1 John 2:6 He that said he stays in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. It was one of the last sayings of a famous divine that there were three things which were essential to healthy Christian teaching — doctrine, experience, and practice. He said that if doctrine alone were brought forward to a people there was a danger lest they should turn out Antinomians; that if experience alone were brought forward to a people there was a danger lest they should turn out enthusiasts and sentimentalists; and that if practice alone were brought forward, there was a danger that they would turn out legalists. I know not whether we have sufficient attention given in the present day to the third of the three great essentials spoken of, I mean the essential of Christian practice. I. THE TRUE BELIEVER'S PROFESSION — "He saith that he abideth in Christ." He rests all his hope on the Lord Jesus Christ; he feels that he is a sinner, but he sees in Christ an all-sufficient Saviour. Time there was when he abode himself in carelessness; he was a thoughtless, an unconcerned person, travel ling down the stream of time and thinking nothing of the gulf of eternity. Now, old things are passed away and all things are become new. II. THE STANDARD OF THE TRUE BELIEVER'S PRACTICE. The apostle speaks of the believer's "walk." By that he means his daily course of life, his behaviour, that may be seen of men, as a person's walking may be seen by the eye. The man of the world cannot move without being seen; so the walk of the Christian is that behaviour which others around him can observe. It is not merely a spasmodic rushing forward, but an equable daily walk. He speaks of what that walk "ought" to be; he speaks of it as a debt, as an obligation. The believer is bound by the strongest of all ties and obligations to "walk even as Christ walked." Who that has ever seen a young painter in his first efforts to paint, when he has set the canvas before him and endeavoured to copy some mighty masterpiece of Rubens, or Rembrandt, or Titian, has not been struck with the difference between his first essay and the wonderful copy before him? Yet that painter does the same kind of thing that Rubens, or Titian,or Rembrandt did; he is working upon canvas, he has the colours, he holds the brush; though he may not like them lay on the colours and trace the outline in the same way, yet, after all, he is following their steps, he is imitating them, and is far more likely to bring forth an excellent work than if he copied that which was not equal in perfection. But in what is it that we are endeavouring to "walk even as Christ walked"? In His demeanour towards those with whom He had to do — in all His relations, as a son unto His mother, as a friend among His friends — in all His dealings with His enemies and with His disciples. (Bp. Ryle.) Parallel Verses KJV: He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.WEB: he who says he remains in him ought himself also to walk just like he walked. |
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