What is good? You may conceive of true piety as of a tree of life planted in the midst of Paradise, in the midst of the Church, spreading as it were its branches; whereof these three in the text are the fairest. Justice and uprightness of conversation; mercy and liberality; and humility. The sacrifices and ceremonious parts of God’s worship were “good” but ex institute, because God for some reason was pleased to institute and ordain them. In themselves they were neither good nor evil. When they were commanded, it was for the sake of that good effect which the wisdom of God could work out of them. That which is good in its own nature is always so. Piety and true religion are older than the world. Ceremonies are confined to time and place. The ceremonious part of religion was many times omitted, many times dispensed with, but this good which is here shown admitteth no dispensation. Mere outward performances of some parts of the law were not done out of any love to the law or the Lawgiver. Formal worshippers do not love the command; they obey for the sake of something else. Outward performances and formality in religion have the same spring and motive with our greatest and foulest sins. The same cause produceth them, the same considerations promote them, and they are carried to their end on the same wings of our carnal desires. This formality in religion standeth in no opposition with the devil and his designs, but rather advanceth his kingdom and enlargeth his dominion. This formality and insincerity is most opposite to God, who is a God of truth. Innocence, integrity, and mercifulness are the good man’s sacrifice. They were from the beginning, and shall never be abolished.
II. What is good, and its manifestations. View this good as it stands in opposition to the things of this world, which either our luxury or pride or covetousness has raised in their esteem and above their worth, and called good, as the heathen have done their vices. Good things are not in themselves, but only as they are subservient to the good in the text. Look at the good of the text.
1. As fitted and proportioned to our very nature. God built up man for this end alone, for this good;--to communicate His goodness to him, to make him “partaker of a Divine nature,” to make him a kind of god upon the earth, to imprint His image upon him, by which according to his measure and capacity he might express and represent God.
(1) By the knowledge not only of natural and transitory things, but also of those which pertain to everlasting life.
(2) By the rectitude and sanctity of his will.
(3) By the free and ready obedience of the outward parts and inward faculties to the beck and command of God.
2. As fitted to all sorts and conditions of men. Freedom and slavery, circumcision and uncircumcision, riches and poverty, quickness and slowness of understanding, in respect of this good, of piety and religion, are all alike. Religion is no peculiar, but the most common and the most communicative thing that is. This good is every man’s good that will.
3. As lovely and amiable in the eves of all. This is the glory of goodness and piety, that it striketh a reverence in those who neglect it, findeth a place in his breast whose hand is ready to suppress it, is magnified by those who revile it, and gaineth honour when it cannot win assent.
4. As filling and satisfying us. That which filleth a thing must be proportioned to it. “There is nothing in the whole universe that is taken for enough by any one particular man”; nothing in which the appetite of a single man can rest. Only this good here in the text can fit it, because it is fitted to it.
5. As giving a relish and sweet taste to the worst of evils which may befall us, whilst with love and admiration we look upon it. It maketh those things which are not good in themselves useful and advantageous to us. This good is open and manifest to all. It is published by open proclamation, as a law, which hath “a forcing and necessitating power.” But if the object be so fair and visible, it may be asked, How cometh it to pass that it is hid from so many eyes, that there be so few that see it, or see it so as to fall in love with it and embrace it? Three hindrances are mentioned by Isidore of Pelusium.
(1) Narrowness and defect of the understanding and judgment.
(2) Sloth and neglect in the pursuit.
(3) Improbity of men’s manners, and a wicked and profane conversation.
Then let us cleave fast to this good, and uphold it in its native and proper purity against all external rites and empty formalities; and, in the next place, against all the pomp of the world, against that which we call good when it maketh us evil.
III. The promulgation of this good as a law. “What doth the Lord require of thee?” This is as the publication of it, and making it a law. And His will is attended with power, wisdom, and love.
1. By His power God created man, and “breathed into him a living soul.” Made him as it were wax, to receive the impressions of a Deity, made him a subject capable of a law. As God createth, so He continues man and protects him. From this ocean of God’s power naturally issueth forth His power of giving laws, of requiring what He may please from His creature.
2. As His absolute will is attended with power uncontrollable, so it is also with wisdom unquestionable. The “only wise God.” His laws are like Himself, just and holy, pure and undefiled, unchangeable, immutable, and everlasting. As His wisdom is seen in giving laws, so it is in fitting the means to the end, in giving, them virtue and force to draw us to a nearer vision and sight of God.
3. God’s absolute will is attended with love. These are the glories of His will; He can do what He will; He will do it by the most proper and fitting means; and whatsoever He requireth is the dictate of His love. Consider the form in which God’s requirements are presented, and the manner of proposing them. The prophet here does not “bid us do any great things.” When men pretend they cannot do what God requires, they should change their language; for the truth is, they will not. It is not only easy, it is sweet and pleasant to do what God requireth. Obedience is the only spring from whence the waters of comfort flow, an everlasting foundation on which alone joy and peace will settle and rest. Take in view the substance of these words of the text. The word “Lord” is a word of force and efficacy; it striketh a reverence into us, and remembereth us of our duty and allegiance. As He is Lord paramount, and hath an absolute will, so His will is attended with power, with that power which made thee. I cannot name the several ways we stand obliged to this Lord. We may comprehend all in that axiom of the civilians, “We have as many engagements and obligations as there be instruments and writings betwixt us.”
IV. Justice and honesty. We are no sooner men, but we are debtors, under obligations to God, to men, to ourselves. To “do justly” is to give every man his own, not to lay hold on, or alienate or deceitfully withdraw, or violently force from any man that of which he is the lawful possessor. Private justice is of far larger extent than that which is public, which speaketh and acteth from the tribunal. Public justice steereth by no other compass but the laws of men; but this by the laws of nature and charity. Justice and honesty in its full shape and beauty is fastened upon its proper pillars, the law of nature, and the law of the God of nature.
V. The love of mercy. Where there is no justice, there can be no mercy; and where there is no mercy, there justice is but gall and wormwood. Therefore in the Scripture they go hand in hand. Consider mercy--
1. In the fruit it yieldeth.
2. In its root.
VI. Walking humbly with God. Humility consisteth in placing us where we should be at the footstool of God. (A. Farindon, B. D.)
True religion a reasonable service
Virtue is essentially, and therefore inseparably connected with religion. It is not possible that a vitiated mind should have any proper relish for Divine truth. The animal man comprehendeth not the doctrines of the Divine Spirit. There is a strong and an insuperable reason in nature for this evident distinction between good and bad men in inquiries of religion, which is plainly this,--That every advance in celestial truth opens a prospect the most inviting to the virtuous, while the vicious man trembles at every ray of light which is let in on his disordered mind. It seems most natural to put the address of the text into the mouth of the king of Moab, in conversation with the prophet. Success against a numerous and victorious enemy engrossed the king’s thoughts. For this purpose he had recourse to the God of Israel, whose aid he endeavours to engage by a profusion of offerings in every kind of his substance, or even, if all these should fail, with the life of his son. The answer is such as well suited a representative of the Creator of the universe. “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good.” Whatever answers entirely the end for which it was made is said, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, particularly to be good. That must be good indeed which serves admirably the purpose for which it was designed by infinite wisdom. To man alone is reserved the happy privilege of dedicating voluntarily his powers to the ends for which they were at first bestowed. This is good for man. It is naturally to be expected of him, upon whom the dominion of this world and the reversion of the next is conferred, that he should regulate his conduct by the laws of nature and of God. This is his rational worship. Obedience, arising from any other cause than moral motives, would be the motion of a stone, not the duty of a man, and consequently incapable of being in any sense acceptable to God more than the rising vapour, or the falling dew. It is most reasonable to suppose, that if ever the Creator of the world should vouchsafe to make any discovery of His intention relative to the conduct of man, the tables of revelation must contain a transcript of the laws of nature. “To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God” is the sum and great outline of the whole duty of man. To preserve a solicitous attention to God’s supreme direction, under a rational conviction of His paternal care; an equitable regard to the rights and interests of our brethren, His children; with a sensible concern for their infirmities and wants, a concern which must reach out its hand beyond the line of rigid justice. These offices are generally ranged by moralists under three different branches, as they relate to God, to mankind, and to the individual. However contracted or enlarged, this is the law of man; and this law is properly eternal and immutable, which is not so of any accidental or accessional appendages to religion. If this law were once as punctually observed as it is often plainly promulged, we should then have the same harmony in the moral as has always been in the natural world. (T. Ashton, D. D.)
What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy god?--
Three things God wants of us
I. Explain the whole passage. The prophet alludes to the story of Balak and Balaam. The lesson drawn from the story is this,--How unavailing are the most costly sacrifices, how far from being truly acceptable to God, when not attended with true piety, justice, mercy, and a good disposition of the heart in those that offer them. For this was the case of Balak in the history told us. We have in the text a sort of dialogue betwixt Balak and Balaam, represented to us in the prophetical way. It might seem that Balaam’s advice was too good for him to give; but it is to be considered that Balaam’s character was of a mixed nature, had something good and something bad in it.
II. Raise observations on the passage.
1. This reference of one Scripture book to another is one of those internal marks of their truth and genuineness which, to men of true learning, gives great satisfaction in their study of the Sacred Scriptures.
2. How prone men must have been to rest in the mere outward performances of some acts of worship or devotion, to the neglect of those substantial duties of justice, mercy, and true piety; or that purity of heart and life which God more especially requires in those that worship Him. Learn here the harmony and agreement of God’s dispensations to mankind from the beginning of the world. Resolve to learn and practise the good lesson of the text. (O. Peters, M. A.)
What God requires
God had shown by His law what is good; but the prophet adds that it is “to do justly, to love mercy (or kindness), and to be humbled before God.” It is evident that, in the two first particulars, he refers to the second table of the law; that is, to “do justice, and to love mercy.” Nor is it a matter of wonder that the prophet begins with the duties of love; for though in order the worship of God precedes these duties, and ought rightly to be so regarded, yet justice, which is to be exercised towards men, is the real evidence of true religion. The prophet therefore mentions justice and mercy, not that God casts aside that which is principal--the worship of His name; but he shows, by evidences or effects, what true religion is. Hypocrites place all holiness in external rites; but God requires what is very different; for His worship is spiritual. But as hypocrites can make a great show of zeal and solicitude in the outward worship of God, the prophets try the conduct of men in another way, by inquiring whether they act justly and kindly towards one another, whether they are free from all fraud and violence, whether they observe justice and show mercy. Micah adds, however, “And to be humble in walking with thy God.” No doubt, as the name of God is more excellent than anything in the whole world, so the worship of Him ought to be regarded as of more importance than all those duties by which we prove our love towards men. The main object of the prophet was to show how men were to prove that they seriously feared God and His law: he afterwards speaks of God’s worship. Condemned here is all pride, and also all confidence in the flesh: for whosoever arrogates to himself even the least thing, does in a manner contend with God as an opposing party. The true way then of walking with God is, when we thoroughly humble ourselves, yea, when we bring ourselves down to nothing: for it is the very beginning of worshipping and glorifying God when men entertain humble and low opinion of themselves. (John Calvin.)
God’s requirements and God’s gift
The prophet read off rightly God’s requirements, but he had not anything to say about God’s gifts. So his word is a half-truth. The great glory of Christianity is not that it reiterates or alters God’s requirements, but that it brings into view God’s gifts. To “do justly,” etc., is only possible through repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I. God’s requirements. In the text are the plain, elementary duties of morality and religion. It covers substantially the same ground, in a condensed form, as does the Decalogue, only that Moses begins with the deepest thing and works outwards, as it were: Micah begins at the other end, and starting with the lesser, the more external, the purely human, works his way inwards to that which is the centre and the source of all.
II. Our failure. There is not one of us that has come up to the standard. Micah’s requirements come to every man that will honestly take stock of his life and his character, as the statement of an unreached and unreachable ideal If then it is true, that all have come short of the requirement, then there should follow a universal sense of guilt, for there is a universal fact of guilt, whether there be a sense of it or not. And there follows a hopelessness as to ever accomplishing that which is demanded of us.
III. God’s gifts. The gift of God is Jesus Christ, and that meets all our failures. What a difference the conception of God as giving--rather than requiring--makes to the spirit in which we work! What a difference it brings into what we have to do. We have not to begin with effort, we have to begin with faith. First go to the giving God. Then accept His gift. And then say, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
On the extent of genuine religion
Mostcommonly the Scriptures press upon us, in the first instance, that supreme and affectionate faith towards God and Christ, which is the foundation of every Christian virtue. And then proceed to inculcate those pure principles, those holy tempers, and those good works which genuine faith in God and Christ will necessarily produce. Sometimes, however, solicitous to recommend the tree by a reference to the excellence of the fruit, they specify works in the outset; and then direct our views to that faith from which every acceptable work is to spring. Love to God and our Redeemer, whether mentioned first or last, must be the fountain from which every human duty is derived. Christ is the cornerstone of the belief and the practice of a Christian. Explain the different branches of human duty according to the order in which they are arranged by the prophet.
I. “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good.” So clearly hath God made known whatever is necessary to salvation, that they who attain not salvation shall stand without excuse. In the breast of every man God hath implanted a natural conscience. And He has given us His written Word. On every man He bestows power to attain eternal life. He ensures to every faithful suppliant the all-sufficient influence of His Holy Spirit, not only that it may enlighten the mind to understand the Scriptures,. but may also give grace to obey them. And He commands His ministers to preach the Gospel throughout the world to every creature. Then if you know not your duty, it is because you will not know it. If you perish through ignorance, it is because you prefer ignorance to understanding.
II. What then must we do to be saved?
1. You must do justly. You must be just in every part of every one of your proceedings. You must render to every man, cheerfully, and without delay, that which belongs to him. This rule obliges you--
(1) On all occasions to speak the truth. For a lie is not only a breach of your duty to God, but is also a breach of your duty to your neighbour.
(2) To be a faithful subject to the king: to submit to all who are entitled to authority over you.
(3) To keep from injuring the person and restraining the liberty of your neighbour.
(4) To avoid in any way injuring your neighbour’s property. And the methods in which this may be done are numberless.
2. You are to “love mercy.” Mercy signifies Christian charity in its largest sense. It includes everything which we mean by affection, benevolence, kindness, tenderness, mildness, meekness, patience, forgiveness; and by every other expression which implies goodwill to men. Observe the difference of the terms in which God requires of us first justice then mercy. We are to do justly; we are to love mercy. Justice admits of no degrees. If we are not perfectly just, we are unjust. But mercy is in its own nature capable of gradations. One person may be more merciful than another. Thou shalt love mercy then. Thy heart shall be constantly set on deeds of mercy, they shall be thy study; they shall be a delight unto thee.
3. You are to “walk humbly with God.” To walk with God signifies to be a faithful and zealous servant of God. We are to bring our whole hearts, as well as our actions, into subjection to the Divine will. Are you in prosperity? Walk humbly with your God. Let the Giver be glorified in His gifts. Are you in distress? Walk humbly with your God. Evidently then, to the Jew and to the Christian, the sum and substance of religion have ever been the same. (Thomas Gisborne, M. A.)
Root principles
I.The root principle of all duty. “Do justly.” It is said that in some parts of Africa and South America certain races of men have been found with apparently no sense of justice in them, and of course no religion. It would be interesting to know how far the one is the cause or the consequence of the other. It may be said they have lost their religion, and with it all sense of justice, or, having lost all sense of justice, there is no groundwork or foundation for any religious principle to operate upon. The question comes before us in a practical shape. How are the wild creatures of our streets to be caught and tamed and domesticated; how are the principles of justice and morality to be imparted to them--in other words, how are they to be taught to “do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God”? In the Hebrew law God laid a foundation, in justice and morality, for the Gospel; a foundation on which He afterwards reared the superstructure of a glorious Church, whose walls are salvation, and whose gates are praise. On this common platform of justice and morality we all meet, acknowledging the law of the God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.
II. The root principle of all religion. “Love mercy.” We are not only to practise this virtue, and imitate this attribute of our Father in the heavens, but we are to “love mercy.” To love it we must see it in all its beauty and Divine perfection, and this we can only do in Jesus Christ. He is the mercy of God to us.
III. The root principle of the spiritual life. “Walk humbly with thy God.” To walk with Him humbly and reverently, as He reveals Himself in the pages of His Word, and in the person and work of His Son, is the privilege of His believing children. This humble walk with God is one of light, and joy, and triumph. The entrance is pleasant, so is the road; the company; and the end. (R. Balgarnie.)
Of the great duties of natural religion, with the ways and means of knowing them
In these words you have--
1. An inquiry which is the best way to appease God when He is offended.
2. The way that men are apt to take in this case.
3. The course which God Himself directs to, and which will effectually pacify Him. Dwell on this third point.
I. Those several duties which God here requires of us. The Jews reduced all the duties of religion to these three heads, justice, mercy, and piety: under the first two, comprehending the duties which we owe to one another; and under the third, the duties which we owe to God.
II. The ways and means by which God hath made known these duties to us, and the goodness and the obligation of them.
1. By a kind of natural instinct.
2. By natural reason.
3. By the general vote and consent of mankind.
4. By external revelation.
5. By the inward dictates and motions of God’s Spirit upon the minds of men. (J. Tillotson, D. D.)
The Lord’s requirements
I. The duties expressed by the prophet. They are most reasonable; there is nothing in them but what every enlightened mind will most cordially agree to.
1. To “do justly.” Not only to think and speak justly, but to act so--to act with honesty, integrity, and fidelity, without injuring, defrauding, oppressing or tempting to evil any one. To “do justly” is in every way to befriend your neighbour.
2. To “love mercy.” To take pleasure in acts of compassion, forgiveness, and kindness. The love of mercy is a very different thing from any act of professed mercy. Real mercy lies in the motive of kindness, and the love of it lies in the gratification felt in another’s benefit. The love of mercy is a mighty impulse to its exercise. The love of mercy gives an intensity to it.
3. To “walk humbly with God.” This indicates a teachable, submissive, thankful, patient, and dependent spirit; a close communion with God; and a progressive know ledge of the character and majesty of the Deity. As this knowledge dawns upon the soul, so does the soul sink into self-abasement. The great characteristic of walking with God on earth is trust in Christ.
II. The motives furnished in the text for the discharge of these duties.
1. One motive is derived from the exhibition of the Lord’s goodness.
2. Another from the authority of the requirement.
3. Another from the nature and reasonableness of the things required. (W. D. Horwood.)
God’s requirements
The consummate result of all education consists in the power of applying a few scientific principles. Out of one clear rule or method spring all the products of the branching and luxuriant science of figures. So the highest art and achievement of man’s life is but the flowering of one or two germinal truths. The requirements of the text are easy to understand--worth whole tons of sermons and dissertations. And yet these are precepts which are not yet made practical in the hearts of men. It is the application of the theory that is requisite. These words of the text point out the entire essence of religion--vital, evangelical religion. Some people entertain a dread of plain propositions. They do not like to have religion put in simple words; they want it left with some vagueness and complexity mingled with it. In plain words, they suspect it is only good morality. They miss the vitality of religion, as they call it. There is nothing in these words concerning terms of salvation, or faith in the atonement. But we may be sure that all the essence and vitality of religion is here. Christ is here; because who can do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with his Maker, without that communion with Christ Jesus, and that inspiration of His Spirit, by which alone we are strengthened and guided to do these things? And what an advantage there is in having such a condensed statement of religion! It clears up things; it is like getting a glimpse of a star in heaven, and taking our latitude and longitude, when we have been drifting about on the dark waves of doubt. The words of the text set forth no light affair for our performance. The essence of all right doing, right feeling, and right living is here indicated. The text expresses nothing less than all morality, all philanthropy, all religion; the essence of all vital religion, and the highest spiritual life.
1. The foundation principle of morality is involved in the precept, “Do justly.” It is a compact summary of all social duty. It abolishes all standards of mere selfish advantage and worldly policy, commanding us to do the just, the true, the righteous thing, whatever may come of it in the way of personal or temporal consequences. Be just, in thought, deed, word, hand, brain, heart. What, then, is the proper idea of justice? There is a vast difference between law and justice--between human enactments and God’s everlasting requirements. Is your idea of justice that which is merely legal? Or is it to set up your individual will, your selfish standard, regulated only by parchment laws, no matter what the spirit of civilisation or the general good demands? With others justice only means the stern thing--eye for eye, etc. But in this way a man gets a good chance to deify his own passions, and think he is doing God service. Sometimes men reverse this a very little. They manage, by some sting of reproach, or some obnoxious word, to get their revenge. They are after their revenge all the while. But justice is a merciful thing. It may be severe, it is never merciless. True justice is the justice of charity. In order to do justly we should construe the conduct of others as we would have our own conduct construed by them. The text absorbs so much of our being as is occupied in doing. “Do justly.” It is a lesson that God has set in two words, but it may take man all his life to learn it. All action should be just action.
2. A requisition which calls for all the life and power of the most genuine philanthropy “Love mercy.” Here comes in the element of feeling coupled with doing. In all good and true performances there must be affection. Out of philanthropy springs justice, as, in its highest form, that springs out of the ocean depths of God’s love. The grandest justice in this world is that which is conceived by the spirit of an earnest, toiling humanity. For all good and noble ends we ought to love mercy. There can be no beneficent power in this world that does not spring from love. They who have the real love of mercy in them, rejoice when they can palliate. You never can lift men up, and bring them into God’s kingdom, by any other way than loving them and implicating yourself with them. And mercy is the essence of all love. If you want to love your fellowmen, have mercy on them. Loving mercy is the spring of all right feeling, as doing justly is of all right being.
3. The final requirement is to be religious--to walk humbly with thy God. Neither to be just nor merciful is the primal thing, for we cannot do so unless we come into communion with the Spirit of Almighty God. We cannot do a right thing save as we are inspired to do it. This is the very essence of all true religion--to walk humbly with, or before God. The religion of the Bible makes us walk with God. It gives us a sense of a personal relation to Him. The Bible makes God a kindred personality. We become like Him, and we obtain therefore in ourselves the real springs and powers of all good feeling and all good action. Then learn that there is something required which is more than mere exercise of the intellect--it is the surrender and sanctification of the will and the affections. A surrendering, transfiguration, regeneration of the heart that brings men into a position in which they can walk humbly with God, do justly, and love mercy. God is the inspiration of all human excellence the quickener of all human thought; and when we can walk with Him, we do not need anything else; we can walk with Him everywhere. (E. H. Chapin.)
The last gospel of science
Prof. Huxley calls this verse “the perfect ideal of religion.” And he says that “the true function of science is not to set herself in antagonism to religion, but to deliver her from the heathen survivals, the bad philosophy, and the science falsely so called, which have obscured her lustre and impaired her vigour.” Consider what this “perfect ideal” is, and what it involves. The prophet, whether Micah or Balaam, sums up the whole duty of man in doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. Can we accept this summary as setting forth the very substance of religion? Yes, if we are allowed to take the words of Micah in the sense in which he used them. Taken simply by themselves, indeed, and apart from their prophetic use, they postulate the existence of God, and of a God whose character is the standard and rule of the justice and mercy we are bound to show. A God, therefore, to whom we owe a constant obedience, with whom we are to walk in a living sympathy and communion, and toward whom our proper attitude is one of profound humility and devotion. What did a Hebrew prophet mean by a “just” man, if not a man who walked in all the commandments of the Hebrew law blameless? Whence did this man learn that justice must be tempered with mercy but from the self-same law? What was his standard of compassion and charity but the charity of God? Assuming the words of the text to mean only what a modern man of science would use them to mean, have you considered how much they involve; how difficult it is to apply them to the complex and often conflicting claims of human life; and how much more difficult it is to render them a living and constant obedience? Is it always easy to ascertain What “justice” demands? The fatal defect of all the ethical schemes put forward by those who reject revealed religion and yet are fain to find some substitute for it is that they take no account, or not sufficient account, of the fact and power of sin. We who believe in God and Christ contend that to men defiled and weakened by sin, only faith in God, revealed in Christ, will enable them to do their duty, and to embody the perfect ideal in their lives. (Samuel Cox, D. D.)
A great question answered
Without controversy the highest, noblest element in man is his moral nature, with all that the word involves. A man’s highest destiny can never be achieved if this element of his nature be neglected. To gain this end of conformity to our highest nature in moral and spiritual matters, we need to know the law of our being on this subject. The greatest practical question man can ask is, How shall I live? What shall I do to meet the highest destiny of which I am capable, both for time and eternity? This question the prophet answers. It can be answered in no other way. No man can answer it out of the depth of his own judgment. It cannot be answered by conscience, nor by expediency. The Church cannot answer it. Upon no human foundation can we build anything solid in ethics. See the completeness of the prophet’s answer.
1. The answer is practical.
2. It covers the whole ground. Two conclusions--
(1) Let us as individuals take no man’s authority in matters of duty.
(2) National security and prosperity depend upon the use and teaching of the Bible. (C. V. Anthony, D. D.)
The threefold law
This is the climax of an outburst of God’s rebuke and expostulation. He stoops to plead with His rebellious people. Here are two characteristics of the natural heart.
1. An insinuation that God is a hard, austere Master.
2. A readiness to yield all excepting the heart itself.
Notice that these three commands are linked together. The triple command cannot be dismembered. Notice that the order is logical, not that of historical development. Justice is the root, mercy the foliage, and godliness the fruit.
I. Deal justly. There may be a noisy zeal in religion while the scant measure, the wicked balance, and the deceitful weight are used.
II. Love mercy. The whole New Testament unfolds this idea. This is to be not an occasional act, but a habit; not in exercise when under pressure, but growing from an inward impulse.
III. Walk humbly with God. Lit. it is “bow low.” Thus we feel an invisible presence and power, and have fellowship with the Unseen. Walking with God involves five particulars.
1. Choice of Him.
2. Sense of His actual presence.
3. Prayerfulness.
4. Sympathy.
5. Constant dependence.
Two remarks--
(1) This verse is commonly quoted by the enemies of Christ, mere moralists. But it is one of the most searching portions of the Word, and proves that by the law no flesh is justified, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
(2) Those who have fled to the Cross for refuge will find in this verse a new incentive to holiness. It is by a blameless life we are to illustrate to the world the genuineness of our faith and professions of godliness. Let us not frustrate the grace of God, but lovingly heed this threefold law, that we may at once prove to ourselves, and to the world about us, that we are truly the children of God. (J. H. Worcester, D. D.)
The great question of humanity
Apart from revelation man can only know of God through man. And so the guess of man concerning God in any age reveals that age’s heart. The answers given to the question, “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?” greatly differ. Through them all the desire is manifestly to atone for bygone sin. Yet when we examine the offerings of atonement which man has laid upon the seen and unseen altars of the world, we cannot help exclaiming: What were sin if gifts like these would purchase cleansing? What were man if gifts like these could give him peace? And what were God if gifts like these could call forth His forgiving love? God’s answer to the deepest question of humanity reveals God’s character. He does not behold our efforts of atonement with complacency, as though we were climbing feebly up a righteous way. God regards our offerings of atonement with exalted scorn. We have in the text a great ethical doctrine to which the heart of universal man assents without reserve. All men feel, and ever will feel, that whosoever doeth these things shall doubtless live by means of them. If a man will “do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before his God,” all heavens that are worthy of the name will open wide before him. We have here a scheme of holiness in three degrees.
1. If we would stand before the High God we must “act justly.” Justly in every relation of life. And we must be just to God, “presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.”
2. We must “love mercy.” In heaven, maybe, only justice is required. On this sin-stained earth mere justice, if it stood alone, may emphasise the evils that are here. We must add mercy to our justice. A merciful man will be honoured by his fellows as long as aught of the Divine remains within humanity. Mercy is a tree whose root is pity, and its branches stretch with healing leaves and refreshing fruits above all the helpless, and suffering, and needy, of every grade and kind. Blessed are they who are merciful on earth, for they shall obtain mercy when they stand before God’s throne.
3. We must “walk humbly with God.” The more we understand the meaning of the two words “God” and “man,” the more daring seems the affirmation that they may walk together. To say that God will walk with man is to clothe God with ineffable tenderness. And to say that man can walk with God is to clothe men with sublimity. Surely the great mystery of the religious life is this, that God can walk and talk with me as though He and I were the only beings in the universe. But we must walk humbly with our God, so humbly that we shall commit all our ways to Him; so humbly that we shall never murmur at distress, knowing that all things work together for good; so humbly that we shall never worry about the things to come, remembering that “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” All sorts and conditions of men have quoted this text approvingly. But all have not quoted it with equal fairness to themselves. The man whose inward piety has not as yet transformed his outward life, is apt to slur over the words, “do justly.” The man who takes his stand upon his own integrity is apt to glide too swiftly over the words “love mercy.” The man whose faith is limited to sensuous things is apt to read only in a poetic way the words “walk humbly with thy God.” Refrain from doing justly, and the love of mercy soon will pass away. Refrain from doing justly, and from loving mercy, and the consciousness of the Omnipresent God will fade. And refrain from walking humbly with the Lord, and the love of mercy and desire for justice soon will disappear. All have not quoted this text with equal fairness to the evangelical faith. One can safely challenge the world to produce a single man who has fulfilled the whole of this counsel, apart from the shed blood and broken body of our Lord. (J. Moffat Logan.)
Religion and religionism
These words express the true object of all revelation, which is to make men good; they express the inmost meaning of all life, which is the attainment of holiness. Unmistakable in their plainness, these words sweep away the cobwebs of confusion of ages. Frankly accepted, they would be an eternal cure for all the maladies which in age after age have afflicted religion. They show that the aim of religion is to elevate character, to purify conduct, to promote goodness; they sum up the mighty spiritual teaching of the prophets; they herald the essential moral revelation of the Son of God. The word “religion” properly means certain opinions, and certain ordinances; a set of doctrines; or a mode of worship. New, outward ordinances, when their importance is exaggerated, tend to become burdensome and superstitious; and religious opinions, when maintained by ambition and self-interest, have deluged the world with crime. To avoid confusion, however, I will call this “religionism,” not “religion.” A stream of religionism flows through the Old Testament. The Judaic code has neither value nor significance in itself, but solely in so far as it may be a help or adjunct to higher things. Religionism, when it ends in opinions or observances, is worthless. All that was poorest and most pagan in Judaism eagerly seized on this element in the sacred books. Side by side with this stream of religious ordinance flows, through most of the Old Testament, and through all the New, the richer, purer, deeper stream of righteousness. And righteousness expresses, and alone expresses, the essence of true religion; for true religion is a good mind and a good life. Ask a dogmatist “What must I do to be saved?” and he will give you some elaborate, metaphysical definition. Ask a party religionist, and he will say that you must hear the Church. Ask your Lord and Master, and He will say, “If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments. See how the prophets spoke; the New Testament so completely endorses their spiritual ideal that, while every page and verse of it breathes of righteousness, you scarcely find any religionism at all scarcely any organisation, ritual, or dogmatic creed. What is the sum total of the moral revelation of Christ? It goes into two words--Love: Serve. The teaching of every one of His apostles was the very antithesis of the spirit of externalism. According to them, “he that doeth righteousness is born of God.” To preach these principles is to preach the very essential heart of the scriptural morality; but yet it is a preaching that invariably makes religionists very angry. For its importance lies in this, that it is the very touchstone which discriminates between true and false religion, and which sweeps away, at any rate, the exaggerated importance attached to the adjuncts, the scaffoldings, the traditions and ordinances of men, which to so many make up the whole of their religion. What God wants is not so-called orthodoxy, but “truth in the inward parts.” What will avail you is not any amount of religiosity, but righteousness. The reason why it is necessary to insist on this is that eternal pharisaism of the human heart, which prefers formalism to spirituality, and which causes a constant recrudescence of Judaism in the heart of Christianity. The lesson for us is clear. Our religious opinions may be false; our party shibboleths may be but the blurred echoes of our ignorance or our incompetence; our private interpretations of Scripture may be no better than grotesque nonsense in their presumptuous falsity, and all this may not greatly matter, if by some Divine deliverance from our opinionated follies, we still do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. (Dean Farrar.)
The essentials of religion
It is a great thing to get down to simple principles. One of the hopeful signs of our times is a growing disposition to do this. In science and in theology alike, we are recognising simplicity where we once imagined that there was wonderful complexity. I rejoice that, in theology, we are getting down to fundamental Christian truths, which will ultimately make more clear man’s duties and God’s love. This was, in part, the mission of Christianity. God’s Temple of Truth could hardly be seen for the human rubbish which had accumulated about it, and Jesus Christ came to sweep it away. You remember how He did so. His Sermon on the Mount must have amazed all His hearers. It went down to the very roots of human life and duty, and was a fresh revelation of truth. His disciples followed in His footsteps. Even St. Paul, who was by far the most subtle minded of them, analysed Christianity, and showed that it consisted in three things--“faith, hope, love,”--and finally he reduced even these to one, saying, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” The fact is, that the nearer men are to God, the simpler becomes their religious life and their religious thought. Look at this text. “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good.” Micah could fairly say this to every one in Israel; but much more forcibly should the words come home to us, who have heard the teaching and known the life of Jesus, Son of God, and yet Son of Man.
I. What does the Lord require of thee but to “do justly”? The reference of the prophet is to justice between man and man, which was but seldom seen in his day. Happily, our law courts are, on the whole, among our noblest institutions. But how about business affairs? What of the conflicts between capital and labour? Is all as it should be there?
II. The second requirement is to “love mercy.” The philanthropist in the Church may be the screw in business. To do justly is to do what right requires, and to love mercy is to do what love requires.
III. The last requirement is walk humbly with thy God. This is not the top stone of the edifice, but its foundation. Walk humbly with God, and you win walk honestly and kindly among your neighbours. (Alfred Rowland, LL. B. , B. A.)
The essentials of a religious life
They have always been the same. Our Lord has reality added nothing to these words of Micah. What he has done has been to put these truths in a new setting, to read them with a wider and deeper application; to embody them in His own life, and thus to enforce them with greater authority; to give us a new motive for obedience, and greater power to obey. What, does the Cross say to us but “do justly,” “love mercy,” and “walk humbly”? The essentials of a religious life are practical rather than theoretical. It appears that the Jews of Micah’s time were most anxious about the right form of worship. Yet, what does Micah declare to have been the common life of these people? He takes us into their houses, and shows them to be full of dishonest gains. He takes us into their shops, and shows us the scant measure, the short weights, the false balances. Into their law courts, and we find the judge selling his verdict for a bribe. Right through society there was the same hollow deception. “The inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouths.” So the prophet has to tell them this, It is not a question of right worship for you, but of right conduct. Not how you should sacrifice, but how you should live. There are certain duties necessary because God has commanded them, and there are other duties which God commands because they are necessary. There are two ways in which men, nowadays, make too much of the non-essentials of religion. There is the ritualist, who exaggerates the importance of ceremonial. We become ritualists of a sort when we think the claims of God are met by coming to services and meetings regularly. The essence of religion is not in those agreeable emotions you feel in listening to a stirring sermon. It lies in honest dealing, in kind actions, in that humble, obedient spirit which springs from a realisation of the presence of God. Its sphere is principally not in the Church, but outside--in the world and in the home. The time and place in which to show that you are religious men and women is when you start upon your work in the morning, when you buy and when you sell, when you spend an hour in recreation, quite as much as when you pray or when you teach. Another way in which some make too much of the nonessentials of religion is on the side of doctrine. Men speak as ii they wanted all difficult questions settled out of hand before they will become the servants of God. There are difficulties in the Bible, but they belong to the intellect, and not to the practical life. We need not underestimate the importance of evangelical doctrine, but unless the doctrines of grace bear practical results, it is doubtful whether we are truly acquainted with them. These are the essential things--
1. “Do justly.”
(1) There is a justice of which the civil law is the guardian.
(2) A justice of which custom is the guardian.
(3) The only justice which will satisfy God is that of which conscience is the guardian.
This will teach the thief to make restitution; this will not truckle to underhand tricks; this will respect the claims of others even when it is most seeking to advance its own.
2. “Love mercy.” Many fail here. They are as upright as a marble column, and as cold and hard. The instincts of our better nature should teach us to be merciful. God urges us to show mercy one to another on the ground that we are all debtors alike to Him.
3. “Walk humbly with thy God.” Many so called moral men, and kind men, are nevertheless godless men. What is it to lead a godless life? It is to spend the life apart from God. This is the essence of all religious life, making God a reality, and acting as in His presence. (Frank Hall.)
The three great human duties
Misconceptions of the truth are as dangerous as the reception of falsehood. This text is one by which proud, self-sufficient, and ungodly mortals are accustomed to lull their consciences to sleep, and their guilty fears to rest, saying, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” They say, “that if a man do the best he can, God will require no more.”
I. What is it to do justly?
1. Is it not to keep a just weight, and a just measure; to be true and just in all your dealings?
2. To do justly, there must be no extortion, no speculation, no forestalling, no monopoly, no oppression.
3. The just man hates every false way; he keeps far from a false matter; he raises no false report; he is no false accuser, takes no false oath, bears no false report.
4. If you do justly, it will be by your God as well as by your neighbour. If just towards God, you will have “respect unto all His commandments.” You will justify all the gracious dispensations of heaven. Can you bless God for your creation so long as you make, not God, but self, the end of your creation? Can you say that you justly bless God for your preservation so long as you do not bless Him for your salvation? It is impossible that you can justly bless God for the inestimable gift of His dear Son while you refuse to hear Him. If you are just with God, you will be constant in your attendance in His house--the place where His honour dwelleth.
II. What is it to love mercy?
1. If you love mercy, you will “break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.”
2. You will be merciful in all your intercourse with mankind.
3. If you love mercy, and show it to others, you will crave it for yourself.
4. If you love mercy, your walks will be walks of mercy, your visits will be visits of mercy, and your inquiries will be inquiries of mercy.
III. What is it to walk humbly with God?
1. If you do, you will be of a teachable spirit.
2. You will have a mean opinion of yourself.
3. You will not be carried away with high-sounding words in sermons or in prayers: you will love the plain, homely, honest truth.
4. If you walk humbly with God, you will walk humbly before Him.
5. You will walk humbly with Him in secret; your humility will not be a mere show of humility.
6. If you walk with your God, you will walk much with His dear Son.
7. You will enjoy much of His presence, the lifting up of the light of His countenance.
8. You will neither hide the talents He has committed to your charge in a napkin, nor lock up His kindnesses in your bosom, but will make known His goodness to the sons of men. Thankfulness will ever dwell with humility. (John Clementson.)
God’s great demonstrations and demands
“Do justly.” There is a justice of expiation, to break off our sins by repentance. A justice of compensation, by meet repairing our public injuries. A justice of vindication, to confirm our laws by inflicting such just penalties and restraints as some men’s insolvencies have deserved. There is the allay of mercy, or moderation, compassion, and tenderness, by way of pardon, indemnity and oblivion. There is added the root and crown of all virtues and graces, humility; which makes you surest of God’s acceptation and benediction. Humility is the salt that must be mingled with every sacrifice; a sweet perfume that must attend every oblation. It is the glory of all human and Divine perfections; the security of justice, and the sanctuary of mercy. If you intend to walk with God, and hope that God will go along with you, you must not only deny, you must so far utterly renounce, and annihilate yourselves, as not to trust in or seek yourselves, but the living God.
I. The Demonstrator or Shewer. “The Lord.”
1. The rise or occasion of this demonstration. Find this in Mic_6:6-7. Observe the vaunting questions and presumptuous postulations of a company of formal hypocrites.
2. The credit and authority of this Demonstrator, which makes His words, both for the truth and goodness of them, most worthy to be believed, received, and obeyed. He is the great and inexhaustible fountain of all power and order, natural, civil, spiritual. He is not more able by His wisdom, than willing by His indulgence and love, to instruct mankind in the way that is best for him. He has showed us the most infallible and immutable rules of justice, mercy, and humility.
II. The thing demonstrated. Denoted under three grand heads--
1. Consider justice, mercy, and humility together, and conjointly. Note the sanctity of these grand demands. The shortness of the discourse concerning them. Their perspicuity, though stated so briefly. The order and situation of the particulars. Justice comes first; then mercy; and then humility. The juncture of these three is inobservable, because they are inseparable where they are sincere. The common epithet, or predicate, to all of them. “The Lord hath showed thee what is good.”
2. Consider them separately.
(1) In the subject or substance, spirit and quintessence, of each of them. What is justice? Some measure it by their power; others by their wills; yet others by their fancies and imaginations. Some measure justice by necessity; some measure justice by forcible power and possession; as if might were right. Justice must be considered, in its fountain and original, the wisdom and will of God; in the grand cistern and conservatory, which is the sovereign and legislative power in every society and polity. Justice is considerable in the pipes and conduits of all subordinate magistrates. There is a justice due to God, to ourselves, and to others. What is mercy? By mercy God is, as it were, greater than Himself: a denier of Himself, and a sider with our interests. All our hopes and happiness are founded upon, and bound up in, the mercy of God. Mercy in God is a perfection of goodness, by which He moderates the severity of His justice toward sinful mankind. Mercy in man is an affection by which he lays to heart the misery of another, and is disposed to relieve them. Mercy is an inseparable attendant to human justice; yea, and to the Divine. Penitents are the proper objects of mercy. There are but few cases wherein the summum jus is required. In most cases there is possibility of remission, and moderation. What is humility? It is a most Christian grace, no less than a most manly virtue, becoming all men,--in the sense of their common infirmities, and mortal condition; in the conscience of their many sins and deserved miseries; in the reflection upon their best actions, full of failings and defects. Pride destroys and sours all the good, even of justice and mercy, that any man doth. Pride hath its reward only from itself, or the vain world. Consider the predicates or actions applied so each of these three terms. Consider justice--
1. Materially, as to the merit of the cause or person.
2. Regularly, as to the law prescribed by God or man, not by private opinion.
3. Authoritatively, by due order and commission, derived to thee from the lawful supreme power.
Do justice as to the inward form, principle, or conscience, for justice sake, not for ambition. Do justice in practice; impartially, speedily, in due measure and proportion, with humanity and compassion to the person. “Love mercy.” Observe the order; justice of showing mercy. Observe the emphasis of the word “love” put to mercy. Justice must be done as a task enjoined. Mercy must be loved and delighted in. This love is conjoined to mercy as a thing in itself most desirable, as most beneficial to ourselves and others, as obedience to God’s commands, and in imitation of the Divine perfections. Love mercy for the advance of all graces; as the best sign of the best religion, remembering that sin exposeth thee to misery; in order to confirm thy hope, and increase thy reward in glory. “Walk humbly.” Be ready and prepared to go with God. The words imply a freedom and familiarity of conversation which cannot be without two are agreed; nor can there be agreement with God, except where the heart is humble. Walking is a social and friendly notion, and it is progressive and parallel, in a way of confirmity, not contrariety. The more a man walks with God, the more he will grow in humility.
3. To whom God shows, and of whom He requires, these great lessons and duties. “Thee, O man.”
(1) All mankind.
(2) Those who enjoy the light of God’s Word.
(3) Each in His particular station.
4. The manner of God’s showing and requiring these duties of all sorts of men, in all occasions, times, and dealings. God hath showed it to mankind in those inward Principles of right reason, and that standard of justice which is set up in each man’s own heart. By the letters patent of the Holy Scriptures. By the greatest exemplars of holy men in all degrees. With frequent obtestation, threatening punishment. (John Gauden,, D. D.)
God’s claims on man
1. Has God any claims upon you? Has He a right to require anything of you, if it should seem good to Him to do so?
2. Does He exercise this right? Has He actually required anything? In the Bible you find God everywhere speaking imperatively to His creatures, giving them not merely counsels, but authoritative counsels and commands.
3. What are the claims which God asserts? What doth the Lord require of thee? Thy supreme love, thy choicest affections, thy whole heart, and whatever else such a love disposes to and draws after it. God has given rules for the regulation not only of our external conduct, and all of it, but of our speech, our thoughts, our motives, our principles of action, and of all the various modifications of feeling.
4. What is the character of these claims of God?
(1) They are reasonable. Their reason ableness may be inferred from their reality. God is incapable of making an unreasonable demand.
(2) They are particular. They are made on you as an individual, and not in any social capacity. God addresses His commands singly to each one.
(3) His claims are paramount. In every comparison they deserve to have the preeminence; in every competition the preference.
(4) His claims are impartial. God asserts them with respect to every intelligent being, and with respect to each the same.
(5) His claims are unalterable. We may change, but not they. Our duty is the same, whatever our character. God cannot lower His demands to adapt them to our inclinations or disabilities. Then how have we treated His claims? Have we done as He has required? Remember, there is a penalty threatened on him who disregards them. The claims of justice are prior to the claims of mercy. You ought to comply with His explicit and authoritative claims upon you. And you ought to comply at once, and fully. (W. Nevins, D. D.)
The requirements of the Gospel
There have been considerable disputes in those countries where the Scriptures were unknown with regard to man’s chief or sovereign good. Religion is man’s chief good. It is good in its origin; it cometh down from the Father of lights; it is good in its nature; it is good in its tendency and in its end. It is man’s chief good. There is nothing in it but what is most fit and proper and suitable to man, whether considered in himself, or in his relation to God or to His fellow creatures. Religion is a satisfying good. It possesses the power of healing all the various disorders of the human mind and heart; the power to console, comfort, exhilarate, and delight the redeemed spirit of man, in all the circumstances through which, in the providence of God, he may be called to pass in this world. It is a universal good, not restricted to any class of persons, to the persons of any one age, or country, or locality. It is an everlasting good; as vast as the necessities and capacities of the human spirit. The table of the law which instructs us in our duty to God is generally the first presented to us in Scripture. In the text the order is reversed. It is required that every man do justly to his fellow man. We are required to act with the exactest integrity and uprightness towards our fellow creatures in all respects, and towards every one of our fellow creatures. Keep the Golden Rule. But we are not to do justice strictly; we are also to love mercy. Mercy is ever ready to listen to complaints, to relieve wants, to pardon offences, to cover faults. Mercy delights to imitate the Father of mercies; to do good, accord
