For it is to this end that
he brings his own body into subjection, that he may be able to serve
others more sincerely and more freely, as Paul says, "None of us liveth
to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord" (Rom. xiv. 7,
8). Thus it is impossible that he should take his ease in this life, and
not work for the good of his neighbours, since he must needs speak, act,
and converse among men, just as Christ was made in the likeness of men
and found in fashion as a man, and had His conversation among men.
Yet a Christian has need of none of these things for justification and
salvation, but in all his works he ought to entertain this view and look
only to this object--that he may serve and be useful to others in all
that he does; having nothing before his eyes but the necessities and the
advantage of his neighbour. Thus the Apostle commands us to work with
our own hands, that we may have to give to those that need. He might
have said, that we may support ourselves; but he tells us to give to
those that need. It is the part of a Christian to take care of his own
body for the very purpose that, by its soundness and well-being, he may
be enabled to labour, and to acquire and preserve property, for the aid
of those who are in want, that thus the stronger member may serve the
weaker member, and we may be children of God, thoughtful and busy one
for another, bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of
Christ.
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