Luke 12:4-5 And I say to you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.… In verse 5 our Lord guards against the error of the soul's annihilation. Also against the notion that the body will escape the ruin of the soul. Perdition is not the destruction of the being of either, but of the well-being of both. Learn, that to play false with convictions to save life will fail of its end. God can inflict a violent death in some other and more awful way. 1. There is a hell for the body as well as for the soul; consequently sufferings adapted to the one as well as the other. 2. Fear of hell is a divinely authorized and needed motive of action even to Christ's "friends." 3. As Christ's meekness and tenderness were not compromised by this language, those ministers want their Master's spirit who soften it to please "ears polite." (Van Doren.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. |
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