25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought--"Be not
solicitous." The English word "thought," when our version was made,
expressed this idea of "solicitude," "anxious concern"--as may be seen
in any old English classic; and in the same sense it is used in
1Sa 9:5,
&c. But this sense of the word has now nearly gone out, and so the mere
English reader is apt to be perplexed. Thought or forethought,
for temporal things--in the sense of reflection, consideration--is
required alike by Scripture and common sense. It is that anxious
solicitude, that oppressive care, which springs from unbelieving doubts
and misgivings, which alone is here condemned. (See
Php 4:6).
for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for
your body, what ye shall put on--In Luke
(Lu 12:29)
our Lord adds, "neither be ye unsettled"--not "of doubtful mind," as in
our version. When "careful (or 'full of care') about nothing," but
committing all in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving unto God,
the apostle assures us that "the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus"
(Php 4:6, 7);
that is, shall guard both our feelings and our thoughts from undue
agitation, and keep them in a holy calm. But when we commit our whole
temporal condition to the wit of our own minds, we get into that
"unsettled" state against which our Lord exhorts His disciples.
Is not the life more than meat--food.
and the body than raiment?--If God, then, gives and keeps up the
greater--the life, the body--will He withhold the less, food to sustain
life and raiment to clothe the body?
JFB.
Picture Study Bible