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passage (Eph. 1:1-11) is a comment on this clause.—-P arry . 22:15. H is w itness. In th is lesson see P aul as e n accomplished linguist, a skilful o rator, an a le rt soul win ner, a devoted patrio t, a fearless follow er of Jesus Christ, a man of almost matchless calm and self-possession, a man controlled by o n e . absorbing pas sion, th a t of glorifying God by bring ing as many others as possible to a saving knowledge of Christ.pt-Torrey. 22:19. I said, Lord. We are very ap t to th ink God is making a m istake and to advance reasons against H is call. — Parsons. 22:22. Away w ith him . It is in terestin g to note th e points in th e New T estam ent where audiences b reak away from speakers. (See Jno. 6:66; Acts 17:32 e tc.)— Stillion. Their national prejudices lashed into fu ry a t th e men tion of a mission to the Gentiles and they would speedily have done to him as they did to Stephen bu t for the pro tection of the Roman officers.— J. P. & B. 22:25. Is it law ful? Some have pointed to th is as a prom inent failure in th e career of th e apostle. It is said th a t he made a grave m istake when he pleaded his Roman citi zenship; he should have been si len t and tak en the u n ju st and cruel trea tm e n t w ithout a murmur. B u t if some of th e critics were placed in th e same condition, w hat would they do? It is easy to be a m arty r in theory bu t such are seldomm arty rs in practice. He had a perfect rig h t to tell th e igno ran t officers of th e law who he was and thu s prevent a flagrant and cruel tran sg res sion of th e law. And yet his conduct in Philippi was far different. Why did he not announce his Roman citizenship there? The m ighty power of the Spirit rested then upon him. It is dif feren t here.—Anno. Bible. 23:1. Good conscience. He had been conscientious in his form er re ligion (Phil. 3 :6 ), even when he was persecuting Christians (Acts 2 6 :9 ), and in Christian work (Heb. 13 :18 ). Conscience m isinformed him un til it was under control of th e Holy Spirit (Rom. 9 :1 ) .-—Brooks. 23:3. Thou w hited wall. No doubt th e high p riest was indeed a' whited wall and fully deserved judgm ent, but did P au l in speaking thu s show the meekness of Him whose servant he was? P aul had made a declaration of
his own righteousness which rem inds us of his confession as a Pharisee (Phil. 3 :4 -6 ). This self justification shows th a t he was not acting under the lead ing of th e Holy Spirit. His bold lan guage resulted in stirring up th e anger of th e high p riest and P aul was not slow to- reply w ith a harsh word.— Gaebelein. . 23:5. I w ist not. All sorts of ex planations of th is have been given. The high priesthood was in a sta te of g rea t confusion and constant change a t th is tim e and the apos tle ’s long absence from Jerusalem , or perhaps th e seat which he oc cupied, may account for such a speech. But if he w as thrown off his guard by an in su lt which touch ed to the quick, w hat can surpass the grace w ith which he recovered his self possession? If his conduct in yielding to th e momentary impulse was not th a t of Christ (Jno. 18:22, 23 ), certainly the m anner in which he atoned for his fau lt was Christlike.—H ackett. 23:11. The Lord stood by. And so He stands by every Christian as Advo cate (1 Jno. 2 :1 ), High P riest (Heb. 2: 17, 18 ), Shepherd (Heb. 13:20) and Lord (Acts 2 :3 6 ).— Sel. Do not tru st in your own understanding. Let your Master steer your course and remember th a t in th e d arkest hour as in the brightest. He is beside you. There will be made to you a t the fou rth watch of th e night, revelations which will re assure your weary and despairing soul th a t you are riot alone.—Meyer. Subject Illu stratio n P aul set his face, like his Master be fore him, steadfastly to go to Jeru sa lem. “T ravelers te ll us th a t they th a t are on th e top of th e Alps m a y .see g reat showers of LESSON rain under them, ILLUSTRATION which they over- W. H. P ik e look, b u t no t one drop of it comes at them . And he th a t 'is on th e top of some high tower m indeth no t th e croak ing of frogs and toads, th e hissing of serpents, adders, and the like venomous creatu res th a t are below. Thus a heaven-minded man, who dwells in
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