‘But he who cannot condescend to deal thus with the young, the ignorant, and the uneducated, has not the mind of Christ. Well would it be for all believers, if they would remember Paul’s words more frequently, “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak.’ (1 Cor 9:22.) – JC Ryle
Kyk na my hande en my voete, want dit is Ek self. Voel aan My en kyk; want ‘n gees het nie vlees en bene soos julle sien dat Ek het nie. En terwyl Hy dit sê, wys Hy hulle sy hande en sy voete. – Lukas 24:39,40
We should observe, for another thing, in this passage,our Lord’s marvelous condescension to the infirmity of His disciples. We read that when His disciples were terrified at His appearance, and could not believe that it was Himself, He said, “Behold my hands and feet–touch me and see.”
Our Lord might fairly have commanded His disciples to believe that He had risen. He might justly have said “Where is your faith? Why do you not believe my resurrection, when you see me with your own eyes?” But He does not do so. He stoops even lower than this. He appeals to the bodily senses of the eleven. He bids them touch Him with their own hands, and satisfy themselves that He was a material being, and not a ghost or spirit.
A mighty principle is contained in this circumstance, which we shall do well to store up in our hearts. Our Lord permits us to use our senses in testing a fact or an assertion in religion. Things ABOVE our reason we must expect to find in Christianity.
But things CONTRARY to reason, and contradictory to our own senses, our Lord would have us know, we are not meant to believe. A doctrine, so-called, which contradicts our senses, is not a doctrine which came from Him who bade the eleven touch His hands and His feet.
Let us remember this principle in dealing with the Romish doctrine of a change in the bread and wine at the Lord’s Supper. There is no such change at all. Our own eyes and our own tongues tell us that the bread is bread and the wine is wine, after consecration as well as before. Our Lord never requires us to believe that which is contrary to our senses. The doctrine of transubstantiation is therefore false and unscriptural.
Let us remember this principle in dealing with the Romish doctrine of baptismal regeneration. There is no inseparable connection between baptism and the new birth of man’s heart. Our own eyes and senses tell us that myriads of baptized people have not the Spirit of God, are utterly without grace, and are servants of the devil and the world.
Our Lord never requires us to believe that which is contrary to our senses.
The doctrine that regeneration invariably accompanies baptism is therefore undeserving of credit. It is mere antinomianism to say that there is grace where no grace is to be seen. A mighty practical lesson is involved in our Lord’s dealing with the disciples, which we shall do well to remember. That lesson is the duty of dealing gently with weak disciples, and teaching them as they are able to bear.
Like our Lord, we must be forbearing and patient.
Like our Lord, we must condescend to the feebleness of some men’s faith, and treat them as tenderly as little children, in order to bring them into the right way. We must not cast off men because they do not see everything at once. We must not despise the humblest and most childish means, if we can only persuade men to believe. Such dealing may require much patience.
But he who cannot condescend to deal thus with the young, the ignorant, and the uneducated, has not the mind of Christ. Well would it be for all believers, if they would remember Paul’s words more frequently, “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak.” (1 Cor 9:22.)
Bron: Ryle, J.C. Expository Thoughts on the Gospels.
PRO REGNO 
Leave a Reply