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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
R O M A N S.
CHAP. XIII.
There are three good lessons taught us in this chapter, where the
apostle enlarges more upon his precepts than he had done in the
foregoing chapter, finding them more needful to be fully pressed.
I. A lesson of subjection to lawful authority,
II. A lesson of justice and love to our brethren,
III. A lesson of sobriety and godliness in ourselves,
| Obedience to Magistrates Enforced. | A. D. 58. |
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1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there
is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good,
and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou
do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in
vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but
also for conscience sake.
6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s
ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
We are here taught how to conduct ourselves towards magistrates, and
those that are in authority over us, called here the higher
powers, intimating their authority (they are powers), and their
dignity (they are higher powers), including not only the king as
supreme, but all inferior magistrates under him: and yet it is
expressed, not by the persons that are in that power, but the place of
power itself, in which they are. However the persons themselves may be
wicked, and of those vile persons whom the citizen of Zion contemneth
(Ps. xv. 4),
yet the just power which they have must be submitted to and obeyed. The
apostle had taught us, in the foregoing chapter, not to avenge
ourselves, nor to recompense evil for evil; but, lest it should seem as
if this did cancel the ordinance of a civil magistracy among
Christians, he takes occasion to assert the necessity of it, and of the
due infliction of punishment upon evil doers, however it may look like
recompensing evil for evil. Observe,
I. The duty enjoined: Let every soul be subject. Every
soul–every person, one as well as another, not excluding the clergy,
who call themselves spiritual persons, however the church of Rome may
not only exempt such from subjection to the civil powers, but place
them in authority above them, making the greatest princes subject to
the pope, who thus exalteth himself above all that is called
God.–Every soul. Not that our consciences are to be subjected to
the will of any man. It is God’s prerogative to make laws immediately
to bind conscience, and we must render to God the things that are
God’s. But it intimates that our subjection must be free and voluntary,
sincere and hearty. Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought,
Eccl. x. 20.
To compass and imagine are treason begun. The subjection of soul here
required includes inward honour
and outward reverence and respect, both in speaking to them and in
speaking of them–obedience to their commands in things lawful and
honest, and in other things a patient subjection to the penalty without
resistance–a conformity in every thing to the place and duty of
subjects, bringing our minds to the relation and condition, and the
inferiority and subordination of it. “They are higher powers; be
content they should be so, and submit to them accordingly.” Now there
was good reason for the pressing of this duty of subjection to civil
magistrates,
1. Because of the reproach which the Christian religion lay under in
the world, as an enemy to public peace, order, and government, as a
sect that turned the world upside down, and the embracers of it as
enemies to Cæsar, and the more because the leaders were
Galileans–an old slander. Jerusalem was represented as a rebellious
city, hurtful to kings and provinces,
Ezra iv. 15, 16.
Our Lord Jesus was so reproached, though he told them his kingdom was
not of this world: no marvel, then, if his followers have been loaded
in all ages with the like calumnies, called factious, seditious,
and turbulent, and looked upon as the troublers of the land,
their enemies having found such representations needful for the
justifying of their barbarous rage against them. The apostle therefore,
for the obviating of this reproach and the clearing of Christianity
from it, shows that obedience to civil magistrates is one of the laws
of Christ, whose religion helps to make people good subjects; and it
was very unjust to charge upon Christianity that faction and rebellion
to which its principles and rules are so directly contrary.
2. Because of the temptation which the Christians lay under to be
otherwise affected to civil magistrates, some of them being originally
Jews, and so leavened with a principle that it was unmeet for any of
the seed of Abraham to be subject to one of another nation–their king
must be of their brethren,
Besides, Paul had taught them that they were not under the law,
they were made free by Christ. Lest this liberty should be turned into
licentiousness, and misconstrued to countenance faction and rebellion,
the apostle enjoins obedience to civil government, which was the more
necessary to be pressed now because the magistrates were heathens and
unbelievers, which yet did not destroy their civil power and authority.
Besides, the civil powers were persecuting powers; the body of the law
was against them.
II. The reasons to enforce this duty. Why must we be subject?
1. For wrath’s sake. Because of the danger we run ourselves into
by resistance. Magistrates bear the sword, and to oppose them is to
hazard all that is dear to us in this world; for it is to no purpose to
contend with him that bears the sword. The Christians were then in
those persecuting times obnoxious to the sword of the magistrate for
their religion, and they needed not make themselves more obnoxious by
their rebellion. The least show of resistance or sedition in a
Christian would soon be aggravated and improved, and would be very
prejudicial to the whole society; and therefore they had more need than
others to be exact in their subjection, that those who had so much
occasion against them in the matter of their God might have no other
occasion. To this head must that argument be referred
(v. 2),
Those that resist shall receive to themselves damnation:
krima lepsontai, they shall be called to an account for
it. God will reckon with them for it, because the resistance reflects
upon him. The magistrates will reckon with them for it. They will come
under the lash of the law, and will find the higher powers too high to
be trampled upon, all civil governments being justly strict and severe
against treason and rebellion; so it follows
(v. 3),
Rulers are a terror. This is a good argument, but it is low for
a Christian.
2. We must be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience’
sake; not so much formidine pœnæ–from the fear of
punishment, as virtutis amore–from the love of virtue. This
makes common civil offices acceptable to God, when they are done for
conscience’ sake, with an eye to God, to his providence putting
us into such relations, and to his precept making subjection the duty
of those relations. Thus the same thing may be done from a very
different principle. Now to oblige conscience to this subjection he
argues,
(1.) From the institution of magistracy: There is no power but of
God. God as the ruler and governor of the world hath appointed the
ordinance of magistracy, so that all civil power is derived from him as
from its original, and he hath by his providence put the administration
into those hands, whatever they are that have it. By him kings reign,
The usurpation of power and the abuse of power are not of God, for he
is not the author of sin; but the power itself is. As our natural
powers, though often abused and made instruments of sin, are from God’s
creating power, so civil powers are from God’s governing power. The
most unjust and oppressive princes in the world have no power but what
is given them from above
(John xix. 11),
the divine providence being in a special manner conversant about those
changes and revolutions of governments which have such an influence
upon states and kingdoms, and such a multitude of particular persons
and smaller communities. Or, it may be meant of government in general:
it is an instance of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness, in the
management of mankind, that he has disposed them into such a state as
distinguishes between governors and governed, and has not left them
like the fishes of the sea, where the greater devour the less. He did
herein consult the benefit of his creatures.–The powers that be:
whatever the particular form and method of government are–whether by
monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy–wherever the governing power is
lodged, it is an ordinance of God, and it is to be received and
submitted to accordingly; though immediately an ordinance of man
yet originally an ordinance of God.–Ordained of
God—tetagmenai; a military word, signifying not only
the ordination of magistrates, but the subordination of inferior
magistrates to the supreme, as in an army; for among magistrates there
is a diversity of gifts, and trusts, and services. Hence it follows
(v. 2)
that whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of
God. There are other things from God that are the greatest
calamities; but magistracy is from God as an ordinance, that is, it is
a great law, and it is a great blessing: so that the children of
Belial, that will not endure the yoke of government, will be found
breaking a law and despising a blessing. Magistrates are therefore
called gods
because they bear the image of God’s authority. And those who spurn at
their power reflect upon God himself. This is not at all applicable to
the particular rights of kings and kingdoms, and the branches of their
constitution; nor can any certain rule be fetched from this for the
modelling of the original contracts between the governors and governed;
but it is intended for direction to private persons in their private
capacity, to behave themselves quietly and peaceably in the sphere in
which God has set them, with a due regard to the civil powers which God
in his providence has set over them,
Magistrates are here again and again called God’s ministers. He is the
minister of God,
v. 4, 6.
Magistrates are in a more peculiar manner God’s servants; the dignity
they have calls for duty. Though they are lords to us, they are
servants to God, have work to do for him, and an account to render to
him. In the administration of public justice, the determining of
quarrels, the protecting of the innocent, the righting of the wronged,
the punishing of offenders, and the preserving of national peace and
order, that every man may not do what is right in his own eyes–in
these things it is that magistrates act as God’s ministers. As the
killing of an inferior magistrate, while he is actually doing his duty,
is accounted treason against the prince, so the resisting of any
magistrates in the discharge of these duties of their place is the
resisting of an ordinance of God.
(2.) From the intention of magistracy: Rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil, &c. Magistracy was designed to be,
[1.] A terror to evil works and evil workers. They bear the sword; not
only the sword of war, but the sword of justice. They are heirs of
restraint, to put offenders to shame; Laish wanted such,
Such is the power of sin and corruption that many will not be
restrained from the greatest enormities, and such as are most
pernicious to human society, by any regard to the law of God and nature
or the wrath to come; but only by the fear of temporal punishments,
which the wilfulness and perverseness of degenerate mankind have made
necessary. Hence it appears that laws with penalties for the lawless
and disobedient
must be constituted in Christian nations, and are agreeable with, and
not contradictory to, the gospel. When men are become such beasts, such
ravenous beasts, one to another, they must be dealt with accordingly,
taken and destroyed in terrorem–to deter others. The horse and
the mule must thus be held in with bit and bridle. In this work the
magistrate is the minister of God,
v. 4.
He acts as God’s agent, to whom vengeance belongs; and therefore must
take heed of infusing into his judgments any private personal
resentments of his own.–To execute wrath upon him that doeth
evil. In this the judicial processes of the most vigilant faithful
magistrates, though some faint resemblance and prelude of the judgments
of the great day, yet come far short of the judgment of God: they reach
only to the evil act, can execute wrath only on him that doeth
evil: but God’s judgment extends to the evil thought, and is a
discerner of the intents of the heart.–He beareth not the sword in
vain. It is not for nothing that God hath put such a power into the
magistrate’s hand; but it is intended for the restraining and
suppressing of disorders. And therefore, “If thou do that which is
evil, which falls under the cognizance and censure of the civil
magistrate, be afraid; for civil powers have quick eyes and long
arms.” It is a good thing when the punishment of malefactors is managed
as an ordinance of God, instituted and appointed by him. First,
As a holy God, that hates sin, against which, as it appears and puts up
its head, a public testimony is thus borne. Secondly, As King of
nations, and the God of peace and order, which are hereby preserved.
Thirdly, As the protector of the good, whose persons, families,
estates, and names, are by this means hedged about. Fourthly, As
one that desires not the eternal ruin of sinners, but by the punishment
of some would terrify others, and so prevent the like wickedness, that
others may hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Nay, it is
intended for a kindness to those that are punished, that by the
destruction of the flesh the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus.
[2.] A praise to those that do well. Those that keep in the way of
their duty shall have the commendation and protection of the civil
powers, to their credit and comfort. “Do that which is good
(v. 3),
and thou needest not be afraid of the power, which, though
terrible, reaches none but those that by their own sin make themselves
obnoxious to it; the fire burns only that which is combustible: nay,
thou shalt have praise of it.” This is the intention of magistracy, and
therefore we must, for conscience’ sake, be subject to it, as a
constitution designed for the public good, to which all private
interests must give way. But pity it is that ever this gracious
intention should be perverted, and that those who bear the sword, while
they countenance and connive at sin, should be a terror to those who do
well. But so it is, when the vilest men are exalted
and yet even then the blessing and benefit of a common protection, and
a face of government and order, are such that it is our duty in that
case rather to submit to persecution for well-doing, and to take it
patiently, than by any irregular and disorderly practices to attempt a
redress. Never did sovereign prince pervert the ends of government as
Nero did, and yet to him Paul appealed, and under him had the
protection of the law and the inferior magistrates more than once.
Better a bad government than none at all.
(3.) From our interest in it: “He is the minister of God to thee for
good. Thou hast the benefit and advantage of the government, and
therefore must do what thou canst to preserve it, and nothing to
disturb it.” Protection draws allegiance. If we have protection from
the government, we owe subjection to it; by upholding the government,
we keep up our own hedge. This subjection is likewise consented to by
the tribute we pay
(v. 6):
“For this cause pay you tribute, as a testimony of your
submission, and an acknowledgment that in conscience you think it to be
due. You do by paying taxes contribute your share to the support of the
power; if therefore you be not subject, you do but pull down with one
hand what you support with the other; and is that conscience?” “By your
paying tribute you not only own the magistrate’s authority, but the
blessing of that authority to yourselves, a sense of which you thereby
testify, giving him that as a recompence for the great pains he takes
in the government; for honour is a burden: and, if he do as he ought,
he is attending continually upon this very thing, for it is
enough to take up all a man’s thoughts and time, in consideration of
which fatigue, we pay tribute, and must be subject.”–Pay you
tribute, phorous seleite. He does not say, “You give
it as an alms,” but, “You pay it as a just debt, or lend it to be
repaid in all the blessings and advantages of public government, of
which you reap the benefit.” This is the lesson the apostle teaches,
and it becomes all Christians to learn and practise it, that the godly
in the land may be found (whatever others are) the quiet and the
peaceable in the land.
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7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute
is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to
whom honour.
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not
kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it
is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is
the fulfilling of the law.
We are here taught a lesson of justice and charity.
I. Of justice
(v. 7):
Render therefore to all their dues, especially to magistrates,
for this refers to what goes before; and likewise to all with whom we
have to do. To be just is to give to all their due, to give every body
his own. What we have we have as stewards; others have an interest in
it, and must have their dues. “Render to God his due in the first
place, to yourselves, to you families, your relations, to the
commonwealth, to the church, to the poor, to those that you have
dealings with in buying, selling, exchanging, &c. Render to all their
dues; and that readily and cheerfully, not tarrying till you are by law
compelled to it.” He specifies,
1. Due taxes: Tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom
custom. Most of the countries where the gospel was first preached
were subject at this time to the Roman yoke, and were made provinces of
the empire. He wrote this to the Romans, who, as they were rich, so
they were drained by taxes and impositions, to the just and honest
payment of which they are here pressed by the apostle. Some distinguish
between tribute and custom, understanding by the former constant
standing taxes, and by the latter those which were occasionally
required, both which are to be faithfully and conscientiously paid as
they become legally due. Our Lord was born when his mother went to be
taxed; and he enjoined the payment of tribute to Cæsar. Many, who
in other things seem to be just, yet make no conscience of this, but
pass it off with a false ill-favoured maxim, that it is no sin to cheat
the king, directly contrary to Paul’s rule, Tribute to whom tribute
is due.
2. Due respect: Fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. This
sums up the duty which we owe not only to magistrates, but to all
superiors, parents, masters, all that are over us in the Lord,
according to the fifth commandment: Honour thy father and
mother. Compare
You shall fear every man his mother and his father; not with a
fear of amazement, but a loving, reverent, respectful, obediential
fear. Where there is not this respect in the heart to our superiors, no
other duty will be paid aright.
3. Due payment of debts
(v. 8):
“Owe no man any thing; that is, do not continue in any one’s
debt, while you are able to pay it, further than by, at least, the
tacit consent of the person to whom you are indebted. Give every one
his own. Do not spend that upon yourselves, which you owe to others.”
The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again,
Ps. xxxvii. 21.
Many that are very sensible of the trouble think little of the sin of
being in debt.
II. Of charity: Owe no man any thing;
opheilete—you do owe no man any thing; so some
read it: “Whatever you owe to any relation, or to any with whom you
have to do, it is eminently summer up and included in this debt of
love. But to love one another, this is a debt that must be
always in the paying, and yet always owing.” Love is a debt. The law of
God and the interest of mankind make it so. It is not a thing which we
are left at liberty about, but it is enjoined us, as the principle and
summary of all duty owing one to another; for love is the fulfilling
of the law; not perfectly, but it is a good step towards it. It is
inclusive of all the duties of the second table, which he specifies,
v. 9,
and these suppose the love of God. See
If the love be sincere, it is accepted as the fulfilling of the
law. Surely we serve a good master, that has summed up all our duty
in one word, and that a short word and a sweet word–love, the
beauty and harmony of the universe. Loving and being loved is all the
pleasure, joy, and happiness, of an intelligent being. God is
love
and love is his image upon the soul: where it is, the soul is well
moulded, and the heart fitted for every good work. Now, to prove that
love is the fulfilling of the law, he gives us,
1. An induction of particular precepts,
v. 9.
He specifies the last five of the ten commandments, which he observes
to be all summed up in this royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself–with an as of quality, not of equality–“with
the same sincerity that thou lovest thyself, though not in the same
measure and degree.” He that loves his neighbour as himself will be
desirous of the welfare of his neighbour’s body, goods, and good name,
as of his own. On this is built that golden rule of doing as we would
be done by. Were there no restraints of human laws in these things, no
punishments incurred (which the malignity of human nature hath made
necessary), the law of love would of itself be effectual to prevent all
such wrongs and injuries, and to keep peace and good order among us. In
the enumeration of these commandments, the apostle puts the seventh
before the sixth, and mentions this first, Thou shalt not commit
adultery; for though this commonly goes under the name of love
(pity it is that so good a word should be so abused) yet it is really
as great a violation of it as killing and stealing is, which shows that
true brotherly love is love to the souls of our brethren in the first
place. He that tempts others to sin, and defiles their minds and
consciences, though he may pretend the most passionate love
does really hate them, just as the devil does, who wars against the
soul.
2. A general rule concerning the nature of brotherly love: Love
worketh no ill
(v. 10)–
he that walks in love, that is actuated and governed by a principle of
love, worketh no ill; he neither practises nor contrives any ill
to his neighbour, to any one that he has any thing to do with:
ouk ergazetai. The projecting of evil is in effect the
performing of it. Hence devising iniquity is called working evil
upon the bed,
Love intends and designs no ill to any body, is utterly against the
doing of that which may turn to the prejudice, offence, or grief of
any. It worketh no ill; that is, it prohibits the working of any
ill: more is implied than is expressed; it not only worketh no ill, but
it worketh all the good that may be, deviseth liberal things. For it is
a sin not only to devise evil against thy neighbour, but to withhold
good from those to whom it is due; both are forbidden together,
This proves that love is the fulfilling of the law, answers all the end
of it; for what else is that but to restrain us from evil-doing, and to
constrain us to well-doing? Love is a living active principle of
obedience to the whole law. The whole law is written in the heart, if
the law of love be there.
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11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to
awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore
cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of
light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and
envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision
for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
We are here taught a lesson of sobriety and godliness in ourselves. Our
main care must be to look to ourselves. Four things we are here taught,
as a Christian’s directory for his day’s work: when to awake, how to
dress ourselves, how to walk, and what provision to make.
I. When to awake: Now it is high time to awake
(v. 11),
to awake out of the sleep of sin (for a sinful condition is a sleeping
condition), out of the sleep of carnal security, sloth and negligence,
out of the sleep of spiritual death, and out of the sleep of spiritual
deadness; both the wise and foolish virgins slumbered and slept,
We have need to be often excited and stirred up to awake. The word of
command to all Christ’s disciples is, Watch. “Awake–be
concerned about your souls and your eternal interest; take heed of sin,
be ready to, and serious in, that which is good, and live in a constant
expectation of the coming of our Lord. Considering,”
1. “The time we are cast into: Knowing the time. Consider what
time of day it is with us, and you will see it is high time to awake.
It is gospel time, it is the accepted time, it is working time; it is a
time when more is expected than was in the times of that ignorance
which God winked at, when people sat in darkness. It is high time to
awake; for the sun has been up a great while, and shines in our faces.
Have we this light to sleep in? See
It is high time to awake; for others are awake and up about us. Know
the time to be a busy time; we have a great deal of work to do, and our
Master is calling us to it again and again. Know the time to be a
perilous time. We are in the midst of enemies and snares. It is high
time to awake, for the Philistines are upon us; our neighbour’s house
is on fire, and our own in danger. It is time to awake, for we have
slept enough
(1 Pet. iv. 3),
high time indeed, for behold the bridegroom cometh.”
2. “The salvation we are upon the brink of: Now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed–than when we first believed, and so
took upon us the profession of Christianity. The eternal happiness we
chose for our portion is now nearer to us than it was when we became
Christians. Let us mind our way and mend our pace, for we are now
nearer our journey’s end than we were when we had our first love. The
nearer we are to our centre the quicker should our motion be. Is there
but a step between us and heaven, and shall we be so very slow and dull
in our Christian course, and move so heavily? The more the days are
shortened, and the more grace is increased, the nearer is our
salvation, and the more quick and vigorous we should be in our
spiritual motions.”
II. How to dress ourselves. This is the next care, when we are awake
and up: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand; therefore
it is time to dress ourselves. Clearer discoveries will be quickly made
of gospel grace than have been yet made, as light gets ground. The
night of Jewish rage and cruelty is just at an end; their persecuting
power is near a period; the day of our deliverance from them is at
hand, that day of redemption which Christ promised,
And the day of our complete salvation, in the heavenly glory, is at
hand. Observe then,”
1. “What we must put off; put off our night-clothes, which it is a
shame to appear abroad in: Cast off the works of darkness.”
Sinful works are works of darkness; they come from the darkness of
ignorance and mistake, they covet the darkness of privacy and
concealment, and they end in the darkness of hell and destruction. “Let
us therefore, who are of the day, cast them off; not only cease from
the practice of them, but detest and abhor them, and have no more to do
with them. Because eternity is just at the door, let us take heed lest
we be found doing that which will then make against us,”
2. “What we must put on.” Our care must be wherewithal we shall be
clothed, how shall we dress our souls?
(1.) Put on the armour of light. Christians are soldiers in the
midst of enemies, and their life a warfare, therefore their array must
be armour, that they may stand upon their defence–the armour of
God, to which we are directed,
&c. A Christian may reckon himself undressed if he be unarmed. The
graces of the Spirit are this armour, to secure the soul from Satan’s
temptations and the assaults of this present evil world. This is called
the armour of light, some think alluding to the bright glittering
armour which the Roman soldiers used to wear; or such armour as it
becomes us to wear in the day-light. The graces of the Spirit are
suitable splendid ornaments, are in the sight of God of great price.
(2.) Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
v. 14.
This stands in opposition to a great many base lusts, mentioned
Rioting and drunkenness must be cast off: one would think it
should follows, but, “Put on sobriety, temperance, chastity,” the
opposite virtues: no, “Put on Christ, this includes all. Put on
the righteousness of Christ for justification; be found in him
as a man is found in his clothes; put on the priestly garments of the
elder brother, that in them you may obtain the blessing. Put on the
spirit and grace of Christ for sanctification; put on the new
man
(Eph. iv. 24);
get the habit of grace confirmed, the acts of it quickened.” Jesus
Christ is the best clothing for Christians to adorn themselves with, to
arm themselves with; it is decent, distinguishing, dignifying, and
defending. Without Christ, we are naked, deformed; all other things are
filthy rages, fig-leaves, a sorry shelter. God has provided us coats of
skins–large, strong, warm, and durable. By baptism we have in
profession put on Christ,
Let us do it in truth and sincerity. The Lord Jesus Christ. “Put
him on as Lord to rule you, as Jesus to save you, and in both as
Christ, anointed and appointed by the Father to this ruling saving
work.”
III. How to walk. When we are up and dressed, we are not to sit still
in an affected closeness and privacy, as monks and hermits. What have
we good clothes for, but to appear abroad in them?–Let us walk.
Christianity teaches us how to walk so as to please God, whose eye is
upon us:
Walk honestly as in the day. Compare
Walk as children of light. Our conversation must be as becomes
the gospel. Walk honestly;
euschemonos—decently and becomingly, so as to
credit your profession, and to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour,
and recommend religion in its beauty to others. Christians should be in
a special manner careful to conduct themselves well in those things
wherein men have an eye upon them, and to study that which is lovely
and of good report. Particularly, here are three pairs of sins we are
cautioned against:–
1. We must not walk in rioting and drunkenness; we must abstain
from all excess in eating and drinking. We must not give the least
countenance to revelling, nor indulge our sensual appetite in any
private excesses. Christians must not overcharge their hearts with
surfeiting and drunkenness,
This is not walking as in the day; for those that are drunk are
drunk in the night,
1 Thess. v. 7.
2. Not in chambering and wantonness; not in any of those lusts
of the flesh, those works of darkness, which are forbidden in the
seventh commandment. Downright adultery and fornication are the
chambering forbidden. Lascivious thoughts and affections, lascivious
looks, words, books, sons, gestures, dances, dalliances, which lead to,
and are degrees of, that uncleanness, are the wantonness here
forbidden–whatsoever transgresseth the pure and sacred law of chastity
and modesty.
3. Not in strife and envying. These are also works of darkness;
for, though the acts and instances of strife and envy are very common,
yet none are willing to own the principles, or to acknowledge
themselves envious and contentious. It may be the lot of the best
saints to be envied and striven with; but to strive and to envy ill
becomes the disciples and followers of the peaceable and humble Jesus.
Where there are riot and drunkenness, there usually are chambering and
wantonness, and strife and envy. Solomon puts them all together,
&c. Those that tarry long at the wine
(v. 30)
have contentions and wounds without cause
(v. 29)
and their eyes behold strange women,
IV. What provision to make
(v. 14):
“Make not provision for the flesh. Be not careful about the
body.” Our great care must be to provide for our souls; but must we
take no care about our bodies? Must we not provide for them, when they
need it? Yes, but two things are here forbidden:–
1. Perplexing ourselves with an inordinate care, intimated in these
words, pronoian me poieisthe. “Be not solicitous in
forecasting for the body; do not stretch your wits, nor set your
thoughts upon the tenter-hooks, in making this provision; be not
careful and cumbered about it; do not take thought,”
It forbids an anxious encumbering care.
2. Indulging ourselves in an irregular desire. We are not forbidden
barely to provide for the body (it is a lamp that must be supplied with
oil), but we are forbidden to fulfil the lusts thereof. The necessities
of the body must be considered, but the lusts of it must not be
gratified. Natural desires must be answered, but wanton appetites must
be checked and denied. To ask meat for our necessities is duty: we are
taught to pray for daily bread; but to ask meat for our lusts is
provoking,
Those who profess to walk in the spirit must not fulfil the lusts of
the flesh,
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