The True Application of Christian Doctrines.
I. Jesus came, first, to teach men of God. Without this knowledge man can never understand himself, either as to his nature, his duties, or his possibilities. Jesus taught men, (1) that God is Spirit, (2) that man is spirit also, (3) that between us and God is the relationship of child to parent, for He revealed unto human kind the Fatherhood of Deity.
II. Jesus gave great instruction touching the destiny of man. The doctrine of immortality had many disciples before He came. But it is none the less true that Jesus brought life and immortality to light. He brought life to light because He put a proper definition on it. And by Himself living rightly, the first man that had ever done it, he showed all men what life was and what it meant. He brought immortality to light in His resurrection from the grave. His descent to, and His ascent from, the place of the dead, demonstrated that the living die not at all; demonstrated that the body is one thing and the life within another; demonstrated that the flesh alone is corruptible, but that the spirit is beyond touch or taint of mortality.
III. There is very little speculation among people touching the teachings of Jesus, and the reason is, because His teachings are too plain to leave anything in doubt; and where there is no doubt there can be no speculation. What Paul meant you can speculate about; for Paul saw things as through a glass, darkly. But what Jesus meant you cannot speculate about, for He saw the truth face to face, and His statements are transparent. All, therefore, that remains for us to do, touching the teachings of Jesus, is to apply them to the government of our lives. The teachings of the Master are, therefore, practical; and they are of actual service to you and me, provided that we have a desire to live rightly; and this living rightly includes both our treatment of ourselves and our treatment of others. If you read the sayings of Jesus, you will find that He had an exalted opinion of man. Other men in His name have spoken meanly of man. Jesus never spoke meanly of him. He always graded men up, never down. He could see in man not only something worth saving, but something that was so valuable that it justified Him in dying to save it. Contemplate Calvary in the light which it throws upon yourself. If you are what it reveals you to be, how nobly you should live.
W. H. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit,p. 246.
References: Mark 12:31, R. Duckworth, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xviii., p. 193; R. Lee, Sermons,p. 228; J. H. Thom, Laws of Life after the Mind of Christ,2nd series, p. 300.