“Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.” 2 Cor. i. 12.
1 In these words the great Apostle appeals to his conscience that he had lived in simplicity and sincerity, with a single aim and an innocent heart, as one who was illuminated and guided by God’s grace. The like appeal he makes on other occasions; when brought before the Jewish council he says, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” [Acts xxiii. 1.] And in his Second Epistle to Timothy he speaks of having served God from his forefathers “with pure conscience.” [2 Tim. i. 2, 3.]
And in the text he expressly says, what he implies, of course, whenever he appeals to his conscience at all, that he is able to rejoice in this appeal. He was given to know his own sincerity in such measure, that he could humbly take pleasure in it, and be comforted by it. “Our rejoicing is this,” he says, “the testimony of our conscience.” In like manner he says to the Galatians, “Let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.” [Gal. vi. 4.] And so also speaks St. John: “If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.” [1 John iii. 21.] Such was the confidence, such the rejoicing of St. Paul and St. John; not that they could do anything acceptable to God by their unaided powers, but that by His grace they could so live as to enjoy a cheerful hope of His favour, both now and evermore.
The same feeling is frequently expressed in the Psalms: a consciousness of innocence and integrity, a satisfaction in it, an appeal to God concerning it, and a confidence of God’s favour in consequence. For instance, “Be thou my judge, O Lord,” says David; he appeals to the heart-searching God, “for I have walked innocently; my trust hath been also in the Lord, therefore shall I not fall.” He proceeds to beg of God to aid him in this self-knowledge: “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try out my reins and my heart,” that is, lest he should be deceived in thinking himself what he was not. He next enumerates the special points in which God had enabled him to obey: “I have not dwelt with vain persons; neither will I have fellowship with the deceitful; I have hated the congregation of the wicked, and will not sit among the ungodly … As for me, I have walked innocently; O deliver me, and be merciful unto me. My foot standeth right; I will praise the Lord in the congregations.” [Ps. xxvi. 1, 2, &c.] In this and other passages of the Psalms two points are brought before us: that it is possible to be innocent, and to have that sense of our innocence which makes us happy in the thought of God’s eye being upon us. Let us then dwell on a truth, of which Apostles and Prophets unite in assuring us.
What the text means by “simplicity and sincerity,” I consider for all practical purposes to be the same as what Scripture elsewhere calls “a perfect heart;” at least this latter phrase will give us some insight into the meaning of the former. You know that it is a frequent account of the kings of Judah in the Sacred history, that they walked or did not walk with God, with a perfect heart. In contrast with this phrase, consider what our Saviour says of the attempt made by the Pharisees to serve God and mammon, and St. James’s account of a double-minded man. A man serves with a perfect heart, who serves God in all parts of his duty; and, not here and there, but here and there and everywhere; not perfectly indeed as regards the quality of his obedience, but perfectly as regards its extent; not completely, but consistently. So that he may appeal to God with the Psalmist, and say, “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me: and seek the ground of my heart,” with the humble trust that there is no department of his duty on which Almighty God can put His hand, and say, “Here thou art not with Me:” no part in which he does not set God before him, and desire to please Him, and to be governed by Him. And something like this seems to be St. James’s meaning, when he says, on the other hand, that “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all;” [James ii. 10.] for such a one is of imperfect heart, or double-minded.
Again, such seems to be our Saviour’s meaning when He uses the word hypocrite. A hypocrite is one who professes to be serving God faithfully, while he serves Him in only some one part of his duty, not in all parts. The word is now commonly taken to mean one who uses a profession of religion as a mere instrument of gaining his worldly ends, or who wishes to deceive men into thinking that he is what he is not. This is not exactly its Scripture sense, which seems rather to denote a person who would (if I may use the words) deceive God; one who, though his heart would tell him, were he honest with it, that he is not serving God perfectly, yet will not ask his heart, will not listen to it, trifles with his conscience, is determined to believe that he is religious, and (as if to strengthen himself in his own false persuasion, and from a variety of mixed motives difficult to analyse) protests his sincerity and innocence before God, appeals to God, and thus claims as his own the reward of innocence.