1 John 3:23; Matthew 16:24
This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): This commandment—“that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ,” is little thought of, and it is often despised by the many who talk much of their obedience: but it stands as a prominent command of the gospel; it stands at the entrance of the Christian life; and, until this command be complied with, we are neither in a disposition nor in a state properly to comply with any other.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Repentance, therefore, is the commencement of true docility, and opens the gate for entering into the school of Christ.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Moreover, we believe that the new birth must take place, in every instance―and we are convinced that this new birth is entirely a divine operation, effected by the Holy Ghost, through the Word, as we are distinctly taught in our Lord’s discourse with Nicodemus, in John chapter 3.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): God teaches a man to know himself, that, finding his need of salvation, he may flee to lay hold on the hope which His heavenly Father has set before him in the Gospel.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: Nicodemus had, like many, to unlearn a great deal, ere he could really grasp the knowledge of Jesus. He had to lay aside a cumbrous mass of religious machinery, ere he could apprehend the divine simplicity of God’s plan of salvation. He had to descend from the lofty heights of Rabbinical learning and traditional religion, and learn the alphabet of the gospel, in the school of Christ. This was very humiliating to a “man of the Pharisees”—“a ruler of the Jews”—“a master of Israel.” There is nothing of which man is so tenacious as his religion and his learning; and, in the case of Nicodemus, it must have sounded strange upon his ear when “a teacher come from God,” declared to him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Being by birth a Jew, and as such, entitled to all the privileges of a son of Abraham, it must have involved him in a strange perplexity, to be told that he must be born again—that he must be the subject of a new birth, in order to see the kingdom of God. This was a total setting aside of all his privileges and distinctions. It called him down, at once, from the very highest to the very “lowest step of the ladder.”
JOHN CALVIN: The Spirit of God here opens a common school for all…The first lesson which He gives us, on entering His school, is to “deny ourselves, and take up his cross.” He lays down a brief rule for our imitation, in order to make us acquainted with the chief points in which He wishes us to resemble Him. It consists of two parts, self-denial and a voluntary bearing of the cross. This self-denial is very extensive, and implies that we ought to give up our natural inclinations, and part with all the affections of the flesh, and thus give our consent to be reduced to nothing, provided that God lives and reigns in us. We know with what blind love men naturally regard themselves, how much they are devoted to themselves, how highly they estimate themselves. But if we desire to enter into the school of Christ, we must begin with that folly to which Paul exhorts us, “becoming fools, that we may be wise,” 1 Corinthians 3:18; and next we must control and subdue all our affections.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): How blessed, then, is the teaching of the Holy Ghost, which strips the sinner, makes him all bare, leaves him nothing, but shews him his whole insolvency, emptiness, and poverty, that he may make room for Jesus! And when He hath thus made the sinner sensible of his nothingness, He makes him equally sensible of Christ’s fulness and all sufficiency; and that in bringing nothing to Christ, but living wholly upon Christ, and drawing all from Christ; in this simplicity that is in Christ, He teacheth the poor sinner how to live and how to keep house by faith, wholly upon the fulness that is in Christ Jesus.
THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): As the Master in this school is “meek, and lowly in heart,” and teaches with gentleness and wisdom, the scholars should surely be teachable and learn in meekness and humility.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): In the school of teachableness, humility, and simplicity, the best and wisest have yet many lessons to learn…In the school of Christ, every one must study meekness and humility: for to these two the whole science of Christianity may be reduced; the meekness of love, calm and sedate in the midst of wrongs, injuries, affronts, persecutions; without envy, without malice, without revenge: humility of heart, remote from all inordinate and worldly desires, by which pride is nourished; ascribing nothing to itself, and desiring nothing; ready to part with all things, to be placed below all men, to remain in silence and oblivion. Lord, vouchsafe to teach us this science, writing it in our hearts by Thy love!
JOHN CALVIN: And let him take up his cross. He lays down this injunction, because, though there are common miseries to which the life of men is indiscriminately subjected, yet as God trains His people in a peculiar manner, in order that they may be conformed to the image of his Son, we need not wonder that this rule is strictly addressed to them. It may be added that, though God lays both on good and bad men the burden of the cross, yet unless they willingly bend their shoulders to it, they are not said to bear the cross; for a wild and refractory horse cannot be said to submit to his rider, though he carries him. The patience of the saints, therefore, consists in bearing willingly the cross which has been laid on them. Luke 9:23 adds the word daily—“let him take up his cross daily,”—which is very emphatic; for Christ’s meaning is, that there will be no end to our warfare till we leave the world. Let it be the uninterrupted exercise of the godly, that when many afflictions have run their course, they may be prepared to endure fresh afflictions.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: The Lord’s lessons are often painful and difficult, because of the waywardness or indolence of our hearts; but every fresh lesson learned, every fresh principle imbibed, only fits us the more for all that is yet before us. Yet it is blessed to be the disciples of Christ, and to yield ourselves to His gracious discipline and training. The end will unfold to us the blessedness of such a place. Nor need we wait for the end; even now, the soul finds it most happy to be subject, in all things, to the Master. “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30.
ROBERT HAWKER: This is the sweet instruction taught in the school of Jesus.
