Matthew 12:20

Matthew 12:20. And smoking flax, &c.— And a dimly burning taper he will not extinguish, till he render his laws victorious; or, till he hath made justice victorious. It is said at Mat 12:18 that he shall teach the nations judgment; by which I understand, says Dr. Heylin, in nearly these words, that self-judgment [the nosce teipsum, self-knowledge, reduced to practice] which is, under divine grace, the ground of all morality, and commonly named judgment in the scripture. This on the first awakenings of the soul must be greatly defective: self-knowledge is then dim, as the smoking wick, and good purposes weak as the broken reed; yet, under the conduct of Christ, these unpromising dispositions willimprove by continual accessions of divine light, till the penitent sinner, enabledto lay hold upon Christ by simple faith, becomes conscious of an interest in his blood, and feels a renovation of nature, which is here meant by sending forth judgment unto victory.

See commentary on Mat 12:17