Jude 1:24-25 Now to him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,… I. In what sense God may be said to be "the only wise God." For answer to this, we may take notice, that there are some perfections of God that are incommunicable to the creature, as His independency and eternity — these God only possesseth; but there are other perfections which are communicable — as knowledge, and wisdom, and goodness, and justice, and power, and the like; yet these the Scriptures do peculiarly attribute to God, that they belong to God in such a peculiar and Divine manner as doth shut out the creature from any claim to them, in that degree and perfection wherein God possesseth them. This being premised in general, God may be said to be only wise in two respects: 1. God only is originally and independently wise. He derives it from none, and all derive it from Him (Romans 11:33, 34). 2. He is eminently and transcendently so: and this follows from the former, because God is the fountain of wisdom, therefore it is most eminently in Him (Psalm 94:9, 10). II. I shall prove that this perfection belongs to God. 1. From the dictates of natural reason. The contrary is an imperfection; therefore wisdom belongs to God. And the denial of this perfection to God would argue many other imperfections; it would be a universal blemish to the Divine nature, and would darken all His other perfections. 2. From Scripture, "He is wise in heart" (Job 9:4); "He is mighty in strength and wisdom" (Job 36:5); "Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are His" (Daniel 2:20). Hither we may refer those texts which attribute wisdom to God in a singular and peculiar manner (Romans 16:27); and those which speak of God as the fountain of it, who communicates and bestows it upon His creatures (Daniel 2:21; James 1:5); and those texts which speak of the wisdom of God in the creation of the world (Psalm 104:24; Jeremiah 10:12); in the providence and government of the world (Daniel 2:30); and in many other places in the redemption of mankind. Therefore Christ is called "the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24), and the dispensation of the gospel, "the hidden wisdom of God, and the manifold wisdom of God" (Ephesians 3:10).If then God be only wise, the original and only fountain of it, from thence we learn — 1. To go to Him for it (James 1:2). 2. If God be only wise in such an eminent and transcendent degree, then let us be humble. There is no cause of boasting, seeing "we have nothing but what we have received." To pride ourselves in our own wisdom, is the way to have our folly made manifest. 3. We should labour to partake of the wisdom of God, so far as it is communicable. The greatest wisdom that we are capable of is to distinguish between good and evil; "to be wise to that which is good," as the apostle speaks (Romans 16:19); that is, to provide for the future in time, to make provision for eternity, to think of our latter end, to fear God and obey Him, to be pure and peaceable, to receive instruction, and to win souls. 4. If God be only wise, then put your trust and confidence in Him. 5. Let us adore the wisdom of God, and say with St. Paul (1 Timothy 1:17), "To the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen"; and with Daniel, "Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are His." Having premised thus much for the clearing of these words, I shall briefly consider, first, God's glory and majesty, and then His dominion and sovereignty. First, God's glory and majesty. By majesty, we may understand the greatness, or eminent excellency of the Divine nature, which results from His perfections, and whereby the Divine nature is set and placed infinitely above all other beings; I say, the eminent excellency of the Divine nature, which results from His perfections, more especially from those great perfections, His goodness, and wisdom, and power, and holiness. And His glory is a manifestation of this excellency, and a just acknowledgment and due opinion of it. Hence it is, that in Scripture, God is said to be "glorious in power," and "glorious in holiness," and His goodness is called His glory; and here, in the text, glory and majesty are ascribed to Him upon the account of His wisdom and goodness.That these belong to God, I shall prove — 1. From the acknowledgment of natural light. The heathens did constantly ascribe greatness to God, and that as resulting chiefly from His goodness, as appears by their frequent conjunction of these two attributes, goodness and greatness. 2. From Scripture. It were endless to produce all those texts wherein greatness and glory are ascribed to God. I shall mention two or three: "The Lord is a great God" (Deuteronomy 10:17); He is called "the King of glory" (Psalm 24:10); He is said to be "clothed with majesty and honour" (Psalm 104:1). "The whole earth is full of His glory." Hither belong all those doxologies in the Old and New Testament wherein greatness, and glory, and majesty are ascribed to God.From all which we may learn — 1. What it is that makes a person great and glorious, and what is the way to majesty, viz., real worth and excellency, and particularly that kind of excellency which creatures are capable of in a very eminent degree, and that is goodness; this is that which advanceth a person, and gives him a pre-eminence above all others; this casts a lustre upon him, and makes his face to shine. 2. Let us give God the glory which is due to His name: "Ascribe ye greatness to our God" (Deuteronomy 32:3). "Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and power" (Psalm 29:1). The glory and "majesty of God call for our esteem and honour, our fear and reverence of Him. Thus we should glorify God in our spirits, by an inward esteem and reverence of His majesty. 3. We should take heed of robbing God of His glory, by giving it to any creature, by ascribing those titles, or that worship, to any creature, which is due to God alone. I come now to speak of the sovereignty and dominion of God: in which I shall show what we are to understand by the sovereignty and dominion of God. By these we mean the full and absolute right, and title, and authority which God hath to and over all His creatures, as His creatures, and made by Him. And this right results from the effects of that goodness, and power, and wisdom, whereby all things are and were made; from whence there doth accrue to God a sovereign right and title to all His creatures, and a full and absolute authority over them; that is, such a right and authority which doth not depend upon any superior, nor is subject and accountable to any, for anything that He does to any of His creatures. I. Wherein it doth not consist. 1. Not in a right to gratify and delight Himself in the extreme misery of innocent and undeserving creatures: I say, not in a right; for the right that God hath in His creatures is founded in the benefits He hath conferred upon them, and the obligations they have to Him upon that account. 2. The sovereignty of God doth not consist in imposing laws upon His creatures which are impossible either to be understood or observed by them. For this would not only be contrary to the dignity of the Divine nature, but contradict the nature of a reasonable creature, which, in reason, cannot be obliged by any power to impossibilities. 3. The sovereignty of God doth not consist in a liberty to tempt men to evil, or by any inevitable decree to necessitate them to sin, or effectually to procure the sins of men, and to punish them for them. For as this would be contrary to the holiness, and justice, and goodness of God, so to the nature of a reasonable creature, who cannot be guilty or deserve punishment for what it cannot help. II. Wherein the sovereignty of God doth consist. 1. In a right to dispose of, and deal with, His creatures in any way that doth not contradict the essential perfections of God, and the natural conditions of the creature. 2. In a right to impose what laws He pleaseth upon His creatures, whether natural and reasonable; or positive, of trial of obedience, provided they contradict not the nature of God, or of the creature. 3. In a right to inflict due and deserved punishment in a case of provocation. 4. In a right to afflict any of His creatures, so the evil He inflicts be short of the benefits He hath conferred on them. This is universally acknowledged by the heathens, that God is "the Lord and Sovereign of the world, and of all creatures," and this the Scripture doth everywhere attribute to Him, calling Him "Lord of all, King of kings, and Lord of lords"; to which we may refer all those doxologies in which power, and dominion, and authority are ascribed to God. I infer, first, negatively: We cannot, from the sovereignty of God, infer a right to do anything that is unsuitable to the perfection of His nature; and consequently, that we are to rest satisfied with such a notion of dominion and sovereignty in God as doth not plainly and directly contradict all the notions that we have of justice and goodness.Secondly, positively: We may infer from the sovereignty and dominion of God — 1. That we ought to own and acknowledge God for our lord and sovereign, who, by creating us, and giving us all that we have, did create to Himself a right in us. 2. That we owe to Him the utmost possibility of our love, to "love Him with all our heart, and soul, and strength"; because the souls that we have He gave us; and when we render these to Him, we do but give Him of His own. 3. We owe to Him all imaginable subjection, and observance, and obedience; and are with all diligence, to the utmost of our endeavours, to conform ourselves to His will, and to those laws which He hath imposed upon us. 4. In case of offence and disobedience, we are, without murmuring, to submit to what He shall inflict upon us, "to accept of the punishment of our iniquity," and "patiently to bear the indignation of the Lord," because we have sinned against Him, who is our Lord and Sovereign. (Abp. Tillotson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, |
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