main homiletics of verses 5 and 6.
The Word of God.
I. God has given man a knowledge of His Character and Will. Although, as we have just seen from the preceding verses, God is so great and incomprehensible in His nature, there is a knowledge of Him which is possible to man and which he possesses. This seems reasonable before experience. If a man built a vessel which he intended to send his son to navigate across an unknown sea, we should conclude beforehand that he would put a compass in the vessel. And we should likewise conclude before experience that a just God would not build a world, and call into existence a creature like man to dwell in it, without furnishing him with a compass by which to guide his life—a revelation and a law by obedience to which he can be blest and saved. And what might have been expected has come to pass. God has spoken, and has thus met human expectation and human need. Agur recognised this fact in the days of old, and we, to whom in these last days God has spoken by His Son (Heb. i. 1), have a clearer revelation. In answer to Agur’s question, “Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended,” we can bring the words of Christ, “No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven” (John iii. 13), and in the record of His life and death obtain the fullest and clearest revelation of God that it is possible for Him to give and for us to receive.
II. The Word of God is what of necessity it must be. The sun is in its nature light, and therefore rays of light must proceed from it. That which flows from it must of necessity be of the same nature as the sun whence it comes, and the fountain of natural light being pure the streams which flow from it must be pure also. When human words are a reflection of the human soul, and “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. xii. 34), the spoken word must be of the same nature and character as the inward feelings. The purity of the outward word will be in proportion to the purity of the inner life. God is moral light—“In Him is no darkness at all” (1 John i. 5)—therefore, rays of moral light must flow from Him; all that proceeds from Him must be, like Himself, perfectly free from all shadow of moral imperfection.
III. Because the Word of God is what it is, it must be carefully preserved from human additions. It is manifest that nothing that man can add to what God has said can make His Word more fitted to a man’s needs, any more than any intervention of man can make the sun more perfectly adapted to human vision. It is therefore a criminal act for any creature to add to the Divine Word by putting his own ideas on an equality with the revealed thoughts of God, and most foolish for him to expect them to have the same power on the heart and conscience as Divine words have. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul” (Psa. xix. 7), and man must not tamper with its perfection. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). The fact that it comes from God is a guarantee that blessing will come from seeking to understand and obey it, and condemnation by seeking to improve it by human addition.
outlines and suggestive comments.
It is the saying of Tertullian, “This is the first thing which we believe, that there is nothing beside God’s word to be believed.”. . . At least it must not be taught or received, as added to His words, either as of equal authority with them, or as supposing any defect in them. . . . He therefore that addeth to God’s words, shall add unto his own words the just and sharp reproof of God upon them; and whatsoever any may think to find by the doing of it, he shall himself therefore be found a liar. Search them thou mayest to find the depth of them, explain them thou mayest that others may be able to find the meaning of them: but in searching, in explaining, let nothing be added that is contrary to them. . . . For what can he be but a liar that opposeth truth itself?—Jermin.
The learner is far in advance of his starting-point now. He set out in quest of knowledge to gratify a curious intellect; he ends it by finding rest for a troubled soul. He addressed himself successively to the air, and the water, and the earth; but they were all dumb. They sent back to him only the echo of his own cry. Turning next to the Scriptures, he finds what he sought and more. His darkness vanishes, and his danger too. No sooner has he learned that the Word is pure than he learns that the Speaker is gracious.—Arnot.
There is, perhaps, in the expression here a more immediate reference to the unmingled truth of God’s Word. This suits the connection with what follows:—“He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.” Scepticism and infidelity unsettle the mind. They leave it without confidence and without security. The mind under their influence is like a vessel that has drifted from its moorings, and has been left to drive out to sea, without rudder and without anchor,—unmanned, and at the mercy of the winds and waves and currents:—or, to keep nearer to the allusion in the verse under comment, it is like a soldier in the thick and peril of the battle without a shield, in danger from every arrow that flies, and every sword that is raised against him. They make their unhappy subject the sport and the victim of every delusive theory and every temptation of Satan. Hence such expressions as that of Paul to the Ephesians:—“Over all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” God is the “shield” of all who trust in Him. And it is the trust,—it is the firm faith in God,—that imparts the feeling of security. So, what is here said of God himself is said of His truth or faithfulness:—“His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” God could not be “a shield,” though His power be almighty, unless He were faithful. It is His faithfulness that renders Him the object of trust. And when this view of God’s faithfulness is such as to impart perfect trust—the spirit, calm and tranquil, feels as if it were under the protection of an all-covering shield.—Wardlaw.
main homiletics of verses 7–9.