For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Parallel Translations
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For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
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For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
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For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord GOD.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 2:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 17:1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars.
- Job 14:17 My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.
- Hosea 13:12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up. His sin is stored up.
- Job 9:30-31 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me.
- Psalms 90:8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
- Psalms 130:3 If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
- Jeremiah 16:17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes.
- Deuteronomy 32:34 “Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?
- Amos 8:7 Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain We have already seen, and the Prophet will often…
We have already seen, and the Prophet will often repeat the same thing, — that the people were become so refractory that they would not willingly give way to any reproofs; for they were almost all of such a hard front, and so obdurate in their wickedness, that they dared insolently to raise objections against the prophets; whenever they severely reproved them: “What! Are not we God’s holy people? Has he not chosen us? Are we not the holy seed of Abraham?” It was therefore necessary for the prophets to apply a hard wedge to a hard knot, as they commonly say. As, then, the Israelites were like a knotty wood, it was necessary to strike hard their obstinacy.
On this account Jeremiah now says, Even if thou wert to wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thee borith, yet thine iniquity would be before me marked; that is, “Ye effect nothing when ye set forth various pretences for the sake of excusing your impiety: wash yourselves, but your iniquity remains marked before me.” The Prophet speaks in the person of God, that he might add more weight to the denunciation he pronounced on the Israelites, and by which he reduced to nothing their self — flatteries, according to what has been already stated.
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By nitre and borith they removed stains in cloth; and hence borith is often mentioned in connection with fullers. But there is no need of a laborious inquiry, whether it was an herb or dust, or something of that kind; for as to what is meant, it is generally agreed that the Prophet teaches us by this metaphor, — that hypocrites gain nothing by setting up their pretences, that they may escape, when God condemns them. Hence he says, that all their attempts would be vain and fruitless. How so? Because their iniquity remained unwashed; that is, because they could not remove by washing what is imprinted. Spots or stains can indeed be cleansed or washed away by soap or other things; but when the stain is inward, and imprinted within, washing will avail nothing, for the marks are so deep that some more efficacious remedy must be adopted. So now the Prophet says, that the stains were imprinted, and therefore could not be washed away or cleansed by soap or borith.
But the Prophet says, that the stains were marked, or stamped, before God; for it was a common thing with the Israelites to clear themselves from every blame; nay, so great was their audacity, that they openly opposed the prophets, as though some great wrong was done to them; and they called the prophets accusers and slanderers, Hence he says, Thine iniquity is stamped before me? that is, “However thou mayest by self — flatteries deceive thyself, and hidest thy sins before the world, yet thou gainest nothing; for in my sight thine iniquity ever remains stamped.” He afterwards adds —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Though thou use all the purifications and ceremonies of…
Though thou use all the purifications and ceremonies of the law, thou canst not escape punishment, except thou turn to me by faith and repentance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 2:22 For though thou wash thee with nitre,…
Jer 2:22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, [yet] thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre.] Much used of old by fullers and neat laundresses, say Isidore and Athanasius, {a} now not known in these parts; apothecaries use saltpetre instead of it. Sin leaveth behind it a deep stain, so ingrained that it will hardly ever be gotten out, not at all by blanching, extenuating, excusing, &c., or by any legal purifications, hypocritical lotions. All which notwithstanding,
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Thine iniquity is marked before me.] Nitet iniquitas tua, splendet instar auri, {b} It glisters like gold before me, whose eyes thou canst not blind or blear with any of thy colourable pretexts and pretences.
{a} Lib. xvi. Etym.; Lib. de Virg. - Nitrum sordes erodit et expurgat. - Plin.
{b} Piscat.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Though interpreters do greatly vary. in describing what is…
Though interpreters do greatly vary. in describing what is particularly meant here by
nitre and soap, and it would be superfluous to mention here; yet all agree they are some materials that artists make use of for the cleansing away spots from the skin, clothes, or other things; and the sense is plain, that the blot of his people is by no art to be taken out: it cannot be covered by excuses; Though thou wouldst dissemble thy idolatries, thou canst not deceive me: nor expiated by sacrifices; it is beyond the power of all superstitious or religious washings to cleanse away, which may be understood by these natural and artificial ways of cleansing.
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Thine iniquity is marked: the meaning seems to be either, Thy filthiness is so foul that it leaves a brand behind it that cannot be hid or washed out, but will abide: see Jer 17:1. Or, according to another acceptation of the word,
it is laid up with God. See the like Deu 32:34; Hos 13:12. Purge thee, wash thee, do what thou wilt, thou canst by no means conceal thy wickedness from me, Job 9:20. They that would see greater variety of interpretations, let them consult the Synopsis.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain How canst thou say, I am not polluted,.... No…
How canst thou say, I am not polluted,.... No man can say this; for all are defiled with sin; but this was the cast and complexion of these people in all ages; they were a generation of men that were pure in their own eyes, but were not cleansed from their filthiness; they fancied that their ceremonial washings and sacrifices cleansed them from moral impurities, when those only sanctified to the purifying of the flesh; still their iniquity remained marked before the Lord; they acted the part of the adulterous woman in Pro 30:20 to whom they are compared in the context; and, therefore, as wondering at their impudence, they having a whore's forehead, this question is put, how and with what face they could affirm this, and what follows:
I have not gone after Baalim? or, "the Baalim"; the idols of the people, as the Targum interprets it; for there were many Baals, as Baalzephon, Baalpeor, Baalzebub, and others:
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see thy way in the valley; where idols were set up and worshipped; or through which the way lay, as Kimchi observes, to the hills and mountains where idolatry was frequently committed; perhaps no particular valley is meant, but any in which idols were worshipped, or which they passed through to the worshipping of them; though the Targum interprets it of the valley in which they dwelt, over against Baalpeor, so Jarchi and Abarbinel, when they worshipped that idol; and seems to design the valley of Shittim, Num 25:1, but rather, if any particular valley is intended, the valley of Hinnom seems to bid fair for it; and to this it may be the Septuagint version has respect, rendering it , "in the sepulchre of the multitude"; multitudes being burnt and buried here:
know what thou hast done; in the valley, especially in the valley of Hinnom, where they caused their children to pass through the fire to Molech:
thou art a swift dromedary. The Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it a young camel; and so the word in the Arabic language signifies; and the epithet "swift" better agrees with that than with the dromedary. Curtius (z) makes mention of dromedary camels of great swiftness; but it may be this is to be understood, not of its swiftness in running, but of its impetuous lust, as Calvin observes; and, indeed, each of these creatures are very libidinous; and therefore these people are compared to them; See Gill on Mic 1:13, it follows:
traversing her ways; running about here and there after the male, burning with lust, sometimes one way, and sometimes another; and so these people sometimes run after one idol, and sometimes another, and followed a multitude of them. The Targum renders it, "which corrupts or depraves her ways". De Dieu observes, that the word in the Ethiopic language, signifies "the evening"; and so may intend walking in the evening, in the dark, rather than in the light; which, as it is the way of dromedaries, and almost of all beasts, so of harlots, to whom these people are likened; and he further observes, that, in the Arabic language, it signifies to make common, which agrees with adulterous persons, as these were in a spiritual sense. The word is only used in this place, and is deduced from, or has some relation to, the word which signifies a "shoelatchet", Gen 14:23 as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; and may denote, as the shoe is bound and fastened with the latchet, the binding of her ways to her heart, as the former suggests, the strengthening and confirming of her in her evil ways, and her constant persisting therein; but the first sense of running here and there through lust is best; and is approved by Bynaeus (a) and by Buxtorf (b).
(z) (Curtius) L. 5. c. 2. (a) De Calceis Heb. l. 1. c. 7. sect. 4. (b) Lex. Heb. rad.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Nitre - Though interpreters do greatly vary in describing…
Nitre - Though interpreters do greatly vary in describing what is particularly meant here by Nitre and Soap, and would be superfluous to mention here; yet all agree, they are some materials that artists make use of for cleansing away spots from the skin. The blot of this people is by no art to be taken out; nor expiated by sacrifices; it is beyond the power of all natural and artificial ways of cleansing. Marked - Thy filthiness is so foul that it leaves a brand behind which cannot be hid or washed out, but will abide, chap. xvii, 1.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre]…
Verse 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre] It should be rendered natar or natron, a substance totally different from our nitre. It comes from the root נתר nathar, to dissolve, loosen, because a solution of it in water is abstersive, taking out spots, c., from clothes. It is still used in the east for the purpose of washing. If vinegar be poured on it, Dr. Shaw says, a strong effervescence is the immediate consequence, which illustrates Pr 25:20: "The singing of songs to a heavy heart is like vinegar upon natron" that is, there is no affinity between them; opposition and strife are occasioned by any attempt to unite them.
Thine iniquity is marked before me] No washing will take out thy spots; the marks of thy idolatry and corruption are too deeply rooted to be extracted by any human means.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 2:22. For though thou wash thee with nitre,…
Jer 2:22. For though thou wash thee with nitre, &c. — Though thou shouldest use ever so many methods of washing away thy sins, such as the rites of expiation prescribed by the law, or practised by idolaters; though thou shouldest insist ever so much upon thy own innocence and righteousness, yet the marks or stains of thy sins will always appear in the sight of God, till they are done away by his pardoning mercy, exercised toward thee in consequence of thy repentance and reformation. “The nitre here mentioned is not what we call nitre, or salt-petre, but a native salt of a different kind, distinguished among naturalists by the name of natrum, or the nitre of the ancients. It is found in abundance in Egypt, and in many parts of Asia, where it is called soap-earth, because it is dissolved in water, and used like soap in washing.” — Blaney.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Nitre - Or, natron, a mineral alkali, found in…
Nitre - Or, natron, a mineral alkali, found in the Nile valley, where it effloresces upon the rocks and surfaces of the dykes, and in old time was carefully collected, and used to make lye for washing (see Pro 25:20).
Sope - A vegetable alkali, now called “potash,” because obtained from the ashes of plants. Its combination with oils, etc., to form soap was not known to the Hebrews until long after Jeremiah’s time, but they used the lye, formed by passing water through the ashes. Thus then, though Israel use both mineral and vegetable alkalies, the most powerful detergents known, yet will she be unable to wash away the stains of her apostasy.
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Thine iniquity is marked - i. e., as a stain.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Borith. An herb used to clean clothes, and take…
Borith. An herb used to clean clothes, and take out spots and dirt, (Challoner) like kali, soda, (Calmet) or soap. (Langius.) --- Protestants, "and take thee much soap." (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain nitre--not what is now so called, namely, saltpeter; but…
nitre--not what is now so called, namely, saltpeter; but the natron of Egypt, a mineral alkali, an incrustation at the bottom of the lakes, after the summer heat has evaporated the water: used for washing (compare Job 9:30; Pro 25:20).
soap--potash, the carbonate of which is obtained impure from burning different plants, especially the kali of Egypt and Arabia. Mixed with oil it was used for washing.
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marked--deeply ingrained, indelibly marked; the Hebrew, catham, being equivalent to cathab. Others translate, "is treasured up," from the Arabic. MAURER from a Syriac root, "is polluted."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 22. Nitre — A mineral alkali.
22. Nitre — A mineral alkali.
Soap — A vegetable alkali. The original for wash is not the ordinary term, but the one which is used in application to the fuller. The most powerful means of purification of human devising would be ineffectual.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 22. lye] the same as washing-soda. “It occurs as…
22. lye] the same as washing-soda. “It occurs as an incrustation on the ground in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere, and is also a constituent in the water of certain saline lakes. The most famous of the latter are the ‘natron lakes’ in Egypt. They lie in the ‘natron valley’ about 60 miles W.N.W. of Cairo.” HDB. s. v. Nitre.
soap] As natron is a mineral so this is a vegetable alkali. Salsola kali (saltwort) is the chief plant among those used in its production, and is found in abundance on the Mediterranean coast of Palestine, as well as on the shores of the Dead Sea. This and other plants on being burnt furnish ashes, the lye of which (formed by passing water through them) was used for cleansing purposes. The immense heaps of rubbish frequently found in Palestine shew the extent of the manufacture. Soap-making by the admixture of oils and animal fat, now a prominent branch of industry in Palestine, was much later than Jeremiah’s time.
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thine iniquity is marked] The original word occurs nowhere else in O.T. and apparently means stained. Cp. our expression, (iniquity) of the deepest dye.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (22) Nitre.—The mineral alkali found in the natron lakes…
(22) Nitre.—The mineral alkali found in the natron lakes of Egypt that took their name from it. The Hebrew word nether is the origin of the Greek and English words. (Comp. Pro_25:20.)
Sope.—Not the compounds of alkali and oil or fat now known by the name, but the potash or alkali, obtained from the ashes of plants, which was used by itself as a powerful detergent. The thought is the same as that of Job_9:30, and, we may add, as that of Macbeth, Acts 2, sc. 2 :—
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“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.”
The guilt was too strongly “marked,” too “deep-dyed in grain” to be removed by any outward palliatives.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Nitre does not mean the substance which now bears…
Nitre does not mean the substance which now bears that name, but "natron," a mineral alkali, deposited on the shores and on the bed of certain lakes in Egypt, especially those in the Wady Nat-run (the ancient Nitria, whence came so large a store of precious Syriac manuscripts). In ancient times, this natron was collected to make lye from for washing purposes. (comp. Pro_25:20) Sope; rather, potash; the corresponding vegetable alkali. (comp. Isa_1:25) Thine iniquity is marked. So Kimchi and Gesenius (through a doubtful etymology); but the Aramaic use of the word favors the rendering stained, i.e. filthy. The word is in the participle, to indicate the permanence of the state (comp. "Will all great Neptune"s ocean wash this blood," etc.? "Macbeth").
The stains of sin.
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I SIN STAINS THE CHARACTER AND LIFE OF MEN.
1. Sin leaves stains behind it. No man can have clean hands after touching it. These stains are of two classes:
(1) internal the soiled imagination, the corrupted will, the vitiated habit which a single act of sin tends to produce; and
(2) external, in the form of guilt before God, and lowered reputation in the sight of men.
1. The stains of sin are not natural. They are no part of the true color of a man"s character. They are all contracted by experience.
2. These stains are all evil things. They are not like marks of immature development or of the necessary imperfection of humanity. They are products of corruption.
II NO MAN CAN WASH THE GUILT OF SIN FROM HIS CHARACTER. (Jer_13:23) The Jews were attempting this by denying the offences charged against them or excusing them. They would not admit their apostasy; but in vain.
1. Sin cannot be undone. We cannot recall the past. History is unchangeable. What we have done we have done.
2. Sin cannot be hidden. We can never hide it from God, who searches the. (1Jn_3:20) We cannot long or perfectly hide it from man. It will color our lives and reveal itself in action, in conversation, in countenance.
3. Sin cannot be excused. We may point to our training, our temptations, our natural weakness, our ignorance; and no doubt these facts are important as determining the degree of our guilt. (Luk_23:34) But the sin itself, greater or less as it may be, cannot be explained away. Our sins are our own or they would not be sins.
4. Sin cannot be expiated by us. Sacrifice is of no real avail. That was only acceptable as a symbol and type of God"s method of cleansing sin. Penance could only act as discipline for the future; for the past it is no better than a fruitless sacrifice. Future goodness cannot atone for the past; for that is required on its own account, and if it were perfect it would be no more than it ought to be we should still be "unprofitable servants.
III No MAN CAN WASH THE STAIN OF INDWELLING SIN FROM HIS LIFE. Men have tried all methods; but in vain.
1. Simple determination to conquer it. But he who commits sin is the slave of sin, (Joh_8:34) and a slave who cannot emancipate himself. The worst effect of sin is seen in the corruption of the will. Hence we have not the power to reform until our will is renewed, i.e. until, in New Testament language, we are "born again.
2. Charge of external circumstances. This is a helpful accessory of more effectual means, but it is not sufficient in itself, because sin is internal, and no change of scene will effect a change of heart. A man may cross the Atlantic, but he will be the same being in America that he was in England. He may be lifted from the dunghill to a throne, but if he had a vicious nature in his low condition he will carry that with him to his new sphere. Base metal does not become gold by receiving the guinea"s stamp. Sanitary arrangements, education, reforming influences, etc., are all helpful, but none are fundamental enough to effect the complete change. The stains are too ingrained for any such washing to remove them.
IV IN THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST WE MAY SEE THE MEANS FOR CLEANSING BOTH THE GUILT OF CHARACTER AND THE STAIN OF INDWELLING SIN.
1. Guilt is shown to be removed by the free forgiveness of God in Christ, for no merits of our own, but for the sake of his work and sacrifice; by no effort of ours, but on condition of repentance and the faith which trusts him as our Savior, and submits to him as our Lord. (Act_10:43)
2. The stain of indwelling sin is shown to be removed by the renewal of our nature, so that we are born "from above" and "of the Spirit", (Joh_3:3-8) and become new creatures in Christ by means of the same faith of trust and submission. (2Co_5:17)
The sinner"s attempt to wash away his sin.
I WHEREFORE HE MAKES THE ATTEMPT. Sometimes it is that
(1) conscience is aroused; or
(2) the Word of God is too plainly against him; or
(3) Divine providence threatens ominously; or
(4) like Felix, he trembles as some Paul preaches.
II THE MANNER IN WHICH HE PROCEEDS.
1. He partially abandons known sin, as Pharaoh, Nineveh, Israel. at time of Josiah"s reformation, Herod.
2. Multiplies religious services.
3. Is ready with good resolves.
4. There is some stir of religious feeling. Tears are shed, the emotional nature is excited, and there is some temporary tenderness of conscience. Added to all this there may be:
5. Self-inflicted punishments, bodily mortifications. Such is the washing with nitre and the taking of much soap which the prophet describes.
III ITS USELESSNESS. The stain of the iniquity is there still (ver. 22). How powerfully is this confessed in the great tragedy of "Macbeth"! After his dread crime, the conscience-stricken wretch thus speaksHow is"t with me, when every noise appals me? What hands are here? Ha! they pluck out mine eyes! Will all great Neptune"s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.
IV THE TRUE CLEANSING WHICH IT SUGGESTS AND INVITES Isa_1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together," etc.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Though thou wash thee with nitre.
Jer_2:22
Though thou wash thee with nitre.
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No self-expiation
One of the shortest, but most pregnant, words in our language is sin. And yet it is one of those words least understood. The whole system of the Gospel rests on the fact of sin, and on the dreadful evil of sin, and on the inexpiable character of sin by any human means whatsoever. Our text puts the truth with a very startling clearness. The nitre here mentioned was a mineral substance, and the soap was a vegetable substance, both employed for the purpose of removing spots; and the meaning is, adopt what means you may and all the means within your power, and still your sin will remain, it will strike through again, and be as fresh as the day on which it was committed. This is true of sin in both its aspects of guilt and stain: as guilt or wrong you cannot remove it; and as a blot you cannot remove it. Let us look at it as guilt or wrong. Who can expiate it as a matter of right? If the question be asked, but may not God waive His right? We answer that, if He did this, it would be an act of grace; it would be a voluntary surrender on His part of what He had a right to claim and to inflict. But it does not require much thought to teach us that God could never give to any of His creatures the power of expiation consistent with the stability of His own throne and government. To grant that a man has power to expiate a sin, would be to grant that he has a right to insult God and to sin whenever he desires. Such an engagement would place God in the position of a being who was trafficking in selling the right to do iniquity. You can conceive of a foolish father or mother possessing an imperious nature, and anxious to display supreme authority, incessantly commanding and forbidding their children to do certain trifling things--things which, whether done or left undone, would be of no injury to the children. This is not government. It is irritation. This is not encouraging obedience; it is promoting rebellion. It frets the will by the assertion of needless and unreasonable claims. But surely, the commands of God are not of this character. The commands of God are God Himself in expression, and not merely the power of God or the will of God, but the sense of right and justice and holiness, without which He could have no claim on the obedience and reverence of any creature. But this is not all. Not only do Gods commands express His own eternal nature, and not only do they appeal to our moral nature, so that we cannot treat them as if they were simply suggestions, or pieces of advice, or matters of taste; but they are commands which contemplate and secure, in so far as they are obeyed, our happiness. In other words, they not only enjoin the right way, but the happy way. To sin, therefore, is not only to disobey, but to derange; it is not only to set at nought a Divine injunction, but to outrage your own nature. If therefore the line of obedience to the Divine will is also, as it most assuredly is, the line of blessedness to yourself, do you not see that there can be no expiation for disobedience? Will punishment for a certain time be an expiation? In no country is it held that imprisonment for theft is as good as honesty; in no country is a fine for drunkenness as good as sobriety. But if punishment is not an expiation for sin in human government, in the sense of being regarded as an equivalent for the offence which has been committed, if it does not restore to a man either the character or the standing which he occupied before, so neither is it an expiation for sin in our relations to God. It is true that He too says, If you sin you will also suffer; but He does not say, Your suffering will stand good instead of your obedience. When God punishes, He says first, I cannot be trifled with, and I cannot have My laws set at nought. The punishment means that in the first instance; it must mean that, whether it means anything else or not. If it be asked whether punishment is not meant to be corrective, and whether it is not meant also to be preventive, by way of example to others who see the suffering which follows sin, I admit that these are among the purposes of punishment; but they are secondary purposes. God says to us, If you sin punishment will follow whether you are corrected by it or you are not, and whether others take warning by it or not. It may be said that suffering is not the only nitre and soap by means of which men seek to wash off the guilt of sin; that there is repentance, and future amendment; and that these are sufficient as a set-off against any amount of transgression. Now, it is impossible for us to determine what repentance can do or what future amendment can do, in reference to past sin, without the light which Scripture gives us. Repentance is a change of mind and heart and life; and in the dispensation under which we live, repentance is connected with faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And it must not be torn from this connection. The parable of the prodigal son teaches us, that as a son must return to his father, and will be received if he returns, so if a man return to God he will be received. But it was not meant to expound the whole Gospel. The great truth is set forth that a returning child is received; but the way of return Christ explains again and again in His other teachings, as for example when He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father, but by Me. The question which we have all to consider is, how is the guilt of our sins to be dealt with that it will not be laid at last to our charge? The answer of the Gospel is not that repentance will stand between it and us. It is that Christ will stand between it and us. Repentance does not bear our sins; Christ bears our sins. (E. Mellor, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:22 The metaphor changes from a planted vine to…
2:22 The metaphor changes from a planted vine to a dirty cloth that soap or lye cannot wash clean. However hard the Israelites scrubbed, their guilt was still apparent (cp. Isa 1:18).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.