Fear not them which kill the body.
-It is prudent to give up the body in order to cave the soul; it is like casting the cargo of the vessel into the sea to preserve the crew from destruction. (Quesnel.)
Body and soul
I. That human nature is made up of body and soul.
II. That the body may be destroyed, while the soul remains uninjured.
III. That the honest working out of duty may expose the body to destruction.
IV. That the neglect of the duty exposes both body and soul to destruction. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
God to be feared rather than man
Christ cautions His disciples against three particular things.
1. Bodily torments.
2. Disgrace.
3. Death.
Which last He cautions against for these three reasons.
1. Because it is but the death of the body.
2. Because hell is more to be feared.
3. Because they live under the special care of God’s ever-seeing Providence, and cannot, therefore, be taken away without His permission.
The words of the text pregnant with great truths.
1. That it is within the power of man to divest us of all our temporal enjoyments.
2. That the soul of man is immortal.
3. That God has absolute power to destroy the whole man.
4. That the thought of damnation ought to have greater weight to engage our fears than the most exquisite miseries that the malice of man is able to inflict. The prosecution of this lies in two things.
I. In showing what is in those miseries which men are able to inflict that may lessen our fears of them.
1. They are temporal, and concern only this life.
2. They do not take away anything from a man’s proper perfections.
3. They are all limited by God’s overruling hand.
4. The good that may be extracted out of such miseries as are inflicted by men is often greater than the evil that is endured by them.
5. The fear of those evils seldom prevents them before they come, and never lessens them when they are come.
6. The all-knowing God, who knows the utmost of them better than men or angels, has pronounced them not to be feared.
7. The greatest of these evils have been endured, and that without fear or astonishment.
II. In showing what is implied in the destruction of the body and soul in hell which makes it so formidable. It is the utmost Almighty God can do to a sinner. When tempted, ponder man’s inability and God’s infinite ability to destroy. The case of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. (R. South, D. D.)
Fear, anxious and prudential
There are two kinds of fear.
1. A fear of solicitous anxiety, such as makes us let go our confidence in God’s providence, causing our thoughts so to dwell upon the dreadfulness of the thing feared as to despair of a deliverance. And with such a kind of fear Christ absolutely forbids us to fear those that kill the body; it being very derogatory to God, as if His mercy did not afford as great arguments for our hope as the cruelty of man for our fear.
2. The second kind of fear is a prudential caution, whereby a man, from the due estimate of an approaching evil, endeavours his own security. And this kind of fear is not only lawful, but also laudable. For, to what purpose should God have naturally implanted in the heart of man a passion of fear, if it might not be exercised and affected with suitable objects-that is, things to be feared? Now under this sort of fear we may reckon that to which Christ advises His disciples in these expressions-“Beware of men,” and “ Flee from one city into another. (R. South, D. D.)
Prison better than hell
Pardon me, Emperor, thou threatenest me only with a prison; but God threatens me with hell. (A Primitive Martyr.)
Fearing God rather than man
Bishop Latimer having one day preached before Henry VIII. a sermon which displeased his majesty, he was ordered to preach again the following Sunday, and to make an apology for the offence he had given. After reading his text the bishop thus began his sermon:-“Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before whom thou art this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch, the king’s most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendest; therefore take heed that thou speakest not a word that may displease. But then, consider well, Hugh; dost thou not know from whence thou camest-upon whose message thou art sent? Even by the great and mighty God, who is all-present, who beholdeth all thy ways, and who is able to cast thy soul into hell! Therefore, take care that thou deliver thy message faithfully.” He then proceeded with the same sermon he had preached the Sunday before, but with considerably more energy. Afterwards, the king sent for him, and demanded of him how he dared preach in such a manner. He, falling on his knees, replied, his duty to his God and his Prince had enforced him thereto, and he had merely discharged his duty and his conscience in what he had spoken. Upon which the king, rising from his seat, and taking the good man by the hand, embraced him, saying, “Blessed be God, I have so honest a servant.”
Persecution
The devil drives but a poor trade by the persecution of the saints; he tears the nest, but the bird escapes; he cracks the shell, but loses the kernel. (Flavel.)