John is the "brother" specially of those who were of the seed of Abraham. The term can hardly be used here, we submit, either of mere human brotherhood, or of Christian brotherhood, when all else in this chapter and in the book is so evidently stamped with a Jewish character. John says, I "am your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience with Jesus." Here (according to all the Critical Greek Texts and the R.V.) the words "in the" before "kingdom" must be omitted; and the word "in" must be inserted before "Jesus": while the word "Christ" must also be omitted after "Jesus." The verse then stands as we have here given it. The R.V. inserts the italics "which are in Jesus." The word (...) (en), in, may well be rendered, with; as it is rendered 138 times in the New Testament; and then there is no ellipsis to be supplied. Here is companionship in patient waiting. For that is the meaning of the word rendered "patience," [34] and it always has the thought of endurance underlying it. It is a patient-waiting and enduring in tribulation; yet a patient waiting and expectation of the "kingdom;" and all this "with Jesus," for "this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies shall have been placed as a footstool for his feet." He is "expecting," and He is also patiently waiting (see 2 Thess. iii.5, margin), and so are we with Him, but the waiting referred to here is a patient endurance in tribulation and for the kingdom. We, too, as members of the Church of God have need of patience, and endurance; but we are looking, not for the kingdom, but for the KING Himself (not as King, for He is not so proclaimed till His enemies are subdued); and though we, too, exercise this patient endurance in tribulation, it is not in "the tribulation," but we are waiting to be taken away before that tribulation comes upon the earth. This expression therefore is worthy of note, and its evidence has to be added to the other expressions used. Footnotes: [34] It occurs seven times in this book: i. 9; ii. 2,3,19; iii. 10; xiii. 10; xiv. 12. |
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