He answereth and saith unto them
By telling them what they should do; and he does not put them
upon ceremonial observances, nor severe exercises of religion,
nor even the duties of the first table of the law, and others of
the second, though necessary to be done; but upon acts of
beneficence and kindness, to fellow creatures in distress; and
are what may be called love of our neighbour, and which involves
the love of God, and so the whole law; for the one cannot be
rightly exercised without the other:
he that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath
none;
not both of them, but one of them: a man is not obliged to go
naked himself, in order to clothe another; and so the Persic and
Ethiopic versions read, "let him give one to him that has not";
that has not a garment to wear. This is not to be understood
strictly and literally, that a man is obliged to give one of his
coats, if he has more than one, to a person in want of clothing;
it will be sufficient to answer the intent of this exhortation,
if he supplies his want another way, by furnishing him with money
to buy one: the meaning is, that persons according to their
abilities, and of what they can spare, should communicate to
those that are in distress: much less is it to be concluded from
hence, that it is not lawful for a man to have more coats than
one:
and he that hath meat,
or meats, let him do likewise;
that is, he that has a sufficiency of food, and more than enough
for himself and family, let him give it freely and cheerfully to
the poor and needy, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased:
and when such acts of kindness are done in faith, from a
principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God, they are
the fruits of grace, and such as are meet for repentance, and
show it to be genuine. John instances in these two articles, food
and raiment, as containing the necessaries of human life, and
including every thing, by which one may be serviceable to
another.