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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
R O M A N S.
CHAP. XII.
The apostle, having at large cleared and confirmed the prime
fundamental doctrines of Christianity, comes in the next place to press
the principal duties. We mistake our religion if we look upon it only
as a system of notions and a guide to speculation. No, it is a
practical religion, that tends to the right ordering of the
conversation. It is designed not only to inform our judgments, but to
reform our hearts and lives. From the method of the apostle’s writing
in this, as in some other of the epistles (as from the management of
the principal ministers of state in Christ’s kingdom) the stewards of
the mysteries of God may take direction how to divide the word of
truth: not to press duty abstracted from privilege, nor privilege
abstracted from duty; but let both go together, with a complicated
design, they will greatly promote and befriend each other. The duties
are drawn from the privileges, by way of inference. The foundation of
Christian practice must be laid in Christian knowledge and faith. We
must first understand how we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, and then we
shall know the better how to walk in him. There is a great deal of duty
prescribed in this chapter. The exhortations are short and pithy,
briefly summing up what is good, and what the Lord our God in Christ
requires of us. It is an abridgment of the Christian directory, an
excellent collection of rules for the right ordering of the
conversation, as becomes the gospel. It is joined to the foregoing
discourse by the word “therefore.” It is the practical application of
doctrinal truths that is the life of preaching. He had been discoursing
at large of justification by faith, and of the riches of free grace,
and the pledges and assurances we have of the glory that is to be
revealed. Hence carnal libertines would be apt to infer.”Therefore we
may live as we list, and walk in the way of our hearts and the sight of
our eyes.” Now this does not follow; the faith that justifies is a
faith that “works by love.” And there is no other way to heaven but the
way of holiness and obedience. Therefore what God hath joined together
let no man put asunder. The particular exhortations of this chapter are
reducible to the three principal heads of Christian duty: our duty to
God t ourselves, and to our brother. The grace of God teaches us, in
general, to live “godly, soberly, and righteously;” and to deny all
that which is contrary hereunto. Now this chapter will give us to
understand what godliness, sobriety, and righteousness, are though
somewhat intermixed.
| Consecration to God; Duty towards God; Duty towards Ourselves; Due Exercise of Spiritual Gifts; Duty towards Our Brethren; Brotherly Love; Love to Enemies. | A. D. 58. |
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1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that
is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought
to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to
every man the measure of faith.
4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have
not the same office:
5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one
members one of another.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is
given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the
proportion of faith;
7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that
teacheth, on teaching;
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let
him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he
that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is
evil; cleave to that which is good.
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love;
in honour preferring one another;
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the
Lord;
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing
instant in prayer;
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality.
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that
weep.
16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high
things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your
own conceits.
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in
the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably
with all men.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give
place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will
repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst,
give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on
his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
We may observe here, according to the scheme mentioned in the contents,
the apostle’s exhortations,
I. Concerning our duty to God, We see what is godliness.
1. It is to surrender ourselves to God, and so to lay a good
foundation. We must first give our own selves unto the Lord,
This is here pressed as the spring of all duty and obedience,
Man consists of body and soul,
(1.) The body must be presented to him,
v. 1.
The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body,
1 Cor. vi. 13, 14.
The exhortation is here introduced very pathetically: I beseech you,
brethren. Though he was a great apostle, yet he calls the meanest
Christians brethren, a term of affection and concern. He uses
entreaty; this is the gospel way: As though God did beseech you by
us,
2 Cor. v. 20.
Though he might with authority command, yet for love’s sake he rather
beseeches,
The poor useth entreaty,
Prov. xviii. 23.
This is to insinuate the exhortation, that it might come with the more
pleasing power. Many are sooner wrought upon if they be accosted
kindly, are more easily led than driven. Now observe,
[1.] The duty pressed–to present our bodies a living sacrifice,
alluding to the sacrifices under the law, which were presented or set
before God at the altar, ready to be offered to him. Your
bodies–your whole selves; so expressed because under the law the
bodies of beasts were offered in sacrifice,
Our bodies and spirits are intended. The offering was sacrificed by the
priest, but presented by the offerer, who transferred to God all his
right, title, and interest in it, by laying his hand on the head of it.
Sacrifice is here taken for whatsoever is by God’s own appointment
dedicated to himself; see
We are temple, priest, and sacrifice, as Christ was in his peculiar
sacrificing. There were sacrifices of atonement and sacrifices of
acknowledgment. Christ, who was once offered to bear the sins of many,
is the only sacrifice of atonement; but our persons and performances,
tendered to God through Christ our priest, are as sacrifices of
acknowledgment to the honour of God. Presenting them denotes a
voluntary act, done by virtue of that absolute despotic power which the
will has over the body and all the members of it. It must be a
free-will offering. Your bodies; not your beasts. Those legal
offerings, as they had their power from Christ, so they had their
period in Christ. The presenting of the body to God implies not only
the avoiding of the sins that are committed with or against the body,
but the using of the body as a servant of the soul in the service of
God. It is to glorify God with our bodies
to engage our bodies in the duties of immediate worship, and in a
diligent attendance to our particular callings, and be willing to
suffer for God with our bodies, when we are called to it. It is to
yield the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness,
Though bodily exercise alone profits little, yet in its place it is a
proof and product of the dedication of our souls to God. First,
Present them a living sacrifice; not killed, as the sacrifices under
the law. A Christian makes his body a sacrifice to God, though he does
not give it to be burned. A body sincerely devoted to God is a living
sacrifice. A living sacrifice, by way of allusion–that which was dead
of itself might not be eaten, much less sacrificed,
and by ways of opposition–“The sacrifice was to be slain, but you may
be sacrificed, and yet live on”–an unbloody sacrifice. The barbarous
heathen sacrificed their children to their idol-gods, not living, but
slain sacrifices: but God will have mercy, and not such sacrifice,
though life is forfeited to him. A living sacrifice, that is,
inspired with the spiritual life of the soul. It is Christ living in
the soul by faith that makes the body a living sacrifice,
Holy love kindles the sacrifices, puts life into the duties; see
Alive, that is, to God,
Secondly, They must be holy. There is a relative holiness in
every sacrifice, as dedicated to God. But, besides this, there must be
that real holiness which consists in an entire rectitude of heart and
life, by which we are conformed in both to the nature and will of God:
even our bodies must not be made the instruments of sin and
uncleanness, but set apart for God, and put to holy uses, as the
vessels of the tabernacle were holy, being devoted to God’s service. It
is the soul that is the proper subject of holiness; but a sanctified
soul communicates a holiness to the body it actuates and animates. That
is holy which is according to the will of God; when the bodily actions
are no, the body is holy. They are the temples of the Holy
Ghost,
1 Cor. vi. 19.
Possess the body in sanctification,
1 Thess. iv. 4, 5.
[2.] The arguments to enforce this, which are three:–First,
Consider the mercies of God: I beseech you by the mercies of
God. An affectionate obtestation, and which should melt us into a
compliance: dia ton oiktirmon tou Theou. This is an
argument most sweetly cogent. There is the mercy that is in God and the
mercy that is from God–mercy in the spring and mercy in the streams:
both are included here; but especially gospel-mercies (mentioned
ch. ix.),
the transferring of what the Jews forfeited and lost by their unbelief
unto us Gentiles
the sure mercies of David,
God is a merciful God, therefore let us present our bodies to him; he
will be sure to use them kindly, and knows how to consider the frames
of them, for he is of infinite compassion. We receive from him every
day the fruits of his mercy, particularly mercy to our bodies: he made
them, he maintains them, he bought them, he has put a great dignity
upon them. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, that
our souls are held in life; and the greatest mercy of all is that
Christ hath made not his body only, but his soul, an offering for sin,
that he gave himself for us and gives himself to us. Now surely we
cannot but be studying what we shall render to the Lord for all this.
And what shall we render? Let us render ourselves as an acknowledgment
of all these favours–all we are, all we have, all we can do; and,
after all, it is but very poor returns for very rich receivings: and
yet, because it is what we have, Secondly, It is acceptable
to God. The great end we should all labour after is to be accepted
of the Lord
(2 Cor. v. 9),
to have him well-pleased with our persons and performances. Now these
living sacrifices are acceptable to God; while the sacrifices of the
wicked, though fat and costly, are an abomination to the Lord. It is
God’s great condescension that he will vouchsafe to accept of any thing
in us; and we can desire no more to make us happy; and, if the
presenting of ourselves will but please him, we may easily conclude
that we cannot bestow ourselves better. Thirdly, It is our
reasonable service. There is an act of reason in it; for it is
the soul that presents the body. Blind devotion, that has ignorance
for the mother and nurse of it, is fit to be paid only to those
dunghill-gods that have eyes and see not. Our God must be served in
the spirit and with the understanding. There is all the reason in the
world for it, and no good reason can possibly be produced against it.
Come now, and let us reason together,
Isa. i. 18.
God does not impose upon us any thing hard or unreasonable, but that
which is altogether agreeable to the principles of right reason.
Ten logiken latreian hymon—your service according to
the word; so it may be read. The word of God does not leave out the
body in holy worship. That service only is acceptable to God which is
according to the written word. It must be gospel worship, spiritual
worship. That is a reasonable service which we are able and ready to
give a reason for, in which we understand ourselves. God deals with us
as with rational creatures, and will have us so to deal with him. Thus
must the body be presented to God.
(2.) The mind must be renewed for him. This is pressed
(v. 2):
“Be you transformed by the renewing of your mind; see to it that
there be a saving change wrought in you, and that it be carried on.”
Conversion and sanctification are the renewing of the mind, a change
not of the substance, but of the qualities of the soul. It is the same
with making a new heart and a new spirit–new dispositions and
inclinations, new sympathies and antipathies; the understanding
enlightened, the conscience softened, the thoughts rectified; the will
bowed to the will of God, and the affections made spiritual and
heavenly: so that the man is not what he was–old things are passed
away, all things are become new; he acts from new principles, by new
rules, with new designs. The mind is the acting ruling part of us; so
that the renewing of the mind is the renewing of the whole man, for out
of it are the issues of life,
Prov. iv. 23.
The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more and living
to righteousness more and more, is the carrying on of this renewing
work, till it be perfected in glory. This is called the
transforming of us; it is like putting on a new shape and
figure. Metamorphousthe—Be you metamorphosed.
The transfiguration of Christ is expressed by this word
when he put on a heavenly glory, which made his face to shine like the
sun; and the same word is used
where we are said to be changed into the same image from glory to
glory. This transformation is here pressed as a duty; not that we
can work such a change ourselves: we could as soon make a new world as
make a new heart by any power of our own; it is God’s work,
But be you transformed, that is, “use the means which God hath
appointed and ordained for it.” It is God that turns us, and then we
are turned; but we must frame our doings to turn,
Hos. v. 4.
“Lay your souls under the changing transforming influences of the
blessed Spirit; seek unto God for grace in the use of all the means of
grace.” Though the new man be created of God, yet we must put it on
(Eph. iv. 24),
and be pressing forward towards perfection. Now in this verse we may
further observe,
[1.] What is the great enemy to this renewing, which we must avoid; and
that is, conformity to this world: Be not conformed to this
world. All the disciples and followers of the Lord Jesus must be
nonconformists to this world. Me syschematizesthe—Do
not fashion yourselves according to the world. We must not conform
to the things of the world; they are mutable, and the fashion of them
is passing away. Do not conform either to the lusts of the flesh or the
lusts of the eye. We must not conform to the men of the world, of that
world which lies in wickedness, not walk according to the course of
this world
(Eph. ii. 2);
that is, we must not follow a multitude to do evil,
If sinners entice us, we must not consent to them, but in our places
witness against them. Nay, even in things indifferent, and which are
not in themselves sinful, we must so far not conform to the custom and
way of the world as not to act by the world’s dictates as our chief
rule, nor to aim at the world’s favours as our highest end. True
Christianity consists much in a sober singularity. Yet we must take
heed of the extreme of affected rudeness and moroseness, which some run
into. In civil things, the light of nature and the custom of nations
are intended for our guidance; and the rule of the gospel in those
cases is a rule of direction, not a rule of contrariety.
[2.] What is the great effect of this renewing, which we must labour
after: That you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect will of God. by the will of God here we are to understand
his revealed will concerning our duty, what the Lord our God requires
of us. This is the will of God in general, even our sanctification,
that will which we pray may be done by us as it is done by the angels;
especially his will as it is revealed in the New Testament, where he
hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son. First, The will
of God is good, and acceptable, and perfect; three excellent
properties of a law. It is good
(Mic. vi. 8);
it is exactly consonant to the eternal reason of good and evil. It is
good in itself. It is good for us. Some think the evangelical law is
here called good, in distinction from the ceremonial law, which
consisted of statutes that were not good,
Ezek. xx. 25.
It is acceptable, it is pleasing to God; that and that only is so which
is prescribed by him. The only way to attain his favour as the end is
to conform to his will as the rule. It is perfect, to which nothing
can be added. The revealed will of God is a sufficient rule of faith
and practice, containing all things which tend to the perfection of the
man of God, to furnish us thoroughly to every good work,
Secondly, That it concerns Christians to prove what is that will
of God which is good, and acceptable, and perfect; that is, to know it
with judgment and approbation, to know it experimentally, to know the
excellency of the will of God by the experience of a conformity to it.
It is to approve things that are excellent
(Phil. i. 10);
it is dokimazein (the same word that is used here) to
try things that differ, in doubtful cases readily to apprehend what
the will of God is and to close in with it. It is to be of quick
understanding in the fear of the Lord,
Isa. xi. 3.
Thirdly, That those are best able to prove what is the good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God, who are transformed by the
renewing of their mind. A living principle of grace is in the soul, as
far as it prevails, an unbiassed unprejudiced judgment concerning the
things of God. It disposes the soul to receive and entertain the
revelations of the divine will. The promise is
(John vii. 17),
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. A
good wit can dispute and distinguish about the will of God; while an
honest, humble heart, that has spiritual senses exercised, and is
delivered into the mould of the word, loves it, and practises it, and
has the relish and savour of it. Thus to be godly is to surrender
ourselves to God.
2. When this is done, to serve him in all manner of gospel obedience.
Some hints of this we have here
(v. 11, 12),
Serving the Lord. Wherefore do we present ourselves to him, but
that we may serve him?
Whose I am; and then it follows, whom I serve. To be
religious is to serve God. How?
(1.) We must make a business of it, and not be slothful in that
business. Not slothful in business. There is the business of the
world, that of our particular calling, in which we must not be
slothful,
But this seems to be meant of the business of serving the Lord, our
Father’s business,
Those that would approve themselves Christians indeed must make
religion their business–must choose it, and learn it, and give
themselves to it; they must love it, and employ themselves in it, and
abide by it, as their great and main business. And, having made it our
business, we must not be slothful in it: not desire our own ease, and
consult that, when it comes in competition with our duty. We must not
drive on slowly in religion. Slothful servants will be reckoned with us
wicked servants.
(2.) We must be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. God must be
served with the spirit
under the influences of the Holy Spirit. Whatever we do in religion it
is pleasing to God no further than it is done with our spirits wrought
upon by the Spirit of God. And there must be fervency in the spirit–a
holy zeal, and warmth, and ardency of affection in all we do, as those
that love God not only with the heart and soul, but with all our
hearts, and with all our souls. This is the holy fire that kindles the
sacrifice, and carries it up to heaven, an offering of a sweet-smelling
savour.–Serving the Lord. To kairo douleuontes
(so some copies read it), serving the time, that is, improving
your opportunities and making the best of them, complying with the
present seasons of grace.
(3.) Rejoicing in hope. God is worshipped and honoured by our
hope and trust in him, especially when we rejoice in that hope, take a
complacency in that confidence, which argues a great assurance of the
reality and a great esteem of the excellency of the good hoped for.
(4.) Patient in tribulation. Thus also God is served, not only
by working for him when he calls us to work, but by sitting still
quietly when he calls us to suffer. Patience for God’s sake, and with
an eye to his will and glory, is true piety. Observe, Those that
rejoice in hope are likely to be patient in tribulation. It is a
believing prospect of the joy set before us that bears up the spirit
under all outward pressure.
(5.) Continuing instant in prayer. Prayer is a friend to hope
and patience, and we do in it serve the Lord.
Proskarterountes. It signifies both fervency and
perseverance in prayer. We should not be cold in the duty, nor soon
weary of it,
1 Thess. v. 17; Eph. vi. 18; Col. iv. 2.
This is our duty which immediately respects God.
II. Concerning our duty which respects ourselves; this is sobriety.
1. A sober opinion of ourselves,
v. 3.
It is ushered in with a solemn preface: I say, through the grace
given unto me: the grace f wisdom, by which he understood the
necessity and excellency of this duty; the grace of apostleship, by
which he had authority to press and enjoin it. “I say it, who am
commissioned to say it, in God’s name. I say it, and it is not for you
to gainsay it.” It is said to every one of us, one as well as another.
Pride is a sin that is bred in the bone of all of us, and we have
therefore each of us need to be cautioned and armed against it.–Not
to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. We must
take heed of having too great an opinion of ourselves, or putting too
high a valuation upon our own judgments, abilities, persons,
performances. We must not be self-conceited, nor esteem too much our
own wisdom and other attainments, not think ourselves to be something,
There is a high thought of ourselves which we may and must have to
think ourselves too good to be the slaves of sin and drudges to this
world. But, on the other hand, we should think soberly, that is, we
must have a low and modest opinion of ourselves and our own abilities,
our gifts and graces, according to what we have received from God, and
not otherwise. We must not be confident and hot in matters of doubtful
disputation; not stretch ourselves beyond our line; not judge and
censure those that differ from us; not desire to make a fair show in
the flesh. These and the like are the fruits of a sober opinion of
ourselves. The words will bear yet another sense agreeable enough.
Of himself is not in the original; therefore it may be read,
That no man be wise above what he ought to be wise, but be wise unto
sobriety. We must not exercise ourselves in things too high for us
not intrude into those things which we have not seen
(Col. ii. 18),
those secret things which belong not to us
not covet to be wise above what is written. There is a knowledge that
puffs up, which reaches after forbidden fruit. We must take heed of
this, and labour after that knowledge which tends to sobriety, to the
rectifying of the heart and the reforming of the life. Some understand
it of the sobriety which keeps us in our own place and station, from
intruding into the gifts and offices of others. See an instance of this
sober modest care in the exercise of the greatest spiritual gifts,
To this head refers also that exhortation
(v. 16),
Be not wise in your own conceits. It is good to be wise, but it
is bad to think ourselves so; for there is more hope of a fool than of
him that is wise in his own eyes. It was an excellent thing for Moses
to have his face shine and not know it. Now the reasons why we must
have such a sober opinion of ourselves, our own abilities and
attainments, are these:–
(1.) Because whatever we have that is good, God hath dealt it to
us; every good and perfect gift comes from above,
James i. 17.
What have we that we have not received? And, if we have received it,
why then do we boast?
The best and most useful man in the world is no more, no better, than
what the free grace of God makes him every day. When we are thinking of
ourselves, we must remember to think not how we attained, as though our
might and the power of our hand had gotten us these gifts; but think
how kind God hath been to us, for it is he that gives us power to do
any thing that is good, and in him is all our sufficiency.
(2.) Because God deals out his gifts in a certain measure: According to
the measure of faith. Observe, The measure of spiritual gifts he
calls the measure of faith, for this is the radical grace. What we have
and do that is good is so far right and acceptable as it is founded in
faith, and flows from faith, and no further. Now faith, and other
spiritual gifts with it, are dealt by measure, according as Infinite
Wisdom sees meet for us. Christ had the Spirit given him without
measure,
But the saints have it by measure; see
Christ, who had gifts without measure, was meek and lowly; and shall
we, that are stinted, be proud and self-conceited?
(3.) Because God has dealt out gifts to others as well as to us:
Dealt to every man. Had we the monopoly of the Spirit, or a
patent to be sole proprietors of spiritual gifts, there might be some
pretence for this conceitedness of ourselves; but others have their
share as well as we. God is a common Father, and Christ a common root,
to all the saints, who all drive virtue from him; and therefore it ill
becomes us to lift up ourselves, and to despise others, as if we only
were the people in favour with heaven, and wisdom should die with us.
This reasoning he illustrates by a comparison taken from the members of
the natural body (as
As we have many members in one body, &c.,
Here observe,
[1.] All the saints make up one body in Christ, who is the head of the
body, and the common centre of their unity. Believers lie not in the
world as a confused disorderly heap, but are organized and knit
together, as they are united to one common head, and actuated and
animated by one common Spirit.
[2.] Particular believers are members of this body, constituent parts,
which speak them less than the whole, and in relation to the whole,
deriving life and spirits from the head. Some members in the body are
bigger and more useful than others, and each receives spirits from the
head according to its proportion. If the little finger should receive
as much nourishment as the leg, how unseemly and prejudicial would it
be! We must remember that we are not the whole; we think above what is
meet if we think so; we are but parts and members.
[3.] All the members have not the same office
(v. 4),
but each hath its respective place and work assigned it. The office of
the eye is to see, the office of the hand is to work, &c. So in the
mystical body, some are qualified for, and called to, one sort of work;
others are, in like manner, fitted for, and called to, another sort of
work. Magistrates, ministers, people, in a Christian commonwealth, have
their several offices, and must not intrude one upon another, nor clash
in the discharge of their several offices.
[4.] Each member hath its place and office, for the good and benefit of
the whole, and of every other member. We are not only members of
Christ, but we are members one of another,
v. 5.
We stand in relation one to another; we are engaged to do all the good
we can one to another, and to act in conjunction for the common
benefit. See this illustrated at large,
&c. Therefore we must not be puffed up with a conceit of our own
attainments, because, whatever we have, as we received it, so we
received it not for ourselves, but for the good of others.
2. A sober use of the gifts that God hath given us. As we must not on
the one hand be proud of our talents, so on the other hand we must not
bury them. Take heed lest, under a pretence of humility and
self-denial, we be slothful in laying out ourselves for the good of
others. We must not say, “I am nothing, therefore I will sit still, and
do nothing;” but, “I am nothing in myself, and therefore I will lay out
myself to the utmost in the strength of the grace of Christ.” He
specifies the ecclesiastical offices appointed in particular churches,
in the discharge of which each must study to do his own duty, for the
preserving of order and the promotion of edification in the church,
each knowing his place and fulfilling it. Having then gifts. The
following induction of particulars supplies the sense of this general.
Having gifts, let us use them. Authority and ability for the
ministerial work are the gift of God.–Gifts differing. The
immediate design is different, though the ultimate tendency of all is
the same. According to the grace, charismata kata ten
charin. The free grace of God is the spring and original of all
the gifts that are given to men. It is grace that appoints the office,
qualifies and inclines the person, works both to will and to do. There
were in the primitive church extraordinary gifts of tongues, of
discerning, of healing; but he speaks here of those that are ordinary.
Compare
1 Tim. iv. 14; 1 Pet. iv. 10.
Seven particular gifts he specifies
(v. 6-8),
which seem to be meant of so many distinct offices, used by the
prudential constitution of many of the primitive churches, especially
the larger. There are two general ones here expressed by prophesying
and ministering, the former the work of the bishops, the latter the
work of the deacons, which were the only two standing officers,
But the particular work belonging to each of these might be, and it
should seem was, divided and allotted by common consent and agreement,
that it might be done the more effectually, because that which is every
body’s work is nobody’s work, and he despatches his business best that
is vir unius negotii–a man of one business. Thus David sorted
the Levites
and in this wisdom is profitable to direct. The five latter will
therefore be reduced to the two former.
(1.) Prophecy. Whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the
proportion of faith. It is not meant of the extraordinary gifts of
foretelling things to come, but the ordinary office of preaching the
word: so prophesying is taken,
1 Thess. v. 20.
The work of the Old-Testament prophets was not only to foretel future
things, but to warn the people concerning sin and duty, and to be their
remembrancers concerning that which they knew before. And thus gospel
preachers are prophets, and do indeed, as far as the revelation of the
word goes, foretel things to come. Preaching refers to the eternal
condition of the children of men, points directly at a future state.
Now those that preach the word must do it according to the
proportion of faith—kata ten analogian tes pisteos,
that is,
[1.] As to the manner of our prophesying, it must be according to the
proportion of the grace of faith. He had spoken
(v. 3)
of the measure of faith dealt to every man. Let him that preaches set
all the faith he hath on work, to impress the truths he preaches upon
his own heart in the first place. As people cannot hear well, so
ministers cannot preach well, without faith. First believe and then
speak,
And we must remember the proportion of faith–that, though all men have
not faith, yet a great many have besides ourselves; and therefore we
must allow others to have a share of knowledge and ability to instruct,
as well as we, even those that in less things differ from us. “Hast
thou faith? Have it to thyself; and do not make it a ruling rule to
others, remembering that thou hast but thy proportion.”
[2.] As to the matter of our prophesying, it must be according to the
proportion of the doctrine of faith, as it is revealed in the holy
scriptures of the Old and New Testament. By this rule of faith the
Bereans tried Paul’s preaching,
Compare
There are some staple-truths, as I may call them, some prima
axiomata–first axioms, plainly and uniformly taught in the
scripture, which are the touchstone of preaching, by which (though we
must not despise prophesying) we must prove all things, and then
hold fast that which is good,
1 Thess. v. 20, 21.
Truths that are more dark must be examined by those that are more
clear; and then entertained when they are found to agree and comport
with the analogy of faith; for it is certain one truth can never
contradict another. See here what ought to be the great care of
preachers–to preach sound doctrine, according to the form of wholesome
words,
It is not so necessary that the prophesying be according to the
proportion of art, the rules of logic and rhetoric; but it is necessary
that it be according to the proportion of faith: for it is the word of
faith that we preach. Now there are two particular works which he that
prophesieth hath to mind–teaching and exhorting, proper enough to be
done by the same person at the same time, and when he does the one let
him mind that, when he does the other let him do that too as well as he
can. If, by agreement between the ministers of a congregation, this
work be divided, either constantly or interchangeably, so that one
teaches and the other exhorts (that is, in our modern dialect, one
expounds and the other preaches), let each do his work according to the
proportion of faith. First, let him that teacheth wait on
teaching. Teaching is the bare explaining and proving of gospel truths,
without practical application, as in the expounding of the scripture.
Pastors and teachers are the same office
(Eph. iv. 11),
but the particular work is somewhat different. Now he that has a
faculty of teaching, and has undertaken that province, let him stick to
it. It is a good gift, let him use it, and give his mind to it. He
that teacheth, let him be in his teaching; so some supply it,
Ho didaskon, en te didaskalia. Let him be frequent and
constant, and diligent in it; let him abide in that which is his proper
work, and be in it as his element. See
where it is explained by two words, en toutois isthi, and
epimene autois, be in these things and continue
in them. Secondly, Let him that exhorteth wait on
exhortation. Let him give himself to that. This is the work of the
pastor, as the former of the teacher; to apply gospel truths and rules
more closely to the case and condition of the people, and to press upon
them that which is more practical. Many that are very accurate in
teaching may yet be very cold and unskilful in exhorting; and on the
contrary. The one requires a clearer head, the other a warmer heart.
Now where these gifts are evidently separated (that the one excels in
the one and the other in the other) it conduces to edification to
divide the work accordingly; and, whatsoever the work is that we
undertake, let us mind it. To wait on our work is to bestow the best of
our time and thoughts upon it, to lay hold of all opportunities for it,
and to study not only to do it, but to do it well.
(2.) Ministry. If a man hath diakonian—the
office of a deacon, or assistant to the pastor and teacher, let him
use that office well–a churchwarden (suppose), an elder, or an overseer
of the poor; and perhaps there were more put into these offices, and
there was more solemnity in them, and a greater stress of care and
business lay upon them in the primitive churches, than we are now well
aware of. It includes all those offices which concern the ta
exo of the church, the outward business of the house of
God. See
Serving tables,
Acts vi. 2.
Now let him on whom this care of ministering is devolved attend to it
with faithfulness and diligence; particularly,
[1.] He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. Those
church-officers that were the stewards of the church’s alms, collected
money, and distributed it according as the necessities of the poor
were. Let them do it en aploteti—liberally and
faithfully; not converting what they receive to their own use, nor
distributing it with any sinister design, or with respect of person:
not froward and peevish with the poor, nor seeking pretences to put
them by; but with all sincerity and integrity, having no other
intention in it than to glorify God and do good. Some understand it in
general of all almsgiving: He that hath wherewithal, let him give, and
give plentifully and liberally; so the word is translated,
God loves a cheerful bountiful giver.
[2.] He that ruleth with diligence. It should seem, he means
those that were assistants to the pastors in exercising
church-discipline, as their eyes, and hands, and mouth, in the
government of the church, or those ministers that in the congregation
did chiefly undertake and apply themselves to this ruling work; for we
find those ruling that laboured in the word and doctrine,
Now such must do it with diligence. The word denotes both care and
industry to discover what is amiss, to reduce those that go astray, to
reprove and admonish those that have fallen, to keep the church pure.
Those must take a great deal of pains that will approve themselves
faithful in the discharge of this trust, and not let slip any
opportunity that may facilitate and advance that work.
[3.] He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Some think it is
meant in general of all that in any thing show mercy: Let them be
willing to do it, and take a pleasure in it; God loves a cheerful
giver. But it seems to be meant of some particular church-officers,
whose work it was to take care of the sick and strangers; and those
were generally widows that were in this matter servants to the
church-deaconesses
though others, it is likely, might be employed. Now this must be done
with cheerfulness. A pleasing countenance in acts of mercy is a great
relief and comfort to the miserable; when they see it is not done
grudgingly and unwillingly, but with pleasant looks and gentle words,
and all possible indications of readiness and alacrity. Those that have
to do with such as are sick and sore, and commonly cross and peevish,
have need to put on not only patience, but cheerfulness, to make the
work the more easy and pleasant to them, and the more acceptable to
God.
III. Concerning that part of our duty which respects our brethren, of
which we have many instances, in brief exhortations. Now all our duty
towards one another is summer up in one word, and that a sweet work,
love. In that is laid the foundation of all our mutual duty; and
therefore the apostle mentions this first, which is the livery of
Christ’s disciples, and the great law of our religion: Let love be
without dissimulation; not in compliment and pretence, but in
reality; not in word and tongue only,
1 John iii. 18.
The right love is love unfeigned; not as the kisses of an enemy, which
are deceitful. We should be glad of an opportunity to prove the
sincerity of our love,
2 Cor. viii. 8.
More particularly, there is a love owing to our friends, and to our
enemies. He specifies both.
1. To our friends. He that hath friends must show himself friendly.
There is a mutual love that Christians owe, and must pay.
(1.) An affectionate love
(v. 10):
Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love,
philostorgoi–it signifies not only love, but a readiness
and inclination to love, the most genuine and free affection, kindness
flowing out as from a spring. It properly denotes the love of parents
to their children, which, as it is the most tender, so it is the most
natural, of any, unforced, unconstrained; such must our love be to one
another, and such it will be where there is a new nature and the law of
love is written in the heart. This kind affection puts us on to express
ourselves both in word and action with the greatest courtesy and
obligingness that may be.–One to another. This may recommend
the grace of love to us, that, as it is made our duty to love others,
so it is as much their duty to love us. And what can be sweeter on this
side heaven than to love and be beloved? He that thus watereth shall be
watered also himself.
(2.) A respectful love: In honour preferring one another.
Instead of contending for superiority, let us be forward to give to
others the pre-eminence. This is explained,
Let each esteem other better than themselves. And there is this
good reason for it, because, if we know our own hearts, we know more
evil by ourselves than we do by any one else in the world. We should be
forward to take notice of the gifts, and graces, and performances of
our brethren, and value them accordingly, be more forward to praise
another, and more pleased to hear another praised, than ourselves;
te time allelous proegoumenoi—going before, or
leading one another in honour; so some read it: not in taking
honour, but in giving honour. “Strive which of you shall be most
forward to pay respect to those to whom it is due, and to perform all
Christian offices of love (which are all included in the word honour)
to your brethren, as there is occasion. Let all your contention be
which shall be most humble, and useful, and condescending.” So the
sense is the same with
Let them learn, proistasthai—to go before in
good works. For though we must prefer others (as our translation
reads it), and put on others, as more capable and deserving than
ourselves, yet we must not make that an excuse for our lying by and
doing nothing, nor under a pretence of honouring others, and their
serviceableness and performances, indulge ourselves in ease and
slothfulness. Therefore he immediately adds
(v. 11),
Not slothful in business.
(3.) A liberal love
(v. 13):
Distributing to the necessities of saints. It is but a mock love
which rests in the verbal expressions of kindness and respect, while
the wants of our brethren call for real supplies, and it is in the
power of our hands to furnish them.
[1.] It is no strange thing for saints in this world to want
necessaries for the support of their natural live. In those primitive
times prevailing persecutions must needs reduce many of the suffering
saints to great extremities; and still the poor, even the poor saints,
we have always with us. Surely the things of this world are not the
best things; if they were, the saints, who are the favourites of
heaven, would not be put off with so little of them.
[2.] It is the duty of those who have wherewithal to distribute,
or (as it might better be read) to communicate to those
necessities. It is not enough to draw out the soul, but we must draw
out the purse, to the hungry. See
Jam. ii. 15, 16; 1 John iii. 17.
Communicating—koinonountes. It intimates that our
poor brethren have a kind of interest in that which God hath given us;
and that our reliving them should come from a sense and fellow-feeling
of their wants, as though we suffered with them. The charitable
benevolence of the Philippians to Paul is called their communicating
with his affliction,
We must be ready, as we have ability and opportunity, to relieve any
that are in want; but we are in a special manner bound to communicate
to the saints. There is a common love owing to our fellow-creatures,
but a special love owing to our fellow-christians
(Gal. vi. 10),
Especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Communicating, tais mneiais—to the memories
of the saints; so some of the ancients read it, instead of tais
chreiais. There is a debt owing to the memory of those who
through faith and patience inherit the promises–to value it, to
vindicate it, to embalm it. Let the memory of the just be blessed; so
some read
He mentions another branch of this bountiful love: Given to
hospitality. Those who have houses of their own should be ready to
entertain those who go about doing good, or who, for fear of
persecution, are forced to wander for shelter. They had not then so
much of the convenience of common inns as we have; or the wandering
Christians durst not frequent them; or they had not wherewithal to bear
the charges, and therefore it was a special kindness to bid them
welcome on free-cost. Nor is it yet an antiquated superseded duty; as
there is occasion, we must welcome strangers, for we know not the heart
of a stranger. I was a stranger, and you took me in, is
mentioned as one instance of the mercifulness of those that shall
obtain mercy: ten philoxenian diokontes—following
or pursuing hospitality. It intimates, not only that we must
take opportunity, but that we must seek opportunity, thus to show
mercy. As Abraham, who sat at the tent-door
and Lot, who sat in the gate of Sodom
(Gen. xix. 1),
expecting travellers, whom they might meet and prevent with a kind
invitation, and so they entertained angels unawares,
(4.) A sympathizing love
(v. 15):
Rejoice with those that do rejoice, and weep with those that
weep. Where there is a mutual love between the members of the
mystical body, there will be such a fellow-feeling. See
True love will interest us in the sorrows and joys of one another, and
teach us to make them our own. Observe the common mixture in this
world, some rejoicing, and others weeping (as the people,
for the trial, as of other graces, so of brotherly love and Christian
sympathy. Not that we must participate in the sinful mirths or
mournings of any, but only in just and reasonable joys and sorrows: not
envying those that prosper, but rejoicing with them; truly glad that
others have the success and comfort which we have not; not despising
those that are in trouble, but concerned for them, and ready to help
them, as being ourselves in the body. This is to do as God does, who
not only has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants
(Ps. xxxv. 27),
but is likewise afflicted in all their afflictions,
Isa. lxiii. 9.
(5.) A united love: “Be of the same mind one towards another
(v. 16),
that is, labour, as much as you can, to agree in apprehension; and,
wherein you come short of this, yet agree in affection; endeavour to be
all one, not affecting to clash, and contradict, and thwart one
another; but keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,
1 Cor. i. 10;
to auto eis allelous phronountes—wishing the same
good to others that you do to yourselves;” so some understand it.
This is to love our brethren as ourselves, desiring their welfare as
our own.
(6.) A condescending love: Mind not high things, but condescend to
men of low estate,
v. 16.
True love cannot be without lowliness,
When our Lord Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, to teach us brotherly
love
it was designed especially to intimate to us that to love one another
aright is to be willing to stoop to the meanest offices of kindness for
the good of one another. Love is a condescending grace: Non bene
conveniunt–majestas et amor–Majesty and love do but ill assort with
each other. Observe how it is pressed here.
[1.] Mind not high things. We must not be ambitious of honour
and preferment, nor look upon worldly pomp and dignity with any
inordinate value or desire but rather with a holy contempt. When
David’s advancements were high, his spirit was humble
(Ps. cxxxi. 1):
I do not exercise myself in great matters. The Romans, living in
the imperial city, which reigned over the kings of the earth
and was at that time in the meridian of its splendour, were perhaps
ready to take occasion thence to think the better of themselves. Even
the holy seed were tainted with this leaven. Roman Christians, as some
citizens do upon the country; and therefore the apostle so often
cautions them against high-mindedness; compare
They lived near the court, and conversed daily with the gaiety and
grandeur of it: “Well,” saith he, “do not mind it, be not in love with
it.”
[2.] Condescend to men of low estate—Tois tapeinois
synapagomenoi. First, It may be meant of mean
things, to which we must condescend. If our condition in the world
be poor and low, our enjoyments coarse and scanty, our employments
despicable and contemptible, yet we must bring our minds to it, and
acquiesce in it. So the margin: Be contented with mean things.
Be reconciled to the place which God in his providence hath put us in,
whatever it be. We must account nothing below us but sin: stoop to mean
habitations, mean fare, mean clothing, mean accommodations when they
are our lot, and not grudge. Nay, we must be carried with a kind of
impetus, by the force of the new nature (so the word
synapagomai properly signifies, and it is very
significant), towards mean things, when God appoints us to them; as the
old corrupt nature is carried out towards high things. We must
accommodate ourselves to mean things. We should make a low condition
and mean circumstances more the centre of our desires than a high
condition. Secondly, It may be meant of mean persons; so
we read it (I think both are to be included) Condescend to men of
low estate. We must associate with, and accommodate ourselves to,
those that are poor and mean in the world, if they be such as fear God.
David, though a king upon the throne, was a companion for all such,
We need not be ashamed to converse with the lowly, while the great God
overlooks heaven and earth to look at such. True love values grace in
rags as well as in scarlet. A jewel is a jewel, though it lie in the
dirt. The contrary to this condescension is reproved,
Condescend; that is, suit yourselves to them, stoop to them for
their good; as Paul,
&c. Some think the original word is a metaphor taken from travellers,
when those that are stronger and swifter of foot stay for those that
are weak and slow, make a halt, and take them with them; thus must
Christians be tender towards their fellow travellers. As a means to
promote this, he adds, Be not wise in your own conceits; to the
same purport with
v. 3.
We shall never find in our hearts to condescend to others while we find
there so great a conceit of ourselves: and therefore this must needs be
mortified. Me ginesthe phronimoi par heautois–“Be
not wise by yourselves, be not confident of the sufficiency of your
own wisdom, so as to despise others, or think you have no need of them
(Prov. iii. 7),
nor be shy of communicating what you have to others. We are members one
of another, depend upon one another, are obliged to one another; and
therefore, Be not wise by yourselves, remembering it is the
merchandise of wisdom that we profess; now merchandise consists in
commerce, receiving and returning.”
(7.) A love that engages us, as much as lies in us, to live
peaceably with all men,
v. 18.
Even those with whom we cannot live intimately and familiarly, by
reason of distance in degree or profession, yet we must with such live
peaceably; that is, we must be harmless and inoffensive, not giving
others occasion to quarrel with us; and we must be gall-less and
unrevengeful, not taking occasion to quarrel with them. Thus must we
labour to preserve the peace, that it be not broken, and to piece it
again when it is broken. The wisdom from above is pure and peaceable.
Observe how the exhortation is limited. It is not expressed so as to
oblige us to impossibilities: If it be possible, as much as lies in
you. Thus
Follow peace.
Eph. iv. 3,
Endeavouring to keep. Study the things that make for
peace.–If it be possible. It is not possible to preserve the
peace when we cannot do it without offending God and wounding
conscience: Id possumus quod jure possumus–That is possible which
is possible without incurring blame. The wisdom that is from above
is first pure and then peaceable,
Peace without purity is the peace of the devil’s palace.–As much as
lieth in you. There must be two words to the bargain of peace. We
can but speak for ourselves. We may be unavoidably striven with; as
Jeremiah, who was a man of contention
(Jer. xv. 10),
and this we cannot help; our care must be that nothing be wanting on
our parts to preserve the peace,
I am for peace, though, when I speak, they are for war.
2. To our enemies. Since men became enemies to God, they have been
found very apt to be enemies one to another. Let but the centre of love
be once forsaken, and the lines will either clash and interfere, or be
at an uncomfortable distance. And, of all men, those that embrace
religion have reason to expect to meet with enemies in a world whose
smiles seldom concur with Christ’s. Now Christianity teaches us how to
behave towards our enemies; and in this instruction it quite differs
from all other rules and methods, which generally aim at victory and
dominion; but this at inward peace and satisfaction. Whoever are our
enemies, that wish us ill and seek to do us ill, our rule is to do them
no hurt, but all the good we can.
(1.) To do them no hurt
(v. 17):
Recompense to no man evil for evil, for that is a brutish
recompence, and befitting only those animals which are not conscious
either of any being above them or of any state before them. Or, if
mankind were made (as some dream) in a state of war, such recompences
as these were agreeable enough; but we have not so learned God, who
does so much for his enemies
(Matt. v. 45),
much less have we so learned Christ, who died for us when we were
enemies
(ch. v. 8, 10),
so loved that world which hated him without a cause.–“To no
man; neither to Jew nor Greek; not to one that has been thy friend,
for by recompensing evil for evil thou wilt certainly lose him; not to
one that has been thine enemy, for by not recompensing evil for evil
thou mayest perhaps gain him.” To the same purport,
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. And why must this be
ushered in with such an affectionate compellation, rather than any
other of the exhortations of this chapter? Surely because this is
intended for the composing of angry spirits, that are hot in the
resentment of a provocation. He addresses himself to such in this
endearing language, to mollify and qualify them. Any thing that
breathes love sweetens the blood, lays the storm, and cools the
intemperate heat. Would you pacify a brother offended? Call him dearly
beloved. Such a soft word, fitly spoken, may be effectual to turn away
wrath. Avenge not yourselves; that is, when any body has done
you any ill turn, do not desire nor endeavour to bring the like
mischief or inconvenience upon him. It is not forbidden to the
magistrate to do justice to those that are wronged, by punishing the
wrong-doer; nor to make and execute just and wholesome laws against
malefactors; but it forbids private revenge, which flows from anger and
ill-will; and this is fitly forbidden, for it is presumed that we are
incompetent judges in our own case. Nay, if persons wronged in seeking
the defence of the law, and magistrates in granting it, act from any
particular personal pique or quarrel, and not from a concern that
public peace and order be maintained and right done, even such
proceedings, though seemingly regular, will fall under this prohibited
self-revenging. See how strict the law of Christ is in this matter,
It is forbidden not only to take it into our own hands to avenge
ourselves, but to desire and thirst after event that judgment in our
case which the law affords, for the satisfying of a revengeful humour.
This is a hard lesson to corrupt nature; and therefore he subjoins,
[1.] A remedy against it: Rather give place unto wrath. Not to
our own wrath; to give place to this is to give place to the devil,
We must resist, and stifle, and smother, and suppress this; but,
First, To the wrath of our enemy. “Give place to it, that is, be
of a yielding temper; do not answer wrath with wrath, but with love
rather. Yielding pacifies great offences,
Eccl. x. 4.
Receive affronts and injuries, as a stone is received into a heap of
wool, which gives way to it, and so it does not rebound back, nor go
any further.” So it explains that of our Saviour
(Matt. v. 39),
Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other
also. Instead of meditating how to revenge one wrong, prepare to
receive another. When men’s passions are up, and the stream is strong,
let it have its course, lest by an unseasonable opposition it be made
to rage and swell the more. When others are angry, let us be calm; this
is a remedy against revenge, and seems to be the genuine sense. But,
Secondly, Many apply it to the wrath of God: “Give place to
this, make room for him to take the throne of judgment, and let him
alone to deal with thine adversary.”
[2.] A reason against it: For it is written, Vengeance is mine.
We find it written,
God is the sovereign King, the righteous Judge, and to him it belongs
to administer justice; for, being a God of infinite knowledge, by him
actions are weighed in unerring balances; and, being a God of infinite
purity, he hates sin and cannot endure to look upon iniquity. Some of
this power he hath trusted in the hands of the civil magistrates
their legal punishments therefore are to be looked upon as a branch of
God’s revengings. This is a good reason why we should not avenge
ourselves; for, if vengeance be God’s, then, First, We may not
do it. We step into the throne of God if we do and take his work out of
his hand. Secondly, We need not do it. For God will, if we
meekly leave the matter with him; he will avenge us as far as there is
reason or justice for it, and further we cannot desire it. See
I heard not, for thou wilt hear; and if God hears what need is
there for me to hear?
(2.) We must not only not to hurt to our enemies, but our religion goes
higher, and teaches us to do them all the good we can. It is a command
peculiar to Christianity, and which does highly commend it: Love
your enemies,
Matt. v. 44.
We are here taught to show that love to them both in word and deed.
[1.] In word: Bless those who persecute you,
v. 14.
It has been the common lot of God’s people to be persecuted, either
with a powerful hand or with a spiteful tongue. Now we are here taught
to bless those that so persecute us. Bless them; that is,
First, “Speak well of them. If there be any thing in them that
is commendable and praiseworthy, take notice of it, and mention it to
their honour.” Secondly, “Speak respectfully to them, according
as their place is, not rendering railing for railing, and bitterness
for bitterness.” And, Thirdly, We must wish well to them, and
desire their good, so far from seeking any revenge. Nay,
Fourthly, We must offer up that desire to God, by prayer for
them. If it be not in the power of our hand to do any thing else for
them, yet we can testify our good-will by praying for them, for which
our master hath given us not only a rule, but an example to back that
rule,
Bless, and curse not. It denotes a thorough good-will in all the
instances and expressions of it; not, “bless them when you are at
prayer, and curse them at other times;” but, “bless them always, and
curse not at all.” Cursing ill becomes the mouths of those whose work
it is to bless God, and whose happiness it is to be blessed of him.
[2.] In deed
(v. 20):
“If thine enemy hunger, as thou hast ability and opportunity, be
ready and forward to show him any kindness, and do him any office of
love for his good; and be never the less forward for his having been
thine enemy, but rather the more, that thou mayest thereby testify the
sincerity of thy forgiveness of him.” It is said of archbishop Cranmer
that the way for a man to make him his friend was to do him an ill
turn. The precept is quoted from
so that, high as it seems to be, the Old Testament was not a stranger
to it. Observe here, First, What we must do. We must do good to
our enemies. “If he hunger, do not insult over him, and say, Now
God is avenging me of him, and pleading my cause; do not make such a
construction of his wants. But feed him.” Then, when he has need
of thy help, and thou hast an opportunity of starving him and trampling
upon him, then feed him (psomize auton, a
significant word)–“feed him abundantly, nay, feed him carefully and
indulgently:” frustulatim pasce—feed him with small
pieces, “feed him, as we do children and sick people, with much
tenderness. Contrive to do it so as to express thy love. If he
thirst, give him drink: potize auton—drink to
him, in token of reconciliation and friendship. So confirm your
love to him.” Secondly, Why we must do this. Because in so doing
thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Two senses are given
of this, which I think are both to be taken in disjunctively. Thou
shalt heap coals of fire on his head; that is, “Thou shalt either,”
1. “Melt him into repentance and friendship, and mollify his spirit
towards thee” (alluding to those who melt metals; they not only put
fire under them, but heap fire upon them; thus Saul was melted and
conquered with the kindness of David,
“thou wilt win a friend by it, and if thy kindness have not that effect
then,”
2. “It will aggravate his condemnation, and make his malice against
thee the more inexcusable. Thou wilt hereby hasten upon him the tokens
of God’s wrath and vengeance.” Not that this must be our intention in
showing him kindness, but, for our encouragement, such will be the
effect. To this purpose is the exhortation in the last verse, which
suggests a paradox not easily understood by the world, that in all
matters of strife and contention those that revenge are the conquered,
and those that forgive are the conquerors.
(1.) “Be not overcome of evil. Let not the evil of any
provocation that is given you have such a power over you, or make such
an impression upon you, as to dispossess you of yourselves, to disturb
your peace, to destroy your love, to ruffle and discompose your
spirits, to transport you to any indecencies, or to bring you to study
or attempt any revenge.” He that cannot quietly bear an injury is
perfectly conquered by it.
(2.) “But overcome evil with good, with the good of patience and
forbearance, nay, and of kindness and beneficence to those that wrong
you. Learn to defeat their ill designs against you, and either to
change them, or at least to preserve your own peace.” He that hath this
rule over his spirit is better than the mighty.
3. To conclude, there remain two exhortations yet untouched, which are
general, and which recommend all the rest as good in themselves, and of
good report.
(1.) As good in themselves
(v. 9):
Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. God hath
shown us what is good: these Christian duties are enjoined; and that is
evil which is opposite to them. Now observe,
[1.] We must not only not do evil, but we must abhor that which is
evil. We must hate sin with an utter and irreconcilable hatred,
have an antipathy to it as the worst of evils, contrary to our new
nature, and to our true interest–hating all the appearances of sin,
even the garment spotted with the flesh.
[2.] We must not only do that which is good, but we must cleave to it.
It denotes a deliberate choice of, a sincere affection for, and a
constant perseverance in, that which is good. “So cleave to it as not
to be allured nor affrighted from it, cleave to him that is
good, even to the Lord
(Acts xi. 23),
with a dependence and acquiescence.” It is subjoined to the precept of
brotherly love, as directive of it; we must love our brethren, but not
love them so much as for their sakes to commit any sin, or omit any
duty; not think the better of any sin for the sake of the person that
commits it, but forsake all the friends in the world, to cleave to God
and duty.
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