But of him are ye in Christ Jesus— "For, on the whole, all that we have that is worth mentioning we receive from Christ; and we receive it from him as the gift of God, since it is of him; and his free mercy and grace, that ye are called to share in the blessings given by Christ Jesus his Son. He exhibits this blessed Saviour to us, and disposes our hearts to accept of him; Who, amidst our ignorance and folly, is made of God unto us a source of wisdom; and through him, guilty as we are, we receive righteousness or justification; polluted as we are, we obtain sanctification, and, enslaved as we naturally are, to the power of lusts, and the dominion of Satan, the faithful obtain by him complete redemption." See Doddridge. As the conversion of the Corinthians, to whom this and the followingEpistle are addressed, is a fact of a peculiar nature, and one which affords a striking testimony to the truth of our holy religion, we shall here subjoin an Essay instead of Inferences.
Essay.—A very masterly writer has proved, that the conversion and the apostleship of St. Paul, alone, is of itself a sufficient demonstration to prove Christianity to be a divine revelation. And I cannot but think, that the conversion of the Corinthians is another strong proof of the truth of our religion. We have the greatest reason to believe that God did perform the promise which he made to this great Apostle, when he said, I am with thee. For if we duly consider the condition of St. Paul, the nature of the doctrine which he taught, and the manner in which he delivered it, we shall be ready to conclude, that the success which he had in preaching the Gospel at Corinth must be ascribed to the divine power.
Without supposing St. Paul to be mad, (a supposition too gross for a man of sense to make) we cannot conceive how he could hope, without God's extraordinary assistance, to convince the people of Corinth that they were in error. He went a stranger thither, unknown to any person there, unless he was before acquainted with Aquila and Priscilla. With these two banished Jews, who were of the same occupation with himself, he worked for his livelihood. His bodily presence was no recommendation of him; for he himself acknowledges, that he was with them in weakness of body, and in much fear and trembling. And he has informed us, that the Corinthians did in fact object to him, that his bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible. What they said of his person was true, if we may believe the ancients, who inform us that his stature was low, his body crooked, and his head bald. And it is not improbably conjectured by Dr. Whitby, that a stammering in his speech, or a squeaking shrillness in his voice, or some other infirmity in his speech in teaching, rendered him contemptible in the eyes of some of the Corinthians. He was a base and contemptible person, they said, and one who lived by his labour. Nay, some affirmed that he was mad or beside himself. He himself has declared, that he was made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men; that he was laughed at for Christ's sake; that he was weak, despised; that he both hungered and thirsted, was naked, buffeted, and had no certain dwelling-place; that he worked with his own hands, labouring unto weariness; that he was reviled, persecuted, defamed, made as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things: was a man of St. Paul's character a likely person to convert the richest and most flourishing city in Greece, a city filled with orators, philosophers, and banished Jews; a city above all others infamous for lewdness? Every unprejudiced person, I should think, will grant, that nothing can be more improbable; especially if it be considered what kind of doctrine he taught the Corinthians.
Without having the fullest assurance that God was with him, he could never hope to persuade the proud and vain philosophers, who depended wholly upon human reason, and would admit nothing for truth but what was demonstrable by it, to give their assent to the articles of our most holy faith. He was sure to meet with the utmost opposition when he endeavoured to persuade these wise men to admit for certain truths things above their reason. They were so fully persuaded of the sufficiency of that reason as to think that they could account for every thing. A poor obscure mechanic, therefore, a person who was of a nation which the rest of mankind despised and hated, could never hope to persuade them in a natural way by reasoning and disputation, to embrace for certain truths many points which were above the reach of human understanding,—several things which they had not so much as thought or dreamed of. When this Jewish tent-maker informed them, that when all mankind were concluded under sin, and knew not how to be absolved from the guilt of it, our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, came down from heaven, for us men, and for our salvation; was miraculously conceived, was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man,—he delivered to them nothing but the truth. But these wise men knew nothing of Jesus Christ, nor of the Holy Ghost; neither could they conceive how a man could be born of a pure virgin. St. Paul, therefore, could not have persuaded them by any human means that all this was true; for these wise men of the world, these wise men according to the flesh, (as the Apostle styles them) admitted of no higher principle to judge of things by, but philosophy, and demonstration from the principles of natural reason. And therefore he must needs think it an impossible thing, without God's special assistance, to persuade them to believe him to be God, who was born of a pure virgin; to adore him, whose mother was a poor Jewish woman espoused to a carpenter; to pay divine honour to him who was supposed to be a carpenter by trade; to believe him who died, and was buried, to be God blessed for ever; by whom all things were created that are in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones and dominions, or principalities and powers; in a word, to acknowledge him for their Lord and Master, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate between two thieves. Not only in St. Paul's days, but for a long time after, the doctrine of Christ's crucifixion was foolishness. In the days of Lactantius, Christians were reckoned a silly and contemptible people for following a crucified Master and Leader. Arnobius acquaints us, that the heathens said, the gods were not angry with Christians because they worshipped the Omnipotent Deity, but because in their daily prayers they adored a man that was born, and suffered the infamous death of the cross; and because they contended that he was God, and believed him to be yet alive. In another place he informs us, that they asked these questions: If Christ was God, why did he die as a man? Who was it that was seen hanging upon the cross? Who was it that died?—"The wise men of the world insult over us," says St. Austin, "and ask, where is your understanding, who worship him for a god, who was crucified?" And in the days of Athanasius, when the Gentiles were told by the Christians, that their images were but silver and gold, the work of men's hands; in opposition to this reproach they answered, that the doctrine of the cross was foolishness. "The Greeks laugh at this mystery as foolishness," says Theophylact, "because by faith alone, and not by syllogisms and reasonings, it is found that God was crucified." The same author informs us, that there were some unbelievers at Corinth who made a jest of the cross, and said, Truly it is a folly to preach a crucified God. For had he been God, he would have defended himself at the time of his crucifixion. But how could he rise from the dead, who could not prevent his own death? They accounted the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead as ridiculous and absurd a tenet as was ever held, and made it matter of their sport and jest. To raise a body that was perfectly dead, and restore it to life again, was not in the power of any being in the world, they said. But suppose it was possible, yet they did not account it a thing worthy of God to raise dead bodies to be united to the souls of good men. Their chief objection against the resurrection of the flesh, and of the body, was this; that the body was the prison and sepulchre of the soul, and that it was her punishment to be tied to it; that the body was the great hindrance to the knowledge of the truth, and that we could not be truly happy till by death we were delivered from it. It was therefore judged by them, as Dr. Whitby informs us, not only an impossible, but even an unjust, unworthy thing, for God to raise these bodies, to be united to those souls whose happiness consisted in being delivered from the body, and whose punishment it was to be confined to it; that being, according to their philosophy, not to make them live, but die again. And therefore Celsus says, The hope of the resurrection of the flesh is the hope of worms, a filthy, abominable, and impossible thing, which God neither will nor can do. He cannot do what is vile, neither will he do what is against nature. And Origen expressly declares, that the doctrine of the resurrection was a mystery which the unbelievers laughed at, and made a jest of. So many, such great and formidable obstacles, the Apostle could not but expect to meet with from the philosophers.
And he was sure to meet with as great opposition from the magistrates, who would suffer no innovation in the theology established by law. Had he contented himself with confuting the Jews only, I believe he would have given no offence to the civil power: but when he attempted to demonstrate the absurdity of the religion of the heathen, he must be very sensible that they would be greatly alarmed. How furiously must they be enraged when he endeavoured to alter their religious rites, the ancient usages, the agreeable and pleasing customs of their country? What an abhorrence must they have of him, when he taught them, that the objects of their worship were not gods; that an idol was nothing in the world but a senseless piece of matter? Could any thing be more shocking to the Corinthians than to hear a poor mechanic affirm, that what they worshipped were no gods, and that they ought to admit Jesus Christ for their Lord and their God? When Plato was in Sicily he brought himself into the greatest danger by endeavouring to render virtue amiable. If a barbarian had not been more humane than the Sicilian tyrant, the philosopher would probably have spent the remainder of his days in servitude in a strange country, only for making some innovations in political affairs. He did not so much as attempt to destroy the gods of Sicily, as St. Paul did those of Corinth. Nay, the Apostle did not only affirm that what they worshipped were no gods, but that his countryman Jesus, who had been crucified as a malefactor, was God blessed for ever. And must not such a doctrine be highly provoking to the Corinthians?
Anaxagoras, who was the first of the Greeks that taught this theology,—that not the sun, but the Creator of it, was God, was accounted an atheist by a people who had made the utmost improvement of their parts, and was in the utmost danger of being stoned to death. The same Athenians expelled Protagoras of Abdera from their city, and caused his works to be burnt, because he spoke, as they thought, disrespectfully of the gods. They likewise banished Diagoras, and promised a talent for a reward to him that should slay him, because he denied that there was a God, or rather only set at nought the idols and false gods of his time. The great Socrates, prince of the philosophers, being suspected of holding bad opinions of the gods, was condemned to die by drinking a potion of hemlock. And if a bare suspicion of innovation brought the philosophers into so much danger; if persons so greatly renowned for their wisdom and understanding could not effect what they designed; can we account, in a natural way, for the success of our Apostle, who was so far from being held in admiration, as the philosophers whom I have mentioned were, that he was despised upon the account of his nation, his person, his mean occupation, and rudeness of speech?
Plato was greatly admired by his countrymen, and very justly. And yet he himself confessed, that he durst not, consistent with his own security, discover his opinion of God to the folly of the multitude. Was it not as dangerous for St. Paul to discover to the Corinthians his notions, which were far more noble and exalted than those of Plato?
The philosophers and magistrates were not the only powerful adversaries whom St. Paul had to encounter at Corinth. He could not but expect to meet with a very strong opposition from the priests, the augurs, diviners, statuaries, and many others whose interest it was that the superstitious religion of their ancestors should be continued. All these would undoubtedly be as full of wrath, and raise as great an uproar against St. Paul, as Demetrius the silversmith, and the workmen of like occupation did, when they heard him persuade the people, that they are no gods which are made with hands. In a word, a man of his good sense, great penetration, foresight, and experience, could not but expect to be accounted and treated as one who turned the world upside down, a blasphemer of their gods, and consequently a subverter of the whole frame of their religion.
As the Apostle was sure of the greatest repugnance, when he taught the Corinthians what they were to believe; so he must expect to meet with the utmost opposition, when he endeavoured to persuade them to set about the reformation and amendment of their lives: when he commanded them to flee fornication; when he taught them, that every other sin that a man doth is without the pollution of the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against and polluteth his own body; when he forbade them to eat with any brother who is a fornicator, and declared that God would pronounce the sentence of condemnation upon whoremongers and adulterers,—He could not but foresee that the Corinthians would be averse to his doctrine: For Corinth was above all other cities, even to a proverb, infamous for fornication and lasciviousness. How then was it possible for the Apostle, without the help of God, to convince so debauched and lascivious a people, that fornication and uncleanness ought not to be named among them, being crimes of a most destructive nature? Or how could he hope for success when he informed them, that neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, were to be named among them? Or when he acquainted them, that at the day of judgment men were to give an account of every idle word which they had spoken? Or when he declared, that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause, shall be in danger of the judgment? Or when he told them, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart? Lastly, how could he in a natural way prevail upon a people who were proud and ambitious, debauched and intemperate, revengeful and envious, contentious and litigious, to embrace a religion which taught humility, sobriety, temperance, the forgiving of injuries, love, charity, moderation, meekness, and universal benevolence? We are all of us very sensible what a difficult matter it is to persuade men to become in love with holiness and virtue, who have been long accustomed to a vicious course of life. Even persons who know the terrors of the Lord, who are fully persuaded and do sincerely believe, that a dreadful day will come when they must give a strict account of all their actions, are, with great difficulty, reclaimed from the error of their way, if their sins have had the growth of many years; (though nothing is too hard for grace, when submitted to:) and if old habitual sinners, who really believe the Gospel in speculation, and consequently expect to be judged for their actions, are seldom, or with great difficulty, reformed; how will an unbeliever account for the Apostle's persuading the Corinthians to lay aside such practices as they thought indifferent and innocent; such practices as were pleasant and agreeable to depraved mankind? How will he account for his convincing them that their most sacred and religious solemnities were the greatest abominations?
Having shewn what obstacles St. Paul must necessarily meet with at Corinth from the Gentiles; I shall now inquire what opposition he might expect from the unbelieving Jews, who inhabited this city, when he undertook that glorious work of converting them from darkness to light, of giving knowledge of salvation to them, for the remission of their sins.
When he went to Corinth, the city was full of Jews, whom the emperor Claudius had expelled from Rome. They were as bitter enemies as the Gentiles to the Christian religion, and the preachers of it; and they hated St. Paul much more than the rest of the apostles, because all on a sudden, from being a violent persecutor of the disciples of the crucified Jesus, and making havoc of his church, he gave a convincing proof of the power of grace, by becoming one of the most zealous propagators of his religion. A people so much prejudiced against him, must be, nay, were in fact greatly incensed, when they heard him persuade men to worship God in a manner different from what their law required. What a hatred must they have of him who abolished circumcision? How could our Apostle hope for success, in a natural way, when he preached such a doctrine to a people, who had read in one of their inspired books, that God had threatened that the soul should be cut off which neglected this rite? How, without the assistance of God, could he, who taught such a doctrine, ever think of making converts of Jews, whose religion was so much corrupted at our Saviour's coming into the world, that they held, "that circumcision was a sufficient virtue to render them accepted of God, and to preserve them from eternal ruin: that no circumcised person goes to hell, God having promised to deliver them from it, for the merit of circumcision, and having told Abraham that when his children fell into transgression and did wicked works, he would remember the merit of their circumcision, and would be satisfied with their piety?" They were prejudiced against several other doctrines that he taught, which they imagined derogated from the perfection and honour of their law. Such was the doctrine of making the visible church universal by receiving the Gentiles to the privileges of the true church without submitting to the ritual law, and not being justified by the works of the law, but by faith in the Messiah. They were prejudiced in favour of their law, as unchangeable and eternal; or as the necessary means of justifying a sinner before God. Without the interposition of God, the Apostle could never hope to persuade them who had been informed in their sacred books that the Messiah was to have an everlasting kingdom, a throne for ever and ever—That he should be great unto the ends of the earth, and was to abide for ever, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel; to have a portion divided him with the great, and to divide the spoil with the strong; to have dominion and glory, and a kingdom; that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; that his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.—Without the divine aid, I say, the Apostle could never hope to persuade the Jews who expected such a triumphant Messiah, in the carnal natural sense of the words, to believe that Jesus was the Christ, who had suffered that death which by the law was counted execrable. The crucifixion of Christ, as the Apostle himself has informed us, was unto the Jews a stumbling-block. And in Justin Martyr, Trypho the Jew says, "Your Jesus having by this fallen under the extremest curse of the law of God, we cannot but sufficiently admire that you should expect any good from God, who place your hopes in a man that was crucified; for our law styles every one that is crucified accursed." And Theophylact informs us, that the Jews objected; "How can he be God who did eat and drink with publicans and harlots, and was at last crucified with thieves?" See on 1 Corinthians 1:22-24.
To all that has been said I may still further add, that the danger which attended the profession of Christianity, might deter both Jew and Gentile from embracing it. A man no sooner became a Christian than he exposed himself to all the miseries that human nature is capable of suffering. Had our Apostle therefore made use of all the eloquence he was master of, yet had not God been with him, he could not have persuaded the Corinthians to become Christians. But he preached the Gospel in the most plain and simple manner, to as wicked and debauched a people as any in the world: he delivered the most pure and heavenly doctrine, the strictest and severest precepts, that had ever been taught mankind; and yet he confounded the mighty and the noble, and gained a victory over their orators and philosophers. I concluded, therefore, that this success must be attributed not to a natural, but divine cause, and, consequently, that the Gospel is the word of truth.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The Apostle opens his Epistle, 1. With an assertion of his apostolic character; which some among them affected to traduce and vilify, as if he had assumed an honour to which he was in no wise entitled. He affirms, therefore, the divine authority upon which he acted; not self-constituted, but called of Jesus Christ to the high honour and important charge of apostleship. And Sosthenes, a fellow-minister, joins him in affectionate salutations. Note; There are times when, to vindicate our real character and magnify our office is not pride, but a debt that we owe to the church of God.
2. He addresses himself to the church of God at Corinth, as to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, separated by his grace from the world which lieth in wickedness, and incorporated in his name; called to be saints, justly so denominated, and proving by their conduct the propriety of the name they bore; with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's, in whom we have a joint interest, and are all one in him. Note; (1.) All who profess the name of Jesus, are called to prove their relation to him by the holiness of their walk. (2.) Since Christ is proposed to us as the object of our worship, he must needs be very God. (3.) The life of a Christian is an habitual course of calling upon God. To live without prayer is the surest mark of a Christless soul.
3. He gives them his apostolical benediction. Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.—Grace, the source of every blessing, and peace with a reconciled God through Jesus Christ. Note; (1.) Every mercy that a sinner enjoys in time, or hopes for in eternity, flows purely from the free and boundless grace of God in Jesus Christ (2.) All solid peace of conscience can only arise from a sense of God's favour and reconciliation through the Redeemer.
4. He thanks God on their account for the graces and gifts which were bestowed upon them. I thank my God (and blessed and happy are they who can call him so) always on your behalf, (so constantly did he feel a tender concern for them upon his heart) for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, as the great Head of his believing people, to whom they are united, and from whom, as the fountain of vital influence, they draw continual supplies of strength and consolation. And as he charitably hoped the generality of them were partakers of the grace of God in truth, he had also another cause for thankfulness, because in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, endued with clear views of that rich salvation which is in a crucified Jesus, and capable of expressing themselves on the subject with singular fluency of speech and energy of diction, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, the Holy Ghost giving the fullest demonstration to their consciences of the truth of that Gospel which was preached unto them; so that ye come behind in no gift, in nothing inferior to any church which had been planted, in these distinguished gifts of the Spirit; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the declarations of his word, which they had heard and embraced, preparing to meet him, and with patient but joyful expectation, looking for the day of his appearing. Note; They who are Christians indeed, cannot but rejoice in the prospect, that, when Christ who is their hope shall appear, then the faithful also shall appear with him in glory.
5. The Apostle professes his confidence in them, that they will not swerve from the hope of the Gospel: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, in faith and holiness, enabling you to persevere, if you continue to cleave to him, unshaken amidst all your trials, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, being found complete in him, and then transformed wholly into his image: for, he adds, God is faithful to all his promises, and will assuredly do his part, if we do ours: by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
2nd, One chief end of St. Paul's writing this Epistle appears to have been, the healing of those divisions of which he had been informed. He therefore,
1. Exhorts them to union among themselves; in sentiment and affection to have their hearts knit together, avoiding, as the most dangerous rock, those disputes and divisions which must be the bane of Christian love, and could not but end in the ruin of the church.
And he urges this by the most powerful motive, even by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; not only as one authorized to enjoin this upon them, but suggesting that the very mention of the endearing name of Jesus should silence every jar, and fill their souls with love to him and one another. Note; Internal divisions among the members of Christ have more wounded his cause than all the external attacks of earth or hell.
2. He informs them whence he received his information of those evils which he so justly condemns; and solemnly remonstrates against their making so ill a use of his name, as well as of his brethren, to range themselves in different parties; while some said, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, or Peter, depreciating the one and exalting the other; as if it mattered aught by whose instrumentality they were converted to the faith: whilst others, as if above all means and instruments, boasted, I am of Christ, and so immediately under the teachings of his Spirit as to need no other instructor. But how absurd were these pretensions, and how dangerous these discords! Is Christ divided? so as to act separately from the means of his own appointment? or can there be the least sort of division between him and those who act by his authority? and with whom he has promised to be to the end of the world? or can his church, which is his body, and one with him, be disjointed, and his members subsist separately from each other, without infinite injury? Surely, no. And as for those ministers, under whose names you range yourselves, let me ask, applying it to myself, Was Paul crucified for you? Did I, or my brethren, ever pretend that we were your saviours? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul, by my authority, as my disciples, professing your faith in me, or obedience to my service? God forbid. Neither I, nor my fellow-labourers, ever taught you to hope for any other atonement than in a crucified Jesus, nor baptized you in any other name than his. I thank God, since this matter has been so abused by many of you, that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say, that I had baptized in mine own name, and sought to set myself at the head of a party. I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. Note; A faithful minister of Christ rejects with abhorrence all attempts to set him at the head of a party, solicitous only that his Master should be glorified, and jealous above all things never to rob him of his peculiar honours.
3rdly, Having vindicated himself from every insinuation that he designed to form a party by baptizing disciples, he disclaims every attempt to aggrandize himself by the manner in which he preached the Gospel unto them. For, says he, Christ, from whom immediately I received my commission, sent me not to baptize as my principal business; but to preach the Gospel, according to the revelation made known unto me; and he informs them,
1. Of the manner in which he preached,—not with wisdom of words, with affected flourishes of oratory, or to gratify philosophic pride, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect, the simple truth of a crucified Jesus should be obscured, its efficacy defeated, its honour tarnished, and the success be ascribed, not to the divine simplicity and native force of the truth, but to the art and eloquence of those who preached the Gospel. Note; Though eloquence, without ostentation, is both lawful and laudable, yet, as Luther says, he is the best preacher that can speak the most familiarly, and suits his discourse best to the capacity and understanding of the hearer, more solicitous to be understood than to be admired.
2. Of the effects of his preaching. For the preaching of the cross, and the great salvation obtained by the blood-shedding of the Redeemer on the ignominious tree, is to them that perish, foolishness. They who are puffed up in pride in their own sufficiency, or ignorant of their guilt and sinfulness, and their need of the redemption which is in Christ, reject the Gospel as nonsense and absurdity, and perish in their impenitence and unbelief. (1.) The doctrine of the cross was to the Jews a stumbling-block. They could not bear to receive him for their Messiah, who made so mean an appearance in his life, and died as a malefactor on a tree. Rejecting all the amazing miracles which he wrought, they required a sign from heaven, (Matthew 12:38.) expecting that he should appear in all worldly pomp and grandeur, as their temporal, instead of a spiritual, Redeemer. (2.) To the Greeks this doctrine was foolishness. They sought after wisdom, they received nothing but what was demonstrable on what they termed the principles of reason; and since their philosophic minds could perceive no connection between a man who was crucified, and the redemption of sinners; nor esteemed it possible, on their principles, that he who could not, as they conceived, save himself from the cross, should be able to save others from death and hell; they stamped the declaration with folly, and rejected it as absurd. But, (3.) unto us who are saved, however proud Greeks or self-righteous Jews may think of it, Christ, and the doctrine of salvation through his cross, appears to be the power of God, and the wisdom of God. The power of God is seen to be most gloriously displayed in the Mediator's undertakings and sufferings; in his miracles, resurrection, ascension; and especially in the mighty efficacy with which his Gospel is attended, through the influences of his Spirit, effectually quickening the dead in trespasses and sins, turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. The wisdom of God is astonishingly displayed in the stupendous scheme of man's redemption, wherein the sinner, consistent with the glory of every divine perfection, can be received into the bosom of mercy; and pardon, holiness, and glory, be bestowed on him, without dishonour to God's government or law, and this through the substitution of the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, in our stead.
3. He shews the triumph of this doctrine of a crucified Jesus over all the inventions of the wisest sages: their schemes and systems could never relieve a guilty conscience, or lay a solid foundation for the sinner's hope. The Lord therefore, according to his word, (Isaiah 29:14.) stamps all human wisdom as folly. Where is the wise philosopher? Where is the learned scribe, deep read in traditions? Where is the disputer of this world, whether Jew or Gentile? Can the one or the other give the least satisfactory account, how a guilty sinner can be reconciled to an offended God? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? and left philosophers and rabbins to grope for the wall as blind? For after that, or since, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, but their most learned sages were permitted to become vain in their imaginations, (see Romans 1:21-22.) ignorant of God, his worship, and ways; it pleased God, in his infinite grace and love, to make a more transcendant display of his own glory, by the foolishness of preaching, (for so would a wise world call the doctrine of the cross) to save them that believe, making it effectual to their peace, and joy, and holiness. This contrivance of divine wisdom to save lost souls by the incarnation of Jesus, is deemed the greatest folly; but the foolishness of God is wiser than men, infinitely excelling all their boasted researches, and ingenious systems; and the weakness of God is stronger than men, however inadequate the Gospel method in their eyes may appear; and however weak the instruments are, which are chiefly employed in the work, yet it was clear to demonstration, that what all the precepts of philosophy and the power of oratory never produced, the doctrine of the cross effected, destroying the kingdom of sin and Satan in the hearts of men, and causing such an evident change in their tempers and conduct as spoke the finger of God. Note; Wherever the Gospel is truly preached, however weak the instrument may be, God will bear testimony to his own word, that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God and not of us.
4. He appeals to them for the truth of what he had advanced, as verified by experience. For ye see your calling, brethren; how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; (see the Annotations;) some few singular instances to the contrary may be observed: but, in general, the proud philosopher, the self-righteous scribes, and the men of high birth and affluence, refuse to submit to the humbling and self-denying doctrines of the cross: and, leaving them to their folly and ruin, God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, that an illiterate Christian should shame the proud philosopher, and shew the surpassing influence of the doctrine of Jesus, above all his learned precepts. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world, men in the meanest outward circumstances, to confound the things which are mighty, to stamp vanity on human grandeur, and to shew that his kingdom stands without any earthly supports, nay, in defiance of all worldly power and influence; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, even the poor Gentiles, whom the self-righteous Jews would scarcely deign to put among the dogs of their flock, these hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, who never had a name or place in the church of God before, to bring to nought (καταργηση), to abolish, the things that are, putting a period to the covenant of peculiarity, under which the Jewish people formerly stood, thinking themselves, exclusive of all others, the only favourites of heaven. But now all difference ceases, that no flesh should glory in his presence, on account of any imagined superiority in wisdom, wealth, nobility, or any external privileges; but that, as it is written, he that glorieth should glory in the Lord, ascribing the whole of their salvation to his rich and boundless grace, as revealed in the Gospel of Jesus to the miserable and the penitent.
5. He reminds them of the inestimable blessings to which, in virtue of their interest in Christ, they were entitled. They had of themselves nothing to glory in; but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, incorporated into the mystical body of Christ, who of God is made unto us, according to the constitution of the covenant of grace, wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. (1.) Wisdom; we are naturally foolish, deceived, and ignorant; but all the treasures of wisdom reside in our exalted Head: and, as the prophet of his church, it is his office to lead us into all truth, for which end he has given us his word, and promises his Spirit, that we may be taught of God, and thereby be made wise unto salvation. (2.) Righteousness; as, by his sufferings and obedience unto death, he has satisfied the law and justice of God in our stead; and as this is accepted for us, and placed to our account, through faith in him, for the remission of our sins, and discharging us from condemnation, and for our justification in the sight of God. And since it does not become the holy God to take away the guilt of our sins, and at the same time leave us under their power and dominion, he has also made Christ to be, (3.) Sanctification; he is the head of vital influence, and, as a quickening Spirit, works effectually in the hearts of his believing people, mortifying and destroying their corrupt and vile affections, and daily renewing them in the inner man, that their spirits and temper may be brought to a nearer conformity with his own, until his whole mind be established in them. Lastly, God has made Christ to be Redemption to all his faithful saints, as he is their great and final Deliverer from all that is contemptible and miserable in this world, as well as in that to come; and as he will raise their dead bodies, and make them like unto his own glorious body, by the working of his mighty power; and, so complete their felicity: and thus Christ will become all in all to his saints; and to him alone shall all the glory be eternally ascribed.