Matthew 12:38-43

Matthew 12:38

Truth through and by life.

Consider in what respects Christ was greater than Solomon.

I. The Proverbs could not well be spared from the Bible nor dropped out of the life of the world. They are of highest use, and ought to be read and re-read, for their wisdom, their broad interpretation of life, and their ethical value. If they were heeded and obeyed they would bring the individual, the family, the community, the nation into a state of ideal perfection. Their lack is that they have no power to turn into living moulding energy. They simply state truth and prescribe conduct. They are impersonal, and have no living force to drive them home. Truth must be incarnated in a just representative in order to be powerful. This is the weakness of the Proverbs viewed as effective agents; they are without incarnation. The truth taught by Solomon went out naked into the world, and weighted by his failure to realize it in himself.

II. Turn now to Christ. We can match nearly every precept of Christ with a like one from Solomon. Why does it not appeal to us with equal force? (1) Christ had a single, solid background for His truth God the Father; while Solomon spoke from an observation of human life, or rather of the world as it goes. Hence Christ's truth wore an eternal character, and was as the voice of God Himself; it was absolute; it came from above, and was not picked up here and there. (2) There is also a wide unlikeness in the tone of their teachings, especially if the Book of Ecclesiastes be referred to Solomon. This book stands in the Bible rather as a warning than a guide, telling us how not to think of life. Life is a puzzle; time and chance have sway. Christ's teachings are the contrast to this. Life is no puzzle to Him; it presents no question. Everywhere and always there is one clear, unvarying note sounding an eternal destruction between good and evil, declaring life to be good and a path to blessedness. (3) There is another contrast between these two teachers: one made but small personal indication of his teaching, while the other brought His life into ideal harmony with all that He taught. The lesson is beyond expression practical. We know no truth except by action. We can teach no vital truth except through the life. We cannot attain to the eternal joy except as we walk step by step in that path of actual duty and performance in which He walked, who so gained its fulness and sat down at the right hand of the Father.

T. T. Munger, The Appeal to Life,p. 47.

Reference: Matthew 12:38. Parker, Inner Life of Christ,vol. ii., p. 215.