John 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. I. THE PROCESS BY WHICH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DOCTRINE THAT IS OF GOD IS REACHED. 1. This knowledge, though its propositions are to be received by the intellect, requires before the intellectual a certain moral capacity. The will must be set to do the will of God before the intellect can act without embarrassment, because the doctrine is not the teaching of a philosophy, but the revelation of a person. All the doctrine is impersonated in Him, so that to receive Him is to receive the doctrine, and to reject Him is to reject the doctrine. 2. Acts done by a person receive their truest significance from what we know of himself. The revelation of a person by his acts is often imperfect and misleading. We need to know that hidden link between the act and the motives. This is why historians, admitting the same facts, differ so widely in their estimates of the persons, e.g., Henry VIII., Mary, Elizabeth. This must be so because the mystery of a second personality lies beyond the acts, and because it is apprehended by one possessing the same mysterious gift, and is therefore apprehended, not in its bare proportions, but according to the conditions of the receptive faculty. Even in the more delicate processes of modern art, with what care must the negative surface be prepared which is to receive aright the lines and proportion of the object it is to image forth. Now, in the living recipient of the impress of another's character the difficulty is immeasurably increased. There is formed a relation of concord or antagonism, and motives, and a meaning is attributed by the observer to the outward actions. The same act is welcome or intolerable as our minds picture the motive, and this affects the whole power of comprehending a character. This is the reason of the solitariness to which the greatest spirits are exposed. Such are almost always misjudged, not because they give occasion for it, but because in those around them the receptive faculty is not qualified to sustain the impress of their great being. It is only some one with a kindred gift of genius who is able to understand them. 3. Here, then, we may see why, from the laws of our own nature, it is true that he who wills to do the will of God comes to know the Lord. It is like which comprehends and is drawn to the like. Now the law of Christ's being was the doing the will of the Father. When, therefore, the will of any man is set not to do the will of God, there is a repugnancy between him and Christ which forbids his knowing the Lord of Life, and conversely. II. THE PROMISE OF A REVELATION AND OF POWER TO RECEIVE IT. Christ stood among men not so much their intellectual teacher as their renewer. These words are not only a mapping out of man's nature, but are also a promise of grace. That first turning of the will was itself, doubtless, in the mystery of the spiritual probation of one gifted with free agency, the yielding to grace already given: and this next step marks the increased gift of that same grace. It is the carrying out of the promise "to him that hath shall be given." "If any man love God," even in this first bending of the will to Him, "the same is known of Him," and such knowledge is but the first beginning of greater gifts; the pledge that forthwith the power of the receptive faculty is increased, and of a greater revelation (chap. John 14:21). And in that is all that the soul needs (Revelation 3:20). From its recipient many of the old difficulties which beset his belief melt away, like the mist of the morning before the sun; and even those which do remain, and must remain until faith is exchanged for sight, no longer hide from him the truth they once shut out; he has risen to a loftier elevation, and his eye now ranges freely over the intermediate heights, and takes in the fair proportions of the land which is very far off. Conclusion. 1. Encouragement. To every one who has that will, the text assures a certain grant of all he desires. If the Authorized Version were correct it would not speak in the same tone of comfort; for who would dare to decide that He did the will of the Father? But these words promise the great benediction to him who wills to do the Father's will; to him who, in the midst of failures and discouragements, still holds on because his will is set; to the beginner in the Christian course as well as to him who has reached furthest in it. And this it proposes to all. If there be one tried by intellectual difficulties concerning the revelation of Christ; if there be hearts longing for this revelation of Him who seems hidden, let them take comfort. The time of granting the revelation rests with Him, bus granted it must be. It may be thou "couldest not bear it now"; that thou hast more to learn of thyself, a deeper self distrust; that thy imperfect graces need a higher training; that He would first strengthen thy spirit by wrestling with Him. But though the vision tarries, wait for it, for it is sure at last. 2. Warning. The text explains why so many miss God, not from lack of any mere power of intellect, not from mental perplexities, not from obscurity of texts or Bible difficulties, but from alienation of the soul, For it is not through a direct act of the will that a man can make himself believe or disbelieve; but under the power of God's grace a man can by degrees so educate His will that it does one way or the other determine his belief. Any allowed habit of sin is whether we know it at the time or not, really hardening our will against the will of Christ, and so making a true filial trust impossible. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.) Parallel Verses KJV: If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. |
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