For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.
The reconciling Son
I. As before we have Christ in relation to God.
1. In the use of the term “fulness,” which was a very important term in Gnostic speculations, there is a reference to some of the heretical teachers’ expressions. What fulness? (Colossians 2:9). The abundance or totality of the Divine attributes. We have no need to look to nature for fragmentary revelations of God’s character--that He has fully and finally declared in His Son.
2. “Dwell” implies permanent abode, chosen, perhaps, to oppose the view that the union of the Divine and human in Christ was but temporary.
3. This is the result of the Father’s good pleasure. The Father determined the work of the Son, and delighted in it.
II. Again, as before, we have Christ and the universe, Of which He is not only the Maker, Sustainer, and Lord, but through the blood of the Cross reconciles all things to Himself. Probably the false teachers had dreams of reconciling agents. Paul lifts up in opposition the one Sovereign Mediator whose Cross is the bond of peace for the universe.
1. Observe the distinct reference of these words to the former clauses. “Through Him” was creation; “through Him” is reconciliation. “All things” were made, sustained by, and subordinated to Him; the same “all things” are reconciled. A significant change in the order is noticeable. “In the heavens and upon the earth” the order of creation; but in reconciliation the order is reversed.
2. The correspondence shows that the reconciliation affects not only rational and responsible creatures, but “things.” The width of reconciliation is the same as that of the creation. Then these words refer mainly to the restitution of the material universe to its primal obedience, and represent Christ the Creator removing by His Cross the shadow that has passed over nature by reason of sin.
1. Man’s sin has made the physical world “subject to vanity.” Man by sin has compelled dead matter to be his instrument in acts of rebellion against God. He has polluted the world by sin, and laid unnumbered woes on the living creatures. This evil shall be done away by the reconciling power of the blood of the Cross. The universe is one because the Cross pierces its heights and depths.
2. The reference to things in heaven may also be occasioned by the dreams of the heretical teachers. As to reconciliation proper among spiritual beings in that realm, there can be no question of it. There is no enmity among angels. Still, if the reference be to them, then we know that to the principalities and powers in heavenly places the Cross has been the teacher of unlearned depths in the Divine nature and purposes, the knowledge of which has drawn them nearer to the heart of God and made their union with Him more blessed and close.
3. Sublime and great beyond all our dreams shall be the issue. Certain as the throne of God is it that His purposes shall be accomplished. The great sight of the Seer of Patmos is the best commentary on our text (Revelation 5:9-13).
III. Christ and His reconciling work in the Church. We have still the parallel kept up. As in Colossians 1:18 He was representing as giving life to the Church in a higher fashion than to the universe, so, with a similar heightening of the meaning of reconciliation, He is here set forth as its giver to the Church.
1. Observe the solemn description of men before it. “Alienated,” not “aliens,” but having become so. The seat of the enmity is in that inner man which thinks and wills, and its sphere of manifestation is “in evil works” which are religiously acts of hostility to God because morally bad. This is thought nowadays a too harsh description. But the charge is not that of conscious, active hostility, but of practical want of affection as manifested by habitual disobedience or inattention to God’s wishes and by indifference and separation from Him in heart and mind.
2. Here as uniformly God Himself is the Reconciler, it is we who are reconciled. The Divine patience loves on through all our enmity, and though perfect love meeting human sin must ever become wrath, it never becomes hatred.
3. The means of reconcilition.
(1) “The body,” etc., an exuberance of language to correct, perhaps, the error of that our Lord’s body was only a phantasm, or to guard against the risk of confounding it with “His body the Church,” or as showing how full His mind was of the overwhelming wonder of the fact.
(2) But the Incarnation is not the whole gospel; “through death” Christ’s death has so met the requirements of the Divine law, that Divine love can come freely forth and forgive sinful men. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The reconciling work of the great Mediator
I. The unique qualification of the great Mediator.
1. In Him all fulness dwells.
2. It is the good pleasure of the Father that this fulness should reside in the Son.
II. The reconciling work of the great mediator.
1. The extent of the reconciliation.
(1) Sinful creatures on earth are reconciled to God in Christ.
(2) Sinful and sinless creatures are reconciled.
(3) Sinless and unfallen creatures are brought nearer to God in Christ.
III. The means by which the reconciliation is effected. Lessons:--
1. The great Mediator has every qualification for His stupendous work.
2. The reconciliation of a disorganized universe is beyond the power of any subordinate agent.
3. Rebellious man can be restored to peace with God only as he yields himself up to the great Mediator. (G. Barlow.)
Reconciliation
I. In the person that redeems us we find fulness.
1. And there had need be so.
(1) He found our measure of sin full towards God. When a river swells it will find out all the channels and overflow the whole field; so sin hath found an issue at the ear, eye, tongue, hands, feet, and so overflows all.
(2) God’s measure of anger was full too.
(3) Then it pleased the Father that there should be another fulness to overflow these.
2. This is” all fulness,” and is only in Christ. Elijah had a great portion of the Spirit; Elisha sees that that will not serve Him, and so asks a double portion; but still but portions. Stephen is full of faith, a blessed fulness where there is no room for doubt; Dorcas is full of good works, a fulness above faith; Mary is full of grace, which is a fulness above both; but yet not “all fulness.” I shall be as full as Paul in heaven, i.e., have as full a vessel, but not so full a cellar. Christ only hath an infinite content and capacity, and so an infinite fulness.
3. But was Christ God before, and is there a supplementary fulness? Yes. To make Him a competent person to redeem man something was to be added to Christ though He were God; wherein we see the incomprehensibleness of man’s sin, that even to God Himself there was required something else than God before we could be redeemed. Perfect God, there is the fulness of the Redeemer’s dignity; perfect man, there is the fulness of His capacity to suffer and pay our debt. This was a strange fulness, for it was a fulness of emptiness, all humiliation and exinanition by His obedience unto death.
4. How came Christ by all this fulness? “It pleased the Father.”
II. The pacification. It is much that God would admit any peace; more that for peace He should require blood; more still that it should be the blood of Him who was injured; most of all that is should be the blood of the Cross, i.e., death.
1. Then there was a heavy war before; for the Lord of Hosts was our enemy; and what can all our musters come to when He is against us?
2. But what is the peace, and how are we included in it? A man must not think himself included in it because he feels no effects of this war. Though there be no blow stricken, the war remains in the time of truce. But hero is no truce. All this while that thou enjoyest this imaginary security the enemy undermines thee, and will blow thee up at last more irrevocably than if he had battered thee with outward calamities all the time. But in this text there is true peace, and one already made, and made by Him who lacked nothing for the making of it.
3. Is effusion of blood the way of peace? That may make them from whom it is drawn glad of peace. But here mercy and truth are met together. God would be true to His own justice and be merciful to us. Justice required blood, for without it is no remission. Under the law it was blood of bulls and goats; here it is His blood. “Greater love,” etc. (John 15:13); but He who said so laid down His life shamefully and painfully for His enemies.
III. The application thereof to all to whom that reconciliation appertains. All this was done, and yet the apostle prays us to be reconciled to God. The general peace was made by Christ’s death, as a general pardon is given at the King’s coming; we have to accept it.
1. There is a reconciliation of things in heaven.
(1) The saints, who reached forth the hand of faith to lay hold of Christ before He came.
(2) Angels, who were confirmed in perfect holiness and blessedness.
2. Things on earth.
(1) The creature who by virtue of it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption.
(2) Men.
3. But the most proper and literal meaning is that all things in heaven and earth be reconciled to God; i.e., His glory, to a fitter disposition to glorify Him, by being reconciled to one another in Christ; that in Him, as Head of the Church, they in heaven and we on earth be united together as one body in the communion of saints (Ephesians 1:10).
4. Here there is still reconciliation to be made, not only toward one another on the bond of charity, but on ourselves. In ourselves we find things in heaven and on earth to reconcile. There is heavenly zeal to be reconciled to discretion; heavenly purity to one another’s infirmities; heavenly liberty to a care for the promotion of scandal. Till the flesh and spirit be reconciled this reconciliation is not accomplished; but both are, in Christ, when in all the faculties of soul and body we glorify Him. (J. Donne, D. D.)
The fulness
I. A particular fulness dwelt in Christ. The definitive article “the” has reference not to fulness in general. It would not be to the honour of Jesus to have all fulness whatsoever. We read of some whose cups and platters were full of extortion and excess; of Elymas, who was “full of subtlety,” etc.; of men who were “full of envy, murder,” etc. In Jesus it is some conspicuously glorious fulness.
II. A divine fulness. The apostle refers to it in Colossians 2:9 --the fulness of the Godhead, not only really and spiritually, but bodily, in an incarnated condition, and thus conspicuously, and in such a way as made it a reasonable thing to ascribe to our Lord the work of creation on the one hand, and the headship of the Church on the other.
1. The Godhead is full of power. “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.” All that fulness, too, is in Jesus, so that He is able to wheel the worlds in their orbits and “to save to the uttermost,” etc.
2. The Godhead is full of righteousness. In God is “no darkness at all.” Our Lord is “Jesus Christ the righteous,” whom no one can convict of sin; and He is so full that His righteousness is available, not to Himself alone, but “unto all and upon all them that believe.”
3. The Godhead is full of love. “God is love.” Jesus said, “Greater love than this,” etc.
4. Hence, too, there was in Him fulness “of grace and truth,” of meekness, tenderness, gentleness.
III. A permanent fulness. “Dwelt.” The Father did not desire that the fulness of Godhead should stream through our Saviour, illuminating and glorifying His nature as it passed, and then vanish. It is the same in glory “to-day, yesterday, and for ever.” (J. Morison, D. D.)
I. The fulness that is in Christ.
1. All fulness. Ahasuerus promised Esther that her request should be granted though it cost him half his kingdom. Christ offers nothing by halves. “It pleased the Father,” etc. Transferring Divine wealth to our account in the bank of heaven, and giving us an unlimited credit there, Jesus says: “All things whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
2. All fulness of mercy to pardon sin. The gospel proclaims a universal amnesty. When the last gun is fired, and pardon proclaimed in reconquered provinces, is it not always marked by notable exceptions? But from Christ’s pardoning mercy none are excepted save those who except themselves. It reaches the vilest sinner. It binds a zone of mercy round the world, and perish the hands that would narrow it by a hair’s breadth. None shall be damned but those who damn themselves. One might fancy that now all are certain to be saved. Who will not accept of it? Offer a starving man bread, a poor man money, a sick man health, a lifeboat in the wreck, how gladly will they be accepted! But salvation, the one thing needful, is the one thing man will not accept. He will stoop to pick up a piece of gold out of the mire, but he will not rise out of the mire to receive a crown from heaven. What infatuation!
3. All fulness of grace to sanctify. Why are the best of us no better, holier, happier? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? No. He who justified can sanctify, and with holiness give fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore. There is efficiency and sufficiency in Jesus to complete what He has begun. There are stores of grace which are like the widow’s barrel that grew no emptier for the meals it furnished. “My grace is sufficient for thee.” With a well ever flowing our vessels need never be empty. No earthly fortune will stand daily visits to the bank, but this will. You may ask too little, but you cannot ask too much; you may go too seldom, but you cannot go too often to the throne.
II. There is a constant supply of sanctifying and pardoning grace in Christ. “Dwell,” not come and go, like a wayfaring man, like a shallow, noisy, treacherous brook that fails when most needed, but like the deep-seated spring that, rising silently, though affluently, at the mountain’s foot, and having unseen communication with its exhaustless supplies, is ever flowing over its grassy margin, equally unaffected by the long droughts that dry the wells and the frosts that pave the neighbouring lake with ice. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
The fulness of Christ
I. The fulness of Christ.
1. A fulness of all Divine attributes and perfections. Omnipotence in creation; omniscience, wisdom, and goodness in providence; grace in the dispensation of the Spirit; justice in the grand assize, etc., are all His. Hence fulness of worship is offered Him in heaven (Revelation 3:2) and earth.
2. A fulness of truth and wisdom for the instruction of man. John tells us that He is full of truth; Christ says, “I am the truth”; and Paul says, “In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
(1) All the rays of Divine truth which have ever enlightened prophets and apostles, guided wandering sinners back to God, and blessed the Church with purity and consolation, were emanations from Him, the great Prophet of the Church.
(2) In the Scriptures we have the mind of Christ.
(3) But while the Bible is sufficient, such is the power which prejudice, unbelief, and ignorance exert over the mind, that the influence of Christ is requisite to the reception of the truth. Our prayer, then, before the open Bible should be, “Open mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things,” etc.
3. A fulness of merit to justify every believer in His name.
(1) Convinced of sin, our great question is, “How can man be just with God?” It is evident that we cannot be just in our own righteousness, nor in that of the holiest saints, for they were indebted to another for the robe they wear; nor in that of angels, for no creature, however elevated, can render an obedience exceeding the law of his creation, and consequently can have no works of supererogation which can be disposed of for the benefit of others.
(2) No cheering answer can reach us but that which comes from Calvary. By His obedience unto death, the law broken by us is honoured, its precepts fulfilled, and its penalty endured.
(3) By faith we become interested in Jesus, and thus are justified freely by His grace.
4. A fulness of power to accomplish all the purposes for which the mediatorial office was instituted. He sits upon the throne wielding the omnipotent sceptre of universal dominion, and reigns over all for the benefit of the Church.
5. A fulness of grace and compassion to relieve and comfort His afflicted servants (Hebrews 4:14).
II. It is the pleasure of the Father that this fulness should dwell in Christ.
1. It is in harmony with the Divine counsels.
2. It meets with the Divine approbation.
Conclusion: The subject--
1. Directs believers to the source of all consolation.
2. Sinners to the source of all salvation. (Congregational Remembrancer.)
Fulness of grace in Christ
I. By fulness of grace we understand all those perfections to which the term grace extends itself.
II. Why was it necessary that this fulness of grace should dwell in Christ?
1. The fitness of things required it, on account of the union of His soul with the Word. For it is proper that in proportion as anything is nearer to the influential cause, so much the more abundantly should it partake of the influence itself. Since, therefore, God Himself is the fountain of grace, the soul of Christ, so near to God, cannot but abound in grace.
2. Necessity requires it, from consideration of the end, on account of the relation between Christ and the race. For grace was to be bestowed on him, not as on a private person, but as the universal fountain from whom it might be transfused into the rest of men. But in this fountain all the parts ought to be full and combined. The evangelist shows that grace is shed abroad from Christ (John 1:16; Ephesians 4:7).
III. This fulness of grace is peculiar to Christ alone. To prove which, notice: In the saints militant there is not a fulness of grace; for it cannot consist with so many remains of the old man: for a fulness of grace leaves no room for sin. But not even in the very saints triumphant. For if one star differeth from another star in light and magnitude, then how much more does it differ from the sun? But an objection is raised, that the Virgin Mary, for instance, is said to be “full of grace” (Luke 1:28); and Stephen also “full of grace and power” (Acts 6:8); and that therefore a fulness of grace is not peculiar to Christ. I answer, The fulness of grace is twofold: one may be regarded on the part of grace itself, when a man hath it in the greatest extent, both as to every kind of grace, and in the greatest perfection as to degree. This is the fulness of Christ alone. The other regards grace on the part of the possessor when a man hath it as fully and as sufficiently as his state and condition can contain. Hence observe--
1. That God is not accustomed to impose an office upon any one without at the same time conferring upon him all those powers which are necessary for the discharge of it: He lays upon Christ the office of Head of the Church; but He also imparts to Him a fulness of grace. Therefore, whoever thrust themselves into offices, for the administration of which they are altogether incompetent, are not called to them by God, but are impelled either by avarice or ambition.
2. Since there is a fulness of grace in Christ alone, we must expect its streams to flow to us from Him alone: they who seek grace elsewhere commit two evils (Jeremiah 2:13). (Bishop Davenant.)
The fulness of Christ the treasury of the saints
I. There is a glorious fulness in Jesus.
1. Enough to enable a saint to rise to the highest degree of grace. If there be anything lacking for the attainment of the Divine image, it is not a deficiency Christward; it is occasioned by shortcomings in ourselves. If sin is to be overcome, the conquering power dwells in Him in its fulness; if virtue is to be attained, sanctifying energy resides in Him to perfection.
2. Enough for the conquest of the world. The Lord God omnipotent shall reign from shore to shore. We have in Christ all the might that is needed for subduing the nations; let us go into His armoury, and we shall receive invincible weapons and almighty strength.
3. Every fulness for teaching, convincing, converting, sanctifying, and keeping unto the end.
II. The fulness is in Jesus now.
1. The glory of the past exercises a depressing influence over many Christians. Scarcely any Church realizes that it can do what its first promoters did. A people are in an evil case when their heroism is historical. In Jesus all fulness dwells for Paul, Luther, Whitfield, you and me. Christianity has not lost its pristine strength; we have lost our faith. Why should we not have a greater Pentecost than Peter saw? The times have altered, but Jesus is the Eternal.
2. A great many have their eye on the future only. But it doesn’t say that the fulness shall dwell. Whatever shall yet be done by His grace may be done to-day. Our laziness puts off the work of conquest; and want of faith makes us dote upon the millennium instead of hearing the Spirit’s voice to-day.
3. Our churches believe that there is great fulness in Christ, and that sometimes they ought to enjoy it. The progress of Christianity is to be by tides which ebb and flow. There are to be revivals like spring, which must alternate with lethargies like winter. But it is not the Lord’s pleasure that a fulness should reside in Jesus during revivals, and then withdraw. May we feel that we have not to drink of an intermittent spring, nor to work with an occasional industry!
III. The position of this fulness is encouraging to us in the matter of obtaining it. It is “in Him,” where you can receive it, in your Brother, who loves to give it. It is yours. Since Christ is yours, all that is in Him is yours. It pleases God for you to partake of it. It is a matter for gratitude that it is not placed in us, for then we should not have to go so often to Christ; nor in an angel, who would not be so attractive as Christ.
IV. We ought to use this fulness.
1. Believe in great things.
2. Expect them.
3. Attempt them.
4. Do not talk about this, but set about it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The fulness of Christ
The fulness of power which creation manifests, and the fulness of glory which the Church reveals, and the fulness of grace which the Godhead contains, dwell in Christ. That is His fulness. But oh, “how small a portion is heard of Him!” (Job 26:14). A little child is led down to our sea-coast, and is told, “That is the ocean”; a little child is taken to the sea-coast in Canada, and is told, “That is the ocean”; and a little child is taken to the sea-coast in Australia, and is told, “That is the ocean.” But the ocean fills the intervening two thousand five hundred miles between the first and second, the fourteen thousand miles between the second and third, and the fifteen thousand miles between the third and the first. They have seen the ocean, but its fulness fills all that lies between them, and all that is beyond the horizon which bounds their vision. (H. Brooke.)
No limit to the fulness in Christ
I have felt it an interesting thing to stand by the grassy edge of a rolling river, and think how it has been rolling on for six thousand years, slaking the thirst and watering the fields of a hundred generations,: and yet there is no sign of waste or want there; and it is an interesting thing to mark the sun rise above the shoulder of a mountain, or where the sky is thick with clouds to see him leap from his ocean bed, and think he has melted the snows of go many winters, revived the verdure of so many springs, painted the flowers of so many summers, and ripened the corn of so many autumns, and yet is as big and as brilliant as ever, his eye not dimmed, his strength not abated, and his floods of glory none the less for centuries of profusion. But what is that rolling river, what is yon bright sun, but images of the blessed fulness that is in Jesus Christ, a fulness that should encourage the most hopeless of you to hope, a fulness that should prevail upon the vilest sinner to come, and a fulness that should animate the efforts of missionaries and of missionary societies to go on in the strength of Him who has all power in earth and heaven, who shall carry on His triumphs till the whole world has been subdued, and all the nations of this world and its kingdoms shall “become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Fulness of Christ cannot be supplemented
Truly the revelation is by no means scant, for there is vastly more revealed in the person of Christ than we shall be likely to learn in this mortal life, and even eternity will not be too long for the discovery of all the glory of God which shines forth in the person of the Word made flesh. Those who would supplement Christianity had better first add to the brilliance of the sun or the fulness of the sea. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
And having made peace by the blood of His Cross.
It is great to “reconcile”; greater “through Himself”; greater, again, “through His blood”; greatest of all “through His Cross.” Here are five things to be admired--reconciliation, to God, through Himself, by death, by the Cross. (Chrysostom.)
The Reconciler
I. By nature man is at enmity with God. As God is love, so the carnal mind is enmity; this being so much the nature, essence, element of its existence, that if you took away the enmity it would cease to be. It is not always in activity, but sins, like seeds, lie dormant, and only await circumstances to develop them. This is a doctrine into which the believer does not need to be reasoned. He feels it. The text takes it for granted; for what need can there be to make peace between friends? Not friends require to be reconciled, only foes. But does God appear as reciprocating our enmity, as the enemy of man? No; not even when He condemns him. He does not hate the sinner, though He hates his sins. He hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
II. God desires to be reconciled to his enemies.
1. Man stands upon his dignity. The injured says to the injurer--and each generally thinks not himself, but the other such--“He is to come to me; I am not to go to him.” You may tell him that it is noble to make the first advances. “No,” he says, “he must acknowledge his offence, and I will not refuse my hand.” Strange terms for those to stand on who know the grace of God. If God had so dealt with us, we should have gone to hell.
2. Does God stand upon His dignity, the justice of the ease? If ever any might, it was He. No, He takes the humiliation to Himself, and might be supposed to be the injurer, not the injured. Veiling His majesty, and leaving heaven to seek our door, He stands, knocks, waits there, beseeching us as though it were a favour to be reconciled. Salvation has its fountain, not in the Cross, but in the bosom of the Father.
III. To make our peace with God, Jesus Christ laid down His life.
1. The price of pardon was nothing less than “the blood of God.”
2. Purchasing our peace at such a price, God has done more for us than for all the universe besides. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
The atonement
I. The influence of the blood of the cross on God. “Peace” cannot mean the actual reconciliation of man to God, for it is prior to and with the design of afterwards effecting it. It must thereg the atmosphere of distress, nor that it seems to find time for every kind of well-doing, nor that the heart and memory are so enlarged that a range of interest ten times wider and more varied than personal interest findsroom, but that compassion, though it is not talent nor energy, stands in the stead of these and does their work. The social good that is done in the world is not the work of its greatest minds. These set themselves one great task, and gather up all their powers for its accomplishment. They are jealous even of the minutes of their time. They resist all distractions. The compassionate man gives up his time to others, and yet seems to find time for all things. Like the bread miraculously multiplied, he gives, and yet he gathers up for himself more than he gave. How great, again, is its power to find its way to the miserable heart. Convince the wretched man that you know his misery and would ease his burden, and you have already, made it lighter. Show the vicious man that you can see in him something worth caring for, and you thereby take off the despair that is at the bottom of so much vice. Let your enemy see that you have not room in your heart for any bitterness against him, and his arm will fall powerless. (Archbishop Thomson.)
Religion moves to pity
Now I would like you to mark that there is not a true grace of a Christian man, nor a true activity of the disciple of Christ, which does not lead to pity and love like this. Repentance leads to it, for repentance laments selfishness as the essence of its evil, and dreads relapsing into a religion which would be merely a selfishness refined; and repentance remembers its lost estate, the fearful pit and miry clay, and pities those that are still struggling in it; so repentance cherishes love and moves to pity. Faith kindles these virtues. You cannot take refuge in the heart of Christ, and build your hope upon redeeming love, and rejoice in His saving pity that stooped to Calvary, without catching some of the qualities on which you rest. Your heart softens with the warmth of that heart on which it rests, and is kindled by the pity in which it takes refuge. As our faith leads to these qualities, decision moves to them. Except we deny ourselves we cannot be disciples. Self-renunciation, which is the beginning of discipleship, leaves the heart free So cherish love. The comforts of religion move to them. Forgiveness, and peace, and hope, and gratitude swell the heart with the question, “What shall I render?” and move it to share its mercies with those that still lack them. All adoration of God kindles them. In the degree in which we see Him as He is, see Him in the face of Christ, see Him as He weeps over Jerusalem or groans on Calvary, in the degree in which we see the pitiful woe that sometimes fills God’s heart: in that degree we are changed. All hope changes the heart and fills it with this spirit. Hope of earthly providence and hope of immortal heaven, both move men to pity and to love. Every step you take in following Christ kindles pity, for when He leads it is not always unto green pastures and rapturous heights: it is to the haunts of misery, to the widows of Nain, to homes of grief. He would use us, borrows our hand to wipe away a tear, our voice to still a grief. Exactly in that degree in which He employs us, and we follow Him step by step, exactly in that degree do we catch the spirit in which He lived, and the compassion which is the everlasting motive and the perpetual habit of our God. So that I want you to observe that there is not a single Christian instinct, activity, relationship, employment, or grace which does not work out in love and pity. (R. Glover.)
Pity the secret of prophetic light
I want to point out that in love and pity, such as is here expressed, you have not merely the work of the disciple, but you have the secret of prophetic light: that Paul’s light was due, not to his genius, not to his erudition, not even so much specially to heavenly effulgence that visited him, as to the fact that he had a heart of love and pity that could enter and absorb the light of God. Is it not obvious that it was so? We know God by what is kindred to Him, and by what resembles Him. It was Paul’s love of man that could read God’s love of man, that gazed on God till “the shadow” grew into a “face” and the “face” of God was seen glowing with infinite love. He would have been in the darkness till now if his love had not permitted him to see God’s love. The light is ever shining. It is the eye, the eye of the heart, that is wanted; and that he had. He looked on man, not with the cynical eye that sees only what moves men to despair of, or to despise them; but he looked with a loving heart, and could see the world in God’s light; something that made man a pearl of great price in his Saviour’s eyes. He could see Divine movings in them; high capacity; possibilities of change; unrest--all these Divine elements, on which grace could move, and which grace could lead to light. He looked in the face of Christ, and his yearning permitted him to behold Christ’s yearning, so that his love and his pity enlarged his heart, and opened it to light. He walked in the light of the Lord, and truths too grand for poorer eyes lay naked and open to his. One of the greatest theologians of the century, Neander, Wok for his motto, “It is the heart that makes the theologian.” And one of the greatest historians, Niebuhr, uttered some similar words: “I have said, again and again, I will have no metaphysical deity, but the God of the Bible, who is heart to heart.” (R. Glover.)
Kindness.--
The blessings of a benignant spirit
I. In what kindness consists.
1. In a disposition to be pleased; a willingness to be satisfied with others. This goes a long way towards our being actually pleased. This temper stands opposed to the spirit of fault-finding, the propensity to magnify trifles.
2. In a disposition to attribute to others good motives when we can do so. One of the rights of every man is to have it supposed that he acts with good intentions until it is proved to the contrary.
3. In bearing with the infirmities of others. We do not journey long with a fellow traveller before we find that he is far from perfection, and the closer our relations become the more necessity there is for bearing patiently the foibles of others. In the most tender connexions, that of husband and wife, etc., it may require much of a gentle and yielding spirit to so adapt ourselves that life shall move on smoothly and harmoniously. When there is a disposition to do this me soon learn to bear and forbear,, and to avoid the look, gesture, allusion, that would excite improperly the mind of our friend. Like children, we must allow each other to build his own play-house in his own way. Conscious of our own imperfection we must be indulgent to others.
4. In not blaming others harshly when they fall into sin. In no circumstances do men need kindness so much as here. We weep with the bereaved, we sympathize with the unfortunate; but when a man is overtaken in a fault our sympathies frequently die. Yet they ought then to be in fullest operation (Galatians 6:1). Remember--
(1) He is a brother still.
(2) If all the circumstances were known the aspect ought to be changed (Luke 6:37; 1 Peter 4:8).
(3) An explanation may remove the difficulty, therefore give him the opportunity.
5. It prompts us to aid others when in our power. If relief cannot be afforded it should be declined with a gentle and benevolent heart.
II. Its value.
1. Much of the comfort of life depends upon it. Life is made up of little things, which, if displaced, render us miserable. Breathing, the beating of the heart, the circulation of the blood, are small matters, and ordinarily scarcely noticed, but when deranged we are sensible of their importance. So in morals and social intercourse. The happiness of life depends not so much on great and glorious deeds as on quiet duties, the gentle spirit, the cheerful answer, the smiling face, etc.
2. Usefulness depends upon it. This and far more than on deeds which excite general admiration. The rivulet that glides through the meadow is far more useful than the grand cataract. Kindness prompts us to seek the good and happiness of others. And it is by this, and not by great martyrdoms, that men will judge of the nature of the gospel. All usefulness may be prevented by a sour temper. Nothing will compensate for the want of that charity which is “kind.”
3. It is commended by the example of Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:1). Christ performed great deeds, but not that we should imitate them. But He was meek and gentle that we might be so too. (A. Barnes, D. D.)
Kindness
The fundamental idea of kindness is ascertained by tracing the connection between kindred or kin and kindness. The latter is the feeling natural to us in relation to our own kind.
1. Take the innermost circle of kindred, the home, and that which constitutes its sweetness is kindness. Unkindness, then, is most unnatural. In German and Dutch the word for child is kind. Kindness was first of all the relation of a child to its parents, and then the feeling of a parent for a child. That was the original and architypal kindness, is its ever present and undying element, and gives character and tone to all the more extended instances of kindness which ripple out with the extension of our kinship.
2. Though our kindred begins in our homes it does not end there. We have remoter relatives to whom it is our duty, and the prompting of our natures, to be kind. Our nation consists of individuals who are of our own kind, and we ought to be kindly towards them all. And then our kith and kin are found in colonies, and the parent state should always feel kindly towards them, and when any colony grows into an independent nation, like the United States of America, it would be a calamity and a sin if kindliness on either side were to cease.
3. The family relationship extends farther than to those who manifest their kinship by the use of the common mother tongue, embalmed in the English Bible. The Dutch and Germans are our cousins, so are the Danes; and there was a time when the Greeks also, and the Romans belonged to the same family circle. Their ancestors came from the same paternal home in Asia from which our ancestors came; and so with the Hindoos, and hence the old old words which are common to the now diverse languages.
4. Indeed, all the nations are kindred to each other. All the families of the earth belong to the great family of man--mankind; hence all owe kindness to one another. Hence Peter exhorts us to add to our godliness brotherly kindness. Some think it more difficult to attain the former than the latter. In some respects it is, in others not: and so the apostle urges us to seek the latter by way of the former. In mere speculation we might have supposed that man must first climb to the terrestrial thing--“brotherly kindness”--and thence ascend to the celestial. But the reverse is the true and better order. We must first get right with God the Father--then, and not till then, shall we get right with man the brother. (J. Morison, D. D.)
The power of kindness
“Go away from there, you old beggar boy!, You’ve no right to be looking at our flowers,” shouted a little fellow from the garden where he was standing. The poor boy, who was pale, dirty, and ragged, was leaning against the fence, admiring the splendid show of roses and tulips within. His face reddened with anger at the rude language, and he was about to answer defiantly, when a little girl sprang out from an arbour near, and looking at both, said to her brother,--“How could you speak so, Herbert! I’m sure his looking at the flowers don’t hurt us.” And then, to soothe the wounded feelings of the stranger, she added: “Little boy, I’ll pick you some flowers, if you’ll wait a moment,” and she immediately gathered a pretty bouquet, and handed it through the fence. His face brightened with surprise and pleasure, and he earnestly thanked her. Twelve years after this occurrence, the girl had grown to a woman. One bright afternoon she was walking with her husband in the garden, when she observed a young man in workman’s dress, leaning over the fence, and looking attentively at her and at the flowers. Turning to her husband, she said,--“It does me good to see people admiring the garden; I’ll give that young man some of the flowers;” and approaching him she said, “Are you fond of flowers, sir? It will give me great pleasure to gather you some.” The young workman looked a moment into her fair face, and then said in a voice tremulous with feeling: “Twelve years ago I stood here a ragged little beggar boy, and you showed me the same kindness. The bright flowers and your pleasant words made a new boy of me; aye, and they have made a man of me, too. Your face, madam, has been a light to me in many dark hours of life; and now, thank God, though that boy is still an humble, hard working man, he is an honest and grateful one.” Tears stood in the eyes of the lady as, turning to her husband, she said, “God put it into my young heart to do that kindness, and see how great a reward it has brought.” (American Agriculturist.)
Humbleness of mind.--
I. The nature of this temper: A low apprehension or esteem of ourselves (Romans 12:3), the opposite to pride and arrogance. The word leads us to consider the disposition of mind; for there may be a humility of behaviour which covers a very proud heart. In consists of--
1. A humble apprehension of our own knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:1). There is nothing of which men are more proud. Many would sooner bear a reflection on their moral characters than on their understandings. The serpent was early sensible that this was man’s weak side (Genesis 3:5). And no kind of pride has more need of a cure (Job 11:12). So it will include--
(1) A sense of the natural imperfection of our faculties (Job 11:7). This will dispose us to receive God’s revelation (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).
(2) An apprehension of our own fallibility. Humility in this view would teach us
(a) not on that account to surrender ourselves to the absolute control of others. To this Rome would lead us in pretence of infallibility; and if any others would lead us to such an implicit faith in their dictates, while they disclaim infallibility, their claim is still more absurd. We must answer for ourselves to God in the great day; and therefore it can neither be a laudable nor a safe humility to take our religion from the dictates of fallible men.
(b) But a just apprehension of our liableness to mistake should induce us in all our searches after Divine truth to be very desirous of Divine illumination and guidance (Psalms 25:4-5). It should keep us ever open to further light and willing to learn.
(3) A moderate apprehension of our own attainments in knowledge when we compare them with the attainments of other men (1 Corinthians 13:9; 1 Corinthians 8:2). If some know less, others know more than we.
(4) A persuasion of the small value of the most exalted knowledge without a suitable practical influence (John 13:7; Luke 12:47-48). A man of low attainments, if his heart is right with God, is truly acceptable; while a resolved sinner, though he understood all mysteries, will be eternally disowned by Him. Exalted knowledge may leave a man of no better a temper than a devil.
2. Humble thoughts of our own goodness. Not that we are to be insensible to anything that is truly good in us; but Christian humility includes--
(1) A sense of the undeservingness of our own goodness at the bands of God even if it was perfect (Luke 17:10).
(2) An apprehension of the disparity between the goodness of God and that of any creature (Luke 18:19).
(3) An affecting conviction of our own sinfulness (Luke 5:31-32).
(4) A sense of the imperfection of our goodness at its best (Psalms 19:12).
(5) An acknowledgment that we are principally indebted to God for whatever is good in us (Philippians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 15:10).
(6) A modest apprehension of our own goodness compared with that of other men (Philippians 2:3).
3. A humble sense of our dependence and wants--
(1) As regards God.
(a) In the sphere of nature (Acts 17:28).
(b) In the sphere of grace. We should have a deep sense of our need of His mercy to pardon our sins and His grace to help our infirmities.
(2) As regards our fellow-creatures. It is ordered by the law of our creation that we cannot comfortably subsist independent of them (Ecclesiastes 5:9). Every link in the chain of societies contributes to the good of the whole (1 Corinthians 12:21; 1 Corinthians 12:24). And then in the changeableness of human affairs, those who are now in the most prosperous estate know not how soon they may need the kind offices of the lowliest.
4. A modest apprehension of our own rank and station.
(1) As compared with God we cannot think too low of ourselves (Isaiah 40:15). All our relations to Him bespeak the profoundest submission, as His creatures, subjects, children (Psalms 8:4; Psalms 144:3; Job 7:17). Humility will teach us to dispute neither the precepts nor the providences of Him who has a natural authority over us.
(2) Revelation teaches us that we are beneath other invisible beings (Psalms 7:5).
(3) For our fellow-creatures we should consider them all as of the same nature with us, and therefore near akin (Acts 17:26), and that distinctions in outward circumstances are in the account of God and in themselves but little things (Romans 13:7; Romans 12:16).
II. The special obligations which rest on Christians to cultivate this temper.
1. Humility is a grace of the first rank.
(1) It is mentioned in Scripture with peculiar marks of distinction (Micah 6:8; Proverbs 8:13; Psalms 138:6; Matthew 5:4; Matthew 18:4).
(2) The most distinguished promises are made to it (Psalms 9:12; Psalms 10:17; Isaiah 57:15; Jam 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Mat 33:12).
(3) It is in its own nature a necessary introduction to the other graces and duties of Christianity. This is not a religion for the proud but for the lowly.
(a) Humility is necessary to faith. Without this we shall not have a disposition to receive a revelation. Pride and self-sufficiency was the reason why Christ crucified was a stumbling-block to the Jew, etc.
(b) To obedience. A proud heart says, “Who is the Lord over me?” Humility asks, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”
(c) To the acceptance of Christ as offered in the gospel (Luke 5:31; Revelation 3:17-18; Luke 18:9-13).
(d) To the reception of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
(e) To perseverance, for without it we shall be ready to take offence at crosses.
(f) To the reception of assistance in the way to heaven from other men. Those who are wise in their own conceit despise admonitions.
(g) To the performance of Christian duty.
2. It is this grace which adorns every other virtue and recommends religion to every beholder (1 Peter 5:5).
3. It is recommended by the example of Christ.
(1) His incarnation was the greatest instance of humility (Philippians 2:3; Philippians 2:5, etc.; 2 Corinthians 8:9).
(2) When He appeared in human nature He affected not worldly honour (Luke 2:7-11; Matthew 13:55).
(3) As a man He was the pattern of great humility toward God (John 8:50; John 7:18; Mark 13:32; Matthew 19:17).
(4) He was the pattern of the greatest humility to mankind.
(a) He was ready to condescend to the meanest in order to their good (Matthew 8:6; Mark 10:46; John 4:27; Matthew 18:1-10; Matthew 19:13-14).
(b) He was willing to stoop to the meanest offices for the meanest persons (Mark 1:41; John 13:5; Matthew 20:28).
(c) He was not above receiving and acknowledging the respect shown Him by the meanest (Luke 8:3; Matthew 21:15; Matthew 26:13). Learn, then, like Him, to be meek and lowly of heart.
4. Humility is a grace which will go along with us to heaven. The only inhabitants of that world who were ever lifted up with pride have been cast out. The angels abase themselves (Isaiah 6:2-3; Revelation 4:10; Revelation 5:10; Revelation 7:11; Revelation 11:16), and humility will receive a glorious reward (Matthew 25:1-46.). Like charity, it never faileth. (Dr. Evans.)
Humility a safeguard
A French general, riding on horseback at the head of his troops, heard a soldier complain and say, “It is very easy for the general to command us forward while he rides and we walk.” Then the general dismounted and compelled the complaining soldier to get on his horse. Coming through a ravine a bullet from a sharpshooter struck the rider and he fell dead. Then the general said,” How much safer it is to walk than to ride.”
Humility and cheerfulness
Observe the peculiar characters of the grass which adapt it especially for the service of man are humility and cheerfulness--its humility, in that it seems created only for lowest service, appointed to be trodden on and fed upon; its cheerfulness, in that it seems to exalt under all kinds of violence and suffering. You roll it, and it is the stronger next day; you mow it, and it multiplies its shoots as if it were grateful; you tread upon it, and it only sends up richer perfume. Spring comes, and it rejoices with all the earth, glowing with variegated flame of flowers, waving in soft depth of fruitful strength. Winter comes, and though it will not mock its fellow-plants by growing then, it will not pine and mourn, and turn colourless or leafless as they. It is always green, and is only the brighter and gayer for the hoar frost. (J. Ruskin.)
Meekness.--
Meekness: its nature
Meekness is love at school, at the Saviour’s school. It is the disciple learning to know himself, to fear, distrust, and abhor himself. It is the disciple practising the sweet, but self-emptying lesson of putting on the Lord Jesus, and finding all his righteousness in that righteous other. It is the disciple learning the defects of his own character, and taking hints from hostile as well as friendly monitors. It is the disciple praying and watching for the improvement of his talents, the mellowing of his temper, and the amelioration of his character. It is the loving Christian at his Saviour’s feet, learning from Him who is meek and lowly, and finding rest for his own soul. (James Hamilton, D. D.)
Meekness: its blending
It is power blended with gentleness, boldness with humility, the harmlessness of the dove with the prowess of the lion. It is the soul in the majesty of self-possession, elevated above the precipitant, the irascible, the boisterous, the revengeful, it is the soul throwing its benignant smiles on the furious face of the foe, and penetrating his heart and paralyzing his arm with the look of love. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Meekness: its power
Sir Walter Raleigh, a man of courage and honour, was once insulted by a hot-headed youth, who challenged him, and on his refusal spat upon him in public. The knight, taking out his handkerchief, made this reply: “Young man, if I could as easily wipe your blood from my conscience as I can this injury from my face, I would this moment take away your life.” The youth was so struck with a sense of his misbehaviour that he fell upon his knees and asked forgiveness. (E. Foster.)
Meekness: its blessedness
It is in the lowly valley that the sun’s warmth is truly genial; unless indeed there are mountains so close and abrupt as to overshadow it. Then noisome vapours may be bred there; but otherwise, in the valley we may behold the wonderful blessing bestowed upon the meek that they shall inherit the earth. It is theirs for this very reason, because they do not seek it. They do not exalt their heads like icebergs, which, by the by, are driven away from earth, and cluster--or rather jostle--round the pole; but they flow along the earth humbly and silently; and wherever they flow they bless it; and so all its beauty and all its richness are reflected in their peaceful bosoms. (Archdeacon Hare.)
Meekness: its usefulness
The timber of the elder tree is the softest, and can without difficulty be split, eat, and wrought, and yet it does not rot in water. The greater part of the city of Venice stands upon piles of eider, which, sunk into the sea, form the foundation of massive buildings. It is the same with meek hearts. There is no better foundation for important undertakings of public or private utility than that intelligent modesty which is gentle indeed, and ready to yield as far as a good conscience will allow, but which, nevertheless, lasts and continues stable, in the flood of contradiction. (Gotthold.)
Long-suffering is threefold.--
I. In judgment; when, in doubtful cases, we suspend our opinions and censures.
II. In words; which consists either in not answering, or in giving soft answers.
III. In deeds; when we render not evil for evil. (N. Byfield.)
Long-suffering rewarded
Some years ago I had in my garden a tree that never bore. One day I was going down, with my axe in my hand, to fell it. My wife met me in the pathway and pleaded for it, saying, “Why, the spring is now very near; stay, and see whether there may not be some change; and, if not, you can deal with it accordingly.” As I never repented following her advice, I yielded to it now; and what was the consequence? In a few weeks the tree was covered in blossoms; and in a few weeks more it was bending with fruit. “Ah!” said I, “this should teach me not to cut down too soon,” i.e., not to consider persons incorrigible or abandoned too soon, so as to give up hope and the use of the means in their behalf. (W. Jay.)