Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
Paul’s desire and prayer
I.Predestination should be no barrier in the way of prayer. The text derives a special interest from the very position which it occupies. He who saw the farthest into the counsels of the Divinity above, saw nothing there which should affect either the diligence or the devotions of any humble worshipper below. However indelibly the ultimate futurities of man are written in the book of heaven, this should not foreclose but rather stimulate his prayers. Let us quit arduous speculation, and keep by obvious duty--taking our lesson from Paul, who, though just alighted from the daring ascents among the past ordinations of the Godhead, forthwith busies himself among the plain and the present duties of the humble Christian. Theology has its altitudes shooting upwardly to heaven till lost in the cloudy envelopment which surrounds them. Yet there is a clear path which winds around its basement, and by which the lowliest of Zion’s travellers may find an ascending way that will land him in a place of purest transparency, where he shall know even as he is known.
II. Unless the desire of the heart goes before it, it is no prayer at all. The virtue does not lie in the articulation, but altogether in the wish which prompts it. It is thus that we can pray without ceasing. In the case of prayer, God has committed Himself to the amplest promises of fulfilment; but He is not pledged to the accomplishment of any prayer where the desire of the heart does not originate the utterance of the mouth. The want of such desire nullifies the prayer; and to imagine otherwise would be to countenance the superstition that a religious service consists in mere ceremonial. Be assured of this and of every other ordinance of Christianity, that, unless impregnated with life and meaning, it is but a body without a soul--a mere service which the hand can perform, but which the heart with all its high functions has no share in. It stands in the same relation of inferiority to genuine religion that the drudgery of an animal does to the devotion of a seraph. In one word, if in the doing of any ordinance there be not the intercourse of mind with mind, there substantially is nothing; and yet we fear it to be just such a nothingness as is yielded by many who are regular in prayer, and who walk with decency and order through the rounds of a sacrament.
III. The subject of the prayer. “That Israel might be saved.”
1. It is not all desire that will meet with acceptance in heaven, for the same Scripture which holds out the promise of “ask, and ye shall receive,” has also held out the warning that many ask and receive not “because they ask amiss.”
2. Still, Scripture does furnish the principles by which to discriminate the warrantable from the unwarrantable, and so classifies the topics of prayer. It is written “that if we ask any thing according to His will He heareth us.” This does not confer a sanction upon every suit, but certainly upon a vast number of them. Thus, surely, every petition in the Lord’s Prayer may be preferred with utmost confidence; and so it is that while we have no warrant to pray for this world’s riches, we have a perfect warrant to pray for daily bread. The same principle of agreeableness to the will of God sustains our faith, when praying for the salvation of ourselves or others, being expressly told that God willeth such intercessions to be made for all men, and on this ground too that He willeth all men to be saved.
3. So near does God bring salvation to us that there is no obstacle between our sincere wish for it and our secure possession of it. At leastthere is but one stepping-stone between them; and that is prayer. And so let us ask till we receive--let us seek till we find--let us knock till the door of salvation is opened to us.
IV. The whole extent and import of the term salvation.
1. Its common acceptance is a deliverance from the penalty of sin. Whereas, additionally to this, it signifies deliverance from sin itself. “He shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins”--save them from a great deal more than the torment of sin’s penalty, even from the tyranny of sin’s power. Thefirst secures for the sinner a change of place, the second a change of principle. This last is the constituting essence of salvation; the other more the accompaniment. The one takes place after death. The other takes place now.
2. The legitimate desire, then, which should animate the heart when the mouth utters a prayer for salvation is for a future happiness, but also for a present holiness. Man might like to be put into a state of happiness without holiness; but God does not like that such a happiness shall be conferred upon him. It is most assuredly not God’s will that heaven should be peopled with any but those who are of the same family likeness with Himself. He loves the happiness of His creatures, but He loves their virtue more. And so from Paradise all that offendeth shall be rooted out. Now remember that in praying to be saved, you just pray that such a heaven may be the place of your settlement through all eternity. Else there is no significancy in your prayer. It is not enough that you seize by faith on a deed of justification. You must enter forthwith on a busy process of sanctification. Now that a way for the ransomed of the Lord is open, let us forget not that it is a way of holiness. There is a work of salvation going on in heaven, and by which Jesus Christ is there employed in preparing a place for us. But there is also a work of salvation going on in earth, and by which Jesus Christ through His Word and Spirit is here employed in preparing us for the place. And our distinct business is to be ever practising and ever improving ourselves in the virtues of this preparation. This desire for salvation, then, if rightly understood, is desire for a present holiness.
V. But this is an intercessory prayer, and suggests what we ought to do for the salvation of those who are dear to us. Paul had made many a vain effort for the salvation of his countrymen; but after every effort failed, still he had recourse to prayer. The desire of his heart was not extinguished by the disappointment he met with.
1. This might serve as admonition to those whose hearts are set on the salvation of relatives or friends--to the mother who has watched and laboured for years that the good seed might have future in the hearts of her children, but does not find that this precious deposit has yet settled or had occupation there, etc., etc. Let them never forget, that what has heretofore been impracticable to performance may not be impracticable to prayer. With man it may be impossible; but with God all things are possible. That cause which has so oft been defeated and is now hopeless on the field of exertion, may on the field of prayer and of faith be triumphant. God willeth intercessions to be made for all men, and He willeth all men to be saved. These declarations place you on firm and high vantage-ground in praying for souls. This, however, is a matter on which parents may delude themselves. They may be glad to stand exonerated from the fatigues of performance, and take refuge in the formalities of prayer. That prayer never can avail which is not the prayer of honesty, and it is not the prayer of honesty if, even though you pray to the uttermost for the religion of others, you do not also perform to the uttermost. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)
Paul’s desire and prayer
Noticehere--
I. The apostle. Observe--
1. That ministers are not only to preach against wicked persons, and to exhort their people to obedience, but also to pray for them, as Samuel and Jeremiah did (1Sa_12:23; Jer_13:17).
2. When ministers are to speak of a matter that may distaste, they must wisely prevent all offence by preparing the minds of the hearers, and showing that they speak out of love, and a desire of their salvation. As physicians prepare, and nurses sometimes still their little ones with singing, so also must ministers attempt every way which may profit their people.
3. Paul loves the Jews, but tells them plainly of their faults; so must ministers do. The way to get peace among men is not to reprove, but this is the way to lose the peace of God.
4. The condition of ministers is painful. The care to save souls that we may give up a good account is infinite. But our joy is in the conscionable discharge of our duty, and for such as receive the Word with reverence we praise God for the joy wherewith we rejoice on their behalf (1Th_3:9).
II. The Christian. Observe--
1. Though the Jews seek Paul’s life, yet he loves them. We are Pharisees by nature, loving our friends and hating our foes, but we are Christians by grace, and therefore must love our enemies and pray for them, as our Saviour taught and practised. Every man can love his friend, but only a godly man can love his enemy; and in this doing we do ourselves more good than our enemies. If, then, thou canst so rule thine affection as to love thine enemy and pray for him, it will be a sweet comfort to thy breast.
2. Paul’s love was hearty; so let thine be. Some, after a controversy is ended, will promise friendship, but with a reservation of revenge. Judas kissed Christ, and betrayed Him; and Joab saluted Amasa courteously and slew him. Remember thou to mean the truth thou makest show of.
3. Let thy love appear in kind words and salutations, as Paul calls the Jews brethren, which condemns thepractice of some, who, if they be offended, show that they are possessed either with a dumb devil--they will not speak; or with a railing devil--if they speak it shall be with taunts and reproaches.
4. Pray for them thou lovest. Thou shalt never have any comfort of his friendship for whom thou dost not pray. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)
Paul’s chief desire for his countrymen
I. A title which should never be forgotten. “Brethren” has in its surroundings here more than one lesson for us. Did we remember this in the world, what a very much better world it would be; how much more and truer interest we would take in each other; how much less selfishness, how much more sympathy there would be felt and manifested. And, then, if we remembered it in the church, how much liker Christ the Church and Christians would be.
II. A marriage which none should divorce. “My heart’s desire and prayer to God.” Let these two always be united. Then our heart’s desires shall be right, and our prayers real; and then too our heart’s desires shall be granted, our prayers answered. View the phrase for a moment from both sides. First, as it stands. Whatever is our heart’s desire, let us make it our prayer to God. For several reasons we should do so; but to mention only two, one is, should our heart’s desire be wrong, we shall find ourselves unable to pray for it; or in the very praying for it we shall discover its wrongness; and so praying against it we shall get rid of it, and rid too of the distraction which it causes. And the second is, if on the other hand our heart’s desire be right, prayer to God is the true way and the sure way to secure it. Turn also the phrase about, and learn from it another lesson. Our prayer to God should be, and ever, our heart’s desire, and we do not pray really until or unless it is so.
III. A patriotism above suspicion: “for israel.” Not all so-called patriotism is above suspicion. Sometimes it is simply partyism, and the interests of a section are sought, not of the nation as a whole. Sometimes, again, patriotism is but personalism; apparently zealous for the country or for the party, some are simply seeking through the party to serve and secure their own individual interests. Such patriotism bears the name, but it is not the thing. The patriotism, however, here exemplified, is of another stamp. It is patriotism of the highest kind and type.
IV. A need which is the most imperative. “That they might be saved.” Paul tells us elsewhere that he felt this need the most imperative for himself. He says, “I count all things but loss,” etc. (Php_3:8-9). And so here he speaks of it in the same way for others. And is it not so? Is this not the principal thing? What about health; what about wealth; what about all the gratification of earthly pleasures, the carrying out of earthly plans, the establishing of earthly prospects in comparison, or rather in contrast, with this? We need to be saved because we have sinned, and because we arealready under sentence, and because we are utterly unable to remove or to escape that sentence by any merits or by any efforts of our own.. And let us rejoice that we may be saved. God is not willing that any should perish.
V. An earnestness which may be an error. “For I bear them record,” he continues, “that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” This may be said too about many of our countrymen. They put us to shame by the attention they pay to religious rights and duties. It might be said too about some amongst ourselves. But let us remember religiousness is not always religion. To be saved, we must come to a knowledge of the truth. Mere earnestness, mere sincerity will not avail.
VI. An ignorance which is quite inexcusable. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness.” God’s righteousness means here, God’s method of justification; and this phrase suggesting the question, what is that method? may I not characterise ignorance of it as quite, inexcusable. God has so plainly, and fully, and repeatedly revealed it in His Word, “that a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein.” See the succeeding verses here from the 5th to the 10th.
VII. An effort which must always be a failure. “And going about to establish their own righteousness.” Many would like to be saved, but they do not like to be beholden to Christ for salvation; or at all events they do not like to be beholden to Him entirely. And so they “go about to establish their own righteousness,” wearying themselves for very vanity. The apostles idea or image here would seem to be as if men in this attempt were trying continuously to set up upon its feet that which had no feet to stand upon; or as if they were persevering with stones unsquared, and mortar untempered to raise up, upon an insecure foundation, a wall which, ever as they raised it, tottered and toppled down again.
VIII. An obstinacy which must end in ruin. That is, it must do so if we continue it. If we wilt not submit ourselves to the righteousness of God; if, in other words, we will not consent to be saved through the redemption and righteousness of Christ; then we utterly shut the door of hope against ourselves, and leave God no alternative but to pronounce our doom. Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through Him; but there is no salvation in any other.
IX. A direction which is simple and certain. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” In order to salvation men can do nothing; but Christ has done all; He “has made an end of sin and brought in everlasting righteousness.”
X. A sine qua non of salvation. Many forget or fail to realise this: and therefore look for salvation to mercy alone. They do not take into account that if the sinner is to be saved, he cannot under the administration of God the righteous judge be so by any suspension of law, or setting aside of it; or by any failure to meet its just demands either of precept or punishment. In the salvation of the sinner, in other words, truth and mercy must meet together; and righteousness and peace embrace each other: and these can only meet, can only embrace in “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
XI. An opportunity abundantly open to all. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
XII. A means sublimely simple to a salvation sublimely sure and glorious. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (D. Jamison, B.A.)
A comprehensive desire
Paul had just spoken with apparent severity of his brethren. To them his doctrines were peculiarly offensive. They must have regarded him as a traitor. Still he loved his kindred, and his loving heart gushes forth in this comprehensive desire. It is--
I. Heartfelt. “My heart’s desire.” Not all who are interested in the salvation of men are influenced by this desire. There may be--
1. A professional desire. The evangelist, the teacher, the pastor may have it.
2. A duteous desire. Better this than none.
3. An intellectual desire. Paul’s intellect was active, but it was sweetly submissive to Christ. All this gave him power. It gives power to-day. This is true of music, of art, of poetry. No heart, no power. Love evokes love. Heart responds to heart.
II. Prayerful. Genuine desire must voice itself in prayer. Our heart’s desire is our prayer. The heart that goes out to men must go up to God. Often the shortest and surest way to reach men is by way of God’s throne.
III. Fraternal. Paul was a cosmopolitan man; still he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. The Christian is the true Jew. Judaism is the root; Christianity is the flower and the fruit. Judaism the dawn; Christianity is the splendour of noon. When Paul became a Christian he found that for which he always sought. Now he longs for his brethren. So ought we. There is a sanctified patriotism.
IV. Evangelical. “That they might be saved.” This was Christlike. Nothing short of this could satisfy the apostle. Not enough for them to be saved from national disaster; not enough from earthly sorrow. They must be saved from sin here, and death hereafter. Are you saved? Then make Paul’s comprehensive desire yours. (R. S. MacArthur, D.D.)
Apostolic patriotism
St.Paul was not more distinguished as a saint and an apostle than as a patriot. His patriotism had a philosophy which discovered the cause of his country’s evils, and a policy exquisitely fitted to remove them. Without ignoring its temporal interests, his main endeavour was to raise its benighted intellect to light, and turn the current of its moral sympathies into the channel of truth and holiness. It was not an occasional sentiment passing off in chanting national airs or delivering florid speeches; it was with him a “heart’s desire and prayer to God.” It was consistent with, and a development of, true philanthropy. The passion that inspires men to ruin other countries in order to aggrandise their own, has no affinity with the apostle’s passion. The statesmen, warriors, kings, who violate the eternal rights of man, bring a ruinous retribution upon their country. “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” The apostle’s patriotism--
I. Sought the highest good of his country. What was that? Augmented wealth, extended dominion, a higher state of intellectual culture? No, salvation. Salvation is the master-theme of the Bible, the great want of the race. It implies deliverance from all evil, and a right state of soul in which every thought shall be true, every emotion felicitous, every act holy, and every scene gleaming with the smiles of an approving God. This “heart’s desire” implies a conviction--
1. That his countrymen needed salvation. Their physical blessings were great; his brethren “according to the flesh” lived in a beautiful country. “It was a land flowing with milk and honey.” His countrymen had also the oracles of God, etc. Yet in spite of all this the apostle regarded his brethren as lost. He looked into the moral heart of his country, and he found that the soul was dead and dark under sin and condemnation; hence he sought their salvation. Whatever else a country has, if it has not true religion it is lost. This is its great want. Give it this, and every other good will come. All political and social evils grow out of moral causes, and godliness alone can remove these. It is profitable therefore unto all things.
2. A conviction that the salvation of his countrymen requires the interposition of God. Why else did he pray? The apostle believed in the adaptation of the gospel to effect the spiritual restoration of mankind. His triumphs he ever gratefully ascribed to the agency of God, andthe co-operation of that agency was the grand invocation of his most earnest prayers. “I have planted, Apollos watered,” etc. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.”
3. A conviction that this interposition of God is to be obtained by intercessory prayer. Hence he prays for others; hence he calls for others to pray for him and his apostolic coadjutors. I know not how prayer influences the Almighty, nor why it should; but I know that it does, and that it must be employed if human labour in His cause is ever to be crowned with efficiency. The true patriot is a man of prayer. Never did David act more truly a patriot’s part than when he breathed this prayer to heaven:--“Let the people praise Thee, O God,” etc.
II. Recognised the characteristic evils of his country.
1. Corrupt zealotism (verse 2). He himself had been a Jewish zealot, and was therefore qualified to pronounce a judgment upon it. Zeal is an important element in every undertaking. There is not much success where it is not. But when it is dissociated from intelligence it is fraught with evils. Zeal when directed to wrong objects, when directed to right objects in wrong proportions, and when it cannot assign an intelligent reason for its action, is “zeal without knowledge.” This zeal was one of the cardinal evils amongst the Jews. Knowledge and zeal should always be associated. The former without the latter is a well-equipped vessel on a placid sea without the propulsion of steam, billow, or breeze. The latter without the former is like a bark on the billows with propulsion and no rudder. Both combined is like a goodly ship trading from port to port at will, steering clear of dangers, coping gallantly with hostile elements, and fulfilling the mission of its masters.
2. Ignorance of Christianity (verse 3). By “God’s righteousness,” here, we understand not His personal rectitude, but that merciful method by which He makes corrupt men right (Rom_8:2-3). Of this method the Jews were “ignorant.” Men perish for the lack of this knowledge. In the case of the Jew it was not only ruinous, but culpable. They had the means of knowledge.
3. Self-righteousness (verse 2). They considered their own righteousness to consist in their patriarchal descent, and their conformity to the letter of the law. In this they gloried as that which distinguished them from all the nations of the earth, and which met the righteous claims of Heaven. The apostle himself once felt this to be his glory (Php_3:1-21.). The Pharisee in the temple was a type of the leadingreligious sect, and his language is expressive of its spirit.
4. Gospel rejection. “Have not submitted,” etc. This is the grand result of all other evils, and the crowning sin of all. They refused the only Physician who could heal their diseases; the only Liberator that could break their fetters, the only Priest whose sacrifice could atone for their guilt. Such are some of the evils which Paul as a patriot discovered and deplored in his country. He is no patriot who shuts his eyes to his country’s crimes, and pours into her ears the most fulsome eulogies. Call not this patriotism; call it moral obliquity.
III. Proposed the right method for saving his country (verse 4). Note--
1. That righteousness is essential to the well-being of the people. There is no true happiness without righteousness. All the social, political, religious, moral evils under which all men and nations groan, spring from the want of righteousness. As no individual can be happy until he has been made thoroughly right in heart, so no people or country can. This rectitude is the only element that can work off all the evils that afflict mankind, and give them the tone and blessedness of a vigorous health. This is the only key-note that can set the discordant elements of the world to music. The righteousness which is essential to the salvation of a soul, is that which alone “exalteth a nation.”
2. That the grand aim of the moral law is to promote righteousness. Righteousness is the end of the law. The law was holy, just, and good. Conformity to it is righteousness in the creature (verse 5).
3. That the righteousness which the law aimed to promote is to be obtained by faith in Christ (verse 4). Christ did not abolish law, on the contrary He fulfilled it. He wrought out its principles in a grand life; He demonstrated its majesty in a wonderful death. Instead of releasing His disciples from obligation to the law, He brings the law to them with a mightier aspect and a greater force of motive. And the apostle’s method of making the sinner righteous is by faith in Christ. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Paul’s concern for his people
I. its object--their salvation.
II. The cause of it (Rom_9:32).
III. Its intensity.
1. Heartfelt.
2. Inspired by the Spirit of God and belief of the truth.
IV. Its expression.
1. Prayer to God.
2. Effort. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The salvation of Israel
I. Contemplate the history of the Hebrew people, and judge whether it deserves our respect and veneration. And first, reflect on its antiquity. Before the empire of Persia was founded, when Greece was overrun by a few barbarian hordes, and Italy was an unpeopled wilderness, the race of Abraham was chosen by the Divine Founder of all empires as one distinct and peculiar people; incorporated by an inviolable charter from the Supreme Monarch of the universe, no human power has been able, for four thousand years, to dissolve its union, or shake its stability. But if this nation is venerable, as the grand depository of historical truth and ancient wisdom, much more is it distinguished and consecrated asthe chosen instrument which the Divinity has employed for the religious instruction of mankind, the guardians and witnesses of every sacred truth; the hallowed fount which, springing from the sanctuary of God, has poured forth in unceasing and abundant profusion its healing and holy waters, to purify and bless the surrounding regions of the earth. But, beyond all this, in considering the blessings derived to us and all mankind from the Jewish law and the Jewish people, we never should forget the clearness and solemnity with which the great rules of moral conduct are promulgated in the Decalogue, and the two grand principles of love to God and love to our neighbour inculcated by the Jewish law. What a powerful claim to the respect, the gratitude of every man who values virtue or reveres religion must such a people possess, if we consider them merely as the depositaries and guardian of natural theology, the preservers and teachers of moral principle; but they are connected with us by ties much closer, they possess claims on our regard far more sacred: they were the instruments employed by God to prepare for the dominion of the gospel of Christ.
II. Let us next proceed to enquire how have Christians answered all these claims, how have they repaid this debt of gratitude? Alas, almost incredible to tell, their conduct towards this chosen nation has been one almost uninterrupted series of cruelty and calumny, of oppression and persecution. I do not mean to say that such cruelty and persecution were unprovoked and gratuitous; but I contend that however great the provocation, such cruelty and persecution were unjust and criminal. Would we vindicate our holy religion from the foulest reproach that ever stained its character, we will atone for the past oppressions heaped upon this ancient though unhappy race, by straining every nerve to promote from henceforward their happiness both temporal and eternal.
III. But what, you ask, are the signs of the times which encourage us now to hope for success in attempting the conversion of the Jews rather than at any preceding period of the world. (Dean Graves.)
How to promote the salvation of others
I. Our hearts must be in the work. It must be--
1. Our most earnest desire.
2. Our constant prayer.
II. We must correctly estimate their state and condition.
1. Appreciating what is good.
2. Discriminating what is defective.
III. We must guard them against--
1. Error.
2. Ignorance.
3. Self-righteousness.
4. Unbelief.
IV. We must point them to Christ.
1. The end of the law.
2. Through faith. (Dean Graves)
Zeal for the salvation of sinners
True religion consists chiefly in love to God and love to man; and wherever one of these is found, there is the other also. Observe--
I. That serious Christians plainly perceive the dangerous state of unconverted sinners around them. This state appears from--
1. Their openly living in sin.
2. Their carelessness about religion.
3. Their formality in religion.
4. Their reception for truth of great and fundamental errors as to the doctrines of religion.
II. That serious Christians earnestly and sincerely desire the salvation of their neighbours, whom they thus perceive to be in a dangerous state.
1. We tremble to think of their future misery (Rom_1:18).
2. As we wish to prevent their future destruction, so we earnestly desire that they may share with us in the joys and glories of the heavenly world.
3. We wish them to know and enjoy the present pleasures of true religion.
4. We wish the salvation of others on account of the glory of God, for which we feel ourselves concerned, and which will be promoted thereby.
5. Beside all, we have some view to our own peace and happiness. The conversion of a soul is the greatest honour and happiness, next toour own salvation, that we can enjoy.
III. In what manner this desire ought to be expressed.
1. By prayer.
2. By urging our friends to come and hear the gospel.
3. By the Christian education of children--our own and our neighbour’s.
4. By personal exhortation.
5. By a holy life. (G. Burder.)
Zeal for the conversion of relatives
“I can’t die till I see my brother converted.” So said a very aged Karen chief to Mr. Mason. He had just returned from a last visit to this brother, who lived a long day’s journey from him. Too feeble to walk, he had made the journey on the back of a grandson, a fine intelligent Christian, whose willingness to perform the laborious service was worthy of the zeal with which the old man forgot his aching bones in the delight he felt at having once more exhorted his brother, and seen in him some evidences of Divine grace. (Mrs. McLeod Wylie.)
lsrael a lamentable example of the blindness of unbelief
I.Their zeal for the law.
1. Pitiable (verse 1).
2. Ignorant (verses 2, 3).
3. Ruinous, because misguided (verse 4).
II. Their rejection of Christ.
1. Relying on their own unavailing effort (verses 5-7).
2. Refusing the word of faith (verses 8-9).
3. Denying the salvation of the gospel. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
On zeal
The conversion of Paul did not cool the ardour of his affection for his countrymen. Fidelity impelled him to expose their errors, but charity inclined him to notice what was commendable. They were honest in their zeal; but honesty can make no atonement for dangerous errors or perverse abuses. They were ignorant, but they shut their eyes to the light.
I. The apostle here ascribes to the Jews an essential and most valuable property of the Christian, and more especially of the ministerial character. Two things seemed to be included under it--ardour, as opposed to lukewarmness, and activity, as opposed to remissness. It implies that the object which has called it forth is held in the highest estimation by us; that our hearts, engaged in the love and animated by the desire of it, prompt us to make every effort to secure its attainment. Christian zeal consists in the warm exercise of thegraces of the Spirit, issuing in the decided and growing production of the fruits of the Spirit. It is founded on an enlightened and firmly-rooted conviction of the truth of the gospel. In its exercise, zeal, like charity, must begin at home. The man who searches abroad for evils to remedy, and overlooks those which attach to himself, is either a hypocrite or a fool, or both. But zeal, though it begins, does not terminate with ourselves. It feels for the honour of God and the souls of men, and endeavours to advance the one and save the other. When this principle is wanting, religion is an empty name, a lifeless carcass. But though there cannot bereligion without zeal, there may be zeal without religion. Note some of the defects of that zeal which the apostle condemns.
1. It was exerted in contending for matters of inferior moment, and neglected those which were of supreme importance. The Jews expended the strength of their zeal on points of form and ceremony, and overlooked the weightier matters of the law. Those who are most ignorant or indifferent in regard to what is essential are invariably the most violent and tenacious in regard to what is circumstantial. Liberality, it is true, may be carried to a dangerous extreme, but so may intolerance, and it is better to err on the side of charity than to incur the imputation of bigotry. The object of zeal is to make converts, not proselytes; to bring accessions to the Church from the world, not to transfer the members of one religious denomination to another.
2. It was ostentatious and presuming. They wore broad phylacteries, said long prayers atthe corners of the streets, etc. Our Lord saw through the disguise of their fair professions and their hollow sanctity, and inculcated a course of conduct quite the reverse of theirs. The zeal of which He approves is not that which assumes useless singularities, and is ever urging its claims to public admiration. It is not the men that make the most noise that do the greatest good.
3. It was overbearing and uncharitable. They excluded from the pale of the Church all who did not think as they thought and do as they did. It would have been well had the intolerant spirit of the Jews died with themselves; but it has, in this enlightened age, made its appearance in a most offensive and injurious form. When we see individuals setting themselves up as the only true Christians on earth, denouncing the religion of the whole world, except their own, we know not whether most to pity orto blame. As perfection is not attainable here, neither probably is uniformity.
II. From their defects let us now learn what ought to be the distinguishing features of zeal in us. To escape the charge which the Jews deservedly incurred, ours must be--
1. An enlightened zeal formed and regulated by clear, comprehensive, and correct views of truth and duty. Without this, zeal is a most dangerous principle. There are no extravagances which it will not practise; there are no cruelties which it will not perpetrate. Before his conversion Paul had zeal, but it was not according to knowledge (Php_3:1-21.).
2. Pure zeal; a zeal influenced by gospel motives and animated by Christ’s Spirit. Jehu boasted of his zeal for the Lord; but he had no higher aim than the gratification of his own ambition. In requesting our Lord to command fire from heaven for the destruction of the Samaritans, the disciples discovered an impure zeal, and spake under the influence of national prejudices and irritated feelings.
3. Prudent zeal: guarding against every avoidable occasion of offence to others; displaying all the wisdom of the serpent in selecting means and opportunities of doing good, and employing them with a tender regard to the feelings and prejudices of others. Destitute of this property, zeal is calculated to do far more harm than good, and awakens aversion where it should conciliate love.
4. Peaceable; calm in its exercise; prompting to no foolish extravagances; disposed to put the most favourable construction onothers, and discovering a sincere regard for their welfare.
5. Decided zeal; above the meanness of all temporising accommodations; disregarding the fear of man; determined to pursue the path of duty; prepared to stand by the consequences.
6. Fruitful; not evaporating in words, but abounding in deeds of usefulness. (J. Barr, D.D.)
For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Zealous, but wrong
We ought to have an intense longing for the salvation of all sorts of men, and especially for those that treat us badly. We shall see more conversions when more people pray for conversions. We should earnestly pray for the conversion of the kind of people who are here described: self-righteouspeople, people that have done no ill, but, on the contrary, have laboured to do a great deal of good.
I. Why are we specially concerned for these people? Because--
1. They are so zealous. You see plenty of zeal where politics, fashion, art, etc., are concerned; but we are not overdone with it in religion. If anybody is a little zealous above others, great efforts are made to put him down. Therefore, when we do meet with zealous people, we take an interest in them, however mistaken their zeal may be. We like to associate with people who have hearts, not dry leather bottles. It does seem a pity that any zeal should be wasted, and that any one full of zeal should yet miss his way. And when we meet with any who are zealous in a wrong cause, they become peculiarly the object of a Christian’s prayers.
2. They may go so very wrong, and may do so much mischief to others. Those who have no life nor energy may easily ruin themselves, but they are not likely to harm others; whereas a mistaken zealot is like a madman with a firebrand in his hand. What did the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ’s day? And Saul afterwards? Take heed that none of you fall into a persecuting spirit through your zeal for the gospel, like zealous mistresses who will not have a servant in their house who does not go to their place of worship, and zealous landlords who turn every Dissenter out of their cottages.
3. They would be so useful. The man that is desperately earnest in a wrong way will be just as earnest in the right. See what Paul himself was.
4. It is so difficult to convert them. It requires the power of God to convert anybody; but there seems to be a double manifestation of power in the conversion of a downright bigot.
II. What these people are according to our text. They are--
1. Ignorant. “For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness,” etc. you may be brought up under the shadow of a church, you may hear the gospel till you know every phrase by heart, and yet be ignorant of the righteousness of God. There are many who are ignorant as to--
(1) The natural righteousness of God’s character, and those who are satisfied with their own holiness are ignorant of this.
(2) The righteousness of the law. You may hear the ten commandments read every Sabbath-day, but you will not know anything about them by merely hearing or reading them. There is a depth of meaning in those commandments of which self-righteous persons are ignorant. For instance, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”--even a lascivious look breaks that. Let me stretch out the line before you for a moment. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,” etc. Who among us has ever done that?
(3) God’s righteous requirements, viz., not only that thou shouldst do, but that thou shouldst think, love, and be that which is right. He desires truth in the inward parts.
(4) That God has prepared a better righteousness for us in Christ.
III. What they do. They go about to establish their own righteousness, but, like a statue badly constructed, it tumbles down. They use all manner of schemes to set up their righteousness upon its legs, but to no purpose. Or they have bad foundations for a house, and bad materials, and bad mortar, and they are by no means good workmen; and when they have built up enough wall to shelter themselves, it tumbles down. They are determined, somehow or other, to build up a righteousness of their own, which is worthless when it is built. At first the man says, “I shall be saved, for I have kept the law. What lack I yet?” Now, a very small hole will let enough light into the man’s heart to force him to see that this pretence will not answer. No oneof us has kept the law. When driven from this foolish hope, the man readily sets up another. If he cannot work, then he tries to feel. Or else he cries, “I must join a bit of religion to my pure morals. I will pray regularly, etc. And when I have done all this, do you not think it will come pretty square?” If a man’s conscience is awake, it will not come square, and the man will say, “No, I do not feel righteous after all! There is something amiss.” Conscience begins to call out, “It will not do.” Peradventure the man is taken ill. He thinks that he is going to die, and he must keep his wretched pretence afloat somehow; and so he cries, if he is rich, “I will endow an almshouse.” According to the church to which he belongs, the zealous person becomes a determined partisan of his sect. Now suppose that you were to get to heaven in your way, what would happen? You will throw up your cap, and say, “I have managed it after all!” You will glorify yourself, and depend upon it sinners saved by grace will glorify Christ. But our Lord is not going to have any discord in heaven; you shall all sing His praises there, or never sing at all.
IV. What they will not do. “They have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
1. Why, there are some that have not submitted even to hear it!Our law does not judge any man before it hears him, but these people both judge and condemn the gospel without giving it an hour’s attention. Are they not good enough of themselves? What can you tell them better than they know already? But it is always a pity not to know eventhat which we most despise. It will not hurt you to know. And yet there is such prejudice in the mind of some that they refuse to acquaint themselves with the verities which God has revealed. “Sinners saved by grace! It is all very well forthe commonalty; but we were always so good.” Very well, then; there is a heaven for the commonalty, and it is highly probable that you ladies and gentlemen are too good to go there. Where will you go? There is but one way to heaven, and that way is closed against the proud.
2. And then there are others who, when they hear it, will not admit that they need it. “What, sir! Must I go down on my knees and plead guilty?” Yes, you must, or else you will never be saved. “They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.”
3. There are others who will not submit to the spirit of it, to the influence of it, for the spirit of free grace is this: if God saves me for nothing, then I belong to Him for ever and ever. If He forgives me every sin simply because I believe in Jesus, then I will hate every sin, and flee from it. I will love Him with all my heart, and for the love I bear Him I will lead a holy life. The virtue I aimed at before, in my own strength, I will now ask for from His Holy Spirit. Many will not submit to that; yet they can never be saved from sin unless they yield themselves as the blood-bought servants of Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Blind zeal
Asall zeal without discretion is as an offering without eyes, which was by God forbidden, so likewise all blind zeal is a blind offering, which God will never accept. (Cawdray.)
Zeal, cautious
As Minerva is said to have put a golden bridle upon Pegasus, that he should not fly too fast, so our Christian discretion must put a golden bridle upon our Pegasus--that is, our zeal--lest, if it be unbridled, it make us run out of course. (Cawdray.)
Zeal, false
There is a sort of men who seem to be mighty zealous for religion; but their heart breaks out wholly in this way: that they fill the place wherever they are with noise and clamour, with dust and smoke. Nothing can be said in their presence, but instantly a controversy is started, scarcely anything is orthodox enough for them; for they spin so fine a thread, and have such a cobweb divinity, that the least brush against it is not to be endured, and yet withal they are as positive and decretal in their assertions that the Pope himself is nobody to them. One would think they were privy counsellors of heaven. They define with so great confidence what will and what will not please God. (J. Goodman.)
Zeal, misguided
I. Its features. It errs in--
1. Its motives.
2. Its objects.
3. Its means.
II. Its prevalence.
1. In the world.
2. In the Church.
III. Its mischievous tendency. It breeds--
1. Delusion.
2. Disorder.
3. Hatred.
4. Contention.
5. Ruin. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The proper regulation of religious zeal
I. It must be founded upon knowledge of and judgment about the matter which engages our zeal. It is for wanting this that the apostle blames the zeal of the Jews. The necessity of such knowledge is, one would think, obvious, for without it our zeal may, for aught we know, beengaged in a bad cause. The man who, designing to make great haste, either shuts his eyes or takes no notice whither he goes, is the likeliest to stumble or go astray. Let us, then, take care that, before we suffer our zeal to grow warm for or against any cause, we get as thorough a knowledge of it as we can. And yet, as history shows, most of those in every age who have shown the warmest zeal have discovered the greatest ignorance, and where there has been most knowledge there has been most candour and forbearance towards those of a different opinion.
II. Must re free from prejudice and party views, and proceed from a sincere regard to truth and virtue. It is not my being thoroughly acquainted with a cause that will justify my zeal in it. If, knowing a thing to be false or unlawful, I strenuously insist upon it, all the zeal I express is faulty. Nay, though it be truth or duty, if my zeal is occasioned by prejudice, it is not of the right kind. We ought therefore to be very careful about the springs from whence our zeal flows. When the heart glows with an ardent love to God and for the cause of truth and virtue, there will be very little danger of running into extremes.
III. Must always be proportioned to the moment of the things about which it is engaged. The more important the thing is, the warmer may our zeal be, either for or against it; and the less important, the less need is there of being much concerned about it. That zeal is very irregular which is equally warm upon every occasion. It would be endless to tell you what trifling matters have given occasion to the most furious contests in the Christian Church.
1. Since it is of vastly greater importance to us that we should judge right in matters of doctrine and behave well in matters of practice ourselves than that others should do so, it follows that our zeal ought principally to be employed this way. Nothing is more common than to see the same men who express a great concern that others should think and act just as they do in matters of religion shamelessly careless in their own searches after truth, and in regulating their own conduct.
2. Plain duties are of more importance than matters of speculation, and therefore regular zeal will be more solicitous about the former than about the latter. And yet, as if mankind were resolved to act preposterously, they have generally acted from the opposite principle. Observe how contentedly some of the warmest zealots can let a drunkard, a swearer, etc., live peaceably by them, and yet take fire immediately on the utterance of a contrary opinion. But will not God much more easily pardon an error in judgment than badness of life?
3. Peace and love among Christians are of unspeakably more importance than any particular form of church government or any religious rites, and therefore if our zeal be regular, we shall be much less concerned about imposing these than for the securing peace and love among all good men.
IV. Must re attended with Christian charity, and must never break in upon those rights which all claim in common as men and Christians. Nothing has been more common than for intemperate zeal to do the greatest mischiefs and commit the most bare-faced violations of justice and humanity, under the pretence of charity to men’s souls and a hearty concern for their everlasting welfare.
V. Must be under the conduct of Christian prudence, by which I mean the prudence that will direct to the choice, and in the use of the properest methods, and the fittest seasons for promoting these good ends. (W. Smyth.)
Zeal, true
True zeal is a loving thing, and makes us always active to edification, and not to destruction. If we keep the fire of zeal within the chimney, in its own proper place, it never doth any hurt; it only warmeth, quickeneth, and enliveneth us; but if once we let it break out, and catch hold of the thatch of our flesh, and kindle our corrupt nature, and set the house of our body on fire, it is no longer zeal--heavenly fire, but a most destructive and devouring thing. True zeal is an ignis lambens, a soft and gentle flame that will not scorch our hand; it is no predatory or voracious thing; but carnal and fleshly zeal is like the spirit of gunpowder set on fire, that tears and blows up all that stands before it. True zeal is like the vital heat in us that we live upon, which we never feel to be angry or troublesome; but though it gently feed upon the radical oil within us, that sweet balsam of our natural moisture, yet it lives lovingly with it, and maintains that by which it is fed; but that other furious and distempered zeal is nothing else but a fever in the soul. To conclude, we may learn what kind of zeal it is that we should use in promoting the gospel by an emblem of God’s own--those fiery tongues that on the Day of Pentecost sat upon the apostles; which sure, were harmless flames, for we cannot read that they did any hurt, or that they did so much as singe a hair of their heads. (R. Cudworth.)
Zeal, true and false
AndrewMelville, Professor of Divinity at St. Andrews in the reign of James VI, was a very bold and zealous man for the cause of God and truth. When some of his more moderate brethren blamed him for being too hot and fiery, he was wont to reply, “If you seemy fire go downwards, set your foot upon it and put it out; but if it go upwards, let it return to its own place.” (J. Whitecross.)
Zeal without knowledge
I.The qualifications and properties of a zeal “according to knowledge.”
1. That our zeal be right in respect of its object; viz., that those things which we are zealous for be certainly good, and that those things which we are zealous against be certainly evil. Otherwise it is not a heavenly fire, but like thefire of hell, heat without light.
2. That the measure and degree of it must be proportioned to the good or evil of things about which it is conversant. That is an ignorant zeal which is conversant about lesser things and unconcerned for greater. A zealous strictness about external rites and matters of difference, where there is a visible neglect of the substantial duties of religion, is either a gross ignorance of the true nature of religion, or a fulsome hypocrisy.
3. That we pursue it by lawful means and ways. No zeal for God and His glory, for His true Church and religion, will justify the doing of that which is morally evil.
II. By what marks we may know the zeal which is “not according to knowledge.” It is a zeal without knowledge--
1. That is mistaken in the proper object of it; that calls good evil, and evil good.
2. That is manifestly disproportioned to the good or evil of things about which it is conversant, when there is in men a greater and fiercer zeal for the externals of religion than for the vital and essential parts of it.
3. That is prosecuted by unlawful and unwarrantable means, that, e.g., which warrants the doing of evil that good may come.
4. That is uncharitable, and is an enemy to peace and order, and thinks itself sufficiently warranted to break the peace of the Church upon every scruple.
5. That is furious and cruel, that which St. James tells us tends to “ confusion and every evil work.”
6. A zeal for ignorance. This is a zeal peculiar to the Church of Rome, which forbids people the use of the Holy Scriptures in a known tongue.
III. Inferences.
1. If it be so necessary that our zeal be directed by knowledge, this shows us how dangerous a thing zeal is in the weak and ignorant. Zeal is an edge-tool, which children in understanding should not meddle withal. Zeal is only fit for wise men, but it is chiefly in fashion among fools. Nay, it is dangerous in the hands of wise men, and to be kept in with a strict rein, otherwise it will transport them to the doing of undue and irregular things. Moses in a fit of zeal let fall the two tables of the law which he had but just received from God. A true emblem of an ungoverned zeal, in the transport whereof even good men are apt to forget the laws of God.
2. From hence we plainly see that men may do the worst and wickedest things out of a zeal for God and religion. Thus it was among the Jews, who engrossed salvation to themselves, and denied the possibility of it to all the world besides, and the Church of Rome have taken copy by them.
3. Zeal for God and religion does not alter the nature of actions done upon that account. Persecution and murder are damnable sins, and no zeal for God and religion can excuse them. (Abp. Tillotson.)
Zeal and knowledge
There are two sorts of men hereby to be apprehended.
1. They which have a defect not of zeal, but of knowledge for the ground of their zeal.
2. They which have a defect not of knowledge, but of zeal answerable to their knowledge. Of the first of these may be verified the proverb, they set the cart before the horse. The second may be likened to Pharaoh’s chariots when the wheels were off, so slowly do they express their knowledge in their lives. The first are like a little ship without ballast and freight, but with a great many sails, which is soon either dashed against the rocks or toppled over. The second are like a goodly great ship, well ballasted and richly freighted, but without any sails, which quickly falleth into the hands of pirates because it can make no speed, sooner making a prey for them than a good voyage for the merchant. Separate zeal and knowledge, and they become both unprofitable, but wisely join them, and they perfect a Christian, being like a precious diamond in a ring of gold. Let not zeal outrun knowledge or lag behind it, but let it ad equale agree, going hand in hand with the same. For even as in an instrument of music there is a proportion of sound wherein is the harmony, beyond which, if any string be strained, it makes a squeaking noise; and if it be not strained enough it yields a clagging, dull, and unpleasant sound. So is it in our zeal if it be either more or less than our knowledge. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)
Zeal, uncontrolled
Phaeton took upon him to drive the chariot of the sun; but through his rashness set the world in combustion. What a horse is without a rider, or a ship without a rudder, such is zeal without knowledge. St. Bernard hits full on this point. Discretion without zeal is slow-paced, and zeal without discretion is strongheaded; let, therefore, zeal spur on discretion, and discretion rein in zeal. (J. Spencer.)
Zeal without knowledge
The first good use of some texts is, to endeavour to prevent a bad one.
I. The text has often been cited for the purpose of depreciating genuine zeal. Think on how many excellent designs it has been quoted against, and what would have become of home and foreign missionary enterprise had certain interpretations ruled! With men of indifferent, frozen temperament, the text has been a great favourite. So it has with timid, cowardly men, with the parsimonious, with idolaters of custom, and of everything established, and with that class which is content with mere speculation, regarding scarcely anything as worth attempting. With most of these, however, it is not zeal itself that is contemned, for “none would be more zealous than they--on a proper occasion.” But when can that occasion come? Is it to be expressly brought on by Providence to enable them to show this virtue? Or is it to be when all things are mended, so that there shall be less to be done? But who, then, is to do all this in the meantime?
II. But still there is in the world an ill-judging and unwarrantable zeal.
1. Indeed, if we take it in its general sense, persevering ardour in prosecution of a purpose, it has been, in its depraved operation, the animating demon of every active evil. And, many that are comparatively harmless, let but this fire be kindled by a torch from hell applied to the brimstone that lies cold and quiet in their nature--and we should see.
2. But not to dwell onthese terrible operations of zeal, we see its effect in numberless things of a more diminutive order, e.g., long and earnest exertions for excellence in some most trifling attainment; unremitting efforts in prosecution of inquiry into something not worth any cost to know; an intense devotion to add particle after particle to the little sum of worldly possession; the earnest vying in little points of appearance, consequence, precedence. Zeal is an element that will combine with any active principle in man; it is like fire, that will smoulder in garbage, and will lighten in the heavens.
III. Zeal thus has its operation in all the active interests of men. But it is most usually spoken of as belonging to religion, and it is in this relation that we have here to consider it. “Zeal of God.”
1. And who can help wishing that there were a thousand times more zeal directed this way? Of the whole measure that there is being constantly expended what proportion might well bespared, nay, destroyed, to advantage? Nine parts in ten? Perhaps more. Now think, if one or more of these portions misapplied could be devoted to God! Look at an ambitious man’s zeal; an avaricious man’s zeal; an indefatigable intellectual trifler’s zeal! nine parts in ten misapplied; wasted at the best; a large portion worse than wasted!So it is going--while there is here what deserves it all--like clouds, heavy with rain, passing away from gardens and fields languishing under drought, to be discharged on mere deserts or marshes or sea. Or suppose a great city on fire in a severe winter; what a blessing so much fire would be if distributed into all the abodes of shivering poverty and sickness!
2. After such a view of the immense proportion of zeal altogether lost to God, we are reluctant to consider that a share even of the zeal that is directed to God may be “not according to knowledge.” The necessity of knowledge to religious zeal is fearfully illustrated by
(1) The mighty empires of superstition--Pagan, Mohammedan, Popish. It is true that many go no further than a stupid, slavish acquiescence; and that some aresceptics, only preserving appearances; but countless legions of them are burning with fanatic zeal--they know no better.
(2) The direful history of persecution. For, though some persecutors have only been politic, infernal hypocrites, yet the mighty host of them have really believed that they did God service.
(3) The wild novelties of fanaticism that have occasionally sprung up in the Christian community. In view of all this the good man has still to exclaim, “Oh for knowledge! for knowledge!”
IV. Turn now to the ordinary forms in which religious zeal is devoid of knowledge.
1. That which the apostle here speaks of, namely, men’s zealously maintaining the sufficiency of a righteousness of their own, which God will not accept
