Luke 18:9-14 And he spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:… The arrangement of these words is perfect. On one side is Deity — alone — without an attribute, far grander in that solitude than if ten thousand titles had been added to His name — "God." On the other — thrown into the greatest possible distance — is man; and he, too, is alone; and his whole being is put into one single expression — it is not a description, it is a synonymy — "me, a sinner." And between these two extremes — spanning the distance, and uniting the ends — is one link — simple — grand — sufficient — "mercy," nothing but "mercy" Ñ "God be merciful to me a sinner." I may mention, for the sake of those who do not happen to know it, that there are three points in the original, which could not well be rendered in our version; but which make this strong language stronger still. There it is, "the God," and "the sinner"; as if the publican wished to give the greatest possible definiteness to all his expressions; — "the God" — the good God — "be merciful to me"; as though he were the only man on the face of the earth who needed the forgiveness — no comparisons, no distractions, no deductions; the mind concentrated, the mind absorbed, upon the one guilty self, "The God be merciful to me the sinner." And in the very phrase which he selects — "be merciful," — there is rolled up atonement; it is, "be propitiate." Doubtless that man had been taught to see mercy all in sacrifice; to recognize no pardon out of covenant, and no covenant out of blood. "The God be propitiate to me the sinner." I think you will see, brethren, that there is great force in that distinction of language. Weakness always deals in generalities. A man is general in his thoughts and his expressions till he begins to be in earnest; and the very moment he begins to be in earnest, he is individual. Hear men, as men generally speak about God. They say, "the Almighty"; and they say, "the Almighty is very good," and, "we are all of us bad," and, "none of us are as good as we ought to be"; that is the language of natural religion, if, indeed, it be religion at all. It is loose, because it cannot afford to be accurate; it shuns just what a spiritual man loves-personality. How different is the teaching of the Holy Ghost! The soul cannot be particular enough; it lives in exactnesses; it individualizes everything. "The God be propitiate to me the sinner." To make true prayer — or, which is the same thing — to make true peace, two things are wanted. Some persons, to a certain extent, attain the one, and some the other; while, because they do not, at the same moment, attain both, the end is frustrated. The truth lies in unity. The one thing is to exalt God very high; and the other, to demean self very low. If you lift up the attributes of God, and do not proportionably debase yourself, you are in danger of running into presumption. If you take deep views of your sinfulness, and do not, at the same time, magnify the grace of God, you will run into despair. A God high in His glory, and self down in the dust, that is best; and let me advise you to look well to it whether you are doing these two things with parallel steps. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: |
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