We have already pointed out that the expression in the text may either
be taken as referring to the subjective quality of truthfulness, or to
the objective truth of God as contained in the Gospel, but these two
interpretations may be united, for the main factor in producing the
former is the faithful use of the latter and an honest submission to its
operation. The Psalmist of old had learned that the great safeguard
against sin was the resolve, 'Thy word have I hid in my heart.' That
word brings to bear the mightiest motives that can sway life. It moves
by love, by fear, by hope: it proposes the loftiest aim, even to imitate
God as dear children; it gives clear directions, and draws straight and
plain the pilgrim's path; it holds out the largest promises, and in a
measure fulfils them, even in the narrowest and most troubled lives. If
we have made God's truth our own, and are faithfully applying it to the
details of daily life and submitting our whole selves to its operation,
we shall be truthful and shall instinctively shrink from all unreality.
If we know the truth as it is in Jesus, and walk in it, that 'truth will
make us free,' and if thus 'we are in Him that is true, even in His Son,
Jesus Christ,' that truth abiding in us, and with us, for ever, will
make us truthful. In a heart so occupied and filled there is no room for
the make-believes which are but too apt to creep into religious
experience. Such a soul will recoil with an instinct of abhorrence from
all that savours of ostentation, and will feel that its truest treasure
cannot be shown. It is our duty not to hide God's righteousness within
our hearts, but it is equally our duty to hide His word there. We have
to seek to make manifest the 'savour of His knowledge in every place,'
but we have also to remember that in our hearts there is a secret place,
and that 'not easily forgiven are they who draw back the curtains,' and
let a careless world look in. It is not for others to pry into the
hidden mysteries of the fellowship of a soul with the indwelling
Christ, however it may be the Christian duty to show to all and sundry
the blessed and transforming effects of that fellowship.
But God's truth must be received and its power submitted to, if it is to
implant in us the supreme grace of perfect truthfulness. Our minds and
hearts must be saturated with it by many an hour of solitary reflection,
by meditation which will diffuse its aroma like a fragrant perfume
through our characters, and by the habit of bringing all circumstances,
moods, and desires to be tested by its infallible criterion, and by the
unreluctant acceptance of its guidance at every moment of our lives.
There are many of us who, in a real though terribly imperfect sense,
hold the truth, but who know nothing, or next to nothing, of its power
to make us truthful. If it is to be of any use to us, we must make it
ours in a far deeper sense than it is ours now; for many of us the
girdle has been but carelessly fastened and has worked loose, and
because, by our own faults, we have not 'abode in the truth,' it has
come to pass that there is 'no truth in us.' We have set before us in
the text the one condition on which all Christian progress depends, and
if by any slackness we loosen the girdle of truthfulness, and admit into
our religious life any taint of unreality, if our prayers say just a
little more than is quite true, and our penitence a little less, we
shall speedily find that hypocrisy and trivial insincerity are separated
by very narrow limits. God's truth in the Gospel cleanses the inner man,
but not without his own effort, and, therefore, we are commanded to
'cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness, in the fear of the Lord.'
'THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS'
'Having put on the breastplate of righteousness.'--Eph. vi. 14.
There can be no doubt that in this whole context the Apostle has in mind
the great passage in Isaiah lix. where the prophet, in a figure of
extreme boldness, describes the Lord as arming Himself to deliver the
oppressed faithful, and coming as a Redeemer to Zion. In that passage
the Lord puts on righteousness as a breastplate--that is to say, God, in
His manifestation of Himself for the deliverance of His people, comes
forth as if arrayed in the glittering armour of righteousness. Paul does
not shrink from applying the same metaphor to those who are to be
'imitators of God as beloved children,' and from urging upon them that,
in their humble degree and lowly measure, they too are to be clothed in
the bright armour of moral rectitude. This righteousness is manifested
in character and in conduct, and as the breastplate guards the vital
organs from assault, it will keep the heart unwounded.
We must note that Paul here gathers up the whole sum of Christian
character and conduct into one word. All can be expressed, however
diversified may be the manifestations, by the one sovereign term
'righteousness,' and that is not merely a hasty generalisation, or a too
rapid synthesis. As all sin has one root and is genetically one, so all
goodness is at bottom one. The germ of sin is living to oneself: the
germ of goodness is living to God. Though the degrees of development of
either opposite are infinite, and the forms of its expression
innumerable, yet the root of each is one.
Paul thinks of righteousness as existent before the Christian soldier
puts it on. In this thought we are not merely relying on the metaphor of
our text, but bringing it into accord with the whole tone of New
Testament teaching, which knows of only one way in which any soul that
has been living to self, and therefore to sin, can attain to living to
God, and therefore can be righteous. We must receive, if we are ever to
possess, the righteousness which is of God, and which becomes ours
through Jesus Christ. The righteousness which shines as a fair but
unattainable vision before sinful men, has a real existence, and may be
theirs. It is not to be self-elaborated, but to be received.
That existent righteousness is to be put on. Other places of Scripture
figure it as the robe of righteousness; here it is conceived of as the
breastplate, but the idea of assumption is the same. It is to be put on,
primarily, by faith. It is given in Christ to simple belief. He that
hath faith thereby has the righteousness which is through faith in
Christ, for in his faith he has the one formative principle of reliance
on God, which will gradually refine character and mould conduct into
whatsoever things are lovely and of good report. That righteousness
which faith receives is no mere forensic treating of the unjust as just,
but whilst it does bring with it pardon and oblivion from past
transgressions, it makes a man in the depths of his being righteous,
however slowly it may afterwards transform his conduct. The faith which
is a departure from all reliance on works of righteousness which we have
done, and is a single-eyed reliance on the work of Jesus Christ, opens
the heart in which it is planted to all the influences of that life
which was in Jesus, that from Him it may be in us. If Christ be in us
(and if He is not, we are none of His), 'the spirit is life because of
righteousness,' however the body may still be 'dead because of sin.'
But the putting on of the breastplate requires effort as well as faith,
and effort will be vigorous in the measure in which faith is vivid, but
it should follow, not precede or supplant, faith. There is no more
hopeless and weary advice than would be the exhortation of our text if
it stood alone. It is a counsel of despair to tell a man to put on that
breastplate, and to leave him in doubt where he is to find it, or
whether he has to hammer it together by his own efforts before he can
put it on. There is no more unprofitable expenditure of breath than the
cry to men, Be good! Be good! Moral teaching without Gospel preaching is
little better than a waste of breath.
This injunction is continuously imperative upon all Christian soldiers.
They are on the march through the enemy's country, and can never safely
lay aside their armour. After all successes, and no less after all
failures, we have still to arm ourselves for the fight, and it is to be
remembered that the righteousness of which Paul speaks differs from
common earthly moralities only as including and transcending them all.
It is, alas, too true that Christian righteousness has been by
Christians set forth as something fantastic and unreal, remote from
ordinary life, and far too heavenly-minded to care for common virtues.
Let us never forget that Jesus Himself has warned us, that except our
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, we
shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The greater orbit encloses
the lesser within itself.
The breastplate of righteousness is our defence against evil. The
opposition to temptation is best carried on by the positive cultivation
of good. A habit of righteous conduct is itself a defence against
temptation. Untilled fields bear abundant weeds. The used tool does not
rust, nor the running water gather scum. The robe of righteousness will
guard the heart as effectually as a coat of mail. The positive
employment with good weakens temptation, and arms us against evil. But
so long as we are here our righteousness must be militant, and we must
be content to live ever armed to meet the enemy which is always hanging
round us, and watching for an opportunity to strike. The time will come
when we shall put off the breastplate and put on the fine linen 'clean
and white,' which is the heavenly and final form of the righteousness of
Saints.