1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. I. IF WE WOULD FORM A JUST NOTION HOW FAR WE ARE INFLUENCED BY THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL, WE MUST PUT ASIDE EVERYTHING WHICH WE DO MERELY IN IMITATION OF OTHERS, AND NOT FROM RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES. 1. Let a man consider the number of times he has attended public worship because others do; or the number of times he has found himself unequal to temptations when they came, which beforehand he and others made light of, and he must own that his outward conduct shapes itself unconsciously by the manners of those with whom he lives. 2. Now, I am not condemning all that we do without thinking expressly of the duty of obedience at the very time we are doing it. It is natural to a religious man to obey, and therefore he will do it naturally, i.e., without effort or deliberation. Separate acts of faith aid us only while we are unstable. As we get strength, but one extended act of faith (so to call it) influences us all through the day, and our whole day is but one act of obedience also. Our will runs parallel to God's. We are moved by God dwelling in us, and need not but act on instinct. 3. How different is this high obedience from that random unawares way of doing right, which to so many men seems to constitute a religious life! The one is obedience on habit, the other obedience on custom; the one is of the heart, the other of the lips; the one is in power, the other in word; the one cannot be acquired without much and Constant vigilance, generally not without much pain and trouble; the other is the result of a mere passive imitation of those whom we fall in with. Have we then received the kingdom of God more than externally? II. WE MAY HAVE RECEIVED IT IN A HIGHER SENSE THAN IN WORD MERELY, AND YET IN NO REAL SENSE IN POWER. Our obedience may be in some sort religious, and yet hardly deserve the title of Christian. 1. It is possible, according to St. Peter, to fear God and work righteousness without being Christians. Is it not the way of men to dwell with satisfaction on their good deeds? They never harmed any one, they have not given in to a profligate life; they can speak of their honesty, industry, conscientiousness, &c. Now all this is really praiseworthy, and, when a man from want of opportunity knows no more, really acceptable to God; yet it determines nothing about his having received the gospel of Christ in power. 2. To be Christians, surely it is not enough to be that which we must be, even without Christ; not enough to be no better than good heathens. I am not wishing to frighten these imperfect Christians, but to lead them on; to open their minds to the greatness of the work before them, to dissipate the meagre and carnal views in which the gospel has come to them, to warn them that they must never be contented with themselves, but must go on unto perfection; that till they are much more than they are at present, they have received the kingdom of God in word, not in power. 3. What is it, then, that they lack? Read 2 Corinthians 5:14, 17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:12-16; Galatians 4:6; Luke 9:23. Now it is plain that this is a very different mode of obedience from any which natural reason and conscience tell us of. Observe in what respect it is different from that lower degree of religion which we may possess without entering into the mind of the gospel. (1) In its faith; which is placed, not simply in God, but in God as manifested in Christ, according to His own words, "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me."(2) We must adore Christ as our Lord and Master, and love Him as our most gracious Redeemer. (3) We must, for His sake, aim at a noble and unusual strictness of life, perfecting holiness in His fear, destroying our sins, mastering our whole soul, and bringing it into captivity to His law, exercising a profound humility, and an unbounded, never-failing love, and shunning irreligious men. This is to be a Christian. (J. H. Newman, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. |
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