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| Chapter XVI.—Christ as an example of humility.
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Chapter XVI.—Christ as an example of
humility.
For Christ is
of those who are humble-minded, and not of those who exalt themselves
over His flock. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sceptre of the majesty of God,
did not come in the pomp of pride or arrogance, although He might have
done so, but in a lowly condition, as the Holy Spirit had declared
regarding Him. For He says, “Lord, who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have declared [our
message] in His presence: He is, as it were, a child, and like a root in
thirsty ground; He has no form nor glory, yea, we saw Him, and He had no
form nor comeliness; but His form was without eminence, yea, deficient in
comparison with the [ordinary] form of men. He is a man exposed to
stripes and suffering, and acquainted with the endurance of grief: for
His countenance was turned away; He was despised, and not esteemed. He
bears our iniquities, and is in sorrow for our sakes; yet we supposed
that [on His own account] He was exposed to labour, and stripes, and
affliction. But He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for
our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His
stripes we were healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; [every] man
has wandered in his own way; and the Lord has delivered Him up for our
sins, while He in the midst of His sufferings openeth not His mouth. He
was brought as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before her shearer
is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was
taken away; who shall declare His generation? for His life is taken from
the earth. For the transgressions of my people was He brought down to
death. And I will give the wicked for His sepulchre, and the rich for His
death,66
| 66 The Latin of
Cotelerius, adopted by Hefele and Dressel, translates this clause as
follows: “I will set free the wicked on account of His sepulchre,
and the rich on account of His death.” | because He did
no iniquity, neither was guile found in His mouth. And the Lord is
pleased to purify Him by stripes.67
| 67 The reading of the ms. is τῆς πληγῆς, “purify,
or free, Him from stripes.” We have adopted the emendation of
Junius. | If ye make68
| 68 Wotton reads, “If He make.” | an
offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed. And the Lord is
pleased to relieve Him of the affliction of His soul, to show Him light,
and to form Him with understanding,69
| 69 Or, “fill Him with understanding,” if
πλῆσαι should be read
instead of πλάσαι, as Grabe
suggests. | to justify the Just One who ministereth well to
many; and He Himself shall carry their sins. On this account He shall
inherit many, and shall divide the spoil of the strong; because His soul
was delivered to death, and He was reckoned among the transgressors, and
He bare the sins of many, and for their sins was He
delivered.”70
| 70
Isa. liii. The reader will observe how often the
text of the Septuagint, here quoted, differs from the Hebrew as
represented by our authorized English version. | And again He
saith, “I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of
the people. All that see Me have derided Me; they have spoken with their
lips; they have wagged their head, [saying] He hoped in God, let Him
deliver Him, let Him save Him, since He delighteth in Him.”71
Ye see, beloved, what is the example
which has been given us; for if the Lord thus humbled Himself, what shall
we do who have through Him come under the yoke of His grace?E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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