14.02b. The NATURE of the precepts (cont)
The NATURE of the precepts (continued) The main, the leading form of the precept is of course that of INJUNCTION or DIRECTION; that is, it authoritatively bids us do or not do this or that thing, pursue or not pursue this or that line of action. (The definition of a precept, as given in our best dictionaries, is, "A commandment or order intended as an authoritative rule of action."—Webster) It is thus distinguished from an invitation, such as, "Come unto me all you that labor," etc. (Matthew 11:28.) "If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink;" (John 7:37;) and from a rebuke, such as, "And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you." (1 Corinthians 5:2.) "You observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." (Galatians 4:10-11.) But though its main form is necessarily one of injunction, without which, indeed, it would not be precept at all, it assumes various shades of direction, and yet every shade in the fullest harmony with the grace and spirit of the gospel. By way of introduction to the point before us, we may briefly mention that these varied forms of preceptive direction are chiefly–
1. command
2. injunction 3. entreaty or beseeching
4. admonition
(According to our translation there is another, that is, "exhorting;" but as this in the original is the same word as that rendered "beseeching," we shall not notice it as a distinct form.)
1. Thus sometimes it assumes the language of COMMAND. "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." (2 Thessalonians 3:6.) And again—"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10.) So also—"And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband." (1 Corinthians 7:10.) This is, so to speak, the highest note of the precept—its strongest, loudest, and most authoritative voice.
If we examine the passages in which the precept assumes the form of a command; we shall find it employed for the most part in the four following cases–
1. When some danger is near.
2. Or when some flagrant evil or error is denounced.
3. Or when a strong injunction is laid on a man of God to invest him with peculiar authority.
4. Or when some important precept is urged. To each and all of those cases the voice of command, as we shall see if we examine them, is eminently suitable.
1. Take the first case—the voice of warning against some advancing danger or imminentDANGER. It seems thus used by the Apostle Peter in his second epistle—"That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the Apostles of the Lord and Savior; knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts." (2 Peter 3:2-3.) The Apostles of the Lord knew that there would come in the last days ungodly scoffers, and therefore in the strong language of command they warned the people of God against these perilous times and these perilous men. Is there anything out of place in the language of command here? A low, soft voice, a gentle whisper, would not do were you to see a man about to cross the line as a railway train was coming in, or if in the dead of night it were needful to give an alarm of "fire" to your next door neighbor. The voice, then, of authoritative command is not out of harmony with the grace and love of the gospel, when the precept warns the people of God against coming dangers and advancing perils, and shouts to them, as if from the top of the mountains, to take close heed to their steps.
2. But now take the case of denouncing EVIL or ERROR in the professing Church. Is sin or error to be sprinkled with rose-water, or dealt with lovingly and tenderly, as if in a lover’s whisper on a moonlight eve? Look at the almost parallel case of the ministry. Does not God bid his servants "lift up their voice like a trumpet, to show his people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins!" (Isaiah 58:1.) There is an allusion here to the two silver trumpets which, at the command of the Lord, were made by Moses for the priests to blow, for the calling of the assembly and the journeying of the camps. (Numbers 10:1-2.) As, then, it was still the same silver trumpet which, "in the days of their gladness and in their solemn days," was blown over their burnt offerings and their peace offerings that sounded, when needful, an alarm, so it is still the same gospel precept which sometimes speaks in the language of the tenderest entreaty, and at others denounces sin and error as with trumpet voice.
Thus the word "command" is used when the evil is denounced of not withdrawing from a brother that walks disorderly; (2 Thessalonians 3:6;) or of living lazily, without working, upon other people’s bounty; (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12;) or of a woman’s abandoning her husband, or the husband’s divorcing his wife, as not being a believer; (1 Corinthians 8:10;) or of warning against some gross sin. (1 Thessalonians 4:2-7.) In these instances wisely and graciously does the Holy Spirit employ the language of command, as thus impressing upon the precept a firmer and more authoritative character than mere entreaty. The evil of a wife’s forsaking her husband, or of a husband’s divorcing his wife, is surely to be dealt with by a firmer hand than the lack of a forgiving spirit among brethren. Command is too strong for the latter; entreaty too mild for the former. Each has its place in the precept; and each is suitable and beautiful according to its use, and according to its place.
3. The next case in which the word command is used is the AUTHORITY which a servant of Christ possesses as mouth for God. For instance—"Those things command and teach." (1 Timothy 4:11.) "Let the people know and feel," says Paul to Timothy, "that you speak with authority. Deal with them firmly when needful. God has put into your hands weapons mighty to pull down strongholds." (2 Corinthians 10:4.) Speak out in the voice of command when evils arise, errors spring up, or dangers threaten. In this sense it much approaches the nature of another ministerial weapon—the language of rebuke. "Those who sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." (1 Timothy 5:20.)
It is a great mistake to think that the servants of Christ have no authority in the Church; no power to command, as well as to teach. The Apostle expressly says to Titus, "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you." (Titus 2:15.) Paul well knew that there were those in the churches who would seek to exalt themselves and depress the minister; consider him their servant, or try to make him their tool. He, therefore, meets this leveling spirit by bidding Timothy command as well as teach, and by telling Titus to speak, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Of course this authority is wholly spiritual; but it is derived from the Lord, not from the Church. Those churches, and, we may add, those officers of churches, therefore, greatly err who treat their pastors as if they were rather their servants than the Lord’s servants; and instead of obeying those who have the rule over them, and submitting themselves to their authority, (Hebrews 13:17,) rather seek to domineer, and even tyrannise over them by carnal weapons, and by that worst and basest of all—the purse.
4. The next and last case where the precept assumes the language of command is when PECULIAR IMPORTANCE is attached to the command. Now, what is the grand precept of the New Testament; in fact, the sum and substance of all the precepts? Is it not love? Need we, then, be surprised if this best, this sweetest and greatest of all the precepts, should, above all others, be enforced with authority? How blessedly did this precept fall from the lips of our Lord with the voice of command! "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12.) And again—"These things I command you, that you love one other." (John 15:17.) So also—"A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34.) In a similar spirit writes the beloved disciple—"And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another." (1 John 3:23.) "And this commandment have we from him, that he who loves God love his brother also." (1 John 4:21.) Our readers will doubtless think with us that we have said quite enough upon this point. We shall, therefore, now proceed to consider the other forms of the precept of which we have already given a short summary.
2. Sometimes, then, it takes the form of INJUNCTION, that is, it simply and plainly bids us do or not do this or that thing. This is its leading form, and that which mainly constitutes it precept. Thus when it says, "Put off the old man, and put on the new." "Pray without ceasing—in everything give thanks." "Provide things honest in the sight of all men." "Husbands, love your wives." "Servants, obey your masters in all things," and so on. It simply bids us, as Christian men, do those things which befit the gospel, and bring forth those fruits which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. As one of the simplest and most marked instances of this injunctive form of the precept, take what we may call that comprehensive code of directions given us Romans 12:6-21, or that line of Christian walk and conduct which is laid down 1 Thessalonians 5:15-22. The main feature stamped upon each of these concise yet clear lists of directions is that of injunction—in other words, the Holy Spirit simply bids or enjoins upon us to pursue a certain course of Christian conduct.
This, in fact, is the precept in its simplest form—a kind of medium between the voice of command, which is the highest, and the voice of entreaty, which is the lowest note in the scale. It therefore specially appeals to our spiritual understanding. Let us explain this point a little more clearly.
Assuming, then, that a believer possesses these four things, as parts or members of the new man of grace—a good or pure conscience; (1 Timothy 1:19; 1 Timothy 3:9;) an enlightened understanding; (Ephesians 1:18;) a new, tender, and broken heart; (Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Kings 22:19; Psalms 51:17;) and spiritual memory, or recollection of the Lord’s dealings with the soul; (Deuteronomy 8:2; John 14:26; Hebrews 10:32;) the four distinctive forms of precept which we have already enumerated address themselves severally to each of them. Thus, "command" addresses itself to the conscience, "injunction" to the understanding, "entreaty" to the heart, and "admonition" to the memory. Not that each of these forms does not take in, and address itself to, the whole of a believer’s new man of grace—not that there is any real separation of his conscience from his heart, or of his understanding from his memory—for our spiritual as well as our natural faculties are so combined in thought and action that they cannot be separated; but for the sake of clearness we may view them as distinct both in themselves and in their action.
Thus the precept under the form of "injunction," which we are now considering, addresses itself chiefly to our spiritual understanding. It thus becomes "a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path." (Psalms 119:105.) In that beautiful psalm just referred to, in which the yearnings of a living soul towards, the actings of a believing heart upon the word of God are so vividly portrayed, we may very plainly see the connection between the precept and an enlightened understanding. "Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law." (Psalms 119:34.) "Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." (Psalms 119:18.) Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes." (Psalms 119:33.) "Make me to understand the way of your precepts." (Psalms 119:27.) How such and similar petitions show the existence of a gracious connection between understanding the precept and doing it. Indeed, how can we do the will of God unless we know the will of God? How can I tell how to act in this or that case agreeably to his revealed will—unless my eyes are spiritually enlightened to see what that revealed will is? This is not head knowledge, or "the knowledge that puffs up," but that gracious light in the understanding whereby it is divinely illuminated to know the truth as it is in Jesus—the fruit of that "anointing which teaches of all things, and is truth, and is no lie," (1 John 2:27,) enabling its favored possessor to say, "We know that the Spirit of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true." (1 John 5:20.)
It is then to this gracious, this enlightened understanding that the precept, under its simplest form of injunction, chiefly addresses itself. We have rather lingered on this point, as having long felt that so few see the distinction between what the Apostle calls "the form of knowledge," (Romans 2:20,) or "the knowledge which puffs up," (1 Corinthians 8:1,) or "that understanding of all mysteries and of all knowledge" which a man may have and "be nothing," (1 Corinthians 13:2,) and that gracious understanding of the things of God which springs out of the teaching of the Holy Spirit, (1 Corinthians 2:12,) and the shining of God himself into the heart to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4.) When we come to the spirit of the precept, we shall see how this enlightened understanding acts in sweet harmony with the conscience, heart, and memory.
3. A. third form of the precept is ENTREATY. This is the tenderest form of the precept—its lowest, softest note, addressing itself immediately to the heart, as softened and melted with a sense of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. "I beseech you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God;" (Romans 12:1;) "Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:1.) "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling with which you are called." (Ephesians 4:1.) What a tenderness there is in these earnest entreaties of the man of God; and to show that he used this language not of his own personal authority—but as the commissioned servant of God, he says in one place—"Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We implore you in Christ’s stead, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20.)
How these tender appeals to our heart prove the true character of the precept, that it is gospel—not law; mercy—not judgment; grace—not works; liberty—not bondage; life—not death; salvation—not damnation; love—not fear; which animate it and breathe through it. O how this sweet spirit of gospel grace, breathing through the precept, distinguishes it on the one hand from the hard bondage of legal service, and on the other from that looseness of lip and life which has done more than anything else to throw discredit on the glorious gospel of the grace of God. But we are anticipating another part of our subject, and shall, therefore, now proceed to the last form of the precept proposed for consideration.
4. This is that of ADMONITION. To admonish is a part of the ministry of the gospel—"And we beseech you, brethren, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you." (1 Thessalonians 5:12.) And as it is a part of the ministry of the gospel, so it is also an appointed means of the mutual edification of believers by one another—"And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another." (Romans 15:14.) So also—"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3:16.)
We have already intimated that the voice of admonition addresses itself chiefly to the spiritual memory. We do not say that it does not appeal also to the understanding, to the conscience, and to the heart, for all these work and act together; but it chiefly and mainly addresses itself to our recollection. Thus when Paul says to his son Timothy, "Of these things put them in remembrance;" (2 Timothy 2:14;) "If you put the brethren in remembrance of these things;" (1 Timothy 4:6;) or when he appears to his Hebrew brethren—"But call to remembrance the former days," (Hebrews 10:32,) he evidently addresses himself to their spiritual memory—the recollection of the Lord’s mercies towards, and his claims upon them. So when Peter says—"Therefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth;" (2 Peter 1:12;) and again—"Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance," (2 Peter 1:15,) he evidently appeals to their recollection of truths formerly laid before them, and of their own experience of their reality and blessedness in knowing that they had "not followed cunningly-devised fables." This mode of appeal singularly distinguishes the second epistle of Peter, and seems especially suitable to an aged Apostle, and one about shortly to put off his tabernacle. (2 Peter 1:14.) A dying man may well write as his last affectionate appeal to his beloved children—"This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the Apostles of the Lord and Savior." (2 Peter 3:1-2.) This is admonition of the strongest, and yet tenderest kind.
If an affectionate father on a death-bed had said to his weeping children—"Be mindful of my last wishes; remember my dying request, that you should live in peace and union with each other," would it be out of place if those children were admonished of their father’s words by their mother or a friend when they seemed disposed to quarrel? Would it not stir up their minds by way of remembrance, and appeal to their hearts through their memory? And similarly do not our minds need stirring up by way of remembrance? Observe, it is our "pure minds," that is, our new man of grace—"the mind with which we serve the law of God," (Romans 7:25,) (not our carnal mind, our flesh, our body of sin and death,) which the precept stirs up by way of remembrance, when we call to memory the goodness and mercy of God, and feel warmed by a recollection of his past favors. Is there anything legal here? Anything like bondage, guilt, fear, wrath, hell, and damnation? O how the voice of the precept is misunderstood, when Sinai’s thunders are heard in it, or when wretched legalists shake it over the poor distressed people of God, as though they would gladly tie them up to the post, and flog with it their bleeding backs!
No, dear friends, there is no terror in the precept as revealed by the Holy Spirit in the word, and as revealed by the same Holy Spirit to the soul. It is all pure gospel, as pure as the grace from which it flows; and if it sometimes address itself to your conscience, sometimes to your understanding, sometimes to your heart, sometimes to your memory; if it commands, or enjoins, or beseeches, or admonishes—it is still a Father’s voice speaking to a son, and not a master’s giving orders to a servant. It is the special privilege of the freeborn sons and daughters of Zion to have such a line of walk and conduct traced out for them by their heavenly Father that they may know his will and do it; and they have the greatest reason to praise and bless his holy name that he has so kindly condescended to teach and instruct them in the way which they should go, and thus ever guide them with his eye. (Psalms 32:8.) The main, the leading form of the precept is of course that of INJUNCTION or DIRECTION; that is, it authoritatively bids us do or not do this or that thing, pursue or not pursue this or that line of action. (The definition of a precept, as given in our best dictionaries, is, "A commandment or order intended as an authoritative rule of action."—Webster) It is thus distinguished from an invitation, such as, "Come unto me all you that labor," etc. (Matthew 11:28.) "If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink;" (John 7:37;) and from a rebuke, such as, "And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you." (1 Corinthians 5:2.) "You observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." (Galatians 4:10-11.) But though its main form is necessarily one of injunction, without which, indeed, it would not be precept at all, it assumes various shades of direction, and yet every shade in the fullest harmony with the grace and spirit of the gospel. By way of introduction to the point before us, we may briefly mention that these varied forms of preceptive direction are chiefly–
1. command
2. injunction 3. entreaty or beseeching
4. admonition
(According to our translation there is another, that is, "exhorting;" but as this in the original is the same word as that rendered "beseeching," we shall not notice it as a distinct form.)
1. Thus sometimes it assumes the language of COMMAND. "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." (2 Thessalonians 3:6.) And again—"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10.) So also—"And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband." (1 Corinthians 7:10.) This is, so to speak, the highest note of the precept—its strongest, loudest, and most authoritative voice.
If we examine the passages in which the precept assumes the form of a command; we shall find it employed for the most part in the four following cases–
1. When some danger is near.
2. Or when some flagrant evil or error is denounced.
3. Or when a strong injunction is laid on a man of God to invest him with peculiar authority.
4. Or when some important precept is urged. To each and all of those cases the voice of command, as we shall see if we examine them, is eminently suitable.
1. Take the first case—the voice of warning against some advancing danger or imminentDANGER. It seems thus used by the Apostle Peter in his second epistle—"That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the Apostles of the Lord and Savior; knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts." (2 Peter 3:2-3.) The Apostles of the Lord knew that there would come in the last days ungodly scoffers, and therefore in the strong language of command they warned the people of God against these perilous times and these perilous men. Is there anything out of place in the language of command here? A low, soft voice, a gentle whisper, would not do were you to see a man about to cross the line as a railway train was coming in, or if in the dead of night it were needful to give an alarm of "fire" to your next door neighbor. The voice, then, of authoritative command is not out of harmony with the grace and love of the gospel, when the precept warns the people of God against coming dangers and advancing perils, and shouts to them, as if from the top of the mountains, to take close heed to their steps.
2. But now take the case of denouncing EVIL or ERROR in the professing Church. Is sin or error to be sprinkled with rose-water, or dealt with lovingly and tenderly, as if in a lover’s whisper on a moonlight eve? Look at the almost parallel case of the ministry. Does not God bid his servants "lift up their voice like a trumpet, to show his people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins!" (Isaiah 58:1.) There is an allusion here to the two silver trumpets which, at the command of the Lord, were made by Moses for the priests to blow, for the calling of the assembly and the journeying of the camps. (Numbers 10:1-2.) As, then, it was still the same silver trumpet which, "in the days of their gladness and in their solemn days," was blown over their burnt offerings and their peace offerings that sounded, when needful, an alarm, so it is still the same gospel precept which sometimes speaks in the language of the tenderest entreaty, and at others denounces sin and error as with trumpet voice.
Thus the word "command" is used when the evil is denounced of not withdrawing from a brother that walks disorderly; (2 Thessalonians 3:6;) or of living lazily, without working, upon other people’s bounty; (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12;) or of a woman’s abandoning her husband, or the husband’s divorcing his wife, as not being a believer; (1 Corinthians 8:10;) or of warning against some gross sin. (1 Thessalonians 4:2-7.) In these instances wisely and graciously does the Holy Spirit employ the language of command, as thus impressing upon the precept a firmer and more authoritative character than mere entreaty. The evil of a wife’s forsaking her husband, or of a husband’s divorcing his wife, is surely to be dealt with by a firmer hand than the lack of a forgiving spirit among brethren. Command is too strong for the latter; entreaty too mild for the former. Each has its place in the precept; and each is suitable and beautiful according to its use, and according to its place.
3. The next case in which the word command is used is the AUTHORITY which a servant of Christ possesses as mouth for God. For instance—"Those things command and teach." (1 Timothy 4:11.) "Let the people know and feel," says Paul to Timothy, "that you speak with authority. Deal with them firmly when needful. God has put into your hands weapons mighty to pull down strongholds." (2 Corinthians 10:4.) Speak out in the voice of command when evils arise, errors spring up, or dangers threaten. In this sense it much approaches the nature of another ministerial weapon—the language of rebuke. "Those who sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." (1 Timothy 5:20.)
It is a great mistake to think that the servants of Christ have no authority in the Church; no power to command, as well as to teach. The Apostle expressly says to Titus, "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you." (Titus 2:15.) Paul well knew that there were those in the churches who would seek to exalt themselves and depress the minister; consider him their servant, or try to make him their tool. He, therefore, meets this leveling spirit by bidding Timothy command as well as teach, and by telling Titus to speak, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Of course this authority is wholly spiritual; but it is derived from the Lord, not from the Church. Those churches, and, we may add, those officers of churches, therefore, greatly err who treat their pastors as if they were rather their servants than the Lord’s servants; and instead of obeying those who have the rule over them, and submitting themselves to their authority, (Hebrews 13:17,) rather seek to domineer, and even tyrannise over them by carnal weapons, and by that worst and basest of all—the purse.
4. The next and last case where the precept assumes the language of command is when PECULIAR IMPORTANCE is attached to the command. Now, what is the grand precept of the New Testament; in fact, the sum and substance of all the precepts? Is it not love? Need we, then, be surprised if this best, this sweetest and greatest of all the precepts, should, above all others, be enforced with authority? How blessedly did this precept fall from the lips of our Lord with the voice of command! "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12.) And again—"These things I command you, that you love one other." (John 15:17.) So also—"A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34.) In a similar spirit writes the beloved disciple—"And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another." (1 John 3:23.) "And this commandment have we from him, that he who loves God love his brother also." (1 John 4:21.) Our readers will doubtless think with us that we have said quite enough upon this point. We shall, therefore, now proceed to consider the other forms of the precept of which we have already given a short summary.
2. Sometimes, then, it takes the form of INJUNCTION, that is, it simply and plainly bids us do or not do this or that thing. This is its leading form, and that which mainly constitutes it precept. Thus when it says, "Put off the old man, and put on the new." "Pray without ceasing—in everything give thanks." "Provide things honest in the sight of all men." "Husbands, love your wives." "Servants, obey your masters in all things," and so on. It simply bids us, as Christian men, do those things which befit the gospel, and bring forth those fruits which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. As one of the simplest and most marked instances of this injunctive form of the precept, take what we may call that comprehensive code of directions given us Romans 12:6-21, or that line of Christian walk and conduct which is laid down 1 Thessalonians 5:15-22. The main feature stamped upon each of these concise yet clear lists of directions is that of injunction—in other words, the Holy Spirit simply bids or enjoins upon us to pursue a certain course of Christian conduct.
This, in fact, is the precept in its simplest form—a kind of medium between the voice of command, which is the highest, and the voice of entreaty, which is the lowest note in the scale. It therefore specially appeals to our spiritual understanding. Let us explain this point a little more clearly.
Assuming, then, that a believer possesses these four things, as parts or members of the new man of grace—a good or pure conscience; (1 Timothy 1:19; 1 Timothy 3:9;) an enlightened understanding; (Ephesians 1:18;) a new, tender, and broken heart; (Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Kings 22:19; Psalms 51:17;) and spiritual memory, or recollection of the Lord’s dealings with the soul; (Deuteronomy 8:2; John 14:26; Hebrews 10:32;) the four distinctive forms of precept which we have already enumerated address themselves severally to each of them. Thus, "command" addresses itself to the conscience, "injunction" to the understanding, "entreaty" to the heart, and "admonition" to the memory. Not that each of these forms does not take in, and address itself to, the whole of a believer’s new man of grace—not that there is any real separation of his conscience from his heart, or of his understanding from his memory—for our spiritual as well as our natural faculties are so combined in thought and action that they cannot be separated; but for the sake of clearness we may view them as distinct both in themselves and in their action.
Thus the precept under the form of "injunction," which we are now considering, addresses itself chiefly to our spiritual understanding. It thus becomes "a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path." (Psalms 119:105.) In that beautiful psalm just referred to, in which the yearnings of a living soul towards, the actings of a believing heart upon the word of God are so vividly portrayed, we may very plainly see the connection between the precept and an enlightened understanding. "Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law." (Psalms 119:34.) "Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." (Psalms 119:18.) Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes." (Psalms 119:33.) "Make me to understand the way of your precepts." (Psalms 119:27.) How such and similar petitions show the existence of a gracious connection between understanding the precept and doing it. Indeed, how can we do the will of God unless we know the will of God? How can I tell how to act in this or that case agreeably to his revealed will—unless my eyes are spiritually enlightened to see what that revealed will is? This is not head knowledge, or "the knowledge that puffs up," but that gracious light in the understanding whereby it is divinely illuminated to know the truth as it is in Jesus—the fruit of that "anointing which teaches of all things, and is truth, and is no lie," (1 John 2:27,) enabling its favored possessor to say, "We know that the Spirit of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true." (1 John 5:20.)
It is then to this gracious, this enlightened understanding that the precept, under its simplest form of injunction, chiefly addresses itself. We have rather lingered on this point, as having long felt that so few see the distinction between what the Apostle calls "the form of knowledge," (Romans 2:20,) or "the knowledge which puffs up," (1 Corinthians 8:1,) or "that understanding of all mysteries and of all knowledge" which a man may have and "be nothing," (1 Corinthians 13:2,) and that gracious understanding of the things of God which springs out of the teaching of the Holy Spirit, (1 Corinthians 2:12,) and the shining of God himself into the heart to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4.) When we come to the spirit of the precept, we shall see how this enlightened understanding acts in sweet harmony with the conscience, heart, and memory.
3. A. third form of the precept is ENTREATY. This is the tenderest form of the precept—its lowest, softest note, addressing itself immediately to the heart, as softened and melted with a sense of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. "I beseech you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God;" (Romans 12:1;) "Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:1.) "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling with which you are called." (Ephesians 4:1.) What a tenderness there is in these earnest entreaties of the man of God; and to show that he used this language not of his own personal authority—but as the commissioned servant of God, he says in one place—"Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We implore you in Christ’s stead, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20.)
How these tender appeals to our heart prove the true character of the precept, that it is gospel—not law; mercy—not judgment; grace—not works; liberty—not bondage; life—not death; salvation—not damnation; love—not fear; which animate it and breathe through it. O how this sweet spirit of gospel grace, breathing through the precept, distinguishes it on the one hand from the hard bondage of legal service, and on the other from that looseness of lip and life which has done more than anything else to throw discredit on the glorious gospel of the grace of God. But we are anticipating another part of our subject, and shall, therefore, now proceed to the last form of the precept proposed for consideration.
4. This is that of ADMONITION. To admonish is a part of the ministry of the gospel—"And we beseech you, brethren, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you." (1 Thessalonians 5:12.) And as it is a part of the ministry of the gospel, so it is also an appointed means of the mutual edification of believers by one another—"And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another." (Romans 15:14.) So also—"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3:16.)
We have already intimated that the voice of admonition addresses itself chiefly to the spiritual memory. We do not say that it does not appeal also to the understanding, to the conscience, and to the heart, for all these work and act together; but it chiefly and mainly addresses itself to our recollection. Thus when Paul says to his son Timothy, "Of these things put them in remembrance;" (2 Timothy 2:14;) "If you put the brethren in remembrance of these things;" (1 Timothy 4:6;) or when he appears to his Hebrew brethren—"But call to remembrance the former days," (Hebrews 10:32,) he evidently addresses himself to their spiritual memory—the recollection of the Lord’s mercies towards, and his claims upon them. So when Peter says—"Therefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth;" (2 Peter 1:12;) and again—"Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance," (2 Peter 1:15,) he evidently appeals to their recollection of truths formerly laid before them, and of their own experience of their reality and blessedness in knowing that they had "not followed cunningly-devised fables." This mode of appeal singularly distinguishes the second epistle of Peter, and seems especially suitable to an aged Apostle, and one about shortly to put off his tabernacle. (2 Peter 1:14.) A dying man may well write as his last affectionate appeal to his beloved children—"This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the Apostles of the Lord and Savior." (2 Peter 3:1-2.) This is admonition of the strongest, and yet tenderest kind.
If an affectionate father on a death-bed had said to his weeping children—"Be mindful of my last wishes; remember my dying request, that you should live in peace and union with each other," would it be out of place if those children were admonished of their father’s words by their mother or a friend when they seemed disposed to quarrel? Would it not stir up their minds by way of remembrance, and appeal to their hearts through their memory? And similarly do not our minds need stirring up by way of remembrance? Observe, it is our "pure minds," that is, our new man of grace—"the mind with which we serve the law of God," (Romans 7:25,) (not our carnal mind, our flesh, our body of sin and death,) which the precept stirs up by way of remembrance, when we call to memory the goodness and mercy of God, and feel warmed by a recollection of his past favors. Is there anything legal here? Anything like bondage, guilt, fear, wrath, hell, and damnation? O how the voice of the precept is misunderstood, when Sinai’s thunders are heard in it, or when wretched legalists shake it over the poor distressed people of God, as though they would gladly tie them up to the post, and flog with it their bleeding backs!
No, dear friends, there is no terror in the precept as revealed by the Holy Spirit in the word, and as revealed by the same Holy Spirit to the soul. It is all pure gospel, as pure as the grace from which it flows; and if it sometimes address itself to your conscience, sometimes to your understanding, sometimes to your heart, sometimes to your memory; if it commands, or enjoins, or beseeches, or admonishes—it is still a Father’s voice speaking to a son, and not a master’s giving orders to a servant. It is the special privilege of the freeborn sons and daughters of Zion to have such a line of walk and conduct traced out for them by their heavenly Father that they may know his will and do it; and they have the greatest reason to praise and bless his holy name that he has so kindly condescended to teach and instruct them in the way which they should go, and thus ever guide them with his eye. (Psalms 32:8.)
Let, then, some legalize and pervert, and let others neglect and despise the precept; it still remains the possession and the privilege of the living family of God—their possession as their Father’s revealed will, and their privilege as their inspired guide to the obedience of faith. In our next section we hope, if the Lord wills, to enter upon the spirit of the precept; and may the Holy Spirit who has revealed in it the letter of the word, and who, from time to time, animates it with his vivifying breath, rest upon our spirit and our pen, and upon the spirit of our gracious readers.