Romans 13
There are three good lessons taught us
in this chapter, where the apostle enlarges more upon his
precepts than he had done in the foregoing chapter, finding
them more needful to be fully pressed. I. A lesson of
subjection to lawful authority, Romans
13:1-6. II. A lesson of justice and love to our brethren,
Romans
13:7-10. III. A lesson of sobriety and godliness in
ourselves, Romans
13:11-14.
Obedience to Magistrates
Enforced. |
A. D. 58. |
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1 Let every soul be
subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of
God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of
the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise
of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee
for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he
beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God,
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only
for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 For for this
cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing.
We are here taught how to conduct
ourselves towards magistrates, and those that are in authority
over us, called here the higher powers, intimating
their authority (they are powers), and their dignity (they are
higher powers), including not only the king as supreme, but
all inferior magistrates under him: and yet it is expressed,
not by the persons that are in that power, but the place of
power itself, in which they are. However the persons
themselves may be wicked, and of those vile persons whom the
citizen of Zion contemneth (Psalms
15:4), yet the just power which they have must be
submitted to and obeyed. The apostle had taught us, in the
foregoing chapter, not to avenge ourselves, nor to recompense
evil for evil; but, lest it should seem as if this did cancel
the ordinance of a civil magistracy among Christians, he takes
occasion to assert the necessity of it, and of the due
infliction of punishment upon evil doers, however it may look
like recompensing evil for evil. Observe,
I. The duty enjoined: Let every
soul be subject. Every soul--every person, one as well as
another, not excluding the clergy, who call themselves
spiritual persons, however the church of Rome may not only
exempt such from subjection to the civil powers, but place
them in authority above them, making the greatest princes
subject to the pope, who thus exalteth himself above all that
is called God.--Every soul. Not that our consciences
are to be subjected to the will of any man. It is God's
prerogative to make laws immediately to bind conscience, and
we must render to God the things that are God's. But it
intimates that our subjection must be free and voluntary,
sincere and hearty. Curse not the king, no, not in thy
thought, Ecclesiastes
10:20. To compass and imagine are treason begun. The
subjection of soul here required includes inward honour (1 Peter
2:17) and outward reverence and respect, both in speaking
to them and in speaking of them--obedience to their commands
in things lawful and honest, and in other things a patient
subjection to the penalty without resistance--a conformity in
every thing to the place and duty of subjects, bringing our
minds to the relation and condition, and the inferiority and
subordination of it. "They are higher powers; be
content they should be so, and submit to them accordingly."
Now there was good reason for the pressing of this duty of
subjection to civil magistrates, 1. Because of the reproach
which the Christian religion lay under in the world, as an
enemy to public peace, order, and government, as a sect that
turned the world upside down, and the embracers of it as
enemies to Cæsar, and the more because the leaders were
Galileans--an old slander. Jerusalem was represented as a
rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, Ezra
4:15,16. Our Lord Jesus was so reproached, though he told
them his kingdom was not of this world: no marvel, then, if
his followers have been loaded in all ages with the like
calumnies, called factious, seditious, and
turbulent, and looked upon as the troublers of the
land, their enemies having found such representations needful
for the justifying of their barbarous rage against them. The
apostle therefore, for the obviating of this reproach and the
clearing of Christianity from it, shows that obedience to
civil magistrates is one of the laws of Christ, whose religion
helps to make people good subjects; and it was very unjust to
charge upon Christianity that faction and rebellion to which
its principles and rules are so directly contrary. 2. Because
of the temptation which the Christians lay under to be
otherwise affected to civil magistrates, some of them being
originally Jews, and so leavened with a principle that it was
unmeet for any of the seed of Abraham to be subject to one of
another nation--their king must be of their brethren, Deuteronomy
17:15. Besides, Paul had taught them that they were not
under the law, they were made free by Christ. Lest this
liberty should be turned into licentiousness, and misconstrued
to countenance faction and rebellion, the apostle enjoins
obedience to civil government, which was the more necessary to
be pressed now because the magistrates were heathens and
unbelievers, which yet did not destroy their civil power and
authority. Besides, the civil powers were persecuting powers;
the body of the law was against them.
II. The reasons to enforce this duty.
Why must we be subject?
1. For wrath's sake. Because of
the danger we run ourselves into by resistance. Magistrates
bear the sword, and to oppose them is to hazard all that is
dear to us in this world; for it is to no purpose to contend
with him that bears the sword. The Christians were then in
those persecuting times obnoxious to the sword of the
magistrate for their religion, and they needed not make
themselves more obnoxious by their rebellion. The least show
of resistance or sedition in a Christian would soon be
aggravated and improved, and would be very prejudicial to the
whole society; and therefore they had more need than others to
be exact in their subjection, that those who had so much
occasion against them in the matter of their God might have no
other occasion. To this head must that argument be referred
(Romans
13:2), Those that resist shall receive to themselves
damnation: krima lepsontai, they shall be
called to an account for it. God will reckon with them for it,
because the resistance reflects upon him. The magistrates will
reckon with them for it. They will come under the lash of the
law, and will find the higher powers too high to be trampled
upon, all civil governments being justly strict and severe
against treason and rebellion; so it follows (Romans
13:3), Rulers are a terror. This is a good
argument, but it is low for a Christian.
2. We must be subject, not only for
wrath, but for conscience' sake; not so much formidine
pœnæ--from the fear of punishment, as virtutis
amore--from the love of virtue. This makes common civil
offices acceptable to God, when they are done for
conscience' sake, with an eye to God, to his providence
putting us into such relations, and to his precept making
subjection the duty of those relations. Thus the same thing
may be done from a very different principle. Now to oblige
conscience to this subjection he argues, Romans
13:1-4,6,
(1.) From the institution of
magistracy: There is no power but of God. God as the
ruler and governor of the world hath appointed the ordinance
of magistracy, so that all civil power is derived from him as
from its original, and he hath by his providence put the
administration into those hands, whatever they are that have
it. By him kings reign, Proverbs
8:15. The usurpation of power and the abuse of power are
not of God, for he is not the author of sin; but the power
itself is. As our natural powers, though often abused and made
instruments of sin, are from God's creating power, so civil
powers are from God's governing power. The most unjust and
oppressive princes in the world have no power but what is
given them from above (John
19:11), the divine providence being in a special manner
conversant about those changes and revolutions of governments
which have such an influence upon states and kingdoms, and
such a multitude of particular persons and smaller
communities. Or, it may be meant of government in general: it
is an instance of God's wisdom, power, and goodness, in the
management of mankind, that he has disposed them into such a
state as distinguishes between governors and governed, and has
not left them like the fishes of the sea, where the greater
devour the less. He did herein consult the benefit of his
creatures.--The powers that be: whatever the particular
form and method of government are--whether by monarchy,
aristocracy, or democracy--wherever the governing power is
lodged, it is an ordinance of God, and it is to be received
and submitted to accordingly; though immediately an ordinance
of man (1 Peter
2:13), yet originally an ordinance of God.--Ordained of
God--tetagmenai; a military word, signifying
not only the ordination of magistrates, but the subordination
of inferior magistrates to the supreme, as in an army; for
among magistrates there is a diversity of gifts, and trusts,
and services. Hence it follows (Romans
13:2) that whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the
ordinance of God. There are other things from God that are
the greatest calamities; but magistracy is from God as an
ordinance, that is, it is a great law, and it is a great
blessing: so that the children of Belial, that will not endure
the yoke of government, will be found breaking a law and
despising a blessing. Magistrates are therefore called gods
(Psalms
82:6), because they bear the image of God's authority. And
those who spurn at their power reflect upon God himself. This
is not at all applicable to the particular rights of kings and
kingdoms, and the branches of their constitution; nor can any
certain rule be fetched from this for the modelling of the
original contracts between the governors and governed; but it
is intended for direction to private persons in their private
capacity, to behave themselves quietly and peaceably in the
sphere in which God has set them, with a due regard to the
civil powers which God in his providence has set over them, 1 Timothy
2:1,2. Magistrates are here again and again called God's
ministers. He is the minister of God, Romans
13:4,6. Magistrates are in a more peculiar manner God's
servants; the dignity they have calls for duty. Though they
are lords to us, they are servants to God, have work to do for
him, and an account to render to him. In the administration of
public justice, the determining of quarrels, the protecting of
the innocent, the righting of the wronged, the punishing of
offenders, and the preserving of national peace and order,
that every man may not do what is right in his own eyes--in
these things it is that magistrates act as God's ministers. As
the killing of an inferior magistrate, while he is actually
doing his duty, is accounted treason against the prince, so
the resisting of any magistrates in the discharge of these
duties of their place is the resisting of an ordinance of
God.
(2.) From the intention of magistracy:
Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil,
&c. Magistracy was designed to be,
[1.] A terror to evil works and evil
workers. They bear the sword; not only the sword of war, but
the sword of justice. They are heirs of restraint, to
put offenders to shame; Laish wanted such, Judges
18:7. Such is the power of sin and corruption that many
will not be restrained from the greatest enormities, and such
as are most pernicious to human society, by any regard to the
law of God and nature or the wrath to come; but only by the
fear of temporal punishments, which the wilfulness and
perverseness of degenerate mankind have made necessary. Hence
it appears that laws with penalties for the lawless and
disobedient (1 Timothy
1:9) must be constituted in Christian nations, and are
agreeable with, and not contradictory to, the gospel. When men
are become such beasts, such ravenous beasts, one to another,
they must be dealt with accordingly, taken and destroyed in
terrorem--to deter others. The horse and the mule must
thus be held in with bit and bridle. In this work the
magistrate is the minister of God, Romans
13:4. He acts as God's agent, to whom vengeance belongs;
and therefore must take heed of infusing into his judgments
any private personal resentments of his own.--To execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil. In this the judicial
processes of the most vigilant faithful magistrates, though
some faint resemblance and prelude of the judgments of the
great day, yet come far short of the judgment of God: they
reach only to the evil act, can execute wrath only on him that
doeth evil: but God's judgment extends to the evil
thought, and is a discerner of the intents of the
heart.--He beareth not the sword in vain. It is not for
nothing that God hath put such a power into the magistrate's
hand; but it is intended for the restraining and suppressing
of disorders. And therefore, "If thou do that which is
evil, which falls under the cognizance and censure of the
civil magistrate, be afraid; for civil powers have
quick eyes and long arms." It is a good thing when the
punishment of malefactors is managed as an ordinance of God,
instituted and appointed by him. First, As a holy God,
that hates sin, against which, as it appears and puts up its
head, a public testimony is thus borne. Secondly, As
King of nations, and the God of peace and order, which are
hereby preserved. Thirdly, As the protector of the
good, whose persons, families, estates, and names, are by this
means hedged about. Fourthly, As one that desires not
the eternal ruin of sinners, but by the punishment of some
would terrify others, and so prevent the like wickedness, that
others may hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Nay,
it is intended for a kindness to those that are punished, that
by the destruction of the flesh the spirit may be saved in the
day of the Lord Jesus.
[2.] A praise to those that do well.
Those that keep in the way of their duty shall have the
commendation and protection of the civil powers, to their
credit and comfort. "Do that which is good (Romans
13:3), and thou needest not be afraid of the power,
which, though terrible, reaches none but those that by their
own sin make themselves obnoxious to it; the fire burns only
that which is combustible: nay, thou shalt have praise of it."
This is the intention of magistracy, and therefore we must,
for conscience' sake, be subject to it, as a constitution
designed for the public good, to which all private interests
must give way. But pity it is that ever this gracious
intention should be perverted, and that those who bear the
sword, while they countenance and connive at sin, should be a
terror to those who do well. But so it is, when the vilest men
are exalted (Psalms
12:1,8); and yet even then the blessing and benefit of a
common protection, and a face of government and order, are
such that it is our duty in that case rather to submit to
persecution for well-doing, and to take it patiently, than by
any irregular and disorderly practices to attempt a redress.
Never did sovereign prince pervert the ends of government as
Nero did, and yet to him Paul appealed, and under him had the
protection of the law and the inferior magistrates more than
once. Better a bad government than none at all.
(3.) From our interest in it: "He is
the minister of God to thee for good. Thou hast the
benefit and advantage of the government, and therefore must do
what thou canst to preserve it, and nothing to disturb it."
Protection draws allegiance. If we have protection from the
government, we owe subjection to it; by upholding the
government, we keep up our own hedge. This subjection is
likewise consented to by the tribute we pay (Romans
13:6): "For this cause pay you tribute, as a
testimony of your submission, and an acknowledgment that in
conscience you think it to be due. You do by paying taxes
contribute your share to the support of the power; if
therefore you be not subject, you do but pull down with one
hand what you support with the other; and is that conscience?"
"By your paying tribute you not only own the magistrate's
authority, but the blessing of that authority to yourselves, a
sense of which you thereby testify, giving him that as a
recompence for the great pains he takes in the government; for
honour is a burden: and, if he do as he ought, he is
attending continually upon this very thing, for it is
enough to take up all a man's thoughts and time, in
consideration of which fatigue, we pay tribute, and must be
subject."--Pay you tribute, phorous
seleite. He does not say, "You give it as an alms,"
but, "You pay it as a just debt, or lend it to be repaid in
all the blessings and advantages of public government, of
which you reap the benefit." This is the lesson the apostle
teaches, and it becomes all Christians to learn and practise
it, that the godly in the land may be found (whatever others
are) the quiet and the peaceable in the land.
Justice and Charity. |
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7 Render therefore to all
their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to
whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou
shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not
covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is
briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his
neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
We are here taught a lesson of justice
and charity.
I. Of justice (Romans
13:7): Render therefore to all their dues,
especially to magistrates, for this refers to what goes
before; and likewise to all with whom we have to do. To be
just is to give to all their due, to give every body his own.
What we have we have as stewards; others have an interest in
it, and must have their dues. "Render to God his due in the
first place, to yourselves, to you families, your relations,
to the commonwealth, to the church, to the poor, to those that
you have dealings with in buying, selling, exchanging, &c.
Render to all their dues; and that readily and cheerfully, not
tarrying till you are by law compelled to it." He specifies,
1. Due taxes: Tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to
whom custom. Most of the countries where the gospel was
first preached were subject at this time to the Roman yoke,
and were made provinces of the empire. He wrote this to the
Romans, who, as they were rich, so they were drained by taxes
and impositions, to the just and honest payment of which they
are here pressed by the apostle. Some distinguish between
tribute and custom, understanding by the former constant
standing taxes, and by the latter those which were
occasionally required, both which are to be faithfully and
conscientiously paid as they become legally due. Our Lord was
born when his mother went to be taxed; and he enjoined the
payment of tribute to Cæsar. Many, who in other things seem to
be just, yet make no conscience of this, but pass it off with
a false ill-favoured maxim, that it is no sin to cheat the
king, directly contrary to Paul's rule, Tribute to whom
tribute is due. 2. Due respect: Fear to whom fear,
honour to whom honour. This sums up the duty which we owe
not only to magistrates, but to all superiors, parents,
masters, all that are over us in the Lord, according to the
fifth commandment: Honour thy father and mother.
Compare Leviticus
19:3, You shall fear every man his mother and his
father; not with a fear of amazement, but a loving,
reverent, respectful, obediential fear. Where there is not
this respect in the heart to our superiors, no other duty will
be paid aright. 3. Due payment of debts (Romans
13:8): "Owe no man any thing; that is, do not
continue in any one's debt, while you are able to pay it,
further than by, at least, the tacit consent of the person to
whom you are indebted. Give every one his own. Do not spend
that upon yourselves, which you owe to others." The wicked
borroweth, and payeth not again, Psalms
37:21. Many that are very sensible of the trouble think
little of the sin of being in debt.
II. Of charity: Owe no man any
thing; opheilete--you do owe no man
any thing; so some read it: "Whatever you owe to any relation,
or to any with whom you have to do, it is eminently summer up
and included in this debt of love. But to love one
another, this is a debt that must be always in the paying,
and yet always owing." Love is a debt. The law of God and the
interest of mankind make it so. It is not a thing which we are
left at liberty about, but it is enjoined us, as the principle
and summary of all duty owing one to another; for love is
the fulfilling of the law; not perfectly, but it is a good
step towards it. It is inclusive of all the duties of the
second table, which he specifies, Romans
13:9, and these suppose the love of God. See 1 John
4:20. If the love be sincere, it is accepted as the
fulfilling of the law. Surely we serve a good master,
that has summed up all our duty in one word, and that a short
word and a sweet word--love, the beauty and harmony of
the universe. Loving and being loved is all the pleasure, joy,
and happiness, of an intelligent being. God is love (1 John
4:16), and love is his image upon the soul: where it is,
the soul is well moulded, and the heart fitted for every good
work. Now, to prove that love is the fulfilling of the law, he
gives us, 1. An induction of particular precepts, Romans
13:9. He specifies the last five of the ten commandments,
which he observes to be all summed up in this royal law,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself--with an
as of quality, not of equality--"with the same
sincerity that thou lovest thyself, though not in the same
measure and degree." He that loves his neighbour as himself
will be desirous of the welfare of his neighbour's body,
goods, and good name, as of his own. On this is built that
golden rule of doing as we would be done by. Were there no
restraints of human laws in these things, no punishments
incurred (which the malignity of human nature hath made
necessary), the law of love would of itself be effectual to
prevent all such wrongs and injuries, and to keep peace and
good order among us. In the enumeration of these commandments,
the apostle puts the seventh before the sixth, and mentions
this first, Thou shalt not commit adultery; for though
this commonly goes under the name of love (pity it is that so
good a word should be so abused) yet it is really as great a
violation of it as killing and stealing is, which shows that
true brotherly love is love to the souls of our brethren in
the first place. He that tempts others to sin, and defiles
their minds and consciences, though he may pretend the most
passionate love (Proverbs
7:15,18), does really hate them, just as the devil does,
who wars against the soul. 2. A general rule concerning the
nature of brotherly love: Love worketh no ill (Romans
13:10)-- he that walks in love, that is actuated and
governed by a principle of love, worketh no ill; he
neither practises nor contrives any ill to his
neighbour, to any one that he has any thing to do with:
ouk ergazetai. The projecting of evil is in
effect the performing of it. Hence devising iniquity is called
working evil upon the bed, Micah
2:1. Love intends and designs no ill to any body, is
utterly against the doing of that which may turn to the
prejudice, offence, or grief of any. It worketh no ill;
that is, it prohibits the working of any ill: more is implied
than is expressed; it not only worketh no ill, but it worketh
all the good that may be, deviseth liberal things. For it is a
sin not only to devise evil against thy neighbour, but to
withhold good from those to whom it is due; both are forbidden
together, Proverbs
3:27-29. This proves that love is the fulfilling of the
law, answers all the end of it; for what else is that but to
restrain us from evil-doing, and to constrain us to
well-doing? Love is a living active principle of obedience to
the whole law. The whole law is written in the heart, if the
law of love be there.
The Christian
Directory. |
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11 And that, knowing the
time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep:
for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us
therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on
the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the
day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh,
to fulfil the lusts thereof.
We are here taught a lesson of
sobriety and godliness in ourselves. Our main care must be to
look to ourselves. Four things we are here taught, as a
Christian's directory for his day's work: when to awake, how
to dress ourselves, how to walk, and what provision to
make.
I. When to awake: Now it is high
time to awake (Romans
13:11), to awake out of the sleep of sin (for a sinful
condition is a sleeping condition), out of the sleep of carnal
security, sloth and negligence, out of the sleep of spiritual
death, and out of the sleep of spiritual deadness; both the
wise and foolish virgins slumbered and slept, Matthew
25:5. We have need to be often excited and stirred up to
awake. The word of command to all Christ's disciples is,
Watch. "Awake--be concerned about your souls and your
eternal interest; take heed of sin, be ready to, and serious
in, that which is good, and live in a constant expectation of
the coming of our Lord. Considering," 1. "The time we are cast
into: Knowing the time. Consider what time of day it is
with us, and you will see it is high time to awake. It is
gospel time, it is the accepted time, it is working time; it
is a time when more is expected than was in the times of that
ignorance which God winked at, when people sat in darkness. It
is high time to awake; for the sun has been up a great while,
and shines in our faces. Have we this light to sleep in? See
1 Thessalonians
5:5,6. It is high time to awake; for others are awake and
up about us. Know the time to be a busy time; we have a great
deal of work to do, and our Master is calling us to it again
and again. Know the time to be a perilous time. We are in the
midst of enemies and snares. It is high time to awake, for the
Philistines are upon us; our neighbour's house is on fire, and
our own in danger. It is time to awake, for we have slept
enough (1 Peter
4:3), high time indeed, for behold the bridegroom
cometh." 2. "The salvation we are upon the brink of:
Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed--than
when we first believed, and so took upon us the profession of
Christianity. The eternal happiness we chose for our portion
is now nearer to us than it was when we became Christians. Let
us mind our way and mend our pace, for we are now nearer our
journey's end than we were when we had our first love. The
nearer we are to our centre the quicker should our motion be.
Is there but a step between us and heaven, and shall we be so
very slow and dull in our Christian course, and move so
heavily? The more the days are shortened, and the more grace
is increased, the nearer is our salvation, and the more quick
and vigorous we should be in our spiritual motions."
II. How to dress ourselves. This is
the next care, when we are awake and up: "The night is far
spent, the day is at hand; therefore it is time to dress
ourselves. Clearer discoveries will be quickly made of gospel
grace than have been yet made, as light gets ground. The night
of Jewish rage and cruelty is just at an end; their
persecuting power is near a period; the day of our deliverance
from them is at hand, that day of redemption which Christ
promised, Luke
21:28. And the day of our complete salvation, in the
heavenly glory, is at hand. Observe then,"
1. "What we must put off; put off our
night-clothes, which it is a shame to appear abroad in:
Cast off the works of darkness." Sinful works are works
of darkness; they come from the darkness of ignorance and
mistake, they covet the darkness of privacy and concealment,
and they end in the darkness of hell and destruction. "Let us
therefore, who are of the day, cast them off; not only cease
from the practice of them, but detest and abhor them, and have
no more to do with them. Because eternity is just at the door,
let us take heed lest we be found doing that which will then
make against us," 2 Peter
3:11,14.
2. "What we must put on." Our care
must be wherewithal we shall be clothed, how shall we
dress our souls? (1.) Put on the armour of light.
Christians are soldiers in the midst of enemies, and their
life a warfare, therefore their array must be armour, that
they may stand upon their defence--the armour of God,
to which we are directed, Ephesians
6:13, &c. A Christian may reckon himself undressed if
he be unarmed. The graces of the Spirit are this armour, to
secure the soul from Satan's temptations and the assaults of
this present evil world. This is called the armour of light,
some think alluding to the bright glittering armour which the
Roman soldiers used to wear; or such armour as it becomes us
to wear in the day-light. The graces of the Spirit are
suitable splendid ornaments, are in the sight of God of great
price. (2.) Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans
13:14. This stands in opposition to a great many base
lusts, mentioned Romans
13:13. Rioting and drunkenness must be cast off:
one would think it should follows, but, "Put on sobriety,
temperance, chastity," the opposite virtues: no, "Put on
Christ, this includes all. Put on the righteousness of
Christ for justification; be found in him (Philippians
3:9) as a man is found in his clothes; put on the priestly
garments of the elder brother, that in them you may obtain the
blessing. Put on the spirit and grace of Christ for
sanctification; put on the new man (Ephesians
4:24); get the habit of grace confirmed, the acts of it
quickened." Jesus Christ is the best clothing for Christians
to adorn themselves with, to arm themselves with; it is
decent, distinguishing, dignifying, and defending. Without
Christ, we are naked, deformed; all other things are filthy
rages, fig-leaves, a sorry shelter. God has provided us coats
of skins--large, strong, warm, and durable. By baptism we have
in profession put on Christ, Galatians
3:27. Let us do it in truth and sincerity. The Lord
Jesus Christ. "Put him on as Lord to rule you, as Jesus to
save you, and in both as Christ, anointed and appointed by the
Father to this ruling saving work."
III. How to walk. When we are up and
dressed, we are not to sit still in an affected closeness and
privacy, as monks and hermits. What have we good clothes for,
but to appear abroad in them?--Let us walk.
Christianity teaches us how to walk so as to please God, whose
eye is upon us: 1 Thessalonians
4:1, Walk honestly as in the day. Compare Ephesians
5:8, Walk as children of light. Our conversation
must be as becomes the gospel. Walk honestly;
euschemonos--decently and becomingly, so
as to credit your profession, and to adorn the doctrine of God
our Saviour, and recommend religion in its beauty to others.
Christians should be in a special manner careful to conduct
themselves well in those things wherein men have an eye upon
them, and to study that which is lovely and of good report.
Particularly, here are three pairs of sins we are cautioned
against:-- 1. We must not walk in rioting and
drunkenness; we must abstain from all excess in eating and
drinking. We must not give the least countenance to revelling,
nor indulge our sensual appetite in any private excesses.
Christians must not overcharge their hearts with surfeiting
and drunkenness, Luke
21:34. This is not walking as in the day; for those that
are drunk are drunk in the night, 1 Thessalonians
5:7. 2. Not in chambering and wantonness; not in
any of those lusts of the flesh, those works of darkness,
which are forbidden in the seventh commandment. Downright
adultery and fornication are the chambering forbidden.
Lascivious thoughts and affections, lascivious looks, words,
books, sons, gestures, dances, dalliances, which lead to, and
are degrees of, that uncleanness, are the wantonness here
forbidden--whatsoever transgresseth the pure and sacred law of
chastity and modesty. 3. Not in strife and envying.
These are also works of darkness; for, though the acts and
instances of strife and envy are very common, yet none are
willing to own the principles, or to acknowledge themselves
envious and contentious. It may be the lot of the best saints
to be envied and striven with; but to strive and to envy ill
becomes the disciples and followers of the peaceable and
humble Jesus. Where there are riot and drunkenness, there
usually are chambering and wantonness, and strife and envy.
Solomon puts them all together, Proverbs
23:29, &c. Those that tarry long at the wine (Proverbs
23:30) have contentions and wounds without cause (Proverbs
23:29) and their eyes behold strange women, Proverbs
23:33.
IV. What provision to make (Romans
13:14): "Make not provision for the flesh. Be not
careful about the body." Our great care must be to provide for
our souls; but must we take no care about our bodies? Must we
not provide for them, when they need it? Yes, but two things
are here forbidden:-- 1. Perplexing ourselves with an
inordinate care, intimated in these words, pronoian me
poieisthe. "Be not solicitous in forecasting for the
body; do not stretch your wits, nor set your thoughts upon the
tenter-hooks, in making this provision; be not careful and
cumbered about it; do not take thought," Matthew
6:31. It forbids an anxious encumbering care. 2. Indulging
ourselves in an irregular desire. We are not forbidden barely
to provide for the body (it is a lamp that must be supplied
with oil), but we are forbidden to fulfil the lusts thereof.
The necessities of the body must be considered, but the lusts
of it must not be gratified. Natural desires must be answered,
but wanton appetites must be checked and denied. To ask meat
for our necessities is duty: we are taught to pray for daily
bread; but to ask meat for our lusts is provoking, Psalms
78:18. Those who profess to walk in the spirit must not
fulfil the lusts of the flesh, Galatians
5:16.