Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Revelation 18:4 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Re 18:4 |
King James |
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Come out of her, my people--quoted from Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6, Jer 51:45. Even in the Romish Church God has a people: but they are in great danger; their only safety is in coming out of her at once. So also in every apostate or world-conforming church there are some of God's invisible and true Church, who, if they would be safe, must come out. Especially at the eve of God's judgment on apostate Christendom: as Lot was warned to come out of Sodom just before its destruction, and Israel to come from about the tents of Dathan and Abiram. So the first Christians came out of Jerusalem when the apostate Jewish Church was judged. "State and Church are precious gifts of God. But the State being desecrated to a different end from what God designed it, namely. to govern for, and as under, God, becomes beast-like; the Church apostatizing becomes the harlot. The true woman is the kernel: beast and harlot are the shell: whenever the kernel is mature, the shell is thrown away" [AUBERLEN]. "The harlot is not Rome alone (though she is pre-eminently so), but every Church that has not Christ's mind and spirit. False Christendom, divided into very many sects, is truly Babylon, that is, confusion. However, in all Christendom the true Jesus-congregation, the woman clothed with the sun, lives and is hidden. Corrupt, lifeless Christendom is the harlot, whose great aim is the pleasure of the flesh, and which is governed by the spirit of nature and the world" [HAHN in AUBERLEN]. The first justification of the woman is in her being called out of Babylon the harlot, as the culminating stage of the latter's sin, when judgment is about to fall: for apostate Christendom, Babylon, is not to be converted, but to be destroyed. Secondly, she has to pass through an ordeal of persecution from the beast, which purifies and prepares her for the transfiguration glory at Christ's coming (Rev 20:4; Luk 21:28).
be not partakers--Greek, "have no fellowship with her sins."
that ye receive not of her plagues--as Lot's wife, by lingering too near the polluted and doomed city. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And I heard another voice from heaven - He does not say whether this was the voice of an angel, but the idea seems rather to be that it is the voice of God.
Come out of her, my people - The reasons for this, as immediately stated, are two:
(a) that they might not participate in her sins; and,
(b) that they might not be involved in the ruin that would come upon her.
The language seems to be derived from such passages in the Old Testament as the following: "Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing," Isa 48:20. "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity," Jer 51:6. "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord," Jer 51:45. Compare Jer 50:8.
That ye be not partakers of her sins - For the meaning of this expression, see the notes on Ti1 5:22. It is implied here that by remaining in Babylon they would lend their sanction to its sins by their presence, and would, in all probability, become contaminated by the influence around them. This is an universal truth in regard to iniquity, and hence it is the duty of those who would be pure to come out from the world, and to separate themselves from all the associations of evil.
And that ye receive not of her plagues - Of the punishment that was to come upon her - as they must certainly do if they remained in her. The judgment of God that was to come upon the guilty city would make no discrimination among those who were found there; and if they would escape these woes they must make their escape from her. As applicable to papal Rome, in view of her impending ruin, this means:
(a) that there might be found in her some who were the true people of God;
(b) that it was their duty to separate wholly from her - a command that will not only justify the Reformation, but which would have made a longer continuance in communion with the papacy, when her wickedness was fully seen, an act of guilt before God;
(c) that they who remain in such a communion cannot but be regarded as partaking of her sin; and,
(d) that if they remain, they must expect to be involved in the calamities that will come upon her. There never was any duty plainer than that of withdrawing from papal Rome; there never has been any act attended with more happy consequences than that by which the Protestant world separated itself forever from the sins and the plagues of the papacy. |
| The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
sins
Sin
(See Scofield) - (Rom 3:23). |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Come out of her
Compare Jer 51:6, Jer 51:45; Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Num 16:26.
Have fellowship with (συγκοινωνήσητε)
This compound verb is not of frequent occurrence in the New Testament. It is found only in Eph 5:11, Phi 4:14, and here. On the kindred noun συγκοινωνὸς companion, see on Rev 1:9. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| And I heard another voice - Of Christ, whose people, secretly scattered even there, are warned of her approaching destruction. That ye be not partakers of her sins - That is, of the fruits of them. What a remarkable providence it was that the Revelation was printed in the midst of Spain, in the great Polyglot Bible, before the Reformation! Else how much easier had it been for the Papists to reject the whole book, than it is to evade these striking parts of it. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Come out of her, my people - These words appear to be taken from Isa 48:20; Jer 1:8; Jer 51:6, Jer 51:45. The poet Mantuanus expresses this thought well: -
Vivere qui sancte cupitis, discelite; Romae
Omnia quum liceant, non licet esse bonum.
"Ye who desire to live a godly life, depart; for, although all things are lawful at Rome, yet to be godly is unlawful. |
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.
8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.