Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. This suggests as a theme for meditation the fact that the religion revealed by God includes the entire sphere of possible human activity; that there is nothing good that a man can think, do, or say, or feel, which cannot in its highest forms be shown to be rooted in, and a fruit of, the religion which God has revealed. "Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." I. The first point to determine is THE MEANING OF THE WORD FEAR. It is not slavish fear; it is not the feeling that a man might have who was writhing on the earth at the approach of a despot, and expecting to be ground into dust by the stamp of his iron heel. The scriptural meaning of fear is what we suggest by the word revere. "Revere God, and keep His commandments." This is the "fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom." Revering God as our Creator, as the Sovereign of the universe, as the one Lawgiver, is the union of the intellect which approves, and the heart which loves, and the will which consents. They are all in the single word revere. When reverence for God exists in a human soul, the natural attitude of that soul is the attitude which led St. Paul, while yet his name was Saul, to cry out: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" II. When a child of God, revering Him, asks this question, he finds THAT THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD INCLUDE HIS DEVOTIONS. The explanation of prayer, of the holy Sabbath, and of the Word of God is to be found in the fact that they create, maintain, and increase reverence. III. Observe, also, that God's commands TAKE THE FORM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THESE COMMANDS ARE SIMPLIFIED, AND THEN DETAILS ARE PRESENTED UNDER THEM. The first and great commandment is that "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, and strength." The only definition of the love of God which can satisfy the mind or the heart is "to have an intense desire to please Him." It will apply equally to spirits in the body and out of the body. And the second is like unto it: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This does not mean more than thyself, as some fanatics have supposed, but as thyself; not in the sense of caring for thy neighbour as for thyself, or of caring for his house, his children, his life; but in this sense: that thou wilt do good to thy neighbour as thou hast opportunity, and that thou wilt not do evil to him even for thine own transient advantage. (J. M. Buckley, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. |
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