The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 65

the estimable thing. This is the true, the real nobility. That which is adventitious dependent on birth and blood, is only circumstantial, is liable to be dishonoured by th~ chances and che.nges of time, is of no account with God. 'l'hat which is based on character nnd born of wise choice, pure feeling, estime.ble action, is real human unalter- able, of Divine origin, and enjoying the Divine approval, But the ~rticular'lesson of our text is- THE DUTY OF INDIVIDUAL RESEAROB, The Berceans are commended in the sacred narrative as" more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with e.11 readiness,» etc. (ver. 11). Their excellency was in their readiness to receive and investigate, to study and see.rob for themselves whether the new teaohin" was or was not in accordance with the will of God. Whence we infer: 1. That blind opposition to all new doctrine is a sin as well as a mistake. It may be that men who propound views different from those that we have held oome to us from God and offer us that which is in the ::-criptures, though we have not yet discovered it there. There are more thinas in that living ,vord than the wisest man has ever seen yet. Unqualified resistance ~f doctrine which is different from "that which we have received to hold" may be the rejection of God's own truth; in that case it is both injurious and wrong. 2, That it is the duty of every Christian man to test all new doctrine by the teaching of the Divine ,Yord. \Ve are to search the Scriptures whether these things are so or not. There is no excuse for declining to do this; for (1) God has placed his Word well within reach of us all. It is in a small compass; it is printed in our own language (no book so lends itself to translation and is so widely translated); it can be obtained for a small sum, (2) He has so formed us and so written it that it is level to our understanding ; he has given us the necessary mental faculties to comprehend it, and he has made the substance of it so simple, plain, appreciable, that the wayfaring man may rejoice in it. It is not the recondite, abstruse, mystical utterance which some disclosures are. (3) He is ready to gra.nt ns his own Divine aid in mastering and applying it. For what can we ask the help of his Holy Spirit more confidently than for the study of his own Word? When is he more certain to fulfil his promise (Luke xi 13) than when we ask for his enlightening influence as we "search the Scriptures n (John v. 39)? It is not only our right but our duty to listen to all and to try all (1 John iv. 1); to" judge for ourselves what is right" (Luke xii. 57). It is God's plain will concerning us that we should all bring what we hear to the standard of his own revealed will in his Word. To do this effectually, we must study that Word (a) diligently, (b) intelligently, (c) devoutly.-C. Vers. 15-17.-.A raddening spectade: a missi(ifl,ary sermon. The spirit of Panl was "stirred in him" (ver. 16) by the statues which crowded the city of Athens. That which wonld yield intense gratification to any modem traveller plunged the apostle into deep melancholy and gloom. But there is a vast difference between then and now. Then idO\atry was regnant; now it is dethroned. Then the worship of the living God had but one representative in that populous city; now there is not one idolater to be discovered there. To Paul those statues, meeting him at every tum and almost at every step, were abominable idols ; to us they are interesting relics of a distant age. L THE SADNESS OF THIS SPECTACLE AS IT APPEARED TO PAUL. The aspect which Athens wore to the apostle is expressed by the sacred historian. It was a "city wholly given to idolatry," or filled with idols. He would have discovered on inquiry if he did not already know, that these statues were not worshipped as gods them- selves by their devotees. Nevertheless, he would have called them" idols;" for they were distinctly condemned by the commandments of the Lord (Exod. xx. 4, 5); thE>y were prohibited by the Law of God as idolatrous. Though the intelligence of Athens saved its citizens from idolatry in its last and worst stage, the identification of the image with the deity, it had not saved it from the idols.try of an earlier stage, the OIIIOCiation of the image with, the deity it represented. Against this form of sin, BO severely denounced in fJcripture, BO offensive to God, so dangerous and delusive to man, the spirit of Paul rose in .strong rebellion. The sight of its outward manifesta- tion filled him with inexpressible sadness; his" spirit was embittered." IL THE .ASPECT WBICH THIii ATBElilAN STATUARY WEABS TO us. To us it is a sad proof tbat the world by wisdom doea Dot know God. Human wisdom can Dever hope CH, XVIL 1-34,] THE AOTB OF THE APOSTLES. 67