“How camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment Matt. 22:12.
1. In the verses preceding the text we read, “After these things, Jesus spake to them again in parables, and said, A certain king made a supper for his son. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw one who had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
2. Upon this parable one of our most celebrated expositors comments in the following manner: — “The design of this parable is to set forth that gracious supply made by God to men in and by the preaching of the gospel. To invite them to this, God sent forth his servants, the Prophets and Apostles.” — And on these words, — “Why camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment” he proceeds thus: “The punishment of whom ought not to discourage us, or make us turn our backs upon the holy ordinances.” Certainly it ought not; but nothing of this kind can be inferred from this parable, which has no reference to the ordinances, any more than to baptism and marriage. And probably we should never have imagined it, but that the word supper occurred therein.
3. However, most of the English annotators have fallen into the same mistake with Mr. Burkitt. And so have thousands of their readers. Yet a mistake it certainly is; and such a mistake as has not any shadow of foundation in the text. It is true, indeed, that none ought to approach the Lord’s table without habitual, at least, if not actual, preparation; that is, a firm purpose to keep all the commandments of God, and a sincere desire to receive all his promises. But that obligation cannot be inferred from this text, though it may from many other passages of Scripture. But there is no need of multiplying texts; one is as good as a thousand: There needs no more to induce any man of a tender conscience to communicate at all opportunities, than that single commandment of our Lord, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
4. But whatever preparation is necessary in order to our being worthy partakers of the Lord’s Supper, it has no relation at all to the “wedding garment” mentioned in this parable. It cannot: For that commemoration of his death was not then ordained. It relates wholly to the proceedings of our Lord, when he comes in the clouds of heaven to judge the quick and the dead; and to the qualifications which will then be necessary to their inheriting “the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.”
5. Many excellent men, who are thoroughly apprized of this — who are convinced, the wedding garment here mentioned is not to be understood of any qualification for the Lord’s Supper, but of the qualification for glory, — interpret it of the righteousness of Christ; “which,” say they, is the sole qualification for heaven; this being the only righteousness wherein any man can stand in the day of the Lord. For who,” they ask, “will then dare to appear before the great God, save in the righteousness of his well-beloved Son Shall we not then at least, if not before, find the need of having a better righteousness than our own And what other can that be than the righteousness of God our Saviour” The late pious and ingenious Mr. Hervey descants largely upon this; particularly in his elaborate “Dialogues between Theron and Aspasio.”
6. Another elegant writer, now I trust with God, speaks strongly to the same effect in the preface to his comment on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: “We certainly,” says he, “shall need a better righteousness than our own, wherein to Stand at the bar of God in the day of judgment.” I do not understand the expression. Is it scriptural Do we read it in the Bible, either in the Old Testament or the New I doubt it is an unscriptural, awkward phrase, Which has no determinate meaning. If you mean by that odd, uncouth question, ‘In whose righteousness are you to stand at the last day” — for whose sake, or by whose merit, do you expect to enter into the glory of God I answer, without the least hesitation, For the sake of Jesus Christ the Righteous. It is through his merits alone that all believers are saved; that is, justified — saved from the guilt, — sanctified — saved from the nature, of sin; and glorified — taken into heaven.
7. It may be worth our while to spend a few more words on this important point. Is it possible to devise a more unintelligible expression than this, — “In what righteousness are we to stand before God at the last day” Why do you not speak plainly, and say, “For whose sake do you look to be saved” Any plain peasant would then readily answer, “For the sake of Jesus Christ.” But all those dark, ambiguous phrases tend only to puzzle the cause, and open a way for unwary hearers to slide into Antinomianism.