And now, brethren, I commend you to God.
St. Paul’s last advice to the Ephesian elders; or, a minister’s last counsel to his people
I. The apostle’s commendation.
1. The term “commend” is not unfrequently employed when we speak of any person in the way of praise or approbation; but this clearly is not the meaning of the word in this place. The apostle employs it to signify committing or entrusting, as when we commit any thing or person to another’s care; and perhaps in the sense of recommending or advising, as when we recommend or advise a person to pursue a certain line of conduct. To what and to whom he commends them--
(1) “To God.” The apostle commits his friends to the Almighty Governor of the world, the special Protector of the Church militant on earth, who, he knew, was ever ready to take charge of them, and to sustain and support them in all dangers and adversities. He was obliged to leave them; but the unslumbering eye of Providence was still over them.
(2) “To the word of God’s grace.” The expression, in this part of the text, considered in connection with what follows, is a little singular, and has given occasion to some slight difference of opinion. By the “word” some have understood the Lord Jesus Christ, who is emphatically styled the “Word.” Supposing this to be a legitimate interpretation, the apostle here commends the Ephesian elders more particularly to the Saviour, whose servants they were, and in whose holy cause they were engaged. Others, however, understand from this expression the gospel of Christ; that word of God’s grace which brings the knowledge of redemption, and contains tidings of Christ as the Saviour. Put your trust, not only in the power and providence of God, but also in the promises and assurances of His word.
II. The object here proposed by the apostle with reference to his friends. This we gather from the words, “Which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Here, again, it is proper to observe that learned commentators are not agreed as to whether the apostle refers, in this part of the text, to the word “God” in the former part, or to the “word of His grace,” which stands in immediate connection with it. Happily, the difference is not very material in a practical point of view. Assuming the antecedent to be “God,” the truth of the sentiment, that He is able to build up His people, and give them an inheritance among the sanctified, is obvious. The same observation will apply, if the “Word,” as understood of Christ, be taken for the antecedent. Nor, if we understand it to be the “word of God’s grace,” or “the gospel,” is there any obscurity in the passage, or any truth involved at all inconsistent with the former supposition. For, when it is said of the word of the Gospel, that it is able to do for us what the apostle here describes, it is spoken of only as the instrument in the hands of God, whose word it is, and who is Himself the secret and almighty Worker under it. It should ever be borne in mind, that a Divine efficacy is not ascribed to the gospel separate and apart from Divine influence.
1. It is “able to build you up.” It is plain, then, that one part of his object, in commending his Ephesian fellow labourers to the word of the gospel of grace, was their edification. If they looked to this word, and drew their instructions and supports from its holy revelations, it would “build them up.” The Church of Christ is figuratively styled “God’s building”; and each true member is himself a “temple of God,” the “temple of the Holy Ghost.” But we require to be “built up,” and established in the faith.
2. It is “able to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” From this it is plain that the apostle aimed also at the future glorification of his friends in a brighter world. But how does it appear that the word of the gospel of Christ is able to confer upon the saints this glorious possession? The knowledge of this possession is imparted to the Church of God solely by the word or gospel of grace, which, we are told, has “brought life and immortality to light.” Moreover, by that word of grace, as the ordinary channel, the Spirit of Divine illumination is communicated. But, with reference to this glorious possession, one or two points may be briefly noticed.
(1) The kingdom of glory, in the heavenly world, is to be regarded by the faithful as their promised inheritance, to which they are the rightful heirs: it is an inheritance like that of the Israelites in Canaan.
(2) This inheritance is entailed upon none but those who belong to the number of the saints. I would make two or three short inferential remarks.
We may learn from its--
1. How immeasurably superior is the gospel of Jesus Christ to all other systems of religion. Suppose the apostle, when taking leave of the Ephesian elders, had met them for the last time merely as a teacher of pagan superstitions, or as a moral philosopher unacquainted with the discoveries of Divine revelation, what probably would have been the nature of his address to his friends in the prospect of separation? Could he have commended them with the same confidence to the Divine Protector of the universe? Could he have cheered them with the view of a future glorious inheritance?
2. How important is an intimate acquaintance with the gospel to every member of the Church of Christ.
3. How substantial and enduring is the friendship subsisting among those whose union and intercourse are based on genuine religion. (J. S. Jaques.)
Paul’s farewell discourse at Ephesus
I. Here is an endearing appellation which he gives them, “Brethren.” His gifts were, no doubt, far greater than theirs; and so was his office, being an extraordinary minister, an apostle of the Gentiles; and his usefulness abundantly exceeded theirs. Yet he does not treat them with a haughty and assuming air, but puts himself upon a level with them, and calls them brethren. Thus imitating his Lord and master; who, being of the same nature with us, is not ashamed to call us brethren, though He Himself is Lord of all.
II. Here is an instance of his regard unto them and affection for them; which appears in commending them to God, and to the word of His grace. We are not to suppose that, in this condemnation, the apostle intends the elders only, but the Church also. These were addressed, as being officers and representatives of the Church, and as men capable of delivering to it, what the apostle should say to them. There are three things to be considered in this commendation.
1. The persons to whom the brethren are commended: that is, “God, and the word of His grace.”
(1) They are commended to God; by whom is meant God the Father. The apostle, in commending them to Him, commends them to His grace, wisdom, and power. To His grace; to supply their need; to fit them for every duty He shall call them to, and for every trial He shall exercise them with. They are also commended to His wisdom, to counsel and direct them in all their ways. Likewise, the saints are commended to the power of God, to keep and preserve them. For it is by that alone they are kept; being weak and liable to daily backslidings. They, therefore, should commit themselves to Him, who is able to keep them from falling, and to present them faultless before the throne of His glory with exceeding joy.
(2) The apostle commandeth them to the word of Divine grace. By which I understand, not the gospel, or the written Word, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who is frequently in Scripture called λόγος, or the Word.
(a) Because the saints never commend themselves, or others, either in life or death, to any but a Divine Person. The word signifies the committing a person or thing to the care, charge, and protection of another. Now, none but a Divine Person is capable of taking the care and charge of the saints, neither will the saints trust any other.
(b) Because to put the written Word upon a level of the Divine Being does not appear agreeable. A commendation of the saints, equally to the written Word, as to God Himself seems to be a lessening of His glory, and ascribing too much to the written Word; but suits well with Christ, the essential Word, who, being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God.
(c) Because, never in the whole book of Scripture, as far as I have observed, are the saints commended to the gospel; but rather that to them (see 2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Timothy 1:11-18; 1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:14; 2 Timothy 2:2).
(d) Because what is here ascribed unto it suits better with Christ than with the gospel, viz., which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance, etc. Taking this to be the sense of the words, it will be proper to inquire these two things. Why Christ is called the Word: and why the Word of God’s grace.
1. Why He is called the Word.
(1) Because He spake for His people in the council of peace; and covenanted with His Father on their account.
(2) He is called the Word because He spake all things out of nothing, in the first creation.
(3) Because He is to us the interpreter of the Father’s mind; like as our words, or speech, is the interpreter of our minds.
(4) He is the Word, who now speaks for us in the court of heaven.
2. Why is He called the Word of God’s grace?
(1) Because in Him is highly displayed and revealed His Father’s grace to poor sinners.
(2) Because in Him it hath pleased the Father that all fulness of grace should dwell.
2. The act itself of commending them, which signifies to commit to the care, keeping and protection of another; depending upon his ability and fidelity. Thus the apostle must be supposed to commit the saints to the care and protection of God the Father and of God the Son, being well assured of the ability and fidelity of them both. And his commending them to both not only shows the equal esteem and regard he had for them, but also the greatness of his concern for the brethren here.
III. The motives which induced the apostle to commend the saints into the hands of those Divine persons.
1. Because He is able to build them up. Ministers are instruments in building up of saints. They ministerially lay the foundation, Christ. He is the chief Architect; and, except He, the Lord, build the house, they labour in vain that build it. The work is His. He only having begun the work, is able to finish it: and He will do it. We may be confident of it; for He is both the Author and Finisher of faith.
2. Another reason why the apostle commends the saints, not only to God, but also to the Word of His grace is because He is able to give them an inheritance among them that are sanctified.
(1) The inheritance which Christ gives. This is the heavenly glory.
(2) The persons among whom it lies. These are all them that are sanctified: which at once points out the persons to whom it belongs, and discovers the excellency of it. The persons to whom it belongs are all those that are sanctified--that is, who are set apart by Divine grace, and distinguished from others, by a sovereign act of love, for the enjoyment of this blessing. Or else by sanctified ones are meant such as are sanctified by the Spirit of God; have a principle of grace wrought in them: and are enabled by faith to deal with Christ for sanctification as well as righteousness. For much of a believer’s holiness lies in faith’s acting and living upon, dealing with, and receiving from Christ, grace for grace; and, therefore, in another text this inheritance is said to be among “them which are sanctified by faith, that is in Me.”
Conclusion:
1. Hence it appears to whom souls should make application in their time of need; that is, to God, and to the word of His grace.
2. This evidently shows that those ministers have the greatest concern for souls who commend them to God, and to the word of His grace; who direct them to Christ and His fulness, and not to their own works or frames, but to the grace that is in Him.
3. It is also manifest that such commendations and directions as these are likely to meet with most success.
4. Let us adore boundless grace, that we have the God of all grace and the word of grace to apply to, and that we have any reason to believe that these Divine persons have taken the care and charge of us: we having been enabled, by an act of faith, to commit ourselves to them; believing that they are “able to build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.” (John Gill, D. D.)
Partying words
The apostle was leaving, as he supposed, for the last time, the representatives of the Church in Ephesus, to whom he had been painting in very sombre colours the dangers of the future and his own forebodings and warnings. They were set in the midst of a focus of heathen superstition, from which themselves had only recently been rescued. Their knowledge was little, they had no apostolic teacher to be present with them; they were left alone there to battle with the evils of that corrupt society in which they dwelt. And yet Paul leaves them--“sheep in the midst of wolves,” with a very imperfect Christianity, with no Bible, with no teachers--in the sure confidence that no harm will come to them, because God is with them, and the “word of His grace” is enough.
I. The one source of security and enlightenment for the Church and for the individual. What is in the apostle’s mind here is the objective revelation, the actual spoken word (not yet written) which had its origin in God’s condescending love, and had for its contents, mainly, the setting forth of that love. Or, to put it in other words, the revelation of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, with all the great truths that cluster round and are evolved from it, is the all-sufficient source of enlightenment and security for individuals and for churches. And whosoever will rightly use and faithfully keep that great Word, no evil shall befall him, nor shall he ever make shipwreck of the faith. It is “able to build you up,” says Paul. In God’s gospel, in the truth concerning Jesus Christ the Divine Redeemer, in the principles that flow from that Cross and passion, and that risen life and that ascended Saviour, there is all that men need, all that they want for life, all that they want for godliness. “I commend you to God and the word of His grace,” which is a storehouse full of all that we need for life and for godliness. Whoever has that is like a man that has got a quarry on his estate, out of which at will he can dig stones to build his house. If you truly possess and faithfully adhere to this gospel, you have enough. Remember, these people to whom Paul thus spoke had no New Testament, and half of them, I dare say, could not read the Old. There were no written Gospels in existence. It was to the spoken word that he commended them. How much more securely may we trust one another to that permanent record of the Divine revelation which we have here on the pages of Scripture! As for the individual, so for the Church, that written Word is the guarantee for its purity and immortality. Christianity is the only religion that has ever passed through periods of decadence and purified itself again. They used to say that Thames water was the best to put on shipboard, because, after it went putrid, it cleared itself and became sweet again. I do not know anything about whether that is true or not, but I know that it is true about Christianity. Over and over again it has rotted, and over and over again it has cleared itself; and it has always been by the one process. Men have gone back to the Word and laid hold again of it in its simple omnipotence. And so a decadent Christianity has sprung up again into purity and power.
II. The possible benefit or the silencing of the human voice. Paul puts together his absence and the power of the Word. “Now I know that you will see my face no more”--“I commend you to God.” That is to say, it is often a good thing that the voice of man may be hushed in order that the sweeter and deeper music of the Word of God, sounding from no human lips, may reach our hearts. The human ministration of the Divine Word, like every other help to know God, may become a hindrance instead of a help; and in all such helps there is a tendency, unless there be continual jealous watchfulness on the part of those who use them, to assert themselves instead of leading to God, and to become not mirrors in which we may behold God, but obscuring media which come between us and Him. This danger belongs to the great ordinance and office of the Christian ministry, large as its blessings are, just as it belongs to all other offices, which are appointed for the purpose of bringing men to God. We may make them ladders or we may make them barriers, we may climb by them or we may remain in them. We may look at the colours on the painted glass until we do not see or think of the light which strikes through the colours. So it is often a good thing that the human voice, that speaks the Divine Word, should be silenced; just as it is often a good thing that other helps and props should be taken away. No man ever leans all his weight upon God’s arm until every other crutch on which he used to lean has been knocked from him.
III. The best expression of Christian solicitude and affection. “I commend you,” says Paul, “to God, and to the word of His grace.” If we may venture upon a very literal translation of the word it is, “I lay you down beside God.” That is beautiful, is it not? Here had Paul been carrying the Ephesian Church on his back for a long time now. He had many cares about them, many forebodings as to their future, knowing very well that after his departure, grievous wolves were going to enter in. He says, “I cannot carry the load any longer; here I lay it down at the Throne, beneath those pure eyes, and that gentle and strong hand.” For to commend them to God is in fact a prayer casting the care which Paul could no longer exercise upon Him. And that is the highest expression of, as it is the only soothing for, manly Christian solicitude and affection.
IV. The parting counsels involved in the commendation.
1. “Cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart,” as the limpet does to the rock. Cling to Jesus Christ, the revelation of God’s grace. And how do we cling to Him? What is the cement of souls? Love and trust; and whoever exercises these in reference to Jesus Christ is built into Him, and belongs to Him, and has a vital unity knitting him with that Lord.
2. Cleave to “the word of His grace.” Try to understand its principles better; study your Bibles with more earnestness; believe more fully than you have ever done that in that great gospel there lies every truth that we need, and guidance in all circumstances. Bring the principles of Christianity into your daily life; walk by the light of them; and live in the radiance of a present God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The pastor’s farewell
It is to be observed from these words--
I. That sanctity is no enemy to civility. The apostle being about to leave them, doth not abruptly turn his back upon them. “And now, brethren.” Some think that good works and good manners are inconsistent; but though Christianity pare off the luxuriant branches of courtesy, yet it doth not root it up. Civil language and a courteous carriage are, though no part of, yet an ornament to, Christianity. The holy apostle spendeth the greatest part of a chapter in courteous salutations, which he would not have done had it been either unlawful or unnecessary.
II. That grace will turn civil courtesy into serious Christianity. The apostle does not take a bare civil farewell of them, according to the custom of most men, but solemnly takes his leave of them by commending them to the blessed God. Wicked men debase actions that are sacred, and godly men advance actions that are civil. As the iron mine gives a tincture and relish of its own nature to all the waters which run through it, making them thereby more salubrious to our bodies; so grace gives a savour and taste of its own nature and property to all actions, and thereby makes them more healthful to our souls. It sanctifieth our very salutes (Romans 16:16).
III. That all Christians are brethren. Saints are all linked together in the bond of brotherhood. They are brethren if we consider--
1. Their relations; they have all the same Father, God (2 Corinthians 6:18). They are not only adopted, but regenerated, by the same God (John 1:12; James 1:21). They are all children of the same mother (Galatians 4:26). They suck the same breasts (Isaiah 66:11; 1 Peter 2:2); wear the same garments, and as they grow up, feed at the same table, and shall dwell together in the same house forever.
2. Their affection. The curtains of the tabernacle were joined together with loops, and so are true Christians with love; they love as brethren, seeking the good and welfare of each other. A saint’s talents are not an enclosure for his private profit, but a common for the advantage of others (Psalms 122:8). Every saint is a great merchant, who hath his factors in all parts of the world, trading for him at the throne of grace. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)
A faithful minister’s commendation of the people of God
I. The ground of their hope.
1. He commends them to God.
(1) To His providential agency.
(2) To His attributes as engaged for their welfare--to the wisdom of God, for direction; to the power of God, for defence; to the goodness and mercy of God, for comfort; to the all-sufficiency of God, for all exigencies; to the truth of God as the ground of confidence.
2. He commends them to the word of His grace, so called because--
(1) It originates in His grace.
(2) It records His grace.
(3) It is the instrument of His grace.
II. The extent of their privileges. “Which is able to build you up.” The word of God’s grace is given to instruct the ignorant--reclaim the wanderer--comfort the mourner--arouse the careless--confirm the wavering--and edify the Christian. The words here:--
1. Imply the commencement of a work. When we speak of building up, it naturally supposes a foundation is laid and a work begun. This is the case with every true Christian. In the work of conviction, the rubbish is taken away, all views of obtaining salvation by human merit are renounced. Christ is cordially embraced as all our salvation.
2. Insure its continuance. Christians are built up in--
(1) Knowledge.
(2) Faith (Jude 1:20).
(3) Love.
(4) Holiness.
III. The sublimity of their destinies. Notice here:--
1. The state of happiness expressed. “An inheritance.”
(1) It is a rich inheritance.
(2) It is a purchased inheritance--bought by the precious blood of Christ.
(3) It is reserved. Ready prepared for every believer.
(4) It is eternal.
2. The individuals who shall possess it. “Them which are sanctified.”
3. The mode of its conveyance. “To give you.” It is the free gift of God’s grace. (Ebenezer Temple.)
Commendation to God
I. How a minister can commend his brethren to God.
1. By prayer. As by preaching the minister commends God to his people’s acceptance, so by prayer he commends his people to God’s benediction. The apostle made prayer the Alpha and Omega, the preface and ending, of his epistles.
2. By faith. We commend our business to a friend when we cast on him the care of it, and trust him with it. Ministers commend their friends and affairs to God, by beseeching His favour towards them, and believing that He will be tender of them. Prayer is the key that openeth God’s treasury, but faith is the hand which takes His bounty. Prayer must have a promise, or else it is a vessel without a bottom; and that promise must have faith, or else the vessel lieth still, and cannot stir at all. When a full gale of faith fills the sails, then the vessel of prayer launcheth forth most hopefully, and returneth with its riches freight. He that prayeth for himself, and not for others, is fitly compared to a hedgehog, who laps himself within his own soft down, and turns his bristles to all the world beside. And he that prayeth for others without reliance on God through Christ for audience, works at the labour in vain, and, like Penelope, undoeth by night all that he wrought in the day. The truth is, we lie to God in prayer, if we do not rely on Him after prayer.
II. Why the pastor must commend his brethren to God. Because of--
1. God’s propriety in them. None so fit to take care of the child as its father. They are God’s by election; by redemption; by regeneration; by promise. Now, because they are His, therefore they go to Him for protection (Psalms 119:94), and therefore He affords them His special and gracious presence (Jeremiah 2:3).
2. The world’s enmity against them. They who have many and mighty enemies, surely want some faithful, able friend (John 17:14).
3. Their own impotency. Children which cannot go alone, need their mother’s helping hand. The strongest Christian is but a child, and except God hold him by his right hand, will every day get many falls and knocks. All our power for sacred performances is wholly from God (2 Corinthians 3:4). He must give us fresh supplies of His Spirit in every duty, or they cannot be rightly performed. The greatest fulness of a Christian is not the fulness of a fountain, but of a vessel, which, because always letting out, must be always taking in. The Christian’s disbursements are great and constant; therefore such must his incomes from God be, or he will quickly prove a bankrupt.
To proceed to the application of this point.
1. It informeth us of the piety of a true pastor. He commends his people to God; this is his character. When others curse their people, and commit them to the devil, he blesseth his parishioners, and commendeth them to God. The mouth of some indeed, like Rabshakeh’s, are full of railings, and their tongues are even black with blasphemies against God and His people; though their curses are but like false fire, which may flash a little, but will do no execution; but the faithful ministers of the gospel have learned other language--as they are blessed men, so they are blessing men.
2. It discovereth the great privilege of a gracious people. When they are deserted by man, they are commended to God.
III. What the pastor commends his brethren to.
1. To God’s special favour and affection. “I commend you to God.” The goodwill of God is such a lump of sugar as will sweeten the bitterest cup. His general love is like the ordinary beams of the sun, which convey light and heat for the refreshment of all the world. So the Lord is good to all; His mercy is over all His works; but His special love is like the beams of the sun united in a glass, which, passing by others, fires the object only. If a heathen could say, “I care not for those petty gods and demi-gods, so I can have but Jupiter’s goodwill”; surely a saint may say, I care not for men’s frowns, or devils’ fury, so I may obtain but the blessed God’s favour. This special favour is a pearl of such price, that it was bought with the blood of Christ, and none can beg a greater for themselves or others. Now to this God, in whose favour is life (Psalms 30:1-12), nay, whose loving kindness is better than life (Psalms 63:1-11), I commend you, and my prayer shall be, “God be merciful to you,” etc. (Psalms 67:1).
2. To His special care and protection. Angels are the Church’s guardians: “He shall give His angels charge over thee”; but God Himself is Captain of the saints’ lifeguard. He is Lord of hosts. He keepeth them diligently (Isaiah 27:4), and tenderly (Zechariah 2:8).
3. His universal benediction; to His blessings in all your undertakings and concernments; as to His grace to affect you in the midst of the world’s hatred, and to His power to protect you in the midst of all hardships, so to His presence to prosper you in all the works of your hands. The fruitfulness of the earth depends wholly upon the influence of heaven. If the sun withhold its heat, and the clouds their moisture, all things decay and wither. The success of all your actions depends on God’s benediction. If He deny His concurrence, nothing prospers (Psalms 127:1). It is said of David, that he prospered whithersoever Saul sent him (1 Chronicles 11:9); but what was the spring of the watch which caused all the wheels to move so regularly. For God was with him. It is His gracious presence alone which gives success to every enterprise. His blessing can turn not only water into wine, temporal mercies into spiritual benefits, but even poison into wholesome food, every stone thrown at you by your enemies into a precious stone. The scorching sun of persecution doth but ripen him for a glorious harvest.
4. For your further comfort, know that--
(1) God is the most able friend. To have a friend at court is a great courtesy, because such a one can command much; but what is it then to have God for your Friend, who can command all things? God is able to do more for you than you can ask or think. He is able to defend you from whatsoever is hurtful. A heathen asked a Jew how he and his countrymen could hope for any safety, “because,” saith he, “every one of you is a silly sheep compassed about with fifty wolves.” “Ay, but,” saith the Jew, “we are kept by such a Shepherd as can kill all those wolves when He pleaseth.”
(a) Are your dangers bodily? He can bear off those blows. No evil can arrest you without leave from this King. If afflictions be near, He will not be far off (Isaiah 43:2). If the Church be a burning bush, it will not be consumed, because God is in it.
(b) Are your fears spiritual? God is able to be your defence. The world is a slippery place, but He is able to keep you from falling (Jude 1:24). As He is able to defend you from what is hurtful, so to relieve you with what is needful. God’s estate is infinite, and therefore will bear a liberal provision for all His children.
2. He is the most loving Friend. Jonathan ventured far for David’s safety, and the reason was he loved him as his own soul. They who have God’s heart, are sure of His helping hand. God loves His people--
(1) As they are His eternal choice.
(2) As they are His own picture, like Him in grace and holiness. Men have loved others the more for resembling them in sin; God loves His children the more for resembling Him in sanctity.
(3) As they are His Son’s purchase. They which were so dearly bought, are not easily loathed.
(4) Above all the world besides. All others are dross; they are His gold. He loves them as His own Son (Joh 17:26-27). Hence it is that they are so happy who are committed to God’s keeping, because He is so loving a Guardian. All the while that His people suffer, He doth sympathise, and He will support them. As a tender Father He proportions the burden to the strength of His children’s back. He doth like a lutanist, who will not let the strings of his instrument be too slack, lest they mar the music, nor suffer them to be hard screwed up, lest they break. His love will set all His other attributes at work for His people’s good. His wisdom will contrive, His power will act, and His faithfulness will perform whatsoever He promiseth for the comfort of His Church, and all because He loveth them.
3. He is the most faithful Friend. He is constant in His love. Some are able, and loving also for a time; but their love, like a candle, though it burn a little in a close room and calm weather, is easily blown out by a stormy wind; but God is an everlasting Friend. His love, like the sun, can never be abated, much less extinguished, by the greatest tempest, but is always going forth in its full strength (Proverbs 17:17). When men are mutable, and appear all in changeable colours, use their friends as we do sundials, look no longer on them, nor regard them, than the sun shineth on them, “God is a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19); will be sure to mind the house that He hath built, and that most of all when it is out of repair and ready to fall. He is faithful to His promise (Joshua 23:14). God is usually better, but never in the least worse, than His word. His promise is equivalent to possession. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)
Commendation to God’s grace
It would be well for us in similar circumstances to follow Paul’s example. When we are in sorrow ourselves, let us lift our hearts to God; and when we know that others are in distress, then is the time to bespeak God’s favour for them. Especially is this true of those manifold partings from friends over which hangs the shadowy uncertainty that we may see their faces on earth no more. When, e.g., a lad leaves home, what can be more appropriate than this commendation? When again we tread the deck of the vessel, and are about to embrace for the last time the loved ones who are going to a foreign land, what can be more consoling to both than to whisper “I commend you to God,” etc.? When some dear friend is in deep waters, and we feel our impotence, what a relief to us, and what a benison to him, it is to be able to say, “I commend you,” etc. When Thomas M’Crie, the biographer of John Knox, was setting out as lad from his country home for Edinburgh University, his mother went with him for a portion of the way, and when at length they came to the place where they had to part, she took him into a field by the wayside, knelt down with him behind a stock of corn sheaves and fervently besought for him the blessing of the Lord. His son tells us that he never forgot that prayer; and that its influence for inspiration and strength was with him through life. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Commendation to the Word of God’s grace
I. To purify your affections. It is the usual pipe through which grace may be conveyed into the vessels of your hearts. The laws of men may reform your actions, but it is the gospel of God which can renew your affections. Some poets speak of musicians that by the force of their music can make stones leap into walls, and tame beasts, be they never so savage. The word of God’s grace will do much more--it will change the heart of stone into a heart of flesh; it will tame lions, and turn them into lambs (Isaiah 11:4-6).
II. To be the rule of your conduct.
1. It containeth not only promises for your consolation, but also precepts for your conversations; therefore it is called a royal law (James 2:8). A law, because it is to be the canon of our lives. A royal law, because given us by God, sovereign and dominion over all, and therefore power to command what He pleaseth. The gospel is a law of liberty, but not a law of licentiousness (James 1:25). It freeth us from the curse, but not from the commands, of the law. Look therefore to this royal law; expound it in your lives.
2. Let it be your rule for faith. The gospel is the only creed; he that believeth this is a true believer. As the Word--Christ--is the personal foundation, so the word of Christ is the doctrinal foundation for every Christian to build on (Ephesians 2:19-20).
3. Make it your rule for worship. To serve God according to your own inventions, or men’s prescriptions, is rebellion. As the moth eats out the garment, and the rust the iron, so doth an apocryphal worship in time eat out an evangelical worship (Matthew 15:7). All worship of God, without warrant, is like private coining money, high treason against the King of heaven (1 Kings 12:33). Till man can be his own maker, he may not be his own lawgiver (Isaiah 8:20).
4. In all things live by the gospel, and look to the gospel; let that be a light to your feet, and a lantern to your paths; keep the Word, and it will keep you, in an hour of temptation, from Binning, and in an hour of dissolution from sinking. The lawyer, in his doubts, consults with his Lyttleton or Coke; the physician prescribes by Galen or Hippocrates; the philosopher takes advice of his Aristotle; but the godly man must always take counsel of the gospel (Proverbs 4:26-27).
III. To be your buckler against opposition. The gospel is a magazine, out of which Christians may be furnished with spiritual weapons in their holy war against the kingdom of darkness.
1. It is a shield against evil principles (Matthew 22:29).
2. It is a shield against evil practices (Psalms 119:9).
3. Doth Satan assault you? (Ephesians 6:17) Use the gospel for your defence.
4. Is the world to you a place of thorns and briars? (2 Corinthians 10:4.) Get your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and ye may walk comfortably through it.
IV. To be your cordial in all afflictions. Seneca, going about to comfort his friend Polybius, persuades him to bear his affliction patiently, because he was Caesar’s favourite. The word of grace affords you infinitely richer cordials, exceeding rich and precious promises, wherein ye are admitted to be the friends of God, the members of Christ, the temples of the Spirit, and the heirs of heaven. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)
The gospel the word of God’s grace
The word “grace” is taken in Scripture--
1. For favour or goodwill (Colossians 1:2).
2. For the effects and fruits thereof (Jude 1:4). The gospel in both respects is fitly termed the word of His grace--
I. Because it containeth the infinite grace and favour of the most high God to sinners. The law speaks in effect man’s bottomless misery, but the gospel speaks God’s boundless mercy; the law is a court of justice, but the gospel a throne of grace. Grace sits as commander-in-chief in the gospel, and, as Ahasuerus to Esther, holdeth out the golden sceptre of mercy, for poor condemned persons to touch with the hand of faith, and live. The substance of God’s love to man was never laid open to the view of mortals till the gospel was preached. Before it ran as a river underground; but in the gospel it bursts forth and showeth itself, to refresh us with its pleasant streams. The law is, as it were, a warrant under Heaven’s hand and seal for man’s execution; but the gospel, like the dove, comes flying swiftly to prevent it, with the olive branch of peace and pardon in its mouth. Choosing grace (Ephesians 1:5), calling grace (2 Timothy 1:9), justifying grace (Romans 3:24), and glorifying grace (1 Peter 3:7), are all discovered in the gospel; and therefore it may well be called the word of His grace.
II. Because the gospel is the effect and fruit of God’s grace or goodwill to men. Philosophers observe that dew never falleth in stormy, tempestuous weather: the dropping of the dew of the gospel on parched, scorched hearts, is a sign and fruit of serene, calm heavens: That our parts of the world, like Gideon’s fleece, should be wet with this dew when other parts are dry, this is merely from grace (Amos 4:7). This rain of the gospel, which cooleth heat, melloweth the hearts, and cleanseth the unholy, goeth by coasts (Psalms 147:19-20).
III. Because the gospel is the usual means of begetting grace. As manna fell about the Israelites’ tents with the dew, so grace is distilled and dropped down with the gospel.
1. Many of the Jews heard the threatenings of the law, and were not moved, but the Baptist wins their children with the songs of Zion, the promises of the gospel. The ice which is hardened by the cold, is melted with the sun. When the murderers of our Saviour heard the gospel, they were pricked to the heart (Acts 2:37). The hard flint is broken upon the soft pillow.
2. The gospel is effectual, not only for conversion, but also for edification. “Which is able to build you up.” The gospel doth not only bring forth souls to Christ, but likewise builds up souls in Christ (1 Peter 2:2).
3. It can carry men to glory. “And to give you an inheritance.” It doth, like Moses, lead the saint out of Egypt, deliver him from bondage to his lusts, conduct him through the wilderness of the world, and also, like Joshua, bring him into Canaan, the land of promise. It is called “the grace of God which bringeth salvation” (Titus 2:11). It bringeth salvation to man, and it bringeth man to salvation. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)
The well-being of man
I. The conditions on which man’s well-being depends.
1. Moral edification. The apostle desired his hearers now to be built up. The word is architectural. A house is built by plan, and by slow degrees. Paul often speaks of the moral culture of the soul under this figure (1 Corinthians 3:10; 1 Corinthians 12:14; Ephesians 2:20; Colossians 2:7). The soul in depravity is a temple in ruins. It requires to be built up upon the true foundation, and according to the true plan.
2. Holy fellowship. “Give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” The language implies--
(1) That there are sanctified ones. Who are they? All who have truly believed in Christ and experienced a moral renewal of the Holy Ghost are partially sanctified. There are millions who are perfectly sanctified in heaven. John saw them--“a multitude which no man could number.”
(2) That an inheritance with those sanctified ones is the grand desideratum. The sanctified ones dwell in social harmony, in unclouded intelligence, in spiritual purity, in Divine fellowship. What higher good is there than to have an inheritance with them, not as a matter of sufferance, but as a matter of right; not temporarily, but forever; to “sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” and with the great and good of all ages?
II. The agency by which these conditions are attained.
1. It works by the gospel: “The word of His grace.” The gospel originates in, reveals and produces grace. It is “able to build up” because of the power of God.
2. It is secured by prayer. (D. Thomas, D. D,)