The Expositor's Bible: The Book of GenesisDods, Marcus
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Genesis
Dods, Marcus
Bible. Genesis -- Commentaries
elevation and majesty about the whole conception, which we recognise as
the reflex of his conception of God.
Here then instead of anything to discompose us or to excite unbelief, we
recognise one great law or principle on which God proceeds in making
Himself known to men. This has been called the Law of Accommodation. It
is the law which requires that the condition and capacity of those to
whom the revelation is made must be considered. If you wish to instruct
a child, you must speak in language the child can understand. If you
wish to elevate a savage, you must do it by degrees, accommodating
yourself to his condition, and winking at much ignorance while you
instil elementary knowledge. You must found all you teach on what is
already understood by your pupil, and through that you must convey
further knowledge and train his faculties to higher capacity. So was it
with God's revelation. The Jews were children who had to be trained
with what Paul somewhat contemptuously calls "weak and beggarly
elements," the A B C of morals and religion. Not even in morals could
the absolute truth be enforced. Accommodation had to be practised even
here. Polygamy was allowed as a concession to their immature stage of
development: and practices in war and in domestic law were permitted or
enjoined which were inconsistent with absolute morality. Indeed the
whole Jewish system was an adaptation to an immature state. The dwelling
of God in the Temple as a man in his house, the propitiating of God with
sacrifice as of an Eastern king with gifts; this was a teaching by
picture, a teaching which had as much resemblance to the truth and as
much mixture of truth as they were able then to receive. No doubt this
teaching did actually mislead them in some of their ideas; but it kept
them on the whole in a right attitude towards God, and prepared them for
growing up to a fuller discernment of the truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account