Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. I. THE CLOTHING is twofold. 1. The putting on of a garment. This is also twofold. (1) To take the outward name and profession. 'This doth no good (Haggai 1:6). It may be done to delude others, but God cannot be deluded. He will take off the garment of the hypocrite, and expose him to open shame. For this is an affront to Christ to put on an outward Christianity till noon, and be libertines after. If thou shouldst wear the prince's livery in scantier proportions or coarser stuff than belongs to thy place, will he accept thee? No more will Christ. (2) To put on His righteousness by imitation and conformity. We must put off our old clothes and appear naked before God, then we come to our transfiguration (Romans 4:4). 2. The putting on of a person. (1) We are not to put on Christ as a livery nor as a coin the image of a king. (2) But as a son doth his father in whom the same nature doth reside. (3) Then shall we so appear before God, as that he shall take us for His own Christ; we shall bear His name and person. (4) We shall every one be so accepted as if every one of us were all mankind, yea, as if we were He Himself. II. ITS COMPLETENESS. AS the garment Christ wore was seamless and entire, so this garment, Christ Jesus our sanctification, must cover us all over, and go through our whole life in a constant, even perseverance. We must not only be hospitable and feed the poor at Christmas; be sober and abstinent the day we receive the sacrament; repent and think of amendment in the day of sickness. No man may take the frame of Christ's merit in pieces. He that puts on Christ must put Him on all; and not only find that Christ hath died, nor that He hath died for him, but that he also hath died in Christ. (Doune.) Parallel Verses KJV: For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.WEB: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. |
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