THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL OF PERSONAL MORALITY
In treating the lesson for to-day, the teacher will be embarrassed by the wealth of his material. It is important, therefore, that the chief purpose of the lesson should not be lost amid a mass of details. That chief purpose is the presentation of Christianity as something that has a very definite and immediate bearing upon daily life. Christianity is first of all a piece of good news, a record of something that has happened; but the effect of it, if it be sincerely received, is always manifest in holy living.
1. THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS
In the Student's Text Book, little attempt was made at detailed analysis of the apostolic ideal. The defect should be supplied by careful attention to the "Topics for Study," and also, if possible, by the treatment of the lesson in class. First of all, however, it should be observed how naturally the apostolic presentation of the ideal grows out of the teaching of Jesus. The advance which revelation made after the close of Jesus' earthly ministry concerned the fuller explanation of the means by which the moral ideal is to be attained rather than additional exposition of the ideal itself. That does not mean that the apostles did no more, in the field of ethics, than quote the words of Jesus; indeed there seem to be surprisingly few direct quotations of the words of Jesus in the apostolic writings; the ethical teaching of the apostolic Church was no mere mechanical repetition of words, but a profound application of principles. Nevertheless the teaching of Jesus was absolutely fundamental; without an examination of it, the moral life of the apostolic Church cannot be fully understood.
(1) The Inexorableness of the Law.—Jesus had insisted, for example, upon the inexorableness of the law of God. To the keeping of God's commandments everything else must be sacrificed. "If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell." Matt. 5:29. In this respect the apostles were true disciples of their Master. The Christian, they insisted, must be absolutely ruthless; he must be willing to sacrifice everything he has for moral purity.
This ruthlessness, however, this thoroughgoing devotion to moral purity, did not mean in the teaching of Jesus, any more than in that of the apostles, that under ordinary conditions the Christian ought to withdraw from the simple pleasures that the world offers. Jesus himself took his place freely at feasts; so far was he from leading a stern, ascetic life that his enemies could even accuse him of being a winebibber and a friend of publicans and sinners. The fidelity with which the apostles followed this part of their Master's example has been pointed out in the Student's Text Book. The enjoyable things of the earth are not evil in themselves; they are to be received with thanksgiving as gifts of the heavenly Father, and then dedicated to his service.
(2) The Morality of the Heart.—Furthermore, Jesus, as well as his apostles, emphasized the inwardness of the moral law. Here again the apostolic Church was faithful to Jesus' teaching. The seat of sin was placed by the apostles in the very center of a man's life; the flesh and the Spirit wage their warfare in the battle field of the heart. See, for example, Gal. 5:16-24.
2. CONTRASTS
The sharp difference between the Christian life and the life of the world was set forth in the apostolic teaching by means of various contrasts.
(1) Death and Life.—In the first place, there was the contrast between death and life. The man of the world, according to the apostles, is not merely ill; he is morally and spiritually dead. Col. 2:13; Eph. 2:1,5. There is no hope for him in his old existence; that existence is merely a death in life. But God is One who can raise the dead; and as he raised Jesus from the tomb on the third day, so he raises those who belong to Jesus from the deadness of their sins; he implants in them a new life in which they can bring forth fruits unto God. A moral miracle, according to the New Testament, stands at the beginning of Christian experience. That miracle was called by Jesus himself, as well as by the apostles, a new birth or "regeneration." It is no work of man; only God can raise the dead. See John 1:13; 3:1-21; I John 2:29; I Peter 1:3,23.
(2) Darkness and Light.—The contrast between darkness and light, also, was common to the teaching of Jesus and that of his apostles. It appears particularly in the Gospel of John, but there are also clear traces of it in the Synoptists, Matt. 5:14-16; the righteous are "the sons of the light." Luke 16:8. In the writings of the apostles the contrast appears in many forms. "Ye are all sons of light," said Paul, "and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober." I Thess. 5:5,6. "Ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as children of light." Eph. 5:8. God has called us "out of darkness into his marvellous light." I Peter 2:9. The contrast serves admirably to represent the honesty and openness and cleanness of the true Christian life.
(3) Flesh and Spirit.—An even more important contrast is the contrast of flesh and Spirit, which is expounded especially by Paul. "Flesh" in this connection means something more than the bodily side of human nature; it means human nature as a whole, so far as it is not subjected to God. "Spirit" also means something more than might be supposed on a superficial examination. It does not mean the spiritual, as distinguished from the material, side of human nature; but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. The warfare, therefore, between the flesh and the Spirit, which is mentioned so often in the Pauline Epistles, is a warfare between sin and God.
The flesh, according to Paul, is a mighty power, which is too strong for the human will. It is impossible for the natural man to keep the law of God. "I know," says Paul, "that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not.... I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members." Rom. 7:18,21-23. In this recognition of the power of sin in human life, Paul has laid his finger upon one of the deepest facts in human experience.
The way of escape, however, has been provided; sin has been conquered in two aspects.
It has been conquered, in the first place, in its guilt. Without that conquest, everything else would be useless. The dreadful subjection to the power of sin, which becomes so abundantly plain in evil habit, was itself a punishment for sin; before the effect can be destroyed, the guilt which caused it must be removed. It has been removed by the sacrifice of Christ. Christ has died for us, the Just for the unjust; through his death we have a fresh start, in the favor of God, with the guilty past wiped out.
Sin has been conquered, in the second place, in its power. Together with the very implanting of faith in our hearts, the Holy Spirit has given us a new life, a new power, by which we can perform the works of God. A mighty warfare, indeed, is yet before us; but it is fought with the Spirit's help, and by the Spirit it will finally be won.
(4) The Old Man and the New.—As the contrast between the flesh and the Spirit was concerned with the causes of the Christian's escape from sin, so the contrast now to be considered is concerned with the effects of that escape. The Christian, according to Paul, has become a new man in Christ; the old man has been destroyed. The Gentiles, he says, are darkened in their understanding, and alienated from God. Eph. 4:17-19. "But ye did not so learn Christ; if so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit; and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth." Vs. 20-24. Compare Col. 3:5-11. This putting on of the new man is included in what Paul elsewhere calls putting on Christ. Gal. 3:27; Rom. 13:14. The true Christian has clothed himself with Christ; the lineaments of the old sinful nature have been transformed into the blessed features of the Master; look upon the Christian, and what you see is Christ! This change has been wrought by Christ himself; "it is no longer I that live," says Paul, "but Christ liveth in me"; Christ finds expression in the life of the Christian. It is noteworthy, however, that the "putting on" of Christ, which in Gal. 3:27 is represented as an accomplished fact, is in Rom. 13:14 inculcated as a duty. It has been accomplished already in principle—in his sacrificial death, Christ has already taken our place in the sight of God—but the practical realization of it in conduct is the lifelong task which every earnest disciple, aided by the Holy Spirit, must prosecute with might and main.
3. THE NEW MAN
Details in the character of the "new man," as they are revealed in the apostolic writings, can here be treated only very briefly.
(1) Honesty.—Certainly the Christian, according to the apostles, must be honest. Honesty is the foundation of the virtues; without it everything else is based upon the sand. Nothing could exceed the fine scorn which the New Testament heaps upon anything like hypocrisy or deceit. The Epistle of James, in particular, is a plea for profound reality in all departments of life. Away with all deceit! The Christian life is to be lived in the full blaze of God's sunlight.
Many hours could be occupied in the class with the applications of honesty under modern conditions. Student life, for example, is full of temptations to dishonesty. To say nothing of out-and-out cheating, there are a hundred ways in which the fine edge of honor can be blunted. In business life, also, temptations are many; and indeed no one can really escape the test. The apostolic example deserves to be borne in mind; Christian honesty ought to be more than the honesty of the world.
(2) Purity.—In the second place, the apostolic Church presents an ideal of purity, purity in thought as well as in word and deed. The ideal must have seemed strange to the degraded populations of Corinth and Ephesus; but it is also sadly needed to-day. Let us not deceive ourselves. He who would hold fellowship with Christ must put away impurity; Christ is the holy One. Purity, however, is to be attained not by unaided human effort, but by the help of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit, if he be admitted to the heart, will purge it of unclean thoughts.
(3) Patience and Bravery.—In the third place, patience and humility are prominent in the Christian ideal. These virtues are coupled, however, with the most vigorous bravery. There is nothing weak or sickly or sentimental about the Christian character. "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." I Cor. 16:13.
(4) Love.—The summation of the Christian ideal is love. Love, however, is more than a benevolent desire. It includes purity and heroism as well as helpfulness. In order to love in the Christian sense, one must attain "unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. 4:13.
In the Library.—Hastings, "Dictionary of the Bible": Strong, article on "Ethics" (II). Kilpatrick, "Christian Character." Bruce, "The Formation of Christian Character." Luthardt, "Apologetic Lectures on the Moral Truths of Christianity."