For ye had compassion of me in my bonds
When he was bound at Jerusalem, by the chief captain Lysias, with
two chains, ( Acts 21:33 ) or when he
was in bonds elsewhere; which they did by sympathizing with him
in their hearts; by their prayers for him, and in their letters
to him; and by sending presents to him for his relief and
support. The Alexandrian copy, and two of Stephens's, the Vulgate
Latin and Syriac versions, read, "had compassion on the
prisoners"; or "them that were bound"; meaning prisoners in
general, remembering them that were in bonds, as bound with them;
or particularly such as were prisoners for the sake of Christ,
and his Gospel; and it may be some of them, which the apostle
himself committed to prison, in his state of unregeneracy:
and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods;
the furniture of their houses, their worldly substance, of which
they were stripped by their persecutors; and this they took
quietly and patiently, yea, joyfully; rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer the confiscation of their goods for the
sake of Christ: the reason of which joy was,
knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and
an
enduring substance:
that which is laid up for the saints in heaven is "substance"; it
is signified by an house, a city, a kingdom; and so it is
rendered here in the Ethiopic version; and by riches, true,
glorious, and durable; and by a treasure and an inheritance: and
this is "better" than anything in this world; as to the quality
of it, it being celestial; and as to the quantity of it, it being
all things; and as to the place where it is, "in heaven"; though
this clause is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in the
Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; and as to the company with
whom it is enjoyed, saints in light; yea, God himself is the
portion of his people: and this is an "enduring" substance; it
cannot be wasted by the saints themselves; nor taken away from
them by others; nor can it decay in its own nature; and the
saints will always endure to enjoy it: and this they may be said
to "have": it is promised to them, and prepared for them; they
have a right unto it, and the earnest of it; and they have it
already in Christ, their head and representative; so that it is,
upon all accounts, sure unto them: and this they know in
themselves; from what they find and feel in their own hearts;
from the sealing testimony and earnest of the Spirit, and from
the promise of Christ, ( Matthew 5:10
) .