See 1 Corinthians.
1870 77 The attention of the Lord's people has been largely directed of late to the Epistle to the Romans, with a view of showing the summary it contains of the responsibilities of Jew and Gentile before God, and yet the common level upon which they both stood. "They are all under sin." Besides this, there is a further judgment pronounced by the righteous God upon the great fact of man's enmity, as expressed by the cross and the betrayal of Christ, by which "every mouth is stopped and the whole world brought in guilty before God." Moreover, when tested by the standard of what was due from the creature to the Creator, "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Nothing but the grace of God could take advantage of a crisis like this, and make it the opportunity of introducing righteousness in its new association with Christ in grace, "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood," to declare at this time His righteousness, "that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus."
God Himself is here seen in the new circle of His own delights, saving the lost, pardoning the sinner, justifying the guilty, because of the work of Christ on the cross, and His having been "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." With what delight do the redeemed listen to the voice of the Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, as He challenges the whole universe around Him: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? "" It is God that justifieth," silences every fear. "It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us," is the ground of our largest confidence and the guarantee for our boldest hopes! We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be firstborn among many brethren.
The God who suits us for Himself and for His Son in the eternal glory also fashions us for a correspondingly suited place while we are in this world: and this is the second part of the Epistle to the Romans. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." A Christian must in this way be modelled both for the heavens and for the earth, both for time and for eternity. He is called out by grace to take no other place than with Christ above and with a rejected Lord below; but how far short of this vocation in its two-fold character the Christians of today have fallen, each heart alas! knows for itself.
The immediate purpose of this paper is not however with the Romans but with the Corinthians: only it was necessary to preface the subject with these remarks, since Paul throws open the church doors at Corinth to the beloved of God and the called saints of Rome. A comparison of the opening verses of these epistles will show the difference now pointed at, and in application we shall discover that it requires a first-rate Roman Christian to make a really good Corinthian churchman. To the first Paul writes, not as a gathered body, but "to all that be in Rome," etc.; whereas, to the last he writes "unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." These are recognized as worshippers, and their first act of christian faith is, as gathered round the person of the living and risen Lord, the Head of the church, to call upon His name, etc. The Romans were instructed in their epistle how they were called and made saints and sanctified in Christ Jesus, so that they were prepared individually to be gathered on the very threshold of 1 Corinthians for church employment upon proper church ground, "with all in every place who call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." This platform is wide enough to embrace all the sanctified in Christ Jesus, and yet exclusive enough to shut out all who are not redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
In pursuing our examination of this 1 Corinthians, we shall find that the first eleven chapters are occupied with the important subject of true church Establishment, and the remaining part with the engrossing question of real church Endowment; but closing all up by the glorious chapter 15 of resurrection as the only and proper hope of the church of God on earth. How important a matter this is, in all its parts, at a time like this, and for Christendom generally, need not be insisted on.
Let us now follow this 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, as the successive chapters lead us; and first of all notice, yea, and associate ourselves with, that new source and measure of church blessing and benediction, "grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ," as the only proper standing of called saints, and of the sanctified in Christ Jesus. Should there be a doubt on the heart of any worshipper, as to his title to take this place before God, let every such misgiving be reproved, as be reads in this same chapter, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." What a new object has the Father's grace found for us in this Son of His own love, and our Saviour Jesus Christ! may we not fail in our part, to "glory in the Lord," by an unreserved acknowledgment of all that God has made Him to be by resurrection from the dead. But connected with this encouraging exhortation there is likewise a stern prohibition, "that no flesh should glory in his presence;" and may the Holy Ghost, who dwells in us, keep us as mindful of one as the other, in our new church relations, which are thus opening out to us
In 1 Corinthians 2 we are instructed respecting "a wisdom of this world, and of the princes of this world, that come to naught," and "the wisdom of God which he ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew," etc. Let us connect these important facts together. In the first chapter "man in the flesh" is cast out of God's presence, and the Second man, the Lord, is the only object of glory. Here we get as a consequence of this, the wisdom of the world, and its powers set aside; and another wisdom connected with Christ introduced, "which God ordained before the world to our glory." This wisdom (which was once a mystery) is now revealed by the Spirit of God, that Spirit which searcheth the deep things of God; and this Spirit we (the redeemed) have received, "that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth," etc. Had the princes of this world known the ordained wisdom of God, and Jesus the Lord, in whom this mystery was embodied, and developed, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Here we are taught the distinction between the Church of God, and the world; and what it is which really constitutes and measures the distance between the two in time and eternally, a solemn fact in the government of God and for the consciences of His saints.
Everybody admits the interest which attaches to laying a foundation stone and the ceremonials which are attendant thereon. Be it so: 1 Corinthians 3 calls us to witness such a thing, but infinitely more grand since God lays it; and the apostles and the master builders are gathered round this new foundation, "the pillar and ground of the truth." As we approach we hear it said, "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And see inscribed upon Him, "a sure stone, a tried stone, a precious stone, and the chief corner stone," and the top stone to be brought out with shootings in that day when He fills all earth and heaven with His praise. In the meanwhile we add, "this is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes." Let us further examine this church architecture, and the designs, and hear from the lips of Paul "according to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." And again, "if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire: and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." What a solemn and searching word, for a day when church extension is on everybody's lips, and commended on all sides! What must that church be which is no longer the city set upon a hill which cannot be hid? and where is that church of which the Lord says, "because thou art neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth?" Over the entablature of the true church at Corinth was written, "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Sharp cuttings and inscriptions follow, "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise." And again, "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness." We will only take a glance at our church bequests and then pass on to 1 Corinthians 4 "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are your's; whether Paul, or Apollos, Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your's; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." These are our church benefactions.
We are now led to the offices in the church and to church dignitaries, but only to receive our new lessons as to these also. "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." Astonishing as it is to see men brought into this nearness to God, put into the church as the new vessel of witness and testimony on the earth, yet how plainly does the world show itself to be the self-same world as regards this church and its ministers, as it was before, when its princes crucified the Lord of glory! "For I think," Paul says, "that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake; we are made as the filth of the earth and are the offscouring of all things unto this day." There is not only a church and a world in this epistle, but each is true to itself and the distinction as obvious as between Christ and Belial. These ministers could say, "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat."
In the next chapter we are taught what church discipline is, and why it is to be exercised and how. "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." The Lord will not suffer us to be inconsistent even with ourselves as "unleavened;" and this is very wonderful, though all such acts get the authority and sanction of His name. Here let me observe that, as on our entrance upon church standing and true christian worship we were seen "calling on the name of Jesus Christ and our Lord," so here, when in the church and exercised in church discipline, it is "when ye are gathered together," and "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," the only but all-sufficient source of blessing and of power. From these our responsibilities in the church of God flow. "Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." After this, will any plead for the allowance, much less the admission, of "a little leaven," whether in corrupt doctrine or in loose practice?
1 Corinthians 6 instructs us in our new behaviour as regards the exaction of our natural rights. "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?" It is important to observe the contrast between the Holy Ghost's teaching in the church and the teaching of Moses under the law. If an injured man puts himself in connection with the last named, he will be justified in exacting "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;" but if he puts himself at the feet of Christ, he will be taught another lesson. "But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil;" or, as we have it in our chapter, "Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" Our separation unto "the kingdom of God" is likewise intended here, and our connection with it is made the motive for actions which correspond therewith "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived … neither thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." The liberty is equal to the subjection. "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." The bondage of self and the body, with the thousand claims it makes, are set aside, and true christian liberty affirmed in our new allegiance to Christ in life. "The body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? and he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." If any enquire by what methods such an emancipation has been effected, our chapter supplies the answer. "Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Again, if self is no longer to be the object, nor the body our rule, to whom do we belong, and whose are we? "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body [and in your spirit, which are God's]." Such are "the members of Christ," and these new "temples of the Holy Ghost" on the earth, both. engaged and possessed!
1 Corinthians 7 treats mainly of the states and condition of life in which a man or woman may be living when called of God to the knowledge of His Christ and our Lord. For example, "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy;" as also, "He that is called in the Lord being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: and he that is called, being free, is the Lord's servant." So as regards marriage, if any step out of the place in which he was called, and marry, "he hath not sinned," nor she: only let them marry in the Lord.
In 1 Corinthians 8 we are taught how to conduct ourselves in reference to the knowledge that puffs up, and the charity that edifies, as applied to meats and drinks, and days and seasons, and things offered to idols. The governing and absorbing fact for Christianity is, "To us there is but one God, the Father, by whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." So that charity may pass into its own region, and delight itself in seeking an object upon which to spend itself for its good and edification. Mere knowledge on diversities, such as are in question, puffs up. "If any man love God, the same is known of him."
1 Corinthians 9 gives the proofs of Paul's apostleship, not by succession nor by human appointment; but as he says, "Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you; for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord." As to reward, "Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel, should live of the gospel." And again, "What is my reward then? Verily, that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my power in the gospel, and this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you." His service and labour are disconnected from all human and secondary considerations: "For necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel." He puts himself under responsibility to the Lord by a deeper self-judgment than ever, "that he might be temperate in all things, even when striving for the mastery." Moreover, this responsibility becomes now a prominent feature of this epistle, and is extended to these Corinthians by the verse, "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain." Personally he closes with the solemn warning, "But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection; lest by any means that when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away."
Let us recapitulate a few of the important points which have passed before us in these nine chapters. We saw first, as regards man himself, that he was put aside as in the flesh, with all his pretensions, "that no flesh should glory in His presence;" secondly, that the wisdom of the world and its princes were set at naught; and thirdly, that the world itself was a worthless world, because it had lost the one chief treasure which God in grace had sent into it, and was given over to its prince. Consequent upon this rejection of Christ (but in fulfilment of the purposes of God) this Second man, the Son of God, has been exalted to the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, and has become the centre around whom the "called saints and the sanctified in Christ Jesus" gather together as one body, and on whose name they call, as the true worshippers, who worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. The church of God below has properly begun its life and history from the glorified Head above, an entirely new standing before the Father, through redemption by the blood of the Lamb, and called by the God of our Lord Jesus Christ to a portion with Him, and that we are quickened, raised, and seated in the heavenly places in our Lord and Head, to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air when He comes with a shout.
But to return. 1 Corinthians 10 introduces us to church ordinances and a responsible people who take that ground before God as Israel did. "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed under the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea," etc. Professing Christendom has found at this point an entrance of ordinances and sacramentalism, the only points within the reach of man in the flesh and the craft of Satan, for who could touch Christ in the glory, or the real church of God, as one with Him there? But baptism and the Lord's table and the supper, with all their varied and significant meaning in truth, by the Holy Ghost, could be corrupted and turned round to suit mere human ideas of self-importance, and the subtlety of the enemy, who always revives and works by that which God has judged and set aside in Christ at the cross.
Who knew better than Satan that death had closed up all the relations between God and the creature, and by man's own act too, by which he had been not only the betrayer, but the murderer of Christ? Baptism was the great outward expression of this solemn fact, the end of man in the flesh. "Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death?" The enemy would not suffer such a testimony as this to proclaim to the conscience of Christendom the fact of death, and soon turned it round to suit his own ends, and by ways and means with which all are familiar declared baptism to express life, and thus affirmed that the baptized were regenerate by that ordinance, children of God, members of Christ, and heirs of the kingdom. Could there have been such a Christendom as this nineteenth century presents, if the scriptural meaning of baptism, and the Lord's table, and the supper had been kept before the heart in testimony as representing death, the death we had deserved, but judicially borne by the Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered in our stead, the Just One for the unjust? How significant are the warnings of this chapter 10 to people who still "sit down to eat and drink, but rise up to play." With many of them God was not well pleased, but they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our figures or types. "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted and were destroyed of serpents."
There is a difference, at least so I judge, between chapters 10 and xi., though both are alike sacrificial. Nevertheless, I take chapter 10 to be characteristically "the table of the Lord," and therefore separative in its claims (as representing His title) from everything antagonistic to the Lord in the world around us; "Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils." What little weight has Paul's challenge — "do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?" — upon the professing Christians of our day! Further, the table of the Lord is not only separating but uniting as respects the believers. "For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one loaf." We are many members, but only one body, of which the one bread which we break is the symbol. So the "cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" The body and blood of Christ are the only basis of assurance before God, and our communion one with another is on the common ground of the shedding of His blood.
The claims of the Lord upon us, founded on His rights and titles, extend from the table, as a new centre, known by us in redemption, to "the whole earth and the fulness thereof." All this is the Lord's, not asserted in creative title (though that be true too) but like Boaz who not merely had his Ruth but purchased the inheritance besides. We, believers, own the Lord's title to it all by resurrection, a title to be made good in divine power, when He comes a second time. Man in a state of nature, since Adam was driven out from Eden, is a trespasser, or at least an intruder in this creation, and is only in it by sufferance of God; but we are redeemed creatures, and owning the right and title of our risen Lord to the inheritance by redemption purchase, ask leave of no one to walk through the length and breadth of it, though we have not in fact so much as to set our foot upon. Whatsoever therefore "is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." our privileges as redeemed are new, so are our responsibilities; for this same Lord does not suffer us to do any longer the commonest things in an ordinary way, but says, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." What an elevation, and what a motive is this! So also as to the style of our behaviour in the Lord's inheritance, "Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." God had put aside man in the flesh, judicially in Christ on the cross; but now we see the redeemed putting self aside in the power of resurrection life, and in the Holy Ghost, so that we anticipate the day of our perfect blessing, and begin while on earth to sacrifice self for the profit of others, and for the glory of God.
This redemption of the inheritance, and the Lord's title and claims, introduce us to 1 Corinthians 11, where we get the new creation order, when all will be manifestly established in blessing according to God. The old creation order was God and the man and the woman; and this standing upon creature responsibility failed; but only failed to make room for the reserve of God and the introduction of Christ into a new creation-order; "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." In this new order of headship, where the head of man is Christ, there is an end of all fear, for the head of Christ is God.
The supper follows this, and puts us into our places to feed upon the broken body and shed blood of Christ; or rather to be in that scene of judgment where in the understanding of our souls, in perfect peace with God, we are set to judge ourselves for the allowance or existence of anything in us, which Christ died to deliver us from, and which the judgment of God has condemned and put to death. It is a wonderful place to be set in, and to be told to judge ourselves, and that "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged" of the Lord; and that even "when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." But besides, and beyond these matters of self-judgment, we are gathered round the Christ Himself who died for us, and to remember Him in His death — not the living, risen, and ascended One — the object of our worship, and on whose name we called in the opening chapter of this epistle — but the night of His betrayal, when He took bread, and broke it, and said, This is my body broken for you — likewise the cup — only now given out to us from the Lord in heaven by our apostle. It is necessarily with this addition, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." The church fulfilments of the death of Christ will be in our rapture into the heavens, and our being changed into His likeness, and our being presented in the presence of the Father's glory faultless and with exceeding joy.
Having considered in these eleven chapters the scriptural nature of the church's establishment, we now come to 1 Corinthians 12 to the remaining subject of the church's endowment. Such a church as this epistle describes where (Christ is everything from the foundation stone, to the top stone; and where the truth of the person, and work, and death of Christ is taught doctrinally under the anointing of the Holy One, and sacramentally set forth by baptism, and the table, and the supper) could only be endowed by the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Therefore we read, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant;" and then follows the surprising catalogue, or enrolment of what divine love could bestow on this new vessel of testimony on earth — the body of Christ. "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord; there are diversities of operations but the same God, which works all in all." What must the gifts be that spring forth from sources such as these, and how entirely independent and separate from any power under heaven, is this "church of the living God!"
Besides these diversities, which are necessary to the existence of a divine unity — there is the person of the Holy Ghost, which is beyond all His operations and gifts; "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." We are all conversant with the diversities that make up and constitute the unity of the human body; and this is taken as a figure of the church in verse 12, "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ." Scripture only recognizes one body, the body of Christ, not a congregational or a nonconformist body of Christians — much less an evangelical alliance — or a baptist, or a methodist body, but "ye being many are one."
As we saw just now, there are not many suppers but only one Lord's supper, and not many tables but only one table of the Lord. "For we being many are one bread and one body;" nor are there many churches such as Popish, Greek, or Anglican; but we are all one in Christ Jesus. "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels … and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, maketh increase with the increase of God."
As regards gifts, God has set some in the church; first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that, miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Such are some of the church's endowments. The purpose of this bestowment next follows in chapters 13; 14, which contain yet further direction as to their use for "the edification of the body." In brief, it may be said that the gifts enumerated in 1 Corinthians 12 need be baptized in the element of love, or the charity of 1 Corinthians 13, in order to be rightly exercised for the edification and growth of the body, as described in 1 Corinthians 14. The presence of a plurality of gifts in the assembly is recognized, and consequently directions are given for their exercise, affirming that "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets," and that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints, adding, "Let all things be done decently and in order." How generally an ordained minister and his flock or congregation has been substituted for God's order in the church, it is not here my purpose to expose. Nor do I think, where human rules have introduced such a flagrant contradiction as is generally admitted in what is called "the faith and order" of established and dissenting communities, anything is wanted but an exercised conscience before God to find the sure way of relief, and an "open door, which no man can shut."
We come now to the magnificent 1 Corinthians 15 or "the resurrection" chapter, the proper close to such an epistle, because the church's translation into the heavens to meet her Lord is her present and blessed hope. Satan knew this right well, and turned this chapter round into a burial service, and rung over it the funeral knell of the departed, changing a resurrection out of death into a burial service unto death and the grave and corruption. Let us examine one or two leading objects; and in the first place, what was in question at Corinth? Not whether any died, but if there was any resurrection. "How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" The chapter is to prove a resurrection out of corruption, out of the grave, and out of death, and not a burial into them, which no one ever doubted. "Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming" are the key notes of this new chapter of our Christianity, which brings life and incorruptibility to light. Can it be called a burial service which introduces that great fact, "But now is Christ risen from the dead," and affirms, "if Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins?" The enemy, who so successfully changed the meaning of baptism from death to "regeneration," was equally skilful in turning this great revelation of Christ, and our resurrection into the heavens, into a funeral service and a requiem over the dead.
Further, this rising from among the dead on the part of the Second man by the glory of the Father — this rainbow which spans the horizon of our faith — puts the Lord by ascension into connection with His kingdom, in which He is yet to reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." The grand and distinguishing part of Christianity is the risen Son of man, the guarantee of the church's resurrection or translation to meet her Lord; the assurance too "that God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained: whereof he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." How necessary it was for Satan that he should blind the minds of people to this twofold character of the resurrection is obvious to any exercised soul. An ascended Lord is the pledge to a believer that he can never come into judgment; whereas a risen Christ is the proof to an unbeliever that he cannot escape it. It is resurrection from the dead which has put the Son of man in his proper place of supremacy and headship of a new creation. It is by the future reign of the ascended One, as Christ and Lord that the kingdom shall hereafter be given up to God, even the Father, "that God may be all in all." Henceforth let this chapter be owned as the record of our victories, for such in truth it is, since we can say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" And again, "Then shall be brought to pass the saying, Death is swallowed up in victory." What becomes us to do, as we quit this triumphant arena of our conquered enemies, but to bow our heads and say, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ?" If things were with a saint according to the old law of nature, he might and would still prepare for death, and pay this debt, as some say; but with the sanctified in Christ Jesus all debts and liabilities have been cancelled long ago at the cross, and we are brought by Paul into connection with the blessed hope of the Lord's coming. "Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." Henceforth, there can be nothing common in the pathway of a saint. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Is there anything common in the pathway of our Lord? "As Christ is, so are we in this world."
Our epistle closes with church commendations upon a new footing, so that "if Timotheus come, see that he be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do." Likewise with proper church salutations, "The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house." Finally, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha
The Lord encourage His beloved people to step out of every system that will not bear the light and test of this epistle, and to accept the word which says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. 15:58.) J. E. Batten.