II. CORINTHIANS 5, 14. 133

nection is thus plain. The love of Christ here means Christ's love for us, not the love of which he is tlie object. This is obvious, because the apostle goes on to illustrate the great- ness of Christ's love to us, and not of our love to him. Com}). Gal. 2, 20, -where the same idea is expressed by the words " who loved me." See Rom. 8, 35. Eph. 3, 19. Constraineth lis, i. e. controls and governs us. The word (rvvexo) means also to restrain, a sense which many adopt here. 'The love of Christ restrains me from acting for myself' This is a more limited sense, and is not required by the usage of the word, whi(.h is often used to express the idea of being pressed as by a crowd, or figuratively, by calamity or sorrow. There is no better version for it in this passage than that adopted by our translators. ' The love of Christ constraineth us.' It coerces, or presses, and therefore impels. It is the governing influ- ence which controls the life. This is a trait of Paul's experi- ence as a Christian, and is therefore common to all Christians. It is not benevolence which makes a man a Christian, for then all philanthropists would be Christians. Nor is it mere piety, in the sense of reverence for God, which makes a man a Christian, for then all devout Mussulmans and Jews would be Christians. Morality does not make us religious, but religion makes us moral. In hke manner benevolence and piety (in the wide sense) do not make men Christians, but Christianity makes them benevolent and devout. A Christian is one who recognizes Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, as God manifested in the flesh, loving us and dying for our re- demption ; and who is so afl'ected by a sense of the love of this incarnate God as to be constrained to make the will of Christ the rule of his obedience, and the glory of Christ the great end for \\iiich he lives. The man who does this per- fectly, is a perfect Christian. The man who does it imper- fectly, yet with the sincere desire to be entirely devoted to Christ, is a sincere Christian. On the other hand, the man who lives supremely for himself, for his family, for science, for the world, for mankind, whatever else he may be, is not a Christian. Whosoever loveth father or mother, son or daughter, more than me, saith our Lord, is not worthy of me. Matt. 10, 37. He that hateth not his own life, cannot be my disciple, Luke 14, 26. The great question is, What con- stitutes a Christian? It is being so constrained by a sense of the love of our divine Lord to us, that we consecrate our lives to him. Hence faith in his divhiity, faith in his love.