03.20. To the Uttermost.

To the Uttermost.

John 13:1; Hebrews 7:25.

Two of the most beautiful verses of Scripture deal with the Master’s love and with his ability to save. We are told that there is no limit, that he loves and saves "to the end" or "to the uttermost."

Love to the uttermost. In introducing the events which took place in the upper room on the night of our Lord’s betrayal, the Apostle John writes:

"Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end" (John 13:1).

Instead of the last three words, the R.V. margin has "to the uttermost:" The great majority of translators here prefer the reading "to the end," and the phrase ("eis telos") is used in that sense in the New Testament and out of it. In Matthew 10:22, for example, we have no hesitation in reading, "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved:" But the words are just as adequately translated by "full," "completely," or "in the highest degree:" In 1 Thessalonians 2:16 we all agree that the phrase is used in this sense; hence the common translation, "The wrath is come upon them to the uttermost:" There is another common meaning, "at last," which some think is the meaning both here and in Luke 18:5, where the phrase also occurs.

It matters little whether in John 13:1 we translate "to the end" or "to the uttermost:"

Each rendering gives a blessed truth and each is in harmony with the context. Alexander Maclaren takes the one view. "It was more to John’s purpose," he writes, "to tell us that the shadow of the Cross only brought to the surface in more blessed and wonderful representation the deep love of his heart than simply to tell us that that shadow did not stop its flow." That is, the Saviour always loved his apostles, but now in the hour of crisis and facing the bitterest experience of his life he carried his love to the highest point. Dr. Marcus Dods says that the meaning is that Christ "loved them through all the sufferings and to all the issues to which his love brought them. The statement is the suitable introduction to all that now looms in view. His love remained stedfast, and was now the ruling motive."

If we might combine the views, we should certainly get truth. On that night of betrayal, Christ’s unfailing love was perfectly displayed.

Able to save to the uttermost. In Hebrews 7:25 there is a beautiful passage, one of the favorite texts of many a reader, which tells us that Christ "is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near to God through him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for them." The phrase here translated "to the uttermost" is "eis to panteles," which has precisely the same ambiguity as has the "eis telos" of John 13:1. Moffatt translates "for all time," instead of "to the uttermost," which is quite legitimate. The meaning may be that no matter to what length sin has gone, Christ is able to subdue it and save from it; or the reference may be to time, Jesus’ permanent priesthood being contrasted with the temporary function of the Aaronic priest who by reason of death was not suffered long to continue his service. In one of his expository articles Professor David Smith deals with this verse. He says: "It appears that the phrase signified, as the Revisers have it in their marginal rendering of the passage before us, ’completely’ or more literally ’without any limit’ whether of time or of extent or of degree. Primarily indeed it is time that is intended here, since the immediate theme is the permanence of our Lord’s priesthood; but the corollary thereof is the finality, completeness, and all-sufficiency of his atoning sacrifice, and if we limit the phrase to time, then we impoverish the passage by ignoring those glorious truths which are its main burthen." Of the meaning of the phrase for us, Dr. Smith writes as follows:

"1. ’He is able to save to the uttermost of time.’ He is the Eternal Saviour, ’the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever.’ What he was for Peter and Mary Magdalene and the Dying Thief, that he is for us now, and will be for all who trust him ’to the last syllable of recorded time.’ What he was in Galilee and Jerusalem he is evermore in his glory; and what he was to us when we first believed, he will be to us still even to the end of our journey, according to the ancient promise: ’Even to old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you.’

"2. ’He is able to save to the uttermost of human depravity.’ For his sacrifice for sin was an infinite sacrifice, ’an atonement for our sin, and not for ours only but also for the sin of the whole world.’

"3. ’He is able to save to the uttermost of the sinner’s day of grace.’ Misericordia Domini, said St. Augustine, inter pontem et fontem, ’There is mercy with the Lord betwixt the bridge and the brook.’ And what this means is illustrated by an epitaph taken by William Camden, the Elizabethan antiquary, from the tombstone of ’a gentleman who, falling off his horse, brake his neck, which suddain hap gave occasion of much speech of his former life.’

"There is life for a look at the Crucified--even at the last moment." As we close, we may note a further remark of Professor Smith regarding the ambiguities of the New Testament text. It is worthy of remembrance in connection not only with Hebrews 7:25, but also with the other ambiguous passages which we have studied. "Where a phrase in the original is vague," he says, "it is always well in translation to reproduce its vagueness and refrain from precise definition; else we substitute interpretation for translation, and even where our interpretation is true, narrow the original and eliminate much of its precious significance." The remembrance of this wise remark will help us much in our appreciation of the sacred text and our estimation of the value of the numerous translations now in common use. There is very frequent substitution of interpretation for translation.