Bible Commentaries

The Christian Ideal

Romans 12:9-21

9 Let love be without dissimulation ["Let love be unfeigned." Comp.

2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

10. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love ["In brotherly-love be affectionate one to another." The Speakers Commentary points out that the emphatic order of the Greek is lost in the A.V.]; in honour preferring one another:

11. Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

12. Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

13. Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality [Lit. pursuing hospitality.]

14. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

16. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

"Enmity being the world's prevailing attitude, how must the Christian meet it?"

17. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest [honourable] in the sight of all men.

18. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

20. 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.

21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

The Christian Ideal

(continued)

All this is what we ought to be and ought to do, and cannot be and cannot do. No man can live the Sermon on the Mount; it was not intended to be lived. Nor is this intended to be attained in all the perfectness of its meaning, and exemplified in all the minuteness of its spiritual beauty. It was meant as an ideal; something to look up to, something to strive after; the impossible that made the possible more glorious, more fruitful of educational results and spiritual attainments. If any man is smitten on the one cheek, he cannot turn the other also; nor was he meant to do so. The exhortation points in the direction of a Christian quality that is to be striven after, prayed for, earnestly and passionately desired, and nothing is to be done by the Christian contrary to the temper which that aspiration indicates. It is only by setting up the ideal that we can do anything worth doing in the actual. No man is ever satisfied with his work; at best he says, It will do until tomorrow; then I shall improve the colour, then I shall ease the stiffness, then I shall introduce the mystery of distance, then I shall call in the wizardry of atmosphere; meanwhile, this poor hand is tired, and I lay down my instruments and implements; I must sleep myself into some larger faculty. The ideal is not meant to be mocked, it is meant to be striven after. We could not have the possible but for the impossible, the actual but for the poetic and ideal; we could not have the artificial light but for the sun. It is the lofty that makes the lowly what it Romans 12:9). The word "Abhor" is intense. Too much emphasis cannot be imported into its utterance. The very enunciation of the word should itself be a kind of shot or cannon ball. When evil hears how it is regarded it should stagger and fall back to the ground dead. Good is not to be daintily handled, as if we could take it up and set it down and change its position and make a convenience of it: we are to cleave to, to hang on by, to stick to, as for grim life and death. That is how a man is to keep his pledge, his vow; that is how he is to honour his consecration words. Here is the explanation of backsliding, apostasy, dereliction of every grade and form. Men do not abhor that which is evil; their gorge does not rise, their passion does not flame; they are willing that the evil beast should enter the sanctuary and sit down awhile, though the hospitality be but scant. Evil can live on little; if there is any hospitality at all, that will do to begin with. Evil is a hound that can pick up a living on the floor. It is not to be admitted into the place at all; it is to be encountered at the front door with iron, at the back door with steel, at every window with cannon. Can this be done? Not wholly, not in its ideal sublimity; but it is along this line that our efforts are to be made. Men could certainly do more of this work of abhorrence if they chose to do it. No man must find an excuse in the impossibility of fulfilling the ideal. He who does all that is possible entitles himself to do next that which is ideal.

"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love." That is difficult. There is a Christian brotherhood that is partial. There are Christians who could not sit in a church where very poor people had sat. There are those who, not disposed to question the theology of anybody, would yet prefer to have a pew that nobody else sat in—a pew with a padlock; they do not know what is meant by the expressive phrase, "The enthusiasm of humanity." Such people do not see the humanity, they only see the clothes; they do not see the man in the sinner, and therefore they do not see the Christ of God in any act of providence or redemption. The idea is wholly based upon the family conception. The Church is to be a family, and the spirit of the family is to be a spirit of affectionateness. There is an affectionateness that is very dainty, exclusive. There is a handkshaking that hands the man away. He who has studied handshaking has studied human nature. It cannot be mimicked. Any man's handshake reveals him instantly, and he cannot help it. You need not go any further than taking hold of a man's hand to know what is in his soul. You must of course take him off his guard; if he has prepared himself for the occasion he may deceive even the very elect: but take him the days of the week through, and his hand reveals him. Life is subtle, life is expressive; the character is in every glance and touch and breathing. The quality of the family intercourse is therefore to be a quality of affection.

"...in honour preferring one another." More literally, In honour anticipating one another,—who to be most courteous, who to be first, civil, gentle, helpful. To anticipate is to do before what somebody else was going to do. Hence we say: I have been anticipated: My remarks have been anticipated: My action was anticipated by a day, a week, a month; that is to say, some former speaker has advanced what a succeeding speaker was about to enunciate; some friendly hand has done a week before what another friendly hand was going to do if he had not been forestalled. But anticipation is a critical act. It is not to be done pedantically. There is an effusive courtesy that is hypocrisy; there is a fussy anticipation that cannot live more than a day, because it wears itself out by its unnatural energy; there is an occasional fickle showing of courtesy which is worse than discourtesy itself, because it excites hopes and then disappoints them; it creates an impression favourable to the doer, and then it obliterates that impression, or substitutes for it one that is ungracious. Christian idealism is to be unconscious of its own excellence; it must move with the easy grace that is not aware of its own gracefulness. There must be no violence even in the act of being courteous. A man must not so anticipate another as to outrun and thrust him aside that he himself may gain some honour. There is a withdrawment in favour of another that is as graceful as an advance expressive of personal interest. This cannot be taught in the schools. No man can aspire after this as a mere task-learner or a mere hireling. All this mutual affection, mutual honour, anticipation of courteous service and action, comes out of profound, vital communion with God. No soul can be bathed as it were in the fellowship of Divine communion, and then descend to earth to play the bore, the bully, or the fool. We should know how far any man has been up in heaven by the gentleness and loveliness, the purity and the beauty, of his social behaviour.

"Not slothful in business." This is a favourite motto with Christian merchants. They quote it as if they lived it. There is an almost suspicious familiarity about the method of the quotation. They will hurry through the morning prayer, yea even through the morning meal, a still greater sacrifice, and leaping to their feet will say, "Not slothful in business!" That is very admirable, but it has nothing whatever to do with this particular text. There are many Biblical texts that urge to industry, faithfulness, mercantile energy, and the like: but this word "business" has no commercial element in it. Where now your plea for abbreviating the morning meal and neglecting the morning psalm? You pleaded apostolic authority for non-apostolic action. What is the "business" referred to by the Apostle? It is spiritual business; it is intercourse with God, it is business with heaven, it is commerce with the skies, it is intercourse with eternity: there, within that line, conduct your imports and exports—your imports of grace Divine, eternal; your exports of hosannas, hallelujahs, doxologies, praises, psalms of adoration and thankfulness. The Apostle warns us against slothful piety,—piety that takes everything for granted, and that says if it does not pray, some other people will pray; and if it is laggardly in the song, the music will be taken up vigorously by other singers and minstrels. The Church has sunk into slothfulness of piety. The Saviour said, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" The word business is apparently the same in both instances, but in the instance of Christ it is, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's house?" That is the same inner meaning, the same Divine consecration, impulse, and sacrifice,—Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's house, in my Father's house, in the very centre of it, carrying all its burden, unveiling all its intents, uttering all its music, teaching all its teachers? for me there is no habitation beyond the sanctuary. That is the meaning of the term. So henceforth we must not plead apostolic authority for neglecting Divine obligations.

"Fervent in spirit." What is the meaning of "fervent"? It is the positive aspect of that which precedes. We have first a negative condition—namely, Not slothful in spiritual commerce; then we have an opposite quality, "fervent in spirit." Here we need another picture to represent the idea to the young, a companion picture to that which typifies the meaning of dissimulation. The meaning of fervent is hot; more than hot, boiling; more than boiling, boiling over. Yes, that is it,—ebullient, rising up in fiery bubbles and foam, and overflowing by reason of its ardent energy. Such piety would not be tolerated to-day; it would be called fanaticism, insobriety; it would be regarded as a great remove from religious propriety. What we want to-day is nothing to object to. A great London merchant said to me that even a man of education will go through his place, and the highest compliment he will pay to the finest works in his establishment is, "There is nothing to object to there." The only thing to object to is that man himself. Think of beauty being dishonoured by a look from such eyes of ignorance! Yet this is what we have to contend with. Our epithets are now such as, Very quiet, Very nice, Very proper, Nothing to object to, Always really quite in accordance with good manners, and Everything was done very placidly. Will you quote the chapter and the verse that commends such epithets and descriptions as applied to Christian service and sanctuary life? It is supposed that there are some epistles that have been lost; what those epistles contained I do not know, but if they contained any such suggestions as yours I can recognise the hand of Providence in their having been lost. Boiling in spirit, ebullient in spirit, running over in spirit, reaching the highest temperature in spiritual zeal.

"Serving the Lord,"—as if doing that alone; seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness: serving God on the knees; working for God and working with God. But inasmuch as there is very little working now, what wonder that there should be no real service of the Lord in many directions? Work is now looked upon as servile. He who would find an honest man, an Adam Bede, a soul that lived in his carpentry, would find a man to be honoured. But the decadence did not begin at the mechanical point; the decadence began within. When a man's fervour in religious service cools, his fingers lose their cunning, their energy, their industry, and their work of the world goes down from solidity to superficiality and felony.

We now come to exhortations which we in degenerate days cannot understand:—"Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality." All that is a foreign tongue to us. It is impossible to us because of our circumstances. A man cannot pray over wine. No man knows what the meaning of "rejoicing in hope" is, who has plenty of money, abounding health, and troops of friends. The people to whom these exhortations were addressed sat in sevenfold night, were searched and torn by the tribulum. They had nought to live on but their prayers. They little thought that the time would come when such expressions as these would lose all meaning in the Church in any section of the world or in any period of civilisation. "Distributing to the necessity of saints." All that is passed. We now exchange courtesies; we give and take. That is not the meaning of distributing to the necessity of saints. Saints were hunted men, the hounds were after them! if there was any light behind it was the light of some shining weapon lifted in murderous purpose; so the door had to be opened quietly, just enough to get the saint inside, that he might be nursed and fed and comforted, for he had hazarded his life for the Lord Jesus. We never hazarded a limb for the Son of God. "Given to hospitality." We do not understand the meaning of that expression. Bishops are to be given to hospitality, and yet they cannot be given to hospitality because they have no opportunity. "Hospitality" is not a word that has retained its best meanings. Here again we come upon interchange and exchange; as, for example, he who bids to the feast expects himself to be bidden. That is not hospitality, that is natural and legitimate enjoyment; within its own limits it is proper, and a necessary development of civilisation: but keeping to the text, and to the limits of the apostolic exhortation, the men who were exhorted to be given to hospitality were men who had the care of the church, men who only got bread into the house that they might give it away. There may be a dozen saints here to-night, quoth the old Christian; I must see that I have bread enough for the children; we may be called at midnight: what have we in the house? There are tokens of storm in the air, and the enemy may pounce upon the little churches here and there; see to it that the fire go not out; do not let it blaze too briskly, or the light may be suspected by the enemy, and our very hospitality may be turned to a disadvantage: be careful to draw the curtain, but let the light be ready, and let it not take long to bring the bread out: let us pray for opportunities to give all this bread away. The heroic days of Christianity are dead, in some localities.

"...condescend to men of low estate." Here we want another picture. The literal meaning is, Be in the stream with them. Do not go down, as who should say, Now I am going to condescend to you, watch how I make the descent. This is not to be an occasional patronage, it is to be a continual brotherhood in living sympathy. Some men can only mix with a certain kind of men. Some persons would not break bread with you, and their bread would poison them if they attempted to break it with me—they do not know me. He who is advanced in the Christian life can sit down beside a man whom socially he dislikes. Within what limits are these questions to be settled? If it is a question of personal taste, personal enjoyment, how many persons could we dismiss from the circle of our acquaintance! We are not to live wholly among one set, or we shall go down—down in quality, down in compass of mind, down in range of heart. We are to know all kinds of men. It was a "multitude" that followed Christ, and if there were any he did not know it was the respectable people. This man hath gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.

"Be not wise in your own conceits": take counsel with one another. Something may be learned even from a fool: let others speak upon the subject. You need not believe all that they say; they need not necessarily be all philosophers of a very high stamp and quality, but out of the mouths of babes and sucklings the Lord hath ordained praise. Sometimes the word of light comes from persons whom we had not credited with the possession of any illuminating power. Listen well; be good hearers: do not suppose that you are infallible, and then go out to condemn any pope.

"...give place unto wrath." Here we want a fourth picture. It is the idea of standing back that God may work. I am not to stand between God and the object of his providence or ministry; I am to give place to the cannon ball, and it will strike the right object; I am to stand back and let the sword fall where God means it to fall. He is a fool who does his own vengeance—"Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; it he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt" take the right vengeance upon him. No other religion ever said this. Some religions have tried to say part of it. Mohammedanism says a little part of it. There is a creed which says, If thine enemy be up to the knees in water, offer him a hand; if he be up to the waist in water, offer him a hand; if he be up to the chin in water, put thine hand upon him and drown him. No other religion can go so far as Christianity. Because the Cross works these miracles the Cross shall stand for ever—the wonder, the refuge, the hope of the world.

Prayer

Almighty God, we thank thee for thy word. It is eternal music; it comes into our hearts by right; it knows us, it searches us, it brings thee to our love and faith; it opens a way into thy heavens. Thy word has been our strength, our guide and glory all our life; it is so now more than ever. Thy word grows in beauty; thy word is tenderer to us in our distress, more stimulating to us in our indifference, more encouraging to us in the hours of hopelessness: may thy word continue to be our light and our defence, our comforter and our counsellor all the days of our life. Our days are but a handful at the most; the days of our years are threescore years and ten, if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; it is soon cut off and we fly away, and are forgotten. Yet if we be in thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, if we know the fellowship of his sufferings and the power of his resurrection, we shall be where he is, in life eternal, in peace unspeakable. Help us to bring the power of an endless life to bear upon the concerns of these coming and going years; may we know the years that are at thy right hand, then we shall care less and yet care more for the years that give us our opportunities now. For all thy goodness we bless thee. We never thought to see the dawning year; yet, behold thou hast sent it upon us; it is full of promise, it is charged with silent music; we receive it as the gift of God; help us to see it conscientiously, reverently, industriously, and hopefully. May every man resolve not to be the first to speak words of unkindness; may every heart know the joy, the glowing love of forgiveness; may all men stand in a new and higher relation to one another, because of a larger and clearer vision of the Saviour of the world. May this be the best year in our lives; may every day be a long day, may every night be a short night, because of the depth and dreamlessness of our sleep; and may all we think and see, all we purpose and execute, begin, continue, and end in the Lord Jesus. Thus shall the year be all summer, and at night we shall see the vision of God and be thankful. Pity those who begin the year with special trouble, to whom the year is but a new and larger anxiety; look upon hearts that are made bitter with grief, look upon eyes that cannot yet see because of their tears, and sanctify to us all the discipline of life. Especially be with those who are broken-hearted because of domestic sorrow, the wandering child, the prodigal son, the vacant chair, the shattered vow: and give joy upon joy to those whose households are made dear by thy presence and tender by thy love. The Lord hear us, and read himself with his own kind eyes the prayers that are written upon our hearts, but may not be spoken; seeing that we pray at the Cross, the holy, wondrous Cross—the Altar of blood. Amen.