Lecture 17

The commandments of Christ

IN the lecture last delivered, mention was made of the necessity disclosed in the Scriptures, of believers continuing in “the daily practice of all things commanded by Christ”. Christendom, which has gone astray from the doctrines, has also forsaken the commandments of Christ, if ever it made them a rule of life. It has probably left the commandments as the result of losing the doctrines; for the force of the commandments can only be felt by those who recognise that salvation is dependent on their obedience. Popular theology has reduced them to a practical nullity. It has totally obscured the principle of obedience as the basis of our acceptance with God in Christ, by its doctrine of “justification by faith alone”.

It is part of the modern restitution of primitive apostolic ways, to recognise distinctly, that while faith turns a sinner into a saint, obedience only will secure a saint’s acceptance at the judgement seat of Christ; and that a disobedient saint will be rejected more decisively than even an unjustified sinner.

The rule or standard of obedience is to be found in the commandments of Christ. Christ speaks very plainly on this subject:

“Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants … but friends.” (John 15:14)

“Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded.” (Matthew 28:20)

“If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” (John 13:17)

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father.” (Matthew 7:21)

“Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22)

“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar.” (1 John 2:4)

These statements are summed up in the saying of Christ, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love” (John 15:10) …

Let us first realise that the commandments of the Apostles are included in the commandments of Christ. It is common to make a distinction. You will hear it said sometimes that while the commandments of Christ are all that is estimable and binding, the commandments of the apostles are marred by the weaknesses of the men who communicated them, and are by no means to be placed on a level with the precepts of their Master, who was without flaw. This plausible distinction is not founded on truth. The commandments delivered by the apostles were not of their authorship. They were as definitely divine as those that came from the mouth of the Lord. Paul distinctly claims this:

“If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 14:37)

This claim is only in harmony with what the Lord Jesus himself said on the subject. In sending his apostles forth to teach his doctrine after he should have departed from the earth, he did not leave them to their own resources as natural men for the execution of the work. He made specific promise of supernatural wisdom and guidance. This promise occurs in various forms, for instance:

“I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist.” (Luke 21:15)

“If I depart, I will send the Comforter … which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 16:7; 15:26)

“When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” (Matthew 10:19,20)

The promise of Christ that he should send the Spirit to the apostles was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. Jesus told them not to begin their apostolic labours until the Spirit should come (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4). They were to “tarry at Jerusalem” till the promised “power from on high” came, by which they were enabled to give an effective testimony to the word. They had not long to wait. In ten days, while they were all assembled (the apostles and disciples to the number of one hundred and twenty), the Spirit came with sound of a rushing mighty wind, and filled all the place where they were, crowning each apostle with a visible wreath of flame, and manifesting its intelligent power in imparting to the apostles the power of extemporising the word in all the spoken languages of the day (Acts 2:1-13).

When the commotion caused by this wonderful occurrence had come to a head, Peter explained the nature of it to the bewildered spectators. He reminded the assembled multitude of the recent crucifixion of Jesus, which they were aware of. He then declared his resurrection as a fact within the personal eye-witness of the apostles, and added, “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear” (Acts 2:33).

The spirit which was thus bestowed upon them remained with them as a guiding teaching presence to the end. It was this that justified Paul’s claim to divine authority for the things he wrote, as above quoted; for although Paul was not among the apostles at that time, he was added to their number shortly afterwards, and in every way supernaturally endowed as the other apostles were. It was this that enabled John the apostle to take the same strong ground in his first epistle: “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us: he that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). When John said this he said no more in substance than Jesus said himself concerning John and his fellow apostles: “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). “He that heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me” (Luke 10:16).

Here is Christ’s own authority for placing the word of his apostles on a level with his own. He said concerning his own teaching, “The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:24). On the same principle, the apostles could say with Paul, “The things which we write (and speak) are (not ours but) Christ’s who sent us”. The principle is this: the Holy Spirit was upon the Lord from the Father without measure, making him one with the Father, who is the eternal and universe-filling Spirit; through which he was enabled to give commandments that were as truly divine as if proclaimed direct from heaven in the hearing of all the world (Luke 3:22; John 3:35; Acts 1:2). So the Holy Spirit was upon the apostles from Christ, who is one with the Father, imparting to their words a divine authority, equal to that which attached to his own words. Hence, it is a perfectly natural relation of things that Christ exhibits when he says, “He that despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me”.

It must be evident in the light of these considerations how grievously mistaken is the view which would treat with small respect the apostolic precepts, while according a high sentimental regard for those which come out of the actual mouth of Christ. The commandments of the apostles are the commandments of Christ, and the commandments of Christ are the commandments of God. And the keeping of the commandments of God is of an importance that cannot be represented in too extreme a light, in view of what is written in the Apocalypse: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).

When Jesus sent forth his apostles, he not only commanded them to preach the gospel, but he said, “Teach them to observe all things whatsover I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). It must be obvious that this extends the obligatoriness of the commandments delivered to the apostles, to all believers as well; and this not merely in the sense of seemliness or suitability, but in the sense of imperative obligation. That is, the obedience of these commandments is essential to the believers. Christ said this plainly in concluding what is called his “sermon on the mount”, which is nothing else than a long series of these very commandments – in fact, the most methodical and extensive collection of them to be found in the whole course of his recorded teaching. He said, “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock … And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-26).

In no plainer way could Christ tell us that our ultimate acceptance with him will depend upon our doing of the things he has commanded. If he did say it more plainly, it was when he said, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

The idea thus explicitly enunciated is of very frequent occurrence in the Lord’s teaching. It comes out in various connections and forms, but always with the same pointedness and vigour. There is never room for misconception. Once as he stood in the midst of a listening crowd, one said, “Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee”. His rejoinder was, “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? … Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:47,50). On another occasion, a woman in the crowd exclaimed, “Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked”. His response was, “Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it” (Luke 11:28). On another occasion he said, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46); and on another, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20); and, again, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:14) …

The commandments often run much more directly counter to human bias and inclination. By reason of their very aim to try, and purify, and chasten and discipline the mind into subjection to the divine will, there is a universal predilection in favour of that way of understanding these commandments that takes away their inconvenience for men called to serve Christ in the present world, and inclined perhaps to do so, though with no great amount of faith, or its resultant enthusiasm. Because of this “consensus of opinion”, as it is the modern fashion to phrase it, the common run of men are afraid to think as the commandments, without sophistication, would lead men to think. But the commandments are not altered by the “consensus” They remain as the expression of Christ’s will, however successfully they may be nullified by tradition: and it will be a poor apology for disobedience, in the day of judgement to say that we did not dare to comply with them, because they were not currently understood to have any practical bearing in modern times. The inclinations and traditions of the multitude have always been in antagonism to the will of God. The divinely recorded history of the world is proof of this. It is, therefore, the part of men who believe in God, to hearken to the voice of His word, and not to the opinions of the people and their leaders.

Of those commandments that are recognised though not acted on, it will not be in place here to speak. That God should be loved and served; that men should be true, just and kind; that our neighbour’s interests should have as high a consideration at our hands as our own, no man considering himself a member of Christendom would deny, however little able he might be to give practical effect to these commandments in his life. These commandments are such as are beautiful in themselves, and commend themselves to the moral instincts of all men (not degraded to the very level of the brute) as the dictates of the highest wisdom.

It is of the commandments whose excellence is not so self-evident that there is need to speak; commandments whose aim is not to make the present life agreeable, but to subject obedient believers to a discipline that will subdue and mould them to the divine pattern in preparation for the perfectly agreeable state of existence to be established by Christ upon the earth in the day of his coming.

1. Be not conformed to this world (Romans 12:2). There is not much danger of mistaking the meaning of this. The world is the people, as distinguished from the earth which they inhabit. Peter puts this beyond doubt in calling it “the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5). Jesus also makes it plain in speaking of the world as a lover and a hater: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own” (John 15:18). This could only apply to the people. The command is to be not conformed to the world of people upon the earth as it now is. Jesus plainly laid it down that he did not belong to such a world, and commanded his disciples to accept a similar position in relation to it. “The world to come” is the world of their citizenship. Of their position in the present world, Jesus said in prayer, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16). By John he commanded them, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world” (1 John 2:15). By Peter, he indicates their position in the world as that of “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Peter 2:11), and their life in it as a “time of sojourning” (1:17), to be passed in holiness and fear (verses 14,17).

The world that hated Jesus was the Jewish world. Consequently, we are saved from the mistake of supposing that by the world is meant the extremely vile and immoral of mankind. The Jews were far from being such: they were a very religious and ostentatiously professing and ceremonially punctilious people, among whom the standard of respectability was high in a religious sense. All their conversations with Christ show this. That which led to the complete separation indicated in Christ’s words and precepts, is indicated by Jesus himself, in his prayer to the Father, so wonderfully recorded in John 17: “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee” (verse 25). It is the world’s relation to God that cuts off the friends of God from the world (if the friends of God are faithful). The world neither loves, nor knows, nor considers God. They care for Him in no sense. His expressed will – His declared purpose – His intrinsically sovereign claims, are either expressly rejected or treated with entire indifference. His great and dreadful and eternal reality is ignored. Daniel’s indictment against Belshazzar is chargeable against them all: “The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified” (Daniel 5:23).

This is an all-sufficient explanation of the matter we are considering. If the world is God’s enemy, how can the friends of God be friends with it? It is not without the profoundest reason in the nature of things, that it is written, “The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). “No man can serve two masters … Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

The force of this reasoning increases tenfold when we contemplate the present situation in the light of its divine explanation and the divine purpose concerning it. We must seek for this explanation in the beginning of things – the beginning as Mosaically exhibited (an exhibition endorsed by Christ, and therefore to be trusted in the face of all modern theories and speculations). This beginning shows us man in harmony with God, and things “very good”. Then it shows us disobedience (the setting aside of the divine will as the rule of human action – alias, sin), and as the result of this, the divine fellowship withdrawn, and men driven off to exile and to death, permitted only, thereafter, to approach in sacrifice, in token of the final way of return. The present world is the continuance and enlargement of the evil state of man, resulting from man’s alienation from God in the beginning. It is enlarged and aggravated. “The world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19), “dead in trespasses and sins … by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1-3), “without Christ, having no hope, and without God” (Ephesians 2:12).

What is the purpose concerning this state of things? We have seen it in previous lectures. It is briefly summarised in 2 Thessalonians 1:7, and Revelation 19:11-16, “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”. “In righteousness doth he judge and make war … treading the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” When this work of judgement and destruction is done, the kingdom of God prevails on earth for a thousand years, leading the nations in ways of righteousness and peace; and after a brief renewal of conflict with the diabolism of human nature, there comes at last the day of complete restoration, the ungodly consumed off the earth; the servants of God saved: “No more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads” (Revelation 22:3).

Here, then, we have harmony with God at the beginning of things, and harmony with Him at the end of things, and the dark and dreadful interval of “the present evil world” between, in which God is not obeyed nor recognised, but the pleasures, gratifications, and interests of mere natural existence made the objects of universal pursuit. In this dark interval, however, the divine work goes on of separating a family from the evil, in preparation for the day of recovery and blessing. It is not easy, in view of these things, to realise the reasonableness of the divine command to His servants meanwhile, not to be conformed to an evil world, in which God is disowned, and to which they do not belong?

What is to be done by the man earnestly seeking to be the servant of Christ, and desiring to be found of him at his coming, in the attitude of a chaste and loyal bride, preparing for marriage? Common sense would supply the answer if it were not plainly given to us by God Himself: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17,18). The questions with which Paul prefaces this quotation strike home the reasonableness of this command at a blow: “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial: or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

The believer of the gospel has no alternative but to step aside from the world. He cannot otherwise carry out the will of Christ concerning those whom he asks for his own. What this stepping aside from the world means, there need be no difficulty in the earnest man determining for himself. Christ and the apostles have in themselves furnished an example which we are invited to imitate (1 Peter 2:21; John 13:15; 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:1; 4:17).

It does not mean seclusion: for they lived an open daily public life. It does not mean isolation: for they are always seen among men. It means abstinence from the aims and principles of the world, and from the movements and enterprises in which these find expression. The activities of Christ and the apostles were all in connection with and on behalf of, the work of God among men. They never appear in connection with the enterprises of the world. Their temporal avocations are all private. Christ was a carpenter; Paul a tent maker; but at these, both worked as the sons of God. Disciples of Christ may follow any occupation of good repute; (they are expressly prohibited from having to do with anything of an evil appearance or giving occasion of reproach to the adversary – Romans 12:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:22). But in all they do, they are to remember they are the Lord’s servants, and to act as if the matter they have in hand were performed directly to him (Colossians 3:23,24). Even servants are to do their part to a bad master faithfully as “to the Lord” (1 Peter 2:18-20).

The sense in which they stand apart from the world is in the objects for which they work, and in the use to which they put the time and means which they call “their own”. They are to “follow after (works of) righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22). They are to “deny ungodliness and worldly lusts”, and “live soberly and righteously and godly” (Titus 2:12). They are not to live in pleasure (Titus 3:3; 1 Timothy 5:6). They are to live to give God pleasure, in which, as they grow, they will find their own highest pleasure. They are to be “holy in all manner of conversation”, cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and walking as those who are the temple of God among men (1 Peter 1:15; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Corinthians 6:16).

Guided by these apostolic principles, they will abstain from the defiling habits that are common to ungodly Christendom, amongst which smoking and drinking stand prominent. And as men waiting and preparing for the kingdom of God (whose citizenship is in heaven, and not upon the earth) they accept the position of “strangers and pilgrims” among men. They are not at home; they are passing on. They take no part with Caesar. They pay his taxes and obey his laws where they do not conflict with the laws of Christ; but they take no part in his affairs.

They do not vote; they do not ask the suffrages of his supporters; they do not aspire to Caesar’s honours or emoluments; they do not bear arms. They are sojourners in Caesar’s realms during the short time God may appoint for their probation; and as such, they sustain a passive and non-resisting attitude, bent only upon earning Christ’s approbation at his coming, by their obedience to his commandments during his absence. They are not of the world, even as he was not of the world; and therefore they refuse to be conformed to it. The way is narrow and full of self-denial – too much so for those who would like to perform the impossible feat of “making the best of both worlds”. But the destination is so attractive, and the results of the cross-bearing so glorious, that the enlightened pilgrim deliberately chooses the journey, and resolutely endures its hardships.

2. “They that are great (among the Gentiles) exercise authority upon them … But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:25-27). “Be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” Nothing is more natural than for men to seek honour and deference among their fellow men. It is the universal habit of society “to receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only” (John 5:44). Men everywhere “love the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43). It is considered the right thing to nurse “ambition” – to indulge the desire for “fame” – which is the same thing in modern times. Jesus condemns it without qualification. He forbids men to aim at human approbation. It is his express commandment in almsgiving, for example, to “let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” (Matthew 6:3); and in prayer, to “pray to thy Father who is in secret” (verse 6), and in the exercises of divine sorrow, “to appear not unto men to fast” (verse 18). The object is that “the Father which seeth in secret may himself reward thee openly”. For the same reason, he forbids us to accept honourable titles and honourable places, and enjoins us to take a low and serving place. In illustration of his meaning, he himself washed the feet of his disciples, remarking, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). He expressly said, “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased” (Luke 14:11). His command by the apostles is, “All of you be clothed with humility”; put away pride: “mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate” (Romans 12:3,16; Philippians 2:2; 1 Peter 5:5-6).

The object of these commandments must be apparent to every reflecting mind that realises Christ’s object in the preaching of the gospel. It is to “purify unto himself a peculiar people” (Titus 2:14), to show forth “the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). The celebration of this praise is not finally and effectually rendered until the summons comes forth from the throne, to the immortal multitude of the saints in the day of His appearing: “praise our God, all ye his servants” (Revelation 19:5); who respond to the thrilling mandate in a tempest of enthusiastic acclamation, “as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings” (verse 6). How could a people be prepared for such a part except by the command to crucify the propensity that seeks the honour of men in this evil age? …

3. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth” (Matthew 6:19). This is plainly expressed in another part of the word of wisdom thus: “Labour not to be rich” (Proverbs 23:4). Nothing in the whole range of language could be plainer than this. Christ, who surely knew better than all, states a fact which constitutes a powerful reason for the commandment not to aim at riches. “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (Luke 18:24). Riches he calls “the mammon of unrighteousness”. He does not say their possession is absolutely inconsistent with divine favour and inheritance of life eternal. But he gives us to understand that the danger of their “choking the word” is extreme (Matthew 13:22), and that the only safety of those who have them lies in turning them by use into friends and safeguards. His advice is: “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:9). How this is to be done, he indicates: “Give alms: provide yourselves bags that wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not” (Luke 12:33). This advice is repeated by the apostles, “Charge them that are rich in this world … that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come” (1 Timothy 6:17). “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10) …

4. “Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Of him that taketh thy goods, ask them not again. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain” (Matthew 5:39-41; Luke 6:30). Of all the commandments of Christ, this of unresisting submission to legal and personal wrong is the one that most severely tests the allegiance of his disciples, and which accordingly is most decisively neglected in all Christendom. It would not be too much to say that it is deliberately refused and formally set aside by the mass of professing Christians, as an impracticable rule of life. That it stands there as the plainest of Christ’s commandments, cannot be denied; and that it was re-echoed by the apostles and carried out in the practice of the early Christians, is equally beyond contradiction. Yet, by all classes, it is ignored as much as if it had never been written. To what are we to attribute this deliberate disobedience of all ranks and classes of men, nominally professing subjection to Christ?

Something of it is doubtless due to a wrong conception of the object of the commandments. It is commonly imagined that the commandments of Christ supply, and are intended to supply, the best modes of life among men – that is, those modes that are best adapted to secure a beneficial adaptation of man to man in the present state of life upon earth. Doubtless they would prove such if all men acted on them. But in a world where the majority ignore them and act out their selfish instincts without scruple, it is otherwise. They expose the obedient to personal disadvantage. They were designed to chasten and discipline and purify such a people by the exercise of patient submission to wrong in preparation for another time when such commandments will be no longer in force, but when it will be given to the developed and obedient saints to “execute judgment” upon the ungodly, and “break in pieces the oppressor” as a preliminary to the blessing of all people (Revelation 2:26; Daniel 7:22; Psalm 149:9).

Men say society could not be carried on if these principles were acted on. Such a speech is not the speech of a disciple. Christ is not aiming at carrying on society on its present footing, but at “taking out a people” to carry it on rightly – that is, on divine principles – in the age to come. His own case illustrates the position. The people wanted to take him by force and make him a king, but he withdrew (John 6:15). A man wanted him to interfere in a will dispute. He declined, saying, “Who made me a judge and a divider?” (Luke 12:14). His part was to testify the truth, to do the will of the Father, to do all the good he could on divine grounds, and as for the world, to “testify of it that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). In this course he created hatred for himself, which finally took the form of personal violence. This violence he did not resist. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter; his life was taken from the earth. And he said with regard to the whole experience, “The servant is not greater than his lord … If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18,19) …

It is a mistake to hamper the question of duty with any secondary consideration whatever. The time has not come for the saints to keep the world right. It has to be made right before even keeping it right can be in question. The position of the saints is that of sojourners on trial for eternal life. God will take care that their probation is not interfered with by murder and violence before the time. The matter is His. We are in His hands: so is all the world. We need not therefore be distressed by thoughts of what will be the effect of any course required by Christ. He will take care that his work comes out right at last. The simple and only question for us, is that which Paul put near Damascus: “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?” We may not do what involves disobedience to Him.

A special constable, for example, is required if need be, to break a man’s head with a truncheon. The question in such a case is, therefore, best put thus: “Does Christ allow his servants to break people’s heads with truncheons?” It is not a proper answer to this question to say that being commanded to obey magistrates (Titus 3:1), we are bound to act as special constables if the magistrates order us; because no one will deny that this exhortation is governed by the larger precept, that we are to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 4:19). No candid person will contend that Paul meant we were to obey magistrates when their order might be to disobey God. If any such contention is made, it is a sufficient answer to cite the practice of the apostles, who must be allowed to be reliable interpreters of their own exhortations.

They were constantly disobeying magistrates in the particular matter of preaching the gospel, and brought themselves to prison and death by this disobedience. There was no inconsistency between this course of theirs, and their exhortation to “obey magistrates”; for in the matters referred to in this exhortation, they were themselves obedient to magistrates. They paid tribute, honoured the ruling powers, and recognised the authority of the law, in all matters not affecting their allegiance to the law of God. This is a duty required of all saints, and cheerfully rendered by them, notwithstanding that they expect all such orders and institutions to be abolished in due time. That time is the Lord’s time; and for this they patiently wait. The work is the Lord’s work, and for Him they wait.

But are they to be induced or coerced by human law to do what Christ has expressly forbidden? The only question is, has he forbidden what is in question in this case? Has he forbidden violence? As to this, nothing is clearer: he hath left us “an example, that we should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). This is what Christ himself said to his disciples: “I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). Now what is the example of Christ as to the matter in hand? The testimony is that he did no violence, neither was deceit found in his mouth (Isaiah 53:9). As Peter tells us, “When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).

But some say, this refers only to circumstances of persecution: that when he said: “Resist not evil”, he meant that his friends were not to fight against those who persecuted them for their faith, but patiently and unresistingly allow them to do their will. It will be found upon investigation that this is a mistake. Christ was not speaking of persecution at all. He was speaking of the legal maxims and practices of the Jewish nation. He says: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”. By whom – to whom, for what purpose had this been said? It was said by Moses to Israel, as the principle that was to regulate proceedings at law. This will be apparent by referring to Exodus 21:22-24. “ He (the offender) shall pay as the judges determine, and if any mischief follow, thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth”. When, therefore, Jesus enjoins non-resistance of evil, it is not with reference to persecutors, but with reference to legal proceedings, and the ordinary relations of man with man.

This is perhaps more evident in the next verse. “If any man sue thee at law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” Here is no persecutor but a man who simply wants your property and tries to dispossess you by legal process … “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” Surely this is no persecutor, who would take without your leave.

The suggestion that these precepts apply only to circumstances of persecution is the thought of a combative nature which rebels against Christ’s flesh-crucifying precepts, but is not prepared to go the length of openly denying Christ. It is a suggestion that is absurd in itself; for why should we be allowed to fight for ourselves, and be forbidden to fight for the Lord? One would imagine that the distinction, if it existed, would lie in the other direction – that we would be allowed to repel and retaliate when it was the authority of the Lord that was in question, but that we should be submissive when it was a mere question of taking our purse. But the fact is, no such distinction is made. The suggestion that it exists is gratuitous. It is a distinction that cannot, in fact, be made; for how are you to know when a man hurts you for your faith, and when from his own cupidity?

The command of the Lord is absolute, that we are to act the part of sheep in the midst of wolves; wise as serpents, but unharmful as doves. The faithful of the first century recognised this as involving non-resistance. This is evident from James’s incidental remark to the wanton rich men of the twelve tribes: “Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you” (James 5:6) … Paul expressly enjoined: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21). Again, he says, “See that none render evil for evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:15). Again, “Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?” (1 Corinthians 6:7).

These principles exclude a resort to law on the part of those who obey the commandments of Christ. Going to law is inconsistent with submission to precepts requiring us to accept evil, and to refrain from vindicating ourselves. What is going to law but resorting to the utmost extremity of personal violence and coercion? …

The command to be passive in relation to evil, is an ordinance for the present probation merely. In due time, the saints will trample the wicked as ashes under the soles of their feet, if they prove themselves worthy of the honour by a faithful submission to what God requires of them now. It is he that overcometh and keepeth the words and works of Christ, that is to have power over the nations, and to “break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Revelation 2:26,27). In this view, it is of paramount importance that the saints remain true to the commandments of Christ; and do not suffer themselves to be led into the path of disobedience by glosses on his word, which while making the way smoother to the flesh will have the effect of depriving us of the crown in the day of glory to be revealed …

We can afford to shut our ears to cavils of the adversary. It is not true that the commandments of Christ enfeeble and deteriorate the character. What is considered enfeeblement and deterioration is only the discipline and restraint of the lower propensities, which re-act in the invigoration of all that is noble and pure. While excluding the animal energies and activities that go to make up what is popularly considered “manliness”, the commandments of Christ draw us into the channel of higher and ennobling obligations in the direction of goodness and duty, activities unknown to the mere man of natural feelings. They give us the fear of God for deference to public opinion; the enterprise of benevolence for the energy of self-assertion, the enlightening stimulus of a clear philosophy for the muddy impulse of self-gratification; the guidance of rectitude for the slavish and uncertain law of expediency; the virtue of self-restraint for the action of resentment; the power of motive for the caprice of feeling; principle for whim; knowledge for feeling; godliness for manliness; life for death.

The unpopularity of the commandments of Christ is due to their opposition to natural impulse; and their opposition to natural impulse constitutes their very power to educate men in obedience of God, that they may be disciplined and prepared for the great glory He has in store for those who please Him. Let us not make the great mistake of following popular doctrines. If we are to continue in the disobedience which the world practices – though called Christendom – we had better hold on to their superstitious and theological monstrosities; for the abandonment of the latter, while holding on to the former, will only expose us to all the inconveniences of the faith of Christ, while securing for us none of its glorious benefits.

These lectures must now be brought to a close. Where they may be instrumental in shewing the truth in contrast to prevalent error, the merit lies not with him who has delivered them, but with another – (John Thomas, M.D., of America; died, 1871) – who, under God, has been the means of opening the Scriptures in our generation, and removing from them the veil thrown over them by popular theology.

These lectures constitute a feeble attempt on the part of the author to render the service to others which has been rendered to himself; and if any mind be exorcised of error – if any taste attracted to the study of the word of God – any judgement matured to the comprehension, belief, and obedience of the truth, the effort will have received a perfect recompense in that which shall have been accompished for the ages beyond.

The only thing deserving a man’s earnest attention in this state of existence, is the truth revealed in the Bible. It makes him free for the present, and safe for the future. Time devoted to anything else in preference, is wasted. The truth does that for a man which no other study can do: it sets him at ease with reference to the many questions which perplex the unenlightened; it gives a key for all the problems of life; it inspires him with confidence amid the uncertainties which distract other mortals; it guides him into a simple, one-hearted, peaceful direction of his affairs; it fills his mind with comforting assurance concerning the future, illuminating his prospect with a well-founded expectation of attaining the perfection which the yearning heart finds not in all the present; it subdues his propensities, corrects his natural tendency to moral obliquity, awakes his holiest affections, develops lagging interest, and improves and elevates and sanctifies his whole nature, while giving him a guarantee of, and making him meet for “the inheritance of the saints in light”.

“It hath promise of the life that now is, and also of that which is to come.” Its pursuit is more worthy than that of any secular object. Labour spent in its acquirement, or put forth in its dissemination, will develop results that will gloriously flourish, when the fruits of mere worldly effort will have perished in irrecoverable oblivion. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:24,25).