*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved - The word "end," here, has by some been thought to mean the destruction of Jerusalem, or the end of the Jewish economy, and the meaning has been supposed to be "he that perseveres in bearing these persecutions to the end of the wars shall be safe. God will protect his people from harm, so that not a hair of the head shall perish." Others, with more probability, have referred this to final salvation, and refer the end to the close of life. "He that bears afflictions and persecutions faithfully that constantly adheres to his religion, and does not shrink until death shall be saved, or shall enter heaven." So Luke Luke 21:18 says, "there shall not an hair of your head perish" - that is, they would be saved. "An hair of the head," or the smallest part or portion, is a proverbial expression, denoting the "certainty and completeness" of their salvation. Luke Luke 21:19 adds further: "In your patience possess ye your souls" - that is, keep your souls "patient;" keep proper possession of patience as your own. It is a part of religion to teach it, and in these trying times let it not depart from you.
But he that shall endure - The persecutions that shall come - unto the end; to the destruction of the Jewish polity, without growing cold or apostatizing - shall be saved, shall be delivered in all imminent dangers, and have his soul at last brought to an eternal glory. It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city; and, had he persevered in the siege, he would soon have rendered himself master of it; but, when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the Christians took that opportunity to escape. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles lib. iii. c. 5, and Mr. Reading's note there; and see the note here on Matthew 24:20 (note).
(3) But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
(3) The gospel will spread abroad, angering the world and the devil ever so much: and those who continually believe will be saved.
But he that shall endure to the end,.... In the profession of faith in Christ, notwithstanding the violent persecutions of wicked men; and in the pure and incorrupt doctrines of the Gospel, whilst many are deceived by the false teachers that shall arise; and in holiness of life and conversation, amidst all the impurities of the age; and shall patiently bear all afflictions, to the end of his life, or to the end of sorrows, of which the above mentioned were the beginning:
the same shall be saved; with a temporal salvation, when Jerusalem, and the unbelieving inhabitants of it shall be destroyed: for those that believed in Christ, many of them, through persecution, were obliged to remove from thence; and others, by a voice from heaven, were bid to go out of it, as they did; and removed to Pella, a village a little beyond Jordan (u), and so were preserved from the general calamity; and also with an everlasting salvation, which is the case of all that persevere to the end, as all true believers in Christ will.
(u) Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 5.
He that endures to the end, etc. The Christian Jews who endured to the end were saved by flight to Pella, beyond the Jordan, at the signal pointed out by the Lord. The principle is generally applicable.
*More commentary available at chapter level.