The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary of the Books of the Bible: Volume 29 (of 32)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary of the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and I-II Thessalonians (2024)

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THE PREACHER’S

COMPLETE HOMILETIC

ON THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

WITH CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES,
INDEXES, ETC., BY VARIOUS AUTHORS

THE OLD TESTAMENT
Volumes 1–21

THE NEW TESTAMENT
Volumes 22–32

Volume 29

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The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic

ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE

Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians,
AND
I.–II. Thessalonians

By the REV. GEORGE BARLOW

Author of the Commentaries on Kings, Psalms (CXXI.—CXXX.),
Lamentations, Ezekiel, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

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printed in the united states of america

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

NEW YORK

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THE

PREACHER’S HOMILETICAL COMMENTARY.

INTRODUCTION.

Character of the Galatians.—These people were of Celtic descent. They werethe relics of a Gaulish invasion which swept over South-eastern Europe in theearly part of the third century before Christ and poured into Asia Minor. Herethe Celtic tribes maintained themselves in independence under their nativeprinces, until a hundred years later they were subdued by the Romans. Theircountry now formed a province of the empire. They had retained much of theirancient language and manners; at the same time, they readily acquired Greekculture, and were superior to their neighbours in intelligence. Jews had settledamong them in considerable numbers and had prepared the way of the Gospel;it was through their influence that the Judaistic agitation took so strong a holdof the Galatian Churches. The epistle implies that its readers generally wereacquainted with the Old Testament and with Hebrew history, and that theytook a lively interest in the affairs of the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch.None of the New Testament Churches possesses a more strongly marked character.They exhibit the well-known traits of the Celtic nature. They were generous,impulsive, vehement in feeling and language; but vain, fickle, and quarrelsome.Cæsar wrote: “The infirmity of the Gauls is that they are fickle in theirresolves, fond of change, and not to be trusted”; and by Thierry they arecharacterised thus: “Frank, impetuous, impressible, eminently intelligent, butat the same time extremely changeable, inconstant, fond of show, perpetuallyquarrelling, the fruit of excessive vanity.” Eight of the fifteen works of the[p.2]flesh enumerated in chap. v.20, 21 are sins of strife. They could hardlybe restrained from “biting and devouring one another” (ch. v.15). Liketheir kinsmen at this time in the west of Europe, they were prone to revellingsand drunkenness. They had probably a natural bent towards a scenic andritualistic type of religion, which made the spirituality of the Gospel pall upontheir taste and gave to the teaching of the Judaisers its fatal bewitchment.

The authorship of the epistle.—That it was written by St. Paul has neverbeen seriously doubted. His authorship is upheld by the unanimous testimonyof the ancient Church. Allusions and indirect citations are found in the writingsof the apostolic Fathers—Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr, orwhoever wrote the Oratio ad Græcos. The internal evidence of Pauline authorshipis conclusive by allusions to the history and by the self-portrayal of thewriter’s character. No forger ever made an imitation in which were so manysecret threads of similarity, which bore such a stamp of originality, or in whichthe character, the passion, the mode of thought and reasoning, were so naturallyrepresented. The apostle’s mental characteristics are indelibly impressed on theletter.

The time of writing the epistle.—Lightfoot, in disagreement from mostearlier interpreters, maintained that this epistle was written between 2Corinthiansand Romans—that is, during the latter part of Paul’s journey in Macedonia, orthe earlier part of his sojourn at Corinth, towards the close of the year 57 or58 a.d. Dr. Beet comes to the same conclusion. There is nothing in the letteritself to fix definitely either the place or time of its composition. From chap.i.9, iv.13, v.3 we gather that St. Paul had now been in Galatia twice; theepistle was therefore subsequent to the journey which he took across Asia Minorin setting out on his third missionary tour (Acts xviii.22—xix.1). All studentsare agreed that it belongs to the period of the legalist controversy and to thesecond group of the epistles. On every account one is inclined to refer the letter tothe last rather than to an earlier period of the third missionary tour. Comparisonwith the other epistles of the group raises this probability almost to a certaintyand enables us to fix the date and occasion of this letter with confidence.

The purpose and analysis of the epistle.—It is intensely polemical. It is acontroversial pamphlet rather than an ordinary letter. The matter of dispute istwofold: 1.Paul’s apostleship; and 2.The nature of the Gospel and the sufficiencyof faith in Christ for full salvation. This gives the order of the first two andmain parts of the epistle. A third section is added of a moral and hortatorynature. The contents of the epistle may be thus analysed:—

I. Introductory address.—1.The apostolic salutation (i.1–5). 2.TheGalatians’ defection (i.6–10).

II. Personal apologia: an autobiographical retrospect.—The apostle’steaching derived from God and not man, as proved by the circ*mstances of:1.His education (ch. i.13, 14). 2.His conversion (ch. i.15–17). 3.His intercourse[p.3]with the other apostles (ch. i.18–24, ii.1–10). 4.His conduct in the controversywith Peter at Antioch (ch. ii.11–14). The subject of which controversy was thesupersession of the law by Christ (ch. ii.15–21).

III. Dogmatic apologia: inferiority of Judaism, or Legal Christianity, tothe doctrine of faith.—1.The Galatians bewitched into retrogression from aspiritual system into a carnal system (ch. iii.1–5). 2.Abraham himself a witness tothe efficacy of faith (ch. iii.6–9). 3.Faith in Christ alone removes the curse whichthe law entails (ch. iii.10–14). 4.The validity of the promise unaffected by the law(ch. iii.15–18). 5.Special pædagogic function of the law (iii.19–29). 6.The lawa state of tutelage (ch. iv.1–7). 7.Meanness and barrenness of mere ritualism(ch. iv.8–11). 8.The past zeal of the Galatians contrasted with their presentcoldness (ch. iv.12–20). 9.The allegory of Isaac and Ishmael (ch. iv.21–31).

IV. Hortatory application of the foregoing.—1.Christian liberty excludesJudaism (ch. v.1–6). 2.The Judaising intruders (ch. v.7–12). 3.Liberty not licence,but love (ch. v.13–15). 4.The works of the flesh and of the Spirit (ch. v.16–26).5.The duty of sympathy (ch. vi.1–5). 6.The duty of liberality (ch. vi.6–10).

V. Autograph conclusion.—1.The Judaisers’ motive (ch. vi.12, 13). 2.Theapostle’s motive (ch. vi.14, 15). 3.His parting benediction and claim to be freedfrom further annoyance (ch. vi.16–18). (Findlay and Sanday.)

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CHAPTER I.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. Paul, an apostle.—He puts his own name and apostleship prominent, because hisapostolic commission needs to be vindicated against deniers of it. Not of, or from, men, butby, or from, Jesus Christ and God the Father. The Divine source of his apostleship isemphatically stated, as also the infallible authority for the Gospel he taught.

Ver. 6. I marvel that ye are so soon removed.—So quickly removed; not so soon afteryour conversion, or soon after I left you, but so soon after the temptation came; so readilyand with such little persuasion (cf. ch. v.7–9). It is the fickleness of the Galatians theapostle deplores. An early backsliding, such as the contrary view assumes, would not havebeen matter of so great wonder as if it had taken place later.

Vers. 8, 9. Any other gospel.—The apostle is here asserting the oneness, the integrity ofhis Gospel. It will not brook a rival. It will not suffer any foreign admixture. Let him beaccursed.—Devoted to the punishment his audacity merits. In its spiritual application theword denotes the state of one who is alienated from God by sin.

Ver. 11. Not after man.—Not according to man; not influenced by mere human considerations,as it would be if it were of human origin.

Ver. 12. But by the revelation of Jesus Christ.—Probably this took place during the threeyears, in part of which the apostle sojourned in Arabia (vers. 17, 18), in the vicinity of thescene of the giving of the law; a fit place for such a revelation of the Gospel of gracewhich supersedes the ceremonial law. Though he had received no instruction from theapostles, but from the Holy Ghost, yet when he met them his Gospel exactly agreed withtheirs.

Ver. 14. Exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.—St. Paul seems to havebelonged to the extreme party of the Pharisees (Acts xxii.3, xxiii.7, xxvi.5; Phil. iii.5, 6),whose pride it was to call themselves “zealots of the law, zealots of God.” A portion ofthese extreme partisans, forming into a separate sect under Judas of Galilee, took the nameof zealots par excellence, and distinguished themselves by their furious opposition to theRomans.

Ver. 16. To reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him.—The revealing of His Son byme to the Gentiles was impossible, unless He had first revealed His Son in me; at first onmy conversion, but especially at the subsequent revelation from Jesus Christ (ver. 12),whereby I learnt the Gospel’s independence of the Mosaic law.

Ver. 24. They glorified God in me.—He does not say, adds Chrysostom, they marvelled atme, they praised me, they were struck with admiration of me, but he attributes all to grace.They glorified God in me. How different, he implies to the Galatians, their spirit fromyours.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–5.

Apostolic Credentials.

I. That apostolic credentials claim distinctively Divine authority.—“Paul,an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father”(ver. 1). It must have been a painful moment when Paul first became awarethat spurious teachers questioned the validity of his apostolic call, and a stillmore painful disappointment when he discovered his Galatian converts so readilygave credence to those who maligned him. His fears were roused, not so much[p.6]for his personal reputation as for the injury to the religious life of his convertsif they cherished suspicions as to the Divine character of the truth they had beentaught. The mischief must be dealt with at once. He boldly and emphaticallydeclared that his commission was direct from God and bore the same Divinestamp as that of the other apostles, whose authority even the false teachers hadnot the temerity to deny. It has been ever the rôle of the subtle adversary ofman to strive to eliminate the Divine element from the truth and drag it downto a common human level. Truth then loses its stability, begins to move in aflux of confused human opinions, and the soul is plunged into bewilderment anddoubt. Whatever tends to vitiate the truth brings peril to the peace andupward progress of the soul. The power of the teacher increases with an ever-deepeningconviction of the Divine authority of his message.

II. That apostolic credentials recognise the oneness of the Christian brotherhood.—“Andall the brethren which are with me” (ver. 2). Here is theindication that St. Paul was not unduly solicitous about his personal reputation.While insisting upon the unquestioned Divine source of his apostleship, he doesnot arrogate a haughty superiority over his brethren. He is one with them inChrist, in the belief of and fidelity to the truth, in the arduous labours of pioneerwork, in building up and consolidating the Church, and unites them with himselfin his Christian greeting. It is the sublime aim of the Gospel to promote universalbrotherhood by bringing men into spiritual union with Christ, the ElderBrother. Christ is the unifying force of redeemed humanity. Ecclesiasticalranks are largely human expedients, necessary for maintaining order anddiscipline. The great Head of the Church has promulgated the unchallengeablelaw of religious equality: “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye arebrethren” (Matt. xxiii.8).

III. That apostolic credentials justify the use of a sublime and comprehensivegreeting.—“Grace be to you and peace,” etc. (ver. 3). A greeting like thisfrom some lips would be fulsome, or at the best mere exaggerated politeness.But coming from one who was in constant communion with the Source of theblessings desired, and from which Source he had received his call to the apostleship, itis at once dignified, large-hearted, and genuine. Grace and peace are inclusive ofthe best blessings Heaven can bestow or man receive. They are Divine in theirorigin and nature—“from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Graceis the spontaneous outflow of Divine love in the redemption of the race and isthe more precious because unmerited; and peace is the conscious experience ofthat grace in the believing soul—peace from outward dissension and inwardfret, peace of conscience, peace with God and man. The blessings the apostledesires God is ever eager to bestow. “Filling up our time with and for God isthe way,” said David Brainerd, “to rise up and lie down in peace. I longedthat my life might be filled up with fervency and activity in the things of God.Oh, the peace, composure, and God-like serenity of such a frame! Heaven mustdiffer from this only in degree, not in kind.”

IV. That apostolic credentials are evident in the clear statement of thegreat principles of the Gospel salvation.—“Who gave Himself for our sins,that He might deliver us,” etc. (vers. 4, 5). In these words, we have a suggestiveepitome of the whole Gospel. Man is delivered from sin and from the presentevil age by the self-sacrifice of Jesus; and this method is “according to the willof God,” and brings unceasing glory to His name. This is the Gospel in anutshell and involves all the grand principles of redemption the apostle wascommissioned to declare, and which he develops more clearly in the course ofthis epistle. Deliverance is Divinely provided, irrespective of human effort ormerit. The Galatians in seeking to return to legal bondage ignored the rootprinciples of the Gospel and imperilled their salvation. The apostle vindicated[p.7]the credentials of his high office by faithful remonstrance and plain authoritativestatement of the truth Divinely revealed to him. It is a mark of high intellectualpower to make the greatest truths clear to the humblest mind. Christianteaching has all the more weight when associated with irreproachable moralcharacter.

Lessons.—1.God should be gratefully recognised as the Giver of all good. 2.Thespecial endowments of one are for the benefit of all. 3.It is a solemn responsibilityto be entrusted with the preaching of the Gospel.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 1. The Power of the Gospel.—1.Freegrace doth often light uponthe most unworthy, not only by givingsalvation to themselves, but makingthem instrumental for the kingdom ofChrist, and bringing about the salvationof others. 2.Faithful and calledministers of Christ are to be so farfrom cowardly ceding, or heartlessfainting under the bold, bitter, andunjust aspersions of those who questiontheir calling, and thereby weaken theirauthority and render the truth of theirdoctrine doubtsome, that they oughtthe more to avow their calling againstall who question it. 3.The office ofan apostle had this peculiar to itself,that the designation was not mediatelyby the election and suffrages of men,as in the calling of ordinary office-bearers,but immediately from God, sothat the function of the apostles ceasedwith them and did not pass by successionto a pope or any other. 4.Thefalse apostles, that they might shakethe truth preached by Paul and establishtheir own contrary error, allegedthat he was no lawful apostle. ThisPaul refutes by showing he was calledby Christ after He was raised fromthe dead and had taken possession ofHis kingdom, so that his calling hadat least no less dignity and glory in itthan if he had been called by Christwhen He was on earth.—Fergusson.

Ver. 2. The Church a Witness.—1.Themore they are whom Godmaketh use of to hold out the beautyof truth that we may embrace andfollow it, or the deformity and dangerof error that we may fly from and hateit, we are the more to take heed howwe reject or embrace what is pressedupon us, as there will be the more tobear witness of our guilt and subscribeto the equity of God’s judgment if weobey not. 2.We are not so to stumbleat the many sinful failings which maybe in Churches, as to unchurch them,by denying them to be a Church, or toseparate from them, if their error benot contrary to fundamental truths,or if they err from human frailty, andnot obstinately and avowedly.—Ibid.

Ver. 3. Christian Salutation.—1.God’sgracious favour and goodwillis to be sought by us in the first place,whether for ourselves or others, thatbeing a discriminating mercy betwixtthe godly and the wicked. 2.Peaceis to be sought after grace, and not tobe expected before it. Peace withoutgrace is no peace. There can be nopeace with God or His creatures, norsanctified prosperity, except throughJesus Christ we lay hold on God’sfavour and grace. 3.Grace and peacewe cannot acquire by our own industryor pains. They come from God, are tobe sought from Him, and His blessingis more to be depended on than ourown wisdom or diligence. 4.They towhom grace and peace belong are suchas acknowledge Christ to be their Lordto command and rule them, and yieldsubjection to Him in their heart andlife.—Ibid.

Grace and Peace.

I. Grace is not any gift in manbut is God’s and in God. It signifiesHis gracious favour and goodwill,whereby He is well pleased with us in Christ.

[p.8]II. Peace is a gift not in God, butin us. 1.Peace of conscience—aquietness and tranquillity of mindarising from a sense of reconciliationwith God. 2.Peace with the creatures—withangels, with the godly, with ourenemies. 3.Prosperity and good success.

III. Whereas Paul begins hisprayer with grace we learn thatgrace in God is the cause of all goodthings in us.

IV. The chief things to be soughtafter are the favour of God in Christand the peace of a good conscience.

V. As grace and peace are joinedwe learn that peace without grace isno peace.—Perkins.

Vers. 4, 5. The Unselfishness of Jesus.

1. Prompting self-surrender.—“Whogave Himself.”
2. His self-surrender was an unmeritedand unlooked-for expiation.—“Forour sins.”
3. Creates the hope and possibilityof immediate salvation.—“That Hemight deliver us from this present evilworld.”
4. Was a suggestive revelation ofthe Divine character.—“According tothe will of God and our Father.”
5. Should evoke the spirit ofgrateful praise.—“To whom be gloryfor ever and ever. Amen.”

Ver. 4. Christ our Sacrifice.

I. Whereas Christ is the giverof Himself it follows that His deathand sacrifice were voluntary.

II. Therefore, all merit and satisfactionfor sin are reduced to theperson of Christ, and there are nohuman satisfactions for sin, normeritorious works done by us.

III. Christ our sacrifice works lovein us.—We must in mind and meditationcome to the cross of Christ.1.The consideration of His endlesspains for our sins must breed in usa godly sorrow. If He sorrowed forthem, much more must we. 2.Thisknowledge is the beginning of amendmentof life. 3.Is the foundation ofcomfort in them that truly turn toChrist.

IV. Christ gave Himself that Hemight deliver us from this evil world.—1.Wemust be grieved at thewickedness of the world. 2.We mustnot fashion ourselves to the wickedlives of the men of this world. 3.Seeingwe are taken out of this world,our dwelling must be in heaven.—Perkins.

The Gift of Christ.

I. The gift.—“He gave Himself.”Regard Christ: 1.As the object ofevery prophecy. 2.The substance ofevery type and shadow. 3.The subjectof every promise. 4.He was qualifiedfor the work of redemption. Divine,human, spotless.

II. Christ’s marvellous act.—“Hegave Himself for our sins.” 1.Towhat He gave Himself. To all theprivations and sorrows of human life,to obscurity and indigence, to scornand infamy, to pain and anguish, toan ignominious and painful death.2.The purpose for which He gaveHimself. To deliver us from sin’scurse, defilement, dominion, and fromthe effects of sin in this world and ineternity.

III. The design of Christ’s offering.—“ThatHe might deliver us from thepresent evil world.” From its evilpractices, its spirit, from attachment toit, and from the condemnation to whichit will be subjected.

IV. Christ’s offering was accordingto the will of God.—1.It was the willof God we should be saved. 2.Christwas the appointed agent. 3.The sacrificeof Christ was voluntary.—Helps.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 6–9.

The One Gospel.

I. Is an introduction into the grace of Christ.—“I marvel that ye are sosoon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ” (ver. 6). The[p.9]one true Gospel is the emphatic call of God to man to participate and revel in thegrace of Christ as the element and the only means by which his salvationcan be secured. The grace of Christ, with its persuasive gentleness and vastredemptive resources, is in vivid contrast to the grim formalism and impossibledemands of the yoke of bondage into which the Galatians were being so foolishlyseduced. There is only one Gospel that can introduce the soul into the midstof saving influences and bring it into contact with the living Christ. This onefact differentiates the Gospel from all mere human methods and gives it a uniquecharacter as the only remedial agency in dealing with human sin and sorrow.

II. The perversion of the one Gospel is not a gospel.—“Unto another gospelwhich is not another” (vers. 6, 7).

1. It is a caricature of the true Gospel.—“And would pervert the gospel ofChrist” (ver. 7). The perversion is not in the one Gospel, which is impossibleof perversion (for truth is an incorruptible unity), but in the mind of the falseteacher. He distorts and misrepresents the true Gospel by importing into ithis own corrupt philosophy, as the wolf did with Baron Munchausen’s horse.Beginning at the tail, it ate its way into the body of the horse, until the barondrove the wolf home harnessed in the skin of the horse. The Gospel has sufferedmore from the subtle infusion of human errors than from the open oppositionof its most violent enemies.

2. It occasions distractions of mind.—“There be some that trouble you” (ver. 7).A perverted gospel works the greatest havoc among young converts. They areassailed before they reach the stage of matured stability. Their half-formedconceptions of truth are confused with specious ideas, attractive by their novelty,and mischief is wrought which in many cases is a lifelong injury. The spiritthat aims at polluting a young beginner in the way of righteousness is worsethan reckless; it is diabolical.

III. The propagator of a perverted gospel incurs an awful malediction.—“Butthough we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel,... let himbe accursed” (vers. 8, 9). Let him be devoted to destruction, as one hatefulto God and an enemy of the truth. The word denotes the condition of onealienated from God by persistent sin. He not only rejects the truth himself,but deliberately plots the ruin of others. He reaps the fruit of his own sowing.It is impossible to do wrong without suffering. The greater the wrong-doing,the more signal is the consequent punishment. All perversions of truth arefruitful in moral disasters. It is a mad, suicidal act for man to fight against God.

Lessons.—1.There can be but one true and infallible Gospel. 2.The best humanmethod for moral reformation is but a caricature of the true. 3.The false teacherwill not escape punishment.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 6, 7. Remonstrance withRevolters against the Gospel.

I. The apostle reproves with meeknessand tenderness of heart.

II. He frames his reproof with greatwariness and circ*mspection.—Hesays not, ye of yourselves do remove toanother gospel, but ye are removed.He blames them but in part and laysthe principal blame on others.

III. The revolt was a departurefrom the calling to the grace of Christ.—1.Theywere soon carried away. Thisshows the lightness and inconstancy ofman’s nature, especially in religion.The multitude of people are like waxand are fit to take the stamp andimpression of any religion; and it isthe law of the land that makes themost embrace the Gospel, and notconscience. 2.That we may constantlypersevere in the profession ofthe true faith we must receive theGospel simply for itself. 3.We must[p.10]be renewed in the spirit of our mindsand suffer no by-corners in our hearts.4.We must not only be hearers butdoers of the Word in the principal dutiesto be practised.

IV. The Galatians revolt to anothergospel, compounded of Christ andthe works of the law.—Here we see thecurious niceness and daintiness of man’snature that cannot be content with thegood things of God unless they beframed to our minds. If they please usfor a time, they do not please us long,but we must have new things. Theapostle shows that, though it be anothergospel in the estimation of the falseteachers, is not another, but asubversion of the Gospel of Christ.There is but one Gospel, one in number,and no more. There is but one wayof salvation by Christ, whereby all areto be saved from the beginning of theworld to the end.

V. The apostle charges the authorsof this revolt with two crimes.—1.Theytrouble the Galatians, notonly because they make divisions, butbecause they trouble their consciencessettled in the Gospel of Christ. 2.Theyoverthrow the Gospel of Christ. Theydid not reach a doctrine flat contrary.They maintained the Gospel in wordand put an addition to it of their ownout of the law—salvation by works.They perverted and turned upside-downthe Gospel of Christ.—Perkins.

The Perversion of Truth—

1. Supplants the Gospel with avalueless imitation.—“Another gospelwhich is not another.”
2. Is contrary to the Divine purpose.—“FromHim that called youinto the grace of Christ.”
3. Creates a gulf between thesoul and God.—“I marvel that yeare so soon removed from Him.”
4. Unsettles the faith of newconverts.—“There be some thattrouble you and would pervert thegospel of Christ.”

Ver. 6. Disappointed Hopes inChristian Work.—1.It is the duty ofChristian ministers, not only to holdout the pure truth of the Gospel, but todefend it by convicting gainsayers andreproving solidly those who are carriedaway with contrary errors. 2.Ministersin all their reproofs are to usemuch wariness and circ*mspection, notomitting any circ*mstance which mayjustly extenuate the sin or furnishground of hope of amendment. Herebythe bitter portion of a medicinalreproof is much sweetened, and theguilty patient allured to the morethorough receiving of it. 3.The mostquick-sighted may be deceived and disappointedin their expectation of goodthings from some eminent professors,and so may readily fall short of theirhope. 4.As the dangerous consequenceswhich follow upon errorought to be presented unto people thatthey may fly from it, so there aresome errors in doctrine which do noless separate from God than profanityof life doth, of which errors this is one—themaintaining of justification byworks. 5.It is ordinary for seducersto usher in their errors by some excellentdesignations as of new lights, amore pure gospel way, and what not,as here they designate their errorby the name of another gospel.—Fergusson.

Ver. 7. The Inviolable Unity of theGospel.—1.There is but one Gospel,one in number and no more, and butone way to salvation, which is byfaith. 2.The effect of error is totrouble the Church’s peace; peaceamong themselves, the patrons oferror being zealous of nothing so muchas to gain many followers, to attainwhich they scruple not to make woefulrents and deplorable schisms; inwardpeace of conscience, while some areperplexed and anxious what to chooseand refuse until they question alltruth, and others to embrace error fortruth and so ground their peace on anunsure foundation. 3.The doctrinewhich maintains that justification ispartly by Christ and partly by themerit of good works is a perverting[p.11]and total overturning of the Gospel, inso far as it contradicts the main scopeof the Gospel, which is to exalt Christas our complete Saviour, Mediator,and Ransom, and not in part only.—Fergusson.

Ver. 8. The Inviolability of Christianity.

I. The import and construction ofthe Gospel cannot be vague and indeterminate.—Thecharacter of theGospel was alleged to be its truth.This was, to the sophists of that era,a strange and novel pretension. Torequire faith to a testimony only sofar as conformable to fact, only so faras supported by evidence, appeared tothem a startling affectation. In thefixed character we recognise the trueperfection of the Gospel. It is thesame through all ages, not changing toevery touch and varying beneath everyeye but unfolding the same featuresand producing the same effects. Unlessthere was this invariableness in theChristian system, if a fixed determinationof its purport is impossible, weshould be at a loss in which manner tofollow the conduct and imbibe the spiritof the early Christians. Those lightsand examples of the Church would onlyensnare us into a mien and attituderidiculous as profane. It would bethe dwarf attempting to bare a giant’sarm, a wayfaring man aspiring to aprophet’s vision. The truth as it is inJesus is contained in that Word whichis the truth itself; there it is laid upas in a casket and hallowed as in ashrine. No change can pass upon it.It bears the character of its first perfection.Like the manna and the rodin the recess of the Ark, it is the incorruptiblebread of heaven, it is theever-living instrument of might, withoutan altered form or superseded virtue.

II. Its Divine origin and authoritycannot be controverted.—The historyof Saul of Tarsus has often been citedwith happy success in confirmation ofChristianity. 1.What must have beenthe strength and satisfaction of convictionentertained by the writer! Theconviction has to do with facts. Itpertains to no favourite theory, noabstract science, but occurrences whichhe had proved by sensible observationand perfect consciousness. Wondershad teemed around him; but his owntransformation was the most signalwonder of all. Nothing without himcould equal what he discerned within.2.As we estimate the measure andforce of his convictions, inquire whatweight and credibility should be allowedthem. Put his conduct to any rack,his design to any analysis, and thendetermine whether we are not safewhere he is undaunted, whether wemay not decide for that on which heperils all, whether the anathema whichhe dares pronounce does not throwaround us the safeguard of a Divinebenediction.

III. Its efficacy cannot be denied.—Itwas not called into operation untilnumberless expedients of man had beenfrustrated. Philosophy, rhetoric, art,were joined to superstitions, radicatedinto all habits and vices of mankind.The very ruins which survive the fallof polytheism—the frieze with itsmythological tale, the column yet soaringwith inimitable majesty, the statuebreathing an air of divinity—recall thefascinations which it once might boastand of the auxiliaries it could command.Yet these were but the decorations ofselfishness most indecently avowed, oflicentiousness most brutally incontinent,of war the most wantonly bloody, ofslavery the most barbarously oppressive.And Christianity subverted thesefoundations of iniquity; and yet so all-penetratingis its energy, that it didnot so much smite them as that theysank away before it. It reaches thehuman will and renews the humanheart. And a thousand blessings whichmay at first appear derived from anindependent source are really pouredforth from this.

IV. The authority and force of thepresent dispensation of Divine truthcannot be superseded.—It is final. Init He hath spoken whose voice shall beheard no more until it “shake not the[p.12]earth only but also heaven.” No othersensible manifestation can be given,the doctrine is not to be simplified, theritual is not to be defined to anyfurther extent, nothing more will bevouchsafed to augment its blessings orratify its credentials. We possess thetrue light, the perfect gift, the brightestillumination, the costliest boon. Sucha dispensation constituted to be co-existentwith all future time, mustresist every view which would impressa new form or foist a strange natureupon it.

V. No circ*mstance or agency canendanger the existence and stabilityof the Christian revelation.—Whenthe security of the Gospel is to be mostconfidently predicted and most stronglyascertained, supernatural power isrestrained—a curse encloses it roundabout, a “flaming sword turning everyway guards this tree of life.” It shallendure coevally with man. Feeble areour present thoughts, confused ourperceptions; we see everything as frombehind a cloud and in a disproportion.Our convictions are more like conjecturesand our speculations dreams.But we shall soon emerge from thisstate of crude fancies and immatureideas. Worthy sentiments and feelingswill fill up our souls. Each view shallbe as a ray of light striking its object,and each song the very echo of itstheme. Then shall we adequatelyunderstand why apostles kindled intoindignation and shook with horror atthe idea of “another gospel,” and whyeven angels themselves must have beenaccursed had it been possible for themto have divulged it.—R.W. Hamilton.

A Supernatural Revelation.—Therecan be no doubt whatever as a matterof historic fact, that the apostle Paulclaimed to have received direct revelationfrom heaven. He is so certainof that revelation that he warns theGalatians against being enticed byany apparent evidence to doubt it.It would be impossible to express astronger, a more deliberate, and a moresolemn conviction that he had received asupernatural communication of the willof God.—Dr. Wace, Bampton Lectures.

The Best Authority to be obeyed.—Adispute having arisen on some questionof ecclesiastical discipline and ritual,King Oswi summoned in 664 a greatcouncil at Whitby. The one set of disputantsappealed to the authority ofColumba, the other to that of St. Peter.“You own,” cried the puzzled king toColman, “that Christ gave to Peter thekeys of the kingdom of heaven: hasHe given such power to Columba?”The bishop could but answer, “No.”“Then I will obey the porter ofheaven,” said Oswi, “lest when I reachits gates he who has the keys in hiskeeping turn his back on me, and therebe none to open.”

Latitudinarianism.—Referring toErasmus’s temporising policy in theReformation, Froude says: “The questionof questions is, what all thislatitudinarian philosophising, this cultivatedepicurean gracefulness, wouldhave come to if left to itself, or rather,what was the effect which it was inevitablyproducing? If you wish toremove an old building without bringingit in ruin about your ears, youmust begin at the top, remove thestones gradually downwards, and touchthe foundation last. But latitudinarianismloosens the elementary principlesof theology. It destroys thepremises on which the system rests. Itwould beg the question to say that thiswould in itself have been undesirable;but the practical effect of it, as theworld then stood, would have been onlyto make the educated into infidels, andto leave the multitude to a convenientbut debasing superstition.”

Ver. 9. The True Gospel to be preachedand believed.

I. The repetition of these words byPaul signify that he had not spokenrashly but advisedly, whatsoever hehad said before.

II. That the point delivered is aninfallible truth of God.

[p.13]III. That we may observe andremember what he had said as thefoundation of our religion—that thedoctrine of the apostles is the onlyinfallible truth of God, against whichwe may not listen to Fathers, Councils,or to the very angels of God.

IV. They are accursed who teachotherwise than the Galatians hadreceived.—As Paul preached the Gospelof Christ, so the Galatians received it.The great fault of our times is thatwhereas the Gospel is preached it isnot accordingly received. Many haveno care to know it; and they whoknow it give not unto it the assent offaith, but only hold it in opinion.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 10–12.

The Superhuman Origin of the Gospel.

I. The Gospel is not constructed on human principles.—“But I certify you,brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man” (ver. 11).Its character is such as the human mind would never have conceived. Whenit was first proclaimed it was the puzzle of the religious and the ridicule of thelearned—“unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.”It is wholly opposed to the drift of human tendencies. Its supreme aim is toeffect a complete transformation of human nature. Not to destroy that nature,but to renew, elevate, and sublimate it. By its principle of self-sacrificing love,its insistence of the essential oneness of the race, its methods in dealing with theworld’s evils, its lofty morality, and its uncompromising claims of superiority theGospel transcends all the efforts of human ingenuity. Augustine, the father ofWestern theology in the fifth century, divided the human race into two classes—theone who lived according to man and the other who lived according toGod. The Gospel is the only revelation that teaches man how to live accordingto God.

II. The Gospel does not pander to human tastes.—“For do I now persuademen, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I shouldnot be the servant of Christ” (ver. 10). The adversaries of the apostle insinuatedthat he was a trimmer, observing the law among the Jews and yet persuadingthe Gentiles to renounce it; becoming all things to all men that he might forma party of his own. Such an insinuation was based on an utter misconceptionof the Gospel. So far from flattering, Paul preached a Gospel that humbledmen, demanding repentance and reform. It often came in collision with populartastes and opinions; and though the apostle was a man of broad views andsympathies, he was ever the faithful and uncompromising servant of Christ.Public opinion may be hugely mistaken, and there is danger of over-estimatingits importance. It is the lofty function of the preacher to create a healthypublic opinion and Christianise it, and he can do this only by a scrupulous andconstant representation of the mind of Christ, his Divine Master. The wisePhocion was so sensible how dangerous it was to be touched with what themultitude approved that upon a general acclamation made when he was makingan oration he turned to an intelligent friend and asked in a surprised manner,“What slip have I made?” George Macdonald once said, “When one haslearned to seek the honour that cometh from God only, he will take the withholdingof the honour that cometh by man very lightly indeed.”

III. The Gospel has a distinctly superhuman origin.—“For I neither receivedit of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ”(ver. 12). Paul’s reception of the Gospel was not only a revelation of Christ tohim, but at the same time a revelation of Christ in him. The human vehiclewas spiritually prepared for the reception and understanding of the Divine[p.14]message; and this moral transformation not only convinced him of the superhumancharacter of the Gospel, but also empowered him with authority todeclare it. The Gospel carries with it the self-evidencing force of its Divineorigin in its effect upon both preacher and hearer. It is still an enigma to themere intellectual student; only as it is received into the inmost soul, by theaid of the Holy Spirit, is its true nature apprehended and enjoyed.

Lessons.—1.Man everywhere is in dire need of the Gospel. 2.The humanmind is incapable of constructing a saving Gospel. 3.The Gospel is inefficacioustill it is received as a Divine gift.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 10. Fidelity in the Ministry.

I. The proper nature of the ministryis not the word or doctrine of manbut of God.—Ministers are taught tohandle their doctrine with modestyand humility, without ostentation, withreverence, and with a consideration ofthe majesty of God, whose doctrine itis they utter.

II. The dispensing of the Word mustnot be for the pleasing of men but God.—Ministersmust not apply and fashiontheir doctrine to the affections, humours,and dispositions of men, but keep agood conscience and do their office.

III. If we seek to please men wecannot be the servants of God.—Hethat would be a faithful minister ofthe Gospel must deny the pride of hisheart, be emptied of ambition, and sethimself wholly to seek the glory ofGod in his calling.—Perkins.

The Servant of Christ.

I. There is nothing dishonourablein the idea of a servant absolutelyconsidered.—On the contrary, theremay be much in it that is nobleand venerable. Nothing can be morecontemptible than an affectation ofindependence which resents or isashamed of a servant’s name. Andmany who despise servants should betold that they themselves are soworthless that nobody would think ofhonouring them with hiring them forservice. It was Christ’s honour thatHis Father so employed Him for thework of our salvation, and said, “BeholdMy Servant, whom I have chosen”:and the highest honour of the preachersof the Gospel is that they are theministers, that is, the servants, bothof Christ and His Church. There arecases, no doubt, in which servitude isdegrading. The master may be infamous;though even then the servant’scondition is not dishonourable unlesshe be employed in infamous work.Many servants have wrought out mosthonourable names for themselves indoing good work under bad masters.Matthew Henry has said well thatthere is nothing mean but sin, andwith such meanness and dishonour isevery man affected who is not a servantof Christ. There is for us all thechoice of only two conditions; thereis not a third and neutral one. Thealternative is a servant of the Son ofGod or a slave of sin. It may not beof sin in its most hideous forms, inthe form in which it tyrannises overthe drunkard, the lewd man, or theambitious, but even in its milder andless-offensive form, when it may reignonly with the power which it exercisesover the worshipper of wealth or ofhuman applause; still, it is a degradingvassalage. Let no worldly man, then,affect to pity or scorn the disciple ofthe Gospel as being one whom superstitionenslaves, though it wereadmitted to be a slavery; he himselflabours under one infinitely moreoppressive and degrading. Whoseappears the greater liberty and theleast oppression, he who is governedby the salutary laws of the Gospel,or he who is the sport and victim ofhis own ignorance and passions, orof the opinion of the world, to which,at the expense of the violation of hisown conscience, he feels himself compelled[p.15]ignominiously to submit? Thequestion needs not an answer. Thereis everything honourable in the oneservice, everything dishonourable in theother. Only that man is truly a freeman who is a servant of Christ.

II. The servant of Christ.—Othersprofess that they are servants of God;the Christian replies that he is aservant of Christ. There is perhapsnothing by which his faith is moredistinctly characterised than this.“Is he not, then, a servant of God?”some one may ask, either in the spiritof a scorning objector or in that ofan astonished inquirer who is as yetignorant of the beautiful mystery ofChristian salvation. When othersprofess that they are the servants ofGod, and when the Christian repliesthat he is a servant of Christ, does itsignify that he is not a servant of theeternal Father? Such is the question;and our reply is, that in servingChrist he approves himself not onlythe best servant of God, but the onlyone whose service is genuine. Inserving Christ he serves God, becauseGod has so appointed and ordained.He has ordained that we be the servantsof His Son; and if we serve notHis Son, then we resist His ordination,so that we serve neither His Son norHimself.

III. The Christian is Christ’s servant,not by hire, but by purchase.—Thisis a circ*mstance which claimsour most thoughtful consideration.In the case of a servant who is hiredthere is a limitation of the master’s right,by the terms of the agreement,in respect to the kind and amount oflabour to be exacted. There is alsoa definite term, at the expiry of whichthe right of service ceases, and theremuneration of the service is exigibleby law. There is a vast difference inthe case of a purchased servant, or, asotherwise expressed, a slave. He ishis master’s property, to be treatedentirely according to his master’sdiscretion. There is no limitationeither to the amount or nature of thework which he may exact. The periodof service is for life, and no remunerationcan be claimed for the labour,howsoever heavy and protracted. Ourservant-condition in relation to Christis of this character: He does not hireus but has purchased us—purchasedus by His blood, and made us Hisproperty, to be used according to Hissovereign will. But this is far frombeing all. Our gracious Master oftensinks, as it were, the consideration ofHis past services—His humiliation,His privation, His wounds and agonyby which He saved us from punishmentand woe—and reasons and deals withus as if we were hired servants andcould merit something at His hand,animating us in our work by exhibitingto our hope that crown of glorywhich He will confer on all who arefaithful unto death. Blessed servitude—theservitude of the Christian!Servitude of peace! Servitude ofhonour! Servitude of liberty! Servitudeof victory and everlasting glory!1.The Christian, as a servant, submitshis mind to the authority of Christ—submitsit to Him in respect of hisopinions; at the utterance of His Wordrenounces its own judgments andprejudices, and turns away from theteaching of the world’s philosophy andpriesthood in scorn, saying, “You haveno part in me. Christ is the Lord ofmy conscience; I will listen to Him.”2.As the servant of Christ, theChristian subjects his body to His controland regulation in the gratifying ofits appetites, and in providing for itscomfort and adornment; his lips inwhat they speak; his hands in whatthey do; his ears in what they listento; his eyes in what they read andlook at; and his feet in all theirjourneying and movements. 3.Asthe servant of Christ, he regulates hisfamily according to his Master’s mindand law. 4.As a servant of Christ,he conducts his business according toChrist’s law, with the strictest honesty,and for Christ’s end, distributing hisprofits in a proportion—I shall saya large proportion; nay, I shall saya very large proportion—to the maintenance[p.16]and education of his family, andsome provision of an inheritance forthem, and even a considerable proportionfor the gratification of his owntastes. Is not that a large allowancefor a slave? But oh, some of you!you seize on all—wickedly appropriateall to yourselves, or part, and thatwith a grudge, a murmur, and a scowl,with but the smallest fraction to theMaster’s poor and the Master’s Church!Slaves indeed! Slaves of Avarice andhis daughter, Cruelty! 5.As aservant of Christ, the country of theChristian is Christ’s, to be regulated,so far as his influence and vote mayextend, by Christ’s rule, for Christ’sends.—W.Anderson, LL.D.

Vers. 11, 12. The Gospel and the Callto preach it.

I. It is necessary that men shouldbe assured and certified that the doctrineof the Gospel and the Scriptureis not of man but of God.—That theScripture is the Word of God there aretwo testimonies. 1.One is the evidenceof God’s Spirit imprinted and expressedin the Scriptures, and this is an excellenceof the Word of God above allwords and writings of men and angels.2.The second testimony is from theprophets and apostles, who wereambassadors of God extraordinarily torepresent His authority unto HisChurch, and the penmen of the HolyGhost to set down the true and properWord of God.

II. It is necessary that men shouldbe assured in their consciences thatthe calling and authority of theirteachers are of God.—To call men to theministry and dispensation of the Gospelbelongs to Christ, who alone giveththe power, the will, the deed; and theChurch can do no more than testify,publish, and declare whom Godcalleth.

III. The Gospel which Paulpreached was not human—he did notreceive it, neither was he taught itby man; and preached it not byhuman but by Divine authority.1.Christ is the great prophet and doctorof the Church. His office is: (1)Tomanifest and reveal the will of theFather touching the redemption of mankind.(2)To institute the ministry ofthe Word and to call and send ministers.(3)To teach the heart within byilluminating the mind and by workinga faith of the doctrine taught.2.There are two ways whereby Christteaches those who are to be teachers.(1)By immediate revelation. (2)Byordinary instruction in schools by themeans and ministry of men.

IV. They who are to be teachersmust first be taught, and they mustteach that which they have firstlearned themselves. They are first tobe taught, and that by men whererevelation is wanting. This is thefoundation of the schools of theprophets. All men should pray thatGod would prosper and bless all schoolsof learning where this kind of teachingis in use.—Perkins.

The Gospel a Divine Revelation.

1. It is not constructed by humaningenuity.—“The gospel which waspreached of me is not after man”(ver. 11).
2. It derives no authority fromman.—“For I neither received it ofman” (ver. 12).
3. It is not acquired by meremental culture.—“Neither was Itaught it.”
4. It is a direct and specialrevelation from heaven.—“But by therevelation of Jesus Christ.”

Apostolic Assurance of the SupernaturalCharacter of the Gospel.—1.Itis the custom of the adversaries of thetruth, when they have nothing to sayin reason against the doctrine itself, tocast reproach on those who preach it,and to question their call and authorityto preach, that so they may indirectlyat least reflect upon the doctrine.2.As none may take upon him todispense the Word of God publiclyunto others without a call from God,so there are several sorts of callings:one of men and ordinary when God[p.17]calls by the voices and consent of men;another of God and extraordinary, thecall of the Church not intervening.3.It is required of an apostle to havethe infallible knowledge of the truthof the Gospel and this not wholly bythe help of human means, as we learnat schools and by private study, butmainly by immediate inspiration fromthe Spirit of God. Paul shows that theGospel was not taught him of man; andthis he saith, not to depress humanlearning, but that he may obviatethe calumny of his adversaries whoalleged he had the knowledge of theGospel by ordinary instruction frommen only, and so was no apostle.—Ferguson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 13, 14.

A Zealous Ritualist—

I. Is conspicuous for his adherence to religious formalities.—“For yehave heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion” (ver. 13)—ofmy manner of life formerly in Judaism. Saul of Tarsus was a full-blownritualist, and a master-leader in the art, setting the pattern to all hiscontemporaries. He did not play at forms and ceremonies. Their observancewas to him a matter of life and death. An intense nature like his could donothing by halves. The listlessness and pictorial parade of modern ritualism hewould have denounced with withering scorn. Religious formality has for someminds an irresistible fascination. It appeals to the instinct of worship which islatent in all, and to the love of æstheticism which is shared by most in varyingdegrees. The votary deludes himself into the belief that signs and symbolsrepresent certain great truths; but the truths soon fade away into the background,and he is in turn deluded in regarding the outward ceremonies as everything.Formality is the tendency of the mind to rest in the mere externals ofreligion to the neglect of the inner life of religion itself. It is the folly ofvaluing a tree for its bark instead of its goodly timber, of choosing a book for itsornate binding irrespective of its literary genius, of admiring the finishedarchitecture of a building regardless of its accommodation or the character ofits inmates. “There are two ways of destroying Christianity,” says D’Aubigné;“one is to deny it, the other is to displace it.” Formality seeks to displace it.Ritualism may be of use in the infantile stage, either of the world or theindividual. It is a reversion to the petrifaction of ancient crudities. A robustand growing spiritual manhood is superior to its aids.

II. Violently opposes the representatives of genuine piety.—“How thatbeyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it” (ver. 13).Animated by extravagant zeal for the religion of his forefathers, the bigotedPharisee became the deadliest enemy of the Church of Christ in its infant days.Indifferent to personal peril or to the feelings of the oppressed, he prosecutedhis work of destruction with savage energy. He was a type of the Jewishfanatics who afterwards thirsted and plotted for his life, and the forerunner ofthe cruel zealots of the Inquisition and the Star Chamber in later times. Thecurse of ritualism is excessive intolerance. Blinded and puffed up with itsunwarrantable assumptions, it loses sight of the essential elements of truereligion. It sees nothing good in any other system but its own, and employs allmethods that it dare, to compel universal conformity. It admits no rival. Italone is right; everything else is wrong, and all kinds of means are justifiablein crushing the heresy that presumes to deny its supreme claims. “Christ andRitualism,” says Horatius Bonar, “are opposed to each other, as light is todarkness. The cross and the crucifix cannot agree. Either ritualism will banishChrist or Christ will banish ritualism.”

[p.18]III. Is distinguished by his ardent study and defence of traditional religionism.—“Andprofited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in my mine ownnation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers” (ver. 14).The apostle had studied the Mosaic law under the ablest tutors of his day. Heknew Judaism by heart and won a distinguished reputation for learning and forhis strict adherence to the minutest details of traditional legalism. He was oneof the ablest champions of the Mosaic system. The zealous ritualist spends hisdays and nights in studying, not the Word of God, but the sayings of men andthe rules of the Church handed down by the traditions of past generations.Divine revelation is ignored, and human authority unduly exalted. His studiesare misdirected, and his zeal misspent. He is wasting his energy in defending alifeless organism. No man can honestly and prayerfully study God’s Word andcatch its meaning, and remain a mere ritualist.

Lessons.—1.Ritualism is the worship of external forms. 2.It breeds a spirit ofintolerance and persecution. 3.It supplants true religion.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 13, 14. Mistaken Zeal—

1. May create a reputation forreligious devotion.—“Ye have heardof my conversation in time past inthe Jews’ religion” (ver. 13).
2. Breeds the spirit of violentpersecution.—“How that beyondmeasure I persecuted the Church ofGod, and wasted it” (ver. 13).
3. Makes one ambitious forsuperiority.—“Profited... abovemany my equals,... being moreexceedingly zealous of the traditions ofmy fathers” (ver. 14).
4. Is neither good nor wise.
5. Stores up a retrospect of bitterand humiliating regret.

Review of a Misspent Life.—1.Asincere convert will not shun to makeconfession of his wicked life, notomitting anything which may tend toa just aggravation of it, not in aboasting manner, but that the freedomof God’s grace may be commended.2.That the Scriptures were indited bythe Spirit of God, and the penmen notactuated with human policy, appearsfrom this, with other evidences in theScripture itself, that they concealednot their own faults, but blazed themto the world when the glory of Goddid so require. 3.Though the Churchof God, as to the inward estate, cannotbe utterly wasted, neither can theoutward state be so far decayed as tocease to be, yet the Lord may so fargive way to the rage of persecutorsthat the outward face and beauty ofthe Church may be totally marred, themembers partly killed, partly scattered,the public ordinances suppressed, andthe public assemblies interrupted.4.The life and way of some engagedin a false religion may be so blamelessand, according to the dictates of theirdeluded conscience, so strict, as that itmay be a copy unto those who professthe true religion and a reproof fortheir palpable negligence. 5.As ouraffections of love, joy, hatred, anger,and grief are by nature so corruptthat even the choicest of them, if notbrought in subjection to the Word bythe Spirit, will lay forth themselvesupon forbidden and unlawful objects,so our zeal and fervency of spirit willbend itself more toward the maintenanceof error than of truth. Erroris the birth of our own invention; sois not truth.—Fergusson.

True and False Zeal.

I. Zeal is a certain fervency ofspirit arising out of a mixture of loveand anger, causing men earnestly tomaintain the worship of God and allthings pertaining thereto, and movingthem to grief and anger when God isin any way dishonoured.

[p.19]II. Paul was zealous for the outwardobservance of the law and forPharisaical unwritten traditions.

III. He himself condemns his zealbecause it was against the Word, andtended to maintain unwritten traditions,and justification by the works of thelaw, out of Christ. What Paul did inhis religion we are to do in the professionof the Gospel. 1.We are toaddict and set ourselves earnestly tomaintain the truth of the Gospel.2.We are to be angry in ourselvesand grieved when God is dishonouredand His Word disobeyed. 3.We arenot to give liberty to the best of ournatural affections as to zeal, butmortify and rule them by the Word.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 15–19.

The Imperative Claims of a Divine Commission—

I. Are independent of personal merit.—“But when it pleased God, whoseparated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace” (ver. 15).From the beginning the apostle was Divinely destined to fulfil his high vocation.His Hebrew birth and Hellenistic culture combined to prepare him for hisfuture work. When he developed into a hot persecutor of the Christian faithhe seemed far away from his life-mission. But a change took place, and it soonbecame apparent that, not on the ground of any merit of his own, but becauseit pleased God, the training from his birth was the best possible preparation forhis lofty calling. We cannot see far into the future or forecast the issue of ourown plans or of those we form for others.

“There is a Divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them as we may.”

The Divine element in our lives becomes more evident as we faithfully do theduty imposed on us. Joseph recognised this when he declared to his brethren,“It was not you that sent me hither, but God” (Gen. xlv.8).

II. Are based on an unmistakably Divine revelation.—“To reveal HisSon in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen” (ver. 16). Thedazzling appearance of Christ before his eyes, and the summons of His voiceaddressed to Saul’s bodily ears, formed the special mode in which it pleased Godto call him to the apostleship. But there was also the inward revelation ofChrist to his heart by the Holy Ghost. It was this which wrought in him thegreat spiritual change and inspired him to be a witness for Christ to theGentiles. His Judaic prejudices were swept away, and he became the championof a universal Gospel. The same revelation that made Paul a Christian madehim the apostle of mankind. The true preacher carries within his own spirituallyrenovated nature evidence and authority of his Divine commission.

“This is what makes him the crowd-drawing preacher,
There’s a background of God to each hard-working feature;
Every word that he speaks has been fierily furnaced
In a blast of a life which has struggled in earnest.”

III. Are superior to the functions of human counsel.—“I conferred notwith flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostlesbefore me” (vers. 16, 17). The counsel of the wise and good is valuable, andordinarily should be diligently sought and thoughtfully pondered. But whenGod calls, the commission is beyond either the advice or the opposition of men.Paul had reached a state into which no human authority could lift him, andfrom which it could not dislodge him. He might legitimately confer with othersas to methods of work, but his call to work was imposed upon him by a powerto which all human counsellors and ecclesiastical magnates must submit.[p.20]Channing once said: “The teacher to whom are committed the infinite realitiesof the spiritual world, the sanctions of eternity, the powers of the life to come,has instruments to work with which turn to feebleness all other means ofinfluence.”

IV. Stimulate to active service.—“But I went into Arabia, and returnedagain unto Damascus” (ver. 17). Immediately after his conversionthe history tells us, “Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues”(Acts ix.20). In Arabia, a country of the Gentiles, he doubtless preached theGospel, as he did before and after at Damascus, and thus demonstrated theindependence of his apostolic commission. A call to preach demands immediateresponse and impels to earnest and faithful endeavour. It is said thatWhitefield’s zealous spirit exhausted all its energies in preaching, and his fulldedication to God was honoured by unbounded success. The effect produced byhis sermons was indescribable, arising in a great degree from the most perfectforgetfulness of self during the solemn moment of declaring the salvation thatis in Christ Jesus. His evident sincerity impressed every hearer and is said tohave forcibly struck Lord Chesterfield when he heard him at Lady Huntingdon’s.The preacher, as the ambassador for Christ, is eager to declare His message, andanxious it should be understood and obeyed.

V. Are recognised by the highest ecclesiastical authority.—“Then afterthree years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and... James the Lord’sbrother” (vers. 18, 19). The claims of Paul to the apostleship, evidenced bysuch supernatural signs and such solid Christian work and patient suffering,were at length acknowledged by the chief leaders of the mother Church inJerusalem. Good work advertises itself, and sooner or later compels recognition.What an eventful meeting of the first Gospel pioneers, and how momentous theinfluence of such an interview and consultation! Though the call of God isunacknowledged, ridiculed, and opposed, its duties must be faithfully discharged.The day of ample reward will come.

Lessons.—1.God only can make the true preacher. 2.A call to preach involvessuffering and toil. 3.The fruit of diligent and faithful work will certainlyappear.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 15–17. The Conversion andVocation of St. Paul.

I. The causes of St. Paul’s conversion.—1.Thegood pleasure ofGod. 2.His separation from thewomb, which is an act of God’scounsel whereby He sets men apartto be members of Christ and to beHis servants in this or that office.3.His vocation by grace—the accomplishmentof both the former in thetime which God had appointed.

II. The manner of his vocation.—“Toreveal His Son in me.” 1.Bypreparation. God humbled and subduedthe pride and stubbornness of hisheart and made him tractable andteachable. 2.By instruction. (1)Propoundingunto him the commandmentof the Gospel, to repent and believe inChrist. (2)Offering to him the promiseof remission of sins and life everlastingwhen he believed. 3.By a real andlively teaching when God made Paulin his heart answer the calling. Ministersof Christ must learn Christ asPaul learned Him.

III. The end of Paul’s conversion.—Topreach Christ among the Gentiles.1.Christ is the substance or subject-matterof the whole Bible. 2.Topreach Christ is: (1)To teach thedoctrine of the incarnation of Christ,and His offices as King, Prophet, andPriest. (2)That faith is an instrumentto apprehend and apply Christ.(3)To certify and reveal to everyhearer that it is the will of God to[p.21]save him by Christ if he will receiveHim. (4)That he is to apply Christwith His benefits to himself in particular.3.To preach to the Gentiles:(1)Because the prophecies of the callingof the Gentiles must be fulfilled.(2)Because the division between theJews and Gentiles is abolished.

IV. Paul’s obedience to the callingof God (vers. 16, 17).—1.God’s Word,preached or written, does not dependon the authority of any man—no, noton the authority of the apostles themselves.2.There is no consultation ordeliberation to be used at any timetouching the holding or not holdingof our religion. 3.Our obedience toGod must be without consultation.We must first try what is the will ofGod, and then absolutely put it intoexecution, leaving the issue to God.4.Paul goes into Arabia and Damascus,and becomes a teacher to his professedenemies.—Perkins.

Vers. 15, 16. Conversion as illustratedby that of St. Paul.—In thecase of St. Paul there are manycirc*mstances not paralleled in thegeneral experience of Christians; butin its essential features, in the viewswith which it was accompanied andthe effects it produced, it was exactlythe same as every one must experiencebefore he can enter into the kingdomof God.

I. Its causes.—1.Paul was chosenby God before his birth to be a vesselof honour. “It pleased God, whoseparated me from my mother’swomb.” Are not all genuine Christiansaddressed as “elect of God” orchosen of God, through sanctificationof the Spirit, unto obedience and thesprinkling of the blood of JesusChrist? Why should not the realChristian give scope to those emotionsof gratitude which such reflectionswill inspire? 2.The more immediatecause was the call of Divine grace.“And called me by His grace.” Thereis a general call in the Gospel addressedto all men indiscriminately. There is,in every instance of real conversion,another and inward call, by which theSpirit applies the general truth of theGospel to the heart. By this interiorcall Christ apprehends, lays hold onthe soul, stops it in its impenitent progress,and causes it to hear His voice.

II. The means by which conversionis effected.—“To reveal His Son inme.” The principal method which theSpirit adopts in subduing the heartof a sinner is a spiritual discovery ofChrist. There is an outward revelationof Christ—in the Scriptures; andan internal, of which the understandingand the heart are the seat. 1.TheSpirit reveals the greatness and dignityof Christ. 2.The transcendent beautyand glory of Christ. 3.The suitableness,fulness, and sufficiency of Christto supply all our wants and relieve allour miseries.

III. The effect of conversion onSt. Paul.—“Immediately I conferrednot with flesh and blood.” He set himselfwithout hesitation or demur todischarge the duties of his heavenlyvocation. 1.His compliance with thewill of Christ was immediate. 2.Universaland impartial. 3.Constant andpersevering.—Robert Hall.

Ver. 16. The Qualification of theTrue Minister—

1. Begins in an unmistakable revelationof Christ to his own soul.—“Toreveal His Son in me.”
2. Urges him to declare the Gospelto the most needy.—“That I mightpreach Him among the heathen.”
3. Raises him above the necessityof mere human authority.—“ImmediatelyI conferred not with flesh andblood.”

Ver. 17. The Divine Call to theApostleship.—1.That extraordinaryway whereby the Lord made knownHis mind to the penmen of Scripturewas so infallible in itself and so evidentto those to whom it came to be nodelusion that they were above alldoubt and needed not to advise withthe best of men in order to theirconfirmation about the reality of it.[p.22]2.The Lord maketh sometimes the firstpiece of public service as hazardous, uncouth,and unsuccessful as any whereinHe employs them afterwards, that Hisministers may be taught to dependmore on God’s blessing than on humanprobabilities, and that they may giveproof of their obedience. Thus it waswith Moses (Exod. ii.10), and Jeremiah(Jer. i.19). 3.The apostles were notfixed to any certain charge, as ordinaryministers are. Their charge was thewhole world. They went from placeto place as the necessities of peoplerequired, or as God by His providenceand Spirit directed.—Fergusson.

Ver. 18. Requirement of a Preparationfor Work.—“I went into Arabia,and returned again unto Damascus.”1.Affording opportunity for thoughtand self-testing. 2.Gives leisure forstudy and forming plans for futureservice. 3.Is often the prelude of abusy and prosperous career.

Vers. 18, 19. The Divine Call acknowledged.—1.Thatnothing of Peter’ssupposed supremacy over Paul and therest of the apostles can be gatheredfrom this place appears from this,that Paul went first to his work beforehe came to Peter, and that his businesswith Peter was not to receive ordinationfrom him or to evidence his subjectionto him, but from respect and reverenceto give him a friendly visit. 2.Itought to be the endeavour of Christ’sministers to entertain love and familiarityone with another, as also to maketheir doing so evident to others, it beingmost unseemly for those who preachthe Gospel of peace to others to livein discord among themselves. 3.Asministers may and ought to meet sometimestogether, to evidence and entertainmutual love and concord, andbecause of that mutual inspectionwhich they ought to have one ofanother, so their meeting oughtneither to be so frequent nor of solong continuance that their flockssuffer prejudice.—Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 20–24.

God glorified in His Servant—

I. By the undoubted truthfulness of his statements.—“Now the things whichI write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not” (ver. 20). The assertions of theapostle flatly contradicted the allegations of his enemies. They insinuated thatPaul was but a messenger of the authorities of the Church at Jerusalem, andthat all he knew of the Gospel had been learned from the twelve. So far fromthis being the case it is evident that for several years he had been preaching theGospel, and had not seen any of the twelve, except Peter and James, and thatonly for a fortnight at Jerusalem about three years after his conversion. “Inthe present case,” remarks Professor Jowett, “it is a matter of life and death tothe apostle to prove his independence from the twelve.” Having said all he can tosubstantiate his point, he concludes by a solemn appeal to God as to his veracity:“Behold, before God, I lie not.” The apostle never makes an appeal like thislightly, but only in support of a vital truth he is specially anxious to enforce(Rom. ix.1; 2Cor. i.17, 18, 23; 1Thess. ii.5).

“When fiction rises pleasing to the eye;
Men will believe, because they love the lie;
But truth herself, if clouded with a frown,
Must have some solemn proof to pass her down.”—Churchill.

The vigorous and faithful maintenance of the truth brings glory to God.

II. By his evangelistic activity.—“Afterwards I came into the regions ofSyria and Cilicia” (ver. 21). During this tour very probably the Churches werefounded, referred to in Acts xv.23, 41. “A man’s work,” says George[p.23]Macdonald, “does not fall upon him by chance, but it is given him to do; andeverything well done belongs to God’s kingdom, and everything ill done to thekingdom of darkness.” God is the sublime end of all human activity, and ourpowers can never be more nobly employed than in expounding His will, unfoldingHis gracious character, advancing the interests of His kingdom, and strivingto promote His glory among the children of men. Man is never so great, soluminous, so grand as when he is doing work for God with the light and help ofGod; and all such work is a revelation of the character and purposes of Godopen to the eyes of all who will see.

III. By the reputation of his changed life.—“And was unknown by faceunto the Churches:... they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in timespast now preached the faith which once he destroyed” (vers. 22, 23). Theconversion of Saul of Tarsus was one of the most striking events in the earlyhistory of the Church. It was a marvel to all who had known his previous life.It was an unanswerable testimony to the power of the Gospel, and an argumentthat has been used in all ages to illustrate the possibility of the salvation ofthe worst of sinners. It is said the Duke of Burgundy was born terrible. Hewould indulge in such paroxysms of rage that those who were standing by wouldtremble for his life. He was hard-hearted, passionate, incapable of bearing theleast opposition to his wishes, fond of gambling, violent hunting, the gratificationsof the table, abandoned to his pleasures, barbarous, and born to cruelty.With this was united a genius of the most extraordinary kind; quickness ofhumour, depth and justice of thought, versatility and acuteness of mind. Theprodigy was, that in a short space of time the grace of God made him a newman. He became a prince, affable, gentle, moderate, patient, modest, humble,austere only to himself, attentive to his duties, and sensible of their extent. Ifwe could lay a hand on the fly-wheel of the Scotch express, running fifty orsixty miles an hour, and stop it, we should perform an astounding miracle.But this is what God does in His miracles of conversion. He laid His mightyhand on the fly-wheel of Paul’s life, and not only stopped its mad career, butturned it right round in the opposite direction. The persecutor becomes apreacher.

IV. By the recognition of His Divine call.—“And they glorified God in me”(ver. 24). The attempt to disparage the authority of Paul was the work ofa few malcontents, who sought to ruin his influence in order to extend theirown. The Churches of Jerusalem and Judea, though many of them had notseen the apostle, acknowledged and praised God for the Divine work done in himand by him. A few false teachers may work much mischief, but they cannotoverturn the work of God, nor prevent its full recognition. The faithful servantmay safely leave his reputation in the hands of God. It lifts humanity, especiallyChristianised humanity, into special dignity, when it is discovered that God isglorified in man.

Lessons.—1.The Gospel elevates man by transforming him. 2.The conscientiousworker has God on his side. 3.God is glorified by obedient toil.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 20. Self-conscious Truth.—1.Thechoicest servants of Christ may belooked upon as liars and unworthy tobe trusted, even by those to whom theyare sent, and yet they must not giveover to preach as knowing that theWord spoken by them doth still getcredit from some, and will beget trustto itself from others, and for the restit will seal up their condemnation andmake them inexcusable. 2.It is notunlawful for Christians to take anoath, providing it be with these conditions:(1)That the thing we swear[p.24]be truth. (2)That there be weightyreasons for taking an oath. (3)Thatwe swear only by the name of God,and not by the creatures, seeing nonebut God can bear witness to the secretsof the heart.—Fergusson.

Vers. 21–24. The Self-evidencing Proofof a Divinely commissioned Messenger.—1.Seenin disinterested labours andtravels (vers. 21, 22). 2.Seen in aremarkable change of character andconduct (ver. 23). 3.Seen in that theglory of his work is ascribed to God(ver. 24).

Practical Proofs of Apostleship.

I. Paul went from Jerusalem intoSyria and Cilicia.—1.Because he wasordained specially to be the apostle ofthe Gentiles. 2.Because Cilicia washis own country, and his love to hiscountry was great. If any apostleabove the rest be the pastor and universalbishop of the Church over thewhole world, it is Paul and not Peter.

II. Paul was known to the ChristianJews only by hearsay, because itis the office of an apostle not to buildon the foundation of another or tosucceed any man in his labour, but toplant and found the Church of theNew Testament.

III. Seeing the intent of the deviland wicked men is to destroy the faith,we must have a special care of ourfaith.—1.We must look that our faithbe a true faith. 2.We must keep andlock up our faith in some safe and sureplace—in the storehouse or treasury ofa good conscience. 3.Our care mustbe to increase in faith that our heartsmay be rooted and grounded in the loveof God.

IV. Our duty is to sanctify andglorify the name of God in everywork of His.—Neglect in glorifyingand praising God is a great sin.—Perkins.

Ver. 24. God glorified in Good Men.—Weare taught to honour God inman and man in God. We are taughtto avoid, on the one hand, all creatureidolatry, and, on the other, that cynicalseverity, or ungrateful indifference tothe Author of all good in man, whichundervalues or neglects the excellencieswhich ought to be held up to admirationthat they may be imitated byourselves and others. Each of theseextremes robs God of His just revenueof grateful praise. In what doescreature idolatry consist but in honouringand trusting in the natural andacquired excellencies of creatures to theexclusion of God? But is there thenno wisdom, no might, no excellence, inman? As it were absurd to deny this,it would be affectation to pretend tooverlook it. Admire and deny not thiswisdom, acknowledge this efficiency,and affect not to lower its estimate;only glorify God who worketh all inall. If He has chosen any of them tobe more eminently His instruments forthe furtherance of His purposes ofmercy to mankind, He does it by virtueof His sovereignty. If He continuestheir useful lives, whilst you have theirlight rejoice in the light and glorifyHim from whom it comes as itsoriginal and source; and when Hechooses to quench these stars of Hisright hand in the darkness of death,still glorify Him. As to us, this is toremind us of our dependence on Him,who appointed their orbit and investedthem with their different degrees ofglory; and as to them, though theirlustre fades from these visible skies,it is that it may be rekindled insuperior glory in the kingdom of theirFather.—R.Watson.

[p.25]

CHAPTER II.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. Then fourteen years after.—From Paul’s conversion inclusive. I went again toJerusalem.—The same visit referred to in Acts xv., when the council of the apostles andChurch decided that Gentile Christians need not be circumcised.

Ver. 2. I went up by revelation.—Quite consistent with the fact that he was sent as adeputy from the Church at Antioch (Acts xv.2). The revelation suggested to him that thisdeputation was the wisest course. Communicated privately to them which were of reputation.—Itwas necessary that the Jerusalem apostles should know beforehand that the GospelPaul preached to the Gentiles was the same as theirs, and had received Divine confirmationin the results it wrought on the Gentile converts.

Ver. 3. Neither Titus [not even Titus], being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.—Theapostles, constrained by the firmness of Paul and Barnabas, did not compel or insist onhis being circumcised. Thus they virtually sanctioned Paul’s course among the Gentiles,and admitted his independence as an apostle. To have insisted on Jewish usages for Gentileconverts would have been to make them essential parts of Christianity.

Ver. 4. False brethren unawares [in an underhand manner] brought in privily to spyout.—As foes in the guise of friends, wishing to destroy and rob us of our liberty—from theyoke of the ceremonial law.

Ver. 5. To whom we gave place by subjection not for an hour.—We would willingly haveyielded for love, if no principle was at issue, but not in the way of subjection. Truthprecise, unaccommodating, abandons nothing that belongs to itself, admits nothing that isinconsistent with it (Bengel).

Ver. 6. They in conference added nothing to me.—As I did not by conference impart tothem aught at my conversion, so they now did not impart aught additional to me abovewhat I already knew. Another evidence of the independence of his apostleship.

Ver. 9. They gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship.—Recognising me asa colleague in the apostleship, and that the Gospel I preached to the Gentiles byspecial revelation was the same as theirs.

Ver. 10. Remember the poor.—Of the Jewish Christians in Judea then distressed. Paul’spast care for their poor prompted this request. His subsequent zeal in the same cause wasthe answer to their appeal (Acts. xi.29, 30; Rom. xv.26, 27; 1Cor. xvi.3; 2Cor. ix.1;Acts xxiv.17).

Ver. 11. When Peter was come to Antioch I withstood him to the face.—The strongestproof of the independence of his apostleship in relation to the other apostles, and an unanswerableargument against the Romish dogma of the supremacy of St. Peter.

Ver. 13. The other Jews dissembled likewise with him.—The question was not whetherGentiles were admissible to the Christian covenant without becoming circumcised, butwhether the Gentile Christians were to be admitted to social intercourse with the JewishChristians without conforming to the Jewish institution. It was not a question of libertyand of bearing with others’ infirmities, but one affecting the essence of the Gospel, whetherthe Gentiles are to be virtually compelled to live as do the Jews in order to be justified.

Ver. 14. Walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel.—Which teaches thatjustification by legal works and observances is inconsistent with redemption by Christ.Paul alone here maintained the truth against Judaism, as afterwards against heathenism(2Tim. iv.16, 17).

Ver. 17. Is therefore Christ the minister of sin?—Thus to be justified by Christ it wasnecessary to sink to the level of Gentiles—to become sinners, in fact. But are we not thusmaking Christ a minister of sin? Away with the profane thought! No; the guilt is not inabandoning the law, but in seeking it again when abandoned. Thus, and thus alone, weconvict ourselves of transgression (Lightfoot).

Ver. 19. I through the law am dead to the law.—By believing union to Christ in Hisdeath we, being considered dead with Him, are severed from the law’s past power over us.

Ver. 21. If righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.—Died needlessly,without just cause. Christ’s having died shows that the law has no power to justify us, forif the law can justify or make us righteous, the death of Christ is superfluous.

[p.26]MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–9.

Confirmatory Proofs of a Divine Call—

I. Seen in a prudent consultation with the acknowledged leaders of thechurch (vers. 1, 2).—The men of reputation referred to in these verses are notso called by way of irony, but because of their recognised authority in themother Church. Paul was not summoned to Jerusalem, but Divinely directed totake the journey. Neither his teaching nor his office was called in question, nordid he fear the most searching inquiry into his commission. Conscious of hisDivine call, he claimed equality of status with the rest of the apostles andexplained to them and to the Church the principles and methods of the Gospel hepreached. He had nothing to fear, whatever might be the judgment of theChurch leaders in Jerusalem. He expected from them nothing but sympathyand encouragement in his work, and he hailed with joy the opportunity ofsharing the counsel of men as interested as himself in the success of the Gospel.With his God-given convictions and views, it was impossible for him to meet theapostles on any other ground than that of perfect equality.

II. Seen in a prompt and stern refusal to compromise principle (vers. 3–5).—Theobject of Paul’s visit to Jerusalem was to discuss a vital principle of the Gospel—theright of the Gentiles to the privileges of the Gospel without observing theworks of the Jewish law. A misunderstanding at that critical moment mighthave imperilled the liberty of the Gospel. The presence of Barnabas and Tituswas significant—the one a pure Jew, a man of gentle disposition and generousimpulse; and the other a Gentile convert, representing the world of the uncircumcised.It is to the credit of the Church leaders at Jerusalem that, withtheir strong Jewish prejudices, they admitted that the legal rite of circumcisionmust not be imposed on Gentile converts. They were so convinced that this wasthe will of God, and that He had already sanctioned this an essential featureof the Gospel, that they dared do no other. An attempt was made, not by theapostles, but by certain “false brethren,” to insist that Titus should be circumcised;but this was promptly and stoutly opposed. A concession on this pointwould have been fatal to the universality of the Gospel—the whole Gentileworld would have been trammelled with the bondage of legal ceremonies. Itwas then that the great battle of Christian liberty was fought and won. Thevictory was another testimony of the validity and power of the Divine commissionwith which Paul was entrusted.

III. Seen in the inability of the wisest leaders to add anything to theDivine authority.—“But of these who seemed to be somewhat... in conferenceadded nothing to me” (ver. 6). When Paul was called to the apostleship he“conferred not with flesh and blood”; now he affirms that flesh and blood didnot confer anything on him. In conference and debate with the chiefs of theChurch he showed himself their equal, and on the great essentials of the Gospelhe was in perfect agreement with them. Though Paul is too modest to say it,so far from his learning anything from them, they were more likely to learnsomething from him, especially as to the wider scope of the Gospel. “In doctrinePaul holds the primacy in the band of the apostles. While all were inspired bythe Spirit of Christ, the Gentile apostle was in many ways a more richlyfurnished man than any of the rest. The Paulinism of Peter’s first epistle goesto show that the debt was on the other side. Their earlier privileges and pricelessstore of recollections of all that Jesus did and taught were matched onPaul’s side by a penetrating logic, a breadth and force of intellect applied to thefacts of revelation, and a burning intensity of spirit which in their combinationwas unique. The Pauline teaching, as it appears in the New Testament, bears[p.27]in the highest degree the marks of original genius, the stamp of a mind whoseinspiration is its own” (Findlay).

IV. Seen in winning the recognition of a special mission and of equality inthe apostleship.—“They saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committedunto me,... and perceived the grace that was given unto me,” etc.(vers. 7–9). Paul won the confidence and admiration of his fellow-apostles. Theylistened with candour and ever-deepening interest to his explanations, and,whatever might have been their prejudices, they frankly acknowledged hisDivine commission. What a memorable day was that when James, Peter, John,and Paul met face to face! “Amongst them they have virtually made the NewTestament and the Christian Church. They represent the four sides of the onefoundation of the City of God. Of the evangelists, Matthew holds affinity withJames; Mark with Peter; and Luke with Paul. James clings to the past andembodies the transition from Mosaism to Christianity. Peter is the man of thepresent, quick in thought and action, eager, buoyant, susceptible. Paul holdsthe future in his grasp and schools the unborn nations. John gathers present,past, and future into one, lifting us into the region of eternal life and love.”

Lessons.—A Divine call.—1.Confers the necessary qualifications to carry outit* mission. 2.Demands courage and fidelity. 3.Compels public recognition.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 1, 2. Truth its Own Evidence.—1.Thoughthe minister of JesusChrist is not to depend upon theapprobation of others for confirmationof his doctrine, as if he wereuncertain before their testimony isadded, yet he is not to be so self-willedas to misregard what others judgeor think, but ought to demit himselfso far as to give a friendly accountof the doctrine, that mistakes arisingfrom misinformation may be removedand the joint consent of others tothe truth obtained. 2.As there arealways some in the Church of Godwho have deservedly more reputationthan others, so Christian prudencewill teach a man to be so far fromstriving against such that he willendeavour, by giving due respect tothem, to receive approbation from such,that he may be in a better capacityto do good to others. 3.Nothingmarreth the success of the Gospel morethan difference of judgments and strifesand debates among eminent preachers,many resolving to believe nothing tillpreachers agree among themselves, andmany stumbling-blocks are cast beforepeople by the venting of passions,jealousies, animosities, and revenge.Paul endeavoured to get the consentof the other apostles to the doctrinespreached by him, lest by the calumniesof his adversaries his preaching shouldbe useless.—Fergusson.

Vers. 3–5. The Power of Truth.

1. Superior to ceremonial observances (ver. 3).
2. Detects and exposes the wiliesttactics of false teachers (ver. 4).
3. Is uncompromising in its attitudetowards the subtlest errors (ver. 5).

Vers. 4, 5. False Brethren and theirTreatment.

I. The Church of God on earth,even at the best, hath wicked menand hypocrites in it.

II. They who teach Christ, joiningsome other thing with Him in thecause of salvation, are said to creepin, because in appearance they maintainChrist; yet because they addsomething to Christ, they neitherenter nor continue in the true Churchwith any good warrant from God.

III. No man can set down the precisetime when errors had their beginning,for the authors thereof enter in secretly,not observed of men.

IV. The false brethren urgedcircumcision to bring the converts[p.28]into bondage.—They that be of acorporation stand for their liberties.What a shame it is that men shouldlove bondage and neglect the spiritualliberty which they have by Christ.

V. The false brethren urged theapostles to use circumcision but once;but they would not yield so much asonce, because their act would have tendedto the prejudice of Christian libertyin all places. Julian, sitting in achair of state, gave gold to his soldiersone by one, commanding them to castfrankincense so much as a grain into thefire that lay upon a heathenishaltar. Christian soldiers refused to doit, and they which had not refusedafterwards recalled their act andwillingly suffered death. We arenot to yield the least part of thetruth of the Gospel. This truth ismore precious than the whole worldbeside. There is no halting betweentwo religions.

VI. The apostles gave no place byway of subjection.—They willinglysuffered their doctrine to be tried,yet they were not bound to subjection.We are to give place by meek andpatient bearing of that which wecannot mend, but we are not to giveplace by subjection.

VII. If circumcision be made anecessary cause of salvation, thetruth of the Gospel does not continue,and falsehood comes in theroom.—Perkins.

Ver. 4. A Spy.—Captain TurnerAshby was a young officer in theConfederate army, the idol of thetroops for his general bravery, butespecially for his cleverness in gatheringinformation of the enemy. Onone occasion he dressed himself in afarmer’s suit of homespun that heborrowed and hired a plough-horseto personate a rustic horse-doctor.With his saddlebags full of someremedy for spavin or ringbone, hewent to Chambersburg, and returnedin the night with an immense amountof information. His career was onefull of romantic episode.

Ver. 5. Fidelity to Truth.—1.Thoughmuch may be done for composingChurch differences by using meeknessand forbearance towards those whooppose themselves, yet we are not forpeace’ sake to quit the least part oftruth. Thus Paul, who for lawfulceding became all things to all men,would not give place by way of subjection,so as to yield the cause tothe adversaries; neither would he doanything, in its own nature indifferent,that would be an evidence of yielding.2.A minister, when called to confessand avow truth, hath not only his ownpeace with God and keeping of a goodconscience to look to, but also thecondition of his flock, who will beshaken or confirmed in the truth byhis faint or bold and faithful confession.3.It is not enough that people have thename of the Gospel among them or sometruths mixed with errors; but all, andespecially ministers, should endeavourto have the Gospel in purity and integrity,free from any mixture of contraryerrors.—Fergusson.

The Truth not to be yielded.—Shortlyafter James I. came to the throne ofEngland he set up a claim to allthe small estates in Cumberland andWestmorland, on the plea that theStatesmen were merely the tenants ofthe Crown. The Statesmen met, tothe number of two thousand, atRatten Heath, between Kendal andStaveley, where they came to theresolution that “they had won theirlands by the sword and were ableto hold them by the same.” Afterthat meeting no further claim wasmade to their estates on the part ofthe Crown.

Vers. 6–9. Recognition of a SpecialMission.

1. By men of reputation who confessedtheir inability to augment itsauthority (ver. 6).
2. Acknowledging that the commissionwas distinctly Divine (vers.7, 8).
3. Confirmed by cordially admitting[p.29]the messenger into the fellowshipof highest service (ver. 9).

Vers. 8, 9. Divine Blessing the HighestSanction of Ministerial Authority.—1.Itis not the pains of ministers, or anyvirtue in the Word preached, fromwhence success flows, but from theeffectual working of the Spirit. Paulascribed the success both of his ownand Peter’s ministry to this. 2.WhomGod doth call to any employment, andchiefly whom He calls to the ministry,He fitteth with gifts and abilitiessuitable thereto. James, Cephas, andJohn did not acknowledge Paul tobe an apostle called by God, buton perceiving that grace and gifts,ordinary and extraordinary, werebestowed upon him. 3.We oughtnot to withhold our approbation,especially when it is craved, fromthat which by evident signs andreasons we perceive to be approvedof God, though the giving of ourapprobation may disoblige those whopretend much friendship towards us.—Fergusson.

The Efficacy of the Christian Ministry.

1. That grace or power to regenerateis not included in the Wordpreached, as virtue to heal in amedicine. To regenerate is the properwork of God.
2. That grace is not inseparablyannexed and tied to the Word preached,for to some it is the savour of deathunto death.
3. The preaching of the Word isan external instrument of faith andregeneration, and the proper effect ofit is to declare or signify.
4. The apostles at Jerusalemacknowledged Paul to be an apostlebecause he had the gifts of an apostle,and because his ministry was powerfulamong the Gentiles.
5. As all minsters in their placesare pillars, they are hereby admonishedto be constant in the truth against allenemies whatsoever.
6. As ministers are pillars, we aretaught to cleave to them and theirministry at all times—in life anddeath.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verse 10.

Christianity and Poverty.

I. Christianity has ever been the friend of the poor.—1.The poor who aremade so by accepting Christianity. Accepting Christ often means the loss offriends, of status, of fortune. The discovery of this result among the firstChristians might have much to do in the formation of a common fund. Thereare many Jews and heathen to-day who are convinced of the truth of Christianitybut hesitate to make a public avowal of their belief because of the apparentimpossibility of gaining a livelihood and the certainty of social ostracism.Christian missionaries are not in a position to guarantee their support, nor dothey wish to encourage, a system that might easily degenerate into wholesalebribery. There are converts who run all risks and deliberately accept Christand poverty. All such the Christian Church, often at great sacrifice, does itsbest to befriend.

2. The poor who are made so by unavoidable calamity.—Judea was devastatedby famine in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and the apostles promptly organisedrelief for the sufferers in the Jewish Churches (Acts xi.27–30). Christianity hasever been ready to help the distressed and unfortunate. The hospitals, alms-houses,and other benevolent institutions that abound are substantial monumentsof the practical benevolence of the Christian Church. Christianity is the bestfriend of the people.

II. Christianity inculcates a zealous and unselfish charity.—“Only theywould that we should remember the poor; the same I also was forward [zealous]to do.” Paul had already rendered noble service in this direction, and was prompted[p.30]by the Spirit of the Gospel to continue to do so. He was zealous in good works,though he stoutly denied any merit in them to justify the sinner. His firstconcern was to help the Jewish poor, though many of them impugned hisapostolic authority and strove to ruin his influence. As champion of theGentiles he employed the wealth of his converts in supplying the needs of hisfamishing Jewish brethren. Christian charity is superior to the jealousies ofsects and parties, and even to personal insult and wrong. Behind the hand ofthe generous alms-giver is the heart of love.

III. Christianity elevates and enriches the poor.—It enjoins temperance,industry, honesty, and perseverance—the practice of which has raised many frompoverty to wealth. The man who has prospered should never forget the claimsof the poor. It is said that a certain man dreamed that the Saviour appearedto him and upbraided him with giving so little to His cause. The man replied,“I can’t afford it.” “Very well,” said the Saviour; “let it be so. But do youremember, that when that business panic happened, how you prayed to Me tokeep you out of difficulties? and I heard your prayer and tided you over thetrouble. And do you remember also, when your little child was sick, how youprayed that her life might be spared, and again I heard your prayer andrestored her? But now let it be an understanding between us that henceforthwhen you are in trouble I do nothing for you, seeing you can’t afford to helpMe.” The man’s conscience was touched, and he exclaimed, “Lord, take whatI have; it is Thine.”

Lessons.—1.Christianity is the source of the highest philanthropy. 2.Is theunfailing hope and comfort of the poor. 3.Has achieved its greatest triumphsamong the poor.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 10. Remember the Poor.

I. The Church of Jerusalem wasin extreme poverty.—1.Because thepoorer sort received the Gospel.2.Because the richer were deprived oftheir riches for their profession of thename of Christ.

II. It is the office of pastors andteachers, not only to preach and dispensethe Word, but also to have careof the poor.

III. Satisfaction, recompense, andrestitution are the way to life by theappointment of God.—1.He mustrestore who is the cause of any wrongor loss to others and all that areaccessory. 2.Restitution is to bemade to him that is wronged andbears the loss if he be known andalive; if he be dead, to his heirs; ifall be dead, to the poor. 3.The thingsto be restored are those which are ofus unjustly received or detained, eitherknown to us or unknown. 4.As tothe order of restitution, things certainmust first be restored, and thingsuncertain after.

IV. It is not enough for us to givegood words and wish well, but wemust in our places and calling do ourendeavour that relief may be sealedto our poor.—1.The charge was greatto maintain the altar of the Lord inthe Old Testament; the poor comein the room of the altar. 2.Thepoor represent the person of Christ.3.Compassion in us is a pledge or animpression of the mercy that is in Godtowards us, and by it we may know orfeel in ourselves that mercy belongsunto us. The observing of the commandmentof relief is the enriching ofus all.—Perkins.

Christian Duty to the Poor.—1.It isfrequently the lot of those who arerich in grace to be poor in the thingsof the present life, and driven intosuch straits as to be forced to live uponsome charitable supply from others,[p.31]God seeing it convenient hereby towean them from worldly contentmentsthat heaven may be more longed afterand more sweet when it comes.2.Though those who are our ownpoor, within the bounds where we live,are chiefly to be relieved by us, yet incases of extremity the poor who liveremote from us are also to be supplied.3.Ministers ought to press upon thepeople, not only duties which are easyand cost them nought, but also thosethat are burdensome and expensive,especially that they would willinglygive of those things they enjoy for thesupply of others who want.—Fergusson.

The Poor Representative of Christ.—Oneevening at supper, when one ofthe boys had said the grace, “Come,Lord Jesus, be our Guest, and blesswhat Thou hast provided,” a littlefellow looked up and said, “Do tellme why the Lord Jesus never comes.We ask Him every day to sit with us,and He never comes!” “Dear child,only believe, and you may be sure Hewill come, for He does not despise ourinvitation.” “I shall set a seat,” saidthe little fellow, and just then therewas a knock at the door. A poorfrozen apprentice entered, begging anight’s lodging. He was made welcome,the chair stood empty for him, everychild wanted him to have his plate,and one was lamenting that his bedwas too small for the stranger, whowas quite touched by such uncommonattentions. The little one had beenthinking hard all the time. “Jesuscould not come, and so He sent thispoor man in His place: is that it?”“Yes, dear child; that is just it. Everypiece of bread and every drink of waterthat we give to the poor, or the sick,or the prisoners for Jesus’ sake, wegive to Him.”—Memoir of John Falk.

Remembrance of the Poor recommended.

I. The nature of the assertion.—1.Rememberthe work of the poor.2.The deprivations of the poor.3.Our remembrance of the poor shouldbe founded on a personal acquaintancewith their circ*mstances. “Indeed,sir,” said a person of large property,“I am a very compassionate man; butto tell you the truth, I do not knowany person in want.” He kept alooffrom the poor.

II. Obligations to comply with therecommendation.—1.The dictates ofhumanity require it. 2.The demandsof duty. 3.The rights of justice.4.The claims of interest.

III. Answer objections.—Such as:1.My circ*mstances are impoverishedand I have nothing to spare. 2.Charitymust begin at home. 3.I have aright to do what I will with my own.4.The poor do not deserve to beremembered.—Beta.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 11–21.

A Fearless Defence of Fundamental Truth—

I. Does not hesitate to impeach a distinguished Church dignitary of inconsistency.—“Butwhen Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face,because he was to be blamed,” etc. (vers. 11–14). Peter had been accustomed tomingle with the Gentile converts on the ground of perfect social equality.Influenced by the fierce bigots of legalism, who insinuated that the circumcisedoccupied a superior status to the uncircumcised, he withdrew from the socialcircle of the Gentiles and confined himself to that of his Jewish brethren. Thepliability of his impulsive nature led him into this as into other mistakes. Tocreate a social distinction between Jew and Gentile was to undermine the Gospel.Paul saw at a glance the threatened peril, and it needed all his tact and courageto confront it. Though it meant a public impeachment of the sincerity and consistencyof one of the most venerated apostles, the champion of the Gentiles did[p.32]not hesitate. Alone, even Barnabas having for the time being deserted him, hestood up boldly for the truth of the Gospel.

II. Is the opportunity for an authoritative restatement of the truth imperilled(vers. 15–18).—In these verses the apostle again sets forth the fundamentaldoctrine of justification by faith, without the works of the law. TheJudaisers contended that to renounce legal righteousness was in effect to promotesin—to make Christ the minister of sin (ver. 17). Paul retorts the charge onthose who made it and showed that they promote sin who set up legal righteousnessagain (ver. 18). The reproach of the Judaisers was in reality the samethat is urged against evangelical doctrine still—that it is immoral, placing thevirtuous and vicious in the common category of sinners (Findlay). “The complaintwas this,” says Calvin,—“Has Christ therefore come to take away fromus the righteousness of the law, to make us polluted who were holy? Nay, Paulsays—he repels the blasphemy with detestation. For Christ did not introducesin but revealed it. He did not rob them of righteousness, but of the false showthereof.”

III. Is made more impressive by showing the effect of the truth on personalexperience (vers. 19–21).—In these words the apostle indicates that his owndeliverance from the law was effected by being dead to the law—being crucifiedwith Christ; and that his own spiritual life was originated and sustained by aliving faith in a loving and self-sacrificing Christ. “Legalism is fatal to thespiritual life in man. Whilst it clouds the Divine character, it dwarfs andpetrifies the human. What becomes of the sublime mystery of the life hid withChrist in God, if its existence is made contingent on circumcision and ritual performance?To men who put meat and drink on a level with righteousness andpeace and joy in the Holy Ghost, or in their intercourse with fellow-Christiansset points of ceremony above justice, mercy, and faith, the very idea of a spiritualkingdom of God is wanting. The religion of Jesus and of Paul regeneratesthe heart, and from that centre regulates and hallows the whole ongoing of life.Legalism guards the mouth, the hands, the senses, and imagines that throughthese it can drill the man into the Divine order. The latter theory makesreligion a mechanical system; the former conceives it as an inward, organic life.”

Lessons.—1.The leaven of error is not easily suppressed. 2.True religion hasnever lacked a race of brave defenders. 3.Experimental religion is the bestguarantee of its permanence.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 11–13. Christian Consistency—

1. May be spoilt by yielding to anunworthy fear (ver. 12).
2. Should be strictly maintainedfor the sake of others (ver. 13).
3. Should be defended with intrepidcourage (ver. 11).

Ver. 11. An Astute Defender of theFaith.

I. Here we have an example oftrue virtue, in St. Paul resisting evilto the utmost of his power. In likemanner must every one of us resistevil, first in himself and then in themthat appertain to him.

II. An example of boldness andliberty in reproving sin.—1.Thisliberty in reproving is not the fruit ofa bold and rash disposition, but is thefruit of God’s Spirit, and is so to beacknowledged. 2.This liberty is to beordered by a sound mind whereby weare able to give a good account of ourreproofs, both for the matter andmanner of them. 3.Our admonitionsmust be seasoned and tempered withlove.

III. An example of an ingenuousand honest mind.—When Paul seesPeter he reproves him to the face. Contraryto this is the common practice in[p.33]backbiting, whispering, and tale-bearing,whereby it comes to pass thatwhen a man is in fault every manknows it save he who is in fault. Wesee that excellent men, even the chiefapostles, are subject to err and bedeceived.—Perkins.

Vers. 12, 13. The Power of Example.—1.Soweak and inconstant are thebest of men that, being left to themselves,the least blast of temptationwill make them break off the courseof doing well in the very midst, andwithout respect either to conscience orcredit, openly desert it. 2.To separatefrom a true Church and break offcommunion with its members cannotbe attempted without sin, not thoughwe eschew the offence and stumblingof many. 3.Of so great force is thebad example of men, eminent, gracious,and learned, that not only the weakand infirm, but even those who arestrong and richly endowed with bothgrace and parts, will sometimes becorrupted by it. It is usual for usunawares to esteem such as more thanmen and being once so far engaged inour esteem of them we do not sonarrowly examine their actions as wedo those of other men. 4.Aninundation of evil examples, thoughheld forth by private Christians,is so impetuous and of such force tocarry others along with it, that eventhe very best of men can hardly standagainst it.—Fergusson.

An Erring Apostle.

I. Peter’s sin was simulation.—Amongthe Gentiles at Antioch heused Christian liberty in eating thingsforbidden by the ceremonial law; yetafter the coming of certain Jews fromJerusalem, he separates himself fromthe Gentiles, and plays the Jew amongthe Jews. This act of Peter was nota sin in itself, but the circ*mstancesmade it a sin. 1.He not onlyabstained from meats forbidden by theceremonial law but withdrew himselffrom the Gentiles and kept companyapart with the Jews. 2.He abstainednot among the Jews at Jerusalem, butat Antioch among the Gentiles, wherea little before he had openly done thecontrary, using his Christian liberty.3.He used this abstinence whencertain Jews came from Jerusalem tosearch out the liberty of the Gentiles.4.While Peter seeks to avoid thesmall offence of some Jews, he incursa greater offence of all the Gentiles.5.This act of Peter tended to theoverthrowing of Paul’s ministry andthe suppressing of the truth of theGospel.

II. The cause of Peter’s sin wasfear of offending the Jews.—It was asin because he feared man more thanGod. It was a sin, not of malice, butinfirmity. A sin of infirmity is whenthere is a purpose in the heart not tosin, and yet for all this the sin is committed,by reason the will is over-carriedby temptation, or by violenceof affection as by fear, anger, lust.

III. The effect of Peter’s sin.—Hedrew the Jews and Barnabas tothe like dissimulation. Here we seethe contagion of an evil example.1.Ministers of the Word must joinwith good doctrine the example of agood life. 2.Practice in the ministryis a part of the teaching. 3.Allsuperiors are warned to go before theirinferiors by good example. 4.Theconsent of many together is not anote of truth. Peter, Barnabas, andthe Jews, all together are deceived;Paul alone has the truth. Ponormitanesaid, “A layman bringingScripture is to be preferred before awhole council.” Paphnutius alone hadthe truth, and the whole council ofNice inclined to error.—Perkins.

Vers. 14–16. Justification by Faith,not by Works.—1.Though privatesins, which have not broken forth toa public scandal, are to be rebukedin private, public sins are to receivepublic rebukes, that public scandalmay be removed, and others scaredfrom taking encouragement to do thelike (ver. 14). 2.Though the bindingpower of the ceremonial law was[p.34]abrogated at Christ’s death, and thepractice in some things left as a thinglawful and in itself indifferent, yetthe observance, even for that time,was dispensed with more for the Jews’sake, and was more tolerable in themwho were born and educated underthat yoke, than in the Gentiles, towhom that law was never given,and so were to observe it, or any partof it, only in case of scandalising theweak Jews by their neglecting of it(ver. 14). 3.Though every man bynature is a child of wrath and enemyto God, yet those born within thevisible Church have a right to Churchprivileges and to enjoy the externalmeans of grace and salvation (ver. 15).4.The doctrine of justification by faithand not by works was early opposed,and no doctrine so much opposed,because no truth is more necessary tobe kept pure, as if it be kept pureseveral other truths are kept pure also,and if it fall other truths fall with it(ver. 16).—Fergusson.

Ver. 16. Justification by Faith.

I. Man is justified by the meremercy of God.—And there is excludedby justification all merit of congruity,all meritorious works of preparationwrought by us, all co-operation ofman’s will with God’s grace in theeffecting of our justification.

II. Man is justified by the meremerit of Christ.—That is, by themeritorious obedience which Hewrought in Himself, and not by anythingwrought by Him in us.

III. A sinner is justified by merefaith.—That is, nothing within usconcurs as a cause of our justificationbut faith, and nothing apprehendsChrist’s obedience for our justificationbut faith. This will more easily appearif we compare faith, hope, and love.Faith is like a hand that opens itselfto receive a gift, and so is neither lovenor hope. Love is also a hand, butyet a hand that gives out, communicates,and distributes. For as faithreceives Christ into our hearts, so loveopens the heart and pours our praiseand thanks to God and all manner ofgoodness to men. Hope is no hand,but an eye that wistfully looks andwaits for the good things faith believes.Therefore, it is the only property offaith to clasp and lay hold of Christand His benefits.

IV. The practice of them that arejustified is to believe.—To put theirtrust in Christ. 1.Faith and practicemust reign in the heart and have allat command. We must not go bysense, feeling, reason, but shut oureyes and let faith keep our heartsclose to the promise of God. Faithmust overrule and command natureand the strongest affections thereof.2.When we know not what to do byreason of the greatness of our distress,we must fix our hearts on Christ withseparation, as he that climbs up aladder or some steep place: the higherhe goes the faster he holds.—Perkins.

Vers. 17, 18. False Methods ofSalvation—

1. To seek justification in any otherway than through Christ.—“If, whilewe seek to be justified by Christ, weourselves are found sinners” (ver. 17).
2. Reflect unjustly on the characterof the only Saviour.—“Is thereforeChrist the minister of sin? Godforbid” (ver. 17).
3. Aggravate our sin by restoringin practice what we have abandonedin theory.—“For if I build again thethings which I destroyed, I makemyself a transgressor” (ver. 18).

Ver. 19. The Christian Dead to theLaw.

I. The state in which the apostledescribes himself to be.—“I am deadto the law.” Not the moral law ofGod. Every rational creature in theuniverse is under its dominion, thebeliever as well as others. He mustescape from existence before he canescape from the law of God. Theapostle means he is dead to it as acovenant between God and himself.There still stands the law before himin all its primitive authority, purity,[p.35]and majesty; he honours it and strivesto obey it, and often rejoices in thethought that the time will comewhen he shall have his soul in a stateof perfect conformity to it, but this isall. Its life-giving, death-bringingpowers are utterly at an end, and heknows they are at an end. He is deadto all hope from the law, dead toall expectation of heaven or of salvationfrom it. He builds no more hope onhis obedience to it than as though thelaw had ceased to exist, and no morefear has he of condemnation from it.The believer, dead to the legal covenant,rests from it. The connection betweenhim and it is over, and with it are overthe feelings within him, the painful,perturbing, apprehensive, slavish feelingsarising out of it.

II. The means whereby the apostlehas been brought into the state hedescribes.—“I through the law amdead to the law.” Suppose a mananxious to pass from one country toanother, from a dangerous and wretchedcountry to a safe and happy one.Directly in his road stands a mountainwhich he cannot pass over, and whichhe at first imagines he can withoutmuch difficulty climb. He tries, butscarcely has he begun to breast itwhen a precipice stops him. Hedescends and tries again in anotherdirection. There another precipice orsome other obstacle arrests his course;and still ever as he begins his ascenthe is baffled, and the little way hecontrives to mount serves only to showhim more and more of the prodigiousheight of the mountain, and its stern,rugged, impassable character. At last,wearied and worn, heart-sick withlabour and disappointment, andthoroughly convinced that no effortsof his can carry him over, he lies downat the mountain’s foot in utter despair,longing still to be on the other side,but making not another movement toget there. Now ask him as he liesexhausted on the ground what hasoccasioned his torpor and despair; hewill say that mountain itself: itssituation between him and the land ofhis desires, and its inaccessible heightsand magnitude. So stands the law ofGod between the Christian and theland he longs for. The impossibilityof making our way to God by meansof the law arises from the extent of itsrequirements, and the unbending, inexorablecharacter of its denunciations.We can do nothing but die to it, sinkdown before this broad, high, terrificmountain in utter despair. Whilethrough the law the believer dies to allhope from the law, through the crossof Christ he also dies to all apprehensionfrom it.

III. The design of this deadness tothe law in the Christian’s soul.—“ThatI might live unto God.” Thisliving unto God dethrones self, discoversto the man the base, degrading idol towhich he has been bowing down, makeshim ashamed of the worship he haspaid it, and places on the throne of hisheart his Saviour and his God. Hisrenunciation of his self-righteousnesshas gradually brought on other renunciationsof self. The law drivinghim to Christ has been the means ofdriving him out of self altogether. Ithas brought him into the sphere of theGospel and among those soul-stirringprinciples, feelings, and aspirationsconnected with the Gospel. There isno greater mistake than to imaginethat the Gospel has destroyed the lawor loosened in any degree its hold onmen. The Gospel rests on the law.But for the law and its unbending,unchangeable, external character theGospel had not existed, for it would nothave been needed. Dead to the lawand alive unto God are two thingsthat go together; the one springs outof the other. The more completely wedie to the law as a covenant, the morefully, freely, and happily shall we liveunto God.—C.Bradley.

Dead to the Law by the Law.

I. The person justified is dead tothe law.—Here the law is comparedto a hard and cruel master, and weto slaves or bondmen, who so long asthey are alive are under the dominion[p.36]and at the command of their masters;yet when they are dead they are freefrom that bondage, and their mastershave no more to do with them. To bedead to the law is to be free from thedominion of the law. 1.In respect ofthe accusing and damnatory sentenceof the law. 2.In respect of thepower of the law. 3.In respect ofthe rigour of the law, exacting mostperfect obedience for our justification.4.In respect of the obligation of theconscience to the observance of ceremonies.

II. The justified person is dead tothe law by the law.—By the law ofMoses I am dead to the law of Moses.The law accuses, terrifies, and condemnsus, and therefore occasions us to fleeunto Christ who is the cause that wedie unto the law. As the needle goesdown and draws in the thread whichsews the cloth, so the law goes beforeand makes a way that grace mayfollow after and take place in theheart.

III. The end of our death to thelaw is that we may live to God.—Welive to God wisely in respect of ourselves,godly in respect go God, justlyin respect to men. That we may livegodly we must: 1.Bring ourselvesinto the presence of the invisible Godand set all we do in His sight andpresence. 2.We must take knowledgeof the will of God in all things. 3.Inall we do and suffer we must dependon God for success and deliverance.4.In all things we must give thanksand praise to God.—Perkins.

Ver. 20. The Believer crucified withChrist, and Christ living in the Believer.

I. The believer is conformed to thedeath of Christ.—1.The nature ofthis crucifixion. It is figurative, notliteral; yet real, and not chimerical.It not only signifies suffering anddying to sin, but also to effect this bythe efficacy of Christ’s cross. 2.Theobjects to which the Christian iscrucified, and the principles whichthereby expire: (1)The law consideredas a means of justification.(2)The world—its applause, treasures,gratification. (3)Self. 3.The sufferingswhich accompany this crucifixion.Severe conviction and mortification.The complete surrender ofheart is attended with many pangs.The continuance of the struggle isgrievous.

II. The believer participates in thelife of Christ.—1.The principle of thelife—Christ living in the soul. 2.Theevidences of this life—holy tempers,spiritual conversation, benevolent actions.3.The instrument by whichthis life is introduced and maintainedin the soul—faith.

Lessons.—1.This subject furnishes atest to try the reality of our religionand the measure of our attainments.2.Exposes the delusion of Pharisees,hypocrites, and antinomians. 3.Exhibitsthe dignity, felicity, and exalted hopesof the real believer.—Delta.

The Religious Life of the Apostle—

1. Was characterised from thebeginning by promptitude of action.
2. Was marked by a constantsolicitude for his own personal salvation.
3. Was eminent for its spirit ofdevotion.
4. Was one of high fellowshipwith the Divine.
5. Had its foundation and powerin a living faith in Christ.

Truths to live on.—Some one hassaid, “Give me a great truth that Imay live on it.” And the preachermay well say, “Give me a great truththat I may preach it.” There aremany great truths in this verse. Andyet how simply are they put! Thefirst great truth taught in this verse isthe oneness between Christ and thosewho believe in Him. What St. Paulmeans is this, that having died withChrist on the cross, he has in Christpaid the penalty of sin, and it is no longerhis old self that lives and rules, butChrist lives in him. And is not thisthe Christ I want? Not only a Christ[p.37]to copy, not a Christ outside me, buta Christ living and reigning within.The believer lives by faith, and faithlives on the promises, for faith is aloving trust. The presence or absenceof faith rules the whole destiny ofevery man. The man who believeswill live one way. The unbeliever willlive in another way. If you have thissimple trust in Christ, you may appropriatethe last clause of the verse,“He loved me, and gave Himself forme.” When did that love begin?Never. When will that love end?Never.

 "Every human tie may perish, Friend to friend ungrateful prove, Mothers cease their own to cherish, Heaven and earth at last remove; But no changes Can attend the Saviour's love."

For those Christ loves He will undertakealtogether. He gives them Hispeace, His joy, His smile, His arm,His hand, His home. For He gaveHimself. There are all treasures inHim. Strength for every need, wisdomfor every question, comfort forevery sorrow, healing for every wound,provision for every day. “For me,”so insignificant, unworthy, so bad; forme, whose iniquities have darkened theblue heavens; for me, a slave of sin.

 "Why was I made to hear Thy voice And enter while there's room, While thousands made a wretched choice, And rather starve than come? 'Twas the same love that spread the feast, That gently forced me in, Else I had still refused to taste, And perished in my sin."

—F. Harper, M.A.

The Love of the Son of God to Men.

I. The existence of this amazingaffection.—Let not the strangeness ofthe love stagger us into doubt or disbelief,but let us receive and rest inthe revealed fact. Viewed from theside of the Divine, it is affection froma superior towards those vastly inferior.Viewed from the side of the humanbeings beloved, it is an affectionaltogether undeserved. The contrastbetween His dignity and our demeritis the background on which His lovestands out conspicuously.

II. The proof of affection He gave.—Notleft to assertion or speculation,but proved by a public act. What hedid expresses what He felt. He showedit openly by self-denial and self-surrender.He gave not His substanceor possessions, not another being, butto procure our salvation and expressHis love He delivered up His ownperson.

III. The personality or individualityof the affection.—He died forall and for each. His love to eachhuman being might be inferred fromthat to the whole race, but it isaffirmed directly. Each singly had adistinct place in His loving death.Each was a unit before Him, and hada personal interest in His affection.—W.Smiley, B.A.

The Life of Faith.

I. The life which the apostle livedin the flesh.—1.His whole life was alife of religious decision. He madehis choice and never faltered in it.He saw what he had to do, and hebegan to do it at once. He allowedno parley with the enemy. Nor wasthis resolution fleeting; it continuedthrough life.

2. His life was marked by a solemnregard and care for his own personalsalvation.—There are two sources ofreligious danger of which we are notalways sufficiently aware—zeal fordoctrinal truth, and active employmentin promoting the spread of truth.How possible it is that, through thetreachery of our hearts, even thesemay be allowed insensibly to sap thevery foundations of that solemn fear,as to our own selves, which ought toinfluence us! Remember that truthis not the substance of salvation butit* instrument. Water others, butneglect not your own vineyard.

3. His life was truly a life of devotion.—Hiswas a life of prayer. Philosophyasks for a reason for the efficacy ofprayer, and waiting for an answer,never prays at all. Religion hears[p.38]that God will be inquired of by us,thankfully bends the knee, touches thegolden sceptre, and bears away theblessing. We always want; we mustalways pray. And wish we for amodel of high aspiration in prayer?Let the apostle elevate and expand ourlanguid desires.

4. His life was one of heavenly-mindedness.—Helived indeed in theflesh, but his life was in heaven.Heavenly-mindedness is the result ofthree things—an assurance of presentacceptance with God, habitual intercoursewith Him through His Son, andthe extinction of the worldly spirit.Our fears and aversions result fromprinciples directly opposite.

5. His life was one of cheerful submissionto providential appointments.—Hiswas no life of envied ease. Inevery city bonds and afflictions awaitedhim. These dispensations operated ona tender and delicate mind, for in himwere united great energy and greattenderness. Yet this man, hunted likea beast of prey, always preserves andexhibits a contented cheerfulness.There was no sorrow for himself, noneallowed to others for him. The principleitself reason could not furnish;but when furnished it is seen to bemost reasonable.

6. His life was one of laborious usefulness.—Helived not to himself, butto Christ Jesus his Lord, in the promotionof His will in the moral benefitand eternal salvation of men. Thiswas the life he lived in the flesh, evento spread the light and influence ofthe Gospel to all.

II. The principle and source of hislife.—1.It is Christian faith. Itsobject, the Son of God. It receivesHis words as true, and regards Him asan atoning sacrifice. “He gave Himselffor me.”

2. In its nature it is confidingand appropriating.—How does faithconnect itself with the results stated?(1)It regenerates as well as justifies.(2)It produces vital union withChrist. (3)It is habitual in its exercise.(4)It is realising. It gives aspiritual apprehension of invisible andeternal realities.—R.Watson.

Self-abolished and Replaced.—CarolineHerschel, the sister of the greatastronomer, was through all her lifethe most attached servant of herbrother. She called herself “a meretool, which my brother had the troubleof sharpening.” She learned the detailsof observing with such success that sheindependently discovered eight comets.Her devotion was most complete.Wherever her brother was concernedshe abolished self and replaced hernature with his. Having no taste forastronomy, her work at first was distastefulto her; but she conquered thisand lived to help his work and fame.

Ver. 21. The Perils of False Teaching.

1. It seeks to base personal righteousnesson an effete legalism.—“Ifrighteousness come by the law.”
2. It defeats the gracious purposesof God.—“I do not frustrate the graceof God.”
3. It renders the sacrifice ofChrist nugatory.—“Then Christ isdead in vain.”

Frustrating Divine Grace.—1.Thejoining of works with faith in themanner of justification is a total excludingof God’s free grace and favourfrom any hand in the work. Graceadmits of no partner. If grace doesnot all, it does nothing; if anything beadded, that addition makes grace tobe no grace. 2.That the apostle dothexclude in this dispute from havingany influence in justification theworks, not only of the ceremonial butalso of the moral law, appears fromthis—that he opposes the merit ofChrist’s death to all merit of our own,whether by obedience to the one law orthe other. 3.If there had been anyother way possible by which the salvationof sinners could have been broughtabout but by the death of Christ, thenChrist would not have died. To supposeChrist died in vain or withoutcause is an absurdity. If justification[p.39]could have been attained by works orany other means, then His death hadbeen in vain, and it were an absurdthing to suppose He would have diedin that case.—Fergusson.

Justification by Works makes Void theGrace of God.

I. Grace must stand wholly andentirely in itself.—God’s grace cannotstand with man’s merit. Grace is notgrace unless it be freely given everyway. Grace and works of grace in thecausing of justification can no morestand together than fire and water.

II. The apostle answers the objectionthat if a sinner is justified onlyby faith in Christ then we abolish thegrace of God.—He shows that if webe justified by our own fulfilment ofthe law then Christ died in vain tofulfil the law for us.

III. We have here a notable groundof true religion.—That the death ofChrist is made void if anything bejoined with it in the work of our justificationas a means to satisfy God’sjustice and to merit the favour of God.Therefore the doctrine of justificationby works is a manifest error.—Perkins.

CHAPTER III.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. Who hath bewitched you?—Fascinated you, as if overlooked by the evil eye, so thatyour brain is confused. The Galatians were reputed to possess acute intellects: the apostlemarvelled the more at their defection. That you should not obey the truth.—Omitted in R.V.Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified.—In preaching, avivid portraiture of Christ crucified has been set before you as if depicted in graphiccharacters impossible to mistake.

Ver. 3. Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?—What monstrousfolly is this! Will you so violate the Divine order of progress? The flesh may be easilymistaken for the Spirit, even by those who have made progress, unless they continue tomaintain a pure faith (Bengel).

Ver. 4. Have ye suffered so many things in vain?—Since ye might have avoided them byprofessing Judaism. Will ye lose the reward promised for all suffering?

Ver. 5. He that worketh miracles among you.—In you, at your conversion and since.

Ver. 6. Even as Abraham believed God.—Where justification is there the Spirit is, so thatif the former comes by faith the latter must also.

Ver. 8. Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham.—Thus the Gospel in its essential germis older than the law, though the full development of the former is subsequent to the latter.The promise to Abraham was in anticipation of the Gospel, not only as announcing theMessiah, but also as involving the doctrine of righteousness by faith.

Ver. 10. As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.—This the Scriptureitself declares. It utters an anathema against all who fail to fulfil every single ordinancecontained in the book of the law (Deut. xxvii.26).

Ver. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse.—Bought us off from our bondage andfrom the curse under which all lie who trust to the law. The ransom price He paid wasHis own precious blood (1Pet. i.18, 19). Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.—Christ’sbearing the particular curse of hanging on the tree is a sample of the general cursewhich He representatively bore. Not that the Jews put to death malefactors by hanging,but after having put them to death otherwise, in order to brand them with peculiarignominy, they hung the bodies on a tree, and such malefactors were accursed by the law.The Jews in contempt called Him the hanged one. Hung between heaven and earth asthough unworthy of either.

Ver. 17. The covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law cannot disannul.—Fromthe recognised inviolability of a human covenant (ver. 15), the apostle argues theimpossibility of violating the Divine covenant. The law cannot set aside the promise.

Ver. 19. Wherefore then serveth the law?—As it is of no avail for justification, is iteither useless or contrary to the covenant of God? It was added because of transgressions.—To[p.40]bring out into clearer view the transgression of the law; to make men more fullyconscious of their sins, by being perceived as transgression of the law, and so make themlong for the promised Saviour. It was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator.—Asinstrumental enactors of the law. In the giving of the law the angels were representativesof God; Moses, as mediator, represented the people.

Ver. 20. Now a Mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.—The very idea ofmediation supposes two persons at least, between whom the mediation is carried on. Thelaw then is of the nature of a contract between two parties—God on the one hand, and theJewish people on the other. It is only valid so long as both parties fulfil the terms of thecontract. It is therefore contingent and not absolute. Unlike the law, the promise isabsolute and unconditional. It depends on the sole decree of God. There are not twocontracting parties. There is nothing of the nature of a stipulation. The Giver is everything,the recipient nothing (Lightfoot).

Ver. 22. The Scripture hath concluded all under sin.—The written letter was needed soas permanently to convict man of disobedience to God’s command. He is shut up undercondemnation as in a prison.

Ver. 24. The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.—As a tutor, checking oursinful propensities, making the consciousness of the sinful principle more vivid, and showingthe need of forgiveness and freedom from the bondage of sin.

Ver. 26. Ye are all the children of God.—No longer children requiring a tutor, but sonsemancipated and walking at liberty.

Ver. 28. Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.—No class privileged above another, as the Jewsunder the law had been above the Gentiles. Difference of sex makes no difference inChristian privileges. But under the law the male sex had great privileges.

Ver. 29. If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs.—Christ is Abraham’sseed, and all who are baptised into Christ, put on Christ (ver. 27), and are one in Christ(ver. 28), are children entitled to the inheritance of promise.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–5.

The Deceptive Glamour of Error—

I. Diverts the gaze of the soul from the most suggestive truth.—“Beforewhose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified” (ver. 1). Thecross of Christ was the great theme of Paul’s preaching. He depicted it in suchvivid colours and dwelt on every detail of the story with such intense earnestnessand loving emphasis, that the Galatians were arrested, excited, charmed.They were smitten with a sense of sin. They seemed to be actors in the scene,as if their own hands had driven in the nails that pierced the sacred Victim.They were bowed with shame and humiliation, and in an agony of repentancethey cast themselves before the Crucified and took Him for their Christ andKing. While they looked to Jesus they were secure, but when they listened tothe deceptive voice of error, their gaze was diverted, and the deep significance ofthe cross became obscured. Then backsliding began. Like mariners losingsight of their guiding star, they drifted into strange waters. The cross is thecentral force of Christianity; when it fades from view Christianity declines.“As the sun draws the vapours of the sea, and then paints a rainbow on them,so Christ draws men and then glorifies them. His attraction is like that of thesun. It is magnetic too, like that of the magnet to the pole. It is not simplythe Christ that is the magnet; it is the crucified Christ. It is not Christ withoutthe cross, nor the cross without Christ; it is both of them together.”

II. Confuses the mind as to the nature and value of spiritual agencies.—1.Concerningthe method of their first reception.—“Received ye the Spirit by theworks of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (ver. 2). Making it appear thatspiritual blessings were acquired by outward observance rather than by inwardcontemplation and faith. Confusing the true method of moral regeneration, itarrests all growth and advancement in the spiritual life. It throws back thesoul on the weary round of toilsome and hopeless human effort.

2. Concerning the purpose for which they were given.—“Having begun in theSpirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (ver. 3). It was a reversal of[p.41]the Divine order. Having begun in the Spirit, so they must continue, or theywould be undone. It was absurd to look for perfection in the flesh, especiallywhen they had discovered its helplessness and misery. Pharisaic ordinances coulddo nothing to consummate the work of faith and love; Moses could not leadthem higher than Christ; circumcision could never effect what the Holy Ghostfailed to do. Spiritual results can be brought about only by spiritual agencies.

3. Rendering suffering on behalf of the truth meaningless.—“Have ye sufferedso many things in vain?” (ver. 4). The Galatians on their conversion wereexposed to the fiercest persecution from the Jews and from their own countrymenincited by the Jews. No one could come out of heathen society and espousethe cause of Christ in those days, nor can he do so to-day, without makinghimself a mark for ridicule and violence, without the rupture of family andpublic ties, and many painful sacrifices. But if the truth may be so easilyabandoned, all early struggles against opposition and all the educative influenceand promised reward of suffering must go for nothing. It is disappointing anddisastrous when a youthful zeal for religion degenerates in maturer life intoapathy and worldliness, when the great principles of right and liberty, for whichour fathers fought and suffered, are treated by their descendants with supineindifference.

III. Creates misconceptions as to the Divine method of ministering spiritualblessing.—“He that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles, doeth heit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (ver. 5). One of the mostsubtle effects of error is to suspend the mind in a state of hesitation and doubt.It is a dangerous mood. Confidence in the truth is shaken, and for the momentthe soul has nothing stable on which to lay hold. It is the opportunity for theenemy, and damage is done which even a subsequent return to the truth doesnot wholly efface. Paul saw the peril of his converts, and he suggests this test—theSpirit of God had put His seal on the apostle’s preaching and on the faith ofhis hearers. Did any such manifestation accompany the preaching of the legalists?He takes his stand on the indubitable evidence of the work of the Spirit. Itis the only safe ground for the champion of experimental Christianity (1Cor.ii.14, 15).

Lessons.—1.Every error is the distortion of some truth. 2.The cross is thecentral truth of Christianity. 3.The highest truths are spiritually discerned.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 1. Faithful Reproof.—1.Theminister when he is called to insistupon the clearing up of truth, whetherpositively by showing what is revealedin Scripture or controversially byrefuting errors, should mix his discoursewith exhortation and reproof, to exciteand quicken the affections of hishearers. 2.False teachers, who byfair words deceive the simple, arespiritual sorcerers, and error is spiritualwitchcraft. As sorcerers by deludingthe senses make people apprehend thatthey see what they see not, so falseteachers, by casting a mist of seemingreason before the understanding,delude it, and make the deluded personto believe that to be truth whichis not. 3.Though Christ and Hissufferings are to be vividly representedand pictured by the plain and powerfulpreaching of the Gospel, yet it does notfollow they are to be artificially paintedwith colours on stone or timber forreligious use. The graven image is ateacher of lies (Hab. ii.18).—Fergusson.

The Folly of Disobedience.

I. We are wise in matters of theworld, but in matters concerning thekingdom of heaven the most of usare fools, besotted and bewitched withworldly cares and pleasures, without[p.42]sense in matters of religion; like apiece of wax without form, fit to takethe form and print of any religion.

II. The truth here mentioned is theheavenly doctrine of the Gospel, socalled because it is absolute truthwithout error, and because it is amost worthy truth—the truth accordingto godliness.

III. The office of the minister isto set forth Christ crucified.—1.Theministry of the Word must be plain,perspicuous, and evident, as if thedoctrine were pictured and painted outbefore the eyes of men. 2.It mustbe powerful and lively in operation,and as it were crucifying Christ withinus and causing us to feel the virtue ofHis passion. The Word preached mustpierce into the heart like a two-edgedsword. 3.The effectual and powerfulpreaching of the Word stands in threethings: (1)True and proper interpretationof the Scripture. (2)Savouryand wholesome doctrine gathered outof the Scriptures truly expounded.(3)The application of the said doctrine,either to the information of thejudgment or the reformation of thelife.

IV. The duty of all believers is tobehold Christ crucified.—And we mustbehold Him by the eye of faith, whichmakes us both see Him and feel Him,as it were, crucified in us. 1.Bybeholding Christ crucified we see ourmisery and wickedness. 2.This sightbrings us true and lively comfort.3.This sight of Christ makes awonderful change in us. The chameleontakes the colours of the things it seesand that are near to it; and the believingheart takes to it the dispositionand mind that was in Christ—Perkins.

Attractiveness of Worth.—In the ParisSalon some few years ago there was abust of the painter Baudry by PaulDubois, one of the greatest modernsculptors. Mr. Edmund Gosse wassitting to contemplate this bust whenan American gentleman strolled by,caught sight of it, and after hoveringround it for some time came and satby his side and watched it. Presentlyhe turned to Mr. Gosse inquiring if hecould tell him whose it was, andwhether it was thought much of,adding with a charming modesty, “Idon’t know anything about art; butI found that I could not get past thathead.” Would that we could so setforth Christ that His Word might befulfilled, “I, if I be lifted up, will drawall men unto me”! (John xii.32).

Vers. 2–5. Searching Questions.—1.Asto the mode of receiving theSpirit (ver. 2). 2.As to the folly ofexpecting advancement by substitutingan inferior for a superior force (ver. 3).3.As to the uselessness of suffering(ver. 4). 4.As to the exercise ofspiritual and miraculous power (ver. 5).

Ver. 4. Suffering for the Truth.—1.Theymay suffer many things fortruth who afterwards fall from it. As theexample of others, particularinterest and general applause willmake even hypocrites suffer much, socontinued suffering will make even thegodly faint for a time. The best, beingleft to themselves, in an hour oftemptation, will turn their back upontruth, so that no profession, no experienceor remembrance of the joyand sweetness found in the way oftruth, nor their former sufferings forit, will make them adhere to it.2.Whatever have been the sufferingsfor truth, they are all in vain, lost andto no purpose, if the party makedefection from and turn his back uponthe truth. 3.Though those who havesuffered much for the truth shouldafterwards fall from it, we are to keepcharity towards them, hoping God willgive them repentance and reclaimthem. All our sharpness towards themought to be wisely tempered, by expressingthe charitable thoughts wehave of them.—Fergusson.

The Uses of Suffering.—1.They servefor trial of men, that it may appearwhat is hidden in their hearts.2.They serve for the correction of[p.43]things amiss in us. 3.They serveas documents and warnings to others,especially in public persons. 4.Theyare marks of adoption if we be contentto obey God in them. 5.They are thetrodden and beaten way to the kingdomof heaven.—Perkins.

Ver. 5. Miracles confirmatory of theTruth.—1.The Lord accompanied thefirst preaching of the Gospel with theworking of miracles that the truthof the doctrine might be confirmed,which being once sufficiently done, thereis no further use for miracles. 2.Sostrong and prevalent is the spirit oferror, and so weak the best in themselvesto resist it, that for loveto error they will quit truth, thoughconfirmed and sealed by the savingfruits of God’s Spirit in their hearts.—Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 6–9.

The Abrahamic Gospel—

I. Recognised the principle that righteousness is only by faith.—“Abrahambelieved God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (ver. 6). Thepromise to Abraham contained the germ of the Gospel and was the only Gospelknown to pre-Christian times. Though dimly apprehending its vast import,Abraham trusted in God’s Messianic promise, and his unfaltering faith, oftenseverely tried, was in the judgment of the gracious God imputed to him asrectitude. “In this mode of salvation there was after all nothing new. Therighteousness of faith is more ancient than legalism. It is as old as Abraham.In the hoary patriarchal days as now, in the time of promise as of fulfilment,faith is the root of religion; grace invites, righteousness waits upon the hearingof faith.”

II. Was universal in its spiritual provisions.—“The Scripture, foreseeingthat God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospelunto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed” (ver. 8). Twice isAbraham designated “the friend of God.” The Arabs still call him the friend.His image has impressed itself with singular force on the Oriental mind. He isthe noblest figure of the Old Testament, surpassing Isaac in force, Jacob inpurity, and both in dignity of character. His religion exhibits a heroic strengthand firmness, but at the same time a large-hearted, genial humanity, an elevationand serenity of mind, to which the temper of those who boasted themselveshis children was utterly opposed. Father of the Jewish race, Abraham was noJew. He stands before us in the morning light of revelation a simple, noble,archaic type of man, true father of many nations. And his faith was the secretof the greatness which has commanded for him the reverence of four thousandyears. His trust in God made him worthy to receive so immense a trust for thefuture of mankind (Findlay).

III. Shares its privilege and blessing with all who believe.—“They whichare of faith, the same are the children of... are blessed with faithful Abraham”(vers. 7, 9). With Abraham’s faith the Gentiles inherit his blessing. Theywere not simply blessed in him, through his faith which received and handeddown the blessing but blessed with him. Their righteousness rests on the sameprinciple as his. Reading the story of Abraham, we witness the bright dawn offaith, its springtime of promise and of hope. These morning hours passed away;and the sacred history shuts us in to the hard school of Mosaism, with itsisolation, its mechanical routine and ritual drapery, its yoke of legal exaction evergrowing more burdensome. Of all this the Church of Christ was to knownothing. It was called to enter into the labours of the legal centuries withoutthe need of sharing their burdens. In the “Father of the Faithful” and the“Friend of God” Gentile believers were to see their exemplar, to find the warrant[p.44]for that sufficiency and freedom of faith of which the natural children of Abrahamunjustly strove to rob them (Findlay).

Lessons.—1.The Gospel has an honourable antiquity. 2.Righteousness is thepractical side of true religion. 3.Faith is the way to righteousness.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 6–9. Righteousness throughFaith.

1. The Divine method of blessing inpast ages (ver. 6).
2. Modern believers are spiritualsuccessors of the most eminent examplesof faith in ancient times(ver. 7).
3. The unchanging Gospel taughtin Holy Scripture (ver. 8).
4. Ensures the enjoyment ofpromised blessings (ver. 9).

Vers. 6, 7. Imitators of Abraham’sFaith.

I. We must have knowledge of themain and principal promise touchingthe blessing of God in Christ, and allother promises depending on theprincipal; and we must know thescope and tenor of them that we benot deceived.

II. We must with Abraham believethe truth and power of God in theaccomplishment of the said promises,or in the working of our vocation,justification, sanctification, glorification.

III. We must by faith obey Godin all things, shutting our eyes andsuffering ourselves to be led blindfold,as it were, by the Word of God. Thusdid Abraham in all things, even inactions against nature. But thispractice is rare among us. For thereare three things which prevail amongus—the love of worldly honour, thelove of pleasure, and the love of riches;and where these bear sway there faithtakes no place.—Perkins.

Vers. 8, 9. All Nations blessed inAbraham.—1.The covenant of gracewith Abraham extended not only tohis carnal seed, but to all believers,even among the Gentiles. 2.Theblessings promised to Abraham werenot only temporal, but heavenly andspiritual: the temporal were often inculcatedon the ancient Church, not asif they were all or the main blessingsof the covenant, but as they wereshadows of things heavenly. 3.Thepromise to Abraham contained thesum of the Gospel—the glad tidingsof all spiritual blessings, and that theGentiles should have access, in thedays of the Gospel, to these blessings.The Gospel is therefore no new doctrine,but the same in substance with thattaught to Abraham and to the Churchunder the Old Testament. 4.Eminentprivileges bestowed on particularpersons do not exempt them fromwalking to heaven in the commonpathway with others. Abraham, thefather of believers, in whom all nationswere blessed, enjoyed the blessing, notbecause of his own merit, but freelyand by faith as well as others.—Fergusson.

The Abrahamic Gospel intended forAll.

I. The nation of the Jews shall becalled and converted to the participationof this blessing.—When andhow, God knows; but it shall be donebefore the end of the world. If allnations be called, then the Jews.

II. That which was foretold toAbraham is verified in our eyes.—Thisnation and many other nationsare at this day blessed in the seed ofAbraham. 1.Give to God thanks andpraise that we are born in these days.2.We must amend and turn to Godthat we may now be partakers of thepromised blessing. 3.We must blessall, do good to all, and hurt to none.

III. All men who are of Abraham’sfaith shall be partakers of the sameblessing with him.—God respects notthe greatness of our faith so much asthe truth of it.—Perkins.

[p.45]MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 10–14.

The Conflict between the Law and Faith.

I. The law condemns the least violation of its enactments.—“Cursed isevery one that continueth not in all things... in the law to do them” (ver. 10).The law is a unity; to violate a part is to violate the whole. It is like a perfectbell, every stroke resounds through every atom of the metal. If the bell isfractured in the least degree, the dissonance is evident in every part. Law isso all-pervasive and so perfect that to break one law is to be guilty of all. Itis intolerant of all imperfection and makes no provision to prevent or repairimperfection except by a rigid obedience to every statute. If obedience couldbe perfect from this moment onwards, the past disobedience would not becondoned; we should be still liable to its penalties, still be under the curse.To pledge ourselves to unsinning obedience is to pledge ourselves to the impossible.All our efforts to obey law—to conform our life to the law of righteousness, thepurity and beauty of which we perceive even while in a state of lawless unnature—arefutile. It is like running alongside a parallel pathway into which we areperpetually trying to turn ourselves, but all in vain. We cannot escape thecondemnation of the disobedient.

II. The law cannot justify man.—“But that no man is justified by the lawin the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” (ver. 11). Thelaw reveals our sin and our utter helplessness to rid ourselves of its misery.The law forces out the disease that is spreading under the skin. Such is its task.But healing it does not bring. “The law,” says Luther, “is that which laysdown what man is to do; the Gospel reveals whence man is to obtain help.When I place myself in the hands of the physician, one branch of art says wherethe disease lies, another what course to take to get quit of it. So here. The lawdiscovers our disease, the Gospel supplies the remedy.” We become aware incritical moments that our evil desires are more powerful than the prohibitionof law and are in truth first stirred up thoroughly by the prohibition. Andthis disposition of our heart is the decisive point for the question, “Whether thenthe holy law, the holy, just and good commandment makes us holy, just, andgood men?” The answer to this is, and remains a most decided, “No.”

III. The law ignores faith.—“The law is not of faith: but, The man thatdoeth them shall live in them” (ver. 12). Its dictum is do, not believe; it takesno account of faith. To grant righteousness to faith is to deny it to legal works.The two ways have different starting-points, as they lead to opposite goals. Fromfaith one marches through God’s righteousness to blessing; from works, throughself-righteousness, to the curse. In short, the legalist tries to make God believein him. Abraham and Paul are content to believe in God. Paul puts thecalm, grand image of Father Abraham before us for our pattern, in contrastwith the narrow, painful, bitter spirit of Jewish legalism, inwardly self-condemned.

IV. The law, the great barrier to man’s justification, is done away in Christ.—“Christhath redeemed us from the curse of the law” (ver. 13). Christ broughtus out of the curse of the law by Himself voluntarily undergoing its penaltyand submitting to the utmost indignity it imposed—hanging on a tree. It wasthis crowning scandal that shocked the Jewish pride and made the cross anoffence to them. Once crucified, the name of Jesus would surely perish fromthe lips of men; no Jew would hereafter dare to profess faith in Him. Thiswas God’s method of rescue; and all the terrors and penalties of law disappear,being absorbed in the cross of Christ. His redemption was offered to the Jewfirst. But not to the Jew alone, nor as a Jew. The time of release had comefor all men. Abraham’s blessing, long withheld, was now to be imparted, as ithad been promised, to all the tribes of the earth. In the removal of the legal[p.46]curse, God comes near to men as in the ancient days. In Christ Jesus crucified,risen, reigning, a new world comes into being, which restores and surpassesthe promise of the old.

V. Faith ends the conflict of the law by imparting to man a superiorspiritual force.—“That we might receive the promise of the Spirit throughfaith” (ver. 14). Faith is a spiritual faculty, and its exercise is made possibleby the operation of the Holy Spirit. The law of works is superseded by thehigher law of the Spirit. It is in the human soul that law has its widest sweepand accomplishes its highest results. The soul can never rise higher in itsexperience and efforts than the law by which it is governed. The law of sin hasdebased and limited the soul, and only as it is united by faith to Christ andresponds to the lofty calls of His law will it break away from the corruptionand restraints of the law of sin and rise to the highest perfection of holiness.“In every law,” says F.W. Robertson, “there is a spirit, in every maxim aprinciple; and the law and the maxim are laid down for the sake of conservingthe spirit and the principle which they enshrine. Man is severed from submissionto the maxim because he has got allegiance to the principle. He is free fromthe rule and the law because he has got the spirit written in his heart.”

Lessons.—1.It is hopeless to attain righteousness by law. 2.Faith in Christis the only and universal way of obedience. 3.The law is disarmed by obeying it.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 10–12. The Inexorability ofLaw.

1. The law renders no help infulfilling its requirements but cursesthe incompetent (ver. 10).
2. The law, though strictly observed,is powerless to justify(ver. 11).
3. The law does not admit offaith; it offers life only to the doer(ver. 12).

Ver. 11. Man is justified by Faithalone.—One day wishing to obtain anindulgence promised by the Pope to allwho should ascend on their knees whatis called Pilate’s Staircase, the poorSaxon monk, Luther, was humblycreeping up those steps when hethought he heard a voice of thundercrying from the bottom of his heart,as at Wittenberg and Bologna, “Thejust shall live by faith!” He rises inamazement, he shudders at himself, heis ashamed of seeing to what a depthsuperstition had plunged him. Heflies from the scene of his folly. Itwas in these words God then said,“Let there be light, and there waslight” (Gen. i.3).—D’Aubigné.

Ver. 12. The Difference between theLaw and the Gospel.

I. The law promises life to himwho performs perfect obedience, andthat for his works. The Gospelpromises life to him who doeth nothingin the cause of his salvation, but onlybelieves in Christ; and it promisessalvation to him who believeth, yetnot for his faith or for any works else,but for the merit of Christ. The lawthen requires doing to salvation, andthe Gospel believing and nothing else.

II. The law does not teach truerepentance, neither is it any cause ofit, but only an occasion. The Gospelonly prescribes repentance and thepractice of it, yet only as it is a fruitof our faith and as it is the way tosalvation.

III. The law requires faith in God,which is to put our affiance in him.The Gospel requires faith in Christ,the Mediator God-man; and this faiththe law never knew.

IV. The promises of the Gospelare not made to the work, but to theworker; and to the worker not for hiswork, but for Christ’s sake, accordingto His work.

[p.47]V. The Gospel considers not faithas a virtue or work, but as aninstrument, or hand, to apprehendChrist. Faith does not cause or procureour salvation, but as the beggar’shand it receives it, being whollywrought and given of God.

VI. This distinction of the law andthe Gospel must be observed carefully,as the two have been often confounded.It has been erroneously stated that thelaw of Moses, written in tables ofstone, is the law; the same law ofMoses, written in the hearts of menby the Holy Ghost, is the Gospel.But I say again that the law writtenin our hearts is still the law of Moses.This oversight in mistaking the distinctionof the law and the Gospel isand has been the ruin of the Gospel.—Perkins.

Vers. 13, 14. Redemption and itsIssues.

1. Redemption was effected byChrist enduring the penalty of violatedlaw (ver. 13).
2. Redemption by Christ hasbrought blessing to all nations.—“Thatthe blessing of Abraham mightcome on the Gentiles through JesusChrist” (ver. 14).
3. The spiritual results of redemptionare realised only by faith.—“Thatwe might receive the promiseof the Spirit through faith” (ver. 14).

Ver. 13. The Curse and Sentence ofthe Law lies on record against sinners,it puts in its demand against ouracquittance, and lays an obligationupon us unto punishment. God willnot reject nor destroy His law. Unlessit be answered, there is no acceptancefor sinners. Christ answered the curseof the law when He was made a cursefor us, and so became, as to theobedience of the law, the end of thelaw for righteousness to them thatbelieve. And as to the penalty thatit threatened, He bore it, removed it,and took it out of the way. So hathHe made way for forgiveness throughthe very heart of the law; it hath notone word to speak against the pardonof those who believe.—John Owen.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 15–18.

The Divine Covenant of Promise—

I. Is less susceptible of violation than any human covenant.—“Thoughit be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed [approved], no mandisannulleth, or addeth thereto” (ver. 15). Common equity demands thata contract made between man and man is thoroughly binding and shouldbe rigidly observed; and the civil law lends all its force to maintain theintegrity of its clauses. How much more certain it is that the Divine covenantshall be faithfully upheld. If it is likely that a human covenant will not beinterfered with, it is less likely the Divine covenant will be changed. Yet evena human covenant may fail; the Divine covenant never. It is based on theDivine Word which cannot fail, and its validity is pledged by the incorruptibilityof the Divine character (Mal. iii.6).

II. Is explicit in defining the channel of its fulfilment.—“Now to Abrahamand his seed were the promises made;... to thy seed, which is Christ” (ver. 16).The promise is in the plural because the same promise was often repeated(Gen. xii.3, 7, xv.5, 18, xvii.7, xxii.18), and because it involved many things—earthlyblessings to the literal children of Abraham in Canaan, and spiritualand heavenly blessings to his spiritual children; and both promised to Christ—theSeed and representative Head of the literal and spiritual Israel alike.Therefore the promise that in him “all families of the earth shall be blessed”joins in this one Seed—Christ—Jew and Gentile, as fellow-heirs on the sameterms of acceptability—by grace through faith; not to some by promise, to othersby the law, but to all alike, circumcised and uncircumcised, constituting but one[p.48]seed in Christ. The law, on the other hand, contemplates the Jews and Gentilesas distinct seeds. God makes a covenant, but it is one of promise; whereas thelaw is a covenant of works. God makes His covenant of promise with the oneSeed—Christ—and embraces others only as they are identified with and representedby Him (Fausset).

III. Cannot be set aside by the law which was a subsequent revelation.—“Thecovenant,... the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannotdisannul” (ver. 17). The promise to Abraham was a prior settlement, and musttake precedence, not only in time but also in authority, of the Mosaic law. Itwas a bold stroke of the apostle to thus shatter the supremacy of Mosaism; butthe appeal to antiquity was an argument the most prejudiced Jew was bound torespect. “The law of Moses has its rights; it must be taken into account aswell as the promise to Abraham. True; but it has no power to cancel or restrictthe promise, older by four centuries and a half. The later must be adjusted tothe earlier dispensation, the law interpreted by the promise. God has not madetwo testaments—the one solemnly committed to the faith and hope of mankind,only to be retracted and substituted by something of a different stamp. Hecould not thus stultify Himself. And we must not apply the Mosaic enactments,addressed to a single people, in such a way as to neutralise the original provisionsmade for the race at large. Our human instincts of good faith, our reverencefor public compacts and established rights, forbid our allowing the law of Mosesto trench upon the inheritance assured to mankind in the covenant of Abraham”(Findlay).

IV. Imposed no conditions of legal obedience.—“If the inheritance be of thelaw, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise” (ver. 18).The law is a system of conditions—so much advantage to be gained by so muchwork done. This is all very well as a general principle. But the promise ofGod is based on a very different ground. It is an act of free, sovereign grace,engaging to confer certain blessings without demanding anything more from therecipient than faith, which is just the will to receive. The law imposes obligationsman is incompetent to meet. The promise offers blessings all men needand all may accept. It simply asks the acceptance of the blessings by a submissiveand trustful heart. The demands of the law are met and the provisions ofthe covenant of promise enjoyed by an act of faith.

Lessons.—1.God has a sovereign right to give or withhold blessing. 2.TheDivine covenant of promise is incapable of violation. 3.Faith in God is thesimplest and sublimest method of obedience.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 15–18. The Promise a Covenantconfirmed.

I. The promises made to Abrahamare first made to Christ, and then inChrist to all that believe in Him.—1.Learnthe difference of the promisesof the law and the Gospel. Thepromises of the law are directed andmade to the person of every manparticularly; the promises of the Gospelare first directed and made to Christ,and then by consequent to them thatare by faith ingrafted into Christ.2.We learn to acknowledge the communionthat is between Christ and us.Christ died upon the cross, not as aprivate person, but as a public personrepresenting His people. All died inHim, and with Him; in the samemanner they must rise with Him tolife. 3.Here is comfort against theconsideration of our unworthiness.There is dignity and worthiness sufficientin Him. Our salvation stands inthis, not that we know and apprehendhim, but that He knows andapprehends us first of all.

II. The promise made to Abraham[p.49]was a covenant confirmed by oath.—Abrahamin the first making and inthe confirmation thereof must be consideredas a public person representingall the faithful. Here we see God’sgoodness. We are bound simply tobelieve His bare Word; yet in regardof our weakness He ratifies His promiseby oath, that there might be no occasionof unbelief. What can we more requireof him?

III. If the promise might be disannulled,the law could not do it.—1.Thepromise, or covenant, was madewith Abraham, and continued by Godfour hundred and thirty years beforethe law was given. 2.If the lawabolish the promise, then the inheritancemust come by the law. But thatcannot be. If the inheritance ofeternal life be by the law, it is nomore by the promise. But it is bythe promise, because God gave it untoAbraham freely by promise; therefore,it comes not by the law. This givingwas no private but a public donation.That which was given to Abrahamwas in him given to all that shouldbelieve as he did.—Perkins.

Vers. 15–17. Divine and HumanCovenants.

1. A covenant, as between man andman, is honourably binding (ver. 15).
2. The Divine covenant made toAbraham ensures the fulfilment ofpromises to all who believe as Abrahamdid (ver. 16).
3. The law cannot abrogate theDivine covenant of promise (ver. 17).

Ver 18. Law and Promise.—1.Sosubtle is the spirit of error that it willseem to cede somewhat to truth, intendingto prejudice the truth more thanif it had ceded nothing. The opposersof justification by faith did sometimesgive faith some place in justificationand pleaded for a joint influence ofworks and faith, of law and promise.2.The state of grace here and gloryhereafter is the inheritance of theLord’s people, of which the land ofCanaan was a type. There are onlytwo ways of attaining a right to thisinheritance—one by law, the other bypromise. 3.There can be no mixtureof these two, so that a right to heavenshould be obtained partly by the meritof works and partly by faith in thepromise. The only way of attainingit is by God’s free gift, without themerit of works.—Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 19, 20.

The Inferiority of the Law.

I. It did not justify but condemn the sinner by revealing his sin.—“It wasadded because of transgressions” (ver. 19). Law has no remedial efficacy. Itreveals and emphasises the fact of sin. It has no terror while it is obeyed.When it is violated then it thunders, and with pitiless severity terrifies theconscience and inflicts unsparing punishment. There is no strain of mercy inits voice, or in the inflexibility of its methods. It surrenders the condemned toan anguish from which it offers no means of escape. It is said that, after themurder of Darnley, some of the wretches who were concerned in it were foundwandering about the streets of Edinburgh crying penitently and lamentably forvengeance on those who had caused them to shed innocent blood.

II. It was temporary in its operation.—“Till the seed should come to whomthe promise was made” (ver. 19). The work of the law was preparatory andeducative. Centuries rolled away and the promised Seed was long in coming,and it seemed as if the world must remain for ever under the tutelage of thelaw. All the time the law was doing its work. God was long in fulfilling Hispromise because man was so slow to learn. When Christ, the promised Seed,appeared, the law was superseded. Its work was done. The preparatory gave[p.50]place to the permanent; the reign of law was displaced by the reign of grace.The claims of the law were discharged once for all.

III. Its revelation was through intermediaries.—“It was ordained by angelsin the hand of a Mediator” (ver. 19). In the Jewish estimation the administrationof the law by angels enhanced its splendour, and the pomp and ceremonywith which Moses made known the will and character of Jehovah added to theimpressiveness and superiority of the law. In the Christian view these verymethods were evidences of defect and inferiority. The revelations of God bythe law were veiled and intermediate; the revelation by Grace is direct andimmediate. Under the law God was a distant and obscured personality, and thepeople unfit to enter His sacred presence; by the Gospel God is brought near toman and permitted to bask in the radiance of His revealed glory, without theintervention of a human mediator. The law, with its elaborate ceremonial andmultiplied exactions, is a barrier between the soul and God.

IV. It was contingent, not absolute, in its primal terms.—“Now a Mediator isnot a mediator of one, but God is one” (ver. 20). Where a mediator is necessaryunity is wanting—not simply in a numerical but in a moral sense, as a matter offeeling and of aim. There are separate interests, discordant views, to be consulted.This was true of Mosaism. It was not the absolute religion. The theocraticlegislation of the Pentateuch is lacking in the unity and consistency of a perfectrevelation. Its disclosures of God were refracted in a manifest degree by theatmosphere through which they passed. In the promise God spoke immediatelyand for Himself. The man of Abraham’s faith sees God in His unity. Thelegalist gets his religion at second-hand, mixed with undivine elements. He projectson the Divine image confusing shadows of human imperfection (Findlay).

Lessons.—1.The law is powerless to remove the sin it exposes. 2.The law hadthe defect of all preparatory dispensations. 3.The law imposes conditions it doesnot help to fulfil.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 19, 20. The Law is for Transgressors.

I. We are taught to examine andsearch our hearts by the law of God.—1.Whenany sin is forbidden in anycommandment of the law, under it allsins of the same kind are forbidden,all causes of them and all occasions.2.A commandment negative includesthe affirmative, and binds us not onlyto abstain from evil, but also to dothe contrary good. 3.Every commandmentmust be understood with acurse annexed to it, though the cursebe not expressed. 4.We must especiallyexamine ourselves by the first and lastcommandments. The first forbids thefirst motions of our hearts againstGod, and the last forbids the firstmotions of our hearts against our neighbour.

II. The law of God to be reverenced.—1.Becauseit was ordained ordelivered by angels. 2.We are tofear to break the least commandment,because the angels observe the keepersand breakers of it, and are ready towitness against them that offend.3.If thou offend and break the law,repent with speed, for that is thedesired joy of angels. 4.If thou sinand repent not, look for shame andconfusion before God and His angels.

III. God, the Author and Source oflaw, is one.—1.He is unchangeable.2.His unchangeableness the foundationof our comfort. 3.We should beunchangeable in faith, hope, love, goodcounsels, honest promises, and in themaintenance of true religion.—Perkins.

Ver. 19. The Use of the Law.

1. It is a standard to measure ourdefects.
2. It is a sword to pierce our conscience.
3. [p.51]It is a seal to certify that weare in the way of grace.—Tholuck.

No Trust in Legal Prescriptions.—St.Paul, with the sledge-hammer forceof his direct and impassioned dialectics,shattered all possibility of trusting inlegal prescriptions, and demonstratedthat the law was no longer obligatoryon Gentiles. He had shown that thedistinction between clean and uncleanmeats was to the enlightened consciencea matter of indifference, that circumcisionwas nothing better than aphysical mutilation, that ceremonialismwas a yoke with which the free, convertedGentile had nothing to do, thatwe are saved by faith and not byworks, that the law was a dispensationof wrath and menace introduced forthe sake of transgressions, that so farfrom being, as all the Rabbis asserted,the one thing on account of which theuniverse had been created, the Mosaiccode only possessed a transitory,subordinate, and intermediate character,coming in, as it were in a secondaryway, between the promise of Abrahamand the fulfilment of that promise inthe Gospel of Christ.—Dean Farrar.

The Use of the Law under the Gospel.

I. The law never was intended tosupersede the Gospel as a means of life.

II. The most perfect edition of theGospel, so far from having abolishedthe least tittle of the moral law, hasestablished it.

III. The use of the law.—1.Toconstitute probation. 2.The law isour schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.3.The law serves to give beauty andsymmetry to the hidden man of theheart. 4.To vindicate the conduct ofour Judge in dooming the impenitentto eternal death.

Lessons.—1.Since the law as acovenant has been superseded by acovenant better adapted to our guiltyand helpless circ*mstances, let us makea proper use of the mercy, acquaintourselves with its demands, and aboundin the holiness it enjoins. 2.Markthose who set aside the law, shun theircompany, and pray for their repentance.—Iota.

Ver. 20. The Unity of God and HisPurpose regarding Man.—1.Thecovenant with Adam in his innocencywas immediate, no mediator interveningto make them one; there was nodisagreement betwixt them because ofsin. 2.No man can attain heaven, orreap any advantage, except he beperfectly holy. God made no covenantof works with men on Mount Sinai,nor could they have reaped benefitfrom such a covenant as they werea sinful people, standing in need ofa midsman betwixt God and them.3.The Lord in all His dispensations isalways one and like to Himself withoutshadow of turning. If any pleada right to heaven by the merit of theirworks, God will abate nothing of whatHe did once prescribe and require ofman in the covenant of works.—Fergusson.

An Effectual Mediator.—Edward III.,after defeating Philip of France atCreçy, laid siege to Calais, which, afteran obstinate resistance of a year, wastaken. He offered to spare the livesof the inhabitants on the condition thatsix of their principal citizens should bedelivered up to him, with haltersaround their necks, to be immediatelyexecuted. When these terms wereannounced the rulers of the town cametogether, and the question was proposed,“Who will offer himself as anatonement for the city? Who willimitate Christ who gave Himself forthe salvation of men?” The numberwas soon made up. On reaching theEnglish camp they were received bythe soldiers of Edward with everymark of commiseration. They appearedbefore the king. “Are these theprincipal inhabitants of Calais?” heinquired sternly. “Of France, mylord,” they replied. “Lead them toexecution.” At this moment thequeen arrived. She was informed ofthe punishment about to be inflictedon the six victims. She hastened to[p.52]the king and pleaded for their pardon.At first he sternly refused, but herearnestness conquered, and the kingyielded. When we submit our heartsas captives to the Father, and feel thatwe are condemned and lost, we havean effectual Mediator who stays thehand of justice.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 21–25.

The True Use of the Law—

I. Was not intended to bestow spiritual life.—“If there had been a lawgiven which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by thelaw” (ver. 21). The law was not against the promises. It was a Divinemethod in dealing with man, and one Divine method never conflicts with another.It was intended to mediate between the promise and its fulfilment. It is notthe enemy but the minister of grace. It did not profess to bestow spiritual life;but in its sacrifices and oblations pointed to the coming Christ who is “the endof the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. x.4).

II. Was to reveal the universal domination of sin.—“The Scripture hathconcluded all under sin” (ver. 22). The Bible from the beginning and throughoutit* course, in its unvarying teaching, makes the world one vast prison-housewith the law for gaoler, and mankind held fast in chains of sin, condemnedand waiting for the punishment of death. Its perpetual refrain is, “All havesinned and come short of the glory of God.” Its impeachment covers the wholerealm of human life, thought, and desire. “Every human life,” says Martensen,“that has not yet become a partaker of redemption is a life under the law, inopposition to the life under grace. The law hovers over his life as an unfulfilledrequirement; and, in the depth of his own being, remains as an indismissiblebut unsatisfied and unexpiated claim on him, which characterises such a humanexistence as sinful and guilt-laden.”

III. Was to teach the absolute necessity of faith in order to escape itscondemnation.—“But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut upunto the faith which should afterwards be revealed” (ver. 23). The law wasall the while standing guard over its subjects, watching and checking everyattempt to escape, but intending to hand them over in due time to the chargeof faith. The law posts its ordinances, like so many sentinels, round theprisoner’s cell. The cordon is complete. He tries again and again to breakout; the iron circle will not yield. But deliverance will yet be his. The day offaith approaches. It dawned long ago in Abraham’s promise. Even now itslight shines into his dungeon, and he hears the word of Jesus, “Thy sins areforgiven thee; go in peace.” Law, the stern gaoler, has after all been a goodfriend if it has reserved him for this. It prevents the sinner escaping to afutile and illusive freedom (Findlay).

IV. Was to act as a moral tutor to train us to the maturity and higherfreedom of a personal faith in Christ.—“Wherefore the law was our schoolmasterto bring us unto Christ,” etc. (vers. 24, 25). The schoolmaster, or pedagogue,among the Greeks meant a faithful servant entrusted with the care of the boyfrom childhood, to keep him from evil, physical and moral, and accompany himto his amusem*nts and studies. “If then the law is a pedagogue,” saysChrysostom, “it is not hostile to grace, but its fellow-worker; but should itcontinue to hold us fast when grace has come, then it would be hostile.”Judaism was an education for Christianity. It trained the childhood of therace. It humbled and distressed the soul with the consciousness of sin. Itrevealed the utter inadequacy of all its provisions to justify. It brought thedespairing soul to Christ and showed that the true way to righteousness was bypersonal faith in Him.

[p.53]Lessons.—1.Law is the revealer of sin. 2.Law demands universal righteousness.3.Law is a training for faith.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 21, 22. The Law not contrary tothe Divine Promise.—1.It is the way ofsome to make one Scripture contradictanother, yet their bold allegations willbe found always false, and truth to beevery most consonant and never contraryto itself. 2.So exact and fullis the righteousness required in orderto life, and so far short do all mankindcome of it, that no works of ourown, done in obedience to the law,can amount to that righteousness.3.Though all men by nature be undersin, it is a matter of no small difficultyto convince any man of it. The workof the law, accusing, convincing, orcondemning the sinner, is compared tothe work of a judge detaining a malefactorin prison which is not effectuatedbut with force and violence. 4.Thelaw by its threatenings prepares andnecessitates the soul to embracesalvation by faith in the Christ revealedin the promise.—Fergusson.

Ver. 22. The Great Prison; or, Allconcluded under Sin.—1.Satan doesindeed draw and drive men into sin—thisis the accursed work of his restless,Sabbath-less life; and when he has gotthem there he binds them fast andwill not let them flee from his toils.He builds a high wall of sin all roundthem so that they shall not look overit into the goodly land beyond, andhere he shuts them up together, sinnerwith sinner, a never-ending ghastlymultitude, that they may encourageand pamper each other in wickedness,and that no example, no voice ofholiness, may ever reach and startlethem. But God never drove, neverdrew, any man into sin. He is callingus to come out from the deadly land,from the loathsome, plague-breathingdungeon. So, when the Scripture concludes,or shuts all men up togetherunder sin, it is not by driving theminto sin, but for the sake of callingthem out of it. 2.With all the lightof the Scripture shining around us,with the law of God ever sounding inour ears, and the life of Christ set continuallybefore us, how prone are weto forget our sinfulness, to turn awayfrom the thought of it, to fancy weare as good as we need be, and that,though we might certainly be better,yet it does not matter much! Howapt are we still to forget that we areconcluded under sin, to forget that weare shut up in a prison! Althoughthe souls of so many millions are lyingaround us, bloated with the poison ofsin, how tardily do we acknowledgethat the poison by which they perishedmust also be deadly to us! 3.Supposeyou were to be carried before anearthly court of justice, and that onesweeping accusation were to be broughtagainst you; suppose you were foundguilty, and the excuse you set up werethe complete proof of your guilt,—whatwould follow? The judge wouldstraightway pass sentence upon you,and you would be condemned to sufferpunishment according to the measureof your offence. And must we notexpect that the course of things shouldbe the very same when you are carriedbefore a heavenly court of justice?4.When a man’s eyes are opened tosee the prison in which he is shut up,to see and feel the chains that are fastbound round his soul and have eateninto it; when he has learnt to see andknow that the pleasures, whateverthey may, of sin are only, like theflesh-pots of Egypt, intoxicating drugs,given to him to deprive him of allsense of his captivity,—then will helong for a deliverer, rejoice on hearingof his approach, hail him when hecomes in view, and follow him whithersoeverhe may lead. As unbelief isthe one great universal sin, in whichall mankind are concluded, as it is onlyfrom having let slip our faith in God[p.54]that we have yielded our hearts to thetemptations of the world and givenourselves up to its idolatries, so it isonly through faith that we can bebrought back to God—that we canreceive the promise given to those whobelieve.—J.C. Hare.

Ver. 23. “Shut up unto the faith.”The Reasonableness of Faith.—The modeof conception is military. The law ismade to act the part of a sentry,guarding every avenue but one, andthat one leads those, who are compelledto take it, to the faith of the Gospel.Out of the leading varieties of tasteand sentiment which obtain in thepresent age we may collect somethingwhich may be turned into an instrumentof conviction for reclaiming menfrom their delusions and shutting themup to the faith.

I. There is the school of naturalreligion.—It is founded on the competencyof the human mind to knowGod by the exercise of its own faculties,to clothe Him in the attributes of itsown demonstration, to serve Him by aworship and a law of its own discovery,and to assign to Him a mode of procedurein the administration of thisvast universe upon the strength andplausibility of its own theories. Theyrecognise the judicial government ofGod over moral and accountablecreatures. They hold there is a law.One step more, and they are fairlyshut up to the faith. That law hasbeen violated.

II. There is the school of classicalmorality.—It differs from the formerschool in one leading particular. Itdoes not carry in its speculations sodistinct and positive a reference to theSupreme Being. Our duties to Godare viewed as a species of moral accomplishment,the effect of which is toexalt and embellish the individual.We ask them to look at man as he isand compare him with man as theywould have him to be. If they findthat he falls miserably short of theirideal standard of excellence, what isthis but making a principle of theirown the instrument of shutting themup unto the faith of the Gospel, or atleast shutting them up into oneof the most peculiar of its doctrines, thedepravity of our nature, or the dismalravage which the power of sin hasmade upon the moral constitution ofthe species? This depravity the Gospelproposes to do away.

III. There is the school of finefeeling and poetical sentiment.—Itdiffers from the school of morality inthis—the one makes virtue its idolbecause of its rectitude, the othermakes virtue its idol because of itsbeauty, and the process of reasoningby which they are shut up unto thefaith is the same in both. Howevermuch we may love perfection andaspire after it, yet there is some want,some disease, in the constitution ofman which prevents his attainment ofit, that there is a feebleness of principleabout him, that the energy of hispractice does not correspond to thefair promises of his fancy, and howevermuch he may delight in an idealscene of virtue and moral excellence,there is some lurking malignity in hisconstitution which, without the operationof that mighty power revealed tous in the Gospel, makes it vain to wishand hopeless to aspire after it.—Dr. Thomas Chalmers.

Vers. 24, 25. The Law our Schoolmaster.—Therewas a time when Godput His world under a schoolmaster;then it would have been preposterousto apply faith. There is a timewhen a larger spirit has come, andthen it would be going back to uselaw.

I. The uses of restraint in theheart’s education.—1.The first use oflaw is to restrain from open violence. Itis necessary for those who feel the inclinationto evil, and so long as the inclinationremains so far must a man beunder law. Imagine a governor amidsta population of convicts trusting to highprinciple. Imagine a parent havingno fixed hours, no law in his household,no punishment for evil. There is a[p.55]morbid feeling against punishment;but it is God’s method.

2. The second use of restraint is toshow the inward force of evil.—A steam-engineat work in a manufactory is soquiet and gentle that a child mightput it back. But interpose a bar ofiron many inches thick, and it cutsthrough as if it were so much leather.Introduce a human limb—it whirlsround, and the form of man is in onemoment a bleeding, mangled, shapelessmass. It is restraint that manifeststhis unsuspected power. In the sameway law discovers the strength of evilin our hearts.

3. The third use is to form habits ofobedience.—In that profession which isspecially one of obedience—the militaryprofession—you cannot mistake theimparted type of character. Immediate,prompt obedience, no questioning“why?” Hence comes theirdecision of character. Hence, too,their happiness. Would you haveyour child, happy, decided, manly?Teach him to obey. It is an error toteach a child to act on reason, orto expect reasons why a command isgiven. Better it is that he shouldobey a mistaken order than be taughtto see that it is mistaken. A parentmust be the master in his own house.

4. The fourth use is to form habitsof faith.—As Judaism was a systemcalculated to nurture habits ofobedience, so was it one whichnourished the temper of faith. Alleducation begins with faith. Thechild does not know the use of thealphabet, but he trusts. The boybeginning mathematics takes on trustwhat he sees no use in. The child hasto take parental wisdom for granted.Happy the child that goes on believingthat nothing is wiser, better, greater,than his father! Blessed spirit ofconfiding trust which is to be transferredto God.

II. The time when restraint maybe laid aside.—1.When self-command isobtained. Some of us surely there arewho have got beyond childish meanness:we could not be mean; restraint is nolonger needed; we are beyond theschoolmaster. Some of us there arewho have no inclination to intemperance;childish excess in eating anddrinking exists no longer. Some of usthere are who no longer love indolence.We have advanced beyond it. Thelaw may be taken away, for we arefree from law. True Christian libertyis this—self-command, to have beenbrought to Christ, to do right and loveright, without a law of compulsion toschool into doing it.

2. When the state of justification byfaith has been attained.—There are twostates of justification—by the law andby faith. Justification by the lawimplies a scrupulous and accurate performanceof minute acts of obediencein every particular; justification byfaith is acceptance with God, notbecause a man is perfect, but becausehe does all in a trusting, large,generous spirit, actuated by a desire toplease God. In Christianity there arefew or no definite laws—all men areleft to themselves.

3. Restraint must be laid aside whenthe time of faith has come, whether faithitself have come or not.—It is so inacademical education. We may haveattained the full intellectual comprehensionof the Gospel, but religiousgoodness has not kept pace with it,and the man wakes to conviction thatthe Gospel is a name and the powers ofthe world to come are not in him. Youcannot put him to school again. Fearwill not produce goodness. Forms willnot give reverence. System will notconfer freedom. Therefore the work ofchildhood and youth must be donewhile we are young, when the educationis not too late.—F.W. Robertson.

Ver. 24. The Law preparing forChrist.

I. The law led men to Christ byforeshadowing Him.—This was true ofthe ceremonial part of it. The ceremoniesmeant more than the generalduty of offering to God praise andsacrifice, since this might have beensecured by much simpler rites. What[p.56]was the meaning of the solemn andtouching observance of the Jewish Dayof Atonement? We know that whatpassed in that old earthly sanctuarywas from first to last a shadow of themajestic self-oblation of the true HighPriest of Christendom, Jesus Christour Lord and Saviour. Each ceremonywas felt to have some meaning beyondthe time then present, and so itfostered an expectant habit of mind;and as the ages passed these expectationsthus created converged moreand more towards a coming Messiah,and in a subordinate but real waythe ceremonial law did its part inleading the nation to the school ofChrist.

II. By creating in man’s consciencea sense of want which Christ alonecould relieve.—This was the work ofthe moral law, of every moral preceptin the books of Moses, but especially ofthose most sacred and authoritativeprecepts which we know as the TenCommandments. So far from furnishingman with a real righteousness, sofar from making him such as he shouldbe, correspondent to the true ideal ofhis nature, the law only inflicted onevery conscience that was not fatallybenumbed a depressing and overwhelmingconviction that righteousness,at least in the way of legal obedience,was a thing impossible. And thisconviction of itself prepared men for arighteousness which should be not theproduct of human efforts, but a giftfrom heaven—a righteousness to beattained by the adhesion of faith tothe perfect moral Being, Jesus Christ,so that the believer’s life becomes incorporatewith His.

III. By putting men under a disciplinewhich trained them for Christ.—Whatis the Divine plan for training,whether men or nations? Is it notthis—to begin with rule and to endwith principle, to begin with law andto end with faith, to begin with Mosesand to end with Christ? God beganwith rule. He gave the Mosaic law,and the moral parts of that law beingalso laws of God’s own essential naturecould not possibly be abrogated; butas rules of life the Ten Commandmentswere only a preparation for somethingbeyond them. In the Christian revelationGod says, “Believe on the LordJesus Christ.” When you have donethis, and He on His part has by HisSpirit infused into you His Divine lifeso that you are one with Him, you willnot depend any longer mainly uponrules of conduct. Justification byfaith is so far from being moralanarchy that it is the absorption ofrule into the higher life of principle.In the experience of the soul faithcorresponds to the empire of principlein the growth of individual characterand in the development of nationallife, while the law answers to thatelementary stage in which outwardrules are not yet absorbed into principle.—H.P. Liddon.

The Law a Schoolmaster.

I. The Jewish religion brought mento Christ by the light, the constrainingforce, of prophecy.—First, a humandeliverance of some kind, then a personalSaviour, is announced. He wasexactly what prophecy had foretold.He Himself appealed to prophecy aswarranting His claims.

II. By that ceremonial law whichformed so important a part of it.—TheJewish ceremonial pointed toChrist and His redemptive work fromfirst to last. The epistle to theHebrews was written to show this—thatthe ceremonial law was far frombeing a final and complete rule of lifeand worship, did but prefigure blessingsthat were to follow it, that it was atutor to lead men to the school ofChrist.

III. By creating a sense of moralneed that Christ alone could satisfy.—Themoral law—God’s essential, indestructiblemoral nature in its relationto human life, thrown for practicalpurposes into the form of commandments—isessentially, necessarily beyondcriticism; but when given tosinful man it does, but without grace,discover a want which it cannot satisfy.[p.57]It enhanced the acting sense of unpardonedsin before a holy God. Itconvinced man of his moral weakness,as well as of his guilt, of his inabilitywithout the strengthening grace ofChrist ever to obey it.

Lessons.—1.We see a test of all religiousprivileges or gifts: Do they or dothey not lead souls to Christ? 2.Observethe religious use of all law—to teachman to know his weakness and to throwhimself on a higher power for pardonand strength. 3.We see the exceedingpreciousness of Christ’s Gospel—thematchless value of that faith which livesin the heart of the Church of God.—H.P. Liddon.

The Progress of Revelation.

I. The law was our schoolmasteras giving precepts in which principleswere involved but not expresslytaught.

II. As teaching inadequate and notperfect duties—a part instead of thewhole, which was to develop into thewhole. Examples—the institution ofthe Temple worship; the observance ofthe Sabbath; the third commandment.

Lessons:—1.Revelation is education.2.Revelation is progressive.3.The training of the character in God’srevelation has always preceded the illuminationof the intellect.—F.W. Robertson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 26–29.

The Dignity of Sonship with God—

I. Enjoyed by all who believe in Christ.—“For ye are all children ofGod by faith in Christ Jesus” (ver. 26). Faith in Christ emancipates the soulfrom the trammels and inferior status of the tutorial training and lifts it to thehigher and more perfect relationship of a free son of God. The believer is nolonger a pupil, subject to the surveillance and restrictions of the pedagogue; buta son, enjoying immediate and constant intercourse with the Father and all theprivileges and dignities of a wider freedom. The higher relation excludes thelower; an advance has been made that leaves the old life for ever behind. Thelife now entered upon is a life of faith, which is a superior and totally differentorder of things from the suppressive domination of the law.

II. It is to be invested with the character of Christ.—“For as many as havebeen baptised into Christ have put on Christ” (ver. 27). For if Christ is Son ofGod, and thou hast put on Him, having the Son in thyself and being made liketo Him, thou wast brought into one kindred and one form of being with Him(Chrysostom). To be baptised into Christ is not the mere mechanical observanceof the rite of baptism; the rite is the recognition and public avowal of the exerciseof faith in Christ. In the Pauline vocabulary baptised is synonymous withbelieving. Faith invests the soul with Christ, and joyfully appropriates theestate and endowments of the filial relationship. Baptism by its very form—thenormal and most expressive form of primitive baptism, the descent into and risingfrom the symbolic waters—pictured the soul’s death with Christ, its burial andits resurrection in Him, its separation from the life of sin, and entrance upon thenew career of a regenerated child of God (Rom. vi.3–14).

III. Implies such a complete union with Christ as to abolish all secondary distinctions.—“Forthere is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female;for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (ver. 28). All distinctions of nationality,social status, and sex—necessary as they may be in the worldly life—disappear inthe blending of human souls in the loftier relationship of sons of God. TheGospel is universal in its range and provisions and raises all who believe in Christto a higher level than man could ever reach under the Mosaic regimen. To addcircumcision to faith would be not to rise but to sink from the state of sons tothat of serfs. Christ is the central bond of unity to the whole human race;[p.58]faith in Him is the realisation by the individual of the honours and raptures ofthat unity.

IV. Is to be entitled to the inheritance of joint heirship with Christ.—“If ye beChrist’s, then are ye... heirs according to the promise” (ver. 29). In Christ thelineal descent from David becomes extinct. He died without posterity. But Helives and reigns over a vaster territory than David ever knew; and all who areof His spiritual seed, Jew or Gentile, share with Him the splendours of theinheritance provided by the Father. Here the soul reaches its supreme gloryand joy. In Worcester Cathedral there is a slab with just one doleful word onit as a record of the dead buried beneath. That word is Miserrimus. No name,no date; nothing more of the dead than just this one word to say he who laythere was or is most miserable. Surely, he had missed the way home to theFather’s house and the Father’s love, else why this sad record? But in theCatacombs at Rome there is one stone recently found inscribed with the singleword Felicissima. No name, no date again, but a word to express that the deadChristian sister was most happy. Most happy; why? Because she had foundthe Father’s house and love, and that peace which the storms of life, the persecutionsof a hostile world, and the light afflictions of time could neither give nortake away.

Lessons.—1.Faith confers higher privileges than the law. 2.Faith in Christadmits the soul into sonship with God. 3.The sons of God share in the fulness ofthe Christly inheritance.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 26–29. Baptism.

I. The doctrine of Rome.—Christ’smerits are instrumentally applied bybaptism; original sin is removed bya change of nature; a new characteris imparted to the soul; a germinalprinciple or seed of life is miraculouslygiven; and all this in virtue, not ofany condition in the recipient, nor ofany condition except that of the dueperformance of the rite. The objectionsto this doctrine are: 1.Itassures baptism to be not the testimonyto a fact, but the fact itself. Baptismproclaims the child of God; theRomanist says it creates him. 2.Itis materialism of the grossest kind.3.It makes Christian life a strugglefor something that is lost, insteadof a progress to something that liesbefore.

II. The doctrine of modern Calvinism.—Baptismadmits all into thevisible Church, but into the invisibleChurch only a special few. The realbenefit of baptism only belongs to theelect. With respect to others, topredicate of them regeneration in thehighest sense is at best an ecclesiasticalfiction, said in the judgment of charity.You are not God’s child until youbecome such consciously. On thiswe remark: 1.This judgment ofcharity ends at the baptismal font.2.This view is identical with theRoman one in this respect—that itcreates the fact instead of testifying to it.3.Is pernicious in its results in thematter of education.

III. The doctrine of the Bible.—Manis God’s child, and the sin of theman consists in perpetually living as ifit were false. To be a son of God isone thing; to know that you are andcall Him Father is another. Baptismauthoritatively reveals and pledges tothe individual that which is true of therace. 1.This view prevents exclusivenessand spiritual pride. 2.Protestsagainst the notion of our being separateunits in the Divine life. 3.Sanctifiesmaterialism.—F.W. Robertson.

Ver. 26. The Children of God.

1. We are all children.
2. We are all children of God.
3. We are all children of God through faith.
4. [p.59]We are all children of Godin Christ Jesus.—Dr. Beet.

God’s Children.

1. If thou be God’s child, surelyHe will provide all things necessaryfor soul and body.—Our care must beto do the duty that belongs to us;when this is done our care is ended.They who drown themselves in worldlycares live like fatherless children.
2. In that we are children wehave liberty to come into the presenceof God.
3. Nothing shall hurt those whoare the children of God.
4. Walk worthy of your professionand calling.—Be not vassals of sinand Satan; carry yourselves as King’ssons.
5. Our care must be to resembleChrist.
6. We must have a desire andlove to the Word of God that we maygrow by it.
7. We must have afflictions, ifwe be God’s children, for He correctsall His children.—Perkins.

Vers. 27, 28. The Christly Character—

1. Acquired by a spiritual unionwith Christ.—“Baptised into Christ.”
2. Is a complete investiture withChrist.—“Have put on Christ.”
3. Is a union with Christ thatabsorbs all conventional distinctions(ver. 28).

Ver. 27. Profession without Hypocrisy.—Hypocrisyis professing withoutpractising. Men profess without feelingand doing or are hypocrites in nothingso much as in their prayers. Let aman set his heart upon learning topray and strive to learn, and nofailures he may continue to make inhis manner of praying are sufficient tocast him from God’s favour. Let himbut be in earnest, striving to masterhis thoughts and to be serious, and allthe guilt of his incidental failings willbe washed away in his Lord’s blood.We profess to be saints, to be guidedby the highest principles, and to beruled by the Spirit of God. We havelong ago promised to believe and obey.It is true we cannot do these thingsaright—nay, even with God’s helpwe fall short of duty. Nevertheless,we must not cease to profess. Thereis nothing so distressing to a trueChristian as to have to prove himselfsuch to others, both as being consciousof his own numberless failings andfrom his dislike of display. Christ hasanticipated the difficulties of hismodesty. He does not allow such aone to speak for himself; He speaksfor him. Let us endeavour to entermore and more fully into the meaningof our own prayers and professions;let us humble ourselves for the verylittle we do and the poor advance wemake; let us avoid unnecessary displayof religion. Thus we shall, throughGod’s grace, form within us theglorious mind of Christ.—Newman.

Teachings of Baptism—

I. Our baptism must put us inmind that we are admitted and receivedinto the family of God.

II. Our baptism in the name ofthe Trinity must teach us to knowand acknowledge God aright.

III. Our baptism must be unto usa storehouse of comfort in time ofneed.

IV. Baptism is a putting on ofChrist.—Alluding to the custom ofthose who were baptised in theapostle’s days putting off their garmentswhen they were baptised, andputting on new garments after baptism.1.In that we are to put on Christ weare reminded of our moral nakedness.2.To have a special care of thetrimming and garnishing of our souls.3.Though we be clothed with Christin baptism, we must further desire tobe clothed upon—clad with immortality.—Perkins.

Ver. 28. All are One in Christ.

1. People of all nations, all conditions,and all sexes.
2. They who are of great birth and[p.60]high condition must be put in mindnot to be high-minded, nor despisethem of low degree, for all are one inChrist.
3. All believers must be of oneheart and mind.
4. We learn not to hate anyman, but do good to all.—Men turntheir swords and spears into mattocksand scythes, because they are one withChrist by the bond of one Spirit.—Perkins.

Ver. 29. The Promise of Grace.—Thespecific form of the whole Gospel ispromise, which God gives in the Wordand causes to be preached. The lastperiod of the world is the reign ofgrace. Grace reigns in the world onlyas promise. Grace has nothing to dowith law and requisition of law; therefore,the word of that grace can be noother than a word of promise. Thepromise of life in Christ Jesus is theword of the new covenant. Thedifference between the Gospel of theold covenant and that of the new restsalone on the transcendently greaterglory of its promise.—Harless.

Heirs according to the Promise.

1. The basest person, if he believesin Christ, is in the place of Abraham,and succeeds him in the inheritanceof the kingdom of heaven.
2. Believers must be content inthis world with any estate God maylay upon them, for they are heirswith Abraham of heaven and earth.
3. They that believe in Christmust moderate their worldly caresand not live as drudges of the world,for they are heirs of God, and areentitled to all good things promisedin the covenant.
4. Our special care must be forheaven.—The city of God is thy portion,or child’s part.—Perkins.

CHAPTER IV.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1 The heir, as long as he is a child.—An infant, one under age. Differeth nothingfrom a servant.—A slave. He is not at his own disposal. He could not perform any act butthrough his legal representative.

Ver. 2. Under tutors and governors.—Controllers of his person and property.

Ver. 3. Under the elements of the world.—The rudimentary religious teaching of a nonreligiouscharacter. The elementary lessons of outward things.

Ver. 4. God sent forth His Son.—Sent forth out of heaven from Himself. Implies thepre-existence of the Son. Made of a woman.—Made to be born of a woman. Indicating aspecial interposition of God in His birth as man. Made under the law.—By His Father’sappointment and His own free will, subject to the law, to keep it all, ceremonial andmoral, for us, as the Representative Man, and to suffer and exhaust the full penalty of ourviolation of it.

Ver. 5. The adoption of sons.—Receive as something destined or due. Herein God makesof sons of men sons of God, inasmuch as God made of the Son of God the Son of man(Augustine).

Ver. 6. Abba, Father.—Abba is the Chaldee for father. The early use of it illustrateswhat Paul has been saying (ch. iii.28) of the unity resulting from the Gospel; for Abba, Father,unites Hebrew and Greek on one lip, making the petitioner at once a Jew and a Gentile.

Ver. 9. How turn ye again [anew]?—Making a new beginning in religion, lapsing fromChristianity just in as far as they embrace legalism. To the weak and beggarly elements.—Weakis contrasted with power as to effects, and beggarly with affluence in respect ofgifts. The disparaging expression is applied; not to the ritualistic externalism of heathenreligions, but rather to that God-given system of ritualistic ordinances which had served theChurch in her infancy. That which was appropriate food for a babe or sick man is feebleand poor for a grown man in full health.

[p.61]Ver. 12. Be as I am, for I am as ye are.—Paul had become as a Gentile, though he wasonce a passionate Jew. Their natural leanings towards Judaism they ought to sacrifice aswell as he.

Ver. 13. Ye know how through infirmity of flesh I preached.—The weakness may havebeen general debility, resulting from great anxieties and toils. It has been supposed thatPaul was feeble-eyed, or blear-eyed (Acts xxii.6), and that this special weakness had beenaggravated at the time now in question.

Ver. 17. They zealously affect you, but not well.—They keenly court you, but not honourably.They would exclude you—from everything and every one whose influence would tendto bring the Galatians back to loyalty to the Gospel.

Ver. 20. I desire to be present with you, and to change my voice.—To speak not with thestern tones of warning, but with tender entreaties. I stand in doubt of you.—I am sorelyperplexed, nonplussed, bewildered, as if not knowing how to proceed.

Ver. 24. Which things are an allegory.—Under the things spoken of—the two sons, withtheir contrast of parentage and position—there lies a spiritual meaning.

Ver. 25. Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.—Judaism asrejecting the light and liberty of the new dispensation.

Ver. 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free.—Is the spiritual reality which, veiled underthe old dispensation, is comparatively unveiled in the dispensation of grace, and destinedto be fully and finally manifested in the reign of glory. Christians are very different instanding to slave-born slaves.

Ver. 27. The desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.—Thespecial purpose of the quotation appears to be to show that the idea of a countless Church,including Gentiles as well as Jews, springing out of spiritual nothingness, was apprehendedunder the Old Testament as destined for realisation under the New.

Ver. 30. Cast out the bondwoman and her son.—Even house-room to Judaism is not matterof right, but only by sufferance, and that so long and so far as it leaves the Gospel undisturbedin full possession.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–7.

The Nonage of the Pre-Christian World.

I. Mankind in pre-Christian times was like the heir in his minority.—1.Ina state of temporary servitude, though having great expectations. “The heirdiffereth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutorsand governors” (vers. 1, 2). Under the Old Testament the bond-servant had thisin common with a son, that he was a recognised member of the family; and theson had this in common with the slave, that he was in servitude, but with thisdifference, the servitude of the son was evanescent, that of the slave waspermanent. The heirship is by right of birth, but possession and enjoymentcan be reached only by passing through servitude and attaining majority. Theminor is in the hands of guardians who care for his person and mental training,and of stewards who manage his estate. So the world, though possessing thepromise of great blessing, was held for ages in the servitude of the law.

2. Subject to the restraint of external ordinances.—“Were in bondage underthe elements of the world” (ver. 3). The commandments and ordinancesimposed by the law belonged to an early and elementary period. In theirinfantile externalism they stand contrasted with the analogous things of thenew dispensation, in which the believer is a grown man who casts away childishthings. The Mosaic system watched over and guarded the infancy of the world.It exacted a rigid obedience to its mandates, and in doing so trained mankind tosee and feel the need and appreciate the rich heritage of the covenant ofgrace. Mosaism rendered invaluable service to Christianity. It safe-guardedthe writings that contained promises of future blessings and educated the racethroughout the period of its nonage.

II. The matured sonship of mankind is accomplished through redemption.—1.TheRedeemer is Divinely provided and of the highest dignity. “God sentforth His Son” (ver. 4). The mystical Germans speak of Christ as the ideal Sonof man, the foretype of humanity; and there is a sense in which mankind was[p.62]created in Christ Jesus, who is “the image of God, the first born of everycreature.” But the apostle refers here to a loftier dignity belonging to Christ.He came in the character of God’s Son, bringing His sonship with Him. TheWord, who became flesh, was with God, and was God, in the beginning. The DivineSon of God was sent forth into the world by the all-loving Father to be theRedeemer of mankind and to put an end to the world’s servitude.

2. The Redeemer assumes the nature and condition of those He redeems.—“Madeof a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law”(vers. 4, 5). Christ was born of woman as other men are, and, like them, wasat first a weak and dependent babe. His child-life has for ever beautified andconsecrated child-nature. He was born under law—not the law as a mere Jew,which would have limited His redeeming work to the Jewish nation, but underlaw in its widest application. He submitted not only to the general moraldemands of the Divine law for men, but to all the duties and proprieties incidentto His position as a man, even to those ritual ordinances which His coming wasto abolish. The purpose of His being sent was “to redeem them that were underthe law”—to buy them out of their bondage. He voluntarily entered into thecondition of the enslaved that He might emancipate them.

3. The sonship acquired through redemption is not by merit or legal right, but byadoption.—“That we might receive the adoption of sons” (ver. 5). The sonship isby grace, not of nature. Man lost his sonship by sin; by grace he gets it backagain. Adoption we do not get back; we simply receive it. It is an act of God’sfree grace.

III. The attainment of sonship is a conscious reality.—1.Made evident bythe Spirit of God witnessing in us and crying to Him as to a Father. “Becauseye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,Abba, Father” (ver. 6). God sent forth His Son into the world of men: Hesent forth the Spirit of His Son into their individual hearts. The filialconsciousness was born within them, supernaturally inspired. When theybelieved in Christ, when they saw in Him the Son of God, their Redeemer, theywere stirred with a new ecstatic impulse; a Divine glow of love and joy kindledin their breasts; a voice not their own spoke to their spirit; their soul leapedforth upon their lips, crying to God “Father, Father!” They were children ofGod and knew it.

2. Confirmed by the heirship that results from the Divine adoption.—“If a son,then an heir of God through Christ” (ver. 7). The nonage, the period ofservitude and subjection, is passed. It gives place to the unrivalled privilegeof a maturer spiritual manhood, and the heirship to an inheritance of indescribableand imperishable blessedness.

Lessons.—1.The law held the world in bondage. 2.The Gospel is a message ofliberty by redemption. 3.Redemption by Christ confers distinguished privileges.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 4, 5. Christ’s Mission for theAdoption of Sons in the Fulness of Time.

I. The mission of Jesus Christ andthe manner in which He manifestedHimself.—“God sent forth His Son.”These words present the great fact ofChrist’s mission from the Father andHis appearance in the world. Todenote the inexpressible dignity ofJesus, as being one with the Fatherin His most essential prerogatives andperfections, He is here styled, “HisSon.” He was “made of a woman.”The circ*mstances of His incarnationplaced Him at an immeasurable distancefrom all other parts of the humanrace. He was the immediate productionof God, by His Divine power Hewas conceived of the Holy Ghost, andthereby completely exempted from the[p.63]taint of original sin. He was the holything born of a virgin. He was byconstitution placed in the same stateas our first parents. He underwent asimilar but severer trial and maintainedHis innocence against all theassaults of Satan. He was “madeunder the law”; whereas all othercreatures are under it by the veryterms of their existence, by the conditionof their nature. He was madeunder the ceremonial law, under themoral law, under the mediatorial law.

II. The design of Christ’s mission.—“Toredeem.” He came not merely toexemplify a rule of life, but to satisfyits violation; not to explain the statutesof heaven, but to pay the penaltyarising from the curse announcedagainst their transgression. He cameessentially to change the moral situationof mankind. Christ has added to ouroriginal brightness; He has not onlyredeemed us from the first transgression,but accumulated blessings which man,even in innocence, could never haveobtained.

III. The fitness of the season atwhich Christ was manifested.—“Thefulness of time.” 1.It was the periodforetold by the prophets. Hence thegeneral expectation of His coming.2.It was a period of advancement inpolitics, legislation, science, and arts,and manners; an age of scepticism.3.It was a period of toleration. Theepoch will arrive when this world shallbe thought of as nothing but as itfurnished a stage for the manifestationof the Son of God.—Robert Hall.

Ver. 4. The Fulness of the Time.—Christcomes when a course of preparation,conducted through previousages, was at last complete. He wasnot the creation of His own or anypreceding age. What is true of allother great men, who are no morethan great men, is not true of Him.They receive from their age as muchas they give it; they embody andreflect its spirit. Christ really owednothing to the time or the countrywhich welcomed His advent.

I. The world was prepared politicallyfor Christ’s work.—There wasa common language—the Greek; acommon government—the Roman.

II. There was a preparation in theconvictions of mankind.—The epoch ofreligious experiments had been closedin an epoch of despair.

III. There was a preparation in themoral experience of mankind.—Thedreadful picture of the pagan worldwhich St. Paul draws at the close ofthe first chapter of his epistle to theRomans is not a darker picture thanthat of pagan writers—of moralistslike Seneca, of satirists like Juvenal,of historians like Tacitus; and yetenough survived of moral truth in thehuman conscience to condemn averagepagan practice. It led them to yearnfor a deliverer, although their aspirationswere indefinite enough. Thiswidespread corruption, this longing forbetter things, marked the close of theepoch of moral experiments.

Lessons.—1.The earthly life of Christstood in a totally different relation towardsmoral truth from that of everyother man. 2.It was a life at harmonywith itself and a revelation of highertruth. 3.His incarnation delivers usfrom false views of the world and of life,from base and desponding views of ourhuman nature, and from bondage.—H.P. Liddon.

Christ Obedient to the Law.

I. This obedience was not a matterof course, following upon His incarnation.He might have lived and died,had it been consistent with His highpurpose, in sinless purity, without expresslyundertaking as He did openlyto fulfil the law. It was a voluntaryact, becoming and fit for the greatwork He had in hand.

II. This obedience was not only anintegral but a necessary part ofHis work of redemption.—Had thisnot been so, redemption would havebeen incomplete. Not only God’s unwrittenlaw in the conscience, butGod’s written law in the tables ofstone, must be completely satisfied. It[p.64]being shown, by both Gentile and Jew,that neither by nature nor by revealedlight was man capable of pleasing God,all men were left simply and solelydependent on His free and unmeritedgrace. All cases of guilt must becovered, all situations of disobediencetaken up and borne and carried triumphantlyout into perfection and accordancewith the Father’s will, by theSon of God in our flesh.

III. This obedience for man was tobe not only complete, so that Christshould stand in the root of our natureas the accepted man, but was to beour pattern, that as He was holy sowe might be holy also.

IV. This obedience arose from therequirements of His office connectedwith the law.—He was the end of thelaw. It all pointed to Him. Itstypes and ceremonies all found fulfilmentin His person and work. Allhas been fulfilled. All looked forwardto One that was to come—to one whohas come, and in His own person hassuperseded that law by exhausting itsrequirements, has glorified that lawby filling out and animating withspiritual life its waste and barrenplaces. So that God has not changed,nor has His purpose wavered, nor areHis people resting on other than theirold foundation.—Dean Alford.

Ver. 5. Under the Law—

I. As the rule of life.—Thus angelsare under the law. Adam was beforehis fall, and the saints in heaven areso now. None yield more subjectionto the law than they, and this subjectionis their liberty.

II. As a grievous yoke which nonecan bear.—1.It bound the Church ofthe Old Testament to the observanceof many and costly ceremonies. 2.Itbinds every offender to everlasting death.3.It is a yoke as it increases sin and isthe strength of it. The wicked natureof man is the more to do a thing themore he is forbidden.—Perkins.

Adoption.

I. In what adoption consists.—1.Thepoints of resemblance betweennatural and spiritual adoption. (1)Wecease to have our former name andare designated after the name of God.(2)We change our abode. Once inthe world, now in the Church andfamily of God. (3)We change ourcostume. Conform to the familydress: garments of salvation. 2.Thepoints of difference between naturaland spiritual adoption. (1)Naturaladoption was to supply a family defect.God had hosts of children. (2)Naturaladoption was only of sons. No distinctionin God’s adoption. (3)Innatural adoption there was only achange of condition. God makes Hischildren partakers of His own nature.(4)In natural adoption only one wasadopted, but God adopts multitudes.(5)In natural adoption only temporaladvantages were derived, but inspiritual the blessings are eternal.

II. Signs of adoption.—1.Internalsigns. Described in ch. iv.6; Rom. viii.14–16.2.External signs. (1)Language;(2)Profession; (3)Obedience.

III. Privileges of adoption.—1.Deliverancefrom the miseries of ournatural state. 2.Investiture intoall the benefits of Christ’s family.3.A title to the celestial inheritance.

Learn—1.The importance of the blessing.2.Seek the good of God’s family.3.Invite strangers to become sons andheirs of God.—Sketches.

Adoption and its Claims.—Amongthe American Indians when a captivewas saved to be adopted in the placeof some chieftain who had fallen, hisallegiance and his identity were lookedupon as changed. If he left a wifeand children behind him, they were tobe forgotten and blotted from memory.He stood in the place of the deadwarrior, assumed his responsibilities,he was supposed to cherish those whomhe had cherished and hate those whomhe had hated; in fact, he was supposedto stand in the same relation of consanguinityto the tribe.—Bancroft.

Vers. 6, 7. Evidences of Sonship.

I. The presence of the Spirit in the[p.65]heart.—1.The beginning of our newbirth is in the heart, when a new lightis put into the mind, a new andheavenly disposition into the will andaffection. 2.The principal part ofour renovation is in the heart werethe Spirit abides. 3.The beginningand principal part of God’s worshipis in the heart. 4.Keep watch andward about thy heart, that it may bea fit place of entertainment for theSpirit, who is an Ambassador sentfrom God to thee.

II. The work of the Spirit.—1.Bestowingconviction that the Scripturesare the Word of God. 2.Submissionto God and a desire to obey Him.3.The testimony of the Spirit—aDivine manner of reasoning framed inthe mind—that we are God’s children.4.Peace of conscience, joy, and affiancein God.

III. The desires of the heartdirected towards God.—1.Our criesare to be directed to God with reverence.2.With submission to His will.3.With importunity and constancy.—Perkins.

The Character and Privileges of theChildren of God.

I. The distinguishing characteristicof the children of God.—1.Itis a spirit of filial confidence asopposed to servile fear. No unpardonedsinner has a sufficient groundof confidence in God. Till assured thatGod loves him, he knows not how Godmay treat him at any particular time.But we cannot believe that God lovesus and at the same time doubt Hismercy. He that heartily reposeson God’s favour cannot dread Hisvengeance.

2. This filial spirit is one of holylove as opposed to the bondage ofsin.—The love of God is a powerfulelement well calculated to change thewhole of our inner man. It gives anew bias to our wayward affections anda healthful vigour to every good desire.

3. The filial spirit is one of readyobedience as opposed to the gloomyspirit of servitude.—The service of aslave is unwilling, extorted, unsatisfactory;the obedience of a child isready, loving, energetic. Love is self-denying,soul-absorbing, devoted.

II. Some of the distinguishingprivileges of the children of God.—1.Thechild of God has a part in theFather’s love and care. 2.Has a filialresemblance to the heavenly Father.3.Children of God have the privilegesof family communion and fellowship.4.Have a share in the family provisions.5.Have a title to the future inheritance.—Robert M. Macbrair.

Ver. 7. God’s Offspring.—1.This isthe state of all poor heathen, whetherin England or foreign countries: theyare children, ignorant and unable totake care of themselves, because theydo not know what they are. Paultells them they are God’s offspring,though they know it not. He doesnot mean that we are not God’schildren till we find out that we areGod’s children. You were God’s heirsall along, although you differed nothingfrom slaves; for as long as you werein heathen ignorance and foolishnessGod had to treat you as His slaves,not as His children. They thoughtthat God did not love them, that theymust buy His favours. They thoughtreligion meant a plan for making Godlove them. 2.Then appeared the loveof God in Jesus Christ, who told menof their heavenly Father. He preachedto them the good news of the kingdomof God, that God had not forgottenthem, did not hate them, would freelyforgive them all that was past; andwhy? Because He was their Fatherand loved them so that He spared notHis only begotten Son. And now Godlooks at us in the light of Jesus Christ.He does not wish us to remain merelyHis child, under tutors and governors,forced to do what is right outwardlyand whether it likes or not. Godwishes each of us to become His son,His grown-up and reasonable son.3.It is a fearful thing to despisethe mercies of the living God, andwhen you are called to be His sons[p.66]to fall back under the terrors of Hislaw in slavish fear and a guilty conscienceand remorse which cannotrepent. He has told you to call Himyour Father; and if you speak to Himin any other way, you insult Him andtrample underfoot the riches of Hisgrace. You are not God’s slaves, butHis sons, heirs of God and joint-heirsof Christ. What an inheritance ofglory and bliss that must be whichthe Lord Jesus Christ Himself is toinherit with us—an inheritance of allthat is wise, loving, noble, holy, peaceful,all that can make us happy and likeGod Himself.—C.Kingsley.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 8–11.

Legalism a Relapse.

I. Legalism is no advance on heathenism.—“When ye knew not God, ye didservice unto them which by nature are no gods” (ver. 8). Paganism was anelaborate system of formalism. The instinct of worship led men to sacrifice toimaginary deities—gods which were no gods. Ignorant of the true God, theymultiplied deities of their own. The Galatian pagans created a strange Pantheon.There were the old weird Celtic deities before whom our British forefatherstrembled. On this ancestral faith had been superimposed the frantic rites of thePhrygian mother Cebele, with her mutilated priests, and the more genial andhumanistic cultus of the Greek Olympian gods. The oppressive rites of legalismwere little better than the heathen ritual. Religion degenerated into a meaninglessformality. Dickens describes how in Genoa he once witnessed a great feaston the hill behind the house, when the people alternately danced under tents inthe open air and rushed to say a prayer or two in an adjoining church brightwith red and gold and blue and silver—so many minutes of dancing and ofpraying in regular turns of each.

II. Legalism to converted heathen, is a disastrous relapse.—“After ye haveknown God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements?... Ye observedays and months and times and years” (vers. 9, 10). The heathen in theirblindness and ignorance might be excused, and ritualism, even to the Jews beforethe coming of the Messiah, might be well enough; but for Christians, who hadreceived ampler knowledge and been illumined by the Holy Spirit, to return tothe weak and beggarly elements, was irrational, monstrous! Having tasted thesweets of liberty, what folly to submit again to slavery! having reached spiritualmanhood, how childish to degenerate! Legalism destroys the life of religionand leaves only a mass of petrified forms. In his Stones of Venice, Ruskinsays: “There is no religion in any work of Titian’s; there is not even the smallestevidence of religious temper or sympathies either in himself or those for whom hepainted. His larger sacred themes are merely for the exhibition of pictorialrhetoric—composition and colour. His minor works are generally made subordinateto the purposes of portraiture. The Madonna in the Frari church is a merelay figure, introduced to form a link of connection between the portraits ofvarious members of the Pesaro family who surround her. Bellini was broughtup in faith; Titian in formalism. Between the years of their births the vitalreligion of Venice had expired.”

III. A relapse to legalism is an occasion of alarm to the earnest Christianteacher.—“I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain”(ver. 11). The apostle knew something of the fickleness of the Galatians and ofthe weakness of human nature but was hardly prepared for such a collapse ofthe work which he had built up with so much anxiety and care. He saw, moreclearly than they, the peril of his converts, and the prospect of their furtherdefection filled him with alarm and grief. It meant the loss of advantages[p.67]gained, of precious blessing enjoyed, of peace, of character, of influence for good.It is a painful moment when the anxious Christian worker has to mourn overfailure in any degree.

Lessons.—1.Legalism suppresses all religious growth. 2.Is a constant dangerto the holiest. 3.Shows the necessity for earnest vigilance and prayer.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 8–11. The Dilemma of Turncoats.

I. Their first condition was one ofignorance.—1.Ignorance of God.(1)The light of nature is imperfect,because we know by it only some fewand general things of God. (2)It isweak, because it serves only to cut offexcuse, and is not sufficient to direct usin the worship of God. (3)It is agreat and grievous sin.

2. Idolatry.—(1)When that which isnot God is placed and worshipped in theroom of the true God. (2)When menacknowledge the true God, but do notconceive Him as He will be conceived,and as He has revealed Himself.(3)What a man loves most, cares formost, and delights in most, that is hisgod. Where the heart is, there is thygod.

II. Their changed condition is theknowledge of God in Christ.—1.Thisis a special knowledge whereby we mustacknowledge God to be our God inChrist. 2.This knowledge must benot confused, but distinct. (1)Wemust acknowledge God in respect ofHis presence in all places. (2)Inrespect of His particular providenceover us. (3)In respect of His will inall things to be done and suffered.3.This knowledge must be an effectualand lively knowledge, working in usnew affections, and inclinations.

III. Their revolt is an abandonmentof salvation.—It is an exchangeof knowledge for ignorance, of thesubstance for the shadow, of realityfor emptiness—a return to weak andbeggarly elements. It is the substitutionof ceremonies for genuineworship.

IV. The conduct of turn-coats is anoccasion of ministerial disappointmentand alarm (ver. 11).—Work that is invain in respect of men is not so beforeGod.—Perkins.

Vers. 8, 9. Ignorance of God a SpiritualBondage.—1.However nature’slight may serve to make known thereis a God and that He ought to beserved, it is nothing else but ignorance,as it leaves us destitute of the knowledgeof God in Christ, without whichthere is no salvation. 2.Men arenaturally inclined to feign some representationof the Godhead by thingswhich incur in the outward senses,from which they easily advance to giveDivine worship unto those images andrepresentations. 3.Though the Leviticalceremonies were once to bereligiously observed as a part of Divineworship leading to Christ, yet whenthe false teachers did urge them as apart of necessary commanded worship,or as a part of their righteousnessbefore God, the apostle is bold to givethem the name of “weak and beggarlyelements.” 4.People may advancevery far in the way of Christianity,and yet make a foul retreat afterwardsin the course of defection and apostasy.—Fergusson.

Vers. 9, 10. God’s Sabbatic Law antedatedthe Mosaic Law.—And whateverof legal bondage has been linked withthe observance of the Jewish Sabbathwas eliminated together with thechange to the first day of the week.This at once removes the Lord’s Dayfrom the category of days, and alsoof weak and beggarly elements. Themode of observance is learned from theLord’s words, “The Sabbath was madefor man, and not man for the Sabbath,”which at the same time imply, whenrightly understood, the perpetualnecessity for a Sabbath.—Lange.

[p.68]Ver. 11. Ministerial Anxiety—1.Promptsto earnest efforts in impartingthe highest spiritual truths.2.Looks for corresponding results inconsistency of character and conduct.3.Is grieved with the least indicationsof religious failure.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 12–20.

The Pleadings of an Anxious Teacher with his Pupils in Peril.

I. He reminds them of the enthusiastic attachment of former days.—1.Urgesthem to exercise the same freedom as he himself claimed. “Be as I am; for I amas ye are” (ver. 12). Though himself a Jew, Paul had assumed no airs ofsuperiority, and did not separate himself from his Gentile brethren; he becameas one of them. He asks them to exercise a similar liberty; and lest they shouldfear he would have a grudge against them because of their relapse, he hastensto assure them, “Ye have not injured [wronged] me at all” (ver. 12).

2. Recalls their extravagant expression of admiration on their first reception ofhis teaching.—“Ye know how through infirmity I preached at the first. Mytemptation ye despised not; but received me as an angel of God.... Ye wouldhave plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me” (vers. 13, 14, 15).His physical weakness, which might have moved the contempt of others, elicitedthe sympathy of the warm-hearted Galatians. They listened with eagerness andwonder to the Gospel he preached. The man, with his humiliating infirmity,was lost in the charm of his message. They were thankful that, though hissickness was the reason of his being detained among them, it was the opportunityof their hearing the Gospel. Had he been an angel from heaven, or Jesus ChristHimself, they could not have welcomed him more rapturously. They would havemade any sacrifice to assure him of their regard and affection.

3. Shows he was not less their friend because he rebuked them.—“Am I thereforebecome your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (ver. 16). And now theyrush, with Gallic-like fickleness, to the opposite extreme. Because he attacksthe new fancies with which they have become enamoured, and probes them withsome wholesome and unwelcome truths, they imagine he has become their enemy.Not so; he is but using the privilege of a true and faithful friend.

II. He warns them against the seductive tactics of false teachers.—1.Theirzealous flattery was full of danger. “They zealously affect you, but not well;they would exclude you” (ver. 17). They are courting you, these present suitorsfor your regard, dishonourably; they want to shut us out and have you to themselves,that you may pay court to them. They pretend to be zealous for yourinterests; but it is their own they seek. They would exclude you from all opportunitiesof salvation—yea, from Christ Himself. The flatterer should be alwayssuspected. The turning away from sound doctrine goes hand in hand with apredilection for such teachers as tickle the ear, while they teach only such thingsas correspond to the sinful inclinations of the hearers.

2. Though genuine zeal is commendable.—“It is good to be zealously affectedalways in a good thing” (ver. 18). Christian zeal must be seen not only tocorrespond and to be adapted to the intellect but must also be in harmonywith the highest and profoundest sentiments of our nature. It must not beexhibited in the dry, pedantic divisions of a scholastic theology; nor must itbe set forth and tricked out in the light drapery of an artificial rhetoric, inprettiness of style, in measured sentences, with an insipid floridness, and in theform of elegantly feeble essays. No; it must come from the soul in the languageof earnest conviction and strong feeling.

III. He pleads with the tender solicitude of a spiritual parent.—“My littlechildren, of whom I travail in birth again,... I desire to be present with you, and[p.69]to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you” (vers. 19, 20). As a mother,fearful of losing the affection of her children for whom she has suffered so much,the apostle appeals to his converts in tones of pathetic persuasion. His heart iswrung with anguish as he sees the peril of his spiritual children, and he breaksout into tender and impassioned entreaty. And yet he is perplexed by the attitudethey have taken, and as if uncertain of the result of his earnest expostulations.The preacher has to learn to be patient as well as zealous.

Lessons.—1.Strong emotions and warm affections are no guarantee for the permanenceof religious life. 2.How prone are those who have put themselves in thewrong to fix the blame on others. 3.Men of the Galatian type are the natural preyof self-seeking agitators.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 12. Christian Brotherhood.—Hereis: 1.A loving compellation—“Brethren.”2.A submissive addressby way of comprecation—“I beseechyou.” 3.A request most reasonable—“Beye as I am; for I am as ye are.”4.A wise and prudent preoccupationor prevention which removes all obstructionsand forestalls those jealousies,those surmises and groundlesssuspicions, which are the bane ofcharity and the greatest enemies topeace. “Ye have not injured me atall.”

I. Nature herself hath made allmen brethren.—1.This may serve tocondemn all those who look upon menunder other consideration than as menor view them in any other shape thanas brethren. And the very name ofman and of brother should be anamulet for all mankind against thevenom of iniquity and injustice.

2. By this light of nature we maycondemn ourselves when any bitternesstowards our brother riseth in our hearts,and allay or rather root it out asinhuman and unnatural. None candishonour us more than ourselves do,when one man hath trodden downanother as the clay in the streets,when we think ourselves great men bymaking our brethren little, when wecontemn and despise, hate and persecutethem.

II. Brethren as Christians professingthe same faith.—There is such abrotherhood that neither error nor sinnor injury can break and dissolve it.

1. Men may err and yet be brethren.—Wemay be divided in opinion andyet united in charity. Consider the difficultyof finding out truth in all thingsand avoiding error, that our brothermay err rather from want of lightthan out of malice and wilfully andconceive it possible we may err asfoully as others.

2. Men may sin and yet be brethren.—Charity,because she may err, nay,because she must err, looks upon everyChristian as a brother. If he err, sheis a guide to him; if he sin, she is aphysician; if he fall, she strives to lifthim up, being a light to the blind anda staff to the weak.

3. Men may injure each other andyet be brethren.—Socrates, being overcomein judgment, professed he had noreason to be angry with his enemiesunless it were for this, that they conceivedand believed they had hurt him.Indeed, no injury can be done by abrother to a brother. The injury isproperly done to God, who reserves allpower of revenge to Himself. “If abrother strike us,” said Chrysostom,“kiss his hand; if he would destroy us,our revenge should be to save him.”Nazianzen said to the young man whowas suborned to kill him, “Christforgive thee, who hath also forgivenme, and died to save me.”

Lessons.—1.Brotherly love is pleasantand delightful. 2.Profitable and advantageous.3.So necessary that it hadbeen better for us never to have been thannot to love the brethren.—A.Farindon.

[p.70]Vers. 13–15. Love for the Preacher—

1. Notwithstanding the physical infirmityof the messenger (ver. 13).
2. Generates the loftiest esteemfor his character and abilities (ver. 14).
3. Is often expressed in exaggeratedterms (ver. 15).

Ver. 14. The Authority of the Messengerof God.

1. He is to be heard even as ChristHimself, because in preaching he is themouth of God.
2. Here we see the goodness of God,who does not speak to us in Hismajesty, but appoints men in Hisstead, who are His ambassadors.
3. There must be fidelity inteachers.—They stand in the stead ofChrist, and must deliver only thatwhich they know to be the will ofChrist.
4. They must have especial careof holiness of life.
5. The people are to hear theirteachers with reverence, as if theywould hear the angels or Christ Himself.
6. The comfort of the ministry isas sure as if an angel came down fromheaven, or Christ Himself, to comfortus.—Perkins.

Ver. 16. The Right Mode of givingand receiving Reproof.—Should it beesteemed the part of a friend faithfullyto tell men the truth? and should thesuppression of truth and the substitutionof its opposite be held to markthe character of an enemy? Howoften has the amicable state of feelingbeen broken up by telling the truth,even when done in a proper spirit andmanner!

I. What would you wish yourfriend to be?—1.Sincere. 2.That heshould take a very general interest inmy welfare and be desirous to promoteit. 3.A person of clear, sound, discriminatingjudgment, and with a decidedpreference in all things. 4.That heshould not be a man full of self-complacency,a self-idolater, but observantand severe towards his own errors anddefects. 5.A man who would includeme expressly in his petitions, prayingthat I may be delivered from thoseevils which he perceives in me, andGod far more clearly. 6.Such that,as the last result of my communicationswith him, a great deal of whatmay be defective and wrong in meshall have been disciplined away.

II. Why do we regard a friend asan enemy because he tells us thetruth?—1.Because plain truth, bywhatever voice, must say many thingsthat are displeasing. 2.Becausethere is a want of the real earnestdesire to be in all things set right.3.Because there is pride, reactingagainst a fellow-mortal and fellow-sinner.4.Because there is not seldoma real difference of judgment on thematters in question. 5.Because thereis an unfavourable opinion or surmiseas to the motives of the teller oftruth.

III. How should reproof be administered?—1.Thosewho do this shouldwell exercise themselves to understandwhat they speak of. 2.It should bethe instructor’s aim that the authoritymay be conveyed in the truth itself,and not seem to be assumed by him asthe speaker of it. 3.He should watchto select favourable times and occasions.

IV. How should reproof be received?—1.Bycultivating a dispositionof mind which earnestly desiresthe truth, in whatever manner it maycome to us. 2.There have beeninstances in which a friend, silentwhen he should have spoken, has himselfafterwards received the reproof fornot having done so from the personwhom he declined to admonish. 3.Ifthere be those so painfully and irritablysusceptible as to be unwilling to hearcorrective truth from others, howstrong is the obligation that theyshould look so much the more severelyto themselves.—John Foster.

Ver. 18. Zeal.

I. Various kinds of zeal.—1.There[p.71]is a zeal of God which is not accordingto knowledge. 2.There is a mistakenzeal for the glory of God. (1)Whenthat is opposed which is right, under afalse notion of its being contrary tothe glory of God. (2)When ways andmethods improper are taken to defendand promote the glory of God.(3)There is a superstitious zeal, suchas was in Baal’s worshippers, who cutthemselves with knives and lancets;particularly in the Athenians, whowere wholly given to idolatry; andthe Jews, who were zealous of thetraditions of the fathers. (4)There isa persecuting zeal, under a pretenceof the glory of God. (5)There is ahypocritical zeal for God, as in thePharisees, who make a show of greatzeal for piety, by their long prayers,when they only sought to destroywidows’ houses by that means.(6)There is a contentious zeal, whichoften gives great trouble to Christiancommunities. (7)True zeal is noother than a fervent, ardent love toGod and Christ, and a warm concernfor their honour and glory.

II. The objects of zeal.—1.Theobject of it is God. The worship ofGod, who must be known, or He cannotbe worshipped aright. 2.The causeof Christ is another object of zeal.The Gospel of Christ; great reasonthere is to be zealous for that, sinceit is the Gospel of the grace of God.3.The ordinances of Christ, whichevery true Christian should be zealousfor, that they be kept as they werefirst delivered, without any innovationor corruption. 4.The discipline ofChrist’s house should be the object ofour zeal. 5.True zeal is concerned inall the duties of religion and showsitself in them.

III. Motives exciting to the exerciseof true zeal.—1.The example ofChrist. 2.True zeal answers aprincipal end of the redemption ofChrist. 3.It is good, the apostle says,to be zealously affected in and for thatwhich is good. 4.A lukewarmtemper, which is the opposite to zeal,seems not consistent with true religion,which has always life and heat in it.5.The zeal of persons shown in a falseway should stimulate the professors ofthe true religion to show at least anequal zeal.—Pulpit Assistant.

Christian Zeal—

1. Implies unwavering steadfastnessof purpose.
2. Universal and hearty obedienceto God’s commands in all things, smallas well as great.
3. Supreme devotion of heart andlife to Christ.
4. Should be exercised in a goodthing.—True zeal seeks benevolentends by lawful means, else it isfanaticism. It seeks practical ends bywise means, else it is enthusiasm.Zeal should be shown in active anduseful devotion to the cause of religion,rather than in excitement and warmdevotional exercise.
5. Should be uniform, not periodical.—Itshould not depend upon thefluctuations of feeling, but should actupon principle. Periodical fervoursare deceitful, dangerous, injurious,dishonourable to religion. They arecommonly a proof of superficial piety,or of none at all.—Stephen Olin.

Godly Zeal and its Counterfeits.

I. Let us distinguish between merenatural zeal and spiritual ardour.—1.Thereis a zeal of sympathy which isawakened by the zeal of others withwhom we associate. It is only that ofthe soldier who, though himself a coward,is urged on to battle by the example ofthose around him. 2.There is constitutionalzeal, a warmth, an ardour, whichenters into all we say or do, which pervadesall our actions and animates allour services. This is not strictly religiousbut animal excitement and is no moreallied to our soul-life than our armsor our feet. 3.There is a zeal whichis merely sentimental. It throwsa romantic glamour over our objects;but its exercises are too occasional, toorandom, to produce much effect.4.There is a zeal of affectation likethat of Jehu (2Kings x.16). This[p.72]is religious foppery and hypocriticalvanity. 5.Christian zeal is a fairdemonstration of what is felt within.It seeks not the eye of man but actsunder the conviction of God’s omniscience.

II. Consider the objects to whichChristian zeal should be directed.—This“good thing” may be taken asincluding all true religion, and embracing:1.The promotion of God’s glory.2.The extension of Christ’s kingdom.3.The salvation of men. 4.The conversionof the world.

III. The good that results from theexercise of Christian zeal to thepersons that possess it.—1.It rendersthem more Christ-like. 2.It furthersthe Divine designs in the most effectiveway. 3.We become worthy followersof the great heroes of faith in the pastages.—The Preacher’s Magazine.

True Christian Zeal.

I. The Christian convert is zealouslyaffected in a good thing.—1.All theteachings of Christianity are good.They enlighten, guide, and sanctify.They are peculiar, harmonious, infallible,Divine. Their morality is sublime,their spirit heavenly, their effectglorious.

2. The influence of Christianity isgood.—It has created the sweetcharities of national and domesticlife, sanctified advancing civilisation,softened the fierceness of war, stimulatedscience, promoted justice andliberty. Sceptics have admitted this.

3. All that Christianity accomplishesfor man is good.—It saves him fromsin, from the stings of guilt, from theeternal consequences of wrong-doing.

II. The zeal of the Christian convertis to be steady and continuous.—Thereshould be no diminution norfluctuation in our zeal. 1.Because noreason can be assigned why we shouldnot be as zealous at any after-hour as atthe hour of our conversion. 2.Becauseit is only by steady and continuous zealthat a proper measure of Christianinfluence can be exerted. 3.Becauseonly by steady and continuous zealcan Christian character be matured.4.Because only thus can success inChristian enterprises be attained.5.Because steady and continuous zealwill alone bring Divine approval.

III. The zeal of the Christianconvert is not to be unduly influencedby the presence of others.—While Paulwas with the Churches in Galatiathey were zealous, but after hisdeparture their zeal ceased. To loseour zeal because we have lost theinfluence of another is to show:1.That we never possessed true Christianmotives. 2.That our supposed attachmentto Christ and His cause was delusive.3.That our zeal had merelybeen an effort to please men, not God.—The Lay Preacher.

Ver. 19. The Christmas of the Soul.—Theapostle refers to the spiritualbirth. The soul then rises into aconsciousness of its infinite importance;its thoughts, sympathies, and purposesbecome Christ-like, and Christ ismanifested in the life. The soul-birthwere impossible if Christ had not beenborn in Bethlehem. That was anera in the world’s history, this in theindividual life; that was brought aboutby the Holy Spirit, this is effected bythe same Divine Agent; that wasfollowed by the antagonism of theworld, this is succeeded by the oppositionof evil, both within and without;that was the manifestation of God inthe flesh, this is the renewing of man’snature in the image of God; that cameto pass without man’s choice, thisrequires man’s seeking. Has thisspiritual birth taken place in you?If so, you have a right to the enjoymentof a happy Christmas. Keep thefeast as a new man in Christ Jesus.—Homiletic Monthly.

Ver. 20. A Preacher’s Perplexity—

1. Occasioned by the defection of hisconverts.—“I stand in doubt of you.”
2. As to what method he shouldadopt to restore them.—“And tochange my voice.”
3. Increased by the difficulty of[p.73]effecting a personal interview.—“Idesire to be present with you now.”

“I stand in doubt of you.” DoubtfulChristians.

I. Persons whose religion isliable to suspicion.—1.Those whohave long attended the means ofgrace, and are very defective inknowledge. 2.Who profess muchknowledge and are puffed up with it.3.Who contend for doctrinal religionrather than for that which is practicaland experimental. 4.Who waver intheir attachment to the fundamentalprinciples of the Gospel. 5.Whoneglect the ordinances of God’s house.6.Who neglect devotional exercises.7.Who co-operate not with the Churchto advance the kingdom of Christ inthe world.

II. The improvement to be made ofthe subject.—1.Should lead to self-examination.2.Shows the loss anddanger of persons so characterised.3.Should lead to repentance and faith.4.While exercising a godly jealousyover others, let Christians watch withgreater jealousy over themselves.—Helps.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 21–31.

The History of Hagar and Sarah allegorical of the Law and the Gospel.

I. The two women represented two different covenants.—1.Hagar representedSinai, typical of the law with its slavish exactions and terrible threatenings (vers.22, 25). Sinai spoke of bondage and terror. It was a true symbol of the workingof the law of Moses, exhibited in the present condition of Judaism. And roundthe base of Sinai Hagar’s wild sons had found their dwelling. Jerusalem was nolonger the mother of freemen. Her sons chafed under the Roman yoke. Theywere loaded with self-inflicted burdens. The spirit of the nation was that ofrebellious, discontented slaves. They were Ishmaelite sons of Abraham, withnone of the nobleness, the reverence, the calm and elevated faith of their father.In the Judaism of the apostle’s day the Sinaitic dispensation, uncontrolled by thehigher patriarchal and prophetic faith, had worked out its natural result. Itgendered to bondage. A system of repression and routine, it had produced menpunctual in tithes of mint and anise, but without justice, mercy, or faith; vauntingtheir liberty while they were servants of corruption. The Pharisee was thetypical product of law apart from grace. Under the garb of a freeman hecarried the soul of a slave.

2. Sarah represented Jerusalem, typical of the Gospel with its higher freedom andlarger spiritual fruitfulness (vers. 26–28).—Paul has escaped from the prison oflegalism, from the confines of Sinai; he has left behind the perishing earthlyJerusalem, and with it the bitterness and gloom of his Pharisaic days. He is acitizen of the heavenly Zion, breathing the air of a Divine freedom. The yoke isbroken from the neck of the Church of God; the desolation is gone from herheart. Robbed of all outward means, mocked and thrust out as she is by Israelafter the flesh, her rejection is a release, an emancipation. Conscious of thespirit of sonship and freedom, looking out on the boundless conquests lyingbefore her in the Gentile world, the Church of the new covenant glories inher tribulations. In Paul is fulfilled the joy of prophet and psalmist, who sangin former days of gloom concerning Israel’s enlargement and world-widevictories (Findlay).

II. The antagonism of their descendants represented the violent andincessant opposition of the law to the Gospel.—“As he that was born after theflesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.... Castout the bondwoman and her son” (vers. 29, 30). Sooner or later the slave-boywas bound to go. He has no proper birthright, no permanent footing in the house.One day he exceeds his licence, he makes himself intolerable; he must be gone.[p.74]The Israelitish people showed more than Ishmael’s jealousy toward the infantChurch of the Spirit. No weapon of violence or calumny was too base to beused against it. Year by year they became more hardened against spiritualtruth, more malignant towards Christianity, and more furious and fanatical intheir hatred towards their civil rulers. Ishmael was in the way of Isaac’s safetyand prosperity (Ibid.).

III. The Gospel bestows a richer inheritance than the law.—“The son of thebondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.... We are childrenof the free” (vers. 30, 31). The two systems were irreconcilable. The law andthe Gospel cannot coexist and inherit together; the law must disappear beforethe Gospel. The higher absorbs the lower. The Church of the future, thespiritual seed of Abraham gathered out of all nations, has no part in legalism.It embraces blessings of which Mosaism had no conception—“an inheritanceincorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away” (1Pet. i.4).

Lessons.—1.The law and the Gospel differ fundamentally. 2.The lawimposes intolerable burdens. 3.The Gospel abrogates the law by providing a higher spiritualobedience.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 21–31. Legal Bondage andSpiritual Freedom contrasted—

1. In their inception and development(vers. 21–27).
2. In their ceaseless antagonism(ver. 29).
3. In their inevitable results(vers. 28, 30, 31).

Ver. 21. A Lesson from the Law—

1. Addressed to those eager for itssubjection.—“Ye that desire to beunder the law.”
2. Is suggestive of solemn warning.
3. Should be seriously pondered.—“Tellme, do ye not hear the law?”

Ver. 26. Jerusalem Above.

I. The Church of Christ as she existsin the present world.—“Jerusalem,above and free.”

1. Above; that is, seen in connectionwith God and the scenes of the heavenlyworld.—(1)Her Head is from above.(2)If we take the Church as a whole,though she is in part on earth, thegreater number of her members are inheaven. (3)Our Jerusalem is abovebecause her members all fix their affectionsthere and thither then as thegreat end of their profession.

2. Jerusalem above is free, and soare her children.—From the bondage ofseeking salvation by works of law, fromthe guilt of sin, from its dominion.

II. The filial sentiment with whichwe ought to regard the Church ofChrist.—She is “the mother of us all.”The general idea is, that if we areindeed spiritual, under God, we oweall to the Church. To her God hascommitted the preservation of Histruth. In stormy times she hassheltered her lamps in the recesses ofthe sanctuary, and in happier timeshas placed them on high to guide andsave. The Spirit of God is in theChurch. To her you owe yourhallowed fellowships. In the Churchit is that God manifests Himself.

III. The animating anticipationswe are thus taught to form of theChurch as glorified.—Turn to thedescription given in Revelation xxi.1.Mark the wall great and high—denotingthe perfect, impregnablesecurity of those who dwell there.2.At the gates are angels—still usheringin the heirs of salvation and disdainingnot to be porters to this glorious city.3.Mark the foundations, garnishedwith all manner of precious stones—implyingpermanency. 4.Mark thecirc*mstance that in the twelvefoundations are inscribed the namesof the twelve apostles—the wholebeing the result of their doctrine.[p.75]5.The whole city is a temple all filledwith the presence and glory of God.No holiest of all is there where everypart is most holy. All are filled,sanctified, beatified, by the fully manifestedpresence of God. He is all inall; all things in and to all.—RichardWatson.

Jerusalem a Type of the UniversalChurch.

I. God chose Jerusalem above allother places to dwell in. The Churchcatholic is the company chosen to bethe particular people of God.

II. Jerusalem is a city compact initself by reason of the bond of loveand order among the citizens. In likesort the members of the Churchcatholic are linked together by thebond of one Spirit.

III. In Jerusalem was the sanctuary,a place of God’s presence, wherethe promise if the seed of the womanwas preserved till the coming of theMessiah. Now the Church catholicis in the room of the sanctuary, in itwe must seek the presence of God andthe Word of life.

IV. In Jerusalem was the throne ofDavid. In the Church catholic is thethrone or sceptre of Christ.

V. The commendation of a city, asJerusalem, is the subjection andobedience of the citizens. In theChurch catholic all believers are citizens,and they yield voluntary obedienceand subjection to Christ their King.

VI. As in Jerusalem the names ofthe citizens were enrolled in a register,so the names of all the members ofthe Church catholic are enrolled in theBook of Life.

VII. The Church catholic is said tobe above: 1.In respect to her beginning.2.Because she dwells by faithin heaven with Christ.—Perkins.

Ver. 28. Believers Children of Promise.

I. The character.—1.Believers arethe children of promise by regeneration.2.By spiritual nourishment. 3.In respectof education. 4.With respect toassimilation, likeness, and conformity.

II. State the comparison.—1.Isaacwas the child of Abraham, not bynatural power. Believers are childrenof Abraham by virtue of promise.2.Isaac was the fruit of prayer, as wellas the child of the promise. 3.Isaac’sbirth was the joy of his parents. Evenso with reference to believers. 4.Isaacwas born not after the flesh, but bythe promise; not of the bondwoman,but of the free. So, believers are notunder the law. 5.Isaac was no soonerborn but he was mocked by Ishmael;so, it is now. 6.Isaac was the heirby promise, though thus persecuted.Even so believers.

III. How the promise hath suchvirtue for begetting children to God.—1.Asit is the discovery of Divine love.2.The object of faith. 3.The groundof hope. 4.The seed of regeneration.5.The communication of grace.6.The chariot of the Spirit.

Inferences.—1.If believers arechildren of promise, then boasting isexcluded. 2.Then salvation is free.3.The happiness and dignity of believers—theyare the children of God.—Pulpit Assistant.

Ver. 29. On Persecution.

I. That no privilege of the Churchcan exempt her from persecution.—1.Fromthe consideration of the qualityof the persons here upon the stage, the onepersecuting, the other suffering. (1)Thepersecuting—“born after the flesh.”Like Hannibal, they can part withanything but war and contention; theycan be without their native country,but not without an enemy. Thesewhet the sword, these make the furnaceof persecution seven times hotter thanit would be. The flesh is the treasurywhence these winds blow that rage andbeat down all before them. (2)Thesuffering—“born after the Spirit.”Having no security, no policy, noeloquence, no strength, but that whichlieth in his innocency and truth, whichhe carrieth about as a cure, but it islooked upon as a persecution by thosewho will not be healed. “For he mustappear,” said Seneca, “as a fool that[p.76]he may be wise, as weak that he maybe strong, as base and vile that hemay be more honourable.” If thou be anIsaac, thou shalt find an Ishmael.

2. From the nature and constitutionof the Church which in this world isever militant.—Persecution is thehonour, the prosperity, the flourishingcondition of the Church. When herbranches were lopped off she spreadthe more, when her members weredispersed there were more gatheredto her, when they were driven aboutthe world they carried that sweet-smellingsavour about them whichdrew in multitudes to follow them.

3. From the providence and wisdomof God who put this enmity between thesetwo seeds.—God’s method is best. Thatis method and order with Him whichwe take to be confusion, and that whichwe call persecution is His art, His wayof making saints. In Abraham’s familyIshmael mocketh and persecutethIsaac, in the world the synagoguepersecuteth the Church, and in theChurch one Christian persecutethanother. It was so, it is so, and itwill be so to the end of the world.

II. The lessons of persecution.—1.Thepersecution of the Church shouldnot create surprise. 2.Not to regardthe Church and the world as alike.3.Build ourselves up in faith so as tobe prepared for the fiery trial. 4.Lovethe truth you profess. 5.Be renewed inspirit.—A.Farindon.

Ver. 30. Cast out the Bondwomanand her Son.—To cast out is an act ofviolence, and the true Church evermorehath the suffering part. Howshall the Church cast out those of herown house and family? 1.By thevehemency of our prayers that Godwould either melt their hearts orshorten their hands, either bring theminto the right way, or strike off theirchariot wheels. 2.By our patienceand longsuffering. 3.By our innocencyof life and sincerity of conversation.4.By casting our burden upon theLord.—Ibid.

The Fate of Unbelievers.

I. All hypocrites, mockers of thegrace of God, shall be cast forth ofGod’s family, though for a time theybear a sway therein. This is thesentence of God. Let us thereforerepent of our mocking and becomelovers of the grace of God.

II. The persecution of the people ofGod shall not be perpetual, for thepersecuting bondwoman and her sonmust be cast out.

III. All justiciary people andpersons that look to be saved andjustified before God by the law, eitherin whole or in part, are cast out ofthe Church of God, and have nopart in the kingdom of heaven. Thecasting out of Hagar and Ishmael isa figure of the rejection of all such.—Perkins.

CHAPTER V.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. Stand fast in.—Stand up to, make your stand for. The liberty wherewith Christ hasmade you free.—As Christ has given you this liberty you are bound to stand fast in it. Be notentangled.—Implicated in a way which involves violence to true spontaneous life. The yokeof bondage.—Contrasted with the yoke of Christ, which is compatible with the fullest spiritualfreedom.

Ver. 2. If ye be circumcised.—Not simply as a national rite, but as a symbol of Judaism andlegalism in general; as necessary to justification. Christ shall profit you nothing.—TheGospel of grace is at an end. He who is circumcised is so fearing the law, and he who fearsdisbelieves the power of grace, and he who disbelieves can profit nothing by that grace whichhe disbelieves (Chrysostom).

[p.77]Ver. 5 Wait for the hope of righteousness.—Righteousness, in the sense of justification, isalready attained, but the consummation of it in future perfection is the object of hope to bewaited for.

Ver. 6. Faith which worketh by love.—Effectually worketh, exhibits its energy by love,and love is the fulfilling of the law.

Ver. 9. A little leaven.—Of false doctrine, a small amount of evil influence.

Ver. 10. He that troubleth you.—The leaven traced to personal agency; whoever plays thetroubler. Shall bear his judgment.—Due and inevitable condemnation from God.

Ver. 11. Then is the offence of the cross ceased.—The offence, the stumbling-block, to theJew which roused his anger was not the shame of Messiah crucified, but the proclamation offree salvation to all, exclusive of the righteousness of human works.

Ver. 12. I would they were cut off which trouble you.—Self-mutilated, an imprecation morestrongly expressed in chap. i.8, 9. Christian teachers used language in addressing Christiansin the then heathen world that would be regarded as intolerable in modern Christendom,purified and exalted by Christ through their teachings.

Ver. 13. Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.—Do not give the flesh the handle orpretext for its indulgence, which it eagerly seeks for. By love serve one another.—If yemust be in bondage, be servants to one another in love.

Ver. 15. If ye bite and devour one another,... consumed.—Figures taken from the rageof beasts of prey. The biting of controversy naturally runs into the devouring of controversialmood waxing fierce with indulgence. And the controversialists, each snapping at and gnawinghis antagonist, forget the tendency is to consume the Christian cause. Strength of soul,health of body, character, and resources, are all consumed by broils.

Ver. 18. If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.—Under no irksome restraint.To him who loves, law is not irksome bondage but delightful direction. Active spiritual lifeis a safeguard against lawless affection.

Ver. 19. The works of the flesh.—1.Sensual vices—“adultery [omitted in the oldest MSS.],fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness.” 2.Theological vices—“idolatry, witchcraft.”3.Malevolent vices—“hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,murders.” 4.Vices of excess—“drunkenness, revellings.”

Ver. 22. The fruit of the Spirit.—The singular fruit, as compared with the plural works,suggests that the effect of the Spirit’s inworking is one harmonious whole, while carnalitytends to multitudinousness, distraction, chaos. We are not to look for a rigorous logicalclassification in either catalogue. Generally, the fruit of the Spirit may be arranged as:I.Inward graces—“love, joy, peace.” II.Graces towards man—“longsuffering, gentleness,goodness, faith.” III.A more generic form of inward graces—“meekness, temperance.”

Ver. 23. Against such there is no law.—So far from being against love, law commands it.

Ver. 24. Have crucified the flesh.—Not human nature, but depraved human nature. Withthe affections and lusts.—Affections refer to the general frame of mind; the lusts to specialproclivities or habits.

Ver. 26. Not to be desirous of vainglory, provoking [challenging], envying oneanother.—Vaingloriousnessprovokes contention; contention produces envy.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verse 1.

Christian Liberty—

I. Should be valued considering how it was obtained.—“The liberty wherewithChrist hath made us free.” It is a liberty purchased at a great cost.Christ, the Son of God, became incarnated, suffered in a degree unparalleledand incomprehensible, and died the shameful and ignoble death of the crucifiedto win back the liberty man had forfeited by voluntary sin. The redemption ofman was hopeless from himself, and but for the intervention of a competentRedeemer he was involved in utter and irretrievable bondage. Civil liberty,though the inalienable right of every man, has been secured as the resultof great struggle and suffering. “With a great sum,” said the Roman captainto Paul, “obtained I this freedom;” and many since his day have had to paydearly for the common rights of citizenship. But Christian liberty should bevalued as the choicest privilege, remembering it was purchased by the sufferingChrist, and that it has been defended through the ages by a noble army ofmartyrs.

II. Should remind us of the oppression from which it delivers.—“And be[p.78]not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” The Galatians had been bondmen,enslaved by the worship of false and vile deities. If they rush into thesnare of the legalists, they will be bondmen again, and their bondage will bethe more oppressive now they have tasted the joys of freedom. Disobedienceinvolves us in many entanglements. It is among the most potent of the energiesof sin that leads astray by blinding and blinds by leading astray; that thesoul, like the strong champion of Israel, must have its eyes put out, when itwould be bound with fetters of brass and condemned to grind in the prisonhouse(Judg. xvi.21). Redemption from the slavery of sin should fill theheart with gratitude. A wealthy and kind Englishman once bought a poorNegro for twenty pieces of gold. He presented him with a sum of money thathe might buy a piece of land and furnish himself a home. “Am I really free?May I go whither I will?” cried the Negro in the joy of his heart. “Well, letme be your slave, massa; you have redeemed me, and I owe all to you.” Thegentleman took him into his service, and he never had a more faithful servant.How much more eagerly should we do homage and service to the divine Master,who Himself has made us free!

III. Should be rigorously maintained.—“Stand fast therefore.” The priceof freedom is incessant vigilance; once gained it is a prize never to be lost, andno effort or sacrifice should be grudged in its defence. “As far as I am aChristian,” said Channing, “I am free. My religion lays on me not one chain.It does not hem me round with a mechanical ritual, does not enjoin forms,attitudes, and hours of prayer, does not descend to details of dress and food, doesnot put on me one outward badge. It teaches us to do good but leaves us todevise for ourselves the means by which we may best serve mankind.” Thespirit of Christian liberty is eternal. Jerusalem and Rome may strive to imprisonit. They might as well seek to bind the winds of heaven. Its seat is the throneof Christ. It lives by the breath of His Spirit. Not to be courageous andfaithful in its defence is disloyalty to Christ and treachery to our fellow-men.

Lessons.—1.Christ is the true Emancipator of men. 2.Christian liberty doesnot violate but honours the law of love. 3.Liberty is best preserved by beingconsistently exercised.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE.

Ver. 1. Freedom from Bondage.—1.Everyman by nature is a bondslave,being under the bondage of sin.The Jews were under bondage to theceremonial law, involving great trouble,pain in the flesh, and great expense.2.Jesus Christ by His obedienceand death has purchased freedom andliberty to His Church—liberty notto do evil, nor from the yoke of newobedience, nor from the cross, norfrom that obedience and reverencewhich inferiors owe to superiors; butfrom the dominion of sin, the tyrannyof Satan, the curse and irritatingpower of the law, and from subjectingour consciences to the rites, doctrines,ceremonies, and laws of men in thematter of worship. 3.Though civilliberty be much desired, so ignorantare we of the worth of freedom fromspiritual bondage that we can hardlybe excited to seek after it, or made tostand to it when attained, but are indaily hazard of preferring our formerbondage to our present liberty.—Fergusson.

Bondage and Liberty.

I. We are in bondage under sin.

II. We are subject to punishment.—Implying:1.Bondage under Satan,who keeps unrepentant sinners in hissnare. 2.Bondage under an evilconscience, which sits in the heart asaccuser and judge, and lies like a wildbeast at a man’s door ready to pluckout his throat. 3.Bondage under the[p.79]wrath of God and fear of eternaldeath.

III. We are in bondage to theceremonial law.—To feel this bondageis a step out of it; not to feel it is tobe plunged into it.

IV. We have spiritual liberty bythe grace of God.—1.Christian libertyis a deliverance from misery. (1)Fromthe curse of the law for the breachthereof. (2)From the obligation ofthe law whereby it binds us to perfectrighteousness in our own persons.(3)From the observance of theceremonial law of Moses. (4)Fromthe tyranny and dominion of sin.2.Christian liberty is freedom ingood things. (1)In the voluntaryservice of God. (2)In the free useof all the creatures of God. (3)Libertyto come to God and in prayer to beheard. (4)To enter heaven.

V. Christ is the great Liberator.—Heprocured this liberty: 1.By themerit of His death. The price paid—Hisprecious blood—shows the excellenceof the blessing, and that itshould be esteemed. 2.By the efficacyof His Spirit—assuring us of ouradoption and abating the strengthand power of sin.

VI. We are to hold fast our libertyin the day of trial.—1.We mustlabour that religion be not only inmind and memory but rooted in theheart. 2.We must join with ourreligion the soundness of a good conscience.3.We must pray for allthings needful.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 2–6.

Christianity Superior to External Rites.

I. External rites demand universal obedience.—“Every man that is circumcisedis a debtor to do the whole law” (ver. 3). The Galatians were in a stateof dangerous suspense. They were on the brink of a great peril. Another stepand they would be down the precipice. That step was circumcision. Seeing theimminence of the danger the apostle becomes more earnest and emphatic in hisremonstrance. He warns them that circumcision, though a matter of indifferenceas an external rite, would in their case involve an obligation to keep the wholelaw. This he has shown is an impossibility. They would submit themselvesto a yoke they were unable to bear, and from whose galling tyranny they wouldbe unable to extricate themselves. Knowing this, surely they would not be sofoolish as, deliberately and with open eyes, to commit such an act of moral suicide.There must be a strange infatuation in ritualistic observances that tempts manto undertake obligations he is powerless to perform, utterly heedless of the mostexplicit and faithful warnings.

II. Dependence on external rites is an open rejection of Christ.—“Christshall profit you nothing;... is become of no effect unto you; ye are fallen fromgrace” (vers. 2, 4). Here the result of a defection from the Gospel is placed inthe most alarming aspect and should give pause to the wildest fanatic. It isthe forfeiture of all Christian privileges, it is a complete rejection of Christ, it isa loss of all the blessings won by faith, it is a fall into the gulf of despair andruin. It cannot be too plainly understood, nor too frequently iterated, thatexcessive devotion to external rites means the decline and extinction of truereligion. Ritualism supplants Jesus Christ. “It is evident that the disciplesof the Church of Rome wish to lead us from confession and absolution tothe doctrine of transubstantiation, thence to the worship of images, andthence to all the abuses which at the end of the fifteenth century and at thebeginning of the sixteenth excited the anger and scorn of Luther, Calvin,Zwinglius, and others. The primary faith of the Reformers is in the wordsof Christ. The primary faith of the ritualists is in Aristotle. If the Britishnation is wise, it will not allow the Roman Church with its infallible head, or the[p.80]ritualists with their mimic ornaments, or those who are deaf to the teachingsof Socrates and Cicero, of Bacon and Newton, to deprive them of the inestimableblessings of the Gospel.”

III. Christianity as a spiritual force is superior to external rites.—1.Itbases the hope of righteousness on faith. “For we through the Spirit wait forthe hope of righteousness by faith” (ver. 5). Look on this picture and onthat. Yonder are the Galatians, all in tumult about the legalistic proposals,debating which of the Hebrew feasts they shall celebrate and with what rites,absorbed in the details of Mosaic ceremony, all but persuaded to be circumcisedand to settle their scruples out of hand by a blind submission to the law.And here on the other side is Paul with the Church of the Spirit, walkingin the righteousness of faith and the communion of the Holy Spirit, joyfullyawaiting the Saviour’s final coming and the hope that is laid up in heaven. Howvexed, how burdened, how narrow and puerile is the one condition; how large,lofty, and secure the other! Faith has its great ventures; it has also its seasonsof endurance, its moods of quiet expectancy, its unweariable patience. It canwait as well as work (Findlay).

2. Faith is a spiritual exercise revealing itself in active love.—“Faith workethby love” (ver. 6). In ver. 5 we have the statics of the religion of Christ; inver. 6 its dynamics. Love is the working energy of faith. “Love gives faithhands and feet; hope lends it wings. Love is the fire at its heart, the life-bloodcoursing in its veins; hope the light that gleams and dances in its eyes.” Inthe presence of an active spiritual Christianity, animated by love to Christ andto men, ritualism diminishes into insignificance. “In Jesus Christ neithercircumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision” (ver. 6). The Jew is nobetter or worse a Christian because he is circumcised; the Gentile no worse orbetter because he is not. Love, which is the fulfilling of the law, is the essenceof Christianity, and gives it the superiority over all external rites.

Lessons.—1.Externalism in religion imposes intolerable burdens. 2.To preferexternal rites is an insult to Christ. 3.The superiority of Christianity is itsspiritual character.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 2–4. Christianity nullified byLegalism.

1. To accept legalism is to rejectChrist (vers. 2, 4).
2. Legalism demands universalobedience to its enactments (ver. 3).
3. Legalism is a disastrous abandonmentof Christianity.—“Ye arefallen from grace” (ver. 4).

Vers. 5, 6. Righteousness attained byActive Faith.—1.No personal righteousnessentitles us to the blessed hope ofthe heavenly inheritance, but only therighteousness of Christ apprehendedby faith. It is only the efficaciousteaching of God’s spirit which cansufficiently instruct us in the knowledgeof this righteousness and make us withsecurity and confidence venture ourhope of heaven upon it. 2.To imposethe tie of a command on anything asa necessary part of Divine worshipwherein the Word has left us free, orto subject ourselves to such command,is a receding from and betrayal ofChristian liberty. 3.The sum of aChristian’s task is faith; but it isalways accompanied with the grace oflove. Though faith and love are conjoined,faith, in the order of nature,has the precedency.—Fergusson.

Ver. 6. Religion is Faith working byLove.

I. External and bodily privilegesare of no use and moment in thekingdom of Christ.—1.We are notto esteem men’s religion by theirriches and external dignities. 2.We[p.81]are to moderate our affections inrespect of all outward things, neithersorrowing too much for them norjoying too much in them.

II. Faith is of great use and acceptancein the kingdom of Christ.—1.Wemust labour to conceive faitharight in our hearts, by the use of theright means—the Word, prayer, andsacraments, and in and by theexercises of spiritual invocation andrepentance. 2.Faith in Christ mustreign and bear sway in our hearts andhave command over reason, will, affection,lust. 3.It is to be bewailed thatthe common faith of our day is but aceremonial faith.

III. True faith works by love.—Faithis the cause of love, and love isthe fruit of faith.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 7–12.

Disturber of the Faith—

I. Checks the prosperous career of the most ardent Christian.—“Ye did runwell; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” (ver. 7). TheGalatians were charmed with the truth as it fell from the lips of the apostle;it was to them a new revelation; they eagerly embraced it, it changed theirlives, and they strove to conform their conduct to its high moral teachings.The apostle was delighted with the result and commended their Christianenthusiasm. They were running finely. But the intrusion of false teachingchanged all this. Their progress was arrested, their faith was disturbed, theywavered in their allegiance, and were in danger of losing all the advantages theyhad gained. The influence of false doctrine is always baneful, especially so tonew beginners, in whom the principles of truth have not become firmly rooted.The loss of truth, like inability to believe, may be traced back to an unhealthycorruption of the mind. The great danger of unsound doctrine lies in this, that,like a cancer, it rankles because it finds in the diseased condition of the religiouslife ever fresh nourishment.

II. Is opposed to the Divine method of justification.—“This persuasioncometh not of Him that calleth you” (ver. 8). The disturber of the Galatianstaught a human method of salvation—a salvation by the works of the law. Thiswas diametrically opposed to the Divine calling, which is an invitation to thewhole race to seek salvation by faith. The persuasion to which the Galatianswere yielding was certainly not of God. It was a surrender to the enemy. Allerror is a wild fighting against God, an attempt to undermine the foundationsthat God has fixed for man’s safety and happiness.

III. Suggests errors that are contagious in their evil influence.—“A littleleaven, leaveneth the whole lump” (ver. 9). A proverbial expression the meaningof which is at once obvious. A small infusion of false doctrine, or the evilinfluence of one bad person, corrupts the purity of the Gospel. It is a fact wellknown in the history of science and philosophy that men, gifted by nature withsingular intelligence, have broached the grossest errors and even sought toundermine the grand primitive truths on which human virtue, dignity, and hopedepend. The mind that is always open to search into error is itself in error,or at least unstable (1Cor. xv.33; Eccles. ix.18).

IV. Shall not escape chastisem*nt whatever his rank or pretensions.—1.Eitherby direct Divine judgment. “He that troubleth you shall bear hisjudgment, whosoever he be” (ver. 10). The reference here may be to some oneprominent among the seducers, or to any one who plays the troubler. God willnot only defend His own truth but will certainly punish the man who fromwicked motives seeks to corrupt the truth or to impair the faith of those whohave embraced it. The seducer not only deceives himself but shall sufferjudgment for his self-deception and the injury he has done to others.

[p.82]2. Or by excision from the Church.—“I would they were even cut off whichtrouble you” (ver. 12). An extravagant expression, as if the apostle said, “Wouldthat the Judaising troublers would mutilate themselves,” as was the custom withcertain heathen priests in some of their religious rites. The phrase indicates theangry contempt of the apostle for the legalistic policy, and that the troublersrichly deserved to be excluded from the Church and all its privileges. Thepatience of the Gentile champion was exhausted and found relief for the momentin mocking invective.

V. Does not destroy the hope and faith of the true teacher.—1.He retainsconfidence in the fidelity of those who have been temporarily disturbed. “I haveconfidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded”(ver. 10). Notwithstanding the insidious leaven, the apostle cherishes theassurance that his converts will after all prove leal and true at heart. Hehas faithfully chided them for their defection, but his anger is directed, nottowards them, but towards those who have injured them. He is persuaded theGalatians will, with God’s help, resume the interrupted race they were runningso well.

2. His sufferings testify that his own teaching is unchanged.—“If I preachcircumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the crossceased” (ver. 11). The rancour and hostility of the legalists would have beendisarmed, if Paul advocated their doctrine, and the scandalous “offence of thecross”—so intolerable to the Jewish pride—would have been done away. But thecross was the grand vital theme of all his teaching, that in which he mostardently gloried, and for which he was prepared to endure all possible suffering.The value of truth to a man is what he is willing to suffer for it.

Lessons.—1.The man who perverts the truth is an enemy to his kind. 2.Thefalse teacher ensures his own condemnation. 3.Truth becomes more precious themore we suffer for it.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 7–10. How Perfection is attained.—Everythingin the universecomes to its perfection by drill andmarching—the seed, the insect, theanimal, the man, the spiritual man.God created man at the lowest point,and put him in a world where almostnothing would be done for him, andalmost everything should tempt him todo for himself.—Beecher.

Ver. 7. The Christian Life a Race.

I. Christians are runners in therace of God.—1.They must makehaste without delay to keep the commandmentsof God. It is a great faultfor youth and others to defer amendmenttill old age, or till the last anddeadly sickness. That is the time toend our running, and not to begin.2.We are to increase and profit in allgood duties. We in this age do otherwise.Either we stand at a stay or goback. There are two causes for this:(1)Blindness of mind. (2)Our unbeliefin the article of life everlasting. 3.Wemust neither look to the right nor theleft hand, or to things behind, butpress forward to the prize of eternallife. 4.We must not be moved withthe speeches of men which are given ofus, for or against. They are lookerson and must have their speeches.Our care must be not to heed thembut look to our course.

II. Christians must not only berunners, but run well.—This is doneby believing and obeying, having faithand a good conscience. These are thetwo feet by which we run. We haveone good foot—our religion—which issound and good; but we halt on theother foot. Our care to keep conscienceis not suitable to our religion. Threethings cause a lameness in this foot:the lust of the eye—covetousness, the[p.83]lust of the flesh, and the pride oflife.

III. Christians must run the racefrom the beginning to the end.—1.Wemust cherish a love and ferventdesire of eternal life, and by this meansbe drawn through all miseries andoverpass them to the end. 2.Wemust maintain a constant and dailypurpose of not sinning.—Perkins.

Bad Companions.—“Bad company,”wrote Augustine, “is like a nail driveninto a post, which, after the first orsecond blow, may be drawn out withvery little difficulty; but being oncedriven up to the head, the pincerscannot take hold to draw it out, whichcan only be done by the destruction ofthe wood.” Of course, it is uselessto define bad company. Men and women,boys and girls, feel instinctively whenthey have fallen in with dangerousassociates; if they choose to remainamongst them they are lost. So in thehigh tides, barks of light draught willfloat over Goodwin quicksands; insummer at low tide the venturous boysand young people will play cricketthereon: but neither can remain longin the neighbourhood. The time comeswhen the sands are covered with but athin surface of water, and beneath isthe shifting, loose, wet earth, moredangerous and treacherous than springtideice; and then it is that to touch isto be drawn in, and to be drawn in isdeath. So is it with bad company.—The Gentle Life.

Cowardly Retreat.—General Grantrelates that just as he was hoping tohear a report of a brilliant movementand victory of General Sigel, he receivedan announcement from GeneralHalleck to this effect: “Sigel is infull retreat on Strasburg; he will donothing but run; never did anythingelse.” The enemy had intercepted him,handled him roughly, and he fled.

Vers. 8–10. The Disintegrating Forceof Error.—1.Whatever persuasioncometh not of God and is not groundedon the Word of truth, is not to bevalued, but looked upon as a delusion(ver. 8). 2.The Church of Christ,and every particular member thereof,ought carefully to resist the firstbeginnings of sin, for the least oferrors and the smallest number ofseduced persons are here compared toleaven, a little quantity of whichsecretly insinuates itself and insensiblyconveys its sourness to the whole lump(ver. 9). 3.The minister is not todespair of the recovery of those whooppose themselves, but ought in charityto hope the best of all men, so long asthey are curable; and to show howdangerous their error was by denouncingGod’s judgment against theirprime seducers (ver. 10). 4.So justis God, He will suffer no impenitenttransgressor, however subtle, to escapeHis search, or to pass free from the dintof His avenging stroke, whoever hebe for parts, power, or estimation.—Fergusson.

Ver. 9. Reform of Bad Manners.

I. We must resist and withstandevery particular sin.—One sin is ableto defile the whole life of man. Onefly is sufficient to mar a whole box ofsweet ointment. One offence in ourfirst parents brought corruption onthem and all mankind; yea, on heavenand earth.

II. We must endeavour to theutmost to cut off every bad examplein the societies of men.—One badexample is sufficient to corrupt a wholefamily, a town, a country. A wickedexample, being suffered, spreads abroadand does much hurt.

III. We are to withstand and cutoff the first beginnings and occasionsof sin.—We say of arrant thieves theybegan to practise their wickedness inpins and points. For this cause,idleness, excessive eating, drinking andswilling, riot, and vanity in apparelare to be suppressed in every society asthe breeder of many vices.—Perkins.

Ver. 11. The Perversion of ApostolicPreaching.—There are two attempts or[p.84]resolves in constant operation as to thecross. One is man’s, to accommodateto human liking and taste; the secondis God’s, to raise human liking andtaste to it.

I. The aim of man.—The followingmay be named as the principal exceptionstaken to the cross by those whor*jected it:—

1. It was an improbable medium ofrevelation.—Man can talk loudly howGod should manifest Himself. Shallthe cross be the oracle by which Hewill speak His deepest counsels to ourrace?

2. It was a stigma on this religionwhich set it in disadvantageous contrastwith every other.—It was unheard ofthat the vilest of all deaths shouldgive its absolute character to religion,and that this religion of the crossshould triumph over all.

3. It was a violent disappointment ofa general hope.—There was a desire ofall nations. And was all that theearliest lay rehearsed, all that thehighest wisdom enounced, only to bewrought out in the shameful cross?

4. It was a humiliating test.—Ambition,selfishness, insincerity, licentiousness,ferocity, pride, felt that itwas encircled with an atmosphere inwhich they were instantly interruptedand condemned. Man is desirous ofdoing this away as a wrongful andunnecessary impression. He wouldmake the offence of the cross to cease:(1)By fixing it upon some extrinsicauthority. (2)By torturing it intocoalition with foreign principles.(3)By transforming the character of itsreligious instructions. (4)By applyingit to inappropriate uses. (5)Byexcluding its proper connections.

II. The procedure of God.—1.It isnecessary, if we would receive the properinfluence of the cross, that we be preparedto hail it as a distinct revelation.Science and the original ethics ofour nature do not fall within thedistinct province of what a revelationintends. Its strict purpose, its properidea, is to make known that which isnot known, and which could not beotherwise known. Not more directlydid the elemental light proceed fromGod who called it out of darkness thandid the making known to man ofredemption by the blood of the cross.

2. When we rightly appreciate thecross, we recognize it as the instrumentof redemption.—This was the mode ofdeath indicated by prophecy. Thecross stands for that death; but it isan idle, unworthy superstition thatthis mode of death wrought the stupendousend. It is only an accessory.We must look further into the mystery.“He His own self bore our sin in Hisown body on the tree.” It is thatawful identity, that mysterious action,which expiates, and not the rood.

3. When our mind approves thismethod of salvation, it finds in the crossthe principle of sanctification.—A newelement of thought, a new complexionof motive, enter the soul when theHoly Spirit shows to it the things ofChrist. We are new creatures. Wereverse all our sins and desires. Weare called unto holiness. (1)Markthe process. We had hitherto abidedin death. But now we are quickenedwith Him. (2)Mark the necessity.Until we be brought nigh to it, untilwe take hold of it, the doctrine of thecrucified Saviour is an unintelligibleand uninteresting thing. (3)Markthe effect. There is a suddenly, thougha most intelligently, developed charm.It is the infinite of attraction. Allconcentrates on it. It absorbs thetenderness and the majesty of theuniverse. It is full of glory. Ourheart has now yielded to it, is drawn,is held, coheres, coalesces, is itselfimpregnated by the sacred effluence.The offence of the cross has ceased.—R.W. Hamilton.

Ver. 12. Church Censure.—The spiritof error may so far prevail among apeople that discipline can hardly attainits end—the shaming of the personcensured, and the preservation of theChurch from being leavened. Inwhich case the servants of God shouldproceed with slow pace, and in all lenity[p.85]and wisdom, and should rather doctrinallydeclare the censures deservedthan actually inflict the censure itself.

Judgment on the Troubles of theChurch.

1. God watches over His Churchwith a special providence.
2. The doctrine of the apostles isof infallible certainty because theoppugners of it are plagued with thejust judgment of God.
3. Our duty is to pray for thegood estate of the Church of God, andfor the kingdoms where the Church isplanted.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 13–18.

Love the Highest Law of Christian Liberty.

I. Love preserves liberty from degenerating into licence.—“Only use notliberty for an occasion to the flesh” (ver. 13). Christian liberty is a great boon,but it also a solemn responsibility. It is hard to win and is worth the mostgigantic struggle; but the moment it is abused it is lost. Men clamour forliberty when they mean licence—licence to indulge their unholy passions uncheckedby the restraints of law. Christian liberty is not the liberty of theflesh, but of the Spirit, and love is the master-principle that governs and definesall its exercises.

“He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,
And all are slaves besides.”

We know no truth, no privilege, no power, no blessing, no right, which is notabused. But is liberty to be denied to men because they often turn it intolicentiousness? There are two freedoms—the false, where a man is free to dowhat he likes; the true, where a man is free to do what he ought. Love is thesafeguard of the highest liberty.

II. Love is obedience to the highest law.—“For all the law is fulfilled inone word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (ver. 14).“By love serve one another” (ver. 13). We may be as orthodox as Athanasiusand as scrupulous as Jerome, we may be daily and ostentatiously building toGod seven altars and offering a bullock and a ram on every altar, and yet be assounding brass and as a clanging cymbal, if our life shows only the leaves ofprofession without the golden fruit of action. If love shows not itself by deedsof love, then let us not deceive ourselves. God is not mocked; our Christianityis heathenism, and our religion a delusion and a sham. Love makes obediencedelightful, esteems it bondage to be prevented, liberty to be allowed to serve.

 "Serene will be our days and bright, And happy will our nature be, When love is an unerring light, And joy its own security."—Wordsworth.

III. Love prevents the mutual destructiveness of a contentious spirit.—“Butif ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one ofanother” (ver. 15). The condition of the Galatians at this time was verydifferent from the ideal Paul set before them. The quick, warm temperamentof the Gauls was roused by the Judaistic controversy, and their natural combativenesswas excited. It was easy to pick a quarrel with them at any time,and they were eloquent in vituperation and invective. The “biting” describesthe wounding and exasperating effect of the manner in which their contentionswere carried on; “devour” warns them of its destructiveness. If this state ofthings continued, the Churches of Galatia would cease to exist. Their libertywould end in complete disintegration. Love is the remedy propounded for all[p.86]ills—the love of Christ, leading to the love of each other. Love not only curesquarrels but prevents them.

IV. Love by obeying the law of the Spirit gains the victory in the feudbetween the flesh and the Spirit.—“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfilthe lust of the flesh:... these are contrary the one to the other” (vers. 16, 17).The flesh and the Spirit are rivals, and by their natures must be opposed to andstrive with each other. The strong man is dispossessed by a stronger than he—theSpirit. The master must rule the slave. “This soul of mine must rulethis body of mine,” said John Foster, “or quit it.” The life of a Christian islived in a higher sphere and governed by a higher law—walking in the Spirit.Christianity says, “Be a man, not a brute. Not do as many fleshly things as youcan but do as many spiritual things as you can.” All prohibitions are negative.You can’t kill an appetite by starvation. You may kill the flesh by living in thehigher region of the Spirit; not merely by ceasing to live in sin, but by lovingChrist. The more we live the spiritual life, the more sin becomes impossible.Conquest over the sensual is gained, not by repression, but by the freer, purerlife of love.

V. Love emancipates from the trammels of the law.—“If ye be led by theSpirit, ye are not under the law” (ver. 18). The Spirit of love does not abolishthe law, but renders it harmless by fulfilling all its requirements, without beingcompelled to it by its stern commands. Law does not help the soul to obey itsbehests, but it has nothing to say, nothing to threaten, when those behests areobeyed. To be under the law is to be under sin; but yielding to the influenceof the Spirit, and living according to His law, the soul is free from sin and fromthe condemnation of the law. Freedom from sin, and freedom from thetrammels of the Mosaic law—these two liberties are virtually one. Love isthe great emancipator from all moral tyrannies.

Lessons.—1.Love is in harmony with the holiest law. 2.Love silences allcontention. 3.Love honours law by obeying it.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 13, 14. The Service of Love—

1. Is the noblest exercise of Christianliberty (ver. 13).
2. Preserves Christian liberty fromdegenerating into selfish indulgence(ver. 13).
3. Is the fulfilment of the highestlaw (ver. 14).

Ver. 13. The Abuse of ChristianLiberty.

I. To use it as an occasion offleshly and carnal liberty.—When menmake more things indifferent than Godever made. Thus, all abuses of meat,drink, apparel, rioting, gaming, dicing,and carding are excused by the namesof things indifferent.

II. Our liberty is abused by animmoderate use of the gifts of God.—1.Manygentlemen and others offendwhen they turn recreation into anoccupation. 2.When men exceed ineating and drinking. 3.They offendwho, being mean persons and living bytrades, yet for diet and apparel are asgreat gentlemen and gentlewomen.

III. Liberty is abused when theblessings of God are made instrumentsand flags and banners to display ourriot, vanity, ostentation, and pride.—Itis the fashion of men to take untothemselves a toleration of sinning.Some presume on the patience of God,others on the election of grace, andothers on the mercy of God. A certaindweller in Cambridge made away withhimself. In his bosom was found awriting to this effect: that God didshow mercy on great and desperatesinners, and therefore he hoped formercy though he hanged himself. Of[p.87]this mind are many ignorant persons,who persevere in their sins, yet persuadethemselves of mercy.—Perkins.

The Right Use of Christian Liberty.

I. We ourselves must be renewedand sanctified.—The person must firstplease God before the action can pleaseHim.

II. Besides the lawful use of thecreatures we must have a spiritualand holy use of them.—1.The creaturesof God must be sanctified by the Wordand prayer. 2.We must be circ*mspectlest we sin in the use of the creatures.In these days there is no feasting orrejoicing unless all memory of God beburied, for that is said to breed melancholy.3.We must use the gifts ofGod with thanksgiving. 4.We mustsuffer ourselves to be limited andmoderate in the use of our liberty.5.Our liberty must be used for rightends—the glory of God, the preservationof nature, and the good of ourneighbour.

III. We must give no occasion ofsinning by means of Christian liberty.—Ibid.

Ver. 14. The Law fulfilled in Love toOthers.

I. The end of man’s life is to serveGod in serving others.

II. True godliness is to love andserve God in serving man.—To live outof all society of men, though it be inprayer and fasting in monkish fashion,is no state of perfection, but meresuperstition. That is true and perfectlove of God that is showed in dutiesof love and in the edification of ourneighbour. It is not enough for theeto be holy in church; thou mayest bea saint in church and a devil at home.—Ibid.

Regard for a Neighbour’s Rights.—Speakingof the early American prairiesettlements a modern historian says:“Theft was almost unknown. Thepioneers brought with them the samerigid notions of honesty which theyhad previously maintained. A man inMancoupin county left his waggonloaded with corn stuck in the prairiemud for two weeks near a frequentedroad. When he returned he foundsome of his corn gone, but there wasmoney enough tied in the sacks to payfor what was taken.”

Ver. 15. Church Quarrels.—1.Whenschism in a Church is not only maintainedon the one hand with passion,strife, reproaches, and real injuries,but also impugned on the other hand,not so much with the sword of theSpirit as with the same fleshly means,then is it the forerunner and procuringcause of desolation and ruin to bothparties and to the whole Church.2.As it is a matter of great difficultyto make men of credit and parts, beingonce engaged in contentious debates, toforesee the consequence of their doingso further than the hoped-for victoryagainst the contrary party, so it wereno small wisdom, before folk meddlewith strife, seriously to consider whatwoeful effects may follow to the Churchof God.—Fergusson.

Ver. 16. The Positiveness of the DivineLife.

I. There are two ways of dealingwith every vice.—One is to set towork directly to destroy the vice; thatis the negative way. The other is tobring in as overwhelmingly as possiblethe opposite virtue, and so to crowdand stifle and drown out the vice; thatis the positive way. Everywhere thenegative and positive methods of treatmentstand over against each other,and men choose between them. AChurch is full of errors and foolishpractices. It is possible to attackthose follies outright, showing conclusivelyhow foolish they are; or it ispossible, and it is surely better, to wakeup the true spiritual life in that Churchwhich shall itself shed those follies andcast them out, or at least rob them oftheir worst harmfulness. The applicationof the same principle is seen inmatters of taste, matters of reform, andin matters of opinion.

II. In St. Paul and in all the New[p.88]Testament there is nothing more beautifulthan the clear, open, broad wayin which the positive culture ofhuman character is adopted and employed.—Wecan conceive of a Godstanding over His moral creatures, and,whenever they did anything wrong,putting a heavy hand on the malignantmanifestation and stifling it, and so atlast bringing them to a tight, narrow,timid goodness—the God of repression.The God of the New Testament is notthat. We can conceive of anotherGod who shall lavish and pour uponHis children the chances and temptationsto be good; in every way shallmake them see the beauty of goodness;shall so make life identical with goodnessthat every moment spent inwickedness shall seem a waste, almosta death; shall so open His Fatherhoodand make it real to them that thespontaneousness of the Father’s holinessis re-echoed in the child; not theGod of restraint, but the God whosesymbols are the sun, the light, thefriend, the fire—everything that isstimulating, everything that fosters,encourages, and helps. When we readin the New Testament, lo, that is theGod whose story is written there, theGod whose glory we see in the face ofJesus Christ. The distinction is everywhere.Not merely by trying notto sin, but by entering further andfurther into the new life in which,when it is completed, sin becomesimpossible; not by merely weeding outwickedness, but by a new and supernaturalcultivation of holiness, doesthe saint of the New Testament walkon the ever-ascending pathway ofgrowing Christliness and come at lastperfectly to Christ.

III. This character of the NewTestament must be at bottom in conformitywith human nature.—TheBible and its Christianity are not incontradiction against the nature of theman they try to save. They are atwar with his corruptions, and, in hisown interest, they are for ever labouringto assert and re-establish his trueself. Man’s heart is always rebellingagainst repression as a continuous andregular thing. There is a great humansense that not suppression, but expressionis the true life. It is the self-indulgenceof the highest and not theself-surrender of the lowest that is thegreat end of the Gospel. The self-sacrificeof the Christian is alwaysan echo of the self-sacrifice of Christ.Nothing can be more unlike the repressivetheories of virtue in theirmethods and results than the way inwhich Christ lived His positive life, fullof force and salvation. The way toget out of self-love is to love God.“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shallnot fulfil the lust of the flesh.”—Phillips Brooks.

The Flesh and the Spirit.

I. When St. Paul talks of man’sflesh he means by it man’s body, man’sheart and brain, and all his bodilyappetites and powers—what we calla man’s constitution, the animal partof man. Man is an animal with animmortal spirit in it, and this spiritcan feel more than pleasure and pain;it can feel trust, hope, peace, love,purity, nobleness, independence, and,above all, it can feel right and wrong.There is the infinite difference betweenan animal and man, between our fleshand our spirit; an animal has no senseof right and wrong.

II. There has been many a man inthis life, who had every fleshly enjoymentwhich this world can give, andyet whose spirit was in hell all thewhile, and who knew it; hating anddespising himself for a mean, selfishvillain, while all the world round wasbowing down to him and envying himas the luckiest of men. A man’s fleshcan take no pleasure in spiritual things,while man’s spirit of itself can take nopleasure in fleshly things. Wickedness,like righteousness, is a spiritual thing.If a man sins, his body is not in fault;it is his spirit, his weak, perverse will,which will sooner listen to what hisflesh tells him is pleasant than to whatGod tells him is right. This is thesecret of the battle of life.

[p.89]III. Because you are all fallencreatures there must go on in youthis sore lifelong battle between yourspirit and your flesh—your spirittrying to be master and guide, andyour flesh rebelling and trying to conqueryour spirit and make you a mereanimal, like a fox in cunning, a peaco*ckin vanity, or a hog in greedysloth. It is your sin and your shameif your spirit does not conquer yourflesh, for God has promised to helpyour spirit. Ask Him, and His Spiritwill fill you with pure, noble hopes,with calm, clear thoughts, and withdeep, unselfish love to God and man;and instead of being the miserableslave of your own passions, and of theopinions of your neighbours, you willfind that where the Spirit of the Lordis there is liberty, true freedom, notonly from your neighbours’ sins, but,what is far better, freedom from yourown.—C.Kingsley.

Walking in the Spirit.

I. The Spirit is a Divine nature,quality, or condition whereby we aremade conformable to Christ.—1.It isa rich and liberal grace of God. Itcontains the seeds of all virtues. 2.Itslargeness. The Spirit is in all thepowers of them who are regenerate inmind, conscience, will, affections, andin the sensual appetite. 3.Its sincerity.The grace of God is withoutfalsehood or guile. 4.Its excellency.The spirit of grace in Christians ismore excellent than the grace of creation,in respect of the beginningthereof, and in respect of constancy.5.Its liveliness, whereby the Spirit iseffectual in operation. (1)The Spiritworks in and by the Word of God.(2)Works by degrees, to make us feelour need of Christ, and to kindle in usa desire for reconciliation with God.(3)Works to write the law in ourhearts.

II. Walking in the Spirit is to orderour lives according to the directionand motion of the Spirit.—1.TheSpirit renews our nature. (1)Makesus put a further beginning to ouractions than nature can, causing usto do them in faith. (2)To do ouractions in a new manner, in obedienceto the Word. (3)Makes us put on a newend to our actions—to intend anddesire to honour God. 2.We mustbecome spiritual men. Must do thingslawful in a spiritual manner. 3.Wemust not judge any man’s estate beforeGod by any one or some few actions,good or bad, but by his walking, bythe course of his life.—Perkins.

Ver. 17. The Strife of the Flesh andSpirit.

I. Man, under the influence of corruption,is called flesh.—He may besaid to be a spiritual being because heis possessed of an immortal spirit; butthe term flesh seems to be awfullyappropriate, because he is wholly andexclusively under the dominion ofmatter. In the text it implies theevil principle that inhabits the bosomof man. It is the mighty autocrat ofhumanity in the wreck of the Fall.Sin is such a mighty monster thatnone can bind him in fetters of ironand imprison him but God Himself.In the operation of weaving, differentmaterials cross each other in the warpand woof in order to make one whole,and this is the case with the family ofheaven here below. Sin and grace areperpetually crossing each other.

II. The spiritual offspring which isborn of God is called the new man.—Itis the junior offspring, the juniordisposition, the offspring of the secondAdam. Corruption has its root onlyin humanity. Not so with grace.This springs alone from God. The newman lives in Him; his head is abovethe skies, his feet lower than hell; andthe reason why he is destined to beconqueror is that he fights in and underthe inspiration of Heaven.

III. These two principles are in astate of ceaseless warfare, ever opposedto each other.—They are liketwo armies, sometimes encamped, atothers engaged in terrible conflict;but, whether apparently engaged ornot, each seeks the destruction of the[p.90]other perpetually. They are and mustbe ever opposed, till one fall; one mustperish and the other live eternally.Where there is no conflict there can beno grace.

IV. Consider the wisdom and valourevinced by this new principle.—It isillumined by the Spirit and by thetruth of God. The sun does not giveme an eye. God alone can confer thisorgan; yet it is equally true my eyemust attain its full vigour in the lightof the sun: so the external means arenecessary to teach us what God is, andto develop all the principles of the newman, to clothe it with the panoply ofDeity, and to lead it on from battle tobattle, and from victory to victory, tillthe last battle is eventually fought,the last victory won, and the fruitsof triumph enjoyed for ever.—WilliamHowels.

Ver. 18. The Leading of the Spirit.—1.Thenew man performs the officeof guide to the godly in all actionstruly spiritual. (1)As it is ruled bythe Word, which is the external lightand lantern to direct our steps.(2)The work of grace itself is theinternal light whereby the regenerateman spiritually understands the thingsof God. (3)The same work of gracebeing actuated by the continual supplyof exciting grace from the Spirit is astrengthening guide to all spiritualactions. 2.The natural man is somuch a slave to his sinful lusts thatthe things appointed by God to curband make them weaker are so far frombringing this about that his lusts arethereby enraged and made more violent.The rigidity of the law, which tends torestrain sin, is turned by the unregenerateman into an occasion forfulfilling his lusts.—Fergusson.

The Guidance of the Spirit.

I. Preservation, whereby the HolyGhost maintains the gift of regenerationin them that are regenerate.

II. Co-operation, whereby the willof God, as the first cause, works togetherwith the regenerate will of man,as the second cause. Without this co-operation,man’s will brings forth nogood action; no more than the treewhich is apt to bring forth fruit yieldsfruit indeed till it have the co-operationof the sun, and that in the proper seasonof the year.

III. Direction, whereby the Spirit ofGod ordereth and establisheth the mind,will, and affections in good duties.

IV. Excitation, whereby the Spiritstirs and still moves the will and mindafter they are regenerate, because thegrace of God is hindered and oppressedby the flesh.

V. Privilege of believers not to besubject to the ceremonial law.—“Yeare not under the law.” Not underthe law respecting its curse and condemnation,though we are all underlaw, as it is the rule of good life.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 19–21.

The Works of the Flesh—

I. Are offensively obtrusive.—“Now the works of the flesh are manifest”(ver. 19). Sin, though at first committed in secret, will by-and-by work to thesurface and advertise itself with shameless publicity. The rulers of the civilisedworld in the first century of the Christian era, such as Tiberius, Caligula, Nero,Domitian, are the execration of history as monsters of vice and cruelty. Theirenormities would have been impossible if the people they governed had not beenequally corrupt. It is the nature of evil to develop a terrible energy the more itis indulged, and its works are apparent in every possible form of wickedness.“Every man blameth the devil for his sins; but the great devil, the house-devilof every man that eateth and lieth in every man’s bosom, is that idol whichkilleth all—himself.”

[p.91]II. Furnish a revolting catalogue.—The sins enumerated may be groupedinto four classes:—

1. Sensual passions.—“Adultery [omitted in the oldest MSS.], fornication,uncleanness, lasciviousness” (ver. 19). Fornication was practically universal.Few were found, even among severe moralists, to condemn it. It is a prostitutionof the physical nature which Jesus Christ wore and still wears, which He claimsfor the temple of His Spirit, and will raise from the dead to share Hisimmortality. Uncleanness is the general quality of licentiousness, and includeswhatever is contaminating in word or look, in gesture or in dress, in thought orsentiment. Lasciviousness is uncleanness open and shameless. It is the finalloathsome analysis of the works of the flesh.

2. Unlawful dealing in things spiritual.—“Idolatry, witchcraft [sorcery],”(ver. 20). Idolatry and sensuality have always been closely related. Some ofthe most popular pagan systems were purveyors of lust and lent to it thesanctions of religion. When man loses the true conception of God he becomesdegraded. Sorcery is closely allied to idolatry. A low, naturalistic notion of theDivine lends itself to immoral purposes. Men try to operate upon it by materialcauses, and to make it a partner in evil. Magical charms are made the instrumentsof unholy indulgence.

3. Violations of brotherly love.—“Hatred [enmities], variance [strife], emulations[jealousies], wrath [ragings], strife [factions], seditions [divisions], heresies[keen controversial partisanship], envyings, murders” (vers. 20, 21). A horribleprogeny of evils having their source in a fruitful hotbed of unreasoning hatred,each vice preying upon and feeding the other. Settled rancour is the worst formof contentiousness. It nurses its revenge, waiting, like Shylock, for the timewhen it shall “feed fat its ancient grudge.”

4. Intemperate excesses.—“Drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (ver. 21).These are the vices of a barbarous people. Our Teutonic and Celtic forefatherswere alike prone to this kind of excess. The Greeks were a comparatively soberpeople. The Romans were more notorious for gluttony than for hard drinking.The practice of seeking pleasure in intoxication is a remnant of savagery whichexists to a shameful extent in our own country. With Europe turned into onevast camp, and its nations groaning audibly under the weight of their armaments,with hordes of degrading women infesting the streets of its cities, with discontentand social hatred smouldering throughout its industrial populations, we havesmall reason to boast of the triumphs of modern civilisation. Better circ*mstancesdo not make better men (Findlay).

III. Exclude the sinner from the kingdom of God.—“They which do suchthings shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (ver. 21). How poor life seemsoutside that kingdom! How beautiful and glorious inside its gates! If I triedto tell you how Christ brings us there, I should repeat to you once more the oldfamiliar story. He comes and lives and dies and rises again for us. He touches us withgratitude. He sets before our softened lives His life. He makes us see thebeauty of holiness and the strength of the spiritual life in Him. He transfersHis life to us through the open channel of faith, and so we come to live as Helives, by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How old thestory is, but how endlessly fresh and true to him whose own career it describes(Phillips Brooks). Exclusion from the kingdom of God is man’s own act; it isself-exclusion. He will not enter in; he loves darkness rather than light.

Lessons.—1.Sin is an active principle whose works are perniciously evident.2.Sin is the primal cause of every possible vice. 3.Sin persisted in involvesmoral ruin.

[p.92]GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 19–21. Biblical Account ofSin.—A mournful catalogue of words,based on a great variety of images, isemployed in Scripture to describe thestate of sinfulness which man inheritsfrom his birth. Sometimes it is setforth as the missing of a mark or aim;sometimes as the transgressing of aline—the word occurs seven times inthe New Testament and is twiceapplied to Adam’s Fall (Rom. v.14;1Tim. ii.14); sometimes as disobedienceto a voice, i.e. to hear carelessly,to take no need of—the wordoccurs three times (Rom. v.19;2Cor. x.6; Heb. ii.2); sometimesas ignorance of what we ought to havedone (Heb. ix.7); sometimes as adefect or discomfiture—to be worsted,because, as Gerhard says, “A sinneryields to, is worsted by, the temptationsof the flesh and of Satan”; sometimesas a debt (Matt. vi.12); sometimes asdisobedience to law—the word occursfourteen times in the New Testamentand is generally translated by “iniquity.”The last figure employed in the mostgeneral definition of sin given in theNew Testament—sin is the transgressionof the law (1John iii.4).—Trenchand Maclear.

The Works of the Flesh.

I. Sins against chastity.—Adultery,fornication, uncleanness, wantonness.1.We must stock up the root of thesethings, mortify the passion of concupiscence.2.All occasions of these sinsmust be cut off, two especially, idlenessand the pampering of the body. 3.Allsigns of these vices must be avoided, anyspeech or action that may give suspicionof incontinent disposition, as light talk,wanton behaviour, curiousness andexcess in trimming of the body,suspected company.

II. Sins against religion.—Idolatry,witchcraft, heresies.

III. Sins against charity.—Enmity,debate, emulations, anger, contention,seditions.

IV. Sins against temperance.—Drunkenness,gluttony. 1.We mayuse meat and drink not only fornecessity, but also for delight. 2.Thatmeasure of meat and drink which inour experience makes us fit both inbody and mind for the service of Godand the duties of our calling is convenientand lawful. To be given todrinking and to love to sit by the cup,when there is no drunkenness, is a sin.Drunkenness: (1)Destroys the body.(2)Hurts the mind. (3)Vile imaginationsand affections that are in menwhen they are drunk remain in themwhen they are sober, so being soberthey are drunk in affection.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 22–26.

The Fruit of the Spirit—

I. Is evident in manifold Christian virtues.—1.Virtues describing a generalstate of heart. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (ver. 22). Love isforemost of the group of Christian graces, and gives a nameless charm to all therest, for there is an element of love in all true goodness. Love derives its powerfrom being in the first place, love to God. When the soul centres its affectionin God through Christ all its outgoings are influenced and regulated accordingly.Joy is the product of love. A philosophy or religion which has noroom for the joy and pleasure of man is as little conversant with the wants ofman as with the will of God. “Joy in the Lord quickens and elevates, while itcleanses all other emotions. It gives a new glow to life. It sheds a Divinermeaning, a brighter aspect, over the common face of earth and sky. Joy isthe beaming countenance, the elastic step, the singing voice, of Christian goodness.”Peace is the holy calm breathed into the soul by a pardoning God. Itis the gift of Christ, giving rest to the soul in the midst of external agitations.[p.93]“It is a settled quiet of the heart, a deep, brooding mystery that ‘passeth allunderstanding,’ the stillness of eternity entering the spirit, the Sabbath of God.It is the calm, unruffled brow, the poised and even temper which Christiangoodness wears.”

2. Virtues exercised in the Christian’s intercourse with his neighbour.—“Longsuffering,gentleness, goodness.” Charity suffereth long. The heart at peacewith God has patience with men. Longsuffering is the patient magnanimity ofChristian goodness, the broad shoulders on which it “beareth all things.”Gentleness (or kindness, as the word is more frequently and better rendered)resembles longsuffering in finding its chief objects in the evil and unthankful.But while the latter is passive and self-contained, kindness is an active, busyvirtue. It is the thoughtful insight, the delicate tact, the gentle ministeringhand of charity. Linked with kindness comes goodness, which is its other self,differing from it as only twin sisters may, each fairer for the beauty of theother. Goodness is perhaps more affluent, more catholic in its bounty; kindnessmore delicate and discriminating. Goodness is the honest, generous face, theopen hand of charity (Findlay).

3. Virtues indicating the principles which regulate the Christian’s life.—“Faith[honesty, trustworthiness], meekness, temperance” (vers. 22, 23). The faith thatunites man to God in turn joins man to his fellows. Faith in the divine Fatherhoodbecomes trust in the human brotherhood. He who doubts every one iseven more deceived than the man who blindly confides in every one. Trustfulnessis the warm, firm clasp of friendship, the generous and loyal homage whichgoodness ever pays to goodness. Meekness is the other side of faith. It is nottameness and want of spirit; it comports with the highest courage and activityand is a qualification for public leadership. It is the content and quiet mien,the willing self-effacement, that is the mark of Christ-like goodness. Temperance,or self-control, is the third of Plato’s cardinal virtues. Temperance is apractised mastery of self. It covers the whole range of moral discipline andconcerns every sense and passion of our nature. It is the guarded step, the sober,measured walk in which Christian goodness keeps the way of life, and makesstraight paths for stumbling and straying feet (Ibid.).

II. Violates no law.—“Against such there is no law” (ver. 23; comp. ver.18). The fruit of the Spirit is love; and the law, so far from being againstlove, commands it (ver. 14). The practice of love and all its works is the fulfillingof the law and disarms it of all terror. The expression, “Against suchthere is no law,” so far from being more than superfluous, as Hoffman asserts,is intended to make evident how it is that, by virtue of this, their moral frame,those who are led by the Spirit are not subject to the Mosaic law. For whosoeveris so constituted that a law is not against him, over such a one the lawhas no power.

III. Indicates the reality of a great spiritual change.—1.The old self-hoodis crucified. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh” (ver. 24). Thiswell expresses how sin must, little by little, be disabled and slain, for the crucifiedman did not die at once. He was first made fast with nails to the cross, and thenkept there, till through hunger and thirst and loss of blood he became weaker andweaker, and finally died. We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with thebody of sin which caused the acting of all cruelties on the body of Christ.

2. A new law now regulates the life.—“If we live in the Spirit, let us alsowalk in the Spirit” (ver. 25). The life is governed, not by the law of the flesh,but of the Spirit. The electrician can demagnetise and remagnetise a bar ofiron, but the biologist cannot devitalise a plant or an animal and revivify itagain. Spiritual life is not a visit from a force, but a resident tenant in the soul.The Spirit who created the life within sustains it and directs all its outgoings.

[p.94]3. Everything provocative of strife and envy is carefully avoided.—“Let usnot be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another”(ver. 26). Vaingloriousness was a weakness of the Galatic temperament; and isnot unknown in modern Christian life. Superiority, or fancied superiority, intalents or status is apt to proudly display itself. It is indeed a pitiable exhibitionwhen even spiritual gifts are made matter of ostentation, exciting thejealousy of inferior brethren, and creating discontent and envy. The cultivationof the fruit of the Spirit is the best remedy against all bitterness and strife.

Lessons.—1.The fruit of the Spirit a suggestive contrast to the works of theflesh. 2.Consistency of life is the test of genuine religion. 3.The operations ofthe Spirit are in harmony with the highest law.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 22, 23. The Fruit of theSpirit.

I. Love.—1.The love of God.(1)Shown in a desire of fellowshipwith God. (2)To love the Word ofGod above all earthly treasure, and totread our own will underfoot. (3)Thelove of them that love God and Christ.2.The love of our neighbour. This islove indeed, to show love and to dogood to them that wrong and abuseus.

II. Joy.—1.To rejoice in the trueacknowledgment of God. 2.To rejoicein the work of our regeneration.3.To rejoice in the hope of eternalglory.

III. Peace.—To maintain peace andconcord: 1.Neither take offence norgive offence. 2.Seek to edify oneanother; either do good or take good.

IV. Longsuffering.—To moderateour anger and desire of revenge whenmany and great wrongs are done us.Set and sow this plant in the furrowsof your heart, and consider: 1.Thegoodness of God, who forgives more tous than we can forgive. 2.It is theduty of love to suffer and forbear.3.It is a point of injustice to revengeourselves, for then we take to ourselvesthe honour of God, and againstall equity—we are the parties andjudge and witness and all. 4.We areoften ignorant of the mind of men intheir actions, and of the true circ*mstancesthereof, and so may easily bedeceived.

V. Gentleness.—Right courtesy iswith an honest heart to bless when weare wronged.

VI. Goodness.—The virtue wherebywe communicate to others good things,for their good and benefit.

VII. Faith.—Faith towards man,which means: 1.To speak the truthfrom the heart. 2.To be faithful andjust in the keeping of our honestpromise and word. This faith a rarevirtue in these days. The commonfashion of them that live by bargainingis to use glorying, facing, soothing,lying, dissembling, and all manner ofshifts. They that deal with chapmenshall hardly know what is truth, theyhave so many words and so manyshifts.

VIII. Meekness.—The same ineffect with longsuffering. The differenceis that meekness is more general,and longsuffering the highest degree ofmeekness.

IX. Temperance.—The moderationof lust and appetite in the use of thegifts and creatures of God. 1.Wemust use moderation in meats anddrinks. That measure of meat anddrink which serves to refresh natureand make us fit for the service of Godand man is allowed us of God and nomore. 2.We must use moderationin the getting of goods. 3.In thespending of our goods—contrary to thefashion of many who spend theirsubstance in feasting and company, andkeep their wives and children bare athome. 4.In our apparel. To apparelourselves according to our sex, according[p.95]to the received fashion of ourcountry, according to our place anddegree, and according to our ability.

X. Against such virtues there is nolaw.—1.No law to condemn. 2.Nolaw to compel obedience. Spiritualmen freely obey God, as if there wereno law; they are a voluntary and freepeople, serving God without restraint.—Perkins.

Ver. 22. Love an Attendant of Regeneration.—1.Loveis a delight in happiness.2.Is universal. 3.Is just.4.Is disinterested. 5.Is an activeprinciple. 6.Is the only voluntarycause of happiness. 7.Is the onlyequitable spirit towards God and ourfellow-creatures. 8.Is the only dispositionwhich can be approved orloved by God.—Dr. Dwight.

The Powers of Love.—If these be thefruit of the Spirit, they cannot be merematters of temperament. When philosophygives an account of the humansoul it can find only constitutionalpropensities and voluntary acquisitions.When we interrogate Christianity, weare told besides of communicatedsanctities, states of mind which inheritancecannot give or resolutioncommand, which need some touch ofGod to wake them up, which are aboveus and yet ours, and seem to lie on theborderland of communion between thefinite and the infinite Spirit.

I. There is humane love, which constitutesthe humblest and most frequentform of unselfish feeling. Itfinds its objects among the miserableand attaches itself to them in proportionto their woes. In human pitythere is a strange combination of repulsionand attraction, which it is theparadox of philosophy to state, andthe mercy of God to ordain; it cannotendure the sight of wretchedness, andyet can never leave it. But there is awork ordained for us which this impulsewill not suffice to do. Fasteningitself on suffering alone, it sees nothingelse. Yet beneath the smooth andglossy surface of easy life there mayhide itself many an inward diseasewhich the mere glance of pity does notdiscern. Flourishing iniquity thatgives no seeming pain it lets alone;invisible corruption may spread withoutarrest.

II. There is imaginative or æstheticlove, which attaches itself to objectsin proportion as they are beautiful,kindles the enthusiasm of art, andcompletes itself in the worship ofgenius. Yet is this affection verybarren until thrown into the midst ofothers to harmonise and glorify them.No reciprocal sympathy is requisite tothis sentiment; that which is admiredas beautiful does not admire in return.And above all there is a direct tendencyto turn with indifference or evenmerciless repugnance from what is unlovely.

III. There is moral love, which hasreference to persons only, not to things,which attaches itself to them in proportionas they are good, judges themby the standard of an internal law,and expresses itself in tones, not oftenderness as in pity, or of admirationas in the trance of beauty, but of graveand earnest approval. Even thismoral love is not without imperfections.Its characteristic sentiment of approbationhas always in it a certainpatronising air not welcome to themercy of a true heart, and more likethe rigour of a Zeno than the grace ofChrist.

IV. There is a Divine love, directedfirst upon God Himself, and thencedrawn into the likeness of His ownlove, and going forth upon othernatures in proportion to their worthand claims. This is the crowning andcalming term of all prior affections,presupposing them, and lifting themup from clashing and unrest to harmonyand peace. The humane, thebeautiful, the right, remain onlyscattered elements of good till they aregathered into the Divine and blendedinto one by the combining love of God.—Dr. Martineau.

Love the Perfection of Character.—The[p.96]fruit of the true vine has been analysed,and in the best specimens nine ingredientsare found. In poor samplesthere is a deficiency of one or otherof these elements. A dry and diminutivesort is lacking in peace and joy.A tart kind, which sets the teeth onedge, owes its austerity to its scantyinfusion of gentleness, goodness, andmeekness. There is a watery, deliquescentsort which, for the want oflongsuffering, is not easily preserved;and there is a flat variety which,having no body of faith or temperance,answers few useful purposes. Loveis the essential principle which is inno case entirely absent, and by theglistening fulness and rich aromawhich its plentiful presence createsyou can recognise the freshest andmost generous clusters, whilst thepredominance of some other elementgives to each its distinguishing flavour,and marks the growth of Eshcol,Sibmah, or Lebanon.—Dr. JamesHamilton.

The Power of Meekness and Affection.—Oncein Holland a person of highrank invited Tersteegen to be hisguest. This individual imagined himselfto have attained to a state ofpeculiar inward peace and tookoccasion during dinner to criticiseTersteegen for being too active, andfor not sufficiently knowing the groundon which he wrought. Tersteegenattended meekly and silently to allthat was said; and when dinner wasover he offered up a fervent prayer inwhich he commended his host to theLord in terms of such affection andcompassion that this great and warm-temperedman was so much struckand affected by it that his feelingsoverpowered him, and he fell upon theneck of his guest and begged hisforgiveness.

Who are the Meek?—A missionaryto Jamaica was once questioning thelittle black boys on the meaning ofMatt. v.5, and asked, “Who are themeek?” A boy answered, “Thosewho give soft answers to roughquestions.”

The Grace of Gentleness.

I. It is not a gift, but a grace.—It isnot a natural demeanour, amiable andcourteous, a soft, feminine compliance,but a grace of the Spirit which takes intoit the strength of the Divine. You mayhave the instinct of delicacy, a naturaltenderness and affability, yet not havethis grace of the Spirit which impelsyou for Christ’s sake to deal gentlyand save men. It is the underlyingmotive which determines whether graceor nature reigns. How is it whenyour ideas and methods of doing goodare thwarted? Moses seems to havein Zipporah what Socrates had inXantippe, yet her abuse had no moreabiding effect on him than the spraywhich angry waves toss against therock. Calvin hearing of Luther’s iresaid, “Let him hate me and call mea devil a thousand times; I will lovehim and call him a precious servantof God.”

II. The cultivation of this gracewill cost you many a struggle.—Youare to get the better of your temperon your knees. No minstrel as in thecase of Saul can do the work. Wemust forgive in our heart those whooffend us.

III. The grace of gentleness is aqueen with a train of virtues.—Itennobles our whole nature. AnEnglish nobleman could not be boundto keep the peace, for it was supposedthat peace always kept him. So weshould suppose that every professedChristian would have this grace; butif you should put your ear to the doorof some Christian homes, it would belike listening to a volcano. If youdid not behold a sulphurous flamebursting out, you might hear a continualgrumbling. A man said to meonce, “When I see Mr. So-and-so mypassion is bigger than myself, and Ilong to make him feel it.” The Spiritof Christ leads us to pray for thosewho despitefully use us. Only as Histemper prevails in us shall we be able[p.97]to illustrate the beauty of Divinegreatness.—Homiletic Monthly.

Constant Joy.—Father Taylor, theBoston sailor-preacher, when goingout to make a call, said to his hoston the doorstep, “Laugh till I getback.”

Ver. 24. Crucifying the Flesh.

I. What is meant by being Christ’s.—Itis to accept of and have an interestin Christ in His prophetic, kingly,and sacerdotal offices. By His propheticoffice we come to know His will;by His kingly office, ruling and governingus, we come to yield obedience tothat will; and by His sacerdotal orpriestly office we come to receivethe fruit of that obedience in ourjustification.

II. What is meant by the flesh.—Thewhole entire body of sin and corruption;that inbred proneness in ournature to all evil, expressed by concupiscence.1.It is called flesh becauseof its situation and place, which is principallyin the flesh. 2.Because of itsclose, inseparable nearness to the soul.3.Because of its dearness to us. Sinis our darling, our Delilah, the queen-regentof our affections; it fills all ourthoughts, engrosses our desires, andchallenges the service of all our actions.This reveals: (1)The deplorable stateof fallen man. (2)The great difficultyof the duty of mortification. (3)Themean and sordid employment of everysinner—he serves the flesh.

III. What is imported by the crucifixionof the flesh.—1.The death of it.He that will crucify his sin must pursueit to the very death. 2.A violentdeath. Sin never dies of age. Theconquest need be glorious, for it willbe found by sharp experience that thecombat will be dangerous. 3.A painful,bitter, and vexatious death. 4.A shamefuland cursed death.

IV. The duty of crucifying the flesh.—1.Aconstant and pertinacious denyingit in all its cravings for satisfaction.2.Encounter it by actions of the oppositevirtue.—Robert South.

Ver. 25. Life and Walk in the Spirit.—Liferelates to what is inward, walkto what is outward.

I. To live in the Spirit.—1.TheSpirit begins the life of God in the soul.2.The Spirit gives new desires andchanges all the motives of life. 3.TheSpirit lives in us.

II. To walk in the Spirit.—1.Thewalk will follow from the life, for everykind of life is after its own kind anddevelopment. 2.Every outward manifestationwill correspond to the inwardprinciple of life and will be markedby love to God and love to man.3.Reputation will correspond to characterand conduct to life.

III. To be led by the Spirit.—1.TheChristian’s life is a growth, his walk aprogress; but he is led and guided bythe Spirit. 2.No new revelation ismade by the Spirit. He leads andguides by what is written in theWord.

IV. Learn our relations to the Spirit.—1.Welive under the Spirit’s dispensation.2.He is the Spirit of God,and so of life, truth, and authority.3.He is the Spirit of Christ, and sounites us to Him. 4.If we live bythe Spirit, let conversation and conductbe answerable thereunto.—HomileticMonthly.

Walking in the Spirit—

I. Is to savour the things of theSpirit.—To subject a man’s soul to thelaw of God in all the faculties andpowers of the soul. The things revealedin the law are the things of theSpirit, which Spirit must at no handbe severed from the Word.

II. To walk in the path of righteousnesswithout offence to God or man.

III. To walk not stragglingly, butorderly by rule, by line and measure.—Toorder ourselves according to therule and line of the Word of God. Thelife of a man will discover to the worldwhat he is.—Perkins.

Ver. 26. Vaingloriousness.

1. The exciting cause of manyquarrels.
2. [p.98]A source of envy and disappointment.
3. Unbecoming the dignity andaims of the Christian life.

The Vice of Vainglory and its Cure.

I. Vainglory is a branch of pride,wherein men principally refer all theirstudies, counsels, endeavours, and giftsto the honouring and advancing ofthemselves. They who have receivedgood gifts of God are often most vainglorious.Whereas all other vices feedupon that which is evil, this vice ofvainglory feeds upon good things. Aman will sometimes be proud even becausehe is not proud.

II. The cure of vainglory.—1.Meditation.(1)God resisteth all proudpersons and gives grace to the humble,because the vainglorious man, seekinghimself and not God, robs God of Hishonour. (2)It is the work of the devilto puff up the mind with self-likingand conceit, that thereby he may workman’s perdition. (3)There is no religionin that heart that is wholly bentto seek the praise of men. The manwho desires to be talked of and admiredby others gives notice to theworld that his heart is not sound inthe sight of God. 2.Practice. (1)Endeavourto acknowledge the greatmajesty of God, and our own basenessbefore Him. (2)We ought to ascribeall good things we have or can do toGod alone, and nothing to ourselves.(3)In all actions and duties of religionwe must first endeavour to approveourselves to God, and the next place isto be given to man. (4)When we arereviled we must rest content; when weare praised take heed. Temptationson the right hand are far more dangerousthan those on the left. (5)Menwho are ambitious, if they be crossed,grow contentious; if they prosper, theyare envied by others. Abhor anddetest vainglory; seek to preserve andmaintain love.—Perkins.

CHAPTER VI.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. Overtaken in a fault.—Be caught red-handed in any transgression, the result ofsome sudden and overpowering gust of evil impulse. Restore such an one.—The same wordused of a dislocated limb reduced to its place. Such is the tenderness with which weshould treat a fallen member in restoring him to a better state. In the spirit of meekness.—Meeknessis that temper of spirit towards God whereby we accept His dealings withoutdisputing; then towards men whereby we endure meekly their provocations, and do notwithdraw ourselves from the burdens which their sins impose upon us (Trench).

Ver. 2. Bear ye one another’s burdens.—The word is “weights,” something exceeding thestrength of those under them. “One another’s” is strongly emphatic. It is a powerfulstroke, as with an axe in the hand of a giant, at censoriousness or vainglorious egotism.We are not to think of self, but of one another. To bear the burden of an erring brother istruly Christ-like. And so fulfil the law of Christ.—If you must needs observe a law, let it bethe law of Christ.

Ver. 3. He deceiveth himself.—He is misled by the vapours of his own vanity, he isself-deceived.

Ver. 4. Rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.—In that his own work stands thetest after severe examination, and not that he is superior to another.

Ver. 6. Communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.—Go shares with him inthe good things of this life. While each bears his own burden he must think of others,especially in ministering out of his earthly goods to the wants of his spiritual teacher(see 2Cor. xi.7, 11; Phil. iv.10; 1Thess. ii.6, 9; 1Tim. v.17, 18).

Ver. 7. God is not mocked.—The verb means to sneer with the nostrils drawn up in contempt.Excuses for illiberality may seem valid before men but are not so before God.

Ver. 8. He that soweth to his flesh.—Unto his own flesh, which is devoted to selfishness.[p.99]Shall reap corruption.—Destruction, which is not an arbitrary punishment of fleshly-mindedness,but is its natural fruit; the corrupt flesh producing corruption, which is anotherword for destruction. Corruption is the fault, and corruption the punishment.

Ver. 9. Let us not be weary: we shall reap, if we faint not.—“Weary” refers to the will;“faint” to relaxation of the powers. No one should faint, as in an earthly harvestsometimes happens.

Ver. 11. Ye see how large a letter I have written with mine own hand.—At this point theapostle takes the pen from his amanuensis, and writes the concluding paragraph with hisown hand. Owing to the weakness of his eyesight he wrote in large letters. He thus givesemphasis to the importance of the subjects discussed in the epistle.

Ver. 12. Lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.—They would escapethe bitterness of the Jews against Christianity and the offence of the cross, by making theMosaic law a necessary preliminary.

Ver. 13. For neither they themselves keep the law.—So far are they from being sincerethat they arbitrarily select circumcision out of the whole law, as though observing it wouldstand instead of their non-observance of the rest of the law. That they may glory in yourflesh.—That they may vaunt your submission to the carnal rite, and so gain credit with theJews for proselytising.

Ver. 14. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross.—The great object of shame tothem, and to all carnal men, is the great object of glorying to me. By whom the world iscrucified unto me.—By His cross, the worst of deaths, Christ has destroyed all kinds of death.Legal and fleshly ordinances are merely outward and elements of the world. To be crucifiedto the world is to be free from worldliness, and all that makes men slaves to creaturefascinations.

Ver. 15. But a new creature.—All external distinctions are nothing. The cross is theonly theme worthy of glorying in, as it brings about a new spiritual creation.

Ver. 16. As many as walk according to this rule.—Of life: a straight rule to detectcrookedness. Upon the Israel of God.—Not the Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual seedof Israel by faith.

Ver. 17. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.—The Judaising teachers gloriedin the circumcision marks in the flesh of their followers; St. Paul in the scars or brands ofsuffering for Christ in his own body—the badge of an honourable servitude.

Ver. 18. Brethren.—After much rebuke and monition, he bids them farewell with theloving expression of brotherhood as his last parting word, as if Greatheart had meant tosay, “After all, my last word is, I love you, I love you.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–5.

Mutual Sympathy in Burden-bearing.

I. That sympathy towards the erring is a test of spiritual-mindedness.—1.Shownin the tenderness with which the erring should be treated. “If a man beovertaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit ofmeekness” (ver. 1). Worldly and self-seeking men are often severe on aneighbour’s fault. They are more likely to aggravate than heal the wound, topush the weak man down when he tries to rise than to help him to his feet.The spiritual, moved by genuine compassion, should regard it as their duty to setright a lapsed brother, to bring him back as soon and safely as may be to thefold of Christ. To reprove without pride or acrimony, to stoop to the fallenwithout the air of condescension, requires the spirit of meekness in a singulardegree.

2. Reflecting that the most virtuous may some day be in need of similar consideration.—“Consideringthyself, lest thou also be tempted” (ver. 1). Thedisaster befalling one reveals the common peril; it is a signal for every memberof the Church to take heed to himself. The scrutiny which it calls for belongs toeach man’s private conscience. The faithfulness and integrity required in thosewho approach the wrong-doer with a view to his recovery must be chastened bypersonal solicitude. The fall of a Christian brother should be in any case theoccasion of heart-searching and profound humiliation. Feelings of indifferencetowards him, much more of contempt, will prove the prelude of a worse overthrowfor ourselves.

[p.100]II. That sympathy in burden-bearing is in harmony with the highest law.—“Bearye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (ver. 2). Asmuch as to say, “If ye will bear burdens, bear one another’s burden; if ye willobserve law, observe the highest law—the law of love.” There is nothing moreChrist-like than to bear the burden of a brother’s trespass. Christ bore burdenswhich to us would have been intolerable and overwhelming. The heaviestburden becomes supportable when shared with loving sympathy. Kindnesstowards the needy and helpless is work done to Christ. There is a poetic legendamong the Anglian kings that Count Fulc the Good, journeying along Loire-sidetowards Tours, saw, just as the towers of St. Martin’s rose before him in thedistance, a leper full of sores who put by his offer of alms and desired to be borneto the sacred city. Amidst the jibes of his courtiers, the good count lifted himin his arms and carried him along bank and bridge. As they entered the townthe leper vanished from their sight, and men told how Fulc had borne an angelunawares! Mutual burden-bearing is the practical proof of the unity andsolidarity of the Christian brotherhood.

III. That no man can afford to be independent of human sympathy.—1.Fanciedsuperiority to sympathy is self-deception. “If a man think himselfto be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (ver. 3). Otherswill see how little his affected eminence is worth. Some will humour his vanity,many will ridicule or pity it, few will be deceived by it. Real knowledge ishumble; it knows its nothingness. Socrates, when the oracle pronounced him thewisest man in Greece, at last discovered that the response was right, inasmuch ashe alone was aware that he knew nothing, while other men were confident of theirknowledge. It is in humility and dependence, in self-forgetting, that true wisdombegins. Who are we, although the most refined or highest in place, that weshould despise plain, uncultured members of the Church, those who bear life’sheavier burdens and amongst whom our Saviour spent His days on earth, andtreat them as unfit for our company, unworthy of fellowship with us in Christ?(Findlay). The most exalted and gifted is never lifted above the need of fellow-sympathy.

2. A searching examination into our conduct will reveal how little cause there isfor boasting a fancied superiority.—“But let every man prove his own work, andthen shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another” (ver. 4). Asif the apostle said: “Let each man try his own work. Judge yourselves insteadof judging one another. Mind your own duty rather than your neighbours’faults. Do not think of your worth or talents in comparison with theirs but seeto it that your work is right.” The question for each of us is not, “What doothers fail to do?” but, “What am I myself really doing? What will my life’swork amount to when measured by that which God expects from me?” Thepetty comparisons which feed our vanity and our class-prejudices are of no availat the bar of God. If we study our brother’s work, it should be with a view ofenabling him to do it better, or to learn to improve our own by his example; notin order to find excuses for ourselves in his shortcomings. If our work abide thetest, we shall have glorying in ourselves alone, not in regard to our neighbour.Not his flaws and failures, but my own honest work, will be the ground of mysatisfaction (Ibid.).

IV. That individual responsibility is universal.—“For every man shall bearhis own burden [load]” (ver. 5). No man can rid himself of his life-load; he mustcarry it up to the judgment-seat of Christ, where he will get his final discharge.Daniel Webster was present one day at a dinner-party given at Astor House bysome New York friends, and in order to draw him out one of the company putto him the following question, “Will you please tell us, Mr. Webster, what wasthe most important thought that ever occupied your mind?” Mr. Webster[p.101]merely raised his head, and passing his hand slowly over his forehead, said, “Isthere any one here who doesn’t know me?” “No, sir,” was the reply; “we allknow you and are your friends.” “Then,” said he, looking over the table, “themost important thought that ever occupied my mind was that of my individualresponsibility to God”; and he spoke on the subject for twenty minutes. Thehigher sense we have of our own responsibility the more considerate we arein judging others and the more we sympathise with them in their struggles andtrials. Æsop says a man carries two bags over his shoulder, the one with hisown sins hanging behind, that with his neighbour’s sins in front.

Lessons.—1.Sympathy is a Christ-like grace. 2.Sympathy for the erringdoes not tolerate wrong. 3.Practical help is the test of genuine sympathy.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 1. The Sins of Others.

I. The follies and misconduct ofothers are the choice subjects of conversationin every stage of society;and if we take slander out of theseconversations, we rob them of theirkeenest fascination. I have felt it,that fearful joy which the discovery ofothers’ faults produces; and then Ifound nothing at all extravagant inthe strongest expressions by which theScriptures depict the depth of our falland the depravity of our heart.

II. One of your brethren has lapsed:but you who condemn him, have younever erred? Do you know hishistory? Did he know what youknow yourself? The fall of a brothershould call forth a painful self-examinationand a sincere humiliation beforeGod.

III. Real and profound compassionshould be felt for the brother whomsin has overtaken. But sympathyalone will not suffice. There is asympathy which is mere weakness.Our mission lays upon us the duty ofrestoration. This is a delicate andsublime work, for it is the workof God, but the work of God destined tobe accomplished by man. Do the workof Jesus Christ in the spirit of JesusChrist. You must have for yourfallen brethren a love without weaknessand a holiness without pride.We cannot raise them en masse, and byI know not what a collective actionwhich would exempt us from individuallove and sacrifice. All will be of noavail unless each of us, in the postwhere God has placed him, acts uponthose around him, and brings them allindividually under that influence oflove which nothing can either equal orreplace. Have you never asked yourselfwith terror if you have not lostsome soul? Do you know if, amongall those unfortunate beings whom Godwill cast from His presence at the lastday, more than one will not sorrowfullyturn towards you and say, “It isthou, it is thou that has lost me”?—Eugene Bersier.

Vers. 1, 2. Christian Reformation.

I. A thief is the man who uses, inorder to keep up appearances, thatwhich does not justly belong to him,whether that appearance be kept upby actually robbing his neighbour’spocket, or by delaying the payment ofhis just debts, or by stinting God andman of their dues in any way. Sucha one has, for keeping up appearances,every advantage up to a certain point,and that point is the moment of detection.After that, all is changed.The detected thief is the most miserableof men. Two ways only are open tohim by which he can endure life orcarry on hope. One if these is todeclare war against society, and becomean open instead of a secretoffender; the other is to begin anew,and strive to build up a fresh reputationunder more favourable auspices,it may be by shrewder and deeperdeceit, or it may be in the way of[p.102]genuine repentance and amendment.It is hard to say whether of these twois the more difficult or hopeless.

II. Were we all true men, safe inour own consciences, fearless of detectionin any point ourselves, we shouldbe ever ready to help up an erringbrother or sister; but it is just becausewe are afraid of our own weakand unsound points that we are soreluctant ever to let a tarnished characteragain brighten itself. It ishardly possible to over-estimate the vastconspiracy which is arranged againstthe delinquent’s effort to be reinstatedin the favour of his fellow-men.

III. It would be by no means uninstructiveto inquire how far thesefeelings have influenced us in ourviews and practice with regard to thepunishment of crime. The last thingwe believe in is reformation. Youmay view this as a judicial consequenceof guilt. Terrible as may be the fearsof a conscience dreading detection, farmore difficulty, far more anguish, farbitterer self-reproach, is in store for thepenitent struggling to regain peaceand the fair name which he has lost.He carries the past evermore, as itwere, branded on his brow, for men tosee and avoid.

IV. While we rejoice and are gratefulto God for His mercy to us, weshould at the same time tremble atour own unworthiness, and ever bearin mind our personal liability to fallinto sin. In such a spirit should weset about the blessed work of restoration,ever looking on the fallen as ourbrethren, going to meet them acrossthe gulf which human Pharisaism hasplaced between them and us, the undetected;as common children of thatGod whose grace is able to raise themup again, bearing their burdens insteadof disclaiming them and lettingthem sink under their weight, and sofulfilling the law of Christ.—Dean Alford.

The Restoration of the Erring.

I. The Christian view of other men’ssins.—1.The apostle looks upon sin asif it might be sometimes the result of asurprise. 2.As that which has left aburden on the erring spirit. (1)Oneburden laid on fault is that chain of entanglementwhich seems to drag down tofresh sins. (2)The burden of the heartweighing on itself. (3)The burdenof a secret, leading a man to tell thetale of his crimes as under the personalityof another, as in the old fable ofhim who breathed his weighty secretto the reeds; to get relief in profuseand general acknowledgment of guilt;evidenced in the commonness of thelonging for confession. (4)The burdenof an intuitive consciousness of thehidden sins of others’ hearts.

II. The Christian power of restoration.—1.Restorationis possible.2.By sympathy. 3.By forgiveness.4.In the spirit of meekness. 5.Themotive urging to attempt restoration.—“Consideringthyself,” etc.—F.W. Robertson.

Brotherly Reproof.—1.A man mustso reprove his brother as that it maybe most for the advancement of God’sglory, best for winning him to God,and least to the defaming of himabroad. He must pray that Godwould guide his tongue and move theother’s heart. We may not traducehim to others, either before or afterour reproof. 2.Every reproof mustbe grounded on a certainty of knowledgeof the fault committed. 3.Itis very requisite the reprover be nottainted with the like fault he reprovesin another. 4.The vinegar of sharpreprehension must be allayed andtempered with the oil of gentle exhortation.The word “restore” signifiesto set a bone that is broken. We areto deal with a man who has fallen andby his fall disjoined some member ofthe new man as the surgeon does withan arm or leg that is broken or out ofjoint—handle it tenderly and gently,so as to cause least pain. 5.Everyreproof must be fitted to the qualityand condition of him we reprove andto the nature of the offence. 6.Mustbe administered in fit time when we[p.103]may do the most good. 7.Secret sinsknown to thee or to a few must bereproved secretly. 8.We must becareful to observe the order set downby our Saviour (Matt. xviii.15).—Perkins.

Vers. 2, 5. Our Twofold Burdens.—1.Theburden which every man mustbear for himself is the burden of hisown sins, and from this burden noman can relieve him. 2.If a man beovertaken in a fault, we are to bearhis burden by trying to restore him.3.We are to do this in the spirit ofmeekness, bending patiently under theburden which his fault may cast on us.This spirit towards those who commitfaults is wholly at variance with thenatural man’s way of acting, speaking,and thinking. We are to love ourfriends in spite of their faults, to treatthem kindly, cheerfully, graciously, inspite of the pain they may give us.4.Our Saviour has given us an exampleof what we should wish and strive tobe and do. The law of Christ is thelaw of love.—J.C. Hare.

Ver. 2. Bear One Another’s Burdens.—Thelaw of Christ was lovingkindness.His business was benevolence.If we would resemble Him,—

1. We must raise up the fallen.—Thiswas hardly ever attempted tillChrist set the pattern. People wentwrong, and the world let them go; theybroke the laws, and the magistratepunished; they became a scandal, andsociety cast them out—out of thesynagogue, out of the city, out of theworld. But with a moral tone infinitelyhigher Christ taught a moreexcellent way.

2. We must bear the infirmities of theweak.—Very tiresome is a continualtouchiness in a neighbour, or theperpetual recurrence of the samefaults in a pupil or child. But if byself-restraint and right treatment Godshould enable you to cure those faults,from how much shame and sorrow doyou rescue them, from how muchsuffering yourself.

3. We must bear one another’s trials.—Withone is the burden of poverty;with another it is pain or failingstrength, the extinction of a greathope, or the loss of some preciousfaculty. A little thing will sometimesease the pressure. In a country roadyou have seen the weary beast withfoaming flank straining onward withthe overladen cart and ready to givein, when the kindly waggoner calleda halt, and propping up the shaft witha slim rod or stake from the hedgerow,he patted and praised the willingcreature, till after a little rest theywere ready to resume the rough tracktogether. Many a time a small propis quite sufficient.

4. By thus bearing others’ burdensyou will lighten your own.—Rogers thepoet has preserved a story told himby a Piedmontese nobleman. “I wasweary of life, and after a melancholyday was hurrying along the street tothe river, when I felt a sudden check.I turned and beheld a little boy whohad caught the skirt of my cloak in hisanxiety to solicit my notice. His lookand manner were irresistible. Not lessso was the lesson I learnt. ‘There aresix of us, and we are dying for want offood.’ ‘Why should I not,’ said I tomyself, ‘relieve this wretched family?I have the means, and it will notdelay me many minutes.’ The scene ofmisery he conducted me to I cannotdescribe. I threw them my purse,and their burst of gratitude overcameme. It filled my eyes; it went as acordial to my heart. ‘I will call againto-morrow,’ I cried. Fool that I wasto think of leaving a world where suchpleasure was to be had, and so cheaply.”There is many a load which only growsless by giving a lift to another. Adim Gospel makes a cold Christian;a distant Saviour makes a halting,hesitating disciple.—Dr. James Hamilton.

Ver. 2. Christian Generosity.

I. The duty enjoined.—1.It mayapply to a weight of labour or bodilytoil. 2.To a weight of personal[p.104]affliction. 3.To a weight of providentiallosses and embarrassments.4.To a weight of guilt. 5.Of temptation.6.Of infirmities.

II. The enforcing motive.—1.Theapostle’s requirement is worthy of thecharacter of Christ, as it is a law ofequity. 2.It is congenial with theSpirit of Christ. 3.It is agreeableto the example of Christ. 4.It isdeducible from the precepts of Christ.5.It has the approbation of Christ.—Sketches.

Bearing One Another’s Burdens.—Themetaphor is taken from travellers whoused to ease one another by carryingone another’s burdens, wholly or inpart, so that they may more cheerfullyand speedily go on in their journey.As in architecture all stones are notfit to be laid in every place of thebuilding, but some below and othersabove the wall, so that the wholebuilding may be firm and compact initself; so, in the Church those who arestrong must support the weak. TheItalians have a proverb—Hard withhard never makes a good wall, bywhich is signified that stones cobbledup one upon another without mortar tocombine them make but a totteringwall that may be easily shaken; but ifthere be mortar betwixt them yieldingto the hardness of the stones, it makesthe whole like a solid continued body,strong and stable, able to endure theshock of the ram or the shot of thecannon. So that society, where all areas stiff as stones which will not yield ahair one to another, cannot be firmand durable. But where men are ofa yielding nature society is compact,because one bears the infirmities ofanother. Therefore the strong are tosupport the weak, and the weak thestrong; as in the arch of a buildingone stone bears mutually, though notequally, the burden of the rest; or asharts swimming over a great water doease one another in laying their headsone upon the back of another—theforemost, having none to support him,changing his place and resting his headupon the hindermost. Thus in God’sprovidence. Luther and Melancthonwere happily joined together. Melancthontempered the heat and zeal ofLuther with his mildness, being as oilto his vinegar; and Luther, on theother side, did warm his coldness,being as fire to his frozenness.—Ralph Cudworth.

Association (A Benefit Club Sermon).—1.Thisplan of bearing one another’sburdens is not only good in benefitclubs—it is good in families, inparishes, in nations, in the Churchof God. What is there bearing onthis matter of prudence that makesone of the greatest differences betweena man and a brute beast? Manybeasts have forethought: the sleep-mousehoards up acorns against thewinter, the fox will hide the game hecannot eat. The difference betweenman and beast is, that the beast hasforethought only for himself, but theman has forethought for others also.2.Just the same with nations. If theking and nobles give their whole mindsto making good laws, and seeingjustice done to all, and workmen fairlypaid, and if the poor in their turn areloyal and ready to fight and work fortheir king and their nobles, then willnot that country be a happy and agreat country? 3.Just the same waywith Christ’s Church, the company oftrue Christian men. If the peoplelove and help each other, and obeytheir ministers and pray for them, andif the ministers labour earnestly afterthe souls and bodies of their people,and Christ in heaven helps bothminister and people with His Spiritand His providence and protection, ifall in the whole Church bear eachother’s burdens, then Christ’s Churchwill stand, and the gates of hell will notprevail against it.—Charles Kingsley.

Burden-bearing.

I. Different kinds of burdens.—1.Thosethat are necessary. 2.Thosethat are superfluous. 3.Those that areimaginary.

[p.105]II. What shall we do with them?—1.Reducetheir number to the limits ofnecessity. 2.Some of these we are expectedto carry ourselves. 3.Some wemay expect our friends to help us tocarry. 4.We may take them all to theLord that He may either remove them orsustain us under them.

Lessons.—1.With grace burdensare removed or lightened. 2.In whatway can we best help others with theirburdens? “Thou lightenest thy loadby lightening his.” 3.Let our burdensbe reduced to light running order.—Homiletic Monthly.

Practical Christian Sympathy.

I. Consider the burdens you can bearfor others.—All have to bear burdens.Some man can only bear for himself.Others he can be helped to bear, suchas the burden of carnal tendency,persecution, anxiety over loved ones,affliction that is not punishment.

II. Consider how we may bear theburdens of others.—1.We can bearthem on our hearts in prayer. 2.Wecan lighten the burden by friendly help.3.We can by the strength of oursympathies come under the burdens ofothers.

III. Bearing the burdens of othersis the chief way by which we canfulfil the law of Christ.—Nothing willgive us such a resemblance to Him.He lives solely for others. He camevoluntarily under the burden of man’smiseries, sacrificing Himself for therace.

IV. Consider the importance ofobeying this injunction.—1.For ourown sakes. 2.For the good of others.3.For the prosperity of the Church.—The Lay Preacher.

Ver. 5. Burden-bearing.

I. There is the burden of personalresponsibility.—This comes out in theformation of character.

II. There is the burden of toil.—Amongthe steep precipitous mountainsof Thibet the traveller meets long processionsof hungry, ill-clad Chinamen,carrying enormous loads of tea. Therethey go, climb, climbing day after dayup the rough sides of the mountains,each with his great burden on his back,eyes fixed on the ground, all silent,stepping slowly, and leaning on greatiron-pointed sticks, till the leader ofthe gang gives the signal for a halt,and, after standing for a few minutes, theheavy load again falls on the back andhead, the body is again bent towardsthe ground, and the caravan is oncemore in motion. You do not wonderthat, with a task so monotonous, thesepoor drudges should acquire a dreary,stupid look, little better than beasts ofburden; and you feel sorry for those inwhose lives there is a large amountof the like irksome and exhaustingroutine. Yet there are many who, inorder to earn their daily bread, mustgo through a similar task.

III. There is the burden of sorrow.—Sorrowdwells beneath a king’srobes as much as beneath a peasant’scloak; the star of the noble, thewarrior’s corslet, the courtier’s silkenvesture, cannot shut it out. That ruralhome is such a picture of peace wecannot believe that care or tears arethere. That noble castle amidstancient trees is surely lifted up in itscalm grandeur above sighs and sadness.Alas! it is not so. Man is the tenantof both, and wherever man dwellssorrow is sure to be with him.

IV. There is one burden which it iswrong to bear.—It is a sin and ashame to you if you are still ploddingalong under the burden of unpardonedtransgression. The load of guilt, thefeeling that our sin is too great for theblood of Christ to expiate, or the graceof God to pardon—this burden it iswrong to bear.—Dr. James Hamilton.

Bearing our Burdens Alone.

I. The loneliness of each one of us.—Oneof the tendencies of these bustlingtimes it to make us forget that we aresingle beings, detached souls. Eachgreat star flung out like an atom ofgold dust into space may seem lostamid the hundreds of millions ofmightier worlds that surround; and[p.106]yet no; it rolls on, grave in itself,careering in its own orbit, while itssister-stars sweep round on every side.We stand cut off from one another. Weare to stave up side by side our owndestiny, we are to be alone with ourburdens, not lost in the forest ofhuman lives.

II. Look at some of the forms ofthis burden.—1.There is the burden ofbeing itself. 2.The burden of duty.3.The burden of imperfection and sin.4.The burden of sorrow. 5.Theburden of dying alone. 6.If a man islost, he is lost alone; if saved, he is savedalone.—The Lay Preacher.

Every Man has his Own Burden.

I. No man can pay a ransom for hisbrother, or redeem his soul from death,or satisfy the justice of God for his sin,seeing that every man by the tenor ofthe law is to bear his own burden,and by the Gospel none can be oursurety but Christ.

II. We see the nature of sin that isa burden to the soul.—It is heavierthan the gravel of the earth and thesand of the sea.

III. We are not to wonder that sinbeing so heavy a burden should bemade so light a matter by carnal men,for it is a spiritual burden.

IV. The more a man fears the burdenof his sins the greater measure ofgrace and spiritual life he has, and theless he feels it the more he is to suspecthimself.

V. The greatest part of the worldare dead in their sins in that they haveno sense of feeling of this heavy burden.

VI. We are to take heed of everysin, for there is no sin so small buthath its weight.—Many small sinswill as easily condemn as a few great.Like as sands, though small in quantity,yet being many in number, will as soonsink the ship as if it were laden withthe greatest burden.

VII. Feeling the weight and burdenof our sins, we are to labour to bedisburdened; and this is done byrepentance towards God and faith inour Lord Jesus Christ.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 6–10.

Moral Sowing and Reaping.

I. Beneficence by the taught towards the teacher is sowing good seed.—“Lethim that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth inall good things” (ver. 6). The good things referred to, though not confinedto temporal good, do certainly mean that. While every man must bearhis own burden, he must also help to bear the burden of his brother.Especially must the taught go shares with his spiritual teacher in allthings necessary. But beneficence shown towards the minister in temporalitiesis the least, and with many the easiest, part of the duty. Teacher and taughtshould mutually co-operate with each other in Christian work, and share witheach other in spiritual blessings. The true minister of the Gospel is more concernedin eliciting the co-operation and sympathy of the members of his Churchthan in securing their temporal support. If he faithfully ministers to them inspiritual things, they should be eager to minister unto him of their worldlysubstance, and to aid him in promoting the work of God. Every good deed, donein the spirit of love and self-sacrifice, is sowing good seed.

II. By the operation of unchanging Divine law the reaping will correspondto the kind of seed sown and the nature of the soil into which it is cast.—“Benot deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he alsoreap. For he that soweth to his flesh,” etc. (vers. 7, 8). Men may wrong eachother, but they cannot cheat God. To expect God to sow His bounties uponthem, and not to let Him reap their gratitude and service, is mockery. But it isnot God they deceive; they deceive themselves. For at last every one shall reapas he sows. The use made of our seed-time determines exactly, and with a moral[p.107]certainty greater even than that which rules in the natural field, what kind offruitage our immortality will render. Eternity for us will be the multiplied,consummate outcome of the good or evil of the present life. Hell is just sinripe—rotten ripe. Heaven is the fruitage of righteousness. “He that sowethto his own flesh reaps corruption”—the moral decay and dissolution of the man’sbeing. This is the natural retributive effect of his carnality. The selfish mangravitates downward into the sensual man; the sensual man downward into thebottomless pit. “He that soweth to the Spirit reaps life everlasting.” Thesequence is inevitable. Like breeds its like. Life springs of life, and deatheternal is the culmination of the soul’s present death to God and goodness. Thefuture glory of the saints is at once a divine reward and a necessary developmentof their present faithfulness (Findlay, passim).

III. Sowing the seed of good deeds should be prosecuted with unweariedperseverance.—1.Because the harvest is sure to follow. “Let us not be wearyin well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (ver. 9). Here isencouragement for the wearied, baffled worker. We have all our moments ofdespondency and disappointment and are apt to imagine our labours are futileand all our painstaking useless. Not so. We are confounding the harvest withthe seed-time. “In due season”—in God’s time, which is the best time—“weshall reap, if we faint not.” Our heavenly harvest lies in every earnest andfaithful deed, as the oak with its centuries of growth and all its summer glorysleeps in the acorn-cup, as the golden harvest slumbers in the seeds under theircovering of wintry snow.

2. Because the opportunity of doing good is ever present.—“As we haveopportunity let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of thehousehold of faith” (ver. 10). The whole of life is our opportunity, and everyday brings its special work. Opportunity is never to seek; it is ever present.There is not a moment without a duty. While we are looking for a moreconvenient opportunity, we lose the one that is nearest to us. As members ofthe household of faith there is ever work enough to do—work that fits us todo good on a wider scale—“unto all men.” True zeal for the Church broadensrather than narrows our charities. Household affection is the nursery, not therival, of love to our fatherland and to humanity.

Lessons.—1.Our present life is the seed-time of an eternal harvest. 2.Thequality of the future harvest depends entirely on the present sowing. 3.GodHimself is the Lord of the moral harvest.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 6. Pastors and People.

I. It is the duty of the people togive their pastors not only countenancebut maintenance.

II. It is the law of nations, and aconclusion grounded on common equity,that those who spend themselves, as acandle, to give light to others and forthe common good of all, should bemaintained of the common stock byall.

III. Every calling is able to maintainthem that live therein, thereforewe may not think that the ministry,the highest calling, should be so baseor barren as that it cannot maintainthem that attend thereupon.

IV. Ministers are the Lord’s soldiers,captains, and standard-bearers, andtherefore are not to go a warfare attheir own cost.

V. Ministers are to give themselveswholly to the building of the Churchand to the fighting of the Lord’s battles.Therefore they are to have their paythat they may attend upon their callingwithout distraction.

VI. It is the ordinance of God thatthey which preach the Gospel shouldlive of the Gospel.—Ministers should[p.108]be liberally provided for, yet withmoderation, that they draw not allmen’s wealth into their purses. Hethat would live of the Gospel mustteach the Gospel. A benefit requiresa duty, and diligence is that duty.—Perkins.

Ministerial Maintenance.—1.SeeingChrist’s ministers are to bestow themselveswholly in the work of theministry and not to be entangled withthe affairs of this life, therefore thepeople of God, among whom they spendtheir strength, are bound by commonequity to give them worldly maintenance,that they may be neither divertedfrom nor discouraged in their work ofwatching over souls. 2.This maintenance,though it should be moderateand such as may not through abundanceoccasion pride, luxury, and prodigality,yet should be liberal andcreditable, such as may not only supplypinching necessities, but also that theymay have wherewith to supplythe necessities of the indigent, to educatetheir children so as they may sustainthemselves and be profitable membersboth of Church and commonwealth.3.The Church’s maintenance is onlydue unto such ministers as have abilitiesto preach and are faithful anddiligent labourers in the Word. Thosewho are unfit or unwilling to preachshould be removed from their charge,and not suffered to eat up the Church’smaintenance, feeding themselves andstarving the souls of people committedto their charge.—Fergusson.

Vers. 7–9. Deceived Sowers to theFlesh.

I. The solemnity of the apostle’swarning.—He seems to intimate thatsuch is the audacious wickedness of thehuman heart, that it has within it somany latent mazes of iniquity, thatthey might be self-deceived either as totheir apprehensions of that which wasright before God, or as to their ownactual condition in His sight; and hetells them God is not mocked by thispretended service, that to Him allhearts are open, and that in impartialand discriminating arbitration He willrender to every man according to hisdeeds. It is sad to be deceived in afriend, in our estimate of health, inour computation of property; but amistake about the state of the soul—aveil folded about the heart so that itcannot see its own helplessness andperil—this is a state of which thoughtshudders to conceive, and to describewhose portentousness language has nowords that are sufficiently appalling.There can be no peril more imminentthan yours. The headlong riderthrough the darkness before whom thedizzy precipice yawns; the heedlesstraveller for whom in the bosky woodlandthe bandits lie in ambush, orupon whom from the jungle’s densitythe tiger waits to spring; the man who,gazing faintly upward, meets the crueleye and lifted hand and flashing steelof his remorseless enemy; they of whosecondition you can only poorly image,who in far dungeons and beneath thetorture of a tyrant’s cruelty groan fora sight of friend or glimpse of day; allaround whom perils thicken hopelessly,and to whom, with feet laden with thetidings of evil, the messengers ofdisaster come,—how they move yoursympathy, how you shudder as youdwell upon their danger, how you wouldfain stir yourselves into brave effortsfor their rescue or their warning!Brethren, your own danger is morenearly encompassing and is moreinfinitely terrible.

II. The import of the apostle’sstatement.—We have largely themaking or the marring of our ownfuture—that in the thoughts weharbour, in the words we speak andin the silent deeds, which, beaded onTime’s string, are told by some recordingangel as the story of our lives fromyear to year, we shape our character andtherefore our destiny for ever. Thereare three special sowers to the flesh—theproud, the covetous, the ungodly.They are all spiritual sins—sins of whichhuman law takes no cognisance, andto which codes of earthly jurisprudence[p.109]affix no scathing penalty. There is thegreater need, therefore, that thesespiritual sins should be disclosed in alltheir enormity and shown in theirexceeding sinfulness and in their disastrouswages, in order that men maybe left without excuse if they persistwilfully to believe a lie.—W.M. Punshon.

Vers. 7, 8. The Double Harvest.

I. Our present life is a moral trialfor another to come.—On till death isour seed-sowing; after death is thesure and universal harvest. On tilldeath is our moral trial; after deathis the life of judicial retribution, alikefor the just and the unjust.

II. Human life has one or the otherof two great characters, and will issuein one or the other of two greatresults.—1.They sow to the flesh wholive under the influence of their naturalinclinations and desires, pleasing onlythemselves and despising or neglectingthe holy will of God. They live to theSpirit the whole current of whosebeing has been supernaturally reversedunder the grace of the Gospel. 2.Thesowers to the Spirit live. And thistrue and proper life of man, in itsmaturity and full perfection, is thegreat and glorious reward which, byDivine appointment, shall eventuallycrown the labours of the sowers to theSpirit. The sowers to the flesh sowseed which brings forth death. Evennow their life is death in rudiment,and in the end, they must reap it inits full and external development. Degradedexistence, miserable existence,everlastingly degraded and miserableexistence.

III. We are liable to delusions withrespect to these great verities.—Allhistory and experience teem with illustrationsof the spiritual spells andjuggleries which men, prompted by theinvisible potentate of evil, practise uponthemselves, that so they may reduce totheir convictions the sinfulness of sin,and may tone the booming of the greatbell of Scripture menace down to thegentle whisper of an amiable reprimand.—J.D. Geden.

On the Difference between sowing tothe Flesh and to the Spirit.

I. The man who soweth to hisflesh.—It is to spend our lives indoing these works of the flesh—to layout our time, our thoughts, and ourcare in gratifying the vain, sensual,and selfish inclinations which the evilstate of the heart naturally and continuallyputs forth. Broken health,loathsome diseases, ruined fortunes,disappointed wishes, soured tempers,infamy, and shame are among thosethings which usually come from walkingafter the flesh.

II. The man who soweth to theSpirit.—It is to live under the guidanceof God’s Holy Spirit, and in every partof our conduct to bring forth the fruitsof the Spirit. He enjoys even atpresent the fruit of his labour: inwardpeace and joy, and a hope full of immortality.—Edward Cooper.

The Principle of the Spiritual Harvest.

I. The principle is this, “God is notmocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,that shall he also reap.”—There aretwo kinds of good possible to men—oneenjoyed by our animal being, the otherfelt and appreciated by our spirits.Reap what you have sown. If yousow the wind, do not complain if yourharvest is the whirlwind. If you sowto the Spirit, be content with a spiritualreward, invisible, within, more life andhigher life.

II. The two branches of the applicationof this principle.—1.Sowing tothe flesh includes those who live inopen riot. 2.Those who live in respectableworldliness. 3.Sowing tothe Spirit, the harvest is life eternal.4.The reward is not arbitrary butnatural. The thing reaped is the verything sown, multiplied a hundredfold.You have sown a seed of life, you reaplife everlasting.—F.W. Robertson.

Ver. 7. Sowing and Reaping in theirbearing on the Formation of IndividualCharacter.—There are three plots inwhich every man is perpetually engagedin sowing and reaping—in the plot of[p.110]his thoughts, in the plot of his words,and in the plot of his deeds. Andthere is a storehouse into which theharvests from these three plots are beingsecretly but unmistakably garnered—thestorehouse of individual character.The moral condition of the manto-day is the inevitable result of histhoughts, words, and deeds; his selfhoodis rich or poor according to hissowing and reaping in these respectivefields.

I. Whatever a man sows inthought that will he also reap in theformation, tone, and tendency of hisintellectual and moral nature.—1.Vainthoughts. If we indolentlysport with vain and foolish thoughts,they will inevitably produce a crop ofthe same kind. The mind will begarnished with flimsy and unprofitablefancies, inflated with a too consciousself-importance, and the outcome isheard in “the loud laugh that proclaimsthe vacant mind,” and seen inthe pompous swagger of the intellectualfop (Prov. xiii.16; Ps. xciv.11).

2. Proud thoughts.—The man dominatedby pride is the most pitiable ofobjects. His pride of birth will notbear investigation into three generations,his pride of social status issnubbed in a way that leaves a woundthat never heals, his pride of wealthsmitten down by an unexpected turnof the ever-revolving wheel of fortune,and his pride of life withered by thepassing breath of the great Destroyer.But he reaps what he sowed. Hesowed the dragon’s teeth of proud andboastful thoughts, and the monster grewup and devoured him (Prov. xvi.18).

3. Thoughts of sinful pleasure.—Ifwe allow the mind to dream of pleasuresthat are forbidden, the bloom of innocenceis rubbed off never to be againreplaced, the conscience is outragedtill its voice is muffled and but feeblyheard, one vile thought indulged breedsanother that is viler still, and the moralatmosphere of the soul is poisoned.What he sows he reaps.

4. Good thoughts.—The mind thataims at the loftiest style of thought,declining to tolerate the presence of adebasing sentiment, that keeps in checkthe wild and savage brood of evilthoughts ever seeking to overrun anddefile the mind, that cultivates a chasteimagination and cherishes the exaltedand unselfish charity that “thinkethno evil”—reaps the result in an accessionof intellectual vigour, in thecreation of a nobler standard by whichto judge of men and things, in theunbounded raptures of a refined andfertile imagination, and in the increaseof power for doing the highest kindof work for God and humanity.

II. Whatsoever a man sows inwords that shall he also reap.—1.Bitterand rancorous words. If aman studies how much of spiteful venomhe can pack into a single sentence,how he can most skilfully whet andsharpen the edge of his words so asto make the deepest wound and raisethe most violent storm of irritationand ill-feeling, unalterable as thecourse of nature the harvest is sure tocome. “Our unkind words come hometo roost.” The man offensive with histongue is the devil’s bellows with whichhe blows up the sparks of contentionand strife, and showers of the fieryembers are sure to fall back upon himselfto scathe and destroy.

2. False words.—If we deliberatelyand maliciously concoct a lie, and utterthe same with whispered humblenessand hypocritical commiseration, assure as there is justice in the heavens,the lie will come back with terrificrecompense upon the head of theoriginator.

3. Kind and loving words.—If wespeak in the kindest spirit of others,especially in their absence, if we standup for a friend unjustly maligned anddefend him with dignity and faithfulness,if we study to avoid words whichcannot but grieve and irritate, then aswe have sown so shall we reap—reapthe tranquil satisfaction of consciousinoffensiveness, and, best of all, theDivine approval. “Heaven in sunshinewill requite the kind.”

III. Whatsoever a man sows in[p.111]deeds that shall he also reap.—1.Crueldeeds. If we take a savagedelight in torturing beast or bird orinsect, if we plot how we can inflictthe most exquisite pain on our fellow-man,if we make sport of the anguishand distress of others which we makeno effort to relieve, we shall inevitablyreap the harvest—reap it in the embrutingand degradation of our finersensibilities, reap it in the tempest ofrebellion and retaliation which those weoutraged will launch upon us.

2. Selfish deeds.—If we live for ourown selfish gratification, indifferent tothe rights and woes of others; if wesurrender ourselves to a covetous spirit,living poor that we may die rich—aswe sow we reap. The thing we livedto enjoy ceases to gratify, and ournoblest sentiments are buried amid therubbish of our own sordidness.

3. Generous and noble deeds.—If weaim at the elevation of ourselves andothers, if we seek to act on the highestlevel of righteousness and truth, if weare diligent, unwearied, and persistentin well-doing, then in due season weshall reap the harvest—reap it in aheightened and expansive nobility ofcharacter, in an intensified influenceand enlarged capacity for doing good,and in the eternal enrichment of theDivine plaudit, “Well done.”

Be not Deceived.—This phrase occursseveral times as preface to warning,seeming to indicate thus that thesubject of the warning is one aboutwhich we are specially liable to deception,and upon examination we findthat observation justifies the presumption.We are thus guardedagainst any deception as to the followingimportant practical truths:—

1. The contaminating influence ofevil associations (1Cor. xv.33).
2. The personal responsibility ofeach for his own sin (Jas. i.16).
3. Entrance into heaven conditionedon character (1Cor. vi.9).
4. Human destiny, once settled,irreversible (Gal. vi.7).—British andForeign Evangelical Review.

Ver. 8. Sowing to the Spirit.

I. The natural man has no desirefor immortality.—He has not beenseized with the earnest and real wishfor a future life; but he is entirelybound by this world in all his thoughts,aims, and wishes: he identifies life andexistence altogether with this world,and life out of this world is a merename to him. He is shut up within thewalls of the flesh and within the circleof its own present aims and projects.

II. The spiritual man has a strongdesire for immortality, and it is thebeginning and foundation of thereligious life he leads here. Everyfield of action becomes unimportantand insignificant compared with thesimply doing good things, because inthat simple exercise of goodness liesthe preparation for eternity.

III. The natural and spiritual manare divided from each other by thesedistinctions—one has the desire foreverlasting life, the other has not.The success of the one perishes with thecorruptible life to which it belongs;the success of the other endures for allages in the world to come.—J.B.Mozley.

The Law of Retribution.

I. We see the justice of God—Hisbounty and severity.—His bounty inrecompensing men above their deserts;His severity in punishing sinnersaccording to their deserts.

II. This doctrine, that we shalldrink such as we brew, reap such aswe sow, and that men have degrees offelicity or misery answerable to theirworks, will make us more careful toavoid sin.

III. It serves as a comfort againstinequality; whereas the wicked flourishand the godly live in contempt, thetime shall come when every one shallreap even as he has sown.

IV. It crosses the conceit of thosewho promise to themselves an impunityfrom sin and immunity fromall the judgments of God, notwithstandingthey go on in their badpractices.—Perkins.

[p.112]Ver. 9. Against Weariness in Well-doing.—1.Thereis the prevailingtemper of our nature, the love of ease—horrorof hard labour. 2.The reluctanceand aversion are greaterwhen the labour is enjoined by extraneousauthority—the imperativewill of a foreign power. 3.In theservice of God there is a good dealthat does not seem for ourselves.4.There is a principle of false humility—whatsignifies the little I can do?5.The complaint of deficient co-operation.6.In the cause of God theobject and effect of well-doing aremuch less palpable than in some otherprovinces of action. 7.Yet the dutyexpressly prescribed is an absolutething, independently of what men canforesee of its results. 8.There is theconsciousness and pleasure of pleasingGod. 9.What relief has man gainedby yielding to the weariness? 10.Ourgrave accountableness is for making adiligent, patient, persevering use of themeans God has actually given us.—J.Foster.

Apathy one of our Trials.—1.Because,as in everything else, so in ourspiritual growth, we are inevitably disappointedin much of our expectations.2.The temptation to weariness is nosign at all that the man so tempted isnot a true servant of God, though thisvery often is the first thought thatenters the mind. It is no sin to feelweary; the sin is to be weary—that is,to let the feeling have its way and ruleour conduct. 3.We expect a kind offulness of satisfaction in God’s servicewhich we do not get nearly so soon aswe fancy that we shall. 4.You arequite mistaken to your belief thatformer prayers and former resolutionshave been in vain and have producedno fruit because no fruit is visible.5.In due season we shall find that ithas been worth while to persevere intrying to serve Christ.—Dr. Temple.

Well-doing.

I. Contrasted with fruitless profession.—Itis possible to have a clearnotion of Christian truth and to talkwell, and yet be idle and useless.

II. Contrasted with mistaken standards.—Itis easy to do as others aredoing; but are they doing well?Practice must be guided by holy precepts.

III. Contrasted with wrong motives.—Manyare careful to do what isliterally the right thing, but they doit with base motives. The correctmotives are—love (2Cor. v.14),gratitude (Ps. cxvi.12), compassion(2Cor. v.11), desire to imitateChrist. All well-doing is humble andself-renouncing.—The Lay Preacher.

“Reap if we faint not.”—The imageis agricultural.

I. Points of resemblance.—1.Thematerial harvest is of two kinds—weedsand golden grain. 2.Thespiritual harvest is of two kinds—corruptionand everlasting life. 3.Acombination of agencies. (1)For thematerial harvest seed, soil, and elementswork with the efforts of thefarmer. (2)For the spiritual harvestthe seed of the Word and the power ofGod must co-operate with man’s agency.4.As to difficulties. (1)The seasonmay be too wet, too dry, or too hot,or an army of insects may attackthe growing grain. (2)The foes ofthe spiritual harvest are the world,the flesh, and the devil.

II. Points of contrast.—1.Thematerial harvest is annual, the spiritualeternal. 2.There are seasons so unfavourablethat all the efforts of thefarmer prove in vain; the spiritualharvest will never fail. 3.The drouthof one year may be made good by nextyear’s abundance, but eternity cannotcompensate for what was lost in time.

III. Encouragements.—1.“Ourlabour is not in vain in the Lord.”2.“In due season we shall reap, ifwe faint not.” 3.The harvest willbe glorious and eternal.—HomileticMonthly.

Ver. 10. On doing Good.

I. It is our duty to do good.—This[p.113]duty is enforced both by the words andexample of Christ. Christianity notonly requires its adherents to abstainfrom evil, but it demands their activeservice.

II. In doing good man attains totrue nobility of character.—The charactersin history that exert the greatestfascination over us are not those ofeminent statesmen or scientists, butthose who have been distinguished fortheir philanthropy. We see in them amoral dignity that is unique. Whatreversals in human estimates of characterwill take place when the Divinestandard of greatness is appealed to!

III. In doing good we find truehappiness.—God has so constituted usthat the exercise of our malevolentpassions is productive of inward dissatisfaction,while the exercise ofbenevolent affections is attended withthe greatest joy. There is real luxuryin doing good.—Preacher’s Magazine.

The Opportunity of Beneficence.

I. What a precious thing is opportunity.—Peopletalk about makingtime for this or that purpose. Thetime is really made for us, only we aretoo idle or too careless to use it for theproper end. Opportunities of usefulnessare of frequent occurrence; theyare wont to come and go with rapidity.They must be seized as you would layhold of a passing friend in the street.

II. The whole of life is an opportunity.—Thereis such a thing as auseful life, a true life, a noble life,though all lives must needs contain amultitude of neglected opportunities.As a series of opportunities itsrecord is woefully imperfect. Asone opportunity it is not utterly unworthyof the example of Christ. Letus have a thread of right intentionrunning through life. Let us have anactive purpose of benevolence—a constantdesign of love. The continuousopportunity of life must be utilised, ifthe particular opportunities of life areto be turned to the best account.

III. The field of beneficence is verywide.—Wherever men are found it ispossible for us to do them good. Wetouch only a few persons, but each ofthese is in contact with others. To dogreat things with great powers is easyenough; but things so done may beundone so. The glory of Christianityhas always been that it does greatthings with small powers, or powersthat men think small; and the resultsof its work remain. Good work doneby many hands is better than theextended philanthropy of an individual;for what is this but the effortof one man to make amends for theneglect of a thousand?

IV. Though all men have a claimon our Christian benevolence some areentitled to a special share.—A mandoes not become a better citizen whenhe spurns his own family and neglectshis duties at home. On the contrary,the noblest philanthropist is the mostaffectionate of fathers and husbands,and he who loves most widely in theworld loves most intensely in his ownhouse. So it will be with us in ourChristian charity. We shall beginwith those who are called by thecommon name and worship the commonLord, and from these we shall goon, with our energy not exhausted butrather refreshed, to the great mass ofmankind.—Edward C. Lefroy.

Doing Good.

I. We must do good with that onlywhich is our own.—We may not cuta large and liberal shive off anotherman’s loaf; we may not steal fromone to give to another, or deal unjustlywith some that we may be merciful toothers.

II. We must do good with cheerfulnessand alacrity.—What more freethan gift; therefore we may not playthe hucksters in doing good, for thatblemishes the excellency of the gift.

III. We must so do good as thatwe do not disable ourselves for everdoing good.—So begin to do good asthat we may continue.

IV. We must do all the good wecan within the compass of our callingand hinder all the evil.

[p.114]V. We must do good to all.—1.Fromthe grounds of love and beneficence.2.God is good and bountifulto all. 3.Do good to others as wewould they should do to us. 4.Ourprofession and the reward we look forrequire us to do this.

VI. There is no possibility of doinggood to others after this life.—Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 11–13.

Apostolic Exposure of False Teachers.

I. The apostle gives special emphasis to his warning by concluding hisepistle in his own handwriting.—“Ye see how large a letter I have writtenunto you with mine own hand” (ver. 11). The apostle usually dictated hisepistle to an amanuensis, except the concluding salutation, which he wrotehimself by way of authentication. At this point of the epistle to the Galatianshe appears to have taken the pen from the hand of the amanuensis, and withhis own hand written the concluding sentences in clear, bold characters, thusgiving the utmost possible emphasis and solemnity to his words. They are apostscript, or epilogue, to the epistle, rehearsing with incisive brevity the burdenof all that it was in the apostle’s heart to say to these troubled and shakenGalatians. He wishes to reimpress upon his emotional readers the warnings hehad already expressed against the false teachers, to assure them of his intenseregard for their welfare, and to lay additional stress upon the peril of theirhesitating attitude. The more apparent and imminent the danger, the louderand more earnest is the warning expressed.

II. It is shown that the policy of the false teachers was to avoid the sufferingconnected with the ignominy of the cross of Christ.—“They constrain you to becircumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.”(ver. 12). The false teachers were really cowards, though this accusation theywould be the first indignantly to resent. They wanted to mix up the old faithwith the new, to entangle the new Christian converts with Mosaic observances.If they succeeded in persuading the Gentile Christians to be circumcised, theywould propitiate the anger of their Israelite kindred, and dispose them to regardthe new doctrine more favourably. They would, with heartless recklessness, robthe believer of all his privileges in Christ in order to make a shield for themselvesagainst the enmity of their kinsmen. Cowards at heart, they were more afraidof persecution than eager to know and propagate the truth. If a man will be aChristian, he cannot avoid the cross; and to attempt to avoid it will not releasefrom suffering. It is a craven fear indeed that refuses to espouse the truthbecause it may bring pain. “No servant of Christ,” says Augustine, “is withoutaffliction. If you expect to be free from persecution, you have not yet so muchas begun to be a Christian.”

III. The insincerity of the false teachers was apparent in their not keepingthe law themselves, but in boasting of the number of their converts to itsexternal observance.—“For neither they themselves who are circumcised keepthe law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh”(ver. 13). The Judaists were not only cowardly, but insincere. It was not theglory of the law they were concerned about, but their own success. If theyhad tried to convert the heathen, however imperfect might be their creed, theywould have merited some respect; but, like some religious troublers to-day, theyselected for their prey those who were already converted. They practised theirwiles on the inexperience of young believers, as they expected to gather from thatclass the greater number of proselytes of whom to make their boast. “Theirpolicy was dishonourable both in spirit and in aim. They were false to Christin whom they professed to believe, and to the law which they pretended to[p.115]keep. They were facing both ways, studying the safest not the truest course,anxious in truth to be friends at once with the world and Christ. Theirconduct has found many imitators, in men who make godliness a way of gain,whose religious course is dictated by considerations of worldly self-interest.Business patronage, professional advancement, a tempting family alliance, theentrée into some select and envied circle—such are the things for which creedsare bartered, for which men put their souls and the souls of their childrenknowingly in peril.”

Lessons.—1.The false teacher may be the occasion of much mischief and spiritualloss. 2.He succumbs in the presence of suffering. 3.He is more anxious forpublic success than for the spread of the truth.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 12. The Odium of the Cross ofChrist.

I. The history of the cross.—It is ahistory of sin on our part, and of sufferingon the part of Christ. What achange has been produced in the moralaspect of the universe by the preachingof the cross!

II. The odium connected with thecross.—There is odium and sufferingconnected with the cross still; in someshape we shall suffer persecution for it.If we will lead a holy life, then suffering,persecution, reproach, hatred andill-will, sarcasm, wit, ridicule, andobloquy will be cast upon us. It wassaid by one, when several were expelledfrom one of our universities, that “ifsome are expelled for having too muchreligion, it is high time to begin toinquire whether there are not somewho have too little.” If we speak ofthe reproach of the cross, what shouldthat reproach be? Not that you havetoo much religion, but that you have toolittle, and that many of you have noneat all.

III. As to those who suffer persecutionfor the cross, it is the greatestpossible honour to be laughed at, mocked,and insulted for the sake of the Saviour.If the spirit of the martyrs influencedus, there would be no shunning of persecutionon account of the cross, butsuffering would be welcomed with joy.—The Pulpit.

Christianity and Persecution.

1. We should suspect ourselves thatour hearts are not sound, nor ourpractice sincere, when all men speakwell of us.
2. We must not be discouragedthough there be never so many thatmake opposition, or so mighty thatraise persecution against us.
3. That we think it not strangewhen we find affliction or meet withpersecution. The Gospel and persecutiongo hand in hand, or follow oneanother inseparably.—Perkins.

Ver. 13. Empty Boasting—

1. When professed teachers do notpractise the virtues they enforce onothers.
2. When zeal for the observance ofoutward rites disguises the lack ofpersonal godliness.
3. When success is sought simplyto be able to boast of success.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 14, 15.

Glorying in the Cross—

I. Because of the great truths it reveals.—“But God forbid that I shouldglory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (ver. 14). “The cross of ourLord Jesus Christ” is a comprehensive phrase signifying the whole redeemingwork of Christ—the salvation effected for the race by His crucifixion and death[p.116]upon the cross. The problem how God can forgive sin without any breach inHis moral government, or dimming the lustre of His perfections, is solved in thecross. God is great in Sinai. The thunders precede Him, the lightnings attendHim, the earth trembles, the mountains fall in fragments. But there is agreater God than this. On Calvary, nailed to a cross, wounded, thirsting, dying,He cries, “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do!” Great is thereligion of power, but greater is the religion of love. Great is the religion ofimplacable justice, but greater is the religion of pardoning mercy. The crosswas the master-theme of the apostle’s preaching and the chief and exclusivesubject of his glorying.

II. Because of its contrast to effete ceremonialism.—“For in Christ Jesusneither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision” (ver. 15). To theJew circumcision was everything. By the cross Judaism, as a means ofsalvation, is utterly abolished. Uncircumcision includes all Gentile heathenism.Before the cross all heathen religions must perish. The Gentile cultus was neverintended to supplant Jewish customs; both are excluded as unavailing inhuman salvation. The devotees of form and ceremony are apt to develop intobigotry and pride; the foes of ritualism are in danger of making a religion oftheir opposition; and both parties indulge in recriminations that are foreign tothe spirit of Christianity. “Thus, I trample on the pride of Plato,” said thecynic, as he trod on the philosopher’s sumptuous carpets; and Plato justlyretorted, “You do it with greater pride.” Ceremonialism is effete, and is notworth contending about. It is nothing; Christ is everything, and the cross theonly subject worthy of the Christian’s boast.

III. Because of the moral change it effects.—“But a new creature”—a newcreation (ver. 15). In the place of a dead ceremonialism the Gospel plants anew moral creation. It creates a new type of character. The faith of the crossclaims to have produced not a new style of ritual, not a new system of government,but new men. The Christian is the “new creature” which it begets. The crosshas originated a new civilisation, and is a conspicuous symbol in the finest worksof art. Ruskin, describing the artistic glories of the Church of St. Mark inVenice, says: “Here are all the successions of crowded imagery showing thepassions and pleasures of human life symbolised together, and the mystery of itsredemption: for the maze of interwoven lines and changeful pictures leadalways at last to the cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon everystone, sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapped round it, sometimes withdoves beneath its arms and sweet herbage growing forth from its feet; but conspicuousmost of all on the great rood that crosses the church before the altar,raised in bright blazonry against the shadow of the apse. It is the cross that isfirst seen and always burning in the centre of the temple, and every dome andhollow of its roof has the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised inpower, or returning in judgment.” The true power of the cross is not artisticor literary or political, but moral. It is a spiritually transforming force thatpenetrates and guides every form of human progress.

IV. Because of personal identification with its triumph over the world.—“Bywhom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (ver. 14).As the world of feverish pleasure, of legal ordinances, was conquered by thecross, so the faith of the apostle in the crucified One gave him the victory overthe world, so that it lost all power to charm or intimidate. The world of evil isdoomed, and the power of the cross is working out its ultimate defeat. I haveseen a curious photograph of what purports to be a portrait of the Saviour in thedays of His flesh, and which by a subtle manipulation of the artist has a doublerepresentation. When you first look upon the picture you see the closed eyes ofthe Sufferer, and the face wears a pained and wearied expression; but as you[p.117]gaze intently the closed eyes seem to gently open and beam upon you with thelight of loving recognition. So, as you gaze upon the cross of our Lord JesusChrist it seems to you the symbol of suffering and defeat, but as you keep youreyes steadily fixed upon it the cross gradually assumes the glory of a glitteringcrown, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away (1Pet. i.4).

Lessons.—1.The cross is the suggestive summary of saving truth. 2.Thecross is the potent instrument of the highest moral conquests. 3.The cross is theloftiest theme of the believer’s glorying.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 14. Christ Crucified.

1. By Christ crucified we havereconciliation with God, remission ofsins, and acceptance to eternal life.
2. We have the peace of God,peace with men, with ourselves, withthe creatures.
3. We recover the right and titlewhich we had in creation to all thecreatures and blessings of God.
4. All afflictions cease to becurses and punishments and becomeeither trials or corrections.
5. Those who can truly glory in thecross are dead to the world and theworld to them.
6. We are taught to carry ourselvesin the world as crucified anddead men, not to love, but to renounceand forsake it.—Perkins.

Glorying in the Cross of Christ.

I. We glory in the doctrine of thecross—the justification of guilty menthrough a propitiatory sacrifice—becauseof its antiquity.—It was taughtby patriarchs and prophets, the law ofsacrifice was its grand hieroglyphicalrecord, the first sacrifices were its types,the first awakened sinner with hisload of guilt fell upon this rock andwas supported, and by the sacrifice ofChrist shall the last sinner saved beraised to glory.

II. Because it forms an importantpart of the revelation of the NewTestament.

III. As affording the only sureground of confidence to a penitentsinner.

IV. Because of its moral effects.—Notonly in the superstitions andidolatries it has destroyed, the barbarousnations it has civilised, thecruel customs it has abrogated, and thekindly influence it has shed upon thelaws and manners of nations; but inits moral effect on individuals, producingthe most ardent love to Godand kindling benevolence towards all—Richard Watson.

The True Glory of the Christian.

I. The disposition of mind denotedby the expressions—“The world iscrucified unto me; I am crucified tothe world.”—1.The nature of it—atotal rupture with the world. 2.Thegradations of which it admits. Deadnessto avarice and pride—in respectto exertion and actual progress—inrespect of hope and fervour. 3.Thedifficulty, the bitterness, of making asacrifice so painful.

II. In such a disposition true gloryconsists.—Comparison between thehero of this world and the Christianhero. The hero derives his glory fromthe greatness of the master he serves,from the dignity of the persons whohave preceded him in the same honourablecareer, from the brilliancy of hisachievements, from the acclamationshis exploits excite. How much morethe Christian hero!

III. The cross of Christ alone caninspire us with these sentiments.—Ifwe consider it in relation to theatrocious guilt of those who despise it,in relation to the proofs there displayedof Christ’s love, in the proofs it suppliesof the doctrine of Christ, and in relationto the glory that shall follow.—Saurin.

[p.118]The Cross a Burden or a Glory.

I. There is the constant ordinarydiscipline of human life.—Life whenit is earnest contains more or less ofsuffering. There is a battle of goodand evil, and these special miseriesare the bruises of the blows that fillthe air, sometimes seeming to fall atrandom and perplexing our reason,because we cannot rise to such heightof vision as to take in the whole fieldat once.

II. There is the wretchedness offeeling self-condemned.—Law alone isa cross. Man needs another cross—notSimon’s, but Paul’s. He took it up,and it grew light in his hands. Hewelcomed it, and it glowed with lustre,as if it were framed of the sunbeamsof heaven.

III. The same spiritual contrast,the same principle of difference betweencompulsory and voluntaryservice, opens to us two interpretationsof the suffering of the Saviour Himself.—Neitherthe cross of Simon northe cross of Paul was both literally andactually the cross of Christ. Its charmwas that it was chosen. Its powerwas that it was free. The cross becomesglorious when the Son of Godtakes it up; there is goodness enoughin Him to exalt it. It was the symbolof that sacrifice where self was forever crucified for love.—F.D. Huntington.

The Cross—

1. The sinner’s refuge.
2. The sinner’s remedy.
3. The sinner’s life.

The Glory of the Cross.

1. The cross was the emblem ofdeath.
2. Christ was not only a deadSaviour, but a condemned Saviour.
3. A disgraced Saviour, becausethe cross was a disgraceful kind ofpunishment.
4. Paul gloried in the cross becauseit is an exhibition of the righteousnessof God.
5. Because it proclaims His love.
6. The contemplation of Christ’scross helps us to conquer the world.—Newman Hall.

Glorying in the Cross.

I. The subjects in which the apostlegloried.—1.He might have gloried inhis distinguished ancestry. 2.In hispolished education. 3.In the moralityof his former life. 4.In his extraordinarycall to the apostleship. 5.In hishigh ecclesiastical position. 6.He didnot glory in the literal cross. 7.Nor inthe metaphorical cross. 8.But in themetonymical cross (1Cor. i.17;Col. i.20).

II. The characteristics of theapostle’s glorying.—1.His gloryingwas not merely verbal, but practical.2.Not sectarian, but Christian andcatholic. 3.Not temporary, but permanent.

III. The reasons of the apostle’sglorying.—1.Here he saw a granderdisplay of the Divine character andperfections than elsewhere. 2.Thiswas the scene of the most gloriousvictory ever witnessed. 3.It was thecentre of all God’s dispensations.4.The cross was the most powerfulincentive to true morality. 5.Henceflowed all the blessings of the Gospeleconomy. 6.Here was made anatonement equal to the needs of ourfallen world.

Lessons.—1.Let us here see the purityof the moral law and the heinousness ofsin. 2.Let the sinner come to the crossfor pardon, purity, peace, and joy.—W.Antliff.

Glorying in the Cross.

I. Paul’s enthusiasm as expressedin the exclamation of the text.

II. One main source of his zeal layin the subject of his enthusiasm.—1.Thecross is a fit subject for glory assymbolising an infinite, boundless truth.2.Because it is an eternal fact.3.Because it is the ground of man’sjustification and the symbol of his redemption.

III. Look at the result—crucifixionto the world.—The true solution of[p.119]the Christian’s relationship to the worldlies in the fact that it is a separationnot in space but in spirit.—J.Hutchinson,in “Scottish Pulpit.”

Ver. 15. Scriptural View of TrueReligion.

I. What true religion is not.—1.Itis not circumcision nor uncircumcision.2.It is not an outward thing. (1)Youare not religious because you have beenbaptised. (2)Because you are calleda Christian, and have been born ofChristian parents. (3)Because youfrequent the Church, attend the Lord’sSupper, and are regular at your devotions.

II. What true religion is.—1.It isnot an outward but an inward thing.It is not a new name, but a new nature.A new creation describes a great changein man. 2.The greatness of thischange shows also the power by whichit is wrought. Creation is a Divinework. 3.The rite of circumcisiontaught the necessity of the change.Though it was a seal of the righteousnessof faith, it was also a sign of theinward renewal and purification of theheart. Baptism in the ChristianChurch teaches the same truth. Thetexts of Scripture which set forth theevil nature of man set forth thenecessity of this great change.—Edward Cooper.

The New Creature.—The new creatureis the only thing acceptable to God.It is the renovation of the whole man,both in the spirit of our minds and inthe affections of our heart. Neitherthe substance nor the faculties of thesoul are lost by the Fall, but only thequalities of the faculties, as when aninstrument is out of tune the fault isnot in the substance of the instrument,nor in the sound, but in the disproportionor jar in the sound: therefore,the qualities only are renewed bygrace. These qualities are either inthe understanding or the will andaffections. The quality in the understandingis knowledge; in the will andaffections they are righteousness andholiness, both which are in truth andsincerity. Holiness performs all theduties of piety, righteousness the dutiesof humanity, truth seasoning both theformer with sincerity.—Ralph Culworth.

The Necessity of a New Nature.—Theraven perched on the rock whereshe whets her bloody beak, and withgreedy eye watches the death-strugglesof an unhappy lamb, cannot tune hercroaking voice to the mellow music ofa thrush; and since it is out of theabundance of the heart that the mouthspeaketh, how could a sinner take upthe strain and sing the song of saints?—Guthrie.

The New Birth begins our True Life.—Astranger passing through achurchyard saw these words writtenon a tombstone: “Here lies an oldman seven years old.” He had beena true Christian only for that lengthof time.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 16–18.

A Dignified and Touching Farewell—

I. Supplicates the best blessing on the truly righteous.—“As manyas walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon theIsrael of God” (ver. 16). Jewish discipline and pagan culture are for everdiscredited by the new creation of moral virtue. The rule of the renewedinward life supersedes the works of the condemned flesh. On all who seekto regulate their lives according to this rule the apostle invokes the peaceand mercy of God. Peace is followed by the mercy which guards andrestores it. Mercy heals backslidings and multiplies pardons. She loves tobind up a broken heart or a rent and distracted Church. For the betrayers of[p.120]the cross he has stern indignation and alarms of judgment. Towards hischildren in the faith nothing but peace and mercy remains in his heart. As anevening calm shuts in a tempestuous day, so this blessing concludes the epistleso full of strife and agitation. We catch in it once more the chime of the oldbenediction, which through all storm and peril ever rings in ears attuned to itsnote: “Peace shall be upon Israel” (Ps. cxxv.5).

II. Pleads the brand of suffering for loyalty to Christ as conclusive proof ofauthority.—“From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my bodythe marks of the Lord Jesus” (ver. 17). The apostle has sufficiently vindicatedhis authority by facts and arguments, and he would effectually silence allquibbles on this subject by triumphantly pointing to the marks of suffering onhis own body received in his Master’s service. These marks he carried whereverhe went, like the standard-bearer of an army who proudly wears his scars. Noman would have suffered as Paul did unless he was convinced of the importanceof the truth he had received and of his supernatural call to declare the same.Suffering is the test of devotion and fidelity. For a picture of the harassed,battered, famished sufferer in the cause of Christ and His Gospel read 2Cor.iv.8–10, xi.23–28. Marks of suffering are more eloquent than words. Thehighest eminence of moral perfection and influence cannot be reached withoutmuch suffering. It is a callous nature indeed that is not touched with the sightof suffering heroically endured. The calm bravery of the early Christians underthe most fiendish persecution won many a convert to the truth.

III. Concludes with an affectionate benediction.—“Brethren, the grace ofour Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen” (ver. 18). Placing theword “brethren” at the end of the sentence, as in the Greek, suggests that,after much rebuke and admonition, the apostle bids his readers farewell with thewarm-hearted expression of brotherhood. Notwithstanding fickleness on theirpart, his love towards them remains unchanged. He prays that the grace ofChrist, the distinctive and comprehensive blessing of the new covenant, maycontinue to rest upon them and work its renewing and sanctifying power upontheir spirit, the place where alone it can accomplish its most signal triumphs.Forgiveness for their defection and confidence in their restoration to the highestChristian privileges and enjoyment, are the last thoughts of the anxiousapostle. Between them and moral bankruptcy is the prayerful solicitude of agood man.

Lessons.—1.When argument is exhausted prayer is the last resource. 2.Prayerlinks Divine blessing with human entreaty. 3.Last words have about them asolemn and affecting efficacy.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 16. The True Israel of God—

1. Are those who personally enjoythe inward righteousness that comesthrough faith.
2. Who live consistently with theirspiritual profession and the truth theyhave embraced.
3. Enjoy the Divine benedictionsof mercy and peace.

Ver. 17. Marks of the Lord Jesus.

I. The word picture here presented.—1.Thefigure—slave-brands, στἱγματα.2.The facts—Paul’s historic experiences(1Cor. iv.9–15; 2Cor. xi.23–30).3.The challenge—“Let no man troubleme.”

II. The suggestion the picturemakes.—1.He who follows the LordJesus must expect some will try totrouble him. 2.He whose marks aremost conspicuous will be troubled theleast. 3.He who has marks may takecomfort in knowing how much hisMaster paid for him. 4.He who isowned may remember that his Master[p.121]owns and recognises the marks also.5.He that has no marks is either abetter or a poorer Christian than theapostle Paul. 6.Satan outwits himselfwhen he gives a believer moremarks. 7.A sure day is coming whenthe marks will be honourable, for thebody of humiliation will be like theglorious body of Christ.—HomileticMonthly.

Marked Men.

I. Ill-marked men.—Think of themarks left on men by sickness, intemperance,impurity, crime, sin ofany kind. Evil will always leave itsmark.

II. Well-marked men.—1.Christianmarks—the marks of Christ. Paulwas the slave of Christ. Some of hismarks for Christ were literal, as theweals caused by the rods of the RomanCæsars, the red lines caused by scourgingin Jewish synagogues, the scarscaused by repeated stonings. The marksof the Christian are mainly spiritual—markedby trustfulness, gentleness,purity, unselfishness.

2. Distinct marks.—Marked that hemay be recognised. If you have themarks of Jesus, confess and obey Him.

3. Deep marks.—Branded on the body,not lines that can easily be removed,but going down to the flesh. OurChristian life is often feeble becauseit is not deep.

4. Personal marks.—The marks ofJesus of no avail unless you possessthem. No man can really trouble youif you bear branded on your body themarks of Jesus.—Local Preacher’sTreasury.

Suffering for Jesus.

I. The scars of the saints for themaintenance of the truth are thesufferings, wounds, and marks ofChrist Himself, seeing they are thewounds of the members of that bodywhereof He is Head.

II. They convince the persecutorsthat they are the servants of Christwho suffer thus for righteousness’sake.

III. If men be constant in theirprofession—in faith and obedience—themarks of their suffering arebanners of victory.—No man ought tobe ashamed of them, no more thansoldiers of their wounds and scars, butrather in a holy manner to glory ofthem. Constantine the Great kissedthe holes of the eyes of certain bishopswho had them put out for their constantprofession of the faith of Christ,reverencing the virtue of the HolyGhost which shined in them. 1.Bysuffering bodily afflictions we are madeconformable to Christ. 2.They teachus to have sympathy with the miseriesof our brethren. 3.Our patient enduringof affliction is an example toothers and a means of confirming themin the truth. 4.They serve to scourus from the rust of sin.—Perkins.

Ver. 18. Concluding Benediction.

I. The apostle invokes the grace ofour Lord Jesus Christ.—1.Because Heis the fountain of it. 2.Because Heis the conduit or pipe by which it isconveyed to us.

II. Christ is called our Lord—1.Byright of creation. 2.Of inheritance.3.Of redemption. 4.Of conquest.5.Of contract and marriage.

III. Observe the emphasis withwhich the apostle concludes theepistle.—1.Opposing Christ, the Lordof the house, to Moses, who was buta servant. 2.The grace of Christ toinherent justice and merit of works.3.The spirit in which he would havegrace to be seated, to the flesh in whichthe false teachers gloried so much.4.Brotherly unity one with another—impliedin the word “brethren”—tothe proud and lordly carriage of thefalse teachers.—Ibid.

[p.123]

THE

INTRODUCTION.

Readers to whom the epistle was sent.—In the two most ancient copies of theScriptures which we possess—dating from the fourth century of our era—thewords in our A.V. (ch. i.1), “at Ephesus,” are missing; and Basil the Great, wholived in the fourth century, says he had seen copies which, “ancient” even at thatearly date, spoke of the readers as “those who are, and the faithful in ChristJesus.” When it is observed, however, that Basil still says in that passage theapostle is “writing to the Ephesians,” in all honesty we must admit anotherinterpretation of his words to be possible.

Add to these early witnesses that Ephesus is not named in the text thefurther fact that, though St. Paul had lived and laboured between two and threeyears in Ephesus, there is absolutely no mention of any name of those withwhom he had been associated, and what on the assumption of the Ephesiandestination of the epistle is stranger still, no reference to the work, unless wemay be allowed to regard the “sealing with the Holy Spirit of promise” as areminiscence of Acts xix.1–7.

We must not make too much, however, of this absence of personal greetings.Tychicus can do, vivâ voce, all that needs to be done in that way. St. Paul hadbeen “received as an angel of God, or even as Christ Jesus,” by Galatians, notone of whom is mentioned in the letter sent to the Galatians.

Certain expressions in the body of the letter are strange if the EphesianChristians were the first readers of it. In ch. i.15 the apostle says, “After I heardof your faith in the Lord Jesus.” One asks, “Did not the faith which ‘comethby hearing’ result from Paul’s preaching in Ephesus? Then how can he speakof hearing of it?” It may be answered, “Does not Paul say to Philemon, ‘Thouowest unto me thine own self’ (ver. 19), and yet says (ver. 5) that, hearing of hislove and faith, he thanks God?” Moreover, has any one quite demonstrated theimpossibility of this faith being the continuity of that which began with theabjuration of magic in a costly offering of fifty thousand pieces of silver?[p.124](Acts xix.17–20). “Faith” may take the form of fidelity as easily as ofcredence.

Again, in ch. iii.2 Paul, at the word “Gentiles,” enters into a digression abouthis specific commission as their apostle. Just as to the Galatian Church heexpatiates on the special grace bestowed by God and recognised by the “pillars”of the Church, so here he magnifies his office, and his words here no more provethat he had never seen his readers than the section of Galatians (Gal. ii.6–9) provesthat he did not know the Galatians. Even supposing they did, it surely wouldnot be an astonishing thing that in the ever-shifting population of a seaportmany may have joined the Church since St. Paul was in Ephesus. That this wasthe place to which St. Paul sent his messenger with the letter before us cannotbe demonstratively shown; but we feel something like conviction by considering:(a)that the preponderant evidence of the MSS. says “Ephesus”; (b)that theversions are unanimous as an echo of the MSS.; (c)that the entire ancientChurch has spoken of the epistle as “to the Ephesians,” Marcion’s voice beingthe only exception; (d)the improbability of St. Paul writing “to the saintswhich are” without adding the name of some place; (e)“Ephesus” more easilymeets internal difficulties than any other place. This, in substance, is BishopEllicott’s view. Still, we cannot regard it as impossible that “Ephesus” maycomprise many Churches in the vicinity, and therefore regard the letter as reallyencyclical, even though it were proved that St. Paul wrote “to the saints atEphesus.”

Analysis of the Epistle.

Genuineness of the epistle.—Dr. Ellicott sums up the matter briefly by saying,“There is no just ground on which to dispute the genuineness.” Argumentsbased on certain expressions in the body of the letter have been speciouslyurged against its genuineness by DeWette and others; and Holzmann has“learnedly maintained that the epistle is only the expansion of a short letter tothe Colossians by some writer about the close of the first century” (Godet).

“We have, on the other hand, subjective arguments, not unmixed with arrogance,but devoid of sound historical basis; on the other hand, unusuallyconvincing counter-investigations and the unvarying testimony of the ancientChurch.” Adverse arguments have been answered so satisfactorily and sometimesso crushingly as to leave no room for doubt. Those who cannot read the epistlewithout being moved by the peculiar loftiness, by the grandeur of conception,by the profound insight, by the eucharistic inspiration they recognise in it, willrequire strong evidence to persuade them that it was written by some otherman who wished it to pass as St. Paul’s.

The practical design of the epistle.—The object is to set forth the ground,course, aim, and end of the Church of the faithful in Christ. The Ephesiansare a sample of the Church universal. The key to the epistle may be found inthe opening sentence (ver. 3). Fixing his eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, theapostle opens his mind to the blessings which radiate forth from Him, and fromthe Father through Him, upon the whole world. The mind of God towards menunveiled in Christ, the relation of men towards God exhibited in Christ, thepresent spiritual connection of men with Christ, the hopes of which Christ is theground and assurance, the laws imposed by the life of Christ upon human life—theseare the blessings for which he gives thanks. Christ embracing humanityin Himself is the subject of the epistle. St. Paul tells with strict faithfulnesswhat he has read and seen in Christ; Christ fills the whole sphere of his mind.

[p.126]

CHAPTER I.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. To the saints.—Dismiss the commonly accepted meaning. Not men who by hardand rigorous methods have reached the heights where but few abide, but those who, as theelect of God, are separated from everything unholy and kept for God’s peculiar possession(1Pet. ii.9). And faithful.—Sometimes the word may mean “believers,” sometimes “trustworthy.”“The use of the adjective for the Christian brotherhood cannot be assigned rigidlyeither to the one meaning or the other. Its very comprehensiveness was in itself a valuablelesson” (Lightfoot).

Ver. 2. Grace... and peace.—The light-hearted Greek salutation was, “Rejoice”; themore sober Hebrew—our Lord’s own—was, “Peace be to you.” Here both unite.

Ver. 3. Blessed be the God and Father.—The Hebrew form for “hallowing the Name” was,“The Holy One, blessed be He.” The Prayer Book version of Psalm c. gives, “Speak good ofHis name.” Who blessed us.—When old Isaac pronounces the blessing uttered on Jacobunwittingly to be irreversible, he depends on God for the carrying out of his dying blessing:the Divine blessing makes whilst pronouncing blest. In the heavenly places.—Lit. “in theheavenlies”—so, as A.V. margin says, either places or things. Perhaps the local significationis best; “relating to heaven and meant to draw us thither” (Blomfield).

Ver. 4. Even as He chose us in Him.—Whatever be the manifestation of the Divinegoodness, it is “in Christ” that it is made. “This sentence traces back the state of graceand Christian piety to the eternal and independent electing love of God” (Cremer). Thereis always the connotation of some not chosen. Before the foundation of the world.—St. Paul,like Esaias, “is very bold.” His Master had only said “from,” not “before,” the foundation(Matt. xxv.34), reserving the “before” for the dim eternity in which He was the sharer,with the eternal Spirit, of the Father’s love (John xvii.24). Without blemish (R.V.), or,in one word, “immaculate.” A sacrificial term generally; used by St. Peter (1Pet. i.19) todescribe that “Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.” This word serves toguard “holy,” just before it; a separated (holy) people must also be a spotless people.

Ver. 5. Having predestinated us.—By pointing as the R.V. margin does, we get LoveDivine as the basis on which our foreordination rests. “There is no respect of persons withGod,” and so arrière pensée in the invitation, “All that labour and are heavy laden.” Untoadoption as sons.—The end, as regards man. Perhaps St. John’s word goes more deeply intothe heart of the mystery, “That we should be called the children of God”—“born of God.”Through Jesus Christ.—Mediator of this and every implied blessing. According to the goodpleasure of His will.—The word for “good pleasure” characterises the will as one whoseintent is something good; the unhampered working of the will lies in the expression too.The measure of human privilege in the adoption is according to the Divine Graciousness.

Ver. 6. To the praise of the glory of His grace.—The ultimate end, “that God may be allin all.” Wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.—The change in the R.V.,considerable as it seems, turns on the rendering of one word, the meaning in the NewTestament being “to bestow favour.” Compare Luke i.28 and the A.V. marginal alternative“much-graced.” Chrysostom’s beautiful interpretation must not be lightly rejected, “tomake love-worthy”—just as if one were to make a sick or famished man into a beautifulyouth, so has God made our soul beautiful and love-worthy for the angels and all saints andfor Himself.

Ver. 7. In whom we have redemption.—Release in consideration of a ransom paid—“deliveranceeffected through the death of Christ from the retributive wrath of a holy Godand the merited penalty of sin” (Grimm). Through His blood.—St. Paul quite agrees withthe author of Hebrews (Heb. ix.22) that apart from the pouring out of blood, the putting away ofsin cannot be brought about. The forgiveness of our trespasses.—Another way of stating inwhat the redemption consists. Notice the “forgiveness” as compared with the “passingover” (Rom. iii.25, R.V.). The one is the remission of punishment; the other the omission[p.127]to punish sin that has been observed, “leaving it open in the future either entirely to remitor else adequately to punish them as may seem good to Him” (Trench).

Ver. 8. In all wisdom and prudence.—“Wisdom embraces the collective activity of themind as directed to Divine aims to be achieved by moral means. Prudence is the insight ofpractical reason regulating the dispositions” (Meyer).

Ver. 9. The mystery of His will.—“Mystery” is here to be taken not so much as a thingwhich baffles the intellect as the slow utterance of a long-kept secret, which “the fulness oftime” brings to birth.

Ver. 10. The fulness of times.—The word for “times” denotes “time as brings forth itsseveral births.” It is the “flood” in the “tide of affairs.” To sum up all things.—“Tobring together again for Himself all things and all beings (hitherto disunited by sin) intoone combined state of fellowship in Christ, the universal bond” (Grimm). “It is themystery of God’s will to gather all together for Himself in Christ, to bring all to a unity, toput an end to the world’s discord wrought by sin, and to re-establish the original state ofmutual dependence in fellowship with God” (Cremer). The things which are in heavenand which are on earth.

“The blood that did for us atone
Conferred on them some gift unknown.”

Ver. 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.—R.V. “were made a heritage.”“The Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance,” sang dying Moses (Deut. xxxiii.9).The verbal paradox between A.V. and R.V. is reconciled in fact. “All are yours, and ye areChrist’s” (1Cor. iii.22, 23). “Before the Parousia an ideal possession, therefore a realone“ (Meyer). After the counsel of His own will.—“The ‘counsel’ preceding the resolve,the ‘will’ urging on to action” (Cremer).

Ver. 12. That we should be to the praise.—R.V. “to the end that we should be.” “Causafinalis of the predestination to the Messianic lot” (Meyer). “We” in antithesis to “you”in ver. 13—We Jewish—you Gentile Christians.

Ver. 13. In whom ye also, etc.—The word “trusted,” supplied by A.V., is dropped byR.V. It seems best to regard the words after “ye also” as one of the frequent breaksin the flow of the apostle’s language, the second “ye” taking up the first. “In whom yewere sealed.” “The order of conversion was: hearing, faith, baptism, reception of theSpirit” (Meyer). Ye were sealed.—“This sealing is the indubitable guarantee of the futureMessianic salvation received in one’s own consciousness” (Meyer).

Ver. 14. Who is the earnest.—The guarantee. The word represented by “earnest” wasderived from the Phœnician merchants, and meant money which in purchases is given as apledge that the full amount will be subsequently paid (Grimm). The word is found in theHebrew of Gen. xxxviii.17, 18, and means “pledge.” F.W. Robertson makes a distinctionbetween “pledge” and “earnest”—the grapes of Eshcol were an “earnest” of Canaan. Hewho receives the Holy Spirit partakes the powers of the age to come (Heb. vi.4, 5). Untilthe redemption.—The final consummation of the redemption effected by the atonementof Christ. The “until” is faulty, the “earnest” being “something towards” the redemption.Of the purchased possession.—R.V. “of God’s own possession.” “The whole body of Christians,the true people of God acquired by God as His property by means of the redeeming workof Christ” (Meyer).

Vers. 15, 16.—St. Paul is always ready to give a prompt acknowledgment of all that isbest in his readers and to pray for something better. Cease not to give thanks.—My thanksgivingknows no end.

Ver. 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.—The connection or unity of the Fatherand the Son is the basis of the plea for those who are in the Son. Christ said, “I ascendunto My Father and your Father, to My God and your God” (John xx.17). The Fatherof glory.—Compare the phrases, “the Father of mercies” (2Cor. i.3), “the Father of lights”(Jas. i.17), “our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory” (Jas. ii.1). The spirit of wisdom andrevelation.—The wisdom which is from above is the heritage of all the redeemed in Christ(1John iv.20); but this day-spring, which gladdens the eyes of the heart, grows to mid-daysplendour by successive apocalypses. In the knowledge.—The word means a completeknowledge. It is a word characteristic of the four epistles of the first Roman captivity.

Vers. 18, 19. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened... to us-ward whobelieve.—Three pictures for heaven-illumined eyes: 1.The hope of His calling.—Meyersays “the hope” is not here (nor anywhere) the res sperata, “the object on which hopefastens, but the great and glorious hope which God gives”—a statement too sweeping forother scholars, though here they agree that it is the faculty of hope “which encourages andanimates.” 2.The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.—“What a copiousand grand accumulation, mirroring, as it were, the weightiness of the thing itself!” (Meyer).“Riches of the glory” must not be watered down into “glorious riches.” 3.The exceedinggreatness of His power to us-ward.—The amazing and wholly unexpected working of[p.128]the same Hand that wrought our first deliverance: the Power that smites the oppressor withdismay opens the path through the sea (see Isa. xl.10, 11). According to the working ofHis mighty power.—This may be regarded as a specimen of the Divine power, the norm orstandard by which we may gain an idea of the “exceeding greatness” of it—that from thetomb of His humiliation Christ was raised by that power to an unrivalled dignity in God’sthrone. The R.V. gives “working of the strength of His might”: “working”—“the activeexertion of power” (Meyer); “strength”—might expressing itself in overcoming resistance,ruling, etc.; “might”—strength in itself as inward power.

Ver. 20. Set Him at His own right hand.—“Dexter Dei ubique est.” We cannot dogmatiseabout the relations to space which a glorified body holds. The transcendent glory of God inthat body links God to man, the humanity in the glory gives man his claim in God. “Thetrue commentary on the phrase is Mark xvi.19, ‘He was received up into heaven, and saton the right hand of God’ ” (Meyer).

Ver. 21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion.—R.V., “Rule,and authority, and power, and dominion.” “To be understood of the good angels, since theapostle is not speaking of the victory of Christ over opposing powers, but of His exaltationabove the existing powers of heaven” (Meyer). “Powers and dominions, deities ofheaven,” as Milton calls them, ranged here, perhaps, in a descending order. And everyname that is named.—“God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is aboveevery name.” “Let any name be uttered, whatever it is, Christ is above it, is more exaltedthan that which the name affirms” (Meyer). Not only in this world.—“This age.” “No othername under heaven given among men.” But also in that which is to come.—ThereZechariah’s word will have its fullest application. “The Lord shall be King over all theearth; there shall be one Lord, and His name one.”

Ver. 22. And hath put all things under His feet.—Compare 1Cor. xv.27.

“Strong Son of God, immortal Love,...
Thou madest Death; and lo Thy foot
Is on the skull which Thou hast made.”—In Memoriam.

Ver. 23. The fulness of Him that filleth all in all.—“The Church, viz., is the Christ-filled,i.e. that which is filled by Him in so far as Christ penetrates the whole body and producesChristian life” (Meyer). “The brimmed receptacle of Him who filleth all things with allthings” (Farrar). “Among the Gnostics the supersensible world is called the Pleroma,the fulness or filled, in opposition to ‘the empty,’ the world of the senses” (Meyer).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1, 2.

Apostolic Salutation.

I. He declares the Divine source of his authority.—“Paul, an apostle of JesusChrist by the will of God” (ver. 1). The faithful ambassador scans his commissionwith the utmost care and is solicitous to clearly understand the will of hisSovereign. If he examines his own fitness for the office, it is only to be humbledunder a sense of unworthiness, and to express surprise that he should be chosento such a dignity and be entrusted with such powers. His supreme ambition isto sink his own personal predilections in the earnest discharge of his duty. Pauldoes not dilate on his own mental capabilities or spiritual endowments. Heaccepts his appointment to the apostleship as coming directly from the hand ofGod and recognises the Divine will as the source of righteousness and of all powerto do good. This lofty conception of his call gave him unfaltering confidence inthe truth he had to declare, inspired him with an ever-glowing zeal, renderedhim immovable in the midst of defection and opposition, and willing to obliteratehimself, so that the Gospel committed to him might be triumphant. The trueminister, in the onerous task of dealing with human doubt and sin, feels the needof all the strength and prestige conferred by the conscious possession of Divineauthority. He seeks not to advance his own interests or impose his owntheories, but to interpret the mind of God to man and persuade to submissionand obedience. The power that makes for righteousness has its root in theDivine will.

II. He designates the sacred character of those he salutes.—“To the saints[p.129]which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus” (ver. 1). TheEphesian saints were made so by their faith in Christ Jesus. They were notsaints because Paul called them so. Sanctity is not the result of human volition,nor can it be created by a college of cardinals. “Many saints have beencanonised who ought to have been cannonaded.” Sanctity is the gift of Godand is bestowed on those who believe in Christ Jesus and maintain theirallegiance by continued faith in Him. They are holy so long as they are faithful.The saints of God! “Think,” says Farrar, “of the long line of heroes of faithin the olden times: of the patriarchs—Enoch the blameless, Noah the faithful,Abraham the friend of God; of the sweet and meditative Isaac, the afflicted andwrestling Jacob; of Moses, the meekest of men; of brave judges, gloriousprophets, patriotic warriors, toiling apostles; of the many martyrs who wouldrather die than lie; of the hermits who fled from the guilt and turmoil of lifeinto the solitude of the wilderness; of the missionaries—St. Paul, Columban,Benedict, Boniface, Francis Xavier, Schwartz, Eliot, Henry Martyn, Coleridge,Patteson; of the reformers who cleared the world of lies, like Savonarola, Huss,Luther, Zwingli, Wesley, Whitefield; of wise rulers, like Alfred, Louis, Washington,and Garfield; of the writers of holy books, like Thomas-à-Kempis, Baxter,Bunyan, Samuel Rutherford, Jeremy Taylor; of the slayers of monstrous abuses,like Howard and Wilberforce; of good bishops, like Hugo of Avalon, Fénélon,and Berkeley; of good pastors, like Oberlin, Fletcher of Madeley, AdolpheMonod, and Felix Neff; of all true poets, whether sweet and holy, like GeorgeHerbert, Cowper, Keble, and Longfellow, or grand and mighty, like Dante andMilton. These are but few of the many who have reflected the glory of theirMaster Christ, and who walk with Him in white robes, for they are worthy.”

III. He supplicates the bestowal of the highest blessings.—“Grace be to you,and peace” (ver. 3). Grace and peace have a Divine source. Grace is the richoutflow of God’s goodness, made available for man through the redeeming workof Christ. There is sometimes the thought that grace implies God’s passing bysin. But no, quite the contrary; grace supposes sin to be so horribly bad a thingthat God cannot tolerate it. Were it in the power of man, after being unrighteousand evil, to patch up his ways and mend himself so as to stand beforeGod, there would then be no need of grace. The very fact of the Lord’s beinggracious shows sin to be so evil a thing that man, being a sinner, is utterlyruined and hopeless, and nothing but free grace can meet his case. This graceGod is continually supplying. Grace, like manna, will rot if kept overnight.“Wind up thy soul,” says George Herbert, “as thou dost thy watch at night.”Leave no arrears from day to day. Give us this day’s food; forgive us this day’ssins. Peace is first peace with God, with whom the soul was at enmity; thenpeace of conscience, troubled on account of repeated sins, and peace with all men.All our best wishes for the welfare of others are included in the all-comprehensiveblessings of grace and peace.

Lessons.—1.The will of God is the highest authority for Christian service.2.The saintly character is the outgrowth of a practical faith. 3.Grace and peacedescribe the rich heritage of the believer.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 1, 2. Paul’s Introduction tothe Epistle.—The design of this epistleis more fully to instruct the Ephesiansin the nature of that Gospel they hadreceived, to guard them against certainerrors to which they were exposedfrom the influence and example ofunbelieving Jews and Gentiles, and toinculcate upon them the importance ofa conversation becoming their faithand profession. It contains the substanceof the Gospel.

[p.130]I. Paul here calls himself anapostle of Jesus Christ.—The word“apostle” signifies a messenger sent onsome particular business. Jesus Christis called an Apostle because He wassent of God to instruct and redeemmankind. Paul and others arecalled apostles because they were sentof Christ to teach the doctrines theyhad received from Him. To confirmthis commission, as well as to give theirministry success, Christ, according toHis promise, wrought with them andestablished their words with signsfollowing.

1. Paul was an apostle by the willof God.—He received not his call orcommission from man; nor was he, asMatthias was, chosen to his apostleshipby men; but he was called by JesusChrist, who in person appeared to himfor this end that He might send himamong the Gentiles, and by God theFather, who revealed His Son in him,and chose him that he should knowHis will and be a witness of the truthunto all men.

2. He was called of God by revelation.—Itwas not a secret revelation knownonly to himself, like the revelation onwhich enthusiasts and impostors groundtheir pretensions, but a revelation madein the most open and public manner,attended with a voice from heaven anda light which outshone the sun atnoonday, and exhibited in the midst ofa number of people to whom he couldappeal as witnesses of the extraordinaryscene. The great business ofPaul and the other apostles was todiffuse the knowledge of the Gospeland plant Churches in various parts ofthe world.

II. Paul directs this epistle to thesaints and faithful.—The phrasesdenote they had been called out of theworld and separated from others thatthey might be a peculiar people untoGod. The religion we profess containsthe highest motives to purity of heartand life. If, content with a verbalprofession of and external compliancewith this religion, we regard iniquityin our hearts, we are guilty of thevilest prevarication, and our religion,instead of saving us, will but plungeus the deeper into infamy and misery.That which is the visible ought to bethe real character of Christians.

III. The apostle expresses his ferventdesire that these Ephesians mayreceive the glorious blessings offeredin the Gospel.—1.Grace. Pardon isgrace, for it is the remission of adeserved punishment. Eternal life isgrace, for it is a happiness of which weare utterly unworthy. The influencesof the Divine Spirit are grace, for theyare first granted without any gooddisposition on our part to invite them,they are continued even after repeatedoppositions, they prepare us for thatworld of glory for which we nevershould qualify ourselves.

2. Peace.—By this we understandthat peace of mind which arises froma persuasion of our interest in thefavour of God. Our peace with God isimmediately connected with our faithin Christ. Our peace of mind is connectedwith our knowledge of thesincerity of our faith. “If our heartcondemn us not, we have confidencetoward God.” The way to enjoy peaceis to increase in all holy dispositionsand to abound in every good work. Ifthe apostle wished grace and peace toChristians, surely they should feelsome solicitude to enjoy them.—J.Lathrop, D.D.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 3–14.

Praise for the Work of the Trinity in the Gospel of Grace.

These verses are an outburst of descriptive eloquence that even the ampleresources of the Greek language seem too meagre to adequately express. Thegrandeur and variety of ideas, and the necessary vagueness of the phrases bywhich those ideas are conveyed in this paragraph, create a difficulty in puttingthe subject into a practical homiletic form. It may help us if we regard the[p.131]passage as an outpouring of praise for the work of the Trinity in the Gospelof grace, the part of each person in the Trinity being distinctly recognised ascontributing to the unity of the whole.

I. The Gospel of grace originated in the love of the Father.—1.He hathchosen us to holiness. “Blessed be the God and Father... who hath chosen us...that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (vers. 3, 4).The love of God the Father gave Christ to the world, and in Him the humanrace is dowered with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.” The blessingsfrom heaven link us to heaven, and will by-and-by bring us to heaven, wherethose blessings will be enjoyed in unrestricted fulness. Before time began, inthe free play of His infinite love, God the Father, foreseeing the sin and miserythat would come to pass, resolved to save man, and to save him in His ownway and for His own purpose. Man was to be saved in Christ, and by believinglyreceiving Christ; and his salvation was not to free him from moral obligation,but to plant in him principles of holiness by which he could live a blamelesslife before God. He chose for Himself that we might love Him and findour satisfaction in the perpetual discovery of His great love to us. The trueprogression of the Christian life is a growth of the ever-widening knowledge ofthe love of God. Love is the essence and the crown of holiness.

2. He hath ordained us to sonship.—“Having predestinated us unto theadoption of children by Christ Jesus Himself” (ver. 5). The sonship is not bynatural right of inheritance, but by adoption. It is an act of Divine grace,undeserved and unexpected. It is said that, after the battle of Austerlitz,Napoleon adopted the children of the soldiers who had fallen. They weresupported and educated by the State, and, as belonging to the family of theemperor, were allowed to attach the name of Napoleon to their own. This wasnot the adoption of love, but as a recognition of service rendered by their fathers.None can adopt into the family of God but God Himself, and it is an act on Hispart of pure, unmerited love. He raises us to the highest dignity, and endowsus with unspeakable privileges, when He makes us His children; and our livesshould be in harmony with so distinguished a relationship.

3. He hath accepted us in Christ.—“Wherein He hath made us acceptedin the Beloved” (ver. 6). Christ, the beloved One, is the special object ofthe Father’s love, and all who are united to Christ by faith become sharers inthe love with which the Divine Father regards His Son. It is only in andthrough Christ that we are admitted into the Divine family. God loves us inChrist, and the more so because we love Christ. We are accepted to a life ofholiness and a service of love. Christ is the pattern of our sonship and themeans of our adoption. The love of God to the race finds an outlet through theperson and gracious intervention of His Son.

II. The Gospel of grace was wrought out by the sufferings of the Son.—1.InHim we have forgiveness of sins. “In whom we have redemption throughHis blood, the forgiveness of sins” (ver. 7). How little do we realise thegreatness and blessedness of the pardon of sin! It may seem difficult to explainhow the forgiveness of sins is connected with the sufferings and death of Christ;but there is no fact in the New Testament writings more clearly revealed ormore emphatically repeated than this. “The death of Christ was an act ofsubmission on behalf of mankind to the justice of the penalties of violating theeternal law of righteousness—an act in which our own submission not onlyreceived a transcendent expression, but was really and vitally included; it wasan act which secured the destruction of sin in all who, through faith, arerestored to union with Christ; it was an act in which there was a revelationof the righteousness of God which must otherwise have been revealed in theinfliction of the penalty of sin on the human race. Instead of inflicting suffering[p.132]God has elected to endure it, that those who repent of sin may receive forgiveness,and may inherit eternal glory. It was greater to endure suffering than toinflict it” (Dale). The forgiveness is free, full, and complete.

2. In Him we have the revelation of the mystery of the Divine will.—“WhereinHe hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made knownto us the mystery of His will” (vers. 8, 9). The will of God is to advance theultimate glorious destiny of the whole creation. This sublime purpose was forages an unrevealed mystery, unknown to the prophets, psalmists, and saintsof earlier times. In the depths of the Divine counsels this purpose was to becarried out by Christ, and it is revealed only through and in Him. Thebeliever in Christ discovers in Him, not only his own blessedness, but also theultimate glory of all who are savingly united to the great Redeemer. Theabounding grace of God bestows wisdom to apprehend a larger knowledge ofthe ways and will of God, and prudence to practically apply that knowledgein the conduct of life.

3. In Him we enjoy the unity and grandeur of the heavenly inheritance.—“Thatin the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together inone all things in Christ,... in whom also we have obtained an inheritance,...that we should be to the praise of His glory” (vers. 10–12). The fulness of timesmust refer to the Gospel age and the glorious ages to follow, in which theaccomplishment of the Divine purpose will become more apparent. That purposeis to heal up the estrangement of man from God, and to restore moral harmonyto the universe, which has been disordered by the introduction of sin. The greatagent in the unifying and harmonising of all things is Christ, who is the centreand circumference of all. The angels who never sinned, and the saints who aremade such by redeeming mercy, will share together the inheritance of blissprovided by the suffering and triumphant Christ. “One final glory will consist,not in the restoration of the solitary soul to solitary communion with God, butin the fellowship of all the blessed with the blessedness of the universe as well aswith the blessedness of God.”

III. The Gospel of grace is confirmed and realised by the operation of theHoly Spirit.—1.By Him we hear and understand the Word of truth. “In whomye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation”(ver. 13). The Gospel is emphatically the Word of truth; it is reliable history,not romance—a revelation of truths essential to salvation. It is the functionof the Holy Spirit to illuminate the mind by the instrumentality of the truth,to apply the Word to the conscience, and to regenerate the heart. He takes ofthe things of Christ and shows them unto us, and the vision leads on to a spiritualtransformation.

2. By Him we are sealed as an earnest of possessing the full inheritance ofblessing.—“Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is theearnest of our inheritance” (vers. 13, 14). The work of the Spirit broke downall class distinctions. The Jewish Christians discovered that the exclusiveprivileges of their race had passed away. All believers in Christ Jesus, whetherJew or Gentile, received the assurance of the Spirit that all the prerogatives andblessings of God’s eternal kingdom were theirs. The seal of the Spirit is theDivine attestation to the believing soul of its admission into the favour of God,and the guarantee of ultimately entering into the full possession and enjoymentof the heavenly inheritance.

Lessons.—1.The Gospel of grace is the harmonious work of the blessed Trinity.2.The grace of the Gospel is realized by faith. 3.Praise for the gift of the Gospelshould be continually offered to the Triune God.

[p.133]GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 3–6. The Doctrine of Predestination.—NeitherCalvinism nor Arminianismhas solved the problem presentedin this chapter. Like difficulties meetus in God’s providential dealings—ay,in the workings of His natural laws;for, as a brilliant author has said,“Nature is a terrible Calvinist.”—Lange.

Election.—It is above logic andphilosophy and even technical theology,even as on many, and these, the mostimportant subjects, the heart is a betterteacher than the head. In these mattersI am so fearful that I dare not speakfurther—yea, almost none otherwisethan the text does, as it were, lead meby the hand.—Ridley.

Mystery of election.—Those who arewilling are always the elect; those whowill not are not elected. Many menare wrapped up in the doctrines ofelection and predestination; but thatis the height of impertinence. Theyare truths belonging to God alone; andif you are perplexed by them, it is onlybecause you trouble yourself aboutthings which do not concern you. Youonly need to know that God sustainsyou with all His might in the winningof your salvation if you will onlyrightly use His help. Whoever doubtsthis is like a crew of a boat workingwith all their might against the tideand yet going back hour after hour;then they notice that the tide turns,while at the same time the windsprings up and fills their sails. Thecoxswain cries, “Pull away, boys!wind and tide favour you!” But theyanswer, “What can we do with theoars? don’t the wind and tide take awayour free agency?”—H.W. Beecher.

Ver. 3. Spiritual Blessings.

I. They are accommodated to ourspiritual wants and desires, they comedown from heaven, prepare us forheaven, and will be completed in ouradmission to heaven.—The influencesof the Spirit are heavenly gifts, therenovation of the heart by a Divineoperation is wisdom from above, therenewed Christian is born from aboveand becomes a spiritual man, the stateof immortality Christ has purchasedfor believers is an inheritance reservedfor them in heaven, in the resurrectionthey will be clothed with a house fromheaven, with spiritual and heavenlybodies, and they will sit together inheavenly places in Christ Jesus.

II. The blessings granted to theEphesians are tendered to us.—Heoffers us the honours and felicities ofadoption and the remission of all oursins through the atonement of HisSon. He has proposed for our acceptancean inheritance incorruptible in theheavens. We have happier advantagesto become acquainted with the doctrinesand precepts of the Gospel than theprimitive Christians could enjoy. Ifthey were bound to give thanks fortheir privileges, how criminal must beingratitude under ours! We must oneday answer before God for all thespiritual blessings He has sent us.—Lathrop.

Vers. 4–6. The Nature, Source, andPurposes of Spiritual Blessings.

I. God chose and predestinated theseEphesian Christians before the foundationof the world.—We must not soconceive of God’s election and the influenceof His grace as to set aside ourfree agency and final accountableness;nor must we so explain away God’ssovereignty and grace as to exalt manto a state of independence. Now, sofar as the grace of God in the salvationof sinners is absolute and unconditional,election or predestination is so, and nofarther. If we consider election as itrespects the final bestowment of salvation,it is plainly conditional. Toimagine that God chooses some toeternal life without regard to theirfaith and holiness is to suppose thatsome are saved without these qualificationsor saved contrary to His purpose.[p.134]God hath chosen us to salvation throughsanctification of the Spirit and beliefof the truth.

II. Consider the spiritual qualificationsto which the Ephesians werechosen.—“To be holy and without blamebefore Him in love” (ver. 4). Holinessconsists in the conformity of the soulto the Divine nature and will and isopposed to all moral evil. Love is amost essential part of the character of thesaint. Charity out of a pure heartis the end of the commandment. Withoutcharity all our pretensions to Gospelholiness are vain.

III. Consider the adoption to whichbelievers are predestinated (ver. 5).—Oursonship is not our native right,but the effect of God’s gracious adoption.1.It implies a state of freedom inopposition to bondage. Believers arefree as being delivered from the bondageof sin, and as having near accessto God and intimate communion withHim. Children are usually admittedto that familiar intercourse which isdenied to servants. 2.Adoption bringsus under the peculiar care of God’s providence.3.Includes a title to a gloriousresurrection from the dead and to aneternal inheritance in the heavens. Ifbelievers are the children of God, thentheir temper must be a childlike temper,a temper corresponding to their relation,condition, and character.

IV. That all spiritual blessings arederived to us through Christ (vers.5, 6).

V. The reason of God’s choosing believersin Christ and predestinatingthem to adoption is the good pleasureof His will (ver. 5).—If we admit weare sinful, fallen creatures, unworthyof God’s favour and insufficient for ourown redemption, then our salvationmust ultimately be resolved into God’sgood pleasure. There is no othersource from which it can be derived.If death is our desert, our deliverancemust be by grace.

VI. The great purpose for whichGod has chosen and called us is thepraise of the glory of His grace(ver. 6).—God has made this displayof His grace that unworthy creaturesmight apply to Him for salvation.We are to praise the glory of God’sgrace by a cheerful compliance withthe precepts and thankful acceptanceof the blessings of the Gospel, by a holylife, and by encouraging others toaccept that grace. Believers will, in amore perfect manner, show forth thepraise of God’s glorious grace in thefuture world.—Lathrop.

Vers. 5, 6. The Glory of DivineGrace—

1. Is the sublime outcome of theDivine will.—“According to His will”(ver. 5).
2. Is a signal display of joyousbenevolence.—“According to the goodpleasure of His will” (ver. 5).
3. Demands profound and gratefulrecognition.—“To the praise of theglory of His grace” (ver. 6).

Ver. 5. The Adoption of Children byJesus Christ.—Explain the nature ofthe privilege.

I. Its greatness.—1.From the Beingby whom it is conferred. 2.From theprice at which it was procured.3.From the inheritance which it conveys.4.From the manner in whichit is bestowed. The new birth.

II. Its benefits.—1.The spirit ofadoption. 2.Divine care and protection.3.Divine pity and compassion.4.Overruling all trials for spiritualgood.

III. The evidences of its possession.—1.Theimage of God. 2.The loveof God. 3.The love of the brethren.

IV. Its appropriate duties.—Thechildren of God ought—1.To walkworthy of their high vocation. 2.Tobe subject to their Father’s will both indoing and in suffering. 3.To be mindfulof what they owe to their spiritualkindred. 4.To long for their heavenlyhome.—G.Brooks.

Ver. 6. The Adopting Love of God.

I. Our Lord Jesus Christ is theBeloved of the Father.—From eternityduring the preparatory dispensation[p.135]in the days of His flesh; now; forever. An ineffable love.

II. The Father’s love of believers ison account of the Lord Jesus Christ.—Heaccepts them for the sake of Christas united to Christ. Acceptance distinctfrom pardon.

III. The Father’s acceptance ofbelievers is an act of sovereign grace.—Irrespectiveof their merit. Neitherthe necessity of the atonement nor theobligation of faith is inconsistent withacceptance by grace.

IV. The Father’s acceptance of believersfor the sake of Christ promotesHis own glory.—His glory is the endof all things. Implore all to seek acceptancewith God through Christ.—G.Brooks.

Vers. 7, 8. Redemption throughChrist.

I. The subjects of this redemption.—Redemption,though offered withoutdistinction to all who hear the Gospel,is actually bestowed only on those whor*pent of their sins and believe on theSaviour.

II. The nature of this redemption.—Thereis a twofold redemption—theredemption of the soul from the guiltof sin by pardon, and the redemptionof the body from the power of the graveby the resurrection. The formerof these is intended. But these twoprivileges are connected. The remissionof sin, which is a release from ourobligation to punishment, is accompaniedwith a title to eternal life.

III. The way and manner in whichbelievers become partakers of thisprivilege.—Through the blood of Christ.The death of Christ is the ground ofour hope. Jesus Christ, through whoseblood we obtain forgiveness, is theBeloved. This character of Christshows the excellence of His sacrificeand displays the grace of God in givingHim for us.

IV. Observe the foundation fromwhich our redemption flows.—“Theriches of His grace.” Every blessingbestowed on sinners is by grace; butthe blessing of forgiveness is accordingto the riches, the exceeding, the unsearchableriches of grace.

V. In this dispensation of mercyGod has abounded to us in all wisdomand prudence.—The most glorious displayof God’s wisdom is in the work ofour redemption. Here the perfectionsof God appear in the brightest lustreand most beautiful harmony. In thisdispensation there is a door of hopeopened to the most unworthy, believershave the greatest possible security, andit holds forth the most awful terrorsagainst sin and the most powerfulmotives to obedience.—Lathrop.

Ver. 7. Pardon an Act of SovereignGrace.—This free and gracious pleasureof God or purpose of His will to acttowards sinners according to His ownabundant goodness is another thingthat influences forgiveness. Pardonflows immediately from a sovereign actof free grace. This free purpose ofGod’s will and grace for the pardoningof sinners is that which is principallyintended when we say, “There isforgiveness with Him”; that is, He ispleased to forgive, and so to do is agreeableto His nature. Now the mysteryof this grace is deep; it is eternal, andtherefore incomprehensible. Few thereare whose hearts are raised to a contemplationof it. Men rest and contentthemselves in a general notionof mercy which will not be advantageousto their souls. Freed they would befrom punishment; but what it is to beforgiven they inquire not. So whatthey know of it they come easily by, butwill find in the issue it will stand themin little stead. But these fountains ofGod’s actings are revealed that theymay be the fountains of our comforts.—John Owen.

Ver. 8. The Harmony of Christianityin its Personal Influence.

I. The wisdom and prudence of theGospel are manifested by showing withequal distinctness the Divine justiceand mercy.—Justice does not arrestthe hand of mercy; mercy does notrestrain the hand of justice. They[p.136]speak with a united voice, they commandwith a united authority, theyshine with a united glory. Neitherexcels. The one does not overbear theother. Their common splendour is likethe neutral tint, the effulgent colourlessnessof the undecomposed ray.

II. By exhibiting the incarnateSon as alike the object of love andadoration.

III. By insisting most uniformlyon Divine grace and human responsibility.

IV. By the proposal of the freestterms of acceptance and the enforcementof the most universal practice ofobedience.

V. By inspiring the most elevatedjoy in connection with the deepestself-abhorrence.

VI. By displaying the different conductpursued by the Deity towardssin and the sinner.

VII. By combining the genuinehumility of the Gospel with our dignityas creatures and our conscientiousnessas saints.

VIII. By causing all supernaturalinfluence to operate through ourrational powers and by intelligentmeans.

IX. By resting our evidence ofsafety and spiritual welfare uponpersonal virtues.

X. By supplying the absence ofenslaving fear with salutary caution.

XI. The actual existence of our depravednature and the work of sanctificationin us pressing forward to itsmaturity tend to that regulated temperamentof mind which we urge.

XII. Certain views of personal conductare so coupled in the Gospel withthe noblest views of grace that anyimproper warping of our minds iscounteracted.

XIII. While the distinctive blessingsand honours of the Christianmight tend to elate him, he is affectedby the most opposite motives.

XIV. God abounds in this wisdomand prudence towards us by moststrongly abstracting us from thethings of earth and yet giving us thedeepest interest in its relations andengagements.—All the truths of revelationare only parts of one system, buttheir effects upon the believing mindare common and interchangeable.There is no extraneous, no irreconcilable,no confusing element in Christianity.It is of One; it is one. And if we beChristians, our experience will be thecounterpart of it. As it works outfrom apparent shocks and collisions itsperfect unity, so shall our experiencebe wrought in the same way. In obeyingfrom our hearts its form, whateverof its influence may seem to interferewith each other, they will all be foundto establish our heart; as the opposingcurrents often swell the tide and moreproudly waft the noble bark it carries,as the counterbalancing forces of thefirmament bear the star onward in itsunquivering poise and undeviatingrevolution.—R.W. Hamilton.

Vers. 9–12. The Mystery of the Gospel.

I. The sovereign grace of God inmaking known to us the mysteryof His will.—1.The Gospel is calledthe mystery of God’s will, the mysterywhich from the beginning was hidin God, and the unsearchable richesof Christ. Not that these phrasesrepresent the Gospel as obscure andunintelligible, but that the Gospelscheme was undiscoverable by theefforts and researches of human reasonand could be made known to menonly by the light of Divine revelation.There are many things in theGospel which are and will remain incomprehensibleto human reason; butthough we cannot fully comprehendthem, we may sufficiently understandthem.

2. God has made known to us His will“according to the good pleasure which Hepurposed in Himself.”—Though thereason of His administration is notmade known to us, yet all His purposesare directed by consummatewisdom. He is Sovereign in the distributionof His favours; His goodness tous is no wrong to the heathen.

II. The purpose of God in making[p.137]known to us the mystery of His will(ver. 10).—1.The Gospel is called “thedispensation of the fulness of times.” Itwas introduced at the time exactlyordained in the purpose, and expresslypredicted in the Word of God, and inthis sense may be called “the dispensationof the fulness of times.”

2. One end of this dispensation wasthat God “might gather together in oneall things in Christ” (ver. 10).—To formone body in Christ, to collect oneChurch, one great kingdom under Him.

3. The Gospel is intended to unite inChrist all things both which are in heavenand which are in earth.—The Church ofChrist consists of the whole family inheaven and earth. Here is a powerfulargument for Christian love and forChristian candour.

III. In Him we have obtained aninheritance that we should be to thepraise of His glory who first trustedin Christ.—The believing Jews werethe first who trusted in Christ. They,with the believing Gentiles, were madeheirs of God, not only to the privilegesof His Church on earth, but to an inheritancealso in the heavens. Asthey had first obtained an inheritanceand first trusted in Christ, so theyshould be first to the praise of God’sglory.—Lathrop.

Ver. 10. Christ and Creation.—If theDivine purpose of salvation was regulativefor the creation of the world, thenmust salvation as well as creation begrounded on the original Mediator.But that all creation should be thusgrounded in Him includes a twofoldidea—that not only were all thingscreated by Him, but also for Him, whois to bring to completion both thesaving purpose of God as also thewhole development of the world whichtends towards the realisation of thepurpose of God. And because theworld has not yet reached this goal,then all things have progressively theirexistence in Him; and it cannot fail,because the goal of the world establishedin Him must be realised. Buthow this goal of the world is conceivedof, this verse shows, when it is mentionedas the final goal of the institutionof God’s grace that all things maybe gathered in Christ as in a centre.He has been appointed to be thiscentral point of the universe, as theuniverse was created in Him; but hereit is pointed out that He must againbecome so, because a dislocation in theoriginal constitution of the world hastaken place by sin, whose removalagain the dispensation of grace musthave in view. The goal of the worldis no longer regarded as the perfectedkingdom of God, in which the absolute,universal Lordship of God is realised,in contrast to the earthly, mediatorialLordship of Christ, which the lattergives back to the Father, and that theexaltation of Christ is extended overeverything which has a name both inthis world and in the future. Onecannot think of the goal of the worldwithout Him in whom even creationhas its root.—Weiss.

Vers. 11, 12. Christ the Inheritance ofthe Saints.—1.Christ the Mediator isthat person in whom believers havethis heavenly inheritance, as they haveall their other spiritual blessings leadingto heaven in Him. Every believerhath already obtained this gloriousinheritance, though not in completepersonal possession. 2.As God is anabsolute worker, sovereign Lord of allHis actions, His will being His onlyrule, so His will is always joined withand founded upon the light of counseland wisdom, and therefore He can willnothing but what is equitable and just.3.It is no small privilege for any tobe trusters in Christ before others.It is a matter of their commendation;it glorifies God in so far as theirexample and experience may prove anencouraging motive to others. Itcarries several advantages; the soonera man closes with Christ, the work willbe done more easily, he is the soonerfreed from sin, the sooner capacitatedto do more service to God, and his concernmentsare the sooner out of hazard.—Fergusson.

[p.138]Ver. 13. The Gospel of your Salvation.

I. The import of the salvation proclaimedin the Gospel.—It is deliverancefrom all the evils that have beenbrought on us by the Fall. 1.Fromignorance, not of science, but of God.2.From guilt, or the penalty which thelaw inflicts. 3.From the power of sin,of which we are slaves. 4.From thesorrows and calamities of life, whichit does not remove, but alleviate andtransform. 5.From the power andfear of death. 6.From everlastingperdition.

II. The persons to whom this viewof the Gospel is specially applicable.—1.Tothe unconverted. It teachesthem what they are. 2.To theawakened. It teaches them whatthey need. 3.To believers. Itawakens their gratitude, it reprovestheir lukewarmness, it stimulates theircharity.

III. The reflections to which thisview of the Gospel gives rise.—Howprecious in our estimation should be—1.theGospel, 2.the Saviour, 3.theSaviour’s work, 4.the Saviour’s ordinances,5.the Saviour’s servantsand people, 6.the Saviour’s secondcoming.—G.Brooks.

The Truth and Divinity of theChristian Religion.

I. It is reasonable to suppose thatGod should at some time or seasonfully and clearly reveal unto men thetruth concerning Himself and concerningthem as He and they stand relatedto each other, concerning His natureand will, and concerning our state andduty.—Argued from 1.His goodness,2.His wisdom, 3.His justice, 4.HisDivine majesty.

II. That no other revelation of thatkind and importance has been made,which can with good probability pretendto have thus proceeded from God,so as by Him to have been designedfor a general, perpetual, completeinstruction and obligation of mankind.—1.Paganismdid not proceed fromDivine revelation, but from humaninvention or diabolical suggestion.All the pagan religions vanished, togetherwith the countenance of secularauthority and power sustaining them.2.Mohammedanism an imposture.3.Judaism was defective. (1)Thisrevelation was not general—notdirected, nor intended to instruct andoblige mankind. (2)As this revelationwas particular, so was it also partial—asGod did not by it speak His mind toall, so did He not therein speak out allHis mind. (3)It was not designed forperpetual obligation and use.

Conclusion.—No other religion,except Christianity, which has beenor is in being, can reasonably pretendto have proceeded from God as auniversal, complete, and final declarationof His mind and will to mankind.—Barrow.

Vers. 13, 14. The Assurance of theChristian Inheritance.—By the first actof faith the whole tendencies of man’slife are reversed. Until then thepresent has been his world and theearth his place of rest; then, by theinspiration of the cross, a spiritualworld draws upon his view, that everlastingregion becomes his home, andlife assumes the character of a pilgrimage.We need to have the deepassurance of the immortal kingdom inorder to live an earnest life in a worldlike this.

I. The nature of the assurance.—Thevoices of promises in the Christian’ssoul—the longings, aspirations, hopes,rising from the Spirit of God within us—aremore than promises; they areearnests, i.e. most certain assurancesof the inheritance to come. This inheritanceof spiritual life consists ofthree great elements—love, power,blessedness.

II. The necessity of the assurance.—Theinheritance is given, but notreached. Between the gift and itsattainment there lies a long path ofconflict in which the old strugglebetween the flesh and the Spirit revealsitself in three forms: 1.Sense againstthe soul; 2.The present against the[p.139]future; 3.Steadfast work againstthe roving propensities of the heart.—E.L. Hull.

The Holy Spirit and the Earnest of theInheritance.

I. The character of the inheritance.—Theteaching of the passage is thatheaven is likest the selectest momentsof devotion that a Christian has onearth. Heaven is the perfecting of thelife of the Spirit begun here, and theloftiest attainments of that life hereare but the beginnings and infantilemovements of immature beings.

II. The grounds of certainty thatwe shall ultimately possess the fulnessof the inheritance.—The true groundof certainty lies in this, that you havethe Spirit in your heart, operating Hisown likeness and moulding you, sealingyou, after His own stamp and image.1.The very fact of such a relationbetween man and God is itself the greatassurance of immortality and everlastinglife. 2.The characteristics thatare produced by this Holy Spirit’s indwelling,both in the perfectness andimperfection, are the great guaranteeof the inheritance being ours. 3.TheHoly Spirit in a man’s heart makeshim desire and believe in the inheritance.—A.Maclaren.

The Faith of the Early Christians.

I. The object of their faith.—TheWord of truth and the Gospel of salvation.It is the Word of truth. Itcontains all that truth which concernsour present duty and our future glory.It comes attended with demonstrationsof its own Divinity. It is the Gospel ofour salvation. It discovers to us ourruined, helpless condition, the mercy ofGod to give us salvation, the way inwhich it is procured for us, the termson which we may become interested init, the evidences by which our title toit must be ascertained, and the gloryand happiness it comprehends.

II. The forwardness and yet thereasonableness of their faith.—Theytrusted in Christ after they heard theWord. They acted as honest andrational men: they did not trust beforethey heard it, nor refused to trust afterthey heard it. They did not take theGospel on the credit of other men withoutexamination; nor did they rejectit when they had an opportunity toexamine it for themselves. Their faithstood not in the wisdom of men, but inthe power of God.

III. The happy consequence oftheir faith.—They were “sealed withthe Spirit of promise, which is theearnest of our inheritance.” Theybecame partakers of such a Divineinfluence as sanctified them to a meetnessfor heaven, and thus evidencedtheir title to it.

1. The sealing of the Spirit.—Sealingliterally signifies the impression of theimage or likeness of one thing uponanother. A seal impressed on waxleaves there its own image. Instructionis said to be sealed when it is soimpressed on the heart as to have anabiding influence. So, the sealing ofbelievers is their receiving on theirhearts the Divine image and characterby the sanctifying power of the HolySpirit. The Word of truth is hereconsidered as the seal, the believingheart as the subject, the Holy Spiritas the agent or sealer, and the effectproduced as a Divine likeness. Bya like metaphor Christians are representedas cast in the mould of theGospel. The same idea is conveyed bythe metaphor of writing the Word onthe heart.

2. The earnest of the Spirit.—TheSpirit, having sealed believers orsanctified them after God’s image, becomesan earnest of their inheritance.The firstfruits were pledges of theensuing harvest; earnest-money in acontract is a pledge of the fulfilmentof it. So, the graces and comforts ofreligion are to Christians the anticipationsand foretastes of the happinesswhich awaits them in heaven. (1)Thevirtues of the Christian temper, whichare the fruits of the Spirit, are tobelievers an earnest of their inheritancebecause they are in part a fulfilmentof the promise which conveys the[p.140]inheritance. (2)They are an earnestas they are preparatives for it. (3)Thesealing and sanctifying influence of theSpirit is especially called an earnest ofthe inheritance because it is a part ofthe inheritance given beforehand. Itis the earnest till the redemption ofthe purchased possession. When weactually possess the inheritance theearnest will be no longer needed.

Lessons.—1.All the operations of theSpirit on the minds of men are of aholy nature and tendency. 2.We arestrongly encouraged to apply to God forthe needful influences of His grace.3.We can have no conclusive evidence ofa title to heaven without the experienceof a holy temper. 4.Christians areunder indispensable obligations to universalholiness.—Lathrop.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 15–18.

Prayer for Higher Spiritual Knowledge—

I. Thankfully acknowledges the grace already possessed (vers. 15, 16).—Thepossession of some grace prompts the prayer for more. The apostle recognisesthe faith of the Ephesians in the person and work of Christ and the love theydisplayed towards the saints. Knowing the source of that grace and that thesupply was unlimited, he thanks God and is encouraged to pray for its increase.How slow we are to see the good in others and to thank God for any good foundin ourselves! Ingratitude dulls our sensibilities and chills the breath of prayer.If we were more thankful, we should be more prayerful. The way to excitegratitude is to interest ourselves in the highest welfare of others.

II. Invokes the impartation of additional spiritual insight (vers. 17, 18).—Theapostle prays, not for temporal good or for prosperity in outward things, oreven for the cessation of trouble or persecution, but for an accession of mentaland spiritual blessings. He prays for the opening of the eye of the mind thatthe vision of spiritual realities may be more clear and reliable, and that the soulmay be possessed with a fuller knowledge of Christ. The highest wisdom isgained by a more accurate conception of Him “in whom are hid all the treasuresof wisdom and knowledge.” Sin enters the heart through the avenue of the sensesand passions, grace through a spiritually enlightened understanding. Pride,prejudice, and error are expelled from the mind not so much by the repression ofevil tendencies as by the entrance and maintenance of superior moral truths.The revelation of the Spirit in the Word will not suffice unless the light of thesame Spirit shines through every faculty and power of the inquiring soul.“Man’s knowledge is not perfect within the domain of creation, still less can heknow the things of the invisible world. Only by living in a sphere does he gatherknowledge of what is found there: knowledge comes from experience of occurrences.Without a disposition of the heart the sense of the understanding is not enlargedand sharpened. Sensible, mental, spiritual knowledge refers to life spheres inwhich he who knows must move. Only the believing, loving, longing one knowsand grows in knowledge unto knowledge.” We need, therefore, continually topray for the Spirit of wisdom—a keener spiritual insight.

III. Unveils the grandeur of the Divine inheritance in believers.—“That yemay know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory ofHis inheritance in the saints” (ver. 18). The increase of spiritual knowledge isan ever-widening revelation of the value and splendour of Divine blessings alreadypossessed and in prospect of possession. Faith enjoys the inheritance now, andhope anticipates an ampler revelation and richer experience of its unspeakableblessedness. The phrase “the riches of the glory of His inheritance” indicateshow utterly inadequate human language is to describe its boundless spiritualwealth. It is an inheritance implying union to Him who only hath immortalityand is eternal. Rust cannot corrupt it, nor decay consume, nor death destroy.[p.141]We have not only an inheritance in Christ, but He has also an inheritance in us.He finds more in us than we find ourselves, and we should never know it was therebut for the revelation of Himself within us.

Lessons.—1.Prayer and thanksgiving go together. 2.The soul needs a dailyrevelation of truth. 3.The highest spiritual truths are made known to the soul thatprays.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 15–18. Clearer Discernment inDivine Things desired.

I. The things for which the apostlecommends the Ephesians.—Their faithin Jesus and love to the saints (ver. 15).1.Faith is such a sensible, realisingbelief of the Gospel in its general truthand in its particular doctrines andprecepts as gives it a practical influenceon the heart and life; it looks up toGod through Christ; it is made perfectby works. 2.Faith is accompaniedwith love. Viewing and applying theexamples and doctrines of the Gospel,it purifies the soul unto unfeigned loveof the brethren. The Gospel requiresus to love all men, sinners as well assaints, enemies as well as friends. Ifwe love God for His moral perfections,we shall love the saints as far as theyappear to have these Divine qualitieswrought into their temper. Our loveis not to be confined to a party, tothose who live in the same city andworship in the same sanctuary butembraces all.

II. Paul expresses his great thankfulnessto God for the success of theGospel.—“I cease not to give thanks”(ver. 16). He rejoiced in the honourwhich redounded to the crucified Jesus.He rejoiced to think how many wererescued from the power of Satan, andin the consequences which might ensueto others. If the prevalence of religionis matter of thankfulness, we shouldspare no pains to give it success.

III. He prays for the future successof the Gospel (ver. 16).—The bestChristians have need to make continualimprovement. Paul was no lessconstant in his prayers than in hislabours for the spiritual interest ofmankind. He knew that the successof all his labours depended on God’sblessing; he therefore added to themhis fervent prayers. When ministersand people strive together in theirprayers, there is reason to hope forGod’s blessing on both.

IV. He prayed for spiritual enlightenment(vers. 17, 18).—That theymay seek wisdom from God to understandthe revelation He has given,and such an illumination of mind asto discern the nature and excellence ofthe things contained in this revelation.Christians must not content themselveswith their present knowledge butaspire to all riches of the full assuranceof understanding.

V. He prayed for power to appreciateChristian privileges (ver. 18).—Toknow the hope of the Divinecalling, the possibility and assurance ofattaining the heavenly kingdom. Toknow what a rich and glorious inheritanceGod has prepared for andpromised to the saints. Though wecannot comprehend its dimensions norcompute its value, yet when we considerthe grace of the Being whoconveys it, the riches of the pricewhich bought it, and the Divinepreparation by which the heirs areformed to enjoy it, we must conceive itto be unspeakably glorious.—Lathrop.

The Apprehension of Spiritual Blessings.

I. Further spiritual blessings are tobe apprehended by the saints, thereforetheir condition is a relative one.—TheEphesians had already receivedspiritual blessings (vers. 11–15). Howmuch more is here. The possessedbears some proportion to what is to bereceived. Without this relative viewthe estimate is vague and erroneous.The further gifts consist specially in[p.142]the clearer sight and more certainand enlarged experience of what theyalready saw and possessed. “Him,”“His calling,” “His inheritance,”“His mighty power”—these were tobe theirs in a degree of exceedinggreatness and glory.

II. Unless saints apprehend blessingsnow attainable, they live belowtheir privilege.—“If thou knewestthe gift of God, thou wouldst haveasked of Him” (1John iv.10). Without some knowledgethere is neither faith nor desire.With these unveilings the heart isdeeply moved with the sense of obligationto possess, it is attracted and filledwith desire and animation. Otherwise,with an ignorant satisfaction, thecondition must remain relatively leanand impoverished.

III. The spiritual apprehension ofthese blessings is the gift of God.—Thisis needed because of their Divinenature. As we cannot properly seewhat the sun has called into life andbeauty without his light, so theseblessings are truly seen only in thelight of the Sun of Righteousness.Through the Redeemer the Spirit isgiven. He gives the Spirit to enlightenboth the object and the eye, to“testify,” to “show,” to “glorify,” toreveal, “that we might know thethings that are freely given to us ofGod.” Thus, these blessings are seen,not distantly and dimly, but in theirnearness and unveiled glory, whilst Hecreates in the heart correspondingsympathy, desire, and assurance.Nothing can compensate for this gift—nomere intelligence, no reflection uponpast experience, no mere help fromothers.

IV. This gift is bestowed in answerto prayer.—This particular bestowmentcomes under the promise of the Spiritto believing prayer. This is a gift.Gifts are asked for, not made ours inany other way. This gift is awaitingand challenging prayer, importunateprayer. That an ever-deepening desirefor these spiritual gifts may be ours, letus often ask—What truths are given tome, which, if the eyes of my understandingwere enlightened, would notexert the most positive influence overme, lifting me into the clearer light ofGod’s relations, thus empowering meto live above the standard of naturalstrength, and so to fulfil His presentdesigns? Think of the alternative.—J.Holmes.

Vers. 15, 16. True Religion self-revealing—

1. In its moral results.—“Faith andlove” (ver. 15).
2. Is evident to others.—“I heardof your faith” (ver. 15).
3. Is the occasion of constantthanksgiving.—“Cease not to givethanks for you” (ver. 16).
4. Calls forth a spirit of prayer.—“Makingmention of you in myprayers” (ver. 16).

Vers. 17, 18. Spiritual Enlightenment.—1.Thewisdom which Christians areto seek is not that carnal wisdom whichis enmity to God, nor natural wisdomor knowledge of the hidden mysteriesof nature, nor the wisdom of Divinemysteries, which is only a gift andfloweth from a common influence ofthe Spirit, but that whereof the Spiritof God by His special operation andinfluence is author and worker, and ismore than a gift, even the grace ofwisdom, which is not acquired by ourown industry, but cometh from above.2.It is not sufficient for attaining thisgrace of wisdom that the truths beplainly revealed by the Spirit inScripture. There must be the removalof natural darkness from our understandings,that we may be enabled totake up that which is revealed, as inbeholding colours by the outward sensethere must be not only an outwardlight to make the object conspicuous,but also the faculty of seeing in theeye. A blind man cannot see at noonday,nor the sharpest-sighted at midnight.3.Though those excellentthings which are not yet possessed, butonly hoped for, are known in part, yetso excellent are they in themselves,and remote from our knowledge, and[p.143]so much are we taken up with triflesand childish toys, that even believerswho have their thoughts most exercisedabout them are in a great partignorant of them. 4.As the thingshoped for and really to be enjoyed inthe other life are of the nature of aninheritance not purchased by us butfreely bestowed upon us, so they areproperly Christ’s inheritance, who hasproper right to it as the natural Sonof God and by virtue of His ownpurchase; but the right we have iscommunicated to us through Him, inwhom we have received the adoption ofchildren and are made heirs and co-heirswith Christ. 5.It is a gloriousinheritance, there being nothing therebut what is glorious. The sight shallbe glorious, for we shall see God aswe are seen, the place glorious, thecompany glorious, our souls and bodiesshall be glorious, and our exerciseglorious, giving glory to God for everand ever.—Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 19–23.

The Church Complete in Christ.

I. The Church is the creation of Divine power (ver. 19).—The Church doesnot consist in massive architecture or ornate decorations, nor in ecclesiasticalorganisations and councils. It is not the offspring of the most elaborately constructedcreed. It is not confined within the limits of the most expansiveecclesiastical epithet. It is a Divine, spiritual creation. It consists of soulsredeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus, clinging to Him for pardon, peace, andrighteousness, and created in Him, by “the working of the mighty power” of theDivine Spirit, for good works, and therefore continually striving to disseminatethe good they have themselves received. The apostolic idea of the Church wascoloured by the leading characteristic of the man. To St. Peter it was theChurch as influenced by law—the confessing Church; to St. Paul it was theChurch influenced by the freedom of faith—the witnessing Church; to St. Johnit was the Church as filled with the ideality of faith—working and keeping joyfulholiday, the adorned Bride (Rev. xix.7, 8). The Church is a constant revelationof “the exceeding greatness of His power” who first originated it andsustains its ever-widening growth.

II. The Divine power that creates the Church installs Christ as the supremeauthority.—1.This power raised Christ from the deepest humiliation to the highestdignity (vers. 20, 21). It raised Him from the cross to the throne, from thedomain of the dead to the life and everlasting glory of the heavenly world.“God ascended with jubilation, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.Certainly, if when He brought His only begotten Son into the world He said,‘Let all the angels worship Him’ (Heb. i.6); much more, now that He ascends on high andhath led captivity captive, hath He given Him a name above all names, that atthe name of Jesus all knees should bow. And if the holy angels did so carol atHis birth in the very entrance into that estate of humiliation and infirmity,with what triumph they receive Him now returning from the perfect achievementof man’s redemption! And if, when His type had vanquished Goliath andcarried the head into Jerusalem, the damsels came forth to meet him with dancesand timbrels, how shall we think those angelic spirits triumph in meeting thegreat Conqueror of hell and death! How did they sing, ‘Lift up your heads,O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shallcome in’!” (Ps. xxiv.7–10).

2. This power invests Christ with supreme rule and authority (ver. 22). Onthe night when Christ was born what a difference was there in all outwardmarks of distinction between the child of the Hebrew mother as He lay in His[p.144]lowly cradle, and the Augustus Cæsar, whose edict brought Mary to Bethlehem,as he reposed in his imperial palace. And throughout the lifetime of the twothere was but little to lessen that distinction. The name of the one was knownand honoured over the whole civilised globe, the name of the Other scarce heardof beyond the narrow bounds of Judea. How stands it now? The throne ofthe Cæsars, the throne of mere human authority and power, has perished. Butthe empire of Jesus, the empire of pure, undying, self-sacrificing love, will neverperish; its sway over the consciences and hearts of men, as the world growsolder, becomes ever wider and stronger (Hanna). The rule of Christ will lasttill all enemies are subdued, and obedience to Him becomes a reverential andjoyous experience.

Transcriber’s Note: Please search the Internet for videosthat explore the properties of elemental mercury (“quicksilver”)rather than performing the experiments yourself.

III. The Church is complete as it is endowed with the Divine fulness of Christ(ver. 23).—The Church to-day seems broken into fragments, torn by divisionsand strife; but by-and-by it will blend in a glorious unity. Take a mass ofquicksilver, let it fall on the floor, and it will split into a vast number of distinctglobules; gather them up, and put them together again, and they will coalesceinto one body as before. Thus, God’s people below are sometimes divided intovarious parties, though they are all in fact members of one and the same mysticbody. But when taken up from the world and put together in heaven they willconstitute one glorious, undivided Church for ever and ever. The completenessof the Church is not the aggregation of all the virtues of the saints blended inbeauteous and harmonious unity, but the glory of the Divine fulness thatpervades every part.

Lessons.—1.The Church as a Divine creation is a revelation of Christ. 2.TheChurch is composed of those who are created anew in Christ Jesus. 3.Christ iseverything to His Church.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 19–23. The Dignity andDominion of Christ.

I. The first step in Christ’s exaltationwas the resurrection from thedead.—This miracle is an incontestableevidence of the truth of the Christianreligion, and an evidence of the greatdoctrine of the resurrection of thebody and a future life, and of theefficacy of Christ’s blood to expiatethe guilt of our sins. If we believethat Jesus died and rose again, wemust believe that the same mightypower which wrought in Him can alsowork in us to raise us from the dead.

II. The next step is His ascensionto heaven and session at God’s righthand (ver. 20). The right hand is theplace of honour and respect and denotessuperior dignity. Christ sittingat God’s right hand signifies He hasceased from His labours and sufferingsand entered into a state of repose andjoy, and imports authority and power.He is exalted not only as Ruler, but alsoas Intercessor.

III. The exaltation of Christ issupreme.—His kingdom extends to allcreatures in heaven, earth, and underthe earth. The government of thenatural world is in His hands, as wellas the government of the Church. Hehas dominion over devils. His lastand most glorious act is the judgmentof the world.

IV. The end for which Christ exercisesHis high and extensive dominion(vers. 22, 23).—All His government ismanaged in reference to the good ofthe Church. See how criminal anddangerous it is to oppose the interestof the Church. If the Church isChrist’s body, let us honour it, study topreserve unity in it, labour for itsedification and comfort. Let us honourand reverence our Head, and neverpresumptuously lift up ourselves againstthe Church.—Lathrop.

[p.145]Ver. 19. The Power of God in Conversion.—1.Thepower God exercisesin converting and carrying on thework of grace to glory is not onlygreat, but exceeds all power that mightimpede that work, so that there is nopower in the devil, the world, sin, ordeath which this power does not overcomenor any impotency in believerswhich this greatness of power will nothelp and strengthen. There is nomore pregnant proof of God’s omnipotentpower than in converting sinnersfrom sin to holiness. 2.This mightypower of God extends to all times. Itworks in the first conversion of believers,preserves them in a state ofgrace, actuating their graces that theymay grow, and continues till theirgraces are perfected. 3.The experimentalknowledge of God’s way ofworking is to be carefully sought after,to make us thankful for His graciousworking in us, in order that our knowledgeof God may be increased and ourfaith and hope in Him strengthened.—Fergusson.

Ver. 20. The Future Life.

I. Our virtuous friends at death goto Jesus Christ.—Here is one great factin regard to futurity. The good onleaving us here meet their Saviour,and this view alone assures us of theirunutterable happiness. The joys ofcenturies will be crowded into thatmeeting. This is not fiction. It istruth founded on the essential laws ofthe mind. Their intercourse with JesusChrist will be of the most affectionateand ennobling character. They arebrought to a new comprehension ofHis mind and to a new reception of HisSpirit. They will become joint workers—active,efficient ministers—in accomplishingHis great work of spreadingvirtue and happiness. They retainthe deepest interest in this world.They love human nature as neverbefore, and human friends are prizedas above all price.

II. Our virtuous friends go not toJesus only, but to the great and blessedsociety which is gathered round Him.—Theredeemed from all regions ofearth. They meet peculiar congratulationsfrom friends who had gone beforethem to that better world, and especiallyfrom all who had in any waygiven aids to their virtue. If we haveever known the enjoyments of friendship,of entire confidence, of co-operationin honourable and successful labourswith those we love, we can comprehendsomething of the felicity of a worldwhere souls, refined from selfishness,open as the day, thirsting for newtruth and virtue, endowed with newpower of enjoying the beauty andgrandeur of the universe, allied in thenoblest works of benevolence, and continuallydiscovering new mysteries ofthe Creator’s power and goodness,communicate themselves to one anotherwith the freedom of perfect love.They enter on a state of action, life,and effort. Still more, they go to God.They see Him with a new light in allHis works. They see Him face toface, by immediate communion. Thesenew relations of the ascended spirit tothe universal Father, how near, howtender, how strong, how exalting!Heaven is a glorious reality. Itsattraction should be felt perpetually.They who are safely gathered theresay to us, “Come and join us in oureverlasting blessedness!”—Channing.

Vers. 21, 22. The Supremacy ofJesus—

1. Acquired by His resurrectionpower.
2. Places Him above the highestcreated intelligences and potentates.
3. Is expressed in a name thatsurpasses in dignity and greatnessthat which has ever been or can becelebrated in earth or heaven.
4. Gives Him absolute control overall worlds.—“And hath put all thingsunder His feet” (ver. 22).

Vers. 22, 23. Christ the Head of theChurch.

1. The Church depends on Him forlife, guidance, activity, and development.—“Whichis His body” (ver. 23).
2. [p.146]He governs all things in theinterest of His Church.—“And gaveHim to be the Head over all things tothe Church” (ver. 22).
3. The Church is a revelation ofthe greatness and glory of Christ.—“Thefulness of Him that filleth all inall” (ver. 23).

Ver. 22. The Headship of Christ.

1. The extent of His headship.—1.Overall worlds. 2.Over the wholehuman race. 3.Over the Church.
2. The subserviency of its administrationto the interests of His Church.—1.Forthe edification of HisChurch. 2.For its defence. 3.Forits increase.
3. Its grounds.—1.His merit.2.His qualifications. Whom do yeserve?—G.Brooks.

The Headship of Christ.—The verseconsists of two statements:—

I. That Christ is Head over allthings.—The Father hath given Christto be Head over all things. 1.Originallyinvolved in a covenant oragreement between the Father andthe Son. 2.Now a matter of history.3.The path of Christ to the mediatorialthrone capable of being traced.4.He there laid deep the foundations.5.The whole universe is under Hissway—heaven, earth, hell, all worlds,all elements. 6.He is qualified forsuch dominion—Divine attributes,angelic spirits, believers, the devil andwicked men, the Holy Spirit.

II. That Christ is Head over allthings, to the Church.—Christ sitsupon the throne in the same characterin which He trod the earth and hungupon the cross. 1.It is as Mediator.2.The same ends which He contemplated.It was for the Church Heclothed Himself in human form.3.He gives a peculiar character tothe entire Divine government. HeChristianises it. 4.He employs allHis attributes, resources, creatures.

Lessons.—1.Redemption is a wideand extended plan, not so easily accomplished,not so limited. 2.All creaturesand dominions should do Christ homage.3.The Church is secure from real danger.4.Believers may well glory in Christ astheir Head.—Stewart.

CHAPTER II.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. And you did He quicken.—The italics in A.V. and R.V. show a broken constructionof St. Paul’s meaning, the verb being supplied from ver. 5, where the broken threadis taken up again. Dead in trespasses and sins.—“Dead through,” etc. (R.V.). “Whatdid they die of?” it might be asked; and the apostle answers, “Of trespasses and sins”(so Alford). “The word for trespasses is one of a mournfully numerous group of words”(Trench). It has sometimes the milder meaning of “faults,” “mitigating circ*mstances”being considered. It makes special reference “to the subjective passivity and suffering ofhim who misses or falls short of the enjoined command” (Cremer). Meyer denies any “realdistinction between the words for ‘trespasses’ and ‘sins.’ They denote the same thing as a‘fall’ and a ‘missing.’ ”

Ver. 2. “Shadows,” says Meyer, “before the light which arises in ver. 4.” Wherein intime past ye walked.—It is a sombre picture—men walking about “to find themselves dishonourablegraves” in the “valley of the shadow of death,” knowing not whither theygo because the darkness—the gloom of spiritual death—“hath blinded their eyes”(1John ii.11). According to the course of this world.—Well translated by our modern“zeit-geist,” or “spirit of the age.” The prince of the power of the air.—However contemptuousSt. Paul may be of the creations of the Gnostic fancy, he never dreams of sayingthere is nothing existent unless it can be seen and felt. The dark realm and its ruler arenot myths to the apostle.

[p.147]Ver. 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation.—St. Paul does not glorifyhimself at the expense of his readers’ past life. True his had not been a life swayed byanimal delights (Acts xxvi.5), but it had been marked by implacable enmity to the Son ofGod. And were by nature children of wrath.—“For the wrath of God is revealed fromheaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,... whether it be Jewish orGentile.”

Ver. 4. But God, who is rich in mercy.—“Unto all that call upon Him” (Rom. x.12).“He hath shut all up into disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all” (Rom. xi.32),For His great love wherewith He loved us.—“A combination only used when the notionof the verb is to be extended” (Winer).

Ver. 5. Even when we were dead in sins.—The phrase which closes ver. 3, difficult as itis, must receive an interpretation in harmony with this statement. It is the very marrow ofthe Gospel that, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” That the wrathof God is real we know, but “God is love.” By grace ye are saved.—“Grace” is as trulycharacteristic of St. Paul’s writing as his autograph signature; it, too, is the token (“sign-manual”)in every epistle (2Thess. iii.17, 18).

Ver. 6. In heavenly places.—As in ch. i.3.

Ver. 7. The exceeding riches of His grace.—The wealth of mercy mentioned in ver. 4more fully stated. Grace is condescension to an inferior or kindness to the undeserving.In kindness toward us.—“Kindness” here represents in the original “a beautiful word,as it is the expression of a beautiful grace” (Trench). It is that “fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. v.22) called “gentleness” in the A.V., but which would be better named “benignity.”

Ver. 8. For by grace are ye saved, through faith.—“ ‘By grace’ expresses the motive,‘through faith’ the subjective means” (Winer). The emphasis is on “by grace.”

Ver. 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.—The more beautiful the worksachieved the more natural it is for a man to feel his works to be meritorious. One canunderstand that a man jealous for the honour of God, like Calvin, should speak of theexcellencies of those out of Christ as “splendid vices,” even though we prefer anotherexplanation of them.

Ver. 10. For we are His workmanship.—We get our word “poem” from that which wehere translate workmanship, lit., “something made.” Every Christian belongs to those ofwhom God says, “This people have I formed for Myself, that they should show forth Mypraise” (Isa. xliii.21). The archetype of all our goodness lies in the Divine thought, as theslow uprising of a stately cathedral is the embodiment of the conception of the architect’sbrain.

Ver. 11. Wherefore remember, that ye, etc.—All that follows in the verse serves todefine the “ye,” the verb following in ver. 12 after the repeated “ye”—“ye were withoutChrist.” “Called Uncircumcision... called the Circumcision.” As much rancour lies inthese words as generally is carried by terms of arrogance on the part of those only nominallyreligious, and the scornful epithets flung in return. They can be matched by our modernuse of “The world” and “Other-worldliness.”

Ver. 12. Without Christ.—Not so much “not in possession of Christ” as “outsideChrist,” or, as in R.V., “separate from Christ.” The true commentary is John xv.4, 5. Thebranch “severed from” the trunk by knife or storm bears no fruit thenceforth; disciples“apart from Christ can do nothing.” Being aliens from the commonwealth.—Whatmemories might start at this word! Did St. Paul think of the separation from the Jewishsynagogue in Ephesus or of the fanatical outburst created in Jerusalem when “the Jewsfrom Asia” saw Trophimus the Ephesian in company with the apostle? To such Jews theGentiles were nothing but massa perditionis. Like vers. 2, 3, this is a reminder of the darkpast, the misery of which did not consist in a Jewish taunt so much as in a life of heathenishvices. Having no hope, and without God in the world.—To be godless—not sure thatthere is any God—this is to take the “master-light of all our seeing” from us; to liveregardless of Him, or wishing there were no God—“that way madness lies.” To be “God-forsaken”with a house full of idols—that is the irony of idolatrous heathenism.

Ver. 13. Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh.—The Gentile may sing his hymnin Jewish words: “Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us,and Israel acknowledge us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; from everlastingis Thy name.” “Lo-ammi” (“not My people”) is no longer their name (Hos. ii.23;Rom. ix.24, 25).

Ver. 14. For He is our peace, who hath made both one.—“Not the Peacemaker merely,for indeed at His own great cost He procured peace, and is Himself the bond of union ofboth” (Jew and Gentile). The middle wall of partition.—M. Ganneau, the discoverer ofthe Moabite Stone, found built into the wall of a ruined Moslem convent a stone, believedto be from the Temple, with this inscription: “No stranger-born (non-Jew) may enterwithin the circuit of the barrier and enclosure that is around the sacred court; and whoevershall be caught [intruding] there, upon himself be the blame of the death that will consequently[p.148]follow.” Josephus describes this fence and its warning inscription (Wars of theJews, Bk.V., ch.v., §2). It is rather the spirit of exclusiveness which Christ threw down.The stone wall Titus threw down and made all a common field, afterwards.

Ver. 15. Having abolished in His flesh the enmity.—The enmity of Jew and Gentile; theabolition of their enmity to God is mentioned later. “First be reconciled to thy brother,and then come and offer thy gift,” for reconciliation to God. The law of commandmentscontained in ordinances.—The slave whose duty it was to take the child to his teachermight say, “Don’t do that.” St. Paul does not regard the function of the law as more thanthat (Gal. iii.23–25). One new man.—Trench, in an admirable section, distinguishesbetween the new in time (recens) and the new in quality (novum). The word here meansnew in quality, “as set over against that which has seen service, the outworn.” “It is notan amalgam of Jew and Gentile” (Meyer).

Ver. 16. That He might reconcile both unto God.—The word “reconcile” implies “arestitution to a state from which they had fallen, or which was potentially theirs, or forwhich they were destined” (Lightfoot, Col. i.20). The cross having slain the enmity.—Gentileauthority and Jewish malevolence met in the sentence to that painful death; andboth Gentile and Jew, acknowledging the Son of God, shall cease their strife, and love asbrethren.

Ver. 17. Came and preached peace.—By means of His messengers, as St. Paul tells theGalatians that Christ was “evidently set forth crucified amongst them.” To you afar off,and to them that were nigh.—Isaiah’s phrase (Isa. lvii.19). The Christ uplifted “out of theearth” draws all men to Him.

Ver. 18. For through Him we both have access.—St. Paul’s way of proclaiming HisMaster’s saying, “I am the door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved”; includingthe other equally precious, “I am the way: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.”“Access” here means “introduction.”

Ver. 19. So then.—Inference of vers. 14–18. Strangers and foreigners.—By the latterword is meant those who temporarily abide in a place, but are without the privileges ofit. There is a verb “to parish” in certain parts of England which shows how a word canentirely reverse its original meaning. It not only means “to adjoin,” but “to belong to.”Fellow-citizens with the saints.—Enjoying all civic liberties, and able to say, “This ismy own, my native land,” when he finds “Mount Zion and the city of the living God”(cf. Heb. xi.13, 14). And of the household of God.—The association grows more intimate.The words might possibly mean “domestics of God” (Rev. xxii.3, 4); but when we think ofthe “Father’s house” we must interpret “of the family circle of God.”

Ver. 20. Being built upon the foundation.—From the future of a household St. Paulpasses easily to the structure, based on “the Church’s One Foundation.” The chief corner-stone.—“Thehistoric Christ, to whom all Christian belief and life have reference, as necessarilyconditions through Himself the existence and endurance of each Christian commonwealth,as the existence and steadiness of a building are dependent on the indispensable cornerstone,which upholds the whole structure” (Meyer). The difference between our passageand 1Cor. iii.11 is one of figure only.

Ver. 21. All the building.—R.V. “each several building.” Fitly-framed-together.—Oneword in the original, found again only in ch. iv.16 in this form.

Ver. 22. For a habitation.—The word so translated is found again only in Rev. xviii.2,a sharp contrast to this verse.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–3.

The Children of Wrath—

I. Are spiritually dead.—“Who were dead in trespasses and sins” (ver. 1).The only life of which they are conscious, and in which all their activities aredisplayed, is a life of sin. They have no conception of a higher life. They arecapable of a higher life and know it not. The spiritual, the higher form of life,is entombed and buried under a mass of sin. It is inert, dead, in process ofcorruption. Dante refers to such as, “These wretched ones who never werealive; I ne’er forsooth could have believed it true, that death had slain suchmyriads of mankind.” Sin first benumbs, then paralyses, and finally slays ourspiritual sensibilities. The soul dead to God shall not be insensible to the realityof the Divine wrath.

II. Are under the spell of an unseen evil power (ver. 2).—“The children ofdisobedience” are those who are withholding their allegiance from the Lord[p.149]Jesus Christ, all those who are unconverted; not mere gross sinners and openprofligates, but such persons as are strangers to the spiritual life, although theymay have many excellencies of nature and disposition. The apostle plainlyasserts that before he was brought to the knowledge of Christ he was under theinfluence of the “prince of the power of the air.” This is a startling statement.It is more startling still if we consider what sort of man Paul was before hisconversion—how excellent, how earnest, how devoted to the external duties of areligious life. But startling as it is, it is the apostle who makes it of himself;and the inference is unavoidable, that all that mass of persons who are out ofChrist and who are not partakers of His resurrection life, who have given theirhearts to the world and not to the Saviour, are just the captives of Satan,and, without knowing it, are doing his lusts and accomplishing his will. Thedisease is not less deadly because it eats out the life without inflicting pain.The pestilence is not the less awful because it comes without giving notice ofits presence, borne on the balmy breezes of the bright, cloudless, summer eve.The vampire does not do its work the less effectually because it fans its victimwith its perfumed wings into an unconscious slumber whilst it drains away hislife-blood and leaves him a corpse. And Satan is not the less real or the lessdestructive because he works his fatal work upon our souls without our evenbeing conscious of his approach.

III. Are prompted to sin by the instincts of a depraved nature (ver. 3).—Thereis the twofold province of a man’s being, by the lower of which he is alliedto the brute creation, and by the higher to the angels, both being under thedominion of sin. There is the corrupt body of flesh, and in a higher sense thereis the fleshly mind. Every unregenerate person lives more or less in one or theother of these provinces—either in the sphere of fleshly lusts or in the sphere ofthe fleshly mind. Either he lives simply an animal life, and is in consequence afleshly man, whose life consists only in fulfilling the desires of his lower nature;or he lives in the higher province of the mind, but it is nevertheless the mind indarkness, in uncertainty, in doubt—mind and heart alike alienated from Godthrough the unbelief which is in them. It would not do to argue from this thatour passions are our sins. Sin is not in appetite but lies in the insubordinationof appetite. There is need of a curbing and governing will, and our disciplineconsists in subjugating the lower to the higher. A due balance between the tworegions must be preserved, and it is when passion becomes master and the lowerinvades the province of the higher, when the subordinate becomes insubordinate,that appetite and passion become sin. The flesh is the great rival of the Spirit,for it asserts that dominion over a man which the Holy Spirit alone ought tooccupy, and these two are constantly opposed to each other. The depravitywithin, working in the thoughts of the mind and the passions of the flesh, promptsto a course of disobedience and sin.

IV. Are exposed to condemnation.—“And were by nature the children ofwrath, even as others.” “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against allunrighteousness and ungodliness of men.” The apostle shows that even the Jews,who boasted of their birth from Abraham, were by natural birth equally childrenof wrath, as the Gentiles whom the Jews despised on account of their birth fromidolaters. The phrase “children of wrath” is a Hebraism, meaning we areobjects of God’s wrath from childhood, in our natural state, as being born in sin,which God hates. Wrath abides on all who disobey the Gospel in faith andpractice.

Lessons.—1.Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. 2.Your adversarythe devil walketh about seeking whom he may devour. 3.Because there is wrath,beware!

[p.150]GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 1. A State of Sin a State ofDeath.

I. There are some respects in whichthe death of the soul does not resemblethe death of the body.—1.It does notinvolve the extinction of faculties andaffections. The dead body moves not,nor feels, nor acts. The dead soul stillthinks and feels and wills. 2.It doesnot exempt from responsibility. Thedead soul is commanded to repent andbelieve and obey. 3.It is not incapableof restoration on earth. Thespiritually dead may become spirituallyalive here.

II. There are some respects in whichthe death of the soul does resemblethe death of the body.—1.In its cause.Sin. 2.In its extent. All men withoutexception. 3.In its consequences.The dead are utterly insensible, theyfulfil none of the functions or duties ofthe living, they can be reanimated onlyby Divine power. Address: (1)Thosewho are spiritually dead. (2)Thosewho have reason to believe that theyare spiritually alive.—G.Brooks.

Vers. 1–3. The State of Men withoutthe Gospel.

I. The moral state of wicked menresembles a state of natural death(ver. 1).—From the metaphor used inthe text we are not to conclude that allsinners are alike, for though all are ina sense dead some are under a greaterdeath than others. The metaphor isusually applied to sinners of the mostvicious character. When we speak ofhuman nature as totally depraved wemean only a total destitution of realholiness, not the highest possible degreeof vitiosity. In order to denominateone a sinner it is not necessary that heshould be as bad as possible. Thoughnatural death does not, yet spiritualdeath does, admit of degrees. Evil menwax worse and worse, add sin to sin, andtreasure up wrath against the day ofwrath.

1. Sinners may be said to be dead inrespect of their stupidity.—We read ofsome who are past feeling, whose conscienceis seared, who have eyes whichsee not, ears which hear not, and aheart which is waxed gross. Theirhearts are like a mortified limb whichfeels no pain under the scarifyingknife.

2. They are represented as wantingspiritual senses.—They savour thethings of the world, not the thingswhich are of God. They indeed lovethe effects of God’s goodness to them,but they delight not in His characteras a holy, just, and faithful Being.They may feel a natural pleasure incertain mechanical emotions of thepassions excited by objects presented tothe sight, or by sounds which strikethe ear, as the artificial tears from theimage of the Virgin Mary will meltdown an assembly of Catholics, or asa concert of musical instruments willrapture the hearers; but they relishnot the Word and ordinances of God,considered as means of holiness and asdesigned to convince them of their sinsand bring them to repentance. If theWord dispensed comes home to theirconscience, they are offended. Theylose the music of the pleasant song andtalk against it by the walls and in thedoors of their houses.

3. They resemble the dead in the wantof vital warmth.—If they have anyfervour in religion, it is about the formsand externals of it, or about somefavourite sentiments which they findadapted to soothe their consciences, notabout those things in which the powerof religion consists. As death deformsthe body, so sin destroys the beauty ofthe soul. It darkens the reason, pervertsthe judgment, and disorders theaffections. To be carnally-minded isdeath.

4. They may be denominated dead asthey are worthy of and exposed to punishment.—Thisis called death because itis the separation of the soul from Godand heaven, from happiness and hope,from all good and unto all evil. Thisis a death which awaits the impenitent.

[p.151]II. There is in ungodly men ageneral disposition to follow the wayof the world.—“According to thecourse of this world” (ver. 2). They,like dead carcases, swam down thestream of common custom, and werecarried away with the general currentof vice and corruption.

1. Most men have a general idea thatreligion is of some importance.—Fewcan wholly suppress it, or reason themselvesout of it. But what religion isand wherein it consists they seldominquire, and never examine with anydegree of attention. Such opinions asflatter their ungodly lusts, or pacifytheir guilty consciences, they warmlyembrace. That scheme of doctrinewhich will make converts withoutexacting reformation, and give assurancewithout putting them to muchtrouble, they highly approve. Thepath which will lead men to heavenwith little self-denial they readilypursue.

2. There are many who blindly followthe examples of the world.—Whethersuch a practice is right or wrong theytake little pains to examine. It isenough that they see many who adoptit. They would rather incur thecensure of their own minds and thedispleasure of their God than standdistinguished by a singularity in virtue.

III. They are under the influence ofevil spirits.—“According to the princeof the power of the air, the spirit thatworketh in the children of disobedience”(ver. 2). The number of evil spirits isvery great, but there is one distinguishedfrom the rest, and called the devil,Satan, the prince of the power of theair. The manner in which he worksin the minds of men is by gainingaccess to their passions and lusts, whichhe inflames by suggesting evil thoughtsor by painting images on the fancy.It was by the avarice of Judas andAnanias that he entered into them andfilled their hearts.

IV. The wickedness of men consistsnot merely in their evil works, but inthe corrupt dispositions which promptthem to those works.—“The lusts ofour flesh, fulfilling the desires of theflesh and of the mind” (ver. 3). Thelusts of the flesh are the vices ofsensuality, as intemperance, uncleanness,debauchery, and excess of riot.The desires of the fleshly mind are thelusts which arise from the corruption ofthe mind in its connection with flesh,as pride, malice, envy, wrath, hatred,ambition, and covetousness. Though noman indulges every vice, yet every unregenerateman obeys the carnal mind.

V. The indulgence of carnal lustsand passions brings on men the wrathof God.—“The children of wrath”(ver. 3). A mind sunk in carnalityis incapable of rational felicity; it ismiserable in itself and from its owncorruption and perverseness. If mansubjects his nature to the lusts andpassions, the order of nature is inverted,the law of creation violated, and theCreator dishonoured and offended.

Lessons.—1.If you have not abandonedyourselves to the grossest forms ofvice, it is because you have been placedunder superior light and enjoyed ahappier education than the heathen.2.Though you may not have indulgedall the lusts and vices which others havedone, yet if you are children of disobedienceyou can no more be savedwithout renovation of heart and repentanceof sin than they can.—Lathrop.

Ver. 3. The State of Nature.

I. If by human nature you meannature as seen in this man or that, thenunquestionably nature is evil—individualnature, personal nature, is contraryto God’s will. But if by human natureyou mean nature as God made it, as ithas been once in one man of our speciesand only one, and as by God’s grace itshall be again; if you mean nature as itis according to the idea of the Creatoras shown in Jesus Christ, as it is in theeyes of God imputed not as it is but asit shall be,—then that nature is a noblething, a thing Divine; for the life of theRedeemer Himself, what was it butthe one true exhibition of our humannature?

II. Paul says that by nature we[p.152]fulfil the desires of the flesh and of themind.—I pray you to observe that it isthe second and not in the first sensethat he here speaks of nature. Thedesires of the flesh mean the appetites;those of the mind mean the passions:to fulfil the desires of the flesh is tolive the life of the swine; to fulfil thoseof the mind is to live the life of thedevil. But this is the partiality, notthe entireness, of human nature.Where is the conscience, where theSpirit with which we have communionwith God? To live to the flesh and tothe mind is not to live to the naturethat God gave us. We can no morecall that living to our nature than wecan say that a watch going by themere force of the main-spring withouta regulator is fulfilling the nature of awatch. To fulfil the desires of theflesh and of the mind is no more tofulfil the nature which God has givenus than the soil fulfils its naturewhen it brings forth thorns and briars.St. Paul, in the epistle to the Romans,draws a distinction between himselfand his false nature: “It is not I, butsin that dwelleth in me.” Sin is thedominion of a false nature; it is ausurped dominion.

III. The next thing that Paul tellsus is that by nature we are children ofwrath.—In the state of nature we arein the way to bear the wrath of God.Yet God is not wrath; He is infinitelove. The eternal severity of His naturedoes not feel our passions, He remainsfor ever calm; yet such is our naturethat we must think of Him as wrathas well as love: to us love itself becomeswrath when we are in a state of sin.God must hate sin and be forever sin’senemy. If we sin He must be againstus: in sinning we identify ourselveswith evil, therefore we must endure theconsuming fire. So long as there isevil, so long will there be penalty.Sin, live according to the lusts of theflesh, and you will become the childrenof God’s wrath; live after the Spirit,the higher nature that is in you, andthen the law hath hold on you nolonger.—F.W. Robertson.

The Worst of Evils.

I. By nature all are the childrenof wrath.—1.Because we wantthat original righteousness in whichwe were created, and which is requiredto the purity and perfectionof our nature. 2.Because allthe parts and powers of our souland body are depraved with originalcorruption. Our understandings areso bad that they understand not theirown badness, our wills which are thequeens of our souls become the vassalsof sin, our memories like jet good onlyto draw straws and treasure up triflesof no moment, our consciences througherrors in our understandings sometimesaccusing us when we are innocent,sometimes acquitting us when we areguilty, our affections all disaffected andout of order. 3.Some may expectthat as the master of the feast said tohim that wanted the wedding garment,“Friend, how camest thou in hither?” soI should demand of original sin, “Foe,and worst of foes, how camest thou inhither, and by what invisible leaks didstthou soak into our souls?” But Idesire, if it be possible, to present youthis day a rose without prickles, todeclare plain and positive doctrinewithout thorny disputes or curiousspeculations, lest, as Abraham’s ramwas caught in the thicket, so I embroilyou and myself in difficult controversies.Let us not busy our brains somuch to know how original sin cameinto us, as labour in our heart to knowhow it should be got out of us. Butthe worst is, most men are sick of therickets in the soul, their heads swell toa vast proportion, puffed up with theemptiness of airy speculations, whilsttheir legs and lower parts do wasteand consume, their practical partsdecay, none more lazy to serve God intheir lives and conversations.

Transcriber’s Note: Baptism is not a sacrament that confers salvation.It is an ordinance that serves as a public statement that salvationhas already taken place. Parents are to raise their childrenin the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. vi.4).

II. Ye parents to children, see how,though against your wills, ye havepropagated this wrath-deserving onyour children unto your children; youare bound, both in honour and honesty,civility and Christianity, to pluck themout of this pit. 1.This you may do[p.153]by embracing the speediest opportunityto fasten the sacrament of baptismupon them. 2.Let them not wantgood prayers, which if steeped in tearswill grow the better, good precepts,good precedents, and show thy child inthyself what he should follow, in otherswhat he should shun and avoid. 3.Inthe low countries, where their houseslie buried in the ground, the laying ofthe foundation is counted as much asthe rest of the foundation; so half ourbadness lies secret and unseen, consistingin original corruption, whereoftoo few take notice. Witches, theysay, say the Lord’s Prayer backward;but concupiscence, this witch in oursoul, says all the commandments backward,and makes us cross in our practicewhat God commands in Hisprecepts. Thus every day we sin, andsorrow after our sin, and sin after oursorrow. The wind of God’s Spiritbloweth us one way, and the tide ofour corruption hurrieth us another.These things he that seeth not inhimself is sottish, blind; he that seethand confesseth not is damnably proud;he that confesseth and bewaileth notis desperately profane; he that bewailethand fighteth not against it isunprofitably pensive; but he that insome weak manner doeth all these isa saint in reversion here, and shallbe one in possession hereafter.—T.Fuller.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 4–9.

Salvation an Act of Divine Grace.

I. Springing from the benevolence of God (vers. 4, 7).—A good old saint oncesaid, “There is nothing that affects me more profoundly, or more quickly melts myheart, than to reflect on the goodness of God. It is so vast, so deep, so amazing,so unlike and beyond the most perfect human disposition, that my soul is overwhelmed.”The apostle seems to have been similarly affected as he contemplatedthe Divine beneficence, as the phrases he here employs indicate. He calls it “thegreat love wherewith He loved us.” God is “rich in mercy”—in irrepressible,unmerited compassion (ver. 4). Language is too poor to express all he sees andfeels, and he takes refuge in the ambiguous yet suggestive expression, “Theexceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ”(ver. 7)—hinting at the sublime benignity of the Divine nature longing to expressitself through the noblest medium possible. By his rebellion and deliberate sinman had forfeited all claim to the Divine favour, and his restoration to thatfavour, impossible of attainment by any efforts of his own, was an act of sheerDivine goodness. Its spontaneity breaks in as a sweet surprise upon the sinningrace. The most vicious and abandoned are included in its gracious provisions,and all men are taught that their salvation, if accomplished at all, must be as anact of free and undeserved grace.

II. Salvation has its life and fellowship in Christ (vers. 5, 6).—God has givenus as unquestioned a resurrection from the death of sin as the body of Christ hadfrom the grave, and the same Divine power achieved both the one and the other.The spiritual life of both Jew and Gentile has its origin in Christ, and the axe isthus laid to the very root of spiritual pride and all glorying in ourselves. Weare raised by His resurrection power to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.This we do already by our spiritual fellowship with Him, and by anticipation weshare the blessedness which we shall more fully enjoy by our union with Him inthe heavenly world. The spiritual resurrection of the soul must precede andwill be the inviolable guarantee of the future glorious resurrection of the body.As the great Head of the Church is already in the heavenlies, so ultimately allthe members that make up the body shall be gathered there. We are alreadyseated there in Him as our Head, which is the ground of our hope; and we shallbe hereafter seated there by Him, as the conferring cause, when hope shall be[p.154]swallowed up in fruition. Our life and fellowship in Christ are susceptible ofindefinite expansion and enjoyment in the progressive evolutions of the future.

III. Faith, the instrument of salvation, is the gift of Divine grace (ver. 8).—Thequestion whether faith or salvation is the gift of God is decided by themajority of critics in favour of the former. This agrees with the obvious argumentof the apostle, that salvation is so absolutely an act of Divine grace thatthe power to realise it individually is also a free gift. Grace, without any respectto human worthiness, confers the glorious gift. Faith, with an empty hand andwithout any pretence to personal desert, receives the heavenly blessing. Withoutthe grace or power to believe, no man ever did or can believe; but with thatpower the act of faith is a man’s own. God never believes for any man, no morethan He repents for him. The penitent, through this grace enabling him,believes for himself; nor does he believe necessarily or impulsively when he hasthat power. The power to believe may be present long before it is exercised,else why the solemn warnings which we meet everywhere in the Word of God andthreatenings against those who do not believe? This is the true state of the case:God gives the power, man uses the power thus given, and brings glory to God.Without the power no man can believe; with it any man may.

IV. Salvation, being unmeritorious, excludes all human boasting.—“Not ofworks, lest any man should boast” (ver. 9). Neither salvation nor the faiththat brings it is the result of human ingenuity and effort. The grand moralresults brought about by saving faith are so extraordinary, and so high above theplane of the loftiest and most gigantic human endeavours, that if man couldproduce them by his own unaided powers he would have cause indeed for the mostextravagant boasting, and he would be in danger of generating a pride which inits uncontrollable excess would work for his irretrievable ruin. The least shadow ofa ground for pride is however excluded. God protects both Himself and man bythe freeness and simplicity of the offer of salvation. It is the complaint ofintellectual pride that the reception of the Gospel is impossible because itdemands a humiliation and self-emptying that degrade and shackle intellectualfreedom. Such an objection is a libel on the Gospel. It humbles in order toexalt; it binds its claims upon us to lift us to a higher freedom. So completelyis salvation a Divine act, that the man who refuses to accept it on God’s termsmust perish. There is no other way.

V. The glory of Divine grace in salvation will be increasingly demonstratedin the future.—“That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding richesof his grace” (ver. 7). The most valuable function of history is not that whichdeals with the rise and fall of empires, the brutal ravages of war, the biographiesof kings, statesmen, and philosophers, but that which treats upon the social andmoral condition of the people and the influence of religion in the developmentof individual and national character. The true history of the world is the historyof God’s dealings with it. The ages of the past have been a revelation of God;the ages to come will be an enlargement of that revelation, and its most conspicuousfeature will be an ever-new development of the riches of Divine grace inthe redemption of the human race. In all successive ages of the world we areauthorised to declare that sinners shall be saved only as they repent of their sinsand believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lessons.—Salvation—1.Is a revelation of what God does for man. 2.Isabsolutely necessary for each. 3.Should be earnestly sought by all.

GERM NOTES OF THE VERSES.

Vers. 4–7. The Great Change effectedin Man by the Gospel.

I. The happy change which theGospel made in the Ephesians.—A[p.155]change not peculiar to them, butcommon to all sincere believers.

1. God hath quickened us.—Made usalive with Christ. (1)True Christiansare alive; they have spiritual sensesand appetites. (2)Spiritual motions.(3)Spiritual pleasures. (4)Spiritualpowers. The spiritual life comesthrough Christ and is conformed toHim.

2. God hath raised us up togetherwith Christ (ver. 6).—His resurrectionis a proof and pattern of that ofbelievers.

3. God hath made us to sit together inheavenly places in Christ.—His entranceinto heaven is a proof of the finalsalvation of believers. He sits therefor them, to take care of their interests,and in due time will bring them to sitwhere He is.

II. Contemplate the mercy of Godin this great change.—“God, who isrich in mercy” (ver. 4). The merciesof God are rich in extent, in number,in respect of constancy, in variety, invalue. “The great love wherewithHe loved us.” He first loved us. Hislove shines brighter when we considerwhat a being He is. He is infinitelyabove us. He is self-sufficient. TheGospel gives us the most exalted conceptionsof God’s character.

III. The general purpose of God’sparticular mercy to the Ephesians(ver. 7).—God’s mercy in reclaimingone transgressor may operate to thesalvation of thousands in ages to come.The Gospel dispensation was intendedto serve some useful purposes amongother intelligences. Not only God’sgracious dispensation to fallen men,but also His righteous severity towardirreclaimable offenders, is designed forextensive beneficial influence.—Lathrop.

Vers. 4, 5. The State of Grace.

1. Salvation originates in the love ofGod.

2. That it consists in emancipationfrom evil.—“Quickened us togetherwith Christ;” that is, gave life. Thelove and mercy of God were shown inthis—not that He saved from penalty,but from sin. What we want is life,more life, spiritual life, to know in allthings the truth of God, and to speakit, to feel in all things the will of Godand do it.

3. The next word to explain is grace.—Itstands opposed to nature and tolaw. Whenever nature means thedominion of our lower appetites, thennature stands opposed to grace. Gracestands opposed to law. All that lawcan do is to manifest sin, just as thedam thrown across the river shows itsstrength; law can arrest sometimesthe commission of sin, but never theinward principle. Therefore, God hasprovided another remedy, “Sin shallnot have dominion over you,” becauseye are under grace.

4. Paul states salvation here as a fact.—“Bygrace ye are saved.” There aretwo systems. The one begins withnature, the other with grace: the onetreats all Christians as if they werethe children of the devil, and tells themthat they may perhaps become thechildren of God; the other declaresthat the incarnation of Christ is a fact,a universal fact, proclaiming that allthe world are called to be the childrenof the Most High. Let us believe ingrace instead of beginning with nature.—F.W. Robertson.

Vers. 4–6. The Believer exalted togetherwith Jesus Christ.

I. The believer is assured he israised up with Christ by the proofswhich assure him of the exaltation ofChrist.—These proofs, irresistible asthey are, do not produce impressionsso lively as they ought. 1.From theabuse of a distinction between mathematicalevidence and moral evidence.2.Because the mind is under the influenceof a prejudice, unworthy of areal philosopher, that moral evidencechanges its nature according to thenature of the things to which it isapplied. 3.Because the necessary discriminationhas not been employed inthe selection of those proofs on whichsome have pretended to establish it.4.Because we are too deeply affected[p.156]by our inability to resolve certainquestions which the enemies of religionare accustomed to put on some circ*mstancesrelative to that event.5.Because we suffer ourselves to beintimidated more than we ought bythe comparison instituted between themand certain popular rumours which haveno better support than the caprice ofthe persons who propagate them.6.Because they are not sufficientlyknown.

II. The means supplied to satisfythe believer that he is fulfilling theconditions under which he maypromise himself that he shall becomea partaker of Christ’s exaltation.—Thoughthis knowledge be difficult, itis by no means impossible of attainment.He employs two methodsprincipally to arrive at it: 1.Hestudies his own heart; 2.He shrinksnot from the inspection of the eyes ofothers.

III. The believer is raised up withChrist by the foretastes which heenjoys on earth of his participation inthe exaltation of Christ.—This experienceis realised by the believer.1.When shutting the door of his closetand excluding the world from his heart,he is admitted to communion andfellowship with Deity in retirementand silence. 2.When Providencecalls him to undergo some severe trial.3.When he has been enabled to makesome noble and generous sacrifice.4.When celebrating the sacred mysteriesof redeeming love. 5.Finally,in the hour of conflict with the king ofterrors.—Saurin.

Ver. 5. Justification by Faith.

I. We hold that we are justified byfaith, that is, by believing, and thatunless we are justified we cannot besaved. Of all men whoever believedthis, those who gave us the Churchcatechism believed it most strongly.Believing really what they taught, theybelieved that children were justified.For if a child is not justified in being amember of Christ, a child of God, andan inheritor of the kingdom of heaven,what is he justified in being? Theyknew that the children could only keepin this just, right, and proper state bytrusting in God and looking up to Himdaily in faith and love and obedience.

II. These old reformers werepractical men and took the practicalway.—They knew the old proverb,“A man need not be a builder to livein a house.” At least they acted onit; and instead of trying to make thechildren understand what faith wasmade up of, they tried to make themlive in faith itself. Instead of puzzlingand fretting the children’s minds withany of the controversies then going onbetween Papists and Protestants, orafterwards between Calvinists andArminians, they taught the childrensimply about God, who He was, andwhat He had done for them and allmankind, that so they might learn tolove Him, look up to Him in faith, andtrust utterly to Him, and so remainjustified and right, saved and safe forever. By doing which they showedthat they knew more about faith andabout God than if they had writtenbooks on books of doctrinal arguments.

III. The Church catechism, whereit is really and honestly taught, givesthe children an honest, frank, sober,English temper of mind which noother training I have seen gives.—Iwarn you frankly that if you expect tomake the average of English childrengood children on any other groundthan the Church catechism takes, youwill fail. If it be not enough for yourchildren to know all the articles of theApostles’ Creed, and on the strengththereof to trust God utterly and so bejustified and saved, then they must goelsewhere, for I have nothing more tooffer them, and trust in God that Inever shall have.—C.Kingsley.

Ver. 8. Salvation by Faith.

I. What faith it is through whichwe are saved.—1.It is not barely thefaith of a heathen. 2.Nor is it thefaith of a devil, though this goes muchfurther than that of a heathen. 3.Itis not barely that the apostles had[p.157]while Christ was yet upon earth. 4.Ingeneral it is faith in Christ: Christand God through Christ are the properobjects of it. 5.It is not only anassent to the whole Gospel of Christ,but also a full reliance on the blood ofChrist, a trust in the merits of Hislife, death, and resurrection, a recumbencyupon Him as our atonementand our life, as given for us and livingin us, and in consequence hereof, aclosing with Him and cleaving to Himas our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,and redemption, or, in oneword, our salvation.

II. What is the salvation which isthrough faith?—1.It is a presentsalvation. 2.A salvation from sin.3.From the guilt of all past sin.4.From fear. 5.From the power ofsin. 6.A salvation often expressedin the word “justification,” which takenin the largest sense implies a deliverancefrom guilt and punishment by theatonement of Christ actually appliedto the soul of the sinner now believingon Him, and a deliverance from thepower of sin, through Christ formed inhis heart.

III. The importance of the doctrine.—Neverwas the maintaining thisdoctrine more seasonable than it is atthis day. Nothing but this can effectuallyprevent the increase of the Romishdelusion among us. It is endless toattack one by one all the errors of thatChurch. But salvation by faith strikesat the root, and all fall at once wherethis is established.—Wesley.

Vers. 8, 9. Our Salvation is ofGrace.

I. Consider how we are savedthrough faith.—1.Without faith wecannot be saved. 2.All who have faithwill be saved.

II. What place and influence workshave in our salvation.—1.In whatsense our salvation is not of works.(1)We are not saved by works consideredas a fulfilment of the originallaw of nature. (2)We are not savedby virtue of any works done beforefaith in Christ, for none of theseare properly good. 2.There is a sense inwhich good works are of absolutenecessity to salvation. (1)They arenecessary as being radically includedin that faith by which we are saved.(2)A temper disposing us to goodworks is a necessary qualification forheaven. (3)Works are necessary asevidences of our faith in Christ and ofour title to heaven. (4)Good worksessentially belong to religion. (5)Worksare necessary to adorn our professionsand honour our religion before men.(6)By them we are to be judged inthe great day of the Lord.

III. The necessity of works does notdiminish the grace of God in oursalvation nor afford us any pretencefor boasting.—1.Humility essentiallybelongs to the Christian temper. 2.Themighty preparation God has made forour recovery teaches that the humanrace is of great importance in the scaleof rational beings and in the schemeof God’s universal government. 3.Itinfinitely concerns us to comply withthe proposals of the Gospel. 4.Let noman flatter himself that he is in a stateof salvation as long as he lives in theneglect of good works. 5.Let us becareful that we mistake not the natureof good works.—Lathrop.

Ver. 8. True Justifying Faith is notof Ourselves.—It is through grace thatwe believe in the grace of God. God’sgrace and love, the source; faith, theinstrument; both His gift. The originof our coming to Christ is of God.Justifying faith, not human assent,but a powerful, vivifying thing whichimmediately works a change in theman and makes him a new creatureand leads him to an entirely new andaltered mode of life and conduct.Hence justifying faith is a Divinework.

[p.158]MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verse 10.

The Christian Life a Divine Creation.

I. The true Christian a specimen of the Divine handiwork.—“We are Hisworkmanship.” So far is man from being the author of his own salvation, orfrom procuring salvation for the sake of any works of his own, that not only washis first creation as a man the work of God, but his new spiritual creation iswholly the result of Divine power. Man, in the marvellous mechanism of hisbody, and in his unique mental and spiritual endowments, is the noblest workof God. He is the lord and high priest of nature and has such dominion overit as to be able to combine and utilise its forces. But the creation of the newspiritual man in Christ Jesus is a far grander work, and a more perfect andexalted specimen of the Divine handiwork. It is a nearer approach to a moreperfect image of the Divine character and perfections. As the best work ofthe most gifted genius is a reflection of his loftiest powers, so the new spiritualcreation is a fuller revelation of the infinite resources of the Divine Worker.

II. The Christian life is eminently practical.—“Created in Christ Jesus forgood works” (R.V.). The apostle never calls the works of the law good works.We are not saved by, but created unto, good works. Works do not justify, butthe justified man works, and thus demonstrates the reality of his new creation.“I should have thought mowers very idle people,” said John Newton, “but theywork while they whet the scythe. Now devotedness to God, whether it mowsor whets the scythe, still goes on with the work. A Christian should neverplead spirituality for being a sloven; if he be but a shoe-cleaner, he should bethe best in the parish.”

III. The opportunities and motives for Christian usefulness are Divinely provided.—“WhichGod hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”Every man has his daily work of body or mind appointed him. There is nota moment without a duty. Each one has a vineyard; let him see that he tillit, and not say, “No man hath hired us.” “The situation,” says Carlyle,“that has not its duty, its ideal, was never yet occupied by man. Yes, here inthis poor, miserable, hampered, despicable Actual wherein thou even nowstandest, here or nowhere is thy ideal. Work it out therefrom, and working,believe, live, and be free.” There is no romance in a minister’s proposing andhoping to forward a great moral revolution on the earth, for the religion he isappointed to preach was intended and is adapted to work deeply and widely andto change the face of society. Christianity was not ushered into the world withsuch a stupendous preparation, it was not foreshown through so many ages byenraptured prophets, it was not proclaimed so joyfully through the songs ofangels, it was not preached by such holy lips and sealed by such precious blood,to be only a pageant, a form, a sound, a show. Oh no! It has come fromheaven, with heaven’s life and power—come to make all things new, to makethe wilderness glad, and the desert blossom as the rose, to break the stonyheart, to set free the guilt-burdened and earth-bound spirit, and to present itfaultless before God’s glory with exceeding joy.

Lessons.—1.Christianity is not a creed, but a life. 2.The Christian life has amanifest Divine origin. 3.The Christian life must be practically developed inharmony with the Divine mind.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE.

Ver. 10. Interruptions in our Work,and the Way to deal with Them.—Inproportion to the seriousness withwhich a Christian does his work willbe his sensitiveness to interruptions,and this sensitiveness is apt to disturb[p.159]his peace. The remedy is a closer studyof the mind that was in Christ, asthat mind transpires in His recordedconduct. The point in the life of ourLord is the apparent want of whatmay be called method or plan. Hisgood works were not in pursuance ofsome scheme laid down by Himself,but such as entered into God’s schemefor Him, such as the Father hadprepared for Him to walk in.

I. Notice His discourses both intheir occasions and their contexture.—1.Hisdiscourses often take theirrise from some object which is thrownacross His path in nature, from someoccurrence which takes place under Hiseyes, or from some question which isput to Him. 2.The contexture ofHis discourses are not systematic inthe usual sense of the word. There isthe intellectual method, and the methodof a full mind and loving heart. Theonly plan observable in our Lord’s discoursesis that of a loving heart pouringitself out as occasion serves for theedification of mankind.

II. Study the life of Christ.—Theabsence of mere human plan, or ratherstrict faithfulness to the plan of Godas hourly developed by the movementsof His providence, characterises thelife of our Lord even more than His discourses.Illustrated from Matthew ix.God has a plan of life for each one ofus, and occasions of doing or receivinggood are mapped out for each in Hiseternal counsels. Little incidents, aswell as great crises of life, are underthe control of God’s providence. Eventshave a voice for us if we will listen to it.Let us view our interruptions as partof God’s plan for us. We may receivegood, even when we cannot do good.It is self-will which weds us to ourown plans and makes us resent interferencewith them. In the providenceof God there seems to be entanglements,perplexities, interruptions, confusions,contradictions, without end; but youmay be sure there is one ruling thought,one master-design, to which all theseare subordinate. Be not clamorous foranother or more dignified characterthan that which is allotted to you. Beit your sole aim to conspire with theAuthor, and to subserve His grand andwise conception. Thus shall you findpeace in submitting yourself to thewisdom which is of God.—E.M. Goulburn.

The New Spiritual Creation.—Godhas kindled in us a new spiritual life bybaptism and the influence of the HolySpirit connected therewith. He haslaid the foundation of recreating usinto His image. He has made usother men in a far more essential sensethan it was once said to Saul—“Thoushalt be turned into another man.”What is the principal fruit and end ofthis new creation? A living hope.Its object is not only our future resurrection,but the whole plenitude of thesalvation still to be revealed by JesusChrist, even until the new heavensand the new earth shall appear. Birthimplies life; so is it with the hope ofbelievers, which is the very opposite ofthe vain, lost, and powerless hope of theworldly-minded. It is powerful, andquickens the heart by comforting,strengthening, and encouraging it, bymaking it joyous and cheerful in God.Its quickening influence enters eveninto our physical life. Hope is notonly the fulfilment of the new lifecreated in regeneration, but also theinnermost kernel of the same.—Weiss.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 11, 12.

The Forlorn State of the Gentile World.

I. Outcast.—“Gentiles,... called Uncircumcision by that which is called theCircumcision” (ver. 11). The circumcised Jew regarded himself as a specialfavourite of Heaven, and superior to all other men. He hardly felt himself amember of the human family. He was accustomed to speak of himself as chosenof God, and as holy and clean; whilst the Gentiles were treated as sinners, dogs,[p.160]polluted, unclean, outcast, and God-abandoned. Between Jew and Gentile therewas constant hatred and antagonism, as there is now between the Church andthe world. On the one hand, the old religion, with its time-honoured teachings,its ancient traditions, the Church of the Fathers, the guardian of revelation,the depositary of the faith, the staunchness that tends to degenerate intobigotry—here is the Jew. On the other hand, the intellectual searchings, thepolitical aspirations and mechanical contrivings—science, art, literature, commerce,sociology, the liberty which threatens to luxuriate into licence—here is theGentile. Ever and again the old feud breaks out. Ever and again there is acrack and a rent. The gulf widens, and disruption is threatened. The majorityis outside the circle of the Church.

II. Christless.—“That at that time ye were without Christ.” The promisesof a coming Deliverer were made to the Jews, and they were slow to see thatany other people had any right to the blessings of the Messiah, or that it wastheir duty to instruct the world concerning Him. They drew a hard line betweenthe sons of Abraham and the dogs of Greeks. They erected a middle wall ofpartition, thrusting out the Gentile into the outer court. Christ has brokendown the barrier. On the area thus cleared He has erected a larger, loftier,holier temple, a universal brotherhood which acknowledges no preferences andknows no distinctions. In Christ Jesus now there is neither Jew nor Greek, butChrist is all and in all—a vivid contrast to the Christlessness of a former age.

III. Hopeless.—“Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangersfrom the covenants of promise, having no hope” (ver. 12). Where there is nopromise there is no hope. Cut off from any knowledge of the promises revealedto the Jews, the Gentiles were sinking into despair.

IV. Godless.—“Without God in the world.” With numberless deities theGentiles had no God. They had everything else, but this one thing they lacked—knowledgeof God their Father; and without this all their magnificent giftscould not satisfy, could not save, them. Culture and civilisation, arts andcommerce, institutions and laws, no nation can afford to undervalue these; butnot only do all these things soon fade, but the people themselves fall intocorruption and decay, if the Breath of Life is wanting. As with nations, so is itwith individuals. Man cannot with impunity ignore or deny the Father of earthand heaven.

Lessons.—1.Man left to himself inevitably degenerates. 2.When manabandons God his case is desperate. 3.The rescue of man from utter ruin is anact of Divine mercy.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 11, 12. The Condition of theEphesians before their Conversion descriptiveof the State of Sinners underthe Gospel.

I. They were in time past Gentilesin the flesh.—He admonishes themnot to forget the dismal state ofheathenism out of which they hadbeen called, and often to reflect uponit, that they might ever maintain asense of their unworthiness and awakenthankful and admiring apprehensionsof that grace which had wrought inthem so glorious a change.

II. Reminds them of the contemptwith which they had been treatedby the Jews.—The Jews, instead ofimproving the distinction of their circumcisionto gratitude and obedience,perverted it to pride, self-confidence, andcontempt of mankind. They not onlyexcluded other nations from the benefitof religious communion, but even deniedthem the common offices of humanity.One of their greatest objections to theGospel was that it offered salvation tothe Gentiles.

III. They were without Christ.—To[p.161]the Jews were chiefly confined thediscoveries which God made of aSaviour to come. From them in theircaptivities and dispersions the Gentilesobtained the knowledge they had ofthis glorious Person. This knowledgewas imperfect, mixed with error anduncertainty, and at best extendedonly to a few. The Gentiles, contemplatingthe Messiah as a temporalprince, regarded His appearing as acalamity rather than a blessing.

IV. They were aliens from thecommonwealth of Israel.—To the formsof worship instituted in the Mosaic lawnone was admitted but Jews andsuch as were proselyted to the Jewishreligion. All uncircumcised heathenswere excluded as aliens.

V. They were strangers from thecovenants of promise.—The discoveryof the covenants of promise until theSaviour came was almost wholly confinedto the Jews. How unhappy wasthe condition of the Gentile world inthe dark, benighted ages which precededthe Gospel!

VI. They had no clear hope ofa future existence.—Many of themscarcely believed or thought of a lifebeyond this. They had no apprehension,hardly the idea of a restorationof the body. Those who believedin a future state had but obscure andsome of them very absurd conceptionsof it. Still more ignorant were theyof the qualifications necessary forhappiness after death.

VII. They were atheists in a worldin which God was manifest.—Theheathens generally had some apprehensionof a Deity; but they werewithout a knowledge of the one trueGod and without a just idea of Hischaracter. There are more atheistsin the world than profess themselvessuch. Many who profess to know Godin works deny Him.—Lathrop.

Ver. 12. Hopeless and Godless.—Thesoul that has no God has no hope.The character of the God we love andworship will determine the characterof our hope. 1.The heathen religionwas the seeking religion. Their searcharose out of a deeply felt want. Theyfelt the need of something they didnot possess; and the finest intellectsthe world has ever known bravely andanxiously devoted all their colossalpowers to the task of fathoming themysteries of life. The hope of discoverybuoyed them up and urgedthem onwards; but their united endeavoursbrought them only to theborderland of the unseen and theunknown, where they caught butglimmerings of a truth that ever recededinto the great beyond. “Theworld by wisdom knew not God,”and therefore had no hope. 2.TheHebrew religion was the hoping religion.Favoured with a revelationof the only true God, their hopeexpanded with every advancing stepof the progressive revelation. Theirhope was based on faith, as all truehope must be—faith in the promisesof God. They had the promise of aDeliverer whose wisdom should excelthat of Moses and Solomon, and whosepower should surpass that of Joshuaand of his heroic successors in themost brilliant period of their militarycareer; and, through the centuries ofprosperity and decline, of scatteringand captivity, and amid unparalleledsufferings which would have extinguishedany other nation, hope fastenedand fed upon the promises till the trueMessiah came, whom St. Paul justlydescribed as “the Hope of Israel, theHope of the promise made of God untoour fathers.” 3.The Christian religionis the complement and perfection of allpreviously existing systems; it is thegrand realisation of what the heathensought, and the Hebrew hoped for. Itis in Jesus we have the clearest, fullest,and most authoritative revelation ofGod, and it is in Him, and in Himalone, that the loftiest hope of manfinds its restful and all-sufficient realisation.The apostle Paul refers toJesus specifically as our Hope—“OurLord Jesus Christ, which is our Hope”(1Tim. i.1). 4.In the light ofthis great and indubitable truth the[p.162]words of our text may be clearly andunmistakably interpreted, and theyassume a terrible significance. To bewithout Christ is to be without God andwithout hope. (1)Hope is not simplyexpectation. We expect many thingswe do not hope for. In the naturalcourse of things we expect difficulties,we expect opposition and misrepresentation—“blackwounding calumnythe whitest virtue strikes”—we expectinfirmities and disabilities of age; butwe are none of us so fond of troublefor trouble’s sake as to hope for any ofthese things. (2)Hope is not simplydesire. Our desires are as thick andplentiful as apple blossoms, few ofwhich ever ripen into the fruit theypromise. We desire uninterruptedhealth, we desire wealth—the mostdangerous and disappointing of allhuman wishes—we desire pleasure,success in life, and the realisation ofthe most ambitious dreams; but wehave no reasonable ground for hopingthat all our desires will ever beattained. (3)Hope is the expectationof the desirable, and it must have afoundation on which the expectationrests and an object to which the desirecan rise. The foundation of hope isChrist, and the object of hope is tolive with Him in eternal glory. Tobe without hope and without God doesnot mean that hope and God do notexist. The world is full of both; theyare among you, they surround you, thevery air vibrates with the ever-activepresence of these grand realities; butthey are as though they did not existfor you unless you know and feel theydo exist within you. (4)Hope presupposesfaith; they cannot exist apart.Faith discovers “the only foundationwhich is laid, which is Christ Jesus,”fastens the soul to and settles it onthis foundation, and faith and hoperouse all the activities of the soul tobuild on this foundation a superstructurewhich shall grow in solidity, insymmetry, and in beauty, until itbecomes a perfect marvel of moralarchitecture, richly ornamented withthe most delicate tracery and shimmeringand flashing with the resplendentglory of God. (5)Hope is the balloonof the soul, soaring majestically intothe heavens, scanning scenes of beautyand grandeur never beheld by ourearth-bound senses, and faithfully reportingto the soul the state of affairsin the skies; but it is a captive balloon,and the connecting cords are firmlyheld in the hand of faith. The loftiestflights and the swing of what mightseem the most eccentric gyrations ofhope are held in check by the friendly,the sympathetic, but unswerving graspof faith. “My dear Hope,” Faithsays, “it is very nice for you to beup there, basking in the cloudless sunshineand drinking in the melody ofthe ascending lark as it ripples up theheights; and I like you to be there.I could never get there myself; andyou tell me of things I should neverotherwise know, and they do me good.But, remember, I cannot let you go.We are linked together in the sacredbonds of a holy wedlock. We arenecessary to each other and cannotdo without each other. If you wereto break away from me, you wouldvanish like vapour into space, and Ishould be left forlorn and powerless.”And Hope replies: “I know it, mydear Faith. Divorce would be fatalto us both, and our union is toosweet and precious ever to dream ofseparation. I live in these upperregions purely for your sake. Youknow I have cheered you up manya time and will do so again. My joyis to brighten your life of toil andconflict down there. When the soulhas done with you it will have donewith me, and when my work is finishedI shall be content to die.” Thus, faithand hope are essentially united, andboth are wedded together by the soul’sliving union with Christ. (6)A falsehope is really no hope. It rests on nosolid foundation; it is not justified bysound reason. It is but the blue lightof a frantic conjecture generated amidthe restless tumults of a soul in thelast stages of despair. At the best a[p.163]false hope is but a beautiful dreamspun from the gossamer threads of abusy and excited fancy, a dream ofwhat we wish might be, and, like allother dreams having no substantialbasis, it dissolves into space under thefirst touch of reality. A false hopelures its victims on to destruction, asthe flickering lights of the marsh gasesseduce the belated traveller into thedismal swamps from which there is norelease.

A State of Sin a State of Ungodliness.—1.Mendo not recognise the existenceof God. 2.They do not acknowledgeHis moral government. 3.They donot seek His favour as their chiefgood. 4.They do not delight in Hiscommunion. 5.They do not anticipatetheir final reckoning with Him.6.They do not accept His own disclosuresconcerning the attributes ofHis nature and the principles of Hisadministration.—G.Brooks.

Man without God.—He is like a shiptossed about on a stormy sea withoutchart or compass. The ship drifts asthe waves carry it. The night is dark.The pilot knows not which way tosteer. He may be close to rocks andquicksands. Perhaps a flash of lightningfalls on a rock, or he hears thewaves breaking over it. But howshall he escape, or how prepare tomeet the danger? Shall he trust inprovidence? What providence has heto trust in? Poor man! He is withoutGod. Shall he throw out an anchor?But he has no anchor. He wants thebest and only safe anchor, hope—theanchor of the soul. Such is the stateof man when he is far off, without aGod to trust in, without hope to comfortand support him. But give theman a true and lively faith in Christ,tell him of a merciful and loving Fatherwho careth for us and would have uscast all our care upon Him, show himthat hope which is firm to the end,and straightway you make a happyman of him. You give him a courseto steer, a chart and compass to guidehim, an anchor which will enable himto withstand the buffeting of everystorm. You insure him against shipwreck,and you assure him of a blessedhaven where at length he will arriveand be at rest.—A.W. Hare.

Practical Atheism.—If it had beenwithout friends, without shelter, withoutfood, that would have made agloomy sound; but without God!That there should be men who cansurvey the creation with a scientificenlargement of intelligence and thensay there is no God is one of themost hideous phenomena in the world.

I. The text is applicable to thosewho have no solemn recognition ofGod’s all-disposing government andprovidence—who have no thoughtof the course of things but just asgoing on, going on some way or other,just as it can be; to whom it appearsabandoned to a strife and competitionof various mortal powers, or surrenderedto something they call generallaws, and these blended with chance.

II. Is a description of all thosewho are forming or pursuing theirscheme of life and happiness independentof Him.—They do not consultHis counsel or will as to what thatscheme should be in its ends or means.His favour, His blessing are not absolutelyindispensable. We can be happyleaving Him out of the account.

III. Is a description of those whohave but a slight sense of universalaccountableness to God as the supremeauthority—who have not a conscienceconstantly looking and listening toHim and testifying for Him. Thisinsensibility of accountableness existsalmost entire—a stupefaction of conscience—invery many minds. Inothers there is a disturbed yet inefficaciousfeeling. To be thus withGod is in the most emphatical sense tobe without Him—without Him as afriend, approver, and patron. Eachthought of Him tells the soul who itis that it is without, and who it is thatin a very fearful sense it never can bewithout.

[p.164]IV. The description belongs to thatstate of mind in which there is nocommunion with Him maintained oreven sought with cordial aspiration.How lamentable to be thus withoutGod! Consider it in one single viewonly, that of the loneliness of a humansoul in this destitution.

V. A description of the state ofmind in which there is no habitualanticipation of the great event ofgoing at length into the presence ofGod; in which there is an absenceof the thought of being with Him inanother world, of being with Him injudgment, and whether to be withHim for ever.

VI. A description of those who,professing to retain God in theirthoughts, frame the religion in whichthey are to acknowledge Him accordingto their own speculation and fancy.—Willthe Almighty acknowledge yourfeigned God for Himself, and admityour religion as equivalent to thatwhich He has declared and defined?If He should not, you are without Godin the world. Let us implore Himnot to permit our spirits to be detachedfrom Him, abandoned, exposed, andlost; not to let them be trying to feedtheir immortal fires on transitory sustenance,but to attract them, exaltthem, and hold them in His communionfor ever.—John Foster.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 13–18.

Christ the Great Peacemaker.

I. His mission on earth was one of peace.—“And came and preached peaceto you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh” (ver. 17). His adventwas heralded by the angelic song, “Peace on earth, and goodwill toward men.”The world is racked with moral discord; He is constantly striving to introducethe music of a heavenly harmony. It is distracted with war; He is propagatingprinciples that will by-and-by make war impossible. The work of the peacemakeris Christ-like. Shenkyn, one of whose anomalies was that with all hisburning passions he was a notorious peacemaker, and had means of pouring oilupon troubled waters, once upon a time was deputed to try his well-knownskill upon a Church whose strife of tongues had become quite notorious. Hereluctantly complied and attended a meeting which soon proved to his satisfactionthat the people were possessed by a demon that could not easily be expelled.The peacemaker got up, staff in hand, paced the little chapel, and with his spiritdeeply moved, cried out, “Lord, is this Thy spouse?” Faster and faster hewalked, thumping his huge stick on the floor, and still crying out, “Lord, is thisThy spouse? Slay her!” Then there came, as it were from another, a response,“No, I will not.” “Sell her, then!” “No, I will not.” “Deny her, then!”Still the answer came, “I will not.” Then he lifted up his voice, saying, “I havebought her with My precious blood; how can I give her up? How can I forsakeher?” The strife had now ceased, and the people looked on with amazement,crying out for pardon.

II. He made peace between man and man.—“For He is our peace, who hathmade both one;... to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace”(vers. 14, 15). The hostility of Jew and Gentile was conquered; the newspiritual nature created in both formed a bond of brotherhood and harmony.The Jew no longer despised the Gentile; the Gentile no longer hated and persecutedthe Jew. Where the Christian spirit predominates personal quarrels arespeedily adjusted.

III. He made peace between man and God.—“That He might reconcile bothunto God in one body by the cross” (ver. 16). The enmity of man against Godis disarmed and conquered by the voluntary suffering of Jesus in man’s stead,and by Him thus opening up the way of reconciliation of man with God. God[p.165]can now be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. The violatedlaw is now atoned for, and the violator may obtain forgiveness and regain theforfeited favour of the offended God. There is peace only through forgiveness.

IV. His death removed the great barrier to peace.—This paragraph is veryrich and suggestive in the phrases used to explain this blessed result: “Ye aremade nigh by the blood of Christ” (ver. 13). “By the cross, having slain theenmity thereby” (ver. 16). “Hath broken down the middle wall of partition,having abolished in His flesh the enmity” (vers. 14, 15). It is not the calm,silent, featureless, helpless, forceless, peace of death, but a living, active, aggressive,ever-conquering peace. The death was the result of agonising struggle andintense suffering, and the peace purchased is a powerfully operating influence inthe believing soul.

“A peace is of the nature of a conquest;
For then both parties nobly are subdued,
And neither party loser.”—Shakespeare.

V. True peace is realised only in Christ.—“But now in Christ Jesus ye whosometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (ver. 13). “For Heis our peace” (ver. 14). “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit untothe Father” (ver. 18). “Christ takes us by the hand, and leads us to theFather.” Men seek peace in the excitements of worldly pleasures, or in thepursuit of ambitious aims, but in vain. They only stimulate the malady theyseek to cure. Christ is the restful centre of the universe, and the sin-tossedsoul gains peace only as it converges towards Him. The efforts of men to findrest independent of Christ only reveal their need of Him, and it is a mercy whenthis revelation and consciousness of need does not come too late.

Lessons.—1.Sin is the instigator of quarrels and strife. 2.Only as sin isconquered does peace become possible. 3.Christ introduces peace by abolishing sin.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 13–18. Nearness to God.

1. They were brought into theChurch of God and admitted to equalprivileges with His ancient people theJews.
2. They were brought near to Godas they were admitted to enjoy theGospel, which is a dispensation ofgrace and peace.
3. They were brought near to Godby the renovation of their souls afterHis image.
4. This nearness to God implies astate of peace with Him.
5. Another circ*mstance of thenearness is access to God in prayer.
6. Another is the presence of HisHoly Spirit.—Let us be afraid of everythingthat tends to draw us away fromGod, and love everything which bringsus nearer to Him. Let us seek Himwith our whole heart, persevere dailycommunion with Him, choose Hisfavour as our happiness, His serviceas our employment, His Word as ourguide, His ordinances as our refreshment,His house as the gate of heaven,and heaven as our eternal home.—Lathrop.

Ver. 13. Our State by Nature and byGrace.

I. Our state by nature.—Thedistance from God here spoken of isnot a local distance, neither is it thatwhich separates us from Him as aninfinite Being. 1.It is legal. Banishedby a righteous sentence and bya sense of guilt and unworthiness.2.It is moral. Estrangement. Absenceof sympathy. Want of harmony.3.In both these respects it is ever-widening.4.It is miserable anddangerous.

II. Our state by grace.—1.Thelegal barriers are removed by the[p.166]blood of Christ shed on the cross.2.The moral alienation is removed bythe blood of Christ as applied to thebeliever by the Holy Spirit. 3.Thenearness to God thus effected is avaluable privilege. It includes reconciliation,friendship, communion.Sinner, apply now to be made nigh.Believer, remember thy obligations.—G.Brooks.

Vers. 14, 15. Death a Peacemaker.—Thestruggle between the Northernand Southern States of America closedfor ever at the funeral of GeneralGrant. The armies of rebellionsurrendered twenty years before;but the solemn and memorable pageantat the tomb of the great Union soldier,where the leading generals of theliving Union and of the dead Confederacystood shoulder to shoulderand mingled their tears in a commongrief—this historical event markedthe absolute conclusion of sectionalanimosity in America.

Ver. 16. The Power of the Gospel todissolve the Enmity of the HumanHeart against God.—1.The goodnessof God destroys the enmity of thehuman mind. When every otherargument fails, this, if perceived bythe eye of faith, finds its powerful andpersuasive way through every barrierof resistance. Try to approach theheart of man by the instruments ofterror and of authority, and it willdisdainfully repel you. There is notone of you skilled in the managementof human nature who does not perceivethat, though this may be a wayof working on the other principles ofour constitution—of working on thefears of man, or on his sense ofinterest—this is not the way of gainingby a single hair-breadth on the attachmentsof his heart. Such a way mayforce, or it may terrify, but it never,never can endear; and after all thethreatening array of such an influenceas this is brought to bear upon man,there is not one particle of service itcan extort from him but what is allrendered in the spirit of a painful andreluctant bondage. Now this is notthe service which prepares for heaven.This is not the service which assimilatesmen to angels. This is not theobedience of those glorified spirits,whose every affection harmonises withtheir every performance, and the veryessence of whose piety consists ofdelight in God and the love they bearto Him. To bring up man to such anobedience as this, his heart behovedto be approached in a particular way;and no such way is to be found butwithin the limits of the Christianrevelation. There alone you see God,without injury to His other attributes,plying the heart of man with theirresistible argument of kindness.There alone do you see the great Lordof heaven and of earth, setting Himselfforth to the most worthless and themost wandering of His children—puttingforth His hand to thework of healing the breach which sinhad made between them—telling themthat His Word could not be mocked,and his justice could not be defiedand trampled on, and that it wasnot possible for His perfections toreceive the slightest taint in the eyesof the creation He had thrown aroundthem; but that all this was providedfor, and not a single creature withinthe compass of the universe Hehas formed could now say that forgivenessto man was degrading to theauthority of God, and that by the veryact of atonement, which poured aglory over all the high attributes ofHis character, His mercy might nowburst forth without limit and withoutcontrol upon a guilty world, and thebroad flag of invitation be unfurled inthe sight of all its families. 2.Letthe sinner, then, look to God throughthe medium of such a revelation, andthe sight which meets him there maywell tame the obstinacy of that heartwhich had wrapped itself up in impenetrablehardness against the forceof every other consideration. Nowthat the storm of the Almighty’swrath has been discharged upon Him[p.167]who bore the burden of the world’satonement, He has turned His throneof glory into a throne of grace andcleared away from the pavilion of Hisresidence all the darkness which encompassedit. The God who dwelleththere is God in Christ; and the voiceHe sends from it to this dark andrebellious province of His mightyempire is a voice of the most beseechingtenderness. Goodwill to men is theannouncement with which His messengerscome fraught to a guilty world;and, since the moment in which itburst upon mortal ears from thepeaceful canopy of heaven, may theministers of salvation take it up, andgo round with it among all the tribesand individuals of the species. Suchis the real aspect of God towards you.He cannot bear that His alienatedchildren should be finally and everlastinglyaway from Him. He feelsfor you all the longing of a parentbereaved of his offspring. To woo youback again unto Himself He scattersamong you the largest and the mostliberal assurances, and with a tone ofimploring tenderness does He say toone and all of you, “Turn ye, turn ye;why will ye die?” (Ezek. xxxiii.11). He has no pleasurein your death. He does not wish toglorify Himself by the destructionof any one of you. “Look to Me, all yeends of the earth, and be saved” (Isa. xlv.22), isthe wide and generous announcementby which He would recall, from theoutermost limits of His sinful creation,the most worthless and polluted ofthose who have wandered away fromHim. 3.Now give us a man whoperceives, with the eye of his mind, thereality of all this, and you give us aman in possession of the principle offaith. Give us a man in possessionof this faith; and his heart, shieldedas it were against the terrors of amenacing Deity, is softened and subdued,and resigns its every affection atthe moving spectacle of a beseechingDeity; and thus it is, that faithmanifests the attribute which theBible assigns to it, of working by love.Give us a man in possession of thislove; and, animated as he is with theliving principle of that obedience,where the willing and delighted consentof the inner man goes along withthe performance of the outer man, hislove manifests the attribute which theBible assigns to it when it says, “Thisis the love of God, that ye keep Hiscommandments.” And thus it is,amid the fruitfulness of every otherexpedient, when power threatened tocrush the heart which it could notsoften—when authority lifted itsvoice, and laid on man an enactment oflove which it could not carry—whenterror shot its arrows, and they droppedineffectual from that citadel of thehuman affections, which stood proofa*gainst the impression of every one ofthem—when wrath mustered up itsappalling severities, and filled thatbosom with despair which it could notfill with the warmth of a confidingattachment—then the kindness of aninviting God was brought to bear onthe heart of man, and got an openingthrough all its mysterious avenues.Goodness did what the nakedness ofpower could not do. It found its waythrough all intricacies of the humanconstitution, and there, depositing theright principle of repentance, did itestablish the alone effectual securityfor the right purposes and the rightfruits of repentance.—Dr.T. Chalmers.

Ver. 18. The Privilege of Access to theFather.—In the Temple service of theJews all did not enjoy equal privileges.The court of the Gentiles was outsidethat of the Jews and separated fromit by “a marble screen or enclosurethree cubits in height, beautifullyornamented with carving, but bearinginscriptions, in Greek and Romancharacters, forbidding any Gentile topass within its boundary.” Suchrestricted access to God the new dispensationwas designed to abolish.The middle wall of partition is nowbroken down, and through Christ we,both Jews and Gentiles—all mankind—haveequal access by one Spirit untothe Father. Observe:—

[p.168]I. The privilege of access unto theFather.—That God is the proper objectof worship is implied in our text, andmore explicitly declared in other portionsof the sacred writings. Accordingto the nature of the blessingsdesired, prayer may be addressed toany of the three Persons in the Godhead;but the Bible teaches that prayergenerally is to be presented to theFather through Christ and by the HolySpirit. And so appropriate are theoffices of the Persons in the Trinitythat we cannot speak otherwise. Wecannot say that through the Spirit andby the Father we have access to Christ,or through the Father and by Christwe have access to the Spirit. Wemust observe the apostle’s order—throughChrist and by the Spirit wehave access to the Father. Accessunto the Father implies:—

1. His sympathy with us.—God is ourCreator and Sovereign, but His authorityis not harsh or arbitrary. Hedoes not even deal with us according tothe stern dictates of untempered justice.On the contrary, in love and sympathyHe has for our benefit made His throneaccessible. He will listen to ourpenitential confessions, our vows ofobedience, our statements of want.He has sympathy with us.

2. His ability to help us.—That accessis permitted to us, taken in connectionwith God’s perfections, prove this. Heraises no hope to disappoint, does notencourage that He may repel, but permitsaccess that He may help and bless.

3. His permission to speak freely.—Thereis nothing contracted in God’smethod of blessing. We are introducedto His presence not to standdumb before Him, nor to speak underthe influence of slavish fear. Wehave such liberty as those enjoy whoare introduced to the presence of aprince by a distinguished favourite,or such freedom as children have inaddressing a father. We are broughtinto the presence of our King by HisOwn Son; to our heavenly Father byChrist, our elder Brother. The resultsof this access to ourselves: 1.Itteaches dependence; 2.Excites gratitude;3.Produces comfort; 4.Promotesgrowth in grace.

II. The medium of access.—Underthe law the high priest was themediator through whom the peopledrew near to God. He went into the“holiest of all, once every year, notwithout blood, which he offered forhimself, and for the errors of thepeople” (Heb. ix.7). Under the newcovenant “boldness to enter into theholiest” is “by the blood of Jesus”(Heb. x.19). But as the mediation ofthe Jewish high priest, though “doneaway in Christ,” was typical, it mayserve to teach us how we are to cometo God. He sprinkled the blood of thesin-offering on the mercy-seat andburnt incense within the veil (Lev.xvi.), thus symbolising the sacrificeand intercession of Christ.

1. We, then, have access to God throughChrist as a sacrifice.—“Without sheddingof blood is no remission” (Heb.ix.22). But, “that, while we were yetsinners, Christ died for us,” we couldnever, as suppliants, have found acceptancewith God.

2. Through Christ as an intercessor.—“Butthis man,” etc. (Heb. x.12). Adisciple in temptation cries for deliverancefrom evil, and Christ prays,“Holy Father, keep through Thine ownname those whom Thou hast given Me”(John xvii.11). A dying saint asks for“an entrance into the heavenly kingdom,”and Christ pleads, “Father, I willthat they also, whom Thou hast givenMe, be with Me where I am” (Johnxvii.24). None need deem himself toounworthy to call on God who comesto Him through Christ’s sacrifice andintercession.

III. The assistance afforded by theHoly Spirit.—As we have access untothe Father through Christ pleading forus, so we have access unto the Fatherby the Spirit pleading in us.

1. The Spirit kindles holy desire.—Itis the work of the Spirit to draw offthe hearts of men from the world andraise them to God in prayer. As inplaying on a musical instrument no[p.169]string sounds untouched, so withoutthis influence of the Spirit man wouldnever look heavenward, or his heartfill with desire toward God.

2. Prompts to immediate application.—Blessingsare often desired but feebly.The Spirit rebukes this hesitancy, andurges on to immediate application.

3. Aids in that application.—“Withoutthe Spirit we know not what weshould pray for” (Rom. viii.26). Ourthoughts wander, our affections chill, thefervour of our importunity flags, unlessthe Spirit “helpeth our infirmities.”

Reflections.—1.Those who do notenjoy this privilege are highly culpable.2.Those who do enjoy this privilegeare indeed happy.—The Lay Preacher.

Access to God, revealing the Trinityin Unity.

I. The end of human salvation isaccess to the Father.—That is the firsttruth of our religion—that the sourceof all is meant to be the end of all,that as we all come forth from aDivine Creator, so it is into Divinitythat we are to return and to find ourfinal rest and satisfaction, not in ourselves,not in one another, but in theomnipotence, the omniscience, the perfectness,and the love of God. Nowwe are very apt to take it for grantedthat, however we may differ in ourdefinitions and our belief of the deityof the Son and of the Holy Spirit, weare all at once, there can be and thereis no hesitation, about the deity of theFather. God is Divine. God is God.And no doubt we do all assent inwords to such a belief; but when wethink what we mean by that word“God”; when we remember what wemean by “Father,” namely, the firstsource and the final satisfaction of adependent nature; and then when welook around and see such multitudesof people living as if there were nohigher source for their being thanaccident and no higher satisfaction fortheir being than selfishness, do wenot feel that there is need of a continualand most earnest preaching byWord and act, from every pulpit ofinfluence to which we can mount, ofthe Divinity of the Father. TheDivinity of the Father needs assertionfirst of all. Let men once feel it, andthen nature and their own hearts willcome in with their sweet and solemnconfirmations of it. But nature andthe human heart do not teach it ofthemselves. The truest teaching of itmust come from souls that are alwaysgoing in and out before the DivineFatherhood themselves. By the sightof such souls, others must come to seekthe satisfaction that comes only from aDivine end of life—must come to craveaccess to the Father. So we believe,and so we tempt other men to believe,in God the Father.

II. And now pass to the Divinity ofthe method.—“Through Jesus Christ.”Man is separated from God. Thatfact, testified to by broken associations,by alienated affections, by conflictingwills, stands written in the wholehistory of our race. And equally clearis it to him who reads the Gospels, andenters into sympathy with their wonderfulPerson, that in Him, in Jesusof Nazareth, appeared the Mediatorby whom was to be the Atonement.His was the life and nature which,standing between the Godhood and themanhood, was to bridge the gulf andmake the firm, bright road over whichblessing and prayer might pass andrepass with confident, golden feet forever. And then the question is—andwhen we ask it thus it becomes somuch more than a dry problem oftheology; it is a question for live,anxious men to ask with faces full ofeagerness—Out of which nature camethat Mediator? Out of which side ofthe chasm sprang the bridge leapingforth toward the other? Evidently onboth sides that bridge is bedded deepand clings with a tenacity which showshow it belongs there. He is bothhuman and Divine. But from whichside did the bridge spring? It is themost precious part of our belief that itwas with God that the activity began.It is the very soul of the Gospel, as Iread it, that the Father’s heart, sitting[p.170]above us in His holiness, yearned forus as we lay down here in our sin.And when there was no man to makean intercession, He sent His Son totell us of His love, to live with us, todie for us, to lay His life like a strongbridge out from the Divine side ofexistence, over which we might walkfearfully but safely, but into theDivinity where we belonged. ThroughHim we have access to the Father.As the end was Divine, so the method isDivine. As it is to God that we come,so it is God who brings us there. Ican think nothing else without dishonouringthe tireless, quenchless loveof God.

III. The power of the act of man’ssalvation is the Holy Spirit.—“ThroughChrist Jesus we both haveaccess by one Spirit unto the Father.”What do we mean by the Holy Spiritbeing the power of salvation? I thinkwe are often deluded and misled bycarrying out too far some of the figurativeforms in which the Bible and thereligious experience of men express thesaving of the soul. For instance,salvation is described as the liftingof the soul out of a pit and puttingit upon a pinnacle, or on a safe highplatform of grace. The figure is strongand clear. Nothing can overstate theutter dependence of the soul on Godfor its deliverance; but if we let thefigure leave in our minds an impressionof the human soul as a dead, passivething, to be lifted from one place to theother like a torpid log that makes noeffort of its own either for co-operationor resistance, then the figure has misledus. The soul is a live thing. Everythingthat is done with it must bedone and through its own essentiallife, If a soul is saved, it must beby the salvation, the sanctification, ofits essential life; if a soul is lost, itmust be by perdition of its life, by thedegradation of its affections and desiresand hopes. Let there be nothingmerely mechanical in the conception ofthe way God treats these souls of ours.He works upon them in the vitality ofthought, passion, and will that He putinto them. And so, when a soul comesto the Father through the Saviour, itswhole essential vitality moves in theact. When this experience is reached,then see what Godhood the soul hascome to recognise in the world. First,there is the creative Deity from whichit sprang, and to which it is strugglingto return—“the Divine End, God theFather.” Then there is the incarnateDeity, which makes that return possibleby the exhibition of God’s love—theDivine Power of salvation, God theHoly Spirit. To the Father, throughthe Son, by the Spirit. This appearsto be the truth of the Deity as itrelates to us. I say again, “as itrelates to us.” What it may be initself; how Father, Son, and Spiritmeet in the perfect Godhood; whatinfinite truth more there may, theremust, be in that Godhood, no man candare to guess. But, to us, God is theend, the method, and the power of salvation;so He is Father, Son, and HolySpirit. It is in the perfect harmonyof these sacred personalities that theprecious unity of the Deity consists. Ilook at the theologies, and so often itseems as if the harmony of the Father,Son, and Spirit has been lost, both bythose that own and those thatdisown the Trinity. One theologymakes the Father hard and cruel,longing as it were for man’s punishment,extorting from the Son the lastdrops of life-blood which man’s sin hadincurred as penalty. Another theologymakes the Son merely one of themultitude of sinning men, with somewhatbolder aspirations laying hold ona forgiveness which God might givebut which no mortal might assume.Still another theology can find no Godin the human heart at all; merely afermentation of human nature is thisdesire after goodness, this reaching outtowards Divinity. The end is notworthy of the method. I do not wantto come to such a Father as some ofthe theologians have painted. Or themethod is not worthy of the end. Noman could come to the perfect Godthrough such a Jesus as some men[p.171]have described. Or the power is tooweak for both; and all that Christ hasdone lies useless, and all the Father’swelcome waits in vain for the soul thathas in it no Holy Ghost. But let eachbe real and each be worthy of theothers, and salvation is complete.But each cannot be worthy of theothers unless each is perfect. Buteach cannot be perfect unless each isDivine; that is, our faith is in theTrinity—three Persons and one God.—Philips Brooks.

The Christian Law of Prayer—

I. To the Father.—1.How honourable!Right of entry to an earthlysovereign. 2.How delightful! Ourpleasures may be graduated accordingto the part of our nature in whichthey have their rise. The pleasuresof devotion are the highest taste fordevotion. 3.How profitable! God isable to bestow all temporal andspiritual blessings. 4.How solemn!The intercourse of our spirit with theFather of our spirits. Heart toheart.

II. Through the Son.—1.ThroughHis atonement. Legal barriers to ouraccess must be removed. Have beenremoved by the death of Christ as asatisfaction to Divine Justice. He hasdemolished the wall, He has constructeda bridge across the chasm, He has laiddown His own body as the medium ofapproach. 2.Through His intercession.It perpetuates His sacrifice. TheJewish high priest entering the holy ofholies on the Great Day of Atonement.Amyntas, mother of Coriolanus;Philippa after the siege of Calais.

III. By the Spirit.—1.He teachesus what are our wants. For themost part we are likely to be awareof our temporal wants. In spiritualthings the greater our need the lessour sense of need. 2.He makes uswilling to ask the supply of our wants.Aversion to beg. Aversion to lay barethe symptoms of humiliating disease.3.He gives us power to spread ourwants before God. One person employedto write a letter or a petitionfor another. 4.He inspires us withconfidence to plead with importunityand faith. Confidence in the Father,in the Son, in the power of prayer.—G.Brooks.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 19–22.

The Church the Temple of God.

I. Enjoying special privileges.—1.A saintly citizenship. “No more strangersand foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints” (ver. 19). The apostle hasspoken of the separation and enmity existing between Jew and Gentile. TheJew, trained to believe in the one invisible and only true God, who could not beimagined by any material form, learned to look with hatred and contempt on theoutcast, lawless Gentile, with his idol deities in every valley and on every hill;and the intellectual Gentile looked with philosophic pride on the stern land ofthe Hebrew and in philosophic scorn on his strange, exclusive loneliness. Theywere not only at enmity with each other, but both were at enmity with God.Now the writer is showing that by the provisions of the Gospel both Greek andJew are united as citizens of one Divine kingdom. They enjoy the sameprivileges and are in actual fellowship with prophets and apostles and all holysouls in all ages and are sanctified subjects of a kingdom that can never bemoved.

2. A family life.—“And of the household of God” (ver. 19). The Church isa family having one Father in God, one Brother in Christ, one life in the Spirit,and one home in Heaven. As in earthly families, there are diversities ofcharacter, tastes, gifts, tendencies, and manifestations, but all the members of theheavenly household are bound together by the one common bond of love to Godand to each other.

[p.172]II. Resting on a sure foundation (ver. 20).—The materials composing thefoundation of the Church are living stones—teachers and confessors of the truth,“apostles and prophets”; but Christ, as the one foundation, is the “chief corner-stone.”The foundation of the Church is not so much in the witnesses of thetruth as in the truth itself, and in propagating which truth the first teachersand confessors sacrificed their all. The truth which produced and sustained themartyrs is itself immovable. The apostles and prophets—teachers in theapostolic times—laid the first course in the foundation of the Church and werecareful to recognise and build only one foundation, united and held together bythe one corner-stone—Christ Jesus. They fixed the pattern and standard ofChristian doctrine and practice. The Christian Church is sure because thefoundation is deep and broad and can never be removed and replaced by anyhuman structure.

III. Ever rising to a higher perfection (ver. 21).—The image is that of anextensive pile of buildings, such as the ancient temples commonly were, in processof construction at different points over a wide area. The builders work inconcert upon a common plan. The several parts of the work are adjusted toeach other, and the various operations in process are so harmonised that theentire construction preserves the unity of the architect’s design. Such an edificewas the apostolic Church—one but of many parts—in the diverse gifts andmultiplied activities animated by one Spirit and directed towards one Divinepurpose (Findlay). Since the Day of Pentecost, when three thousand livingstones were laid on the foundation, the Church has been growing in symmetry,beauty, and vastness, and it is constantly advancing towards perfection. Thebuilding, though apparently disjoined and working in separate parts, is growinginto a final unity.

IV. Made by the Spirit His glorious dwelling-place (ver. 22).—The HolySpirit is the supreme Builder as He is the supreme Witness to Jesus Christ(John xv.26, 27). The words “in the Spirit” denote not the mode of God’shabitation—that is self-evident—but the agency engaged in building this newhouse of God. With one chief corner-stone to rest upon, and one Spirit toinspire and control them, the apostles and prophets laid their foundation, and theChurch was builded together for a habitation of God. Hence its unity. But forthis sovereign influence the primitive founders of Christianity, the later Churchleaders, would have fallen into fatal discord (Findlay). The Church is a spiritualorganisation, pervaded and made vital and progressive by the presence and operationof the Spirit of God. An organ is composed of several instruments—thechoir, the swell, the pedal, the great; and many stops—the diapason, the flute,the trumpet; and yet it is one. And the Church of God is one. One Spirit—onebreath of wind turned on by one living Hand—makes all the organ vocal.

Lessons.—1.The Church is the depositary of great religious privileges. 2.Goddwells in the Church by dwelling in the heart of every member of it. 3.The Churchprovides every facility for worship and service.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 19–22. The Church of God aSpiritual Building.

I. The apostle represents theChurch of God under the figure of acity and a household.—1.A Churchmust resemble a family or city inrespect of order and government; forwithout these a religious society canno more subsist than a civil communityor a household. 2.In a city orhousehold all the members have a mutualrelation and partake in the commonprivileges; and though they are placedin different stations and conditions,they must all contribute to thegeneral happiness. 3.In a city and[p.173]also in a family there is a commoninterest. 4.In a well-ordered city orhousehold there will be peace and unity;so there ought to be in a ChristianChurch.

II. The manner in which the Churchis founded.—The mediation of Christis the foundation of our faith and hope.The apostles and prophets are a foundationonly as they describe andexhibit to use the doctrines and works,the atonement and intercession, of theRedeemer. In Him all the doctrinesof the apostles and prophets meet andunite, as the stones in the foundationare fixed and bound together by thecorner-stone.

III. The Church must be unitedwith and framed into the foundation.—Thusit may stand secure. Christ isthe chief corner-stone in which all thebuilding is framed. That only is truefaith in Christ which regards Him asthe foundation of our present hope andfinal acceptance.

IV. As the Church must rest on thefoundation, so the several parts of itmust be framed and inserted into each other.—Asit is faith which fixes thesaints on Christ the foundation, so it islove which binds them together amongthemselves. If we would preserve thebeauty, strength, and dignity of thespiritual house, we must be watchful torepair breaches as soon as they appear,and to remove those materials whichare become too corrupt to be repaired,lest they communicate their own corruptionto sounder parts.

V. The Church is to grow into aholy temple for God through the Spirit.—Wemust not content ourselves withhaving built on the true foundation,but must bring the structure to a morefinished and beautiful condition. TheChurch may grow and make increaseboth by the progress of its presentmembers in knowledge and holinessand by the addition of new memberswho become fellow-workers in thespiritual building. God dwells in HisChurch, not only by His Word andordinances, but also by the influence ofHis Spirit which He affords to assistHis people in the duties of His worshipand to open their hearts for the receptionof His Word.—Lathrop.

Ver. 19. Christian Prayer a Witnessof Christian Citizenship.

I. The foundation of the citizenshipof the Christian.—In access to theFather—in the power of approachingHim in full, free, trustful prayer.

1. Christian prayer is the approachof the individual soul to God as itsFather.—Until a man utterly believersin Christ he can never pray aright.There are veils around the unbelievingspirit which hinder this free, confidingapproach. The touch of God startlesmemories, rouses ghosts of the pastin the soul’s secret chambers; theyflutter fearfully in the strange Divinelight, and the man shudders and darenot pray. A man bathed in the lifeof God in prayer feels he is no morea stranger and a foreigner, but hasentered into God’s kingdom, for God ishis Father.

2. That prayer of the individual soulmust lead to the united worship of God’sChurch.—We cannot always pray alone.The men who stand most aloof fromsocial worship are not the men whomanifest the highest spiritual life.Our highest prayers are our mostuniversal. I do not say we don’t feeltheir individuality, we do—but in andthrough their universality.

II. The nature of Christian citizenship.—1.Prayera witness to our fellowshipwith the Church of all time. Realisingthe Fatherhood of God in the holyconverse of prayer, we are nearer men.Our selfishness, our narrow, isolatingpeculiarities begin to fade. In ourhighest prayers we realise commonwants.

2. Prayer a witness to our fellowshipwith the Church of eternity.—Allemotions of eternity catch the tone ofprayer. Sometimes in the evening,when the sounds of the world are still,and the sense of eternity breaks inupon us, is not that feeling a prayer?We know that we are right, that inworship we have taken no earthly[p.174]posture, but an attitude from higherregions.

Lessons.—1.Live as members ofthe kingdom. 2.Expect the signs ofcitizenship—the crown of thorns, thecross. 3.Live in hope of the final ingathering.—E.L. Hull.

The Communion of Saints.

I. Society becomes possible onlythrough religion.—Men might begregarious without it, but not social.Instinct which unites them in detailprevents their wider combination.Intellect affords light to show theelements of union, but no heat to givethem crystalline form. Self-will isprevailingly a repulsive power, and oftendisintegrates the most solid of humanmasses. Some sense of a DivinePresence, some consciousness of a higherlaw, some pressure of a solemn necessity,will be found to have precededthe organization of every human community,and to have gone out andperished before its death.

II. Worship exhibits its unitingprinciple under the simplest form, inthe sympathies it diffuses among themembers of the same religiousassembly.—There is, however, nonecessary fellowship, as of saints, inthe mere assembling of ourselvestogether; but only in the true andsimple spirit of worship. Where apure devotion really exists, the fellowshipit produces spreads far beyondthe separate circle of each Christianassembly. Surely it is a gloriousthing to call up, while we worship, thewide image of Christendom this day.Could we be lifted up above this sphereand look down as it rolls beneath thisday’s sun, and catch its murmurs asthey rise, should we not behold landafter land turned into a Christianshrine? In how many tongues, bywhat various voices, with what measurelessintensity of love, is the nameof Christ breathed forth to-day!

III. But our worship here brings usinto yet nobler connections.—It unitesus by a chain of closest sympathywith past generations. In our helpsto faith and devotion we avail ourselvesof the thought and piety of manyextinct ages. Do not we, the living,take up in adoration and prayer thethoughts of the dead and find themDivinely true? What an impressivetestimony is this to the sameness of ournature through every age and theimmortal perseverance of its holieraffections!

IV. And soon we too shall drop thenote of earthly aspiration and jointhat upper anthem of Diviner love.—Thecommunion of saints brings us totheir conflict first, their blessings afterwards.Those who will not with muchpatience strive with the evil can haveno dear fellowship with the good; wemust weep their tears ere we canwin their peace.—Martineau.

Characteristics of Believers.

I. Believers are here described ashaving been strangers and foreigners.—1.Thereare relative expressions,meaning that natural men arestrangers to the household of God andforeigners as respects the city of Zion.2.Consider the natural man withreference to the city of Zion, and thetruth of this representation will appear.(1)He is a stranger and foreigner—(a)Bya sentence of exile (Gen. iii.).(b)By birth (Gen. v.3; John iii.6).(2)He is proved to be a stranger andforeigner—(a)By features (Gal. v.19–21).(b)By manners (1Pet. iv.3).(c)By language. As such he isunder another ruler (Eph. ii.2), heis at war (Gal. iv.29). 3.Though“strangers and foreigners” in relationto Zion, yet men are naturalised inanother country. 4.This does notimply living beyond the pale of thevisible Church. The Parable of theTares. An alien to the saints and astranger to God may be in the visibleChurch. 5.That there are “strangersand foreigners” in the Church seemsa calamity. (1)They are thereby deceived.(2)They injure Christians.(3)They betray Christ.

II. Believers are described as beingfellow-citizens with the saints.—1.They[p.175]are citizens. (1)Their sentenceof exile is cancelled (ver. 13).(2)They are naturalised by birth(John iii.5). (3)They are reconciledto God and believers. (4)They areunder Zion’s government. 2.Theyare “fellow-citizens with the saints.”(1)They have intercourse—holy.(2)They are united by mutual love.(3)They have reciprocal duties.(4)They have common rights andprivileges. (5)They have commonhonour and reputation. (6)Theyhave common prosperity and adversity.(7)They have common enemies.(8)They have common defence andsafety. (9)They have a commonhistory. 3.As a congregation we areprofessedly a section of this peculiarand spiritual community. (1)Do weseek each other’s welfare? (2)Is ourintercourse the communion of saints?(3)Are we careful of each other’sreputation? 4.Are we as a congregationisolating ourselves from eachother? Are we “fellow-citizens withthe saints”? 5.The city is above.

III. Believers are here describedas belonging to the household of God.—1.Believersas citizens are God’ssubjects. 2.As belonging to God’shousehold they are His children.3.As in God’s household—(1)Theyare like Him. (2)They are near toHim. (3)They see His face. (4)Theyenjoy His fellowship. (5)They areprovided for by Him. (6)They areunder His protection. (7)They serveHim. (8)They worship Him—Hishouse is a temple. 4.These are verytangible privileges and belong to thispresent life. 5.Many may supposethat they are “fellow-citizens with thesaints” whose experience does notprove that they are “of the householdof God.” 6.For this “household”God has “a house not made withhands, eternal in the heavens.”—Stewart.

Vers. 20, 21. The Church a DivineEdifice.—1.Though God Himself bethe principal Author and Builder of thisspiritual edifice, yet He employs Hiscalled ministers and servants as instruments,among whom He madespecial use of the prophets and apostlesfor laying the foundation in so far asthey first did reveal and preach JesusChrist, and commit to writings suchtruths concerning Him as are necessaryfor salvation, while other ministersare employed in preaching Christto build up the elect on the foundationlaid by them. 2.There is a sweet harmonyand full agreement between thedoctrines and writings of the prophetsand apostles in holding forth Christ fora foundation and rock of salvation, thelatter having taught and writtennothing but what was prefigured intypes and foretold in prophecies by theformer. 3.As growth in grace is a privilegewhich appertains to all parts ofthis spiritual building who are yet onearth, so this growth of theirs flowsfrom their union and communion withChrist; and the more their union isimproved by daily extracting renewedinfluence from Him, they cannot choosebut thrive the better in spiritualgrowth.—Fergusson.

Ver. 22. The Church the Habitationof God.—1.Jesus Christ differs from thefoundation of other buildings in this,that every particular believer is notonly laid upon Him and supported byHim as in material buildings, but theyare also indented in Him, and hid, asit were, in the clefts of the rock by savingfaith. 2.As all believers, howeverfar soever removed by distance, are yetmore strictly tied and joined together,so by taking band with Christ thefoundation, they are fastened one toanother as the stones of a building.3.So inseparable is the union amongthe persons of the Trinity that thepresence and indwelling of One issufficient to prove the indwelling of all;for believers are a habitation to Godthe Father and Son, because the Spiritdwells in and sanctifies them.—Ibid.

[p.176]

CHAPTER III.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. The prisoner of Jesus Christ may be regarded as “the prisoner whom the Lord hasbound” (so Winer and Meyer), or as “a prisoner belonging to Christ,” or again as “theprisoner for Christ’s sake.” The indignity of an ambassador being “thrown into irons” islost in the feeling of being, even though bound, the representative of such a Lord.

Ver. 2. If ye have heard.—We have the same form of expression at ch. iv.21—“assumingthat is, that ye heard” (cf. Col. i.23). Of the grace.—The favour which God conferredon me in appointing me your apostle. The Divine “Taskmaster” (to use Milton’s expression)confers honour upon us when He sets us to work. “He is not served by men’s hands asthough He needed anything” (Acts xvii.25).

Ver. 3. How that by revelation.—The familiar disavowal of any other source than thewill of God (cf. Gal. i.12).

Ver. 4. Ye may understand my knowledge.—You may, as the public reader proceeds toread my letter, discern my insights of the mystery.

Ver. 5. Which in other ages.—R.V. “other generations.” Might possibly refer to thosedim ages of the past national history when the Gentiles were thought of only as left to“unconvenanted mercies.” We must note the word for “other”—it means a “different kind.”Was not made known... as it is now revealed.—If any distinction is to be observed, wemay say the “revelation” is one of the ways of “making known” (see ver. 3) the intuitional.Unto His holy apostles and prophets.—“If all saints were holy à fortiori the apostles”(Bishop Alexander).

Ver. 6. Fellow-heirs... the same body... partakers.—“The A.V. loses a point ofsimilarity in the three Gentile privileges by not expressing the force of the Greek compoundsby the same English word. Lit. ‘heirs together,’ ‘incorporated together,’ ‘sharerstogether,’ not heirs after, but together with, the Jews; not attached to the Hebrew body,but incorporated into it together with the element that previously constituted it; notreceivers of the promise after others had been satisfied, but partakers of it together withthem” (Bishop Alexander). “Co-heirs, and concorporate, and comparticipant. The strangeEnglish words may perhaps correspond to the strange Greek words which St. Paul inventedto express this newly revealed mystery in the strongest form, as though no words could betoo strong to express his conception of the reunion in Christ of those who apart from Himare separate and divided” (Farrar).

Ver. 7. Whereof I was made a minister.—A deacon, a runner of errands. A lowly word,which reminds us of his own self-estimate—“not worthy to be called an apostle”—and preparesus for the strange expression in ver. 8.

Ver. 8. Less than the least of all saints.—“As though he said ‘leaster than all Christians’ ”(Bishop Alexander). “The greatest sinner, the greatest saint, are equidistantfrom the goal where the mind rests in satisfaction with itself. With the growth in goodnessgrows the sense of sin. One law fulfilled shows a thousand neglected” (Mozley, quoted byFarrar). The unsearchable riches.—“The untrackable wealth” (Farrar), inexplicable bycreaturely intelligences, unspeakable therefore by human tongues.

Ver. 9. And to make all men see.—He says to the Galatians (Gal. iii.1), “Christ was placardedbefore you”—so here he wants men to see for themselves.

Ver. 10. To the intent that now... might be known by the Church the manifoldwisdom of God.—The Church as it expands from a “little flock” to a “multitude which noman can number” is to declare the multiform wisdom of God, ever fertile in new modes ofoperation. “Manifold” represents a word used to describe a floral wreath as consisting of“variegated” flowers.

Ver. 12. In whom we have boldness.—Originally meaning as regards speech. In Christthe reconciled child of God has the right of speaking to God without reserve. The sameword is translated “confidence” in 1John v.14, A.V.: “It is the free, joyful mood of thosereconciled to God” (Meyer). And access.—As in ch. ii.13. With confidence.—Hardly as equalto assurance—certainly never self-assurance, but in quiet leaning on the arm of Christ.

Ver. 13. I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations.—Compare 2Cor. iv.1–16, wherethe same word is used. As an agonised sufferer, heroically suppressing every sign of pain,begs those who wait on him not to give way to grief; as Socrates, having quaffed the poison,rallies his friends, who have broken out into uncontrollable weeping, with the words, “Whatare you doing my friends? What! such fine men as you are! Oh, where is virtue?”; so(with a possible reminiscence of Acts xx.36–38) St. Paul begs his readers not to lose heart.

[p.177]Ver. 15. The whole family.—R.V. “every family.” The word for “family” is only found inthe New Testament in St. Luke ii.4 and Acts iii.25; in one translated “lineage,” in the other“kindreds” in A.V.; consistently as “family” by R.V. Chrysostom, and others who followedhim, have surely a special claim to be heard. They translate it “races.” Bishop Alexandercontends for the A.V. translation, “the whole.” He says, “A special force and significationin the expression make this translation necessary” (cf. ch. ii.19).

Ver. 16. The riches of His glory.—“The whole glorious perfection of God.” To bestrengthened with might.—There may be a verbal connection with the “fainting” of ver. 13,but the thought goes far out beyond that. In the inner man.—We are reminded again ofthe text quoted above (2Cor. iv.16). A mode of expression derived from the Platonic school,not necessarily presupposing any acquaintance with that system of philosophy.

Ver. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.—The condition of this, declaredby Christ Himself, is that a man should keep the word of Christ. Being rooted andgrounded.—A double metaphor—of a tree that has struck its roots deep into the crevices ofthe rock, and of a building with a foundation of bed-rock. “Every one that loveth is bornof God and knoweth God” (1John iv.7). Love conditions knowledge of things Divine(see ver. 18).

Ver. 18. May be able.—Perfectly able. With all saints.—The highest and most preciousknowledge Paul can desire only as a common possession of all Christians. What is thebreadth, and length, and depth, and height.—“The deeply affected mind with its poetico-imaginativeintuition looks upon the metaphysical magnitude as a physical, mathematicalone. Every special attempt at interpretation is unpsychological, and only gives scope tothat caprice which profanes by dissecting the outpouring of enthusiasm” (Meyer).

Ver. 19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.—“An adequateknowledge of the love of Christ transcends human capacity, but the relative knowledge of thesame opens up in a higher degree the more the heart is filled with the Spirit of Christ,and thereby is strengthened in loving. This knowledge is not discursive, but based in theconsciousness of experience” (Meyer).

Ver. 20. Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly.—After his prayerproper is ended the full heart of the apostle swells out into a solemn doxology. The frequentand bold compound expressions of St. Paul (Farrar says twenty of the New Testamenttwenty-eight with ὑπέρ are St. Paul’s) spring from the endeavours adequately toexpress his energetic thought. According to the pour that worketh in us.—“The measureof a man” or “of an angel” is insufficient here. Things are not achieved by creaturelymensuration where God works (cf. ch. i.19–23).

Ver. 21. To Him be the glory.—“The honour due to His name.” By Christ Jesus.—Hethat “climbeth up some other way” with his offering courts his own destruction.Throughout all ages, world without end.—R.V. “Unto all generations, for ever and ever.”A good specimen of the “exceeding abundantly above all that we... understand” asregarded under the aspect of time. It carries our thoughts along the vista of the future, tilltime melts into eternity.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–6.

An Enlarged Gospel—

I. Declaring the admission of the Gentiles on the same footing as the Jews toits highest privileges (ver. 6).—It came as a surprise to the world of theapostle’s day that the Gospel he preached offered its blessings on equal terms toJew and Gentile. The Jew, accustomed to be the sole repository of Divine revelation,was staggered at the discovery that heaven extended its favours to theoutcast, heathenish Gentile; and the Gentile, proudly trusting to his ownintellectual activity in the search after truth, greeted with wonder the amplerand loftier revelations of the new evangel. It seemed too good to be true. Anew era was dawning, and men were dazzled and bewildered with the splendourof the vision. It is now authoritatively declared that, on the simple conditionsof penitence and faith, the Gentile world is incorporated into the body of Christ.So far from being excluded from the Divine favour, the believing Gentiles arereckoned as “fellow-heirs, and of the same body and partakers of the promise inChrist by the gospel”; and the marvel is increased by the discovery that thisastounding privilege is no new thought in the Divine mind, but was an essentialpart of the purpose concerning the race that had been developing in the slow[p.178]march of the ages. The Hebrew Scriptures with their records of extraordinarytheophanies, the saintly characters of Old Testament times, the Messianicrevelations and the wealth of spiritual blessing which the isolated Jew hadselfishly appropriated to himself, are the heaven-given privileges of universalman.

II. Was wrapped in mystery for ages.—“Which in other ages was not madeknown unto the sons of men” (ver. 5). The mystery all centres in Christ. Therevelation of Messiah as the hope and salvation of the race was dimly and slowlyunveiled in progressive stages. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.”Some of His grandest movements are veiled in mystery till the right momentcomes, when the obscurity vanishes and the vastness and beauty of the completedwork elicit our admiration and praise. We are familiar with this process inthe natural world and in the progress of human history. The fruits of the earthdo not reach maturity at a bound. Slowly and in secret the bud is rounded,then comes the delicately tinted blossom, and afterwards the tempting, mellowfruit. The same may be said of the growth of human character. It reachesthe higher grades of mental and moral excellence by slow and silent stages, andadvances in the ratio of the fidelity and energy with which the man carries outthe great plan of his life-career. So the revelation of the Gospel mystery hasbeen gradual and progressive. The purpose itself is incapable of progress—ithas been fixed from eternity; but it has been made known to the world inportions suited to each succeeding period of its history. The law shadowed forththat purpose with more fulness than any previous dispensation, and the prophetswent beyond the law, occupying a middle place between it and the Gospel, whilethe Gospel in its fuller revelation has gone as far beyond the prophets as theywent beyond the law. Thus we see that God “who appears deliberate in all Hisoperations” has unfolded His great purpose to save the race by slow and successivestages. The mystery of yesterday is the sunlit epiphany of to-day.

III. Was specially revealed by the Spirit.—“How that by revelation Hemade known unto me the mystery” (ver. 3). “As it is now revealed unto His holyapostles and prophets by the Spirit” (ver. 5). Notwithstanding the gradualdisclosure of the mystery of the Gospel, its full significance could not have beencaught without supernatural help. Mere flux of time adds nothing to ourknowledge; nor can the most active intelligence decipher the spiritual meaningof truth. The Spirit of God, operating on the alert and awakened mind of theapostle, revealed to him the glory and power of Christ—the hidden mystery ofa*ges—and opened to him the far-reaching provisions of the enlarged Gospel of whichChrist is the inexhaustible theme. There is still much mystery in the Gospelthat remains to be fathomed—the problem of the atonement, the origin of sin,the future destiny and eternal state of human souls, and the revelation of Christand His Church to present-day social and economic questions in their bearing onhuman development and the future prosperity of the kingdom of God on earth.We are in daily need of the light and teaching of the Holy Spirit.

IV. Was entrusted to man as a stewardship of Divine grace.—“The dispensationof the grace of God which is given me to you-ward” (ver. 2). Themystery of the Gospel was revealed to Paul that he might dispense its benefits toothers. Former generations had received light from heaven; but not sufficientlyappreciating it, or wishing to keep it within too narrow a sphere, it grew dimand went out. Where it fell on prepared hearts it was used for the illuminationand blessing of others. Paul was Divinely prepared for the revelation; hereceived it in trust for others; he saw the boundless provisions of the Gospel, andbecame a powerful advocate for its universal claims. Every minister is a stewardof the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and it is his joy to minister to otherswhatever of insight into truth and grace of experience the Divine Spirit may[p.179]entrust to him. The Gospel is an ever-enlarging Gospel to the soul lit up andinformed by the revealing Spirit.

Lessons.—1.The Gospel is an advance on all previous revelations. 2.It is thegrandest revelation of saving truth. 3.It can be known and enjoyed only by theSpirit.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 1–21. Riches of Christ.—Manymake Christianity something local,temporary, and thus degrade it. Christis inexhaustible for mind and heart;we find all in Him. Let us nevermake of this rich Christ a poor one.What Christ has instituted must besomething transcendent, and not socommon that every intellect can discoverit.—Heubner.

Vers. 1–6. The Calling of the Gentiles.

I. Paul calls himself a prisoner ofChrist for the Gentiles.—The liberalityof his sentiments towards them andthe boldness with which he assertedtheir title to equal privileges with Jewswere the principal reasons why thelatter persecuted him with such violence,and caused him to be sent aprisoner to Rome. The spring of thisbitter enmity in the Jews was theirspiritual pride and worldly affection.Liberality of sentiment essentially belongsto true religion. Bigotry, hatred,and envy among Christians debasetheir character and scandalise theirprofession. We should entertain exaltedthoughts of the Divine Goodness.Such thoughts enlarge the mind andliberalise the feelings.

II. The Gospel is called a dispensationof the grace of God.—It is a discoveryof that method which the wisdomof God has chosen for dispensing Hisgrace and mercy toward fallen men.It is called the Gospel of God as itoriginated in His pleasure; and theGospel of Christ as He is the immediateauthor of it, and His doctrines andworks, His life and death, His resurrectionand ascension, and the blessingsprocured by Him are the subjects onwhich it principally treats. The gracewhich the Gospel offers is pardon andglory. Under such a dispensation howinexcusable are the impenitent, andhow amazing will be the punishmentof those who finally perish in theirguilt!

III. This dispensation was committedto the apostle for the benefitof mankind.—It was a trust committedto him by the will of God, not a powerarrogated by his own presumption.He did not rely on a secret, internalcall as what alone would warrant himto commence as a preacher. He carefullyconformed to the order whichChrist has instituted in His Church.He instructed Timothy and Titus to dolikewise. Ministers are not to foundtheir warrant to preach on any immediaterevelation. If they should pretendto this, it would be no warrantfor them to assume it, unless they canby miracles prove to the world thereality of the pretended revelation.

IV. The knowledge of the Gospelwas communicated to Paul by revelation.—Goddid not, at the expense ofinspiration, teach the apostles thosethings which they knew or might knowby other means. But where actualknowledge and the means of obtainingit were wanting, there inspirationsupplied the defect. It is not necessaryfor us to know the nature of thisinspiration, or the manner in whichthe apostles were assured of its divinity.If we believe there is an infinite andall-perfect Spirit, who pervades universalnature, we must believe He canreveal His will to men by such animmediate influence as shall carry itsown evidence and leave no possibledoubt of its reality. If we deny thepossibility of a certain inspiration fromGod, we deny that power to Him whichwe ourselves possess, for we can speakto men in such a manner that theyshall certainly know we speak to them[p.180]and perfectly understand our meaning.—Lathrop.

Vers. 4, 6. The Knowledge of Christintended for All.—It is significantthat the inscription on the cross waswritten in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.1.Hebrew, the language of religion, ofthe revelation concerning the one trueGod. 2.Greek, the language of literature,of arts and culture, the bestmedium in which to transmit theliterature of the New Testament, asHebrew was for that of the Old. Itmight be designated as the humanlanguage. 3.Latin, the language ofthe conquerors and masters of theworld—also of the Roman Empire, asthat kingdom of worldly aggrandisem*ntand power, falsehood and wrong,in opposition to the kingdom of Goddestined to uproot and replace it. TheRoman soldiers stationed throughoutEurope became useful factors in thespread of the Gospel. Note also thesynoptic gospels of 1.Matthew—Hebrewin thought and diction, written toconvince Jews. 2.Mark—Latin inthought, and written for the Romanmind. 3.Luke—Greek in thoughtand style, written for Gentiles.

Vers. 4, 5. God known in Christ.—Afterthe death of Pascal there wasfound in the lining of his coat a parchmentwhich he never parted from, inorder to keep in his memory a certainepoch in his life. It contained thesewords: “Certainty—joy—the God ofJesus Christ, not of the philosophersand savants. O that I may neverbe separated from Him!” The explanationof this is, that on one memorablenight, during a holy watching, hehad met, not merely the Machinist ofthe universe, the God who is but thesubstance or the law of the world, butthe God who wills and creates thehappiness of His children.

Vers. 5, 6. The Comprehensiveness ofthe Gospel.—1.God’s purpose to callthe Gentiles was not altogether unknownto the ancient Church; but itwas not so clearly revealed under theOld Testament as under the New.2.Though God might easily communicatethe knowledge of Himselfunto all immediately and without thehelp of second means, yet He hathchosen so to communicate His mind tosome few only who have, at His appointment,set down in sacred writ whatthey immediately received, by whichmeans the knowledge of God may, inan ordinary way, be conveyed to others.3.It is a great and glorious privilegeto be a part of that mystical bodyof which Christ is Head, because of thestrict union such have with Christ andwith all believers in Christ, and becauseof their interest in all the privileges ofthat body and in the gifts and gracesof every member of it.—Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 7–9.

An Exalted Ministerial Commission—

I. To distribute the unbounded wealth of the Gospel.—“Unto me... is thisgrace given, that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ” (ver. 8).In calling the Gospel “the unsearchable riches of Christ” the apostle signifiesthat Christ, the whole truth about Him and centred in Him, is the theme of hispreaching, and that in Christ he finds a mine of inexhaustible wealth, a treasureof truth which cannot be told. He speaks as one who has searched—searchedso long, so far, as to have produced on his mind the impression of unsearchableness.His whole style of writing in this chapter is that of a man overwhelmedwith a sense of the infinite grace of God revealed in Christ. The expression “unsearchableriches,” while conveying the impression of infinitude as the words“breadth,” “length,” “height,” “depth,” suggests a different idea—that of a mineof precious metal, rather than that of a vast continent of great length and breadthwith high mountains and deep valleys spread over its surface. Paul speaks as[p.181]a man digging in a recently discovered gold-field, who finds particles of theprecious metal in such abundance that he cannot refrain from exclaiming everand anon, “What an inexhaustible supply of gold is here!” He speaks furtheras one who feels it his special business to let all the world know of this gold-field,and invite all to come and get a share of its wealth (A.B. Bruce).

II. To reveal to men the secret mind of God.—1.The Gospel was for long hiddenalone in God. “Which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God”(ver. 9). It was a mystery hid in God, not from God. The idea of theuniversality of the Gospel, though veiled for ages by the limitations of theDivine dealings with the Jewish people, was never absent from the mind ofGod. Down through the rolling years one eternal purpose runs, and now andthen the most gifted of the Hebrew seers caught a glimpse of its ever-wideningrange. This great secret of the ages was revealed to Paul in such clearnessand fulness that he regarded it as the one purpose of his life—his heaven-sentcommission—to make it known to his fellow-men, of whatever nationality.

2. The purpose of the creation of all things by Christ was also a part of the Divinemystery.—“Who created all things by Jesus Christ” (ver. 9). The statementof this fact—thrown in by way of parenthesis—links the whole created thingswith the development of the Divine purpose, and asserts the absolute sovereigntyof Jesus over all worlds. In some way yet to be more fully explained as theDivine purpose ripens all created beings are to be advantaged by the sublimeredemptive work unfolded in the Gospel. “For He hath created all things, andby Him all things consist.”

3. The mystery was revealed to one for the benefit of all.—“And to make allmen see what is the fellowship [the stewardship] of the mystery” (ver. 9). Itwas well for us and the race that the revelation and commission were committedto one who by training and gifts was so well qualified to explain and propagatethe grand Divine idea. The barriers of Jewish prejudice in Paul were sweptaway by the vastness and universality of the message. He saw it included hisHebrew brethren—and to them the Gospel was first preached—but he saw alsoit included all in its comprehensive sweep. Paul was not alone among theapostles in comprehending the breadth of the Gospel; but he was foremost andmost resolute and unbending in battling for the right of the Gentiles to beadmitted to all its blessed privileges. He thought out the Gospel for himself,and he became the fearless and astute champion of the sinning race. Whatis accepted as a commonplace to-day was not won without argument, suffering,and struggle.

III. Bestowed as an act of Divine grace.—1.As an act of Divine grace itwas confirmed by the conscious possession of Divine power. “Given unto me bythe effectual working of His power” (ver. 7). Paul himself experienced thetransforming power of the Gospel. He was deeply convinced of its truth, hebelieved and embraced its provisions, he accepted Christ as the living coreof the Gospel, and he was thrilled with the Divine power that wrought in hima great moral change. He spoke not only with the force and authority ofclearly apprehended truth, but with the unfaltering certitude of personalexperience. He was henceforth the willing agent of the Divine power workingwithin him.

2. As an act of Divine grace his commission overwhelmed him with a sense ofpersonal unworthiness.—“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is thisgrace given” (ver. 8). The immense favour humbles him to the dust. That Saul,the Pharisee and the persecutor, the most unworthy and unlikely of men, shouldbe the chosen vessel to bear Christ’s riches to the Gentile world, how shall hesufficiently give thanks for this! how express his wonder at the unfathomablewisdom and goodness that the choice displays in the mind of God! But we can[p.182]see that this choice was precisely the fittest. A Hebrew of the Hebrews,steeped in Jewish traditions and glorying in his sacred ancestry, none knewbetter than the apostle Paul how rich were the treasures stored in the houseof Abraham that he had to make over to the Gentiles. A true son of thathouse, he was the fittest to lead in the aliens, to show them its precious things,and make them at home within its walls (Findlay).

Lessons.—1.The minster of the Gospel has a solemn responsibility. 2.Shouldbe faithful and earnest in his work. 3.Should guard against temptations to pride.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 7. A God-made Minister.—1.Itis not sufficient warrant for anyto meddle with the ministerial officethat he hath competent gifts, excepthe have also ministerial power andauthority conveyed to him, eitherimmediately by God, as it was in thecalling of the apostles, or mediatelyaccording to that order which Godhas established in His Church, asin the calling of ordinary ministers.2.As it is required to make a mana minister that he be endued withcompetent abilities and gifts for thatemployment, so it is no less requisitethat God concur with him. Godgiveth not to all one and the samegift, or in the same measure, but tosome a greater, to others a less, as Hehath more or less to do with them.3.So great and many are thedifficulties of ministers before theyattain to freedom and boldness inexercising their ministerial gift thatno less is required than the power ofGod, working effectually with a kindof pith and energy. A minister willbe always ready to acknowledge hisgifts as from God and His powerfulworking in him, and not to his owndignity, diligence, or parts.—Fergusson.

Vers. 8, 9. The Apostle’s View of hisMinistry.

I. Consider what a humble opinionthe apostle had of himself.—“Whoam less than the least of all saints.”In his abilities and gifts he was not awhit behind the chiefest apostles, andin sufferings he was more frequent andin labours more abundant than theyall. But in respect to worthiness heesteemed them his superiors; for theyhad not, like him, persecuted theChurch, and they were in Christ andbecame apostles before him. GoodChristians in honour prefer one another.True religion will produce self-abasingthoughts. The true convert forgets nothis former character. He reflectsoften on his past guilty life, that he maybe more humble in himself, more thankful,more watchful, more diligent.

II. The apostle expresses his admiringapprehensions of God’s gracein calling him to the ministry.—Tothe same grace which had called himhe ascribes all his furniture for theministry and all his success. Howevercontemptible some render themselvesin the Gospel ministry, the office itselfis honourable.

III. The apostle’s elevated sentimentsconcerning the Gospel.—He callsit “the unsearchable riches of Christ.”The blessings of the Gospel, beingpurchased by the blood of Christ, arecalled His riches. They are calledriches on account of their excellency,fulness, and variety. They are undiscoverableby human reason, and madeknown only by revelation. They werebut imperfectly made known in theprophetic revelation. They are ofinestimable value.

IV. Consider the grand andenlarged conceptions the apostleentertained of the design and importanceof his ministry (ver. 9).—Itwas to open to mankind that mightyscheme which the wisdom of God hadformed, and which His goodness hadfor ages been carrying into execution,for the redemption of our fallen race.[p.183]His ministry was designed for thebenefit, not of men only, but of angelstoo (ver. 10).—Lathrop.

Ver. 8. Christian Humility illustratedin the Character of Paul.

I. The apostle remembered his pastsins.—Wherever there is a quickenedconscience, it will prompt the possessorto think of his past sins, and this evenwhen he has reason to believe thatthey have been forgiven. The apostlecontinued to remember the natural anddeeply seated pride and self-righteousnesswhich he had so long cherished.Allusion is made in every one of hispublic apologies and in a number of hisepistles to the circ*mstance of his oncehaving been an enemy of the cross ofChrist and a persecutor. It is for thebenefit of the believer to remember hispast sinfulness. The recollection ofhis infirmities may enable him to guardagainst their recurrence. Our sins,even when past and forgiven, are aptto leave a prejudicial influence behind.Our sins are like wounds, which evenwhen cured and closed are apt to leavea scar behind. It is most meet andbecoming, and in every respect for hisown profit and the advantage of theChurch and world, that the sinner, andmore particularly the man whose formerlife has been known, should walk humblybefore God and his fellow-men all thedays of his life. Nor let it be forgottenthat the remembrance of past sin isone of the motives impelling the Christianto be “zealously affected in everygood thing.” The remembrance of theinjury he had done to the Churchstimulated him to make greater endeavoursto benefit it. The persecutionwhich he had inflicted on others madehim more steadfast in bearing thesufferings to which he was now exposed.According to the account handed downfrom the early Church, the apostle hadto suffer a violent death in the reignof Nero, when Christians were coveredwith pitch and burned as torches, orclothed with the skins of wild beastsand dogs let loose upon them. We canconceive that as he saw the terriblepreparations for putting him to death,his memory would go back thirty years,and he would remember how he himselfhad stood by and consented to thedeath of the holy martyr Stephen, andhe would feel himself thereby the morestrengthened to endure what the Lordwas now pleased to lay upon him.

II. The apostle mourned over thesin yet cleaving to him.—He had notonly a recollection of past sin, he hada sense of present sin. This sense ofindwelling sin is one of the elementsthat conduce to the onward progress ofthe believer. Why is it that so manyprofessing Christians, ay, and toomany true Christians, are not advancingin the spiritual life; are the samethis week as they were the previousweek; the same this year as they werethe last year; and to all appearance,and unless God arouse them, will bethe same the next week or next yearas they are this? It is because theyare contented with themselves and withtheir condition, they have reached astate of self-complacency, they have“settled upon their lees,” and they donot wish to be disturbed by so much asan allusion to their sin. Very differentwas the temper of the apostle.Conscious of the sin that still adheredto him, he longed to have it completelyexterminated, and sought the heavenlyaid which might enable him to reachthat after which he was alwaysstriving—“unto a perfect man, untothe measure of the stature of thefulness of Christ.”

III. The apostle acknowledged Godto be the Author of all the gifts andgraces possessed by him.—Paul onmore than one occasion found it necessaryto speak of his gifts. And when hefollows this train of reflection, he arrestshimself to explain that his faults arehis own, and to ascribe the glory of hisgifts to God. There may be circ*mstancesrequiring us to speak of ourattainments in the spiritual life; butthere can be no excuse for our thinkingof them or alluding to them in a spiritof complacency. Of all pride, spiritualpride is the most hateful, and the most[p.184]lamentably inconsistent. How oftendoes it happen that, when persons aresuddenly elevated to places of honour,they see nothing but their own merits,their own talent, their own skill orgood management? Elevation of rankthus leads in too many cases to anincrease of pride and vanity. This ispainfully illustrated in the history ofSaul, the son of Kish. Setting out insearch of his father’s asses, he receivedbefore he returned a kingdom for thedischarge of the offices of which he hadmany qualifications. But his rise seemsto have fostered the morbid vanity ofhis mind; and when this was not fedby constant incense, when the Israelitescried: “Saul hath slain his thousands,and David his tens of thousands,” itled to envy and revenge, which goadedhim on to deeds of utter infatuation.How different with Saul of Tarsus!At every step of his elevation in theChurch he saw the finger of God, andwas the more impressed with his ownunworthiness.

IV. The apostle took a high standardof excellence: he took as his model thelaw of God and the character of Jesus.—Allactual excellence, whetherearthly or spiritual, has been attainedby the mind keeping before it anddwelling upon the ideas of the great,the good, the beautiful, the grand, theperfect. The tradesman and mechanicreach the highest eminence by neverallowing themselves to rest till theycan produce the most finished specimensof their particular craft. The painterand sculptor travel to distant landsthat they may see and as it were filltheir eye and mind with the sight ofthe most beautiful models of their arts.Poets have had their yet undiscoveredgenius awakened into life as they contemplatedsome of the grandest ofnature’s scenes; or as they listened tothe strains of other poets the spirit ofinspiration has descended upon them,as the spirit of inspiration descendedon Elisha while the minstrel playedbefore him. The soldier’s spirit hasbeen aroused even more by the stirringsound of the war-trumpet than by therecord of the courage and heroism ofother warriors. The fervour of onepatriot has been created as he listenedto the burning words of another patriot;and many a martyr’s zeal has beenkindled at the funeral pile of othermartyrs. In this way fathers havehanded down their virtues to theirchildren, and those who could leavetheir offspring no other have in theirexample left them the very richestlegacy; and the deeds of those whoperform great achievements have livedfar longer than those who do them, andhave gone down from one generationto another. Now the believer has sucha model set before him in the characterof Jesus, which as it were embodies thelaw and exhibits in it the most attractiveand encouraging light. We maycopy others in some things; we shouldcopy Christ in all.—Dr. J.McCosh.

Ver. 8. Paul’s Humility.

I. In what it consisted.—1.In the unreservedsubmission of his reason to theauthority of revelation. He was a greatthinker, and he was a great scholar.2.In the unwavering reliance of hisheart on Christ for the salvation of hissoul. Self-righteous by constitutionand education. 3.In ascribing to Godalone the glory of all that he was andof all that he did. He could not butbe conscious how far he stood abovethe ordinary in point of Christianexcellence and supernatural gifts andministerial usefulness. He never tookany part of the praise to himself:“Yet not I, but the grace of God whichwas in me.” 4.In cherishing a senseof his unworthiness and guilt: “Sinners,of whom I am chief.” 5.In forminga lowly estimate of his own comparativestanding: “Less than the least ofall saints.”

II. How it was cultivated.—1.Byfrequent meditation on theholiness of God. 2.By lookingaway from self to Christ. 3.Bygratitude to God and to Christfor an interest in the blessings ofredemption. 4.By a due appreciationof the importance of humility.[p.185]It is ornamental, but it is also useful.It lies at the very root of all the gracesof the Christian character.—G.Brooks.

Humility a Growth.—The progresswhich St. Paul made in humility hasoften been given by comparing threeexpressions in his epistles with thesupposed dates when they were written:“Not meet to be called an apostle”(1Cor. xv.9: a.d. 59); “Less thanthe least of all saints” (Eph. iii.8:a.d. 64); “Sinners, of whom I amchief” (1Tim. i.15: a.d. 65).

The Unsearchable Riches of Christ.—Theriches of Christ’s Divinity are unsearchable,the riches of His condescensionare unsearchable, the riches of Histenderness are unsearchable, the richesof His redeeming love are unsearchable,the riches of his intersession areunsearchable, the riches of his faithfulnessare unsearchable, and theriches of his supporting grace areunsearchable. These riches will neverbe expressed, even to all eternity.No! not by the noble army of martyrs,nor the glorious company of theapostles, nor the goodly fellowship ofthe prophets, nor the general assemblyand Church of the first-born, nor theinnumerable company of angels, northe spirits of just men made perfect,nor by all the ransomed throng ofheaven. It will form their mostecstatic employment in heaven. Join,all ye happy throng—join, holy Abeland Enoch, upright Job, perfect Noah,souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,grand souls of Moses, Samuel, andElijah, pardoned David and Manasseh,soul of Isaiah the prophet. Join, allye whose souls are under the altar cry,“How long, O Lord, wilt Thou notavenge our blood upon the earth?”Join, holy Stephen and Polycarp, holyLatimer, Ridley, Hooper, RowlandTaylor, and Anne Askew. Join, braveWicklif, gallant Luther, stern JohnKnox, sweet John Bunyan, and prayingGeorge Fox. Join, pious Doddridge andtuneful Watts, noble George Whitefield,holy Fletcher, exhaustless JohnWesley, dauntless Rowland Hill, andgrand though lowly Robert Hall. Yesweetest trebles of the eternal choir,ye million million babes who died withoutactual sin, join all your notes ofpraise! Pull out every stop of thegrand organ of heaven, from the deepswell diapason to the lofty flute andcornet! Gabriel, strike the loftiestnote of thy harp of gold. And let allthe host of heaven, angels and men,begin the grand anthem, “Worthy isthe Lamb.” And let the eternal Amenpeal and roll and reverberate throughall the arches of heaven! But neverthrough all eternity shall the gatheredhost be able fully to express the unsearchableriches of Christ.—ThomasCooper.

Ver. 9. The Fellowship of the Mystery.

I. It is a mystery it should be solong hid; a mystery, because when itwas plainly revealed it was not understoodby those to whom it was manifested;a mystery, for God was pleasedto raise up a special apostle to explainand reveal, to make an epiphany ofthis great truth—the will of God thatall men should be saved, that HisGospel should be universally known,should be open to all for acceptance.

II. Our share and fellowship in thework of the Gospel is to make all mensee their interest in it, to make themunderstand its true catholicity, to makeall men see that it is from the first thewill of God that the Gentiles should befellow-heirs. By the Church is to bemade known the manifold wisdom ofGod. Every member of the Church isto have his or her part in doing thiswork. We are all to take part init by our lives, our conversation, ourexample, our good works and words.By availing ourselves of opportunitieswe are to help to make known thismanifold wisdom of God.

III. Think for a moment what is thestate of those men who do not knowwhat is their fellowship with thismystery.—I am not speaking of theentirely ignorant. Even religious peopledo not half understand or appreciate[p.186]the deep meaning of such words asthese. Christianity means expansion,comprehension; it embraces all, andall men must see in it what is thefellowship of the mystery that we havereceived and that has been made knownto us. We must be a light that cannotbe hid.—Bishop Claughton.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 10–13.

The Manifold Wisdom of God—

I. Seen in the development of a long-cherished plan.—1.This plan wascarried out by Christ. “According to the eternal purpose which He purposedin Christ” (ver. 11). The plan is here called the “eternal purpose,” and thatpurpose was the redemption of man, and the personage selected for its accomplishmentwas the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the unchanging theme of “theGospel of which the apostle was made a minister,” this the Divinely freightedargosy of “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” the veiled and sacred repositoryof all heavenly mysteries. The plan is significantly called the “manifoldwisdom of God”—as manifold as mysterious, for there is variety in the mysteryand mystery in every part of the variety. The wisdom is seen, not so much inone act as in the masterly combination of a multitude of acts, all marshalledand disposed with consummate skill to the attainment of one grand end; just asthe light that fills and irradiates the valley, penetrating every nook and creviceand clothing every object with beauty, is produced, not by a solitary ray, but bymanifold rays poured from the central sun, and all uniting in one harmoniousillumination. The crowning wisdom of the plan was in God appointing Hisonly Son as the agent in carrying it out. He, the sinless One, must suffer forsin; the Innocent die for the guilty, and by dying conquer sin. Only thuscould the righteous claims of the violated law be fully satisfied, the offence of thesinning one condoned, the authority of the Divine government maintained, andthe character of the Holy One vindicated to the whole universe.

2. That the plan has been accomplished is evident from the attitude assumedtowards man and towards God by believers (ver. 13).—As regards the attitudeof the believer towards man, he has now “boldness” in declaring the whole truth,and towards God he has “access with confidence by the faith of Him”—he hasconfidential fellowship with God. Both these experiences are the result of theredeeming plan, and would have been impossible without it.

II. Seen in the indifference to suffering its revelations inspire.—“I desirethat ye faint not [do not lose heart] at my tribulations for you, which is yourglory” (ver. 13). Paul had no anxiety for himself. He almost playfully alludesto his imprisoned state: “The prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles” (ver. 1).His soul was too full of heavenly visions and of the practical bearing of theGospel on the destiny of the race to be harassed about his personal suffering.When he thought about it at all it was to rejoice in the honour of being allowedto suffer for such a cause, and in the opportunities afforded of spreading theGospel in quarters that might otherwise have been closed to him. But theChurch feared for their champion’s life, and was troubled about his prolongedsufferings and imprisonment. The apostle assures his friends there was morereason for joyous boasting than for pity and dread. The sufferings and misfortunesof the Church have been overruled in promoting her enlargement.The flames of the martyrs have illumined the truth, and the captivity of itsprofessors has prepared the throne of its universal empire. Personal religion hasgrown stronger by opposition and suffering, and the Church has multiplied bythe very means which were intended to destroy her.

III. Seen in making the Church of the redeemed the means of instructingthe heavenly intelligences (ver. 10).—These lofty beings, with their vast knowledge[p.187]and gigantic powers, learn something from the Divine treatment of sinful,rebellious men. They gain new light, fresher and more expansive views, regardingthe character and perfections of God; and perhaps the chief point on whichtheir angelic knowledge will be increased is in the glorious revelations the Gospelunfolds of the infinite love of God. The Church on earth, with all its contradictionsand imperfections, presents a magnificent picture of self-denial, devotion,and praise; but this is only a faint representation of the splendour of theChurch above in its more completed state. The Church above is a societyorganised; the church below is a society organising. The heavenly intelligencesare watching both processes, and their wondering adoration is being continuallyexcited as they observe the building up and ever-advancing completion of theredeemed community. If there is one thing more than another that amazes“the principalities and powers”—amazes them more than the manifold wisdomof God unfolded to them by the Church—it must surely be the apathy andindifference of men on earth to their redemptive blessings!—that so much hasbeen done to make man wise, and he remains willingly and contentedly ignorant;that God has been so prodigal of His wealth, and man is so slow to appreciateand seize the proffered enrichment; that God offers the abundant bread ofeternal life, and man prefers to starve in lean and comfortless poverty, andgrumbles against heaven that he is so poor; that salvation is pressed on hisacceptance, and man persists in perishing; that “heaven lies about him in hisinfancy,” and the celestial gate opens before him in every subsequent stage oflife, and yet man resists the alluring glory, and stumbles at last into thebottomless chasm of eternal darkness.

Lessons.—1.The wisdom of God is continually presenting new illustrations ofits manifoldness. 2.The most signal display of Divine wisdom is seen in theredemption of the race. 3.The future history of the Church will reveal newfeatures in the manifold wisdom of God.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 10. The Manifold Wisdom ofGod—

I. Seen in the gradual unfolding ofHis great purpose to save the humanrace.—1.This process suited the revelationto men’s nature and condition asfinite and sinful beings. Had the revelationbeen more rapid and brilliant itcould not have been so readily appreciated,nor could men have dared tohope they had any share in it. It wasadapted to the infantile state of theChurch and the world when the mindis most powerfully affected by sensibleobjects. 2.This method was a trainingfor appreciating the fuller discoveriesof the Divine will. It has been aneducation and discipline, has provokedinquiry, and encouraged full submissionto the will of God and faith in Hiswisdom and power.

II. Seen in the means He employedto carry out His saving purpose.—1.Bythe gift of His Son. 2.As asubsidiary means, by the institution ofpreaching, and by selecting men, andnot angels, as instruments in spreadingthe knowledge of Gospel redemption.

III. Seen in using the Church ofthe redeemed as an object-lesson inteaching the heavenly intelligences.—TheChurch teaches the angels: 1.Byits composition. 2.By its marvelloushistory. 3.By its glorious completion.

Learn.—1.The dignity and gloryof the Church. 2.Let it be your all-importantconcern to become a memberof this spiritual community.

Vers. 11–13. Access to God.

I. We have access.—The word signifiesan approach to some object.Here it intends a near approach toGod in worship, or such a state ofpeace with God as allows a freedom ofintercourse. It is a familiar expression[p.188]suited to convey the idea of greatcondescension on God’s part and highprivilege on ours.

II. We have boldness of access.Theword signifies a freedom of speakingin opposition to that restraintwhich we feel when in the presence ofone we dread and in whose goodnesswe can place no confidence. It expressesthe fulness of that liberty whichunder the Gospel all Christians enjoyof drawing near to God, and thatfreedom of spirit with which we shouldcome to God. The disposition of ourhearts should correspond with theliberal and gracious dispensation underwhich we are placed. We should cometo God with a spirit of love, in oppositionto servile fear. This boldnessimports frequency in our approachesto God. Slaves, under fear, stand ata distance. Children, invited by thegoodness of a father, come often intohis presence.

III. We have access with confidence.Thisconfidence is elsewhere called abetter hope and the full assurance offaith. It is opposed to doubting anddistrust. Confidence in prayer is afull reliance on God; but this may beaccompanied with a humble diffidenceof ourselves.

IV. All our hope of success in prayermust rest upon the mediation of Christ(ver. 12).—In His name we are tocome before God; and in the virtue ofHis atonement and intercession we mayhope for acceptance.

V. Access to God a refuge in trouble(ver. 13).—Fearing lest his sufferingsin the cause of the Gospel should disheartenhis converts, the apostle setsbefore them a view of their securityunder the protection of Divine grace.Dangers were before them; but whathad they to fear who had boldness ofaccess to God? It was one of theglories of their religion that he whopreached it was not ashamed to sufferfor it.

Lessons.—1.In the apostle Paul wehave a noble example of benevolence.2.New converts should be assisted andencouraged. 3.Our best support undertrouble is boldness of access to God.4.Let the grace and condescension ofGod encourage us to come often into Hispresence.—Lathrop.

Ver. 12. Access to God in Prayer.—Prayeris to be exercised with thegreatest caution and exactness, beingthe most solemn intercourse earth canhave with heaven. The distancebetween God and us, so great bynature and yet greater by sin, makesit fearful to address Him; but Christhas smoothed a way, and we arecommanded to come with a good heart,not only in respect of innocence, butalso of confidence.

I. There is a certain boldness andconfidence very well becoming ourhumblest addresses to God.—It is thevery language of prayer to treat Godas our Father. The nature of thisconfidence is not so easily set forth bypositive description as by the oppositionit bears to its extremes. It is opposed:1.To desperation and horror ofconscience. 2.To doubtings andgroundless scrupulosities. 3.To rashnessand precipitation. 4.To impudence.

II. The foundation of this confidenceis laid in the mediation of Christ.

III. The reason why Christ’s mediationought to minister such confidenceto us.—His incomparable fitness forthe performance of that work. ConsideringHim: 1.In respect to God,with whom He has to mediate. Godsustains a double capacity of Fatherand Judge. Christ appears not onlyas an Advocate, but as a Surety, payingdown the utmost justice can exact.2.In reference to men for whom Hemediates. He is a friend, brother,surety, lord or master. 3.In respectto Himself. (1)He is perfectlyacquainted with all our wants andnecessities. (2)He is heartily sensibleof and concerned about them. (3)Heis best able to express and set thembefore the Father.

IV. Whether there is any otherground that may rationally emboldenus in our addresses to Him.—If there[p.189]is, it must be either: 1.Somethingwithin us as the merit of our goodactions. But this cannot be—(1)becausenone can merit but by doingsomething absolutely by his own powerfor the advantage of him from whomhe merits; (2)because to merit is todo something over and above what isdue. 2.Something without us. Thismust be the help and intercession eitherof angels or saints. Angels cannotmediate for us—(1)because it is impossiblefor them to know and perfectlydiscern the thoughts; (2)because noangel can know at once all the prayersthat are even uttered in words throughoutthe world. These arguments arestill more forcible against the intercessionof saints. The invocation ofsaints supposed to arise: 1.From thesolemn meetings used by the primitiveChristians at the saints’ sepulchres, andthere celebrating the memory of theirmartyrdom. 2.From those seeds ofthe Platonic philosophy that so muchleavened many of the primitiveChristians. 3.From the people beingbred in idolatry. But the primitivefathers held no such thing; and theCouncil of Trent, that pretended todetermine the case, put the world offwith an ambiguity. Christ is the onlytrue way.—R.South.

Ver. 13. Courage under Suffering.—1.Afflictionand tribulation for theGospel is a trial not only to thoseunder it, but to others who look on,and are in no less hazard to be therebybrangled (made to disagree) in theirconfidence, blunted in their zeal, andrendered remiss in their forwardness,than the person himself who suffers.2.A faithful minister suffering fortruth will not be so solicitous for hisown outward estate as for the Churchand people of God, lest they be turnedaside, or made to faint by reason ofhis sufferings. This may guard fromdiscouragement when we consider theexcellent worth of truth, and how thosewho suffer for it have not cast themselveswithout necessity upon theirsufferings, but were necessitated tomeet them in the way of their calling.3.So honourable is it to suffer forChrist and truth that not only thepersons who suffer are honoured, butalso all such as have interest in them,who should not faint, but rather gloryin them and take encouragement fromthem.—Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 14–21.

A Sublime and Comprehensive Prayer—

I. For spiritual strengthening (ver. 16).—The first necessity of the newconvert is strength. The change from the former life is so new and strange.The spiritual faculties are but recently called into exercise; and though they arethrilled with the vigour of youth, they possess the inherent weakness and areexposed to the temptations of youth. Their newly acquired strength is at oncetheir glory and their danger—their glory in giving them the capacity and impulsefor the highest kind of work; their danger because they are tempted to relyupon their own conscious power rather than upon the grace of God within them,which is the source of their best strength. If that strength is once underminedor eaten away, it can never be replaced. The strength of youth, physical orspiritual, belongs only in the period of youth; if lost in youth, it can never beregained in maturer life. Whatever strength we may gain in after-years willnever be what it might have been if ye had never lost the strength of our firstlove. The apostle here prays that his converts may be invigorated with a manfulcourage, the moral strength to meet dangers and to battle with difficulties withoutquailing.

Transcriber’s Note: The Transcriber is unsure what the authormeans by “faith... must be constantly exercised to keep Him there”in this next paragraph. Please remember Christ’s words in Hebrews xiii.5:“I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”

1. This spiritual strengthening is achieved by the indwelling Christ welcomed andretained in the heart by faith.—“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”(ver. 17). The source of this strength is not in us; we cannot evoke it by any[p.190]voluntary effort of our own. It is a Divine power working in us (ver. 20). Itis the Christ within us making Himself felt in our otherwise enfeebled powers.We are invested with the strength of Christ by our faith in Christ; and increaseof strength comes with increase of faith. The faith that receives Christ into theheart must be constantly exercised to keep Him there, and to derive inspirationand help from Him in attaining spiritual growth and in doing useful work.

2. This spiritual strengthening is cherished by an accession of Christian love.—“Thatye, being rooted and grounded in love” (ver. 17). The double metaphorgives emphasis to the idea—“rooted,” a tree; “grounded” a building. WhenChrist is planted and settled in our hearts, love is shed abroad there, and becomesthe genial soil in which our graces grow, and the basis of all our thought andaction. Love is strength, the most reliable, sustaining, and victorious kind ofstrength.

II. For a clearer comprehension of the immeasurable love of Christ (vers. 18, 19).—Herethe prayer rises in sublimity and comprehensiveness. The apostle praysthat we may know the unknowable—“know the love of Christ, which passethknowledge.” There is nothing so fascinating as the love of Christ, ever leadingus on by fresh revelations, and ever leaving the impression that there areunfathomable depths and inaccessible heights yet to be discovered. “Oh thatChrist would,” exclaimed the saintly Rutherford, “arrest and comprise my loveand my heart for all. I am a bankrupt who have no more free goods in theworld for Christ, save that it is both the whole heritage I have, and all my moveablesbesides. Lord, give the thirsty man a drink. Oh to be over ears in thewell! Oh to be swimming over head and ears in Christ’s love! I would nothave Christ’s love entering in me, but I would enter into it, and be swallowed upof that love. But I see not myself here, for I fear I make more of His love thanof Himself, whereas He Himself is far beyond and much better than His love.Oh, if I had my sinful arms filled with that lovely one Christ! Blessed be myrich Lord Jesus, who sendeth not away beggars from His house with an emptydish. He filleth the vessel of such as will come and seek. We might begourselves rich, if we were wise, if we would but hold out our withered hands toChrist, and learn to seek, ask, and knock.” The highest conceptions of the loveof Christ are realised by the soul that prays.

III. For the attainment of the most complete endowment of the Divinefulness.—“That you might be filled with all the fulness of God” (ver. 19). Theprayer asks that man may gain the sum-total of God’s gifts, be filled in everycapacity of his nature with the whole plenitude (the πλήρωμα) of God. To reachthis glorious result, we need, indeed, special spiritual strengthening. New winebursts old bottles; and a large and sudden inflow of Divine grace would bedisastrous to the soul unprepared to receive it. What is wanted is strength—strengthof the highest and purest kind. Muscular strength—a magnificenthealthy physique—is a great gift; but it is one of our lowest endowments, andits abuse sinks us to a worse than brutish sensuality. Intellectual strength is astill higher gift, and if rightly used will lift us into a loftier world of wonders, ofbeauty, of purity and joy; but if abused will drag us down to the base level ofthe vapouring, scoffing sceptic, whose attempts to glorify error are instigated bya savage but utterly powerless hatred of truth. Spiritual strength is the highestgift of all. It is the motive-power that gives movement and direction to thoughtand action. Without it man is the plaything and victim of unrestrained passions.A short time ago I inspected one of the finest ocean-going steamships, amarvellous combination of strength and elegance. Everything seemed asperfect as engineering science could make it. But there was something wanting;it was a fatal defect. The giant shaft and powerful screw, the triple expansioncylinders, the cranks, pistons, and wheels were all there, but the noble vessel was[p.191]useless, heaving helplessly on the rolling tide. The fires were out, and the activedriving-power was lacking. What steam is to that great floating mass of complicatedmechanism, giving it life, movement, direction, purpose—that spiritualstrength is to our mental and physical organism. To receive the fulness ofindwelling Deity the soul must be strengthened with spiritual strength. Wecannot pray too earnestly for this.

IV. Uttered with a reverential recognition of the great Giver of all blessing.—1.Beginningwith the submissive awe of a humble suppliant. “For this causeI bow my knees unto the Father,” etc. (vers. 14, 15). The apostle is overwhelmedwith the contemplation of the rich blessings stored up for man in Christ Jesus,and prostrates himself with lowly homage in the conscious presence of the greatDonor of all spiritual good. Nothing humbles us more than a sight of theblessings possible of attainment by the greatest sinner.

2. Ending with an outburst of triumphant praise (vers. 20, 21).—Praise soarshigher than prayer. Man’s desires will never overtake God’s bounty. Whenthe apostle desires that God’s praise may resound in the Church “throughout allages,” he no longer supposes that the mystery of God may be finished speedily asmen count years. The history of mankind stretches before his gaze into its dimfuturity. The successive generations gather themselves into that consummate ageof the kingdom of God, the grand cycle in which all the ages are contained.With its completion time itself is no more. Its swelling current, laden with thetribute of all the worlds and all their histories, reaches the eternal ocean. Theend comes; God is all in all. At this furthest horizon of thought, Christ andHis own are seen together rendering to God unceasing glory (Findlay).

Lessons.—1.Prayer is the cry of conscious need. 2.Increases in importunityas it is strengthened by faith. 3.Finds its sublimest themes in the culture of thespiritual life.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 14, 15. The Christian Churcha Family.

I. The definition here given of theChristian Church.—1.A society foundedupon natural affinities—“a family.” Afamily is built on affinities which arenatural, not artificial; it is not a combination,but a society. In ancienttimes an association of interest combinedmen in one guild or corporationfor protecting the common persons inthat corporation from oppression. Inmodern times identity of political creedor opinion has bound men together inone league in order to establish thosepolitical principles which appeared tothem of importance. Similarity oftaste has united men together in whatis called an association, or a society, inorder by this means to attain morecompletely the ends of that science towhich they had devoted themselves.But, as these have been raised artificially,so their end is, inevitably,dissolution. Society passes on, andguilds and corporations die; principlesare established, and leagues becomedissolved; tastes change, and then theassociation or society breaks up andcomes to nothing. It is upon anotherprinciple altogether that that whichwe call a family, or true society, isformed. It is not built upon similarityof taste nor identity of opinion, butupon affinities of nature. You do notchoose who shall be your brother; youcannot exclude your mother or yoursister; it does not depend upon choiceor arbitrary opinion at all, but isfounded upon the eternal nature ofthings. And precisely in the same wayis the Christian Church formed—uponnatural affinity, and not upon artificialcombination.

2. The Church of Christ is a wholemade up of manifold diversities.—Weare told here it is “the whole family,”taking into it the great and good of[p.192]ages past now in heaven, and also thestruggling, the humble, and the weaknow existing upon earth. Here, again,the analogy holds good between theChurch and the family. Never morethan in the family is the true entiretyof our nature seen. Observe how allthe diversities of human condition andcharacter manifest themselves in thefamily. First of all, there are thetwo opposite pales of masculine andfeminine, which contain within themthe entire of our humanity; whichtogether, not separately, make up thewhole of man. Then there are thediversities in the degrees and kindsof affection. For, when we speak offamily affection, we must rememberthat it is made up of many diversities.There is nothing more different thanthe love which the sister bears towardsthe brother, compared with thatwhich the brother bears towards thesister. The affection which a manbears towards his father is quite distinctfrom that which he feels towards hismother; it is something quite differenttowards his sister; totally diverse,again, towards his brother. And thenthere are diversities of character. First,the mature wisdom and stern integrityof the father, then the exuberant tendernessof the mother. And thenone is brave and enthusiastic, anotherthoughtful, and another tender. Oneis remarkable for being full of richhumour; another is sad, mournful, evenmelancholy. Again, besides these,there are diversities of condition inlife. First, there is the heir, sustainingthe name and honour of the family;then perchance the soldier, in whosecareer all the anxiety and solicitude ofthe family is centred; then the manof business, to whom they look up,trusting his advice, expecting hiscounsel; lastly, perhaps, there is theinvalid, from the very cradle tremblingbetween life and death, drawing outall the sympathies and anxieties ofeach member of the family, and souniting them all more closely, fromtheir having one common point ofsympathy and solicitude. Now, youwill observe that these are not accidental,but absolutely essential to theidea of a family; for so far as any oneof them is lost, so far the family isincomplete. And precisely in thesame way all these diversities of characterand condition are necessary toconstitute and complete the idea of aChristian Church.

3. The Church of Christ is a societywhich is for ever shifting its locality andaltering its forms.—It is the wholeChurch, “the whole family in heavenand earth.” So, then, those who wereon earth and now in heaven aremembers of the same family still. Thosewho had their home here, now have itthere. The Church of Christ is a societyever altering and changing its externalforms. “The whole family”—theChurch of the patriarchs and of agesbefore them; and yet the same family.Remember, I pray you, the diversitiesof form through which, in so manyages and generations, this Church haspassed. Consider the difference therewas between the patriarchal Church ofthe time of Abraham and Isaac andits condition under David; or thedifference between the Church so existingand its state in the days of theapostles and the marvellous differencebetween that and the same Churchfour of five centuries later; or, onceagain, the difference between that,externally one, and the Church as itexists in the present day, broken intoso many fragments. Yet, diversifiedas these states may be, they are notmore so than the various stages of afamily.

II. Consider the name by whichthis Church is named.—“Our LordJesus Christ,” the apostle says, ofwhom “the whole family in heavenand earth is named.”

1. First, the recognition of a commonFather.—That is the sacred truth proclaimedby the Epiphany. God revealedin Christ—not the Father of the Jewonly, but also of the Gentile. The Fatherof a whole family. Not the partialFather, loving one alone—the elder—butthe younger son besides, the outcast[p.193]prodigal who had spent his living withharlots and sinners, but the child still,and the child of a Father’s love.

2. The recognition of a commonhumanity.—He from whom the Churchis named took upon Him not the naturemerely of the noble, of kings, or ofthe intellectual philosopher, but of thebeggar, the slave, the outcast, theinfidel, the sinner, and the nature ofevery one struggling in various ways.

3. The Church of Christ proceeds outof and rests upon the belief in acommon Sacrifice.—F.W. Robertson.

The Family in Heaven and Earth.—Withthe boldness of a true and inspirednature the apostle Paul speakswith incidental ease of one family distributedbetween heaven and earth.There is, it seems, domesticity thatcannot be absorbed by the intervalbetween two spheres of being—a lovethat cannot be lost amidst the immensity,but finds the surest trackacross the void—a home affinity thatpenetrates the skies, and enters as themorning or evening guest. And it isJesus of Nazareth who has effectedthis; has entered under the samehousehold name, and formed into thesame class, the dwellers above andthose beneath. Spirits there, andspirits here, are gathered by Him intoone group; and where before wassaddest exile, He has made a blestfraternity.

I. Members of the same home cannotdwell together, without either thememory or the expectation or somemutual and mortal farewell.—All wewho dwell in this visible scene canthink of kindred souls that havevanished from us into the invisible.These, in the first place, does Jesuskeep dwelling near our hearts; makingstill one family of those in heaven andthose on earth. This He would do, ifby no other means, by the prospect Hehas opened, of actual restoration. Andsince the grave can bury no affectionnow, but only the mortal and familiarshape of their object, death has changedits whole aspect and relation to us;and we may regard it, not with passionatehate, but with quiet reverence.It is a Divine message from above, notan invasion from the abyss beneath;not the fiendish hand of darknessthrust up to clutch our gladnessenviously away, but a rainbow gleamthat descends through Jesus, withoutwhich we should not know the variousbeauties that are woven into the purelight of life. Once let the Christianpromise be taken to the heart, and aswe walk through the solemn forest ofour existence, every leaf of love thatfalls, while it proclaims the winternear, lets in another patch of God’ssunshine to paint the glade beneathour feet and give a glory to thegrass. Tell me that I shall stand faceto face with the sainted dead; and,whenever it may be, shall I not desireto be ready, and to meet them withclear eye and spirit unabashed? Suchand so much encouragement wouldChristianity give to the faithful conversationof all true affections, if itonly assured us of some distant andundefinable restoration. But it appearsto me to assure us of much more thanthis; to discountenance the idea ofany, even the most temporary, extinctionof life in the grave; and to sanctionour faith in the absolute immortalityof the mind. Rightly understood, itteaches not only that the departed willlive, but that they do live, and indeedhave never died, but simply vanishedand passed away.

II. But it is not merely the membersof the same literal home that Christunites in one, whether in earth orheaven. He makes the good of everyage into a glorious family of thechildren of God; and inspires themwith a fellow-feeling, whatever thedepartment of service which they fill.Keeping us ever in the mental presenceof the Divinest wisdom and in venerationof a perfect goodness, it accustomsus to the aspect of every grace thatcan adorn and consecrate our nature;trains our perceptions instantly torecognise its influence or to feel itswant. It looks with an eye of full[p.194]and clear affection over the wide circleof human excellence. Such hope tendsto give us a prompt and large congenialitywith them; to cherish thehealthful affections which are domesticin every place and obsolete in no time;to prepare us for entering any newscene, and joining any new societywhere goodness, truth, and beautydwell.—Martineau.

The Christian Brotherhood of Man.—Thebrotherhood of man has beenthe dream of old philosophers, and itsattainment the endeavour of modernreformers. Man can only reach hishighest life when he forms part of asociety bound together by commonsympathies and common aims, for bya great law of our nature it is truethat he who lives utterly apart fromhis fellows must lose all true noblenessin selfish degradation. There is no realprogress for the individual but throughsocial sympathy. There is no strongand enduring aspiration but in thefellowship of aspiring souls. Thatconviction which men have so stronglyfelt and so vainly endeavoured torealise is perpetually asserted in theBook of God.

I. The brotherhood of man in Christ.—1.TheChristian brotherhood is aunity of spirit under a diversity ofform. Thus with the Church of thefirst century. At first it was one bandof brotherhood; but as it grew andindividual thought expanded and experiencedeepened there arose infinitediversities. The more men think andthe more they grow, the more will theydiffer.

2. There are spiritual ties in actionwhich in Christ bind man to man.—Paul’swords imply a threefold unity.1.The fellowship of devotion to acommon Father. 2.The fellowshipwith Christ our common Brother.3.That fellowship is unbroken by thechange of worlds.

II. Results of realising this fact ofbrotherhood.—1.Earnestness of life.2.Power and grandeur of hope.—Somecomplain that their ideas ofheaven are vague and ineffective.Only realise the brotherhood of man,and then the hope of the future willbecome a power in life.—E.L. Hull.

The One Family.—1.Believers onearth and saints and angels in heavenspring from the same common parent.2.Are governed by the same generallaws. 3.Share in the same pleasuresand enjoyments. 4.Have the samegeneral temper, the same distinguishingcomplexion. 5.Have one commoninterest. 6.Look to, rely upon, andare guided by the same Head. 7.Areall objects of God’s love. 8.At thelast day will meet in God’s presence,be openly acknowledged as His children,and admitted to dwell in His house forever.

Lessons.—1.If we estimate thedignity of men from the families withwhich they are connected, how honourableis the believer! 2.We see ourobligations to mutual condescension,peaceableness, and love. 3.Let thosewho are not of this family be solicitousto obtain a place in it.—Lathrop.

Vers. 16–19. Paul’s Prayer for theEphesians.

I. For spiritual strength.—It wasnot bodily strength, civil power, orworldly distinction; it was the graceof fortitude and patience.

II. For an indwelling Christ.—Aswe become united to Christ by faith,so by faith He dwells in our hearts.

III. For establishment in love.—Truelove is rooted in the heart. Itis a spiritual affection towards Christ.Its fruits are love to men, imitationof Christ’s example, obedience to Hiscommands, zeal for His honour, anddiligence in His service.

IV. For increase of knowledge inthe love of Christ.—The love of Christpasseth all known examples of love.This love passeth our comprehension inrespect of its breadth or extent, itslength, its depth, as the benefits it hasprocured exceed all human estimate.Though the love of Christ passethknowledge, there is a sense in which it[p.195]is known to the saints. They have anexperimental knowledge, an influentialknowledge, an assimilating knowledgeof the love of Christ.

V. For the fulness of God.—Thatthey may have such a supply of Divineinfluence as would cause them toabound in knowledge, faith, love, andall virtues and good works.—Lathrop.

Ver. 19. The Love of Christ.

I. The love of Christ passeth knowledge.—1.HeHimself furnishes anillustrative instance when Paul says,“For scarcely for a righteous manwill one die”—a merely just andrighteous man would be admired; buthe would not so take hold of the heartof another to produce a willingness todie for him;—“yet peradventure,” insome rare case, “for a good man,”a man of benevolence, adorned withthe softer virtues and abounding inthe distribution of his favours—forsuch a one “some might even dareto die”; some one, overcoming eventhe love of life in the fulness of hisgratitude, might venture to give hisown life to preserve that of such aone. But we were neither just norgood; we were sinners, and “Godcommendeth His love toward us, inthat while we were yet sinners Christdied for us.” Passes it not, then, allknowledge, all reasonable conceptionand probability, that this fallen natureshould be so sympathised with thatthese flagrant rebellions should excite,not an inexorable anger, but pity andlove? And such love that our Saviour—lookingnot so much on man asoffending, but as His creature, and asHis creature still capable of restoration—shouldmelt in compassion anddie to effect his redemption; this isindeed love “that passeth knowledge.”

2. The manner in which this love ismanifested carries the principle beyondall conception and expression.—It waslove to the death. It was death forsinners, death in their stead; death,that the penal claims of law, and thatlaw the unchangeable, unrelaxable lawof God, might be fully satisfied. Theredemption price was fixed by a spotlessjustice, and the love of Christ to thesinner was to be tested by the vastnessof the claims to be made upon Him.But the wages of sin is death; andHis love shrank not from the full andawful satisfaction required. It wasdeath in our stead. Then it must beattended with anxious forebodings. Ofwhat mysteries have I suggested therecollection to you? Can you comprehendthem? That feeling with whichHe spoke of the baptism of blood?That last mysterious agony? Thatcomplaint of being forsaken of God?You feel you cannot. They transcendall your thought; and the love whichmade Him stoop to them is thereforelove “which passeth knowledge.”

3. The love of Christ passeth knowledgeif we consider it as illustrated bythat care for us which signalises Hisadministration.

4. The subject is further illustratedby the nature of the blessings whichresult to men from the love of Christ.—Weusually estimate the strength oflove by the blessings it conveys or, atany rate, would convey. And if thebenefits be beyond all estimate, neithercan we measure the love.

5. The love of Christ passeth knowledgebecause it is the love of aninfinite nature. Love rises with theother qualities and perfections of thebeing in whom it is found. Amonganimals the social attachments areslight, and the instinctive affectiondies away when its purposes areanswered. In man love arises withhis intellect. In him it is often onlylimited by his nature, and whenrightly directed shall be eternal. Manythat love on earth shall doubtless lovefor ever. Were Christ merely a man Hislove could not pass knowledge. Whatman has felt man can conceive. Lovecan be measured by the nature whichexercises it. But this love passeth allknowledge but that of the Divine nature,because itself is Divine. Christ is God,and he who would fully know His lovemust be able to span immensity and tograsp the Infinite Himself.

[p.196]II. But while it is true that thelove of Christ passeth all knowledge,it is equally true that it is to beknown by us.—To know the love ofChrist is: 1.To recognise it in itsvarious forms and expressions in ourconstant meditations. And where shallwe turn and not be met by this, to us,most important subject? How delightfulan occupation, to track all thestreams of mercy up to their source.We are surrounded by the proof ofthe love of Christ. Let us see to itthat the blinding veil be not on ourheart, that our eyes be not holdenthat we should not know Him. Weare called to know the love of Christ.Let us accustom ourselves to reflectupon it, to see it in its various formsand results; and then shall our meditationof Him be sweet. 2.To knowthe love of Christ is to perceive it inits adaptation to our own personalcondition. 3.To know the love ofChrist is to experience it in its practicalresults. He offers you pardon,and the offer is a proof and manifestationof His love; but properly to knowit pardon itself must be accepted andembraced. This is to know his love.Seek it, and you must find it. Restwithout it, and you are but “assounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.”4.To know the love of Christ we mustput forth those efforts through whichthat love is appointed to express itselfin our daily experience.

Lessons.—1.The rejection of love,especially of redeeming love, involves thedeepest guilt. 2.Remember that thegrace is common to you all.—R.Watson.

The Unknown and Known Love ofChrist.

I. There are some respects in whichthe love of Christ passeth our knowledge.—1.Inits objects; so unworthyand degraded. 2.In its sufferings;love to the death. 3.In its care. 4.Inits blessings. 5.In its degree. It isthe love of an infinite nature.

II. There are some respects inwhich the love of Christ may beknown.—1.Our views of it may beclearer and more consistent. 2.Ourviews of it may be more confidentialand appropriating. 3.Our views ofit may be more impressive and moreinfluential.—G.Brooks.

The Transcendent Love of Christ.

I. This representation must beconfirmed.—1.This love is Divine.2.Consider the objects it embraced.3.The means by which it manifesteditself. 4.The blessings it secured.

II. The perception the Christianmay acquire of this love, notwithstandingits Divine infinitude.—1.Itis the great interpreting principlewhich he applies to all the tremendousfacts of redemption. 2.The sacredelement and incentive of all piety—thetheme of contemplation, the groundof confidence, the motive of obedience.3.The impulse and model of all benevolenceand zeal.

III. Conclusions from a review ofthe subject.—1.It is only naturalto expect a transcendent character inChristianity. 2.No better test existsof what is genuine Christianity thanthe level of the views which it exhibitsconcerning the person and work ofChrist and the tone of the affectionswhich it encourages towards Him.3.There is much of implicit as wellas declarative evidence in support ofthe Saviour’s supreme Divinity. 4.Hownecessary is it that we should livehabitually under the influence of thistranscendent love.—R.W. Hamilton.

Vers. 20, 21. A Devout Doxology.

I. The acknowledgment the apostlemakes of God’s all-sufficiency.—1.Godoften does for men those favours whichthey never thought of asking for themselves.2.God answers prayers inways we think not of. 3.The merciesGod is pleased to grant often produceconsequences far beyond what we askedor thought. 4.The worth of theblessings we ask and God bestowsinfinitely exceeds all our thought.

II. The ascription of glory theapostle makes to this all-sufficientGod.—1.God is glorified by the increase[p.197]of his Church. 2.God isglorified in the Church when a devoutregard is paid to the ordinances Hehas instituted. 3.By the observance ofgood order in the Church, and by thedecent attendance of the members ontheir respective duties. 4.That Godmay be glorified there must be peaceand unity in the Church.—Lathrop.

God’s Infinite Liberality.

I. The object of this doxology.—TheGod of all grace. Whatever wethink we ask. No limit to our askingbut our thinking. God gives beyond ourthinking. Here, take all this! Ah,poor thing, that transcends thine askingand even thy thinking, but take it.If it transcend all communicated powerof mind, I say, “I thank Thee, myGod, for it. I know it is exceedinggood, but I cannot understand it.Keep it among Thy treasures. Myblessedness rests not in my intellect,but in Thy favour. Remember Thouhast given it me. It may come Ishall be able to understand it betterand appreciate it more.” I shall neverhave asked too much, I shall neverhave thought too much, till I haveasked beyond God’s ability, till I havethought beyond God’s ability. Thatability is not a bare abstraction of theomnipotence of God, but it is theomnipotence of God as working inthe Church and in the people of God.He is not omnipotent in heaven, andimpotent in thee, or partially powerfulin thee.

II. The doxology itself (ver. 21).—Allshould glorify God, but all willnot. In the Church alone will Godget glory. It is as the name of Christis glorified in us that we are glorifiedin Him. It is when the glory thatGod reflects on the creature is by thecreature ascribed as due only to Godwhen He is glorified as the Authorof it, transcendently and infinitelyglorious, it is then that the gloryrests. When it is appropriated it islost, but it is possessed when it istossed back and fro between God andthe creature. When the creaturegives it to God, God of His rich gracesends it back in greater measure; butthe humble creature, emulous of God’sglory, sends it all back again to Him,and as it reciprocates so it increases.God gives not to end by enriching us—thatis an immediate end; but theultimate end is that He may be glorified.Be ashamed to get little—get allthings. Get out of your poverty, notby fancying you are rich, but by comingand getting. The more you get alwaysgive glory, and come and ask andreceive.—Dr. John Duncan.

CHAPTER IV.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. Walk worthy of the vocation.—They had been called to life in the Spirit, and theymust also “walk in the Spirit.”

Ver. 2. With all lowliness.—The Christian—“born from above”—is to exhibit a trait ofcharacter with the “high-born” Greek despised, and which Heine in modern times called“a hound’s virtue.” “The pride that apes humility” steals in under Chrysostom’sdescription of this “lowliness.” He says, “It is a making of ourselves small when we aregreat.” And meekness.—“A grace in advance of ‘lowliness,’ not as more precious than it,but as presupposing it, and as being unable to exist without it” (Trench). With longsuffering.—Theexact opposite of our “short-tempered”—e.g. “Is the Spirit of the Lordstraitened?” means “Has the Lord become irritable?” (Mic. ii.7). The word suggests tomen by nature irascible that “slowness to wrath” recommended by St. James. Forbearing[p.198]one another in love.—The brother who is tempted to anger is not to look down from theheight of a lofty pride on those who try his patience, but in compassionate love, rememberinghis own frailty, must “suffer long and be kind.”

Ver. 3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Sprit in the bond of peace.—It is no easy-goingindifference that is inculcated; they will have to “exert themselves,” “give diligence”(R.V.), before that peace obtains which is the harmonious and frictionless working of eachpart of the machine.

Vers. 4–6. One body... and in you all.—“Seven elements of unity St. Paul enumerates....They form a chain stretching from the Church on earth to the throne and being ofthe universal Father in heaven” (Findlay).

Ver. 7. But unto every one of us is given grace.—The distributing Spirit (1Cor. xii.11)leaves no humblest member of the body of Christ without His endowment.

Ver. 8. Wherefore He saith.—What follows is a quotation of Ps. lxviii.18 “with freealteration” (Meyer), adapting the return of the hero-king to his own city to that mostmagnificent of all triumphs—over Hades and Death—achieved by Him “who was dead andis alive for evermore.” “Being by the right hand of God exalted He hath poured forth this”abundance, as a conqueror scatters his largesse.

Vers. 9, 10. Now that He ascended... that He might fill all things.—The exaltation,in His case, presupposed the humiliation. From the throne of the universe—“the glorywhich He had with the Father”—to the profoundest depths where any poor lost piece ofhumanity that is redeemable can be found, and thence again to the throne He relinquished.The same also.—Exalted, to be confidingly and adoringly loved; humbled, to be worshippedno less as “the Son of man who is in heaven.”

Ver. 11. And He gave some to be, etc.—“Christ gave the persons, and the communitygave to them the service” (Meyer). Apostles... prophets... evangelists.—We cannotaccept the order as significant of rank. It would grace an angel to be the “evangelist”of such a salvation. As apostles they went forth “sent” by their Master to menin their need; as prophets they “spoke out” what He had taught them; as evangeliststhey were the messengers of good tidings. They were apostles that they might be evangelists(Matt x.5–7), “going about heralding” the kingdom and gathering men into it.Pastors and teachers.—Shepherds and instructors of those gathered together by men ofanother order. These are the true “bishops,” whatever “other name” they bear(1Pet. v.1–4).

Ver. 12. For the perfecting of the saints.—“Saints,” whilst a title of the highest honour,is often expressive of the ideal rather than the real life of those who bear it; the“perfecting” is the rendering into actual life of what is implied in the term of honour.For the work of the ministry.—R.V. “into the work.” If the end of all Christ’s gifts so faras “the saints” are concerned is their perfect equipment, so far as His messengers areconcerned they go forth unto service first, honour afterwards. For the edifying of the bodyof Christ.—Practically the same as the foregoing, but with an ultimate reference to Christ.The double figure of a building and of a body is familiar to our own speech, as when wespeak of “building up a strong frame.”

Ver. 13. Till we all come.—Suggestive of standing opposite to something towards whichwe have been toiling. Can one think without a tremor of joy, of the moment when he willfind himself in perfect correspondence with the Divine Archetype? In the unity of thefaith.—The world has seen many attempts to bring about uniformity of creed, after themanner of Procrustes, by stretching or chopping. “The unity of the faith” is a verydifferent thing, and much to be desired. The knowledge of the Son of God.—Lit. thecomplete knowledge. Unto a full-grown man.—As above intimated, a child does not becomea man by means of the rack. The significance of the word “man” here is as great as whenwe bid some one who has lost his self-respect to “be a man.”

Ver. 14. That we henceforth be no more children.—In what respects his readers are not tobe children the apostle makes plain, viz. in helplessness and credulity. Tossed to and fro.—Withno more power of resistance than a cork on the waves. By the sleight of men and cunningcraftiness.—As some poor simpleton, who thinks himself capable, falls a victim to card-sharpers,so unstable souls fall victims to those who say with Falstaff, “If the young dace bea bite for the old pike, I see no reason in the law of nature but I may snap at him.”

Ver. 15. But speaking the truth in love.—If it be possible to make the medicinepalatable without destroying its efficacy—to capsule the bitter pill—its chances are so muchthe greater of doing good. The A.V. margin gives “being sincere,” and the R.V. “dealingtruly,” the different renderings indicating the difficulty of finding an English equivalent.

Ver. 16. Fitly joined together and compacted.—R.V. “fitly framed and knit together.”Bengel suggests that the first expression means the fitting together, and the second thefastening together. Meyer, denying this, says the distinction is that the former corresponds[p.199]to the figure, the latter to the thing represented. The grammar, like the physiology, of thisverse is difficult. Are we to read, “The whole body... maketh increase of the body”?Apparently we must, for the body “builds itself up in love.”

Ver. 17. That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk.—In this and the twofollowing verses we have again the lurid picture of ch. ii.2, 3: “in the vanity of their mind.”

“The creature is their sole delight,
Their happiness the things of earth.”

Ver. 18. Having the understanding darkened.—Remembering our Lord’s saying about thesingle eye and the fully illuminated body we might say, “If the understanding—by whichall light should come—be darkened ‘how great is that darkness’!” Because of theblindness.—R.V. “hardness.” The word describes the hard skin formed by constantrubbing, as the horny hand of a blacksmith.

Ver. 19. Who being past feeling.—Having lost the “ache” which should always attend aviolation of law. An ancient commentator uses the now familiar word “anæsthetes” toexplain the phrase. Having given themselves over.—“Given” represents a word whichoften connotes an act of treason—and “themselves” is emphatic—“the most tremendoussacrifice ever laid on the altar of sin” (Beet). To lasciviousness.—“St. Paul stamps upon itthe burning word ἀσέλγειαlike a brand on the harlot’s brow” (Findlay). To work alluncleanness with greediness.—R.V. margin, “to make a trade of all uncleanness withcovetousness.” Their “sins not accidental, but a trade”; and a trade at which they workwith a “desire of having more.”

Ver. 20. No not so.—As differently as possible. The same mode of speech which led St. Paulto say to the Galatians, “Shall I praise you?... I praise you not.”—i.e. “I blame youhighly.”

Ver. 21. If so be that ye have heard Him.—The emphasis is on “Him”—“assuming,that is, that it is He, and no other.”

Ver. 22. That ye put off concerning the former conversation.—It is no “philosophy ofclothes” inculcated here. It is a deliverance from “the body of death,” like strippingoneself of his very integument. Conversation.—R.V. “manner of life.” Which iscorrupt.—R.V. much more strikingly—“waxeth corrupt.” St. Paul’s figure elsewhere isappropriate—“like a gangrene eating into the flesh.”

Vers. 23, 24. The stripping off being complete, and the innermost core of the man beingrenewed, the investiture may begin. The “habit” laid aside is never to be resumed, and thenew robes, “ever white,” are not to be soiled. Righteousness and true holiness.—R.V.“Righteousness and holiness of truth.” See the “dealing truly” of ver. 15, R.V. margin.

Ver. 25. Putting away lying.—Findlay holds to it that “the lie, the falsehood, isobjective and concrete; not lying, or falsehood as a subjective act, habit, or quality.”Members one of another.—Let there be “no schism in the body.”

Ver. 26. Let not the sun go down on your wrath.—The word for “wrath” is not theusual one. It almost seems as if the compound form had reference to the matter “alongsidewhich” wrath was evoked. If “curfew” could ring out the fires of wrath at sundown, wemight welcome the knell. Meyer quotes the Pythagorean custom of making up a quarrel bythe parties “shaking hands” before sunset.

Ver. 28. Let him that stole steal no more.—Though we have not here the word for“brigand,” we may think that the thieving had not always been without violence. That hemay have to give.—Not the profits of wickedness, but “the good” results of his own labour,and may give it to the needy “with cheerfulness” (Rom. xii.8), with a “hilarity” beyondthat of “those who divide the spoil” (Isa. ix.3).

Ver. 29. Let no corrupt communication.—R.V. “speech.” Putrid speech can never comeforth from any but a bad person, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouthspeaketh.” But that which is good to the use of edifying.—The word in season “fitlyspoken” has an æsthetic charm (Prov. xxv.11), but it was more necessary to teach theseloquacious Asiatics the utilitarian end of having a human tongue. “It is the mere talk,whether frivolous or pompous—spoken from the pulpit or the easy-chair—the incontinenceof tongue, the flux of senseless, graceless, unprofitable utterance that St. Paul desires toarrest” (Findlay).

Ver. 30. Grieve not.—“Do not make Him sorrow.” A strong figure like that which saysthat God was sorry that He had made man (Gen. vi.6). Whereby ye are sealed.—Cf. ch. i.13.“In whom ye were sealed” (R.V.)

Ver. 31. Let all bitterness.—i.e. “of speech.” “Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, thelanguage of the devil,” said one liberally endowed with it. The satirist Hipponax—a nativeof Ephesus—was called “the bitter.” Such a man as “speaks poniards,” and whose “everyword stabs,” may be brilliant and a formidable opponent; he will never be loved. Wrathand anger.—The former is the fuming anger, “the intoxication of the soul,” as St. Basil callsit; the latter is the state after the paroxysm is over, cherishing hatred and planning revenge.Clamour and railing.—“Clamour” is the loud outcry so familiar in an Eastern concourse of[p.200]excited people (Acts xxiii.9), like that hubbub in Ephesus when for two hours the populaceyelled, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians” (Acts xix.28). “Railing,” blasphemy—speech thatis calculated to do injury. Malice.—“Badness.” “This last term is separated from the othersas generic and inclusive” (Beet).

Ver. 32. Be ye kind.—The word is found in Christ’s invitation to the weary—“My yoke iseasy.” It is characteristic of the Father that “He is kind to the unthankful.” The manwho drinks wine that is new and harsh says, “The old is good” (mellow). Tenderhearted.—Soontouched by the weakness of others. Forgiving... as God... forgave you.—Themotive and measure of our forgiveness of injuries is the Divine forgiveness shown to“all that debt” of our wrong-doing (Matt. xviii.32).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1–3.

The Dignity of the Christian Life—

I. Imposes the obligation to act in harmony with its lofty aims.—“Walkworthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (ver. 1). There is the practical,stimulative influence of a high ideal. The Spirit within us has not only changedour nature and cleansed our spiritual vision, but He has lifted our horizon,formed within us distinct outlines of the Christian ideal after which we are tolabour, and furnished us with the moral forces with which we are to attain thebeauty and unity of a perfect spiritual character. We who are created in God’simage and restored in Christ and made partakers of the Divine nature in Him,are bound by condition of our creation and redemption to endeavour to belike Him here that we may have the fruition of His glorious Godhead hereafter.The true Christian cannot stoop to any meanness either in thought or action.He is dignified without being proud.

II. Involves the practice of self-suppression.—1.In a just estimateof ourselves. “With all lowliness and meekness.” In endeavouring to balancethe value and use of our powers and faculties, and in measuring the degree andvolume of our influence, we must observe humility—not a cringing cowardlyspirit which would deter us from the right for fear of doing wrong, but anelevated sense of right with courage to perform it, and with humility to acknowledgeand confess when we are in the wrong. It does not mean the cravensurrender of our honest convictions and carefully formed judgment. We mayefface ourselves, but not the truth within us. An Italian bishop being asked thesecret of his habitual humility and patience replied, “It consists in nothingmore than in making good use of my eyes. In whatever state I am, I first ofall look up to heaven and remember that my principal business here is to getthere. I then look back down to earth and call to mind the space I shall shortlyoccupy in it. I then look abroad into the world and observe what multitudesthere are who in all respects have more cause to be unhappy than myself. ThusI learn where true happiness is placed, where all our cares must end, and howvery little reason I have to repine or complain.”

2. In a loving forbearance towards each other.—“With longsuffering, forbearingone another in love” (ver. 2). The meek man may be severe with himself, andhis constant habit of self-suppression may render him somewhat impatient withthe unreasonable outbreaks of temper in others. Meekness must be balancedand moderated with patience, and both virtues exercised in the all-pervadingelement of love. Love softens every harshness, tones down asperity, and weldstogether the Christian character in a firm but not too rigid a unity. “Bindthyself to thy brother,” said Chrysostom. “Those who are bound together inlove bear all burdens lightly. Bind thyself to him and him to thee. Both arein thy power; for whomsoever I will, I may easily make my friend.”

III. Demands an earnest striving after a peaceful spiritual unity.—“Endeavouringto keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (ver. 3).[p.201]Peace—“a silken cord binding into one the members of the Church; theencompassing element of the unity of the Spirit” (Beet). The apostle repeatedlyand solemnly inculcates unity and peace on all the Churches, warnsthem against contentions and divisions, and kindles into righteous indignationagainst all those insidious and false teachers who, under the pretence of advocatinga higher piety really disturb and rend the Church of Christ. On whatan enormous scale are preparations made for war! We should not be lessdiligent and elaborate in taking every precaution in promoting and maintainingpeace.

Lessons.—1.True humility is always dignified. 2.Personal happiness is notthe highest aim of the Christian life. 3.The noblest virtues of the Christiancharacter are not attained without earnest endeavour.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 1–3. True Church Life.—1.Theword “walk” is a very extensivesignification. It includes all ourinward and outward motions, all ourthoughts, words, and actions. It takesin, not only everything we do, buteverything we either speak or think.2.We are called to walk, first, “withall lowliness,” to have the mind in uswhich was also in Christ Jesus; not tothink of ourselves more highly thanwe ought to think; to be little, andpoor, and mean, and vile in our owneyes; to know ourselves as also we areknown by Him to whom all hearts areopened; to be deeply sensible of ourown unworthiness. Who can be dulysensible how much remains in him ofhis natural enmity to God, or how farhe is still alienated from God by theignorance that is in him? 3.Yea,suppose God has now thoroughlycleaned our heart, and scattered thelast remains of sin; yet how can we besensible enough of our own helplessness,our utter inability to all good,unless we are every hour, yea, everymoment, endued with power from onhigh? 4.When our inmost soul isthoroughly tinctured therewith, itremains that we “be clothed withhumility.” The word used by St. Peterseems to imply that we be coveredwith it as with a surtout; that we beall humility, both within and without;tincturing all we think, speak, anddo. Let all our actions spring fromthis fountain; let all our wordsbreathe this spirit; that all men mayknow we have been with Jesus, andhave learned of Him to be lowly inheart. 5.And being taught of Himwho teacheth as never man taught, tobe meek as well as lowly in heart.This implies not only a power overanger, but over all violent, turbulentpassions. It implies the having allour passions in due proportion; noneof them either too strong or too weak,but all duly balanced with each other,all subordinate to reason, and reasondirected by the Spirit of God. 6.Walkwith all “longsuffering.” This is nearlyrelated to meekness, but implies somethingmore. It carries on the victoryalready gained over all your turbulentpassions, notwithstanding all thepowers of darkness, all the assaults ofevil men or evil spirits. It is patientlytriumphant over all opposition, andunmoved though all the waves andstorms thereof go over you. 7.The“forbearing one another in love”seems to mean, not only the not resentinganything, and the not avengingyourselves; not only the not injuring,hurting, or grieving each other, eitherby word or deed, but also the bearingone another’s burdens, yea, and lesseningthem by every means in our power.It implies the sympathising with themin their sorrows, afflictions, and infirmities;the bearing them up when,without our help, they would be liableto sink under their burdens. 8.Lastly,the true members of the Church ofChrist “endeavour,” with all possiblediligence, with all care and pains, with[p.202]unwearied patience, to “keep the unityof the Spirit in the bond of peace,” topreserve inviolate the same spirit oflowliness and meekness, of longsuffering,mutual forbearance, and love;and all these cemented and knittogether by that sacred tie—the peaceof God filling the heart. Thus onlycan we be and continue living membersof that Church which is the body ofChrist. 9.Does it not clearly appearfrom this whole account why, in theancient creed commonly called theApostles’, we term it the universal orcatholic Church, “the holy catholicChurch”? The Church is called holy,because it is holy, because every memberthereof is holy, though in differentdegrees, as He that called them isholy. How clear this is! If theChurch, as to the very essence of it, isa body of believers, no man that is nota Christian believer can be a memberof it. If this whole body be animatedby one Spirit, and endued with onefaith, and one hope of their calling, thenhe who has not that Spirit and faithand hope is no member of this body.It follows, that not only no commonswearer, no Sabbath-breaker, no drunkard,no whor*monger, no thief, no liar,none that lives in any outward sin, butnone that is under the power of angeror pride, no lover of the world—in aword, none that is dead to God—can bea member of His Church.—Wesley.

Brotherly Love in Action.

I. Walk in lowliness.—Humblethoughts of ourselves, of our ownknowledge, goodness, and importanceare necessary to Christian peace andunion. We shall not despise ourbrethren for their want of the internalgifts or external advantages we enjoy.We shall not lean to our own understanding;but, conscious of our liabilityto err, we shall be attentive to instructionand reproof, open to conviction,ready to retrace our errors andconfess our faults.

II. Walk in meekness—in a prudentrestraint and government of thepassions. We shall not be easily provoked,our resentments will not besudden, without cause or withoutbounds. If a variance happens, weshall stand ready to be reconciled. Weshall be cautious not to give, and slowto take offence. In matters of religionour zeal will be tempered withcharity.

III. To our meekness we must addlongsuffering and forbearance.—Theseterms express the patient and exaltedexercise of meekness rather thanvirtues distinct from it. We are notonly to be meek, but longsuffering inour meekness; not only to restrainanger under ordinary offences, but tosuppress malice and forbear revengeunder the most provoking injuries.

IV. We must endeavour to keepthe unity of the Spirit in the bond ofpeace.—Not unity of opinion—this isnot possible, nor reasonable to be expected,in the present state of mankind;but unity of spirit, of heart andaffection, disposing us to preserve thebond of peace and maintain all theduties of Christian fellowship, whateverdifferences of sentiment takeplace. To the same purpose are theapostle’s exhortations to all theChurches, and especially to those inwhich diversity of opinion concerningceremonial usages threatened theirexternal peace.—Lathrop.

Ver. 3. Peace the Bond of Unity.

I. There is a union of the visibleChurch and the members thereofamong themselves, and this is twofold:the one necessary to the being of aChurch and being of a Church member,so that a Church cannot be a Churchnor a man a member without it, thetie of which is God’s covenant withthe visible Church, and the Church’slaying hold of it; the other necessaryto the well-being of the Church, whichis entertained by unity in judgment, inheart and affection, by concurrencesin purposes and actings.

II. Neither fair pretences for peaceand union in the Church, nor secondedbut contradicted by practice, nor yetcareless endeavours easily broken by[p.203]difficulties, will God accept as theduty required for preserving or restoringunity.—There is no less calledfor than the utmost of our seriousendeavours for that end, so that wenot only eschew what may give causeof rending, but also be not easily provokedwhen it is given by others, andwhen a rent is made spare no painsfor having it removed, and weary notunder small appearances of success.

III. Whatever differences may fallout among the members of the Churchthey are not to break the bond ofpeaceable walking one with another byfactious sidings, but ought to studyunanimous and joint practice in thosethings wherein there is agreement;and where this peaceable deportmentis, it tends to preserve what remains ofspiritual unity and to regain what isalready lost.—Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 4–6.

The Sevenfold Unity of the Church reflected in the Trinity of Divine Persons.

I. One Spirit (ver. 4), the animating Principle of the one body (ver. 4)—theChurch; the Source of its life and ever-watchful Guardian of the Church’s unity;the Inspirer of the one hope, “Even as ye are called in one hope of yourcalling” (ver. 4). Where the Spirit of Christ dwells as a vitalising, formativeprinciple, He finds or makes for Himself a body. Let no man say, “I havethe spirit of religion, I can dispense with forms, I need no fellowship with men, Iprefer to walk with God.” God will not walk with men who do not care to walkwith His people. The oneness of communion amongst the people of Christ isgoverned by a unity of aim. The old pagan world fell to pieces because it waswithout hope; the golden age was in the past. No society can endure thatlives upon its memories, or that contents itself with cherishing its privileges.Nothing holds men together like work and hope. Christianity holds out asplendid crown of life. It promises our complete restoration to the imageof God, the redemption of the body with the spirit from death, and our entranceupon an eternal fellowship with Christ in heaven. The Christian hopesupplies to men more truly and constantly than Nature in her most exaltedforms--

“The anchor of their purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of their heart, and soul
Of all their moral being.”

The hope of our calling is a hope for mankind, nay, for the entire universe. Welabour for the regeneration of humanity. We look for the actual ingathering intoone in Christ of all things in all worlds, as they are already gathered in God’seternal plan. If it were merely a personal salvation that we had to seek,Christian communion might appear to be an optional thing and the Churchno more than a society for mutual spiritual benefit. But seen in this largerlight, Church membership is of the essence of our calling (Findlay).

II. One Lord (ver. 5), or Master, whom we are called to serve. A consentaneousand harmonious obedience to His mandates blends His servants intoone compact unity. One faith (ver. 5), one body of inviolable truth, one code ofDivine commands, one Gospel of promise, presenting one object of faith. Onebaptism (ver. 5), one gateway of entrance into the company of believers formingthe one Church, one initiatory rite common to all. Christians may differ as tothe mode of baptism and the age at which it should be administered, butall agree it is an institution of Christ, a sign of spiritual renewal, and a pledgeof the righteousness that comes by faith. Wherever the sacraments are dulyobserved, there the supremacy of Christ’s rule is recognised, and this rule is thebasis on which future unity must be built.

III. One God, the supreme and final unity, who is “the Father of all,”[p.204]who is above all, and through all, and in you all (ver. 6). Above all—Hereigns supreme over all His people (Rom. ix.5). Through all—informing,inspiring, stimulating, and using them as instruments to work out Hispurpose (Rom. xi.36). In all—dwelling in and filling their hearts and theever-widening circle of their experience. “The absolute sovereignty of theDivine Mind over the universe,” said Channing, “is the only foundation of hopefor the triumph of the human mind over matter, over physical influences, overimperfection and death.” With what a grand simplicity the Christian conceptionof the one God and Father rose above the vulgar pantheon, the swarm ofmotley deities—some gay and wanton, some dark and cruel, some of supposedbeneficence, all infected with human passion and baseness—which filled theimagination of the Græco-Asiatic pagans. What rest there was for the mind,what peace and freedom for the spirit, in turning from such deities to the Godand Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! This was the very God whom the logicof Greek thought and the practical instincts of Roman law and empire blindlysought. Through ages He had revealed Himself to the people of Israel, whowere now dispersed amongst the nations to bear His light. At last Hedeclared His full name and purpose to the world through Jesus Christ. So the godsmany and lords many have had their day. By His manifestation the idols areutterly abolished. The proclamation of one God and Father signifies the gatheringof men into one family of God. The one religion supplies the basis for onelife in all the world. God is over all, gathering all worlds and beings under theshadow of His beneficent dominion. He is through all and in all; an omnipresenceof love, righteousness, and wisdom, actuating the powers of nature andof grace, inhabiting the Church and the heart of men (Findlay).

Lessons.—1.In the moral as in the material world there is diversity in unityand unity in diversity. 2.All phases of good find their consummation in an imperishableunity. 3.To disturb the balance of unity is a great evil.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 4–6. The Unity of the Church.

I. There is one body.—The Churchis a body of which Christ is the Head,and believers are the members. ThoughChristians are formed into distinctsocieties, they constitute but one body.They are united to the Head by faithand to their fellow-members by love.

II. There is one Spirit.—As allmembers of the natural body areanimated by one soul, so all themembers of Christ’s body are sanctified,strengthened, and led by the sameSpirit. Since there is one Spirit whichdwells in all Christians, all contention,bitterness, and envy, all animosity,division, and separation in the Churchare offences against the Holy Spirit.

III. There is one hope of our calling.—Weare all called by the same Word,our hope is grounded on the samepromises, the object of our hope is thesame immortal life.

IV. There is one Lord.—Christ isLord of all by the same right. He hasbought us with a high price, redeemedus by His own blood. There is norespect of persons with him. We arecalled to the same service, are underthe same laws, and must appear at thesame judgment.

V. There is one faith.—The sameGospel is the rule of our faith, and thisall Christians profess to receive. Thefaith of all true Christians is essentiallythe same. The object of it is the Wordof God, the nature of it is receiving thelove of the truth, the effect of it is topurify the heart.

VI. There is one baptism.—We areall baptised in the name of Christ, andHe is not divided. May differ as to theage at which persons become the subjectsof baptism and the manner ofadministration, but regarding the designof it we are one. Baptism intended[p.205]not to divide, but unite the wholeChristian world.

VII. There is one God and Father.—TheFather of the whole creation,but in a more eminent sense the Fatherof Christians. He is above all. Hereigns supreme. He is through all.His essence pervades our frame, Hiseyes search and try our souls, His influencepreserves our spirits. He is in all.In all true Christians by His Spirit.They are the temple of God, and HisSpirit dwelleth in them.—Lathrop.

Ver. 4. The Oneness of the Church.—1.Allthe members of the Churchbeing one body is a strong argumentenforcing the duty of keeping peaceand unity; it being no less absurd forChristians to bite and devour oneanother than if the members of theselfsame natural body should tear anddestroy one another. 2.As those innature are in a hopeless state, havingno right to heaven and happiness, sothe Gospel doth open to the person calleda large door of well-grounded hope,that, whatever be his misery here, heshall be perfectly blessed in the fullenjoyment of God for ever hereafter.3.The joint aiming of the saints atone mark should make them of onemind and heart, seeing there is that inglory which will suffice all. Their seekingof one thing need be no occasion ofstrife and emulation, but rather ofunity, for why should they strivetogether who not only are brethrenbut also heirs together of the grace oflife and shall one day reign togetherin glory?—Fergusson.

One Body and One Spirit.

I. The unity or oneness of the Churchas set forth by the unity or oneness ofthe body.—One life animates the whole.The parts mutually subserve oneanother, while the head thinks andthe heart beats for all. There is acertain harmony existing between allthe members; they constitute a symmetryamong themselves, so that onecould not be taken away without destroyingthe perfection of all theothers, more or less marring the graceand beauty of the whole frame. Sothe Church is one—one mystical body—havingone author, God; one Head,which is Christ; and one informingSpirit, the Holy Ghost; one countrytowards which all its members aretravelling, heaven; one code of instructionsto guide them thither, the Wordof God; one and the same band ofenemies seeking to bar their passage,the world, the flesh, and the devil.Despite all miserable divisions, whereverthere is a man with true love toGod and man, any true affiance onChrist, any true obedience to the Spiritand His leadings, there exists a memberof this mystical body.

II. As in the human body there isunity, so there is also variety, diversity,multiplicity.—This is true of theChurch of Christ. Its different membershave different functions and offices,and in performing these the Churchmakes equable and harmonious growth.

Lessons.—1.As members of the samebody, let us not separate from brethrenin Christ. 2.If we are members one ofanother, many are the debts as such weowe the one to the other. (1)We owe oneanother truth. (2)Love one to another.(3)Honour one to another.—R.C. Trench.

Ver. 5. One Lord.

I. Christ is our Lord according toevery notion and acceptation of theword “Lord.”—He is our Prince andGovernor, we are His subjects andvassals; He is our Master, and we areHis servants; He is our Owner, or thePossessor and Proprietary of us; Heis our Preceptor or Teacher; that is,the Lord of our understanding, whichis subject to the belief of His dictates;and the Lord of our practice, which isto be directed by His precepts. He istherefore also our Captain and Leader,whose orders we must observe, whoseconduct we should follow, whose patternwe are to regard and imitate in allthings.

II. Christ is also our Lord accordingto every capacity or respect of nature[p.206]or office that we can consider appertainingto Him.—1.He is our Lordas by nature the Son of God, partakingof the Divine essence and perfection.2.He is our Lord as man, by thevoluntary appointment and free donationof God His Father; in regardto the excellency of His Person, andto the merit of His performances.3.He also, considered as God and manunited in one Person, is plainly ourLord. 4.If we are to consider Himas Jesus, our Saviour, that notion dothinvolve acts of dominion, and thenceresulteth a title thereto. Nothing morebecomes a Lord than to protect andsave; none better deserves the rightand the name of a Lord than a Saviour.5.Likewise, if He be considered as theChrist, that especially implieth Himanointed and consecrated to sovereigndominion, as King of the Church.

III. Survey the several groundsupon which dominion may be built,and we shall see that upon all accountsHe is our Lord.—1.An uncontrollablepower and ability to govern is onecertain ground of dominion. 2.Tomake, to preserve, to provide anddispense maintenance, are also cleargrounds of dominion. 3.He hath acquiredus by free donation from GodHis Father. 4.He hath acquired usby just right of conquest, having subduedthose enemies unto whom (partlyby their fraud and violence, partlyfrom our own will and consent) we didlive enslaved and addicted. 5.Hehath also further acquired us to Himselfby purchase, having by a greatprice bought us, ransomed us out ofsad captivity, and redeemed us fromgrievous punishment due to us. 6.Helikewise acquired a lordship over us bydesert, and as a reward from God,suitable to His performance of obedienceand patience, highly satisfactoryand acceptable to God. 7.He hathacquired a good right and title todominion over us as our continual mostmunificent benefactor. 8.Our SaviourJesus is not only our Lord by natureand by acquisition in so many ways(by various performances, deserts, andobligations put on us), but He is alsoso by our own deeds, by most free andvoluntary, most formal and solemn,and therefore most obligatory acts ofours. (1)If we are truly persuadedthat Christ is our Lord and Master,we must then see ourselves obligedhumbly to submit unto and carefullyto observe His will, to attend unto andto obey His law, with all readiness anddiligence. (2)If Christ be our Lord,then are we not our own lords or ourown men; we are not at liberty, orat our own disposal, as to our ownpersons or our actions. (3)If Christbe our Lord (absolutely and entirelysuch), then can we have no other lordswhatever in opposition to Him, or incompetition with Him, or otherwiseany way than in subordination andsubserviency to Him. (4)If Christ beour Lord, we are thereby disobliged,yea, we are indeed prohibited, frompleasing or humouring men, so as toobey any command, to comply withany desire, or to follow any custom oftheirs, which is repugnant to the willor precept of Christ. (5)Finally, forour satisfaction and encouragement,we may consider that the service ofChrist is rather indeed a great freedomthan a service.—Barrow.

Ver. 6. God the Father.

I. God is the universal Father.—1.Godis the Father of all things, orof us as creatures, as the efficient Causeand Creator of them all. 2.The Fatherof intellectual beings. He is styledthe Father of spirits; the angels, inway of excellency, are called the sonsof God. 3.The Father in a moreespecial manner to mankind. 4.TheFather of all good men, with a relationbeing built upon higher grounds; foras good they have another originalfrom Him, virtue springs in theirhearts from a heavenly seed, thatemendation and perfection of natureis produced by His grace enlighteningand quickening them; they areimages of Him, resembling Him injudgment and disposition of mind, inwill and purpose, in action and[p.207]behaviour, which resemblances arguethem to be sons of God and constitutethem such.

II. The uses of this truth.—1.Itmay teach us what reverence, honour,and observance are due from us to God,in equity and justice, according toingenuity and gratitude. 2.This considerationmay instruct and admonish uswhat we should be and how we shouldbehave ourselves, for if we be God’schildren it becometh us, and we areobliged in our disposition and demeanourto resemble, to imitate Him.It is natural and proper for children toresemble their parents in their complexionand countenance, to imitatethem in their actions and carriage.3.This consideration may raise us toa just regard, esteem, and valuation ofourselves; may inspire noble thoughtsand breed generous inclinations in us;may withdraw us from mean, base,and unworthy designs or practices;may excite and encourage us to handsome,brave, worthy resolutions andundertakings suitable to the dignityof our nature, the nobleness of ourdescent, the eminence of so high arelation, of so near an alliance to God.4.This consideration is a motive tohumility, apt to depress vain conceitand confidence in ourselves. If we areGod’s children, so as to have receivedour beings, all our powers and abilities,all our goods and wealth, both internaland external, both natural andspiritual, from His free disposal, so asbe continually preserved and maintainedby His providence to dependfor all our subsistence upon His careand bounty, what reason can we haveto assume or ascribe anything to ourselves?5.This consideration showsus the reason we have to submitentirely to the providence of God withcontentedness and acquiescence in everycondition. 6.Obligeth us to be patientand cheerful in the sorest afflictions,as deeming them to come from apaternal hand, inflicted with greataffection and compassion, designed forand tending to our good. 7.Showsthe reason we have to obey those preceptswhich enjoin us to rely on God’sprovidence. 8.Serves to breed andcherish our faith, to raise our hope, toquicken our devotion. For whom shallwe confide in if not in such a Father?From whom can we expect good if notfrom Him? To whom can we haverecourse so freely and cheerfully onany occasion if not to Him? 9.Consideringthis point will direct andprompt us how to behave ourselvestowards all God’s creatures according totheir respective natures and capacities.If God be the Father of all things,they are all thence in some sort ourbrethren, and so may claim from usa fraternal affection and demeanouranswerable thereto.—Barrow.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 7–12.

The Gifts of Christ to His Church—

I. That each member of the Church possesses some gift from Christ.—“Untoevery one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”(ver. 7). All are not alike talented, but each one has some gift of grace. Everygift is not from earth, but from heaven; not from man, but from Christ. Looknot down, then, as swine to the acorns they find lying there, and never once up tothe tree they come from. Look up; the very frame of our body bears that way.It is nature’s check to the body. “Graces are what a man is; but enumeratehis gifts and you will know what he has. He is loving, he has eloquence, ormedical skill, or legal knowledge, or the gift of acquiring languages, or that ofhealing. You have only to cut out his tongue, or to impair his memory, and thegift is gone. But you must destroy his very being, change him into anotherman, obliterate his identity, before he ceases to be a loving man. Therefore youmay contemplate the gift separate from the man; you may admire it and despise[p.208]him. But you cannot contemplate the grace separate from the man” (F.W. Robertson).

“If facts allure thee, think how Bacon shined,
The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.”—Pope.

The humblest member of the Church of Christ is not without his gift. Thegrace of the Gospel elevates and sanctifies all his powers and opportunities, andturns them into noblest uses.

II. That the gifts of Christ to His Church are distributed with the lavishgenerosity of a conqueror returning from the field of victory (vers. 8–10).—Wehave read of the profuse gifts of victorious warriors:—of Gonsalvo, the greatSpanish captain, whose unselfish prodigality was proverbial. “Never stint yourhand,” he was accustomed to say: “there is no way of enjoying one’s property likegiving it away”;—of Alexander the Great, who on one occasion gave a blankdraft to one of his generals with liberty to fill in any amount he chose. Whenthe treasurer, surprised at the enormous sum inserted, asked his imperial masterif there was not some mistake, he answered: “No; pay it, pay it; the manhonours me by assuming the inexhaustible resources of my empire”;—ofBelisarius, whose victories were always followed by liberal and extravagantlargesses. “By the union of liberality and justice,” writes Gibbon, “he acquiredthe love of his soldiers, without alienating the affections of the people. The sickand wounded were relieved with medicines and money, and still more efficaciouslyby the healing visits and smiles of their commander. The loss of a weapon ora horse was instantly repaired, and each deed of valour was rewarded by the richand honourable gifts of a bracelet or a collar, which were rendered more preciousby the judgment of Belisarius. He was endeared to the husbandmen by thepeace and plenty which they enjoyed under the shadow of his standard. Instead ofbeing injured, the country was enriched by the march of the Roman armies; andsuch was the rigid discipline of their camp that not an apple was gathered fromthe tree, not a path could be traced in the fields of corn. Victory by sea andland attended his armies. He subdued Africa, Italy, and the adjacent islands, ledaway captives the successors of Genseric and Theodoric, filled Constantinoplewith the spoils of their palaces, and in the space of six years recovered half theprovinces of the Western empire”;—and of Aurelian, whose triumphant entry intoRome after his victories in the East was the longest, most brilliant, and imposingof any recorded in the annals of the empire, and was signalised by rich donationsto the army and the people; the Capitol and every other temple glittered with theofferings of his ostentatious piety, and the temple of the sun alone received abovefifteen thousand pounds of gold. But who can measure the munificence of theascended Saviour, the Divine Conqueror, who, as the fruit of His unparalleledvictory, has scattered His gifts among men, to enrich them for ever? He givesnot grudgingly and sparingly, but after the measure of His own great nature.He gives not for display but for blessing, and His smallest gift out-values themost lavish donation of the richest earthly benefactor.

III. That the gifts of Christ qualify man for special work in His Church(ver. 11).—The “apostles, prophets, evangelists” linked Church to Church andserved the entire body; the “pastors and teachers” had charge of local andcongregational affairs. The apostles, with the prophets, were the founders of theChurch. Their distinctive functions ceased when the foundation was laid andthe deposit of revealed truth was complete. The evangelistic and pastoralcallings remain; and out of them have sprung all the variety of Christianministries since exercised. Evangelists, with apostles or missionaries, bringnew souls to Christ and carry His message into new lands. Pastors andteachers follow in their train, tending the ingathered sheep, and labouring[p.209]to make each flock that they shepherd, and every single man, perfect inChrist Jesus.

IV. That the gifts of Christ furnish the full moral equipment of the membersof His Church (ver. 12).—Christ’s gifts of great and good men in every age havebeen bestowed for a thoroughly practical purpose—“the perfecting of the saints,the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ.” No one man hasall the gifts requisite for the full development of the Church; but it is theprivilege and honour of each worker to use his special gift for the general good.The combination of gifts, faithfully and diligently employed, effects the desiredend. The Church must be built up, and this can be done only by the harmonioususe of the gifts of Christ, not by mere human expedients. “We may haveeloquent preaching, crowded churches, magnificent music, and all the superficialappearance of a great religious movement, whilst the vaunted revival is only apoor galvanised thing, a corpse twitching with a strange mimicry of life, butpossessed of none of its vital energy and power.” Gifts are dangerous withoutthe grace and wisdom to use them. Many a brilliant genius has gone down intooblivion by the reckless abuse of his gifts. Christ endows His people with giftsthat they may use them for the increase and upbuilding of His Church, andthey must be exercised in harmony with the rules and purposes of the DivineArchitect. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain thatbuild it.”

Lessons.—1.Christ’s estimate of His Church is seen in the spiritual riches Hehas lavished upon it. 2.The gifts of each member of the Church are for the benefitof all. 3.The gifts of Christ to His Church are the offerings of a boundless love.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 7. The Gospel according to Mark.—Thewriters of the four Gospels completedtheir work not for the sake ofmaking a literary reputation for themselves,or of adding to the literarymasterpieces of the world, but for thespiritual benefit of the Christian Church.Christ our Lord sitting in the heavens,seeing exactly what was wanted in theapostolic Churches, and in the Churchof all time, seeing what was wanted inthe evangelists themselves if they wereto supply the Church’s wants, measuredout His gifts to the evangelists. Accordingly,to each evangelist He gavethat special gift which was needed inorder to do his particular work. Whatwas the grace that was given to St.Mark? It has been said that St.Mark’s Gospel has no special character,that it is the least original of thefour, that it is insipid, that it mighthave been dispensed with without lossto the harmony of the evangelical narrative.Even St. Augustine has spokenof it as an epitome of St. Matthew;and his deservedly great authority hasobtained a currency of this opinion inthe Western Church. But in point offact, although St. Mark has more incommon with St. Matthew than withany other evangelist, he is far frombeing a mere epitomist of the firstGospel. He narrates at least three independentincidents which St. Matthewdoes not notice. He has characteristicswhich are altogether his own.

I. St. Mark is remarkable for hisgreat attention to subordinate details.—Hesupplies many particulars whichevangelists who write more at lengthaltogether omit. From him, for instance,we learn the name of Jairus,the ruler of the synagogue, and ofBartimæus, the blind man healed byour Lord. From him we learn howSimon of Cyrene was related to well-knownChristians of the next generation—Alexanderand Rufus. He it iswho tells us that the woman of Canaanwhose petition our Lord so indulgentlyreceived was a Syrophenician, and thatour Lord was popularly spoken of asthe carpenter. He is careful to point[p.210]out more minutely than do others thescenes in which our Lord took part onfour occasions. He describes particularlyour Lord’s look. He notes theexpress affections of our Lord’s humansoul, His love for the rich young man,His anger with the Pharisee, Hispity for the leper, His groaning inspirit on two separate occasions. Andhere we have something more than aliterary peculiarity—than a style ofwriting which corresponds to thosepre-Raphaelite artists who render everyleaf and every blade of grass withscrupulous accuracy. I say that weare here face to face with a moral andspiritual excellence which forms partof the special grace given to St. Mark.Close attention to details in any workmanmeans a recognition of the sacrednessof fact. Where details are lostsight of, or blurred over, in the attemptto produce a large, general, indistincteffect, there is always a risk of indifferenceto the realities of truth.The very least fact is sacred, whateverbe its relative importance to otherfacts. But in a life like that of ourLord, everything is necessarily glowingwith interest, however trivial it mightappear to be in any other connection.This care for details is thus the expressionof a great grace—reverence fortruth, reverence for every fragment oftruth that touched the human life ofthe Son of God.

II. St. Mark is remarkable for theabsence of a clearly discernible purposein his Gospel, over and abovethat of furnishing a narrative of ourLord’s conflict with sin and evil duringHis life as man upon the earth. Thethree other evangelists have each ofthem a manifest purpose in writingof this kind. St. Matthew wishes toshow to the Jews that our Lord is theMessiah of the Jewish prophecy. St.Luke would teach the Gentile Churchesthat He is the Redeemer whose savingpower may be claimed through faithby the whole race of men. St. Johnis, throughout, bent upon showing thatHe speaks and acts while in the fleshas the eternal Word or Son of God, whohas been made flesh and was dwellingamong us. And it has been said thatSt. Mark’s narrative is an expansion ofthose words of Peter—that Jesus ofNazareth “went about doing good,and healing all that were oppressed ofthe devil, for God was with Him.”Probably this is true; but then thesewords describe not a purpose beyondthe narrative, but the substance of thenarrative itself. St. Mark simplyrecords a sacred life as he had learnedit from the lips of Peter, not for anypurpose beyond the narrative itself; butwhatever it might prove beyond itself, itwas to a believing Christian unspeakablyprecious.

III. A few words in conclusion.—“Untoevery one of us is given graceaccording to the measure of the giftof Christ.” As no two human soulsexactly resemble each other, so no twosouls are endowed in an exactly similarway. And for the difference of endowmentlet us be sure there is alwaysa reason in the Divine Mind, for eachsoul in every generation has its appointedwork to do, without itself aswithin itself; and it is endowed withexactly the grace, whether of mind orheart, which will best enable it to dothat particular work. Some may thinkthat they have received little or nothing—somegift so small as to be scarcelyappreciable. The probability is thatthey have not yet considered what Godhas done for them. They have spenttheir time in thinking of what He haswithheld, instead of thinking of whatHe has given; of what they might havebeen, instead of what they are. Certainlythe grace which our Lord gaveto St. Paul when he wrote his greatepistle to the Romans was immenselygreater than that which He gave toTertius, the poor amanuensis, who tookit down from the apostle’s dictation,and who inserts a greeting from himselfjust at the end of the document.And yet Tertius, too, had his part inthe work—a humble but a very realpart, according to the measure of thegift of Christ. He did not say, “BecauseI am not the eye I am not of[p.211]the body.” He made the most of thegrace which was certainly his. Andothers may think, rightly or wrongly,that unto them very great graces havebeen given according to the gift ofChrist, that they are the hands or theeyes of the holy body, the men whodo its work, or the men who discernthe truths which support its life. Well,if it be so, this is a reason, not for confidentsatisfaction, but for anxiety.Such gifts as these are edge tools;they may easily prove the ruin of theirpossessors. For all such gifts anaccount must one day most assuredlybe rendered; and if self has appropriatedthat which belongs to God orto His Church, it cannot but entailmisery on the possessor. If a man haswealth, or ability, or station; muchmore if he has cultivated intelligenceand generous impulses; most of all ifhis heart has been fixed by the loveof God, and the unseen is to him aserious reality, and he has hopes andmotives which really transcend thefrontiers of the world of sense, then,assuredly, his safety lies in rememberingthat he is a trustee who will oneday have to present his account at thegreat audit, when the eminence of hisgifts will be the exact measure of hisresponsibility. Eighteen centuries havepassed since St. Mark went to reignsomewhere beneath his Master’s thronewhose life he had described; but he hasleft us the result of his choicest gift—hehas left us his Gospel. What has it—whathave the four Gospels—hithertodone for each of us? It is recordedthat John Butler, an excellent Churchof England layman of the last generation,stated on his death-bed that onlooking back on his life the one thinghe most regretted was that he had notgiven more time to the careful studyof the life of our Lord in the fourevangelists. Probably he has notbeen alone in that regret; and if thetruth were told, many of us wouldhave to confess that we spend muchmore thought and time upon the dailypapers, which describe the follies anderrors of the world, than on the recordsof that Life which was given for theworld’s redemption. The festival of anevangelist ought to suggest a practicalresolution that, so far as we are concerned,the grace which he received,according to the measure of the gift ofChrist, shall not, please God, be lost.Ten minutes a day seriously spent onour knees, with the Gospel in ourhands, will do more to quicken faith,love, reverence, spiritual and moralinsight and power, than we can easilythink.—H.P. Liddon.

Vers. 9, 10. The contrasted Humiliationand Exaltation of Christ.

I. The circ*mstances of the Saviour’sdepression from His original state.—Wesay that a person stoops, that hebends, that he sinks. Moral correspondenciesto these actions are understood.They are condescensions.Immanuel is the name of our Saviourwhen born into our world and dwellingin it—God with us. A localresidence is thus described. And weare informed of the degree which marksHis coming down from heaven, of themanner in which He came into theworld—He descended into the lowerparts of the earth. What lowliness isthis! Similar terms are employed inother portions of the inspired volume;by collating them with those of thetext we shall most satisfactorily determineits sense.

1. The incarnation of Christ may bethus expressed.—To what did He notsubmit? By what was He notbuffeted? What insult did not disfigureHis brow? What shade did not cloudHis countenance? What deep watersdid not go over His soul? His washumanity in its severest pressures andhumblest forms.

2. This form of language may denotethe death of Christ.—It is the ordinaryphrase of the Old Testament; “Theyshall go into the lower parts of theearth: Thou hast laid me in the lowestpit, in darkness, in the deeps.” Doesit not seem strange that His soul shouldbe commended hence who had oftenbound death to His bidding and summoned[p.212]from the grave its prey? Heis brought low to the dust of death.The erect figure is prostrated. Theinstinctive life is arrested. Thatmysterious frame—related to the infiniteand the Divine temple of all greatness,shrine of all sanctity—that “HolyThing” sleeps in death.

3. This style may be intended to intimatethat burial to which He yielded.—“LestI become like them that godown into the pit.” “So must theSon of man be in the heart of theearth.” He has made His grave withthe wicked, and with the rich in Hisdeath! He is put away into darkness.He is held of death in its gloomychambers. He is as a victim and aprey. It is a prison-keep.

4. The separation of the Redeemer’sbody and spirit may be described inthese words.—We mark in this departureof His soul the simple requirementof death. It could not be retained.It descended into the lowerparts of the earth. This is the reverseof resurrection and heavenward flight.It was humiliation. These are thegradations of His descent. These arethe “lower parts of the earth” towhich He declined. This is His comingforth from the Father! This isHis coming down from heaven! Thisis His coming into the world! Hismeasureless surrender of claims! Hisinconceivable renunciation of honours!Stooping to inferior and still inferiorlevels of ignominy! Plunging to deeperand still deeper abysses of shame!

II. The glory of His subsequentexaltation.—1.It is in itself an absoluteexpression of love.

2. It justifies an expectation of surpassingbenefits.

3. The act regulates and secures itsown efficiency.

4. This act is to be regarded as ofincomparable worth and excellence.—Themission of Christ contemplated thehighest principles which can direct theDivine conduct. He came to vindicatethat character which to conceive arightis the happiness of all creatures—touphold and avenge that law whichcannot be infringed without an utterloss of good and overthrow of order—toatone for sin whose slight and impunitywould have been the allowance of infinitemischiefs and evils—to bring inan everlasting righteousness adequateto the justification of the most guilty,and of the most multiplied objects whoneeded it—leaving it for ever provedthat no rule nor sanction of God’s moralgovernment can be violated withouta necessary and meet resentment!His ascension was a radiant triumph.Scarcely is it more descried than Hisresurrection. We catch but a fewnotes of the resounding acclaim, wemark but a few fleeces of the glory-cloud,we recognise but a few attendantsof the angel-train. With that laconicforce which characterises holy writ, itis simply recorded, “Who is gone intoheaven.”

III. The reciprocal influence of theserespective facts.—“The same” wasHe who bowed Himself to these indignitiesand who seized these rewards.And this identity is of the greatestvalue. Not only do we hail Him inHis reinstatement in original dignities,but in the augmentation of His glories.Deity was never so beheld before.There is a combination and a formof the Divine perfections entirely new.We repine that He is not here. Weforget that it is expedient that Heshould go away. Heaven alone providesscope for His undertakings andchannel for His influences. Theremust He abide until the restitutionof all things. But nothing of Hissympathy or His grace do we forego.—R.W. Hamilton.

Vers. 9, 10. The Ascension and itsResults.

I. With respect to the new heavensand the new earth, what may wenot infer from the ascension of Christin full integrity of His nature aboveall heavens with respect to theconversion and transformation and ennoblingof this material?—The natureand history of His person revealed therelations clearly between heaven and[p.213]earth, between God and man, betweenthe material and the spiritual. Wecannot for a moment look upon thetransformation and exaltation ofChrist’s nature as an isolated factdissociated from the restitution andexaltation of all things spoken of inHis Word. The nature with whichHe rose from the dead and ascendedinto heaven was the same nature inwhich He was crucified, though glorifiedand swallowed up of life. Must wenot say, then, that the body whichascended in relation to the body whichwas crucified and laid in the grave mayillustrate the relation of the presentheavens and the new earth? And, inaccordance with this idea, are therenot every way most wonderful changesand transformations of which theascension of Christ’s body seems to bethe fulfilment and crown and also thefirstfruits? The flower from its imprisonedbud, the insect from its grovellingform, light out of darkness, electricityfrom ponderable elements, thestrange affinities of matter striving tobreak forth from their captivity, theunerring instincts of animal life held,as it were, in bondage—all seem topoint with prophetic finger to a futuredeliverance and ennobled state andcondition whilst meekly waiting, butwith earnest expectation, with thewhole creation for the deliverance andglorious liberty of the sons of God.The Gospel therefore contains a Gospelfor nature as well as for man—theprediction of the day when the strife ofelements shall cease, when the powersof darkness shall be swallowed up oflife, when the lion shall lie down withthe lamb, when the tares shall nolonger grow with the wheat, whencreation, now so weary, shall lift upher head and rejoice in the redemptionfor which she now groans and travails.

II. If we cannot dissociate thehistory of Jesus from the history ofthe earth, much less can it be dissociatedfrom the history of mankind.—Heis humanity, root and crown.Humanity exists nowhere else but inHim. No aggregate of men makehumanity, nor can personality beascribed to humanity except in Him.Individual men may have a personality,but humanity is only an idea exceptit exists in Him who is its root andcrown; and it is in this sense that He isspoken of, and that He speaks of Himselfas, the Son of man. In His ascension,therefore, which carries as anecessary presupposition all the factsof His history, mankind is deliveredfrom its curse and from bondage.Identity of nature and reciprocity ofchoice now constitute the most intimateunion and most blessed fellowship ofwhich we are conscious, and it is thefair offshoot, the true type of thatwhich is to be the highest, to which Heis exalted above all heavens, fromwhich height He has promised to gathertogether our common humanity. Insuch and for such a relation He isexalted to the throne of universaldominion as the Bridegroom of mankind,to be the Head over all things toHis Church, which is His body, thefulness of Him which filleth all in all.

III. What may we not learn fromthe fact of Christ’s ascension—notmerely with respect to the new heavensand the new earth, not merely withrespect to mankind and its history, butwith respect to the government andprovidence of earth? If all nature isgathered up and represented in humannature, and if all human nature isgathered up and represented in theSon of man, and if the Son of manresteth and sitteth upon the throneof universal dominion, then, my brethren,the conclusion is as direct as it is clear,that all things must be workingtogether in the interests of His kingdomand of His Church, that allthings have but one purpose and oneend to which the whole creation moves.We may say with Herbert:

 "For us the winds do blow, The earth does rest, heavens, move, and fountains flow; Nothing we see but means our good— 'Tis our delight or has our treasure. The whole is either cupboard of our food Or cabinet of pleasure."

These lines contain as deep a philosophy[p.214]as they do good poetry. “All thingsunto our flesh are kind in their descentand being.” As they descend to usthey bless our lower nature, but as wefollow them in their ascent they blessour minds. And in history are therenot changes similar to and commensuratewith those which we have seenin nature, and all subordinated to oneend? Mighty nations and kingdomshave arisen and passed away, andpassed away, we might add, in thegreatness of their might. What strangedevelopment, as it has well been asked,is it that the power of the world shouldrise to a great height of glory, and, notable to sustain it, pass away? Becausethey knew not God—because theywere prejudicial to the interests ofman. The present state and prospectsof the world are but the results ofall its past history, of the action andreaction, the strife and ceaseless conflict,which have been going on from thefirst—the strife and ceaseless conflictbetween the spirit of man’s revoltin all the forms of will-worship andidolatrous power, and the returningspirit of allegiance towards God andHis kingdom of life and love. On theone hand, therefore, we have a seriesof rapid and mighty developments ofthe very power which destroyed themwhen at the very height of their glory;on the other hand, we have the continuousand silent growth and expansionof the same ideas—all-conqueringideas and all-conquering beliefs personallyembodied from the first in menconfessing their allegiance to God.—Dr. Pulsford.

Ver. 10. The Humiliation and Exaltationof Christ.

I. Christ’s humiliation.—Impliedin the words, “He that descended.”These words bear the same sensewith those of Ps. cxxxix.15, andmay be properly taken for Christ’sincarnation and conception in thewomb of the Virgin.—1.Because otherexpositions may be shown to be unnatural,forced, or impertinent, andthere is no other besides this assignable.2.Since Paul here uses David’swords it is most probable he used themin David’s sense. 3.The words descendingand ascending are so put togetherin the text that they seem to intend asummary of Christ’s whole transactionin man’s redemption, begun in Hisconception and consummated in Hisascension.

II. Christ’s glorious advancementand exaltation.—“He ascended farabove all heavens” to the most eminentplace in dignity and glory in thehighest heaven.

III. The qualification and state ofChrist’s person in reference to bothconditions.—He was the same, showingthe unity of the two natures in thesame person.

IV. The end of Christ’s ascension.—“ThatHe might fill all things.” Allthings may refer—1.To the Scriptureprophecies and predictions. 2.To theChurch as He might fill that with Hisgifts and graces. 3.To all things inthe world. This latter interpretationpreferred. He may be said to fill allthings—1.By the omnipresence ofHis nature and universal diffusion ofHis Godhead. 2.By the universalrule and government of all thingscommitted to Him as Mediator uponHis ascension.—South.

Vers. 11, 12. The Work of the Ministry.

I. It is evident that public teachersin the Church are to be a distinct orderof men.—Christ has given some pastorsand teachers. None has a rightpublicly to teach in the Church butthose who are called, sent, authorisedto the work in the Gospel way. AllChristians are to exhort, reprove, andcomfort one another as there is occasion;but public teaching in the Churchbelongs peculiarly to some—to thosewho are given to be pastors andteachers.

II. Public teachers are here calledChrist’s gifts.—“He gave some pastorsand teachers.” The first apostles werecommissioned immediately by Christ.They who were thus commissioned ofHeaven to preach the Gospel were[p.215]authorised to ordain others. Christgave pastors and teachers, not only topreach His Gospel, but to train up andprepare holy men for the same work.

III. Ministers are to be men enduedwith gifts suitable to the work towhich they are called.—As in theearly days of the Gospel public teacherswere called to extraordinary services,so they were endued with extraordinarygifts; but these gifts were onlyfor a season. As the business ofa minister is to teach men the thingswhich Christ has commanded in theScriptures, so it is necessary hehimself should be fully instructed inthem. In the early days, as therewere evangelists who went forth topreach the Gospel where Christ hadnot been named, so there were pastorsand teachers who had the immediatecare of Churches already established.

IV. The great object of the ministryis the building up of the Church ofChrist.—The ministry is intended forthe improvement of saints, as well asfor the conversion of sinners. Theapostle mentions also the unity of theknowledge of Christ. We must notrest in attainments already made, butcontinually aspire to the character ofa perfect man, to the measure of thestature of the fulness of Christ.—Lathrop.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 13–16.

True Christian Manhood—

I. Attained by the unity of an intelligent faith in Christ.—1.This faith mustbe based on knowledge. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of theknowledge of the Son of God” (ver. 13). A faith, so called, not based onknowledge is fanaticism. True faith is the result of conviction—a profoundconsciousness of the truth. Many reach this stage. They have heard theevidence, examined it, and are clearly persuaded of its truth; but they never getbeyond that. They are like the neap tide that comes rolling in as if it wouldsweep everything before it; but when it arrives at a certain point, it stops, andwith all the ocean at its back it never passes the mark where it is accustomedto pause. It is well to get to the neap-tide mark of conviction; but there is nosalvation till the soul is carried by the full spring tide of conviction into avoluntary and complete surrender to Christ. It is weak, it is cowardly, whenconvinced of the right, not to do it promptly and heartily. Faith acquires itsfull-rounded unity when it is exercised, not on any abstract truth, but on aPerson who is the living embodiment of all truth. The final object of faith is“the Son of God,” and any truth is valuable only as it helps us to Him. Christhas Himself revealed the truth essential to be believed in order to salvation: Heis Himself that truth.

2. Perfect manhood is a complete Christ-likeness.—“Unto a perfect man, untothe measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (ver. 13). Man is so greatthat he is perpetually striving after a loftier ideal; nothing that has limits cansatisfy him. “It is because there is an infinite in him which with all hiscunning he cannot quite bury under the finite. Will the whole financeministers and upholsterers and confectioners of modern Europe undertake injoint-stock company to make one shoeblack happy? They cannot accomplish*t above an hour or two; for the shoeblack also has a soul quite other thanhis stomach, and would require, if you consider it for his permanent satisfactionand saturation, simply this allotment, no more and no less—God’s infiniteuniverse altogether to himself, therein to enjoy infinitely and fill every wish asfast as it arose. Try him with half a universe of an omnipotence, he sets toquarrelling with the proprietor of the other half and declares himself the mostmaltreated of men” (Carlyle). True manhood does not consist in the developmentof a fine physique, or a brilliant mentality, or in the pursuit of heroic[p.216]ambitions. It lies in the nobleness of the soul at peace with God, seeking inall things to please Him, and to possess and exhibit the mind of Christ. Thepagan hero is the warrior, the ruler, the poet, the philosopher; the Christianhero is the Christ-like man. The supreme type of manhood is Christ-likeness.The ideal is conceived by faith, and the actual is attained only by the exerciseof the same grace.

II. Superior to the childish vacillation induced by deceptive teaching(ver. 14).—The false teachers played with truth, as men play with dice, with thereckless indifference of gamblers, and they and their victims were swayed toand fro, with ruin for the ultimate goal. Like a rudderless ship they weretossed about at the caprice of every current, with the inevitable result ofwreckage among the rocks and quicksands. Professing a zeal for truth, theydeceived themselves and others by ever changing their point of view, and craftilyavoiding the practical bearing of truth in the aims to change the heart andreform the life. The moment the application of truth pressing upon the consciencemade them uncomfortable, they tacked about and sailed off under anotherissue. As the restless seaweed, waving to and fro in the ever-changing tide, cannever grow to the dignity of a tree, so those who were swayed by every changingphase of error can never grow up to the strength and stability of true Christianmanhood. We can sympathise with the doubts and perplexities of an earnestseeker after truth; but our sympathy changes into impatience when we discoverthat the seeker is more in search of novelty than truth, of variety rather thancertainty. To be for ever in doubt is to be in the fickle stage of mental andmoral infancy. It is the worst phase of childishness.

III. It is a continual growth in the truth and love of Christ (vers. 15, 16).—Itis the high distinction of man that he is susceptible of almost unlimited growthin mental and moral attainments. One of the greatest distances betweenanimalism and man is seen in the unbridged gulf of progress. The animalremains where he was, but man has been progressing in every department of lifefrom the very first. There is between them all the breadth of history. Theanimal builds its nest as it ever did, the bee by the same marvellous instinctconstructs its geometrical cells now as at the first; but man is a genius—hecreates. His first rude efforts in shaping his dwellings have gone on progressingand improving until we have the architectural development of to-day.In every kind of art it is the same—rude flint knives, lance heads, needles,were his first weapons and implements; to them succeeded bronze, and theniron—each marking stages in that history of progress up to the beautiful cutlery,stores, and arsenals of the present day. The animal roars or chatters to-day asit has done all along. It has made no progress towards intelligent speech—aRubicon the animal will never cross. But man, who began with one speech,and a very limited vocabulary of words, has developed speech into the greatlanguages of ancient and modern literature. A wider gulf than this is hardlyconceivable. But the moral growth of man is more remarkable. The era ofthe Gospel is a revelation of the power of love. With the ancients a meresentiment, Christianity teaches that love is the essence of religion; and thatnature is the manliest and noblest that advances in the knowledge of Divinetruth and in the self-sacrificing love of Christ. The whole fabric of theChristian character is built up in the ever-increasing exercise of Christ-like love.

Lessons.—Christian manhood is—1.Acquired by an intelligent faith in Christ.2.Developed by an imitation of Christ. 3.Maintained and strengthened by constantfidelity to Christ.

[p.217]GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 13–16. The Growth of the Church.

I. The goal of the Church’s life(ver. 13).—The mark at which theChurch is to arrive is set forth in a two-foldway—in its collective and its individualaspects. We must all unitedlyattain the oneness of the faith and theknowledge of the Son of God; and wemust attain, each of us, a perfect manhood,the measure of the stature of thefulness of Christ. All our defects are,at the bottom, deficiencies of faith.We fail to apprehend and appropriatethe fulness of God in Christ. Thegoal of the regenerate life is neverabsolutely won; it is hid with Christin God. But there is to be a constantapproximation to it, both in the individualbeliever and in the body ofChrist’s people. And a time is comingwhen that goal will be practicallyattained, so far as earthly conditionsallow. The Church after long strifewill be reunited, after long trial willbe perfected. Then this world will havehad its use, and will give place to thenew heavens and earth.

II. The malady which arrests itsdevelopment (ver. 14).—The childishnessof so many Christian believersexposed them to the seductions of error,and ready to be driven this way andthat by the evil influences active in theworld of thought around them. Solong as the Church contains a numberof unstable souls, so long she willremain subject to strife and corruption.At every crisis in human thought thereemerges some prevailing method oftruth, or of error, the resultant ofcurrent tendencies, which unites thesuffrages of a large body of thinkers,and claims to embody the spirit of theage. Such a method of error our ownage has produced as the outcome of theanti-Christian speculation of moderntimes, in the doctrines current underthe names of Positivism, Secularism, orAgnosticism. Modern Agnosticism removesGod farther from us, beyond thereach of thought, and leaves us withmaterial nature as the one positive andaccessible reality, as the basis of lifeand law. Faith and knowledge of theSon of God it banishes as dreams of ourchildhood. This materialistic philosophygathers to a head the unbelief ofthe century. It is the living antagonistof Divine revelation.

III. The means and conditions ofits growth (vers. 15, 16).—To the craftof false teachers St. Paul would havehis Churches oppose the weapons onlyof truth and love. Sincere believers,heartily devoted to Christ, will not fallinto fatal error. A healthy life instinctivelyrepels disease. Next to themoral condition lies the spiritual conditionof advancement—the full recognitionof the supremacy and sufficiencyof Christ. He is the perfect ideal foreach, the common source of life andprogress for all. He is the Head of theChurch and the heart of the world.Another practical condition of Churchgrowth is organization—“all the bodyfitly framed and knit together.” Abuilding or a machine is fitted togetherby the adjustment of its parts. A bodyneeds, besides this mechanical construction,a pervasive life, a sympatheticforce, knitting it together. And so itis in love that this body of the Churchbuilds up itself. The perfect Christianand the perfect Church are takingshape at once. Each of them requiresthe other for its due realisation. Theprimary condition of Church healthand progress is that there shall be anunobstructed flow of the life of gracefrom point to point through the tissuesand substance of the entire frame.—Findlay.

Vers. 13–15. Christian Manhood.

I. Christian manhood is a growth.—1.Agrowth having its inceptionin the simple fact of becoming aChristian. This is a decided advanceupon the most moral and cultivatedstate otherwise attainable. It involvesthe quickening into a new life which isto grow. 2.A growth marking a continualadvancement till we all come in[p.218]the unity—the respect in which onegrows—the union, conjunction of faithand of knowledge. 3.A growth resultingfrom culture under Divinelyappointed agencies. The most splendidgrowth, other things being equal, is theresult of the highest culture. Thehighest culture is possible only throughthe most rigid conformity to the lawsof development and the appliance ofthe best agencies. 4.A growth thestandard of whose completeness is thefulness of Christ. The stature—theadultness, the full-grown manhood ofChrist—is the standard of growth,whose attainment is the Christian’snoblest zeal.

II. The elements of Christian manhood.—1.Largeness—inthe Christian’sviews of truth, of man’s need, ofChrist’s work, of schemes and plansfor its greater furtherance.

2. Dignity.—That deep, inwroughtsense of the true worth and greatnessof his nature, as a renewed man, andof his position as a child of Godand joint-heir with Christ. Christianethics are the best ethics; highest,purest, noblest, safest. He lives bythese naturally who has a well-developedChristian manhood.

3. Courageousness and strength.—Couragemakes a man put forth hisbest strength, while strength enablescourage to achieve its best deeds.

III. The outworking of Christianmanhood.—It gives:—

1. Steadfastness.—No more children.No more carried about—borne roundand round as in the swiftly whirling eddyof the sea—by every wind of doctrine.

2. Sincerity.—“Speaking the truthin love” refers both to the sincerity oflife and our relation to the truth.

3. A further growth.—As the full-growntree, leaves and blossoms andbears; as fruit, after it is full-grown,mellows, matures, sweetens; ripeningas wheat for the garner.—J.M. Frost.

Vers. 14–16. Christian Maturity.

I. The negative part of this description.—1.Christiansmust notremain children.—In humility, meekness,and teachableness, let them bechildren; but in understanding, constancy,and fortitude they should bemen. Children have but little knowledgeand a weak judgment. Theybelieve hastily and act implicitly. Theyare governed by passion more thanreason, by feeling more than judgment.

2. The apostle cautions that we benot tossed to and fro like a ship rollingon the waves.—The man without principle,knowledge, and judgment is atthe mercy of every rude gust. He isdriven in any direction, as the windhappens to blow. He makes no port,but is every moment in danger ofshipwreck.

3. We must not be carried about withevery wind of doctrine.—False doctrines,like winds, are blustering and unsteady.They blow from no certain point, butin all directions, and frequently shifttheir course. The light and chaffyChristian, the hypocritical and unprincipledprofessor, is easily carriedabout by divers and strange doctrines.He shifts his course and changes hisdirection, as the wind of popularopinion happens to drive.

4. We are in danger from the cunningcraftiness of men.—True ministers useplainness of speech, and by manifestationof the truth commend themselvesto the consciences of men. Corruptteachers use sleight and craft, thatthey may ensnare the simple, decoythe unsuspecting, and thus makeproselytes to their party. They pretendto superior sanctity. They arewatchful to take advantage of anunhappy circ*mstance in a Church.They unsettle men’s minds from theestablished order of the Gospel, andprejudice them against the regularmaintenance of the ministry, representingall order in Churches as tyrannyand all stated provision for the ministryas oppression. They promise menliberty, but are themselves the servantsof corruption.

II. The positive part.—1.Themature Christian must speak the truthin love. Be sincere in love. Weshould acquire a good doctrinal knowledge[p.219]of the truth as it is in Jesus.We should be well established in thetruth. We should see that our heartsare conformed to the truth. We mustwalk in the truth.

2. We must grow up in all thingsinto Christ.—A partial religion is notthat which the Gospel teaches. Wemust have respect to the whole characterof Christ, to the whole compassof duty, to every known doctrine andprecept of Scripture. All the gracesof the Gospel unite in forming theChristian’s temper. They all operatein harmony. His religion is one continued,uniform, consistent work.

III. How Christian maturity isattained.—From the growth of thehuman body the apostle borrows asimilitude to illustrate the spiritualgrowth of the Christian Church. Itis as absurd to expect growth in knowledgeand holiness without the meansinstituted for the edifying of the bodyof Christ as it would be to expect thegrowth of a natural body withoutsupplies of food.

Lessons.—1.There is no Christiangrowth where love is wanting. 2.Christiansare bound to seek the peace inorder to the edification of the Church.—Lathrop.

Ver. 14. The Case of Deceivers andDeceived considered.

I. Consider the case of deceivers orseducers such as by their sleight andcunning craftiness lie in wait todeceive.—The particular motives bywhich men may be led to beguileothers are reducible to three—pride,avarice, and voluptuousness: love ofhonour, or profit, or pleasure. 1.Thereis often a great deal of pride andvanity in starting old notions andbroaching new doctrines. It is pretendingto be wiser than the rest ofthe world, and is thought to be anargument of uncommon sagacity. Uponthis footing some are perpetually inquest of new discoveries. Nothingpleases them, if they have not thehonour of inventing it or of receivingit in their times. When once a manhas thus far given loose to his vanityand thinks himself significant enoughto be head of a sect, then he beginsfirst to whisper out his choice discoveriesto a few admirers and confidants,who will be sure to flatter himin it; and next to tell aloud to all theworld how great a secret he had foundout, with the inestimable value of it.And now at length comes in the use ofsleight and cunning craftiness and allimaginable artifices; first to find outproper agents to commend and cry upthe conceit, next to spread it in themost artful manner among the simpleand least suspecting, and after that toform interests and make parties; andso, if possible, to have a public sanctionset to it or a majority at least contendingfor it. Love of fame andglory is a very strong passion, andoperates marvellously in persons of awarm complexion. 2.Observe howavarice or love of profit may sometimesdo the same thing. There is a gain tobe made in some junctures by pervertingthe truth and deceiving thepopulace. Men who are not worthyto teach in the Church, or who havebeen set aside for their insufficiencyor immorality, may bring up newdoctrines and draw disciples afterthem, for the sake of protection andmaintenance or for filthy lucre. Withsuch the vending of false doctrines isa trade and preaching a merchandise.Thus has avarice been the mother ofheresies and has brought many deceiversinto the Church of Christ; butthey have contrived generally to givesome plausible turn and colour to theirinventions through their “sleight” and“cunning craftiness,” in order to deceivethe hearts of the simple and tobeguile unwary and unstable souls.3.One motive more—voluptuousness,or love of pleasure. As religious restraintsset not easy upon flesh andblood, but bear hard upon corruptnature, so men of corrupt minds willbe ever labouring to invent and publishsmooth and softening doctrines, suchas may either qualify the strictness ofthe Gospel rule or sap the belief of a[p.220]future reckoning. Many ancient hereticshad such views as these in thefirst broaching of their heresies. Theirdesign was to take off the awe anddread of a future judgment, and therebyto open a door to all licentiousness oflife and dissoluteness of manners.

II. Consider the case of the deceivedwho suffer themselves to be “tossedto and fro with every wind of doctrine.”—Theyare supposed to be ignorantly,and in a manner blindly, led on byothers, otherwise they would be ratherconfederates and confidants in managingthe deceit, and so would be more deceiversthan deceived. 1.Now as tothose who are so ignorantly imposedupon. They are more or less to blame,according as their ignorance is more orless blamable; and that, again, will bemore or less blamable, according asit is more or less affected or wilful.There are, I think, three cases whichwill take in all sorts of men who sufferthemselves to be deceived in things ofthis kind. The first is of those whohave no opportunity, no moral possibilityof informing themselves better;the second is of those who might informthemselves better, but do not; thethird of those who might also be betterinformed, but will not. If they be“like children tossed to and fro withevery wind of doctrine,” yet ifthey are really children in understandingand are overborne by othersin such a way as is morally irresistibleconsidering their circ*mstances, thenit seems to be their misfortune to beso imposed upon rather than theirfault, and so is not imputable. 2.Asecond case is of those who may informthemselves better but neglect to do it.I suppose it to be merely neglect inthem, not design. Perhaps they havelittle or no leisure for inquiries; theyare taken up with worldly cares andbusiness. They have a very greatesteem and value for the man who somisleads them, and they know nobetter, but swallow everything he sayswithout considering; or they are notaware of any ill consequences of thedoctrine, see or suspect no harm in it.They are much to blame in this affair,because God has given them the facultyof reason, which ought not to be thusleft to lie dormant and useless. Menwho can be sharp enough in secularaffairs to prevent being imposed uponmay and ought to have some guardupon themselves with respect also totheir spiritual concernments. 3.Thereis yet a third sort of men, worse thanthe former, who suffer themselves tobe deceived and might know better,but will not; that is to say, theirignorance is affected and wilful, they“love darkness rather than lightbecause their deeds are evil.” Theseare such as readily run in with “everywind of doctrine” which hits their tasteand chimes in with their favouriteinclinations. They admit the doctrinebecause they like it, and they easilybelieve it true because they wouldhave it so. It is with this kind ofmen that deceivers prevail most andmake their harvest.

III. Some advices proper to preventour falling in with either.—The bestpreservative in this case is an honestand good heart, well disposed towardstruth and godliness, having no by-endsto serve, no favourite lust or passionto indulge. If any man is but willingto know and to do God’s commandments,he will easily discern in mostcases whether a doctrine be of God orwhether it be of men. The evidencesof the true religion and of its maindoctrines are so bright and strong whencarefully attended to, that commonsense and reason are sufficient to leadus, when there is no bias to mislead us.For several years last past rude andbold attacks have been made againstthe important doctrines of Christianityand against all revealed religion, andthis is what they are still carrying onwith exquisite subtlety and craftinessmany ways and with a great deal offruitless pains and labour. For I mayhave leave to suppose that no man canin this case be deceived who has notfirst a desire to be so, and is not thedupe and bubble to his own lust andvices.—Dr. Waterland.

[p.221]Ver. 15. Speaking the Truth in Love.—1.Adifferent thing from the irritatingcandour of the professed friend.2.Implies an experimental knowledgeof the truth and its spiritualmission. 3.Is the most effectual wayof winning a hearing and gainingadherents. 4.A method conspicuouslyexemplified in the teaching ofChrist.

Growth into Christ in Love andTruth.

I. The standard of Christian excellence—Christ’sheadship.—1.Theprominent notion suggested is Hisrank in the universe. He rules as Godin creation. But evidently the apostledoes not mean this in the text. Weare to grow into Him as Head. Growthinto Christ’s Godhead is impossible.God-like we may, God we cannot evenby truth and love, become. 2.He isthe Head as being the Source ofspiritual life. This is implied inmetaphor. The highest life-powers—sensation,feeling, thought—come fromthe brain. To one who has read thehistory of those times, there is anemphatic truth in Christ’s being thelife of the world. The world waslike a raft becalmed in the tropics—someof its freight dead and baking inthe sun, some sucking as if for moisturefrom dried casks, and some sadly, faintlylooking for a sail. Christ’s coming tothe world was as life to the dead,imparting new impulse to human heartand human nature. It was like rainand wind coming to that bark—oncemore it cuts the sea, guided by aliving hand. So also with each manwho drinks Christ’s Spirit. He becomesa living character. Not sustained ondogmas or taken-up opinions, but alivewith Christ. 3.He is Head as chief ofthe human race. Never had the worldseen, never again will it see, such acharacter. Humanity found in Hima genial soil, and realised God’sidea of what man was meant tobe. He is chief. Nothing comes nearHim.

II. Progress towards the standardof Christian excellence.—“We growup into Him in all things.”

1. Growth in likeness to Him.—Thehuman soul was formed for growth, andthat growth is infinite. The acorngrows into the oak, the child into thephilosopher. And at death the soul isnot declining; it is as vigorous as ever.Hence nothing but an infinite standardwill measure the growth of the soul ofman.

2. Growth in comprehension of Him.—Christis not comprehensible at first.Words cannot express the awe withwhich a man contemplates that characterwhen it is understood. This isthe true heroic, this the only God-like,this the real Divine. From all typesof human excellence I have made mychoice for life and death—Christ.

III. The approved means of growththe mode of progress.—“Speaking thetruth in love.” Truth and love—andthese joined. To “grow into Christ”we must have both traits of character.Would you be like Christ? Cultivatelove of beauty and tenderness. His soulwas alive to beauty. He noted therising and setting sun, the wavingcorn, the lily of the field. His waslove which insult could not ruffle norribaldry embitter, and which onlygrew sweeter and sweeter. Would yoube like Christ? Be true! He neverswerved. He was a martyr to truth.Would He soften down truth for theyoung man whom He loved, or make itpalatable? No; not for friendship, notfor love, not for all the lovely thingsthis world has to show. “One thingthou lackest: sell all that thou hast,and distribute unto the poor, andthou shalt have treasure in heaven:and come, follow Me” (Mark x.17–22; Luke xviii.17–23). That was“speaking the truth in love.” Thereis no good to be got out from Christ,except by being made like him. Thereis no pardon, no blessing, separate frominward improvement. Sanctity ofcharacter alone blesses. Each man ishis own hell and his own heaven.God Himself cannot bless you unlessHe gives you His own character.—F.W. Robertson.

[p.222]Ver. 16. The Law of Mutual Dependence.

I. This text admonishes us of themanifold instruments and agencies onwhose concurrence and harmoniousaction the prosperity and the perfectionof the Christian Church depend.—Itlikens the Church to that mostcomplicated, admirable machine, thehuman body, which only produces itsproper results, the preservation andcomfort of human life, by the healthfultone and right performance of itsvarious powers and functions. Welive, and are at ease, in virtue of thesound condition and regular operationof all the multitude of parts and organswhich compose our corporeal frame.Should the heart refuse to circulatethe blood, and to diffuse through allthe various channels of inter-communicationwith the members of the bodyits life-sustaining pulses, death ensuesin a moment.

II. The same law of mutual dependencereigns in improved civilisedsociety.—In man, social as well asindividual, the body politic andsocial must prosper, or its memberssuffer. The individual too cannotsuffer without inflicting, by so much,an injury on the community. Theruler and the subject, the capitalistand the operative, the merchant, thefarmer, the scholar and the artisan,the manufacturer and the sailor,perform functions alike indispensableto the great result aimed at or desiredby all communities. They are mutuallydependent, are indissolubly united ininterest by ties not always visible, butyet real and essential to the well-beingof all parties.

III. I hasten to apply my subjectto the Church, where the text findsillustration yet more pertinent andaffecting. The Church is a community,organised, with special ends to beaccomplished, and endowed withspecial capabilities and adaptations,yet having many points of resemblanceto human society in general.All the members and all theofficers of the Church are appointedand honoured of God to be co-workerswith Himself, co-agents with the HolyGhost, in the edification of the body ofChrist. The pastor, not less in thestudy, when he gathers things new andold from holy books and common, thanin the pulpit or in breaking thebread of the sacrament at the altar,or in the sick-chamber—all the subordinatelay ministries devoted to godlycounsel, to faithful admonition, or tothe management and conversation ofthe material interests of the Church—thepious mother nurturing up herchildren in God’s love—the sufferer on abed of languishing, giving forth blessedexamples of patience and resignationand faith—the teacher of the Sabbathschool—they who, in the Spirit, lift upour joyous songs of praise in thesanctuary—all who pray in the closetor in the congregation, are, andshould be deemed, essential parts ofthat good, great system through whosewondrous, harmonious working God ispleased to renew and sanctify soulsand train them up to be heirs of glory.Who, in this great co-partnership forhonouring Christ, has any ground ofcomplaint?—the foot, that it is not thehead? the eye, that it is too feeble todo the functions of the brawny arm?the ears, that they cannot do the officeof locomotion? Every part is indispensable.None can say which is mostimportant in God’s plan; and achievements,ascribed hastily to the eloquenceof the preacher, often stand credited inthe record kept above to the prayer offaith.—Dr. Olin.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 17–24.

A Thorough Moral Transformation—

I. Contrasted with a former life of sin.—1.A state of self-induced mentaldarkness. “Having the understanding darkened,... because of the blindness oftheir heart” (ver. 18). Infidelity is more a moral than a mental obliquity. The[p.223]mind is darkened because the heart is bad. Men do not see the truth becausethey do not want to see it. The light that would lead to righteousness and toGod is persistently shut out.

2. A state of moral insensibility that abandoned the soul to the reckless commissionof all kinds of sin.—“Who being past feeling have given themselves over...to work all uncleanness with greediness” (ver. 19). Sin is made difficult to thebeginner. The barriers set up by a tender conscience, the warnings of nature,the teachings of providence, the light of revelation, the living examples of thegood, have all to be broken down. Early transgressions are arrested by theremorse they occasion; but gradually the safeguards are neglected and despised,until the habit is acquired of sinning for the love of sin. A spirit of recklessnessensues, the reins are relaxed and then thrown upon the neck of the passions, andthe soul is abandoned to the indulgence of all kinds of iniquity.

“We are not worst at once. The course of evil
Is of such slight source an infant’s hand
Might close its breach with clay;
But let the stream get deeper, and we strive in vain
To stem the headlong torrent.”

3. A state that rendered all mental activities worthless.—“Walk not as otherGentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” (ver. 17). The art of right thinkingwas lost. For the man that will not think, think clearly and justly, thecalamities and the raptures of life, the blessing and the curse, have no meaning.They evoke neither gratitude nor fear. The beauties of nature, as theysparkle in the stars, or shine in the flowers, or gleam in the coloured radiance ofthe firmament, are unheeded. The voice of God that speaks in the events ofdaily life has no lesson for him. The senses, which are intended as the avenues oflight and teaching to the soul, are dulled by inaction, clogged by supine indifference,and polluted and damaged by inveterate sin. When the reason is poisonedat its source, all its deductions are aimless and worthless.

II. Effected by the personal knowledge of the truth in Christ.—“But ye havenot so learned Christ,... as the truth is in Jesus” (vers. 20, 21). The Gospelhas introduced to the world the principles of a great moral change. It announcesChrist as the light of the world—a light that shines through all the realms ofhuman life. The diseased reason is restored to health, the intellectual facultieshave now a theme worthy of their noblest exercise, and are made stronger andmore reliable by being employed on such a theme, and the moral nature is liftedinto a purer region of thought and experience. The world is to be transformedby the moral transformation of the individual, and that transformation is effectedonly by the truth and a personal faith in Christ.

III. Involves the renunciation of the corrupting elements of the former life.—“Thatye put off... the old man, which is corrupt” (ver. 22). The inward changeis evidenced by the outward life. The old man dies, being conquered by the new.Corruption and decay marked every feature of the old Gentile life. It was gangrenedwith vice. It was a life of fleshly pleasure, and could end in only one way—indisappointment and misery. The new moral order inaugurated by the Gospelof Christ effected a revolution in human affairs, and the corrupting elements ofthe old order must be weeded out and put away. An excellent man in Londonkept an institution near the Seven Dials at his own expense. He spent hisnights in bringing the homeless boys from the streets into it. When they camein he photographed them, and then they were washed, clothed, and educated.When he sent one out, having taught him a trade, he photographed him again.The change was marvellous, and was a constant reminder of what had been donefor him. The change effected in us by the grace of God not only contrasts withour former life, but should teach us to hate and put away its corrupting sins.

[p.224]IV. Evidenced in investing the soul with the new life Divinely created andconstantly receiving progressive renewal by the Spirit (vers. 23, 24).—It is acontinual rejuvenation the apostle describes; the verb is present in tense, andthe newness implied is that of recency and youth, newness in point of age. Butthe new man to be put on is of a new kind and order. It is put on when theChristian way of life is adopted, when we enter personally into the new humanityfounded in Christ. Thus two distinct conceptions of the life of faith are placedbefore our minds. It consists, on the one hand, of a quickening constantlyrenewed in the springs of our individual thought and will; and it is at the sametime the assumption of another nature, the investiture of the soul with theDivine character and form of its being. The inward reception of Christ’s Spirit isattended by the outward assumption of His character as our calling amongstmen. The man of the coming times will not be atheistic or agnostic; he will bedevout; not practising the world’s ethics with the Christian’s creed; he will beupright and generous, manly and God-like (Findlay).

Lessons.—1.Religion is a complete renewal of the soul. 2.The soul is renewed bythe instrumentality of the truth. 3.The renewal of the soul is the renewal of theoutward life.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 17–19. The Gentile Life—aWarning.

I. The Gentiles walked in thevanity of their minds.—The falsedeities the Gentiles worshipped arecalled vanities. The prevalence ofidolatry is a melancholy proof of thedepravity of human nature. Atheismand idolatry proceed not from the wantof sufficient evidence that there isone eternal, all-perfect Being, but fromthat corruption of heart which blindsthe understanding and perverts thejudgment.

II. The heathens were darkened intheir understanding.—Not in respectof natural things, for in useful artsand liberal sciences many of themgreatly excelled; but in respect ofmoral truth and obligation. Theirdarkness was owing, not solely to thewant of revelation, but to the want ofan honest and good heart. Religionconsists not merely in a knowledge ofand assent to Divine truths, but insuch conformity of heart to theirnature and design, and in such a viewof their reality and importance as willbring the whole man under theirgovernment.

III. They were alienated from thelife of God.—They walked accordingto the course of the world, not accordingto the will of God. Their alienationwas through ignorance. Particularwrong actions may be excused onthe ground of unavoidable ignorance.This ignorance had its foundation inthe obstinacy and perverseness of themind. Such a kind of ignorance, beingin itself criminal, will not excuse thesins which follow from it.

IV. They were become past feeling.—Thisis elsewhere expressed by aconscience seared with a hot iron. Bya course of iniquity the sinner acquiresstrong habits of vice. As vicioushabits gain strength, fear, shame, andremorse abate. Repeated violations ofconscience blunt its sensibility andbreak its power.

V. They gave themselves over tolasciviousness.—If we break over therestraints the Gospel lays upon is,and mock the terrors it holds up toour view, we not only discover a greatvitiosity of mind, but run to greaterlengths in the practice of iniquity. Aswater, when it has broken through itsmounds, rushes on with more impetuousforce than the natural stream,so the corruptions of the human heart,when they have borne down therestraints of religion, press forwardwith more violent rapidity, and makemore awful devastation in the soul[p.225]than where these restraints had neverbeen known.

Reflections.—1.How extremely dangerousit is to continue in sin underthe Gospel. 2.You have need to guardagainst the beginnings of sin. 3.Christiansmust be watchful lest they be ledaway by the influence of corruptexample. 4.Religion lies much in thetemper of the mind.—Lathrop.

Vers. 17, 18. The Life of God.

I. There is but one righteousness,the life of God; there is but one sin,and that is being alienated from thelife of God.—One man may commitdifferent sorts of sins from another—onemay lie, another may steal; onemay be proud, another may becovetous; but all these different sinscome from the same root of sin, theyare all flowers off the same plant.And St. Paul tells us what that oneroot of sin, what that same devil’splant, is, which produces all sin inChristian brethren. It is that we areevery one of us worse than we oughtto be, worse than we know how to be,and, strangest of all, worse that wewish or like to be. Just as far as weare like the heathen of old, we shallbe worse than we know how to be.For we are all ready enough to turnheathens again, at any moment. Theywere alienated from the life of God—thatis, they became strangers to God’slife; they forgot what God’s life andcharacter was like; or if they even didawake a moment, and recollect dimlywhat God was like, they hated thatthought. They hated to think thatGod was what He was, and shut theireyes and stopped their ears as fast aspossible. And what happened to themin the meantime? What was thefruit of their wilfully forgetting whatGod’s life was? St. Paul tells us thatthey fell into the most horrible sins—sinstoo dreadful and shameful tobe spoken of; and that their commonlife, even when they did not run intosuch fearful evils, was profligate,fierce, and miserable. And yet St.Paul tells us all the while they knewthe judgment of God, that those whodo such things are worthy of death.

II. These men saw that man oughtto be like God; they saw that Godwas righteous and good; and theysaw, therefore, that unrighteousnessand sin must end in ruin and everlastingmisery.—So much God hadtaught them, but not much more; butto St. Paul He had taught more.Those wise and righteous heathencould show their sinful neighbours thatsin was death, and that God wasrighteous; but they could not tellthem how to rise out of the death ofsin into God’s life of righteousness.They could preach the terrors of thelaw, but they did not know the goodnews of the Gospel, and therefore theydid not succeed; they did not converttheir neighbours to God. Then cameSt. Paul and preached to the verysame people, and he did convertthem to God; for he had good newsfor them, of things which prophets andkings had desired to see, and had notseen themselves, and to hear, and hadnot heard them. And so God, and thelife of God, was manifested in the fleshand reasonable soul of a man; andfrom that time there is no doubt whatthe life of God is, for the life of Godis the life of Christ. There is nodoubt now what God is like, for God islike Jesus Christ.

III. Now what is the everlastinglife of God, which the Lord JesusChrist lived perfectly, and which Hecan and will make every one of uslive, in proportion as we give up ourhearts and wills to Him, and ask Himto take charge of us and shape usand teach us? And God is perfect love,because He is perfect righteousness;for His love and His justice are not twodifferent things, two different parts ofGod, as some say, who fancy thatGod’s justice had to be satisfied in oneway and His love in another, and talkof God as if His justice fought againstHis love, and desired the death of asinner, and then His love foughtagainst His justice, and desired to savea sinner. The old heathen did not[p.226]like such a life, therefore they didnot like to retain God in their knowledge.They knew that man ought tobe like God; and St. Paul says theyought to have known what God waslike—that He was love; for St. Paultold them He left not Himself withoutwitness, in that He sent rain andfruitful seasons, filling their heartswith food and gladness. That was, inSt. Paul’s eyes, God’s plainest witnessof Himself—the sign that God waslove, making His sun shine on the justand on the unjust, and good to theunthankful and the evil—in one word,perfect, because He is perfect love.But they preferred to be selfish,covetous, envious, revengeful, delightingto indulge themselves in filthypleasures, to oppress and defraud eachother.

IV. God is love.—As I told youjust now, the heathen of old mighthave known that, if they chose toopen their eyes and see. But theywould not see. They were dark, cruel,and unloving, and therefore theyfancied that God was dark, cruel, andunloving also. They did not love love,and therefore they did not love God,for God is love. And therefore theydid not love each other, but lived inhatred and suspicion and selfishnessand darkness. They were but heathen.But if even they ought to have knownthat God was love, how much morewe? For we know of a deed of God’slove, such as those poor heathen neverdreamed of. And then, if we haveGod abiding with us, and filling uswith His eternal life, what more do weneed for life, or death, or eternity, oreternities of eternities? For we shalllive in and with and by God, who cannever die or change, an everlastinglife of love.—C.Kingsley.

Ver. 19. Past Feeling.—1.Thoughoriginal sin has seized upon the wholesoul, yet the Lord has kept so muchknowledge of Himself and of rightand wrong in the understanding ofmen as they may know when theysin, and so much of conscience as toaccuse or excuse according to the natureof the fact, whereupon follows griefor joy in their affections. Wicked menmay arrive at such a height of sinas to have no sense of sin, no grief,nor check, nor challenge from consciencefrom it. 2.A watchful consciencedoing its duty is the strongestrestraint from sin; and where thatis not, all other restraints will servefor little purpose. For a man to begiven over to lasciviousness withoutcheck or challenge argues a greatheight of impiety. 3.As upon senselessstupidity of conscience there followsan unsatiableness in sinning especiallyin the sin of uncleanness, so when aman comes to this, he is then arrivedat the greatest height of sin untowhich the heathens, destitute of theknowledge of God, ever attained.—Fergusson.

Vers. 20–24. Putting off the OldNature and putting on the New.

I. The change here spoken of isradically seated in the mind.—Theseterms do not import the creation ofnew powers and faculties, but theintroduction of new tempers andqualities. The renovation enlightensthe eyes of the understanding, andgives new apprehensions of Divinethings. It purifies the affections anddirects them to their proper objects.There are new purposes and resolutions.

II. He who is renewed puts off theold man.—The new spirit is oppositeto sin and strives against it. TheChristian mortifies the affections andlusts of the flesh because he has foundthem deceitful. He in deliberate andhearty purpose renounces all sin. Heabstains from the appearance of evil.

III. He puts on the new man.—Asthe former signifies a corrupt temperand conversation, so the latter mustintend a holy and virtuous dispositionand character. The new man is renewedin righteousness and trueholiness. He not only ceases to doevil, but learns to do well.

IV. The pattern according to[p.227]which the new man is formed is theimage of God.—The likeness mustbe understood with limitations. Theimage of God in us bears no resemblanceto the perfections in the Divinenature, such as immensity, immutability,and independence. There aresome essential properties of the newman to which there is nothinganalogous in the Deity. Reverence,obedience, trust, and resignation areexcellencies in rational creatures; butcannot be ascribed to the Creator. Inthose moral perfections in which thenew man is made like God there isonly a faint resemblance, not anequality. The new man resembles Godin mercy and goodness, in holiness, intruth.

V. This great change is effected bythe Gospel.—It was the consequence oftheir having learned Christ. The firstproduction and improvement of thischange is the work of Divine grace,and the Spirit of God works on thesoul by means of the Word. To thischange the use of means and the graceof God are both necessary.

VI. The change is great.—Let noneimagine he is a subject of thischange merely because he entertainssome new sentiments, feels transientemotions, or has renounced some ofhis former guilty practices. The realnature and essence of conversion is thesame in all.—Lathrop.

Religious Affections are attended witha Change of Nature.

I. What is conversion?—1.A changeof nature. 2.A permanent change.3.A universal change. 4.A union ofGod’s spirit with the faculties of thesoul. 5.Christ by His grace savinglylives in the soul.

II. Its connection with sanctification.—1.Allthe affections and discoveriessubsequent to the first conversionare transforming. 2.Thistransformation of nature is continuousuntil the end of life, when it is broughtto perfection in glory.

III. Reflections.—1.Allowance mustbe made for the natural temper.2.Affections which have no abidingeffect are not spiritual and gracious.3.In some way it will be evident, evento others, that the true disciple hasbeen with Jesus.—LewisO. Thompson.

Ver. 23. The Christian Spirit, a NewSpirit.

I. There are some changes in menwhich come not up to the renewedspirit, and yet are too often rested in.—1.Theassuming of a new name andprofession is a very different thingfrom a saving change in the temper ofthe mind. We may be of any profession,and yet be unrenewed. Peoplevalue themselves upon wearing theChristian name, instead of that ofPagan, or Jew, or Mahometan; orupon being styled Papists or Protestants;or upon their attaching themselvesto one or another noted party,into which these are subdivided, andupon such a new appellation they aretoo ready to imagine that they arenew men: whereas we may go theround of all professions, and still havethe old nature remaining in full force.2.A bare restraint upon the corruptspirit and temper will not come upto this renovation, though the one maysometimes be mistaken for the other.The light of nature may possess conscienceagainst many evils, or a sobereducation lay such a bridle upon thecorrupt inclination as will keep it infor a season, the fear of punishmentor of shame and reproach may suppressthe outward criminal act, while theheart is full of ravening and wickedness.Therefore, though it is a plain sign ofan unrenewed mind if a man live inany course of gross sin, yet it is notsafe to conclude merely from restraintsthat a man is truly renewed. 3.Apartial change in the temper itself willnot amount to such a renovation asmakes a true Christian. Indeed, inone sense the change is but partial inany in this life; there will be remainsof disorder in all the powers of thesoul, so as to exclude a pretence toabsolute perfection. It is not enoughto have the mind filled with sound[p.228]knowledge and useful notions, norbarely to give a dead assent to thedoctrines of the Gospel, unless webelieve with the heart, and the will andaffections be brought under the powerof those truths; and even here theremay be some alteration, and yet aman not be renewed. Nor is itsufficient that we should find ourselvesdisposed to some parts of goodness,while our hearts are utterly averse toothers which are equally plain. Andtherefore, though we should be of acourteous, peaceable, and kind tempertowards men; though we should beinclined to practise justice, liberality,truth, and honesty in our transactionswith them, and to temperance andchastity in our personal conduct;though these are excellent branches ofthe Christian spirit; yet if there benot a right temper towards God also,if the fear and love of God are not theruling principles of the soul, there is anessential defect in the Christian spirit.

II. A particular view of this renovationin some principal acts of the mind.—1.Themind comes to have differentapprehensions of things, such as ithad not before. The new creationbegins with light, as the old is representedto do. Light bearing in, andthe mind being fixed in attention, mandiscerns the great corruption of hisheart, and the badness of the principlesand ends which governed him in theappearances of goodness, upon whichhe valued himself before. And so theexcellency and suitableness of Christ,in all His offices, and the necessity ofreal, inward holiness, appear in quiteanother manner to his soul thanhitherto. 2.The practical judgmentis altered. This light, shining withclearness and strength into the mind,unsettles and changes the wholepractical judgment by which a mansuffered himself to be governed beforein the matters of his soul. He judgesthose truths of religion to be realwhich once had no more force withhim than doubtful conclusions, andaccordingly he cannot satisfy himselfany longer barely not to disbelievethem, but gives a firm and livelyassent to them. 3.A new turn isgiven to the reasoning faculty, and anew use made of it. When the Wordof God is mighty it casts downimaginations; so we render the originalword (2Cor. x.5). It properlysignifies “reasonings.” Not that thefaculty itself is altered, or that whenmen begin to be religious they layaside reasoning; then in truth theyact with the highest reason; theyreason most justly and most worthy oftheir natures. But now the wrongbias, which was upon the reasoningfaculty from old prejudices and headstronginclinations, is in a good measuretaken off; so that instead of its beingpressed at all adventures into theservice of sin, it is employed a betterway, and concludes with more truthand impartiality. 4.There is analteration in man’s governing aim,or chief end. This is like the centre,to which all inferior aims and particularpursuits tend. The original end of areasonable creature must be to enjoythe favour of God as his supremehappiness, to be acceptable and pleasingto Him. By the disposition of depravednature we are gone off from this centre,and have changed our bias, from Godto created good, to the pleasing of theflesh, to the gratification of our ownhumour, or to the obtaining of somepresent satisfaction, according to theprevailing dictate of fancy or appetite.This makes the greatest turn that canbe in the spirit of the mind; all mustbe out of course till this be set right.Now it is the most essential part of thenew nature to bring a sinner in thisrespect to himself, that is, to bring himback to God. All the light he receives,all the rectification of his judgment,is in order to this; and when this iswell settled, everything else, whichwas out of course before, will returnto its right channel. 5.There ishereupon a new determination to sucha course of acting as will mosteffectually secure this end. As longas this world is the chief good which aman has in view, he contrives the best[p.229]ways he can think of to promote hisparticular ends in it. But when thefavour of God comes to have theprincipal share in his esteem, hecarefully examines and heartily consentsto the prescribed terms of making thatsure. Now he is desirous to be foundin Christ upon any terms. 6.Theexercise of the affections becomes verydifferent. A change will appear inthis respect, through the differentturns of his condition as well as in theprevailing tenor of his practice. Whilea man is a stranger to God and blindto the interests of his soul, he is littleconcerned how matters lie between Godand him. But a sinner come to himselfis most tenderly concerned at anythingthat renders his interests in Goddoubtful or brings his covenant-relationinto question; and nothing setsthe springs of godly sorrow flowing somuch as the consciousness of guilt,or of any unworthy behaviour to God.

Lessons.—1.Let us seriously examineour own minds, whether we can discernsuch an alteration made in our spirit.2.If we must answer in the negative,or have just ground to fear it, yet let usnot despair of a change still, but applyourselves speedily in the appointed wayto seek after it. 3.Let the best retaina sense of the imperfection of the newnature in them, and of their obligationstill to cultivate it, till it arrive atperfection.—Dr. Evans.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 25–32.

Christian Principles applied to Common Life.

Let us put these principles into the form of concrete precepts.

I. Be truthful.—“Putting away lying, speak every man truth,... for we aremembers one of another” (ver. 25). Society is so clearly welded together andinterdependent that the evil effects of a falsehood not only damage others butrebound ultimately towards the man who uttered it. A lie is a breach ofpromise; for whosoever seriously addresses his discourse to another tacitlypromises to speak the truth, because he knows the truth is expected. Truthnever was indebted to a lie. “In the records of all human affairs,” writes Froude,“it cannot be too often insisted on that two kinds of truths run for ever side byside, or rather crossing in and out with each other form the warp and woof ofthe coloured web we call history: the one the literal and eternal truths correspondingto the eternal and as yet undiscovered laws of fact; the other the truths offeeling and thought, which embody themselves either in distorted pictures ofoutward things or in some entirely new creation—sometimes moulding andshaping history; sometimes taking the form of heroic biography, tradition, orpopular legend.”

II. Avoid sinful anger.—“Be ye angry, and sin not:... neither give place tothe devil” (vers. 26, 27). Anger is not forbidden. A nature ardent for truth andjustice burns with indignation against cruelty and wrong. But it is a dangerouspassion even for the best of men, and is apt to exceed the limits of prudence andaffection. To nurse our wrath and brood over our imagined wrongs is to giveplace to the devil, who is ever near to blow up the dying embers of our anger.Plutarch tells us it was an ancient rule of the Pythagoreans that, if at any timethey happened to be provoked by anger to abusive language, before the sun setthey would take each other’s hands, and embracing make up their quarrel. TheChristian must not be behind the pagan in placability and forgiveness.

III. Be honest.—“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let himlabour” (ver. 28). Laziness is a fruitful source of dishonesty, and is itselfdishonest. There are sensitive natures to whom it is very difficult to be dishonest.In Abraham Lincoln’s youthful days he was a storekeeper’s clerk. Once, afterhe had sold a woman a little bill of goods and received the money, he found on[p.230]looking over the account again that she had given him six and a quarter centstoo much. The money burned in his hands until he had locked the shop andstarted on a walk of several miles in the night to make restitution before heslept. On another occasion, after weighing and delivering a pound of tea, hefound a small weight upon the scales. He immediately weighed out thequantity of tea which he had innocently defrauded the customer, and went insearch for her, his sensitive conscience not permitting any delay. The thief isnot reformed and made an industrious worker by simply showing him theadvantages of honesty. The apostle appeals to a higher motive—sympathy forthe needy—“That he may have to give to him that needeth.” Let the spiritof love and brotherhood be aroused, and the indolent become diligent, thepilferer honest.

IV. Be circ*mspect in speech.—“Let no corrupt communication proceed outof your mouth” (ver. 29). The possession of a human tongue is an immenseresponsibility. Infinite good or mischief lies in its power. The apostle does notsimply forbid injurious words; he puts an embargo on all that is not positivelyuseful. Not that he requires all Christian speech to be grave and serious. It isthe mere talk, whether frivolous or pompous—spoken from the pulpit or theeasy-chair—the incontinence of tongue, the flux of senseless, graceless, unprofitableutterance, that he desires to arrest (Findlay).

V. Grieve not the Holy Spirit (ver. 30).—Perhaps in nothing do we grievethe Spirit more than by foolish and unprofitable speech, or by listening willinglyand without protest to idle gossip and uncharitable backbiting. His sealing ofour hearts becomes fainter, and our spiritual life declines, as we become indiscreetand vain in speech.

VI. Guard against a malicious disposition.—“Let all bitterness, wrath,anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away, with all malice” (ver. 31).Malice is badness of disposition, the aptness to envy and hatred, which apartfrom any special occasion is always ready to break out in bitterness and wrath.Bitterness is malice sharpened to a point and directed against the exasperatingobject. Wrath and anger are synonymous, the former being the passionateoutburst of resentment in rage, the latter the settled indignation of the aggrievedsoul. Clamour and railing give audible expression to these and their kindredtempers. Clamour is a loud self-assertion of the angry man who will makeevery one hear his grievance; while the railer carries the war of the tongue intohis enemy’s camp and vents his displeasure in abuse and insult. Never to returnevil for evil and railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing—this is one of thelessons most difficult to flesh and blood (Findlay).

VII. Cherish a forgiving spirit.—“Be ye kind,... forgiving one another, evenas God hath forgiven you” (ver. 32). It is man-like to resent an injury; it isChrist-like to forgive it. It is a triumph of Divine grace when the man who hassuffered the injury is the most eager to effect a reconciliation. Dean Hook relateshe was once asked to see a gentleman who had ill-treated him. Found him verythin and ill. Told me that he was conscious that his feelings and conduct hadnot been towards me what they ought to have been for years. I told him thatwhenever there was a quarrel there were sure to be faults on both sides, andthat there must be no question as to the more or less, but the forgiveness mustbe mutual. I kissed his hand, and we wept and prayed together. O God, havemercy on him and me for Jesu’s sake! I have had a taste of heaven wherepart of our joy will surely consist in our reconciliations.

Lessons.—1.Religion governs the whole man. 2.True religion is intenselypractical. 3.Religion gives a nameless charm to the commonest duties.

[p.231]GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 25. Truth between Man andMan.

I. The duty of veracity here recommended.—1.Truthis to be observedin common conversation. People havemore special need, in some respects, tobe admonished of their obligationsinviolably to maintain truth here; formany are more ready to allow themselvesto transgress in what theyaccount trivial instances than uponsolemn occasions; and yet by suchbeginnings way is made for the disregardof truth, in the most considerablematters, in process of time. 2.Truthshould be maintained in bearingtestimony. A conscientious regard totruth will engage us to be very carefulthat we spread nothing to the lesseningor reproach of our neighbour of whichwe have not good assurance; that wepublish not a defamation upon hearsay,nor take up, without sufficient grounds,“a report against our neighbour.” Ifwe are called to give public testimonybetween man and man, a sincere respectto truth will engage us to a careful recollection,before we give our testimony,as to what we can say upon the matter.It will dispose to lay aside affection onone hand and prejudice on the other,and impartially to relate the true stateof things as far as we can bear witnessto them, nakedly to represent factsas they have come within our notice.3.Truth must be exercised in ourpromises and engagements, and veracityrequires two things in relation to them:(1)That we really intend to performthem when they are made; (2)Thatwe are careful of performance afterthey are made.

II. The reason the apostle gives forthe inviolable maintenance of truth:because we are members one of another.—1.Thisargument is applicable tomankind in general. We are membersone of another, as we partake of thesame human nature, and in that respectare upon a level. We are members ofsociety in common, entitled to thesame rights, claims, and expectationsone from another as men, and aremutually helpful and subservient asthe members of the body are to eachother; and the principal link thatholds us together is mutual confidence,founded upon the hope of commonfidelity. Now, lying makes void anduseless the great instrument of society,the faculty of speech or writing. Thepower of speech was given us by ourCreator, and the art of writing, sincefound out, on purpose that we mightbe able so to convey our sense to others,that they may discern it, where wepretend to express it, just as if theywere so far privy to what passed inour minds. And unless truth beinviolably observed in everything, thebonds of human society cannot fail tobe weakened. 2.This argument maybe particularly applicable to Christians.We are members one of another in amore distinguishing sense, as we belongto the body of Christ. And this laysadditional engagements upon all thevisible members of that body to putaway lying and to speak the truthone to the other,—in conformity tothe common Father, to whom we belong,who is eminently styled “a God oftruth”; in conformity to our headthe Lord Jesus, there should be a strictobservation of truth among Christians;in conformity to the Spirit thatanimates us, who is eminently describedby this attribute, “the Spirit of truth.”

Inferences.—1.This is one remarkableevidence how much Christianity iscalculated for the benefit of mankindand the good of society at present, aswell as for our everlasting welfare, inthat it so strictly enjoins and enforcesthe exacted regard of truth. 2.Wesee thence upon how good reasonthe Christian religion strictly forbidscommon swearing. 3.All that namethe name of Christ are concerned tosee that they comply with the exhortation.4.Christians should do all theycan to promote truth among others,both for the honour of God, and thespiritual and eternal good of their[p.232]neighbours, and the general interestof society.—Jeremiah Seed.

The Sin of Falsehood.

I. There are cases in which one mayspeak that which is not true and yetnot be chargeable with lying, for hemay have no intention to deceive.

II. The grossest kind of lying, orspeaking a known falsehood underthe awful solemnity of an oath.—Menviolate truth when they affix to wordsan arbitrary meaning or make in theirown minds certain secret reservationswith a design to disguise facts anddeceive the hearers. When we expressdoubtful matters in terms and withan air of assurance, we may materiallyinjure as well as grossly deceive ourneighbour. Men are guilty of maliciousfalsehood when they repeat withromantic additions and fictitiousembellishments the stories they haveheard of a neighbour that they mayexcite against him severer ridicule orcast on his character a darker stain.Men may utter a falsehood by thetone of their voice, while their wordsare literally true.

III. We are bound to speak truthin our common and familiar conversation.—Wemust speak truth in ourcommerce with one another. In givingpublic testimony we must be carefulto say nothing but truth, and concealno part of the truth. We must adhereto truth when we speak of men’s actionsor characters. We must observe truthin our promises.

IV. A regard to truth is a necessarypart of the Christian character.—Deceitfulnessis contrary, not only to theexpress commands of the Gospel, but tothe dictates of natural conscience.

V. The argument the apostle urgesfor the maintenance of truth.—“Weare members one of another.” As menwe are members one of another. AsChristians we are children of the sameGod, the God of truth; we are disciplesof the same Lord, the faithful and trueWitness. If we walk in guile anddeceit, if we practise vile arts of dishonesty,we contradict our human andour Christian character. We see thedanger of profane language, as it leadsto the grossest kind of falsehood, evento perjury in public testimony. Wesee how dangerous it is to practisethose diversions which are attendedwith temptations to fraud.—Lathrop.

College Life. “For we are membersone of another.”

I. It is for us who govern andteach to remember how great is ourresponsibility in those respects.—Weare not merely instructors but educatorsof youth. The question of what bookswe use or what vehicles of teachingwe employ sinks into insignificancecompared with the question what endit is we design in our teaching. Arewe prepared to abdicate our higherfunctions of educators and to sinkdown to the lower one of teachers?Must we not, if we are are true to ourcalling, strive to instil into you thatmanliness which springs from the fearof God, that truthfulness which is seenin the frank look and unshrinking eye,that obedience which is rendered in nospirit of servility as unto the Lord andnot as unto men, that self-masterywhich is the foundation of all wisdomand all power? If the soul is of morevalue than the body, if the life tocome is of more importance than thelife that now is, if the knowledge ofGod and His Christ is infinitely moreprecious than all the knowledge of thisworld and all the distinction to whichit leads—then there can be no questionthat education is infinitely beforeinstruction, that principles are higherthan knowledge, that knowledge isonly of value in proportion as it ispervaded and sanctified by the Spiritof Christ. But precept without exampleis powerless. A man whose life ispure and high may not open his lips,yet his very silence shall be eloquentfor God. Day by day a virtue is goingout of him; day by day he is givingstrength to one who is wrestling withdoubt or temptation; day by day he isa beacon to those who are tossed onthe waves of irresolution and uncertainty.[p.233]The teacher, if he is to producea powerful moral effect, if he is tomould character, if he is to leave animpress upon the minds and hearts ofthose whom he teaches, must be whathe teaches, must live what he inculcates.

II. And now I would place beforeyou your duties.—1.Keep distinctlybefore you the end and aim of yourcoming here—the ministry of Christ’sChurch. 2.You are members of acommunity. You are all united toone another. You have all commonpursuits, common ends, commoninterests. You may all help greatlyto make or to mar the lives andcharacters of those with whomyou are in such constant and dailyintercourse. Let this considerationhave its full weight with you. Bebut true to yourselves, and to theGod who has called you to the knowledgeof Himself and His Son JesusChrist, and by you this college shallgrow and prosper. If principles andaims such as those I have endeavouredto indicate prevail in a college, therewill be a real and substantial harmonybetween those who govern and thosewho are governed. Let us strive oneand all, teachers and taught, to makethis our college a college of which nonecan be ashamed.—J.J. StewartPerowne (preached on the forty-sixthanniversary of St. David’s College,Lampeter).

Vers. 26, 27. Sinful Anger.

I. These words are not an injunctionto be angry, but a caution not to sinwhen we are angry.—As there is in ournature a principle of resentment againstinjury, so there is in us a virtuoustemper, a holy displeasure againstmoral evil.

II. Anger is sinful when it riseswithout cause.—Rash anger is sinful.Anger is sinful when it breaks outinto indecent, reviling, and reproachfullanguage; when it promotes to designsor acts of revenge; when it settlesinto malice.

III. Neither give place to the devil.—Seethat you subdue your lusts andrule your spirits. Arm yourselveswith the sword of the Spirit, which isthe Word of God. Take time to considerwhether any motive suggested infavour of sin is so powerful as thearguments the Scriptures offer againstit. Our greatest danger is from ourselves.—Lathrop.

Ver. 26. Anger and Meekness.

I. In what cases our anger maybe innocently indulged.—1.On theapproach of any injurious aggressorthreatening our destruction, or usingany act of violence that may endangerour safety. 2.How far soever theharsh gratings of anger may seem tobe removed from the soft motions ofbenevolence, yet these sometimes, asoil does to steel, give an edge to ourresentment; where it will be foundnot only innocent and excusable, buteven commendable and generous. Asin the natural system of the worldthere are some repelling qualities,which yet must conspire to aid thegrand power of attraction; so eventhose passions which, considered in asimple view, have but an unfriendlyand unsociable aspect, are yet, in theirgeneral comprehension, aiding andassisting to preserve inviolable thebonds of the great community. 3.Ouranger is apt to kindle at the apprehensionof a slight or an affront, acontempt or reproach thrown upon us;on which occasions, if the apprehensionbe well grounded, our resentment, to acertain degree, must be allowed to beexcusable, and so not sinful. Ourtameness in these instances wouldbe construed into stupidity, and betreated as such by the pert andpetulant. 4.We may not only beangry without sinning in the instancesalleged, as we sometimes may sin innot being angry. God, who designedhuman society, designed the good of it;and that good to be promoted by everyindividual to the utmost of his power.Hereby there is tacitly committed toevery man a kind of trust and guardianshipof virtue whose rights he is[p.234]obliged to support and maintain inproportion to his abilities; not only byexample, by advice and exhortation,but even by reproof and resentment,suitable to the circ*mstances of theoffender and the offence.

II. When our anger becomes intemperateand unlawful.—1.When itbreaks out into outrageous actions;for then, like a boisterous wind, itquite puts out that light which shouldguide our feet in the way of peace; itdethrones our reason, and suspends itsexercise. An extravagance of this kindis the more dangerous, and thereforethe more sinful, because, though theimpulse of passion should meet withno opposition to inflame it—which,however, is generally the case—yet,when it has worked the blood into soviolent a ferment, it is apt of itself toredouble its force. And no one cantell what fury, wound up to thehighest pitch, may produce. 2.Angerbecomes unlawful when it vents itselfin unseemly and reviling language.It were to be wished that those whohave such a peculiar delicacy of feelingwhen they are affronted would abstainfrom all appearance of an affrontiveand disrespectful behaviour to others;that they who are so quick to receivewould be as slow to give an affront.On the contrary it often happens thatthey only feel for themselves; they arenot the least sensible of the indignitiesoffered to others. How frequently dothose who are highly enraged pass ageneral and undistinguishing censureupon a man’s character? 3.We arenot always to judge of the sinfulnessof anger from the open and undignifiedappearance of it, either in our wordsor actions; it may be concealed andtreasured up in our thoughts, and yetretain as much malignity as when itimmediately breaks out and discoversitself in contumelious language or actsof violence. For by brooding in themind it becomes the parent of a veryuntoward issue, malice, and hatred.Malice is a cool and deliberate resentment;but sometimes more keen andmalevolent than that which is rashand precipitate. It is like a massivestone, slowly raised, but threateningthe greater danger to him on whom itshall fall. Anger is yet sinful whenencouraged in our thoughts to thedegree of hatred.

III. Consider its opposite virtue,meekness.—Meekness, is, as Aristotlelong ago defined it, a due mean betweentameness and stupidity on the onehand, and rage and fury on the other.It is not absolute freedom from passion,but such a command over it as toprevent our being transported beyondthe bounds of humanity and goodsense. It is this virtue which, if itdoes not give a man such a glaringand shining figure as some other goodqualities, yet constitutes the mostlovely, beautiful, and agreeable character,and gains unenvied praise.1.A meek man will have senseenough to know when he is injured,and spirit enough to resent it; butthen he will consider whether he cando more good by openly resenting theoffence and punishing the offenderthan by overlooking it and passing itby. 2.A man of meek temper willdistinguish between a man’s generalstanding sentiments when he is perfectlycalm and undisturbed and hisoccasional sentiments when his spiritsare ruffled and overheated. 3.Ameek man will never be angry with aperson for telling him what he imaginesto be a fault in him, provided it bedone in a private manner, and theadvice be conveyed in the most palatablevehicle. 4.A man of a meekspirit is glad to be reconciled to theperson who has offended or injuredhim, and therefore is ready to hearkento all overtures of accommodation.A meek man will show such an inclinationand readiness to forgive theoffences of others as if he had perpetualneed of the same indulgence, but willso carefully avoid giving the leastoffence as if it might be thought hewould forgive nobody.

Lessons.—1.Let us endeavour toacquire a greatness of mind: by this Ido not mean arrogance, for that bespeaks[p.235]a little mind—a mind that canreflect on nothing within itself thatlooks great except arrogance; but atrue greatness of mind arises froma true judgment of things, and a nobleascendency of the soul inclining usto act above what is barely our duty.It is rising to the sublime in virtue.This will create a reverence for ourselves,and will set us as far above themean gratification of giving any realoccasion of passion to others, as ofbeing susceptible of it when an occasionmay be given to us. 2.One of theancients said that he had gained oneadvantage from philosophy: that ithad brought him to wonder at nothing.But it looks as if we, the generality ofus, were strangers in the world; weare ever expressing our surprise andwonder at everything; and thus surpriseprepares the way for passion.We wonder that we should meet withsuch a behaviour, such a treatment,such an affront; whereas the greatestwonder is that we should wonder at it.3.Nothing can have so prevalent apower to still all the undue agitationsof passion so apt to arise from thevarious connections we have with theprejudices and passions of others,nothing so fit to induce a smooth andeasy flow of temper, as a frequentapplication to the throne of grace, tobeseech Him, who is the God of Peace,that His peace may rule in our heats,that it may be the fixed and predominantprinciple there.—Jeremiah Seed.

Ver. 28. A Warning against Theft.

I. Here is a general prohibition oftheft.—This supposes distinct rightsand separate properties. Stealing istaking and carrying away another’sgoods in a secret manner and withouthis consent. The prohibition relatesto every unfair, indirect, dishonestway by which one may transfer tohimself the property of another.

II. This prohibition of theft is avirtual injunction of labour.—If aman may not live at the expense ofothers, he must live at his own; and ifhe has not the means of subsistence, hemust labour to acquire them. Noman has a right to live on charity solong as he can live by labour. Theobligation to labour is not confined tothe poor; it extends to all accordingto their several capacities.

III. Every man must choose forhimself an honest calling, and mustwork that which is good.—A work inwhich a man makes gain by the expenseand enriches himself by the lossof others is theft embellished andrefined. Gaming, when it is used asan art to get money, is criminal,because it is unprofitable, and whatone gains by it another must lose.

IV. In all our labours we shouldhave regard to the good of others.—Theman who is poor should aim tomend his circ*mstances and to providenot only for his immediate support butfor his future necessities. The conditionwhich subjects us to labour doesnot exempt us from obligations tobeneficence. We must confine ourselveswithin our own proper sphere,for here we can do more good thanelsewhere. In all our works, secularor spiritual, charity must direct us.Love is an essential principle in religion,and as essential in one man as another.—Lathrop.

St. Paul’s Exaltation of Labour.

I. St. Paul often recurs to the plainand quiet work of humble life.—Heenforces not only the duty of it, buthow high the duty ranks; and if it iswell done, how it raises those who do it.Having worked with his own hands, heappreciated the sterling test of honestattention to work. He knew whattemptations there were to relax and togive in to the sense of tediousness dayby day and hour by hour. St. Paul,who honours the industry of a slave,will not allow it to be dishonoured bythe slave himself thinking himselfsuperior to it, and discourages all highflights which set him at enmity withhis work and draw him away from thesterling Christian yoke of humblelabour to which he has been called inGod’s providence.

[p.236]II. At the same time the apostledoes not honour all industry; far fromit. He always reprobates the covetous,money-getting spirit. He admires industry,but it must be industry whichis consecrated by the motive; and themotive which he requires for it is thatof duty—when a man fulfils in thefear of God the task which is allottedto him. Men form their religiousstandard by two distinct tests: one thelaw of conscience and obedience to God,the other what is striking to man.St. Paul’s standard is seen in hissympathy with the work of the rulerof a household, with the work of afather or mother of a family, thework of hospitality and attention tostrangers, the work of common tradesand callings, the work even of theslave in doing his assigned daily tasks.

III. We see the spirit of this greatapostle—how it embraced the wholeappointed lot of man, from his highestto his most humble field of employment.He rejected nothing as meanor low that came by God’s appointment;all was good, all was excellent, all wasappropriate that He had commanded.The heathen valued all labour bywhich men became eloquent or becameable soldiers or statesmen; but theyhad not the slightest respect for theordinary work of mankind. Theythought this world made for the rich.How different is St. Paul’s view! Nowork allotted to man is servile work inhis eyes, because he has an insight intowhat faithful labour is—what strengthof conscience it requires, what resistanceto temptations and snares itdemands. The Word of God consecratesthe ordinary work of man—itconverts it into every one’s trial, and ashis special trial his special access to areward also.—J.B. Mozley.

Ver. 29. The Government of theTongue.

1. The apostle cautions us againstall loose and licentious language.
2. Enticing language is forbidden.
3. Corrupt communication includesall kinds of vain discourse; all suchlanguage as offends Christian sobriety,seriousness, and gravity, savours ofprofaneness and impiety, or borders onobscenity and lewdness.
4. Instruction is useful to edifying.
5. Reproof conducted with prudenceis useful to edifying.
6. Exhortation is good for the useof edifying.
7. Christians may edify one anotherby communicating things theyhave experienced in the course of thereligious life.
8. Conversing on religious subjectsin general is good for the use ofedifying.—Lathrop.

Ver. 30. The Benefit conferred by theSpirit on Believers.

I. That believers are sealed by theSpirit implies that they are recognisedand set apart and in a peculiar sensethe Divine property.—1.A seal is oftena distinguishing mark or token bywhich a claim to property may beshown and established (Rev. iii.2, 3).2.That believers are thus sealedproves that they are His in a peculiarmanner. 3.The sense in which theyare His is clearly brought out(1Cor. iii.23). They are Christ’sby gift, by purchase, by conquest, bysurrender. Christ is God’s, and Hispeople in Him. 4.They who aresealed are thus a peculiar people,separated to God’s worship, service,and glory. 5.Have you recognisedpractically that you are God’s?

II. That believers are sealed impliesthat attempts will be made to alienatethem from God’s possession.—1.Amark or token is affixed to that which isin danger of being taken away. 2.Weare distinctly taught that believers areexposed to efforts to separate them fromGod (John x.7–10, 27–29). 3.Theactivity of the wicked one seems in agreat measure directed to this point.4.The doctrine of the perseverance ofthe saints does not lead him to indolence.5.Your safety is not merely to getinto the place of safety, but to continuethere.

III. That believers are sealed[p.237]implies that they have received theimpress of the Divine image.—1.Thesealing is the work of the Spirit, whoseoffice it is to regenerate and sanctify.2.The seal is that which distinguishesthe believer from the unbeliever, andthe true distinguishing mark is regeneration.3.We therefore concludethat the seal has engraven on it theimage of God, which it leaves. 4.Theconfidence of no one should outrun hissanctification. 5.Can you discernthe outline of the image? There arecounterfeits.

IV. That believers are sealed impliesthat, though associated and mixed upwith others, they are not confoundedwith them.—1.A distinguishing markis necessary when things which areagain to be separated and classified aremingled with each other. 2.The sealleads to recognition. Hence the believeris known by himself, fellow-believers,the world, the devil, angels, Christ,the Father. 3.This recognition takesplace in time, at the judgment, ineternity.

V. That believers are sealed impliesthat God will visit the earth with distinguishingjudgments.—In proof andillustration (Exek. ix.; Rev. vii., ix.).The Passover. The destruction ofJerusalem. Now. The judgment day.Are you prepared for such a season?

VI. That believers are sealed impliesthat they are in a state of reservation.—Aseal is a pledge, a signature.An engagement presently fulfilled needsno pledge.—Stewart.

The Office of the Holy Spirit and theDanger of grieving Him.

I. His office is to seal us unto theday of redemption.—That day in whichthe people of God will be put intocomplete possession of the blessingspurchased for them by Christ. Toseal us to this day is to prepare us andto set us apart from it, to fix sucha mark on us as in that day shall distinguishus from others and make itfully appear to whom we belong. Whena man sets his seal to a paper, he therebydeclares his approbation of it andacknowledges it to be his own deed.Those who bear the seal of the Spiritwill be approved by Christ and acknowledgedfor His own in the day ofresurrection. A seal stamps its ownimage on the wax. The Spirit stampson the soul the image of Himself. Thisseal is said to be the earnest of ourinheritance. An earnest is a pledgeof something to be bestowed and enjoyedhereafter—a part of it is alreadybestowed to assure us that in due timewe shall receive the whole.

II. He is not to be grieved.—1.Bewareof doing anything which yourconscience, enlightened by the Word ofGod, forbids you to do. 2.Beware ofrunning into temptation. 3.Bewareof indulging fleshly lusts. 4.Bewareof practising deceit and falsehood.5.Beware of profaning the Lord’sDay. 6.Beware of cherishing eviland malignant tempers.—E.Cooper.

On Grieving the Holy Spirit.

1. Our duty is to render to theHoly Spirit cheerful and universalobedience.
2. The Spirit is the great Sanctifier.
3. We must co-operate diligentlyin the production of the fruits of theSpirit.
4. Our danger is in quenching theSpirit.—Our light grows dim, and wegradually adopt evil habits. Weneither see nor heed spiritual dangers.Religious sensibilities are blunted.How far any of us have gone in resistingthe Spirit God alone knows.Many who resist great light and strongimpressions seem never to feel again.—Olin.

Grieving the Spirit.

1. Indifference and carelessness inreligion is opposition to the grace of God.
2. Spiritual pride grieves theDivine Spirit.
3. The Spirit is grieved when weneglect the means appointed for obtainingHis influence.
4. Opposition to the strivings ofthe Spirit is another way in which Heis often grieved.
5. [p.238]There are particular sins whichare opposite to the work of the Spirit.Impurity, intemperance, dissipation,and all the vices of sensuality. Theindulgence of malignant passions grievesthe Spirit. Contentions among Christiansare opposite to the Spirit. Mengrieve the Spirit when they ascribe toHim those motions and actions whichare contrary to His nature. If theyblindly follow every impulse of a heatedimagination, every suggestion of thecommon deceiver, every motion of theirown vanity and pride, they profaneand blaspheme His sacred name.—Lathrop.

Grieve not the Spirit.—But wherewithcan we so grieve Him? Alas! thatone must rather ask, “Wherein may henot?” I fear that one of the thingswhich will most amaze us when we openour eyes upon eternity will be the multitudeof our own rudenesses to Divinegrace, that is, to God the Holy Ghostwhose motions grace is. Oh, let notthat His seal upon you, the gift of HisSpirit, mark you as a deserter! OHoly Creator Spirit, come down oncemore into our souls in Thine ownthrilling fire of life and light and heat,kindling our senses with Thy light,our hearts with Thy love! wash awayour stains, bedew our dryness, heal ourwounds, bend our stubbornness, guideour wanderings, that Thou, being theinmate of our hearts, the instructor ofour reason, the strength of our will,we may see by Thy light whom as yetwe see not and know Him who passethknowledge, and through God may loveGod now as wayfarers, and, in the dayof perfect redemption, in the beatificvision of our God!—E.B. Pusey.

The Sealing of the Spirit.—1.Theseal is used in conveying and assuringto any person a title to his estate, indelivering which a part is put into thehands of the new proprietor. We aresealed as an assurance of our title toour inheritance until the redemption ofthe purchased possession. 2.In sealingany person, the contra-part ofthe seal is impressed on that which issealed. We are thus sealed by theSpirit, stamped with the image ofGod. 3.Sealing is used for preservation.It is by this we are to bepreserved until that day. By grievingthe Spirit we break this seal.—E.Hare.

Vers. 31, 32. Vices to be renouncedand Virtues to be cherished.

I. Put away all bitterness.—Allsuch passions, behaviour, and languageas are disgusting and offensive toothers, wound their tender feelings,and embitter their spirits. No temperis more inconsistent with the felicity ofsocial life than peevishness.

II. Put away wrath and anger.—Theformer signifies heat of temper, thelatter this heat wrought into a flame.Though anger, as a sense and feelingof the wrongs done us, is innocentand natural, all the irregular andexcessive operations of it are sinfuland dangerous.

III. Put away all malice.—This isa degree of passion beyond simpleanger. It is a fixed, settled hatred,accompanied with a disposition to revenge.It is anger resting in thebosom and studying to do mischief.Malice is a temper which every onecondemns in others, but few discern inthemselves.

IV. Put away all clamour and evilspeaking.—Clamour is noisy, complaining,and contentious language in oppositionto that which is soft, gentle,and courteous. Never believe, muchless propagate, an ill report of yourneighbour without good evidence of itstruth. Never speak ill of a manwhen your speaking may probably domuch hurt, but cannot possibly do anygood.

V. Christians are to be kind one toanother.—Such kindness as renders ususeful. Kindness wishes well to allmen, prays for their happiness, andstudies to promote their interest. Itwill reprove vice and lend its aid topromote knowledge and virtue.

VI. Christians should be tenderhearted.—Theyshould not be guided[p.239]by a blind, instinctive pity; but byhabitual goodness of heart, cultivatedwith reason, improved by religion, andoperating with discretion. While theycommiserate all who appear to be inaffliction, they should regard amongthem the difference of characters andcirc*mstances.

VII. We are to forgive one another.—Forgivenessdoes not oblige us tamelyto submit to every insult and silentlybear every injury. To those who haveinjured us we should maintain goodwilland exercise forbearance. God’sforgiveness of our sins is urged as amotive to mutual forgiveness. “Evenas God for Christ’s sake hath forgivenyou.” He who forgives not an offendingbrother will not be forgiven of hisheavenly Father.—Lathrop.

Malice incompatible with the ChristianCharacter.

I. That we may be convinced of thehatefulness of a malignant temper lookto the source whence it proceeds.—Fromthe bitterness of the fountain wemay judge of the character of thewater which it sends forth. From thecorruptness of the tree we may estimatethe character of the fruit. Theauthor of malice is the devil.

II. Let us after the same mannerproceed to appreciate the loveliness ofthe opposite quality, the quality ofmercy and lovingkindness, by a referenceto its Author. Malice is gratifiedby murder. In God we live and moveand have our being. Malice is envious.God giveth us richly all things to enjoy.Malice is false and calumnious. Godsent His Son into the world to givelight to them that sit in darkness.Malice is resentful and vindictive, impatientof offence, and intemperate inrequiring satisfaction. God is love.

III. Let us turn for a further motiveto the character and conduct of theSon of God.—He has given us an exampleof the most profound humility,a temper in which malice has no portion,and which cannot exist independentlyof lovingkindness and tenderness ofheart.

IV. To the example of our blessedRedeemer let us add His commandments;and there arises another forciblemotive to put away all malice and tobe kind one to another.—“A newcommandment I give unto you, thatye love one another.”

V. If we would avoid a maliciousand cultivate a charitable temper, wemust renounce the devil and all hisworks.—We must triumph over thosepassions which he plants and propagatesin the heart of man.—R.Mant.

Ver. 32. Errors respecting Forgivenessof Sin.

I. That forgiveness of sin is unnecessary.—Everysin is punished on thespot. This natural punishment is feltas long as the sin is indulged, and itceases as soon as the sin is abandoned.This error may be exposed by a referenceto the philosophy of human nature,to experience, and to Scripture.

II. That forgiveness of sin is impossible.—Theconsequences of everysin stretch out into infinity, and theycannot be annihilated without a supernaturalinterposition; but it wouldderogate from the supremacy of law toallow that a miracle is possible. Thepossibility of miracle is contrary neitherto intuition nor to experience. A supernaturalBeing is the Author of a supernaturalsystem: creation, incarnation,the Bible, spiritual influence.

III. That forgiveness of sin mightbe dispensed without an atonement.—“Ifa man suffer insult or injury fromhis fellow-man, he ought to forgivehim freely; why should not God?”Because He is God, and not man. Heis the moral Governor of the universe,and must consult for the majesty ofHis law and the interests of His responsiblecreatures. Forgiveness withoutatonement would not satisfy theconscience of the awakened sinner.

IV. That forgiveness of sin will notbe bestowed till the day of judgment.—Pardonthrough Christ is immediate.It is enjoyed as soon as we believe.

V. That forgiveness of sin as freely[p.240]offered in the Gospel is inimical tomorality.—“Pay a workman before hebegins his work, and he will be indolent;pay him when he has finished his work,and he will be diligent.” Not if hewere an honest man, and no one is forgivenwho is not sanctified. A senseof unpardoned guilt is the greatesthindrance to obedience. A sense ofredeeming love the most powerfulincentive.—G.Brooks.

Christian Forgiveness.

I. The reality of forgiveness, or thegrace of a forgiving spirit in us, liesnot so much in our ability to let go orto be persuaded to let go the remembranceof our injuries, as in what weare able to do, what volunteer sacrificesto make, what painstaking toundergo, that we may get our adversarysoftened to want or gently accept ourforgiveness.

II. In all that you distinguish of anobler and Diviner life, in Christ’s bearingof His enemies and their sins, Heis simply showing what belongs inrighteousness to every moral naturefrom the uncreated Lord down to thehumblest created intelligence. Forgiveness,this same Christly forgiveness,belongs to all—to you, to me, toevery lowest mortal that bears God’simage.

III. Christ wants you to be withHim in His own forgiveness. Hewants such a feeling struggling in yourbosom that you cannot bear to havean adversary, cannot rest from yourprayers and sacrifices and the lifelongsuit of your concern, till you havegained him away from his wrong andbrought him into peace. This in factis salvation: to be with Christ in allthe travail of His forgiveness. AsChrist was simply fulfilling the right inHis blessed ways of forgiveness, so wemay conceive that He is simply fulfillingthe eternal love. For what isright coincides with love, and love withwhat is right.

IV. When a true Christian goesafter his adversary in such a temperas he ought—tender, assiduous, provinghimself in his love by the mostfaithful sacrifices—he is not like tostay by his enmity long. As the heatof a warm day will make even a wilfulman take off his overcoat, so the silentmelting of forgiveness at the heart willcompel it, even before it is aware, tolet the grudges go. A really good manmay have enemies all his life long,even as Christ had, and the real blamemay be chargeable not against him, butagainst them.

V. Have then Christian brethrenunder Christ’s own Gospel nothingbetter left than to take themselvesout of sight of each other just toget rid of forgiveness, going to carrythe rankling with them, live in thebitterness, die in the grudges oftheir untamable passion? What isour Gospel but a reconciling powereven for sin itself, and what is it goodfor, if it cannot reconcile? No, thereis a better way. Christ laid it on themby His own dear passion when He gaveHimself for them, by His bloody sweat,His pierced hands, and open side, to goabout the matter of forgiving one anothereven as He went about forgivingthem.—Bushnell.

[p.241]

CHAPTER V.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. Followers of God.—R.V. imitators. St. Paul gathers up all duties into oneexpression, “imitation of God,” and urges them on his readers by a reminder of their highbirth laying them under obligation, and rendering their copying easier.

Ver. 2. Walk in love.—“Love must fulfil all righteousness; it must suffer law to mark outit* path of obedience, or it remans an effusive, ineffectual sentiment, helpless to bless andsave.”

Ver. 3. Let it not be once named.—After the things themselves are dead let their namesnever be heard.

Ver. 4. Nor jesting.—“Chastened insolence,” as Aristotle’s description of it has beenhappily rendered. “Graceless grace” [of style], as Chrysostom called it. It is the oozingout of the essential badness of a man for whom polish and a versatile nature have done allthey can.

Vers. 5, 6. Because of these things cometh the wrath of God, etc.—Look down beneath thepleasing manners to the nature. If such terms as are used in ver. 5 describe the man, he issimply one of Disobedience’s children, and all his versatility will not avert the descendingwrath of God.

Ver. 7. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.—Do not wish to share the frivolity andimpiety of their life, as you would shun the wrath that inevitably awaits it. How couldthey so partake and continue to be what ch. iii.6 calls them?

Ver. 8. Ye were... ye are... be.—The lesson must be learnt, and therefore reiterationis necessary.

Ver. 9. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.—Neitherhere nor at Gal. v.22 does St. Paul intend a complete list of the fruits of the Spirit.St. John’s tree of life bore “twelve manner of fruits” (Rev. xxii.2). All Christian morality lies in thegood, the right, and the true.

Ver 10. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.—Each is to be an assayer—rejectingall base alloys. Nothing must be accepted because it looks like an angel of light—“thespirits” must be put to the proof (1John iv.1).

Ver. 11. Rather reprove them.—It may be with a voice as firm as the Baptist’s; it may beby gentle and yet unflinching “showing up” of certain proceedings (cf. St. John iii.20).“This chastening reproof is an oral one,” says Meyer.

Ver. 12. It is a shame even to speak of.—Though the only sign of their shame havingtouched them is that they seek the cover of secrecy, and our own cheeks burn as we speakof what they do, we must convict.

Ver. 13. Made manifest by the light.—Whatever the light falls upon is no longer of thedarkness, but belongs to the light. Shame is one of the influences by which the lightconquers a soul from darkness.

Ver. 14. Wherefore He saith.—What follows is “a free paraphrase from the Old Testamentformed by weaving together Messianic passages—belonging to such a hymn as might be sungat baptisms in the Pauline Churches” (Findlay). The thought is that of the change fromdarkness to light—a change produced by the opening of the eyes to the light shining in theface of Jesus Christ.

Ver. 15. See then that ye walk circ*mspectly.—R.V. “Look then carefully how ye walk.”The way of life must be one of exactitude; and that it may be so the steps must not behaphazard, but carefully taken.

Ver. 16. Redeeming the time.—R.V. margin, “buying up the opportunity.” Seizing thecrucial moment as eagerly as men bid for a desirable article at an auction sale. Becausethe days are evil.—A man in Paul’s circ*mstances and with his consuming earnestness ofspirit may be forgiven if he does not see everything rose-coloured.

Ver. 18. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.—The word for “excess” is foundagain in Tit. i.6 as “riot,” and in 1Pet. iv.4. In all three texts the warning againstintoxication is near the word. In Luke xv.13 we have the adverbial form—“riotously.”

Ver. 19. Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.—When the spirit is elevated so thatordinary prose conversation is inadequate to express the feelings let it find vent in sacredmusic. St. James’s advice to the “merry” heart is, “Sing psalms” (James v.13). The “psalm” is properlya song with accompaniment of a stringed instrument; “a ‘hymn’ must always be more orless of a Magnificat, a direct address of praise and glory to God.” “Spiritual songs” were[p.242]“such as were composed by spiritual men and moved in the sphere of spiritual things”(Trench). No spiritual excitement, however highly wrought, can be injurious that flowsbetween the banks of thanksgiving and mutual submission in the fear of God.

Ver. 20. Giving thanks always for all things.—If one who speaks as a philosopher merelycan praise the “sweet uses of adversity” and discern the “soul of goodness in things evil,”how much more should one believing Rom. viii.28!

Ver. 21. Submitting yourselves one to another.—In another Church the endeavour to takeprecedence of each other had produced what a stranger might have taken for a madhouse(1Cor. xiv.23). St. Paul’s word for “submitting” means “ranging yourselves beneath,”and finds its illustration in the Lord’s words, “Go and sit down in the lowest place”(Luke xiv.10).

Ver. 22. Submit yourselves.—Same word as in previous verse; neither here nor there doesit involve any loss of self-respect. The wife’s tribute to her husband’s worth is submission—thegrace of childhood to both parents equally is obedience.

Ver. 23. Christ is the head of the Church.—Defending her at His own peril (“If ye seek Me,let these go their way,” John xviii.8); serving her in utmost forgetfulness of self (“I am amongst you ashe that serveth,” Luke xxii.27); “Giving Himself up for her,” (ver. 25).

Ver. 25. Husbands, love your wives.—This will prevent the submission of the wife fromever becoming degrading—as submission to a tyrant must be.

Ver. 26. That He might sanctify and cleanse.—There is no “and” between “sanctify”and “cleanse” in what St. Paul wrote. “Sanctify it, having cleansed it” (R.V.). “Isanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified” (John xvii.19).

Ver. 27. Spot or wrinkle.—“Spot,” a visible blemish, used in the plural, figuratively, in2Pet. ii.13, of men who disfigure Christian assemblies. “Wrinkle”—“a wrinkled bride” isan incongruity, just as the mourning which produces wrinkles is out of place in the bridechamber(Matt. ix.15).

Ver. 28. As their own bodies.—Not “as they love their own bodies” merely, but “asbeing their own.” See ver. 31, “one flesh.”

Ver. 31. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto hiswife.—We must regard these words, not as a continuation of Adam’s in Gen. ii.23, but asthe words of the narrator, who regards what our first father said as a mystical hint of theorigin of marriage.

Ver. 32. This is a great mystery.—The meaning of which is known only to the initiated.Something having a significance beyond what appears on the surface. But I speak.—The“I” is emphatic: “I give my interpretation.” My chief interest in this mystery is as itrelates to Christ and to the Church.

Ver. 33. Nevertheless.—“I pursue the matter no further”; and though this mystical turnis given to the words, still in actual life let the husband love (ver. 25) and the wife showreverence (ver. 22). Let all the married among you apply the mystery to their own case, sothat the husband may love the wife and the wife fear the husband.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1, 2.

The Life of Love—

I. Is an imitating of the Divine life.—“Be followers of God:... walk in love”(vers. 1, 2). Though God is infinitely beyond us, and lifted above all heights,we are to aspire towards Him. When we contemplate His glorious perfectionswe are more deeply conscious of our limitations and sins, bend before Him inlowly awe, and seem to despair of ever being able to approach to anything withinourselves, that can be like Him. Nevertheless God is the pattern of all excellence,and we can attain excellence ourselves only by imitating Him. The idealcharacter is ever above and beyond the seeker, growing more beautiful, butseeming as distant as ever. The life of God is the life of love—love is theessence of His nature and the crowning glory of all His perfections. The chiefway in which He is imitable by us is in that direction: to love God is to be likeHim. Our life, in all its impulses, outgoings, and accomplishments, must besuffused and penetrated with love. As the soul opens to the inflow of God’s loveand is filled with it, it becomes like God. Loving God is allowing God to love us.The love of God is the most transcendent revelation of the Gospel. In Paris, alittle girl, seven years old, was observed to read the New Testament continually.Being asked what pleasure she found in doing so, she said, “It makes me wise,[p.243]and teaches how to love God.” She had been reading the history of Martha andMary. “What is the one thing needful?” asked her friend. “It is the love ofGod,” she earnestly replied.

II. Is befitting the relation in which the believer is Divinely regarded.—“Followersof God, as dear children” (ver. 1). God is our Father, and He lovesus. That is enough; but how much is implied in that, who can tell? Torealise the Divine Fatherhood is to become acquainted with the love of God.When we discover we are dear to Him our hearts melt, our rebellion is conquered,we seek His forgiveness, we revel in His favour, we exult in His service. Whenwe discover He has always loved us we are overwhelmed. A mother, whosedaughter had behaved badly and at length ran away from home, thought of asingular plan to find the wanderer and bring her back. She had her ownportrait fixed on a large handbill and posted on the walls of the town where shesupposed her daughter was concealed. The portrait, without name, had thesewords painted underneath: “I love thee always.” Crowds stopped before thestrange handbill, trying to guess its meaning. Days elapsed, when a young girlat last passed by, and lifted her eyes to the singular placard. She understood:this was a message for her. Her mother loved her—pardoned her. Those wordstransformed her. Never had she felt her sin and ingratitude so deeply. Shewas unworthy of such love. She set out for home, and crossing the thresholdwas soon in her mother’s arms. “My child!” cried the mother, as she pressedher repentant daughter to her heart, “I have never ceased to love thee!”

III. Is a love of Christ-like sacrifice.—“As Christ also hath loved us, andhath given Himself for us” (ver. 2). The offering of Christ as a sacrifice forthe sins of men was acceptable to God, and came up before Him as a sweet-smellingsavour, because it was the offering and sacrifice of love. The life oflove is the life of obedience; it is eager to serve, and it shrinks not from suffering.Nothing can be love to God which does not shape itself into obedience. Weremember the anecdote of the Roman commander who forbade an engagementwith the enemy, and the first transgressor against whose prohibition was his ownson. He accepted the challenge of the leader of the other host, met, slew, spoiledhim, and then with triumphant feeling carried the spoils to his father’s tent.But the Roman father refused to recognise the instinct which prompted this asdeserving of the name of love. Disobedience contradicted it and deserved death.Weak sentiment—what was it worth? It was the dictate of ambition and self-willoverriding obedience and discipline; it was not love. A self-sacrificing lifeis prompted, sustained, and ennobled by love. The trials which love cheerfullyundergoes in its ministry of love to others and in obedience to the will of Godare often transformed into blessings. There is a legend that Nimrod tookAbraham and cast him into a furnace of fire because he would not worship idols;but God changed the coals into a bed of roses. So it will ever be. The obediencethat leads to the furnace of fire will find in the end that it is a bed of roses. Thelife of loving sacrifice will issue in eternal blessedness.

Lessons.—The life of love is—1.The highest life. 2.The happiest life. 3.Thelife most fruitful in usefulness to others.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 1, 2. St. Paul’s Doctrine ofChristian Ethics.

I. The fundamental truth of theFatherhood of God.—Man’s life has itslaw, for it has its source in the natureof the Eternal. Behind our race instinctsand the laws imposed on us inthe long struggle for existence, behindthose imperatives of practical reasoninvolved in the structure of our intelligence,is the presence and active willof Almighty God our heavenly Father.[p.244]Institutional morals bear witness to theGod of creation, experimental moralsto the God of providence and history.The Divine Fatherhood is the keystoneof the arch in which they meet. Thecommand to be imitators of God makespersonality the sovereign element inlife. If consciousness is a finite andpassing phenomenon, if God be but aname for the sum of the impersonallaws that regulate the universe, for the“stream of tendency” in the worlds,Father and love are meaningless termsapplied to the Supreme, and religiondissolves into an impalpable mist.Love, thought, will in us raise ourbeing above the realm of the impersonal;and these faculties point usupward to Him from whom they came,the Father of the spirits of all flesh.It is not the loss of strength for humanservice nor the dying out of joy whichunbelief entails that is its chief calamity.The sun in the soul’s heaven is putout. The personal relationship to theSupreme which gave dignity and worthto our individual being, which impartedsacredness and enduring power to allother ties, is destroyed. The heart isorphaned, the temple of the Spiritdesolate. The mainspring of life isbroken.

II. The solidarity of mankind inChrist furnishes the apostle with apowerful lever for raising the ethicalstandard of his readers. The thoughtthat we are “members one of another”forbids deceit. Self is so merged inthe community that in dealing censureor forgiveness to an offending brotherthe Christian man feels as though hewere dealing with himself—as thoughit were the hand that forgave the footfor tripping, or the ear that pardonedsome blunder of the eye. The Christloved and gave; for love that does notgive, that prompts to no effort andputs itself to no sacrifice, is but a luxuryof the heart—useless and even selfish.The Church is the centre of humanity.The love born and nourished in thehousehold of faith goes out into theworld with a universal mission. Thesolidarity of moral interests that isrealised there embraces all the kindredsof the earth. The incarnation ofChrist knits all flesh into one redeemedfamily. The continents and races ofmankind are members one of another,with Jesus Christ for Head.

III. Another ruling idea lying atthe basis of Christian ethics is St. Paul’sconception of man’s future destiny.—Thereis disclosed a world beyond theworld, a life growing out of life, aneternal and invisible kingdom of whosepossession the Spirit that lives inChristian men is the earnest and firstfruits.Human reason had guessedand hope had dreamed of the soul’simmortality. Christianity gives thishope certainty, and adds to it theassurance of the resurrection of thebody. Man’s entire nature is thusredeemed. Our bodily dress is one withthe spirit that it unfolds. We shalllay it aside only to resume it—transfigured,but with a form and impresscontinuous with its present being.

IV. The atonement of the crossstamps its own character and spirit onthe entire ethics of Christianity.—TheFatherhood of God, the unity and solidarityof mankind, the issues of eternallife or death awaiting us in the unseenworld—all the great factors and fundamentalsof revealed religion gatherabout the cross of Christ; they lendto it their august significance, and gainfrom it new import and impressiveness.The fact that Christ “gave Himselffor us an offering and a sacrifice toGod” throws an awful light upon thenature of human transgression. Allthat inspired men had taught, thatgood men had believed and felt, andpenitent men confessed in regard tothe evil of human sin, is more thanverified by the sacrifice which the HolyOne of God has undergone in order toput it away. What tears of contrition,what cleansing fires of hate against ourown sins, what scorn of their baseness,what stern resolves against them, areawakened by the sight of the cross ofour Lord Jesus Christ! The sacrificeof Christ demands from us devotionto Christ Himself. Our first duty as[p.245]Christians is to love Christ, to serveand follow Christ. There is no conflictbetween the claims of Christ and those ofphilanthropy, between the needs of Hisworship and the needs of the destituteand suffering in our streets. Every newsubject won to the kingdom of Christis another helper won for His poor.Every act of love rendered to Himdeepens the channel of sympathy bywhich relief and blessing come tosorrowful humanity.—Findlay.

Christ’s Sacrifice of Himself explained,and Man’s Duty to offer SpiritualSacrifice inferred and recommended.

I. Our Lord’s unexampled sacrifice.—1.ThePriest. As a prophet or anapostle properly is an ambassador fromGod to treat with men, so a priest isan agent or solicitor in behalf of mento treat with God.

2. The sacrifice.—Our Lord was bothoffering and sacrifice. Every sacrifice isan offering to God, but every offering toGod is not a sacrifice. Perfect innocenceand consummate virtue, both in doingand suffering, were not only the flowerand perfection but the very form andessence of our Lord’s sacrifice. Thesewere the sacrifice of sweet odour, acceptableto Him who alone could judgeperfectly of the infinite worth andmerit of it.

3. The altar.—From the thirdcentury to this time the cross whereonour Lord suffered has been called thealtar. There is another altar, aspiritual altar—the eternal Spirit, theDivine nature of our Lord. Thesacrifice of our Lord is an undoubtedScripture truth; but as to a properaltar for that sacrifice, it is a moredisputable point, about which wise andgood men may be allowed to judge asthey see cause.

4. The Divine Lawgiver.—To whomthe sacrifice was made, and by whomit was graciously accepted. God theFather is Lawgiver-in-chief, and toHim our Lord paid the price of ourredemption. Thus the glory of Godand the felicity of men are both servedin this dispensation.

II. Our own sacrifice of ourselves.—AsChrist give Himself for us, sowe ought to give up ourselves to Godin all holy obedience, and particularlyin the offices of love towards ourbrethren, as these are the most acceptablesacrifices we can offer to God.We cannot do greater honour to ourLord’s sacrifice than by thus copyingit in the best manner we are able—asacrifice of love to God and love to ourneighbours.—Waterland.

The Imitation of God.—No argumentis so frequently urged as the exampleof Christ to persuade us to mutuallove, because none is so well adaptedto influence the mind of a Christian.God’s approbation of Christian charityis expressed in the same terms as Hisacceptance of the sacrifice of Christ;for charity to our fellow-Christians,flowing from a sense of Christ’s dyinglove, is a virtue of distinguished excellence.As the death of Christ is called“a sacrifice for a sweet-smelling savour,”so Christian charity is called “an odourof a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,well-pleasing to God.” Let it be ourcare to follow Christ in His goodnessand love, and to learn of Him humility,condescension, mercy, and forgiveness.Religion is an imitation of the moralcharacter of God, brought down tohuman view and familiarised to humanapprehension in the life of Christ.The sacrifice of Christ is of great use,not only as an atonement for guilt, butalso as an example of love.—Lathrop.

Ver. 1, The Duty and Object of aChristian’s Imitation.

I. The duty enjoined.—1.Remove thehindrances to imitation. (1)Spiritualpride and self-conceit. (2)This self-conceitworks in us a prejudiced opinion,and makes us undervalue and detractfrom the worth of our brother.(3)Spiritual drowsiness. 2.Observethe rules of imitation. (1)We must nottake our pattern upon trust; no, notSt. Paul himself. He brings it in indeedas a duty—“Be ye followers of me”;but he adds this direction, “as I am of[p.246]Christ” (1Cor. xi.1). “For in imitation,besides the persons, there is alsoto be considered,” saith Quintilian,“what it is we must imitate in thepersons. We must no further followthem than they follow the rules ofart.” “Some there were,” said Seneca,“who imitated nothing but that whichwas bad in the best.” It is so in ourChristian profession: we must view,and try, and understand what we areto imitate. We must not make use ofall eyes, but of those only which lookupon the Lord. (2)That we strive toimitate the best. Saith Pliny: “It isgreat folly not to propose always thebest pattern”; and saith Seneca,“Choose a Cato,” a prime, eminentman, by whose authority thy secretthoughts may be more holy, the verymemory of whom may compose thymanners; whom not only to see, butto think of, will be a help to thereformation of thy life. Dost thoulive with any in whom the good giftsand graces of God are shining andresplendent, who are strict and exact,and so retain the precepts of God inmemory that they forget them notin their works? Give men the instructiveexamples of these good men: letthem always be before my eyes; letthem be a second rule by which I maycorrect my life and manners; let menot lose this help, which God hathgranted me, of imitation.

II. The object of imitation.—Wemust make God the rule of goodness inall our actions: we must be just, toobserve the law; valiant, to keep downour passions; temperate, to conformour wills to the rule of reason; andwise, to our salvation. But there isno virtue which makes us more resembleGod than this which the apostlehere exhorts the Ephesians to; andthat is mercy. For although allvirtues are in the highest degree, nay,above all degrees, most perfect inHim; yet, in respect of His creatures,none is so resplendent as mercy. Mercyis the queen and empress of God’svirtues; it is the bond and knot whichunites heaven and earth, that by whichwe hold all our titles—our title to bemen, out title to the name of Christian,our title to the profession of Christianity,our title to earth, our title toheaven. 1.As God forgiveth us, sowe must forgive our enemies. 2.Aswe must forgive, so God’s mercy mustbe the motive: we must do it “outof a desire to imitate God.” 3.Wemust conform our imitation to thePattern. He with one act of mercywipes out all scores; so must we.When He forgives our sins, He is saidto cast them behind Him, never tothink of them, so to forget them as ifthey never had been; so must we.He doth it too without respect ofpersons; and so we ought to do. Wemust forgive all, for ever; and so farmust we be from respect of personsthat we must acknowledge no titlebut that of Christian.—Farindon.

Likeness to God.

I. Likeness to God belongs to man’shigher or spiritual nature.—It has itsfoundation in the original and essentialcapacities of the mind. In proportionas these are unfolded by right andvigorous exertion, it is extended andbrightened. In proportion as these liedormant it is obscured. Likeness toGod is the supreme gift. He cancommunicate nothing so precious,glorious, blessed as Himself. To holdintellectual and moral affinity withthe supreme Being, to partake HisSpirit, to be His children by derivationsof kindred excellence, to bear a growingconformity to the perfection which weadore—this is a felicity which obscuresand annihilates all other good. It isonly in proportion to this likeness thatwe can enjoy either God or the universe.To understand a great and good beingwe must have the seeds of the sameexcellence.

II. That man has a kindred naturewith God, and may bear most importantand ennobling relations to Him, seemsto me to be established by a strikingproof. Whence do we derive ourknowledge of the attributes and perfectionswhich constitute the supreme[p.247]Being? I answer, We derive them fromour own souls. The Divine attributesare first developed in ourselves, andthence transferred to our Creator.The idea of God, sublime and awful asit is, is the idea of our own spiritualnature, purified and enlarged to infinity.It is the resemblance of aparent to a child, the likeness of akindred nature.

III. God is made known to us asa Father.—And what is it to be afather? It is to communicate one’sown nature, to give life to kindredbeings; and the highest function ofa father is to educate the mind of thechild, and to impart to it what isnoblest and happiest in his own mind.God is our Father, not merely becauseHe created us, or because He gives usenjoyment: for He created the flowerand the insect, yet we call Him nottheir Father. This bond is a spiritualone. This name belongs to God, becauseHe frames spirits like Himself,and delights to give them what is mostglorious and blessed in His own nature.Accordingly Christianity is said withspecial propriety to reveal God as theFather, because it reveals Him assending His Son to cleanse the mindfrom every stain, and to replenish itfor ever with the spirit and moralattributes of its Author.

IV. The promise of the Holy Spiritis among the most precious aids ofinfluence which God imparts. It is aDivine assistance adapted to our moralfreedom, an aid which silently minglesand conspires with all other helps andmeans of goodness, and by which weare strengthened to understand andapply the resources derived from ourmunificent Creator. This aid we cannotprize too much, or pray for tooearnestly.—Channing.

Ver. 2. “And walk in love.” TheNature, Properties, and Acts ofCharity.

I. The nature of charity.—1.Lovingour neighbour implies we value andesteem him. 2.Implies a sincere andearnest desire for his welfare and goodof all kinds in due proportion. 3.Acomplacence or delightful satisfactionin the good of our neighbour. 4.Condolenceand commiseration in the evilsbefalling him.

II. Properties of charity.—1.Loveappropriates its object in apprehensionand affection, embracing it, possessingand enjoying it as its own. 2.Itdesires reciprocal affection. 3.Disposesto please our neighbour, not onlyby inoffensive but by an obligingdemeanour. 4.Makes a man denyhimself—despising all selfish regards—forthe benefit of his neighbour. 5.Tobe condescending and willing to performthe meanest offices needful oruseful to his friend.

III. Acts of charity.—1.To forbearanger on provocation. 2.To remitoffences, suppressing revenge. 3.Tomaintain concord and peace. 4.Tobe candid in opinion and mild incensure. 5.Abstain from doing anythingwhich may occasion our neighbourto commit sin, or disaffect him towardsreligion, or discourage him in thepractice of duty.—Barrow.

The Sacrifice of Christ.

I. A Divine person was absolutelynecessary.—1.He who atones must bein possession of infinite worth. Nothingless than the glory of infinity andeternity can atone for transgression.The individual must also be possessedof humanity for this obvious reason:that man hath transgressed, and manmust atone. In the person of theMessiah we behold everything Godcould possibly desire. A Divine person,comprising Deity and humanity inHimself, atones for sin.

2. It was absolutely necessary that theindividual who atoned should be whollyat his own disposal.—Now, no finitebeing is at his own disposal; no finitebeing can say, “I will do as I please;”but Messiah speaks of Himself inlanguage that finite being could notadopt without insulting God. Thedoctrine of the Trinity is opposed; butwhen we peruse Scripture we shall findthe absolute necessity of a plurality of[p.248]persons. A Divine person to present asacrifice; and if so, a Divine person toreceive that sacrifice.

II. Christ’s love in giving Himself.—Andhere we behold the love of God inall its glory. Christ hath saved us,and given Himself for us. Here webehold the love of Christ; the love ofa Divine person embracing God, embracingthe law of God, and embracingthe sinner in all his shame. Two ofthe attributes of this love never unfoldedtheir glories before. Theintenseness and the holiness of it werenever before manifested. Behold Godas well as man, a Divine personsuffering for us. Here for once, andonce only, behold the sovereignty ofGod in all its glory, in all its lowliness,connected with the justice of God in allits terrors. Messiah is punished, thatthe transgressor may live for ever.

III. God’s pleasure in the sacrificeof His Son.—1.God is infinitelydelighted with His Son, as He is one inessence with Him. The pious Baptistgives his disciples a volume of Divinityin a few words. He traces everythingto its source. “The Father loveth theSon.” Surely, then, we must anticipateGod’s pleasure in everything theSaviour does. 2.The resurrection andascension of Christ prove God’s acceptanceof the sacrifice. 3.The successof the Gospel another proof.

Lessons.—1.See the evil and dangerof unbelief. 2.All spiritual good comesfrom God; all spiritual evil flows fromthe creature. 3.Learn the work offaith—to accept Christ.—Howels.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 3–14.

The Children of Darkness and of Light.

I. The children of darkness are known by their deeds (vers. 3–5).—Aloathsome and unsightly list! Sin marks its victims. Deeds done in darknessdo not escape detection and exposure. The revolting sins of the heathen revealthe depth of wickedness to which man may sink when he abandons God and isabandoned of God. Every single sin, voluntarily indulged, weakens the powerof self-control, and there is no deed of darkness a reckless sinner may not commit.Sensuality is a devil-fish—a vampire of the sea—preying upon and devouringthe best powers of mind and body.

1. Their deeds exclude them from the inheritance of the good.—They have no“inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (ver. 5). The children ofdarkness can have no company and no place with the children of light; the twocannot co-exist or blend together. The sinner excludes himself, and unfitshimself for fellowship with the good. Their purity is a constant reproof of hisvileness; he shrinks from their society, and hates them because they are so good.We may well be on our guard against sins that shut us out of the kingdom ofgrace on earth, and out of heaven hereafter.

2. Their deeds expose them to the Divine wrath.—“Because of these thingscometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience” (ver. 6). Thewrath of God is already upon them (Rom. i.18), and shall remain so long as theyare disobedient. Deeds such as theirs carry their own punishment; but there isalso the righteous vengeance of God to reckon with. For sin God can havenothing but wrath; but yet that is mercifully restrained to afford everyopportunity for repentance. The Roman magistrates, when they gave sentenceupon any one to be scourged, had a bundle of rods tied hard with many knots laidbefore them. The reason was this: whilst the beadle was untying the knots,which he was to do by order and not in any other or sudden way, the magistratesmight see the deportment and carriage of the delinquent, whether he was sorryfor his fault and showed any hope of amendment, that then they might recall hissentence or mitigate his punishment; otherwise he was corrected so much the[p.249]more severely. Thus God in the punishment of sinners. How patient is He!How loth to strike! How slow to anger!

II. The children of light are Divinely illumined.—1.They were once indarkness. “Ye were sometimes darkness” (ver. 8). Their present condition aschildren of the light should remind them by contrast of their former state, andshould excite their gratitude to God for the change He had wrought in them.They were not to be deceived by specious arguments (ver. 6) that they couldreturn to their old sins and yet retain their new inheritance. To go back to theold life is to go back to darkness.

2. Their possession of Divine light is evident.—“But now are ye light in theLord.... For the fruit of the Spirit [the fruit of light] is in all goodness and righteousnessand truth” (vers. 8, 9). True virtue is of the light and cannot be hid.Genuine religion manifests itself in goodness of heart, in righteousness of life,and in truthfulness of character and speech—in a holy reality that is bothexperienced and expressed. On Herder’s grave at Weimar there was placed byroyal authority a cast-iron tablet with the words, “Light, Love, Life.” Thelife illumined by the Spirit is its own bright witness.

3. Their conduct aims at discovering what is acceptable to God.—“Walk as childrenof the light,... proving what is acceptable unto the Lord” (vers. 8, 10). Theiroutward life must be in harmony with the new nature they have received. Theywere adopted as children of the light, and they must think, speak, and act in thelight and with the light they had received. The light will show what it is thatGod approves; and striving in all things to please Him our light will increase.We may sometimes be mistaken, but we shall get light from our mistakes, as wellas from our success, as to the will of God. Life is a trial, and our conduct willbe the test as to how we are using the light God has given us. The light weshed will be a help and guide to others. There is a kind of diamond which, ifexposed for some minutes to the light of the sun and then taken into a darkroom, will emit light for some time. The marvellous property of retaining lightand thereby becoming the source of light on a small scale shows how analogousto light its very nature must be. Those who touched the Saviour became sourcesof virtue to others. As Moses’ face shown when he came from the mount, soconverse with spiritual things makes Christians the light which shines in thedark places of the earth. “Let your light so shine before men” (Matt. v.16).

III. The children of light cannot participate in deeds of darkness.—1.Theyare to shun them. “Be not partakers with them... Have no fellowship withthe unfruitful works of darkness” (vers. 7, 11). We may not actually commitcertain sins; but if we tolerate or encourage them, we are partakers with thetransgressors. The safest place is that which is farthest from evil. It is aperilous experiment to try how near we can approach and how far daily withsin without committing ourselves. The easiest way to resist temptation is to runaway. It is beneath the dignity of the children of light to patronise or triflewith sin.

2. They were not even to speak of them.—“It is a shame even to speak of thosethings” (ver. 12). There are some subjects about which silence is not only thehighest prudence but a sacred duty. The foolish talking and jesting of ver. 4belonged to the period when they were the children of darkness. Sparklinghumour refreshes; the ribald jest pollutes. The best way to forget sayings thatsuggest evil is never to speak of them.

3. They are to expose them by bringing the light of truth to bear upon them.—“Butrather reprove them.... All things that are reproved are made manifest bythe light,” etc. (vers. 11, 13, 14). Silent absence or abstinence is not enough.Where sin is open to rebuke it should at all hazards be rebuked. On the otherhand, St. Paul does not warrant Christians in prying into the hidden sins of the[p.250]world around them and playing the moral detective. Publicity is not a remedyfor all evils, but a great aggravation of some, and the surest means of disseminatingthem. It is a shame—a disgrace to our common nature, and a grievousperil to the young and innocent—to fill the public prints with the nauseousdetails of crime, and to taint the air with its putridities. The fruit of the lightconvicts the unfruitful works of darkness. The light of the Gospel disclosed andthen dispelled the darkness of the former time. So will it be with the night ofsin that is spread over the world. The light which shines upon sin-laden andsorrowful hearts shines on them to change them into its own nature. Themanifested is light; in other words, if men can be made to see the true natureof their sin, they will forsake it. If the light can but penetrate their conscience,it will save them. “Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest.” With thissong on her lips the Church went forth, clad in the armour of light, strong inthe joy of salvation; and darkness and the works of darkness fled before her(Findlay).

Lessons.—The Children of darkness and of light differ—1.In their conduct.2.In their spirit and aims. 3.In the way in which they are Divinely regarded.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 3–6. Christian Sobriety inculcated.

I. The vices condemned.—1.Impurity.Fornication is sometimes usedin Scripture to comprehend the grosserforms of uncleanness, as incest, adultery,and prostitution; but in commonspeech it is appropriated to intimacybetween unmarried persons. If actsof uncleanness are criminal, so areimpure thoughts and desires. TheGospel forbids filthy communication,which indicates a vicious dispositionand corrupts others. Christians mustabstain from everything that tends tosuggest wanton ideas, to excite impuredesire, and to strengthen the power oftemptation.

2. Covetousness.—An immoderatedesire of riches.

3. Foolish talking and jesting.—TheGospel is not so rigid and austere as todebar us from innocent pleasures andharmless amusem*nts. Jesting is notfoolish when used to expose the absurdityof error and the folly of vice. Theapostle condemns lewd and obscenejesting, profane jesting, and revilingand defamatory jesting. Evil-speakingnever wounds so deeply nor infuses inthe wound such fatal poison as whenit is sharpened by wit and urged homeby ridicule.

II. The arguments subjoined.—1.Impurity,covetousness, and foolishtalking are unbecoming in saints.2.Foolish talking and jesting are notconvenient, as the heathen imaginedthem to be, but are criminal in theirnature and fatal in their tendency.3.The indulgence of these sins isinconsistent with a title to heaven.4.These sins not only exclude fromheaven, but bring upon the sinners thewrath of God.—Lathrop.

Ver. 4. Against Foolish Talking andjesting.

I. In what foolish talking andjesting may be allowed.—1.Facetiousnessis not unreasonable whichministers harmless delight to conversation.2.When it exposes things baseand evil. 3.When it is a defenceagainst unjust reproach. 4.When itmay be used so as not to defile themind of the speaker or do wrong tothe hearer.

II. In what should it be condemned.—1.Allprofane jesting or speakingloosely about holy things. 2.Abusiveand scurrilous jesting which tends todamage our neighbour. 3.It is veryculpable to be facetious in obscene andsmutty matters. 4.To affect to valuethis way of speaking in comparison[p.251]to the serious and plain way ofspeaking. 5.All vainglorious ostentation.6.When it impairs thehabitual seriousness that becomes theChristian.—Barrow.

Ver. 6. The Dissipation of Large Cities.

I. The origin of a life of dissipation.—Youngmen on their entrance intothe business of the world have not beenenough fortified against its seducinginfluences by their previous educationat home. Ye parents who, in placingyour children on some road to gainfulemployment, have placed them withouta sigh in the midst of depravity, sonear and so surrounding that withouta miracle they must perish, you havedone an act of idolatry to the god ofthis world, you have commanded yourhousehold after you to worship him asthe great divinity of their lives, andyou have caused your children to maketheir approaches to his presence, and inso doing to pass through the fire of suchtemptations as have destroyed them.

II. The progress of a life of dissipation.—Thevast majority of our young,on their way to manhood, are initiatedinto all the practices and describe thefull career of dissipation. Those whohave imbibed from their fathers thespirit of this world’s morality are notsensibly arrested in this career, eitherby the opposition of their friends orby the voice of their own conscience.Those who have imbibed an oppositespirit, and have brought it into competitionwith an evil world, and haveat length yielded with many a sigh andmany a struggle, are troubled withthe upbraidings of conscience. Theyouthful votary of pleasure determinesto be more guarded: but the entanglementsof companionship have got holdof him, the inveteracy of habit tyrannisesover all his purposes, the statedopportunity again comes round, andthe loud laugh of his partners chasesall his despondency away. The infatuationgathers upon him everymonth, a hardening process goes on,the deceitfulness of sin grows apace,and he at length becomes one of thesturdiest and most unrelenting of hervotaries. He in his turn strengthensthe conspiracy that is formed againstthe morals of a new generation, andall the ingenuous delicacies of otherdays are obliterated. He contracts atemperament of knowing, hackneyed,unfeeling depravity, and thus themischief is transmitted from one yearto another, and keeps up the guiltyhistory of every place of crowdedpopulation.

III. The effects of a life of dissipation.—Wespeak not at present of thecoming death and of the coming judgment,but of the change which takesplace on many a votary of licentiousnesswhen he becomes what the worldcalls a reformed man. He bids adieuto the pursuits and profligacies ofyouth, not because he has repentedthem, but because he has outlivedthem. It is a common and easy transitionto pass from one kind of disobedienceto another; but it is not soeasy to give up that rebelliousness ofheart which lies at the root of alldisobedience. The man has withdrawnfrom the scenes of dissipation, and hasbetaken himself to another way; butit is his own way. He may bid adieuto profligacy in his own person, but helifts up the light of his countenance onthe profligacy of others. He gives itthe whole weight and authority of hisconnivance. Oh for an arm of strengthto demolish the firm and far-spreadcompact of iniquity, and for the powerof some such piercing and propheticvoice as might convince our reformedmen of the baleful influence they castbehind them on the morals of thesucceeding generation! What is thelikeliest way of setting up a barrieragainst this desolating torrent of corruption?The mischief will never becombatted effectually by any expedientseparate from the growth and thetransmission of personal Christianitythroughout the land.—T.Chalmers.

Vers. 7–12. Fellowship in Wickednessand its Condemnation.

I. Illustrate this fellowship in[p.252]wickedness.—1.Not to oppose, inmany cases, is to embolden transgressors,and to be partakers withthem. 2.We have more direct fellowshipwith the wicked when we encouragethem by our example. 3.Theywho incite and provoke others to evilworks have fellowship with them.4.They who explicitly consent to andactually join with sinners in their evilworks have fellowship with them.5.To comfort and uphold sinners intheir wickedness is to have fellowshipwith them. 6.There are some whor*joice in iniquity when they havelent no hand to accomplish it.

II. Apply the arguments the apostleurges against it.—1.One argument istaken from the superior light whichChristians enjoy. 2.Another is takenfrom the grace of the Holy Spirit,of which believers are the subjects.3.The works of darkness are unfruitful.4.This is a shameful fellowship.5.If we have fellowship withsinners in their works, we must sharewith them in their punishment.—Lathrop.

Ver. 8. Light in Darkness.—I wasin a darkened room that I mightobserve the effect produced by the useof what is called luminous paint. Aneat card on which the words “Trustin the Lord” were printed rested uponthe bookcase and shone out clearly inthe darkness. The effect startled me.How remarkable that if from anycause the light of sun or day failed torest upon the card its luminousnessgradually declined, but returned whenthe sun’s action infused fresh light!Truly we also, if hidden from the faceof our Lord, cease to shine. “Are yelight in the Lord? walk as children oflight.”—H.Varley.

Ver. 9. Fruit of the Spirit.—Asoftentimes when walking in a woodnear sunset, though the sun himself behid by the height and bushiness of thetrees around, yet we know that he isstill above the horizon from seeing hisbeams in the open glades before usilluminating a thousand leaves, theseveral brightnesses of which are somany evidences of his presence. Thusit is with the Holy Spirit: He worksin secret, but His work is manifest inthe lives of all true Christians. Lampsso heavenly must have been lit fromon high.—J.C. Hare.

Ver. 10. The Rule of Christian Conduct.—1.Wecannot conform ourselvesto what is acceptable to the Lord andwalk as children of light except wemake serious search into the rule ofduty revealed in the Word and do ourutmost to come up to that rule. Wewalk not acceptably when we do thingsrashly without deliberation, or doubtinglyafter deliberation, nor when thething done is in itself right, but we doit not from that ground, but to gratifyourselves. 2.It is not sufficient tomake this inquiry in order to somefew and weighty actions, but in orderto all, whether greater or less, whetheradvantage or loss may follow our conformingto the rule. 3.The findingout of what is acceptable to the Lord,especially in some intricate cases, isnot easily attained. There must be anaccurate search, together with an exercisingourselves in those things wealready know to be acceptable, that sowe may experimentally know them tobe such, and get our knowledge betteredin those things of which we are ignorant.—Fergusson.

Vers. 11, 12. Works of Darkness.—1.Thoughwe are not in all cases toabstain from the fellowship of wickedmen, but may converse with them aswe are bound by necessity, or by anycivil, religious, or natural bond, yetno tie of that kind can warrant usto partake with them in their sins.2.Though the command to reprovethe sins of others is an affirmativeprecept, and not binding at all timesand in all cases, yet not reprovingwhen occasion offers is a partakingwith them in their sins. 3.Thereshould be such a holy bashfulness inChristians as to think shame to utter[p.253]in speech, at least without detestation,those things godless sinners are notashamed to practise. Ministers intheir public preachings should bemodest and sparing in decipheringfilthy sins, lest they teach others howto commit the sin they reprove.4.When men do not seek the veil ofsecrecy to cover their sins, but glory intheir shame, they are more corrupt thanthe grossest of pagans.—Fergusson.

Vers. 13, 14. Slumbering Souls andtheir Awakening.

I. The character of the persons addressed.—Theyare in a state of sleep.1.If you allow yourselves in thepractice of known wickedness, yourconscience is asleep. 2.If you live inthe customary neglect of self-examination,you are in a state of slumber.3.If you have never been in anydegree affected with a sense of yourguilt and your dependence on themercy of God in Christ, you are amongthose who are asleep. 4.If you haveno conflicts with sin and temptation,you are in a state of slumber. 5.Theprevalence of a sensual and carnal dispositionis a sign of spiritual death.6.Stupidity under the warnings ofGod’s Word and providence indicatessuch a state of soul as the Scripturecompares to sleep. 7.The soul inwhich the temper of the Gospel isformed hungers and thirsts after righteousness,desires spiritual growth, andreaches after perfection.

II. The awakening call.—1.Thisawakening must suppose and imply aconviction of your sin and a sense ofyour danger. 2.This awakening fromsleep and arising from the deadimply a real repentance of sin andturning to God. 3.They who haveawoke from their sleep and risen fromthe dead will experience the propertiesand maintain the exercises of a holyand spiritual life.

III. The encouragement to attend tothe awakening call.—“Christ shallgive thee light.” 1.This may beunderstood as a promise of pardon andeternal life on your repentance. 2.Thewords import God’s gracious attentionto awakened souls when they frametheir doings to turn to Him.—Lathrop.

Ver. 13. The Light of God.

I. Light comes from God.—God islight, and He wishes to give light toHis children. “Whatsoever doth makemanifest is light”—that which is mademanifest is light. There has been asteady progress in the mind of theChristian race, and this progress hasbeen in the direction of light. Has itnot been so in our notions of God?—agradual discovery that when God ismanifested, behold, God is light, and inHim is no darkness at all—a gradualvindication of His character from thosedark and horrid notions of the Deitywhich were borrowed from the pagansand the Jewish rabbis—a gradualreturn to the perfect good news of agood God which was preached bySt. John and by St. Paul. The dayshall come when all shall be light inthe Lord—when all mankind shallknow God from the least unto thegreatest, and, lifting up free foreheadsto Him who made them and redeemedthem by His Son, shall in spirit andin truth worship the Father.

II. In the case of our fellow-menwhatsoever is made manifest is light.—Howeasy it was to have dark thoughtsabout our fellow-men simply becausewe did not know them,—easy to condemnthe Negro to perpetual slavery,when we knew nothing of him but hisblack face; or to hang by hundredsthe ragged street boys, while wedisdained to inquire into the circ*mstanceswhich had degraded them; orto treat madmen as wild beasts, insteadof taming them by wise and gentlesympathy. But with a closer knowledgeof our fellow-creatures has cometoleration, pity, sympathy. Man, inproportion as he becomes manifest toman, is seen, in spite of all defects andsins, to be hallowed with a light fromGod who made him.

III. It has been equally so in thecase of the physical world.—Nature,being made manifest, is light. Science[p.254]has taught men to admire where theyused to dread, to rule where they usedto obey, to employ for harmless useswhat they were once afraid to touch,and where they once saw only fiends tosee the orderly and beneficent lawsof the All-good and Almighty God.Everywhere, as the work of nature isunfolded to our eyes, we see beauty,order, mutual use, the offspringof perfect love as well as perfectwisdom. Let us teach these things toour children. Tell them to go to thelight and see their heavenly Father’sworks manifested, and know that theyare, as He is, light.—C.Kingsley.

Ver. 14. Moral Stupidity.—Howmany scarcely think of God from day today! It cannot therefore be uncharitableto consider the mass of the people,compared with the wakefulness theirinfinite interests require, as sunk in aprofound slumber. Unless this slumberis soon broken they must sleep the sleepof eternal death.

I. Search for the cause of thisstupidity.—The proximate cause maybe comprehended in these two words—ignoranceand unbelief. The remotecause is opposition to God and truth.Were not the heart opposed, no manwith the Bible in his hand could remainignorant of truths which claim to haveso important a bearing on his eternaldestiny. Fortified by sevenfold ignorance,men can no more be awakenedto contemplate their condition withalarm than the pagans of the wilderness.It is perfectly in character forthem to slumber. But there are menwho are respectable for their knowledgeof Christian truth who yet areasleep. The cause with them is unbelief—thewant of a realising sense.Their understanding assents to theawful verities of religion, but they donot realisingly believe them.

II. Apply some arguments to removethe evil.—Consider that these awfultruths are as much realities as thoughyou were now overwhelmed with asense of their importance. Neitherthe ignorance nor the unbelief of mancan change eternal truth. God is asholy, as awful in majesty, He is asmuch your Creator, Preserver, andMaster, He as much holds your destiniesin His hands, as though you werenow lying at His feet beseeching Himnot to cast you down to hell. Whatwould it avail if all the people shoulddisbelieve that the sun will ever riseagain, or that spring-time and harvestwill ever return? Can the soldierannihilate the enemy by marching upto the battery with his eyes and earsclosed? You have the same meanswith others: why should you remainignorant while they are informed? Ifyour knowledge is competent and it isunbelief that excludes conviction, thencall into action the powers of a rationalsoul and cast yourselves for help onGod. If you ever mean to awake,awake now. The longer you sleep thesounder you sleep. The longer youlive without religion the less likely thatyou will ever possess it. You aresleeping in the presence of an offendedGod. In His hands you lie, and if Hebut turn them you slide to rise nomore.—E.D. Griffin.

The Call of the Gospel to Sinners.

I. The state in which the Gospelfinds mankind.—A state of sleep andof death.

1. It is a state of insensibility andunconcern with respect to the concernsof another world.—Busied about trifles,men overlook the great concerns ofeternity. Having their minds darkened,they see no world but the present,they live as if they were to live herefor ever. And if at any time this falsepeace is shaken, they try all means toprevent it from being destroyed, andto lull themselves again to rest.

2. How indisposed and unwilling menare to set about the work of true religion.—Nothingbut this religion of whichmen are so ignorant, about which theycare so little, against which they haveconceived such a dislike, can in the enddeliver them from everlasting shame,sorrow, and punishment. Here is theirextreme misery and danger. They are[p.255]unconcerned about an object which ofall others ought to concern them most,and are set against the only remedywhich can be of any real service tothem. They are every moment liableto fall into utter perdition; but theyare not aware of their danger, andreject the only hand which is stretchedout to save them.

II. The duty the Gospel calls onthem to discharge.—To awake out ofsleep and arise from the dead. 1.Theirduty is to consider their state and danger.2.To break off their sins by repentance.3.To seek the knowledge and favour ofGod.

III. The encouragement the Gospelaffords.—1.Christ will give thee knowledge.He will enlighten thy darkenedmind, He will teach thee by His goodSpirit, and will effectually lead theeinto all saving truth.

2. Christ will give thee peace.—Whateverpeace thou mayest have arisingfrom not knowing and not feeling thatthou art a sinner and daily exposedto the wrath of God, the peace whichChrist offers thee is a peace which willarise from a consciousness that thy sinsare forgiven, and that, although thoughart a sinner, thou art yet reconciled toGod.

3. Christ will give thee holiness.—Holinessis our meetness for heaven.It is that state and disposition of heartwhich alone can fit us for seeing andserving God.—E.Cooper.

A Summons to Spiritual Light.

I. A lamentable moral condition.—Sleepimplies a state of inactivity andsecurity. Men are busily employedabout their worldly concerns; but alamentable supineness prevails withrespect to spiritual things. The generalitydo not apprehend their souls tobe in any danger—death, judgment,heaven, and hell do not seem worthytheir notice. God’s threateningsagainst them are denounced withouteffect—they are like Jonah, sleepingin the midst of a storm. Death includesthe ideas of impotence and corruption.An inanimate body cannot performany of the functions of life. Ithas within itself the seeds and theprinciples of corruption. The soulalso, till quickened from the dead, is ina state of impotence, it is incapable ofspiritual action or discernment. Yet,notwithstanding this state appears sodesperate, we must address to every onethat is under it the command, “Awake.”Your inactivity and security involveyou in the deepest guilt; your corruptionof heart and life provokes the majestyof God. Nor is your impotence anyexcuse for your disobedience. Theywho exert their feeble powers mayexpect Divine assistance. To convinceus that none shall fail who use theappointed means God enforces Hiscommand with—

II. A promise.—Sleep and deathare states of intellectual darkness:hence light is promised to those whoobey the Divine mandate. Light inScripture imparts knowledge (Isa. viii.20),holiness (1John i.7), comfort (Ps.xcvii.11), and glory (Col. i.12). Andall these blessings shall they receivefrom Christ, the fountain of light(Mal. iv.2; John i.9).

Lessons.—1.Let each one considerthe command addressed to himself—“Awakethou.” 2.Let all our powersbe called into action. 3.In exertingourselves let us expect the promised aid.—Theological Sketch Book.

The Gospel Call and Promise.

I. Many of mankind are in a stateof deadly sleep.—In sleep the animalspirits retire to their source, the nervesare collapsed or embraced; and as thenerves are the medium of sensationand motion, the whole system is in astate of insensibility and inactivity.How exactly resembling this is yourspiritual state.

1. You are insensible.—Your eyesand ears are closed; and you have noproper sense of pleasure or of pain.

2. You are in a state of security.—Youhave no fear of evil, no apprehensionof danger, and consequently noconcern for your safety.

3. You are in a state of inactivity.—You[p.256]are not inquiring, labouring,wrestling. When the body is lockedin slumber, thought roves at randomand produces gay dreams of fanciedhappiness. Thus many are dreamingtheir lives away. (1)In this sleep manyare as void of sense and motion as if theywere actually dead. (2)In commonsleep a person after due repose spontaneouslyawakes, renewed in vigour.But from this sleep, unless God shouldawake you, you will never awake tillthe heavens be no more. (3)It is asleep unto death. Like one who hastaken a large quantity of opium,unless you are awakened by someexternal cause, you will insensibly sinkinto the second death, the death whichnever dies.

II. God is using means to awakenthem.—While you are asleep, light,however bright and clear, shines uponyou in vain. Till warning has wakedattention, instruction and illuminationwill be lost upon you. 1.God calls youto awake from your dreams of fanciedhappiness, and reflect upon the vanityof the objects by which you are deluded.2.Struggle to shake off the dull slumberwhich weighs you down. 3.Consideryour misery and danger. 4.Rouse allthat is within you to activity. God callsyou—(1)By the language of His law.(2)By the severe dispensations of Hisprovidence. (3)By the strivings ofHis Spirit. (4)By the voice of theGospel.

III. God will give light to all whoawake at His call.—It is the peculiarproperty of light to make manifest(ver. 13). Christ will give you light.1.He shall make manifest to yourselfyour character and your situation.2.You shall behold the light of life.3.He shall reveal to you the God ofpardoning love. 4.He shall chasethe darkness of sin from your soul, andyou shall walk in the light of holiness.5.He shall put an end to yourmourning.

Learn.—1.The deceitfulness anddestructive character of sin. 2.Howfully God provides for your salvation.3.Hear the voice of God.—E.Hare.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 15–18.

Christian Wisdom—

I. Cautiously regulates the outward life.—“See that ye walk circ*mspectly,not as fools, but as wise” (ver. 15). The Christian needs not only spiritualfervour and enthusiasm, but also prudence—sanctified common sense. It ispossible to do a right thing in a wrong way, or in such a way as to cause moremischief than benefit. There is a severity of virtue that repels, and rousesresentment; and there is a parade of Christian liberty that shocks the sensitive.The truth lies between two extremes, and Christian wisdom is seen in maintainingthe truth and avoiding extremes. “I wisdom dwell with prudence.” Mr.Edward Everett Hale is generally credited as the author of the following mottofor Christian workers:

 "Look up, and not down; Look out, and not in; Look forward, and not back; Lend a hand."

Success in soul-winning is only given to skill, earnestness, sympathy, perseverance,tact. Men are saved, not in masses, but by careful study and well-directedeffort. It is said that such is the eccentric flight of the snipe when they rise fromthe earth that it completely puzzles the sportsman, and some who are capitalshots at other birds are utterly baffled here. Eccentricity seems to be theirspecial quality, and this can only be mastered by incessant practice with thegun. But the eccentricity of souls is beyond this, and he had need be a veryspiritual Nimrod—a mighty hunter before the Lord—who would capture themfor Christ. “He that winneth souls is wise.”

[p.257]II. Teaches how to make the best use of present opportunity.—1.Observingthe value of time amid the prevalence of evil. “Redeeming the time, because thedays are evil” (ver. 16). Time is a section cut out of the great circle of eternity,and defines for us the limits in which the work of life must be done. It is aprecious gift bestowed by the beneficent hand of God—a gift involving graveresponsibility; and we must render a strict account of the use we make of everyswing of the pendulum. It is doled out to us in minute fragments. One singleyear is made up of 31,536,000 seconds. Every tick of the clock records theever-lessening opportunities of life. Time is in perpetual motion. Like a strong,ever-flowing river, it is bearing away everything into the boundless ocean ofeternity. We never know the value of time till we know the value of thefragments into which it is broken up. To make the most of a single hour wemust make the most of every minute of which it is composed. The mostdangerous moments of a man’s life are those when time hangs heavily on hishands. He who has nothing to do but kill time is in danger of being killedhimself. It is a miracle of Divine goodness if he is preserved from serious folly,or something worse; and such miracles rarely occur. The man who has learntthe value of time can learn any lesson this world may have to teach him. Timeis the opportunity for the exercise of Christian wisdom, and should be the moresedulously used “when the days are evil”—when evil is in power. Oh for wisdomto number our days, to grasp the meaning of present opportunity! Here comethe moments that can never be had again; some few may yet be filled withimperishable good. Let us apply our hearts—all our powers—unto wisdom.

2. Having the good sense to recognise the Divine will.—“Wherefore be ye notunwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (ver. 17). We mustread and interpret the signs of the times in the light of God’s purpose. A closeand deep study of the Divine mind will reveal to us the significance of thepassing opportunity, and aid us in making the wisest use of it. Our biggestschemes are doomed to failure if they are not in accordance with the will of God.The noblest tasks are reserved for those who have the keenest spiritual insightand are most in harmony with the Divine purpose.

III. Avoids the folly and waste of intemperance.—“Be not drunk withwine, wherein is excess” (ver. 18). The Asian Christians were a social, light-heartedpeople, fond of convivial feasts. Wine was their danger; and even inthe celebration of the Lord’s Supper they ran into excess, and degraded the holyordinance. There were doubtless converted drunkards among them; and thewarning of the text was specially needed. Intemperance is not only a folly anda waste; it is a degradation and a sin. It is the excessive indulgence of a cravingthat at bottom may be in itself good, if wisely regulated—a craving for an intenserlife. “One finds traces,” says Monod, “of the primitive greatness of our natureeven in its most deplorable errors. Just as impurity proceeds at the bottom froman abuse of the craving for love, so drunkenness betrays a certain demand forardour and enthusiasm which in itself is natural and even noble. Man lovesto feel himself alive; he would fain live twice his life at once; and he wouldrather draw excitement from horrible things than have no excitement at all.”When the physicians told Theotimus that except he abstained from drunkennessand licentiousness he would lose his eyes, his heart was so wedded to his sinsthat he answered, “Then farewell, sweet light.”

IV. Seeks to be under the complete control of the Divine Spirit.—“Butbe filled with the Spirit” (ver. 18). The excitement of drunkenness must besupplanted by a holier and more elevating stimulus: the cup that intoxicatesexchanged for the new wine of the Spirit. The general adoption of this principlewill be the grandest triumph of temperance. The cure of drunkenness will notbe accomplished simply by the removal of temptation, unless a relish for higher[p.258]things is created and springs of holier pleasure are opened in the hearts of men.A lower impulse is conquered and expelled by the introduction of a higher.Anachonis, the philosopher, being asked by what means a man might best guardagainst the vice of drunkenness, answered, “By bearing constantly in his viewthe loathsome, indecent behaviour of such as are intoxicated.” Upon thisprinciple was founded the custom of the Lacedæmonians of exposing theirdrunken slaves to their children, who by that means conceived an early aversionto a vice which makes men appear so monstrous and irrational. There is noexcess in drinking copious draughts of the Spirit. Christian wisdom opens thesoul to the ever-flowing tide of His influence, and strives to be animated andfilled with His all-controlling power.

Lessons.—1.Wisdom is the best use of knowledge. 2.Christianity opens thepurest sources of knowledge. 3.“Get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding”(Prov. iv.7).

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 15–17. Walking circ*mspectly.

I. The duty recommended.—1.Walkcirc*mspectly that you may keep withinthe line of your duty. Your courseoften lies in a medium between twoextremes. If from this course youdeviate, you step into the territory ofvice. Be circ*mspect that you maynot mistake your duty. Be watchfulthat you may retain a sense of virtueand rectitude. Be attentive that youmay conform to the Spirit of God’scommands.

2. Walk circ*mspectly that you mayescape the snares in your way.—Oftenlook forward to descry your dangers.Attend to your particular situationand condition in life. Often reviewyour past life, and reflect on formertemptations. Be circ*mspect thatyou may detect your enemies whenthey approach you in disguise. Neverneglect your duty under pretence ofshunning a temptation.

3. Walk circ*mspectly that you maywisely comport with the aspects ofProvidence.

4. Be circ*mspect that you may doevery duty in its time and place.—Attendon the daily worship of God inyour families and closets. Be kindand beneficent to the poor. Neglectnot the care of your body. Attend onthe instituted ordinances of the Gospel.

5. Walk circ*mspectly that your goodmay not be evil spoken of.

II. The argument by which theapostle urges the duty.—“The daysare evil.” The argument was notpeculiar to those early times, but ispertinent to all times. 1.The daysare evil because the Christian findsin himself much disorder and corruption.2.The days are evil as he isexposed to various afflictions. 3.Thereare many adversaries. 4.Iniquityabounds.—Lathrop.

Ver. 15. The Wise Conduct of Life.—1.Themore light and knowledge aman receives from God he ought totake the more diligent heed that in allthings he practises according to hislight. 2.Those only are most fit toreprove sin in others who walk mostcirc*mspectly and live so as theycannot be justly blamed themselves.Even the righteous walking of suchis a forcible reproof of sin in others,though they speak nothing. 3.Asthose are only truly wise in God’saccount who labour to walk mostexactly by the rule of God’s Word, sowhere this sanctified wisdom is it willrender itself evident by making theperson endowed with it walk circ*mspectly.4.The less circ*mspect andexact men be in walking by the rule ofGod’s Word the greater fools the