That ye may approve things that are excellent
Or "try things that differ". There are some things that differ
one from other; as morality and grace, earthly things, and
heavenly things, carnal and spiritual, temporal and eternal
things, law and Gospel, the doctrines of men, and the doctrines
of Christ; all which differ as much as chaff and wheat, as gold,
silver, precious stones, and wood, hay, stubble. These are to be
tried and proved; they are not to be received without
distinction, but should be examined, which is right and best to
be chosen and preferred; and to such trial and examination it is
necessary that a man should be transformed, by the renewing of
his mind, that he should have spiritual light, knowledge, and
experience, have his spiritual senses exercised to discern the
difference of things, and also the guidance, direction, and
influence of the Spirit of God: and this trial must be made, not
according to carnal reason, and the judgment and dictates of it;
for the most excellent things are above it, and out of its
sphere, and therefore judged foolish, and rejected by it; but
according to the word of God, the Scriptures of truth, in the
light of the divine Spirit, and with spiritual judgment and
sense; when some things will be found excellent, as Christ, and
the knowledge of him in his person, offices, grace,
righteousness, blood, sacrifice, and satisfaction, and the
several truths of the Gospel relating to peace, pardon,
justification, adoption, sanctification, and eternal life; and of
the several doctrines of the Gospel, some will appear in their
nature and use more excellent than others, more grand and
sublime; such as concern the sovereign and distinguishing grace
of God, the glory of Christ, and the salvation of the elect; some
being milk for babes, others meat for strong men. And these being
tried and proved, first by the word of God, and then by the
experience of the saints, are to be approved above thousands of
gold and silver, and esteemed more than our necessary food; even
the sincere milk of the word, as it is by newborn babes, as well
as the strong meat of it by the adult, and all to be highly
valued and abode by, and held fast.
That ye may be sincere;
or "pure", as the Syriac version renders it; pure as the sun,
discerned and judged by the light of it, as the word signifies,
which discovers motes, faults, and flaws; in which, some think,
is a metaphor taken either from the eagle, which holds up its
young against the sun, and such as can bear the light of it she
retains as her own, but such that cannot she rejects as a
spurious brood; or from persons in business, who hold up the
goods they are buying to the sun, to see if they can observe any
fault in them: so such may be said to be sincere, or pure, who
are pure in heart, life, and conversation, whose principles and
practices will bear the test of light; such are sincere, who are
like honey without wax, and fine flour without leaven, that have
no mixture of corruption in doctrine, life, or manners; whose
grace is genuine and right; whose faith is unfeigned; whose love
to God, and Christ, and one another, is without dissimulation;
whose hope is lively, and of a soul purifying nature, and is
built on a good foundation; and whose repentance is attended with
genuine effects, and proper fruits; whose principles are unmixed;
who do not corrupt or adulterate the word of God, but desire and
retain the sincere milk of it, and hold the mystery of the faith
in a pure conscience; whose worship is also pure and spiritual,
who worship God in spirit and truth, under the influence, and by
the assistance of the Spirit of God, and with their whole hearts
and spirits, and according to the truth of the Gospel; who keep
the ordinances as they were delivered, without any human
inventions, corruptions, and mixtures; who are sincere in their
hearts, pure and sound in heart, simple, plain hearted, and
single eyed; choose to be good, rather than seem to be so; whose
desires after God, and divine things, and whose affections for
them, are true and real, and proceed from the bottom of their
hearts; and who have their conversation in the world by the grace
of God, in simplicity and godly sincerity; and such the apostle
wishes these saints to be, and adds,
and without offence until the day of Christ;
to God, as considered in the righteousness of Christ, in which
they are perfectly without offence, and will always continue so;
or in their walk and conversation before God, in which, though
they may in many things offend, yet not be guilty of any
notorious iniquity, and much less of living in it: and to
themselves, to their own consciences, exercising a conscience
void of offence towards God and men; acting according to that
light they have received, and those principles they have embraced
and professed; desiring to be kept from all evil, that it might
not grieve and wound them; and doing nothing in things of an
indifferent nature, with offence, or against the dictates of
conscience, and to the violation of it: and also to others, to
Jew or Gentile, to the world, or to the church of God, by
avoiding every thing that is offensive to either; not good
things, but evil ones, and those that are indifferent; that peace
may be preserved, and their own good may not be evil spoken of;
that the children of God may not be grieved, staggered, and
stumbled, nor sinners hardened, or have any occasion to
blaspheme. The phrase denotes an harmless life and conversation,
and a continuance in it to the end, to the day of death, or
coming of our Lord, which is to be loved, longed, wished, and
looked for, and to be always had in view; and that to engage to a
becoming life and conversation, with sincerity, and without
offence, since in that day all hearts and actions will be exposed
and laid open.