It is impossible but that offences will come. Luke 17:1-4 Where sin occurs, God cannot wisely prevent it C. G. Finney, D. D. The doctrine of this text is that sin, under the government of God, cannot be prevented. 1. When we say IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PREVENT SIN UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD, the statement still calls for another inquiry, viz.: Where does this impossibility lie? Which is true: that the sinner cannot possibly forbear to sin, or that God cannot prevent his sinning? The first supposition answers itself, for it could not be sin if it were utterly unavoidable. It might be his misfortune; but nothing could be more unjust than to impute it to him as his crime. Let us, then, consider that God's government over men is moral, and known to be such by every intelligent being. It contemplates mind as having intellect to understand truth, sensibility to appreciate its bearing upon happiness, conscience to judge of the right, and a will to determine a course of voluntary action in view of God's claims. So God governs mind. Not so does He govern matter. The planetary worlds are controlled by quite a different sort of agency. God does not move them in their orbits by motives, but by a physical agency. I said, all men know this government to be moral by their own consciousness. When its precepts and its penalties come before their minds, they are conscious that an appeal is made to their voluntary powers. They are never conscious of any physical agency coercing obedience. Where compulsion begins, moral agency ends. Persuasion brought to bear upon mind, is always such in its nature that it can be resisted. By the very nature of the case, God's creatures must have power to resist any amount of even His persuasion. There can be no power in heaven or earth to coerce the will, as matter is coerced. The nature of mind forbids its possibility. God is infinitely wise. He cannot act unwisely, The supposition would make Him cease to be perfect, and this were equivalent to ceasing to be God. Here, then, is the case. A sinner is about to fall before temptation, or in more correct language, is about to rush into some new sin. God cannot wisely prevent his doing so. Now what shall be done? Shall He let that sinner rush on to his chosen sin and self-wrought ruin; or shall He step forward, unwisely, sin Himself, and incur all the frightful consequences of such a step? He lets the sinner bear his own responsibility. Thus the impossibility of preventing sin lies not in the sinner, but wholly with God. Sin, it should be remembered, is nothing else than an act of free will, always committed against one's conviction of right. Indeed, ii a man did not know that selfishness is sin, it would not be sin in his case. These remarks will suffice to show that sin in every instance of its commission is utterly inexcusable. II. We are next to notice some OBJECTIONS. 1. "If God is infinitely wise and good, why need we pray at all? If He will surely do the best possible thing always, and all the good He can do, why need we pray?" Because His infinite goodness and wisdom enjoin it upon us. 2. Objecting again, you ask why we should pray to God to prevent sin, if He cannot prevent it? We pray for the very purpose of changing the circumstances. If we step forward and offer fervent, effectual prayer, this quite changes the state of the case. 3. Yet further objecting, you ask — "Why did God create moral agents at all if He foresaw that He could not prevent their sinning?" Because He saw that on the whole it was better to do so.Concluding remarks: 1. We may see the only sense in which God could have purposed the existence of sin. It is simply negative. He purposed not to prevent it in any case where it does actually occur. 2. The existence of sin does not prove that it is the necessary means of the greatest good. 3. The human conscience always Justifies God. This is an undeniable fact — a fact of universal consciousness. ( C. G. Finney, D. D. )

Benson Commentary Luke 17:1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him , through whom they come! Luke 17:1 . Then said he unto the disciples — Our Lord, about this time, thought proper to repeat to the people, who then attended on his ministry, and were desirous of being instructed by him, several particulars of his doctrine, which he had formerly delivered in a more private way to his apostles, and some others of his disciples, as follows: It is impossible but that offences will come — Considering the general corruption of human nature, the snares of the world, and the temptations of Satan, it cannot be but that one way or other offences will be given and taken: stumbling- blocks will be laid in the way of such as are travelling to the heavenly Jerusalem, and many will stumble at them, and fall over them; will be hindered in the way, or turned out of it; for many professing my religion will act in a manner very unsuitable to it, unworthy of themselves, and disgraceful to the holy name they bear. But wo unto him through whom they come — Let me warn you, therefore, as you love your own souls, to guard against the guilt and danger of being stumbling-blocks in the way of others. It were better for him, &c. — I assure you that such a one, especially he that by an immoral life proves a reproach and scandal to my cause, had better die by the hand of violence, and suffer the most shocking execution, than that he should offend, or cause to stumble and fall, one of these little ones, that is, one weak believer, or any other of my despised and persecuted followers. See on Matthew 18:7-9 . Luke 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Luke 17:3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. Luke 17:3-4 . Take heed to yourselves — That you may neither offend others, nor be offended by others, but that you may keep all your passions under proper regulation, and may be preserved from those resentments of injuries, real or supposed, which, if yielded to, might occasion much sin to yourselves or others. If thy brother trespass against thee, &c. — But while our Lord cautioned them against all angry passions, and that quarrelsome temper which they naturally produce, he thus prescribed a seasonable and prudent reprehension of any fault that might be committed, accompanied with forgiveness on the part of the person injured, as the best means of disarming the temptations that might arise from such a disposition. See on Matthew 18:21 . And if he repent, forgive him — Immediately, without insisting on any rigorous satisfaction. And if he trespass against thee seven times a day — That is, very frequently; and seven times a day turn again, saying, I repent — That is, if he give sufficient proof that he does really repent, after having sinned ever so often; thou shalt forgive him — Shalt receive him just as if he had never sinned against thee. But this forgiveness is due only to real penitents. See on Matthew 18:21-22 . In a lower sense, we are to forgive all, penitent or impenitent, so as to bear them the sincerest goodwill, and to do them all the good we can; and that not seven times only, but seventy times seven. Luke 17:4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. Luke 17:5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. Luke 17:5-6 . And the apostles said, Lord, increase our faith — That we may thus forgive, and neither offend nor be offended. And he said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard-seed — You would be able to overcome all temptations, even those, the conquering of which may be compared to the plucking up of trees and planting them in the ocean, that is, compared to things impossible. Some, taking this example (by which the efficacy of faith is illustrated) in a literal sense, have supposed, that the apostles desired Jesus to increase their faith of working miracles. But the expression is undoubtedly proverbial, signifying, not the working of miracles, but the doing of things extremely difficult. Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. Luke 17:7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? Luke 17:7-10 . But which of you, &c. — But while you endeavour to live in the exercise of this noble grace of faith, and in a series of such services as are the proper fruits of it, be careful, in the midst of all, to maintain the deepest humility, as in the presence of God your heavenly Master, on whom, as you are his servants, you can have no claim of merit: Which of you, having a servant ploughing, or feeding cattle, &c. — To make his disciples sensible that, after they had done their utmost to discharge the whole duty incumbent on them as God’s servants, sent forth to seek and save lost souls, they had merited nothing thereby; he bade them consider in what manner they received the services of their own dependants. They reckoned themselves under no obligation to a servant for doing the duty which his station bound him to perform. In like manner he, their Master, did not reckon himself indebted to them for their services. And therefore, instead of valuing themselves upon what they had done, and expecting great rewards for it, it became them, after having performed all that was commanded them, to think and say that they had done nothing but their duty. When ye shall have done all, say, We are unprofitable servants — For a man cannot profit God. Happy is he who judgeth himself an unprofitable servant; miserable is he whom God pronounces such. But though we are unprofitable to him, our serving him is not unprofitable to us. For he is pleased to give, by his grace, a value to our good works, which, in consequence of his promise, entitles us to an eternal reward. Luke 17:8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Luke 17:9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. Luke 17:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. Luke 17:11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Luke 17:11-14 . He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee — As Samaria lay between Galilee and Judea, and therefore our Lord, taking his journey to Jerusalem, must go first through Galilee, and then through Samaria, it is inquired why it is here said that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. To this Grotius, Whitby, Campbell, and some others, answer, that the original expression, ??? ????? ???????? ??? ????????? , means, between Samaria and Galilee, or through those parts in which the two countries bordered on each other; or through the confines of them. There met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off — As lepers were banished from the towns, they were likewise obliged to keep at a distance from the roads which led to them. Curiosity, however, to see the travellers who passed, or, it may be, an inclination to beg, having brought these ten as nigh to the public road as they were permitted to come, they espied Jesus, and cried to him, beseeching him to take pity on them, and cure them. They had heard of some of the great miracles which he had performed, and either knew him personally, having seen him before, or guessed that it might be he by the crowds which followed him. And he said, Go show yourselves to the priests — Intimating that the cure they desired should be performed by the way. And as they went — In obedience to his word; they were cleansed — Namely, by his wonder-working power; the efficacy of which was often exerted on objects at a distance, as well as on such as were near. Luke 17:12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: Luke 17:13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Luke 17:14 And when he saw them , he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. Luke 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, Luke 17:15-19 . And one of them, when he saw that he was healed — Was so affected, that, with a heart full of gratitude and joy, he immediately turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God — Made a free and open acknowledgment of the signal mercy which he had received. Though he had kept at a distance from Jesus before, yet being sensible that he was now perfectly clean, he came near, that all might have an opportunity of beholding the miracles; and fell down on his face at his feet — In the deepest humiliation, giving him thanks as the immediate author of his cure; and yet this man was a Samaritan — One of that heretical nation, from which one would have expected less of any thing good than from the Jews, the professors of the true religion, and members of God’s visible church. Therefore, to make known the good disposition of the man, though he professed a false religion, and to intimate that the others, who had been more favoured with external privileges and advantages, ought to have showed as great a sense of piety and gratitude as he; Jesus said, Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? — Why did they not return to give thanks? This intimates that ingratitude is a very common sin; of the many that receive mercy from God, there are but few, very few, that return to give thanks in a right manner; that render according to the benefits done unto them. There are not found to give glory to God, save this stranger — ? ????????? ????? , this alien — Such, ever since the captivity, the Jews have considered the Samaritans. They call them Cuthites to this day. Thus many, who profess revealed religion, are outdone and quite shamed by some that are governed only by natural religion, and that not only in moral virtue, but in piety and devotion. “The ingratitude of these Jewish lepers, now cured, will appear monstrous, if we consider that the malady from which they were delivered is in itself one of the most loathsome diseases incident to human nature, and a disease which, by the law of Moses, subjected them to greater hardships than any distemper whatsoever. But though the cure of this dreadful affliction was produced without the smallest pain or even trouble to the lepers, and so speedily that it was completed by the time they had got a little way off, as appears by the Samaritan’s finding Jesus where he left him, these Jews would not give themselves the trouble of returning to glorify God, by making the miracle public, nor to honour Jesus, by acknowledging the favour. Such were the people that gloried in their being holy, and insolently called the men of all other nations dogs. But their hypocrisy and presumption received a severe reprimand on this occasion. For our Lord, in his observations on their behaviour, plainly declared, that the outward profession of any religion, however true and excellent that religion may be in itself, is of no value before God in comparison of piety and inward holy dispositions.” — Macknight. Luke 17:16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. Luke 17:17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? Luke 17:18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. Luke 17:19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. Luke 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Luke 17:20-21 . When he was demanded of the Pharisees — It is uncertain whether what is here mentioned took place while our Lord was on his journey, or after he came to Jerusalem; when the kingdom of God should come — That is, when the kingdom of the Messiah, which they had learned to term the kingdom of God, was to commence? They had very grand notions of the extent of the Messiah’s kingdom, of the number of his subjects, the strength of his armies, the pomp and eclat of his court, and were eager to hear of its being speedily erected. Or, being inveterate enemies of Christ, they might possibly ask the question in derision, because every thing about Jesus was very unlike to the Messiah whom they expected. He answered, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation — With such outward pomp as draws the observation of mankind: or, as Dr. Whitby explains the expression, not with that royal splendour or worldly grandeur which shall render it conspicuous in the eyes of the world, as you expect. Neither shall they say, Lo here, or, Lo there — This shall not be the language of those who are, or shall be, sent by me to declare the coming of my kingdom, nor shall men seek for it in this or that place, saying, Lo, it is here, or, Lo, it is there; for behold, the kingdom of God is within you — It is an internal, spiritual kingdom; erected in the hearts of men, consisting in the subjection of their wills to the will of God, and in the conformity of their minds to his laws. Wherever it exists, it exists in men’s hearts. See Romans 14:17 . Or, as our Lord was addressing the Jews, and especially the Pharisees, and cannot be understood as speaking of the power his kingdom had gained over their hearts, whose temper was entirely alienated from the nature and design of it; the clause, perhaps, ought rather to be rendered, The kingdom of God is among you. Thus Beza, Raphelius, Whitby, Doddridge, and many others understand it: namely, as signifying that the Messiah’s kingdom began now to appear among them, the gospel of the kingdom being now preached, miracles, in confirmation of it, being wrought, and the grace of God, which accompanied it, turning many sinners from the evil of their ways, and transforming them into the divine image. Thus Grotius paraphrases the passage, “Already among you;” that is, “among this very Jewish people, that kingdom begins to exert its power; you not observing it, and an evident sign of this are miracles. Accordingly, Matthew 12:28 , Christ speaks to the same Pharisees after this manner: If I, by the finger of God, cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come nigh unto you; or rather, come upon, or among you, (as ??????? ?? ’ ???? , properly means,) where, by the word you, the whole Jewish people are in like manner intended.” See also Matthew 21:43 , where our Lord says, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you. Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it . Luke 17:22-25 . The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man — One day of mercy, or one day wherein you might converse with me, as you do now. Having spoken to the Pharisees, he now addressed his disciples, and in the hearing of the Pharisees prophesied concerning the destruction of the Jewish state, whose constitution, both religious and civil, was the chief obstacle to the erection of his kingdom; for the attachment which the Jews had to their constitution was the spring of all their opposition to Christianity, and of their cruelty to its abetters. A prediction of this nature, delivered as the continuation of his answer to the Pharisees, who desired to know when Messiah’s kingdom should come, plainly signified, that it would first become conspicuous in the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth. But because love and compassion were eminent parts of our Lord’s character, he spake of that dreadful catastrophe in such a manner as might be most profitable to his hearers. He told them, first of all, that they and the whole nation should be in the greatest distress before the destruction of their constitution, and the full establishment of Messiah’s kingdom; and that they should passionately wish for Messiah’s personal presence to comfort them under their afflictions, but should not be favoured with it. Next he cautioned them against the deceivers which, in that time of universal distress, would arise, pretending to be the Messiah, and promising to deliver the people from the powers which oppressed them. He told them, that these deceivers would lurk a while in private, till, by the diligence of their emissaries spreading abroad their fame, and exhorting the people to go out to them, they had gathered a force sufficient to support them. They shall say to you, See here, or see there; go not after them — Do not go forth to them, nor follow them, for by this mark you shall know them to be deceivers. For as the lightning, &c., shall the Son of man be in his day — So manifest, so swift, so wide, so irresistible, so awful in its consequences shall his coming be. He shall come, indeed, but in a manner very different from that in which the generality of this people expect him, even to execute a sudden and unavoidable destruction upon his enemies, and establish his religion and government in a great part of the world. See notes on Matthew 24:23-27 . But first he must suffer many things — See on Matthew 16:21 ; Mark 8:31 ; Mark 9:31 ; Mark 10:33 . Luke 17:23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them , nor follow them . Luke 17:24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. Luke 17:25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. Luke 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. Luke 17:26-30 . As it was in the days of Noe, &c. — In the next place, he foretold the stupidity of the generation he should come to destroy, comparing it to that of the old world, about the time of the flood; who, being wholly unaffected with the admonitions which Noah gave them, while building the ark, and with the threatenings which he then denounced, went on as usual, following their ordinary occupations, and pursuing their pleasures, both lawful and unlawful, in great security. The consequence of which was, that, ere they were aware, the flood came and destroyed them all. See on Matthew 24:37 ; Matthew 24:39 . Likewise, as it was in the days of Lot — The Jewish people shall be sunk in carnal security at the coming of the Son of man to execute judgment upon them, as the Sodomites were, when they were unexpectedly destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven. Luke 17:27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Luke 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; Luke 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Luke 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. Luke 17:31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Luke 17:31-32 . In that day — (Which will be the grand type of the last day,) when ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies; he which shall be upon the house-top, let him not come down — See on Matthew 24:17-18 ; Mark 13:15 . Remember Lot’s wife — And escape with all speed, without ever looking behind you. See note on Genesis 19:26 . Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife. Luke 17:33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. Luke 17:33-37 . Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it — The sense of this and the following verses is, Yet, as great as the danger will be, do not seek to save your lives by violating your consciences; if you do, you will surely lose them; whereas, if you should lose them for my sake, you shall be repaid with life everlasting. But the most probable way of preserving them now is to be always ready to give them up: a peculiar providence shall then watch over you, and put a difference between you and other men. Two men shall be in one bed, &c. — See on Matthew 24:40-41 . The minds of your enemies shall be so overruled by God, that, in cases where two persons are equally in their power, one of them shall be carried off, and the other left to make his escape. And they said, Where, Lord, shall all these things happen? And he said, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered — As eagles find out, and gather round a carcass, so, wherever wicked men are, the judgments of God will pursue them; and particularly in whatever part of the land any number of the unbelieving Jews are, there will the Romans, the executioners of the divine vengeance upon this nation, be gathered together to destroy them. The expression is proverbial, and will appear to have been beautifully applied, when it is remembered, that the Romans bore in their standards the figure of an eagle; and that a certain kind of eagle, called ???????????? , [ black winged ] mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Ani., Luke 9:32 , is found to feed on carcasses. — Macknight. Luke 17:34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Luke 17:35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Luke 17:36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Luke 17:37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is , thither will the eagles be gathered together. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Luke 17:1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him , through whom they come! Luke 17:3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 8-27 Chapter 22 THE ETHICS OF THE GOSPEL. WHATEVER of truth there may be in the charge of "other-worldliness," as brought against the modern exponents of Christianity, such a charge could not even be whispered against its Divine Founder. It is just possible that the Church had been gazing too steadfastly up into heaven, and that she had not been studying the science of the "Humanities" as zealously as she ought, and as she has done since; but Jesus did not allow even heavenly things to obliterate or to blur the lines of earthly duty. We might have supposed that coming down from heaven, and familiar with its secrets, He would have much to say about the New World, its position in space, its society and manner of life. But no; Jesus says little about the life which is to come; it is the life which now is that engrosses His attention, and almost monopolizes His speech. Life with Him was not in the future tense; it was one living present, real, earnest, but fugitive. Indeed, that future was but the present projected over into eternity. And so Jesus, founding the kingdom of God on earth, and summoning all men into it, if he did not bring commandments written and lithographed, like Moses, yet He did lay down principles and rules of conduct, marking out, in all departments of human life, the straight and white lines of duty, the eternal "ought." It is true that Jesus Himself did not originate much in this department of Christian ethics, and probably for most of His sayings we can find a synonym struck from the pages of earlier, and perhaps heathen moralists; but in the wide realm of Right there can be no new law. Principles may be evolved, interpreted; they cannot be created. Right, like Truth, holds the "eternal years"; and through the millenniums before Christ, as through the millenniums after, Conscience, that "ethical intellect" which speaks to all men if they will but draw near to her Sinai and listen, spoke to some in clear, authoritative tones. But if Jesus did no more, He gathered up the "broken lights" of earth, the intermittent flashes which had played on the horizon before, into one steady electric beam, which lights up our human life outward to its farthest reach, and onward to its farthest goal. In the mind of Jesus conduct was the outward and visible expression of some inner invisible force. As our earth moves round its elliptic in obedience to the subtle attractions of other outlying worlds, so the orbits of human lives, whether symmetrical or eccentric, are determined mainly by the two forces, Character and Circumstance. Conduct is character in motion; for men do what they themselves are, i.e . as far as circumstances will allow. And it is just at this point the ethical teaching of Jesus begins. He recognizes the imperium in imperio , that hidden world of thought, feeling, sentiment, and desire which, itself invisible, is the mould in which things visible are cast. And so Jesus, in His influence upon men, worked outward from within. He sought, not reform, but regeneration, molding the life by changing the character, for, to use His own figure, how could the thorn produce grapes, or the thistle figs? And so when Jesus was asked, "What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" He gave an answer which at first sight seemed to ignore the question entirely. He said no word about "doing," but threw the questioner back upon "being," asking what was written in the law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself". { Luke 10:27 } And as Jesus here makes Love the condition of eternal life, its sine qua non, so He makes it the one all-embracing duty, the fulfilling of the law. If a man love God supremely, and his neighbor as himself, he cannot do more; for all other commandments are included in these, the subsections of the greater law. Jesus thus sought to create a new force, hiding it within the heart, as the mainspring of duty, providing for that duty both aim and inspiration. We call it a "new" force, and such it was practically; for though it was, in a way, embedded in their law, it was mainly as a dead letter, so much so that when Jesus bade His disciples to "love one another" He called it a "new commandment." Here, then, we find what is at once the rule of conduct and its motive. In the new system of ethics, as taught and enforced by Jesus, and illustrated by His life, the Law of Love was to be supreme. It was to be to the moral world what gravitation is to the natural, a silent but mighty and all-pervasive force, throwing its spell upon the isolated actions of the common day, giving impulse and direction to the whole current of life, ruling alike the little eddies of thought and the wider sweeps of benevolent activities. To Jesus "the soul of improvement was the improvement of the soul." He laid His hand upon the heart’s innermost shrine, building up that unseen temple four-square, like the city of the Apocalypse, and lighting up all its windows with the warm, iridescent light of love. With this, then, as the foundation-tone, running through all the spaces and along all the lines of life, the thoughts, desires, words, and acts must all harmonize with love; and if they do not, if they strike a note that is foreign to its key-note, it breaks the harmony at once, throwing jars and discords into the tousle. Such a breach of the harmonic law would be called a mistake, but when it is a breach of Christ’s moral law it is more than a mistake, it is a wrong. Before passing to the outer life Jesus pauses, in this Gospel, to correct certain dissonances of mind and soul, of thought and feeling, which put us in a wrong attitude towards our fellows. First of all, He forbids us to sit in judgment upon others. He says, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: and condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned". { Luke 6:37 } This does not mean that we close our eyes with a voluntary blindness, working our way through life like moles; nor does it mean that we keep our opinions in a state of flux, not allowing them to crystallize into thought, or to harden into the leaden alphabets of human speech. There is within us all a moral sense, a miniature Sinai, and we can no more suppress its thunders or sheath its lightnings than we can hush the breakers of the shore into silence, or suppress the play of the Northern Lights. But in that unconscious judgment we pass upon the actions of others, with our condemnation of the wrong, we pass our sentence upon the wrong-doer, mentally ejecting him from the courtesies and sympathies of life, and if we allow him to live at all, compelling him to live apart, as a moral incurable. And so, with our hatred of the sin, we learn to hate the sinner, and calling from him both our charities and our hopes, we hurl him down into some little Gehenna of our own. But it is exactly this feeling, this kind of judgment, the Law of Love condemns. We may "hate the sin, and yet the sinner love," keeping him still within the circle of our sympathies and our hopes. It is not meet that we should be merciless who have ourselves experienced so much mercy; nor is it for us to hale others off to prison, or ruthlessly to exact the uttermost farthing, when we ourselves at the very best are erring and unfaithful servants, standing so much and so often in need of forgiveness. But there is another " judging " that the command of Christ condemns, and that is the hasty and the false judgments we pass on the motives and lives of others. How apt we are to depreciate the worth of others who do not happen to belong to our circle! We look so intently for their faults and foibles that we become blind to their excellences. We forget that there is some good in every person, some that we can see if we only look, and we may be always sure that there is some we cannot see. We should not prejudge. We should not form our opinion upon an ex parte statement. We should not leave the heart too open to the flying germs of rumor, and we should discount heavily any damaging, disparaging statement. We should not allow ourselves to draw too many inferences, for he who is given to drawing inferences draws largely on his imagination. We should think slowly in our judgment of others, for he who leaps to conclusions generally takes his leap in the dark. We should learn to wait for the second thoughts, for they are often truer than the first. Nor is it wise to use too much "the spur of the moment"; it is a sharp weapon, and is apt to cut both ways. We should not interpret others’ motives by our own feelings, nor should we "suppose" too much. Above all, we should be charitable, judging of others as we judge ourselves. Perhaps the beam that is in a brother’s eye is but the magnified mote that is in our own. It is better to learn the art of appreciating than that of depreciating; for though the one is easy, and the other difficult, yet he who looks for the good, and exalts the good, will make the very wilderness to blossom and be glad; while he who depreciates everything outside his own little self impoverishes life, and makes the very garden of the Lord one arid, barren desert. Again, Jesus condemns pride, as being a direct contravention of His Law of Love. Love rejoices in the possessions and gifts of others, nor would she care to add to her own if it must be at the cost of theirs. Love is an equalizer, leveling up the inequalities the accidents of life have made, and preferring to stand on some lower level with her fellows than to sit solitary on some lofty and cold Olympus. Pride, on the other hand, is a repelling, separating force. Scorning those who occupy the lower places, she is contented only on her Olympian summit, where she keeps herself warm with the fires of her self-adulation. The proud heart is the loveless heart, one huge inflation; if she carries others at all, it is only as a steadying ballast; she will not hesitate to throw them over and throw them down, as mere dust or sand, if their fall will help her to rise. Pride like the eagle, builds her nest on high, bringing forth whole broods of loveless, preying passions, hatreds, jealousies, and hypocrisies. Pride sees no brotherhood in man; humanity to her means no more than so many serfs to wait upon her pleasure, or so many victims for her sacrifice! And how Jesus loved to prick these bubbles of airy nothings, showing up these vanities as the very essence of selfishness! He did not spare His words, even though they stung, when "He marked how they chose out the chief seats" at the friendly supper; { Luke 14:7 } and one of His bitter " woes " He hurled at the Pharisees just because "they loved the chief seats in the synagogues," worshipping Self, when they pretended to worship God, so: making the house of God itself an arena for the sport and play of their proud ambitions. "He that is least among you all," He said, when rebuking the disciples’ lust for preeminence, "the same is great." And such is Heaven’s law: humility is the cardinal virtue, the "strait" and low gate which opens into the very heart of the kingdom. Humility is the one and the only way of heavenly preferments and eternal promotions; for in the life to come there will be strange contrasts and inversions, as he that exalted himself is now humbled, and he that humbled himself is now exalted. { Luke 14:11 } Tracing now the lines of duty as they run across the outer life, we find them following the same directions. As the golden-milestone of the Forum marked the center of the empire, towards which its roads converged, and from which all distances were measured, so in the Christian commonwealth Jesus makes Love the capital, the central, controlling power; while at the focal point of all the duties He sets up His Golden Rule, which gives direction to all the paths of human conduct: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise". { Luke 6:30 } In this general law we have what we might call the ethical compass, for it embraces within its circle the "whole duty of man" towards his fellow; and it only needs an adjusted conscience, like the delicately poised needle, and the line of the "ought" can be read off at once, even in those uncertain latitudes where no specific law is found. Are we in doubt as to what course of conduct to pursue, as to the kind of treatment we should accord to our fellow? We can always find the via recta by a short mental transposition. We have only to put ourselves in his place, and to imagine our relative positions reversed, and from the "would" of our supposed desires and hopes we read the "ought" of present duty. The Golden Rule is thus a practical exposition of the Second Commandment, investing our neighbor with the same luminous Atmosphere we throw about ourselves, the atmosphere of a benevolent, beneficent love. But beyond this general law Jesus gives us a prescript as to the treatment of enemies. He says, "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. To him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other: and from him that taketh away thy cloak withhold not thy coat also". { Luke 6:27-29 } In considering these injunctions we must bear in mind that the word "enemy" in its New Testament meaning had not the wide and general signification it has today. It then stood in antithesis to the word "neighbor" as in Matthew 5:43 ; and as the word "neighbor" to the Jew included those, and those only, who were of the Hebrew race and faith, the word "enemy" referred to those outside, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. To the Hebrew mind it stood as a synonym for "Gentile." In these words, then, we find, not a general and universal law, but the special instructions as to their course of conduct in dealing with the Gentiles, to whom they would shortly be sent. No matter what their treatment, they must bear it with an uncomplaining patience. Stripped, beaten, they must not resist, much less retaliate; they must not allow any vindictive feelings to possess them, nor must they take in their own hot hand the sword of a "sweet revenge." Nay, they must even bear a good-will towards their enemies, repaying their hate with love, their spite and enmity with prayers, and their curses with sincerest benedictions. It will be observed that no mention is made of repentance or of restitution: without waiting for these, or even expecting them, they must be prepared to forgive and prepared to love their enemies, even while they are shamefully treating them. And what else, under the circumstances, could they have done? If they appealed to the secular power it would simply have been an appeal to a heathen court, from enemies to enemies. And as to waiting for repentance, their "enemies" are only treating them as enemies, aliens and foreigners, wronging them, it is true, but ignorantly, and not through any personal malice. They must forgive just for the same reason that Jesus forgave His Roman murderers, "for they know not what they do." We cannot, therefore, take these injunctions, which evidently had a special and temporary application, as the literal rule of conduct towards those who are unfriendly or hostile to us. This, however, is plain, that even our enemies, whose enmity is directly personal rather than sectional or racial, are not to be excluded from the Law of Love. We must bear them neither hatred nor resentment; we must guard our hearts sacredly from all malevolent, vindictive feelings. We must not be our own avenger, taking vengeance upon our adversaries, as we let loose the barking Cerberus to track and run them down. All such feelings are contrary to the Law of Love, and so are contraband, entirely foreign to the heart that calls itself Christian. But with all this we are not to meet all sorts of injuries and wrongs without protest or resistance. We cannot condone a wrong without being accomplices in the wrong. To defend our property and life is just as much our duty as it was the wisdom and the duty of those to whom Jesus spoke to offer an uncomplaining cheek to the Gentile smiter. Not to do this is to encourage crime, and to put a premium upon evil. Nor is it inconsistent with a true love to seek to punish, by lawful means, the wrong-doer. Justice here is the highest type of mercy, and pains and penalties have a remedial virtue, taming the passions which had grown too wild, or straightening the conscience that had become warped. And so Jesus, speaking of the "offences," the occasions of stumbling that would come, said, "If thy brother sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive." { Luke 17:3 } It is not the patient, silent acquiescence now. No, we must rebuke the brother who has sinned against us and wronged us. And if this is vain, we must tell it to the Church, as St. Matthew completes the injunction; { Matthew 18:17 } and if the offender will not hear the Church, he must be cast out, ejected from their fellowship, and becoming to their thought as a heathen or a publican. The wrong, though it is a brother who does it, must not be glossed over with the enamel of an euphemism; nor must it be hushed up, veiled by a guilty silence. It must be brought to the light of day, it must be rebuked and punished; nor must it be forgiven until it is repented of. Let there be, however, a genuine repentance, and there must be on our part the prompt and complete forgiveness of the wrong. We must set it back out of our sight, amongst the forgotten things. And if the wrong be repeated, if the repentance be repeated, the forgiveness must be repeated too, not only for seven times seven offenses, but for seventy times seven. Nor is it left to our option whether we forgive or no; it is a duty, absolute and imperative; we must forgive, as we ourselves hope to be forgiven. Again, Jesus treats of the true use of wealth. He Himself assumed a voluntary poverty. Silver and gold had He none; indeed, the only coin that we read He handled was the borrowed Roman penny, with Caesar’s inscription upon it. But while Jesus Himself preferred poverty, choosing to live on the outflowing charities of those who felt it both a privilege and an honor to minister to Him of their substance, yet He did not condemn wealth. It was not a wrong per se . In the Old Testament it had been regarded as a sign of Heaven’s special favor, and amongst the rich Jesus Himself found some of His warmest, truest friends-friends who came nobly to the front when some who had made louder professions had ignominiously fled. Nor did Jesus require the renunciation of wealth as the condition of discipleship. He did not advocate that fictitious egalite of the Commune. He sought rather to level up than to level down. It is true He did say to the ruler, "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor"; but this was an exceptional case, and probably it was put before him as a test command, like the command to Abraham that he should sacrifice his son-which was not intended to he carried out literally, but only as far as the intention, the will. There was no such demand made from Nicodemus, and when Zacchaeus testified that it had been his practice (the present tense would indicate a retrospective rather than a prospective rule) to give one-half of his income to the poor, Jesus does not find fault with his division, and demand the other half; He commends him, and passes him up, right over the excommunication of the rabbis, among the true sons of Abraham. Jesus did not pose as an assessor; He left men to divide their own inheritance. It was enough for Him if He could put within the soul this new force, the "moral dynamic" of love to God and man; then the outward relations would shape themselves, regulated as by some automatic action. But with all this, Jesus recognized the peculiar temptations and dangers of wealth. He saw how riches tend to engross and monopolize the thought, diverting it from higher things, and so He classed riches with cares, pleasures, which choke the Word of life, and make it unfruitful. He saw how wealth tended to selfishness; that it acted as an astringent, closing up the valves of the heart, and thus shutting down the outflow of its sympathies. And so Jesus, whenever He spoke of wealth, spoke in words of warning: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" He said, when He saw how the rich ruler set wealth before faith and hope. And singularly enough, the only times Jesus, in His parables, lifts up the curtain of doom it is to tell of "certain rich" men-the one, whose soul swung selfishly between his banquets and his barns, and who, alas! had laid up no treasures in heaven; and the other, who exchanged his purple and fine linen for the folds of enveloping flames, and the sumptuous fare of earth for eternal want, the eternal hunger and thirst of the after-retribution! What, then, is the true use of wealth? And how may we so hold it that it shall prove a blessing, and not a bane? In the first place, we must hold it in our hand, and not lay it up in the heart. We must possess it; it must not possess us. We may give our thought, moderately, to it, but our affections must not be allowed to center upon it. We read that the Pharisees "were lovers of money," { Luke 16:14 } and that argentic passion was the root of all their evils. The love of money, like an opiate, little by little, steals over the whole frame, deadening the sensibility, perverting the judgment, and weakening the will, producing a kind of intoxication, in which the better reason is lost, and the confused speech can only articulate, with Shylock, "My ducats, my ducats!" the true way of holding wealth is to hold it in trust, recognizing God’s ownership and our stewardship. Bank it up, give it no outlet, and your wealth becomes a stagnant pool, breeding malaria and burning fevers; but open the channel, give it an outlet, and it will bring life and music to a thousand lower vales, increasing the happiness of others, and increasing your own the more. And so Jesus strikes in with His frequent imperative, "Give"-"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom". { Luke 6:38 } And this is the true use of wealth, its consecration to the needs of humanity. And may we not say that here is its truest pleasure? He who has learned the art of generous giving, who makes his life one large-hearted benevolence, living for others and not for himself, has acquired an art that is beautiful and Divine, an art that turns the deserts into gardens of the Lord and that peoples the sky overhead with unseen singing Ariels. Giving and living are heavenly synonyms, and tie who giveth most liveth best. But not from the words of Jesus alone do we read off the lines of our duty. He is in His own Person a Polar Star, to whom all the meridians of our round life turn, and from whom they emanate. His life is thus our law, His example our pattern. Do we wish to learn what are the duties of children to their parents? The thirty silent years of Nazareth speak in answer. They show us how the Boy Jesus is in subjection to His parents, giving to them a perfect obedience, a perfect trust, and a perfect love. They show us the Divine Youth, still shut in within that narrow circle, ministering to that circle, by hard-manual toil becoming the stay of that fatherless home. Do we wish to learn our duties to the State? See how Jesus walked in a land across which the Roman eagle had cast its shadow! He did not preach a crusade against the barbarian invaders, tie recognized in their presence and power the ordination of God-that they had been sent to chastise a lapsed Israel. And so Jesus spoke no word of denunciation, no fiery word, which might have proved the spark of a revolution. He took Himself away from the multitudes when they would by force make Him King. He spoke in respectful terms of the powers that were; He even justified the payment of tribute to Caesar, acknowledging his lordship, while at the same time He spoke of the higher tribute to the great Over-Lord, even God. When upon His trial for life or death, before a Roman tribunal, He even stayed to apologize for Pilate’s weakness, casting the heavier sin back on the hierarchy that had bought Him and delivered Him up; while upon the cross, amid its untold agonies, though His lips were glued by a fearful thirst, He opened them to breathe a last prayer for His Roman executioners: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." But was Jesus, then, an alien from His kinsmen according to the flesh? Was patriotism to Him an unknown force? Did He know nothing of love of country, that inspiration which has turned common men into heroes and martyrs, that love which oceans cannot quench, nor distance weaken, which throws an auroral brightness around the most sterile shores, and which makes the emigrant sick with a strange " Heimweh ?" Did the Son of man, the ideal Man, know nothing at all of this? He did know it, and know it well. He identified Himself thoroughly with His people; He placed Himself under the law, observing its rites and ceremonies. After the Childhood exile in Egypt, He scarcely passed out of the sacred bounds; no storms of rough persecution could dislodge the heavenly Dove, or send Him wheeling off from His native hills. And if He did not preach rebellion, He did preach that righteousness which gives to a nation its truest wealth and widest liberty. He did denounce the Pharisaic shams, the hollow hypocrisies, which had eaten away the nation’s heart and strength. And how He loved Jerusalem, forgetting His own triumph in the vision of her humiliation, and weeping for the desolations which were coming sure and fast! This, the Holy City, was the center to which He ever returned, and to which He gave His last bequest-His cross and His grave. Nay, when the cross is taken down, and the grave is vacant, He lingers to give His Apostles their commission; and when He bids them, "Go ye out into all the world," He adds, "beginning at Jerusalem." The Son of man is the Son of David still, and within His deep love for humanity at large was a peculiar love for His "own," as the ark itself was enshrined within the Holy of Holies. And so we might traverse the whole ethical domain, and we should find no duty which is not enforced or suggested by the words or the life of the great Teacher. As Dr. Dorner says, "There is only one morality; the original of it is in God; the copy of it is in the Man of God." Happy is he who see this Polar Star, whose light shines clear and calm above the rush of human years and the ebbs and flows of human life! Happier still is he who shapes his course by it, who reads off all his bearings from its light! He who builds his life after the Divine model, reading the Christ-life into his own, will build up another city of God on earth, foursquare and compact together, a city of peace, because a city of righteousness and a city of love. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.