Albert Barnes Commentary Zephaniah 3:13

"The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid." — Zephaniah 3:13 (ASV)

The remnant of Israel - These are the same poor people, the “true Israel” of whom God said, “I leave over” (the word is the same) “a poor people,” few, compared with the rest who were blinded; of whom the Lord said, I know whom I have chosen (John 13:18). These shall not do iniquity nor speak lies. Cyril says: “This is a spiritual adorning, a most beautiful crown of glorious virtues. For where meekness and humility are, and the desire of righteousness, and the tongue unlearns vain words and sinful speech, and is the instrument of strict truth, there dawns a bright and most perfect virtue. And this is fitting for those who are in Christ. For the beauty of piety is not seen in the Law, but gleams forth in the power of Gospel teachings.”

Our Lord said of Nathanael, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile (John 1:47), and to the Apostles, I send you forth as sheep among wolves; therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16); and of the first Christians it is said, they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people (Acts 2:46–47).

This is the character of Christians, as such, and it was at first fulfilled: Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin (1 John 3:9); Whosoever is born of God does not sin; but he who is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one does not touch him (1 John 5:18). An Apologist, at the close of the second century, could appeal to the Roman Emperor that no Christian was found among their criminals: “Unless it is only as a Christian, or, if he is anything else, he is immediately no longer a Christian. We alone then are innocent! Is it any wonder if this is so, of necessity? And truly, of necessity it is so.

Taught innocence by God, we both know it perfectly, as being revealed by a perfect Master, and we keep it faithfully, as being committed to us by an Observer who cannot be despised.” He also states: “Being so vast a multitude of men, almost the greater part of every state, we live silently and modestly, known perhaps more as individuals than as a body, and to be known by no other sign than the reformation of our former sins.”

Now in the Church, which our dim earthly eyes behold, we can only say, as in regard to the cessation of war under the Gospel, that God’s promises are sure on His part. We can say that still they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts, that the Gospel is a power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16), and that the preaching of the Cross is, unto us which are saved, the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). Furthermore, unto them that are called, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).

We can also say that those who will, are kept by God through faith unto salvation (1 Peter 1:5). However, now too, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel (Romans 9:6), and the faithlessness of man does not make the faith of God of none effect (Romans 3:3). It has been said: “The Church of God is universally holy in respect of all, by institutions and administrations of sanctity; the same Church is really holy in this world, in relation to all godly persons contained in it, by a real infused sanctity.

The same is further still at the same time perfectly holy in reference to the saints departed and admitted to the presence of God; and the same Church shall hereafter be most completely holy in the world to come, when all the members actually belonging to it shall be at once perfected in holiness and completed in happiness.”

Most fully shall this be fulfilled in the Resurrection. Rupertus says: “O blessed day of the Resurrection, in whose fullness no one will sin in word or deed! O great and blessed reward to every soul, which, although it has now “done iniquity” and “spoken falsehood,” yet does not wish to do it further! Great and blessed reward, that it shall now receive such immovableness, as no longer to be able to do iniquity or speak falsehood, since the blessed soul, through the Spirit of everlasting love inseparably united with God its Creator, shall now no longer be capable of an evil will!”

For they shall feed - On the hidden manna, Dionysius says: “nourished most delicately by the Holy Spirit with inward delights, and spiritual food, the bread of life.” In the things of the body too, distribution was made unto every man according as he had need (Acts 4:35).

And they shall lie down in the green pastures where He folds them; and none shall make them afraid (1 Peter 1:5), for they were ready to suffer and to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13). They departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name (Acts 5:41).

Before the Resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit, how great was the fearfulness, unsteadfastness, and weakness of the disciples! How great, after the infusion of the Holy Spirit, was their constancy and imperturbability! It is delightful to observe this in their Acts, when they bore His Name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel (Acts 9:15), and he who had been afraid of a little servant girl said to the high priest, We ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

Cyril says: “When Christ the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for His sheep, shone upon us, we are fed in gardens and pastured among lilies, and lie down in folds; for we are sheltered in Churches and holy shrines, no one scaring or plundering us, no wolf assailing nor lion trampling on us, no robber breaking through, no one invading us, to steal and kill and destroy. But we abide in safety and participation in every good thing, being in the care of Christ, the Savior of all.”