Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
By pureness - ̔· In simplicity of intention, and purity of affection; together with that chastity and holiness of life which the Gospel enjoins.
By knowledge - Of the Divine mysteries.
By long-suffering - Under all provocations.
By kindness - To our most virulent persecutors, and to all men.
By the Holy Ghost - There are doubts among learned men whether the apostle here means that Spirit who is called the third person of the holy Trinity; or some grace, disposition, or quality of the soul, which was thus denominated, as implying a spirit wholly purified, and fitted to be a habitation of God.
Schoettgen quotes a passage from Rabbi Bechai, in which it appears to him to have this latter meaning: "Rabbi Pinchas, the son of Jair, said: Reflection leads to sedulity; sedulity to innocence; innocence to abstinence; abstinence to cleanness; cleanness to sanctity; sanctity to the fear of sin; fear of sin to humility; humility to piety; and piety to the Holy Spirit. Of these ten virtues five are external, or belong to the body; and five internal, or belonging to the soul; but all men prefer the tenth, which is ruach hakkodesh , the Holy Spirit." Even allowing Rabbi Pinchas to be a person on whose judgment we could rely, and whose authority was decisive, there does not appear to me any reason why we should depart from the usual meaning of the term from any thing that is said here. It appears to me plain enough that the rabbi means the constant indwelling of the Holy Spirit; and St. Paul, in this place, may have the same thing in view, and with it the various gifts of the Holy Spirit by which he was enabled to work miracles.
By love unfeigned - ͅ ͅ· Love without hypocrisy; such as disposed us at all times to lay down our life for the brethren, and to spend and be spent for the glory of God and the good of mankind.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Philemon 1:8
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