He therefore that despiseth
The Vulgate Latin adds, "these things"; these exhortations now
delivered, the commandments given by the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the will of God above declared; he that rejects these things with
contempt, takes no notice of them, and acts not according to
them,
despiseth not man;
not men only, the apostles of Christ, and ministers of the
Gospel; for, by despising these exhortations, they themselves
were despised, though not alone: but God; Father, Son, and
Spirit; God the Father, whose will was their sanctification, even
to abstain from fornication, and every act of uncleanness, which,
if not attended to, was a despising of him; and the Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom, and for whose sake they were entreated and
exhorted, and in whose name, and by whose authority the apostle
gave them these commandments; wherefore to slight them, was to
slight Jesus Christ himself; and, by the way, this is a proof of
the true and proper deity of Christ. Moreover, such despisers
also, in some sense, do despite unto the spirit of grace, by whom
the apostles spake, or who spoke in them these things, as
follows,
who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit;
as he did to the prophets of the Old Testament, and therefore
what they said was equally by divine inspiration of God; and
hence despising them, was despising the Spirit of God that spake
by them. The Syriac and Arabic versions read, "who hath given
unto you his Holy Spirit"; and so all Stephens's copies; which
furnishes out a fresh reason or argument, dissuading from
uncleanness, since God had given them his "Spirit" to convince
them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, so that they were
not ignorant of the things warned against; and he had given them
his Spirit as an "holy" Spirit, as a Spirit of sanctification, to
begin and carry on that work in them, to which uncleanness was
very opposite; and he had given his Spirit unto, or "into" them,
to dwell in them, as in his temple, and therefore should be
careful not to defile it; and to cause them to walk in his
statutes, and to assist them to keep his judgments, and do them,
and as an earnest of their inheritance, and a sealer of them up
unto the day of redemption; wherefore it became them not to
grieve him by an impure life; and they were laid under
obligations to live in the Spirit, and to walk after him, and not
after the flesh.