1 Thessalonians 1:6-8 And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.… Christ's Divinity does not destroy the reality of His manhood by overshadowing or absorbing it. Certainly the Divine attributes of Jesus are beyond our imitation. We can but adore a boundless intelligence or resistless will. But the province of the imitable in the life of Jesus is not indistinctly traced; as the Friend of publicans and sinners, as the Consoler of these who suffer, and as the Helper of those who want, Jesus Christ is at hence among us. We can copy Him, not merely in the outward activities of charity, but in its inward temper. We can copy the tenderness, the meekness, the patience, the courage, which shine forth from His perfect manhood. His human perfections constitute, indeed, a faultless ideal of beauty, which, as moral artists, we are bound to keep in view. What the true and highest model of a human life is, has been decided for us Christians by the appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Others may endeavour to reopen the question; for us it is settled irrevocably. (Canon Liddon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: |
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