Observe, also, here, that although that assembly at Corinth was only a part of the body of Christ, the apostle speaks of the whole body; for the assembly there was, according to the principle of its gathering, the. body of Christ as assembled at Corinth. It is true, that at the beginning he speaks of all those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus; but, in fact, he addresses the Corinthian assembly; and the general expression shows, that in the walk of the Church, and in its general interests, a local assembly cannot be separated from the whole body of Christians on earth; and the language employed here shows that, as to their position before God, the Christians of one town were considered as representing the whole Church, as far as regarded that locality; not as independent of the rest, but, on the contrary, as inseparably united to the others, living and acting, with respect to that locality, as members of the body of Christ, and looked upon as such in it because every Christian formed a part of that body, and they formed a part of it likewise. From the verses that follow, we see that the apostle, while looking upon the Christians there as the body of Christ, the members of which they were, has in his mind the whole Church as the assembly of God. In the New Testament there is no other membership than that of Christ, except that they are members of each other, as forming the entire body, but never members of a church, the idea is different, it is the members of a body like that of man, as a figure, never the members of an assembly,—in the modern sense of the word. We are members of Christ, and, consequently, of the body of Christ; so were the Corinthians, as, far as that body was manifested at Corinth.
Moreover, the body of Christ, the Church, is looked at here as a whole upon the earth. God has set in the Church apostles, prophets, etc., miracles, healings, tongues. It is very plain that this is on the earth, as were the Corinthians, and that it is the Church as a whole. Healings and tongues were not in heaven, and the apostles were not those of an individual Church. In a word, it was the Holy Ghost, come down from heaven, who had formed the unity of the body on earth, and who acted in it by the especial gifts which distinguished the members.
The apostle then points out these gifts, not to give a formal and complete list of them, but to mark the order and importance of those he mentions. Tongues, of which the Corinthians were so proud, are the last gifts named in the list. Some gifts, then, were more excellent than others; they were to be estimated according to the measure in which they served for the edification of the assembly. Those which served this end were to be desired. Nevertheless, there was something more excellent than all gifts. They were the manifestation of the power of God and of the mysteries of His wisdom; Love, that of His nature itself.
They might speak with all tongues, they might have prophecy, the knowledge of mysteries, the faith which can remove mountains,—they might give all their possessions to feed the poor, and their bodies to be tortured, if they had not love, it was nothing. Love was conformity to the nature of God, the living expression of what He was, the manifestation of having been made partakers of His nature; it was the acting and feeling according to His likeness. This love is developed in reference to others; but others are not the motive, although they are the object. It has its source within, its strength is independent of the objects with which it is occupied; thus it can act where circumstances might produce irritation or jealousy in the human heart. It acts according to its own nature in the circumstances; and by judging them according to that nature, they do not act upon the man who is full of love, except so far as they supply occasion for its activity and direct its form. Love is its own motive. In us, participation in the divine nature is its only source. Communion with God Himself alone sustains it through all the difficulties it has to surmount in its path. This love is the opposite of selfishness and of self-seeking, and shuts it out, seeking the good of others, even (as to its principle) as God has sought us in grace (see Eph. 4:32;532And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)
32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:32). 1, 2). What a power to avoid evil in one's self, to forget all in order to do good.
The first eight qualities of love pointed out by the Spirit are the, expression of this renunciation of self; the three that follow mark that joy in good which sets the heart free also from that readiness to suppose evil, which is so natural to human nature, on account of its own depth of evil, and that which it also experiences in the world. The four last show its positive energy, which -the source of every kind thought—by the powerful spring of its divine nature, presumes good when it does not see it, and bears with evil when it sees it, covering it by long-suffering and patience; not bringing it to light, hut burying it in its own depth—a depth which is unfathomable, because love never changes. One finds nothing but love where it is real; for circumstances are but an occasion for it to act and show itself. Love is always itself, and it is love which is exercised and displayed. It is that which fills the mind; everything else is but a means of awakening the soul that dwells in love, to its exercise. This is the divine character. No doubt the time of judgment will come; but our relationships with God are in grace. Love is His nature. It is now the time of its exercise. We represent Him on earth in testimony. In that which is said of love in this chapter we find the reproduction of the divine nature, except that what is said is but the negative of the selfishness of the flesh in us. Now the divine nature changes not and never ceases; love, therefore, abideth ever. Communications from God; the means by which they are made, knowledge -as attained here below-according to which we apprehend the truth in part only, although the whole truth is revealed to us;- for we apprehend it in detail, so that we have never the whole at once; the character of our knowledge is to lay hold of different truths singly -all that is characterized by being in part passes away.
Love will not pass away. A child learns; he rejoices, too, in things that amuse him; when he becomes a man, he requires things in accordance with his intelligence as a man. It was thus with tongues and the edification of the Church. The time was, however, coming when they should know even as they were known; not by communications of truths to a capacity that apprehended the truth in its different parts, but they should understand as a whole in its unity.
Now love subsists already; there are faith and hope also. Not only shall these pass away, but even now, here below, that which is of the nature of God is more excellent than that which is connected with the capacity of human nature, even though enlightened by God, and having for its object the revealed glory of God.
Believers, therefore, were to follow after and seek for love while desiring gifts, especially that they might prophesy, because thus they would edify the Church, and that was the thing to aim at; it was that which love desired and sought—it was that which intelligence required, the two marks-of a man in Christ, of one to whom Christ is all.
Two verses in this chap. 14 demand a little attention, the 3rd and the 6th. Ver. 3 is the effect, or rather the quality of that which a prophet says, and not a definition. He edifies, he encourages, he comforts, by speaking. Nevertheless, these words show the character of what he said. Prophecy is in no wise simply the revelation of future events, although prophets, as such, have revealed them. A prophet is one who is so in communication with God as to be able to communicate His mind. A teacher instructs, according to that which is already written, and so explains its import. But in communicating the mind of God to souls under grace, the prophet encouraged and edified them. With regard to ver. 6, it is plain that coining with tongues (by the use of which the Corinthians, like children, loved to shine in the assembly), he that so spoke edified no one, for he was not understood. Perhaps he did not understand himself, but was the unintelligent instrument of the Spirit, whilst having the powerful impression of the fact that
God spake by his means, so that in the spirit he felt that he was in communication with God, although his understanding was unfruitful. In any case, no one could speak for the edification of the assembly unless he communicated the mind of God. Of such communication the apostle distinguishes two kinds—revelation and knowledge. The latter supposes a revelation already given, of which some one availed himself, by the Holy Ghost, for the good of the flock. He then points out the gifts which were respectively the means of edifying in these two ways. It is not that the two latter terms (ver. 6) are the equivalents of the two former; but the two things here spoken of as edifying the Church were accomplished by means of these two gifts. There might be " prophecy " without its being absolutely a new revelation, although there was more in it than knowledge. It might contain an application of the thoughts of God—an address, on the part of God, to the soul, to the conscience, which would be more than knowledge, but which would not be a new revelation. God acts therein, without revealing a new truth or a new fact. " Knowledge," or " doctrine," teaches truths or explains the Word. A thing very useful to the Church; but in it there is not the direct action of the Spirit in application, and thus not the direct manifestation of the presence of God to men in their own conscience and heart. When any one teaches, he who is spiritual profits by it; when one prophesies, even he who is not spiritual will feel it, he is reached and judged; and it is the same thing with the Christian's conscience. Revelation, or knowledge, is a perfect division, and embraces everything. Prophecy and doctrine are in intimate connection with the two; but prophecy embraces other ideas, so that this division does not exactly answer to the two first terms.
The apostle insists largely on the necessity of making one's self understood, whether one speaks, or sings, or prays. He desires-and the remark is of all-importance in judging men's pretensions to the Spirit—that the understanding be in exercise. He does not deny that they might speak with tongues without the understanding being at all in it; a thing of evident power and utility when persons were present who understood no other language, or whose natural language it was. But, in general, it was an inferior thing when the Spirit did not act upon, and, therefore, by means of, the understanding. Communion between souls in a common subject, through the unity of the Spirit, did not exist, when he who spoke did not understand what he said. The individual speaking did not himself enjoy, as from God, what he communicated to others. If others did not understand it either, it was child's play to utter words without meaning to the hearers. But the apostle desired to understand himself that which he said, although he spoke in many tongues; so that it was not jealousy on his part. He spoke more foreign tongues, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, than they all. But his soul loved the things of God -loved to receive truth intelligently from Him—loved to hold intelligent intercourse with others; and he would rather say five words with his understanding than ten thousand without it in an unknown tongue. What a marvelous power, what a manifestation of the presence of God-a thing worthy of the deepest attention-and, at the same time, what superiority to all carnal vanity, to the luster reflected upon the individual by means of gifts,—what moral power of the Spirit of God, where love saw nothing in these manifestations of power in gift, but instruments to be used for the good of the Church and of souls. It was the practical force of that love, to the exercise of which, as being superior to gifts, he exhorted the faithful. It was the love and the wisdom of God directing the exercise of His power for the good of those whom He loved. What a position for a man! What simplicity is imparted by the grace of God to one who forgets self in humility and love, and what power in. that humility! The apostle confirms his argument by the effect that would be produced on strangers who might come into the assembly, or on unenlightened Christians, if they heard languages spoken which no one understood; they would think them mad. Prophecy, reaching their conscience, would make them feel that God was there—was present in the Church of God.
Gifts were abundant in Corinth: having regulated that which concerned moral questions, the apostle, in the second place, regulates the exercise of those gifts. Every one came with some manifestation of the power of the Holy Ghost, of which they evidently thought more than of conformity to Christ. Nevertheless, the apostle acknowledges in it the power of the Spirit of God, and gives rules for its exercise. Two or three might speak with tongues, provided there was an interpreter, so that the assembly might be edified. And this was to be done one at a time, for it appears they even spoke several at once. In the same way as to the prophets; two or three might speak, the others would judge if it really came from God. For, if it were given to them of God, all might prophesy; but only one at a time, that all might learn -a dependence always good for the most gifted prophets—and that all might be comforted. The spirits of the prophets, that is to say, the impulse of power in the exercise of gifts, were subject to the guidance of the moral intelligence which the Spirit bestowed on the prophets. They were, on God's part, masters of themselves in the use of these gifts, in the exercise of this marvelous power which wrought in them. It was not a divine fury, as the pagans said of their diabolical inspiration, which carried them away; for God could not be the author of confusion in the assembly, but of peace. In a word, we see that this power was committed to man in his moral responsibility; an important principle, which is invariable in the ways of God. God saved man by grace, when he had failed in his responsibility; but all that He has committed to man, whatever may be the divine energy of the gift, man holds as responsible to use it for the glory of God, and, consequently, for the good of others, and especially of the Church.
Women were to be silent in the assembly, it was not permitted to them to speak, they were to remain in obedience and not to direct others. The law, moreover, held the same language. It would be a shame to hear them speak in public; if they had questions to ask, they might inquire of their husbands at home.
With all their gifts, the Word did not come out from the Corinthians, nor had it come unto them only; they ought to submit to the universal order of the Spirit in the Church. If they pretended to be led by the Spirit, let them acknowledge (and this would prove it) that the things which the apostle wrote to them were the commandments of the Lord. A very important assertion; a responsible and serious position of this wonderful servant of God.
What a mixture of tenderness, of patience, and of authority. The apostle desires that the faithful should come to the truth and to order, conducted by their own affections; not fearing, if necessary for their good, to avail himself of an authority without appeal, as speaking directly from God, an authority which God would justify if the apostle was forced unwillingly to use it. If any were ignorant that he wrote by the Spirit with the authority of God, it was ignorance indeed, let such be given up to their ignorance. Spiritual and simple men would be delivered from such pretensions. Those who were really filled with the Spirit would acknowledge that what the apostle wrote came immediately from God, and was the expression of His wisdom, of that which became Him: for often there may be the recognition of divine or even human wisdom when it is found, where there was not the ability to find it; nor, if it were perceived in part, the power to set it forth with authority. Meanwhile, the man of pretension, reduced to this place, would find the place profitable, and that which he needed.
We shall also observe here the importance of this assertion of the apostle's, with regard to the inspiration of the epistles. That which he taught for the details even of church order was so really given of God, came so entirely from God, that they were the commandments of the Lord. For the doctrine, we have at the end of the Epistle to the Romans, the same declaration that it was by means of prophetic writings that the gospel was disseminated among the nations.
The apostle resumes his instructions by saying, that they should desire to prophesy, not forbid to speak with tongues, and that all should be done with order and propriety. But other evils had found means to introduce themselves into the midst of the shining gifts which were exercised in the bosom of the flock at Corinth. The resurrection of the dead was denied. Satan is wily in his dealings. Apparently it was only the body that was in question; nevertheless, the whole gospel was at stake, for if the dead rose not, then Christ was not risen. And if Christ were not risen, the sins of the faithful were not put away, and the gospel was not true. The apostle, therefore, reserved this question for the end of his epistle; and he enters into it thoroughly.
1St. He reminds them of that which he had preached among them as the gospel, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was raised again according to the Scriptures. This, then, was the means of their salvation, if they continued in it, unless they had believed in vain. Here, at least, was a very solid foundation for his argument; their salvation (unless all that they had believed was but a fable) depended on the fact of the resurrection, and was bound up with it. But if the dead rose not, Christ was not risen, for He had died. The apostle begins, therefore, by establishing this fact through the most complete and positive testimonies, including his own testimony, since he had himself seen the Lord. Five hundred persons had seen Him at once, the greater part of whom were still alive to bear witness of it. Observe, in passing, that the apostle can speak of nothing without a moral effect being produced in his heart, because he thinks of it with God. Thus, vers. 8-10, he calls to mind the state of things with regard to himself and to the other apostles, and that which grace had done; and then, his heart unburdened, he returns to his subject; the testimony of every divine witness was the same, everything declared that Christ was risen; everything depended on the fact that He was so. This was his starting point. If, said he, that which was preached among you is that Christ was raised from the dead, how happens it that some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is none, Christ is not risen; if He is not risen, the preaching of His witnesses is vain, the faith of Christians vain. Nor that only, but these witnesses are false witnesses, for they had declared with respect to God, that He had raised up Christ from the dead. But God had not raised him up if the dead do not rise. And in that case their faith was vain, they were yet in their sins, and those who had already fallen asleep in Christ had perished. Now if it were in this life only that the believer has hope in Christ, he is of all men the most miserable, he does but suffer as to this world. But it is not so, for Christ is risen. Here, however, it is not only a general doctrine that the dead are raised. Christ, in rising, came up from among the dead. It is the favor and the power of God come in to bring back from among the dead the One who had, in His grace, gone down into death, to accomplish and to display the deliverance of man, in Christ, from the power of Satan and of death; and to put a public seal on the work of redemption, to exhibit openly in man the victory over all the power of the enemy. Thus Christ arose from among all the other dead—for death could not hold him—and established the glorious principle of this divine and complete deliverance, and he became the first-fruits of them that slept, who, having His life, await the exercise of His power, which will awaken them by virtue of the Spirit that dwells in them.
This evidently gives a very peculiar character to the resurrection; it is not only that the dead rise, but that God, by His power, brings back certain persons from among the dead, on account of the favor which He has for them, and in connection with the life and the Spirit which are in them. Christ has a quite peculiar place. Life was in Him, and He is our life. He gained this victory by which we profit. He is of right the first-fruits. It was due to His glory. Had He not gained the victory we should always have remained in prison. He had power Himself to resume life, but the great principle is the same; it is not only a resurrection of the dead, but those who are alive according to God arise as the objects of His favor, and by the exercise of that power which wills to have them for Himself and with himself. Christ, the first-fruits; those who are of Christ, at His coming. We are associated with Christ in resurrection. We come out like Him not only from death but from the dead. We mark, too, here, how Christ and His people are inseparably identified. If they do not rise He is not risen, He was as really dead as we can be, has taken in grace our place under death, was a man as we are men (save sin) so truly that if you deny this result for us, you deny the fact as to Him, and the great object and foundation of faith itself fails.
It needed to be by man. No doubt the power of God can call men back from the tomb. He will do so -acting in the person of His son, to whom all judgment is given. But that will not be a victory gained in human nature over death which held man captive. This it is which Christ has done. He was willing to be given up to death for us, in order (as man) to gain the victory for us over death and over him who had the power of death. By man came death; by man, resurrection. Glorious victory! complete triumph! We come out of the state where sin and its consequences fully reached us. Evil cannot enter the place into which we are brought out. We have crossed the frontiers forever. Sin, the power of the enemy, remains outside this new creation, which is the fruit of the power of God after evil had come in, and which the responsibility of man shall not mar. It is God who maintains it in connection with Himself: it depends on Him.
There are two great principles established here. By man, death; by man, the resurrection of the dead. Adam and Christ, as heads of two families. In Adam all die, in Christ all shall be made alive. But here there is an all-important development in connection with the position of Christ in the counsels of God. One side of this truth is the dependence of the family—so to call it—upon its head. Adam brought death into the midst of his descendants, those who are in relation with himself. This is the principle which characterizes the history of the first Adam. Christ, in whom is life, brings life into the midst of those who. are His, communicates it to them. This principle characterizes the Second Adam and those who are His, in Him. But it is life in the power of resurrection, without which it could not have been communicated to them. The grain of wheat would have been perfect in itself, but would' have remained alone. But He died for their sins, and now He imparts life to them, all their sins being forgiven.
Now, in the resurrection, there is an order according to the wisdom of God for the accomplishment of His counsels. Christ, the first-fruits. Those who are of Christ, at His coming again. Thus, those who are in Christ are quickened according to the power of the life which is in Christ, it is the resurrection of life. But this is not the whole extent of resurrection as acquired by Christ in gaining the victory over death, according to the spirit of holiness. The Father has given Him power over all men, that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him. The latter are those of whom this chapter treats essentially, because its subject is resurrection among Christians; and the apostle, the Spirit Himself, loves to speak on the subject of the power of eternal life in Christ. Yet he cannot entirely omit the other part of the truth. The resurrection of the dead, he tells us, is come by man. But he is not here speaking of the communication of life in Christ. In connection with this last and nearer part of his subject, he does not touch upon the resurrection of the wicked; but after the coming of Christ he introduces the end, when He shall have given up the kingdom to the Father. With the kingdom is introduced the power of Christ exercised over all things—a different thought entirely from the communication of life to His own. There are three steps, therefore, in these events. First, the resurrection of Christ; then the resurrection of those that are His, at His coming; afterward, the end, when He shall have given up the kingdom to the Father. The first and the second are the accomplishment, in resurrection, of the power of life in Christ and in His people. When He comes He takes the kingdom, He takes His great power, and acts as king. From His coming, then, to the end, is the development of His power, in order to subdue all things to Himself; during which all power and all authority shall be abolished. For He must reign till all His enemies are under His feet; the last subdued will be death. Here, then, as the effect of His power only, and not in connection with the communication of life, we find the resurrection of those who are not His; for the destruction of death is their resurrection. They are passed over in silence-only that death, such 'as we see it, has no longer dominion over them. Christ has the right and the power, in virtue of His resurrection and of His having glorified the Father, to destroy the dominion of death over them, and to raise them up again. This will be the resurrection of judgment. Its effect is declared elsewhere.
When He has put all his enemies under His feet and has given back the kingdom to His Father (for it is never taken from Him, nor given to another,' as happens with human kingdoms), then the Son Himself is subject to Him who has put all things under Him, in order that God may be all in all. The reader should observe, that it is the counsels of God with regard to the government of all things which is here spoken of, and not His nature; and', moreover, it is the Son, as man, of whom these things are said. This is not an arbitrary explanation: the passage is from Psa. 8, the subject of which is the exaltation of man to the position of head of all things, God putting all things under his feet. Nothing, says the apostle, is excepted (Heb. 2:88Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. (Hebrews 2:8)) save, as he adds here, that He is necessarily excepted who put all things under Him. When the man Christ, the Son of God, has, in fact, accomplished this subjugation, He gives back to God the universal power which had been committed to Him, and the mediatorial kingdom ceases. He is again subject, as He was on earth. He does not cease to be one with the' Father, even as He was so while living in humiliation on the earth, although saying at the same time, " Before Abraham was I am." But the mediatorial government of man has disappeared, is absorbed into the supremacy of God, to which there is no longer any opposition. Christ will take His eternal place, a man, the head of the whole redeemed family, being at the same time God blessed forever, one with the Father: In Psa. 1, we see the righteous man. In Psa. 2, the Son of God, as born on earth, King in Sion, rejected when He presented Himself on earth. In Psa. 8, the result of His rejection, exalted as Son of Man, at the head of all that the hand of God has made. Then we find Him here laying down this conferred authority, and resuming the normal position of humanity, namely, that of subjection to Him who has put all things under Him. But through it all, never changing His divine nature; nor—save so far as exchanging humiliation for glory—His human nature either. But God is all in all, and the special government of man in the person of Jesus—a government with which the Church is associated (see Eph. 1, which is a quotation from the same Psalm) is merged in the immutable supremacy of God, the final and normal relationship of God with His creature. We shall find the Lamb omitted in that which is said in Rev. 21:1-8,1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:1‑8) speaking of this same period.
Thus we find in this passage resurrection by man -death having entered by man—the relationship of the saints with Jesus, the source and the power of life, the consequence being His resurrection, and theirs, at His coming; power over all things committed to Christ, the risen Man, a power by which He destroys death, thus accomplishing the resurrection of those who are not made alive in Him; afterward, the kingdom given back to God the Father, the Tabernacle of God with men and the Man Christ, the second Adam, eternally a Man subject to the Supreme this last a truth of infinite value to us. The reader must now remark that this passage is a revelation, in which the Spirit of God, having fixed the apostle's thoughts upon Jesus and the resurrection, suddenly interrupts the line of his argument, announcing—with that impulse which the thought of Christ always gave to the mind and heart of the apostle all the ways of God in Christ with regard to the resurrection, to the connection of those that are His with Him in that resurrection, and the government and dominion which belongs to Him as risen, as well as the eternal nature of His relationship, as Man, to God. Having communicated these thoughts of God, which were revealed to him, he resumes the thread of his argument in ver. 29. This part ends with ver. 34, after which he treats the question, which they had brought forward as a difficulty-in what manner Should the dead be raised?
By taking the verses 20-28, which contain so important a revelation in a passage that is complete in itself, as a parenthesis, the verses 29-34 become much more intelligible, and some expressions, which have greatly harassed interpreters, have a tolerably determinate sense. The apostle had said, in ver. 16, " If the dead rise not," and then, that if such were the case, those who had fallen asleep in Jesus had perished, and that the living were of all men most miserable. At ver. 29, he returns to these points, and speaks of those who are baptized for the dead, in connection with the assertion, that •if there were no resurrection, those who had fallen asleep in Christ had perished. " If," he says, repeating more forcibly the expression in ver. 16, "the dead rise not at all"; and then shows how entirely he is himself, in the second case he had spoken of, "of all men most miserable," and almost in the case of perishing also, being every moment in danger, striving as with wild beasts, dying daily. Baptized, then, for the dead, is to become a Christian with a view to those who have fallen asleep in Christ, and particularly as being slain for Him. As in 1 Thess. 4, the subject, while speaking of all Christians, is looked at in the same way. The word translated "for" is frequently used in these epistles; for "in view of," "with reference to."
We have seen that the ver. 20-28 form a parenthesis. The 29th, then, is connected with the 18th. The 30th, 31St, 32nd, relate to the 19th. The historical explanation of these last verses is found in the second epistle
(see chap. 1:8, 9, 4:8-12). I do not think that ver. 32 should be taken literally. The word translated " I have fought with beasts," is usually employed, in a figurative sense, to be in conflict with fierce and implacable enemies. In consequence of the violence of the Ephesians, he had nearly lost his life, and even despaired of saving it; but God had delivered him. But to what purpose all these sufferings, if the dead rise not? And observe here, that although the resurrection proves that death does not touch the soul (compare Luke 20:3838For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. (Luke 20:38)), yet the apostle does not think of immortality apart from resurrection. God has to do with man, and man is composed of body and of soul. He gives account in the judgment of the things done in the body. It is when raised from the dead that he will do so. The intimate union between the two, quite distinct as they are, forms the spring of life, the seat of responsibility, the means of God's government with regard to His creatures, and the sphere in which His dealings are displayed. Death dissolves this union; and although the soul survives, and is happy or miserable, the existence of the complete man is suspended, the judgment of God is not applied, the believer is not yet clothed with glory. Thus, to deny the resurrection was to deny the true relationships of God with man, and to make death the end of man, destroying man as God contemplates him, and making him perish like a beast. Compare the Lord's argument in that passage in Luke, of which I have already quoted one verse.
Alas! the denial of the resurrection was linked with the desire to unbridle the senses. Satan introduced it into the heart of Christians through their communication with persons with whom the Spirit of Christ would have had no communion.
They needed to have their conscience exercised, to be awakened, in order that righteousness might have its place there. It is the lack of that which is commonly the true source of heresies. They failed in the knowledge of God. It was to the shame of these Christians. God grant us to take heed to it! It is the great matter even in questions of doctrine.
But, further, the inquisitive spirit of man would fain be satisfied with respect to the physical mode of the resurrection. The apostle did not gratify it, while rebuking the stupid folly of those who had occasion every day to see analogous things in the creation that surrounded them. The fruit of the power of God, the raised body, would be, according to the good pleasure of Him who gave it anew, for the glorious abode of the soul; a body of honor, which, having passed through death, would assume that glorious condition which God had prepared for it; a body suited to the creature that possessed it, but according to the supreme will of Him who clothed the creature with it. There were different kinds of bodies; and as wheat was not the bare grain that had been sown, although a plant of its nature, and not another, so should it be with the raised man. Different, also, were the glories of heavenly and earthly bodies: star differed from star in glory. I do not think that this passage refers to degrees of glory in heaven, but to the fact that God distributes glory as He pleases. Heavenly glory and earthly glory are, however, plainly put in contrast, for there will be an earthly glory. And observe here, that it is not merely the fact of the resurrection which is set forth in this passage, but also its character. For the saints it will be a resurrection to heavenly glory. Their portion will be bodies incorruptible, glorious, vessels of power, spiritual. This body, sown as the grain of wheat for corruption, shall put on glory and incorruptibility. It is only the saints that are here spoken of- " they also that are heavenly," and in connection with Christ, the second Adam. The apostle had said that the first body was " natural," its life was that of the living soul; as to the body, it partook of that kind of life which the other animals possessed, whatever might be its superiority as to its relationship with God, in that God Himself had breathed into its nostrils the spirit of life, so that man was thus in a special way in relationship with God, of-His race, as the apostle said at Athens. " Adam, the Son of God," said the Holy Ghost in Luke, made in the image of God. His conduct should have answered to it, and God had revealed Himself to him, in order to place him morally in the position that was suitable to this breath of life which he had received. He had become—free as he was from death by the power of God who sustained him, or mortal by the sentence of Him who had formed him a living soul. There was not the quickening power in himself. The first Adam was simply a man—" the first man Adam." The word of God does not express itself thus with regard to Christ, when speaking of Him in this passage as the second Adam. He could not be the second Adam without being a man; but it does not say, " the second man was a quickening Spirit," but "the second Adam." Christ had not only life as a living soul, He had the power of life, which could impart life to others. Although He was a Man on earth, He had life in Himself; accordingly, He quickened whom He would. Nevertheless, it is as the second Adam, as the Christ, that the Word here speaks of Him. It is not only that God quickens whom He will, but the second Adam, Christ, the Head spiritually of the new race, has this power in Himself; and, therefore, it is said, for it is always Jesus on earth who is in question, "He hath given to the Son to have life in Himself." Of us it is said, " God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son: he who has the Son has life, and he who has, not the Son of God has not life." Howbeit, that which is of the Spirit is not that which was first, but that which is natural, i.e., that which has the natural life of the soul. That which is • spiritual, which has its life from the power of the Spirit, comes after. The first man is of the earth; has his origin, such as he is (God having breathed into his nostrils a spirit or breath of life), from the earth. Therefore he is of the dust, even as God said, " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." The second Adam, though He was as truly man as the first, is the Lord from heaven. As belonging to the first Adam, we inherit his condition, we are like him; as, participating in the life of the second, we have part in the glory which He possesses as Man, we are like Him, we exist according to His mode of being, His life being ours. Now the consequence here is, that as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Observe here, that the first Adam and the second, respectively, are looked at as in that condition into which they entered when their respective trials under responsibility had ended; and those who are connected with the one and the other inherit the condition and the consequences of the work of the one and the other, as thus tested. It is the fallen Adam who is the father of a race born after his image- a fallen and guilty race, sinful and mortal. He had failed, and committed sin, and lost his position before God, was far from Him, when he became the father of the human race. If the corn of wheat falling into the ground does not die, it bears no fruit; if it die, it bears much fruit. Christ had accomplished righteousness, made expiation for sin, overcome death, destroyed the power of Satan, before He became, as a quickening Spirit, the Head of a spiritual race, to whom—united to Himself—He communicates all the privileges that belong to the position before God which He has acquired, according to the power of that life by which He quickens them. It is a risen and glorified Christ whose image we shall bear, as we now bear the image of a fallen Adam. Flesh arid blood, not merely sin, cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Corruption (for such we are) cannot inherit that which is incorruptible. This leads the apostle to a positive revelation of that which will take place with regard to the enjoyment of incorruptibility by all the saints. Death is conquered. It is not necessary that death should come upon all, still less that all should undergo actual corruption; but it is not possible for flesh and blood to inherit the kingdom of glory. But we shall not all sleep, there are some who will be changed. The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (for, redemption being accomplished, and Christ ready to judge the quick and the dead, the apostle always looks at it as a thing immediately before his eyes, ready to take place every moment) we shall be changed. A change equivalent to resurrection, for that which is corruptible, if not already in dust and corruption, shall put on incorruptibility; that which is mortal, immortality. We see that this relates to the body: it is in his body that man is mortal, even when he has eternal life, and shall live by Christ and with Christ. The power of God will form the saints, whether living or dead, for the inheritance of glory.
Take especial notice of what has just been said. Death is entirely conquered, annulled in its moral character, for the Christian. He possesses a life (Christ riser}) which sets him above death, not, perhaps, physically, but morally. It has lost all its power over his soul, as the fruit of sin and judgment. It is so entirely conquered, that there are some who will not die at all. All Christians have Christ for their life. If He is absent, and if He does not return, as will be the case as long as He sits on His Father's throne, and our life is hid with Him in God, -we undergo death physically, according to the sentence of God; that is to say, the soul is separated from the mortal body. When He shall return and exercise His power, having risen up from the Father's throne to take His people to Himself before He executes judgment, death has no power at all over them; they do not pass through it. That the others are raised from the dead is a proof of power altogether divine, and more glorious even than that which created man from the dust. That the living are changed proves a perfection of accomplished redemption, and a power of life in Christ which has left no trace, no remains of the judgment of God as to them, nor of the power of the enemy, nor of the thralldom of man to the consequences of his sin. In place of all that, is an exercise of divine power, which manifests itself in the absolute, complete, and eternal deliverance of the poor guilty creature who before was under it. A deliverance that has its perfect manifestation in the glory of Christ, for He had subjected Himself, in grace, to the condition of man under death for sin; so that to faith it is always certain and accomplished, in His person. But the resurrection of the dead and the change of the living will be its actual accomplishment for all who are His at His coming. What a glorious deliverance is that which is wrought by the resurrection of Christ, who- sin entirely blotted out, righteousness divinely accomplished, Satan's power destroyed—transports us by virtue of an eternal redemption, and by the power of a life which has abolished death, into an entirely new sphere, where evil cannot come, nor any of its consequences, and where the favor of God in glory shines upon us perfectly and forever. It is this which Christ has won for us, according to the eternal love of God our Father, who gave Him to us to be our Savior.
At an unexpected moment we shall enter into this scene, ordained by the Father, prepared by Jesus. The power of God will accomplish this change in an instant; the dead shall rise, we shall be changed. The last trumpet is but a military allusion, as it appears to me, when the whole troop wait for the last signal to set out all together.
In the quotation from Isa. 25:8,8He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 25:8) we have a remarkable application of Scripture. Here, it is only the fact that death is thus swallowed up in victory, for which the passage is quoted; but the comparison with Isaiah shows us that it will be not at the end of the world, but at the period when, by the establishment of the kingdom of God in Sion, the veil, under which the heathen have dwelt in ignorance and darkness, shall be taken off their face. The whole earth shall be enlightened, I do not say at the moment, but at the period. But this certainty of the destruction of death procures us a present confidence, although death still exists. Death has lost its sting, the grave its victory. All is changed by the grace which, at the end, will bring in this triumph. But meantime, by revealing to us the favor of God who bestows it, and the accomplishment of the redemption which is its basis, it has completely changed the character of death. Death, to the believer who must pass through it, is only leaving that which is mortal; it no longer bears the terror of God's judgment, nor that of the power of Satan. Christ has gone into it and borne it, and taken it away totally and forever. Nor that only,—He has taken its source away. It was sin which sharpened, which envenomed that sting. It was the law which, presenting to the conscience the exact righteousness, and the judgment of God that required the accomplishment of that law, and pronounced a curse on those who failed in it,-it was the law which gave sin its force to the conscience, and made death doubly formidable. But Christ was made sin, and bore the curse of the law, being made a curse for His own who were under the law; and thus, while glorifying God perfectly with regard to sin, and to the law in its most absolute requirements, He has completely delivered us from the one and the other, and, at the same time, from the power of death, out of which He came victorious. All that death can do to us is to take us out of the scene 'in which it exercises its power, to bring us into that in which it has none. God, the Author of these counsels of grace, in whom is the power that accomplishes them, has given us this deliverance, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Instead of fearing death, we render thanks to Him who has given us the victory by Jesus. The great result is to be with Jesus, and like Jesus, and to see Him as He is. Meanwhile, we labor in the scene where death exercises its power,—where Satan uses it, if God allows him, to stop us in our way. We labor, although there are difficulties, with entire confidence, knowing what will be the infallible result. The path may be beset by the enemy, the end will be the fruit of the counsels and the power of our God, exercised on our behalf according to that which we have seen in Jesus, who is the head and the manifestation of the glory which His own shall enjoy.
To sum up what has been said, we see the two things in Christ. First, power over all things, death included: He raises up even the wicked. And, second, the association of His own with Himself. With reference, therefore, to the latter, the apostle directs our eyes to the resurrection of Christ Himself. He not only raises up others, but he has been raised up Himself, from the dead. He is the first-fruits of them that sleep. But before His resurrection He died for our sins. All that separated us from God is entirely put away, death, the wrath of God, the power of Satan, sin, disappear, as far as we are concerned, in virtue of the work of Christ; and the title to heavenly glory is acquired for us by the-righteousness fulfilled in Him. Nothing remains of that which appertained to His former life; except the everlasting favor of God who brought Him there. Thus it is a resurrection from among the dead by the power of God, in virtue of that favor, because He was the delight of God and had accomplished His righteousness.
For us, it is a resurrection founded on redemption, and which we enjoy even now in the power of a life which brings the effect and the strength of both into our hearts, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us. At the coming of Christ, the accomplishment will take place in fact for our bodies.
With regard to practice, the Church at Corinth was in a very poor condition; and being asleep as to righteousness, the enemy sought to lead them astray as to faith also. Nevertheless, as a body, they kept the foundation, and as to external spiritual power, it shone very brightly. The apostle, in his letter, had treated the disorder that reigned among these believers, and his spirit was to a certain degree relieved by fulfilling this duty towards them; for after all they were Christians and an assembly of God. In the last chapter he speaks to them- in the sense of this, although he could not make up his mind to go to Corinth, for he had intended to visit them in going to Macedonia, and a second time in returning thence. He does not say here why He did not go thither on his way to Macedonia, and he speaks with uncertainty as to his sojourn at Corinth when he should arrive there on his return from Macedonia; if the Lord permitted, he would tarry awhile with them. The second epistle will explain all this. In their existing state, his heart would not allow him to visit them. But he treats them tenderly, nevertheless, as still beloved Christians, giving them directions suited to the circumstances of the moment. They were to make a collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, as had been arranged with the apostles when Paul left Jerusalem as the recognized apostle of the Gentiles. This was not to be done in haste when he came, but by laying up every week in proportion to their prosperity. He would send persons chosen by the Corinthians, or take them with him if he went himself to Jerusalem. He thought of remaining till Pentecost at Ephesus, where a great door was opened to him and there were many adversaries. If these two things go together it is a motive for remaining; the open door is an inducement on the part of God, the activity of adversaries makes it necessary with regard to the enemy. A closed door is a different thing from opposition. People do not hearken if the door is shut; God does not act to draw attention. If God is acting, the assiduity of the enemy is but a reason for not abandoning the work. It appears (chap. 15:32) that Paul had already suffered much at Ephesus, but he still continued his work there. He could not pour out his heart on the subject to the Corinthians, seeing the state they were in. He does it in the second epistle, when the first had produced the effect he desired. There was a tumult afterward at Ephesus, stirred up by the craftsmen, in consequence of which Paul left the city (Acts 19) Vers. 21 and 22 of this chapter in Acts, show us the period at which he wrote this letter. The danger to his life had preceded it, but he remained at Ephesus after that. The tumult closed the door and sent him away.
In Acts 19:22,22So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season. (Acts 19:22) we see that he had sent Timothy into Macedonia. In our epistle, he supposes that he might go on as far as Corinth. If he came, the Corinthians were to receive him as they would have received Paul. He had begged Apollos to go to them; he had already been made a blessing to them, and Paul thought he might be so again. He did not fear that Apollos would displace him in the heart of the Corinthians. But Apollos shared the apostle's feeling; he was not inclined to recognize, or by his presence to have the appearance of upholding, that which prevented Paul going thither; and the more so, because there were some in the Church at Corinth who wished to use his name as the standard of a party. Free in his movements, he would act according to the judgment which the Lord would enable him to form.
After speaking of Apollos, the apostle's mind turns again to his children in the faith, dear to him, whatever their faults might be. Vers. 13, 14, are the effusion of a heart which forgot these faults in the ardent desire of a charity that only thought of their blessing according to the Spirit. Three Corinthians had brought him supplies: it does not appear to have been on the part of the assembly, nor that it was any testimony of its love which had refreshed the apostle's heart. He would have the Corinthians to rejoice at it. He does not doubt that they loved him enough to be refreshed because he was so. Their charity had not thought of it beforehand; but he expresses his conviction that they took pleasure in the thought of his heart being refreshed'. It is touching to see here, that the apostle's charity suggests that which grace would produce in the heart of the Corinthians, communicating that which they probably would not otherwise have known of the active charity of three brethren of the assembly; and, in love, uniting them to his joy, if they had not been united to that which occasioned it. The flame of charity communicates itself by rising above coldness, and reaching the depths of divine life in the heart; and, once communicated, the soul, before unkindled, glows now with the same fire.
We find, in this chapter, four channels, so to speak, of ministry. 1St. The apostle, sent direct from the Lord and by the Holy Ghost. 2nd. Persons associated with the apostle in his work, and acting at his desire, and in the case of Timothy one pointed out by prophecy. 3rd. An entirely independent laborer, partly instructed by others (see Acts), but acting where he saw fit, according to the Lord and to the gift he had received. 4th. One who gives himself to the service of the saints, as well as others who helped the apostle and labored. Paul exhorts the faithful to submit themselves to such, and to all those who helped in the work and labored. He would also have them acknowledge those who refreshed his heart by their service of devotedness. Thus we find the simple and important principle according to which all the best affections of the heart are developed, namely, the acknowledgment of every one according to the manifestation of grace and of the power of the Holy Ghost in him. The Christian man submits to those who addict themselves to the service of the saints, he acknowledges those who manifest grace in a special way. They are not persons officially nominated and consecrated who are spoken of here. It is the conscience and the spiritual affection of Christians which acknowledges them according to their work; a principle valid at all times, which does not permit this respect to be demanded, but which requires it to be paid.
We may remark here, that this epistle, although entering into all the details of the interior conduct of a Church, does not speak of elders or of any formally established officers at all. It is certain, that in general there were such, but God has provided in the Word for the walk of an assembly at all times, and, as we see, principles which oblige us to acknowledge those who serve in it through personal devotedness without being officially appointed. General unfaithfulness, or the absence of such established officers, will not prevent those who obey the Word from following it in all that is needful for Christian order. We see, moreover, that whatever might be the disorder, the apostle recognizes the members of the assembly as being all real Christians, he desires them to acknowledge one another by the kiss of love, the universal expression of brotherly affection. This is so entirely the case, that he pronounces a solemn anathema on every one who loved not the Lord Jesus. There might be such, but he would in no way recognize them. If there were any, let them be anathema. Is this an allowed mixture? He will not believe it, and he embraces them all in the bonds of Christian love (ver. 24).
The last point is important. The state of the assembly at Corinth might give room for some uncertainty as to the Christianity of certain members or persons in connection with them, although not dwelling at Corinth. He admonishes them; but, in fact, in cases of the most grievous sin, where the discipline of God was exercised or that of man was required, the guilty are looked upon as Christians (see chap. x. for the warning; chap: xi. 32 for the Lord's discipline; for that of man, v. 5 in this epistle; for the principle, 2 Cor. 2:88Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. (2 Corinthians 2:8)). Besides, he denounces with an anathema those who do not love the Lord Jesus. Discipline is exercised towards the wicked man who is called a brother. He who calls himself a Christian yet does not really love the Lord—for there may be such is the subject of the most terrible anathema.
It is sweet to see, that after faithfully (although with anguish of heart) correcting every abuse, the spirit of the apostle returns by grace into the enjoyments of charity in his relationship with the Corinthians. The terrible ver. 22 was not felt to be inconsistent with the love that dictated the other verses. It was the same spirit, for Christ was the sole spring of his charity.
We may notice, ver. 21, that the apostle, as other passages testify, employed some one to write for him. The epistle to the Galatians is an exception. He verified his epistles to the assemblies by writing the salutation at the end with his own hand. His heart flows out, ver. 24, and he comforts himself in being able to acknowledge them all in love.