Near and Distant Relative Terms
R. Johnstone, LL. B. Philippians 4:5 Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. "Near" and "distant" are relative terms. For the little child, whose limbs soon grow weary, the friend's house is far away, which for his father is but a step from home. So to the child, reckoning by his life, an event seems long past, far away in a hoary antiquity, which to the man on whom have come the snows of many winters, and who reckons by his life, seems to have occurred but yesterday. Now faith, in the measure of its vigour, enables us to see things in the light of God, giving us oneness of view with Him. When, then, our apostle says, "The Lord is at hand," he speaks as one who has been taught to reckon according to the years of the lifetime of the Most High — unbeginning, unending. On the same principle, you remember, in another place, he estimates the Christian's affliction — affliction extending perhaps over threescore years and ten — as "but for a moment," because the standard by which he computes is the "eternal" duration of the weight of glory" which is to follow, (R. Johnstone, LL. B.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. WEB: Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.