James Nisbet Commentary - 1 Thessalonians 5:15 - 5:15

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James Nisbet Commentary - 1 Thessalonians 5:15 - 5:15


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THE GOLDEN RULE

‘See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.’

1Th_5:15

The Apostle is writing to the Thessalonian converts some very practical rules as to their manner of life as Christians. We do not know how long it was since they had accepted the message of the new and glorious life which he had brought them, but we do know that he considered them not fully established in the faith and practice of the religion of Christ, or he would certainly not have given them such elementary counsel and commandment as we find in our text. For it is the old, old golden rule over again, the basis of all the teaching of his Master and ours.

I. Have we advanced?—But what shall we say of ourselves after nineteen hundred years of Christianity? Can we say with any truth that we have advanced farther or as far as those new disciples of St. Paul? For if we have professed, if we indeed know and love and live out the will of our Master, why is it still necessary to be ever insisting on the obligation of carrying out this fundamental law of human life as Christ intended it to be lived? It seems to me sometimes that we are going backwards—not merely looking backwards but actually going backwards.

II. Rendering evil.—We see men in the struggle for wealth caring little what happens to their neighbour if only they can have what they seek; we see and know of hearts being crushed everywhere, and we know that even religion takes no note of the fact, but preaches tamely, as though we were on the high road to the millennium. We read, too, accounts of men and women exerting all their God-given powers, not for the purpose of doing good, but of bringing sorrow and despair on those who have never wronged them! Are we, then, to blame the teachings of Jesus Christ for not mitigating the cruelty and sorrow in the world? Can it really be said that such a course of conduct is utterly impossible in God’s own world?

III. Back to the teaching of Christ.—Do you believe it would be a calamity if, instead of the false and hollow system under which we exist at the present moment, the teachings of Christ in their literal entirety, and the results which flow from those teachings, were set up in its place? In short, if love reigned instead of hate, unselfishness instead of greed and covetousness, peace instead of war—would it not be gain rather than loss, for, at all events, the majority of mankind? But I fear that even if Christ Himself were to come among us again, He would meet with no better reception than was accorded Him in Jerusalem long ago. We, also, most of us, at least, should call Him a dreamer and enthusiast; an unpractical theorist; and the Sermon on the Mount would be listened to with the wonder which changes to sarcasm. The nearer we approach to Him, the nobler we are, the gentler we are, the kindlier we are. For He it is, the Light of the World, Who alone reveals to us the truth which makes life—even our life here on earth—glorious, and the prospect of the Eternal life bright with no earthly radiance.

—
Rev. A. C. Vully de Candole.

Illustration

‘I do not find in the gospel that Jesus tells us to inquire the circumstances of the person to whom we give voluntarily or who asks of us. In fact, it appears to me that He emphatically forbids us to judge any one in any matter whatever. When shall we who call ourselves Christians cease to juggle with and try to obscure and hide and explain away the plain teaching of Jesus Christ? There are people who say that it would be “harmful and mischievous” to try and do as Christ says. In a word, we are assured that while the gospels contain a very beautiful theory of life, it is a theory that cannot be applied to existing affairs without producing disaster.’