SERMON XVII. PREACHED AT BILTON ON THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY EPH. iv. 20-24. But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. WHEN We meet with an expression in Holy Writ that has something singular and striking in it, so that we can never forget that we have read such words, and yet cannot fully comprehend the meaning of them, we ought to take them and weigh them in our minds, both severally by themselves, and likewise in connection with the place in which they occur. And in general we may feel sure that whatever is dark to us, is dark for this reason, that there is some point of Christian doctrine which we do not see clearly. And this may in many cases be our own fault, for not having acted up to what we knew, or for having been too ready to think that we were full, and had need of nothing. The words of the text are an example of such a passage. No man can hear the expression as the Truth is in Jesus, and reflect at all upon it, without feeling that it is one of great and important meaning. But many people have it constantly in their mouths. who seem never to think of its containing any particular doctrine in itself. They think learning the Truth as it is in Jesus, means learning just what they already know or think concerning Him, and what He has done for man, and perhaps conclude from it that there is no truth beyond this for them to learn. Now it is perfectly true that every thing in the Gospel turns upon Him, and that all truth centres in Him. And suppose a person to know ever so much more than any man or Angel knows of the will of God in the salvation of man, all this knowledge might be truly called the Truth as it is in Jesus. But this is the very reason why we should not take those words and place them as a lock upon our present store of knowledge, not only that we may lose none, but that we may not take in any more. Our Blessed Lord is a Living Person, Whom we are to know not only by reading and hearing Who He is, and what He has done, but by living in communion with Him, and in actual obedience to His holy laws. Besides, if we look to the rest of the Epistle from which these words are taken, it is evident that they contain some particular doctrine concerning Him, besides the mere mention of a whole system of truth depending on Him. The very words that follow in the next verse after our text, connecting the speaking truth every man with his neighbour, with that expression, shew that there is some very specific meaning when the Truth is said to be in Him. Again, the last words of the text, in righteousness and true holiness, are in the original in righteousness and holiness of Truth, which way of speaking shews that there is some particular meaning about Truth conveyed in this whole passage. Again there are other passages of Scripture in which we find expressions that seem to relate to the same doctrine. For our Lord says of Himself, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life"; and again we have the expression he that doeth Truth". Again our Lord is called, the Word, which perfectly agrees with His being called the Truth, for the Word of God is Truth a. Again comparing this passage with another, we have in the one Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the other, Put on the new man, which after God is righteousness and holiness of created in Truth. It seems then that this is the second man, The Lord from Heaven, Whose human nature has been created in righteousness and holiness of Truth, that we might be united to Him for our salvation. First, then, it appears that these words refer to the eternal Godhead, and to the incarnation of the Divine Word. For as The Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God, was from all eternity the Truth of God, being the true and perfect Image of the Father, so, when He was made flesh and dwelt among us1, He continued to be the Truth, and the true Image of the Father, so that he who had seen Him had seen the Father. He was Himself that a John xiv. 6. b John iii. 21. c John i. 1. Truth, of which He came into the world to bear witness. It was Himself, in and by Whom all things were created, that He came to make known to man. Every creature has its true meaning in and according to Him, Who is the Truth and the Wisdom of God. But man, created in the image not of some particular power or operation of God, but of God Himself,-man, in whose dominion, and in whose mind and will, all that is on earth should have been oneman, who should have entertained in his thoughts, as in a spotless mirror, the perfect image of God's Truth,-man had chosen to believe and to follow the father of lies, who persuaded him that he might be a god to himself, and of himself discern good and evil. And so soon as he did so, his whole mind became one great falsehood. He no longer shewed to himself, or to his fellows, to Angels, or to the brute creation, or to the powers of evil, the true image of God; and those who were born to Adam were born in his image, alike unable to do, and to be of themselves, what man was created to do and to be. God no longer saw His own Truth in man, and yet spared him, because k John xviii. 39. |