The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-01-16
THE SABBATH SCHOOL,
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR JANUARY 20.

- SSA>~~~~S~~--s
on the Days Lesson.
20. Certain Greeks" The original
'Hellenes" means persons of Greek ma
tionality, born Gentiles OF tie Greek race.
Game up to worship" These Greeks
were proselytes to the Jewish religion.
That they acknowledge the true God is
evident, but it is not certain that they
had been circumcised. They belonged to
the class known as ''proslytes of the gate,"
80 named from the phrase OF the law,
"the stranger that is within thy gates.
Elk. 20: 10, etc.
2I. "Came, therefore, to Philip" It is
not known why they should come to Philip
first unless it was because they had some
slight acquaintance with him. Philip and
Andrew are Greek names, and the only
ones of Greek origin among the disciples.
1t is supposed that these Greeks came
either from Syro-Phoenicia or Decapolis.
"Bethsaida of Galilee." The Bethsaida
situated near Capernaum, in Galilee, was
Philips native town. Desired Him"
Jesus was in the court of the women,
where He had Just beheld the poor widow
cast two mites into the treasury. The
Greeks were not allowed to enter this
court, hence the necessity of sending word
to Christ and asking Him to come out:
%. ANDREW and Philip" How pleas
ing to God is this union, when the minis
ters of the gospel agree and unite TO-
gether to bring souls to Christ. But
where self-love prevails, and the honor
that comes from God is not sought, this
union never exists. Bigotry often ruins
every generous sentiment among the dit
ferent denominations OF the people OF God.
"Tell Jesus" 1t filled His heart with
L. 70
must have seemed to Him an earnest OF
His future triumphs among the great
heather nations. :,
o. "Jesus answered them" Our Lord
spake primarily to the Greeks, and second
arily to His disciples, .Q) of the meaning
of His impending death, (2) of the neces..
sity of faithfulness to Him in it, (3) OF
the blessing attached thereto. 'The hour"
The time. SHOULD be glorifed." The
time has come when the old prophecies
lisa. 81: 8; 60: 81 are to be fulfilled, the
Messiah's kingdom is to be set up. in the
whole earth, and Christ is to take His
place on the right hand of God.
"a. Verify, verify" These words were
used to emphasize some great and impor-
tant truth. He now proceeds to show how
the glorifcation of the Son Of Man would
be accomplished. "a corn" A grain.
Into the ground and die" Jesus uses
very familiar illustration. The seed must
die in order to iberate the life..serm with:
in it and allow it to become fruitful. II
the seed is not put into the ground it
"abideth alone" This is an image set
through Christ's death. It was necessary
for Him to die in order to complete His
redemptive work and provide a way OF
atornal ca fetv for lost man.
%. "Loveth his life" The word trans
lated life is often translated soul, as in
verse 81. The meaning is that he who
makes the pleasures, honors and rewards
of this life his chief concern, and sacrifices
righteousness and integrity in order to
obtain them, "shall lose it," Shall lose
in most cases even the earthly rewards
that he hoped to gain, and shall lose his
soul eternaily. "That hateth his life" On
the other hand le who sacrifices, when
necessary, all vol :dly goods for Christ's
sake and the gospels Mark 8: 35), Shall
keep it," Shall gain eternal life. "The loss
is temporal, the gain is eternal; the loss is
small, the gain ininite;" the loss is OF out.
ward things, the gain is the soul itself,
which is of infinitely greater value than all
earthly good.
a twofold sense; He instructs men, and
appoints them their work. He who wishes
to serve Christ must become disciple to
be taught, and servant to obey. Let
him follow Me-. Let him act out the
above principle, as Christ has done and
was about to do. This is Christ,s answer
to the request Of the Greeks. Service of
Christ is to be sought, not by secret inter.
views, but by practically following Him in
a life of daily self-sacrifce for others.
Christians must follow the methods and
example of Christ. "Where I am" Where
I shall shortly take up Mine abode, even
in the eternal kingdom of My Father.
"There shall also My servant be-" In the
same state of happiness and glory "Wlll
My Father honor" He will be honored
with his Master; made partaker of the
Joys and rewards of the one he served.
81. ."My soul troubled" Christ had
various foretastes of His passion before He
fully entered into it; already His soul was
beginning to be exceeding sorrowful."
"What shall I say?" What shall My
prayer be to Ny Father? "Save Me from
this hour" This should be read as
question, according to the Revised Yer.
sion, Margin. Christ did not pray. to be
delivered from death; He knew why He
came into the world, and was ready to
bear the agonies of the cross.
%. "Glorify Thy name" By the Name
of God is understood Himself in all His
attributes; His wisdom, truth. justice,
mercy, holiness, which are all abundantly
gIori6ed by Christ's death. The prayer
is, Father. glorify Thyself. at whatever
cost to Me. "a voice from heaven"
This was the third time the Father had
spoken from heaven. See Matt. 8: II;
Luke 9: 35. I have-and will glorify it."
The Father had glorihed His name by CIV
ing Him power to accomplish His mission
thus far, and He would continue to glorlty
it by giving Him power to come to the
cross, and by bringing Him forth from the
go. "Not because of Me-" Not to
strengthen or confirm Me, for / had no
doubts about My course. For your
sakes" Probably as proof to the Greeks
who had desired to see Him, that He was
the Messiah.
81. Nov" At this very time: "Is
the Judgment" Or, the crisis. Now it
shall be determined who shall rule the
world. Others think that Judgment here
means condemnation, and that the
time had now come when the religious sys'
TENS of the world were to receive sen,
tence Of condemnation. "The prince OF
this world" Satan. "Be cast out" Cast
out of his position; dethroned
3d. IF 1 be lifted up On the cross;
as explained in the next verse. "Wlll
draw" After I have died and risen
again. Christ draws, but we must yield
to the influences of the Spirit, repenting
O: and torsaking our sins, and turning to
Him with all our hearts.