4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning--"instruction"
through, &c.--"through the comfort and the patience of the Scriptures"
might have hope--that is, "Think not that because such portions
of Scripture relate immediately to Christ, they are inapplicable to
you; for though Christ's sufferings, as a Saviour, were exclusively His
own, the motives that prompted them, the spirit in which
they were endured, and the general principle involved in His
whole work--self-sacrifice for the good of others--furnish our most
perfect and beautiful model; and so all Scripture relating to these is
for our instruction; and since the duty of forbearance, the
strong with the weak, requires 'patience,' and this again needs
'comfort,' all those Scriptures which tell of patience and
consolation, particularly of the patience of Christ, and of the
consolation which sustained Him under it, are our appointed and
appropriate nutriment, ministering to us 'hope' of that blessed
day when these shall no more be needed." See on
Ro 4:7,
Note 7. (For the same connection between "patience and hope"
see on
Ro 12:12,
and
1Th 1:3).
JFB.
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