this account sink into eternal condemnation. (Compare
more at length on Luke xvi. 19, seq.) According to 1 Peter iii. 19;
Matth. xii. 32, there is plainly such a thing after death as deliverance
from the (pyXatcTJ in behalf of some, and, according to the con-
nexion of the parable, we must avail ourselves of that fact in
explanation of the circumstances here presented to us. Absolute
exclusion from the face of the Lord is made to depend on the entire
want of active and receptive love, and so, on the want of faith,
without which there can be no love in the soul. (See on Matth. ix.
salvation of all men strictly examined, and the endless punishment of those who die
impenitent, argued etc.," and Fuller's Eight Letters to Vidler on the doctrine of Univ«real
Salvation.—Tb