Duty towards God; Duty towards Ourselves; Due Exercise of
Spiritual Gifts; Duty towards Our Brethren; Brotherly Love; Love to Enemies.
A. D. 58.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given
to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of
faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth,
on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let
him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth
mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that
which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one
to another with brotherly love; 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. 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.
We may observe here, according to the scheme mentioned in the contents,
the apostle's exhortations,....
2. A sober use of the gifts that God hath given us. As we must not on
the one hand be proud of our talents, so on the other hand we must not
bury them. Take heed lest, under a pretence of humility and self-denial,
we be slothful in laying out ourselves for the good of others. We must
not say, "I am nothing, therefore I will sit still, and do nothing;" but,
"I am nothing in myself, and therefore I will lay out myself to the utmost
in the strength of the grace of Christ." He specifies the ecclesiastical
offices appointed in particular churches, in the discharge of which each
must study to do his own duty, for the preserving of order and the promotion
of edification in the church, each knowing his place and fulfilling it.
Having then gifts. The following induction of particulars supplies the
sense of this general. Having gifts, let us use them. Authority and ability
for the ministerial work are the gift of God.--Gifts differing. The immediate
design is different, though the ultimate tendency of all is the same. According
to the grace, charismata kata ten charin. The free grace of God is the
spring and original of all the gifts that are given to men. It is grace
that appoints the office, qualifies and inclines the person, works both
to will and to do. There were in the primitive church extraordinary gifts
of tongues, of discerning, of healing; but he speaks here of those that
are ordinary. Compare 1 Cor. xii. 4; 1 Tim. iv. 14; 1 Pet. iv. 10. Seven
particular gifts he specifies (v. 6-8), which seem to be meant of so many
distinct offices, used by the prudential constitution of many of the primitive
churches, especially the larger. There are two general ones here expressed
by prophesying and ministering, the former the work of the bishops, the
latter the work of the deacons, which were the only two standing officers,
Phil. i. 1. But the particular work belonging to each of these might be,
and it should seem was, divided and allotted by common consent and agreement,
that it might be done the more effectually, because that which is every
body's work is nobody's work, and he despatches his business best that
is vir unius negotii--a man of one business. Thus David sorted the Levites
(1 Chron. xxiii. 4, 5), and in this wisdom is profitable to direct. The
five latter will therefore be reduced to the two former.
(1.) Prophecy. Whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion
of faith. It is not meant of the extraordinary gifts of foretelling things
to come, but the ordinary office of preaching the word: so prophesying
is taken, 1 Cor. xiv. 1-3, &c.; xi. 4; 1 Thess. v. 20. The work of
the Old-Testament prophets was not only to foretel future things, but to
warn the people concerning sin and duty, and to be their remembrancers
concerning that which they knew before. And thus gospel preachers are prophets,
and do indeed, as far as the revelation of the word goes, foretel things
to come. Preaching refers to the eternal condition of the children of men,
points directly at a future state. Now those that preach the word must
do it according to the proportion of faith--kata ten analogian tes pisteos,
that is, [1.] As to the manner of our prophesying, it must be according
to the proportion of the grace of faith. He had spoken (v. 3) of the measure
of faith dealt to every man. Let him that preaches set all the faith he
hath on work, to impress the truths he preaches upon his own heart in the
first place. As people cannot hear well, so ministers cannot preach well,
without faith. First believe and then speak, Ps. cxvi. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 13.
And we must remember the proportion of faith--that, though all men have
not faith, yet a great many have besides ourselves; and therefore we must
allow others to have a share of knowledge and ability to instruct, as well
as we, even those that in less things differ from us. "Hast thou faith?
Have it to thyself; and do not make it a ruling rule to others, remembering
that thou hast but thy proportion." [2.] As to the matter of our prophesying,
it must be according to the proportion of the doctrine of faith, as it
is revealed in the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament. By this
rule of faith the Bereans tried Paul's preaching, Acts xvii. 11. Compare
Acts xxvi. 22; Gal. i. 9. There are some staple-truths, as I may call them,
some prima axiomata--first axioms, plainly and uniformly taught in the
scripture, which are the touchstone of preaching, by which (though we must
not despise prophesying) we must prove all things, and then hold fast that
which is good, 1 Thess. v. 20, 21. Truths that are more dark must be examined
by those that are more clear; and then entertained when they are found
to agree and comport with the analogy of faith; for it is certain one truth
can never contradict another. See here what ought to be the great care
of preachers--to preach sound doctrine, according to the form of wholesome
words, Tit. ii. 8; 2 Tim. i. 13. It is not so necessary that the prophesying
be according to the proportion of art, the rules of logic and rhetoric;
but it is necessary that it be according to the proportion of faith: for
it is the word of faith that we preach. Now there are two particular works
which he that prophesieth hath to mind--teaching and exhorting, proper
enough to be done by the same person at the same time, and when he does
the one let him mind that, when he does the other let him do that too as
well as he can. If, by agreement between the ministers of a congregation,
this work be divided, either constantly or interchangeably, so that one
teaches and the other exhorts (that is, in our modern dialect, one expounds
and the other preaches), let each do his work according to the proportion
of faith. First, let him that teacheth wait on teaching. Teaching is the
bare explaining and proving of gospel truths, without practical application,
as in the expounding of the scripture. Pastors and teachers are the same
office (Eph. iv. 11), but the particular work is somewhat different. Now
he that has a faculty of teaching, and has undertaken that province, let
him stick to it. It is a good gift, let him use it, and give his mind to
it. He that teacheth, let him be in his teaching; so some supply it, Ho
didaskon, en te didaskalia. Let him be frequent and constant, and diligent
in it; let him abide in that which is his proper work, and be in it as
his element. See 1 Tim. iv. 15, 16, where it is explained by two words,
en toutois isthi, and epimene autois, be in these things and continue in
them. Secondly, Let him that exhorteth wait on exhortation. Let him give
himself to that. This is the work of the pastor, as the former of the teacher;
to apply gospel truths and rules more closely to the case and condition
of the people, and to press upon them that which is more practical. Many
that are very accurate in teaching may yet be very cold and unskilful in
exhorting; and on the contrary. The one requires a clearer head, the other
a warmer heart. Now where these gifts are evidently separated (that the
one excels in the one and the other in the other) it conduces to edification
to divide the work accordingly; and, whatsoever the work is that we undertake,
let us mind it. To wait on our work is to bestow the best of our time and
thoughts upon it, to lay hold of all opportunities for it, and to study
not only to do it, but to do it well.
(2.) Ministry. If a man hath diakonian--the office of a deacon, or assistant
to the pastor and teacher, let him use that office well--a churchwarden
(suppose), an elder, or an overseer of the poor; and perhaps there were
more put into these offices, and there was more solemnity in them, and
a greater stress of care and business lay upon them in the primitive churches,
than we are now well aware of. It includes all those offices which concern
the ta exo of the church, the outward business of the house of God. See
Neh. xi. 16. Serving tables, Acts vi. 2. Now let him on whom this care
of ministering is devolved attend to it with faithfulness and diligence;
particularly, [1.] He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. Those
church-officers that were the stewards of the church's alms, collected
money, and distributed it according as the necessities of the poor were.
Let them do it en aploteti--liberally and faithfully; not converting what
they receive to their own use, nor distributing it with any sinister design,
or with respect of person: not froward and peevish with the poor, nor seeking
pretences to put them by; but with all sincerity and integrity, having
no other intention in it than to glorify God and do good. Some understand
it in general of all almsgiving: He that hath wherewithal, let him give,
and give plentifully and liberally; so the word is translated, 2 Cor. viii.
2; ix. 13. God loves a cheerful bountiful giver. [2.] He that ruleth with
diligence. It should seem, he means those that were assistants to the pastors
in exercising church-discipline, as their eyes, and hands, and mouth, in
the government of the church, or those ministers that in the congregation
did chiefly undertake and apply themselves to this ruling work; for we
find those ruling that laboured in the word and doctrine, 1 Tim. v. 17.
Now such must do it with diligence. The word denotes both care and industry
to discover what is amiss, to reduce those that go astray, to reprove and
admonish those that have fallen, to keep the church pure. Those must take
a great deal of pains that will approve themselves faithful in the discharge
of this trust, and not let slip any opportunity that may facilitate and
advance that work. [3.] He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Some think
it is meant in general of all that in any thing show mercy: Let them be
willing to do it, and take a pleasure in it; God loves a cheerful giver.
But it seems to be meant of some particular church-officers, whose work
it was to take care of the sick and strangers; and those were generally
widows that were in this matter servants to the church-deaconesses (1 Tim.
v. 9, 10), though others, it is likely, might be employed. Now this must
be done with cheerfulness. A pleasing countenance in acts of mercy is a
great relief and comfort to the miserable; when they see it is not done
grudgingly and unwillingly, but with pleasant looks and gentle words, and
all possible indications of readiness and alacrity. Those that have to
do with such as are sick and sore, and commonly cross and peevish, have
need to put on not only patience, but cheerfulness, to make the work the
more easy and pleasant to them, and the more acceptable to God.
III. Concerning that part of our duty which respects our brethren, of
which we have many instances, in brief exhortations. Now all our duty towards
one another is summer up in one word, and that a sweet work, love. In that
is laid the foundation of all our mutual duty; and therefore the apostle
mentions this first, which is the livery of Christ's disciples, and the
great law of our religion: Let love be without dissimulation; not in compliment
and pretence, but in reality; not in word and tongue only, 1 John iii.
18. The right love is love unfeigned; not as the kisses of an enemy, which
are deceitful. We should be glad of an opportunity to prove the sincerity
of our love, 2 Cor. viii. 8. More particularly, there is a love owing to
our friends, and to our enemies. He specifies both.
1. To our friends. He that hath friends must show himself friendly.
There is a mutual love that Christians owe, and must pay.
(1.) An affectionate love (v. 10): Be kindly affectioned one to another,
with brotherly love, philostorgoi--it signifies not only love, but a readiness
and inclination to love, the most genuine and free affection, kindness
flowing out as from a spring. It properly denotes the love of parents to
their children, which, as it is the most tender, so it is the most natural,
of any, unforced, unconstrained; such must our love be to one another,
and such it will be where there is a new nature and the law of love is
written in the heart. This kind affection puts us on to express ourselves
both in word and action with the greatest courtesy and obligingness that
may be.--One to another. This may recommend the grace of love to us, that,
as it is made our duty to love others, so it is as much their duty to love
us. And what can be sweeter on this side heaven than to love and be beloved?
He that thus watereth shall be watered also himself.
(2.) A respectful love: In honour preferring one another. Instead of
contending for superiority, let us be forward to give to others the pre-eminence.
This is explained, Phil. ii. 3, Let each esteem other better than themselves.
And there is this good reason for it, because, if we know our own hearts,
we know more evil by ourselves than we do by any one else in the world.
We should be forward to take notice of the gifts, and graces, and performances
of our brethren, and value them accordingly, be more forward to praise
another, and more pleased to hear another praised, than ourselves; te time
allelous proegoumenoi--going before, or leading one another in honour;
so some read it: not in taking honour, but in giving honour. "Strive which
of you shall be most forward to pay respect to those to whom it is due,
and to perform all Christian offices of love (which are all included in
the word honour) to your brethren, as there is occasion. Let all your contention
be which shall be most humble, and useful, and condescending." So the sense
is the same with Tit. iii. 14, Let them learn, proistasthai--to go before
in good works. For though we must prefer others (as our translation reads
it), and put on others, as more capable and deserving than ourselves, yet
we must not make that an excuse for our lying by and doing nothing, nor
under a pretence of honouring others, and their serviceableness and performances,
indulge ourselves in ease and slothfulness. Therefore he immediately adds
(v. 11), Not slothful in business.
(3.) A liberal love (v. 13): Distributing to the necessities of saints.
It is but a mock love which rests in the verbal expressions of kindness
and respect, while the wants of our brethren call for real supplies, and
it is in the power of our hands to furnish them. [1.] It is no strange
thing for saints in this world to want necessaries for the support of their
natural live. In those primitive times prevailing persecutions must needs
reduce many of the suffering saints to great extremities; and still the
poor, even the poor saints, we have always with us. Surely the things of
this world are not the best things; if they were, the saints, who are the
favourites of heaven, would not be put off with so little of them. [2.]
It is the duty of those who have wherewithal to distribute, or (as it might
better be read) to communicate to those necessities. It is not enough to
draw out the soul, but we must draw out the purse, to the hungry. See Jam.
ii. 15, 16; 1 John iii. 17. Communicating--koinonountes. It intimates that
our poor brethren have a kind of interest in that which God hath given
us; and that our reliving them should come from a sense and fellow-feeling
of their wants, as though we suffered with them. The charitable benevolence
of the Philippians to Paul is called their communicating with his affliction,
Phil. iv. 14. We must be ready, as we have ability and opportunity, to
relieve any that are in want; but we are in a special manner bound to communicate
to the saints. There is a common love owing to our fellow-creatures, but
a special love owing to our fellow-christians (Gal. vi. 10), Especially
to those who are of the household of faith. Communicating, tais mneiais--to
the memories of the saints; so some of the ancients read it, instead of
tais chreiais. There is a debt owing to the memory of those who through
faith and patience inherit the promises--to value it, to vindicate it,
to embalm it. Let the memory of the just be blessed; so some read Prov.
x. 7. He mentions another branch of this bountiful love: Given to hospitality.
Those who have houses of their own should be ready to entertain those who
go about doing good, or who, for fear of persecution, are forced to wander
for shelter. They had not then so much of the convenience of common inns
as we have; or the wandering Christians durst not frequent them; or they
had not wherewithal to bear the charges, and therefore it was a special
kindness to bid them welcome on free-cost. Nor is it yet an antiquated
superseded duty; as there is occasion, we must welcome strangers, for we
know not the heart of a stranger. I was a stranger, and you took me in,
is mentioned as one instance of the mercifulness of those that shall obtain
mercy: ten philoxenian diokontes--following or pursuing hospitality. It
intimates, not only that we must take opportunity, but that we must seek
opportunity, thus to show mercy. As Abraham, who sat at the tent-door (Gen.
xviii. 1), and Lot, who sat in the gate of Sodom (Gen. xix. 1), expecting
travellers, whom they might meet and prevent with a kind invitation, and
so they entertained angels unawares, Heb. xiii. 2.
(4.) A sympathizing love (v. 15): Rejoice with those that do rejoice,
and weep with those that weep. Where there is a mutual love between the
members of the mystical body, there will be such a fellow-feeling. See
1 Cor. xii. 26. True love will interest us in the sorrows and joys of one
another, and teach us to make them our own. Observe the common mixture
in this world, some rejoicing, and others weeping (as the people, Ezra
iii. 12, 13), for the trial, as of other graces, so of brotherly love and
Christian sympathy. Not that we must participate in the sinful mirths or
mournings of any, but only in just and reasonable joys and sorrows: not
envying those that prosper, but rejoicing with them; truly glad that others
have the success and comfort which we have not; not despising those that
are in trouble, but concerned for them, and ready to help them, as being
ourselves in the body. This is to do as God does, who not only has pleasure
in the prosperity of his servants (Ps. xxxv. 27), but is likewise afflicted
in all their afflictions, Isa. lxiii. 9.
(5.) A united love: "Be of the same mind one towards another (v. 16),
that is, labour, as much as you can, to agree in apprehension; and, wherein
you come short of this, yet agree in affection; endeavour to be all one,
not affecting to clash, and contradict, and thwart one another; but keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Phil. ii. 2; iii. 15, 16;
1 Cor. i. 10; to auto eis allelous phronountes--wishing the same good to
others that you do to yourselves;" so some understand it. This is to love
our brethren as ourselves, desiring their welfare as our own.
(6.) A condescending love: Mind not high things, but condescend to men
of low estate, v. 16. True love cannot be without lowliness, Eph. iv. 1,
2; Phil. ii. 3. When our Lord Jesus washed his disciples' feet, to teach
us brotherly love (John xiii. 5; xiv. 34), it was designed especially to
intimate to us that to love one another aright is to be willing to stoop
to the meanest offices of kindness for the good of one another. Love is
a condescending grace: Non bene conveniunt--majestas et amor--Majesty and
love do but ill assort with each other. Observe how it is pressed here.
[1.] Mind not high things. We must not be ambitious of honour and preferment,
nor look upon worldly pomp and dignity with any inordinate value or desire
but rather with a holy contempt. When David's advancements were high, his
spirit was humble (Ps. cxxxi. 1): I do not exercise myself in great matters.
The Romans, living in the imperial city, which reigned over the kings of
the earth (Rev. xvii. 18), and was at that time in the meridian of its
splendour, were perhaps ready to take occasion thence to think the better
of themselves. Even the holy seed were tainted with this leaven. Roman
Christians, as some citizens do upon the country; and therefore the apostle
so often cautions them against high-mindedness; compare ch. xi. 20. They
lived near the court, and conversed daily with the gaiety and grandeur
of it: "Well," saith he, "do not mind it, be not in love with it." [2.]
Condescend to men of low estate--Tois tapeinois synapagomenoi. First, It
may be meant of mean things, to which we must condescend. If our condition
in the world be poor and low, our enjoyments coarse and scanty, our employments
despicable and contemptible, yet we must bring our minds to it, and acquiesce
in it. So the margin: Be contented with mean things. Be reconciled to the
place which God in his providence hath put us in, whatever it be. We must
account nothing below us but sin: stoop to mean habitations, mean fare,
mean clothing, mean accommodations when they are our lot, and not grudge.
Nay, we must be carried with a kind of impetus, by the force of the new
nature (so the word synapagomai properly signifies, and it is very significant),
towards mean things, when God appoints us to them; as the old corrupt nature
is carried out towards high things. We must accommodate ourselves to mean
things. We should make a low condition and mean circumstances more the
centre of our desires than a high condition. Secondly, It may be meant
of mean persons; so we read it (I think both are to be included) Condescend
to men of low estate. We must associate with, and accommodate ourselves
to, those that are poor and mean in the world, if they be such as fear
God. David, though a king upon the throne, was a companion for all such,
Ps. cxix. 63. We need not be ashamed to converse with the lowly, while
the great God overlooks heaven and earth to look at such. True love values
grace in rags as well as in scarlet. A jewel is a jewel, though it lie
in the dirt. The contrary to this condescension is reproved, Jam. ii. 1-4.
Condescend; that is, suit yourselves to them, stoop to them for their good;
as Paul, 1 Cor. ix. 19, &c. Some think the original word is a metaphor
taken from travellers, when those that are stronger and swifter of foot
stay for those that are weak and slow, make a halt, and take them with
them; thus must Christians be tender towards their fellow travellers. As
a means to promote this, he adds, Be not wise in your own conceits; to
the same purport with v. 3. We shall never find in our hearts to condescend
to others while we find there so great a conceit of ourselves: and therefore
this must needs be mortified. Me ginesthe phronimoi par heautois--"Be not
wise by yourselves, be not confident of the sufficiency of your own wisdom,
so as to despise others, or think you have no need of them (Prov. iii.
7), nor be shy of communicating what you have to others. We are members
one of another, depend upon one another, are obliged to one another; and
therefore, Be not wise by yourselves, remembering it is the merchandise
of wisdom that we profess; now merchandise consists in commerce, receiving
and returning."…
(2.) We must not only not to hurt to our enemies, but our religion goes
higher, and teaches us to do them all the good we can. It is a command
peculiar to Christianity, and which does highly commend it: Love your enemies,
Matt. v. 44. We are here taught to show that love to them both in word
and deed.
[1.] In word: Bless those who persecute you, v. 14. It has been
the common lot of God's people to be persecuted, either with a powerful
hand or with a spiteful tongue. Now we are here taught to bless those that
so persecute us. Bless them; that is, First, "Speak well of them. If there
be any thing in them that is commendable and praiseworthy, take notice
of it, and mention it to their honour." Secondly, "Speak respectfully to
them, according as their place is, not rendering railing for railing, and
bitterness for bitterness." And, Thirdly, We must wish well to them, and
desire their good, so far from seeking any revenge. Nay, Fourthly, We must
offer up that desire to God, by prayer for them. If it be not in the power
of our hand to do any thing else for them, yet we can testify our good-will
by praying for them, for which our master hath given us not only a rule,
but an example to back that rule, Luke xxiii. 34-- Bless, and curse not.
It denotes a thorough good-will in all the instances and expressions of
it; not, "bless them when you are at prayer, and curse them at other times;"
but, "bless them always, and curse not at all." Cursing ill becomes the
mouths of those whose work it is to bless God, and whose happiness it is
to be blessed of him….
3. To conclude, there remain two exhortations yet untouched, which are
general, and which recommend all the rest as good in themselves, and of
good report.
(1.) As good in themselves (v. 9): Abhor that which is evil, cleave
to that which is good. God hath shown us what is good: these Christian
duties are enjoined; and that is evil which is opposite to them. Now observe,
[1.] We must not only not do evil, but we must abhor that which is evil.
We must hate sin with an utter and irreconcilable hatred, have an antipathy
to it as the worst of evils, contrary to our new nature, and to our true
interest--hating all the appearances of sin, even the garment spotted with
the flesh. [2.] We must not only do that which is good, but we must cleave
to it. It denotes a deliberate choice of, a sincere affection for, and
a constant perseverance in, that which is good. "So cleave to it as not
to be allured nor affrighted from it, cleave to him that is good, even
to the Lord (Acts xi. 23), with a dependence and acquiescence." It is subjoined
to the precept of brotherly love, as directive of it; we must love our
brethren, but not love them so much as for their sakes to commit any sin,
or omit any duty; not think the better of any sin for the sake of the person
that commits it, but forsake all the friends in the world, to cleave to
God and duty.
