Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect will of God—ROM xii. 2.
The Gospel for today, in which our Lord appears before us for once as
a child, is so full of life and instruction, that we may consider the Epistle
throughout with reference to it, as calling us to the same childlike loving
obedience; that so, fulfilling all Christian righteousness, we may be found
in Him as the sons of God, may keep the true passover, and go up with the
Divine Child to the Jerusalem which is above, which is the Mother of us
all.
St. Paul had been dwelling, at great length, in this Epistle to the
Romans, on the unsearchable riches and goodness of God, in grafting the
Gentiles into the stock of Israel, whereby they were become partakers of
all the promises of God, in grafting the Gentiles into the stock of Israel,
whereby they were become partakers of all the promises made to the Jews
of old; which he sums up by this appeal: I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
After the pattern of the Holy Child obedient to the law, we, in obedience
to the law of Christ, the true Lamb of God, Christ our Passover, Who is
sacrificed for us, are called upon to present ourselves, not as the slain
animals of old, but a “living” sacrifice, i.e. free from sin, as the lamb
of old without spot or blemish; “acceptable to God,” for of those former
sacrifices it is said that they were not acceptable: “Sacrifice and meat-offering
Thou wouldest not, but mine ears hast Thou opened;” “I will praise the
Name of God; this shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock.”
And this is our “reasonable service,” that is the true worship of the rational
soul, as distinguished from the carnal ordinances of the Jews.
And be not conformed to this world; be not like the age around
you in which you live, the fashion of which perisheth and passeth away;
but be ye transformed, let a continual change be taking place in
you, by the renewing of your mind, by a new heart, new dispositions,
and new ways, such as is consistent with the new man and the new birth
in Christ, being made conformable to the Holy Child in obedience, that
ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.
“That ye may prove,” the word means to ascertain by putting it to the proof;
by obedience men come to know what is pleasing to God, as our Lord says,
“if ye do the will, ye shall know of the doctrine.” And St. Paul
more than once uses this word in this same sense; thus, to the Philippians,
“that ye may abound in knowledge and all judgment,” and “approve,” i.e.
know by proof, “things that are excellent.” And to the Hebrews, “by
reason of use having senses exercised to discern,” i.e. to know by proof,
for it is the same word, “both good and evil.” The Collect for to-day
seems to express this, “that they may perceive and know what things they
ought to do.” Thus, says the Epistle, by the renewal of your minds,
shall ye learn that which is good, well-pleasing to God, and perfect.
The old sacrifices were not so, being but the shadows of good things to
come, but the body is of Christ. He is the only good, the one well-pleasing
and perfect Sacrifice, and such are they who by faith shall be found in
Him, perfect even as He is perfect, inasmuch as their old man being buried
and dead, they are only known of God as having their life in Christ.
For I say, adds the Apostle, through the grace given unto
me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly
than ye ought to think, not to be high in designs and affections beyond
the lowly mind of a Christian. He has just before been speaking of
being renewed and transformed in mind, and such newness of Spirit is always
connected with humility, as our Lord himself says, “Except ye be converted
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven;’
and “Whosoever humbleth himself as this little child, the same is the greatest
in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Such is to be our disposition; not to be high-minded, but, adds
St. Paul, to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man
the measure of faith; that is, to consider whatever we have as the
gift of God, according to that measure by which He deals to every one.
For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same
office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members
one of another. St. Paul uses the same figure to the Corinthians,
as the great remedy for pride; and St. Chrysostom thus explains it: “Why
dost thou think highly of thyself? Are we not all one body, both
great and small? Why dost thou separate thyself, and put thy brother
to shame? For as he is a member of thee, so art thou of him.”
It may be observed, in this consideration of St. Paul, that humility
becomes lost in love, let no one think highly of himself, for we are all
members one of another; and then brotherly love itself is lost in the love
of God. For we are all one body, he says, and that body is Christ.
Thus in Christ must all Christian teaching begin and end; He is Himself
the true Passover, and the Lamb, that is offered; in Him alone is all reasonable
service, and filial obedience. He is the new Man to Whom we are to
be transformed day by day, by the renewing of our mind. It is as
parts of His body, as limbs and members of Him, that we are to learn humility
and love to one another; it is in Him we are to be about our Father’s business
and in His house. He is Himself that little child according to Whose
pattern we are to humble ourselves.
Thus the Epistle for the day may be found to connect itself, in a very
beautiful manner with the Gospel; for where can this humility be better
taught; from what does it all flow but from the example of this divine
Child, Who at the same time that He is the most lowly and obedient among
children, is also the Lord and King of Heaven? From what other source
do the Highest Angels which see His face in Heaven, learn this lesson of
holy charity, that, as our Lord says, they watch over his little ones upon
earth? It is no doubt from seeing that their own Lord and Master
has been pleased thus to humble Himself as to become a little child; Himself
teaching angels and men this lesson, while He Himself was submitting to
be taught of the Jewish Doctors in the Temple.
Thus the Epistle and the Gospel seem to teach us one living lesson,
and by a beautiful transition to pass from one into the other. Our
Lord at twelve years of age was fulfilling all legal righteousness, present
at Jerusalem and in the Temple, submitting Himself to the doctors of the
law, setting forth to us that perfect pattern of obedience, through which
we by faith shall be joined to Him, shall in Him keep the Passover, shall
offer up an acceptable sacrifice; shall worship Him in spirit and in truth,
in that better temple which is His Church; shall follow the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth, and be found at last in that Holy City, the new Jerusalem of
which St. John speaks, wherein is seen no temple, “for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.” “And the nations,” as celebrating
the true epiphany, “walk in the light” of that City....
(for the second part on the
Gospel)
