diabolos is rendered `slanderer' (1 Tim. 3:11).  This reference in 1 Timothy 3

is but an extension of verses 6 and 7 which warn against the snare of the devil,

in connection with the care of the Church of God.

To one entirely unacquainted with the original languages in which the

Scriptures are written, such a long drawn out attempt to relate the anointed

cherub, with traffic, which in its turn lends itself to the names Satan and

Devil, and through the LXX, to the `wiles' of the devil, and so back again to

the emphasis upon `profane', `defile', `sanctuary' and the like, may seem a

trifle far-fetched, but were we all as acquainted with the primary and derived

meanings of words in the original language as we are without conscious effort

with similar phenomena in our mother tongue, these lengthy explanations would be

unnecessary.  This association of the word `to go about' with Satanic

characteristics, is repeated in the use of another word found in Job, where

Satan replied to the Lord's enquiry, that he had come `from going to and fro in

the earth' (Job 1:7).  It should be remembered that this same word is used of

the Lord when we read:

`The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth' (2 Chron.

`They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole

earth' (Zech. 4:10).

These same eyes are mentioned immediately after the scene which is

introduced with `Satan standing at His right hand to resist' (Zech. 3:1).

Again, as it is impossible to imagine the anointed cherub of Ezekiel 28,

running a business and being a `merchant' in the ordinary sense of the term, so

we suspect that when Zechariah, speaking of the day of Israel's restoration,

says `there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts'

(Zech. 14:21), he is but allying himself with those other writers who speak of

`no more' death, curse or pain.  If the word Canaanite had been translated

`trafficker' as it is in Isaiah 23:8, or `merchant' as it is in Hosea 12:7, or

in Job 41:6, the link with Ezekiel 28 and the `traffic in holy things' would

have been apparent.  These prophetic associations, moreover, give point to the

Saviour's reprimand `make not My Father's house an house of merchandise' (John

2:16).  The declared purpose behind the choice of the church `before the

overthrow of the world' is that it should be `holy', and the contrast which

appears to be intended here, between the church and that company which fell with

Satan, through `trafficking in holy things', enables us to see with clear-cut

precision what one characteristic at least should dominate all others in the

estimate of the believer today.  We have received a `holy' as well as a `high

calling', and the first detailed description of the walk that should correspond,

is given in Ephesians 4, where it is the `keeping' as a sacred trust, the unity

of the Spirit, keeping unsullied from the bribery or corruption of compromise.

When we come to Ephesians 1:18, and enquire as to the meaning of the phrase `in

the saints', we hope to make it plain that this directs our attention to `the

holiest of all' (see pages 201-203).

The two words `holy' and `blameless' (or `without blame') are repeated in

Ephesians 5:27 and Colossians 1:22.

One passage in Ephesians disposes of any idea that the believer can

accomplish the Father's object, and that is 5:27.  There the blessed and

comforting truth is declared, that the Father's object expressed (Eph. 1:4) is

accomplished by the sacrifice of His Son: