+I. The duty enjoined.+--1. Remove the hindrances to imitation.
(1) Spiritual pride and self-conceit. (2) This self-conceit works in
us a prejudiced opinion, and makes us undervalue and detract from the
worth of our brother. (3) Spiritual drowsiness. 2. Observe the rules
of imitation. (1) We must not take our pattern upon trust; no, not
St. Paul himself. He brings it in indeed as a duty--"Be ye followers
of me"; but he adds this direction, "as I am of Christ" (1 Cor.
xi. 1). "For in imitation, besides the persons, there is also to be
considered," saith Quintilian, "what it is we must imitate in the
persons. We must no further follow them than they follow the rules of
art." "Some there were," said Seneca, "who imitated nothing but that
which was bad in the best." It is so in our Christian profession: we
must view, and try, and understand what we are to imitate. We must
not make use of all eyes, but of those only which look upon the Lord.
(2) That we strive to imitate the best. Saith Pliny: "It is great
folly not to propose always the best pattern"; and saith Seneca,
"Choose a Cato," a prime, eminent man, by whose authority thy secret
thoughts may be more holy, the very memory of whom may compose thy
manners; whom not only to see, but to think of, will be a help to the
reformation of thy life. Dost thou live with any in whom the good
gifts and graces of God are shining and resplendent, who are strict
and exact, and so retain the precepts of God in memory that they
forget them not in their works? Give men the instructive examples of
these good men: let them always be before my eyes; let them be a
second rule by which I may correct my life and manners; let me not
lose this help, which God hath granted me, of imitation.
+II. The object of imitation.+--We must make God the rule of goodness
in all our actions: we must be just, to observe the law; valiant, to
keep down our passions; temperate, to conform our wills to the rule
of reason; and wise, to our salvation. But there is no virtue which
makes us more resemble God than this which the apostle here exhorts
the Ephesians to; and that is mercy. For although all virtues are in
the highest degree, nay, above all degrees, most perfect in Him; yet,
in respect of His creatures, none is so resplendent as mercy. Mercy
is the queen and empress of God's virtues; it is the bond and knot
which unites heaven and earth, that by which we hold all our
titles--our title to be men, out title to the name of Christian, our
title to the profession of Christianity, our title to earth, our
title to heaven. 1. As God forgiveth us, so we must forgive our
enemies. 2. As we must forgive, so God's mercy must be the motive: we
must do it "out of a desire to imitate God." 3. We must conform our
imitation to the Pattern. He with one act of mercy wipes out all
scores; so must we. When He forgives our sins, He is said to cast
them behind Him, never to think of them, so to forget them as if they
never had been; so must we. He doth it too without respect of
persons; and so we ought to do. We must forgive all, for ever; and so
far must we be from respect of persons that we must acknowledge no
title but that of Christian.--_Farindon._
_Likeness to God._
+I. Likeness to God belongs to man's higher or spiritual nature.+--It
has its foundation in the original and essential capacities of the
mind. In proportion as these are unfolded by right and vigorous
exertion, it is extended and brightened. In proportion as these lie
dormant it is obscured. Likeness to God is the supreme gift. He can
communicate nothing so precious, glorious, blessed as Himself. To
hold intellectual and moral affinity with the supreme Being, to
partake His Spirit, to be His children by derivations of kindred
excellence, to bear a growing conformity to the perfection which we
adore--this is a felicity which obscures and annihilates all other
good. It is only in proportion to this likeness that we can enjoy
either God or the universe. To understand a great and good being we
must have the seeds of the same excellence.
+II. That man has a kindred nature with God,+ and may bear most
important and ennobling relations to Him, seems to me to be
established by a striking proof. Whence do we derive our knowledge of
the attributes and perfections which constitute the supreme Being? I
answer, We derive them from our own souls. The Divine attributes are
first developed in ourselves, and thence transferred to our Creator.
The idea of God, sublime and awful as it is, is the idea of our own
spiritual nature, purified and enlarged to infinity. It is the
resemblance of a parent to a child, the likeness of a kindred nature.
+III. God is made known to us as a Father.+--And what is it to be a
father? It is to communicate one's own nature, to give life to
kindred beings; and the highest function of a father is to educate
the mind of the child, and to impart to it what is noblest and
happiest in his own mind. God is our Father, not merely because He
created us, or because He gives us enjoyment: for He created the
flower and the insect, yet we call Him not their Father. This bond is
a spiritual one. This name belongs to God, because He frames spirits
like Himself, and delights to give them what is most glorious and
blessed in His own nature. Accordingly Christianity is said with
special propriety to reveal God as the Father, because it reveals Him
as sending His Son to cleanse the mind from every stain, and to
replenish it for ever with the spirit and moral attributes of its
Author.
+IV. The promise of the Holy Spirit+ is among the most precious aids
of influence which God imparts. It is a Divine assistance adapted to
our moral freedom, an aid which silently mingles and conspires with
all other helps and means of goodness, and by which we are
strengthened to understand and apply the resources derived from our
munificent Creator. This aid we cannot prize too much, or pray for
too earnestly.--_Channing._
Ver. 2. "And walk in love." _The Nature, Properties, and Acts of
Charity._
+I. The nature of charity.+--1. Loving our neighbour implies we value
and esteem him. 2. Implies a sincere and earnest desire for his
welfare and good of all kinds in due proportion. 3. A complacence or
delightful satisfaction in the good of our neighbour. 4. Condolence
and commiseration in the evils befalling him.
+II. Properties of charity.+--1. Love appropriates its object in
apprehension and affection, embracing it, possessing and enjoying it
as its own. 2. It desires reciprocal affection. 3. Disposes to please
our neighbour, not only by inoffensive but by an obliging demeanour.
4. Makes a man deny himself--despising all selfish regards--for the
benefit of his neighbour. 5. To be condescending and willing to
perform the meanest offices needful or useful to his friend.
+III. Acts of charity.+--1. To forbear anger on provocation. 2. To
remit offences, suppressing revenge. 3. To maintain concord and
peace. 4. To be candid in opinion and mild in censure. 5. Abstain
from doing anything which may occasion our neighbour to commit sin,
or disaffect him towards religion, or discourage him in the practice
of duty.--_Barrow._
_The Sacrifice of Christ._
+I. A Divine person was absolutely necessary.+--1. _He who atones
must be in possession of infinite worth._ Nothing less than the glory
of infinity and eternity can atone for transgression. The individual
must also be possessed of humanity for this obvious reason: that man
hath transgressed, and man must atone. In the person of the Messiah
we behold everything God could possibly desire. A Divine person,
comprising Deity and humanity in Himself, atones for sin.
2. _It was absolutely necessary that the individual who atoned should
be wholly at his own disposal._--Now, no finite being is at his own
disposal; no finite being can say, "I will do as I please;" but
Messiah speaks of Himself in language that finite being could not
adopt without insulting God. The doctrine of the Trinity is opposed;
but when we peruse Scripture we shall find the absolute necessity of
a plurality of persons. A Divine person to present a sacrifice; and
if so, a Divine person to receive that sacrifice.
+II. Christ's love in giving Himself.+--And here we behold the love
of God in all its glory. Christ hath saved us, and given Himself for
us. Here we behold the love of Christ; the love of a Divine person
embracing God, embracing the law of God, and embracing the sinner in
all his shame. Two of the attributes of this love never unfolded
their glories before. The intenseness and the holiness of it were
never before manifested. Behold God as well as man, a Divine person
suffering for us. Here for once, and once only, behold the
sovereignty of God in all its glory, in all its lowliness, connected
with the justice of God in all its terrors. Messiah is punished, that
the transgressor may live for ever.
+III. God's pleasure in the sacrifice of His Son.+--1. _God is
infinitely delighted with His Son,_ as He is one in essence with Him.
The pious Baptist gives his disciples a volume of Divinity in a few
words. He traces everything to its source. "The Father loveth the
Son." Surely, then, we must anticipate God's pleasure in everything
the Saviour does. 2. _The resurrection and ascension of Christ_ prove
God's acceptance of the sacrifice. 3. _The success of the Gospel
another proof._
+Lessons.+--1. _See the evil and danger of unbelief._ 2. _All
spiritual good comes from God; all spiritual evil flows from the
creature._ 3. _Learn the work of faith--to accept Christ.--Howels._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 3-14.
_The Children of Darkness and of Light._
+I. The children of darkness are known by their deeds+ (vers.
3-5).--A loathsome and unsightly list! Sin marks its victims. Deeds
done in darkness do not escape detection and exposure. The revolting
sins of the heathen reveal the depth of wickedness to which man may
sink when he abandons God and is abandoned of God. Every single sin,
voluntarily indulged, weakens the power of self-control, and there is
no deed of darkness a reckless sinner may not commit. Sensuality is a
devil-fish--a vampire of the sea--preying upon and devouring the best
powers of mind and body.
1. _Their deeds exclude them from the inheritance of the good._--They
have no "inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" (ver. 5).
The children of darkness can have no company and no place with the
children of light; the two cannot co-exist or blend together. The
sinner excludes himself, and unfits himself for fellowship with the
good. Their purity is a constant reproof of his vileness; he shrinks
from their society, and hates them because they are so good. We may
well be on our guard against sins that shut us out of the kingdom of
grace on earth, and out of heaven hereafter.
2. _Their deeds expose them to the Divine wrath._--"Because of these
things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience"
(ver. 6). The wrath of God is already upon them (Rom. i. 18), and
shall remain so long as they are disobedient. Deeds such as theirs
carry their own punishment; but there is also the righteous vengeance
of God to reckon with. For sin God can have nothing but wrath; but
yet that is mercifully restrained to afford every opportunity for
repentance. The Roman magistrates, when they gave sentence upon any
one to be scourged, had a bundle of rods tied hard with many knots
laid before them. The reason was this: whilst the beadle was untying
the knots, which he was to do by order and not in any other or sudden
way, the magistrates might see the deportment and carriage of the
delinquent, whether he was sorry for his fault and showed any hope of
amendment, that then they might recall his sentence or mitigate his
punishment; otherwise he was corrected so much the more severely.
Thus God in the punishment of sinners. How patient is He! How loth to
strike! How slow to anger!
+II. The children of light are Divinely illumined.+--1. _They were
once in darkness._ "Ye were sometimes darkness" (ver. 8). Their
present condition as children of the light should remind them by
contrast of their former state, and should excite their gratitude to
God for the change He had wrought in them. They were not to be
deceived by specious arguments (ver. 6) that they could return to
their old sins and yet retain their new inheritance. To go back to
the old life is to go back to darkness.
2. _Their possession of Divine light is evident._--"But now are ye
light in the Lord. . . . For the fruit of the Spirit [_the fruit of
light_] is in all goodness and righteousness and truth" (vers. 8, 9).
True virtue is of the light and cannot be hid. Genuine religion
manifests itself in goodness of heart, in righteousness of life, and
in truthfulness of character and speech--in a holy reality that is
both experienced and expressed. On Herder's grave at Weimar there was
placed by royal authority a cast-iron tablet with the words, "Light,
Love, Life." The life illumined by the Spirit is its own bright
witness.
3. _Their conduct aims at discovering what is acceptable to
God._--"Walk as children of the light, . . . proving what is
acceptable unto the Lord" (vers. 8, 10). Their outward life must be
in harmony with the new nature they have received. They were adopted
as children of the light, and they must think, speak, and act in the
light and with the light they had received. The light will show what
it is that God approves; and striving in all things to please Him our
light will increase. We may sometimes be mistaken, but we shall get
light from our mistakes, as well as from our success, as to the will
of God. Life is a trial, and our conduct will be the test as to how
we are using the light God has given us. The light we shed will be a
help and guide to others. There is a kind of diamond which, if
exposed for some minutes to the light of the sun and then taken into
a dark room, will emit light for some time. The marvellous property
of retaining light and thereby becoming the source of light on a
small scale shows how analogous to light its very nature must be.
Those who touched the Saviour became sources of virtue to others. As
Moses' face shown when he came from the mount, so converse with
spiritual things makes Christians the light which shines in the dark
places of the earth. "Let your light so shine before men" (Matt.
v. 16).
+III. The children of light cannot participate in deeds of
darkness.+--1. _They are to shun them._ "Be not partakers with
them . . . Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness"
(vers. 7, 11). We may not actually commit certain sins; but if we
tolerate or encourage them, we are partakers with the transgressors.
The safest place is that which is farthest from evil. It is a
perilous experiment to try how near we can approach and how far daily
with sin without committing ourselves. The easiest way to resist
temptation is to run away. It is beneath the dignity of the children
of light to patronise or trifle with sin.
2. _They were not even to speak of them._--"It is a shame even to
speak of those things" (ver. 12). There are some subjects about which
silence is not only the highest prudence but a sacred duty. The
foolish talking and jesting of ver. 4 belonged to the period when
they were the children of darkness. Sparkling humour refreshes; the
ribald jest pollutes. The best way to forget sayings that suggest
evil is never to speak of them.
3. _They are to expose them by bringing the light of truth to bear
upon them._--"But rather reprove them. . . . All things that are
reproved are made manifest by the light," etc. (vers. 11, 13, 14).
Silent absence or abstinence is not enough. Where sin is open to
rebuke it should at all hazards be rebuked. On the other hand, St.
Paul does not warrant Christians in prying into the hidden sins of
the world around them and playing the moral detective. Publicity is
not a remedy for all evils, but a great aggravation of some, and the
surest means of disseminating them. It is a shame--a disgrace to our
common nature, and a grievous peril to the young and innocent--to
fill the public prints with the nauseous details of crime, and to
taint the air with its putridities. The fruit of the light convicts
the unfruitful works of darkness. The light of the Gospel disclosed
and then dispelled the darkness of the former time. So will it be
with the night of sin that is spread over the world. The light which
shines upon sin-laden and sorrowful hearts shines on them to change
them into its own nature. The manifested is light; in other words, if
men can be made to see the true nature of their sin, they will
forsake it. If the light can but penetrate their conscience, it will
save them. "Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest." With this
song on her lips the Church went forth, clad in the armour of light,
strong in the joy of salvation; and darkness and the works of
darkness fled before her (_Findlay_).
+Lessons.+--_The Children of darkness and of light differ_--1. _In
their conduct._ 2. _In their spirit and aims._ 3. _In the way in
which they are Divinely regarded._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._