Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. We have here a specimen of the Redeemer's method of teaching. He taught by actions. His miracles had a voice. The advantage of this symbolic teaching twofold: 1. It was a living thing. 2. It saves us from dead dogmas. Our thoughts branch off into two divisions. I. THE MEANING AND OBJECT OF THE MIRACLE. More than all others it taught God's personality. The meaning and intention of every miracle is to break through the tyranny of the words "law" and "Nature." II. THE EFFECTS PRODUCED ON PETER'S MIND. The sense of personal sin. 1. When we come to look at the cause of this we see that the impression was(a) partly owing to the apostle's Jewish education. The Jews always recognized the personality, of God, therefore this only awoke what was acknowledged before; (b) partly also it was produced by the pure presence of Jesus Christ. Wherever the Redeemer went, He elicited a strange sense of sin. And this is not the case only in our Redeemer's personal ministry, but it is so wherever Christianity is preached. 2. The nature of this conviction of sin in Peter's bosom. There is a remorse which is felt for crime, but this was not Peter's case. The language of holy men when they speak of sin is startling. In order to understand it, and to comprehend Peter's conviction of guilt, we must look at the three principles which guide the life of three different classes of men. (a) Obedience to the opinion of the world; (b) The standard of a man's own opinion; (c) The light of the life of God.The first of these makes the man of honour; the second, the man of virtue; the third, the man of saintliness. Up to this time Peter had lived an upright man, full of self-reliance; from this time he began to walk lowly and learnt self-forgetfulness. This is the way in which Christ produces conviction of sin — by placing before us infinite love, infinite loving-kindness, and a perfect humanity. We fall in the dust before this, and say, "We are sinful men, O Lord." We are sinners, we have erred exceedingly, and we have seen the infinite charity of God stream forth in the majesty of Jesus Christ. It is possible for us to bear the splendour of that presence only when love has taken the place of fear, and we feel that we need fear nothing, neither death nor hell nor men. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. |
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