Chap. 2 V. 17–22. And Came And Preached Peace To You Which Were Afar Off, And Unto Them That Were Nigh. For Through Him
HOMILY VI
CHAP. 2 V. 17–22. AND CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHICH WERE AFAR OFF, AND UNTO THEM THAT WERE NIGH. FOR THROUGH HIM WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS BY ONE SPIRIT TO THE FATHER. NOW THEREFORE YE ARE NO MORE STRANGERS AND FOREIGNERS, BUT FELLOW-CITIZENS WITH THE SAINTS, AND OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD. AND ARE BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF BEING THE CHIEF CORNER-STONE. IN WHOM ALL THE BUILDING FITLY FRAMED TOGETHER GROWETH UNTO AN HOLY TEMPLE IN THE LORD. IN WHOM YE ALSO ARE BUILDED TOGETHER FOR AN HABITATION OF GOD THROUGH THE SPIRIT.
He sent not, saith the Apostle, by the hand of another, nor did He announce these tidings to us by means of any other, but Himself came, and in person told us of them. He sent not Angel nor Archangel on the mission, because to repair so many and vast mischiefs was in the power of none other, (nor even to declare what had been wrought,) but required His own coming. The Lord then took upon Himself the rank of a servant, nay, almost of a minister, and came, and preached peace to you, saith he, which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. To the Jews, he means, who as compared with ourselves were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Peace, saith he, that peace which is towards God, forasmuch as He hath reconciled us. And besides, the Lord Himself also saith, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. And again, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And again, Whatsoever things ye shall ask in my name, ye shall receive. And again, For the Father loveth you. These are so many evidences of peace both towards the one and the other, Gentiles and Jews. How towards the Gentiles? Because through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father, not ye less, and they more, but all by one and the same grace. The wrath He appeased by His death, and hath made us meet for the Father’s love through the Spirit. Mark again, the in means by or through. By Himself and the Spirit He hath brought us unto the Father. Now, therefore, ye are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints.
Perceive ye that it is not into the city of the Jews simply, no, but of those saintly and great men, such as Abraham, and Moses, and Elias, it is into the self-same city with these we are enrolled, into that we declare ourselves? For they which say such things, saith he, declare plainly that they seek a country. No longer are we strangers from the saints, nor foreigners or sojourners. For they who shall not finally attain to heavenly blessings, are foreigners or sojourners. For the Son, saith Christ, abideth ever.
And of the household, he continues, of God.
The very thing which they at the first had, by means of so many toils and troubles, hath been for you accomplished by the grace of God.
And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets.
Behold! the hope of the calling! Observe how he blends all together; the Gentiles, the Jews, the Apostles, the Prophets, and Christ, and illustrates the union sometimes from the analogy of the body, and sometimes from the building: built, saith he, upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets; that is, the Apostles and Prophets are a foundation, and he places the Apostles first, though they are in order of time last, doubtless to represent and express this, that both the one and the other are alike a foundation, and that the whole is one building, and that there is one root. Consider, that the Gentiles have the Patriarchs as a foundation. He here gives the more strict and literal account of that point than he does when he speaks of a graffing in. There he is rather touching on the matter. Then he adds, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone, to shew us that He who binds the whole together is Christ. For the chief cornerstone binds together both the walls, and the foundations.
In whom the whole building.
Mark, how he knits it all together, and represents Him at one time, as holding down the whole body from above, and locking it together (as a key-stone); at another time, as supporting the building from below, and being, as it were, a root, or base. And whereas he had used the expression, He hath made (i.e. hath created or built) in Himself the twain into one new man; by this expression he clearly shews us, that by Himself Christ knits together the two walls: and again, that in Him things were created. And, He is the first-born, saith he, of every creature, that is, He Himself supports all things.
In whom the whole building, fitly framed together.
Whether you speak of the roof, or of the walls, or of any other part whatsoever, He it is who supports the whole. Thus he elsewhere calls Him a foundation. For other foundation, saith he, can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. In whom the whole building, he saith, fitly framed together. Here he displays the perfectness of it, and indicates that one cannot otherwise have place in it, unless by living with great exactness and consistency. For, saith he, It groweth into an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also, he adds, are builded together. He repeats the thought. Into an holy temple, into an habitation of God through the Spirit. What then is the object of this building? It is that God may dwell in this temple. For each of you severally is a temple, and all of you together are a temple. And He dwelleth in you as the body of Christ, and dwelleth as in a spiritual temple. On this account it is that where he speaks of our having access he does not use the word which means our coming to God, but which implies God’s bringing us to Himself, for we came not of ourselves, but it was He that brought us. No one, saith Christ, cometh unto the Father but by Me. And again, I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
Are builded together into an holy temple.
He again returns to his former image, and connects them with the saints, and in no instance suffers them to be disunited from Christ. Doubtless then, this is a building that shall go on until His coming. Doubtless it was for this reason that Paul said, As a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. And again in this same place, Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Christ. You observe that the comparisons have all referred to the subject-matters, and that we must not expound them to the very letter. The Apostle speaks from analogy as Christ does, where He calls the Father an husbandman, and Himself a root.
Chap. 3 ver. 1. For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
He has mentioned Christ’s great and affectionate care; he now passes on to his own, insignificant indeed as it is, and a very nothing in comparison with that, and yet this is enough to engage them to himself. For this cause, saith he, am I also bound. For if my Lord and Master was crucified for your sakes, much more am I bound. He not only was bound Himself, but allows His servants to be bound also,—for you Gentiles. It is full of emphasis; not only do we no longer loathe you, but we are even bound, saith he, for your sakes, and of this exceeding grace am I partaker.
Ver. 2. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward.
He alludes to the prediction addressed to Ananias concerning him at Damascus, when the Lord said, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles and Kings.
By dispensation of grace, he means the revelation made to him. As much as to say, “I learned it not from man. He vouchsafed to reveal it even to me, though but an individual, for your sakes. For Himself said unto me, saith he, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.” Thus well does he call it the dispensation, for a dispensation it was, a mighty one; to call one, uninfluenced from any other quarter, immediately from above, and to say, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Ḿe? and to strike him blind with that ineffable light! if ye have heard, saith he, of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.
Ver. 3. How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words.
Perhaps he had informed them of it by some persons, or had not long before been writing to them. Here he is pointing out that the whole is of God, that we have contributed nothing. For what, I ask, was not Paul himself, the great, the wonderful, he that was so versed in the law, he that was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel according to the most perfect manner of it, was not he saved by grace? With good reason too does he call this a mystery, for a mystery it is, to raise the Gentiles in a moment to a higher rank than the Jews. As I wrote afore, saith he, in few words.
Ver. 4. Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand.
Amazing! So then he wrote not the whole, nor so much as he should have written. But here the nature of the subject prevented it. Elsewhere, as in the case of the Hebrews and the Corinthians, the incapacity of the hearers. Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand, saith he, my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, i.e. how I knew, how I understood either such things as God hath spoken, or else, that Christ sitteth at the right hand of God; and then too the dignity, in that God hath not dealt so with any nation. And then to explain what nation this is with whom God hath thus dealt, he adds,
Ver. 5. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit.
What then, tell me, did not the Prophets know it? How then doth Christ say, that Moses and the Prophets wrote these things concerning Me. And again, If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me. And again, Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. His meaning is this, either that it was not revealed unto all men, for he adds, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed; or else, that it was not thus made known by the very facts and realities themselves, as it is now revealed to His holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit. For reflect. Peter, had he not been instructed by the Spirit, never would have gone to the Gentiles. For hear what he says, Then hath God given unto them the Holy Ghost, as well as unto us. This is what he means by saying, by the Spirit. Because it was by the Spirit that God vouchsafed to them that they should receive the grace. The Prophets then spoke, yet even thus knew it not so perfectly; so far from it, that not even did the Apostles, after they had heard it. So far did it surpass all human calculation, and the common expectation.
Ver. 6. That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body and partakers.
What is this; fellow-heirs, and partakers of the promise, and of the same body? This last is the great thing, that they should be one body; this exceeding closeness of relation to Him. For that they were to be called indeed, that they knew, but that it was to these privileges, as yet they knew not. This therefore he calls the mystery of the promise. The Israelites were partakers, but the Gentiles also were fellow-partakers of the promise of God.
In Christ by the Gospel.
That is, by His being sent unto them also, and by their believing; for it is not said simply in Christ, but by the Gospel. However, this indeed, is nothing so great, it is in fact a small thing, and it discloses to us another and greater thing, that not only men knew not this, but that neither Angels nor Archangels, nor any other created power, knew it. For this was a mystery, and was not revealed to any one. That ye may understand, he saith, my knowledge. This alludes, perhaps, to what he said to them in the Acts, that he had some special knowledge that the Gentiles also were to be called. This, he says, is his own knowledge, the knowledge of the mystery, which he had mentioned, viz. that Christ will in Himself make of the twain one new man. For by revelation he was instructed, both he and Peter, that they must not spurn the Gentiles; and this he states in his defence.
Ver. 7. Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power.
He had said, “I am a prisoner;” but now again he says, that all is of God, as he says, according to the gift of His grace; for according to the power of the gift is the dignity of this privilege, nor had the gift been enough, had it not also implanted in him the power.
MORAL. For a work indeed it was of power, of mighty power, and such as no human diligence was equal to. For he brought three qualifications to the preaching of the word, a zeal fervent and venturous, a soul ready to undergo any possible hardship, and knowledge and wisdom combined. For his love of enterprise, his blamelessness of life, had availed nothing, had he not also received the power of the Spirit. And look at it as seen first in himself, or rather hear his own words. That our ministry be not blamed. And again, For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in flattering words, nor a cloke of covetousness. Thus thou hast seen his blamelessness. And again, Providing for things honest, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. Then again, besides these; I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. And again; Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution? And again; In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in watchings. Then again, his prudence and management; To the Jews I became as a Jew, to them that are without law as without law, to them that are under the law as under the law. He shaves his head also, and does numberless things of the sort. But the crown of all is in the power of the Holy Ghost. For I will not dare to speak, saith he, of the things which Christ hath not wrought by me. And again, For what is it wherein you were inferior to other Churches? And again, For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest Apostles though I be nothing. Without these things which Christ wrought by him, the work had been impossible.
It was not then by his miracles that men were made believers; no, it was not the miracles that did this, nor was it upon the ground of these that he claimed his high pretension, but upon those other grounds. To make men believers a man had need be alike irreproachable in conduct, prudent and discreet in his dealings with others, regardless of danger, and apt to teach. It was by these qualifications chiefly that he was successful. Where there were these, there was no need of miracles. At least we see he was successful in numberless such cases, quite antecedently to the use of miracles. But, now-a-days, we without any of these would fain command all things. Yet if one of them be separated from the other, it henceforth becomes useless. What is the advantage of a man’s being ever so regardless of danger, if his life be open to censure. For if the light that is in thee be darkness, saith Christ, how great is that darkness? Again, what the advantage of a man’s being of an irreproachable life, if he is sluggish and indolent? For, he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth after Me, saith He, is not worthy of Me; and so, If a man lay not down his life for the sheep. Again, what is the advantage of being both these, unless a man is at the same time prudent and discreet in knowing how he ought to answer each particular individual? Even if miracles be not in our power, yet both these qualities are in our power. Still however, notwithstanding Paul contributed so much from himself, yet did he attribute all to grace. This is the act of a generous and grateful servant. And we should never so much as have heard of his good deeds, had he not been brought to a necessity of declaring them.
And are we worthy then so much as even to mention the name of Paul? He, who had moreover grace to aid him, yet was not satisfied, but contributed to the work ten thousand perils; whilst we, who are destitute of that source of confidence, whence, tell me, do we expect either to preserve those who are committed to our charge, or to gain those who are not come to the fold;—men, as we are, who have been making a study of self-indulgence, who are searching the world over for ease, and who are unable, or rather who are unwilling, to endure even the very shadow of danger, and are as far distant from his wisdom as heaven is from earth? Hence it is too that they who are under us are at so great a distance behind the men of those days; because the disciples of those days were better than the teachers of these, isolated as they were in the midst of the populace, and of tyrants, and having all men on all sides their enemies, and yet not in the slightest degree dragged down or yielding. Hear at least what he saith to the Philippians, For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. And again to the Thessalonians, For ye, brethren, became followers of the Churches of God which are in Judæa. And again in writing to the Hebrews he said, And ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods. And to the Colossians he testifies, saying, For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. And indeed to these very Ephesians he bears witness of many perils and dangers. And again in writing to the Galatians, he says, Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. And you see them too, all employed in doing good. Hence it was that both grace wrought effectually in those days, hence also that they lived in good works. Hear, moreover, what he writes to the Corinthians, against whom he brings charges out of number; yet does he not bear even them record, where he says, Yea, what zeal it wrought in you, yea, what vehement desire! And again, in how many points does he bear them record on this subject? These things one shall not see now-a-days, even in teachers. They are all gone and perished. And the cause is, that love hath waxed cold, that sinners go unpunished; (for hear what he says writing to Timothy, Them that sin, rebuke before all; it is that the rulers are in a sickly state; for if the head be not sound, how can the rest of the body maintain its vigour? But mark how great is the present disorder. They, who were living virtuously, and who under any circumstances might have confidence, have taken possession of the tops of the mountains, and have escaped out of the world, just as if they were tearing themselves from an enemy and an alien, instead of from a body to which they belonged.
Plagues too, teeming with untold mischiefs, have lighted upon the Churches. The chief offices have become saleable. Hence numberless evils are springing, and there is no one to redress, no one to reprove them. Nay, the disorder has assumed a sort of method and consistency. Has a man done wrong, and been arraigned for it? His effort is not to prove himself guiltless, but to find if possible accomplices in his crimes. What is to become of us? Believe me, hell is our threatened portion, so that had not God stored up punishment for us there, ye would see every day tragedies deeper than the disasters of Jerusalem. What then? however let no one take offence, for I mention no names; suppose some one were to come into this church to present you that are here at this moment, those that are now with me, and to make inquisition of them; or rather not now, but suppose on Easter day any one, endued with such a spirit, as to have a thorough knowledge of the things they had been doing, should narrowly examine all that came to Communion, and were being washed [in Baptism] after they had attended the mysteries; many things would be discovered more shocking than the Jewish horrors. He would find persons who practise augury, who make use of charms, and omens, and incantations, and who have committed fornication, adulterers, drunkards, and revilers,—covetous, I am unwilling to add, lest I should hurt the feelings of any of those who are standing here. What more? Suppose any one should make scrutiny into all the communicants in the world, what kind of transgression is there which he would not detect? and what if he examined those in authority? Would he not find them eagerly bent upon gain? Would he not find them making traffic of high places? envious, malignant, vain-glorious, gluttonous, and slaves to money?
Where then there is such impiety as this going on, what dreadful calamity must we not expect? And to be assured how sore vengeance they incur, who are guilty of such sins as these, consider the examples of old. One single man, a common soldier, stole the sacred property, and all were smitten. Ye know, doubtless, the history I mean? I am speaking of Achan the son of Carmi, the man who stole the consecrated spoil. The time too when the Prophet spoke, was a time when their country was full of soothsayers, like that of the Philistines. Whereas now there are evils out of number at the full, and not one that fears them. Oh, henceforth let us take the alarm. God is able to punish the righteous also with the wicked; such was the case with Daniel, and with the three holy Children, such has been the case with ten thousand others, such is the case in the wars that are taking place even at the present day. For the one indeed, whatever burthen of sins they have upon them, by this means lay aside even that; but not so the other.
On all these accounts, let us take heed to ourselves. Do ye not see these wars? Do ye not hear of these disasters? Do ye learn no lesson from these things? Nations and whole cities are swallowed up and destroyed, and myriads as many again are enslaved to the barbarians.
If hell itself bring us not to our senses, yet let these. What, are these too mere threats, are they not facts that have already taken place? Great is the punishment they have suffered, yet a greater still shall we suffer, who are not brought to our senses even by their fate. Is this discourse wearying? I am aware it is myself, but if we attend to it, it has its advantage; because this it has not, the quality of an address to please,—nay more, nor ever shall have, but ever those topics which may avail to humble and to chasten the soul. For these will be to us the ground-work of those blessings to come hereafter, to which God grant that we may all attain, through His grace and loving-kindness.