Unto you therefore which believe
And such are not all they that can say their creed, or give their
assent to the articles of it; nor all that believe a divine
revelation, and that the Scriptures are the word of God, and give
credit to all that is contained in the sacred oracles; or who
believe the whole Gospel, and all the truths of it; as that there
is one God; that there are three persons in the Godhead, Father,
Son, and Spirit; that Christ is the Son of God, and truly God;
that he is the Mediator between God and man; that he is the
Messiah, is become incarnate, has obeyed, suffered, and died for
men, and is the Saviour of them: that he rose again, ascended to
heaven, is set down at the right hand of God, intercedes for his
people, and will come a second time to judge the world in
righteousness; together with all other truths which arise from,
depend upon, and are connected with these; nor all that say they
believe, or profess to do so; but such who have seen themselves
lost and undone by sin, their need of a Saviour, and Christ as
the only one; who have seen the Son, the beauty of his person,
the fulness of his grace, and the necessity and suitableness of
salvation by him; who have beheld him as able to save them, as
every way proper for them, and desirable by them, for faith is a
sight of Christ; who also come to him under the drawings of
efficacious grace, as perishing sinners, encouraged by his
invitations and declarations, and venture on him; who likewise
lay hold upon him, as their Saviour, and will have no other; give
up themselves to him, and commit their all into his hands; who
rely and stay themselves upon him, trust him with all they have,
and for all they want, expecting grace and glory from him; who
live upon him, and walk on in him, go on believing in him, till
they receive the end of their faith, the salvation of their
souls. Now to these, in proof of what is asserted in the above
passage out of Isaiah, Christ is
precious;
he is so in all his names and titles, as Immanuel, God with us,
and that cluster of them in ( Isaiah 9:6 ) and
particularly his name Jesus, a Saviour, which is as ointment
poured forth, and draws the love of believers to him; and so he
is in both his natures, divine and human; the perfections of
deity in him, his being in the form of God, and equal to him, the
brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his
person, render him very amiable in the view of believers; who
rightly conclude from hence, that all he has done, and does, must
answer the purposes for which they are designed; and his having a
perfect human nature, like to theirs, excepting sin, in which he
wrought salvation for them on earth, and is now glorified in
heaven, makes him a delightful object to them: he is also
precious to them in all his offices; in his priestly office, his
blood is precious, as it must needs be, since by it they are
purchased and redeemed; they are justified and sanctified by it;
through it they have the forgiveness of sin, and boldness to
enter into the holiest of all: his righteousness is precious to
them, it being the best robe, the wedding garment, fine linen,
clean and white, every way suitable to them, and answerable to
the demands of the law; is pure, perfect, and everlasting; that
by which they are justified from all things, and which will
answer for them in a time to come, and entitles them to eternal
life. His sacrifice is precious, of a sweet smelling savour to
them, as well as to God; by which their sins are fully expiated,
put, and taken away; full satisfaction being made for them, and
they themselves thereby perfected for ever. And so he is in his
prophetic office. His word is precious, and all the truths of the
Gospel, which are comparable to gold, silver, and precious
stones; the promises of it are exceeding great and precious,
being suited to the cases of all believers: and he is also
precious in his kingly office; his commands are not grievous; his
yoke is easy, and burden light; believers love his commandments
above gold, yea; above fine gold, and esteem his precepts
concerning all things to be right, and delight in his ways and
ordinances: moreover, he is precious to them in all his
relations, as he is the head of eminence and influence, their
kind and loving husband, their everlasting Father, their
affectionate brother, and faithful friend; his whole person, in
every view, is precious to them that believe; the church of
Christ, the members of his body, the sons of Zion, comparable to
fine gold, in these is all the delight of saints; everything that
is in Christ, that is of him, or belongs to him, is precious to
such souls: some read the words, "to you therefore that believe,
he is honour"; as the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic
versions; and so the word is rendered in ( Romans 13:7 ) , he is
both an honour to them, that they are related to him; and he is
honoured by them, by believing in him, and obeying him; and he is
the cause of all their true honour, both in this and the other
world. The Syriac version renders it, "to therefore is this
honour given"; namely, that such a stone is laid, and that they
were built upon it, and should not be confounded or ashamed,
either here or hereafter; connecting the words with the
preceding. The Septuagint use the word the apostle here does, in
( Isaiah
11:10 ) where it is prophesied of the Messiah, that his rest
shall be glorious; they render it (timh) , "honour", or "precious". The Jewish writers
have adopted the word (ymyj) into their language, and use it for profit and
gain F23; in which sense it is applicable to
Christ, who is gain to believers, both in life and in death; they
being blessed with all spiritual blessings in him, and he being
all in all to them: and also they use it, as denoting the
intrinsic price and value of anything F24, and
which is a right sense of the word; and to believers the price of
wisdom, or Christ, is far above rubies, and all the things that
can be desired; to them he is precious as a stone, as a
foundation and corner stone, and more precious than the most
precious stones or things in nature; this he is to them that
believe: next follows, in this and the other verse, the account
of what he is to them that believe not:
but unto them which be disobedient;
who are not persuadable, unbelieving, and are children of
disobedience; who neither obey God and his righteous law, nor
Christ and his Gospel:
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head
of the corner;
reference is manifestly had to ( Psalms
118:22 ) which is a passage that clearly belongs to the
Messiah, and which is suggested by Christ himself, (See Gill
on Matthew
21:42); and is by our apostle, in ( Acts 4:11 Acts 4:12 ) applied unto
him: by the builders are meant the rulers of the Jews, both civil
and ecclesiastical, and especially the latter, the Scribes,
Pharisees, and chief priests; who set up for builders of the
church of God, but were miserable ones; they built themselves,
and taught others to build, on the observance of the ceremonial
law, and the traditions of the elders; on their carnal
privileges, and moral righteousness; and these disallowed of
Christ in the building, rejected him as the Messiah, refused him
as the Saviour and Redeemer, and set him at nought, had him in
the utmost derision, and reckoned him as a worm, and no man; but,
to their great mortification, he is not only laid and retained as
the foundation and cornerstone, but made the head of the
building, and is exalted at God's right hand above angels and
men; he is the head of the body, the church; he is higher than
the kings of the earth, and angels are subject to him.