Joh 6:64-66, Rom 11:17, 1Cor 10:5-6 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 64. But there are some of you that believe not. ] This is addressed to Judas, and to those disciples who left him: . And who should betray him ] Or, who would deliver him up . Because he knew all things; he knew from the first , from Judas's call to the apostleship, and from eternity, (if the reader pleases,) who it was who would (not should ) deliver him up into the hands of the Jews. Should , in the apprehension of most, implies necessity and compulsion; would implies that he was under the influence of his own free will , without necessity or constraint. The former takes away his guilt: for what a man is irresistibly compelled to do, by the supreme authority of God, he cannot avoid; and therefore to him no blame can attach: but Judas having acted through his own free will , abusing his power, and the grace he had received, he was guilty of the murder of an innocent man, and deserved the perdition to which he went.

‏ John 6:64-66

Verse 64. But there are some of you that believe not.] This is addressed to Judas, and to those disciples who left him: Joh 6:66.

And who should betray him] Or, who would deliver him up. Because he knew all things; he knew from the first, from Judas's call to the apostleship, and from eternity, (if the reader pleases,) who it was who would (not should) deliver him up into the hands of the Jews. Should, in the apprehension of most, implies necessity and compulsion; would implies that he was under the influence of his own free will, without necessity or constraint. The former takes away his guilt: for what a man is irresistibly compelled to do, by the supreme authority of God, he cannot avoid; and therefore to him no blame can attach: but Judas having acted through his own free will, abusing his power, and the grace he had received, he was guilty of the murder of an innocent man, and deserved the perdition to which he went.

Verse 65. Therefore said I unto you] Joh 6:44. see the note there.

Except it were given unto him] None can come at first, unless he be drawn by the Father; and none can continue, unless he continue under those sacred influences which God gives only to those who do not receive his first graces in vain. St. Augustin himself grants that it was the sole fault of these disciples that they did not believe, and were saved. Quare non POTERANT credere, si a me quaeratur, cito respondeo, quia NOLEBANT. If I be asked why these could not believe, I immediately answer, because they WOULD NOT. Aug. Tract. 53, in Joan.

Verse 66. Many of his disciples went back] They no longer associated with him, nor professed to acknowledge him as the Messiah. None of these were of the twelve. Christ had many others who generally attended his ministry, and acknowledged him for the Messiah.

‏ Romans 11:17

Verse 17. And if some of the branches, &c.] If the present nation of the Jews, because of their unbelief, are cut off from the blessings of the Church of God, and the high honour and dignity of being his peculiar people; and thou, being a wild olive-ye Gentiles, being without the knowledge of the true God, and consequently bringing forth no fruits of righteousness, wert grafted in among them-are now inserted in the original stock, having been made partakers of the faith of Abraham, and consequently of his blessings; and enjoy, as the people did who sprang from him, the fatness of the olive tree-the promises made to the patriarchs, and the spiritual privileges of the Jewish Church:-

‏ 1 Corinthians 10:5-6

Verse 5. They were overthrown in the wilderness.] And yet ALL these persons were under the cloud-ALL passed through the sea-ALL were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea-ALL ate the same spiritual meat-ALL drank the same spiritual drink, for they were made partakers of the spiritual Rock, CHRIST. Nothing can be a more decisive proof than this that people, who have every outward ordinance, and are made partakers of the grace of our Lord Jesus, may so abuse their privileges and grieve the Spirit of God as to fall from their state of grace, and perish ever lastingly. Let those who are continually asserting that this is impossible, beware lest they themselves, if in a state of grace, become, through their overmuch security, proofs in point of the possibility of ending in the flesh, though they began in the Spirit. Reader, remember who said, Ye shall not surely die; and remember the mischiefs produced by a belief of his doctrine.

Verse 6. These things were our examples] The punishments which God inflicted on them furnish us with evidences of what God will inflict upon us, if we sin after the similitude of those transgressors.

We should not lust after evil things] It is most evident that the apostle refers here to the history in Nu 11:4, &c.: And the mixed multitude fell a lusting, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? Into the same spirit the Corinthians had most evidently fallen; they lusted after the flesh in the idol feasts, and therefore frequented them to the great scandal of Christianity. The apostle shows them that their sin was of the same nature as that of the murmuring rebellious Israelites whom God so severely punished; and if he did not spare the natural branches, there was no likelihood that he should spare them.