From Charity and It’s Fruits Sermon 13
All The
Graces Of Christianity Connected
1 Corinthians
13:7
Charity . . .
believeth all things, hopeth all things.
First, he had
just before mentioned that fruit of charity whereby it leads us to think the
best of our neighbors, in saying that it “thinketh no evil;” and we have
no reason to think he would repeat the same thing over again in these
words.
Second, it
seems plain that the apostle had finished speaking of the fruits of charity
toward our neighbors, when he summed them all up, as we have seen, in saying,
that it “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;”
that is, that it tends to prevent all evil behavior, and to promote all good
behavior. So that in this verse we might expect him to proceed to mention some
fruits of charity of another kind, such, for example, as its tendency to promote
the graces of faith and hope, which are such great graces of the
gospel.
Third, we find
that the apostle does, in this chapter, more than once mention the three graces
of faith, hope, and charity, together. And it is but reasonable to suppose, that
each time he does so, he means the same three graces. In the last verse of the
chapter, we find these three mentioned and compared together; and there, by
“faith” and “hope,” the apostle plainly does not mean believing or hoping the
best respecting our neighbors, but he does intend those great graces of the
gospel that have God and Christ for their main and immediate object. And so
when, in this place, he mentions the same three graces as in the last verse of
the chapter, why should we not believe that he means the same three things in
the former place as in the latter, since it is in the same chapter, and the same
discourse, and in the course of the same argument? And
again,
Fourth, this
view is agreeable to the drift and aim of the apostle throughout the
chapter, which is to show the relation of charity to the other graces, and
particularly to faith and hope. This is what the apostle is aiming at in all
that he says: and therefore, when he comes to the conclusion of the matter in
the last verse, and says that, of faith, hope, and charity, the last is the
greatest, he seems to have reference to what he had said in the words of the
text, viz. that charity “believeth all things, and hopeth all things,” meaning
that charity is greater than the other two, as it has the most effectual
influence in producing them, and is that by which they are cherished and
promoted in the soul.
For these reasons, the doctrine I would draw from the
text, is this:
THAT THE GRACES OF CHRISTIANITY ARE ALL CONNECTED TOGETHER, AND MUTUALLY DEPENDENT ON EACH OTHER.
That is, they are all linked together, and united one to
another and within another, as the links of a chain are; and one does, as it
were, hang on another, from one end of the chain to the other, so that, if one
link be broken, all fall to the ground, and the whole ceases to be of any
effect. And in unfolding this thought, I would, first, briefly explain how the
graces of Christianity are all connected, and then give some reasons why they
are so. And I would,
I. Briefly explain the manner in which the graces of
Christianity are connected. — And this may be shown in three
things.
1. All the graces of Christianity always go
together. — They so go together, that where there is one, there are all, and
where one is wanting, all are wanting. Where there is faith, there are love, and
hope, and humility; and where there is love, there is also trust; and where
there is a holy trust in God, there is love to God; and where there is a
gracious hope, there also is a holy fear of God. “The Lord taketh pleasure in
them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy” (Psa. 147:11). Where there
is love to God, there is a gracious love to man; and where there is a
Christian love to man, there is love to God. Hence we find that the apostle John
at one time gives love to the brethren as a sign of love to God, saying, “If a
man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20); and
then, again, speaks of love to God as a sign of love to the brethren, saying,
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his
commandments” (1 John 5:2). It is also, true,
2. That the graces of Christianity depend upon one
another. — There is not only a connection, whereby they are always joined
together, but there is also a mutual dependence between them, so that one cannot
be without the others. To deny one, would in effect be to deny another, and so
all; just as to deny the cause would be to deny the effect, or to deny the
effect would be to deny the cause. Faith promotes love, and love is the most
effectual ingredient in a living faith. Love is dependent on faith; for a being
cannot be truly loved, and especially loved above all other beings, who is not
looked upon as a real being. And then love, again, enlarges and promotes faith,
because we are more apt to believe and give credit to, and more disposed to
trust in, those we love, than in those we do not. So faith begets hope, for
faith sees and trusts in God’s sufficiency to bestow blessings, and in his
faithfulness to his promises, that he will do what he has said. All gracious
hope is hope resting on faith; and hope encourages and draws forth acts of
faith. And so love tends to hope, for the spirit of love is the spirit of a
child, and the more anyone feels in himself this spirit toward God, the more
natural it will be to him to look to God, and go to God as his father. This
childlike spirit casts out the spirit of bondage and fear, and gives the Spirit
of adoption, which is the spirit of confidence and hope. “Ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15); and the apostle John tells
us “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).
And so, again, a true and genuine hope tends greatly to promote love. When a
Christian has most of a right hope of his interest in God’s favor, and in those
eternal blessings that are its fruits, this tends to draw forth the exercise of
love, and oftentimes does draw it forth; as says the apostle Paul, “Tribulation
worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope
maketh not ashamed: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts” (Rom.
5:3-5).
Faith, too, promotes humility; for the more entirely
anyone depends on God’s sufficiency, the more will it tend to a low sense of his
own sufficiency. And so humility tends to promote faith; for the more anyone has
an humble sense of his own insufficiency, the more will his heart be disposed to
trust only on God, and to depend entirely on Christ. So love promotes humility;
for the more the heart is ravished with God’s loveliness, the more will it abhor
itself, and abase and humble itself for its own unloveliness and vileness.
Humility promotes love; for the more anyone has an humble sense of his own
unworthiness, the more will he admire God’s goodness to him, and the more will
his heart be drawn out in love to him for his glorious grace. Love tends to
repentance; for he that truly repents of sin, repents of it because it is
committed against a being that he loves. And repentance tends to humility; for
no one can be truly sorry for sin, and self-condemned in view of it, without
being humbled in heart for it. So repentance, faith, and love, all tend to
thankfulness. He that by faith trusts to Christ for salvation, will be thankful
to him for salvation. He that loves God will be disposed thankfully to
acknowledge his kindness. And he that repents of his sins will be disposed
heartily to thank God for the grace that is sufficient to deliver him from their
guilt and power. A true love to God tends to love to men who bear the image of
God; and a spirit of love and peace toward men cherishes a spirit of love to
God, as love to the image cherishes love to the original. And so it might be
shown how all the graces depend one upon another, by mentioning many other
particulars. Humility cherishes all other graces, and all other graces promote
humility; and so faith promotes all other graces, and all other graces cherish
and promote faith. And the like is true of everyone of the graces of the
gospel.
3. The different graces of Christianity are, in some
respects, implied one in another. — They are not only mutually connected and
dependent, and each promotive of the others, but are in some respects implied in
the nature of each other. In respect to several of them, it is true, that one is
essential to another, or belongs to its very essence. Thus, for example,
humility is implied in the nature of a true faith, so as to be of the essence of
it. It is essential to a true faith, that it be an humble faith; and essential
to a true trust, that it be an humble trust. And so humility belongs to the
nature and essence of many other true graces. It is essential to Christian love,
that it be an humble love; to submission, that it be an humble submission; to
repentance, that it be an humble repentance; to thankfulness, that it be an
humble thankfulness; and to reverence, that it be an humble
reverence.
And so love is implied in a gracious faith. It is an
ingredient in it, and belongs to its essence, and is, as it were, the very soul
of it, or its working, operative nature. As the working, operative nature of man
is his soul, so the working and operative nature of faith is love; for the
apostle Paul tells us that “faith worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6); and the apostle
James tells us, that faith, without its working nature, is dead, as the body is
without the spirit (Jam. 2:26). And so faith is, in some respects, implied in
love; for it is essential to a true Christian love, that it be a believing love.
So saving repentance and faith are implied in each other. They are both one and
the same conversion of the soul from sin to God, through Christ. The act of the
soul in turning from sin to God through Christ, as it respects the thing from
which the turning is, viz. sin, is called repentance; and as it respects the
thing to which, and the mediation by which it turns, it is called faith. But it
is the same motion of the soul; just as, when a man turns, or flees from
darkness to the light, it is the same act and motion, though it may be called.
by different names, according as it respects the darkness fled from, or the
light fled to; in the one case, being called avoiding, or turning from, and in
the other, receiving or embracing.
And so there is love implied in thankfulness. True
thankfulness is no other than the exercise of love to God on occasion of his
goodness to us. So there is love in a true and childlike fear of God; for a
childlike fear differs from a slavish, for a slavish fear has no love in it. And
all these three graces of love, humility, and repentance, are implied in
gracious childlike submission to the will of God. And so weanedness from the
world, and heavenly-mindedness, do consist mainly in the three graces of faith,
hope, and love. And so a Christian love to man is a kind of mediate or indirect
love to Christ; and that justice and truth towards men, that are truly Christian
graces, have love in them and essential to them. Love and humility, again, are
the graces wherein consists meekness toward men. And so it is love to God, and
faith, and humility, that are the ingredients of Christian patience and
contentment with our condition, and with the allotments of providence toward us.
Thus it appears that all the graces of Christianity are concatenated and linked
together, so as to be mutually connected and mutually dependent. I proceed,
then, as proposed,
II. To give some reasons of their being thus
connected and dependent. — And,
1. They are all from the same source. — All the
graces of Christianity are from the same Spirit; as says the apostle,
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit;… diversities of
operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all” (1 Cor. 12:4-6).
The graces of Christianity are all from the same Spirit of Christ sent forth
into the heart, and dwelling there as a holy, and powerful, and divine nature;
and therefore all graces are only the different ways of acting on the part of
the same divine nature; as there may be different reflections of the light of
then, and yet all in origin the same kind of light, because it all comes from
the same source or body of light. Grace in the soul is the Holy Spirit acting in
the soul, and thus communicating his own holy nature. As it is with water in the
fountain, so here it is all one and the same holy nature, only diversified by
the variety of streams sent forth from it. These streams must all be of the same
nature, seeing they all thus come from the same source; and the difference of
many of them, whereby they have different names, is chiefly relative, and more
from reference to their various objects and modes of exercise, than from a real
difference in their abstract nature. So, also,
2. They are all communicated in the same work of
the Spirit, namely, in conversion. — There is not one conversion of
the soul to faith, and another conversion to love to God, and another to
humility, and another to repentance, and still another to love to man; but all
are produced by one and the same work of the Spirit, and are the result of one
and the same conversion, or change of the heart. And this proves that all the
graces are united and linked together, as being contained in that one and the
same new nature that is given us in regeneration. It is here as it is in the
first generation — that of the body, in which the several faculties are
communicated in one and the same generation; the senses of seeing, hearing,
feeling, tasting, and smelling, and so the powers of moving, breathing, etc.,
all being given at the same time, and all being but one human nature, and one
human life, though diversified in its modes and forms. It is further true of the
Christian graces,
3. That they all have the same root and foundation,
namely, the knowledge of God’s excellence. — The same sight or sense of
God’s excellency begets faith, and love, and repentance, and all the other
graces. One sight of this excellence will beget all these graces, because it
shows the ground and reason of all holy dispositions, and of all holy behavior
toward God. They that truly know God’s nature will love him, and trust in him,
and have a spirit to submit to him, and serve, and obey him. “They that know thy
name will put their trust in thee” (Psa. 9:10). “Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him” (1 John 3:6). “Every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God” (1 John 4:7). It is also true of the Christian
graces,
4. That they all have the same rule, namely, the law
of God. — And therefore they must be linked together; for, seeing they all
have respect to this rule, they all tend to confirm the whole of the rule, and
to conform the heart and life to it. He that has a true respect to one of God’s
commands, will have a true respect to all; for they are all established by the
same authority, and are all jointly an expression of the same holy nature of
God. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all; for he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.
Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor
of the law” (Jam. 2:10, 11).
5. All the Christian graces have the same end,
namely, God. — He is their end, for they all tend to him. As they are all
from the same source, rising from the same fountain; and all stand on the same
foundation, growing from the same root; and are all directed by the same rule,
the law of God; — so they are all directed to the same end, namely, God, and his
glory, and our happiness in him. And this shows that they must be nearly
related, and very much linked together. And once more, it is
true,
6. That all the Christian graces are alike related to
one and the same grace, namely, charity, or Divine love, as the
sum of them all. — As we have before seen, charity, or love, is the sum of
all true Christian graces, however many names we may give them. And however
different the modes of their exercise, or the ways of their manifestation, if we
do but carefully examine them, we shall find they are all resolved into one.
Love, or charity, is the fulfilling of them all, and they are but so many
diversifications, and different branches, and relations, and modes of exercise,
of the same thing. One grace does, in effect, contain them all, just as the one
principle of life comprehends all its manifestations. And hence it is no wonder
that they are always together, and are dependent on and implied in one
another.
In the application of this
subject,
1. It may aid us to understand in what sense old
things are said to be done away, and all things become new, in conversion. —
This is what the apostle teaches us is the fact. “If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”
(2 Cor. 5:17). Now the doctrine of the text, and what has been said under it,
may in some measure show us how this is; for by this we learn, that all the
graces of Christianity are at once imparted in conversion, inasmuch as they are
all linked together, so that, when one is bestowed, all are bestowed, and not a
single one merely. A true convert, the moment he is converted, is possessed not
of one or two, but of all holy principles, and all gracious dispositions.
They may be feeble, indeed., like the faculties and powers of an infant child,
but they are all truly there, and will be seen flowing out progressively in
every kind of holy feeling and behavior toward both God and man. In every real
convert there are as many graces as there were in Jesus Christ himself, which is
what the evangelist John means, when he says, “The Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of
the Father), full of grace and truth;… and of his fullness have all we received,
and grace for grace” (John 1:14-16). And, indeed, it cannot be otherwise, for
all true converts are renewed in Christ’s image, as says the apostle — ”And have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that
created him” (Col. 3:10). But that is no true image or picture of another, which
has some parts or features wanting. An exact image has a part answerable to each
part in that of which it is an image. The copy answers to the original
throughout, in all its parts and features, though it may be obscure in some
respects, and not represent any part perfectly, as grace answers to grace. Grace
in the soul is a reflection of Christ’s glory, as appears by 2 Cor. 3:18. It is
a reflection of his glory, as the image of a man is reflected from a glass that
exhibits part for part.
It is in the new birth as it is in the birth of the
infant child. He has all the parts of a man, though they are as yet in a very
imperfect state. Not a part is wanting, but there are as many members as to a
man of full stature and strength. And therefore what is wrought in regeneration
is called. “the new man;” not only new eyes or new ears, or new hands, but a new
man, possessing all the human faculties and members. But all the graces of the
Christian are new. All of them are members of the individual after conversion,
and none of them were members before conversion. And because there is, as it
were, a new man, with all these members, begotten in conversion, therefore
Christians are said to be sanctified wholly, in soul, body, and spirit, as in 1
Thes. 5:23. And so old things pass away, and all things become new, because, as
the new man is put on, the old man is put off, so that the man in a sense
becomes new all over.
And if there be all graces alive in this new man, it
will follow that all corruptions are mortified; for there is no one corruption
but what has a grace opposite to, or to answer it; and the bestowment of the
grace mortifies the opposing corruption. Thus faith tends to mortify unbelief;
love, to mortify enmity; humility, to mortify pride; meekness, to mortify
revenge; thankfulness, to mortify a thankless spirit, etc. And as one of these
takes its place in the heart, the opposite gives way, just as darkness in a room
vanishes when a light is brought in. Thus old things pass away. All old things,
in a measure, pass away, though none perfectly, on earth; and so all things
become new, though also imperfectly. This shows that conversion, whenever and
wherever it is wrought, is a great work and a great change. Though grace may be
very imperfect, he must needs have a great change wrought in him who before had
no corruption mortified, and now has all mortified; and who before had not one
grace, and now has all graces. He may well be called a new creature, or, as in
the original, a new creation in Christ Jesus.
2. Hence, also, they that hope they have grace in
their hearts may try one grace by another; for all graces go together. — If
persons think they have faith, and therefore think they have come to Christ,
they should inquire whether their faith was accompanied with repentance; whether
they came to Christ in a broken-hearted manner, sensible of their own utter
unworthiness and vileness by sin; or whether they did not come in a
presumptuous, Pharisaical spirit, taking encouragement from their own supposed
goodness. They should try their faith, by inquiring whether it was accompanied
with humility; whether or no they trusted in Christ in a lowly and humble
manner, delighting to renounce themselves, and to give all the glory of their
salvation to him. So they should try their faith by their love; and if their
faith has in it only light, but no warmth, it has not the true light; neither is
it genuine faith, if it does not work by love.
And so persons should examine their love by their faith.
If they seem to have an affectionate love toward God and Christ, they should
inquire whether or no this be accompanied with a real conviction of soul of the
reality of Christ, and of the truth of the gospel that reveals him, and with the
full conviction that he is the Son of God — the only, and glorious, and
all-sufficient Savior. Herein is one great difference between false affections
and true ones, that the former are not accompanied with this conviction, and
they do not withal see the truth and reality of divine things. And therefore
such affections are very little to be depended on. They are very much like the
affection which we may have towards a person we are reading of in a romance, and
whom we at the same time suppose to be no other than a feigned person. Such
affections as are not accompanied with conviction will never carry men very far
in duty, or influence them to any great extent, either in doing or
suffering.
So, again, persons should examine themselves as to that
in them which seems to be the grace of hope. They should inquire whether their
hope is accompanied. with faith, and arises from faith in Jesus Christ, and from
a trust in his worthiness, and in his only. Is their hope built on this rock, or
is it rather founded on a high opinion of something they think good in
themselves? And so they should examine in what way their hope works, and what
influence it has upon them, and whether or no it be accompanied. with humility.
A true hope leads its possessor to see his own unworthiness, and, in view of his
sins, to reflect on himself with shame and brokenness of heart. It lies in the
dust before God, and the comfort that arises from it is a lowly, humble, joy and
peace. On the contrary, a false hope is wont to lift its possessor up with a
high conceit of himself and of his own experience and doings. We should also
inquire whether our hope be accompanied with a spirit of obedience, and
self-denial, and weanedness from the world. A true hope is accompanied with
these other graces, linked. to, and dependent upon it, whereas a false hope is
without them. It does not engage the heart in obedience, but flatters and
hardens it in disobedience. It does not mortify carnal appetites, and wean from
the world, but indulges the appetites and passions that are sinful, and chooses
them, and makes men easy while living in them.
So, again, persons should examine their weanedness from
the world, by inquiring whether it be accompanied with such a principle of love
as draws their hearts off from the things of the world to those spiritual and
heavenly objects which a true divine love carries the soul out to, more than to
the things of the world. They should not only ask if they have something that
appears like a true love, but they should hear Christ asking of them, as he did
of Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” Herein a
true weanedness from the world differs from a false weanedness. The latter is
not from love to God and heavenly things, but commonly either from fear and
distress of conscience, or perhaps from some outward affliction, whereby persons
have their minds drawn off for a time from the world to something that they are
constrained. to feel is better, though it is not really sweeter to them; and
they are only drawn, or beaten, or torn off from the world, while their hearts
would still cleave to it just as much as ever, if they could but enjoy it free
from these terrors and afflictions. But they, on the other hand, that have a
true weanedness from the world, are not wedded to worldly things even in their
best and most inviting forms, because their hearts are drawn off by the love of
something better. They are so in love with God, and with spiritual things, that
their affections cannot fasten on the things of the world.
In the same way, persons should try their love to God by their love to the people of God; and also their love to their fellow-Christians by their love to God. False grace is like a defective or monstrous picture or image, wherein some essential part is wanting. There is, it may be, an appearance of some good disposition toward God, while at the same time there is a destitution of Christian dispositions toward men. Or if there appears to be a kind, just, generous, good-hearted disposition toward man, there is a want of right feeling toward God. On this account, we find God complains of Ephraim, that “he is a cake not turned” (Hos. 7:8); that is, that his goodness is partial and not consistent; that he is good in one thing and bad in another, like a cake not turned, which is generally burnt on one side and raw on the other, and good for nothing on either. Such a character we should studiously avoid, and endeavor that each grace that we have may testify to the genuineness of all our other graces, so that we may be proportioned Christians, growing in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto perfect men, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.