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Mat 18:14. Οὐκ ἔστι θέλημα, it is not a wish)[818] or anything to be desired (cf. Eze 18:23). The article is not added in the present passage; cf. θεληματα, wishes, in Act 13:22.[819] We ought to subserve the Divine will in caring for the salvation of all.-ἔμπροσθεν,[820] in the presence of)[821] The Divine intellect is intimated as discerning what things please His will.[822]-ἵνα, κ.τ.λ., that, etc.) i.e. He wishes most earnestly that all should be saved.-εἷς, one) The disciples had asked in the comparative;[823] our Lord answers specially in the positive degree.
[818] E. V. “It is not the will.” Middleton renders it, “There is no wish.”-(I. B.)
[819] Rendered in E. V. by, “Which shall fulfil all My will.”-(I. B.)
[820] In his own German Version Bengel renders the passage thus:-“Also ist es kein Wille VOR eurem Vater, dass,” etc.-(I. B.)
[821] E. V. renders the passage, “It is not the will of your Father,” etc. Bengel would render it literally, “It is not a wish in the presence of your Father,” etc., and explain it as representing the Divine Intellect as surveying all possible contingencies (rendered by the Divine power visible to the Divine perception), and distinguishing between those which are, and those which are not, agreeable to His Will.-(I. B.)
[822] Bengel has used the word Voluntas four times in this paragraph, and that in two different senses. In the first instance, I have rendered the singular by Wish; in the second, the plural by Wishes; in the third and fourth, the singular by Will.-(I. B.)
[823] i.e. The disciples had asked, “Which is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?”-their question therefore referred to the comparative degrees of glory. Our Lord’s reply directs their attention to the simple notion, the positive degree of salvation; the universal requisites on man’s part to attain-the universal desire on God’s part to bestow it.-(I. B.)