Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.—1 Corinthians 13:3
In the
previous verses of this chapter, the necessity and excellence of charity are set
forth, as we have seen, by its preference to the greatest privileges, and the
utter vanity and insignificance of these privileges without it. The privileges
particularly mentioned are those that consist in the extraordinary gifts of the
Spirit of God. In this verse, things of another kind are mentioned, viz. those
that are of a moral nature. It is declared that none of these avail
anything without charity. And, particularly,
First, that
our performances are in vain without it. Here is one of the highest kinds
of external performances mentioned, viz. giving all our goods to feed the poor.
Giving to the poor is a duty very much insisted on in the Word of God, and
particularly under the Christian dispensation. And in the primitive times of
Christianity, the circumstances of the Church were such, that persons were
sometimes called to part with all they had, and give it away to others. This was
partly because of the extreme necessities of those who were persecuted and in
distress, and partly because the difficulties that attended being a follower of
Christ, and doing the work of the gospel, were such as to call for the disciples
disentangling themselves from the care and burden of their worldly possessions,
and going forth, as it were, without gold or silver in their purses, or scrip,
or even two coats apiece. The apostle Paul tells us that he had suffered the
loss of all things for Christ; and the primitive Christians, in the church at
Jerusalem, sold all that they had, and gave it into a common fund, and “none
said that aught that he had was his own” (Acts 4:32). The duty of giving to
the poor was a duty that the Christian Corinthians at this time had particular
occasion to consider, not only because of the many troubles of the times, but by
reason, also, of a great dearth or famine that sorely distressed the brethren in
Judea: in view of which, the apostle had already urged it on the Corinthians, as
their duty, to send relief to them, speaking of it particularly in this epistle,
in the sixteenth chapter; and also in his second epistle to the same church, in
the eighth and ninth chapters. And yet, though he says so much in both these
epistles, to stir them up to the duty of giving to the poor, still he is very
careful to inform them, that though they should go ever so far in it, yea,
though they should bestow all their goods to feed the poor, and have not
charity, it would profit them nothing.
Secondly, the
apostle teaches, that not only our performances, but also our sufferings are
of no avail without charity. Men are ready to make much of what they do,
but more of what they suffer. They are ready to think it a great thing
when they put themselves out of their way, or are at great expense or suffering,
for their religion. The apostle here mentions a suffering of the most extreme
kind, suffering even to death, and that one of the most terrible forms of death,
and says that even this is nothing without charity. When a man has given away
all his goods, he has nothing else remaining that he can give, but himself. And
the apostle teaches, that when a man has given all his possessions, if he then
goes on to give his own body, and that to be utterly consumed in the flames, it
will avail nothing, if it is not done from sincere love in the heart. The time
when the apostle wrote to the Corinthians was a time when Christians were often
called, not only to give their goods, but their bodies also, for Christ’s
sake. For the Church then was generally under persecution, and multitudes were
then or soon after put to very cruel deaths for the gospel’s sake. But though
they suffered in life, or endured the most agonizing death, it would be in vain
without charity. What is meant by this charity, has already been explained in
the former lectures on these verses, in which it has been shown that charity is
the sum of all that is distinguishing in the religion of the heart.
And therefore the doctrine
that I would derive from these words is this: THAT ALL THAT MEN CAN DO,
AND ALL THAT THEY CAN SUFFER, CAN NEVER MAKE UP FOR THE WANT OF SINCERE
CHRISTIAN LOVE IN THE HEART.
1. There may be great performances
without it. The apostle Paul, in the third chapter of the epistle to the
Philippians, tells us what things he did before his conversion, and while he
remained a Pharisee. In the fourth verse, he says, “If any other man thinketh
that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.” Many of the
Pharisees did great things, and abounded in religions performances. The Pharisee
mentioned in Luke 18:11, 12, boasted of the great things that he had done, both
towards God and men, and thanked God that he so exceeded other men in his
doings. And many of the heathen have been eminent for their great performances:
some for their integrity, or for their justice, and others for their great deeds
done for the public good. Many men, without any sincerity of love in their
hearts, have been exceeding magnificent in their gifts for pious and charitable
uses, and have thus gotten to themselves great fame, and had their names handed
down in history to posterity with great glory. Many have done great things from
fear of hell, hoping thereby to appease the Deity and make atonement for their
sins, and many have done great things from pride, and from a desire for
reputation and honor among men. And though these motives are not wont to
influence men to a constant and universal observance of God’s commands, and to
go on with a course of Christian performances, and with the practice of all
duties towards God and man through life, yet it is hard to say how far such
natural principles may carry men in particular duties and performances. And so,
2. There may be great sufferings
for religion, and yet no sincerity of love in the heart. Persons may undergo
great sufferings in life, just as some of the Pharisees used themselves to great
severities, and to penances and voluntary inflictions. Many have undertaken
wearisome pilgrimages and have shut themselves out from the benefits and
pleasures of the society of mankind, or have spent their lives in deserts and
solitudes, and some have suffered death, of whom we have no reason to think they
had any sincere love to God in their hearts. Multitudes among the Papists have
voluntarily gone and ventured their lives in bloody wars, in hopes of meriting
heaven by it. In the wars carried on with the Turks and Saracens, called the
Holy Wars, or Crusades, thousands went voluntarily to all the dangers of the
conflict, in the hope of thus securing the pardon of their sins and the rewards
of glory hereafter. Many thousands, yea, some millions, in this way lost their
lives, even to the depopulation, in a considerable measure, of many parts of
Europe. And the Turks were many of them enraged by this exceedingly, so as to
venture their lives, and rush, as it were, upon the very points of the swords of
their enemies, because Mahomet has promised that all that die in war, in defense
of the Mahometan faith, shall go at once to Paradise. And history tells us of
some that have yielded themselves to voluntary death, out of mere obstinacy and
sturdiness of spirit, rather than yield to the demand of others, when they
might, without dishonor, have saved their lives. Many among the heathen have
died for their country, and many as martyrs for a false faith, though not in
anywise in such numbers, nor in such a manner, as those that have died as
martyrs for the true religion. And in all these cases, many doubtless have
endured their sufferings, or met death, without having any sincere divine love
in their hearts, But,
II. Whatever men may do
or suffer, they cannot, by all their performances and sufferings, make up for
the want of sincere love in the heart. — If they lay themselves out ever
so much in the things of religion and are ever so much engaged in acts of
justice and kindness and devotion, and if their prayers and fastings are ever so
much multiplied, or if they should spend their time ever so much in the forms of
religious worship, giving days and nights to it, and denying sleep to their eyes
and slumber to their eyelids that they might be the more laborious in religious
exercises, and if the things that they should do in religion were such as to get
them a name throughout the world and make them famous to all future generations,
it would all be in vain without sincere love to God in the heart. And so if a
man should give most bounteously to religious or charitable uses, and if,
possessing the riches of a kingdom, he should give it all, and from the splendor
of an earthly prince should reduce himself to a level of beggars, and if he
should not stop there, but when he had done all this, should yield himself to
undergo the fiercest sufferings, giving up not only all his possessions, but
also giving his body to be clothed in rags, or to be mangled and burned and
tormented as much as the wit of man could conceive, all, even all this, would
not make up for the want of sincere love to God in the heart. And it is plain
that it would not, for the following reasons: —
1. It is not the external
work done, or the suffering endured, that is, in itself, worth anything in the
sight of God. — The motions and exercise of the body, or anything that may
be done by it, if considered separately from the heart — the inward part of
the man — is of no more consequence or worth in the sight of God than the
motions of anything without life. If anything be offered or given, though it be
silver, or gold, or the cattle on a thousand hills, though it be a thousand
rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil, there is nothing of value in it, as an
external thing, in God’s sight. If God were in need of these things, they
might be of value to him in themselves considered, independently of the motives
of the heart that led to their being offered. We often stand in need of external
good things, and therefore such things, offered or given to us, may and do have
a value to us, in themselves considered. But God stands in need of nothing. He
is all-sufficient in himself. He is not fed by the sacrifices of beasts, nor
enriched by the gift of silver, or gold, or pearls — “Every beast of the
forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. If I were hungry, I would
not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof” (Psa. 50:10,
12.) “All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. O Lord our
God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy
name, cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own” (1 Chr. 29:14, 16). And as
there is nothing profitable to God in any of our services or performances, so
there can be nothing acceptable in his sight in a mere external action without
sincere love in the heart, “for the Lord seeth not as men seeth; for man
looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart.” The heart is
just as naked and open to him as the external actions. And therefore he sees our
actions, and all our conduct, not merely as the external motions of a machine,
but as the actions of rational, intelligent creatures, and voluntary free
agents; and therefore there can be, in his estimation, no excellence or
amiableness in anything we can do, if the heart be not right with him.
And so God takes no pleasure
in any sufferings that we may endure, in themselves considered. He is not
profited by the torments men may undergo, nor does he delight to see them
putting themselves to suffering, unless it he from some good motive, or to some
good purpose and end. We sometimes may need that our fellowmen, our friends and
neighbors, should suffer for us, and should help us to bear our burdens, and put
themselves to inconvenience for our sake. But God stands in no such need of us,
and therefore our sufferings are not acceptable to him, considered merely as
sufferings endured by us, and are of no account apart from the motive that leads
us to endure them. No matter what may be done or suffered, neither doings nor
sufferings will make up for the want of love to God in the soul. They are not
profitable to God, nor lovely for their own sake in his sight. Nor can they ever
make up for the absence of that love to God and love to men, which is the sum of
all that God requires of his moral creatures.
2. Whatever is done or
suffered, yet if the heart is withheld from God, there is nothing really given
to him. — The act of the individual, in what he does or suffers, is in
every case looked upon, not as the act of a lifeless engine or machine, but as
the act of an intelligent, voluntary, moral being. For surely a machine is not
properly capable of giving anything; and if any such machine that is without
life, being moved by springs or weights, places anything before us, it cannot
properly be said to give it to us. Harps and cymbals, and other instruments of
music, were of old made use of in praising God in the temple and elsewhere. But
these lifeless instruments could not be said to give praise to God, because they
had no thought, nor understanding, or will, or heart, to give value to their
pleasant sounds. And so, though a man has a heart, and an understanding, and a
will, yet if when he gives anything to God, he gives it without his heart, there
is no more truly given to God than is given by the instrument of music.
He that has no sincerity in
his heart, has no real respect to God in what he seems to give, or in all his
performances or sufferings, and therefore God is not his great end in what he
does or gives. What is given, is given to that which the individual makes his
great end in giving. If his end be only himself, then it is given only to
himself. and not to God. If his aim be his own honor or ease, or worldly profit,
then the gift is but an offering to these things. The gift is an offering to him
to whom the giver’s heart devotes, and for whom he designs it. It is the aim
of the heart that makes the reality of the gift. And if the sincere aim of the
heart be not to God, then there is in reality nothing given to him, no matter
what is performed or suffered. So that it would be a great absurdity to suppose
that anything that can be offered or given to God, can make up for the absence
of love in the heart to him. For without this, nothing is truly given, and the
seeming gift is but mockery of the Most High. This further appears,
3. From the fact, that
this love or charity is the sum of all that God requires of us. And it is
absurd to suppose that anything can make up for the want of that which is the
sum of all that God requires. Charity or love is something that has its
seat in the heart, and in which, as we have seen, consists all that is saving
and distinguishing in Christian character. This love it is of which our Savior
speaks as the sum of all required in the two tables of the law, and which the
apostle declares is the fulfilling of the law. How can we make up for the
defect, when, by withholding it, we do in effect withhold the sum-total of all
that God requires of us? It would be absurd to suppose that we can make up for
one thing that is required by offering another that is required — that we can
make up for one debt by paying another. But it is still more absurd to suppose
that we can make up for the whole debt without paying anything, but by
continuing still to withhold all that is required. As to external things without
the heart, God speaks of them as not being the things that he has required (Isa.
1:12), and demands that the heart be given to him, if we would have the external
offering accepted.
4. If we make a great
show of respect and love to God, in the outward actions, while there is no
sincerity in the heart, it is but hypocrisy and practical lying unto the Holy
One. — To pretend to such respect and love, when it is not felt in the
heart, is to act as if we thought we could deceive God. It is to do as Israel
did in the desert, after they had been delivered from Egypt, when they are said
to have “lied unto God with their mouth, and to have flattered him with their
tongues” (Psa. 78:36). But surely it is as absurd to suppose that we can make
up for the want of sincere respect by flattery and guile, as to suppose we can
make up for the want of truth by falsehood and lying.
5. Whatever may be done
or suffered, if there be no sincerity in the heart, it is all but an offering to
some idol. — As observed before, there is nothing, in the case supposed,
really offered to God, and therefore it will follow, that it is offered to some
other being, or object, or end, and whatever that may be, it is what the
Scriptures call an idol. In all such offerings, something is virtually
worshipped; and whatever it is, be itself, or our fellowmen, or the world, that
is allowed to usurp the place that should be given to God, and to receive
the offerings that should be made to him. And how absurd to suppose we can make
up for withholding from God that which is his due, by offering something to our
idol! It is as absurd as it is to suppose that the wife can make up for want of
love to her husband, by giving that affection which is due to him to another man
who is a stranger; or that she can make up for her want of faithfulness to him,
by the guilt of adultery.
In the application
of this subject, it becomes us to use it,
1. In the way of
self-examination. — If it be indeed so — that all we can do or suffer is
in vain, if we have not sincere love to God in the heart — then it should put
us upon searching ourselves whether or no we have this love in sincerity in our
hearts. There are many that make a profession and show of religion, and some
that do many of the outward things which it requires, and possibly they may
think that they have done and suffered much for God and his service. But the
great inquiry is, has the heart been sincere in it all, and has all been
suffered or done from a regard to the divine glory? Doubtless, if we examine
ourselves, we may see much of hypocrisy. But is there any sincerity? God
abominates the greatest things without sincerity, but he accepts of and delights
in little things when they spring from sincere love to himself. A cup of cold
water given to a disciple in sincere love, is worth more in God’s sight than
all one’s goods given to feed the poor, yea, than the wealth of a kingdom
given away, or a body offered up in the flames, without love. And God accepts of
even a little sincere love. Though there be a great deal of imperfection, yet,
if there be any true sincerity in our love, that little shall not be rejected
because there is some hypocrisy with it. And here it may be profitable to
observe, that there are these four things that belong to the nature of
sincerity, viz. truth, freedom, integrity, and purity. And,
First, truth.
— That is, that there be that truly in the heart of which there is the
appearance and show in the outward action. Where there is, indeed, true respect
to God, the love that honors him will be felt in the heart, just as extensively
as there is a show made of it in the words and actions. In this sense it is said
in the fifty-first psalm, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.”
And in this view it is that sincerity is spoken of in the Scriptures as the
opposite of hypocrisy, and that a sincere Christian is said to be one that is
such indeed as he appears to be — one “without guile” (John 1:47). Examine
yourself, therefore, with respect to this matter. If in your outward actions,
there is an appearance or show of respect to God, inquire if it be only
external, or if it be sincerely felt in your heart. For without real love or
charity you are nothing. The
Second thing,
in the nature of sincerity, is Freedom. On this account especially the obedience
of Christians is called filial, or the obedience of children, because it is an
ingenuous, free obedience, and not legal, slavish, and forced, but that which is
performed from love and with delight. God is chosen for his own sake; and
holiness for its sake, and for God’s sake. Christ is chosen and followed
because he is loved, and religion because it is loved, and the soul rejoices in
it, finding in its duties the highest happiness and delight. Examine yourself
faithfully on this point, whether or no this spirit is yours. The
Third thing
belonging to the nature of this sincerity is Integrity. The word signifies wholeness,
intimating that where this sincerity exists, God is sought, and religion is
chosen and embraced with the whole heart, and adhered to with the whole soul.
Holiness is chosen with the whole heart. The whole of duty is embraced, and
entered upon most cordially, whether it have respect to God or to man, whether
it be easy or difficult, whether it have reference to little things or great.
There is a proportion and fullness in the character. The whole man is renewed.
The whole body and soul and spirit are sanctified. Every member is yielded to
the obedience of Christ. All the parts of the new creature are brought into
subjection to his will. The seeds of all holy dispositions are implanted in the
soul, and they will more and more bear fruit in the performance of duty and for
the glory of God. The
Fourth thing
that belongs to the nature of sincerity is Purity. The word sincere often
signifies pure. So in 1 Pet. 2:2 — “As new-born babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby;” i.e. pure,
unmixed, unadulterated. This appears in the opposition of virtue to sin. The one
is spoken of as defilement, and impurity, and uncleanness: the other, as that
which is free from these things. The apostle compares sin to a body of death, or
a dead body, which of all things is most polluting and defiling, while holiness
is spoken of as purity, and holy pleasures as pure pleasures, and the saints in
heaven as without spot before the throne of God. Inquire, then, whether this
purity is yours, and whether, in its possession, you find the evidence that you
sincerely love God. This subject may also
2. Convince
those who are still in an unregenerate state, of their lost condition. —
If it be indeed so, that by all you can either do or suffer, you cannot make up
for the want of a holy, sincere principle of love in your heart, then it will
follow that you are in an undone condition till you have obtained God’s
regenerating grace to renew a right spirit within you; and that, do what you
will, or undergo and suffer what you will, you cannot be delivered from your
wickedness without the converting grace of God. If you make ever so many
prayers, that will not make your case less miserable, unless God, by his mighty
power, is pleased to give you a new heart. If you take ever so much pains in
religion, and cross and deny yourself, and do or suffer ever so much, all will
not avail without this. Therefore, whatever you have done, though you can look
back upon a great many prayers offered, and much time spent in reading and
meditation, you have no reason to think that these things have made any
atonement for your sins, or rendered your case any the less deplorable, or left
you any other than a wretched, lost, miserable, guilty, and ruined creature.
Natural, unrenewed
men would he glad to have something to make up for the want of sincere love and
real grace in their hearts. Many do great things to make up for the want of it,
while others are willing to suffer great things. But, alas! how little does it
all signify! No matter what they may do or suffer, it does not change their
character. If they build their hopes upon it, they do but delude themselves, and
feed upon the east wind. If such be your case, consider how miserable you will
be while you live without hope in the only true source of hope, and how
miserable when you come to die, when the sight of the king of terrors will show
the nothingness and vanity of all your doings. How miserable, when you see
Christ coming to judgment in the clouds of heaven! Then you will be willing to
do and suffer anything, that you may be accepted by him. But doings or
sufferings will not avail. They will not atone for your sins, or give you
God’s favor, or save you from the overwhelming storms of his wrath. Rest,
then, on nothing that you have done or suffered, or that you can do or suffer,
but rest on Christ. Let your heart be filled with sincere love to him; and then,
at the last great day, he will own you as his follower and as his friend. The
subject,
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's Jonathan Edwards Collection by:
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